Category Archives: Press Release

Latest News, Press Release

CropLife Asia supports FAO World Food Day call on “Right to Foods for a Better Life & a Better Future” / Need for greater AgTech adoption to meet SDG2 challenge highlighted

Singapore, 16 October 2024 – As the world marks World Food Day, CropLife Asia is taking the opportunity to highlight how enhancing agricultural productivity through innovative technologies and sustainable agricultural practices can help drive greater food security and accessibility to a healthy diet in Asia-Pacific. The challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger (SDG2) remains daunting in the region and around the world.

According to the United Nations (UN) 2024 State of Food Security & Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, Asia remains home to the largest number of those facing hunger globally at 384.5 million and accounts for a larger share of the number of food-insecure people in the world at 1.18 billion. Furthermore, a healthy diet remains out of reach for 2.83 billion people worldwide with 1.66 billion facing this challenge in Asia alone as highlighted in the SOFI reporti. The cost of a healthy diet has risen since 2017 globally with the cost being the second highest in Asia at 4.20 PPP dollarsii.

“This World Food Day, we must work together to ensure that the right to safe, nutritious and affordable food remains accessible to all,” said Dr. Siang Hee Tan, Executive Director of CropLife Asia. “With 1 out of 11 people facing hunger globally, the need to ensure food systems that are more safe, secure and sustainable is more important than ever before. Harnessing the power of advanced and innovative plant science technologies can help drive agricultural productivity while protecting the world around us – and is an increasingly critical component in realizing the promise of SDG2.”

Plant science innovation such as plant biotechnology and genome editing along with crop protection products play an important role in ensuring a stable food supply, managing and protecting natural resources as well as driving national economies. Biotech crops have increased global food, feed and fibre production by nearly 1 billion tonnes from 1996 to 2020iii. These innovations also support sustainability by producing crops that address climate change impacts such as drought and flooding while utilizing nutrients more efficiently and delivering better nutrition to humans and livestock.

About CropLife Asia
CropLife Asia is a non-profit society and the regional organization of CropLife International, the voice of the global plant science industry. We advocate a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture. CropLife Asia supports the work of 15 member associations across the continent and is led by six member companies at the forefront of crop protection, seeds and/or biotechnology research and development.

For more information, visit us at www.croplifeasia.org.
For more information please contact:
Duke Hipp
Director, Public Affairs & Strategic Partnerships
CropLife Asia
Tel: (65) 6221 1615
duke.hipp@croplifeasia.org

i FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2024. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 – Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1254en
ii FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2024. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 – Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1254en
iii Brookes G. (2022). Farm income and production impacts from the use of genetically modified (GM) crop technology 1996-2020. GM Crops & Food, 13(1), 171-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2022.2105626

Latest News, Press Release

Climate Change Exacerbating SE Asia Agricultural Challenges

New ASEAN-CropLife Asia Survey of Region’s Policymakers Sheds Light on Climate Change Impact

Singapore, 29 April 2022– More than half of ASEAN policymakers (51%) agree that climate change is the biggest obstacle currently facing ASEAN food systems. A majority also believe that climate change has a widespread negative impact on agricultural issues in ASEAN such as maintaining soil quality (92%), managing plant disease (88%), ensuring sufficient crop yields (88%), and managing pests/infestations (85%).

These findings and others are part of the research white paper released today titled Policymaker Survey: Climate Change Impact on ASEAN Agriculture. Conducted by market research company PSB Insights and made possible through cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and CropLife Asia, this initiative is designed to better understand the impact of climate change on agriculture, food production and smallholder farmers in the ASEAN region. Both quantitative and qualitative interviews were conducted for this research.

The research further revealed that ASEAN policymakers are acutely aware of the devastating impact of climate change on smallholder farmers, with over 60% of them strongly agreeing that farmers will be negatively affected the most by climate change impact to food productivity/security. Additionally, over four-in-five (86%) policymakers said that providing better education about the use of agricultural tech and sciences, and innovation in the areas of agricultural tech and science would be ‘very important’ in mitigating the impact of climate change on farmers in the region.

The full report can be accessed on CropLife Asia’s website here.

About CropLife Asia

CropLife Asia is a non-profit society and the regional organization of CropLife International, the voice of the global plant science industry.  We advocate a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture.  CropLife Asia supports the work of 15 member associations across the continent and is led by eight member companies at the forefront of crop protection, seeds and/or biotechnology research and development.  For more information, visit us at www.croplifeasia.org.

For more information please contact:
Duke Hipp
Director, Public Affairs
CropLife Asia
Tel: (65) 6221 1615
duke.hipp@croplifeasia.org

Latest News, Press Release

OVER 68% OF FARMERS IN SE ASIA’S BIGGEST CROP-PRODUCING COUNTRIES CLAIM CLIMATE CHANGE AS KEY CHALLENGE

New Research Reveals Growers in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand & Vietnam Increasingly Impacted by Effects of Climate Change

Singapore, 30 August 2021 – A finding officially released today highlights a key challenge with regional food production – chiefly that a significant number of growers in Southeast Asia’s largest agricultural-producing countries are concerned with the impact of climate change (68.5%).

This finding, part of new research titled the 2021 ASEAN Farmer Sustainability & Resilience Study, was conducted by leading agricultural and animal health market research company Kynetec and carried out in the first quarter of 2021. CropLife Asia contracted with Kynetec to conduct the survey among 525 corn, rice, fruit and vegetable farmers across Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released a report warning against the effects of climate change and calling for rapid actions in global cooperation. The report was referred to by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as “code red for humanity” and has spurred additional discourse on how society can support more aggressive climate change action.

“Farmers across Southeast Asia are facing increasing challenges that threaten their livelihood, food supply chain resiliency, and the sustainable supply of safe and nutritious food on which we all depend,” said Dr. Siang Hee Tan, Executive Director of CropLife Asia. “As the prevalence of climate change-induced droughts, floods and erratic weather patterns continue to grow, Southeast Asia’s smallholder farmers are under tremendous pressure to cope. There is no food and agriculture stakeholder more important than our farmers – and no voice more critical than theirs in the debate around how to make our food systems more resilient. We owe these food heroes our attention and full support.”

While over 68% of farmers surveyed noted the effects of climate change (flood, drought) as a challenge of unique concern, the number of farmers from the Philippines and Vietnam raising their concern with climate change was particularly high. In those countries, the number was 77% and 70% respectively.

The innovative technologies of plant science continue to enable farmers to produce more safe and nutritious food with fewer impacts to the world around us. Biotech crops have been developed with improved traits such as increased yield, better resistance to pests and/or improved nutrition, among others – and allow for sequestration of carbon in the soil through practices such as no-till farming. These are crucial tools that help farmers address global challenges such as food insecurity and climate change.

Meanwhile, farmers rely on crop protection products (or pesticides) to grow more food on less land and raise productivity per hectare. Without pesticides, 40% of global rice and maize harvests could be lost every year and losses for fruits and vegetables could be as high as 50-90%. These losses in yield would likely mean additional land would need to be cleared for agriculture, leading to increased carbon emissions.

More findings from the 2021 ASEAN Farmer Sustainability & Resilience Study are scheduled to be released throughout the remainder of this year.

About CropLife Asia

CropLife Asia is a non-profit society and the regional organization of CropLife International, the voice of the global plant science industry.  We advocate a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture.  CropLife Asia supports the work of 15 member associations across the continent and is led by eight member companies at the forefront of crop protection, seeds and/or biotechnology research and development.  For more information, visit us at www.croplifeasia.org.

For more information please contact:
Duke Hipp
Director, Public Affairs
CropLife Asia
Tel: (65) 6221 1615
duke.hipp@croplifeasia.org