Agriculture In Southeast Asia Research Articles

Digital Technology Adoption and Potential in Southeast Asian Agriculture

While the rural agriculture sector has traditionally been seen as backward relative to the urban industrial and services sectors, it is a potential “low-hanging fruit” ripe for a much-needed digital transformation for agricultural development. ASEAN has seen a U-turn in progress in addressing undernourishment as early as 2014–16, owing to multiple factors. These include climate change which impacts have led to a slowdown in agricultural yield growth amidst growing consumption requirements. Digital technologies are important in adapting the agriculture sector to climate change and rising demand for it to serve as a key sector for food security, income, trade, and employment in the region. However, adoption of digital technologies in agriculture within the region is still relatively nascent, partly because of a general lack of understanding of such technologies and how they contribute to agricultural development. Also lacking is a common framework for understanding and classifying the relevance of such technologies. Thus, this article proposes a common framework and narrates how it was developed and used in facilitating discussions that helped develop the 2021 ASEAN Guidelines on Promoting the Utilization of Digital Technologies for ASEAN Food and Agricultural Sector. We draw insights from our earlier work on the state of adoption of digital technologies in agriculture in the region and give an overview of key challenges and policy opportunities for scaling up.

Academic network-building for agroecology and sustainable agri-food systems in Southeast Asia: critical reflections on a regional initiative

ABSTRACT This paper discusses a regional academic network-building initiative that advocated university reforms to promote sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia, and strengthen agroecological/agri-food systems knowledge in campus policies, research, curricula, and extension. Beginning in 2015 the network complemented global higher education responses to SDGs, IPCC Reports, ASEAN work-plans, FAO’s scaling-up agroecology initiative, UNESCO sustainability programming and more. University partners, farmer groups, research institutes, NGOs, regional organizations, governments, international agencies, and donors collaborated. This new Southeast Asian academic network was an innovation to address perceived gaps in other academic networks, alliances, or intergovernmental and non-government membership organizations. It facilitated cross-sectoral cooperation and transdisciplinary discussions with representatives of both specialized or mandated national agriculture colleges or universities as well as multi-purpose universities with agri-food faculties or schools. The network lost some momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic but FAO collaborating with SEAMEO-SEARCA and others initiated some follow-up online. Nonetheless, the initiative remains an unfinished experiment in regional network-building and academic reform. The paper contributes to literatures on higher education sustainability, regional learning, sustainable agri-food systems, and agroecological transitions while critically analyzing network aspirations, outputs, outcomes, and future research needs.

The Role of Smart Farming in Sustainable Development

This paper intends to explore the development of agriculture in to smart farming and how smart farming can contribute to the sustainable development goals. The paper focuses on how smart farming can be imparted in sustainable agriculture by analyzing the environmental, economic and social impact. This paper applied a systematic literature review technique to assess published academic literature on smart farming and sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia. The review identified that smart farming can lead to less environmental damage, lower cost and higher productivity and has the potential to create decent jobs for the youth ultimately leading to a sustainable food system.

The politics of institutional reform: Vulnerability and bureaucratic independence in Southeast Asian agriculture

AbstractAlthough effective bureaucracies are seen as key for service provision in developing states, we still have limited explanations for their emergence. I argue getting these institutions right is a political, rather than technical, challenge based on a set of theoretical predictions for reform outcomes acknowledging the interaction between a state's political vulnerability and degree of bureaucratic independence. I apply these predictions to a controlled comparison of irrigation sector reforms in three Southeast Asian countries. The results demonstrate that the success of institutional reforms necessary to implement policies is contingent on both the degree of vulnerability experienced as well as the extent to which the bureaucracy can influence the policy‐making process. In states with highly independent bureaucracies, reforms falter or are reversed due to bureaucratic resistance. This highlights the impact of politics in shaping second‐generation reforms and suggest that researchers should pay greater attention to the role bureaucracy plays in forging institutions.

Transformation and Sources of Growth in Southeast Asian Agriculture

The Journal of Southeast Asian Economies (JSEAE) is a peer-reviewed journal focusing on economic issues pertaining to countries in the region – defined as the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Timor. JSEAE welcomes articles using orthodox economic approaches as well as those of a more heterodox nature. Oriented at both researchers and policy-makers, the journal seeks to reconcile the ideals of relevance, methodological rigour, and accessibility. Published by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute tri-annually, JSEAE includes: articles based on original research; research notes; review articles; and book reviews. Once a year, the Journal publishes a Special Issue devoted entirely to a topic of import for the region. Up until April 2013, JSEAE was published as the ASEAN Economic Bulletin (AEB). However, following new developments in the regional and global context, as well as the establishment of new multi-lateral trading agreements including countries in the region, the Directorship of ISEAS and AEB’s Editorial Board decided to change the journal’s name. While its name has changed, JSEAE remains committed to being the premier economic journal for Southeast Asian academicians and policy-makers, as well as anyone with an interest in the region. All research articles in the journal have undergone rigorous peer-review. The process consists of initial screening by the Co-Editors and Associate Editor, followed by double-blind refereeing; two reviewers for articles and one reviewer for research notes.

Evaluation of onset, cessation and seasonal precipitation of the Southeast Asia rainy season in CMIP5 regional climate models and HighResMIP global climate models

AbstractRepresenting the rainy season of the maritime continent is a challenge for global and regional climate models. Here, we compare regional climate models (RCMs) based on the coupled model intercomparison project phase 5 (CMIP5) model generation with high‐resolution global climate models with a comparable spatial resolution from the HighResMIP experiment. The onset and the total precipitation of the rainy season for both model experiments are compared against observational datasets for Southeast Asia. A realistic representation of the monsoon rainfall is essential for agriculture in Southeast Asia as a delayed onset jeopardizes the possibility of having three annual crops. In general, the coupled historical runs (Hist‐1950) and the historical force atmosphere run (HighresSST) of the high‐resolution model intercomparison project (HighResMIP) suite were consistently closer to the observations than the RCM of CMIP5 used in this study. We find that for the whole of Southeast Asia, the HighResMIP models simulate the onset date and the total precipitation of the rainy season over the region closer to the observations than the other model sets used in this study. High‐resolution models in the HighresSST experiment showed a similar performance to their low‐resolution equivalents in simulating the monsoon characteristics. The HighresSST experiment simulated the anomaly of the onset date and the total precipitation for different El Niño‐southern oscillation conditions best, although the magnitude of the onset date anomaly was underestimated.

Climate Governance and Agriculture in Southeast Asia: Learning From a Polycentric Approach

The global climate governance framework will need to empower a wide range of groups representing different geopolitical and sector-specific interests to engage in climate action. Learning from polycentric governance approaches could provide insight on how to foster more inclusive engagement and more effective outcomes from global efforts to fight climate change. The Paris Agreement has opened up room for this type of bottom-up, polycentric governance and new attention to important issues such as agriculture. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Climate Resilience Network (ASEAN-CRN) is an example of a polycentric system to enhance resilience and adapt to climate change. The ASEAN Negotiating Group on Agriculture (ANGA) enables the region’s agriculture sector to shape global climate governance frameworks. The case of ANGA highlights that opening up space for polycentric systems can foster climate action in relevant sectors. Supporting regions to navigate UNFCCC processes can further enable polycentric systems, enhancing climate resilience and adaptation.

The Role of Smart Farming in Sustainable Development

This paper intends to explore the development of agriculture in to smart farming and how smart farming can contribute to the sustainable development goals. The paper focuses on how smart farming can be imparted in sustainable agriculture by analyzing the environmental, economic and social impact. This paper applied a systematic literature review technique to assess published academic literature on smart farming and sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia. The review identified that smart farming can lead to less environmental damage, lower cost and higher productivity and has the potential to create decent jobs for the youth ultimately leading to a sustainable food system.

Agriculture in Southeast Asia: Rethinking contemporary issues using sociology of gender and family

This article provides an overview of how agricultural development and structural changes affects women in Southeast Asia. By employing critical literature review, it enumerates how global agriculture can be characterized as under a modern capitalist system of production by looking at trends on labor and distress migration, scientific and technological innovations (STIs), and intensification of non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAEs). Following this, it makes a case for Southeast Asia’s ASEAN4 (Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia) explaining how the conditions of women farmers should be explored further, not just in a developmental lens but in sociology of gender and family approaches. The article then discusses regional works about masculinization and feminization, engendered resistance, agency and multiplicity of identities, and intra-household relations. Towards the conclusion, it emphasizes points on challenging the terms “farmer” and “feminization,” reconsidering regional contexts, examining the family’s intra-household relationship, scrutinizing the position of the local state, and ways to move forward.

Minimizing pest and disease risks in uncertain climates: CABI initiatives developing new technologies and tools for outreaching early warning to farmers.

Abstract Recent climate models have projected a global temperature increase of at least 1.5-2°C on present day temperatures, including a high likelihood of an increase in extreme temperatures experienced in inhabited places. Changes to observed precipitation patterns are likely with several regions predicted to experience an increase in heavy precipitation and others likely to experience more drought, and a precipitation deficit. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest these changing climatic conditions affect the distribution and phenology of pests and diseases of agriculture. As ectothermic organisms, arthropod pests and fungal diseases are sensitive to changes in mean temperatures and temperature ranges to which they are exposed, with warmer average conditions likely to increase development rates and more extreme temperatures likely to have a negative impact on development. Models which incorporate climate change projections indicate that pests and diseases may shift or increase their ranges in line with warming temperatures. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with farmers reporting negative impacts on crop production and needing to change farming practices in response to changing climates. In the face of changeable conditions, traditional pest management practices may not be as effective given the climate change induced changes which may be present in the ecosystems e.g. alteration of tritrophic interactions between pest and natural enemies. This paper gives an overview of current and recent projects where CABI and partners have developed and utilised existing technologies, methodologies and approaches that may help smallholder farmers to receive the necessary information to control pests and diseases in the context of changing climates. First, we cover the application of species distribution models and their benefits in highlighting areas at risk of pest incursion in the future. Second, we cover within season modelling approaches, driven by earth observation data sources to help farmers to make informed decisions on the best time to apply an intervention, in the face of changing within season temperatures. Finally, we report on CABI's activities associated with climate smart agriculture in South East Asia.

ENHANCEMENT OF URBAN ECOSYSTEM SERVICES BY URBAN AGRICULTURE: A SOUTHEAST ASIAN PERSPECTIVE

Since the beginning of the 21st century, urban agriculture has been weighed as a strategy to address the loss of urban livability. This study will address three key aspects: 1) urban ecosystem services in Southeast Asia; 2) sustainable urban agriculture in Southeast Asia; and 3) enhancing urban ecosystem services through Southeast Asian urban agriculture. In the literature on environmental protection, the importance placed upon urban environments has been relatively limited as compared with other habitats such as wetlands or forests. Currently, urban agriculture is complementary to rural development (mainly by providing perishable goods such as fruits, meat, and eggs), and it is now well-established that it is developing community food supply networks. These and related issues call for a deeper understanding of the relationships between plants, city dwellers and the urban climate, which will help set the foundations for permanently upgradable structures capable of adjusting to a world that changes every day. Keywords: agriculture, urban ecology, sustainable ecosystem, sustainable development, environmental management

Climate change will exacerbate maternal malnutrition globally

Maternal malnutrition is a major public health problem. Low pre-pregnancy weight, inadequate weight gain during pregnancy, and micronutrient deficiencies are significant risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Infants who are born too small or born too soon face a higher risk of mortality, morbidity, and suboptimal cognitive development. Investments in maternal nutrition have long been neglected, despite improved measurement of the global burden of disease related to maternal and newborn health. Nearly 40% of women are estimated to be anemic during pregnancy. The global prevalence of low body mass index among women of reproductive age is decreasing worldwide, but there are still regions of the world where millions of women are underweight. Climate change may further exacerbate these problems. Women and girls around the world often eat last and eat the least. When food insecurity gets worse, women and girls suffer the most. And while nutrient availability has increased over time, the Global Nutrient Database project shows that the smallest gains have been made in the poorest parts of the world. Despite improved caloric availability everywhere, improvements in protein and micronutrient availability have been smallest in low- and middle-income countries. Balanced energy and protein, plus micronutrients, are essential for a positive pregnancy experience. So, we must be especially concerned that atmospheric changes tied to climate change, such as elevated CO2, are hypothesized to diminish the micronutrient composition of staple crops. These CO2-related mineral deficiencies may disproportionately affect agriculture in southeast Asia and Africa. Better nutrition and resilience in the face of climate change is linked to each and every one of the Sustainable Development Goals. But we must focus on equity in innovations to address the changing nutrient landscape and global food insecurity so that women and girls are not left behind. Mesaj yazın

Indigenous Agriculture in Southeast Asia: Traditional, Modern, and “Locally Existing” Technologies

Indigenous Agriculture in Southeast Asia: Traditional, Modern, and “Locally Existing” Technologies

Geohealth Hub: Improving Agricultural Health in Southeast Asia

Forty percent of Thai people are engaged in agriculture. The CWEND GEOHealth Hub in Southeast Asia has focused on measuring occupational exposures and health impacts among agricultural workers. We have recruited farmers that use chemical pesticides and fertilizers and organic farmers to investigate whether they are significantly different in working conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, accidents, and a range of health problems, including metabolic disorders. In comparing the general health of organic and chemical use farmers, we found that the chemical use farmers had significantly higher BMI, waist circumference, body fat%, triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL and blood pressure than the organic farmers. The organic farmers had significantly higher musculoskeletal disorders of the wrist/hands, fingers, upper back, hip and ankle/feet than the chemical farmers did. Chemical induced hearing loss was investigated among farmers exposed to both noise from agricultural machines and pesticides and compared to organic farmers exposed to only noise and to farmers with neither exposure. Audiometric testing of the high frequencies showed that as cumulative exposures to both noise and to pesticides increased, farmers had a significantly higher risk of hearing loss, suggesting an ototoxic effect of pesticides. Organophosphate pesticides (OP) and paraquat were measured in the meconium of newborn babies where we found 98.5% of samples had OP residues and 55% of the samples had paraquat residues. The incidence of kidney damage was investigated among sugarcane cutters using biomarker measurements (NGAL) pre and post shift. We found that NGAL significantly increased across the workshift, suggesting kidney damage may be occurring. Through the research training and mentoring component of the GEOHealth Hub, we are building capacity for occupational and environmental health research that will inform changes to policy and practice in agriculture in Southeast Asia.

Collaborative governance for the Sustainable Development Goals

AbstractThe advent of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals has refocused global attention on the roles of business and other nonstate actors in achieving global goals. Often, business involvement takes the form of collaborations with the more traditional actors—governments and non‐governmental organizations. Although such partnerships for development have been seen before, the scale and expectations are new. This paper explores how and why these cross‐sector collaborations are evolving, and what steps can or should be taken to ensure that partnerships create public and private value. The arguments are illustrated with reference to cases of market‐driven partnerships for agriculture in Southeast Asia that are intended to engage marginalized smallholder farmers in global value chains in agriculture. The aims of these cross‐sector collaborations coincide with several targets of the Sustainable Development Goals such as poverty alleviation, decreasing environmental impact, and achieving food security. This is a hard case for mechanisms intended to protect public interests, given that the target beneficiaries (low‐income smallholder farmers and the environment) are unable to speak effectively for themselves. We find that structures and processes to align interests in ways that protect the public interest are both necessary and feasible, though not easy to achieve.

Reflections on nutrition in biological anthropology.

Reflections on nutrition in biological anthropology.

Doing what with whom? Stakeholder analysis in a large transdisciplinary research project in South-East Asia

The transdisciplinary research project LEGATO analysed the combined generation of provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services in wet rice agriculture in South-East Asia and applied ecological engineering to future-proof it against global change and environmental pollution challenges. Due to its transdisciplinary character and the sheer size, a systematic stakeholder involvement was inevitable. Starting with stakeholder identification by snowballing from a limited number of contacts, we derived a multi-level stakeholder analysis and tried to involve those identified as relevant. Applying different means and aiming at different depth of involvement, the effort can be judged successful. The paper describes the methods used to identify and classify stakeholders, and key elements of the stakeholder management, guided by the BiodivERsA Stakeholder Activation Handbook. While on the local level, farmers and extension workers turned out to be influential and interested stakeholders in both countries, as well as local (PH) or provincial authorities (VN), differences were manifest on higher levels due to the divergent institutional setting. National-level agents were hard to get interested in both countries, and influential agents along the production chain, including middle men, were not really interested in collaboration.

Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia

Women’s empowerment is considered a ‘prerequisite’ to achieving global food security. Gender systems, however, are diverse and complex. The nature and extent of gender inequity and the conditions necessary to empower women vary across countries, communities and regions. The study of different gender systems is thus fundamental to capture cross-cultural variations in gender specific needs and constraints to effectively address gender gaps. Although the status of women in agriculture has received extensive attention in the literature in recent decades, a research gap persists regarding the state of gender inequity in Southeast Asian agriculture. The current paper contributes to the geographical scope of the literature by presenting empirical evidence of gender inequity from four Southeast Asian countries: Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using the framework recommended by the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), 37 focus group discussions were conducted with 290 women farmers in the above mentioned countries. The results reveal trends that contradict the conventional narratives of gender inequity in agriculture in certain domains of empowerment. In all four countries, women appear to have equal access to productive resources such as land and inputs, and greater control over household income than men. Important intra-regional heterogeneity is observed in terms of community-level empowerment. While women play an active role in agricultural groups in Thailand and in the Philippines, this is predominantly men’s territory in Indonesia and Myanmar. These findings imply that country-specific gender intervention frameworks are necessary to overcome gender gaps in agriculture.

Rodolphe De Koninck and Jean-François Rousseau 『Gambling with the Land: The Contemporary Evolution of Southeast Asian Agriculture』 Singapore: NUS Press, 2012, xv+187p.

Gambling with the Land: The Contemporary Evolution of Southeast Asian Agriculture Rodolphe De Koninck and Jean-Francois Rousseau Singapore: NUS Press, 2012, xv+187p.Gambling with the Land is one of a series of publications resulting from an international research project on Challenges of the Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The main aim of this book is to illustrate ongoing agricultural intensification and expansion throughout Southeast Asian countries by means of an analysis of statistical data. The book focuses in particular on rapid agricultural transformation that began in the middle of the twentieth century, and draws on statistics relating to agricultural production such as crops, livestock, land, production, yields, irrigated areas, the application of chemical fertilizers, the use of tractors, and so on. In spite of the limitations of the database examined in the book, in terms of both time and space and the quality of the data, the authors have managed to present a general analysis of agricultural data and offer a contemporary account of changes taking place in Southeast Asian agriculture.The authors identify four processes behind the agricultural transformation occurring in Southeast Asian countries: commoditization; globalization; agriculturalization; and relays and complementarities of agriculture among nations. These four processes have unevenly developed across the countries and have been influenced by various factors such as a range of national policies, a number of political events, wars, colonialism, regional and international agencies, and the ecological settings specific to the region. These processes bear out a unique feature of Southeast Asian countries: agricultural intensification and expansion go hand-in-hand, thereby contradicting the widely held belief that agricultural development intensifies only after expansion. Agriculturalization is the most interesting process discussed in the book. Research and statistical data confirm that there is an increase in labor migration as a result of the shift from agriculture to industry and services, on which the income structure has become more reliant on such domains. On the other hand, this book also demonstrates that agricultural employment in rural areas is actually increasing in Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines. As such, the keyword gambling is used to describe the nature of the people who largely bet on the land.The main feature of this book is its detailed use of data derived mainly from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOSTAT) data sets between 1961 to 2007 and other figures that paint a contemporary picture of agriculture at the national level. In total, 138 figures account for a total of 187 book pages, and a large part of these are found in chapters 5 to 7 (these in fact make up the bulk of chapter 5's Agricultural Growth, Diversification, Intensification and Expansion, chapter 6's Expansion and Intensification of Food Crops and Increase in Livestock Production, and chapter 7's Expansion and Intensification of Cash Crops). Chapter 7, with 51 figures, is the most important part of this book. Statistics on cash crops such as palm oil, coffee, rubber, tea, coconut, copra oil, cocoa, and sugarcane are used to explain harvested areas, ratios, yields, productions, and the amount of exports and imports by country. …

Evidence for Public Health Risks of Wastewater and Excreta Management Practices in Southeast Asia: A Scoping Review.

The use of wastewater and excreta in agriculture is a common practice in Southeast Asia; however, concerns remain about the potential public health risks of this practice. We undertook a scoping review to examine the extent, range, and nature of literature, as well as synthesize the evidence for associations between wastewater and excreta management practices and public health risks in Southeast Asia. Three electronic databases (PubMed, CAB Direct, and Web of Science) were searched and a total of 27 relevant studies were included and evaluated. The available evidence suggested that possible occupational health risks of wastewater and excreta management practices include diarrhea, skin infection, parasitic infection, bacterial infection, and epilepsy. Community members can be at risk for adverse health outcomes through consuming contaminated fish, vegetables, or fruits. Results suggested that practices including handling, treatment, and use of waste may be harmful to human health, particularly farmer’s health. Many studies in this review, however, had limitations including lack of gender analyses, exposure assessment, and longitudinal study designs. These findings suggest that more studies on identifying, quantitatively assessing, and mitigating health risks are needed if sustainable benefits are to be obtained from wastewater and excreta reuse in agriculture in Southeast Asia.