East and South-East Asia
Previous Timor-Leste
Next Cambodia
East & South-East Asia region program 2021–22
|
Partner country |
No. projects |
|---|---|
|
Cambodia |
15 |
|
China |
2 |
|
Indonesia |
25 |
|
Laos |
16 |
|
Myanmar |
12 |
|
Philippines |
15 |
|
Vietnam |
26 |
Note that a project may be conducted in several countries,
therefore the total number of projects in this table will be
greater than the number of projects in the region.
Image
Collectively, the countries of East and South-East Asia are the most populous in the world and an economic powerhouse. Ten of these countries are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and engage closely in terms of trade and investment with east Asian countries, including China and South Korea.
For the past decade, the region has shown a decline in poverty and income inequality, along with improvements in the Human Development Index for countries in the region. The ASEAN economy has consistently outperformed the global economy and is the fifth largest economy in the world, with a combined GDP of A$4.8 trillion in 2018.
With over a hundred million hectares of agricultural land, the ASEAN countries collectively are a major producer, supplier, and exporter of various crops, grains (including rice) and livestock products. Although agriculture only contributes around 10% of total ASEAN GDP, it is the main sector for employment in most member states, accounting for approximately one-third of total ASEAN employment. Given its significant role, the development of the food, agriculture and forestry sectors in ASEAN countries is vital to ensuring equitable and inclusive growth in the region.
The vast and rapid spread of COVID-19 means that the economic outlook in the region remains highly uncertain. Various groups, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, forecast that growth in South-East Asia will be low (falling from 44.4% to 1%), and that 9.6 million people will become extremely poor due to the pandemic. Several countries in the region (for example, Laos and Cambodia) have high debt levels and low foreign currency reserves, increasing their risk of financial crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of food supply chains in the region, prompting calls for the region to become food resilient and sustainable by shortening existing food supply chains and strengthening food systems. The pandemic also heightened the pressure on countries to reverse the trend of underinvesting in the food and agriculture sector. This includes investing in rural logistics, upskilling, research and development, in addition to harnessing the use of digital technology to benefit the farming community.
Food security, food safety and better nutrition remain priority concerns within the region. These priorities align with ASEAN’s goals of agricultural cooperation. Support for women’s economic empowerment, which has become a prominent approach to addressing gender gaps in economic spheres, including agriculture, continues to grow.
Partner countries in the ACIAR East and South-East Asia region
- Cambodia
- China
- Indonesia
- Laos
- Myanmar
- Philippines
- Vietnam
Drivers of regional collaboration
The principal driver of regional collaboration in the East and South-East Asia region is ASEAN, which for more than 50 years has addressed shared challenges and engaged trade and development partners, including Australia and China. Recently, regional collaboration has been driven by critical factors such as the pandemic, geopolitics and transboundary concerns.
Trade and investment are the major drivers of economic growth in the region, aided by overseas development assistance. Assistance to ASEAN countries has increased, with the most notable being China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In the agricultural research sector, ACIAR is supporting regional collaboration through support to APAARI. Cross-border challenges such as plant and animal biosecurity remain prominent and also drive regional integration. In the Mekong region, plant diseases have recently spread across borders, destroying crops of cassava and banana. African swine fever has taken a tremendous economic toll on countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Cambodia. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic raised biosecurity and One Health (the interface between human, animal, and environmental health) as priorities in the region.
Shared concerns about imminent and increasing threats posed by climate change has resulted in ASEAN creating a ‘framework of ASEAN community building, with strategies and actions to enhance regional and international cooperation in supporting adaptation’. In the field of agricultural research and development, regional cooperation plays a significant role, particularly in regard to increasing resilience and adaptation to climate change, natural disasters and other shocks.
The South-East Asia region is one of the most natural disaster-prone in the world. Natural disasters threaten food security and rural livelihoods and have economic consequences for the whole region, so disaster mitigation is a common interest among neighbouring countries. The ‘ASEAN Declaration on One ASEAN One Response’ aims to increase the speed, scale and solidarity of disaster response in the region.
In 2020, ACIAR supported an assessment of food system security, resilience and emerging risks in the Indo-Pacific in the context of COVID-19. This assessment identified a range of possible actions that could be taken by governments and other food systems stakeholders to increase food systems resilience in the face of future shocks. While the assessment included the whole region, there was a particular focus on Indonesia and Philippines as case studies.
Region-wide cooperation on forest biosecurity
Our on-the-ground work in South-East Asia primarily occurs with 7 partner countries (listed in the table above). However, we do work with development and coordinating organisations based in other countries in the region on issues and programs of regional significance.
For example, in recent decades Thailand has transitioned from aid recipient to aid donor. Thailand hosts regional organisations of relevance to ACIAR programs, including APAARI, the Asian Institute of Technology and the FAO regional office. We also include Thai expertise on projects of regional significance when opportunities arise.
In 2021–22, we have a regional project, ‘Building effective forest health and biosecurity networks in South-East Asia’ (FST/2020/123), that includes partners from Thailand and Malaysia, as well as partners from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam. A description of this project can be found on page 85 in the Cambodia chapter.
ACIAR East and South-East Asia region program
The ACIAR program in East and South-East Asia remains the largest across the 4 regions in which we operate. The nature of our engagement within the region is strongly bilateral, based on robust partnerships with national research systems, longstanding diplomatic connections and sustained development collaboration with Australia. However, there is a growing trend towards regional collaboration between countries facing shared challenges. This is consistent with the research partnerships under ASEAN, which acknowledge that collaboration among member states is a sensible path towards addressing common challenges in the region.
The ASEAN drive towards regional economic integration and connectivity will increase demand from individual countries and regional bodies for research support that harmonises approaches in some agricultural issues across countries, including biosecurity, food safety and climate resilience. We contribute to this by funding regional research collaboration and through our support and chairing of APAARI.
Among our newer regional collaborations in the East and South-East Asia region are efforts to identify efficient biosecurity risk-management systems in the region to respond to prominent outbreaks affecting plant and animal health. For example, Indonesia, the Philippines and Laos are involved in regional research focusing on an integrated system to manage Fusarium wilt (Panama disease) in banana crops with components of biosecurity and disease management.
Another research collaboration focusing on plant biosecurity engages the whole of the Mekong region and China. The research will address serious diseases of cassava through a multipronged strategy involving breeding, surveillance, agronomy and seed systems interventions, coupled with engagement with government institutions and agribusiness.
The incursion of African swine fever to the region in 2019 also provided a strong context for regional collaboration in One Health. An ACIAR regional research collaboration that involves Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos seeks to understand how veterinary service markets might be better managed and governed by agents of government interested in human health, in cooperation with agents interested in agriculture and animal health.
Trilateral collaboration and new partnership models are emerging for ACIAR in the East and South-East Asia region. Driving these new partnership models are greater capacities that can be achieved when resources are pooled. This is translating into substantial co-investment from partners such as Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. While bilateral relationships remain the predominant model for development cooperation in the region, trilateral collaboration is increasingly possible and desired by partner countries.
Opportunities for trilateral research collaboration with Australia in the region include varietal development to manage devastating new diseases in banana, cassava and citrus; machinery innovation for conservation agriculture among smallholder farmers; and research to develop perennial rice varieties.
Securing the future of coconut
Grown in more than 90 tropical countries, on more than 12 million hectares, coconut is important to millions of smallholder households. The future of coconut production and livelihoods is threatened by senile plantings, which face further decline from pest and disease, climate change and poor conservation and management of genetic resources. Access to coconut genetic diversity is vital to sustaining the livelihoods of millions of smallholders and their communities around the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
During 2021–22, ACIAR, DFAT and the International Coconut Community will continue their collaboration to reinvigorate and sustain the Coconut Genetic Resources Network (COGENT). The program will focus on better coconut science, through a global coconut strategy to address the challenges outlined above. The program will work with other organisations to ensure a viable COGENT secretariat to safeguard coconut genetic resources and better address disease threats. The network is active throughout the Asia-Pacific region and led by Dr Jelfina Alouw, Executive Director of the International Coconut Community, who is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
ACIAR project GP/2018/193
Current and proposed projects in the East and South-East Asia region, 2021–22
|
Project title |
Project code |
Country |
|
Agribusiness |
||
|
Agricultural policy research to support natural resource management in Indonesia’s upland landscapes |
Indonesia |
|
|
Understanding the drivers of successful and inclusive rural regional transformation: sharing experiences and policy advice in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Pakistan |
Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Pakistan |
|
|
Evaluating smallholder livelihoods and sustainability in Indonesian coffee and cocoa value chains |
Indonesia |
|
|
Improving smallholder farmer incomes through strategic market development in mango supply chains in southern Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Improving milk supply, competitiveness and livelihoods in smallholder dairy chains in Indonesia |
Indonesia |
|
|
Improving livelihoods in Myanmar and Vietnam through vegetable value chains |
Myanmar, Vietnam |
|
|
Inclusive agriculture value chain financing |
Indonesia, Vietnam |
|
|
Developing vegetable and fruit value chains and integrating them with community development in the southern Philippines |
Philippines |
|
|
Strengthening leadership, coordination and economic development of the temperate fruit industry in northern Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Establishing sustainable solutions to cassava diseases in mainland South-East Asia |
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam |
|
|
Increasing the sustainability, productivity and economic value of coffee and black pepper farming systems and value chains in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam |
AGB/2018/175 |
Vietnam |
|
Agribusiness-led inclusive value chain development for smallholder farming systems in the Philippines |
AGB/2018/196 |
Philippines |
|
Planning and establishing a sustainable smallholder rice chain in the Mekong Delta |
AGB/2019/153 |
Vietnam |
|
Research to support agricultural policy and strategic planning: research to assist the Vietnam Government with the formulation of the 2021–2030 Agricultural Development Strategy for Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Agriculture for tourism: research to advance a synergistic development pathway for local agribusiness value chains and tourism in Bali, with application to similar high intensity regional tourism hubs throughout Indonesia |
Indonesia |
|
|
Food loss in the catfish value chain of the Mekong River Basin (Food Loss Research Program) |
CS/2020/209 |
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam |
|
Climate Change |
||
|
Improving greenhouse gas inventory systems to support the mitigation ambitions of Fiji and Vietnam |
WAC/2019/150 |
Fiji, Vietnam |
|
Crops |
||
|
International Mungbean Improvement Network 2 |
Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar |
|
|
Weed management techniques for mechanised and broadcast lowland crop production systems in Cambodia and Laos |
Cambodia, Laos |
|
|
Sustainable intensification and diversification in the lowland rice system in Northwest Cambodia |
Cambodia |
|
|
Fisheries |
||
|
Harvest strategies for Indonesian tropical tuna fisheries to increase sustainable benefits |
Indonesia |
|
|
Increasing technical skills supporting community-based sea cucumber production in Vietnam and the Philippines |
Philippines, Vietnam |
|
|
Half-pearl industry development in Tonga and Vietnam |
Tonga, Vietnam |
|
|
Accelerating the development of finfish mariculture in Cambodia through south-south research cooperation with Indonesia |
Cambodia, Indonesia |
|
|
Development of rice fish systems in the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar |
Myanmar |
|
|
Assessing upstream fish migration measures at Xayaburi Dam in Laos |
Laos |
|
|
A nutrition-sensitive approach to coastal fisheries management and development in Timor-Leste and Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, Indonesia |
FIS/2017/032 |
Indonesia, Timor-Leste |
|
Baseline monitoring and evaluation of long-term impacts on fish stocks from coral restoration |
Philippines |
|
|
Translating fish passage research outcomes into policy and legislation across South-East Asia |
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos |
|
|
Regional coral restoration networks and appropriate technologies for larger-scale coral and fish habitat restoration in the Philippines and Australia |
Philippines |
|
|
Developing social and economic monitoring and evaluation systems in Indonesian tuna fisheries to assess potential impacts of alternative management measures on vulnerable communities |
Indonesia |
|
|
Blue economy: valuing the carbon sequestration potential in oyster aquaculture |
Vietnam |
|
|
Institutional effectiveness and political economy of coral reef restoration in the Philippines |
FIS/2021/112 |
Philippines |
|
Supporting grouper farming smallholders in Vietnam to improve their small-medium enterprise businesses by engaging with aquafeed companies to produce commercial feeds |
Vietnam |
|
|
Forestry |
||
|
Developing and promoting market-based agroforestry options and integrated landscape management for smallholder forestry in Indonesia (Kanoppi2) |
Indonesia |
|
|
Advancing enhanced wood manufacturing industries in Laos and Australia |
Laos |
|
|
Developing and promoting market-based agroforestry and forest rehabilitation options for northwest Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Reducing forest biosecurity threats in South-East Asia |
FST/2018/179 |
Indonesia, Vietnam |
|
Supporting agroforestry through tree improvement and gene conservation in Laos |
Laos |
|
|
Building effective forest health and biosecurity networks in South-East Asia |
FST/2020/123 |
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam |
|
Forest restoration for economic outcomes |
FST/2020/137 |
Laos |
|
Horticulture |
||
|
Development of area-wide management approaches for fruit flies in mango for Indonesia, Philippines, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region |
Indonesia, Philippines |
|
|
Developing vegetable value chains to meet evolving market expectations in the Philippines |
Philippines |
|
|
Improving mango crop management in Cambodia, the Philippines and Australia to meet market expectations |
HORT/2016/190 |
Cambodia, Philippines |
|
An integrated management response to the spread of Fusarium wilt of banana in South-East Asia |
Indonesia, Laos, Philippines |
|
|
Preparedness and management of huánglóngbìng (citrus greening disease) to safeguard the future of citrus industry in Australia, China and Indonesia |
Indonesia, China |
|
|
Livestock Systems |
||
|
Intensification of beef cattle production in upland cropping systems in Northwest Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Investigating and developing interventions to mitigate food borne parasitic disease in production animals in Laos |
Laos |
|
|
Improving farmer livelihoods by developing market-oriented small ruminant production systems in Myanmar |
Myanmar |
|
|
Improving cattle production in the Myanmar Central Dry Zone through improved animal nutrition, health and management |
Myanmar |
|
|
Safe Pork: market-based approaches to improving the safety of pork in Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Goat production systems and marketing in Laos and Vietnam |
Laos, Vietnam |
|
|
Evaluating zoonotic malaria transmission and agricultural and forestry land use in Indonesia |
Indonesia |
|
|
Collaboration on One Health economic research for systems |
Cambodia |
|
|
Asian chicken genetic gains: a platform for exploring, testing, delivering, and improving chickens for enhanced livelihood outcomes in South-East Asia |
Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam |
|
|
Global burden of animal disease initiative: Indonesia case study |
LS/2020/156 |
Indonesia |
|
COVID-19: gendered risks, impact and response in the Indo-Pacific: rapid research and policy guidance |
Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines |
|
|
Rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on wet market reforms: case studies from Vietnam, Kenya and the Philippines |
Kenya, Philippines, Vietnam |
|
|
Vulnerability in the Anthropocene: a prospective analysis of the need for social protection |
Myanmar, Vietnam |
|
|
Livestock climate lens Part 1: data landscape analysis |
Myanmar, Vanuatu |
|
|
Social Systems |
||
|
Uptake of agricultural technologies amongst farmers in Battambang and Pailin provinces, Cambodia |
Cambodia |
|
|
Enhancing livelihoods through forest and landscape restoration |
Philippines |
|
|
Building institutions for the sustainable management of artesian groundwater in Myanmar |
Myanmar |
|
|
Analysing gender transformative approaches to agricultural development with ethnic minority communities in Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Next generation agricultural extension: social relations for practice change |
Cambodia |
|
|
Policy impact in Laos: from research to practice |
Laos |
|
|
Understanding agrichemical use in South-East Asian agriculture |
SSS/2020/143 |
Laos, Vietnam |
|
Building the evidence base on the impacts of mobile financial services for women and men in farming households in Laos and Cambodia |
SSS/2020/160 |
Cambodia, Laos |
|
Assessment of Indonesia’s agricultural innovation system |
Indonesia |
|
|
Soil and Land Management |
||
|
Improving community fire management and peatland restoration in Indonesia |
Indonesia |
|
|
Land management of diverse rubber-based systems in southern Philippines |
Philippines |
|
|
Farmer options for crops under saline conditions in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam |
Vietnam |
|
|
Crop health and nutrient management of shallot-chilli-rice cropping systems in coastal Indonesia |
Indonesia |
|
|
Soil-based challenges for cropping in Shan State (nutrient acquisition) |
Myanmar |
|
|
Managing heavy metals and soil contaminants in vegetable production to ensure food safety and environmental health in the Philippines |
SLAM/2020/117 |
Philippines |
|
Validating technologies for assessing and monitoring the impacts of re-wetting of peatland Indonesia using eddy flux towers coupled with the Chameleon sensors |
Indonesia |
|
|
Reducing uncertainty in greenhouse gas emissions from Indonesian peatfire |
Indonesia |
|
|
Management practices for profitable crop livestock systems for Cambodia and Laos |
Cambodia, Laos |
|
|
Land suitability assessment and site-specific soil management for Cambodian uplands |
Cambodia |
Notes: More details (including project leader, commissioned organisation and partner organisations) are provided in the appendixes. The project list was compiled in June 2021. Additional projects not listed in this table may be commissioned during 2021–22.