FAO Regional Consultation on Policy and Programmatic Actions to Address High Food Prices in Asia Region, 9-10 March 2011
The Regional consultation recognized that food prices have increased sharply in recent months and there is a need to prevent or reduce the risks and be better prepared for excessive price. Avoiding excessive volatility in food prices requires investments to preserve access to food by vulnerable populations. An urgent need is felt to reverse the declining flow of resources to agriculture for environmentally sound and sustainable intensification, rural infrastructure development and the strengthening of support services, institutions and safety nets as well emergency responses to maintain minimum food consumption without distorting food markets including the provision of inputs to vulnerable farmers. It is felt that these measures should be taken in close consultation with multilateral and bilateral development partners, civil society organizations, the private sector and other stakeholders at Regional and the country level. Urgent measures should be taken to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable groups, especially women, children and small and marginal farmers. It is felt that the collection and sharing of reliable food price and market information for both producers and consumers should be built on existing mechanisms and databases on a more frequent basis to facilitate timely policy decisions and avoid unnecessary speculation.
The team building meeting aimed to integrate a team building spirit among members of the core group who have been actively engaged in FAO's policy processes at all levels. Specific objectives of the meeting were to take stock of the key recommendations for action from the regional events on food security and poverty eradication, 2010 and prioritize targets for 2011-2013, validate an initial mapping of CSO initiatives along a food systems framework as a tool for joint cooperation both on advocacy and on-ground collaboration in ensuring food self-sufficiency, plan out strategic agenda and road map for next three years including timelines, resource requirements and designated responsible lead organization and priority activities as well sustain the network building process among regional CSOs towards more coordinated actions at the regional level and facilitate cooperation/integration of efforts at the national level through their respective CSO partners.
The two-day meeting was highly participatory with group discussions, exercises and presentations etc. It resulted in a road map of strategic actions (2011-2013) in the Asia-Pacific region towards more effective engagement with various stakeholders on the food security agenda, concrete Plan of action for 2011 at the national, sub-regional and regional levels to carry on collectively based sectoral, thematic, and/or geographic agenda, a working document that will provide elements to a project concept note that could be developed into a proposal for possible resource mobilization to finance the plans into actions and outcomes, a validated and enhanced mapping of stakeholders in the region that will be valuable in the division of labour or tasking among stakeholders and a credible reference in global representation and engagements and increased solidarity and kinship with enhanced understanding and respect of the diverse history, context, approaches, and agenda of each other as fellow CSO advocates and development practitioners in the region.
