Agriculture is the backbone of the Greater Mekong Subregion’s economies. With over 60% of the subregion’s 340 million inhabitants engaged in small-scale agriculture, it directly supports the livelihoods of nearly 200 million people.
The Working Group on Agriculture (WGA) has been working toward the implementation of priority projects under the Core Agriculture Support Program.
Agriculture is the cornerstone of many families’ livelihoods, however it is also exacting a toll on the environment, contributing to forest and biodiversity loss, water pollution and shortages, soil degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions.
People and governments in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are working to develop agricultural practices that simultaneously conserve land and water resources, while at the same time increasing the productivity and profitability of agriculture, particularly for small-scale farmers.
The GMS Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030), endorsed and adopted at the 7th GMS Summit of Leaders in September 2021 to provide a new setting for the development of this subregion for the next decade, notes that in the agriculture sector, GMS-2030 will promote higher food safety and quality standards for expanding exports, for which an alignment of policies and standards will be required in the subregion. GMS-2030 will encourage climate- and environment-friendly production practices along the value chain, as well as sustain natural assets with a focus on small-scale farmers and micro, small, and medium-sized agro-enterprises. Given that COVID-19 has adversely impacted agricultural supply chains, GMS-2030 will support food security response and recovery efforts in the medium and long terms.
The GMS Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Program (GMS SAFSP), implemented in 2019,has been designed to assist the GMS countries to tackle key climate change challenges to their agricultural sectors.Its three themes are: (i) climate-friendly, inclusive, and gender responsive agri-food value chains and agribusiness; (ii) climate-adaptive agriculture in the context of water-energy food nexus; and (iii) harmonized crop and livestock safety and quality systems.
The SAFSP was prepared in response to the recommendations of GMS agriculture ministers in 2017. They expressed a joint vision of promoting the GMS as a leading supplier of safe, quality and climate-friendly agri-food products. Achieving this vision depends on overcoming multiple barriers along the agrifood value chains. The ministers endorsed the Strategy for Promoting Safe and Environment Friendly Agro-Based Value Chains in the GMS at the 2nd GMS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia on 6-8 September 2017. The Strategy aims to promote safe and environment-friendly agriculture products, and a plan to strengthen value chain integration, involving smallholder farmers, rural women, as well as small and medium-sized agro-enterprises.
The GMS SAFSP builds on the achievements of the GMS Core Agriculture Support Program (CASP) phase I (2006-2012) and phase II (2011-2020).
Related
• Strategy for Promoting Safe and Environment-Friendly Agro-Based Value Chains and Siem Reap Action Plan, 2018-2022
• Core Agriculture Support Program Phase II (2011-2015)
• Core Agriculture Support Program Phase I (2006-2010)
• GMS Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Program Newsletter
• Working Group on Agriculture (WGA)
Send inquiries to GMS CCESP Secretariat and GMS Secretariat.
Agriculture accounts for more than half the workforce in most ADB developing member countries. In the Greater Mekong Subregion, agriculture forms the backbone of its countries’ economies, directly supporting the livelihoods of nearly 200 million people with over 60% of the subregion’s 340 million inhabitants engaged in small-scale agriculture.
A pilot project has developed night markets in selected border towns in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) to take advantage of the economic opportunities opened by infrastructure projects in the area.
The Asian Development Bank, through a grant from Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, supports 87,000 households in Myanmar to improve productivity and enhance livelihoods through community-driven development initiatives.
The book presents research into the production of safe, high quality, and environmentally friendly agriculture products in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
The Greater Mekong Subregion Working Group on Agriculture held its 16th meeting on 17–18 June 2019 in Luang Prabang, Lao People's Democratic Republic.
Pilot projects in the Greater Mekong Subregion are helping increase small farmers’ income by enhancing their access to the lucrative organic food market using a community-based certification system.
This publication provides an assessment of the agriculture, natural resources, and rural development sector in the Lao People's Democratic Republic and explains the country's and the Asian Development Bank's strategic investment priorities.
A pilot project in the Greater Mekong Subregion explored the use of satellite technology to improve the collection of paddy rice statistics to support better policymaking.
HA NOI, VIET NAM (27 November 2018) — The Asian Development Bank has approved over $100 million in financing to help the Government of Viet Nam install eight modernized irrigation systems in five drought-affected provinces, which will improve agricultural productivity, especially among farmers growing high-value crops such as coffee, peppers, grapes, dragon fruits, and mangoes.
This publication highlights how the Greater Mekong Subregion Core Environment Program has contributed to sustainable development over the last decade.
