14 July 2023
Empowering Digitalisation in ASEAN Agriculture: Lessons from EU Regional Platforms for Geospatial Technologies
Executive Summary
Food security remains a pressing challenge among countries in ASEAN, with more than half the region’s total population being unable to afford healthy diets. The Internet of Things in agriculture and various other digital technologies could potentially help farmers in ASEAN to adapt to changing climatic environments, but challenges in terms of financing, education/engagement, and infrastructure connectivity prevent the scaling-up of farmers’ technology adoption. To address these challenges, this policy report recommends that ASEAN should benchmark its approach to food security with the European Union’s approaches, which leverage geospatial technologies for informed and tailored government support to farmers across diverse agroclimatic environments. Specifically, it proposes (1) developing a regional platform for sharing of geospatial data at the farm level across companies and governments to allow for rationalising and creating synergies in approaches amid resource constraints; and (2) developing standards for interoperability of geospatial data, potentially referencing ISO 19131 on data product specifications for geographic information.
Executive Summary
Food security remains a pressing challenge among countries in ASEAN, with more than half the region’s total population being unable to afford healthy diets. The Internet of Things in agriculture and various other digital technologies could potentially help farmers in ASEAN to adapt to changing climatic environments, but challenges in terms of financing, education/engagement, and infrastructure connectivity prevent the scaling-up of farmers’ technology adoption. To address these challenges, this policy report recommends that ASEAN should benchmark its approach to food security with the European Union’s approaches, which leverage geospatial technologies for informed and tailored government support to farmers across diverse agroclimatic environments. Specifically, it proposes (1) developing a regional platform for sharing of geospatial data at the farm level across companies and governments to allow for rationalising and creating synergies in approaches amid resource constraints; and (2) developing standards for interoperability of geospatial data, potentially referencing ISO 19131 on data product specifications for geographic information.
