APEC harmonizes PPP investments in food security

Governmental investment in agriculture

Hirofumi Kobayashi from Japan said that the Japanese government has provided support programs for farmers to maintain production, expand exports and increase intellectual property.

Jorge Escurra from Peru said that the government determined and focused on investment in two major agricultural programs. One of them attracted investment capital of US$4 billion in the irrigation system.

Chih-Chiang Wu from Chinese-Taipei said that Chinese-Taipei currently has six governmental establishments serving agricultural development with a main task of introducing and providing information about new technologies in agriculture for farmers.

Central Institute for Economic Management Former Deputy Director Vo Tri Thanh indicated principles in governmental subsidies for agriculture, including determining the right prices and promoting direct subsidies.

Vietnam has signed many free trade agreements as a part to promote restructuring of the agricultural sector. Free trade agreements are seen as the catalyst to help Vietnam promote institutional reforms and create favorable conditions to improve management skills and persify markets.

Raising capital

Almost all APEC member countries agreed on raising capital and calling for public-private partnership (PPP) investments in the construction of sustainable and modern agricultural infrastructure. Investment in agricultural infrastructure in the mountainous region remains expensive, especially for operations, maintenance and repairing. Therefore, the PPP model based on the community is very important and brings many advantages.

It is essential to raise private investment in agricultural infrastructure development. Malaysia has raised US$1 billion from the private sector to ensure better development in agriculture.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Center Director Kensuke Tanaka said that APEC members should not put high expectations on PPP investments in agriculture as it has not yet proved success. He also recommended that the governments should prioritize capital raising from official development assistance (ODA).

According to the United Nations, the world population would reach around 9.6 billion by 2050. Therefore, agricultural production needs to increase by 70 percent to meet the needs.

Thu Hang