Green policies promote the transformation of agrifood systems in Asia

By Dr. Shaikh Tanveer Hossain, Director, Policy and Strategy, IFOAM-Organics Asia

Agriculture, a dominant and crucial sector in Asia, is of strategic importance to alleviating poverty and ensuring sustainable food security.

The worldwide population of smallholder farmers, who are vital for sustainable development, is estimated at 450 million – with approximately 350 million of them in Asia. Asian society and people are rich in traditional knowledge and practices. However, in the past few decades, the use of enormous amounts of chemical and synthetic compounds in agriculture has noticeably impacted soil, biodiversity, human health and the environment.

To address this issue, several Asian governments have adopted sustainable and green agricultural policies that can improve the quality of people’s lives and build a better society for future generations. The impacts of these policies already are being felt, bringing great hope and encouragement to people and cultures.

Let’s look at some of the significant plans and programmes:

In 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry of Japan initiated its mid- to long-term (through 2050) sustainable food systems strategy, known as “MIDORI”. The plan aims to expand the country’s organic area to 1 million ha (25 percent of total farmland), achieve zero carbon emissions in agriculture, reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50 percent through integrated pest management (IPM) and newly developed alternatives, and reduce chemical fertilizer use by 30 percent, among other efforts. The MIDORI Act (“midori” means “green” in Japanese) defines the roles of various stakeholders and promotes their efforts to reduce the environmental burden. The act also points out that food systems transformation requires technology, not only, but also awareness, effort and behavioural change among stakeholders.

The Republic of Korea is shifting slowly towards sustainable agriculture. The country’s five-year (2021–2025) Eco-friendly Agriculture Promotion Act aims to increase environmentally friendly farmland to 10 percent by 2025. The government also updated its nationally determined contributions to achieve by 2030 a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 levels. In addition, the country has submitted its long-term strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The country is now second in Asia, after Timor-Leste, in the share of organic farming in total agricultural land, which reflects the government’s initiatives in the past decade to significantly promote organic farming and focus on organic movements.

The Green Agricultural and Rural Revitalization Programme in China focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farming, enhancing carbon sequestration in farmlands and improving the protection and restoration of biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems. The programme also intends to strengthen the adoption of environmentally sustainable farming and rural infrastructure development practices in selected areas. Launched in 2003 in the Zhejiang Province in eastern China to improve rural living conditions, the programme has continued to expand and evolve, achieving good success. In 2018, the programme received the Champions of the Earth Award, the United Nations’ highest environmental honour, for its transformation of once heavily polluted rivers and streams.

The Government of India is promoting green agriculture through green and sustainable agricultural and good agriculture practices with environmental concerns. Natural farming is a chemical-free farming system rooted in Indian tradition and enriched by a modern understanding of ecology, resource recycling and on-farm resource optimization. The government’s “PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth” promotes the usage of alternative fertilizers and the balanced use of chemical fertilizers.

The Philippines also has taken several steps towards sustainable growth. The 1987 Philippine Constitution included the protection and advancement of the people’s right to a balanced and healthful ecology. Among others, the Organic Agriculture Act, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, the National Integrated and Protected Areas System Act, the Climate Change Act and the Sustainable Development Act are instrumental.

Agriculture in Bangladesh used around 44 423 tonnes of pesticides in 2011 but dropped that amount to 37 422 tonnes in 2020 thanks to the several government initiatives, including those focused on IPM techniques, balanced fertilizer use, growing health awareness and farmers’ training.

Many Asian countries – including China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Thailand – have good school meal plans and programmes for providing nutritious meals to schoolchildren via effective procurement systems. These include guidelines for food and drinks sold at the school canteen, banning the sale of food and beverages by mobile vendors outside of school premises, food provision and labelling, taxes on sugary drinks, and sodium-reduction programmes.

Green agriculture builds a bridge to healthy eating and can minimize environmental impacts while still producing high yields. Promoting sustainable green agricultural programmes and initiatives that reduce carbon emissions, protect natural resources and grow more nutritious foods is inspiring and easy – when local or national governments have such policies and programmes.

In Asia, green policies and programmes are instrumental to achieving agrifood transformation and ensuring access for all people to healthy diets. By producing food in a sustainable and resilient way that helps restore nature, these programmes also go a long way towards delivering an inclusive and equitable society.