The 7^th Ministerial Meeting on Food Security of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was held on August 26 via videoconference. Economies discussed the action plan of the “Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030”, as well as the concrete measures and contributions of each member economy to ensure regional food security. During the meeting, Minister Chi-chung Chen of the Council of Agriculture (COA) shared Chinese Taipei’s strategies and measures to ensure food security along with Ministers responsible for agriculture from other member economies, as well as the creation of a food security digital information platform and the zero-hunger strategy. Dr. Chen also shared Chinese Taipei’s achievements and the future actions in its role as the lead economy in APEC on the issue of food loss and waste reduction. The Ministers adopted the Implementation Plan 2030 and emphasized collective actions of tasks including digitalization, innovation, productivity, inclusivity, sustainability, and public-private partnerships, in order to ensure regional food security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chinese Taipei shares measures and strategies to ensure food security

This year, the issue of food security has drawn even greater attention due to the impact of climate change, COVID-19, and regional conflicts. Minister Chen shared Chinese Taipei’s experiences on building a food security digital information platform. Through real-time monitoring of information including agricultural cultivated area, distribution and production volume, import situation, inventory, prices at production areas and consumer market, trading volume, as well as assessments of future supply and demand to ensure the stability of domestic food supply and demand. In addition, to promote sustainable development of agriculture and achieve the zero-hunger goal, based on Article 9 of the “Food and Agricultural Education Act,” Chinese Taipei proposed a “zero-hunger” program to ensure that all people will be able to access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food while receiving education on local agriculture and nutrition in order to support the industry, develop sustainability, and build a resilient food system.

Chinese Taipei’s role as lead economy in APEC on the issue of food loss and waste reduction

Chinese Taipei successfully implemented a multi-year APEC project to promote food loss and waste reduction. and was widely supported by members. Therefore,  Chinese Taipei  became the  lead economy for Item 17(e) of the Implementation Plan of the “Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030”, which calls on members to: Provide capacity building and best practice sharing workshops to support member economies' individual and collective efforts to align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 12.3 “by 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains.” During the Ministerial Meeting, Minister Chen stated that Chinese Taipei will plan and work with other economies to hold conferences on themes including agricultural measures and strategies to reduce food loss and waste, and ameliorate the impact of climate change, as well as digitalization and innovation strategies. These will enhance capacity building in the APEC region. At the same time, Chinese Taipei will continue to strengthen cooperation with related sub-fora of APEC and other international organizations to share best practices to reduce food loss and waste.

Ministers emphasize importance of ensuring regional food security

The COA states that all economies at this year’s APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting promised to implement and promote the action plan for the “Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030”, and at the same time reiterated the importance of inter-fora cooperation. As an important member of the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese Taipei will work hand in hand with other economies to collectively ensure regional food security.