Ministers Turn to Digital Technologies to Strengthen Food Systems and Rural Growth

APEC ministers and senior representatives from 21 APEC economies are turning to technological innovation, including artificial intelligence (AI), to strengthen every link of the region's food supply chain, from farm production to rural development.

Convening for the 11th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting in Hangzhou on Tuesday, ministers and senior representatives stressed that resilient food supply chains underpin the region's well-being and economic growth amid mounting disruptions.

“Food security is fundamental to human survival. The domestication, cultivation and cross continental spread of food crops has underpinned human survival, reproduction and civilization progress,” said Liu Guozhong, Vice Premier of China, opening the meeting.

“APEC produces nearly half of the world’s food and is indispensable to global food security. However, we should be aware that elevated threats from natural disasters have brought uncertainty to food production, we need to stand up to new challenges together,” Liu added.

The Asia-Pacific accounts for 47 percent of global disaster-related agricultural losses, with natural hazards and extreme weather disrupt planting calendars, damage harvests and alter soil compositions, leaving some farmers unable to grow the crops they always have.

Ministers pointed to the use of data and AI to help predict risks and improve adaptive agricultural practices as conditions shift. The same tools that are science and evidence based, they said, can strengthen water, soil and forest management to help farmers produce more with fewer resources and less emissions.

Economies also highlighted the need for trade-facilitative technologies to be integrated along the entire supply chain, including biosecurity and customs, cold-chain logistics and traceability systems so that nutritious food reaches consumers faster and safer.

Discussions also underscored the need to cut food loss and waste, a step that can make food more affordable and accessible across the region. From the production and post-harvest to retail and consumption, ministers pointed to better public education, data monitoring and AI as ways to reduce waste and get more out of every harvest.

The meeting stressed the need to put farmers and rural communities at the center of agricultural modernization, ensuring that locally adapted technologies lift incomes for farmers, increase employment in rural areas and competitiveness of small-scale producers.  

Ministers emphasized the need for stronger investment and access to financing to improve infrastructure, public services and digital resources in rural areas, ensuring new technologies deliver practical solutions for the farmers and communities who depend on agriculture.

“The concurrence of climate change, supply chain disruption and multiple challenges have confronted the food security of the Asia-Pacific region. APEC economies are neighbours with diverse agricultural conditions and interlinked interests. It is a shared duty and mission of all APEC members to ensure the region’s food security,” said Zhang Zhu, China's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, also the Chair of APEC Ministerial Meeting on Food Security.

Food security underpins everything else the region builds, ministers noted, calling for closer collaboration between researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs and policymakers to bring science and technology into every link of the food supply chain, guarding against disruptions still ahead.

Also read: APEC Food Security Ministers Issue Joint Statement