LOS BAÑOS, Philippines — The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO-RAP), and the University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Human Ecology (UPLB-CHE) convened a regional workshop on policy coherence and financing for agrifood systems transformation on 24–26 August 2026.
Participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam assessed policies and financing landscapes supporting sustainable agrifood systems. The workshop sought to advance coherent policies and strategic investments that address food insecurity and malnutrition while strengthening economic resilience.
SEARCA Center Director Dr. Mercedita Sombilla emphasized that transformation must be measured not only by the frameworks developed but also by their impact on farmers and communities, food-system resilience, and access to safe, nutritious, affordable, and sustainable food.
Representing UPLB Chancellor Dr. Jose Camacho, Jr., UPLB Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension Dr. Nathaniel Bantayan underscored the importance of collective action built on shared evidence, frameworks, and resolve.
“Only through stronger policy alignment and more strategic financing can we accelerate the transformation of agri-food systems to become more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable,” said Ms. Dulce Carandang, Assistant FAO Representative for Programme of FAO Philippines, on behalf of Mr. Lionel Dabaddie.
Offering a healthy diets perspective in his opening remarks, Dr. Sridhar Dharmapuri, FAO-RAP Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer, emphasized, “We’re looking beyond simply saying that healthy diets are made up of optimal combinations of foods. We’re also thinking about where food groups are coming from, what their impact is on the climate, whether they’re resilient or not, whether they promote livelihoods, as well as what kind of socioeconomic impacts there are.”
Strengthening governance and financing
Providing an overview of the workshop, Dr. Maria Antonia Tuazon, Senior Nutrition and Food Systems Specialist of FAO-RAP, highlighted the vital importance of policy coherence and financing, the instrumental role of parliamentarians and other policymakers, and the need to tap into unexploited sources of financing for agrifood systems transformation.
Country delegates presented findings and good practices from their policy coherence assessments, examining governance gaps, country priorities, and their effects on food-system outcomes.
Discussions showed that local and regional institutions often struggle to implement national frameworks because of limited budgets, weak institutional mandates, and misaligned priorities. Participants also identified fragmented public financing, limited access to domestic and external funding, and coordination and investment gaps across sectors.
Dr. Rathana Peou Norbert-Munns, Asia-Pacific Focal Point of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, stressed that policies must be effectively implemented in communities and translated into legislation.
UPLB-CHE Dean Dr. Jennifer Amparo highlighted the role of local institutions, noting that decentralization can support nutrition only when backed by people, budgets, and leadership.
Meanwhile, Asia Scaling Up Nutrition Movement Regional Representative Dr. Eadara Srikanth emphasized the value of expenditure tagging and budget tracking in strengthening accountability and informing future investments.
Ms. Tomoko Kato, Senior Food and Nutrition Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, also stressed that nutrition objectives should be integrated directly into agricultural projects.
Moving from evidence to action
Delegates agreed on four priority actions:
- Institutionalize cross-sectoral coordination and stakeholder engagement;
- Strengthen results-based monitoring, evaluation, and data systems;
- Integrate nutrition into agriculture and food policies while aligning financing with national priorities; and
- Build the capacities of subnational and local institutions for implementation and service delivery.
At the close of the workshop, Dharmapuri expressed hope that the partnerships developed through the event would lead to continued collaboration and concrete action for agrifood systems transformation in ASEAN.