Date: 13^th August – 5^th September 2014
Asian agriculture and food chains (agri-food chains) are rapidly evolving to meet local, national, regional and international markets’ needs. These needs include providing easily accessible, affordable, safe, nutritious, healthy, quality food and economically viable industrial feedstock, both produced ethically in globally competitive markets within their own countries and for export.

 

Emerging needs from Asian agri-food chains also include agricultural commodities to be produced through sustainable means. Agri-food chains are also increasingly being expected to contribute to the conservation and spread of socio-cultural heritage and improving the quality of life in rapidly urbanizing societies.

 

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are rapidly transforming agri-food chains locally and globally. They have the potential to make agri-food chains more productive, sustainable and resilient. They can be used to improve the quality and safety of products and to lower costs in complex food value chains.

 

This facilitated e-discussion will consider how agri-food chains in Asia may develop in the future (by 2030) and what roles will ICTs may play in their development. The future development of agri-food chains in Asia may also give direction to innovation in ICTs applied in these chains. This e-discussion will focus on what futures may happen for Asian agri-food systems and ICTs through research, innovation, changes in institutions, regulatory frameworks and organizations at international, regional and national levels.

 

The E-discussion is facilitated by:

Leisa Armstrong, Senior Lecturer, Edith Cowan University

Robin Bourgeois, Senior Foresight Advisor, GFAR Secretariat

Ajit Maru, Senior Officer, Knowledge, GFAR Secretariat

Gerard Sylvester, Knowledge & Information Management Officer, FAO-Bangkok 

Gerhard Schiefer, International Center for Food Chain and Network Research, University of Bonn
 

The outputs from these e-discussions will feed into the one day forum on “Forward Thinking for ICT use in Asian Agri-food Chains” at  9th Conference of the Asian Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture - 2014.

 

We invite all interested to please participate and contribute to this e-discussion.

 

To participate please register at: www.ciard.net and subscribe to www.ciard.net/community/working-groups/e-discussion-asian-agri-food-chains