Businesses, government and civil society need to forge trust, find alignment and foster collaboration and coordination to secure the future of food and nutrition, as food systems in Southeast Asia and the world hang in a delicate balance.

This is the conclusion of a report by FrieslandCampina and Forum for the Future. Forum for the future are an independent non profit organisation working globally with business, governments and other organisations to solve complex sustainability challenges.

Piet Hilarides, COO, FrieslandCampina Asia, said “as a leading global dairy cooperative, we work with farmers and other value chain partners in Southeast Asia to provide high quality, sustainable milk and dairy products to our consumers”.

In the next five years more than 60 million people will join the consuming class in the ASEAN countries, placing greater demands on food and resources. By 2030, the world needs to produce 50% more food for a rapidly growing population with a shrinking agricultural workforce and depleting natural resources. At the same time, society has also to deal with the burden of malnutrition.

Four key areas

In May 2015, FrieslandCampina and its partner, Forum for the Future, convened a roundtable conference comprising of 21 stakeholders in Singapore.

The group identified four key areas where businesses can and are already acting on food and nutrition security that can be scaled up.

1) Agricultural sustainability – Enabling sustainable production with improved land management, biodiversity conservation and strengthening the livelihood of farmers.

2) Supply chain infrastructure – Identifying areas of waste, inefficiency, bottlenecks as well as opportunities to act through the entire food chain in the region.

3) Product innovation for nutrition – Ensuring the development of healthier products and improving access to more affordable staple and locally grown fresh produce.

4) Promoting healthier eating and lifestyle choices – Shifting consumer behaviour so that consumer behaviour so that consumers can purchase healthier foods, live more active lifestyles and reduce food waste.

The group offered three main recommendations for system for systems change to accelerate progress in these areas:

1) For businesses and group of businesses working on smallholder agricultural sustainability to coordinate their efforts.

2) For businesses in logistics, packaging and information and communications technologies (ICT) to work with those in the food supply chain to optimise efficiency and reduce waste.

3) For companies, government bodies and NGO’s to create a shared approach to engaging the consumer on better diet and lifestyle choices.

These recommendations are merely the start of a conversation, and the challenges, solutions and recommendations need further investigations. The next steps include asking for feedback on where the greatest potential for collaboration is in Southeast Asia and developing the recommendations with the key stakeholders and experts.