The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) launched the national initiative known as the Sustainable Food System Strategy "MIDORI" in May 2021. Based on this initiative, MAFF initiated the "Green Asia" project to promote the application of technologies that contribute to climate change mitigation and sustainable agriculture in the Asia-Monsoon region, which is currently being implemented by JIRCAS.

According to the Global Report on the Food Crises 2023 (GRFC 2023), more than 250 million people were acutely food-insecure in 2022, the highest level in the last seven years.

As base for JIRCAS activities in Southeast Asia, an office was established in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1972. Currently, the liaison office is located in the Department of Agriculture, Thailand, adjacent to Kasetsart University. At the Southeast Asia Liaison Office, JIRCAS conducts research on trends in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries research in Asia, collects local information, and disseminates JIRCAS research results by participating in the Thailand Science and Technology Exhibition and holding seminars.

Agriculture is a major contributor to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and is also a heavily impacted economic sector. There is a need to develop and disseminate mitigation technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, as well as adaptation technologies to cope with extreme weather events such as droughts that are becoming more frequent with climate change. On the other hand, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all-solution’ for building sustainable agricultural production that is resilient to climate change, and it is extremely important to take into account the particularities of agricultural production in each country and region. In the project “Development of comprehensive agricultural technologies for climate change mitigation and adaption in Monsoon Asia”, we will develop and implement integrated climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies that will lead to behavioral change among farmers and contribute to the goals of the target countries in the Asian monsoon region.

The World Bank has released an analysis showing that the economic growth rate of developing countries in the Asia-Pacific (EAP) region will slow down significantly from + 5.8% in 2019 to + 2.1 ~ 0.5% in 2020 due to the new coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19). While tourism related services are expected to be the most severely affected, agricultural output is also projected to fall by around 3%. In addition, due to the high percentage of farmers in many countries in the EAP region, there are serious concerns that the income and health of small-scale farmers who have difficulty accessing public social security will be significantly affected. The World Bank is calling for bold national action and the need for deeper international cooperation.