“Achieving food security at regional, national and household levels has long been a struggle for the region, even during the best of economic times,” ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said in a speech to hundreds of policymakers, development experts and representatives from the public and private sectors at the Investment Forum for Food Security in Asia and the Pacific.

“A sustainable and balanced rebound in Asia, coupled with the hard lessons we learned during the 2008 food crisis, presents us with a golden opportunity to harness our collective resources in order to achieve food security.”

Co-organized by ADB, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the forum aims to identify barriers to achieving food security and explore a range of opportunities to overcome them.

In a video address to the forum, FAO Director-General Dr. Jacques Diouf estimated that food production will need to double in the developing world by 2050 in order to feed the growing population.

“A production increase of this magnitude will require the developing world alone to invest over $200 billion per year in agriculture till 2050, of which almost $120 billion would have to be invested in the Asia-Pacific region alone.”

IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze said in his video remarks that there is ignificant potential in Asia and the Pacific to raise agricultural productivity and food production.

“This can be done by improving crop management, expanding the use of modern varieties, strengthening rural infrastructure and improving post-harvest technologies,” Mr. Nwanze said, adding that adequate funding for research and development must also be provided.