Key Messages

1. Modern AKST has increased crop, livestock and fishery production over the last 50 years more rapidly than the population increased, improving food avail­ability in the region. The increase has not, however, trans­lated into complete availability, accessibility and afford-ability of food. Food insecurity, poverty and malnutrition remain widespread in some Southeast Asia countries.

2. AKST has improved availability of staple cereals and meat, but micronutrient deficiencies persist. Per capita consumption of cereals has increased in most countries in ESAP. Meat consumption has increased during the 1990s, particularly in China. However, underweight children are still prevalent, as are deficiencies in vitamin A and iron.
3. New irrigation AKST and expanded irrigated areas and inputs (chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbi­cides), have made it profitable to grow high-yield va­rieties. However, increasing withdrawal of water for irrigation has intensified water scarcity in many areas. Irrigation was important in the Green Revolution in the 1960s through the 1980s. However, increasing water with­drawal has decreased discharge of many rivers, affecting aquatic, wetland and estuary ecosystems. The rapid decline in groundwater tables has reduced the resources available and increased costs of accessing water.

3. Inadequate attention has been paid to rainfed pro­duction and technology, despite its great importance in area, production and support of the rural poor. The
paucity of rainfed technology has partly been from decisions by authorities to concentrate research and extension on ir­rigated areas because of the perception these areas are likely to yield greater return. For most crops current drought-re­sistant varieties are associated with low yield.

4. Grazing livestock production systems have gener­ally shifted to mixed farming and intensive commer­cial production systems in most ESAP countries. The
changes in livestock production systems have been related to increased urbanization, improved income and changes in dietary preference. In ESAP, the greatest growth has been in swine production and poultry production, which both depend heavily on commercially processed and traded feed and feed concentrates. Small-scale farmers have increasingly been marginalized.

5. Native forest cover continues to decline across the region as land is converted to agriculture and com­mercial logging. Although only 5% of the world's forests are in Southeast Asia, this region has had nearly 25% of global forest loss in the last decade. The greatest forest de­clines have been in the small island states, such as Micro­nesia, which lost half their forest cover. Increasing popula­tion pressure and illegal logging are the dominant drivers in Southeast Asia, East Asia and South Asia, driven mostly by China, a world leader in plantation forestry. Most planta­tion systems, except in Japan, are less than 15 years old.

6. AKST has enabled innovations in aquaculture, di­versified the culture system, accelerated its produc­tivity and improved its sustainability. The supply of aquaculture products to domestic and export markets, with valuable protein and other nutrients, has increased. AKST in aquaculture offset the stagnation and decreased produc­tivity of marine and inland fisheries. Diversified aquacul­ture technology—pond, pen, cage, raft and raceway culture, monoculture, polyculture and integrated aqua-agriculture— have developed to suit the region's diverse aquatic environ­ment.

7. Transgenic cultivars of some crops are increasingly grown in some countries, but not in others because of concerns of human and environmental safety and restrictions of export markets. Cotton, maize and wheat are the important crops. The most widespread use of trans-genics is in China and India. The target characteristics are herbicide and insect resistance; research is seeking wider im­provement, to stress resistance and nutritive quality.

8. Traditional knowledge and indigenous practices as part of AKST contribute to the welfare of many local communities in ESAP. However, many countries have had an evident trend of loss in traditional knowledge in agriculture because of historical neglect; fast demographic, economic, political and cultural changes; and the aggressive expansion of modern agriculture. Nongovernmental orga­nizations (NGOs) and local communities have been active in using and developing traditional knowledge systems.

9. The funding of AKST in most ESAP countries remains inadequate, despite clear evidence linking productiv­ity improvement to investment in agricultural research and development. The public sector continues to fund the bulk of agricultural research and development in many ESAP countries because of the "public good" character of many technologies that it generates. Private investment is largely concentrated on technology that can provide privi­leges to property rights, relevant to only a small portion of the needs of small-scale farmers. This observation has been prevalent in many developing countries, where limited and fluctuating funding has led to institutional instability.

10.  Modern AKST, especially the intensive use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, has had consider­able adverse effect on sustaining soil, water, biodiver­sity and the ecology. Productivity in many food crops has increased. However, soils and water have deteriorated in many instances and some offsite effects have been observed. Technologies for improving soil fertility and water manage­ment are available but have not been widely adopted. Biodi­versity conservation has not been fully integrated in major agricultural production systems.

11. The benefits of AKST have been inequitably distrib­uted to the farmer community, particularly to women.
Women's control over key economic resources, including land ownership, remains weak, despite women contributing the most time to agricultural production. Accrual of benefits by women has been limited by unequal access to education,