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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Forty-five researchers, policymakers, and development partners from across Southeast Asia and beyond convened on October 1-2, 2026, for a hybrid regional workshop aimed at translating agricultural research into practical, fundable investments for low-emissions livestock and rice systems.
The workshop, titled “From Priorities to Investment: Advancing Fundable Actions in Livestock and Rice Low-Emissions Systems in Southeast Asia,” was co-organized by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), the Ag Emissions Centre, CGIAR, and SEARCA at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Jakarta and via Zoom. Its primary objective was to formulate an implementation plan under the ASEAN Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Initiative by demonstrating how research-based solutions can be scaled across both agricultural subsectors.
(ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprised of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Viet Nam.)
Her Excellency Joanna Anderson, New Zealand Ambassador to ASEAN, and Dr. Mercedita Sombilla, Center Director of SEARCA, opened the event by stressing the need for regional cooperation to convert agricultural science into viable investments. Anderson highlighted New Zealand’s longstanding ties with ASEAN, noting the milestone of 50 years of diplomatic relations reached in 2025.
“MPI will roll out research, training, and extension activities through June 2027”
She detailed New Zealand’s financial contributions to regional climate action, which include NZD 10 million invested over the past five years in the ASEAN Climate Smart Agriculture Initiative to help identify and measure low-emissions, high-productivity practices, alongside an NZD 19 million contribution to the CGIAR Asian Mega Deltas initiative focused on low-emissions rice systems in the Mekong Delta.
Anderson also announced an additional NZD 610,000 grant from the New Zealand government to extend the ASEAN CSA Initiative through June 2027 to advance essential research, policies, and practical interventions.
Sombilla underscored the necessity of ensuring that scientific advancements reach farm communities directly. She noted that knowledge creates value only when it improves lives, research becomes meaningful when it informs decisions, and innovation becomes transformative when it reaches the farm communities and institutions capable of putting it into practice. She urged attendees to turn shared priorities into investments, investments into concrete action, and action into lasting positive impact for regional farming communities.
Technical presentations during the workshop examined measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems for livestock and rice, the CGIAR Climate Action Science Program, the Global Methane Hub portfolio, the climate-smart agriculture investment plans of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO-RAP), and farmer-led adoption pathways. In breakout discussions, participants established regional research priorities spanning livestock-rice integration, life cycle assessment, harmonized MRV systems, livestock feed options, animal health quantification, circular uses of rice straw, and farmer incentive schemes.
A strong regional consensus concluded that livestock and rice systems must be addressed concurrently rather than in isolation, and that farmer-centered co-design, productivity improvements, and tangible economic benefits are mandatory requirements for achieving widespread adoption.
Closing discussions brought together representatives from CGIAR, SEARCA, and the New Zealand Government to set out future directions.
Dr. Bjoern Ole Sander of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) proposed joint scoping of livestock and rice systems to catalog existing pilots, assess interventions ready for scaling, and outline the empirical evidence needed for regional uptake.
Sombilla reaffirmed SEARCA’s commitment to supporting collaborative efforts across its regional networks in the 11 Southeast Asian countries, pointing to SEARCA’s Consortium for Agricultural Policy and Research Initiatives (CAPRI) as a key vehicle for ongoing work.
William Aikenhead of the New Zealand MPI affirmed that the workshop serves as a vital foundation for crafting a fundable regional plan. He confirmed that MPI will roll out research, training, and extension activities through June 2027 based on these findings, while New Zealand evaluates longer-term climate and agriculture programming with ASEAN covering 2027 to 2030. (/)
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Source: SEARCA