Media Release
For Immediate Release
Harnessing Technology and Finance to Support ASEAN’s Smallholders
Singapore, 27 February 2025: The Singapore Institute of International Affairs’ (SIIA) has released a new report, ‘Sustainable Value Chains: Tech and Finance for ASEAN’s Smallholders’, highlighting the urgent need to integrate smallholder farmers into sustainable supply chains through digital technology and blended finance, and the role that Singapore’s tech and finance industry can play in this effort.
The report is based on a workshop at the SIIA’s 11th Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources (SWR), where industry leaders, policymakers, and financial experts convened to explore innovative solutions for smallholder farmers. Such farmers operate small plots of land, but these add up. For some products like coffee and cocoa, smallholders account for over 80% of the ASEAN region’s output. As such, it is important to increase sustainability and productivity among smallholder farmers, both to enhance their livelihoods as well as to strengthen ASEAN’s overall economic and food security.
Key Findings and Recommendations
While smallholders play a crucial role in global supply chains, many face challenges such as low productivity, lack of financing, and difficulty meeting sustainability standards. The report outlines three key strategies to support smallholders:
- Invest in Technology to Build Capacity and Networks for Smallholders: Digital platforms should be developed in collaboration with farmers to provide training and operational insights, ensuring they meet real-world needs.
- Use Technology to Connect Smallholders to Supply Chains and Markets: Governments, businesses, and NGOs should integrate smallholders into traceability platforms, helping them to meet the due diligence requirements needed to access high-value international markets.
- Leverage Blended Finance to Accelerate Transformation for Smallholders: Financing from private sector, philanthropic, public, and multilateral sources must be combined to support smallholder engagement projects, utilising frameworks like ASEAN Investment Framework for Haze-Free Sustainable Land Management to align investments with sustainable agriculture goals.
ASEAN’s Role In Sustainable Supply Chains
The report underscores the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration involving governments, agribusinesses, financial institutions, and technology firms, many of which are based in Singapore. While Singapore is not a major agricultural producer, its strategic position as a financial and trading hub enables it to drive the transition towards inclusive and sustainable supply chains.
“ASEAN and Singapore must work together to inlock the potential of smallholder farmers by integrating them into technology-driven, sustainable value chains,” said Associate Professor Simon Tay, chairman of SIIA. “Amidst rising costs and prices, there is constant pressure on the agricultural sector to open up new farmland, which could lead to deforestation. We must learn to do more with the farms we already have.”
“Sustainability is not just about meeting environmental targets, it is also about ensuring that agricultural production can meet demand. This must include giving farmers in ASEAN the tools they need to thrive in the evolving global economy,” added Mr. Aaron Choo, SIIA’s Senior Assistant Director (Special Projects and Sustainability).
The full report is available for download here.
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For further enquiries, please contact the SIIA at media@siiaonline.org.
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Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA)
The Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) provides insights and perspectives for policymakers, businesses and individuals in navigating issues facing the world. Our work serves as a bridge between these stakeholders, to nudge policy change through dialogue and collective action.
As a founding member of the ASEAN-ISIS (ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies) network since 1988, we engage in “Track II” diplomacy, fostering dialogue among stakeholders in our region and beyond.
We have been consistently ranked as one of the leading think tanks in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, in the Global Go-To Think Tank Index* by the University of Pennsylvania. Since 2017, we were ranked the No. 1 independent think tank in Asia. We were also recognised as one of the top 50 think tanks globally, excluding the United States of America. In 2019, we were recognised as the No. 1 think tank in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific (excluding India). In 2020, we were also recognised as one of the think tanks with the best policy and institutional response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our vision is to contribute to a region that is inclusive, peaceful and prosperous – an integrated, sustainable and globally competitive ASEAN and a Singapore that is an open, dynamic hub and responsive node.
*Note: Professor James McGann, the creator of the Global Go To Think Tank Index, passed away in 2021. As a result, the Index has not been updated. The Lauder Institute has not indicated when or if it will continue publishing the Index. The index was last published in 2020.
