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s 2015 nears, so does the ASEAN single community. Thus, stronger ties with Japan are important to address agricultural issues, as the sector is the backbone of the region'€™s economy, an agricultural expert said.

During a symposium on Human Resource Development in Agriculture and the Food Industry, held by the Japanese Embassy in cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on Tuesday, participants raised alarming failures in addressing agricultural issues within the region.

Ryo Akashi of the University of Miyazai, Japan '€” which offers a summer program that provides training in
conservation, management and the use of genetic resources '€” stressed the importance of the dissemination of the lessons learned by Japan.

'€œAgriculture education is very important [as] these programs can help the ASEAN community,'€ he said.

Indonesia is known for its biodiversity, however, the rapid depletion of rainforests has resulted in the
extinction of many species.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) estimates that 40 million Indonesians in rural areas rely on biodiversity. Wetland ecosystems on small islands are especially important.

Commitment to genetic resources in agriculture from industry and governments are needed to preserve such diversity.

The education, culture, sports, science and technology ministries in Japan have created the national BioResource Project (NBRP) to comprehensively promote life sciences.

'€œEducation, science and technology are the biggest keys to the development of agriculture and human resources. Agriculture is the engine of growth,'€ said deputy secretary-general of ASEAN for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Alicia Dela Rosa Bala.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at the United Nations, 1.3 billion tons of food per year is wasted, with the majority occurring during production and post-harvest handling. As a general rule, developing countries suffer the most food losses during agricultural production.

'€œThere is a lot of room for development,'€ said Naoji Kato, the director and executive vice president of Nichirei Foods Inc., a frozen food producer in Japan.

Kato concluded that sharing food safety standards with ASEAN member countries was a necessity and he recommended the modernization of a comprehensive food supply chain system.

Nichirei instigated a public-private partnership (PPP) program to develop their cold chain infrastructure, which has more than doubled in size over 30 years.

The public and private sectors need to invest in better food storage to prevent the catastrophic results waste management can have on the environment. The FAO'€™s food wastage footprint report found that, annually, food wastage produces 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gas.

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post