In most developing countries smallholder farmers are key stakeholders for policies targeting food security and alleviating poverty. Nevertheless, smallholder farming is often seen as an uncertain, unprofitable, and unattractive enterprise and its modernization presents technological challenges. Among other vital constraints, it suffers from using outdated/inefficient farming technologies or inappropriate machinery, oftentimes unsuitable for small plots or for the crops usually cultivated by smallholders. Acknowledging that mechanization is crucial for increasing productivity, several countries have made efforts to support the adoption of mechanization among smallholders, including through incentives, subsidies, trainings and technology transfer. However, progress remains stagnant due to limited and insufficient funds from the public sector and the government, among other factors.
 
As a response to this issue, the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) organized with the support of CSAM a ‘Public & Private Workshop on Enabling Investment for Modern and Sustainable Mechanization Technologies and Practices for Smallholder Farming in ASEAN Countries’ on 15 and 16 November 2022. The main goal of the workshop was to merge and share knowledge and experiences from the public and private sectors in ASEAN Member States on the investment in modern mechanization technologies and practices for smallholder farming. 

The workshop was opened by Dr Mohamad Kamal bin Abdul Kadir, Deputy Director General for Research) of MARDI. Dr Yutong Li, Head of CSAM, also delivered opening remarks, recalling that CSAM is dedicated to promoting financing solutions for the adoption of mechanization - which was also the theme of its 2019 Regional Forum. Dr Li highlighted that investment should become a driving force for the development of new technologies and mechanization solutions that are suitable for smallholder farmers because of the clear benefits that can derive from it. Mr Joseph Arbiol, Senior Officer of the ASEAN Secretariat’s Food, Agriculture and Forestry Division also welcomed the participants.

The collaboration between CSAM and MARDI on this topic was originally discussed alongside a meeting of the ASEAN Thematic Working Group on Agricultural Research and Development (ATWGARD), whose members nominated the speakers in the workshop, representing public and private sector perspectives from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.

These perspectives will be distilled into a ‘Framework for enabling investment for modern and sustainable mechanization technologies and practices for smallholder farming in ASEAN’ that MARDI and CSAM will formulate, also drawing upon inputs from a multistakeholder online survey, for presentation to ATWGARD with a view to develop a valuable set of strategies and principles to attract investment in sustainable mechanization for smallholder farming that could be upscaled throughout ASEAN.