Abul Kamar

Reframing Food Systems Debate Through Economics, Development and Environment Climate Nexus

Odisha’s agricultural export footprint

Odisha’s agricultural exports are rising steadily, yet they remain highly concentrated in a few products and districts. Shrimp continues to dominate, while cotton and rice are gradually emerging as important contributors. Notably, the share of agriculture in Odisha’s total merchandise exports has nearly doubled from 4% in 2021–22 to 7% in 2024–25,.

Inception Report of Advancing Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration in the ASEAN and BIMSTEC Regions

The Policy Round Table and Inception Workshop, held over two days in Jakarta, Indonesia during 4-5 August 2025, brought together national partners from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and the Philippines; officials from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Secretariat; policymakers; researchers; and development practitioners from ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries and secretariat to chart the way forward for the second phase of the Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration (ATMI-II) project. This event marked a milestone in regional cooperation by bringing together ASEAN and BIMSTEC under the ATMI-II framework through a network of policy advisors and analysts (NePAA). The collaboration aims to translate policy dialogue into tangible outcomes, with NePAA serving as a platform for sustained engagement, capacity building, and evidence-based policy dialogue. Building on the success of the first phase of ATMI (ATMI-I), this initiative under NePAA expands its geographic and thematic scope to examine transformation driven by value chain transformation and market integration through new partnerships and global value chains (GVCs). ATMI-I surpassed traditional conceptions of transformation to examine it through crop diversification, productivity, and related aspects. This new phase aims to mutually strengthen the institutional capacity of selected ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries (the Philippines, Viet Nam, and Thailand, and Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal, respectively) to formulate and implement inclusive, sustainable, and climate-resilient agrifood system policies.