ICM Alliance initially explores the entry-point in the Southeast Asian market

Over the past decade, ASEAN has accounted for an increasing share of GDP expansion in the global economy, allowing the world to see the huge growth trend of ASEAN economies. Therefore, Taiwan government released the ‘New Southbound Policy Promotion Plan’ in 2016, adhering to the core concepts of ‘lone-term in-depth development, diversified development, and two-way mutual benefit’ and integrating the resources including various ministries, local governments, private enterprises and NGO. Starting from the four major aspects of “economic and trade cooperation”, “talent exchange”, “resource sharing” and “regional links”, this plan hopes to create a mutually beneficial new cooperation model and win-win situation with ASEAN, South Asia, New Zealand, Australia.

Southeast Asia’s advantages in geographical and climatic conditions have given it a place in tropical agricultural production. Agricultural enterprises form advanced countries have begun to enter the Southeast Asian Market. Agriculture has been listed as a key industry by ASEAN countries. In addition to implementing agricultural subsidies, tax incentives and other policies, more actively promote the application of agricultural science and technology to improve farmer’s income and production efficiency, such as water resources management, organic agriculture development, scientific and technological agricultural production and processing, etc., accelerate the improvement of agricultural competitiveness, and encourage the processing and export of agricultural products to increase farmers’ income.

Due to the impact of global climate change, Southeast Asian countries are more vulnerable to more extreme climate disasters such as heavy rainfall and lone-term drought, which in turn threaten agricultural production. In addition to the impact on the quality and yield of agricultural products, pesticide detection is currently the biggest issue. Coupled with the shortage of labor and the reluctance of young people to work in agriculture, there is a shortage of rural labor. Most farmland has been converted to industrial and commercial land, and the cultivated area has gradually shrunk. Therefore, governments around the world continue to promote agricultural modernization, improve production efficiency and product added value, and strengthen agricultural cooperation with neighboring countries to open up new market opportunities. In the pest few decades, the agricultural industry of ASEAN countries has made great progress due to scientific and technological development, and has become an important economic pillar of these countries. In the future, ASEAN countries will further enhance the scientific and technological content and competitiveness of agriculture to cope with challenges such as climate and labor shortages and ensure sustainable development of agriculture.

The importance of Integrated Crop Management (ICM) in agricultural management is the concept that ‘prevention is better than cure’. The problem of pesticide residues in agricultural products in ASEAN countries is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. The ICM solution uses integrated products of microorganisms, natural material extracts and induced disease resistance to conduct comprehensive crop management or combine with conventional agricultural methods to reduce the amount of pesticides. In addition to reducing farmers' production costs and improving the quality and yield of agricultural products, it also avoids pesticide residues the problem occurs. The implementation of the concept of preventive agriculture and integrated crop management programs will be of great help to the improvement of agriculture, including in Southeast Asian countries.