(Track 6: Investing in Bankable Crop, Livestock, and Aquaculture Value Chains)
This session examines how fisheries, aquaculture and livestock-based food systems can be supported through packaged sovereign and non-sovereign approaches, and how scientific innovation, policy reform, public investment, and private finance can be better aligned within ADB-supported operations. It highlights practical pathways to translate innovation into bankable, inclusive, and scalable investments that benefit DMCs, including smallholders, women, and coastal and rural communities.
Roundtable 1: Aquaculture and Fisheries: From Enabling Environment to Scalable Investment
This roundtable focuses on fisheries and aquaculture as a diverse and fast-growing component of agri-food systems in Asia. The session examines how sovereign interventions and non-sovereign investments can be aligned to support sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient growth in the sector. The discussion highlights ADB’s role in packaging policy, infrastructure, and private sector finance across fisheries, aquaculture, and the broader blue economy, including water resource management, coastal infrastructure and seaweed systems.
Moderator: Alvin Lopez, Principal Operations Coordination Specialist (Environment), CCSD, ADB
Panelists:
- Investing in Inclusive and Sustainable Aquatic Food Value Chains
Edward H. Allison, Principal Scientist, WorldFish - Scaling Nature-Based and Sustainable Aquaculture Solutions
Rebecca McMillan, IDRC, Canada - Mobilizing Private Capital for Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Shrimp Value Chains
Matthew Young, Investment Specialist, PSOD, Agribusiness Investment Team, ADB - Infrastructure, Water Systems, and Ecosystem Governance as Foundations for Aquatic Food Systems
Blair Spendelow, Senior Coastal and Marine Specialist, SD2-AFNR, ADB
Questions & Answers
Roundtable 2: Livestock Value Chains: Inclusive, Bankable, and Climate-Smart Models
Livestock value chains are a critical source of income, nutrition, and resilience for millions of smallholders and pastoral communities across Asia and the Pacific. Yet productivity, inclusion, and sustainability are constrained by persistent bottlenecks, ranging from animal health and disease risks, weak SPS infrastructure, and feed losses, to limited access to finance, markets, and digital services.
This roundtable explores how integrated sovereign and non-sovereign interventions, including public–private partnership (PPP) models, can unlock bankable and inclusive livestock investments.
Discussion angle: animal health, digital, disease control, pastoral systems, SPS facilities, Investment & PPP models
Moderator: Omer Zafar, Principal Natural Resources and Agriculture Specialist, AFNR-SD2, ADB
Panelists:
- Hung Nguyen, Regional Director, ILRI
- Yukitsugu Yanoma, Senior Natural Resources and Agriculture Specialist, AFNR-SD2
- Linda Wang, Senior Investment Specialist, PSOD, Agribusiness Investment Team, ADB
- Changtong Huang, FAIRR Initiative
