As the Asean block marks its 60th anniversary, farmers and citizens struggle with the economic fallout of global conflicts and rising commodity prices.

Dan Rae Hugo has never heard of the Asean Petroleum Security Agreement. All he knows is that his diesel costs have doubled, his profit margins have evaporated and the rice on his neighbours’ tables now costs 20 per cent more than it did before the Iran war. The 43-year-old has been farming the fields of Iloilo, the Philippines, for 18 years. He has never worked harder for less. “It’s all the inputs: the diesel, the labour for operating the machines, the transportation when we harvest … It’s the....