ASEAN Learning Series on Quality Management along Agri-Value-Chains

Farmers organizations (FOs) under the AFOSP-MTCP2 program in the ASEAN region participate in the ASEAN Learning Series on Quality Management along Agri-Value-Chains: Post-harvest management and market access on 29-31 May 2018 at Venus Room, IMPACT Convention Center and Mercure Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

Representatives from the government in ASEAN countries, ASEAN Centre for the Development of Agricultural Cooperative (ACEDAC), as well as donors and partners attended the learning series.

The ASEAN Learning Series (ALS) aims to:

• strengthen the role of Agricultural Cooperatives in addressing the opportunities market integration as well as challenges of the ASEAN Economic Community,
• improve farmers’ confidence in business match-making and value chain participation, and,
• learn from the best practices, to exchange ideas, and to network with producers and buyers at the ASEAN level.

Field visit to Nakhon Pathom: Reducing food Loss and Organic Practices

The participants of the ALS went to three different sites for the field visit. First site is at Silpakorn University in Nakhon Pathom, Bangkok where the participants had an interactive session using a parabolic dryer to preserve bananas, chili, and other food products. Prof. Serm Janjai, the inventor of the Parabola Dome Solar Dryer, discussed about the methods of solar drying and showed how the solar dome technology is a good for drying bananas,  tomato, chili, and other commodities.

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The second site is Green Living Camp (GLC), a company that produces and exports organic food including rice and solar-dried bananas. GLC also uses parabola dome solar dryers in post-harvest management. Kulnathee Suparatchartpun provided an overview of their processes in the farm and their products as well. GLC grew out of family farming and now they employ several people to help with their 20-hectare farm. They export products to Canada and the United States. The participants got to try their organic food during lunch and also their other products.

 Nartudee Nakornjava discussed about the process of getting an organic certification for farm products and organic market development. GLC has organic certifications from IFOAM (ACT), USDA, and EU.

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The last stop during the field visit is the Queen Tomato processing plant where the ALS participants learned about post-harvest management, processing technology, and market chain approach. Prayong Wongsakul discussed about the commercial innovation such as improved products and post-harvest pratices in their cooperative. The participants were shown the innovative process of turning fresh cherry tomatoes into different candied products. Queen Tomato belongs to a cooperative and is receiving strong support from the government of Thailand in terms of subsidy, facilities, and technologies.

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From the field visits, the participants learned about techniques and ways to improve post-harvest management and to reduce post-harvest loss; food safety promotion to strengthen the position of agricultural cooperatives n accessing the market, importance of adoption of organic certification for small farmer organizations/agricultural cooperatives, among others.

For the day 3 of the ASEAN Learning Series on Quality Management along Agri-Value Chains, ASWGC presented the MalaysiaGAP (Good Agricultural Practices), COVESTRO shared about post-harvest technology support while ACEDAC presented about their projects and achievements.

Donors and partners from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), European Union, SDC, and Agriterra attended the learning exchange.

IFAD Country Program Manager and outgoing MTCP2 Task Manager Benoit Thierry and incoming MTCP2 Task Manager Hubert Boirard were also present and gave their messages for the organizers and participants.

IFAD Country Program Manager and outgoing MTCP2 Task Manager Benoit Thierry and incoming MTCP2 Task Manager Hubert Boirard were also present and gave their messages for the organizers and participants.

PHOTOS

• ASEAN Learning Series 2018
• ASEAN Learning Series Day 1
• ASEAN Learning Series Day 2
• ASEAN Learning Series Day 3

VIDEOS

What is a Learning Series?

The ASEAN Learning Series is a continuation of the ASEAN Learning Route (ALRAC) and ASEAN Learning Series and Policy Engagement on Agricultural Cooperatives (ALSPEAC) that facilitates peer to peer learning in the areas of farmer empowerment and participation in the global value chain. The learning enables farmers and their organisations to make their own, independent decisions with regards to services for members on production, creating market opportunities as well as improving women participation along the value chain.

Each Series is organised thematically around experiences, case studies and best practices on innovative rural and agricultural development to promote coordination and collaboration with multilevel stakeholders in ASEAN at the implementation stage.

Why Quality Management along agri-value-chains?

Quality and brand value as well as farmers’ skill and managerial know-how have become important in competitive markets and global value chains. It is characterized the final markets in the Global North on the importance of product traceability – verifying products and quality that are allowed to enter the country’s market. Food systems are becoming vertically-integrated, concentrated in fewer hands from input provisioning to food distribution and buyer driven.

Smallholder farmers who want to take part in the national and international value chain must be competitive. This represents a challenge since most ASEAN Farmers are small producers who compete mostly on the basis of price rather than quality . Despite the abovementioned, the key concern of these learning series is to prepare smallholder farmers interplaying with the international global value chain setting.

One strategy may not fit for a generic approach. It is necessary to analysis the range and level of available technology, markets for inputs and outputs, as well as growth rate of the sector.

This Learning Series on Quality management offers the opportunity of learning and networking directly in the field from key experts and exhibitors at Thai Food Expo (Thaifex) on the area of:

• Business Planning and marketing strategies for commercialisation of agricultural products
• Public-Private Partnership in the areas of supporting resource-constrained small-scale producers for accessing the markets with standards imposed by regional markets such as ASEAN GAP.
• Best practices for collective action to strengthen agricultural cooperatives participations in the value chain, these include post-harvest management, branding (GI and Food Safety Certifications), and identification of customers’ preferences. 

About AFOSP-MTCP2

AFOSP-MTCP2 is a capacity building program funded by the European Union with co-financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The program is being implemented in seven ASEAN countries through the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC). AFOSP-MTCP2 supports the strengthening of national farmers’ organizations (FOs) and their national platform towards improving their institutional capacity to deliver economic services to their members as well as to effectively engage them in policy processes. At the ASEAN level, the consortium AFA – LVC works in partnership with the ASEAN Foundation in expanding the spaces for the engagement of FOs in ASEAN processes.