HANOI, VIETNAM. The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), together with the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), will conduct a national inception workshop in Hanoi on 27-28 April 2017. The workshop is under the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-funded project, Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration in the ASEAN Region: Responding to Food Security and Inclusiveness Concerns (ATMI-ASEAN), co-implemented with SEARCA.
The national inception workshop will serve as a venue for participants to (1) understand structural transformation and market integration as these relate to agricultural growth and food security of Vietnam; (2) consult various stakeholders in the ASEAN Member States (AMS), civil society organizations (CSOs)/farmers' organizations, the private sector, and research institutions, regarding implementation of research project on ATMI; (3) identify promising commodities for regional and global value chains; and (4) develop Country Action Plans towards the achievement of the program's outcome, which is enhanced capacity of the AMS to identify and design national strategies, policies, programs, and national agrifood value chain investment initiatives that benefit small-scale rural producers (SSRPs).
Dr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, Director-General of IPSARD, will welcome the participants, while Mr. Tran Kim Long, Director-General of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD), will deliver the inaugural address. Moreover, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, Country Presence Officer of IFAD-Asia and the Pacific, is expected to deliver a message.
Dr. Pramod Kumar Joshi, IFPRI Director for South Asia, will discuss the project and its deliverables, while Dr. Bessie M. Burgos, Program Head of the Research and Development Department of SEARCA, will explain the background of the workshop. Representatives from IFAD, IFPRI, SEARCA, MARD, IPSARD, other relevant government agencies, as well as the private sector and farmers' organizations are expected to participate.
The national inception workshop will focus on how to strengthen the current value chains of three of Vietnam's high-potential products, namely, livestock, coffee, and cash crops. Dr. Tran Cong Thang, Vice Director-General of IPSARD and ATMI-ASEAN focal point for Vietnam, will be presenting the agricultural trade situation in the country, as well as the Draft Action Plan for implementing the project in Vietnam.
This workshop is part of a series of activities to be conducted under the ATMI-ASEAN project to tackle agricultural transformation and market integration in Southeast Asia.
