AJFVC

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Overview

Towards resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems in Southeast Asia through strengthening food

Background

In recent years, developing countries have experienced urbanization and industrialization, resulting in a decline in the number of small-scale farmers. This is concerning as these farmers play a crucial role in food production. To ensure a stable food supply, it is essential for farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices. However, many conventional farming methods do not meet market needs, leading to lower income for farmers.

To address this issue, food value chains (FVCs) have been introduced. FVCs aim to enhance the value of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products at each stage of the supply chain, which can increase farmers’ income and meet consumer demands.

This concept is particularly important in Southeast Asia, where the middle class is growing, and consumers’ food needs are becoming more diverse.

FVCs with a market-in approach are becoming increasingly popular in the region, emphasizing the need to bridge information gaps between the upstream and downstream stakeholders of FVCs. Networking and understanding among all FVC stakeholders can achieve this.

Keeping the above situation in mind, on July 28th, 2023, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat signed a Record of Discussion (R/D) for the ASEAN-JICA Food Value Chain Development Project (AJFVC). The Project aims to replicate the successes of individual bilateral cooperation ventures relating to food value chain development in Southeast Asian countries and extend its achievements to the entire region by establishing a platform for sharing.

The project’s four outputs comprise the development of measures for the marketing and promotion of national and ASEAN Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), the reinforcement of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures in ASEAN Member States through the strengthening of capacities for pesticide residue analysis, the promotion of Good Aquacultural Practices (GAqP) to enhance food safety in the fisheries sector, and the creation of inspection mechanisms and strategies for promoting Public and Private Partnership/PPP-based Food Value Chain guidelines and related policies.

The ASEAN-JICA Food Value Chain Development Project is the second technical cooperation initiative to be implemented under the Agreement on Technical Cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Government of Japan, which was concluded in May 2019. Through this Technical Cooperation, JICA will continue to work with the ASEAN to address development issues in its member states.

The AJFVC Project has the following Overall Goal and four Outputs

Overall Goal

Recommendations and guidelines on ASEAN-GAP, SPS, GAqP and PPP for promotion of FVC in ASEAN are utilized by stakeholders in ASEAN and AMSs. Project Purpose: Institutional arrangements and preparation of the enabling environment are supported for promotion of FVC in ASEAN.

Output

  • Good Agriculture Practices - GAP

    Measures are developed for the marketing and promotion of national and ASEAN GAPs.

  • Sanitary and Phytosanitary - SPS

    Capacities of pesticide residue analysis necessary to strengthen SPS measures in AMSs are improved.

  • Good Aquacultural Practices - GAqP

    Food safety on fishery sector is improved by promotion of GAqP and development of ASEAN guidelines and relevant principles on fisheries.

  • Public and Private Partnership - PPP

    Strategies for promoting PPP based FVC are developed.

The AJFVC Project Expected Outcome

  • Output 1

    Policy recommendations are prepared for the promotion of further dissemination and upgrades of ASEAN GAP for expanding recognition and application of the national GAP ofeach AMS among buyers and producers.

  • Output 2

    Policy recommendations are prepared for the all NRLs of AMSs to become accredited inspection bodies as recognized by ISO/IEC17025 in the future.

  • Output 3

    The hygiene management system at each stage of the supply chain is assessed and shared among AMSs, GAqP operational guidelines are discussed, and inspection guidelines for each stage of the value chain is prepared.

  • Output 4

    Good practices of FVC in ASEAN are studied and shared, policy recommendations for strengthening the PPP mechanism for ASEAN FVC development are provided.

 

As a result of the cooperation as a whole, a policy paper for quality and safe FVC development in ASEAN will be prepared, which integrates four expected outcomes and other experiences gained through the implementation of the ASEAN-JICA cooperation.

AJFVC