AsiaDHRRA Online

FarmFriday highlights this is very interesting newsbit from IFAD with its President Kanayo F. Nwanze pushing for more efforts  to linking smallholder farmers to the private sector:
“In Davos, I intend to show business leaders how linking smallholder farmers to the private sector is key to building the economy of developing countries. The private sector [...]

Ms. Chu Thi Mai Anh, Agricultural & Rural Enterprise Development Project Officer, Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
The CRS has partnered with the Province of Nghe An to promote a territory approach to agro-enterprise development. This means that the project needs to 1) be implemented through the Government administration structure; 2) improve the skills and knowledge of [...]

By Rene Guarin
Executive Director, Upland Marketing Program
Mr. Guarin introduced the Upland Marketing Program and related about its nearly twelve years of experience in selling directly to supermarkets. He said that direct selling to supermarkets is inevitable given the worldwide trend of increasing rate of grocery sales due to various factors, such as the modernization of [...]

By Mr. Jesus Vicente Garganera, National Coordinator, PhilDHRRA
A market research scanning on calamansi that was done revealed important statistics and information for any farmer or group of farmers interested in producing and marketing. It was found that the production of calamansi in the country has been increasing, with major supplies coming from Central Philippines (although [...]

Overview of Challenges Experienced by Small Farmers in Engaging with Markets, by Mr. Nonoy Villas, presented the rationale behind supporting small farmers’ commodity-based associations. He started with the definition of terms to illustrate that the small farmers have the weakest link in both the supply and the value chains.
He added that small farmers are much [...]

Country Presentations from Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia
Philippines
Mr. Luis Caballero Jr., Vice Chairperson of Zamboanga Sibugay High Value Marketing Crop, presented their community’s experience in maintaining food safety and quality standards for calamansi. In terms of maintaining product quality, this involved the processes before planting, the maintenance requirements during planting season, as well as the [...]

By Dr. Nellie Manalili, Regional Adviser for Asia on Market Access, Vredeseilanden (VECO)
Much of the problems in the agricultural sector exist because we do not understand what is going on. That is why we need to understand what are agricultural chains and how these are linked to the market.
In a simple marketing system, there is [...]

We are sharing with you our latest publication – the Mapping of Marketing Intermediation of CSO in Indonesia and Value Chain Analysis of Organic Rice in Indonesia.
You can download the PDF version here (right click and choose “file save as…” or drop by our office for the print version. Copies are limited though so call [...]

A presentation by By Mr. Peter Sousa Hoejskov, Food Quality and Safety Officer, FAO Regional Office in Asia Pacific, during the 2nd LSFM RTW.
Mr. Peter Hoejskov started his presentation with a discussion on the importance of food safety and standards. He cited that food safety and control systems provide: the basis for inspection, testing, and [...]

TechTuesday presents this interesting study from Eldis about the mobile phone’s impact in Nigeria’s small businessmen.
Can mobile telephony improve commercial supply-chains in developing countries? Informational challenges – absence, uncertainty, asymmetry – shape the working of markets and commerce in many developing countries. This paper is a case study of the impact of mobile telephony on [...]

Excerpts from the presentation by farmer partners during the 2nd LSFM RTW.
Cambodia
Mr. Noun, chicken producer from FNN, presented Cambodia’s experience in marketing dressed chicken. He related that chicken feed during the dry season are not sufficient. They also experience difficulty in transporting the product given the great distances of markets from the farms. Because of [...]

High Quality Products at Higher Prices: the Experience of TWADA which was presented by Dr. Wen Chi Hwang, General Secretary of the said organization during the 3rd LSFM RTW, explained about the experience of marketing based on product strength, quality, and competitive advantage. She narrated the history of TWADA as already having started with not [...]

By Mr. David Hitchcock, Agribusiness and Infrastructure Officer, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Mr. Hitchcock’s presentation focused on the macro-side or larger picture of agribusiness, which is an important aspect to understand about agriculture. There are real differences between small holders (small farmers) and the agri-businessmen and recent sector trends and impacts have [...]

Agri-Marketing in Asia: Agri-business Perspectives presented by Mr. Senen Bacani, CEO, Ultrex Management & Investment Corporation (former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GRP) during the First LSFM RTW.

Mr. Bacani explained that while he was here to offer an agri-business perspective from the side of the private sector, he has also worked extensively with government, cooperatives and [...]

Enhancing the Competitiveness of Small Farmers was presented by Mr. Jing Pacturan, Executive Director Philippines Development Assistance Program during the 3rd LSFM RTW. He started the session with a competitive game which simulated the dynamics of market in the real world. Based on the experience of the game, he drew the participants’ insights about [...]