Pingtung, Taiwan – AsiaDHRRA in cooperation with TaiwanDHRRA and the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), organized a four (4)-day South-South Learning Exchange Visit (SSLE) with the theme, “Empowering Rural Peoples’ Organization through Social Enterprise”, at Pingtung and Hualien Counties, Taiwan on August 27-September 1, 2018. This visit is part of the Partnership MOU with NPUST, the premier Taiwan agriculture university, which provides a range of agricultural and business services to farmers and rural organizations in Taiwan.
This learning visit brought together 45 representatives of AsiaDHRRA members (from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, and, Vietnam), and, leaders from their partner-farmers’ organizations (FO) to enhance their knowledge, competence, and skills, through sharing experiences in social enterprises with Taiwan.
Participants’ visited the Cocosun, organic tea and golden needle tea farms, organic coffee farm, Pomelo for Agriculture Production and Market Group Farm, Wahaoo Rice Marketing Cooperative, and, Dewu Tribe Organic Rice Production and Sales Area.
At the end of the learning visit, participants identified potential agricultural enterprises, and, new approaches to improve existing initiatives in their respective countries. Specifically, participants commended Taiwan’s initiatives in developing and implementing agricultural business innovations such as “integration operation”—a system that includes full value chain operation wherein production processes from the making-to-marketing is operated by the farmer organizations, with support and cooperation of the government, academic institutions, and private sectors. Moreover, participants also underscored the collaboration of farmer organizations and the government in agri-tourism in the visited sites.
The learning visit was also dovetailed with the 2018 International Experience Sharing on Rural Revitalization: South-South Farmers Dialogue co-organized by The Rural Economics Society of Taiwan (REST) and the NPUST, and hosted by the office of the Mayor of Yuli Township in Hualien County. This activity provided venue for valuable in-depth sharing among Taiwan FOs and SSLE participants.
This is the second in the series of SSLE being conducted under ReCoERDO-Asia program of AsiaDHRRA, with support from the EU. The first SSLE in 2017 was conducted in Indonesia with InDHRRA.