AMI Training Center

Beijing, China

26-29 June 2018

26 June 2018, Tuesday

ARRIVAL OF PARTICIPANTS

RIA team from AFA arrived in the afternoon of 26 June 2018.

Pacific duo – Lavinia from Fiji and Sinai from Tonga proceeded to the meeting room for the orientation

Lany Rebagay shares the program of activities for the

next three days, the main outputs of which are:

consensus on APFP and agreement on the remaining

things to be accomplished by the end of

MTCP2

Yule Luo shares the history of AMI to the delegates of the

4th RSC meeting.

ORIENTATION SES SION

Mr. Yu, Secretary General of Rural Agriculture China Cooperative, welcomed everyone to the Agriculture Management Institute. He wished everyone a safe stay in the institute and said that the AMI team will take care of all participants.

Crystal Zhou takes her turn to share how AMI

supports the farmers through the years.

Yule and Crystal shares the details of field visit on 27 June

2018.

Key instructions:

1. Meeting time at 8:00AM at AMI main

building across the gate.

2. Participants were divided into five groups,

each were assigned to a coordinator for

easy communication. Grouping can be

found on pages 3-5 of the Guide Book.

27 June 2018, Wednesday

FIELD VISIT

Visit at the Organic Vegetable cooperative Jenny translates for the manager of the

cooperative (beicayuan.com)

Beicayuan currently has 360 greenhouses and 470 mu organic vegetable production areas. They sell, produce and

process organic vegetables. A total of 35 kinds of organic vegetables are sold to the market daily. The cooperative

has outlet in 40 large chain supermarkets and stores in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei provinces. They are also into e-

commerce, reaching more consumers by selling products online.

Beijing Green Garden Vegetable Cooperative was registered on 14 July 2007 with capital of CNY 1.85M.

COOP PRINCIPLES:

- Innovation

- Sustainability

BRAND NAME:

- Cooperation

- Teamwork North

Vegetable Garden

More than 90% of employees are women. The The coop control pests and diseases in a

coop formed a women’s union to respond to their biological way; chemical pesticides are not

specific needs. sprayed on vegetables, keeping the food safe and

reducing pollution on land.

Question and Answer

“There are three ways by which members get income from the coop: rental fee, share from dividend, and wage as employee ” “Members get 30% profit from their investment” “Companies have contract with farmers to sell all their p roducts” “There are no big farmers in China because land is equally distributed to farmers” “90% of coop employees are women”

Green House, Pest Laboratory and Machine Stockroom

Participants had a tour around the greenhouses, pest laboratory and machine stockroom of Beijing Green Garden Vegetable Cooperative.

28 June 2018, Thursday

OPENING PROGRAM

Director Yu hosted the program for the second

day, 28 June 2018. He called on each of the speakers from AMI.

Ms. Dan Mo, AMI Vice-president, shared that China has been implementing MTCP2 for nine years which coincided with the blooming of China farmers’ cooperatives that consistently increase in quantity, enhancing farmers’ capabilities. As NIA, AMI conducted various activities including training, advocacy, research and consultant, empowering a batch of cooperatives to be more competitive and influential - over 10 farmer leaders were selected to be deputies to National People’s Congress, and over 1,000 cooperatives were rated as national demonstration coops. She

hopes that all NIAs have successfully laid the foundation for the smooth progress of the MTCP3. She wished that everyone will enjoy the summer in Beijing and that the participants will have fruitful achievements.

Ms. Xiaosha Li, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Rural Economy System and Operations

Management and the General Station of Rural Cooperative Economic Operation Management,

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, welcomed everyone to the RSC in China. She said that

China is a developing country, a traditional agricultural country with big population. She further

explained that the Chinese government always gives emphasis on the development of agriculture,

rural area and farmers by introducing preferable policies to support them. Since the

implementation of the farmers' cooperatives law in 2007, famers’ cooperatives have grown fast.

There are more than 2 million registered cooperatives in China now, with 48.2% of total farmers

are members. Farmers cooperatives has been the most vital agricultural operation body and the

backbone of modern agricultural construction, playing an important role in enhancing the scaled

operation of agriculture, promoting rural revitalization, linking small farmers to modern

agriculture, and raising farmers’ income.

In recent years, with the support of IFAD, the AMI, as the NIA China, has undertaken the

MTCP2 activities consistently. Within the time, AMI combined the development needs of

China farmers' cooperatives with the order of the program, organizing various activities

helping to enhance their comprehensive abilities effectively. It is the 40th anniversary of

China reform and opening up this year, the start year for China government to

implement strategy of Rural Revitalization and the implementation of the newly revised

farmers' cooperatives law. AMI is willing to take part in promoting the farmers’

cooperative development to a new step. She wished everyone complete success of the

meeting, good health, and happy stay in China.

Hubert Boirard, IFAD Task Manager for MTCP2 said that the RSC venue is the right place to discuss the

future of MTCP2, with the Agriculture Management Institute as co-organizer. With the record of

around 30,000 trainings a year focusing on management and leadership for farmers and cooperatives

make AMI the best place. This achievement exemplifies what the programme wants to achieve for the

farmers.

Zainal Arifin Fuat representing La Via Campesina (LVC) as co-RIA mentioned the importance of

continuity especially because the farmers still face a lot of challenges including land rights issues, and

more.

Esther Penunia representing Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA)

recalled that the closing of MTCP 1 transitioning to MTCP2 was done in Beijing. MTCP2 evolved and

has improved from its first phase and the third phase, APFP, will take off from what the programme

has achieved thus far. Success is imminent given the leap that FOs have made and the continued

support and cooperation that has been sustained since then.

INTRODUCTION OF PARTICIPANTS

Participants and delegates to the 4th Expanded Regional Steering Committee meeting came from Cambodia, Indonesia,

Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji, and Tonga. IFAD MTCP2

Manager Hubert Boirard and Consultant Peter Situ joined the three-day activity.

Country Presentations

SRIA-Pacific: PIFON

Lavinia Kaumaitotoya

21 national federations in the sub-region, with 79,632 individual farmer members

Component 1 activities include AGM, Learning & Planning workshop, FAO workshops and CTA promoting local traditional & nutritious food systems

Component 2 activities include participation of PIFON in FAO Agri Systems, CSO consultations and FAO Asia Pacific Regional Conference

Component 3 activities include IFAD Pacific Portfolio review, participation in country programs of IFAD (Tonga, Samoa), EU (Solomon Islands)

Priority Commodities are breadfruit (14 clusters), coconut (7), seeds (10) and bees (3)

Big emphasis for 2018: MTCP2 impact and lessons learnt

Recommendation: Pacific to host 2018 SIS mission

Bangladesh

Mohammad Mudjibul Munir

Haque

4 FOs accessed funds from other donors; 12 FOs reformed with

updated leadership and equipped with capacity on organizational

management, advocacy, financial management, reporting and

documentation

Farmers have successes in terms of land distribution, reduction

of hybrid rice use, change of government BADC policy, and

linkage with service providers

Increased awareness on land rights, eco-friendly agriculture

technologies, policy makers sensitized on farmers’ issues, and

farmers’ recognition by government departments

Trained 165 farmers on seed banking; established 8 seed bank

groups; 11 poultry groups and 5 dried fish groups are active

Key achievements: FO chief bagged a national award for social

development; one FO manages one selling point in a local bazaar;

potential online shop to sell farmers’ produce

Sri Lanka Shamila Rhatnasooriya

1 national FO present in 9 districts with 19,000 individual

members

Component 1 activities include computerization of profiles and

strategic plan formulation Component 2 activities include

drafting of alternative agricultural policy & women’s rights, and

awareness of their rights

Component 3 activities include establishment of 6 commodity

processing centers, bio-fertilizer center, conduct of training

programs on indigenous cereals, spices and seeds, drafted 12

business plans, developing model of ecological agriculture with

the Department of Agriculture’s training institute

Formation of commodity clusters: 6 cereals, 3 vegetables, 2

spices, 1 dairy

18 national FOs in the platform

Component 1 outputs include review of 6 stratplans,

formulation of 8 stratplans, establishment of 4 FO offices, &

updated profile of 14 FOs

Component 2 activities include a six-point agreement to settle

outstanding payment to farmers and lobby for the inclusion of

farmers in local government body

Component 3 activities include linking of 700 vegetable

producers to the market through ICT, conduct of 2 value chain

training, formation of commodity clusters – 100 vegetables, 30

Nepal

Keshab Khadka

dairies, 30 rice

India

Smita Bhatnagar

15 national FOs covering 6,691 sub-national FO levels with a total of around 2.05 M members in 15 provinces

Highlights of first semester 2018 activities include capacity building, financial and activity reporting, solar water pump subsidy from government agencies, minimum support income and land acquisition act advocacy, and signing of MOU with FAO in strengthening small & marginal farmers

National and sub-regional engagement including seed sovereignty & food security meet in Bangladesh, RTD on policy analysis and dialogue organized by IFAD, gender equity forum, exchange learning, managing 7 tool and equipment libraries benefiting 6,828 farmers, establishment of value chain for cotton (6,200 farmers) and cumin (1,200 farmers)

Dalit women in Bihar acquired land on lease and currently cultivating paddy, wheat, pulses and onion; increased number of farmers implementing SRI and SWI. Bihar FO support campaign opposing violence against women, 4,200 members trained on water and sanitation

South Asia Regional Activities

Esther Penunia

SA NIAs agreed to expand to Bhutan and Pakistan

SA NIAs provided inputs to APFP

Milestone/breakthrough in engaging SAARC Secretariat, member

states, SAC, FAORAP with the South-South Cooperation on

Sustainable Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry – which led to

learning exchange on community engagement in seed sovereignty

USD 45K was allocated for seed sovereignty learning exchange

(USD20K from MTCP2 SA TA funds, 15K from SAC and 10K from

Action Aid Bangladesh. All 8 SAARC member states were

represented during the learning exchange.Good models on CBSS

were shared during the learning exchange on seed sovereignty.

SAARC agri coop forum will be organized in August 2018

Currently exploring partnership and complementation with IFAD

SAC projects

FaFo will regionalize and the Asia Regional FaFo will be held in

Yogyakarta, Indonesia in October 2018

The International Decade of Family Farming has been adopted in

Dec 2017 covering 2019-2028

Cambodia

Chhong Sophal

As of June 2018, 6 national FOs sit in the national steering

committee, representing 152 sub-national FOs with total

individual farmer members of 162,746. These FOs are present in

17/25 provinces. 53,632 farmers directly participated in MTCP2

activities

Key component 1 activities include: meeting for FO profile review,

planning of FOs for contract farming and selling of rice to

company, training on business management to BOD andf

supervisory committees, formation of specialized groups (50

chicken, 50 rice and 52 vegetables)

Key component 2 activities include: national policy forum on rice

Key component 3 activities include: partnership with IFAD on

AIMS project, meeting with EU headquarters in Cambodia for

MTCP2 project progress presentation

China

Yule

The national platform in China has 1 national FO federation, 11

sub-national FOs with a total member of 78,221,640 operating in

9/33 provinces.

Under component 1, NIA conducted 3 training programs with 299

farmers’ coop leaders

Under component 2,235 coop leaders attended 3 policy dialogues

Under component 3, the project distributed journals of China

Farmers’ Coop to over 500 farmers coop in poverty-stricken

regions and 12 coops took part in the 2018 National Agro-

products marketing forum

There is strong support in coop capacity building and policy

engagement in Coop Law, Coop Leadership training, networking

and value chain development

The number of young people engaged in farmers’ coop is

gradually increasing

Commodity clusters that underwent training: quality

management for 50,000 vegetable clusters; value chain

improvement for 40,000 fruit clusters; information and marketing

for 20,000 cattle clusters; and 40,000 were provided training on

finance and market docking.

Indonesia

Note: Indonesia sent the report by

email but was not able to make it

to the RSC in Beijing due to visa

problems

5 NFOs in the platform with a total of 3,425,000 individual farmer

members

Key component 1 activities include value chain and marketing

support, agricultural cooperative advisory, local and national

farmer organizing support which resulted to 15 coops

strengthened in financial aspect, marketing, promotion and

taxation; established regular domestic market for coffee, a coffee

shop and coffee for export

Key component 2 activities include media briefing to publicly

campaign for coffee and a national policy dialogue for

consultation on protection and empowerment of fisherfolk in

Indramayu region

Key component3 activities include IFAD program review on

agricultural development, rural development and irrigation; 15

local FOs collaborated with the Ministry of Village regarding main

product development in rural areas

There are 20 commodity clusters: 7 coffee, 3 organic rice, 5 cocoa,

1 forest honey, 3 palm oil and 1 VCO

Laos

From 17 FOs and 2,700 members in 2014, LFN has reached now

24 FOs and 4,000 individual farmers. These FOs federated under

one national FO – LFN.

Key component 1 activities include organizing of annual review

meeting

Component 2 outcome includes getting support from local

government for free use of electricity by Jaeng agriculture

cooperative

Component 3 outcomes include focus capacity building like the

zero energy cooling storage system, climate adopted green house

system, promotion of labor-saving rice cultivation method,

support in the transformation of FO to agri coop, and partnership

with IFAD and other partners such as: AFN (GAFSP), FNML and

SSSJ; LURAS and DGRV; CIRAD and Alisea (EU-funded); FFF with

AsiaDHRRA to support rice cooperative; and a new project with

OXFAM on seed enterprise

Youth and women are engaged in processing and marketing

(soap, organic vegetables, e-marketing, etc.). Youth attended the

national youth forum and the SEA regional youth forum

Myanmar

Ti Chia Pan

MTCP2 Coordinator

1 NFO in the steering committee with 635 sub-national FO with

total members of 32,500 present in 11/15 provinces

Key component 1 activities include township level FO formation,

capability building on farmers avocado & coffee, basic trade union

principle, worked on 21-acre coffee plantation with 21 farmers;

10 young farmers were sent to agri-school for 3-month course

and 4 were sent to 6-month course

Key component 2 activities include national level avocado

association, national tripartite on decent work, program and labor

reform, passing of minimum wage law, conduct of farmers’ day

with 4,000 participants, MOU signing on avocado model farm

with LGU, and land cases – 3 cases successful and 3 more are on

the process

Key component 3 activities include engagement with IFAD

country program and GAFSP program, agriculture transformation

and market integration in the ASEAN region

Commodity clusters established with 120 coffee farmers and 62

avocado farmers

Philippines

Ferdi Buenviaje

MTCP2 Coordinator

9 NFOs compose the Steering Committee with 64,451 members

operating in 34/81 provinces

Key component 1 activities include conduct of nine national FO

assembly where members were updated on the project progress,

formed one national agri-coop federation, NSC review of plans,

training of rural women on budget advocacy, piloted Leadership

Training of Young Farmers’ Leaders, and monitoring of local FOs’

status

Key component 2 activities include coco levy fund campaign,

agricultural budget advocacy at the municipal and village levels,

submission of proposed rice legislation to Senate and Lower

House

Key component 3 activities include facilitating linkage and

capability building to select beneficiaries of FishCORAL, an IFAD-

funded project through the support of AgriCord through

AsiaDHRRA; there is an ongoing groundwork for farmers’

participation in another IFAD-funded project, RAPID GROWTH in

partnership with DTI; participation in ACPOR; local market

matching for farmers’ products; and participation in ACBF

Priority commodity clustering: coconut, rice, seaweeds

Thailand

Anne Lapapan

MTCP2 Coordinator

3 national FOs compose the national steering community, with

5,272 individual members present in 30/77 provinces; 1,150

farmers were directly involved in MTCP2

Key component 1 activities include capacity building for FTFA on

management of fisher shop and market development for

indigenous women of IWTN by visiting potential market outlets

for women’s products

For component 2, there is an ongoing case study to develop policy

paper on peasants’ rights

IFAD, EU and SDC do not have offices in Thailand making it

impossible for the NIA to partner with them at the country level

Vietnam

Nguyen Xuan Dinh

Director, International

Cooperation Division

VNFU

7 national FOs in the steering committee with 15 sub-national FO

and a total of 10,210,000 individual members, 10,000 of whom

directly participated in MTCP 2 activities

Key component 1 activities include national advisory committee

meetings where two cooperation agreements were discussed

(information technology and APFP); meetings with partners

(Agriterra, AFA, CSA, SRD, World Vision and Common Purpose) for

cooperation; 3 planning workshops for 16 cooperative groups in 8

provinces; and profile updating of 16 coop groups. NIA was also

able to complete MIS with help from RIA

Key component 2 activities include attendance to ALSPEAC on

Quality Management along Agri Value Chain, SRSC and RSC

Key component 3 activities include visit to provincial FU and coop

groups, organizing meeting to review cooperation results and

completion of financial and technical reports. There are currently

16 coop groups directly engaged in MTCP2

Commodity clusters are given support in business planning,

market research, farming techniques, coop management,

exchange visits, marketing workshop linkage with enterprises.

There are several commodity clusters: 2 orange, 4 vegetables, 2

coffee, 1 lonely banana, 2 cattle, 1 custard apple, and 1 medicinal

Indian mulberry

ASEAN Foundation

Yacinta Wulan Esti

Program Coordinator

Launched Coffee Corner with 162 pax from FOs, GOs coops which

led to improved coffee packaging of Cambodia, established close

collaboration & network with SCOPI and PCBI and raised

awareness of farmers on branding

Co-organized ASEAN Learning Series during ThaiFex with 35 from

farmer representatives, private sector, donors which led to

improved marketing strategies related to food safety certification,

GI and packaging; improved self confidence in promoting

agricultural produce; improved post-harvest management

approaches to reduce food loss; and it is expected that Cambodia

and Indonesia would follow up the request from rice importer in

France

ASEAN youth expo back to back with SOMY where Indonesia NIA

showcased coffee and rice resulting to increased youth

participation in agri value chain

Other activities conducted include EU celebration day (btb with

youth expo), ASEAN-China E-Commerce, AF BOT meeting, Science

& Technology Fellowship between USAID and ASEAN where

agriculture and e-commerce was consistently promoted

RIA Report

Lany Rebagay

Program Coordinator

MTCP2 took off from MTCP1, expanding its reach from 2 to 3

regions, from 8 to 19 countries, reaching a total of 26,183,910

individual farmers as of 2017

Most countries are working on priority commodities for better

engagement in agri value chain: SEA – rice, coffee and vegetables;

SA and Pacific – seeds, rice and spices

More FOs are engaged at a higher level of partnership with IFAD

at the country program

All three sub-regions of SEA, SA and Pacific have engaged regional

structures – ASEAN through AF, SAARC-SAC and SPC

Engagement with international entities have also been

established: UN on Family Farming Decade, SDGs and Peasants’

Rights; Committee on World Food Security (CFS) through VGGT,

RAI, etc.; IFAD on Global FaFo and its upcoming regionalization;

FAO on agroecology; ITPGRFA on seeds; GFAR / APAARI / GFRAS

on agricultural research

Collective program management is carried out through SRSCs and

RSCs and continued RIA technical support in KM, M&E, finance

and audit, and networkingsupport – EU Delegation meeting in

Cambodia; IFAD and EU delegation meeting in Indonesia; DGRV

support in Laos; CSO roadmap in Philippines, Cambodia and

ASEAN; IFAD Mekong Knowledge Learning Fair; CEJA for EU-

ASEAN Youth conference; engagement in global program such as

GAFSP in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal & Bangladesh; Grow

Asia and IFPRI-IFAD program

Resource mobilized – SDC small grant of USD150K for innovative

funding mechanism for FO; IFAD assistance for resource mob in

Australia, New Zealand, Canada and China; and EU resmob with

DEVCO, DG Agri, ACP and CTA

KM tools include website with 673,178 visits; facebook with

10,777 followers; twitter with 419 followers; e-bulletin with 2,500

e-mail contacts; and event blogs

As of May 2018, the programme has disbursed 100 percent of the

funds received from SDC; 78 percent of received funds from IFAD;

and 109 percent of received funds from EU

APFP Presentation

Peter Situ

IFAD Consultant

APFP: Moving towards institutional sustainability and financial

self-sufficiency

Goal: To contribute to rural poverty eradication, sustainable

agricultural development and global food and nutrition security

through instrumental support to strengthening the regional

dynamics of FOs in the centre of agricultural development and

rural transformation

Objectives:

- to strengthen the rural smallholders and their organizations’

institutional and policy capacities;

- to deepen the policy engagement and link national interests

and concerns to regional and global visions and strategies in

FO development;

- to promote and scale up innovative, pro-poor, FO-governed

agricultural technical extension service and agri-business

advisory service, and

- to generate and share knowledge for development impact at

global, regional and sub-regional levels and among

participating countries.

Peter Situ shared the proposed programme to the NIAs and FO representatives. There were no major

comments on the APFP especially because it has gone through a lot of discussions during the past SRSCs

and the national steering committee meetings.

29 June 2018, Friday

Discussion: Operational Concerns for the Remaining Project Period 2018-2019

Major points discussed and agreed on the third day of the Regional Steering Committee meeting are as

follows:

1. There are 15 other groups/organizations competing for the grant at IFAD, thus, MTCP2 FOs need to

hurry. Consultations have been done at the sub-regional level and national level.

2. FOs and NIAs should discuss with all Country Program Managers of IFAD and seek possibility of co-

funding.

3. Expansion must be done with care especially in selecting FOs. There could be preference for “strong”

ones, but there must also be consideration in the context of the country and support in building the

capacity of the FOs with potential. The idea of inviting steering committee member FOs in scoping

stage was surfaced. For South Asia, the programme will expand in Pakistan and Bhutan during the

second phase. After two years of APFP implementation, the RSC and SRSC SA will check the possibility

of going to Maldives. Pacific will expand to New Caledonia.

4. Re: threshold, there are five releases according to contract:

Tranche 1 – 1.5 M (which was divided into two 0.8M and 0.7M; 70% of which must be liquidated to

get tranche 2

Tranche 2 – 1.5 M

Tranche 3 – 1.5 M (to get this, RIA has to liquidate 100% of tranche 1 and 70% of tranche 2)

Tranche 4 – 1.5 M

Tranche 5 – 0.9 M

Total: 6.9 M

RIA has reported June 2016 to June 2017. But this isn’t enough to fully liquidate the first tranche. To meet

the threshold, IFAD submitted June 2016 to September 2017. RIA has to submit the same coverage for

the narrative report. Narrative and financial reports should go together.

5. Upcoming Activities July t December 2018

June 30: request for extension must be submitted to Hubert

July 30: submission of 3 good cases

Oct 17: SRSC – SEA + China

Oct 18: Briefing for FaFo

Oct 19: FaFo autonomous

Oct 20: Dialogue with IFAD

Oct 21: Post FaFo

Oct 22-23: RSC

Nov: SIS Mission

6. As closing, each country shared a slogan in their own language, which is translated as follows:

Laos: Nothing is impossible

Cambodia: We grow together

Fiji: We can do it

Vietnam: Cooperatives for development

Philippines: We can do this

India: Cooperation of farmers for development

Indonesia: Nothing is impossible

Nepal: Farmers will win at last

Sri Lanka: Long live farmers

Myanmar: The farmers are the power of the country