Promoting Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in ASEAN (ASEAN AgriTrade)

CONTEXT

The free movement of goods and services is a key aspiration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a cornerstone of the common market of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Amongst other things, ASEAN is working towards strengthening its agricultural production and trade in accordance with regional and international standards on quality and sustainability. However, implementation of quality standards in ASEAN remains limited and reduces opportunities to tap into global value chains and expand into markets within and outside of the region.

OBJECTIVE

To improve the framework conditions for the implementation of sustainability standards in agricultural value chains with a focus on climate-relevant aspects within the ASEAN region.

APPROACHES

The project supports the promotion of sustainable agricultural value chains in ASEAN in the following areas:

• Enhancing the cooperation between relevant ASEAN bodies and the private sector;
• Gender mainstreaming in relevant ASEAN strategy documents;
• Improving the prerequisites for private sector engagement in three of the CLMV countries, including climate-smart agriculture practices;
• Conducting awareness campaigns on the health and ecological benefits, including climate benefits, of sustainable agricultural products in the CLMV countries; and
• Compiling lessons learnt on the implementation of standards on quality and sustainability for decision-makers in the CLMV countries, including climate-smart agriculture practices.

RESULTS SO FAR

• Gender mainstreaming. Awareness has been raised on the importance of gender mainstreaming through regional workshops involving focal points of the ASEAN Sectoral Working Group on Crops (ASWGC). Recommendations have been made to integrate gender aspects in the Strategic Plan of Actions for the ASEAN Cooperation on Crops (SPA-Crops) and project activities.
• The Agrinnovation Fund in ASEAN (AIF). The AIF was jointly initiated with public and private partners in CLMV to foster innovation in the agricultural value chains through public-private partnership (PPP) and cooperation. AIF has onboarded 21 partnerships bringing innovation in digital solutions, production methods, market access, and cooperation along the value chain.
• General assessment on ASEAN standards. A stock-taking of the implementation of ASEAN GAP and ASEAN Standards for Organic Agriculture (ASOA) in AMS was made and recommendations given to improve the implementation of these standards.
• Regional Training of Trainers (TOT). Some 27 participants from eight ASEAN Member States (AMS) completed the TOT for the ASOA implementation through the National Training Programme for Organic Agriculture. Action plans have been developed to further build the stakeholders’ capacity in AMS.
• VietGAP Guidelines. Development of VietGAP Guidelines for 10 key fruits has been supported and online training courses and TOTs held to build capacity for stakeholders to implement the Guidelines.
• Consumer awareness. The completed consumer awareness study will assist in designing and implementing effective consumer awareness campaigns on food safety and standards in CLMV. The studies are available here: Link
• Support regional exchange platform on climate-related topic. The project facilitates support for the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network (ASEAN-CRN) as a regional platform to share expertise and knowledge on climate-resilient agriculture and climate-smart land use. It facilitates support for the ASEAN Negotiating Group for Agriculture (ANGA) to continue to represent ASEAN-coordinated positions on agriculture in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Support ASEAN through the Food, Agriculture, and Forestry Division of the ASEAN Secretariat. ASEAN guidelines and knowledge products on the issue of adaptation and mitigation of the food, agriculture, and forestry (FAF) sector, such as ASEAN Climate-Smart Agriculture Guidelines Volume III and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Study, have been prepared and disseminated.

FINANCED BY

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

COUNTRY

Regional (10 ASEAN Member States (AMS), and National (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam)

PROJECT PARTNERS

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through the ASEAN Sectoral Working Group on Crops (ASWGC), other relevant line agencies, the private sector and civil society organisations

PROJECT DURATION

08/2019 – 12/2023

MORE INFORMATION

www.thai-german-cooperation.info, www.asean-agrifood.org