98 1

4771, Aihara-machi, Machida-shi, Tokyo 194-0211 Japan URL : http//www.idaca.or.jpTel: +81-42-782-4331 Fax: +81-42-782-4384 E-mail: gad-idaca@j.email.ne.jp

The 10th International Cooperative Alli-ance-Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP) Regional Assembly was held from November 26 to November 30 at the Kobe International Conference Center. In addition, as this year is the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) advocated by the United Nations, the 7th Cooperative Forum co-sponsored by ICA-AP, Japan Joint Committee of Cooperatives (JJC), and the Japan National Planning Committee for IYC 2012 was also held on November 28. Not only the representatives of the ICA-AP Regional Assembly but also many officials of coop-eratives in Japan participated in the Forum, centering on the theme: “Role of Coopera-tives in Times of Natural Disaster,” with a lecture given by former Hyogo Governor Toshitami Kaihara, a summary report by JA-Zenchu Exective Director Hajime

Yaguchi on the Great East Japan Earth-quake and effort towards recovery and reconstruction by Japanese cooperative

No. 98January 15, 2013

“ICA-AP Regional Assembly” Held in Japan and IYC Event “Cooperative Forum”

REPORT ON COMMEMORATIVE EVENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF COOPERATIVES“ICA-AP Regional Assembly” Held in Japan and IYC Event “Cooperative Forum” ---------------------- 1REPORTS ON TRAINING COURSES(1) JICA Agricultural Cooperatives Course --------- 2(2) The 2nd ICA/Japan Training Course on Revitalization of Local Community by Rural Women --------------------------------------------- 3

Contents(3) “Capacity Building for Agribusiness Development Through Agricultural Cooperatives” Training Course Under the Project for Strengthening Japan-ASEAN Capacity Building ---------------------------------------- 5(4) JICA “Planning of Agricultural Policy” Course -- 5OVERSEAS BUSINESS TRIP REPORTParticipating in an Event Hosted by the Government of Bhutan in Commemoration of the International Year of Cooperatives ------------------ 7

Executive Officials of NTIFO Visit IDACAMr. Wang Zhi-Wen, General Secretary of the

National Training Institute for Farmers’ Organi-zations (NTIFO), which has a partnership agreement with IDACA, and Hong Chong-Ren, Division Director of the NTIFO International Department, visited IDACA on October 23 (Tue.), 2012. They exchanged mutual informa-tion with IDACA Executive Director Hiraoka and other IDACA personnel regarding the recent situation of their organizations and agreed to strengthen the partnership in the future. Although diplomacy at the national level is facing a diff icult situation, NTIFO and

IDACA will respect each other’s position and make efforts to ensure that our friendly rela-tions will continue as before.

Panel discussions at the 7th Cooperative ForumDame Pauline Green, ICA President (left) and Mr. Akira Banzai, JA Zenchu President (left end of panelists’ table)

REPORT ON COMMEMORATIVE EVENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF COOPERATIVES

982 98 3

(1) JICA Agricultural Cooperatives Course

(2) The 2nd ICA/Japan Training Course on Revitalization of Local Community by Rural Women

REPORTS ON TRAINING COURSES

Commissioned by the Japan Inter-national Cooperation Agency (JICA), IDACA conducted a JICA group training course titled “Strengthening Management and Business Activities of Agricultural Cooperatives” over a two-month period between May 6 and July 14, 2012.

Participating in the training course were 17 government administrators f rom 13 countries of Af rica and Southeast Asia.

movements, and reports by overseas par-ticipants on such matters as flood damage in Thailand, tsunami damage in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and f lood damage in the Philippines. Additionally, discussions were held on such matters as the roles that cooperatives should play in times of such disasters.

Also, the active parts played by former participants of IDACA training courses stood out conspicuously in this ICA-AP

Regional Assembly. During the meeting of the ICA-AP Women’s Committee, Nepal Credit Coopera-tives Executive Chairperson Om Devi Joshi (participant of an ICA women’s training course in FY2008) gave a report on “Initiatives on Gen-der Mainstreaming in Coopera-tives,” while Malaysia ANGKASA Deputy Manager Hajah Roszurina Binti Omar (participant of an ICA women’s training course in FY2002) gave a report on ANGKASA’s initia-t ives center ing on the theme: “Women in Cooperatives Build a Secured Society.” Moreover, many

former participants of IDACA training courses par ticipated in the Regional Assembly on behalf of such countries as India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, and engaged in lively discussions and exchanges of views.

On the last day, following final reports of committees by sector and by theme, the meeting came to a conclusion upon adop-tion of a resolution on the “Role of Cooper-atives in Times of Natural Disaster.”

The ICA/Japan Training Course on Revi-talization of Local Community by Rural Women, the main objective of which is to train rural women leaders of the Asian region, was held again this year from July 10 to August 4, 2012. Participating in the training course were 13 women from nine countries in the Asian region, including government administrators and cooperative

personnel. They learned about the roles played by JA and the JA women’s associa-tions in the local communities and case studies of various entrepreneurship activi-ties conducted by women.

During the field study visits, the partici-pants visited Fukushima Prefecture, which was severely affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and where the issue of

the nuclear power plant accident still remains to be addressed. This field study visit came about at the request of Ms. Okawara, Chairperson of the Fukushima Prefectural Council of JA Women’s Associations, who wanted the participants from Asia to learn about the situation in Fukushima where the people are working hard to rise under such circumstances.

Following a lecture at the JA Pre-fectural Union, the par ticipants engaged in an exchange meeting Field study visit in Niigata Prefecture

Snapshot with a former IDACA participant from Malaysia and ICA-AP Regional Director and staff

Field study visits were conducted in Nii-gata Prefecture, Kochi Prefecture, and Nagano Prefecture. The participants visit-ed JA Niigata Prefectural Union, JA Zennoh Niigata, Nagaoka Chuo General Hospital of the JA Niigata Welfare Federa-tion, JA Echigo-Nagaoka, JA Niigata Mirai, Niigata City Central Wholesale Market, etc. in Niigata Prefecture; Agricul-tural Promotion Division of the Kochi Pre-fectural Government, JA Kochi Prefectural Union, JA Tosa Reihoku, Kochi Prefectur-al Agricultural Research Center, JA Kochi Haruno, Kochi Federation of Horticultural and Agricultural Cooperatives, JA Kochi-shi, JA Nangoku-shi, etc. in Kochi Prefec-ture; and Nagano Agricultural Cooperative Institute for Rural Development, Nagano

Prefectural Rural Industry Research Insti-tute, Nagano Kono Inc., JA Nagano, etc. in Nagano Prefecture. Finally, as the results, they formulated action plans for strength-ening management and business activities of agricultural cooperatives to be put into practice in their respective countries.

Field study visit in Kochi Prefecture

Exchange meeting over lunch with members of the JA Aizu Women’s Association

984 98 5

After each lecture, field study visits were scheduled in Hachioji City, Fukushima Pre-fecture, and Yamanashi Prefecture. I was able to confirm the knowledge I gained in the lectures by actually going to the sites, so the program was very easy to follow. The JAs in Japan play an important role in positioning themselves between the gov-ernment and the farmers, and the success-ful case examples were very helpful. When we visited the disaster-stricken areas in Fukushima Prefecture, I was very amazed

at the greatness of the Japanese people upon seeing reconstruction work proceed-ing at a very fast pace despite the fact that it was such a large-scale disaster.

During the training period, I met many energetic and hard-working Japanese women leaders. I believe that it was very meaningful for us to be able to share their experience and knowledge. In addition, I was able to obtain information during the programs on cooperatives in various coun-tries from the participants of this training course, as well as training courses in Thai-land and Japan, and I was also able to com-pare them with the situation in my own country. I would like to take back these valuable experiences and vast data to my own country and utilize them for the strengthening and development of coopera-tives.

Ms. Mariyam SimlaSenior Research Officer,Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (Maldives)

“It was a wonderful experience!”

(3) “Capacity Building for Agribusiness Development Through Agricultural Cooperatives” Training Course Under the Project for Strengthening Japan-ASEAN Capacity Building

In view of its planned economic integration in 2015, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is engaged in efforts to implement poli-cies for boosting the competitiveness of agricultural products, aiming at improving the quality of the agricul-tural products and enhancing food safety. As support measures, the Min-istry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan has provided con-tributions to the ASEAN Secretariat for the project costs. It has been decided that among various projects to be conduct-ed by the ASEAN Secretariat, IDACA would accept participants for short-term training courses, which are a part of the projects contracted by JA Zenchu.

Designating such subjects as “Implemen-

tation of GAP through Agricultural Coop-eratives” and “Improvement of the System to Obtain Adequate Price and Value Addi-tion to Agricultural Products” as the topics of the training course, IDACA conducted the training course f rom August 6 to August 18, 2012, with participation by a

total of 20 people f rom nine ASEAN member countries. During f ield study visits, the partici-pants visited Nagano Pre-fecture, combined with lectures related to GAP practice and observation of agricultural products processing facilities.

Visiting an apple farm in Nagano Prefecture

with members of JA Aizu Women’s Associ-ation, visited direct sales shops of JA Date Mirai and JA Sukagawa Iwase, and observed JA Tamura’s day care service cen-ter. During their f ield study visit in JA Soma, they visited tsunami-stricken areas

and held exchange meetings with members of the JA Women’s Association and JA employees. In addition, during their visit to a hospital of JA Fukushima Welfare Feder-ation, all the participants could not hide their amazement at the scenes of a rural

medical institution well equipped with modern facilities.

They were all deeply impressed by the words of Ms. Okawara, who explained that the people of Fukushi-ma are working together to confront the sadness of not being able to pro-duce agricultural products and the reality of not selling their products as expected due to harmful rumors even if they managed to produce the prod-ucts. She said, “They believe that the efforts they are making now will be rewarded without fail. Women’s smil-ing faces make everyone brighten.”

Participants experienced camping on the weekend near IDACA, trying out the dishes of various countries.

(4) JICA “Planning of Agricultural Policy” CourseThe “Planning of Agricultural Policy,”

which is a training course commissioned by JICA, was conducted from August 28 to September 23. Following the basic subjects learned at IDACA and MAFF, the partici-pants visited Kumamoto Prefecture for

field study visits of the training course.Participating in the training course for

the current fiscal year were 15 government administrators from 13 countries of Asia, Middle East, Africa, and South America. With the viewpoints ranging from a prefec-

Opening Ceremony at JA Zenchu

986 98 7

Participating in an Event Hosted by the Government of Bhutan in Commemoration of the International

Year of CooperativesHideya Suzuki

Manager, General Affairs Department, IDACA

To commemorate the 2012 International Year of Coopera-tives, the Government of Bhutan hosted a three-day international seminar in Thimphu, the nation’s capital, from October 8 to Octo-ber 10, designating “Empowering Rural Communit ies towards Gross National Happiness” as the theme of the seminar. Participat-ing in the seminar were a total of 140 people, including 26 people f rom China, India, Thailand, Japan, and Nepal. IDACA also received a request to deliver a lecture, and I attended the seminar on behalf of our orga-nization.

The purpose of this seminar was to pro-mote the agricultural cooperative move-ment in Bhutan by raising public awareness of the importance and benefits of coopera-tives and giving impetus to the development of cooperatives in Bhutan, as well as sharing ad-vanced case examples of the cooperative movement in other countries.

While the agricultural coopera-tive movement has been observed in Bhutan since the early 1960s, a formal movement began as a result of the enforcement of the Cooperatives Act in 2009 and establishment of the Department of Agricultural Marketing and

Cooperatives. Currently, there are 16 coop-eratives and 100 registered farmer groups in Bhutan. The Kingdom of Bhutan is pur-suing a policy to promote these coopera-tives and farmer groups as a major pillar for the economic development of the Bhu-tanese society.

Opening Ceremony

OVERSEAS BUSINESS TRIP REPORT

As everyone knows, Afghanistan has been devastated, with major infrastruc-tures destroyed as a result of the lengthy civil war, and the reconstruction and devel-opment of this country is unthinkable without personnel with abundant knowl-edge and experience. I decided to partici-pate in this training course, feeling that it was an obligation imposed on myself to gain various experience and knowledge. In addition, as Japan went through a similar experience during World War II and

achieved remarkable recovery, and thus is an excellent example, I feel that this is indeed a goal that we must attain.

Also, the training course in Japan was very easy to understand, with a well-bal-anced combination of lectures, exercises, and visits. In particular, it was very useful in resolving our country’s problems such as the government’s agricultural product poli-cy, agricultural cooperatives, distribution, and marketing. It could also be used for the analyzing and monitoring of agricultural development projects.

The Japanese society is very enlighten-ing for me. It is clear that the Japanese peo-ple’s honesty, diligence, scrupulosity, and kind way of treating others will serve as good examples for me to follow. I would like to pay sincere respect to all of you at IDACA.

Mr. Ahmad Zarif MutaqiGeneral Manager of Agricultural Policies,Agriculture and Irrigation Department,Ministry of Economy (Afghanistan)

“Valuable Experience in Japan”

Lecture on the current state of agricultural cooperatives in Japan

ture level to a municipal level, the participants learned a lot from the subjects such as the Basic Law on Food, Agricul-ture, and Rural Areas, infra-structure development, activities of agricultural cooperatives that play a central role in local agri-culture and production/market-ing, and various initiatives to address issues conf ronting them.

The field study visits became an opportunity for the participants to study such matters as activities of agricultural cooperatives focused on farming, policies of the prefectural government and initia-tives related to rural community-based farming groups as a specific example of

such policies, and activities of women pro-ducer groups.

At the end of the training course, the par-ticipants drafted action plans for improve-ment and new proposal for agricultural pol-icies in their respective countries.

Field study visit in Kumamoto