ICA-AP & NACF holds “Joint Workshop on the Agricultural Cooperative System in Korea”

From the 14th to 19th of May, the NACF, which serves as the Secretariat of the ICAO, invited 12 cooperative members from 5 countries in the Asia Pacific region to share and introduce the agricultural cooperative system of Korea.

This joint workshop was held in collaboration with the ICA-AP and is the 16th joint workshop being hosted since its first launch in 2002. Each year the NACF and ICA-AP has been inviting working level employees from agricultural cooperatives or Government departments in charge of agriculture or cooperatives to learn and gain insight from the Korean model.

This year, the workshop was joined by twelve (12) members from five (5) countries including India, Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Malaysia and Vietnam. The workshop was held for four (4) full days which included programs such as seminars and country report presentations, visits to NACF subsidiaries and a city tour.

After receiving opinions on which NACF subsidiary the members would like to visit during their stay, the NACF International Cooperation Office planned a schedule that included visits to the RPC (Rice Processing Complex (RPC), Local Food Market, Hanaro Mart, Agri-Product Distribution Center, NH Seed and Farm Material Distribution Center. During each visit, manager level employees greeted and explained to the members about the work they are doing and answered their questions.

By visiting various subsidiaries, the participants were able to learn about the Korean agricultural system in depth and take back lessons that could be adapted to their own country. Many of the attendees were also able to learn that each country’s situations are different, however, were able to find areas that they can learn from and methods that could be adapted or further developed to match their own country’s situation.