FAO, Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire, and Philippines meet to discuss on the outline of the international training curriculum to boost local rice value chains

23 May 2023 – A virtual international training curriculum consultation workshop, focusing on the rice value chain, was successfully organized by FAO under the framework of the "Capacity Development and Experience sharing for Rice Value Chains through South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC)" project, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Republic of Korea (MAFRA).

Since 2020, the project has been facilitating diverse SSTC exchanges among the three participating countries, Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire, and The Philippines, in order to support the countries’ sustainable and effective rice value chains,  and has also convened  policymakers and experts from the respective, relevant national rice research and training institutions, to implement the virtual international training of trainers.

Following the first successful training session  in December 2022, which focused on sustainable mechanization strategies this consultation workshop discussed the proposed contents for the second session of the virtual international training of trainers, focusing on Sustainable Rice Platform, Standards, and Marketing.

The workshop was organized in close technical cooperation between FAO and the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) to build on SRP’s technical expertise in promoting best practices in sustainable rice farming, from production to marketing, in an effort to transform the global rice sector.

Four different SRP experts introduced to the three countries the SRP Standard and Performance Indicators, Assurance Scheme, and Market Development. Ms Siobhan Kelly, Agribusiness officer of FAO elaborated on how to adapt a systems approach for policy-making in the rice sector, as a sustainable rice sector development method..

The attendees from the respective three countries also discussed the content of the training curriculum. Building on knowledge learned from previously conducted activities, the consultation workshop reached a consensus on the outline of the training to be conducted at the international level, targeting all three countries. FAO and SRP highlighted that the training curricula will be tailored to meet the needs of each country in the relevant segment of the rice value chain.  

Ms Makiko Taguchi, Agricultural Officer of FAOHQ, concluded the workshop by stating that, detailed two and a half days of comprehensive online training will be provided to the selected officials of the three countries during June 2023, building on the discussions of the workshop.