2007/ATCWG11/015

Agenda Item: V

Progress Report -Enhance Capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises in Agricultural Sector of APEC Economies (ATC 05/2007)

Purpose: Information

Submitted by: Viet Nam

/ 11th Agricultural Technical Cooperation
Working Group Meeting
Brisbane, Australia
28-31 May 2007

APEC PROJECT FORMAT

Progress Report on APEC Projects

[ x ] Operational Account [ ] TILF Special Account [ ] APEC Support Fund

Project number:
ATC 05/2007 rev2 / Date received by Secretariat:
10 October 2006
Name of Committee/Working Group: Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group (ATCWG)
Title of Project: Enhance capacity of small and medium enterprises in agricultural sector of APEC economies
Proposing APEC Economy:Viet Nam
Co-sponsoring APEC Economy (ies): 1) United States 2) Australia
Project Overseer: Name, Title and Organization(M/F)
Mr. An Van Khanh (M), Vice Director, Dept. of Processing of Agro-forestry Product Processing and Salt Industry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Vietnam)
Postal address:
No.2, Ngoc Ha Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam / Tel: 84-4-7341593
Fax: 84-4-8438144
Email: or
Financial Information / Total cost of proposal (US$):
74, 850 / Amount being sought from APEC Central Fund (US$): 63,150
Type of Project: x seminar/symposium  short-term training course  survey or analysis and research  database/website  others (Please specify)
Project start date: January 01, 2007 / Project end date: December 31, 2007
Brief description of Project : its purpose and the principal activities(including when and where) :
Manufacturing, preserving, processing for agricultural products is one of the important sub-sectors of agriculture in Vietnam as well as that of other APEC Member Economies. This is not only an important sub-sector of the economy which creates more jobs for farmers but it also makes significant contribution to food security at regional and global scale. In the production chain starting with growing, preservation, processing to trade for agricultural products, SMEs in rural areas, and in agriculture, play a very important role. In the one hand, these enterprises make possible for the appropriate technologies to be transferred in order to minimize post-harvest losses, to increase the value-added of agricultural products, thus enhance their competition, while at the same time creating jobs, improving income and contributing to the implementing of Millennium Goals set by the United Nations. On the other hand, activities conducted by these very enterprises enable farmers to join regional food system, which helps to maintain the sustainability of the system as well as enhance the productivity. Changing from a centrally-planned economy to a market-oriented one, Vietnamese government has put a stress on the development of SMEs, especially those producing and processing rice. The number of SMEs is growing up rather rapidly on an annual basis. There are currently about 4.000 SMEs producing and processing agricultural products. However, because of this new business, they are facing great challenges in terms of limited expertise and capacity. This also is one of the challenges Vietnam has to face while integrating regionally and globally. Meanwhile, some other APEC members such as Chinese Taipei, Thailand, etc. succeeded in this field. Therefore, a conference is needed to give Vietnam and other APEC economies in the region chances to exchange information and expertise, with a view to have more progress in this sub-sectors.
The objects of Project:
Through the workshop, participants from APEC Member Economies could exchange information, experience and expertise in developing SMEs in storage, processing and trade of agricultural products, thus enhancing regional food security.
The activities of the Project:
- In 2007, a workshop will be held in Vietnam to promote changing information, experiences and expertise in developing SMEs in agriculture and rural among stakeholders coming from APEC Member Economies, including Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, China mainland, Hong kong China, South Korea and Australia.
- Through exchanging information, experiences and expertise in the workshop, capacity of developing SMEs in agricultural sector of Vietnamese as well as other APEC Member Economies will be improved. In addition, multilateral understanding will be built among APEC economies with a view to contribute to global food security.
Signature of Project Overseer:
(Separate written confirmation acceptable for email submission) Date:
Signature of Committee Chair/WG Lead Shepherd:(Not applicable to Progress Report and Evaluation Report)
(Separate written confirmation acceptable for email submission) Date:

Annex G2

2 of 2

Progress Report on APEC Projects

Status/Progress and Problems: well underway

Current status of project: On schedule (Yes/No) Within budget (Yes/No)
1. Changing Project Overseer Yes No
2. Set up Steering Committee Yes No
3. Identification of Consultant and consultants secretary
and propose APEC Secretariat to sign their contracts Yes Yes
4. Sign the contract with the consultant and the
consultants secretary No Yes
5. Arrangement of venue and time of workshop Yes Yes
6. Preparing workshop announcement Yes Yes
Objectives
How do results of the project thus far (if any) compare with its expected results? Include your results thus far (if any) relative to quantitative measures you proposed in paragraph 1 (and 25) of the project design proposal.
The obtained results after the workshop will be provided ATCWG with information on SMEs
knowledge and capacity gaps that need to be addressed in the future.
The project will make use of complement works done by SMEWG proposals for development of
SMEs such as "APEC/SME Seminar on support for local and cottage industries".
The other activities that would facilitate the creation of a SMEs network should also be considered
in the future.
Linkages, Methodology, Budget
Describe any problems which have arisen and how they were resolved, including changes in schedule or revised dates, budget changes, changes in participation, or additions or deletions of activities.
The Itemized Budget of the ATC05/2007 might be changed with the ratified constant total to adapt the activities that will be implemented during the workshop. It has been approved by Geoffrey WOODHEAD, Director (Finance) on May 3, 2007.

Gender Considerations

Provide a brief description of the impact of the project on women to date.
Provide details to show how women have been consulted on the delivery of the project.
What kind of sex-disaggregated data has been collected and used for the project?
This project will improve the working condition for farmers, especially female farmers, in terms of preservation and processing agricultural products, thanks to the more advanced technologies would be transferred within SMEs. In addition, attention will be paid to capacity building for women in establishing and running SMEs in agriculture. Women will be invited to join the management team as well as to act as presenters.
Progress since last report : Schedule
1. Steering Committee considers the lists of speakers and participants Jun
and inform to speaker about preparing their report
2. Invitation of speakers and participants sent Jun
3. Contact with participants and collect their report. Jul
4. Preparation works ( workshop document, dispatch invitations to
participants, booking accomodation for speakers, other necessary
procedures, etc for workshop) Aug - Sept
5. APEC regional workshop Oct
6. Preparing Final report Nov
7. Publication and dissemination Dec
8. Project Evaluation and finalize reconciliation of workshops budgets Dec

Notes:-All Committee and Working Group projects, irrespective of their source of funding, should be reported to BMC.

-Please mark “N.A.” if any item is not applicable.

-Name of Project should be identical with the name stated in the project proposal.

1