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KoLFACI Newsletter 3rd Issue

Published by Korea-Latin America Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KoLFACI)

ITCC, 300 Nongsaengmyeong-ro, Wansan-gu, Jeonju 54875, Republic of Korea

Tel : +82 238 1127/28 | Fax : +82 238 1790 | E-mail : kolfaci@korea.kr

www.kolfaci.org

The 2nd KoLFACI General Assembly

Cover Story

KoLFACI News

Planning Meeting

2nd General Assembly

Change in KoLFACI Projects

Event Plan in 2017

New Personnel

Bulletin Board

In This Issue

On 30 Nov. - 1 Dec. 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) of

El Salvador and KoLFACI jointly hosted the 2nd General Assembly (GA) in San

Salvador, El Salvador. This biennial meeting was previously held in Jeonju

(Korea) in September 2014. At this occasion, several sessions took place:

Election of the Chair Group, LOA Signing Ceremony for the 2nd phase pro-

jects, MOU Signing Ceremony between RDA and CATIE, and Field Tour. There

were 36 participants from 11 member countries and 2 international organiza-

tions. Mr. Orestes Fredesman Ortez Andrade, Minister of the Ministry of Agri-

culture and Livestock and Mr. Ra Seung-yong, Deputy Administrator of the

Rural Development Administration (RDA), participated in the said meeting.

2016 KoLFACI Planning Meeting

Lima, Peru

Aug. 8 - 10

he planning meeting of KoLFACI was held in Lima, Peru on 8-10 August to

arrange plan details and decide on the management plan of the KoLFACI’s

second phase projects.

The planning meeting was co-hosted by the National Institute of Agrarian Inno-

vation (INIA) of Peru and KoLFACI. Attending the meeting were 9 representatives

from member countries of KoLFACI, Dr. Lee Young-Hee, Director General of the Na-

tional Institute of Crop Science (NICS), and the KoLFACI secretariat as the delegates

from South Korea. Also, Mr. Alberto Maurer, chief of INIA and Mr. Jang Keun-Ho,

Ambassador of South Korea in Peru graced the occasion with their presence during

the opening ceremony of the meeting.

In the meeting, Dr. Adriana Arciniegas announced the results of the training

program of cacao that was held at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Ed-

ucation Center (CATIE) last June for member countries. The training program was

attended by 11 representatives from member countries who completed the training

course on cacao production and management.

The Secretariat prepared progress reports on the conducts of international con-

ferences such as workshops, planning meetings, and evaluation meetings since it

was launched in September 2014. It also plans to analyze and supplement the pro-

ject proposals for the second stage and strengthen the evaluation and management

of each project.

Korea - Latin America Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative

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T

In addition, the presentations of the outstanding project

proposals for 2nd phase were selected; these included the rice

project in Costa Rica, the organic fertilizer project in El Salva-

dor, and post-harvest management project in Peru. This gave

them opportunities to share task designs and planning with the

best proposals.

Member countries and KoLFACI Secretariat formulated de-

tailed plans for each project of KOLFACI 2nd phase, confirmed

the operational plan, and enhanced the results by strengthen-

ing the evaluation of qualitative and quantitative performance

for each project.

The next day, the participants visited the International Po-

tato Center (CIP) and INIA to hear about their major roles and

interests, and visited the related facilities in the area.

This planning meeting was an opportunity to share opin-

ions on business promotions among member countries. In ad-

dition, the KoLFACI Secretariat was able to strengthen mutual

cooperation, which enabled them to build a network continu-

ously.

2 KoLFACI Newsletter | ISSUE 3 | January 2017

2016 KoLFACI 2nd General Assembly

San Salvador, El Salvador

Nov. 29 - Dec. 1

Korea - Latin America Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative

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AGENDA

Opening of the Session

Adoption of the Agenda

Election of the Chair Group

Press Conference

Presentation on Agricultural Situation in El Salvador

Progress Report of KoLFACI

LOA Signing Ceremony

MOU Signing Ceremony be-tween CATIE and RDA

Amendment of Regulations

Other Matters

Presentation on Outstanding KoLFACI Projects

Closing

The 2nd General Assembly was held in San Sal-

vador, El Salvador on 30 Nov. - 1 Dec. 2016. Jointly

hosted by KoLFACI and the Ministry of Agriculture

and Livestock (MAG) of El Salvador, the General

Assembly brought together the delegations from

11 member countries and delegates from Korean

and El Salvadoran government, representatives

from international organizations.

Election of the New Chair Group

Guatemala was nominated and elected as the

new chair country of the KoLFACI. Likewise, Hon-

duras was elected as the vice chair country. Mr.

Jose Felipe Orellana Mejia, Vice Minister of the

Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food

(MAGA) in Guatemala, was nominated as the sec-

ond Chairperson of KoLFACI. And Mr. Jorge Johny

Handal Hawit, Vice Secretary of the Secretary of

Agriculture and Livestock (SAG), was appointed as

the vice president of KoLFACI. The newly nominat-

ed chair group will direct the 2nd phase KoLFACI

projects, which will be implemented starting in

2017. Also, Guatemala was selected to host the

next KoLFACI General Assembly.

According to the co-chair system of the KoL-

FACI General Assembly adopted in the 1st General

Assembly, Administrator of Rural Development

Administration (RDA) in the Republic of Korea, is

responsible for the organization of the KoLFACI

Secretariat and its sponsorship and continues to

hold the chairmanship.

With the new co-chairpersons, KoLFACI is ex-

pected to take a new leap towards agricultural

development in Latin America and closer cooper-

ation among KoLFACI member countries.

Presentation Mr. Rafael Aleman, Director General of Na-

tional Centre for Forestry and Agricultural Tech-

nology (CENTA), gave a presentation on the cur-

rent agricultural situation of El Salvador and

showed a video about two KoLFACI projects (Rice

and Organic Fertilizer) that are carried out in El

Salvador. After the session, Dr. Jun Ji-hae, KoL-

FACI Deputy Secretary General, gave a presenta-

tion about KoLFACI activities that were conducted

since the inauguration. For the past two years,

many events were held, such as workshops, plan-

ning meetings, field evaluations, and international

training programs for the enhancement of

(Left) Mr. Jose Felipe Orellana Mejia (Right) Mr. Jorge Johny Handal Hawit

4 KoLFACI Newsletter | ISSUE 3 | January 2017

principal investigators’ capacity of the

member countries. The 2nd phase pro-

jects will focus on strengthening the

evaluation and management more effi-

ciently. She also highlighted new pro-

jects and announced the 2017 KoLFACI

Event Plan.

Additionally, it was announced that

RDA will provide an opportunity for the

principal investigators of the outstand-

ing projects to participate in a training

program in Korea as a prize.

LOA Signing Ceremony

The representatives of the member

countries signed a LOA (Letter of Ar-

rangement) that explains the contents

of the 2nd phase KoLFACI projects, and

the new projects will be carried out from

2017 based on this document. The 2nd

phase projects are composed of four

projects including Rice and Organic Fer-

tilizer projects, which have been driven

since the 1st phase, and new projects on

post-harvest and soil information sys-

tems. They will be implemented for 3

years from 2017 to 2020.

MOU Signing Ceremony

At this General Assembly, Tropical

Agricultural Research and Higher Edu-

cation Center (CATIE) joined KoLFACI as

a new partner organization by signing a

MOU with the Rural Development Ad-

ministration (RDA) of Korea. From now

on, they are going to conduct profes-

sional training programs, project man-

agement, etc.

Presentation of Outstanding projects

Three outstanding projects, which

have been implemented during the 1st

phase, were presented at this meeting.

These projects were selected through

the Evaluation Meeting at which the

results of the 1st phase KoLFACI projects

among the member countries were dis-

cussed. The chosen countries brought

about excellent outcomes from the KoL-

FACI projects: the Rice project in Peru,

Organic Fertilizer project in Nicaragua,

and Cacao project in Honduras. Each

principal investigator of the selected

projects gave a presentation to the par-

ticipants to share their performance

process and the results. After the

presentation, they received certificates

of award and gifts from Dr. Lee Jeom-

ho, the Secretary General of KoLFACI.

Other Matters At the discussion session, the mem-

ber countries expressed their gratitude

for the agricultural technologies and

financial aids that RDA has offered. In

addition, they asked for technical sup-

port from RDA to gain high-quality rice

in the post-harvest processing stage

and build network systems as well as

research facilities in the member coun-

tries. They suggested expanding the

number of member countries and coop-

eration organizations and identifying

new projects such as livestock. Mr. Ra

Seung-yong, Deputy Administrator of

RDA, extended his appreciation to the

member countries for their interests and

active participation in KoLFACI projects.

In response to the suggestions, he

agreed with the fundamental needs for

new projects and support to research

facilities. He replied that in case of fi-

nancial affairs, RDA will try its best to

secure a budget and expand projects in

new areas. Additionally, he announced

that RDA will strengthen the information

sharing network system among member

countries using the KoLFACI official

website that has already been estab-

lished.

The General Assembly was a place

where the member countries could

share their opinions related to project

execution. The participants elected the

chair group that will lead the KoLFACI 2nd

phase projects and looked forward to

achieving more remarkable outcomes in

the member countries with the new

team. The meeting was concluded, and

the participants are expected to meet

again in Guatemala, the next president

country, in 2018.

Change in KoLFACI Projects

2nd Stage 1st Stage

Productivity enhancement of rice by improving water management

Demonstration on the improvement of rice productivity through an optimum

water management in irrigated rice

Development of an exemplary man-agement model for small scale cacao

farms

Improvement of soil cultivation envi-ronment through efficient utilization

of organic and biological fertilizers

Securing organic materials and devel-oping nutrient management system for stable production of food crops

Co-project with RDA and CATIE

Establishment of advanced post-harvest quality management model

for horticultural crops

Establishment of the Latin American soil information system

Pan-Latin American Project (12 countries)

Oct. 2014 — Sep. 2017

El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay

Oct. 2014 — Sep. 2017

Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Rep., Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Peru

Oct. 2014 — Sep. 2017

Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Rep., El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru

Jul. 2017 — Jun.2020

Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay

Jul. 2017 — Jun. 2020

6-8 member countries

Jul. 2017 — Jun. 2020

Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru

Mar. 2017 — Feb. 2020

Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay

Mar. 2017 — Feb. 2020

Organic

Fertilizer

Korea - Latin America Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative

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Postharvest

Soil Information System

Cacao

Rice

Date Place Event

March Costa Rica Planning Meeting on the Postharvest and Soil Information Projects

March Honduras

Nicaragua Field Evaluation on Soil Information System Project

March Guatemala

Peru Field Evaluation on Post-harvest Project

June Korea International Training Program on Soil Information System Project

June Costa Rica CATIE Training Program for Cacao Project

July Peru Local Training Program for Post-harvest project

August -

September

El Salvador

Nicaragua Field Evaluation on Rice Project

September Honduras Planning Meeting on the Rice and Organic Fertilizer Projects

September Costa Rica

Guatemala Field Evaluation on Organic Fertilizer Project

October Korea Invitation Training Program for outstanding projects’ Investigators

KoLFACI Event Plan in 2017

New Personnel

President of IPTA, Paraguay

Moises Santiago Bertoni Hicar was appointed as the new President of Paraguayan Institute of

Agricultural Technology (IPTA), Paraguay in November, 2016.

Minister of MIDA, Panama

Eduardo Enrique Carles was appointed as the new Minister of Ministry of Agricultural

Development (MIDA), Panama in July, 2016.

Director General of ICTA, Guatemala

Julio Rene Morales was appointed as the new Director

General of Agricultural Institute of Science and

Technology (ICTA), Guatemala in January, 2017.

6 KoLFACI Newsletter | ISSUE 3 | January 2017

* This schedule is possible to be changed by local circumstances

Bulletin Board

Korea - Latin America Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative

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Secretary General | Lee Jeom-ho

▪ General management of KoLFACI Secretariat

▪ ppjhlee4903@korea.kr | 82-63-238-1110

Deputy Secretary General | Jun Ji-hae

▪ Project planning and external relations

▪ Cooperation with International Organization

▪ jun0810@korea.kr | 82-63-238-1127

Vice Secretary General | Jeon Jung-hwan

▪ Project monitoring, evaluation, promotion

▪ Survey & Analysis of Food and Agricultural trends

▪ jeon75@korea.kr | 82-63-238-1128

Interpreter | Lee Je-kyeong

▪ Interpretation and Translation in Spanish-Korean

▪ Dominican Rep., Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama

▪ kolfaci@korea.kr | 82-63-238-1412

Coordinator | Kim Mi-young

▪ Rice and Soil Information System Program

▪ Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

▪ kolfaci@korea.kr | 82-63-238-1410

Coordinator | Lee Guen-pil

▪ Organic Fertilizer and Postharvest Program

▪ Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru

▪ kolfaci@korea.kr | 82-63-238-1411

KoLFACI Secretariat News

KoLFACI Secretariat Staff

KoLFACI Website

<http://www.kolfaci.org>

Meeting for KoLFACI Projects

The KoLFACI Secretariat and Korean Project Leaders had a meeting on Jan. 17, 2017 to present and examine the accomplishments of the KoLFACI projects. The meeting, which was presid-ed by KoLFACI Deputy Sec-retary General Dr. Jun Ji-hae, discussed issues, con-cerns, the KoLFACI Plan in

2017, and strategies to effective-ly monitor and evaluate the pro-jects that are implemented in member countries.

The KoLFACI website was launched last year. The KoL-FACI website is one of the effective means to share the agricultural information to a number of users in a short time.

With the website, the member countries can upload and access information on agriculture and KoLFACI pro-jects and activities. It also has a ‘project Q&A’ where us-ers can address their queries about KoLFACI projects and expect an answer. It also features links to the country’s own pages and statistics.

The website has also menus where the member coun-tries can download the materials and get the information related to KoLFACI events.

New Coordinator of KoLFACI Secretariat

Mr. Oh Seung-hyun left the KoL-FACI secretariat after his excel-lent work as a coordinator for the past two years. Subsequently Mr. Lee Guen-pil has newly joined in since October, 2016. As coordinator, He is in charge of communication with South American countries (Bolivia, Co-lombia, Paraguay, Peru)

KoLFACI welcomes your contribution of

▪ Articles for opinion or review on food and agricultural issue.

▪ Member countries’ news.

Please send it to kolfaci@korea.kr

More about KoLFACI for the latest information, check out our website | www.kolfaci.org