From October 16 (Mon.) to December 15 (Fri.), 2023, Ehime University’s Asia-Africa Center, part of the Institute for International Relations, conducted a program “Promotion of Food Value Chain for Community-Based Agri-Business” for young people from Latin American countries as part of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)’s Knowledge Co-creation Program (KCCP) in Japan, as it did in the previous two fiscal years.
This year, 14 participants from 8 Spanish-speaking and 1 Portuguese-speaking countries in Latin America joined the program. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the program was conducted online in the past two years, but this year we were able to conduct a face-to-face program in Japan in addition to the online pre-and post-program. The participants attended lectures at Ehime University and visited Uwajima City, Seiyo City, and Gogoshima Island, where they learned about successful examples of food value chains* in Ehime Prefecture through on-site experience and walking tours of the cities. As in the previous Program, we received the cooperation of local government, companies, and organizations involved in the agriculture, livestock, and fisheries industries in Ehime Prefecture.
The synergistic effect of the online pre-program in addition to the program in Japan made this program very meaningful for the participants. It also provided the participants with an opportunity to experience Japanese culture and traditions. Based on the experiences and knowledge gained through the program in Japan, the participants created achievable activity plans for their home countryies. After returning to their home countries, the participants exchanged opinions with Ehime University faculty members in an online post-program to confirm the continuation of their activities and future implementation plans.
It is expected that the participants will continue their activities so that they can apply the knowledge and experience they gained about the food value chain in Japan through this program to solve issues in their home countries.
※Food value chain: The linkage of added value generated in the distribution process from production to consumption related to agricultural, forestry, fisheries, and fishery products and foods.
＜nternational Relations Office＞