OKP Project resumes training activities in Vietnam

The OKP project is a Dutch-Vietnamese knowledge partnership project to promote the development of a climate-resilient nursery sector & value chains in An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Soc Trang, Tien Giang and Vinh Long, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and managed by NUFFIC.

This project introduces scalable water technology pilots for the aquaculture and horticulture sectors to develop climate-smart value chains. The project international partners including Aeres University, Has University, Fresh Studio Innovations Asia and Nong Lam University work with local governments and educational institutions to enhance capacity so that adaptations to cope with transformation in the Mekong Delta can be accelerated at the local level.

After a successful two-day kick-off workshop and first training sessions in April 2021, unfortunately the training activities were limited to online sessions due to  Covid-19 restrictions. Although in-person meetings were restricted, Fresh Studio set up its fish nursery with an advanced water filtration system (RAS) from Alpha Aqua—an improvement over previous methods that greatly increased fingerling efficiency and water usage.

Fingerling R&D nursery established by Fresh Studio
Fingerling R&D nursery established by Fresh Studio

At the Nong Lam University, irrigation systems were installed. These systems enabled the university to train its students in applied research related to irrigation strategies and water use efficiency.

Irrigation system installed at Nong Lam University
Irrigation system installed at Nong Lam University

As the Covid-19 situation has eased the project partners are pleased that in-person training and other project activities can take place again in Vietnam. During the last 2 weeks, the groups focused on aquaculture and crops resumed training activities related to didactics and technologies related to climate-smart agriculture. The training was provided by experts from Aeres and HAS, focusing on didactics in combination with the local teams of Nong Lam University and Fresh Studio, focusing on technologies.

Aquaculture training week

The project resumed training activities were met with enthusiasm by the trainees, especially the training exercises in which the trainees were actively involved themselves. 

In the coming period the project will continue to roll out the planned project activities starting with another training session on irrigation in June and the 2nd value chain development training in September.

Transferring knowledge and experience in supply chain management

What supply chain challenges do Southeast Asian Food Ingredient companies face? How to optimise your supply chain management to export successfully to the European market? During a Supply Chain Management workshop Fresh Studio shared knowledge, experience and criteria companies should focus on to improve their supply chain.

Following the successful training courses held in Vietnam in Hanoi and HCMC later last year, Fresh Studio was contracted by the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands to train Food Ingredients companies in Southeast Asia in Supply Chain Management (SCM). The SCM workshop, a highly practical and interactive training course, was designed to help Food Ingredients Companies to improve their supply chain in order to export successfully to the European market.

The first training was held at the Ministry of Trade in Jakarta, Indonesia in April 2015 with over 40 participants representing CBI companies and Indonesian ministries (Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Industry). The training did not only focus on principles of SCM but also gave the opportunity to analyse and evaluate the supply chain of participating companies. More importantly, concrete action plans were made. Success stories of for example The Fruit Republic, a company exporting Vietnamese fruits to European market, were used to demonstrate the possibility of EU market penetration for small and medium enterprises from Asia.

In June 2015, the second SCM training was conducted at Davao City Chamber of Commerce, the Philippines. Top managers of CBI companies in the Philippines attended the 2-day training workshop. Although business activities and product specialties differ between the Philippines and Indonesia, CBI companies from both countries share common limitations in supply chain management, covering from sourcing, quality assurance, certification and packaging to marketing. This second workshop also achieved the same level of success as the previous ones.

Comments of some participants about the workshop:
“Now I realise that our knowledge on SCM was so limited at the start of this workshop. We have a lot to do when I am back. I learned that all departments in the company need to better coordinate if we want to improve our supply chain and to expand our export to Europe”.

“My knowledge and experience in SCM has improved substantially after the 2-day training course. I will request a meeting with all departments in the company to analyse our SCM issues. For me, the ultimate goal is to make an action plan involving all important actors in the company’s supply chain and to make it a success story”.

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