Food Value Chain Training Course in Partnership with Royal University of Agriculture 2023

The 2nd Food Value Chain Training Course in Partnership with the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) under HRD Project Phase 3 was successfully organized from 20 to 24 March 2023. The program was hosted by the Faculty of Agro-industry of RUA. The activity was implemented in a hybrid scheme where students gathered in a lecture hall and received lectures via Zoom on the first two days and were fully on site on the last two days. There are 127 participants enrolled in the training course. During the training, 8 lecturers with noted expertise in Food Value Chain (FVC) from Japanese private sectors shared their knowledge and practical know-how based on their wide range of experiences in FVC-related fields. The curriculum was arranged based on consultation among RUA, MAFF Japan, Japan Food Journal, and the HRD Project. It was composed of cutting-edge knowledge on FVC-related topics which consist of; (1) Agriculture Cooperative (AC) particularly on JA-Zenchu’s effort to add value to agricultural products and its relation to FVC, (2) Agribusiness particularly on current, challenge and prospect of business using rice in Cambodia, (3) Logistics particularly on Supply Chain of Food Products including Farm & Fishery Products, (4) Food Processing particularly virtual experience of Yoshinoya production chain from farm to table as well as knowledge on functional food, and (5) Smart Agriculture specifically on Agri-tech design for the next generation food value chain. The field visit was conducted with support from the HRD Project on 21 March 2023. Participants visited a local factory that produces organic food products and medicine from Cambodian origin agricultural harvest. Participants studied how to produce and oversee marketing including necessary international food safety standards. A workshop was held to stimulate students’ understanding and allow them to discuss the specific topics, including challenges and also solutions that can be developed through skills and knowledge introduced by experts during the program. Participants were divided into 10 groups in which each group discussed and made presentations regarding how to create functional food for people with certain conditions (on 23 March 2023), and data analysis for agricultural field management using several parameters.