Towards Sustainable Food Systems in Southeast Asia: Insights from the Malica research platform | Hanoi | 5 June 2018

The Annual Scientific Meeting share the results of Malica's 2017-2018 activities and discuss them in the perspective of the overall goal of MALICA scientific project, which is to contribute to the sustainability of food systems

June 5th 2018, MALICA Platform successfully organized the Annual Scientific Meeting, with contribution of 11 international and Vietnam institutional partners, as well as participation of more than 60 experts and researchers working in the field of agriculture. At the meeting, researchers share the results on 3 priority research areas Agricultural system transformations in relation to urban food system and market changes; Market restructuring and quality standard development in relation to changes in urban consumption patterns and trade integration; Impact assessment and prospective approaches in support to innovations in public policies and collective actions towards sustainable food systems.

In the welcome remark, Dr. Dao The Anh, President of Malica Platform and Vice President of Vietnam Academy of Agriculture Sciences (VAAS) introduced objectives of Malica in 2017-2018 and the agenda of the meeting.

Consumers’ awareness of food safety is a big concern of the meeting. Accordingly, CIRAD researchers in partnership with Center for Agrarian Systems Research and Development (CASRAD) and National University of Laos (NUoL) presented their study on consumer survey for safeorganic, food products in Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. It is reported that the system of regulations and standards for food safety in Vietnam exposes many shortcomings and requires involvement of private sector, which promising to establish and improve a transparency for the system.   

National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) in Laos contributed to the meeting with their experiences on harvesting and enhancing the economic value in tea sector, focusing on planning, producing and market access. Besides, there were other reports on cooperatives in Vietnam, rice landraces in Vietnam, risk analysis into value chain approaches, prospective vision of the dairy and livestock sector…

In the final session, stakeholders shared their points of view on key issues of the meeting. Mrs. Gaby Breton from Socodevi Vietnam commented that the unclear roles and responsibilities of cooperatives, and inadequate government support make low added value. Therefore, cooperatives should enhance the connection between their members as well as the linkage with other cooperatives, in order to build collective strength and adapt to global integration. According to Mr. Alexandre Bouchot from French Embassy, we need to pay more attention on value chain for high quality agricultural products, especially GIs in Vietnam.