Sharing Korean Agricultural Policy Experiences
for Developing Countries’ Food Security and Poverty Alleviation

The Korea Rural Economic Institute (President: Choi Sei-kyun) visited the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on March 4, and signed the Record of Discussion for the Korean Agricultural Policy Experiences for Food Security (KAPEX) program, agreeing to start the full-scale program.

From 2013, the institute has implemented the KAPEX program commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. In 2014, the KAPEX program will focus on consulting on strengthening food security abilities of Vietnam, Myanmar, and Uganda.

The main consulting area of the KAPEX program with Vietnam is farmland management for sustainable agriculture in climate change. 70% of the Vietnamese population lives in rural villages. Therefore, Vietnam is very interested in the development of agriculture and rural villages. The country is also known to be vulnerable to floods, typhoons, and sea level rise due to climate change effects.

The institute will carry out training in Korea for Vietnamese high-ranking officials, working-level training in Vietnam, a round-table policy workshop of both countries’ experts and public officials, and a 6-month training program for public officials related to farmland.

Tran Kim Long, a director of the International Cooperation Agency of the Vietnamese MARD, said, “If we understand climate change’s effects on Vietnam’s agriculture through the KAPEX program, and apply our understanding to the farmland management system for sustainable agriculture, it will contribute much to the development of Vietnam’s agriculture."

The institute’s Center for International Agricultural Partnership (Director: Heo Jang) will focus on improving the Vietnamese government’s ability by sharing Korean agricultural policy experiences and expertise including analysis techniques of climate change’s effects on agriculture.

The institute will begin the full-scale 2014 KAPEX program after agreeing consulting areas and topics of Mynamar and Uganda, forming the joint research teams, and signing Records of Discussion by late March.