Indian team led by NCUI official K N Sinha and Kribhco’s S S Yadav participated in an international co-op event held in China and presented a strong case for a robust co-operative movement to tackle poverty and food-shortage in the world.
The event was jointly sponsored by All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC) in collaboration with ICA-AP on the theme of ”Capacity Building and Case Studies for Poverty Alleviation through cooperatives”. It was held in Hainan, China.
Indian participants Dr. K.N. Sinha, Executive Director, International Relations, NCUI and Mr. S.S. Yadav, Executive Director, KRIBHCO made a detailed presentation in two parts about the poverty alleviation policies and practices in India and the role of agricultural cooperatives in this regard.
As many as 32 participants from 14 countries viz. Belgium, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kongo, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Russia, South Africa participated in the workshop.
The workshop was inaugurated by Vice-President of ACFSMC, while Mr. Bruno Roelants, Director General, ICA was the Chief Guest of the inaugural function.
Mr. Bruno Roelants discussed the role of cooperatives in poverty alleviation and efforts made by ICA in this regard. Dr. Sifa, Regional Director, ICA – Africa shared the experience & achievements made by ICA, Africa in the field of poverty alleviation.
Scores of participants talked about poverty alleviation programs being carried out by cooperatives in their respective countries. Nepal, Mongolia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Africa prominently figured in these discussions. Balu Iyer Regional Director ICA also made a representation on poverty alleviation.
The participants visited China (Hainan) International Tropical Products Winter Trade Fair and got information about various agricultural products available in the fair.
The closing ceremony was chaired by. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP and Zhang Wangshu, Director, International Cooperative Development, ACFSMC was the guest of honour.
Besides the technical sessions, the participants also visited Fengshan Chicken Breeding Cooperative and a field trip to the Rose Valley comprising of Company, Cooperative, Farmers Mode was organized at Sanya on 14th December 2018.
A meeting of participants from BRICS countries i.e. Russia, India, China and South Africa was also held on 13th December 2018 to discuss the issues & challenges before the cooperatives of these countries. It was informed by SANACO President that Brazil has agreed to hold the next meeting of BRICS cooperatives in next year preferably in the month of July 2019.
