Korea Institute for Development Strategy (KDS) has successfully completed its first kick-off mission for the 'SMU Project of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Paraguay' from February 18th to March 2nd. The team consisted of 6 people including Project Manager Jongdae Park, Rural Development Specialist Yanghoon Song, Head of CIAD(Center for International Agricultural Development) at KDS Min Ho Lee, along with Program Officers Eunsaem Lee, Hyunseon Park, and PAO Seongyun Eom.
The project aims to achieve income enhancement and capacity building of Paraguay's family and small-holder farmers. From 2015 to 2021, a total of 7 million USD is to be allocated to the following activities: 1) 1st-3rd pilot projects, 2) agricultural capacity-building and improvement of training environment, 3) research on farming technology and agrifood value chain. KDS is responsible for the overall project management since December, 2018.
During the mission, the PM team conducted a brief survey on the farmers' organizations located in San Pedro and Caaguazu, which were the target areas for the first phase pilot project from 2016 to 2017. The major outcome included increase in income, social capital, and quality of life. In addition, meetings with key stakeholders from 2nd phase project sites, Central and Cordillera Departments took place in order to understand the current state of agriculture and farmers' organizations.
Based on the results of the survey, the project team shared the overall implementation plan for the 2nd phase with the project counterpart, MAG(Paraguay Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock) and agreed upon mutual cooperation for the success of the project.
KDS plans to establish a local project management office in March and discuss details of each project component with KOICA Paraguay Office and MAG.
