(Asuncion, Paraguay) Korea Institute for Development Strategy (KDS) held the first Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting as a part of the “Samaeul Undong(SMU) Project of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Paraguay”, which is funded by a bilateral grant from the Republic of Korea through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The event was held on December 10, 2019, in the main building of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) in Asuncion, Paraguay. The PSC, signed between Minister of MAG and Director of the KOICA Paraguay Office last September, is a decision-making organization for the project and is composed of high-level stakeholders relative to the project; Minster of MAG, Vice Minister of Agriculture, Vice Minister of Livestock, General Director of Planning, Director of Agricultural Extension, Director and Vice Director of the KOICA Paraguay office and Project Manager of KDS.
The first meeting of the PSC was chaired by Vice Minister of Agriculture, Mario Léon, as the acting chief of the meeting, representing the Minister of MAG and it was attended by seven PSC members including Director of the KOICA Paraguay office, Mansik Shin, Vice Minister of Livestock, Marcelo Gonzalez, General Director of Planning, Paulu Durruty, Director of Agricultural Extension Gerardo Rojas, Vice Director of the KOICA Paraguay office, Hynwoo Yang and agricultural education expert Hyundeok Seok who was acting on behalf of Project Manager. Following the welcoming speech by the Vice Minster of Agriculture, a presentation on the Saemaul Undong and the SMU Project plan was delivered from the KOICA side. Next, Fundación Capital, which was recently selected as a local project implementing agency, presented its plans for the second pilot project. The meeting was concluded with all stakeholder agreeing to expedite the project and promising to cooperate actively for the implementation of the project.
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) pilot projects with farmers’ organizations, 2) agricultural capacity-building and improvement of training environment, 3) research on farming technology and agri-food value chain. KDS has been responsible for the overall project management since the end of 2018.
