Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Strategies Follow-up Meeting. 17 May 2012 Bangkok, Thailand. Report

Transcription

1 Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Strategies Follow-up Meeting 17 May 2012 Bangkok, Thailand Report 1

2 Executive Summary On 17 May 2012, a Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Strategy (SAMS) Meeting was jointly convened by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Asian and Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery (UNAPCAEM) This May meeting served as an initial follow-up to the SAMS Roundtable held December 2011 at FAO s Regional Office for Asia-Pacific. The Roundtable, which established a platform for increased substantive collaboration and tangible action on SAMS between FAO and UNAPCAEM, addressed the modalities in developing Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Strategies (SAMS) that can enable countries to achieve the dual goals of intensifying agricultural production and achieving environmental sustainability. The latter is particularly important for the Asia-Pacific region, which is already beginning to face serious environmental challenges to maintain its agricultural production base. The SAMS Roundtable also created a SAMS Framework with the overall strategic goal To address the UN Millennium Development Goals No. 1 and 7 (food security, poverty alleviation, and environmental sustainability) through sustainable intensification of agriculture by creating an enabling environment through a SAMS for the Region. This goal will be met through activities under five major strategic pillars: - Surveys, assessments and analyses of the current status of agricultural mechanization - Enabling policies and institutions - Human capacity development - Financial support to enhance investment in SAMS. - Advocacy on sustainable agricultural mechanization. The SAMS framework is not an end in itself but rather marks the beginning of a long-term approach. Thus, this first post Roundtable meeting called on country participants to develop an outline under strategic pillar 1. After a day of group work, countries agreed upon 7 key areas to gather information on from their respective country ministries including: General data Existing agricultural practices Machinery supply chains Policies that are relevant to/cover SAM Institutional linkages (intra-, inter-) SAM related Existing human capacity for SAMS 2

3 Emerging innovative schemes with implications for SAMS The Meeting was attended by country representatives in the area of agricultural mechanization from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russian Federation, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam, with all countries agreeing to share and present their findings at the next SAMS activity to be held in Sri Lanka from October

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 List of Annexes 1. Pillar Meeting agenda May participant list Project Concept Note: Mechanizing intercropping 1 systems for the sustainable intensification of agriculture and poverty reduction 14 Introduction Why SAMS? The development of sustainable agricultural mechanization strategies has an important role to play in climate change and food security via reducing the impact on fragile natural resources and increasing farming s resiliency in the face of accelerating erratic weather such as prolonged drought events. With a SAMS in place, a country can choose the most sustainable path toward intensifying its agricultural production. Agricultural mechanization is a key factor in the world s ability to feed itself and rapid mechanization in agriculture has allowed the sector to keep up with the demands of population, particularly in the Asia-Pacific Region, despite the fact that the total labour force involved in agricultural activities is experiencing annual declines. However, current agricultural mechanization practices have increased pressure on fragile natural resources, such as increasing soil erosion and promoting overuse of chemical inputs, the latter seen in heavy utilization of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers in crop production typically resulting in significantly more nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural soils than that occurring from less intensive, low-tillage techniques. Mechanization also plays a role in enticing farmers to open lands that currently serve as valuable forests and rangelands. In addition, the agricultural sector as a whole consumes more than 70 per cent of the world s total fresh water resources. In short, the margin of error in our actions to address rapid recourse depletion, yet feed more people than any time in the history of our planet, is narrowing rapidly. 1 The cultivation of two or more crops in combination in the same field at the same time is known as intercropping 4

5 Coupled with increasingly erratic weather events, such as prolonged flooding and drought, the task ahead for the agricultural sector is daunting. Thus, SAMS should not be viewed as a strategy just for countries with low levels of agricultural mechanization, but SAMS should also serve as an instrument for countries that have obtained a high level of mechanization to adjust their mechanized farming towards more environmentally sustainable intensive production. At the same time SAMS should also provide guidance for stakeholders in SAM to arrive at economically sustainable models for service providers in mechanization. Annex 1: Pillar 1 outline Reg.- SAMS Strategic pillar 1 Country-Level Surveys and Assessments of the Current Status of Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Outline 1. General data Economic indicators Physical environment: soil and its importance according to the region, the water potential, fertility, the yearly precipitation and temperatures and their distribution throughout the year and according to region, days of work in the possible fields per month, the zones bioclimatiques Population: total population disaggregated by age, sex and residence (rural/urban) and annual growth rate, projections, life expectancy, nutrition, caloric intake, health, literacy, Infrastructure status of road system, Railways facilities, Animal health services 2. Existing agricultural practices Types of crops, cropping systems and agricultural practices related to these crops (e.g. including intercropping corn/oil palm, carrots/onions. ) Agricultural practices that are in decline and practices that are increasing (sustainable and unsustainable) Farmer categories, farm size and labor availability Gender roles in agricultural production systems Level of mechanization in each operation (production, harvesting..) Mechanization technologies (including Conservation Agriculture) suited to specific agro-ecological zones Consequences of inappropriate equipment use 5

6 Machinery type and size, scale, cost (including operating and servicing cost) General constraints 3. Machinery supply chains Stakeholders Manufacturers of machinery (locally produced, imported) o Scale of machinery production (number, type ) o Sources of imported machinery (cost/$ value of imports; number..) Dealers and sub-dealers Service providers (custom hiring, financial services, repair and maintenance) Individual owners Extension agents System of organization of stakeholders o Individual owners o Cooperatives (clusters, other types of groups) o Manufacturing and supply associations Inputs and Quality Management Spare parts Raw materials and components Testing and standardization Safety and quality control 4. Policies that are relevant to/cover SAM Agriculture and trade policy (including financial policy) Industrial and trade policy Environment policy Labor policy Land tenure legislation and land use Insurance Role of SAM in national agricultural development plans 5. Institutional linkages (intra-, inter-) SAM related Financial institutions Research and extension institutions, Universities, Manufacturers Private sector (importers and manufacturers) Public-private linkages (e.g. John Deere scheme) 6

7 NGOs Government (Extension institutions) Farmer Associations Testing and standardization organizations 6. Existing human capacity for SAMS Research and development Extension Testing and quality control Training (vocational, academic, short-term focused training on specific topics) Technical specializations and multidisciplinarity Repair and maintenance Manufacturing Information dissemination and promotion 7. Emerging innovative schemes with implications for SAM Climate smart agriculture 2 (environmentally sustainable) Equipment innovations (Mechanized intercropping - ag machinery adapted for intercropping, flex-fuel machinery ) Payment of environmental services Carbon credits for no-till agriculture Biofuels and renewable energy Renewable energy and energy efficient equipment (solar energy, etc.) 2 FAO Climate Smart agriculture: 7

8 Annex 2: 17 May meeting agenda DRAFT AGENDA Meeting on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Strategies (SAMS) for Countries in the Asia-Pacific Region 17 May 2012 Purpose: This Meeting brings together key country stakeholders and experts on agricultural mechanization to discuss the modalities of advancing Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Strategies including developing an action plan articulate a SAMS workplan, discuss complimentary activities under SAMS and gain formal interest in conducting SAMS in individual countries. 17 May h30 9h00 9h00 9h30 9h30 9h45 Registration Opening Remarks Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Mr. Josef Kienzle, Agricultural Engineer (Unit Leader) Agricultural Machinery and Infrastructure Unit (AMI) Rural Infrastructure & Agro-Industries Division (AGS), FAO Ms. Rosa Rolle, Senior Agro-Industry and Post Harvest Officer, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Mr. Eric Roeder, Economic Affairs Officer UNAPCAEM Participant introductions 9h45 11h30 Group work on developing an outline for pillar 1 Facilitators: Ms. Rosa Rolle, Josef Kienzle, and Eric Roeder 11h30-12h30 12h30 15h00 Lunch Pillar 1 group work (continued) 15h00 Coffee Break 8

9 15h15 15h00 16h00 16h00 16h15 Brief Wrap-up and discussion on the next SAMS Meeting in October in Sri Lanka Closing statements Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Mr. Josef Kienzle, Agricultural Engineer (Unit Leader) Agricultural Machinery and Infrastructure Unit (AMI) Rural Infrastructure & Agro-Industries Division (AGS), FAO Ms. Rosa Rolle, Senior Agro-Industry and Post Harvest Officer, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Mr. Eric Roeder, Economic Affairs Officer UNAPCAEM 9

10 Annex 3: 17 May meeting participants list UNAPCAEM and FAO Joint Meeting on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Asia Bangkok, Thailand, 17 May COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVES 4 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS CHINA Mr. Xiongbo Chang Deputy Director of Agricultural machinery maintenance division China Agricultural Machinery Testing Center INDONESIA Mr. Eddy Trijono Head of AMTQI Jl Pos Citayam,Bojong Pondok Terong, Cipayung, Depok MALAYSIA Mr. Mohd Zainal Ismail Director Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Mechanization and Automation Centre, MARDI PO Box Kuala Lumpur MONGOLIA Mr. D.Galsanbuyan, Head of Agricultural Machinery Division of the Crop Production Support Fund Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Light Industry Zasgiin gazriin IX bair Enkhtaivnii urgun chuluu 16 a 3 This is the first follow-up meeting since the SAMS Roundtable held in Dec Representatives from Bangladesh and India were unable to attend but did however submit research reports 10

11 NEPAL Mr. Shreemat Shrestha Senior Scientist Agricultural Engineering Division Nepal Agricultural Research Council Khumaltar, Lalitpur PAPUA NEW GUINEA Mr. Nosare Maika Position: Senior Scientist Address: PO Box 1639, Lae, Morobe Province PHILIPPINES Mr. Delfin Suministrado, Director Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center, College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna, Philippines RUSSIAN FEDERATION Mr. Oleg Marchenko Head of Department of All-Russian Research Institute for Mechanization in Agriculture (VIM) 1st Institutsky proezd, 5, VIM, , Moscow, Russian Federation SRI LANKA Eng. M.H.M.A. Bandara Chief Engineer Department of Agriculture Peradeniya THAILAND Mr. Viboon Thepent Senior Agricultural Engineering Specialist Department of Agriculture Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives Jatuchak Bangkok VIET NAM Mr. Nguyen Quoc Viet Head of Department of Science Training and International Cooperation Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Post-harvest Technology (VIAEP) 11

12 No. 126, Trung Kinh Str., Trung Hoa, Cau Giay, Hanoi REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS ENTAM Dr. Agr. Sandro Liberatori General Director ENAMA - Ente Nazionale Meccanizzazione Agricola Via Venafro, ROMA ITALY FAO (Rome) Mr. Josef Kienzle Agricultural Engineer (Unit Leader) Agricultural Machinery and Infrastructure Unit (AMI) FAO Rural Infrastructure and Agro-industries Division (AGS) Viale delle Terme di Caracalla Rome Italy FAO (Bangkok) Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma Assistant Director General and Regional Representative FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Maliwan Mansion 39 Phra Athit Road Bangkok Thailand Ms. Rosa Rolle Senior Agro-Industry and Post-harvest Officer FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Maliwan Mansion 39 Phra Athit Road Bangkok Thailand 12

13 Mr. Yuji Niino Land Management Officer FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Maliwan Mansion 39 Phra Athit Road Bangkok Thailand UNAPCAEM Eric Roeder Economic Affairs Officer United Nations Asian and Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery (UNAPCAEM) A-7/F, China International Science and Technology Convention Centre No. 12 Yumin Road Chaoyang District Beijing , P.R. China 13