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ASEAN,
SEAFDEC join forces to address food security problem in Asia
by Rudy A.
Fernandez, The Philippine Star
16-Oct-2002
Two Southeast
Asian organizations have pooled their resources to address food
security and alleviate poverty in rural areas in the region.
Member
countries of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center
(SEAFDEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are
now paving the ay for the implementation of what is called Integrated
Regional Aquaculture Program (IRAP), the flagship aquaculture
component of the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Special Five-Year Program.
SEAFDEC is a
treaty organization established in 1967 to promote fisheries
development in Southeast Asia. It is now composed of nine member
countries - the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malysia,
indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam.
Also founded
in 1967, ASEAN now has for its members all the 10 Southeast Asian
countries - Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People's
Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, and Vietnam.
Developed and
to be coordinated by the Philippine government-hosted, Tigbauan,
Iloilo-based SEAFDEC, IRAP aims to promote sustainable aquaculture
technologies, specifically in rural areas.
IRAF's core
budget is provided by the ASEAN Foundation through SEAFDEC.
The program
gives priority to two major areas to ensure sustainable development
of aquaculture in Southeast Asia, namely: aquaculture for rural
development and supply of good quality seeds, with Vietnam and
Indonesia as lead countries, respectively.
For smooth
implementation of IRAP, technical and national coordinators from each
member country were named to take charge of the project's
implementation and monitoring.
SEAFDEC AQD
chief Dr. Rolando R. Platon serves as the project manager. He will be
assisted by the head of AQD'S technology verification and
commercialization division.
Following the
national coordinators' meeting in Thailand last June, a four-day
seminar-workshop was conducted also in Bangkok last Sept. 17-20 to
discuss the aquaculture development in the region and assess the
needs of the ASEAN member countries for specific aquaculture technologies.
To promote
collaboration with other regional agencies, a regional donor
consultation meeting will be held this month. The meeting will be
organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(UN-FAO), International Center for Living Aquatic Resources
Management (ICLARM), Network for Aquaculture and Coordinating
Agencies (NACA), and SEAFDEC AQD.
Collaboration
with other agencies will significantly reduce the national budget
requirement of IRAP, otherwise, the participating country may assume
most of the cost to implement the project.
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