There are considerable changes in food consumption over the past decades. This common trend may be the result of very different socio-demographic factors in different countries. As economic development continues in most of the Asia Pacific region, a growing number of households now choose farm products with added value such as taste, freshness, health, and convenience. While urban consumers pay more attention on purchasing quality and more diversified food with smaller amount, people in the rural area may find themselves trapped in a vicious circle of disadvantage, struggling to keep up with the rising price of food. Lastly, consumers eat less rice and more red meat. The drastic decreasing of rice consumption is shared in all the Asia and the Pacific region (ASPAC).

The farmers in the ASPAC region should understand this consumption trend and respond properly. In order to meet the current need of the consumers, they need to control their production process very carefully to ensure the quality, safety as well as lowering the production cost. They also need to adopt new processing and packaging systems such as pre-wash, pre-cut, etc. for consumers’ convenience and concerns. They also need better support, cooperation and information to adapt to the decreasing rice consumption trend. However, it is not so easy for the small-scale farmers in the ASPAC region to do so because of the amount of investment involved and new technology required.

There are some ways to tackle these situations. One of the best ways to cope with these challenges is to enhance the role of agricultural cooperatives. Farmers’ cooperative can support various marketing and supply initiatives concerning production, distribution and consumption so that farmers may devote their time and energy to farming activities more efficiently in terms of getting higher income. This seminar will give a discussion ground on how to find better ways to empower the establishment of small-scale farmers under the recent fast changes in food consumption trend. And this is mainly through the enhancing the role of agricultural cooperatives.

Objectives：

• Provide a venue for specialists to share their experiences with the participants regarding the changes in food consumption trend and the response of agricultural cooperatives in the ASPAC region.
• Provide the best example of agricultural cooperatives’ response to the food consumption trend based on their experiences to coping with the challenge

Expected participants：

12 participants from 8 countries:  Indonesia(1), Japan(2), Korea(2), Malaysia(2), Philippines(1), Taiwan(2), Thailand(1), Vietnam(1).

Seminar themes：

• Changes in food consumption trend
• Comparison on the benefit to farmers between agricultural cooperative-led case and private company-led case in responding to changes in food consumption trend
• Enhancing the roles of agricultural cooperatives in response to changes in food consumption in terms of providing software such as training (skill or technology), financial support, etc.
• Enhancing the roles of agricultural cooperatives in response to changes in food consumption in terms of providing hardware such as pre-cut facilities for common use
• Enhancing the roles of agricultural cooperatives in response to changes in food consumption in terms of increasing market competition such as establishing joint-marketing agricultural cooperatives to compete with monopolistic or oligopolistic companies
• Share success cases/stories of agricultural cooperatives in response to changes in food consumption trend

Outputs：

• Successful cases and future perspectives on the role of agricultural cooperatives in response to changing food consumption trend are exchanged and shared
• The strategy of agricultural cooperatives in coping with the recent changing food consumption trends are exchanged and shared

(179)

Perspective on the role of agricultural cooperatives in response to changing food consumption trend in Indonesia　|　Paper:(148)　PPT: (160)
Erma Suryani Maslichan (INDONESAI)

Food consumption trends and implications in Korea　|　PPT: (173)
Sanghyo Kim (KOREA)

Technical empowerment of agricultural cooperatives in Malaysia　|　Paper:(140)　PPT: (133)
Ahmad Safuan Bin Bujang (MALAYSIA)

Analysis of multi-sectoral business development and roles of Japan’s agricultural cooperatives　|　Paper:(156)　PPT: (158)
Noriaki Kawasaki (JAPAN)

Enhancing the role of the farmers’ association in response to changes in food consumption – Taiwan’s experiences　|　Paper:(134)　PPT: (185)
Zou Nan Chou (TAIWAN)

A Vietnamese agricultural cooperative's involvement in food safety value chain: perspective and policies　|　Paper:(158)　PPT: (159)​​​​​​​
Anh The Dao (VIETNAM)

The roles of agricultural cooperatives in certification and production of geographical indication (GI) rice in Thailand　|　Paper:(221)　PPT: (140)​​​​​​​
Orachos Napasintuwong (THAILAND) 

Greening opportunities and prospects for Philippine agri-based cooperatives toward a more sustainable food marketing　|　Paper:(152)　PPT: (143)​​​​​​​
Karen Quilloy (PHILIPPINE) 

Agricultural development through cooperation between agricultural cooperatives and consumers’ cooperatives in Japan: focusing on direct marketing of agricultural products　|　Paper:(147)　PPT: (152)​​​​​​​
Yukihisa Yamada (JAPAN) 

Establishment of a sustainable food system and the role of Hansalim for agriculture and rural areas
HyungGeun Yoon (KOREA)

Proceedings in Chinese ：(153)

Proceedings in English：(144)