Annual Report 2009 - Asian Productivity Organization

low efficiency and productivity of most agribusiness
SMEs in the region, however, continue to hamper
their growth and competitiveness. The main reason is
a lack of managerial skills and entrepreneurial knowhow
among agribusiness entrepreneurs, particularly
on quality and safety managements.
Because of the crucial importance of SMEs in the
Asia-Pacific agribusiness sector and the urgent
need to upgrade their competitiveness, the APO in
collaboration with the Ministry of Agricultural Development
and Agrarian Services and NPS organized
a training course on Improving the Managerial Skills
of Entrepreneurs in Agribusiness SMEs in Sri Lanka,
3–10 August. The objective was to equip participants
with knowledge of productivity and management
tools as well as entrepreneurial skills for enhancing
the performance of agribusiness SMEs. Twenty-three
participants from eight member countries attended,
along with four resource persons.
Program coverage: The course contained eight
modules: Entrepreneurship and management of
agribusiness; Business operations and management;
Human resources management and personal
entrepreneurship; Marketing of agrifood products
in domestic and export markets; Enhancing market
access; Finance-based decision-making; Tools and
techniques for productivity and quality improvement;
Food safety management in agrifood products; and
Food traceability over the food chain. Site visits were
made to a pineapple farm in Divulapitiya and a retail
outlet of Cargill Food City in Colombo.
Productivity Improvement Tools for Agribusiness
SMEs: Managing Food Safety in the Dairy Industry
The dairy sector in the Asia-Pacific is growing fast.
Since 2005, the region has been the world’s biggest
milk producer. Small-scale holders supply 80% of
the milk production in Asia. The sector provides
livelihoods to millions of people living in rural areas,
nutritional food to marginalized sections of the
society, and enhances farm incomes. However, dairy
SMEs continue to suffer from low productivity and
poor food safety. Dairy products are very perishable
and must be processed following the protocols in quality
and safety management systems that require all
involved in the processing, handling, packaging, and
storage of products to have a system of food safety
controls. This will contribute to improved overall management
of operations, leading to higher productivity,
profitability, and sustainability of business operations.
The APO held a workshop on Productivity Improvement
Tools for Agribusiness SMEs: Managing Food
Safety in the Dairy Industry to develop the skills of
participants in utilizing productivity improvement
tools and techniques and familiarize them with food
safety management methodologies. The project was
implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic
of Indonesia in collaboration with the Ministry
of Manpower and Transmigration, 10–14 August, in
Yogyakarta. Sixteen participants from seven member
countries attended, along with three APO-deputed
resource persons.
Program coverage: Relevance of productivity and
quality and food safety in dairies for enhanced quality
of life and rural empowerment; Recent developments
and trends in food safety management in the dairy
industry in Indonesia; Concept and application of
kaizen, 5S, and other productivity improvement tools
in agribusiness; Issues and challenges in managing
food safety in dairy SMEs; Successful cases of safety
management for agribusiness SMEs with a dairysector
focus); Role of animal health in ensuring dairy
product food safety and quality: How animal health
can ensure food safety over dairy supply chains; and
Implementing quality improvement and food safety
management tools by dairy SMEs: Impediments and
solutions. Site visits were made to: PT. Sari Husada
dairying industry; Kelompok Tani Mekar dairy farm;
and milk-processing SMEs at Koperasi Susu Warga
Mulya.
Exporting Processed Agrifood Products
Many countries in Asia produce a wide range of
agrifood products that have great potential in global
markets. However, most of these are not developed
for that purpose due to the poor understanding of
consumer behavior and the regulatory requirements in
those competitive markets.
The manager of a Munich-based food retail chain briefing
participants on German import requirements
To increase the competitiveness of SMEs in member
countries, the APO organized a multicountry observational
study mission to a nonmember country on
Exporting Processed Agrifood Products, 8–12
October, in Germany. The mission studied the trends
in importing, wholesaling, and retailing of agricultural
APO ANNUAL REPORT 2009 47
AGRICULTURE SECTOR