MI successfully initiates the transformation of agricultural supply chains through the introduction of innovative technologies as part of the Sustainable and Smart Agricultural Supply Chain Development in Mekong Countries project
June 13, 2023
To share the successes, challenges, and lessons learned and assess the activities that have been rolled out, Mekong Institute (MI) organized an “End of Project Evaluation and Dissemination Workshop on Sustainable and Smart Agricultural Supply Chain Development in Mekong Countries” on June 13, 2023. The online event brought together 41 participants from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam (CLMTV) as part of its end-of-project evaluation activity.
“Supported by the Mekong-Republic of Korea Cooperation Fund, the project, which ran from December 2021 – May 2023, sought to enhance production efficiency and effectiveness, minimize post-harvest losses, and increase energy efficiency in the agricultural supply chains across the Mekong region. Together with our partners, MI organized a series of capacity-building programs to introduce smart agriculture, smart logistics, and smart renewable energy technologies. At the same time, the project has also contributes to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by transforming the agricultural supply chains through innovative technologies,” Mr. Suriyan Vichitlekarn, Executive Director of MI, said during the opening.
“The end of project evaluation results affirm that the overall project is rated successful by using OECD–DAC evaluation guidelines with the six core evaluation criteria (relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact),” he added and thanked all the stakeholders for making the project a success.
A total of fifty-nice (59) activities were implemented in the form of studies, workshops, trainings, and action plan implementations with technical support. The activities involved 2,230 direct and indirect stakeholders / beneficiaries from the Mekong countries. The project covered four inter-related components, namely: i. Sustainable and smart technology for agriculture production supply chain, ii. Energy efficiency in the agriculture supply chain, iii. Smart logistics management for the agriculture supply chain, and iv. Monitoring and Evaluation.
The workshop served as a venue to compile the list of technologies introduced, document country-specific case-studies, and present a policy brief targeting CLMTV governments to encourage them to work towards the development of a sustainable and smart agricultural supply chain in the Mekong countries.