Integration in agricultural value chains

On October 07, 2020, the OECD webinar on "Growing integration in agricultural value chains" was held.

The event is a part of webinar series with Central Asian and Eastern European governments on response to the COVID-19 Strategy which are being implemented with financial support of the European Union.

During the webinar, conclusions of the OECD project on development of agricultural cooperation in Kazakhstan and defining strategy for increasing the participation of countries in agricultural value chains were presented. The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on regional agriculture is discussed as well. Best practices of policies aimed at enhancing integration into agricultural value chains throughout the region were studied.

Opening the webinar, Vladislava Magaletskaya, Co-Chair of the Agri-food Business Committee of the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs, noted that the food industry plays a vital role in many countries of Eurasia. Better integration of food producers into global value chains through fostering links between export or supply chains and retail food businesses will enable local producers to scale up their operations and, ultimately, increase the sector contribution to the growth and sustainability of food security systems.

Then Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Nurbek Dairbekov gave a welcoming speech. Nurbek Slyamkhanovich also noted that agriculture plays an important role in economic, social and environmental development of the Eastern partnership countries and Central Asia. Governments have many instruments at their disposal to increase market access and stimulate the growth of small producers that use modern methods and are focused on commercial success. In the context of coronavirus crisis, measures to accelerate integration into agricultural value chains will help prevent a possible decline in trade and investment.

It is worth noting that experts from the OECD countries, Georgia and Ukraine were invited to the webinar as well.

Economic analyst at OECD Jibran Punthakey made a report on the work done in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture "Promotion of development of agricultural cooperation in Kazakhstan".  The project was implemented from January 2018 to October 2020 by efforts of the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate and the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme with financial support of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Jibran Punthakey noted that a goal of the project was to promote the development of agricultural cooperation, increase integration into agri-food global value chains (AGVC), improve agricultural policy and market modeling methods in Kazakhstan.

At the end of the webinar, experts held a panel discussion. Nino Tandilashvili, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment of Georgia, and Shingo Kimura, Senior Natural Resources and Agriculture Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, discussed possible ways to strengthen agricultural supply chains in Eurasia by promoting cooperation and increasing integration into global value chains.

The webinar also presented an innovative modeling tool aimed at assessing the impact of agricultural policy reforms on economic and social aspects.

For reference: The OECD is an international economi.organization of developed countries, established in 1948 and recognizing the principles of representative democracy and free market economy. Goal of the OECD is to implement coordinated policies aimed at ensuring sustainable economic growth and improving the living standards of its member states. Today 37 countries are members of the OECD. Kazakhstan has been cooperating with the OECD since 2008.