The Farm Chemicals International 2012 Trade Summit played host to more than 200 crop input industry players in Jakarta, Indonesia, last week, where delegates representing 13 countries built strategic relationships to boost the region’s access to crop protection products – products that Southeast Asia demands for its agricultural growth.
En Yakarta, los asistentes establecieron innumerables conexiones comerciales en el piso de la feria comercial, repleto de docenas de fabricantes y formuladores de renombre y dinámicos. Obtuvieron conocimientos para ingresar a este mercado emergente de rápido crecimiento durante dos días simultáneos de sesiones plenarias.
¿Y qué vinieron a hacer más que nada? Conéctese entre sí para explorar nuevas posibilidades comerciales. Los horarios de reuniones se llenaron rápidamente y no hubo escasez de oportunidades para establecer contactos.
“It is this incredibly unique value proposition that makes the FCI Trade Summit more pragmatic and productive than other crop protection events,” said Eric Davis, publisher of FCI y fundador de FCI Trade Summit.
Terry Clark, of Ontario, Canada, attended the Summit for the first time in Jakarta. The Director of global business development for agchem developer and marketer Adjuvants Plus Inc. called the event “valuable for exploring new business opportunities within Asia and for sourcing products for other global markets. The FCI Summit fulfilled its mandate by creating new business opportunities for those attending.” He added: “The Summit provided a platform to bring members of the industry together to exchange information that will contribute toward meeting the food production needs of an expanding global population.”
Indonesia’s output from palm, cocoa and rubber plantations and food crops has surged more than one-third in the past decade, and the country relies heavily on the agricultural industry for jobs (43% of citizens employed by ag) and income (15% of GDP).
“Our goal through these meetings is to create more transparency in the value chain of agricultural technology to help not only maximize current acreage, but to help small shareholders access the tools they require to be more profitable,” FCI El editor David Frabotta señaló en su discurso de apertura a la delegación. El evento marcó el segundo Cumbre de comercio de la FCI en el sudeste asiático y los 11ta en todo el mundo desde 2008.
Actualización sobre protección de cultivos en Indonesia
At the plenary sessions, Deddy Djuniadi, Executive Director of CropLife Indonesia, helped prospective business partners navigate the country’s soon-to-change regulations for registering crop protection products. Indonesia joins a host of national governments adopting more internationally accepted standards.
These new regulations mean higher product efficacy levels, more stringent environmental standards, better agricultural practices and preservation of key trading partners. Thailand preceded Indonesia’s regulatory shift with new rules implemented beginning Aug. 22, 2011. Malaysia and Vietnam are also in final deliberations on a draft proposal of new rules.
Some attendees inquired about registration of biological crop protection products in Indonesia. Biologicals have gained notable momentum in many pesticides markets, but they are still under discussion and will have a place within Indonesia’s new framework, Djuniadi said. No regulations currently exist in the country.
La Cumbre de la FCI siguió enfrentándose a la peligrosa epidemia de plaguicidas falsificados. Siang Hee Tan, director ejecutivo de CropLife Asia, calculó que entre 20% y 30% de los productos que ingresan al mercado de la región son falsificados, e instó a los delegados a hacer su parte para detener la actividad ilegal examinando minuciosamente a los socios comerciales y negándose a asumir la responsabilidad únicamente sobre los gigantes corporativos de agroquímicos.
En el lado positivo, Tan discutió cómo CropLife está trabajando con los gobiernos para articular la inversión a favor del sector privado. La organización sin fines de lucro también está llegando a millones de agricultores de la región (a menudo a través de mensajes de texto) sobre el manejo integrado de plagas (MIP), el manejo de la resistencia y el reciclaje de contenedores. Solo un ejemplo reciente: encabezó un programa de MIP de chile en la India, que requería la capacitación de 1.400 agricultores en nueve aldeas para cultivar productos de calidad de exportación dentro de los límites máximos de residuos (LMR).
“It is not only about input supplies, but all the way downstream. Supported by stewardship, by teaching farmers to grow properly, we can all have food security,” Tan said. In ASEAN countries alone, 65 million people go hungry every day. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, more commonly known as ASEAN, is a geopolitical and economic organization made up of 10 nations, including Indonesia.
Vasant Patil, director of regulatory affairs for CropLife Asia, addressed the pesticide industry’s responsibility for transferring crop protection technologies to farmers: “It is our job to educate…Make a profit, but do it ethically and do it responsibly.”
La próxima Cumbre de Comercio de la FCI se llevará a cabo este mes de mayo en Durban, Sudáfrica.
Mirar www.fcitradesummit.com para más detalles, que se anunciarán pronto.