Promoting Innovation to Support Sustainable Coffee Sector Development in the Central Highlands (10/06/2024, 08:06)

On May 28th, as part of the 2024 activities of the Innovation Forum in the Central Highlands region, the Forum's Coordination Committee organized an exchange session at Tay Nguyen University - a new local partner of CSIRO and the Community Development Center (CDC) to discuss expanding and enhancing collaboration within the entire coffee sector for sustainable development.

Mrs. Jennifer Kelly - Project Manager (CSIRO) delivered a speech at the exchange session.

The exchange session was held both in-person and online, with delegates representing key stakeholders in the coffee value chain, including leaders of the Departments of Agriculture & Rural Development, the Departments of Science and Technology of the five Central Highlands provinces, representatives of organizations, enterprises, universities, associations, and experts, as well as program officers from CSIRO and the Australian Embassy.

In her opening remarks at the exchange session, Associate Professor Le Duc Niem - Vice Rector of Tay Nguyen University, emphasized the significant role of participating in theInnovation Forum in the Central Highlands region as a coordinator, particularly for the Innovation Center of Dak Lak Province - a unit established under the Cooperation Agreement between Tay Nguyen University and the Provincial People's Committee of Dak Lak Province with the mission to promote theInnovation Forum ecosystem in the Central Highlands region.

Mr. Bach Thanh Tuan - Director of CDC - representing the Forum's Coordination Committee, reported on the key milestones of the coffee sector over the past 14 years.

Additionally, collaborations with reputable Australian organizations such as CSIRO and ACIAR have supported the university in enhancing the capacity of its team to facilitate Innovation Forum connections, contributing to the overall development of the Central Highlands region.

Mrs. Jennifer Kelly stated that the purpose of the Innovation Forum in the coffee sector is to support cooperation and innovation to address shocks and challenges affecting the sustainable development vision of the coffee industry in the Central Highlands. She emphasized that the Innovation Forum goes beyond sharing knowledge and new technologies, focusing on building and operating partnerships, collaborations, and networks creatively to address challenges requiring collective efforts.

The priorities of the Forum include five contents: expanding and enhancing collaboration within the entire coffee sector to facilitate access to new information, sharing knowledge, and potential innovations in the coffee industry; creating conditions for developing new ideas and collaborations to enhance the competitive advantage of the coffee value chain in the Central Highlands; supporting opportunities for commercializing science, development, and technology transfer to address industry challenges; providing a platform to guide the pace of innovation for the coffee industry; promoting and developing the regional brand; supporting the dissemination of innovative policies of the five Central Highlands provinces to the business community, cooperatives, farmers, and relevant entities in the key value chain of the region.

To achieve the Forum's goals, the coffee sector's specialized committee needs to exchange, discuss, and identify common challenges and Innovation Forum opportunities to support the sustainable development of the coffee industry in the Central Highlands.

During the exchange session, members of the coffee sector's specialized committee reviewed the significant milestones of the coffee sector over the past 14 years, updated on Innovation Forum initiatives that have been applied and are being applied to address industry challenges. They also discussed some prioritized activities for the Forum in 2024 - 2025.

Specifically, after hearing the Forum's Coordination Committee's summary report on the notable milestones of the coffee sector, including challenges, opportunities, and measures to cope with the challenges and opportunities of the coffee sector in the Central Highlands over the past 14 years, members of the specialized committee shared and discussed initiatives.

The discussions focused on environmentally friendly biological measures for pest management, the use of microorganisms to create unique flavors for coffee processing, and efforts and activities to implement source traceability.

Professor Nguyen Anh Dung - Director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Environment - Tay Nguyen University, shared the role of indigenous microorganisms in the production and processing of specialty coffee.

Furthermore, after hearing the report from Mrs. Michaela Cosijn - Technical Advisor of CSIRO - predicting opportunities and challenges from economic, social, and environmental aspects that the coffee sector may face in the future, the delegates discussed in the open spirit of the Innovation Forum and proposed some prioritized Forum activities for collective discussion in the near future.

The delegates also emphasized the role of cooperation and dialogue among factors in the coffee value chain to help the coffee sector develop sustainably and enhance its resilience to new challenges and continuous changes in the economy, society, and environment.

The exchange of views among members of the coffee sector's specialized committee is the basis for the Forum's Coordination Committee in the Central Highlands to outline planned prioritized activities for Forum members to collectively discuss and seek innovative solutions for Innovation Forum.

The Innovation Forum in the Central Highlands is a forum agreed upon by the People's Committees of the five Central Highlands provinces to cooperate with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia established under the Aus4Innovation program to promoteInnovation Forum to support the sustainable and balanced development of agriculture and agricultural products in the Central Highlands region.

 

Kim Bao