From October 6, 2007 (Monday) to February 9, 2026 (Monday), Ehime University’s Institute for International Relations (IOR) conducted a training course on “Establishment of Food Value Chain for Regional Agribusiness Promotion” by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This training program was an issue-specific training for industry, government, and academia from Latin American countries who are engaged in food value chain* related work.
This year, 15 trainees from 12 Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America participated in the program, the largest number of participants in terms of number of countries and number of trainees among the JICA issue-specific training programs Ehime University has been entrusted with so far. The program consists of online pre-training and post-training, as well as face-to-face training in Japan. This year’s training in Japan lasted four weeks, two days longer than the previous year. In addition to attending classroom lectures at Ehime University, the participants visited the shopping district, wholesale market, and retail stores in Matsuyama City, Uwajima City, Seiyo City, Yawatahama City, and Kouiijima Island to learn about successful examples of food value chain development in Ehime through on-site experience and regional exploration. As in the previous year, these visits were supported by government agencies, companies, organizations, and individual business owners involved in the agriculture, livestock, and fishery industries in Ehime Prefecture.
In addition to the training in Japan, there were synergistic effects from the online pre-training, the addition and arrangement of field trip sites in the food value chain with a focus on fisheries and agriculture, the confirmation of the position of the sites in the food value chain with a floor plan and correlation chart, and the enhancement of the post-training review time, The participants also had time to reflect on their experiences after the visits, and to develop a plan of activities to be undertaken in the interim, which made the training very meaningful. In addition, we were able to provide the participants with opportunities to experience Japanese culture and traditions. The trainees created activity plans that could be implemented in their home countries based on the experiences and knowledge they gained during their training in Japan, and then had two online post-training sessions, one three weeks and the other two and a half months after their return to their home countries. This year’s post-training was held twice, as in the previous year, and the timing of the training was revised, resulting in more concrete progress in the participants’ activity plans.
It is expected that the participants will continue their activities so that they can apply the knowledge and experience they gained about the food value chain in Japan through this program to solve issues in their home countries.
Ehime University’s Institute for International Relations will continue to strengthen collaboration with JICA and other international organizations to promote international cooperation and contribution.
(Food value chain on fisheries)
(Food Value Chain on Agriculture)
※Food value chain: The linkage of added value generated in the distribution process from production to consumption related to agricultural, forestry, fisheries, and fishery products and foods.
＜Institute for International Relations（IIR）＞