2013 개도국 식량안보를 위한 농정성과 확산(KAPEX) 사업 결과보고서(Ⅱ)

Abstract

‘식량안보’는 국가 발전과 개인 생존을 위한 기본 요건으로 동서고금을 막론하고 중요한 화두였으며, 앞으로도 그 정도의 차이가 있을 뿐 여전히 우리의 주된 관심사가 될 것이다. 21세기 들어 촉발된 식량위기를 계기로 국제사회의 식량안보에 대한 관심은 더욱 고조되었다. 특히 식량자급률이 낮은 개발도상국의 식량안보는 빈곤문제와 직결됨으로써 국제사회가 공동으로 대처해야 할 과제로 인식되고 있다.

우리나라도 식량안보문제에 있어 자유롭지 못한 대표적인 국가 중의 하나이다. 현재 우리나라의 식량자급률은 50%에도 미치지 못하고 사료용 곡물 수입을 포함한 곡물자급률은 23.6%에 불과하다. 국내 농산물시방 개방화가 가속화되는 가운데 자급률 하락추세는 지속될 것으로 보인다. 그러나 우리는 과거 농업 생산성 제고를 통해 식량안보 강화를 실현했던 농정경험도 동시에 가지고 있다. 1970년대 녹색혁명을 통한 쌀 자급률 100% 달성이 그 대표적인 예이다. 그 외에도 효율적인 농업기술 보급시스템을 통한 농업 생산성 향상, 농업협동조합을 통한 농민조직화 실현 및 농산물 생산, 가공, 유통, 마케팅을 연계시킨 농업의 가치사슬(Value Chains) 구현 등 다양한 농정성과 및 노하우를 보유하고 있다.

이러한 농정경험은 식량안보를 위협받고 있는 많은 개도국에 교훈이 되며, 실제로 국제사회에서 한국의 개발경험을 전수받고자 하는 요구가 적지 않다. 더욱이 과거 한국의 농업‧농촌의 현실이 현재 빈곤에 직면한 개도국의 상황과 크게 다르지 않다는 점에서 우리나라 농정성과 확산 및 적용 가능성이 높다고 볼 수 있다. 또한 최근 국제사회에서 한국의 국격이 크게 제고됨으로써 공적개발원조(ODA) 등을 통해 그에 상응하는 역할을 수행해야 하는 상황에서 개도국 농업분야에 대한 지원으로 빈곤과 기아퇴치에 일조할 필요가 있다.

이러한 의미에서 우리 연구원에서 추진하고 있는 ‘개도국 식량안보를 위한 우리나라 농정성과 확산(KAPEX)’ 사업은 농업분야 ‘한국형 ODA 모델’을 중심으로 한 개도국 대상 정책컨설팅을 통해 식량안보 강화를 지원하는 매우 유익한 프로그램이다. 2013년 라오스, 캄보디아와 에티오피아를 대상으로 농업협동조합, 농업기술 연구개발 및 보급시스템 등을 주제로 추진한 KAPEX 사업은 소기의 성과를 거두었다고 본다. 또한, 2014년 신설되는 우리 연구원의 ‘국제농업개발협력센터’ 주도하에 KAPEX 사업을 더욱 내실 있게 추진함으로써 농업분야 ODA 대표사업으로 자리매김하기를 기대한다.

‘Korean Agricultural Policy Experiences for Food Security (hereinafter KAPEX)’, an action plan to accomplish the UN Millenium Development Goals(MDGs) and ‘L'Aquila Food Security Initiative’ adopted in 2000 and 2009 respectively, is a program to enhance agricultural and rural policy development capabilities of developing countries by sharing Korean agricultural policy experiences and technologies based on the demands of partner countries.

The KAPEX program consists of Joint Survey/Research, Training Programs in Korea and Partner countries, and Policy Workshops in Korea and Partner countries. Joint Survey/Research aims to accumulate related information and statistics on a specific subject decided upon through in-depth discussion between Korea and partner countries and to design ODA projects for future collaboration. A Joint Survey/Research team consists of experts of Korea and each partner country.

Training programs, run both in Korea and in each partner country, are to build policy development and implementing capacity of public officials and experts of partner countries through lectures, study-visits, and discussions to set up their own ‘Action Plan.’ Policy Workshops, held in Korea and each partner country, are a forum where the outcomes of the KAPEX program as well as the best practices of other international agricultural cooperation institutions are shared not only for dissemination of the KAPEX program’s outcomes and but also for future collaboration between related agencies.

The partner countries for the KAPEX program in 2013 are Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Ethiopia. Detailed contents of the program are as follows.

1) The subject of the KAPEX program implemented for Lao PDR is ‘Agricultural Cooperative Policies.’ ① Joint Survey/Research was conducted in the Vientiane, Kham Mouan, Savannakhet, and Champasak provinces on the current development status of agriculture and agricultural cooperatives, marketing system for major products, farmers’ organizations and financial services. As a result, the necessity of pilot agricultural cooperatives projects utilizing micro-finance was emphasized as a conclusion for the development of agricultural cooperatives system in Lao PDR. ② Korean experiences on agricultural cooperatives’ development had been shared through invitational and local training held in Korea and Lao PDR. Ten high-ranked public officials were invited to Korea for two weeks, and twenty public officials and experts in the practical level participated in the local training for one week. ③ The Local Policy workshop was held in the Vientiane Capital in October to share the results of the Joint Survey/Research, the main framework for developing agricultural cooperatives in Lao PDR, and international cooperation cases of other related agencies.

2) The subject of the KAPEX program for Cambodia was ‘Development of Agricultural Technology and Extension System.’ ①The Joint Survey/ Research was carried out in the Kampot, Takeo and Steung Treng provinces. It turned out that there is a lack of agricultural extension service at the Commune level in the present extension system. ②Like the cases in Lao PDR, ten Cambodian public officials from central and local governments completed the two-week-long training program and thirty officials and experts joined one-week-long training held in Phnom Penh. ③The Local policy workshop held in Cambodia was a forum where the outcomes of the KAPEX program and the international cooperation cases of several international organizations and NGOs are shared with the presentation of representatives from Korea International Cooperation Agency(KOICA), KOPIA Cambodia Center of Rural Development Administration, International Corn Foundation, United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(UNFAO).

3) 2013 KAPEX program was also implemented in Ethiopia with the subject of ‘Research and Development of Agricultural Technology and Extension System.’ ①The Ministry of Agriculture and Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research(EIAR) of the Ethiopian Government conducted Joint Survey/Research in Kalu and Arsi Negele District in the consultation with two Korean experts. The Research found that Farmer Training Centers(FTCs) need to function more actively and Agri-business Training Centers under Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVET) in Ethiopia should be systematically operated. ②Through a two-week-long invitational training for ten Ethiopian public officials and researchers and one-week-long local training for twenty participants, Korean policy experiences on integrated agricultural technology development and extension system had been shared with the help of lectures and study-visits. ③The Local policy workshop held in Addis Ababa provided an opportunity for the participants from various international cooperation agencies(KOPIA Ethiopia Center, Gwangwon National University, Oxfam America, Japan International Cooperation Agency) to learn from each other’s practices in Ethiopia.

In efforts to spread the results of the KAPEX program for Lao PDR, Cambodia and Ethiopia and build up partnership among international agricultural cooperation agencies, KREI hosted an international seminar on the Enhancement of Development Effectiveness through Korean Agricultural Policy Experiences in November 2013 jointly with Hankyong National University and Yeungnam University. Representatives from the three partner countries participated in the seminar and gave presentations on the results of the KAPEX program operated in each country as well as each country’s ODA proposals. Those ODA proposals had been written based on the final report of the Joint Survey/Research and the Action Plans developed during the training programs and submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. If they are accepted as ODA projects, it is expected that effectiveness of the KAPEX program will be highly enhanced. Representatives from Myanmar and Uganda also joined the seminar to introduce national agricultural development policies and discuss international cooperation strategies.

Analysis of evaluation sheets on specific contents of the KAPEX program found that satisfaction rates were highest at invitational trainings(a score of 94.4) followed by local trainings(a score of 85.8) and local workshops(a score of 82.5). It also turned out that the satisfaction rate per country was highest in Lao PDR, followed by Ethiopia and Cambodia. Although the satisfaction rates were comparatively high, improvements are required in duration of training or workshop, contents of each program, and ability of translators for enhancing the quality of the KAPEX program.

Myanmar, Vietnam and Uganda have been chosen as partner countries for the 2014 KAPEX program. Their proposals were selected among eleven project proposals submitted by nine countries early in 2013. In 2013, seventeen developing countries were expected to be prospective partner candidates for the 2014 KAPEX program.

Researchers: Jang Heo, Seong-Tae Ji, Da-Jung Jung, Seung-Eun Jeong, Tae-jin Kwon, Hong-Sang Kim, Joo-Ho Song, Eui-Sik Hwang, Yong-Taek Kim, Jeong-Ho Kim Research Period: 2013. 1 - 2013. 12 Email address: heojang@krei.re.kr