AVRDC-ARC holds 25th RTC Graduation Ceremony

The Asian Regional Center held the Graduation Ceremony of the 25th Regional Training Course in Managing Vegetable Production and Marketing on Thursday, January 25, 2007 at Kamphaeng Saen Campus of Kasetsart University (KU) in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

The 25th RTC is a 3-month course divided into three separate but inter-related monthly modules. Module I dealt with initiating good cultivation practices – land preparation, nursery management and planting. Module II delved on growing healthy crops – agronomic practices for better plant health while Module III created an awareness on efficient production and harvesting, postharvest handling and processing within the framework of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). The RTC also imparted to the participants the economics of vegetable production as well as market analysis.

This course was organized in partnership with KU, a partner of AVRDC-ARC, in collaboration with the Royal Thai Government’s Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE). The course was held from 6 November 2006 to 25 January 2007 at the KU campus in Kamphaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) provided funds for 11 of the participants through the SDC/AVRDC-ARC Human Resource Development Project Phase IV (HRDP IV). One participant from Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore attended Module II while another participant from Organic Cotton Programme India attended Module III.

In the closing ceremony, Dr. Peter A.C. Ooi, Regional Director of ARC, presented the summary of activities and successes during the course. Dr. Thongchai Mala, Vice President of KU Kamphaeng Saen Campus, was invited as Guest Speaker. After receiving their certificates, the 12 participants from Cambodia, DPR Korea, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam expressed their satisfaction with the knowledge and information they received from the training and were very thankful to their donors for giving them the opportunity to attend the course. The participants also had a poster presentation showcasing their experiments and activities during the 3-month course.

Source: AVRDC-ARC