The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, launched an internet-based trading service Tuesday designed to benefit farmers and producers of agriculture and food products. The Asean e-farmers trading hub is expected to benefit more than 200 million farmers in Asean and potentially up to another 700 million farmers in China, Korea and Japan, according to a press statement from the Jakarta-based Asean Secretariat.
The project "aims to stimulate the development and growth of infrastructure and improve the economic capacity in the under-served areas to increase the net income of farmers and producers in these areas," said the statement.
Asean consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The project is to provide farmers, refineries, food processing companies, supermarkets and retailers direct access to key market information and services to allow them to trade online, said the statement. The trading hub will be integrated with major regional banks, financial services, transportation, shipping and handling, warehousing and news service providers, it said.
An official from the secretariat said Wednesday that the project will start in Jambi province in Indonesia, where the pilot test was initiated a few months ago. Jambi is a major producer of commodities in Indonesia.
Bureau Report