In August 2007, the China-Canada Small Farmers Adapting to Global Markets Project (SFAGM) conducted two training workshops on business management, marketing and rural credit for small- and medium-sized farming and pastoral businesses in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan respectively. The Sichuan workshop was held in the pilot county Santai on August 22-25. Technology extension workers, executives from farmers’ cooperative organizations and small- and medium-sized enterprises from Santai, Pengzhou and Zizhong of Sichuan Province, totaling 40 persons, participated in the training. The Inner Mongolia workshop was held in Xilinhot on August 28－31. Altogether 30 managers from small- and medium-sized enterprises in Xilinhot, as well as 10 executives with farmers’ associations from Horinger and Wuchuan, participated in the training. Zamusu, Deputy General Director of Inner Mongolia Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, attended the opening ceremony and participated in the study tour.

This training module is one of the 7 modules developed by the SFAGM project, aiming to increase farmers’ capacity of competency on market and their level of business decision-making, and strengthen their access to the market. To be specific, this module is mainly developed by Yang Pengling, a project coordinator at the milk pilot site of Horinger County, Inner Mongolia. It is characterized by an interactive situational show and game, vividly spreading the knowledge and skills of marketing, financial and business risk management for businesses engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. This training module was exhibited in Sichuan and Inner Mongolia last year. The effect proved to be good, so, we held this training again this year, upon the request of the partners on the Chinese side.

In addition to classroom teaching, the workshops arranged field visits. The workshop in Sichuan organized the trainees to visit Sichuan Stanrey Eco-Food Co., Ltd. The company exchanged viewpoints with the trainees over operation of agro-business industrialization, brand marketing of pork and control of quality safety, etc. The training workshop in Inner Mongolia organized the trainees to visit Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd., Grassland Yisheng Meat Industry Co., Ltd, Macdonald’s potato production base, and other enterprises.

After the training workshop was over, the trainees generally agreed that the training contents were closely combined with the practice and the training form was easy-going, achieving the expected results. “I hope the SFAGM project will provide more training of this kind in our city and in our league. We are in great need of such training!” concluded Mr. Zhang Fu, Party Secretary of Xilinhot City Bureau of Agriculture & Animal Husbandry at the training workshop.