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The Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) joins the South East Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) and other network partners in the campaign against the commercialization of Golden Rice, as well as other GMOs, in the Philippines.

In line with its desire to achieve rice self-sufficiency for the country, the Philippine government has declared 2013 as the National Year of Rice. While this may be good on the surface, it is quite alarming that part of the efforts to achieve rice self-sufficiency involves the commercialization of Golden Rice, a genetically modified rice variety that is said to be vitamin A-enriched.

In addition to concerns over risks to health, environment, biodiversity, and infringement of farmers’ rights and livelihood, AFA believes that the best way to eliminate Vitamin-A deficiency is by eating a variety of nutritious foods that are usually found in diversified and integrated farming systems by smallholders, and which the government should support instead.

Thus, AFA joins hands with SEARICE and its network partners in issuing a call against Golden Rice commercialization by voicing objections, demanding a moratorium, and ultimately, halting its cultivation.

We ask friends and partners to uphold the right to safe food and the protection of farmers and the environment by supporting this campaign.

Click here to sign the petition at ipetitions.com 

Click here to sign the petition at change.org

Click here to download a primer on Golden Rice by SEARICE

With support from Agricord, through AsiaDHRRA and CSA, AFA hosted a knowledge session focused on drawing out key lessons on farmers’ engagement in  the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), particularly through the project entitled “Supporting Inclusive Planning of country projects financed by the GAFSP” last November 8-10, 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The learning session was participated by FOs and NGOs from four countries, namely, Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Cambodia.  It was also an opportunity for South-South learning exchange with the participation of Mamadou Cissokho, a key leader of ROPPA, a strong regional farmer federation from Senegal.

Results of the activity will feed into efforts at strengthening FO involvement in government agri policies and programs as well as in future project proposals that may be developed to support FO involvement in policy making processes for GAFSP.

One of the major lessons learned was the primacy of a strong farmers’ organization with capacity to constructively engage government and other stakeholders as key to the success of any food security program like GAFSP.

Click here to download the workshop results

National Farmers’ Organizations (FOs) Farmer and Nature Net (FNN), AFA member in Cambodia, and Kendrio Krishok Moitree ( KKM), AFA member in Bangladesh, convened consultation workshops cum dialogues with government implementers of national projects financed under the Global Agriculture for Food Security Program or GAFSP.

In Cambodia

The consultation in Cambodia was held last November 8, 2012, with 43 participants (32 male, 11 female) representing farmers from 8 GAFSP project areas, 2 other national FOs (Farmer and Water Net and CFAP), and 3 national NGOs (CEDAC, FLIFLY, Irrigation Service Center). The meeting was observed by representatives from national FOs in Nepal and Mongolia, Mr. Mammadou Cissokho of  ROPPA in Africa, Ms. Marlene Ramirez from AsiaDHRRA and Mr. Marek Poznanski from CSA, both of which are Agricord members. AFA was represented by Mr. Marciano Virola Jr., Ms. Lany Rebagay and Ms. Esther Penunia.

The farmer participants appreciated the presence of HE Vong Sandap, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Economics and Finance, HE Srun Darith, Deputy Secretary General of CARD, and Ms. Nao Ikemoto from ADB, which is the Supervising Entity of the project.

During the dialogue, the farmers were able to get a copy of the 100 communes that will be covered by the Project. The farmers also asked the government officials to adopt processes that will include the voices of the farmer leaders in the covered areas, and build the self-reliance of farmers groups. They also asked for participation of CSOs in the steering committee at the national level.

In Bangladesh

The consultation in Bangladesh was held last December 12, 2012, with 23 participants (18 male, 5 female), including 7 leaders of farmers groups in Kurigram and Patuakhali districts, leaders of 13 civil society organizations, and 1 journalist. Ms. Esther Penunia represented AFA.

Mr. Imanum Nobi Khan from FAO-Bangladesh gave updates on the Technical Assistance Component of the Integrated Agricultural Productivity Project (IAPP), which is funded by the GAFSP. He said that FAO’s mapping study revealed there are around 163,000 farmers groups organized by various government agencies; as well as 82,853 legally registered farmers cooperatives. However, Mr. Alauddin, Secretary General of KKM, said that many farmers were organized into groups for the purpose of project design fulfillment, and many of these groups cease to function when the project ends. He said that it is important for farmers groups to have a long-term vision and an ethical, political and economic orientation from its beginning/formation.

The participants welcomed FAO’s plan in 2013 to conduct, among others, (1) leadership training activities to leaders of farmers groups in the project areas, and (2) exchange visits among farmers inside the country as well as among farmers groups in India and Cambodia.

The participants also called for representation of FOs and CSOs in the project’s national and regional management/steering committee and the use of local experts in the various training and capacity building activities.

The workshop was co-convened by Action Aid, and was supported financially by Agricord through AsiaDHRRA.

Click here for the workshop report

AFA, NLRF and KKM at the Participatory Generation of Proposals and Positions (PGPP) organized by Agriterra in cooperation with NEFSCUN in Nagarkot-Bhaktapur, Nepal last Dec 17-19, 2012.

Representatives from AFA and two of its member FOs participated in a workshop on Participatory Generation of Proposals and Positions (PGPP) organized by Agriterra in cooperation with the Nepal Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Union (NEFSCUN) in Kathmandu, Nepal last Dec 17-19, 2012.

The workshop was a follow-up on the outcome of the plans made by participants in the first PGPP workshop.

It allowed participants to share their experiences and results of their pilot test projects at the country level and to systematically apply key concepts and generate lessons learned from each participating organization.

AFA joined two of its members, Nepal Land Rights Forum (NLRF) and Kendrio Krishok Moitree (KKM) from Bangladesh, in in the workshop where they actively participated.

Each organization was given time to present the outcomes/results of their PGPP pilot projects supported by Agriterra.

For KKM, the target was to prepare a sound proposal to get recognition from the state for women as farmers through an “Agriculture Card”.

Consultations were held and documented, and the results were shared during a mass gathering in celebration of the World Food Day in October.

They were able to validate that there were other groups who have the same sentiment of supporting women farmers.

NLRF, on the other hand, focused their study on landlessness. They applied participatory research methods to address the question of how the records of the landless and tenants can be kept and managed in local agencies.

This was done through consultations with the landless themselves, who are members of NLRF, and other local stakeholders.

A social mapping activity, which facilitated in locating tenants/landless people in the community, was attended by different stakeholders including the tenants and landless farmers, who appreciated the process directly involving people in the community.

NEFSCUN and the Central Tea Cooperative Federation (CTCF) also presented the results of their PGPP proposals for pilot test.

AFA shared also the results of its pilot test project where the PGPP approach was used in the preparation of a proposal on “Influencing the Global Conference on Agriculture Research and Development (GCARD) Roadmap re: Farmers’ Research Agenda”.

The PGPP tool was appreciated by all participants for two reasons: (1) it helps in strengthening membership participation; and, (2) it helps systematize the process of generating information and getting recognitions of different stakeholders’ involved.

Moreover, PGPP is a useful tool for generating reports, consulting with members to gather information as aid for decision making, and conducting research and policy proposal.

(Report and photos from Vicky Serrato)

Bangkok, Thailand – AFA, through its policy advocacy officer, Ms.Lany Rebagay took note of the overwhelming recognition of the role and contribution of smallholder farmers/producers and their concerns over the major challenges confronting smallholder farmers/producers in the discussion so far in the two-day (October1-2, 2012) High-Level regional consultation on policies to respond to high food prices being held in Athenee Plaza.

She mentioned that said recognition must be translated into more institutionalized participation of smallholder farmers/producers in various bodies and policy-making/program-designing processes on food and nutrition security.

To this point, she shared AFA’s encouraging experience in the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) supported by G20 through the management of World Bank.

AFA is one of the CSO representatives from Asia in the GAFSP Steering Committee.

Through AFA’s participation in this body, AFA was able to facilitate the uploading and downloading of smallholder farmer/producer feedback on the project proposal submitted by various governments to GAFSP.

In Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Tajikystan and Krygztan, AFA was able to facilitate a forum among smallholder farmers, CSOs and governments to discuss the proposed GAFSP projects with the end in mind of making it more responsive to the needs and realities of the target rural communities.

Through the forum, AFA was able to link smallholder farmers to governments and supervising entities (e.g. FAO, ADB, etc.) towards building partnership for food and nutrition security initiatives.

With greater access to information and policy-making processes both at the local/national, regional and global processes, farmers are more able to contribute to food security program designing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation leading to higher chances of addressing the bottlenecks confronting smallholder as they endeavor to increase food production.

Encouraged by its positive experiences in GAFSP and other national policy and program engagements, AFA calls on FAO, ADB, IFAD, WFP and national governments to provide institutionalized participation of smallholder in various bodies and decision-processes concerning food and nutrition security such as in AMIS, APTERR, SAARC Food Bank and other proposed council (Seed council).

AFA also supported the recommendation put forward by our CSO colleagues particularly on the access of smallholder farmers to land and other productive resources (water, seeds, energy, credit) as well as increasing the role of smallholder farmers/producers in the food value-chain.

AFA also supported the call to provide more support space for women and young farmer in all policies and programs for food and nutrition security.

Building successor farmers is a critical concern to ensure the sustainability of farming.

More importantly, women farmer are the frontline players in ensuring food security at the household level, thus their significant and meaningful participation should be recognized and supported.

Vientianne, Laos — The AFA Chairperson, Mr.Oun Sophal, represented the farmer sector in the 2nd Private sector dialogue with ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) held last September 27, 2012 in Vientianne, Laos. With support from broader civil society delegation, Mr.Oun Sophal reiterated the call for the creation of ASEAN small-scale farmers/producers council as continuing mechanism for engaging small-scale farmers in the decion-making processes within ASEAN. He also put forward the call for a regional ASEAN standard on good agricultural investment that would protect the interest of small-scale farmers and rural people amidst growing agricultural investment within the region. He mentioned that many small-scale farmers are exploited in agricultural investment schemes due to lack of government support for legal advice on contract negotiation and other marketing intermediation assistance.

“We believe that the key problem still remains with emissions from developed countries, which are already contributing to climate change and causing impacts on food production. Developed countries must urgently and immediately reduce their emissions and provide financing according to their obligations under the UNFCCC. For developing countries, adaptation has to be the main priority, adequately supported by developed country public finance. The agricultural challenges faced by the poorest and most vulnerable, in Africa but also in Asia, in small-island states, in Latin America, are adaptation challenges.”

This is part of the statement read by Lutfiyah Hanim of Aliansi Petani Indonesia in behalf of civil society organizations (CSOs), during the concluding session of the 2nd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change: Hunger for Action, held last September 3-7, in Hanoi, Vietnam, organized by the Governments of Vietnam and Netherlands, together with FAO and WB.

Besides Ms. Hanim, AFA was represented by Kanisorn Punyaprasiddhi of Sor Kor Por Thailand, Dr. Iqbal Kabir and Alaudin Sikder from Kendrio Krishok Moitree-Bangladesh and AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia. AFA participants worked with CSOs including SRD Vietnam, Third World Network, Oxfam International, SEARICE, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and IFOAM during the conference.

The AFA Sec Gen, reading from the CSO statement delivered during the ministerial roundtable, also called on the ministers to urgently direct resources “towards adaptation, particularly to help small-scale family farmers. Sustainable agroecological and organic approaches are the most important, reliable set of practices to protect yields and ensure resilience in the face of climate change. It is these approaches and producers that should be supported significantly with climate/public finance.”

At the start of the conference, the CSOs distributed a statement signed by 120 organizations, bearing the same messages.

Click here to download the CSO statement Sept 3
Click here to download the final CSO statement Sept 7

Bangkok, Thailand – AFA successfully concluded its 27th Executive Committee meeting under its new Chairperson, Mr. Uon Sophal, President of Farmer and Nature Net (FNN) in Cambodia.

The meeting was dove-tailed with a regional consultation on agricultural research for development that was co-organized with APAARI.

The ExeCom appreciated the able facilitation of the meeting by the new Chairperson and the clear financial reporting by the new AFA Treasurer, Rifai, Finance Officer of Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API).

Bangkok, Thailand – With limited resources available for their work, the need to track or monitor more closely the impact of farmer organizations and coops at the national, regional and international levels have never been more important.

Thus, the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), in cooperation with its partners, resolve to develop further a social auditing tool that will help them do this.

AFA, together with the Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Asia (AsiaDHRRA), organized a focused group discussion (FGD) on Agricord’s Farmers’ Fighting Poverty (FFP) last Setember 8-9, 2012 at the First Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

The FGD gathered farmer leaders of AFA and other partners from the cooperative sector and regional groups focusing on women and rural development.

The participants had a rich discussion on the impact indicators related to the work of farmers organizations/cooperatives.

One important action point identified during the FGD was for AFA in cooperation with other partners to develop further the social auditing tool that will track/monitor the impact of its FOs both at the local, national, regional and international level.

The FO social auditing tool shall then be piloted in AFA members and can be further fine-tuned based on the result of the piloting.

AFA sees the impact indicators as useful guide for building the capacity of its member FOs and in knowing what support it needs from Agricord.

Bangkok, Thailand – The Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), together with other CSOs, called for a more institutionalized mechanism for participation of small-scale farmers in key decision-making processes in ASEAN, particularly on issues of food security/sovereignty, agricultural trade, climate change, etc, through the creation of an ASEAN Small-scale Farmers’/ Producers’ Council.

The groups made the call during the preparatory forum for the 2nd ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF)-Private-Public Dialogue (PPD) organized by the ASEAN-USAID MARKET project last September 6-7, 2012 at Athenee Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand.

The forum intended to provide a venue for various stakeholders including farmers and fishers organizations, non-government organizations, as well as regional and international agribusiness to exchange views and identify common agenda along three major concerns, namely, agricultural productivity, agricultural credit and role of women in agriculture.

AFA delegates actively pushed for access and control over productive resources (land, water, seeds, energy) as imperative for increasing agricultural productivity alongside the promotion of sustainable agricultural farming practices and access to affordable credit with appropriate crop insurance coverage for both women and men small-scale farmers.

AFA also emphasized the need for an enabling legal environment for organizing and strengthening farmers’ association/cooperative in recognition of the crucial role of farmers’ associations and cooperatives in facilitating collective marketing.

While demand for organic vegetables has been increasing in Myanmar, farmers are worried about the possible impact of foreign and private investors who are or will be engaging in large-scale vegetable farming using chemical and synthetic fertilizers, as these might contaminate nearby organic vegetable farms.

Farmers raised this concern during the “National Consultation Workshop on Organic Vegetable Industry” held last August 31, 2012 at the Catholic Bishop Conference of Myanmar in Yangon, Myanmar. The consultation was organized by the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) in partnership with the Episcopal Commission for Education of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar and MyanDHRRA.

Around 29 participants from different stakeholders groups of the organic vegetable industry in Myanmar — such as organic farmer producers, marketers and support organizations, including representatives from NGOs and government agencies — attended the event.
(more…)

AFA in cooperation with ADRA-Mongolia and the National Association of Mongolian Agriculture Cooperative (NAMAC) conducted a training workshop on Constructive Engagement and Policy Advocacy in UlaanBaatar, Mongolia on August 28-30, 2012. It was participated by agricultural cooperatives, herders group and NGOs. The training was intended to build the capacity of civil society participant particularly the small-scale farmers, herders towards improving engagement with government to widen and deepen participation in the GAFSP and other development project in Mongolia.

Click on the links to download the training materials:

Constructive Engagement & Policy Advocacy_final.docx
Session 1 Overview of training.pptx
Session 2 Definition of Constructive Engagement-revised.pptx
Session 4 Spaces for Engagement.ppt

The organic industry holds a huge potential for small women and men farmers in Asia. In order to understand the situation of the industry and see how farmers can benefit, AFA has been conducting industry consultations together with its member FOs in different Asian countries.

Organic vegetable in Vietnam

In Vietnam, the Vietnam Farmers Union (VNFU) is the local partner anchoring the study of the organic vegetable industry. Policy Advocacy Officer Lany Rebagay helped plan and conduct a national consultation last June 8, 2012 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The multi-stakeholder consultation was attended by small-scale organic vegetable farmers/producers, government representatives, local corporations, consolidators, NGOs, academe and media.

The consultation resulted in the following recommendations for each set of stakeholders:

a. For government:
• Law on Organic agriculture
• Increase budget and support for organic farming for small-scale farmers for the following:
o Certification policy (official recognition of PGS)
o Credit
o Irrigation
o Processing facilities (storage, refrigeration, etc.)
o Extension services

b. For Consolidators/Traders:
• Communicate market standard to farmers so that farmers can adjust their production based on the standards
• Mutually beneficial contract (fair benefit and risk sharing)
• Organize Organic Trade Fair / festivals
• Tour of consumers to organic

c. Academe/ Research Institutes:
• Documentation of good practices
• Research and documentation on sustainable technologies and models for organic vegetable

d. NGOs/ Farmers Union:
• Capacity building on sustainable farming technologies
• Technical assistance in the certification process
• Link farmers to consolidators /input supplier
• Assist farmers in making policy papers

e. Small-scale organic vegetable farmers:
• Organize into commodity cluster
• Adopt organic farming approach
• Engage government /Advocate for policies

Organic potato in Mongolia

In Mongolia, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is the local partner anchoring the study of the potato industry. Ms. Lany Rebagay, Policy Advocacy Officer helped plan the potato industry consultation in coordination with ADRA Program Manager Gerry Ganaba. Marketing Officer Vicky Serrato attended the national consultation last June 5 in Selenge Aimag, Mongolia. The multi-stakeholder consultation was attended by around 80 participants, including farmers in Selenge province and Dzavhan, representatives from seed producer groups, SMEs engaged in supply chain development and processing of potato, academe and ADRA operations staff.

Potato is one of the major agriculture produce in Mongolia. Based on the data presented, the per capita consumption per year ranges from 5l – 73.8 kg, 86kg per capita consumption in urban areas (exceeds normal consumption) and is increasing continuously. This situation creates higher demand for potato to supply the domestic demand. The data in 2004-2009 show that production of potato increased by 4 times. Through the government’s “Mongolia Potato Programme,” Mongolia targets to supply 100% of domestic demand by 2015.

Through the consultation, the participants were able to understand the industry situation, see the opportunities in the industry as well as the challenges faced by farmers specifically the limited time to grow potato. Participants were also able to discuss challenges such as the availability of quality seeds suitable to different climatic condition and storage especially during winter season so that supply can be sustained until the next harvest season and seeds can be preserved for the next cropping cycle.

Some of the stakeholders engaged in potato industry are:
- Mongolia Farmers Association for Rural Development (MFARD) produces seeds and distributes them to soums for mass production of seeds; MFARD buys the seeds produced in each soums= and redistributes them to individual members
- Adventist for Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) workson community/farmers organizing, capacity building on organizational management and enterprise development
- The Academe does research and development
- Government (Ministry of Agriculture) provides financing support and information
- Banks give financing support

Some of the recommendations during the workshop were:

- Government
o Examine and ensure quality seed for distribution or sale to the farmers. There’s a big difference in productivity when good/certified seeds are used (yield range of 25-35 tons per hectare for certified seeds and yields range of 10-12 tons per year for non-certified seeds). Certified seeds can still be used to plant until the fourth year, thus farmers can collect and preserve seeds that can be used for four years.
o Government to provide financing support for the acquisition of production and post-harvest facilities such mini-tractor, storage facility, etc.
o Local government to provide SME Loan program support to farmers
o Land regulation

- NGOs like ADRA, Mongolia Farmers Association for Rural Development
o Develop good link between the producers and consumers e.g. linking small scale farmers to support organizations such as marketing, technical, etc
o Mongolia Farmers Association – to help develop seeds that are adaptable to the highlands where temperature is low

- Farmers Organization
o Sharing of experiences as a strategy to inform other farmers of their experiences and initiatives on the ground e.g. technology, farm practices, market information, etc.
o Lobby to simplify bank requirements to ease farmers access to credit
o Consolidate farmers’ produce to save cost of transportation when marketing products

Regionally coordinated, nationally implemented industry analysis

The industry analysis is an AFA regionally coordinated and nationally implemented activity.
AFA has completed seven workshops for the organic rice in Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Nepal, Thailand, Bangladesh and Vietnam (organic vegetable).

A regional paper on the industry analysis will be produced soon.

AFA, together with its member VNFU, is co-organizing with AsiaDHRRA and VietDHRRA a CSO preparatory meeting today, June 11, 2012 in Danang, Vietnam. The CSO preparatory meeting hopes to bring together CSOs attending the first CSO-GO dialogue with the Senior Officers Meeting on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication (SOMRDPE), which will be held in Furasama Danang Hotel. The CSO Preparatory Meeting aims to provide a venue for CSOs to share ideas and information, dialogue and discuss priority areas of cooperation that could be pursued in the next 3 years, within the context of the ASEAN Rural Development and Poverty Eradication Framework action plan 2011-2015 (RDPE-FAP) \ and beyond, keeping in mind the many initiatives being pursued by CSOs on the same agenda at all fronts. Specifically, the one day preparatory meeting shall (1) revisit the 2011-2015 ASEAN RDPE-FAP and other existing ASEAN frameworks on food security and climate change and level off on understanding and expectations, ( 2) arrive at some recommendations to explore collaboration between and among CSOs and GO, in relation to the various related ASEAN frameworks for action, including the discussions of appropriate coordination mechanisms at all levels (In particular, discuss strategies per thematic thrusts, anchored on current work and strengths of the CSOs), and (3) discuss the strategic roles and interest of CSOs in pursuing the ASEAN RDPE agenda.

The Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) held various activities and decided on important matters on its recently concluded 5th general assembly, which was also a celebration of its 10th anniversary.

Vietnam Farmers Union (VNFU) hosted the event in Hanoi, Vietnam last March 9, 2012 back-to-back with regional farmers’ consultations on March 7-8 and a CSO consultation on the 31st FAO APRC that AFA attended on March 10-11.

The series of events officially opened on March 7 with a cultural presentation from a Vietnamese folk group, who also performed traditional songs and dances with participants from different Asian countries, and with welcome speeches from VNFU Vice-Chairperson Dr. Nguyen Duy Luong and incumbent AFA Chairperson Mr. Tsai, Shun-Te.

Around 45 representatives from 12 farmer organizations and partner NGOs from 10 Asian countries, such as API (Aliansi Petani Indonesia), FNN (Farmer and Nature Net) in Cambodia, VNFU (Vietnam Farmers Union), SorKorPor (Farmer’s Federations Association for Development Thailand), PAKISAMA (Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka) in the Philippines, AINOUKAI in Japan, KAFF (Korea Advanced Farmers’ Federation) and WAFF (Women Advanced Farmers’ Federation) in South Korea, TWADA (Taiwan Wax Apple Development Association), TDFA (Taiwan Dairy Farmers Association), KKM (Kendrio Krishok Moitre) and Action Aid in Bangladesh, NLRF (National Land Rights Forum) and CSRC (Community Self-Relience Centre) in Nepal attended the event, and ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) in Mongolia.

Representatives from partner agencies, such as Nellie van der Pasch of Agriterra, Ignace Coussement of Agricord, Thomas Price of GFAR (Global Forum on Agricultural Research), Marlene Ramirez of AsiaDHRRA, Jose Osaba of WRF (World Rural Forum), Michael Commons of Green Net, and Dinah Fuentisima of WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) also graced the occasion.

Review of accomplishments and decisions

Opening with a video showing photos of the past four general assemblies of AFA, the 5^th general assembly reviewed AFA’s accomplishments in the last two years (2010-2011) vis-a-vis the strategic plans it set for 2011-2015, while member FOs gave updates on their respective organizational activities.

The assembly also heard, discussed and adopted the Chairperson’s report regarding the administration and activities of AFA and confirmed decisions made by the Executive Committee in between general assemblies.

Exhibit, field visit, and courtesy call

As part of AFA’s knowledge sharing activities, each AFA member organization also put up an exhibit of its country’s agricultural products and traditional processed foods just outside the meeting room, where participants exchanged information on the items on display.

On March 8, participants also went on a field visit to an organic farming project, which is run mainly by women farmers.

It was followed by a short meeting with the VNFU chairperson and other leaders at the VNFU headquarters in a new building in Hanoi, where the two sides shared their aspirations and activities for farmers.

Two-year thrusts, new members, and new officers

The 5th General Assembly set the thrusts of AFA for the next two years, focusing mainly on governance and organizational development, capacity building, knowledge management, and policy advocacy.

The assembly welcomed AFA’s first two member FOs from South Asia — KKM (Kendrio Krishok Moitre) in Bangladesh and NLRF (National Land Rights Forum) in Nepal — whose applications for regular membership were previously approved by the AFA Execom.

It also determined the new set of Executive Committee members for 2012-2014, which in turn elected the new set of officers.

Through a collegial process that follows the tradition of leadership rotation, the Execom elected FNN President Uon Sophal as the new AFA Chairperson, the representative from Ainoukai as Vice-Chaiperson and the representative from API as Treasurer, while re-appointing Esther Penunia as Secretary General.

10th year anniversary, international women’s day, and tribute to farmer leaders

The general assembly was also an occasion for celebration and commemoration.

AFA celebrated its 10th year of existence through an exhibit of agricultural products, solidarity night, ritual of mixing and distributing traditional rice varieties from each Asian country, reading of solidarity statements from partners, awarding of plaques of appreciation, launching of a draft anniversary video and banners containing 10 themes, and the announcement of a plan to come out with a coffee table book highlighting AFA’s important achievements and future plans.

AFA also celebrated International Women’s Day during the field visit, courtesy call to VNFU headquarters, and solidarity night on March 8.

The Women Advanced Farmers’ Federation (WAFF), AFA’s first and so far only FO member composed solely of women, gave away gifts to women farmers during the field visit to the organic farming project.

VNFU’s Chairperson and other leaders also presented gifts to all AFA women during the courtesy call at the VNFU headquarters.

AFA’s women were again honored during the solidarity night, where they were given roses and asked to share their sentiments about the occasion.

Finally, the general assembly also set aside a special time to commemorate the heroism and martyrdom of farmer leaders in AFA who have died in the struggle for farmers’ rights.

The life and death of farmer leaders Lee Kyung Hae of South Korea; Vicente Paglinawan, Renato Penas, and Florita Caya of the Philippines; and women farmers Lamlaya Chamchamagar and Janak Kumari Chaudhary who died during the land rights campaign in Nepal were presented at the opening of the general assembly, followed by a moment of silence and a dedication of the event to their memory.

Click here for more photos

Click here for videos

Organic rice industry has a lot of potential for small scale women and men farmers in Asia. However, there is the challenge of increasing production and being ready for the market. It is also affected by a host of issues such as land grabbing, food price volatility, and climate change. Farmers are also concerned with global opportunities and challenges such as the declaration of 2014 as International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), Rio+20 processes, and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP).

To address these issues, the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), held regional consultations among its member farmer organizations in Hanoi, Vietnam last March 7-8. The consultations were hosted by the Viet Nam Farmers Union (VNFU), back to back with the 5^th AFA General Assembly.

The consultation was attended by around 45 representatives from 12 farmer organizations from 10 Asian countries, such as API, FNN, VNFU, SORPORKOR, PAKISAMA, AINOUKAI, KAFF, WAFF, TWADA, TDFA, KKM, and NLRF, as well as from partners such as Agriterra, Agricord, AsiaDHRRA, WRF, Green Net, and WSPA.

AFA member FOs in Cambodia (FNN), Indonesia (API), Philippines (PAKISAMA), Thailand (SORKORPOR), and Nepal (NLRF) conducted national consultations on organic rice industry analysis from last year until early this year.

The results of the consultations were shared during the regional consultation in Hanoi and became the inputs to further analysis and recommendations for the organic rice industry at the regional level.

AFA also took notice of global issues being discussed such as the IYFF, Rio+20 and GAFSP. Discussions drew out the concerns and proposals of farmers on the said issues.

The results of the regional consultation served as inputs to the CSO meeting held on March 10-11 in preparation for the 31st FAO-Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The full proceedings of the consultations will be uploaded once it is already available.

Click on the links to download the presentations:

Organic Rice Industry in Cambodia

Organic Rice Industry in Thailand

Organic Rice Industry in Philippines

Organic Rice Industry in Nepal

Organic Rice Industry in Indonesia

Linking the Organic Rice Chain Experiences

International Year of Family Farming

FO involvement in GAFSP

Rio +20

AFA attended the preparatory CSO meeting last January 18-19, 2012 in Hanoi, Vietnam hosted by AFA member Viet Nam Farmers Union (VNFU). The objective of the meeting was to discuss the details of preparation for the CSO parallel forum to the 31st FAO Asia- Pacific Regional Conference which will be held on March 12-16, 2012. The meeting was able to come-up with key agreements on the design and the institutional arrangements related to the conduct of CSO parallel forum. The body was able to agree to form an organizing committee (OC) that will anchor the over-all conduct of the CSO parallel forum as well as ensure the meaningful interaction of CSO delegates to the official FAO-APRC process. The organizing committee is composed of VNFU as the head and representatives from established regional platforms engaging FAO (AHC and IPC) including AFA, APNFS, PAN-AP and IMSE. (Report and photo by Lany Rebagay, AFA Advocacy Officer)

On the second day of the fourth global meeting of the Farmers Forum on February 21, 2012, the Medium Term Cooperation Program with FOs in the Asia Pacific got a good review.

The IFAD social reporting blog says:

The results of the first phase of the MTCP were very encouraging. “Consultation with FOs in the design of new IFAD projects, and in the formulation of new Country Strategic Opportunities Programmes, is now the norm!”, said Sana F K Jatta, IFAD Task Manager for the Farmers’ Forum process in the Asia Pacific Division.

Maybe that’s because IFAD and FOs have a common objective, which is poverty reduction. As Nguyen Manh Hung, Director of International Cooperation in the Viet Nam Farmers’ Union, said: “When you have common objectives, you can shake hands.”

(In the photo: lower right – Mr. Manh Hung, Director of International Cooperation Department, Viet Nam Farmers Union)

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At the opening session of the fourth meeting of the Farmers Forum 2012 on February 20, 2012, the Asian Famers’ Association (AFA), a Steering Committee member of FAFO, asked IFAD to partner with farmers organizations in upscaling and mainstreaming sustainable agriculture.

In the opening statement read by Secretary General Ma. Estrella Penunia, AFA informed IFAD of the victories of small farmers and producers since the last FAFO in 2010.

These successes include the UN declaration of 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, implementation of the Medium Term Cooperation Program in the Asia Pacific, implementation of the Global Agriculture for Food Security Program with FO participation, and organization of the Civil Society Mechanism for the UN Committee on Food Security also with FO participation.

Ms. Penunia also pointed out challenges such as the Rio+20′s non-inclusion of small scale farmers and producers and the silence on sustainable, agroecological, smallholder family farmer agriculture; lack of clear decision on climate financing for adaptation in the UNFCC meeting in Durban; and lack of operationalization and involvement of FOs in the ASEAN and SAARC framework on food security and climate change.

Thus, AFA called on IFAD to partner directly with FOs in involving more women and youth in agriculture; in participating in dialogues with governments at all levels; in efforts at knowledge management; and in truly involving FOs in IFAD’s governance processes.

(In the photo: AFA Execom Member Vicente Fabe from PAKISAMA in the Philippines)

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ON the first day of the FAFO 2012 in Rome, Italy, AFA asserted the role of smallholders in agricultural development.

IFAD social reporting blog quotes AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia as follows:

Other speakers asserted that small-scale producers should be more directly involved in the design and implementation of rural development plans at all levels. For instance, the UN Year of Family Farming – scheduled for 2014 – will be meaningful only if it involves smallholders in policy advocacy, said Estrella Penunia Banzuela of the Asian Farmers’ Association.

(In the photo: AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia – second from left, FNN Executive Director Pan Sopheap, AINOUKAI representatrive Ryoko Tsuboi, and WAFF/KAFF representative Young Ran Choi -fourth, fifth, and sixt from the left respectively- at the Farmers’ Forum, 18 February 2012, IFAD HQ, Rome. Also attending the FAFO 2012, but not in the photo, are: API representaitve Ms. Ika Krishnayanti; VNFU ICD Director Manh Hung and VNFU Vice-Chairperson Mr. Le Hoang Minh; and PAKISAMA Chairperson Vicente Fabe)

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