www.asianfarmers.org

Will governments panic from fires and drought in Russia, floods in China and Pakistan and other concerns to ban exports?

Over the past month, global grain exports have been hit by two calamities that have been exacerbated by worries over global warming, particularly affecting the world’s rice crop. For the better part of a decade, the world’s food scientists have been warning against what they have called an Event – a confluence of natural calamities that drive the price of staples – particularly grains – past the point where hundreds of poor will no longer be able to eat.

The question isn’t whether there are enough grains but whether governments will panic again as they did during the 2007-2008 rice crisis. (As Asia Sentinel reported here, in May 2008). Governments across the planet from Vietnam to Egypt banned exports, driving rice prices from US$300 per metric ton to more than US$1,100 and causing shortages and food riots in several countries and resulting in the fall of the Haitian government. Russia has ordered an export ban until the end of the year and Ukraine is said to be considering one as well.

Two reports, one by the International Food Policy Research Institute on the devastation to wheat stocks in Russia and the Ukraine from drought and fires, and a second on climate change and rice, by the International Rice Research Institute, paint a rather grim picture that has been complicated by some of the worst flooding in history in Pakistan, China and the Indian province of Ladakh.

Read the full story at Asia Sentinel

MANILA, Philippines—To address food insecurity, more investments must be made in sustainable smallholder agriculture, said more than 60 representatives of organizations of small farmers, fishers, indigenous peoples, rural youth and women, and rural development NGOs from 13 countries in Asia and the Pacific.

In a press conference Tuesday, the groups who participated in a two-day conference, dubbed “Investment for Whom and for What,” held here said that investments on agriculture in the region are “problematic” and “inadequate.”

The conference was a civil society preparatory event to the “Investment Forum on Food Security in Asia and the Pacific” organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Fund for Agriculture and Development (Ifad), and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to be held on July 7 to 9 at the ADB Headquarters in Manila.

Civil society representatives said that sustainable, integrated, diversified, ecological, and organic agriculture, aquaculture systems which are owned and managed by and with small-scale women and men farmers, fishers, and indigenous peoples is a key strategy to increase productivity, enhance food security, mitigate climate change, and build climate resilience.

Read the full story at the Philippine Daily Inquirer

ACTIONAID, an international anti-poverty agency, has urged the G8 countries to commit funds for agriculture to address the high child and maternal mortality rate in poor countries.

Last year, leaders of the world’s eight richest countries, dubbed the G8, pledged $20b (sh45 trillion) for food security in developing nations.

However, ActionAid claims the leaders have been secretive about the release of the funds. This was based on research on agricultural funding to poor countries from the G8 in 2008.

The agency also claims that where the funds were provided, the money was diverted to other projects.

Read the full article at The New Vision

(Final statement from the G20 Summit in Toronto, Canada — Admin)

* Preamble
* Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth
* Financial Sector Reform
* International Financial Institutions and Development
* Fighting Protectionism and Promoting Trade and Investment
* Other Issues and Forward Agenda
* Annex I: The Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth
* Annex II: Financial Sector Reform
* Annex III: Enhancing the Legitimacy, Credibility and Effectiveness of the IFIs and Further Supporting the Needs of the Most Vulnerable

Preamble

1. In Toronto, we held our first Summit of the G20 in its new capacity as the premier forum for our international economic cooperation.

2. Building on our achievements in addressing the global economic crisis, we have agreed on the next steps we should take to ensure a full return to growth with quality jobs, to reform and strengthen financial systems, and to create strong, sustainable and balanced global growth.

Read the full statement at the G20 Information Centre

Cambodia has reportedly been promised one hundred million US dollars from the United States to help fight hunger and develop agriculture among small-scale farmers. The money will be given directly to the Cambodian government, even though it’s regarded as one of the most corrupt in Asia. While donor countries throw lots of money at the issue of food security, the challenge faced by many small-scale farmers in Cambodia is the forced take-over of their land by those with government or military connections. One of the biggest cases currently being fought out is in Kampong Speu province.

Read the full story

How does cheap food contribute to global hunger? GDAE’s Timothy A. Wise, in this recent article in Resurgence magazine, explains the contradictory nature of food and agriculture under globalization. He refers to globalization as “the cheapening of everything” and concludes:

“Some things just shouldn’t be cheapened. The market is very good at establishing the value of many things but it is not a good substitute for human values. Societies need to determine their own human values, not let the market do it for them. There are some essential things, such as our land and the life-sustaining foods it can produce, that should not be cheapened.”

Download “The True Cost of Cheap Food”
Read more on GDAE’s research “Beyond Agricultural Subsidies”
Read more on GDAE’s Globalization and Sustainable Development Program

Concern about a food crisis has put Thailand at a crossroads, where it must choose whether to be the top global exporter by volume or the market leader in premium grain.

The 2008 food crisis has led to significant developments and expansion in Asia’s rice industry but Thailand, as the leading exporter, has stressed its determination to maintain its leadership position by implementing various measures.

One such measure that Thailand implemented last year was to guarantee farmers’ incomes, and the government remains optimistic about maintaining its export leadership position with expected exports of about 10 million tonnes this year.

The food crisis of 2008 has inspired various countries in Asia to vie for status as the world’s “rice bowl” and many hope to be able to dethrone Thailand.

Among the key members in the region, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Burma, and Cambodia continue to dominate the rice trade, with 21.32 million tonnes of the total global trade of 29.3 million in 2009. Their share is expected to rise to 23.4 million tonnes of the total of 30.84 million this year.

Read the full story at Bangkok Post

The quality of China’s overworked, polluted and artificially fertilised soil needs to be protected or the country could struggle to grow enough crops for the 300 million to 400 million people who will move from the countryside to the city over the next 30 years, a senior government adviser warned today.

Han Jun, an expert on rural policy at the Development Research Centre, said maintaining food security was a major challenge in the process of urbanisation as farmers moved off their fields and into cities, where the consumption of meat, grain and diary products was higher.

In the next three decades, he predicted the share of urban residents in China’s population would rise from 47% to 75%, which would require the clearance of land for residences, roads and other infrastructure.

Noting that China feeds 22% of the world population with only 10% of the planet’s arable land, he said the pressure was growing.

Read the full story at guardian.co.uk

“In a world overflowing with riches, it is an outrageous scandal that more than 1 billion people suffer from hunger and malnutrition and that every year over 6 million children die of starvation and related causes. We must take urgent action now.” — Jean Ziegler, January 2010

Jean Ziegler is the Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council’s Advisory Committee, working as an expert on economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to food. During the period 2000-2008, Jean Ziegler was the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

This website provides insight into the current and past work of Jean Ziegler related to the right to food, offers information on human rights law developments concerning the right to food and other economic and social rights, and serves as a platform for other relevant news and information.

EXCERPT FROM THE NEWS STORY: One million hectares of lands will be available to produce food crops such as rice, soy bean and corn. The rest will be split between plantations, fisheries and livestock. Investors will have to purchase a minimum of 1,000 hectares of land each.

But the development, under which many residents will be forced to sell their land, has met opposition from locals and non-government organizations, who have warned of social and environmental problems.

The Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI) has said that the food estate regulation will lead to a “land grab” by big businesses at the expense of locals.

“This will eventually lead [the country] to losing sovereignty in our food [production],” the union said. “Food estates could also lead to feudalism because the role of the indigenous farmers will be just to provide labor to the capital owners.”

Read the full story at The Jakarta Globe