www.asianfarmers.org

AFA gives international situationer

Tagaytay City, Philippines, April 13, 2013 – Fourteen farmers, five of them women, all members of the National Council (NC) of PAKISAMA (National Confederation of Farmers Organizations), AFA member in the Philippines, together with its national secretariat and regional coordinators, started today a four day orientation workshop in Tagaytay City, aimed to level-off on basic tenets of the organization, roles and functions of each governing and management structure, and to set directions of the organization for the next three years.

The first day of the orientation was spent on getting to know each other better, clarifying expectations between and among different levels of organization(e.g. secretariat, officers, council members) through a team-building exercise (e.g. secretariat, officers, council members), reviewing the core principes of authentic humanism and active non-violence, and levelling off on international and national situation of farmers, agriculture and sustainable development general. AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia gave inputs on the engagement of AFA in international policy advocacy work and Pakisama’s current involvement in it, especially in advocacy for land rights, sustainable agriculture and farmers’ market power, particularly in GAFSP, MTCP and in the celebration of the International Year of Family Farming in 2014.

The new set of NC leaders were elected during its 8th national congress, held last Feb 20-22, 2013 in Quezon City. Like in previous Congresses, the NC leaders were elected by each island region (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao), each region having five slots, with one slot given to a woman and another slot to a fisher. But unlike in previous Congresses, the President , Vice President and the committee heads are now elected from among the NC members. Elected for a three year term were Benedicto “Benny” Aquillo as Chairperson and Ireneo “Rene” Cerilla as President.

The last Congress also celebrated Pakisama’s 26th year, where it gave plaques of appreciation to organizations and individuals who have supported it from its founding years. AFA received one for its contribution to PAKISAMA’s international work.

“When I was born, four out of five Koreans lived in rural areas, but very few of them actually owned the land they farmed. Most were very poor, and many experienced hunger. The war years, of course, were especially dire. The United Nations helped come to the rescue, not just militarily but with sacks of grain and other forms of sustenance. When small farmers finally gained access to land and inputs, they were able to move beyond subsistence and contribute to the country’s progress. Today, the Republic of Korea is ranked 12th on the Human Development Index. There is a message for the world in Korea’s achievement: Hunger and malnutrition can be eliminated. With the right policies and investments, we can make dramatic progress in one generation – not in some distant future but in our own lifetimes.”

Thus stated UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, when he formally accepted the result of the Global Consultation on Hunger, Food Security and Nutrition in the Post 2015 Development Framework, at the closing ceremonies during the High Level Meeting in Madrid, Spain on April 4. The meeting was the third and final phase of the Global post 2015 consultation on the said theme. Participants responded to a working document entitled “Food Security and Nutrition for All: A Vision and Building Blocks for a Global Agenda,” which represented the results of the first two phases of the consultation.

The participants during the high level meeting said that the common vision of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in a sustainable manner by the year 2025 is both a moral and political imperative and called for a bold and effective action to achieve this vision. They acknowledged that the critical agents of change are women and men small producers and their organizations, family farmers, fishers, livestock keepers, forest users, workers, entrepreneurs, and indigenous peoples, as well as consumers at all levels.

AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia, in her intervention, suggested to include in the “building blocks for a development agenda” ensuring rights to fisheries, forests and seeds, in addition to land rights; to prioritize investments on sustainable agro-ecological approaches and in motivating the youth to go into agriculture; to establish market rules that are fair to small-scale producers, and to strengthen at all levels policy and program coherence among all departments related to food security and nutrition. She mentioned that the celebration for the International Year of Family Farming in 2014 may be an opportunity to strengthen such coordination.

The meeting was co-hosted by the Governments of Spain and Colombia, and led by FAO and WFP. It was attended by representatives from national governments, intergovernmental organizations, UN systems, private sector, NGOs and producer organizations such as La Via Campesina, World Farmers Organization, Pan African Farmers Organization, World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers, and the Asian Farmers’ Association.

Click here for the Joint Chair and Co-leads Synthesis Report

Click here for the Remarks of the UN Secretary General

Click here for the Vision and Building Blocks for the Global Agenda

Click here for AFA intervention

Click here for the Summary Report from IISD

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

To make agricultural investments more inclusive, farmers’ organization should be engaged to ensure the bargaining power of the smallholder producers.

This was one of the main points emphasized by AFA in a recent roundtable discussion organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) last February 28, 2013 in London.

In the meeting entitled “Making agricultural investments more inclusive: building a framework for action,” AFA Policy Advocacy Officer Lany Rebagay said that small-scale farmers could have greater bargaining power if they deal with investors on a collective approach rather than on individual basis

AFA joined the first panel to articulate the perspective of small-scale women and men farmers on important elements that a prospective investor should include in their community engagement and on concerns related to embedding inclusiveness in contracts specifically on important elements that should be included in an investment contract that will ensure inclusion of smallholder producers.

Ms. Rebagay articulated the principle of free Prior informed consent (FPIC) as a key principle that prospective responsible agricultural investor should abide. She also articulated the primacy of genuine peoples’ participation in all stages of agricultural investment.
Equitable sharing of risk and benefits as well as concern for protection of biodiversity through the use of sustainable production and processing technologies should likewise be assured in the design of any agricultural investment.

On the issue of ensuring inclusiveness in contracts, she pointed out that technical and legal assistance is important support needed by smallholder producer that government in partnership with CSOs should made available to facilitate fair negotiation in contracting process.

In addition, informed decision by the community/smallholder can be best achieved with access to information made available through transparent process, of making relevant investment document at the public domain. Moreover, mechanism for regular review, monitoring and redress of grievance should be clearly stipulated in any contract.

Particular concern on land-based investment and gender was also discussed during the workshop. Participants articulated the need for clear government regulation that will protect land rights of smallholder farmer including reform in some customary land rights that marginalizes women.

The round-table workshop was attended by representatives from CSOs, research institute, private sector, government, intergovernmental bodies (FAO, IFAD).A follow-on meeting on March 1, 2013 was attended by interested groups from the workshop. The follow-on meeting identified some key action points and areas for future cooperation.

The World Consultative Committee (WCC) for the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) 2014 met last January 29-30, 2013 in Rome, Italy to strategize for a meaningful celebration of the UN-declared year of family farming in 2014. The meeting was attended by 27 individuals representing 14 member organizations in the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, Americas, and Oceania. AFA was represented by Mr. Socrates Banzuela, National Coordinator of PAKISAMA, its member in the Philippines. The meeting was organized by World Rural Forum (WRF), the NGO who has coordinated the campaign of an IYFF since 2006.

During the meeting, the WCC members agreed that (1) the year belongs to everybody, and that IYFF-2014 is an opportunity to work towards common goals while recognizing and appreciating diversity; (2) farmers organizations will lead the IYFF-2014 and will lead the WCC; (3) national level is the key level of action; (4) all interested organizations will be invited to participate in national level committees and actions.

The WCC is the civil society process for IYFF while another process is being undertaken by FAO, which was mandated by the UN to take charge of the celebration of the family farming year. A meeting took place between WCC members and FAO and IFAD to discuss ways of working together. The WCC will be in charge of ensuring that there are activities related to IYFF-2014 at global level, while regional organizations in WCC will lead and ensure the existence of regional and national level initiatives.

Inside the WCC, a task force has been created to define the global action plan and the launching of the year. AFA is part of this Task Force, together with  regional FOs COPROFAM and ROPPA-PAFO, and with international organizations Oxfam Intl, Slow Food International, AsiaDHRRA and of course, WRF, who will function as the CSO global coordinator for the IYFF-2014 campaign.

Click here for UN declaration of 2014 as International Year of Family Farming

Click here for IYFF Report 2011

Dr. Wenchi Huang, Deputy Director of the Taiwan Wax Apple Development Association (TWADA), an AFA member in Taiwan, visited the AFA office in Quezon City, Philippines last January 25, 2013.

She was in the country to attend a Board meeting in AsiaDHRRA, a regional network of rural development NGOs in Asia, where she also sits as Chairperson.

Dr. Huang has been actively supporting TWADA in their production and marketing initiatives through the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), which has an ongoing partnership cooperation with the farmers’ association.

She has also attended various AFA meetings and has represented AFA in some conferences related to marketing and agribusiness.

Bangkok, Thailand – AFA promoted the International Year of Family Farming during a global panel discussing health and food security at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2013 Main Conference held at Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Center at Central World on January 31-February 2, 2013.

PMAC is an annual conference attended by a wide-range of experts and development players focusing on issues in public health. This year’s theme is “A world united against infectious disease: cross-sectoral solutions.”

The event was attended by around 1,000 participants from across the globe.

AFA joined the panel “Contribution of the One Health Paradigm to Food Security” moderated by Dr. David Nabarro, UN Senior Coordinator for Avian and Pandemic Influenza and Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition.

Ms. Lany V. Rebagay, Policy Adovacy Officer of AFA, spoke about the role of small-scale farming in ensuring health, nutrition and food security. She said that “small-scale farmers feed the world and care for the earth.”

This is also the theme of the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), which the UN declared after a worldwide campaign by a broad range of CSOs anchored by the World Rural Forum (WRF) and actively participated in by AFA.

She pointed out that in the discussion of One Health paradigm, a multi-sectoral collaboration to address health concerns integrating human-animal-environment dimension, participation of small-scale farmers is crucial.

She also asserted that small-scale women and men farmers feed 70% of the world’s population while ensuring environmental sustainability through agro-ecological farming systems that also ensure a diverse source of micronutrients that support sustainable diet.

Click here for more information about the panel

 

The office of Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API) is in evacuation mode after the heavy flooding caused by unusually strong monsoon rains in Jakarta last week. API’s office is located at the banks of Ciliwung River, one of Jakarta’s thirteen rivers. They have moved their office equipment and documents to the second floor after flood waters rose last January 16. Around 18,000 people have been evacuated and 11 have died due to the floods. In API’s area, there are around 300 households that were affected.

In response to the flooding, API, together with other people’s organizations in Jakarta, has set up a relief center to help the people affected by the floods. API’s staff will be working in these relief centers in the next two weeks. They are accepting donations in cash or kind. Direly needed are basic aid supplies, such as, ready to eat food such as bread and instant noodles, drinking water, rice, milk and diapers for infants, sanitary napkins for women, soaps, blankets, clothes, etc.

The city is flooded every year during the monsoon season. In 2007, it experienced one of the worst flooding in recent years. Experts have since then warned that flooding would be a more frequent occurrence in Jakarta. This year’s flooding is expected to surpass that of 2007, and more rains are expected in the coming days.

Partners who wish to send their support to API and the affected communities in Jakarta may get in touch with Ms. Ika Krishnayanti through e-mail address ikank@yahoo.com and mobile numbers 62-08128387971, 62-085888351668

Click here for more photos

(With report and photos from Ika Krishnayanti)

Recognizing the failure of modern industrial agriculture to secure food production in the world, a consensus is emerging that agroecology is the most viable way forward if we are to address the future challenges of the 21st century which include food security, job creation, climate change, etc.

Thus, the Commission Sud of France, an umbrella organization of NGOs working on issues related to agriculture, food and the environment, organized an international seminar entitled “Upscaling Agroecology: Why and How? last December 11, 2012 at the Campus du Jardin Tropical in Nogent-sur-Marne, France.

The seminar intended to stimulate a discussion and debate on the issues of why agroecology is urgently needed and how it can be upscaled.

Representatives from various CSOs in France, Latin America, Africa, and Asia were invited, including AFA, which was represented by its Knowledge Management Officer Marciano T. Virola Jr.

The seminar was well-attended by students, professors, and NGO representatives in France, who actively participated in the discussion and debate.

AFA shared its perspective on how agroecology answers to the challenges of food security, job creation, climate change, etc. as well as on the enabling conditions for upscaling agroecology and the challenges related to knowledge transfer among farmers.

The Commission Sud will come out with a publication that reports on the results of the seminar.

Click here for the seminar program in French

Click here for the seminar transcript in French

Click here for the seminar transcript in English (Google translate)

 

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

One hundred twenty marchers, composed of farmers, fishers, and indigenous peoples from the town of Casiguran in the northern Philippine province of Aurora are about to complete their 320-kilometer walk to Metro Manila on December 10, Human Rights Day, to personally meet the President and raise their concerns over the disastrous impacts on their communities of the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone (APECO), which they have been protesting.

The group began their march dubbed “Lakad Katarungan, Lakad Matuwid na Daan” (walk for justice, walk for the straight path, in reference to the President’s campaign pledge of good governance) 15 days ago on November 24 with the support of “Task Force anti-APECO,” a multi-sectoral coalition of farmers organizations  NGOs, students, church workers, agrarian reform and human rights activists, among others. PAKISAMA, an AFA member in the Philippines, is a co-convenor of the task force.

After meeting with supporters at different stop-over places in Metro Manila, they will proceed to the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, where they will join a press conference, mass, candle lighting ceremony, photo exhibit, and spend the night before finally heading to the President’s office in Malacanang on December 11.

The lands and livelihoods of more than 3,000 families from the town of Casiguran, Aurora, have been threatened by the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone (APECO) since 2010.

APECO is a 12,923-hectare special economic zone which has been shepherded by Senator Edgardo Angara, Congressman Juan Edgardo Angara and Governor Bella Angara-Castillo through the passage of R.A. 9490 in 2007, and expanded twenty-four times over by R.A. 10083 in 2010.

(Photo Credit: Veejay Villafranca)

Click here to read a brief background on the Anti-APECO campaign

Click here to sign the Anti-APECO petition letter

For more info and updates, visit:

https://www.facebook.com/LabanParaSaCasiguranNoToApeco

http://vphotoblog.tumblr.com/post/36427782325

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

(Last Sept 6, an forum entitled “the Civil Society Roadmap to Address the Food Security, Agriculture and Climate Crises”, was held , as a side event during the 2nd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, in Hanoi, Vietnam. The event was organized by AFA, Third World Network, Center for Sustainable Rural Development Vietnam, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and ROPPA. Mr. Alaudin Sikder, secretary of Kendrio Krishok Moitree, a national farmer organization in Bangladesh, was one of the speakers. Below is his intervention.)

I come from the southern part of the country . In my community there is much salinization. Now only 10% of the land can be farmed now.

The intensity and severity of winter has been more severe and is prolonged. And the intensity of summer is also high. That is why there is more pest infestation. And with that the cost of pesticide has gone higher. The farmers cannot afford and are not interested in farming anymore. With this our farm production is affected. We cannot rear our cattles now. Even the ducks and poultry are being affected by contagious diseases.

There are two severe cyclones in 2007 and 2008 , and now the riverbanks are deroded. The waters have been salinized, the banks cannot be repaired. The fishes in the fresh water are affected by the salinized water. They are disturbed.

Another problem is the frequency of cyclones. Now we have more cyclones. But still another problem is rain harvest. We used to harvest rain in canals. Now the canals are silted. So the rain we can harvest now is less than what we need for the crops.

Still another problem is that the new generation is not interested in farming. Those who are below 30 do not want to go into farming. So in the future, there may be land but no farmers.

In the face of this, our organization, KKM is doing some things . We reinforce enbankment of mud to prevent saline water from coming in. We are also rediscovering rice varieties which are suitable for our soils, and we built a center for seed processing for this. In the southern part, the farmers are keeping saline tolerant varieties and flood-tolerant varieties in their seed banks.We are also organizing 30 farmers in 30 villages for organic farming. They will be trained to raise ducks, fish and vegetables using organic approaches. We are trying to re-discover this system.

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.
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AFA congratulates Dr. Yang Saing Koma, founder of the Center for Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) for being one of this year’s recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay award. CEDAC help found the organization of small farmers in Cambodia called Farmer and Nature Net (FNN), which is now a close partner of CEDAC and an active member of AFA. FNN’s Chairperson, Mr. Uon Sophal, is also the Chairperson of AFA. Dr. Koma delivered a lecture series for the Ramon Magsaysay Center on August 29, with AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia as discussant. Dr. Koma will formally receive the RM award tonight, together with other recipients. Below is the link to an article about Dr. Koma that appeared today in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Cambodian rice expert produces ‘more with less’

When he introduced his novel rice production method to Cambodian farmers more than a decade ago, Yang Saing Koma had to battle skeptics who laughed at his idea. How could less irrigation and shallower planting result in higher yield?

But Koma, founder of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac), only had to tap one brave farmer to get his program going.

Today, his System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is an official rice production method endorsed by the Cambodian government, credited for doubling the country’s total rice output in the last decade.

And while other Asian nations, the Philippines included, still depend on rice imports, the country of almost 15 million is looking to expand its market internationally as grains constantly grow by Koma’s design.

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