On one hand, there was the official conference representing a corporate- and market-driven system being propped up by governments responsible for this crisis. On the other, there were the thousands that gathered from across the globe to protest false solutions and promote real ones. The road to Copenhagen for many activists began on September 18, 2008 when over 100 people from 21 countries came together to discuss mobilizing for Copenhagen. Over the next year, meetings were held in Poznan, Poland (2008 UN Climate Conference), in Belém, Brazil during the 2009 World Social Forum, and in Copenhagen. Somewhere in the midst of those meetings, Climate Justice Action was formed and became the major network for organizing the demonstrations in Copenhagen. Other Danish organizations pulled together the alternative Peoples’ Summit Klimaforum09, which featured workshops, debates, art, and serious discussions that a new world was not only possible, but necessary. An estimated 10,000 people took part each day in Klimaforum09 activities.

Read the full article at Z Magazine

The new pricing plan for deteriorated rice in the state stockpiles would be similar to the method the private sector currently uses, said Yanyong Phuangrach, permanent secretary for the Commerce Ministry.

Private-sector bidders seeking deteriorated rice currently use pricing approaches based mainly on market mechanisms.

Read the full story at Bangkok Post

AFA member Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API) joined this multi-sectoral protest rally as they continue to oppose free trade agreements and other trade liberalization policies being implemented by the government because of their negative impact on agriculture and the farmers’ livelihoods.

JAKARTA — Thousands of Indonesians took to the streets Thursday to condemn corruption and demand the resignations of key ministers on the 100th day of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s new government.

Demonstrations were held across Jakarta and other cities including Surabaya, Makassar and Ambon, where protesters tried to storm the governor’s office and burned a poster of Yudhoyono.

Scuffles broke out with police in several places including Palu, in Central Sulawesi, and the wealthy Menteng suburb of Jakarta, where opposition party supporters set fire to tyres in the middle of a busy road.

About 10,000 people from a cross-section of civil society, student and labour groups gathered at various locations across Jakarta to shout slogans against graft and perceived mismanagement in Yudhoyono’s second and final term.

Read the full story at Bilaterals.org

A variety of imported agricultural products are sold in markets and supermarkets in Vietnam. Most of them come from the US, China, Australia, Thailand and Japan. While Vietnamese agricultural products have difficulty in finding consumer markets, similar imported products continue to enter the daily meal of Vietnamese families.

In 2009, the agricultural sector achieved high revenues from exporting farm produce, earning US$15.4 billion, above the yearly set target of US$12 billion despite the global economic downturn. Vietnam was among the world’s largest exporters of rice, coffee, peppers and cashew nuts. However, last year the country also spent almost US$150 million importing vegetables and fruits from China and US$45 million purchasing farm products from Thailand. Furthermore, Vietnamese farmers have grown a lot of maize and cassava, but they still have to import fodder for cattle and fish from 25 countries around the world.

Read the full article at VOV News

In his speech at ground breaking ceremony of Kanghot Irrigation Development Project, donated by China, in Battambang province, Hun Sen said that the irrigation network will be able to cover as many as 70 percent of all cultivated land in the country by 2013.

Read the full story at TMC Net

China’s Suzhou Industrial Park Overseas Investment Co was promised a 50-year lease on 1,600 hectares of land on the outskirts of the capital in return for building the venue. But an exceptional public backlash, fuelled by news that the Chinese intended to bring in 3,000 labourers to do the job, forced the government to cut the size of the concession to 200 hectares and promise to find extra land elsewhere to compensate for the loss.

The episode illustrates both the gravitational pull exerted by China’s economic and strategic might, drawing the nations of continental south-east Asia into a tighter orbit, and the counterveiling tensions that are becoming apparent as a result. Economic and diplomatic imperatives are starting to clash with nationalist fears of becoming - in many cases not for the first time - satellites of Beijing.

Read the full article at Financial Times

Mr Nhi made the statement at an annual meeting in Hanoi on February 2 to review the Forestry Sector Support Partnership (FSSP).

The meeting evaluated the progress made in implementing the forestry sector’s five-year development strategy through 2010, reviewed their partners’ performance and discussed plans for financial and technical assistance to the sector.

Read the full story at VOV News

In light of the test result, officials said they will move ahead with Monday’s order from the provincial agriculture department to destroy all live ducks and halt duck meat sales in the affected area. Since the outbreak began last month, 16,442 ducks have died and at least 31,000 live ducks are exhibiting symptoms of the virus.

Ly Sovann, deputy director of the Communicable Diseases Control Department at the Ministry of Health, confirmed the positive test result on Tuesday and related the contents of an unreleased statement from the Agriculture Ministry.

“The statement identified the bird flu-affected area as Pralay village, Romenh commune, Koh Andeth district. All ducks within 5 kilometres of the village will be incinerated, sales of duck meat will be stopped and local officials within 10 kilometres of the area must monitor both ducks and humans for signs of infection,” Ly Sovann said.

Read the full story at The Phnom Penh Post

The awardees representing over 50 million farmers nationwide have production models that bring high economic values.

Read the full story at Nhan Dan

The media has reported on the plight of paddy farmers who experienced ar educed yield due to insect attacks on their crops. Last year, they experienced severe flooding which caused damage to their crops. This year the insects/pests further aggravated the impact of last year’s loss. The report focused on the utilisation of pesticides.

According to the media: ‘In March last year (2009), Deputy Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Mohd Johari Baharum was reported as saying that Muda Agricultural Development Authority (Mada) was preparing a working paper for a standardised pest-control system in the padi fields. Under the system, he said the ministry would provide a suitable amount of pesticides to the farmers’.

The agriculture and agro-vased industry ministry seems very shortsighted about the problems which are beginning, if not already plaguing, the agriculture sector due to first of all to the lack of technology and innovation in improving the yields of locally-produced crops for food.

Furthermore, the ministry and its agencies seem to lack a sense of urgency on what changes in climate are doing to agriculture production all over the world.

Read the full article at Malaysia Kini

CHINA’S MARKET MORE POTENTIAL THAN BEFORE

China means something special both for CP Group and for the 71- year-old Chairman. As the very first overseas company that invested in the Chinese mainland after the implementation of its open-up policy in 1978, CP witnessed every steps in China’s development in the past 30 years from 1979 to 2009, and at the same time the company itself grew ever bigger.

Read the full story at People’s Daily Online

Meanwhile Irrigation Department deputy chief Weera Wongsaengnak has said the department needed to store water to deal with drought as June and July this year were predicted to receive little rainfall.

Read the full story at Bloombert UTV

Indonesia’s cocoa industry faces stiffer competition following the implementation of China-ASEAN free trade agreement (CA-FTA) earlier this month, said Peter Jasman, chairman of Indonesian Cocoa Industry Association which represents grinders.

As part of the free trade agreement, Indonesia must scrap its 5 percent import duty on cocoa powder, which would encourage imports from rival grinders Malaysia and Singapore at the expense of domestic grinders.

Read the full story at Flex News

The setback sent the price of white sugar in London to an all-time high of $760 a tonne. The cost of raw sugar in New York hit a fresh 29-year high of 29.82 cents a pound. Sugar prices have surged 150 per cent since January 2009.

Leading importers in south-east Asia, the Middle East and west Africa are running out of sugar inventories, traders and brokers said, prompting fresh tenders to replenish stocks. Pakistan will tender next month and others are expected to follow.

“If they don’t buy soon, the next stop is an empty shelf,” said Peter de Klerk at London-based sugar merchant Czarnikow.

Shortages are emerging in some Asian countries, according to local reports. Among the main importers, only Egypt appears to have covered its needs.

Read the full story at Financial Times

Palm-oil producers say the industry may quit the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) because so few firms are financially backing the scheme.

Houshold products giant Unilever and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) founded the RSPO seven years ago to encourage producers of the oil, used in products such as biscuits and margarine, to minimise forest destruction, greenhouse gas emissions and loss of endangered wildlife, such as tigers and orangutans.

Palm oil is in hundreds of branded foods in the UK such as Kit Kat and Hovis and in household products such as Dove soap and Persil washing powder.

Read the full story at NZHerald

Quoting Suswono, Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported that many fruits from China were found not to be in good condition because they were harvested long ahead of the proper time and therefore their price was low.

“A lot of fruits from China are already a year old such as oranges so that they have already lost their aroma. We will tighten control on fruits coming from China,” he said.

Apart from low quality, there are also other factors that have made fruits from that country cheap namely subsidy or dumping, he said.

Read the full story at Bernama

The crumbling ricefields that follow the contours of the mountains in northern Ifugao province and resemble a stairway are slowly being eroded by bad weather and limited upkeep.

On Friday, Philippine officials were handed the symbolic keys to the $1 million 200-kilowatt hydropower plant, which will meet 18 percent of the province’s power needs.

Read the full story at Reuters UK

The cooperation, among other things, involves the fields of research and development (R&D), technology and capacity building in agro-based industries, herbal industry, and horticulture which are considered to be capable of maintaining product quality in both countries and continue to compete both at the regional and global levels.

In addition, both countries have agreed to widen cooperation in looking after the welfare and well-being of fishermen who are facing problems due to cross-border fishing in the waters of both countries.

Read the full story at Bernama

The USTR Thursday last week filed a World Trade Organization (WTO) challenge against Philippine excise taxes on alcohol that it said discriminate against US-made brands, particularly whisky and gin.

Manuel A.J. Teehankee, the Philippines permanent representative to the WTO, said the Philippines would continue to balance the interests of the country’s farmers affected by the tax regime.

Read the full story at Malaya

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.