www.asianfarmers.org

AFA, as a regional farmers’ organization, and 3 member organizations from Southeast Asian countries participated in the negotiations on the “Medium Term Cooperation Programme with Farmers’ Organizations in the Asia and the Pacific Region” held last May 12-13, 2009 at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Region in Bangkok, Thailand.

Esther Penunia (representing AFA), Sudaporn Sittisathapornkul (representing SorKorPor in Thailand), Renato Penas (representing PAKISAMA in the Philippines), and Nguyen Manh Hung (representing VNFU of Vietnam) joined representatives from 18 other farmers’ organizations in 9 other countries, as well as from IFAD, FAO, and ASEAN.

The programme aims to improve the livelihoods of rural poor producers, and to enable small farmers’ organizations in Asia and the Pacific region and their networks to influence policies affecting their members.

Specifically, it aims to: develop farmers’ organizations’ networking and knowledge management skills; facilitate and improve dialogue between farmers’ organizations and policymakers at the national, regional and international levels; and promote the involvement of farmers’ organizations in IFAD country programmes.

Participating countries include India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Philippines, Viet Nam and China.

Will China be the “growth pole” that will snatch the world from the jaws of depression?

This question has become a favorite topic as the heroic American middle class consumer, weighed down by massive debt, ceases to be the key stimulus for global production.

Although China’s GDP growth rate fell to 6.1% in the first quarter — the lowest in almost a decade — optimists see “shoots of recovery” in a 30% surge in urban fixed-asset investment and a jump in industrial output in March. These indicators are proof, some say, that China’s stimulus program of $586 billion — which, in relation to GDP, is much larger proportionally than the Obama administration’s $787 billion package–is working.
Countryside as Launching Pad for Recovery?

With China’s export-oriented urban coastal areas suffering from the collapse of global demand, many inside and outside China are pinning their hopes for global recovery on the Chinese countryside. A significant portion of Beijing’s stimulus package is destined for infrastructure and social spending in the rural areas. The government is allocating 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) in subsidies to help rural residents buy televisions, refrigerators, and other electrical appliances.

But with export demand down, will this strategy of propping up rural demand work as an engine for the country’s massive industrial machine?

Read the full article at Foreign Policy in Focus

(NFR Statement on the Manado Incident)

We, the 12 member organizations of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform (NFR), strongly condemn the suppression of freedom of speech and expression of the artisanal fisherfolks. We criticize the deportation of the 16 representatives in the Philippine fisheries sector from Manado, Indonesia for alleged violations of Indonesian laws last May 12, 2009. They were supposed to hold a parallel meeting of civil society to raise the concerns of artisanal fisherfolks in the global meeting to address climate change during the Inaugural World Ocean Conference and Coral Triangle Initiative Summit. Despite insufficient evidence to prove that they held assembly without permits, the Indonesian immigration officials in Manado detained our 16 colleagues.

We also condemn the relentless harassment by Indonesian authorities of leaders from the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI) who were charged of violating Article 216 of the Indonesian Criminal Code on Public Order. They were alleged to be involved in ‘public disturbance’ in Malalayang Beach together with the 16 Filipinos who were deported. The truth is that they gathered to hear the ‘Manado Declaration’ bearing legitimate calls of the artisanal fisherfolks. We strongly condemn this use of force against peaceful assembly as this runs counter to NFR’s fundamental belief on freedom of speech and expression. The use of force to suppress voices of artisanal fisherfolks inhibits the formation of conducive policy environment, where fisheries reform can be instituted.

Read the full statement at the PhilDHRRA website

DAVAO CITY—Rice producers and industry leaders nationwide are opposed to government’s plan to place a time limit on the category of rice as a protected agricultural product as a commitment to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Such a commitment by the Department of Agriculture (DA) would mean the category of rice as an Asean protected commodity would one day expire.

The opposition to the plan is a common sentiment leaders of farmers, millers, traders and other business interests in the rice industry communicated to the DA during its five regional consultations, Preceles Manzo, assistant secretary for policy and planning told reporters at the Apo View Hotel here, shortly after the fifth and last consultation was concluded.

“Everybody seems to be skeptical [of removing tariff on rice]. Everybody feels that there is a big gap in government support and they are not ready,” Manzo said.

He said farmers and other sectors in the industry would likely air their protest in the national consultations in June. “We already have an earful of their complaints against lack of government attention and implementation of programs.”

Read the full story at Business Mirror

BANGKOK–Asian rice prices extended recent falls this week due to a lack of fresh demand plus sales from the Thai government’s stocks, traders said.

The benchmark 100 percent B grade white rice fell to $525 per ton on Wednesday from last week’s $530, exporters said.

Prices were expected to fall further over coming weeks as supply is rising with the release of rice from the Thai stockpiles and demand remains thin.

“The market is reacting to the government stock sale and I expect prices to fall further as buyers are still on the sidelines as they realize there is plenty of rice on the market,” one exporter said.

Read the full article at the Philippine Daily Inquirer

SINGAPORE – Scores of communities in Malaysia and Indonesia are being uprooted by rapidly expanding palm oil plantations as companies try to meet the expected demand for biofuels, environmentalists alleged Tuesday.

Speaking at a two-day seminar on palm oil, the Borneo Resources Institute of Malaysia and the World Wildlife Fund in Indonesia said land disputes were emerging as one of the biggest problems associated with palm oil.

Environmentalists say palm oil production has already caused the loss of vast tracts of tropical forest _ the natural habitat of scores of animals and other wildlife _ and peatlands, which are known to store vast amounts of carbon.

Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s top two palm oil producers, have aggressively pushed to expand plantations amid a rising demand for biofuels, which are considered cleaner burning and cheaper than petrol.

Read the full article at Taiwan News

Less than a decade ago it was thought that people exposed to drinking elevated levels of arsenic in groundwater were confined to those living in West Bengal in India and Bangladesh.

Although today this region is the epicentre of what has become recognised as ‘the biggest mass poisoning of humans ever known’ high levels of arsenic are now being found contaminating the groundwater in Cambodia, Vietnam and Taiwan. This environmental disaster is not confined to drinking contaminated water. Research has now found that the uptake of arsenic by crops such as rice is compounding the problem.

Get the news at Radio Australia

by Biotani and GRAIN

Just under two years ago Indonesia’s central government launched a major hybrid rice programme. The plan was to convert over 135,000 ha of prime rice land to hybrid rice production by offering farmers free seeds, which the government would purchase from private seed companies. It was a great deal for seed companies, especially for those with the political connections to access the scheme– people like Tommy Winata, a local tycoon who had just recently set up a joint venture with a Chinese hybrid rice company.

For Indonesia’s farmers, it was a different story. By October of 2007, with the first season of the hybrid rice operation in full swing, those farmers who’d signed up to the scheme were experiencing major problems, and even complete crop failures. Some were burning their fields out of desperation.

“We are like a lottery as the government tests its variety,” said one farmer from the village of Dusun Karang Duwet, about 25 km south of Yogyakarta City, Central Java.

Read the full article at Grain

PAKISAMA*

The Higaonons are indigenous people of southern Philippines. Their ancestral land stretches across the valley of Sayawan and Palaopao mountains in Bukidnon province. But people who did not belong to their community obtained the legal ownership of the land. In the 1930s, there were forcibly evicted from their balaang yuta(holy land). They returned as farm workers to the land that had become a cattle ranch.

The legally registered owners of the cattle ranch changed through the years, and subsequent owners divided the land into smaller pieces. In 1984, one hundred forty-four hectares of the land owned by the Quisumbing family and located in Sumilao town were leased to Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (DMPI) for ten years. The adjacent other portion of the land became the estate of the Carlos family.

With the advent of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in 1988 (CARP), the one-hundred-forty- four-hectare ancestral land in Sumilao town was declared in 1990 as subject to the agrarian reform program. One hundred thirty-seven Mapadayonong Panaghiusa sa mga Lumad Alang sa Damlag (MAPALAD) farmers (later known as Sumilao farmers), all of Higaonon lineage, were declared beneficiaries of the program. The government issued in 1995 Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) in their names. For the first time in decades, the Higaonons regained their lost ancestral land.
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