www.asianfarmers.org

The price of rice in the world market, especially in Asia, has risen tremendously last year. However, farmers themselves did not benefit from this. One reason is that most of the small farmers who plant rice do not own the lands they till. They have to share the produce with their land lords. And the rest that they can sell, they usually sell to middle men who profit from buying low and selling high.

This video shows the interview of Mediacorp, based in Singapore, with Lutfiyah Hanim, a researcher and volunteer staff for API (Aliansi Petani Indonesia) about food crisis.

Click here to watch the video in 3 parts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

AFA wishes to thank all of you who sent your generous expressions of sympathy and solidarity for PAKISAMA and the family of our beloved and esteemed farmer-leader, Renato Penas, who was murdered last June 5.

AFA joined the activities of PAKISAMA last June 6-12 in honor of Ka Rene when his body was brought to Metro Manila. Together with many farmers, NGOs, students, and other supporters of the agrarian reform movement in the Philippines, we joined the memorial services, masses, and marches for Ka Rene; as well as solicited financial assistance for the bereaved family. We also printed out and handed over your messages to his wife and children. His body was brought back to Mindanao and buried last June 16.

The search for truth and justice continues. A multi-sectoral body aimed at conducting an independent Fact Finding Mission (FFM) to be able to gather evidence and other information that could help surface the motive behind the killing of Ka Rene Peñas was launched. PAKISAMA welcomes any donation to cover the expenses of this investigation.

Read more about Ka Rene here

Policy Brief by IFPRI  

One of the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 on the world food system is the proliferating acquisition of farmland in developing countries by other countries seeking to ensure their food supplies. Increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets have pushed countries short in land and water to find alternative means of producing food. These land acquisitions have the potential to inject much-needed investment into agriculture and rural areas in poor developing countries, but they also raise concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend. It is crucial to ensure that these land deals, and the environment within which they take place, are designed in ways that will reduce the threats and facilitate the opportunities for all parties involved.

Click here to read more

VIETNAM – In a bold outpouring of public concern for Southeast Asia’s Mekong River, people from the six-country Mekong region and around the world have urged governments to abandon plans for hydropower development along the river’s mainstream.

In the face of strong government backing for dam building on the river, which feeds 60 million people, over 11,000 citizens in the region signed the “Save the Mekong” petition addressed to the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam urging them to keep the river flowing freely and to pursue less damaging electricity options.

Read more at Vietnam News

Women farmer-leaders belonging to the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) are featured in a poster produced by the CGIAR on the theme women and climate change, to be published in June.

Ms. Sudaporn Sittisathapornkul of SorKorPor (Thailand), Ms. Luisita Esmao of LAKAMBINI-PAKISAMA (Philippines), Ms. Jang of WAFF (Korea), and Ms. Esther Penunia (AFA) were among those interviewed for the poster.

Their photos appear in the poster together with their sharing on the impact of climate change on women farmers in Asia.

AFA has 2 new interns, this time from Beijing and Hong Kong, China. Liwi Shao, a Statistics major from Hong Kong University, and Fei Jia, a Persian major from Peking University, will work at the secretariat office of AFA for 6 weeks. They will provide support to AFA’s research, documentation, information, and communication work.

Dear members and partners,

You can now download the Chinese version of our brochure. The translation was made by our intern from Beijing, China.

Click here to download: afa-brochure-2009-06-18-with-chinese-translation

Dissatisfied with the hasty conclusion of the police investigation into the murder of its leader, PAKISAMA, together with other concerned civil society organizations, today formed a fact-finding body to conduct an independent investigation into the murder of Renato Penas last June 5.

Ka Rene was ambushed June 5, 2009 at between 11:30pm to 1:00am the following day in Brgy. San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon while driving a motorcyle. He sustained nine (9) wounds on the right arm portion, eight (8) wounds at the back portion one of which is on the back portion of the head. His two (2) companions Samson Dollete and Elizer Peñas survived the incident with bullet wounds. The scene of the crime is within the vicinity of their reclaimed area.

At present, the local police zeroed its investigation on the grounds of personal grudge against Rene Peñas. They held an alleged suspect, Alipio Tumandang, whom the Samson Dollete earlier identified. Tumandang and Dollete were involved in a land dispute case in which Ka Rene was at the forefront of advocacy. However, Dollete was still incommunicado as of press time and as Elizer Peñas said it is impossible to pinpoint a gun killer at the scene of the crime was pitch black.

Dear fellow land rights advocates in Timor Leste,

Our organization, Asian Farmers’ Association or AFA, supports your call for the implementation of the Minimum Requirements to ensure meaningful public participation in developing your country’s Land Law.

AFA, a regional alliance of nine national farmers’ organizations in eight Asian countries, believes that security of land tenure is a basic requirement for peace and sustainable development of small scale men and women farmers and indigenous peoples.

We hope you will have an effective land law that respects the wishes and culture of the people, gives rights to those who will actually farm on the lands, and facilitates small scale farmers and IPs claim to these rights.

In solidarity,

Ma. Estrella Penunia
Secretary General
Asian Farmers’ Association

(more…)

MANILA, June 17 (Reuters) – Climate change impacts such as lower crop production will have severe effects on Asia and a broader climate pact being negotiated this year is crucial to minimising the effects, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.
Developed nations are under intense pressure to agree to deep 2020 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to try to seal an agreement at the end of this year that will replace the Kyoto Protocol.

“Climate change impacts will be overwhelmingly severe for Asia,” Eric Hall, spokesman for the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat, told a forum at the Asian Development Bank in Manila.
“They will exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and they have the potential to throw countries back into the poverty trap.”

Asia’s rapidly growing population is already home to more than half of humanity and a large portion of the world’s poorest people.

Hall said climate change had started threatening development in the region and could continue to put agricultural production and food security at risk by the 2020s.

Read the full story at www.guardian.co.uk