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 […]
As an agricultural country with a variety of products topping the world’s import list, every year Vietnam still has to spend a large amount of foreign currency to import farm products, including vegetables, fruits, salt and milk. This paradoxical fact has existed for many years. A variety of imported agricultural products are sold in markets […]
W hen Laos won its bid to host last month’s South-East Asian Games, China offered to help the tiny nation by building a gleaming new venue on the outskirts of the capital Vientiane. The facility included a “natatorium” for swimming and a stadium for soccer. But for the Laotian government, such generosity would not come […]
The following is an opinion column by Malaysian Association of Standards Users President Marimuthu Nadason, who is also Chairperson of AsiaDHRRA, a strategic NGO partner of AFA which catalyzed the latter’s formation, that appeared in Malaysia Kini. Nadason examines the problem of rice production in Malaysia and agriculture in general, and urges different ministries and […]
“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 […]
With the worsening of the global food crisis, general international agreement has emerged regarding the importance of smallholder agriculture in the battle against hunger and poverty. However, public debate has been highly restricted and increasingly dominated by conventional, market-led, and corporate approaches to aid and agricultural development. These positions call for a return to the […]
Pham Quang Dieu from the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture spoke to Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper about agricultural production since Viet Nam acceded to the WTO. The WTO’s effect on Viet Nam during the financial crisis is still not clear. What lessons about economic integration has been learned since the crisis? First, the […]
Influential Bill Gates shares his ideas on what he considers a convergent issue on productivity and sustainability as complementary approaches to helping small farmers towards food security. What are your thoughts and reactions on this? Helping poor farmers improve productivity is a critical step in reducing global hunger. But there is an ideological divide over […]
