Welcome to AsiaDHRRA

The issue of Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanism (SP/SSM) is a key issue in the current Doha Round of negotiations. The SP/SSM seems to be one of few issues that developing countries are quite strong on, and that the US is strongly opposed to, meaning that if the developing countries (G33) stay strong in [...]

This issue paper jointly published by AFA and AsiaDHRRA presents basic information on the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint, including updates on ASEAN Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), as well as AFA’s analysis and position on these topics. It was written by Focus on the Global South Program Coordinator Joy Chavez, who [...]

This monograph presents the highlights of the farmers’ exchange visits (FEVs) in Indonesia and Japan, conducted by AFA, in cooperation with AsiaDHRRA. It also contains the highlights of the field visits held during regional consultations in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. All of these FEVs and field visits occurred during the years 2006-2007.
Download the monograph [...]

In celebration of AFA day, members and partners participating in AFA’s Consultation-Workshop & 3rd AFA General Assembly last February 28 - March 3, 2008 in Sangnok Resort, Cheonan, South Korea, visited 2 farmer communities.
pics and stories here… 

The Indonesian Peasant Alliance is currently implementing an ICT capability building training for its member farmers;
Based on the endeavor to enhance farmers and their households’ capacity to access to information technology (IT), API in cooperation with Formasi Indonesia has been conducting Community Training Center (CTC) Program starting from August 2007. The objective of the program [...]

Following the 21st AFA Execom meeting in Bangkok, Thailand last December 22, 2007, AFA announced that it will hold its third general assembly in Korea on February 28 to March 3, 2008, to be hosted by the Korean Advanced Farmers’ Federation (KAFF).
February 28 will be the celebration of AFA Day with a field visit to [...]

Agricultural trade globalization under the present neo-liberal economic regime has disempowered and alienated farmers and producers from the rest of the commodity chain. Farmers find themselves out of the loop as soon as their produce leaves their farms. They have been reduced to being end-users of agricultural inputs produced by companies and as producers of [...]

In this era when disasters and calamities have become both more frequent and more intense, maintaining a national food reserve is a practical and forward-looking strategy for governments to adopt in order to ensure food security for the people and as a means to minimize the adverse impacts of unexpected events. Regional food reserves in [...]

The Fair Trade initiative was conceived more than 40 years ago as a response to concrete problems facing commodity producers. It is an alternative approach to conventional international trade dominated by big traders and in later years, by big agribusiness. It seeks to ensure that producers, the bulk of whom are poor and located [...]

by Mahar Mangahas | Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — Next week, some 55 farmers — 15 of them women — will reach Manila in a quest for social justice, after walking more than 1,600 kilometers from the town of Sumilao in the southern province of Bukidnon, starting last Oct. 10. They regularly walked about 30 [...]

Thailand has traditionally been a major exporter of rice and other major agricultural products such as sugarcane. As much as two-thirds of the country’s population live in the rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood. However, agriculture accounts for a mere 10 per cent of Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP), well behind the [...]

API or Aliansi Petani Indonesia has a new website up and running at http://api-indonesia.blogspot.com/
The multilingual website offers indonesian and english language versions and showcases the latest news, updates and activities of Indonesia’s largest farmer’s group.

Quezon City, Philippines — As a non-violent way of protesting the more than 10 years of injustice they have gone through in trying to reclaim their ancestral land, 50 “lumad” farmers belonging to the Mapalad Multi-purpose Cooperative (MPC) will march on foot from their hometown of Sumilao, Bukidnon in the south to the capital city [...]

The Executive Committee of AFA decided to put up its own secretariat office in Manila last July 23, 2007.
The decision marked the end of a process of autonomy which began in 2002, facilitated by its NGO partner and catalyst, AsiaDHRRA. It signalled the readiness of AFA leaders to take on bigger responsibilities in organizational management, [...]

Consumer activism in Japan emerged in the wake of the devastation of the Second World War. Ironically, it was the American Occupation forces in Japan that had paved the way for the development of such a movement. They encouraged ordinary Japanese to form groups in support of political causes, viewing even radical forms of citizen [...]