AsiaDHRRA Online

HungerWednesday shares this interesting article from Resurgence about how  the globalization of the food market has made food cheap but ironically has also caused hunger. Chanced upon this in our Facebook as shared by FB friend Imam Cahyono.

Cheap food causes hunger.
On its face, the statement makes no sense. If food is cheaper it’s more affordable [...]

The FAO Civil Society Regional Consultation on Food Security in Asia and the Pacific Region of which AsiaDHRRA is the NGO host is currently underway at The Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City, Philippines from February 24-25, 2010.
We will be posting hourly updates at the activity blog over at http://faocsofoodsecurityconsultasiapacific.blogspot.com/
The overall objective of the [...]

HungerWednesday shares this disturbing news at Asia Sentinel we picked up from Manuel Quezon’s FB updates about the yet another rice crisis looming just up ahead.
“This year, I will not have enough rice to eat for the whole year,” says Kong Chanthorn, a rice farmer in Srayov Kharng Tbong village in Cambodia’s Kompong Thom province. [...]

Overview of Challenges Experienced by Small Farmers in Engaging with Markets, by Mr. Nonoy Villas, presented the rationale behind supporting small farmers’ commodity-based associations. He started with the definition of terms to illustrate that the small farmers have the weakest link in both the supply and the value chains.
He added that small farmers are much [...]

Big thanks to our good friend Jose Osaba of WRF for sharing this info. A good read!

Climate change, hunger and poverty, loss of biodiversity, forest destruction, water crises, food safety – what all these threats have in common is that a principal cause for each of them is in the way we produce, trade, consume [...]

Excerpts from the presentation by farmer partners during the 2nd LSFM RTW.
Cambodia
Mr. Noun, chicken producer from FNN, presented Cambodia’s experience in marketing dressed chicken. He related that chicken feed during the dry season are not sufficient. They also experience difficulty in transporting the product given the great distances of markets from the farms. Because of [...]

High Quality Products at Higher Prices: the Experience of TWADA which was presented by Dr. Wen Chi Hwang, General Secretary of the said organization during the 3rd LSFM RTW, explained about the experience of marketing based on product strength, quality, and competitive advantage. She narrated the history of TWADA as already having started with not [...]

Agri-Marketing in Asia: Agri-business Perspectives presented by Mr. Senen Bacani, CEO, Ultrex Management & Investment Corporation (former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GRP) during the First LSFM RTW.

Mr. Bacani explained that while he was here to offer an agri-business perspective from the side of the private sector, he has also worked extensively with government, cooperatives and [...]

Enhancing the Competitiveness of Small Farmers was presented by Mr. Jing Pacturan, Executive Director Philippines Development Assistance Program during the 3rd LSFM RTW. He started the session with a competitive game which simulated the dynamics of market in the real world. Based on the experience of the game, he drew the participants’ insights about [...]

GRAIN has a nice article about enhancing the  global food system and here’s an interesting excerpt – Five key steps towards a food system that can address climate change and the food crisis.  Read the full article here though. HungerWednesday it is.
1. Move towards sustainable, integrated production methods
The artificial separations and simplifications that industrial agriculture [...]

Here’s an interesting bit we stumbled upon on MSNBC about urban farming in New York City, USA. As the worldwide trend towards urbanization continues to roll on, the prospects of urban farming becomes more and more evident, if not, a practical necessity.  I like this quote from the rooftop farmer “Food comes from not only [...]

Need to keep abreast of the future terror that is GMOs? FarmFriday wants you to visit GMWatch so you can “Keep up to date with the latest news on the issue of genetically modified (GM) food and crops and find out about the deceptive PR campaigns being used to promote GM worldwide.”
“GMWatch is an independent non-profit [...]

FarmFriday shares this guidelines from CELAC on Milk Hygiene. click the pix

A good read we stumbled upon. HungerWednesday thinks this is good to reflect on…
This is the award-winning article John Robbins originally wrote for the best-selling 2001 book Imagine: What America Could Be in the 21st Century.
It’s the year 2030. A meal is served. It was quick to prepare, just a few seconds in the food [...]

HungerWednesday shares this interesting website we stumbled upon while browsing Grain.
Visit http://farmlandgrab.org, website maintained by Grain, “that offers the most comprehensive information tool on the global land grab for outsourced food production”
Grain says the website “provides an open, up-to-date and easy to search library of over 800 articles, interviews and reports on farm land grabs [...]