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 Trade Knowledge Network (TKN) Southeast Asia has recently released a new electronic publication, entitled: Beyond Barriers: The Gender Implications of Trade Liberalization in Southeast Asia, written by Alexander C. Chandra (TKN Southeast Asia Coordinator), Lucky A. Lontoh (Public Policy Analyst) & Ani Margawati (Lecturer of Anthropology Dept. of the University of Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia).
Download [...]

FarmFriday highlights this is very interesting newsbit from IFAD with its President Kanayo F. Nwanze pushing for more efforts  to linking smallholder farmers to the private sector:
“In Davos, I intend to show business leaders how linking smallholder farmers to the private sector is key to building the economy of developing countries. The private sector [...]

Intelligent and inspired reflections from our friend Tony about the failed Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. Got this from a climate change mailing list
By Tony La Viña
Dean, Ateneo School of Government
Philippines Lead Negotiator, Copenhagen Climate Change Conference
I can never forget what happened in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the early hours of December 19, 2009. I will remember [...]

TechTuesday shares this newsbit from IICD about an African NGO using open source mobile apps to monitor healthcare access in Ghana.
SEND will develop an Open Source monitoring tool in cooperation with software developers to be used on handheld mobile devices to collect and share data. Due to the poor communication infrastructure, this will enable SEND [...]

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. [...]

TechTuesday brings this very interesting article by John Tierney of the NYTimes about the hive culture and pack behavior running rampant in the interwebz and how it is “fostering nasty group dynamics and mediocre collaborations.”
When does the wisdom of crowds give way to the meanness of mobs?
In the 1990s, Jaron Lanier was one of the [...]

An interesting newsbit from the Inquirer.net about IFAD’s new programs in the Philippines.
MANILA, Philippines—Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) plans to allocate some $73 million for three proposed projects on coastal resource management, agribusiness and upland developments in the country.
According to project documents, the amount represented Ifad’s share in the cost of the three [...]

For your weekend ruminations are two docs about the failed climate change talks.
Oxfam Briefing Note 21 December 2009
Climate Shame: get back to the table -Initial analysis of the Copenhagen climate talks
Copenhagen was a unique opportunity to turn the world’s course away from climate disaster, towards a safe future for all of us on this [...]

Towards The Celebration Of The International Year Of Family Farming-IYFF. A dream nearer each day
José María Zeberio-Executive Secretary of the World Rural Forum-WRF
REPORT ON THE IYFF
Before the end of 2009 we wish to update our report on the IYFF.
In the world today there are 3,000 million people who live in the countryside. The greater part [...]

thanks to Jose Osaba of WRF for sharing this…

WRF has released the latest brochure of the Campaign for an International Year of Family Farming. Click to download

Potty trained pigs? An interesting tidbit from the Philippine Daily Inquirer….
TAIPEI, Taiwan—Farmers in southern Taiwan have started to potty-train their pigs in response to a planned water pollution fee, breeders and officials said Monday.
To keep their livestock from defecating into nearby rivers, a growing number of farms have established special “toilets” smeared with feces and [...]

Huffington Post has this breaking news about the Copenhagen Climate talks:
The UN international climate change conference is in chaos as the G77, which represents 130 developing countries “pulled the emergency plug” suspending the talks over wealthy countries’ reluctance to discuss a legally binding emissions treaty.
read more about the climate talk walkout here….

Thanks again to our friend Jose Osaba for sharing this interesting book from TWN.
“THE world is now facing a new era of climate change and the impacts of climate change are already being felt everywhere, particularly in the developing countries and small islands. The local knowledge systems and agricultural practices and techniques adopted by local [...]