Title of document: Profiles of People’s Organizations In Rural Asia Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: ASIADHRRA; AGRITERRA Year of publication: 2002 Geographic focus: Asia This study entitled Profiles of People’s Organizations in Asia under the auspices of AsiaDHRRA and Agriterra covered seven countries: Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines. It attempted to do the following: 1. generate a reliable and updated individual profile of selected farmers’ organizations (FOs); 2. identify the issues, problems and needs of these FOs; and 3. consolidate the results of the individual profile and draw a regional sketch of farmers’ organizations and their development needs. Through the study, AsiaDHRRA hopes to provide a guide to rural development stakeholders in their direction setting, program planning, and provision of services to their constituents.   Read More

Title of document: Asia at the Crossroads Prioritising Conventional Farming or Sustainable Agriculture? Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: ACTION AID; 1. Muong ethnic minotiry sisters Ban Thi Cuc, 19, left, and Ban Thi Yen, 20, work on their family rice field in Duong hamlet, Vay Nua commune, Da Bac district, Hoa Binh province, Vietnam. © Chau Doan / OnAsia / ActionAid. 2. Emergency response to floods in Cambodia © ActionAid. 3. Multi-Purpose Farm in Cambodia © CEDAC / ActionAid. 4. Limited access to water in Myanmar. © Celso Marcatto / ActionAid. 5. Pesticide use in Sanya, Hainan Island, Hainan Province, China © Li Xiaoguo / Xinhua Press / Corbis. 6. Tractor spraying fertilizer in a conventional agricultural system © Imageplus / Corbis Year of publication: 2012 Geographic focus: Asia In June of 2012, representatives of over 140 nations are expected to take part in the “Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development”. The conference – scheduled 20 years after the first Rio conference saw an agreement that the United Nations must do something to address environmental degradation and global warming – is expected to focus heavily on the concept of the “green economy”. The “green economy” includes the idea that livelihoods, growth and environmental sustainability must go hand-in-hand in developing countries. While the concept itself may be laudable, it will be an unattainable ideal unless governments show a willingness to adopt a new development model – one based on human rights as opposed to profit for elites. A key example of the need for change – both in terms of the right to livelihood, environmental sustainability and the right to sufficient and nutritious food – is the agriculture sector. This paper seeks to address fundamental questions about the agriculture sector in Southeast Asia and China and to begin to sketch what a way forward – a way towards the “green economy” – may look like.   Read More

Title of document: Agroecology and Advocacy: Innovations in Asia Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development Year of publication: 2011 Geographic focus: Asia Main issues / topics addressed: The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. Rising food prices, increasing climate instability and food riots have sparked profound political changes around the world and put agriculture high on the international agenda. What kind of agriculture is best suited to respond to those challenges, however, is the subject of profound disagreement. Too much of the current policy debate on food security, climate change and agriculture assumes that industrial agriculture and related biotechnology are the only options for feeding a growing global population. Agribusiness and agrochemical companies have created and supported this image through aggressive advertising, lobbying and support for research institutions.   Read More

Title of document: Organic Agriculture Worldwide: Key results from the FiBL-IFOAM survey on organic agriculture worldwide 2013 - Part 3 Authors: Julia Lernoud;  Helga Willer Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FIBL), Swiss Agency Development and Cooperation (SDC); BioFach; International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Year of publication: 2011 Geographic focus: South East Asia, Mekong Region Main issues / topics addressed: Organic agriculture in the regions School of agroecology: Organic Agriculture There are 3 presentations summarizing the key results of the FiBL-IFOAM survey on organic agriculture worldwide 2013 (data 2011). Apart from the global data, key results on crop and on regional data are presented. › More information is available at the password area of www.organic-world.net › The following three presentations are available at http://www.organic-world.net/yearbook-2013-presentations.html: › Part 1: Global data 2011 and survey background › Part 2: Land use and key crops in organic agriculture 2011 › Part 3: Organic agriculture in the regions 2011   Read More

Title of document: IPM Farmer Field Schools: A synthesis of 25 impact evaluations Author: Henk van den Berg Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Wageningen University; Global IPM Facility Year of publication: 2004 Geographic focus: South East Asia Main issues / topics addressed: A synthesis of 25 impact evaluations School of agroecology: Integrated Pest Management (IPM) / Integrated Cropping Management (ICM) The Farmer Field School is a form of adult education, which evolved from the concept that farmers learn optimally from field observation and experimentation. It was developed to help farmers tailor their Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to diverse and dynamic ecological conditions. In regular sessions from planting till harvest, groups of neighboring farmers observe and discuss dynamics of the crop’s ecosystem. Simple experimentation helps farmers further improve their understanding of functional relationships (e.g. pests-natural enemy population dynamics and crop damage-yield relationships). In this cyclical learning process, farmers develop the expertise that enables them to make their own crop management decisions. Special group activities encourage learning from peers, and strengthen communicative skills and group building. A detailed description of the Farmer Field School approach is given by Pontius et al. 1   Read More

Title of document: Conservation Agriculture workshop and conference in South East Asia Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Cirad; SANREM CRSP; USAID; FFEM, Fond Français pour l'Environment Mondial. Year of publication: 2011 Geographic focus: South East Asia School of agroecology: Conservation Agriculture Introduction to Direct seeding Mulch-based Cropping systems (DMC). Case study of adaptive research for the creation of DMC-based cropping systems for the Cambodian agriculture...   Read More

Title of document: FED UP NOW'S THE TIME TO INVEST IN AGRO-ECOLOGY Author: Alex Wijeratna Year of publication: 2012 Geographic focus: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Cambodia School of agroecology: Concept of agro ecology Organisation: INTENT Web address: www.intentdesign.net Summary of the document: This document views the concept of agro ecology, benefits of agro ecology in multiple areas, and recommendations for new investment and support to scale up smallholder focused agro ecology to help tackle poverty, hunger, and climate change.   Read More

Title of document: ASIA REGIONAL ORGANIC STANDARD Authors: NCTAD/FAO/IFOAM Year of publication: 2012 Geographic focus: Asian region School of agroecology: Organic agriculture Organisations: NCTAD/FAO/IFOAM Web address: www.fao.org/docrep/015/an765e/an765e00.pdf  Summary of the document: This book presents the package of standard for organic agriculture use in Asian region. It is a major component of an initiative to development regional cooperation on organic labelling and trade.   Read More

Title of document: Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS): overview and reflections Authors: Flavia Castro Organism: IFOAM Organics International Year of parution: 2015 Objectives of the document: To present the PGS, its historic, its operation, its strengths and challenges. Geographical region: in part Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) This document brings informations about PGS: definition, history, repartition around the world, how this guarantee system works, his strengths and challenges. After this general presentation about this system, this presentation gives details about PGS in the GMS.   Read More

Title of document: Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) in GMS (Greater Mekong Subregion): Where Are We Authors: Thamana Lekprichakul Organism: Working Group on Agriculture Secretariat - Asian Development Bank Year of parution: 2015 Objectives of the document: To present the actual situation of PGS in GMS Geographical region: Great Mekong Subregion First, this document presents the program Core Agriculture Support Program (CASP) in GMS, the countries involved and the two periods of the program. They present the vision of this program and the implementation structure. Then, this document give informations about PGS and details for each country.   Read More