Rising food prices, climate change and food riots have put agriculture high on the international agenda. Too much of the current policy debate focuses narrowly on increasing the volume of food, and assumes that industrial agriculture and biotechnology are the only options for feeding a growing global population. Alternatives do exist. The Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Development and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy have produced a new report documenting successful approaches in three countries:

- In Cambodia, the Center for Studies and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC) and Farmer Nature Net (FNN) have promoted the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), increasing rice production by 61 percent, bolstering incomes, reducing chemical fertilizers and using water resources more efficiently. The groups have educated local officials on the program's success. Now more than 130,000 farmers are involved, and the Ministry of Agriculture is seeking to expand SRI throughout Cambodia.

- In the Philippines, the local agroecology movement emerged as an element of resistance to the Marcos regime and the dominance of transnational corporations in local production. Since then, national farm networks, working with local NGOs and the faith community, carried out public campaigns to reclaim Philippine agriculture and to develop appropriate organic agriculture standards.

- In Indonesia, members of Boyolali Organic Rice Farmers Association (APPOLI) and the Indonesian Peasant Alliance (API) joined forces to make organic certification processes affordable and culturally acceptable to farmers while meeting consumers' needs. Learning from similar approaches in Brazil, the networks developed a local Participatory Guarantee System to ensure farmers get a fair price, while consumers are able to buy organic goods at lower cost.

Document

Source: www.asianfarmers.org

Author: Dr. Wen-Chi Huang
Associate Professor, Dept. of Agribusiness Management,
Joint Appointment with Dept. of Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), Taiwan

Author: Lani Eugenia, executive secretary
Organization: Indonesia Farmers Society (WAMTI)

Author: Pote Chumsri, Ph.D- Secretary General
Organization: Farmer Federations Association for Development Thailand (SorKorPor)

Author: S.M. ASIM*. Director General in RDF
Organization: Rural Development Foundation

Organization: KAFF-Korean Advanced Farmers Federation

Author: CIFA
Organization: CIFA