Agriculture and fishing
Kayin farmers criminalised for fighting land grabs: HRW report
Kayin State villagers are losing their land and are routinely persecuted through threats, arson and arbitrary arrest if they attempt to fight the unlawful seizures, according to a report released by an international rights group on November 3. Around 70 percent of the people in ...
Rain, flooding expected to hit Vietnam coffee belt
Torrential rain is forecast to continue in Vietnam’s biggest coffee growing provinces in coming days, government reports said on November 4, potentially further disrupting harvesting of the 2016/2017 crop. That has been stoking worries about supply from the world’s top producer of the robusta variety ...
Brunei delegation eyes rice and paddy exports
A Delegation from Brunei Darussalam will visit Myanmar to discuss buying rice and paddy, according to agriculture ministry officials, as the government continues an urgent search for new export markets. The Brunei delegation will visit Myanmar later this month to discuss importing high-quality rice, paddy and ...
China needs 'lose-win' diplomacy in ASEAN
Scanning the regional landscape on November 3, South-east Asian states ought to be quite optimistic about the state of ASEAN-China relations just as the year closes on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of their dialogue partnership. ASEAN and China have agreed to a series of ...
Aquafarming tech will be key to satisfying a seafood-hungry Asia
Some 800 meters above sea level and more than 100km from the nearest ocean, thousands of red sea bream thrive in the mountains of central Japan. Despite being far from their usual habitat, the fish are growing at a healthy rate in their large round ...
Govt begins buying up rice paddy to help farmers amid slump in prices
Government agencies have begun implementing measures aimed at helping rice farmers sell their produce amid declining paddy prices. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is buying up paddy of Hom Mali fragrant rice from farmers throughout the country, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikalya ...
Additional Bt20 billion rice boost ‘may not be enough’
While welcoming the government’s decision to subsidise the rice trade by another Bt20 billion, paddy growers and analysts on November 1 said the move might be too little and short-term to tackle problems in the entire system.The Rice Policy Management Committee on November 1 increased its budget ...
Tobacco turns over a new leaf
Agriculture officials and struggling smallholder tobacco farmers are cautiously hopeful that tariff exemptions granted under a new trade agreement with Vietnam will lift sagging demand for their crops. Khann Samban, director of industrial crops at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the market for tobacco ...
Prized spice has its fans, and imitators
Given the wild success of Kampot pepper, which can fetch up to three times the amount per kilo as Cambodian pepper produced without its prized label, it is hardly surprising that the product has its share of imitators. In an effort to address the risk ...
Thai forced labour case pushed to November 28
A forced labour case involving 14 Myanmar workers and a giant poultry exporter in Thailand’s Lopburi province went unresolved in court on October 31. Unsatisfied with the 1.7 million Thai baht in compensation awarded by the Lopburi Labour Protection and Welfare Office against the poultry farm ...