Asia > Agriculture

Agriculture in Asia

  • Indonesia's Booming Cocoa Industry

    INDONESIA, 2015/02/22 Indonesia is the world’s third largest cocoa producer after the Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, but its significance as an exporter is declining due to rising domestic demand. Responding to Indonesians' growing taste for chocolate and other goods made from cocoa, global companies have invested heavily in cocoa grinding facilities and downstream businesses in recent years. Farmers, however, are struggling to increase cocoa bean output and have become the weak link in Indonesia's cocoa industry. As a result, cocoa processors are forced to source a growing portion of their raw beans from abroad at a time of high global prices.
  • Indonesia is blessed with a great climate for agriculture

    INDONESIA, 2015/02/22   While the Indonesian economy is diversifying slowly, a whopping 16% of the GDP is still provided by the agricultural sector which as well employs 45% of the working people, numbers testifying both to the importance of the sector and at the same time indicating its lack of efficiency. The major impediments to agricultural development are lack of planning, the existence of a long tradition of agriculture, lack of investment and lack of knowledge. The annual vocal discussion with regard to the import of rice is a clear indication of the former. If planning was adequate this issue wouldn’t even come up for one simple reason: Why should so a lot of Indonesian farmers grow rice at all if they could produce crops that sell for prices that are a lot higher than that of rice?
  • Africa: Unique Global Gathering Highlights Indigenous Peoples' Role in Fighting Poverty and Hunger

    WORLD, 2015/02/13 Fifty representatives of indigenous peoples' organizations from all over the world gather tomorrow at the International Fund for Agriculture Improvment(IFAD) headquarters in Rome to discuss the importance of traditional knowledge in eradicating poverty and hunger and transforming rural communities. The participants in the forum represent additional than 370 million self-identified indigenous peoples who live in some 70 nations around the world, a lot of of them in rural areas. "Indigenous peoples are long-valued partners for IFAD," said Kanayo F. Nwanze, the President of the United Nations (UN) agency specialized in rural development. "From the local biodiversity they have protected and enhanced over generations, to their incomparable knowledge about the ecosystems that they manage - indigenous peoples' traditional knowledge is a source of inspiration to everyone who works for sustainable rural transformation."
  • Mauritius and India to Sign MoU in the Field of Cooperatives

    INDIA, 2015/01/16 A Memorandum of Considerate (MoU) will be signed by the Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of India to enhance collaboration in the field of cooperatives. The MoU will provide for cooperation in areas pertaining to the regulatory framework for cooperatives inclunding cooperative development policies and strategies.
  • Uzbek Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Elyor Ganiev

    UZBEKISTAN, 2014/10/17 Uzbekistan concluded contracts to export 580,000 metric tons of cotton fiber and textile goods worth over $1 billion, Uzbek Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Elyor Ganiev said. He made the remarks at the closing of the International Uzbek Cotton equitable in Tashkent, where the contracts were signed. The major volumes of cotton fiber will be sold to China, Singapore, Russia, South Korea, India, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. Over 1,000 cotton business representatives from 42 world's nations attended the equitable.
  • Uzbekistan seeks to ensure full self-sufficiency in sugar

    UZBEKISTAN, 2014/10/13 Angren Shakar LLC has completed the construction of a sugar plant in the Tashkent province of Uzbekistan, the company representative told Trend. The cost of the project stood at $108.45 million. A trial batch of products has by presently been produced at the plant and the act of the working committee has been signed. "It is expected to sign the act of the national commission in coming days. The plant will start working at the designed capacity (1,000 metric tons of sugar per day) by late 2014," the source said.
  • Kazakhstan's First Deputy National Economy Minister Marat Kusainov

    KAZAKHSTAN, 2014/09/30 Kazakhstan plans to change the mechanisms of allocating funds to farmers, Kazakhstan's Initial Deputy National Economy Minister Marat Kusainov said. "There is an urgent need to review the existing funding system. Measures to improve the mechanism have been proposed at a government conference. The proposals have been offered in three categories," he said. Current measures are focused on certain areas, inclunding review of funding mechanism in seed-farming, the revision of the mechanism for irrigation water supply funding, stimulating of the production increase, export of livestock and expansion of the access to investment funding. Kusainov as well noted the measures provide transparency and simplifies administrative procedures on subsidies granting.
  • FAO urges greater access to non-traditional dairy products

    WORLD, 2013/11/27 The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Tuesday urged governments to invest in programmes that help poor families keep small dairy livestock. In a statement on a book, entitled: 'Milk and Dairy Products in Human Nutrition', it stated that milk and dairy products from underutilized animals such as llama, donkey or yak should be additional widely used to counteract high cow milk prices. The book co-authored by FAO livestock industry officer, Mr. Anthony Bennett, said there was huge scope for developing other dairy species and highlighted the nutritional and economic resources of these animals. Mr. Bennett said that non-traditional sources of dairy, alongside other species that were by presently used for milk like buffalo, goat and sheep, could improve nutrition part the majority vulnerable groups.
  • Californian Winery Enters Cambodian Market

    CAMBODIA, 2013/11/12 California-based winery E. & J. Gallo has entered Cambodia and is offering four of its additional economically priced brands in an effort to introduce locals to wine without breaking their budget, company representatives said Monday. “Cambodia, inclunding other markets in Asia, is perfect for wines at our price level,” said Jonathan Chang, Asia-Pacific regional director of E. & J. Gallo. The winery started importing its four brands—Carlo Rossi, Barefoot, Gallo Family Vineyard and Apothic—last month, but announced its entrance Monday evening to a crowd of about 150 businesspeople at the InterContinental Hotel at an event attended by U.S. Ambassador William Todd.
  • Food commodity markets are becoming more balanced

    WORLD, 2013/11/11  “The prices for most basic food commodities have declined over the completed few months. This relates to production increases and the expectation that in the current season, we will have additional abundant supplies, additional export availabilities and higher stocks,” said David Hallam, Director of FAO's Trade and Markets Division. Food commodity markets are becoming additional balanced and less price volatile than in recent years thanks to improved supplies and a recovery in world inventories of cereals, according to FAO's Food Outlook statement published on Friday. The sharp increase in 2013 cereal production mostly stems from a recovery of maize crops in the United States and record wheat harvests in CIS nations. World rice production in 2013 is expected to grow only modestly.