Sarina Locke – For a Timorese family, owning a cow is a luxury and owning a herd of cattle is a sign of wealth. Most of East Timor's cattle are skinny and riddled with parasites and diseases.

Paulina Quintao – Concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of the National Directorate for Food and Economy Inspection as food products continue to be sold past their expiry date.

Jakarta – At different times of the year, Indonesians' love for spicy food can be costly for millions of households on account of the prices of a number of commodities, such as chilies, garlic and

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is aiming for Indonesia to be self-sufficient in beef cattle in the next nine to 10 years, saying that all preparations needed to achieve th

Dewanti A.

Dewanti A.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) has called on the government to improve its data on food production to help stabilize commodity prices, which are typically volatile during R

Dewanti A. Wardhani, Jakarta – Indonesia's business competition watchdog has signaled that cartels may be behind the sky-high prices of staple foods at markets across the country.

Paulina Quintao – A Ministry of Agriculture program offering free field plowing to farmers has been labeled as useless due to the lack of food production.

Paulina Quintao– Ongoing drought conditions are to blame for food shortages and crop failures this year, particularly maize, according to the Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF), Ma

Paulina Quintao – There are concerns that the country's farmers are losing their passion for agricultural work and that production is now in serious decline.

Paulina Quintao – In the 16 years since the Seeds of Life (SoL) program has been runing, 1200 seed production groups have been established across Timor-Leste.

Paulina Quintao – Increasing numbers of young people are turning their back on farming in favor of a job in the city, said the General-Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture, Cesar Jose da Cruz.

Sarina Locke – Australia's longest-running agricultural aid project is coming to an end, having lifted East Timor's farmers from the ashes of the militia's destruction 16 years ago.

Djemi Amnifu – Two regencies in East Nusa Tenggara, namely Nagekeo and Timor Tengah Selatan (TTS), are suffering from prolonged drought and food shortages.

Ali Saikal and Julmiro Isaac Manuel – Timor-Leste is a tiny country of about 1.1 million people, but estimates suggest that up to 150,000 people – 12 per cent of the population – may be affected by

Khoirul Amin, Jakarta – Poultry companies should focus on one major business activity, or risk dominating the entire poultry industry – from upstream to downstream – and slipping into cartel-like a

Stefani Ribka, Jakarta – Poultry industry players have denied the allegation from an antimonopoly agency that they have acted like a cartel by controlling production, leading to an oversupply and f

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Ganug Nugroho Adi and Suherdjoko, Padang/Surakarta/Semarang – Farmers in Sumatra and Java are on the verge of another harvest failure as floods submerged thousands of hectares

Jakarta – The association of pesticide producers, CropLife Indonesia, expects a further increase in pesticide demand in Indonesia thanks to the government's intensified program of improving farming

Jakarta – Having compiled enough evidence, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) is ready to summon 12 big corporations in its investigation into an alleged price-fixing conspiracy

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The local price of salt has been dropping because of an abundance of imported salt that had been entering the country during the peak harvest period from June to Septemb

East Timor says it's acting on an audit of its agriculture ministry that found irregularities in millions of dollars worth of contracts intended to help East Timor's farmers.

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has claimed that owners of rice mills and large-scale traders in rice production provinces are resp

Erika Anindita – A survey conducted by the Muhammadiyah Tobacco Control Center (MTCC) revealed on Wednesday that farming tobacco in Indonesia is no longer a profitable business.

Nicholas Owen, Karang Jati, Indonesia – On a dry and dusty sports field in central Java, Indonesian men dressed as traditional warriors take turns to battle with wooden staves, while village women

Jakarta – Following a warning by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) that Indonesia may face a shortage of farmers as more and more young people object to becoming farmers, the government h

Alex Blucher – The coffee country of Timor Leste is a world away from the birthplace of permaculture in northern Tasmania but it's taking off there in a big way.

Slamet Susanto and Ruslan Sangadji, Yogyakarta/Palu – The current extreme weather has aborted harvests on hundreds of destroyed of farmland in Yogyakarta and Central Sulawesi, causing farmers in th

Arya Dipa, Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Suherdjoko, Bandung/Surabaya/Semarang – With many rice fields on the brink of harvest failure as a result of this year's extended dry season, rice prices across

Wellington – The New Zealand government is investing 14.5 million NZ dollars (9.43 million US dollars) to help develop Timor-Leste's coffee and cocoa industry, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said

Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta – Farmers in Galur, Kulonprogo, Yogyakarta, have refused to surrender to the severe drought that has parched their rice fields and are instead taking advantage of the soi

Ganug Nugroho Adi and Suherdjoko, Wonogiri/Semarang – Tens of thousands of residents in Java have been depending on clean water being supplied by local authorities over the past several weeks, as a

Syamsul Huda M.

Ari Susanto & Vento Saudale, Solo/Bogor/Jakarta – The Central Java government has earmarked funds in anticipation of a clean-water crisis during this year's dry season, which is expected to be

Suherdjoko and Jon Afrizal, Semarang/Jambi – The government's efforts to improve food security are facing a tough road ahead after several regions across the archipelago have reported massive harve

Ganug Nugroho Adi and Agus Maryono, Karanganyar Banyumas, Central Java – A prolonged drought has left thousands of hectares of rice fields dried out and tens of thousands of residents with a clean-

Agus Maryono, Banyumas – Tens of thousands of hectares (ha) of farmland across the archipelago are on the verge of harvest failure due to the prolonged dry season, hampering President Joko "Jokowi"

Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has said Indonesia will see a significant increase in rice production this year, giving a push to the no-imports vision of Preside

Andreyka Natalegawa, Jakarta – Indonesia needs to beef up its fight against hunger and malnutrition as the government struggles to ensure the availability and affordability of food, after a United

While oil has been the mainstay of East Timor's economy in the past, it's farming that's transforming rural areas and creating a new breed of entrepreneurs.

While oil has been the mainstay of East Timor's economy in the past, it is farming that is transforming rural areas and creating a new breed of entrepreneurs.

Jakarta – Nearly 20 million Indonesians, of a total population of 250 million, go to bed hungry every night, according to a regional overview of food insecurity in Asia and the Pacific, issued by t

Jakarta – Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the government disbursed Rp 3.8 trillion, or one-fifth of the total of Rp 20.7 trillion in village funds last month, due to administrative glitc

Jakarta – About 70 percent of Indonesia's land consists of infertile soil, says soil expert Nurhajati Hakim.

Yogyakarta – Indonesia could face food crisis in the next three years because each year 100,000 hectares of farmland changes function as the population expands, the Agriculture Ministry has warned.

Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – Farmers reported declining rice production throughout last year, indicating a challenging test for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's goal to secure the domestic rice s

Yeremi Sukoyo & Hotman Siregar, Jakarta – Intervention from President Joko Widodo is needed to a resolve dispute between two ministries fighting over control of annual village funding to the tu

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo reiterated on Friday his target for achieving rice self-sufficiency for the country in the next three years and said that his gover

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a government regulation that would entitle village heads to a salary.