Jakarta – The super hybrid rice known as Super toy HL-2 was planted and harvested by no less than the President himself with great fanfare last April.

Michael Casey, Surabaya – With the dollar a day he earns scrounging for scrap metal and paper, Jumadi can't buy his family beef or even chicken.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Prolonged drought and low sugar prices are threatening the livelihood of thousands of sugarcane farmers in West Java.

Dili – Since it was built in 1983, residents of Dili have watched the retaining wall of the Pantai Kelapa road along Timor-Leste's coastline slowly erode.

Katie Chalk – Every morning, when Madalena opens her front door, she is faced with what has to be one of the most beautiful views on earth.

Mark Dodd – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has signed a $US14.4 million ($14.9 million) food security contract giving sole import rights to the vice-president of his political

Dili (Asia News/Agencies) - The government of East Timor has come under fire over its decision to turn over 100,000 hectares or a sixth of the country's arable land to a US$ 100 million

Pekanbaru – Around one thousand farmers attended the opening of All Indonesian Farmers and the National Peasants Union (STN) Extraordinary Congress that was held at the Bukit Square in

Brussels – Anti-poverty group Oxfam International on Tuesday urged the world's poorest nations to think twice before jumping on a biofuel boom that could drive farmers off their land an

Jonathan Wootliff – Less than two years ago few people knew about biofuels.

Adianto P.

Dili – In rural Timor-Leste, who owns the land and who uses the land are often two very different things.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Twenty-one children under the age of five have died from malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) during the past six months of this year, more than double the

Jakarta – The World Bank (WB) predicts Indonesia will experience a shorter period of repercussions from the global food price crisis compared to other countries in Southeast Asia.

Adianto P Simamora, Jakarta – More than 100 representatives of farmers groups from across the world will gather in Jakarta next week to seek international recognition of their rights an

Kupang – At least 137 villages in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are in need of government food supplies following a harvest failure, a local official says.

The eastern part of Indonesia will remain prone to food shortages unless the government improves distribution infrastructure, an official says.

Dili – East Timor will use a fraction of its oil fund worth over $2 billion to protect the poor from rising food and fuel prices, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said on Thursday.

Dili – It is 8am and Star King in Dili, Timor-Leste's capital, is about to open.

High food and oil prices will put thousands in the Pacific at risk this year and could spark fresh violence in East Timor, an economist has found.

Dili – The government's attempt to hold on to power is dangerously depleting the country's reserve of rice and could lead to social disorder, claimed an analyst.

Agus Maryono, Banjarnegara – "It's been more than two months since we had side dishes other than boiled vegetables to go with our rice, and only boiled cassava as a snack at most.

Jakarta – Siti Supiati, a farmer in Cisait Muncang village, Banten, did not believe the government has raised the price of unhusked rice to Rp 2,200 (45 US cents) from Rp 2,000 and that

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Sugar cane farmers in Cirebon regency, West Java, on Wednesday urged the government to immediately raise the basic price of sugar to prevent a massive loss of jo

Suherdjoko, Grobogan – Grobogan, previously one of the poorest regencies in Central Java, is now known as a soybean production center and a major rice producing center.

Prasenjit Bhattacharya, Singapore – Rising prices are making food inaccessible to many low-income families and this could spark instability in at least seven of the 14 Asian countries t

Jonathan Pearlman – Soaring food prices are threatening to destabilise countries in the region and have prompted the Federal Government to consider changes to its aid priorities.

Jakarta – The Food Resilience Council, working directly under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono since late 2006, has come under fire for handling recent food shortages ineffectively.

Rizal Harahap, Pekanbaru – Riau Governor Rusli Zainal on Tuesday warned residents and officials against the large-scale conversion of farmland into plantations, which he said would thre

Jakarta – The Indonesian Farmers' Union criticized the government Wednesday for mismanagement in the food crop sector, highlighting the massive displacement of farmers by the expansion

Jakarta Post – Indonesia may face a food crisis within the next 10 years should it fail to overcome the disparity between its rapidly growing population and its limited ability to expan

Annolies Truman – Two thousand people rallied in the East Timorese capital of Dili on October 17 to demand food sovereignty for East Timor.

Nani Afrida, Bener Meriah – The woman in the dirty clothes was once one of the wealthiest people in the village.

Nancy-Amelia Collins, Dili – East Timor is suffering from food shortages caused by floods and plagues of locusts that cut the harvest of the country's most important crop, corn, by 30 p

Twenty per cent of East Timor's people need food aid after severe droughts and locust plagues battered crops in the troubled young nation, two UN food agencies say.

Bangkok – Having lost 30 per cent of its crops this year to drought, plagues and locusts, East Timor will need 15,000 tons of emergency food assistance during the upcoming "lean season,

Pius Nimaepa inhaled his clove cigarette smoke deeply when Tempo visited him at the end of March.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – On a rainy afternoon, Murtatiningsih, 37, spoon feeds her young child in front of her house in Bayur subdistrict, Rajabasa district in Bandarlampung.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Hundreds of residents of Cipanjalu village in Bandung regency, who have been struggling to survive since 90 percent of them lost their jobs three years ago,

Andri Setyawan, Jakarta – The Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) has welcomed the government's measure in extending the ban on rice imports.

Ubud – Emerald rice paddies once stretched for mile upon mile alongside the road that winds through scenic Ubud on Indonesia's Bali island, but today just glimpses remain as hotels, res

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Eleventh-hour lobbying paid off for the government Tuesday when most House factions refused to back a proposal to probe the controversial rice import policy.

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Zakki P.

Jakarta – Indonesia's production of dry un-hulled rice is forecast to slide 2 per cent to 53.10 million tons this year from last year because of a decline in harvest area.

Sebastien Blanc, Jakarta – The United Nations started distributing rice seeds and farm tools Friday in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province, hoping to restart agriculture amid the salt

Jakarta – The Dec.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – With no protection from the government, farmers in Lampung are having a difficult time surviving a time of economic hardship.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Thousands of sugar cane farmers in the West Java regency of Cirebon threatened to boycott the supply of sugar cane to sugar producers unless the government raise

Matthew Moore, Lhokseumawe – Up to 150,000 civilians in Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province face starvation because of a new tactic of destroying irrigations systems on which farmers rel