Eko Listiyorini & Supunnabul Suwannakij – Indonesia, the third-biggest rice importer in Asia, is seeking to "strengthen" its stockpiles to protect the poor against rising costs, Dep

Adriana Nina Kusuma – Indonesia will scrap import duty on rice until the end of March 2011 as part of the government efforts to ease food prices and fight inflation, the finance ministr

Esther Samboh, Jakarta – The government will set aside about Rp 1 trillion (US$110.34 million) from the 2011 State Budget to build the foundations for the Merauke food estate project in

Camelia Pasandaran, Palembang – In the midst of global worries over food availability, farmers are just as worried about their livelihood.

Esther Samboh, Jakarta – The government will soon abolish import duties for 30 staple commodities starting from the end of this month amid rising concerns over a possible food supply sh

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Some 1,481 villages in East Nusa Tenggara (NTB) are at risk of running short of food following months of inclement weather have caused harvests to fail in t

Jakarta – Activists and agrarian experts agreed on Sunday that the government's effort to distribute hundreds of hectares of land to farmers was still far from a "genuine land reform pr

Jakarta – A coalition of activists is commemorating World Food Day, on Oct. 16, by demanding that the government shift focus from big food producers.

Reuters, Bloomberg & JG, Jakarta – Heavy rains have hit rice production hard, forcing Indonesia, a top rice producer, to import the crop for the first time since 2007, the State Log

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Jakarta – Indonesia will make food security its top priority as the country speeds up progress toward reducing hunger and poverty as part of its commitment to meeting the Millennium Dev

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Aceh is currently the fourth-biggest distributor of illegal drugs in the country and a major producer of marijuana, Vice Governor Muhammad Nazar says.

A number of NGOs have raised concern over the Indonesian government's plan to develop a massive food estate in Papua province.

Tim Lee – There are two distinct seasons in East Timor – the wet season and the dry season.

Arti Ekawati & Fidelis E.

Jakarta – The government should be aware that there is more than just one source of carbohydrate in the diet of Indonesians, activists said Wednesday.

Emmy Fitri – Farmer Kamsari Turahim, from Santing, Indramayu in West Java, said he could no longer rely on the traditional patterns of rice cultivation because the rain was now much les

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Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The new government has to improve the policy framework for rice production as many farmers remain poor despite helping to produce a rice surplus, a ministry

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Farmers in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) are still living in poverty despite 15 years of surplus rice production in the province, an official says.

Fidelis E Satriastanti – A climate expert says the country is far from ready to deal with the harmful effects of climate change on crops, with droughts or floods likely to threaten food

Eras Poke, Kupang – Hundreds of farmers in two subdistricts of Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara are asking for government assistance after their rice and corn harvests failed, as families

Jakarta – The price of subsidized fertilizer may increase by as much as 80 percent next year as a result of a proposed lower subsidy allocation, the Office of the State Minister for Sta

Jakarta – The office of the State Minister of Research and Technology will soon introduce irradiated rice using nuclear technology that is expected to double productivity from 7 to 14 t

Hera Diani, Bojonegoro (East Java) – The clock struck an hour past noon; the field was sweltering hot, without the hint of a breeze.

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Hundreds of tobacco farmers rallied against the planned kerosene subsidy cut Monday, at the West Nusa Tenggara governor's office in Mataram.

Achmad Faisal, Surabaya – A surplus in rice production is no guarantee that farmers' well being – measured by their buying power – will improve, as the latest statistics released this m

Indonesia managed to achieve self-sufficiency and even a surplus in rice production last year, but failed to improve the economic conditions of farmers who mostly live below the poverty

Mohd Nasir Yusoff, Bernama – Indonesia is projected to enjoy a rice production surplus of 3.8 million tonnes in 2009 or 5.37 per cent more than last year, a senior agriculture ministry

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – A nationwide fertilizer shortage has the country's farmers deeply concerned, especially in West Nusa Tenggara, where the rice planting season is in full swing.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Farmers in Lampung are blaming a month-long fertilizer scarcity in the province on syndicates they allege sell subsidized fertilizer to large plantatio

Yuli Tri Suwarni – The conversion of rice fields and farming areas for residential and industrial land use is threatening the resilience of Indonesian food supplies, Agriculture Ministe

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A number of coffee farmers in Lampung province have cut down their coffee plants in frustration, saying they would not be able to sell their harvests.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Despite South Sulawesi being one of the country's rice production centers with bumper harvests each year, a significant portion of the population, both in ru

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A farmer from Terbanggi Besar district, 58-year-old Surono Danu, has been diligently carrying out research into superior rice seedlings for decades.

Dili – In the high, craggy mountains south of East Timor's capital, Dili, a tangled blanket of wild, unkempt coffee trees is blooming.

Rob Taylor, Canberra – East Timor is facing a food crisis and more than half the fledgling country's youngest children are now going hungry as global food prices soar, a new aid report

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Global food prices are to remain high until 2012 given high demand amid fast-growing population and rapid biofuel development, the Agriculture Ministry has w

Reports are coming in from all around East Timor that the country's poorest people are missing out on a government rice subsidy aimed at relieving the pressure of the global food crisis

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.

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