Shawn Donnan – Ever since aid groups and multinational organisations including the United Nations and the World Bank entered East Timor last year, the nation's coffee industry has been

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – The Indonesian government is under pressure to consider increasing protection for domestic rice producers, after protests by farmers over low prices paid for u

Mark Dodd, Ermera – The coffee trees in this prime highland growing area are laden with berries, promising aficianados of arguably the world's finest arabica renewed supplies from East

Sonny Inbaraj, Dili – All's not well in the urgent distribution of food and seeds in East Timor, before the heavy monsoon rains expected this week makes planting impossible and roads im

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – In a major shift in economic direction, Indonesia's newly-elected President Abdurrahman Wahid has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to focus more on agr

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Ermera – In a country where most people grow just enough rice and corn to slake their hunger, Jose Madeira Ximenes never consumed any of his crop.

Susan Sim, Pidie – Village chief Idris Yahya started packing when he heard the machine-gun fire early Friday morning.

Susan Sim, Banda Aceh – One year after the Indonesian military apologised for past abuses and pledged to withdraw troops, a humanitarian crisis is brewing in Aceh as a renewed crackdown

Atika Shubert, Dili – Civil war, 23 years of Indonesian military occupation and more than 300 years of Portuguese colonialism have bequeathed an unexpected boon to the tiny territory of

Jakarta – Coffee beans are travelling under armed guard in Indonesia amid growing looting, traders said yesterday.

Jakarta – President Soeharto denied press reports yesterday that a food shortage has forced people in Lampung and Java to eat cassava for their daily meals.

Jakarta – A total of 273,653 hectares of rice field disappeared between 1980 and 1996, with an average of 17,000 hectares lost everyyear.