seeds

As some of you that inhabit our small dungeon like corridor may have heard, I’m currently writing (and moaning about writing) a case study chapter on an AusAID funded project in Cambodia, called the Agricultural Quality Improvement Project. This project set up four seed companies in four adjacent poor provinces in south east Cambodia to try and find a way to systematically distribute ‘improved’ rice seed from another Australian funded rice research project to farmers. Although it aimed to boost rice farming productivity, the challenge for this project was to ensure a steady and systematic supply of good quality seed to farmers. It thus choose to establish private seed companies as its main vehicle of distribution and sold seed at relatively high prices. Seed prices were high because as a bilateral aid project, given from Australia to Cambodia, the seed companies were built with high priced equipment and modern management systems.  Read the rest of this entry »

News from the Observer:

A global rice shortage that has seen prices of one of the world’s most important staple foods increase by 50 per cent in the past two weeks alone is triggering an international crisis, with countries banning export and threatening serious punishment for hoarders.

With rice stocks at their lowest for 30 years, prices of the grain rose more than 10 per cent on Friday to record highs and are expected to soar further in the coming months. Already China, India, Egypt, Vietnam and Cambodia have imposed tariffs or export bans, as it has become clear that world production of rice this year will decline in real terms by 3.5 per cent. The impact will be felt most keenly by the world’s poorest populations, who have become increasingly dependent on the crop as the prices of other grains have become too costly….

the rest of the post can be read here. Australian rice farmers are having troubles too to get enough seeds to grow the next rice crop…

It is time to implement more rigourous measures to ensure that those growing areas that are viable and productive are being protected and not turned into real estate. In Bali, where I carried out my field research, rice fields have been lost at an accelerated rate. Every year, more than 1000 hectares of productive soil are turned into roads, houses or tourist infrastructures. This phenomenon is called rural transformation which Jonathan Rigg any many others have been researching on for several years. The challenges are great. How can the agricultural sector gain new appreciation for its services it does to the people, and especially to the urban population? How can the agricultural sector change to make sure that the services it provides can be sustained for many more years to come? In my thesis on the Resilience of Balinese Rice farming systems and Farming Communities I am hoping to answer some of these questions.