constraints faced by farmers in southeast asia

Farmers in Southeast Asia are often threatened with starvation,
when they routinely cultivate various crops.
This situation arises because they are under pressure to meet export targets and can not meet the personal needs independently.

This fact is noted in the discussion of agricultural sector in the ASIAN Civil Society Conference / ASIAN People's Forum (ACSC / AP), May 4, 2011, in Jakarta. The forum was followed by community representatives and activists from among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASIAN).

"The greatest burden of the farmers is that they are farming for export. While they do not have food security and ultimately often have to buy from the market, "said Arze Glipo, activists from the Asia-Pacific institutions on the Food Network Sovereignity, in a statement to the public.

Food security of farmers getting worse, especially since they themselves also tedesak land crisis that is now happening in Southeast Asia. Increasing population and expansion of the company often makes the farmers lose land and forced to work as contract laborers.

In Indonesia alone, according to the results of the discussion, foreign investors control of 1.3 million registered agricultural land, which often comes from forest land. These investors, according to the Indonesian Peasant Alliance (API), generally shifting the housing industry with their giant food industries.

While in the Philippines, food conglomerate which is affiliated with Malaysian investors invested U.S. $ 1 billion to develop 1 million hectares of rice and corn farms. World Food Programme also estimates 37 percent of children in Laos were severely malnourished.

Another threat for farmers in this region also comes from its member states plan to implement the ASIAN free trade system. Glipo declare free trade will create more and more farmers to grow food for export markets and also increasingly depend on getting their own food from the market. So they are also at the same time highly vulnerable to fluctuating food prices.

"The solution is simple. We must affirm regulations for investors in the land sector including foreign investors, "said Glipo. This means that ASIAN should implement land policy reform and more mengutamakannya small farmers to protect the right to food for all the people in Southeast Asia