JAPAN: There are many Japanese farmers who begin to worry about Typhoon Season months in advance, haunted by recollections of the tremendous rains and landslides that devastated wasabi farms during one of these storms. “Due to global warming, typhoons are now more powerful than ever before. It’s becoming stronger,” said an elderly farmer in Okutama, a suburb west of Tokyo, …

India – Indian police said on Sunday that the son of a minister has been detained on preliminary accusations of murder, a week after the deaths of eight people during a farmers’ protest which has caused widespread anger throughout the country. Ashish Mishra was recently arrested in Uttar Pradesh, where he was charged with involvement in the event in the …

A party of about 30 farmers protested in Bangkok calling on the government to amend its ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos being used in agriculture. The prohibition on the usage of these two organic pesticides comes into effect on June 1 and some farmers reject it, finding certain insect management agents ineffective. Led by the Secretary-General of the Safe Farming …

Thailand’s Department of Agriculture has given Thai farmers a 90-days to return hazardous chemicals for destruction as they are now illegal. Furthermore manufacturers or importers of hazardous chemicals banned under Thai law have 270 days to destroy their stock. The announcement was made in line with the Ministry of Industry’s decision on May 15 to place paraquat and chlorpyrifos on the list …

The government plans to provide cash and production subsidies for 2.4 million poor farmers, which categorized to be poor across the country, to help them maintain their harvest and survive the COVID-19 crisis. According to Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto on Tuesday, the government will provide a monthly stipend of Rp 600,000 ($38) for the next three months in the …

The Agriculture Ministry is asking the government to hand farmers monthly payments of Bt5,000 for six months to maintain the agricultural supply amid forecasts of global food shortages within three months. Alongkorn Ponlaboot, adviser to the agriculture minister, said that the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the World Trade Organisation all predict that food shortages will become another …

KUALA LUMPUR – Vegetable farmers from Cameron Highlands are having a hard time delivering the supplies with the restrictions on traffic and market operating hours under the movement control order (MCO) that they are now donating their vegetables to poor and elderly just to salvage the food items and channelling these to the needy. “It’s tough for us to even …

A major Thai coffee brand has vowed to pay about 200 farmers who were forced to take out loans while waiting nearly three years for payments due them, leaving them with spiralling debts. Doi Chaang Coffee, which has more than 50 franchises in Southeast Asia, said it would pay about 7 million baht after the Thomson Reuters Foundation revealed the …