This article explores the importance of birds in India’s paddy ecosystems and how they contribute to biodiversity, ecological balance, and sustainable agriculture. Drawing from field observations and research, the article highlights the role of birds in natural pest control, seed dispersal, and maintaining healthy wetland ecosystems, while also examining the impacts of pesticide-intensive farming and […]
GMOs have reshaped Asia’s farms and food, but not without fierce resistance. This Fact Sheet unpacks two decades of biosafety policies, crop approvals, and grassroots struggles, from Bt maize to Golden Rice and the rise of gene-edited “GMO+” crops. It’s a snapshot of how corporate biotech, government regulation, and community opposition collide in shaping the […]
Digitalisation is reshaping agriculture across Asia, from drones and IoT sensors to farmer registries and AI-driven advisories. This factsheet explores how governments, international agencies, tech giants, and startups are driving the digital transformation of farming through databases, smart devices, and new marketplaces that connect farmers to consumers. At its core, digitalisation in agriculture is about […]
This publication highlights SHISUK’s approach to addressing climate change through community-led enterprises and agroecological practices, showcasing practical experiences, lessons learned, and the role of local communities—especially smallholder farmers.
Across Southeast Asia, rural women farmers, agricultural and migrant workers, and Indigenous women sustain food systems and rural economies. Yet they face land dispossession, labour exploitation, hazardous working conditions, and systemic exclusion from social protection. The brief underscores that social justice for rural women cannot be achieved without secure access to land, labour rights, and […]
This report exposes alarming levels of pesticide exposure faced daily by farming communities in Bangladesh, India, Laos and Vietnam. The report underscores that the right to health, safe food, and a safe environment is being systematically undermined in rural Asia. A total of 4,392 farmers were surveyed across the four countries covered in this report. […]
(Reprinted here with permission from the author.) PAKISTAN’S agriculture sector is both a victim and a driver of climate change. From floods in Sindh to prolonged dry spells in Balochistan, our farming communities are already living on the front lines of a changing climate. Yet, while farmers are paying the price for global warming, agriculture […]
The narrative focuses on 60 rural women from 10 villages in the south-western coastal zone of Bangladesh who combat climate-induced vulnerabilities through agroecological practices and movements.
Unequal Fields amplifies the voices of rural women across Southeast Asia, exposing how landlessness, poverty wages, unsafe work, climate impacts, toxic pesticides, and the pandemic continue to deny them justice and protection. The report calls on governments to guarantee rural women’s rights, dignity, and equality.
It features a compilation of stories of women who are survivors of pesticide poisoning and their journey to agroecology. Despite facing challenges, they have turned their sufferings into determination to reclaim what has been lost: whether it be their health, seeds, traditional knowledge, connection to land and community, or economic security.
