Trade liberalization policies aimed at facilitating the freer flow of agricultural products among countries have unwittingly forced developing countries in Asia to open-up their national economies thereby, allowing the influx of cheap and often heavily subsidized imports from developed countries.

The current Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and how it is being implemented is favoring developed countries to the detriment of developing countries. There is need to provide safety nets for the disadvantaged groups while calibrating economic policies to level the playing field for fair trade that is, nationalist in character, in favor of small and medium scale producers and manufacturers.

Green Revolution has benefited developed countries and favorable regions at the expense of rural poor farmers and at the detriment of our environment. The Green Revolution technology has promoted the use of High Yielding Varieties (HYV), which is susceptible towards pests, diseases and adverse climatic conditions. The replacement of local varieties by a few HYV resulted in the critical loss of genetic diversity of food crops. A paradigm shift from unsustainable to sustainable agriculture principles and practices is imperative in order to reverse the adverse impact of conventional farming technology on the environment using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Sustainable agriculture plays a vital role in stimulating development processes and poverty reduction in the poor countries of Asia. The region is home to 75% of the world’s farming households, 80% of which comprise of small-scale farmers and producers. A majority of them are resource poor and lack access to productive resources.

A more promising strategy for reducing poverty and hunger must start with a clear targeting and identification of the most affected and vulnerable groups composed of marginalized small holders, indigenous peoples, landless rural workers, marginalized fishers, upland dwellers and women. These rural poor must be given access to and control over land and water resources, agricultural inputs and extension services. They must be given the opportunity to participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of rural development programs.

The 200 Village Project, which was implemented by ANGOC together with development partners from nine (9) other Asian countries involving 5,640 poor households have shown a positive correlation between food security and agricultural productivity. In this sense, access to land is of vital importance.

The study revealed that 26% of households with low levels of farm productivity were highly food insecure. They were considered the most vulnerable sector because they have minimal access to productive resources such as land and water resources, credit assistance, appropriate farm technologies, post-harvest facilities, infrastructure and support services as well as market assistance. They have minimal community involvement and participation that include direct access to basic social services. Lessons and recommendations from the project were:

• Enhancing access to productive resources is vital in achieving household security along with the implementation of genuine agrarian reform and rural development programs in the rural areas.
• Shifting to high-input conventional agriculture is not a guarantee of food security. It is wise to develop appropriate farm technologies consistent with the principles and practices of sustainable agriculture to overcome poverty and hunger.
• Food security is best assured when there is sufficient production capital, improved incomes and greater access to land and credit.
• At the heart of community development is people’s participation for their own empowerment towards self-sufficiency and self-reliance. People’s participation is a prerequisite for improving food production and sustaining access to food to meet the nutritional requirement and other needs of the community. Increasing food production locally will be the best option to reduce the vulnerability of the rural poor to climate change variations.