In food crisis, Asians look to agriculture

USA TODAY, July, 2008 by Paul Wiseman

KARAWANG, Indonesia -- In this Indonesian city, what used to be 100 acres of rice paddy is a maze of row houses and pastel-colored storefronts: a motorcycle garage, a printer, a medical clinic and a noodle shop.

Until recently, this would have been just another green patch gone in a country where 100,000 acres of farmland vanish every year because of breakneck economic growth.

That may be changing. The global food crisis means that countries across Asia are making agriculture a higher priority and taking steps to grow more crops within their own borders.

"People suddenly care about agriculture," says Neil McCulloch, director for economics programs at the Asia Foundation office in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. "It takes a crisis to make everyone wake up and realize agriculture has been neglected."

Most of the world's attention has focused on India and China and how their booming economies, along with ...