Food and Fertilizer Technology Center - publications

Preface: IN THE YEAR 2010, the Center celebrated its 40 years of existence as an international agricultural organization dedicated to serving small-scale farmers in the Asian and Pacific (ASPAC) region. Forty years since its establishment, FFTC is now faced with more daunting challenges. Yet for the Center, challenges bring about opportunities – those presented by the current technological and information revolution envisioned to render Asian agriculture more competitive and productive, resilient, sustainable, and equitable toward the broad-based agricultural growth and overall development of the region. For FFTC, serving the small-scale farmers by bringing them modern and practical technological information is an evolving task and a continuing commitment. The year 2010 witnessed how FFTC has transformed in response to changes in the global agricultural environment. With its transformation comes the crucial need for the Center to make a difference for millions of small-scale farmers in the ASPAC region who have become more and more vulnerable amid the globalization of agriculture. Our commitment revolves around how the Center might best be able to help them, in the best way we can. We considered the year 2010 as a fitting opportunity for our Center to reflect on our performance and achievements, knowing that there was no better way of celebrating our 40 years of existence than by plotting our path ahead. In this volume, I am proud to present our accomplishments for the year 2010, focused on achieving improved production, higher incomes, and a better quality of life for small-scale farmers, as well as in bridging the technological and economic gap between developed and developing countries in the ASPAC region. JEN-CHYUAN LEE, Ph.D. Director, FFTC