Russia has called for increased agricultural product exports from the ASEAN region, according to local reports
Crops
Cambodia inaugurates its first rice bank

According to CRD, exporters can loan or buy rice from the bank’s stockpiles while millers can sell to the mass storage provider. (Image source: IRRI)
Cambodia has launched its first paddy rice bank to ensure uninterrupted supplies to millers and exporters, according to local sources
Vietnam grants licences to cultivate GM corn

The Ministry aims to cultivate Vietnam’s first GM crops by 2015 and have 30-50 per cent of the country’s farmland covered with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by 2020. (Image source: Michael Dorausch/Flickr)
Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has granted licences to four genetically modified (GM) corn varieties to be used for both human consumption and animal feed
New water-saving irrigation system tested in China
Scientists have successfully tested a new water-saving irrigation technology in the growing area of Hami in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region
FAO drafts framework for ASEAN’s agriculture and livestock sectors

The draft includes a detailed situational analysis of food, crops, livestock and fisheries in the region. (Image source: Jamie Oliver/Flickr)
FAO and partners have drafted a new framework of vision to improve food production, agriculture and livestock sectors in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region that will be implemented in 2016