Jefferson Fellows explore rice farming techniques in Northern Thailand

 Jefferson Fellows explore food security, policies in Thailand
(CHAING RAI AND BANGKOK, THAILAND)-This year’s Jefferson Fellowship is concluding this week with a fascinating trip to Thailand, where the fellows are learning about food security and seeing a number of best practices up close.

The East-West Center’s Jefferson Fellowship each year takes 10-12 journalists from the Asia Pacific region on a study and reporting tour. The fellows’ previous stops this month were in Honolulu and Jakarta, Indonesia.

During their visit to Chiang Rai and Bangkok, the fellows visited:

--A CP Foundation school where the students learn not only the three R’s but also self sufficiency through raising chickens and selling their eggs;

--Several organizations that work with farmers on sustainable, organic agricultural practices;

--APTERR, which hosts a strategic rice reserve for ASEAN nations plus China, Japan, and South Korea. Since 2011, they’ve distributed 60,000 metric tons of rice to needy countries, primarily Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Cambodia.

--Bangkok Rooftop Farming, which has a large urban farming and compost production facility on top of a shopping mall;

Bangkok rooftop farming is located on a mall's roof

--Farmers who have transitioned from producing opium to producing agricultural products like peaches and coffee. The farmers insist that they make more money now producing coffee than they did with opium. Interesting.

The fellows also visited with UN officials from the Food and Agriculture Organization, where officials emphasized the outsize role of affordability on food security. In this region, 36% can’t afford a healthy diet. We also visited with the World Food Programme in Bangkok, where we heard a fascinating presentation on food security particularly as it relates to refugees and internally displaced persons. In short, there is a malnutrition crisis impacting 1.3 million migrants in the region. The food security situation is especially dire, according to WFP Regional Director Samir Wanmali, when food is used as a weapon of war.

All three stops have been interesting, stimulating, and surprising. Next week, I’ll wrap up my columns on the Jefferson Fellowship with some conclusions and reflections.

 

At the Indonesian rice center, Jefferson Fellows
explore demonstration plots. 

Jefferson Fellows analyze food systems in Indonesia
(Jakarta, Indonesia)-Week two of the 2025 Jefferson Fellowships is in the books. Here in Indonesia, the fellows, 12 journalists from throughout the Asia-Pacific region, continued their reporting about food insecurity.

The program is sponsored by the East-West Center.

We took a number of interesting field trips this week, managing (mostly) to dodge Jakarta’s spirit-crushing traffic.

Among the trip we took were:
--Javara, “an Indonesian social enterprise dedicated to preserving the nation’s food biodiversity and indigenous food culture by introducing them to global markets.” We met the remarkable Helianti Hilman, founder and director. She led us through a cooking demonstration and presentation about Javara’s marketing strategy. 

Arif Ahmad, Indonesian journalist,
demonstrates his cooking skills
at Javara.

--The National Center for Rice Farming Assembly and Modernization, where we learned about efforts to cultivate new rice varieties and introduce them to Indonesian farmers.

--CNN, where we had a revealing discussion about reporting food insecurity. Especially interesting was the discussion about which stories audiences prefer. Not surprisingly, the most-clicked and viewed stories were about the ‘kitchen economy’ that includes food prices and safety.

--The Research Institute for Environment and Climate Change, where the fellows reported about a groundbreaking project called Land4Lives, which is designed to enhance economic and climate resilience of food growers, especially women. They’ve planted kitchen gardens throughout the region which serve as educational hubs for learning about organic farming and healthy diets.

The fellows learned about food systems here from Dr. Ageng Herianto from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), who presented the good news that hunger and malnutrition in the region is down, but that more innovation, sound policy, and stronger farms are needed to continue the trend. They also visited the World Food Program offices, where we discussed how WFP supports Indonesian government food programs, including a troubled school lunch program, aimed at eliminating hunger.

Finally, the executive director of an Indonesian development NGO (INFID) spoke to the group about food sovereignty for indigenous communities. Siti Nimah noted the ongoing conflict between the government, which seeks mass production, and indigenous peoples, who prefer to produce on a smaller scale for individual and community needs. He also discussed land rights, and the scourge of palm oil production, which ruins lands that would be better used for indigenous food production.

The fellows are great travel companions—interesting, fun people. And they’ve been consistently on time—something especially important to a neurotic such as myself.

We’re traveling onward to Thailand today for the final leg of the fellowship. Stay tuned for details.

The fellows' CNN-Indonesia visit included a newsroom tour

 

Jefferson Fellows at the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center

Jeffs learn about food systems, research, peace journalism
Peace journalism made its first appearance at the 2025 Jefferson Fellowships this week.

The Jefferson Fellows (Jeffs) are 12 outstanding journalists from the region who are on an East-West Center study and reporting trip to Honolulu this week, then Indonesia and Thailand the following weeks. The theme is food security.

I introduced peace journalism’s principles, then we had a robust discussion about its applicability to reporting about food security. I suggested that PJ could apply in several ways:

1. Lead discussions about solutions to food insecurity
2. No “us vs. them” (food secure vs. insecure; rich vs. poor)
3. Illuminate systemic nature of problem
4. Voice to the marginalized—Empower the food insecure to tell their stories
5. Words/Images-Empathetic, respectful
6. Offer counternarratives—No helpless victims; no individual blame; debunk myths

The Jeffs were fascinated by our field trips this week to the He’eia Fishpond (see previous post); the Hawaii Agricultural ResearchCenter; and the Wai’anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC). At the Ag Center in Kailua, they visited research plots and learned about the cultivation of cash crops like cacao and coffee. At WCCHC, the Jeffs learned about the myriad of services the center offers to its community of native Hawaiians, among whom 43% experience food insecurity. These services are provided for youth and seniors, and include an innovative food prescription program to facilitate healthier eating. These food programs offer a “beacon of hope” to the community, according to Alicia Higa, the center’s director. 

We also heard a number of informative presentations this week from University of Hawaii food researchers, state officials (food system planning), and the Hawaii Food Bank, where the Jeffs heard about the concurrent challenges the bank faces. These are an increased demand for food and a simultaneous decrease in federal and SNAP nutrition funding.

The fellows each presented a short research paper on the state of food security in their home regions (Cambodia, Hawaii/US, Indonesia, Taiwan, Mongolia, South Korea, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines).

We’re on our way now for a week of reporting in Indonesia. Stay tuned for details.

At WCCHC, learning about seedlings

 

Dr. Kawika Winter points out the traditional practices used in this taro patch.

Jefferson Fellows study food security in Honolulu
There are few themes as universal or as important as food security—the very issue 11 Jefferson Fellows from the Asia-Pacific region are discussing this week at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

These Jefferson Fellows are beginning their study and reporting tour this week in Hawaiʻi, then continuing onwards to Indonesia and Thailand later this month.

Touring the Heʻeia Fishpond

The fellowship started with a tour of the island on Sunday, then a visit Monday to the wonderfully unique and educational Heʻeia National Estuarine Research Reserve and Heʻeia Fishpond. There, the journalists interviewed Dr. Kawika Winter, director of the research reserve, who led the group on a tour of the reserve and fishpond. The research reserve and fishpond are being restored to full productivity using native Hawaiian fish farming and agricultural production techniques. The fascinating tour included a look at a restored taro plantation, and the huge lagoon where eventually large quantities of fish will be raised and harvested.

Later this week, the Jefferson Fellows will attend several panels featuring local food security experts and tour the Hawaiʻi Agricultural Research Center and tour the Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, which has a unique food subscription program.

The Jeffs are a great group—engaged, professional, and fun-loving. I look forward to working and traveling with them in the coming weeks.

The Jefferson Fellows at the Heʻeia Fishpond. 

 

 

Call for Submissions: The Peace Journalist Magazine
The Peace Journalist, a semi-annual magazine, is seeking submissions for its December edition. Submissions should be 600-1600 words, and address peace journalism/peace media research and projects. Please also submit photos, if possible. We do not run articles about general peace projects. Instead, we’re interested only in pieces with a strong media/journalism component or angle. 

The previous edition of The Peace Journalist can be found at https://www.scribd.com/document/847295036/Peace-Journalist-April-2025 .

You may notice a change in our publication schedule. This edition had to be moved back to December to accommodate my schedule as a program coordinator at the East-West Center. I’m leading a group of journalists in October on the Jefferson Fellowships.

The deadline for submissions is Nov. 1. The magazine usually fills up quickly, so the sooner you can get your pieces in, the better. Please submit to steven.youngblood@fulbrightmail.org . 

Thank you in advance for your submissions.

Steven Youngblood
Editor, The Peace Journalist magazine