The Philippines has imposed a temporary ban on the importation of live cattle and buffalo as well as their products from Japan due to the outbreak of lumpy skin disease (LSD), its Department of Agriculture said on December 19.

Rice imports to the Philippines amounted to 2.8 million metric tonnes (MT) during the first eight months of this year, 19% higher than the 2.3 million MT in the same period last year, data from the country's Department of Agriculture (DA) showed.

A number of Vietnam's rubber growing projects in the southern Lao province of Attapeu have produced positive results since 2008, contributing to the host country's socio-economic development.

More than 7,400 pigs have been culled as African swine fever caused the deaths of pig herds in at least seven villages near the Philippine capital of Manila, according to Department of Agriculture.

Thailand’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Mananya Thaiseth on August 9 ordered the Department of Agriculture to put the brakes on licence extensions for hazardous farm chemicals, and vowed to ban three substances by the end of this year.