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Seeds of Discontent

China and the Philippines vie for strategic waters; a university row in Hungary; traces of plantation times in the Dominican Republic and the Kenyans scammed by fake-seed salesmen

Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from correspondents, reporters and writers around the world. In this edition:

Humphrey Hawksley takes to the disputed waters of the South China Sea - and hears how fishermen and fishing fleets from China and the Philippines are vying to exploit their resources.

Nick Thorpe explains why a university became a controversy in Hungary - and why it's pitted PM Viktor Orban against former financier George Soros.

Gemma Newby is in Manzanillo in the Dominican Republic: once a "company town" where most life revolved around the needs of the United Fruit Company and its American staff, its facilities as well as its banana plantations are now the stuff of memories.

And Adam Shaw hears from the Kenyan farming families who've lost entire crops not because of drought or pests - but because they were sold fake seeds, which promised new varieties with better yields, but were just the same old product.

Image: A crew member of a Philippine fishing vessel sitting at the bow, anchored at the mouth of the South China Sea off the town of Infanta in Pangasinan province, as they prepare for a fishing expedition to Scarborough Shoal. (TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)

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23 minutes

Last on

Sun 16 Apr 2017 09:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 15 Apr 2017 02:06GMT
  • Sat 15 Apr 2017 21:06GMT
  • Sun 16 Apr 2017 02:06GMT
  • Sun 16 Apr 2017 09:06GMT