Rice News Headlines...
·
Senate, rice importers
tango over N44b import duties ‘debt’
·
Partnerships, key to farmer
technology adoption and improved productivity
·
Scientists Team up with
Farmers to Improve Organic Rice Production
·
Arkansas Farm Bureau Daily
Commodity Report
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World Market Price
Subcommittee: PLC Payment Timelines and
Trade
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USARiceOutlook
Contest: Week Two
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CCC Announces Prevailing
World Market Prices
·
CME Group/Closing Rough
Rice Futures
·
Rice is nice: This plain
grain is more nutritious than you think
·
Punjab farmers demand Rs
5000/quintal MSP for basmati rice
·
An introverted “mad”
scientist speaks candidly and makes no apologies
·
Partnerships, key to farmer
technology adoption and improved productivity
·
Reflections on hospitality
and stakeholder engagement
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State U, partners push aerobic rice farming technology
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Climate change lessons take
to the stage in rural Pakistan
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Pakistan's climate change
'time bomb' is already ticking
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Rice: another dying
commodity
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Rice importers owe Nigeria
N44bn – Senate
·
Scientists Team up with
Farmers to Improve Organic Rice Production
·
Vietnamese ambassador seeks
help from UC Davis to preserve country’s rice crop
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From Actress to Cookbook
Author: The Lives of Madhur Jaffrey
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Festive fare, anybody?
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U.S. Rice Takes Center
Stage at Food Service Show in Mexico
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CME Group/Closing Rough
Rice Futures
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With organic rice in
demand, scientists to help farmers improve production
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New deal resumes rice
exports to China
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Philippines may import more
rice after typhoon damages crops
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Philippines says
'significant' rice losses from Typhoon Koppu
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SunRice guarantee to
growers
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Jasmine fragrant rice to be
developed as Vietnam’s national rice brand
·
Rice quality key to export
growth
·
State U, partners push aerobic rice farming technology
Senate, rice
importers tango over N44b import duties ‘debt’
POSTED BY EMMANUEL LEKE ON OCTOBER
21,
2015 IN BUSINESS, ECONOMY, FEATURED | LEAVE A RESPONSE
The money has allegedly been outstanding since May
2014
“We have to ensure that that this money is collected and
deposited into the Federation Account.”
The Chairman also revealed that the companies imported rice into
the country without paying waivers, off-loaded it into their warehouses only to
refuse to pay required duties when asked by the Nigeria Customs
Service.According to him, when Stallion Group was accosted by the Nigeria
Customs Service for the money, the company opted to drag the NCS to
court.Aliero also disclosed how the company flouted the quota given to it to
import 157,000 metric tonnes of rice with impunity by opting to unilaterally
import 457,000 metric tonnes.Responding to the allegation, the Executive
Director of Stallion Group, Harpreet Singh, claimed that its mission in Nigeria
was to ensure that the country was self-sufficient in rice production and
equally ensure that the nation is saved from scarcity of the product.
Singh also claimed that Nigerian borders were porous, adding
that former President Goodluck Jonathan granted the approval on fiscal policy
on rice production on May 26, 2014.According to him, the Ministry of
Agriculture opted to flout the tenets of the policy by giving quotas to
“non-existing millers and investors who have no connection with the policy,
while existing investors were left blind”.Also reacting to the allegation, Olam
informed that it had the largest rice farm in Africa and that it has been
operating in Nigeria in the past 35 years.The company argued that given its
long period of business operation in Nigeria, it would not consider
shortchanging the nation.In a report submitted to the Senate Committee,
Stallion Group specifically underlined the fact it had fully paid N17.15
billion in duties and levies for its imports and therefore has not evaded
anything due to the government.
Olam, on the other hand, claimed that it had the largest rice
farm in Africa and that it had been operating in Nigeria in the past 35 years,
arguing that given its long period of business operation in Nigeria, the
company will not consider shortchanging the nation and has filed a suit in the
law courts for determination.Stallion Group submitted on Tuesday that the rice
import by its companies were governed by the content and stipulations of the
2014-2017 fiscal policy measures on rice by the federal government, and are not
duty waivers as misunderstood by in some quarters.
It stated further that rice production companies have applied to
the country’s courts to determine if the additional retrospective duties meant
for traders are payable by bonafide rice millers.Stallion stated that it had no
choice but to approach the country’s judicial system for relief and fair
judgement.The company also assured the Senate Committee that the group will
duly abide by the court’s final determination after a due process and is fully
committed to the country’s quest for self-sufficiency in rice production.Olam
also contended to the committee that given its long period of business
operation in Nigeria, the company will not consider shortchanging the nation,
and according to its representative, the company was seeking a legal
determination on the matter by the law courts.
http://theeagleonline.com.ng/senate-rice-importers-tango-over-n44b-import-duties-debt/
Partnerships, key to farmer technology
adoption and improved productivity
Over the
next 10 years, rice production will need to increase by 80 million tons.At the
forum, Bas Bouman, director
of the IRRI-led Global Rice Science Partnership, said that the
challenges experienced by the rice-farming sector should be viewed as
opportunities to channel impact in the right direction. “If we do it right, it
will lead toward land consolidation, mechanization, and labor productivity
increase. Farmers can have a decent income from farming while, at the same
time, we can keep the price of rice affordable for the poorest consumers,” he
explained.The forum, held on 14-16 October 2015, aims to continue the
constructive dialogue that stemmed from the 2013 Rice Future Forum in India and
the 2014 International Rice Congress in Thailand.MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc
Doanh said that collaborative efforts and partnerships formed by the Vietnamese
government have helped advance the rice sector in the country.
Sascha
Israel, Head of Bayer CropScience in the Asia Pacific Region, emphasized the
importance of collaboration between public and private sectors across the value
chain to enhance rice technology adoption.Speaking on the economic transition
and demographic changes in the ASEAN region, Sam Mohanty, IRRI Social Sciences
Division head, said that IRRI has a significant role to play in shaping the
future of the rice value chain. “IRRI’s breeding program will be more
demand-driven; we understand what is needed in the value chain, so we can
produce the variety or management practice that suits the market,” he added.
“Engaging
with the public and private sectors can bring energy, know-how, and financing.
It could help us better leverage the technologies that IRRI has in the
marketplace for the benefit of smallholder farmers and the entire rice
ecosystem,” said Remy Bitoun, IRRI's head of Public-Private Engagement.The
institute featured its work on rice innovations during the marketplace session
while engaging with various government officials, media, and private companies
from across the Southeast Asian region. Aside from the forum, Bayer CropScience
also organized a trip to its various field demonstration sites outside Ho Chi
Minh City.
Scientists Team up with Farmers to Improve Organic Rice
Production
Tue, 10/20/2015 - 9:36am
Texas A&M Univ.
Organic
rice is increasingly desired by U.S. consumers, but farmers know that growing
the grain chemically free can mean providing a feast for insects, diseases and
weeds.That’s why the U.S. Department of Agriculture has put $1 million on a
multi-state team of scientists with a track record of battling pests toward the
goal of making organic rice profitable for farmers and more available for
consumers. The grant also establishes the first Center of Excellence for
organic rice research in the U.S.
“Organic rice is important to the U.S., and most of the organic rice
acreage is located in the southern growing region and California,” said Xin-Gen
“Shane”” Zhou, Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist in Beaumont
and project leader. “Organic rice acreage has increased to about 50,000 acres
in the nation. In contrast, conventional rice acreage is on the decline.“The
organic market is growing, but U.S. farmers have not been able to keep up with
the demand domestically.”
While
the price farmers receive for organic rice is nearly double what they get for
conventionally grown rice, Zhou said, producing an adequate yield of quality
rice organically is challenging.“Very little research has been done on organic
rice, and organic studies on other crops do not apply to rice because – unlike
other crops – most of it is grown in flooded fields,” he said. “That subjects
rice to a different spectrum of disease, weeds and insect pests than dryland or
irrigated crops.”Informal surveys to identify the issues affecting organic rice
production were conducted in California, South Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas
and Texas, he said, along with field days, workshops and meetings with farmers,
millers and end-users. This helped the scientists identify nutrient management,
pest control and rice varieties as the main needs to make organic rice
production economically viable.
The
team on the 3-year study includes plant pathologists, breeders, crop nutrient
managers, economists, weed scientists, entomologists and outreach specialists
from Texas, Arkansas and Washington, D.C. Research on organic rice has been in
progress at the AgriLife Research facility in Beaumont for at least five years,
Zhou said, and results from those studies, along with some from other areas,
will be parlayed into the new study.“We developed this new proposal to further
develop profitable methods for organic rice farmers,” he said. “We surveyed
organic farmers and found the major issues were weed control, nitrogen supply
and stand establishment. In organic rice systems, we are not supposed to use
any herbicides, chemical fertilizers, fungicides or insecticides, so that
definitely causes a lot of stress for the organic farmers.”
For
example, farmers would like to use less nitrogen fertilizer, because organic
fertilizers are much more expensive compared to conventional fertilizers. But
applying organic nitrogen improperly can give the weeds a chance to grow and
compete with rice plants, he explained.Also, diseases not commonly found in
conventional rice are more severe in the organic rice, Zhou added.The research
farm at Beaumont is suitable for the study, Zhou noted, because it met the
criteria to be certified organic in 2012 and has been maintained as such since.
The facility also houses a collection of rice cultivars and breeding lines from
around the world that may be useful in finding the best varieties for organic
production.Zhou said the team plans to develop a strategy for organic rice
production by the completion of the research and will develop a web-based
economic analysis tool with interactive budgets to help farmers make decisions
for their own organic rice production. They also will have on-farm demonstration trials in Texas,
Missouri, Florida and South Carolina.
“We
will have direct connection with organic rice farmers to show them what kind of
management practices or tools they can use for managing pests and for yield
increase,” Zhou said. “Rice is important to the world, and the acreage devoted
to rice is really too small in the U.S. compared to the rice acreage in other
countries. That’s why the potential impact of this project is so important.”
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2015/10/scientists-team-farmers-improve-organic-rice-production
Arkansas Farm Bureau Daily Commodity Report
A comprehensive daily commodity market report for Arkansas
agricultural commodities with cash markets, futures and insightful analysis and
commentary from Arkansas Farm Bureau commodity analysts.
Noteworthy benchmark price levels of interest to farmers and
ranchers, as well as long-term commodity market trends which are developing.
Daily fundamental market influences and technical factors are noted and
discussed.
Soybeans
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High
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Low
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Cash Bids
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901
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856
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New Crop
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935
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880
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Riceland Foods
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Cash Bids
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Stuttgart: - - -
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Pendleton: - - -
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New Crop
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Stuttgart: - - -
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Pendleton: - - -
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Futures:
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Soybean Comment
Soybeans were higher today as export demand continues to
improved. Demand remains the driver in soybeans, and the market seems now to be
ignoring forecasts of large supplies. At some point the market is going to
realize the large supplies, at which point soybeans will feel pressure and need
exports and crush to still be robust to avoid a major sell off.
Wheat
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High
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Low
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Cash Bids
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481
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471
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New Crop
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498
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416
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Futures:
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Wheat Comment
Wheat prices were higher today as support from outside markets
helped pull wheat higher. Wheat remains a weak market searching for some
bullish news to help wheat maintain gains in a very volatile market.
Grain Sorghum
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High
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Low
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Cash Bids
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386
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319
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New Crop
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387
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339
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Corn
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High
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Low
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Cash Bids
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386
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344
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New Crop
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405
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374
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Futures:
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Corn Comment
Corn prices closed higher today. The market found support from
reports of improved commercial buying. Corn remains under pressure now from
slow export demand, the good news for prices is ethanol demand continues to
track with current forecast as does feed demand. With the stronger dollar, it
maybe difficult for exports to catch up.
Cotton
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Futures:
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Cotton Comment
Cotton futures were higher across the board today, with December
moving above previous resistance at 65 cents. Continuing rains in Texas are
slowing harvest and causing concerns about the quality of the crop there. The
supply of high quality cotton is tight, and is providing some support. Also
supportive is news that the crop in India and Pakistan will be short. However,
the smaller crop there has caused prices to soar, and the All World Price right
along with them. That means the LDP for U.S. farmers has been cut in half over
the past few weeks.
Rice
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High
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Low
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Long Grain Cash
Bids
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- - -
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- - -
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Long Grain
New Crop
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- - -
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- - -
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Futures:
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Rice Comment
Rice futures were higher again today. November continues to find
support near $12, which is the 38% retracement level. The recent rally has
stalled and a round of profit taking quickly took $1.40 off the market over the
past two weeks. The market is still trending higher, however. Global production
problems have helped support the market since the summer. Disappointing U.S.
yields have likely been built into prices at this point.
Cattle
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Futures:
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Live Cattle:
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Feeders:
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Arkansas Prices
Conway Livestock Auction
Pocahontas Livestock Auction
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City - Weekly Weighted Average Summary Wednesday
Cattle Comment
Cattle prices closed lower today as prices failed to close above
resistance near $143 in live cattle and $192 in feeders. With tomorrow's cold
storage report being released after the market closes tomorrow look for prices
to be cautious ahead of this report.
Hogs
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Futures:
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Hog Comment
Shell Eggs
National Turkeys
Delmarva Broilers
World Market Price Subcommittee: PLC Payment Timelines and Trade
Double-checking the facts and figures
WASHINGTON,
DC -- This morning, the World Market Price Subcommittee (WMP) met here with
representatives from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the
Farm Service Agency (FSA), the Economic Research Service (ERS), and the Foreign
Agricultural Service (FAS) to discuss a variety of issues in the global rice
trade affecting the U.S. rice industry.While reviewing recent reports of rice
yield from NASS, Subcommittee members found projected yields from Texas to be
too high and those from California to be far too low. Members also questioned
FSA about the statistics of Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments for the 2014
crop. While payments under the new
program were expected quickly and in-full this coming November, FSA agreed to
clarify its timeline and report back to USA Rice. (See USA Rice Chairman Dow Brantley's
comments on the topic.)
The Subcommittee discussed global
policy issues including details of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Because the U.S. government has not yet
released the official text of the deal, possible ramifications for the U.S.
rice industry are speculative at this point.
The Subcommittee was interested in what could be discovered about the
deal between the U.S. and Japan, as well as what duties will continue to exist
between Mexico and Vietnam, as both countries, one a critical destination for
U.S. rice, the other a strong competitor, are also signatories to the TPP.
Chairman Keith Glover welcomed new participants onto the
subcommittee for the 2015-17 term, and afterwards said, "The meeting today
was productive and educational. We
appreciate the participation of NASS, ERS, FSA, and FAS, and look forward to
receiving clarification about the status of PLC payments from the 2014
crop."The next World Market Price meeting will take place in February
2016, following the close of the Government Affairs Conference (GAC).
Contact: Kristen Dayton (703) 236-1464
USARiceOutlook Contest:
Week Two
Paul Johnson (right) all
smiles at the
John Pac packaging facility in Crowley, LA
ARLINGTON, VA -- Paul Johnson, a rice farmer from Welsh, Louisiana,
is this week's finalist in the #USARiceOutlook social media contest. A weekly winner will be announced every
Wednesday until November 4, and will be in the running for the grand prize of a
free registration to USA Rice's Outlook Conference in New Orleans December
9-11.
For
contest eligibility, participants can retweet or share USA Rice's posts about
the Outlook Conference, or they can create their own original content using the
hashtag #USARiceOutlook. Members can
share what they are looking forward to most at Outlook, which speaker they are
most excited about, their favorite part about New Orleans, etc. Creativity is
encouraged!
"I'm really looking forward to the Outlook Conference in New
Orleans this year," said Johnson, a member of the 2015-2017 Rice
Leadership Class. "We visited New
Orleans during session one of the Leadership Program this past March and I'm
excited to get back there and also reconnect with everyone else from our Class
at the conference."
Follow
@usaricenews on Twitter for more exciting updates about the 2015 USA Rice
Conference and remember to tweet us using #USARiceOutlook!
Contact: Colleen Klemczewski
(703) 236-1446
CCC Announces Prevailing World Market Prices
|
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Department of Agriculture's
Commodity Credit Corporationtoday announced the following prevailing world market
prices of milled and rough rice, adjusted for U.S. milling yields and
location, and the resulting marketing loan gain (MLG) and loan deficiency
payment (LDP) rates applicable to the 2015 crop, which will become effective
today at 7:00 a.m., Eastern Time (ET). Prices are unchanged from
the previous announcement.
This week's prevailing world market prices and MLG/LDP rates are based on the following U.S. milling yields and the corresponding loan rates:
The next program announcement is scheduled for October 28, 2015. |
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CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures
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CME Group (Prelim): Closing Rough Rice Futures
for October 21
|
Rice is nice: This plain grain is more
nutritious than you think
Rice up your life!
Rice is a complementary starch to highly nutritious foods like
beans, fish, tomatoes and greens, and whole grain rice is itself nutrient
dense.
Canadians won’t sacrifice taste for
health and are learning that healthy and tasty can be inclusive when they take
a bite out of the world around them. Rice is a practical grain that goes with
everything and is a healthier option than many other starches like nutrition-robbed
peeled and boiled potatoes.According to a study published in Food and Nutrition
Sciences, rice consumption was associated with better diet quality and general
nutrient intake.Here are some more cool facts about rice to spout at the water
cooler:
Contrary to common thinking, rice can be reheated. Cool
and store covered in the fridge for up to a week or freezer up to 6 weeks.
Homemade “minute rice” simply needs 2 Tbsp of liquid per cup of rice added
before warming it up in a microwave or on the stovetop.Canada doesn’t grow
rice, (wild rice is an aquatic grass) meaning U.S.-grown rice is as local as it
gets, which explains why nearly 70 per cent of our rice is from south of the
border.One seed of rice yields more than 3,000 grains. It is the highest
yielding cereal grain and can grow in many kinds of soils. This hits all the
right notes for our sustainability quest.Winter-flooded rice fields provide
important habitat for migratory waterfowl and other species.
Across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of rice acres
are being enhanced annually to provide habitat for these birds. About 50
per cent of North Americans consume only half of the magnesium that they
should. Magnesium is critical for muscle function, the heart is the largest
muscle in the body. There is more magnesium in 1 cup of cooked long grain brown
rice (21 per cent DV) than in 3.5 cups of spinach (20 per cent DV), and it has
4 g of fibre.Theresa is an on-camera food and health expert, nutritionist and
writer who loves to spread the word on food.
http://www.metronews.ca/views/nutri-bites/2015/10/20/this-plain-grain-is-more-nutritious-than-you-think.html?utm_source=USA+Rice+Daily%2C+October+21%2C+2015&utm_campaign=Friday%2C+December+13%2C+2013&utm_medium=email
Punjab farmers demand Rs 5000/quintal MSP for basmati
rice
The farmers are protesting against the low price and are demanding
a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 4200 to Rs 5000 per quintal from the
government. 18 0Google +0 6 With untimely and scare rains being
observed in India, farmers in the agricultural state of Punjab are facing
huge issues with the declining price of Basmati rice. The oversupply of Basmati
rice in international markets, issues on quality and decreasing demand have all
pushed down the price of rice just when farmers were expecting it to fetch
more. The farmers are protesting against the low price and are demanding a
Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 4200 to Rs 5000 per quintal from the
government.
An introverted “mad” scientist speaks
candidly and makes no apologies
Dr. Robert S.”Bob” Zeigler is an internationally respected plant
pathologist with more than 30 years of experience in agricultural research in
the developing world, most of them involved with rice. He has been the director
general (DG) of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for the last 10+
years—the second longest tenure after the Institute’s founding DG, Robert F. Chandler, Jr. (1960-72). As DG, Bob set the Institute’s strategic direction and
he has also been a passionate spokesperson on a wide range of issues that
affect rice growers and consumers worldwide.
Proclaiming himself an introvert, he gave this IRRI pioneer
interview, conducted in his office at IRRI headquarters on 28 August 2015. With
his customary wit and candor, he discussed his life both before and during his
professional career, which has spanned time in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and
the U.S. He retires on 11 December 2015.
The selected excerpts here are just the tip of the “riceberg.”
Much of the rest of Bob’s 4-hour interview will soon be published on the Rice Today website. It will feature
anecdotes about polar bears and all-meat dinners above the Arctic Circle,
studying forest fires in Crater Lake National Park, what gives him goose bumps,
and the wheels of the brilliant machine that is IRRI. He also gives frank
opinions and views on a wide-ranging set of topics—including Golden Rice,
IRRI’s proud Filipino roots, the funding roller coaster, the plight of
smallholder farmers, the role of women, the humbling experience of working with
national programs, the Svalbard Doomsday Vault, climate change, growing up
Catholic, advice for the incoming DG, and much, much more.
Agricultural beginnings on Pennsylvania dairy farms
When I was a kid, both my parents came from dairy farming families. My father’s farm was in southeastern Pennsylvania; my mother’s in the southwestern part of the state. I was mostly influenced by my mother’s side of the family. They were pretty much very small dairy farmers, scraping to get by. I didn’t realize that we were very poor. The men worked in the bituminous coal mines of Cambria County.
When I was a kid, both my parents came from dairy farming families. My father’s farm was in southeastern Pennsylvania; my mother’s in the southwestern part of the state. I was mostly influenced by my mother’s side of the family. They were pretty much very small dairy farmers, scraping to get by. I didn’t realize that we were very poor. The men worked in the bituminous coal mines of Cambria County.
A fourth grader’s wish: to be a mad scientist
Science always grabbed my attention as a kid. I was probably just wired that way. I loved plants. My earliest memories are of me working with my mother. She always had a vegetable garden and I just loved it when the plants came up, especially the first flowers in the spring. It just gave me a sense of indescribable joy and a love of nature, life, plants, and gardens that I have to this day.That led to a curiosity that transferred into science. I liked the 1950s’ science fiction movies such as The Killer Shrews and The Bride of Frankenstein. And, there were the comic book superheroes such as Superman, Batman, and the rest. They had in them the good and the evil of science wrapped throughout. I took the good and thought it was exciting. This was pretty instrumental in shaping how I view the world. The mad scientist role was a career model. I could be a mad scientist!
After my family moved from Pennsylvania to Illinois, I attended Urbana High School, where I was exposed to biology in a way that was just mind-blowing. I loved it. I really got turned on by science in an academic way, as opposed to the mad-scientist comic book/science fiction movies. It helped change how I saw things in the world.BOB’S WIFE, Crissan [with him and daughters Claire and Ali in Laos in January 2007], has always been an unbelievable supporter. “There is no way I could possibly have done what I did without her support and role as a tremendous sounding board,” he says.
My professors urged me to go into molecular biology, as that was
the clear wave of the future. I thought about it, but the study of ecology
better captured my love of nature. So, I did the opposite of what they advised!
As a result, I joined the Peace Corps in 1971 and was sent to Africa—specifically, the very remote Congo
(Zaire back then) because of my knowledge of French.
In the Peace Corps, Dr. Zeigler taught (in French) high school
math, chemistry, physics, and biology at a little school, Collége Musim, in
Bandundu Province about 200 kilometers north of Kikwit
Peace Corps stint cultivates interest inplant disease
In the Peace Corps, I taught (in French) high school math, chemistry, physics, and biology at a little school, Collége Musim, in Bandundu Province about 200 kilometers north of Kikwit[arrow on map]. If you “Google” Kikwit, the first thing you find is the Kikwit strain of Ebola, which was 24 years after my time. I loved living in fascinating rural Africa.A transformative event was an outbreak ofbacterial blight that wiped out the cassava crop [the third largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice and maize]. The main food for the people in my area was wiped out. This was causing local starvation. We had to close our school; there was not enough to feed my students. It really struck me that a plant disease, hitting a staple crop, could have such impact and nobody could do anything about it.
Later, when I was a graduate student at Oregon
State University, I took a forest pathology course;
I wanted to study the interaction in the forest of dwarf mistletoe parasitism, fire, and pine forest community dynamics. This continued my
turn-on to plant disease. The complexity of plant disease in ecosystems, my
exposure to its impact on cassava, and the real eye-opening experience of
living and working in a developing country [through the Peace Corps] all
directed my career from then on.
It’s funny. I never, ever had an ambition to be a director general. I, like most young, hungry scientists, loved nothing more than to make fun of the DG and to complain. My God, what we said: “Obviously, the director general does not know a damn thing; what is he thinking, etc.” I was very much an iconoclast who felt that people in authority were pretty much incompetent and didn’t know what they were doing. I made no secret about it and said it quite openly. Surprisingly, I still had a job [as a plant pathologist at both the CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture) in Colombia and IRRI].
IN THE TRANSGENIC screen house at
theBangladesh Rice Research
Institute in
Gazipur, Bob confers with Bangladesh national program researchers on the latest
work on Golden Rice in the country.The first time the notion of being a DG was
mentioned to me was in this office. I was giving my exit interview to Ron
Cantrell [then IRRI DG, 1998-2004]. I was going off to Kansas State University to head the Plant
Pathology Department. I didn’t think I’d ever be back
in an international center again. I thought I’d be moving into U.S. academia,
focusing on agriculture there. Ron mentioned in passing that he saw a great
future for me and, some day, I could even be sitting in this chair. I thought,
“What, are you crazy?”
At that time [1998], CGIAR DGs
were gods and I certainly didn’t have any god-impression about myself. But, lo
and behold, 6 years later, I was heading the CGIAR’s Generation
Challenge Program based at CIMMYT [International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico].
There, a colleague who was a good friend of Ron Cantrell, told me that Ronnie
was resigning from IRRI and that he and Bob Havener [former IRRI interim DG in 1998] said they thought that I’d be one
of the strong candidates for the position. To make a long story short, it ended
up being me. But it’s something I never sought.
Not “one of the boys” anymore
I was certainly one of the boys when I was here [as plant pathologist at IRRI, 1992-98]. In those days, we had some wild, raucous times that will be best described by others.
ONE OF the boys at IRRI, circa 1993.
One disadvantage: I was friends with people [from the previous
stint at IRRI] and that friendship could get in the way of doing my job—and
that was really hard. I had to let people go who I used to play tennis with and
socialize with. That’s no picnic. Likewise, the direct expectations from me
that people could draw on a past relationship to get favors done made me uncomfortable,
to put it mildly. It was particularly hard for my wife. There were expectations
that we could magically transform real problems or challenges at the Institute
with the snap of a finger. One real education for me was how bureaucracies have
a life of their own. More importantly, problems in an institution are never in
isolation. Almost always, they are interconnected with more fundamental or
structural problems. Hence, no quick fixes.I tried my very best to make sure
that the Institute itself, not the DG, is as sensitive and responsive as
possible. One of the things I tried to do, and I hope I’ve been somewhat
successful, was to take the personality cult, the “god” cult, out of the
director: that we talk about the institution and not the DG.
Greatest challenges as IRRI
chief
Convincing donors to contribute. One strength is the unassailable nature of IRRI’s mission. Keeping in mind what IRRI is about, why we’re here, our track record, and our ability to contribute made dealing with the challenges much easier. There are the usual challenges: one—making sure that the money comes in. I still love explaining to donors how important rice is and what IRRI’s role is in the future of the world and what we have to contribute.
WHENEVER POSSIBLE, Bob visits farmers’ fields around the world to
interact with the ultimate members of the private sector. Here, he diagnoses
what disease might be afflicting a smallholder’s crop near Ubon, Thailand.
Being an introvert. There is the challenge of me being an introvert. I am generally happier by myself. People may be surprised about that, but I’m a very strong introvert. Meeting the challenge of being outwardly projecting was something I had to learn, including being gregarious and dealing with people in social situations. Handling difficult personnel problems was always a big challenge for me.
Discovery—one of the greatest
joys
Oh the discovery! Realizing that you found something new is a thrill that can’t be described. I’ve worked on hoja blanca virus, bacterial pathogens, the Pseudomonas complex, and blast disease. In each, I like to think I made some significant discoveries and advances. The realization, when it hits you—that you have an insight that explains something that was unexplained before—there’s nothing like it. It’s a rush, I mean goose bumps; hair stands on end! It’s just a thrill. I think any scientist will tell you that ecstasy of discovery—of enlightenment—when you have that flash of understanding—is indescribable. I had a few of those and, my God, they’re something else. Personally, it takes your whole being to a new level.
As a director general or research manager, I found it equally
exciting to take pleasure from other people’s discoveries and breakthroughs, be
it the SUB1 gene [for
flood tolerance], advances with C4 rice [transferring
the photosynthetic efficiency of maize into rice], or new information coming
out of our long-term trials [Long-Term Continuous
Cropping Experiment].
IN APRIL 2014, Bob assists in the ceremonial harvest of the 150th
crop of IRRI’s Long-Term Continuous Cropping Experiment (LTCCE). Flanking him
are Roland Buresh, soil scientist and lead researcher for the LTCCE, and
Teodoro Correa, Jr., LTCCE manager. The LTCCE is one of the longest running
agricultural experiments in the world.
I believe that those who developed the modern rice and wheat varieties in the 1960s and ’70s and then recommended routine pesticide applications, etc., did not know that they were advocating bad practices. In that sense, an apology is not necessary. You make an apology for things that you do wrong when you knew they were wrong. And you judge the actions of people in the context of their time. We certainly openly recognize it was a mistake and we have learned from it.
If you look at how IRRI’s research program has evolved from that
learning, early on, we started to question the impact of those early Green
Revolution practices and took corrective action. This resulted in
ground-breaking studies on the biosphere within the rice paddy, arthropod
complexity, and the impact of insecticides.
Do we regret? I don’t know. It was a different time and place.
It’s pretty hard to second-guess these kinds of things. Apologize? No! Recognize
that those practices were destructive to the environment? Absolutely. Make sure
that the same thing doesn’t happen again? Absolutely. Be watchful and vigilant
of those who misuse tools for short-term gain? Absolutely.
Being at the helm of IRRI—no other
job like it
The IRRI experience is number one in my career—without a doubt. The job as IRRI director general is unlike any other job you can ever possibly want. Science, its value in human terms, the impact you can have positively on the environment—you can transform the way the whole planet will function decades from now, a century from now. What happens at IRRI is relevant.My God, you can’t ask for anything better or more humbling. If you are at IRRI and you work hard, do your best, you will never have to worry about wasting your life. Every morning, when you look in the mirror, you won’t regret what is looking back at you. That’s worth a hell of a lot!
After more than 22 years at IRRI, Gene
Hettel, editor-in-chief of Rice Today and IRRI historian, also
retires shortly after Dr. Zeigler. Read
more about IRRI’s rich history.
Partnerships,
key to farmer technology adoption and improved productivity
By International Rice
Research Institute October 20, 2015 | 12:30 pm EDT
IRRI projects that the current rice production, which is more than
700 million tons annually, will not be sufficient to meet future demands. Over
the next 10 years, rice production will need to increase by 80 million tons.At
the forum, Bas Bouman, director of the IRRI-led Global Rice Science
Partnership, said that the challenges experienced by the
rice-farming sector should be viewed as opportunities to channel impact in the
right direction. “If we do it right, it will lead toward land consolidation,
echanization, and labor productivity increase. Farmers can have a decent income
from farming while, at the same time, we can keep the price of rice affordable
for the poorest consumers,” he explained.
The forum, held on 14-16 October 2015, aims to continue the
constructive dialogue that stemmed from the 2013 Rice Future Forum in India and
the 2014 International Rice Congress in Thailand.MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc
Doanh said that collaborative efforts and partnerships formed by the Vietnamese
government have helped advance the rice sector in the country. Sascha Israel,
Head of Bayer CropScience in the Asia Pacific Region, emphasized the importance
of collaboration between public and private sectors across the value chain to
enhance rice technology adoption.Speaking on the economic transition and
demographic changes in the ASEAN region, Sam Mohanty, IRRI Social Sciences
Division head, said that IRRI has a significant role to play in shaping the
future of the rice value chain. “IRRI’s breeding program will be more
demand-driven; we understand what is needed in the value chain, so we can
produce the variety or management practice that suits the market,” he added.
“Engaging with the public and private sectors can bring energy,
know-how, and financing. It could help us better leverage the technologies that
IRRI has in the marketplace for the benefit of smallholder farmers and the
entire rice ecosystem,” said Remy Bitoun, IRRI's head of Public-Private
Engagement.The institute featured its work on rice innovations during the
marketplace session while engaging with various government officials, media,
and private companies from across the Southeast Asian region. Aside from the
forum, Bayer CropScience also organized a trip to its various field
demonstration sites outside Ho Chi Minh City.
http://www.agprofessional.com/news/partnerships-key-farmer-technology-adoption-and-improved-productivity
Reflections on hospitality and
stakeholder engagement
Iris Bugayong | Oct 20, 2015
Partnerships between international research organizations and
national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) are crucial in the
development and successful adoption of agricultural innovations. In this blog
post, the author recounts her humbling experience as she reflects on the
hospitality of a NARES partner, which was indicative of strong stakeholder
engagement—a key ingredient in promoting collective action and getting things
on the ground.
As I write this, I can slowly feel the burnout caused by the
pre-event and event proper workload of our project’s recent major activities
creeping in. Reporting back to the office to do my post-event tasks and go back
to the daily grind seemed overwhelming.My past jobs also involved event
management, and post-event assessments were usually done formally and
immediately after the closing session. The project I am currently part of is
relatively small, and feedback is given informally (usually it’s just between
me and my boss) so I normally do a self-reflection—just a simple analysis of
what went right, what went wrong, and how to do things better next time.
As I was reflecting, I read an email from Dr. Bob Zeigler, our director general at the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI), on how visitors are often impressed with the
Institute’s smooth implementation of events. He was pertaining to how IRRI was
able to pull off some major events again during that week, particularly, the
visit of the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestryand of a delegation from India to IRRI headquarters. He
noted: “It’s always so impressive how IRRI manages to pull these things off so
well and seemingly with so little effort. But we all know that an enormous
effort goes into these kinds of events at all levels.”
However, organizing events outside IRRI HQ—in another country —has
its own challenges, even though there are country offices (COs) to assist in
coordination.
The IRRI-Japan Collaborative Research Project (IJCRP) has
organized events held in Laos and Indonesia during the past three years and
staff from IRRI COs have been instrumental in the planning and implementation
of these events. The first in-country meeting of the new IJCRP, titled Climate Change Adaptation through Development
of a Decision-Support tool to guide Rainfed Rice production (CCADS-RR) was jointly organized with staff of its major
stakeholder, the Indonesian Center for Rice Research (ICRR) at Sukamandi, where
the meeting was held alongside the Dryland Rice Network meeting.There are many
event requirements that should be planned and coordinated and I won’t elaborate
on the meeting venue and AV facilities of ICRR, which I find exemplary and
common for institutions under the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research
and Development(IAARD), and almost of the
same caliber as those of the Indonesian Center for Food Crops Research and
Development (ICFORD) where we held another event two years ago. What struck me
most was the accommodation we received.
During the planning stage, Dr. Indrastuti Apri Rumanti, one of
ICRR’s seasoned breeders and also lead event organizer, was hesitant to let us
stay at the ICRR dormitory. However, a major consideration was the proximity of
the dormitory to the meeting venue, which is also inside the ICRR compound
(about 7 minutes by car and 15 minutes by foot from the dormitory). The nearest
hotel is about 30 minutes (depending on traffic) from ICRR. We decided then
that it was more practical to reserve our accommodations at the ICRR dormitory.
The dormitory at the ICRR, a 5-star
accommodation in terms of hospitality!
I found serenity hearing the first prayer of the day from a nearby
mosque at four in the morning and by watching the birds perched on mangrove in
the middle of a manmade pond (similar to that at IRRI’s rotunda) just outside
the dormitory. Shuttle service to the meeting venue was provided at 7:15 a.m.
daily.
My view from the ICRR dorm—a serene
pond. (Photo: Rozakurniati)
In the bigger scheme of things, the absence of standard hotel
amenities is insignificant compared with the hospitality accorded to us by
ICRR.There are still many things to be done toward adoption by farmers of
CCADS-RR’s major output, WeRise. WeRise is a seasonal climate
prediction app that aims to help farmers make decisions that
will maximize rainfed rice production through efficient natural resource
management. As with any technology, good engagement of stakeholders will be
crucial in promoting collective action and moving things forward.
Feeling burned out after organizing events is normal, but what’s
important is getting back on track. For me, this entails reflection—asking
myself why I do the things I do, what keeps me motivated. The hospitality of
the ICRR was indicative of its strong support and, I’d like to think, was also
a result of our efforts on engaging them, particularly at the onset of
CCADS-RR’s project implementation. The thought is motivating enough. But the
opportunity to work with stakeholders who aim to ensure that research outputs
reach the ground and achieve impact by improving farmers’ lives gives me the
real sense of fulfilment.
Ms. Bugayong works as an Administrative Coordinator in the
IRRI-Japan Collaborative Research Project. She is taking up Master in
Development Management and Governance at the College of Public Affairs and
Development at UP Los Baños.
http://ricetoday.irri.org/reflections-on-hospitality-and-stakeholder-engagement/
State U, partners push aerobic rice farming technology
October 20, 2015
KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Oct 20 (PIA) —
Government-run Sultan Kudarat State University based in
Tacurong City is advancing the adoption of aerobic rice technology,
a production system that is appropriate in areas with
insufficient water supply. Aerobic rice, according to the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is “a production system
where rice is grown in well-drained, non-puddled, and non-saturated soils.
Water requirements can be lowered by reducing water losses due to seepage,
percolation, and evaporation.” Dr. Ruby Hechanova, director
for research and development of SKSU told Philippine
Information Agency that aerobic rice technology “could help
address the problems of farmers regarding climate change such
as El Nino” because it requires minimum amount of water.
“Unlike in conventional farming where rice paddies
should be submerged in water, in aerobic rice technology rice
can be grown even with only 10 percent soil moisture,” Dr.
Hechanova said.
According to the Rice Knowledge Bank of IRRI, said farming
system is suitable in “areas where the land is flat and
where rainfall with or without supplemental irrigation is
sufficient to frequently being the soil water close to field
capacity…” It is also fit in upper slopes or terraces in undulating,
rainfed lowland and water-short irrigated farms.Hechanova added that
aerobic rice researches conducted in rice fields at the
tail-end of irrigations systems in some parts of Luzon showed
positive results. In 2014, she said, SKSU started
testing the aerobic rice technology in the towns of Quirino and
Lutayan and Tacurong City, all in Sultan Kudarat
province. “With appropriate management, yield from
aerobic rice is comparable to that from conventional
farming,” she said. Aerobic rice technology is
highlighted in 3rd Aerobic Rice National Conference at the Sarangani
Highlands in General Santos City from October 20 - 23.
The event highlights updates on aerobic rice technology
and other potential water-saving technologies for rice
production. Paper presentations cover aerobic rice technology
and related research and development activities from leading
institutions such as Bataan Peninsula State University, Bulacan
Agricultural State College, International Crops Research Institute for
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Isabela State University and others. It is
also an opportunity for sharing of good practices on aerobic
rice production.The 3rd Aerobic Rice National Conference is
supported by IRRI, ICRISAT, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of
Agricultural Research, Bureau of Soils and Water Management, Philippine Rice
Research Institute and the aforementioned state schools. Participants
include academicians, researchers, farmers, and representatives of
government and nongovernment organizations. (DEDoguiles-PIA 12)
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1611445302179/state-u-partners-push-aerobic-rice-farming-technology-#sthash.XWE1ni4T.dpuf
Climate change lessons
take to the stage in rural Pakistan
BADIN, Pakistan, Oct 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Mir
Muhammad's family had reason to celebrate: after the harvest of their rice
crop, they were planning to throw a wedding.But then flash floods hit their
three-hectare farm, washing away the family's sole source of income and their
dreams of the big day.This was the scene played out on the makeshift stage of
an open-air theatre in Badin district of Pakistan's Sindh province - a region,
like many others in Pakistan, trying to find ways to better understand and deal
with worsening climate change impacts."Nature has destroyed all our
plans," lamented Zuleikha Bibi, who played Muhammad's mother in the
production.
"We were preparing for the wedding of our eldest son, but
the flood has turned all our happiness into mourning."An audience of over
a hundred men, women and children from Badin's fishing and farming communities
watched as the actress wiped away her pretend tears. Then they listened,
engrossed, as a singer in traditional Sindhi dress sang about the sufferings of
poor people in the region.The show is the brainchild of the Pakistan Fisherfolk
Forum (PFF), a non-governmental organisation based in Karachi that works for
the social and economic welfare of vulnerable communities.Looking for a way to
help villagers adapt to the effects of extreme weather and flooding, the forum
hit on the idea of putting on plays."We are using theatre as an advocacy
tool to educate people about the adverse impacts of climate change on their
daily lives," said PFF project manager Maria Soomro.
TAPPING LOCAL LANGUAGE AND TRADITION
In a region where the majority of the rural population is
illiterate, theatre is an effective way to communicate new ideas, Soomro
said.Using local language, traditional songs and folklore, the performances aim
to raise awareness about issues such as shortages of water for agriculture,
erratic rainfall, frequent floods and droughts.On the stage in Badin, young
actors told the audience how extreme weather conditions in the province
impacted on their studies."I was a student in seventh grade and I had to
quit my school due to flash floods last year," said Farzana Bangash, 12.
She urged the audience to find ways to mitigate the impact of flooding and
erratic rainfall on their crops.The messages, which began taking to the stage
last year, appear to be getting through.
Farmer Shagufta Bhel said that after watching a show in June
last year, she and her family stopped sowing genetically modified seeds for
their wheat and rice crops, saying they feared they would be less adaptable to
increasingly extreme weather."We have been sowing local seeds instead, and
getting good yield too," she said.According to a recent report by the U.S.-based
World Resources Institute, floods in Pakistan affect 715,000 people each year,
and by 2030 that number could increase to as many as 2.7 million.Annual losses
as a result of river flooding amount to just short of 1 percent of Pakistan's
GDP - about $1.7 billion - the report added."We can't provide food to
everybody affected by floods and droughts in the province but we can definitely
sensitise them to the issues," said the PFF's Soomro.The PFF put on its
first open-air play in June 2014 in Karachi and has since held over 20
performances in rural areas of six districts of Sindh province. Each cast uses
15 volunteers, mostly local people, who get a week of acting training before
they start, Soomro said.
Using its own funding and working in collaboration with other
NGOs, the forum plans to expand its theatre project to other districts of the
province.Experts agree that theatre is an effective tool for making a topic as
complex as climate change more easily understandable and relevant to a wide
audience."The beauty of open-air theatre is that it attracts a large
audience for entertainment and helps convey a critical message in the local
language of the people," said Sarwar Bari, national coordinator of the
Pattan Development Organisation, an NGO in Islamabad.Shafqat Aziz, a food
security expert with Oxfam Novib, the Dutch affiliate of anti-poverty charity
Oxfam, said the plays also help empower people, motivating some to ask
government representatives for policies on issues such as food security and
crop insurance.
"The awareness drives affected communities to a
decision-making position and this is where they try to come up with effective
solutions for tackling climate change," he said.As the 30-minute play came
to an end on the Badin stage, one of the characters, a farmer named Sikandar
Sanam, turned to the audience to talk about seeds. One good adaptation
strategy, he suggested, would be for communities to store the seeds of native
crop varieties."Our local seed varieties of rice and wheat can tolerate
floods and droughts," Sanam said. "So we should form a local seed
bank to preserve our own seeds, shouldn't we?"
The audience shouted in agreement. (Reporting by Aamir Saeed;
editing by Jumana Farouky and Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson
Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers
humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and corruption.
Visit www.trust.org/climate)
Pakistan's climate change
'time bomb' is already ticking
Published: October 20, 2015
PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI: The sprawling
megacity lies crumbling, desiccated by another deadly heatwave, its millions of
inhabitants suffering life-threatening water shortages and unable to buy bread
that has become too expensive to eat.It sounds like the stuff of dystopian
fiction but it could be the reality Pakistan is facing. With its northern
glaciers melting and its population surging — the country’s climate change time
bomb is already ticking.In a nation facing violence and an unprecedented energy
shortage slowing economic growth, the environment is a subject little
discussed.But the warning signs are there, including catastrophic floods which
displaced millions, and a deadly heatwave this summer that killed 1,200
people.Three of the world’s most spectacular mountain ranges intersect in
Pakistan’s north: the Himalayas, the Hindu Khush and the Karakoram, forming the
largest reservoir of ice outside the poles.
The mountain
glaciers feed into the Indus River and its tributaries to irrigate the rest of
the country, winding through the breadbasket of central Punjab and stretching
south to finally merge with the Arabian Sea near Karachi.The future of
Pakistan, a Muslim giant whose population the UN predicts will surge past 300
million people by 2050, can be read in part by the melting of glaciers like
Passu, at the gateway to China.rom its magnificent rocky slopes, the glacial
melt is obvious.“When we would come here 25 years ago, the glacier reached that
rock up there,” explains Javed Akhtar, indicating an area some 500 metres from
the tip of the ice.Akhtar, his face bronzed by the sun, is a villager who has
been employed by a team of glaciologists measuring the impact of climate
change.
Temperatures
in northern Pakistan have increased by 1.9 degrees Celsius in the past century,
authorities say, causing “glof” — glacial lake outburst floods, where the dams
of such lakes abruptly rupture, sending water cascading down the slopes.Today,
thirty glacial lakes are under observation in the north. According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), such mass loss of water is
“projected to accelerate throughout the 21st century, reducing water
availability, hydropower potential, and changing seasonality of flows in
regions supplied by meltwater from major mountain ranges”.In Pakistan, most of
the country is fed by the lush, fertile plains of one such region:
Punjab.Despite its growing population, Pakistan remains self-sufficient in
agricultural terms, largely thanks to the rich Punjabi soil.
But in recent
years the region has seen unprecedented, deadly floods that wipe out millions
of acres of prime farmland. The disasters are caused by monsoon rains, but are
a bellwether for the havoc that melting glaciers could cause, with any
variation in water levels threatening farmers’ crops.“When there is too much
water it’s not good for rice, and when there is not enough, that’s also bad.
And it’s the same for wheat,” says farmer Mohsin Ameen Chattha during a walk
through his family land just outside the Punjabi capital of Lahore.
Surplus
monsoon water is mostly stored in Pakistan’s two large reservoirs, the Tarbela
and the Mangla dams — but, warns Ghulam Rasul, director general of Pakistan’s
meteorological department, the supply would hardly last 30 days.
“That is not
sufficient,” he says.Throughout the rest of the year, farmers rely on the
rivers, primarily the glacier-fed Indus, to irrigate their land.For now, the
production of rice and wheat is still rising.But if the glaciers were to one
day disappear, “we would be totally dependent on the monsoon. And already it
varies,” says Rasul.“All this has an impact on food security” for the country,
he added.If its daily wheat production should no longer suffice, Pakistan would
have to begin importing the grain — driving the price of bread up.
Like the
Indus, the ominous warning signs all culminate around Karachi.The city draws
almost all of its water from the river and already fails to meet even half of
the four billion litres a day its inhabitants require, in part because of its
inadequate pump network and .By 2050 the IPCC predicts a decrease in the
freshwater supply of South Asia, particularly in large river basins such as the
Indus.That means Karachi will somehow have to manage its growing population
with even less water — a population with a significant poverty rate that will
also struggle should food prices rise.“In the long term, it is a huge
challenge,” says Syed Mashkoorul Hasnain of the Karachi Water Company.
To make
matters worse, the meteorologist Rasul predicted changes in atmospheric
pressure over the Arabian Sea that could reduce the breezes that currently
temper the sweltering heat of the port.In June an unprecedented heatwave took
1,200 lives, mostly in poor neighbourhoods of Karachi — heat traps with their
massive concrete buildings, lack of shade, and the absence of aqueducts.Could
it have been a taste of the future? Back on the Passu Glacier, the research
assistant Javed Akhtar is unequivocal.“A calamity is coming,” he warns.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/976105/pakistans-climate-change-time-bomb-is-already-ticking/
Rice:
another dying commodity
October 20, 2015
Shaikh said there are 5 lac tons of un-exported rice in stock, which is losing moisture by the day and losing its value. About the high cost of business, he said that electricity and gas is far more expensive in the region than the neighbouring countries and the supply is also interrupted. Moreover, he lamented that fertilizer in Pakistan is available for Rs2400 per bag, whereas in India the same is Rs800-900. With such high costs, it is increasingly difficult to compete in a market where the prices are already so low."No research has been done since the 70s into developing new varieties," the REAP Vice President added. "Meanwhile, India has developed new varieties that are also cheaper, and has snatched up the International market."Indeed, its a disappointment that most of the Gulf countries, Pakistan used to export its Basmati variety have been lost. REAP has asked the government to provide a $200 per ton subsidy on Basmati rice and $50 per ton subsidy on IRRI-6 to get rid of the surplus stocks and rejuvenate the industry.
http://www.brecorder.com/br-research/44:miscellaneous/5910:rice-another-dying-commodity/Olam International, Other
Rice importers owe Nigeria N44bn – Senate
Chairman of the committee, Senator Adamu Aliero, demanded full
payment of the money owed by the foreign firms, insisting that “Nigeria would
not fold its hands and watch the huge debt swept under the carpet. ”He said: “There is no way the
government will ignore this kind of money. We have to ensure that this money is
collected and deposited into the federation account.”Aliero further claimed
that the comanies imported rice into the country without paying waivers,
off-loaded it into their warehouses and refused to pay required duties when
asked by the Nigeria Customs Service.
He noted with concern that while the Nigeria Customs Service
confronted Stallion Group with payment demand notices, the firm opted to drag
NCS to court.He also accused the company of exceeding the quota given to it to
import 157,000 metric tonnes of rice, saying it imported 457,000 metric tonnes
in excess of its required quota.But while defending the action of his firm,
Executive Director of Stallion Group, Harpreet Singh, claimed that their mission
in Nigeria was to ensure that the country was self-sufficient in rice
production.He also said the firm had planned that the nation is saved from the
global scarcity of the commodity.He also claimed that Nigerian borders were
porous and that former President Goodluck Jonathan granted the approval on
fiscal policy on rice production on May 26, 2014.According to him, the Ministry
of Agriculture opted to flout the tenets of the policy by giving quotas to
“non-existing millers and investors who have no connection with the policy
while existing investors were left blind.”
He claimed further that the Stallion Group’s investments in
Nigeria were not giving jobs to foreigners but to Nigerians.He said his company
had lost millions of Naira to activities of smugglers as a result of porous
borders.Also speaking, Olam, through his spokesperson, Ade Adefeko, claimed
that it had the largest rice farm in Africa and that it has been operating in
Nigeria in the past 35 years.He argued that given its long period of business
operation in Nigeria, the company would not consider short-changing the
nation.According to him, Olam was seeking a legal opinion on the matter, saying
whatever counsel it is given, it will be duly followed.
http://naija247news.com/2015/10/olam-international-other-rice-importers-owe-nigeria-n44bn-senate/
Vietnamese ambassador seeks help from UC
Davis to preserve country’s rice crop
Vietnam’s ambassador to Washington, Pham Quang Vinh, visited the
Sacramento region Tuesday to promote trade and educational exchanges, and to
further his country’s long-standing relationship with UC Davis.Scientists at
the University of California, Davis, have for years assisted Vietnamese
universities and farmers in an effort to sustain the Mekong Delta’s rice basin,
“known for productivity and the quality of rice,” Vinh said. “That area is
suffering because climate change is causing the sea level to rise,” he said
Tuesday.Vinh said he also hopes to tap into the university’s expertise in
biotechnology and engineering.In a wide-ranging conversation hosted by
Sacramento City Councilman Allen Warren, who has been to Vietnam and is hosting
a civic delegation there next month, Vinh said the communist country has
evolved over 20 years of diplomatic relations with the U.S.
“The new Vietnam is very dynamic,” Vinh said. “More than half the
population is under 30, 40 percent of the 91 million people have Internet, 28
percent are on social media and there are 128 million mobile phones, so some
people have two.” A decade ago, he said, nearly a third of Vietnamese lived in
poverty – now it’s down to 4.5 percent, and per capita income has risen from
about $200 a year to $2,000.The Sacramento region’s roughly 32,000 Vietnamese
Americans include many who fled communism after the fall of Saigon 40 years ago
and remain critical of Vietnam’s human rights record. They still use the name
Saigon for Ho Chi Minh City, and some are pressing for the day when there are
free, multiparty elections and freedom of speech and dissent.Vinh acknowledged
those sentiments, but insisted things are improving. “We have a one-party
system, that’s a fact, but we have a constitution and everybody’s equal before
the law.”There are more than 17,000 Vietnamese students studying at U.S.
universities, including more than 5,000 in California and hundreds at UC Davis,
Vinh said.
And the doors of trade are
opening wider. In 2012-13, Vietnam imported $333 million worth of agricultural
products from California, and in 2014, California exported $1.2 billion in
manufactured goods to Vietnam.On Tuesday, Vinh met with about 75 students and
faculty at UC Davis, many of them Vietnamese. He fielded questions about why
some U.S. investors are having problems doing business in Vietnam. He cited as
progress the state’s move earlier this year to allow foreign companies to own
100 percent of the equity in Vietnamese firms.“Vietnam has always been a little
bit sensitive around Vietnamese American populations, not knowing what it will
encounter, and this is the first time an ambassador from Vietnam has visited a
California university and extended himself to students,” said Kieu-Linh
Caroline Valverde, an associate professor of Asian American Studies at UC
Davis, who hosted the meeting. “He said they can help Vietnam create a better
future.
”More than 40 professors from Vietnam have already come to UCD
under a program funded through the Vietnamese government, said Jim Hill,
associate dean emeritus of International Programs for the College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and a rice researcher. About 20 or more
UC Davis professors and academic scholars have spent time helping at Vietnam National
University of Agriculture, Nong Lam University and other schools, he
said.Warren said he extended the invitation to Vinh, who was making his first
trip to the Sacramento region, to promote the area as a place to invest and
visit.“We’re an international city, one of the most diverse in the country,”
Warren said.
The next step will be to encourage Vietnamese to invest in
Sacramento, said Chris Worden, vice president of public policy at the
Sacramento Metro Chamber, who attended a meeting with the ambassador and Warren
at Sacramento City Hall. “It will take some additional steps to get large
direct foreign investment from Vietnam, but we are sprinting forward to get the
pieces in place,” Worden said. “A vibrant Vietnamese community locally coupled
with continued investment from other Southeast Asian nations are key factors in
our economic development.”Accompanied by his wife and diplomatic staff, Vinh
also visited city officials in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He plans to meet
with Gov. Jerry Brown in San Francisco on Wednesday.
From Actress to Cookbook Author: The
Lives of Madhur Jaffrey
By MICHELE KAYAL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Madhur Jaffrey is known to
Americans — when she is known at all — as an author of Indian cookbooks. And
with good reason: she has written more than two dozen of them.But that's just
the start. The woman often called "the Julia Child of Indian cookery" was born
in Delhi, India, and came to the United States in the late 1950s, eventually
landing among the New York glitterati. She started her career as an actress —
something she continues to do — but soon found herself deeply rooted in the
world of food. She has hosted cooking shows both here and in Britain, and
helped launch the renowned New York Indian restaurant Dawat.Now 82, her newest
book, "Vegetarian India: A Journey Through the Best of Indian Home
Cooking," will be released in October. We took the opportunity to talk
with her about acting, her start in food, and her pivotal friendship with
filmmakers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. The conversation has been edited
for clarity and length.Associated Press: What was the impetus for
"Vegetarian India?" Why this book and why now?
Madhur Jaffrey: I've never done a
book that's all Indian and all vegetarian. There are many areas of India that I
don't know and many cuisines I don't know, and I thought this would be a good
way to learn about the cuisines I don't know anything about.AP: When you came to
the United States in the late 1950s, you landed first in Vermont, where you
taught pantomime, correct? How did that happen?
Jaffrey: I needed a job. I was in
the theater and was very kindly employed by the Catholic University theater
team. They said "Why don't you come in the summer and work with our summer
stock company," which used to live in Winooski, Vermont. I joined the
company to do odd jobs with them. And get a visa. It was a technical way of
coming.
AP: And from there you went to
New York City. What were you hoping to find there?
Jaffrey: The theater brought me
to New York. (My first husband) Saeed (Jaffrey) also studied at Catholic. He
graduated and came to New York and I came with him. I was working as a guide at
the U.N. at the time, and doing theater in the Village. We were doing
off-Broadway. The way I could stay was to have a visa by working at the U.N.
Then I could do theater, for which I was earning something like $10 a week.
AP: You and Saeed also introduced
Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, the famous film duo. How did that come about?
Jaffrey: We were the only Indian
actors in town at that time. Ivory had just done his first film — it was a
short film — called "The Sword and the Flute," about Indian miniature
paintings. And he needed someone to narrate that. He went to see (Saeed's) play
and asked him to do it. That's how Saeed brought him home for the first time.
We all became very good friends.
Around the same time, Ismail
Merchant was here, studying at (New York University) business school. He met us
because he had dreams of doing theater, films, anything. He just wanted to be
famous. He wasn't sure how he was going to be famous, but it was going to be in
the world of film and theater. His first idea was to get an Indian dancer and
have her perform at Radio City Music Hall.
His dreams were so big. And to us
ridiculous. But to him, everything was achievable. He brought that spirit of
great adventure and far-sightedness to our little group.
AP: I imagine the Indian
community in New York was very small at that time. Did everyone know each
other? What was it like?
Jaffrey: All those (Indians) who
came were doctors and statisticians and engineers. America wasn't taking people
who weren't these things because that wasn't what was needed. We were very
rare, these people in the arts. We knew all the people in the arts because
that's where our interest lay. We knew the Indians who were around and other
people who were actors but weren't Indians. It was an intellectual bookish,
artish world.
AP: Were you fully embraced by
the non-Indian art scene?
Jaffrey: As curiosities, yes. But
as somebody to give work to, no. It was very hard to get work. That's why we
needed other jobs, all of us. I am in the art world; I have one daughter who's
an actress, one who is a writer. The actress daughter has the same problem I
did. But she is two steps ahead. Indians now are more in shows. People are
writing more parts for Indians and they can play non-Indians. In "House of
Cards," my daughter played a Latino. (In my time) they never thought of us
as secretaries or lawyers. We were just Indians, and they were always the
shieky types. They came vaguely from the Middle East.
AP: What do you make of Mindy Kaling
and Aziz Ansari and Indians on Pizza Hut commercials?
Jaffrey: It's changing. This new
generation is getting much more work. My daughter's generation and her friends
— all of these people you mention — she knows all these people because they've
all been at it together for a long time.
Jaffrey: Everybody dreams of
saying "Thank you so much for the Academy Award." But I left India
with dreams of being another Marlon Brando. I adored his method of acting and I
adored him. I had met him in India when he was passing through. I thought,
"I want to have that intensity, that depth." That you go into a part
and you really find it inside you, and it comes out in this glorious rich form
that it did with Marlon Brando. But there wasn't the opportunity. There just
wasn't.
AP: How and why did you
transition from theater to cooking?
Jaffrey: I said, "What else
could I do to make money?" (I was getting divorced.) I had three little
kids. I had no future. English literature was my major in college. I could
write. I started writing about any subject that they wanted. Then one day,
Holiday Magazine, which was a big magazine at that time, hired me to do a story
about what I ate as a child in India. I did the story.
I had just done the
(Merchant-Ivory) film "Shakespeare Wallah," so my name was about.
Then (New York Times food editor) Craig Claiborne did an article about me. That
was Ismail's doing. He had the ability to get to know anybody he wanted. He
must have walked up to him at some point and said, "You must do an article
about this woman who appears in my wonderful film." After that story things
took off.
AP: You've published roughly 30
cookbooks. But you've never really stopped acting. You've appeared in film,
television, on stage, and you're still acting today. Are you an actor who
cooks, or a cook who acts?
Jaffrey: I always say, "I'm
an actress who cooks." I see myself as an actress.
AP: How do you think others see
you?
Jaffrey: Totally differently.
Some people say, "Oh you still act?" They're not aware of that aspect
of my life.
———
BERRY PILAF
"The restaurant where this
pilaf is served has been in existence since 1923. It is a Bombay
landmark," Madhur Jaffrey writes in her new cookbook, "Vegetarian
India." ''The berry used here is the tiny Iranian barberry, or zareshk,
sold by Indian and Persian grocers. If you cannot find it, use dried
cranberries. The final flavors are sweet and sour."
Start to finish: 4 hours (30 minutes active)
Servings: 6
2 cups basmati rice
1 teaspoon saffron threads
3 tablespoons sugar, divided
3 tablespoons very hot milk
About 1/2 cup barberries or dried cranberries
3 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and halved lengthwise, then sliced
into fine half rings
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
5 cardamom pods
2 1/2-inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
3 cloves
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Wash the rice in several changes of water. Put in a bowl, cover
generously with water, then set aside to soak for 3 hours.
Meanwhile, in a mortar and pestle, combine the saffron and 1
tablespoon of the sugar. Pound together to create a fine powder. Transfer to a
small bowl, then stir in the hot milk. Set aside for 3 hours.
Toward the end of the 3 hours, rinse the berries several times,
then leave to soak in water for 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
In a medium skillet over medium-high, heat the oil. When the oil
is hot, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until they start to brown.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until they are reddish
brown. Add the drained berries and the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Stir once
or twice, then remove from the heat.
Heat the oven to 325 F.
Bring about 10 cups of water to a boil. Add the salt, cardamom
pods, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and cloves. Stir once, then add the rice. Let it
cook in the boiling water for about 5 minutes, or until it is three-quarters
cooked but still has a thin, hard core. Drain in a colander.
Working quickly now, spread 1 tablespoon of the melted butter in
a medium baking dish. Spread half the rice over it. Spread another tablespoon
of the butter, plus half the saffron mixture and half the onion-berry mixture
and some of its oil on top of the rice. Spread the remaining rice on top of the
first layer. Pour the remaining tablespoon of butter over it, followed by the
remaining saffron mixture and onion-berry mixture.
Cover tightly with foil and a lid and bake in the oven for 30
minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Toss the
rice gently to mix before serving.
Nutrition information per serving: 410 calories; 110 calories
from fat (27 percent of total calories); 13 g fat (4.5 g saturated; 0 g trans
fats); 15 mg cholesterol; 170 mg sodium; 68 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 12 g
sugar; 6 g protein.
(Recipe adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's "Vegetarian
India," Knopf, 2015)
Abc News
Festive fare, anybody?
Try these
delicious easy-to-prepare recipes
Moong Dal Khichuri
Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup split moon dal (yellow)
1/2 inch-piece cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2-3 green cardamom
3-4 cloves
A pinch of asafoetida
1 potato
1/4cup green peas
1 tomato
1/4 cup cauliflower florets
2 tspn ginger paste
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn red chilli powder
2 green chillies slit
1/2 tspn cumin seeds
Salt to taste
Ghee for cooking
Method:
Wash and soak rice and dal separately for half an hour. Heat
ghee in a pressure cooker; add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and
sauté for a few seconds. Add asafoetida.
Add cumin seeds and let them crackle.
Add ginger paste, green chillies, turmeric and red chilli
powder. Add a few drops of water, vegetables and salt. Saute for a few minutes.
Now add rice and dal and sauté for a minute. Add water till it’s
half an inch above the rice-dal mixture. Pressure-cook for three whistles or
till soft and cooked well.
Tomato Chutney
Ingredients:
3 tomatoes chopped
4-5 dates (deseeded)
1tspn mustard seeds
2 dry red chillies
50 gms jaggery powder
1 tspn ginger paste
2 tspn raisins
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking
Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to crackle.
Now add red chillies and salt.
Add chopped tomatoes, dates and raisins, and cook till they are
soft and done.
Dates should merge well with the tomatoes.
Add ginger paste and mix. Now add jaggery, cook on a low flame
till the jaggery is melted and chutney comes together.
Baingan Bhaja
Ingredients:
1 big brinjal
1 tbspn turmeric powder
1 tbspn red chilli powder
2-3 tbspn mustard oil
2 tbspn lemon juice
Salt to taste
Method:
Cut brinjal into medium slices (round). Use a fork and punch a
few holes. Take some mustard oil in a bowl, add turmeric powder, red chilli
powder, salt and lemon juice and make a marinate paste. Smear the marinade
generously over the brinjal slices. Heat a non-stick tava or a griddle. Add a
few drops of mustard oil. Place these marinated brinjal slices, cover them with
a plate and cook over a low flame for 3-4 minutes or till brown and crisp on
one side. Flip these and let the other side cook. Serve hot.
Payesh
Ingredients:
1 cup any fragrant rice
6 cups milk
2 cups coconut milk
2 tbspn chopped nuts
2 cups sugar (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup jaggery powder
2-3 green cardamom
1 bay leaf
Method:
Wash rice and keep aside. Boil milk. When the milk stars to
boil, add rice. Stir continuously and check if rice is cooked. When the rice is
almost done, add sugar and jaggery. Keep stirring continuously to avoid
sticking at the bottom of the pan. Add chopped nuts, cardamom and bay leaf.
When the payesh is ready, transfer into a bowl and refrigerate for a few hours.
Serve chilled garnished with coconut crust.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Food/festive-fare-anybody/article7784971.ece
U.S. Rice Takes Center Stage at Food Service Show in
Mexico
At the USA Rice workshop
with
Chef Alejandro Espinosa (in black)
PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO -- Earlier this month, USA Rice was a
sponsor of Vallarta-Nayarit Gastronomica, a premier trade show here that
attracts gastronomic personalities from all over Mexico as well as top
international chefs. These food service
professionals gather to participate in live cooking shows and specialized
workshops, and to propose culinary innovations for their peers at culinary
institutions throughout Mexico.
Many of the chefs used U.S.
rice during their cooking demonstrations before a foodservice audience of more
than 1,200. Chef Jorge Jurado from
Panama used U.S. parboiled rice as the main ingredient in the dishes he
prepared on stage as well as in the Panama booth in the exhibition area of the
event. Two renowned Spanish chefs,
Michelin Star Chef Kisko Garcia, and Chef Eva Millán, discussed the importance
of using U.S. rice in restaurants and hotels citing its versatility.
USA Rice offered specialized
rice workshops conducted by Chef Alejandro Espinosa who has vast experience
cooking rice in some of the top restaurants and hotels around the world.
"Rice is extremely
versatile and has great profit margins for a variety of dishes," said Chef
Espinosa. "We prefer parboiled rice
in the foodservice sector and are very supportive of the use of the Authentic
American seal to signal the high quality of the product."
USA Rice regularly
participates in trade shows throughout Mexico to showcase U.S. rice to a wider
audience, gather new trade contacts, and learn about new food trends.
Contact: Sarah Moran (703)
236-1457
CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures
|
With organic rice in demand, scientists
to help farmers improve production
October 20, 2015
Organic rice is
increasingly desired by U.S. consumers, but farmers know that growing the grain
chemically free can mean providing a feast for insects, diseases and weeds. Now
a multi-state team of scientists with a track record of battling pests is
working toward the goal of making organic rice profitable for farmers and more
available for consumers.
Dr. Shane Zhou is leading a $1 million study on organic rice
farming.
Credit: Kathleen Phillips
Organic rice is increasingly desired by U.S. consumers, but
farmers know that growing the grain chemically free can mean providing a feast
for insects, diseases and weeds.
That's
why the U.S. Department of Agriculture has put $1 million on a multi-state team
of scientists with a track record of battling pests toward the goal of making
organic rice profitable for farmers and more available for consumers. The grant
also establishes the first Center of Excellence for organic rice research in
the U.S.
"Organic
rice is important to the U.S., and most of the organic rice acreage is located
in the southern growing region and California," said Dr. Xin-Gen
"Shane"" Zhou, Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist
in Beaumont and project leader. "Organic rice acreage has increased to
about 50,000 acres in the nation. In contrast, conventional rice acreage is on
the decline.
"The
organic market is growing, but U.S. farmers have not been able to keep up with
the demand domestically."
While
the price farmers receive for organic rice is nearly double what they get for
conventionally grown rice, Zhou said, producing an adequate yield of quality
rice organically is challenging.
"Very
little research has been done on organic rice, and organic studies on other
crops do not apply to rice because -- unlike other crops -- most of it is grown
in flooded fields," he said. "That subjects rice to a different
spectrum of disease, weeds and insect pests than dryland or irrigated
crops."
Informal
surveys to identify the issues affecting organic rice production were conducted
in California, South Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, he said, along
with field days, workshops and meetings with farmers, millers and end-users.
This helped the scientists identify nutrient management, pest control and rice
varieties as the main needs to make organic rice production economically
viable.
The
team on the three-year study includes plant pathologists, breeders, crop
nutrient managers, economists, weed scientists, entomologists and outreach
specialists from Texas, Arkansas and Washington, D.C. Research on organic rice
has been in progress at the AgriLife Research facility in Beaumont for at least
five years, Zhou said, and results from those studies, along with some from
other areas, will be parlayed into the new study.
"We
developed this new proposal to further develop profitable methods for organic
rice farmers," he said. "We surveyed organic farmers and found the
major issues were weed control, nitrogen supply and stand establishment. In
organic rice systems, we are not supposed to use any herbicides, chemical
fertilizers, fungicides or insecticides, so that definitely causes a lot of
stress for the organic farmers."
For
example, farmers would like to use less nitrogen fertilizer, because organic
fertilizers are much more expensive compared to conventional fertilizers. But
applying organic nitrogen improperly can give the weeds a chance to grow and
compete with rice plants, he explained.
Also,
diseases not commonly found in conventional rice are more severe in the organic
rice, Zhou added.
The
research farm at Beaumont is suitable for the study, Zhou noted, because it met
the criteria to be certified organic in 2012 and has been maintained as such
since. The facility also houses a collection of rice cultivars and breeding
lines from around the world that may be useful in finding the best varieties
for organic production.
Zhou
said the team plans to develop a strategy for organic rice production by the completion
of the research and will develop a web-based economic analysis tool with
interactive budgets to help farmers make decisions for their own organic rice
production. They also will have on-farm demonstration trials in Texas,
Missouri, Florida and South Carolina.
"We
will have direct connection with organic rice farmers to show them what kind of
management practices or tools they can use for managing pests and for yield
increase," Zhou said.
"Rice
is important to the world, and the acreage devoted to rice is really too small
in the U.S. compared to the rice acreage in other countries. That's why the
potential impact of this project is so important."
http://phys.org/news/2015-10-rice-demand-scientists-farmers-production.html?utm_source=USA+Rice+Daily%2C+October+20%2C+2015&utm_campaign=Friday%2C+December+13%2C+2013&utm_medium=email
In Mauritius, Gourmet
Rice Points to a Brighter Future
Michael
Teig Rountree, whose family has farmed sugar on Mauritius since the early 19th
century, has started growing Mighty Rice on the plantation. CreditChristopher
F. Schuetze
RIVIÈRE DES ANGUILLES, Mauritius
— In tropical Mauritius, where the change of seasons is muted, the blooming
sugar cane flower is a sure indicator of the beginning of another autumn.The
sugar cane and its seasonal fireworks — a sudden explosion of dusty color just
above the 3-meter-high, or 10-foot-high, cane — have been a big part of island
life since the 17th century. Dutch colonizers started growing sugar cane for
the production of arrack, a strong, clear, distilled liquor they had discovered
in Southeast Asia.Sugar became the island’s biggest industry — first as raw
material for distillers, then as a commodity shipped around the world. Even
into the 1970s, sugar represented roughly 95 percent of Mauritian gross
domestic product, and cane was grown on a third of the island’s land.But fierce
global competition, the rise of new cane-growing superpowers — China, Pakistan
and Brazil — and waning preferred treatment from the European market have taken
their toll on sugar prices. Although still grown on about a fourth of the
island, sugar this year will represent only about 1 percent of the island’s
G.D.P.
Photo
A
sugar field owned by Medine, whose diversification efforts include growing
vegetables for local consumption. CreditChristopher
F. Schuetze
This perfect storm is leading
sugar cane farmers here to look for ways to shore up their income, and their
future. While some smaller farmers have simply abandoned their land, larger
commercial farms are starting to look for alternatives — from tourism to real
estate sales to, increasingly, higher-value crops that can be sold around the
world at premium prices.“No one is talking about giving up sugar,” said Michael
Teig Rountree, who runs Bel Air, a 390-hectare, or 965-acre, sugar farm that
has been in his family since his ancestors emigrated from Ireland in the early
19th century. “Sugar cane has had its ups and downs. But it’s quite different
this time.
”Having tried livestock feeds
like alfalfa, soybeans and corn, Mr. Rountree, whose farm sits on the lush
southern side of the island, stumbled on something promising: a premium rice,
destined for health-conscious and well-off consumers in Europe and the United
States.While Mighty Rice, as it is called, was developed by cross-pollination
in Bangladesh, its slick black-and-white packaging exalts the volcanic soil and
rain-fed streams of Mauritius — marketing the benefits of the place it is grown
as much as the food.The rice, which is grown on dry land and so can be easily
integrated into traditional farms, yields between four and six tons per hectare
at a fixed price to farmers of $800 per ton, earning them as much as $4,800 per
hectare. Sugar, by contrast, has an average yield of eight tons per hectare.
At this year’s price of $360 a ton, that comes
to $2,880 per hectare.The retail price for Mighty Rice is higher as well. On
the shelves of the California supermarket chain Raley’s, a 15-ounce bag sells
for $4.99, which is seven to eight times more than the price for the same
quantity of white cane sugar in the same store.“When we started growing rice
here, the people thought we were insane,” said Herman Suhirman of Vita Rice, a
Mauritian company that started growing Mighty Rice in 2009 on its own
400-hectare farm, which was formerly the site of a state-owned sugar farm. This
year’s harvest will be his third to be available commercially, and already there
are early signs of success. The company has produced 1,470 tons of rice in one
year and is poised to sell some 40,000 15-ounce bags in the United States — so
far its main export market.
The rice carries a certification
guaranteeing that it is not genetically modified and free of arsenic — the
latter a potential contaminate in other commercially available rice.While the rice is not yet certified
as organic, Mauritian rice farmers are taking no chances, fertilizing their
fields with molasses to avoid anything that could affect the end product.“We
are looking for soft options” for pest control and fertilization, said Bill
Hoare, an Australian who runs Vita Rice’s rice farm. “It’s cheaper and it’s
better for the rice.”=Premium rice is just one of the products farmers around
the world are using to replace commodity crops, said Luis A. Ribera, a
professor in the Department of Agriculture at Texas A&M University. The
state of Tamaulipas in Mexico, for example, has all but abandoned dry hay, corn
and other row crops for irrigated vegetables destined for supermarket shelves
in the United States. In some cases vegetables replacing row crops or cane in
Central and South America are grown organically and sold at a premium.
“As crop land is reducing,
population is increasing and purchasing power from both developed and
developing countries is on the rise, more and more emphasis is given to
demand-driven production,” Mr. Ribera wrote in an email.Sophie Desvaux de
Marigny, the head of communication at Medine, once one of the largest
commercial sugar plantations in Mauritius, agreed. When a case brought to the
World Trade Organization in 2004 first threatened the guaranteed price of
Mauritian sugar on the European market, Medine, which owns farmland covering 5
percent of the island, decided to revamp its business, establishing separate
property and leisure clusters and detailing a 25-year master plan.Although
Medine’s sugar and rum are still exported — the company is even actively
reclaiming fallow land to expand its agriculture division — it now grows
vegetables for local consumption, rents out office space, runs a resort village
and attracts international tourists to its nature safari park.
“At this point you want to
produce something value-added,” Ms. Desvaux de Marigny said.The Mauritius Sugar
Syndicate, which represents local sugar growers and millers abroad, has
invested in marketing so-called special sugars — various shades and grain sizes
of brown cane sugar — that can be sold directly to consumers and commands a
premium price.Lately the syndicate has been promoting Fairtrade sugar, of which
it hopes to export 40,000 tons next year, a little less than 10 percent of all
Mauritian sugar sold abroad. “The next phase is goingto be all about
sustainability,” said Devesh Dukhira, who runs the syndicate.Now in his second
year of growing Mighty Rice, Mr. Rountree has planted about 63 hectares of the
crop on his farm. The rice, which stands no taller than half a meter when fully
mature, is dwarfed by the surrounding cane, but it allows the passer-by to look
out past the field to palm trees, mountains and the light-blue Indian
Ocean.Remarking how nice such a view must appear to tourists, Mr. Rountree
said: “It’s almost as if the rice is a solution for problems we didn’t even
know we had.http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/business/energy-environment/in-mauritius-gourmet-rice-points-to-a-brighter-future.html?_r=0&utm_source=USA+Rice+Daily%2C+October+20%2C+2015&utm_campaign=Friday%2C+December+13%2C+2013&utm_medium=email
New deal resumes rice exports to China
Tue,
20 October 2015
Cambodia inked a new deal last week to export 100,000 tonnes of
rice to China, according to local state media AKP.The new rice quota, which
will begin in early 2016, was announced on the sidelines of Prime Minister Hun
Sen’s visit to China last week.The deal comes six months after the Ministry of
Commerce expressed interest in April to double its rice shipments to China from
100,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes.
Tuesday, 20 October 2015 11:59
Posted by Parvez Jabri
MANILA: The Philippines could be
forced to import more rice after Typhoon Koppu hit major grain producing
regions over the weekend causing "significant" losses, a senior
agriculture official said on Tuesday.Official preliminary estimates on losses
stood at around 412,000 tonnes of paddy rice, accounting for about 5 percent of
the government's forecast fourth quarter harvest of 7.95 million tonnes. A
final figure is expected in around a week."If you ask me if we need to
import more, I would say 'yes', but up to what volume and when, I don't
know," Edilberto de Luna, Department of Agriculture assistant secretary
for field operations, told Reuters on Tuesday."This is a significant volume
because the typhoon hit our major rice-producing provinces."Powerful
typhoon Koppu ploughed into the northeastern Philippines before dawn on Sunday
destroying homes and displacing thousands of people.
The Southeast Asian country remains
one of the world's biggest buyers of rice, with imports approved for delivery
this year reaching nearly 1.8 million tonnes, mainly from Vietnam and some from
Thailand, two of the world's top suppliers.Prior to the typhoon, the country's
National Food Authority Council had already been assessing the need to import 1
million tonnes of rice next year on top of 500,000 tonnes approved for the
first quarter.The typhoon losses add to those from a dry spell induced by the
El Nino weather phenomenon, forecast to intensify this quarter and extend until
the second quarter of 2016.
Rice output in the third quarter
was likely slightly lower than initially projected due to the dry spell, pest
attack and typhoons, while stocks had shrunk steadily for four straight months
starting May.But de Luna said that rains brought by Koppu had filled up
water-starved dams, which should allow rice farmers to begin planting soon
without worrying too much about water access.
Total crop losses from the typhoon,
including those for rice, corn and other crops, were initially valued at 6.3
billion pesos ($137 million), he said.Corn losses were "minimal" at
about 5,000 tonnes because harvesting was finished before Koppu's arrival, de
Luna added.
http://www.brecorder.com/world/global-business-a-economy/257735-philippines-may-import-more-rice-after-typhoon-damages-crops.html
Philippines says
'significant' rice losses from Typhoon Koppu
MANILA - Around 412,000 tonnes of unmilled rice that has yet to
be harvested may have been damaged by Typhoon Koppu when it hit the
Philippines' major grain producing regions during the weekend, a senior
agriculture official told Reuters on Tuesday. The initial estimate on rice crop losses was a "significant"volume
and may prompt food security authorities to import more of the staple food,
said Edilberto De Luna, Department of Agriculture assistant secretary for field
operations.
That accounts for about 5 percent of the government's forecast
for total paddy rice output of 7.95 million tonnes for the December quarter,
based on its July survey of farmers'planting intentions.
http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/philippines-says-significant-rice-losses-typhoon-koppu#sthash.teFaaJVv.dpuf
SunRice guarantee to growers
THE WEEKLY TIMES
OCTOBER 21, 2015 12:00AM
Rice price promise: SunRice announce price guarantee for the first
time since drought amid low Riverina water allocations. Picture: Andy Rogers
SUNRICE has
announced an upfront guaranteed price for this year’s rice crop amid concerns
about water allocations in the NSW Riverina.The company said last week it would
pay growers $415 a tonne for reiziq rice, $545 for koshihikari and up to $655
for organic rice for the 2016 crop, which is currently being sown.It is the
first time since the drought years of 2008-10 that SunRice has guaranteed a
price before planting.Farmers don’t normally have an indicative price but
receive the first pool estimates and partial payment in about April when they
harvest.SunRice chairman and Moulamein grower Laurie Arthur said the price
guarantee was made after a “crisis of confidence” among rice growers last month
because of low water allocations for the main rice-growing regions.The NSW
Government last week said the Riverina’s Murray Valley general security water
allocation would increase from 6 to 12 per cent and the Murrumbidgee Valley
allocation from 27 to 29 per cent.
Mr Arthur said
SunRice decided to offer a strong price guarantee to “give our growers the
confidence to plant”.Rice Growers Association president Jeremy Morton said
members wanted certainty about their rice price.“Allocations are low and some
(growers) will have to go to the temporary market to supplement their water,”
Mr Morton said.He said the announcement would give growers confidence to plant
rice before the end of the sowing window in about four weeks.
Jasmine fragrant rice to be developed as
Vietnam’s national rice brand
VietNamNet Bridge - The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has decided
that Jasmine, a type of fragrant rice, will be developed into the country’s
national rice brand.
Vietnam is well known as one of the largest rice
exporters in the world which mostly exports low- and medium-end rice at low
prices. Vietnamese farmers grow rice of different varieties. Harvested
rice is sold by farmers to merchants, who buy rice from different sources, then
mix the rice before selling to food companies for export.However, VFA has
decided to develop Jasmine, a high-quality fragrant rice variety into the
nation’s rice brand. VFA’s chair Huynh The Nang said it would be not an
easy task to build up a national rice brand. However, when considering the
structure of the rice exports in the last few years, VFA recognized that the
fragrant exports account for an increasingly high proportion of total exports.Eight
years ago, fragrant rice just accounted for 3 percent of total rice exports.
However, the figure soared to 26 percent in the first
nine months of the year.VFA believes that developing an existing fragrant rice
variety into the national brand is the best way for Vietnam to increase its brand
recognition in the world market. Jasmine is the best choice among fragrant rice
varieties.According to Nang, Vietnam previously could sell fragrant rice at
$460 per ton, but the price has been increasing rapidly recently. Vietnamese
exporters now can sell fragrant rice at $600 per ton.However, Nang admitted
that it would take a long time to turn the idea into reality, though Vietnam’s
Jasmine rice is very delicious and has high quality.In order to make fragrant
rice for export, Vietnam would have to organize production on a large scale,
and cannot rely on farmers’ small-scale cultivation.
Nang, who is also the general director of the Southern
Food Corporation (Vinafood 2), one of two of Vietnam’s largest rice exporters,
said Vinafood 2 is planning to join forces with some other enterprises to
organize the fragrant rice production in accordance with the large-field model
for export.Some days ago, sources said Vinafood 2 was considering teaming up
with Loc Troi Group, formerly the An Giang Plant Protection JSC, to implement
the project.Nguyen Trong Thua, a senior official from the agriculture ministry,
said a lot of work would need to be done to develop the nation’s rice brand,
from choosing varieties to organizing production, harvesting, processing and
preservation.Vietnam began exporting rice in 1989, but it still does not have a
national brand, which is believed to be the reason why the country’s rice is
inferior to exports from other countries in importers’ eyes.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/143662/jasmine-fragrant-rice-to-be-developed-as-vietnam-s-national-rice-brand.html
Rice quality key to export growt
|
|
HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam's rice exports have seen positive
growth in the first quarter of 2015, but production needs to be restructured
with rise in quality of trading and reputation, said experts.They said the
demand for traditional rice export markets of Viet Nam has seen a recovery,
such as a contract to export 450,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines.
Huynh Minh Hue, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Food Association,
said Viet Nam has signed commercial contracts to export 1.3 million tonnes of
rice and centralised contracts on shipping 1.5 million tonnes of rice in six
months.However, Le Thanh Khiem, deputy director of the Tien Giang Food Company,
said Viet Nam should focus on increasing the quality of exported rice rather
than the volume to enter the high value export markets such as Europe and Japan
that place high demand on quality for imported rice, Vietnamplus reported.Meanwhile,
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said Viet Nam's export
quality rice still expects traditional and centralised export markets.
The agricultural sector needs to restructure production and
business of rice to improve product quality and build a trademark. These
actions will help local rice producers and traders to avoid losses when the
demand for imported rice drop.Vo Thanh Do, deputy head of the Department of
Processing and Trade for Agro-forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt, said Viet
Nam has more than 200 medium- and large-scale enterprises exporting rice, but
Vietnamese rice is rated among the medium and low segments on the world market.
The nation has seen low volume in exports of high export quality rice.
In addition, while Viet Nam is one of the top three rice exporters
on the world, the nation has not seen a national rice brand name so far, Do
said, while Thailand and India have had many export quality rice products with
national brand names.Moreover, Viet Nam has not chosen rice varieties for
stable development in the long term, Khiem said. Most of Vietnamese rice
varieties were developed in the short term and then were degraded.Therefore,
Viet Nam's rice need to face strong competition in quality and brand names with
potential rivals such as Cambodia, Myanmar and the United States.Nguyen Duc
Thanh, director of the Viet Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research
(VEPR), said if Viet Nam focusses on the easy markets, the nation will reduce
its quality standards in production and export of rice.
The competitive ability of Vietnamese export quality rice will
reduce more and more on the global market.When free trade agreements with
foreign partners come into effect in the future, Viet Nam's rice industry will
not have the power to change its quality to gain any advantage from the
agreements.So, Viet Nam needs to restructure its rice production and business
right now. The restructuring could bring rice output down but strongly raise
the value and brand name of Vietnamese rice in the future, Thanh said.The prime
minister has approved a plan for the development of Viet Nam's rice brand by
2020 onwards to 2030. Under the plan, Viet Nam will have a brand name for 20
per cent of its national total rice export volume by 2020 and be a part of the
global value chain. The percentage will increase to 50 per cent in 2030.According
to the VFA report, Viet Nam shipped over 4.3 million tonnes of rice worth
US$1.95 billion abroad till September 2015, down 9.12 per cent in terms of
volume and 14.3 per cent in value compared to the same period last year. — VNS
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/277320/rice-quality-key-to-export-growth.html
State U, partners
push aerobic rice farming
technology
October 20, 2015
KORONADAL
CITY, South Cotabato, Oct 20 (PIA) —
Government-run Sultan Kudarat State University based in Tacurong City is advancing the adoption of aerobic rice technology, a production system that is appropriate in areas with insufficient water supply. Aerobic
rice, according to the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is “a
production system where rice
is
grown in well-drained, non-puddled, and non-saturated soils. Water requirements
can be lowered by reducing water losses due to seepage, percolation, and
evaporation.” Dr. Ruby Hechanova,
director for research and development of
SKSU told Philippine Information Agency that aerobic rice
technology “could help address
the problems of farmers regarding
climate change such as El Nino” because it requires
minimum amount of water. “Unlike
in conventional farming where rice paddies should be submerged in
water, in aerobic rice technology
rice can be grown even with only 10 percent soil moisture,” Dr. Hechanova said.
According
to the Rice Knowledge Bank of IRRI, said
farming system is suitable
in “areas where the land is flat and where
rainfall with or without supplemental irrigation is sufficient to
frequently being the soil water close to field capacity…”
It is
also fit in upper slopes or terraces in undulating, rainfed lowland and
water-short irrigated farms.Hechanova added that aerobic rice researches conducted in
rice fields at the tail-end of irrigations
systems in some parts of Luzon showed positive results. In 2014, she said, SKSU started
testing the aerobic rice technology in the towns of Quirino and
Lutayan and Tacurong City, all in Sultan
Kudarat province. “With appropriate
management, yield from aerobic
rice is comparable to that from conventional farming,” she said. Aerobic
rice technology is highlighted in 3rd Aerobic Rice National
Conference at the Sarangani Highlands in
General Santos City from October 20 -
23. The event highlights updates on aerobic
rice technology and other potential water-saving technologies for
rice production.
Paper
presentations cover aerobic rice
technology and related research and
development activities from leading institutions such as
Bataan Peninsula State University, Bulacan Agricultural State College,
International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Isabela
State University and others. It is also an opportunity for sharing of good practices on aerobic rice production. The 3rd Aerobic Rice National
Conference is supported by IRRI, ICRISAT, Department of Agriculture,
Bureau of Agricultural Research, Bureau of Soils and Water Management,
Philippine Rice Research Institute and the aforementioned state schools. Participants include academicians, researchers, farmers,
and representatives of government and
nongovernment organizations. (DEDoguiles-PIA
12)
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1611445302179/state-u-partners-push-aerobic-rice-farming-technology-#sthash.hhXhAJRf.dpuf
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