Today Rice News Headlines...
·
Sugar and Rice
·
Special report: The future of Pakistan-Iran
relations
·
New rice research may usher in next wave of
‘green revolution’
·
Sugar and Rice - Landline – ABC
·
Rice export to commence by 2019
·
India may export 10 lakh tonnes rice to
Indonesia, valued at Rs 3300 crore
·
PH 3rd biggest rice importer this year
·
Sunny weather is bad news for rice farmers
·
Cayetano assures of free irrigation systems for
major rice producing provinces
·
A paddy glut of 200,000 tons prompts Govt. to
seek overseas markets
·
Arkansas Rice Growers Association Membership
Meeting Feb. 24
·
Commerce Min: Thailand must grow rice according
to market demand
·
War room set up to prevent poor quality Thai
rice sold to consumers
·
In the Sundarbans, rice grains from the past
are helping face weather storms of the future
·
India may export 10 lakh tonnes rice to
Indonesia, valued at Rs 3,300 crore
·
Broken down harvester stalls Moco Moco rice
project
·
AEDA RICE COMMODITY NEWSArkansas
·
Farm Bureau Daily Commodity Report
·
FG pledges support to rice millers
·
Brave new plant world? Chinese scientists smash
reproductive barrier between genera for first time, but critics warn of playing
god
·
Scientists complete most significant DNA
sequencing of rice
·
Agri teamup seen to boost PH rice supply
·
Tanzania: Experts Want Tanzanian Farmers to
Upgrade Rice
·
DNA breakthrough raises hopes for ‘dream rice’
·
Commerce Min: Thailand must grow rice according
to market demand
News Detail...
Special report: The future of Pakistan-Iran relations
By Our Correspondents
Influential British daily The
Guardian had reported in August 2013: “[Syrian President Bashar al]
Assad refused to sign a proposed agreement with Qatar that would run a pipeline
from the latter’s North field, contiguous with Iran’s South Pars field, through
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey, with a view to supply European
markets — albeit crucially bypassing Russia.”
Will Iran emerge as Pakistan’s major trading
partner after the lifting of international sanctions?
Perhaps, it will. But as the old English
saying goes, there’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip.
In an ideal world, the removal of
international sanctions from a resource-rich neighbouring country should result
in a sudden spike in the volume of bilateral trade. But international trade
depends on financing from banks on both sides of the border. And in the short
term, at least, Pakistani banks are expected to remain wary about doing
business in Iran despite the lifting of many international sanctions.
Though the United States and other global
powers have lifted most of the sanctions from Iran, the fate of oil trade
between Pakistan and the neighbouring Islamic republic is still uncertain.
According to officials, it will become clear
whether Pakistan will be able to resume oil imports when banking channels are
opened.
Earlier, two refineries – Pakistan Refinery
Limited (PRL) and Bosicor – had been importing crude oil from Iran until 2010
and later purchases came to a halt as banks refused to open letters of credit
after the imposition of sanctions on Tehran.
With the dismantling of most sanctions on
Iran, the Pakistan-Iran Joint Border Commission, in its 19th meeting in Quetta,
vowed that it would now give legal cover to all trade between the two
neighbours.
The decision may give a welcome boost to
Pakistan’s economy that is expected to save at least Rs10 billion annually due
to decrease in oil smuggling.
Talking to The Express Tribune,
Balochistan Customs Collector Saeed Khan Jadoon said diesel was being smuggled
through the Makran division, especially the Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar routes.
“We run short of manpower, so we can’t effectively control smuggling,” he said.
Desperate to take the much-awaited step
towards reviving trade relations, Pakistan is mulling enforcing its five-year
bilateral trade roadmap, already envisaged with an ambitious target of $5
billion, up from the present $270 million.
Unlike the past, Pakistan now wants to move
away from certain commodities and wants to expand and diversify its exports.
The key potential trade areas Pakistan is
eyeing are rice, horticulture, sports goods, surgical equipment, information
technology, textile goods and construction material.
FEBRUARY 15, 2016
New rice research may usher in next wave of ‘green revolution’
by Susanna Pilny
Rice growers may soon have DNA
technology at their fingertips to help them overcome the various issues facing
the grains that feed half the world as they arise—but it’s simpler than you
might think.
For thousands of years, farmers
have been selecting for the traits they want in their crops through simple
trial and error, but new gene sequencing technology is looking to facilitate
this process greatly. In fact, according to Phys.org, it’s anticipated that this
technology with streamline the process so that it takes a quarter of the time
it does now; it could reduce the timespan needed to
develop new rice varieties in
response to environmental changes to less than three years, as compared to 12
without the technology.
The idea is actually fairly simple. The International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the
Philippines has a massive bank of rice varieties, which researchers paired
sequenced using advanced Chinese technology. Now, more than 3,000 of the
world’s most important kinds of rice have their entire genomes sequenced, along
what their genes code for.
Which means that, should a farmer
be faced with a challenge such as a floods, new pests, or shifting nutritional
needs, they can better figure out how to breed new rice varieties from existing
ones by selecting for crops with the traits they desire.
"Essentially, you will be able
to design what properties you want in rice, in terms of the drought resistance,
resistance to diseases, high yields, and others," said Russian
bioanalytics expert and IRRI team member Nickolai Alexandrov.
However, researchers also emphasize
that this is not genetic modification (like with GMOs),
but rather selective breeding—which they believe will lead to the second “green
revolution”. The first one began in the 1960s, with the development of rice and
wheat that created higher yields, and is now credited with preventing global
food shortages.
But these gains plateaued around
1970, making this innovation a potential game-changer for rice growers.
"This will be a big help to
strengthen food security for rice eaters," said Kenneth McNally, an
American biochemist at the IRRI
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113412604/new-rice-research-may-usher-in-next-wave-of-green-revolution-021516/#jAxSQEadty8wdfO6.99
Sugar and Rice - Landline – ABC
Broadcast: 13/02/2016 3:38:33 PM
Reporter: John Taylor
PIP COURTNEY, PRESENTER: Mackay in
North Queensland is the heartland of Australian sugar where for more than a
century sugarcane has powered the fortunes of local growers. But there's a
not-so-quiet agricultural revolution happening in the sugar city and it
involves rice. Right now, growers are harvesting the region's second commercial
crop with more set to come. And it had its start in a very Australian practice:
a husband trying to keep his wife happy. This report by John Taylor.
JOHN TAYLOR, REPORTER: This is a sight that a decade ago would have been unthinkable. Rice being commercially harvested from the cane fields of Mackay. Mackay is as sugar as it gets. Cane has been around here for more than a century. There are still almost 1,600 predominantly family-owned and operated cane farms in the region. But some locals are thinking that rice is a good crop for canegrowers.
ANDREW BARFIELD, CANEGROWER: I enjoy rice. I often said to people that once you start to grow rice, it's like a drug. You know, you just get into it, eh?
JOHN MARKLEY, FARMACIST: The margins are tightening up for sugarcane, so there are a number of growers looking for alternatives to supplement their income, sugarcane, with another crop.
DAVID KELDIE, SUNRICE: I can see a huge amount of development in that industry. I can see us being a significant agri-player in the region, working with cane and other crops.
JOHN TAYLOR: Andrew Barfield is a fourth-generation canegrower, but you could call him the godfather of rice in Mackay. He got interested a decade ago when like many good husbands, he thought he'd try and make his wife happy.
ANDREW BARFIELD: My wife is Malaysian and I thought, you know, like, it'd be a nice thing to see if we could grow rice and grow our own rice and process it and eat it our ourselves. And so I was able to get eight varieties back in 2006 and I bulked them up and then I planted them out in the ground. And what I was really surprised about was that I started to achieve very good yields, and at that time in 2007-2008, we were getting - you know, like, the sugar industry was going through one of its declines and I started to think to myself, "Maybe there is more to this than just a hobby."
JOHN TAYLOR: He didn't grow his rice in paddies, but above ground and then he began processing it, or rather, his wife did. How long have you been threshing rice for?
STEPHENY KINAJIL, WIFE: Oh, ever since Andrew started growing rice and that's my job. Like, he say to me, "Oh, you be the thresher," and I really have to learn it and a few times I was sacked by him, but I resign before that. I said, "No, no, no, I resign," and he said to me, "No, no, no, I sack you. You're not doing very well." And I really have to pull up my socks and do it properly.
JOHN TAYLOR: So what have we got here?
ANDREW BARFIELD: This is a low-humidity coldroom. It is maintained at four degrees and 50 per cent humidity and it allows the keeping of seed for up to 25 years.
JOHN TAYLOR: Andrew Barfield's really a scientist as well as a canefarmer, growing and breeding many different varieties of rice from all over to find out what works best in the tropical north.
ANDREW BARFIELD: But I also maintain I'm a seed bank as well, so I'm maintaining probably 250 named varieties, plus a lot of additional material which is inside the breeding program. You can get a high-value crop which has a gross margin which is equivalent to a well-grown crop of cane and you get the opportunity to actually make it in a period when you were going to make no money at all. So, I think it's - I think it's got a lot of synergies. I think it's a really interesting thing to pursue if you've got the right amount of water and the right soils to do it.
JOHN TAYLOR: He's teamed up with the mighty giant of Australian rice, the billion-dollar global food business that is SunRice, which at the same time he was getting interested was also looking north for potential rice country. Was it just a quirk of fate that Andrew Barfield was looking at rice at the same time?
RUSSELL FORD, RICE RESEARCH AUSTRALIA: Yeah, yeah, it probably was. It's a great connection.
JOHN TAYLOR: And the timing is right. It's a way for SunRice to manage risk.
RUSSELL FORD: Over time, we've gone through cycles of wet and dry in southern Australia. Most of the rice that's grown in Australia has been grown in the Riverina in southern NSW. And the opportunity to balance out the highs and lows of climate is offered in the north through more reliable rainfall and probably a tropical climate.
JOHN TAYLOR: In other parts of Australia, rice is grown in flooded fields, with water permanently in rice crops for all or most of the growing season. Concrete stops between the rice bays allow water flow to be controlled. Water sits like a blanket to help control variations in temperatures. What they're doing is far more cutting-edge than it appears. They're growing rice aerobically - out of water, above ground, alternately watering it and then letting it dry out.
RUSSELL FORD: So what's happening here in Mackay and North Queensland is unique around the world. There's not much rice grown under these aerobic alternate wetting and drying conditions.
JOHN TAYLOR: Water's supplied either through rainfall or irrigation.
RUSSELL FORD: We're getting yields that are nearly mimicking full-irrigated crops, which is amazing to us, and many researchers around the world, it's amazing for. So, it's just showing that the plant can adapt and so can the farmer adapt to those techniques.
JOHN TAYLOR: The men can initially assess what's doing well and what's not, looking at yield, grain quality and milling potential.
RUSSELL FORD: So what's outstanding at the moment, anything?
ANDREW BARFIELD: I don't think - well it's hard to judge at this time, eh?, because it really depends on the number of seeds you had in that panicle. Here a classic, this one's classic. Look at that.
RUSSELL FORD: It's nice and leafy, isn't it?
ANDREW BARFIELD: Compared to your man here.
RUSSELL FORD: Yeah, no, it's beautiful.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Yeah.
RUSSELL FORD: Just hope it yields at the end of the day. We've started with a lot of southern or Riverina varieties up here and they're performing well above expectations and doing extremely well and showing unique characteristics that they don't show in the Riverina, so, softer cooking in a few things and better fragrance.
ANDREW BARFIELD: But the other ones are coming off good, eh?
RUSSELL FORD: Yeah. So that's a nice, long panicle. Every grain's filled. There's not a blank in there.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Yeah. And they're consistent, every single one.
JOHN TAYLOR: These trial plots are where things get really interesting, where the men can see how well the plants have grown rice and high-end, niche or specialty rices are important.
RUSSELL FORD: And this one?
ANDREW BARFIELD: This is this low-GI variety. Ah, yeah, it's important. It's important that we get a low-GI one up and running as fast as we can 'cause the public are really in demand for it, that's for sure.
JOHN TAYLOR: The mining boom has come and gone for Mackay. Cane was here well before it began and remains. But it's not enough that rice can also grow here. It has to make sense commercially and environmentally. The local agricultural research and advisory business Farmacist is heavily involved with SunRice and farmers in promoting rice as a crop and figuring out how best to farm it.
JOHN MARKLEY: There needs to be some questions answered about in particular nutrient and chemicals because our close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. We want to be really careful that we don't affect water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef.
JOHN TAYLOR: Its farming system has to fit in with the region's most important crop, sugarcane.
RUSSELL FORD: You know, when we came up here, we certainly saw sugar and it was a very dominant crop and we never thought we would change that. But we also saw the fallow land as we drove through the districts and that fallow land appeared to us and we thought, "Well, you know, if we can make that productive for the farmer, without a lot of cost for him and a lot of effort, then that's a real win-win for the farmer and for us." And that's what we've progressed with, growing it on the fallow land that's not in cane at the time and it seems to be working quite well.
JOHN MARKLEY: Future for rice? Fitting it in with a sugarcane rotation is going to be a key part of it. It won't take over sugarcane as we know it. It's - this region's been growing sugarcane for 120-plus years. The growers here have been very, very successful in growing sugarcane, have made lot of money over a long period of time and it's something they're comfortable in growing. Now rice, as I said before, the margins in sugarcane are reducing and therefore it's becoming more and more difficult to maintain your sustainability.
JOHN TAYLOR: At any time, about 10 per cent of cane country is fallow, giving it a spell for up to eight months. With thousands of blocks in the region, that adds up to a lot of land and rice can grow in winter or summer.
ANDREW BARFIELD: It's actually quite an excellent rotation because you can grow it in the fallow period in the summer. Rice takes four, four and a half months, at max five months, to grow, and normally our fallow period in the summer's six - six or seven months. And it helps because you only have to provide supplementary irrigation during that period because the wet season is on.
JOHN MARKLEY: So rice we see as an income-deriving product. Growers can successfully incorporate it into their sugarcane rotation and I think we would be hoping for about 3,000 hectares being grown under rice in any given year in this region would be a really successful outcome for the rice industry.
JOHN TAYLOR: Rice growing is also emerging outside the Mackay region.
DAVID KELDIE: The growing area really extends through the whole of tropical North Queensland, really from Tully down to Mackay and there is plenty of rice being grown south of Mackay as well. But the main growing region really is the Burdekin, Mackay and the more specialty varieties, rain-fed varieties coming out of Tully.
JOHN TAYLOR: At Anthony and Marjorie Ross' farm outside Mackay, about three hectares of land that would otherwise be fallow has a rice crop ready for harvest. Marjorie, what do the neighbours reckon?
MARJORIE ROSS, CANEGROWERS: They really like the idea of growing rice, yeah.
ANTHONY ROSS, CANEGROWERS: Actually, they're all coming to have a look every now and again and saying, "You gotta do something with that." (Laughs)
MARJORIE ROSS: (Laughs)
JOHN TAYLOR: Anthony is a senior member of the Canegrowers rural lobby group and his family has been growing cane in the region since 1917. For him, growing rice as well makes good economic sense.
ANTHONY ROSS: For quite some time we've been thinking about other sort of income streams, other crops and the rice is appealing because you're dealing with a substantial company who's gonna pay you promptly. It's not as though you've grown fruit or something like that and you're sitting beside the road, hoping for someone to come along.
JOHN TAYLOR: What do you make of it, Marjorie?
MARJORIE ROSS: Well, I like the idea of growing rice because it's a staple food and you can use it as a base for all your meals.
JOHN TAYLOR: There's still a lot to learn, but more rice is to be planted. Which is easier, growing cane or growing rice?
ANTHONY ROSS: Well, I can grow cane. You know, rice I don't think is that - isn't a difficult crop to grow. I think you've just got to keep on top of it.
JOHN TAYLOR: But for rice godfather Andrew Barfield, a commercial crop doesn't work for him.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Bizarrely enough, my farm is not - and my irrigation system is not suitable to growing commercial rice. However, like, it is, it is - like, the small area I grow, I can easily irrigate it and do it effectively.
JOHN MARKLEY: First off, it's not going to work for the whole region. That's one thing we probably want to make clear. You've got to have really good water-holding capacity in your soils for rice to be successful and you also have to have irrigation.
JOHN TAYLOR: Not far away, on another property, it is harvest time. This is one of the best crops seen in 12 months that a handful of farmers have been growing rice. The old harvester was bought by the local agronomic company Farmacist specifically to harvest rice, but pioneering isn't easy.
JOHN MARKLEY: Yeah, we've had some interesting times. Right now is one of them. I think you're probably going to see some footage of a very slow harvester in operation. We have a very good crop of rice being - trying to be harvested and we're struggling to get the harvester through that - that really strong crop of rice. It is a pre-World War II harvester just about.
JOHN TAYLOR: They get there in the end. As problems go, it's a good one. After the lush crop is cut, it's got to be processed, so it'll be carried to a mill that SunRice has bought near Townsville.
DAVID KELDIE: The mill's very important. I mean, it gave us the first footprint there and I think what it did is demonstrated to the farmers that we were serious about the investment and our entry into the market up there.
JOHN TAYLOR: Sugarcane is king around Mackay and no-one's thinking it's going to be dethroned, but perhaps there's also room for rice.
ANTHONY ROSS: And there's been small crops in a small way, but nothing probably like this and that's what makes it interesting. I suppose we're sort of pioneers to some degree, yeah.
JOHN TAYLOR: And to think it all began with such a simple thing as trying to please your wife.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Yes, amazing, isn't it? Happy wife, happy life. (Laughs) http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2015/s4406074.htm
JOHN TAYLOR, REPORTER: This is a sight that a decade ago would have been unthinkable. Rice being commercially harvested from the cane fields of Mackay. Mackay is as sugar as it gets. Cane has been around here for more than a century. There are still almost 1,600 predominantly family-owned and operated cane farms in the region. But some locals are thinking that rice is a good crop for canegrowers.
ANDREW BARFIELD, CANEGROWER: I enjoy rice. I often said to people that once you start to grow rice, it's like a drug. You know, you just get into it, eh?
JOHN MARKLEY, FARMACIST: The margins are tightening up for sugarcane, so there are a number of growers looking for alternatives to supplement their income, sugarcane, with another crop.
DAVID KELDIE, SUNRICE: I can see a huge amount of development in that industry. I can see us being a significant agri-player in the region, working with cane and other crops.
JOHN TAYLOR: Andrew Barfield is a fourth-generation canegrower, but you could call him the godfather of rice in Mackay. He got interested a decade ago when like many good husbands, he thought he'd try and make his wife happy.
ANDREW BARFIELD: My wife is Malaysian and I thought, you know, like, it'd be a nice thing to see if we could grow rice and grow our own rice and process it and eat it our ourselves. And so I was able to get eight varieties back in 2006 and I bulked them up and then I planted them out in the ground. And what I was really surprised about was that I started to achieve very good yields, and at that time in 2007-2008, we were getting - you know, like, the sugar industry was going through one of its declines and I started to think to myself, "Maybe there is more to this than just a hobby."
JOHN TAYLOR: He didn't grow his rice in paddies, but above ground and then he began processing it, or rather, his wife did. How long have you been threshing rice for?
STEPHENY KINAJIL, WIFE: Oh, ever since Andrew started growing rice and that's my job. Like, he say to me, "Oh, you be the thresher," and I really have to learn it and a few times I was sacked by him, but I resign before that. I said, "No, no, no, I resign," and he said to me, "No, no, no, I sack you. You're not doing very well." And I really have to pull up my socks and do it properly.
JOHN TAYLOR: So what have we got here?
ANDREW BARFIELD: This is a low-humidity coldroom. It is maintained at four degrees and 50 per cent humidity and it allows the keeping of seed for up to 25 years.
JOHN TAYLOR: Andrew Barfield's really a scientist as well as a canefarmer, growing and breeding many different varieties of rice from all over to find out what works best in the tropical north.
ANDREW BARFIELD: But I also maintain I'm a seed bank as well, so I'm maintaining probably 250 named varieties, plus a lot of additional material which is inside the breeding program. You can get a high-value crop which has a gross margin which is equivalent to a well-grown crop of cane and you get the opportunity to actually make it in a period when you were going to make no money at all. So, I think it's - I think it's got a lot of synergies. I think it's a really interesting thing to pursue if you've got the right amount of water and the right soils to do it.
JOHN TAYLOR: He's teamed up with the mighty giant of Australian rice, the billion-dollar global food business that is SunRice, which at the same time he was getting interested was also looking north for potential rice country. Was it just a quirk of fate that Andrew Barfield was looking at rice at the same time?
RUSSELL FORD, RICE RESEARCH AUSTRALIA: Yeah, yeah, it probably was. It's a great connection.
JOHN TAYLOR: And the timing is right. It's a way for SunRice to manage risk.
RUSSELL FORD: Over time, we've gone through cycles of wet and dry in southern Australia. Most of the rice that's grown in Australia has been grown in the Riverina in southern NSW. And the opportunity to balance out the highs and lows of climate is offered in the north through more reliable rainfall and probably a tropical climate.
JOHN TAYLOR: In other parts of Australia, rice is grown in flooded fields, with water permanently in rice crops for all or most of the growing season. Concrete stops between the rice bays allow water flow to be controlled. Water sits like a blanket to help control variations in temperatures. What they're doing is far more cutting-edge than it appears. They're growing rice aerobically - out of water, above ground, alternately watering it and then letting it dry out.
RUSSELL FORD: So what's happening here in Mackay and North Queensland is unique around the world. There's not much rice grown under these aerobic alternate wetting and drying conditions.
JOHN TAYLOR: Water's supplied either through rainfall or irrigation.
RUSSELL FORD: We're getting yields that are nearly mimicking full-irrigated crops, which is amazing to us, and many researchers around the world, it's amazing for. So, it's just showing that the plant can adapt and so can the farmer adapt to those techniques.
JOHN TAYLOR: The men can initially assess what's doing well and what's not, looking at yield, grain quality and milling potential.
RUSSELL FORD: So what's outstanding at the moment, anything?
ANDREW BARFIELD: I don't think - well it's hard to judge at this time, eh?, because it really depends on the number of seeds you had in that panicle. Here a classic, this one's classic. Look at that.
RUSSELL FORD: It's nice and leafy, isn't it?
ANDREW BARFIELD: Compared to your man here.
RUSSELL FORD: Yeah, no, it's beautiful.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Yeah.
RUSSELL FORD: Just hope it yields at the end of the day. We've started with a lot of southern or Riverina varieties up here and they're performing well above expectations and doing extremely well and showing unique characteristics that they don't show in the Riverina, so, softer cooking in a few things and better fragrance.
ANDREW BARFIELD: But the other ones are coming off good, eh?
RUSSELL FORD: Yeah. So that's a nice, long panicle. Every grain's filled. There's not a blank in there.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Yeah. And they're consistent, every single one.
JOHN TAYLOR: These trial plots are where things get really interesting, where the men can see how well the plants have grown rice and high-end, niche or specialty rices are important.
RUSSELL FORD: And this one?
ANDREW BARFIELD: This is this low-GI variety. Ah, yeah, it's important. It's important that we get a low-GI one up and running as fast as we can 'cause the public are really in demand for it, that's for sure.
JOHN TAYLOR: The mining boom has come and gone for Mackay. Cane was here well before it began and remains. But it's not enough that rice can also grow here. It has to make sense commercially and environmentally. The local agricultural research and advisory business Farmacist is heavily involved with SunRice and farmers in promoting rice as a crop and figuring out how best to farm it.
JOHN MARKLEY: There needs to be some questions answered about in particular nutrient and chemicals because our close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. We want to be really careful that we don't affect water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef.
JOHN TAYLOR: Its farming system has to fit in with the region's most important crop, sugarcane.
RUSSELL FORD: You know, when we came up here, we certainly saw sugar and it was a very dominant crop and we never thought we would change that. But we also saw the fallow land as we drove through the districts and that fallow land appeared to us and we thought, "Well, you know, if we can make that productive for the farmer, without a lot of cost for him and a lot of effort, then that's a real win-win for the farmer and for us." And that's what we've progressed with, growing it on the fallow land that's not in cane at the time and it seems to be working quite well.
JOHN MARKLEY: Future for rice? Fitting it in with a sugarcane rotation is going to be a key part of it. It won't take over sugarcane as we know it. It's - this region's been growing sugarcane for 120-plus years. The growers here have been very, very successful in growing sugarcane, have made lot of money over a long period of time and it's something they're comfortable in growing. Now rice, as I said before, the margins in sugarcane are reducing and therefore it's becoming more and more difficult to maintain your sustainability.
JOHN TAYLOR: At any time, about 10 per cent of cane country is fallow, giving it a spell for up to eight months. With thousands of blocks in the region, that adds up to a lot of land and rice can grow in winter or summer.
ANDREW BARFIELD: It's actually quite an excellent rotation because you can grow it in the fallow period in the summer. Rice takes four, four and a half months, at max five months, to grow, and normally our fallow period in the summer's six - six or seven months. And it helps because you only have to provide supplementary irrigation during that period because the wet season is on.
JOHN MARKLEY: So rice we see as an income-deriving product. Growers can successfully incorporate it into their sugarcane rotation and I think we would be hoping for about 3,000 hectares being grown under rice in any given year in this region would be a really successful outcome for the rice industry.
JOHN TAYLOR: Rice growing is also emerging outside the Mackay region.
DAVID KELDIE: The growing area really extends through the whole of tropical North Queensland, really from Tully down to Mackay and there is plenty of rice being grown south of Mackay as well. But the main growing region really is the Burdekin, Mackay and the more specialty varieties, rain-fed varieties coming out of Tully.
JOHN TAYLOR: At Anthony and Marjorie Ross' farm outside Mackay, about three hectares of land that would otherwise be fallow has a rice crop ready for harvest. Marjorie, what do the neighbours reckon?
MARJORIE ROSS, CANEGROWERS: They really like the idea of growing rice, yeah.
ANTHONY ROSS, CANEGROWERS: Actually, they're all coming to have a look every now and again and saying, "You gotta do something with that." (Laughs)
MARJORIE ROSS: (Laughs)
JOHN TAYLOR: Anthony is a senior member of the Canegrowers rural lobby group and his family has been growing cane in the region since 1917. For him, growing rice as well makes good economic sense.
ANTHONY ROSS: For quite some time we've been thinking about other sort of income streams, other crops and the rice is appealing because you're dealing with a substantial company who's gonna pay you promptly. It's not as though you've grown fruit or something like that and you're sitting beside the road, hoping for someone to come along.
JOHN TAYLOR: What do you make of it, Marjorie?
MARJORIE ROSS: Well, I like the idea of growing rice because it's a staple food and you can use it as a base for all your meals.
JOHN TAYLOR: There's still a lot to learn, but more rice is to be planted. Which is easier, growing cane or growing rice?
ANTHONY ROSS: Well, I can grow cane. You know, rice I don't think is that - isn't a difficult crop to grow. I think you've just got to keep on top of it.
JOHN TAYLOR: But for rice godfather Andrew Barfield, a commercial crop doesn't work for him.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Bizarrely enough, my farm is not - and my irrigation system is not suitable to growing commercial rice. However, like, it is, it is - like, the small area I grow, I can easily irrigate it and do it effectively.
JOHN MARKLEY: First off, it's not going to work for the whole region. That's one thing we probably want to make clear. You've got to have really good water-holding capacity in your soils for rice to be successful and you also have to have irrigation.
JOHN TAYLOR: Not far away, on another property, it is harvest time. This is one of the best crops seen in 12 months that a handful of farmers have been growing rice. The old harvester was bought by the local agronomic company Farmacist specifically to harvest rice, but pioneering isn't easy.
JOHN MARKLEY: Yeah, we've had some interesting times. Right now is one of them. I think you're probably going to see some footage of a very slow harvester in operation. We have a very good crop of rice being - trying to be harvested and we're struggling to get the harvester through that - that really strong crop of rice. It is a pre-World War II harvester just about.
JOHN TAYLOR: They get there in the end. As problems go, it's a good one. After the lush crop is cut, it's got to be processed, so it'll be carried to a mill that SunRice has bought near Townsville.
DAVID KELDIE: The mill's very important. I mean, it gave us the first footprint there and I think what it did is demonstrated to the farmers that we were serious about the investment and our entry into the market up there.
JOHN TAYLOR: Sugarcane is king around Mackay and no-one's thinking it's going to be dethroned, but perhaps there's also room for rice.
ANTHONY ROSS: And there's been small crops in a small way, but nothing probably like this and that's what makes it interesting. I suppose we're sort of pioneers to some degree, yeah.
JOHN TAYLOR: And to think it all began with such a simple thing as trying to please your wife.
ANDREW BARFIELD: Yes, amazing, isn't it? Happy wife, happy life. (Laughs) http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2015/s4406074.htm
Rice export to commence by 2019
Posted By: Olugbenga Adanikinon: February 14, 2016In:
The Country Manager, Afex Commodities Exchange Nigeria,
Ayodeji Balogun, stated this yesterday in Abuja.This, he explained, is because
his organisation in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development has initiated a system that will link rural farmers directly
to local and international markets.
He said about 45, 000 farmers have been provided with
secured storage facilities and an Electronic Warehouse Receipt System to
provide sufficient grains for local consumption and enhance export
opportunities.According to Balogun:
“We have 15 warehouses across the country and farmers in 30
kilometres radius can access these facilities.“The farmers are broken into
smaller units in terms of cooperatives and as they easily access the
market.“They are motivated to produce more while the marketnaturally adjusts
itself. So, Nigeria in the next three years should be exporting rice.”In a
Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement signed with the federal government
in 2014, AFEX Nigeria is expected to effectively organise the agriculture market and create value
for farmers to raise national income.He disclosed plans by the firm to commence
export of other agricultural produce in partnership with rural farmers.
He added: “Our focus
in the last one year is staple crops. This year, we are starting with export crops.India
likely to export 10 lakh tonnes of rice worth Rs 3,300 crore to Indonesia
India may export 10 lakh tonnes rice to Indonesia,
valued at Rs 3300 crore
Mon,
15 Feb 2016-06:49pm , New Delhi , PTI
The country has more than 160 lakh tonnes of rice in stock
against the requirement of 76 lakh tonnes on January 1.
India is in talks with Indonesia to export 10 lakh tonnes of rice
valued at Rs 3,300 crore as the island nation is expecting fall in production.
"Indonesia is expecting a fall in rice production this year
and looking to import rice. Indonesia has started the negotiation
process," a source told PTI. Rice is a staple food of Indonesia and it had
imported rice last year as well.
"Though no final decision has yet been taken over the price,
but the economic cost to the government for the 10 lakh tonnes rice is about Rs
3,300 crore," the source said. As far as India is concerned, the
government is in a comfortable position regarding rice stock.
The country has more than 160 lakh tonnes of rice in stock against
the requirement of 76 lakh tonnes on January 1. Besides, the Food Corporation
of India (FCI) has another 127 lakh tonnes of rice in form of paddy.
As per the second advance estimate of the Agriculture Ministry,
rice production is estimated to be down marginally at 103.61 million tonnes
(MT) in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 105.48 MT last year. Already,
the procurement of kharif rice has reached 26.13 MT so far this year, much
higher than 21.54 MT in the year-ago period.
The Centre's nodal procurement agency Food Corporation of India
(FCI) and state government-owned agencies undertake procurement operations. The
Centre has kept a rice procurement target of 30 MT for the this year.
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-india-likely-to-export-10-lakh-tonnes-of-rice-worth-rs-3300-crore-to-indonesia-2178088
PH 3rd biggest rice importer this year
By: Ronnel W. Domingo
@inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:11 AM
February 15th, 2016
THE VOLUME of Philippines-bound milled rice is expected to rise
in 2016, keeping the country among the world’s biggest importers at No. 3,
according to the US Department of Agriculture.
The USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), which tracks the
global rice market for one of the world’s biggest exporters, also projects
increased importation by other large markets such as Brazil, China, Ghana,
Indonesia, Iran and Iraq.
“At 4.7 million tons, China remains the largest rice-importing
country in 2016, with imports up 4 percent from a year earlier,” the ERS said.
“China’s rice imports have been record-high since 2012.”The Philippines trails
Nigeria, which the American agency expects to substantially reduce imports by
17 percent to 2.5 million tons—mainly due to increased import tariffs, low oil
prices as well as foreign exchange restrictions.
http://business.inquirer.net/207098/ph-3rd-biggest-rice-importer-this-year
Sunny
weather is bad news for rice farmers
POSTED: 6:42 PM Feb 14 2016 UPDATED: 9:33
PM Feb 14 2016
Carter Knowles is a partner at Small Hills Farms. For Knowles,
the winter season serves as a time to accumulate water."What we are trying
to do in the winter is bank up water in the reservoirs and the mountains,"
said Knowles.The past two weeks have provided no rain. Given California's
historic drought, the lack of water isn't a surprise to Knowles but he said
that it does make things tense."It always makes us a little bit nervous
because having enough water is how we do business," said Knowles.
Knowles explained that currently, winter precipitation is about
average. If sunny days without rain continue, it could be critical."Every
day that goes by we start to fall a little more below average," said
Knowles.The Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District cut Small Hills Farm's water usage
by 25 percent. In recent years, Knowles has had to take some of his fields out
of production because he didn't have the water to support them."When it
becomes a critical year like we have had recently, you have to cut back on how
much you can plant," Knowles said.Knowles will begin planting in late
March and in April. He is hoping for a lot of rain and snow melt from the
Sierras.
Last year, Knowles harvested about 9 million pounds of rice.In
this off season Knowles sells freshly milled rice at Chico's Saturday Farmer's
Market. Here is a mapof where to find it.
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/sunny-weather-is-bad-news-for-rice-farmers/37994956
Cayetano
assures of free irrigation systems for major rice producing provinces
By
Mike Frialde (philstar.com) | Updated February 15, 2016 - 6:35pm
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said real economic growth
must start from the land as the country is agriculturally based. File photo
MANILA, Philippines - Vice presidential aspirant Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano
on Monday assured farmers of free irrigation systems if he gets elected in the
May 9 polls."Agriculture should be at the forefront of our economy, not
lagging behind," Cayetano told farmers in Misamis Oriental.Cayetano and
his running mate LDP standard-bearer and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte spent
the day listening to the plight of vegetable farmers from Tagoloan and Claveria
towns as part of their "Ronda Serye" nationwide tour.The farmers
voiced out their concern about the lack of accessible and efficient irrigation
systems in their area, which makes them more vulnerable to the ill effects of
the El Niño phenomenon.Cayetano highlighted the need to effect bold solutions
and swift action to address the lack of support that government gives to poor
farmers, which they said adds to the disorder in the country."We are the
only country which is half-submerged in water during the monsoon and typhoon
season, yet we do not have enough water to irrigate our fields," Cayetano
said in a statement.
Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Cayetano said real economic growth must start from the land as the
country is agriculturally based.As such, Cayetano said if elected, free
irrigation systems will be provided, especially in major rice-producing
provinces. Cayetano added that he and Duterte will transform Mindanao as the
country's food basket.The tandem also proposed to allot P1 billion per region
for the next 10 years for a capital-lending program for micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs), including farmers' cooperatives, to help them sustain
their sources of livelihood."Our aim is real inclusive growth through
regional development. Through this, we can achieve the twin goals of ensuring
food security and ending the disorder in our farmers' daily lives,"
Cayetano said
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/02/15/1553349/cayetano-assures-free-irrigation-systems-major-rice-producing-provinces
A paddy glut of 200,000 tons prompts Govt. to seek overseas markets
By
Chrishanthi Christopher
View(s): 252
A glut of 200,000 tonnes of paddy has prompted the Government to look into the possibility of exporting rice.
Minister of Rural Economy P. Harrison told the Sunday times that
Sri Lanka has rice far in excess of what is required for consumption for 2016,
and hence, is looking to export the excess stock to the South African region.
He said negotiations were under way with Ghana and Nigeria who
were showing interest in buying the stock. “We are negotiating and are hopeful
of securing a good price for our rice,” he said.
Meanwhile, arrangements are being made to have the paddy that is
stored at Mattala Airport milled so that it can be distributed among Samurdhi
recipients.
He said the Government intends to sell the rice to the Samurdhi
recipients in proportion to their monthly allowance. Accordingly, beneficiaries
who receive Rs 3,000 can purchase 10 kg of rice, those who receive Rs 2,000 can
purchase 5 kg and those who receive less than Rs 2,000 can purchase 3 kg.
The cost of the rice, which is to be priced between Rs 60 and Rs
65 per kg, will be deducted from their monthly allowance, Minister Harison
said.
It is estimated that 11,000 tonnes of rice can be sold monthly
to Samurdhi recipients. In addition, a stock will be released to Sathosa for
sale at a nominal price, while the balance will be exported to countries
interested in buying the rice.
Minister Harrison said the glut is due to the import of 2,000
tonnes of rice from India, by the previous government, of which a stock of
80,000 kg still remains.
He said that a portion of the rice stock has been deemed unfit
for human consumption. “We have decided to sell it as animal feed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the All Ceylon Peasants’ Federation (ACPF), the
United Rice Mill Owners’ Association and the Small and Medium Rice Mill Owners’
Association complained to the Anti-corruption Committee Secretariat on Tuesday
(9), alleging the Government had ignored the highest bidder when tenders for
milling paddy were called for in August 2015, as the price of Rs 39.30 per kg
tendered was far too low and will not be profitable to the Government.
Among the respondents cited were Minister Harrison, Finance
Minister, Ravi Karunayake and Paddy Marketing Board Chairman, M.D. Dissanayake.
However, they allege that, subsequently, the stock was sold to
the same companies at the much lower rates of Rs 38, Rs 35 and Rs 31.50 at
different times.
The ACPF questioned why the Government did not take steps to
mill the paddy early.
General Secretary Namal Karunaratne said that, “Initially, the
small mill owners had offered to mill the paddy and even offered transport to
the buyers, if necessary. But our offer was ignored, and now the Government is
selling the stock for far less than the original amount it had bought it for.”
This, he said, proves there has been corruption in the
transactions, resulting in a loss of around Rs 4,000 million to the Government.
He said the Government is now losing Rs 17/50 per kg on account
of the interest on bank loans obtained to buy the paddy, transport, storage and
rental for Mattala Airport. Furthermore, he said, the Government loses 3 kg on
every 100 kg of paddy when the moisture content of the paddy reduces.
He maintains that the paddy could have been milledearly and sent
to Sathosa outlets and Government institutions such as hospitals, the police
and the prisons for their daily use.
Mr Karunaratne was highly amused at the irony of private mill
owners buying paddy from the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB), milling it and
selling it back to Government institutions.
“There is a paddy mafia operating with the blessings of
politicians. This has to be investigated,” he added.
The Samastha Lanka Farmers’ Association said the price fixed for
Nadu at Sathosa outlets has been around Rs 74 per kg, while in the last three
months consumers have being buying Nadu at Rs 80 to Rs 84 per kg.
Its General Secretary, P.B. Sarath said that even with a glut of
rice in the country, consumers have not benefitted. He attributed this to the
large mill owners buying and selling it back to Sathosa.
He maintained that the consumer deserves a reasonable price when
there is a glut of rice in the market.
Responding to the allegations, Minister Harrison said the
decision to sell the paddy was taken by the Cabinet in collaboration with the
Economic Affairs Committee, which is under the purview of Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe.
He said that, when deciding on the price, the cost of living
index was also taken into consideration.
He elaborated that, in the past, the Government had made several
attempts to sell the paddy at a higher price. “We published many advertisements
in the print media calling for tenders, but there were no buyers,” he said.
He further said that, the PMB is not running a business, but is
trying to help the farmers. That is why, he said, they had bought the paddy at
Rs 50 per kg, last year, providing them relief.
Minister Harrison predicted that, with the Maha season harvest
in another two weeks, there will be approximately another 100,000 tonnes of
paddy in the country. “If nothing is done soon the farmers will not be able to
sell their paddy even for Rs 10 a kg,” he concluded.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160214/news/a-paddy-glut-of-200000-tons-prompts-govt-to-seek-overseas-markets-182941.html
Arkansas
Rice Growers Association Membership Meeting Feb. 24
Feb
15, 2016Delta
Farm Press
The Arkansas Rice Growers Association Membership Meeting will be
held Feb. 24 at the Brinkley Convention Center in Brinkley, Ark.Registration
starts at 8 a.m. and the meeting begins at 9 a.m.Gary Billups with Zaccaria USA
will talk about efforts to change the way rice milling yield is determined to a
more fair and reliable method (PAZ technology). Billups will demonstrate a
small, affordable, on-farm rice mill.Dennis Delaughter with Progressive Farm
Futures will give a complete grain market report and Eric j Wailes, University
of Arkansas economist, will talk about emerging markets (Africa, Asia, China,
Cuba), the TPP and other trade agreements.
Mark Pousan will talk about success in Louisiana with direct
sales into Mexico. The economics of grain bins, for the farmer and the
landlord, will be discussed.Greg Yielding will talk about the China protocols,
and other USRPA/ARGA promotional activities.For membership information call
(870) 375-4278 or download the membership form atarkansasricegrowers.com. Memberships are also available at the door.
Lunch will be served.
http://deltafarmpress.com/rice/arkansas-rice-growers-association-membership-meeting-feb-24
Commerce Min: Thailand must grow rice according to
market demand
BY EDITORON 2016-02-15THAILAND
Commerce
Min: Thailand must grow rice according to market demand
BANGKOK, 15 February 2016 (NNT) – The Ministry of Commerce said it
is necessary that Thailand produce rice according to the actual demand in the
market.Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Chutima Bunyapraphasara
convened agriculture-related officials to a meeting to discuss the possibility
of Thailand reducing the number of rice plantations. According to her, the
supply of rice in the country will exceed demand should farmers continue the
off-season harvesting of paddy.The idea has prompted rice producers to request
that the government clearly regulate prices of rice so as to allow them to plan
their cultivation accordingly.She said the ministry would soon summon rice
buyers and ask them to purchase paddy directly from producers without going through
a middleman
http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/commerce-min-thailand-must-grow-rice-according-to-market-demand/131824/
War room set up to prevent poor quality Thai rice sold to consumers
War room set up to prevent poor quality rice sold to consumers
BANGKOK, 15 February 2016 (NNT) – The Public Warehouse Organization
(PWO) has set up a ‘war room’ to monitor the release of government rice to
prevent poor quality rice from reaching consumers.
Pol Maj Gen Kraiboon Suadsong, Chairman of the state-owned Public
Warehouse Organisation (PWO), revealed that a private bidder has purchased more
than 20,000 tons of rice from government stockpiles. The rice is currently
being transferred to manufacturers.
The war room will monitor every detail of the transport of rice.
Surveillance cameras have been installed in various places to record how the
rice is being transported from one place to another. The PWO Chairman added
that the transportation of rice must only be carried out during daytime. He has
also assured the transparency of the process and that this poor quality rice
will never be sold to consumers.
The remaining 16,000 tons of substandard rice will be auctioned off
again, as the previous winning bidder, Sinchaisri Co. Ltd., failed to sign a
purchasing contract during the first round of bidding last year. The company
will not be allowed to participate in the bidding process, due to its
regulatory infraction
http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/war-room-set-up-to-prevent-poor-quality-thai-rice-sold-to-consumers/131883/
In the
Sundarbans, rice grains from the past are helping face weather storms of the
future
Combining science with traditional knowledge,
researchers turn to ancient crops as a source of climate resilience.
Shreya Dasgupta · Feb 13, 2016 · 09:30 pm
The
storm killed hundreds of people and livestock, damaged close to a million
houses, and washed away roads. Heavy winds and high waves breached the mud
embankments that protected the islands. This brought in a deluge of salt water
from the Bay of Bengal, flooding villages, turning drinking water brackish and
affecting nearly 125,000 hectares of cropland.
As
floodwaters subsided in the wake of the storm, thin white lines of salt
appeared in the soil. The modern, high-yielding varieties of rice that had been
cultivated there previously could not grow in this salt-encrusted soil. For the
rice-dependent agrarian inhabitants of the delta, this was a cause for serious
concern.
A month
after the catastrophe, Debal
Deb, a plant scientist and founder of Vrihi, a non-governmental rice
seed bank, visited three Aila-struck villages in the Sundarbans. He brought
with him four varieties of indigenous rice from his own seed bank – Talmugur,
Lal Getu, Sada Getu and Nona Khirish – that could tolerate high levels of
salinity in the soil.
Most
traditional rice varieties, including the ones Deb carried that day, are
adapted to local climates and regions. But with the advent of modern
high-yielding varieties of rice, local varieties became disused, and many were
subsequently lost. Fortunately, a handful of rice conservationists in India
have managed to save some of them.
Successful
endeavour
Deb’s
seed bank, for instance, holds more than 1,000 different kinds of indigenous
rice, which he grows on his 2.3-acre farm and distributes among farmers for free. Some of
these varieties, like the ones he reintroduced to the Sundarbans, are salt
tolerant. Others can withstand long bouts of drought or floods.
When Deb
brought the four salt-tolerant varieties to the Sundarbans in June 2009, only
one was still being grown by local farmers. The other three remained only in
their memories.
The
farmers were initially suspicious of the salt-tolerant varieties, Deb said.
“They had received many seeds from the government, but none of them had grown
in their saline soil after Aila," he said. "When they saw that the
seeds I gave them were germinating, they were very happy.”
That
year, Deb managed to distribute the four varieties to 11 eager farmers.
Salt-tolerant rice has helped Sundarbans farmer Bhagyadhar Pramanik
maintain production after tropical storm Aila inundated the farmland with salt
water. Source: ENDEV.
He
returned the following year, with a Kolkata-based organization called ENDEV – A Society for Environment and Development. Asish
Ghosh, president of ENDEV, had scouted for and acquired more seeds of the
salt-tolerant varieties from different sources. In 2010 and 2011, ENDEV worked
with Deb and five local organisations to distribute these seeds to the
Sundarbans farmers.
“These
varieties are financially lucrative,” explains Ghosh. “They do not require
costly inputs of fertilisers or pesticides, and produce better quality straw
for cattle feed and roofing of houses.”
In 2013,
Deb reintroduced two additional varieties of rice, Matla and Hamilton, which he
received from other plant scientists in West Bengal. According to a report by WWF-India, these
varieties have such high salt tolerance that farmers once cultivated them in
areas without any embankments to keep salt water out.
As of
2014, more than 70 Sundarbans farmers are growing the six salt-tolerant
varieties, Deb said.
Braced
for the future
Radheshyam
Das, a 52-year-old rice farmer in Jhupkhali village in the Sundarbans, is happy with his
rice yield, which he measures in bighas, or 1/8-hectare units. “Since Aila, my rice production with
high-yielding varieties fell to about two bags of rice per bigha,” he said.
“Last year, with the salt tolerant variety, I had a harvest of seven bags per
bigha.”
In
another village on Mousuni island in the Sundarbans, farmer Sindhupada Middya
experimented with a salt-tolerant variety and a modern variety. The plot of
land he grew them in lay close to an embankment and would frequently be
inundated by salt water during high tides. While the salt-tolerant variety
yielded 240-kg of rice from less than one-tenth of a hectare (one-fifth of an
acre) of land, the high-yielding variety produced nothing.
His
success encouraged almost 40 other farmers on the island to adopt these
salt-tolerant varieties, according to Soma Saha, member of the WWF-India team that has been introducing these rice varieties
as part of its climate change adaptation
initiatives.
In
another part of the Sundarbans, a group of farmers have even composed a folk
song that celebrates the traditional seeds. The song talks about the resilience
of the seeds, the happiness they have brought and why others should use them.
As our
planet warms in the decades to come, rising sea level,
changing rainfall pattern and increasing frequency of cyclones such as Aila are
expected to continue to erode and submerge islands in the Sundarbans. And the resulting salt
intrusion is expected to continue to render crop fields unsuitable for modern
rice varieties.
But by
combining science with traditional knowledge, Ghosh said, farmers will be able
to continue to produce food for themselves and their communities.
“We did
not develop these varieties,” Ghosh said. “The farmers did, many many years
ago. Some of us simply rediscovered their 100-year-old traditional knowledge,
located the seeds and motivated the farmers to start using them again.”
Shreya Dasgupta
produced this article as a participant in the Ensia Mentor Program. Her mentor for the project was award-winning
environmental and science journalist Michelle Nijhuis.
We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in
India may export 10 lakh tonnes rice to
Indonesia, valued at Rs 3,300 crore
By PTI | 15
Feb, 2016, 07:57 PM IST
NEW DELHI:
India is in talks with Indonesia to export 10 lakh tonnes of rice valued at Rs 3,300 crore as the island nation
is expecting fall in production. "Indonesia is expecting a fall in rice
production this year and looking to import rice. Indonesia has started the
negotiation process," a source told PTI. Rice is a staple food of
Indonesia and it had imported rice last year as well.
"Though no final decision has yet been taken over the price, but the economic cost to the government for the 10 lakh tonnes rice is about Rs 3,300 crore," the source said. As far as India is concerned, the government is in a comfortable position regarding rice stock. The country has more than 160 lakh tonnes of rice in stock against the requirement of 76 lakh tonnes on January 1. Besides, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has another 127 lakh tonnes of rice in form of paddy.
As per the second advance estimate of the Agriculture Ministry, rice production is estimated to be down marginally at 103.61 million tonnes (MT) in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 105.48 MT last year. Already, the procurement of kharif rice has reached 26.13 MT so far this year, much higher than 21.54 MT in the year-ago period.
The Centre's nodal procurement agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government-owned agencies undertake procurement operations. The Centre has kept a rice procurement target of 30 MT for the this year.
"Though no final decision has yet been taken over the price, but the economic cost to the government for the 10 lakh tonnes rice is about Rs 3,300 crore," the source said. As far as India is concerned, the government is in a comfortable position regarding rice stock. The country has more than 160 lakh tonnes of rice in stock against the requirement of 76 lakh tonnes on January 1. Besides, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has another 127 lakh tonnes of rice in form of paddy.
As per the second advance estimate of the Agriculture Ministry, rice production is estimated to be down marginally at 103.61 million tonnes (MT) in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 105.48 MT last year. Already, the procurement of kharif rice has reached 26.13 MT so far this year, much higher than 21.54 MT in the year-ago period.
The Centre's nodal procurement agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government-owned agencies undertake procurement operations. The Centre has kept a rice procurement target of 30 MT for the this year.
India is in
talks with Indonesia to export 10 lakh tonnes of rice valued at Rs 3,300 crore
as the island nation is expecting fall in production.
NEW DELHI:
India is in talks with Indonesia to export 10 lakh tonnes of rice valued at Rs 3,300 crore as the island nation
is expecting fall in production. "Indonesia is expecting a fall in rice
production this year and looking to import rice. Indonesia has started the
negotiation process," a source told PTI. Rice is a staple food of
Indonesia and it had imported rice last year as well.
"Though no final decision has yet been taken over the price, but the economic cost to the government for the 10 lakh tonnes rice is about Rs 3,300 crore," the source said. As far as India is concerned, the government is in a comfortable position regarding rice stock. The country has more than 160 lakh tonnes of rice in stock against the requirement of 76 lakh tonnes on January 1. Besides, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has another 127 lakh tonnes of rice in form of paddy.
As per the second advance estimate of the Agriculture Ministry, rice production is estimated to be down marginally at 103.61 million tonnes (MT) in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 105.48 MT last year. Already, the procurement of kharif rice has reached 26.13 MT so far this year, much higher than 21.54 MT in the year-ago period.
The Centre's nodal procurement agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government-owned agencies undertake procurement operations. The Centre has kept a rice procurement target of 30 MT for the this year.
"Though no final decision has yet been taken over the price, but the economic cost to the government for the 10 lakh tonnes rice is about Rs 3,300 crore," the source said. As far as India is concerned, the government is in a comfortable position regarding rice stock. The country has more than 160 lakh tonnes of rice in stock against the requirement of 76 lakh tonnes on January 1. Besides, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has another 127 lakh tonnes of rice in form of paddy.
As per the second advance estimate of the Agriculture Ministry, rice production is estimated to be down marginally at 103.61 million tonnes (MT) in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 105.48 MT last year. Already, the procurement of kharif rice has reached 26.13 MT so far this year, much higher than 21.54 MT in the year-ago period.
The Centre's nodal procurement agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government-owned agencies undertake procurement operations. The Centre has kept a rice procurement target of 30 MT for the this year.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/india-may-export-10-lakh-tonnes-rice-to-indonesia-valued-at-rs-3300-crore/articleshow/50998647.cms
Broken down harvester stalls Moco Moco rice project
The harvester stood forlornly in the flatlands, encircled by tufts
of dead, brown grass and shrubs in a field that once gleamed with golden,
ripening paddy in the shadows of the Kanuku Mountains.Over 16 months since it
broke down, the harvester is yet to be fixed despite promises by the Guyana
Rice Develop-ment Board (GRDB) to do so, William Ramsarran, the deputy toshao
of Moco Moco told Stabroek News during a visit to the Region Nine community
last week. Patches of rust now cover parts of the harvester which broke down
since September 2014. It is a critical piece of machinery for reaping the
rice…to continue reading
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2016/news/stories/02/15/broken-harvester-stalls-moco-moco-rice-project/
AEDA RICE COMMODITY NEWS
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Arkansas
Farm Bureau Daily Commodity Report
Rice
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Rice Comment
Rice futures continued lower
today, despite a better export report this week. USDA says 53,000 metric tons
were sold to foreign buyers this week, compared with only 40,200 metric tons last
week. The monthly supply/demand balance sheet was little changed, but the
on-farm price was lowered again. The average expected price for long grain is
now $11.00-$11.60/cwt, and mid-south medium grain is expected to bring
$11.70-$12.30. March has been working lower and is set up for a retest of the
recent low of $10.65.
FG pledges support to rice millers
15 February 2016, 20:36Emeka
Okonkwo
Abuja - The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu
Ogbe, has assured millers and investors in the rice value chain of government’s
support to ensure Nigeria becomes self sufficient in rice production.This would
enable the country export the commodity.Speaking during an inspection of the
multibillion-Naira AA Ibrahim Integrated Rice Mill Ltd at Challawa, Kano, he
said huge potential for rice production existed in the country.He said farmers
could feed the country’s growing population and export to earn revenue.He
commended for investing N6 billion in the project, which he noted, was on the
verge of completion.Ogbe pledged Federal Ministry of Agriculture would assist
the company with a rice colour sorter to encourage its management.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje meanwhile expressed his
administration’s support.
“The state government is making efforts to provide conducive
atmosphere and working relationship between the farmers and the management of
processing complexes,” he said.
Managing Director of AA Ibrahim Integrated Rice Mill Ltd,
Abdulkadir Aminu Ibrahim stated the factory was established to help in boost
rice production in the country.Production capacity is about 120 000 metric
tonnes per annum.The facility provides 1 200 direct and auxiliary jobs.
http://www.news24.com.ng/National/News/fg-pledges-support-to-rice-millers-20160215
Brave new plant world? Chinese scientists smash reproductive barrier
between genera for first time, but critics warn of playing god
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 16 February, 2016, 2:56pm
UPDATED
: Tuesday, 16 February, 2016, 4:14pm
Stephen Chen
The Chinese team modified the chemical signature of
pollen from one genus (Arabidopsis thaliana) to dupe the female from another
(Arabidopsis thaliana) into recognising it as her own. She then guided the
pollen tube into her ovule. This screenshot shows the tube seeking its target.
Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese scientists have come up with a groundbreaking method to
remove the reproductive barrier between plants, paving the way for species from
separate taxonomic families to mate at will, according to a new paper published
in the journal Nature.
By chemically interfering with the plants’ pollen cells, the
research team convinced a female plant from one genus to mate with a male from
an alien species.
The team said they were able to create a distant-hybrid species
using Arabidopsis thaliana and Capsella rubella, two flowering plants as
different in biological terms as humans and gorillas.
The experiments were overseen by Professor Yang Weicai from the
Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing, which operates
under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
While different plant species can be “fused” using more brutal
methods such as cloning or genome editing, this is the first time they have
been made to mate in more natural terms.
Such cross-breeding has hitherto only occurred between very close
species, for example by combining domestic and wild rice species in China to
create hybrid forms of rice and raise crop yields.
Pollen, the fine powdery substance that produces male gametes
(sperm cells), must land on the female sex organ of a flower (the pistil) to
germinate, producing a pollen tube that extends to pass sperm into the ovule
containing the female gametophyte, where fertilisation can occur.
But the male plant needs guidance from the female to make sure the
pollen tube meets its target, and the female will only send the required signal
if she recognises the pollen as being from the same genus.
Such restrictions on reproduction have brought order and
discipline to the plant kingdom, but they have also made it hard for scientists
to cross-breed new species to, for example, boost agricultural production.
Yang’s team partially solved the problem by exploiting this
biological “loophole”: they changed the chemical signature of the surface of
the pollen cells to trick the female plant into recognising it as belonging to
the same plant family.
By modifying the signature of the pollen from Capsella rubella,
the team duped the female Arabidopsis thaliana into sending out the correct
“attracting signals” to facilitate fertilisation.
This method could be used to “partially break down the
reproductive isolation barrier”, the researchers wrote in their paper.
“Mother Nature has erected reproductive barriers among different
species for good reason. Any abuse of this could have unexpected consequences.”
http://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/1913461/brave-new-plant-world-chinese-scientists-smash-reproductive
Scientists
complete most significant DNA sequencing of rice
Photo by: AFP
Drawing on a
massive bank of varieties stored in the Philippines and state-of-the-art
Chinese technology, scientists recently completed the DNA sequencing of more
than 3,000 types of rice. Rice breeders will soon be able to
produce higher-yielding varieties of rice with new technology
Rice-growing techniques learned through thousands of years of
trial and error are about to be turbocharged with DNA technology in a
breakthrough hailed by scientists as a potential second "green
revolution".
Over the next few years farmers are expected to have new genome
sequencing technology at their disposal, helping to offset a myriad of problems
that threaten to curtail production of the grain that feeds half of humanity.
Drawing on a massive bank of varieties stored in the Philippines
and state-of-the-art Chinese technology, scientists recently completed the DNA
sequencing of more than 3,000 of the world's most significant types of rice.
With the huge pool of data unlocked, rice breeders will soon be
able to produce higher-yielding varieties much more quickly and under increasingly
stressful conditions, scientists involved with the project said.
Other potential new varieties being dreamt about are ones that are
resistant to certain pests and diseases, or types that pack more nutrients and
vitamins.
"This will be a big help to strengthen food security for rice
eaters," said Kenneth McNally, an American biochemist at the
Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
Since rice was first domesticated thousands of years ago, farmers
have improved yields through various planting techniques.
For the past century breeders have isolated traits, such as high
yields and disease resistance, then developed them through cross breeding.
However, they did not know which genes controlled which traits,
leaving much of the effort to lengthy guesswork.
The latest breakthroughs in molecular genetics promise to
fast-track the process, eliminating much of the mystery, scientists involved in
the project.
Better rice varieties can now be expected to be developed and
passed on to farmers' hands in less than three years, compared with 12 without
the guidance of DNA sequencing.
Genome sequencing involves decoding DNA, the hereditary material
of all living cells and organisms. The process roughly compares with solving a
giant jigsaw puzzle made up of billions of microscopic pieces.
A multinational team undertook the four-year project with the DNA
decoding primarily in China by BGI, the world's biggest genome sequencing firm.
Leaf tissue from the samples, drawn mostly from IRRI's gene bank of
127,000 varieties were ground by McNally's team at its laboratory in Los Banos,
near Manila's southern outskirts, before being shipped for sequencing.
A non-profit research outfit founded in 1960, IRRI works with
governments to develop advanced varieties of the grain.
Threats to rice
Farmers and breeders will need the new DNA tools, which scientists
take pains to say is not genetic modification, because of the increasingly
stressful conditions for rice growing expected in the 21st Century.
While there will be many more millions to feed, there is expected
to be less land available for planting as farms are converted for urban
development, destroyed by rising sea levels or converted to other crops.
Farmers work in a rice field near the International Rice Research Institute in Laguna, Philippines.
Rice-paddy destroying floods, drought and storms are also expected
to worsen with climate change. Meanwhile, pests and diseases that evolve to
resist herbicides and pesticides will be more difficult to kill.
And fresh water, vital for growing rice, is expected to become an
increasingly scarce commodity in many parts of the world.
As scientists develop the tools necessary to harness the full
advantages of the rice genome database, the hope is that new varieties can be
developed to combat all those problems.
"Essentially, you will be able to design what properties you
want in rice, in terms of the drought resistance, resistance to diseases, high
yields, and others," said Russian bioanalytics expert and IRRI team member
Nickolai Alexandrov.
Food revolution
Scientists behind the project hope it will lead to a second
"green revolution".
The first began in the 1960s as the development of higher-yielding
varieties of wheat and rice was credited with preventing massive global food
shortages around the world.
That giant leap to producing more food involved the cross-breeding
of unrelated varieties to produce new ones that grew faster and produced higher
yields, mainly by being able to respond better to fertiliser.
But the massive gains of the earlier efforts, which earned US
geneticist Norman Borlaug the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, have since reached a
plateau.
Although the DNA breakthrough has generated much optimism, IRRI
scientists caution it is not a magic bullet for all rice-growing problems, and
believe that genetically modifying is also necessary.
They also warn that governments will still need to implement the
right policies, such as in regards to land and water use.
One of the key priorities of IRRI is to pack more nutrients into
rice, transforming it into a tool to fight ailments linked to inadequate diets
in poor countries as well as lifestyle diseases in wealthier countries.
"We're interested to understand the nutritional value....
we're looking into the enrichment of micronutrients," Nese Sreenivasulu,
the Indian head of the IRRI's grain quality and nutrition centre told.
Nese believes Type-2 diabetes, which afflicts hundreds of millions
of people, can be checked by breeding for particular varieties of rice which
when cooked will release sugar into the bloodstream more slowly.
IRRI scientists are also hoping to breed rice varieties with a
higher component of zinc, which prevents stunting and deaths from diarrhea in
rice-eating Southeast Asia.
Source:
TRTWorld, AFP
Agri
teamup seen to boost PH rice supply
AgriNurture will distribute
rice and fertilizer to meet the self- sufficiency targets of the country,
a company statement said.
The Philippines will not be able
to meet its rice sufficiency target before the end of the current
administration and is aiming to bring in 500 MT of rice.
Due to El Niño which has
engulfed 17 provinces mostly in the rice-producing areas in Mindanao, supply
from other rice-exporting countries is also expected to decline. The
entry of Phoenix-ANI will give rice supply a big boost, the statement said.
ANI is also into hybrid rice
seedling production with China‘s biggest agricultural firm Bei Da Huang under a
joint venture company.
Phoenix is one of the top 3
players in the global rice trading industry today, trading close to 1,000,000+
tons of rice annually and is now among the top five exporters
from India. Its business model is based on upstream integration and is now in
the process of duplicating the Basmati experience across other origins of
premium rice including Thailand, Vietnam and USA.
At any given time, it has enough
inventory to augment part of our country‘s shortage, the company said.
Meanwhile, presidential
candidates were urged by a grassroots group to adopt a farm-based
program that will ensure protection for local farmers amid the
natural disasters brought on by climate change and the prolonged drought
caused by El Niño.
The group, Dignidad stresses the
need for the new administration to have a clear program of agricultural
industrialization if it were to address inequality and achieve genuine
development, said the group spokesman Rene Ofreneo, former dean of the school of
labor and industrial relations at the University of the Philippines in Diliman
Tanzania: Experts Want Tanzanian Farmers to Upgrade
Rice
By
Leonard Magomba
Dar es Salaam —
Tanzanian farmers have been encouraged to sell processed rice so as to increase
their income by nearly 50%.
According to study
dubbed 'Selling now or later, to process or not? The role of risk and time
preferences in rice farmers decisions,' selling rice or later are more
profitable for farmers, than selling paddy or immediately after harvest.
Dr Remidius Ruhinduka
was speaking during the Environment for Development (EFD) dissemination
workshop in Dodoma recently.
However, Dr Ruhinduka
said despite having these opportunities, for some reasons, most rice farmers in
Tanzania do not go for these profitable options.
"Processed rice
could increase the income by nearly 50%. We are encouraging rice farmers to opt
for these options," Dr Ruhinduka said,
He however highlights on
the importance of addressing some potential constraints governing such choices
by farmers.
For example, he said
farmers need to objectively measure the amount of moisture in paddy before
processing for a good outcome; else they could end up losing from this value
adding process.
Therefore he added
challenge remains to be the limited or non-existing access of moisture meters
to most of poor rice farmers in the country.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201602151619.html
DNA
breakthrough raises hopes for ‘dream rice’
February 15, 2016 10:27 pm
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna:
Rice-growing techniques learned through thousands of years of trial and error
are about to be turbocharged with DNA technology in a breakthrough hailed by
scientists as a potential second “Green Revolution.”
Over the next few
years, farmers are expected to have new genome sequencing technology at their
disposal, helping to offset a myriad of problems that threaten to curtail
production of the grain that feeds half of humanity.
Drawing on a massive
bank of varieties stored in the Philippines and state-of-the-art Chinese
technology, scientists recently completed the DNA sequencing of more than 3,000
of the world’s most significant types of rice.
With the huge pool of
data unlocked, rice breeders will soon be able to produce higher-yielding
varieties much more quickly and under increasingly stressful conditions,
scientists involved with the project told Agence France-Presse.
Other potential new
varieties being dreamt about are ones that are resistant to certain pests and
diseases, or types that pack more nutrients and vitamins.
“This will be a big
help to strengthen food security for rice eaters,” said Kenneth McNally, an
American biochemist at the Philippines-based International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) here.
Since rice was first
domesticated thousands of years ago, farmers have improved yields through
various planting techniques.
For the past century,
breeders have isolated traits, such as high yields and disease resistance, then
developed them through cross-breeding.
They, however, did not
know which genes controlled which traits, leaving much of the effort to lengthy
guesswork.
The latest
breakthroughs in molecular genetics promise to fasttrack the process,
eliminating much of the mystery, scientists involved in the project said.
Better rice varieties
can now be expected to be developed and passed on to farmers’ hands in less
than three years, compared with 12 without the guidance of DNA sequencing.
Genome sequencing
involves decoding DNA, the hereditary material of all living cells and
organisms.
The process roughly
compares with solving a giant jigsaw puzzle made up of billions of microscopic
pieces.
A multinational team
undertook the four-year project with the DNA decoding primarily in China by
BGI, the world’s biggest genome sequencing firm.
Leaf tissue from the
samples, drawn mostly from IRRI’s gene bank of 127,000 varieties were ground by
McNally’s team at its laboratory in Los Baños, near Manila’s southern
outskirts, before being shipped for sequencing.
A non-profit research
outfit founded in 1960, IRRI works with governments to develop advanced
varieties of the grain.
Threats
to rice
Farmers and breeders will need the new DNA tools, which scientists take pains to say is not genetic modification, because of the increasingly stressful conditions for rice growing expected in the 21st century.
Farmers and breeders will need the new DNA tools, which scientists take pains to say is not genetic modification, because of the increasingly stressful conditions for rice growing expected in the 21st century.
While there will be
many more millions to feed, there is expected to be less land available for
planting as farms are converted for urban development, destroyed by rising sea
levels or converted to other crops.
Rice-paddy destroying
floods, drought and storms are also expected to worsen with climate change.
Meanwhile, pests and
diseases that evolve to resist herbicides and pesticides will be more difficult
to kill.
And fresh water, vital
for growing rice, is expected to become an increasingly scarce commodity in
many parts of the world.
As scientists develop
the tools necessary to harness the full advantages of the rice genome database,
the hope is that new varieties can be developed to combat all those problems.
“Essentially, you will
be able to design what properties you want in rice, in terms of the drought
resistance, resistance to diseases, high yields, and others,” said Russian
bioanalytics expert and IRRI team member Nickolai Alexandrov.
Scientists behind the
project hope it will lead to a second “Green Revolution.”
The first began in the
1960s as the development of higher-yielding varieties of wheat and rice was
credited with preventing massive global food shortages around the world.
That giant leap to
producing more food involved the cross-breeding of unrelated varieties to
produce new ones that grew faster and produced higher yields, mainly by being
able to respond better to fertilizer.
But the massive gains
of the earlier efforts, which earned US geneticist Norman Borlaug the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1970, have since reached a plateau.
Although the DNA
breakthrough has generated much optimism, IRRI scientists caution that it is
not a magic bullet for all rice-growing problems, and believe that genetically
modifying is also necessary.
They also warn that
governments will still need to implement the right policies, such as those
regarding land and water use.
One of the key
priorities of IRRI is to pack more nutrients into rice, transforming it into a
tool to fight ailments linked to inadequate diets in poor countries as well as
lifestyle diseases in wealthier countries.
“We’re interested to
understand the nutritional value…. we’re looking into the enrichment of
micronutrients,” Nese Sreenivasulu, the Indian head of the IRRI’s grain quality
and nutrition center, said.
http://www.manilatimes.net/dna-breakthrough-raises-hopes-for-dream-rice/245186/
New rice research may usher in next wave of ‘green
revolution’
FEBRUARY 15, 2016
by Susanna Pilny
For thousands of years, farmers have been selecting for the traits
they want in their crops through simple trial and error, but new gene
sequencing technology is looking to facilitate this process greatly. In fact,
according to Phys.org, it’s anticipated that this
technology with streamline the process so that it takes a quarter of the time
it does now; it could reduce the timespan needed to develop new rice varieties
in response to environmental changes to less than three years, as compared to
12 without the technology.
The idea is actually fairly simple. The International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the
Philippines has a massive bank of rice varieties, which researchers paired
sequenced using advanced Chinese technology. Now, more than 3,000 of the
world’s most important kinds of rice have their entire genomes sequenced, along
what their genes code for.
Which means that, should a farmer
be faced with a challenge such as a floods, new pests, or shifting nutritional
needs, they can better figure out how to breed new rice varieties from existing
ones by selecting for crops with the traits they desire.
"Essentially, you will be able
to design what properties you want in rice, in terms of the drought resistance,
resistance to diseases, high yields, and others," said Russian
bioanalytics expert and IRRI team member Nickolai Alexandrov.
However, researchers also emphasize that this is not genetic modification (like with GMOs),
but rather selective breeding—which they believe will lead to the second “green
revolution”. The first one began in the 1960s, with the development of rice and
wheat that created higher yields, and is now credited with preventing global
food shortages.
But these gains plateaued around
1970, making this innovation a potential game-changer for rice growers.
"This will be a big help to
strengthen food security for rice eaters," said Kenneth McNally, an
American biochemist at the IRRI.
Read more at http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113412604/new-rice-research-may-usher-in-next-wave-of-green-revolution-021516/#4z5iPKql6ASf1t6e.99
Commerce Min: Thailand must grow rice according to
market demand
BY EDITOR ON 2016-02-15
THAILAND
BANGKOK,
15 February 2016 (NNT) – The Ministry of Commerce said it is necessary that
Thailand produce rice according to the actual demand in the market.Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Chutima Bunyapraphasara convened
agriculture-related officials to a meeting to discuss the possibility of
Thailand reducing the number of rice plantations. According to her, the supply
of rice in the country will exceed demand should farmers continue the
off-season harvesting of paddy.The idea has prompted rice producers to request
that the government clearly regulate prices of rice so as to allow them to plan
their cultivation accordingly.She said the ministry would soon summon rice
buyers and ask them to purchase paddy directly from producers without going
through a middleman
http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/commerce-min-thailand-must-grow-rice-according-to-market-demand/131824/
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