FPCCI calls for
enhanced trade ties with Syria
The Federation of Pakistan
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) asked the business community of
Pakistan to explore trade and investment opportunities in Syria.There is a lot
of scope for Pakistani textiles, rice, pharmaceuticals, sports goods and
agricultural products in Syria, said Abdul Rauf Alam, President FPCCI.He said
this while talking to Syrian Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E. Radwan Loutfi, here
at FPCCI Capital House. Other business leaders were also present on the
occasion.
Alam said Syria is a potential
market for Pakistani products and the improvement in the overall security
situation will likely result in opening many opportunities for Pakistani
business community, which may include massive reconstruction activities.“Trade
with Syria might be a little risky right now, but higher risks mean higher
profitability and our business community will surely benefit from the situation
after peace is restored”, he added.He asked the Syrian Ambassador to help
develop linkages between FPCCI and its Syrian counterpart, and to bring a
delegation of Syrian businesspeople to Pakistan. He stressed the promotion of
Pakistani products and services in Syrian market, hoping that Pakistani
business would capture a sizeable share in that market.
On the occasion, the Syrian
Ambassador ensured all out cooperation to improve trade. He said he would try
to establish links between the apex chamber of his country and FPCCI.The
Ambassador said that Aleppo used to be the biggest industrial center of Syria
where production has dropped due to unrest; he said, agricultural production
had also declined and the demand is being met by imports.Syria is still the
fourth largest producer of olives in the world, and there was no dearth of opportunities
in his country, he informed.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/blog/2016/12/04/fpcci-calls-for-enhanced-trade-ties-with-syria/
India's basmati rice export to grow 10% on
China market:ICRA
India
and China together contribute around 40 per cent of the global rice production,
which is estimated at around 740 million tonne of paddy, ICRA said, adding of
this the communist nation's share was at around 27 per cent. | 1 Comments
Indias basmati rice export to grow 10% on China market:ICRA Export of basmati
rice is expected to grow by 10 percent to Rs 25,500 crore in 2017-18, mainly on
account of China opening its market to India, rating agency ICRA has said.
Opening up of China as an export destination is a positive for the Indian
basmati rice industry, ICRA said in a report here. This will provide a fillip
to exporters, who are just recovering from the muted global demand and a
correction in prices in the recent past, it said. "While in FY17, basmati
rice export value is expected to remain in line with the FY16 levels, it is
expected to grow by 10 per cent to Rs 25,500 crore in FY18.
"China has agreed to import basmati rice
from 14 companies in India. In the ongoing harvesting season the volume of
basmati paddy is expected to be lower than last year. With the addition of a
new market, this could push up the realisations next year. Further, depending
on the demand over the coming months, farmers may increase basmati sowing in
the FY18 season," ICRA Assistant Vice-President Deepak Jotwani said. India
and China together contribute around 40 per cent of the global rice production,
which is estimated at around 740 million tonne of paddy, ICRA said, adding of
this the communist nation's share was at around 27 per cent. However, both the
countries are also the largest consumers of rice, thereby restricting their
participation in the international trade, it pointed out. While India is a net
exporter of rice, China is a net importer, ICRA said.
Chinese rice is typically short in length and
non- aromatic. However, with the increasing income levels and flourishing
global trade, the population in China has also developed a preference for other
varieties of rice, ICRA said. This has opened up import from other major
rice-producing countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and India, it said.
Moreover, it said, China has emerged as the largest importer of rice in recent
years.
In
India, non-basmati rice accounts for a majority (90-92percent volume share) of
the total rice production. However, around 90 per cent of the same is consumed
domestically. Basmati rice, being a premium variety, commands a higher price
and the majority (around 75percent) of its production is exported, the rating
firm said. In volume terms, non-basmati rice export from the country stood at 6.4
million tonne in FY16, while shipments were 4 million tonne in the same period,
it added.
Rabi sowing picking up pace
despite demonetisation woes
New Delhi, December 2:
Despite
demonetisation leading to a cash crunch in the economy, the sowing of Rabi
crops in the season so far, at 415.53 lakh hectares, was 8.5 per cent greater
than the 382.84 lakh hectares sown in the same period last year.While acreage
under wheat, pulses and oilseeds increased compared to the same period last
year, rice and coarse cereals acreage declined.
Total
sowing in the period, however, remained marginally below the normal five-year
average of 416.66 lakh hectares for the same time-frame. “Last year was a
drought year, so acreage was low.
Sowing this year
Comparing
this year’s sowing to last the five years’ average gives a better picture.
“Sowing has been only slightly lower than the previous five years’ average,
which shows that demonetisation has had a limited impact so far,” an
agriculture expert from a Delhi-based think tank said.
Sowing
of wheat, over 173.93 lakh hectares till December 2, was higher than the 152.56
lakh hectares covered in the same period last year, but lower than the last
five years’ average of 189.58 lakh hectares.
Higher
coverage has been reported from Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab,
Uttarakhand and Haryana while there has been lower coverage in Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
West Bengal.
The area
under pulses, at 112.95 lakh hectares, is higher than both last year’s acreage
of 99.83 lakh hectare as well as the last five years’ average of 103.94 lakh
hectares.
Higher
acreage has been reported from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal, among others, while lower acreage has been reported from Karnataka,
Chhattisgarh and Haryana.
Oilseeds
acreage till December 2 was at 70.70 lakh hectare, which was higher than the
acreage of 64.21 lakh hectares in the same period last year and the last five
years’ average of 69.32 lakh hectares.
Higher
acreage was recorded in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam while
lower acreage has been reported in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
Rice
acreage till December 2, at 13.37 lakh hectares, was lower than last year’s
acreage of 14.84 lakh hectares in the same period but higher than the last five
years’ average of 9.44 lakh hectares. Higher coverage has been reported from
Tamil Nadu and Odisha, while there was lower coverage in Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Kerala.
The area
under coarse cereals, at 44.59 lakh hectares till December 2, was lower than
last year’s coverage of 51.40 lakh hectares but marginally higher than the last
five years’ average of 44.38 lakh hectares.
A larger
area has been covered in States such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, while acreage has gone down in Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Rabi
sowing generally starts in October and goes on till January.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/rabi-sowing-picking-up-pace-despite-demonetisation-woes/article9407465.ece
Punjab is set for record rice
production this year, but at a heavy price
With no checks on the use of groundwater to
irrigate farms, the state's water table is falling at an alarming rate.
Dec 04, 2016 · 07:00 am
Nidhi JamwalWith an eye on the Assembly elections next year, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has ordered the immediate lifting of the paddy crop from farmers and sought daily reports on the progress in procurement. Punjab’s high-steroid growth, which started with the Green Revolution in the 1970s, it appears, is refusing to slow down.
But underneath this hype lies another narrative – a worrisome one – of the overexploitation of the state’s groundwater resources. “Over 97% of the cultivated area in Punjab is irrigated, the highest in the country,” said Dr Rajan Aggarwal, head of the soil and water engineering department at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. “But, 75% is irrigated using groundwater while only 25% of the area benefits from canal irrigation.”
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal stressed that Punjab was in danger of turning into a desert in less than a decade due to falling groundwater levels.
The 2013 Report of the High-Level Expert Group on Waterlogging in Punjab noted that “the water table in the state is falling by up to one metre per year”.
The Central Ground Water Board, too, warned of an impending water and agrarian crisis in the state. “In Punjab, groundwater development is 172%, which is an overdraft,” said Dr SK Jain, regional director (north-western region) of the board’s Chandigarh office. “Simply put, it means that groundwater extraction is much more than the recharge. And, if the present trend continues, then 50 blocks in 14 districts of Punjab may completely run out of groundwater in the next one decade.”
Groundwater development is the ratio of net yearly extraction of groundwater to the total utilisable groundwater resources for irrigation. At 100% groundwater development, water extraction is equal to water recharge. Anything beyond that is an overdraft.
Feeding the nation
Punjab
is called the granary of India. While it occupies only 1.5% of the country’s
total geographical area, it is the top contributor of foodgrains
to the central grain pool, thereby feeding the entire nation through the public
distribution system.According to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Punjab State Focus Paper 2015-’16, the state alone contributes more than 43% of wheat to the central pool and over 29% of the rice. A few years ago, this contribution stood even higher at 55% of wheat and 42% of rice.
Wheat and rice are the two major crops of Punjab. Of the state’s total geographical area of 50 lakh hectares, 41 lakh hectares is under cultivation – over 35 lakh hectares for wheat and 30 lakh hectares for rice. Since wheat is a rabi (winter) crop and rice is a kharif crop, farmers in Punjab grow both on the same farmland. The time gap between the crops allows them to till their land using the same farm equipment and harvesting machinery. Wheat is indispensable as it is the state’s staple diet, but rice is grown primarily to feed the central pool.
“Farmers continue to grow wheat and rice because it is picked up in large quantities by the government under the minimum support price, thereby giving farmers an assured return,” said Dr Rajan Aggarwal of Punjab Agricultural University.
Before the advent of paddy, the main kharif crops in Punjab were maize, cotton and pulses. In the 1960s, about three lakh hectares of cultivable area was under rice cultivation, which has now touched 30 lakh hectares. In 1970-’71, the gross cropped area under maize was 9.7%, which came down to 1.7% in 2010-’11. In the same period, areas growing pulses and oilseeds also plunged from 7.2% to 0.2% , and 5.2% to 0.7%, respectively.
Falling water table
Paddy,
grown on 75% of cultivable land in Punjab, is a highly water-intensive crop. To
grow one kilogram of rice, farmers in the state use 5,337 litres of water. During the
2015-’16 crop season, Punjab contributed an estimated 93.5 lakh tonnes to the
public distribution system. In terms of water consumption, this is equivalent
to five times the capacity of the Gobind Sagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam –
which irrigates 40% of Punjab’s net irrigated area – in neighbouring Himachal
Pradesh.Paddy also requires a minimum average annual rainfall of 1,150 millimetres, though the most suitable average annual rainfall is between 1,750 mm and 3,000 mm.
In sharp contrast, the average annual rainfall in Punjab is 650 mm-700 mm. “This, too, has declined in the last two decades to 400 mm-500 mm, putting an additional burden on groundwater, as farmers have sunk deeper tubewells to irrigate their paddy fields,” said Dr SK Jain of the Central Ground Water Board.
Predictably, an indiscriminate use of groundwater for paddy cultivation has led to a sharp decline in the water table. Of the 138 administrative blocks in Punjab, 110 blocks are overexploited, four are critical and two are semi-critical, reports the Central Ground Water Board. Only 22 blocks are safe, but they have other problems such as arsenic, fluoride and uranium contamination.
No checks in place
In 1999,
the Punjab government stopped billing farmers for
the electricity and water they used for their fields. This tradition of
freebies has continued, and the power subsidy for farmers in
2016-’17 stood at Rs 6,364.4 crore, which is borne entirely by the state
government.The government has also refused to regulate the use of groundwater. In 2010, it refused to adopt the Central government’s model bill for management of groundwater. In Punjab, no permission is required to dig tubewells, and there is no restriction on the depth of the tubewells, which are sinking deeper by the year.
“Both the state and the Centre have done nothing to protect, regulate and manage Punjab’s aquifers that irrigate 75% of the state’s land and are its lifeline,” said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
The state government claims it is working towards conserving groundwater by promoting drip irrigation, which saves water by taking it directly to the plant roots or into the soil surface through a network of pipes and valves. However, at present, only 1% of total cultivable land in Punjab is under drip irrigation.
The state government also enacted the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act in 2009 that bans paddy transplantation – the shifting of rice saplings from the nursery to the field – till June 10. Early transplantation leads to groundwater depletion as the water in the fields evaporates quickly as a result of high temperatures, which ease with the advent of pre-monsoon showers in mid-June. Last year, this deadline was pushed to June 15.
But, keeping in mind the extent of the groundwater crisis in the state, these measures are not enough.
Saving Punjab
As part
of the Central government’s National Project on Aquifer Management,
the mapping of Punjab’s aquifers is underway and is expected to be completed by
next year. This will give a clear picture of the state of its aquifers. “Aquifer mapping is good, but we need to see what use these maps will eventually be put to, and if they translate into effective management of groundwater,” said Dr Himanshu Kulkarni, executive director of the Pune-based Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management.
Apart from the mapping of aquifers, the Centre has given the Punjab government a Rs 100-crore subsidy to lay underground irrigation pipelines under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. “In the present flood irrigation system for wheat and rice crops, a lot of water is wasted due to evaporation as the water channels are unlined and open,” said Jain. “Underground irrigation pipelines will address this problem.”
The state government, in turn, is offering farmers a subsidy for the same.
But, Thakkar is critical of these capital-intensive solutions. “These half-baked measures do not address the real issue of high paddy cultivation and consequent unsustainable groundwater consumption in Punjab,” he said.
Also, the main irrigation canals of the Bhakra dam are open to the air, leading to evaporation. “How will farmers laying underground pipelines in their fields solve the problem,” he asked.
The Punjab Agricultural University has consistently suggested reducing the area under paddy cultivation by at least 12 lakh hectares. This area can then be diversified into growing other less water-intensive kharif crops such as maize, which has only one-sixth the water requirement of paddy. Pulses and soyabean are other alternatives.
But this is easier said than done in a state where farm distress leads to around 2,000 farmer suicides every year. The farmers themselves are against making the switch unless they are given an assured market and minimum support price.
Punjab’s share in the central grain pool is on the decline, though it still remains the main contributor. Between 2007-’08 and 2010-’11, its share of wheat and rice fell from 60.9% to 45.4%, and 27.8% to 25.3%, respectively. Its current share of wheat is still lower at 43% while that of rice has risen slightly to 29%. If it wants to retain its top position, it has to diversify and reinvent itself without any further exploitation of its aquifers.
Nidhi Jamwal is an independent environment journalist based in Mumbai. Her Twitter handle is @JamwalNidhi
We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.
http://scroll.in/article/821052/punjab-is-set-for-record-rice-production-this-year-but-at-a-heavy-price
Korea to reduce rice paddies
in 2017
Published : 2016-12-05 09:35
Updated : 2016-12-05 09:45
Updated : 2016-12-05 09:45
The ministry said it will help farmers convert their rice paddies into fields growing other crops.The decision came as South Korea has been suffering from an oversupply of rice for years. The annual rice consumption of the South Korean population has been on a sharp decline due mainly to changes in diet and eating habits.
The country has some 300,000 tons of rice in excess this year, as the 4.2-million-ton supply situation exceeds the 3.9 million tons expected to be consumed.In order to remove the oversupply in the market, The government purchased all of this year's rice surplus and set them aside in the form of public reserves.
Per capita rice consumption reached 62.9 kilograms per year in 2015, sharply down from the 128.1 kg tallied in 1985, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. (Yonhap
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20161205000169
Each furrow-irrigated field
may require different handling
Rice Farmers should be prepared to fertilizer
their furrow-irrigated or row rice acres on a field-by-field basis, LSU
AgCenter Extension rice specialist says.
Don’t think you can use a “cookie-cutter”
approach to fertilizing or managing your fields in a furrow-irrigated or row
rice situation, says Dustin Harrell, Extension rice specialist with the LSU
AgCenter.“Every furrow-irrigated rice field is not the same,” Dr. Harrell said
during a presentation at a Row Rice Production meeting in Rayville, La. “We may
have fields that are close to being level; we may have some with a pretty good
slope on there and we’ll get water down them quickly.
“And, depending on what your field is like,
that’s going to change the nitrogen rate recommendations. The nitrogen
recommendations will not be the same across all these different fields. You may
have a field with a tenth or less slope; you may collect the water at the end
of the furrow; you may have tailwater recovery or a small levee at the end.”The
number of practices can vary, and growers need to have a plan for dealing with
them before they get into irrigating their rice, Dr. Harrell noted in a
presentation to about 60 growers from northeast Louisiana.The meeting was
organized by the Northeast Louisiana Rice Growers Association with the
assistance of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service’s Richland Parish
office in Rayville, La.
http://www.deltafarmpress.com/rice/each-furrow-irrigated-field-may-require-different-handling
Rice output
likely to fall 6pc in Punjab during 2016/17
December 04, 2016
In 2015/16, paddy was planted on around 1.78 million hectares. Overall, rice acreage fell 4.7 percent in the current season over the previous year.Rice was planted on 1.78 million hectares in 2015/16 as against 1.87 million hectares in 2014/15, showing a 5.2 percent decline.
Pakistan’s Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) has set 2016-17 (July – June) rice production (milled basis) target at around 6.83 million tons from around 2.8 million hectares.
An expected crop shortage has already ignited a price hike at the local markets.Wholesale price of new milled rice rose to Rs80-85/kilogramme from Rs55-60/kg last year.Usually, milled rice wholesale prices came down to Rs50-60/kg with the advent of paddy harvesting. “This time around, soaring prices have baffled traders,” a trader said. “Low output forecast further aggravated the situation.”
During the last decade, rice sowing area in the province ranges between 1.70 million and 1.97 million hectares. Acreage shrinkage was observed in the last couple of years. Over the past two-year alone, sowing area shrank approximately 10 percent.In 2014-15, paddy output stood at 3.64 million tons, down four percent over the previous year.
An official said farmers are getting low returns owing to a huge carryover stocks. Besides, better profits on fodder and other competitive crops encouraged farmers to switch to those crops. “Erratic monsoon rainfalls were also one of the reasons of a relatively low output,” he added.Rice, being one of the staple foods, is cash crop of Pakistan. Fed on the western rivers, Punjab is blessed with the biggest rice producing belt of the country, occupying a major chunk of total national cropped area.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in a report released in July, raised Pakistan’s exports forecast for 2016/17 by 0.1 million tons to 4.5 million tons on a stronger pace of trade only if the country achieves rice production of seven million tons.The United States Department of Agriculture projected around 20 percent more purchases by Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan from Pakistan. The country exported 3.946 million tons of rice during the July-May period of 2015/16.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/169528-Rice-output-likely-to-fall-6pc-in-Punjab-during-201617
Rabi sowing picking up pace
despite demonetisation woes
New Delhi, December 2:
Despite
demonetisation leading to a cash crunch in the economy, the sowing of Rabi
crops in the season so far, at 415.53 lakh hectares, was 8.5 per cent greater
than the 382.84 lakh hectares sown in the same period last year.While acreage
under wheat, pulses and oilseeds increased compared to the same period last
year, rice and coarse cereals acreage declined.Total sowing in the period,
however, remained marginally below the normal five-year average of 416.66 lakh
hectares for the same time-frame. “Last year was a drought year, so acreage was
low.
Sowing this year
Comparing
this year’s sowing to last the five years’ average gives a better picture.
“Sowing has been only slightly lower than the previous five years’ average,
which shows that demonetisation has had a limited impact so far,” an
agriculture expert from a Delhi-based think tank said.
Sowing
of wheat, over 173.93 lakh hectares till December 2, was higher than the 152.56
lakh hectares covered in the same period last year, but lower than the last
five years’ average of 189.58 lakh hectares.
Higher
coverage has been reported from Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab,
Uttarakhand and Haryana while there has been lower coverage in Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
West Bengal.
The area
under pulses, at 112.95 lakh hectares, is higher than both last year’s acreage
of 99.83 lakh hectare as well as the last five years’ average of 103.94 lakh
hectares.
Higher
acreage has been reported from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal, among others, while lower acreage has been reported from Karnataka,
Chhattisgarh and Haryana.
Oilseeds
acreage till December 2 was at 70.70 lakh hectare, which was higher than the
acreage of 64.21 lakh hectares in the same period last year and the last five
years’ average of 69.32 lakh hectares.
Higher
acreage was recorded in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam while
lower acreage has been reported in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
Rice
acreage till December 2, at 13.37 lakh hectares, was lower than last year’s
acreage of 14.84 lakh hectares in the same period but higher than the last five
years’ average of 9.44 lakh hectares. Higher coverage has been reported from
Tamil Nadu and Odisha, while there was lower coverage in Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Kerala.
The area
under coarse cereals, at 44.59 lakh hectares till December 2, was lower than
last year’s coverage of 51.40 lakh hectares but marginally higher than the last
five years’ average of 44.38 lakh hectares.
A larger
area has been covered in States such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, while acreage has gone down in Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Rabi
sowing generally starts in October and goes on till January
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/rabi-sowing-picking-up-pace-despite-demonetisation-woes/article9407465.ece
Farmers to make rice affordable by 2017 On
December 5, 201611:20 amIn NewsComments Rice farmers have assured Nigerians of
their readiness to make the price of rice affordable and accessible by 2017. Mr
Aminu Goronyo, the National President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria
(RIFAN), gave the assurance in a telephone interview in Abuja on Monday. He
said the association had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some
farm input suppliers in the country to ensure prompt supply of cheap
fertilisers and pesticides to boost production. Goronyo said some individuals
and corporate bodies caused the current scarcity and hike in the price of rice
in order to sabotage government efforts in agricultural diversification.
“We have more than 4.5 million hectares of
FADAMA land for rice production and each hectare has the capacity with a very
good practice and management to produce five tonnes per hectare minimum. “So,
in one production cycle, we can produce 10 million metric tonnes of paddy rice
and our consumption rate in this country is between 6.5 and seven million
metric tonnes per annum. “So if we can produce 10 million metric tonnes in one
production cycle and we have three production cycles in a year, it means that
we can feed this country and even export this rice that we produce,’’ he said.
The RIFAN president said the association would continue to support the Federal
Government agricultural diversification as a way of boosting the economy Read
more at:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/farmers-to-make-rice-affordable-by-2017/
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/farmers-to-make-rice-affordable-by-2017/
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/farmers-to-make-rice-affordable-by-2017/
Rice price not likely to fall yet
Our Reporteron:
December 04, 2016
Bag of Rice
Contrary to what the federal government had
promised, the month of November has come and gone, yet the price of rice has
not come down and may not likely fall this year as the price of dollar remains
high and local farmers are yet to start milling rice. As the price of rice went
astronomically high like prices of other products in the country, the Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, declared that the price of
rice would start to fall from last month, November, as Nigerians boosted
local production.The Agriculture and Rural Development Minister had stated that
more Nigerians had returned to their various farms, adding that at the next
harvesting season in November (last month), the price of rice would start to
crash. This came as the government said that the delay in the approval of the
2016 budget had made it impossible to implement the capital expenditure in the
agricultural sector.
Chief AuduOgbeh said this while addressing
members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development at the
headquarters of the ministry in Abuja.Ogbeh, who stated that the government
could not be involved in the importation of rice as speculated in some
quarters, stressed that his ministry would not encourage rice importation
because it would be detrimental to local production.
He said
the federal government was against rice smuggling and noted that the Seme
border had become a notorious route for the smuggling of contraband products
into the country. “We will not encourage rice importation and
there is no way our ministry or government can be involved in importing rice
when we are working hard to be self-sufficient in local production. By November
when the full-scale harvest starts, rice prices will fall,” the minister said.This came as good news to Nigerians who have endured the hardship of inflation since the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, days after November, there is still no sign of the price coming down as investigations in the major rice markets in the cities reveal almost the absence of local rice, while foreign smuggled rice arevintagely displayed.
The surprising thing is that the few available local rice in the city market is even more expensive than the foreign ones.
At the leading rice market,Daleko, in Mushin, Lagos, while a 50kg of smuggled imported long grain rice sells for N18,000 to N18,5000, the locally grown rice of the same quantity sells for N21,000 to N22,000.
A bag of 50kg long grain rice from Ebonyi State, ‘African Sisi’, sells for N21,000. Also the same quantity of rice from Benue State, ‘Mama Pride’, sells for N20,000. The unpolished locally grown rice is even more expensive. A 50kg of Ofada rice, grown in Ogun State, goes for about N28,000 while a similar rice from Ebonyi State also sells for about N26,000.
Investigations reveal that the price of the unpolished rice is higher because health conscious consumers prefer it as it is perceived to be superior as the natural nutrients have not been stripped off as a result of processing.
Explaining why the locally grown rice is more expensive, AlhajiSanniAdamu, a major rice dealer, said it was one of the Nigerian factors.Prompting him to explain what he meant, he said that a lot of expenses are incurred while handling the product and transporting from the towns it is cultivated to the major cities. For instance, he said, “it costs N2,500 to transport a 50kg of Mama Pride from Benue State to Lagos markets while it costs less to transport the same quantity of smuggled rice from the Nigerian/ Seme and Idiriko Borders to the market.”
Though, the locally grown rice is cheaper in the areas where they are grown. Research reveals that a 50kg bag of ‘African Sisi’ sells for about N19,000 in the eastern part of the country with the smuggled rice selling as high as N23,000 to N24,000.On why only few bags of locally grown rice can be seen in the market despite the federal government’s promise that there will be surplus local rice in the market this month, AlhajiAdamu, whose warehouse is at No. 300 Kampbell line, in Daleko market, lamented that Nigerian farmers were yet to start harvesting rice, adding that “though consumers demand more for the imported long grain rice.”
Speaking with Chief Comfort Idowu,another major rice dealer at Iddo rice market in Lagos, she said that going by everything on ground, the price of rice will not fall this month or even next month.“How will the price fall this month when foreign exchange is still going up and our local farmers are yet to harvest rice? Even if they harvest rice, can they produce enough to feed half the country?” she questioned.“Okay, at this Iddo market, how many brands and bags of local rice have you seen? The few bags of local rice here cannot even feed the people in this market, not to talk of the whole of Nigeria,” she hissed.
“The price of rice will not fall now except the federal government lifts the ban on importation and empowers our local farmers. The ban on rice is just creating avenues for the Custom officers to make more money by extorting money from smugglers and selling off some of the seized rice,” lamented Mr. Michael Ikeduru, a rice merchant at Iddo market.Ganiyu Quadri, chairman of Alimosho LGA, had also said a bag of rice will drop to N9000 in Lagos before this month. Retailers are of the opinion that the rising price of rice is due to the ban on its importation. They believe that the hike in price is due to the activities of some individuals who monopolise the market
GIEWS Country Brief: Guyana
29-November-2016
Published on 29 Nov 2016
·
Rice production in 2016 forecast down from 2015
record level
·
Rice exports in 2016/17 marketing year to
slightly decline from last year’s high level
The FAO forecast for Guyana’s 2016 cereal production points to a decline of 19 percent from last year’s high level, but still above the five-year average. The forecast mainly reflects a sharp reduction in rice output. After eight years of uninterrupted production growth, Guyana saw the first rice crop of the 2016 season severely hampered by dry weather; low profit margins also discouraged farmers from sowing. The harvest of the second season is well advanced, prospects are uncertain as untimely rains hampered plantings and preliminary reports point to the crop being affected by diseases, which will likely reduce any potential recovery of the output lost during the first season. As a result, 2016 annual rice production is now forecast at 860 000 tonnes (paddy equivalent), implying a nearly 200 000 tonnes contraction from the 2015 record level.
Rice exports in 2016/17 marketing year to decline from last year’s high level
Rice is the country’s second most important export commodity, after gold, with normally about half of the annual rice production being exported. Rice exports in the 2016/17 marketing year (January/December) are anticipated to decline by 4 percent from last year’s high level, mainly reflecting this year’s tighter domestic supplies.
GIEWS Country Brief: El Salvador
02-December-2016
Report
·
Cereal production in 2016 anticipated to
recover from last year’s drought-reduced level
·
Cereal imports forecast to decline in 2016/17
marketing year (September/August)
·
Maize and rice prices continued to decline in
November, while bean prices increased seasonally
Cereal
production in 2016 anticipated to recover from last year’s drought-reduced
levelCereal imports forecast to decline in 2016/17 marketing year
Cereal imports in the 2016/17 marketing year (September/August) are forecast to decline sharply from last year’s record level, reflecting the positive outlook for the 2016 cereal production. The bulk of the decline stems from lower maize imports for the 2016/17 marketing year (September/August), which are anticipated at 430 000 tonnes, down 38 percent year‑on‑year.
Maize and rice prices continued to decline in November, bean prices increased seasonally
Wholesale prices of white maize in November continued their declining trend of the previous months and were some 21 percent below their levels from a year earlier reflecting ample supplies from the good main season harvest concluded in October. Rice prices also declined from the previous month and from a year earlier, as supplies from the main season harvest began to supply the markets. By contrast, bean prices increased seasonally, as the harvest of the main season crops will not begin until mid-December. However, prices remain some 17 percent below their year earlier levels, reflecting ample supplies from imports and carryover stocks from the harvest in November
http://reliefweb.int/report/el-salvador/giews-country-brief-el-salvador-02-december-2016
Gumbo Catches on in Toyko
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TOKYO, JAPAN --
Seventeen restaurants across the city are participating in a U.S. medium grain
rice winter menu promotion that began last week and runs through February
2017. Internet advertising on a popular restaurant search website
connects consumers with promotion partner restaurants.
Tony Roma's, one of the menu promotion partners, developed eight different gumbo menu items so that their customers can enjoy a different gumbo dish every week for eight weeks.
"Gumbo is still a new menu item in Japan, but chefs here are very creative and have developed several styles of gumbo that are served as a kinds of winter soup here," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice's director of Asia promotion programs. "It is also a great dish to give chefs an idea that rice is an excellent ingredient for soup and U.S. medium grain rice works nicely in this application."
To encourage more restaurants to make gumbo using U.S. medium grain rice, a special information webpage was added to the USA Rice Japan website that includes recipes and a short video demonstrating how easy it is to prepare.
"We learned through past events, such as the Taste of America campaign and various soup promotions, that gumbo was a menu item that piqued the attention of restaurant chefs," said Guinn. "Gumbo is a great 'gateway' dish to encourage chefs to use U.S. medium grain rice as a soup ingredient."
Tony Roma's, one of the menu promotion partners, developed eight different gumbo menu items so that their customers can enjoy a different gumbo dish every week for eight weeks.
"Gumbo is still a new menu item in Japan, but chefs here are very creative and have developed several styles of gumbo that are served as a kinds of winter soup here," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice's director of Asia promotion programs. "It is also a great dish to give chefs an idea that rice is an excellent ingredient for soup and U.S. medium grain rice works nicely in this application."
To encourage more restaurants to make gumbo using U.S. medium grain rice, a special information webpage was added to the USA Rice Japan website that includes recipes and a short video demonstrating how easy it is to prepare.
"We learned through past events, such as the Taste of America campaign and various soup promotions, that gumbo was a menu item that piqued the attention of restaurant chefs," said Guinn. "Gumbo is a great 'gateway' dish to encourage chefs to use U.S. medium grain rice as a soup ingredient."
Musings On The Rice Debate
Ade Adefeko
Dec 6, 2016 3:54 am | Leave a comment
The Rice debate in Nigeria is an intense and
fierce one by different players who don’t understand the dynamics and only tend
to put out emotional arguments not grounded on facts and logic but only aim to
score cheap political points. They try to play to the fact that
self-sufficiency is a walk in the park and merely requires sloganeering and mantra
speak. I beg to disagree, we need to think through the issues and be pragmatic
in our approach.As a background and to further contextualize the issue, let us
dimension our consumption and production and then find out the gap and
thereafter look at factors militating against our quest to achieve
self-sufficiency and what can be done to realize same.
Nigeria depending on the data being presented
and the one you believe consumes between 5.5 -7.0million metric tons of rice
per annum. For this article, I will use
the figure and data provided by the highest echelons of government which for
now is 7 million tons. About 2.7 million tons of that is produced locally but
if we add the recent two million tons of paddy (which translates to about 1.2
million tons of packaged rice- as about 22-23 per cent is husk and 7-8 percent
is bran while balance 10 per cent is rejects)
the government tells us has been generated by the farmers in Kebbi,
Niger, Nasarawa, Kano, Jigawa, Ebonyi that will be 3.9 million tons meaning we technically
have a gap of three million tons which
can only be met by legitimate imports or
smuggling.Another thing dynamic Nigerians might not be aware of is that rice
consumption in the country is almost entirely parboiled rice. In West Africa,
only Nigeria consumes parboiled rice. Other West African countries including
all the neighboring countries Niger, Benin, Cameroon, Chad are not consumers of
parboiled rice. In Africa, South Africa is probably the only other major
country that consumes parboiled rice.
Whenever the tariff differential between the
Nigeria rice tariff and the tariff in Benin Republic) and Togo is very wide the
resultant effect is significant and massive levels of illegal cross border
trade flows( smuggling). As per the industry sources, illegal smuggling of rice
from Benin, Niger and Cameroon have been to the level of between 500,000mt to
2,000,000mt per annum over the past 6-7 years.The markets in northern Nigeria
like Kano are completely swamped with smuggled rice which enters the country
through land borders with Niger Republic and Katsina state. Legitimate
importers of rice in Nigeria have thus effectively been shut out of Kano and
other northern markets for several years.
The shipments of parboiled rice from India and
Thailand into Lome, Cotonou, and Douala ports is a very fair estimate of
smuggled rice into Nigeria as none of these countries have internal consumption
of parboiled rice. All the imports of parboiled rice into these countries
finally find their way into Nigeria.Often times the Ministry of Agriculture
touts the drop in official import volumes into Nigeria as evidence of increase
in local production whereas in actual fact the drop in official import volumes
has been more than offset by increased arrivals of parboiled rice in Benin and
Togo evidencing heightened smuggling activity which needs to be seriously
curtailed.
Almost all the rice that one can see in markets
across the length and breadth of the country is imported rice. There is very
little of locally produced or milled rice seen in the market whether it is in
big markets like Lagos, Abuja, Kano or Onitsha or even the smaller markets like
Makurdi, Ilorin, and Kaduna. To be fair
to the current government and particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria, its
intervention programme tagged Anchor Borrowers Scheme to encourage local
production by granting single digit loans to out growers is yielding results
albeit in trickles but it is a good start. Conversely paddy prices in Nigeria
have hovered around 60,000 naira per metric ton from 2015 and has climbed to
140,000 in 2016 which is significantly higher than the prices in India and
Thailand. This makes it challenging for Rice millers in Nigeria to be
competitive.
In addition, Rice millers have found that it is
challenging to procure large quantity of quality paddy in an efficient manner.
As a result, most of the rice mills are operating below capacity. Although the
Federal ministry of agriculture claims that there are about 21 rice mills in
the country one reckons that there are not more than 9-10 Mills that are active
and in regular production. The average yield in Nigeria for paddy is around
2.25mt per hectare. This leads to a situation of high production cost for the
farmer, high paddy prices for the rice miller, low level of surplus paddy
available for sale by the farmer and also poor earnings for the rice farmer.The
number of jobs and improved livelihoods that can be created in rural areas by
investment and improvement in paddy production is in several multiples coupled
with rice milling and distribution as part of the entire value chain.
The process of developing a rice farm of
meaningful scale (thousands of hectares) can take anywhere from 5-10 years. Experience
shows that the rice farming part of the value chain requires 4-6 times the
investment required in rice milling. Rice farming also has a multi-year
gestation period as land has to identified, purchased and title documents
obtained, cleared and levelled, irrigation and other infrastructures built and
soil testing, seeds testing and multiplication and best practices developed for
each site. Further rice farming investments by the corporate sector also
entails engaging with the host communities and farmers on a deeper level which
has enduring socio economic benefits for the communities far beyond added rice
production.
Private sector investment in rice farming and
cultivation is essential in ensuring a workable and enduring linkage between
farm to factory in the rice value chain. A Rice mill simplistically speaking is
a piece of hardware which can be set up within 18-24 months. Rice milling
technology is fairly standardized and readily available. But for a rice mill to
function effectively it needs steady and reliable supply of good quality paddy
at competitive prices which is not available today. The biggest bottleneck in
the rice value chain is rice farming and not rice milling. It requires long
gestation, bigger quantum of investments and a complexity of factors to manage.
Nigeria has suitable agro climatic conditions
for cultivation of paddy. The current low yields are a function of poor seeds,
no or low level of usage of inputs like fertilizer and pesticides, lack of
irrigation, poor farming and post-harvest practices etc. These can be addressed
in my view through engaging, supporting and training the farmers under the
Farmer Out grower Programs run by the investors in their areas of operation. If
the investors are engaged in commercial farming they have ready access to
knowledge, expertise and resources that are required to effect that change and
government should simply enable through right policies and easing the land
tenure process.
The way forward in order to assess the demand
and supply situation on the one hand is for policy makers to work with right
set of data and one that is accurate and complete. Ignoring the supply of
imported parboiled rice into and from neighboring countries leads to false
assumptions and consequently wrong policy formulation. On the other hand, the
current Tariff of 70% for imports is not sustainable for trading and as such
high tariffs cannot sustain imports into the country as cost of smuggled rice
through land borders is far cheaper, moreover the Central Bank has placed a
technical ban by not allowing Form-M and by extension allotting foreign
exchange.
With regards to production, farmers should be
encouraged with government declaring a minimum support price for rice farmers
and buy the paddy from the farmers and aggregate the paddy in silos and storage
facilities of the Ministry of Agriculture as a first step. This would help to
provide clear and hard data about the actual production levels and availability
of paddy in the country in addition to building a strategic reserve.Another
part of the policy thrust should be to encourage investors/corporates in Rice
business in Nigeria to invest in Rice farming. The policy should aim at getting
the investor to have a Commercial Rice farming to cover at least 50% of their
milling capacity and to rely on Farmer Out grower programs for the rest of the
paddy.
In conclusion, we should not resort to banning
Rice Imports overnight without adequate mechanisms put in place to ensure self-
sufficiency. Rather a fiscal measure
like a hike in duties and levies should be considered whilst we work hard to
ramp up production with my aforementioned recommendations.
Farmers
Petition to Improve Conditions
Farmers are also being forced to sell their produce below market value or risk not selling any, they said.They also cited a lack of technical expertise in the production and processing of local produce.“I request that the government not import vegetables and rice from abroad. Please value our local products,” said Hul Douk, a farmer from Prey Veng province’s Kanhchriech district.
In a bid to stabilize falling
prices, in late September the government gave the green light to the Rural
Development Bank (RDB) to disburse loans totaling $27 million to millers to buy
paddy rice from farmers at 840 riel ($0.21) per kilogram. However, the
response has been poor with only $1.5 million having been disbursed. Only five
rice millers have applied for the loans, two of whom withdrew their
applications, RDB president Kao Thach told Khmer Times yesterday.Local media
reports attribute the poor response to rice millers facing bankruptcy after a
tough year, while industry players are reluctant to become involved because of
the many strings attached to the loans.
Prime Minister Hun Sen last month
also called on microfinance institutions to consider setting up a mechanism to
delay loan repayments for farmers who are struggling to cope with the low
global rice prices. Land activists, who also signed the petition, said
they were having their land confiscated by authorities and also having their
land cleared without compensation. Government solutions to land disputes are
also said to be slow and ineffective, with many becoming victims and losing
their land along with the natural resources essential to entire
communities.“Land issues in the country are some of the most contentious and
the government does not seem to want solutions to it for the citizens,” said
Nhil Pheap, an officer at the Coalition of Cambodia Farmer Community.“We see
many land communities are still without a solution and it is hard to
accept.Land issues are systemic and that means officials from the provincial
level to the national level must stop this systemic conspiracy.
”Lay Phallim, a representative
from the Land Management Ministry who accepted the petition from the
demonstrators, said the ministry will look into the issues raised and will work
towards resolving land disputes.“The ministry will continue to help in solving
the problem for them,” he said.Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Lor Rasmey
insists that the government has been actively addressing the issue of falling
rice prices, but will look into the issues raised in the petition.“We will
check the people’s request, whether or not it is accurate, and we will look
into it further,” he said. “Overall, we will work for everyone’s mutual benefit
in line with our regulations. And if it is the brokers who are causing
trouble with the rice price decline, please report it to local authorities so
they can find a solution.
”Land conflicts have been rife,
originating from when the Khmer Rouge forced thousands of farmers off their
land and destroyed most of the nation’s property records.Thomson Reuters
Foundation reported last month that between 2000 and 2014 alone, 770,000 people
were affected by land conflicts, citing charges presented by human rights
lawyers at the International Criminal Court in Hague
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32796/farmers-petition-to-improve-conditions/
Amira Nature
Foods gets approval to export basmati rice to China
Return to: FBR Home | Food |
Dried Food | News Listing
FBR Staff WriterPublished 05
December 2016
Amira Nature Foods has received
an approval to export basmati rice to China, which is considered as the world's
largest rice market.The company is among 14 Indian firms which have been given
the approval to export the specialty rice variety to China, reported the
Business Standard.
Amira Nature Foods joins other
Indian companies like Dawat rice brand maker LT Foods, Kohinoor Foods and India
Gate rice brand maker KRBL, which have been approved for bringing the long
grain Indian rice to the country.
Amira Nature Foods chairman Karan
A Chanana said: “International expansion has been a strong pillar of our
growth, and we are very excited to have this tremendous opportunity to further
increase our international distribution footprint with Amira's entrance into
the China market.“We are truly honored to be granted approval into China with
our premium, Amira [branded] basmati rice as we continue to execute on our
strategic global growth initiatives.”Considered to be the largest producer and
largest importer of rice in the world, China is estimated to have imported
around $2bn worth of rice in the last twelve months.All-India Rice Exporters’
Association executive director Rajen Sundaresan was quoted by the publication
as saying: “India used to export 4,000-5,000 tonnes of basmati rice annually to
China through Hong Kong. After this clearance, the rice can directly be sold in
China.”
Founded in 1915 and headquartered
in Dubai, Amira Nature Foods has operations across India, Singapore, the US,
the UK, Germany and Malaysia.The company mainly sells basmati rice sourced from
the Indian sub-continent under its Amira brand and also under third party
brands.Along with being a branded packaged specialty rice provider, Amira
Nature Foods also sells other food products across five continents.Amira Nature
Foods has got clearance from China to import basmati rice. Photo: courtesy of
Amira Nature Foods Ltd
FG stops 571,000 tonnes of rice from entering Nigeria
December 6, 2016
Bags of rice
Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja
The Federal Government on Monday announced that
571,000 tonnes of foreign rice warehoused in neighbouring countries were being
targeted for the Nigerian market for the Christmas and New Year season, but
vowed to stop their entry.It also stated that Nigeria recently took delivery of
110 rice mills in its bid to enhance local production so as to commence the
exportation of white rice from next year.The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who disclosed these in Abuja, stated that some
of Nigeria’s neighbours, particularly the Republic of Benin, were not moving
goods within the region as required by relevant treaties.He, however, stated
that the Federal Government would henceforth check all illegal movements of
food and non-food items into Nigeria from the neighbouring countries.
Ogbeh said, “What they do is that they import
goods, station themselves at our borders and then smuggle them into Nigeria.
For instance, the Republic of Benin doesn’t eat parboiled rice. They eat white
rice. But all the rice that comes from the borders into Nigeria is parboiled.“I
have a list now of all the ships that left Thailand in the last seven weeks and
they’ve arrived; 571,000 tonnes of rice waiting to enter Nigeria for Christmas.
But we won’t allow that. We have to review the treaty in the region, because we
are at the losing end. Why are we doing this? It is because this rice is not
definitely grown in the Republic of Benin.”
He added, “They bring tomato paste and chicken
not produced in the Republic of Benin and because the Nigerian market is so
huge, that they want to exploit it. But no economy out of sympathy should
damage our own and we should not out of sentiment allow anybody to do things to
us, which we can’t do to them.“When Dangote was trying to ship his cement
through the Republic of Benin to Togo, it took him one year to persuade
them.”Ogbeh reiterated that the country would start exporting rice from next
year, as he stated that 110 mills had been acquired to make this a reality.He
said, “We can make it happen. We have just brought in 110 rice mills of
different capacities. Some can do 100 tonnes, others 50, 40, 20 and 10 tonnes.
We are going to give them to cooperative organisations and rice millers all
over the country to enhance their milling capacities.
“We have another 12 rice mills to come in maybe
next year so that the milling capacity is strong enough for us and we too will
begin to export white rice to West Africa.”On the issue of possible famine in
Nigeria from January next year, the minister stated that the government was
prepared and promised that the country would not experience such.The minister
stated, “We want to put it quite clearly that there is no danger of famine in
the country, because the government will not allow that to happen. We are
already taking steps to make sure that Nigerians don’t go through any such
harrowing experience. There has been some panic over the massive purchase of
grains from many of the big grain producing fields in some parts of the
country.
“This fear was heightened by emirs and chiefs
in the North, who met with us on Tuesday last week and raised the same anxiety.
It is true that for the first time in our history, we are witnessing an
extra-ordinary purchase of our grains from the West, North and Central Africa.
We are even getting demands from as far as Namibia; they are asking for grains
in large quantities of up to 37,000 tonnes of maize.”
Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This
material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced,
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without
prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com
http://punchng.com/fg-stops-571000-tonnes-rice-entering-nigeria/
Demonetisation puts brakes on
agri-commodity exports
Exports of cotton, groundnut, soya meal
affected; exporters fail to meet commitments due to lower arrivals
2714
Soya, groundnut crop may miss estimatesMCX
raises transaction charges for agri and non-agri commoditiesPak stops permits
for agri import from IndiaOpen interest in non-agri commodities declines on
uncertainty over govt policy move
Demonetisation has not only impacted the
arrival of agricultural-commodities in the market, but the export orders in
commodities such as cotton, groundnut and soyameal have also taken a toll. With
exporters facing difficulties to source products from the markets, non-fulfilment
of orders in November has led to order book cancellations and fall in forward
contracts.
Groundnut and cotton exporters have stopped
forward contracts for January as they are averse to taking risk under the
current circumstances. During October-November, around 700,000 bales of cotton
have been exported against an order book of two million bales for the said
period. Groundnut exporters, too, say they have prior commitments for November
and December for 135,000 tonnes but are not in a position to fulfil the same
due to lower arrivals. Cotton exporters
have booked orders of about two million bales (one bale is 170 kg) for
November, December and January. According to exporters, in this condition,
exporters might fulfil only one million bales order by end-December; the
remaining orders might be delayed or cancelled.
According to industry sources, if the cash
problem persists, exports of rice and maize might also get affected in the
coming days.“The October-December period is crucial for groundnut exports
because during these months, we have maximum orders. It’s harvesting time and
prices in domestic market remain lower as the supplies are steady. That way, we
can offer competitive prices to the buyers. But, now because of demonetisation,
arrival at the mandis in groundnut-producing states have declined.
Thus, we’re unable to fulfil our
commitments,” said Sanjay Shah, vice-chairman of Indian Oilseeds and Produce
Export Promotion Council. Currently,
against an estimated daily arrival of about 350,000 bags (of 55 kg each), the
actual daily arrival is 170,000-185,000 bags.
According to groundnut exporters, November-December is an advantageous
time for Indian exporters as competition is limited. January onwards, Argentina
and Africa will enter in the market, which increases competition. Shah said: “Going by the current situation,
exporters are not getting into forward contracts for January as they don’t want
to take risk. Several deals have already been delayed and some may cancel if
the situation will not revive shortly.”
Agriculture experts also believe that delay
or cancellation might hurt the image of the country and demand might shift to
competition. “Supply is important to fulfil the export commitments. In present
condition, farmers are not selling as they want cash and buyers have no cash on
hand. As on date, cotton, groundnut and soya meal exports have been affected
but if the situation will not change soon, then basmati rice, maize and pulses
exporters might also face trouble,” said G Chandrashekhar, economic advisor of
Indian Merchant Chamber.
Chirag Pan, CEO of Jaydeep Cotton Fibres,
said: “The cotton sector always deals in cash with farmers. Currently, arrival
should be 200,000 bales a day. Against it, daily arrival is only 100,000 bales
at the peak time. Export is uncertain now so we are not taking new orders as we
are not sure to complete committed orders.”
Adding to it, Pan said India exports 70 per
cent of cotton during October and March every year. The industry expects six
million bales of cotton exports in the current cotton year (October-September),
but in this scenario, exports might not be over 4.5 million bales
Liquidity crunch
·
With exporters facing difficulties to source
products from the markets, non-fulfilment of orders in November has led to fall
in forward contracts
·
Cotton exporters have booked orders of 2 bn
bales but only 50% shipment is possible
·
If the cash problem persists, exports of rice
and maize might also get affected in the coming days
Nigeria
Customs intercepts container of jollof rice, yam porridge, egusi from India
The Tin-Can Island Command of the
Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has intercepted a 20ft container of “READY TO EAT
FOODS’’ like egusi soup, jollof rice, ogbono, yam porridge imported from India.The
Customs Area Comptroller, Bashar Yusuf, disclosed this in a statement made
available to journalists on Monday in Lagos by the Public Relations Officer of
the Command, Uche Ejesieme.Mr. Yusuf spoke with stakeholders at the SDV/SCOA
Terminal while handing over the container of imported prepared foods to
officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control,
NAFDAC.
The comptroller described the
scenario as an “aberration”, considering the fact that government granted zero
duty for the importation of machinery for the packaging of agricultural
products.“Why should indigenous menu be imported into the country at a time
when investors are much sought after to boost local industries,” the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Yusuf as saying.The controller said the command
generated N25.7 billion in November, up from N25.3 billion recorded in October.Mr.
Yusuf said that the higher revenue was recorded in spite of the recession and
low imports.
He said that the command would
continue to explore all avenues for maximum revenue collection. According to him, this is in view of the exigencies of the
moment, which placed more responsibilities on the service.Mr. Yusuf urged
potential investors to take advantage of the numerous export potential in the
country for their socio-economic benefits.In a related development, while
briefing a group of senior officers undergoing training in the command, the
controller admonished them to make professionalism, integrity and transparency
as their watchword.He also urged the officers to ensure effective leadership
and supervision in carrying out their duties.Mr. Yusuf said the various trade
facilitation tools as provided in the automation of Customs procedures would
guide the officers in the discharge of their functions.
The comptroller told the officers
to see training and re-training as a veritable tools that would sharpen their
knowledge toward achieving desired results.He appreciated the
Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, for effectively re-positioning the
service in spite of global recession.“NCS is still working tirelessly to remain
on top of its statutory mandate,’’ he said.Mr. Yusuf said that this could not
have been possible if not for the pragmatic leadership of the
comptroller-general and his management.
“In this era and dispensation,
officers are expected to be above board with deep sense of commitment and
responsibility in the discharge of their functions.“The Change ideology of the
comptroller -general must be given priority attention,” he said.He, however,
warned that anybody that fails to key into the new order would be seriously
sanctioned.
(NAN
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/217123-nigeria-customs-intercepts-container-jollof-rice-yam-porridge-egusi-india.html
Indonesia Agricultural Machinery Market Outlook to 2020 - Integration of
Small Farm holding Structure and Government Support to Foster Growth - Research
and Markets
December 05, 2016 06:34 AM Eastern Standard Time
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Indonesia
Agricultural Machinery Market Outlook to 2020 - Integration of Small Farm
holding Structure and Government Support to Foster Growth" report to their offering.
“Indonesia Agricultural Machinery
Market Outlook to 2020 - Integration of Small Farm holding Structure and
Government Support to Foster Growth”
Indonesia Agricultural Machinery
Market Outlook to 2020 - Integration of Small Farm holding Structure and
Government Support to Foster Growth provides a comprehensive analysis regarding
the performance of the agricultural machinery and equipment market in
Indonesia.
The revenues of the industry have
been segmented on the basis of agricultural machinery including Tractors,
Combine Harvesters, Rice Transplanters and Tractor Implements. Under each
segment, aspects such as market size on the basis of revenue and sales volume
have been computed.
The report also covers market
share in each segment along with the competitive landscape of major
agricultural machinery manufacturers, country overview on the basis of macro-economic
variables, pricing analysis, agricultural overview and business model of major
agricultural machinery manufacturers.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Executive Summary
2. Research Methodology
3. Country Overview
4. Agricultural Overview
5. Government Policy Impacting
The Agricultural Machinery Market in Indonesia
6. Market For Tractors and
Implements
7. Customer Insight on Indonesia
Agriculture Equipments
8. Analyst Recommendations
Companies Mentioned
·
PT Kubota Machinery Indonesia
·
Yanmar Indonesia
·
Quick Tractors (CV. Karya Hidup
Sentosa)
·
PT Rutan (Agrindo)
·
Traktor Nusantara (Massey
Ferguson and Tym)
·
PT Satrindo Mitra Utama (John
Deere)
·
Altrak 1987 (New Holland)
·
Maxxi
·
Galaxy
·
Tanikaya
For more information about this
report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/gtvmd9/indonesia
Contacts
Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470
For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630
For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Related Topics: Agricultural Machinery and Equipment
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470
For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630
For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Related Topics: Agricultural Machinery and Equipment
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161205005588/en/Indonesia-Agricultural-Machinery-Market-Outlook-2020--
McKinney says he is driven to support, help farmers solve
problems
Nathan McKinney
Posted
Dec 5, 2016 at 4:18 PM
By Dawn Teer / Stuttgart Daily
Leader
Editor's Note: This is the ninth
and final question and answer session article with local scientists at the
University of Arkansas (UofA) Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC) in
Stuttgart.
Name: Nathan McKinney
Education: B.S. and M.S. in agronomy: University of Arkansas. Ph.D. in
agronomy: Kansas State University
Field of expertise: Crop Production
Hometown: Fayetteville
Family: Married to Susie, 36 years, with two grown children, Ginger and
Baker.
When did you become interested in rice research?
I am not directly involved in the
research at our station, but I serve in an administrative support role. And the
RREC is host to a number of research efforts on other commodities. For example,
we have corn fertility studies and soybean variety trials this year at the
RREC. Several scientists from the Fayetteville campus use our land and labs for
research covering a number of important crops and cropping systems.
What courses did you take that steered you into the field that
became your career?
I enjoyed essentially every
course I took, and I think they all helped prepare me for some aspect of my
career. But my favorites were crop production, soil fertility and statistics
(Yes, I had 24 credit hours of advanced statistics).
What do you do at UARREC?
I am serving as the interim
director, which means I provide the administrative support and leadership to
our faculty and staff. It is intended to be a temporary assignment. So if I’m
successful, I will hire an enthusiastic, well-trained scientist to lead our
Center for many years while I return to my permanent assignment in
Fayetteville.
What are you currently working on or developing? And why?
I am encouraging each of our
faculty to use a portfolio approach to research. That is, solving problems that
will impact farmers now and forecasting solutions to problems that will likely
occur over the next ten years. And I am seeking to be as efficient with our
current resources as possible.
What research that you have done has been able to help the
average rice farmer?
We do several things that help
the entire range of farming operations. Some examples include new variety
development, weed and disease management, insect and nematode management and
novel irrigation concepts. I am convinced that every farmer benefits from our
research-based recommendations. If we hope to keep Arkansas farmers competitive
and profitable, it is incumbent upon us to introduce new and innovative ideas
that every farm operation can apply.
What are some of the research differences between what you do
and the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center?
Arkansas farmers and the state of
Arkansas are our biggest stakeholders and we take that investment as a mandate
to focus on Arkansas issues, while other agencies have a broader mission to
solve national and global issues. Our missions overlap, we cooperate on many
projects and we are co-located. So I see only a few differences and many
similarities.
What would people be surprised to learn about your job and what
you do?
While my job requires a
scientific background, that is not my daily focus. Dealing effectively with
people to help them solve their problems is what motivates me; that’s what gets
me out of bed in the morning.
Do you have a support staff that assist you in your research?
Who are they and what do they do?
Every faculty and staff member
supports the mission, and I am grateful for every one of them. In turn, my
chief aim is to motivate and equip them to serve our stakeholders. Everyone
here has an important job. The proverb ‘for want of a nail’ rings true at the
RREC
50th
Anniversary Celebrated for Rice That Prevented Asia Famines
December 05, 2016 5:50 AM
Anjana Pasricha
Indian Farmer Nekkanti Subba Rao
Back in 1966, Nekkanti Subha Rao,
a farmer in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh planted a semi-dwarf rice
variety developed by the International Rice Research Institute on 1,000
hectares of land.Crossbred from a tall variety in Indonesia and a dwarf variety
in China, IR8 was the world’s first high-yielding rice and is credited with
having prevented famines and sparking the Green Revolution in rice in Asia.As
India and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines
celebrate the 50th anniversary of what came to be known as the Miracle Rice,
farmer Rao, now 80 years old, recalls the wonder of the moment when he harvested
an astonishing 7.5 tons per hectare.
“Never before,” he said. “Every
farmer feeling very, very, very happy, happy. 100 percent success.”In the 1960s
and 1970s, when India and several Asian countries grappled with food shortages,
IR8 and varieties that followed helped triple rice output in Asia and fended
off the specter of widespread hunger.“It transformed agriculture, which averted
the perennial food crises that happened in those years, those decades. It saved
millions of lives,” said Dr. Nafees Meah, IRRI’s regional representative for
South Asia.After India, IR8 went on to be planted across a host of Asian
countries, such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia, where rice is the
staple food for most people.
In all these countries, say
agriculture scientists, it did not just boost yields. The shorter length of the
crop made it sturdier and less prone to collapsing before harvest time. And as
it took less time to mature compared to traditional rice strains, it allowed
farmers to cultivate more than one crop on the same land.“It reduced the
duration quite significantly and it continues to do so. Vietnam right now, in
many parts of Mekong Delta where water is there, they grow three crops a year,
primarily because of shorter duration varieties,” said Samarendu Mohanty, Head
of Social Sciences at IRRI in Philippines.
Mature rice fields of Peta, IR8 and DGWG varieties.
In about two decades, the IR8
made way to a host of other high yield varieties, but it is the parental strain
for many of these. Recalling its phenomenal contribution, Mohanty said that in
India alone, it is estimated to have contributed $1.3 billion annually to the
rice sector.But ensuring food security is no longer the only challenge for Asia
- a continent that is far more affluent than it was 50 years ago. At the same
time, malnourishment continues to haunt millions of poor in the region,
especially in South Asia. And everywhere, farmers are battling climate change.
“Developing new varieties that
are higher yielding and more nutritious, but ones that have less of an
environmental footprint, ones that require less water, fertilizer, pesticide
and ones that actually have reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rod Wing,
an American scientist at IRRI in Manila as he outlines the challenges of the
21st century.
In recent years, new varieties
that are more resistant to droughts and floods are showing promising results in
east India and Bangladesh, a delta country where flash floods used to submerge
or wash away crops.“With these new varieties, we have got a real opportunity,”
Meah said. “It has been adopted by millions of farmers, so they see the
benefits of it. And it’s a real improvement for their livelihoods as well.”
To improve nutritional levels, a
genetically engineered strain has been developed to address Vitamin A
deficiency that kills many under the age of five. On the other end of the
spectrum, as Asia copes with what are sometimes called diseases of affluence
and witnesses an explosion in the incidence of diabetes, scientists are developing
varieties with low glycemic index, which release energy slowly.But the core
challenge of productivity that IR8 sparked has still not gone away.
“The big question is how do we
solve the 10 billion people question? That is, how are we going to feed three
more billion people on the planet by 2050? It is a huge, daunting task,” said
Wing at IRRI, pointing out that rice is the staple diet of more than half the
world.And while farmers are harvesting higher and higher yields, they continue
to battle other problems.“Cost of cultivation very, very high now. Labor cost
is high,” rued farmer Subha Rao from his home in Andhra Pradesh.
Each furrow-irrigated field may require different
handling
Rice Farmers should be prepared to fertilizer their
furrow-irrigated or row rice acres on a field-by-field basis, LSU AgCenter
Extension rice specialist says.
| Dec 05, 2016
Don’t think you can use a “cookie-cutter” approach to
fertilizing or managing your fields in a furrow-irrigated or row rice
situation, says Dustin Harrell, Extension rice specialist with the LSU
AgCenter.“Every furrow-irrigated rice field is not the same,” Dr. Harrell said
during a presentation at a Row Rice Production meeting in Rayville, La. “We may
have fields that are close to being level; we may have some with a pretty good
slope on there and we’ll get water down them quickly.“And, depending on what
your field is like, that’s going to change the nitrogen rate recommendations.
The nitrogen recommendations will not be the same across all these different
fields. You may have a field with a tenth or less slope; you may collect the
water at the end of the furrow; you may have tailwater recovery or a small
levee at the end.”
The number of practices can vary,
and growers need to have a plan for dealing with them before they get into
irrigating their rice, Dr. Harrell noted in a presentation to about 60 growers
from northeast Louisiana.The meeting was organized by the Northeast Louisiana
Rice Growers Association with the assistance of the Louisiana Cooperative
Extension Service’s Richland Parish office in Rayville, La.
http://www.deltafarmpress.com/rice/each-furrow-irrigated-field-may-require-different-handling
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