In the Field in California
SACRAMENTO, CA -- Earlier this week, Sarah Moran,
USA Rice vice president international, met with the California Rice Commission
(CRC) and USA Rice members here to discuss international priorities in the
upcoming year. A visit to the American Commodity Company mill led to discussions about the success of U.S. rice in the Japan SBS tenders where the U.S. captured 70 percent of the share on last month's tender. Moran also met with representatives from Sun Valley Rice, Farmers' Rice Cooperative, Tamaki Rice, California Family Foods, PGP International, and Associate Rice Marketing Cooperative. Charley Mathews, a farmer from Marysville who chairs The Rice Foundation, invited Moran out to his farm to see the ongoing harvest and talk about this year's crop.
"The recent fires that have ravaged Napa and Sonoma counties did not directly affect our rice crop but high winds that followed the fires, some as much as 40 mph, meant that much of the rice in the area was knocked down," said Mathews. "We call this "lodging" and, while it hasn't affected the quality of the rice, it has made harvest a bit more challenging which can be hard on equipment."
"Visiting USA Rice members on their home turf gives me the opportunity to have frank discussions about what's happening in the fields and what USA Rice can do to help promote our rice overseas," said Moran. "We have strong marketing programs in Asia, where most California rice is shipped and that accounts for 15-20 percent of U.S. rice exports, and we work hard on the policy side to push for improved market access."
National Rice Month Scholarship Deadline in
Ten Days
Attention
graduating seniors from major rice producing states (Arkansas, California,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, or Texas): Create a video, three
minutes or less, telling the story of U.S. grown rice to win a scholarship
prize sponsored by Dow AgroSciences. The grand-prize winner will receive a
$4,000 scholarship and a trip with a chaperone this December to the awards
ceremony at the 2017 USA Rice Outlook Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The second-place winner will receive a $3,000 scholarship, and third-place
$1,500.Entries are due October 31, and winners will be notified by November 20.
For more information and to submit an entry, visit the NRM scholarship webpage.
Trial of BINA’s short-duration rice variety succesful
Published at 11:06 PM October 20,
2017
'The grains are smaller in size and the
cooked rice tastes good'
Given the erratic pattern of
rainfall and flooding in recent times, development of short-duration crops
holds one of the keys to future food security in Bangladesh.Scientists of
Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) have done a commendable job
in this respect as their new invention, BINA Dhan 16 – a short-duration rice
variety developed using nuclear technology – has passed a successful trial in
two low-lying sourthern districts this Aman season.
The variety can be harvested in
just 100 days after the planting.In contrast, it takes about 130 days and above
to harvest the conventional high yielding varieties.The variety was put to the
trial in 75 plots in Gopalganj and Faridpur districts.
Farmers who took part in the
trial with their land and labour had exceptionally high average yield – 5.97
tons a hectare, according to officials of BINA’s Gopalganj sub-station.Monjur
Hossain Sheikh, a farmer from Shamspur village of Kashiani upazila, told the
Dhaka Tribune that it was the first time the variety was put to the test in his
area and the plants gave higher yield compared to the conventional varieties.“The
grains are smaller in size and the cooked rice tastes good,” said Monjur.The
officials also noted that cultivation of BINA Dhan 16 saves time and leaves
scope for the farmer to cultivate three crops round-the-year, if the climatic
conditions are well
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2017/10/20/trial-binas-short-duration-rice-variety-succesful/
#China super hybrid rice output sets new
world record
A new type of Chinese super hybrid rice – Xiangliangyou 900 –
has reached average yields of 1,149 kilograms per mu (about 0.07 hectares) on
trial fields in Handan, north China’s Hebei province on October 15, setting a
new world record, writes Zhao Cheng from People’s
Daily.
The Xiangliangyou 900 type
produces more and bigger grains than other varieties and, combined with the use
of water-soluble organic silicon fertilizer will guarantee a rate of 90
percent.The fertilizer can help strengthen roots and stems of the plants,
increase resilience, improve the yellowing process, and bolster disease and
pest resistance to ensure higher yields.Xiangliangyou 900 was cultivated by a
team of scientists led by Yuan Longping, known as the “father of hybrid rice”
whose dream is to spread his hybrid rice worldwide.
Yuan has estimated that the world
now has 150 million hectares of rice fields, with less than 10 percent planted
in hybrid rice. If that figure can go up to 50 percent, the added rice production
will feed another 400 to 500 million people.China has the second largest paddy
coverage and the largest rice production in the world.
https://www.eureporter.co/frontpage/2017/10/21/china-super-hybrid-rice-output-sets-new-world-record/
The Perfect
Pairing: Rice and Duck
Leon Thompson, Vt. Correspondent
Photo by Jennifer Williams Thompson Boundbrook Farm buys — and eventually
processes for meat — about 600 ducks a year to use in their rice fields.
Photo by Jennifer Williams Thompson Shown is the dry stubble of
harvested rice paddies at Boundbrook Farm. The Andruses farm 5-1/2 acres
of rice and want to grow to 10 acres.
Photo by Jennifer Williams Thompson Erik Andrus is the co-owner of Boundbrook Farm, a rice-duck farm in
Vergennes, Vermont.
Photo by Jennifer Williams Thompson Rice that is ready for
polishing at the farm.
Photo by Jennifer Williams Thompson Khaki Campbell ducks, such
as the one seen here with Erik Andrus, are used as a form of weed and
pest control in Japanese rice-duck farming.
VERGENNES, Vt. — After Erik Andrus’ wheat project failed, neighboring
dairy farmers who had also struggled with the same heavy soils started a joke:
“We shouldn’t plant corn out here. We should plant rice.”“I kept saying, ‘Yes!
You should’” Andrus said last week, at his farm in Vergennes. “They laughed and
said, ‘Yeah. Who’s gonna do that?’”
It was Andrus. He and his wife,
Erica, co-own and operate Boundbrook Farm, a 110-acre farm that utilizes
ancient Japanese methods to raise rice —right in the middle of cow country.
Boundbrook Farm is part of a small but
growing movement of North American rice-duck farmers. Vermont has one other
small-scale rice-duck farm, while others exist regionally in Maryland, Maine
and central New York.
“This is an incredibly
fascinating domain,” Andrus said, “with many moving parts.”
Rice seeds should not be dry
while they are germinating, Andrus explained, so farming rice with ducks in the mix is a
technical, intense process that requires persistence and patience. The Andruses
are in year seven of rice-duck farming, and this is their first year of
breaking even, Erik said. His business, however, is growing and expanding.
Currently, the Andruses have
5-1/2 acres of rice paddies on their 110-acre farm. Eventually, Erik would like
to grow rice on 10 acres.“I feel that’s a sane size for this to be what I want
it to be,” he said.The season begins in April, when seeds are planted in a rice
nursery, which looks like a small garden of rice paddies in the Andruses’ front
yard. Water flows underneath through a series of flats. Low hoop tunnels
protect the nursery from frost and other elements.
In June, the rice is transplanted
from the nursery to the rice fields behind the duck barn. Boundbrook Farm uses a mechanical
transplanter during this part of the process, because transplanting must be
done quickly. The goal is an acre a day, and to be done transplanting in a
week, because the fields must remain level for a good yield and quality crop.
Seasonal workers help the farm
with the transplanting labor. They are usually college students who are
intrigued by the concept.
Then come the ducks, which are
purchased as hatchlings from Fifth Day Farms in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The
ducks are used as an organic, chemical-free form of weed and pest control.
Rice grows slowly and faces
competition from fast-growing weeds, so the ducks play an important role.
After a week of the transplanted
rice rooting itself in the water-filled paddies, the ducks are let out into the
planted areas. The whole process requires 80 to 100 ducks per acre, so Boundbrook Farm buys 600 ducks a year.
The young rice plants and the
young animals grow together, Erik Andrus said. Small ducks do not
damage the small seeds.
He said the Khaki Campbell duck
breed is used in rice-duck farming, because the ducks are small, agile
and good at finding their own food.
The ducks come out of the rice
fields in August, when they are fully grown, and before they start eating the
rice grains. Then, the fields are drained. The ducks are processed at Boundbrook Farm and sold there. The
Andruses also sell live ducks on Craigslist.
The rice harvest is in the fall;
it’s also when Boundbrook Farm starts taking orders from
wholesale customers inside and outside Vermont. Retail sales happen at the
farm. Customers can also order rice on the website. Orders are filled by
Christmas.The Andruses also polish, package and store their brown and white
rice varieties at Boundbrook Farm. The farm uses imported
equipment, all from Japan. Erik Andrus still chuckles when he
describes the shipping container that arrived with 17 pieces in it, including a
combine. The total cost was $28,000.
Andrus is currently at a third of
his production goal: 3,500 pounds of rice annually.“Even with some technical
problems here and there, which every farmer expects and faces, I am at the
point where I’m breaking even, because I get a premium price per pound for this
rice,” he said.
Both in their 40s, the Andruses
do have other jobs. Erica is a religious studies professor, and Erik is a
wintertime carpenter. They have two sons, Robin, 12, and Julien, 10, who
sometimes help with the rice-duck farm, too.Neither of the Andruses grew up on
a farm — Erica is from Massachusetts, and Erik is from Binghamton, New York,
but he spent lots of time on a relative’s beef farm while he was growing up. He
has wanted a farm since he was 17, but he spent his previous professional life
as a general contractor.
From 1999-2000, Erik Andrus lived in Miyagi, a Japanese
prefecture north of Tokyo. The climate was like New York’s, with cold winters.
People grow rice in Miyagi — and lots of it, Andrus said. He toured rice farms.
The methodology fascinated him. By 2008, he was wondering how to do it on his
own farm.
After the Andruses wed in 2004,
they pooled their resources and bought their 110 acres on Burroughs Road in
Vergennes. The property’s former dairy farm was a junkyard. Old tires, junked
tires and mangled farm equipment lay scattered around the property. So, the
Andruses recycled it.
“That farm was thrown away like
trash,” Erik Andrus said.The first plan was to
grow wheat, to make flour and operate an on-farm bakery. The bakery is still on
the farm, but heavy, clay soils ended the wheat project quickly.“It wasn’t
something that the land wanted to do,” he said.Andrus conducted extensive
research and spent time with a couple in southern Vermont that was growing rice
on a small-scale. Andrus, however, wanted to grow more acreage, and he has.
He and his father, Richard,
attended a rice-duck farmers’ conference in Japan in 2005 and toured farms
there, to learn more about the process and methodology.Erik Andrus is constantly researching
rice-duck farming, trying to hone his process, and he
learns along the way. He is still trying to amend his 5-1/2 acres to
perfection, while growing to 10 acres, and he understands that riding a bike
while fixing it is a farmer’s life.
“This is all taking longer than I
thought,” Andrus said, but he’s taking it in stride for another reason, one
that’s key. He feels like he is putting a pure, wholesome source of food out on
the market, where it’s needed.
“The thing about farming is there’s always next year,”
Andrus said. “You learn as you go along and do things differently. I could
certainly be doing other things with my time, but this is how I love spending
time right now.”Leon Thompson is a freelance writer in Vermont. He can be
reached at wunwish@yahoo.com.
Nigeria Has Over 50million Hectares
Of Land, Yet Imports Rice – Ogbeh
Channels Television
Updated October 20, 2017
Updated October 20, 2017
The Minister of
Agriculture Audu Ogbeh has lamented over the rate at which agricultural
products are imported into the country saying that the Nigeria has a huge
expanse of arable land.
Speaking at a
convocation lecture organised by the University of Agriculture Abeokuta (UNAAB) as part of its
convocation ceremonies, Ogbeh said Nigeria largely depend on food imports which
account for about $22 billion per annum.
“We have over 50
million hectares of land, we can’t grow our own rice, we can’t produce our
sugar, we can’t produce our milk, we import apples, honey, fish and frozen
chicken, the list is endless.” Ogbeh said this huge range of import will only
contribute to poverty and unemployment rate in Nigeria.“What we are doing is
importing products, exporting dollars. Alongside the food that we are
importing, we are importing unemployment and poverty into our country.”
He said for this
situation not to get worse, universities of agriculture across the country must
rise up to the challenges of providing the necessary impute in the areas of
research and development and to address
the shortcomings in food production
He also said the
federal government is committed to providing the necessary environment to
attract younger farmers to the system through modern ways of farming and
agricultural businesses.
Rice prices up in India, Vietnam as rains dampen crop supply
20.10.2017
India's 5 percent broken parboiled rice prices edged up by $4 to
$404-$407 per tonne as heavy rainfall in key growing regions is expected to
delay harvesting.Rice prices in India and Vietnam rose this week as prolonged
periods of rainfall threatened supply in the two major exporters of the grain.
India's 5 percent broken parboiled rice prices edged up by $4 to $404-$407 per tonne as heavy rainfall in key growing regions is expected to delay harvesting."Key producing regions in southern and eastern India received rains in last few days. This has delayed harvesting of the summer rice crop," said an exporter based in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh."In some districts crop was damaged. Rainfall could reduce production," he added.
India's 5 percent broken parboiled rice prices edged up by $4 to $404-$407 per tonne as heavy rainfall in key growing regions is expected to delay harvesting."Key producing regions in southern and eastern India received rains in last few days. This has delayed harvesting of the summer rice crop," said an exporter based in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh."In some districts crop was damaged. Rainfall could reduce production," he added.
Production from summer-sown crop in India, the world's biggest rice exporter, is likely to fall 2 percent to 94.48 million tonnes, according to farm ministry estimates.In Vietnam, prices rose amid scarce supply, as a longer period of rains took a toll on the current crop's quality and delayed planting of the major winter-spring season.
"I'm not sure how much crop yield we would get from the current autumn-winter season, to be harvested in November. But the large amount of rain would affect crop quality," a trader said."Meanwhile, sowing for the next winter-spring season could be late because it rained a lot and would take longer for the flood to go down."
In northern Vietnam, more than 22,000 hectares (54,300 acres) of rice were damaged in floods triggered by heavy rains last week. Traders estimated over 120,000 tonnes of crops were lost.
Due to low stocks, Vietnamese traders were gathering grains to ensure delivery of previous export contracts, pushing the prices of 5-percent broken rice to as high as $390-400 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Saigon, from $390-$395 last week."Prices are very high because we don't have much grain left from the last harvest," a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.In Thailand, prices fell due to low overseas demand, while the trend of supply is upwards despite rains and floods in some parts of the country, traders said.Thailand's benchmark 5-percent broken rice was quoted at $375-$385 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Bangkok, down from $380-$388 a tonne last week."The rains and floods have not caused much damage to rice crops, but, alternatively have caused a fertile environment for crops in the future; so the trend of supply is on the rise," said a Bangkok-based rice trader.
The effects of Vietnam floods should increase prices in the short run and that would make Thai rice more competitive, traders said.Bangladesh, which has emerged as a major importer this year after floods damaged its crops, imported more than 1 million tonnes of rice in July-October period, food ministry data showed.Despite bulk imports, domestic prices have not budged, with officials and traders expecting more imports of the staple grain in the coming months.
http://www.blackseagrain.net/novosti/rice-prices-up-in-india-vietnam-as-rains-dampen-crop-supply
Key meeting on jute crisis
|
|
A Staff Reporter
|
 Calcutta: The Bengal government has convened a meeting on jute next week
amid concerns over the deterioration in the quality of the fibre and distress
sale by farmers.The central government, in December 2015, had revised the
specifications for jute bags procured for mandatory packaging by government
agencies. As a result, light bags of 580 grams replaced heavy bags of 665
grams.These light bags require a higher grade of raw jute, which is in short
supply, putting the mills in a spot.According to industry sources,
Murshidabad and Nadia districts, which account for 60 per cent of the total
production in Bengal, have seen a significant fall in acreage and quality
between 2007 and 2017.Aggregate data show production in south Bengal down to
9 lakh bales this year from 15 lakh bales in 2007.
The demand for light bags has
resulted in a surplus of 35 lakh bales of lowgrade jute and a shortage of 10
lakh bales of the higher grade.Farmers are now resorting to the distress sale
of lowgrade jute, a situation made worse by a bumper crop last year.Sources
said the high-level meeting could explore the possibility of mills producing bags
that requires at least 50 per cent of the lower grade fibre.At the same time,
the idea to create a buffer stock of 10 lakh bales through the Jute
Corporation of India to tackle the demand-supply mismatch could also be
explored. A buffer stock of such size could require capital to the tune of Rs
630 crore.
The government could also explore
whether gunny bags could be directly procured from the Jute Corporation of
India in order to get full reimbursement from the Centre. At present, rice
millers buy new and old gunny bags from local markets themselves and submit
the bills for reimbursement.
|
https://www.telegraphindia.com/business/key-meeting-on-jute-crisis-179814
There's something in the water
MIT
field study shows that arsenic in groundwater reduces rice yields in
Bangladesh.Watch Video
Carolyn
Schmitt | Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
October 20, 2017
October 20, 2017
Groundwater
in rural Bangladesh contains arsenic at 10 to 100 times the amount of safe
consumption levels, but is consumed as drinking water from wells and has led to
cases of heart disease and cancer. Traces of arsenic are also consumed through
rice, a staple food of the densely-populated country.Professor Charles Harvey
and graduate student Brittany Huhmann, both from the MIT Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering (CEE), traveled to Bangladesh during the 2015 and
2016 growing seasons to see how contaminated groundwater, deposited through
irrigation, impacts rice yields.
Arsenic
is a naturally occurring element that is found across the world, but certain
locations have elevated arsenic concentrations in groundwater. Such is the case
in Bangladesh. While drinking the tainted water remains a critical issue,
the arsenic-laced water also has an impact on crop yields when used for
irrigation in agricultural settings. Harvey and Huhmann pursued this study to
get a broad understanding of how arsenic impacts rice yields across Bangladesh,
and the potential magnitude of this occurrence.
“Most
people [in rural Bangladesh] are relying on untreated groundwater for their
drinking water. There isn’t a lot of centralized water treatment, especially in
rural areas,” says Huhmann, the lead author on a recent paper describing
the team's research. “So most of the time in the areas we worked, each family
would have their own well that they drink out of, and a lot of those wells have
arsenic, unfortunately, and people may or may not know.”The findings of the
study, conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of Dhaka
in Bangladesh, Cornell University, and Columbia University, were recently published in the journal Environmental
Science and Technology.
Rice is
a major crop in Bangladesh, and it is the primary source of calories in the
country of about 160 million people. Independent farmers primarily grow
two types of rice, which are harvested on a seasonal cycle. Aman rice
is grown during monsoon season, June through mid-November, and uses the natural
rainfall to grow in flooded fields. Boro rice, on the other hand, is cultivated
during the dry, winter season, and requires irrigation. The water used to
irrigate the farmland comes from groundwater through wells, ultimately
depositing various levels of arsenic into the soil.
In 2015,
Harvey, Huhmann and their collaborators embarked on a two-year study to
document the impact of arsenic on crop yields. Unlike previous studies into
this issue, the researchers conducted their study in the field rather than
in controlled settings, such as greenhouses. They also accounted for a
myriad of other factors by researching soil from a number of rice farms to get
a more comprehensive understanding of the impacts of arsenic on rice yield
across Bangladesh.
"To
make real progress on this kind of difficult problem, you really have to work
in the region for an extended time,” Harvey says. “Brittany has conducted
the kind of study required — careful controlled field experiments covering
large areas and multiple years."To determine the impact of contaminated
water on the boro rice crop yield, Harvey, Huhmann, and their collaborators
worked with 16 local rice farmers to evaluate their fields. The different
locations allowed the researchers to account for a variety of field conditions
and arsenic levels. The team selected rice fields studied in the Faridpur
district of Bangladesh due to their proximity to wells known to have high
arsenic concentrations.
“A lot
of the farmers were really interested [in the project]. They hadn’t thought
about the fact that arsenic could be affecting their crops,” Huhmann says.
“Some of them had heard about arsenic and drinking water and how that’s bad for
them, but most of them hadn’t thought about arsenic and irrigation water or
what issues that could cause. They were interested to participate because
they wanted to know what was going on, and we could give them more information
about their crops, and what types of things were affecting their crops.”
In
studying contamination in the soil, the research team looked at arsenic
concentrations using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer at each of the
field sites. These measurements gave insight into the levels of arsenic build
up in each rice field studied, and ensured they could accurately compare
measurements between plots of land with higher and lower amounts of arsenic
buildup in the soil.
“We
wanted to look not just at one field and one farmer, but at many fields and
many farmers. We wanted to have this design where we had both the control plots
and intervention plots, so we could compare plots that are as similar in as
many ways as possible, except for their arsenic content,” Huhmann explains.The
researchers also weighed and recorded rice harvest from the different rice
fields and found that the amount that rice production is reduced depends on the
amount of arsenic in the soil.
The
researchers were also able to determine that between 7.4 percent and 26
percent of the annual boro harvest yield was lost as a result of the
arsenic in soil.“It’s a pretty broad range, but this is the first study that
has actually done work at a scale that can allow us to make this type of
estimate,” Huhmann says. “Our hope is that future studies can build on this and
we can get a better understanding of what types of impacts arsenic is having on
rice yield.”
In the
meantime, the researchers found that excavating and replacing the top few
layers of soil with uncontaminated soil temporarily improves crop yield, a
promising indication for potential solutions to the agricultural issue.“We
found that arsenic in irrigation water is causing significant negative effects
on rice fields in Bangladesh,” Huhmann says. “This is something that people
should be paying attention to and should be thinking about what to do about
it.”This research was funded, in part, by a National Science
Foundation Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems grant and
a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research
Program grant.
We have increased
productivity; income of rice, cassava farmers – IFAD
ON OCTOBER 20, 20179:47 PMIN AGRIC, NEWSCOMMENTS
BY PETER DURU MAKURDI – The National Programme Coordinator, NPC, of the
International Fund for Agricultural Development-Value Chain Development
Programme, IFAD-VCDP, Dr. Ameh Onoja, Friday stated that the programme has
increased productivity and income levels among Rice and Cassava producers,
processors and marketers in all its participating states. Cassava Tubers
Speaking at the opening of the Trade Promotion and Knowledge Fair organized by
the world body in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, Dr. Onoja commended the
Benue state government for supporting and ensuring the success of the programme
in the state.
He noted that the government’s political will to
support the programme had gone a long way to boost rice and cassava production
in the state. He stressed that aside supporting farmers, the programme had
provided and constructed feeder roads leading to its clusters in the state to
create accessibility for farmers of rice and cassava farmers coupled with the construction
of modern rice mils in the state. According to Dr. Onoja, “the Value Chain
Development Programme has been operational in the six participate states of
Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba for the last three years working
with Rice and Cassava farmers, processors and Marketers to develop sustainable
Value~ Chains for the two commodities. “The objective of the programme is
therefore to enhance on a sustainable basis the income and food security of
poor rural households engaged in the production, processing and marketing of
Rice and Cassava in the targeted local government areas in all the
participating states.
“The
intervention of the programme has significantly contributed to increased
production, productivity and income levels, enhanced value addition and market
opportunities, as well as access to quality seed and planting materials among
Rice and Cassava producers, processors and marketers in all the six
participating states. “Today we are producing over 5.5 metric tonnes of rice
per hectare as against the 2.5 metric tonnes while cassava yield has hit an
average of 20 metric tonnes per hectare as against the 12 metric tonnes
recorded in the past.
This goes to show the level of success the
programme has recorded in the last three years.” Continuing, Dr. Onoja said
“the programme has also improved the knowledge and skills and innovativeness of
all the operators along the Rice and Cassava value-chains such that today the
programme can boast of having a critical mass of enlightened, skillfull and
innovative programme beneficiaries that are supporting federal and concerned
states governments in their efforts to achieve national food security, jobs
creation and empowerment of communities. “Hence the impressive giant strides
and achievements of the programme is what informed and encouraged us to provide
a forum such as this Trade Promotion and Knowledge Fair to share our
experiences and contributions.
“The
objective of the Fair therefore is to showcase the achievements and innovative
outcomes of VCDP in the last three years in Benue State. “Let me therefore use
this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous support and encouragement, the
programme has been receiving from IFAD and Benue State government in the last
three years without which we would not have recorded the achievements you are
witnessing today. “I want to urge the State Government to take special interest
in the Fair and exhibition with a view to further taking then up for
replication and scaling up. On his part, the State Programme Coordinator of
IFAD-VCDP, Mr. Emmanuel Igbaukum, noted that the programme had opened
floodgates of opportunities for rice and cassava farmers in the state as well
as improved their livelihood. “Today small-scale farmers who formed cluster
groups to key into the programme have enjoyed sustained growth and yields in
their annual returns from their investments and testimonies abound in the
selected local government areas.” Igbaukum stated.
Declaring the Fair open, Governor Samuel Ortom
who lauded the impact the programme had recorded in the state said his
government had paid the sum of N166milion counterpart fund to the programme
assuring that another tranche of over N90.8million would soon be released for
the 2017 activities of the programme in the state. Represented by the Secretary
to the State Government, SSG, Prof. Tony Ijohor, the Governor reiterated the
commitment of his administration to the programme “because it has proven to be
a veritable means of improving the lot of farmers in the state. “We are seeing
the benefit of this programme in the state which was made possible and attained
through improved agronomy practices introduced by the programme.
“I can assure you that as a government we will
remain committed to ensure that our people maximize the benefits from the
programme in Benue state.” Benue state Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. James
Ambua said despite the lean resources available to the government there had
been sustain payments of the state’s counterpart fund to the programme.
According to Ambua, “before the advent of this administration, our yields in
cassava and rice was abysmally low but today the story is different and because
of the import of this programme we will continue to support the IFAD-VCDP in
Benue state.
In his remark, the Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh represented by his Technical Assistant, Mr.
Apeh Auta said with programmes like IFAD-VCDP the country would in no distant
time achieve sufficiency in food production. “It is a thing of joy that our farmers
have been doing well in our efforts to meet the food needs. Chief Ogbeh
canvassed that attention should now paid to efforts to meet the food needs of
the country, earn more foreign exchange from exports and to diversify the
economy of the country.
“Undoubtedly, the economic progress of our
country is in the hands of farmers who must deploy their acumen to improve
their wellbeing and place our economy on the part of sustainable growth and
development.” The Minister said.
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/10/increased-productivity-income-rice-cassava-farmers-ifad/
As Africa’s need for food grows, Mali’s rice turnaround shows a
way forward
by Isaiah Esipisu | @Andebes | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Saturday, 21 October 2017 06:53
GMT
“Africa
has the resources, skills, and human and land capacity to move from importer to
exporter by eating food made in Africa”
ABIDJAN, Oct. 21 (Thomson Reuters
Foundation) – In 2008, as food prices rose around the world, riots broke out in
West Africa, and Mali’s government stepped in.It quickly launched an initiative
to subsidise purchases of good-quality certified rice seed, as well as
fertilisers, for farmers, in an effort to cut reliance on rice imports and grow
more food of its own.In just two years, the country was producing enough grain
for domestic consumption, and today is a rice exporter, said Bourema Dembele,
who until July was director of research at Mali’s Institut
d’Economie Rurale, a government institution.
“We had no choice other than to develop a policy that would
later see our country out of the crisis,” said Dembele, now a Mali programme
officer for the Alliance for a Green Revolution Africa (AGRA), a
nongovernmental organisation.Such policies need to be replicated around Africa
if the continent is to cope with a burgeoning population and climate change
while improving food security and economic growth, African experts say.
“Rice is going to be the biggest challenge for Africa because
countries highly depend on imports from sources that are totally
unsustainable,” William Asiko, the executive director of Grow Africa, a
non-governmental organisation, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
RISING IMPORTS?
According to a report released last month at the
African Green Revolution Forum, African nations spend $35 billion each year on
food imports, a figure expected to rise to $110 billion by 2025 unless the
continent can boost harvests.
Changing things “will take commitment of African governments to
stimulate and guide the transition,” said Agnes Kalibata, AGRA’s president,“If
left to the private sector alone, growth in the agrifood system will not be as
fast as it could, nor will it benefit as many smallholder farmers and
entrepreneurs as it could,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
According to the Africa Agriculture Status Report 2017, if most
African governments moved as aggressively as Mali’s, the continent could not
only feed itself but meet the growing demand from affluent city dwellers for
high-value processed foods.In Mali, production of rice grew from just 900,000
tonnes in 2008 – below the domestic consumption of 1.1 million tonnes – to 2.7
million tonnes in 2016, thanks in part to government subsidies of 35 billion
CFA francs ($64 million). Rice production is now double the country’s annual
consumption.
Overall food production – including cereal crops such as
sorghum, millet, groundnuts, cowpeas and maize, as well as rice – also
increased over the same period from 3.6 million tonnes to 8.7 million tonnes,
making the country largely self-sufficient.
Apart from subsidising seed and other farming needs, Mali’s
government in 2015 began buying 1,000 new tractors every year to sell to
farmers at half price. Farmers are required to make a downpayment of just 20
percent and can take out loans from commercial banks for the remaining sum.Poorer
or very small-scale farmers also are eligible to buy tractors if they group
together to cultivate at least 50 hectares (124 acres) of land with the
equipment.
To support the effort, Mali’s government has allocated at least
15 percent of the national budget to agriculture, surpassing a target of 10
percent agreed to at the 2003 African Union Summit as part of the Comprehensive
Africa Agriculture Development Programme. Dembele's organisation works
with research institutions in Mali to produce quality-certified seeds for farmers
to meet growing demand for them. Previously, many small-scale farmers planted
uncertified seeds in part because certified seeds had to be imported and were
too expensive.
“QUIET REVOLUTION”
Asiko, of Grow Africa, said more African countries need to create
initiatives to increase rice production, especially in West Africa, where it is
the main staple.“When we invest in production, we create a market for seed and
fertiliser companies which are investment and business opportunities. When we
produce in plenty, we create further opportunities for processors, and when we
process enough, we further create opportunities for transporters and sellers,”
he said.
The Africa Agriculture Status Report suggests that more
productive farming could be Africa’s “quiet revolution”, creating jobs and
sustainable economic growth that has largely failed to materialise from mineral
extraction and increased urbanisation.
“Africa has the latent natural resources, skills, human and land
capacity to tip the balance of payments and move from importer to exporter by
eating food made in Africa,” Kalibata said.Apart from Mali, African countries
that have had significant success moving towards food self-sufficiency include
Ethiopia, Rwanda and Burkina Faso, she said.
(Reporting by Isaiah Esipisu; editing by James Baer and Laurie
Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of
Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience,
women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit
http://news.trust.org/climate)
Rice shipment: REAP rejects TDAP proposal
Rafique Suleman, Senior
Vice Chairman REAP, Pir Syed Nazim Hussain Shah and Abdul Karim Memon, Director
TDAP were also present. Chairman REAP said rice exporters are putting their
untiring efforts towards the growth of the country's economy. He urged TDAP to
look into the issues and problems of rice exporters and support REAP in
resolving the same. He rejected the TDAP proposal of mandatory pre-shipment
inspection of all rice shipments.
He was of the view that due to this step, cost of rice exporters
will not only increase, but the trade relations between exporters and buyers
will also be affected. He said that such condition has not been implemented
internationally and even Pakistan's competitors such as India, Thailand and
Vietnam have also not made this condition mandatory. This condition is also not
implemented at other export sectors of Pakistan, he added. Chairman REAP urged
TDAP to leave the matter on the disposal of exporters and importers to let them
tackle it with mutual understanding. Chaudhry Samee Ullah said that REAP will
oppose all such steps which lead to government intervention in this free trade.
He asked TDAP to improve Pakistani stalls at international food
exhibitions, as REAP members have reservations over the location of stalls,
their making and quality. He said REAP has planned distribution of Biryani
during Gulf Food, besides awards to major rice importers. In order to implement
this proposal, REAP has also arranged a meeting with federal commerce minister
next week, he added. Rafique Suleman, Senior Vice Chairman REAP voiced concern
over non-participation of Pakistan in the tender of Qatar's grain procurement
body - Central Tender Committee (CTC). He said this was a golden opportunity
for Pakistan to enhance its rice exports. "Hopefully after the inclusion
of Pakistani rice in the next CTC tender, rice exports to Qatar will enhance by
approximately 25,000 metric tons generating a foreign exchange of some $12.5
million for the country at a time, when the country's forex reserves are
depleting due to external debt payment. Rafique urged TDAP to take urgent steps
to ensure Pakistan's participation in the next CTC tender.
He also requested TDAP to issue notification to grant authority to
REAP for issuance of Certificate of Origin for rice shipments. The senior vice
chairman said REAP is planning to send trade delegations to various countries
for marketing and promotion of Pakistani rice. He requested TDAP to extend
all-out support to REAP trade delegations. Dr Syed Javaid Akhter DG TDAP
assured REAP delegation of full support. He announced making a joint committee
of TDAP and REAP which will have meetings on a monthly basis. This committee
will also propose indicative floor prices of rice varieties, so that Pakistani
rice exporters could get better price for their products.
Vietnam rice exporters should focus on Asian markets
Vietnam should put a special focus on traditional rice importers
in Asia to ensure the country’s rice trade stability in the long run, said
Huynh Minh Hue, secretary general of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), at a
conference in HCMC on October 17 on the rice export strategy for 2017-2020
period.
Farmers are seen harvesting rice in a field in the Mekong
Delta
Asia is the nearest and most important market for Vietnamese rice,
Hue said. In the first nine months of 2017, rice exports to Asian countries
accounted for 68% of the country’s total. Meanwhile, Africa is the second
largest market for Vietnamese rice, with 15%, and should also be attended to,
he said.
According to Hue, there have been concerns that Vietnam’s heavy
reliance on the Chinese market, which accounted for 40% of the country’s rice
exports, is risky. However, Hue downplayed such concerns, saying the
neighboring country has high demand for rice in the long term. Echoing the
opinion, Do Ha Nam, general director of INTIMEX Group, said Vietnamese rice is
shipped to hundreds of countries around the world, but most of it is purchased
by Asian and African countries. Particularly, China is a vital market. Nam said
the focus on strategic and regional markets would help rice exporters achieve
stable export earnings. Another important market for Vietnamese rice in Asia is
the Philippines.
Hue said rice exports to
the Philippines would grow further in the coming time if the Philippine
Government agrees to shift its rice import from a quota-based mechanism to a tariff-based
one. He said the Philippines has plans to impose a 35% tariff on rice imports
from ASEAN countries but 400% on rice from other countries, which will open the
door wider for Vietnam as the country only has to compete with its only ASEAN
rival Thailand. Nam said Vietnam’s white rice is not competitive on the Chinese
market because similar products from Pakistan and Myanmar have lower prices.
However, Vietnam has exported large amounts of fragrant, glutinous
and broken rice to China. Meanwhile, the best-seller in Africa is jasmine rice,
and in the Philippines it is white rice. At the conference, Tran Xuan Long,
head of the Agency of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade,
presented the strategy for rice export promotion in 2017-2020, with a vision
towards 2030. Vietnam will reduce the volume of rice exports but seek to raise
the value, according to the strategy. The country looks to export 4.5-5 million
tons of rice worth US$2.2-2.3 billion per year in 2017-2020, and four million
tons worth US$2.3-2.5 billion per year in 2021-2030. In 2020, white rice may
account for 45% of total rice exports. Meanwhile, the proportions of fragrant
rice, glutinous rice and rice products by then would be 30%, 20% and 5%
respectively.
The country also expects to reduce reliance on the Asian market by
lowering its rice export proportion to Asian countries from the current 68% to
60% in 2020 and 50% in 2030. Trade ministry proposes Government amend circular
on rice export In a related development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has
sent the Government a draft decree on rice export, said Phan Van Chinh, head of
the Import and Export Department under the ministry, at the conference on
October 17. Chinh told the Daily on the sidelines of the event that the draft
decree would make life easier for rice exporters.
The prevailing Decree 109/2010/ND-CP requires rice traders to have
at least one warehouse with a minimum capacity of 5,000 tons, and a milling
facility with a minimum hourly processing capacity of 10 tons in order to get
rice export certificates, he said. He noted the draft decree still requires
them to have warehouses and milling facilities in line with the standards set
by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He said if rice exporters meet the requirements, they will only
need to send their dossiers to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for approval.
He stressed the new regulation does not require them to have a prior
confirmation from their local departments of industry and trade, adding that
they must be accountable for their records.
Upon the issuance of certificates, the ministry and local
authorities will conduct checks later. Exporters will store an amount of rice
equivalent to 5% instead of the current 10% of the volume contracted for
export, he said. Notably, local firms will no longer be required to register
their export contracts with the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) in advance for
customs procedures.
Unprecedented rice output surprises Iranians
Rice farmers in northern Iran have set a new record in the output
volume harvesting about 2.3 million tons of the cereal grain over the first
five months of the current fiscal year (started March 20). Abbas Keshavarz, an
Iranian deputy agriculture minister, has described the output as
"unprecedented in decades", adding that suitable climate conditions
have contributed to the output surge, ISNA news agency reported.
Simultaneously, the country imported over one million tons of rice to register
79 percent hike in volume terms compared to same period of time last year.
The country consumes about three million tons of rice per year and
each Iranian averagely consumes about 38 kilograms of rice annually. It appears
that the high output of rice this year has caused confusion among the importers
as about 1.8 million tons of rice was imported into the country. This is while
the country’s total imports of rice over the last two years stood at 1.5
million tons. According to Iran’s Customs Administration, the country imported
worth of $995 million of rice over the first half of the current year,
indicating a surge of 109 percent in value terms.
Basmati farmers in Punjab & Haryana rake it in
Switch over to fast-growing variety with higher yield; lower
stocks, dip in acreage boost prices
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20:
Low inventory and a fall in taxes on account of GST, coupled with
rising exports, have helped basmati farmers in Punjab and Haryana to command a
better price for their produce this season.“Even though the area under basmati
rice was nearly 10 per cent less as compared to the last kharif season, the
yield was better as more farmers decided to sow high-yielding varieties such as
1509 this time around,” said All India Rice Exporters Association President
Vijay Setia.
Basmati acreage down “As a result, arrivals in the
mandis are good. Farmers are getting a good price this time around. This was
because there were low carry-forward stocks and also because buyers were more
aggressive as there was a misplaced perception the yield would be less as the
total acreage under basmati rice cultivation was relatively low,” he said.
According to a survey by the Agricultural and Processed Food
Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), basmati rice area in Haryana has
come down 9.39 per cent to 6,52,000 hectares in the 2017 kharif season from
7,19,600 hectares in 2016.
Similarly, there was an 8.84 per cent reduction in the basmati
area in Punjab, with the area coming down to 5,61,200 hectares.
The total basmati growing areas in seven States of north India
came down by 7.92 per cent to 1.56 million hectares (mh) in the 2017 kharif
season as compared to 1.69 mh, according to a recent report by Apeda.
Among the different basmati varieties, PB 1121 continued to be the
most preferred one even though its area came down by 10.5 per cent to 1.1 mh.
Pusa 1509, on the other hand, went up by 8.07 per cent to 1.29 lakh hectares.
According to Harpreet Singh Sidhu, General Manager Enforcement at
the Punjab Mandi Board, total arrivals of basmati in mandis in the State stood
at 1.86 lakh tonnes so far.
The total quantity of basmati rice traded in Haryana’s mandis till
Monday was 86,741 tonnes, said a Haryana government official. Farmers, too,
said they were happy with this year’s kharif yield.
“I have received 24 quintals of basmati rice from my one-acre
plot,” said Rajinder Singh, a farmer in Rania, a small Haryana town 23 km away
from Sirsa city. Singh chose to grow the short-duration, high-yielding 1509
variety, which accounts for most of the mandi arrivals.
High-yield varieties Farmers who have opted for
other varieties such as PB-1 and PB-1401 also seem to be content with the
yield.
“The harvest is planned after Diwali. The crop looks good and I
expect the yield to be good,” said Surdeep Singh of Ellenabad, a small town in
Sirsa district that lies close to Haryana’s border with Rajasthan.
Most basmati varieties are commanding a good price, both traders
as well as farmers agree. Surdeep Singh said he expects to get up to ₹2,800/quintal for his produce.
Crop burning Punjab Mandi Board’s Sidhu,
however, said the prices in Punjab are in the range of ₹3,000-3,300, which “is very good”.
However, rice farmers in both the States are worried about issues
around burning crop residue.
“We expect more and more farmers in Sirsa to go for the 1509
variety during the next season as it would give them some extra time to prepare
the field for the rabi crop as the 1509 variety takes only around 100 days as
compared to 120 days required by most other popular varieties,” said Rajinder
Singh of Rania.
Currently, less than 15 per cent of the acreage in the district is
under 1509, he said.
Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon of Punjab Kisan Sabha, however, said the
farmers should be adequately compensated if they do not burn crop residue.
“Farmers get less than 10 days to prepare the field for the rabi
crop, any means other than crop burning would not be economical for farmers,”
he said.
Moreover, studies have shown that the share of crop residue burning
to air pollution was only 1.5 per cent, Sekhon argued.
China exports drought-resistant rice farming
technique
Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20
15:54:33|
HEFEI, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- A China-developed drought-resistant
rice breed and its farming method have been introduced to nine countries,
mainly in southeast Asia and Africa, according to an agricultural academy in
east China's Anhui Province.Dr. Wang Shimei, of the Rice Research Institute of
the Anhui Agricultural Academy, said the plantation area of the Lyuhan No. 1
(Green Drought) rice breed had reached 2.3 million hectares in China.
Wang said the breed was first exported in 2009 to Angola.
Plantation has reached 10,000 hectares in the country since then. The rice has
also been planted in countries such as the Philippines,
Cambodia, Pakistanand
Cameroon.
In Cameroon, the rice yield reached just over 29 kg per hectare
this year, as compared with about an average 4.5 kg per hectare of other rice
breeds in the country.
Wang said agricultural experts from 10 countries, including Egypt and
Uganda, came to China in June to study the rice growing technique, hoping it
could help improve the yield in their countries, which face severe drought.
She said the rice breed has also proved to have a steady yield
in saline-alkali soil in the Philippines, where fields suffer from monsoon
flooding
aT Introduced Korea's 'Functional Rice' that Became Real Food to
Meet the World Market
·
20-10-2017
SEOUL, South Korea: aT (Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade
Corp.) introduced Korea's functional rice on arirang TV in 1st of October. aT
is a professional association to satisfy overseas customers's expectation on
Korean agricultural products. Germany's philosopher, Ludwig
Feuerbach, said, "What you eat, what you are". It means that the
'food' affects significant influence to people's life, and that it also could
replace those people. Currently in 2017, the general food buyers contracts the
news on 'bad food' frequently through TV, internet and various medias.
Beyond the one-dimensional food
concept that has fulfilled only its stomach, the whole world is paying
attention to foods that can catch two rabbits of taste and health. As for the
super food, that charges energy and increase the immunity, blueberries,
chestnuts, salmon, broccoli, tomatoes, paprika and spinach have been well
known.
Recently, there has been a
renewed rise in the number of food items that are becoming more and more
popular with superb food such as 'super food,' 'well-being food,' and 'real
food.' It is the 'Functional rice' that is being produced in Korea. This
functional rice mans whether it contains multiple times nutrition of existing
rice or is the food that contains the nutrition that wasn't in the rice. Korean
farmers, research institutes, and other stakeholders are constantly researching
rice and developing and launching a variety of varieties.
Functional rice, which has
undergone a process of sincerity, is not raised only at the table of Korea's
own people. With increasing interest in 'health food' around the world, it is
distributing Korean rice in various countries. It has become common to shop for
functional rice offline or through online channels through word of mouth in
Korean ethnic as well as ethnic communities.
There are as many different types
of rice distributed in the Korean Mart in California. Among them, "GABA
RICE" has gained popularity in the American community through word of
mouth and is receiving high popularity among consumers. In the case of GABA rice,
it is cultivated with the 'Pond-snail Farming Method', which is developed by
Uesung in Gyeongbuk, Korea, and is named as environmentally friendly organic
rice. Especially, 'GABA RICE' contains a lot of GABA ingredients.
GABA is an abbreviation for Gamma-Aminobutyric
Acid. It is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. This material is
deeply related to 'stability'. By increasing the oxygen supply of the brain, it
promotes brain cell metabolism function and performs functions such as nerve
stability, relaxation of anxiety, relieving anxiety. In addition to improving
memory, blood pressure control, blood sugar control, prevention of dementia,
and also has the efficacy of diet. Although the common rice gruel contains
GABA, the GABA rice is 8 times more GABA than brown rice.
In particular, it is interesting
to note that when the rice is cooked enough in water, the content of the GABA
is further increased. After soaking in water, it increases 8 times in 12 hours,
and 15 times in 36 hours. During the germination of rice, a lipid component
that stabilizes insulin secretion is generated, nutrients are maximized, and
the texture even better.
In addition to 'GABA RICE',
functional rice in Korea is made up of local specialties such as rice, green
tea, kelp rice, and shoji rice. These foods are a mixture of rice flour and
related functional foods. They are able to ingest the nutritional ingredients
of the special products themselves while maintaining the nutrition and texture
of rice. In addition to this, functional rice of various varieties is
commercialized and circulated in Korea, so that any consumer can choose healthy
rice by choosing the rice they want.
Rice made from functional rice is
superior in nutrition, texture and flavor and can produce various recipes. In
the conventional traditional rice culture, it has been passed down like a
traditional Korean dish, but it has developed into a culture that takes 'taste'
and 'fun' as a distinctive recipe in modern times.
As functional rice becomes more
and more popular, consumption and export volume of functional rice are
increasing every year and it is remarkable that it is active in the world,
especially in the US niche market. Food industry officials are paying attention
to the continued growth of functional rice. The world's real food, 'functional
rice' is the focus of attention
Military
ordered to gather its own rice
Kim Chae Hwan |
2017-10-20
14:29
Sources in North Korea are reporting that the authorities are
preparing another push to collect rice for the armed forces this fall. However,
in contrast to previous years, this time the order has been issued to the
military itself. Ordinary citizens have in the past been assigned the task of
gathering these provisions, but the responsibility this year has fallen on
military conscripts.“Military leadership handed down orders last month
detailing the quotas required to be collected by the local 12th Corp. These
orders include amounts covering every division and brigade in the entire 12th
Corp, which must be collected and presented to division leaders in the coming
season,” a source in Ryanggang Province informed Daily NK on October 18.
"It is quite absurd that military personnel have to collect
these provisions themselves. And such orders were handed down in all provinces,
covering all military divisions across the country.”
The source says that soldiers are complaining about the plan,
especially given the government's failure to distribute goods, even to the
military in recent times.
"Is there any other country on Earth that does not feed its
own military? I thought the army was supposed to be defending our country, but
instead they're turning us into an army of farmers," one serviceman told
the source.
The North Korean regime began emphasizing the importance of
feeding its military as a national priority after the Great Famine of the mid
90s. Kim Jong Il introduced the concept of songun (military-first) ideology,
stating that "our nation's armed forces must never go hungry!"
Citizens who thereafter did not contribute the required quota of
rice were excluded from what was left of the state distribution system. State
organizations were also mobilized to collect food for the military, and those
who did not satisfy the requirements were stripped of their political status
and other perks. As a result, many had no choice but to eat significantly less
in order to contribute their quota to the state.
But even these provisions were insufficient to feed the entire
military. During the mid 2000s, the government hoped to solve the food shortage
by allowing military members to cultivate small private gardens for personal
consumption. The recent directive, however, seems to be an attempt by the
authorities to absorb some of these stocks as well.
According to a source in North Hamgyong Province, military
members are complaining that they "must begin large-scale farming from
next year" in order to meet these new demands, calling the plan just
another "government scheme."
Guyana Rice Board:Former GRDB
boss and deputy face 30-plus new fraud charges
Guyana Rice Board:Former GRDB boss
and deputy face 30-plus new fraud charges
Two former senior officials of the Guyana
Rice Development Board (GRDB) are set to face at least 30
new fraud charges today in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.Yesterday,
both former General Manager, Jagnarine Singh,
and his deputy, Madanlall ‘Ricky’ Ramraj, were
at the Camp Road office of the police’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU),
with their lawyer, Glen Hanoman. Missing is Peter Ramcharran, a former
accountant, who is arrested and in custody in Canada, pending extradition.
Charges could be read in his absence.
This would be the second case, with
SOCU expected to lay more charges in a number of other cases, involving
billions of dollars. GRDB is the agency
which regulates the country’s rice industry, one of the top three foreign
currency earners for Guyana.SOCU is investigating the findings of a forensic
audit report which was handed over to the police by the Coalition Government
several months ago.
Already, in one case, six former
high-ranking officials of GRDB, including Jagnarine and Ramraj have been
charged and placed on $500,000 bail each for allegedly failing to make a proper
entry into a register of a company with the intent to defraud $362M from the
entity’s Republic Bank account.
The six officials also included
General Secretary of the Producers Association (RPA) and PPP/C Member of
Parliament, Dharamkumar Seeraj; former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Amerindian Affairs and PPP/C Member of Parliament, Nigel Dharamlall; former
General Manager of the Guyana Oil Company Badrie Persaud and the Deputy
Permanent Secretary, Finance Ministry of Agriculture, Prema Roopnarine.
The accused all pleaded not guilty
to the charges which alleged that between January 1 and December 31, 2012, with
intent to defraud, they omitted or concurred to be omitted $77.3M from the
general ledger of the GRDB’s Republic Bank account.
Similarly, between January 1 and
December 31 of the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 with intent to defraud the entity,
they are alleged to have omitted or concurred to be omitted from the said
Republic Bank account, $9.7M, $130M and $145M for three respective years.
Quote of the Day
"Take your time, don't live too fast. Troubles come and
they will pass."
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-10/20/c_136693932.htm
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