Rice farmers are being exploited by the millers
By STAFF WRITER May 29, 2017
Dear
Editor,
The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) is
supposed to be a very vibrant government watchdog agency with the rice
industry. Its board members have a wide range of responsibilities and authority
in the general operations of the industry, but for some time now they have
become toothless poodles in the real series of this adage, by not doing the
things they were put there to do. There is a lot of empty rhetoric and very
little action. This organization has sat and allowed most of the rice millers
of this country to violate the Factories Act for too long. I refuse to sit and
allow this exploitation dalliance to go on any longer.
We all know that the millers are very
important people and their operations are essential components in the paddy
processing and rice production business, but this notwithstanding must we sit
idly by and allow a special breed of cunning exploiters to destroy firstly the
livelihood of all rice farmers, secondly the entire rice industry, and thirdly
the country’s economy? No! We must not be docile in our resolve to put an end
to the millers’ multi-faceted exploitation.
The GRDB has to let the millers know that
they are not dealing with rice farmers in the right and proper manner. They
have the legal status to do the right and proper thing in the best interest of
all stakeholders in this sphere, but why, I ask, have GRDB board members
remained so elusive and strikingly passive over this alarming disadvantage
affecting all rice farmers? The rice millers owe us their very existence and
meaningful expansion. If we cease producing, their milling operations which in
the corporate realm are a super investment will come to a standstill, rot and
crumble.
In my area of paddy production that is Hague,
on the West Coast of Demerara, paddy quality has been exceptionally high. This
good fortune has been the result of pest management, especially paddy bugs. All
rice farmers followed the advice of GRDB and RPA field officers. I personally
sprayed at three different intervals, and the infestation was negligible before
spraying, while farmers were very vigilant in their efforts to keep the paddy
bugs at bay.
When farmers go this way in order to enjoy
the bounty of a very good crop, their expenditure has to be high. Yet when we
take our paddy to the rice mills, the millers are poised to put our paddy
samples under the microscope for a prearranged ruling on our grades. When such
grades are awarded, you do not have a choice; that is it, take it or leave it.
Your paddy would have been already dumped into the irretrievable hopper ‒ this
is exploitation strategy number one. The other levels of clever manipulations
are the laboratory electronic gadgets, the mini-paddy sheller and the bulk
scale.
Rice farmers are being taken for a long ride
on the factory electronic scales; a toothpick does the trick ‒ the Bureau of
Standards can’t be there all the time. The same goes for the moisture test
machine; it can be set and then reset again. As for the paddy sheller, the
grader manipulates this mechanism with his hands, and the unprocessed paddy
becomes fragile under excessive pressure. Lastly, the graders’ trained
impartial judgement and better reasoning can become clouded by the coded
directives of the miller.
The presence of the GRDB representative means
nothing; the grader’s decision is always final. The farmer now stands defeated,
which is an affront, as a consequence of a strategy on the part of persons who
care about themselves only.
Statistically it is costing the average
farmer $2800.00-$3200.00 to produce one 155-pound bag of paddy. And the millers
pay the famers an unconscionable $2600.00 for extra ‘A’ grade and $100.00 less
for each lower grade. I dare the millers and GRDB to come forth and dispute my
carefully calculated figures.
I do honestly believe that there are
concerted efforts by known characters to destroy the rice industry. We all
survived in the past, and we shall again survive because we surely know how to
survive.
Yours faithfully,
Ganga Persaud
https://www.stabroeknews.com/2017/opinion/letters/05/29/rice-farmers-exploited-millers/
Rice Smuggling:
Nigerian govt threatens to shut borders with neighbouring countries
The Federal Government has threatened to shut some land borders
if the smuggling of rice continues from neighbouring countries.Audu Ogbeh, the
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, gave the warning on Monday while
speaking to journalists on some of the Federal Government’s achievements in the
agriculture sector in the last two years in Abuja.
Mr. Ogbeh
said the decision had become necessary to encourage local rice farmers and to
enable the country achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2018.
“We
believe they are determined to sabotage the efforts that we are making to
guarantee self-sufficiency in rice and to save foreign exchange which we don’t
have.
“They
insist on bringing in rice through the land borders, avoiding the duties and
the levies we put on them and they are definitely bent on sabotaging our
efforts and we are getting increasingly unhappy with them. “And I must
say that very soon, if they persist, we will take very nasty measures against
them.
“We will
like to advise our neighbours, who believe that the ECOWAS treaty means that
Nigeria is a volunteer nation for economic suicide.
“We have
no such plans, destroying our own economy to make any neighbour happy.
“The
ECOWAS treaty number two does not suggest that any country can be an avenue of
smuggling foreign goods not produced in that country for dumping in his
neighbours territory.
“If they
insist, I do not think that government is far away from considering permanently
closing certain borders very near us and when we do, nothing will make us
change our minds on the issue, ECOWAS treaty or not,” Mr. Ogbeh warned.
The
minister said that the importation of rice reduced from 580,000 tonnes in 2015
to 58,000 tonnes by 2016.
According
to him, by the end of this year, we will eliminate the difference because more
people are growing rice in the country.
He said
the Federal Government would distribute no fewer than 200 rice mills to millers
across the states of the federation to encourage fresh milling of locally
produced rice in order to make them more palatable than the imported ones.
Mr. Ogbeh
said the move would save about $5 million for the country daily when achieved.
According
to the minister, about three months ago, there was this cry about Nigeria going
to starve and we told them that there will be such thing.
“We have
never produced as much grains as we did in the last two years in this
country’s’ history.
“We have
fed not only Nigeria, we have fed West Africa and there are still thousands of
tonnes in people’s warehouses.
“Those who
bought grains and stored believing that starvation was near and they will make
a killing they are now begging us to take off the grains from them because they
are getting stock.
“The only
shortfall we have is maize because of the disease called the armyworm.
“We are
dealing with that and this planting season, we are going to support farmers to
make sure that we bring that disease under control.“We have done amazing things
in agriculture in two years, we are still going,” Mr. Ogbeh said.The minister
said the government was working toward achieving self-sufficiency in staples
within the next two years excluding wheat.He said that government’s ambition
was that in five to six years from now, Nigeria should be able to earn between
N10 to N30 billion from exportation of agricultural produce annually to service
the country’s debts and build robust foreign reserves
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/business-news/232445-rice-smuggling-nigerian-govt-threatens-to-shut-borders-with-neighbouring-countries.html
Walton Ph.D. Student Wins
Fellowship to Study Rice, Information, Markets
May 30, 2017
Jessica
Darby
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Information moves markets. That’s something
every business student understands – or should.
Jessica Darby wrote her honors thesis on the relationship of
rice markets and information while she was a University of Arkansas
undergraduate. Now, as a doctoral candidate in the university’s Sam M. Walton
College of Business, she’s studying ways that timely and accurate information
flowing out of the supply chain can help rice farmers in Arkansas and around
the world.
Darby researches how rice farmers get their information about
markets and how they make decisions based on that information. She’s asking
farmers if better sources of information, additional resources and more
analytical tools can be developed to help with market decisions.
In spring 2017, Darby gained support for this research by
winning a prestigious and highly competitive Adam Smith Fellowship from the
Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The one-year fellowship for
graduate students – which includes a quarterly stipend – can total up to
$10,000. Fellows also are eligible to apply for conference and research
support.
“I believe that working with the Mercatus Center will help me
develop market-based tools and address relevant policy levers to reduce the
information burden for farmers,” Darby said. “I want to articulate the power of
markets in agricultural supply chains.”
Her research can also be a powerful tool in helping the farmers
and the economy of Arkansas. Arkansas is the
largest rice-growing state in the nation, with the crop grown on 1.3
million acres each year, mainly in eastern Arkansas counties stretching from
Louisiana to Missouri.
Darby’s interest in commodities such as rice and the behavior of
commodity markets was sparked by an internship as a commodity analyst with an
Arkansas-based global trading and sourcing company, and a second internship
with one of the largest shippers of grain on the inland river system. The
latter gave her insight into the role that public information – especially
United States Department of Agriculture reports – plays in decisions.
“In both roles, I was responsible for producing regional
analysis to determine potential growth and necessary defense strategies to
adapt to changing market and political environments,” Darby said.
Darby was introduced to free-market concepts and information’s
impact on commodity trading and pricing through a Walton College supply chain
class on capitalism and a class on futures and options in the Dale Bumpers
College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. The latter class sparked an
interest in working with Andrew McKenzie, a professor of agricultural economics
and agri-business.
“He introduced me to Milo Hamilton’s book, When
Rice Shakes the World,” Darby said. “Hamilton discusses the
implications of policies on the functioning of global rice markets and argues
for a ‘freer, market-oriented way for rice.’”
McKenzie directed Darby’s honors thesis on rice futures markets.
The two published that research in the U of A undergraduate research journal Inquiry and then extended the research. Darby
presented this extended research as a paper at the NCCC-134 Applied Commodity
Price Analysis, Forecasting and Risk Management Conference. The two then
co-authored an article on the topic – “Information Content of USDA Rice Reports
and Price Reactions of Rice Futures” – that was published in Agribusiness:
An International Journal.
“Our research shows that the USDA provides the rice futures
market with important information needed by Arkansas rice mills and farmers to
market their crops,” McKenzie said. “The Arkansas Farm Bureau notes that
Arkansas farmers produce more than 9 billion pounds of rice each year, which
generates billions of dollars to the state’s economy and accounts for
approximately 25,000 jobs, crucial to rural communities.”
The impact of such research on Arkansas and its economy inspires
Darby to continue to dig into the topic. “It’s important to me that my research
connect to industry,” Darby said. “I have to see the practical application for
both farmers and agri-businesses – especially those involved in the food supply
chains here in Arkansas.”
McKenzie added that, in an era of declining federal budgets, the
kind of research he and Darby have produced provides economic justification for
the continued publication of USDA reports. Darby said that it also illustrates
an opportunity for the private sector to provide additional valuable
information.
“Our results undoubtedly show that USDA reports play a vital
role in helping futures markets to discover price and that this is particularly
important for the U.S. rice market, where there is a paucity of private data
and forecasts to supplement government numbers,” McKenzie said. “However, our
research also highlights the fact that rice futures are a thinly traded market
with low liquidity and volume.”
McKenzie and Darby are currently engaged in potential research
to explore factors that may be driving low trading levels, which increases
uncertainty for farmers. Darby said the aim is to determine potential solutions
to increase volume and open interest through both regulatory changes and
private information provided by partners in the supply chain.
Darby earned a B.S.B.A. in economics from the Walton College in
2015 and a Walton M.B.A. in 2016. She says her passion for reading, research
and free-market capitalism left no doubt she would enter Walton’s doctoral
program right away. Winning the Adam Smith Fellowship is pushing that passion
into a whole different realm, though.
“I believe that it will enable me to examine and better
articulate the power of markets in global agricultural supply chains,” Darby
said, “as well as the power of global agricultural supply chains in the
structuring of global markets.”
About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally
competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200
academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic
development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also
providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie
Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of
universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S.
News & World Report ranks
the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities.
Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools
and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention
and close mentoring.
David Speer, director of communications
Sam M. Walton College of Business
479-575-2539, dlspeer@uark.edu
Sam M. Walton College of Business
479-575-2539, dlspeer@uark.edu
https://news.uark.edu/articles/38873/walton-ph-d-student-wins-fellowship-to-study-rice-information-markets
Bangladesh rice prices break world record
| Update: 22:48, May 28, 2017
"I've just come from Vietnam after signing an agreement for rice procurement. I am unable to comment on the price of rice in Bangladesh right now.
International rates of rice
According to a daily report published by the food ministry, Vietnam is now selling rice at the cheapest rates in the world. The price of a kilogramme of rice is Tk 33. 62 there.
http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/149417/Bangladesh-rice-prices-break-world-record
TRC 2017 showcases Thailand’s
potential in global arena for quality rice trade and production
May
29, 2017 18:34
By The Nation
By The Nation
“Thailand
Rice Convention 2017” (TRC 2017) – a premier international forum for rice – is
currently being held by the Foreign Trade Department of the Commerce Ministry,
in collaboration with related organisations from both the public and private
sectors.
Highlights of the convention
include the multi-dimensional facets of innovation of Thailand’s rice industry.
Commerce Minister Apiradi
Tantraporn said the event, which ends on Tuesday, was being held under the
theme “Rice Plus” as it was aimed at showcasing Thailand’s potential in the
global arena for quality rice trade and production.
Various innovative rice products
are being presented, showing how far the Thai rice industry has advanced in its
technological development and technological integration.
Reaping the benefits of the
technological revolution, all parties in the industry have benefited from
tremendous value addition to rice, which corresponds with the government’s
“Thailand 4.0” economic model striving to transform the Thai economy into a value-based
economy, she said.
On Monday, Prime Minister General
Prayut Chan-o-cha chaired the opening ceremony of TRC 2017 and delivered a
keynote speech on “Thai Rice Trade and Its Future”, outlining government
policies towards the sustainable development of the Thai rice industry.
The convention welcomes more than
1,000 participants from over 40 nations, including producers, importers and
product developers, as well as delegates from major trading partners, namely
China, Japan, Malaysia, Iraq, Iran, Spain, the UK, Nigeria, Kenya, South
Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Also attending the event are
experts and academics, farmers, and media agencies.
On this occasion, the Iraqi
minister of planning and acting minister of trade, Salman Ali Hasan Al-Jumaili,
and his delegation comprising executives of the Grain Board – the Iraqi
government’s official body responsible for rice imports – held an important
meeting with Apiradi to jointly discuss opportunities for future rice trade and
bilateral cooperation.
Similar discussions were held
between the Thai minister and Tran QuocKhanh, Iraq’s deputy minister of
industry and trade.
On Tuesday, international
delegates will participate in post-conference field trips to sites related to
rice and rice innovation, including the Royal Chitralada Project, which is
considered Thailand’s first pioneering laboratory for rice development.
Since its establishment,
extensive researches have been carried out at the project to study rice
cultivation, milling, the pros and cons of different types of rice barns, and
the breeding of new rice varieties.
Alternatively, participants can
choose to visit Choheng Factory, a long-established producer of rice products
such as glutinous rice flour, rice vermicelli, and rice noodles; or Pathawin
Company – a respected producer and supplier of cosmetics to consumers both in
Thailand and abroad.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30316658
Bangladesh gets lowest rice import tender
| Update: 20:03, May 28, 2017
Bangladesh received a lowest offer of
$406.48 a tonne CIF liner out from Singapore-based Agrocorp International in a
tender that opened on Sunday to import 50,000 tonnes of white rice, officials
at the state grains buyer said.Five traders competed for the tender issued by
the Directorate General of Food at a time when local rice prices have reached
record highs and state reserves are at 10-year lows.
Rice Imports Valid Until July 23
Monday, May 29, 2017
Rice Imports Valid Until July 23
https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-domestic-economy/65427/rice-imports-valid-until-july-23
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http://www.chatelaine.com/recipes/food-news/top-10-best-ikea-foods/
Rice first
domesticated in China at about 10,000 years ago: study
Source: Xinhua|
2017-05-30 05:45:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan
WASHINGTON,
May 29 (Xinhua) -- Rice, one of the world's most important staple foods
sustaining more than half of the global population, was first domesticated in
China about 10,000 years ago, a new study suggested Monday. "Such an age
for the beginnings of rice cultivation and domestication would agree with the
parallel beginnings of agriculture in other regions of the world during a
period of profound environmental change when the Pleistocene was transitioning
into the Holocene," Lu Houyuan, professor of the Institute of Geology and
Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the study, said.
The
research, published in the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
was done in collaboration with Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Relics and
Archaeology and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources
Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Questions surrounding the origin
and domestication of rice have led to a lot of debate in the last decade. Rice
remains have previously been recovered from the Shangshan site in the Lower
Yangtze of China and recognized as the earliest examples of rice cultivation.
However, the age of the rice fossils was derived through radiocarbon dating of
organic matter in pottery shards, which can be contaminated with older carbon
sources, Lu said.
To constrain the age of the phytoliths, the
researchers developed new ways of isolating rice phytoliths from carbon
sources, such as clays and carbonate, and dated the samples directly using
radiocarbon dating. It turned out that phytoliths retrieved from the early
stage of the Shangshan site are about 9,400 years old. Further studies showed
that approximately 36 percent of rice phytoliths at Shangshan had more than
nine fish-scale decorations, less than the approximately 67 percent counted
from modern domesticated rice, but larger than the approximately 17 percent
found in modern wild rice.
That
means that rice domestication may have begun at Shangshan at about 10,000 years
ago during the beginning of the Holocene, when taking into account the distance
between phytolith samples and the lowest bottom of cultural strata of the site
as well as a slow rate of rice domestication, Lu said. The time coincided with
the domestication of wheat in the Near East and maize in northern South
America, both of which are also believed to have occurred at about 10,000 years
ago, when the global climate experienced dramatic changes from cold glacial to
warm interglacial.
Demand surge to
lift rice price
Auction of Thai stocks helps release
pressure
30 May 2017 at 07:00 1,605 viewed1
comments
NEWSPAPER SECTION: BUSINESS |
WRITER: PHUSADEE ARUNMAS
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha
opens Thailand Rice Convention 2017, organised by the Commerce Ministry.
World rice prices are expected to
rise by US$20 (682 baht) a tonne over the next three months, driven by a sharp
surge in global rice demand, according to experts.Global rice supply is now
quite tight, while Thailand's previously hefty state rice stocks have eased,
releasing pressure on global rice prices, Jeremy Zwinger, chief executive of
the Rice Trader, said at the "World Rice Trade Outlook" seminar of
Thailand Rice Convention 2017, held in Bangkok yesterday.
Purchase interest is also expected
to increase on a continuous basis from China, Africa and the Philippines, he
said. "We have now gone from a buyer's market to a seller's market,"
Mr Zwinger said. "The power is shifting back to the origin."
The Thai government now controls
4.32 million tonnes of state rice stocks and aims to dispose of it all by
September this year, given rising rice demand.Of the total, the sale of 2.5
million tonnes of mostly low-quality and decaying rice fit only for industrial
use will no longer dampen the price of newly harvested rice.
On May 15, the government called the
second auction for 1.82 million tonnes of its remaining rice stock fit for
human consumption.Results are likely due by the first week of June, Duangporn
Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said last week.
If the state succeeds in selling all
1.82 million tonnes, the state rice stocks will drop sharply to only 2.5
million tonnes.Of the remainder, 2 million tonnes will serve as animal feed and
the rest will be used for energy production.The department is scheduled to call
the auction for the 2-million-tonne portion in June. The auction for the
500,000-tonne share will be called in July.
From the May 2014 coup until May 24
of this year, a total of 12.7 million tonnes of rice have been sold via
auctions, fetching 114 billion baht.Amit Gulrajani, senior vice-president for
the rice division of Olam International in Singapore, said rice consumption,
especially in Africa, continues to grow.Mr Gulrajani said key risks for the
global rice trade this year will stem largely from droughts and flooding in
Asia, as indicated by a surge in rice imports by Sri Lanka.
"We expect the world's rice
market to remain in an upward trend in the second half of the year thanks to
lower global rice stocks, as Thailand will no longer hold its hefty
share," he said. "For the remaining months, we have to keep a close
eye on the rice self-sufficiency policies of rice-importing nations, oil prices
and the new harvests by rice-producing countries."
Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary
president of the Thai Rice Exporter Association, said lower-than-expected rice
production in Vietnam accounts in part for the lower global supply, while
Thailand's good-quality rice stocks are about to be depleted.
The free-on-board Thai rice export
price is now quoted at US$425 a tonne, up from $365 a tonne a couple of weeks
back.
Mr Chookiat said he expects Thai
rice prices to stabilise for a certain period as overall rice shipments for the
country reach 10 million tonnes this year.
According to a report by the US
Department of Agriculture, the world's rice trade is expected to stay at 41.3
million tonnes this year and 42.3 million tonnes in 2018, up from 40.6 million
tonnes in 2016.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1258810/demand-surge-to-lift-rice-price
