17th July,2018 daily global regional local rice e-newsletter

	Click the image to go live  at 2018 SNA

Playing with House Money at 2018 School Nutrition Association Conference 

By Deborah Willenborg

  

LAS VEGAS, NV -- For once, what happened in Vegas, won't stay in Vegas as the annual School Nutrition Association's (SNA) National Conference was here last week for five jam-packed days of education sessions, networking events, and a 200,000-square foot show floor where more than 375 exhibitors shared their wares and nutritional know-how.

USA Rice wowed the crowd of more than 7,000 K-12 foodservice officials with a newly-designed booth and information on the multiple benefits that U.S.-grown rice brings to the lunchroom.  Booth visitors received K-12 cafeteria posters, a K-12 recipe packet, and a Rice 101 Cooking Guide with rice preparation instructions for different types of cooking equipment typically found in schools.  

In addition to the resources distributed, attendees could test their U.S.-grown rice knowledge and win prizes playing the famous Think Rice trivia wheel.

"This conference is a direct pipeline to school nutrition officials responsible for producing more than five billion school lunches each year," said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice domestic promotion manager.  "Being here positions USA Rice as the resource for all things rice for schools throughout the country."

USA Rice also hosted an influencer dinner with key school nutrition decision makers and foodservice officials from California, Florida, and Oregon to find out how they incorporate rice in their school districts, discuss new opportunities for rice on school menus, understand any challenges they face with rice, and to learn how USA Rice can continue to best serve these consumers. 

"That one-on-one contact is key," said Jacobs.  "Spending time with the people responsible for menu-planning and purchasing helps USA Rice understand what schools truly need from those on the front-line serving students every day."

Rice Webinar:  Thursday July 19 

Tune in Thursday, July 19 at 3:00 p.m. Central Time, for a new rice webinar hosted by Dr. Bobby Coats, with the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas.  Milo Hamilton, expert on the global rice market, talks about the interplay of India and China in determining price trends and the role of wheat in setting the value of rice long term.

Go here to register for the webinar.

USA RICE DAILY

Opinions divided over sea rice cultivation as fresh water still needed

2018-07-17 09:27:27Global TimesEditor : Li YanECNS

Plantation still needs fresh water, method impractical: researcher

China's agricultural experts are questioning whether sea rice can be grown in commercial quantities in tidal flats after an article cast doubt on the idea of feeding more people with salt alkali-tolerant rice. 

It is impractical to grow large-scale sea rice in coastal shoals since sea rice needs to be irrigated with diluted sea water. Sea rice still depends on fresh water irrigation, wrote Ling Qihong, who specializes in rice cultivation, on the recent issue of China Rice magazine.

The Sea-Rice Research and Development Center in Qingdao, which spearheaded sea rice research in China, rebuffed Ling's opinion, saying the large-scale plantation of sea rice can be irrigated with alkaline water near saline-alkaline land, and that there was no need to mix fresh water with seawater.

Sea rice can be watered by alkaline water near saline-alkaline land, with lower salinity. The rice varieties the center develops can grow with 0.6 percent saline water," according to a statement the center sent to the Global Times on Monday.  

"Sea rice is the layman's term for salt-alkali-tolerant rice. It cannot be directly irrigated by seawater as its literal meaning shows," it noted. 

Li Xinqi, a research fellow at the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center, told the Global Times on Monday that the salt alkali-tolerant rice was initially developed to make it survive in land that suffers from seawater. 

Ideally, salt alkali-tolerant rice can be directly watered by seawater, which is what researchers are aiming for in the future. Seawater is saline up to 3.5 percent. 

Salt alkali-tolerant rice can thrive if it can tolerate a certain level of salt and alkali. About 6.7 million hectares of saline and alkaline land can be saved if the rice can survive in 0.6 percent saline water, Li said. 

The center also noted that the use of "the four dimensional improvement technology" using censors and big data technologies would further stabilize sea rice during plantation.

Yuan Longping led the project to develop sea rice, who has been dubbed China's "father of hybrid rice." Yuan said that "if the sea rice expands to 6.7 million hectares with the lowest rate of 300 kilograms per 1 mu (0.07 hectare), rice production would increase by another 30 billion kilograms, and 80 million more people could be fed." 

Together with standard planting techniques, sea rice can be used across China by 2020 after the first national standard seawater rice variety is approved in 2019, the center told the Global Times. 

The Qingdao center is promoting sea rice in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and is planning a 100-hectare sea rice plot at a Dubai desert in 2019.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2018-07-17/detail-ifyvzyvz7264876.shtml

Global Basmati Rice Market 2018 – Best Foods, Kohinoor Rice, Aeroplane Rice

 apexresearch July 16, 2018

 Global Basmati Rice Market

The Global Basmati Rice Market report 2018 centers on an extensive research study of the global Basmati Rice market while examining the Basmati Rice market size and growth rate, bifurcation of the Basmati Rice market based on products, end-user, and top market players among all. The Basmati Rice industry further provides the global market insights in terms of key drivers for boosting the Basmati Rice market sales over the forecast period (2018-2025).

Request for the sample report here: https://apexmarketreports.com/Food-Beverages/Global-Basmati-Rice-Market-by-Manufacturers,-Regions,-Type-and-Application,-Forecast-to-2023#sample

The global Basmati Rice Market 2018 report offers global market data to the top management, decision makers and dealers in order to validate the market insights required in evaluating the comprehensive Basmati Rice market situation. The Basmati Rice market report study further comprises industry dynamics in terms of driving factors, restraints, opportunities, major challenges and trends in the Basmati Rice sales market. The global Basmati Rice industry report also covers the company analysis of the top key players along with the latest trends involved in the market.

In Global Basmati Rice market report, we have prioritized the analysis of prominent market player, by providing detailed company profile, their financial overview, key developments, Basmati Rice business revenue, income division by Basmati Rice business segments, latest technological innovations, regional and country analysis and so on.

Major Manufacturers Included in the Global Basmati Rice Market Report:
KRBL Limited
Amira Nature Foods
LT Foods
Best Foods
Kohinoor Rice
Aeroplane Rice
Tilda Basmati Rice
Matco Foods
Amar Singh Chawal Wala
Hanuman Rice Mills
Adani Wilmar
HAS Rice Pakistan
Galaxy Rice Mill
Dunar Foods
Sungold

Geographically, the Basmati Rice market report features the major region including the market size, productivity, consumption, market position and upcoming opportunities with respect to the specific regions. Following are the regions along with countries covered in Basmati Rice market report with their scope of productivity during the forecast period.
§ North America: (United States, Canada, Mexico)
§ Europe: (Germany, France, UK, Spain Italy)
§ Asia Pacific: (India, China, Japan, South Korea)
§ South America: (Brazil, Argentina)
§ The Middle East and Africa: (Saudi Arabia)

Inquire before buying here: https://apexmarketreports.com/Food-Beverages/Global-Basmati-Rice-Market-by-Manufacturers,-Regions,-Type-and-Application,-Forecast-to-2023#inquiry

On the basis of product, the Global Basmati Rice Market report highlights revenue generation, market stake and productivity, regional demand of each segment, primarily classified into:
Indian Basmati Rice
Pakistani Basmati Rice
Kenya Basmati Rice

Based on end users, the Global Basmati Rice Market report highlights the revenue, market stake, market size & forecast for each end- users, classified into:
Direct Edible
Deep Processing

In this report, the years considered for evaluating the Basmati Rice market size include:
Historic Years for Basmati Rice Market Report: 2013-2017
Basmati Rice Market Report Base Year: 2017
Estimated Year for Basmati Rice Market Report: 2018
Forecast Years for Basmati Rice Market Report : 2018 to 2025

Thoroughly, the Basmati Rice market identifies the global Basmati Rice market revenue in US$ Million and CAGR in terms of percentage over the forecast period of 2018 to 2025 and considering 2017 as base year. The Basmati Rice market report describes the sales revenue through numerous sectors and explains the prominent investment plan with respect to the market. It also offers key approaches about the Basmati Rice market including new product development, and geographical outlook along with competitive strategies implemented by the key players involved in the market. The Basmati Rice market report further delivers the shareholders in the industry, which mainly includes product manufacturer, investors, dealers, and suppliers.

Available Customization Service For Basmati Rice Market Report:
We provide report customizations, focusing on specific requirements of client.
Following are the customization options available for the Global Basmati Rice market research report:
§ Regional and country level outlook for the Basmati Rice market, By end-use
§ Basmati Rice market analysis along with the company profiles of additional market players

https://trueindustrynews.com/global-basmati-rice-market/

Scientists, offshore wind developer look to minimize marine life impacts

Published July 15. 2018 7:35PM | Updated July 16. 2018 9:19PM

By Benjamin Kail   Day staff writer

 b.kail@theday.com   BenKail

Despite lacking ears, oysters respond to noise.

"We don't think of underwater noise as an issue ... but most marine life — if not all marine life — listens to the world around it in one way or another," said Aaron Rice, a researcher at Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology.

As part of the lab's bioacoustics program, Rice's research dives into the sounds animals make, helping scientists pinpoint habitats and behavior patterns. He also examines how human-made sounds impact sea critters, whether oysters slamming their shells shut at the hum of a cargo ship or whales within earshot of a pile driver for an offshore wind turbine foundation.

Rice said he's been encouraged by what he's learned about offshore wind, even with an immense amount of "steel in the water" planned off the shores of the East Coast within the next five to 10 years.

Deepwater Wind, which built and operates the Block Island Wind Farm, plans a 75-turbine wind farm south of Martha's Vineyard that will deliver electricity to Rhode Island and Connecticut by 2023. The company is proposing to help New London State Pier become a hub for offshore wind deployment.

While noise pollution associated with pile driving into the seabed is "not an insignificant noise footprint," Rice said it was "a fairly short noise event," especially compared to geophysical exploration for oil and gas, in which "seismic activity will go on for months and months on end."

Rice added that Deepwater Wind could consider other foundation and turbine types that could lessen the impact of pile driving or eliminate the need to pile drive at all. Trenching a cable from turbines to the shore, and ships required for maintenance and construction also will produce noise that could impact sea life, Rice said.

"A quiet ocean is a good thing," Rice said. "Elevated noise has demonstrated effects to all animals, including people. But wind is not the most severe by any stretch of the imagination."

He described the overall impact of offshore wind on marine life as "a drop in the bucket ... compared to global shipping on which the world depends."

Stephen Boutwell, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said BOEM "is unaware of any harm to marine life as a result of operating a wind facility."

BOEM leases swathes of federal waters to offshore wind developers and researches potential impacts on marine life. The agency has reshaped wind lease areas based on concerns from the commercial fishing industry and conservationists, Boutwell said.

Deepwater Wind says surveys of the site area and sea floor likely will begin this summer. Construction should begin by 2021 after lengthy state and federal permitting processes. The costs of the project have not yet been revealed, and Deepwater Wind and utilities still need to hammer out contracts.

Scientists: no evidence linking turbines to whale strandings

Last June, after a humpback whale carcass was found stranded ashore in Jamestown, R.I., University of Rhode Island researchers called into question some widespread reports that tried to pin the Block Island Wind Farm as the culprit, arguing "it is highly unlikely the whale's death had anything at all to do with a turbine."

Bob Kenney, a URI marine research scientist, and Jim Miller, a URI professor of ocean engineering and oceanography, said the five turbines off Block Island produce about 100 underwater decibels at a range of about 50 meters, "very low and only detectable when ships are not nearby and when the wind is not too strong."

Additionally, the pair noted that noisy pile driving and construction occurred a few years before the whale was stranded in Jamestown, and that "whales themselves are louder than turbines."

The researchers said social calls of humpbacks have measured between 123 and 183 underwater decibels at 1 meter, while scientists have measured fin whale vocalizations near the Block Island Wind Farm at more than 140 underwater decibels at a range of 500 meters.

In an email Sunday, Kenney said nothing had changed his opinion since last year. Offshore wind projects "will all have mitigation plans ... which typically include seasonal restrictions" on construction to protect marine life, he said.

He added that the impact of turbine foundations in the water was not as great as some had feared, "and for some species, sea turtles, some fish, added structure is probably a benefit rather than a negative impact."

"Marine mammals are not following some narrowly defined movement routes along the shore, so it's not like building something in one lane of the highway," he said.

At the time of the humpback's stranding in Jamestown last year, Mendy Garron, the Regional Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator, told the Block Island Times that, "We don't believe the Wind Farm would have any negative activity on the humpback whales."

Asked about the Jamestown humpback last week, NOAA spokeswoman Jennifer Goebel said, "The report on this whale was that it is a presumed ship strike case based on test results, which are apparently limited."

Professor Ian Boyd, who has researched acoustic disturbance to whales at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, was misquoted by a United Kingdom news outlet seven years ago in what he described to The Day as a "spurious and untrue" article about whale deaths. Several websites since have directly or loosely referenced "research at St. Andrews University" linking turbines to whale deaths.

"I know of no evidence supporting a connect of wind farms to the deaths of whales," Boyd wrote to The Day on Friday. "Frankly, it's really unlikely. The greatest risks occur during construction but even then they are only likely to cause disturbance, be relatively short-lived and vary between species. Many species are pretty robust to disturbance. There are also well developed methods to mitigate these effects."

Deepwater Wind to schedule construction around whale migration season

Ensuring protection of the North Atlantic right whale is a top concern, according to scientists and Deepwater Wind.

Rice noted it was a "highly endangered species hunted nearly to extinction" that was rebuilding for a time but is "slow moving and vulnerable to ship strikes or getting tangled in fishing gear."

Aileen Kenney, Deepwater Wind's senior vice president of development, acknowledged that noise from construction equipment and shipping potentially could disturb whales and other species, making them go into deeper waters or change their movement patterns. Kenney has no relation to the URI scientist.

When building the Block Island Wind Farm, Deepwater Wind complied with BOEM requirements to stop construction if workers spotted certain sea life within specific distances. The company also established agreements with groups such as the Conservation Law Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Counsel to limit impact on right whales.

"We're saying we're not going to do any pile-driving, not any survey activities ... from the November time frame to April or May," Kenney said. "It is a big logistical challenge for us, but it's an important commitment that minimizes impact to the species."

Kenney and several scientists noted that no right whale calves had been born so far in 2018, and NOAA says only about 450 right whales remain in the Atlantic.

NOAA is investigating three separate waves of abnormal fatality totals among three species of whales between 2016 and 2018, including the right whale, minke whale and humpback whale.

Since June 2017, NOAA has investigated 19 dead stranded right whales, 12 of them in Canada and seven in the U.S. In the past two years, 33 minke whales have been found stranded along East Coast beaches, including a dozen in Massachusetts. Since 2016, 76 humpbacks have met the same fate, 20 of them in New England.

The causes of the overall increase in deaths — deemed by NOAA as Unusual Mortality Events for each species — remain undetermined. But many necropsies show evidence of vessel strikes or entanglements in fishing gear, and NOAA said more study is needed.

"Contributing factors to the whale mortalities are still being investigated as part of this ongoing event," NOAA spokeswoman Katherine Brogan said Friday.

b.kail@theday.com

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20180715/scientists-offshore-wind-developer-look-to-minimize-marine-life-impacts

Swapping crops could help India save water, improve nutrition

Akshay Naik
16 July 2018 

A recently published study in the scientific journal Science Advances, suggests replacing rice and wheat with ‘less thirsty’ crops to dramatically reduce water demand in India and at the same time improve nutrition. 

It has been projected that India will need to feed approximately 394 million more people by 2050, which will be a significant challenge. Researchers from Columbia University in the US, say nutrient deficiencies across India are already widespread with 30% or more of the population being anemic. There are several regions that are frequently water stressed and with evidence that monsoons are delivering less rainfall than previous years, it does seems that India has a difficult problem on its hands. 

In the 1960s, a boom in rice and wheat production helped reduce hunger throughout the country. Researchers say this ‘Green Revolution’ as it’s known, affected the environment by increasing demands on the water supply, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution from fertilizers. “If we continue to go the route of rice and wheat, with unsustainable resource use and increasing climate variability, it is unclear how long we could keep that practice up,” said Kyle Davis from Columbia University and lead author on the study. He further added, “That is why we are thinking of ways to better align food security and environmental goals.”

The researchers studied six major grains currently grown in India: rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, and pearl and finger millet. For each of those crops, they compared yield, water use and nutritional values such as calories, protein, iron and zinc. The study found that rice is the least water efficient cereal when it comes to producing nutrients and that wheat has been the main driver in increasing irrigation stresses. The potential benefits of replacing rice with alternative crops varied widely between different regions, depending on how much the crops could rely on rainfall instead of irrigation. However, the researchers found that replacing rice with maize, finger miller, pearl millet or sorghum could reduce irrigation water demand by 33 percent, while improving production of iron by 27 percent and zinc by 13 percent. 

In some instances, those improvements came with a slight reduction in the number of calories produced, because rice has been bred to have higher yields per unit of land. In some regions there is a trade off between water and land use efficiency, but Davis thinks that with more attention from scientists, the alternative crops could develop higher yields as well. “For now, rice replacement is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but something that should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for each district,” he said.

Along with Davis, the team consists of Davide Danilo Chiarelli and Maria Cristina Rulli from Politecnico di Milano in Italy, Ashiwini Chhatre from the Indian School of Business, Brian Richter from Sustainable Waters, Deepti Singh from Columbia University and Washington State University and Ruth DeFries from Columbia University. They primarily want to study Indian food preferences, to see if people would be willing to incorporate more of these alternative cereals into their diets. 

“There are places around India where these crops continue to be consumed in pretty large amounts and there were even more a generation or two ago, so it’s still within the cultural memory,” says Davis. There has been gradual increase in support for alternative grains in India. Some states have already started pilot programs to grow more of these crops and the government is calling 2018 the ‘Year of Millets’. 

                                          “If the government is able to get people more interested in eating millets, the production will organically respond to that,” says Davis. “If you have more demand, then people will pay a better price for it and farmers will be more willing to plant it.”

https://www.moneylife.in/article/swapping-crops-could-help-india-save-water-improve-nutrition/54697.html

Bangladeshi pregnant women carry higher blood lead

Powdered turmeric, agrochemicals, lead-soldered cans possible sources

United News of Bangladesh | Published: 19:03, Jul 17,2018

      

Blood Lead Level Indicators

Presence of higher blood lead level has been found in Bangladeshi pregnant women, said a recent ICDDR,B study done in collaboration with Stanford University, USA. A third of pregnant women surveyed were found having elevated BLL greater than 5 micrograms per deciliter while 6 per cent of them had more than 10 micrograms per DL. One sample was found at 29.1 micrograms per DL, which is 6 times greater than threshold noted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.Findings published in Environmental Research analysed BLL among 430 pregnant women in Bangladesh, said ICDDR,B on Monday.

The study identified multiple possible sources of lead exposure from the environment and food sources, said Stephen P Luby, senior author of the study and professor of medicine at Stanford University.

‘Compared to women with low blood lead levels, women with the highest blood lead levels were more likely to be exposed to consuming food from lead-soldered metal food containers (cans), consuming food from agricultural fields where herbicide and pesticides have been used and consuming ground rice,’ said Sarker Masud Parvez, co-author of the study and research investigator at ICDDR,B.

Since women with higher BLL were more likely to have been exposed to possible lead sources in the environment, the researchers examined soil, 382 agrochemical samples including herbicides and pesticides and 127 ground and unground rice samples.

Of the food and agrochemical samples analysed, seven out of 17 turmeric powder samples had excess lead than the tolerable limit at 2.5 micrograms per gram, designated by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution. One unpackaged and unbranded sample contained over 265 microgram/gram lead.

According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, elevated BLL in pregnant women is a cause for public health concern. It is a threat for mothers and their developing fetus as well for the newborn as lead deposits in the mother's body are released in blood and subsequently into breast milk. Lead exposure in pregnancy interferes with children's brain development. In adults, lead exposure increases the risk of heart and brain diseases.

Since women with higher BLL were more likely to consume food from lead-soldered food cans, the researchers examined 28 cans which the women had used to store dry food such as puffed rice and turmeric.

‘It is possible that food stored in these cans absorbs lead from the soldered seams, depending on the chemical composition of the food, especially liquid,’ said Jenna E Forsyth, a doctoral researcher at Stanford University and first author of the study.

However, the women reported storing only solid food such as puffed rice. Since these cans are old and rusty, it is possible that old and rusted oxidised particles flake off into puffed rice and then inadvertently consumed, read the study.

Since there was insignificant lead level in the soil, rice and agrochemical samples analysed, the study notes that currently banned agrochemicals (herbicide and pesticide) may have contributed to lead exposure in the past.

‘Lead exposure over time results in lead deposit in the bones and it may be released in the blood during pregnancy,’ mentioned Rubhana Raqib, co-author of the study and senior scientist and head of immunobiology, nutrition and toxicology laboratory at ICDDR,B.

Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that exposure to lead for these women could have taken place over a decade prior to sample collection, the study noted. Some of the banned agrochemicals are often rebranded with other names and may be a source of occasional contamination which is yet to be proven.

However, the tangible evidence of lead in some turmeric samples issues a warrant to investigate this further to ascertain possible sources of lead contamination.

The study was supported by Stanford University's Woods Institute, USAID, Stanford's Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Stanford's Center for South Asia, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

http://www.newagebd.net/article/46257/bangladeshi-pregnant-women-carry-higher-blood-lead

This variety of Basmati helps India earn whopping Rs 18,000 cr per year from export

India has earned more than Rs 18,000 crore foreign exchange per year from export of basmati rice, especially from the variety 1121 developed by the country's top agri-institute ICAR, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today.

By: PTI | New Delhi | Published: July 16, 2018 6:29 PM

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed many new varieties and technologies which have helped transform the food importing nation to an food exporting country, he said. (PTI)

India has earned more than Rs 18,000 crore foreign exchange per year from export of basmati rice, especially from the variety 1121 developed by the country’s top agri-institute ICAR, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed many new varieties and technologies which have helped transform the food importing nation to an food exporting country, he said. The institute is playing an important role in fulfilling the government’s vision of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, he added.

“Instead of boasting about the past achievements, the ICAR should focus on addressing the present and future challenges,” the minister said while addressing the 90th foundation day ceremony of the ICAR. Much of the ICAR research so far was on raising farm output to reduce the country’s dependence on imports but going forward the institute should concentrate on raising crop yields, increasing nutrition level, developing climate resilient crop varieties besides attracting youth in farm sector, he said.

The efforts should be towards improving the farming and farmers’ income, he said. Highlighting measures taken to boost farmers’ income, the minister said the government had recently raised MSP of kharif crops that is 50 per cent higher than the cost of production. Echoing the views, Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, “We have become self-sufficient in most crops except one oilseeds/edibles oils.

One big challenge before us is reducing import of edible oils.” Over Rs 70,000 crore worth of edible oil is imported every year. “It is not the time to sit quiet. We need to move ahead and address this challenge,” he said. ICAR Director General Trilochan Mohapatra said the institute has released 189 varieties in last six month.

Processable varieties in tomato (H391) and onion (HR6) have been released, which will help boost farmers income. He said that innovation and support of agri-scientists are required for achieving the government’s vision of doubling farmers’ income.

https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/this-variety-of-basmati-helps-india-earn-whopping-rs-18000-cr-per-year-from-export/1246801/

Foul air threat to basmati

High particulate matter can lower yields

G.S. Mudur Jul 16, 2018 00:00 IST

Jawaharlal Nehru University. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi: Tiny particulate matter in the atmosphere, long recognised as a health hazard, may also threaten the productivity of basmati rice in India, scientists have warned.
Scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, have documented what they say is the first experimental evidence of the effects of atmospheric PM on two basmati varieties, PB-1509 and PB-S.Their study has revealed that the yields dropped by 8.5 per cent for PB-1509 and 7.5 per cent for PB-S under elevated PM levels in the air.
"We looked at the direct effects -- what happens when tiny particulate matter deposits on growing rice crops," Usha Mina, a teacher at the School of Environmental Sciences at JNU and a study team member, told The Telegraph.
"When elevated concentrations of particulate matter coincide with the growth period of rice crops, direct deposition of pollutants can alter the normal plant physiology."
The study has found that under elevated PM levels, the chlorophyll content falls by about 20 per cent in both the PB-1509 and PB-S plants. Chlorophyll is a green pigment that helps plants generate energy from sunlight.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/foul-air-threat-to-basmati-245222

What is SRI Rice?

 July 17, 2018

Miguel Braganza  

For the last three years, the students of Don Bosco College of Agriculture (DBCA), Sulcorna, have learnt how sample soil and analyze its nutrient as well as microbial health status; insect pests and their organic management practices; fungal and bacterial diseases and their management.

They have hands-on experience in raising rice seedlings by Dapog nursery, green leaf manuring (GLM) with fresh Glyricidia leaves and line transplanting for the Madagascar method or SRI.

The first batch of students now divided into groups of five to seven members share their learning with the farmers in the villages of Neturlim, Pirla, Rivona, Malcornem and Zambaulim in Sanguem and Quepem talukas. This is their Rural Agriculture Work Experience (RAWE) program, which includes three months stay in the designated village. The focus of the farmers this season is rice.

The System of Rice Intensification or SRI Method was developed in 1980s from traditional systems in Madagascar, off the coast of South Africa, by the French priest, Fr Henri de Laulanie. This was later fine-tuned by Norman Uphoff at Cornell International Institute for Food & Agriculture, USA. It is an improvement over the Japanese method of transplanting followed in India since the ‘Green Revolution’ in the mid-1960s.

Long before scientists confirmed that the root system of rice is more efficient when the soil is not flooded, the farmers in Madagascar had noticed that rice grew and yielded better when the soil was alternately flooded and allowed to dry up to hair-line cracking of the soil surface. This SRI method gives better yields and needs less seed.

The students have assisted the farmers to prepare Dapog nurseries that ensure that the root system of the seedlings is not damaged as it sometimes happens during uprooting from the soil. In Dapog, it is also easier to inoculate the seedlings with Trichoderma viride to prevent soil-borne diseases and Beauvaria bassiana to control insect pests. It will also be possible to inoculate the seedlings with Bacillus subtilis that shows promise for increasing rice yields in khazan lands.

These micro-organisms have been tested, found to work well and are available in Goa but the farmers did not know till the students began working with them. The students are interacting with the Zonal Agriculture Offices to help the farmers better.

Very few people in Goa realise that the degree course in agriculture also includes animal sciences. Thus students know how to determine the weight of a cow or buffalo and the names of the body parts; how to grow fodder crops, make silage and also grow azolla as a protein supplement for cattle feed.

The first batch has not actually milked cows as the current batches are doing: by hand and by using the milking machine. However, the student groups helped the veterinary assistants to conduct the foot & mouth disease (FMD) vaccination campaign in the designated villages as well as at animal shelters. They are enjoying the experience and the farmers are happy to host them.

http://www.navhindtimes.in/what-is-sri-rice/

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UK, Spain, Germany and Thailand join up to adopt a climate-smart rice cultivation system, reducing climate change impacts and raising Thai farmer's income

Mars Food, Herba Bangkok S.L (Ebro Foods S.A), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Thai Rice Department recently launched an innovative joint project to improve the economic viability of 1,200 Thai rice farmers and develop high-quality and sustainable Hom Mali rice with a climate-smart system to mitigate climate change in Roi Et province.

The “Sustainable Hom Mali Rice” project will be implemented for 2.5 years (2018-2020). The main implementing partners are Mars Food, Herba Bangkok S.L (Ebro Foods S.A), GIZ and the Thai Rice Department. The project aims to support 1,200 Thai rice growers from each of the 12 community rice centres in Roi Et province in the production of 3,500 metric tons of Hom Mali rice. 

Ms. Sineenart Chuichulcherm, Global Commercial Director of Mars Food said: “This initiative is part of Mars Food’s journey to source rice from farmers working towards the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard. In 2016, Mars Food reached an important milestone and now all basmati rice is sourced from farmers working towards the SRP standard - representing 10 percent of our overall rice volume. From now on, Mars Food will be working with Herba Bangkok S.L (Ebro Foods S.A), the Thai Rice Department and GIZ to further the standards outlined by the SRP on Hom Mali  rice. We guarantee that we can achieve a more sustainable Hom Mali rice crop in Thailand that benefits all stakeholders – farmers, rice producers, and the environment.”

Dr. Matthias Bickel, GIZ Thailand’s Director of Agriculture and Food Cluster said: “In collaboration with the Thai Rice Department, Mars Food, Herba Bangkok S.L (Ebro Foods S.A)  and Hom Mali rice farmers in Thailand, the project will implement numerous interventions such as educating farmers on SRP standards and agronomic technologies, giving access to high-quality seeds, enhancing the skills of farmer groups, improving gender equity, adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-enabled traceability for food safety and quality considerations, and stimulating domestic and international off-takers to procure sustainable rice. The partnership also aims to provide access to finance mechanisms and improve the financial literacy of agriculture cooperatives, with a focus on gender inclusion to unlock opportunities for women.”

Mr. Ignacio Yuste Sanchez, Herba Bangkok’s (Ebro Foods) Regional Managing Director said: “For Ebro Foods, this project forms part of our commitment to sustainability in the sector, since Thailand plays a major role in the Group’s rice supply chain. We firmly believe that the best way to achieve sustainability in the sector is through alliances, and we have such strong partners with Mars Food, GIZ, Thai Rice Department, millers and farmers all banding together. Currently a lot of discussions are going on about the sustainability of the rice sectors with focus on the livelihood of farmers, chemical usage, inclusiveness, food security and the overall condition and wellbeing of farmers. These issues are not exclusive to smallholders but focusing on them can drive industry change.”

Mr.Anan Suwannarat, General Director of the Thai Rice Department said: “Hom Mali rice has been declared the world's best rice and Thailand is one of the world's leading rice exporters, yet rice farmers are among the lowest earners in the country's agriculture sector. Many Thai rice farmers face rising production costs and fluctuating prices. Under this project, we will join forces in developing a sustainable quality of rice. The Rice Department is responsible for planning and implementation of the national rice policy and strategy through research and development of rice seed, farming practices, post-harvest and processing, and rice standards.

By so doing, we ensure that our implementation can help farmers produce good quality rice and reduce the cost of production while increasing rice yield as well as quality rice according to global requirement.  It is expected that the project will help the farmers to earn additional income in each community.”

About Mars Food
Mars Food is a fast-growing dinnertime food business, making tastier, healthier, easier meals that bring the world to the dinner table. A segment of Mars, Incorporated, Mars Food is headquartered in London with approximately 2,000 Associates and 11 manufacturing sites globally. Mars Food’s 13 brands are available in more than 30 countries, and include some of the world's best-known names in food, including UNCLE BEN'S®, DOLMIO®, SEEDS OF CHANGE®, MASTERFOODS®, TASTY BITE ®, MIRACOLI®, SUZI WAN®, EBLY®, ROYCO®, KAN TONG®, ABU SIOUF®, PAMESELLO®, AND RARIS®. Its mission of Better Food Today.  A Better World Tomorrow. – drives the business to become a leader in health & wellbeing and sustainability.

About Ebro Foods/ Herba Bangkok
Ebro Foods (www.ebrofoods.es) is the leading Group in the Spanish Food sector in terms of turnover, profit, market capitalisation and internacional presence. Ebro is world leader in the rice sector and second group in the international pasta sector (fresh and dry), with more than 80 leading brands worldwide and 27 subsidiaries across the globe. One the subsidiaries has been established in Thailand, Herba Bangkok, and will be representing the Group in the project. The Ebro Group upholds and is guided by the values of: leadership, transparency, service vocation, honesty, integrity, respect and commitment to their stakeholders and the environment. With focus on establishing a sustainable supply chain, while improving the conditions and livelihoods of farmers.

About GIZ 
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is owned by the German government to provide services in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. GIZ works on behalf of other public and private sector clients both in Germany and overseas. These include the governments of other countries, European Union Institutions, the United Nations, World Bank and other donor organisations. The registered offices of GIZ are in Bonn and Eschborn. In 2016 our business volume was around EUR 2.4 billion. Of our 19,506 employees in some 120 countries, almost 70 per cent are national personnel working in the field. For more information, please visit www.giz.de

About Thai Rice Department
The Rice Department is the organisation under the Ministry of Agricultural and Cooperatives in Thailand. The Rice Department is responsible for planning and implementation of the national rice policy and strategy through research and development of rice seed, farming practices, post-harvest and processing, and rice standards. We enhance rice productivity and provide excellent services for farmers. Our main tasks also cover production technologies tranfer for improving productivity, rice seed production and distribution, inspection and certification, and development of value added strategy. 28 Rice Research Centers and 23 Rice Seed Centers are located in 33 provinces in Thailand. For more information, please visit www.ricethailand.go.th

For more information, please contact
Mr. Atthawit Watcharapongchai
Project Manager
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Contact number: +66 (02) 89 401 6464

Email: atthawit.watcharapongchai@giz.de

http://www.ebrofoods.es/en/news/news-detail/?cHash=9f67d4bb54&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=2006

PHL rice production seen reaching 12.9 MMT in 2018

By  Jasper Y. Arcalas

 July 17, 2018

In Photo: Photo shows farmers harvesting rice in La Union.

The country’s rice output this year could rise by 1.6 percent to a record high of nearly 13 million metric tons (MMT) on the back of favorable weather conditions and high farm-gate prices, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

In its biannual food outlook report, the FAO projected that total Philippine milled-rice production in 2018 would reach 12.9 MMT, 200,000 MT more than the 12.7 MMT recorded output in 2017.

“Asia is expected to drive the global production expansion of 2018, harvesting a record 461.9 million tons, up 1.2 percent from 2017,” the FAO said in the report published recently.

“Current prospects also point to Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand producing more in 2018, but the outlook is less buoyant elsewhere in Asia,” it added.

Despite the record-high harvest, Manila’s rice imports this year would expand by half to 1.5 MMT, from 1 MMT a year ago, as the government seeks to beef up the National Food Authority’s (NFA) depleting stockpile and keep retail prices of the staple within affordable level.  “Asian import demand looks set to remain strong in 2018, amid efforts by countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines to shore up reserves and contain increases in local prices,” the FAO said.

The hike in the country’s rice imports, along with additional volumes purchased by Bangladesh and Indonesia abroad, would sustain the upward trend of the staple’s global prices amid currency depreciation in various exporting countries.

“The upward trajectory exhibited by international rice prices since late-2016 held during the first half of 2018, as reflected by the FAO All Rice Price Index [2002–2004=100] rising by another 6 percent since December, to reach 232 points in June 2018. At this level, the index stood at its highest since November 2014, and 11 percent above its value a year earlier,” the FAO said.

“The gains have been demand-driven, coming in the aftermath of large purchases by Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines, although in the case of Vietnam, increases tended to be accentuated by tighter availabilities following a shift away from cultivation of lower-grade Indica varieties in the country,” the FAO added.

The FAO projected that the Philippines’s total year-end rice inventory this year would settle at 2.4 MMT, 100,000 MT higher than the 2.3 MMT recorded stocks last year.

The country’s total rice consumption for 2017 and 2018 is forecasted to increase by 2.22 percent to 13.8 MMT, from 13.5 MMT recorded demand in 2016 and 2017, according to the FAO. This indicates that a Filipino would eat 115.2 kilograms of rice in 2017 and 2018, which is 700 grams more than the 114.5 per kilogram per-capita consumption in 2016 and 2017.

In April Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the country’s unmilled rice or palay production could rise by nearly 3.11 percent to a record high of nearly 20 MMT on the back of higher yield and better farm-gate prices.

“This year rice production is expected to grow by about 600,000 metric tons, stimulated mainly by good palay-buying prices, favorable climate and the increase in the adoption of good quality and hybrid seeds by farmers,” Piñol said.

Rice output last year grew by 9.3 percent to 19.28 MMT, from 17.63 MMT recorded in 2016, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The 9.3-percent increase in palay output last year allowed the country to reach a 96-percent self-sufficiency in rice, according to the DA.

“Last year the country posted its highest rice harvest in history at 19.28 million metric tons, which reduced the country’s dependence on imported rice from over 2 million metric tons in 2010 to only about 600,000 to 800,000 metric tons this year,” Piñol said.

Image Credits: Laila Austria

https://businessmirror.com.ph/phl-rice-production-seen-reaching-12-9-mmt-in-2018/

Bulog Produces Rice in 200-gram Sachet for Millennials

WEDNESDAY, 18 JULY 2018 | 16:16

Rice in 200 gram sachets, Beras Kita. TEMPO/ Candrika Radita Putri

HOMEECONOMY & BUSINESS

TUESDAY, 17 JULY, 2018 | 17:22 WIB

TEMPO.CO, Ciamis - The National Logistic Agency or Bulog in Ciamis has been producing and distributing rice in 200-gram sachet in East Priangan that reached 1 ton or 5000 packs per day. 

“We produce [the rice] every day in Bulog Tasikmalaya's warehouse,” said Head of Ciamis Bulog, M Syaukani, on Tuesday, July 17. It uses premium rice and is purchased from East Priangan area that includes Garut, Tasikmalaya, Ciamis, Banjar, and Pangandaran. The rice is priced at Rp2,500 per sachet. “So the public can afford premium rice,” he said.Syaukani said the Bulog targetted the rice distribution for all; not only for the poor but also for students who stay in dorms, as well as, bachelors and millennials. 

The rice that can be consumed by three to four people per-sachet will be sold in shops, minimarkets, markets, and Our Food Houses (RPK) with the price Rp2,350 for the sellers' profit of Rp150 per sachets.

Bulog targets that the 200-gram rice will be sold to all over Indonesia in September. Syaukani is optimistic that the people would be enthusiastic. “It is affordable; only Rp2,500 for a premium quality rice, easy to carry everywhere and local. I am pretty sure that the rice in sachet will match the taste of the East Priangan people,” he said.

https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/07/17/056920041/Bulog-Produces-Rice-in-200-gram-Sachet-for-Millennials

Rice exports to China plummet in H1

By Trung Chanh

Tuesday,  Jul 17, 2018,16:50 (GMT+7)

Rice exports to China have slumped in volume. In a file photo, farmers are seen harvesting rice - PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH CAN THO – Rice exports to mainland China took a sharp plunge in volume in the first half of the year, particularly last month, following China’s stringent requirements on rice products. During the January-May period, rice exports to China reached 884,000 tons worth more than US$440 million, down by 21.1% in volume and 7.6% in value year-on-year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In June, however, China imported merely 48,000 tons of Vietnamese rice, a drop of 112,000 tons compared with the same period last year, falling behind even the lowest monthly shipment to this market in 2016, said Nguyen Dinh Bich, a rice market analyst. Despite the fall, China remained the largest rice importer of Vietnam, as the country's total rice export volume during the first six months of 2018 stood at an estimated 3.6 million tons worth US$1.8 billion. According to local rice exporters, the sudden fall in rice exports was attributed to tight control over rice products, as China made adjustments to its importing policies by end-2017. Particularly, only 22 Vietnamese rice exporters among 150 owning Vietnamese exporting licenses are allowed to ship rice to the neighboring country. In addition, at the start of this year, China blew the whistle on three Vietnamese rice exporters among the aforesaid 22, as the amount of weed seeds contained in their broken rice products exceeded the permissible limit. Simultaneously, China has also controlled the import volume of broken rice since the end of 2017, causing Vietnamese rice exporters to stop exporting this rice to the northern country, said Luu Thi Lan, deputy director of Gentraco JSC. She also attributed the tumbling rice export volume to the strengthening US dollar as well. Besides, from July 1, 2018, China imposed new import tariffs of 50% on sticky rice, which is 45 percentage points higher than previous tariffs. Vietnam had annually exported over one million of tons of sticky rice to China in 2016 and 2017. Earlier, plenty of local exporters had reportedly supplied a large quantity of broken rice to Chinese cake-making and wine-processing plants, Lan noted, adding that Vietnam had exported some 700,000 tons of broken rice to China last year, which is why the strict control had negatively affected the rice export revenue in the first half of this year.

http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/61313/rice-exports-to-china-plummet-in-h1.html

Cloudy outlook: Rice-growing states face big rain deficit

The paddy acreage in Bihar is not even half of what it was during this period last year. Chhattisgarh has almost same level as was in 2017 while farmers in Odisha have planted paddy in 33% less area from last year.

By: FE Bureau | New Delhi | Updated: July 17, 2018 6:36 AM

India’s rice output touched a record 111.52 million tonnes (mt) in the last (July-June 2017-18)

Six states that together contribute nearly half of India’s rice production have received monsoon rains considerably less than normal till Monday in the current kharif crop season, threatening to dent the country’s production of the cereal and its lucrative exports.

India’s rice output touched a record 111.52 million tonnes (mt) in the last (July-June 2017-18) crop year while the country exported 12.7 mt of rice worth Rs 49,838 crore in financial year 2017-18. The kharif crop accounts for over 86% of rice produced in the country.

However, analysts feel that since the rains have picked up over the last couple of days in parts of most of these states, the situation could still be salvaged.

The rainfall deficit in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand has been above 40% while West Bengal has received monsoon showers 27% less than normal in June 1-July16 period, according to the India Meteorological Department. Odisha and Chhattisgarh have reported deficits of 7% and 2%, respectively (see chart). According to agriculture ministry data, sowing of paddy crop was down 8% at 11.7 million hectares as of July 13 from 12.7 million hectares in the year-ago period.

The share of the rice crop is very crucial in the overall foodgrains output.
Any drop in rice output is difficult to be offset as raising the production of other foodgrain crops — wheat, pulses and coarse cereals — is not easy, experts feel.

While western Uttar Pradesh, which is largely irrigated (monsoon deficit of 42%), may not see any big impact for paddy crop, farmers in the eastern region of the state will have problems as the region is largely rain-dependent and the rain deficit now is 43%.

The paddy acreage in Bihar is not even half of what it was during this period last year. Chhattisgarh has almost same level as was in 2017 while farmers in Odisha have planted paddy in 33% less area from last year.

West Bengal, where kharif rice is usually grown in about 4.2 million hectares, the acreage has reached only 263,000 hectare as of last week compared with around 500,000 hectares in a good year.

“The rains have recovered and this will help in transplanting of the rice crop, which has to start from this week,” said Sanjoy Saha, principal scientist at ICAR’s National Rice Research Institute. He said there would not be any problem for rice production if the rains continue for a few days from now. “The plants have come out well in the nursery seed-bed even as there was monsoon rain deficit in first 45 days of the season,” he added. Transplanting can continue up to end of August depending on the rains.

Meanwhile, most parts of southern, western and coastal Odisha saw incessant rains on Monday that reduced the monsoon deficit to 7% from 16% a day earlier. Many parts of Chhattisgarh, too have received rains and the weather bureau has predicted rain or thundershowers to occur at many places over the state on Tuesday.

Prabhudatta Mishra

https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/cloudy-outlook-rice-growing-states-face-big-rain-deficit/1247372/

Rice growers suffer major setback due to water scarcity

Jamal Dawoodpoto

JULY 17, 2018

LARKANA: Sever water scarcity had delaying the sowing of the country’s main cash crops, including rice, and has propelled the Irrigation department officials in a bid to change the course of drains in Rice Canal to ensure water supply for the rice growers of upper Sindh.

Reportedly, this Kharif period, the water scenario has produced alarming differences as confirmed by the irrigation officers that 6,200 cusecs of water flow has been recorded as compared to 17,000 cusecs of usual flow in the Rice Canal.

The poor rice growers were awaiting water supply in many water channels while most of them have not even sown paddy saplings.

According to the Water Apportionment Accord of 1991, water was to be supplied in the Rice Canal by the end of May or during the first week of June, in case of water scarcity.

However, this year, the supply has been delayed indefinitely while there is insufficient amount of water being discharged in the Rice Canal.

The rice growers revealed that from the total of 10,800 cusecs of water that was being discharged into Rice Canal from Sukkur Barrage, 4,600 cusecs was channeled to Warah Branch, an irrigation canal, via Ruk complex.

While expressing grief, they said that they would be ruined if sufficient amount of water was not provided to the rice crops and there would be significant decline in paddy cultivation.

“Only 10 percent paddy saplings have been sown while the total area allocated for rice cultivation is nine lakh acres,” they added.

“Water is discharged into Rice Canal in the month of May, and it remains empty after October 22 annually,” they said.

Meanwhile, the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture president Siraj-ul-Oliya Rashdi asserted on Monday that the agriculture minister Khair Muhammad Junejo has been informed regarding the critical water crisis in the region during a meeting held in Tando Jam.

“If paddy cultivation is affected, it would create many issues including relating to law and order situation, mass migration of people from rural region to urban cities and a major economic setback,” he said while criticising the former government for not addressing the issue effectively.

“We don’t need dams, instead we need an adequate water management strategy with justifiable distribution of water among the provinces and with accordance to international standards,” he maintained.

He said that he sent an application to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, apprising him about the water scarcity in Sindh during his recent visit to Larkana.

https://dailytimes.com.pk/268907/rice-growers-suffer-major-setback-due-to-water-scarcity/

FAO Predicts Fall in Rice, Other Food Production

Havana, Jul 17 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted a drop in the production of rice, soy, coarse grains and sugar in Latin America in the 2018-2019 period.

According to the report Food Perspectives, transmitted by the organization's office in Havana, Brazil will replace the United States as the world's third largest supplier of soybean oil and will continue to be the main global supplier of poultry and flour.

Regarding the projections in the production of milk and beef, FAO estimates an increase in the results in these areas.

According to the text, the expansion of wheat planting in Argentina allows estimating an increase of eight percent of production in that country of South America.However, Mexico, one of the main Latin American producers of this cereal, recorded a decline in the level of plantations, which is expected to significantly reduce its production.

According to the FAO, wheat imports in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018-2019 will approach 25 million tons, for an increase of close to one million tons, mainly due to the major acquisitions in Brazil and Mexico, the main ones buyers of that food in the area.

Regarding rice, prospects in the area are negative, and point to an annual reduction of 1.5 percent in total production, which will fall to 18.6 million tons.Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela will harvest less rice than in 2017, falls that will not be compensated by the increases foreseen in Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Paraguay and Peru.Total purchases of Latin America and the Caribbean cereal could decrease by five percent to 4.2 million tons, as a result of cuts in Brazil, Haiti, Mexico and Peru, due to sufficient local availability and higher international prices.With respect to sugar, in South America the latest estimates point to a decrease in production in 2017/18, in generally unfavorable climatic conditions (Argentina) and a greater proportion of the sugarcane crop used for ethanol production (Brazil).

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=31109&SEO=fao-predicts-fall-in-rice-other-food-production

Worrying surge in rice prices: Inquirer

The prices of different varieties of rice are seen at a market in Las Pinas, Metro Manila, on July 5, 2018.PHOTO: REUTERS

JUL 16, 2018, 7:14 PM SGT

In its editorial, the paper calls for a change in the government's rice import policies.

MANILA (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Duterte administration has found itself receiving sustained flak for its seemingly shortsighted policies that have led to the higher prices of goods and services every Filipino household must contend with today.

Indeed, while a substantial portion of the cost increases is caused by a factor beyond their control - international crude oil prices - the administration's policymakers have basically amplified its effects with a broad tax hike package and the failure to temper inflationary effects with an early tightening of monetary policy.

But there are other systemic issues that are contributing as much, if not more, to the problematic situation.

A cursory glance at the inflation data will show that what's making it more difficult for Filipinos to make ends meet, especially those at the poorer end of society, is the sharp spike in food prices.

Rice, in particular, is a major driver of the country's inflation rate, which stands at a five-year high of 5.2 per cent as of June.

Official data show that prices of various rice varieties have risen anywhere between 5.5 and 7.1 per cent on an annual basis.

Measured from week to week, rice prices have been on an uptrend for at least 23 weeks now.

That's almost six months of uninterrupted price increases for an item that constitutes the staple food of Filipinos.

Yet this phenomenon is not unknown to policymakers.

Sudden rice shortages in the marketplace happen every few years. And, almost like clockwork, every presidential administration has had to deal with at least one rice "crisis" during its watch.

It is difficult to prove, but there is a lingering suspicion among some reform-minded people in government that these periodic rice shortages are artificial in nature, created by big rice traders who tighten supply lines during critical periods to push prices higher and make hundreds of millions of pesos in extra profit in the process.

The story is the same every time: Prices go up, Malacañang approves a large batch of rice imports to address the supposed shortage, and one can imagine rice traders (and possibly their cohorts in the government bureaucracy) laughing all the way to the bank.

There is a solution on the table that may not only remedy the current rice shortage, but also prevent whatever artificial schemes may be behind it.

The so-called rice tariffication proposal calls for decisions about the importation of rice to be taken away from the hands of government and left to the market forces of supply and demand.

While the Duterte administration regulates how much rice can be imported, ostensibly to help protect local rice farmers and promote self-sufficiency, this system, unfortunately, can be gamed by unscrupulous traders to their advantage.

To say that this, in fact, appears to be happening, given the anomalous market movements, is not a farfetched supposition.

But by eliminating government's control over the volume of rice imports and shifting it to a tariff that will be levied on all rice bought from abroad, the power will shift to Filipino consumers who will, as a group, be able to control its market price basically on the strength of how much they consume the staple.

Rice tariffication has been on the table for several years now, but no administration has been able to summon enough political will to go up against entrenched, powerful and wealthy interests in the local rice industry.

No administration as well has been able to look at Filipino farmers in the eye and tell them straight up that it's time to emerge from decades of being sheltered by the government's protectionist policies.

The Duterte administration prides itself on a chief executive with a penchant for doing things long thought to be impossible, especially vis-à-vis influential businessmen.

Perhaps the time is ripe to implement the one solution that will finally end shortages of rice stock, and thereby bring a measure of relief to Filipino homes made hungry by the continuing surge in rice prices.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer is a member of The Straits Times media partner Asia News Network, an alliance of 23 news media entities.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/worrying-surge-in-rice-prices-inquirer

Fighting inflation for the poor

Liberalization of rice imports seen bringing down high prices

By: Dennis M. Arroyo - @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:03 AM July 16, 2018

The NFA has started the distribution of NFA rice to outlets in Quezon City, enabling consumers to buy more affordable milled rice. — JAM STA. ROSA

Inflation has surged to its highest rate in five years, reaching 5.2 percent in June 2018. Compare that with the 2.9 percent in May 2017. Driving it were the higher prices seen in rice, corn, fish and personal transport. This is beyond the 2-4 percent target of the government.

The knee-jerk public reaction is to blame the new tax reform or TRAIN law, but there are other factors.

Global oil prices are on the rise after long being subdued. The peso is getting weaker, so the rising exchange rate makes imports more expensive. And there were episodes of tight supplies of food.

The people are feeling the pain of inflation.

Social Weather Stations (SWS) tracks government performance on many fields every quarter. In the March 2018 survey, the administration scored weakest in fighting inflation. While 45 percent of the people were satisfied with it, 39 percent were dissatisfied, for a net rating of +6 percentage points. This is the lowest in almost two years.

The Pulse Asia March 2018 survey finds that 98 percent of the people report inflation. Of this number, 86 percent say they are strongly affected by the price increases, 92 percent say that food prices have risen, along with 81 percent noting price hikes in rice, and ratios of 56 percent for soft drinks, 30 percent for electricity, 16 percent for gasoline or diesel, 12 percent for LPG and 7 percent for transport fares.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) declared that inflation for the poorest 30 percent of the people rose by 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018. This is the highest level in four years, and the rate is pushed up by the price hikes in rice and food in general. Hence, food inflation, particularly rice inflation, needs special attention as it hits the poor the most.

Rice prices on the upswing

Average prices for regular milled began to increase by 2.6 percent in the first week of January, compared to a year before. Rice price inflation rose further to 7.8 percent in the second week of April. So why did rice prices surge?

The National Food Authority (NFA) keeps a buffer stock of cheap rice good for 15 days during the harvest season and 30 days during July to September, or the lean months. This is meant as “insurance” for emergencies. Now, the country suffered two big calamities in 2017: the eruption of Mayon volcano and the Marawi siege.  The government deployed NFA rice for these disasters. However, the NFA did not restock the rice immediately.

The government admitted in February 2018 that its NFA rice stock was lacking. Then by April the rice stock was down to less than a day’s worth. So the poor shifted from buying cheap NFA rice to commercial rice. The increase in demand thus raised the price of commercial rice. Government thus approved in May a big import order of rice for the NFA.

This was somewhat similar to the rice crisis in 1995. The NFA recommended importing 700,000 metric tons (MT) of rice, but the Department of Agriculture agreed only to 263,000 MT. The resulting shortage doubled the price of rice.

Rice from Vietnam and Thailand

Rice is usually imported from Vietnam and Thailand, as it is much cheaper, at only around half the price of Philippine rice. This is because those two nations produce rice more abundantly: They are blessed with huge river systems, the Chao Phraya in Thailand, and the Mekong in Vietnam.

Importing huge amounts of rice is a tricky business because of all the uncertainty. In years like 2018, the government underimported, but in 2010, it overimported. For decades, the NFA has held the monopoly over rice imports. That is where the problem lies —any economics student knows that monopolies are harmful.

The government is now correcting this.

In late April, Malacañang removed import quota restrictions, allowing the private sector to buy more rice from abroad. But the country’s economic managers want to push this further. They call on Congress to pass the Rice Tarrification Act immediately.

This act will liberalize rice imports, and it works like this. Private traders can import rice but must pay a 35 percent tariff or tax on imports. This will result in rice that is P7 cheaper per kilo than current levels.

Many will benefit from this. The poor and consumers in general will buy cheaper rice. Government will get revenue from the tariffs. Traders will have a new source of profit. The NFA will save much money it uses for its imports. The country will have food security, as imports will not go through the slow process of public bidding and the layers of approval along the bureaucracy.

To fight the present wave of inflation and to relieve price pressures on the poor, Congress must target the core food item. Liberalize rice imports.—CONTRIBUTED

http://business.inquirer.net/254043/fighting-inflation-poor

Rice prices down as supply rises during harvest season

Rice vendor, Fredy Gabiel waits for customers at Kisutu market in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO|SAHLIM SHAO 

In Summary

·       A survey by The Citizen in various city markets has established that the wholesale price of a 100-kilo bag of rice dropped from between Sh160,000 and Sh220,000 early April this year to between Sh120,000 and Sh180,000 last week, depending on quality.

Advertisement

By Halili Letea @hletea news@tz.nationmedia.com

Dar es Salaam. Rice prices have fallen as supply has increased.
A survey by The Citizen in various city markets has established that the wholesale price of a 100-kilo bag of rice dropped from between Sh160,000 and Sh220,000 early April this year to between Sh120,000 and Sh180,000 last week, depending on quality.
Retail prices also eased from an average of Sh2,400 a kilo to between Sh1,600 and Sh2,000 during the period under review. Many regions that grow rice are harvesting the crop and that is why supply has risen.Temeke Grains Agency director Peter Kato says the volume of rice he receives has improved.
“I receive up to 300 bags a day from, up from 150 bags in the past months, thanks to improvement in harvest in many regions,” said Mr Kato, who manages more than 41 stores (wholesale and retail) in Temeke Double Cabin.
Tandika market chairman Mohamed Mwekya expects the prices to further drop in the coming months as some regions are still harvesting crop and therefore supply will increase.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, rice is the second most produced cereal crop in Tanzania, with over 1.68 million growers, 1.59 million of them being on the Mainland Tanzania and 79,736 in Zanzibar.
Tabora has the largest planted area in Mainland Tanzania, with paddy grown on 248,703 hectares followed by Morogoro with 221,864 hectares. Shinyanga and Arusha follow.Pemba South leads in Zanzibar with 8,196 hectares planted area with paddy followed by Pemba North with 5,983 hectares and Urban West with 971 hectares.
Morogoro produced 24.5 per cent of the rice in Tanzania in 2016/17 followed by Mbeya which accounted for 18.2 per cent of the total output. White rice is about 90 per cent carbohydrate, 8 per cent protein and 2 per cent fat, according to a book titled ‘Contemporary Nutrition: Functional Approach’.
White rice is a good source of magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, selenium, iron, folic acid, thiamine and niacin.

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/Business/-Rice-prices-down-as-supply-rises-during-harvest-season/1840414-4667592-dqwr59/index.html

Irrigation water shortage hits rice crop in Sindh

 LARKANA: Acute irrigation water shortage has forced the irrigation department officials for the first time to manage the flow of water in Rice Canal, solely built to facilitate the rice growers of upper Sindh, as they have started giving water to other regulators, watercourses and drains turn by turn. The water shortage is calculated to be up to 60% due to which rice crop sowing has been delayed in rural Sindh causing hardships for the poor farmers. Many drains are still awaiting water due to which the growers are facing serious troubles as most of them have not even sown the paddy saplings.

 According to Water Accord of 1991, water is to be left in Rice Canal by the end of May or during the first week of June every year even if there is shortage of water but this year it was delayed for unknown reasons, and inappropriate water was discharged into Rice Canal. The irrigation officials confirm that Sindh is facing 40% shortage but actually, as the growers claim, it is over 60%. They said that 6200 cusecs water is flowing in Rice Canal instead of 17000 cusecs currently.

They further alleged that 10800 cusecs are being discharged into Rice Canal from Sukkur Barrage out of which 4600 cusecs are given to Warah Branch from Ruk Complex. The growers further told this Scribe that they will be economically ruined if proper water is not provided to them and the rice cultivation will suffer the most. They said 10% paddy saplings have so far been sown out of nine lakh acres which means the crop will be very much delayed. They said that water is discharged into Rice Canal in May and it remains empty after 22nd October annually. Sindh Chamber of Agriculture President Siraj-ul-Oliya Rashdi told this Scribe on Monday evening that we have informed about the water situation to the agriculture minister Khair Muhammad Junejo today in a meeting at Tando Jam who assured that shortage will soon be overcome as Sindh is facing shortage from upstream.

 He said if paddy cultivation is harmed it will create lot of problems including law & order, shifting of people from rural to urban areas and other economic hazards for which ‘only government will be responsible’.  Rashdi added he also submitted an application to the CJP apprising him about water shortage in Sindh during his recent visit to Larkana ‘reply of which is still awaited’.

 https://dailytimes.com.pk/268642/irrigation-water-shortage-hits-rice-crop-in-sindh/

Vietnam wins contract to export rice to South Korea

| UkrAgroConsult

 Farmers in the southern province of Kiên Giang load rice bags onto boats for export. Photo from VNA/VNS via Viet Nam News/Asia News Network A Vietnamese company has won a bid to export 60,000 tons of Japonica brown rice to South Korea, defeating competition from rivals of China, Thailand and Australia. According to members of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), Tan Long Group JSC is the only Vietnamese firm to win a contract in South Korea. In addition, Tan Long Group has also won a bid to export 2,800 tons of long grain white rice at the same time. This was the first time a private Vietnamese firm beat international businesses from China, Thailand and Australia to win the contract providing rice to South Korea under the Government bidding process.

 According to local businesses in the rice production industry, Japonica rice exported to South Korea has had export prices at about US$700 per ton. This is also the highest price for Vietnamese rice exports. The deadline for delivery of 60,000 tons to South Korea’s port is September 15. So far this year, the Tan Long Group has won bids to export 110,000 tons of Japonica rice to the Government of South Korea, including 50,000 tons in May. They also said reducing the rice export business conditions of the Government has supported private enterprises to promote dynamism and competitive ability, to seek markets and to reduce dependence on the Vietnam Food Association and large businesses such as Vinafood. In 2017, Vietnam won two rounds of bids in South Korea and delivered a total of about 41,000 tons by the Tan Long Group, reported the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

South Korea is a fastidious market and has strict regulations on quality and delivery time. Japonica brown rice has been grown in Vietnam for about 10 years. The rice is high quality, but consumption has not been stable. According to Tan Long Group, it has set up a production chain of this product to always ensure supply of high quality rice. From 2017 until now, Tan Long Group has cooperated with agricultural cooperatives in the Mekong Delta provinces to buy Japonica rice and to participate in the South Korean Government’s bids to export this product to South Korea. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said Vietnam’s rice exports in the first six months of 2018 were estimated at 3.56 million tonnes, earning $1.81 billion, up 25 percent in volume and 42 per cent in value over the same period of 2017. China was still Vietnam’s largest rice export market, accounting for 30 percent of the total exports. Following was Indonesia with 19 percent of the total. During the first six months, Vietnam had seen significant changes in quality of export rice, according to the ministry.

http://www.blackseagrain.net/novosti/vietnam-wins-contract-to-export-rice-to-south-korea

INDIA EARNS RS 18K CR PER YEAR FROM EXPORT OF BASMATI RICE

India has earned more than Rs 18,000 crore foreign exchange per year from export of basmati rice, especially from the variety 1121 developed by the country’s top agri-institute ICAR, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Monday. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed many new varieties and technologies which have helped transform the food importing nation to an food exporting country, he said.

The institute is playing an important role in fulfilling the government’s vision of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, he added. “Instead of boasting about the past achievements, the ICAR should focus on addressing the present and future challenges,” the minister said while addressing the 90th foundation day ceremony of the ICAR. Much of the ICAR research so far was on raising farm output to reduce the country’s dependence on imports but going forward the institute should concentrate on raising crop yields, increasing nutrition level, developing climate resilient crop varieties besides attracting youth in farm sector, he said. The efforts should be towards improving the farming and farmers’ income, he said.

 Highlighting measures taken to boost farmers’ income, the minister said the government had recently raised MSP of kharif crops that is 50 per cent higher than the cost of production. Echoing the views, Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, “We have become self-sufficient in most crops except one oilseeds/edibles oils. One big challenge before us is reducing import of edible oils.” Over Rs  70,000 crore worth of edible oil is imported every year. “It is not the time to sit quiet. We need to move ahead and address this challenge,” he said. ICAR Director General Trilochan Mohapatra said the institute has released 189 varieties in last six month. Processable varieties in tomato (H391) and onion (HR6) have been released, which will help boost farmers income. He said that innovation and support of agri-scientists are required for achieving the government’s vision of doubling farmers’ income.

 https://www.dailypioneer.com/business/india-earns-rs-18k-cr-per-year-from-export-of-basmati-rice.html

PHL rice production seen reaching 12.9 MMT in 2018

The country’s rice output this year could rise by 1.6 percent to a record high of nearly 13 million metric tons (MMT) on the back of favorable weather conditions and high farm-gate prices, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In its biannual food outlook report, the FAO projected that total Philippine milled-rice production in 2018 would reach 12.9 MMT, 200,000 MT more than the 12.7 MMT recorded output in 2017. “Asia is expected to drive the global production expansion of 2018, harvesting a record 461.9 million tons, up 1.2 percent from 2017,” the FAO said in the report published recently.

 “Current prospects also point to Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand producing more in 2018, but the outlook is less buoyant elsewhere in Asia,” it added. Despite the record-high harvest, Manila’s rice imports this year would expand by half to 1.5 MMT, from 1 MMT a year ago, as the government seeks to beef up the National Food Authority’s (NFA) depleting stockpile and keep retail prices of the staple within affordable level. “Asian import demand looks set to remain strong in 2018, amid efforts by countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines to shore up reserves and contain increases in local prices,” the FAO said. The hike in the country’s rice imports, along with additional volumes purchased by Bangladesh and Indonesia abroad, would sustain the upward trend of the staple’s global prices amid currency depreciation in various exporting countries.

 “The upward trajectory exhibited by international rice prices since late-2016 held during the first half of 2018, as reflected by the FAO All Rice Price Index [2002–2004=100] rising by another 6 percent since December, to reach 232 points in June 2018. At this level, the index stood at its highest since November 2014, and 11 percent above its value a year earlier,” the FAO said. “The gains have been demand-driven, coming in the aftermath of large purchases by Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines, although in the case of Vietnam, increases tended to be accentuated by tighter availabilities following a shift away from cultivation of lower-grade Indica varieties in the country,” the FAO added. The FAO projected that the Philippines’s total year-end rice inventory this year would settle at 2.4 MMT, 100,000 MT higher than the 2.3 MMT recorded stocks last year.

 The country’s total rice consumption for 2017 and 2018 is forecasted to increase by 2.22 percent to 13.8 MMT, from 13.5 MMT recorded demand in 2016 and 2017, according to the FAO. This indicates that a Filipino would eat 115.2 kilograms of rice in 2017 and 2018, which is 700 grams more than the 114.5 per kilogram per-capita consumption in 2016 and 2017. In April Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the country’s unmilled rice or palay production could rise by nearly 3.11 percent to a record high of nearly 20 MMT on the back of higher yield and better farm-gate prices.

 “This year rice production is expected to grow by about 600,000 metric tons, stimulated mainly by good palay-buying prices, favorable climate and the increase in the adoption of good quality and hybrid seeds by farmers,” Piñol said. Rice output last year grew by 9.3 percent to 19.28 MMT, from 17.63 MMT recorded in 2016, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The 9.3-percent increase in palay output last year allowed the country to reach a 96-percent self-sufficiency in rice, according to the DA. “Last year the country posted its highest rice harvest in history at 19.28 million metric tons, which reduced the country’s dependence on imported rice from over 2 million metric tons in 2010 to only about 600,000 to 800,000 metric tons this year,” Piñol said.

 https://businessmirror.com.ph/phl-rice-production-seen-reaching-12-9-mmt-in-2018/

We can achieve a more sustainable rice crop’: Mars, Ebro join forces to advance sustainable rice sourcing

By Katy Askew

18-Jul-2018 - Last updated on 18-Jul-2018 at 08:49 GMT

AddThis Mars, Ebro working towards sustainable rice supply chains ©iStock/Karisssa

Two of the world’s largest rice buyers, Mars Foods and Ebro Foods, have launched what they described as an “innovative joint project” to develop sustainable climate-smart rice production in Thailand.

Spanish rice-to-pasta group Ebro is participating via its local subsidiary, Herba Bangkok. The multinational food makers are working alongside German sustainable development service provider Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Thai Rice department in an initiative that they believe will improve the economic viability of 1.200 Thai rice producers as well as helping to mitigate climate change in Roi Et province.
The Sustainable Hom Mali Rice Project will be implemented for two-and-a-half years, between 2018-2020. It aims to support 1,200 Thai rice growers from each of the 12 community rice centres in Roi Et province in the production of 3,500 metric tons of Hom Mali rice.

Expanding support of sustainable rice

Sineenart Chuichulcherm, global commercial director of Mars Food, said the project is part of Mars’ broader ambition to improve the sustainability of rice production. The company runs other schemes working with local farmers in areas such as Pakistan.
“This initiative is part of Mars Food’s journey to source rice from farmers working towards the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard. In 2016, Mars Food reached an important milestone and now all basmati rice is sourced from farmers working towards the SRP standard - representing 10% of our overall rice volume.​
“From now on, Mars Food will be working with Herba Bangkok, the Thai Rice Department and GIZ to further the standards outlined by the SRP on Hom Mali rice. We guarantee that we can achieve a more sustainable Hom Mali rice crop in Thailand that benefits all stakeholders – farmers, rice producers, and the environment.”​

Ebro Foods added that the collaboration also reflects its own commitment to sustainable development in its rice supply chain.
“For Ebro Foods, this project forms part of our commitment to sustainability in the sector, since Thailand plays a major role in the Group’s rice supply chain. We firmly believe that the best way to achieve sustainability in the sector is through alliances, and we have such strong partners with Mars Food, GIZ, Thai Rice Department, millers and farmers all banding together,”​ Ignacio Yuste Sanchez, Herba Bangkok’s Ebro Foods regional managing director explained.
The Ebro executive stressed the need for large corporations to engage with smallholder farmers to support change.
“Currently a lot of discussions are going on about the sustainability of the rice sectors with focus on the livelihood of farmers, chemical usage, inclusiveness, food security and the overall condition and wellbeing of farmers. These issues are not exclusive to smallholders but focusing on them can drive industry change.”​

Delivering ‘numerous interventions’

The collaboration will work with local farmers to assist in the adoption of sustainable standards for rice production.
Dr. Matthias Bickel, GIZ Thailand’s director of Agriculture and Food Cluster said that the Sustainable Hom Mali Rice Project will implement “numerous interventions”​ to help Thai farmers update their production techniques.
This includes: “Educating farmers on SRP standards and agronomic technologies, giving access to high-quality seeds, enhancing the skills of farmer groups, improving gender equity, adoption of information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled traceability for food safety and quality considerations, and stimulating domestic and international off-takers to procure sustainable rice.”​
As well as education and training the partnership will also provide access to finance mechanisms and improve the financial literacy of agriculture cooperatives. This will include a focus on gender inclusion to unlock opportunities for women, Dr. Bickel revealed.
Anan Suwannarat, general director of the Thai Rice Department, stressed the importance of addressing farmer incomes within this context. “Rice farmers are among the lowest earners in the country's agriculture sector. Many Thai rice farmers face rising production costs and fluctuating prices. Under this project, we will join forces in developing a sustainable quality of rice.”​
The Rice Department is responsible for the planning and implementation of Thailand’s national rice policy through research and development of rice seed, farming practices, post-harvest and processing and quality standards. Through this project, the body hopes to improve rice quality and yield while cutting production costs.
“It is expected that the project will help the farmers to earn additional income in each community.”​

https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2018/07/17/We-can-achieve-a-more-sustainable-rice-crop-Mars-Ebro-join-forces-to-advance-sustainable-rice-sourcing