Solon
pins hope on RCEF to hike rice production
THE
establishment of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund will help boost farm
productivity and will partly result in easing the farm credit crunch that has
ballooned to P367 billion, a pro-administration lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Camarines
Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said although the RCEF, that would be
established under the Rice Tariffication Bill, would allocate only 10 percent
of its P10 billion funding or P1 billion for credit to farmers and
cooperatives, it would help the agriculture sector gain access to lending
facilities so far denied it by the banking sector despite a law requiring banks
to allot a specific portion of their credit facilities to the agriculture
sector.
“That
is only P1 billion offered at preferential lending rates to farmers and
cooperatives. But alongside the other features of the RCEF, the agriculture
sector would finally get the assistance it needs to directly provide palay
farmers the facilities they need to boost their incomes and make them
competitive in the global market,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte
made the statement as President Rodrigo Duterte was expected to sign soon the
Rice Tariffication Bill scheduled to be ratified at the House this week.
The
bicameral conference committee report on the bill, which has been approved by
the House of Representatives, replaces the quantitative restrictions on rice
imports with tariffs and remove unnecessary government intervention in the rice
market, said Villafuerte, a co-author of the measure.
Villafuerte
said he believeb the bill would boost farm productivity and help rein in
inflation since the spike in food prices contributed largely to the runaway
inflation in the past few months.
Under
the measure, the RCEF will have a minimum annual allocation of P10 billion for
six years, and tariff revenues from rice imports in excess of P10 billion shall
be appropriated by the Congress for this sector, based on a list of programs in
the Rice Tariffication Law.
Under
the bill, the proposed fund will be allocated as follows: 50 percent for grants
to farmers’ associations, registered rice cooperatives, and local government
units in the form of rice equipment, to be implemented by the Philippine Center
for Post-Harvest Development and Mechanization; and 30 percent for the
development, propagation and promotion of inbred rice seeds to rice farmers and
organizations, to be implemented by the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
The
10 percent will be in the form of credit at preferential rates to rice farmers
and cooperatives to be managed by the Land Bank of the Philippines and the
Development Bank of the Philippines.
The
remaining 10 percent will be for extension services to teach rice farmers
modern methods of farming, seed production, and farm mechanization, to be
administered by PhilMech, PhilRice, the Agricultural Training Institute and the
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
http://manilastandard.net/news/national/281573/solon-pins-hope-on-rcef-to-hike-rice-production.html
Japanese rice
farmers now see overseas market as potential savior
- NOV 27, 2018
Rice farmers are seizing on their
chance to boost sales for their high-quality product amid a fall in domestic
demand and expected liberalization of trade rules.
Kazuya Terasawa, 66, plans to
export about 10 percent of this year’s output from his paddies in Niigata. The
city on the Sea of Japan sits in one of the nation’s major rice growing areas.
“More cheap foreign rice will
surely enter the domestic market, especially for use in restaurants and in
meals to go, blending with domestic rice,” Terasawa said.
The forecast is behind his
decision to shift toward more exports, the decision made more necessary with
the incoming 11-member Pacific trade pact taking effect in December and due to
the upcoming bilateral trade talks with the United States.
Terasawa’s rice is being exported
by Niigata Nosho, a group firm under farm equipment maker Kubota Corp.
Niigata Nosho shipped 1,896 tons
of rice mainly to Hong Kong, Singapore and Mongolia in 2017, accounting for 16
percent of Japan’s entire rice export volume.
Becoming a leading exporter,
Niigata Nosho started exporting rice in 2011 as a way to help farmers who use
its equipment.
Export volumes quickly expanded
from the first year’s 36 tons as the reputation of Japanese rice’s quality
spread overseas.
“We expect to export some 2,500
tons this year,” said Batsukh Oyun, a Niigata Nosho section chief in charge of
exports.
According to Oyun, a Mongolian
citizen who joined the company in 2013 after studying at Niigata University
Graduate School, Niigata Nosho exports unmilled rice to be freshly polished
into white rice at its destination.
Less fresh rice is often found in
rival Chinese exports as they are shipped days or months after being polished
in China.
“Japanese rice has become known
for being fresh and delicious,” Oyun said.
She expects the company to
receive orders from abroad for an annual total of 5,000 tons in the near
future.
Domestic demand for the
traditional staple has declined year after year, down to 7.4 million tons in
the year from July 2017 through last June, from 9.1 million tons 20 years
earlier, according to government data.
However, profits on exported rice
tend to be lower than when it is sold domestically, so Japanese rice farmers
are not always in favor of sending their crop overseas.
Exports of Japanese rice,
including sake and other processed products, stood at some 11,800 tons in 2017,
far less than the government’s target of 100,000 tons a year.
The government data show that
Japanese rice is two or three times higher in price than that grown in China and
the United States. Including export costs, Japanese rice increases in price in
foreign markets, becoming a luxury commodity for the wealthy.
To boost global consumption of
Japanese rice, overseas prices need to be kept in check so that it becomes
accessible to middle-class families.
Given the situation, Terasawa
grows varieties with high yields and cheaper unit prices for export.
Profits will potentially increase
if he cultivates more Koshihikari-type rice, a high-priced, big-name variety
from Niigata Prefecture.
But Terasawa will continue in his
quest to expand his exports, even if the effort does not always reap rewards.
“Japanese rice is expected to
have a tough road ahead. I’ll suffer more if I hold back from doing it now,” he
said.
Japanese rice policy reached a
turning point when the government this year ended its half-century strategy of
providing subsidies to farmers who reduce rice production to ensure price
stability, despite falling demand.
Rice farmers also face difficult
choices with the increased international competition that will come with the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, as people in Japan will have access to cheaper
imported products.
Rice, Seaweed, and Chips Ahoy: Creative Creations at ‘Asian
Chopped’
By
There are plenty of places to get sushi on
campus, but few if any feature the originality on display at the first annual
Asian Chopped culinary competition, an event hosted by Cornell
Asian Pacific Student Union’s First Year Initiative.
FYI co-directors Jennifer Yu ’21, Jeannie
Yamazaki ’21 and Grace Shau ’20 judged the cooking contest mostly on appearance
and creativity, refraining from taste testing some of the more creative flavor
combinations.
“It’s 50 percent presentation, 50 percent
creativity, zero percent taste,” Shau said. The table shared by all of the
participants was strewn with a bewildering mix of ingredients: avocados, rice,
Chips Ahoy!, egg, ham, Oreo Thins and seaweed.
Leaderboard 1
The event mirrored the television show Chopped on
the Food Network, a contest in which contestants must incorporate discordant
ingredients into dishes on tight time constraints. The format of the FYI event
included a 20-minute time limit but a decidedly casual approach to which
ingredients were required in students’ dishes.
Victor Butoi ’22 proved his name with a first
place prize for his piece titled “Under the Sea,” featuring a choco-pie crab, a
hand roll hermit crab, a deli ham sea star and a cookie crumble sea floor.
“The judges were impressed by his command of
the canvas (plate), and felt he earned his place as champion for the complexity
and artistry of the scene that he depicted,” Yamazaki told The Sun in an email.
Leaderboard 2
Honorable mentions included Priyanka Dilip ’22
for her “socially conscious” piece, “Elon Musk Rocket,” and Samantha Chu ’22
for her “Millennial Snowman,” complete with a Canada Goose cape and avocado
toast. Unfortunately, the sushi sculpture met an untimely demise shortly after
the judging, tumbling to the floor in a flurry of rice.
The culinary aspect of the event, however, was
secondary to the overall mission of bringing Asian American students together
to celebrate culture and teaching students how to plan and execute an event
from start to finish.
Asian Chopped, one of FYI’s three
projects this semester, was spearheaded by organizers Tamara Sato ’22, Liying
Wang ’22 and Crystal Tang ’22. Other FYI teams include a bubble tea fundraiser
that took place last week and a photography project currently in the works.
Sato said the event went “much better than
planned.” Wang added that “we weren’t expecting such innovative designs.”
The mission statement of FYI, is to “create
future leaders in the Cornell community by instilling passion and drive,
encouraging skills development, and sparking intellectual growth through the
lens of the Asian and Asian American experience,” according to their website.
Gene-edited baby
claim by Chinese scientist sparks outrage
In this Oct. 10, 2018 photo, He Jiankui speaks during an interview at a laboratory in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong province. Chinese scientist He claims he helped make world’s first genetically edited babies: twin girls whose DNA he said he altered. He revealed it Monday, Nov. 26, in Hong Kong to one of the organizers of an international conference on gene editing. (Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)
By
HONG KONG — Scientists and
bioethics experts reacted with shock, anger and alarm Monday to a Chinese
researcher’s claim that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited
babies.
He Jiankui of Southern University
of Science and Technology of China said he altered the DNA of twin girls born
earlier this month to try to help them resist possible future infection with
the AIDS virus — a dubious goal, ethically and scientifically.
There is no independent
confirmation of what He says he did, and it has not been published in a journal
where other experts could review it. He revealed it Monday in Hong Kong where a
gene editing conference is getting underway, and previously in exclusive
interviews with The Associated Press.
Reaction to the claim was swift
and harsh.
More than 100 scientists signed a
petition calling for greater oversight on gene editing experiments.
The university where He is based
said it will hire experts to investigate, saying the work “seriously violated
academic ethics and standards.”
A spokesman for He said he has
been on leave from teaching since early this year but remains on the faculty
and has a lab at the university.
Authorities in Shenzhen, the city
where He’s lab is situated, also launched an investigation.
And Rice University in the United
States said it will investigate the involvement of physics professor Michael
Deem. This sort of gene editing is banned in the U.S., though Deem said he
worked with He on the project in China.
“Regardless of where it was
conducted, this work as described in press reports violates scientific conduct
guidelines and is inconsistent with ethical norms of the scientific community
and Rice University,” the school said in a statement.
Gene editing is a way to rewrite
DNA, the code of life, to try to supply a missing gene that is needed or
disable one that is causing problems. It has only recently been tried in adults
to treat serious diseases.
Editing eggs, sperm or embryos is
different, because it makes permanent changes that can pass to future
generations. Its risks are unknown, and leading scientists have called for a
moratorium on its use except in lab studies until more is learned.
They include Feng Zhang and
Jennifer Doudna, inventors of a powerful but simple new tool called CRISPR-cas9
that reportedly was used on the Chinese babies during fertility treatments when
they were conceived.
“Not only do I see this as risky,
but I am also deeply concerned about the lack of transparency” around the work,
Zhang, a scientist at MIT’s Broad Institute, said in a statement. Medical
advances need to be openly discussed with patients, doctors, scientists and
society, he said.
Doudna, a scientist at the
University of California, Berkeley and one of the Hong Kong conference
organizers, said that He met with her Monday to tell her of his work, and that
she and others plan to let him speak at the conference Wednesday as originally
planned.
“None of the reported work has
gone through the peer review process,” and the conference is aimed at hashing
out important issues such as whether and when gene editing is appropriate, she
said.
Doudna is paid by the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute and Zhang receives grant support from the
organization, which also supports AP’s Health & Science Department.
Another conference leader,
Harvard Medical School dean Dr. George Daley, said he worries about other
scientists trying this in the absence of regulations or a ban.
“I would be concerned if this
initial report opened the floodgates to broader practice,” Daley said.
Notre Dame Law School professor
O. Carter Snead, a former presidential adviser on bioethics, called the report
“deeply troubling, if true.”
“No matter how well intentioned,
this intervention is dangerous, unethical, and represents a perilous new moment
in human history,” he wrote in an email. “These children, and their children’s
children, have had their futures irrevocably changed without consent, ethical
review or meaningful deliberation.”
Concerns have been raised about
how He says he proceeded, and whether participants truly understood the
potential risks and benefits before signing up to attempt pregnancy with edited
embryos. He says he began the work in 2017, but he only gave notice of it
earlier this month on a Chinese registry of clinical trials.
The secrecy concerns have been
compounded by lack of proof for his claims. He has said the parents involved
declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live
or where the work was done.
One independent expert even
questioned whether the claim could be a hoax. Deem, the Rice scientist who says
he took part in the work, called that ridiculous.
“Of course the work occurred,”
Deem said. “I met the parents. I was there for the informed consent of the
parents.”
Uganda: Government Mulls Banning Rice Imports
Tagged:
By Dorothy Nakaweesi
Uganda has more mills than rice to process, a situation that has
left players in the industry in a tight spot as government plans to stop
importing the unprocessed grains.
A new study on the size of the rice market in Uganda found that,
the country has a daily milling capacity of 7,158 metric tonnes. This implies
that it takes only 38 days to mill paddy rice that is currently grown in
Uganda.
This means if it were not for the imports of unprocessed rice,
the mills would be redundant for the remaining 327 days of the year.
Third deputy Prime Minster, Moses Ali who officially launched
the report said, "The ban on importats is intended to protect farmers and
increase our domestic production."
He said the country's domestic production target should double
from the current 1.5 tonnes to 3 tonnes per hectare.
"Last year, Uganda alone imported rice worth some $120m
(Shs450b). That money should have gone to our farmers and millers to improve
domestic production and create more jobs," Mr Ali added.
Responding to the looming ban, Mr Philip Idro, the chairperson
of the Rice Millers Council of Uganda said, "Millers have set up factories
to process locally produced rice. Unfortunately, farmers are not producing enough.
We want government and the private sector to help out on this."
Mr Idro added that investors have put in a lot of money to set
up mills and if they stop operating, their mills will be taken away.
"This is why we are asking government to allow us (millers)
import a bit of rice from Pakistan and other areas at least for the next two
years to prepare for this action. This will give time to farmers to produce
enough," Mr Idro pleaded.
He urged the ministry of agriculture to train farmers to grow
more rice which will be supplied to the millers.
Imports
According to statistics from Uganda Revenue Authority and
International Trade Centre (ITC), Uganda's imports have increased by 71.4 per
cent in the last 10 years.
In 2008, the country imported a total of 59,988 tonnes. This has
since increased to 210,102 tonnes recorded in 2017.
Rice imports into the country mainly come as raw (brown &
paddy) and final refining happens in the country. It is parked and
re-distributed into consumption areas.
Exports
Much as Uganda's production is not enough to run the mills
throughout the year, the country also exports some.
Data indicate an increase in the rice exports from 33,757 tonnes
in 2008 to 71,890 tonnes in 2017.
"Rice exports are mainly done as white rice which is exported
to DRC and South Sudan. Part of the exports are from the local production and
another part is from the imports," Mr Haam Rukundo, the team leader at
Rhamz International - a multidisciplinary consultancy that conducted the
research, said.
Mr Rukondo said their findings show that Uganda's imports of
rice for the year ending December 2017 were 210,102 tonnes of paddy. Of this
volume, 59,852 tonnes of paddy were re-exported to neighbouring countries.
"In the same year, the country exported 71,890 tonnes of paddy
equivalent from the locally produced rice. Therefore the imports netted 78,360
tonnes of paddy rice," Rukondo added.
Due to the fact that the net imports also reflect informal
exports which were not confirmed by this study, net imports range between 78,360
tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of rice.
Rice imports must
avoid harvest window under new planting schedule
November 28, 2018 | 12:05 am
THE Department of Agriculture
(DA) needs to announce a clear schedule for its proposed new crop timetable to
facilitate the timing of imports, according to a former administrator of the
National Food Authority (NFA).
Romeo G. David, who was NFA
Administrator during the Ramos administration, said in a text message: “I have
no problem imposing 35% tariff on imported rice but a very strict import or
landing window must be clear and imposed, accountabilities identified,
penalties spelled out subject to periodic updating. The Secretary of the DA
should (also) be tasked to announce the cropping schedule with a clear date
before each cropping season to allow the setting of the import window.”
The current import regime seeks
to avoid synchronizing the arrival of rice imports with the harvest, in order
not to depress the prices farmers obtain for their produce. The DA has since
proposed altering the rice planting calendar to minimize the chances of
destructive typhoons transiting through key rice growing provinces during
critical periods of the crop’s development.
The rice tariffication bill aims
to remove quantitative restrictions on rice importation, but applies a 35%
tariff on shipments by the private sector from countries within the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and a 50% tariff for non-ASEAN member
countries.
“Anything arriving that falls
outside the window must be immediately confiscated in favor of government
without question (with responsibility and risk with the importer) to be added
to government inventory for use in calamity relief. The illegally imported rice
must be accounted for and released by Customs and delivered to NFA immediately
for warehousing and management in trust for the government,” Mr. David said.
He added: “A portion of taxes
collected must be committed to continuous updating of economic data
(area-specific production and consumption including prices of inputs,
transport, and retail prices) on rice, corn and grain to help farmers and
government make informed decision towards improving farm family income.”
Mr. David said that the NFA or
the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should facilitate the registration
of import applications and certificates that the volumes are within the
consumption ceiling for the period to avoid oversupply. He said that to avoid
corruption, this should be done electronically.
The rice tariffication bill which
has been approved by the bicameral conference committee has yet to be signed by
President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Herculano C. Co, Jr., president
of the Philippine Confederation of Grains Association (PCGA), said that the
rice industry is a sunset industry, given the lack of support from the
government for the farmers.
“This is a sunset industry. Give
it two years, this industry will be gone,” Mr. Co said at a briefing on Food
Supply for the Holidays organized by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists
(PAJ) on Tuesday.
“If the palay (unmilled rice)
falls below the support price, that is the time the NFA comes in. This time it
will be different with private sector imports, which will depress prices, and
that is a problem. Can the farmers match that price without government
support?” Mr. Co said.
Mr. Co said that the tariff which
is supposed to be used for the Rice Competitiveness and Enhancement Fund (RCEF)
has no clear provisions on how this will be distributed to the farmers. — Reicelene
Joy N. Ignacio
Rice imports must
avoid harvest window under new planting schedule
November 28, 2018 | 12:05 am
THE Department of Agriculture
(DA) needs to announce a clear schedule for its proposed new crop timetable to
facilitate the timing of imports, according to a former administrator of the
National Food Authority (NFA).
Romeo G. David, who was NFA
Administrator during the Ramos administration, said in a text message: “I have
no problem imposing 35% tariff on imported rice but a very strict import or
landing window must be clear and imposed, accountabilities identified,
penalties spelled out subject to periodic updating. The Secretary of the DA
should (also) be tasked to announce the cropping schedule with a clear date
before each cropping season to allow the setting of the import window.”
The current import regime seeks
to avoid synchronizing the arrival of rice imports with the harvest, in order
not to depress the prices farmers obtain for their produce. The DA has since
proposed altering the rice planting calendar to minimize the chances of
destructive typhoons transiting through key rice growing provinces during
critical periods of the crop’s development.
The rice tariffication bill aims
to remove quantitative restrictions on rice importation, but applies a 35% tariff
on shipments by the private sector from countries within the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and a 50% tariff for non-ASEAN member
countries.
“Anything arriving that falls
outside the window must be immediately confiscated in favor of government
without question (with responsibility and risk with the importer) to be added
to government inventory for use in calamity relief. The illegally imported rice
must be accounted for and released by Customs and delivered to NFA immediately
for warehousing and management in trust for the government,” Mr. David said.
He added: “A portion of taxes
collected must be committed to continuous updating of economic data
(area-specific production and consumption including prices of inputs,
transport, and retail prices) on rice, corn and grain to help farmers and
government make informed decision towards improving farm family income.”
Mr. David said that the NFA or
the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should facilitate the registration
of import applications and certificates that the volumes are within the
consumption ceiling for the period to avoid oversupply. He said that to avoid
corruption, this should be done electronically.
The rice tariffication bill which
has been approved by the bicameral conference committee has yet to be signed by
President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Herculano C. Co, Jr., president
of the Philippine Confederation of Grains Association (PCGA), said that the
rice industry is a sunset industry, given the lack of support from the
government for the farmers.
“This is a sunset industry. Give
it two years, this industry will be gone,” Mr. Co said at a briefing on Food
Supply for the Holidays organized by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists
(PAJ) on Tuesday.
“If the palay (unmilled rice) falls
below the support price, that is the time the NFA comes in. This time it will
be different with private sector imports, which will depress prices, and that
is a problem. Can the farmers match that price without government support?” Mr.
Co said.
Mr. Co said that the tariff which
is supposed to be used for the Rice Competitiveness and Enhancement Fund (RCEF)
has no clear provisions on how this will be distributed to the farmers. — Reicelene
Joy N. Ignacio
https://media.philstar.com/images/articles/gen2-nfa-rice-price_2018-11-26_22-59-30.jpg
Major price increase
eyed for NFA rice
Based on their computations, the NFA would only break even if it
buys palay at P20.70 per kilo from local farmers and, after processing, sell
this at P33 per kilo. It would have a “slight profit” if it sells at P35/kilo.
MANILA, Philippines — Consumers
may have to prepare for a possible increase in the price of rice sold by the
National Food Authority (NFA).
During yesterday’s budget hearing
at the Senate, NFA administrator-in-charge Tomas Escarez said the food agency
is proposing to increase the selling price of NFA rice from P27 per kilo to
between P33 to P35 per kilo as it continues to incur losses.
“The NFA Council seems interested
to increase the selling price locally. I have talked to them in the initial
meetings and they are amenable. We have to sell our rice at a higher price,”
Escarez revealed.
Based on their computations, the
NFA would only break even if it buys palay at P20.70 per kilo from local
farmers and, after processing, sell this at P33 per kilo. It would have a
“slight profit” if it sells at P35/kilo.
“Our proposal is that we should
at least earn a bit. Consumers are not exactly complaining with the current P38
per kilo of commercial rice and yet we are still selling at P27,” Escarez
added.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the
Senate committee on agriculture and food, admitted that the P27-per-kilo rate
is causing NFA to lose money because this does not cover the overhead expense
for milling and other processes needed to convert palay into the grains being
sold in the market.
She added that during the milling
process, only 65 percent is converted into rice grains.
Although she is not certain if
the proposal will be approved, Villar urged the NFA to focus on local
procurement and beef up its resources as rice importation, when quantitative
restriction (QR) is removed, will soon become free-flowing.
The NFA stands to lose at least
P160 million with the rice tariffication law that will effectively remove its
regulatory and monitoring functions. About 400 employees doing the regulatory
function will also be affected.
The Federation of Free Farmers
(FFF) slammed senators for proposing the abolition of NFA and called instead
for a thorough review of its mandate and functions.
Raul Montemayor, FFF national
manager, said that instead of abolishing the NFA, which some lawmakers said
will no longer have any significant role to play in terms of food security once
the quantitative restrictions on rice imports are removed, senators should
review its role to ensure effectiveness.
Even with a reduced role in the
rice market, Montemayor said the agency could still help implement an e-trading
system by which farmers in remote areas can sell their products directly to
buyers in urban centers using cellphones and internet-based applications.
“The NFA’s warehouses and other
assets can be used to process and store raw produce and transfer stocks from
supply to demand areas in cooperation with private market players,” Montemayor
said.
“NFA’s licensing and monitoring
functions should be retained to ensure that speculators and unscrupulous
importers do not manipulate the market at the expense of producers and
consumers,” he added.
Last week, the bicameral
committee adopted the Senate version of the rice tariffication bill that Villar
sponsored.
Aside from removing QRs and
replacing them with tariffs, the bill eliminates all the licensing and
monitoring functions of NFA.
It also allegedly proposes to
limit NFA functions only to maintaining buffer stocks for emergencies, which
means that the agency will no longer be responsible for stabilizing prices by
distributing cheap rice or buying from farmers when farm gate prices are low.
Ruben Presilda, FFF president,
warned that the abolition of NFA would be dangerous to both consumers and rice
producers.
“They are saying that open
competition among importers and market players will ensure that rice prices
will go down. What if that does not happen? What if large traders collude to
manipulate prices of palay or rice to maximize their profits?” he argued.
“You need almost a billion pesos
in imports just to supply the Metro Manila market with rice for one day. Only
large financiers will have the resources to do this, and they can easily take
control of the market specially since NFA will not be there anymore to monitor
them and stabilize prices,” Presilda added. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/11/27/1872073/major-price-increase-eyed-nfa-rice
Need for lateral thinking
November 27, 2018 | 11:59 pm
Grassroots &
Governance
It’s about time. At long last,
the government has embarked on a bold initiative to address our inability to
produce enough rice for our own needs. The plan to work with the government of
Papua New Guinea to cultivate rice and transfer rice production technology is
promising. Papua New Guinea is reported to have fertile soil and lots of
wetlands to make rice production effective, since it is expected to be more
cost efficient. So, we are finally recognizing that despite our decades of
obsession with attaining self-sufficiency in rice, we can’t seem to make it
work. There is of course, climate change, with unpredictable weather
conditions, exceedingly high price of fertilizers, our aging farmers (average
age now estimated at 60 years) and lack of interest of the younger generations
in grueling farm work, and, of course, the usual widespread corruption all the
way down to agricultural field technicians.
Developing Papua New Guinea as an
alternative source of rice makes sense in order to ensure that we have other
options outside of Vietnam and Thailand which are rethinking their rice
businesses toward higher-end varieties, branding, etc. We may have to pay
higher prices for our rice imports if we don’t cultivate alternatives.
Yes, we can produce abundant rice
given the right environmental conditions. But can the government actually
produce it efficiently? Perhaps, if it partners with technical resources such
as the University of the Philippines in Los Baños which supplies the scientists
working at the nearby International Rice Research Institute. And if private
business runs the show. I am skeptical about our chances of success if the
government, which cannot maintain railways, or run government corporations
without running them down to bankruptcy, is the way to go.
Vietnam’s An Giang Plant
Protection Company, the successful Joint Venture of a private businessman who
mobilized a multiple-stakeholder approach work in an “everybody wins” formula,
is worth studying. Government provided land for research and start-up
production, the agricultural school provided technical support, and European
suppliers of technical inputs and equipment (chemicals, seeds, fertilizers,
combine harvesters, etc.) at innovative and conciliatory pricing synergized to
make this joint venture succeed in producing and selling rice to domestic and
export markets (all the way to Africa).
An Giang introduced several
innovations that are worth emulating: the JV did not own the land, the small
farmers retained ownership. The Joint Venture supplied the seeds, chemicals,
fertilizers at reasonable rates, payable upon sale of the rice outputs at
current market prices. An Giang also provided rice milling and storage
facilities, also payable upon sale of the rice outputs. Very significantly, An
Giang also hired and provided agricultural field technicians and trained them
in community relations so that they could become “farmers’ friends” over and
beyond being technical advisers.
Proof of An Giang’s success was
the decision of a Swiss-based investment firm to invest in minority equity
shares in the JV worth USD90 million. This is incredible given that Vietnam is
a communist-run government.
The Department of Agriculture
could benefit from organized consultations with academe, private entrepreneurs,
and the government of Papua New Guinea toward formulating an approach that over
the long term can result in an “everybody happy,” sustainable venture that can
meet the multiple stakeholders’ expectations.
Perhaps the Secretary of
Agriculture should also look into how our archipelagic nation, ironically surrounded
by seas, can raise the productivity of our fisheries industry so that it
becomes a prosperous contributor to our economy. Fisheries has been lagging
behind manufacturing and services for many years. Perhaps the only time it
became a significant contributor to our economic growth was when Malcolm
Sarmiento was Director of the Bureau of Fisheries. Sarmiento (where is he now?)
passionately pushed for acquaculture and marine sanctuaries to raise our
productivity in fisheries. He also promoted sardine processing into bottled
products in his home town of Dipolog. And look where we are now with even high
end gourmet tuyo, branded, packaged, smoked tinapa, and other new gourmet
products in our supermarkets.
There has been too much vertical
thinking in our government approaches. Doing the same things over and over
again, trying to just do the same things a little better each year. Obviously,
we need more than that.
There is enough disruptive
technology around the world to force us to wake up and anticipate the trends if
we are to survive and hopefully, thrive.
I read recently that the
Department of Science and Technology has been tasked with monitoring
developments in information and communications technology. There seem to be
threats to our Call Centers jobs over the long term with awesome developments
in artificial intelligence, notably voice recognition. I hope Filipino IT
experts such as Dado Banatao are being consulted on these.
The creative industries (film,
fashion design, art, music, graphic arts, IT innovations) seem to be getting
organized toward becoming a major force in our economic progress. Creative arts
is something we seem to be naturally good at; and we should make serious
efforts to develop these in our people, especially the youth. There are already
too many lawyers, lawyering still considered a glamorous profession; and other
career paths should be promoted instead.
In all of these enterprises, we
need bold lateral, not vertical thinking.
https://www.bworldonline.com/need-for-lateral-thinking/
Chinese scientist’s
claim of gene-edited babies creates uproar
Chinese researcher He Jiankui
claimed he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies — twin girls.
A Chinese scientist triggered alarm and
confusion across the scientific community Monday with the claim that he had
edited the DNA of human embryos to create twin baby girls, Lulu and Nana, who
he said had been born “crying into the world as healthy as any other babies” a
few weeks ago.
The
controversial experiment, publicized through the media and videos posted online by He Jiankui of
Southern University of Science and Technology of China, was criticized by many
scientists worldwide as premature and called “rogue human experimentation.” More than 120
Chinese scientists called the experiment “crazy” in a letter, adding that it
dealt a huge blow to the global reputation of Chinese science. Southern
University said in a statement it would be investigating the experiment, which
appeared to have “seriously violated academic ethics and codes of conduct.”
The
unverified claim by He came on the eve of an international summit dedicated
to discussing the emerging science and ethics around powerful tools that give
scientists unprecedented potential to tweak traits and eliminate genetic
diseases — but that have raised fears of “designer babies.” By editing the DNA
of human embryos, scientists change not just the genes in a single person, but
also their potential offspring — in effect, altering the human species.
“Here you have a scientist changing the human
race, and you have a YouTube video about it, with no [scientific] paper. It’s
just almost surreal,” said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps
Research Translational Institute, who said he has seen some of the data behind
the experiment. “This guy must have just remarkable chutzpah to proceed.
Basically for the first time in history, he has used this powerful tool in a
reckless way for no good reason.”
A physicist by training, He told the Associated Press that embryos from seven
couples who underwent in vitro fertilization had been edited. He said he used a
tool called CRISPR-Cas9 that can make targeted cuts to DNA — to disable a gene
that allows HIV to infect cells — with one successful pregnancy so far.
He did not respond to attempts to reach him by
email and phone. He is scheduled to make a presentation at the conference on
Wednesday. In opening remarks for the summit, biologist David Baltimore made
only an oblique reference to the project.
“We may even hear about an attempt to apply
genome editing to human embryos, giving rise to children carrying edited genes,”
Baltimore said.
“I think this just shows the time is now that
you have to talk about the ethics of genome editing, because the world may not
wait,” said Insoo Hyun, a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University. “We
don’t know how much of this is true or verified. These are all kind of . . .
rumors at this point . . . but in terms of scientific and medical rationale, I
don’t think there is one.”
The
experiment was first reported by MIT Technology Review and
the Associated Press. According to a descriptionof the project posted online, He
created embryos from couples with an HIV-infected father. The use of the
technology immediately raised questions from ethicists since there are other ways to prevent HIV
transmission to a fetus, and many think that the first
applications of gene editing should be reserved for diseases that are deadly
with no treatment options. In a video released on YouTube, He said that only a
single gene had been changed, but gene editing is known to introduce unintended
genetic effects that could raise concerns — either for the children themselves
or the human gene pool if the children grow up to pass on their genes.
In a series of videos posted on YouTube, He
explained that his experiment had worked and that the gene editing hadn’t made
any unintentional changes to the children’s DNA, but Topol said that it was
“frankly not possible” to make that claim and added that now Nana and Lulu’s
offspring would be affected in ways that no one fully understands.
He, who
is also a founder and chairman of Direct Genomics, a DNA sequencing company,
sought to differentiate himself from those who would recklessly tweak the
genome to create designer babies.
“Gene surgery is and should remain a technology
for healing. Enhancing IQ or selecting hair or eye color is not what a loving
parent does. That should be banned,” He said in one of the videos. “I understand
my work will be controversial, but I believe families need this technology, and
I’m willing to take the criticism for them.”
The
public announcement was highly unconventional, with no supporting data provided
to verify the claims and no submission to the traditional process of peer
review. It raised deep questions for scientists about whether traditional
oversight channels were followed, as well as what to believe about the
experiment and the results. He posted a medical ethical approval form
for the trial on his website from the HarMoniCare Shenzhen Women’s and
Children’s Hospital.
Jennifer Doudna, one of the pioneers of genome
editing from the University of California, Berkeley, said that the experiment
appeared to be a “clear break” from the cautious and transparent approach
recommended by international leaders.
“The lack of transparency and disregard for
risk are deeply concerning,” Doudna said. “There are safe and effective ways to
protect children from HIV transmission, so the study as reported does not
appear to address an unmet medical need.”
Feng Zhang, a leader in the field from the
Broad Institute, called for a moratorium on implanting edited embryos until
safety requirements have been set.
“If it’s true as reported then it’s an
extremely premature and questionable experiment in creating genetically
modified children,” said Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman
Institute of Bioethics. “There’s much to understand and discuss about oversight
or lack thereof.”
When the
international gene-editing summit was last held, in 2015,
scientists who organized the meeting concluded with a statement calling it
“irresponsible to proceed” with editing human embryos until “there is broad
societal consensus about the appropriateness” of any proposed use.
“While each nation ultimately has the authority
to regulate activities under its jurisdiction, the human genome is shared among
all nations,” the statement said.
Matthew Porteus, a pediatrician and stem-cell
scientist at Stanford University who is on the organizing committee for the
meeting in Hong Kong, said that the announcement highlights the weaknesses of
the current regulatory system. “This is not the way I would like to see science
advance. I have serious concerns,” Porteus said.
Southern University of Science and Technology
said in a statement that He is on unpaid leave and condemned the experiment,
saying the university was “deeply shocked” by the news and had called an
emergency meeting. The research was conducted off-campus, and the university
was unaware of the project, according to the statement.
The Associated Press reported that Michael
Deem, a professor of bioengineering at Rice University, was involved in the
experiment. Deem did not immediately respond to calls or emails, and Rice said
in a statement that it was investigating his involvement.
“Coming on the eve of the second international
summit on genome editing, this announcement looks like a cynical attempt to
seize headlines,” said Pete Mills, assistant director of the Nuffield Council
on Bioethics. “If the claims are true, it is a premature, inexplicable and
possibly reckless intervention that may threaten the responsible development of
future applications of genome editing.”
William
Wan contributed to this report.
Gene-edited baby
claim by Chinese scientist sparks outrage
In this Oct. 10, 2018 photo, He Jiankui speaks during an interview at a laboratory in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong province. Chinese scientist He claims he helped make world’s first genetically edited babies: twin girls whose DNA he said he altered. He revealed it Monday, Nov. 26, in Hong Kong to one of the organizers of an international conference on gene editing. (Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)
By
HONG KONG — Scientists and
bioethics experts reacted with shock, anger and alarm Monday to a Chinese
researcher’s claim that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited
babies.
He Jiankui of Southern University
of Science and Technology of China said he altered the DNA of twin girls born
earlier this month to try to help them resist possible future infection with
the AIDS virus — a dubious goal, ethically and scientifically.
There is no independent confirmation
of what He says he did, and it has not been published in a journal where other
experts could review it. He revealed it Monday in Hong Kong where a gene
editing conference is getting underway, and previously in exclusive interviews
with The Associated Press.
Reaction to the claim was swift
and harsh.
More than 100 scientists signed a
petition calling for greater oversight on gene editing experiments.
The university where He is based
said it will hire experts to investigate, saying the work “seriously violated
academic ethics and standards.”
A spokesman for He said he has
been on leave from teaching since early this year but remains on the faculty
and has a lab at the university.
Authorities in Shenzhen, the city
where He’s lab is situated, also launched an investigation.
And Rice University in the United
States said it will investigate the involvement of physics professor Michael
Deem. This sort of gene editing is banned in the U.S., though Deem said he
worked with He on the project in China.
“Regardless of where it was
conducted, this work as described in press reports violates scientific conduct
guidelines and is inconsistent with ethical norms of the scientific community
and Rice University,” the school said in a statement.
Gene editing is a way to rewrite
DNA, the code of life, to try to supply a missing gene that is needed or
disable one that is causing problems. It has only recently been tried in adults
to treat serious diseases.
Editing eggs, sperm or embryos is
different, because it makes permanent changes that can pass to future
generations. Its risks are unknown, and leading scientists have called for a
moratorium on its use except in lab studies until more is learned.
They include Feng Zhang and
Jennifer Doudna, inventors of a powerful but simple new tool called CRISPR-cas9
that reportedly was used on the Chinese babies during fertility treatments when
they were conceived.
“Not only do I see this as risky,
but I am also deeply concerned about the lack of transparency” around the work,
Zhang, a scientist at MIT’s Broad Institute, said in a statement. Medical
advances need to be openly discussed with patients, doctors, scientists and
society, he said.
Doudna, a scientist at the
University of California, Berkeley and one of the Hong Kong conference
organizers, said that He met with her Monday to tell her of his work, and that
she and others plan to let him speak at the conference Wednesday as originally
planned.
“None of the reported work has
gone through the peer review process,” and the conference is aimed at hashing
out important issues such as whether and when gene editing is appropriate, she
said.
Doudna is paid by the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute and Zhang receives grant support from the
organization, which also supports AP’s Health & Science Department.
Another conference leader,
Harvard Medical School dean Dr. George Daley, said he worries about other
scientists trying this in the absence of regulations or a ban.
“I would be concerned if this
initial report opened the floodgates to broader practice,” Daley said.
Notre Dame Law School professor
O. Carter Snead, a former presidential adviser on bioethics, called the report
“deeply troubling, if true.”
“No matter how well intentioned,
this intervention is dangerous, unethical, and represents a perilous new moment
in human history,” he wrote in an email. “These children, and their children’s
children, have had their futures irrevocably changed without consent, ethical
review or meaningful deliberation.”
Concerns have been raised about
how He says he proceeded, and whether participants truly understood the
potential risks and benefits before signing up to attempt pregnancy with edited
embryos. He says he began the work in 2017, but he only gave notice of it
earlier this month on a Chinese registry of clinical trials.
The secrecy concerns have been
compounded by lack of proof for his claims. He has said the parents involved
declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live
or where the work was done.
One independent expert even
questioned whether the claim could be a hoax. Deem, the Rice scientist who says
he took part in the work, called that ridiculous.
“Of course the work occurred,”
Deem said. “I met the parents. I was there for the informed consent of the
parents.”
Using microcredit to
increase rice yield in Bangladesh
Small loans appear to lead to
numerous benefits for tenant farmers
IMAGE: WHILE NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN HOUSEHOLD INCOME WAS SEEN,
FARMERS WERE ABLE TO ALLOCATE MORE TIME TO
SELF-EMPLOYMENT ACTIVITIES view more
CREDIT: KYOTO UNIVERSITY/MALEK MOHAMMAD ABDUL
In the developing world, access
to credit can lead to higher productivity and an increase in living standards,
but the ability to have this access is not universal. Formal financial
institu-tions are reluctant to lend to households with low-incomes or which
lack collateral.
This is where 'microfinance
institutions' -- or MFIs -- play a role.
MFIs extend small loans, called
microcredits, to individual households. While standard microloans tend to be
geared toward business and entrepreneurial endeavors, in recent years
Bangladesh has made a name for itself internationally by providing microcredits
to tenant farmers.
Now, in a collaborative study
with institutions in the United States and Bangladesh, a team led by Mohammad
Abdul Malek -- of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Agriculture and the
Research and Evaluation Division of BRAC -- has conducted a study examining the
impact of agricultural microcredits on the livelihood of these farmers.
Writing in the American
Journal of Agricultural Economics, the researchers analyzed
vari-ous outcomes of these loans, such as: adoption of high-yield or hybrid
rice, overall rice yield, and household income.
"The agricultural
microcredit program Borgachashi Unnayan Prakalpa -- BCUP -- began in 2009 with
a primary objective of increasing the credit access of tenant farmers to formal
financial institutions," explains Malek. "So we conducted two surveys
in 2012 and 2014 to see how households receiving this financing changed over
time."
The Bangladesh Bank -- the
central bank of Bangladesh -- started BCUP with a low-interest revolving fund,
as part of its financial inclusion strategy. The average loan amount was equal
to the production cost of rice for one hectare of land.
The team's results show that BCUP
helped increase rice yield as well as overall crop farm income, and
additionally the probability of adopting hybrid and higher yield rice. Further,
there appeared to be a somewhat positive effect on the cultivation of owned
land and live-stock ownership.
"BCUP has had a number of
positive effects," continues Malek. "And while we did not find a
change in household income, we noticed that the farmers were able to allocate
more time to self-employment activities."
While several studies have
examined the role of agricultural credit on the livelihood of farm households,
this is the first to examine the impact of a program designed specifically to
in-crease the financial inclusion -- in the broader economy -- of tenant
farmers.
The team hopes to continue their
inquiry into the effects of microcredits in order to better inform future
policy decisions, while acknowledging that other interventions, in combina-tion
with microcredit, may be necessary if the program is to be scaled up in
Bangladesh or elsewhere in Asia.
###
The paper "Agricultural
Microcredit for Tenant Farmers: Evidence from a Field Experiment in
Bangladesh" appeared on 26 October 2018 in the American
Journal of Agricultural Economics, with doi: 10.1093/ajae/aay070
About Kyoto University
BoT – a continuation
of trends
BR ResearchNovember
26, 2018
The brakes have been applied to
the widening current account deficit and as a result, imports have registered
zero percent growth YoY while exports have sluggishly risen by 3 percent. This
trend has been consistent so far this year with exports rising by low single
digit numbers and imports stagnant.
The 4MFY19 numbers are more of
the same with export growth led by food courtesy subsidies extended to the
wheat sector while sugar exports tapered off. While textile exports are discouraging,
knitwear was an exception registering 10 percent increase in growth. (Read
“Textile exports remain glum,” published on November 19, 2018)
Though exports of basmati rice
grew over the last month, overall rice sector has not fared too well this year.
Better negotiations of trade agreements with rice consuming countries such as
China, Malaysia and Indonesia may boost rice exports.
Pakistan’s oft overlooked small
value added sectors of sports goods and surgical goods registered 4 percent and
2 percent growth while chemicals grew by 26 percent. Plastics, led by PET
exports registered a 35 percent increase.
While essential energy imports of
gas and crude petroleum increased by over $1 billion, the machinery group
posted the largest decrease in imports YoY as CPEC projects reach maturity and
the government curbs back on infrastructure projects. Higher prices and
interest rates also decreased auto imports. On the other hand, palm oil imports
declined due to lower global prices but increased in quantity by nearly 60,000
tons.
While higher interest rates and
further bouts of devaluation may decrease imports, exports may suffer due to
China-US war. As China will export less to US and hence will require smaller
amounts of imports that are value added for US markets, Pakistan’s exports to
China already a smaller proportion of bilateral trade may decline further. In
this scenario, renegotiation of Pak-China FTA becomes imperative.
The decrease of CAD by 5 percent
indicates that impact of currency adjustment and monetary tightening is
starting to be felt. Over time efforts to curb the deficit will be more
strongly felt especially when Pakistan goes into the IMF program. But the
challenge is not only to decrease imports but to increase value added exports
sustainably.
Delicious chicken fried rice - a healthy version
of Chinese takeaway
Six-ingredient
supper: chicken fried rice with plenty of spice
Norma
Sheahan
Before I start, I need to tell you I like to sneak some herbs,
spices, veg, stocks, and so on into our meals. Anything that’ll improve the
good bacteria in the gut and keep the food intolerences to a minimum for all of
us.
So, there will be cinnamon in the porridge, and the porridge
will have been soaked overnight in lemon water, and we have avocado or olive
oil on sourdough bread, rather than dairy.
My quick 15 minute supper at the moment is . . . chicken fried
rice. (Vegetarians can replace the chicken with eggs, and use vegetable stock.)
What you’ll need and how to make it:
Basmati rice (brown is best, but my kids prefer the white)
Chicken stock (soothes gut lining. A great healer.)
Manor Farm chicken mince or organic chicken strips (quick to
cook, easy to digest)
Ripe avocado (great for brain, hair and skin)
Coconut oil (kills yeast overgrowth, but doesn’t kill the good
bacteria in gut)
Onion, finely chopped into tiny bits (contains super enzymes for
digestion)
Frozen petits pois (very nutritious because usually frozen on
site)
Tamari, to taste (this is a wheat-free soya sauce; use whatever
soya sauce you prefer). A larder cupboard staple, so it doesn’t count in my six
ingredients
Cook the basmati rice in stock. One part rice to two parts
stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 12 minutes, approximately.
I try to make my own chicken or veg stock and freeze it, but
Kallo are a good brand for instant stock.
While it’s simmering, fry the onions and chicken in the coconut
oil. When they are cooked, stir in the defrosted peas.
Mix the cooked rice with the cooked chicken.
If you’re going with the egg option instead of chicken, then
beat a few eggs into the cooked rice and cooked onion, and fry to your liking.
Add tamari to taste.
Slice an avocado and place it on top of the rice. And thin
slices of raw onion too, if you’re a raw onion lover, with no intimate plans
for the evening
Korean Consumers
Urged to 'Come and Taste' Burrito Made with U.S. Medium Grain
By Sarah Moran
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA -- A new foodservice menu promotion featuring a chicken burrito made with U.S. medium grain rice launched earlier this fall as a result of the partnership between USA Rice and Café Amoje, a take-out foodservice chain here.
New burritos flying out of the food court
Café Amoje is run by Amoje Food, a top Korean foodservice group that operates franchise restaurants, business hotel buffets, and food courts in Incheon International Airport, amusement parks, and baseball stadiums.
"Amoje Food is a big fan of U.S. medium grain rice," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice director of USA Rice Asia Promotion Programs. "Its family buffet franchise launched new rice menus with promotional support from USA Rice in 2016 and has been using U.S. medium grain consistently ever since."
For this latest promotion, the chicken burrito featuring U.S. medium grain was delivered daily to 15 Café Amoje stores nationwide. To advertise the new menu item, promotional materials and name tags with the USA Rice logo were displayed at each store, and staff conducted taste tests with customers. In addition to on-site promotion, news of the new burrito "filled with delicious ingredients" was broadcast across social media channels.
"More than 85 percent of customers surveyed said the new burrito made with U.S. medium grain rice was so good that, in the future, they would likely purchase other menu items featuring U.S. rice," said Guinn.
During the promotion period, rice usage at Café Amoje increased by approximately 3.5 times from the prior month - in total, a little less than one ton of U.S. medium grain. Based on these positive results, Amoje Food is considering using U.S. medium grain for its other operations.
USA RICE DAILY
Swan tours offered along rice fields near Marysville
By KYRA GOTTESMAN | Correspondent
November 26, 2018 at 4:46 pm
MARYSVILLE —
Before winter takes hold in the Arctic, more than 100,000 tundra swans migrate
along the Pacific Flyway from their remote and solitary breeding grounds to
spend winter in California. Many of those swans make their winter home in the
rice fields around Marysville.
Now through
January, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife offers the public an
opportunity to see these spectacular birds in their habit.
The Fish and
Wildlife host Swan Tours, at no charge, every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and again
at 1:30 p.m. Each tour is limited to 30 participants and advance registration
is required. Lead by Fish and Wildlife vehicles, tour groups caravan in their
own vehicles and stop for wildlife viewing opportunities. Little walking is
required during the two-hour tours.
During the
tour attendees are guided along public roads throughout a 23,000-acre expanse
of privately owned rice fields and restored habitat.
“We encourage
people to bring their own binoculars. And even though there is not much
walking, they should wear good, comfortable walking shoes. We also recommend
not bringing dogs and if you do, to keep them in your car,” said Brian Gilmore,
scientific aide.
While they may
be “ugly ducklings” when they’re small, the tundra swan grow into magnificent
birds. At maturity they are all white with a little bit of yellow on the lower
area of their bills. These swans can weigh 14 to 21 pounds with wingspans that
reach up to 5.5 feet.
“They are
spectacular and there are typically thousands of them. There are also other
waterfowl we see sharing the habitat. Sometimes we see bald eagles,” said
Gilmore.
Among the
other birds that folks can glimpse on the tour are greater white-fronted geese,
snow geese, white-faced ibis and ducks including the northern shoveler and the
northern pintail.
“Unless you’re
a birder, you know someone who is really into birds and bird watching, the most
impressive thing is the sheer number of birds in this habitat,” said Gilmore.
The Swan Tours
started in 2010 shortly after the ban on burning rice fields was put in place.
“The
alternative to burning is to flood the fields so the rice stubble can
decompose. This highly benefitted wildlife, especially the birds that migrate
in the winter from the arctic tundra,” said Gilmore.
Driving swan
tour
9:30 a.m. and
1:30 p.m. Saturdays through January in the rice fields around Marysville
Free, but pre-registration required at www.wildlife.ca.gov/regions/2/swan-tours
For
information, (916) 358-2869 or interpretiveservices@ wildlife.ca.gov
NFA: Imported rice for NegOcc being unloaded in
Bacolod port
November 27, 2018
By Erwin Nicavera/PNA
Assistant manager of NFA-Negros
Occidental, Marianita Gellecanao, said as of Monday afternoon, more than 19,000
bags were already unloaded and stored in the two warehouses in Bacolod.
She added that without
disturbances like bad weather, the unloading can be completed by December 5.
The additional import allocation
for the province, which arrived in the city on Nov. 23 via MV Inlaco Express,
is the second for Negros Occidental this year. The first importation of 80,000
bags from Thailand arrived in July.
Gellecanao said part of the
unloaded rice this week was transported to warehouses in Ilog town and San
Carlos City.
The 100,000 bags for Negros
Occidental are part of the 600,000 bags shipped by MV Inclaro Express to the
Philippines.
Gellecanao said with the additional
import allocation, NFA-Negros Occidental can start increasing the distribution
to 20 to 50 bags per retail outlet among major and non-traditional markets.
In the previous months when
stocks were limited, the distribution was calibrated to only five to 10 bags.
“Our distribution will be back to normal starting next week,” Gellecanao said.
In the first week of July,
NFA-Negros Occidental borrowed 10,000 bags of rice from Iloilo while waiting
for the arrival of its imported rice allocation.
Also in the last week of
September, it sought augmentation supply from Iloilo, which was then unloading
its 170,000 bags of imported rice allocation from Thailand.
NFA hit for proposed rice price increase
November 27, 2018
MABALACAT CITY -- The National Federation of Peasant Women
(Amihan) and the rice watch group Bantay Bigas hit the National Food Authority
(NFA) for the proposed rice price increase, saying the move is anti-poor and a
threat to the country’s food security.
Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo disclosed the increasing NFA price from the current P27 and P32 to P33 to P35.ARTICLE_MOBILE_AD_CODE
Consumers are not exactly complaining with the current P38 per kilo price of commercial rice and the increase of NFA rice prices shows how insensitive and ignorant the government is on the plight of the poor and the marginalized, said Estavillo.
Many Filipinos, especially those who are earning below the minimum wage, barely afford a kilo of rice as result of the record-high inflation rate, she added.
“Poor Filipinos depend on NFA rice and they patiently fall in line for hours just to buy affordable rice. If the NFA increases its price on rice, the government is also prohibiting them to eat rice every day. This will aggravate the problem of hunger in the country,” Estavillo said.
Estavillo said the shortage of NFA rice in the market these past few weeks might be a method in conditioning the consumers to buy more expensive commercial rice in preparation for higher priced NFA rice.
The peasant women group Amihan claimed the proposal is a step toward NFA privatization.
Amihan Chair Zenaida Soriano said the approved version of the Rice Tariffication Bill has limited the functions of the NFA to buffer stocking.
Increasing NFA rice price will make the agency profitable and more attractive to the private sector making the Filipino consumers and farmers at the losing end, she said.
"An increase in the price of NFA rice will also favor the importers as it will lessen the price gap between NFA and commercial rice," Soriano said.
“We are demanding for NFA reorientation and strengthening of its functions to genuinely serve the interests of Filipino farmers and consumers,” she added.
The groups said the full implementation of liberalization in the rice industry will eventually kill the local rice industry and worsen the state of the country's food security.
Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo disclosed the increasing NFA price from the current P27 and P32 to P33 to P35.ARTICLE_MOBILE_AD_CODE
Consumers are not exactly complaining with the current P38 per kilo price of commercial rice and the increase of NFA rice prices shows how insensitive and ignorant the government is on the plight of the poor and the marginalized, said Estavillo.
Many Filipinos, especially those who are earning below the minimum wage, barely afford a kilo of rice as result of the record-high inflation rate, she added.
“Poor Filipinos depend on NFA rice and they patiently fall in line for hours just to buy affordable rice. If the NFA increases its price on rice, the government is also prohibiting them to eat rice every day. This will aggravate the problem of hunger in the country,” Estavillo said.
Estavillo said the shortage of NFA rice in the market these past few weeks might be a method in conditioning the consumers to buy more expensive commercial rice in preparation for higher priced NFA rice.
The peasant women group Amihan claimed the proposal is a step toward NFA privatization.
Amihan Chair Zenaida Soriano said the approved version of the Rice Tariffication Bill has limited the functions of the NFA to buffer stocking.
Increasing NFA rice price will make the agency profitable and more attractive to the private sector making the Filipino consumers and farmers at the losing end, she said.
"An increase in the price of NFA rice will also favor the importers as it will lessen the price gap between NFA and commercial rice," Soriano said.
“We are demanding for NFA reorientation and strengthening of its functions to genuinely serve the interests of Filipino farmers and consumers,” she added.
The groups said the full implementation of liberalization in the rice industry will eventually kill the local rice industry and worsen the state of the country's food security.
Govt extends duty benefit for export of
non-basmati rice
27/11/2018
NEW DELHI, Nov 26: The Government
has extended duty benefits to non-basmati rice exporters under a scheme to
boost the shipment of the agri commodity.
The duty benefit is provided under the commerce ministry’s Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
“Non-basmati rice items have been made eligible for MEIS benefits at the rate of 5 per cent for exports made with effect from November 26 and up to March 25, 2019,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said in a public notice.
DGFT, under the commerce ministry deals with export and import related policies.
Under MEIS, government provides duty credit scrip or certificate depending on product and country.
Those scrips can be transferred or used for payment of a number of duties including the basic customs duty.
India is one of the largest exporters of non-basmati rice and in 2017-18, the country exported 8.63 million tonnes of the rice, which was more than double the quantity of basmati rice exports of 4.05 million tonnes.
Non-basmati rice exports during April-February 2018 stood at USD 3.26 billion as against USD 2.53 billion in 2016-17.
Rice is the country’s main kharif crop. As per the first advance estimates of foodgrains production for kharif (summer-sown) season for 2018-19 crop year, rice output is estimated at record 99.24 million tonnes as against 97.5 million tonnes of production in last year’s kharif season.
The sowing operation of kharif crops begins with onset of monsoon and harvesting starts from mid-September. Paddy, maize and soyabean are major kharif crops. (PTI)
***
The duty benefit is provided under the commerce ministry’s Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
“Non-basmati rice items have been made eligible for MEIS benefits at the rate of 5 per cent for exports made with effect from November 26 and up to March 25, 2019,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said in a public notice.
DGFT, under the commerce ministry deals with export and import related policies.
Under MEIS, government provides duty credit scrip or certificate depending on product and country.
Those scrips can be transferred or used for payment of a number of duties including the basic customs duty.
India is one of the largest exporters of non-basmati rice and in 2017-18, the country exported 8.63 million tonnes of the rice, which was more than double the quantity of basmati rice exports of 4.05 million tonnes.
Non-basmati rice exports during April-February 2018 stood at USD 3.26 billion as against USD 2.53 billion in 2016-17.
Rice is the country’s main kharif crop. As per the first advance estimates of foodgrains production for kharif (summer-sown) season for 2018-19 crop year, rice output is estimated at record 99.24 million tonnes as against 97.5 million tonnes of production in last year’s kharif season.
The sowing operation of kharif crops begins with onset of monsoon and harvesting starts from mid-September. Paddy, maize and soyabean are major kharif crops. (PTI)
***
Rice Prices
as on : 27-11-2018 11:41:06 AM
Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
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Arrivals
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Price
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Current
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%
change |
Season
cumulative |
Modal
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Prev.
Modal |
Prev.Yr
%change |
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Rice
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||||||
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Cachar(ASM)
|
80.00
|
100
|
6122.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
9.09
|
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Naugarh(UP)
|
56.50
|
3.67
|
1474.20
|
2200
|
2250
|
6.02
|
|
Soharatgarh(UP)
|
6.50
|
-13.33
|
177.00
|
2270
|
2280
|
9.40
|
|
Dibrugarh(ASM)
|
6.00
|
100
|
806.90
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2920
|
2920
|
29.78
|
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Amroha(UP)
|
2.20
|
10
|
75.62
|
2600
|
2600
|
5.26
|
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Balarampur(WB)
|
1.80
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NC
|
95.15
|
2650
|
2670
|
12.77
|
Published
on November 27, 2018
Major price increase
eyed for NFA rice
“Our proposal is that we should at least earn a bit. Consumers are
not exactly complaining with the current P38 per kilo of commercial rice and
yet we are still selling at P27,” Escarez added. Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of
the Senate committee on agriculture and food, admitted that the P27-per-kilo
rate is causing NFA to lose money because this does not cover the overhead
expense for milling and other processes needed to convert palay into the grains
being sold in the market.
She added that during the milling process, only 65 percent is
converted into rice grains. Although she is not certain if the proposal will be
approved, Villar urged the NFA to focus on local procurement and beef up its
resources as rice importation, when quantitative restriction (QR) is removed,
will soon become free-flowing. The NFA stands to lose at least P160 million
with the rice tariffication law that will effectively remove its regulatory and
monitoring functions. About 400 employees doing the regulatory function will
also be affected.
The Federation of Free
Farmers (FFF) slammed senators for proposing the abolition of NFA and called instead
for a thorough review of its mandate and functions. Raul Montemayor, FFF
national manager, said that instead of abolishing the NFA, which some lawmakers
said will no longer have any significant role to play in terms of food security
once the quantitative restrictions on rice imports are removed, senators should
review its role to ensure effectiveness. Even with a reduced role in the rice
market, Montemayor said the agency could still help implement an e-trading
system by which farmers in remote areas can sell their products directly to
buyers in urban centers using cellphones and internet-based applications
. “The NFA’s warehouses and other assets can be used to process
and store raw produce and transfer stocks from supply to demand areas in
cooperation with private market players,” Montemayor said. “NFA’s licensing and
monitoring functions should be retained to ensure that speculators and
unscrupulous importers do not manipulate the market at the expense of producers
and consumers,” he added. Last week, the bicameral committee adopted the Senate
version of the rice tariffication bill that Villar sponsored. Aside from
removing QRs and replacing them with tariffs, the bill eliminates all the
licensing and monitoring functions of NFA.
It also allegedly proposes to limit NFA functions only to
maintaining buffer stocks for emergencies, which means that the agency will no
longer be responsible for stabilizing prices by distributing cheap rice or
buying from farmers when farm gate prices are low. Ruben Presilda, FFF
president, warned that the abolition of NFA would be dangerous to both
consumers and rice producers. “They are saying that open competition among
importers and market players will ensure that rice prices will go down. What if
that does not happen? What if large traders collude to manipulate prices of
palay or rice to maximize their profits?” he argued. “You need almost a billion
pesos in imports just to supply the Metro Manila market with rice for one day.
Only large financiers will have the resources to do this, and they can easily
take control of the market specially since NFA will not be there anymore to
monitor them and stabilize prices,” Presilda added. – With
Cecille Suerte Felipe
Government mulls banning
rice imports
A rice grower dries rice in
Butalejja. FILE Uganda has more mills than rice to process, a situation that
has left players in the industry in a tight spot as government plans to stop
importing the unprocessed grains. A new
study on the size of the rice market in Uganda found that, the country has a daily
milling capacity of 7,158 metric tonnes.
This implies that it takes only 38
days to mill paddy rice that is currently grown in Uganda. This means if it were not for the imports of
unprocessed rice, the mills would be redundant for the remaining 327 days of
the year. Third deputy Prime Minster,
Moses Ali who officially launched the report said, “The ban on importats is
intended to protect farmers and increase our domestic production.” He said the
country’s domestic production target should double from the current 1.5 tonnes
to 3 tonnes per hectare. “Last year, Uganda alone imported rice worth some
$120m (Shs450b). That money should have gone to our farmers and millers to
improve domestic production and create more jobs,” Mr Ali added.
Responding to the looming ban, Mr Philip Idro,
the chairperson of the Rice Millers Council of Uganda said, “Millers have set
up factories to process locally produced rice. Unfortunately, farmers are not
producing enough. We want government and the private sector to help out on
this.” Mr Idro added that investors have
put in a lot of money to set up mills and if they stop operating, their mills
will be taken away.
“This is why we are asking
government to allow us (millers) import a bit of rice from Pakistan and other
areas at least for the next two years to prepare for this action. This will
give time to farmers to produce enough,” Mr Idro pleaded. He urged the ministry
of agriculture to train farmers to grow more rice which will be supplied to the
millers. Imports According to statistics from Uganda Revenue Authority and
International Trade Centre (ITC), Uganda’s imports have increased by 71.4 per
cent in the last 10 years. In 2008, the country imported a total of 59,988
tonnes. This has since increased to 210,102 tonnes recorded in 2017. Rice imports into the country mainly come as
raw (brown & paddy) and final refining happens in the country.
It is parked and re-distributed into
consumption areas. Exports Much as Uganda’s production is not enough to run the
mills throughout the year, the country also exports some. Data indicate an
increase in the rice exports from 33,757 tonnes in 2008 to 71,890 tonnes in
2017. “Rice exports are mainly done as
white rice which is exported to DRC and South Sudan. Part of the exports are from
the local production and another part is from the imports,” Mr Haam Rukundo,
the team leader at Rhamz International – a multidisciplinary consultancy that
conducted the research, said. Mr Rukondo said their findings show that Uganda’s
imports of rice for the year ending December 2017 were 210,102 tonnes of paddy.
Of this volume, 59,852 tonnes of paddy were
re-exported to neighbouring countries.
“In the same year, the country exported 71,890 tonnes of paddy
equivalent from the locally produced rice. Therefore the imports netted 78,360
tonnes of paddy rice,” Rukondo added. Due to the fact that the net imports also
reflect informal exports which were not confirmed by this study, net imports
range between 78,360 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of rice.
Author Name:
https://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/Government-mulls--banning-rice-imports-/688616-4869506-7ipr0jz/index.html
Water conservation critical
for rice
LARKANA: Farmers, millers and exporters of rice have agreed to
adopt latest water conservation, harvesting
as well as milling measures to improve quantity, quality and exports of rice.
Stakeholders were of the view that by adopting latest measures being practiced
in the neighbouring countries - India and Bangladesh, the country would be able
to save water and increase the production.
They said at least 20 percent crop
was lost during the poor post harvesting process and at least 50 percent of the
water could be saved by levelling the land. Rice Exporters Association of
Pakistan (REAP) hosted a two-day thought provoking conference ‘REAP Rice
Conference 2018’ on Monday and Tuesday at a local hall in Larkana with the
support of stakeholders, including Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA), Sindh
Abadgar Board, and Sindh and Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association.
Larkana division is the centre for
non-basmati rice production in the country. The conference conducted four
sessions on farming, pesticide usage, milling and exports during the two days,
besides discussing all important aspects started from sowing to exports.
Pakistan’s rice exports had been struggled at around $2 billion for a decade,
which needed measures to improve seed, harvesting, milling and exports.
Pakistan’s total rice production was around 741 million tons, of which 52
percent production was exported.
Qabool Muhammad Khatian, chairman,
SCA, said rice prices improved during the last one and half year, however, cost
was increasing every year. “Water crisis is increasing, until farmers go for
laser levelling of their lands, water crisis will not be controlled,” he said.
He said the country needed to make exportable items like China was developing
the exportable items.
Japanese firm launches
ready-to-eat ’emergency rice’ in PH
MANILA
- A Japan-based ready-to-eat rice maker formally launched Tuesday its
'Rice-to-Go' product intended mainly for use in emergency and disaster
situations in the Philippines. Kiyosada Egawa, chairman of Biotech Japan Corp.,
said at the product unveiling event that he "would like to share our
technology from Japan that has the ability to make rice keep its acceptable
quality for a prolonged period of time.
"
He noted that every year, the Philippines is struck by typhoons, "and each
time the media shows us hundreds of people going hungry because food and fuel
are either unavailable or scarce." To be sold as early as next year in
200-gram packs at a retail price of 35 pesos each (nearly $0.70), with a
shelf-life of a year, Egawa said the Rice-to-Go, made from locally grown and
processed rice, is "the perfect response to such emergencies," It is
also ideal for those who have no time to cook at home, those who cannot or
forget to bring their packed meals at work or in school, those who go hiking or
camping, and others who are simply on-the-go, he added.
Egawa
said his company is especially targeting the governmental and nongovernmental
entities engaged in disaster relief. Its local subsidiary, Biotech JP Corp.,
was established in Batangas province, south of Manila, in April 2015, and
already sells three other products packed, cooked rice products.
Unlike
the company's Insta Rice, a regular, precooked rice that needs to be
microwaved, Rice-to-Go does not have to be reheated. Braddy Agarma, an officer
from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, recognized the need for
ready-to-eat food. "Currently, we are looking for technologies available
in the market, and Biotech is very good. You don't need to cook anymore, and
the flavor of the rice is good. The rice is not hard and not dry," he
said.
The New cision Agriculture By Water and Air
WaterBit’s Carbon soil moisture
sensor makes Greg Van Dyke’s dry-seeding approach to rice production measurable
and facilitates improvements in techniques.
Still, product development for
specialty crops has continued to be robust. In this article we look at two
technology concepts: WaterBit’s field moisture monitoring and control system,
and Rantizo’s vision for targeted, drone-based crop protection application.
Waterbit: Maximizing Water Efficiency in Rice
Because agriculture is so
variable intensive, turning sensor-gathered data into an actionable, high-value
data collection system has been one of the “low-hanging fruits.” The ability to
accurately measure and report factors such as weather data, pest infestation,
soil moisture, and more should logically put some powerful decision-making
tools into the hands of agronomists and farmers.
Through the recent boom in
technology investment, sensors have emerged as a big area of exploration, in
particular, for water and irrigation management in high-value crops. Given the
pressure on agriculture to improve water-use efficiency and stewardship,
interest is high. But there are not many one-size-fits-all systems out there —
deployments in water-intensive crops require an operation-by-operation
approach.
Greg Van Dyke (left) uses the
WaterBit system on an 80-acre rice test site with a goal of monitoring soil
moisture more accurately and improving water use efficiency.
Among those putting the WaterBit
technology through its paces is Pleasant Grove, CA, rice producer Greg Van
Dyke. Greg, along with his father Gary, his uncle Bob, and Bob’s son, Rob, are
the fourth and fifth generation of his family to own the farm, and rice has
been the only crop they produce. They’re fully integrated — Greg owns Kanpecki,
a rice brand, and is co-owner of VA Farms and the Rice Growers Association of
California, which creates distribution and marketing channels for the rice it
produces.
With all the pressure farmers are
under in California to maximize water use, the Van Dykes are keenly interested
in finding ways to challenge the conventional, water-intensive production
methods most commonly used. “Unlike most parts of the world, rice in California
is water seeded,” Greg Van Dyke says. “We have a three- to four-passage tillage
cycle to prepare our seed bed, and after fertilizer application and last seed
bed preparation, we flood the fields and use airplanes to fly on presoaked,
germinated seed, which sinks to the bottom into the last furrow preparation.”
It gets silted over to the right seed depth, and the rice emerges out through
the water.
Drill seeding, a less water-intensive
practice in rice, has not proven practical in the region. “We have real issues
with drill seeding because of a number of factors, including soil type and soil
inconsistency, among other things,” Greg says. “And with a water seeding
approach, the aquatic environment destroys about 95% of invasive weeds right
off the bat.” In-season, the flood is kept on the rice until a month prior to
harvest, keeping the pressure on water use.
Now, the Van Dykes are using some
of what they have learned from producing organic rice through a “dry-seeding”
approach. The soil is prepared the same, but dry seed is flown onto the
furrows, and the seed is flat-rolled over the top to compress the seed to a
prescribed depth, then treated with preemergent herbicide. A series of flushes
is brought over the top of the seed to bring the soil to full saturation.
“We found that we not only reduce
water usage by 15% to 20% per acre, but we stimulate seedling vigor, get less
seedling death, and less lodging,” Van Dyke says.
It sounds simple on paper, but
there are numerous complexities and variables that, while they’ve proven to
work, have not had a lot of actual data behind them. A year ago a WaterBit
system was installed on 80 acres of rice production to try to gather and monitor
the myriad aspects of managing rice through a dry-seeding approach.
Greg Van Dyke notes that the
dry-seeding regimen they developed is “cued off of soil moisture and
temperature to determine when to culturally bring your flushes across, so a
technology like WaterBit is critical in terms of learning the data and
correlations between weather patterns and dry cycles in your soil, soil
temperature, evapotranspiration, and more. Considering all the things we’ve
learned historically from experience, a data monger like me has been craving
the opportunity to capture this as big data to help us to start explaining
these relationships and start to applying the data to management tools.”
The actual technology deployment
was relatively straightforward on the 80-acre test site, Leif Chastaine,
WaterBit Co-Founder and COO, says. Three of the WaterBit Carbon soil sensors
were installed — one at the irrigation inflow, one at the outflow, and one in
the center to monitor the flow of water through the field. A communications center
was installed to collect and transfer data to the cloud, which uses LoRa
protocol to send data at 15-minute intervals. Van Dyke accessed the data
wirelessly via an online portal. The entire installation took less than a day,
and data was collected almost immediately.
With a full season in, Van Dyke
is pleased with what he’s learned and what he will be able to apply to
best-planting practices next season on the test site. He’s also adding some
features to the system, including atmospheric data gathering that will allow
him to measure the carbon footprint of the field production cycle.
Van Dyke is certainly predisposed
to data immersion and is always hungry for more, but the value so far has been
clear. “We were one of the first rice farmers in California to use prescriptive
fertilizer application based on continuous yield monitoring from our
harvesters,” Van Dyke says. “And I have used it every year to come up with
prescriptions for basically every input we have. The technology in reality is
very simple, but it’s insanely powerful — we are gathering and applying data in
a way that we’ve never been able to before.”
Rantizo: Targeted, Drone-Applied Pest Application
With so much data emerging from
field sensors and imagery that reveal in-season field problems, the inevitable
question is how can we do something about it? Behind this backdrop the concept
of drone-applied crop protection as an answer to this question has been a focus
for a number of ag technology startups.
Rantizo’s crop protection
application drone.
The concept: a targeted drone
spraying platform that utilizes electrostatic technology to safely and
precisely deliver cartridge-dispensed ag chemicals when and where they are
needed.
“We think there’s a big
opportunity in figuring out what can be done to improve application,” Michael
Ott, Founder and CEO, says. “We are looking for ways to make application of
chemicals more precise, to get them applied exactly where they are needed.” Ott
and COO Matt Beckwith started the company earlier this year. There are
currently five employees.
Rantizo will not be designed as a
diagnostic tool — it will rely on data and imagery from outside sources to
determine the cause of a particular problem. The system is all about execution
— getting the right product applied to the exact area that needs it via a drone
and cartridge application system.
“We have a prototype unit that we
can fly and spray autonomously,” Ott says. The prototype was successfully
demonstrated for a farming operation in Memphis, and deployment of the
technology next year is full steam ahead.
Retail will be the focus of
conversations about bringing Rantizo to market, as Ott notes, “to gain access
to the largest number of acres as soon as possible.” The company will offer the
actual drones and cartridges of chemicals to start and will look at eventually
offering spray services.
In early work on opportunities,
high-value crop production is the best fit now. “We are looking at
opportunities in lettuce, papaya, blueberries, sweet corn, and the greenhouse
market,” Ott says. “As we tell our story, we’re having lots of one-off
discussions with niche markets that see a fit for the technology, and we will
be pursuing these in the months ahead.”
Row crop markets will come next,
in particular with late-season applications that tackle in-season issues like
disease and insect infestations when conditions preclude using a ground rig.For
more information on Rantizo, visit rantizo.com.
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