Rice mills’ dust polluting environment in
Larkana
BY PPI ,
(LAST UPDATED
LARKANA: Dust coming out of rice mills have proved to be hazardous
for human health as no action has been taken by the district administration and
the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).
It has been reported that around
2000 rice mills are operating in Sindh and Balochistan, including
Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Dadu, Jacobabad, Kashmore and Larkana districts,
where white rice is produced through milling system after removing the husk,
bran layers and mud. These particles then fly in the air and have become
hazardous for labourers and citizen living in the vicinity.
Rice mills have become a large
industry, but the owners have not installed environment protection equipment to
prevent infections and make the area environment-friendly.
Shahdadkot Assistant Commissioner
Abdul Karim Sangrasi issued over 100 notices to the rice mill owners in which
it has been informed to them that under Section 11 of Sindh Environmental
Protection Act 2014. The Act stated that “nobody is allowed to discharge
contaminated material which may pollute the environment for which Water
Commission has also issued instructions to install treatment plants”.
In addition to that, “SEPA
Larkana has also written a letter to all Deputy Commissioners of Larkana
Division for action,” the letter added.
Moreover, it was reported that
the mill owners have been warned that if they do not abide by the prevailing
laws by 12th December, then stern action will be taken under Section 22 of SEPA
Act. This will include a fine of up to five million rupees.
Similarly, Sindh-Balochistan
Rice Millers Association President Qamaruddin Gopang said that as of yet
no preventive measures have been taken by the rice millers.
He said his own mill is located
in Larkana’s Sindh Small Industries (SSI) area where no equipment has been
installed as yet, adding that he “fully supported the SEPA action and advised
all the mill owners to install all safety measures to protect the environment”.
Audio: Southeast
Missouri State University designs new variety of rice
After
about one decade in the making, Southeast Missouri State University in Cape
Girardeau and the Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council have
developed a medium grain rice. Agriculture professor Mike Aide says MM17 rice
will be available for the 2019 planting season.
Aide
says MM17 rice is ideal for Asian restaurants making sushi and other Asian
entrees.
Drones may attract youth to rice
farming–PhilRice
-
December 11, 2018
The Philippine Rice Research
Institute (PhilRice) is pushing for the adoption of the drone technology in
farms to cut production cost and encourage the youth to plant rice.
PhilRice FutureRice Program (FRP)
leader Roger F. Barroga said the drone technology is commercially available but
has not been applied in rice farming.
“PhilRice and other public and
private organizations are already exploring it so that it can finally be
brought to the ground, making it less elusive to Filipino rice stakeholders,”
Barroga said in statement.
PhilRice said it recently signed
a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Davao-based drone firm New Hope Corp. to
advance research in the rice sector.
The MOA covers the possible use
of drone in fertilizer application, seeding and pest management, according to
the attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Initial testing conducted by
PhilRice and New Hope showed that the drone only uses 16 liters of spray per
hectare to apply fertilizer compared to the usual 160 liters per hectare
applied by farmers using knapsack, according to Barroga.
“This drastic change in volume
can make the farmers turn skeptical on its effectiveness for pest management in
addition to investment, roughly ranging from P500,000 to a million pesos,”
Barroga said.
He said further research and farm
demonstrations may yield possible reduction in the seeds used per hectare from
two to three bags to just one bag through the use of drones.
The promotion of the potential of
drone technology in rice farming would cut farmers’ production costs while
luring young people back to farming, according to Barroga.
“By bringing it to the ground,
rice stakeholders in awe of this flying technology would cease to feel that it
is out of reach,” he said.
“Through service providers, drone
spraying can be made accessible to farmers at a price roughly ranging from P850
to P1,500 rental fee per hectare,” he added.
The DA is promoting the use of
drone technology to reduce the cost of producing rice, vegetables and other
crops amid the increase in the price of inputs, such as seeds and fuel.
In April, the DA said it would
spend at least P7.5 million to pilot test a drone spraying technology in a
5,000-hectare farm in Benguet.
“Five thousand hectares of
vegetable farms in Buguias town and other selected towns of Benguet Province
will serve as the pilot area of the newest farming technology that the DA is
adopting—aerial spraying using remote-controlled Drones,” Agriculture Secretary
Emmanuel F. Piñol said in a Facebook post in April.
Piñol said he made the commitment
following the successful test of drone spraying in vegetable farms in La
Trinidad, which was witnessed by Benguet Gov. Crecencio Pacalso and hundreds of
vegetable farmers.
The spraying test was conducted
by Japanese firm DMM Corp., according to Piñol.
“It took the drone just a few
minutes to cover a patch of vegetables and according to the data provided by
the Japanese service provider company, it will only take 10 minutes to cover
one hectare,” he said.
“The drone could be used to spray
foliar fertilizer and other biological pest control solutions and is expected
to bring down farm operations costs and increase productivity,” he added.
With the use of remote-controlled
drones, the DA chief said farmers will also avoid getting sick as they “will no
longer have direct contact with the biological or chemical mists emitted by
handheld sprayers.”
Image
Credits: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg
China's record rice yield -- a blessing for
global grain consumers
18 tons per hectare shows China
remains committed to feeding its 1.4bn people
TADANORI YOSHIDA, Nikkei senior staff writerDECEMBER 10, 2018 15:10 JST
Despite an increasingly wealthy population with
changing dietary habits, China continues to strive to make its rice paddies more
productive. © AP
TOKYO -- For a second year in a row China has set a record for
rice production, this time with a yield of more than 18 tons on a hectare. This
is almost three times the average in neighboring Japan, where farmers favor
flavor over quantity and do not have 1.4 billion people to nourish.
The record was set in an
experimental paddy in the northern province of Hebei that had been planted with
a variety known as Xiangliangyou 900. A team of researchers led by Yuan
Longping, China's "father of hybrid rice," developed the varietal.
The new strain is a global
blessing. China's experiments with improving rice yields show the country's
commitment to food self-sufficiency, which contributes to food security around
the world. If the most populous nation were to turn to imports for major
grains, it would inevitably push up international market prices.
This would also have consequences
in China, whose citizens would find it more difficult to buy their necessary
calories.
According to Ruan Wei of Japan's
Norinchukin Research Institute, Japan "is lucky in that even if it boosts
its dependence on imported food it would not greatly affect the international
market."
The country's population is
around 125 million and shrinking.
Since 1978, when it launched its
reform and opening-up policy, China has modeled its economy on Japan's two
go-go decades through the mid-1970s. It exported its way to explosive growth
and is now striving to expand via domestic consumption.
However, China veered off the
Japan trail when it came to agriculture policy.
As the Japanese diet westernized,
the country increased its reliance on nonrice grain imports, and its food
self-sufficiency ratio began to plummet.
As Japan's farmers found
themselves suddenly competing against hamburgers, they were also being told to
reduce the acreage they devote to rice. So the industry began focusing on
engineering better-tasting grain.
One factor that pushed farmers to
improve the flavor of their rice was a grading system that the Japan Grain
Inspection Association introduced in 1971. Coincidentally, McDonald's opened
its first restaurant in Japan that very same year. Many of Japan's
rice-producing regions looked at the ranking as a contest and thus competed for
the highest special A rating. That honor is still coveted and, once attained, trumpeted.
Who needs to improve rice yields
when Japanese are treating their palates to fancier foods?
Although the same dynamic is now
playing out in China, prospects for higher prices have left the government with
no choice but to hold strong to a policy of maintaining self-sufficiency in
rice, wheat and staples other than soybeans.
For growing more rice, China has
two options, according to Ruan of Norinchukin Research Institute: consolidation
and mechanization.
As for the trend toward richer
foods, it is mostly confined to large cities. Outside big burgs, rice, noodles,
dumplings and other foods made from grains that are easy to grow domestically
form a core part of the diet. But in more urban areas, McDonald's, Kentucky
Fried Chicken, Starbucks and other American fast-food chains are ubiquitous.
Xiangliangyou 900 can keep
China's low-income masses fed while also serving as a safety net for the wider
population, but it is a matter of time before the prevalence of fast food
significantly alters the country's eating habits
Turning ‘agri trash’ into treasure: Rice straw as
a potential energy source
-
December 10, 2018
Benjamin Laviña, a farmer from
Laguna, has been planting rice for more than 40 years now. Come harvest time,
Laviña gets only the grains, and burns the stems and leaves—or the rice
straw—for disposal.
Laviña is among the farmers who
consider rice straw as an agricultural waste that could hinder land preparation
for the next planting season.
According to the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI), some 300 million tons of this rice by-product
are burned every year. The latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change projected that burning of crop residue, including rice
straw, contributes a fairly good amount of greenhouse-gas emission by the
agricultural sector.
The potential for rice straw to
become a common biomass resource is huge, given that 3.5 billion people or more
than half of the world’s population rely on rice for their staple food. IRRI
estimates that about 6 tons of straw are produced for every 4 tons of rice grain—amounting
to more than 700 million tons of rice straw produced every year, and most of
them are simply disposed of.
“For bioenergy experts, scouting
the world for whatever biomass you can use without competing with food
production is more preferable. There’s a huge opportunity in rice straw as
sustainable source of bioenergy, the fact that it doesn’t have to be returned
to the soil and it’s being burned while there’s so much of it,” said Craig
Jamieson, founder of Straw Innovations Ltd.
and part of the ongoing Rice Straw to Biogas (R2B) Project.
R2B project, a collaboration
between research institutions (University of Southampton and University of
Manchester in the United Kingdom) and industry actors (Straw
Innovations Ltd., a start-up company
based in Los Baños, Laguna, and QUBE
Renewables Ltd.), want to turn rice
straws into a viable energy source for agricultural communities and beyond.
The R2B Project seeks to provide
energy in rural areas with no or limited access to electricity but where rice
straw is abundant.
Initially, the project is
targeted to be used as a cooking fuel in Southeast Asian households, where
firewood is normally used for cooking. Eventually, the project will explore the
possibility of biogas to power agricultural machineries, as well as an energy
source for households.
The project hopes to address
energy challenges faced by developing countries.
Developing sustainable business models
Straw Innovations Ltd.
plans to develop biogas from rice straw by using low-cost technology. Once
villages have been tested, the company will scale up its operations.
“Field testing of biogas has to
be conducted at the community-scale, a sweet spot between a large-scale power
plant, which is expensive and difficult to maintain, and a small- or farm-scale
demonstration, which cannot be sustained because farmers are preoccupied with
their crops,” Jamieson said.
To make the initiative
sustainable once the technology is available in the market, Straw
Innovations Ltd. has developed a
business model that will involve key players other than farmers, such as
bioenergy experts, potential investors and agribusiness operators.
“It’s going to be an agribusiness
so that it can be sustainable and not just relying on public funds forever.
It’s a business model and not a leisure farming type. We need people in
business who are serious about this to co-invest with us—they could be anywhere
in the supply chain, they could be rice mill owners, they could be dairy
farmers or fertilizer companies,” Jamieson added.
Meanwhile, the First Quezon
Biogas Corp. (FCBC), a cooperative composed of commercial poultry growers in
Quezon province, will soon open a biogas powerplant in Candelaria that will
incorporate rice straw, chicken manure and other agricultural wastes for energy
production.
According to Liborio Cabanilla,
professor of Economics from the University of the Philippines Los Baños and one
of the consultants in the development of FCBC powerplant, the venture is going
to be a win-win situation for both the farmers and FCBC.
Cabanilla explained that rice
straw and other agricultural residues that are considered as waste by famers
will now have added value since they will become one of the main materials for
biogas production.
He also shared that the fermented
rice straw and manure left after the biogas production can also serve as
organic fertilizer, which the company can donate to farmers.
Recognizing the dynamics in farming
communities
The initiative to convert rice
straw into massive energy source, however, could only work if farmers are
willing to cooperate.
Based on the findings of
the Rice
Straw Energy Project, an integrated
research from 2013 to 2016 that identified challenges to fulfill the bioenergy
potential of rice straw, farmers have different attitudes toward giving away
leftover straw.
According to Angela Minas,
researcher from Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of
Manchester and was part of the project, opinions of farmers and local
communities need to be recognized during the initiative’s technology
development.
The research project also
revealed that cultural traditions and beliefs play an important role in straw
management, as they shape how individual farmers value and use rice straw.
“So far, we have learned from our
research in the Philippines and Vietnam that rice-straw management is a social
practice—and industry actors need to understand this,” Minas added. But
according to farmers interviewed in the same research, they were also open to
changing their practices.
Researchers from the project were
optimistic that suitable business models could optimize prevailing market
opportunities relevant at each site, address the needs of the farmers and
understand their overall farming system, while more pilot demonstration
projects and experiential learning will benefit farmers and increase their
confidence to change their rice straw-management practices.
As for farmers like Laviña, he
sees no problem to changing his practice as long as it will not cost him too
much time and additional expenses.
“We are even willing to attend
trainings on proper rice-straw management, and it will really be interesting if
this can provide us additional income,” Laviña added.
Small Loans Help Increase Rice Yield In Bangladesh,
Study Shows
Microfinance institutions have a positive
impact on farmers, allowing them to adopt high-yield rice varieties and
increase their farming output, researchers say. SHARE SHARE TWEET SHARE
AsianScientist (Dec. 10, 2018) – An international research group has found that
microfinance schemes could increase rice yields in Bangladesh. They published
their findings in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. In the
developing world, access to credit can lead to higher productivity and an
increase in living standards. However, formal financial institutions are
reluctant to finance households with low incomes or which lack collateral. This
is where microfinance institutions, or MFIs, play a role. MFIs extend small
loans, called microcredit, 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
microcredit to tenant farmers.
In the present study, researchers from
Bangladesh, Japan and the US have examined the impact of agricultural
microcredit on the livelihood of farmers. Led by Dr. Mohammad Abdul Malek of
Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Agriculture, the researchers analyzed
various outcomes of microcredit loans, such as the adoption of high-yield or
hybrid rice, the overall rice yield, as well as farmers’ household incomes.
“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 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 showed that
BCUP helped increase rice yield as well as overall crop farm income.
The researchers also reported that the BCUP
helps increase the probability of adopting hybrid and higher yield rice.
Furthermore, they noted a positive effect on the cultivation of owned land and
livestock ownership. “BCUP has had a number of positive effects,” said Malek.
“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 increase the financial inclusion of tenant farmers,
said the researchers. The team hopes to continue their inquiry into the effects
of microcredit, seeking to better inform future policy decisions in Bangladesh
or elsewhere in Asia. The article can be found at: Hossain et al. (2018)
Agricultural Microcredit for Tenant Farmers: Evidence from a Field Experiment
in Bangladesh. ——— Read more from Asian Scientist Magazine at:
https://www.asianscientist.com/2018/12/in-the-lab/bangladesh-farmer-microcredit-productivity/ https://www.asianscientist.com/2018/12/in-the-lab/bangladesh-farmer-microcredit-productivity/
More rice imports arriving
Based on the updated list released by the NFA, 90 firms
have already applied for the out-quota importation of 572,278 MT of rice to be
sourced from Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Taiwan.
Boy Santos
Louise Maureen Simeon (The
Philippine Star) - December 10, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — As the
Philippines moves toward the unlimited importation of rice, more than 500,000
metric tons (MT) are expected to enter the country after 90 private traders
applied to bring in the commodity under the out-quota scheme.
Based on the updated list
released by the NFA, 90 firms have already applied for the out-quota
importation of 572,278 MT of rice to be sourced from Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar
and Taiwan.
Last month, the interagency
National Food Authority Council (NFAC) allowed the unlimited importation of
rice in a bid to further stabilize the market ahead of the bicameral
conference committee for the rice tariffication.
The out-quota allocation means
traders can apply for any volume of imported rice they would want to bring into
the country.
Of the initial volume, the
imports will be discharged in Manila, Subic, Cebu, Zamboanga City, Davao, La
Union, Tacloban and Cagayan de Oro.
The NFA will continuously process
and approve applications of private traders.
Earlier, Agriculture Secretary
Emmanuel Piñol said importers can only bring in 25 percent brokens, but the
latest terms of reference for the out-quota scheme allows traders to import 25
percent brokens or better.
All rice to be imported will be
levied with a 35 percent tariff for Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) countries and 50 percent for non-ASEAN.
Rice import allocation of
eligible importers must be loaded upon the approval of the sanitary and
phytosanitary import clearance by the Bureau of Plant Industry and payment of
the required tentative advance Customs duty.
The out-quota imports would add
to the recently bidded out 500,000 MT via open tender and the 203,000 MT
government-to-government scheme.
The Agri chief allayed fears that
this move would cause the influx of imported rice into the local market.
“I don’t think that’s going to
happen because when the importers would feel there is so much rice stocks in
the market and prices would go down to a level where they cannot make money
anymore, then they would not import,” Piñol earlier said.
“It will be the absorptive
capacity of the market that will set the cap. And no businessman in his right
mind will import rice if there is no market,” he said.
Africa to need 7 bln USD for rice imports
annually by 2020: FAO
Source:
Xinhua| 2018-12-11 03:03:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan
ADA, Ghana, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) has predicted that Africa would need a whopping
7 billion U.S. dollars for its rice imports annually by 2020.
Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Officer-In-Charge of the FAO Regional
Office for Africa said this in his message on Monday at the opening of the
two-day conference on Sustainable Rice Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Ada,
about 104 km east of Ghana's capital Accra.
He therefore noted that there was the need for effective
leadership and political will coupled with concerted efforts for Africa to
achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and also end hunger.
The African Rice Project is under the UN South-South Cooperation
program. China is one of the major development partners supporting the
South-South Cooperation program especially in Africa and Asia.
Official data by FAO indicated that in 2015 alone African
countries have imported about 36 percent of their rice requirements, at the
cost of about 4 billion dollars.
"The projection for 2020 do not seem to change that
percentage: only that the drain on foreign exchange to foot the import bills
are expected to rise to 7 billion dollars annually," the official said.
Haile-Gabriel urged that rice self-sufficiency for Africa should
not only target meeting consumption needs locally but also at the multiplier
effect through the re-allocation of the much needed foreign exchanges and investing
in the rice value chain development initiatives that will create and expand
employment opportunities for youth and women.
Represented at the up-scaling conference were delegates from the
ministries of food and agriculture of Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Benin, Mali,
Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea, Kenya and Senegal.
Throwing sand in one’s own rice bowl
Sok Chan and Sangeetha Amarthalingam / Khmer Times
A year ago, the European Union
offered Cambodia the option of using a unique Harmonised Systems Code (HS Code)
for its Jasmine fragrant rice and white rice to differentiate it from other
Indica rice, a move that could have saved the nation from the conundrum it now
finds itself in.
But this did not materialise
because of what some have described as a powerful combination of apathy and
arrogance that led key players to believe that Cambodia could not be harmed so
long as she is shielded by the Everything-but -arms (EBA) privileges rendered
to Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Then the ball dropped. EU
launched a safeguard inquiry to determine whether imports of semi-milled and
milled Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar resulted in “serious difficulties
to EU producers of like or competing products”.
On Nov 5, the Directorate-General
for Trade of the European Commission (EC) confirmed that a significant surge of
rice imports from Cambodia and Myanmar caused economic damage to the rice
sector in Europe.
The bloc is also in the midst of
classifying semi-milled and milled Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar with
commodity codes that are similar to EU Indica rice.
This is already hurting the
Cambodian rice sector, and though the local Customs Department is working on
its own code, the effort is seen as too little too late as EU presses ahead
with the tax regime.
On Tuesday, EU member states
failed to unanimously agree on the imposition of a regressive tax that would
have started Jan 1, but now the ball is in the EC’s court to either vote or
strike out the tariff.
While criticism is rife that the
government and the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) could have scuttled the
entire classification process with a forceful and united front against the EU,
there is also the long-standing quandary of whether Cambodian rice is of the
Indica variety or not.
The truth is that Cambodia
produces Jasmine fragrant rice and white rice for the EU market, which fall
squarely under the Indica rice classification.
“In the tropics, where Cambodia
lies, the type of rice planted – fragrant rice and white rice – is of the
traditional Indica rice species. In temperate regions like Japan and Korea,
Spain and Italy, it is Japonica rice that is grown.
“However, Spain also has a
Mediterranean climate, so it can grow white rice,” Buyung Hadi, Cambodia
representative of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), told Khmer
Times.
White rice is high yielding and
matures fast but it is generally of low quality, and is traded at a lower price
compared to fragrant rice, which is photosensitive, meaning it takes a longer
time to grow and can be planted for a limited period of time. This results in
lesser supply, pushing up prices.
According to the UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO), rice production in Cambodia is expected to rise
marginally this year to reach 10.7 million tonnes. Exports of milled rice are
projected to expand to nearly 1.5 million tonnes from 1.4 million last year.
75 percent of rice produced in
the EU is Japonica and 25 percent Indica (long grain white rice), whereas 55
percent of Cambodia’s rice exports to EU is fragrant rice, seemingly cancelling
out the competition with EU’s white rice.
Arguing that there is lack of
competition with EU’s rice sector, Mr Buyung is baffled as to why the safeguard
targets white rice.
“Within the Indica species, there
is a variety of qualities that is relevant to trade. Why is the safeguard
targeting the white rice? If that is the case, it is misplaced because most of
Cambodia’s rice exports consist of fragrant rice,” he said.
So where does that leave this debate?
Critics opine that Cambodia is
‘crying’ because not only did the letters sent by major rice exporters Amru
Rice and Signatures of Asia lack exposure in the EU and were a tad emotional,
but also the entire move to safe the nation from the tariffs was allegedly
devoid of a united front.
They also alleged that the
cartels in CRF made up of rice exporters were more interested in sustaining a
profit margin than fighting for the sake of rice farmers, which they fervently
claim to do.
According to a source close to
the issue, exporters and millers, who largely make up CRF, are said to buy rice
from farmers at low rates, often below market prices.
“It is common knowledge that not
a single farmer has a better life in Cambodia because of the EBA privilege
status. From EU’s standpoint, it is exporters who become richer,” said the
source.
CRF secretary-general Moul Sarith
told Khmer Times that discussions with members started in March with documents
that were sent to the EU as a response to the bloc’s proposal submitted to the
Directorate General for Trade.
“We were given three weeks from
November 5 to submit the documents and evidence to back our argument before
negotiations on November 26. Our leaders went to Brussels to speak with the
Directorate General for Trade,” said Mr Sarith.
At press time, intense
negotiations are ongoing at the EU.
In the absence of a favourable
outcome, the CRF expects to work with its lawyers on the next course of action.
Nevertheless, a source close to
the issue pointed out that Cambodia would be able to sustain its rice business
on the off-chance the tax system is implemented.
“Cambodian jasmine rice is still
$200 cheaper than Thai’s. If Thailand can market its rice, Cambodia should have
no problem doing the same. Vietnam can also be seen as a key market for local
rice exports, as claimed by Cambodian exporters,” the source said.
However, Vietnamese millers
usually deal directly with rice farmers in paddy to be reprocessed in Vietnam
and exported at cheaper prices. Cambodian millers and exporters may end up
having less milled rice to export to end buyers, which occurred frequently when
the price of paddy was pushed up by Vietnamese or Thai brokers sent to procure
paddy from farmers.
Hopefully, the silver lining here
is that some nine million Cambodian rice farmers might finally see justice done
to their crop and efforts.
Ash particles and mud coming out of
Rice Mills: Hazardous for human health
DECEMBER 10, 2018
LARKANA: Ash particles and mud coming out of Rice Mills have
proved to be hazardous for human health for which no action was previously
taken by the district administration or the authorities of Sindh Environmental
Protection Agency (SEPA). 1500 to 2000 Rice Mills are working in Sindh and Balochistan
provinces including Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Dadu, Jacobabad, Kashmore and
Larkana districts where white rice is produced through milling system after
removing the husk, bran layers and mud which fly in the air and become
hazardous for labourers and the people living around such mills for which no
environment protection equipment is installed by the owners due to which chest
problems including asthma, eye, ENT ailments surface among the residents. Rice
Mills have become a large industry but the owners have never taken care of
human health and have failed to install required equipment to prevent
infections and make the area environment-friendly.
In this connection, Assistant Commissioner, Shahdadkot, Abdul
Karim Sangrasi, issued over 100 notices to the rice mill owners in which it has
been informed to them that under Section 11 of Sindh Environmental Protection
Act 2014, no body is allowed to discharge contaminated material which may
pollute the environment for which Water Commission has also issued instructions
to install treatment plants. Rice Mills have not installed such instruments
hence they are involved in environmental pollution due to which human health is
being badly affected for which SEPA Larkana has also written a letter to all
Deputy Commissioners of Larkana Division for action, the letter added. The AC
has warned that if mills are not abiding by the prevailing laws by 12th
December then stern action will be taken under Section 22 of SEPA Act which
include fine up to five million rupees. Despite receipt of notices the mill
owners have so far not taken any move to install required equipment to protect
the environment.
In this connection, President, Sindh-Balochistan Rice Millers
Association, Qamaruddin Gopang, confessed while talking to this Scribe on
Monday that no preventive measures have been taken by the rice millers as yet
including him adding ash particles and mud is coming out which pollute the air.
He said his own mill is located in Larkana’s Sindh Small Industries (SSI) area
where no equipment has been installed as yet. He said he fully support the SEPA
action and advised all the mill owners to install all safety measures to
protect environment. He disclosed that SSI area has come under the city which
will be shifted outside within next two years where all precautionary measures
will also be taken.
AC Sangrasi said that after expiry of deadline strict action
will be taken against the violators. He said he is happy that civil society is
supporting them over this vital issue.
Deputy Director, SEPA, Larkana, Ajmal Tunio, said that he has
sent the letter to all the Deputy Commissioners of Larkana Division to get
installed environmental protection equipment in all the rice mills located in
their respective districts. He said last month Water Commission team also
visited Naundero Sugar Mills where it was found that some air pollution control
systems were installed but they were issued directions to install waste water
treatment plants on scientific lines.
Minister Warns Of
Stern Action If Irregularities Found In Paddy Procurement
December 10, 2018
Bhubaneswar: Food Supply and
Consumer Welfare minister Surya Narayan Patro on Monday warned millers and the
Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) officials of stern action in
case of irregularities in paddy procurement.
Talking to mediapersons here, the
minister said the district collectors have been instructed to take stern action
against the millers and the PACS officials if they are found guilty of any
irregularity during the procurement of paddy. The collectors have been asked to
probe into the matter and arrest the millers and PACS officials and if
necessary, seize their rice mill.
“Under the rules and provisions,
the PACS cannot keep the paddy in its possession for more than 24 hours.”
Patro added.
The procurement of paddy, which
has already started in more than 23 districts, will begin in Ganjam district
from December 15, he said, adding that the problems related to paddy procurement
in Nuapada and Kalahandi districts have been resolved.
Briefing mediapersons earlier in
the day, Congress spokesperson Tara Prasad Bahinipati had alleged that the
paddy of the farmers is not being properly procured by the PACS and the millers
at several mandis in the state.
“The farmers are harassed by the
PACS officials and the millers, who are not paying them the actual price of the
paddy at various pleas. We have asked the government to look into the matter in
two days failing which the Congress will stage a statewide agitation,” he
warned.
Vanishing Nutrients
It’s a
hazard of climate change you probably haven’t heard of
By Elena Suglia on December 10, 2018
Is it possible to starve yourself of nutrients
while simultaneously gaining weight? It turns out the answer is yes. According
to a growing body of research, rising carbon dioxide levels are making our food
less nutritious, robbing key crops of vitamins essential to human development.
Studies have shown that crops as varied as wheat,
maize, soybeans and field peas contain less protein, zinc, and iron when grown under levels of carbon dioxide
expected by 2050. Many crops have already suffered losses in these nutrients;
one study compared modern plants with historical
herbarium specimens and found that levels of all minerals, including zinc, iron
and calcium, closely tracked carbon dioxide levels through time.
The latest paper on the topic, published earlier this year in Science Advances, found that concentrations of essential nutrients decreased
in 18 strains of rice after being exposed to increased carbon dioxide levels in an
experiment. The study was the first to show that B vitamins like riboflavin,
which helps your body break down food to make energy, and folate, which is
important for fetal development, dropped by as much as 30 percent.
It seems counterintuitive that more carbon
dioxide could harm plants, since it is one of the main ingredients that plants
use to grow, but it turns out that too much carbon dioxide is as unhealthy for
plants as too many carbohydrates are for humans. Extra carbon dioxide acts like
empty calories or “junk food” for the plants, which gorge themselves on it to
grow bigger and faster, consequently getting larger but less nutrient-packed.
Just like America’s obesity epidemic, which is partially due to people’s increased access to an
abundance of calorie-rich but nutrient-poor food, more is not always better.
Agricultural scientists have known for some time
that our food has been getting less nutritious, but they thought it was only
due to a byproduct of modern farming methods: soil overuse which leads to
mineral depletion, or breeders favoring high-yield varieties, which sacrifices
nutrition for size. Meanwhile, plant researchers working over the last couple
of decades were finding something surprising: that elevated carbon dioxide also
contributes to lowering mineral content in plants.
The plant and agricultural scientists each had
pieces of the puzzle, but no one put two and two together to fully explain the
nutrient depletion phenomenon until recently.
In 1998, a scientist named Irakli Loladze learned that zooplankton starve from nutrient
deficiency when eating algae that are given extra light and grow faster. He
thought the same thing might be happening with plants as a result of excess
carbon dioxide, and his instincts proved right. The phenomenon was dubbed the
“great nutrient collapse.”
The implications of this research are troubling
for anyone, but especially people in poor or undeveloped areas of the world
where it is more difficult to compensate for the lack of nutrients by
supplementing diets with more protein and vitamins.
According to the Global Hunger Index, 2 billion people worldwide already suffer from
“hidden hunger,” in which people starve consequent to malnutrition even though
they are consuming enough calories. Iron deficiency is the top nutritional disorder in the world, one of every three people are affected by inadequate zinc intake,
and millions are deficient in calcium, magnesium or selenium. Diets
low in these essential nutrients can lead to impaired cognitive development in
children, increased childhood and maternal deaths, reduced growth in infants,
and impaired immune function.
In countries in which the majority of people rely
on a few staple crops and do not eat diverse foods rich in minerals, nutrient
collapse may pose serious threats to nutrition. For example, rice and wheat
provide two out of every five calories that people consume. Rice alone
provides 70 percent of calorie intake in Bangladesh, the
world’s eighth most populous country, where malnutrition is already an issue.
One study mapped the geographic distribution of those most
susceptible to the impacts of anemia and found that the most vulnerable
countries were often the poorest and therefore least able to “buy” their way
out of the problem by eating more iron rich fruit, vegetables and meat.
The immediate threat nutrient collapse poses to
human health is clear, but other effects are less studied or unknown. For
example, it’s not only humans whose food is becoming less nutritious. One study showed that because of increasing carbon dioxide
levels, the pollen that bees eat as an important source of food late in the
summer now contains less protein than it once did. Another found
that plants produced less nectar when exposed to more carbon dioxide, which can
affect pollinators like butterflies and hummingbirds. Scientists know even less
about what will happen to herbivores or how that will affect animals higher up
the food chain. Will farmed meat from animals like cows and pigs contain fewer
nutrients because those animals are eating less nutritious plants? Right now,
researchers can only guess.
Interestingly, plants like maize and sugarcane,
which use a less common method of photosynthesis, are somewhat less prone to
nutrient declines. However, these so-called “C4 plants” make up only about 3
percent of all plant species, and therefore simply relying on more C4 crops for
food probably won’t solve nutrient depletion.
In a final irony, one researcher says nutrient
collapse may contribute to the rise in obesity because people are eating more
starchy plant-based foods and consuming higher quantities of food to make up
for their lower nutrition levels. Similar to how the zooplankton starved while
stuffing themselves with “junk food” algae that were given too much light, we
may all be headed for a bizarre world in which we are surrounded by food that
we can’t get enough of while, in reality, we’re starving while simultaneously becoming obese.
Can we mitigate the effects of nutrient collapse?
Perhaps, but it won’t be easy. The world’s population is growing, increasing
global food demands. Even if we dramatically decreased carbon dioxide emissions
starting now, atmospheric levels would still be expected to reach 550 parts per million in the next 50 years or so. Scientists have successfully
genetically engineered crops with boosted nutrients. Golden rice, for example, provides people with more vitamin
A than other varieties, but this process is lengthy, expensive and unlikely to
compensate for the plethora of nutrients and vitamins declining as a result of
rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.
In the meantime, scientists are working to
improve our understanding of how nutrient collapse will affect animals and
humans worldwide. With their efforts, we can better rise to the challenge of
keeping the world fed and healthy under this newly discovered, invisible threat
of human-caused environmental change.
Innovation Stage is the
conference hub
2018 USA Rice Outlook Conference - the Right Place at the Right
Time
By Deborah Willenborg
SAN DIEGO, CA -- With four separate
venues to choose from - the Innovation Stage, Sustainability Theater, Farm
& Food Forum, and the Business Hall - attendees at Day Two of this year's
USA Rice Outlook conference could choose from a long list of breakout sessions
to customize their educational experience and make the most of every moment at
this year's event.
State outlook and research reports,
and breakout sessions covering sustainability, estate planning, and a
discussion on the Central American market in the early morning made way for two
general sessions, one in the morning, and one after lunch, to round out the
day-long schedule.
Josh Hankins, USA Rice director for
grower relations & rice stewardship partnership, started the morning
General Session with an overview of the new USA Rice-developed search tool that
helps rice farmers find conservation programs that provide some form of
assistance to their operation. Users can
search by state, program type, topic, funding authority, or keyword to find the
programs that fit individual needs.
Keynote speaker, Daniel Stone, a
writer on environmental science, agriculture, and botany, shared the
fascinating story of American food spy David Fairchild who introduced hundreds
of crops to Americans including avocados, seedless grapes, soybeans, and other
favorites, essentially shaping the way Americans eat today.
USDA's Nathan Childs
Tried and true conference headliners, Nathan Childs and Jim
Wiesemeyer bookended the afternoon general session. Along with his usual analysis of rice
production projections, Senior USDA Economist Nathan Childs talked about the
cheap Chinese rice currently being exported into Puerto Rico. According to Childs, China is selling at less
than half the U.S. price in an effort to deplete their more than 200 million
tons of stockpiled rice.
"This year it was about being in the right place at the right
time and all that depended on your personal preferences," said USA Rice
President & CEO Betsy Ward.
"The wide range of topics and time slots allowed for an
individualized approach to scheduling - like putting together a complete meal
from an a la carte menu."
Africa to need 7 bln USD for rice imports
annually by 2020: FAO
Source:
Xinhua| 2018-12-11 03:03:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan
ADA, Ghana, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) has predicted that Africa would need a whopping
7 billion U.S. dollars for its rice imports annually by 2020.
Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Officer-In-Charge of the FAO Regional
Office for Africa said this in his message on Monday at the opening of the
two-day conference on Sustainable Rice Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Ada,
about 104 km east of Ghana's capital Accra.
He therefore noted that there was the need for effective
leadership and political will coupled with concerted efforts for Africa to
achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and also end hunger.
The African Rice Project is under the UN South-South Cooperation
program. China is one of the major development partners supporting the
South-South Cooperation program especially in Africa and Asia.
Official data by FAO indicated that in 2015 alone African
countries have imported about 36 percent of their rice requirements, at the
cost of about 4 billion dollars.
"The projection for 2020 do not seem to change that
percentage: only that the drain on foreign exchange to foot the import bills
are expected to rise to 7 billion dollars annually," the official said.
Haile-Gabriel urged that rice self-sufficiency for Africa should
not only target meeting consumption needs locally but also at the multiplier
effect through the re-allocation of the much needed foreign exchanges and
investing in the rice value chain development initiatives that will create and
expand employment opportunities for youth and women.
Represented at the up-scaling conference were delegates from the
ministries of food and agriculture of Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Benin, Mali,
Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea, Kenya and Senegal.
South Africa – gateway for Vietnamese rice to Africa
Pretoria (VNA) – South Africa is a promising market for Vietnamese rice exporters as it consumes about 850,000 tonnes of rice a year, said an official from Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
South Africa’s demand for rice is expected to rise in the context that its natural conditions are unfavorable for rice farming while the number of tourists and labourers from Asia, where rice is the main staple, coming to the country is on the rise, Tran Quoc Toan, deputy head of the MoIT’s Import and Export Department said.
Toan led a delegation to seek export markets for Vietnamese rice in South Africa from December 10-11. The trip is also part of trade promotion activities aiming to realise the target of improving trade between the two countries from present 1 billion USD to 1.5 billion USD in 2020 set by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visit to Vietnam in 2016.
At a working session with the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on December 10, Toan said as the locomotive economy in Africa, South Africa serves as a gateway for Vietnamese rice exporters to access the wider African market.
He, therefore, suggested Vietnamese businesses to expand relations with international partners operating in South Africa.
At the meeting, the official briefed South African participants on regulations regarding tax and customs procedures for rice exported to their country and rice distribution channels in the market.
Madileke Ramushu, DTI Director of Asia Bilateral Relations, said South Africa always encourages and stands ready to create the best possible conditions for Vietnamese businesses to increase rice exports to the country.
It will help them to enter other markets in the continent, especially those in the South African Development Community with a total population of 650 million, he said.
On this occasion, Madileke called on Vietnamese firms to help their South African partners to raise processed contents of their products delivered to Vietnam in order to improve their values.
He also suggested Vietnamese enterprises invest in the processing sector in South Africa, thus promoting their products in Africa.
While in South Africa, the Vietnamese delegation and the Vietnamese Embassy in the country joined hands with the DTI’s office in Johannesburg city to organise a workshop on rice export promotion in Vietnam.-VNA
Former Rice execs urge EQT 'course correction'
EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT) wants to put LED lighting
on the top of its building on Liberty Avenue.
By Paul J.
Gough – Reporter, Pittsburgh
Business Times
Dec 10, 2018, 7:56am EST Updated a day ago
Two former top executives of Rice Energy whose
family owns 7 million shares of EQT Corp. stock have sent a letter to EQT's
board urging a "course correction," including adding one of them to a
key operational position.
Former Rice Energy COO Toby
Z. Rice and EVP Exploration/Production Derek A. Rice said in the letter
released Monday that EQT's "severely depressed stock price" and its
valuation has been a result of its operational performance. EQT (NYSE: EQT)
closed Friday at $18.41, up 2 percent, yet down from its 52-week high of
$32.48. The last several weeks of trading has been following the company's
split.
"EQT has the potential to unlock
significant value for all its shareholders, but to deliver the results this
asset base deserves, a course correction is needed," according to the
letter published on a
website called EQTPathForward.com on Monday. The letter does not include Daniel
Rice, the former CEO of Rice Energy (NYSE: RICE), who joined the EQT board
when Rice was acquired by EQT in November 2017.
Toby Rice and Derek
Rice said in the letter that executives with "experience in
large-scale operational planning" needed to be added to the EQT board and
senior management ranks. They had met with EQT Chairman Jim Rohr
and CEO Rob
McNally in recent weeks about the proposal and adding Toby Rice to EQT
"with proper authority and support to oversee operations." Derek
Rice and Toby Rice said they had a proven business plan that would increase
EQT's cash flow by $400 million to $600 million per year with EQT's five-year
production goals.
"Unfortunately, given the lack of
reciprocal engagement – and EQT pushing forward with establishing its 2019
operational plan and budget – it has become apparent that they are unwilling to
make the changes needed," the letter said. EQT announced last week it
would hold a conference call Thursday with analysts discussing its 2019 plans.
Derek
Rice and Toby Rice said they could nominate candidates for EQT's board at
the 2019 annual meeting.
EQT responded with the following statement:
"EQT is a refreshed company with a new management team, new operating plan
and substantially reconstituted board. The company is focused on achieving
profitable growth by driving operational efficiency, solid free cash flow,
balance sheet strength, disciplined capital allocation and the realization of
synergies. We are confident that EQT is taking the right steps to deliver
superior value."
It's been an unusually event-filled year or so
for Pittsburgh-based EQT. Months after acquiring Rice, EQT CEO Steve
Schlotterbeck quit in a battle with the board. Shareholders urged EQT to split
into two companies, exploration/production and midstream, which was
accomplished in November 2018. It promoted CFO McNally to the CEO job, and the
company dismissed several executives.
California Rice Commission plans
annual grower meetings
The California Rice Commission
organizes annual grower meetings to update rice farmers on the biggest issues
facing the industry each year. Next year’s meetings will be on the same day in
January in Yuba City and Colusa.
“Farming today involves so much
more than what’s happening in the field. This meeting is a great way for rice
industry members to find out the latest on key issues affecting our industry,”
said Jim Morris, communications manager for the California Rice Commission. “We
will have experts covering water, international trade, the Farm Bill and
activities at the state Capitol.”
Speakers will include Tyson Redpath
of The Russel Group and Louie Brown of Kahn, Soares and Conway, who will
provide updates from Washington, D.C. and the state Capitol.
There will also be presentations
from David Guy, president of the Northern California Water Association, on
water issues and Sarah Moran, vice president international for USA Rice, on
international promotions opportunities.
Doors will open 30 minutes before
each meeting begins.
Rice Recognizes Industry
Leaders
By Vicky Boyd
Excerpted from Rice Farming Magazine
SAN DIEGO, CA - Every year at the Annual
Rice Awards Luncheon Rice Farming bestows three awards: Rice Farmer of the
Year, the Rice Industry Award, and the Rice Lifetime Achievement Award. These annual recognitions, co-sponsored by
Horizon Ag and USA Rice, highlight some of the most positive achievements
associated with the U.S. rice industry.
The 2018 Rice Farmer of the Year is
Melvin "Skip" Hula, a fourth generation rice farmer from Hazen,
Arkansas. Many people describe Hula as
having the mind of an engineer and the heart of a farmer. He constantly thinks outside the box for new
ways to make farming more efficient, not just for himself, but for the farming
community as a whole. He has engineered
and built several implements that he uses and sells to other farmers, and
created Hula Manufacturing Inc. as a better way to produce those inventions.
Cole Plafcan, with AgHeritage Farm
Credit Service, describes Hula as "genuine and kind, a good farmer and a
man of high character, integrity, family, and faith."
Earl and Janis Garber
After farming for 23 years, Rice
Industry Award winner Earl Garber became a crop consultant with a keen interest
in conservation. Earl says, "As a
full-time farmer involved in food production, my strategy was to come up with
good management practices, build a system to implement them, and make sure we
were profitable in the end."
Earl has been a supervisor on the
local Acadia Soil and Water Conservation District board and served as president
of the National Association of Conservation Districts. He says he "enjoys being able to assist
other farmers and grow my involvement with conservation and my community."
Lifetime Achievement Award winner
Marvin Hare farms 6,000 acres of long grain rice, soybeans, and corn, and just
completed his 52nd crop. While spending
time with his family and tilling the land they have owned for more than 100
years, the Newport, Arkansas producer, innovator, research advocate,
businessman, and leader has garnered the respect of the entire U.S. rice
industry.
Hare believes "the future of
rice farming will be bright and exciting.
Researchers are developing better varieties, finding more efficient ways
to irrigate, and fine-tuning conservation practices. The technology we have today is
mind-boggling."
To learn more about the three
recipients, check out the special section included in the December issue of
Rice Farming magazine.
Award-winner Marvin Hare and others
Marvin Hare has prepared a lifetime
for this
WASDE Report Released
WASHINGTON, DC -- This month's outlook for 2018/19 U.S. rice this
month is for slightly higher supplies, higher exports, and reduced ending
stocks. Total 2018/19 rice supplies are raised 0.5 million cwt to 276.2 million
on higher medium- and short-grain imports. Exports are raised 3.0 million cwt
(all medium- and short-grain milled rice) in response to the sharp reduction in
Australia's crop. No changes are made this month to the long grain supply and
demand estimates. Long-grain ending stocks remain at 32.4 million cwt, up
nearly 60 percentfrom the previous year. Medium- and short-grain ending stocks
are lowered 2.5 million cwt to 10.3 million. The all rice marketing year
average price is raised $0.10 per cwt at the midpoint to a range of $11.60 -
12.60. The long-grain price is unchanged but medium- and short-grain prices are
raised $0.50 per cwt for California to a midpoint of $18.30 and $0.10 per cwt
for other states to a midpoint of $12.20.
Global rice production for 2018/19 is raised 0.4 million tons to
491.1 million led by a 1.0-million-ton increase for Nigeria, which is based on
updated government statistics for multiple years. The Nepal crop is raised 0.2
million tons. Partly offsetting is a 0.5-millionton reduction for Thailand on
limited water availability for the dry season crop and a 0.3-million-ton
decrease for Australia on the severe drought in the Eastern part of the
country.
Global exports are lowered 0.8 million tons with Thailand down 0.7
million tons and
Australia down 0.2 million, both on the smaller crops. Imports for
2018/19 are lowered 0.6 million tons for Nigeria and 0.4 million tons for
Indonesia. Total use is raised 1.2 million tons, led by increases for Nigeria
and Thailand, and global ending stocks are raised fractionally to 163.3 million
tons.
Importation:
‘Nigeria saves $21bn on food’
ON
DECEMBER 9, 20185:29 PMIN BUSINESS, NEWS10 COMMENTS President Muhammadu Buhari
has lauded Nigerians for curbing excessive taste for foreign products, which
has positioned the country for food self-sufficiency, and resulted into savings
of over $21 billion.
Buhari
The President said the humongous savings will be deployed to other critical
areas like infrastructure, education, health care, and many others. President
Buhari was reacting to recent disclosures by the Central Bank of Nigeria
governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who spoke at the 2018 Annual Bankers’ Dinner,
where he said: “Noticeable declines were steadily recorded in our monthly food
import bill from US$665.4 million in January 2015 to US$160.4 million as at
October 2018, a cumulative fall of 75.9% and an implied savings of over US$21
billion on food imports alone over that period. Most evident were the 97.3%
cumulative reduction in monthly rice import bills, 99.6% in fish, 81.3% in
milk, 63.7% in sugar, and 60.5% in wheat. We are glad with the accomplishments
recorded so far.” Buhari confers 2018 National Merit Award on Prof. Olufemi
Obafemi President Buhari said with the commitment of Nigerian farmers, and the
support given by the government, “in no distant future, food importation will
be completely alien to us, and we will even export actively, thus reversing our
position as a mono- product economy.” The CBN governor equally spoke on the
number of jobs created in the agriculture sector: “In the agriculture sector,
the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) has ensured that Nigeria emerged from
being a net importer of rice to becoming a major producer, supplying key
markets in neighbouring countries. As at October 2018, a total number of
862,069 farmers cultivating about 835,239 hectares, across 16 different
commodities, have so far benefited from Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, which has
generated 2,502,675 jobs across the country.” 2019: Northern leaders disagree
over Buhari’s re-election Describing the development as “heart-warming,” the
President said it was just a matter of time before a significantly positive
impact would be made in the statistics of the unemployed in the country,
particularly from the agriculture sector. He asserted: “We are on a productive
voyage, which would see the ship of state berthing at the harbour of food
self-sufficiency, gainful jobs, peace and prosperity for Nigerians.” Related
: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/12/importation-nigeria-saves-21bn-on-food/
: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/12/importation-nigeria-saves-21bn-on-food/
Rice initiatives can help save the planet, not
just feed it
opinion December 12, 2018 01:00
By Devashish Chaubey
Rice is close to my heart, as a consumer, as a career
choice and as a member of a “rice community” of billions. My own family has
been involved in rice farming for more than three generations – and still
going!
So I am
also deeply aware that rice is at the heart of two of our planet’s biggest
challenges – food security and climate change.
It’s the
staple that half the world’s population put on their tables each day – but
production methods emit huge amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) more
potent than carbon dioxide. By 2030, we will have 8.3 billion mouths to feed
and by 2050, we could face a 44 per cent shortfall in global rice production.
At last
month’s International Rice Congress in Singapore then, much discussion,
unsurprisingly, focused on solutions to this “rice paradox”: while rice
production currently is a major generator of GHGs it is imperative that we
boost production.
What’s
clear is that we must re-imagine the entire rice supply chain – from how it is
farmed and financed to how it’s marketed and sold. Different but converging
vested interests are essential parts of a long-term solution, including:
–
Retailers committing to promote sustainable rice to consumers and choosing the
Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) as a procurement standard. This would move the
needle in developed countries which consume 23 million tonnes of rice each year
and where it would be a relatively easy “environmental” choice for shoppers;
not so at a market stall in a developing country.
–
Financial institutions finding ways to reduce interest cost for sustainable
rice producers. Every 0.25 per cent reduction in interest rates potentially
translates to US$500 million (Bt16.4 billion) per annum in cost savings for
producers; this would help farming households prioritise sustainable rice
farming.
–
Scientists and innovators developing more resilient production systems to
reduce variance in production and prices, offset risk and reduce the draw on
natural capital for land and water. Current methods of more sustainable farming
are capital intensive, making it difficult for smallholders focused on their
livelihoods to adopt these practices without intervention and investment from
others.
–
Insurers improving offerings and reducing premiums for more resilient
sustainable rice producers. Such offerings remain out of reach for many farming
households, and access to insurance is a necessary first step to better credit
offerings at farm-level.
–
Governments lowering tariffs and taxes for sustainable rice. With the current
global tariff for rice weighted by volume at 32 per cent, a 1 per cent
reduction in tariffs for sustainable rice could be worth more than $150 million
per annum in savings for exporters. This saving could be passed down to
producers incentivising them to switch to sustainable rice.
The
reality is that because rice is grown under many disparate farming systems, it
is difficult for any single body or proponent alone to make the critical
difference. This does not mean we stop taking action within our ambit, but it
is partnerships that are essential to drive change at scale.
Important
collaborations are already underway. The German development agency GIZ and Olam
are working with governments in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia to help
thousands of rice farmers improve water use, GHG emissions and generate better
livelihoods. The landmark five-year Thai Rice NAMA project that started in July
aims to reduce up to 30 per cent of emissions by the 100,000 participating
farmers by its fifth year.
Research
and development is also making promising progress, such as Cornell University’s
revolutionary “System for Rice Intensification”, which requires 80-90 per cent
fewer rice seeds, up to 50 per cent less water and often no fertiliser, while
yields are boosted by 20-25 per cent and farmers’ costs are reduced by 10-20
per cent.
But to
understand how much more needs to be done, we need to establish clear
measurement systems that can be a bellwether of progress and we need to do so
soon.
For
example, UN Environment and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
have co-chaired a platform where government, NGOs and business can create a
framework for assessing whether new systems improve or degrade environmental,
economic and social impacts of rice farming. The World Business Council for
Sustainable Development is working with the corporate sector, GIZ, IRRI, UN
Environment and the Food and Agriculture Organisation to further develop metrics
through the Global Environment Facility.
Rice
production is a global imperative facing a global problem. It needs global
solutions. “Feed the World” and “Save the Planet” have become two of the most
recognisable and laudable mantras of our time. The global rice community must
move forward with a foot planted firmly in each of those camps.
Devashish
Chaubey is global head of Rice at Olam International.
'Pest-controlling' bats could help save
rainforests
Date:
December 11, 2018
Source:
University of Cambridge
Summary:
A
new study shows that several species of bats are giving Madagascar's rice
farmers a vital pest control service by feasting on plagues of insects. And
this, a zoologist believes, can ease the financial pressure on farmers to turn
forest into fields.
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FULL STORY
This is a Peters' wrinkle-lipped bat in flight over
rice fields in Madagascar.
Credit: Adrià López-Baucells
A new study shows that several
species of bats are giving Madagascar's rice farmers a vital pest control
service by feasting on plagues of insects. And this, a zoologist at the
University of Cambridge believes, can ease the financial pressure on farmers to
turn forest into fields.
There are few places in the world
where relations between agriculture and conservation are more strained.
Madagascar's forests are being converted to agricultural land at a rate of one
per cent every year and much of this destruction is fuelled by the cultivation
of the country's main staple crop: rice.
A key reason for this is that
insect pests are destroying vast quantities of rice, leading local subsistence
farmers to destroy even more forest to create new paddies. The result is
devastating habitat and biodiversity loss on the island. But not all species
are suffering. In fact, some of the island's insectivorous bats are thriving,
and this has important implications for farmers and conservationists alike.
Co-leading an international team
of scientists, Ricardo Rocha from the University of Cambridge's Zoology
department Conservation Science Group, found that several species of indigenous
bats are taking advantage of habitat modification to hunt insects swarming above
the country's rice fields. They include the Malagasy mouse-eared bat, Major's
long-fingered bat, the Malagasy white-bellied free-tailed bat, and Peters'
wrinkle-lipped bat.
"These winner species are
providing a valuable free service to Madagascar as biological pest
suppressors," Rocha said. "We found that six species of bat are
preying on rice pests such as the paddy swarming caterpillar and grass webworm.
The damage that these insects cause puts the island's farmers under huge
financial pressure and that encourages deforestation."
The study, published in the
journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment,
used state-of-the-art ultrasonic recorders and molecular analysis to
investigate the feeding activity of insectivorous bats in the farmland bordering
the Ranomafana National Park in the southeast of the country.
The researchers recorded over a
thousand bat 'feeding buzzes' (echolocation sequences used by bats to target
their prey) at 54 sites, to identify their favourite feeding spots. This
revealed that bat activity over rice fields was much higher than it was in
continuous forest -- seven times higher over irrigated rice fields, and sixteen
times higher over hillside fields -- which clearly shows that the animals are
preferentially foraging in these human-made ecosystems. The researchers suggest
that the bats favour hillside fields most because lack of water and nutrient
run-off make these crops more susceptible to insect pest infestations.
The team next used DNA barcoding
techniques to analyse droppings collected from bats captured within the rice
plantations and nearby forest. All six species of bats were found to have fed
on economically important insect pests. While the findings indicated that rice
farming benefits most from the bats, the scientists also found pests of other
crops, including the black twig borer (a pest of coffee), the sugarcane cicada,
the macadamia nut-borer, and the sober tabby (a pest of citrus fruits).
"The effectiveness of bats
as pest controllers has already been proven in the USA and Catalonia,"
said co-author James Kemp, from the University of Lisbon. "But our study
is the first to show this happening in Madagascar, where the stakes for both
farmers and conservationists are very high."
The researchers argue that
maximising bat populations has the potential to boost crop yields and promote
sustainable livelihoods. They are now calling for further research to quantify
this contribution because Madagascar's bats currently fall under game species
legislation and are not actively protected in the country.
Bats comprise roughly one-fifth
of all Malagasy mammal species and thirty-six recorded bat species are endemic
to the island, making Madagascar one of the most important regions for
conservation of this animal group anywhere in the world.
"Bats have a bad reputation
in Madagascar because they are seen as a nuisance when they roost in
buildings," Rocha said. "The problem is that while these bats are
benefiting from farming, deforestation is also denying them places to roost.
With the right help, we hope that farmers can promote this mutually beneficial
relationship by installing bat houses."
Local people may have a further
reason to be grateful to the animals. While bats are often associated with
spreading disease, Rocha and his team found evidence that Malagasy bats feed
not just on crop pests but also on mosquitos -- vectors of malaria, Rift Valley
fever virus and elephantiasis -- as well as blackflies, which spread river
blindness.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Cambridge.
The original story is licensed under a Creative
Commons License. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
1. James Kemp, Adrià López-Baucells, Ricardo Rocha, Owen
S. Wangensteen, Zo Andriatafika, Abhilash Nair, Mar Cabeza. Bats as
potential suppressors of multiple agricultural pests: A case study from
Madagascar. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment,
2019; 269: 88 DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2018.09.027
Cite This Page:
University of Cambridge. "'Pest-controlling' bats could
help save rainforests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 December 2018.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181211091926.htm>.
Research:
‘Pest-controlling’ bats could help save rainforests —
December 11, 2018
A new study shows that several
species of bats are giving Madagascar’s rice farmers a vital pest control
service by feasting on plagues of insects. And this, a zoologist at the
University of Cambridge believes, can ease the financial pressure on farmers to
turn forest into fields.
There are few places in the world
where relations between agriculture and conservation are more strained.
Madagascar’s forests are being converted to agricultural land at a rate of one
per cent every year and much of this destruction is fuelled by the cultivation
of the country’s main staple crop: rice.
A key reason for this is that
insect pests are destroying vast quantities of rice, leading local subsistence
farmers to destroy even more forest to create new paddies. The result is
devastating habitat and biodiversity loss on the island. But not all species
are suffering. In fact, some of the island’s insectivorous bats are thriving,
and this has important implications for farmers and conservationists alike.
Co-leading an international team
of scientists, Ricardo Rocha from the University of Cambridge’s Zoology
department Conservation Science Group, found that several species of indigenous
bats are taking advantage of habitat modification to hunt insects swarming
above the country’s rice fields. They include the Malagasy mouse-eared bat,
Major’s long-fingered bat, the Malagasy white-bellied free-tailed bat, and
Peters’ wrinkle-lipped bat.
“These winner species are
providing a valuable free service to Madagascar as biological pest
suppressors,” Rocha said. “We found that six species of bat are preying on rice
pests such as the paddy swarming caterpillar and grass webworm. The damage that
these insects cause puts the island’s farmers under huge financial pressure and
that encourages deforestation.”
The study, published in the
journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment,
used state-of-the-art ultrasonic recorders and molecular analysis to
investigate the feeding activity of insectivorous bats in the farmland
bordering the Ranomafana National Park in the southeast of the country.
The researchers recorded over a
thousand bat ‘feeding buzzes’ (echolocation sequences used by bats to target
their prey) at 54 sites, to identify their favourite feeding spots. This
revealed that bat activity over rice fields was much higher than it was in
continuous forest — seven times higher over irrigated rice fields, and sixteen
times higher over hillside fields — which clearly shows that the animals are
preferentially foraging in these human-made ecosystems. The researchers suggest
that the bats favour hillside fields most because lack of water and nutrient
run-off make these crops more susceptible to insect pest infestations.The team
next used DNA barcoding techniques to analyse droppings collected from bats
captured within the rice plantations and nearby forest. All six species of bats
were found to have fed on economically important insect pests. While the
findings indicated that rice farming benefits most from the bats, the
scientists also found pests of other crops, including the black twig borer (a
pest of coffee), the sugarcane cicada, the macadamia nut-borer, and the sober
tabby (a pest of citrus fruits).
“The effectiveness of bats as
pest controllers has already been proven in the USA and Catalonia,” said
co-author James Kemp, from the University of Lisbon. “But our study is the
first to show this happening in Madagascar, where the stakes for both farmers
and conservationists are very high.”
The researchers argue that
maximising bat populations has the potential to boost crop yields and promote
sustainable livelihoods. They are now calling for further research to quantify
this contribution because Madagascar’s bats currently fall under game species
legislation and are not actively protected in the country.
Bats comprise roughly one-fifth
of all Malagasy mammal species and thirty-six recorded bat species are endemic
to the island, making Madagascar one of the most important regions for
conservation of this animal group anywhere in the world.
“Bats have a bad reputation in
Madagascar because they are seen as a nuisance when they roost in buildings,”
Rocha said. “The problem is that while these bats are benefiting from farming,
deforestation is also denying them places to roost. With the right help, we
hope that farmers can promote this mutually beneficial relationship by
installing bat houses.”
Local people may have a further
reason to be grateful to the animals. While bats are often associated with
spreading disease, Rocha and his team found evidence that Malagasy bats feed
not just on crop pests but also on mosquitos — vectors of malaria, Rift Valley
fever virus and elephantiasis — as well as blackflies, which spread river
blindness.
Source:University of Cambridge. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons
License. .
California Rice Commission plans annual grower
meetings
By Jake Abbott / jabbott@appealdemocrat.com
The
California Rice Commission organizes annual grower meetings to update rice
farmers on the biggest issues facing the industry each year. Next year’s
meetings will be on the same day in January in Yuba City and Colusa.
“Farming
today involves so much more than what’s happening in the field. This meeting is
a great way for rice industry members to find out the latest on key issues
affecting our industry,” said Jim Morris, communications manager for the
California Rice Commission. “We will have experts covering water, international
trade, the Farm Bill and activities at the state Capitol.”
The
meetings will be on Jan. 24. The first meeting will be at the Colusa Casino
Resort Community Center in Colusa from 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. The second meeting
will be at Hillcrest Plaza Room (201 Julie Drive, Yuba City) from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.
Speakers
will include Tyson Redpath of The Russel Group and Louie Brown of Kahn, Soares
and Conway, who will provide updates from Washington, D.C. and the state
Capitol.
There
will also be presentations from David Guy, president of the Northern California
Water Association, on water issues and Sarah Moran, vice president
international for USA Rice, on international promotions opportunities.Doors
will open 30 minutes before each meeting begins.
Paddy Farmers In Odisha Allege
Harassment By Rice Millers
Sonepur/Malkangiri: Farmers in
various districts of Odisha are facing a tough time in the paddy procurement
process owing to a dispute over fair average quality (FAQ) norms with rice
millers. According to sources, farmers in Sonepur are in distress over fair
average quality (FAQ) norms even after a week of opening of the mandis.
Farmers alleged that rice millers
are seeking concession during procurement and even complained that they are not
being paid requisite reimbursement for transporting paddy from the mandis to
the rice mills.
Reportedly, the farmers have denied
supplying paddy to the millers after the millers demanded concessions on the
actual weight of the paddy. The farmers have also complained of being harassed
during procurement process.
“The millers are not willing to
lift paddy from mandis as a result of which large quantity paddy lying at
Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS),” rued a farmer.
Meanwhile, discussions between the
farmers and the district sub-collector and officials of the Supply department have
yielded no results so far.
In Malkangiri, the administration
has set up 62 mandis this year but there has been no improvement in the
procurement process. Chitrokonda MLA Dambaru Sisa reviewed the situation and
said that necessary steps will be taken to sort out the problem.
“Good quality paddy should be provided by the farmers and millers
should not demand cuts/compensation for procuring paddy. If any such instance
comes to our notice, necessary actions will be taken,” said the MLA.
https://odishatv.in/odisha/paddy-farmers-in-odisha-allege-harassment-by-rice-millers-339116
California Rice Commission plans annual grower
meetings
·
By Jake Abbott /
jabbott@appealdemocrat.com
Dec 10, 2018
The
California Rice Commission organizes annual grower meetings to update rice farmers
on the biggest issues facing the industry each year. Next year’s meetings will
be on the same day in January in Yuba City and
Colusa.
“Farming
today involves so much more than what’s happening in the field. This meeting is
a great way for rice industry members to find out the latest on key issues
affecting our industry,” said Jim Morris, communications manager for the
California Rice Commission. “We will have experts covering water, international
trade, the Farm Bill and activities at the state Capitol.”
The
meetings will be on Jan. 24. The first meeting will be at the Colusa Casino
Resort Community Center in Colusa from 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. The second meeting
will be at Hillcrest Plaza Room (201 Julie Drive, Yuba City) from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.
Speakers
will include Tyson Redpath of The Russel Group and Louie Brown of Kahn, Soares
and Conway, who will provide updates from Washington, D.C. and the state
Capitol.
There
will also be presentations from David Guy, president of the Northern California
Water Association, on water issues and Sarah Moran, vice president
international for USA Rice, on international promotions opportunities.
Doors
will open 30 minutes before each meeting begins
https://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/california-rice-
South Africa – gateway for Vietnamese
rice to Africa
Pretoria (VNA) – South Africa is a promising market for Vietnamese rice exporters as it consumes about 850,000 tonnes of rice a year, said an official from Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
South Africa’s demand for rice is expected to rise in the context that its natural conditions are unfavorable for rice farming while the number of tourists and labourers from Asia, where rice is the main staple, coming to the country is on the rise, Tran Quoc Toan, deputy head of the MoIT’s Import and Export Department said.
Toan led a delegation to seek export markets for Vietnamese rice in South Africa from December 10-11. The trip is also part of trade promotion activities aiming to realise the target of improving trade between the two countries from present 1 billion USD to 1.5 billion USD in 2020 set by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visit to Vietnam in 2016.
At a working session with the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on December 10, Toan said as the locomotive economy in Africa, South Africa serves as a gateway for Vietnamese rice exporters to access the wider African market.
He, therefore, suggested Vietnamese businesses to expand relations with international partners operating in South Africa.
At the meeting, the official briefed South African participants on regulations regarding tax and customs procedures for rice exported to their country and rice distribution channels in the market.
Madileke Ramushu, DTI Director of Asia Bilateral Relations, said South Africa always encourages and stands ready to create the best possible conditions for Vietnamese businesses to increase rice exports to the country.
It will help them to enter other markets in the continent, especially those in the South African Development Community with a total population of 650 million, he said.
On this occasion, Madileke called on Vietnamese firms to help their South African partners to raise processed contents of their products delivered to Vietnam in order to improve their values.
He also suggested Vietnamese enterprises invest in the processing sector in South Africa, thus promoting their products in Africa.
While in South Africa, the Vietnamese delegation and the Vietnamese Embassy in the country joined hands with the DTI’s office in Johannesburg city to organise a workshop on rice export promotion in Vietnam.-VNA
https://en.vietnamplus.vn/south-africa-gateway-for-vietnamese-rice-to-africa/143350.vnp
NA Standing Committee approves 20
million USD for rice aid
Tuesday, December 11, 2018 | 19:07:37
(VOVWORLD) - The National Assembly Standing Committee has
approved an additional 20 million USD taken from the central contingency budget
to buy 43,000 tons of national reserved rice used for aid activities from last
July to this May.
The decision was made at a session on Tuesday, in which the
Committee also proposed an additional 6.7 billion USD to purchase national
reserved veterinary drugs used for animal disease prevention and treatment. The
law makers discussed preparations for the next NA session which will adopt a
draft resolution and six draft laws
http://vovworld.vn/en-US/news/na-standing-committee-approves-20-million-usd-for-rice-aid-707056.vov
Rice Prices
as on : 11-12-2018 11:53:14 AM
Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
|
Arrivals
|
Price
|
|||||
|
Current
|
%
change |
Season
cumulative |
Modal
|
Prev.
Modal |
Prev.Yr
%change |
|
|
Rice
|
||||||
|
Barhaj(UP)
|
110.00
|
-8.33
|
5094.00
|
2280
|
2280
|
-
|
|
Kalipur(WB)
|
80.00
|
NC
|
4221.00
|
2450
|
2400
|
6.52
|
|
Lakhimpur(UP)
|
45.00
|
18.42
|
1384.00
|
2250
|
2270
|
3.69
|
|
Sahiyapur(UP)
|
37.50
|
2.74
|
2818.50
|
2225
|
2210
|
-
|
|
Fatehpur(UP)
|
14.00
|
-36.36
|
1224.30
|
2230
|
2200
|
1.36
|
|
Champadanga(WB)
|
14.00
|
16.67
|
768.00
|
3000
|
3000
|
9.09
|
|
Anandnagar(UP)
|
10.00
|
400
|
142.80
|
2230
|
2220
|
-
|
|
Unnao(UP)
|
7.80
|
20
|
197.20
|
2250
|
2275
|
9.76
|
|
Ruperdeeha(UP)
|
6.00
|
-25
|
530.00
|
1600
|
1600
|
-
|
|
Mirzapur(UP)
|
4.00
|
-20
|
1026.00
|
2285
|
2290
|
-
|
|
Mau(Chitrakut)(UP)
|
3.20
|
-8.57
|
107.60
|
1775
|
1800
|
-
|
|
Sehjanwa(UP)
|
2.50
|
-28.57
|
256.70
|
2160
|
2160
|
-
|
|
Doharighat(UP)
|
1.50
|
NC
|
69.00
|
2000
|
2000
|
-
|
|
Nautnava(UP)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
68.50
|
2250
|
2200
|
10.29
|
Published
on December 11, 2018
Africa to need 7 bln USD for rice imports
annually by 2020: FAO
Source:
Xinhua| 2018-12-11 03:03:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan
ADA, Ghana, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) has predicted that Africa would need a whopping
7 billion U.S. dollars for its rice imports annually by 2020.
Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Officer-In-Charge of the FAO Regional
Office for Africa said this in his message on Monday at the opening of the
two-day conference on Sustainable Rice Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Ada,
about 104 km east of Ghana's capital Accra.
He therefore noted that there was the need for effective
leadership and political will coupled with concerted efforts for Africa to
achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and also end hunger.
The African Rice Project is under the UN South-South Cooperation
program. China is one of the major development partners supporting the
South-South Cooperation program especially in Africa and Asia.
Official data by FAO indicated that in 2015 alone African
countries have imported about 36 percent of their rice requirements, at the cost
of about 4 billion dollars.
"The projection for 2020 do not seem to change that
percentage: only that the drain on foreign exchange to foot the import bills
are expected to rise to 7 billion dollars annually," the official said.
Haile-Gabriel urged that rice self-sufficiency for Africa should
not only target meeting consumption needs locally but also at the multiplier
effect through the re-allocation of the much needed foreign exchanges and
investing in the rice value chain development initiatives that will create and
expand employment opportunities for youth and women.
Represented at the up-scaling conference were delegates from the
ministries of food and agriculture of Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Benin, Mali,
Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea, Kenya and Senegal.
Cambodia's rice export down 13 pct in 11 months
Source:
Xinhua| 2018-12-11 19:47:39|Editor: xuxin
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia exported 497,240 tons
of milled rice in the first 11 months of 2018, down 13 percent compared to the
same period last year, according to the latest report on Tuesday.
Some 78 firms have brokered the country's rice for 61 countries
and regions across the world, said the report from the Secretariat of One
Window Service for Rice Export.
China is still the top buyer of Cambodian rice, followed by
France, the Netherlands, Poland and Britain, it said.
Cambodia produced about 10.5 million tons of paddy rice in 2017,
up 5.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Indian
rice export prices fall; rupee at two weeks low
Rice
export prices fell a the second consecutive week in India on a weakening rupee
and slow demand, while strict inspections from top consumer China muted exports
from Vietnam. India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around
$364-$368 per tonne this week, from $366-$370 the last week. "Prices are
down as traders are adjusting to the drop in the rupee. Demand is still weak,"
said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The
Indian rupee fell nearly 1 percent on Thursday to the lowest level in two
weeks, increasing exporters margin from the overseas sales. In an attempt to
accelerate exports, the Indian government last month said it will give a 5
percent subsidy for non-basmati rice shipments for the four months to March 25,
2019. In neighbouring Bangladesh, rice imports in July-November stood at
106,640 tonnes, the country's food ministry data showed, after the government
imposed a 28 percent tax on shipments to support its farmers after local
production revived. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, rates for 5 percent broken rice
dipped to $400 a tonne from $408 last week as exports to China fell on stricter
inspections and conditions on Vietnamese rice, traders said. "Exports to
China are almost frozen, no one dares to buy or sell. Some people who had their
rice ready at the port now have to take them back because they fear the Chinese
side will not take them," a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said. However, the
fall in prices was limited due to tight supply at the end of a small crop
season in Vietnam and orders from rice-scarce Philippines. The next major crop
harvest in the southeast-Asian nation, the winter-spring crop, is due next
March. In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice prices narrowed to
$390-$393, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, from $380-$397 last week. "Apart
from the recent order from the Philippines, Thai rice exporters are not expecting
any large order until early 2019," a Bangkok-based rice trader said.
Traders attributed this week's fluctuation in rice prices to the exchange rate.
The Thai baht shed more than a quarter of a percent on Thursday, after rising
for four previous sessions. "Some exporters are still talking about a
possible deal to markets like Japan and Indonesia, but so far things are quiet
and will likely remain this way until January," said another Bangkok-based
trader.
Rice
initiatives can help save the planet, not just feed it
Rice
is close to my heart, as a consumer, as a career choice and as a member of a
“rice community” of billions. My own family has been involved in rice farming
for more than three generations – and still going!
So
I am also deeply aware that rice is at the heart of two of our planet’s biggest
challenges – food security and climate change.
It’s
the staple that half the world’s population put on their tables each day – but
production methods emit huge amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) more
potent than carbon dioxide. By 2030, we will have 8.3 billion mouths to feed
and by 2050, we could face a 44 per cent shortfall in global rice production.
At last month’s International Rice Congress in Singapore then, much discussion,
unsurprisingly, focused on solutions to this “rice paradox”: while rice
production currently is a major generator of GHGs it is imperative that we
boost production.
Pres. Weah Launches “Pro-Poor Rice”
Distribution
By
-
December 10,
2018
331
Says “Agriculture is
Key,”
President George Weah says agriculture has got no substitute in
national efforts to obtaining food security and maintaining a healthy
population, an Executive Mansion release has said.
Food production towards self-sufficiency, the President said, is
a centerpiece of his government’s Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and
Development, and he would leave no stone unturned to achieve this goal.
According to the release, the President spoke on Wednesday,
December 5, 2018, when he officially launched the distribution of over 200
metric tons of rice, totaling 80,000 bags at the Freeport of Liberia.
Though the public is yet to know the source of the “Pro-Poor
rice,” the President said his administration is giving ample attention to
support and encourage investment in the agriculture sector, particularly the
production of food, to reduce reliance on the importation of the country’s
staple food.
A Liberian-owned company, TRH Trading, in partnership with the
government through the Ministry of Commerce, imported an initial consignment of
the Pro-Poor rice that will be sold wholesale to Liberian businesses through
the Commerce Ministry. The local businesses will in turn do the retail sale.
President Weah said making rice, which is regarded in
Liberia as a “political commodity”, available and affordable for Liberians, is
the preoccupation of his government, and this will be achieved to help reduce
the high cost of the country’s staple.
“I am very happy that we can begin to distribute this low-cost
rice at a time our people need it most in the wake of the festive season,” Weah
said, adding, “Pro-poor rice, as we call it, is a dream come true. While
working to meet the needs of our people; it is important to stress that
returning to the soil is the best way forward and we will support this effort
as much as possible,” the President said.
The President noted that the importation of rice has always been
a major concern to him and his administration, promising that he would work
around the clock to make sure that Liberian businesses play an integral part in
food production and other activities that will benefit the citizens and the
country.
“I am happy for the supply of the Pro-Poor rice on the market,”
he said, noting, “We all know rice is very important for our people as it is
the staple food. We will do our best to always have it on the market and sold
for a price that our people can afford.”
He continued, “I know whatever I do, I often do to the best of
my ability, aware of the challenges that require focus and practice. And by the
grace of God, the best always comes out of whatever I try to do.”
President Weah thanked Commerce Minister Wilson Tarpeh and his
team for leading the right effort that has stimulated the involvement of
Liberian-owned companies in the importation of rice on the market.
This, the President said, has helped in buttressing the supply
of rice on the Liberian market.
Satake
Manufacturing marks 20th anniversary in China
12.11.2018
By Susan Reidy
Satake established the
facility in 1997 to manufacture and sell rice and flour milling machinery along
with optical sorters.
The factory was extended
in 2004 to expand the export to Asia, Europe, the United States and Africa, and
now acts as the core factory among the Satake group. Sales offices were
established in Harbin, Jiamusi, Changchun, Shenyang, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xian,
Wuhan in addition to Suzhou to expand sales in China.
“The circumstances
surrounding us and demand from our customers have significantly changed but we
celebrate our anniversary due to the support of our customers and
administrative agencies,” said Chen Kefei, general manager. “Our original aims
remain undiminished."
The Suzhou factory to
build on its technical and service advantages by offering rice processing
machinery from rice field to table.
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7.Upstream and Downstream Analysis
8.Rice Roll Processing Machine Market Forecast (2017-2025)
9.Research Findings and Conclusion
The Global Rice Roll Processing Machine market report more
focuses on top industry companies and explores all essentials aspects
competitive landscape. It explains potent Rice Roll Processing Machine business
strategies and plans, consumption capacity, regulatory policies, recent moves
taken by competitors, as well as possible investment possibilities and Rice
Roll Processing Machine market threats also. The Rice Roll Processing Machine
market report emphasis crucial financial details of major manufacturers
including year-wise sale, revenue growth, CAGR, product cost analysis, and
value chain structure.
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Leading Companies in Rice Roll
Processing Machine Market:
Anko Food Machine
Zaccaria
MILLTEC Machinery
Zhengzhou Yonghua Machinery Manufacturing
Lianyungang Huantai Machinery
Zaccaria
MILLTEC Machinery
Zhengzhou Yonghua Machinery Manufacturing
Lianyungang Huantai Machinery
Types Present In Rice Roll
Processing Machine
Hotels
Households
Restaurant
Households
Restaurant
Applications Present In Rice
Roll Processing Machine
Fully Automated
Semi-Automated
Manual Processing
Semi-Automated
Manual Processing
Geographically Market Analysis
is performed including the following countries:
North America Rice Roll
Processing Machine Market (United States, Canada)
Latin America Rice Roll
Processing Machine Market (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Others)
Europe Rice Roll Processing
Machine Market (Germany,
United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherland, Others)
Asia Pacific Rice Roll
Processing Machine Market (China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia, Southeast Asia,
Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Others)
Africa Middle East Rice Roll
Processing Machine Market (South Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Others)
Key Market Insights Include:
1. The analysis provides Rice Roll Processing Machine market
size and growth rate for the forecast period.
2. It offers complete insights into current industry trends,
trend forecast, and growth drivers about the Global Rice Roll Processing
Machine Shares.
3. The report contributes to the latest
analysis of Rice Roll Processing Machine market
share, growth drivers, challenges, and investment possibilities.
4. It offers a whole overview of market segments and the
geographical outlook of Rice Roll Processing Machine.
5. The Rice
Roll Processing Machine market report contributes a detailed
overview of the businessperson aspect, competitive analysis, and key Rice Roll Processing Machine market
strategies to gain a competitive choice.
Usapang Bigas: FOI Practice on Availability,
Price Stability, and Importation of Rice
by Action for Economic Reforms, Focus on the Global South,
SocialWatch Philippines, Rice Watch and Action Network, and Rural Poor
Institute for Land and Human Rights Services
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11TH, 2018
I. Organizational Profile
The Right to Know, Right Now! (R2KRN)
Coalition has been a staunch advocate for the passage of the FOI Law since it
was convened in 2002, initially as the Access to Information Network (ATIN),
before expanding into R2KRN in 2009. It is the main civil-society network that
engages both the executive and legislative fronts.
R2KRN has adopted a systematic approach for
documenting cases of FOI practice to build public demand for FOI and nurture a
community of practice whereby citizens can claim their rights to information.
Thus far, three rounds of coordinated FOI Practice had been completed by the
Coalition members. In the second half of 2018, the Right to Know Coalition
focused on how FOI affects the appreciation and discussion of the most pressing
economic and political issues that are emblematic of the state of governance,
transparency and accountability, and the delivery of public services in the
country. The Coalition’s FOI Practice Round 4 specifically focused on the
following:
● The implementation of Package 1 of the
Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or
TRAIN Law) of the Duterte administration. The Action for Economic Reforms is
lead researcher for this project.
● The Memoranda of Agreement, contracts, and
relevant documents covering mining operations and companies in the Philippines.
Bantay Kita, a coalition of CSOs monitoring mining and extractive industries is
lead researcher.
● Contracts, projects, and issues surrounding
the “Build, Build, Build” program or the massive infrastructure and civil-works
program of the Duterte administration. The Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism, ANSA-EAP, Ateneo Policy Center, and the Makati Business Club are
the parallel research teams.
An audit of the provisions and implementation
of FOI Manuals, and action taken on citizen requests, by various agencies of
the Executive Branch, under EO No. 2 or the Duterte administration’s FOI
policy.
● The crisis in the supply and distribution of
rice. A common-concern project of the Right to Know Coalition, Action for
Economic Reforms, Focus on the Global South, Rural Poor Institute for Land and
Human Rights Services, Social Watch, and Rice Watch Action Network.
In the 4th round, the coalition decided to
take on a common FOI Practice project, where different coalition members do
coordinated work on a single issue and/or agency. It chose the rice issue,
specifically the questions of how the country came to a point of a rice-supply
crunch and how this was managed by the government, as its initial joint
project. A group of five member organizations, with established campaigns and
advocacies on agrarian reform, rural development, the right to food, social
reform and fiscal policy, was formed to reconstruct the story of rice through
FOI Practice.
The core team includes the following R2KRN
Members:
Action for Economic Reforms (AER), a
public-interest organization that conducts policy analysis and advocacy on key
economic issues, is a co-convenor of R2KRN. It considers access to relevant and
timely data critical to judicious research and analysis.
Focus on Global South is an activist think
tank that works with social movements, progressive individuals and
organizations, academics, policy makers and legislators in challenging
neoliberalism, market capitalism, militarism, and corporate-driven
globalization, while strengthening just and equitable alternatives. Its
Philippines Program focuses on development policy research, advocacy
campaigning, and grassroots capacity building on socio-economic issues, trade
and investment agreements, the commons (land, water, freedom of information,
public services), climate and environmental justice, and power and democracy.
Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) is a
network committed to push the following agenda: (a) Promoting sustainable rice
farming; (b) Strengthening community and farmers’ rights over seeds; (c)
Retaining quantitative restrictions (QRs) on rice; and (d) Increasing domestic
support for the rice industry.
Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights
Services (Rights! Network) supports the struggle of landless and near-landless
rural poor communities, including indigenous peoples and informal rural settlers,
for agrarian reform, rural development, and rural democratization in agrarian
flashpoint provinces. It is a polycentric network of independent and autonomous
member-NGOs/CSOs based in different provinces in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao
islands.
Social Watch Philippines is part of an
international network of citizens’ organizations struggling to eradicate
poverty and the causes of poverty, to ensure an equitable distribution of
wealth and the realization of human rights. It puts forward a strategy of advocacy,
awareness-building, monitoring, organizational development, and networking to
promote social development concerns, through increasing social participation
and awareness. The network counts as members around 100 CSOs and individuals.
II. Context for the Information Requests
As a food staple, rice is among, if not the,
most important commodities in the country. Its availability and affordability
affect millions, particularly those who are struggling against hunger and
poverty. While the government has declared commitment to achieve rice
self-sufficiency since 2010, and despite billions of pesos allotted for the
rice self-sufficiency bid, local outputs have been unable to meet national
demand, much less compete with other Southeast Asian countries in the trade
arena.
In 2016, the Duterte administration adopted
rice self-sufficiency as a goal, extending key programs to enhance local
production until 2020. Such strategy, however, was challenged by economic
advisers/experts, arguing that food security through importation might make
better use of public funds allocated for the agriculture sector. In 2018, the
Duterte administration pronounced that it will instead focus on enhancing local
competitiveness and now views “self-sufficiency as impossible.”
A critical context to the rice issue is the
matter of quantitative restriction (QR), or the limits imposed on the
importation of rice. When the Philippines acceded to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) in 1995, it negotiated for special treatment in rice,
exempting it from tariffication for 10 years. In exchange for the exemption,
the Philippines committed to import a minimum quantity of rice (minimum access
volumes). Internally, it has likewise committed to prepare the sector so that
it can face open competition when the time comes. It has since negotiated two
extensions, from 2005 to 2012, and then again from 2012 to 2017. In 2017, the
Philippines gave formal notice that it will lift the QR on rice, and move
toward tariffication.
By September 2018, the calls for rice
tariffication had been amplified in light of the steep increases in rice
prices. This came at a time when national inflation reached 6.7 percent, with
regional inflation hitting as high as 12 percent. The Tax Reform for
Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law was blamed for the surge in prices, but
a closer look at the data also pointed to the contribution of food prices,
especially rice.
Rice prices have gone up since 2017. The
highest price increase was recorded in September 2018, when average retail
price for well-milled rice reached PhP48.98 per kilogram. Economic managers,
who placed the direct inflationary impact of TRAIN at around 0.4 to 0.7
percentage points, failed to take into account TRAIN’s speculative effect.
Nonetheless, it could not be denied that critically low levels of rice stocks,
delayed arrival of rice imported by the private sector, hoarding by traders,
and farm devastation due to typhoons, all contributed to increases in rice
prices. Abetting worries about rice were news reports of the National Food
Authority importing weevil-infested rice from Thailand.
Clearly, rice is a complicated issue. Through
FOI Practice, R2KRN hopes to reconstruct the story of rice, and shed light on
the following questions:
● What happened to the rice industry under a
WTO-exempt status?
● How does NFA perform its mandate of rice price and supply stabilization?
● Who are the actors engaged in and benefiting from the business of rice?
● Special topics:
o Why did the weevil infestation of a batch of rice imports happen, who was responsible for it, and what was done to remedy the situation?
o How big a problem is rice smuggling and hoarding?
● How does NFA perform its mandate of rice price and supply stabilization?
● Who are the actors engaged in and benefiting from the business of rice?
● Special topics:
o Why did the weevil infestation of a batch of rice imports happen, who was responsible for it, and what was done to remedy the situation?
o How big a problem is rice smuggling and hoarding?
Ultimately, answers to these questions will
also give a picture of how government manages the rice situation which has
teremendous impact on the people’s welfare.
This FOI Practice is meant to underscore the
importance of the following:
● Access to information is access to services: information on government action tracks how it fulfills its mandate for securing the availability and affordability of rice.
● Information is accountability: information shows who benefit from government regulation (licensing) and programs (distribution).
● Information is crucial for policy development: accurate information is crucial for timely decisions and trouble-shooting; it signals policy and implementation gaps, and the need to update or establish new rules.
● Information as policy history: it is important for the government to have proper data standards, including in data archiving, to preserve critical documents of historical significance.
● Access to information is access to services: information on government action tracks how it fulfills its mandate for securing the availability and affordability of rice.
● Information is accountability: information shows who benefit from government regulation (licensing) and programs (distribution).
● Information is crucial for policy development: accurate information is crucial for timely decisions and trouble-shooting; it signals policy and implementation gaps, and the need to update or establish new rules.
● Information as policy history: it is important for the government to have proper data standards, including in data archiving, to preserve critical documents of historical significance.
Target Government Institutions and Documents/Information
Requested
The FOI Practice Team contacted the following
agencies to request for specific information related to the issues above.
Department of Agriculture (DA). Executive
Order (EO) No. 116 series of 1987, reorganized the Ministry of Agriculture and
renamed it the Department of Agriculture. The DA is the frontline agency for
agriculture and fisheries, takes charge of the agricultural policy framework,
directs public investments in the agricultural sector, and provides support
services necessary to make the industry profitable and to spread the benefits
of development to the rural poor. In 2016, the DA declared the continuation of
the rice self-sufficiency program. For 2018, DA had a budget of PhP53 billion,
and a renewed focus on enhancing the productivity of small-scale and
community-based food-farming.
The Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement
Fund (ACEF) is a loan and grant facility implemented by the DA. It provides
loans or income generating project grants for food producers in the agriculture
and fisheries sector. ACEF was created by Republic Act (RA) No. 8178 in 1996
from proceeds of the importation of the minimum access volumes of agricultural
products tarrified under the WTO, with a life of nine years. It was extended by
RA9496 (2007) until 2015, and by RA 10848 (2015) until 2022.
Under the Rice Tariffication Bill, which was
approved by the bicameral conference committee in late November 2018, a Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) was created, with an annual
appropriation of PhP10 billion for six years after its signing. DA is the
agency primarily responsible and accountable for RCEF.
The requesters asked for the following
documents from DA:
● Documents on the importation and
distribution of rice and Reports related to the weevil-infested rice from Vietnam
and Thailand (similar to the requests made to NFA, see below);
● Documents related to the government’s request to extend the quantitative restrictions (QRs) on rice and the concessions that were given as compensation for these extensions (similar to the requests made to DTI, see below); and
● Documents related to ACEF and RCEF
o Annual reports (narrative and audit/expenditure) 2000 to 2007 and its succeeding extension from 2007 to 2015
o Available pertinent and related documents on RCEF.
● Documents related to the government’s request to extend the quantitative restrictions (QRs) on rice and the concessions that were given as compensation for these extensions (similar to the requests made to DTI, see below); and
● Documents related to ACEF and RCEF
o Annual reports (narrative and audit/expenditure) 2000 to 2007 and its succeeding extension from 2007 to 2015
o Available pertinent and related documents on RCEF.
National Food Authority (NFA). The NFA is
mandated to ensure food security and the stability of supply and price of rice.
It is responsible for the procurement of paddy from bonafide farmers and their
organizations, buffer stocking, processing activities, dispersal of paddy and
milled rice to strategic locations, and distribution of the staple grain to
various marketing outlets at appropriate times of the year.
The following documents were requested from NFA:
• Documents on the importation and
distribution of rice
o Official documents on the mechanisms for the allocation of Minimum Access Volume (MAV), as well as the General Guidelines for Importation by the NFA from 1995 to the present;
o List of institutions/corporations with import licenses for rice from 1995 to present, as well as the status of such licenses;
o Minutes of all the NFA Rice Council’s regular and special meetings held from January 2016 to the present;
o Documentation and related documents regarding the concessions for extending the QRs on rice with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005, 2012, and 2017;
o Reports related to the weevil-infested rice imported from Vietnam and Thailand;
o Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures for rice imports from 2014 to 2018;
o Agency level reports detailing the “weevil infested” rice imports from Thailand and Vietnam that arrived in Subic Bay Freeport and Tabaco City, Albay this year; and
o Reports showing the markets to which the weevil-infested rice have been distributed.
o Official documents on the mechanisms for the allocation of Minimum Access Volume (MAV), as well as the General Guidelines for Importation by the NFA from 1995 to the present;
o List of institutions/corporations with import licenses for rice from 1995 to present, as well as the status of such licenses;
o Minutes of all the NFA Rice Council’s regular and special meetings held from January 2016 to the present;
o Documentation and related documents regarding the concessions for extending the QRs on rice with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005, 2012, and 2017;
o Reports related to the weevil-infested rice imported from Vietnam and Thailand;
o Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures for rice imports from 2014 to 2018;
o Agency level reports detailing the “weevil infested” rice imports from Thailand and Vietnam that arrived in Subic Bay Freeport and Tabaco City, Albay this year; and
o Reports showing the markets to which the weevil-infested rice have been distributed.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). DTI
also plays a pivotal part in the rice crisis primarily because of its central
role in the trade of agricultural products. Under EO 133, dated February 27,
1987, the DTI is mandated to coordinate, promote, and facilitate the country’s
trade, industry, and investment activities, with the end in view of
accelerating and sustaining economic growth. Through its international trade
office, DTI exercises responsibility over all matters pertaining to
foreign-trade relations, including the implementation of the country’s
commitments to the WTO. Among these commitments is the tariffication of rice
after the expiration of the special treatment on rice.
From DTI, the following documents were requested:
● Request letters submitted by the Philippine
government to the WTO in 2007 and 2012 seeking to extend the QRs on rice
o WTO response to the government’s request to extend QRs on rice
o Official documents reflecting the concessions given in return for these extensions;
● Official documents/statements issued by the government that (1) declare the extension of the concessions on lower tariffs to certain agricultural products, and (2) grant such concessions to interested WTO parties, as compensation for the government’s extension of the QRs on rice;
● Official document/s submitted by the government to WTO in March 2017 declaring that it will tariffy the QRs on rice once the waiver on the special treatment on rice expires on June 30, 2017; and
● Letters received from WTO/WTO members in reaction to the government’s extension of the QRs on rice, as well as the government’s responses to these letters (2017).
o WTO response to the government’s request to extend QRs on rice
o Official documents reflecting the concessions given in return for these extensions;
● Official documents/statements issued by the government that (1) declare the extension of the concessions on lower tariffs to certain agricultural products, and (2) grant such concessions to interested WTO parties, as compensation for the government’s extension of the QRs on rice;
● Official document/s submitted by the government to WTO in March 2017 declaring that it will tariffy the QRs on rice once the waiver on the special treatment on rice expires on June 30, 2017; and
● Letters received from WTO/WTO members in reaction to the government’s extension of the QRs on rice, as well as the government’s responses to these letters (2017).
Bureau of Customs (BOC). Created by Republic
Act No. 1937 in 1957, the BOC has the principal mandate to implement an
effective revenue-collection method, and to prevent and suppress smuggling and
the entry of prohibited imported goods into the country. BOC supervises and
controls the entrance and clearance of vessels and aircrafts engaged in foreign
commerce.
The requesters asked for the following
documents:
• Official report on smuggled rice intercepted at designated ports of entry containing the following details:
o Registered name of importer
o Source country of smuggled rice
o Volume and value of smuggled rice; and
● Official report on the disposal of intercepted smuggled rice.
• Official report on smuggled rice intercepted at designated ports of entry containing the following details:
o Registered name of importer
o Source country of smuggled rice
o Volume and value of smuggled rice; and
● Official report on the disposal of intercepted smuggled rice.
III. RESULTS
In total, we filed FOI requests with four
agencies, covering 19 classes of documents (with some documents requested from
multiple agencies). We made eight calls, sent 21 email and three fax messages,
logged in to the eFOI portal once, and made two hand deliveries. Agency
response time took one to 21 days (as of December 6, 2018). We received three
referrals or redirection, and three denials, two of which were for the same
documents requested separately by different team members. An appeal for these
documents was filed, and has been pending for 18 days. Of the 19 documents, we
obtained the following: five complete, four incomplete (data do not cover
earlier years); while 10 documents have either been denied or have yet to be
released.
Annexes I and II provide details of the
documents requested and the agency response.
Below are notes of the team’s experience with
the four agencies.
National Food Authority (NFA)
● Response time was quick at two days, with some documents released, and an update on the remaining requests. For statistical data, NFA referred us to the archive in their website. We got the general guidelines on rice importation, but there are data for MAV allocation only from 2014 to 2018, and nothing from before that until 1995.
● Two team members (AER and Focus) both requested for the minutes of the NFA Council’s meetings. Both were denied on the basis of confidentiality. The AER appeal is still pending at the time of this writing.
● The request for the documents related to the Philippine government’s communication with the WTO on the extension of the QRs on rice was ignored.
● Reports on the weevil-infested rice was released only after some back-and-forth with NFA. Prior to release, the NFA contact only said that the rice from Thailand was distributed in Regions III and V, but no official report was give.
● In the frequent communication with NFA, the team had to explain the request several times, and was asked to provide information on the requester’s organization. Several requests had to be sent to different offices, and the team even had to be asked to file an eFOI request for documents the NFA could not release (e.g. data related to rice import licenses).
● For referral to its website, NFA gave exact links only to some documents, while some requests were left hanging (no data for all the years covered by the requests).
● Response time was quick at two days, with some documents released, and an update on the remaining requests. For statistical data, NFA referred us to the archive in their website. We got the general guidelines on rice importation, but there are data for MAV allocation only from 2014 to 2018, and nothing from before that until 1995.
● Two team members (AER and Focus) both requested for the minutes of the NFA Council’s meetings. Both were denied on the basis of confidentiality. The AER appeal is still pending at the time of this writing.
● The request for the documents related to the Philippine government’s communication with the WTO on the extension of the QRs on rice was ignored.
● Reports on the weevil-infested rice was released only after some back-and-forth with NFA. Prior to release, the NFA contact only said that the rice from Thailand was distributed in Regions III and V, but no official report was give.
● In the frequent communication with NFA, the team had to explain the request several times, and was asked to provide information on the requester’s organization. Several requests had to be sent to different offices, and the team even had to be asked to file an eFOI request for documents the NFA could not release (e.g. data related to rice import licenses).
● For referral to its website, NFA gave exact links only to some documents, while some requests were left hanging (no data for all the years covered by the requests).
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
● Requests to DTI were filed with different offices, and sent by email and fax.
● Response was quick at six days.
● DTI through a different email address (NCR@dti.gov.ph) responded through email to clarify that DA is the more appropriate agency to handle our request (for WTO-related documents).
● Requests to DTI were filed with different offices, and sent by email and fax.
● Response was quick at six days.
● DTI through a different email address (NCR@dti.gov.ph) responded through email to clarify that DA is the more appropriate agency to handle our request (for WTO-related documents).
Department of Agriculture (DA)
● We sent several requests to DA, some of which we also filed with NFA (reports on the weevil-infested rice) or DTI (documents related to the extension of QR on rice, communications with the WTO).
● Requests were sent to different offices by email, one was hand-delivered, and followed up with phone calls.
● Some of the difficulties encountered when following up requests were the unavailability of the contact person, calls not being received/answered, and long/complicated request rerouting process.
● No document was obtained from DA as of this writing. For information on the extension of QR on rice, the team was sent the following link: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/markacc_e/qr_e.htm.
● We sent several requests to DA, some of which we also filed with NFA (reports on the weevil-infested rice) or DTI (documents related to the extension of QR on rice, communications with the WTO).
● Requests were sent to different offices by email, one was hand-delivered, and followed up with phone calls.
● Some of the difficulties encountered when following up requests were the unavailability of the contact person, calls not being received/answered, and long/complicated request rerouting process.
● No document was obtained from DA as of this writing. For information on the extension of QR on rice, the team was sent the following link: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/markacc_e/qr_e.htm.
Bureau of Customs (BOC)
● BOC has no information (name, contact details) for its FRO. The person who received the call at the BOC did not know what an FRO meant, and the team was referred to the Public Information and Assistance Division and the Office of the Commissioner. The FRO who responded to our request did not provide his/her name and/or contact information.
● The team was asked to file a request through the eFOI. After one working day, BOC denied our request citing confidentiality and suggested that we provide a duly signed request letter addressed to the Management Information System and Technology Group.
● BOC has no information (name, contact details) for its FRO. The person who received the call at the BOC did not know what an FRO meant, and the team was referred to the Public Information and Assistance Division and the Office of the Commissioner. The FRO who responded to our request did not provide his/her name and/or contact information.
● The team was asked to file a request through the eFOI. After one working day, BOC denied our request citing confidentiality and suggested that we provide a duly signed request letter addressed to the Management Information System and Technology Group.
The FOI Practice experience showed sluggish,
although positive responses from two out of four agencies, particularly the DA
and the NFA through their FROs. We observed that processing FOI requests
requires a handful of approvals before data/information can reach the
requester.
It is also important to note that the FOI
request process for NFA is not clear. Although we followed the instructions
indicated in its manual on sending information requests through email, the FRO
instructed us to file our request under the Electronic Freedom of Information
(e-FOI) Portal — a procedure that is not specified in the NFA manual when
sending requests through email.
It is unclear to some agencies how the request
process should go. The BOC request might have gone more smoothly had the
request been filed with the Department of Finance, but we were also interested
in how attached agencies would respond to FOI requests.
All agencies have either denied access,
rerouted the requests to other offices that cannot disclose information out of
“confidentiality.” None of the agencies specified which exception/s the
requested documents fall under. Several offices did not respond despite
follow-ups, or may have deliberately ignored requests since it was out of their
jurisdiction. Most offices justified their non-release of data/information due
to: (a) inconsistencies between requested data and actual data sets available;
(b) confidentiality of the requested information; (c) no actual
data/information was available specific to the request; or (d) the
data/information is already available in website external to the agency.
IV. INSIGHTS
The most critical issues we noted in this FOI
Practice are: (1) agency knowledge of documents in its possession, and which
units should requests be properly referred to; and (2) the question of where
older records and data can be located.
Referrals, rerouting, and redirection are
understandable, especially if requests are complicated and/or involve older
documents, as long as the request is eventually successful. Non-responsive
units, incomplete data, and dead ends are frustrating for requesters.
In the end, we were not able to get all the
data and documents we need. Based only on what we obtained through the FOI
Practice, supplemented by data procured from the agency websites or news
reports, it is difficult to paint a full picture of the rice industry.
Particularly, the request for the minutes of the NFA council meetings, which
could have shed light upon how the council might have possibly discussed their
plans of action on responding to the different issues concerning the rice
sector, was denied. Another important document that we were not given access to
is the BOC’s reports on smuggled rice intercepted at ports of entry. Such
information could have allowed us to better understand the factors that
contributed to the ongoing rice crisis. Since we were deprived access to such
documents, we have been likewise deprived access to the information that can
identify the possible root cause(s) of the problem and consequently have also
been deprived of the ability to come up with appropriate recommendations.
Further, this poses issues on the agency’s accountability measures.
With regard to the actual data that were
retrieved, here are our observations:
● The general guidelines on the importation of
rice and MAV allocation contain pertinent information that allow us to create a
comprehensive picture of the private sector’s rice importation process — from
the application process of institutions interested to import rice to the
post-importation process. However, while the guidelines on rice importation
could have served as a useful benchmark in identifying possible noncompliance
of NFA, which may have contributed to the rice crisis, this document is
difficult to optimize since we were not provided with the minutes of the NFA
Council’s meetings on rice importation that reflect what actions the agency
actually took or what decisions it made.
● BOC denied the request for details on rice
smuggling, citing confidentiality issues. While the request was broad, it asked
for names of the importers of the smuggled rice, as well as for less personal
details like the volume of rice smuggled into the country. There had been
numerous criticisms about the failure of BOC to curb smuggling in rice, and
there had been news reports on smuggled rice being intercepted or disposed. If
at least some information is being released to the media, why is it not also
released to researchers? Smuggling is among the concerns of farmers who,
already burdened by high input costs and hit by natural calamities, become even
less competitive in the face of cheaper smuggled rice. On a related note, if
huge quantities of rice are being smuggled into the country, yet prices
continue to be high, what then are the greater contributing factors to the rice
problem?
● Some information on increases on the
country’s MAV for rice as a result of the extensions of the QR in rice, from
news reports or documents submitted to legislative bodies. There are no
information, however, on other concessions made on non-rice commodities.
Without this, the real costs and benefits of retaining the QRs or tariffication
cannot be estimated with accuracy.
● The ACEF was supposed to be a mechanism to
assist farmers affected by the liberalization of agriculture trade. It is the
inspiration for the RCEF proposed under the Rice Tariffication Bill. A close
evaluation of ACEF’s performance would go a long way in ensuring that RCEF will
indeed be able to respond to the needs of affected rice farmers.
The FOI Practice Team on Rice tried to piece
together the information gathered, and made more detailed notes on the rice
issue. See Box –Usapang Bigas: Notes on the Story of Rice
V. RECOMMENDATIONS
Based from our experience on this practice
round, we recommend the following measures:
● There should be dedicated personnel to
manage not only information requests, but to maintain information and
data-management systems. Such personnel should have full knowledge of where
documents originate and where they are kept, to help expedite request routing.
The approval system should also be streamlined, and should be reflected in an
FOI request flowchart.
● Each agency should have a comprehensive
information map, clearly identifying the documents that are publicly available
and documents with restructed access, and marking information co-managed with
other agencies.
● There should be stricter implementation of
basic manual requirements:
o As an exercise of due diligence, the receipt of a request (even those not delivered personally) should be communicated to the requester, preferably through a written response. The same goes for denials where the reason for the non-release of data/information is provided in written form to the requester.
o Names and contact details of FOI receiving officers should be clearly indicated in agency websites and directories, and distributed to all offices for reference.
o Agencies have to be more conscious about the prescribed 15-day response period and the 20-day extension period.
o As an exercise of due diligence, the receipt of a request (even those not delivered personally) should be communicated to the requester, preferably through a written response. The same goes for denials where the reason for the non-release of data/information is provided in written form to the requester.
o Names and contact details of FOI receiving officers should be clearly indicated in agency websites and directories, and distributed to all offices for reference.
o Agencies have to be more conscious about the prescribed 15-day response period and the 20-day extension period.
● Data format issues: As far as practicable,
documents for release should also be in soft copies and/or machine-readable
format.
● Data storage and archiving issues: Agency
websites do not always carry the historical data and documents. In such cases,
FROs should be able to direct requesters to libraries or other relevant offices
for physical copies of the documents. Needless to say, the storage and
archiving policies should be clear to FROs and other personnel responsible for
record management. —
Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition, December 2018
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Udupi: Diversion of 'Anna Bhagya' rice -
accused succeeds in getting bail
·
Wed,
Dec 12 2018 12:51:05 PM
Daijiworld
Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi,
Dec 12: A person who was facing the allegation of illegally buying
rice meant for distribution through public distribution system and
misappropriating it for commercial purpose, secured conditional bail from the
single judge bench of the high court.
Under
the instructions of deputy commissioner of the district, food inspector,
Parvathama, had raided Vijaya Rice Mill at Kota here. The raid was conducted on
September 8, 2017, based on information about ration card rice being bought for
low rate and diverting it for other purposes. The raiding team had seized 5,144
kg of rice during the operation. Owner of the mill, Umanath Pai, had fled
during the raid.
Kota
police who registered the case under Essential Commodities Act 1955, had kept
the seized rice in the APMC yard under the instructions of food inspector.
Udupi district and sessions court had refused bail, treating this as a serious
case of misusing government facility. Bail application was then moved in the
stat high court. Presiding officer of the single judge bench of the high court,
Justice Nigajagannavar, who heard prolonged arguments on behalf of the
prosecution and the accused, granted bail to the accused with the condition to
furnish bond of one lac rupees and two sureties.. In addition, the accused has
to present himself at Kota police station on the last day of every month.
Special
public prosecutor, Chandramouli, argued on behalf of the prosecution in the
case, while high court advocate, H Pavanchandra Shetty, had appeared on behalf
of the accused.
https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=545069
http://www.uniindia.com/~/wholesale-prices-of-oils-sugar-commodities-in-apmc/Business%20Economy/news/1435327.html
