Dr. L.B. “Bernie” Daniels of Fayetteville is
among five people who will be inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of
Fame.
A Southern Arkansas University graduate, Dr. L.B. “Bernie”
Daniels of Fayetteville, is among five people who will be inducted into the
Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame.
The newest class also includes Ed Fryar of Rogers, the founder
of Ozark Mountain Poultry; UA professor Dr. Donna Graham of Fayetteville; UA
distinguished professor Dr. Terry Siebenmorgen of Fayetteville; and David Walt
of Dumas, a retired soybean farmer.
The group will be honored with an induction luncheon at 11:30
a.m. March 1 at Little Rock’s Embassy Suites Hotel.
“This class of inductees includes entrepreneurs, researchers,
educators and agricultural leaders,” said Butch Calhoun of Des Arc, chairman of
the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame committee. “The broad reach of these five
individuals has been felt in every corner of Arkansas, from the delta flatlands
to the pastures of western Arkansas.”
The new selections will bring to 169 the number of honorees in
the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame, encompassing 32 classes of inductees.
Daniels retired in 2001 from the University of Arkansas, having
first joined as a faculty member in 1969. He bracketed his tenure as a faculty
member with a decade of service as associate director of the Agricultural
Experiment Station in Fayetteville.
A native of Thornton (Calhoun County), Daniels began his
collegiate experience at Southern State College (now Southern Arkansas
University) in Magnolia, and earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees at
the University of Arkansas. He earned a PhD at the University of Missouri. As a
faculty member, he taught more than 5,000 students in classes ranging from
Introduction to Animal Sciences to Neonatal Physiology and Bio-Energetics.
He published more than 70 peer-reviewed research articles and
helped advance the understanding of ruminant nutrition for both dairy and beef
cattle. He was instrumental in fund-raising for several UA projects, including
the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, the UA Center for Advanced
Spatial Technology, and the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center. He also
aided in the development of the Food Safety Consortium between the UA, Iowa
State University and Kansas State University. He was named Distinguished Alumni
from SAU in 2014.
Dr. Ed Fryar started Ozark Mountain Poultry in 2000, after
working 13 years as a professor of agricultural economics at the UA. He grew
the business to more than 1,800 employees and processing more than 1.2 million
chickens per week.
Fryar has served on the Council of Economic Advisors for
Arkansas governors since 1983. He is also a member of the Agribusiness Council
for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Before starting OMP, Fryar was a tenured professor at the UA,
focusing his research on grain and poultry marketing and price risk management.
He also worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. He holds
undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Arkansas and a PhD
from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Donna L. Graham has spent almost 50 years with the
University of Arkansas System, starting in 1970 with the Cooperative Extension
Service in Jefferson County. In 1985, she moved to the Fayetteville campus as a
faculty member in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life
Sciences and served 10 years as associate dean for Academic Programs.
As a faculty member, Dr. Graham created curriculum to
effectively train future extension agents and strengthen the college core. A
recent effort led to the creation of Ag-Idea, a consortium of 12 universities
to share agriculture courses online. She has secured approximately $1.5 million
in funding to support educational programs.
Dr. Terry Siebenmorgen is an international leader in rice
research, particularly in processing and drying of the cereal grain. He serves
as Distinguished Professor and director of the University of Arkansas Rice
Processing Program, which he started in 1994. The ARPP is an
industry-interactive, multidisciplinary effort focusing on rice processing
operations and has sponsors from across the United States, South America,
Europe and Japan. Siebenmorgen began his faculty career at the UA in 1984 as a
food engineer, working in several areas of food processing.
Since the late ‘80s, he has focused on rice processing in
response to the strong need for research from the food industry.
A native of Scranton (Logan County), Siebenmorgen holds an
undergraduate degree in agricultural engineering from the UA, a master’s degree
from Purdue and a PhD in engineering from the University of Nebraska.
David Walt is owner of Camp David Farms in Dumas and a longtime
leader in row-crop agriculture, raising soybeans, cotton and rice. He is known
best as an aggressive and unyielding advocate for the soybean industry. Walt
began farming in 1962, after returning home from the University of Arkansas,
where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.
While he retired from “full time” farm work in 2007, Walt
remains active (especially at harvest time) on the family farm, where the fifth
generation of the Walt family carries on. Walt was especially keen on
agricultural research, and was an active participant in numerous land
improvement, soil conservation and seed variety projects.
He is a past president of the Arkansas Soybean Association (and
spend 33 years on its board), was fund-raising chair for the Tri-State Soybean
Forum, and a longtime board member for the Desha County Farm Bureau. He served
as a founding member of the Arkansas Foundation for Agriculture.
Walt is a past member of the Dumas School Board, Merchants and
Farmers Bank board of directors and was named Man of the Year by the Dumas
Chamber of Commerce in 1983. The Walt family was named Desha County Farm Family
of the Year and Southeast District Farm Family of the Year in 1993.
Luncheon tickets are $35 each. Individual tickets and tables of
10 are available by calling (501) 228-1609 or emailing aghalloffame@arfb.com
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Direct Seeded Rice: A Promising
Solution
Talha Javed
I am working as Research Associate at University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. My research directions are Seed Enhancement,
Storage and Seed longevity.
The 2016 El Niño-Southern Oscillation brought extreme dry spell
and saltiness interruption, which are presently influencing the rice creation
area in the Mekong River Delta (MRD).
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of
Vietnam perceived that this emergency and its ensuing impacts will repeat
later; subsequently, the improvement of reasonable adjustment answers for
atmosphere related dangers is an earnest and imperative concern.
Endeavors to enhance rice
generation in MRD have been actualized by MARD in the most recent decade,
including halfway automation. In any case, as per Dr Nguyen Hong Son, Director
General of the Department of Crop Production of MARD , with the present creation challenges, including the
effects of environmental change,
“The time has come to execute synchronous automation (in land
readiness, wet/dry direct seeding/sowing, gathering). This will decrease
generation costs and abbreviate gathering time, which will result in expanded
pay among our ranchers in MRD. It will likewise be imperative in effectively
executing the criteria for Building New Rural Areas”.
As a help to the adjustment
endeavours of Vietnam, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change , Agriculture
and Food Security in Southeast Asia (CCAFS SEA) composed a joint report visit
in Thailand last April 2018. It was gone to by Vietnamese rice analysts,
expansion laborers, and neighbourhood chiefs from the Vietnam Academy of
Agricultural Sciences (VAAS), Cu Long Delta Rice Research Institute, and the
Department of Crop Production of Soc Trang Province.
The examination visit expected to present the experience of Thai
ranchers on the vast scale appropriation procedure of dry-coordinate seeding
rice (DDSR), a suitable choice to address provincial shortage of new water in
water system caused by the dry spell and saltiness interruption in MRD.
More generally connected in rained and upland zones, DDSR is a
harvest foundation practice wherein seeds are sown specifically into the dirt.
Besides helping ranchers address the high work cost in rice creation, DDSR has
demonstrated to lessen water utilization as no rice seedling is being
transplanted into standing water.
Atmosphere related dangers may impact sly affect crops relying
upon event and force, and product assortment and advancement arrange. There is
a requirement for various administration levels to give momentary cautions and
suitable activities to react to the dangers through an incorporated checking
framework.
To address this need, the CS MAP framework is being created
utilizing a Web-based Geographical Information System stage (WebGIS). It
incorporates modules for continuous checking of rice creation advance and gives
cautions to atmosphere dangers, vermin and illnesses at various improvement
phases of the yield advancement. It is good with the present observing and detailing
arrangement of the DCP and its common units.
The incorporated framework incorporates three checking segments:
atmosphere related dangers, rice development, and bug and illnesses. The
framework utilizes a week after week time interim for refreshing perception
information and, therefore, it can give week by week hazard alarms and stock
report. Ready dimensions and fast warnings will be related with helpless rice
zones, in view of participatory hazard maps to be created.
Amid the gathering, the members consented to utilize the surge
secured zone, a gathering of fields that is encompassed by dykes, as the
littlest administration unit for observing and revealing rice generation and
dangers. The measure of the zone changes from 50 ha to 250 ha relying upon
territory and hydrological organize.
Different subtleties, for example, configuration of information
and yield information, announcing strategies and the board chain of importance
were additionally dictated by the members.
Amid the field visits, the Vietnamese group was acquainted with
existing strategies and hardware of DDSR being utilized by Thai agriculturists
and neighborhood associations. The group was likewise refreshed on the
advancement of the across the country execution of DDSR by the commonplace rice
explore offices and their focuses in Thailand. Together, they talked about the
arrangement systems and financing support from partners (i.e., government,
private division) who support the utilization of DDSR.
The group brought home a few
exercises from the visit:
Rising shortage as far as water supply and
work compel triggers the move from puddled transplanting or wet sowing to
DDSR. Since it is a water-and work proficient practice, DDSR is a
potential choice to address the quick developing water and work
emergencies emerging in flooded rice zones as well as in rainfed
territories. The accomplishment of DDSR practice relies
upon exact land levelling, appropriate cultivars, great harvest
foundation, exact water the board, and compelling and proficient weed and
supplement the executives. Research and advancement activities must
be directed, particularly in potential embracing zones, to encourage a
feasible DDSR practice.
Corresponding author: talhajaved54321@gmail.com
Seed Physiology Lab, Department
of Agronomy,
University of Agriculture,
Faisalabad, Pakistan
"Show Me" the New Focus on the Farmer Series
ARLINGTON, VA --
This month's "Focus on the Farmer" Facebook series features Zach
Worrell, a third generation farmer from Rives, Missouri. Zach has a
degree in Accounting from Arkansas State University and worked at his local
electric cooperative for a couple years before joining his grandfather, father,
and uncle at Worrell Farms in 2014. "I farmed on and off with my family during
the summer and school breaks," said Zach. "Tromping cotton with
my grandma when I got off the school bus in the afternoon is something I did as
a child. Memories like that stuck with me and made me realize how special
farming really is." Follow along with Zach all week, and look,
"like," and, most importantly, share the posts to help spread the
U.S. rice story!
USA
Rice Daily
Scientists
question govt policies responsible for rising area under water-intensive rice
crop
They questioned the government over
potato is being thrown on roads, and onions being sold at Rs 2 per kg in
wholesale market and Rs 20 per kg in retail.
Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba
|Phagwara |Published: January 7, 2019 5:45:39 am
Concluding the session, senior scientist of
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Darshan Singh Barar said the
government needs to give better price for every crop and have processing units
like for making chips from potato and ketchup from tomato. (Representational
Image)
Reducing area under paddy crop in
Punjab has been a big issue for every successive government for over past two
decades as water table is depleting 90 cm every year. In the ongoing Indian
Science Congress, the agricultural scientists questioned the policies, which
are responsible for growing rice on 3 million hectares in Punjab, besides the
reason of providing water subsidy on paddy, a highly water-intensive crop
resulting in depleting water table.
They questioned the government over
potato is being thrown on roads, and onions being sold at Rs 2 per kg in
wholesale market and Rs 20 per kg in retail.
“I have been hearing about
diversification of crop in Punjab for the past two decades, but just the
opposite has happened when the area under rice has increased from 21 lakh
hectares in 2001 to over 30 lakh hectares in 2017-18,” said senior scientists
Dr Rajbir Singh, Agriculture Technology Application Research Institute, under
Government of India. He adding that rice is sustainable crop in Punjab and
cannot be replaced by any other, but definitely the area under it can be
reduced if the government helps farmers by providing better price for other
crops.
He was speaking at a session on Rice
Production System in India. H S Sidhu, a senior Research Engineer with Borlaug
Institute of South Asia centre at Ladhowal in Ludhiana, said that rice and
wheat have no replacement and are the most sustainable crops in Punjab. “But,
we need to change farm practices for it so that our land and water can be
protected from degradation, for which government support is highly essential.”
Sujay Rakshit, Director of Indian
Council of Agricultural Research, Institute of Indian Institute of Maize
Research (ICAR, IIMR), Ludhiana, said that when the government is providing
free power to irrigate rice and procuring at a minimum support price, why
farmers will go for other crops, which do not have any support price.
“Sometimes farmers face huge market problem. It is up to the government to make
such policies so that other crops can get fair price.”
Concluding the session, senior
scientist of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Darshan Singh Barar said
the government needs to give better price for every crop and have processing
units like for making chips from potato and ketchup from tomato.
Prior to this Japanese scientist
Kazuyuki Inubushi, Chiba University, Japan, informed the session that how they
are working on reducing water usage in rice cultivation by adopting various
techniques. Engineer Sasi Elumali suggested ways to manage paddy stubble.
Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame to
add five new members
The Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame will induct five individuals
whose leadership and service have brought distinction to the state’s largest
business sector.
The newest class includes retired University of Arkansas
educator Dr. L.B. (Bernie) Daniels of Fayetteville; Ed Fryar of Rogers, the
founder of Ozark Mountain Poultry; UA professor Dr. Donna Graham of
Fayetteville; UA distinguished professor Dr. Terry Siebenmorgen of
Fayetteville; and David Walt of Dumas, a retired soybean farmer.
The group will be honored with an induction luncheon set for
11:30 a.m. on March 1 at Little Rock’s Embassy Suites Hotel. The new selections
will bring to 169 the number of honorees in the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of
Fame, encompassing 32 classes of inductees.
“This class of inductees includes entrepreneurs, researchers,
educators and agricultural leaders,” Butch Calhoun, chairman of the Arkansas
Agriculture Hall of Fame committee said. “The broad reach of these five
individuals has been felt in every corner of Arkansas, from the Delta flatlands
to the pastures of western Arkansas.”
Dr. L.B. (Bernie) Daniels retired in 2001 from the University of
Arkansas, having first joined as a faculty member in 1969. He bracketed his
tenure as a faculty member with a decade of service as Associate Director of
the Agricultural Experiment Station in Fayetteville. A native of Thornton
(Calhoun County), Daniels attended Southern State College (now Southern
Arkansas University) in Magnolia, and earned his undergraduate and master’s
degrees at the University of Arkansas. He earned a PhD at the University of
Missouri. As a faculty member, he taught more than 5,000 students in classes
ranging from introduction to animal sciences to Neonatal Physiology and
Bio-Energetics. He published more than 70 peer-reviewed research articles and
helped advance the understanding of ruminant nutrition for both dairy and beef
cattle. He was instrumental in fund-raising for several UA projects, including
the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, the UA Center for Advanced
Spatial Technology, and the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center. He also
aided in the development of the Food Safety Consortium between the UA, Iowa
State University and Kansas State University. He was named Distinguished Alumni
from SAU in 2014.
Dr. Ed Fryar started Ozark Mountain Poultry in 2000, after
working 13 years as a professor of agricultural economics at the UA. He grew
the business to more than 1,800 employees and processing more than 1.2 million
chickens per week. OMP focused on antibiotic free and non-GMO chicken products,
servicing the retail and food service channels with its Forester Farmers Market
brand. In just over a decade, OMP had significant growth in its customer base
and our product offerings, with sales reaching more than $280 million. Fryar
worked to establish direct buying channels with Arkansas grain producers. The
company was also known for its RFID tracking of poultry during production and
an incentive-based pay system that results in higher output and higher yields.
Arkansas-based George’s Inc., acquired the OMP business in 2018. He holds
undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Arkansas and a PhD
from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Donna L. Graham has spent almost 50 years with the
University of Arkansas System, starting in 1970 with the Cooperative Extension
Service in Jefferson County. In 1985, she moved to the Fayetteville campus as a
faculty member in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life
Sciences and served 10 years as Associate Dean for Academic Programs. Graham
has received numerous teaching and advising awards including the Spitze Land
Grant Faculty Award for Excellence as well as recognition as a Distinguished
Alumna from the UA Alumni Society. As a faculty member, Dr. Graham created
curriculum to effectively train future extension agents and strengthen the
college core. A recent effort led to the creation of Ag*Idea, a consortium of
12 universities to share agriculture courses online. She has secured
approximately $1.5 million in funding to support educational programs. Graham’s
career has been a progression of leadership beginning in the 1970s as the
Southern Regional Director of the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents.
More recent roles include serving on the National Entomological Board, the
Academic Program Section of the Board of Agriculture Assembly, American Public
and Land-Grant Universities, and as president of the American Association for
Agricultural Education, where she is a Senior Fellow. A native of Damascus
(Faulkner County), Graham earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at the
University of Arkansas and a PhD from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Terry Siebenmorgen is an international leader in rice
research, particularly in processing and drying of the cereal grain. He serves
as Distinguished Professor and Director of the University of Arkansas Rice
Processing Program, which he started in 1994. The ARPP is an
industry-interactive, multidisciplinary effort focusing on rice processing
operations and has sponsors from across the United States, South America, Europe
and Japan. Siebenmorgen began his faculty career at the UA in 1984 as a food
engineer, working in several areas of food processing. Since the late ‘80s, he
has focused on rice processing in response to the strong need for research from
the food industry. Among his many industry awards are being selected as
Riceland Foods’ Friend of the Farmer in 2012 and receiving the Distinguished
Service Award from the Rice Technical Working Group in 2016. He also received
designation as a Fellow with the American Society of Agricultural and
Biological Engineers and received the ASABE Distinguished Food Engineer Award
in 2007. He was twice selected for the Texas Instruments Outstanding Research
Award and earned the Spitze Land Grant University Faculty Award for Excellence.
A native of Scranton (Logan County), Siebenmorgen holds an undergraduate degree
in agricultural engineering from the UA, a master’s degree from Purdue and a
PhD in engineering from the University of Nebraska.
David Walt owns Camp David Farms in Dumas and is a longtime
leader in row-crop agriculture, raising soybeans, cotton and rice. He is known
best as an aggressive and unyielding advocate for the soybean industry. Walt
began farming in 1962, after returning home from the University of Arkansas. He
farmed for many years with his brother, Martin. Walt spent five years (1962-67)
in the Arkansas Air National Guard and a year (1968) on active duty with the
U.S. Air Force. While he retired from “full time” farm work in 2007, Walt
remains active on the family farm, where the fifth generation of the Walt
family carries on. Walt was especially keen on agricultural research, and was
an active participant in numerous land improvement, soil conservation and seed
variety projects. Walt was appointed to serve on the Arkansas Soybean Promotion
Board in 1987 and served for 16 years on that committee. He is a past president
of the Arkansas Soybean Association was fund-raising chair for the Tri-State
Soybean Forum, and a longtime board member for the Desha County Farm Bureau. He
served as a founding member of the Arkansas Foundation for Agriculture. He is
also a Lifetime Board Member of Economics Arkansas, which promotes economic
literacy throughout the state. Walt is a past member of the Dumas School Board,
Merchants and Farmers Bank board of directors and was named Man of the Year by
the Dumas Chamber of Commerce in 1983. The Walt family was named Desha County
Farm Family of the Year and Southeast District Farm Family of the Year in 1993.
Bangladesh fifth largest wheat importer
Iftekhar Mahmud . Dhaka | Update: 13:54,
Jan 06, 2019
Bangladesh has emerged as the fifth largest wheat importer in the
world, with its import of the grain increasing by 36 per cent over the past
five years, according to a report of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO).
Among
the fastest growing importing countries, Bangladesh imported 5.5 million tonnes
of wheat in the last fiscal. FAO predicts this is likely to increase to 6
million tonnes in the current fiscal year.
Even just five years ago, Bangladesh was not
among the top 10 wheat importing countries of the world.
Changing in food habits and increased health
awareness has made people to turn more to wheat, consequently raising the
demand of the grain, said former director of the Institute of Nutrition and
Food Science Nazma Shahin told Prothom Alo.
“People nowadays eat less rice as wheat
contains more protein and provides more energy. On the other hand, rice
contains starch that may cause diabetes. Also, wheat is cheaper than rice,”
Shahin explained.
The top four countries ahead of Bangladesh in
importing wheat are Egypt, Indonesia, Algeria and Brazil. These countries
imported 507 million tonnes wheat in the previous fiscal year.
The top exporting countries are the United
States, Russia, Canada, Australia and Ukraine.
According to the FAO report, overall wheat
production increased by 20 per cent over the past five years.
The production increased from 900,000 tonnes to
1.2 million tonnes in 10 years.
Usually the wheat available in the local market
is mixed with corn. Corn production has also increased to 39 million tonnes
last year. Most of the corn is mixed with wheat to prepare poultry and fish
feed.
Meanwhile, government statistics show, the risk
of diabetes is increasing among the adults of the country. The government’s
2006 survey on non-communicable diseases (Steps 2006) showed about 5.5 per cent
of adults were suffering from diabetes while another similar survey (steps
2018) showed 6.4 per cent of adults suffer from this disease in Bangladesh.
That means more than 7.6 million people are suffering from diabetes.
Physicians advise eating roti (flat bread)
instead of rice to control blood sugar levels. Apart from this, many people eat
rice once a day and bread in the two meals other meals, out of health
awareness. There is thus an increased consumption of roti, bread and wheat
products in the country.
With growing urbanisation and increased per
capita income, the consumption of roti, fish, meat and dairy products will
increase, says country representative Akhter Ahmed of Bangladesh Policy
Research and Strategy Support Program (IFPRI).
“A large number of working people eat out
nowadays in Bangladesh. This is positive, but the quality of food in the
outside eateries should be ensured,” he added.
*This piece originally published in Prothom Alo
print edition has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat
Bulacan airport ready to
take off
Just recently, several overseas Filipino worker groups have
asked both the Office of the President and the Department of Transportation to
fasttrack negotiations for a new international airport in Bulacan.
These OFW groups are of course referring to the P735-billion
proposed New Manila International Airport in Bulakan, Bulacan of San Miguel
Corp. (SMC) which has already been approved by the NEDA Board and will be
subject to a Swiss Challenge in 2019.
These groups, according to their letter, are longing for a
world-class airport that can unlock the country’s growth potential.
Susan Ople, who heads the Blas F. Ople Policy Center which also
signed the petition, said her group wrote the letter as an expression of
support not just to the building of a new airport in Bulacan but also for other
major infrastructure projects that would lead to job creation and OFW
reintegration.
She said that optimism is high that once these critical projects
begin, the floodgates for more jobs and potential investments will be flung
wide open and that hopefully, more OFWs would be enticed to return and reunite
with their families because more local jobs would be open to them.
Other groups that signed the petition are the Integrated
Seafarers of the Philippines, OFW Watch, OFW Chamber of Commerce, OFW Council
of Leaders-KSA, Kabalikat ng Migranteng Pilipino, Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-anak
ng Migranteng Manggagawang Pilipino, LBS Recruitment Solutions Corp.,
Philippine Association of Migrant Workers & Advocates, Kaibigan ng OCWs,
OFW Committee, Zonta Club of Quezon City, United Filipino Seafarers, Ang
Kaagapay ng Bawat OFW, Filipino Malaysian Cultural Sports and Workforce
Training Program, and Bulacan Federation of OFW Family Circle Officers.
They said that Bulacan province is fast becoming the next growth
area. It is adjacent to Metro Manila and a strategic neighbor of Pampanga,
thus accelerating and strengthening the growth corridor for investments and
tourism for the Central Luzon-Northern Luzon corridor.
Their clamor is truly understandable. Airport development is
linked to economic development and having a world-class airport at no expense
to our government should be a priority.
The NEDA Board chaired by President Duterte earlier gave the
green light to the concession agreement with SMC for the proposed Bulacan
airport, paving the way for a Swiss Challenge to the unsolicited proposal early
this year.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said that during the
NEDA Board meeting held before Christmas, the Cabinet-level, interagency body
approved the concession agreements for the proposed airport.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia
said the Swiss Challenge is scheduled this month.
A new world-class airport financed solely by the private sector
but benefitting the whole nation is one infrastructure project that should
receive the full support of the Duterte administration.
NFA to buy locally
Sen. Cynthia Villar has reminded Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel
Piñol that the National Food Authority (NFA) will not be able to sell cheap
rice to the public under the Rice Tariffication Bill, which was approved on
third and final reading by both Congress.
Villar told Piñol that the NFA is no longer allowed to import
rice under the new law but only allowed to buy from local farmers.
Earlier, President Duterte said that even with rice
tariffication and liberalization of the rice industry, the NFA shall continue
to provide the public, particularly the less fortunate, with rice that is
affordable and safe.
Once the bill is signed into law by the President, the NFA will
be directed to buy palay from local farmers and together with DA, will focus on
developing a cost-efficient system that will help reduce the production cost of
locally-produced rice and stabilize rice prices.
Villar, the principal author of the bill, added that the rice
subsidy of the Department of Social Welfare and Development amounting to P28 billion
should be bought from the local farmers.
The quantitative restriction on importation of rice by the
Philippines allowed by the World Trade Organization expired on June 30, 2017.
The Philippines has to liberalize the importation of rice so
Congress passed the law on rice tariffication to protect Filipino farmers from
imported rice.
The tariff will be 30 percent on rice imports from ASEAN
countries as per agreement and 50 percent from the rest of the world.
Proceeds from the tariff will be given to the farmers in the
amount of P10 billion a year for the next six years to make the farmers
competitive by mechanization (P5 billion), better seed production (P3 billion),
and cheaper credit from Landbank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the
Philippines (P1 billion).
Ten percent shall be made available for extension services
provided by PhilMech, PhilRice, Agricultural Training Institute, and Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority for teaching skills on rice crop
production, modern rice farming techniques, seed production, farm mechanization
and knowledge/technology transfer through farm schools nationwide. Seventy
percent will go to TESDA, and 10 percent each to ATI, PhilRice and PhilMech.
Villar, chair of the committee on food and agriculture, also
informed Pinol that the NFA will not be abolished with the implementation of
the rice tariffication bill.
She said that only the regulatory and importation functions of
the NFA will be removed, but the agency will remain, to solely focus on buffer-stocking
with its inventory acquired from domestic farmers.
Villar explained that NFA will now be required to buy from local
farmers for buffer-stocking purposes, instead of importing rice.
According to the senator, the budget for the NFA should be
pegged at around P7 billion, strictly for the maintenance of a buffer stock to
stabilize the rice supply and allow it to sell subsidized rice to the poor and
to release emergency supplies during periods of calamity.
She added that with the NFA committed to buying domestically at
P17 per kilo, with an additional P3 incentive, the price of NFA rice might be
P33 per kilo, a level seen sufficient to achieve break-even levels.
Contrary to misconceptions, she said the bill includes a package
of support programs that will help farmers adjust to competition under a
tariffied regime.
Under the bill, Filipino farmers will have a fighting chance
against farmers from neighboring ASEAN countries as cheaper rice will start
flooding the market.
According to Villar, the bill creates the Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund or Rice Fund consisting of an annual appropriation of P10
billion for the next six years following the approval of this act.
Relax delivery norms, rice millers urge state
govt
Jan 7, 2019,
8:58 AM; last updated: Jan 7, 2019, 8:58 AM (IST)
Nitish Sharma
Tribune News Service
Ambala, January 6
With the elections just three months away, the
millers in the state have again started building pressure on the government to
relax the norms for custom milling of rice.
Unhappy with the
quality of grain, the rice millers have been seeking relaxation in the
permissible limits of discoloured, broken and damaged yield while delivering it
to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
Raj Kumar Singla, president, Rice Millers’
Association, Ambala, said: “Untimely rainfall badly affected the quality of the
grain. The millers who procure paddy have to return 67-kg per quintal rice to
the FCI, in which 3 per cent damaged, 3 per cent discoloured and 25 per cent
broken grain is allowed. However, as per the loss this year, there is a need to
increase the permissible limits to 5 per cent damaged and discoloured each and
30 per cent broken.”
“Even the yield
has been on the lower side this time. So, we demand that the millers should be
allowed to return 64-kg per quintal rice instead of 67 kg,” he added.
Singla further
said: “The Uttar Pradesh Government has recently relaxed the norms and reduced
it to 64-kg per quintal rice and a similar step must be taken by the state.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has written a demi-official letter to the
Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution requesting
him to relax the norms, but we are yet to hear anything from him.”
Sources,
however, said: “Millers have 58.5-lakh million tonnes (MT) of rice belonging to
the state procurement agencies, against which they have to deliver 39.2 lakh MT
to the government. If the demand of the rice millers is accepted, it will
amount to a financial burden of over Rs 580 crore to the state
government."
They said there
were about 1,100 rice millers in Haryana, of which 200 were big ones. “If their
demand is accepted, each of them is set to get an additional benefit between Rs
2 crore and Rs 5 crore. Also, the UP example given by the millers is also
irrelevant as the total procurement of paddy there is hardly 3 lakh MT.”
How
to get rid of visceral fat: Five foods to avoid to cut down on the harmful
belly fat
HOW TO get rid of visceral fat:
This type of body fat is deemed the most dangerous because of where it’s stored
in the body. But what can you do to get rid of it? Simple changes to your diet
can lead to a fast and effective result - in particular avoiding five foods.
PUBLISHED: 13:41, Mon, Jan 7, 2019 |
UPDATED: 14:06, Mon, Jan 7, 2019
can pose a serious health
risk. Too much visceral fat can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high
blood pressure. So what can you do to get rid of it? While it’s considered the
most dangerous body fat it’s also the easiest to lose and simple diet changes,
such as avoiding certain foods, can help.
One
eight-week-long study looked at 69 overweight men and women. Researchers
discovered people who followed a low-carb diet lost 10 per cent more visceral
fat and 4.4 per cent more total fat than those on a low-fat diet.
How to get rid of
visceral fat: There are five foods you should avoid (Image: GETTY)
While
it’s recommended you cut down on your carbohydrates intake they shouldn’t be
cut out completely.
Bupa
White bread can be swapped for wholemeal or granary bread, pitta
or tortilla wraps.
Instead of peeling potatoes leave the skin on boiled potatoes or
cook wedges with the skin on, or swap white potatoes for sweet potatoes and
yams.
Finally swap sugary cereals for unsweetened wholegrain cereals
such as porridge, but make sure to check the label.
How to get rid of
visceral fat: If you eat potatoes leave the skin on or opt for sweet potatoes (Image: GETTY)
How to get rid of
visceral fat: Avoid sugary cereals and always check food labels (Image: GETTY)
Oils fall under the food group fats, but in order to get rid of
visceral fat you should always opt for healthy fats.
A study undertaken by the American Diabetes Association found a
higher intake of monounsaturated fats can benefit your waist size, as well as
lead to lower central fat distribution.
Trans-fats, which are known as bad fats, can have a negative
impact on your body.
Wake Forest University researchers found a diet high in
trans-fats doesn’t just contribute to overall belly fat, but also helps to
shift fat from other areas to the belly.
Oils that contain trans-fat, for example some vegetable oils
heated to a very high temperature for frying, should be avoided.
Instead opt for oils that fall under monounsaturated fats, such
as avocado, olive and sunflower oil.
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1068406/how-to-get-rid-of-visceral-fat-diet-foods-to-avoid-rice-bread-pasta-potatoes-cereal
Chinese
scientists succeed in developing clonal seeds from hybrid rice
Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/1/6 7:41:14
Chinese scientists have succeeded in developing clonal seeds
from hybrid rice, said an online paper published in Nature Biotechnology Friday
night. the
total planting area of rice across the country. The annual output of hybrid
rice is about 2.5 million tonnes.
Pakistan’s
food trade deficit shrank to $1.4 billion in the last fiscal year from $2.43bn
a year ago. ─ File photo
Pakistan’s food trade deficit
shrank to $1.4 billion in the last fiscal year from $2.43bn a year ago. But a
reversal of the trend is clearly in sight during the current fiscal year.
In the first five months of
2018-19, the food trade deficit stands at $954 million. If no major initiatives
are taken to boost food exports and contain imports, the full-year deficit may
again end up close to $2bn. Even exports of 0.5m tonnes of wheat and wheat
products, as suggested by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research,
cannot enhance food export earnings to a level to avert this possibility.
In the past, we have seen the food
trade deficit growing even in the midst of record wheat and sugar exports.
Import volumes of pulses in
July-November went up about 65pc, which shows little attention is being paid to
minor crops
A delay in the acceptance of some
demands of the millers for sugar exports, availability of a smaller surplus of
non-basmati rice and an extended ban on deep-sea fishing during this fiscal
year, which reduced fish hauling in the first quarter, have diluted the gains
in food exports.
As a result, our food export
earnings totalled just $1.51bn in five months to November, up only 1.27pc from
the year-ago earnings of $1.49bn, according to the Pakistan Bureau of
Statistics (PBS).
Against this, food imports totalled
$2.47bn, down 9.28pc mainly due to the imposition of higher tariffs from
$2.72bn in the year-ago period, leaving a gap of $954m.
If sugar exports had begun earlier,
production of non-basmati rice varieties in Sindh had not been affected by
water scarcity and the authorities had resolved a controversy over the ban on
deep-sea fishing on time, total food exports could have been higher.
These factors have actually
belittled some gains in food exports so far this fiscal year, like larger
basmati shipments and an increase in export earnings of fruits and vegetables.
The main problem with Pakistan’s
food exports is that their growth rate is inconsistent. There are many reasons
for it, but one of them relates to politics. In the absence of a peaceful
political atmosphere, agriculture and food trade suffer a lot.
Take the example of sugar. Towards
the end of the PML-N government, the traditional tiff between sugar cane
growers and sugar mills acquired a new dimension and continued even after the
installation of the new PTI government.
A proactive judiciary also entered
the scene — and for quite right reasons. But the end result is that the millers’
stubborn attitude across Pakistan and too much politicising of the sugar mills’
affairs in Sindh led to delayed cane crushing. Then the millers’ demand that
they should be allowed to export sugar regardless of whether they had
previously defaulted on bank loans led to an impasse.
Export earnings of non-basmati rice
in five months of this fiscal year fell chiefly owing to fewer shipments. In
most rice-growing areas of Sindh and in some areas of Punjab, paddy cultivation
suffered in the previous year, reducing the exportable surplus. That Sindh
continues to suffer from an acute water shortage this year too and rice growers
say the output here can decline as much as 30 per cent mean that there is
little scope for boosting non-basmati rice in coming months.
Seafood export volumes have
declined in July-November mainly because of a controversial ban on deep-sea fishing
on the issue of seaworthiness of fishing trawlers.
Government officials say that the
issue has been resolved and hope that seafood exports will pick up now. But no
one can say if overall seafood exports in the current year will surpass that of
the last year.
Traditionally, we see a food trade
deficit every year, thanks to unsustainable growth in exports and rising
imports of food items, including palm and soybean oils, pulses, dry milk and
tea — and a large number of finished food products ranging from formula milk
and power diet to expensive brands of coffee, honey, confectionary products and
whatnot.
At a time when the overall foreign
trade deficit remains a big headache for foreign exchange–starved Pakistan, we
can hardly afford such a large food trade deficit. Clearly, there is a need to
slash it. But that is not possible if the federal and provincial authorities
and the private sector involved in agriculture and agro-based food exports sit
together with a single-point agenda of boosting agricultural productivity and
promoting food exports.
On the import side, further
revision in non-essential food items can also be considered keeping in view
that the tariff hikes made so far have started making a dent in imports.
In addition, import substitution efforts
must also be accelerated. Higher local output of oilseed crops has already
started reducing its imports. The provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa have been working on olive plantation for several years. There is a
need to expedite those projects along with continuing regular oilseed crops.
The production of dried milk can be boosted with a little effort.
The cultivation of pulses on the
fringes of major crop farm fields should be promoted to meet growing domestic
needs and save foreign exchange. In the first five months of this fiscal year,
import volumes of pulses have gone up by about 65pc, which shows how little
attention is being paid to minor crops in general and pulses in particular.
Pakistan and China will soon
finalise details of a plan on how Chinese public- and private-sector companies
will help us enhance our agricultural output and food exports under the
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Some other countries, including the
United States, Germany and Japan, are already working closely with our
provincial governments and helping us improve agricultural output. There is a
need to integrate all these efforts, take all stakeholders on board and launch
a big three-pronged strategy, officials and people associated with the food
industry say.
Such a strategy should aim at
improving per-hectare yields of food crops and promoting import substitutions
with greater financial and knowledge investment, discouraging imports of
finished food imports and encouraging more high-end, value-added food products.
2019 Grain Market Outlook Webinar set Jan 10
Jan. 10 webinar features grain market outlook.
After a tumultuous grain markets
start, crucial trade with China could return in 2019. Questions remain about
the size of 2018 corn and soybean crops and what farmers will plant this
spring. While USDA delayed release of its Jan. 11 reports, Farm Futures grain
market analyst Bryce Knorr, in a Thursday, Jan. 10, webinar, presents results
from his latest grower survey to provide an up-to-date look at what to expect
in the year ahead.
Webinar begins at 1 P.M. Central
Time.
Knorr, Senior Grain Market
Analyst, Farm Futures, Farm Progress, will discuss "2019 Grain Market
Outlook" in an ongoing University of Arkansas Extension Food &
Agribusiness webinar series.
Knorr first joined Farm Futures
Magazine in 1987. In addition to analyzing and writing about the commodity
markets, he is a former futures introducing broker and is a registered
Commodity Trading Advisor. He conducts Farm Futures exclusive surveys on
acreage, production and management issues and is one of the analysts regularly
contracted by business wire services before major USDA crop reports.
Besides the Morning Call on http://www.FarmFutures.com
Unlimited rice imports to bring in over 1 million tons
166 private traders apply for out-quota shipments
MANILA, Philippines — As the
Philippines moves toward the unlimited importation of rice, 166 firms have
applied to bring in one million metric tons of the commodity under the
out-quota scheme, based on the updated list released by the National Food Authority.
The rice will be sourced from
Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Taiwan.
The interagency National Food
Authority Council (NFAC) allowed the unlimited importation of rice to further
stabilize market prices.
Out-quota allocation means that
traders can apply for any volume of imported rice they 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.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel
Piñol said importers could 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 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 will add to
the recently bid out 500,000 MT via open tender and the 203,000 MT
government-to-government scheme.
The agri chief had allayed
possible fears of flooding of imported rice in the market.
“I don’t think that’s going to
happen because when the importers feel there is so much rice stocks in the
market and prices go down to a level where they cannot make money anymore
then they will 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 added.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/01/05/1882337/unlimited-rice-imports-bring-over-1-million-tons
Vietnamese
rice makes name in world market
In
2018, Vietnam’s total rice exports reached 6.15 million tonnes, with export
turnover of 3.15 billion USD. The industry saw a 5.7% increase in volume and
19.6% increase in value compared to 2017.
Loc
Troi 28 is a short term rice variety and the final product between the hybrid
of Loc Troi 1 and Basmati rice variety of India. High-yielding, fragrant and
nutritious compared to other varieties, Loc Troi 28 was well received at an
international rice convention held in China.
Vietnamese
rice producers now focus on production value, not just increasing volume.
Furthermore, Vietnam has become a member of the global sustainable rice
production programme, and for the first time in years, Vietnam rice price is
higher than Thailand’s.
In
recent years, Vietnam’s rice industry has paid more attention to promotional
activities. The launch of Vietnam’s national rice logo has reiterated the
efforts to bring more rice to the world market.
However,
in the context of global warming and unpredictable weather patterns, as well as
limitation in value chains and farmers’ struggle to make a living from growing
rice, there is much needed to be done.
The
global market is changing at a rapid pace and it requires Vietnam’s rice
industry to heighten the production volume, improve the quality and deliver
more diverse rice products.-VNA
Stronger
baht ‘will hurt exporters and farmers’
| Publication date 07 January 2019 | 14:33 ICT
Workers sort rice sacks at a warehouse in Pathum Thani. BANGKOK
POST
Most Thai exporters are worried
about the baht appreciating against the US dollar, fearing it will hit exports
and farm incomes amid the slowing of both local and global economies.
“A stronger baht will hurt our
rice price competitiveness amid weaker currencies in the region, such as
India,” Thai Rice Exporters Association president Charoen Laothammatas told The
Nation on Thursday. This will then be passed on to the price of paddy rice,
thus adversely affecting farmers, he warned.
Asked whether rice exporters will
discuss the issue with the Bank of Thailand (BOT), Charoen said exporters have
raised this issue with the central bank many times, but the baht remains
stronger compared to other competitors’ currencies, such as India’s rupee and
China’s yuan.
The association predicts this
year’s rice experts to be around 10 million tonnes, less than the 11 million
tonnes forecast last year. According to the BOT, the baht stood at 32.205
against the US dollar on Thursday, the year’s second day of trading, up from
32.417 to the greenback on December 28 – the last trading day of last year.
Weakening dollar
The baht rose to 32.032 per
dollar in the spot market at about 2pm on Thursday, as the yen rose sharply to
107.08 per dollar, said Kasikornbank capital markets research head Kobsidthi
Silpachai.
“It was risk off-mode, selling
the dollar against safe havens and low yielding currencies like the Japanese
yen and Thai baht,” he said. Since Thursday was a Japanese holiday some people
suspected that algorithms were behind the US selling, he noted.
One factor causing the dollar to
weaken is the partial US government shutdown resulting from a political
gridlock in Washington, where President Donald Trump and the Democrats, who
hold a majority in the lower house, failed to strike a deal, he said.
The baht was also mostly flat in
trading against the US dollar in January and December last year, but was highly
volatile in between. It may be subject to volatile swings this year compared to
the Indian rupee, which was down about nine per cent against the dollar last
year, he said.
The Indian rupee’s weakness is
likely to continue this year as the subcontinent is expected to run a current
account deficit at 2.6 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with
Thailand’s estimated current account surplus of 6.9 per cent, he said.
Currencies of emerging markets facing current account deficits will also weaken
against the dollar, he said.
However, he added, that since the
US dollar/baht trade was very thin over the past few days, it did not truly
reflect demand and supply in the market. Currency trading next week should
provide a clearer picture as buyers and sellers enter the market again.
Also, the upcoming general
election could produce split houses, with politicians controlling the Lower
House, while the Senate will be controlled by the military. Hence, the next
government may find it difficult to function, much like the situation in Washington,
and that could weaken the baht, Kobsidthi added.
Thai Bond Market Association
president Tada Phutthitada said capital inflow into the bond market is low.
Over the past few weeks daily inflow has been less than one billion baht
($31.28 million) compared to between two and three billion baht daily
previously, he said.
This suggests that the baht has
not been strengthened by foreign capital inflows, but rather by a weakening
dollar, he said.
Meanwhile, investors are unsure
whether the US Federal Reserve will continue increasing key policy rates as
expected earlier. That, combined with Trump’s threat to fire the Federal
Reserve chairman, could weaken the dollar further, Tada said.
Separately, CIMB Bank research
office head Amornthep Chawla said exporters will face two key challenges – the
impact of the US-China trade war and a stronger baht.
There is a high possibility that
exports could turn negative in the first quarter of this year, partly due to a
slowdown in global economy and also last year’s high base of exports, he
warned. THE NATION (THAILAND)/ANN
Myanmar needs to struggle in rice market if GSP rights
are revoked: Rice Federation
7 JANUARY 2019
ZEYAR NYEIN
He added that the lack of
facilities is also a challenge the country will face.
"Unless we have the GSP/EBA
rights, we have to compete more with other countries. But to do so, we have
much difficulty. We don't have enough ports and warehouses," said Ye Min
Aung.
Currently, Myanmar has increased
income from quality rice export thanks to the GSP/EBA rights granted by the
European Union.
"We have seen increase income
from as we are able to export quality rice to EU market," said the general
secretary.
However, the EU is planning to
impose a three-year suspension of the GSP rights granted for Myanmar, according
to Myanmar Rice Federation.
The species of rice (16 mm) to be
exported by Myanmar is also grown in Italy and Spain which are EU member
countries. Plans to revoke the GSP rights are reportedly to protect the
interests of those countries.
DA expects to meet 2019 rice production goal
January 7, 2019 | 9:53 pm
PHILSTAR
THE Department of Agriculture
(DA) said that rice production target for 2019 is likely to be met as rice
farmers are expected to recover from the agricultural damage brought by
tropical depression Usman.
“The damage was to low-yielding
varieties, and we will try to make up for it with high-yielding varieties. So
whatever the target is, we might go higher,” DA Undersecretary Ariel T. Cayanan
told BusinessWorld after a news conference on Monday, when
asked about the expected output for rice this year.
Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said
that damaged rice crops are at their vegetative stage, and that the DA was
quick to intervene by providing farmers high-yielding variety seed.
The DA reported a total of
P957.63 million agricultural damage from Usman, with 9,385 metric tons (MT) of
lost volume over 47,529 hectares. The department estimates that the storm
affected 42,683 farmers and fisherfolk.
Rice accounts for 88% of the
total storm damage, with the value of lost production at P840.40 million on
volume loss of 15,883 MT, affecting 41,143 hectares of land and 35,385 farmers.
Mr. Piñol said that he is
expecting that the damage to eventually breach P1 billion.
“Our stocks in Bicol will last
for about 40 days, that is the P27 National Food Authority (NFA) rice. Also,
there is a prepositioned 5,000 bags of rice seed. We lack another 5,000 but
we’ll be able to secure this hopefully this week,” Mr. Piñol said.
“I told the President during the
briefing that while there is a huge damage to the rice crop as quantified
today, that will not necessarily translate to losses because with the delivery
of seed, the farmers will be able to recover because their plants are just in
their vegetative stage. They will be able to replant,” Mr. Piñol added.
Mr. Piñol said that P175 million
has been committed by DA for loans to farmers.
Meanwhile, the NFA said that it
issued 13,730 bags of rice for Usman victims in Regions IV, V and VIII as of Monday.
A total of 8,343 bags were
released to Region V which suffered the most.
“We will make sure that our
accredited rice retailers will continue to sell NFA rice at P27 and P32 per
kilogram in the areas affected by the typhoon. The availability of affordable
and quality NFA rice will be a great help to all those affected by the
calamity,” Tomas R. Escarez, NFA Officer-in-Charge Administrator, said in a
statement. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
·
Monday,
07 January 2019 05:13
·
Written by TCA
TOLOnews 
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