Biryani Stories:
In search of the origin of Biryani
Chicken Biryani from the streets
of Hyderabad, India. Image via Wikimedia Commons by FoodPlate. CC: BY -SA 4..0
This is the second article of our
series, “Biryani Stories”, which looks at the common culinary culture in South
Asian countries. In this installment, we explore the various types of Biryani
that exist in India.
While a debate rages over
whether Biryani, the king of South Asian cuisine, originated
in Persia (present-day Iran), history suggests that this mixed rice dish has
its origins among the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent — part of the Mughlai
cuisine for which India is famous.
This does not discount the strong logic behind the claim that Biryani
originated in Persia. The word comes from the Persian word “birian”, which
means “fried before cooking” — but Iranian Biryani street food no longer contains rice; rather, it has evolved into
chunks of meat cooked in an envelope of paper-thin bread. Of course, it is also
possible that the food may have traveled with pilgrims from central Asia to the
Deccan region in south India.
The current Indian subcontinent
versions of Biryani were developed from the 15th century to about the 19th
century, during the reign of the Mughal
Empire.
The origin & Journey Of Biryani http://redd.it/2cvcyo
India is a diverse country in
terms of culture and culinary flavors. Northern Indian food varieties, for
example, have been influenced by the Mughlai cooking techniques like Dum Pukht
(slow cooking in a sealed pot) and butter-based curries, while Southern Indian people
are fonder of using more vegetables, rice, and seafood.
North and
Central Indian Biryanis
One of the most famous Biryanis
in India is Lucknowi Biryani, named after Lucknow, the capital of
the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In both flavor and aroma, it is
considered one of the best Biryanis: the textures are softer and the spices
milder.
Hyderabadi Dum Biryani originated as a blend of Mughal and Iranian cuisine during
the reign of the Mughal viceroy Asif Jah, who was known as the Nizam of
Hyderabad back in the 18th century. His royal cooks would
marinate meat with spices overnight and soak it in yogurt before layering it
with long-grain, aromatic Basmati rice and placing it in a sealed handi (cooking
pot), where it was cooked to perfection in Dum Pukht style.
Hyderabad also has some offbeat
flavors of Biryiani, especially Doodh Ki Biryani, which is the polar opposite of the
spicy Hyderabadi Dum Biryani: because it is flavored with creamy milk, roasted
nuts, and minimal spices, it tastes rather mild.
Biryiani in South India
Towards the south of India, the
Biryani recipes start to vary wildly, incorporating ingredients like vegetables
and seafood. Take the example of Bhatkali Biryani from Bhatkal, a tiny coastal
town in Karnataka state. For this dish, the meat, the spices, and the rice are
all cooked separately without using oil and ghee,
and mixed only seconds before serving.
Further south in Mangalore, a
coastal town in Karnataka, there are seafood varieties of Biriyani. In this Pukki Biryani,
where half-cooked fish is layered with rice in a sealed handi and slow-cooked,
spices like fennel and coriander are common, as is the use of rice varieties
other than the traditional long-grained Basmati.
The Ambur Biryani from the Arcot region of Tamil
Nadu is basically Pukki Biriyani (rice cooked separately) with a
distinctive feature: it uses a short-grained Seeraga Samba rice.
Further southeast, in Kerala,
the Thalassery Biryani uses Jeerakasala rice — a
short-grained local variant, which is cooked separately from the meat, then
combined with the famous spices of Kerala and garnishes like fried
onions, cashews, and raisin to blend the flavors. The Kozhikode Biryani (Calicut Biryani) uses Khyma
Rice and is tempered with several Kerala spices that give it its signature
spicy taste.
Biryani in other parts of India
The Memoni trading community of
Sindh-Gujarat in northeastern India has Memoni Biryiani, made with lamb, yogurt, fried onions
and potatoes, and fewer tomatoes compared to the famous Pakistani Sindhi
Biryani. The distinguishing factor in the western Indian Bohri
Biryani cooked in Dum style is the moist, smoked meat.
The Kolkata (Calcutta) Biryani from West Bengal is
similar to the Lucknowi Biryani, but more subtle in taste, with fewer spices
and the addition of potato and egg.
In India's northeast, the Kampuri Biryani is a simple, colorful dish
prevalent in the Muslim town of Kampur in
Assam. First, the chicken is cooked separately with peas, carrots, beans,
potatoes, and bell peppers, and spiced with mild cardamom and nutmeg. It is
then mixed with Basmati rice and cooked over a slow fire.
Biryani as street food and temple
offerings
The traditional Mughal Biryani
was a meat dish, which strictly vegetarian Hindu officers of the court could
not have. For them, there was Tehari or Tehri dish, in which the meat was substituted with
potatoes. This vegetarian version of the cult dish remains a popular street
food in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.
Mutanjan Biryani, which uses almost equal amounts of
mutton, rice, and sugar, is very popular in Kashmir and Lucknow. It is blended
with cream, spices, saffron, screwpine water, and rose water.
There are also instances of
Biryani being used in temple offerings:
Biryani is part of the holy offering in
this temple https://bit.ly/2FAHf3z
#India
#food
Though social media
users quibble about its origins, there is little doubt that Biryani is
considered a trademark dish from the Indian subcontinent:
There are at least 20 + varieties of
biryani like Bombay biryani, Afghan biryani, Hyderabadi biryani, Sindhi
biryani, Kacchi Biryani etc & karachiites should realize that they did not
invent it or own its rights. Its origin is Mughlai & Awadhi cuisine from
Delhi & Lucknow.
Although Biryani may be a Persian import,
the origin may go back to 2 A.D to a dish called 'Oon Soru', recorded in Sangam
literature.
A meat and rice preparation cooked with Black Pepper and Coriander and more. Could India's almost national dish have been invented in Tamilakam?
A meat and rice preparation cooked with Black Pepper and Coriander and more. Could India's almost national dish have been invented in Tamilakam?
The debate may go on, but no one
will ever turn down a Biryiani treat.
https://globalvoices.org/2019/02/16/biryani-stories-in-search-of-the-origin-of-biryani/
Drop in rice prices due to market speculation
By
Lilybeth Ison February
18, 2019, 5:01 pm
MANILA -- Agriculture Secretary
Emmanuel "Manny" Piñol clarified that the fall in the buying price of
rice by commercial traders is the result of speculation, which was fueled by
the anticipated "flooding" of the market with cheap imported rice
under a liberalized market.
This is in view of the disinformation
surrounding the newly-enacted Rice Tariffication Law's effect on the local rice
industry, to the point that the buying price of palay has dropped from a high
of PHP22 per kilo last year to PHP14 and PHP15 in some parts of the country
now.
Piñol said the Rice Tariffication
Law has just been signed by President Rodrigo Duterte and is not effective yet.
"There is a period within
which the public will be notified and the Implementing Rules and Regulations
(IRR) still have to be finalized," he explained.
And even if the importers would
want to bring in huge volumes of imported rice, the DA chief said there is not
much rice supply available in the world market.
"As it is now, the volume of
rice traded in the world market every year is only about 40-million metric tons
(MT) of which about 38-million (MT) is already committed to specific non-rice
producing countries," he said.
"The world population is
growing exponentially while the land area is constant and this is true with
rice exporting countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan and
Myanmar," he added.
The DA chief said a few years from
now, Thailand and Vietnam will not be able to export the same volume of rice as
they do today because they also have growing populations.
"The Philippines cannot let go
of its own Rice Production Program because the moment it becomes dependent on
imported rice, even on a short term, it will end up at the mercy of the rice
exporters who could sell their produce at an even higher price than our
domestic cost of production," he noted.
Piñol said that the view that some
economists are peddling that the Philippines would be better off just importing
rice rather than producing it locally is "a short-sighted
perspective".
"If this view prevails, the
Philippines will face a real rice crisis a few years from now with sky-high
prices which the poor cannot afford," he said.
Piñol, however, admitted that
initially, there would be a drop in the buying price of palay "but the
farmers are expected to adjust by increasing productivity with funds coming
from tariffication."
Under the Rice Tariffication Law, a
provision states that the tariffs and duties collected from the rice
importation -- 35 percent for ASEAN members and 50 percent for other sources --
shall be turned over to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF),
estimated at no less than PHP10-billion annually.
For 2019, Piñol said about PHP5
billion of the PHP10-billion RCEF will be allocated for farm mechanization;
PHP3-billion for high-yielding seeds; PHP1-billion for credit; and PHP1-billion
for technical skills training.
"Properly used, the RCEF could
actually increase the productivity of Filipino rice farmers because farm
mechanization alone will increase production efficiency and reduce post-harvest
losses estimated at 16 percent of total production," he said.
The DA chief explained that the
PHP3-billion intended for high-yielding seeds developed by the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Philippine Rice Research Institute
(PhilRice) is also expected to increase average farm yield by at least two MT
in one-million hectares for the first year of implementation.
On the other hand, the PHP1-billion
credit facility will also allow farmers to buy fertilizers and other farm
inputs, thus increasing their productivity, while the P1-B for technical skills
training is expected to improve their farming technology, he said.
Piñol also stressed that he is
supporting the lifting of the Quantitative Restrictions (QR) on rice
importation.
He reiterated that the Rice Tariffication
Law was the commitment of the Philippines to the World Trade Organization WTO)
negotiations many years ago "and these are commitments that we must honor
or else we will face trade disputes from other WTO member countries."
"Of course, I have to admit
that I had my reservations on the provisions of the law, which takes out the
regulatory powers of the National Food Authority (NFA), but these are now
settled with the signing of the bill into law. I am a government worker and I
will abide by the policy set by the administration and work to ensure its
successful implementation," he added. (PNA)
Bangladesh wants to import guava, rice
Parvez JabriFebruary
17, 2019
LARKANA: Noor-e-Helal Saifur
Rahman, Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh at Karachi has said that his
country desires to increase trade with brethren Islamic countries for which he
invited delegation of Larkana Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) to
visit Bangladesh for market research without any middleman.
He was addressing meeting of LCCI
in their office here on Saturday.
He said Bangladesh is importing
several things from Brazil and Australia which cost them more. He said we want
to increase import & export with Pakistan which include mangoes, guava,
rice and vegetables. He said production of coconut, pineapple, mineral water
bottles is made in Bangladesh which we want to export to Pakistan.
Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, PPP
provincial chief, Asad Ali Tunio, Kashif Ali Mumtaz Ali, Mayor Muhammad Aslam
Shaikh, LCCI president Abdul Ghafar Shaikh and other members participated in
the meeting.
In his welcome address Asad Tunio
said that Pakistan is importing jute bags and its raw material costing $38
million annually whereas rice is largely used in Bangladesh and Larkana is the
largest producer of Irri-6 rice
He said in 2016 Bangladesh
imported rice worth $10 million which was reduced to $3 million in 2017. Bashir
M Paryal said that Bangladesh is our brethren Islamic country and it can import
rice, guava, mangoes and vegetables which will further improve our relations.
He also suggested meeting of Bangladesh and Pakistani businessmen to further strengthen
trade relationship.
Traditional Sindhi Ajrak was
presented to the distinguished guest.
Support
India’s right to self-defence
Written by Shubhajit Roy |New Delhi |Updated: February 17, 2019
7:43:12 am
US NSA dials Ajit Doval:
US National Security Advisor John Bolton’s underlying message in
the conversation is being read by New Delhi as a nod to a possible retaliatory
strategic response by India, including military options.
In a significant signal to New Delhi as well as the international
community, US National Security Advisor John Bolton has supported India’s
“right to self-defence” against cross-border terrorism, in his phone
conversation Friday night with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Bolton’s underlying message in the conversation is being read by
New Delhi as a nod to a possible retaliatory strategic response by India ,
including military options.
This is different from NSA in the Obama administration, Susan
Rice’s conversation with Doval in September 2016, after the Uri attack. Then,
the message was to exercise restraint, and that Pakistan should take action
against Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror outfits.
The tone and tenor of Bolton’s phone call are different from
Rice’s, and that has emboldened the Indian establishment’s strategic thinking
in the last 24 hours since the phone conversation, sources said.
Incidentally, Rice’s phone call took place just hours before India
conducted surgical strikes along the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir.
According to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs
Saturday, Bolton expressed condolences and “outrage” over the Pulwama attack
Thursday in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber struck a
convoy in J&K. Jaish has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Ambassador Bolton supported
India’s right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism. He offered all
assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack
promptly to justice. NSA Doval appreciated U.S. support,” said the MEA
statement.
“The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan cease
to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the U.S. and
others in the region. They resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its
obligations under UN resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designating JeM
leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the UN Security Council
Resolution 1267 Committee process,” said the statement said. The US had
co-sponsored the resolution, along with France and UK, to list Azhar in 2017,
which was blocked by China.
“I told Ajit Doval today that we support India’s right to
self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning… and expressed
the US’ condolences over the terrorist attack,” Bolton told PTI in Washington.
He also said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending
support to terrorist safe havens. “We have been very clear on that score… And,
we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the
Pakistanis,” he said.
On Twitter, Bolton said: “I expressed condolences to NSA Doval yesterday
for the reprehensible terrorist attack on India. Pakistan must crack down on
JeM and all terrorists operating from its territory. Countries should uphold
UNSC responsibilities to deny safe haven and support for terrorists”, and then
tagged a handle managed by Doval’s “followers and fans” @nsaajit.
In September 2016, the US National Security Council Spokesperson,
Ned Price had said in a statement that Rice spoke to Doval and strongly
condemned the September 18 cross-border attack on the Indian Army Brigade
headquarters in Uri and offered condolences to the victims and their families.
“Ambassador Rice affirmed President Obama’s commitment to redouble
our efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism throughout the
world. Highlighting the danger that cross-border terrorism poses to the region,
Ambassador Rice reiterated our expectation that Pakistan take effective action
to combat and delegitimize United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and
entities, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, and their affiliates.
In the context of the robust U.S.-India partnership, Ambassador Rice discussed
our shared commitment with India to pursuing peace and regional stability and
pledged to deepen collaboration on counterterrorism matters including on UN
terrorist designations.”
However, this time, the signal from Washington, both from the US
administration and the US Congress, was swift, stronger and much larger in
scale. This is significant since the White House and the US Congress are at
odds with each other.
And, that has been visible with statements from the US. While US
Ambassador to India, Kenneth Juster was the first ambassador in New Delhi to
tweet support to India on Thursday evening, the White House and Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo have also asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe
havens inside the country.
“We stand with India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not
provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security,” Pompeo
said on Twitter.
In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to
“immediately end” its “support” to all terror groups and not to provide “safe
haven” to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack.
“The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support
and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose
only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region,” White House
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement on Thursday.
Top US lawmakers have rallied behind India’s effort to fight
terrorism and said that such heinous crimes will not weaken the resolve of its
people.
So far, more than 70 American lawmakers including 15 Senators have
condemned the attack.
Northern Australia CRC launches project aimed at taking wild
rice from the swamp to supermarket shelves
On QLD Country Hour with Amy
Phillips
Professor Robert Henry from the
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation has been mapping wild
rice plots in far north Queensland - including at the Mareeba Wetlands - for
about the past decade. But now the commercial potential of these ancient
varieties will be tested in a new project launched by the Co-operative Research
Centre (CRC) for Developing Northern Australia. It's a quantum leap forward
that will bring together researchers, government, rice growers, processors and
marketers to analyse the entire supply chain, but not everyone is convinced
rice production is the right fit for the north.
Philippines
liberates rice market
ASEAN+ February 18, 2019 01:00
By PHILIPPINE DAILY
INQUIRER
ASIA NEWS NETWORK
MANILA
ASIA NEWS NETWORK
MANILA
THE PHILIPPINES' Rice Tariffication
Bill has been signed into law by President Duterte amid opposition from farmer
groups and consistent prodding from economic managers and business
organisations.
The
measure, considered a priority bill of the Duterte administration, will effectively
open the country’s doors to unimpeded importation of rice and provide an annual
subsidy of 10 billion peso (Bt6 billion) for the development of the rice
industry.
Economic
managers and 13 business organisations had thrown their support for the law,
noting that its enactment would help temper the country’s inflation, bring down
retail prices of rice in the market and harness the country’s ability to ensure
food security.
However,
industry groups, including the Federation of Free Farmers, Alyansa ng
Magbubukid and Bantay Bigas, had urged Duterte to veto the bill, citing issues
of smuggling and corruption in the rice trade as well as the limited role of
the National Food Authority (NFA) under the law.
Under
the tariff regime, the NFA would be limited to maintaining the country’s
emergency stocks in time of calamities and would not be allowed to license
importers and regulate the entry of imported rice in the market.
It
was not clear if it would still be allowed to sell subsidised rice in the
market.
Acting
NFA Administrator Tomas Escarez said details of the agency’s function would be
tackled in the implementing rules and regulations of the law, which has yet to
be released.
The
Rice Tariffication Law allows the market to be flooded with rice imports so long
as these are slapped a tariff at 35 per cent if coming from Asean members and
50 per cent for non-Asean states.
Around
28 billion peso in revenues are expected to be collected by the government from
these imports, which would be used to subsidise rice farmers to ensure their
competitiveness.
Senator
Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on food and agriculture and the
proponent of the bill, said that the money should be used to mechanise and
modernise the sector, which has been lagging behind other rice-producing
countries.
Unlike
in Vietnam and Thailand where farmers can produce a kilo of rice at 6 peso,
Filipino farmers incur a production cost of 12 peso a kilo, making local rice
costlier than imported rice.
Whether
or not relying on rice imports would benefit both local producers and consumers
of the staple remains to be seen.
Right
now, the challenge is to make sure that rice farmers can compete at a price
35-per cent higher than imported rice, and give consumers the option to avail
themselves of the staple at a more affordable price.
Corn growers call new rice policy unrealistic
February 18, 2019 | 12:03 am
THE Philippine Maize Federation
(PhilMaize) said the abandonment of the policy goal of rice-self-sufficiency
does not reflect reality, with Filipinos still favoring rice over other staple
carbohydrates.
“This does not reflect what is on
the ground. We are a nation that mostly eats rice and a little bit of corn,”
PhilMaize President Roger V. Navarro said in a statement over the weekend,
suggesting that advocates of more liberal rice imports are conducting
theoretical exercises in mapping out agricultural policy.
“(Budget) Secretary (Benjamin E.)
Diokno should calibrate his pronouncements (when he sits at his) table planning
for us in the field. They don’t even know if their words inspire or hurt
farmers’ feelings,” Mr. Navarro added.
The rice tariffication bill was
signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last week. This will allow more
liberal rice imports by the private sector, with the shipments to be charged
tariffs which will help finance a rice industry competitiveness fund while
bringing rice prices down for consumers.
Mr. Navarro said if rice
exporting countries decide not to sell their produce, it could ultimately lead
higher prices.
“We cannot abandon growing in
favor of importing it. [In] 2007 to 2008, our country had money to buy rice but
exporting countries refused to sell, then prices went to the ceiling. We don’t
want a repeat,” Mr. Navarro said.
On Thursday, a day prior to Mr.
Duterte signing the bill, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said that
relying heavily on imports will kill the rice industry.
“Ten years from now, Vietnam,
Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India will no longer be able to
export the same volume of rice that they ship out today. They have to feed
their growing population as well,” Mr. Piñol said.
“This is a shortsighted view
which will kill the rice industry and drive away farmers from the rice fields.
The next generation of Filipinos will surely curse us for this misjudgment
prompted by a myopic view which focuses on fleeting and changing economic
numbers,” according to Mr. Piñol.
The rice tariffication bill also
removed the importation role of the National Food Authority. The NFA approved
last year rice imports of 750,000 MT, auctioned off to private companies and to
the governments of Thailand and Vietnam. This volume turned out to be the last
of the NFA-supervised rice imports.
The last tranche of the imports —
equivalent to 500,000 MT — is now 88.79% complete with 443,943.60 MT having
arrived in the country as of Feb. 15. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
Full impact of
rice tariffs not felt till early Q2–Neda
February 18, 2019
By Cai U. Ordinario & Jovee
Marie N. dela Cruz
FILIPINOS cannot enjoy the
supposed benefits of rice tariffication until early next quarter, according to
the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and local economists.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary
Ernesto M. Pernia told the BusinessMirror the P2- to P7-per-kilogram reduction
in rice prices could be felt around March or April or even later, depending on
the supply and demand for rice.
Neda Undersecretary for Planning
and Policy Rosemarie G. Edillon said the lag time could even stretch to the
last part of the second quarter or in the third quarter. The impact on
agriculture productivity, she added, could take even longer at around one to
two years.
“[Reduction in rice prices will
be felt] when supply from tariffied imports, as opposed to NFA’s [National Food
Authority]MAV [Minimum Access Volume] imports, matches or exceeds demand for
rice,” Pernia said via SMS on Sunday.
Edillon said others factors that
could affect the impact of the new law on rice prices include global supply and
demand. She said the estimate of a P2- to P7-per-kilogram reduction of rice
prices is based on global prices, a tariff of 35 percent, and logistics costs.
However, under the newly signed
law, tariff rates can be adjusted by the President. Edillon said this can
happen when there are extreme weather events, such as a bad case of El Niño.
Alyansa ng Industriyang Bigas
(Anib) Founding Chairman Robert Hernandez said he supports the Neda’s
pronouncement that the effect of the rice tariffication law on the prices of
the staple could be seen by March or April.
Port congestion, logistics woes
However, Hernandez cautioned that
the present port congestion, particularly at the Manila International Container
Terminal (MICT), could increase importers’ total costs, which would effectively
add on to the retail value of the staple.
Hernandez said Anib applied to
import 10,000 metric tons (MT) of rice under the NFA’s out-quota program but
they have already faced problems in unloading 10,000 MT of the volume in the
MICT due to port congestion.
The 10,000 MT imported by Anib
arrived on February 9 but has yet to be unloaded at the MICT and the group will
soon incur additional costs due to demurrage, according to Hernandez.
Due to the problem, Anib was
forced to divert the remaining 380 containers or about 9,500 MT of rice, which
are yet to be imported, to Subic port for unloading there in order to avoid
additional costs in MICT, he added. However, Hernandez said the change in port
of discharge would still entail them additional costs, which would be added on
to the price of the bag imported, due to more expensive trucking costs.
“The trucking costs of
transporting the rice from Subic port to our Bocaue warehouse would be double
or even triple the trucking cost if it would be unloaded from MICT,” he said.
“[Because of the higher trucking
costs] we would be incurring additional costs of P10 per bag. But [the
additional cost] would be even higher if our containers stay in MICT, so it is
better to divert the remaining containers now to Subic [to cut additional
costs],” he added.
Hernandez urged the government to
address the port congestion concerns in MICT, especially with the anticipated
influx of imported rice abroad. Any delays in unloading would mean higher price
of rice as importers would just pass on the additional costs they incurred,
plus prolonged unloading time could cause quality of the staple to deteriorate,
he added.
“In the rice business, timing is
of the essence. We might lose clients if we missed to supply them on the right
time. When there is demand then you should have the stock. If you could not
supply them right away then they might find another supplier,” Hernandez said.
However, Edillon said the
government expects the port congestion problem to be “easily resolved.”
She said rice importation is an
easy fix since importers can get their shipments from other ports nationwide.
Edillon said the inspection required for rice shipments is not as complicated
as other goods.
Special Customs window
House Committee on Agriculture
and Food Chairman Jose Panganiban Jr. added that there was a provision in the
newly signed law that will allow the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to open a special
window for rice importation.
Rice imports will be part of the
BOC’s National Single Window program, which seeks to facilitate trade
transactions 180 days from the effectivity of the law in accordance with
Executive Order (EO) 482.
The Philippines National Single
Window will facilitate trade through efficiencies in the Customs and
authorization processes. Strongly supported by the Office of the President and
mandated to be implemented via EO 482, the NSW will allow single submission and
accelerated processing of applications for licenses, permits and other
authorizations required prior to undertaking a trade transaction.
“We can use other ports,
especially if its rice which only requires one kind of inspection, so it can be
processed easily. I think it [port congestion] can be resolved immediately,
there are alternatives, [there are] solutions that we can suggest, recommend,”
Edillon said.
Depends on IRR
Economists such as University of
Asia and the Pacific School of Economics Dean Cid Terosa and Philippine
Institute for Development Studies Senior Research Fellow Roehlano Briones said
the impact of the tariffication will also depend on the government’s efforts in
crafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
Terosa hopes the IRR will be
completed before the dry season. “There will definitely be a lag. Given the
urgency of the bill, I hope the IRR to be processed before the start of the dry
season.”
Briones, for his part said, said
the content of the IRR will be crucial. He said that if the National Food
Authority (NFA) will still control the importation at least during the
transition period, this will reduce the impact of the tariffication law on rice
prices.
Meanwhile, Action for Economic
Reform (AER) Coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III said that, while there will be
transition problems, the impact of the rice tariffication is already being felt
with commodity prices declining.
Many economists chimed in on the
issue and even extended their congratulations to the President’s economic team
for passing a law that has languished in Congress for 30 years.“[The rice
tariffication law] will man
Philippine farmers attack law
lifting rice import limits
Say
cheap imports will flood local market putting their livelihoods under threat
Farmers
end another day of harvesting on a farm north of Manila. Philippine farmers are
complaining over a lack of government support for rice production in the
country. (Photo by Mark Saludes)
Mark Saludes,
Manila
Philippines
February 18, 2019
Philippines
February 18, 2019
Farmers
in the Philippines have voiced anger over a new law liberalizing the
importation of rice, saying it directly threatens local rice production.
The
Peasant Movement of the Philippines described the law as "a death sentence
for the local rice industry and farmers."
Danilo
Ramos, chairman of the farmers' organization, claimed the lives of about 13.5
million Filipino rice farmers, 17.5 million farm workers, 20,000 rice
retailers, and 55,000 rice mill workers would be seriously effected.
"It's
the beginning of the end of the local rice industry," said Ramos, adding
the local rice industry will not stand a chance against rice imports, despite
financial support from the government.
Bishop
Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon supported the farmers, saying that with cheaper
imported rice flooding the market, young Filipinos will never become farmers.
"They
have already lost the desire because of extreme poverty. Now,
because of unregulated rice importation, no one would want to plant rice in our
own land," the prelate said.
Bishop
Bastes said the new law would only force the Philippines to become dependent on
neighboring countries for a staple food.
"That
law will make us a weaker and poorer country because our farmers are being
neglected," he said.
The
new law will impose taxes instead of limiting the amount of imported rice
entering the country.
It
will enforce a 35-percent tariff on rice importations from Southeast Asian
states and 50 percent on imports from countries that are not members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Food
security advocates have also opposed the law, warning against its effects on
local rice production.
Renmin
Crisanta Vizconde, executive director of the Philippine Network of Food SecurityProgrammes,
said the law would not reduce the high price of rice and other agricultural
commodities.
She
said the law "favors rice cartels, traders and capitalists" even as
farmers suffer "due to extreme and unprecedented economic
instability."
Independent
think-tank, the Ibon Foundation, noted that Filipino farmers are unproductive
and local rice is expensive "because of long-standing government neglect."
In
recent years, the government has allocated no more than five percent of the
national budget to agriculture
NFA Council to meet Monday to discuss IRR of rice tariffication
law
Published February 17, 2019 4:17pm
The National Food Authority
Council is set to meet on Monday, February 18, to start fine-tuning the
implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the rice tariffication law.
In an interview on GMA Super
Radyo dzBB on Sunday, NFA OIC Administrator Tomas Escarez said the NFA Council
will meet tomorrow to start discussions on the IRR of the law which removed the
quantitative restrictions on rice imports.
"Bukas ng umaga,
magco-convene ang NFA Council para i-finalize... para dito sa implementing
rules and regulations," he said.
"Kasama kami sa technical
working group pero 'yung final decision dito ay magsisimula sa NFA
Council," added Escarez.
Presidential Spokesperson
Salvador Panelo last week confirmed that Duterte approved the measure that would
effectively impose a 25-percent tariff on imports from neighbors in Southeast
Asia.
Among those to be discussed,
according to Escarez, are the "gray areas" regarding the future of
the NFA and what the agency's mandate would be moving forward.
According to Escarez, it is still
unclear if the regulatory powers of the NFA would be removed, and if it would
instead be confined to ensuring that the country has a sufficient buffer stock
to cater to the Philippines' demands.
"Kung iko-confine kami sa
buffer-stocking, titignan natin 'yung optimal level na kailangang
i-maintain," said Escarez.
The measure allows unlimited
importation of rice as long as private sector traders secure a phyto-sanitary
permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35-percent tariff for
shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.
The law earmarks P10 billion for
the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, of which P5 billion will be allotted
to farm mechanization and P3 billion to seedlings. The fund intends to ensure
that rice imports won’t drown out the agriculture sector and rob farmers of
their livelihood. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/LBG, GMA
News
Duterte signs rice law
Last updated Feb 18, 2019
By Prince Golez
Malacanang on Monday released a
signed copy of the law, lifting quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice
importation.Republic Act (RA) 11203 seeks to remove the QR on rice imports to
allow private merchants to bring in rice from other countries.
“Any and all laws, rules,
regulations, guidelines, and other issuances imposing quantitative export
restrictions on rice are hereby repealed,” the new law said.
Under RA 11203, the exportation
of rice will be allowed in accordance with the established rules, regulations,
and guidelines.
Signed by President Rodrigo
Duterte on February 14, 2019, the measure also created the Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund, which will have an annual appropriation of P10 billion for
the next six years.
The Rice Fund will be allocated
and disbursed to rice producing areas such as rice farm machinery and
equipment, rice seed development, propagation, and promotion, expanded rice
credit assistance, and rice extension services.
‘Tariffication law should not kill rice farmers’
House
Speaker Gloria Arroyo on Sunday called for the proper implementation of the
Rice Tariffication Act that would lift import restrictions on rice to ensure
that it would not be disadvantage farmers and the domestic industry.
“We can now focus on its proper implementation so that everyone
can and should benefit from the law,” she said.
House Speaker Gloria Arroyo
The
measure, which amends the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996, removes the
quantitative restriction on rice importation and impose a 35-percent tariff on
imports from Southeast Asian countries.
She
said the new law would help further cushion inflation.
“I
am happy that President Duterte has signed into law the Rice Tariffication Act.
It would further help in easing the inflation that has hit the poor the most,”
Arroyo said.
Camarines
Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte, a co-author of the law, said the rice
competitiveness enhancement fund under the measure shall allocate 10 percent of
its P10-billion allocation or P1 billion for credit to farmers and
cooperatives.
The
new law would liberalize imports of rice and expand the availability of cheaper
rice, he said.
“This
will, in turn, prevent a repeat of the 2018 inflation surge brought in large
part by the supply shortfall and the subsequent retail price increase of
rice...Rice tariffication will benefit poor households the most, given that
rice accounts for 20 percent of their consumption,” he added.
Former
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, however, warned an “oversupply” of rice
could adversely affect local farmers.
“The
people will be hurt in the domestic market when you bring too much commodity
from the outside and you deprive them of the source of livelihood, so we use ta
tariff to protect them,” Enrile said in an interview.
“If
you would neglect that, and anybody can bring and supply that commodity in our
country, our farmers would suffer losses and prices would go down because you
plant more than what is needed to cover the demand and that should be the
standard of the tariff you need to enforce,” he added.
According
to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, a decline in rice farmers’
income of 29 percent is projected when the rice tariffication law is implemented.
http://manilastandard.net/news/national/288065/-tariffication-law-should-not-kill-rice-farmers-.html
Philippine
farmers attack law lifting rice import limits
Say
cheap imports will flood local market putting their livelihoods under threat
Farmers
end another day of harvesting on a farm north of Manila. Philippine farmers are
complaining over a lack of government support for rice production in the
country. (Photo by Mark Saludes)
Mark Saludes,
Manila
Philippines
February 18, 2019
Philippines
February 18, 2019
Farmers
in the Philippines have voiced anger over a new law liberalizing the
importation of rice, saying it directly threatens local rice production.
The
Peasant Movement of the Philippines described the law as "a death sentence
for the local rice industry and farmers."
Danilo
Ramos, chairman of the farmers' organization, claimed the lives of about 13.5
million Filipino rice farmers, 17.5 million farm workers, 20,000 rice
retailers, and 55,000 rice mill workers would be seriously effected.
"It's
the beginning of the end of the local rice industry," said Ramos, adding
the local rice industry will not stand a chance against rice imports, despite
financial support from the government.
Bishop
Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon supported the farmers, saying that with cheaper
imported rice flooding the market, young Filipinos will never become farmers.
"They
have already lost the desire because of extreme poverty. Now,
because of unregulated rice importation, no one would want to plant rice in our
own land," the prelate said.
Bishop
Bastes said the new law would only force the Philippines to become dependent on
neighboring countries for a staple food.
"That
law will make us a weaker and poorer country because our farmers are being
neglected," he said.
The
new law will impose taxes instead of limiting the amount of imported rice
entering the country.
It
will enforce a 35-percent tariff on rice importations from Southeast Asian
states and 50 percent on imports from countries that are not members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Food
security advocates have also opposed the law, warning against its effects on
local rice production.
Renmin
Crisanta Vizconde, executive director of the Philippine Network of Food SecurityProgrammes,
said the law would not reduce the high price of rice and other agricultural
commodities.
She
said the law "favors rice cartels, traders and capitalists" even as
farmers suffer "due to extreme and unprecedented economic
instability."
Independent
think-tank, the Ibon Foundation, noted that Filipino farmers are unproductive
and local rice is expensive "because of long-standing government neglect."
In
recent years, the government has allocated no more than five percent of the
national budget to agriculture.
Sign
up to receive UCAN Daily Full Bulletin
President
Rodrigo Duterte’s administration allotted about US$951 million for the
Agriculture Department or 1.3 percent of the national budget for 2019.
Paddy fields can’t do without mechanised farming
February 18, 2019
Sindh’s paddy sector has lately
seen some interventions aimed at mechanising cultivation, increasing per-acre
yields and improving the milling process. The provincial government’s Sindh
Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF) has supported several rice mills by
absorbing most of the mark-up component of the loan subsidy.
In the forthcoming Kharif season
starting in April-May, the SEDF plans to establish companies for the provision
of laser land levellers, crop transplanters and harvesters on a rental basis.
SEDF Managing Director Mahboob Kazi said the Sindh government was being
approached in this regard keeping in view the encouraging trend among millers
who availed the subsidy in the last two years.
A rice miller could avail a loan of
Rs10m for an upgrade of their mill. The SEDF has tried to prevail upon the
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to make sure that commercial bank liberalise their
loan regimes for rice millers as well as farmers.
‘The hybrid seed variety has
increased paddy production, but the related infrastructure is still missing’
The SEDF absorbs six per cent of
the mark-up while 2pc is borne by the borrower. Eight rice mill owners availed
this facility between 2012 and 2016. However, 22 mills underwent the much-needed
upgrade in the last two years, according to Mr Kazi. “New machinery has reduced
the level of electricity consumption by the miller. It has also decreased the
ratio of broken rice during milling,” he said.
This trend is encouraging from the
SEDF’s point of view. Therefore, it aims to ensure the provision of laser land
levellers, transplanters and harvesters for paddy growers through rental
service-providers. Laser land levellers ensure uniformity in water distribution
at the cultivation and post-cultivation stages as paddy remains a high-delta
crop.
It helps save 30-40pc of water that
is otherwise lost in any piece of uneven farmland. Similarly, transplanters and
harvesters contribute to the overall increased farm productivity.
Manual transplantation of seedlings
is labour-intensive, tedious and time-consuming. In contrast, mechanised
transplantation substantially increases the plant population up to 100,000 per
acre which, according to paddy grower Nabi Bux Sathio, varies around
50,000-70,000 plants per acre in the manual process. Mechanised transplantation
increases productivity by 20 maunds an acre which is usually assessed at 50-60
maunds.
Harvesters substantially save grain
losses at the harvesting stage. Keeping such losses within 15pc translates into
revenue of half a billion dollars, according to Rice Exporters Association
Pakistan (Reap) Chairman Safdar Mehkri. He said paddy growers in Pakistan
produce 2.7 million tonnes of rice per hectare against 9.2m tonnes in the
United States.
“We have a net potential of $5bn
rice exports. But we are currently fetching $2bn because of gaps at the
cultivation, harvesting, storage and milling stages,” he remarked. He said
Pakistan can increase its rice production to 12.5m tonnes from 7.4m tonnes by
adopting mechanisation.
In 2018-19, paddy production in
Sindh dropped to 2.5m tonnes against the target of 2.7m tonnes (the 2017-18
production estimate is 2.85m tonnes). The cropped area declined to 690,000
acres against the target of 770,000 acres.
The drop in the area and production
was attributed to a water shortage at the peak of sowing in Kharif 2018
(April-June). Water flows, as per figures by the irrigation department, stood
at 6.453MAF in April-June in 2018 against 11.22MAF in the corresponding period
of 2017, showing an overall shortfall of 42.5pc in the last crop season.
Paddy is grown mainly in the
right-bank areas of upper Sindh. In lower Sindh, it was cultivated in Badin,
Thatta, Tando Mohammad Khan and Sujawal districts.
The quality of seeds also hampered
overall growth in the paddy sector. Farmers prefer the imported hybrid variety
that paddy growers like Nadeem Shah believe was hit by germination and
fruit-setting issues. “It is basically weather conditions that vary between
Sindh and countries like Australia, United States and China that produce these
seeds,” he observed.
The higher yield potential of
hybrid seeds attracts growers. At the same time, this variety also demands
vital inputs like zinc, magnesium, pesticides and fertiliser besides timely
water flows for better productivity. This increases the overall cost of
production.
According to Mr Shah, local
varieties like DR-82, Shandar, Irri-6 and Irri-9 also give higher yields with
better inputs. He levelled his land in the Sujawal district by laser levellers
to overcome water losses and have uniform irrigation water distribution.
Post-harvest losses during milling
reduce the overall production of refined rice. With outdated machinery, rice
millers have to make do with losses in production. As a result, the ratio of
broken rice increases. The SEDF’s assessment showed upgraded machinery in a
rice mill improves the production capacity, making a difference of four to five
tonnes on average.
Mr Mehkri noted that the hybrid
variety has indeed increased paddy production, but the related infrastructure
is still missing. The crop was not dried, although driers are available. The
tendency to use these driers is too little.
He added that equipment rental
companies exist in Punjab, but the idea has not gained popularity here.
“Commercial banks avoid offering loans to millers and farmers,” he said.
He referred to rice production in
Vietnam which attracted a price over and above the going rate of $110-$150 per
tonne in the international market. “With upgraded mills and increased rice
production, we can capture markets in the Middle East and other regions.
Mechanised farming can offset the impact of the water shortage at the field
level,” he asserted.
Published in Dawn, The Business and
Finance Weekly, February 18th, 2019
Rice tariff law a ‘death sentence’ to the local rice industry –
Migrante Int’l
Published February 17, 2019, 4:41 PM
By Chito Chavez
An overseas Filipino workers
group labelled as a “death sentence to the local rice industry’’ President
Duterte’s signing of the rice tarrif bill.“From opening the country to the
deluge of imported weevil-infested rice to bringing in more importations, this
bill is the final nail in the coffin that will spell a tragic ending to the
livelihood of millions of rice farmers,” Migrante International said in a
statement.
Migrante International (Migrante International / FACEBOOK /
MANILA BULLETIN)
Migrante International rejected
the government’s claim that agricultural trade liberalization would ensure food
security for Filipinos.
The group insisted that “in
reality, we can attest at how this country has deteriorated from being among
Asia’s largest rice producers to being one of the world’s top rice importing
countries.”
Migrante International also noted
that Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol admitted the
imposition of the rice tariffication is the country’s fulfillment of its
commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“Many of our dear OFWs hail from
peasant backgrounds in the countryside and they fully understand the
repercussions that this bill would entail to their families’ livelihood back
home. As more farmers find rice cultivation unbearable due to the regime’s
inclination towards importations, many will be forced to sell their lands to
greedy developers and rice millers will find their storehouses empty,’’ the
group’s statement added.
Odisha should abide by
its promise to farmers
The hype and
brouhaha over Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik’s KALIA scheme has drowned a burning
issue affecting the farmers of the state.
Published: 18th February 2019 04:00
AM | Last Updated: 18th February 2019 03:30 AM |
The hype and
brouhaha over Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik’s KALIA scheme has drowned a burning
issue affecting the farmers of the state. Unable to offload their paddy yield
through the government’s procurement system, they now stand as vulnerable to
exploitative market conditions and non-realisation of minimum support price
(MSP) as before. Across the state, stacks of non-procured paddy are lying in
mandis as lapses, delays and irregularities have shrouded the procurement
process this season. Farmers are resorting to agitations at various places to
protest the gross mismanagement in the procurement process and irregularities
in the mandis. They suspect the activities of millers, who are alleged to have
delayed the lifting of stocks due to ulterior motives.
If this was
not enough, the government has suddenly gone ahead and announced the closure of
paddy procurement operations from February-end, two months before the
stipulated date of April 30. It has taken into consideration the plea of
achieving marketable surplus paddy, surpassing last year’s achievement by over
45 per cent, and to prevent recycling by millers. But it seems to have
forgotten its own proclamation in the food policy for the 2018-19 Kharif
marketing season that there would be no bar on procurement if more paddy comes
to the mandis. Though a target of procuring 55 lakh tonnes of paddy was
announced, it was not binding.
Putting an end
to procurement at a time when a substantial quantity of paddy is still to be
lifted at the mandis is questionable. The farmers will now be at the mercy of
private traders and rice millers and forced to sell their paddy at prices much
below the MSP. While the procurement mess will no doubt give a fresh impetus to
the political blame game over farmers, the government should abide by its own
commitments by ensuring that the produce is procured. Besides, the lack of
storage facilities at procurement centres as well as at mills is what is
hurting farmers the most. If the issue is addressed sincerely, it will resolve
a whole lot of problems—both for farmers and the government.
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Paddy Procurement: Opposition slams state
govt for Feb 28 deadline
Updated: February 17th, 2019, 13:02 IST
Bhubaneswar: Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday slammed
the state government for its decision to close paddy procurement after February
28. It comes two months before the usual deadline.Congress leader Bibhu Prasad
Tarai said, “The government’s decision seems to help rice millers to make
money. The farmers will be forced to sell their harvest at a price of Rs 1200
to Rs1300 per quintal, which is far below the minimum support price (MSP).”The
government has taken this decision to mint money to meet its election
expenditure, the Congress leader alleged.
Alleging an unholy nexus between millers and the state
government, BJP General Secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said the government
even failed to procure surplus paddy from farmers, which is unfortunate.
However, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare minister Surya Narayan
Patro has a different story to tell. According to Patro, the government has
procured 45 per cent more paddy than the previous year. If the process of paddy
procurement continues, the brokers will try and loot government money by
furnishing false documents. This restriction is necessary to check those
brokers.”
This statement by the minister raised questions on the transparency
of the paddy procurement process adopted by the state government.
The state Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department has
recently asked collectors of 19 districts to complete the paddy procurement
process by February 28.
The 19 districts are Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack,
Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kendrapara,
Keonjhar, Khurda, Malakangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Puri, Rayagada and
Sundergarh.
Earlier, the government had ordered for completion of paddy procurement
in other districts by February 20.
Kuttanad set for a
bumper paddy crop
KOTTAYAM, FEBRUARY 17, 2019 07:50 IST
Paddy harvesting on at Kumarakom.
The region, which lies next to Kuttanad, witnessed a sharp rise in yield this
season.
Region
suffered a complete washout of crops in back-to-back floods last year
Incredible it may sound but the
devastating floods that hit Kuttanad last year has brought in some good news to
the paddy farmers.
After suffering a complete
washout of crops in the back-to-back floods, the farmers in the rice bowl of
Kerala are preparing for a bumper crop in the first harvest post-floods.
If the initial reports pouring in
from the Kumarakom- Aymanam polders adjacent to Kuttanad are any indication,
the yield per acre across the region has shot up to 30 to 35 quintals this time
as against the average yield of 20-25 quintals.
Silt
deposits
Scientific experts attribute the
prospective rise in yield to a combination of factors ranging from
sedimentation due to the floods to washout of the early crop.
As per estimates, the
back-to-back floods during the last monsoon resulted in depositing of silt
varying from three centimetres (cm) to 20 cm across the wetland system.
“The most crucial of these could
be that after these fields remained submerged for several weeks, the farmers
this time could follow the crop calendar for ‘puncha’ cultivation. Given the
smooth progress of the calendar, the harvest could be completed much before the
arrival of saline water,” explained Dr. Geetha K., Agronomist, Regional Agriculture
Research Station, Kumarakom.
Nature
of soil
She, however, added that the
yield per hectare would vary based on the nature of the soil. “The yield from
the kari lands tend to be a bit lower than those classified as Karappadam while
the yield from the ‘kayal land’ will always be on the higher side,” said Ms.
Geetha.
Confirming the trend, scientists
with the Rice Research Station, Mankombu, said the quality of the seed that was
distributed for this year’s ‘puncha’ season was significantly higher.
Soil
acidity down
“The gush of floodwater brought
down soil acidity, which was a major issue experienced by the farmers across
Kuttanad, and though the value may differ from pocket to pocket, testing of
soil samples in the post-flood season also pointed to a general rise in calcium
levels,” said a senior scientist with the centre.
According to them, the strict
adherence to the crop calendar coupled with a favourable climate also resulted
in low instance of pest and diseases. This in turn raised the prospective
yield.
A
flip side
Meanwhile, the rise in yield is
also accompanied by a relatively new challenge in the form of invasive birds.
As per reports, the region has witnessed a sharp rise in bird activity over the
past couple of days, leading to wide-spread destruction of the crop.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/kuttanad-set-for-a-bumper-paddy-crop/article26295313.ece
ARMM farmers gain P35m DAF machines
Sultan
Kudarat, Maguindanao—The province’s farmers queued here for the distribution of
P35 million worth of mechanized farming equipment by the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao through its Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF-ARMM).
This
was the last time the region’s agriculture agency extended aid to farmers in a
forum at the DAF-ARMM Information and Area Resource Center (IARC).
Agriculture
Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol said aiding the farmers through upgrading the
country’s agriculture was the government’s way of rewarding the tillers for
literally feeding the country.
Regional
Agriculture Secretary Alexander Alonto Jr. and Assistant Regional Secretary
Eugene Strong met the farmers and led the distribution together with Sittie
Anida Tomawis Limbona, DAF director for administration.
Limbona
said Piñol had earlier approved the release of rice farming machinery units
worth P22 million and mechanized equipment for corn crop agriculture worth P13
million.
The
agriculture assistance package consisted of 80 units of rice and corn farm
machinery units given to 18 farmer and fishers cooperatives in different parts
of the province.
Reina
Regente Producers Cooperative, Nanungen Mauyag Agriculture Cooperative, Sitio
Tumagantang Farmers’ Marketing Cooperative, Sitio Makaw Farmers and Fisher
Folks’ Association, and Sitio Pidtulusan Agri-Farmers’ Marketing Cooperative
received hand tractors with floating tiller.
Apo
Luminog Farmers’ Association and Sunggilingan Marketing Cooperative gained
Portable Rice Mills, and Montod Farmers’ Marketing Cooperative received an
Electrical Corn Mill.
Reina
Regente and Nanungen Mauyag also received mechanical corn shellers; Majadiah
Farmers’ Association, Salindab Farmers’ Association, and Satan Taliawid
Farmers’ Marketing Cooperative all received Potable Irrigator Open Source
machines.
Edna
Bajao, alternate focal person for regional rice program, said the machineries
for rice farming also included threshers, transplanters, reapers, combine
harvester, and MPDP.
Dr.
Albert Usman said farmer cooperatives also received cassava graters, 1,600
liters of Insecticides; 1,600 kilograms of fungicide, and 550 sachets of
rodenticides.
The
assistance is designed to minimize manpower intervention in farming and
mechanize the country’s agriculture.
Dr.
Tong Pinguiaman, chief of operations of the DAF-ARMM’s Livestock program, said
116 heads of goats and 994 heads of free range chickens also formed part of the
aid intervention to Maguindanao farmers in support of the Bangon Marawi
Program.
Regional
officials also had onsite visit of a model irrigation system inside the ARMMIRC
complex to assess and evaluate the area.
New rice price formula to bust large rice miller oligopoly
The ages-old rice pricing
mechanism is set to be transformed into a new pricing formula to re-invigorate
the market competition with the aim of enhancing farmers’ income while
curtailing local market manipulations by the country’s large rice miller
oligopoly, Agriculture Ministry sources said. The new formula will stabilise
the price of rice, fixing a stipulated price, removing price controls and
preventing an artificial price hike in the market.
The government will be providing
concessions to small and medium paddy millers by releasing Rs.1 billion from
the Treasury to resume their paddy purchasing and processing process affected
by the monopolistic practices of bigger rice millers, a senior official of the
Ministry said.President Maithripala Sirisena submitted a cabinet memorandum
this week seeking approval to provide subsidies to small and medium scale rice
mill owners affected by oligopoly.
With the aim of streamlining the
paddy marketing system to meet the needs of consumers, the rice pricing formula
is to be devised considering paddy production as a function of land size, cost
of fertiliser, cost of seed, cost of farm power and labour use in order to sell
rice at a reasonable price to consumers without imposing price controls, he
divulged.
He added that this decision was
announced at a recent meeting between Agriculture Minister P. Harrison, and a
few representatives of the Mill Owners and Farmers Associations. According to a
simple calculation made as an example using the proposed pricing formula, when
the purchasing price of a kg of paddy is Rs. 10, the wholesale price of a kg of
rice is Rs. 24 and the retail price is Rs. 28. The current selling price of a
kg of rice exceeds Rs. 100 while the purchasing price of paddy was fixed at Rs.
36 per kg.
When taking the paddy purchasing
price as a variable explained in the example to calculate the retail price, the
wholesale price would be around Rs. 86.40 and retail price Rs.90.80 which then
is Rs.9.20 lower than the current retail price.This formula is to be introduced
in the backdrop of a 5-year work plan being implanted by the government in
collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to advance
Sri Lanka’s rice self-sufficiency goals through joint research for development
projects in the country.
The work plan will also address current
issues on agricultural productivity and sustainability targeting to increase
the country’s rice production by 20 percent over the present level by 2030 to
remain self-sufficient.However farmers’ organisations claimed that, successive
governments have always fallen into the trap of paddy millers’ oligopoly.
Paddy farmers get loans for their
cultivation due to their poor economic situation and have no alternative other
than selling their produce at any price to the millers who step in to buy their
paddy stock as the poor framers had to pay back the loans on time. Private
millers not only fix paddy prices ignoring the government guaranteed price but
also create an artificial shortage in the market, to release the rice stocks
only when the prices go up, a leader of a farmer organisation said.
Large scale private millers who
purchase over 40 percent of Sri Lanka’s annual rice produce are controlling the
market at present. Under the normal paddy purchasing process, the government
directs the Paddy Marketing Board, and local co-operatives to buy paddy at a
designated floor price or guaranteed price
Accordingly the government only purchases around 10 per cent of the national paddy production.
Accordingly the government only purchases around 10 per cent of the national paddy production.
National Organizer for the All
Ceylon Peasants Federation, Namal Karunaratne disclosed that that the rice
industry is presently controlled by four leading rice millers with storage
facilities. He revealed that some of the small and medium rice millers are now
bankrupt and they are compelled to close down their businesses due to oligopoly
of these leading millers who purchase the whole harvest at very low price from
farmers and store it at their stores – to sell later when there is shortage.
(BS)
Rice tariff law has education
component, roles for SUCs
By HORPublished
on February 16, 2019
Cong. Bong
Belaro (file photo)
QUEZON CITY, Feb. 16 -- Little-known and often
overlooked aspects of rice tariffication are the roles of higher and vocational
education, 1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list Rep. Bong Belaro pointed out.
"Rice scholarships, vocational education,
research, extension services, and technology development and transfer are all
provided for in the rice tariff measure," said Rep. Belaro, a
farmer's son.
"To make sure those provisions are
implemented, the chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education is tasked to
serve on the executive committee of the Agricultural Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund," he noted.
Belaro said the CHED chairperson's
participation in the ACEF cannot be delegated.
"There is no provision for an alternate or
designated representative because Congress made it a matter of policy to place
the CHED chairperson there and make his ACEF role a priority," the
Bicolano congressman said.
"The CHED chairperson also happens to be
the chairman of all the governing boards of state universities and colleges.
That role enables the CHED chair to mobilize state universities and
colleges," he added.
Belaro said the CHED chairperson can exercise
leadership by steering the SUCs so that they maximize their contribution to
agriculture growth.
"This is a window of opportunity for the
CHED to convince the Filipino youth to have careers in agribusiness, farm
technologies, and farming itself," the congressman said. (HOR)
Solon urges gov't to ensure safety net for rice
farmers
By
Villamor Visaya, Jr. February 17, 2019, 2:46 pm
ANGADANAN, Isabela -- Following the signing of
President Rodrigo Duterte of the rice tariffication law on Feb. 15, the
chairman of the House agriculture committee encouraged the government’s
executive branch to ensure provision of a “safety net for local farmers” in the
form of a fund that would be used to improve the country's rice sector.
"The 10-billion-peso Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) was included in the law as a safety net
to protect our own farmers and enable them to become more competitive. We
should ensure that this will be set aside and spent for rice farmers’ welfare,”
ANAC-IP party-list Rep. Jose Panganiban Jr., who chairs the House agriculture
committee, told the Philippine News Agency on Sunday.
The newly-enacted law mandates
a PHP10-billion RCEF for the provision of machinery and equipment, seed
production, and training on rice farming. A portion of the fund would also be
made available to farmers and cooperatives in the form of a credit facility
with minimal interest and minimum collateral requirements.
“Due care should be applied in
writing the law’s implementing rules and regulations so that the measure's
primary goals are met,” he added as the executive department is tasked to craft
the IRR of the new law.
The lawmaker soothed fears that
local farmers would be on the losing end with the passage of the legislation.
“We would be closely monitoring the
law’s implementation so that its true purpose will be achieved—that of having a
steady supply of low-priced rice and to enhance farmers’ lives,” Panganiban
said.
The rice tariffication law seeks to
liberalize rice importation by replacing quantitative import restrictions with
tariffs.
Under the new law, private
companies will be allowed to import rice once they secure the necessary permit
from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay 35 percent tariff for imports from
Southeast Asian countries. Higher rates will be imposed for imports from
non-ASEAN countries.
The National Food Authority’s (NFA)
importation role has also been removed, with the agency being restricted to
maintaining a minimum rice inventory that will be sourced from local
farmers.
Even if the President did not sign
the erstwhile bill, it would have lapsed into law, a month after it was
officially received by Malacañang on January 15. The bill was ratified by both
the House of Representatives and Senate.
“This measure has been long-needed,
and we hope that this law will kickstart the implementation of far-reaching
reforms in our rice industry,” said Panganiban, adding that President Duterte
should be lauded for acknowledging the need to act on this measure, and
for marking it a priority legislation," Panganiban said. (PNA)
EDITORIAL
- ‘Unli’ rice imports
(The Philippine Star) - February 17, 2019 -
12:00am
Brushing
aside a last-minute appeal from local rice producers, President Duterte has signed
a law lifting quantitative import restrictions on rice.
The
rice tariffication law was crafted amid the surge in rice prices last year,
which was attributed to official infighting that led to the near-depletion of
subsidized rice from the National Food Authority. To bring down rice prices,
the government decided to flood the market with imports.
Consumers
welcomed the promise of cheaper rice prices, but unlimited rice importation was
bad news for local rice farmers. In response to concerns that the “unli” rice
importation would kill local rice production, the tariffication law provides
for the creation of a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, to be drawn from
the import fees and used to provide various forms of assistance to local rice
farmers.
Obviously,
the success of the assistance scheme hinges on the efficient and honest
management of the common fund, which will have an initial annual funding of P10
billion. Unfortunately, the country has a disappointing record in handling such
funds. There are valid concerns that the common fund will go the way of the
fertilizer funds and Road User’s Tax – in the pockets of thieves in government
rather than used for the purpose specified in the law.
Local
rice production is suffering enough from the lack of interest among youths to
make farming their life’s calling. The flood of rice imports could add to the
disincentives and make the Philippines heavily dependent on other countries for
its staple.
The
rice tariffication law has two principal goals: to bring down rice prices and
tame food inflation, and to boost local rice production. Every effort must be
made to ensure that the achievement of one goal will not be at the expense of
the other. With rice tariffication in place, authorities must see to it that the
worst fears of local rice farmers will not materialize.
Not so much policy reform and enabling legislation but better
program planning and execution in agriculture
Published February 16, 2019, 10:00 PM
Dr. Emil Q. Javier
The pushback of rice farmers to
the lifting of quantitative restrictions on rice imports is expected and
understandable. The entry of more inexpensive rice from Vietnam and Thailand
will depress the farm gate price of palay thereby reducing their income.
The local palay buyers, the rice
millers and the big rice traders in Binondo oppose the liberalization of rice
imports as well. The palay buyers will have less palay to buy, and the millers,
less palay to mill. The big traders in Binondo are threatened too because their
dominance and control over the rice industry will be challenged by rice
importers.
However, maintaining the status
quo will mean that Filipino consumers will have to continue paying 20%–30% more
for their staple. And since rice constitutes a significant part of their food
budget, to that extent poor households will be that much more food insecure.
This debate over the need to
protect local food producers from inexpensive imports versus the imperative to
make food available and affordable to make poor Filipinos more food secure had
been festering on for at least three decades.
Unfortunately, this problem is
not unique to rice but applies as well to sugar, corn, and other crops and
increasingly to poultry, livestock, and fisheries. We are simply not producing
enough to meet the needs of our growing population.
Among the five major ASEAN
economies (i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines) we
are the only net food importer. Singapore the prosperous city state is a net
food importer too but it has no choice because it has little farmland.
What ails Philippine agriculture
had been the subject of numerous studies both by own scholars from the UP
System and the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (NEDA), as well as
by analysts of the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization and the institutes of the Consultative Group for
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) led by the International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington D.C. The
conclusions invariably lead to the lack of and/or inappropriate or faulty
policies.
Indeed, there are systemic issues
which remain unresolved. Among them are: 1) the continuing break-up of farm
lands and limits to land ownership under agrarian reform, 2) lack of small
farmers’ access to credit, 3) weakening of rural extension with devolution, 4)
undue emphases on rice, corn, sugar and coconut to the neglect of more
profitable tree crops, poultry and livestock, and prominently, fisheries, and
5) underinvestment in rural infrastructure and research and development. Also
very contentious, the continuing monopolies of the National Food Authority
(NFA) and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) over the rice and sugar
sectors, respectively.
However as a technical
agriculture graduate and a practicing farmer myself, I have a slightly
differently nuanced perspective. Even if the above-enumerated policy issues
were resolved, it does not necessarily follow that our woes in agriculture will
be over.
Our problem with agriculture is
not so much for lack of proper policies and enabling legislation but more of
inadequacy in the nitty-gritty of program planning, implementation and
monitoring and feedback and embarrassingly, graft and corruption.
I have come around this
conclusion based on the following observations:
We have a surfeit of overarching
policies, strategies and enabling legislation to move agriculture forward. The
Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), the Fisheries Code, the
Forestry Code, the Local Government Code, the Agriculture Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (ACEF), among others, are Olympian in their purposes and
comprehensive in their coverage. For sure they can be improved further but all
the essential principles, purposes and directions are there. All that remain to
be done is to translate the intents of these laws into well-thought out programs
and implement them.
For specific subsectors we have
laws creating the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), the SRA, the NFA, the
National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the Land Bank of the Philippines, the
Agri-Agra Law requiring all banks to set aside at least 25% of their loan
portfolios for agriculture, and further support for inclusive financing through
rural banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs), crop insurance, and the
agricultural loan guarantee fund.
Had these implementing agencies been
performing their mandates well, agriculture should not be floundering. Up to
the last two years of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
ten years ago, most of these agencies can claim lack of funds to rationalize
their underperformance. But not anymore. Since the presidency of Benigno
Aquino, and to date under President Rodrigo Duterte, lack of funds for
Department of Agriculture (DA) and its agencies has ceased to be an excuse.
Let me illustrate with some
examples:
The liberalization of rice
imports by itself will bring down the price of rice to consumers but does not
address the plight of farmers.
The problem all along with our
domestic rice industry is two-fold: 1) our low yields and relative high cost of
production, and 2) low income of farmers from rice alone, both of which can be
ameliorated by further intensification of rice culture with high yielding
hybrids and inbreds, and partial diversification to other high value crops. In
both cases, farmers’ control over the timeliness and volume of irrigation water
are crucial.
Unfortunately, the large
irrigation systems are designed for rice and are ill-suited for the
intermittent needs of water of the other crops. The obvious solution is to
embed the small irrigation units (shallow tube wells, water pumps and farm
ponds) being promoted and financed by the Bureau of Soils and Water Management
(BSWM) into the large irrigation systems administered by NIA. Since
both BSWM and NIA are under the DA, a single department order should suffice.
Clearly no need for further legislation.
Just like rice, coconut suffers
in 1) its low productivity versus its dominant competitor, the oil palm, and 2)
low income of farmers from coconut alone. The four strategic technological
directions are clear: 1) massive replanting with very productive
indigenously-developed hybrids, 2) intercropping with other more profitable
tree crops, 3) integrated, wet coconut processing at the village level to
create more livelihoods in the country side and derive greater value added
through processing of all parts of the fruit, and 4) market and product
development support to the domestic oleo-chemical industry.
Again no further legislation or
policy reform is needed for PCA to adopt this four-track modernization
strategy. What are needed are 1) setting of targets, 2) intelligent program
planning, 3) resolute execution, and 4) monitoring and feedback. All of these
powers reside with the PCA board and its administrator (The utilization of the
coconut levy funds is another story).
For access of small farmers to
affordable credit, we have the Land Bank of the Philippines. With its annual
net income of ₱15 billion which is ten times the annual General Appropriations
Act funding for subsidized credit under AFMA, Land Bank can do much much more
than what it is doing now. In the first place, Land Bank should reconstitute
its original cadre of farm credit officers when it first started 50 years ago.
These dedicated farm credit supervisors unfortunately were phased out when Land
Bank became a universal bank to enhance its bottom line.
Instead of being required to
remit half of its ₱15 billion annual income to the National Treasury, Land Bank
may be exempted and allowed to utilize all its margins for subsidized rural
credit as originally intended.
The commercial banks which are
unable and/or unwilling to extend credit to small farmers, and hence unable to
comply with the 25% Agri-Agra credit requirement may course their investments
through Land Bank.
Again these courses of action are
well within the existing powers of the executive and the authority of
the Land Bank board and its president.
To be continued . . . Part 2
*****
Dr. Emil Q. Javier is a Member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and also Chair of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP).
Dr. Emil Q. Javier is a Member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and also Chair of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP).
For any feedback, email
eqjavier@yahoo.com
There’s no evidence Buhari created 12 million jobs in rice
sector
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THE Muhammadu Buhari Administration has continued to claim that
12 million jobs were created in the Rice production sector in Nigeria as a
result of the administration’s agricultural policies, but there is no evidence
anywhere to support this claim.
On Tuesday, February 12, 2019, Lauretta Onochie, a presidential
aide posted a tweet citing the much-talked-about 12 million jobs created
in the rice production sector as one of the reasons Buhari deserves to be
re-elected on Saturday.
Onochie had been found guilty of spreading
fake news through her Tweeter handle in the past.
The claim of millions of jobs in the rice sector was first
made by President Buhari in
November 2018, when he presented his administration’s scorecard at the time. He
was represented at the event by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Audu Ogbeh.
He said: “The impact of our intervention in the rice sector has
resulted in job creation, increase in wealth, while reducing migration from
rural to urban areas. As of July this year, the number of farmers has increased
by 12 million.
“The Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN) has five million members.
The number of people working in rice mills, small or big is over 1.7 million.
These include harvesters, loaders, off-loaders, transporters, distributors and
markers.
“Unemployment is one of our biggest challenges in the country.
We want to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production and the fact that we
are currently the largest producer of rice in Africa, followed by Mali is good
news.”
However, there are no available statistics anywhere to back up
this bogus claim. In fact, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Yemi
Kale, categorically denied the claim, saying via a Tweeter post that “neither
the statistician-general nor NBS ever made any such admission at any
time to anybody”.
But the presidency insisted on the figure, saying that the
unemployment rate as calculated by the NBS was concentrated on white-collar
jobs and does not take into consideration the millions of jobs created in the
Agric sector.
Garba Shehu, Buhari’s spokesman based his claims on a statement
purportedly issued by the rice farmers association of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate was at 10.4 per cent in the last
quarter of 2015 just after Buhari just took office, it has continued to rise
and as at Q3 of 2018, it had risen to 23.1 per cent. Many say that
since the majority of Nigeria’s workforce is in the Agric sector, according to
the NBS, a 12 million addition in the sector would have reflected positively on
the unemployment rate.
Tope Fasua, an Economist and the presidential candidate of the
Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) in an article titled ‘Stop the deception – there are no
12 million rice farm-holders in Nigeria’, agave reasons why he believes the claim of 12 million jobs in
the rice sector was false.
The article read
in part: “The last record shows we cultivate about 40 per cent of our arable
land (Abdullahi, 2017). That is 40 per cent of 923,000 square kilometres or 92
million hectares net of at least 20 per cent built up. This is close to 300,000
square kilometres or 30 million hectares cultivated in Nigeria… By every means,
12 million rice paddies will be visible from space. Nigeria will have become
the biggest rice producer for the universe. We will even supply some to the
kingdom of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). We must note however that
not all of our 923,000 square kilometre landmass is arable. We have some desert
and increasing desertification. We have swamps. We have rivers, lakes and so
on. We also have mindless environmental degradation.”
The Buhari administration has also consistently said that
Nigeria’s rice import has been reduced by over 90 per cent and that the country
has almost attained self-sufficiency in rice. But evidence abounds that a
significant quantity of the rice being consumed in Nigeria are not produced in
the country.
What has happened is that rice imports into neighbouring
countries like the Benin Republic have increased astronomically within the same
period Nigeria’s official rice importation purportedly fell. The excess of
these imports end up in Nigeria’s markets, no thanks to the country’s porous
borders and largely corrupt customs officials, and because they are most times
cheaper than the locally produced rice, consumers tend to go for them more.
Therefore, the claim that the Buhari administration created 12
million plus jobs in the rice production sector is at best unsubstantiated and
at worst false.
How this retired lieutenant led
the revival of Wasan, Brunei’s biggest rice farm
With Wasan abandoned and rice planting fading away in
Brunei-Muara, Hj Sahlan marshaled 200 ex-military members to revive Wasan in
2006
By Aaron
Wong
-
February 17, 2019
It’s the middle of February and
Wasan – currently Brunei’s largest actively farmed rice field – is
buzzing. It’s the main harvest season, where paddy grains emerge at the end of
rice shoots, infusing some 286 hectares of verdant, green farmland with a
golden-yellow sheen.
Overlooking his lots of five
hectares, Hj Mohd Sahlan Hj Hidup, chairperson of Koperasi Setia Kawan (KOSEKA)
– Wasan’s largest tenant and Brunei’s biggest rice producer – is quietly
confident that they will yield their largest harvest yet.
“This is our first harvest of
Sembada(188),” says the 60-year-old of the new hybrid rice strain. Jointly
developed by Indonesia’s Biogene Plantation and Brunei’s Department
of Agriculture and Agrifood (DAA), Sembada is being commercially piloted over
38 hectares and along with another hybrid titith, are being touted to
usher in new levels of productivity to Brunei’s rice fields that will hopefully
drive the nation’s self-sufficiency.
“Some are reporting yields (from
Sembada) high as five to six (tonnes). That’s nearly double Laila and MRQ76.”
Today, Wasan is known as the
heart of the Sultanate’s rice production, but few know that the project dates
back to 1978 when it debuted as Brunei’s first large scale, mechanized rice
planting experiment.
Fewer know that it failed to take
off initially, reverting to a bush-like state after being abandoned, and that
it was Hj Mohd Sahlan – a retired Lieutenant Colonel – who marshaled a bastion
of retired military members to answer His Majesty the Sultan and Yang
Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s call for food security by reviving it in
2006.
Declining rice
self-sufficiency: agrarian to industrial
Four years before the Wasan Rice
Project (WRP) began, Brunei’s self-sufficiency in rice was entering a state of
free fall. According to DAA statistics, local supply met 37.5% of the rice
consumed in 1974, dropping to 13.7% by 1978.
Imports filled
the gap, and rose in tandem as the population increased. Today,
Brunei imports around 30,000 tonnes of rice annually, triple the amount it
imported in 1974, but produced just 1,527 tonnes of rice in 2017, compared to
6,348 tonnes in 1974.
The
importance of food security came to the forefront in 2007 during a global food price crisis, and was
then accelerated in 2008 – where after a shortage in global rice exports – the
price of rice increased 300% across four months before returning
to previous levels.
In an ehtnographic study of
Wasan’s rice fields, Khairunnisa Yakub argues that while Brunei had become The
Commonwealth’s second-largest oil producer by the 1950s, it wasn’t until the
industry’s boom twenty years later that proved to be the turning point, where
Bruneians began relinquishing agricultural pursuits – particularly rice farming
– in favour lucrative, stable careers in oil and gas and the civil
service.
“Although (the) government spent
millions of dollars on agriculture, this industry had lost its appeal,” writes
Khairunnisa on the prevailing sentiment of the 1970s. “Gradually, the number of
farmers working on the rice fields decreased and plots of land were abandoned.”
Around the same
time, neighbouring Indonesia and the Philiipines were
revolutionizing rice cultivation with high yielding hybrid varieties and
mechanization. Looking to ride the wave, the Brunei government began
experimenting on smaller projects, culminating with the proposal for 300
hectares for wetland paddy farming in Wasan that would be jointly run by the
Public Works Department and DAA.
Issues over management and the
surrounding environment, coupled with gaps in technical know-how and
infrastructure, plagued the project from the outset. Annual output peaked at
282 tonnes in the eighth year, but the project was far from meeting
expectations. The government then decided to privatize WRP with foreign joint
ventures, none which succeeded.
No official records are readily
available online on what happened to Wasan after this period. Not until a
lieutenant colonel in his 40s – who had taken up rice farming in his retirement
– submitted a proposal to revive it.
Hj
Sahlan with founding KOSEKA members Hj Mohd Zain and Hj Mohd Saifulizan.
Staunchly loyal to His Majesty, many of the founders took on agriculture
without prior experience, with DAA providing business and agricultural courses.
Hj Sahlan comes full circle
Hj Sahlan’s earliest memories of
his father were of him farming. Not commercially, with tractors over
hundreds of acres, but in small lots amongst the community, the harvest which
they brought home to cook.
Any surplus was sold or traded in
the market for fish, maybe some meat if they were lucky. Looking to provide a
better life for his family, Hj Sahlan enlisted as a soldier with the Royal
Brunei Land Forces in 1968, and by 1994, had earned the rank of major and was
bestowed an epistle from His Majesty to serve as the third battalion’s first
commanding officer.
When Hj Sahlan retired in 2000,
he needed a new cause; whittling away his pension unproductively was not of
interest. Staying abreast on national issues – particularly the nation’s
lagging agricultural industry – he decided to join the village consultative
council (MPK) of Bebluloh’s rice project near his home, farming traditional
varieties like bario and pusu.
Here, he would learn first hand,
what some scholars have gone on to argue; that rice
farming is more laborious, and arguably more complex than growing any other
staple crop.
On average, wetland rice
cultivation takes at least double the steps wheat requires.
Writing about the work ethic needed to cultivate rice successfully,
Malcolm Gladwell describes that each field must be irrigated, with series of
dikes constructed and channels dug near the water source, which must then have
inbuilt controls to allow precise inflow of water.
The soil has to be repeatedly
fertilized and have a hard clay floor to prevent water from seeping into the
ground, yet have a softer layer atop so seedlings can stay submerged at the
right moisture level.
Farmers must then select
carefully their paddy variety to plant, each which carries their own trade-off;
between yield and maturity time or moisture and soil composition. The seedlings
are also grown separately before being transplanted onto the farm. Daily
inspection for weeds, pests and diseases are considered standard
practice, and in Brunei, strings with empty tin cans are raised over the fields
and rung every morning and afternoon during harvest season to prevent pipit
birds who will otherwise ravage more than half of all potential produce.
Soil in Brunei is generally
acidic, so long-term treatment is required, and extensive water supply – enough
to periodically flood the farm – is needed.
To
mitigate the impact of birds feeding, farmers harvest in unison. Hj Sahlan says
machines emitting sound frequencies have not been an effective detterent so
far.
“The truth is rice is cheap (in
Southeast Asia) but it’s challenging to farm,” said Hj Sahlan. His blanket
assertion has basis; Brunei has managed near self-sufficiency in poultry,
and his halfway there for vegetables. But perhaps most telling is that out of
all of Brunei’s biggest agriculture businesses, none of them farm rice
substantially.
“When I first approached them
(the authorities) I think they didn’t think I was serious,” jokes Hj Sahlan.
“But I told them that we had 200 (ex-military) on standby, willing to get into
this full-time. His Majesty in his titah had been stressing
that we need to be less reliant (on welfare and imports). Now it was time to
act.”
The revival of Wasan
With the government’s green
light, Hj Sahlan formed a cooperative to unify their efforts, and they began
clearing Wasan once more.
Structurally, KOSEKA was very
different from a traditional cooperative, or a private company for that matter.
Operationally, it acted more as an association that would centralize the sale
of farmers’ paddy harvest to the government, and return all the sales
to the farmers based off their contribution.
By the same token, KOSEKA as a
collective would not invest individually in any one lot – it was up to the
members themselves to manage their own parcel of land, decide how much they
wanted to farm, and what capital they would front to kickstart their
operations.
Essentially, KOSEKA’s members
were their own self-contained micro-businesses, responsible for their own
profits and losses. At first glance, the approach seems harsh, but Hj Sahlan
insists the opposite was true.
“It created a sense of belonging
(between member and the farm),” he said. “It is not a cooperative or
company where you have investors (shareholders) who put in money and entrust an
administration who then hire and operate the business and then give you
dividends (or profits) at the end of the year. You don’t have a sense of
ownership or relatability this way to the struggle of the farm. You have to be
the one operating it.”
A
Koseka lot being farmed at Wasan with a combine harvester. The majority of
combine harvesters used in Wasan are rented from Pertanian Tropikal Utama.
The founding members quickly
established the costs and profit margins. Roughly $2,500 was
required to farm one hectare for one season. There would be two seasons
annually.
The government laid out an
extensive subsidy framework which remains in place today; seeds, basic
equipment, fertilizers and pesticides were discounted by at least
50%, and famers‘ paddy would be bought back at $1.60 per kilogramme.
Agriculture authorities also built the Imang Dam nearby with a reservoir
of 10 million cubic metres of water and opened a rice milling
facility that would also package the farmers’ rice and supply to retail stores
nationwide.
By KOSEKA’s estimations, each
hectare would need to yield at least 1.6 tonnes a season to break even. At two
tonnes, they would make just a $700 profit, a poor return for six months of
operations.
“At the start, it was very
difficult,” said Hj Sahlan. “Many members left because they realized that the
costs were too big up front. Others left after a few seasons realizing that the
margins were too small to sustain.”
The remaining 80 plus farmers
toiled 186 hectares, each employing one to four Indonesians. MPK Pengkalan Batu
also entered the fray, taking up the remaining third. Results came slow, but those
that persisted had their first big win in 2009 when DAA unveiled Brunei’s first
hybrid variety Laila, capable of three tonnes per hectare.
His Majesty arrived in Wasan to officiate both
the planting and harvest, underscoring rice planting as a national priority.
The then Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources set an ambitious target of
60% self-sufficiency by 2015, farmed over 10,000 hectares as new agricultural
areas were earmarked across Brunei.
Hj
Sahlan (R) looks on as His Majesty harvests Laila. Photo: Information
Department
KOSEKA followed through with
their first annual revenue over a $1 million in 2011, surpassing it the
following year with $1.87 million as they became Brunei’s largest rice
producer.
It appeared to be a watershed
period for Brunei’s rice industry, signaling a new era for Brunei agriculture.
But the target was never met. In 2015, rice self-sufficiency stood at just 4%.
An unfufilled promise
Taking a more measured approach,
new Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) YB Dato Seri Setia Hj Ali
Apong said at last year’s Legislative Council session that the government would
be targeting a 20% self-sufficiency in rice by 2020, and had set
aside $45 million for rice and vegetable cultivation.
Last November, His Majesty said
that there could be “no more excuses” for the nation to not progress in
agriculture, announcing a new 500-hectare rice field in Kandol, Belait that
once operational, would take the mantle as Brunei’s biggest rice farm.
DAA says Kandol is less likely to
face the same soil acidity issue, with the land made up of a finer-grained
fertile soil which carries alluvial sediment deposited from water flooding
over.
Back at Wasan, founding members
of KOSEKA Hj Mohd Zain Abd Ghani and Hj Mohd Saifulizan Hj Mohd Alishah drop by
Hj Sahlan’s farm. With His Majesty visiting just a few days ago to harvest
Sembada, they’re in good spirits, welcoming DAA’s plans to increase the Imang Dam’s capacity by 10%.
Hj Sahlan points out that His
Majesty is not just calling for food security, but for agriculture to
contribute to the economy. He then initiates a controversial topic amongst the
farming community – weaning off government subsidies.
Some feel that the government
hasn’t done enough over the years, especially in following through on plans
promptly and in the upkeep of infrastructure, most critically over the supply
of water.
In Belait, the unirrigated
300-hectare Sengkuang – at one point Brunei’s largest rice farm and the
district’s rice bowl – is now a shadow of its former self after losing its
ability to flood from naturally from a nearby river. According to DAA,
groundwater wells will be trialed soon.
Over in Wasan, it’s common for
farmers to take turns using the water from Imang Dam, because they claim the
pressure isn’t enough for simultaneous use. A senior DAA official mentioned
this week that the dam hasn’t been maintainedsince it was completed in the
late 1990s.
Hj Sahlan cuts through the
arguments, claiming that if it weren’t for the subsidy framework, farming rice
wouldn’t have taken off in the first place.
“Yes, the authorities must
maintain the infrastructure, follow through on plans and keep us
updated. Otherwise it is very hard to manage and plan (our own
farming operations),” said Hj Sahlan. “But the reality is that if it weren’t
for the subsidies, how many of us could plant rice (profitably)?”
Whatever paddy farmers can
produce, the government will buy at $1.60/kg. After milling, 1,000kg of dried
paddy yields approximately 650kg of rice. The government then packages it and
sells the rice at $1.15/kg to retail stores, to stay competitive against
imported rice, which is also subsidized.
“This means the government is
buying rice from us at $1.60 for
650 grammes($2.46/kg),” says Hj Sahlan, and that’s not a true reflection
of the operating cost to the government, because it hasn’t factored the cost of
operating the milling facility, or the money shelled out for other subsidies
like seeds, fertilizers andpesticides.
“The truth is that while we are
contributing to food security, we are not contributing back to the economy; we
are costing the government money. KOSEKA’s long-term future must be being
profitable (without subsidies) for us to truly answer His Majesty’s call.”
KOSEKA’s
output in paddy yield. The introduction of hybrid varities in 2009,
and good weather in 2012 lead to their biggest spikes in productivity says Hj
Sahlan.
As a start, Hj Sahlan estimates
that farmers must yield at least six tonnes per hectare, as a minimum, every
season, to be profitable without the buy back scheme. A DAA official
says they have no plans to amend the scheme, and see it as a critical component
of their wider mission to encourage farmers to increase yield and entice the
younger generation to take up rice farming.
“The new hybrids (we’re told)
have the potential (to yield a minimum of six tonnes),” says Hj Sahlan. Titih,
another hybrid being jointly developed by DAA with a Myanmar firm is reportedly
able to yield eight tonnes, will be trialed soon. At Wasan, Hj Sahlan says the
soil acidity is now manageable after repeated fertilization. If
the Imang Dam upgrade delivers – and birds and diseases are
controlled effectively – he’s confident KOSEKA’s productivity can be taken to
the next level.
In 2017, the cooperative
accounted for over 40% of all rice produced in Brunei, and on paper, their
produce of 1,069 tonnes from 186 hectares equates to a yield of over five
tonnes per hectare, several times higher than the national average of 1.75
tonnes per hectare.
Hj Sahlan and his founding
members are proud of all their milestones, and will certainly feature in any
study or historical account of Brunei’s journey in rice farming. But there’s
also a sense of urgency to do more. For all the mechanization and modernization,
Brunei still produces four times less rice than it did in 1974.
Freshly
harvested Sembada 188.
Congress pushes full implementation of Rice Tariffication Act
Updated February 17, 2019, 7:24 PM
By Charissa Luci-Atienza, Hannah
Torregoza, and Lee Chipongian
Speaker Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo
sought Sunday the proper and full implementation of the Rice Tariffication Act
to benefit everyone, citing that it would further help tame inflation.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN)
The former President cheered at
President Duterte’s signing of the Rice Tariffication Act on Friday.
“I am happy that President
Duterte has signed into law the Rice Tariffication Act. It will further help
in easing the inflation which has hit the poor the most,” she said.
“Now we can focus on its proper
implementation so that everyone can and should benefit from the law,” Arroyo
said.
But former Senate President Juan
Ponce Enrile urged the government to brace for the negative impact of the rice
tariffication law on local farmers, warning that the “over supply” of rice
could adversely affect them following its implementation.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund
Villafuerte, co-author of the rice tariffication measure, agreed with Arroyo,
saying that the law would help expand the access of Filipinos to cheap rice.
“This will, in turn, prevent a
repeat of the 2018 inflation surge brought in large part by the supply
shortfall and the subsequent retail price increase of rice,” he said.
“Rice tariffication will benefit
poor households the most, given that rice accounts for 20 percent of their consumption,”
Villafuerte said, noting that inflation began to ease in the latter part of
2018 and is expected to drop even further this year following the decisive
steps taken by President Duterte to remove administrative constraints on food
imports and narrow the gap between farmgate and retail prices of rice and other
foodstuff.
Death warrant
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos
Isagani Zarate expressed serious concern that the newly signed law would serve
as a death warrant to the country’s agriculture.
“With the rice tariffication, the
rice cartels can tighten their hold on the price of rice as well as the supply.
Ang mangyayari sa presyo ng bigas ay matutulad sa presyuhan ng langis na
parating tumataas depende sa international market dahil mas dun nakasalalay
ang supply,” he said.
He said the rice cartel and the
foreign rice suppliers will only benefit from the law.
“Mapanlinlang ang tariffication
scheme na ito dahil hindi ito pabor sa mahihirap na Pilipino; ang cartel at
dayuhang mga rice suppliers lang ang magiging masaya dito,” Zarate said.
“Ang dapat sanang gawin ay palakasin
pa ang NFA para mas marami siyang mabiling palay sa mga lokal na magsasaka sa
mas mataas na halaga.Sa ganitong paraan ay hindi mapipilitang magbenta ang mga
magsasaka sa kartel ng bigas,” he said.
Congress ratified the measure on
November 28, and transmitted it to Malacanang on January 15 for the President’s
signature.
Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel
“Ka Ayik” Casilao earlier said he would file a bill that would repeal the law
after 15 days upon its publication or the date it shall legally effect.
“I would like to save the
government the effort of crafting its implementing rules and regulations, and
will promptly file for the repeal,” he said.
Casilao branded the law as a
“tombstone for the Philippine rice industry” as it would impact the livelihood
and welfare of 2.4 million rice farmers and more farm workers.
“This will undermine the P350
billion – 19 million metric ton – palay sector. This is clearly betrayal of the
people’s and national interest,” he said.
Farmers at risk
Under the law, restrictions are
lifted and the National Food Authority (NFA) can no longer monopolize rice
importation because private sectors would now be allowed to import rice.
The tariff is mandated at 35
percent for rice from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and 50 percent for non-ASEAN countries.
As a safeguard, revenues from the
tariffs will go to a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or RCEF with an
annual funding of P10-billion to protect the rice industry from sudden or extreme
price fluctuations.
Enrile warned that when the government
allows too much commodity to enter the country from the outside, local farmers
are at risk of losing their source of livelihood.
“If you bring in too much commodity
from the outside, you deprive local farmers of their source of livelihood, so
we should be using tariffs to protect them,” Enrile said.
“Farmers will not incur losses if
(the government) only adheres to the rice tariffication law and relates (the
tariffs) to the reasonable price of the commodity in the country,” said Enrile.
“Now, if you would neglect that,
and anybody can bring and supply that commodity in our country, our farmers
would suffer losses and prices would go down because you plant more than what
is needed to cover the demand and that should be the standard of the tariff you
need to enforce,” stressed Enrile.
He said the government should
make sure that rice importers will strictly follow the requirements for
agricultural and food safety to ensure the protection of the local farmers and
the agriculture sector.
He also suggested enacting a
“minimum access volume” above which higher tariffs would be implemented.
“We agree that we will allow a
so-called minimum access volume for a product like rice to be exported from
other countries at a very low level of tariffs,” said Enrile, who was also a
former finance secretary.
“Now, anything above that minimum
access volume should not be allowed to come in if we have sufficient supply.
Without sufficient supply, we can allow it to come in but we can subject it to
tariffs,” he pointed out.
Inflation
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said the rice tariffication law will reduce
inflation rate by 0.6 percentage point (ppt) this year and 0.3-0.4 ppt in 2020.
“The important point here is that
the government is about to complete the IRR (implementing rules and regulation)
to ensure quick implementation of the law. Truly a very graphic sign of the
government’s serious effort to protect price stability for the people,” said
Guiniundo.
He said the impact to inflation
rate for 2019 and 2020 is enough to ensure the level will stay within the
two-four percent target.
“It’s split because the
implementation is already close to the end of the first quarter. With the
tariff collection, a fund would be established to help the farmers achieve
greater efficiency and productivity in agriculture,” said Guinigundo.
“They are therefore expected to
be more competitive,” he added. “This is a landmark legislation that would help
greatly in rationalizing rice farming in the Philippines. After all, the
farmers are also consumers, and, together with the other 100 million Filipinos,
will benefit from lower rice prices.”
Two booked for Rs 50 lakh fraud
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TARN
TARAN: Two rice millers
(siblings) have been accused of defrauding a man of Rs 50 lakh. ASI Harbans
Singh, investigating officer, said the accused had been identified as Surjit
Singh of Amritsar and his brother Tarlok Singh of Dode Chhapa. Complainant
Mohinder Lal of Khalra grain market said the accused purchased basmati (1121
variety) from him worth Rs 50 lakh two years ago and later refuted to make the
payment. The accused have been booked under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC.
OC
3 inmates held
with mobiles
AMRITSAR: Central jail authorities have confiscated
two mobile phones and intoxicants from three jail inmates. They have been
identified as Rahul Gill, alias Raghu, of Rambagh, Akashdeep Singh of Mallan
village in Tarn Taran and Shammy Kumar, alias Raman, of Ram Nagar Colony. Rahul
and Akashdeep were found possessing cell phones while two-gm intoxicating
powder was seized from Shammy. Separate cases have been registered against them
at Islamabad police station. TNS
Not so much policy reform and enabling legislation but better
program planning and execution in agriculture
93
SHARES
Published February 16, 2019, 10:00 PM
Dr. Emil Q. Javier
The pushback of rice farmers to
the lifting of quantitative restrictions on rice imports is expected and
understandable. The entry of more inexpensive rice from Vietnam and Thailand
will depress the farm gate price of palay thereby reducing their income.
The local palay buyers, the rice
millers and the big rice traders in Binondo oppose the liberalization of rice
imports as well. The palay buyers will have less palay to buy, and the millers,
less palay to mill. The big traders in Binondo are threatened too because their
dominance and control over the rice industry will be challenged by rice
importers.
However, maintaining the status
quo will mean that Filipino consumers will have to continue paying 20%–30% more
for their staple. And since rice constitutes a significant part of their food
budget, to that extent poor households will be that much more food insecure.
This debate over the need to
protect local food producers from inexpensive imports versus the imperative to
make food available and affordable to make poor Filipinos more food secure had
been festering on for at least three decades.
Unfortunately, this problem is
not unique to rice but applies as well to sugar, corn, and other crops and
increasingly to poultry, livestock, and fisheries. We are simply not producing
enough to meet the needs of our growing population.
Among the five major ASEAN
economies (i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines) we
are the only net food importer. Singapore the prosperous city state is a net
food importer too but it has no choice because it has little farmland.
What ails Philippine agriculture
had been the subject of numerous studies both by own scholars from the UP
System and the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (NEDA), as well as
by analysts of the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization and the institutes of the Consultative Group for
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) led by the International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington D.C. The
conclusions invariably lead to the lack of and/or inappropriate or faulty
policies.
Indeed, there are systemic issues
which remain unresolved. Among them are: 1) the continuing break-up of farm
lands and limits to land ownership under agrarian reform, 2) lack of small
farmers’ access to credit, 3) weakening of rural extension with devolution, 4)
undue emphases on rice, corn, sugar and coconut to the neglect of more
profitable tree crops, poultry and livestock, and prominently, fisheries, and
5) underinvestment in rural infrastructure and research and development. Also
very contentious, the continuing monopolies of the National Food Authority
(NFA) and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) over the rice and sugar
sectors, respectively.
However as a technical
agriculture graduate and a practicing farmer myself, I have a slightly
differently nuanced perspective. Even if the above-enumerated policy issues
were resolved, it does not necessarily follow that our woes in agriculture will
be over.
Our problem with agriculture is
not so much for lack of proper policies and enabling legislation but more of
inadequacy in the nitty-gritty of program planning, implementation and
monitoring and feedback and embarrassingly, graft and corruption.
I have come around this
conclusion based on the following observations:
We have a surfeit of overarching
policies, strategies and enabling legislation to move agriculture forward. The
Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), the Fisheries Code, the
Forestry Code, the Local Government Code, the Agriculture Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (ACEF), among others, are Olympian in their purposes and
comprehensive in their coverage. For sure they can be improved further but all
the essential principles, purposes and directions are there. All that remain to
be done is to translate the intents of these laws into well-thought out
programs and implement them.
For specific subsectors we have
laws creating the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), the SRA, the NFA, the
National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the Land Bank of the Philippines, the
Agri-Agra Law requiring all banks to set aside at least 25% of their loan
portfolios for agriculture, and further support for inclusive financing through
rural banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs), crop insurance, and the
agricultural loan guarantee fund.
Had these implementing agencies
been performing their mandates well, agriculture should not be floundering. Up
to the last two years of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo ten years ago, most of these agencies can claim lack of funds to
rationalize their underperformance. But not anymore. Since the presidency of
Benigno Aquino, and to date under President Rodrigo Duterte, lack of funds for
Department of Agriculture (DA) and its agencies has ceased to be an excuse.
Let me illustrate with some
examples:
The liberalization of rice
imports by itself will bring down the price of rice to consumers but does not
address the plight of farmers.
The problem all along with our
domestic rice industry is two-fold: 1) our low yields and relative high cost of
production, and 2) low income of farmers from rice alone, both of which can be
ameliorated by further intensification of rice culture with high yielding
hybrids and inbreds, and partial diversification to other high value crops. In
both cases, farmers’ control over the timeliness and volume of irrigation water
are crucial.
Unfortunately, the large
irrigation systems are designed for rice and are ill-suited for the
intermittent needs of water of the other crops. The obvious solution is to
embed the small irrigation units (shallow tube wells, water pumps and farm
ponds) being promoted and financed by the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) into the large irrigation systems administered by
NIA. Since both BSWM and NIA are under the DA, a
single department order should suffice. Clearly no need for further
legislation.
Just like rice, coconut suffers
in 1) its low productivity versus its dominant competitor, the oil palm, and 2)
low income of farmers from coconut alone. The four strategic technological
directions are clear: 1) massive replanting with very productive
indigenously-developed hybrids, 2) intercropping with other more profitable
tree crops, 3) integrated, wet coconut processing at the village level to
create more livelihoods in the country side and derive greater value added
through processing of all parts of the fruit, and 4) market and product
development support to the domestic oleo-chemical industry.
Again no further legislation or
policy reform is needed for PCA to adopt this four-track modernization
strategy. What are needed are 1) setting of targets, 2) intelligent program
planning, 3) resolute execution, and 4) monitoring and feedback. All of these
powers reside with the PCA board and its administrator (The utilization of the
coconut levy funds is another story).
For access of small farmers to
affordable credit, we have the Land Bank of the Philippines. With its annual
net income of ₱15 billion which is ten times the annual General Appropriations
Act funding for subsidized credit under AFMA, Land Bank can do much much more
than what it is doing now. In the first place, Land Bank should reconstitute
its original cadre of farm credit officers when it first started 50 years ago.
These dedicated farm credit supervisors unfortunately were phased out when Land
Bank became a universal bank to enhance its bottom line.
Instead of being required to
remit half of its ₱15 billion annual income to the National Treasury, Land Bank
may be exempted and allowed to utilize all its margins for subsidized rural
credit as originally intended.
The commercial banks which are
unable and/or unwilling to extend credit to small farmers, and hence unable to
comply with the 25% Agri-Agra credit requirement may course their investments
through Land Bank.
Again these courses of action are
well within the existing powers of the executive and the authority of
the Land Bank board and its president.
To be continued . . . Part 2
*****
Dr. Emil Q. Javier is a Member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and also Chair of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP).
Dr. Emil Q. Javier is a Member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and also Chair of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP).
For any feedback, email
eqjavier@yahoo.com
Odisha government stops
paddy purchase two months early, farmers angry
The State
Government’s decision has evoked sharp criticism from the farmers and political
parties as huge quantity of paddy is stacked outside mandis for days together.
Published: 17th February 2019 03:21
AM | Last Updated: 17th February 2019 10:56 AM |
Representational
image of Herbicides being sprayed in a paddy field
BHUBANESWAR: Going
back on its promise to procure as much paddy from the farmers, the State
Government has decided to stop procurement of the principal food grain two
months ahead of the closure of the current kharif marketing season (KMS).
The State
Government’s decision has evoked sharp criticism from the farmers and political
parties as huge quantity of paddy is stacked outside mandis for days together.
The order of
the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department to the district collectors to
close paddy procurement by the end of this month came as a surprise as the
current kharif marketing season ends on April 31.
Announcing the
food policy for 2018-19 KMS in September last year, the State Government had
said there is no bar for procurement of any higher quantum if more paddy comes
to the mandi from registered farmers. The past practice of deducting three
quintals of paddy per member in the family of a farmer for consumption of
marketable surplus of paddy has been waived.
The State
Cabinet, while approving the food policy, had authorised the Food Supplies
department to revise the target if the need arises.
The State
Government had decided to procure 37 lakh tonnes of rice (55 lakh tonnes of
paddy) during 2018-19 KMS beginning November last year from farmers who are
registered in the online portal of Food
Supplies and
Consumer Welfare department.
Justifying the decision for an early closure of paddy procurement, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister S N Patro said this year’s procurement has surpassed the target by 45 per cent.
Since the Government has already purchased marketable surplus of paddy from farmers, the closure of procurement operation will prevent recycling of paddy by rice millers.
Justifying the decision for an early closure of paddy procurement, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister S N Patro said this year’s procurement has surpassed the target by 45 per cent.
Since the Government has already purchased marketable surplus of paddy from farmers, the closure of procurement operation will prevent recycling of paddy by rice millers.
On the other
hand, Opposition Congress and BJP accused the ruling BJD of showing undue
favour to rice millers to meet their election expenses.
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Rice tariffication, political advertisements discount laws
signed
In a text message last night to Palace reporters,
presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed the signing of the rice
tariffication law.
Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) -
February 16, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — President
Duterte has signed into law a measure lifting quantitative restrictions on rice
importation.
In a text message last night to
Palace reporters, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed the
signing of the rice tariffication law.
Duterte also signed a measure
granting discounts to candidates for political advertisements, according to
Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
The Palace has yet to release
copies of the new laws.
In October 2018, Duterte
certified the rice tariffication bill as urgent “to address the urgent need to
improve availability of rice in the country, to prevent artificial rice
shortage, reduce the prices of rice in the market, and curtail the prevalence
of corruption and cartel domination in the rice industry.”
A month after Duterte certified
the measure as urgent, a report on the bill was ratified by the bicameral
conference committee.
Local rice producer have oppose
the measure, saying it would kill Filipino rice farmers.
Under the rice tariffication law,
quantitative restrictions on rice importation are lifted and private traders
are allowed to import the commodity from countries of their choice
The law imposes a 25-percent duty
on rice imports from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states
and a 50-percent rate on imports from non-members of the regional bloc.
The measure will also create the
Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) or a special rice buffer fund,
with an initial P10-billion annual fund, to ensure rice production
competitiveness.
Concerns have been raised that
the fund may be misused by corrupt officials.
The country’s economic team has
been pushing for rice tariffication, saying this should bring down the prices
of the country’s staple and weaken inflation.
The rice tariffication law
replaces the government’s quantitative restrictions on importation of the
staple with a 35 percent tariff.
Duterte’s economic managers have
identified rice tariffication as one of a means to meet the country’s
commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Under the law, the tariff of rice
imported from Asean member states will be 35 percent. For non-Asean member
states, the tariff will be 50 percent or the tariff equivalent calculated in
accordance with the WTO agreement on agriculture.
“One of the key features of the
bill is also the creation of the RCEF, which shall consist of initial
appropriation of P10 billion a year until all duties collected from the
importation of rice can replace it,” Sen. Cynthia Villar, sponsor and principal
author of the bill, earlier said.
The fund will be used to provide
different forms of assistance to the country’s rice farmers such as the
development of inbred rice seeds for our farmers, the development of rice farm
equipment and skills enhancement.
Villar noted the staple is the
only agricultural commodity in the country that has a quantitative restriction,
limiting the inflow of imported rice in the country.
The law would in effect remove
all unnecessary intervention of the government in the rice market, as recently
announced by Duterte.
Duterte also signed the bill
pushed by Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Richard Gordon mandating radio
and television stations as well as newspapers to give candidates high discounts
for their political advertisements.
“Free expression of our people’s
will is better ventilated during an election period if all those who vie for
the votes of our people are undeterred in delivering their messages to their
voters, especially if the deterrence is the prohibitive cost,” Pimentel said
last year in sponsoring the bill.
SSS contribution hike also signed
Also signed was the law amending
the charter of the Social Security System (SSS) to raise member contributions.
SSS president and chief
executive officer Emmanuel Dooc earlier said the bill is expected to
generate P16 billion in premium collections in a year and the adjustments would
be able to help extend the fund life of the SSS.
The bill would repeal the
21-year-old Social Security Law or Republic Act 1161 as amended by Republic Act
8282, and expand the powers of the SSS to ensure the long-term
viability of the system.
In particular, the
amendment aims to empower the Social Security System Commission to increase
benefits, condone penalties and rationalize investments, among others.
The bill would ensure
mandatory SSS coverage for overseas Filipino workers.
The President also signed the New
Central Bank Act increasing the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ capitalization
from P50 billion to P200 billion and strengthening its regulatory powers. –
Christina
Agribusiness
Conference Offers Lay of Land for Agriculture
Amanda Countryman
Jonesboro was the jumping off point for a whirlwind world tour
Wednesday.
At the 25th Arkansas State Agribusiness Conference held on the
Arkansas State University campus, speakers and panelists touched on the
evolution, business and current state of the U.S. agriculture industry. But
national, worldwide and political issues dominated the day.
In this age of trade wars and tariffs and the erosion of
long-standing trade relationships, their impact on agriculture was a recurring
theme.
“Without a strong export market we do not have strong domestic
prices,” Riceland Foods Senior Vice President of Operations Terry Harris said
in his issues and outlook presentation on rice, Arkansas’ No. 1 agricultural
export.
Among the day’s topics were the U.S.-China trade war and
resulting tariffs; the United Kingdom’s continuing, problem-plagued efforts to
leave the European Union via “Brexit”; the EU’s Brexit response; NAFTA and the
trade agreement that replaced it; and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the
U.S. abandoned last year.
The evolution of the family farm as a business and the impact of
the 2018 Farm Bill also were spotlighted for discussion, while the afternoon
issues and outlook sessions focused on the rice, cotton, poultry and beef
industries as well as credit, tax and legal issues.
“Agriculture has been a bright spot for the U.S. economy,” said
Colorado State associate professor of agricultural economics Amanda Countryman
in her presentation on U.S. trade policy.
The China-U.S. trade war, which began with the U.S. slapping
duties on imports of Chinese solar panels and washing machines followed by
retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, came in for heavy review. In a state where
agriculture is the leading economic sector, the subject was timely.
Long accused of stealing intellectual property and criticized
for lack of production reform, China nevertheless was the largest U.S.
agricultural export market in 2017, before the trade war began. In 2018, China
was among Arkansas’ top 10 trade partners, importing $363 million worth of
products and accounting for 5.7 percent of the state’s exports.
It was clear Wednesday that trade and agriculture are
inseparable. Harris noted that 20 percent of all U.S. agriculture is exported,
with rice and soybean exports approaching 50 percent.
But the consensus was that China had to be confronted, and the
speakers agreed with the administration’s strong stand even as the tariffs have
negatively affected U.S. soybean farmers, among others.
“We’re not the only ones in the world who are unhappy with
China,” Countryman said.
Other Trump administration decisions drew less favorable
reviews. Countryman was critical of the hasty withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific
Partnership and described it as a lost opportunity for the U.S. to band with
nations like Australia and Japan, shape policy in the region and potentially
influence China.
“It was sad because I was excited about the trade opportunities
the U.S. had moving forward with the TPP,” Countryman said.
From the farmer’s perspective, the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA) drafted last year to replace the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) — largely seen as a benefit to farmers — has done little to
no harm. And the 2018 Farm Bill was a bipartisan miracle, said Mississippi
State professor of agriculture and economics Keith Coble.
The bill passed the House by a 369-47 vote and the Senate by an
87-13 margin and allocates an additional $1.8 billion over a five-year period.
Of a total outlay of $428 billion, 76 percent goes toward nutrition, 9 percent
to crop insurance, 7 percent each to commodities and conservation and 1 percent
to other programs.
“The 2018 Farm Bill was an early Christmas present,” Coble said.
The USMCA still must be ratified by Congress, and with mid-term
elections over and a presidential election looming in 2020, agri-journalist and
policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer said not to hold your breath on much more
meaningful, new legislation until then.
“If you don’t get anything done this calendar year, it’s going
to get increasingly hard to get anything done in the 2020 election year,” he said.
The evolution of the business of farming and the state of U.S.
agriculture, as described by luncheon speaker and U.S. Farm Report host Tyne
Morgan, plus afternoon issues and outlook sessions on Arkansas’ chief
agricultural commodities, rounded out the day’s schedule.
Morgan touted the resilience of agriculture in the face of
falling commodity prices and other challenges and setbacks. Thanks to farmers’
innovativeness and record crop production — as well as the 2016 election
results — Morgan said food companies and the media are taking a fresh look at
the role farming plays in America’s success.
“I know we’re holding strong because of the people in this
room,” she said.
FPCCI rice body
appoints convener
KARACHI: Rafique Suleman, former
chairman, Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), has been appointed as
the convener of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FPCCI) Central Committee on Rice (2019).
He has already served as FPCCI
Committee on Rice Exports chairman during the year 2015 and 2016. Additionally,
Muzammil Chappal and Faisal Anis have been appointed as deputy conveners in
this committee.
Suleman has served as chairman, as
well as senior vice chairman and treasurer of REAP. He belongs to a business
family, and has been a leading rice exporter for the last many years.
He said that currently rice export
trade was facing many local and international challenges.
Pakistani
exports to KSA fall by $200m in five years
February 15, 2019
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s export to Saudi Arabia has plunged by $200 million in
the last five years, according to statistics available with Pakistan
Today.
Total trade between Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia currently stands at $3.3 billion. Pakistan’s share in the
bilateral trade stands at a meager $300 million, whereas the Saudis earn
around $3 billion.
A considerable decrease has been
witnessed in the Pakistani export to KSA in the last five years, as Pakistan’s
exports stood at $505.4 million in 2013-14, compared to $305.6 million in
2017-18.
Pakistan exports rice, onion,
towel, furniture, leather, garments, footwear, fish, fruit, vegetables, textile
products, whereas the country import’s petroleum products, petrochemicals,
biochemical products, plastics, steel products, copper etc. from KSA.
Sources said the exports have
declined because the exporters preference to send edible items to KSA via UAE.
They said Pakistan can increase
its exports through textile and cosmetics, as around 2.6 million Pakistanis are
residing and working in Saudi Arabia. However, due to a lack of focus on
research and development as well as value addition, the government is
giving chances to other countries to capture the Saudi market, they
added.
All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable
Exporters Patron-in-Chief Abdul Waheed said that the cost of vegetable and
fruit production is very high in Pakistan as compared to other countries. In
addition, the government is not paying any heed to research and development,
innovation and branding of products.
“This is why food and vegetable
export is just $620 million. If the government starts paying attention on this
front, Pakistan’s fruit and vegetable export can grow to $2.5 billion in just
five years,” he stated.
It is pertinent to mention that
the Saudi vegetable market was valued at $11.2 billion in 2017, and is expected
to register a CAGR of 4.7pc during the forecast period (2018-2023). Likewise,
the Saudi fruit market was valued at $34 billion in 2017 and is expected to
register a CAGR of 4.1pc during the forecast period (2018-2023).
Advisor to Prime Minister on
Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood had said that Saudi Arabia was interested in
Pakistan’s agriculture sector in order to increase the growth livestock in
Pakistan and then we can export them.
Nearly six in 10
Pakistanis normally eat roti at lunchtime: survey
ISLAMABAD: According to a Gilani
Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, nearly
6 in 10 Pakistanis report that they normally eat roti at lunch time
exclusively.
According to a press release, a
nationally representative sample of men and women from across the four
provinces was asked, “What is eaten in your household for lunch as a matter of
routine?” In response to this question, 58 percent said roti, 14 percent said
rice, 22 percent said both roti and rice, while 6 percent did not know or did
not wish to respond.
The study was released by Gilani
Research Foundation and carried out by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, the Pakistani
affiliate of Gallup International. The recent survey was carried out among a
sample of 1,142 men and women in urban areas of all four provinces of the
country, during 24–28 January, 2019. The error margin is estimated to be
approximately ± 2-3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.
Bombay Lounge: Putting the color
back in Indian food
February 14, 2019
Hints of lemon, mint, cardamom,
ginger, cinnamon, cumin and cloves envelop the senses in each bite of Aloo
Gosht, a meat curry. The mutton is tender, delicate and fresh. The potatoes add
texture to the sauce, which is spicy enough to enhance the flavors without
being overpowering.
Before you know it, you are
reaching yet for another mouthful of lamb, basmati rice and naan bread. A
splendid example of northern India’s most popular dish cooked by Harsh Bathia
of Bombay Lounge 93.
Indian Cuisine is as complex,
diverse and rich as the country itself, and pin-pointing that one emblematic
dish or single recipe to follow is a challenge few take on. However, Bombay
Lounge 93, located a few blocks away from the park, offers guests a gastronomic
experience of India’s classic dishes.
“You can’t describe Indian food
in a sentence, because it is very varied, you can find every color, texture and
food type in one plate,” explains Harsh. For him, food is an integral sensorial
experience that starts with the eyes, and is capable of captivating the mind
and the heart as much as the senses.
The chef understands the culinary
nuances of each region of his country of origin, and has mastered cooking
techniques in top-notch kitchens such as the Oberoi Hotel in Udaipur to deliver
an authentic and well-executed menu.
Besides Aloo Gosht ($33,600),
Bombay Lounge 93 offers a varied set of entrees and appetizers, including
vegetarian options and a lunch special. The Butter Chicken ($33,600) is new to
the list, and is faithfully carried out: the savory and velvety sauce melts
with the meat in every bite, a definite must try.
With eight types of bread
($5,400- $6,300 per serving) and five different preparations of rice to choose
from ($7,800- $11,700 per portion) there is almost never enough basmati and
naan to finish an Indian meal, and that is also true at Bombay Lounge 93.
If appetizers are more your
thing, the restaurant serves plenty of them. Pawan Singh is the chef in charge
of preparing them, as well as all dishes cooked in the tandoori oven. Somosas,
veggie or chicken ($14,000), are as tasty as the Mix Pagodas ($11,700) or the
Bombay Paneer Shashlik ($18,600), which complements the assortment by adding a
hint of cayenne pepper to the meal. Make sure to include Palak Paneer
($26,700). This cheese and spinach dish is creamy and well balanced, a real
treat for those looking for soft texture and a sharp refreshing taste.
The idea behind Bombay Lounge
93’s appetizers is to enjoy an assortment of small dishes while sipping an
after work cocktail, perhaps a Gin Tonic, with friends before heading back home
or staying for dinner. However, food is the heart and soul of the restaurant.
Appetizers and entrees at Bombay Lounge 93 are meant to be shared, which is
good value for your money. Besides, the restaurant offers a lunch special
during the week served as a Thali style meal in a rectangular tray that
includes rice, a salad, a vegetable and a protein – plant based or animal. Most
choices are available from the main menu, and the price varies from $21,900 to
$38,700. Beverages are not included.
Try the mango lassy, a
yogurt-based milkshake ($6,900) or salt one made with cumin and – yes – salt.
And if you crave for a dish that is not on the menu, just ask, the staff will
try to accommodate your cravings as best they can. In fact, customers can
choose the level of spice in their meal, and enjoy Indian flavors regardless of
the amount of chili.
The authentic menu of Bombay
Lounge 93 comes as no surprise. Harsh Bathia opened and worked at Taj-Mahal in
Usaquén before he took on Bombay Lounge 93. The Usaquén restaurant is close to
celebrating its 5th anniversary and continues to offer guests a really good
Indian meal.
Chefs Harsh Bathia and Pawan Singh of Bombay Lounge
Behind Taj-Mahal and Bombay
Lounge 93 is Verónica Barquero, and her husband Raúl Buriticá and business
partners and friends Amit Kataria and Sheenan Groover.
The two couples decided to open
the second restaurant to offer clients South of Usaquén a more central option
with a more modern feeling to it and the same high-quality standard.
“We, the Colombian couple
(although I’m from Costa Rica), and our Indian friends, make a great team. We
support each other. They contribute the Indian touch and we provide the Western
feel of what can and cannot work here, and still, after five years in business,
we remain the best of friends,” Verónica explains.
Friendship might be the key to
the success of both restaurants. But, one thing is certain, Bombay Lounge 93 is
an excellent choice to enjoy classic Indian food. Or, as Verónica would say,
“we serve great Indian food to par with any good Indian restaurant anywhere in
the world, whether it be Melbourne, New York, London or any other cosmopolitan
city.”
Philippines liberates
rice market
THE PHILIPPINES' Rice Tariffication
Bill has been signed into law by President Duterte amid opposition from farmer
groups and consistent prodding from economic managers and business
organisations.
The measure, considered a priority bill of the Duterte
administration, will effectively open the country’s doors to unimpeded
importation of rice and provide an annual subsidy of 10 billion peso (Bt6
billion) for the development of the rice industry. Economic managers and 13
business organisations had thrown their support for the law, noting that its
enactment would help temper the country’s inflation, bring down retail prices
of rice in the market and harness the country’s ability to ensure food
security. However, industry groups, including the Federation of Free Farmers,
Alyansa ng Magbubukid and Bantay Bigas, had urged Duterte to veto the bill,
citing issues of smuggling and corruption in the rice trade as well as the
limited role of the National Food Authority (NFA) under the law.
Under the tariff regime, the NFA would be limited to maintaining
the country’s emergency stocks in time of calamities and would not be allowed
to license importers and regulate the entry of imported rice in the market. It
was not clear if it would still be allowed to sell subsidised rice in the
market. Acting NFA Administrator Tomas Escarez said details of the agency’s
function would be tackled in the implementing rules and regulations of the law,
which has yet to be released. The Rice Tariffication Law allows the market to
be flooded with rice imports so long as these are slapped a tariff at 35 per
cent if coming from Asean members and 50 per cent for non-Asean states. Around
28 billion peso in revenues are expected to be collected by the government from
these imports, which would be used to subsidise rice farmers to ensure their
competitiveness. Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on food
and agriculture and the proponent of the bill, said that the money should be
used to mechanise and modernise the sector, which has been lagging behind other
rice-producing countries. Unlike in Vietnam and Thailand where farmers can produce
a kilo of rice at 6 peso, Filipino farmers incur a production cost of 12 peso a
kilo, making local rice costlier than imported rice. Whether or not relying on
rice imports would benefit both local producers and consumers of the staple
remains to be seen. Right now, the challenge is to make sure that rice farmers
can compete at a price 35-per cent higher than imported rice, and give
consumers the option to avail themselves of the staple at a more affordable
price.
Rice exports from India are set
to swing in the last quarter of this year on a spate in orders after shipments
slumped 14% in the last three quarters over high input costs and tepid demand
from Bangladesh.
The non-basmati
rice exports that are dependent largely on varieties grown in Chhattisgarh were
affected as paddy supply dried up following announcement of higher than minimum
support price (MSP).
Chandigarh:
Rice exports from India are set to swing
in the last quarter of this year on a spate in orders after shipments slumped
14% in the last three quarters over high input costs and tepid demand from
Bangladesh.
“Consignments in January are better than the previous year and the trade is likely to attain levels close to the previous year,” a senior commerce and industry ministry official told ET.
Exporters have seen a surge in demand from the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US this quarter. The official said the supply for exports has streamlined after being affected for the last few months of 2018 because of assembly polls in some states. A bumper yield in Bangladesh also took toll on Indian exports, he said.
The 5% subsidy on export value extended to non-basmati rice under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) in November helped in recovery of trade, but margins remained thin, exporters said.
“Raw material (paddy) prices are still high as most farmers are inclined to sell to the state agencies in states, including Chhattisgarh,” said P Baskara Reddy, promoter of Kakinada-based Sri Chitra Agri Exports. He said the exporters hope that the scheme will be extended beyond March 26 and the incentive doubled to 10% under MEIS to complement the shrinking margins.
The announcement of higher price assistance by political parties just ahead of the harvesting season in the run-up to the assembly polls had spiked government procurement and dampened private purchase in states like Chhattisgarh where the procurement price was higher by 60%.
The non-basmati rice exports that are dependent largely on varieties grown in Chhattisgarh were affected as paddy supply dried up following announcement of higher than minimum support price (MSP).
Exporters are wary of such politically motivated price assistance. “Higher procurement price will subdue trade in the coming years. Direct financial assistance is a better route to support farmers,” Rice Exporters’ Association president BV Krishan Rao said. Higher procurement would lead to a surplus buffer stock and a situation where the government will have to auction its stocks at a loss, he said.
“Similar situation took place in 1999-2000 when Food Corporation of India had to release its brimming stocks at a discount after higher MSP had boosted federal procurement three-times over the buffer stock norms,” Rao said.
The rice procurement crossed 41 lakh tonnes so far compared to 32.5 lakh tonnes in Chhattisgarh in the last Kharif marketing season. “We have not taken export commitments this season as farmers are keen to sell to government agencies,” a senior executive of Uttar Pradesh-based Laxmi Rice Mills said.
While export of basmati rice has increased till December, non-basmati exports stayed downhill with 5.6 million tonnes of shipment till December as against 6.3 MT a year ago.
“Consignments in January are better than the previous year and the trade is likely to attain levels close to the previous year,” a senior commerce and industry ministry official told ET.
Exporters have seen a surge in demand from the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US this quarter. The official said the supply for exports has streamlined after being affected for the last few months of 2018 because of assembly polls in some states. A bumper yield in Bangladesh also took toll on Indian exports, he said.
The 5% subsidy on export value extended to non-basmati rice under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) in November helped in recovery of trade, but margins remained thin, exporters said.
“Raw material (paddy) prices are still high as most farmers are inclined to sell to the state agencies in states, including Chhattisgarh,” said P Baskara Reddy, promoter of Kakinada-based Sri Chitra Agri Exports. He said the exporters hope that the scheme will be extended beyond March 26 and the incentive doubled to 10% under MEIS to complement the shrinking margins.
The announcement of higher price assistance by political parties just ahead of the harvesting season in the run-up to the assembly polls had spiked government procurement and dampened private purchase in states like Chhattisgarh where the procurement price was higher by 60%.
The non-basmati rice exports that are dependent largely on varieties grown in Chhattisgarh were affected as paddy supply dried up following announcement of higher than minimum support price (MSP).
Exporters are wary of such politically motivated price assistance. “Higher procurement price will subdue trade in the coming years. Direct financial assistance is a better route to support farmers,” Rice Exporters’ Association president BV Krishan Rao said. Higher procurement would lead to a surplus buffer stock and a situation where the government will have to auction its stocks at a loss, he said.
“Similar situation took place in 1999-2000 when Food Corporation of India had to release its brimming stocks at a discount after higher MSP had boosted federal procurement three-times over the buffer stock norms,” Rao said.
The rice procurement crossed 41 lakh tonnes so far compared to 32.5 lakh tonnes in Chhattisgarh in the last Kharif marketing season. “We have not taken export commitments this season as farmers are keen to sell to government agencies,” a senior executive of Uttar Pradesh-based Laxmi Rice Mills said.
While export of basmati rice has increased till December, non-basmati exports stayed downhill with 5.6 million tonnes of shipment till December as against 6.3 MT a year ago.
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