’’گورنر ہاؤس سندھ میں سالانہ بنیادوں پر اس فیسٹیول کا انعقاد
کیا جائے گا۔۔۔‘‘عمران اسماعیل نے ایسا اعلان کر دیا کہ آپ کا دل بھی مچلنے لگے
گا
Jan
31, 2019 | 18:50:PM
کراچی(ڈیلی پاکستان آن لائن)گورنر
سندھ عمران اسماعیل نے کہا ہے کہ دنیا میں چاول کے معیار اور فروخت میں پاکستان
سرفہرست ممالک کی میں شامل ہے ،پاکستان
کے چاول اپنی انفرادیت میں کوئی ثانی نہیں رکھتے، پیداوار سے لے کر عالمی
منڈیوں تک اس کی رسائی آسان بنانا حکومت کی اولین ترجیح ہے،اس سال سےسالانہ بنیاد
وں پرگورنر ہاؤس میں بین الاقوامی سطح کا بریانی فیسٹیول منعقد کیا جائے گا
رائس
ایکسپورٹرز ایسوسی ایشن آف پاکستان کی تقریب سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے گورنر سندھ عمران
اسماعیل کا کہنا تھا کہ وفاقی حکو مت زراعت سے منسلک صنعتوں کو بھرپور تعاون
و مدد فراہم کررہی ہے،موجودہ حکومت انڈسٹری، کاشتکاروں اور ایکسپورٹرز کو مزید
سہولیات فراہم کرنا چاہتے ہیں تاکہ چاول کی برآمدات کو مزید بڑھایا جاسکے ، چاول
انڈسٹری سے وابستہ افراد کے تمام مسائل کو ترجیحی بنیادوں پر حل کیا جائے گا۔انہوں
نے کہا کہ پاکستان کے باسمتی چاول دنیا بھر میں صف اول میں شمار ہوتے
ہیں،چاول کے کاشتکاروں اور ایکسپورٹرز کے لئے موجودہ حکومت اس شعبے میں بھی
اصلاحات کررہی ہے، ضرورت اس بات کی ہے اس شعبے سے وابستہ افراد فصلوں کے لئے درکار
پانی کو مناسب انداز اور نئی ٹیکنا لوجی کی مدد سے استعمال کریں تاکہ غیر ضروری
پانی ضائع نہ ہوسکے۔انہوں نے اعلان کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ایکسپورٹرز لائژن کمیٹی
قائم کی گئی ہے جس کا کو آرڈینٹر محمود مولوی کو مقرر کیا گیا ہے جبکہ
اس کمیٹی میں ایکسپورٹ سے متعلقہ تمام سٹیک ہولڈرز کو شامل کیا جائے
گا،وفاقی حکومت معاشی خوشحالی میں عوام کی شمولیت کو بھی یقینی بنارہی ہے اور اس
سلسلے میں صنعتوں سے وابستہ افراد پر بھرپور توجہ مرکوز رکھی جارہی ہے۔انہوں نے
کہا کہ اس سال سے سالانہ بنیاد وں پرگورنر ہاؤس میں بین الاقوامی سطح کا بریانی
فیسٹیول کا منعقد کیا جائے گا ،جس میں بریانی تیار کرنے سے منسلک افراد کو خصوصی
طور پر مدعو کیا جائے گا ،اس اقدام سے صنعت سے وابستہ افراد کی حوصلہ افزائی ممکن
ہوسکے گی،صنعتی فعالیت کو یقینی بنانے کے لئے کراچی میں انفرا سٹرکچر کی بحالی کا
کام تیزی سے جاری ہے،اس ضمن میں وفاق کے تحت جاری منصوبوں کی بروقت تکمیل یقینی
بنانے کے لئے کراچی انفرا سٹرکچر ڈویلپمنٹ کمپنی کے تحت منصوبوں کی مانیٹرنگ کی
جارہی ہے۔
Biryani
Festival to be held soon and every year: Sindh governor
KARACHI:
Governor Sindh Imran Ismail said on Thursday that President Arif Alvi will
inaugurate upcoming Biryani Festival.
“Such fiestas will be held every year and
upcoming festival will be given status of an International festival,” the
governor said while addressing in a lunch ceremony, held by Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan in the metropolis.
He said government will support the Rice Export
Association of Pakistan (REAP) with every possible effort it can.
“Currently rice exports are at $2 bn, while the
REAP has set target of $4 bn,” the governor said.
He assured the rice exporters that PTI-led
federal government will support each and every step that was aimed to uplift
country’s economy. “We want to see economic activities flourishing in
Pakistan.”
Mr Ismail said steps taken by the government
will soon bring visible results and added that the doors of the Governor house
are always open for exporters.
Back in month of July 2018, Trade Development
Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) had declared that Pakistan rice exports exceeded
by $2 billion mark for the financial year ended 2017-18.
Pakistan’s rice is amongst the best rice in the
world, previously in FY15 rice exports of Pakistan surpassed the $2 billion
mark and the trend has always showed continuous improvement. However, Pakistan
is accomplishing its export target of 4 million tons.
https://arynews.tv/en/governor-sindh-biryani-festival/
Sindh governor forms ‘Exporters
liaison committee’
Governor Sindh Imran Ismail has announced to set up
"Exporters Liaison Committee" to address the issues related to
exports. On invitation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) the
Governor Sindh on Thursday visited REAP House Karachi and discussed issues
relating to rice trade. During the visit, the Governor Sindh announced to form
"Exporters Liaison Committee" and appointed Mahmood Moulvi Advisor to
Ministry of Maritime Affairs and former Chairman REAP as
"Coordinator" of the committee. "First meeting of the committee
will be held very soon to formulate other modalities of the committee", he
added.
Addressing the REAP members, the governor Sindh thanked all business community for reposing confidence in PTI government and assured that government would make all possible efforts to meet the expectations of the business community. He said that now the Governor House is a public place and the doors of Governor House are open for all.
On the request of REAP, he also announced to organise Biryani Festival every year in Governor House for promotion of Pakistani rice. "All the stakeholders as well as diplomats of all countries will be invited in the Biryani Festival to promote Pakistani rice", he added.
In the end, Safder Hussain Mehkri and Abdul Rahim Janoo presented REAP's crest to Governor Sindh. Safder Hussain Mehkri Chairman REAP during his welcome address thanked the Governor Sindh for meeting with rice exporters. He apprised him about various aspects of rice exports trade and updated him about recent development after REAP Rice conference held in Larkana.
Mehkari said that with adoption of best international practices Pakistan can easily enhance the rice production, which ultimately helpful to increase the rice exports to fetch much more foreign exchange. However, he said that these tasks cannot be done successfully without the support of provincial and federal governments. He requested the governor Sindh to extend his help to achieve the targets.
Rafique Suleman former chairman REAP talked about the rice trade/export issues and urged the government for introduction of new seeds to get higher crop yield. "Pakistan's rice exports cannot be increased without getting a higher and quality rice crop", he added.
Suleman said that REAP has recently organized a "REAP Rice Conference" in Larkana to identified the issues related to rice trade. After the conference, recommendations have been prepared for promotion of rice exports, he added.
Abdul Rahim Janoo ex-Chairman REAP appreciated the PTI government for improving law and order situation in Karachi which become helpful to increase the trade related activities in Karachi city.
He said that business community of Karachi understands that current government is facing difficulties, however, with the pace of implementation of government's plan economic situation is moving in right directions.
He requested governor Sindh to give time for meeting with rice exporters once in two months to share the proposals for the betterment of trade and industry.
In addition, he also requested to organize a Rice Biryani Festival at Governor House for the promotion and marketing of Pakistani rice. He informed that REAP has already organized Biryani Festival in many countries as it is very helpful to increase the rice export trade manifolds. On occasion Safder Hussain Mehkri, Rafique Suleman and Abdul Rahim Janoo presented REAP's crest to Governor Sindh.
Addressing the REAP members, the governor Sindh thanked all business community for reposing confidence in PTI government and assured that government would make all possible efforts to meet the expectations of the business community. He said that now the Governor House is a public place and the doors of Governor House are open for all.
On the request of REAP, he also announced to organise Biryani Festival every year in Governor House for promotion of Pakistani rice. "All the stakeholders as well as diplomats of all countries will be invited in the Biryani Festival to promote Pakistani rice", he added.
In the end, Safder Hussain Mehkri and Abdul Rahim Janoo presented REAP's crest to Governor Sindh. Safder Hussain Mehkri Chairman REAP during his welcome address thanked the Governor Sindh for meeting with rice exporters. He apprised him about various aspects of rice exports trade and updated him about recent development after REAP Rice conference held in Larkana.
Mehkari said that with adoption of best international practices Pakistan can easily enhance the rice production, which ultimately helpful to increase the rice exports to fetch much more foreign exchange. However, he said that these tasks cannot be done successfully without the support of provincial and federal governments. He requested the governor Sindh to extend his help to achieve the targets.
Rafique Suleman former chairman REAP talked about the rice trade/export issues and urged the government for introduction of new seeds to get higher crop yield. "Pakistan's rice exports cannot be increased without getting a higher and quality rice crop", he added.
Suleman said that REAP has recently organized a "REAP Rice Conference" in Larkana to identified the issues related to rice trade. After the conference, recommendations have been prepared for promotion of rice exports, he added.
Abdul Rahim Janoo ex-Chairman REAP appreciated the PTI government for improving law and order situation in Karachi which become helpful to increase the trade related activities in Karachi city.
He said that business community of Karachi understands that current government is facing difficulties, however, with the pace of implementation of government's plan economic situation is moving in right directions.
He requested governor Sindh to give time for meeting with rice exporters once in two months to share the proposals for the betterment of trade and industry.
In addition, he also requested to organize a Rice Biryani Festival at Governor House for the promotion and marketing of Pakistani rice. He informed that REAP has already organized Biryani Festival in many countries as it is very helpful to increase the rice export trade manifolds. On occasion Safder Hussain Mehkri, Rafique Suleman and Abdul Rahim Janoo presented REAP's crest to Governor Sindh.
Qatar decides to
recruit 100,000 Pakistanis
KARACHI:
Consul General of Qatar in Karachi Mishal M. Al Ansari said on Thursday, his
country will recruit 100,000 Pakistan citizens by issuing work visa in all
sectors, Radio
Pakistan reported.
Speaking to media during his visit to Matiari
district in Sindh, he told that Qatar has already opened its visa centers in
Karachi and Islamabad to facilitate Pakistani workers and professionals.
“We are working to boost bilateral relations
between the two countries and looking forward to take advantage of Pakistan’s
offers,” he continued.
Last year in December, Qatari ambassador
Mr. Saqr bin Mubarak Al-Mansouri announced that Qatar will give jobs to 0.1
million Pakistanis. Meanwhile, he committed to offer support for the
education sector in Pakistan. “Qatar will provide education to one million
Pakistani children who are out of schools,” he added.
Recently, the government of Qatar has also
lifted a ban on import of Pakistani rice which will add huge revenue to the
national income.
Over the years, rice has been Pakistan’s major
export product to Qatar. The lifting of the ban is expected to provide an
additional US $40-50 million of rice exports to the oil-rich company if the
quality is maintained.
During the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran
Khan to Qatar, the Qatari government agreed to include Pakistan origin rice in
the tender documents of the Central Tendering Committee which falls directly
under the purview of Qatar’s Ministry of Economy and Commerce.
Sindh Governor House to
host biryani festival
Published: February 1, 2019
This was announced by Governor Imran Ismail
at a lunch gathering organised by the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan
(REAP) on Thursday. He said that the government will help increase rice exports
to $4 billion.
Currently, rice exports are estimated at
$2b, said the governor, adding that the REAP’s members would have to work
toward the target.
The governor explained that the incumbent
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government was giving special weightage to every
export commodity in order to increase the foreign exchange coming into the
country. “People are right about us being inexperienced in corruption,” he
said. “But we want to bring Pakistan out of debt,” he added.
The governor said that rice exporters were
one of the largest breadwinners for the country. “Our government gives special
importance to your needs,” he told the REAP’s members.
Earlier, former chairperson of REAP, Abdur
Raheem Janoo, had addressed the gathering in which he had lamented that rice
exports to China had decreased to the current 7,000 tonnes from 30,000 tonnes
at one point.
Janoo said that the REAP wanted to organise a
Biryani Festival at the Governor’s House. “Rice exports had increased when REAP
organised Biryani Festivals in 14 countries,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st,
2019.
Pakistan Market Price Bulletin, January 2019
REPORT
31 Jan 2019
Highlights - In December 2018, the average retail price of wheat increased by 0.4% while it decreased by 0.05% for wheat flour, from November 2018; the prices of rice Irri-6 decreased by 0.1% and rice Basmati decreased by 0.5 in December 2018 when compared to the previous month;
- Headline inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased in December 2018 by 0.41% over November 2018 and increased by 6.17% over December 2017;
- The prices of staple cereals and most of non-cereal food commodities in December 2018 experienced slight fluctuations when compared to the previous month’s prices;
- In December 2018, the average ToT slightly increased by 0.9% from previous month;
- In December 2018, the total global wheat production for 2018/19 is projected at 733.41 million MT, indicating a decrease of 0.10 million MT compared to the projection made last month.
Brown manuring an effective weeds
management technique
Sami-
ur-Rehman January
30, 2019 Brown manuring an effective weeds management
technique2019-01-30T14:06:56+00:00
Sami- ur-Rehman
Student of M.Sc. (Hons.) Agronomy at University of
Agriculture Faisalabad.
Brown Manuring Weeds: Pakistan is an agriculture country and its economy depends
upon agriculture and its products and by-products. Major crops of Pakistan are
wheat (Staple food of country), rice, maize, cotton and sugarcane.
Pakistan is facing a loss of >6.5 billion PKR in major
crops due to occurrence of plants diseases and pests. Among pests, weeds
ensures more losses than insects and disease.Effective control of weeds are
foremost challenge for the farmers growing rice especially direct seeded rice.
This is due to shifting of weeds flora to competitiveness of sedges and grasses
- Why it is necessary to control the weeds?
Weeds are major yield declining biotic constraint. They compete
with crops for nutrients, space, moisture and light. This weed-crop competition
reduces the yield up to 50-60% in DSR. There could be more lossees in direct
seeded rice because the weed and rice are at same stages.
Weeds also reduce the growth of crop plants by the release of
allelochemicals through their roots. The competition between various weed
density and rice causes 12-90% decline in rice yield. Weeds also cause more
than 50% yield reduction in maize.
- Method used to control the weeds:
Different methods of weeds management are used like manual
weeding, mulching and use of herbicides. Manual weeding is costly and is
difficult to use due to unavailability of labor. When time of weeding meet with
other farm operations, the most economic, effective and applied way of
controlling weed is chemical control. Now a days more than 40 types of
herbicides are used in Pakistan and import of agrochemicals are gradually
increasing every year.
Due to continuous and unbalanced use of weedicides, resistance has
been developed in weeds. This is leading to ineffectiveness of herbicides. Moreover,
constant use of herbicides leads to persistence of chemicals in their produce
and food chain which cause cancer in human when they use. Due to over
dependence on herbicides, there are severe ecological problems. It disturb the
micro-climate of soil hence effecting the microbial activities.
Brown manuring:
Cultural method of controlling
weeds helps us to decrease the competition between weeds and crops. In this
perspective, brown manuring is an effective strategy for weed management.
Brown manuring is a “no-till” form of green manuring involving the use of herbicide to kill the crops before the
flowering.
It suppresses the weeds especially
broad-leaved weeds without destroying the soil physio-chemical properties and
microbial activities. It is also helpful in increasing the soil nitrogen and
moisture conservation. The dried biomass on the soil surface reduces the
interception of sun rays thus creasing he evaporation.
Brown manuring in different
crops
Brown manuring can be practiced by raising crops like sesbania
(jantar) as mixed or inter crop in main crop and killing of brown manure crop
by applying herbicides. It can be used to control weeds in different crops
including rice, maize, wheat and sugarcane. This technology reduces the 50%
weeds density without effecting the rice yield.
- Brown manuring in Direct Seeded Rice (DSR):
Rice is an important crop of
subtropical and tropical areas of world. It is staple food of 70% population of
world. Rice is 2nd staple food of Pakistan and is also 2nd major export of Pakistan
after cotton. Basmati rice of Pakistan is of great importance in international
market. In Pakistan, it is grown more than 2.89 million hectares of land and
its production is 7.44 million tonnes.
DSR ,Direct Seeded Rice, is a best substitute of
anaerobic rice. It saves 29 per cent of cost, require less labor (29%) and
30-50% irrigation water saving than transplanted crop. Brown manuring in rice involves growing of sesbania or other brown manure
crops in inter-row space of 30 cm after two rice rows of 15 cm. Sesbania is
semi-aquatic plant belonging to leguminous family. It has symbiotic association
with Gram –ve rhizobia which produce nodules on roots.
In brown manuring, 20-25 kg/ acre seed of sesbania is applied @
3-4 DAS (days after sowing) of rice. The growth of sesbania is faster than
weeds. It dominates on weeds thus reducing the interception of sunlight, hence
their growth reduces. After 25 to 30 DAS, sesbania is killed by spraying
post-emergence herbicide i.e. 2, 4-D ethyl-ester @ 1 kg/ha.
This leads to the loss of chlorophyll and the color of crop
becomes brown hence called brown manuring. These brown leaves fall on soil and
its decomposition rate is very fast. Thus providing organic carbon, nitrogen
and dry matter accumulation. This practice reduces the weed population up to
50%. Brown manuring act as surface mulch. Therefore, increases the soil
moisture conservation along with the supply of 10-15 kg of nitrogen per hectare
upon decomposition.
- Brown manuring in irrigated maize:
After rice, the maize is important crop and also called the queen
of cereals. In Pakistan, Maize is grown on more than 1.23 million hectares of
land and its production was 5.7 million tonnes. Maize contribute 2.4% in
agriculture value added and 0.5% to GDP. Production of maize reduced during the
last year. One of main yield limiting factor was invasion of weeds which
reduced the maize yield up to 40%.
Brown manuring is effective weeds management technique
practiced in maize field. Maize is grown at their recommended plant to plant
(25 cm) and row to row distance (60 cm). Sesbania was sown as inter-crop in
between the rows of maize crop. The sowing time of sesbania and maize was same.
After three days of sowing,pre-emergence weedicide was applied
Maize and sesbania were together in field for 35 days. Afterward, sesbania was
killed with foliar application of 2, 4-D @ 0.5 kg ha-1. The plant biomass remained on the soil acting as
mulch thus preventing loss of water due to evaporation. Shade effect and
fast growing characteristics of sesbania reduced the weeds pressure.
Brown manure crops
Sesbania, sun hemp and cow-pea are used for brown manuring. It is
because of the reason that these crops not only providing nitrogen but also add
organic matter in the soil.
Following are three main advantages of using legumes crops for
brown manuring.
- It competes with weeds thus reducing their
growth by taking more available resources and high growth rate.
- Reducing the nitrogen requirement of plant
as legumes acquire nitrogen from air through bacteria present in their
nodules.
- Preventing the loss of water due to
evaporation, hence help in water conservation.
Crops other than legumes can also be grow. But farmer not
preferred as they only improve soil organic matter contents. Brown manuring is
the best practice for effective weed control. It suppresses the weeds pressure
up to 50% without damaging the soil physio-chemical properties.
It involves the reverting of crop materials to soil. Thus
enhancing the soil health and improving the physical properties of soil. Due to
more soil moisture conservation and effective control of weeds, benefit-cost
ratio increases.
SBP’s perspective on US-China
tensions: New challenges as well as new opportunities
The ongoing US-China trade tensions have created some
opportunities as well as challenges for Pakistan. According to State Bank of
Pakistan's (SBP) first quarterly report, "The State of Pakistan's
Economy" released on Tuesday, on a positive note, key food items, such as
rice, seafood and soybean both seeds and oil, have come in the crosshairs,
which offer an opportunity for Pakistan to reduce its trade deficit. On the
other hand, the volatility in iron and steel prices in recent months after the
imposition of tariffs by the US presents a challenge from Pakistan's
perspective.
The report said the ongoing tensions between the US and China have contributed to big swings in key commodity prices and added uncertainty to the global trade dynamics. So far in FY19, the IMF, World Bank and WTO have all lowered their projections of global economic growth and trade volumes.
Together, the US and China accounted for 21.8 percent of global exports and 23.5 percent of worldwide imports in 2017. Bilateral trade between these two amounted to $ 584.8 billion in 2017, accounting for 3.3 percent of global trade in the year.
According to Report, since July 2018, additional tariffs have been imposed on $ 360.0 billion of goods traded between the US and China, which account for 61.6 percent of the bilateral trade between the two countries last year.
China has been hit harder as US$ 260.0 billion of its exports are now attracting higher tariffs in the US; against this, US$ 100.0 billion of American exports to China are affected by the retaliatory tariffs. These tariffs are in addition to across-the-board tariffs on iron and steel products that the US had put in place in May 2018.
Discussing the impact of this situation on Pakistan's exports, the report said that among the thousands of items on which additional tariffs have been imposed by the two countries, three product categories stand out from Pakistan's exports standpoint. This includes seafood, rice and cotton (raw cotton, fabric and yarn). Specifically, American seafood exports to China are now much costlier as a result of tariffs, as are Chinese exports of rice and cotton items to the US.
China is a major global importer of seafood items, and imported 16.3 percent of its overall seafood imports from the US in 2017 (worth US$ 1.3 billion). It mainly imports lobsters, oysters, flatfish and sardines, all of which are now attracting additional tariffs, and all of which are also exported by Pakistan.
According to report, Pakistan's global exports of these specific products amounted to US$ 338.9 million in FY18 and constituted 75.1 percent of the country's overall seafood exports in FY18. As the US' seafood exports to China have now become much costlier, Pakistani exporters might increase their presence in the Chinese market.
On imports side, Pakistan can benefit from the diverging trend in soybean prices, its iron and steel imports may come under strain from trade tensions.
China is the world's largest importer of soybean, and the US is the second-largest producer and exporter of this commodity, after Brazil. Importantly, soybean is the US' single largest export item to China, and the country accounted for 56.9 percent of the US' soybean exports in 2017 and 9.4 percent of the US' total exports to China.
Given these dynamics, soybean was among the first items targeted by China when the first round of retaliatory tariffs went into effect in July 2018. China then shifted its demand for soybeans to Brazil and Argentina. As a result, soybean export prices of Brazil and Argentina have spiked, whereas those of the US have plunged since the tariffs went into effect.
The current situation presents an opportunity for edible oil mills in Pakistan to reduce their imports of soybean oil and seed in value terms by diverting their purchases to the US, where the prices are falling.
Encouragingly, there are indications that this switch is already taking place. Brazil's share in Pakistan's overall soybean imports fell to 49.5 percent in FY18 from 58.4 percent in FY17, whereas the US' share rose to 45.4 percent from 32.1 percent. Further enhancing soybean imports from the US will yield more FX savings for Pakistan, assuming that the US prices stay depressed in the wake of a record-high projected inventory level for 2018-19.4
This dynamic also helped Pakistan's soybean oil imports in Q1-FY19, when the unit value imports were 20.3 percent lower as compared to Q1-FY18.
In addition, iron and steel prices have been volatile ever since they came under the crosshairs of US tariffs. These tariffs were applied in two phases. In the first phase in May 2018, the US imposed additional tariffs across the board on roughly 44.0 percent of the iron and steel products that it imported.
These tariffs particularly affected the US' neighbors and allies (specifically Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Japan), instead of China.
All of this uncertainty has created challenges for Pakistan, as the unit value of the country's iron and steel imports (both scrap and finished products) has been rising, though with significant fluctuations. Even though Pakistan imports most of its steel from China, the unit value of its steel imports have not dipped.
Nonetheless, a slowdown in broader economic activity as the country tries to stabilize its economy, has already stalled the demand for imported iron and steel products. In Q1-FY19, quantum imports of these items have already dropped 10.1 percent on YoY basis, the report concluded.
The report said the ongoing tensions between the US and China have contributed to big swings in key commodity prices and added uncertainty to the global trade dynamics. So far in FY19, the IMF, World Bank and WTO have all lowered their projections of global economic growth and trade volumes.
Together, the US and China accounted for 21.8 percent of global exports and 23.5 percent of worldwide imports in 2017. Bilateral trade between these two amounted to $ 584.8 billion in 2017, accounting for 3.3 percent of global trade in the year.
According to Report, since July 2018, additional tariffs have been imposed on $ 360.0 billion of goods traded between the US and China, which account for 61.6 percent of the bilateral trade between the two countries last year.
China has been hit harder as US$ 260.0 billion of its exports are now attracting higher tariffs in the US; against this, US$ 100.0 billion of American exports to China are affected by the retaliatory tariffs. These tariffs are in addition to across-the-board tariffs on iron and steel products that the US had put in place in May 2018.
Discussing the impact of this situation on Pakistan's exports, the report said that among the thousands of items on which additional tariffs have been imposed by the two countries, three product categories stand out from Pakistan's exports standpoint. This includes seafood, rice and cotton (raw cotton, fabric and yarn). Specifically, American seafood exports to China are now much costlier as a result of tariffs, as are Chinese exports of rice and cotton items to the US.
China is a major global importer of seafood items, and imported 16.3 percent of its overall seafood imports from the US in 2017 (worth US$ 1.3 billion). It mainly imports lobsters, oysters, flatfish and sardines, all of which are now attracting additional tariffs, and all of which are also exported by Pakistan.
According to report, Pakistan's global exports of these specific products amounted to US$ 338.9 million in FY18 and constituted 75.1 percent of the country's overall seafood exports in FY18. As the US' seafood exports to China have now become much costlier, Pakistani exporters might increase their presence in the Chinese market.
On imports side, Pakistan can benefit from the diverging trend in soybean prices, its iron and steel imports may come under strain from trade tensions.
China is the world's largest importer of soybean, and the US is the second-largest producer and exporter of this commodity, after Brazil. Importantly, soybean is the US' single largest export item to China, and the country accounted for 56.9 percent of the US' soybean exports in 2017 and 9.4 percent of the US' total exports to China.
Given these dynamics, soybean was among the first items targeted by China when the first round of retaliatory tariffs went into effect in July 2018. China then shifted its demand for soybeans to Brazil and Argentina. As a result, soybean export prices of Brazil and Argentina have spiked, whereas those of the US have plunged since the tariffs went into effect.
The current situation presents an opportunity for edible oil mills in Pakistan to reduce their imports of soybean oil and seed in value terms by diverting their purchases to the US, where the prices are falling.
Encouragingly, there are indications that this switch is already taking place. Brazil's share in Pakistan's overall soybean imports fell to 49.5 percent in FY18 from 58.4 percent in FY17, whereas the US' share rose to 45.4 percent from 32.1 percent. Further enhancing soybean imports from the US will yield more FX savings for Pakistan, assuming that the US prices stay depressed in the wake of a record-high projected inventory level for 2018-19.4
This dynamic also helped Pakistan's soybean oil imports in Q1-FY19, when the unit value imports were 20.3 percent lower as compared to Q1-FY18.
In addition, iron and steel prices have been volatile ever since they came under the crosshairs of US tariffs. These tariffs were applied in two phases. In the first phase in May 2018, the US imposed additional tariffs across the board on roughly 44.0 percent of the iron and steel products that it imported.
These tariffs particularly affected the US' neighbors and allies (specifically Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Japan), instead of China.
All of this uncertainty has created challenges for Pakistan, as the unit value of the country's iron and steel imports (both scrap and finished products) has been rising, though with significant fluctuations. Even though Pakistan imports most of its steel from China, the unit value of its steel imports have not dipped.
Nonetheless, a slowdown in broader economic activity as the country tries to stabilize its economy, has already stalled the demand for imported iron and steel products. In Q1-FY19, quantum imports of these items have already dropped 10.1 percent on YoY basis, the report concluded.
Ag Expo is Feb. 15
The Lawrence and Randolph County
Agri Appreciation Expo will be held Friday, Feb. 15, at Black River Technical
College in Pocahontas.
The event is a joint effort of the
Lawrence and Randolph County Chambers of Commerce and University of Arkansas
Division of Agriculture Extension Service the two counties.
Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.,
followed by the keynote speaker, Rich Hillman, vice president for Arkansas Farm
Bureau at 8.
Break out sessions will be held in
the subject areas of row crops, livestock and horticulture from 9-10 a.m., and
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Vendors will be on site to visit
with attendees, with breaks available specifically for this purpose from 8:30-9
a.m. and 10-10:30 a.m.
Prostate screening will be offered
from 8 a.m. to noon. Lunch will be served at noon, and door prizes will be
awarded.
Speakers in each subject area will
be as follows:
Row crops - 9 a.m. Dr. Travis
Faske, Extension plant pathologist, row crop disease control; 9:30 a.m., Dr.
Jason Kelley, Extension wheat and feed grain specialist, corn and wheat
production; 10:30 a.m., Dr. Jeremy Ross, Extension soybean agronomist, soybean
production practices; 11:15 a.m., Dr. Jarrod Hardke, Extension rice agronomist,
rice production practices; noon, Dr. Chris Henry, assistant professor,
Extension biological ag engineering and Greg Simpson, program associate rice
research and Extension, row crop irrigation.
Livestock - 9 a.m., Dr. Charles
Looney, professor cattle improvement, cattle genetics; 10:30 a.m., Dr. Shane
Gadberry, professor rudiment nutrition, go green; 11:15 a.m., Dr. John
Jennings, professor forages, forage based preconditioning programs.
Horticulture - 9 a.m., Dr. Amanda
McWhirt, Extension specialist, horticulture, small fruit production; 9:30 a.m.,
Dr. Jackie Lee, Extension horticulture IPM, pest control in small fruits; 10:30
a.m., Dr. Amanda McWhirt, vegetable production; 11 a.m., Dr. Jackie Lee,
vegetables. 11:30 a.m., discussion and questions.
For more information on the event,
contact the Lawrence County Chamber at 870-886-3232.
Indian court’s decision to uphold GM cotton patent could boost industry
research
30 JANUARY 2019
But the ruling is not the end of the legal challenge.
Gayathri Vaidyanathan
Almost 90% of the cotton grown in India in 2017–18
contained Monsanto’s genetic modifications.Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg via Getty
Some scientists in India have
welcomed a supreme court ruling that reinstates a patent on genetically
modified cotton that had been quashed by a lower court. They say the decision
to uphold the intellectual-property rights of seed maker Monsanto could help
reverse a decline in biotechnology research in agriculture in the country.
“Publicly funded science in this
broad area can now be assured of protection of its intellectual property,” says
government science adviser Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, who is based in New
Delhi. “Indian agriculture and other biotech scientists should feel encouraged
to innovate further.”
In a long-running battle over
intellectual protection for genetically modified (GM) crops in India, the 8
January decision from the country’s highest court is seen as a win for
research-focused seed companies such as Monsanto (bought last year by Bayer of
Germany) that want protection for their transgenic technology.
But some lawyers say celebrations
are premature. Although the supreme court has upheld the patent for now, it has
instructed a lower court to re-examine whether Monsanto’s specific patent on GM
cotton is valid. Some farmers, scientists and seed-trading companies think the
country’s patent laws do not extend to transgenic seeds, crops or plants.
The legislation is open to
interpretation — it says that genetic sequences generated in the lab can be
patented, but seeds and plants can’t. Scientists say the court’s decision on the Monsanto cotton
patent will set a precedent for the protection of other GM crops, which will
have a profound effect on research and development in the field.
Cotton is the only GM crop currently
approved for cultivation by the Indian government. If the patent is upheld,
biotechnology companies will probably increase their investment in the GM
research, but a denial could have the opposite effect.
Long battle
Monsanto’s patent covers the
process by which the gene Cry2Ab from the bacterium Bacillus
thuringiensis is inserted in the cotton genome. This gene causes the
plant to make proteins that protect the crop from devastating bollworm
caterpillars. Almost all Indian cotton-seed companies pay a trait fee to
Monsanto to incorporate the gene into their varieties, which accounted for 89%
of cotton planted in India in 2017–18.
After a dispute over the trait
fee in 2015, Nuziveedu Seeds in Hyderabad challenged the validity of Monsanto’s
patent in court in 2017. In April last year, the Delhi high court ruled that
the patent was invalid, finding that items such as seeds cannot be patented
under India’s 1970 Patents Act.
The court made its decision
without a trial, after both companies waived their rights to one. But the
supreme court says this was not allowed, ruling the high court’s decision
invalid and reinstating Monsanto’s patent.
Even though the patent will be
reviewed again, industry scientists say that the supreme-court decision will
restore companies’ confidence in the patent system. This case is about more
than just a dispute between Monsanto and Nuziveedu, says Suresh Atluri, founder
of Tierra Seed Science in Hyderabad. The ruling sets a precedent that a patent
cannot be quashed easily in court, says Atluri. Seed companies that invest in
research and development need this protection to deter competitors from copying
their discoveries, he says.
“This development will have a
positive effect on creating more investments for agriculture research,” says
Usha Barwale Zehr, chief technology officer at Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds in
Jalna, which has developed a GM aubergine that has not yet been approved for
cultivation.
The ongoing intellectual-property
case has partly curbed funding for research into GM crops over the past three
years, says Zehr. “But to bring it back to the same level it was three years
ago will take time, and to a certain level, we all have lost the opportunity of
creating new products with new technologies over the past three years.”
Existing knowledge
Some researchers think that the
court should not uphold Monsanto’s patent. Polumetla Ananda Kumar, a plant
biologist at the Indian Institute of Rice Research in Hyderabad, says many
agricultural scientists were aware that crystal proteins in B.
thuringiensis could be inserted into the cotton genome to protect
crops from pests when the company filed its patent claim in 1998.
“Theoretically speaking, one cannot file a patent on an invention about which
prior knowledge is available,” Kumar says. “So, on that basis itself, this
patent application doesn’t stand any validity in India.”
Bayer currently restricts use of
the transgene in India to certain hybrid varieties of cotton. However, if the
patent is denied, the company will no longer exercise control over the
varieties that get released to farmers, says Keshav Kranthi, head of technical
information at the International Cotton Advisory Council in Washington DC.
Scientists in public institutions would be free to incorporate the transgene
into non-hybrid varieties, says Kranthi. This could improve yields for some
farmers, because hybrids are not well suited to the non-irrigated regions that
make up 62% of cotton acreage in India, he says.
A Bayer spokesperson says the
company is confident that it can defend any challenge to the patent. No date
has been set for the retrial.
But if the high court finds in
Bayer's favour, Nuziveedu Seeds will appeal the decision, says Murali Krishna
Narne, a lawyer for the company.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-00177-y
Eating 5-Day-Old Pasta or Rice Can Actually Kill You. Here's How
JACINTA
BOWLER
31
JAN 2019
If meat is left out on the
counter for too long, we all know we need to throw it out. But what about rice or pasta?
Although that carby goodness
might seem harmless after sitting on the bench for a bit, you'll probably think
twice about it once you hear about the bacterium Bacillus
cereus.
It's not a particularly rare
germ. B.
cereus will happily live wherever it can – soil, food, or in
the gut.
"The known natural habitats
of B.
cereus are wide-ranging, including soil, animals, insects,
dust and plants," Anukriti Mathur, a biotechnology researcher at the
Australian National University, explained to Science Alert.
"The bacteria will reproduce
by utilising the nutrients from the food products [..] including rice, dairy
products, spices, dried foods and vegetables."
Some strains of this bacterium
are helpful for probiotics, but others can give you a nasty bout of food
poisoning if given the ability to grow and proliferate - such as when you store
food in the wrong conditions.
The worst scenarios can even
bring death.
In 2005, one such case was
recorded in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology - five
children in one family got sick from eating four-day-old pasta salad.
According to the case study,
pasta salad was prepared on a Friday, taken to a picnic on Saturday. After
coming back from the picnic it was stored in the fridge until Monday evening, when
the kids were fed it for dinner.
That night the children began
vomiting, and were taken to hospital. Tragically, the youngest child died;
another suffered from liver failure but survived, and the others had less
severe food poisoning and could be treated with fluids.
"B. cereus is a well-known
cause of food-borne illness, but infection with this organism is not commonly
reported because of its usually mild symptoms," the
researchers explain.
"A fatal case due to liver
failure after the consumption of pasta salad is described and demonstrates the
possible severity."
While these deaths are mercifully
rare, they have been recorded in the literature more than once. This week the
news highlighted another old case published
in 2011, about a 20-year-old student in Belgium who would prep his meals for
the week – on that fateful occasion, it was spaghetti with tomato sauce.
He'd cooked the pasta five days
earlier and would heat it up together with sauce. That day, he accidentally
left his food on the kitchen bench for an unspecified amount of
time. After diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and profuse vomiting, he died later
that night.
A reply
to this case study highlighted two
more cases of young people who suffered liver failure and died from B.
cereus - an 11-year-old who died after eating Chinese noodles,
and a 17-year-old who died after eating four-day-old spaghetti.
Now, before you swear off pasta
for life, we need to stress that most people who get sick with B.
cereus do not end up having liver failure. Usually, it's a
pretty mild case of food poisoning.
"It is important to note that B.
cereus can cause severe and deadly conditions, such as sepsis,
in immunocompromised people, infants, the elderly, and pregnant women,"
says Mathur.
"[Most] affected individuals
get better over time without any treatment. These individuals do not go see a
doctor to receive a diagnosis," and therefore they are under reported.
But how can it cause such severe
food poisoning, and is there anything we can do?
B. cereus has a bad habit of secreting dangerous toxins in food.
Some of these toxins are really hard to kill with the heat your regular
microwave would deliver.
For example, one of
the toxins which causes vomiting in
humans (called an emetic toxin), can withstand 121°C (250°F) for 90 minutes.
And that's not the only toxin you'll find in its arsenal.
"Our immune system
recognises a toxin [haemolysin BL] secreted by B. cereus, which leads to an
inflammatory response," Mathur explains, talking about a research study on
the bacterium she co-authored last year.
"Our research study shows
that the toxin targets and punches holes in the cell, causing cell death and
inflammation."
Her team also identified two ways
we can help the body neutralise the effect of haemolysin BL, therefore stopping
the death march of B. cereus. The methods involve
either blocking the activity of the toxin, or reducing the inflammation caused
by it.
Although their approach is still
in the early stages of research, the team hopes that these techniques could
even be used in other toxin-producing bacteria, such as E. coli.
But most importantly – keep your
food in the fridge and practice good kitchen hygiene.
"It is important for people
to wash their hands properly and prepare food according to safety
guidelines," says Mathur.
"Further, heating left-over
food properly will destroy most bacteria and their toxins."
The research has been published
in Nature Microbiology.
FEATURE-Indian women weave their way out of climate change woes
Moushumi Basu, Thomson Reuters Foundation
SADIYA, India, Jan 31 (Thomson
Reuters Foundation) - In recent months, 30-year-old Niru Sonowal and a dozen
other women from her northeast Indian village have trekked on foot for miles every
day in search of work.Once their chores are done, they set off at the crack of
dawn from their homes in Tinsukia district in Assam state.They return late in
the evening after toiling in the mustard, ginger and garlic fields of the
neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh, seeking to earn at least 200 rupees
($2.80) each day, said Sonowal.Their daily slog contrasts with the lives of
other local women benefiting from a push to revive weaving as a less taxing way
to earn an income amid climate pressures on agriculture.Less than a decade ago,
Sonowal and her peers were happy homemakers, while their husbands tended to the
fields outside, growing enough food for their families.“We joined them too
during sowing and harvest, raising plentiful crops that sustained us throughout
the year,” said Mamoni Sonowal, another woman in the group.Most are from
smallholder farming families with less than one acre of land. But as the
climate warms and rainfall becomes more unpredictable, they are struggling to
survive.
EMPTY HUSKS
A government study published in
December found Assam to be the most vulnerable to climate change out of 12
Indian Himalayan states, with low incomes constraining people’s ability to
cope.
“The rains are erratic,
insufficient or in excess - our agriculture is dwindling (and) getting more and
more uncertain,” said Dulumoni Senapati, another village woman.
Many are experiencing unusual
phenomenon in their fields, she noted.“Last year when we went to harvest, I was
asking everybody, ‘Doesn’t the paddy feel lighter this time?’,” she recalled.
No one took her seriously until they started de-husking the crop.“There was no
rice inside. It was only husk. All our hard work gave us nothing,” she said.According
to the International Rice Research Institute, higher temperatures can decrease
rice yields as they can make the flowers sterile, meaning no grain is produced.
Several other villages in the
area have experienced a similar problem, Senapati added.With the mainstay of
the local economy hit by the impacts of climate change, many men have left to
work as labourers or security guards in distant Indian states, staying away for
months.
But the work is irregular and
low-paid, and they do not send back regular money.That has left women bearing
the brunt of managing their homes and covering daily expenses for their
extended families.
FRUIT OF THE LOOM
The women of No. 1 Sonowal
Village, which has about 80 households, say walking to the neighbouring state’s
border - about 8 km (5 miles) away - is the easiest option to scout for work.
The nearest town of Sadiya, the
headquarters of their district, is about 40 km away, and they would need to
hire transport to get there.Groups of women from 25 to 30 remote villages in
Tinsukia earn a living in the same way as farm workers.
But others in the area are
getting help to cope with climate adversities more comfortably.
The North-East Affected Area
Development Society (NEADS), an Assam-based nonprofit, has teamed up with the
state sericulture department to revive the power of handlooms as a form of
climate change adaptation.
“Weaving emerged as a natural
livelihood choice for these women as they are traditionally skilled in this
occupation. Almost each home has a loom,” said Tirtha Prasad Saikia, joint
director of NEADS.
Amid the multiple demands on
women to keep their families afloat, weaving had slowly been relegated to the
background.
As an economic activity, it
requires money for yarn and equipment, and time to produce the fabric - which
local women had struggled to find alone.NEADS is now working with about 2,500
women in 28 villages in Sadiya sub-division, organised into 20 weaving
collectives.The programme was launched in 2012 with a handful of women, after
the area was hit by severe floods, destroying crops.NEADS subsidised their
purchases of yarn, upgraded their loom skills through expert training, and
offered advice from designers on fashionable colours and patterns, said Saikia.“Weaving
runs in our blood - we just need a little mentoring,” said Aruna Sonwal, a project
participant.
The three looms in her home are
being used by her daughter, niece and sisters in the village.
Kalyani, her niece, worked with
flamboyant yarn to make traditional Assam womenswear embellished with ethnic
motifs. Each outfit takes 10 to 15 days to get ready and should fetch
2,000-2,500 rupees at the nearest market, she said.
WORM POWER
The women weavers have now set up
at least five collective yarn banks, by contributing in kind or cash, creating
stocks of cotton to help poorer women in their villages.
Pranjal Jyoti Phukan, sericulture
inspector for the Assam government in Sadiya, said about 500 women had each
received a packet of 12,000-15,000 disease-free silkworm moth eggs.
They gather leaves from nearby
forests or sericulture department plantations to feed the silkworms, and rear
two varieties indoors at home, one of which can be bred year round.The process
from hatching eggs to cocooning, when the silk is spun, takes 30 to 45 days,
said Phukan.
The cocoon is converted into silk
yarn using reeling machines, with about 10 kilos of cocoon yielding 1 kg of
silk, which can fetch 1,000-3,500 rupees depending on the quality.
NEADS has provided five reeling
machines to the weaving collectives in the past three years.The pupae inside
the cocoons are rich in protein and can also be sold as food for 400 rupees per
kilo.
Saikia said the weaving revival
had reduced the number of women in participating villages who trek in search of
daily wage labour by at least 35-40 percent in the past two years.
They each earn extra income of 3,500-5,000 rupees per month, he
said, adding that the aim was to extend the project to more villages in the
area. ($1 = 71.0950 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Moushumi Basu; editing by
Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm
of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's and
LGBT+ rights, human trafficking and property rights. Visit news.trust.org/climate)
This Week in Genome Research
Jan 30, 2019
An international team led by
investigators at the University Medical Center Rotterdam assesses the collection of circular
RNAs found in hundreds of breast
cancers. Using RNA sequencing with random-primed complementary DNA and circRNA
mapping, the researchers identified almost 96,000 circRNAs in 348 primary
breast cancers, including 20,441 that turned up in two or more samples and a
handful of circRNAs found in an independent sample set. Through a series of
follow-up analyses, the authors found that the circRNAs "are abundantly
present, show characteristics of being specifically regulated, are associated
with clinical and biology properties" in the breast cancers.
Researchers from the University
of Kentucky and the Carnegie Institution for Science present results from an
effort to assemble a chromosome-scale genome
assembly for the axolotl, Ambystoma
mexicanum, a model for development, limb regeneration, and
evolutionary analyses. The team did low-coverage genome sequencing on four
dozen offspring produced by crossing a homozygous A.
mexicanum individual with an A. mexicanum-A.tigrinum hybrid,
producing an assembly that spanned 27.3 billion bases and contained some12.6 million
SNPs on 14 chromosomes. The chromosomes were further anchored with bacterial
artificial chromosome clone fluorescence in situ hybridization data,
the authors report, arguing that the assembly "will greatly facilitate
studies of the axolotl in biological research." The Scan has more on
this, here.
Finally, a team from the US and China compare the genomes of three prominent
cereal plants — sorghum, rice, and maize
— searching for forms of variation that might serve as fodder for the plants'
adaptations. The researchers re-sequenced the genomes of 26 sorghum accessions
and sequenced transcripts in 40 accessions, considering variants in the
accessions alongside those in domesticated and wild sorghum, rice, and maize
accessions sequenced for previous studies. With these data, the authors found
that "diverse evolutionary mechanisms provide the raw genetic material for
adaptation in taxa with divergent histories of genome evolution."
Arkansas Rice Acreage Projected to Increase in 2019
Rice acreage is projected to
increase in 2019, both in Arkansas and across the U.S., officials say. It’s no
secret agriculture makes up a big chunk of Arkansas’ economy, and rice is among
the top crops grown in The Natural State.
The projections are based on estimates from November 2018, the
last set of numbers put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture before
the government shutdown, according to Brandy Carroll with the Arkansas Farm
Bureau.
“Current projections show rice
acres increasing a bit in 2019 to 1.5 million acres in Arkansas, and 2.960
million across the U.S.,” Carroll said.
She added, “Total use [is] not
keeping pace with the increased production, resulting in projected ending
stocks of 44.2 million hundredweight, up from 29.4 million to end the 2017-2018
marketing year.”
For those not familiar with the term, hundredweight is a mass
measurement of rice. It’s equal to 100 pounds of rough rice or 2.22 bushels,
according to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Research &
Extension.
Rice has been an established crop in Arkansas since around 1910,
according to the Arkansas Farm Bureau. The
bureau said it was almost an accident that rice became an Arkansas agricultural
staple. In August 1896, W. H. Fuller, who would go on to become known as the
“Father of Arkansas Rice,” was on a hunting trip in Louisiana. It was there he
first saw rice being grown.
The Arkansas Farm Bureau said
Fuller, his brother-in-law John Morris and John’s wife Emma would go on to found
the Arkansas rice industry.
Now rice is grown in 40 of
Arkansas’ 75 counties, and the Natural State is the largest producer of this
crop among the six major rice producing states, according to the Arkansas Rice
Council. The council said Arkansas actually accounts for more than 50 percent
of U.S. rice production.
The Arkansas Rice Council said
the Natural State is home to 2,300 rice farms, and 96 percent of them are
family-owned and operated.
Rice is a major agricultural
force in Arkansas, contributing more than $6 billion to the state’s economy
annually, the council said. That means jobs for more than 25,000 Arkansans.
And despite a projected increase
in state rice acreage, the Arkansas Rice Council said over the past two decades
rice farmers have decreased land use by 35 percent, energy use by 38 percent
and water use by 53 percent.
As for the USDA projections, the
numbers are subject to change based on a host of conditions.
“Seed availability, weather and
the price of rice and other potential crops like soybeans will all influence
producer decision making, so the numbers are subject to change,” Carroll said.
Looking forward, rice and other
crops will only become more important as the world population charges forward
to an estimated 9 billion by 2050. Right now, the Arkansas Rice Council said
the average farmer produces enough food for 154 people. In the next 50 years
farmers around the world will have to feed more people than they did over the
previous century, according to the Arkansas Farm Bureau.
Rice will likely continue to play
a large role in feeding the world, and that means the crop’s importance to
Arkansas will also grow.
Seismic shift coming to National
Onion Association with Mininger's retirement
JANUARY 30, 2019
A seismic shift is about to occur at the National Onion
Association as an era comes to a close. Come April, former onion grower Wayne
Mininger, who hast spent the better part of his professional career at the helm
of the National Onion Association, will move to Texas and headlong into
retirement.
Wayne Mininger
His replacement, Greg Yielding, has
officially assumed the executive vice president role at the NOA. Yielding spent
the past 14 years traveling the world marketing rice, the staple food of more
than half of the world’s population. Now, he’ll bring his global trade
expertise and strong relationship-building skills to onions, the third-most
consumed fresh vegetable in the United States.
Mininger will stick around through
March to help bring Yielding up to speed on all things onion.
Yielding hails from Jackson, MO,
where he served simultaneously as the director of emerging markets and special
projects for the U.S. Rice Producers Association, as the executive director of
the Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council, and as the executive
director for the Arkansas Rice Growers Association. In one capacity or another,
he’s been in rice for 14 years, and he feels it gives him a kinship with the
farming community.
“I like representing the
farmers and growers,” Yielding said. “I believe that everyone needs to be
represented, and representing farmers is important for the country.”
Greg YieldingYielding is used to wearing many hats. While serving as constable
in North Little Rock from 1994 to 2004, he also served on the North Little Rock
City Council, from 2000 to 2004. He served as the chairman of the Jackson
Historic District Commission throughout last year.
“I enjoy helping people and trying
to make things better,” Yielding said.
He relocated to Greeley, CO, the
NOA’s headquarters, at the end of December. He and Mininger are readying for an
upcoming trip (mid-February) to Washington DC, to meet new legislators and
policy makers on behalf of onions. That trip will be a united onion front with
Mininger, Yielding, NOA President Doug Stanley, Vice President Doug Bulgrin,
former president Kay Riley, and trustee Barry Vculek. Yielding is already
familiarizing himself with the onion industry’s interests in ag transportation,
and trade and labor issues. He’s also going to keep abreast of all the
continued regulations plaguing the industry. He said he wants to work toward
ensuring regulations are what the industry can live with and are actually
making a difference.
Mininger, meanwhile, is readying
for a big move to greener pastures. He and his wife, Ardith, plan to move to a
small area east of Austin in southern Texas. There, they’ll be an hour and a
half away from their grandkids and start a new adventure.
Mininger is ready to pass the
torch.
“I’m confident Greg will be a great
successor to take on the onion world,” Mininger said. “I know when I hang up my
hat, the NOA will be in good hands.”
Yielding's wife is named Caroline;
he has a 7-year-old son named Elisha and a 23-year-old son, Zachary, who is in
the U.S. Marines.
Nigerians love rice but don’t grow
enough so even 70% tariffs haven’t slowed imports
Rice is Nigeria’s most popular food
staple.A few generations ago, pre-independence in 1960, long grain rice was
something only elites had with any regularity, for many Nigerians it was
something for the weekend or special occasions. Most people’s staples were
dominated by root vegetables like yam and cassava or grains like corn or
millet.
Today, everyone eats rice in Nigeria. It cuts across the ethnic
and religious divides in Africa’s most populous country and is consumed across
households, from low to high-income. Over time, rice has evolved from being
regarded as a luxury dish to being an everyday meal.
In fact, rice is the face of Nigerian cuisine with fun pan-African
debates over who makes the best Jollof rice dish.
With no obvious substitute grain as widely available or consumed combined with
Nigeria’s continued
population growth, the demand for rice is unlikely to slow down.
But this popularity, universality and growing demand has also
meant rice has in time become Nigeria’s most political food. For decades
there have been everything from policy battles, outright bans and numerous
corruption charges as Nigerian leaders have tried to figure out ways to ensure
there’s enough affordable rice available to keep citizens happy. One of
the many reasons for this is Nigeria never really had a big rice farming
culture, at least not at sufficient scale to satisfy the country’s hankering
for rice. This has meant much of the controversy around rice has been about
whether to allow rice importations or/and how much to import.
“It’s not an invasion of foreign rice. Just think about it as
honest farmers in other countries being more competitive than ours.”
Since coming to office in 2015, Nigeria’s president Muhammadu
Buhari has repeatedly talked up plans to achieve food sufficiency and boost
local agriculture with rice as a centerpiece of that strategy. To that end, a
crackdown on rice imports with tariffs and levies totaling 70% and a
$150 million loan scheme for local rice farmers were put in
place. The idea the government had was to make imports less attractive while
also boosting production and consumption of local rice.
The tactic appears to have worked with latest data from Gro
Intelligence showing local rice production has grown by 60% in the last five
years, peaking
at 4.8 million metric tons over the past year.
But there’s a catch: local production still cannot match domestic
demand.
And despite the government’s high tariffs, that supply gap is still
being plugged by imports which have not dropped significantly. Even worse, some
importers are avoiding the steep import tariffs—and rewarded with healthier
margins—by smuggling rice through Nigeria’s porous land borders, despite
the high risks.
Debisi Araba, regional director at the Nairobi-based International
Center for Tropical Agriculture, says the tariffs will likely remain
ineffective in reducing imports given rising local demand. ”The rice
tariffs have minimal impact on the rice market,” he says. “Because ultimately,
imported rice is making its way into the country whether legally or otherwise.”
“As long as the demand is still there and there’s a gap, people will
fill it,” says Tunde Leye, consulting partner at SBM Intelligence, a
Lagos-based research firm. Despite higher tariffs and risks, “smuggling and
imports are still having to supply a significant portion of consumption, so the
economics still make sense for the importer,” says Leye.
Rather than “obsessing” over imports, Araba argues, players in the
sector should be more focused on investing in agronomy and improving yields
which have, so far, only shown marginal growth. “That’s due to a number of
factors [including] access to irrigation and proper agronomic practices,” he
says. “Agriculture is really sophisticated and you can’t reduce it to
distributing fertilizers to farmers,” adds Araba who also served as special
adviser to Nigeria’s former minister of agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina.
In attempting to clamp down on imports while local production
still falls short of demand, Leye says the government is chasing the wrong
priority. ”The correct goal we should be pursuing is that food should be
cheap so that the portion of the income of the average Nigerian that goes to
food is reducing,” he says. Given that the government’s loan scheme for rice
farmers has been saddled by fraud
allegations and high
rates of loan defaults, it can hardly be classed as a sustainable,
long-term fix.
To kick-start and sustain its ambitious agriculture revolution,
the government will be better served plugging the enduring loopholes along the
local agriculture value chain. The long-running issue of produce failing to
reach the market owing to transportation and preservation problems largely
remains unsolved. And lingering
pastoral conflict in Nigeria’s major food-producing regions
have posed a new challenge—and impacted
productivity—over the past few years.
In the meantime, Araba recommends a change in the
government’s aggressive rhetoric on rice importation. “It’s not an invasion of
foreign rice,” he says. “Just think about it as honest farmers in other
countries being more competitive than your farmers so focus on making your
farmers more competitive.”
Scientists Reveal Nature of
Martian Mountain Using Ingenious Technique With Curiosity Rover
Mount Sharp visible from Curiosity’s cameraPhoto:
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Scientists working with the
Curiosity rover used a piece of its navigation equipment—an accelerometer like
the one in your cellphone—in order to make an important measurement about Mars’
mysterious geology.Curiosity is currently roving around Mount Sharp, a
5-kilometer-high (3-mile) mountain in the center of Gale crater. But it’s
unclear whether the mountain is the result of the crater once being filled in
and losing matter to erosion, or whether the mountain is more like a large dune
of deposited material. Curiosity doesn’t possess a scientific instrument to
determine the nature of the mountain—but it does have force-measuring
navigation equipment. So the scientists got creative.
“I realized you can download
an app on your
phone and, not with much precision, but you can measure [the force of Earth’s
gravity] because your phone has accelerometers,” the study’s lead author Kevin
Lewis, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, told Gizmodo. He
figured he could do the same thing with Curiosity’s accelerometers, and perform
some interesting science.
Gravimetry, or precisely
measuring changes in the local gravitational field, is a useful way to
understand the rocks beneath the surface, since an object’s force of gravity
increases with its mass. Apollo 17 had a gravimetry experiment to study the
Moon, for example—but Curiosity does not have a gravimeter. It does have a
navigational system, however, which includes gyroscopes and an accelerometer
for measuring changes in velocity, acceleration, and orientation.
The navigational system isn’t
quite as sensitive as a gravimeter would be, but the scientists made do. They
acquired the data on the accelerations experienced by the rover, then adjusted
it to account for things like Curiosity’s location on Mars as well as potential
effects of temperature and elevation on the equipment.
Measurements of Mount Sharp’s gravity using Curiosity
data.Graphic: Kevin Lewis
Their analysis revealed a
surprise—the average density of the rocks beneath Curiosity was lower than
expected. This implied that the dirt was much more porous, meaning it had more
holes, than the scientists expected. They were further able to infer that the
sediment wouldn’t be very deep, since otherwise it would be more compacted or
filled-in.
All of these points together seem
to imply that Mount Sharp wasn’t the result of erosion creating a tall peak,
but instead it formed through sediment blowing into the already-formed crater
resulting in the enormous deposit, according to the paper published today in
Science.
“My first impression was that
it’s a clever engineering trick to use instruments onboard the rover that
weren’t designed as science instruments to actually do science,” Kirsten
Siebach, Martian geologist and assistant professor at Rice University, told
Gizmodo. She noted that the porosity value of the rocks was surprisingly high.
She said the work seemed to confirm some previous observations of Gale crater
but contradict others.
“This pushes us to get a better
understanding of what low-porosity rocks might behave like on Mars,” she said.
Measurements like these come with
inherent limitations, such as the introduction of potential biases when trying
to pick out which data to use and uncertainties from using an instrument for a
task it wasn’t designed for.
But this is science, and the
paper reveals new information that gets us closer to knowing what really might
be going on inside the crater, and should be considered alongside other
experiments, simulations, and data. And there are more experiments coming up to
build the body of evidence: Mars InSight will be able to tell scientists about
the planet’s geology more generally based on how heat flows through the planet,
while Mars 2020 will have ground-penetrating radar to collect subsurface
information on its landing location, Jezero crater.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard of scientists
repurposing navigation equipment to do science—but this is a particularly
ingenious one.
Lewis said: “One of the things I
really love about this study is that it’s my type of science—finding new ways
to use existing data and MacGyver-ing a brand new science instrument.”
VN loses out on global market without
rice brand
Update: February,
01/2019 - 09:00
 |
|
Vietnamese rice exporters often
ship in 50-kilogramme bags under the labels of their foreign distributors. —
VNS Photo Hoàng Nguyên
|
LONG AN — Trung An Hi-tech Farming JSC in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta has been exporting rice under foreign brand names for many years though it is itself one of the biggest rice exporters in Việt Nam.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the third Vietnamese Rice Festival in Long An Province last December, Phạm Thái Bình, the company’s director, said to let consumers know about Vietnamese rice products, exporters like his company have to be able to show consumers their brand logos.
“But at the moment we still depend on buyers, which means they decide the packaging and labelling and we only have to follow instructions.
“Some markets allow the phrase ‘origin in Việt Nam’ to be written on the package, and that is already quite generous.”
He said foreign buyers usually order in bulk and want 50kg packaged under their name.
“They do not have to introduce Vietnamese rice to consumers, they just want to promote their own brands.”
According to the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD), Việt Nam exports to 150 markets yet global recognition of Vietnamese rice brands is still very low.
Last December, it unveiled the official Việt Nam rice brand logo hoping to create a firm foothold in the global market.
Bình said it was an important move because it would help consumers identify Vietnamese rice since the logo is on the package.
But having a national brand does not mean it would automatically enhance the value of Vietnamese rice, he said.
“Whether or not we can increase the value depends on the quality of the product. Quality decides everything. Even the national rice brand can only be successful if companies and farmers collaborate to improve product quality.”
Nguyễn Quốc Toản, acting director of MARD’s Deparment of Agricultural Market Processing and Development, had emphasised the importance of quality at the launch of the national brand logo.
“The main issue [when building a brand for Vietnamese rice] is product quality because no brand will be accepted when the quality is poor.
“First and foremost, we need to improve the quality of our rice grain to not only meet the requirements of traditional rice markets but also niche markets in future.”
He said enterprises and farmers must work together very closely to enhance the value of Vietnamese rice.
Reduce quantity to improve quality
Dr Nguyễn Đức Thành, director of the Institute of Economic and Policy Research, told Việt Nam News that consumers are now more demanding than ever.
“They want to buy clean and organic rice whose production is traceable.”
He said farmers have to meet those requirements but cannot do it by themselves.
 |
|
Việt Nam introduced a national
rice brand logo last December as part of efforts to get a foothold in the
global market. — VNS Photo Hoàng Nguyên
|
“Only by joining hands can farmers and enterprises tap foreign markets.”
He also pointed out that due to low productivity, farmers have to grow three rice crops a year instead of two as recommended by scientists for sustainability, which leads to low quality and almost no value addition.
If the non-agricultural sector grows further, farmers could abandon the third crop, he said.
“Production may decrease but quality will improve and bring more value.”
According to Dr Nguyễn Văn Sánh, former director of the Mekong Delta Development Research Institute, the delta, the country’s rice basket, has been hit by climate change in recent years, which has brought challenges such as changing water flows, low market competitiveness and overexploitation of agricultural resources.
Besides, production costs increase while quality deteriorates, he said.
“To develop a sustainable rice industry, farmers, enterprises and administrators must be ‘smart’ in production and trading.”
It can be done by selecting appropriate rice varieties, making use of ecological advantages through regional and sub-regional integration, improving production techniques, and adopting effective mechanisms and policies, he added.
Domestic market
Dr Thành
noted that enterprises need to pay more attention to communication and
advertising to build their brands in the domestic market first before expanding
overseas.He said though advertising is costly, without communication consumers cannot know and would continue to think that foreign rice is better than Vietnamese rice though it is not always the reality.
He said high-income families prefer to buy imported rice from Japan, Thailand or South Korea, and so building rice brands should not only be for international markets but also the domestic market.
“We can sell Vietnamese rice at supermarkets overseas but on a small scale. At the moment the biggest market for us is the domestic market.
“It has 100 million people who eat rice every day.
“Only a small number of highly selective consumers care about rice brands while the majority are indifferent.
“The domestic market is very sustainable for us as it is familiar and we have knowledge about the local market and consumers.” — VNS
Read more at http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/484891/vn-loses-out-on-global-market-without-rice-brand.html#suPaE23juwKmyDk4.99
Gov't may allow more sugar
imports once rice tariffs approved
ABS-CBN News
MANILA – The government might allow more sugar imports to the
Philippines to reduce prices of the commodity as soon as the rice tariffication
bill becomes law, the National Economic and Development Authority said
Thursday.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said sugar is
very expensive in the Philippines because the supply is provided by only a few
players.
“We hope to open up the sector to freer importation, and reduce
the price of sugar," Pernia said in a statement. He added that
liberalizing sugar imports would be challenging, but it was needed to keep
prices down.
Pernia said economic managers floated the idea of liberalizing
the sugar industry during a meeting of Economic Development Cluster last
January 14.
President Rodrigo Duterte certified the Rice Tariffication Bill
as urgent during his State of the Nation Address
last year in a bid to tame inflation.
New study argues
white rice by itself not linked to increased diabetes risk, overall diet
quality more important
"Even over a relatively wide range of rice
intakes, from half a bowl to several bowls a day, we didn't see much of an
increase in the risk of diabetes," said Professor Rob Martinus van Dam.PHOTO: ST FILE
JAN 31, 2019, 6:48 PM SGT
SINGAPORE - Cutting down on white
rice may not in itself lower a person's risk of getting diabetes, two new
studies have found.
The risk depends on what the rice
is substituted with and the overall quality of a person's diet, said Professor
Koh Woon Puay, director of the Centre for Clinician-Scientist Development at
Duke-NUS Medical School, a co-author of the studies.
Both studies used data from the
ongoing Singapore Chinese Health Study, which was started in 1993 by the
National University of Singapore (NUS).
This comes after a series of
previous studies that linked white rice to diabetes. In 2016, Singapore's
Health Promotion Board cited studies by the Harvard School of Public Health in
the United States which showed that each plate of white rice eaten daily on a
regular basis raises the risk of diabetes by 11 per cent in the overall
population.
In one study, researchers from
NUS and Duke-NUS Medical School found no link between the quantity of white
rice consumed and the risk of Type 2 diabetes when controlled for other
variables like age, sex and body mass index (BMI), and various other food
intakes.
Type 2 diabetes is related to
weight management, and is a result of blocked or reduced insulin receptors.
Over 90 per cent of diabetics suffer from Type 2 diabetes.
"Even over a relatively wide
range of rice intakes, from half a bowl to several bowls a day, we didn't see
much of an increase in the risk of diabetes," said Professor Rob Martinus
van Dam, domain leader of epidemiology at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public
Health in NUS and one of the study's co-authors.
Prof van Dam said the study
showed that a person who eats less rice is likely to eat more of something else
to maintain the same calorie intake.
But people who ate different
foods in place of rice were affected differently.
For example, a person may choose
more noodle dishes, which are often cooked in sauces that are high in salt and
oil, he said. Others may eat more meat to feel full.
These increase their risk of
diabetes.
Substituting rice with whole
grains, on the other hand, decreases the risk.
Another study, also involving
Prof van Dam and Prof Koh, used established diet quality indices to determine
the overall "quality" of a person's dietary pattern.
They then measured the link
between diet quality and diabetes risk.
A list of 165 food items and
beverages were identified, covering an estimated 90 per cent of what is
commonly eaten by the population in Singapore.
It is the first such study to
examine local food specifically.
The researchers said the study
found that whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and a moderate amount of
dairy were associated with lower risks of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and
stroke, in line with other established dietary studies from mostly Western
countries.
Sugar-sweetened drinks, processed
meat and red meat - including beef, pork and even the darker portions of
poultry like chicken thigh meat - were found to be associated with higher risks
of the same diseases.
The items were scored according
to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (Dash) diet index.
The proportion of each item as a
part of a consistent dietary pattern was found to be more important than the
absolute intake, said Prof Koh, who is also the
principal investigator in the Singapore Chinese Health Study.
This means one does not have to
cut out unhealthy foods like red meat entirely, as long as they are eaten in
moderation, she added.
About 45,400 Chinese Singaporeans
who did not have diabetes, cancer or cardiovascular diseases were recruited
between 1993 and 1998 for the Singapore Chinese Health Study.
Details about their diets were
collected through questionnaires during two follow-up interviews. Over an
average of 11 years, more than 5,200 developed diabetes.
This data was then used in the
two recent studies.
The participants' diets were
ranked according to how often and how much of a given food they ate on average.
Those who ate relatively more
whole grains, low-fat dairy, nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits and vegetables were
given higher scores.
Those who had more processed and
red meats, sugary drinks and sodium in their diets were given lower scores.
Other foods like fish and refined
grains, including white rice, were not scored under the Dash index.
The researchers found that the
top 20 per cent of the participants, who had relatively "higher
quality" diets, were nearly 30 per cent less likely to develop diabetes
compared to the bottom 20 per cent.
Dr Annie Ling, group director of
policy, research and surveillance at the Health Promotion Board, said the
studies are timely given the findings of the recent National Nutrition Survey
2018.
The survey showed gradual
improvements in Singaporeans' dietary habits but highlighted areas for
improvement.
She said: "While
Singaporeans are consuming more whole grains, fruits and vegetables, high sugar
and sodium intake remains a cause for concern.
"It is important to continue
encouraging Singaporeans to pay attention to the foods they choose and the
quality of their diets."
American scientist played more active role in
‘CRISPR babies’ project than previously known
JANUARY 31, 2019
Rice University bioengineering professor Michael Deem
(left) and He Jiankui.ILLUSTRATION: DOM SMITH/STAT;
PHOTO: RICE UNIVERSITY
BEIJING — An American scientist at Rice University was far more
involved in the widely condemned “CRISPR babies” experiment than has previously
been disclosed. Most notably, STAT has learned that Rice biophysicist Michael Deem was named as the senior author on a
paper about the work that was submitted to Nature in late November.
Deem’s prominent authorship
indicates that a respected American researcher played an instrumental role in
the controversial project, which sparked a worldwide furor. His involvement
could have encouraged volunteers to join the experiment and lent credibility
to He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who led the work.
Emails provided to STAT show that
Deem was listed as the last author — which, in the life sciences, is typically
reserved for the senior researcher who oversees a study. The paper, titled
“Birth of twins after genome editing for HIV resistance,” has another nine
contributors, including He as the first author, where the person who makes the
most hands-on contribution is credited.
The now infamous Chinese scientist
created a sensation when he announced the birth of twin girls, whose genes had
been altered using CRISPR technology, before an international conference in Hong Kong
last November. He received intense criticism for violating scientific and
ethical norms against starting a pregnancy with genetically modified human
embryos, and Nature quickly decided not to proceed with peer review of the
paper.
He was fired by the Southern University of Science and Technology
in Shenzhen last week after an official investigation found that his work
seriously violated Chinese government rules, according to the Xinhua News
Agency. The inquiry also concluded that He’s project team involved “overseas
personnel.” It didn’t name Deem or detail his contributions, but he’s the only
foreign scientist known to have been involved in He’s genome-editing research.
A Chinese scientist who worked on the project said Deem was more
than a bystander: Deem collaborated with He on the experiment and participated
as a member of the research team during meetings with several volunteers in
2017 as they were recruited and went through the informed-consent process — a
crucial component of a clinical trial. Deem helped to obtain the volunteers’
consent, speaking with them through a translator, said the Chinese member of
the team, who asked not to be identified because the person was not authorized
to speak to a reporter.
“As a prominent scientist from an elite university in the U.S.,
Deem’s presence is likely to have a significant role in persuading potential
candidates to jump on board,” said Jia Ping, a human rights lawyer who is
founder and chief executive officer of the Beijing-based nongovernmental
organization Health Governance Initiative. They would not have known that
neither Deem nor He had any experience conducting clinical trials.
Researchers contacted by STAT say it’s important to get to the
bottom of Deem’s role. “The nature of the incident would be quite different
with or without his involvement,” said Jennifer Doudna, a genome-editing
pioneer of the University of California, Berkeley.
Deem, a bioengineering and physics
professor, was He’s Ph.D. adviser when He was a graduate student at Rice
between 2007 and 2010. Deem told the Associated Press in its initial story on
the project in November that “I met the parents. I was there for the informed
consent of the parents” — referring to the twins’ parents — though why he was
there was unclear. His remarks prompted Rice to launch an investigation into
Deem’s involvement.
Then last month, Deem’s attorney issued a statement saying that,
“Michael does not do human research and he did not do human research on this
project.”
While Deem might not have physically done the lab work, such as
handling the embryos, being listed as an author, especially the last author, of
the CRISPR-babies paper is strong evidence for Deem’s participation in the
research in a significant way, said Hank Greely, a lawyer and bioethicist at
Stanford University.
An early draft of the paper listed He as the last author — Deem
was the second-to-last author, according to excerpts provided to STAT. But for
unknown reasons, the order of authors was changed in the version submitted to
Nature in late November: It listed He as the first or lead author, and Deem the
last.
Deem has declined to comment. But his lawyers issued a statement
this week denying that he was “the lead, last, or corresponding author” on the
paper submitted to Nature: “Michael Deem has done theoretical work on CRISPR in
bacteria in the past, and he wrote a review article on the physics of
CRISPR-Cas. But Dr. Deem has not designed, carried out, or executed studies or
experiments related to CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing – something very different.”
Deem’s lawyers, David Gerger and Matt Hennessy of Houston,
disputed the claim that he was present when the parents of the gene-edited
twins went through the consent process. “Dr. Deem was not in China, and he did
not otherwise participate, when the parents of the reported CCR5-edited
children provided informed consent,” they said, in a statement that seems to
contradict what the AP reported. The AP told STAT that it accurately quoted
Deem and that it “stands by its story.”
The lawyers did not respond to follow-up questions about whether
they denied Deem’s involvement in the CRISPR babies project in any way.
Paul Knoepfler, a stem-cell biologist at the University of
California, Davis, said Deem’s participation might have made He feel more
confident about proceeding with the experiment. “I don’t think He Jiankui would
have done the project if Deem had been strongly disapproving of it,” the UC
biologist said. The fact that his lawyers didn’t categorically deny Deem’s
involvement in the project is telling, suggesting that he did have some sort of
a role, Knoepfler added: “My best guess is he was intellectually involved in
the project in some important way.”
STAT has also found that Deem and He co-authored two preclinical
papers that tested the CRISPR gene-editing technology in mouse, monkey, and
human embryos — without establishing any pregnancy in humans. Both papers’
“Author Contributions” statements say that Deem designed the project and wrote
and edited the manuscript. STAT was provided one of the papers and a scientist
with a copy of the other manuscript read aloud its author-contributions statement
over the phone.
One paper — submitted to Nature along with the CRISPR-babies paper
in late November — modified the CCR5 gene, which encodes a protein that helps
HIV enter and infect cells, the same gene He claimed he had altered in the
twins to protect them against infection with the AIDS-causing virus. The other
paper, which reported on the editing of the PCSK9 gene that encodes a protein
that helps regulate the level of cholesterol in the bloodstream, was submitted
to Science Translational Medicine. Both were rejected.
Both journals said they couldn’t comment on any possible
submissions because they are confidential. But editors at both journals said
they have a policy of automatically sending an email to every author of a
submission. The email notifies the individual that they are listed as an author
and includes the title of the paper. This gives researchers the opportunity to
notify the journal if they were unaware of the paper, have not approved of the
content/submission, or do not qualify as an author. This can be grounds for
rejection, and the journal would not send it out for peer review under such
circumstances.
Deem’s lawyers said “he did not authorize submission of
manuscripts related to CCR5 or PCSK9 with any journal, and he was not the lead,
last, or corresponding author on any such manuscript.” But in response to
followup questions from STAT, they then acknowledged that Deem was listed as an
author on all three gene-editing papers and said he had had instructed the
journals to remove his name from all the manuscripts.
In addition to the submissions to Nature and Science Translational
Medicine, Deem and He have eight published papers together, the latest in 2017.
While none is related to gene editing, they show that the two have closely
collaborated since He graduated from Rice.
To many researchers, a key question
is whether Deem’s involvement in the CRISPR babies trial broke U.S. rules on
human-subjects research, because he didn’t obtain approval from Rice
University. Even if he didn’t use federal funds for the work, government
regulations require researchers to seek approval from an ethics committee at
their institution should they want to carry out clinical trials abroad.
At least two active federal grants — from the National Science
Foundation and the Department of Energy — contributed to Deem’s recent work in
his own lab. The NSF provided a five-year, $12-million grant, which will come
to an end this August, for Rice’s Center for Theoretical Biological Physics
that supports Deem’s research.
Neither Deem nor his lawyers would comment on whether he has
broken federal regulations on human-subjects research or whether he used any of
his federal grants on the CRISPR babies work.
NSF’s Office of Inspector General said it could not comment on the
existence of an investigation, and DOE did not respond.
Rice has said in a statement that it was unaware of the CRISPR
babies work, and that to its knowledge, none of the clinical work was performed
in the U.S. The university began a full investigation in late November and
wouldn’t offer further comments.
If Deem violated human-subjects protection regulations, said Dr.
Kiran Musunuru, a genome-editing expert at the University of Pennsylvania, “it
would be a career suicide.”
Any federal grants Deem has could be in jeopardy. “That could be a
very powerful sanction,” said Greely. “It could put him out of business.”
Regardless of the outcome of Rice’s investigation, Deem may not
remain at the university for much longer. Last June, he gave a talk at the City
University of Hong Kong, apparently as part of a job interview for the deanship
of the College of Engineering. He was offered the job a few months later, a
professor at the university told STAT. Deem was supposed to assume the position
in early January, but the university has appointed an acting dean instead, the
professor added.
Deem’s possible involvement in the CRISPR babies experiment has
led the Hong Kong university to review the contract, which is now “pending on
the result of the investigation undergoing at the Rice University,” said the
Hong Kong university’s press office. It would not say if it would terminate
Deem’s contract if he is found to have been involved in the project. His
lawyers would not comment on the matter.
“If Deem was an active participant in the research, then I don’t
think it would be appropriate” for him to be a university dean, said Greely.
“I’d not want to hire him, and I’d advise other universities not to hire him,
because he has shown very bad judgment at the very least.”
Bumper harvest
for Kebbi rice farmers
From Olanrewaju
Lawal, Birnin-Kebbi
Rice farmers in Kebbi States have every reason to smile home
following an impressive harvest of their produce, despite last year’s tragic
floods that ran over an estimated 500,000 hectares of rice farms in the state.
State chairman, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Alhaji Mohammed
Sahabi Augie believed the harvest was brought about by their resolve to move on
irrespective of the challenges that came their way courtesy of the floods.
He told Daily Sun that since rice farming is not restricted to
the rainy season alone, the flood did a lot of damage but did not substantially
disrupt the flow of cultivation, which flowed into the dry season. He disclosed
that the number of the rice farmers in the state was steadily increasing, an
indication that the venture is rewarding enough: “The rise in the number of
farmers of rice has also inspired the setting up of additional rice mills in
the state.
“Before, it was only Labana Rice Mill, but today, we have WACOT
in Argungu, there is another one in Kamba and Dangote Group is planning to
establish its rice processing company in Yauri. If these companies have not
been getting enough raw materials for their production, that is, enough paddy
rice, how could they be establishing more rice milling companies?
“I can tell you today that what we have harvested so far can
sustain our rice mills for the next six months. Before they exhaust the
available raw materials, we would produce another round of harvest.
“Smuggled rice is cheaper because they do not pay taxes and
energy charges. Most of them have stayed for too long time on the high sea,
making them a bit unhealthy for human consumption.”
Augie dismissed the claim that Nigeria is ranked as one of the
world’s leading importers of rice: “It as another propaganda targeted at
rubbishing the Federal Government’s efforts in boosting rice farming and
production.
“Nigerians and in fact the rice farmers, have not had it so
good.
Today, there are organized markets for rice farmers to sell
their paddy rice directly to the companies and make their profit. We do not
need to go through these agents and middlemen again, agents who make most of
the profits and force us into indebtedness.
“What I think state governments should do now is to introduce
their own agriculture initiatives, just as the Federal Government has done with
the Anchored Borrowers, which have yielded positive outcomes today. We are
getting more new rice farmers and therefore there is need to have more
extension service agents to teach our new entrants the required technology and
skills needed to grow a rice plantation.”
General Manager, Labana Rice Mills, Birnin-Kebbi, Alhaji
Abdullahi Idris Zuru, disclosed that his company receives 25 trucks of 30
metric tonnes of paddy rice everyday for processing and packaging. He noted
that his company has 6,000 hectares of land where its farmers engage in the
cultivation of paddy rice, apart from the supply they get from other rice
farmers:
“In Labana alone, we have 16 metric tonnes capacity per hour and
by end of 2019, we are going to hit a 20 metric tonnes capacity, making it a
total of 36 metric tonnes capacity per hour. You can imagine what we shall be
producing annually including other 21 existed rice mills in Nigeria.
“What Nigeria presently requires per year is 6.9 billion metric
tonnes of rice. We are already producing at 3.5 billion metric tones. If and
when the additional 20 new rice mills that are about to be established comes on
board, we would have the capacity to meet up with the remaining metric tonnes
by the year 2020.” 
A farmer at Fadama Rice Farm,
Dikku, Birnin-Kebbi, Mallam Abubakar Magaji, attested to the success of rice
farming. He
added that they always take advantage of the dry season to recover whatever
lost during the rainy season. He, however, admitted that they are constrained
by the cost of fuel for their pumping machines and the presence of birds.
Bello Abubakar, a trader, charged the farmers and the millers to
go a step further to bring down the price so that the common man would continue
to pray for them.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67780159.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Op-Ed: The Key To Any Meaningful
Change Is ‘Intent’
Arvind Kejriwal hit the nail on the
head on Thursday when he said there is no opposition in Odisha. There is a
ruling party and two real or potential allies who have monopolized the entire political
discourse among themselves for two decades leaving no scope for others to break
in. But the big question is: who will break this stranglehold and initiate a
new political narrative that puts the people and their interests at the
forefront?
Aam Admi Party (AAP) has done it in
Delhi. But can it replicate the experiment in Odisha? For that, it will first
have to win the people’s mandate which, in the light of voting preferences of
the electorate in the recent past, appears highly unlikely in the foreseeable
future. Blind-folded with dollops of dole, voters in the state are unable to
see beyond immediate gains for themselves and their families and repose their
faith in a party that has that has their collective interests at heart but has
never won power in the state. Competitive populism among the three major
political parties – BJD, Congress and BJP – has only raised their expectations
for more doles. No one has time for fundamental changes in areas like
education, healthcare and public services that AAP has addressed quite
efficiently and effectively.
At a time when government-run
schools have become the last resort of those who cannot afford to send their
children to the more expensive private schools in the rest of the country, the
Kejriwal government has done the seemingly unthinkable by reversing the trend
in Delhi. Government schools in Delhi are now the envy of their counterparts in
the private sector. The Mohalla Clinic experiment has redefined delivery of
healthcare to the people. A tough, non-nonsense has ensured that residents of
the national capital now get essential services like electricity and water at
affordable rates.
Of course, there is the difference
in scale. Delhi, after all, is a city – and the national capital at that – with
an area of less than 1500 sq km and with highly developed infrastructure
already in place before the AAP entered the scene. Odisha, in contrast, is over
100 times bigger with vast stretches of remote, inaccessible areas with little
or no infrastructure. A large population of poor, illiterate and tribals makes
the task of improving basic amenities a much more daunting task than it is in
Delhi.
But then, Odisha also has certain
advantages that Delhi doesn’t: its vast natural resources, a long coastline and
several rivers, nine agro-climatic zones conducive for a wide variety of crops,
immense tourism potential and so on. If used properly, these advantages have
the potential to transform the face of this land. If they haven’t been made use
of so far, the fault lies with the priorities of successive governments. The
first requirement for any meaningful and lasting change is intent which
governments of all hues have sorely lacked. The only area where the
‘mainstream’ parties have shown intent is in perpetuating themselves in power –
and clawing their way back to power, if they are in the Opposition. For the
politicians who have ruled us over the last several decades, power has not been
a means to usher in development and change but an end in itself. And that’s
where the real problem lies.
In his speech at Lower PMG Square
in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, Kejriwal made the point about ‘intent’ in telling
fashion by contrasting power tariff in Odisha with that of Delhi. “Delhi
doesn’t produce power like Odisha does. And yet, we are able to provide power
to the people at Rs. 1 per unit while Odisha, which produces power, charges Rs.
5. 75 per unit,” he emphasized. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to
know that successive governments have allowed discoms to loot consumers for
years. Keeping the looters in good humour has been their priority, not
providing power to the people at a cost they can afford.
Though Kejriwal didn’t raise the
issue, let us consider another area where the interests of many have been
mortgaged to those of a few: procurement of paddy. The vice-like grip of the
officer-rice miller- politician nexus has forced farmers across the state to
distress sell their produce and allowed rice millers to recycle fraudulently
procured PDS rice year after year. Everyone knows it. And yet, no government
has made even a cursory attempt to break this stranglehold. The same goes for
almost every other sector: vegetables and other cash crops, forest produce,
fisheries, industry .. you name it. It may take longer than it has in Delhi,
but things can certainly change in Odisha if the parties show some intent.
Left to themselves, none of the
three major parties would ever show any intent till the people force them to.
They will change tack only when they realize that it is not possible to seal
their mouths with doles anymore. But this realization would not come on its
own. It has to be forced down their unwilling throat – like a bitter pill – by
the electorate. Till the people refuse to be hoodwinked and vote in exchange
for doles and start demanding delivery of services they are entitled to, we
will continue to be ‘ruled’ by people who see themselves as royals instead of
‘servants’.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed
are author’sown and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter
or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)
Gov't may allow more sugar
imports once rice tariffs approved
ABS-CBN News
MANILA – The government might allow more sugar imports to the
Philippines to reduce prices of the commodity as soon as the rice tariffication
bill becomes law, the National Economic and Development Authority said
Thursday.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said sugar is
very expensive in the Philippines because the supply is provided by only a few
players.
“We hope to open up the sector to freer importation, and reduce
the price of sugar," Pernia said in a statement. He added that
liberalizing sugar imports would be challenging, but it was needed to keep
prices down.
Pernia said economic managers floated the idea of liberalizing
the sugar industry during a meeting of Economic Development Cluster last
January 14.
President Rodrigo Duterte certified the Rice Tariffication Bill
as urgent during his State of the Nation Address
last year in a bid to tame inflation.
The bill was submitted to
Malacañang last December, but the President has yet to sign it.
No election pay for
teachers? Comelec warns vs reenacted budget ahead of midterm polls
ABS-CBN News
Election officers assist a policeman during the Barangay and
Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls in Manila, May 14, 2018. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) warned lawmakers
Friday against implementing a reenacted budget in light of expenses for the
upcoming midterm polls.
While preparations for the May elections were included in last
year's budget, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez noted that the pay for those who
will work on election day, including teachers, was not considered.
"Maraming items na kakailanganin sa 2019 na di nakalagay sa
2018 [budget], primarily the honoraria ng ating election workers," he said
during a press briefing.
(Many items needed this year were not included in the 2018
budget, primarily the honoraria for our election workers.)
The Comelec needs P3.2 billion to cover pay for teachers, who
are tapped to man polling precincts every election year, and other election
workers, Jimenez said.
Under the national expenditure program, the Comelec said it was
only allotted P1.9 billion, which would not be enough to pay election workers.
"Nananawagan po kami sa Kongreso to sana (we are asking
Congress to hopefully) keep this on top of mind in their deliberations in the
coming days. We hope that this is not lost in the shuffle," he said.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday said he would
propose that the Senate withdraw its version of the 2019 General Appropriations
Act, paving the way for a reenacted budget.
Sotto cited "numerous allegations" surrounding the
2019 budget proposal such as supposed insertions.
House appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr.
appealed to the Senate not to abandon bicameral hearings on the budget, saying the
House was against a reenacted budget.
Jimenez said a reenacted budget would have a "pronounced
impact" on the poll body's ability to conduct elections as the Comelec
does not have a backup source of funding in case the 2019 national budget is
rejected.
"We don't think that a reenacted budget at this time would
be innocuous from the point of view of elections," he said.
Judge
orders release of 10m kilos of Kebs-barred rice
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 1 2019
Mombasa High Court Judge Eric
Ogola. He has said it is Kebs’ duty to ensure that goods entering the country
are properly verified. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
In Summary
· The rice was part of the consignments of sugar and rice
netted as part of the ongoing crackdown on corruption.
· The judge also prohibited the multiagency team from
interfering with Phoenix Global Kenya Ltd’s proprietary rights.
Kenyans might have to consume 10
million kilos of rice the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) had condemned for
destruction after a Mombasa court ordered the release of the consignment.
Taxpayers will also have to pay
the importer Sh15 million in general damages for Kebs’ “unlawful and illegal
detention” of the 10,327 tonnes of rice.
Delivering the ruling, Mombasa
High Court Judge Eric Ogola also directed that Phoenix Global Kenya Ltd’s rice,
valued at more than Sh250 million, and which is being held at a warehouse in
Mombasa by a multiagency team, be released immediately.
“The Kenya Revenue Authority
(KRA), Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Kebs are hereby ordered to
forthwith open the warehouse and hand over to the petitioner (Phoenix) the said
consignment of rice,” Justice Ogola said.
CORRUPTION
Phoenix Global Kenya Ltd, owned
by tycoon Bireni Jasani, had sued the multiagency team, saying it had
unjustifiably denied the company access to the warehouse where its consignment
is stored on allegations that the commodity was substandard.
The judge argued that the
integrity of the sampling carried out by the Directorate of Criminal
Investigations was “questionable”, “the alleged size variations are negligible”
and “the method used to determine the percentage of broken rice was not
scientific”.
The rice was part of the
consignments of sugar and rice netted as part of the ongoing crackdown on
corruption, and which has recently put the Judiciary on the spot.
The multiagency team, comprising
the Attorney-General, KRA, Kebs, the Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) and DCI, was
appointed by the government to establish the quality of sugar and other
commodities in a crackdown on contraband goods.
QUALITY
While there has been a crackdown
at Kebs, where importers were found to be colluding with pre-shipment
inspectors and quality inspectors at the port of Mombasa and some tax officials
to allow the entry of substandard goods into the country, the judge said the
re-inspection of the rice and sampling “was deliberately skewed, and in some
cases deliberately wrong, to achieve a particular result”.
According to the pre-inspection
contracts, all goods clearly classified as having failed Kebs quality tests
should be either returned to the country of origin or destroyed.
Kebs has been on the spot for
failing to take action against pre-inspection companies that allow the
importation of substandard products.
Justice Ogola said it is Kebs’
duty to ensure that goods that enter the country are properly verified, and
that it is its reports that prompt other agencies, including the KRA, to act.
“Kebs failed to recognise the
results of verification (of the rice) from its own contacted agents. It has not
sacked or complained to those agents,” Justice Ogola noted.
VERIFICATION
But while he said Kebs had not
behaved professionally, he also allowed the rice to be released for sale.
“At one time it accepts
verification reports, but when it is convenient it denies the same. How will
Kenyans believe this statutory body when it changes its decisions are like a
chameleon changing its colours?” Justice Ogola asked.
He said Kebs must act
professionally, and its officers must do the job they are paid for, or else
they must be prepared to individually answer for their negligence.
“I am satisfied that the blame in
this petition must fall solely on Kebs; KRA has properly done its statutory
duty and cannot be blamed for the shortcomings of Kebs,” Justice Ogola ruled.
The judge also prohibited the
multiagency team from interfering with Phoenix Global Kenya Ltd’s proprietary
rights or its access to the rice at the Mitchell Cotts warehouses, or for the
purpose of depositing further consignments.
PROFESSIONAL
He said the court had found that
the rice was properly verified, and a pre-verification certificate issued as
required, so there is no valid reason for keeping it in the warehouse.
“It is the finding of this court
that the rice met all the import required standards as well as the quality as
to size and is forthwith released to the petitioner for sale,” he said.
The court also noted that the
importer did not flout any law to allow the respondents to detain the rice.
The court also said the
multiagency team is free to carry out its legal mandate, but it does not have
the freedom to destroy the petitioner’s business in the process.
The judge accused the multiagency
team of acting in bad faith and quashed the protection offered by Section 227
of the East African Community Act and ordered Kebs to pay the damages.
USA Rice Awarded $3M for International Promotion Activities
By Sarah Moran
WASHINGTON, DC -- USA Rice has been awarded $3,050,075 in
additional funding from USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to conduct
marketing and promotion activities abroad as a part of President Donald Trump's
trade mitigation programs.
Last year, Trump announced a three-tiered package to provide relief to farmers suffering from retaliatory tariffs. One of the programs was the Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program, a three-year, $200 million program focused on promoting U.S. products in international markets. USA Rice submitted an application to conduct activities in more than 20 markets, augmenting and expanding current international promotion activities.
"We are extremely pleased to see these additional funds directed towards USA Rice to promote U.S. rice overseas," said Terry Harris, chair of the USA Rice International Promotion Committee. "Last year, USA Rice received more than $4 million through the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programs, but we are definitely being caught in the crossfire on some international trade disputes so additional resources like the ATP funds are critical for us to keep and expand our overseas markets. We worked hard to develop a competitive proposal that was based on input from our members and the success of previous marketing activities."
Last year, Trump announced a three-tiered package to provide relief to farmers suffering from retaliatory tariffs. One of the programs was the Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program, a three-year, $200 million program focused on promoting U.S. products in international markets. USA Rice submitted an application to conduct activities in more than 20 markets, augmenting and expanding current international promotion activities.
"We are extremely pleased to see these additional funds directed towards USA Rice to promote U.S. rice overseas," said Terry Harris, chair of the USA Rice International Promotion Committee. "Last year, USA Rice received more than $4 million through the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programs, but we are definitely being caught in the crossfire on some international trade disputes so additional resources like the ATP funds are critical for us to keep and expand our overseas markets. We worked hard to develop a competitive proposal that was based on input from our members and the success of previous marketing activities."
USDA Awards Agricultural Trade
Promotion Program Funding
USDA Office of Communications sent this bulletin at 01/31/2019 01:00 PM EST
|
Indian, Thai rice markets quiet; Bangladesh clamps down on hoarders
JANUARY 31, 2019 / 6:47 PM
·
·
(Reuters) - Top Asian rice exporters India and Thailand saw
muted activity this week, while a government clampdown on hoarding pushed down
local prices of the staple in Bangladesh.
A worker carries a sack of rice
at Nakhonluang factory in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok July 3, 2013.
REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom/Files
Thailand’s benchmark 5 percent
broken rice prices were unchanged from last week at $390–$402 per tonne, free
on board Bangkok.
“Right now the stronger baht is
the main factor influencing prices, but that hasn’t helped us sell rice,” a
Bangkok-based trader said.
While demand has hardly changed,
supply is expected to jump next month, traders said.
The baht has gained nearly 3.4
percent versus the dollar so far this year.
“The Philippines remain the
market that Thai exporters look to, but so far things have been quiet,” another
trader in Bangkok said.
Thai exports are expected to fall
14 percent this year as a stronger currency makes shipments more expensive for
overseas buyers, the country’s rice exporters association said.
Thai growers have also faced
increased competition from India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, and
Vietnam, the third biggest, Chookiat Ophaswongse, the association’s honorary
president, told a news conference.
Prices for India’s benchmark 5
percent broken parboiled variety were also unchanged, at $381-$386 per tonne,
due to sluggish demand.
Export prices in India had shot
up after the central state of Chhattisgarh, a leading rice producer, raised
minimum paddy buying prices.
“African buyers are just making
inquiries, but trade is not happening,” said an exporter based at Kakinada in
Andhra Pradesh.
In neighbouring Bangladesh,
domestic prices of the staple have started to drop slightly this week after the
government vowed to take punitive measures against hoarders.
“Action will be taken against the
traders who had stockpiled to create an artificial crisis in the market,” said
a commerce ministry official, adding a recent spike in rates was unwarranted
given healthy reserves and good crop.
A farmer harvests rice on a rice
paddy field outside Hanoi, Vietnam, June 7, 2018. REUTERS/Kham/Files
Higher domestic prices for the
staple had prompted speculation among traders that the government would cut the
import duty, which the government has ruled out.
In Vietnam, rates for the
benchmark 5 percent broken rice rose to $350 a tonne from $340 last week, but
business was quiet, traders said.
“There will be virtually no
shipments from Vietnam over the next week due to the Lunar New Year holiday,” a
trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
Government data released on
Tuesday showed Vietnam’s rice exports in January likely fell 18.5 percent from
a year earlier.
Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in
Mumbai, Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Ruma Paul in Dhaka;
editing by Arpan Varghese and David Evans
Golden rice in
Bangladesh soon: minister
United News of Bangladesh .
Dhaka | Published: 16:08, Jan 31,2019 | Updated: 16:15, Jan
31,2019
Golden rice, a new variety of rice helpful to fight
Vitamin A deficiency, will be released in Bangladesh soon, said agriculture
minister Abdur Razzak on Thursday.
He came up with the information
after a meeting with the International Rice Research Institute at the
ministry on Thursday.
‘Golden rice is important than
the other varieties of rice as it will be helpful to fight Vitamin A
deficiency. The rice variety has already got clearance in the USA, Canada and
Australia, ‘he said.
‘A committee of the Ministry of
Environment will give clearance to Golden rice for its production. We will be
able to start cultivation of the rice in Bangladesh within 2/3 months upon
getting clearance from the ministry,’ he said.
‘Different verities of rive now
available in the market contains low quantity of Vitamin A and this new variety
of rice will help to meet the need of vitamin. But most of the people of our
country live on rice. They also do not take sufficient vegetable, for that the
demand of Vitamin-A remained unfulfilled. When the rice will be produced, the
demand of Vitamin-A will be fulfilled,’ said Razzak.
Besides, it also will be also
easier to cultivate golden rice in coastal area combating with salinity
condition, added the minister.
Central region
rice growers are happy with the President
Rice field in the north. Photo elnuevodiario.com.do
Santo Domingo.- The demand for more machinery and technological resources
which rice sector representatives have been making since 2012, has been
complied with by the government, prompting growers to label the current harvest
as “a rice filet.”
National Rice
Producers Federation (Fenarroz), former president Oliverio Espaillat said that
since 2012, the rice farmers had sought a joint plan with the authorities to
face the challenges.
In a statement
from the Presidency, the expert said that after a surprise visit by president
Danilo Medina his story changed. “The new equipment allows us to have greater
performance in production.”
According to the
statement, the Cibao Central accounts for 68% of Dominican Republic’s rice
crop.
“The challenge
for rice farmers in that region is to provide ever higher quality because the
consumer demands it,” Espailla said.
https://dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2019/01/30/central-region-rice-growers-are-happy-with-the-president/
High expectations for GMO rice
research in Ghana
Joseph Opoku Gakpo | Cornell Alliance for Science |
January 31, 2019
Both farmers and the Ghanaian
scientists now conducting field trials of genetically modified (GM) rice
believe the improved variety will better the lives of smallholder rice farmers
once it’s released onto the market.
The nitrogen- and water-use
efficient and salt tolerant (NEWEST) rice has been engineered to require less
nitrogen fertilizer, tolerate drought conditions and grow in salty soils — and
still give good yield.
Confined field trials conducted
on a GM variety with just the nitrogen use-efficiency trait showed it increased
yields by between 14 and 25 percent over traditional varieties.
“This new variety will help us
boost productivity and ensure farmers get better yield from each hectare of
farmland,” Dr. Maxwell Darko Asante, plant breeder and principal investigator
in charge of the NEWEST rice project in Ghana, told the Alliance for Science in
an interview.
Rice is a major staple food in
Ghana and the second most consumed cereal crop after maize. But the Ministry of
Food and Agriculture estimates productivity on Ghanaian rice farms currently is
only about 46 percent of potential yield because of environmental and other
challenges.
Soils in most parts of Africa
have high levels of nitrogen deficiency and this has been identified as one of
the major factors limiting yield on rice farms in Ghana. Farmers thus have to
apply vast quantities of fertilizer to their fields every planting season in
order to grow rice successfully. Additionally, poor rainfall patterns as a
result of climate change limit productivity because more than 90 percent of
Ghana’s farm fields are not irrigated. And it’s difficult to grow rice in
coastal regions due to high levels of salt in the soils.
“The challenges with rice
production are several,” said John Awuku Dziwornu, a rice farmer at Asutsuare
in Southern Ghana. “Sometimes you apply a lot of fertilizer to the field and
nothing changes. It’s always a big challenge. And the weather is not helping
either.”
The challenge associated with
nitrogen deficiency and its impact on rice production in Africa is worrying,
said Francis Onyekachi Nwankwo, programs officer at the African Agricultural
Technology Foundation (AATF). “For everything you plant, you need
nutrients. With rice, nitrogen is needed in the soil to make it grow well. In a
soil that is deficient of nitrogen, you can see that you will have a poor
harvest. And fertilizer which gives nitrogen is not very much available and not
affordable to farmers.”
These challenges are precisely
what the NEWEST rice hopes to fix. Scientists at the Crop Research Institute of
the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Ghana are leading
ongoing trials to introduce the new variety in the country. Through the work of
California-based Arcadia Biosciences, the International Center for Tropical
Agriculture and the AATF, genes responsible for drought and salt tolerance and
nitrogen efficiency have been introduced into NERICA, a popular rice variety in
Africa. Research institutions in Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria are evaluating the
varieties to introduce the traits into other local rice varieties.
“For this project, we have two
different products that are coming out,” Onyekechi Nwankwo explained. “First is
nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) alone. Then the second covers all three [traits].
We have not done field trials on the combined traits yet. But for the nitrogen
use efficiency, we have evaluated and screened it in the field and selected the
best fertile ones that have the trait and are performing well in the field.”
Researchers still have to meet
requirements to conduct environmental and safety assessments, he said. “This
new variety will boost local rice production,” Onyekechi Nwankwo said. “Within
four years, it should be able to get to the hands of the farmers.”
Scientists conducted field trials
that showed the NERICA rice with the nitrogen use-efficiency trait produced
yields 14 and 25 percent higher than traditional varieties. The next phase of
the project will see the backcrossing of the desired traits from the GM NERICA
varieties into popular local rice varieties in Ghana, Asante said.
“So far, it’s just the NERICA4
which was transformed. Once the gene is de-regulated, then we can backcross it
into most of the popular jasmine types that we have locally. That is the plan.
If everything goes on as planned, for most of our popular varieties, we will
have NUE or NEWEST versions of it,” Asante said.
“You know our soils are depleted.
Farmers don’t get the productivity that they deserve. If this works, it means
farmers can get good yield by applying lower levels of fertilizer. So they save
money, and they make better yield,” he noted.
When the three stacked traits of
the NEWEST rice are finally introduced into local varieties of rice, other
benefits will be seen. “Peasant farmers who don’t have the financial strength
to irrigate their fields can use these varieties and the farms will still do
well,” Asante explained. “Marginal lands that farmers couldn’t plant on could
make use of these new varieties… In the coastal area where a lot of the lands
are salty, these new varieties will do well there.”
A recent economic study in Ghana
has predicted the adoption of the new GMO variety could add up to US$75.7
million (GH₵334m) to the rice production economy over the next six years if
released this year. The study predicts that if regulatory processes delay the
introduction of the new rice by five years, the rice sector will lose US$45.3
million (GH₵200m).
Charles Afriyie Debrah, biosafety
officer at the Crop Research Institute of the CSIR, said ownership of the new
GMO varieties will remain Ghanaian. He also assured farmers it may be possible
to re-plant their seeds if they wish. “Our GMO rice that we conducted the
experiment on, that crop, we have done about four trials. And it was based on
the seed that was saved. So there are those seeds that you can re-plant like
this new GMO variety,” he explained.
It could take about half a decade
before the novel varieties are eventually available on the market for farmers
to plant, but players in the rice industry are already expectant.
Rice farmer Dziwornu, who is also
vice chairman of the Ghana National Farmers and Fishermen Association, is
excited about the difference the new GMO rice can make in the country. “A lot
of work has been ongoing to produce improved rice varieties that can help
increase productivity,” he said. “We expect the NEWEST variety to benefit
farmers and Ghanaians in general.”
Joseph Opoku Gakpo is a
broadcast and online journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited in Ghana.
Follow him on Twitter @josephopoku1990
This article originally ran at
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RedMac machinery dealer explores
workforce options
RedMac Moora heavy duty
mechanic Brian Albinda (left) and branch manager Rob Brandis oversee the
pre-delivery of this Case IH 4430 self-propelled boomsprayer.
That’s the opinion of RedMac dealer principal Brett Young, Three
Springs.
“More focus should be placed on bringing in people with their
families who want to work and contribute to communities,” Mr Young said.
“I hate to say it, but we find it very difficult to get
Australians who want to work here and that’s a pretty general picture
throughout the ag industry.
“Since the last census, the population of Three Springs has fallen
from 800 to 580 and we’re not the only town with a falling population problem.
“Bringing in people with a strong desire to work here has multiple
benefits for employers and the general community.”
Mr Young cited two examples within his own dealership.
Brian Albinda is a heavy duty mechanic from the Philippines.
He worked for a building supplies company in Saudi Arabia as part
of a service team overseeing 1000 vehicles, 700 of which operated with Iveco
engines.
Mr Albinda became a specialist in engine and transmission
overhauls but eventually started looking for work opportunities in another
country because of the working conditions.
“You would start at six or seven o’clock in the morning and the
temperature already would be around 42 degrees Celsius and it just got hotter
through the day,” Mr Albinda said.
“I applied for a job at RedMac’s Moora branch through an
employment agency in the Philippines and my work with Iveco engines was a big
bonus for me because Case IH tractors and headers had Iveco engines.
“I come from a rice farm in the Philippines and we have threshers
and tractors but nothing the size of what I service here.”
Now in his sixth year at RedMac, Mr Albinda has a partner – Dixe
Rose Ong, a Filipino who gained Australian citizenship.
The couple have three school-age children and feel a strong part
of the Moora community.
He is waiting on documents that will confirm his Australian
citizenship, hopefully within the next four months.
A fellow countryman, Edel Entera, is a heavy duty mechanic at
RedMac’s Three Springs branch.
He will celebrate his seventh year in Australia in July, but to
customers and the Three Springs community he already is accepted as a valuable
community member.
Mr Entera is a member of the local bushfire brigade and an
enthusiastic ‘vollie’ at home football games with duties in the canteen.
He also is a passionate West Coast Eagles fan.
New faces at RedMac Three
Springs machinery dealership, service manager Rob Wyatt (left) and Edel Entera.
Rob joined the branch seven months ago while Edel, who hails from the
Philippines, is a 'seasoned' employee approaching seven years service.
After a six-year career in the Philippines working for a
construction company, Mr Entera also worked in Saudi Arabia and was a service
team leader overseeing 500 vehicles for another construction company.
But he quickly found a new passion working at RedMac.
“I love servicing the big gear, it doesn’t matter if it’s a
header, a sprayer or a tractor,’’ Mr Entera said.
“On the rice farms in the Philippines the tractors are powered by
three cylinder engines, spraying is done with a hand-held pump and we seed and
harvest by hand.
“I’ve attended the Case IH training schools, learning all about
the headers in Sydney and the engines, electrics and hydraulics in Perth.
“You always need to keep learning because technology is changing
all the time, especially with computers.
“But the limitation with computers is they only identify problems.
“It takes a human being to find out why there is a problem.”
Mr Entera met his wife Ginabeth in Australia and the couple have a
17-month-old daughter named Candice.
“We are very happy to be part of the Three Springs community and I
am very happy to have such a great job,” he said
Golden rice to be released soon: Bangladesh's agriculture
minister Abdur Razzak | #AsiaNewsNetwork
PUBLISHED 31 JANUARY 2019
Daily
Star/ANN - Golden rice, a new variety of rice helpful to fight Vitamin A
deficiency, will be released soon, said Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzak
today.
He came up with the information
after a meeting with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) at the
secretariat today.
"Golden rice is important than
the other varieties of rice as it will be helpful to fight Vitamin A
deficiency. The rice variety has already got clearance in the USA, Canada and
Australia," he said.
"A committee of the Ministry
of Environment will give clearance to Golden rice for its production. We will
be able to start cultivation of the rice in Bangladesh within 2/3 months upon
getting clearance from the ministry," he said.
Most of the people of our country
live on rice. They also do not take sufficient vegetable, for that the demand
of Vitamin-A remains unfulfilled. When the rice will be produced, the demand of
Vitamin-A will be fulfilled, said Razzak.
Besides, it will be also easier to
cultivate golden rice in coastal areas combating with salinity condition, added
the minister.
New study argues
white rice by itself not linked to increased diabetes risk, overall diet
quality more important
JAN 31, 2019, 6:48 PM SGT
UPDATED
FEB 1, 2019, 6:19 AM
SINGAPORE - Cutting down
on white rice may not in itself lower a person's risk of getting diabetes, two
new studies have found.
The risk depends on what the rice
is substituted with and the overall quality of a person's diet, said Professor
Koh Woon Puay, director of the Centre for Clinician-Scientist Development at
Duke-NUS Medical School, a co-author of the studies.
Both studies used data from the
ongoing Singapore Chinese Health Study, which was started in 1993 by the National
University of Singapore (NUS).
This comes after a series of
previous studies that linked white rice to diabetes. In 2016, Singapore's
Health Promotion Board cited studies by the Harvard School of Public Health in
the United States which showed that each plate of white rice eaten daily on a
regular basis raises the risk of diabetes by 11 per cent in the overall
population.
In one study, researchers from
NUS and Duke-NUS Medical School found no link between the quantity of white
rice consumed and the risk of Type 2 diabetes when controlled for other
variables like age, sex and body mass index (BMI), and various other food
intakes.
Type 2 diabetes is related to
weight management, and is a result of blocked or reduced insulin receptors.
Over 90 per cent of diabetics suffer from Type 2 diabetes.
"Even over a relatively wide
range of rice intakes, from half a bowl to several bowls a day, we didn't see
much of an increase in the risk of diabetes," said Professor Rob Martinus
van Dam, domain leader of epidemiology at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public
Health in NUS and one of the study's co-authors.
Prof van Dam said the study
showed that a person who eats less rice is likely to eat more of something else
to maintain the same calorie intake.
But people who ate different
foods in place of rice were affected differently.
For example, a person may choose
more noodle dishes, which are often cooked in sauces that are high in salt and
oil, he said. Others may eat more meat to feel full.
These increase their risk of
diabetes.
Substituting rice with whole
grains, on the other hand, decreases the risk.
Another study, also involving
Prof van Dam and Prof Koh, used established diet quality indices to determine
the overall "quality" of a person's dietary pattern.
They then measured the link
between diet quality and diabetes risk.
A list of 165 food items and
beverages were identified, covering an estimated 90 per cent of what is
commonly eaten by the population in Singapore.
It is the first such study to
examine local food specifically.
The researchers said the study
found that whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and a moderate amount of
dairy were associated with lower risks of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and
stroke, in line with other established dietary studies from mostly Western
countries.
Sugar-sweetened drinks, processed
meat and red meat - including beef, pork and even the darker portions of
poultry like chicken thigh meat - were found to be associated with higher risks
of the same diseases.
Hyderabad: To curb illegal activities in paddy procurement and distribution of essential commodities through Public Distribution System (PDS) state government has hired the services of a retired Colonel from Hyderabad who participated in several important operations like Operation Bluestar and Operation Vijay.
But, As part of strengthening the Enforcement wing of civil supplies department to keep a check on corruption in Public Distribution System (PDS) and prevent malpractice by rice millers and transport contractors, state government has appointed Colonel M Surya Prakash, a Hyderabadi, as Civil Supplies Department Vigilance Chief on Thursday and he will take charge on Friday. Till now retired police personnel were heading the enforcement wing.
Colonel Surya Prakash, was commissioner into the Indian Army in 1977 September and worked in the Army for 32 years. He participated in important operation like Operation Blue Star, Operation Rakshak, Operation Vijay and Operation Parakram. He also served as Joint Director in Army Headquarters, New Delhi and in the Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (DRDO) on deputation from Army.
Five teams, each headed by a retired SP or Additional SP rank cop will work under Colonel Surya Prakash. Each team comprises of four retired police and a retired civil supplies official, selected after a thorough vetting process.
Times of India
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