Crop
Monitor for Early Warning | July 2019
REPORT
from GEOGLAM
Published on 08 Jul
2019
Overview:
In
East Africa, production prospects are poor for main season cereals in parts of
Somalia and Kenya due to a delayed onset of rains and dry conditions. In West
Africa, main season maize planting continues across the south of the region and
conditions are favourable with good rains received. In the Middle East and
North Africa, winter wheat crops are generally favourable due to good rains
throughout the season except in parts of Morocco where poor production has resulted
from dry conditions, and in Syria and Iraq due to ongoing conflict. In Southern
Africa, winter wheat planted in May is favourable, except in Zambia, where dry
conditions have carried over from the previous season. In Central and South
Asia, winter cereals for harvest in August are favourable despite some dry
conditions in May. In Southeast Asia, harvest of dry-season rice is complete in
the north and favourable yields resulted except in parts of Thailand and
Philippines. Planting of wet-season rice is underway and conditions are
favourable with good rains at the start of the season. In Central America and
the Caribbean primera season planting started in May and there is some concern
due to irregular rainfall and dry conditions.
Curbing Rice
Smuggling
19 hours ago
July 9, 2019
ByRice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RFAN) and Rice Producers Association of Nigeria (RPAN) recently disclosed plans to crash the price of 50kg of locally produced rice from N15, 000 currently to N10, 000 before Christmas.
The Farmers claim to have produced a lot and that has helped the cost of paddy rice to reduce from about N11,000 that it used to be to N8,000 now. They also said that the cost of milled rice has been reducing over the years and to curb smuggling, local rice price will come down further. In this process, the cost reduction in paddy production will definitely warrant a decrease in the price of milled rice.
This newspaper commends the resolution of the rice farmers and millers because we believe policy makers can make the price of local rice competitive with that of smuggled ones. It will also encourage farmers and millers to produce more and make rice affordable to the average consumer of the product.
We believe that for the policy to work, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) must step up its anti-smuggling activities. Nigeria’s fledgling local rice industry is facing the grim threat of collapse as toxic foreign rice dominate most of the country’s major food markets. Across the country, rice smugglers are having a field day filling the markets and stores with imported rice whose quality and safety are as questionable as the unscrupulous elements that brought them.
Rice, according to the NCS, is the most smuggled item into the country, constituting 70 per cent of all rice products in the local markets and sucking away scarce foreign exchange. Despite the outright ban on rice imports, it appears smugglers are always finding ways to circumvent measures to halt their illegal trade.
Investors in Nigeria have made enormous financial commitment in the rice sub-sector. Unfortunately, the only threat to the industry’s total development, is smuggling. According to the farmers, over one million metric tonnes of rice, which is equivalent to about 20,000,000 bags of 50kg rice, have been smuggled into Nigeria in the last three months.
LEADERSHIP investigations also showed that the smuggled rice usually came into the country through Niger and the Republic of Benin. For instance, in Ogun and Lagos states, it was gathered that the traders bought a bag of rice at between N5,000 and N6,000 in the Republic of Benin, as the contraband was usually transported to Nigeria through the Seme and Idi-Iroko borders.
Nigeria currently loses huge revenues, foreign exchange, and jobs to this menace, as Nigeria rice processing companies are shutting down because of their inability to gain market access. Findings also revealed that most of international borders in the country have been converted to smugglers route, and the markets are filled with smuggled foreign rice.
The most worrisome issue, in our opinion, is that the imported rice brands are loaded with deadly chemicals, repackaged with fake production and expiry dates, and shipped in after over 20 years in foreign silos.
We therefore urge the government to step up efforts to curb smuggling into the country because unless the menace of rice smuggling is totally eliminated, local rice industry will continue to be under serious danger of collapse. The nation is losing huge revenues, foreign exchange and jobs to the menace as Nigerian Rice processors are shutting down due to inability to gain market access as a result of the influx of foreign rice into the local markets.
Fertiliser prices to rise by Rs100 per bag after hike in gas
tariff
d: July 10, 2019
PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: The government has hinted at increasing
fertiliser prices by Rs100 per bag following a hike in gas prices.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday,
Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production Abdul
Razak Dawood said the production cost of fertiliser had gone up due to a recent
hike in gas prices. However, he said, final decision would be taken on
Thursday, following a meeting with representatives of the fertiliser industry.
The industry had demanded an increase of
Rs200 per bag in fertiliser prices due to the hike in gas prices, the adviser
said, adding that the industry had not yet increased the prices.
He claimed that there was a smooth supply of
fertiliser in line with demand and the government was making efforts to prevent
undue hike in fertiliser prices. The government would safeguard the interest of
farmers, however, subsidy could not be given following a deal with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it would affect the revenue collection, he
added.
Regarding the country’s trade, Dawood said
there had been no change in the volume of exports and imports during 2018-19.
Exports stood at $23 billion against the target of $24 billion.
There had been no increase in exports in
dollars terms, he said. However, a decline of $6 billion was witnessed in the
trade deficit, he said, adding that the deficit stood at $31 billion in
2018-19.
Rice exports to Qatar
In a statement, the Ministry of Commerce
said Qatar had lifted the ban on rice export from Pakistan while Iran would
also import 500,000 tons of paddy. It would lead to an increase in exports from
Pakistan. “Pakistani is set to export rice to Qatar as the latter has
advertised a tender to import 100,000 bags of the commodity,” it said.
The Ministry of Commerce said the current
government had been working to boost exports of traditional and non-traditional
products. Rice is the largest agro- commodity in the export basket of the
country with exports of over $2 billion.
The government wants to take rice exports to
$5 billion in the next five years. To achieve this target, the Ministry of
Commerce said it was recapturing traditional markets as well as entering new
markets. With continuous effort of the government of Pakistan, Qatar has now
opened its market for Pakistani rice, the statement added. Previously,
Pakistan’s rice was not being purchased by the state procurement agency of
Qatar.
Dawood said rice exports to China and
Indonesia were going up due to the additional market access secured by the
government. Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) said it was
encouraging that basmati rice exports had been on an upward trend, fetching
$637.99 million in FY19 compared to $581.85 million in the previous year.
Previously,
the private sector in Qatar continued to import rice from Pakistan, however,
the Central Tendering Committee (CTC), which procures for state-supplied
subsidised rice for Qatari citizens, made its tender Indian-origin specific,
thereby effectively banning the import of any other origin rice including
Pakistani rice into Qatar in 2011-12.
Published in The Express
Tribune, July 10th, 2019.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in
the conversation.
Read more: Central Tendering Committee , fertilizers , gas hike
Unjustified price hike of fertilizers not to be tolerated:
Dawood
ImaduddinJuly 9, 2019
ISLAMABAD: The Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile,
Industries and Production Abdul Razak Dawood on Tuesday said any unjustified
increase in fertilizer prices would not to be tolerated as the government was
fully determined to protect the local farming community for the development of
agriculture sector of the country.
Addressing a news conference, he said the prices of fertilizers
to be determined according to the guidelines of federal cabinet by taking the
fertilizers manufacturers on board.
He said that he would meet with the fertilizers producers on
Thursday and the prices of the commodity would be determined after due
calculations.
He added that he had met with the fertilizer produces before
budget 2019-20 and they had agreed that any change in price of the commodity would
be made with due consultation of the concern ministry.
The adviser reiterated the government resolve to protect the
local farmers from price hike, besides providing them maximum relief for the
development of agriculture sector and poverty alleviation from the country.
Razak Dawood said due to certain changes that had introduced in
Federal Budget 2019-20, gas prices were increased and due to that the
fertilizers manufacturers have demanded to increase prices of the commodity by
Rs100 per bag.
However, he said that the federal cabinet has decided to reduce
the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) in order to minimize the
increasing gas prices impact on fertilizer manufacturing.
He categorically cleared that there was no dearth of the
fertilizers across the country, adding that according to the demand and
supply analysis, sufficient stocks were available for domestic consumption upto
December this year.
He informed that average domestic production of the fertilizers
during last six months were recorded at 3.2 million tons as compared the local
demand of 2.9 million tons.
Highlighting the trade volume during the last fiscal year
(2018019), he said exports from the country were recoded at US $ 23 billion as
against the targets of US $ 24 billion.
He said in quantity terms, the exports of ready made garments
was increased by 20%, rice by 46%, cement 26%, foot wear 27% and netwear by
10%.
He said that it was a positive sign for the local industrial
sector that showed that the output has increased, value addition has gone up
and international market share was also enhanced.
He said that decrease in dollar term was due to decreasing
prices trend in international market as the over all world trade was reduced by
three percent in last fiscal year.
Besides that, he said import into the country had also gone down
by US $ 6 billion as against the last year, adding that trade deficit was
reduced by US $ 5.9 billion during the period under review.
He said Pakistan was moving towards value addition and many
foreign companies had expressed their keen interest in establishing their units
of lather and textile here.
He said that about nine Chinese companies were going to
establish their industrial units at Faisalabad and started work.
The adviser said Qatar had also removed the ban on the imports
of rice from Pakistan and rice exports had already been started for Qatar.
He informed that Iran has also expressed its keen interest to
import rice from Pakistan, adding that about 500,000 tons rice to be exported
to Iran.
Replaying to a query, he said there were some certain issues
that had emerged after the current budget, adding that government was
determined to address all such matters to facilitate the local trade and
business.
He said that he along with the Prime Minister would visit
Karachi and would meet with the business community to address all their issues
in an amicable manner for the development of trade and industry in the country.
The adviser cleared that the tax compliance culture would be
promoted as no body in the country was willing to pay its due tax that was the
main impediment in national economic development.
Ben Diokno’s mantra
"Financial inclusion through
technology"
Low
inflation, low interest rates, high growth rates, deeper financial inclusion
using technology.
On
these four core policy thrusts will public management expert and political
economist Benjamin E. Diokno, 71, be remembered by the Filipino people as
governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The
central bank chief thinks the inflation rate or the rate of increase in prices
of goods and services consumed by an average Filipino household will be 2.9
percent for the whole of 2019.
In
September and October of 2018, inflation climbed to 6.7 percent—the highest in
11 years, thanks to the state-owned National Food Authority announcing a rice
shortage before it happened and NFA, given P5 billion, deciding to pay its
debts instead of buying rice to boost the stockpile of the Filipino staple
food.
Rice
is 15 points of a poor man’s consumer price index (CPI or the basket of goods
and services). Together, all food items account for 50 percent of that CPI.
Since rice is a bellwether food item, when its price goes up, so do prices of
other food items. Since food prices have psychological effect on all other
products, the price of all other products rise as well. Worsening the situation
last year was the sudden spike in prices of refined petroleum products, thanks
to TRAIN.
Diesel
used to be zero excise tax per liter. It was taxed at P2.50 per liter in 2018;
P4.50 by January 2019. The government claimed diesel is dirty and is used
mainly by the rich. Not true. Diesel is used by farmers for irrigation, by
fishermen for their fishing boats, by drivers for their jeepneys, the main
transport of the poor. Diesel is also a bellwether product. You increase its
price with a tax, you increase the prices of other commodities.
The
government now allows private companies to import rice. Rice imports were no
longer limited by quotas, but by tariffs, meaning as long as the importer pays
tariffs, he can import as much rice as he can. The result: A flood of imported
rice, bringing its price down from P50 per kilo to as low as P27.
If
you halve the price of rice and rice is 15 points of the CPI and all food is 50
percent of the CPI, you readily reduce inflation by at least 25 percent. In
fact, inflation by April 2019 was cut by half to 3.0 percent or less than half
of the 6.7 percent September-October 2018 inflation. Diokno thinks inflation
for the whole of 2019 will be 2.9 percent, if not lower.
How
will Diokno cut interest rates? He will flood the banking system with money.
How? By lowering the reserve requirement on bank deposits. Reserve is the
percentage of deposits banks must park with the central bank. It is useless,
idle money. You release it to the system by lowering the reserve requirement,
initially, from 18 percent when Diokno took over BSP governor last March 2019,
to 16 percent, a reduction of 2 percentage points. One percentage point is
equivalent to P100 billion. Two percentage points is P200 billion.
With
reserve at 16, only P84 billion of each P100 billion will be released to the
system. So P200 billion less 16 percent reserve is P168 billion. Usually, banks
can lend a peso of deposit 7x, assuming their capital can handle the risk, so
7x P168 billion is P1.176 trillion.
Over
the next four years of his governorship, Diokno promises to cut RR by half or
to 9 percent, in effect releasing P900 billion which the banks will have to
lend as loans—to corporations (including government), to consumers, to you and
me.
If
there is more supply of money, interest rates (which is the price of money)
will go down. The cheaper money borrowed then will go into capital goods
(roads, bridges, machinery and equipment, cars, your smart), and consumption
(shopping at SM, travel abroad, trip to Tagaytay, dining at Mang Inasal).
Businesses will expand. Government will improve infra. More factories will be
opened and more people will be hired. So good times are ahead.
Diokno
notes that other countries in ASEAN have even lower RR. Thailand is one
percent. Malaysia is 3.5 percent. No wonder these countries are robust,
economically. Their economy is flooded with deposit money.
With
the spending buoyant and the economy expanding, you have high growth rates.
This
is not happening yet though. In fact, economic growth as measured by GDP growth
rate, is slower—from 7.2 percent in third quarter (Q3) 2017, 6.5 in Q4 2017,
6.6 in Q12018, 6.2 in Q2 2018, 6 in Q3 2018, 6.1 in Q4 2018, and finally, down
to 5.6 percent in Q1 2019.
Why
the slowing growth? I suspect government people are stealing the money (the
so-called corruption) or are simply incompetent to implement projects (the
so-called absorptive capacity). And private companies have been slow to react
to the improved economic environment (the so-called economic lag of projects).
How
can the poor benefit from all this good news? That is where financial inclusion
comes in. Banks will pay more attention to you. Some 600 towns have no banks.
BSP explains financial inclusion this way:
“Financial
inclusion is a state wherein there is effective access to a wide range of
financial services for all. Effective access does not only mean that there are
financial products and services that are available. These products and services
must be appropriately designed, of good quality and relevant to benefit the
person accessing the said service. Wide range of financial services refers to a
full set of products such as savings, credit, insurance, payments and
remittance services for different market segments, particularly those that are
traditionally underserved or unserved.”
Diokno
hopes to achieve financial inclusion through technology—through your
cellphones, Facebook, the internet of things, the digitalization of banking
functions. You get your remittance through your cellphone. You pick up your
money from 7-11, Jollibee, Mcdo, Starbucks, your corner pawnshop. You pay your
bills through them too. Kasama ka, kasali ka. Sa pera ng bangko.
biznewsasia@gmail.com
Let’s
talk about India’s colossal water problem
India needs to provide the basic
resources necessary to make its cities function
Published: July
09, 2019 15:34David Fickling
Residents fill their containers
with drinking water from a municipal tanker in New Delhi, India, on July 1,
2019.Image
Credit: Reuters
As a child in 1943, the noted
Indian economist Amartya Sen watched one of the worst famines of the 20th
century sweep through his native Bengal. Contrary to the popular image, the
disaster didn’t manifest as a widespread shortage of food, he later wrote. The
middle classes hadn’t “experienced the slightest problem during the entire
famine,” which primarily affected “landless rural labourers” instead.
That observation carries an
important lesson for India as it runs short of a commodity even more
fundamental than grain: water. As Sen showed, famine doesn’t simply result from
supplies running out, but from prices being pushed beyond the reach of the
neediest. Similarly, India’s current drought isn’t happening so much because of
an absolute shortage of water, as its misallocation and mispricing.
That’s shown most dramatically by
the crisis in Chennai. While the city is now dependent on importing water by
tankers to slake its thirst, India simultaneously has the title of the world’s
biggest water exporter:
Modi has vowed to give every
household in the country access to piped drinking water by 2024, a target that
will inevitably require farms to take a smaller share of the pie.
- David Fickling
So-called virtual water exports
‘the molecules of H20 embedded in exported goods, alongside those rendered
unusable by the production of those goods’ amount to a net 95.4 billion cubic
metres a year, according to data collected by the Water Footprint Network, a
group that encourages thriftier usage. This makes India a bigger exporter of
water than far better-endowed countries such as Brazil, Russia, the United
States and Canada, and represents nearly four times the 25 billion cubic metres
consumed by India’s households and industrial enterprises.
Criminal waste
Most of that comes down to the
fact that India’s largest agricultural exports are rice and cotton, which both
require thousands of litres of water for every kilogram of product. Sugar and
water buffalo meat, two of the other leading farm exports, are also
water-intensive.
There’s no scarcity of these
crops in global terms. India blocks rice imports with tariffs and typically
sends about 10 per cent of its crop overseas. That puts the country on par with
Thailand for the title of biggest exporter and contributes to a worldwide glut
of rice, expected to hit a record 172 million metric tonnes in the 2020 crop
year. Cotton prices have fallen 20 per cent over the past year, with a global
stockpile equivalent to about 60 per cent of consumption. Sugar hit its lowest
price in a decade last August.
Putting so much water into
fattening rice grains and swelling cotton bolls seems a criminal waste of a
precious resource that urban areas are crying out for. As Mihir Sharma has
written, 21 Indian cities will start running short of groundwater by next year,
including New Delhi and Bengaluru, while 200,000 people in the country die each
year because of a lack of access to safe water.
If India wants to grow the
economies of these cities, it needs to provide the basic resources necessary to
make them function. Yet while urbanites are having to watch every sip they
consume, farmers are living high on the hog. About 70 per cent of agricultural
water use comes from groundwater, much of it pumped out of the soil with
heavily subsidised, coal-fired electricity and then used in a notoriously
wasteful fashion.
In the Chennai basin, about 79
per cent of water is set aside for agriculture and livestock farming, with just
11 per cent going to domestic use and another 10% to industry. Nationwide, the
figures are even more tilted towards the farm sector. In a country where a
third of the population lives in cities, agriculture uses about 90 per cent of
fresh water, compared with 64 per cent in China, 60 per cent in Brazil, and 44
per cent in Nigeria.
Uneven allocation
One view is that this uneven
allocation is simply the price India pays to support its rural poor. That’s not
quite right. The farmers who have access to pumped groundwater aren’t typically
low-income smallholders, but larger-scale rural business owners with the collateral
to finance purchases of pumping equipment.
These figures constitute a
powerful political grouping that has resisted measures, such as power metering
and more generous diversions to cities, which are needed to avert India’s urban
water crisis. The rural poor don’t do so well. If anything, small-scale farmers
reliant on hand-drawn wells are even worse off when the water table is being
pumped away for nothing by their wealthier neighbours.
That status quo may be on the
verge of breaking. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to give every
household in the country access to piped drinking water by 2024, a target that
will inevitably require farms to take a smaller share of the pie. Worse,
climate change and the ongoing over-extraction of groundwater are already
pushing the system to a breaking point.
It’s the same old story that the
Nobel laureate Sen observed. As in 1943, India’s poor and landless (whether in
urban or rural areas) are the ones who suffer, while the wealthy and landed
prosper. If Modi wants to deliver on his electoral promises, that’s going to
have to change.
— Bloomberg
David Fickling is a columnist
covering commodities, as well as industrial and consumer companies.
First-Ever Sale of US Rice to China
Announced
July
09, 2019
Dan
Siekman
Jim Guinn, Director, Asia
Promotion Programs, USA Rice Federation; William Li, Overseas Director,
Shenzhen Yintuo & Vice President, Dragon Ocean Hing Group, Jim Levy, U.S.
Consul General to China, U.S. Embassy; Chris Zhang, President, Dragon Ocean
Hing Group; Erin O’Donnell, Assistant Vice President of Global Rice Trading,
Sun Valley Rice; Bobby Richey Jr., Minister-Counselor for Agricultural Affairs
in China, USDA. Image: Sun Valley Rice
The door to a promising new market
has been cracked open for US rice exporters with the announcement on July
3 that Dunnigan, California-based Sun Valley Rice had completed the first-ever
sale of US-produced rice to China.
In a press release, Sun Valley said
it would be providing, "California Calrose medium-grain rice to Shenzhen
Yintuo, part of the Dragon Ocean Hing Group, one of the largest importers of
rice into China." The statement continued, "The private packaged rice
for Shenzhen Yintuo will be delivered in time for the upcoming Mid-Autumn
Festival, held in September in China and available for both retail and food
service distribution." Media reports in the US and China stated that the
first shipment would be comprised of two containers carrying 40 tons of rice.
Sun Valley stated that it has been
seeking to gain access to the China market since 2004—although China and the US
did not finalize import protocols until 2017.
“We chose Sun Valley Rice because
when we first toured the US, we went to California and witnessed that Sun
Valley Rice had clearly studied Asian cultures deeply (especially Japanese and
Chinese),” said William Li, Overseas Director, Shenzhen Yintuo & Vice
President, Dragon Ocean Hing Group, according to the Sun Valley press release.
"Most rice imported into China
today currently comes from Thailand, Pakistan and Vietnam and is of the
long-grain type," said the statement from Sun Valley. "California
Calrose is a medium-grain varietal, predominately grown in the Sacramento
Valley, and is considered the premium medium-grain rice due to its superior
taste, aroma and texture. "
Despite its domestic production
being dwarfed by Asian countries like China and Thailand, the US is globally
the fifth largest exporter of rice, with almost 3.2 million tons of exports in
2018.
The industry is hopeful this first
deal in one of many to come. “This sale marks a turning point for the U.S. rice
industry and its relationship with China,” says Betsy Ward, President and CEO
of USA Rice, the national trade association representing rice growers, millers
and merchants in the United States. “We’ve spent decades chasing this enormous
market, and the Sun Valley Rice sale is the first ever of U.S. rice to a
private importer. It is truly historic and sets the stage for continued regular
trade with China for U.S.-grown rice.”
As Atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide Rises, Nutrient Content of Rice Falls
RISING LEVELS OF
ATMOSPHERIC CO2 don’t
just warm the planet, they lower the levels of beneficial vitamins and other
nutrients in grains and edible plants. New research has shown that rice grown
at carbon dioxide levels that could be reached as soon as 2050 are expected to
suffer a one-sixth to nearly one-third loss of their B vitamin content. A study
conducted at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) now
quantifies the health impact of that change.
Globally, rice is humanity’s most
important staple food, and for half a billion people, the crop provides more
than 50 percent of their daily calories. That poses a serious potential
problem: a prior study published by principal research scientist Samuel Myers
and colleagues at HSPH found that when atmospheric CO2 reaches
550 parts per million (up from its current 410+ ppm), the reduced protein content
of the rice will lead to protein deficiency in an additional 148 million people.That work also documented declines in the iron and zinc
content of rice, wheat, barley, legumes, maize and potatoes—all of them
important staple foods.
The latest study, published
in GeoHealth,
focuses on the impact of rising CO2 on the B vitamins folate,
riboflavin, and thiamin. Maternal deficiencies in folate can lead to
neural-tube defects in unborn children, as well as weakness and loss of
appetite in adults; thiamin deficiency causes beriberi; and low levels of
riboflavin can cause skin lesions and nervous disorders, including migraines.
Using a framework that allows them to estimate the impact of these changes on
the global burden of disease, the researchers estimate that an additional 132
million people would suffer folate deficiency based on their consumption of
rice alone, 67 million additional people will become deficient in thiamin, and
40 million more people will become deficient in riboflavin.
Those numbers almost certainly understate
the impact. As Myers and his coauthor, HSPH research associate Matthew R.
Smith, write: “Because elevated CO2 concentrations are likely
to reduce B vitamins in other crops beyond rice, our findings likely represent
an underestimate of the impact of anthropogenic CO2 emissions
on sufficiency of B vitamin intake.” And their new study does not attempt to
quantify the global burden of disease that may be triggered by deficiencies in
other nutrients that decline with rising CO2. As they put it, “CO2-induced
nutritional declines could produce a major headwind on progress toward
alleviating malnutrition, and deserves attention and concerted action.”
TINY
CREATURES PLAY A BIG ROLE IN CLIMATE CHANGE
REPUBLISH
July 9, 2019 — You can’t see them, but it’s time to start trying.
Microorganisms, tiny creatures
invisible to the naked eye, play a “central role” in our climate crisis, more
than 30 microbiologists contend in a new report in Nature Reviews Microbiology. “The microbial
world constitutes the life support system of the biosphere,” the researchers
write in what they call a “scientists’ warning to humanity.”
Despite living everywhere that
larger organisms inhabit, and in many extreme environments in which they don’t,
bacteria and other microbes are “rarely the focus” of climate change research,
the scientists say. To adequately address the climate challenge, they
say, that needs to change.
Take the greenhouse gas methane,
whose molecules heat the planet by 86 times as much as carbon dioxide over a
20-year period. A key source of methane emissions is agriculture — or, more
precisely, microorganisms that live in agricultural systems. The
microbiologists’ warning notes that while rice helps feed half of all people on
Earth, the microbes that live in rice paddies produce one-fifth of agricultural
methane — hundreds of millions of tons of the gas.
Meanwhile, the researchers point
out, the No. 1 way humans spurt methane into the air is by raising ruminant
livestock, animals like sheep and cattle, who carry methane-producing microbes
in their guts. These tiny bacteria, protozoa and fungi help break down food, a
process that releases methane on the other end. That’s why the climate
footprint of ruminant meat production is 19 to 48 times higher than some
plant-based protein.
The amount of methane in the
atmosphere has been climbing, especially since 2014. While researchers haven’t reached a consensus on exactly what’s driving the
recent spike, it likely involves both fossil fuels and microbial methane-makers in
wetlands and farmland.
In the oceans, the report says,
warming waters may change the communities of microorganisms that live in
corals, which could in turn boost the risk of coral bleaching and disease. And
as oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the air, they become more acidic, which
might be damaging the tissue of fish and other organisms,
weakening their immune systems and opening an opportunity for bacterial
infection.
Small marine algae known as
phytoplankton coat the oceans, and they suck carbon dioxide out of the
atmosphere. Half of photosynthesis worldwide is the work of these plankton,
which churn through their life cycles far faster than trees and other plants.
That speed, the study notes, makes them “respond rapidly on a global scale to
climate variations.”
On land, melting permafrost
serves up a meal of formerly frozen carbon to microbes that decompose it,
releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the air above.
The researchers urge more
research investigating the role of microorganisms in climate change, and call
for climate models to include microbial processes in order to improve
predictions of future climate scenarios.
In addition, the scientists
recommend that policy-makers and natural resource managers factor
microorganisms into their decisions and actions such as efforts to meet the
United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. That may seem
like a big emphasis on such tiny creatures — but if these researchers are
right, it will be to everyone’s benefit to size up the small stuff.
USA
Rice Partners with Acclaimed Chef
By Lesley Dixon
REHOBOTH, DE -- USA Rice is teaming up with three times James
Beard award nominee and 2018 Starr Chef Rising Star winner Hari Cameron for a
year-long program across the culinary and foodservice realms. Chef
Cameron will assist with recipe production, spokesperson duties, tradeshows,
content creation, culinary introductions, and expertise into foodservice
operations and sourcing.
"I am thrill
ed to have Chef Hari joining the
USA Rice team," said USA Rice Domestic Promotion Manager Cameron
Jacobs. "His culinary expertise and insight into the foodservice
industry coupled with his passion for supporting American farmers and
commitment to sourcing local products makes him the perfect person for helping
to spread USA Rice messaging and promote U.S.-grown rice."
Cameron is a highly acclaimed chef winning multiple Best Chef Mid-Atlantic awards and Delaware's Best Farm to Table Restaurant in addition to his James Beard nods. He is frequently featured in foodservice media, culinary exhibitions, and mid-Atlantic television.
"Hari's expertise goes beyond cooking," said Jacobs. "He is a gifted media spokesperson and I have no doubt that in addition to his culinary knowledge, his media skills will truly benefit USA Rice."
As an ardent supporter of local agriculture, Cameron incorporates U.S.-grown rice into many rice dishes featured at his a(MUSE) restaurant here with special callouts to U.S.-grown on the menu and the USA Rice restaurant emblem prominently displayed out front. And Chef Cameron's skill set is not just limited to the kitchen. He's also responsible for the creation of Gentle Giant, a U.S.-grown brown rice green tea beer, brewed with four different types of malted rice and aged on Genmaicha green tea and Koji rice that was part of the BrewAdvocate's Extreme Beer Fest this spring.
"In life, when you put the best in, you achieve the best end results. The same rule applies with the principles of cooking and recipe development," said Chef Cameron. "That's why I use US- grown rice. I love both the quality and variety of rice available to me. The fact that I can trace it back to the state that grows it ensures the best product available. I'm excited and appreciate the opportunity to partner with USA Rice and continue to spread the word about U.S.-grown rice."
The chef partnership kicks off August 1 and will run until the end of July 2020.
"I am thrill
ed to have Chef Hari joining the
USA Rice team," said USA Rice Domestic Promotion Manager Cameron
Jacobs. "His culinary expertise and insight into the foodservice
industry coupled with his passion for supporting American farmers and
commitment to sourcing local products makes him the perfect person for helping
to spread USA Rice messaging and promote U.S.-grown rice."Cameron is a highly acclaimed chef winning multiple Best Chef Mid-Atlantic awards and Delaware's Best Farm to Table Restaurant in addition to his James Beard nods. He is frequently featured in foodservice media, culinary exhibitions, and mid-Atlantic television.
"Hari's expertise goes beyond cooking," said Jacobs. "He is a gifted media spokesperson and I have no doubt that in addition to his culinary knowledge, his media skills will truly benefit USA Rice."
As an ardent supporter of local agriculture, Cameron incorporates U.S.-grown rice into many rice dishes featured at his a(MUSE) restaurant here with special callouts to U.S.-grown on the menu and the USA Rice restaurant emblem prominently displayed out front. And Chef Cameron's skill set is not just limited to the kitchen. He's also responsible for the creation of Gentle Giant, a U.S.-grown brown rice green tea beer, brewed with four different types of malted rice and aged on Genmaicha green tea and Koji rice that was part of the BrewAdvocate's Extreme Beer Fest this spring.
"In life, when you put the best in, you achieve the best end results. The same rule applies with the principles of cooking and recipe development," said Chef Cameron. "That's why I use US- grown rice. I love both the quality and variety of rice available to me. The fact that I can trace it back to the state that grows it ensures the best product available. I'm excited and appreciate the opportunity to partner with USA Rice and continue to spread the word about U.S.-grown rice."
The chef partnership kicks off August 1 and will run until the end of July 2020.
Brad Robb
Dr. Steve Linscombe talks about The Rice Foundation’s recently
released sustainability report during the 110th Annual Rice Field Day held at
the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley, La.
U.S. rice industry reviews pillars of improvements
Rice
sustainability report released
In 2017, Dr. Steve Linscombe
retired from the Louisiana State University Rice Research Center after 35 years
of service, but he has much more he wants to do for the industry that fueled
his career for so long.
Linscombe, a world renowned and
respected rice breeder and researcher with over 30 varietal releases to his
credit, knows that when one door closes, another one usually opens, and for
him, that door led to an opportunity to become the new executive director of
The Rice Foundation.
He returned to Crowley, La., last
month to participate in the 110th Annual Rice Field Day with
a specific message to each rice farmer in attendance. “The rice industry has
come so far in terms of environmental, social, and economic improvements,” says
Linscombe. “These three areas are being called our pillars of sustainability,
and they are interwoven. You can’t have one without the other. We have a great
message that must be told to the end users of our product, and we have recently
taken a big first step to tell it.”
Thanks to a grant from the
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), The Rice Foundation was able to
commission a rice industry sustainability report that highlights 36 years of
constant improvements and how those improvements have solidified the U.S. rice
industry’s position as one of, if not the most, sustainable in the world.
While the definition of
sustainability may be open to interpretations, the U.S. rice industry’s
extensive track record of improvements is evident, and Linscombe complimented
the many growers who have helped make those improvements.
“U.S. rice farmers have not only
raised the yield bar tremendously, they have increased rice production’s land
use efficiency by 34 percent over that time period,” says Linscombe. “Through a
52 percent reduction in water use, less trips across fields through adoptions
of conservation tillage, and more efficient equipment, 34 percent less energy
is being used to produce our nation’s annual rice crop — that’s huge.”
Climate change and biodiversity
Linscombe noted that no matter
your view about climate change, it is real, and the 1,000-pound gorilla in rice
production is the large volume of methane being emitted from each year’s crop.
“Upland crops don’t produce high volumes of methane because they’re not
flooded,” he told the tour group. “When you get into an aquatic situation,
there’s more tendency to produce methane, but the gains made by all of you and
other growers across the six rice-producing states have helped this industry as
a whole reduce our cumulative methane production by over 40 percent.”
Soil loss has never been an issue
or major concern in rice production, but that does not mean it was overlooked
in this sustainability analysis. “Because of the way rice has been produced
through the decades, we have actually decreased soil loss by 28 percent,” says
Linscombe. “We do have an area where our industry can really take great pride,
and that is in the area of biodiversity.”
Production rice ground
contributes to the biodiversity of habitats for a wide variety of birds,
waterfowl, and other animals that make rice fields their homes or stopping
grounds along their migratory routes. Grain and crop stubble left after harvest
are actively foraged by this flurry of activity.
“Rice farmers have provided very
diverse waterfowl habitats for many decades, but six years ago, an alliance
solidified between USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited through the creation of the
Rice Stewardship Partnership (RSP) significantly propelled these conservation
efforts forward,” says Linscombe. “NRCS matching grant funding, through its
Regional Conservation Partnership Program, as well as funds from private
partners, is helping rice farmers implement conservation practices on their
operations.”
In the report, value placed on
the habitats created by overwintered flooded rice fields is estimated to be
almost $3.5 billion. “The partnerships between these aforementioned
organizations and these funds they bring to the table will be used by rice
producers to create and sustain essential habitat areas on over 700,000 acres
of production rice fields between now and 2023,” says Linscombe.
Economics and the future
Findings in the report state rice
farming operations, rice mills, and the 125,000 jobs they create contribute
over $34 billion annually to the U.S. economy. “Our ag economists found that
each rice farm contributes $1 million to its local economy,” says Linscombe.
“That doesn’t even count impact from the number of sponsored activities and
civic donations rice industry organizations make to communities and food
banks.”
While each aspect of any
sustainability analysis is important and contributes to an industry’s overall
sustainability picture, any industry would collapse if it lacked one particular
aspect — economic sustainability. “If rice farmers and rice mills are not
profitable, it will have negative ramifications down the supply chain,” says
Linscombe. “In many cases, a town or a community’s economic stability relies
almost exclusively on the business of rice.”
As more rice operations adopt new
technologies like variable rate equipment and automated water control
structures, the sustainability levels reflected in those three pillars should
improve. Mills are also making sustainability improvements by moving toward
no-waste practices and using renewable energy sources.
The U.S. Rice Industry
Sustainability Report is the first of its kind for the industry. An executive
summary of the report and the full version in pdf format are available
electronically at https://www.usarice.com/sustainability/sustainability-report.
You may also contact The Rice Foundation at 1-800-888-RICE
(7423) for a printed copy.
ICPAC signs an MOU with NASA Harvest
REPORT
Published on 09 Jul 2019 —
IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre-ICPAC has been
deliberate on the organization’s goal of early warning information for early
action. Agriculture and Food Security is now a sector priority area in the
Greater Horn of Africa based on IGAD assessment of the region. For this end,
ICPAC has now formalized her partnership with NASA Harvest.
NASA Harvest is a new, multidisciplinary Consortium commissioned
by NASA and led by the University of Maryland to enhance the use of satellite
data in decision making related to food security and agriculture both in the US
and worldwide. ICPAC has been engaging in seasonal agriculture monitoring and
early warning in the outfit of Eastern Africa Crop Monitor supported by NASA
Harvest and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa-GMES
Africa programme.
On 26 June 2019 during the NASA Harvest Conference in Washington
DC, the University of Maryland-USA signed a formal MoU with ICPAC to support and
collaborate in the thematic application areas of agriculture and crop
monitoring, and in future atmospheric monitoring. The MoU is aimed at formal
recognition of the technical cooperation. NASA Harvest choose ICPAC as global
example of an institution that utilizes Earth Observation (EO) data and tools
and conducts research activities and also as a regional policy organization of
IGAD. The MoU commits ICPAC and NASA Harvest (represented by University of
Maryland) to closer working in applied research for a mutual benefit.
ICPAC was represented by the Director-Dr. GuleidArtan and
witnessed by Thematic Assistant - Kenneth Mwangi. NASA Harvest was represented
by Dr. Inbal Becker-Reshef - Program Director of Harvest, University of
Maryland witnessed by Dr. Christopher Justice - Chief Scientist for NASA
Harvest, University of Maryland. Dr. Catherine Nakalembe from Nasa Harvest and
Kenneth Mwangi from ICPAC are the focal persons coordinating the activities of
the MoU in the region.
“The number food insecure in IGAD region has been on a worrying
increasing. This alone is the driver of most regional challenges like peace,
security and a cause of human migration. The region needs coordinated
interventions and better early warning for early action…” Dr. GuleidArtan during
the NASA Harvest conference session.
The first regional crop monitor bulletin Eastern Africa Crop
Monitor was published in May 2018. Other editions have been published on
September 2018, February 2019, April 2019 and most recent one June 2019. These
are seasonal bulletins with information on crop conditions collected in a
monthly manner but summarized into the climatic season. For the purpose of
enhanced regional agriculture monitoring, ICPAC and NASA Harvest will be
sharing more information, technical support and capacity building in the use of
satellite and weather information to enhance resilience in Eastern Africa.
Key food security related questions that ICPAC and NASA Harvest
together with other partners want to answer are; what kind of crops are we
growing? How much food are we growing this season? How much of it will be
harvested? What interventions and early actions can be done by the different
actors for food security?
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/icpac-signs-mou-nasa-harvest
Cheap Imported Rice Soothes Philippine
Inflation Pangs
By
July 9, 2019, 6:53 AM GMT+5
Philippine rice prices have
retreated from last year’s record highs after the Southeast Asian nation scrapped import quotas for the first time in
nearly a quarter-century. The staple grain retailed for 38.65 pesos ($0.75) per
kilogram last month, down 15% from its peak in September 2018 when typhoons and
pests decimated local harvests and forced government to
look abroad for supply. June inflation fell to its slowest pace in two years as
a result, boosting odds the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas could further slash the interest rates it hiked during
the height of the rice shortage last year.
‘Undervalued
rice imports may have caused P5-billion gap in tariff collection’
-
July 9, 2019
Sacks
of rice are seen being delivered at a warehouse in Manila on Monday, July 8,
2019. According to a local farmers’ federation, the Bureau of Customs may have
been losing billions in tariff collection because of the undervaluation of rice
imports by traders and importers.
THE lower tariff collection from
rice imports—which, in turn, may have caused the government billions in forgone
revenue—may have been caused by the undervaluing of such by importers and
traders, according to the Federation of Free Farmers Inc. (FFF).
Given the prevailing global
prices of the staple, FFF National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor described as
quite small the P5.1-billion tariff collections from 1.43 million metric tons
(MMT) of rice imports by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
According to FFF’s computation,
the landed cost of the rice imports per metric ton would only be about $227 if
one were to base this on the import and tariff collection figures released by
the BOC, Montemayor said.
This, he pointed out, indicates
an undervaluation of shipments by importers, which they could deliberately do
in connivance with their suppliers abroad to avoid paying higher duties.
“Data from international
monitoring groups, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] indicate
that the real landed cost of these imports should have been around $391 per ton
if these were 25-percent broken rice,” he said in a statement on Monday.
“In effect, importers appear to
have undervalued their shipments by 42 percent and paid P4.24 billion less than
what was due from them,” he added.
Montemayor said the discrepancy
in tariff collection could rise to as much as P5.1 billion, as a majority of
imported rice constitutes 5 percent of the “brokens” variety, which is
estimated to have a higher landed cost of $422 per MT.
“In fact, reports indicate that
most of the private-sector imports were for 5-percent broken rice, which
commands a higher price in the market and gives a better profit margin for
traders. This type of rice should have landed at $422 per ton at the
lowest, instead of just $227,” he said.
“In this scenario, the tariff
discrepancy would amount to around P5.1 billion,” he added.
Sought for comment, the BOC had
not responded as of press time.
Both government,
farmers lose
If the undervaluation is true, it
would not only mean revenue losses for the government but also lower funding
for rice farmers, as rice tariffs are now earmarked for the improvement of the
industry, Montemayor said.
Under the rice trade
liberalization law, which took effect on March 5, the government shall allocate
P10 billion annually to the rice sector, which is known as the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
The RCEF shall be primarily
comprised of the rice tariffs collected by the government and any excess of the
P10 billion would still be appropriated for other programs targeted for rice
farmers.
“Because of undervaluation of
imports, tariff collections may not breach the P10-billion threshold, or the
excess may be too small to provide any meaningful assistance to affected
farmers,” Montemayor said.
If the undervaluation of rice
imports is true, then it could further depress farm-gate prices of palay as the
landed cost of imported rice translates to only about P17.30 per kilogram,
Montemayor explained.
“The $227 per metric ton landed
cost of imported rice translates to around P17.30 per kilo wholesale in our
domestic market. Traders will be forced to buy palay from farmers at less
than P10 per kilo in order to compete with this price,” he added.
BOC data showed that it has
already collected P5.072 billion tariffs from over 815,173.960 MT worth P14.459
billion in the March-to-May period alone, the period effectively covered by the
rice trade liberalization law.
Based on BusinessMirror’s
computation, this shows that the average unit cost of rice imports is about
$339.57 per MT.
At this average unit cost, the
BOC should have already collected P8.837 billion if 1.43 MMT of rice entered
the country from the March to June period, BusinessMirror’s analysis showed.
Montemayor concurred with
BusinessMirror’s analysis and noted that it is possible that the BOC’s figures,
either the import volume or tariff collection, are incorrect. It is also
possible that both figures are incorrect or it is really a case of
undervaluation, Montemayor added.
Image
Credits: Nonie Reyes
Ministry: Rice Stock Sufficient despite Increasing Crop Failure
Translator: Dewi Elvia Muthiariny
Editor: Petir
Garda Bhwana
9 July 2019 12:38 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Director General of Food Crops of Agriculture Ministry, Gatot
Irianto, assured the crop failure or locally known sawah
puso during this year’s dry season will not decrease national
stock rice.
“The price of rice is cheap now, [the stock] still
sufficient. The crop failure happens in a really small area,” said Gatot in the
ministry office, Jakarta, Monday, July 8.
The ministry recorded drought hit 102,746
hectares of rice fields and 9,358 hectares of which failed to produce crops.
The area suffered crop failure was relatively small as it did not reach 3
percent or some 450,000 hectares from the total planting area a year at 15
million hectares per 2018.
Previously, the ministry noted 100 regencies
or cities affected by drought across Banten, West Java, Central Java,
Yogyakarta, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara.
East Java is the worst province hit by the
drought up to 34,006 hectares with crop failure up to 5,069 hectares.
Gatot explained the drought mitigation measure
in 2019 would be different than that of previous years considering the ministry
developed areas with a potential wetland that amounted to 670,000
hectares.
“Adaption of drought in swamp areas hit by dryness
will bring more surplus and improve productivity,” he added.
Moreover, the ministry would irrigate the dry
fields to anticipate crop failures, optimize nearby water sources (river, lake,
retention basin), revamp water lanes, and build artesian well.
ANTARA
Vietnam’s rice
exports drop, causing big worries
0
09/07/2019 10:00
GMT+7
Over the last 10 years, rice
exports have brought $2-3 billion to Vietnam a year. However, they are facing
difficulties in nearly all key markets this year.
The problem is that importing
countries are reducing imports and trying to become self-reliant in rice
production. The US Department of Agriculture predicted the increase in rice
output in nearly all countries, including Thailand (138,000 tons), India (2.87
milion tons), Cambodia (79,000 tons), Bangladesh (2.35 million tons) and
Indonesia (100,000 tons).
The global total rice output in the 2018/2019 crop, as estimated by the agency, may hit 499 million tons, increasing by 4.2 million tons over 2018.
Meanwhile, the import demand
decreases, at 46.98 million tons, down by 561,000 tons over the last year
because big importers all cut imports.
|
The global total rice output
in the 2018/2019 crop, as estimated by the agency, may hit 499 million tons,
increasing by 4.2 million tons over 2018.
|
China has the high inventory
level of 113 million tons and it exports rice to African countries. The country
imported 850,000 tons in total in the first four months of the year, or 24.4
percent lower than the same period last year.
Indonesia, an important market of Vietnam, plans not to import rice in 2019. Meanwhile, the Philippines plans to cut the import volume by 435,000 tons, though the country has removed the rice import quota scheme.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) also predicted that Indonesia and Bangladesh will restrict rice imports this year. The average export price in the first five months was$427.5 per ton, down by $76.8 per ton compared with the same period last year.
Because of the limited exports, the domestic market has turned gloomy. The Ministry of Finance reported that the summer-autumn rice production cost is VND3,826 per kilogram, while the selling price is VND3,800 per kilogram only.
Pham Thai Binh, general director of Trung An Hi-tech Agriculture, confirmed that farmers are incurring losses and that the government needs to take measures to collect rice from farmers.
Thanh Nien quoted Bui Thi Thanh Tam, deputy chair of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) as saying that the golden age of rice is over, and rice export companies, especially private ones, are meeting big difficulties.
Vietnam, the third largest rice exporter in the world, has been urged to reconsider its rice export strategy.
“Vietnam has to ensure food security and export 5 million tons of rice every year by 2050. Will it still need 3.8 million hectares of rice fields any more to reach that goal,"asked Le Minh Duc, director of Long An provincial Industry and Trade Department.
He said that Vietnam needs to produce less rice which is the recommendation by the World Bank in Vietnam.
Indonesia, an important market of Vietnam, plans not to import rice in 2019. Meanwhile, the Philippines plans to cut the import volume by 435,000 tons, though the country has removed the rice import quota scheme.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) also predicted that Indonesia and Bangladesh will restrict rice imports this year. The average export price in the first five months was$427.5 per ton, down by $76.8 per ton compared with the same period last year.
Because of the limited exports, the domestic market has turned gloomy. The Ministry of Finance reported that the summer-autumn rice production cost is VND3,826 per kilogram, while the selling price is VND3,800 per kilogram only.
Pham Thai Binh, general director of Trung An Hi-tech Agriculture, confirmed that farmers are incurring losses and that the government needs to take measures to collect rice from farmers.
Thanh Nien quoted Bui Thi Thanh Tam, deputy chair of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) as saying that the golden age of rice is over, and rice export companies, especially private ones, are meeting big difficulties.
Vietnam, the third largest rice exporter in the world, has been urged to reconsider its rice export strategy.
“Vietnam has to ensure food security and export 5 million tons of rice every year by 2050. Will it still need 3.8 million hectares of rice fields any more to reach that goal,"asked Le Minh Duc, director of Long An provincial Industry and Trade Department.
He said that Vietnam needs to produce less rice which is the recommendation by the World Bank in Vietnam.
Kim Chi
JULY 10, 2019 / 2:01 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- JULY 10, 2019
6 MIN READ
* * * * * *
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-July 10, 2018 Nagpur,
July 10 (Reuters) – Gram and tuar prices showed weak tendency in Nagpur Agriculture
Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) on poor demand from local millers amid
release of stock from stockists. Easy condition in Madhya Pradesh gram prices
also affected sentiment in limited deals. About 150 bags of gram and 950 bags
of tuar reported for auction, according to sources.
GRAM
* Desi gram raw reported down in open market here on poor buying
support from local
traders.
TUAR
* Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market here but demand was
poor.
* Lakhodi dal recovered in open market here on good demand from
local traders amid tight supply from producing belts.
* In Akola, Tuar New – 5,800-6,000, Tuar dal (clean) – 8,300-8,500,
Udid Mogar (clean)
– 6,800-7,500, Moong Mogar (clean) 7,300-8,300, Gram – 4,400-4,500,
Gram Super best
– 6,200-6,400 * Wheat, rice and other foodgrain items moved in a
narrow range in
scattered deals and settled at last levels in thin trading
activity.
Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100
kg
FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close
Gram Auction 3,700-4,180 3,800-4,240
Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction 4,900-5,575 4,900-5,620
Moong Auction n.a. 3,950-4,200
Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500
Masoor Auction n.a. 2,200-2,500
Wheat Lokwan Auction 1,950-2,015 1,900-2,000
Wheat Sharbati Auction n.a. 2,900-3,000
Gram Super Best Bold 6,200-6,500 6,200-6,500
Gram Super Best n.a. n.a.
Gram Medium Best 5,800-6,000 5,800-6,000
Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a
Gram Mill Quality 4,400-4,500 4,400-4,500
Desi gram Raw 4,400-4,500 4,400-4,500
Gram Kabuli 8,300-10,000 8,300-10,000
Tuar Fataka Best-New 8,500-8,600 8,500-8,600
Tuar Fataka Medium-New 8,200-8,300 8,200-8,300
Tuar Dal Best Phod-New 7,700-8,000 7,700-8,000
Tuar Dal Medium phod-New 7,000-7,500 7,000-7,500
Tuar Gavarani New 5,800-6,000 5,800-6,000
Tuar Karnataka 6,200-6,400 6,200-6,400
Masoor dal best 5,400-5,500 5,400-5,500
Masoor dal medium 5,100-5,300 5,100-5,300
Masoor n.a. n.a.
Moong Mogar bold (New) 7,500-8,500 7,700-8,800
Moong Mogar Medium 5,500-6,500 5,800-6,500
Moong dal Chilka New 6,700-7,700 6,700-7,700
Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki best 8,000-8,500 8,000-8,500
Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 7,000-7,800 7,000-7,800
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,500-6,500 5,500-6,500
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,400 4,000-4,400
Mot (100 INR/KG) 5,100-6,500 5,100-6,500
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 4,800-4,900 4,700-4,900
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 5,500-5,600 5,500-5,600
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 6,800-7,000 6,800-7,000
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,200 2,100-2,200
Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,100 2,000-2,100
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,600 2,500-2,600
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,600 2,400-2,600
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,300 2,200-2,300
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,800 3,200-3,800
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,700-3,000 2,700-3,000
Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,200 2,100-2,200
Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,500 3,100-3,500
Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,900 2,500-3,000
Rice BPT new (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200
Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG) 2,900-3,000 2,900-3,000
Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,700 2,500-2,700
Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG) 2,300-2,400 2,300-2,400
Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,400 4,000-4,400
Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG) 3,500-3,700 3,500-3,700
Rice HMT New (100 INR/KG) 3,800-4,200 3,800-4,200
Rice Shriram best(100 INR/KG) 5,500-5,700 5,500-5,700
Rice Shriram med (100 INR/KG) 4,500-4,700 4,500-4,700
Rice Shriram New (100 INR/KG) 4,600-5,000 4,600-5,000
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 8,500-13,500 8,500-13,500
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,000 5,000-7,000
Rice Chinnor best 100 INR/KG) 6,500-7,200 6,500-7,200
Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG) 6,200-6,400 6,200-6,400
Rice Chinnor New (100 INR/KG) 5,300-5,500 5,300-5,500
Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,550 2,350-2,550
Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 2,050-2,250 2,050-2,250 WEATHER (NAGPUR)
Maximum temp. 34.2 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 23.7 degree Celsius Rainfall :
8.6 mm FORECAST: Generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rains or
thunder-showers. Maximum and minimum temperature likely to be around 34 degree
Celsius and 25 degree Celsius respectively. Note: n.a.—not available (For oils,
transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market
prices)
Rice Prices
as on : 09-05-2019 11:12:39 AM
Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
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|
Rice
|
||||||
|
Lakhimpur(UP)
|
32.00
|
-8.57
|
1216.50
|
2320
|
2300
|
6.18
|
|
Soharatgarh(UP)
|
14.50
|
NC
|
354.50
|
2420
|
2400
|
17.48
|
|
Nautnava(UP)
|
2.50
|
66.67
|
226.40
|
2230
|
2200
|
-
|
|
Jambusar(Kaavi)(Guj)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
40.00
|
3200
|
3000
|
-
|
Published
on May 09, 2019
A delayed start followed by poor rains have led to a dip in the
sowing of summer crops in India for the monsoon season, beginning 1st June.
According to statistics released by the Indian agricultural ministry, there was
a drop in sowing by around 27 per cent in 2019 as compared to the same time
period in 2018.
The sowing season in India coinciding with the monsoon extends
to July-end. In terms of specific crops, around 5.2 million hectares of rice
were sowed as part of the monsoon sowing season for the week ending 5th July.
For the same time period in 2018, around 6.9 million hectares of rice were
sowed.
The shortfall is quite significant since rice is considered to
be the most important crop to be sowed in the summer. Around 4.6 million
hectares of cotton were sowed up to 5th July 2019 as compared to about 5.5
million hectares sowed in 2018.
Planting of corn, too, had reduced to 2.1 million hectares for
2019 vis-a-vis about 3.1 million hectares sown in 2018. Monitoring the
trajectory of rains in India revealed that rainfall continued to be in deficit
for the week-ending 5th July, for the fifth consecutive week.
However, given the picking up of monsoon in the Western and
Central parts of the country, the deficit is not alarming. Likewise, it is
expected that the statistics for the sowing season will be revised after
analysing the trends of monsoon for the months spanning June to September in
which majority of the country receives its annual rainfall.
Liberia: 'Govt
Can Use the U.S.$ 8 Million Import Subsity to Support Local Rice Production'
By Judoemue Kollie
Mohammed Kamara, a local rice producer, is calling on the
Liberian government divert its US$8 million annual subsidy for rice imports to
local rice production which, according to him, will be the best way to truly
strengthen food security in the country.
Kamara is the chief executive officer of the Agriculture
Infrastructure Investment Company (AIIC), and president for the National Rice
Federation of Liberia. Speaking to agriculture stakeholders at a rice
development conference held in Monrovia, he said there is limited support being
provided to rice farmers and processors, making it difficult for the country to
meet domestic supply of rice production.
Experts say that the country's rice sector continues to
underperform with the overall yield and production low, compared with other
countries in the sub region.
According to Kamara, increasing domestic rice production is key
to strengthening Liberia's economy, and ensuring political stability. He said
the increase in rice importation is putting pressure on the country's trade
balance, and foreign exchange which is a possible threat to food security.
"The government must train more farmers and provide them
with appropriate inputs and machineries to promote production. There must also
be subsidies provided to all actors along the rice value chain," he said.
Kamara added that rice processors must have access to loans to
enable them purchase paddy from farmers that will encourage farmers to increase
productivity.
"We are convinced that once the government can use the US$8
million to support local production, the challenges in the sector would be
minimized," he said.
Qatar
tenders buy 4,000 tonnes rice from Pakistan - trade
Tender
deadline is July 21. Basmati rice was sought, traders said.
By Michael
Hogan, Reuters News
HAMBURG-
Qatar’s state purchasing agency has issued a tender to buy about 4,000 tonnes
of rice to be sourced from Pakistan, European traders said on Tuesday.
Tender
deadline is July 21. Basmati rice was sought, traders said.
Some
100,000 bags of rice of 40 kilos each were sought.
(Reporting
by Michael
Hogan) ((michael.j.hogan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 172 671 36 54; Reuters Messaging:
michael.hogan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Grain of truth: the price of rice
Costs
of savoury rice vary wildly – from €1 to €16 per kilo
Tue,
Jul 9, 2019, 03:01
Rose
Costello
The old favourite, creamed rice,
shares the shelves with a wide variety of savoury options. Photograph: iStock
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One
of my first serious roles in life was as an English teacher in Hong Kong. Of
all the cultural interpretation I had to do, explaining the role of rice in
Irish homes was problematic.
“Do
Irish people eat rice?” I was asked regularly.
“Oh
yes, we love it. With sugar and milk. Or cream.”
My
students were too polite to tell me what they thought of that, but I could see
the horror in their eyes. Rice was to them as potatoes are to us: impossible to
imagine as a creamy dessert. Worse still, the best one came out of a can.
Creamed
rice pudding is still available in tins and cartons, but it now shares the
shelves with a wide selection of savoury options. These run from simple 1kg
bags to pouches, sacks and packets of readycooked at a vast range of price
points. You can pay anything from less than €1 to more than €16 per kilogramme.
This
means the cooked convenience products cost more than 16 times the price of the
basic foodstuff.
The
most expensive product was a pouch of Erin’s Golden Quick Rice. One packet costs
€1.90 and has 120g in it. With this, you are paying for the convenience as it
takes just five minutes to prepare. You can reheat it in a microwave or on a
stove.
Irish Times
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The
front of the packet announces it has no hydrogenated vegetable fat, but then
you would struggle to find that in any supermarket product these days. It’s
also “low fat and full of flavour”. Rice, of course, is naturally very low in
fat, but vegetarians should note that some of the flavour in this packet comes
from chicken fat.
It
also has wheat flour, which is annoying for coeliacs as rice is one cheap
cereal they can have. It is also why some brands now say “gluten-free” on the
front. It’s not a given.
The
madness of serving sizes is evident when you see that this 120g packet is
supposed to have two servings. Compare that to Tilda’s speedy Brown Basmati in
a similar pouch. One packet costs €2.10 for 250g, which is also regarded
as two servings. So it’s almost twice as big for a few cents more. It is
pre-cooked too and takes just two minutes to heat up.
Real
value
For
real value, take the time to cook the rice yourself. Although a 1kg bag of
Tilda’s wholegrain brown basmati rice looks expensive at €5.99 when you see it
on the shelf, it works out at less than half the price of the ready-cooked
rice. Better yet, a 1kg bag of Aldi or Lidl wholegrain brown rice costs closer
to €2.
There
isn’t often much to see on the labels of regular rice aside from what type it
is. With those, the name is often a giveaway, such as long grain or short
grain. Long grain is simply longer than the other varieties.
Basmati
is a type of long-grain rice from parts of India and Pakistan. The name means
“fragrant” and it commands a premium, as does jasmine rice, as they are
believed to have a better aroma than other types. Arborio rice is starchier so
it is used for risotto.
Then
it comes down to white or brown. Brown rice, which is also known as wholegrain,
is subjected to minimal milling to remove the husk but keep the bran layer. So
it retains more vitamins, minerals and fibre than regular or easy cook white
rice, according the Rice Association. That bran outer layer gives it a nutty
flavour, but it takes longer to cook at about 25 minutes.
White
rice has had the outer layer removed – and with it some of the nutritional
value – making it faster to cook. Most of the packets of white rice on sale now
take just 10 minutes. This is the case with Uncle Ben’s Boil in Bag long grain
rice for example. That’s because they have been “parboiled”. This process
involves steaming the rice under pressure before milling. It hardens the grain
and helps to reduce the possibility of overcooking.
Red
rice and black rice are simply a different variety, though some believe black
rice is healthier. Wild rice isn’t rice at all. It just looks like it.
You
will notice that some packets, such as the Aldi wholegrain rice, say, “Don’t
reheat”. That’s because rice needs to be cooled very quickly and reheated to a
high temperature to kill any lingering toxins and avoid food poisoning. Or cool
it quickly and don’t reheat it. Better safe than sorry.
You
won’t have that problem with a tin of Ambrosia.
States told to shift farm focus from
production to marketing
Punjab urges for help, Haryana says doing fine
Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar (3R) lights a ceremonial lamp to inaugurate a conference of state agriculture ministers in New Delhi on Monday. Ministers of State Parshottam Rupala (2L) and Kailash Choudhary (2R) are also seen.
Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 8
Working towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission to
double farmers’ income by 2022, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar
on Monday urged the states to shift their focus from production-specific
approach to market-oriented agriculture with stress on exporting the produce.
Addressing a
conference of state agriculture ministers, Tomar emphasised the need for states
to develop synergy with the Centre for better implementation of welfare schemes
and programmes meant for the agricultural community.
The minister also urged the states to take measures to reduce
the input costs of cultivation for better income generation, besides
reinforcing the initiative for judicious use of fertilisers on the basis of
soil health card.
The conference,
first in Narendra Modi 2.0 regime, was convened to discuss agriculture-related
issues with an overriding goal to increase income. The focus was on central
schemes, including PM Kisan Card, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, e-National Agricultural
Market (e-NAM) and organic farming and market reforms.
Tomar lay thrust
on ensuring proper price to farmers for their produce and bolstering
agricultural marketing through e-NAM, “which has the potential boost exports”.
Showing concern
over the depleting underground water, he made a case for states to play an
active role in creating awareness on water conservation practices among
farmers. “Drip, sprinkler irrigation and water harvesting are the ways
forward,” he said. Representing the Punjab Government during an interactive
session, state’s Agriculture Secretary KS Pannu urged for central help to
diversify the cropping pattern from water-intensive paddy to maize. This was in
the context of the Central Ground Water Board’s May 2019 report, which mentions
alarming an depletion of underground water in the state.
Pannu appealed
for establishing a laboratory in Punjab to check chemical residue levels in the
soil to improve the production of better export-quality basmati rice. Rice with
chemical residue gets devalued in foreign market.
Taking part in
the discussion, Haryana Agriculture Minster OP Dhankar said the state
government had taken concrete measures for the welfare of farmers and to
augment their income. “The state has dispersed Rs 4,665 crore as compensation
to farmers. Also, we are providing better remunerative MSP compared to the
prices fixed during non-BJP governments,” he added.
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