Something is
wrong with our food exports
Pakistan’s food exports were around
$4.25 billion in 2011-12.
Seven years later, food exports
fetched about $4.61bn — an increase of only $360 million or 8.5 per cent.
Food exports came down 4pc to
$4.61bn in 2018-19 from $4.8pc in 2017-18.
Exporting larger volumes of rice,
wheat and sugar stokes domestic inflation, sometimes making these items too
expensive for the poorer sections of the population
What is more worrying is that food
exports have oscillated between $3.7bn and $4.8bn during the past seven years.
We never reached the magical mark of $5bn. In food exports, rice is the top
earner. Rice export earnings reached the magical mark of $2bn back in 2011-12,
but have remained close to that level since then. Something is wrong somewhere.
Taking food exports to $6bn and
sustaining that level should not be as difficult as years of misaligned
priorities and a lack of pragmatic thinking have made it. Similarly, boosting
rice export earnings to $2.5bn-$3bn is not too difficult. All our federal and
provincial governments need to do is establish a lasting working relationship
and take some much-needed practical and inclusive measures. Both things are
missing.
Under the PTI government, the
working relationship between the federal and provincial governments has rather
deteriorated. As a result, economic decision-making as a whole is suffering.
Agriculture and food exports are no exception. Our resources-starved economy is
passing through a crucial phase even otherwise. It would be too naïve to hope
that things would improve dramatically in the near future.
But one must hope better sense
would prevail, the government would align economic decision-making with ground
realities and do whatever is needed to boost exports i.e. pushing up food
exports would become a priority and measures to ensure sustainable growth in
food exports would be initiated.
The first thing to boost food
exports is ensuring that it is done while keeping the domestic food security in
mind. The second thing is about expanding food export items and moving towards more
value addition. The third thing is about increasing our outreach to global
markets. With a population growth rate of about 2pc, our domestic food
requirements are growing fast. Our inability to expand the cultivable landmass
and a perennial shortage of water limit our capacity to grow rice.
That means we will have to increase
the per-hectare yield of rice quickly if we want rice exports to grow every
year at a decent rate. Besides, we also need to move speedily towards
exportable branded rice and rice-based products. On both counts, improvements
are taking place but at a snail’s pace.
One proof of this assessment is the
fact that whenever we see rice export earnings growing, the rise is more
because of an increase in export volumes and less because of a higher per-unit
price. That will have to change. Back in 2011-12 when rice exports first hit
the $2bn mark, the export volume totalled 3.63m tonnes.
Seven years later, we fetched the
same amount after shipping abroad 4.1m tonnes of the commodity. The argument
that a massive rupee depreciation during the last fiscal year squeezed dollar
earnings cannot conceal our inefficiencies. Haven’t we witnessed this
phenomenon of big volumes of shipment fetching high dollar earnings during the
years when the rupee was stable?
Wheat and sugar exports also suffer
because of this phenomenon, bringing to the fore the need for producing
high-yielding food crops and value addition in raw food exports.
Earning more dollars by exporting
larger volumes of rice, wheat and sugar also stokes domestic inflation,
sometimes making these items too expensive for the poorer sections of the
population. From the point of view of inflation management, there is a need to
go for constant food export brandings and production of more value-added food
products.
Despite the introduction of modern
ways of vegetable and fruit farming in some parts of Punjab and in Sindh, their
combined export earnings remain below $700m. We earned less than $700m in
2018-19 by exporting no less than 768,000 tonnes of fruits and about 1.03m
tonnes of vegetables.
Exporting larger volumes can, of
course, push export earnings to $1bn in a year or two, but that would make
already pricy fruits and vegetables even pricier. Exporting value-added
by-products of fruits and vegetables with higher per-unit prices and exporting
more of them to the neighbouring countries and Central Asian states are
important. That will cut the cost of trade and help us keep local prices from
skyrocketing.
Our annual export earnings of
seafood and meat also remain below $700m. And the same is true for them.
Despite repeated claims, our exports to China are not growing and a strained
relationship with India continues to mar the prospects of exporting more to
that country.
Currently, exports of oilseeds,
nuts and spices fetch less than $100m each every year. And, despite enough
production (6.3m tonnes in 2018-19), exports of maize and maize-based products
remain negligible. With some efforts, export earnings in these categories can
be increased substantially. Whereas oilseeds and nuts are exported to many
countries, main markets of spices are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia
and the United Kingdom where millions of overseas Pakistanis live.
There is enough demand for
Pakistani spices in Afghanistan. We export sizable volumes there during the
years when Pak-Afghan relations are normal. Pakistan can increase its food
exports, particularly those of livestock, meat, maize, nuts and spices, to the
Central Asian states as well once the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor becomes
fully operational, accelerating trading with these states.
Published in Dawn, The Business and
Finance Weekly, July 29th, 2019
Weekly Inflation Up 0.18 Percent
The weekly inflation for the week
ended on July 25, for the combined income group, witnessed an increase of 0.18
percent as compared to the previous week
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jul, 2019 )
:The weekly inflation for the week ended on July 25, for the combined
income group, witnessed an increase of 0.18 percent as compared to the previous
week.
The Sensitive price Indicator (SPI) for the
week under review in the combined group was recorded at 264.88 against 264.40
points registered in the previous week, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau
of Statistics (PBS).
Meanwhile, the inflation for the lowest income group also
increased from 243.85
points in last week to 244.42 points, showing growth of 0.23 percent.
As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for
the combined group in the week under review witnessed an increase of 15.59
percent, and for the lowest income group, it increased by 12.76 percent.
The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2007-08=100, covering
17 urban centres and 53 essential items for all income groups and
combined.
Meanwhile, the SPI for the income groups from Rs8001-12,000,
Rs12,001-18,000; 18,001-35,000 and above Rs35000 per month increased by 0.
21 percent, 0.20 percent, 0.18 percent and 0.15 percent
respectively.
During the week under review, average prices of 10 item registered
decrease, while that of 19 items increased with the remaining 24 items' prices
unchanged.
The item that witnessed decrease in their prices during the week
under review included banans, chicken, LPG cylinder, wheat flour, eggs, masoor
pulse, sugar, mustard oil, rice (Irri-6) and red chilly.
The items, which recorded increase in their average prices
included tomatoes, potatoes, onions, vegetable ghee, gur, mash pulse, garlic,
shirting, cooking oil, milk (fresh), milk (powdered), bath sopa, rice (Basmati
broken), vegetable ghee, gram pulse, moong pulse, wheat, curd and mutton.
Similarly the items which recorded no change in their prices
included bread, beef, salt, tea (packet), cooked beef,
cooked daal, tea (prepared), cigarettes, long cloth, lawn, georgette, gents
sandal, gents chappal, ladies sandal, electricity charges, gas charges, kerosene oil, firewood, electric bulb,
washing soap, match box, petrol, diesel and
telephone local call
Satake
completes rice plant in the Philippines
Chen Yi Agventures rice plant in the Philippines. Photo courtesy of
Satake.
07.29.2019
By Susan Reidy
HIROSHIMA, JAPAN — Satake Corp.
completed a rice processing plant for Chen Yi Agventures, Inc. in East Visayan
region, Philippines.
Chen Yi’s rice processing complex
built in Alangalang near Tacloban on Leyte Island is the largest rice milling
facility in the region, with 10 30-tonne grain dryers and 7 tph processing
lines. Satake received the order of the plant design and equipment for the
whole processing line, based on its advanced technology and longtime
contribution to the rice industry in the country.
Rice cultivation is a major
industry on the island of Leyte. However, it has been struggling to improve the
productivity mainly due to all the manual labor involved in rice cultivation,
Satake said. As a result, farmers had lower incomes than the national average.
In addition, Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 (locally named Yolanda in the Philippines)
caused enormous damage, requiring massive reconstruction aid for the local
community and economy.
In 2016, Patrick Renucci, a
prominent French entrepreneur, and his Chinese-Filipino wife Rachel, also a
successful entrepreneur in Hong Kong, organized Chen Yi Agventures to involve
and support rice cultivation on Leyte Island.
The corporation holds up “Rice
Revolution” as its goal; increase farmer’s income by improving rice production
efficiency through mechanization, while producing high-quality rice.
Furthermore, Chen Yi will be involved with all aspects of rice cultivation in
the region by supplying rice seeds, providing technical guidance for
cultivation, and even low-interest loans to farmers.
“To support Leyte farmers, we need
fundamental reforms in rice cultivation,” Renucci said. “We will become the
largest rice producer in the Visayas and Mindanao regions and increase
production efficiently. Using Stake equipment and technology, Chen Yi
Agventures’ rice processing complex is the most technologically advanced
facility in South East Asia. This facility and mechanization of rice farming
will reduce production costs and raise the quality of rice from this region. As
the Philippines still imports rice, premium rice produced at the island of
Leyte will be as competitive as the imported rice, which will result in not
just a short-term aide to the community but also a long-term increase of
farmers’ incomes by establishing a true sustainable agriculture.”
Tax collection from rice importers reach P6.5-B in mid-July
Published July 29, 2019 4:24pm
The Bureau of Customs (BOC)
collected nearly P6.5 billion in duties from rice imports made by private
traders under the Rice Liberalization Act, the agency announced on Monday.
In a report to Finance Secretary
Carlos Dominguez III, the BOC said it had collected a total of P6.479 billion
from importer-traders as of July 15, with most of the revenue from rice import
duties collected from the Port of Subic (P1.598 billion), followed by the
Manila International Container Port (P1.033 billion), and the Port of Manila
(P998.77 million).
An average of P1.4 billion a
month had been collected since the Rice Liberalization Act, or Republic Act
(RA) No. 11203, took effect last March.
The duties collected made up over
half the P10-billion needed for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund
(RCEF).
Ten percent of the fund would be
used for loans, with minimal interest rates and with minimum collateral
requirements, to rice farmers and cooperatives.
The rest of the RCEF would be set
aside for farm machinery and equipment; rice seed development, propagation and
promotion; and rice extension services, all of which was part of the effort to
modernize the agriculture sector.
Meanwhile, the BOC pointed out
that due to the liberalized rice trade, the average retail cost of the staple
had fallen by at least P7 per kilo.
Additionally, the BOC added that
from a high of 6.7 percent in September and October 2018, the Rice
Liberalization law had contributed to last June's deceleration of the inflation
rate to 2.7 percent, or the low-end of the state economic team’s target band of
2-4 percent for the year.
Another P3.103 billion was also
earned in duties from import permits issued by the National Food Authority
(NFA) since January this year. — Joviland Rita/DVM, GMA News
India's
non-basmati rice export falls after govt withdraws tax incentive
Government's
decision to increase MSP consistently had raised cost of procuring
343
Brown: (Kichadi Samba ) A variety native to Tamil Nadu, it has a
relatively low GI of 50 and was preferred by royalty. The unrefined brown raw
rice has all of its bran intact, and is more nutritious than parboiled rice.
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·
India’s exports of non-basmati rice declined by half between April
and May this year after the government withdrew 5 per cent incentives from
April 1.
Data compiled by the government-owned Agricultural & Processed
Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) showed India’s overall
exports at 711,837 tonnes for April-May 2019 compared to 1.53 million tonnes
shipped for the corresponding period of the previous year. In value term,
India’s overall non-basmati rice exports plunged by more than 50 per cent to
$294 million (Rs 2046 crore) for the first two months of FY 2019-2020 as
against $652 million (Rs 4347 crore) in the same period last year.
The decline in non-basmati rice exports raises questions about
India’s policy making, say analysts. In order to help farmers, the government
has increased minimum support price (MSP) for the last several years. This has
made Indian rice uncompetitive for exports. A 5 per cent tax cushion encouraged
7-8 million tonnes in exports of non-basmati rice annually.
“Some importing countries like Bangladesh have started growing
rice on their own which reduced their overall annual import. Trade sources are
also blaming continuous MSP increase for a reduction in India’s non-basmati rice exports,”
said a senior Apeda official.
Bangladesh had emerged as the largest importer of India’s
non-basmati rice with 1.87 million tonnes in 2017-18. In the following year,
however, farmers in Bangladesh expanded their sowing area resulting into higher
output from local sources and thus proportionate decline in their overall
non-basmati rice import. Thus, in FY 2018-19, India’s non-basmati rice exports
plunged by a drastic 70 per cent to Bangladesh to a mere 480,567 tonnes.
With favourable agro climatic condition continues this year as
well, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported Bangladesh’s rice
output to rise further 35.3 million tonnes this year as compared to 34.9
million tonnes and 32.6 million tonnes in 2018-19 and 2017-18 respectively.
“Declining import from Bangladesh
is self-explanatory as to why India’s non-basmati rice exports are falling,”
said the Apeda official.
In fact, exporters are worried over sustained rise in the MSP of paddy which translates into the proportionate increase in rice
prices. To attract farmers, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government
led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raised MSP of common variety of paddy by 30 per cent in the last four years
from Rs 1410 a quintal in 2015-16 to Rs 1815 a quintal in 2019-20.
“The sustained hike in MSP has made India outpriced by $25 in the
world market resulting into lower demand of Indian rice. Other rice growing
countries including Pakistan and Thailand have filled the gap,” said Gurnam
Arora, Joint Managing Director, Kohinoor Foods, one of the largest exporters of
basmati and non-basmati rice in India.
With no relief in sight, India’s non-basmati rice exports are
likely to fall steeply in coming months.
Meanwhile, bumper local production and possibility of less export
are expected to worsen challenges for storage and handling of rice in India.
India’s total rice output is estimated at 115.6 million tonnes for
2018-19 as compared to 96.48 million tonnes reported in the previous year.
India’s annual rice consumption is estimated at around 90 million tonnes.
Customs collects
P6.48-B taxes from rice imports
CUSTOMS COLLECTS P6.48-B TAXES FROM
RICE IMPORTS
rice imported
THE government has collected as
of mid-July more than P6 billion in duties from rice imported by private
traders since Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Act took effect in
March, the Department of Finance (DoF) reported on Monday.
In a statement, the Finance
department quoted the Bureau of Customs (BoC) as saying in a report to Finance
Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd that preliminary data showed that it had
collected P6.479 billion from importer-traders as of July 15.
With the tax collected to date,
the DoF is optmitistic that the Customs bureau “remains on course to collect
the minimum of P10 billion needed for the RCEF per year,” referring to the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.
RA 11203 set up the RCEF to
finance the modernization of the agriculture sector, and provide farmers with
access to credit and training, as well as funds for mechanization, high-quality
seeds and fertilizers, among others.
The Finance department said BoC
collections from these imports since the enactment of the law would
benefit palay (unhusked rice) growers, as such revenues were earmarked for
the annual P10-billion RCEF.
Section 13 (c) of RA 11203 says
10 percent of the RCEF shall be made available as credit facility, with minimal
interest rates and with minimum collateral requirements to rice farmers and
cooperatives.
The rest of the fund would be set
aside for farm machinery and equipment; rice seed development, propagation and
promotion; and rice extension services, as provided under the Rice
Tariffication Act.
On top of paying tariffs, rice
importers are required to secure sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances
from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry, which assumed
the food-safety regulation function of the National Food Authority under the
law.
“This requirement will ensure
that rice imports are free from pests and diseases that could affect public
health and local farm production,” the DoF said.
DA open to suspending rice imports
Philippine Daily Inquirer /
05:12 AM July 30, 2019
The
Department of Agriculture (DA) is ready to heed the call of President Duterte
to stop the importation of rice during the country’s harvest season to protect
the farmers, but the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is not
too keen on the proposal.
On the
sidelines of SL Agritech’s Masagang Ani 300 launch in Quezon City on Monday,
Agriculture Undersecretary for Operations Ariel Cayanan said the agency would
find ways to follow the instruction of the President despite the recent
deregulation of rice trade, adding that the move would bode well for local rice
producers who are suffering from falling palay prices.
“Knowing the
President, as a lawyer, he knows that what he’s saying has a legal basis so
we’re going to find ways to make it happen … That is the order of the President
so what are we going to do?” he said.
“The
proposal’s intention is good. It wants to protect the farmers and so are you
not going to support a move like that?” he added.
President
Duterte said during the inauguration of a bypass road in Ilocos Sur last week
that suspending the importation was a “happy compromise” between farmers and
consumers to boost farmer income and ensure rice supply.
As of the
second week of July, the average buying price of palay was at P17.87 a
kilogram, down 17.31 percent from year-ago rates. The lowest recorded price was
in Cavite, where a kilo of palay was sold at P12.85 a kilo or almost the same
as the average cost of producing rice at P12 a kilo.
However,
Socioeconomic Planning Assistant Secretary Mercedita Sombilla said in an
interview with Inquirer that restricting the importation of rice during harvest
“goes against the spirit of the law,” adding that the new policy has yet to be
fully implemented to resort to “something so drastic.”
OC denies undervaluation of rice imports
July
29, 2019 7:03pm
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on
Monday denied the allegation that rice importations are undervalued, saying
that it follows an international recognized system for valuation.
Earlier, the Federation of Free
Farmers (FFF) said there was an "apparent undervaluation" of rice
imports following the enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law in March.
In statement on July 8, the
farmers' group said that the Department of Finance's report
on July 4 that the BOC collected P5.9 billion in tariffs from 1.43 million
metric tons of imported rice in the four months since March means that, by its calculations, importers paid
P4.24 billion less than what they were supposed to pay.
"If we use the DOF figures
and assume a Php52 per dollar exchange rate, it will come out that the average
landed price of the rice imports before imposing tariffs was US$227 per metric
ton. On the other hand, 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 US$391 per ton if these were 25% broken
rice. In effect, importers appear to have undervalued their shipments by 42%
and paid Php 4.24 billion less than what was due from them," FFF national manager Raul
Montemayor said.
The FFF also said that importers
can reduce their tariff obligations by "lowering the declared value of
their imports in connivance with their suppliers abroad."
In its own statement on Monday,
the BOC denied the FFF's allegations.
The bureau said that
its Import Assessment Service (IAS) provides reference values on rice
imports as a guide "when the veracity of the declared values is
disputable."
"All Ports abide with the
said published data except when the Commercial Invoice of a rice shipment is
supported by genuine and validated Proof of Payment such as Bank Telegraphic
transfer of Payment, Sales Contract and other similar legitimate
instrumentalities that indicated actual sales transaction between the seller
and the buyer," it said.
This system, said the BOC,
follows the World Trade Organization's "internationally recognized system
of valuation," of which the Philippines is a signatory and which "is
likewise prescribed under Section 701 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff
Act (CMTA)."
The Rice Tariffication Act removes the quantitative
restrictions on rice while imposing a 35-percent tariff on imports from the
country's neighbors in Southeast Asia. — Joviland Rita/BM, GMA News
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Innovation
rush aims to help farmers, rich and poor, beat climate change
THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
- JUL 30,
2019
LONDON - In decades to come, African
farmers may pool their money to buy small robot vehicles to weed their fields
or drones that can hover to squirt a few drops of pesticide only where needed.
Smartphones
already allow farmers in remote areas to snap photos of sick plants, upload
them and get a quick diagnosis, plus advice on treatment.
Researchers
also are trying to train crops like maize and wheat to produce their own
nitrogen fertilizer from the air — a trick soybeans and other legumes use — and
exploring how to make wheat and rice better at photosynthesis in very hot
conditions.
As
warmer, wilder weather linked to climate change brings growing challenges for
farmers across the globe — and as they try to curb their own heat-trapping
emissions — a rush of innovation aimed at helping both rich and poor farmers is
now converging in ways that could benefit them all, scientists say.
In
a hotter world, farmers share “the same problems, the same issues,” said Svend
Christensen, head of plant and environmental sciences at the University of
Copenhagen.
Agricultural
researchers, who have teamed up to boost harvests and fight the major blight of
wheat rust are now forming an international consortium in a bid to make wheat
stand up to worsening heat and drought.
“There
was a real shift in terms of the intensity of what we do together when we
became aware of climate change,” said Hans-Joachim Braun, who heads the global
wheat program for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center based in
Mexico.
For
each 1 degree Celsius global temperatures rise above pre-industrial times,
wheat harvests drop 5 to 8 percent, he said.
That
means the world will likely see a 10 percent drop in harvests even if
governments hold global warming to “well below” 2 C, as they have agreed, he
said — and that drop would come even as the world’s population grows and demand
for food rises.
Finding
ways to breed wheat that can cope better with heat could help farmers from
Australia to India and China, as well as the people who depend on their grain,
he said.
“It
doesn’t matter where you use this trait — it will have an impact,” Braun said.
One
idea scientists are working on is to fundamentally reshape how crops such as
wheat and rice carry out photosynthesis, to make them better able to continue
producing in hot weather, especially if less water is available.
The
process — like efforts to help wheat and maize start making their own
fertilizer — is hugely complex and will likely require decades of work,
scientists say.
“It
would be a mega-breakthrough. Many people think it’s dreaming a little bit
because it’s so difficult,” said Bruce Campbell, director of the CGIAR Research
Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
But
early tests to improve photosynthesis in tobacco have shown a 40 percent boost
in production — and the technique is now being tested with crops from cassava
to maize, said Kathy Kahn, a crop research expert with the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
Nick
Austin, who directs agricultural development for the foundation, said such
changes “are going to benefit the poor and rich worlds together” — and could
play a key role in keeping food prices affordable.
“These
technologies … are going to be globally relevant,” he predicted.
Other
efforts to help farmers — including the poorest — adapt to climate pressures
have already taken root, Khan said.
Flood-tolerant
rice that can withstand being submerged under water, for instance, is now being
used by 6 million farmers in Asia to cope with more extreme weather, she said.
But
Christensen, of the University of Copenhagen, thinks even more high-tech
innovations — from weeding robots to drones — are likely to reach poorer
farmers too.
With
Africa expected to see rapid population growth and movement to cities in coming
decades, its farmers will need to become more efficient at producing larger
amounts of food, he said.
“If
you want to increase efficiency, you need to use machinery to do some of the
hard work,” he added.
He
believes prices for drones and robots will fall rapidly in years to come, just
as they once did for mobile phones.
“Maybe
you will share this machinery with your neighbor,” Christensen said. “A village
of smallholder farmers could think of buying one for all their fields.”
As
consumers and companies demand to know more about the origin of what they buy,
farmers in poorer nations could also adopt systems from blockchain to
microchips tucked into cauliflower to help with tracking, said CCAFS principal
scientist Philip Thornton.
Thornton
is working on a “Wild Futures” report, due out later this year, that will dig
into potential high-tech advances and predict how the food system might look in
15 to 20 years’ time, given the pace of technological change, he said.
There
is still “quite a lot of uncertainty” about how much high-tech innovation will
reach poorer small-scale farmers and especially around how quickly that could
happen, he added.
But
CCAFS director Campbell predicted there would be “many innovations, and the
innovations are highly likely to be picked up elsewhere” beyond their source.
Christensen
said ideas also are increasingly flowing from poorer countries to richer ones,
not just in the other direction, particularly because the poorest are in some
cases dealing with the strongest climate impacts first.
“There’s
a lot of inspiration from the people in developing countries,” he said
To feed its
1.4 billion, China bets big on genome editing of crops
In a lab chamber in Beijing, Gao Caixia grows CRISPR-modified
wheat plants that she hopes will have a higher yield.
This story, the first in a series
on CRISPR in China, was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
IN BEIJING AND DURHAM, NORTH
CAROLINA—If Gao Caixia were a farmer, she
might be spread a little thin. Down the hall from her office at a branch of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) here in Beijing, seeds from a strain of
unusually soft rice and a variety of wheat with especially fat grains and
resistance to a common fungus sprout in a tissue culture room. A short stroll
away, wild tomato plants far hardier than domestic varieties but bearing the
same sweet fruit crowd a greenhouse, along with herbicide-resistant corn and
potatoes that are slow to brown when cut. In other lab rooms Gao grows new
varieties of lettuce, bananas, ryegrass, and strawberries.
But Gao isn’t a farmer, and that
cornucopia isn’t meant for the table—not yet, anyway. She is a plant scientist
working at the leading edge of crop improvement. Every one of those diverse
crops has been a target for conventional plant breeders, who have slowly and
painstakingly worked to endow them with traits to make them more productive,
nutritious, or hardy. But Gao is improving them at startling speeds by using
the genome editor CRISPR.
Gao is one face of the Chinese
government’s bet that CRISPR can transform the country’s food supply. A natural
bacterial immune system, CRISPR was turned into a powerful genome editor just a
few years ago in U.S. and European labs. Yet today, China publishes twice as many
CRISPR-related agricultural papers as the second-place country, the United
States. The explanation? “Because I’m here,” jokes Gao, who punctuates much of
her speech with robust, giddy, infectious laughter.
In August 2013, her group
modified plant DNA with CRISPR, a first, and the 50-year-old researcher has
since written three dozen publications that describe using the genome editor on
various crops. Daniel Voytas, a plant geneticist at the University of Minnesota
in St. Paul who invented an earlier genome-editing system and who has also
adopted CRISPR, says Gao is an “outstanding cell biologist [who] jumped on
CRISPR early on and has just been riding the crest of the wave.”
Gao Caixia’s team grows CRISPR-modified rice strains in
experimental paddies near its lab in Beijing.
STEFEN CHOW
But she is far from alone in
China. Her team is one of 20 groups there seeking to use CRISPR to modify crop
genes. “All the labs use CRISPR for basic research,” Gao says. “They cannot
live without CRISPR.” China also expanded its efforts beyond its borders in
2017, when the state-owned company ChemChina bought Switzerland-based
Syngenta—one of the world’s four largest agribusinesses, which has a large
R&D team working with CRISPR—for $43 billion. That was the most China has
ever spent on acquiring a foreign company, and it created an intimate
relationship between government, industry, and academia—a “sort of a ménage à
trois” that ultimately could funnel intellectual property from university labs
into the company, says plant geneticist Zachary Lippman of Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory in New York.
Chinese leaders “want to
strategically invest in genome editing, and [by that] I mean, catch up,” says
Zhang Bei, who heads a team of 50 scientists at the Syngenta Beijing Innovation
Center and works closely with a sister R&D facility in Durham. “And they
also want to be the global leader as well in this area.”
China may one day need
CRISPR-modified plants to provide enough food for its massive population, notes
rice researcher Li Jiayang, former president of the Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences in Beijing and vice minister of agriculture. “We have to
feed 1.4 billion people with very limited natural resources,” says Li, who
works at the same CAS campus as Gao, the Institute of Genetics and
Developmental Biology. “We want to get the highest yield of production with the
least input on the land from fertilizers and pesticides, and breed
supervarieties that are pest and disease resistant as well as drought and salt
tolerant. All this means we need to find the key genes and to work with them.”
Before the harvest of that effort
can move from labs to farms and tables, however, China needs to resolve how it
will regulate CRISPR-engineered crops—a divisive issue in many countries. In a
2018 decision that rocked big agriculture, a European court ruled that such
crops are genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that need strict regulation. In
contrast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) exempts genome-edited
plants from regulations covering GMOs as long as they were produced not by
transferring DNA from other species, but by inducing mutations that could have
occurred naturally or through conventional breeding.
Chinese consumers are wary of GM
food. The country strictly limits the import of GM crops, and the only GM food
it grows are papayas for domestic consumption. But for CRISPR, many plant
researchers around the world, Lippman included, assume China will follow in the
United States’s footsteps.
A researcher who works with Gao Caixia plants CRISPR-modified
wheat in a Beijing greenhouse.
STEFEN CHOW
Whatever the outcome of China’s
regulatory decision, it won’t address CRISPR’s own limitations, especially for
changing crop traits influenced by multiple genes. “We still have to tackle a
lot of those challenges,” Voytas says. But he expects China’s major academic
and industrial push into CRISPR to pay off in improved techniques as well as
new crops. “China definitely has the foundation to contribute and make
discoveries on those frontiers, particularly now that such a big investment has
been made.”
GAO DOESN'T HAVE a farming background, and as a teenager she did not dream
of becoming a plant scientist. “If I said that, I’d be lying,” Gao says,
laughing again.
High school students in China
take a standard exam, the gaokao, and their performance leads
to offers in specific majors at specific universities. “I thought it would be
very nice to be a doctor, but I was not really at that level,” Gao says. She
was offered a slot at an agricultural university. “I thought that was fine
because otherwise I’d be quite embarrassed to go back to high school for
another year to take the exam again.”
Whatever the downsides of an
educational system that puts the country’s needs above individual desires, it
has helped build a strong agriculture research community for China. And the
nation backs it with money. In 2013, the most recent year for which USDA has
comparative figures, China’s public funding of agricultural research approached
$10 billion—more than twice what the U.S. government spent—and it supported
more than 1100 agricultural research institutes. “I of course need to apply for
all my grants, but the percentage of my proposals that get funded seems higher
than the rest of the world,” Gao says.
Gao did not immediately embrace
CRISPR after reading the landmark study in June 2012 that showed how to
transform the bacterial system into a tool for altering genomes. Her lab at the
time was having steady success with a more cumbersome genome editor, transcription
activatorlike effector nuclease (TALEN), the system Voytas invented. “We had
knocked out more than 100 genes with TALEN, and we were so proud of it,” Gao
says. “And you think, ‘a new technology, arrrgh, should we try it or not?’”
Gao Caixia and her team grow gene-edited wheat, including
strains engineered to resist a common fungal disease, in this experimental
station in Beijing.
STEFEN CHOW
Gao’s first CRISPR success—her
proof-of-principle editing of plant DNA—was with rice, which has a genome
one-eighth the size of the one in humans. But she soon tackled wheat, which has
six sets of chromosomes and a genome nearly six times larger than the human
one. In a tour de force experiment published in Nature
Biotechnology in July 2014, Gao’s group showed how either
TALEN or the much simpler CRISPR could cripple production of a protein that
makes wheat susceptible to powdery mildew, a fungal disease that extensively
damages harvests. With conventional breeding, “that would have been a
nightmare, if not impossible,” Lippman says, because wheat has six copies of
the key gene, and knocking out all of them would have taken multiple
generations.
CRISPR can easily modify several
genes in one step, and it is faster and simpler than TALEN. But CRISPR has its
limits: In a paper in the 19 April issue of Science, Gao’s lab showed that one
popular CRISPR variation called base editors makes many unintended “off-target”
mutations. And although CRISPR efficiently knocks out existing genes, putting
many plant traits within its reach, it can’t efficiently add new genes. “We are
not so good at it,” Gao says. No one is. Gao notes her lab succeeds only about
1% of the time, but it—and the rest of the plant CRISPR world—is trying to
improve those odds.
CRISPR researchers are also
looking for easier ways to get the components of the genome editor—typically
two or more genes—through the tough walls that protect plant cells. For now,
scientists depend on cumbersome injection devices known as gene guns or on
growing specialized plant-infecting bacteria to deliver the CRISPR apparatus.
But China’s new acquisition, Syngenta, may have a more elegant approach. Its
North Carolina unit has engineered corn pollen to deliver the CRISPR machinery
into cells, where it makes an edit and then disappears. Preliminary evidence,
reported in the April issue of Nature Biotechnology, shows the
strategy works in wheat and a few vegetable species.
Most of all, scientists still
need to identify the right genes to manipulate, says geneticist Catherine Feuillet,
who previously headed crop science at Bayer and now is chief scientific officer
of Inari Agriculture, a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (The firm has
licensed Lippman’s technology and he is a consultant.) Changing a single gene
to control pests or a fungus has been the “bread and butter of biotech,”
Feuillet says, but multiple genes—often unidentified—affect prized traits such
as yield, drought tolerance, or the ability to survive without agrochemicals.
“The person who can predict that ‘if you do this edit, this is the performance
you have’ is the winner of the whole game,” Feuillet says.
Technicians in a lab run by Gao Caixia pick immature embryos
from wheat seeds so they can edit their genomes with CRISPR.
STEFEN CHOW
ALTHOUGH GAO, Bei, and the rest of China’s CRISPR plant community are ready
to unleash a bounty of edited crops, their government first has to clarify its
regulatory policies. Many agricultural industry observers think it’s waiting to
see how the public reacts in the United States as companies there tiptoe into
that future. In February, Calyxt—a Minneapolis, Minnesota, company that Voytas
co-founded—brought to the U.S. market the first gene-edited food product, a
“healthier” soybean oil created with TALEN that it sells to the food industry.
Calyno oil, the company boasts, has zero trans fats, 80% oleic acid, and “three
times the fry life and extended shelf life.”
Corteva, of Wilmington, Delaware,
will likely bring the first CRISPR crop to market, and it, too, is far from one
that will help feed the world. Corteva—DowDuPont’s agricultural arm, now
rebranded with a consumer-friendly name—deleted a gene in order to improve
what’s known as waxy corn, which industry uses to make shiny paper and to
thicken food. Neal Gutterson, Corteva’s chief technology officer, says the
company hopes its new, even waxier corn will help the public become more
comfortable with the concept of CRISPR-altered food. “People don’t like the
combination of technology and food in the same sentence, certainly not in the
same phrase,” he says.
For Corteva, Syngenta, and the
other two big ag companies—BASF and Bayer (which acquired Monsanto last
year)—the long game is to use CRISPR to develop better versions of their
serious moneymakers, the “elite” varieties of a wide range of crops that have
big commercial markets. They sell dozens of kinds of elite corn seeds—for
example, inbred strains that consistently have high yields or reliable
resistance to herbicides. Creating the genetic purity needed for an elite variety
typically takes traditional breeding of many generations of plants, and CRISPR
is seen as the cleanest way to improve them quickly. The earlier methods of
engineering a plant can lead to unwanted genomic changes that must be
laboriously culled.
The Chinese government signaled
it would back modern genome editing of plants in a 5-year plan issued in 2016,
and to many observers the purchase of Syngenta confirmed that. “They have had a
plan for years now, and I think the Syngenta acquisition was part of that plan
at the outset,” says food scientist Rodolphe Barrangou, a pioneering CRISPR
researcher who previously headed genomics R&D at DuPont and now is at North
Carolina State University in Raleigh.
By using CRISPR to disable the gene for an enzyme that degrades
the cell wall in fruits, Syngenta is developing an edited tomato (right) that
has prolonged shelf life.
SYNGENTA BEIJING INNOVATION
CENTER
Barrangou suggests the Chinese
government is reticent about how it will regulate CRISPR-modified plants for strategic
reasons. “In terms of gamesmanship, is it not possible that they will make the
announcement when they’re ready to give the green light at the same time with
their own products?”
It’s too soon to say which CRISPR
crop Syngenta will try to take to market first if China gives the green light,
says Wu Gusui, who heads seed research at the company’s North Carolina
facility. “It could be tomato, could be corn, depending on the progress of the
next 2 or 3 years.” But he says Syngenta sees CRISPR-modified corn as a big
opportunity in China, which grows more hectares of corn than any other crop.
Yields per hectare are only 60% of those in the United States because corn ear
worms often weaken Chinese crops. A fungus thrives in the weakened plants,
producing a toxin that makes the resultant ears unfit for animal feed. As a
result, China must import a great deal of corn. (According to USDA, 82% of
U.S.-grown corn has been engineered to have a bacterial gene that makes it
resistant to ear worms.)
CRISPR could allow Syngenta to
quickly modify the corn genomes to introduce insect resistance or other traits,
bolstering China’s food supply while transforming agribusiness there. The
country’s seed marketplace has some 3000 companies, and none has more than a
10% share of corn, Wu says. “Syngenta is putting a lot of emphasis to grow in
China to become the leading seed company. The China market as a whole, if it
modernizes as the U.S. has modernized, can be as big as the U.S. market.”
Gao has her own contenders to be
China’s first CRISPR crops: different kinds of aromatic rice—“it’s easy to make
and very popular,” she says—and wheat that’s resistant to powdery mildew.
Regardless of which crops make it to farmers first, Gao says, they likely will
arrive long before any CRISPR-derived medical treatment reaches a doctor’s
office or an animal product comes to market. Crops may have a lower profile,
but the research also presents fewer risks and ethical dilemmas. Propelled by
China’s vast investment, it is also much further along.
Just ask Gao. If Chinese
regulators do open the door for CRISPR-engineered food, how long would it take
before something in one of her culture rooms or greenhouses might be ready for
planting on a commercial farm? “Six months,” she says. “That’s why we work with
CRISPR.”
And Gao doesn’t laugh when she
says that
Use bioresources well,
says Japanese scientist
THRISSUR, JULY 29,
2019 23:03 IST
Japanese scientist Akihika Kamoshita addressing students of the
KAU at Vellanikkara on Monday.
KAU students to go for joint
research in University of Tokyo
Japanese scientist Akihika
Kamoshita has said efficient utilisation of bioresources, reasonable and
feasible land use, and low input production technology are the keys to
sustainable agriculture.
Speaking to academia and students
of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) at Vellanikkara here on Monday, Akihika
Kamoshita said social changes influence agricultural production, and conflicts
were found to stagnate agricultural growth. He quoted the situations in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, Cambodia and Thailand as examples.
He explained the research agenda
of the Asian Natural Environmental Science Centre (ANESC) under the University
of Tokyo, which he represents.
Similarities
“The centre is meant for research
collaboration with overseas universities, especially those in Asia. Japan and
India have many similarities as far as natural and regional resources are
concerned and rice is common food for both countries. Rice ecology in Asia is
facing a few challenges, like environmental issues, salinity intrusion,
climatic fluctuations, and submergence. These issues are common to Asian
countries. We have undertaken rice research in different countries with the
focus on hierarchy of biological resources, rice root system and adaptation,
seed system and agro-ecology of rice. Crop production research on efficient
water use is another vital topic,” Prof. Akihika said.
Collaborative research
KAU Vice Chancellor R. Chandra
Babu, in his introductory address, said that the KAU students and faculty would
get an opportunity for collaborative research in the University of Tokyo.
“Research opportunities are
available for scientists and PhD scholars in the field of efficient resource
use in rice production, Root biology for plant adaptation, Arbuscular
mycorrihza symbiosis in rice and crops, rice seed system, agro-ecology study on
rice , rice business models, etc. The exploratory approach of scientists like
Akihika, who is often exploring research opportunities in countries like
Combodia and Thailand, should also be imbibed,” he said.
One-to-one discussion
Prof. Akihika had a one-to-one
discussion with students, research scholars, and researchers in rice and allied
sectors of research.
The programme was coordinated by
Director of Research P. Indira Devi. Selected researchers will go to the ANESC
in November 2019.
Global
weather chaos is also shrivelling Asia’s crop production
Extreme
weather, which scientists blame on climate change has given Asia its heaviest
rainfalls and droughts in decades.
by Siraphob
Thanthong-Knight • Bloomberg
![Description: Much of Australia's east coast is still gripped by a drought that began more than two years ago. And scientists say they're now seeing the same pattern of extreme weather that's gripped Europe in Asia [Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg]](file:///C:/Users/Mujahid/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image026.jpg)
Much
of Australia's east coast is still gripped by a drought that began more than
two years ago. And scientists say they're now seeing the same pattern of
extreme weather that's gripped Europe in Asia [Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg]
In
a year when record heat is scorching Europe and the heaviest rain in decades
has inundated parts of the U.S. Midwest, the Asia Pacific region is suffering
from its own maelstrom of extreme weather.
Drought,
and floods in some areas, have devastated the livelihoods of thousands of
people, and damaged crops in an area that produces most of the world’s palm
oil, natural rubber and rice, and more than a third of its sugar. While parts
of China endured the most rain in almost 60 years, water levels on the Mekong,
one of Asia’s largest river systems, have fallen to among the lowest ever, and
areas of southern India are battling relentless drought.
“Over
the past several years, we’ve been seeing more dryness than not in the region,”
said Donald Keeney, senior agricultural meteorologist at Maxar, a U.S.-based
weather consultant. “These conditions will cause a decline in production of the
main crops later this year and into next,” he said.
Dry
conditions have wilted rice fields in Thailand and Indonesia and parched sugar
cane plantations and oilseed crops in India. Here’s a snapshot of how weather
is affecting output in some key areas.
China
In
northern regions, lack of rain and drought have threatened some crops, though
the impact is mitigated by irrigation. By contrast, some southern provinces had
the heaviest rainfall since 1961 in the five weeks to early July, according to
the meteorological administration, hampering early rice output and worsening
pest problems. China is the top producer of wheat and rice, and second-biggest
for corn, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
India
India
jostles with Brazil as the biggest producer of sugar. Output this year may drop
to the lowest in three years as a prolonged drought shrivels cane in the states
of Maharashtra and Karnataka, trimming the domestic surplus and potentially
curbing exports. Deficient rainfall from the annual monsoon also threatens
oilseed crops, which could boost foreign purchases of edible oils, including
palm oil, where the country is the largest importer. Still, Mumbai has been hit
by heavy downpours, a sign of the weather’s erratic nature.
Indonesia, Malaysia
These
are the world’s top palm oil producers. The next three months will be crucial
to determine how output will turn out next year and dryness in areas of Borneo
island will be closely watched, said Ling Ah Hong, director of plantation
consultant Ganling Sdn, who’s worked in the industry for more than four
decades. Rice production is threatened by dry weather on Java island, where
some areas are without rain for more than 60 days.
Thailand
Thailand
is the globe’s top grower of rubber, and one of the largest exporters of sugar
and rice. The worst drought in years in some areas is hurting crops, and caused
authorities to cut estimates for cane output and rice shipments. Cloud-seeding
planes have been deployed, and pumps and trucks have been used to divert water
to the affected areas in the north and northeast.
Vietnam
A
heat wave and drought have hit parts of the country, hurting rice and rubber.
Still, the central highlands, where most coffee is grown, have escaped major
harm so far. Vietnam is the largest producer of the robusta variety.
Australia
Much
of the east coast is still gripped by a drought that began more than two years
ago. The dry conditions are worst in Queensland, the biggest beef-producing
state, but extend into much of New South Wales. The situation is much better in
Western Australia, where the wheat crop had good late rain and is likely to be
on a par with the bumper season last year.
Groundwater policies fire up air pollution in
northwest India
By Krishna Ramanujan |
July
29, 2019
A measure to conserve groundwater
in northwestern India has led to unexpected consequences: Added air pollution
in an area already beset by haze and smog.
Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT
Burning of rice straw before wheat planting in northwest India.
A new study reveals how water-use
policies require farmers to transplant rice later in the year, which in turn
delays harvests and concentrates agricultural burnings of crop residues in
November, a month when breezes stagnate, leading to increased air pollution.
The perfect storm of conditions
during November has created almost 30% higher atmospheric concentrations of
fine particulate matter, small particles that are especially concerning for
human health.
The study, “Tradeoffs Between Groundwater Conservation and Air
Pollution From Agricultural Fires in Northwest India,” published June 17 in Nature Sustainability, is a
collaboration between researchers from Cornell and the International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
The scientists analyzed groundwater
conservation policies and their effect on the timing of farmers’ planting and
harvesting crops and burning crop residues. They also connected this
information with meteorological and air pollution data.
“This analysis shows that we need
to think about sustainable agriculture from a systems perspective, because it’s
not a single objective we’re managing for – it’s multidimensional, and solving
one problem in isolation can exacerbate others ,” said Andrew McDonald,
associate professor of soil and crop sciences and a co-author of the paper.
Balwinder-Singh, a cropping systems simulation modeler at CIMMYT in New Delhi,
India, is the paper’s first author.
Northwest India suffers from two
critical sustainability issues: air pollution and groundwater depletion. Almost
1.1 million Indians died from air pollution in 2015, adding up to costs
equaling 3% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the study.
Groundwater depletion is an ongoing
issue, and rice cultivation is particularly water-intensive. News reports in
June shed light on water scarcity in Chennai, in the south; in the northwest,
two groundwater conservation measures enacted in 2009 delayed groundwater use
by farmers until later in the season. The acts ultimately prohibited
transplanting rice into paddies until after June 20.
Using time-series satellite data
from NASA, the researchers showed that for six rice seasons before the
groundwater acts were implemented, an average of 86% of the rice-growing area
in the states of Punjab and Haryana was planted on or before June 28. Less than
40% was planted on or before that date after the acts passed, according to the
study.
Data showed that rice harvests then
shifted later, with an aggregate eight-day harvest delay in late October and
early November. This shift has led to a narrower window and a significant
increase in crop residue burning in the first three weeks of November. Before
the acts, the peak date for agricultural fires was Oct. 24, with 490 fires per
day; it was Nov. 4, with 681 fires per day, after the acts were passed.
At the same time, meteorological
data revealed that the first two weeks of November were on average cooler than
the last two weeks of October, coupled with weaker winds, causing increased,
stagnating air pollution in the metropolis of New Delhi, which is heavily
affected by particulate matter from these agricultural fires.
Farmers must quickly clear residues
immediately following rice harvests in this area, known as India’s bread
basket, to prepare fields for planting wheat that grows in the winter.
Solutions could include new
agronomic technologies such as the tractor-mounted Happy Seeder, a device that
allows farmers to drill through heavy crop residues and plant seeds without
burning. They might couple such advances with shorter-duration rice varieties
that offer flexibility in planting and harvesting dates.
Other options include investigating
alternative uses for crop residues, such as collecting and selling biomass for
power generation, bio-char creation, or as material for paper or furniture.
“There may be uses that are
economically viable but they have to be considered as part of a comprehensive
solution,” McDonald said.
Finally, government planners are
promoting agricultural development in northeastern India, which benefits from
more rain and water.
Amit Srivastava at CIMMYT in New
Delhi and Bruno Gerard at CIMMYT in Mexico City are co-authors of the study.
Customs denies undervaluation of rice imports
July 30, 2019, 12:52 PM
By Betheena Kae Unite
The Bureau of Customs (BOC)
denied allegations by a group of farmers that rice importations have been
undervalued, maintaining that they have been following internationally
recognized system of valuation.
The Federation of Free Farmers,
Inc. (FFF) in a recent statement lamented the “apparent undervaluation of rice
imports following the enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law or RA 11203 last
March 2019.”
It can be recalled that the
Department of Finance (DOF) and the Customs bureau reported a collection of
P5.9 billion in tariffs from imports of 1.43-million metric tons of rice from
March to July.
However, Raul Montemayor,
National Manager of the FFF, said that with these figures, the importers “paid
P4.24 billion less than what was due from them.”
“If we use the DOF figures and
assume a P52 per dollar exchange rate, it will come out that the average landed
price of the rice imports before imposing tariffs was US$227 per metric ton. On
the other hand, data from international monitoring groups such as the Food and
Agriculture Organization indicate that the real landed cost of these imports
should have been around US$391 per ton if these were 25 percent broken rice,”
Montemayor pointed out.
“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 also said that
importers could reduce their tariff obligations by “deliberately lowering the
declared value of their imports in connivance with their suppliers abroad.”
The Customs Assessment Operations
and Coordinating Group, however, revealed that it was the office of the Import
Assessment Service that provides reference values on rice import as guides when
the veracity of the declared values are disputable.
“All ports abide with the said
published data except when the commercial invoice of a rice shipment is
supported by genuine and validated proof of payment such as bank telegraphic
transfer of payment, sales contract and other similar legitimate
instrumentalities that indicated actual sales transaction between the seller
and the buyer,” the bureau said in a statement Monday.
This system, it added, is a World
Trade Organization internationally recognized system of valuation where the
Philippines was a signatory. It is also prescribed under Section 701 of the
Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
The bureau is expected to collect
P10-billion tariff collection for the year for remittance to the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which was created to help the transition of
palay growers and rice farmer cooperatives to a new rice regime
Rice industry group wants tighter
import regulations
Anna Mogato
5:45 PM, July 29, 2019
Updated 5:45 PM, July 29, 2019
LOCAL PRODUCTIVITY DROPPING.
Months after the rice tariffication law was passed, industry stakeholders'
worst fears have come true as some rice mills halt operations and prefer to
import rice instead. File photo by Jire Carreon/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Amid the
influx of allegedly undervalued rice imports, the Philippine Confederation
of Grains Associations (PCGA) on Monday, July 29, called for stricter
government regulations.
PCGA president Joji Co told
reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Masaganang Ani 300 program that
aside from reviewing Republic Act (RA) No. 11203 or the rice tariffication law,
the government should also tighten monitoring of imports.
"What they should do here is
to enforce strictly the customs law on rice imports.... What is important is
strict implementation of the customs law," he said.
Co shrugged off the Department of
Agriculture's proposal to reimpose suggested retail prices on
rice, as the oversupply
of rice in the market already means prices should drop. However, Co noted that
retail rice prices are still somewhat high.
RA No. 11203 author and sponsor
Senator Cynthia Villar earlier said there is no need to review the 5-month-old law, but agreed that the Bureau of
Customs (BOC) should prevent the undervaluation of rice imports.
Rice import duties on track to fund RCEF, BoC says
July 29, 2019 | 10:45 pm
REUTERS
THE BUREAU OF CUSTOMS (BoC) said
it has collected tariffs worth nearly P6.5 billion as of mid-July on rice
imports since the Rice Tariffication Law went into effect in March, with the
monthly average of P1.4 billion on track to fund the P10-billion-a-year Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
In a statement Monday, the BoC
said it is “on course” to meet RCEF funding requirements, which will allow the
fund to support farm mechanization, seed and fertilizer acquisition and make
credit more readily available.
The Rice Tariffication Law
permitted more liberal imports of rice by private entities, who had to pay an
import tariff of 35% on foreign grain sourced from Southeast Asia. It replaced
the system of largely government-to-government rice orders overseen by the
National Food Authority (NFA), which has been relegated to procuring rice from
domestic farmers.
“At an average of P1.4 billion a
month, the BoC remains on course to collect the minimum of P10 billion needed
for the RCEF per year,” the BoC said.
The BoC reported to its parent
agency, the Department of Finance, that it took in P6.479 billion from
importer-traders as of July 15. It also raised a further P3.103 billion from
the tax on import permits issued by the National Food Authority (NFA) since
January.
The Port of Subic collected
P1.598 billion worth of rice duties, followed by the Manila International
Container Port (MICP) with P1.033 billion collections, and the Port of Manila
with P998.77 million.
BOC may start
audit of rice traders next month–official
By Rea Cu
July 30, 2019
Bureau
of Customs
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) said
it is ready to start its audit of rice traders next month in line with its
probe to determine if there was undervaluation of rice imports.
The Department of Finance (DOF)
also announced on Monday that the BOC has collected a total of P6.479 billion
in tariffs from rice imported by traders as of July 15 following the
implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11203.
“We are preparing the audit
notification letters. Yes, we will issue [by the first week of August],”
Vincent Maronilla told the BusinessMirror. The BOC official said earlier that
the values of the rice shipments declared by traders were “inconsistent.”
He said the BOC has the power to
collect duties and taxes if there were deficiencies in the assessment made on
imported rice shipments. He noted that shipments are open for post-clearance
audit for up to three years.
The BOC will conduct the audit
after the Federation of Free Farmers Inc. said rice imports made
after RA 11203 took effect were undervalued. However, in a statement issued on
Monday, the BOC denied the allegations of the FFF.
The BOC said its Assessment
Operations and Coordinating Group (AOCG) revealed that it is the office of the
Import Assessment Service (IAS) that provides Reference Values on rice import
as guides when the veracity of the declared values are disputable.
“All Ports abide with the said
published data except when the Commercial Invoice of a rice shipment is
supported by genuine and validated Proof of Payment such as Bank Telegraphic
transfer of Payment, Sales Contract and other similar legitimate
instrumentalities that indicated actual sales transaction between the seller
and the buyer,” the BOC said.
The bureau said the system it
uses is recognized by the World Trade Organization of which the Philippines is
a member and is prescribed under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act
(CMTA).
Collection
The BOC reported to Finance
Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III during a recent executive committee meeting
that it collected P6.479 billion in duties from traders who imported rice after
the law took effect on March 5.
The DOF said the government also
collected P3.103 billion in payments from traders for import permits issued by
the National Food Authority since January.
Earlier this month, the DOF said
the BOC had collected P5.9 billion in tariffs slapped on 1.43 million metric
tons (MMT) of rice imported by local traders from March 5 to June 30.
Maronilla clarified, however,
that the P5.9 billion was collected from rice shipments made in January to
June.
He said the BOC’s report to the
DOF was on the bureau’s performance for the first half of the year and not just
for the March-to-June period, when the new law was already in effect.
“[The collections] from March 5
to June, when the rice tariffication law is already in effect, were for 966,690
metric tons,” he said.
Tariffs assessed on 966,690 MT of
rice reached around P4 billion to P4.5 billion, according to Maronilla.
Basing computations on
Maronilla’s clarification, tariffs collected from rice imports from July 1 to
July 15 amounted to around P600 million.
The BOC official also expressed
confidence that the bureau’s collection of rice tariffs will surpass P10
billion, the amount that should be allocated annually to the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), under the new law.
Section 13(c) of the rice
tariffication law states that 10 percent of the P10-billion RCEF shall be made
available in the form of credit facility with minimal interest rates and with
minimum collateral requirements to rice farmers and cooperatives.
The rest of the RCEF will be set
aside for farm machinery and equipment; rice seed development, propagation and
promotion; and rice extension services, as provided under RA 11203.
On top of paying tariffs, rice
importers are required under RA 11203 to secure sanitary and phytosanitary
import clearances from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant
Industry, which assumed the food safety regulation function of the NFA under
the rice trade liberalization law.
IRRI to support researchers
in Bangladesh’s agri sector
UNB,
Dhaka
30 July, 2019 09:40:10
AM
Representative of the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Bangladesh Dr Humnath Bhandari
has reiterated the organisation's continued support for capacity building of
the researchers working in Bangladesh's agricultural sector. He said IRRI is willing
to strengthen its cooperation with Bangladesh especially in the areas of food
security, nutrition, developing agricultural systems as well as realising the
challenges in agricultural sector for achieving inclusive agricultural
development.
Dr Bhandari, who presented his
credentials to Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs on Sunday, also informed that International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) had worked closely with Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) to develop
'Sonali Rice' which is fortified with vitamin A.
The Foreign Minister welcomed him
to Bangladesh and wished him success in discharging his responsibilities and
assured him of the support of the government.
Dr Momen briefed him about the
actions taken by the government under the visionary leadership of Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina to ensure food security in Bangladesh and informed him
that Bangladesh had become the 4th largest producer of rice in the world
attaining food self-sufficiency.
The Foreign Minister also
highlighted the socio-economic development of Bangladesh since Independence in
1971 especially during the last decade under the present government, said the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
Dr Bhandari, a national of Nepal,
has more than 15 years of experience in agricultural research-for-development
focusing on rural livelihood, food security, poverty reduction, natural
resources management, rice-based cropping systems, climate smart agriculture,
agricultural technology adoption and impact, food value chains, agribusiness,
market system development, and policy analysis.
Before joining his new role, Dr
Bhandari worked as a scientist (Applied Economist) of IRRI in Bangladesh since
2010.
Tariff rollout
hurts PH rice millers
About 40 percent of the total
10,000 big and small rice-milling operations in the country have stopped their
operations after experiencing the negative impacts of the implementation of a
new rice regime including the tremendous decrease in the price of
locally-produced palay or unhusked rice, the industry said.
Such milling facilities were
those located in major rice-producing provinces like Nueva Ecija, Isabela,
Mindoro and Panay Islands, Joji Co, president of the Philippine Confederation
of Grains Associations, said at the sidelines of the launching of “Masaganang
Ani 300” and “Support Local Farmers” on Monday in Quezon City.
Co explained that rice millers
were forced to stop their operations since they bought palay during the last
wet season harvest at much higher price. Because of this, they could not sell
their milled rice at a competitive price against the cheap imported rice coming
in.
While about 60 percent to 70
percent of rice milling facilities are still operating, rice supply of such
businesses are those which have been imported following the rollout of the
Republic Act 11203 or Rice Tariffication Law, he said.
“[In] intercity in Bocaue
Bulacan, 80 to 90 percent of those rice mills are now milling but their stocks
of rice, where do they come from? Importation,” Co said, noting that about 150
rice milling facilities have reportedly stopped their operations.
Since the passage of the new law
in February this year, more than 1.5 million tons of imported rice have already
entered the country, according to the Bureau of Customs.
To address the problem on rice
smuggling, which have been a trade issue in the country for decades, Co said
the government should “enforce strictly the customs law.”
Just last two weeks, authorities
seized 10,000 sacks of smuggled rice worth P12 million near an island off
Basilan. In November last year, the Philippine Coast Guard also intercepted a
vessel containing about 50,000 bags of smuggled rice in Tonquil, Sulu.
Co also expressed support on the
calls to review RA 11203 and joined the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and
Food, Inc.’s (PCAFI) push for the government to start increasing the tariff on
imported rice entering the country, in a bid to help plummeting prices of palay
to recover from a steep drop to as low as P12 per kilo in some provinces.
“[But] what is more important is
not the safeguard on the duty. [It] is the strict implementation on the customs
laws,” he noted.
Under RA 11203, a special
safeguard duty on rice may be put put in place to protect the rice industry
from sudden or extreme price fluctuations.
A safeguard duty is a temporary
increase in import duty of an agricultural product to deal with import surges
or price falls, under the World Trade Agreement (WTO) on Agriculture.
The Rice Tariffication Act has
allowed private traders to apply for unlimited importations of rice as long as
they secure the necessary permits and pay the proper duties, set at 35 percent
for rice sourced from ASEAN countries. A 40-percent tariff shall be levied on
shipments sourced from non-Asean countries within the minimum access volume of
350,000 MT, going up to 180 percent for out-quota imports.
The law stipulates that through
the P10-billion Rice Competitive Rice Fund (RCEF), the Department of
Agriculture (DA) through the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and
Mechanization (PHilMech) will provide farmers with machinery and equipment
worth P5 billion, free high-yielding seeds worth P3 billion from Philippine
Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), P1 billion for credit and P1 billion in
training through the Agricultural Training Institute.
Conservation
Ag Movement Encourages "Trust in Food"
WASHINGTON,
DC -- Last Friday, policymakers, journalists, and leaders in the agriculture
and food industries gathered here for a discussion of the future of
sustainability and conservation in U.S. food production. Hosted by Farm
Journal's Trust in Food initiative and the Farm Journal Foundation, the event
kicked off America's Conservation Ag Movement (ACAM), a public-private
partnership that focuses on empowering farmers through conservation and
sustainability.
USDA
Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey delivered a
keynote speech that emphasized the mutually beneficial relationship between
farming and sustainability. "As the saying goes, 'You can't kick people
toward you.' We have to figure out how to make all the changes we want to make
in agriculture work for farmers," said Northey. "Today's consumers
are more interested than ever before in who's growing and raising their food
and how. Building transparency has to begin on the farm. It has to start with
producers working together to meet consumer expectations for a healthy,
planet-friendly food system, and telling consumers about the systems of
production we use that steward water, land, air, and create abundant wildlife
habitats."
U.S.
rice was a hot topic at the event, with panelists highlighting the many
achievements of the rice industry in sustainability and wildlife conservation.
"We
work with rice farmers and USA Rice to provide technical assistance and
financial incentives to improve water quality and increase their efficiency in
all things that help their bottom line," said Craig R. LeSchack, interim
chief conservation officer at Ducks Unlimited. "It comes down to working
with landowners in ways that make economic sense to them, but those farmers
have a conservation ethic already instilled. We're able to tap into that
through these programs."
The
event concluded with a special preview tour of a new outdoor installation on
the National Mall entitled, "Agriculture Through the Voice of the
Farmer." The garden includes many U.S. crops and showcases technologies
that are critical to producing affordable, wholesome food while preserving
healthy soil, clean water, and abundant wildlife habitat. The installation is
designed to be educational, connecting visitors to the growers who produce
their food through video kiosks and a farmer-voiced smartphone walking tour.The garden will be open to the
public through October 2020.
Zero Tolerance Policy Being Pursued Against Quality Of Food Being
Served To Hujjaj
Brushing aside the complaints of
inferior quality food being served to pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, Director
General Hajj, Dr Sajid Yousfani said zero tolerance policy was being pursued
regarding quality of food being served to Government Hajj Scheme pilgrims
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan
Point News - APP - 29th Jul, 2019 ) :Brushing aside the complaints of inferior
quality food being served to
pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, Director
General Hajj, Dr Sajid Yousfani said
zero tolerance policy was being pursued regarding quality of food being served
to Government Hajj Scheme pilgrims.
Talking to APP, he said a network
has been working round the clock to check and ensure serving quality of food.
Food coordinator and assistant food coordinator were assigned to persistently
check the quality of food. The whole cooking process was
being monitored threadbare. The kitchens of 13 catering companies were being
religiously checked and monitored.
On receiving any complaint, the
kitchen is sealed forthwith. He urged the pilgrims to lodge complaint against
food, transport, accommodation or any other complaint to a dedicated Call
Centre, established in Makkah to receive
complaints of Pakistani pilgrims round
the clock.
Hujajj can call to lodge complaints
or queries on toll free number 800 1166622 from within Saudi Arabia, while
+966125500418 can be dialed from Pakistan or any other
part of the world. A complaint is
automatically lodged and fed in the computerized Hajj Management System
as soon as it landed at the Call Center from where it is
forwarded to concerned department for redressal.
The 24 Hours Complaint Management System has also been set up to
resolve problems of Hujjaj.
He said Pakistani taste food
including mutton, chicken, rice, vegetables, sweet dish, lassi, fruit and
mineral water was being provided
to pilgrims thrice a day in hygienic manner.
He said a total of 135,000 pilgrims
including 96,000 government and 39,000
private scheme have reached Saudi Arabia for
performing the sacred religious ceremony. He said 50,000 pilgrims have
reached Makkah Mukarma after
visiting Madina Munawwara. While 8,000 pilgrims of government scheme were
still residing at Madina Munawwara.
Seasonal staff of Religious Ministry, Hajj Medical Mission,
Moavineen were ready to serve intending pilgrims. Monitoring of Hajj Group Organisers
(HGOs) were continuing. Haram Guides were available to guiding the pilgrims to
their destinations. Special arrangements have been made to provide wheelchairs.
Free helpline has been established for registering complaints of pilgrims.
Ministry has established 9 dispensaries and a 40 bed hospital for providing
emergency treatment to Hujjaj.
Suspected
Football-Sized Meteorite Lands In East Indian Rice Paddy
00:24
29.07.2019
Meteorites are falling rocks or
debris from space which enter the Earth's atmosphere but are not burnt up as
they pass through it.
CNN
reported on Thursday that an alleged meteorite landed in a rice paddy in an
east Indian village, according to local authorities.
The
rock plummeted from the sky and hit the field on Wednesday. According to the
farmers, the rock was around the size of a football and weighed about
13-kilograms.
Observers
from the village saw a brown object falling into a rice paddy, causing them to
flee the scene as the meteorite crashed into the field leaving a gust of smoke,
leaving a large crater.
Shirsat
Kapil Ashok, the magistrate for Madhubani district, spoke to Agence France
Press (AFP), saying that "The farmers were working in the paddy field when
this heavy rock fell from the sky with a very loud noise."
The
workers later returned to the area to obtain the rock from the crater it had
created.
Ashok
also repeated apparent claims by the villagers that the rock had "magnetic
properties".
While
Indian scientists are currently looking into whether or not the find was in
fact a meteorite, NASA have since disputed the claim.
India
has had a history of meteor landings. In 2016, India's Tamil Nadu state
authorities claimed that a meteorite killed a bus driver.
Punjab,
Haryana farmers diversify a tad from rice
TV Jayan New Delhi | Updated
on July 29, 2019 Published on July 29, 2019
Better
prices commanded by crops like cotton and maize last year and crop
diversification strategies adopted by Punjab and Haryana governments have
prompted farmers in the two States to plant less rice this season as compared
to previous kharif season. 
While
the area under rice in Haryana till last week was a little over 10 lakh
hectares (lh), nearly 15 per cent lower than 11.87 lh planted in kharif
2018-19. In Punjab too, nearly a little over 1 lh normally used for growing
rice has been diverted to plant cotton and maize. With rice sowing being almost
at the fag end as far as the season is concerned, not much change is expected
in the cropping pattern now.
Haryana
State agriculture authorities attribute the reduction in rice cultivation to
the sustained campaign they ran. “Farmers with at least 50,000 hectares have
enrolled as part of the campaign to grow maize or pulses. We have given them a
cash benefit of ₹ 4,500 per hectare, free
seeds and free crop insurance cover under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
(PMFBY), said Suresh Gahlawat, Assistant Director (Extension) at Haryana
Agriculture Department.
“Besides,
they have a standing offer of buying back the maize crop at minimum support
price decided by the Centre,” he said. Apart from maize, cotton sowing is also
marginally up in Haryana to 6.76 lh as against 6.65 lh same period last year.
However, many farmers in the State alleged that more farmers would have availed
the scheme had the State government revealed its plans earlier on. “We are all
concerned about the depleting groundwater levels in the State. If the State was
really concerned about it why did they announce it at the eleventh hour,” asked
Rattan Mann, Bharatiya Kisan Union State President. It should have taken the
farmers into confidence in advance, say, February or March, he felt.
According
to Sutanta Kumar Airi, Director of Agriculture in Punjab, the State to ran a
campaign to lure farmers away from planting rice and this had some success.
Punjab farmers planted rice only on 28.53 lh till last week as compared to
29.57 lh in the corresponding week last year. On other hand, the area under
maize cultivation has gone up to 1.6 lh as against a little over 1 lh same period
last year, said Airi. The State also witnessed a spurt in cotton cultivation,
mainly because the cash crop fetched good price in the previous year. The area
under cotton planted has crossed 4 lh last week as against 2.84 lh in same week
in 2018-19.
“Even
in rice, we are encouraging farmers to grow more basmati rice this time than
non-basmati varieties to improve export prospects, said the Punjab government
official.
There
are other few States which too witnessed a reduction in rice planting. Among
the States that have reported less area under rice as compared to last season
are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and West Bengal.
The reduction mainly on account of monsoon rainfall deficit and most of them
have sufficient time to make up for the lost time with the transplanting has
covered less than half the area normally covered.
India's non-basmati rice export falls after
govt withdraws tax incentive
Government's decision to increase MSP
consistently had raised cost of procuring
Dilip Kumar Jha | Mumbai Last Updated at
July 29, 2019 23:43 IST
India’s exports of non-basmati rice declined by half between April and May this year after the government withdrew 5 per cent incentives from April 1.
Data compiled by the government-owned Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) showed India’s overall exports at 711,837 tonnes for April-May 2019 compared to 1.53 million tonnes shipped for the corresponding period of the previous year. In value term, India’s overall non-basmati rice exports plunged by more than 50 per cent to $294 million (Rs 2046 crore) for the first two months of FY 2019-2020 as against $652 million (Rs 4347 crore) in the same period last year.
The decline in non-basmati rice exports raises questions about India’s policy making, say analysts. In order to help farmers, the government has increased minimum support price (MSP) for the last several years. This has made Indian rice uncompetitive for exports. A 5 per cent tax cushion encouraged 7-8 million tonnes in exports of non-basmati rice annually.
“Some importing countries like Bangladesh have started growing rice on their own which reduced their overall annual import. Trade sources are also blaming continuous MSP increase for a reduction in India’s non-basmati rice exports,” said a senior Apeda official.
Bangladesh had emerged as the largest importer of India’s non-basmati rice with 1.87 million tonnes in 2017-18. In the following year, however, farmers in Bangladesh expanded their sowing area resulting into higher output from local sources and thus proportionate decline in their overall non-basmati rice import. Thus, in FY 2018-19, India’s non-basmati rice exports plunged by a drastic 70 per cent to Bangladesh to a mere 480,567 tonnes.
With favourable agro climatic condition continues this year as well, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported Bangladesh’s rice output to rise further 35.3 million tonnes this year as compared to 34.9 million tonnes and 32.6 million tonnes in 2018-19 and 2017-18 respectively.
“Declining import from Bangladesh is
self-explanatory as to why India’s non-basmati rice exports are falling,” said
the Apeda official.
In fact, exporters are worried over
sustained rise in the MSP of paddy which translates into the proportionate
increase in rice prices. To attract farmers, the National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raised MSP of
common variety of paddy by 30 per cent in the last four years from Rs 1410 a
quintal in 2015-16 to Rs 1815 a quintal in 2019-20.
“The sustained hike in MSP has made
India outpriced by $25 in the world market resulting into lower demand of
Indian rice. Other rice growing countries including Pakistan and Thailand have
filled the gap,” said Gurnam Arora, Joint Managing Director, Kohinoor Foods,
one of the largest exporters of basmati and non-basmati rice in India.
With no relief in sight, India’s
non-basmati rice exports are likely to fall steeply in coming months.
Meanwhile, bumper local production
and possibility of less export are expected to worsen challenges for storage
and handling of rice in India.
India’s total rice output is
estimated at 115.6 million tonnes for 2018-19 as compared to 96.48 million
tonnes reported in the previous year. India’s annual rice consumption is
estimated at around 90 million tonnes.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/india-s-non-basmati-rice-export-falls-after-govt-withdraws-tax-incentive-119072901168_1.html
India rice exports could hit
7-year low on weak demand, higher prices: Industry
Lower shipments from India
will help rivals such as Vietnam and Myanmar in raising their exports,
according to Indian exporters.
Reuters|
Jul 29,
2019, 09.29 AM IST
Indian exporters said the aggressive liquidation of old stocks by China,
the world's biggest rice producer, has also hit Indian exports.
MUMBAI: India's rice exports are likely
to fall to their lowest level in seven years, industry officials say, as weak
demand from African countries weighs and shippers absorb the absence of
government incentives that supported previous sales.
Lower shipments from India will help rivals such as Vietnam and Myanmar in raising their exports, according to Indian exporters, but could also force Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to increase buying from farmers, even as it struggles to liquidate last year's stocks.
"Inventories have been piled up in Africa," said Nitin Gupta, vice president for Olam India's rice business. "A lot of Indian demand has been diverted to Myanmar and China as Indian prices are out of parity."
The south Asian country could export 10 to 11 million tonnes of rice in the fiscal year 2019/20 that started on April 1, Gupta said.
India exported 11.95 million tonnes of rice in 2018/19 through March 31, down 7.2% from the previous 12 months, even though the country provided incentives for exports of non-basmati rice for four months.
The country exports non-basmati rice to mainly Bangladesh, Nepal, Benin and Senegal, and premier basmati rice to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In basmati rice exports, India competes with Pakistan, while in non-basmati rice exports rivals are Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
The government incentives for exports were temporary and discontinued on March 25, said B V Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association (REA). "The incentive needs to be restored quickly," he said, "otherwise there could be huge drop in the exports this year."
India's rice exports in April-May fell 30% from a year ago to 1.58 million tonnes as shipments of non-basmati rice fell more than 50% to 711,837 tonnes, according to data compiled by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.
Shipments of white rice from India have nearly stopped altogether as Vietnam and Myanmar are offering more than $30 per tonne discount over Indian prices, said Gupta.
In parboiled rice, India has been trying to compete with Thailand but couldn't reduce export prices due to higher paddy, or unhusked rice, prices, said Himanshu Agarwal, executive director at Satyam Balajee, India's biggest rice exporter.
Paddy buying by central and state governments have lifted prices in the open market, making it difficult for exporters to compete profitably in the world market, said Agarwal.
The central state of Chhattisgarh, a leading rice producer, raised the minimum paddy buying price to 2,500 rupees ($36.20) per 100 kg in 2018, from 1,750 rupees - a 43% jump.
Indian exporters said the aggressive liquidation of old stocks by China, the world's biggest rice producer, has also hit Indian exports.
"China is exporting a huge amount of old rice to African markets. Africa being a major client, volumes have significantly dropped from India," said Agarwal.
($1 = 69.0550 Indian rupees)
Lower shipments from India will help rivals such as Vietnam and Myanmar in raising their exports, according to Indian exporters, but could also force Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to increase buying from farmers, even as it struggles to liquidate last year's stocks.
"Inventories have been piled up in Africa," said Nitin Gupta, vice president for Olam India's rice business. "A lot of Indian demand has been diverted to Myanmar and China as Indian prices are out of parity."
The south Asian country could export 10 to 11 million tonnes of rice in the fiscal year 2019/20 that started on April 1, Gupta said.
India exported 11.95 million tonnes of rice in 2018/19 through March 31, down 7.2% from the previous 12 months, even though the country provided incentives for exports of non-basmati rice for four months.
The country exports non-basmati rice to mainly Bangladesh, Nepal, Benin and Senegal, and premier basmati rice to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In basmati rice exports, India competes with Pakistan, while in non-basmati rice exports rivals are Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
The government incentives for exports were temporary and discontinued on March 25, said B V Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association (REA). "The incentive needs to be restored quickly," he said, "otherwise there could be huge drop in the exports this year."
India's rice exports in April-May fell 30% from a year ago to 1.58 million tonnes as shipments of non-basmati rice fell more than 50% to 711,837 tonnes, according to data compiled by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.
Shipments of white rice from India have nearly stopped altogether as Vietnam and Myanmar are offering more than $30 per tonne discount over Indian prices, said Gupta.
In parboiled rice, India has been trying to compete with Thailand but couldn't reduce export prices due to higher paddy, or unhusked rice, prices, said Himanshu Agarwal, executive director at Satyam Balajee, India's biggest rice exporter.
Paddy buying by central and state governments have lifted prices in the open market, making it difficult for exporters to compete profitably in the world market, said Agarwal.
The central state of Chhattisgarh, a leading rice producer, raised the minimum paddy buying price to 2,500 rupees ($36.20) per 100 kg in 2018, from 1,750 rupees - a 43% jump.
Indian exporters said the aggressive liquidation of old stocks by China, the world's biggest rice producer, has also hit Indian exports.
"China is exporting a huge amount of old rice to African markets. Africa being a major client, volumes have significantly dropped from India," said Agarwal.
($1 = 69.0550 Indian rupees)
Use bioresources
well, says Japanese scientist
Thrissur, July 29, 2019 23:03 IST
Japanese scientist Akihika Kamoshita addressing students
of the KAU at Vellanikkara on Monday.
Thrissur, July
29, 2019 23:03 IST
KAU students to go for joint research in University of
Tokyo
Japanese scientist Akihika Kamoshita has said efficient
utilisation of bioresources, reasonable and feasible land use, and low input
production technology are the keys to sustainable agriculture.
Speaking to academia and students of Kerala Agricultural
University (KAU) at Vellanikkara here on Monday, Akihika Kamoshita said social
changes influence agricultural production, and conflicts were found to stagnate
agricultural growth. He quoted the situations in Pakistan and Afghanistan,
Cambodia and Thailand as examples.
He explained the research agenda of the Asian Natural
Environmental Science Centre (ANESC) under the University of Tokyo, which he
represents.
Similarities
“The centre is meant for research collaboration with
overseas universities, especially those in Asia. Japan and India have many
similarities as far as natural and regional resources are concerned and rice is
common food for both countries. Rice ecology in Asia is facing a few
challenges, like environmental issues, salinity intrusion, climatic
fluctuations, and submergence. These issues are common to Asian countries. We
have undertaken rice research in different countries with the focus on
hierarchy of biological resources, rice root system and adaptation, seed system
and agro-ecology of rice. Crop production research on efficient water use is
another vital topic,” Prof. Akihika said.
Collaborative research
KAU Vice Chancellor R. Chandra Babu, in his introductory
address, said that the KAU students and faculty would get an opportunity for
collaborative research in the University of Tokyo.
“Research opportunities are available for scientists and
PhD scholars in the field of efficient resource use in rice production, Root
biology for plant adaptation, Arbuscular mycorrihza symbiosis in rice and
crops, rice seed system, agro-ecology study on rice , rice business models,
etc. The exploratory approach of scientists like Akihika, who is often
exploring research opportunities in countries like Combodia and Thailand,
should also be imbibed,” he said.
One-to-one discussion
Prof. Akihika had a one-to-one discussion with students,
research scholars, and researchers in rice and allied sectors of research.
The programme was coordinated by Director of Research P.
Indira Devi. Selected researchers will go to the ANESC in November 2019.
New Research Aims To Bring Together Tribes, UW
On Wild Rice Protection And Restoration
By Chris Malina
·
Friday, August 2, 2019, 4:15pm
·
Friday, August 2, 2019, 6:15pm
A new research project lead by a UW graduate student looks to
bring together tribal and university researchers on the issue of wild rice
protection and restoration. We hear from the student about the aims of the
project, as well as the state of wild rice in Wisconsin.
Host:
Producer(s): Chris Malina
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of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational
Communications Board.
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policies.
3rd Rice Short
Course is at the Hamilton Road Field and Rice Experiment Station in Biggs
This year will mark the third rice-specific weed course at the
Hamilton Road Field and the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, CA on Friday,
Sept. 6, 2019.
The day will begin with an interactive field tour of the
research plots (Hamilton Road Field) where attendees can get up close to the
weeds and rice (bring your boots!) The
course will include a hands-on weed identification session on emerging and
mature weeds. In the afternoon, speakers will address several pertinent topics
in CA rice, including algae, weedy rice, regulatory update, best management for
grasses, and how to construct a weed management program.
The course is a collaborative effort between UC Cooperative
Extension (UCCE), UC Davis, and the California Cooperative Rice Research
Foundation (CCRRF.) “This course provides a strong foundation for weed
management in California rice, as well as a chance for discussion of ideas for
dealing with resistance and emerging weed species” said Whitney Brim-DeForest,
UCCE Rice Farm Advisor. The event is a great opportunity for pest control
advisers, growers, industry, extension, and interested students to gain a
deeper understanding of topics that affect rice weed management.
Enrollment is limited, so register early. The cost is $80 if
received by 8/15/2019, $90 if received by 8/30/2019, and $100 if received after
8/30/2019 (if there is space.) The cost for students with a valid student ID is
$50/$60/$70. For more details or to register, visit http://wric.ucdavis.eduand click on RICE WEED COURSE.
If you have questions, contact Whitney Brim-DeForest [wbrimdeforest@ucanr.edu or (530) 822-7515.]
Villar wants probe into distribution of P10 billion as special
fund for rice farmers
Published
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Senator Cynthia Villar is seeking
a Senate inquiry on the government’s disbursement of the Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (RCEF) mandated by the rice tariffication law.
Sen. Cynthia Villar (Senate of the Philippines / MANILA
BULLETIN)
Five months after the signing of the Republic Act No. 11203,
Villar on Tuesday invoked her committee’s oversight function on the law, filing
Senate Resolution No. 39 to look into the distribution of the P10-billion
special fund for rice farmers.
Villar was recently reelected as the chairman of Senate
Committee and Agriculture and Food. She sponsored the law in Senate in the 17th
Congress.
Under the RA 11203, P10 billion of the tariff collections on
rice imports shall be appropriated annually for rice farmers through various
programs that would help increase their production.
Half of the fund shall be allocated to the Philippine Center for
Post Harvest Development and Modernization (PhilMech) to provide farmers with
rice farm machineries and equipment; 30 percent to the Philippine Rice Research
Institute (PhilRice) to be used for the development, propagation, and promotion
of inbred rice seeds to rice farmers, and the organization of rice farmers into
seed growers associations engaged in seed production and trade (30 percent); 10
percent for the credit facility that will be managed by the Land Bank of the
Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); 10 percent
for farmers’ training on rice crop production, modern rice farming techniques,
seed production, farm mechanization, and knowledge or technology transfer.
In her resolution, Villar cited reports that the Department of
Budget and Management (DBM) released in December 2018 P5 billion for the RCEF.
But only P1 billion of the released amount has allegedly been
disbursed, Villar said. It was credited to the farmers’ accounts, under the
memorandum of understanding entered by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council
(ACPC) with the LBP and DBP.
The remaining P4 billion, meanwhile, was still being threshed
out by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of
Agriculture (DA).
In a press briefing, Villar said the DA “refused” to issue the
appropriations to the concerned agencies as it supposedly questioned its
release ahead of the signing of the law in February this year.
“Hindi daw nabigay sa mga agencies…Sabi niya (DA) di pa pasa
rice tarrification, hindi naman daw para sa Rice Competitiveness Enhancement
Fund. Pero sabi ng DBM, iyon daw ay para sa RCEF. So we will know who’s telling
the truth, kasi [their statement are] in conflict,” the senator told reporters.
Aside from the unused fund, Villar also pointed out the delay in
the release of PhilMech and PhilRice’s guidelines as to their respective
implementation of the RCEF. The guidelines, she said, should have released 15
days after the publication of the law’s implementing rules and regulations.
She also hit as an “irony” the PhilRice’s delay when it earlier
announced that the administration was seeking to raise the national average
rice yield.
She said the agencies involved in implementation of the law
“should be ready by now”, warning that they might miss the planting season on
December to March.
“I want them to tell me what would they do — how much are they
spending for this, that — that’s very important. We have to make sure that the
money is spent properly,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Villar said these issues “are cause for apprehension on whether
our rice sector and rice farmers are adequately made ready this early to face
the regime of rice import liberalization.”
Villar seeks scrutiny of agencies on
implementation of rice tariff law
By: Daphne Galvez - Reporter / @DYGalvezINQ
INQUIRER.net / 03:43 PM July 30, 2019
Sen. Cynthia Villar. INQUIRER.net file
photo / CATHY MIRANDA
MANILA,
Philippines — Senator Cynthia Villar is seeking to put under Senate scrutiny
the concerned government agencies on the proper implementation of the rice
tariffication law, which lifts restrictions on rice importation and creates the
P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
Villar, who
chairs the Senate committee on agriculture and food, recently filed Senate
Resolution No. 39, calling for a Senate investigation into the implementation
of the law and monitor government agencies if they are properly implementing
the law and funds are being allocated properly.
“I have to
exercise my oversight function to make sure they (agencies) follow the law,”
Villar said in an interview at the Senate on Tuesday.
“This is
very important, this is the competitiveness of farmers kasi we have liberalized
the importation of rice so we have to make our farmers as competitive as soon
as possible,” she added.
The Senate
investigation will also seek clarification on the reported release by the
Department of Budget (DBM) of P5 billion in December 2018, but only P1 billion
of which has been credited to the farmers’ accounts.
“Mag iinvestigate ako para malaman kung
nasaan dinala ‘yung P5 billion,” the senator said.
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