US should be leading climate change research
It is no secret that the current
administration does not accept that climate change/global warming is no big
deal, if not an utter falsehood. I was appalled (but sadly, not surprised) the
the administration is actively sabotaging research efforts into combating this
phenomenon, in fact, planning to fire the scientists working in this area as of
July 15.
There has been a remarkable finding about the food value of rice
when affected by climate change; millions in the world live on rice. No one may
ever hear of this research even if it is allowed to continue. Why is the
government doing this when we could, again, be leading the world?
Sue Norman
Can we question our food self-sufficiency wish?
A recent editorial in Kuensel titled “A stunted agriculture
sector” grabbed my attention, just because we have been trying to achieve food
self-sufficiency since the establishment of the agriculture sector in 1961
together with the commencement of the first five-year plan in 1961. Similarly,
an opinion piece by the former Secretary of the Ministry of Works and Human
Settlement, Chencho Norbu, titled “The changing landscape of Paro valley” in
Kuensel on March 9, 2019 articulates how the lush paddy fields of Paro valley
changed. These two pieces, that came up recently, are just the tip of an ice
berg, for Bhutan has been struggling to produce enough grains, edible oils and
livestock produce for our own consumption.
Rice can be a classic example for
it is the staple diet for Bhutanese and the ‘numbers’ on rice imports and
produced are not encouraging. Bhutan’s “Annual Statistical Year Book 2018”,
shows that, in 2017, we produced about 86,386MT of rice and imported almost an
equal quantity of rice: about 78,449MT. Reading through our agriculture
statistics shows the wide range of foods we import. However, it isn’t the
diverse produce we import that’s alarming, but the quantity we import. Let’s
say almost all the food that we have in our stores have been brought-in from
other countries contributing to the global food-chain carbon footprint. So much
for a ‘least-developed’ country and a highly ‘pro-claimed’ carbon negative
country.
Having said that, do we have a
choice? Can we achieve food self-sufficiency?
Being in the “heart” of the
Himalayas, Bhutan does not have agriculture friendly geography. According to
the Land Use and Land Cover assessment of Bhutan 2016 undertaken by Forest Resources
and Management Division, Department of Forests and Park Services, only 2.75% of
our area is cultivated (may be it is cultivable) agriculture land. This means
that about 57% of Bhutanese, who are employed in agriculture activities, are
depending on just 2.75% of our land. Well, there is nothing we could do for
scanty agriculture land, but what is alarming is, of this 2.75% of our
agriculture land, 39% and 10% of potential dry lands and wet-lands were left
fallow in 2016, according to the Bhutan RNR Statistics 2016. These numbers tell
us that, already scare agriculture lands are left fallow and empirical evidence
from Bhutan and elsewhere suggests that fallow land brings in vegetation cover
triggering a whole new level of problem: human-wildlife conflict. It is now
trendy to refer to it as human-human conflict instead of human-wildlife
conflict and that’s a whole new story for another article.
The 2017 Population and Housing
Census of Bhutan (2017PHCB) reported, labour shortage; human-wildlife conflict
and water shortage/irrigation as the top three cited reasons for leaving the
land fallow by Bhutanese farmers. Intriguingly, all these reasons are linked:
labour shortage is due to rural-urban migration, which is triggered by
un-balanced regional development, which leads to fallow lands. Fallow land
brings vegetation closer to farms, which brings wild animals closer to existing
farmlands. It is an irony that, while we celebrate having 71% of forest cover
[and increasing], we are losing some portion of our agricultural lands to
forests. However, this is just a small part of the story, for, we lost prime
agriculture lands of Paro and Thimphu to urban expansion.
In the front of water, Food and
Agriculture Organization, AQUASTAT data ranks Bhutan 6thin the world for
renewable internal freshwater resources per capita at 100,475.50 cubic meters.
Though we have one of the highest fresh water per capita in the world, our
farmers and households are grappling with drinking water shortage let-alone
irrigation water. We are seriously going wrong somewhere, even with the
existence of many organisations in various ministries looking after water.
Let’s shift gear and look at the
“national issue” – rural-urban migration (as reflected in the 2017PHCB). We
have one of the highest rate of rural-urban migration in south-east Asia and
one of the most important and often talked about, but a lot ‘over-looked’
drivers leading to it could be the myth of ‘easy’ life in urban centres and
employment opportunities. This probably should be ENOUGH reason, for us, to
strategize (not relocating ministries from Thimphu to other dzongkhags) and
make our rural areas attractive. Given our rich forest cover and biodiversity,
enhancing the eco-tourism project could be one potential area, together with
making our roads commuter friendly to make our rural areas liveable. One of the
important aspects of agriculture friendly infrastructure: farm roads have
reached almost all parts of our country. All that it demands is to keep it safe
and automobile friendly. Make our rural areas “liveable.”
With continued efforts of our
agriculture sector and our ever hardworking farmers, we can still dream of
achieving food self-sufficiency. However, since, it isn’t unusual for our
farmers to not find market for their farm produce during ‘season,’ investing in
environment friendly storage area is, now, call of our time. It is also about
time for us to seriously venture into post-harvest management strategies
together with investing in marketing infrastructure for our farm produce. Our
agriculture sector has been working on improved varieties of crops from day
one, and sure enough, we now have some good varieties of food and fruit crops.
Given the scarcity of agriculture
land, it will be worth for us to invest in fast growing and producing higher
yield varieties of crops together with stress tolerant varieties. However, an
important question that demands answer still lingers in the minds of our
farmers – losing all the ‘fruits’ of their hard-work to wild animals and weather
anomalies, which will be frequent at the pace with which climate change is
hitting us. Wildlife insurance scheme may not necessarily work, as it didn’t
earlier too, and there are evidences elsewhere of its failure. The best we
could do is relax our conservation policies on “pest” animals, make our forests
animal friendly and nip the drivers of farm marginalisation.It is easier said
than done but make our rural areas liveable.
Sacramento-area rice company
secures first U.S. contract to sell rice to China
JULY 05, 2019 11:49 AM, UPDATED JULY 05, 2019 11:49 AM
Come fly over incredibly green
Colusa County rice fields in beautiful weather
Here's an aerial tour over Colusa County rice fields. The drone
video is by Cody Thomas. Rice spans about a half million acres in California,
supplying virtually all of America's sushi rice as well as providing habitat
for millions of birds.
A Sacramento-area rice producer
is the first U.S. company to secure a contract to export rice into China after
its government began permitting American rice imports late last year.
The Sun Valley Rice Co., based in
Arbuckle in Colusa County, announced a contract to sell Calrose medium-grain
rice to Shenzhen Yintuo, part of the Dragon Ocean Hing Group, a
Chinese importer-exporter, according to a news release by Sun Valley Rice.
“Fifteen years of patience and
hard work have paid off,” Sun Valley Rice CEO Ken LaGrande said in a prepared
statement. “It is truly an honor and a privilege to blaze this trail of trading
history – American rice in China. Our team has worked with incredible tenacity
and diligence to reach this point.”
Reuters reported that China opened up its customs to
U.S. rice as a gesture of goodwill after years of talks with the United States.
Sun Valley Rice’s contract was for 40 tons of rice, according to Reuters.
Now, although the two countries
are entangled in a trade war, Sun Valley Rice is selling rice to Shenzhen
Yintuo in time for China’s Mid-Autumn Festival. Rice sold by Sun Valley Rice
will be available for retail and food service distribution in China, according
to the release.
“We chose Sun Valley Rice because
when we first toured the U.S., we went to California and witnessed that Sun
Valley Rice had clearly studied Asian cultures deeply (especially Japanese and
Chinese),” said William Li, overseas director of Shenzhen Yintuo and vice
president of the Dragon Ocean Hing Group, in a prepared statement.
Sun Valley Rice, founded in 2000,
initiated talks with China on the California rice market in 2004, according to
the release.
“It has been a long journey,”
said Steve Vargas, senior vice president of global rice trading for Sun Valley
Rice, in a prepared statement. “It has taken a great deal of effort on the part
of Sun Valley Rice, as well as the USA Rice Federation, to gain access to the
Chinese market.”
Sun Valley grows
rice in Colusa, Glenn, Sacramento, Yuba, Sutter, Butte and Yolo
counties and
sells its product internationally.
The United States Department of
Agriculture reports that China is the world’s largest rice producer and
consumer, while the U.S. produces less than 2% of the world’s rice.
How India’s Water Ends Up Everywhere But India
By
As a child in 1943,
the Indian economist Amartya Sen watched one of the worst famines of the
20th century sweep through his native Bengal. Contrary to the popular image,
the disaster didn’t manifest as a widespread shortage of food, he
later wrote. The middle classes hadn’t “experienced the slightest problem
during the entire...
Cambodia’s rice export to China up 66 pct in
H1
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-07-05 23:43:37|Editor: yan
PHNOM PENH, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia exported 118,401 tons of
milled rice to China in the first six months of 2019, up 66 percent over the
same period last year, said an official report on Friday.
China remained the top buyer of Cambodian rice during the
January-June period this year, said the report of the Secretariat of One Window
Service for Rice Export, adding that the export to China accounted for 42
percent of the country's total rice export.
Meanwhile, the country shipped 93,503 tons of rice to the
European markets, down 32 percent because the European Union imposed earlier
this year duties for three years on rice importing from Cambodia in a bid to
curb a surge in rice imports from the country and to protect European
producers.
The EU reinstated the normal customs duties of 175 euros per ton
in year one, progressively reducing it to 150 euros per ton in year two and 125
euros per ton in year three.
According to the report, the Southeast Asian country exported a
total of 281,538 tons of rice to 50 countries and regions around the world
during the first half of this year, up 3.7 percent over the same period last
year.
June inflation hits 22-month low
By: Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:07 AM July 06, 2019
Inflation in
June slowed to 2.7 percent year-on-year, the slowest rate of increase in prices
of basic goods in 22 months, mainly due to base effects, lower educational
costs arising from the government’s free tuition program and the decline in
rice prices.
Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA) data released on Friday showed that June’s headline inflation
rate was the lowest since the 2.6 percent posted in August 2017.
In the first
half, inflation averaged 3.4 percent, within the government’s 3 to 4 percent
target range for the entire 2019.
National
Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a press conference that rice prices
continued to decline, posting a 1.7-percent year-on-year drop in June after a
0.7-percent decline in May.
Mapa said
the Rice Tariffication Law being implemented since March, which slapped tariffs
on all rice imports as it liberalized rice trade, was a major contributor to
the lower prices of the Filipino staple food.
Also,
year-on-year corn prices declined while increments in the prices of meat, fish,
vegetables, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery eased.
Education
costs also declined by 4.5 percent in June as students at SUCs have been
enjoying the free tuition program, Mapa said.
Mapa later
told reporters that since it was during the second half of last year that
inflation surged, the rates in the coming months were expected to be at about
the same level as in June.
To recall,
it was in June last year when the headline rate breached the 5-percent level
amid higher excise taxes slapped on consumption, elevated global prices, and
domestic food supply bottlenecks, especially of rice.
In June,
slower year-on-year price increases were also noted in the following commodity
groups: alcoholic beverages and tobacco; housing, water, electricity, gas, and
other fuels; furnishing, housing equipment and routine maintenance of the house;
transport, and communication.
Month-on-month,
inflation slowed to 0.2 percent in June from 0.3 percent in May.
In an
economic bulletin, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil S. Beltran
noted that “the streamlining of food supply continues to drive down food
inflation.”
“Lower
petroleum prices in the previous month also helped tame non-food inflation,”
Beltran added.
Beltran said
the easing of inflation alongside the full implementation of the P3.7-trillion
2019 national budget would enable the government to boost economic growth in
the next quarters.
Last year,
annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a three-year low of 6.2
percent as headline inflation accelerated to a 10-year high of 5.2 percent in
2018.
First-quarter
GDP growth, meanwhile, fell to a four-year low of 5.6 percent, below the
government’s downgraded 6-7 percent target range for 2019, due to the delayed
approval of this year’s appropriations.
Checking resurgence of rice smuggling By Engr. Ilyasu Nazifi |
Published Date Jul 6, 2019 2:17 AM
For the umpteenth time,
Nigeria’s fledgling local rice industry is facing the grim threat of collapse
as toxic foreign rice dominate most of the country’s major food markets. Across
the country, rice smugglers are having a field day filling our markets and
stores with imported rice whose quality and safety are as questionable as the
unscrupulous elements that brought them. According to the Nigerian Customs
Service (NCS), rice is the most smuggled item, constituting 70% of all rice
products in the local markets and sucking away foreign exchange. . Despite the
outright ban on rice imports, it appears smugglers are always finding ways to
circumvent measures to halt their illegal trade. ADVERTISEMENT Reports say
toxic foreign rice worth over N1tr is currently waiting at Benin Republic to
get into Nigeria through illegal routes. Many markets such Singa in Kano,
Terminus in Jos, Sango in Ogun, Utako in Abuja, Ogbete in Enugu and Jimeta in
Yola are overwhelmed with foreign rice being sold side by side with Nigerian
brands. But the most worrisome issue is how these imported rice brands are
loaded with deadly chemicals, repackaged with fake production and expiry dates,
and shipped in after over 20 years in foreign silos. In the last four months,
at least 1m metric tonnes of toxic foreign rice was brought into Nigeria,
according to a survey by the Rice Processors Association of Nigerian (RIPAN).
The menace of rice smuggling is festering despite the commendable efforts of
the federal government such as the anchor-borrower scheme which has enabled
Nigerian farmers and processors to raise rice production. According to
research, at least 200,000 smallholder farmers in 29 states are benefitting
from N43bn released by the CBN, resulting in 2.5m jobs as at October 2018. This
initiative has made it possible for about 862,069 farmers to cultivate about
835, 239 hectares of land for 16 crops including rice. The overwhelming
quantity of foreign rice in our local markets is making it difficult if not
impossible for Nigerian rice to access the markets. Unless, the menace of rice
smuggling is totally eliminated, our local rice industry is facing a serious
danger of collapse. Way Forward There are three key steps to radically curtail
the menace of rice smuggling in order to help develop the rice industry in
Nigeria. First, it is apparent that despite the increasing efforts of the
Customs to check smuggling, our borders are still embarrassingly porous. For
N100, smugglers on motorcycles or trucks buy their way into Nigeria to convey
foreign rice. Through Katsina axis, Kamba town in Kebbi State and Seme border
between Lagos and Benin Republic, smugglers are shoving tonnes of foreign rice
and crippling Nigeria’s already weak economy. “Nigeria is losing huge revenues,
foreign exchange and jobs to this menace as Nigerian Rice processors are
shutting down due to inability to gain market access as a result of the influx
of foreign rice in our local markets,” according to RIPAN chairman Muhammad
Abubakar Maifata. Therefore, it has become necessary for the federal government
to deploy more customs officers with support from sister agencies. Secondly,
the NCS should also be empowered to intensify efforts at raiding local markets
and seizing all foreign rice brands to discourage open sale of the illegal
commodity. This step could be made easier
if the NCS deploys intelligence officers to monitor activities of smugglers and their clients. On the other
hand, the NCS should engage rice dealers constantly and enlighten them on the
benefit of patronizing local rice producers while also alerting them on the
dangers of importing rice that are harmful to public health. Thirdly, the
re-introduction of marketing boards has become very crucial in order to protect
rice farmers and processors from incurring losses as a result of glut. Akinwumi
Adesina, a former minister of agriculture, had worked to re-establish marketing
boards to help farmers but the plan could not be implemented before the
administration expired. Marketing boards would certainly to scale agricultural
hurdles of poor financing, fluctuating prices and inability to access markets.
Price stability, as a key component of the marketing boards, will
attract new investments in agriculture and encourage expansion of production
while also protecting farmers from selling their products at give-away prices
in the event of glut. However, these boards should be dominated by the private
sector stakeholders with government representatives serving only in advisory
capacity. If constituted, marketing boards could help the country in achieving
food sufficiency and security through establishing national strategic grains
reserves where rice paddy and maize, which are Nigeria’s most vital crops,
could be stored and sold to processors.
In addition to this, government silos could be used to store rice
and maize through the marketing boards rather than being leased to farmers, who
in most cases cannot afford the costs.
As such, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration should revisit
its predecessor’s plan on marketing boards and proceed to implement it.
June inflation softened to 22-month low of 2.7%
Inflation
rate in June eased to a 22-month low of 2.7 percent from 3.2 percent in May on
continuing softer price adjustments in some commodity groups such as food and
non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.
The
June inflation was significantly slower than 5.2 percent registered a year ago.
It was also the slow
est
in 22 months since it settled at 2.6 percent in August 2017.
This
brought inflation in the first half of 2019 to 3.4 percent, or within the
government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.
“We
still need to caution against upside risks, including weather-related shocks
and uncertainties in the global oil market,” National Economic and Development
Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia said.
Pernia
said the entry of more rice imports helped stabilize food prices. “We
continue to experience the effects of the administrative measures the
government had set in motion starting late last year. Further, the
implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law allowed the entry of ample
imported rice into the country that helped bring rice prices down,” he said.
“Since
the effectivity of the law, private traders have applied for the sanitary and
phytosanitary import clearances of 1.26 million metric tons of rice imports
from the Bureau of Plant and Industry. Of these, 576, 000 MT have already
arrived in the Philippines as of June 7, 2019,” he said.
Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said the 2.7-percent inflation in
June was consistent with the regulator’s assessment that inflation would firmly
settle within the target range of 2 to 4 percent for 2019 and 2020.
“The
BSP will keep close watch over latest economic developments to ensure that the
monetary policy stance remains consistent with the BSP’s price stability
objective while being supportive of economic growth,” Diokno said.
ING
Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa said with inflation well-within target,
the BSP would likely look to “tap on the accelerator once more after having
slammed hard on the brakes in the previous year. ING is penciling in a policy
rate cut by the BSP at its August meeting should inflation continue to show it
will remain within target and second-quarter growth is projected to be soft.”
The
benign inflation environment compelled the Monetary Board, the policy-making
body of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, to keep the benchmark policy rates steady
at 4.5 percent on June 20.
Pernia
said the slower inflation comes with the optimism that the quality of life will
improve along with the economy’s robust growth.
“The
government will continue putting in place preemptive measures to mitigate the
impact of weather-related shocks and uncertainties in the international oil
market. The government will also implement measures to prevent the spread of
the African swine fever in the country while moderating its effects on
inflation,” he said.
“We
note that the prevalence of adverse weather conditions in the country remains
an upside risk to inflation, especially with the start of the rainy season. We
should prepare for the possible onslaught of nine to 13 typhoons in the coming
months, as well as the above-normal amount of rainfall brought by the southwest
monsoon or habagat. On the other hand, the weak El Niño phenomenon has been
forecast to persist until August 2019, with a chance to continue until the
first quarter of 2020,” he said.
“We
reiterate our call to beef up production support and farm recovery programs in
areas affected by El Niño. We also pitch for an assessment on the vulnerability
and sustainability of farm areas to ensure that farming activities are adaptive
to the environment and resilient to weather disturbances,” said Pernia.
Rise in fuel price leaves residents
concerned
Residents watch the live telecast of
the Union Budget in Amritsar on Friday. Photo: Sunil Kumar
Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 5
Though the personal income tax rates have been left
untouched, a hike in customs duty on fuel, gold and precious items has left
residents, mainly traders, worried.
Raj Kumar, a
shopkeeper, said the common man did not find any respite in the Union Budget.
The demand of bringing petrol and diesel under the GST remains unmet and, in contrast,
hike in price will jack up the cost of essential items. He said additional Rs
1.5 lakh tax relief on home loan for purchase of a house up to Rs 45 lakh would
be a boon for middle-income families.
Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal president Piara Lal Seth said
the hike in fuel prices would increase the input cost of the MSME sector which
had already been battling liquidity crisis since demonetisation and the GST.
“Middle-income group did not receive any benefit in the tax slab. Rs 3,000 per
month pension for traders with less than Rs 1.50 crore annual turnover is
highly insufficient,” he said.
Gunbir Singh,
president, Dilbir Foundation, said duty hike on tiles, cashew kernels, vinyl
flooring, auto parts, selected synthetic rubber, digital, video recorder and
CCTV camera would affect the purchasing power of the middle-class people. “A
new PPP model may accelerate the growth of the Indian Railways. It is good that
start-ups were shown priority, like angel tax, as they will not require
scrutiny from the Income Tax Department.”
Ashok Sethi,
Director, Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association, said the present
government had assured the rice exporters that interest subvention would be
provided to boost exports, but the Budget didn’t have any mention.
Lok Sabha MP
Gurjeet Singh Aujla said Narendra Modi-led Central Government showed its
anti-Punjab face by not sparing a single thought for border farmers. There is
nothing to lift farmers out of the morass of mounting debt. He felt that youth
were also neglected.
Dr SS Chhina, a
local resident, said the road map to accomplish the goals in agriculture is
missing in the Budget. No special attention has been given to rural areas to
bridge the gap in urban and rural areas, he added.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/amritsar/rise-in-fuel-price-leaves-residents-concerned/797743.html
CCP
urged to act against cartelisation
KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium
Enterprises (UNISAME) has complained to the Competition Commission of Pakistan
(CCP) about the cartelisation of middlemen, who increased prices rice varieties
on each rupee depreciation, making it difficult for SME rice exporters to
honour their commitments.
UNISAME President Zulfikar Thaver
said the middlemen were taking undue advantage of the situation. “This disabled
SME exporters from earning from their commitments, and many SME exporters not
carrying inventories had to suffer continued losses due to costly purchases to
honour their bookings,” he added.
UNISAME has urged CCP to take notice
of the matter and conduct enquiry and question the middlemen on the day to day
increase in prices, despite the fact that huge quantity of rice was hoarded by
the millers and middlemen.
“The paddy is purchased by the
middlemen and the millers at harvest time, and they stock the paddy for the
entire season. There is no justification for increasing prices in this manner,”
a UNISAME statement said. There was no shortage or any extraordinary increase
in demand, it added. It alleged that the middlemen were taking a collective
decision as a cartel to take advantage of the depreciation, which was depriving
SMEs from honouring their external commitments.
Inflation eases to 22-month low of 2.7% in
June
By: Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ
Inquirer Business / 10:09 AM July 05, 2019
MANILA,
Philippines — Base effects, free tuition at state universities and colleges
(SUCs), and lower rice prices pulled inflation down to 2.7 percent year-on-year
in June, the slowest rate of increase in prices of basic commodities in 22
months.
Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA) data released Friday showed that last month’s
headline inflation rate was the lowest since the 2.6 percent posted in August
2017.
National
Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a press conference that rice prices
continued to decline, posting a 1.7-percent year-on-year drop to sustain the
0.9-percent decline in May.
Mapa said
the Rice Tariffication Law being implemented since March, which slapped tariffs
on all importation and liberalized rice trade, was a major contributor to lower
prices of the Filipino staple food.
Education
costs also declined 4.5 percent in June as students at SUCs have been enjoying
the free tuition program, Mapa said.
Mapa later
told reporters in an ambush interview that since it was in the second half of
last year that inflation surged, the rates in the coming months were expected
to be at around the same level as in June.
To recall, it was in June last year when
the headline rate breached the 5-percent level amid higher excise taxes slapped
on consumption, elevated global prices, and domestic food supply bottlenecks,
especially of rice. (Editor: Mike
U. Frialde)
Scientists demonstrate ASF risk posed by animal feed
BY
PW REPORTERS ON
JULY 5, 2019
Farmers have been urged to consider
the risk of exposure to viruses like African swine fever and PED from animal
feed. Caroline Stock reports from the ONE Alltech Ideas conference in Kentucky
Scientists
in the US have discovered that potentially harmful DNA from the African swine
fever (ASF) virus can survive on feed ingredients including corn, rice and
wheat, as well as complete feed, imported from Asia.
With
research proving that the virus can be spread to pigs from infected feed and
water, they said feed poses a serious potential biosecurity risk which
producers have to take seriously.
Jon De Jong, swine nutritionist
at Pipestone Veterinary Services in Minnesota
Speaking
at the ONE Alltech Ideas conference in Lexington, Kentucky, Jon De Jong, swine
nutritionist at Pipestone Veterinary Services in Minnesota, said previous work
by Pipestone vet Scott Dee had identified that porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus
(PEDv) could survive in imported feed.
The
team thought the same might apply to ASF. To test the theory, they commissioned
third-party scientists in China to take thousands of samples from feed mills at
a rate of 250 a day, testing bulk feed ingredients, including corn, soy, rice,
wheat and distiller’s dried grain with solubles.
Of
the ingredients and complete feed tested, 1-2% was positive for DNA from the
virus. The researchers also detected virus DNA in dust around the feed mill, as
well as on feed trucks and trailers, complete feed in bins, hair and shoes of
feed mill staff, and in the fresh market where pigmeat is sold to shoppers.
With
this knowledge, the Pipestone researchers began to investigate the
survivability of ASF during transportation from China to the US. Testing the
virus in different feed materials ranging from soya bean meal to complete feed,
they simulated a 37-day trip across the Atlantic to see if the virus survived.
“We
were able to prove that if a feed is inoculated with a virus, it does survive
across the ocean,” Dr De Jong told delegates.
“The
second question was whether it could infect pigs if they consume that feed, and
researchers at Kansas State University showed that that’s possible.
“We
didn’t have this knowledge nine months ago, and this completes the circle for
us,” he added. “If it can survive in feed, then it can make pigs sick, so
quality control of feed is critical.”
With
so many feed ingredients coming from Asian countries, Dr De Jong said having
that knowledge should encourage farmers to make more considered sourcing
decisions. That could include asking feed suppliers where their ingredients
come from and asking ingredient manufacturers about their biosecurity
practices.
“The
goal is to protect global trade and herd health, so you have to ask if you’ll
continue sourcing from ASF countries, what the level of contamination could be,
what the transportation time is, and how long you can store it,” he said.
“We
also need to ask whether we can mitigate the effects of the viral load in the
feed.”
In
a bid to do this, Dr De Jong said Pipestone had partnered with Alltech and
animal health company Cornerstone to develop a dietary supplement that could
help protect pigs from viral infections.
Named
APC after the three companies involved, the blend of organic acids and
essential oils has been shown to prevent the transmission of PEDv, PRRS and
Seneca Valley virus from feed to pigs.
“When
PED hit the North American herd we started work on this product to stop viral
transmission in the feed,” Dr De Jong explained.
“We
conducted two trials and found that if you inoculate the feed with APC at a
rate of 15lb/tonne the PED virus can’t replicate. What’s more, including APC in
the diet didn’t affect average daily gain or feed conversion.”
Having
replicated the trials against PRRS and Seneca Valley virus, Dr De Jong said the
team is confident that APC – which is being launched in the US this month and
will be available in Europe later in the year – could work against a number of
damaging viral infections.
“This
is a groundbreaking study,” he added. “We focus on filtering air to protect pig
health, but until now we’ve never really done anything with our feed.
“We’ve shown time and again that
viruses can be transmitted by feed, so it’s important that farmers think about
the interventions they could make to protect their herds.”
NARI Trains Scientists On Plant
Breeding
July 5, 2019
Abdoulai G. Dibba
The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), with
funding from the EU funded Agriculture project being implemented by FAO in the
Gambia, recently completed a five-day training program for young Gambian
scientists on groundnut breeding.
The event which was held at the NARI conference hall, brought
together twenty-six participants: NARI, The Gambia College School of
Agriculture, the National Seed Secretariat, and the National Coordinating
Organization of Farmer Associations in the Gambia (NACOFAG).
The training aims to develop the next generation of home-grown
crop and plant breeders to adapt to modern tools for enhancing the precision
and efficiency of their breeding programs.
According to the organizers, the objective of the training is to
provide participants with the theoretical knowledge on modern plant breeding
methods and techniques; that after
the course, participants will be able to adopt good principles of
breeding methodologies and will improve the quality of their research
and enhance their knowledge.
In his statement at the opening, the Director General of NARI
Ansumana Jarju, reminded the young research scientists that the training was
just the beginning; that they do not have to become professors to be breeders.
He said the course will provide a theoretical background on modern breeding
methods and techniques including the use of biotechnology, experimental
techniques, planning, information management tools and software, to be able to
adopt good principles of breeding methodologies and to improve the quality of
their research.
The FAO Consultant Moussa Sie, said the course became a
requirement because there is no breeder at NARI and the University of the
Gambia is not providing such a breeding program.
Sie said the course will combine both theory and practice and
will provide opportunity for participants to share experiences with other crop
breeders, to enable them have latest updates in areas of relevance in rice
breeding and the worldwide exchange of rice genetic resources. Professor Sie
said Gambia is a net importer of food and produces only half of its national
requirement of staple foods. “The government’s effort to address the deficit in
the agriculture sector has resulted in designing a project which aims to create
sustainable production and productivity of crops and livestock, reduce food
insecurity and malnutrition, and create the enabling environment for an
improved national economy,” he concluded.
NARI’s Crop Research Director Kebba Drammeh, said the institute
has been handicapped in the area of research for some time now and the training
will assist in the creation of the next generation of researchers. Drammeh
continued that for nearly thirty years or more, NARI has been depending on
outside expertise for crop plant breeding; that the training is expected to lift
the burden of relying on outside breeders when the need arises.
“Our gene bank is dysfunctional. We therefore hope that this
training and the continuous support from FAO, will go a long way in assisting
us build our Gene Bank once again,” he concludes.
Crop breeding is the art and science of improving important
agricultural plants for the benefit of humankind.
Enterprise
Partner is Newest Member Category for USA Rice
ARLINGTON, VA - Following months of analysis, USA
Rice has rolled out a new member category, the Enterprise Partner, designed to
widen the base of an already vertically-integrated trade association.
"As an organization, USA Rice has always been about representing the entire industry, up and down the supply chain from the farm to the end use, but we realized we were leaving out quite a few interested parties, so we created the Enterprise Partner group," explained California rice farmer and chair of USA Rice Charley Mathews, Jr. "There are individuals and businesses who both support our industry, but also depend on a healthy U.S. rice industry for much of their business, too. Those are our Enterprise Partners."
Entities involved in banking and insurance; farm inputs, equipment, and technology; crop consultant work; research institutions and other non-profits are all eligible for membership. As are allied businesses that want to see a vibrant U.S. rice industry but don't fit into another membership category.
"Of course as with most member organizations, members get access to proprietary resources and discounts on event registration and exhibiting, but we also are offering a seat at the policy table at USA Rice," Mathews said. "Members also have the opportunity to participate in the vast array of trade missions and consumer campaigns the organization conducts each year which pay immediate dividends to the participants."
However, it is affiliation with the U.S. rice industry's sector-leading sustainability and conservation programs and initiatives that will likely encourage many to join.
"Sustainability is important to us and our customers, so to be able to demonstrate that we are working side-by-side with some of the most responsible producers on the planet makes a huge impact," said Matt Lindsay, director of irrigation resources at Delta Plastics. "We support the great work USA Rice and its members are doing and Delta Plastics looks forward to strengthening our relationship through this new opportunity."
For more information on applying to join USA Rice as an Enterprise Partner, or through one of the other membership organizations, visit www.usarice.com/join
"As an organization, USA Rice has always been about representing the entire industry, up and down the supply chain from the farm to the end use, but we realized we were leaving out quite a few interested parties, so we created the Enterprise Partner group," explained California rice farmer and chair of USA Rice Charley Mathews, Jr. "There are individuals and businesses who both support our industry, but also depend on a healthy U.S. rice industry for much of their business, too. Those are our Enterprise Partners."
Entities involved in banking and insurance; farm inputs, equipment, and technology; crop consultant work; research institutions and other non-profits are all eligible for membership. As are allied businesses that want to see a vibrant U.S. rice industry but don't fit into another membership category.
"Of course as with most member organizations, members get access to proprietary resources and discounts on event registration and exhibiting, but we also are offering a seat at the policy table at USA Rice," Mathews said. "Members also have the opportunity to participate in the vast array of trade missions and consumer campaigns the organization conducts each year which pay immediate dividends to the participants."
However, it is affiliation with the U.S. rice industry's sector-leading sustainability and conservation programs and initiatives that will likely encourage many to join.
"Sustainability is important to us and our customers, so to be able to demonstrate that we are working side-by-side with some of the most responsible producers on the planet makes a huge impact," said Matt Lindsay, director of irrigation resources at Delta Plastics. "We support the great work USA Rice and its members are doing and Delta Plastics looks forward to strengthening our relationship through this new opportunity."
For more information on applying to join USA Rice as an Enterprise Partner, or through one of the other membership organizations, visit www.usarice.com/join
Brad Robb
Dr. Steve Linscombe talks about The Rice Foundation’s recently
released sustainability report during the 110th Annual Rice Field Day held at
the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley, La.
U.S. rice industry reviews pillars of improvements
Rice sustainability report released
In 2017, Dr. Steve Linscombe
retired from the Louisiana State University Rice Research Center after 35 years
of service, but he has much more he wants to do for the industry that fueled
his career for so long.
Linscombe, a world renowned and
respected rice breeder and researcher with over 30 varietal releases to his
credit, knows that when one door closes, another one usually opens, and for
him, that door led to an opportunity to become the new executive director of
The Rice Foundation.
He returned to Crowley, La., last
month to participate in the 110th Annual Rice Field Day with a
specific message to each rice farmer in attendance. “The rice industry has come
so far in terms of environmental, social, and economic improvements,” says
Linscombe. “These three areas are being called our pillars of sustainability,
and they are interwoven. You can’t have one without the other. We have a great
message that must be told to the end users of our product, and we have recently
taken a big first step to tell it.”
Thanks to a grant from the
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), The Rice Foundation was able to
commission a rice industry sustainability report that highlights 36 years of
constant improvements and how those improvements have solidified the U.S. rice
industry’s position as one of, if not the most, sustainable in the world.
While the definition of
sustainability may be open to interpretations, the U.S. rice industry’s
extensive track record of improvements is evident, and Linscombe complimented
the many growers who have helped make those improvements.
“U.S. rice farmers have not only
raised the yield bar tremendously, they have increased rice production’s land
use efficiency by 34 percent over that time period,” says Linscombe. “Through a
52 percent reduction in water use, less trips across fields through adoptions
of conservation tillage, and more efficient equipment, 34 percent less energy
is being used to produce our nation’s annual rice crop — that’s huge.”
Climate change and biodiversity
Linscombe noted that no matter
your view about climate change, it is real, and the 1,000-pound gorilla in rice
production is the large volume of methane being emitted from each year’s crop.
“Upland crops don’t produce high volumes of methane because they’re not
flooded,” he told the tour group. “When you get into an aquatic situation,
there’s more tendency to produce methane, but the gains made by all of you and
other growers across the six rice-producing states have helped this industry as
a whole reduce our cumulative methane production by over 40 percent.”
Soil loss has never been an issue
or major concern in rice production, but that does not mean it was overlooked
in this sustainability analysis. “Because of the way rice has been produced
through the decades, we have actually decreased soil loss by 28 percent,” says
Linscombe. “We do have an area where our industry can really take great pride,
and that is in the area of biodiversity.”
Production rice ground
contributes to the biodiversity of habitats for a wide variety of birds,
waterfowl, and other animals that make rice fields their homes or stopping
grounds along their migratory routes. Grain and crop stubble left after harvest
are actively foraged by this flurry of activity.
“Rice farmers have provided very
diverse waterfowl habitats for many decades, but six years ago, an alliance
solidified between USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited through the creation of the
Rice Stewardship Partnership (RSP) significantly propelled these conservation
efforts forward,” says Linscombe. “NRCS matching grant funding, through its
Regional Conservation Partnership Program, as well as funds from private
partners, is helping rice farmers implement conservation practices on their
operations.”
In the report, value placed on
the habitats created by overwintered flooded rice fields is estimated to be
almost $3.5 billion. “The partnerships between these aforementioned
organizations and these funds they bring to the table will be used by rice
producers to create and sustain essential habitat areas on over 700,000 acres
of production rice fields between now and 2023,” says Linscombe.
Economics and the future
Findings in the report state rice
farming operations, rice mills, and the 125,000 jobs they create contribute over
$34 billion annually to the U.S. economy. “Our ag economists found that each
rice farm contributes $1 million to its local economy,” says Linscombe. “That
doesn’t even count impact from the number of sponsored activities and civic
donations rice industry organizations make to communities and food banks.”
While each aspect of any
sustainability analysis is important and contributes to an industry’s overall
sustainability picture, any industry would collapse if it lacked one particular
aspect — economic sustainability. “If rice farmers and rice mills are not
profitable, it will have negative ramifications down the supply chain,” says
Linscombe. “In many cases, a town or a community’s economic stability relies
almost exclusively on the business of rice.”
As more rice operations adopt new
technologies like variable rate equipment and automated water control
structures, the sustainability levels reflected in those three pillars should
improve. Mills are also making sustainability improvements by moving toward no-waste
practices and using renewable energy sources.
The U.S. Rice Industry
Sustainability Report is the first of its kind for the industry. An executive
summary of the report and the full version in pdf format are available
electronically at https://www.usarice.com/sustainability/sustainability-report.
You may also contact The Rice Foundation at 1-800-888-RICE
(7423) for a printed copy.
United
States Makes First-Ever Rice Sale to China-Trade Group
By Reuters
·
July 3, 2019CHICAGO — A private importer in China last week
bought U.S. rice for the first time ever, in the midst of a trade war between
the two nations, a rice industry group said on Wednesday.
The Chinese importer bought two containers,
about 40 tonnes, of medium-grain rice from California-based Sun Valley Rice,
said Michael Klein, a spokesman for USA Rice, a trade group that promotes the
sale of the U.S. grain.
The U.S. rice was milled and packaged into bags
for consumer and food service use, Klein said.
China was a major buyer of U.S. soybeans and
pork before the trade war started by the Trump administration. U.S. President
Donald Trump said on Monday that China had agreed to make unspecified new
purchases of U.S. farm products after he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping,
but purchases of major export crops have so far been elusive.
It was not
immediately clear whether the rice purchase was a goodwill gesture following
the Trump-Xi meeting. The rice deal follows a sale of 544,000 tonnes of U.S.
soybeans to China confirmed last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the largest such sale since March.
China is the world's largest rice grower and
consumer, producing 148.5 million tonnes of the grain in the 2018/19 marketing
year and importing 3.5 million tonnes.
The United States produced 7.1 million tonnes
of rice in 2018/19 and exported less than 3 million tonnes.
Chinese officials agreed to allow imports of
U.S. rice in July 2017, following years of negotiations. But a nearly year-long
trade dispute between the two countries threatened the first sale.
"It looked dicey for us for a while, with
the hostility going back and forth ... We were about to have a market, and saw
it snatched away, or so we thought," Klein said.
Sun Valley Rice
hopes the deal lays the groundwork for more sales of U.S. rice to China in the
future, representatives said.
"Sun Valley has been a leader when it
comes to agriculture trade with China, we have been taking the first
steps," said Karen Leland, Sun Valley's chief marketing officer.
(Reporting by
Julie Ingwersen and Barbara Smith in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
RPT-Asia Rice-India rates gain, other hubs
struggle to keep up
Diptendu Lahiri
JULY 5, 2019 /
(Repeats with no changes to text)
* Vietnam’s shipments to EU could get boost from free trade
deal
* Bangladesh unable to clinch deals since lifting export ban
* Strong baht denting demand for Thai rice- traders
By Diptendu Lahiri
BENGALURU, July 4 (Reuters) - Rice export prices in India
inched up this week, helped by a stronger rupee and a slight uptick in demand,
while other hubs in Asia struggled to compete with rates offered by the top
exporter.
India’s benchmark 5% broken, parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1
rose to $371-$374 per tonne from last week’s $369-$372.
“The appreciating rupee has been forcing us to raise prices,”
said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.
India has raised the price at which it will buy new-season
common rice varieties from local farmers by 3.7%, the farm minister said on
Wednesday.
Traders in neighbouring Bangladesh said the country has been
unsuccessful in securing fresh deals since its ban on rice exports was lifted
in May.
“It is nearly impossible for us to make any deal when India
can offer competitive rates,” a Dhaka-based trader said.
Bangladesh lifted the longstanding ban with an aim to sell as
much as 1.5 million tonnes to support local farmers following a drastic drop in
domestic prices.
On Thursday, the country signed an agreement with China, one
of nine such deals, as part of which China will provide 2,500 tonnes of rice to
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, rates for the 5% broken rice
RI-VNBKN5-P1 fell to $330-$335 a tonne on Thursday, from $340-$345 last week,
with a trader in Ho Chi Minh city attributing the dip to a pick-up in the ongoing
summer-autumn harvest.
Another trader said Vietnam’s rice shipments to the European
Union could get a boost once the free trade agreement signed between the
country and the EU on Sunday takes effect.
“However, Vietnamese rice exports to the EU will still face
technical barriers and competition from Thailand and Cambodia,” the trader
said, adding the single-currency bloc will limit rice shipments from Vietnam at
80,000 tonnes a year.
Similarly, prices for second-biggest rice exporter Thailand’s
benchmark 5% broken variety RI-THBKN5-P1 narrowed to $395-$413 a tonne on
Thursday, free on board Bangkok (FOB), from the previous week’s $395-$415
range.
“Domestic prices have dropped due to lacklustre demand but
the export prices remain high because of the exchange rate,” a Bangkok-based
rice trader said.
A strong local currency was making Thai rice less competitive
in overseas markets, traders said.
“If the baht remains strong then it will be hard for us to
compete with Vietnam and India,” another trader in Bangkok said. (Reporting by
Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma
Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Arpan Varghese and Deepa Babington)
United States
makes first-ever rice sale to China: trade group
Julie Ingwersen, Barbara Smith
JULY 4, 2019
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A private importer in China
last week bought U.S. rice for the first time ever, in the midst of a trade war
between the two nations, a rice industry group said on Wednesday.
The Chinese importer bought two containers, about
40 tonnes, of medium-grain rice from California-based Sun Valley Rice, said
Michael Klein, a spokesman for USA Rice, a trade group that promotes the sale
of the U.S. grain.
The U.S. rice was milled and packaged into bags
for consumer and food service use, Klein said.China was a major buyer of U.S.
soybeans and pork before the trade war started by the Trump administration.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that China had agreed to make
unspecified new purchases of U.S. farm products after he met with Chinese
President Xi Jinping, but purchases of major export crops have so far been
elusive.
It was not immediately clear whether the rice
purchase was a goodwill gesture following the Trump-Xi meeting. The rice deal
follows a sale of 544,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China confirmed last week
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the largest such sale since March.
China is the world’s largest rice grower and
consumer, producing 148.5 million tonnes of the grain in the 2018/19 marketing
year and importing 3.5 million tonnes.
The United States produced 7.1 million tonnes of
rice in 2018/19 and exported less than 3 million tonnes.
Chinese officials agreed to allow imports of U.S.
rice in July 2017, following years of negotiations. But a nearly year-long
trade dispute between the two countries threatened the first sale.“It looked
dicey for us for a while, with the hostility going back and forth ... We were
about to have a market, and saw it snatched away, or so we thought,” Klein
said.
Sun Valley Rice hopes the deal lays the
groundwork for more sales of U.S. rice to China in the future, representatives
said.“Sun Valley has been a leader when it comes to agriculture trade with
China, we have been taking the first steps,” said Karen Leland, Sun Valley’s
chief marketing officer.
Iran shows interest in import of 5 lac ton rice from Pakistan
Last Updated On 05 July,2019 10:10
am
Iran shows interest in import of 5 lac ton rice from
Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD (APP) – Iran showed interest in import of 5 lac ton
rice from Pakistan and asked
the Pakistani side to devise
necessary mechanism for early shipment.
the Pakistani side to devise
necessary mechanism for early shipment.
An Iranian delegation led by
Minister for Industries, Mine and Trade, Reza Rahmani, called on Adviser to
Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production, and Investment
Razaq Dawood, in the first session of 8th Pak-Iran Joint Trade Committee to
review progress of issues relating to bilateral trade, said a press release
issued by Ministry of Commerce.
Iran keen to import 0.5m tons of rice from Pakistan
Published: July 5, 2019
Iran’s Minister of Industry,
Mines and Business Reza Rahmani appreciated Dawood’s stance on bilateral trade
issues and agreed to step up efforts to enhance trade with Pakistan in order to
improve economic wellbeing of both countries. PHOTO: APP
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan intends to improve bilateral trade
and economic ties with Iran, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce,
Textile, Industries and Production Abdul Razak Dawood.
He made the remarks while talking to an
Iranian delegation, led by Minister of Industry, Mines and Business Reza
Rahmani, during first session of the 8th Pak-Iran Joint Trade Committee held to
review progress on issues relating to bilateral trade.
The adviser underlined the importance of
issues pertaining to two-way trade, which were discussed during the prime
minister’s recent visit to Iran, and expected positive response from the
Iranian side.
These issues included removing barriers
which made Pak-Iran preferential trade agreement – signed in 2006 – ineffective
and establishing a barter trade mechanism in order to ramp up bilateral trade
in agriculture, food and pharmaceutical products.
“To start barter trade, both countries
should select a few items having competitive advantage,” he asserted. “In this
regard, Pakistan can enhance export of wheat, sugar, rice and fruits to Iran.”
The adviser apprised the delegation that
bilateral trade was not up to the true potential and urged Iran to take
necessary measures to remove non-trade barriers so that the real potential
could be tapped.
He also suggested elimination of various
forms of taxes such as road and load taxes on vehicles/trucks, which crossed
the borders, to facilitate trade between the two nations.
During the meeting, Iran expressed keen
interest in importing 500,000 tons of rice from Pakistan. It urged Pakistan to
establish a necessary mechanism for early shipment of rice.
Speaking during the meeting, Rahmani
appreciated Dawood’s stance on bilateral trade issues and agreed to step up
efforts to enhance trade with Pakistan in order to improve economic wellbeing
of both countries. He promised to address all the issues which were hampering
bilateral trade and assured the PM aide of creating a win-win situation for
both sides.
The Iranian side acknowledged the fact that
Pakistan-Iran trade relations did not match the real potential and emphasised
the need for constituting a committee for barter trade.
“Both the countries have a huge potential in
agriculture, which has not yet been exploited,” the delegation highlighted.
Iran extended full support for removing
potential bottlenecks in order to enhance trade and jointly develop a way
forward.
Furthermore, it requested Pakistan
government to open more border points between Pakistan and Iran mainly at
Ramdan, Pishin and Korak, which would uplift bilateral trade.
Published in The Express
Tribune, July 5th, 2019.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in
the conversation.
Price hike makes life difficult for low-income families
July 05, 2019
A WOMAN shops for groceries at Shahabuddin Market on
Thursday.—Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
KARACHI: “Learning about the rise
in costs, customers are cursing us on our face,” said a shopkeeper at a retail
grocery shop at Shahabuddin Market here on Thursday.
“Everything costs more now. Sugar
has gone up from Rs50 per kilogram to Rs70, flour was Rs35 per kilo but it is
Rs50 now. There is a Rs20 per kg increase in lentil prices, too. The variety of
rice which was available at Rs80/kg is now being sold at Rs100 as the Rs120
variety is selling at Rs150 and what was being sold for Rs150 earlier is now
Rs180 a kilo,” he added.
“But we didn’t raise these costs.
We don’t set prices. We are ourselves fighting an uphill battle as we try to
survive in this retail market business during this terrible inflation. The
cereals, lentils, flour and other stuff that we sell is brought here by us from
Jodia Bazaar on loan. We need to pay the bigger retailers there in order to
stay in business.
‘Our salaries are still the same
and yet the price of everything has gone up’
“Meanwhile, we also maintain
customers’ monthly accounts. We have had these people as our customers for 30
to 40 years now. We can’t turn them away. They take groceries from us on loan
throughout the month and pay us after they get their salaries.
“Sadly, after the recent rise in
costs they are unable to pay us back in full. For instance where they owed
Rs10,000, they are able to only come up with Rs9,000, making it worse for them
the following month as then they need to pay back Rs11,000 but they still can
only pay Rs9,000. It is like quicksand pulling them deeper and deeper into
debt,” the shopkeeper said.
“And if we look at our entire
country now, it seems like it is also running on promises and loans that just
won’t clear,” he smiled sadly. “We are all begging and borrowing and it won’t
be long before many of us may also be forced to steal.”
Cutting costs
A housewife there bargaining with a
shopkeeper for a quarter of a kilogram of tea leaves shared her plight with
Dawn. “Our salaries are still the same and yet the price of everything has gone
up,” she said. “We are trying to make ends meet still but not wasting money on
anything. We don’t go out in the evenings anymore, we haven’t got any new
clothes made this year, we are also willing to eat less ourselves but what do
you do about the children? They need to eat after all. How do you expect us to
send them to bed hungry?”
When asked to raise their voices
about this injustice, the woman said that she didn’t feel it was going to bring
about any change. “Who cares about us? What good would our complaining do? The
government will do as it pleases anyway. The only change we see now is the
‘change’ or tabdeeli we were promised. But then we didn’t realise that it was
going to be a negative change and not a positive one as we were made to
believe,” she said.
‘We are being crushed’
“These are just flour, lentils and
rice that we are unable to afford. Having mutton at Rs1,100/kg, beef at
Rs680/kg and chicken at Rs200/kg is simply unthinkable. We are told that such and
such politician is in jail to pay for his corruption or whatever. But he or she
are still better off in jail as they are getting better food there than the
people of this country,” said a very agitated male customer. “It is just us
common people who are being punished for no fault of ours. We are being
crushed. Where do we go?”
Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2019
Meeting of the Board of Directors
of Pak-Malaysia Business Council of FPCCI was recently held in the Federation
House under the Chairmanship of M Bashir Janmohammed, which was attended by
directors and members of the Council. The Meeting was also attended by Engr
Daroo Khan Achakzai, President of FPCCI and Muslim Muhammadi, Vice President,
Deputy Secretary General and other officials of the Federation.
Pakistan-Malaysia bilateral trade position was reviewed, particularly with a view to enhance exports of Pakistani goods to Malaysia, in order to narrow-down trade imbalance with Malaysia. It was decided to make all out efforts to increase the volume of export of rice, halal food products, meat, frozen seafood, fresh vegetables & fruits, particularly mangoes and non-traditional items to Malaysia. The Council stressed on the need for exploring new areas of mutual co-operation to boost bilateral trade and economic ties with Malaysia.
The problems and constraints in the way of exports from Pakistan and probable remedies were also deliberated, particularly Import Duty on Mangoes and Mandarin (Kinoo) in Malaysia and non-availability of refrigerated containers for shipment of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, besides Malaysian export duty on crude palm oil, which discourages import of palm oil from Malaysia, which has come down to about 20%. It was agreed that Mango Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur would be arranged in current season, in collaboration with High Commission of Pakistan in Malaysia.
The Council noted that there is no Commercial Counselor at Pakistan High Commission in Kuala Lumpur for last one year. Similarly, the post of High Commissioner is also vacant as the recently appointed incumbent (Amna Baloch) has not taken the charge as yet. Since they play vital role to promote business and facilitate Pakistani businessmen. The Council has taken up the matter with Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment and other relevant authorities, for ensuring earliest posting of Commercial Counsellor in Malaysia.
The Council is in regular contact and correspondence with its Malaysian counterparts, viz. Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council, Kuala Lumpur. They are in the process of organizing a Full-Day Seminar in Malaysia to promote business and Malaysian investment in Pakistan, besides arranging a familiarization Trip to Pakistan in August/September, 2019 to promote tourism in Pakistan. The Council had also invited them to bring a trade delegation from Malaysia in October this year for promotion of trade between both the countries.
The Council's member based in Islamabad, Brig Muhammad Zareef Malik (retd) was co-opted as Director of Pak-Malaysia Business Council for liaison in Islamabad.
Pakistan-Malaysia bilateral trade position was reviewed, particularly with a view to enhance exports of Pakistani goods to Malaysia, in order to narrow-down trade imbalance with Malaysia. It was decided to make all out efforts to increase the volume of export of rice, halal food products, meat, frozen seafood, fresh vegetables & fruits, particularly mangoes and non-traditional items to Malaysia. The Council stressed on the need for exploring new areas of mutual co-operation to boost bilateral trade and economic ties with Malaysia.
The problems and constraints in the way of exports from Pakistan and probable remedies were also deliberated, particularly Import Duty on Mangoes and Mandarin (Kinoo) in Malaysia and non-availability of refrigerated containers for shipment of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, besides Malaysian export duty on crude palm oil, which discourages import of palm oil from Malaysia, which has come down to about 20%. It was agreed that Mango Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur would be arranged in current season, in collaboration with High Commission of Pakistan in Malaysia.
The Council noted that there is no Commercial Counselor at Pakistan High Commission in Kuala Lumpur for last one year. Similarly, the post of High Commissioner is also vacant as the recently appointed incumbent (Amna Baloch) has not taken the charge as yet. Since they play vital role to promote business and facilitate Pakistani businessmen. The Council has taken up the matter with Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment and other relevant authorities, for ensuring earliest posting of Commercial Counsellor in Malaysia.
The Council is in regular contact and correspondence with its Malaysian counterparts, viz. Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council, Kuala Lumpur. They are in the process of organizing a Full-Day Seminar in Malaysia to promote business and Malaysian investment in Pakistan, besides arranging a familiarization Trip to Pakistan in August/September, 2019 to promote tourism in Pakistan. The Council had also invited them to bring a trade delegation from Malaysia in October this year for promotion of trade between both the countries.
The Council's member based in Islamabad, Brig Muhammad Zareef Malik (retd) was co-opted as Director of Pak-Malaysia Business Council for liaison in Islamabad.
John Sheehy obituary
Michael Jackson
Fri 5 Jul 2019 17.51 BSTLast
modified on Fri 5 Jul 2019 17.52 BST
John
Sheehy, plant physiologist, had an uncanny ability to go to the heart of
complex problems. Photograph: IRRI
My friend and former colleague
John Sheehy, who has died aged 76, was an eminent plant physiologist who made
significant contributions to understanding the growth and yield of pasture
grasses, legumes and the world’s most important staple crop, rice.Born in
Swindon to Bernard Sheehy, a railway worker, and Josephine (nee O’Connor), a
nurse, John spent the second world war years on his grandparents’ farm in the
west of Ireland. After the war the family moved to Newport, Monmouthshire.
After St Illtyd’s grammar school in Cardiff, John attended
Aberystwyth University, gaining a BSc in physics (1965), followed by an MSc in
electronics (1967). He joined Prof John Cooper at the Welsh Plant Breeding
Station in Aberystwyth, retraining as a plant physiologist and deploying his
prodigious quantitative skills to understand plant growth. He was awarded a PhD
in 1971.
John then joined the Grassland Research Institute (GRI) in
Hurley, Berkshire, as a biomathematician, where he carried out award-winning
research on gaseous exchange and functioning of legume nodules. Leaving GRI in
1989 to set up his own consultancy business, Creative Scientific Solutions, he
lectured part-time in systems and information analysis at Brunel University.
In 1995, John joined the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) in the Philippines as a crop modeller, establishing the Applied
Photosynthesis and Systems Modelling Laboratory. Initially his research
supported IRRI’s breeding programme to develop a new plant type and increase
rice yield. Having an uncanny ability to go to the heart of complex problems,
and dissecting them down to core elements, John concluded that yield could only
be increased by “turbocharging” photosynthesis. He conceptualised the
anatomical and biochemical changes needed, after comparing rice with maize, and
persuaded some of the world’s best scientists to join a global project, funded
by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
He retired from IRRI in 2009 and returned to the UK to live in
Marlow, Buckinghamshire. But the “C4 rice” project (now led by Oxford
University) has made considerable progress in reaching his vision.
John was a compassionate and thoughtful leader, inspiring
loyalty and respect from all his research groups. He was made OBE in 2012 for
services to agricultural research and development, and a fellow of Aberystwyth
University in 2014.
He was passionate about rugby union, a lover of wine and a keen
golfer until poor health prevented it.
John married Gaynor Bellis in 1971. She survives him, as do his
two daughters, Rhiannon and Isabel, six grandchildren and a younger sister and
brother.
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