Scientists search the wild for food
plant genes
PARIS: Scientists have been on a
global search for the wild relatives of our food crops, hoping to bolster their
defences against disease and climate change, a study showed on Tuesday.
Humans have domesticated wild
plants for some 10,000 years to provide food but in doing so they have bred out
many of their natural defences, leaving them -- and us -- potentially exposed.
"We live in an interdependent
world. No single country or region harbors all of the diversity that we
need," said Chris Cockel, coordinator of the Crop Wild Relatives project
at the Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank.
"A wild relative of one of
these crops, in the Americas, Africa or Asia, cold be the source of say, pest
resistance, which can benefit all of us in the future," Cockel said in the
report.
The high yields sought by humans
have come at the cost of less genetic diversity which typically makes plants
more susceptible to pests, diseases and the sort of extreme climatic conditions
brought about by global warming and development.
By going back to the original
source plants of some 28 foods -- for example, of rice, potatos, oats,
groundnuts -- researchers collected as wide a variety of seeds as possible in
25 countries to fill in the gaps in existing gene banks.
"We are looking to capture as
much diversity as possible... populations separated by even a few kilometres
may be genetically quite different," said Luigi Guarino, Director of
Science with the Crop Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting
crop diversity.
The MSB at Kew Gardens, home to the
Royal Botanic Society, has so far distributed nearly 3,300 samples of 165
species as a result of the project.
"Many countries have now
realised how important crop wild relatives are -- and what an invaluable source
they are for breeders," Cockel said.
The most well known seed storage
project is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault where nearly a million samples are
now stored deep within the ice some 1,300-km from the North Pole.
It aims to house a collection of as
many seeds as possible as an insurance against the loss of other seed banks
around the world.
Rice to feed world given a funding boost
Research
led by Oxford University into revolutionising global rice production has been
given a $15 million funding boost by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The
next phase of what is known as the C4 Rice Project has been given the green
light for a further five years during which time scientists believe they will
develop a prototype for a strain of rice which would give higher yields and
endure harsher environmental conditions.
Put
simply, it could help to feed a world which is already struggling to provide
for its expanding population, particularly in South East Asia and Sub-Saharan
Africa. Currently over 3 billion people in Asia depend on rice for survival, and,
owing to predicted population increases and a general trend towards
urbanisation, the same area of land that provided enough rice to feed 27 people
in 2010 will need to support 43 by 2050.
Professor
Jane Langdale, from the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, who
leads the consortium, said: ‘This is an extremely challenging long-term project
and we are grateful to the foundation for backing the team for a further five
years. This new award will get us closer to delivering rice lines that will
have real impact for smallholder farmers’.
Rice
uses the C3 photosynthetic pathway, which in hot dry environments is much less
efficient than the C4 pathway used in other plants such as maize and sorghum.
The C4 Rice project aims to ‘switch’ rice to use C4 photosynthesis, with
transformational potential.
The
C4 photosynthetic pathway, which has evolved over 60 times independently,
accounts for around a quarter of terrestrial primary productivity on the planet
despite being used by only 3% of species. In most C4 plants, photosynthetic
reactions happen in two types of cell arranged in ‘wreaths’ around closely
spaced veins – an arrangement referred to as Kranz anatomy. One of the major
challenges of the C4 Rice Project is to convert rice leaf anatomy to this form.
Working out which genes need to be modified to achieve this switch will be a
major focus of the team’s research over the next five years.
The
most recent phase of the project has seen a leap in progress by harnessing a
synthetic approach towards engineering the photosynthetic pathway. The highly
promising direction of this research is confirmed in today’s announcement, and
this funding boost now makes the C4 Rice project one of the longest running
projects in the foundation’s agriculture portfolio.
Professor
Julian Hibberd from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of
Cambridge, who is a member of the C4 consortium, said: ‘We are excited to be
able to build on the significant progress to date, and move closer to our
ultimate goal of generating a higher yielding rice’.
Professor
Steve Long, who runs the Gates Foundation-funded RIPE Project from the
University of Illinois, and was a Visiting Professor at Oxford’s Department of
Plant Sciences, said: ‘This is wonderful news. The C4 rice team have made
outstanding progress toward cracking the code as to how to make a C4 crop. This
will bring the world one step closer to obtaining C4 rice, and to gaining extra
productivity without needing more water or nitrogen.”
By
the end of the next phase of research in 2024 scientists hope to have
experimental field plots up and running in Taiwan.
The
scale and reach of the project means that this is a trans-generational project.
Professor
Langdale said: ‘This is about being custodians of something that’s bigger than
our individual scientific interests’
A
condition of Gates Foundation funding for the project is a Global Access
Commitment to ensure that the knowledge and advancements made will be made
available and accessible at an affordable price to people most in need in
developing countries.
The
C4 Rice Project consortium comprises the University of Oxford (lead), Academia
Sinica, Australian National University, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant
Physiology, Leibniz Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and
Washington State University.
/University
Release. View in full here.
Tags:Africa, Asia, Aussie, Australia, Australian, Award, Illinois, planet, Professor, science, space, Taiwan, university, University of Oxford, Washington
CPFTA Phase II:
Pakistani traders can now export 313 new products to Chinese markets
12:31 PM | 2 Dec, 2019
ISLAMABAD/BEIJING – The second phase of
China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) came into the effect from
Sunday, allowing the Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313
new products on zero duty to the Chinese market.
Both Pakistan and China signed
a protocol for the implementation of the agreement during the last visit of
Prime Minister Imran Khan to China ,
under which, Pakistan has got the export concession on 313 new items.
Pakistan is already enjoying zero
duty on export of 724 products to China under
the first FTA signed between the two countries in 2006. After the
implementation of the second FTA, Pakistan has been allowed to export a total
of 1047 products to China on zero duty.
The new facility will
particularly benefit the textile sector to enhance its export to China as
textile exports to China will virtually be duty-free. There are a
number of other items particularly leather and agriculture products as well as
confectionery and biscuits etc which Pakistani manufacturers can export
to China .A
After the implementation, Pakistan can now increase its export
around US$ 1 billion in the short term while the export of these items are
likely to touch US$ 4-5 billion in the medium term after setting up a new
industry in the special economic zones being constructed in Pakistan under
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) flagship project.
After this agreement, Pakistan
can enhance its exports to China up
to US$ 10 billion in the next few years as the volume of the Chinese import
market is around US$ 64 billion.
The per capita income in China is
around US$ 10,000 while buying capacity of the people is increasing gradually.
China has
organized import expos as it wants to import quality products from different
countries including Pakistan. If our traders actively participate in
different trade fairs in China to
market their goods, they can get import orders with good price.
Now not only Pakistani manufacturers
can enhance exports of different goods to China but
the Chinese manufacturers who are interested to shift industry to Pakistan
owing to cheaper labour and other resources, can export goods to China and
other countries in the world.
Pakistan has already signed FTA
with Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Preferential Trade Agreement
(PTA) with Indonesia under its trade liberalization
policy to enhance its exports.
There are active discussions to
sign FTA with South Korea in a bid to provide more and more access to Pakistani
manufacturers to the new markets. China has
already become the second-largest export destination of Pakistani traders after
the US.
The present government has resolved export rebate issue and
started the disbursement to traders for which the finance ministry is
allocating funds while it is giving subsidy to exporters on electricity and
gas.
The State Bank of Pakistan has also increased funds limits for
the traders and manufacturers under export refinance scheme which will help
increase the exports.
China has
imposed a strict quality control system on food-related items. Chinese experts
inspect and qualify the manufacturing facility before allowing imports. China also
imposed quota and Pakistani traders can benefit from it if they achieve all the
standards.
A quota of 350k tons yarn, 300k
tons sugar and 200 tons rice respectively was given by China under
US$ 1 billion zero percent import tariff facility and exporters are actively
availing this opportunity.
Pakistani traders want to
complete the quarantine procedures of wheat and tobacco to be able to export
these products to China .
Currently, cotton yarn, copper,
rice, chromites nephrite, seafood, and ethylene alcohol are main products being
exported to China
Line losses controlled:
Lesco chief
Lahore Electric Supply Company
(LESCO) Chief Executive Officer Mujahid Pervaiz Chattha has said that situation
of electricity supply and line losses are far better than the past and getting
better with every passing day.
He expressed these view while
talking to a delegation of industrialists that met him under the leadership of
Senior Vice President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Ali Hussam
Asghar here Monday. To bring improvement in the distribution system is the
prime task of the LESCO which is committed to delivering uninterrupted, safe
and secure supply of electricity to the consumers, he added.
On the occasion, the delegation
comprising Chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Pir Nazim
Hussain Shah, Chairman Pakistan Steel Melters Association Rehman Aziz Chan,
Convener LCCI Standing Committee on Energy Asim Siddiq and other office-bearers
discussed various issues faced by the industrial sector.
Villar says P3 billion realignment in 2020 national budget to assist
local rice farmers
Published December 3, 2019, 12:09 AM
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Senator Cynthia Villar clarified
on Monday that the transfer of the P3-billion fund from the National Food
Authority’s (NFA) proposed 2020 budget to the Land Bank of the Philippines will
also be used to assist local rice farmers affected by the Rice Tariffication
Law (Republic Act 11203).
Sen. Cynthia Villar
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
Villar defended her suggested
amendment to the P4.1-trillion proposed 2020 national budget after Albay
Representative Joey Salceda questioned it as among the Senate’s supposed
“dagdag-bawas” or realignments in the government’s spending plan.
In a phone interview with the
Manila Bulletin, the senator said her proposed P3 billion fund transfer was
adopted by the Upper Chamber to make sure that local rice farmers will benefit
from the funds appropriated for them.
“That P3 billion was given from
the DA (Department of Agriculture) to the Land Bank as cash assistance to
farmers because we don’t want the funds to be with the NFA because it might end
up not being used to buy palay from farmers,” Villar explained in mixed English
and Filipino.
“At least there is a provision
[in] the budget that they will give something to the farmers to cover for the
low price of unmilled rice,” she added.
If approved by the President, the
P3 billion, she said, would be distributed to farmers owning at least one
hectare of land at a rate of P5,000 each.
This would be on top of the
assistance offered to farmers in the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund
(RCEF) under RA 11203.
Villar said she already discussed
her proposed amendment with House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and members of
the bicameral conference committee tackling the 2020 budget, who agreed to the
realignment.
“Cong. Salceda is just not
aware,” she said.
Salceda is a member of the House
bicameral panel.
Despite this, Villar said she
would wait for Congress’ final copy of the 2020 General Appropriations Bill
(GAB).
Aside from the P3-billion
realignment, Villar said she also proposed the inclusion of a provision in the
Senate’s version of the 202 GAB mandating the Department of Social Welfare and
Development to use its rice subsidy fund under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program to buy from local farmers and give beneficiaries actual rice instead of
cash.
Villar, who chairs the Senate
committee on agriculture and is an author of the Rice Tariffication Law, has
repeatedly chided the NFA for failing in its mandate to purchase palay from
Filipino farmers for its buffer stocking, which was blamed for the shortage in
the supply of affordable rice last year.
Because of this, lawmakers
stripped NFA of its authority to regulate rice importation in the country,
allowing the unimpeded entry of rice imports in exchange of tariffs.
Under RA 11203, “The NFA shall,
in accordance with the rules, regulations and procedures to be promulgated,
maintain sufficient rice buffer stock to be sourced solely from local farmers.”
House to restore P10 billion
palay-buying fund
Jess Diaz (The
Philippine Star) - December 3, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines — The House of Representatives will work for the restoration of
next year’s P10-billion palay-buying fund, which the Senate inexplicably cut by
P3 billion.
“We
will propose the return of the P3 billion to the budget of the National Food
Authority (NFA). We are trying to give the agency more money so it can buy more
palay and, in the process, force prices for the rice farmers’ produce to go
up,” Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr. said yesterday.
He
said he would submit his proposal to the House panel in the bicameral
conference on the budget, of which he is a member.
Rep.
Isidro Ungab of Davao City, who heads the appropriations committee, and his
Senate counterpart, Sen. Sonny Angara, co-chair the conference.
The
Ungab panel held a closed-door meeting yesterday to tackle the P3-billion palay
procurement fund reduction and billions in other realignments made by the
Senate in its version of the 2020 budget.
Deputy
Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga, another House budget conferee, said
there is no basis to reduce the palay-buying fund.
“We
should even increase it if we can to allow the NFA to buy more palay. It is
important that the government should be able to increase palay prices beyond
the production cost of P12-P13 per kilo so that farmers will recover their
losses in the last cropping season,” he said.
He
said the 6,000 farmers in his district lost P4 per kilo, since they sold their
produce only at P9, when their cost was P13.
At
an average yield of 70 50-kilo bags per hectare, Gonzales added that his
farmers lost at least P84 million.
The
P3 billion the Senate took away from the palay procurement fund could buy 150
million kilos, or three million 50-kilo bags, at P20 per kilo, NFA’s price for
dry palay. The agency offers a much lower price for wet palay.
This
means that the NFA, using P3 billion, could buy the produce of almost 43,000
farmers owning one hectare each and individually harvesting 70 cavans.
The
original P10-billion fund would allow the agency to buy 10 million cavans from
nearly 143,000 farmers at an average of 70 cavans each.
It
was learned from the House contingent in the budget conference that the Senate
shaved P3 billion from the palay-buying fund upon the initiative of Sen.
Cynthia Villar, who chairs the committee on agriculture.
In
a text message to The STAR, Angara’s office said Villar diverted the P3 billion
to the Land Bank, which would make the funds available to the NFA as a loan.
Members
of the Ungab contingent wondered why the P3 billion was moved from the NFA to
Land Bank.
They
said Land Bank is not authorized to buy palay from farmers, since such
authority belongs to the NFA.
“If
the intention is for Land Bank to eventually give the P3 billion to the NFA as
a loan, then why transfer it in the first place? Why give it to NFA as an
interest-bearing loan when the House wanted it as a no-interest allocation for
palay procurement?” they asked.
Raising
level of help to farmers
At
an event in Rosales, Pangasinan on Sunday, Agriculture Secretary Wiliam Dar
told local reporters that President Duterte has given them directives to help
raise the level of assistance to farmers and fishermen, and said the Rice
Tariffication law provides a six-year investment for rice farmers.
He
added that this year, P5 billion was for a grant for farm machineries, P3
billion for seed distribution of inbred rice, P1 billion for additional
credit and P1 billion for extension services.
“This
is continuing,” Dar said.
He
said on top of these, there are many programs that the Department of
Agriculture has for farmers in partnership with local government units (LGUs)
and other stakeholders.
Dar
also said that there are LGUs that also buy palay from farmers but since
harvest is over, the NFA is taking up the cudgels in most of the provinces.
The
agriculture secretary added that there is a sizable volume of imported rice,
approved by the Bureau of Plant Industry, that has been ordered but is yet to
arrive.
“Many
are still pending,” he said, adding that he cannot say the exact volume.
Dar
said the President’s directive is to tighten the guidelines .
“The
importer has to meet all these guidelines before we issue import clearance of
rice,” he added. – With Eva Visperas
Iloilo
farmers to benefit from DA cash transfer
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
ILOILO City – To help small rice
farmers affected by the falling prices of palay and the deluge of
imported rice, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has allocated P3 billion for
unconditional cash transfers.
The targets are some 600,000 rice
farmers from Iloilo and 32 other provinces.
According to Engineer Roy Abaya
of DA’s Agriculture Field Programs Operational Planning Division, rice farmers
with half a hectare to two hectares of rice land will receive P5,000 each.
Abaya was here recently for the National
Rice Industry Stakeholders Conference.
Qualified farmers have to
register with their respective local government units. The Registry System for
Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) is currently being updated.
Aside from the P3 billion for
this unconditional cash transfer, the DA also has P10 billion for its Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
According to DA assistant
secretary Andrew Villacorta, there is P2.5 billion, too, for the Expanded
Survival and Recovery Assistance (SURE Aid) program, extending a P15,000
zero-interest loan payable in eight years to farmers tilling one hectare or
less of farm lot planted to rice. Around 166,000 farmers are the target
beneficiaries.
“We hope to release the fund
before the end of the year,” said Villacorta.
Meanwhile, the National Food
Authority (NFA) has a P7-billion budget to procure palay directly
from farmers. Of this, it has already bought 10.25 million bags as of the
second week of November./PN
CBN: N1.3tr spent to import rice, wheat, others
in 12 months
Our
Reporters
NOT less than N1.3 trillion was spent by the Federal Government
on the importation of rice, fish, sugar and wheat in the last 12 months, the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Tuesday.
The bank’s Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Edward Lametek,
spoke at a seminar organised for Finance reporters in Owerri, Imo State.
Speaking on the theme: “Galvanising development finance and monetary
policy for growth”, the bank chief restated the bank’s commitment to local
production of the commodities, saying that they put a lot of pressure on the
country’s import bill.
He said economic diversification remained a sustainable way to
grow the economy.
Lametek noted the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), which was
launched in November 2015, was designed to build partnerships between small
holder farmers and reliable large-scale agro-processors, with a view to
increasing agricultural output, while improving access to credit for farmers.
He said: “Our targeted focus on the agricultural and
manufacturing sectors was driven by the vast opportunities for growth in these
sectors given our high population.
“These sectors have the ability to absorb the growing pool of
eligible workers in our effort to meet local demand and save critical foreign
reserves. For many countries, the objectives of monetary policy are explicitly
stated in the laws establishing the Central Bank, while for others, they are
not. The objectives of monetary policy may vary from country to country.”
He said the apex bank’s approach to stimulating economic
development is centered on Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) and Infrastructure development.
“You are no doubt aware that the Central Bank of Nigeria has
transcended its core mandate of maintaining monetary, price and financial
system stability, to undertake developmental initiatives with a view to
spurring economic growth and job creation.”
Lametek said efforts at these development finance initiatives
have helped to accelerate the attainment of government’s economic
diversification programme, adding that diversifying the economic base presents
a more sustainable and stable option.
He said: “Given the foregoing, it is our conviction that
focusing our developmental efforts on sectors with inherent potential for
growth, employment and accretion to foreign reserves, would enhance the fortune
of the Nigerian economy.
“The CBN increased its lending to the agricultural and
manufacturing sectors, through targeted intervention schemes such as the Anchor
Borrowers’ Programme, Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme and the Real Sector
Support Facility.”
He said Nigeria’s recent experience with recession attests to
the value of effective implementation of monetary policy.
Lametek said: “Though we adopted unconventional or heterodox
monetary policies, they were however, well thought through and have been
yielding significant gains for the economy.
“Noticeably, the GDP recovery in the third quarter of 2017 has
been sustained for nine successive quarters after five consecutive quarters of
negative growth.
“These unconventional monetary policy initiatives have been
premised on ensuring credit delivery to critical sectors of the economy. This
has informed the directive to Deposit Money Banks to maintain a minimum Loan to
Deposit Ratio (LDR) of 65 per cent by the end of this year. The bank is also
creating the necessary eco-system to inculcate a better credit culture among
Nigerians.”
He said CBN’s policies have helped the country to achieve
significant reductions in its annual imports bill, and increased non-oil
exports.
Lametek said: “Our development finance interventions have helped
to bolster agricultural production by removing obstacles faced by small holder
farmers. We have also improved access to markets for farmers by facilitating
greater partnership with agro-processors and industrial firms in the sourcing
of raw materials. So far, the programme has supported more than 1.5m farmers
across all the 36 states of Nigeria, in cultivating 16 different commodities
over 1.4 million hectares of farmland. It has also supported the creation of
over 2.5m jobs across the agricultural value chain.”
He said the CBN intervention in the rice value chain in Kebbi
and other rice-producing states raised local rice production from 2.5 million
tonnes in 2015 to 5.8 million tonnes in 2017.
The cotton intervention, with the flag-off of input distribution
to 150,000 cotton farmers, encouraged them to cultivate 150,000 hectares in 23
states.
According to them, “the cotton planted by these farm
GhanaWeb Polls: 80% of
respondents prefer locally produced rice
There is a nationwide campaign to
get Ghanaians to consume more locally produced rice
80% of repsondents in a poll
conducted by GhanaWeb.com say they prefer locally produced rice over imported
rice.Asked whether they prefer locally produced rice or imported rice on
Facebook and Twitter, 80% of the over four thousand people who participated in
the polls said they prefer locally produced rice over imported ones.
In recent days there has been a
widespread campaign across the country aimed at pushing for the consumption of
locally produced rice. 2018 figures released by the Ministry of Trade and
Industry indicate the country spent over $1.1 billion on the importation of rice
alone, a figure which represented 82% of the country’s total imports.
Some people have attributed the
situation to the high level of Ghanaian preference for imported rice brands.
The statistics and its effects,
especially on the local rice production industry has caused industry players
and private Ghanaians including the Managing Director of Citi FM, Samuel
Attah-Mensah, to champion the campaign for the consumption of locally produced
rice.
At the back of the above
GhanaWeb.com conducted the polls on social media to find out what Ghanaians
really prefer when it comes to locally produced rice and imported rice.
The data from the polls indicate the
majority of Ghanaians have preference for locally produced rice.
Aside the locally produced rice
having good taste and being more nutritious, those who said their preference
lies with it said, their decision is also informed by the need to help grow the
local industry and the economy.
However, comments made by some of
the participants in the polls show there are lapses in the local rice
production system that impedes their quest to satisfy their preference.
They highlighted the cost of the
locally produced brands, the quality in production and their availability in
the market as some of the lapses.Some relayed on the government to step in
order to eliminate the lapses in the local rice production system. They called
on government to make soft loans available to rice farmers.
CRF: $200M in
emergency loans needed for rice sector
Thou Vireak | Publication date 03 December 2019 |
22:53 ICT
Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has asked the state-owned Rural
Development Bank (RDB) to provide $200 million in emergency loans to buy paddy
from farmers. Heng Chivoan
The Cambodia Rice Federation
(CRF) has asked the state-owned Rural Development Bank (RDB) to provide $200
million in emergency loans to buy paddy from farmers during the ongoing
post-monsoon harvest season as falling prices threaten their livelihoods.
CRF vice-president Chan Sokheang
told The Post on Tuesday that it had submitted a letter to the RDB last week
proposing that it forward the letter to Minister of Economy and Finance Aun
Pornmoniroth.
He said paddy exports from
markets such as China and Europe, and fewer commercial bank loans to the
agricultural sector have contributed to a decrease in working capital for rice
millers and exporters.
The price of paddy has dropped to
between 980 and 1,030 riel ($0.24 and $0.26) per kilogramme – depending on the
area. However, the quality of the paddy remains high, Sokheang said.
“During this month last year,
large countries in Europe and China ordered milled rice from us, but they have
not placed any orders to date.
“Some commercial banks have
reduced their agricultural loans by 50 per cent, and up to 60 per cent, since
the EU decided to impose tariffs on rice imports from Cambodia. We need to
supplement this capital shortfall,” he said.
RDB CEO Kao Thach told The Post
on Tuesday that capital shortage in the rice sector is between $200 million and
$250 million. To help remedy the issue, he has called on commercial banks to
lend more to the sector.
“I am trying to mobilise more capital
investment from other partners, and have already submitted a number of
proposals to the government asking for more capital investment to help the
sector,” he said.
Thach said an RDB study said rice
millers and exporters have disbursed about $350 million from bank loans and
direct capital to purchase paddy.
“The [sector] has been facing a
capital shortfall since October, and will continue to do so until January next
year because the payment for orders will not circulate on time.”
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng
told The Post last week that total capital investment in the Kingdom’s rice
sector is between $300 million and $400 million.
“Normally, in the early harvest
season, rice exporters and millers buy paddy for stockpiles, leaving them with
a lack of funds by the end of the season,” he said.
Heng Pheng, the CEO of Thmor Korl
Rice Import Export Co Ltd, a Battambang-based rice exporter, said prices in
Battambang province appeared to have dropped slightly compared to the beginning
of last year’s post-monsoon harvest season.
He said the price of paddy he
bought from the farmers was worth around 1.17 million riel per tonne, compared
to 1.28 million riel last year for the same quantity.
Contact author: Thou Vireak
Palayan City holds answers for farmers’ woes
amid deluge of imports
INQUIRER.net / 03:27 PM December 04, 2019
HANDS ON. Palayan City Mayor Adrianne May
Cuevas (second from right) discusses ways to help
farmers skirt middlemen with agriculture technicians at a crop storage facility
built by the city government for farmers. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Officials
seeking solutions to the impact of falling prices of palay, or unhusked rice,
on farmers’ incomes amid a deluge of imports may find answers in a city in
Nueva Ecija that has been helping improve farmers’ lives by making agriculture
work for people instead of the other way around.
Relief for
farmers reeling from the impact of open importation of rice is emerging from
Palayan City, which has recently received a P152 million grant from the World
Bank, through the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), which is being
overseen by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The grant
was part of more than P25 billion that the World Bank allotted in loans and
grants for the PDRP and is now seeing results in Palayan, which is now
constructing the city’s first onion cold-storage facility worth P190 million
after putting in an equity of more than P19 million and getting another P19
million from the national government.
While the
programs and campaign being carried out by the city government would directly
benefit only farmers in Palayan, what the city is doing may well serve as a
national template for a government in search of a way to keep the balance
between low rice prices for consumers and sufficient income for Philippine
farmers.
For city
officials, led by Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas, the answer lies not in wave after
wave of financial or material aid but where answers could provide lifetime
solutions—in the minds of farmers.
Mindsets are
the fields on which these solutions are going to bear fruit. First, to make
farmers believe they can do better not only with their most basic tasks in the
farm but also with their lives. Second, to give these farmers the invisible
tool of knowledge to perform tasks not only in their paddies but also out in
the market where their produce need to have value.
“We tell
farmers not to belittle themselves,” said the mayor in an online chat with
INQUIRER.net. “They’re not just farmers,” she said.
The
cold-storage facility, to be operational next year, would free onion farmers
from being forced to sell all their produce at depressed prices for fear of
spoilage.
With more
than 80 percent of funds coming in the form of grants, all the city government
has to worry about are funds to maintain the facility once it is completed.
Farmers in
Palayan also plant rice and corn but they’re learning now that their paddies
are good not only for those traditional crops.
At the fifth
Palayan City Farmers’ Congress held at the Farmers’ Plaza at Singalat village
in Palayan recently, officials of different government agencies joined the city
government in offering farmers two ways to achieve long-term financial
stability.
One is to
learn how technology could help in farming. While the national government
thrust is to equip farmers with implements and mechanize farms, the Palayan
City government is adding new knowledge about other crops and the technology to
plant and nurture these.
Farmers in
Palayan plant rice, corn and onions and are idle in between harvests of these
crops. During that pause, the mayor said the farmers could plant other
high-value crops that would bring them additional income.
The idea is
to make the farms productive all-year round.
It is doing
so with the help of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which was
a prominent presence at the fifth farmers’ congress in Palayan.
In a report
from Philippine News Agency (PNA) Orlando Anselmo, director of DOST in
Pampanga, said his office has been giving scientific support to Palayan farmers
giving them access to technology that they can apply to farming.
One is
access to solar-powered water pumps for irrigation.
Backyard
growers of chicken, pigs, ducks and other commercial animals that produce
manure now have the knowhow in turning these animal wastes into energy,
according to Anselmo.
The
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), according to the PNA report, was also
at the farmers’ congress, offering lessons on entrepreneurship to farmers, not
to turn them into sellers of used clothes, or ukay-ukay, or other items but for
them to be the direct sellers of their produce to end users.
The cold
storage facility under construction with World Bank funding would be central to
that objective.
The biggest
headache of farmers now are falling prices of their rice harvests. Although it
could be considered a band-aid solution, the Palayan City government started
buying palay from farmers at prices higher than standard market rates. This
would force traders wanting to buy the farmers’ rice harvest to compete for
supply by offering higher prices, the mayor said. This measure, however,
is only a short-term solution. Mayor Cuevas knows that for farmers’ lives to
improve not only from harvest to harvest but for good, they have to learn new
things.
It’s not to
wean them away from farming, but to make farming technology-driven and not
dependent on guesswork.
Brigida
Pili, head of the DTI office in Nueva Ecija, said in a PNA report that Go
Negosyo Centers had been established on the ground floor of the Palayan City
Hall to provide information and training to farmers, and anyone interested, on
starting and running a business.
Pili said
that in Palayan, several farmers had already improved their lives by becoming
entrepreneurs.
While the
number of farmers that can undergo training on the application of technology to
agriculture may be limited, the mayor said that over time, their ranks would
grow and turn farming not only as a source of daily income but also a career
and enterprise for farmers.
“If 40
farmers train now and acquire this new knowledge, that’s a good start,” said
the mayor in the online chat. “Forty now, forty next year, forty in the
succeeding year and so on, and you’ll have an army of tech-savvy farmers,” the
mayor said.
The idea is
contained in the theme chosen by the mayor for the fifth farmers’ congress in
the city, originally in Filipino—“Sa Makabagong Agrikultura, Agripreneur
Linangin at Palakasin Now Na” which roughly translates to “For A Modern
Agriculture, Agripreneur Strengthen Now”, agripreneur being the shortcut for
agriculture enterpreneur.
At the fifth
farmers’ congress were other agencies of government like the Department of
Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippine Rice
Research Institute, Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System and the
Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
State
learning institutions, such as the Central Luzon State University and Nueva
Ecija University of Science and Technology, also shared studies on agriculture
development.
Cows, a
carabao, farm equipment and machinery and appliances were raffled off to farmer
participants.
City
agriculturist Esmonia Lulu said the annual congress was a brainchild of Cuevas
to advance the agriculture sector in the city. But while just concerning
farmers of Palayan, the city government’s agriculture improvement programs
offer the elusive solution to declining farmers’ income and their inability to
compete with cheaper imports—a paradigm shift in mindsets.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1197977/palayan-city-holds-answers-for-farmers-woes-amid-deluge-of-imports#ixzz6786TEa8A
Ghana to ban rice imports by 2022
The government of Ghana aims to
make the local production of rice sufficient for all by 2022, a Deputy Minister
of Agriculture has announced.
This will result in a ban on the importation of the commodity, the deputy minister, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, said.
This will result in a ban on the importation of the commodity, the deputy minister, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, said.
The move comes a week after the Peasant Farmers Association of
Ghana (PFAG) recommended a complete ban on the importation of rice into the
country to secure the local rice industry.According to the PFAG, there was
enough local capacity to meet the country’s rice demand. The association asked
all government institutions to patronize local rice.
While
praising the government for the move to secure the local rice industry, PFAG
recommended low interest on loans for agricultural businesses to curtail the
challenges confronting the sector.
Nyarko
said the country had witnessed an increase in the production of paddy rice over
the past two years.
“In
2018, we recorded a total rice production level of about 769,400 tons. We are
inching this year to about 900,000 tons and we have given ourselves up to 2022
to meet the average per capita consumption rate of rice in the country to about
1,135 tons,” he said.
Palay prices inch up in November
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:06 AM December 04,
2019
Prices of
palay finally inched up in November, although the increase was still not enough
to offset the losses incurred by farmers during 11 months of decline.
Based on the
Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest price monitoring report, the
average farm-gate price of palay rose consecutively for the first three weeks
of November to P15.52 a kilo from P15.44 a kilo—an 8-centavo increase.
The lowest
quotation was recorded in Negros Occidental at P10.71 a kilo while the highest
was in Surigao del Sur at P20.40 a kilo.
The
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said planters have already lost
P61.77 billion due to the continuous drop in the farm-gate price, which
hastened in recent months after rice imports ballooned to a record of 1.9
million metric tons.
Stakeholders
have blamed the surge in rice imports as the culprit behind the double-digit
decline in palay prices, brought by the enactment of the rice import
liberalization law.
PhilRice
noted that the losses could even skyrocket to P130 billion if the average
buying price for the crop continued to fall below the current production costs.
Groups were
expecting palay rates to dip further as the harvest season begins amid the
continuous influx of imported rice. As a temporary solution, the Department of
Agriculture has started imposing stricter measures before issuing import
permits. INQ
Ghana
Promotion Goes Big for Small Foodservice Operators
By Sarah Moran
ACCRA, GHANA -- Late last month, USA Rice organized a
foodservice seminar for artisanal commercial rice cookers and vendors in
Ghana's capital city as part of the newly launched promotional program here
utilizing Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) funding. The ATP program is
one of three programs that President Trump authorized in 2018 to assist
agricultural producers who have been affected by retaliatory tariffs in many overseas
markets, and USA Rice received more than $5.5 million to promote U.S. rice
internationally over the next three years.
"Ghana used to be an important market for U.S. rice sales in West Africa," said Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. "Sales averaged more than 90,000 MT per year and USA Rice had a strong promotional program until 2013 when lower-priced Vietnamese and Thai fragrant jasmine rice captured a majority of the market and U.S. rice sales declined substantially. Fortunately, U.S. rice maintained its positive image, especially among foodservice professionals who appreciate the superior cooking characteristics, enabling U.S. rice to re-enter the market."
To increase consumption in the foodservice segment, more than three hundred participants drawn from eight suburbs in Accra were invited to take part in the recent seminar, which also brought together the two leading importers of U.S. rice to Ghana, Crown Commodities and Tradepass Ghana Limited.
Auntie Ajara, a rice vendor for 18 years, echoed other food vendors like her in attendance when she said, "I can depend on the high quality of U.S. rice, even when cooked and kept overnight without refrigeration."
Some of the challenges these vendors face have been inconsistent supply and availability on the market along with price hikes that are directly linked to the dollar versus the cedi (local currency) parity.
"Ghana used to be an important market for U.S. rice sales in West Africa," said Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. "Sales averaged more than 90,000 MT per year and USA Rice had a strong promotional program until 2013 when lower-priced Vietnamese and Thai fragrant jasmine rice captured a majority of the market and U.S. rice sales declined substantially. Fortunately, U.S. rice maintained its positive image, especially among foodservice professionals who appreciate the superior cooking characteristics, enabling U.S. rice to re-enter the market."
To increase consumption in the foodservice segment, more than three hundred participants drawn from eight suburbs in Accra were invited to take part in the recent seminar, which also brought together the two leading importers of U.S. rice to Ghana, Crown Commodities and Tradepass Ghana Limited.
Auntie Ajara, a rice vendor for 18 years, echoed other food vendors like her in attendance when she said, "I can depend on the high quality of U.S. rice, even when cooked and kept overnight without refrigeration."
Some of the challenges these vendors face have been inconsistent supply and availability on the market along with price hikes that are directly linked to the dollar versus the cedi (local currency) parity.
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U.S. rice takes
center stage
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"The two
importers of U.S. rice in Ghana talked about their local brands, Riceland and
Texas Star, and took questions from the audience following each
presentation," said Somogyi. "Both companies donated rice
samples to the participating foodservice associations and for a taste-testing
for attendees following the seminar where everyone got a chance to examine the
grains close up."
The day-long seminar included a comprehensive presentation on the planting, handling, and processing of U.S.-origin rice and a discussion of U.S. rice types that highlighted their unique attributes important to this market segment
"Organizing
this type of event is a cost effective way to reach a high number of small
foodservice vendors who appreciate U.S. rice cooking characteristics,"
said Somogyi. "These small shops depend on word of mouth reputation
in their neighborhoods, and as rice is the most important element in many
Ghanaian dishes, it is crucial for them to have consistent high quality,
exactly what U.S. rice offers. Price remains the limiting factor on the
market, as many small businesses find it difficult to pay for higher quality
but more expensive food products like U.S. rice."
Over the next two months, USA Rice will organize additional foodservice seminars in Ghana's "Golden Triangle," targeting foodservice associations in the major cities of Kumasi and Takoradi.
The day-long seminar included a comprehensive presentation on the planting, handling, and processing of U.S.-origin rice and a discussion of U.S. rice types that highlighted their unique attributes important to this market segment
"Organizing
this type of event is a cost effective way to reach a high number of small
foodservice vendors who appreciate U.S. rice cooking characteristics,"
said Somogyi. "These small shops depend on word of mouth reputation
in their neighborhoods, and as rice is the most important element in many
Ghanaian dishes, it is crucial for them to have consistent high quality,
exactly what U.S. rice offers. Price remains the limiting factor on the
market, as many small businesses find it difficult to pay for higher quality
but more expensive food products like U.S. rice."Over the next two months, USA Rice will organize additional foodservice seminars in Ghana's "Golden Triangle," targeting foodservice associations in the major cities of Kumasi and Takoradi.
USA Rice Daily
We’re turning to offbeat foods to survive a
harsher climate
Bambara
groundnuts and weeds may not be at the top of most menus, but scientists
hunting for wild cousins of modern crops may have found a solution for our
future food needs.
BY ANITA MAKRI
PUBLISHED DECEMBER
3, 2019
THE BAMBARA GROUNDNUT might not have a familiar ring outside
West Africa. But this protein-rich cousin of the peanut, which grows well in
harsh climates and poor soils, was on the priority list of a global search for
food crop seeds that could be life savers in a warming world.
Wading
through wilderness and dodging conflict, floods, and poisonous snakes, over 100
scientists spent the past six years tracking down long-lost wild relatives of
28 food and forage crops that are important for world
food security.
They worked
across 25 countries, from the mountains of Peru to the fields of the
Mediterranean island of Cyprus, scouting scraggy and neglected plants strong
enough to survive in the wild. Their discoveries, published
today, fill gaps in a global gene database that can be tapped to buffer
global food supplies from the harsh realities of climate change’s erratic
effects on the weather.
It’s an
urgent mission. A food crisis is looming, says
the International Panel for Climate Change, with floods and droughts
linked to climate change already affecting the supply and price of food.
A recent
report warns that the amount of crops produced globally is set to drop
by as much as 30 percent in the next 30 years. Water shortages add
stress to the system, threatening supplies of wheat, maize, and rice—which
are included in about
half of all the calories we consume.
Those three
staples were on the target list of the expedition, which also sought wild
versions of crops like the Bambara groundnut, grasspea, pearl or finger
millet—far from household names outside of their native regions. The rest are
foods like barley, eggplant, carrot, and plantain.
Replacing
what we eat now isn’t the goal, says Hannes Dempewolf, senior scientist and the
head of global initiatives at the Crop
Trust, the international organization that managed the 10-year project.
“We're all very attached to our own foods and,
[because of] the cultural workings of different crops, it is difficult to
completely replace something,” Dempewolf says.
The idea is
to help crops become stronger and more adaptable through a breeding process that
tweaks domesticated varieties with genes borrowed from those untamed cousins
that survive drought, salinity, or disease.
Including so
many crops in the search could also lead to a wider range of foods we can rely
on in the face of catastrophic climate change. Some are important only in parts
of the developing world, others worldwide.
“Quite
frankly, and quite dramatically speaking, the reason that we may all be able to
enjoy bread in 10-20 years, it may very well be because this project has helped
secure crop wild relatives of wheat that hadn't been conserved before,” says
Dempewolf.
Topping up gene
banks
Saving or
manipulating seeds is nothing new. But domestication has made cultivated plants
less genetically diverse over time, leaving crops we rely on more prone to
disease and climate extremes. Faced with an uncertain future, and to re-inject
resilience into the food system, scientists are now looking back to the genetic
riches of nature.
This
search-and-rescue mission is part of a wider effort. A global network of some
1,750 banks already holds a vast collection of seeds and other plant material.
Most famously, the Svalbard Vault in Norway is the
ultimate back-up plan for the world’s seed diversity, both
domesticated and wild.
Work to
preserve seeds has ramped up in recent years, and an organized system of
11 international banks is now in place, each with a specialty: for example
potatoes in Peru, rice in the Philippines, dryland cereals in Syria.
But the
stockpiles aren’t complete. The plan to launch a search-and-rescue operation
began with the team painstakingly checking existing collections to pin down which
species were underrepresented or missing, and where to find them.
After six
years and more than 3,000 days on the road, the mission bagged 4,644 samples of
371 different species or subspecies, about 80 percent of what they set out to
collect.
Hits and misses
The Bambara
groundnut was a success story. The wild relative of an important species was
missing altogether from gene banks, and the search unearthed 17 samples of it
from Nigerian soil, “including some of the very hard-to-find ones,” says
Dempewolf.
Grown mainly
by small farmers in West Africa, the hardy nut can withstand high temperatures
and drought, and it does well in poor soils. It can be eaten raw as a snack,
roasted, or processed into other foods. Could it be one of those obscure crops
that becomes a food of the future?
“I know
Bambara groundnut well,” says Joe DeVries, who
heads the non-profit Seed Systems Group and has worked in Africa’s seed sector
for years. “It is a very important crop in many countries, including Congo,
Madagascar, Chad, and Benin.”
The problem,
he says, is that modern breeding efforts have bypassed it. So yields are still
low.
The grasspea,
popular in South Asia and parts of East Africa, tolerates drought well and
provides food in times of need. But eat too
much of it, and the risk is paralysis below the knees for adults, or
brain damage for children. A search in Pakistan secured wild relatives with
lower toxin levels, raising hopes of creating safer varieties.
Alongside
other regional foods on the list—finger millet in East Africa, pigeon pea in
the Indian subcontinent—are more familiar crops. The team found three wild
species of potato in Peru and Ecuador that were missing from the well-stocked
international gene bank in Lima. There was a wild version of the carrot, tracked
down in Portugal, that grows well in salty, drier soils and is being developed for
use in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Wild oats resistant to powdery mildew,
which devastates domesticated crops, were found in the region stretching from
Armenia to Cyprus and Lebanon. And in Kenya, scientists spotted four wild
relatives of eggplant that were missing from gene banks.
But it wasn’t
all good news. At times, the team arrived too late for rescue. Dempewolf saw wild
rice plants in Nepal that had fallen victim to human-caused habitat
change. “That probably for me was one of the starkest and most urgent reminders
of how important the work is,” he says.
It was
adventurous too. In Nigeria, the collectors had to get around floods and an
insurgency by the jihadist group Boko Haram. Finding an elusive variety of wild
rice in Ecuador took shin-high boots with metal tips to dodge snake bites. And
in Italy, hopes of finding a pea with edible tubers were fading—until a local
researcher happened to spot it out of a train window (he got off at the next
stop).
Along with
precious samples, local scientists also found a new appreciation for weedy plants
they would normally dismiss, says Chris Cockel, coordinator for the project at
the Millennium Seed Bank in the U.K.’s Kew Gardens. “The very reason they're
interesting is that they've been surviving on the margins, without any human
influence,” he says.
A long road to
hardier crops
For each
batch of rescued seeds, one-third was kept in the country that collected them.
The rest were whisked off to the safety of the bank at Kew Gardens, which
retains original copies but distributes samples on request. Cockel has already
sent shipments to gene banks in nine countries, with three more ready to go.
Breeders at
the gene banks use the seeds to start developing varieties that taste and look
like foods we know but have a survival edge, courtesy of lives spent in the
wild. This starts with “pre-breeding,” a laborious process of crossing the wild
relative with a domesticated variety to transfer useful traits and filter out
those that aren’t needed. It’s underway for 19 of the crops for which wild
relatives were found. But there’s a long wait—anywhere from 10 to 20 years or
more—before a certified variety that farmers can use is created.
This method
of conserving and breeding seeds outside their natural habitat isn’t without
its critics. Some argue it
won’t cover everything that needs to be saved. Others say that by keeping
seeds away from their natural habitats, banks favor
the needs of researchers over small farmers who can also preserve
diversity in the field. The Crop Trust points out that its work doesn’t just
enrich gene banks. It shares what’s collected under the UN’s International Treaty
on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
Left:
Colorized scan of a wild carrot seed. Researchers on the expedition
found a wild carrot in Portugal that was resistant to salty soils and is being
developed as a crop to be grown in Bangladesh.
LEFT) AND PHOTOGRAPH
COURTESY CROP WILD RELATIVES (RIGHT)
DeVries says
crossing wild relatives with domesticated crops has quietly shaped those we
grow and eat for a long time. “If we don’t have living accessions of the wild
relatives, we can’t make the crosses. It is hugely important work, and as a
crop geneticist, I’m thrilled to know that it is going on,” he says.
The seed-gathering
part of the project is accomplished and the entire thing wraps up next year.
Negotiations for more funding are underway with the Norwegian government, which
bankrolled it.
“We've really
only just scratched the surface in terms of what's out there,” says Cockel.
Wild
relatives are still missing, and what’s been collected doesn’t paint a complete
picture.
Meanwhile, the seeds that have been rescued
stay available to breeders and researchers. And there’s a sense of urgency in
the team. They called in farmers to help before pre-breeding concludes, an
unconventional move that could shorten the pipeline between conserving and
coming up with a climate-proof crop, says Dempewolf. “That’s something we’re
quite excited about.”
Raising plants to withstand climate change
Proof of concept for changing
mitochondrial respiration
IMAGE: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY PLANT BIOLOGY RESEARCHERS CHRISTOPHER
WATERMAN AND DR CRYSTAL SWEETMAN WITH SAMPLES OF TEST PLANT ARABIDOPSIS. view more
CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY
Success with improving a model
plant's response to harsh conditions is leading plant molecular researchers to
move to food crops including wheat, barley, rice and chickpeas.
Flinders and La Trobe University
researchers in Australia are focusing on genes that encode antioxidant enzymes
to minimise harmful oxidative responses in leaf cells to environmental stress.
Experiments showed the plant with enhanced enzyme levels becoming more hardy
and recovering more readily from exposure to drought and 'high light'.
"With heatwaves, drought and
salinity becoming more and more of an issue, plant biologists around the world
are increasingly looking for ways to equip plants to be tolerant to multiple
environmental stressors," says Strategic Professor in Plant Biology David
Day.
"Our research is proof of
concept using the test plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) that
manipulating mitochondrial respiration is an important way to manage a plant's
response to abiotic stresses."
The researchers focused on two
enzymes, which act together to moderate oxidative damage in the leaves of the
model plant.
"These proteins act on the
cellular energy core or mitochondria to minimise damage caused by drought or
other stressors," says Dr Crystal Sweetman, one of the lead authors on the
new paper in Plant Physiology.
"Therefore, plants bred to
make more of these enzymes might be able to survive extreme heat or prolonged
dry weather and have a better chance at producing food during bad
seasons," she says.
Flinders Professor Kathleen
Soole, who is also president of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists,
says the methodology has shown its value and can now be adapted for more
complex grain and legume food staples.
"The research has shown that
by affecting the metabolism of plant cells with two novel antioxidant enzymes
allows them to recover better after exposure to drought," Professor Soole
says.
Flinders Associate Professor
Colin Jenkins is keen for this work to be move to food crops like cereals.
"This paves the way the selection of existing crop varieties with higher
activities of these enzymes and for similar genetic manipulation of crop plants
such as wheat and barley," says plant molecular researcher Associate
Professor Jenkins.
###
The paper, 'AtNDB2 is the main external NADH dehydrogenase in
mitochondria and is important for tolerance to environmental stress' (2019) by
C Sweetman, CD Waterman, BM Rainbird, PMC Smith, CD Jenkins, DA Day and KL
Soole, has been published in Plant Physiology (American
Society of Plant Biologists). DOI: 10.1104/pp.19.00877
Rice to feed world given a funding
boost
Research led by Oxford University
into revolutionising global rice production has been given a $15 million
funding boost by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.The next phase of what
is known as the C4 Rice Project has been given the green light for a further
five years during which time scientists believe they will develop a prototype
for a strain of rice which would give higher yields and endure harsher
environmental conditions.
Put simply, it could help to feed
a world which is already struggling to provide for its expanding population,
particularly in South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently over 3
billion people in Asia depend on rice for survival, and, owing to predicted
population increases and a general trend towards urbanisation, the same area of
land that provided enough rice to feed 27 people in 2010 will need to support
43 by 2050.
Professor Jane Langdale, from the
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, who leads the consortium,
said: ‘This is an extremely challenging long-term project and we are grateful
to the foundation for backing the team for a further five years. This new award
will get us closer to delivering rice lines that will have real impact for
smallholder farmers’.
Rice uses the C3 photosynthetic
pathway, which in hot dry environments is much less efficient than the C4
pathway used in other plants such as maize and sorghum. The C4 Rice project
aims to ‘switch’ rice to use C4 photosynthesis, with transformational
potential.
The C4 photosynthetic pathway,
which has evolved over 60 times independently, accounts for around a quarter of
terrestrial primary productivity on the planet despite being used by only 3% of
species. In most C4 plants, photosynthetic reactions happen in two types of
cell arranged in ‘wreaths’ around closely spaced veins – an arrangement
referred to as Kranz anatomy. One of the major challenges of the C4 Rice
Project is to convert rice leaf anatomy to this form. Working out which genes
need to be modified to achieve this switch will be a major focus of the team’s research
over the next five years.
The most recent phase of the
project has seen a leap in progress by harnessing a synthetic approach towards
engineering the photosynthetic pathway. The highly promising direction of this
research is confirmed in today’s announcement, and this funding boost now makes
the C4 Rice project one of the longest running projects in the foundation’s
agriculture portfolio.
Professor Julian Hibberd from the
Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, who is a member of
the C4 consortium, said: ‘We are excited to be able to build on the significant
progress to date, and move closer to our ultimate goal of generating a higher
yielding rice’.
Professor Steve Long, who runs
the Gates Foundation-funded RIPE Project from the University of Illinois, and
was a Visiting Professor at Oxford’s Department of Plant Sciences, said: ‘This
is wonderful news. The C4 rice team have made outstanding progress toward
cracking the code as to how to make a C4 crop. This will bring the world one
step closer to obtaining C4 rice, and to gaining extra productivity without
needing more water or nitrogen.”
By the end of the next phase of
research in 2024 scientists hope to have experimental field plots up and
running in Taiwan.
The scale and reach of the
project means that this is a trans-generational project.
Professor Langdale said: ‘This is
about being custodians of something that’s bigger than our individual
scientific interests’
A condition of Gates Foundation
funding for the project is a Global Access Commitment to ensure that the
knowledge and advancements made will be made available and accessible at an
affordable price to people most in need in developing countries.
The C4 Rice Project consortium
comprises the University of Oxford (lead), Academia Sinica, Australian National
University, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Leibniz
Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and Washington State
University.
Medical News Today: Rice and obesity: Is there a link?
A study that used data from more
than 130 countries concludes that eating more rice might protect against
obesity. After controlling for a wide range of factors, the team found that the
results remained significant. Despite this, big questions remain.
Is there a link between eating more rice and obesity?
Is there a link between eating more rice and obesity?
in the Western world and beyond
is on the rise. However, some countries are not facing the same challenge.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of people in the United States now have
obesity.
In Japan, however, the figure is
just , say the World Health Organization (WHO).
The array of factors that could
be involved in differences such as this are dizzying — so where would one
begin?
According to one group of
researchers, a good place to start might be rice.
The average food intake of
someone in the United States is very different to that of someone in any
country outside of the Western world. However, diets in some of the countries
with low obesity rates share a common staple: rice.
Researchers from Doshisha Women‘s
College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto, Japan, decided to take a closer look. They
recently presented their findings at the European Congress on Obesity () in
Glasgow, United Kingdom.
A global look
at rice consumption
To investigate, the scientists
took data from 136 countries. They found that countries where people ate an
average of at least 150 grams (g) of rice per day had significantly lower rates
of obesity than countries where people ate less than the global average amount
of rice, around 14 g per day.
The researchers attempted to take
into account as many confounding variables as they could, including average
education level, smoking rates, total consumed, money spent on healthcare,
percentage of the population over 65, and gross domestic product per capita.
All of these variables were
significantly lower in the countries whose residents ate the most rice;
however, even after accounting for this in their analysis, the researchers
found that the positive influence of rice over obesity persisted.
From their data, they estimate that
an increase of just one-quarter of a cup of rice per day (50 g per person)
could reduce global obesity by 1%. That equates to a change from 650 million to
643.5 million adults.
“The observed associations
suggest that the obesity rate is low in countries that eat rice as a staple
food. Therefore, a Japanese food or an Asian-food-style diet based on rice may
help prevent obesity.”
Lead researcher Prof. Tomoko Imai
When considering exactly why rice
might influence obesity rates, Prof. Imai says: “Eating rice seems to protect
against weight gain. It‘s possible that the fiber, nutrients, and plant
compounds found in whole grains may increase feelings of fullness and prevent
overeating.”
Prof. Imai adds, “Rice is also
low in fat and has a relatively low postprandial blood glucose level, which
suppresses secretion.”
Significant
limitations
The researchers know that
distinguishing between cause and effect is incredibly challenging when looking
at diet — especially on such a large scale.
Though they accounted for as many
confounding variables as possible, it is still likely that they did not
consider many other important factors in the analysis.
They also explain that they used
country-level data, rather than person-level data. This has several drawbacks;
for instance, certain regions of some countries might eat substantially more
rice than others. Also, obesity rates can vary within a country from region to
region.
Another concern is the use of
body mass index (); although it is a standard measure that researchers use
widely, it is not a measure of overall health. The scientists did not ascertain
how many people have, for instance, an unhealthily low BMI, which would skew
the data by bringing the country‘s average BMI down.
It is also worth pointing out
that the researchers have not published these findings in a journal and,
therefore, they have not been through a peer-review process.
Rice types
Another potential issue is that
the team‘s analysis does not take into account the type of rice that a
population tends to consume, which could be important. For example, white rice
is much lower in fiber than less processed types. How much fiber someone may in
obesity risk.
Also, a meta-analysis published
in the in 2012 looked at the relationship between white rice and the risk of .
Its authors concluded that:
“Higher consumption of white rice
is associated with a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes,
especially in Asian (Chinese and Japanese) populations.”
Another that involved more than
10,000 Korean adults found that a diet centered on white rice was associated
with obesity.
Doubts remain, so scientists
should continue to study the impact of rice on obesity. If such a cheap,
readily available food as rice could play even a small part in the fight
against obesity, it is worth pursuing. However, for now, the jury is out.
Ghana
government told to adopt proactive measures for rice sector
The
Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has called on government to adopt
proactive measures to secure the Ghana rice industry and ensure a complete ban
on the importation of rice to boost sales.
It
said there was enough Ghanaian rice to meet the demands of the country and
called on all government institutions to patronise it.
While
commending the Government for the move to secure the Ghanaian rice
industry, the Association recommended low interest on loans for agricultural
businesses to curtail the challenges confronting the sector.
Other
recommendations included increased budget allocation and subsidies for combined
harvesters, rice millers and packaging materials, new technology to address
aflatoxins and other post-harvest challenge, storages facilities and increased
budget on mitigating problems in the rice value chain.
Mr
Abdul Rahman Mohammed, the Board Chairman of the PFAG, during the 2019 Annual
General Meeting of the Association, said the directive by the Government to the
National Buffer Stock Company to mop-up the excess rice and importers to buy
local rice had come in handy.
“We
hope the directive will be enforced immediately without any further delay to
bring hope to our farmers,” he added.
Meanwhile,
a Research on; “Assessment of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme:
Perspectives from beneficiary farmers,” revealed that farmers had received
improved certified variety of seeds.
Professor
Awetori Yaro from the University of Ghana, who presented the Findings, said the
research was commissioned to analyse access to certified seeds, fertilizer,
extension services, marketing and post-harvest handling.
It
established that much progress had been made with the PFJ and that the project
could stimulate the commercialisation of small scale agriculture in Ghana.
The
study, however, recommended increased surveillance, extension services, and
early delivery of seeds and fertilizers.
Other
recommendations included a deliberate government policy to direct banks to
lower their interest rates on agricultural businesses.
Mr
Kobena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minister, urged farmers to
work effectively towards improving household nutrition of women and children.
He
called for the development of a comprehensive value-chain approach to
agriculture and focus on market oriented extension services to build the
capacity of farmers through training.
Source:
GNA
https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2019/12/03/ghana-government-told-to-adopt-proactive-measures-for-rice-sector/
Syria issues tender to buy 45,000 tonnes of white
rice - trade
|03 DECEMBER, 2019
A driver unloads wheat grains
from a truck at a mill in Qamishli, Syria June 3, 2019.
REUTERS/Rodi Said
HAMBURG - A Syrian state purchasing agency has
issued an international tender to purchase 45,000 tonnes of white rice,
European traders said on Tuesday.
The tender from Syria's General Foreign
Trade Organisation closes on Jan. 6, 2020, they said.
Short grain white rice of third or fourth class
was sought. No specific country of origin was specified in the tender, traders
said.
Some 25,000 tonnes was sought for supply 90
days after confirmation of the order and 20,000 tonnes 180 days after supply of
the first consignment.
The rice was sought packed in bags and offers
should be submitted in euros.
A previous tender from the agency for 45,000
tonnes of rice with similar conditions had closed on Nov. 13.
(Reporting by Michael
Hogan, editing by Louise
Heavens) ((michael.j.hogan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 172 671 36 54; Reuters Messaging:
michael.hogan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-
December 03, 2019
* *
* * * *
Nagpur
Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-December 3, 2019 Nagpur, Dec 3 (Reuters) –
Gram and tuar prices firmed up again in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and
Marketing Company (APMC) here on increased demand from local millers amid tight
supply from producing regions. Healthy hike on NCDEX in gram, good recovery in
Madhya Pradesh pulses and reported demand from South-based millers also helped
to push up prices. About 150 bags of gram and 100 bags of tuar reported for
auction, according to sources.
GRAM
*
Gram varieties ruled steady in open market here but demand was poor.
TUAR
* Tuar gavarani showed weak tendency in open market here on lack of demand
from
local millers.
*
Moong chamki declined in open market here on poor demand from local
traders
amid good supply from producing regions.
* In
Akola, Tuar New – 5,600-5,800, Tuar dal (clean) – 8,400-8,600, Udid Mogar
(clean)
–
9,200-10,700, Moong Mogar (clean) 8,600-9,500, Gram – 4,350-4,400, Gram Super
best
–
6,200-6,400 * Wheat, rice and other foodgrain items moved in a narrow range in
scattered
deals and settled at last levels in thin trading activity.
Nagpur
foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg
FOODGRAINS
Available prices Previous close
Gram
Auction 3,550-4,060 3,600-4,100
Gram
Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar
Auction 4,750-5,200 4,700-5,200
Moong
Auction n.a. 3,950-4,200
Udid
Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500
Masoor
Auction n.a. 2,200-2,500
Wheat
Lokwan Auction 2,000-2,125 2,000-2,120
Wheat
Sharbati Auction n.a. 2,900-3,000
Gram
Super Best Bold 5,900-6,100 5,900-6,100
Gram
Super Best n.a. n.a.
Gram
Medium Best 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800
Gram
Dal Medium n.a. n.a
Gram
Mill Quality 4,350-4,400 4,350-4,400
Desi
gram Raw 4,300-4,350 4,300-4,350
Gram
Kabuli 8,500-10,000 8,500-10,000
Tuar
Fataka Best-New 8,400-8,600 8,400-8,600
Tuar
Fataka Medium-New 8,000-8,200 8,000-8,200
Tuar
Dal Best Phod-New 7,600-7,800 7,600-7,800
Tuar
Dal Medium phod-New 7,000-7,400 7,000-7,400
Tuar
Gavarani New 5,500-5,600 5,550-5,600
Tuar
Karnataka 6,000-6,100 6,000-6,100
Masoor
dal best 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800
Masoor
dal medium 5,300-5,400 5,300-5,400
Masoor
n.a. n.a.
Moong
Mogar bold (New) 9,000-9,800 9,000-10,000
Moong
Mogar Medium 8,000-8,500 8,000-8,700
Moong
dal Chilka New 7,500-8,500 7,600-8,500
Moong
Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong
Chamki best 8,500-9,500 8,800-9,800
Udid
Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 9,500-11,000 9,500-11,000
Udid
Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 8,500-9,200 8,500-9,200
Udid
Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 6,600-7,200 6,600-7,200
Mot
(100 INR/KG) 6,400-7,500 6,400-7,500
Lakhodi
dal (100 INR/kg) 4,800-5,000 4,800-5,000
Watana
Dal (100 INR/KG) 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800
Watana
Green Best (100 INR/KG) 8,800-10,000 8,800-10,000
Wheat
308 (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,450 2,350-2,450
Wheat
Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 2,250-2,350 2,250-2,350
Wheat
Filter (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,800 2,700-2,800
Wheat
Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,850 2,700-2,850
Wheat
Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,600 2,400-2,600
Lokwan
Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP
Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,400-4,200 3,400-4,200
MP
Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200
Rice
Parmal (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,500 2,400-2,500
Rice
BPT best new (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,600 3,000-3,600
Rice
BPT medium new(100 INR/KG) 2,700-3,000 2,700-3,000
Rice
Luchai (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,100 3,000-3,100
Rice
Swarna best new (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,850 2,600-2,800
Rice
Swarna medium new (100 INR/KG)2,500-2,600 2,400-2,500
Rice
HMT best new (100 INR/KG) 3,900-4,000 3,900-4,000
Rice
HMT medium new (100 INR/KG) 3,600-3,800 3,600-3,800
Rice
Shriram best new(100 INR/KG) 4,500-5,000 4,500-5,000
Rice
Shriram med new (100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,400 4,200-4,400
Rice
Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 8,500-13,500 8,500-13,500
Rice
Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,500 5,000-7,500
Rice
Chinnor best new 100 INR/KG) 5,300-5,500 5,300-5,500
Rice
Chinnor medium new(100 INR/KG)5,000-5,200 5,000-5,200
Jowar
Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,550 2,350-2,550
Jowar
CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 2,050-2,250 2,050-2,250 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 31.2
degree Celsius, minimum temp. 15.8 degree Celsius Rainfall : Nil FORECAST:
Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperature likely to be around 31
degree Celsius and 16 degree Celsius respectively. Note: n.a.—not available
(For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but
included in market prices)
Officials pumping
water into drought-affected rice fields
Khorn Savi | Publication date 02 December 2019 |
23:08 ICT
More than 10,000ha of rice fields in Battambang province are
affected by drought. Hong Menea
Provincial authorities and
agriculture officials are working together to pump water into rice fields as
thousands of hectares in eight provinces are affected by drought. Concern over
possible water shortage for daily use also remains.
National Committee for Disaster
Management spokesman Keo Vy told The Post on Monday that the drought is taking
its toll on more than 10,000ha of rice fields in Battambang and more than
1,000ha in Kampong Cham.
He said Prey Veng, Kandal, Takeo,
Banteay Meanchey, Tbong Khmum, and Kampong Chhnang provinces have also been
affected, although he had not received any report on damage to rice crops.
However, Vy assured that water
sources such as lakes, canals, creeks, and big and small irrigation systems,
still contained water and were not dry.
The Ministry of Water Resources
and Meteorology had decided to release the water for citizens and the
authorities had pumped it into the rice fields.
“We released water from the
Kamping Puoy Reservoir to save more than 10,000ha of rice crops in Thma Koul
district, in Battambang province.
“According to the weather
forecast, there may be no early rains. If there are none, it will cause more
challenges. We will [use] water from the reservoirs for daily consumption and
to grow crops.
“[But] we will use it
economically to prepare for the upcoming dry season and to ensure the water
shortage of 2016 doesn’t happen again,” he said.
That year, more than two million
people across the country experienced water shortages due to El Nino. At the time,
authorities were forced to transport water from other places to supply the
water-deprived areas.
Vy recalled that this year, rice
fields had been thrice affected by drought where soaring temperatures had been
experienced due to the delayed arrival and early departure of the monsoon
rains, along with insufficient rainfall.
He said if El Nino ends next
year, the country may see early rains from mid-January to February that could
help ease the effects of the drought.
Battambang provincial Department
of Agriculture director Chhim Vichara said on Monday that 11,400ha of
wet-season rice crops in Thma Koul district had been affected by the drought,
but officials from the provincial administration and the district, along with
agricultural department officials, had gradually addressed it late last week.
The officials reportedly exported
water from the Kamping Puoy Reservoir in Banan district and the river in Bavel
district.
Vy said this normally happened
every year at the end of the rainy season. Water from rivers, lakes, and
irrigation systems, he said, had been stored to prepare for the shortage.
If the drought worsens, the water
would be used by December. However, if no rainfall occurs in January, the
country could experience a water crisis, he stressed.
House
to restore P10 billion palay-buying fund
Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) -
December 3, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The House
of Representatives will work for the restoration of next year’s P10-billion
palay-buying fund, which the Senate inexplicably cut by P3 billion.
“We will propose the return of
the P3 billion to the budget of the National Food Authority (NFA). We are
trying to give the agency more money so it can buy more palay and, in the
process, force prices for the rice farmers’ produce to go up,” Minority Leader
Bienvenido Abante Jr. said yesterday.
He said he would submit his
proposal to the House panel in the bicameral conference on the budget, of which
he is a member.
Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City,
who heads the appropriations committee, and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Sonny
Angara, co-chair the conference.
The Ungab panel held a
closed-door meeting yesterday to tackle the P3-billion palay procurement fund
reduction and billions in other realignments made by the Senate in its version
of the 2020 budget.
Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales
Jr. of Pampanga, another House budget conferee, said there is no basis to
reduce the palay-buying fund.
“We should even increase it if we
can to allow the NFA to buy more palay. It is important that the government
should be able to increase palay prices beyond the production cost of P12-P13
per kilo so that farmers will recover their losses in the last cropping
season,” he said.
He said the 6,000 farmers in his
district lost P4 per kilo, since they sold their produce only at P9, when their
cost was P13.
At an average yield of 70 50-kilo
bags per hectare, Gonzales added that his farmers lost at least P84 million.
The P3 billion the Senate took
away from the palay procurement fund could buy 150 million kilos, or three
million 50-kilo bags, at P20 per kilo, NFA’s price for dry palay. The agency
offers a much lower price for wet palay.
This means that the NFA, using P3
billion, could buy the produce of almost 43,000 farmers owning one hectare each
and individually harvesting 70 cavans.
The original P10-billion fund
would allow the agency to buy 10 million cavans from nearly 143,000 farmers at
an average of 70 cavans each.
It was learned from the House
contingent in the budget conference that the Senate shaved P3 billion from the
palay-buying fund upon the initiative of Sen. Cynthia Villar, who chairs the
committee on agriculture.
In a text message to The STAR,
Angara’s office said Villar diverted the P3 billion to the Land Bank, which
would make the funds available to the NFA as a loan.
Members of the Ungab contingent
wondered why the P3 billion was moved from the NFA to Land Bank.
They said Land Bank is not
authorized to buy palay from farmers, since such authority belongs to the NFA.
“If the intention is for Land
Bank to eventually give the P3 billion to the NFA as a loan, then why transfer
it in the first place? Why give it to NFA as an interest-bearing loan when the
House wanted it as a no-interest allocation for palay procurement?” they asked.
Raising level of help to farmers
At an event in Rosales,
Pangasinan on Sunday, Agriculture Secretary Wiliam Dar told local reporters
that President Duterte has given them directives to help raise the level of
assistance to farmers and fishermen, and said the Rice Tariffication law
provides a six-year investment for rice farmers.
He added that this year, P5
billion was for a grant for farm machineries, P3 billion for seed distribution
of inbred rice, P1 billion for additional credit and P1 billion for
extension services.
“This is continuing,” Dar said.
He said on top of these, there
are many programs that the Department of Agriculture has for farmers in
partnership with local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders.
Dar also said that there are LGUs
that also buy palay from farmers but since harvest is over, the NFA is taking
up the cudgels in most of the provinces.
The agriculture secretary added
that there is a sizable volume of imported rice, approved by the Bureau of
Plant Industry, that has been ordered but is yet to arrive.
“Many are still pending,” he
said, adding that he cannot say the exact volume.
Dar said the President’s
directive is to tighten the guidelines .
“The importer has to meet all
these guidelines before we issue import clearance of rice,” he added. –
With Eva Visperas
Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/12/03/1973804/house-restore-p10-billion-palay-buying-fund#JlRR8R2JZx3TUf20.99
Low yield this year in N. Korea’s main grain-producing region
Sources blame adverse weather and international sanctions for
low yield in South Pyongan Province
By Ha Yoon Ah
2019.12.03 5:00pm
The yield from this year’s rice
grain harvest in South Pyongan Province, North Korea’s main grain-producing
region, turned out lower than in the previous year.
“In flat regions like
Pyongwon, Sukchon, Mundok and Anju, as well as in grain-producing regions, this
year’s harvest was less bountiful than last year,” a source from South Pyongan
Province told Daily NK on Monday. Though, he said, “the total yield can only be
confirmed after the final thrashing, first projections suggest this year’s
yield is considerably lower than last year.”
Daily NK has been able to access
the harvest predictions for the Pyongwon region in South Pyongan Province.
While a good season brings an average yield of four to five tons, estimates for
this year assumes a revenue of only two tons of rice and corn per jongbo (one jongbo equals
approximately one hectare) of farm land in Pyongwon County.
In Taepung, Yongsan, Maejon,
Samdong and other large farms close to the west coast, the rice and corn
harvests did not even amount to two tons, according to Daily NK sources.
ADVERSE WEATHER AND SANCTIONS TO
BLAME
Sources have blamed a typhoon in
early fall as well as the generally rainy season for the meager harvests. “The
typhoon and heavy rainfalls toppled both rice and corn while they were
maturing,” he explained.
According to him, farms near the
coast were also particularly affected by saltwater damage. He spoke of fields
which were “only filled with empty grain heads.”
However, the source also pointed
out that “the situation hadn’t been great from the outset.” He talked to a
government official working in North Korean agriculture who allegedly told him
about a “reduced supply of vinyl covers, fertilizer and pesticides” – a direct
consequence of the economic sanctions imposed by the international community.
ANXIETIES ABOUT NEXT YEAR’S
HARVEST
A bad harvest year naturally
affects the working season of farmers. According to sources, the harvest season
in North Korea this year was thus shorter than usual.
Rice harvests and the removal of
rice sheaves in South Pyongan Province ended in early November instead of the
end of the month or even later, they recalled.
Daily NK previously learned from
sources in North Hamgyong Province that many North Korean agriculturists are
concerned that – given the poor harvest – next year’s food supply won’t be
enough to feed the country’s population. Yet, “the survival and general quality
of life of North Koreans depend on their food supply,” a defector told Daily
NK.
That’s why “agriculture and farms
have to be in the hands of the farmers who need to be able to act autonomously
[instead of working on collective farms under state control],” the defector
concluded.
*Translated by Violet Kim and edited by Laura Geigenberger
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to
dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Haiti - Humanitarian : Donation of Japan of $3.6M for the
purchase of rice
03/12/2019 10:01:49
03/12/2019 10:01:49
 |
 |
On Friday, November 29, a Grant Agreement for the
Food Assistance Project (KR) 2019 was signed between the Haitian State
represented by Bocchit Edmond, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Government
of Japan represented Mizuno Mitsuaki, Ambassador accredited in Haiti.
Under this Project, the Government of Japan will make available to the Government of Haiti a total of 400 million Japanese Yen, or approximately US $3.6 million (US $ 3,652,400), for the purchase of rice, which will be sold at preferential prices by the Office of Monetization of Development Assistance Programs (BMPAD) in order to stabilize the local market and contribute to the food security of the Haitian people. The funds generated by the sale of this rice will be used to finance bilateral cooperation projects.
Today, 3.67 million people face major socio-economic challenges and acute food insecurity, and need food assistance. Given this situation and in response to the request of the Government of Haiti, the Japanese Government has decided through this grant to support the strengthening of food security in Haiti while accompanying the Haitian Government in its efforts to increase agricultural products through the training of technicians and the supply of agricultural equipment.
Recall that in the context of food security, Japanese cooperation is upstream and downstream :
Upstream, this Assistance Project allows in the short term to temporarily but necessarily mitigate the dangerous effects of food insecurity on the most vulnerable.
Downstream and with longer-term results, agricultural equipment such as agricultural tractors arriving at the earliest in September 2020 as part of the "Program for Economic and Social Development", signed between the two governments in October 2018, and also with technical assistance provided through the project of capacity building of planters "PROAMOH I and II", set up since 2010 and still in progress.
Under this Project, the Government of Japan will make available to the Government of Haiti a total of 400 million Japanese Yen, or approximately US $3.6 million (US $ 3,652,400), for the purchase of rice, which will be sold at preferential prices by the Office of Monetization of Development Assistance Programs (BMPAD) in order to stabilize the local market and contribute to the food security of the Haitian people. The funds generated by the sale of this rice will be used to finance bilateral cooperation projects.
Today, 3.67 million people face major socio-economic challenges and acute food insecurity, and need food assistance. Given this situation and in response to the request of the Government of Haiti, the Japanese Government has decided through this grant to support the strengthening of food security in Haiti while accompanying the Haitian Government in its efforts to increase agricultural products through the training of technicians and the supply of agricultural equipment.
Recall that in the context of food security, Japanese cooperation is upstream and downstream :
Upstream, this Assistance Project allows in the short term to temporarily but necessarily mitigate the dangerous effects of food insecurity on the most vulnerable.
Downstream and with longer-term results, agricultural equipment such as agricultural tractors arriving at the earliest in September 2020 as part of the "Program for Economic and Social Development", signed between the two governments in October 2018, and also with technical assistance provided through the project of capacity building of planters "PROAMOH I and II", set up since 2010 and still in progress.
Weekly inflation falls 0.72 percent
ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive price
indicator (SPI) for the week ended November 28 fell 0.72 percent over the
previous week, but rose a whopping 18.96 percent as compared to weekly
inflation in the corresponding period last year, official data showed on
Monday.
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS)
data showed that weekly inflation for the combined income group went down to
131.87 points from 132.82 points recorded in the week ended on November 21.
The weekly SPI with base
2015-16=100 covered 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure
groups. SPI for the lowest consumption group earning up to Rs17,732 witnessed
0.90 percent decrease and went up from 130.04 points in last week to 136.80
points during the week under review.
Meanwhile, the SPI for the
consumption groups from Rs17,733-Rs22,888, from Rs22,889-Rs29,517;
Rs29,518-Rs44,175, and above Rs44,175 per month, decreased by 0.88 percent,
0.80 percent, 0.77 percent and 0.61 percent, respectively.
During the week under review,
average prices of 10 item registered decrease, 16 items increased, while prices
of 25 items remained unchanged.
The prices of the commodities that
recorded decrease in their prices during the week under review included
chicken, tomatoes, onions, gur, refined sugar, eggs, wheat flour bags, garlic,
pulses and LPG cylinder.
The items, which recorded increase
in their average prices included bananas, potatoes, masoor pulse, energy saver,
broken basmati rice, rice lrri-6, firewood whole, soap, mash pulse, mutton,
mustard oil , cooked beef, beef with bone, vegetable ghee, cigarettes, and
moong pulse.
Similarly, the prices of the
commodities that observed no change in their price during the week under review
included bread, fresh and powdered milk, curd, mustard oil, vegetable ghee,
salt, chillies, prepared tea, cooked pulse, packaged tea, long cloth, shirting,
lawn, georgette, gents sandal, gents chappal, ladies sandal, electricity
charges, gas charges, washing soap, petrol, diesel, telephone call, and bath
soap.
Gov Bagudu pledges
10 mini rice mills to farmers
Tuesday, December 3, 2019 4:02 pm | News
Kebbi State Gov. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.
The Kebbi Government, says it
will provide 10 mini rice mills to women rice processing groups to facilitate
the processing of paddy rice into finished products in the state.
Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi, made
this pledge while inspecting a pilot scheme of mini rice mills installation in
Takalau area of Birnin Kebbi on Tuesday after an interaction with women local
rice millers in the area.
He urged women rice vendors to
utilise well the new mini rice mills provided by the Federal and State
Governments in order to hasten the processing of paddy rice.
“We are going to distribute 10
mini rice mills to women groups in order to boost the production of more rice
commodities in the state.
“The mills will minimise the long
processing of spreading the rice to dry.
“This will also ensure the
production of quality rice similar to what is being produced in Wacot and Labana
rice mills,” Bagudu said.
In a related development, the
governor has provided undisclosed financial support to some young girls hawking
a delicacy leaf known as “RAMA” to enable them improve on their petty trade in
the area.
In appreciation, a cross-section
of women in the area expressed gratitude to the governor for his kindness
during the inspection tour.
Border Closure: Customs Revenue Hits N8bn Per Day
Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
POSTED
BY: SAMED OLUKOYA DECEMBER 3, 2019
- Border Closure: Customs Revenue Hits N8bn
Per Day
The ongoing border closure is
aiding revenue generation as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) now generates at
least N8 billion per day, according to the Minister of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Mohammed made the statement during
an assessment tour of the Nigerian border with the Niger Republic in Magama
Jibia, Katsina State.
The minister said prior to the
closure, the Customs were only generating N4.5 billion daily. He said this
translates to over 30 percent increase in revenue since the borders were closed
in August.
“Smuggling of petroleum products
out of Nigeria has been greatly reduced. The closure of filling stations along
the border is a huge success. There are hundreds of filling stations along the
borders. We counted many as we drove to the border this morning. They were set
up purposely for smuggling. They don’t sell the fuel consignment they receive
to the public. About 50 percent of them are owned by foreigners. Now that they
are closed, we have recorded over 30 per cent reduction in domestic fuel
consumption,” Mohammed said.
He said the land borders were
closed to protect the local market and improve local production.
“As a matter of fact, since the
exercise commenced over three months ago, local businesses across the country
have continued to thrive, as farmers and rice millers in particular are now
having turnover on investments.
“The border closure, has curbed the
smuggling of foreign rice into the country, in addition to other prohibited
items; increased the monthly import revenue by over 15 per cent; led to
significant seizures with estimated monetary value of over N3,500,000,000;
reduced local fuel consumption by 30 per cent as well as reduced the
importation of arms, ammunition and drugs,” he explained.
CRF: $200M in
emergency loans needed for rice sector
Thou Vireak | Publication date 03 December 2019 |
22:53 ICT
Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has asked the state-owned Rural
Development Bank (RDB) to provide $200 million in emergency loans to buy paddy
from farmers. Heng Chivoan
The Cambodia Rice Federation
(CRF) has asked the state-owned Rural Development Bank (RDB) to provide $200
million in emergency loans to buy paddy from farmers during the ongoing
post-monsoon harvest season as falling prices threaten their livelihoods.
CRF vice-president Chan Sokheang
told The Post on Tuesday that it had submitted a letter to the RDB last week
proposing that it forward the letter to Minister of Economy and Finance Aun
Pornmoniroth.
He said paddy exports from
markets such as China and Europe, and fewer commercial bank loans to the
agricultural sector have contributed to a decrease in working capital for rice
millers and exporters.
The price of paddy has dropped to
between 980 and 1,030 riel ($0.24 and $0.26) per kilogramme – depending on the
area. However, the quality of the paddy remains high, Sokheang said.
“During this month last year,
large countries in Europe and China ordered milled rice from us, but they have
not placed any orders to date.
“Some commercial banks have
reduced their agricultural loans by 50 per cent, and up to 60 per cent, since
the EU decided to impose tariffs on rice imports from Cambodia. We need to
supplement this capital shortfall,” he said.
RDB CEO Kao Thach told The Post
on Tuesday that capital shortage in the rice sector is between $200 million and
$250 million. To help remedy the issue, he has called on commercial banks to
lend more to the sector.
“I am trying to mobilise more
capital investment from other partners, and have already submitted a number of
proposals to the government asking for more capital investment to help the
sector,” he said.
Thach said an RDB study said rice
millers and exporters have disbursed about $350 million from bank loans and
direct capital to purchase paddy.
“The [sector] has been facing a
capital shortfall since October, and will continue to do so until January next
year because the payment for orders will not circulate on time.”
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng
told The Post last week that total capital investment in the Kingdom’s rice
sector is between $300 million and $400 million.
“Normally, in the early harvest
season, rice exporters and millers buy paddy for stockpiles, leaving them with
a lack of funds by the end of the season,” he said.
Heng Pheng, the CEO of Thmor Korl
Rice Import Export Co Ltd, a Battambang-based rice exporter, said prices in
Battambang province appeared to have dropped slightly compared to the beginning
of last year’s post-monsoon harvest season.
He said the price of paddy he
bought from the farmers was worth around 1.17 million riel per tonne, compared
to 1.28 million riel last year for the same quantity.
Purchase
food grains without restrictions: MLC Jeevan Reddy in Karimnagar Hans News
Service
| 3 Dec 2019 10:35 PM IST
HIGHLIGHTS Purchase food grains from farmers without delay and conditions,
demanded Congress senior leader and MLC T Jeevan Reddy at a press meet at
R&B guest... Karimnagar: Purchase food grains from farmers without delay
and conditions, demanded Congress senior leader and MLC T Jeevan Reddy at a
press meet at R&B guest house in Karimnagar on Tuesday.
The MLC alleged that there are many
issues regarding the purchase of food grains from farmers, who produced after
facing lot of hardships, investing money by borrowing from others as the
government didn't sanctioned Rythu Bandhu to many of them. Stating that due to
the recent rains, several farmers lost the standing crops, he demanded that the
government must estimate the crop damage and help the farmers, who incurred
loss. The rice millers must come forward to purchase the food grains from
farmers without restrictions, he asked. The government must fix minimum support
price (MSP) at Rs 5,450 per quintal for cotton and should take steps not to
reject cotton that was brought to purchasing centres. MLC Jeevan Reddy also
demanded that the government must waive off farm loans and the bankers must not
pressurise the farmers to repay the loan. Moreover, the government did not
sanction Rythu Bandhu to many farmers, which should be sanctioned immediately
related to Kharif and Rabi seasons to all the farmers, he demanded. TPCC
official spokesperson Komatireddy Narender Reddy, Medipalli Satyam, TPCC
secretaries Anjan Kumar, Samad Nawab, U Ravi, Md Taj, Vilas Reddy, Bobbili
Victor and Sunkari Ganapathi were present along with others. More On
Guruvayur Kesavan comes alive on a
field in Kerala
KALPETTA, December 03, 2019 05:33 IST
Updated: December 02, 2019 22:16 IST
Farmer uses rice paddy art to replicate image.
A 3D
replica of the legendary elephant, Guruvayur Kesavan, is taking shape on a
farmland in Kerala’s Wayanad district.Praseed Kumar, a progressive farmer at Thayyil in Sulthan Bathery, is using rice paddy art, a 3D art form, to depict the celebrated Guruvayur temple elephant that died in 1976.
Four varieties used
Mr.
Kumar has used the violet-coloured Krishna Kamod, a Basmati rice variety, and
Karuvachi, an indigenous rice variety of Wayanad, to give shape to the image.
He also used Gandhakasala and Jeerakasala, two rice varieties of the district
known for their aroma, for setting the border of the art work.This is the third consecutive year that Mr. Kumar is creating eye-catching shapes in his rice field at Nambikkolly under the Nenmeni Krishi Bhavan. “The farmers of Inakadate village in Japan started using paddy art, a landscape design, to beautify their fields three decades ago. They drew huge replicas of famous paintings, including Mona Lisa, by growing rice crops with fronds of different colours. This art form is called Tanbo Art or rice paddy art,” Mr. Kumar said.
“Today, Inakadate art forms draw over 2,00,000 visitors a year to the small village, which has a population of only 7,985,” Mr. Kumar said.
“Farm tourism is gradually flourishing in the district too and the art form will help farmers get a share of the tourism industry’s profits,” Mr. Kumar said.
“If the Japanese farmers can attract the attention of a huge crowd, we can also replicate it here with the support of governments,” the young farmer said. It would also encourage local youth to take up agriculture seriously, in turn ensuring food security, he said.
₹5,000 spent on artwork
Mr.
Kumar has spent nearly ₹5,000 for the art work on 20 cents of farmland.
A. Prasad, an artist of A1 Art at Sulthan Bathery, drew the outline.Mr. Kumar has also cultivated 51 rare varieties of rice seeds on his 6 acres of land and has a website to market the seeds.
Researchers study how crops compare to rice in
flooding
The researchers explained how
rice was domesticated from wild species that grew in tropical regions, where it
then adapted to endure flooding and submersion in water.
Of the major food crops, rice is considered to be the only one
able to survive flooding. In a bid to find a solution to changing weather
conditions, research by
several American universities has studied how other crops compare to rice when
submerged in water.
The research allegedly found that
the plants – a wild-growing tomato, a tomato used for farming and a plant
similar to alfalfa – share at least 68 families of genes that are ‘activated’
in response to flooding.
The researchers explained how
rice evolved to its tropical regions, where it then adapted to be able to survive
being submerged in water. Some of these adapted genes are said to exist in
other plants, but have not yet evolved to switch on when the roots experience
flooding.
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In the study, the team reportedly
examined cells that reside at the tips of roots of the plant, because this is
where a plant’s prime growing potential resides are said to be. The researchers
said that these regions contain cells that can help a plant become more
resilient to flooding. The team then examined the genes in these root tip cells
to understand whether and how their genes were activated when deprived of
oxygen or submerged in water.
The genes involved in flooding
adaptations are reportedly called submergence up-regulated families (SURFs).
The researchers reported that the plants had 68 SURFS in common with rice, even
after the 180 million years of rice evolution.
While University of California,
Riverside researchers conducted flooding experiments and
analysis of rice plant genomes, scientists at Davis reportedly
did the same with the tomato species while the alfalfa-type plant work was carried
out at Emory University.
Though the SURFs were activated
in all the plants during the flooding experiments, their genetic responses were
not reported to be as effective as in rice. The wild tomato species that grows
in desert soil withered and died when flooded.
The group is now allegedly
planning additional studies to improve the survival rates of the plants that
currently die and rot from excess water.
https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/100143/researchers-study-how-crops-compare-to-rice-in-flooding/
Palay prices inch up in November
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:06 AM December 04,
2019
Prices of palay finally inched up in November, although the increase was still
not enough to offset the losses incurred by farmers during 11 months of
decline.
Based on the
Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest price monitoring report, the
average farm-gate price of palay rose consecutively for the first three weeks
of November to P15.52 a kilo from P15.44 a kilo—an 8-centavo increase.
The lowest
quotation was recorded in Negros Occidental at P10.71 a kilo while the highest
was in Surigao del Sur at P20.40 a kilo.
The
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said planters have already lost
P61.77 billion due to the continuous drop in the farm-gate price, which
hastened in recent months after rice imports ballooned to a record of 1.9
million metric tons.
Stakeholders
have blamed the surge in rice imports as the culprit behind the double-digit
decline in palay prices, brought by the enactment of the rice import
liberalization law.
PhilRice
noted that the losses could even skyrocket to P130 billion if the average
buying price for the crop continued to fall below the current production costs.
Groups were
expecting palay rates to dip further as the harvest season begins amid the
continuous influx of imported rice. As a temporary solution, the Department of
Agriculture has started imposing stricter measures before issuing import
permits. INQ
Agricultural Education Day
celebrated
‘Wheat, paddy from Punjab, Haryana vital to
India’s food security’
TNN |
Updated: Dec 4, 2019, 7:17 IST
However, data for past five years shows both states have been the mainstay of the country’s granaries and asking farmers to diversify may not be viable in the short term as it can impact food security of the country.
Of the 341.33 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat procured for the central pool in the 2019-20 rabi marketing season (RMS), share of Punjab and Haryana was 129.1LMT and 93.2LMT, respectively. In the 2018-19 marketing season, Punjab and Haryana contributed 113.3LMT and 39.4LMT of rice to the central pool, respectively, of the total 443.3LMT.
Noted economist Sucha Singh Gill, who is working as a professor with the Chandigarh-based research institution the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), said wheat was ideally suited for cultivation in Punjab and Haryana and other sub-mountainous areas of north India. “Production and quality of wheat in other areas of India can’t match that of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh as the agro-climatic conditions for this crop are best in this region. Both Punjab and Haryana have been the biggest contributors of wheat to the central pool, so if the area under the crop is brought down here, other states can’t produce enough to meet the requirements of the country,” he said.
Prof Gill, who is vice-president of the Indian Association of Social Science Research Institutions (IASSI), said there was a debate over paddy cultivation in Punjab and Haryana, but not wheat. “Paddy has strained the availability of water in both states, so many experts and farm scientists have advised shifting to other crops like maize. However, the system for marketing other crops has not evolved in the absence of state support, so diversification has not worked yet in both states,” he said.
An economist who didn’t wish to be named, said India was headed for becoming a grain-deficient country by 2050, given changing climate and rising population. “Wheat and paddy grown in Punjab and Haryana made India self-sufficient in food grains, so diversification added significantly to the income of farmers in both states. It will be ill-advised to change the cropping pattern in these states,” he observed.
Rice procured for the central pool (in lakh metric tonnes)
STATE
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20*
Punjab
93.50
110.5
118.3
113.3
108.73
Andhra Pradesh
43.36
37.24
40
48.09
0.52
Odisha
33.69
36.30
32.87
43.83
0
Chhattisgarh
34.42
40.22
32.55
39.71
0
Haryana
28.61
35.83
39.92
39.42
42.93
Uttar Pradesh
29.10
23.54
28.75
32.33
11.71
All India total
342.18
381.06
381.85
443.31
171.51
*Till December 2
Wheat procured for the central pool (in lakh metric tonnes)
STATE
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Punjab
103.44
106.49
117.06
126.92
129.12
Haryana
67.78
67.52
74.32
87.84
93.20
Madhya Pradesh
73.09
39.92
67.25
73.13
67.25
Uttar Pradesh
22.67
7.97
36.99
52.94
37
Rajasthan
13
7.62
12.45
15.32
14.11
All India total
280.88
229.62
308.25
357.95
341.33
