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15th January,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter
Chinese scientists create new genome editing
method for rice
2020-01-15
11:20:11XinhuaEditor : Li YaAN
File photo shows a researcher
collects rice crop at a demo site. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
Chinese scientists have invented a
new method of genetically altering rice by applying the ScCas9 protein, which
could help develop new gene functions, molecular breeding and genetic
improvement.
The innovation was made by a
research team from the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences.
The method would enhance the
CRISPR/Cas system, which has rapidly become the preferred tool for genome
engineering due to its high efficiency, specificity, simplicity and
versatility.
CRISPR/Cas-mediated base editing, a
novel genome editing strategy, is widely used for generating gain-of-function
germplasms in functional genomics research and genetic crop improvement, said
researcher Zhou Huanbin.
However, the lack of recognition of
a specific protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) - a DNA sequence next to the target
sequence - for Cas protein restricts the targeting range of these tools and
limits the application of the CRISPR system in genome editing, Zhou said.
A promising candidate, the ScCas9
protein, has been identified and characterized.
The research team found that ScCas9
can be used in multiplex genome editing and base editing in rice plants. ScCas9
nuclease and its derived editing tools expand the CRISPR toolbox for targeted
genome editing in plants, said Zhou.
The research was published in Plant
Biotechnology Journal.
MANILA, Philippines — President
Rodrigo Duterte’s order to limit the importation of rice during the harvest
season will do more harm than good, a group said Tuesday.
Duterte has assured farmers that
the importation of rice during harvest season would be “limited” and that his
administration would buy their produce even at a loss to the government.
Duterte said he has ordered the
Agriculture department to come up with projections to determine how much rice
would be imported.
In a statement, Action for
Economic Reforms said Duterte’s directive would erode the gains from the Rice
Tariffication Law and would not stabilize rice prices.
“History has shown that it is the
manipulation of import controls that has created volatile and high prices for
the overwhelming majority of Filipinos,” AER said.
“Farmers will enjoy higher prices
in the short-term, but this will aggravate their long-standing problem of
inefficiency and low productivity,” it added.
In February last year, Duterte
signed the law that lifted the more than two-decade-old
cap on rice imports in a bid to bring down the local prices of
the staple grain.
Under the law, individuals and
businesses can import additional volumes of the crop from Southeast Asian
countries like Thailand and Vietnam but will have to pay tariffs.
Some groups said the influx of
cheap rice from abroad has been hurting Filipino farmers.
Government data shows prices of
palay plunged 24.49% in the third quarter of 2019, as farmers were forced to
sell their produce to traders at lower prices amid the presence of imported
rice in the market.
To manage the law’s impact on
local farmers, the government said it would provide unconditional cash grants
of P5,000 to P600,000 for rice farmers affected by lower farmgate prices.
The Department of Finance said
the state collected P12.3 billion as of end-December 2019 from rice
tariffs.
“If we wish to really help our
farmers, the intervention should be creating the conditions for our farmers to
increase their productivity, to make them competitive, which in turn will
increase their incomes,” AER said.
“To rely on import control will
not solve the problem of weak productivity,” it added.
“The import surge that we
witnessed last year was part of a process of seeking a new normal. Now we see
the imports stabilizing. Importers and buyers and consumers have now adjusted
to a new equilibrium.”
Think tank: Limit on rice imports more damaging to
local farmers
Research and advocacy group Action for Economic
Reforms said the policy pronouncement of curbing rice imports would erode the
gains from the Rice Tariffication Law.
MANILA, Philippines — President
Duterte’s latest pronouncement to limit rice imports during harvest season is
actually more disastrous to local farmers, according to a think tank.
Research and advocacy group
Action for Economic Reforms (AER) said the policy pronouncement of curbing rice
imports would erode the gains from the Rice Tariffication Law.
Duterte earlier said his
administration would help local farmers by stopping importation during harvest
season and by buying local produce.
“This will not stabilize rice
prices. History has shown that it is the manipulation of import controls that
has created volatile and high prices for the overwhelming majority of
Filipinos,” AER said.
“Farmers will enjoy higher prices
in the short-term, but this will aggravate their long-standing problem of
inefficiency and low productivity,” it noted.
If government really wants to
help local farmers, the intervention should be creating the conditions for them
to increase their productivity to make them competitive, which in turn will
increase their income.
“President Duterte wants to help
farmers, but his idea of helping farmers—by restricting imports during harvest
season—makes them dependent on a short-sighted policy, which will not transform
their conditions,” AER said.
“Worse, it comes at the expense
of hurting the Filipino consumers, including many farmers themselves because
they are net consumers themselves,” it said.
AER said even if import
restriction would artificially boost palay prices, this has not improved the
lives of farmers during the decades that quantitative restrictions existed.
“The import surge that we
witnessed last year was part of a process of seeking a new normal. Now we see
the imports stabilizing. Importers and buyers and consumers have now adjusted
to a new equilibrium,” it said.
“President Duterte got it right
when he proposed rice procurement, but to combine this with import restriction
will be a disaster,” AER said.
Under the Rice Tariffication Law,
quantitative restrictions on rice importation are lifted and private traders
are allowed to import the commodity from countries of their choice.
The Rice Tariffication Law
replaced the government’s quantitative restrictions on importation of the
staple with a 35 percent tariff.
The measure also created the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or a special rice buffer fund, with an initial
P10-billion annual fund to ensure the competitiveness of rice production.
A Chinese court sentenced He
Jiankui (Ph.D. ‘10), who revealed that he had genetically-edited twin girls
last year, to three years in prison on Dec. 30, 2019. The questions surrounding
his PhD advisor, Rice University bioengineering professor Michael Deem’s
involvement in the He’s experiments, remain unanswered. In November 2018, Rice
began a full investigation into Deem’s role in the research.
According to the New
York Times, He plead guilty to forging documentation from ethics committees
approving the study, which he used to recruit participants. Additionally,
Chinese media outlets revealed his work on a previously undisclosed third
child.
Since Rice’s Nov. 2018 statement,
no more public updates on the internal investigation of Deem have been given.
The Office of Public Affairs declined to comment for this article.
In the original statement, Rice
stated they had been unaware of the project.
“This work as described in press
reports violates scientific conduct guidelines and is inconsistent with ethical
norms of the scientific community and Rice University,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Stanford University’s
investigation cleared three
researchers associated with He in Spring 2019 after concluding they did not
encourage or directly participate in the project, according to the New York Times coverage.
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Dr. Christopher Scott, Chair of
Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine, studies
ethical, legal, social and policy implications of biotechnologies similar to
the ones He used. Scott formerly taught a required research ethics course to
NIH grant recipients, and also mentioned that he discussed He’s project with an
ethics class at Rice last fall.
“The thing that is troubling
about the China case is that it’s not a China ethics problem, it is an
international problem,” Scott said. “So, the question from an ethics point of
view is what are the professional and ethical obligations of those folks, who
have either direct knowledge of intent or knowledge that the experiment was
conducted, to report this fellow?”
A Chinese scientist associated
with the project claimed Deem was “more than just a bystander”, according to an
article posted on STAT news in Jan. 2019. The study’s manuscript lists Deem as
an author. After He announced his work at a conference in Hong Kong in Nov.
2018, Deem told the Associated Press he
had met the twins’ parents. According to the Houston Chronicle,
however, he attempted to remove his name from the paper after it was sent to
journals such as Nature. The study was ultimately rejected and never published.
Deem had served as He’s advisor when he completed his PhD at Rice between 2007
and 2010.
Deem did not respond to requests
for comment at the time of publication. Two other bioengineering faculty
members also declined to comment.
According to Scott, another issue
arises with the language of the consent paperwork which described the
gene-therapy experiment as a “vaccination” against H.I.V. The Thresher was not
able to obtain a copy of the consent paperwork referenced by Scott.
When it comes to genetic editing,
Scott said the “unknowns and risks” of these experiments differ from
administering a new drug to a patient or implanting a heart device.
“These are genetic effects that
are felt, carried for life, and also carried in heritable ways to generations,”
Scott said, “There has to be a commitment to understanding these sorts of
things, how you follow these genetically-edited kids through adulthood, and
later their children, and their children’s children - a lot of unknowns.”
Two other Chinese scientists
connected to He’s work were also given prison sentences, according to coverage
by the New York Times.
If the project had resulted in a participant’s death, He’s sentence might have
exceeded 10 years, according to the Times.
“Even though this was an
uncomfortable and unfortunate event, it's really one of those teaching
moments,” Scott said “You have to ask the question institutionally, what can be
done to up the level of ethical foresight in teaching universities and research
universities? That's a hard question to answer.”
The cells of rice blast fungus
endure major changes when it infects its host plant. One of these changes
involves using the components of its own cell wall.
In order to response to
environmental changes and nutrient starvation, cells are known to undergo
severe alterations. This includes switching from one type to another and
changes in metabolic pathways.
In a new study, a team of
researchers from Tokyo University of Science showed for the first time how rice
blast fungus uses its own cell wall to survive in response to certain stimuli.
All living organisms respond and
adjust to changes in their environment. These responses are sometimes so
significant that they cause alterations in the internal metabolic cycles of the
organism—a process called “metabolic switching.”
Rice blast fungus, a pathogenic fungal species
that causes the “rice blast” infection in rice crops—switches to the
“glyoxylate cycle” when the nutrient source starts to deplete. Another response
to environmental change is called “cell differentiation”, where cells switch to
another type altogether. In rice blast fungus, for example, the fungal cells
differentiate and generate a large amount of pressure on the cell wall, causing
the fungus to develop a specialised structure called “appressorium,” which
ultimately facilitates the infection. Such methods of adaptation have been seen
across various organisms, but exactly how they occur is not very clear yet.
In a recent study published
in iScience, a team
of researchers at Tokyo University of Science, led by Prof Takashi Kamakura,
found for the first time that extremely low concentrations of acetic acid alter
cellular processes in rice blast fungus.
Their research was based on the
fact that Cbp1—a protein that can remove acetyl groups from chitin (the main
component of the cell wall of fungi)—plays a huge role in appressorium
formation by converting chitin into chitosan and releasing acetic acid.
Explaining the objective of the
study, Kamakura says, “Metabolic switching in nutrient-deficient environments
depends on changes in the nutrient source, but its mechanism has remained
poorly understood until now. Since chitin was known to induce a subsequent
resistance response (immune response), we speculated that Cbp1 functions to
escape recognition from plants. Also, because the enzymatic activity of Cbp1
affects cell differentiation, we hypothesised that the reaction product of
chitin deacetylation by Cbp1 may be a signal for cell differentiation.”
Farmers from Kabatiro area in Kirinyaga County
harvesting the hybrid rice variety AT054 in December. They recorded a bumper
harvest in December. [Joseph Muchiri, Standard]
Rice
production in Kenya could increase if farmers adopt an improved variety after
trials at Mwea, Kirinyaga County, established it produces high yields compared
to the traditional pishori.
More
than 100 farmers from Kabatiro who experimented the hybrid variety - AT054 -
developed by Afritec Seeds Ltd, recorded a bumper harvest last December.
The
hybrid rice was supplied to the farmers through a collaboration between African
Agricultural Technology Foundation (ATTF), Kenya Agricultural Research and
Livestock Organisation (Kalro) and Integrated Community Organisation on
Sustainable Empowerment and Education for Development (Icoseed).
Water deficiency
Icoseed
Managing Director Patrick Gitari said the hybrid rice yielded up to two and
half times compared to the traditional pishori.
Mr
Gitari said whereas the famous pishori yields an average of 20 bags per acre,
the hybrid recorded about twice that number with the best farmer attaining 60
bags.
“The
hybrid matured two weeks earlier than the traditional pishori. This means in
case of water deficiency it will not be very much affected. The aromatic nature
of the traditional pishori has been its marketing point. The hybrid variety has
the same aroma hence marketable,” he said.
He
said in collaboration with partners, they are working to scale up adoption of
the variety and reach 10,000 farmers in the next two years.
Peterson
Maina who planted the hybrid on a pilot basis, said he harvested more than
doubled in the same area where he previously planted other rice varieties.
Wilfred
Wanjira, another farmer, said the new variety required less water and matured
faster just as researchers said.
Stephen
Thiga, a rice production expert, said in addition, the new rice variety is
disease and pest-resistant.
According
to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Kenya produces 150 metric
tonnes of rice annually whereas consumption is around 600 metric tonnes.
To
bridge the deficit of rice, which is the third staple crop after maize and
wheat, Kenya resorts to importation of about 450,000 tonnes of rice mainly from
Pakistan.
Gitari
called for greater adoption of improved varieties and technologies to increase
rice production and reduce its importation, which would save the State
cash,improve lives of farmers and create jobs.
Conservation Agriculture to enhance farmers’
financial health
Amid mounting pressure on India’s
natural resources in feeding growing population, Dr. Shivendra Bajaj writes on
the future course action for Indian agriculture
Climate change has posed the
biggest challenge so far to agricultural productivity. It has led to drought
like conditions in some parts in India and heavy, erratic rainfall in other
regions. The severity and unpredictability of weather has wreaked havoc on crop
productivity, especially in rain-fed regions of the country. Many farmers have
shifted to short duration crops that can withstand harsher conditions, instead
of cultivating staple grains as before. The low productivity and shifts in the
cultivated crops are posing a challenge for food security for our growing
population.
The farmer is also battling increasing production cost, shortage of farm
labour, declining or stagnating yield and farm income. The vulnerability of
farm profitability is pushing farmers towards desperate and reckless use of
chemicals to manage crops and enhance yields, making them a target for
unscrupulous suppliers. The increased use of fossil fuels, polluted soil and
water resources and loss of biodiversity are additional environmental concerns.
Rice is the staple food of more than 60 percent of the world’s population
especially in South East Asia. Among the rice growing countries in the world,
India has the largest area under rice crop i.e., 43.86 million hectare (Mha)
and ranks second in production (163.5 MT) next to China (203 MT). India’s
average rice productivity is below world average of 4 MT/ha and much lower as
compared to China’s 6.5 MT/ha. Therefore, India is contributing 1.4 times
more land area for producing 1.2 times less rice as compared to China, this is
a very harmful statistic for our growing economy.
The low crop productivity can be addressed by improved seed technologies and
agronomic intervention. Cultivation of hybrids is one such option as hybrid
yields are 15-25 percent more than the open pollinated varieties (OPV). This
has been demonstrated in many countries in the region, China has 50
percent of rice area under hybrids, while in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and
Philippines hybrid rice accounts for less than 10 percent of the area under
rice cultivation.
Hybrids have been key in increasing productivity of maize and cotton in India.
Besides the major crops, hybrids of sorghum, pearl millet and many vegetable
crops are also preferred by farmers over OPVs. It has been observed that
progressive farmers purchase seeds (OPV or hybrid) every season, with a rice seed
replacement rate of 26 percent recorded for India. Hybrid rice has been
cultivated in India for the past three decades and has been supported by
introduction of new hybrids both by public institutions and private industry.
A strategy needs to be developed for refining hybrid seed production to enhance
the seed yields, to reduce the cost of hybrid by strengthening the existing
institutional mechanism. Efficient planning is required for geographical
diversification and to establish year-round hybrid seed production
capabilities.
Involvement of seed agencies in the public sector, NGOs, and farmers
cooperatives along with private seed sector will help identify promising
hybrids for different regions/ conditions and also create much needed awareness
among the farmers about the advantages of cultivating hybrid rice. A
public-private partnership is being encouraged by leading rice research
institutes like Indian Institute of Rice research (IIRR) that includes
screening and evaluation of rice hybrids for their agronomy and resistance
against target insect pests/pathogens. There is a plan to launch National
Hybrid Research Consortium (NHRC) to further strengthen public–private
partnership towards the goal of increasing rice productivity through the
adoption of hybrid rice technology.
Myths
and realities about hybrid Rice
Myth
Reality
Hybrids have higher requirement
of water and fertiliser
Hybrids are stress tolerant,
short duration crops, hence require less water and fertiliser
Hybrids have higher percentage of
broken rice post milling
Hybrid milling breakage
percentage is comparable to OPVs and meets FCI standards
Hybrids are suitable only for
irrigated regions
Hybrids are stress tolerant and
hence better adapted to rainfed regions e.g. Jharkhand
Intensive agriculture over the
years has led to soil deterioration at physical, chemical and organic level due
to surface water run-off, erosion and nutrients deficiency. The depleting
water-table and saline soils have further complicated the soil health.
An agricultural system with low inputs, high returns and sustained growth while
conserving environment called Conservation agriculture (CA) is the need of the
hour. CA utilises scientific knowhow and technology to improve and conserve
input resources like soil health and water to achieve economically and
ecologically sustainable agricultural production. Soil carbon retention by
minimal tilling and cover crops, nutrient and weed management along with
diversified crop rotation are critical attributes of CA. The advantages of CA
were demonstrated in a 7-year study conducted at Indian Agricultural Research
Institute (IARI), New Delhi with zero tillage and rice-wheat crop rotation. The
study showed a higher sustainable yield index for rice-wheat cropping system
with 40 percent labour cost saving, 30 percent lower water usage, 60-70
litres/ha lower fossil fuel consumption and 20-25 percent seed saving, that led
to Rs.7,000/ hectare net increase in farmers’ income.
Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) is also part of CA that drastically reduces water
consumption – saves 30-40 percent water, reduces labour costs by 40-45
percent and fuel costs for puddling and transplanting by 55-60 percent,
additionally allows for higher planting density. The optimal plant
population for DRS field is 40 plants/ sqm as compared to average 20-22 plant/
sqm in transplanted in the field. In India 28 percent (12.3Mha) of the area
under rice cultivation practices DSR. Besides water conservation and lower
fuel consumption, DSR can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30-40
percent.
Since DSR eliminates water logging,
it makes farm mechanisation possible for the rice field. Though customisation
is required to develop scale appropriate machines for seeding and harvesting.
This is another area, where both economic and policy support is required to
encourage and smoothen the adoption of mechanisation.
The technology can be exploited for
maximum gain by selecting soil and region-specific cropping system, managing
soil nutrients, planting Fe and Zn deficiency tolerant rice varieties,
appropriate seed treatment, proper weed management, especially in the initial
growth stages and using scale appropriate mechanisation. Extensive
extension services for creating awareness amongst farmers and related
businesses regarding the technology, resources and providing training for new
practices would go a long way in adoption of hybrid rice and DSR. The farmers
can also be provided easy credit and assured selling price for practicing DSR.
Although, CA practices need to be optimised across locations, crops and
cropping systems based on sound benefit-cost economics, multi-level
intervention by farmers, researchers, extension personnel and policy makers to
analyse and understand how conservation can integrate with other technologies,
will help in promotion of CA.
Our aim of doubling farmers’ income
is a challenge for the scientific community, farmers and policy makers.
Together we need to overcome the past mindset and explore the opportunities
that technology and newer agronomic practices have to offer for sustainable
agriculture. With the rising food demand for the growing population and paucity
of resources, increasing farm productivity in the most efficient manner, seems
to be the only sustainable path for improving farmers’ income and environment.
(Dr. Shivendra Bajaj is the
Executive Director of Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII). Views
expressed in the article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the
policy of Rural Marketing.)
Navy arrests
6 suspected smugglers; seizes 1, 439 bags of rice in A/Ibom
Yesterday at 5:41 PM
The Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base, (FOB) Ibaka in Mbo,
Akwa Ibom has arrested six suspected smugglers, seized 1, 439 bags of smuggled
rice between Dec. 23, 2019 to January in the state. Navy arrests 6 suspected smugglers; seizes 1, 439 bags of rice in
A/Ibom (PM News)
Captain Peter Yilme, Commanding Officer of FOB disclosed this
while handing over the suspects and items to the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS),
on Tuesday in Mbo Local Government Area of the state.
Yime said the command would remain steadfast in fighting
illegalities on the waterways in line with the directive of the Chief of Naval
Staff, Admiral Ibok Ibas.
He, however, said that some of the suspects escaped on sighting
the Navy gunboats.
He said that the arrests were made along the Unyenge, Effiat and
Mendoro creeks between Dec. 2019 and January by Navy officers and men on
routine patrol in their gunboats.
“I handover 1, 439 bags of rice
and six suspects to the Superintendent of Customs, Garuba Hassan in line with
the directives of the Chief of Naval Staff.
“We are committed to rid the
waterways of all forms of illegalities.
“I commend the untiring efforts
of the officers and ratings in ensuring the mandate and tasks of the Base are
achieved.
“I also appreciate the immense effort of the
Chief of Naval Staff, for providing the necessary platform and logistics
support for the Base to carry out its operations,” he said.
One of the suspects, Wede John, from Bayelsa, said that he
normally transport fish and was carrying rice for the first time when he was
arrested.
He said, “I
don’t know the owner of the rice and didn’t know that rice was loaded into the
boat. This is my first time of carrying rice.
“I usually transport crayfish
and dry fish to Oron Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom. I was carrying rice
from Bakassi to Unyenge when I was arrested,” he said.
Another suspect, Awagoyi Philp, a boat driver said the owner of
the rice promised to pay him N20,000 for carrying the rice but that he was yet
to collect the money.
He said, “I
drive boats and I was paid to drive the boat that carried the rice. This is my
first time. The owner of the rice promised to pay me N 20, 000 and is aware
that I have been arrested”.
Navy arrests six suspects, 1,439
bags of smuggled rice
By Inemesit
Akpan-Nsoh (Uyo) and Tina Todo (Calabar)
15 January 2020
| 4:11 am
•
Commissions female hostel in Cross River • NAPTIP
nabs two, rescues 21 in Akwa Ibom
The
Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka, Mbo Council, Akwa Ibom
State, has arrested six suspected smugglers and seized 1,439 bags of smuggled
rice from them.
Naval
officers and men on routine patrol in gunboats made the arrests along the
Unyenge, Effiat and Mendoro creeks infive different operations.
Parading
the suspects in Ibaka, the FOB Commanding Officer, Capt. Peter Yilme, said that
two suspects were arrested with 803 bags of 50kg rice on January 13 2020, while
on January 2, about 185 bags of rice were seized, but the suspects escaped on
siting the Navy gunboats.
He added
that 286 bags of rice were seized on December 26, 2019, but the suspects
escaped, while two suspects with 88 bags of rice and another two with 77 bags
of rice were arrested on December 23, 2019.
While
handing over the suspects and items to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Yilme
said the command would remain steadfast in fighting illegalities on the
waterways in line with the directive of the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice
Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe.
“I hand
over 1,439 bags of rice and six suspects to the Superintendent of Customs,
Garuba Hassan, in line with the directives of the CNS. We are committed to rid
the waterways of all forms of illegalities,” he said.
In
Calabar, Cross River State, the navy on Monday commissioned a female hostel at
the Nigerian Navy Secondary School (NNSS), Akpabuyo.
While
commissioning the project, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Eastern Naval
Command, Rear Admiral David Adeniran, said the construction of additional
female hostel was to create an enabling environment for learning.
On his
part, the Commander of the Nigerian Navy Ship Victory, Rear Admiral Vincent
Okeke, who equally commissioned a water project, a quarter guard as well as
laid the foundation for a male hostel, charged the students to take good care
of the facilities the navy provided for their comfort.
Meanwhile,
the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)
rescued 21 victims from suspected human traffickers on January 13, 2020.
The Uyo
Zonal Commander, Mr. Nduka Nwawwenne, disclosed this to News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) yesterday in Uyo.
Nwawwenne
said the 21 victims were intercepted by men of the Department of State Service
(DSS) along Obot Akara Council in Akwa Ibom in a bus conveying them to western
part of the country.
He said
that two suspects arrested in connection with the crime were undergoing
interrogation.
The
commander said preliminary investigation revealed that most of the victims that
aged between 15 and 18 were from Cross River, adding that most of them were
males.
He said
the two suspects arrested were the driver and the conductor of the bus, adding
that investigation was ongoing to uncover the prime suspect.
“We can
say this is one of the success stories of collaboration we are having. The DSS
has just handed over 21 victims of human trafficking yesterday (Monday). That
is the essence of collaboration,” he said.
He added
that the Director General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah Donli, has zero tolerance for
human trafficking.
Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad recently celebrated
its 4th Foundation Day. The Chief Guest, Padma Shri Dr. V. P. Singh, Former
Head, Division of Genetics, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi delivered Padmsri Dr. Sishta
Venkata Seetharama Shastry memorial lecture on “Designing future rice enhanced
profitability and nutritional security”. He elaborated about the present status
of rice in India, achievements in rice improvement and challenges in rice
research to be addressed through producing safe nutritious and sufficient food,
transdiciplinary research, introducing schemes such as Bringing Green
Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI), etc. Prof P. Anand Kumar, Emeritus Scientist, ICAR – IIRR elucidated
the significant contribution of IIRR in terms of development and release of
several rice varieties. He highlighted the international recognition of fine
quality varieties of Dr. SVS Shastry.
Dr. S. R. Voleti, Director, ICAR – IIRR, in his welcome address,
apprised about the historical progress of the institute from All India
Coordinated Rice Improvement Programme (AICRIP) to Indian Institute of Rice
Research (IIRR). Director also highlighted the attainment of two padmasri
awards of our earlier Directors Dr. SVS. Shastry and Dr. E.A. Siddique. He also
briefed about the recent achievements and activities of the Institute. Four ‘Best Research Paper Awards’ were conferred to the scientists
on this occasion. Similary, best workers from Admin, Accounts, Technical,
Scientist and Supporting Staff category were also felicitated. The representatives of local ICAR institutes as well as Institute
scientific, administrative and supporting staff participated in the
celebrations.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has shown some
level of seriousness in its effort to diversify the Nigerian economy through
the development of the agricultural sector, unfortunately the sector is still
held down by the same old problems. JOSEPH CHIBUEZE reports
Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have been speaking on
their expectations for the agricultural sector in Nigeria in 2020, especially
against the background of the events of last year.
They recall that the year brought about so many issues including
policy thrusts that go to support the national aspiration of ensuring food
sufficiency for the nation, as well as some that were controversial leading to
national tragedies. These include the crop farmers and herders clashes and the
proposed RUGA programme which was later suspended.
While they are optimistic that some of the initiatives of the
government that helped the sector to make some appreciable progress in 2019
such as the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), ban on the importation of some
agro commodities and the shutting down of some of the nation’s land borders
would be sustained and possibly improved upon, they also observed that if the
nation fails to address fundamental issues of mechanisation, irrigation, seeds,
extension service, insurance, research and development, access to funds among
others, the nation may just not make any progress.
Last year, Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows
that the sector grew by 3.17 percent, in the first quarter of the year, it also
grew at a slower rate of 1.79 percent in second quarter and picked up
marginally to 2.28 percent in the third quarter of 2019.
Similarly, during the year, agricultural export for the period
experienced strong growth from January to September 2019 but this was fast
eroded as the agricultural imports for the period far outweigh exports.
According to NBS, Nigeria imported N949.8 billion worth of agricultural
goods in the period as against N180.7 billion of exports for the same period
despite the ban placed on the importation of several agro commodities.
So far, the government appears to be relenting on its focus on
agriculture viewed from the point of budgetary allocation. For instance the
budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector over the last few years shows
that the allocation to agriculture, as a percentage of the overall annual
budget to all sectors increased from 1.25 percent in 2016 to 1.82 percent in
2017 and 2.23 percent in 2018.
However, the allocation to the sector as a percentage of the
overall budget declined in 2019 by 1.56 percent and a further decline to 1.3
percent in the 2020 budget.
But 2020 is no doubt going to be a year of radical changes in the
nation’s agric sector, if the words of the minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Mohammed Sabo Nanono is anything to go by.
The minister while receiving members of the Agriculture
Development Partners Working Group (ADPWG) in his office recently, said the
ministry was going to effect some changes in the way it goes about its business
if it hopes to achieve its target of making agriculture a business.
The minister said there is going to be major changes in the way
the ministry operates to take the opportunities that are coming up in the
sector.
According to him, “At the ministry level, we have to change our
tactics. It is no more going to be business as usual. We have to be proactive
and we have to remove ourselves from the normal civil service process of
approved, not approved, move from one desk to the next. No, we have to be more
business-like.
“We are repositioning ourselves in that direction. There is going
to be major changes in order for us to achieve our target. Without the changes,
if we say we are going to follow the normal civil service bureaucracy that we
are used to, we are not going to achieve anything.”
While lamenting that Nigeria lacks organisation and focus in the
agricultural sector, the minister however said that the present administration
is trying to correct that and look at agriculture as a wholesome gain.
“The problem with this country is not lack of resources,” he said.
“I don’t think there is any country as blessed as we are, but where we have
problem is that we are just not organised and focused. Whether we like it or
not if we want to move forward, we have to reduce urban politics in our
agricultural businesses.”
That was the minister giving a hint to what Nigerians should
expect going forward.
Dr Hakeem Ajeigbe, Country Representative, International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), said 2020 is going to
be bright for the agriculture sector in Nigeria. He however puts a caveat: that
the nation must consolidate on some aspects of agriculture that will make her
competitive.
In his words, “Our challenge has always been that our agric sector
is not as competitive as it should be compared to other countries.”
He said one of the areas the nation needs to focus on is
processing. According to him, “Processing is key because it increases
productivity and creates market.”
For him, this will give farmers the incentive to produce more. “If
the farmers know there is market, they will invest more,” Dr Ajeigbe said. “So
we need to encourage processing. Rice is doing well now because there is
processing, but the infrastructural development for processing is weak. To
address that, government needs to take a critical look at that. We need to look
at the supporting infrastructures that will help agric to grow.
“We are still importing all our machinery and equipment, thus
while import of rice has dropped, that of machinery, equipment and
agrochemicals has correspondingly gone up. It is even more worrisome that some
of the chemicals we import are fake. Importation of agro-machinery and
chemicals is on the rise, making the country to lose what it gains through the
closure of borders.”
He suggested that the “Government will do well to create
incentives for local assembly plants for machinery and production plants for
agrochemicals to reduce their prices and create more jobs. Another area I want
the government to focus on is input subsidy that would make inputs get directly
to farmers. We are not talking about subsidy for the sake of it, but to
subsidise the process of making sure that it gets directly to the real
farmers.”
For Alhaji Kabir Ibrahim, president All Farmers Association of
Nigeria, (AFAN), farmers need to see agriculture as a business and invest in
areas where they have competencies. While government should put more efforts to
ensure the security situation improves in the core north and also provide more
infrastructure to help farmers especially in the area of processing.
He said government should also
understand that rice is not the only staple food in Nigeria. According to him,
“There are other staple foods in different states, if you go to south east for
instance, they should pay more attention to cassava, yam, sorghum and maize. In
the south west they should also focus on cassava and yam. We don’t have to put
all our attention on one crop while neglecting others. We should focus on crops
where we have competitive advantage instead of pushing everybody to rice as
though rice is the only thing we have in Nigeria.”
Ibrahim also challenged the government to ensure farmers have more
access to funding to help them acquire improved seeds and the equipment they
need for farming.
One of the major challenges facing the agric sector in Nigeria is
the dearth of agric extension service agents.
The minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono recently made a
passionate appeal to development partners and even the private sector for
support in the area of recruitment and training of more extension service
agents for the country.
According to the minister, “We have dire need of extension agents.
The last time I checked, the number of extension agents we have in this country
was just about 15,000 against a farming population of over 70 million. Just
work out the ratio and you will see that it is extremely negligible.
“What I realised is that beyond the effort that government is
making, that area is not properly looked into. Some of the donor agencies are
helping but the intensity of the intervention required in that sector is still
lacking.”
He said that some of the country’s export commodities are rejected
not on the account of adulteration but for misapplication of fertiliser and
other related chemicals.
Dr Ajeigbe said “You cannot be talking of introduction of modern
agronomic practices without an effective extension service programme. The
extension agents are the ones to go into the rural areas to teach the farmers
these new practices. Government really need to invest in that area.”
Mr Peter Dama, president Rice Millers Association of Nigeria
(RIMAN), said investment in infrastructure is the way to go.
According to him, “Government must provide the needed
infrastructures such as power and motorable roads to drive down production
cost, effective and efficient rail transportation linking where the food are
produced in the north and markets in the south as well as irrigation facilities
to aid all-year farming.”
Mr Dama, who owns Swomen Dama Rice Limited, a rice processing firm
in Plateau State, says as one who wears the shoe, he knows where it pinches
most. According to him, “We complain of the high cost of locally produced food
items, but we never bothered to ask under what condition are these farmers and
processors working?
“As a rice miller, I provide my own power running generators,
burning diesel. That is a huge cost on me. It is the same thing with others. We
have not talked about bad roads, we have not talked about lack of adequate
storage facilities which is a huge contributor to the huge post-harvest losses
farmers incur every year.
“In many areas we cannot do dry season farming because there is no
irrigation facilities. I believe the government means well, of course they have
done well in the area of Ease of Doing Business and policy formulation and
encouraging people to go into agriculture, yes, but what about the infrastructure
that will help them to reap the benefits of farming or even make it easy for
them? This is the area I want government to focus in 2020.”
Other contributors insist that the country must increase its
mechanisation scale to meet the ever-increasing demand for food before the
country can talk about earning foreign exchange through the sector.
With all this in place, they stated that the country’s
agricultural products will be competitive as a result, importation will be
discouraged.
Probe indicts CBI judge in graft case, matter under HC’s
consideration
80-page report
Inquiry upholds charge against judge Hemant Gopal that he had taken a bribe of
Rs 40 lakh to let-off an accused in FCI rice embezzlement scam in 2013
Patiala/Chandigarh: Twenty two
months after an inquiry instituted by the Punjab and Haryana high court
indicted an additional district and session judge for giving “favourable
judgment” in lieu of monetary bribe, the matter is still under consideration of
the high court, it is officially learnt.
In her 80-page report submitted to
the high court in March 2018, the district and sessions judge Ritu Tagore had
upheld the charge against Hemant Gopal that he as then-special judge of Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Patiala had taken bribe of Rs 40 lakh
for acquittal of an accused Parminder Singh in a Food Corporation of India rice
embezzlement scam in which he had convicted 23 others, including a former
Congress MLA Mangat Rai Bansal.
MONEY CHANGED HANDS THROUGH PUNJAB GOVT LAW OFFICER: REPORT
The money, according to the report,
changed hands through a Punjab government law officer who has since been
removed from the job.
Gopal was suspended in September
2013 by the high court on the basis of a discreet inquiry by then registrar
(vigilance) Arun Kumar Tyagi into a complaint lodged by Bansal. The court
issued him a chargesheet in January 2014 which he replied two months later. He
has since been under suspension and stationed at Faridkot.
In a subsequent probe into the
chargesheet, Tagore reported her damning finding, saying, “I hold that all
allegations (all eight charges, including taking bribe through middleman), are
proved against the delinquent officer Hemant Gopal.”
“Facts and sequences of events,
raises inference of entertaining extraneous considerations while passing the
judgment by the judge”, reads the report accessed by Hindustan Times. The
report has relied on oral, electronic and circumstantial evidences to nail the
erring judge.
In reply to a petition under the
Right to Information Act on January 4, the high court joint registrar
(vigilance) Satish Kumar Wig informed that “the matter pertaining to inquiry
against Hemant Gopal, CBI Judge, Patiala, is pending for consideration in this
court.”
Mangat Ram Bansal along with 27
others, including rice millers and FCI officials, were booked in 2001 by the
CBI under sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC, and prevention of corruption Act.
All were charged for causing loss to the FCI in custom milling of rice.
Bansal and 23 other rice millers
were held guilty of paddy embezzlement. The trial was completed in 2013. While
pronouncing the verdict, CBI judge Hemant Gopal had acquitted Parminder Singh.
COMPLAINANT PRODUCED VIDEO CD AS EVIDENCE
Following his conviction, Bansal
lodged a complaint against the CBI judge and produced a video CD — purportedly
showing Sushil Singla, a law officer of the Punjab government, collecting bribe
from Parminder on judge’s behalf — as evidence.
In February 2015, the Punjab
government dismissed Sushil Singla following a probe by BC Gupta, a retired
additional sessions judge, who indicted the law officer saying his role in the
racket had been proved beyond doubt. Gupta said Singla had taken the bribe from
Parminder and others, who were later let-off by the judge.
In the final inquiry report against
Hemant Gopal, district and sessions judge Ritu Tagore says: “It is true that
there is no evidence that anyone saw Sushil Kumar (middleman) handing over the
alleged Rs 40 lakh bribe to the judge at his Patiala residence. In such cases,
the availability of direct evidence on all accounts may not be available.
Furthermore, such type of activity is always performed under sheer privacy. The
entire sequence of facts leads to no other interference except that Singla gave
the bribe amount to the judge…”
“The relationship of judge and
middleman stands established. Both were in constant touch through different
phones as per the call detail records,” she adds.
When contacted, Bansal said he
stands vindicated. “I have full faith in Judiciary and do hope that guilty
would be punished”, he added.
Gopal refused to comment on the
report saying: “One of my close relative is critically ill and I can’t talk at
this moment”.
On March 2014, in his reply to the
chargesheet by registrar (vigilance), Gopal had denied of having any link with
Sushil Singla. “How can you blame a person, if someone is collecting money or
striking a deal on behalf of an officer. I’m being made a scapegoat. I don’t
know who is Sushil Singla”, he said.
On being asked what action has been
taken in the case, registrar, vigilance, Vikram Aggarwal said he was not
authorised to speak to the media.
NEW ORLEANS, LA -- It was a sure bet that the Tigers
would win last night's College Football Playoff National Championship.
The question was which Tigers, the ones from Louisiana State University or
those from Clemson? And the answer is: the Rice Ones!
Last Saturday, volunteers from both schools came together in a show of
sportsmanship to help feed the hungry by packaging more than two tons of
Louisiana-grown rice donated by Falcon Rice Mill of Crowley. Second
Harvest Food Bank of Great New Orleans & Acadiana hosted the event and
plans to distribute the rice to food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters,
hospitals, and schools throughout south Louisiana.
"Rice was definitely the star of this event," said Natasha Curley,
food sourcing specialist at Second Harvest. "It not only brought
fans of two different teams together for a good cause, but the thousands of
pounds of rice that was repackaged will go on to provide meals for many
families in need."
The issue of hunger in America became front and center during college
football season this year when LSU quarterback Joe Burrows won the Heisman
Trophy and used his time on the dais to call attention to the poverty in his
hometown in southeast Ohio. After Burrow's impassioned speech about the
struggles people in that area have experienced, donations to the local food
pantry soared to $500,000.
"Over the years, we've donated rice to help feed families through Second
Harvest Food Bank, but this project was really special because of the
National Championship game, and the LSU Tigers being part of that
experience," said Robert Trahan, co-owner of Falcon Rice Mill and chair
of the USA Rice Domestic Promotion Committee. "We donated a
truckload of rice to them and then their volunteers repacked it in four-pound
bags to include in the food baskets they hand out."
"Rice is an ideal food for fighting hunger because it has the ability to
feed many off of small quantities," said Curley. "We are
forever grateful to the Falcon Rice family and all the Tiger fans who teamed
up with us to help tackle hunger."
By the way, Louisiana State University defeated Clemson, 45-21. Three
cheers for rice and Geaux Tigers!
Yuan Longping launches plan to expand growth of saline soil rice
Yuan Longping, renowned agronomist known for developing the first
hybrid rice strains, launched a plan Monday to expand the growth of rice in
saline-alkali soil in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Yuan's
team, along with the digital agriculture division of e-commerce giant Alibaba,
will plant 200,000 mu (13333.3 hectares) of saline-alkali soil rice in the next
three years in Hinggan League, according to a press conference held in Sanya in
south China's Hainan Province.
Yuan said it is his dream to improve the environment in
saline-alkali lands and desert areas, secure food for the poverty-stricken
people in these areas and double the income of local farmers. In September
2019, Yuan's team completed an experiment planting rice on 1,000 mu of
saline-alkali soil in Hinggan League. The yield reached 508.8 kg per mu,
exceeding the team's goal of 300 kg per mu. Rice is a staple food in China, as
well as many other Asian countries. China has about 100 million hectares of
saline-alkali soil, of which about one-fifth could be ameliorated to arable
soil.
Rice export prices in major Asian hubs held steady this week but a
multi-month drought drove expectations of a rise in Thai rates, while a cold
snap threatened crops in Bangladesh. Thailand's benchmark 5 percent broken rice
prices were quoted at $425-$435 on Thursday, largely unchanged from two weeks
earlier, but was still the highest level since June 2018. Although demand was
flat, prices for the Thai grade, which were consistently trading higher than
the Vietnamese variety throughout 2019, remained high well into 2020 due to the
drought threatening supply and the continuous appreciation of the baht, traders
said. Thailand's dry season started in November and usually lasts through
April, although authorities said it could go on through June this year. A
drought has been declared in 14 provinces in the central, northern and
northeastern farming regions. In top producer India, rice export prices
remained steady due to weak demand from African countries. Prices of the 5
percent broken parboiled variety were unchanged from last week, around
$362-$366 per tonne. “Exports demand is subdued. Supplies are rising from the
summer-sown crop," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern
state of Andhra Pradesh.
Neighbouring Bangladesh braced for a cold wave, which could have
an impact on crops, including rice, said Mizanur Rahman, a senior official at
the agricultural ministry. “The seedbeds of rice have dried out due to extreme
cold," Rahman said, adding a prolonged cold spell would have devastating
effects on the crop. The weather office said the cold snap, accompanied by
chilly winds and drizzling, was likely to continue for a few more days. In
Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice eased to $355 a tonne on Thursday, from $360
a week earlier. “Demand remains weak this week and trade has been very
slow," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. Preliminary shipping data
showed 138,650 tonnes of rice is to be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City port between
Jan. 1 and Jan. 23, with most of the grain bound for Iraq and West Africa.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade this week added 47 companies to
a list of eligible rice exporters, raising the number of licensed Vietnamese
exporters to 182, a government statement said. The move is aimed at
“facilitating rice exports, promoting rice production in a sustainable manner
and enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnamese rice," the statement added.
Kharif
’19-20 challenging due to erratic monsoon; Max impact in Central India
Tuesday,
14 January, 2020, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
Our
Bureau, New Delhi
The
kharif season of 2019-20 had been very challenging as the monsoon had been
initially late, erratic and subsequently very heavy and devastating. The
monsoon rains had been 110 per cent over its (long-term average) LPA with
maximum in Central India, followed by the Southern Peninsula, North-West
and North-East, respectively.
The wide spread floods was seen in 13 states between late July and early
August 2019, due to incessant rains caused significant dent in the acreage
and production of several kharif crops. As per our assessment, sowing rice
and pulses cultivation has been most hit in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
After the flood receded the sowing recovered and things started to approach
to normalcy, though the entire kharif season has been delayed by about
20-25 days. The real deterrent for the kharif crop came with the post
monsoon rains, which was 32 per cent excess and the maximum impact was felt
in the North-West region (121 per cent excess) and Central India (64 per
cent excess).
After making due considerations to the above fact and other climatological
and environmental conditions, we have come up with our revised estimate for
the kharif crop for the season 2019-20.
In our first estimate (First Kharif Crop Estimates for 2019-20) in October
2019, we had broadly concluded that in the year 2019-20, the production of
coarse grains, pulses, oilseeds and sugarcane are expected to decline by
24.99 per cent, 41.43 per cent, 42.99 per cent and 12.32 per cent over
2018-19, respectively.
In the current assessment, the coarse grains, pulses, oil seeds and
sugarcane have marginally pushed themselves further in the negative region,
with an expected decline of 14.14 per cent, 14.09 per cent, 53.31 per cent
and 11.07 per cent over the last estimate, respectively.
For the year 2019-20, rice production has expected to decline marginally by
8.21 per cent over last year and decline marginally by 3.19 per cent over
last estimate. Maize is expected to decline significantly by about 11.86
per cent over last year and 8.97 per cent over last estimate. In the minor
cereals, Jowar is expected to improve by 1.07 per cent over last year while
Bajra is expected to decline by 1.98 per cent over last year.
Pulses production is projected to drop significantly in moong by 27.38 per
cent over last year and decline marginally by 5.77 per cent over last
estimate, in urad 18.38 per cent over last year and 2.77 per cent over last
estimate and also in tur by 10.47 per cent over last year and 5.54 over
last estimate mainly due to crop damaged in Rajasthan, Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
Thus for the current year, one can expect a significant shortfall in
overall kharif pulses availability owing to long spell of unseasonal
rainfalls in October and November.
Total oilseeds (soybean, groundnut, castor seed, sunflower, sesame and
Niger seed) production is estimated to be 16,218.06 thousand MT (metric tonne),
which is 23.78 per cent declined than the last year production 21,277.00
thousand MT.
Soybean production is expected to decline significantly by 32.27 per cent
over last year and 12.93 per cent over last estimate and groundnut
production is expected decline marginally by 9.57 per cent over last year
and 4.31 per cent over last estimate due to excess rains in Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra towards the fag end of monsoon rains.
Other oilseeds decline by sunflower 30.61 per cent over last year and 22.38
per cent over the last estimate, and sesame 21.48 per cent over last year
and 10.71 per cent over last estimate.
In the cash crop section, sugarcane output in India drop significantly by
21.98 per cent over last year and decline 11.07 per cent over last
estimate. Cotton is expected to increase marginally by 3.28 per cent over
the last year owing to favourable growing conditions.
Myanmar exported about 30,000 tons of rice worth US$8.8 million
through maritime trade from December 22 to 27, according to figures from
Ministry of Commerce.
About 8,000 tons of rice is exported to Asian countries and about
3,000 tons of rice is exported to EU countries. About 18,000 tons of rice is
exported to African countries and 25 tons of rice is exported to a new market,
Puerto Rico.
It exported about US$2 million worth of over 6,600 tons of rice to
China and Thailand via border trade centers, according to the ministry.
Myanmar exported over 3,500 tons of rice from Muse 105-mile border
trade center, about 600 tons of rice from Chinshwehaw border trade center,
about 1,400 tons of rice from Lweje border trade center, about 80 tons of rice
from Kanpikete border trade center and more than 1,100 tons of rice from
Techilek border trade center.
Myanmar exported about 900,000 tons of rice and broken rice from
October 1 to December 27 in 2019-20 FY and earned over US$250 million,
according to Myanmar Rice Federation.
Myanmar is exporting rice and broken rice through border trade
routes and maritime routes.
It is mainly exported rice to EU market and African market via
maritime trade and China through Muse border trade center.
A
worker carries a sack of imported rice at a warehouse in Divisoria, Manila in
this file photo.
The Action for Economic Reforms
(AER), an organization engaged in research and advocacy, said restricting rice
imports during harvest season will erode the economic benefits from the rice
trade liberalization (RTL) law and may even result in unstable prices in the
market.
The AER issued the statement on
Tuesday, few days after President Duterte promised to farmers that he will not
allow rice imports during or near harvest season to avert decline in palay
(unhusked rice) farm-gate prices.
“This policy pronouncement of
curbing rice imports will erode the gains from the rice tariffication
law. This will not stabilize rice prices,” it said.
“History has shown that it is the
manipulation of import controls that has created volatile and high prices for
the overwhelming majority of Filipinos. Farmers will enjoy higher prices
in the short term, but this will aggravate their long-standing problem of
inefficiency and low productivity,” the group added.
The AER proposed that the
government should create the correct “conditions” for rice farmers to increase
their productivity and become competitive against foreign producers.
“To rely on import control will
not solve the problem of weak productivity,” AER said.
“President Duterte wants to help
farmers, but his idea of helping farmers—by restricting imports during harvest
season—makes them dependent on a short sighted policy, which will not transform
their conditions. Worse, it comes at the expense of hurting the Filipino
consumers, including many farmers themselves [because they are net consumers
themselves],” it added.
The AER argued that import
restriction have always resulted in “price volatility,” which it said
“negatively” affects “the overwhelming majority of the people.”
“Even if import restriction would
artificially boost palay prices, we have seen that this has not improved the
lives of our farmers during the decades that quantitative restrictions existed.
Attendant to this is the corruption and damage to institutions that import
control brings,” AER added.
AER explained that the surge in
rice imports last year was part and parcel of the industry’s transition to a
liberalized trade regime.
Furthermore, the group said
importers are now adjusting to the new regime and soon enough would reach a new
equilibrium with total imports stabilizing.
“If we want to improve the
farmers’ well-being, let us help them improve their productivity, precisely
what the law intends to do,” it said.
“Resorting to import restriction
even if confined to the harvest season will not enable farmers to achieve
increased productivity as the restriction only breed complacency. President
Duterte got it right when he proposed rice procurement, but to combine this
with import restriction will be a disaster,” it added.
The Department of Agriculture
(DA) earlier said the country’s total rice imports last year reached 3 million
metric tons (MMT) following the enactment of the RTL law, which eased the
requirements for importing rice.
The surge in imports last year
resulted in the decline of the country’s rice self-sufficiency rate, or
adequacy level, to its lowest in 10 years to 85 percent, according to the DA.
Despite this, President Duterte
personally appealed to farmers to give the RTL a chance, citing its long-term
economic benefits. The law took effect on March 5, 2019.
The Philippines started and ended
the previous decade as the world’s top rice importer, with the country formally
overtaking China as the top buyer of the staple last year, based on data from
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Data from the USDA showed that
the Philippines’s rice imports in 2019 rose to an all-time high of 3.2 million
metric tons, making the country the top buyer of imported rice last year.
MANILA, Philippines — President
Duterte’s latest pronouncement to limit rice imports during harvest season is
actually more disastrous to local farmers, according to a think tank.
Research and advocacy group
Action for Economic Reforms (AER) said the policy pronouncement of curbing rice
imports would erode the gains from the Rice Tariffication Law.
Duterte earlier said his
administration would help local farmers by stopping importation during harvest
season and by buying local produce.
“This will not stabilize rice
prices. History has shown that it is the manipulation of import controls that
has created volatile and high prices for the overwhelming majority of
Filipinos,” AER said.
“Farmers will enjoy higher prices
in the short-term, but this will aggravate their long-standing problem of
inefficiency and low productivity,” it noted.
If government really wants to
help local farmers, the intervention should be creating the conditions for them
to increase their productivity to make them competitive, which in turn will
increase their income.
“President Duterte wants to help
farmers, but his idea of helping farmers—by restricting imports during harvest
season—makes them dependent on a short-sighted policy, which will not transform
their conditions,” AER said.
“Worse, it comes at the expense
of hurting the Filipino consumers, including many farmers themselves because
they are net consumers themselves,” it said.
AER said even if import
restriction would artificially boost palay prices, this has not improved the
lives of farmers during the decades that quantitative restrictions existed.
“The import surge that we
witnessed last year was part of a process of seeking a new normal. Now we see
the imports stabilizing. Importers and buyers and consumers have now adjusted
to a new equilibrium,” it said.
“President Duterte got it right
when he proposed rice procurement, but to combine this with import restriction
will be a disaster,” AER said.
Under the Rice Tariffication Law,
quantitative restrictions on rice importation are lifted and private traders
are allowed to import the commodity from countries of their choice.
The Rice Tariffication Law
replaced the government’s quantitative restrictions on importation of the
staple with a 35 percent tariff.
The measure also created the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or a special rice buffer fund, with an initial
P10-billion annual fund to ensure the competitiveness of rice production.
Rice sown on thousands of hectares last year
in Azerbaijan
15 January 2020 09:36 (UTC+04:00)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 15
Trend:
A regional meeting was held in
Azerbaijan’s Agdash district on the “The current state of rice growing and
upcoming tasks” topic, Trend reports
referring to Azerbaijan’s Agriculture Ministry.
The meeting was attended by the
heads of the state agrarian development centers and specialists from
Azerbaijan’s Agdash, Ujar, Zardab, Agsu, Yevlakh, Goychay and Samukh districts.
It was noted at the meeting led by
Head of the ministry’s Department for Organization and Monitoring of Crop
Production Rafael Guliyev that the State Program for the Development of Rice
Growing in Azerbaijan for 2018-2025 was approved in accordance with the
Azerbaijani presidential order dated Feb. 9, 2018.
This was done in order to further
strengthen state support for one of the traditional areas in Azerbaijan - rice
growing, the effective use of the potential of this sphere, as well as to
achieve increase in interest in rice production.
It was announced that as a result
of the implementation of the state program in 2019, rice was sown on an area of
4,038 hectares, 12,152 tons of crops were harvested, and the average yield
was 30.1 centners per hectare.
“Rice is mainly sown on areas in
the Lankaran and Aran economic regions,” Guliyev said. “Expansion of sown
areas, cultivation of new and more productive rice varieties, organization of
seed growing, application of innovative cultivation methods are priority areas
for the implementation of the state program.”
During the meeting, with the
participation of the heads of the state agrarian development centers of the
respective districts, specialists of Azerbaijan's Agency for Agrarian Services,
Aqrolizinq OJSC, as well as rice growers, the issues of determining the need
for seeds, the current state in the provision of machinery, mineral fertilizers
and pesticides were discussed.
At the end of the event, an
inspection of the rice production workshop in the Agdash district was
conducted.
Osaka, Jan. 15 (Jiji Press)--Kubota
Corp. <6326> said Wednesday it will release a rice-planting machine with
automated driving functions in October.
The aim of the first such machine
of the industry is to reduce burdens on farmers by reducing the need for
manpower in the process of planting rice. It will sell for 6,875,000 yen.
The rice planter first creates a
map of the rice field using the Global Positioning System while it is driven by
a human around the perimeter of the field. It will then calculate its
rice-planting route based on the map and automatically plant rice seedlings,
according to the major Japanese agricultural machinery maker.
A human driver is not necessary in
the planting process, but the machine needs to be monitored by a person with a
remote controller.
Rice-planting is usually done by
two people--a driver of the planting machine and an assistant who keeps it
refilled with seedlings. The automated rice-planter reduces the number of
people needed for the process to one as the person monitoring the machine can
also refill it with seedlings
Way backin 1975, when hardly anyone around here knew what Indian street food was, Vijay Agrawal took his first steps toward culinary success when he added bhaji pav — a popular Mumbai veggie curry dish served with white rolls — to the selection of his outdoor chaat (snack) cart in downtown Ahmedabad, India’s fifth-largest city.
People loved it and before long Agrawal opened his first sit-down restaurant. He called it “Honest,” and the food was honest, and before long, he had shops all over Ahmedabad, then all across India, prompting jokes about “The Indian McDonald’s.” Next, the company opened shops in Thailand; and then, in 2016, it opened one in suburban Chicago, its first U.S. Honest Indian Restaurant.
Less than four years later, there are 14 Honest restaurants in eight U.S. states, plus two in Canada. Louisville’s first Honest Indian Restaurant opened about a month ago, after several months of construction, in a large vacant space near South Hurstbourne Parkway and Taylorsville Road that had housed a long-closed Beverage Warehouse.
Like its near-neighbor, the locally owned Shreeji Indian Vegetarian Street Food, Honest’s bill of fare is entirely Indian and vegetarian. But street food — simple but delicious ready-to-eat fare traditionally sold from carts and eaten outdoors — constitutes only a relatively small portion of Honest’s menu, which primarily features full dinner plates and sampler thali platters.
Honest’s aloo palak blends spinach and potatoes in a filling, fiery masala-scented dish with roti bread.
It’s a large room, with large windows across the front and white and beige walls around the rest of the space. Drum-shaped pendant lights hang from a high ceiling with exposed metal rafters. Comfortable booths line the perimeter, with high-back chairs surrounding pale-tan, wood-look tables in the rest of the room.
The large, eight-page menu places its iconic bhaji pav on the first page and then goes on through more than 150 choices in an almost-bewildering set of subcategories, such as pulav, Bombay chaat, Indian-style pizzas and sandwiches, South Indian and Indochinese specialties and a long list of Punjabi dishes earmarked by gravy color: red, brown, green and white! There’s a good selection of Indian breads, lentil dal and rice plates, thali (combo) platters and even Indian desserts.
Pricing is attractive, with just about all the dishes within a narrow range from $5.99 to $9.99, save for the Punjabi specialties and thalis, which are tagged in the still-attractive range from $9.99 to $12.99.
Papads (99 cents) aren’t offered as a complimentary snack as is traditional, but we ordered one of these cracker-thin, fried lentil wafers for tradition’s sake. It was a good example of the genre, crisp and shattery, dotted with tiny bubbles and bits of crushed spices. It was slightly greasy from frying, but its haunting, earthy lentil flavor was just right.
Then, we moved on to bhaji pav ($8.99), the street-food dish that made Honest famous. It was a spicy, reddish-brown mix of vegetables and curry spices blended in a thick, spicy-hot puree, topped with fresh cilantro and served with a pair of square, white, toasted buns, chopped red onion and a lime wedge. I sprinkled onions and squeezed lime on the curry and ate it with delight, scooping up the curry (bhaji) with pieces of the bun (pav).
Honest offers three heat levels — mild, medium and hot — and did a good job of respecting those requests. The bhaji pav was hot but not painful. Our other dishes, ordered medium, packed pleasant but not challenging heat.
Punjabi thali ($10.99) is a sampler of Northern India’s Punjab region. It came on a large, shiny, round, metal plate holding small portions of 10 items: paneer tikka, chana masala, yellow lentil dal, yogurt raita, basmati rice, lime pickle chutney, red onion, a tomato slice, half of a papad and a small gulab jamun for dessert.
A salty lassi at Honest adds cumin and cilantro to yogurt to make a satisfying antidote to the heat of fiery spices.
The chickpeas in the chana masala were large and firm, cloaked with a gently spicy, reddish-brown masala sauce. Paneer tikka contained several cubes of mild, Indian paneer cheese in savory, orange sauce. Dal was thin but flavorful; raita was smooth and cooling, and the rice was wonderful, every grain dry and separate and perfectly cooked, full of spice seeds and cilantro. It also came with excellent roti, puffy, whole-sheet flatbread dotted with dark-brown charred spots from the grill.
To bring some leafy, green veggies to the table, we ordered aloo palak ($9.99), a traditional potato-and-spinach curry. The potatoes were good, tender but not mushy, covered with a thick, dark-green, mildly spicy spinach puree.
My usual appetizing antidote to the fire of Indian spice is yogurt lassi ($3.99), preferring the salty, plain version to mango or sweet alternatives. Honest’s lassi was excellent, not too thick and with cumin and pepper flavors and a cilantro garnish to add flavor interest.
A filling meal for two came to $32.82, with a 20% tip calculated by our server’s portable card reader. •
Noise level: With the room less than half-filled for a late lunch, the noise was minimal in the large shopping-center space. (Average sound level was 72 decibels, in the range of normal conversation.)
Accessibility: The entrance, restrooms and tables except for booth seating appear fully accessible to wheelchair users.
Navy arrests 6 suspected smugglers; seizes 1, 439 bags of rice in
A/Ibom (PM News)
A
worker carries a sack of imported rice at a warehouse in Divisoria, Manila in
this file photo.
Honest's Punjabi Thali offers a selection of typical dishes from Northern India's Punjab.
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