20th January,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter

PARC to establish farmer’s markets at NARC

By admin

January 20, 2020

Islamabad

Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) will establish farmers market at National Agriculture Research Center to provide them opportunities to directly sell their produces to council’s warehouse without any involvement and safeguarding them form the exploitation of middle man.
In this regard farmers’ clusters would be established which would linked with this market and PARC which was currently purchasing the commodities from open market would purchase from the farmers directly, said Chairman PARC Dr Muhammad Azeem Khan.
Talking to APP he said PARC has became partner with ‘Durast Daam’, an app launched by Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to local consumers on wholesale rates, adding that the commodities would be purchased from these farmers markets.
The app would also provide information about the official fixed rates of other essential commodities including fresh fruits and vegetables, whereas the app would provide official fixed rates of the commodities including rice, pulses, poultry, milk, meat, and other eatable items.
The initiative is aimed at promoting and strengthening government’s efforts to promote e-commerce, safeguarding the common man from the effects of artificial price hike and provide proper prices to farmers for their produces, he added. He said PARC has established its link with Durast Daam app on pilot basis, adding that the scope would be further extended to other areas across the country to safeguard a common man form the rising inflationary shocks.
Besides, he said, linkage with app would also help the farmers to sell their produces without any intervention of middle man to get proper prices of their produces and discouraging practices of hording, extra charging and over profiteering.
He said citizens linked with this app could book their orders and Durast Daam would deliver properly packed complete hygienic food items including fruit, vegetables without any extra delivery charges at the door steps of consumers.
Dr Azeem further informed that the outreach of the program was set to extend over 200 household during current season but PARC was determined to extend its technical support to more people than its set targets.—APP

https://pakobserver.net/parc-to-establish-farmers-markets-at-narc/

 

 

N. Korea holds agricultural conference to discuss increasing food production

All Headlines 08:37 January 20, 2020

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SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea held an agricultural conference to discuss ways to increase food production, state media said Monday, amid Pyongyang's intensifying "self-reliance" efforts in various areas in the face of crippling global sanctions.

During the three-day conference until Sunday, participants reviewed "their work with main emphasis on positively exchanging and sharing the high-yield experience of the agricultural front on which the best achievements were made even under the worst conditions and on exploring many good reserves for increased production," according to the Korean Central News Agency.

It did not specify what the worst conditions facing the country last year were, but they apparently referred to global sanctions.

They also "expressed their determination to defend the Korean revolution and precious socialism with rice by more fiercely raising the strong wind for increasing crop yields," the KCNA said.

North Korea earlier said that it had achieved a bumper crop last year despite typhoons and other unfavorable weather conditions, but experts say that it is suffering chronic shortfalls in food due to international sanctions hampering imports of key farming materials, such as fertilizer.

The North has called for "self-reliance" in food production, saying that a shortage of rice could make it inevitable to ask for outside help.

In his New Year's Day message, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un emphasized the importance of building an economy independent of external support and called for agricultural production to be "drastically" increased, saying there is no expectation of the U.S. lifting sanctions against Pyongyang amid a lack of progress in denuclearization talks.

Earlier this month, Kim visited a fertilizer plant under construction in his first "field guidance trip" this year, highlighting the importance of agricultural production to feed his people, according to state media.

kokobj@yna.co.kr

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20200120000900325?section=news

 

Freeze of trade with Pakistan hits thousands in India

NEW DELHI: At least 9,354 families, roughly 50,000 people, in Punjab and about 900 families in Indian Occupied Kashmir have been directly impacted by the shutdown of trade between India and Pakistan across the Wagah-Attari border and the Line of Control (LoC) Salamabad-Chakhan da Bagh routes in 2019, says a report.

India’s cancellation of MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan and the trade routes’ closure following the February 14 last Pulwama attack, as well as Pakistan’s counter-measures, including an airspace ban and suspension of trade relations, have resulted in losses in billions of dollars and hundreds of job days. All these have brought thousands “down to their knees”, according to testimonials from the affected groups comprising traders, custom house agents, truck drivers and helpers, those working at tyre and mechanic stores, local dhabas and motels, foreign media reported.

“Better to have killed us in one go than to have finished off our livelihood. After the MFN decision was taken, there were homes where the stove couldn’t be lit for four days,” said 72-year-old Kulwinder Singh Sandhu, Attari Truckers Union chief. He was in tears during the launch on January 16 of the report called “Unilateral Decisions, Bilateral Losses” as he recounted the impact of the events of 2019 on families engaged in the business near the Wagah-Attari border.

Officials said the decisions on trade were meant to be a tough message for Pakistan and would impact Pakistan’s economy even more than India’s. Former Ambassador to the United States Arun Kumar Singh said, “Even though ties have been much worse in the past like after the Parliament attack, trade had never been touched."

According to the report, authored by researchers at the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), the measures that led to a 200% duty increase on imports from Pakistan at Punjab saw even the relatively meagre bilateral trade of $2.56 billion in 2018-2019 dropping to $547.22 million (April-August 2019) - imports dropping from about $500 million to just $11.45 million. Exports to Pakistan “mainly” go through the sea route (about 80%), while imports, including rock salt, dry dates, cement and gypsum, come largely through the land route in Punjab.

As a result, members of the Attari Truckers Union, who had invested an estimated 350 crore (PKR7.6 billion) in the business, have lost all hope of recovering their losses.

Similarly, the closure of LoC trading points in Jammu and Kashmir has put small trade, handicrafts sellers, truckers, labourers, and hotel owners near the LoC in Baramulla and Poonch out of business, said trader Mohammad Iqbal Lone. The losses don’t account for the much larger impact of restrictions on trade and tourism imposed after the August 5 decision on Article 370, which the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry had estimated at approximately Rs10,000 crore ($1.4 billion) by October 2019.

“We have all just come to zero,” Lone told the audience of academics, economists, journalists, former diplomats and officials at the launch in Delhi of the report, authored by Afaq Hussain and Nikita Singla.

Cross-LoC trade before the suspension order in April 2019 was about $95 million for the year. In the suspension order, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said trade would be resumed after “putting into place a stricter regulatory regime” in order to block misuse of the route for “weapons, narcotics and currency,” but nine months later, there are no signs of resumption of LoC trade.

“When you put names and faces to these numbers, the picture is clearer,” said Pradeep Sehgal, a trader from Amritsar, who has been engaged in India-Pakistan trade for decades. “Think of the porter who has had to take his children out of school or the weigh-bridge worker whose wedding was called off because his lost his job, and you will realise the real cost,” he added.

Traders from Amritsar said another decision taken by the Centre last year, which had affected local traders, was the move to cancel oil imports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions. According to them, Iran had cut its reciprocal imports of Basmati rice, which has led to a 30% drop in its prices. This had added to the other losses over trade with Pakistan, said Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association Director Ashok Sethi.

The traders and truckers said they hoped the governments at the Centre and in Punjab and Jammu Kashmir would consider compensating them for the losses and finding alternative trading markets internally so that those affected were not put out of business permanently. “Trade can be switched off with one stroke of a pen, but it cannot be switched on again easily if the government wants to in the future as trust takes time,” said Sehgal.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/601449-freeze-of-trade-with-pakistan-hits-thousands-in-india

 

Which Pakistan player has given up eating biryani and rotis?

 

 

Posted on January 20, 2020 by bimalmirwani

Pakistan batsman Ahsan Ali: “I used to eat Biryani a lot, but I have given up on it. I have also stopped eating rice, roti, and sweet dishes as we have to take light diets”

Image courtesy of: Geo News

Pakistan batsman Ahsan Ali revealed that he has given up eating biryani, rice, rotis, and sweet dishes over the past month.

Ahsan’s revelation come after he was included in Pakistan’s squad for the three-match Twenty20 series against Bangladesh, which will be held in Lahore from January 24 to 27.

The 26-year-old has accumulated 949 runs in 41 Twenty20 games, which includes five half-centuries, at an average of 23.72 and a strike-rate of 129.46.

Pakistan Cricket

✔@TheRealPCB

Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt in conversation with Shan Masood.

More: https://www.pcb.com.pk/blog-detail/ahsan-ali-amad-butt-in-conversation-with-shan-masood.html …#PAKvBAN

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“There has been a significant change in the past 31 days since I have been at the NCA (National Cricket Academy). I used to eat Biryani a lot, but I have given up on it. I have also stopped eating rice, roti, and sweet dishes as we have to take light diets,” Ahsan said during an interview with opening batsman Shan Masood as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

Following the Twenty20 series, Bangladesh will return to Pakistan to play one Test in Rawalpindi from February 7 to 11.

After the conclusion of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Bangladesh will travel to Pakistan again and will play a one-off ODI in Karachi on April 3.

They will then play the second Test in Karachi from April 5 to 9.

https://battingwithbimal.com/2020/01/20/which-pakistan-player-has-given-up-eating-biryani-and-rotis/

 

Rice Exports Grew 26.30% As 2.02 Million Tons In Firs Half Of FY 2019-20

 5 hours ago  Mon 20th January 2020 | 01:38 PM

Rice exports from the country during first half of current financial year grew by 26.30% as compared the exports of the corresponding period of last year

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2020 ) :Rice exports from the country during first half of current financial year grew by 26.30% as compared the exports of the corresponding period of last year.

During the period from July-December 2019-20, rice over 2.020 million metric tons worth $1.033 billion exported as compared to the exports of 1.587 million tons valuing $817.923 million of same period of last year.

According the latest trade data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, exports of Basmati rice witnessed overwhelming growth of 55.89% as about 415,083 metric tons of above mentioned commodity worth $380.623 million exported as compared to the exports of 241,491 metric tons valuing $244.169 million of same period of last year.

Meanwhile, exports of rice other then Basmati also grew by 13.71% during the period under review as 1,605,613 metric tons of rice worth $652.428 million exported as against 1,345,961 metric tons valuing $573.754 million of same period of last year.

However, on month on month basis, rice exports decreased by 8.

19% in December, 2019 as 403,923 metric tons of rice valuing $197.185 million against exports of 431,744 metric tons of same month of last year.

It is worth mentioning here that in first six months of current financial year, food group exports from the country witnessed 10.96% growth as food commodities worth $2.199 billion exported as compared to the exports of $1.994 billion of same period of last year.

On the other hand, food imports during the period under review decreased by 13.48% as it came down from $2.966 billion in July-December, 2018-19 to $2.556 billion in same month of current financial year.

The other food commodities that witnessed positive growth in their respective exports included fish and fish products by 22.56%, vegetables 40.44% and meat and meat products 51.89%.

The import of the food commodities that had witnessed negative growth included milk, cream and milk for infants 26.69%, wheat 0%, dry fruits nuts 9.96% tea imports reduced by 24.12%, the data revealed.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/business/rice-exports-grew-2630-as-202-million-tons-814414.html

No Aid But Free Access To US Markets Needed: Iftikhar Malik

 Sun 19th January 2020 | 09:10 PM

LAHORE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jan, 2020 ) :Pakistan needs free access to the US markets instead of aid as it has suffered irreparable financial losses for being in the front-line against the war on terrorism.

Pak-US business Council (PUBC) Founder Chairman Iftikhar Ali Malik expressed these views while talking to the media here on Sunday.

He said the United States (US) must support Pakistan to achieve its economic prosperity and self-reliance besides ensuring duty cut and market access for Pakistani textile goods to USA.

He said the joint efforts were needed to further cement the bilateral economic ties while, visa restrictions should also be eased for Pakistani businessmen and exporters.

Iftikhar Malik, who is also the senior vice president of SAARC chamber, mentioned that the USA was the largest trading partner of Pakistan with trade volume of US$ 6.7 billion. Pakistan's major exports to the US included sports goods, surgical items, leather and finished leather products, textile, cotton yarn, garments, carpets, and rice, he added.

He said Pakistan's main imports from the US included electrical machinery, equipment, medicines, dry fruits, perfumes, coffee, mangoes, dates and other food items.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/no-aid-but-free-access-to-us-markets-needed-814109.html

 

New long-grain rice variety released

·       By Fred Miller, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

CLL16, a new high-yielding, long-grain Clearfield® rice variety from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station rice breeding program, shown here in a Horizon Ag seed expansion field, will be available to farmers from Horizon Ag in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Horizon Ag.)

CLL16, a new high-yield, long-grain Clearfield rice variety developed by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will be available to rice growers from Horizon Ag in 2021.

Karen Moldenhauer, professor and rice breeder for the Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, said CLL16 has excellent rough rice yields, averaging 205 bushels per acre, slightly better than Diamond, which averages 204 bushels per acre.

CLL16 is resistant to blast in Arkansas growing conditions, Moldenhauer said. It has demonstrated good milling yields, averaging 63 percent whole kernel and 69 percent total milled rice for samples from Arkansas Rice Performance Trials across the state.

CLL16 is a very stable cultivated variety with an early maturity date, averaging 86 days to 50 percent heading, similar to CL172 and Wells and about four days earlier than Roy J, Moldenhauer said. The plant is standard height with a 36-inch canopy, similar to Diamond.

Clearfield rice was developed at Louisiana State University from a breeding line of rice with a naturally occurring genetic mutation that was tolerant to the imidazoline family of herbicides, said Bob Scott, Rice Research and Extension Center director.

Scientists at LSU licensed the original Clearfield lines to American Cyanamid, now BASF, which later shared the breeding material with the Division of Agriculture, Scott said. Horizon Ag is a seed technology company licensed by BASF to market Clearfield rice varieties.

Breeder seed for CLL16 will be maintained at the Rice Research and Extension Center. It will be distributed to growers by Horizon Ag.

https://www.hpj.com/crops/new-long-grain-rice-variety-released/article_cdf68586-399b-11ea-b175-23b2b43ef1f2.html

Ban on rice import and reality check

By Editorial Board

20 January 2020   |   4:19 am

This is the right time to do some reality check and indeed evaluation on the implications of a recent rice ban in the context of noisy border closure. The business and economy journalists and analysts should not be carried away by more prominent political events at the expense of weightier matters in the economy, which should be considered more significant at this time. They need to pay better attention to such issues of urgent national importance – yes the economic outlook.

There appears to be some quiet and acceptance of reality after the initial loud noise about the inappropriateness of the Federal Government’s policy on rice importation. The Christmas period was the time the policy was really tested. The ban was not lifted yet rice was sold and eaten during the Xmas and New Year celebrations. Could this be an affirmation of government’s position that given the right policy framework, rice can be cultivated locally to feed Nigerians? But more important, this is the time to do some review and stock taking to ascertain the success or otherwise of the ban.

If indeed Nigerians have, in these past few months, been eating rice in spite of the ban, the thing to do right away is to start a campaign to realign permanently the taste buds of Nigerians with locally produced rice to save us the embarrassment of continually importing what we can sufficiently produce. We can even get quantitative by specifically stating jobs that have been created as a result of the expanded capacities of local producers to stem the shortfall created by the ban. The amount of foreign exchange saved by the ban on importation can be computed too. The point should then be stressed that it is the way to go in the production of about anything where the local capacity to produce is visible but latent. This was what this newspaper examined the other day when we examined the reality of the border closure in Nigeria. 

Even a British national broadcaster and a global brand noted at the time that, “Nigeria, one of Africa’s superpowers, closed all its land borders… to tackle smuggling – but the unprecedented move is affecting trade across the region. Bustling borders have come to a standstill, with goods rotting and queues of lorries waiting at checkpoints in the hope the crossings will reopen. The closures were imposed without warning on 21 August – and Nigeria’s neighbours are angry….”

These are consequences that can’t be ignored. Thankfully, the same broadcasting station in its digital platform stated clearly in a relevant question: “What prompted the move?” It answered: “Mainly rice. It seems Nigeria was fed up about the flouting of its ban on the importation of rice over its land borders….Smugglers bringing in rice from Benin appeared to be making a killing. The biggest contraband route was between Cotonou, Benin’s biggest city, and Nigeria’s commercial hub Lagos, which is just a few hours’ drive away….” This is important to deepen understanding about the dilemma of Nigeria that most critics of the border-closure-for-rice hardly appreciate, in this regard.

According to even the World Bank, Benin’s economy is heavily reliant on the informal re-export and transit trade with Nigeria, which accounts for about 20% of its GDP, or national income.And about 80% of imports into Benin are destined for Nigeria, the global bank once revealed. 

Nigeria banned the importation of rice from Benin in 2004 and from all its neighbours in 2016, but that has not stopped the trade.Why is rice so profitable as a business? Nigeria is only allowing in foreign rice through its ports – where since 2013 it has imposed a tax of 70%.The move, it should be understood, is intended not only to raise revenue but also to encourage the local production of rice. But smugglers have been taking advantage of the fact that it is cheaper to import rice to Nigeria’s neighbours.

According to Nigerian maritime site, Ships and Ports, in 2014, Benin lowered its tariffs on rice imports from 35% to 7% while Cameroun erased it completely from 10%. Accordingly, neighbouring Benin then recorded an astronomical rise in imports from Thailand, the world’s second-largest producer.

At its height, each of Benin’s 11.5 million citizens would have had to consume at least 150kg (330lb) of rice from Thailand alone. So it seems pretty clear that the rice was making its way into Nigeria to meet the shortfall in local production for a country of almost 200 million people. This is a big and disruptive business that authorities cannot close its eyes to.

Which was the reason in October last year this newspaper noted that the Federal Government’s closure of its land borders with some neighbouring countries in the West Coast then deserved some deconstruction – for the purpose of understanding its essence at that time. The exercise came without any prior notice and expected terminal date. In other words, the fiscal policy was imposed without availing people the opportunity to prepare for the consequences of the ‘‘homeland security’’ measure. The restriction then triggered another period of uncertainty around the affected borders. We said the lacunae had their own implications, especially for those that make legitimate use of the borders for personal and business purposes.

As we had noted then, it is still somewhat curious that despite various interpretations, apprehensions and extrapolations, government officials in the fiscal sector have not been proactive in educating the citizens who have been feeling the consequences of the controversial closure. 

It is just gratifying, though paradoxical that the best clarity of purpose on the policy thrust came then from the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who provided technical details of the long-term gains of the new deal beyond the incipient pains. The CBN governor, who just then arrived at the creativity and innovation sector to reduce the high cost of import of bank ICT, among others, again we rightly noted then, deserved some thumbs up for his unusual executive intelligence to think out of the box, in which most government officials have always hibernated.

As we have always observed on this score, the objectives of closing the borders appear multi-faceted and can be derived from some vague comments by officials of the government who always harp on meretricious revenue point without stressing the strategic economic reasons. It is curious that these clueless officials hardly emphasise that the borders need to be closed so that Nigeria and its people can be protected from negative impact of smuggling through the closed borders. They often do not tell us that we need to secure agreement from Nigeria’s neighbouring countries on the type of goods that should be traded across the borders. Nor do they say to us that we need to conserve foreign exchange to build the nation’s foreign exchange reserves.

There is no doubt that countries have the right to close their borders if they have genuine, legitimate and unavoidable justifications for such closures. But because there are no insular countries in today’s world and there have been various business and other signed agreements, countries must not close their borders without being guided by whatever relevant regional, continental and global agreements they might have entered into prior to any need for border closure. Besides, they need to put in proper perspectives the advantages and disadvantages the border closure can attract bearing in mind that except there is a net benefit, they have no good grounds to embark on such an exercise. These are issues the citizens need to understand. It is unfortunate that agencies of government especially in the fiscal sector, have been passive. Where is the National Orientation Agency (NOA), in this connection? 

What is worse, some observers have noted that it is not clear whether all land borders in the country are closed. No question, all borders are critical but some are more critical, in this regard, than others as we once noted before. It stands to reason therefore that if some borders are still open, there is a good reason to believe that goods can be diverted to such places, of course, with the attendant increased costs than can trigger inflation. These are obvious consequences, which of course, no serious government should use as alibi to abdicate responsibility in the name of free trade and other dubious forces of globalisation.

Doubtless, there have been some arguments that the borders were closed when the capacity to produce certain food items, especially rice, has not been properly cultivated thus causing hike in the price of rice and other imported food items. This is true but only in the short run. In the long run, the demand push will necessitate investments in the relevant sector that will bring all-round benefits; job creation, food-sufficiency, stronger currency, etc to the economy. When those 41 items were banned by the CBN, the initial reaction was the same until the reality of the policy started pushing manufacturers to integrate backward to access raw materials. This has counted for the economy. 

Although the border closure is more of a fiscal policy, it is composite in impact. One, the CBN’s initiatives in rice production for instance will be rubbished if foreign rice keeps flooding the market. This is also true of poultry farming where farmers cry of low patronage amid bombardment of the domestic market by foreign poultry products. This is the significance of the CBN governor’s inconvenient truth the nation should not ignore at this time. What should matter, in the circumstance, is the sincerity and resourcefulness both on the sides of government and the farmers to use the policy to truly test the much-touted capacity in local food production. So, instead of seeing only the initial challenges, it is also important we look at the opportunities and possibilities in the long run as this newspaper noted in October last year. 

https://guardian.ng/opinion/ban-on-rice-import-and-reality-check/

Immigration intercepts 42 bags of smuggled foreign rice

By  Naija247news Media

Jan 20, 2020

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it has intercepted 42 bags of foreign rice at Kankara axis of Katisna State.

The NIS Public Relations Officer, Sunday James, who disclosed this in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Saturday in Abuja, said that it was concealed in a vehicle.

Mr James said that the officers were on routine patrol along the Kankara axis when they apprehended a vehicle carrying the contraband.

He said that the Command Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service, Katsina State command, Yakubu Umar, handed over the 42 bags of rice to the Nigeria Customs Service.

The Comptroller General, NIS, Muhammad Babandede congratulated the officers for a well-coordinated outing imploring them to be more dedicated to the national course and keep the border secured for a safe nation.

(NAN)

https://naija247news.com/2020/01/20/immigration-intercepts-42-bags-of-smuggled-foreign-rice/

Foreign Rice in Nigerian Markets now at 37% -Report By Economic Confidential

-January 19, 2020 Rice Smuggling Foreign Rice in Nigerian Markets now at 37% -Report The interventions of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) through the partial border closure against smuggling and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) via the AnchorsBorrowers Programme (ABP) on the rice sub-sector of the Nigerian economy, have drastically reduced foreign rice prevalence in the Nigerian markets, bringing the figure to 37%, Economic Confidential can report. Recall that Economic Confidential conducted a 3-week survey on foreign rice imports and smuggling in April last year to the effect that over 70 percent of rice in the Nigerian market were foreign. The report prompted further actions by various agencies of government (Over 70% of Rice in Nigerian Markets are Foreign- Investigations …. \ https://economicconfidential.com/2019/04/rice-nigerian-markets-foreign/)

 In the latest one month survey on the rice market across the six geopolitical zones in the country, the economic intelligence magazine observed that foreign rice such as Mama Gold, Royal Stallion, Rice Master, Caprice, Falcon Rice and Basmati have reduced almost have of the last year figure and thinning out due to the activities of the Nigerian Customs Service(NCS) in partnership with the task force set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). In the survey and investigations carried out, Nigerian rice namely: Umza and Fursa Crown from Kano, Mama Happy from Niger, Labana Rice from Kebbi, Olam Rice from Nasarawa, Abakaliki Rice from Ebonyi, Ofada Rice from Ogun State, Swomen Dama from Plateau, Lake Rice of Lagos/Kebbi States among others have dominated the Nigerian Rice markets. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and stakeholders in the rice subsector have reacted to the latest report. Stakeholders in the rice subsector, namely, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) and Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) however gave kudos to the apex bank for the timely intervention and banning of rice since 2015, and the combined task force, a development that has seen growth in local production of rice and serious savings of foreign exchange. The stakeholders in separate interviews attributed the current success level on the political will of the Buhari administration to tackle the menace headlong, the cooperation of the stakeholders to give adequate and timely information of smugglers and their activities to the task force team and the encouraging raids on various warehouses by the Nigerian Customs Service which led to serious seizures and reduction of foreign rice to the present level. As part of efforts to reach different markets across the six geopolitical zones of the country, the investigative team of Economic Confidential spread its dragnet to Utako Market, Abuja; Terminus Market Jos; Mile 3 Market Port-Harcourt;, Main Market, Onitsha; Ogbete Market in Enugu, G-Cappa Market, Lagos, Jimeta Main Market, Yola and Singer Market Kano. On-the-spot checks by this intelligence magazine show the dominance of local rice in these markets by merchants who however admitted that profits coming from foreign rice far out-weigh the local rice, just as the majority of those interviewed believed local rice has more nutritional value. The dealers buy local rice at about N14,000 per 50kg bag, while they sell it, customers, for between N16,500 to N18, 000. The same merchants hitherto pay about N15,000 for the smuggled foreign rice and sell to consumers between N22,500 and N25,000 per bag. Speaking on the gradual disappearance of smuggled foreign rice, Mrs. Angela Okafor, a rice distributor at Ogbete market in Enugu said: “My brother, let me tell you that Customs are everywhere ooh. I can’t even tell whether you are one of them. But as you can see, go inside and check, no more foreign rice in my shop. You can see only Nigerian rice here. And I am making profit.” Ahmed Sule, a merchant in Singer Market Kano said: “There is more market and profit for us in foreign rice, because it’s cheaper, but government and customs have removed foreign rice from the market and only local rice I am trading in now” Mrs. Okafor earlier interviewed said. ‘tell them to bring the cost of local rice down” she pleaded. Another rice merchant, Hajia Rilwanu in Utako Market, Abuja, noted that “I try as much as possible to buy foreign rice, but they are scarce and so I rely on Nigeria rice now because customs personnel are everywhere watching. I don’t want wahala. Check inside you can see only local rice in my shop.” The same goes for Terminus Market Jos, Mile 3 Market Port-Harcourt, Main Market, Onitsha. The rice traders in separate interviews attributed the decline of rice smuggling to the border closure and frequent raids by Customs service in collaboration with sister security agencies. When contacted for his comments on the level of foreign rice prevalence in the Nigerian markets, the CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor said stakeholders in the rice value chain are smiling to the banks and if you visit the markets, Okoroafor noted that the volume of rice importation into the country had drastically declined as the CBN had not allocated any foreign exchange for the importation while there had been a massive production of high-quality Nigeria’s rice in most of the states.

 Also speaking in the same vein, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Customs Service, Joseph Attah said the rice farmers, millers and processors and daily smiling to the banks. “The partial border closure by the federal government has boosted the local capacity in massive Nigeria rice production, creating job opportunities and generating huge revenue to the national coffer. The border the closure has also addressed the challenging issue of trans-border crime and criminalities fuelled by non-compliance with ECOWAS Protocol on the transit of goods by neighbouring countries. “All our warehouses and available places are filled up with seized smuggled rice. In fact, the federal government recently gave a directive that rice and other relief materials in the warehouses should be distributed to orphanages and Internally Displaced People Camps to address the plights of the victims as well as to free the warehouses”, he said. The National Chairman of Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Maifata said the percentage of foreign rice smuggled into the country through land borders have reduced drastically and will definitely hit the zero level. “I can confidently tell you that the level of smuggling foreign rice will soon come down to a zero level”. “In general, this has helped our local processing industry to work at full capacity and the farmers are able to sell all that they produce, and this has encouraged many more farmers to join rice farming”, he said. By PRNigeria Share this: Read more at: https://economicconfidential.com/2020/01/foreign-rice-nigerian-markets-2020/

Immigration intercepts 42 bags of foreign rice in Katsina

January 20, 2020 Editorial III 

A picture taken in Maradi, near Niger's southern frontier on October 19, 2019 shows trucks parked after the Nigeria closed its border with Niger on August 20, 2019 to defend against smuggling. - The closure of the border by Nigeria has put trade at a stalemate since August 20, AFP reports. (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP)

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it has intercepted 42 bags of foreign rice at Kankara axis of Katisna state.

 NIS public relations officer, Sunday James, who disclosed this in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja, said it was concealed in a vehicle.

James said that the officers were on routine patrol along the Kankara axis when they apprehended a vehicle carrying the contraband.

He said that the Command Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service, Katsina state command, Yakubu Umar, handed over the 42 bags of rice to the Nigeria Customs Service.

The Comptroller General of NIS, Muhammad Babandede, congratulated the officers for a well-coordinated outing imploring them to be more dedicated to the national course and keep the border secured for a safe nation. (NAN)

https://www.blueprint.ng/immigration-intercepts-42-bags-of-foreign-rice-in-katsina/

‘Why 75% of Nigerians may die of cancer by 2030’

January 19, 2020 Correspondents

•Infant mortality to rise if mothers eat GMO cowpeas

•Foods shrink men’s testis, cause infertility

Experts have warned that one out of every three Nigerian child born to a mother who was fed on Genetically Modified Organisims (GMO) foods such as the Bt Cowpeas and Beans, would develop severe intrauterine growth retardation in babies and therefore called for outright ban on GM foods Nigeria. Also, it’s estimated that 75 per cent of Nigerians will die of one form of cancers or the other by 2030, if they continue to consume GMO Cowpeas, others. CHIJIOKE IREMEKA reports

At the Conference organised by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) in collaboration with the Barns Connect in Abuja recently to discuss genetically modified organisms (GMO) foods, Academician (Prof.) Philip Njemanze released certain alarming reports against GMO.

At the event which attracted men and women from all walks of lives to the event centre, the Director General of FCCPC) welcomed the various stakeholders t the event including Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, NGOs, Farmers Associations, Seed Council, Civil Society groups, marketers, citizens, the press and others. 

This set the stage for the first Guest Speaker’s insightful lecture, Prof. Njemanze, who is also the Chairman of the International Institutes of Advanced Research and Training, Chidicon Medical Center, Owerri, Imo State, and Chairman of the Global Prolife Alliance, a leading international neuroscientist

Njemanze, who is also a former Principal Investigator at the United States National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Neurolab project to study the Brain in Space, academician of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), presented the scientific evidence from published peer-review literature on the health hazards of GMO foods. 

In his alarming evidences, the recent commercially released Monsanto Bt Cowpeas, popularly known in Nigeria as Beans by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) allegedly causes cancer in human. 

He noted in his discovery that the genetically modified Bt Cowpeas incorporates a protein Cry1Ab, which is a pesticide against pod borer (Maruca). 

Wondering the operability of these GMOs, he said: “Just like instead of your home insecticide being sprayed directly against mosquitoes, you are told to drink it; so that anytime you are beaten by mosquitoes they will suck your blood with the insecticide in it, which will eventually kill them.”

More so, scientific evidence shows that the insecticide, and in this case, pesticide (Bt toxin) actually will kill the person the same way it kills the pest. 

The graphic presentation by Prof. Njemanze showed the scientific evidence in slides of diseases caused by GMO foods and the main pesticide used for it popularly caused Monsanto Roundup.

Prof. Njemanze first dispelled the alleged lies of the biotechnology industry that using the GMO crops would reduce use of pesticides by farmers, saying on the contrary; data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed that the use of GMO crops actually led to high rates of use of pesticides, because of the development of pesticide resistant weeds.

 According to him, the Monsanto Roundup pesticide is freely sold in Nigeria as a weed killer. The problem is that the Roundup, also called Glyphosate, is a well-established cause of cancer according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

 Prof. Njemanze further demonstrated that the use of Roundup alone and in combination with GMO maize with similar Bt-toxin as in Bt Cowpeas released in Nigeria led to breast cancer and other cancers in the liver and kidney, according to work by French scientists published in the international journal Environmental Science Europe, 2014, volume 26:14.

He noted that the breast cancer resulting from the Bt-toxin in GMO crops just like Bt-Cowpeas in animals is similar to that expected in Nigerian women who would eat the GMO beans. 

According to a scientific publication by Australian scientists in the journal Environment International (2014) volume 73, pages 423-433, the Bt-toxins when inserted in potatoes and fed to rats also damaged their intestine.

The scientists noted that the damaged intestine that would lead to more frequent cancers of the intestine and colon, saying similar lesions are expected with use of Bt-toxin in Cowpeas released in Nigeria for the first time in the world.

Experts warned that Nigerian people would be the world’s experimental guinea pigs, in what until now, has been tried out in rats and mice in other countries.

During the lecture, one could feel the anxiety over Nigerian women at the event and real agitation for a probe into the work of the NBMA and other related agencies of the Federal Government charged with the oversight functions.

“The entire population of Nigeria is subjected to a population-wide experiment because of an incompetent and inept Biosafety agency acting in the interest of biotechnology companies against National Health Safety,”

Njemanze said. 

A further uproar particularly among Nigerian men was ignited when the next slides showed works by scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences demonstrating how GMO foods shrink the testis and cause infertility in men.

It is expected that, should Nigerians consume Bt Cowpeas or beans released with other GMO foods, over half of Nigerian men could become infertile.

Njemanze added that, since cowpeas or beans is exported from Nigeria to other African countries and to Europe this could easily become a worldwide problem if allowed to go on.

He continued: “This would mean that Cowpeas or beans could never be exported from Nigeria since even a 1% contamination of natural Cowpeas with GMO Cowpeas would earn a total ban of import of the agricultural product from Nigeria into the European Union, Russia, China, USA and other countries.

“By this singular approval of Bt Cowpeas, the NBMA has terminated all prospects of Nigerian agriculture being a major export market earner of hard currency.

“For the Federal Government to save Nigerian agriculture from this impending doom must urgently reorganise the NBMA and reverse the permits granted for Bt Cowpeas and other GMO foods.”

The work by American scientists published in the journal Interdiscip. Toxicol. 2013, volume 6(4): 159-186, showed that the Roundup pesticide used for GM crops were largely responsible for the growing incidence of Celiac Disease associated with intestinal indigestion, loss of blood (anemia), thyroid cancer, low sperm count and kidney disease.

In Nigeria cowpeas or beans is frequently consumed as a major source of protein especially in children. The Child-School feeding programme sponsored by the Federal Government frequently has on the menu beans or cowpeas.

The question begging for answers in the minds of people present is, what would happen should the so-called GMO Bt Cowpeas be used in School feeding?

Njemanze explained that, there are studies on what GMO foods cause in young rodents if their mothers were fed on GMO foods.

A peep into journal Ecosinform 1 (2006): 4–9, Scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences, demonstrated severe growth retardation in rats fed on GMO foods as published in the journal Ecosinform 1 (2006): 4–9.

It would be expected that, one out of every three Nigerian child born to a mother who was fed on GMO food would develop severe intrauterine growth retardation as seen below in babies of the same age.

Sundy Telegraph learnt that if the child continues on GMO foods in school, there could be severe mental deficits including autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactive disorders (ADHD), epilepsy and allergies.

It was learnt that the infant and child mortality in Nigeria will rise drastically if GMO foods such as Bt Cowpeas or beans are eaten by mothers regularly.

Slides of works by Brazilian scientists demonstrated how the Cry1Ab protein in Bt Cowpeas causes blood disorders that could lead to cancer of the blood, published in Journal of Hematologic Thrombotic Disorders 2013, 1:1.

On the issue of fortifying staple foods in Nigeria like Yellow Cassava or Yellow Yam with Vitamins and protein, Njemanze provided scientifically published works by some American scientists at the Danforth Institute in St Louis USA, originally published in a journal PLOS One 2012 volume 7 (9):10.

In this work, they claimed that there could be protein inserted into cassava, under funding by the American Billionaire Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

But when scientists elsewhere subjected the work to scrutiny, it was revealed that this was a clear scientific forgery and the work was retracted from literature as falsehood and the authors apologised publicly  for the deception, and the work is tagged ‘Retracted.’

Sunday Telegraph learnt that in spite of the foregoing, this did not deter the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from selling the idea that biofortification would benefit the nutrition in African countries including Nigeria.

Dr. Billy Chukwurah said the Golden Rice was developed by International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and sold as containing vitamin A to prevent blindness in the poor African Child.

An evaluation by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) showed that the Golden Rice contained vitamin A (provitamin A carotenoids) only in a very tiny amount of 1.26 mg/kg compared to the very high concentration in fresh carrot (13.8-49.3g) and spinach (111 mg/g).

Sunday Telegraph observes that to get the daily dose of vitamin A needed for a child, that child must eat one bag of 3.75 kg Gold Rice every day. The USA FDA concluded that Golden Rice for practical purposes does not contain any Vitamin A and should be labeled as such.

It was gathered that although calorie dense, the starchy, tuberous roots of cassava provide the lowest sources of dietary protein within the major staple food crops (Manihot esculenta Crantz).

Chukwurah noted that the Cassava was genetically modified to express zeolin, a nutritionally balanced storage protein under control of the patatin promoter, saying that transgenic plants accumulated zeolin within de novo protein bodies localised within the root storage tissues, resulting in total protein levels of 12.5% dry weight within this tissue, a fourfold increase compared to non­transgenic controls.

He noted that no significant differences were seen for morphological or agronomic characteristics of transgenic and wild type plants in the greenhouse and field trials, but relative to controls, levels of cyanogenic compounds were reduced by up to 55% in both leaf and root tissues of transgenic plants.

According to the Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, many people apt to believe that any fruit that is bigger than the usual ones are GMOs, saying that the problems with GMOs are many.

He said, “They do not support mixed cropping but support monocultures and they are not good for our agriculture, as the system requires that farmers must buy seeds and not save and reuse or share them. Some of the crops are engineered to produce infertile seeds. They contaminate other natural varieties of crops and animals/fish.

“They reduce the varieties of particular crops available and this creates more problems as unexpected diseases can wipe out vast quantities of crops. They require the use of large quantities of toxic chemicals some of which are manufactured by the companies that genetically modify the seeds.

“Those engineered to kill particular pests also kill other organisms that were not a threat to the crops. They sometimes look like normal crops and can pass undetected making it difficult to control or withdraw it once released into the environment. There is no scientific certainty about the safety of these crops.

“There has been a very serious desire by companies that make GMOs to open up the Nigerian environment for their control and business. Working with their local and international agents they are making effort to have a weak law in place that would allow introduction of GMOs without any provision for holding them liable if there are accidents or contaminations.

“We believe that Nigeria does not need GMOs. And that what we need is to adequately support our farmers who have been feeding us and keeping our environment healthy. We also need to make farming attractive to young people, provide rural infrastructure, and create food processing/preservation facilities. We need more agricultural extension officers and agriculture should not be used as a means of punishment in schools.

“Only wholesome, natural foods can ensure adequate nourishment for you children. GMOs have been fed to farm animals since 1996 and some food products for humans contain GMO products. If anyone tells you they are safe, ask them for the proof.

“There is no scientific evidence to show that GMOs are safe. The makers of GMOs and their agents want to turn Nigeria, Africa and the world into their laboratory for experiments. Will you accept to be used for experiments?”

However, in an online interview with the sponsor, Bill Gates said: “What are called GMOs are done by changing the genes of the plant, and it’s done in a way where there’s a very thorough safety procedure, and it’s pretty incredible because it reduces the amount of pesticide you need, raises productivity (and) can help with malnutrition by getting vitamin fortification.

“And so I think, for Africa, this is going to make a huge difference, particularly as they face climate change… The U.S., China, Brazil, are using these things and if you want farmers in Africa to improve nutrition and be competitive on the world market, you know, as long as the right safety things are done, that’s really beneficial.

“It’s kind of a second round of the green revolution. And so the Africans I think will choose to let their people have enough to eat.”

Also, the Secretary-General of the Epidemiological Society of Nigeria, Dr. Matthew Ashikeni, said that commercialising Bt cowpea will help the country tackle malnutrition, especially in children.

“Today one of the greatest problems we have is malnutrition. Go to the northeast and there’s an epidemic — in fact, there’s an emergency — and if we can combat malnutrition by products that have been developed and tested in the country by our own scientists, regulated by our own agency, then we should be proud.”

According to the NBMA Director-General, Dr. Rufus Ebegba, Bt cowpea is Nigeria’s first genetically modified food crop, prompting the NBMA to build on past efforts to ensure that stakeholders are aware of the basic science behind the crop and biosafety measures imposed by the agency.

The cowpea project’s principal scientific investigator, Prof. Mohammad Ishiyaku, said the pest can cause farmers to lose up to 80 percent of their yield, saying that Bt cowpea showed it could drastically reduce the use of pesticides and increase yields by up to 20 percent, which translates to N48 billion annually at the rate of N120,000 per tonne.

“Genetically engineered crops are not engineered to help anybody; rather they are engineered to help the industry that produces the crops,” Nnimmo Bassey added.

“In conclusion, the Bt Cowpeas commercially released in Nigeria poses a grave health risk and is a major National Security Concern. The recommendation to the Federal Government is for a Total Ban of GMO Crops in Nigeria. The FCCPC was advised to institute class action suits against Monsanto for injury to poor Nigerian farmers who have been using Roundup, similar to class action suits in the USA,” Prof. Njemanze warned.

More so, Njemanze brought another twist to the issue of GMO foods and the reason farmers are being killed in the northern parts of the country and the burning of farmlands in the Benue State, saying that what is happening in Nigeria is not islamisation of the country.

In the follow-up Q&A, Njemanze provided some statistics tendered by the Council on Foreign Relations at the United States Congress, showing that between 2015 and 2018 over 37,500 people were killed or fatally injured by Boko Haram terrorists in mostly farming communities in the Northeast Food Basket of Nigeria.

He said: “Of these, 32,000 or 85% were Muslims and 5,500 or 15% were Christians. This dispelled the idea of any Islamic terrorism by the International News pundits. In some predominantly Muslim States, 40% of victims were Fulani and 60% were Hausa. Also, counter to the so-called Fulanisation phenomenon alleged by some unpatriotic Nigerian politicians.

“However, what is common among the Muslim and Christian victims of Boko Haram was that they were all farmers who were seed-growers in their communities. This raises the question, is the Boko Haram terrorism targeted at Natural Seed Growers in the Northeast food basket of Nigeria and across the Country?

“Could Boko Haram have used the 14 million Cell Phone Electronic Wallets given to farmers under the guise of agricultural loan scheme by Federal Ministry of Agriculture under Dr Akinwumi Adesina donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?

“The cell phones could track the farmers identity and movement, using GPS? To answer this question, a study of the Map of Boko Haram attacks since 2009 showed that it was in the Cowpeas or beans production areas.

“In other words, the farmers particularly seed growers in the Northeast areas where natural Cowpeas or beans are planted had to be tracked and killed by the Boko Haram terrorists, so that, the NBMA would approve the distribution Bt toxin Cowpeas from Monsanto (which they claim was from MAHYCO Nigeria, which is a subsidiary of MAHYCO India and Monsanto USA).

“The claim by some Nigerian scientists that they had a key role in the development of the over two decades known Cry1Ab gene inserted in Cowpeas is just a cover-up piracy story. The goal of Boko Haram terrorists is to wipe out the entire natural cowpeas and replace it with GMO Monsanto Bt Cowpeas approved by NBMA.

“The step by step replacement of the major food staples with Bt toxin containing GMO foods or so-called biofortified GMO crops would deliver the Food Security of Nigeria into the hands of Bayer/Monsanto. The crops not covered are being sold as drought or flood-tolerant such as rice and maize. Floods are geo-engineered not as a result of any Climate-change.”

       

https://www.newtelegraphng.com/why-75-of-nigerians-may-die-of-cancer-by-2030/

The Most Easy Keto Diet Recipes You Can try in Pakistan

By  Maizza Razzak

January 19, 2020

Are you in Pakistan and doing Keto? Confuse on what to eat and what not to eat while on keto? here are some cool recipes you can try in Pakistan as well.

The keto diet or ketogenic diet is very simply put on a high-fat, low-carb diet. It’s roughly 70% fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbohydrates. The keto in ketogenic comes from ketones. Ketones are small fuel molecules that are produced in the liver from fat and are an alternative source of energy when you eat a moderate amount of protein and very, very few carbs.

So, in the keto diet, your body runs almost entirely on fat. Your insulin levels drop, after which fat burning picks up speed and you lose weight. When your body is in ketosis, the best thing about it is that you feel less hungry but never short on energy.

Carbohydrates – Also called Carbs, are organic compounds that contain sugar, starch, and cellulose. Carbs are present in foods like bread, chapatti, rice, potato, etc. and the body breaks down the glucose from carbohydrates to generate energy.

Fats – Fat is an essential component of a diet as fats provide essential fatty acids and are used to generate and store energy in the body. Some vitamins are fat-soluble, meaning, they require the presence of fats to be utilized by the body.

Proteins – Proteins are present throughout the body. They exist in large molecules with long chains of amino acids. Proteins make 30% of our muscles, 20-30% of liver and thus, are an essential component of our diet.

The most important thing for reaching ketosis is to avoid eating too many carbs. You’ll probably need to keep carb intake under 50 grams per day of net carbs, ideally below 20 grams. The fewer the carbs, the more effective the diet will be.

Counting carbs can be helpful initially. But if you stick to our recommended foods and recipes you can stay keto even without counting.

Keto Brownies

 Ingredients

·        

o   1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

o   2 tbsp Coconut Flour

o   3 large eggs (room temperature)

o   12 tbsp Butter

o   1/2 tsp vanilla extract

o   Pink Salt

o   2 oz Unsweetened Bakers Chocolate

o   Preheat oven to 325 degrees

o   Combine cocoa powder, coconut flour, and salt, and set aside

o   Add eggs, vanilla and mix with a hand mixer. Mix until the volume of the mixture has tripled in size. This should take about 3-5 minutes on high.

·       In a 3rd bowl, melt together butter and bakers chocolate. This can be done using a double boiler method, or by repeatedly microwaving for the 20s and mixing. If using the microwave be careful not to burn the chocolate.

·       Add egg mixture to the butter/chocolate mixture in 3 parts, folding in each time.

·       Once the wet ingredients are all combined, begin adding the dry ingredients. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture and fold into the wet. Repeat this process 3 times until all of the dry mixtures are used and a homogeneous brownie batter is formed.

·       Pour into a greased 8×4 loaf pan.

·       Place into a 325-degree oven for 50-55 minutes.

https://dnd.com.pk/the-most-easy-keto-diet-recipes-you-can-try-in-pakistan/180449

Dist admin fails to control rates of commodities

GUJRANWALA: The district administration has failed in controlling the prices of daily use items here.

During a survey in local markets, the people said that they were facing shortage of flour bags in these days. The citizens complained that flour prices had been increased upto Rs 58 per kg in recent days and due to shortage of flour, it was difficult for them to get the flour bags on fixed rates. They said that sugar with an increase of Rs 15 per kg had been sold by the shopkeepers. They said that the prices of rice had also been increased and was being sold at Rs 160 per kg instead of Rs 130 per kg. The citizens complained that there was no check and balance in the markets by the district administration and profiteers had been given a free hand to loot the citizens. On the other hand, DC Sohail Ashraf said that there was no shortage of flour in the district and no one would be allowed to loot the citizens. He said that the price control magistrates were conducting raids while flour bags of 20kg were being sold on the sale points on control rates.

PROFITEERS FINED: As many as 2,362 profiteers have been fined and more than Rs 6.6 million fine was recovered from them during the current month in Gujranwala division.It was told in a meeting chaired by Commissioner Zahid Akhtar Zaman. It was told that 31 FIRs had been registered against the accused besides arresting 38 persons for overcharging. Similarly, 1,865 complaints were received on Qeemat Punjab App from consumers across the division and 1,764 complaints were resolved while due action was being taken on remaining 101 complaints by the concerned price magistrates. During the video link meeting with the deputy commissioners, the commissioner said that strict action must be ensured against all those who were involved in overcharging and no leniency by the price magistrates would be tolerated.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/600993-dist-admin-fails-to-control-rates-of-commodities

AS-CITIZENSHIP-PROTEST

PTI January 18, 2020 20:32 IST

Villagers donate rice to AASU to carry on protests against CAADibrugarh/Guwahati, Jan 18 (PTI) The protest against thecontentious Citizenship Amendment Act saw a large number of
villagers in Dibrugarh district donating a large quantity ofrice to AASU on Saturday to carry on the agitation.
    At a public rally in Sasoni circle, which is thelargest revenue circle of Dibrugarh district, residents of 85villages donated 350 quintals of rice to All Assam Students'Union (AASU) in the presence of its general secretaryLurinjyoti Gogoi, sources in AASU said.
    AASU is spearheading the agitation across the stateagainst the contentious legislation and is demanding that thelaw which seeks to provide citizenship to the religious
minority in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan be repealed.    The revenue circle is the highest producer of rice inDibrugarh and the sources said villagers donated 645 sacks of
rice, each weighing 50 kg, to the students union.    "We are totally against the CAA as it will endangerour existence....We are donating our rice. If needed, we willnot think twice to shed our blood in our fight against theAct," Bidyanka Borgohain of Sukani village told PTI.
    Siddhi Duwarah of Kukurapomia village said as CAA hasalready been enacted the only option to get it withdrawn legally.    "To fight a case in the Supreme Court, one needs a
huge amount of money. We are an agrarian community. We do not have money, but we have our produce. So, we decided to give it to AASU for the legal battle," he added.    Bikash Baruah of Paniabuwa village said every family donated at least four kg of rice and all the households of the Sasoni took part in this exercise.    "We started collecting rice from January 3. If needed
we will donate more rice in the coming days," Jatin Dhadumia,
a resident of Khatuwa village in the circle said.Over 60 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Courtagainst the Act and AASU is one of the petitioners.    Meanwhile, protests against the controversial lawcontinued across the state with thousands of people coming out
on the roads to join it.     "Amit Shah thought that he would be able to implement
CAA very easily in Assam, but he is wrong. We will not deviate from our stand and accept a single Bangladeshi. We will not give one inch of our land for the illegal immigrants," the
AASU general secretary said in Duliajan.     He alleged that there has been an attempt by the
government to suppress the movement and efforts are being madeto lure people from different fields.     "But the people of the state will not be swayed bythe government tactics. The peoples' movement will continueuntil the goal is reached," Gogoi said.
    The AASU and the artistes' community organised apublic rally at Chandmari in Guwahati, while a huge gatheringtook place at Dharapur near the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi
International Airport in the city.     "BJP had promised to deport all illegal immigrants
from Assam after May 16, 2014. But they did nothing and arenow trying to bring Hindu Bangladeshis. They are dividingillegal immigrants into Hindus and Muslims. Assam is a place
where people are not discriminated on the basis of theirreligion," popular singer Manas Robin said at Dharapur.
    The government had thought this agitation would endwithin 4-5 days but it is on for over a month and willcontinue till CAA is repealed, he added.    In Golaghat and Dhekiajuli too public rallies wereorganised under the aegis of AASU and Asom Jatiyatabadi YuvaChhatra Parishad (AJYCP).    An event was organised against CAA at the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences in Guwahati in which a number of
speakers spoke against the Act.    In almost all the rallies, traditional Assamese
musical instruments were played to foster anti-CAA sentimentsin the people.    Peaceful protests have been continuing acrossBrahmaputra valley after violent protests by the people
against CAA in which three rail stations, a post office, bank,bus terminus, shops, dozens of vehicles and many other publicproperties were set ablaze or totally damaged since December

https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2020/01/18/cal15-as-citizenship-protest.html

Farm gate palay prices end 22% lower in 2019

Louise Maureen Simeon (The Philippine Star) - January 19, 2020 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Prices of Filipinos’ main staple ended 2019 on a low note with consumers saving more and farmers earning less following the influx of imported rice.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed consistent lower prices until the end of 2019 after the Philippines opened its rice industry to more private sector imports.

In its regular update on palay, rice and corn prices, PSA said the current average wholesale price of well-milled rice is P37.32 per kilogram as of the end of December.

This is 11 percent lower than the P41.96 per kilo last year but 0.3 percent up on a weekly basis. The average retail price decreased by 8.5 percent to P41.52 per kilo.

The wholesale price of regular-milled rice also declined by 15 percent to P33.05 per kilo while the  average retail price was P36.60 a kilo.

While consumers are benefitting from the opening up of the market, local farmers are suffering from declining palay farm gate prices.

The average farm gate price of palay is nowhere near recovery at P15.63, down 0.2 percent on a weekly basis.

The current price is 22.4 percent lower than the P20.14 per kilo in 2018. It is also lower than the P19.40 per kilo last March when the rice liberalization law took effect.

The lower farm gate price is caused by the just concluded main harvest season and is even exacerbated by imports flooding the commercial market.

Total rice inventory stood at 3.09 million metric tons (MT) as of the end of December, 14 percent higher than last year.

The current inventory is also five percent higher than the previous month’s 2.96 million MT.

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 rice production competitiveness.

https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/01/19/1985832/farm-gate-palay-prices-end-22-lower-2019

Investing in rice production and rice processing

By Uba Godwin

19 January 2020   |   3:06 am

Federal Government plans to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production. Photo: pexels

The Federal Government plans to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production. From research, it has been proven that Nigeria rice is one of the best as the taste and quality is far better than imported ones from other parts of the world.

In Nigeria today, some states produce paddy rice in abundance. Some of these states are Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Kebbi, Imo, Kwara, Edo, Ogun, Ondo, Cross River State, and Sokoto, to mention but few. Therefore with serious efforts not only by the government but private companies and individuals, the self-sufficiency policy is achievable.

Rice is consumed in great quantities every day. So, the demand is very high. Of the total projected population figure of 200million, over 70% feed on rice. Because of the high demand, most of what is consumed is imported. This situation should not be allowed to continue forever. These importers must channel their huge resources to establish modern milling plants in Nigeria instead of helping the growth of some foreign countries.

From publications made by the Bureau of Statistics and the Federal Ministry of Finance, the importation figures of rice amounted to about N1tr (One trillion Naira) at the end of 2012. This figure increased to over N2tr (two trillion naira in 2016) and about three N3tr (three trillion naira in 2018. The figure has always been on the increase. Rice takes about 60% of the total import figures.

After the government decided to close the land borders it became clear that large quantities of foreign rice come into the country through the neighbouring ports. It became clear that there was a huge importation of rice through illegal means.

As a result, it became imperative that Nigerians can actually produce enough rice to sustain itself. Nigerians had survived and are gradually adapted to eating of local rice. Famers were happier, local processors of rice came back to life and they all make more money with less competition with imported products. However, the prices of rice, the staple food in the country rose on top of the roof.

A common man can no longer afford the commodity, both locally produced and imported. Currently, a bag of imported rice is as high as between N28, 000 and N30, 000 for a bag of 50kg; while the locally made rice is between N18, 000 and N20, 000. Government must, therefore, sustain the tempo of not allowing massive importation of rice into the country, but have a relaxed but well-controlled system of importation. It is not advisable to impose a total ban on importation of rice without first assessing and establishing exactly what the country can afford to produce; ensure that the country can produce at least 70% of what is needed in this country. There must be a full record of what the country can produce internally with a projection of what farmers can produce at full capacity.

Generally, encouraging local production or adding value to agricultural produce and processing is one of the good things that can happen to this country because the policy will generate more employment opportunities and put more food on the tables.

The Federal Government has also concluded arrangements to roll out a new policy to make loans available at single digit interest rate to farmers with effect from this year.

Corporate organisations such as Coscharis Group have gone into production, processing, and bagging of rice. More individuals are being encouraged to invest in this sector.

Here is how you can venture into the rice processing and packaging business.

Investors can go into rice farming and rice processing or rice milling plant. Rice milling projects will best be sited in these areas where rice is grown in order to reduce the cost of transportation of the paddy. To set up this project, a minimum space of a plot of land is required to dry paddy rice after harvesting.

The components of machines required to set up this project are cleaning facilities, Dehuller, Boiling tank, Polisher, Bagger and other miscellaneous equipment such as wheel barrows, weighing scales.

These machines can be fabricated locally. They can also be imported from Europe and some known Asian companies. Prospective investors would be given details on these machines.

Also, project vehicles and generating sets are essential for the smooth running of this project.

Rice milling could be done on the cottage, small, medium and large-scale, depending on availability of capital and the raw materials – paddy rice. Output could be from 2MT to 150MT per day. Generally, one metric tonne of paddy rice yields about 60kg-70kg of milled rice, depending on milling efficiency, company management practice and the variety of paddy.

In the process of milling well-parboiled rice free of sand, stones, unpleasant odour, with fewer breakages, whole rice, broken rice, and bran are obtained. Whole rice is packed and sold for human consumption. Broken rice is further milled into ‘’Tuwo Shinkafa’’ (a flour meal) while bran is very important input for manufacturing dietary products like rice bran bread, which has been acclaimed for reduction of blood cholesterol, rice bran oil and livestock feeds.

From rice, you can also obtain puffed rice, rice cakes, rice pudding etc.

The husks are used for the production of potassium Hydroxide solution or as fuel for milling plants. It can be seen that virtually all parts of paddy rice are useful.

The likely cost of the total project will not actually be stated safely unless one knows the scope (whether cottage, small, medium or large scale) proposed investor would like to embark upon. However, the cost ranges from N550, 000 – N10.2million from cottage level to N57million for medium size plant and over N500million for large scale. Basic factors to consider in determining the initial cost include the capacity to produce, the source(s) of the machinery, whether to construct or rent, the location, etc.

Therefore to embark on this project, one needs a business plan (feasibility studies), with detailed costing for all the aspects of inputs, before arriving at a likely total estimate.

In conclusion, rice milling; an agro-based business is very profitable (45-55% return on investment) and sustainable. It has a low capital requirement and the technical know-how is not complicated. The machinery and equipment can be sourced locally. The project has a short pay–back period.

It is highly recommended for serious and aggressive promoters, local and state governments and private investors particularly those that are thinking good for this country.

• Uba writes from Global Trust Ventures Limited, Lagos E-mail; ubagodwin@yahoo.com; 08034494437

https://guardian.ng/business-services/investing-in-rice-production-and-rice-processing/

It’s a no-grainer: Time for Việt Nam to create a rice brand

Update: January, 19/2020 - 08:10

Hồ Quang Cua, who invented the world’s best rice strain, ST25, checks his field in Sóc Trăng Province. Photo source nongnghiep.vn

Việt Nam may be one of the world’s top rice exporters, but its reputation as a low-quality producer and lack of an appealing national brand has ensured its exports do not fetch high prices.
That might be about to change: Its ST25 fragrant rice has been recognised as the world’s best. Xuân Hương reports.

I was one of the few people to receive a photo of the 2019 World’s Best Rice award from agricultural engineer Hồ Quang Cua, whose ST25 strain won it in Manila.  
The photo is beautifully framed in glass with the words “with compliments” written in red.
Cua, a deputy director of the Sóc Trăng Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, worked diligently for more than two decades with his associates Dr Trần Tấn Phương and engineer Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương to develop the new strain.
He explains how it all began: “More than 20 years ago Thailand announced it successfully cross-bred two strains of fragrant rice [Thai Hom Mali and Pathum Thani].
“I kept asking myself why we could not do what they have achieved. So I thought of developing Vietnamese fragrant varieties, and a team of researchers was formed in Sóc Trăng.”
In 1998 the team unveiled ST1, the first of the ST aromatic rice strains, with the name representing the Mekong Delta province of Sóc Trăng (hence the abbreviation ST).
And since then the team has researched to produce a number of excellent strains of ST fragrant rice, Cua says.
“ST25 is a high-yield rice variety that yields two or three crops per year, can adapt to the difficult conditions brought about by climate change and grows well in brackish water and coastal farms,” he explains.
With its long grain, beautiful white appearance, and especially fragrant scent, thanks to a mixture of the aromas of the pandan leaf of the south and young rice of the north, ST 25 surpassed varieties from countries like Thailand and Cambodia to win the top prize at the World’s Best Rice contest, the first time a Vietnamese entry has won it.
The closest they had come before was in 2017 when ST24, a predecessor of ST25, won the third prize when the competition was held in Macau.
Behind this humongous success has been a very difficult and challenging journey, especially hurdles caused by technical setbacks, Cua reminisces.
Need to raise profile

A rice field ready for harvest in the Đồng Tháp Mười region.  VNA/VNS Photo Lê Minh

Rice has long been a strategic crop for Việt Nam’s food security. From being a country that suffered rice shortages, it started exporting the grain in 1989, and has been one of the world’s largest producers and exporters for years now.
Việt Nam grows around 26 million tonnes a year, of which it exports around six million tonnes.
Though the country exports its grain to over 100 countries and territories, consumers around the world do not know about its products, and its rice usually fetches lower prices than Thai and Cambodian varieties because of the absence of an appealing national brand.
According to the Việt Nam Food Association, after mainly exporting low-quality rice for a long time, the country saw demand for its fragrant rice pick up strongly, with fragrant and other high-quality varieties now accounting for more than half of all exports.
But the prices they fetch remain very low, with the highest at only US$750-800 per tonne, while Thai rice of similar quality gets $1,100 - 1,200, the association says.
“Vietnamese rice is not inferior to that of its competitors in terms of quality, but inferior in terms of reputation," says Phạm Thái Bình, general director of Trung An Hi-tech Farming JSC in Cần Thơ.
“Thailand and Cambodia have done very well in building brands for their rice, making global consumers have confidence in their quality. So their rice gets better prices," Bình says.
“Vietnamese rice has high quality but has not impressed global consumers. So its prices are usually low compared to other countries.
“Thus, though we have switched to exporting more high-quality rice, the value earned from exports has not changed much compared to the period when we mainly exported ordinary white rice at lower values.”
But this angst is undoubtedly something every country goes through as it seeks to move up the value chain.
To get the top, however, requires acquiring greater prestige in global markets, and this means developing brands for Vietnamese rice.
Some companies have started to build their own brands and export to niche markets at very good prices, but their scale remains very small.
Having a national brand name is an idea whose time has well and truly come.
Capitalising on world’s best
The Government unveiled a scheme in 2015 to develop a Vietnamese rice brand, but its results have so far been patchy.
Prof Võ Tòng Xuân, rector of the Nam Cần Thơ University and a renowned agronomist, says ST25 has provided Việt Nam a golden opportunity to build a brand name for its rice.
“It is time for the Government to immediately do the following three things: drastically restructure rice production towards chain-based production and develop large growing areas that produce the same rice variety, minimise the use of insecticides to cut costs and produce more nice, delicious and safe rice and shift the industry’s focus from quantity to quality and from being supply-driven to market-driven.”
Lê Văn Bảnh, former head of the Mekong Delta Rice Institute, says Việt Nam has many good rice varieties, some better than the high-quality varieties of its rivals.
However, quality suffers because Vietnamese farmers grow three or four crops a year, whereas in Thailand they do not grow more than two crops, Bảnh says.
Thailand has loyal markets since global consumers have confidence in its quality, and so its exports fetch better prices, he explains.
“It is necessary to develop rice brands, including national brands, local brands and companies’ brands. And when we have brands, we have to protect them. It is also necessary to offer high-quality products to win consumers’ trust.”
Đỗ Hà Nam, vice chairman of the Việt Nam Food Association and chairman of Intimex Group, says farmers and businesses need to revamp production techniques and improve hygiene and food safety management and post-harvest preservation to surmount the increasing technical barriers set by import markets.
It is necessary for Việt Nam to develop rice brands and enhance marketing programmes to acquaint global consumers with its grains and their quality, he says.
“Every brand should be built on a high-quality foundation and recognised and remembered by consumers because of its tightly controlled quality.”
There have been many voices calling on the Government to throw the book at those who sell counterfeit rice varieties to prevent this practice and motivate researchers to keep producing new, valuable strains.
Many also say brand building should begin at home.
The domestic market, which has nearly 100 million people who eat rice every day, after all accounts for a full 80 per cent of rice production.
Moreover, with rising incomes, consumers are willing to pay higher prices for branded or high-quality rice, and so building brands should not only be for international markets, they point out.
The domestic market should be the place to test quality, brands and origins before expanding globally, they add.
This will surely be aided by the fact that since winning the World's Best Rice competition, demand for ST25 and its renown have skyrocketed in Việt Nam.
Phan Thành Hiếu, director of Phương Nam Company, the distributor of ST rice for the last six years, says the ST24 and 25 varieties are selling very well. “We don’t have enough rice to sell.”
Focus on market demand

Boats carrying paddy waiting for uploading and processing. VNS Photo Ngọc Diệp

There is a growing demand for high-grade rice in the global market, offering Việt Nam a great opportunity, vice chairman Nam says.
Vietnamese fragrant rice is very popular with Hong Kong consumers due to its lovely aroma and delicious taste, and so exporters have a great opportunity here, he says. 
He wants the agricultural sector to choose high-quality varieties that are in demand in many markets, such as jasmine rice, and grow them.
Nguyễn Như Cường, head of the Crop Production Department, says: “The demand in the world market is diverse. Africa, the Philippines and Indonesia, for instance, prefer medium-quality. So we need to have an area to grow medium-quality rice to supply to these markets.
“At the same time we need to identify varieties to supply to fastidious high-end markets such as Europe.
“We have exported jasmine and japonica rice to high-end markets at rather high prices. ST24 and ST25 have met the requirements of demanding markets. Yet we have limitations in exporting premium rice to fastidious markets. Official agencies and businesses need to identify and address them.
“Consumers around the world are increasingly paying attention to the origin, production processes, quality standards, and nutritional content of rice; they no longer consider rice a mere food item. Therefore, there must be greater focus on traceability and hygiene and food safety."
Many free trade agreements the country has signed provide opportunities for its farm produce to enter large markets without tariffs, but their exports can only be sustained if Vietnamese products meet quality standards and consumers’ expectations.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Sóc Trăng authority have collaborated with our team to expand the ST25 rice variety cultivation area,” Cua adds. VNS

https://vietnamnews.vn/sunday/features/571271/its-a-no-grainer-time-for-viet-nam-to-create-a-rice-brand.html

Border closure: Rice smuggling continues across Niger, Nigeria border

January 19, 2020 Correspondents

Penultimate week, the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, cried out over the new wave of insecurity in the state, accusing rice smugglers of being responsible for the renewed insurgency in the state. 

The alarm raised by the governor underscores the rising rate of rice smuggling and other contrabands into the country from the northern part of the country, specifically from the Jibia border. PAUL OGBUOKIRI reports that the development is defeating the government aim for embarking on the partial closure of the country’s land borders

Border closure effective only in South, difficult to enforce in the North

According to a former Director of Trade and Investment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie, the border closure it is effective mainly in the South and difficult to enforce in the North. He disclosed that the people on both sides of the borders are the same.

He said: “The Hausa in Nigeria are the same Hausa in Niger Republic. The Kanuri people in Nigeria are also on the other side of the border. Many Cameroonians are in the Nigerian Army, the Foreign Service and other institutions.”

He said that they simply cross to their home towns on foot and they use the same market as their Nigerian neighbours. “So, the closure is more effective in the south than in the north,” Akinkuolie stressed.

 Rice smuggling fueling banditry

Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina has put the blame on the new wave of insecurity in the state at the door steps of rice smugglers.Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari alleged that rice smugglers invited bandits from Zamfara State and Niger Republic to clear the closed borders so that they can continue with their nefarious activities.

The governor in a series of tweets said: “The peace process we started has not collapsed, despite the current incidences being recorded in some local government areas. We have discovered that what we are witnessing, especially in Jibia, is the handwork of rice smugglers.

“They invited bandits from Zamfara and Niger Republic to clear the borders for them to continue with their nefarious activities. We have credible information that we will certainly utilize to get to the root of this. All those responsible will be dealt with severely.”

There have been recent attacks in the state including abduction of two customs officers recently ago along Jibia Basari Road.

Jibia is a border town between Katsina State and Niger Republic where some importation used to take place, including suspected smuggling activities.

More foreign rice gets into Nigeria

The closure of Nigeria’s borders since August 2019 has ensured that foreign rice and other contraband goods are not available in Nigeria. But smugglers are making sure that these commodities find their way through Niger Republic and journey all the way to customers across the country with a taste for the foreign goods.

Traders say that the border closure has reduced the flow of foreign goods into the country, but is far from addressing the smuggling, as smuggled goods still abound across the country.

A Customs officer agreed that smuggled goods still find their way into the country even though he did not believe that it has to do with the activities of compromised officers.

The officer, who is currently deployed to one of the borders in the North and does not want to be named, said smugglers, would never give up because that is the only business they know; hence they will employ every means to remain in business.

According to him, one of the means they use to distract Customs officers on patrol at checkpoints is to stage some low-level smuggling that will attract the attention of officers, and as soon as they move in to scuttle it, the smugglers will activate the ‘real-thing’ elsewhere, so that before the team finishes and storms the new point, all their consignments of illegal goods have moved into Nigeria. “And by the time you say you want to go after them inside the cities, they scatter in all directions, creating a commotion that will force you to give up in order not to endanger innocent lives,” he said. 

Another tactics they use is to get members of local communities to mob Customs officers so that they can escape in the ensuing melee. “Because smuggling is the only business they know, these people can kill. They have killed our officers before. They can engage in rituals and all sorts of things to put us out of their way,” he said.

He explained that the smugglers had built warehouses in communities around the border, where they hide goods and ferry them into the country at night.

He further said that their use of network of informants is what has been the major drawback on the operations to check them. “They buy phones for housewives who will climb trees or rooftops to alert smugglers about movement or approach of Customs patrol teams.

“Smugglers are daring and can tell you that you cannot stop them from it. If one of them is killed in the process, they are not discouraged, instead they behave as if nothing happened, or their lives don’t matter,” he said.

He said it’s through all these tactics that illegal goods still find their way into the country.

Rice, other contrabands smuggled into Katsina

The recent total border closure has further exposed the vulnerability of the porous border situation in Katsina State, with officials acknowledging that there are over 1,000 illegal entry points between Jibia and Katsina town alone.

There are four recognised border posts with Niger Republic – Magama in Jibia, Kongolom in Maiadua, Babban Mutum in Baure and Dankama in Kaita local government areas.

It was observed that commuters and smugglers now use several sandy roads passing through rocks and farmlands to ferry people and contraband items across the border.

Sunday Telegraph learnt that although these official border posts are shut, nothing seems to have stopped as movement of goods and services is still ongoing but through illegal routes.

A visit to Kongolom and Magama showed that the border has been barricaded, with officials turning back vehicles and motorcycles.

However, few meters to the border at Magama Jibia, people and vehicles were seen passing unhindered to get access to the neighbouring Faru town in Niger Republic. Further investigations showed that settlements like Bayan Bariki, Government Day Secondary School, Magama, Dan Arau, Rainin Wayo, Alele, Korama, Gadirge, Sabon Garin Magama, Makada and Mai Dabarau, all in Jibia Local Government Area, have become routes for people to pass through. At Kongolom, Maiadua Local Government Area, most smugglers of rice are using local routes from Maimaje, Botsotsuwa, Tsatsumburum and Yekuwa settlement, all in Niger Republic, to ferry their commodities into the country, using motorcyclists. In Kaita, rice is smuggled through farmlands from Mai Kani village.

It was disclosed that youths in the area are being paid N6,000 for a 5km trip to ferry rice from the said village, using Peugeot J5 buses and Golf cars. In Daura, most of the shops are not displaying foreign rice but sells on request to customers. The goods are usually delivered at customers’ houses for fear of harassment by security officers.

This is unlike Katsina, where foreign rice is seen by roadsides and shops in markets. It is sold at N17, 000, which is above the price of average local rice, which sells between N15, 500 to N16, 500. Some villagers at various border communities told our correspondent that their local routes and footpaths had become “border posts’’ as hundreds of vehicles and motorcycles pass through with people and smuggled items on a daily basis.

Investigation showed that big-time smugglers and businessmen engage youths to operate. The youths, locally known as Rai Banza, are paid N1, 000 to ferry a bag of rice across the border. Others get the same amount to move it from Jibia town to Katsina metropolis.

They operate on motorcycles and are sometimes seen in large numbers or individually, passing through longer routes to evade Customs officers.

Instead of going through the Jibia-Katsina road, they move to Batsari Local Government before linking Katsina to deliver the rice.

Some of the youths, who go directly to Katsina from Dan Faru or Dan Issa in Niger Republic, using Peugeot cars popularly called Gwarama by locals, charge between N2, 000 to N3, 000 to deliver a bag of rice to shops and depots. Most times they drive through farmlands to get to Katsina town.

Women are not left out in this illegal trade. They employ several tactics to smuggle rice. For instance, they divide a bag into three or four places and back them, using their Hijabs to conceal it and pass the over 12 security checkpoints along the 30km Jibia-Katsina road in commercial vehicles.

Despite the high risk involved, Fito, as the illegal business is called, is one of the most lucrative and thriving among residents of the area. They simply see it as a means of earning a living despite confrontations with law enforcement agents, dur  lives have been lost. A bag of rice presently sells between N11, 500 and N11, 800 at both Dan Isa and Hirji in Niger Republic, although the price fluctuates, depending on exchange rate as business is done in French francs (CFA).

To get to Magama, a border town at Jibia in Nigeria, rice sells at N14, 500, but by the time it gets to Katsina, the price jerks up to N17, 000.

In Kebbi State, smuggling in petroleum products is pronounced among other products. Villagers at Beyindi, a village near Zaga in Bagudo Local Government Area of the state, disclosed that they see more than 20 tanker-loads of petroleum products in the village on a daily basis. “They would empty the petrol in the tanker into jerry-cans and ferry them to Niger or Benin Republic through the River Niger,” they said.

They further said petrol stations in Bagudo, Samia, Maje, Kaoje, Lolo and Illo, under Bagudo Local Government, were not up to 30, yet petrol consumption in the area is higher. Sunday Telegraph learnt that fuel consumption in this area surpasses that of Abuja because of its upward movement to Niger and Benin Republics. Maybe that was why the Federal Government placed the ban on petrol movement within 20 kilometers to the borders,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Assistant Comptroller General of Customs in-charge of Operations, Alhaji Bashir Abubakar, during a courtesy visit to Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, said the command in Kebbi confiscated 4,500 jerry-cans of petroleum products of 25-liter capacity from smugglers.

He said the commodity was intercepted at the Beyindi area of Bagudo Local Government Area. “It has been observed that many filling stations at border areas have been receiving supplies of petroleum products, but they are not selling to customers. They prefer to smuggle them outside the country.’’

In Sokoto State, smuggling activities are still going on at Illela despite the border closure, which is meant to stop importation and exportation of goods in the country. Illela shares border with Konni in Tawa State, Niger Republic. It was learnt that despite joint operations by security agents, the same routes are used by smugglers for their illicit activities.

It was disclosed that foreign rice, among other commodities, are imported from the neighbouring Niger Republic through the Illela axis because some of the security operatives were compromising.

Foreign rice flood major markets and stores across the state despite border closure, it was also learnt that petroleum products are still transported in jerry-cans across the border through secret routes.

Despite border closure, foreign rice is still smuggled into marketers in Adamawa State. A rice seller who would not want his name published, said: “We still smuggle rice from border to town and pay a fee of N1, 500 per bag and sometimes at the rate of N1, 000, apart from the purchasing price.”

Building capacity for rice in Nigeria

To encourage local production of rice the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) included rice among the 41 items that disqualified from getting foreign exchange in 2016, and started it’s Anchor Borrowers Programme for rice farmers. The Federal Government followed it with the ban on rice importation from the land borders and then partially closed the borders in August 2019.

The development has to large extent boosted rice farming and processing in the country, but it has been observed that most of the local rice in the market are short and still contain sand while most contain stones.

Meanwhile, statistics show that Nigeria is one of the largest consumers and producers of rice in West African sub-region producing over 3.7 million tons of milled rice on the average annually which has led to the drastic reduction of annual imports from 4.5 million tons to 800,000 metric tons.

This has made Nigeria the second largest producer of the grain in Africa after Egypt and listed among the top 16 producers of rice in the world with her local production valued at N684 billion ($1.9 billion).

The main rice producing states in Nigeria is; Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Benue, Taraba and Borno. Other states include Enugu and Cross River.

Local milling of rice picks up steam

The Federal Government has encouraged backward integration on rice in Nigeria that has boosted private investment in domestic rice milling with an additional capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year being installed in 2016.

In November 2016, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development announced a plan to facilitate the procurement of 40 new large integrated rice mills to boost the uptake and processing of rice in the country.

According the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the 24 large-scale industrial millers process only 12-24 per cent of the domestic rice.

Small and medium scale millers that dot the country, mainly in the key rice growing regions of the North and Northeastern regions of the country, process the rest.

The main rice importing conglomerates, which handle more than 90 per cent of the rice imports into the country officially, continue to receive lower import tariff of 30 per cent as compared to 70 per cent for other rice importers, as the Federal Government gives them a lower import duty to encourage them to boost their investments in domestic processing of the grain.

Capacity utilization by the majority of the integrated rice millers, reported to be below 25 per cent, is a serious setback to the government’s push to encourage more investors to join the Anchor Borrowers programme and thereby provide market for the small-scale rice farmers across the country.

However, Nigeria’s rice sector is still driven by small mills operating outdated mills and applying mostly traditional methods.

It is estimated that 10,000 such mills exist in the country, each averaging 1 tonne milled rice per day, and responsible for about two-thirds of the total domestic rice processing, or some 1.8 million metric tonnes per year, according to GAIN.

These mills, however, produce low quality grain with a high percentage of broken grains, leading to the preference of mainly urban dwellers to seek out imported rice which are cleaner and longer, further aggravating the imports problem.

https://www.newtelegraphng.com/border-closure-rice-smuggling-continues-across-niger-nigeria-border/

Smuggling: NIS intercepts 42 bags of foreign rice at Kankara

ON JANUARY 19, 20209:09 AMIN

The vehicle intercepted with the 42 bags of foreign rice. PHOTO: NAN The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it has intercepted 42 bags of foreign rice at Kankara axis of Katsina State. The Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO), Mr Sunday James, who disclosed this in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Saturday in Abuja, said that it was concealed in a vehicle. James said that the officers were on routine patrol along the Kankara axis when they apprehended a vehicle carrying the contraband. ALSO READ: Army intercepts 85 bags of smuggled rice in Ebonyi community He said that the Command Comptroller Nigeria Immigration Service, Katsina state command, Yakubu Umar, handed over the 42 bags of rice to the Nigeria Customs Service. The Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede congratulated the officers for a well-coordinated outing imploring them to be more dedicated to the national course and keep the border secured for a safe nation.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/01/smuggling-nis-intercepts-42-bags-of-foreign-rice-at-kankara/

India-Pakistan trade freeze hits thousands: report

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 18, 2020 17:21 IST

UPDATED: JANUARY 18, 2020 20:04 IST

Officials said the decisions on trade were meant to be a tough message for Pakistan. File picture of trucks waiting in a queue along the Attari-Wagah road in Amritsar.   | Photo Credit: Akhilesh Kumar

The affected groups comprise traders, custom house agents, truck drivers and helpers, tyre and mechanic stores workers, local dhabas and motels

At least 9,354 families, roughly 50,000 people, in Punjab and about 900 families in Kashmir have been directly impacted by the shutdown of trade between India and Pakistan across the Wagah-Attari border and the Line of Control (LoC) Salamabad-Chakhan da Bagh routes in 2019, says a report.

The cancellation of MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan and the trade routes’ closure following the February 14 last Pulwama terror attack, as well as Pakistan’s counter-measures, including an airspace ban and suspension of trade relations, have resulted in losses in billions of dollars and hundreds of job days. All these have brought thousands “down to their knees”, according to testimonials from the affected groups comprising traders, custom house agents, truck drivers and helpers, those working at tyre and mechanic stores, local dhabas and motels.

“Better to have killed us in one go than to have finished off our livelihood. After the MFN decision was taken, there were homes where the stove couldn’t be lit for four days,” said 72-year-old Kulwinder Singh Sandhu, Attari Truckers Union chief. He was in tears during the launch on January 16 of the report called “Unilateral Decisions, Bilateral Losses” as he recounted the impact of the events of 2019 on families engaged in the business near the Wagah-Attari border.

Tough message for Pak

Officials said the decisions on trade were meant to be a tough message for Pakistan and would impact Pakistan’s economy even more than India’s.

Former Ambassador to the United States Arun Kumar Singh said, “Even though ties have been much worse in the past like after the Parliament attack, trade had never been touched."

Mr. Singh, who had handled the Pakistan desk at the Ministry of External Affairs, said: “These unprecedented measures against Pakistan were taken by the government to show its frustration over Pakistan’s continued support to terrorism.”

According to the report, authored by researchers at the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), the measures that led to a 200% duty increase on imports from Pakistan at Punjab saw even the relatively meagre bilateral trade of $2.56 billion in 2018-2019 dropping to $547.22 million (April-August 2019) - imports dropping from about $500 million to just $11.45 million. Exports to Pakistan “mainly” go through the sea route (about 80%), while imports, including rock salt, dry dates, cement and gypsum, come largely through the land route in Punjab.

As a result, members of the Attari Truckers Union, who had invested an estimated 350 crore ($49 million) in the business, have lost all hope of recovering their losses.

In Kashmir

Similarly, the closure of LoC trading points in Jammu and Kashmir has put small trade, handicrafts sellers, truckers, labourers, and hotel owners near the LoC in Baramulla and Poonch out of business, said trader Mohammad Iqbal Lone. The losses don’t account for the much larger impact of restrictions on trade and tourism imposed after the August 5 decision on Article 370, which the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry had estimated at approximately Rs 10,000 crore ($1.4 billion) by October 2019.

“We have all just come to zero,” Mr. Lone told the audience of academics, economists, journalists, former diplomats and officials at the launch in Delhi of the report, authored by Afaq Hussain and Nikita Singla.

Cross-LoC trade before the suspension order in April 2019 was about $95 million for the year. In the suspension order, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said trade would be resumed after “putting into place a stricter regulatory regime” in order to block misuse of the route for “weapons, narcotics and currency,” but nine months later, there are no signs of resumption of LoC trade.

“When you put names and faces to these numbers, the picture is clearer,” said Pradeep Sehgal, a trader from Amritsar, who has been engaged in India-Pakistan trade for decades. “Think of the porter who has had to take his children out of school or the weigh-bridge worker whose wedding was called off because his lost his job, and you will realise the real cost,” he added.

Traders from Amritsar said another decision taken by the Centre last year, which had affected local traders, was the move to cancel oil imports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions. According to them, Iran had cut its reciprocal imports of Basmati rice, which has led to a 30% drop in its prices. This had added to the other losses over trade with Pakistan, said Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association Director Ashok Sethi.

The traders and truckers said they hoped the governments at the Centre and in Punjab and Jammu Kashmir would consider compensating them for the losses and finding alternative trading markets internally so that those affected were not put out of business permanently. “Trade can be switched off with one stroke of a pen, but it cannot be switched on again easily if the government wants to in the future as trust takes time,” said Mr. Sehgal.

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https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-pakistan-trade-shutdown-hits-thousands-report/article30593871.ece

Foreign Rice in Nigerian Markets now at 37% – Report

 January 19, 2020  promptnewsonline  0 Comments Rice production

The interventions of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) through the partial border closure against smuggling and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) via the Anchors Borrowers Programme (ABP) on the rice sub-sector of the Nigerian economy, have drastically reduced  foreign rice  prevalence in the Nigerian markets, bringing the figure to 37%, Economic Confidential can report.

Recall that Economic Confidential conducted a 3-week survey on foreign rice imports and smuggling in April last year to the effect that over 70 percent of rice in the Nigerian market were foreign. The report prompted further actions by various agencies of government (Over 70% of Rice in Nigerian Markets are Foreign- Investigations …. Customs, CBN React:https://economicconfidential.com/2019/04/rice-nigerian-markets-foreign/)

In the latest one month survey on the rice market across the six geopolitical zones in the country, the economic intelligence magazine observed that foreign rice such as Mama Gold, Royal Stallion, Rice Master, Caprice, Falcon Rice and Basmati have reduced almost have of the last year figure and thinning out due to the activities of the Nigerian Customs Service(NCS) in  partnership with the task force set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

In the survey and investigations carried out,  Nigerian rice namely: Umza and Fursa Crown from Kano, Mama Happy from Niger, Labana Rice from Kebbi, Olam Rice from Nasarawa, Abakaliki Rice from Ebonyi, Ofada Rice from Ogun State, Swomen Dama from Plateau, Lake Rice of Lagos/Kebbi States among others have dominated the Nigerian Rice markets.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and stakeholders in the rice subsector have reacted to the latest report.

Stakeholders in the rice subsector, namely, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) and Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) however gave kudos to the apex bank for the timely intervention and banning of rice since 2015,  and the combined task force, a development that has seen growth in local production of rice and serious savings of foreign exchange.

The stakeholders in separate interviews attributed the current success level on the political will of the Buhari administration to tackle the menace headlong, the cooperation of the stakeholders to give adequate and timely information of smugglers and their activities to the task force team and the encouraging raids on various warehouses by the Nigerian Customs Service which led to serious seizures and reduction of foreign rice to the present level.

As part of efforts to reach different markets across the six geopolitical zones of the country, the investigative team  of Economic Confidential spread its dragnet to Utako Market, Abuja; Terminus Market Jos; Mile 3 Market Port-Harcourt;, Main Market, Onitsha; Ogbete Market in Enugu, G-Cappa Market, Lagos,  Jimeta Main Market, Yola and Singer Market Kano.

On-the-spot checks by this intelligence magazine show the dominance of local rice in these markets by merchants who however  admitted that profits coming from foreign rice far out-weigh the local rice, just as the majority of those interviewed believed local rice has more nutritional value.

The dealers buy local rice at about N14,000 per 50kg bag, while they sell it, customers, for between N16,500 to N18, 000. The same merchants hitherto pay about N15,000 for the smuggled foreign rice and sell to consumers between N22,500 and N25,000 per bag.

Speaking on the gradual disappearance of smuggled foreign rice, Mrs. Angela Okafor, a rice distributor at Ogbete market in Enugu said: “My brother, let me tell you that Customs are everywhere ooh. I can’t even tell whether you are one of them. But as you can see, go inside and check, no more foreign rice in my shop. You can see only Nigerian rice here. And I am making profit.”

Ahmed Sule, a merchant in Singer Market Kano said: “There is more market and profit for us in foreign rice, because it’s cheaper, but government and customs have removed foreign rice from the market and only local rice I am trading in now”

Mrs. Okafor earlier interviewed said. ‘tell them to bring the cost of local rice down” she pleaded.

Another rice merchant, Hajia Rilwanu in Utako Market, Abuja, noted that “I try as much as possible to buy foreign rice, but they are scarce and so I rely on Nigeria rice now because customs personnel are everywhere watching. I don’t want wahala. Check inside you can see only local rice in my shop.”

The same goes for Terminus Market Jos, Mile 3 Market Port-Harcourt, Main Market, Onitsha.

The rice traders in separate interviews attributed the decline of rice smuggling to the border closure and frequent raids by Customs service in collaboration with sister security agencies.

When contacted for his comments on the level of  foreign rice prevalence  in the Nigerian markets, the CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor said stakeholders in the rice value chain are smiling to the banks and if you visit the markets,

Okoroafor noted that the volume of rice importation into the country had drastically declined as the CBN had not allocated any foreign exchange for the importation while there had been a massive production of high-quality Nigeria’s rice in most of the states.

Also speaking in the same vein, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Customs Service, Joseph Attah said the rice farmers, millers and processors and daily smiling to the banks.

“The partial border closure by the federal government has boosted the local capacity in massive Nigeria rice production, creating job opportunities and generating huge revenue to the national coffer.

The border the closure has also addressed the challenging issue of trans-border crime and criminalities fuelled by non-compliance with ECOWAS Protocol on the transit of goods by neighbouring countries.

“All our warehouses and available places are filled up with seized smuggled rice. In fact, the federal government recently gave a directive that rice and other relief materials in the warehouses should be distributed to orphanages and Internally Displaced People Camps to address the plights of the victims as well as to free the warehouses”, he said.

The National Chairman of Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Maifata said the percentage of foreign rice smuggled into the country through land borders have reduced drastically and will definitely hit the zero level.

“I can confidently tell you that the level of smuggling foreign rice will soon come down to a zero level”.

“In general, this has helped our local processing industry to work at full capacity and the farmers are able to sell all that they produce, and this has encouraged many more farmers to join rice farming”, he said.

https://promptnewsonline.com/foreign-rice-in-nigerian-markets-now-at-37-report/

Growing rice in Kenya: The pioneering roles of different stakeholders

SATURDAY JANUARY 18 2020

    

Digging a water canal at the West Kano Irrigation Scheme in Ahero. Today, rice is the third most important cereal crop in Kenya after maize and wheat. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

·       Today, rice is the third most important cereal crop in Kenya after maize and wheat.

·       In Nyanza, the government introduced varieties like Bungala, Mbuyu, Sindano, Sena, Faiya and Basmati. Seeds that were introduced from Australia did not germinate.

·       This is the spirit with that would later be applied to the introduction of rice in Nyanza and Central provinces. They innovatively added the crop to their repertoire – sorghum, maize and others.

·       In the end, the two firms were allowed to buy rice at specified markets and in accordance with the 1935 Marketing of Native Produce Ordinance.

By ODHIAMBO NDEGE
More by this Author

Rice was introduced to the Kenyan coast by Arabs and Indians in the nineteenth century.

It eventually diffused along the Tana River valley and among the Miji Kenda. In the 1930s and early 1940s, colonial authorities introduced the crop in Lake Victoria region among the Luo in Kajulu, Kano, Nyakach, Kisumu, Seme and West Karachuonyo; the Luhya in north and south Wanga, Mukulu, Kakalelwa, Marachi and north Marama; and among the Meru.

Today, rice is the third most important cereal crop in Kenya after maize and wheat.

Mainly grown by small-scale farmers, its dietary importance has increased phenomenally to the extent that imports are required to satisfy local consumption.

The colonial state was determined to extend rice growing among Africans for diversity.

According to H Wolfe, the Deputy Director of Agriculture in charge of plant industry in the 1930s, rice was introduced in African reserves to mitigate famines, which occurred with alarming frequency. The Department of Agriculture distributed many varieties of rice on trial farms.

In the Tana River valley, Kau and among the Digo and Giriama where old varieties had been grown new types like Peshawari (Pishori) from India, Sena, Mwanza, Afaa and Ambarikori were experimented.

Peshawari and Sindano were the most successful. The former’s weakness was the tendency of its grains to break when cooked.

In Nyanza, the government introduced varieties like Bungala, Mbuyu, Sindano, Sena, Faiya and Basmati. Seeds that were introduced from Australia did not germinate.

Some government officials were too paternalistic that they refused to allow rice growing in their districts. This attitude was exhibited by CV Buxton, the District Commissioner of South Nyanza in the 1930s.

Buxton said the people of West Karachuonyo were not ready for rice cultivation as they were busy with cotton, sorghum and groundnuts.

INVEST IN A MORE POWERFUL MILL

The second group that pioneered rice-growing was the African peasants. Since pre-colonial years when Arabs and Indians introduced new rice into Kenya, coastal inhabitants adopted it alongside existing ones as protection against risk.

This is the spirit with that would later be applied to the introduction of rice in Nyanza and Central provinces. They innovatively added the crop to their repertoire – sorghum, maize and others.

They also responded rationally to price fluctuations: increasing their holdings when prices were high and reducing them when they declined.

Sometimes, Africans’ enthusiasm to grow new crops was frustrated by the authoritarian and discriminative behaviour of colonial chiefs.

Because of clan rivalries between Kabodho and the people of upper Nyakach in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Chief Opiyo, who came from the former clan, forced Kadianga and Kajimbo people to dig a canal around Kongou near the lake to grow rice. This was a long distance from Nyabondo, whose wetlands had potential for the crop.

Indians were the link between the colonial government and African rice growers.

In Nyanza, the Indian-owned firm, Messrs Rahim Jivraj and Company, produced its own rice on a limited scale in Kibos from 1932. It also processed paddy imported from Mwanza, Tanzania.

Since the imported rice was of poor quality, the firm applied to be granted a licence to install a hulling mill. Its main competitor for the tender was another Indian firm, Nyanza Oil Mills Company, which supplied seeds to growers at the request of the Department of Agriculture in 1934. The colonial government preferred Rahim Jivraj for the work in 1937.

Jivraj was given the licence primarily because this firm was ready to invest in a more powerful mill valued at £1,500.

It had also contributed reasonably towards the wages of agricultural instructors. Nonetheless, this led to protest by Nyanza Mills.

In the end, the two firms were allowed to buy rice at specified markets and in accordance with the 1935 Marketing of Native Produce Ordinance. The lack of milling and marketing facilities had for long stifled rice growing in the country.

STILL FACES CHALLENGES

The initiatives of the Indian firms therefore gave vent for sales of surplus rice and spurred an increase in quantities produced.

It should be pointed out, however, that the milling and marketing policies of the government encouraged monopolies and did not adequately promote growers’ interests.

As a result of these initiatives, rice growing in Nyanza increased and surpassed production in the Coast Province. The quantities sold in Nyanza increased from 48 to 102 tonnes in 1935 and 1937 respectively. In 1944, rice growing areas produced 26,259 pound bags valued at £15,755.

The following year, according to purchases made by Maize and Produce Control, the quantities sold increased to 28,608 bags valued at £18,389.

The 1944 and 1945 figures should have been much higher but for the fact that a large proportion of rice grown in the country was consumed by the growers.

Rice production increased up to the late 1950s when a new era began. This was the era of large-scale irrigated rice on small holder farms.

Though irrigation schemes had been planned in the early 1930s in Ahero – the Nyando flood plains near Kisumu – Mwea in Embu and Perkerra in Marigat – Baringo – their implementation was shelved due to the financial problems of the depression years. It was not until 1954 that the scheme in Marigat opened.

Instead of rice, other cereals like sorghum and maize and fruits like pawpaws and watermelon were grown.

Mwea started operations in 1956 and became the largest sugar grower in the country with time. The scheme in Ahero was established in 1969 after another in Bunyala was initiated the previous year. The schemes were intended to increase rice production through enhanced water supplies.

Though this objective was largely achieved during in post-independence Kenya, rice growing still faces a number of challenges. Malaria and other diseases are rampant in rice-growing areas.

Inadequate infrastructure, an inefficient marketing system, low prices, poor technology, expensive farm inputs and equipment, inadequate credit support for growers and inefficient management due to corruption and inefficiency of the National Irrigation Board and the National Cereals and Produce Board are some of the problems facing the industry.

https://www.nation.co.ke/business/seedsofgold/Growing-rice-in-Kenya/2301238-5422274-jamyy0z/index.html

Proving Malthus right

Zeba SatharJanuary 18, 2020

The writer is country director, Population Council, Islamabad.

THE State Bank of Pakistan, in its 2019 third quarter report, warned about food shortages due to climate change, also alerting us that the still unchecked population growth was alarming. As climate change exerts a growingly palpable influence on agricultural productivity, Pakistan might be on track to become one of the first countries in the world (barring a handful of failed states) to become proof of Malthusian pessimism: the idea that rapid growth in population would eventually cause demand for food and other essential resources to outstrip supply, leading to famine and other catastrophes.

Not too long ago, Bangladesh was considered a classic case of the Malthusian trap. With a population density of 900 people per square kilometre, it seemed overwhelmed by problems of food security and overpopulation. But the country made deliberate efforts to ensure development through unchanging policies, unstinting political commitment, and well-supported public- and private-sector family planning programmes with other investments in human capital. It has managed to find a new balance despite its huge initial disadvantage. Today, we may well ask wasn’t Bangladesh more vulnerable to climate change than Pakistan? Have we squandered our relative advantage and brought ourselves to the brink?

The warning signs should be enough to shred our veil of complacency and shake us out of our endless slumber.

A major rejoinder of Malthusian theory is that human innovation, science, and its application and development will lead to greater food production, allowing us to sustain greater numbers with sufficient food and health. This was definitely so in the 1960s and up to the 1990s, as new land became cultivatable, new seeds were introduced, new water channels were explored, and agricultural productivity grew positively. There were wheat excesses in the 1980s and 1990s. We could export wheat and were major exporters of basmati rice. The world looked to us as more than food sufficient. Why then have we reached a position of food shortages?

It would be naive to propose that changes and vagaries of climate alone have led to the acute shortages seen in the last few years. For the complete answer, we must acknowledge another trend: the rapid spiraling and unchecked population growth of over three per cent per annum during 1972-1998. In contrast, other countries in the region, most notably Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, had already started experiencing major declines in population growth. So while all the agricultural development and innovation did sustain us until and into the new century, the last decade has seen us reach the limits of that approach, amidst acute shortages and crises.

Climate change and population dynamics are of course closely intertwined, especially through water and water productivity, and impacts on agricultural livelihoods that push large numbers of people to seek alternatives. Climate change has compounded the pressure and certainly exacerbated some of the inequalities across regions — even north Punjab, the last to be affected, is now feeling the strain on agricultural productivity and incomes. But we cannot ignore the role of population dynamics in emerging food insecurity.

One of the major safety valves in the metaphorical pressure cooker for Pakistan has been migration, mostly internal, to major cities and towns, and to a large extent in the 1970s and 1980s to the Middle East. But as our urban infrastructure approaches breakdown, and the “exportability of our largely uneducated labour” remains an issue, where should the rural poor head now?

Land prices are skyrocketing as Pakistan relentlessly urbanises. This is driven not just by the shameless greed of land mafias to make yet one more housing scheme, but also by the rapidly increasing population, and the needs of the largest-ever cohort of young people as they enter family life. Population growth is thus impacting cultivable land not only through fragmentation, after division among large families, but also through the rapacious conversion of prime agricultural land into housing and commercial real estate; after all, millions more people require a roof over their heads!

But they also need food.

Not everyone will feel the gravity of food shortages creeping up upon us with the same intensity. For now, urban areas are protected as they still have the purchasing power to buy expensive food. And some of the less vulnerable and more viable ecological zones, such as barani areas, and irrigated lands of KP and Punjab are still achieving net gains in agriculture. But the situation is very different in the western dry plateau, dry western mountains, and sandy desert in the southern half of the country. These ecological zones, comprising most of Balochistan and large parts of Sindh, as well as parts of southern Punjab, are the worst hit by climate change and most fragile.

We must urgently prioritise food security and also find a way to generate livelihood opportunities to relieve the pressure in these vulnerable regions, crossing provincial boundaries. Special priority must be accorded to what could well turn into a famine in parts of Balochistan and Sindh if left unattended. Unless we do so, and also make an earnest effort to rein in population growth, food shortages will be upon us all in the end.

The warning signs should be enough to shred our veil of complacency and shake us out of our endless slumber. We swallow and digest the findings of one international report after another, pointing out our flaws with regard to human rights, child mortality and malnutrition, and of course climate change. But as social scientists and the development community, we fail to get to the root causes and the core issues of our economy and society: growing regional inequalities linked to the main economic sector — agriculture; and our population size, movements, and population densities, especially the galloping unplanned, unregulated, unanticipated urbanisation.

Even now, we do not really seriously count our people leave alone where they have moved and when; in fact, we withhold census results out of vote avarice. We do not listen when our less fortunate compatriots scream for water, food, livelihoods, and even commit suicide in despair; instead, we are preoccupied with international events.

Alas, beware the ghost of Malthus is lurking, with nasty predictions of food shortages and famines.

The writer is country director, Population Council, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2020

https://www.dawn.com/news/1529029/proving-malthus-right

New long-grain rice variety released

·       By Fred Miller, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

CLL16, a new high-yielding, long-grain Clearfield® rice variety from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station rice breeding program, shown here in a Horizon Ag seed expansion field, will be available to farmers from Horizon Ag in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Horizon Ag.)

CLL16, a new high-yield, long-grain Clearfield rice variety developed by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will be available to rice growers from Horizon Ag in 2021.

Karen Moldenhauer, professor and rice breeder for the Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, said CLL16 has excellent rough rice yields, averaging 205 bushels per acre, slightly better than Diamond, which averages 204 bushels per acre.

CLL16 is resistant to blast in Arkansas growing conditions, Moldenhauer said. It has demonstrated good milling yields, averaging 63 percent whole kernel and 69 percent total milled rice for samples from Arkansas Rice Performance Trials across the state.

CLL16 is a very stable cultivated variety with an early maturity date, averaging 86 days to 50 percent heading, similar to CL172 and Wells and about four days earlier than Roy J, Moldenhauer said. The plant is standard height with a 36-inch canopy, similar to Diamond.

Clearfield rice was developed at Louisiana State University from a breeding line of rice with a naturally occurring genetic mutation that was tolerant to the imidazoline family of herbicides, said Bob Scott, Rice Research and Extension Center director.

Scientists at LSU licensed the original Clearfield lines to American Cyanamid, now BASF, which later shared the breeding material with the Division of Agriculture, Scott said. Horizon Ag is a seed technology company licensed by BASF to market Clearfield rice varieties.

Breeder seed for CLL16 will be maintained at the Rice Research and Extension Center. It will be distributed to growers by Horizon Ag.

https://www.hpj.com/crops/new-long-grain-rice-variety-released/article_cdf68586-399b-11ea-b175-23b2b43ef1f2.html

Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt In Conversation With Shan Masood

 Umer Jamshaid  

 Mon 20th January 2020 | 12:04 PM

With only three days left in the first match of the T20I series against Bangladesh, Ahsan Ali and Amad Butt are optimistic to leave a mark at the international level

Lahore (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th January, 2020) With only three days left in the first match of the T20I series against Bangladesh, Ahsan Ali and Amad Butt are optimistic to leave a mark at the international level. The two were among three uncapped players named in the 15-player line-up for the three home T20Is, which will be played in Lahore on 24, 25 and 27 January.

Talking to Test cricketer Shan Masood in an exclusive interview, the pair reflected on how it will look to take inspiration from the performances in the domestic events.

Ahsan impressed in the last edition of the HBL Pakistan Super League in 2018 as he scored 178 runs in eight matches batting at the top of the order for Quetta Gladiators. The 26-year-old scored 131 runs at a strike rate of just under 149 in the National T20 Cup in October, which pressed his case further for selection.

In the same tournament, Amad, who turned out for Balochistan, the eventual finalists, scored 80 runs at a strike-rate of 170 and took 10 wickets at an economy-rate of 7.62. The 24-year-old was part of Pakistan’s squad that won the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh in November.

When Shan asked which performances, in particular, they would take inspiration from, Ahsan said: “Our qualifier against Peshawar Zalmi [in the last season] is a memorable contest for me. I played a crucial role in my side’s win by scoring 46 [his highest score that tournament] over the course of a crucial [111-run] partnership with Shane Watson. I had not played the last two matches so I was under a lot of pressure.”

Amad recalled the semi-final of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup against the archrivals, India. “At one stage in our match against India, we were almost out of the game.

Then suddenly our fielding clicked and we got a run-out. I had to defend eight off the last over and their main batsman was at the crease. You know, matches against India are full of pressure as people take a keen interest in them. I am glad that I was able to deliver in it.”

Speaking about his fitness regime ahead of his selection in the national side, Ahsan told Shan, his teammate in the Pakistan Cricket Club and National Bank of Pakistan sides, he had given up on his favourite dish Biryani along with rice, roti and sweet dishes to meet the desired fitness levels.

“There has been a significant change in the past 31 days since I have been at the NCA. I used to eat Biryani a lot, but I have given up on it. I have also stopped eating rice, roti, and sweet dishes as we have to take light diets.”

Recalling the moment when he was informed about his selection for the Pakistan national men’s team, Ahsan said: “No matter how much I emphasis on it, I won’t be able to put my happiness in words. Every player wants to play for Pakistan. I am blessed that I have gotten the opportunity to play alongside those players whom I once used to desire to meet.”

Amad told Shan: “I was in Mardan when I got to know. To know that I am about to achieve my goal of playing for Pakistan was an extraordinary feeling, which cannot be explained. It adds extra responsibility because you want to do something for your country. I am praying to God to help me play a role in my country’s win in the upcoming matches, even if it is by scoring a single.”

The first ball of the first T20I on Friday is scheduled to be delivered at 2pm (PST).

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/sports/ahsan-ali-amad-butt-in-conversation-with-sha-814359.html