Senate committee
reviews Geographical Indications law
The Newspaper's Staff ReporterUpdated
January 24, 2020
The GIs identify products with specific geographical origin and
possess qualities or reputation attributable to that place. — Dawn/File
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile
Industry on Thursday reviewed the Geographical Indications (Registration &
Protection) Bill 2019 and agreed to finalise it in the meeting next week.
The meeting was chaired by Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi who
said the issue has been pending since the committee was formed in March, 2018.
Senator Shibli Faraz remarked that it is beyond comprehension as
to why Pakistan has taken so long to come up with legislation on geographical
indicators (GIs).
Intellectual Property Organisation Pakistan Chairman Mujeeb
Ahmed Khan briefed the committee that delays were mainly procedural and the
work on latest draft initiated in 2016. The draft was approved by the cabinet
in August 2019 which was subsequently laid in the senate this month. The GIs
identify products with specific geographical origin and possess qualities or
reputation attributable to that place. These generally include agricultural,
traditional or manufactured products.
These are essential to protect indigenous products and promote
them worldwide as ‘made in Pakistan’. The list of products identified in the
law include Khewra salt, basmati rice, Kohat shawl, Hunza ruby, Skardu topaz,
Multan camel skin art, Patuki floriculture, Mansehra tea, Sahiwal cattle, truck
art, Wazirabad cutlery work, Sindhi topi, Sialkot sports goods, Hala coloured
Pottery, Kashmir pashmina, among many others prospective GIs.
Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2020
Between India and Pakistan, let's give the
seeds a chance
Indra Shekhar Singh | Updated
on January 24, 2020 Published
on January 24, 2020
The Indian seed sector lost one
of its biggest export markets when the governments of India and Pakistan
suspended trade relations between the two countries. The political climate
hasn’t been the most favourable in recent times, but this New Year is an
opportunity to separate politics and economics for the benefit of farmers on
both sides of the border.
India loses more from the trade
embargo. Pakistan has been our third top destination for fruit and vegetable
seeds for many years. In 2018-19, India exported fruit and vegetable seeds
worth $17,528,530 and in 2017-18 that number was $14,160,248. It is a $3
million increase from the previous year, and perhaps wealth generated from the
trade would have grown as Indian seeds are very popular in Pakistan because of
similar agro-climatic conditions, quality and unmatched culinary value.
Export avenues
Remember, this wealth is
generated only from the trade of fruit and vegetable seeds. What about other
seeds such as cotton, cereal etc? Germplasm and plants care little for borders
but they do care more for favourable soil, climate and water. As a result,
North India supplied a lion’s share of all types of seeds to Pakistan. They
included paddy, wheat, legumes, cotton, etc. Indian varieties do very well in
Pakistan because over time, they have adapted to similar cultivation patterns,
monsoon and soils.
The Indo-Pak seed trade was in
the range of Rs 1,300-1,500 crore a year. The industry estimated the trade
going up to Rs 2,000 crore in the coming years. That is Rs 2,000 crore pumped
straight into the pockets of farmers and seed breeders. The prosperity it
brings across the borders can be a great example of Indo-Pak partnership. But
by banning seed exports, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Apart from the
export seed stock losses on the Indian side, the Pakistani side experienced
disruption of steady seed supply, generating a large gap.
India's loss,
China's gain
But the vacuum created by this
ban is being used by Chinese seed companies to expand in Pakistan. While the
Indian farmers and seed sector are losing millions of dollars, the Chinese seed
sector is now growing and has access to Pakistani germplasm, which may, in the
future, be detrimental to the interests of the Indian seed sector. The
Pakistani and Chinese governments are already working to develop a hybrid
variety of ‘basmati’ rice. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recent
statement prioritised agriculture and wanted deeper cooperation with China.
Although the Chinese seeds don’t
match up to the Indian varieties in their culinary value, it’s only a matter of
time before economics and high yields exhaust the demand for Indian seeds.
Business as usual
Meanwhile, India is supplying
medicines to Pakistan on humanitarian grounds as they are essential
commodities. Why should seeds be any different? The Indian Essential
Commodities Act defines some seeds as essential. India can also become a seed
testing and quality hub for Pakistani seeds as we have the best infrastructure
within the SAARC countries.
This is another avenue through
which jobs can be generated in the agriculture sector as Indian scientists and
technicians will be employed to assist Pakistan in their quality assessment.
Currently, Indian certified seeds are valued in Pakistan and other neighbouring
countries such as Afghanistan and Nepal. We can strive to create a robust
system of trade, unaffected by politics, in both countries.
(Program Director – Policy and
Outreach for the National Seed Association of India)
Published
on January 24, 2020
Exclusive: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay
payments from Iran
(Jan 24, 2020 08:41AM ET)
By Mayank Bhardwaj and Neha Dasgupta
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reluctance among Indian traders to ship
premium basmati rice to Iran as U.S. sanctions hobble its ability to pay has
contributed to a sharp drop in overall exports from the world's biggest
supplier of the grain, trade and government sources said.
Rice shipments from India slipped by more than a quarter to 5.5
million tonnes between April and November 2019 -- the first eight months of the
fiscal year -- from 7.5 million tonnes in the year-ago period, the sources
said. In terms of value, exports dropped 19% to $3.8 billion from $4.7 billion.
The grain is India's biggest foreign exchange earning farm
commodity, with shipments worth $7.75 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year.
Basmati rice exports to Iran, New Delhi's top buyer of the
aromatic grain, dropped to 600,000 tonnes in the eight months from 900,000
tonnes a year earlier, but traders, worried about delayed payments, have not
signed any new contracts with Tehran in the past five days, the sources said.
Shipments are not expected to significantly pick up, with buyers
in Iran owing a record 20 billion rupees ($281.41 million) to India as U.S.-
imposed sanctions make it hard to pay for imported commodities, they added.
"We are in a precarious situation," Nathi Ram Gupta,
president of the All India Rice Exporters Association, told Reuters. "We
have urged the Indian government to step in to ensure that our dues are cleared
by Iran."
Reuters was unable to contact traders in Iran for comment.
Iranian buyers paid some of the money they owed in November, the
sources said, encouraging Indian traders to sign new contracts and ultimately
pushing dues to an all-time high.
Of the 4.4 million tonnes of basmati rice shipped by India in
the 2018/19 fiscal year, Iran accounted for 1.4 million tonnes.
"Our exports to Iran will definitely fall this year and
that is going to drag down both the country's basmati and non-basmati rice
exports. We're worried on two counts of India's falling rice exports and our
mounting dues," said Vijay Setia, former president of the All India Rice
Exporters Association.
Beside the drop in exports to Iran, non-basmati rice exports to
Europe have also fallen, with trade and industry officials citing higher
pesticide residues in shipments from India as a factor behind reduced purchases
from the European Union.
Higher benchmark prices in Thailand, the world's second-biggest
rice exporter, have however prompted some buyers to opt for Indian rice,
pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three months
despite the fall in exports.
India's 5% broken parboiled variety rose to around $366-$371 per
tonne from last week's $364-$368, the highest since Oct. 31.
Domestic prices have also risen on fresh orders from Africa,
traders said.
Laos weighs on export of 100,000 tons rice
to Cuba
·
ASEAN+
·
Friday, 24 Jan 2020
4:36 PM MYT
VIENTIANE: Laos government has assigned Phan Phet
Agriculture Development Co, Ltd. to carry out a feasibility study on the export
of 100,000 tons of rice a year to Cuba, according to the website of the Laos
Ministry of Industry and Commerce on Friday (Jan 24).
The scheme was initiated by Laos Ministry of Industry and Commerce and other sectors when Cuba's Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment visited the company in September 2019, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Friday.
The scheme was initiated by Laos Ministry of Industry and Commerce and other sectors when Cuba's Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment visited the company in September 2019, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Friday.
Phan Phet is situated in Nonghiew village of
Hadxaifong district, Lao capital Vientiane, and is a large agribusiness
operator. Established in 2008, the firm currently manages about 1,000 hectares,
about 50 percent of the farming area is in Hadxaifong district and the rest in
other provinces.
The company's Chairman, Thongsavanh Meeboun, said the company did not grow merely rice. His firm encouraged farmers with potential and supported them by providing bio-fertilizers, seeds, advice on farming techniques and assistance with machinery.
The company last year planned to sell 10,000 tons of rice to China's Hong Kong and Taiwan after negotiating exports with international partners, yet with no confirmed export figure.
It will be a challenge for the company to produce rice for sale to Cuba. To achieve the target, it will need to study the adequate provision of funding, land, use of new technology, farming methods, seeds, machinery and disease management.
Laos' main export products to Cuba are clothes, while Cuba sells tobacco, sugar, white gold, coffee and mechanical parts to Laos.
According to Laos' rice export statistics over the past five years, the main markets are Vietnam, Thailand and Belgium.
From 2015-2019, Laos earned about US$70mil from the sale of rice to Vietnam, over US$40mil from Thailand, and more than US$11mil dollars from Belgium.
Laos sold rice to more than 30 countries in Asia and Europe.
In 2020, theLaos government is aiming to produce 4.7 million tons of rice, of which 2.5 million tons will supply domestic needs. Some 2.1 million tons will be used for local consumption while 400,000 tons will be stockpiled. Some 500,000-600,000 tons will be used for domestic processing and at least 1 million tons for domestic goods and export, said the report.
Those numbers indicate there is strong potential for Laos to sell 100,000 tons of rice to Cuba, which would equate to 10 percent of total rice exports. The scheme is part of efforts to develop the two countries' trade ties and enhance diplomatic relations, according to the report. - Xinhua/Asian News Network
The company's Chairman, Thongsavanh Meeboun, said the company did not grow merely rice. His firm encouraged farmers with potential and supported them by providing bio-fertilizers, seeds, advice on farming techniques and assistance with machinery.
The company last year planned to sell 10,000 tons of rice to China's Hong Kong and Taiwan after negotiating exports with international partners, yet with no confirmed export figure.
It will be a challenge for the company to produce rice for sale to Cuba. To achieve the target, it will need to study the adequate provision of funding, land, use of new technology, farming methods, seeds, machinery and disease management.
Laos' main export products to Cuba are clothes, while Cuba sells tobacco, sugar, white gold, coffee and mechanical parts to Laos.
According to Laos' rice export statistics over the past five years, the main markets are Vietnam, Thailand and Belgium.
From 2015-2019, Laos earned about US$70mil from the sale of rice to Vietnam, over US$40mil from Thailand, and more than US$11mil dollars from Belgium.
Laos sold rice to more than 30 countries in Asia and Europe.
In 2020, theLaos government is aiming to produce 4.7 million tons of rice, of which 2.5 million tons will supply domestic needs. Some 2.1 million tons will be used for local consumption while 400,000 tons will be stockpiled. Some 500,000-600,000 tons will be used for domestic processing and at least 1 million tons for domestic goods and export, said the report.
Those numbers indicate there is strong potential for Laos to sell 100,000 tons of rice to Cuba, which would equate to 10 percent of total rice exports. The scheme is part of efforts to develop the two countries' trade ties and enhance diplomatic relations, according to the report. - Xinhua/Asian News Network
U Ye Min Aung,
Secretary-General, Myanmar Rice Federation; and Managing Director, Myanmar
Agribusiness Public Corporation: Interview
MyanmarAgriculture
Interview
Text
size +-
Interview: U
Ye Min Aung
In what ways
can Myanmar diversify production?
U YE MIN AUNG: Diversification is great in theory, but it is difficult to
achieve. It requires state support and economic strength. If we examine
regional trends, it took Thailand and Vietnam decades of commercial rice
farming to gather the financing and technical ability to diversify at scale. On
top of that, our market has unique issues to overcome. Before diversification
can truly take place, we need to study our ecology to enable us to use it
effectively. Following Cyclone Nargis in 2008 we have seen an increase in pests
and disease. Additionally, Myanmar’s farmland consists mostly of paddy fields,
which are not immediately suitable for vegetable cultivation without treatment.
In agriculture supply-side
policies tend to fail, so if we insist on diversification before we are able to
bring it to scale we will not succeed. Diversification within a commodity chain
is what we can consider. With rice, for instance, we do not currently
manufacture rice oil, biscuits, cosmetics or noodles. Globally, rice
consumption has slowed but the market for rice-based products, such as glucose,
is growing. Meanwhile, the country consumes 80% of the rice it produces,
meaning that diversification for the sake of exports alone is not necessary,
although these exports do help ensure sectoral price stability and absorb
market shocks. The number of countries Myanmar exports to has grown
considerably in recent years, almost tripling from 20 countries in 2012 to
nearly 60 by 2019. There has also been significant improvements in the quality
of production, with certification having played a role in this. We have
international laboratories and inspection companies coming to Myanmar to verify
our output, and this is raising standards right across the supply chain.
How would you
assess the technology and storage facilities in the sector’s supply chain?
YE MIN AUNG: Adequate storage facilities are vital for Myanmar. Without
effective drying equipment the effects of climate change are acutely felt, with
crops being ruined. Improvements are slowly taking place, but the sector needs
investment as it is undercapitalised and lacking expertise. On the farming
side, moves towards more effective and sustainable practices are under way but
they are only in the early stages. For instance, drip irrigation is starting to
be implemented and can greatly increase efficiency, improve soil quality and
reduce methane emissions by removing the need to flood rice paddies. Rice
cultivation needs to be intensified in Myanmar, though not at the expense of
the environment. The System of Rice Intensification developed by Cornell
University provides a great method for maintaining this balance, with an
emphasis on controlling inputs and plant management, and it has already seen
success in Myanmar. Naturally, pesticides are still necessary in the sector,
but there needs to be more education concerning their application, and
businesses have a responsibility to support this. It is in the public interest
to ensure that safety regulations are in place and illicit trade is kept to a
minimum. In addition, farmers must follow health and safety procedures.
Access to finance remains the
largest challenge in the sector. Without this, it is difficult to improve
irrigation facilities, quality and yields, and storage capabilities. Our
neighbours developed their agricultural sectors with the help of consistent,
innovative and well-capitalised financial solutions. The Myanmar Agriculture
Development Bank has a huge role to play in the sector, and we encourage the
government to prioritise its expansion. The bank already has over 220 branches
nationwide, but it must focus on diversifying its product portfolio and
increasing its outreach programmes. There is also a role for microfinance
institutions to play, but they is not yet at a sufficient capacity level to
generate real change. Though we are latecomers to mechanised agriculture, we
can now use this technology to accelerate our growth trajectory. Our next step
as a nation should be to prioritise expanding banking facilities for farmers.
Anchor text:
U Ye Min Aung
India-UK joint
research meeting at ICRISAT
SANGAREDDY, JANUARY
24, 2020 19:47 IST
Rajeev Varshney, Rajeev Gupta and Peter Carberry of ICRISAT with
Professor of University of Cambridge Howard Griffiths during the General
Assembly of TIGR2ESS underway at ICRISAT in Sangareddy district. | Photo
Credit: Mohd Arif
Interdisciplinary research to
make Indian agriculture sustainable in a changing world
Over a hundred scientists from
varied disciplines gathered at the International Crops Research Institute for
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to discuss an India-UK joint research programme for
more interdisciplinary research to make Indian agriculture sustainable in a
changing world and to ensure food security.
The first General Assembly of
TIGR2ESS (Transforming India’s Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for
Sustainable Food Supplies), an UK-India research programme, which began in 2018
and brought over 20 research institutions together, concluded at ICRISAT on
Friday. The programme was from January 20-24, where crop scientists,
sociologists, biologists, nutrition experts and archaeologists, among others,
discussed the way ahead.
“The General Assembly is an
important milestone for TIGR2ESS, affording us an opportunity to strengthen the
interdisciplinary nature of our research and put in place plans with tangible
outcomes for positive agricultural and socio-economic change in India,” said
professor Howard Griffiths, principal investigator for the programme and
University of Cambridge’s advocate in Cambridge-India relations.
The programme seeks to address
four key research questions: What should an Evergreen Revolution deliver? Can
crop productivity increase, whilst maintaining yield stability? Can water
supplies be shared to match community demand? How can we best engage and
educate for local community well-being?
These questions were being
answered by six distinct but fully integrated, flagship projects which are
heavily reliant on research collaborations, exchanges and women empowerment.
Rajeev Gupta, a co-lead in
Flagship Project 2, noted that multidisciplinary approach of TIGR2ESS is
crucial for India’s Green Revolution to reach the next level.
“Screening of several hundred
lines of sorghum and pearl millet for water use efficiency is among the many
areas where the project has made progress since its inception,” Dr. Gupta, a
principal scientist at ICRISAT who oversees genomics and crop trait discovery,
said.
“India is among the top producers
in dairy, rice, wheat and pulses. It has seen around two percent productivity
gains in crops like pearl millet owing to hybridization and the private sector.
In Africa, the productivity is either stable or declining. Why are we lagging
so far in Africa?” asked Peter Carberry, Director General, ICRISAT, while
emphasizing the need for transferring the learnings and successes from the
programme to sub-Saharan Africa.
To strengthen collaboration
between India and the UK’s scientific institutions and to build research
capacity, over 50 early career researchers, from both within and beyond
TIGR2ESS, are receiving training in key research skills, from writing research
grant applications to deep learning with artificial intelligence during the
Assembly. To further strengthen collaboration, specifically in agriculture
research, he announced a fellowship programme that will soon be rolled out with
India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the National Institute of Plant
Genome Research (NIPGR). The fellowship will facilitate 30 Indian researchers
to undertake research work at crop science universities in the UK for two
years.
Rice imports at nearly 1.3m tons
in 10 monthsJanuary 24,
2020 - 14:17
TEHRAN- Iran has imported 1.298 million tons of rice during the
first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019-January
20, 2020), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration
(IRICA) announced.
According to Rouhollah Latifi, so
far, 1.053 million tons of the mentioned amount has been fully cleared, while
the clearance licensing process is underway for another 51,000 tons.
Imports of foreign rice are
prohibited every year during the harvest season of domestic rice, which is from
late July to late November, Latifi said, adding that since the bans on imports
were lifted, the imports have been underway smoothly.
The country’s rice cultivation
and production have grown this year due to favorable weather conditions and
imports have also been higher than the previous years, the official said.
Back in October 2019, Deputy
Agriculture Minister Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh announced that Iran has become
completely self-sufficient in rice production as it plans to cut up to two
million tons of imports a year.
The Statistical Center of Iran
estimates that Iranians consume approximately 35 kilograms of rice per person
each year. That would mean a domestic demand of nearly three million tons for a
country of 83 million people.
Bakhshandeh said rice
self-sufficiency would save Iran more than $1.1 billion in imports, adding that
it would also be a major success amid efforts to minimize the impacts of the
American sanctions on food security in the country.
Gov’t cracks down on rice importers’
‘dummies’
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:14 AM January 25,
2020
The
country’s agriculture chief is imposing a ban on small farmers’ groups that
were used as “dummies” by bigger traders to import rice following the
deregulation of rice trade.
Speaking to
reporters in a press conference on Friday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar
said cooperatives and associations that willingly gave
their import permits for the use of traders would not be allowed to import anymore.
their import permits for the use of traders would not be allowed to import anymore.
“They
(farmers) are making this a living by letting traders use their cooperatives.
We will ban them. We have the listing. They will no longer participate,” said
Dar.
He added
that based on data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI)—the office
responsible for the issuance of import permits—there were “hundreds” of these
associations that could be guilty of participating in such a scheme.
Dar said
many of these farmers groups did not have the financial capacity to import the
volume they had indicated in their documents. As such, he has instructed BPI to
impose stricter requirements to traders before issuing them permits.
“We have
strengthened our guidelines. Before they can import, they should be financially
stable for the past three years. If they don’t have any warehouse capacity,
they also cannot import. [It’s these practices] that result in the falling
prices of palay. This is their fault,” the secretary added.
Less than a
year since the government allowed the unimpeded importation of rice, the
country’s rice imports increased by 58 percent to 3 million metric tons (MT)
from 1.9 million MT in 2018 and by 275 percent against the 2017 record.
Asked
whether the same penalty would be incurred by traders who made use of cooperatives
as a means to import, BPI director George Culaste told the Inquirer that they
have yet to identify those that were on the other end of the scheme.“We have
the list of the cooperatives because we have
Deciphering the sugar code
Researchers
discover vaccine to strengthen the immune system of plants. Credit: Sruthi
Sreekumar Researchers discover vaccine to strengthen the immune system of
plants. Credit: Sruthi Sreekumar
Like animals and humans, plants
possess a kind of immune system. It can e.g. recognize pathogenic fungi by the
chitin in their cell walls, triggering disease resistance. Some fungi hide from
the immune system by modifying some of the chitin building blocks, converting
chitin into chitosan. Researchers of the University of Münster now found that plants
can react to a certain pattern in this chitosan, stimulating their immune
system. They are already developing a chitosan-based plant immune-stimulant in
order to reduce the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture. Their results
are published in JACS (Journal of the American Chemical
Society).
Background
Chitosans, so-called
polysaccharides, are probably the most versatile and promising functional
biopolymers. Chitosans can make plants resistant to diseases, promote their
growth, and protect them from heat or drought stress. Under chitosan dressings,
even large wounds can heal without scars, chitosan nanoparticles can transport
drugs across the blood/brain barrier, and chitosans can replace antibiotics in
animal fattening as antimicrobial and immunostimulating feed additives. But of
course, chitosans are not miracle cures either. "There are many different
chitosans and for each individual application, exactly the right one must be
found to make it work. Until now, we knew far too little about their effects
and how they can be used effectively. With our research, we have now come a
step closer to this understanding," explains Prof Bruno Moerschbacher from
the Institute for Biology and Biotechnologies of Plants at Münster University.
Chitosans consist of chains of
different lengths of a simple sugar called glucosamine. Some of these sugar
molecules carry an acetic acid molecule, others do not. Chitosans therefore
differ in three factors: the chain length and the number and distribution of
acetic acid residues along the sugar chain. For about twenty years, chemists
have been able to produce chitosans of different chain lengths and with
different amounts of acetic acid residues, and biologists have then
investigated their biological activities.
Thus, an understanding slowly
developed of how these two factors influence the antimicrobial or
plant-strengthening effect of chitosans. Such well-characterized chitosans, now
called second-generation chitosans, are currently used as the basis for new
chitosan-based products such as the plant biostimulant "Kitostim"
which was developed based on the research results of the Münster team. It
promotes growth and development of plants, and it strengthens them against
disease and heat stress.
Bruno Moerschbacher suspected early
on that the third structural factor, the distribution of acetic acid residues
along the sugar chain, also plays a decisive role in determining biological
activities. However, this hypothesis could not be tested for a long time
because the acetic acid residues are randomly distributed in all chemically
produced chitosans. As biochemists and biotechnologists, the members of his
team have therefore used enzymes for the production of chitosans, i.e. the
natural 'tools' involved in the biosynthesis of chitosan in chitosan-containing
fungi. With their help, they have now succeeded in producing short chitosan
chains, so-called oligomers, with a defined arrangement of acetic acid
molecules, and tested their bioactivity.
For this test, the researchers
used rice cells that they treated with chitosan oligomers to stimulate their
immune system. When they used chitosan oligomers consisting of four sugar units
(so-called tetramers) carrying only a single acetic acid residue, they found
that the tetramer with the acetic acid residue at the first ('left-most') sugar
unit (the so-called non-reducing end) had a strong immunostimulating effect,
while the other three tetramers were less active or inactive. Thus, very clear
differences in bioactivity were found between chitosans with the same chain
length (four) and the same number of acetic acid residues (one) when they
differed in the position of the acetic acid residue.
The researchers led by Bruno Moerschbacher are currently testing the use of
this tetramer as a kind of vaccine that stimulates the plants' natural immune
system.
Outlook
Such a clear dependence of the
bioactivity of a complex sugar on its molecular structure has almost never been
observed before. The first and to date only example was human heparin, whose
anticoagulant effect is based on a certain distribution of sulphuric acid residues
along the sugar chain. It is now known that heparin achieves this effect by
binding a coagulation factor to this specific binding site, thus inactivating
it. And on the basis of this knowledge, it has been possible to develop
anticoagulants with precisely dosed effects and without side effects, which are
a blessing for dialysis patients, for example. "It is now our hope that
the precisely defined chitosans can be used in a similar way to enable, for
example, scar-free wound healing under chitosan dressings,"
said Bruno Moerschbacher, whose research group is already collaborating with
dermatologists and other biomedical experts.
Italy welcomes bioeconomy, kisses
agricultural runoff goodbye
Jan 24, 2020 (updated: Jan 24, 2020)
Many agrifood industries produce
large quantities of waste. The tomato industry, for instance, processes
millions of tons of tomatoes into peeled, pureed and concentrated tomatoes.
[IIT]
This article is part of our special
report Bioeconomy in the CAP’s nine objectives.
This article is also available in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish.
In 2017, Italy’s entire bioeconomy sector had a
total turnover of €300 billion and, within 13 years, employed two million
people. The country’s Bioeconomy Strategy was taken up a notch and made even
more ambitious at the start of 2019. EURACTIV’s partner Agronotizie
reports.
Italy has invested heavily in the bioeconomy,
primarily in research, also supported by the European Union.
The Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) has a
team of researchers who are working on the use of biomass for the production of
bioplastics. The waste materials which can be used are diverse, as discarded
orange peels from orange juice production, coffee grounds, rice husks, corn,
parsley, all of which researchers have converted to plastic.
And in relation to the circular economy, IIT
researchers have developed bioplastic plant pots which, unlike plastic ones,
are not thrown away when plants are re-planted. Instead, they are buried and
degrade, providing the soil with nutrients – an example of perfect circularity.
Fertilisers from agro-industry waste
Many agrifood industries produce large
quantities of waste. The tomato industry, for instance, processes millions of
tons of tomatoes into peeled, pureed and concentrated tomatoes.
The skins and seeds of the fruits remain in
factories before being sent to biogas plants, but in the future, they could be
converted to food for rabbits and cattle.
Researchers from the National Research Council
(CNR) have in fact used tomato processing by-products to enrich feed
intended for rabbits and dairy cattle.
The positive aspects are twofold: making the
most of waste and providing animals with healthier nutrition. And, in fact,
analysis carried out on the meat of those animals revealed an increase in
nutritional quality.
Researchers are now working on artichoke leaves
and ‘pastazzo’ (the residue which remains after squeezing citrus fruits).
However, there are two problems that need to be addressed: the seasonality of
the products, which sees the availability of the by-products peaking in a
limited timeframe; and the costs of transportation, storage and processing.
In the same EU Regulation 2019/1009 on
fertilisers (available on Fertilgest, the portal dedicated to crop
nutrition), organic and organo-mineral fertilisers, previously regulated at
national level, are regulated for the first time at European level, a concrete
step towards developing a circular economy, which would allow waste to become
raw material (if it has certain characteristics).
Things that have been the basis of agriculture
for thousands of years, like the use of livestock wastewater as a fertiliser,
could also reduce business expenditure as fertilisers no longer need to be
purchased.
Not just fossil fuels
A simple but effective method of reusing
agrifood production waste is to transform biomass into energy.
Enzo Perri, a researcher at the Council for
Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy Analysis (CREA) told AgroNotizie
that, “during the grinding of olives there is an abundance of stones which are
an excellent source of energy. These can be used in a biomass burner for
heating greenhouses or, as I do myself, heating the home”.
In addition to the pomace (pulp and stones),
the milling industry produces large quantities of ‘vegetation water‘, composed of water (70-80%), fatty
acids and phenols.
Although such waste has become costly for the
mills to dispose of these days, the Italian National Agency for New
Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) has found a
way to reuse it.
The researchers have developed a machine that
transforms vegetation water into gas through a reforming process.
Silvano Tosti, author of the research and head
of the ENEA Laboratory of Nuclear Technologies, told AgroNotizie that “the
organic part of the water is first concentrated and then brought to a high
temperature. With the help of a catalyst gases such as methane, hydrogen and
carbon dioxide are released”.
In this way, the mill is autonomous in its
disposal of vegetation water, and produces energy in the form of heat that can
be used for industrial or domestic purposes.
Enabling farms to be energy independent is also
one of the goals of CNH Industrial, which manufactures tractors under the New
Holland, Case IH and Steyr brands.
The group intends to contribute to the
development of energy independent farms capable of supplying their own energy
needs independently, transforming biomass of agricultural origin into gas.
New Holland has, in fact, launched a
methane-powered tractor prototype, the T6 Methane Power.
[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna, Daniel Eck, Zoran
Radosavljevic]
EURACTIV's editorial content is independent
from the views of our sponsors.
Chinese tariff rate quota policy severely impacted US wheat
exports
Bowen Chen, post-doctoral research associate in
agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois, concluded
that China's tariff rate quota policies significantly affected wheat imports
from the US. Credit: Marianne Stein
The U.S. and China recently
agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve the current trade war
between the two countries. But that is just the latest development in
longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.
China has consistently used
tariff rate quotas to restrict grain imports, and in 2016 the U.S. launched a
complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China's implementation of
tariff rate quotas on wheat, corn and rice. In their report, issued in April
2019, WTO sided with the U.S., but did not provide an assessment of the effect
on U.S. exports.
A new study from University of
Illinois, published in Agricultural Economics, quantifies those
effects and shows that China's tariff quota administration significantly
affected U.S. grain exports, particularly for wheat.
"Our analysis shows that if
China hadn't used trade policies to restrict trade, wheat imports
from the U.S. could have been more than 80% higher in 2017. That's a value of
around $300 million," says Bowen Chen, a postdoctoral research associate
in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at U of I. Chen is
lead author on the study, which was conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation.
The dispute concerns China's
administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQ), a policy instrument intended to
regulate imports. Tariff rate quotas establish two tiers of tariffs, with a
lower tariff for in-quota imports and a much higher tariff for out-of-quota
imports. Chinese tariffs for grain commodities were 1% for in-quota and 65% for
out-of-quota imports.
The system is intended to allow
some access for imports at a low tariff rate, while the second-tier tariffs
provide protection for domestic commodities. Under the TRQ agreement, China is
obligated to import certain quantities of grain at the low
tariff level. However, the U.S. contended that these obligations were not
fulfilled, and that China's imports of corn, wheat and rice were far below
in-quota quantities.
Chen and his colleagues analyzed
trade and price data to assess the impact of Chinese TRQ policies on U.S. grain
exports. They also sought to explore the rationale behind the grain quota
administration in order to better inform policy initiatives and trade
negotiations.
The researchers obtained monthly
trade data for grain commodities from 2013 to 2017, using information from a
United Nations database and the Ministry of Commerce in China. They also looked
at domestic price data published by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Using
the trade and price data, they estimated the import demand elasticities for
corn, wheat and rice.
"We estimate how the prices
would have been reduced if China was not imposing the tariffs. Then we simulate
how the quantities would change based on the price and elasticity," Chen
says.
Overall, the researchers
concluded that China's 2017 grain imports could have been $1.4 billion or 40%
higher. Wheat imports from the U.S. could have been $324 million or 83% higher
without the restrictive policies. Corn and rice imports were affected to a
lesser extent.
Chen cautions that those results
are contingent on Chinese domestic prices being equal to world prices, assuming
that China would not maintain high prices to support domestic production.
"If China liberated their
import policy and reduced domestic price support, such market policy reforms
would alleviate pressure from trading partners," Chen says. "However,
they may not be interested in full trade liberalization at this time."
Chen explains that China has used
TQR as a trade policy instrument to stabilize domestic prices and restrict
imports, and his research can help understand why they engage in this practice.
"These restrictions will
make foreign commodities more expensive and give more incentive for domestic
producers, so China can eat more domestically produced food," he says.
"China wants to feed itself
and be less dependent on other suppliers. Furthermore, China has huge grain
stocks and want to use them. Finally, international prices are volatile, so for
food security reasons they don't want prices to fluctuate too much. They want
to have stable food prices so people can feel safe, buying the same
food with the same budget."
Chen says the study can have
implications for trade negotiators and policy makers, both in the U.S. and
China, by showing the effect the TQR policy has on
trade.
The new phase one trade deal
stipulates that tariff rate quota administration not be used to prevent the
full utilization of agricultural tariff rate quotas. The implementation of the
trade deal will likely benefit U.S. grain exports to China, Chen notes.
Soybean trade is an important
part of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and that will be the
topic for Chen's next research project.
"We will quantify the impact
on U.S. soybean exports to China, calculating how exports have been reduced by
the trade war in the last year. That's what I'm currently working on," he
says.
Researchers develop biodegradable, recyclable
material made from banana waste
24 JANUARY 2020
Researchers at the University
of New South Wales have discovered a novel way to turn banana
plantation waste into recyclable, biodegradable packaging material.
Over the past few months,
Packaging Europe has been exploring innovative bio-based alternatives to
single-use plastics – from spray-on edible peels to flexible films made from waste crustacean shells. Now,
Australian scientists have made a discovery in this field that they believe
could provide a sustainable packaging solution while at the same time preventing
food waste.
Associate Professor Jayashree
Arcot and Professor Martina Stenzel were looking for ways to convert
agricultural waste into a useful product when the banana-growing industry came
to their attention. According to A/Prof Arcot, in most cases, only 12% of the
banana plant (the fruit) is actually used, with the rest being discarded
post-harvest.
“What makes the banana-growing
business particularly wasteful compared to other fruit crops is the fact that
the plant dies after each harvest,” said A/Prof Arcot.
“We were particularly interested
in the pseudostems – basically the layered, fleshy trunk of the plant which is
cut down after each harvest and mostly discarded on the field. Some of it is
used for textiles, some as compost, but other than that, it’s a huge waste,”
she continued.
A/Prof Arcot and Prof Stenzel
wondered whether the pseudostems would be valuable sources of cellulose – an
important structural component of plant cell walls – that could be used in
packaging, paper products, textiles and even medical applications such as wound
healing and drug delivery.
“The pseudostem is
90% water, so the solid material ends up reducing down to about 10%,”
A/Prof Arcot said. “We bring the pseudostem into the lab and chop it into
pieces, dry it at very low temperatures in a drying oven, and then mill it into
a very fine powder.”
Prof Stenzel continued: “We then
take this powder and wash it with a very soft chemical treatment. This isolates
what we call nano-cellulose which is a material of high value with a whole
range of applications. One of those applications that interested us greatly was
packaging, particularly single-use food packaging where so much ends up in
landfill.”
When processed, the material
reportedly has a consistency similar to baking paper.
Expand
Pictures: Richard Freeman/UNSW
A/Prof Arcot said depending on
the intended thickness, the material could be used in a number of different
formats in food packaging. “There are some options at this point, we could make
a shopping bag, for example,” she said.
“Or depending on how we pour the
material and how thick we make it; we could make the trays that you see for
meat and fruit. Except of course, instead of being foam, it is a material that
is completely non-toxic, biodegradable and recyclable.”
A/Prof Arcot said she and Prof
Stenzel have confirmed in tests that the material breaks down organically after
putting ‘films’ of the cellulose material in soil for six months. The results
apparently showed that the sheets of cellulose were well on the way to
disintegrating in the soil samples.
“The material is also recyclable.
One of our Ph.D. students proved that we can recycle this three times without
any change in properties,” Professor Arcot said.
Tests with food have also
reportedly proved that the product poses no contamination risks.
“We tested the material with food
samples to see whether there was any leaching into the cells,” Professor
Stenzel said. “We didn’t see any of that. I also tested it on mammalian cells,
cancer cells, T-cells and it’s all non-toxic to them. So, if the T-cells are
happy – because they’re usually sensitive to anything that’s toxic – then it’s
very benign.”
Other areas of agricultural
waste that the duo has looked at are the cotton and rice-growing
industries – they have extracted cellulose from both waste cotton gathered
from cotton gins and rice paddy husks.
“In theory, you can get
nano-cellulose from every plant, it’s just that some plants are better than
others in that they have higher cellulose content,” Prof Stenzel said.
“What makes bananas so attractive
in addition to the quality of the cellulose content is the fact that they are
an annual plant,” A/Prof Arcot added.
The researchers say that for the
banana pseudostem to be a realistic alternative to plastic bags and food
packaging, it would make sense for the banana industry to start the processing
of the pseudostems into powder which they could then sell to packaging
suppliers.
“If the banana industry can come
on board, and they say to their farmers or growers that there’s a lot of value
in using those pseudostems to make into a powder which you could then sell,
that's a much better option for them as well as for us,” Prof Arcot said.
And at the other end of the
supply chain, if packaging manufacturers updated their machines to be able to
fabricate the nano-cellulose film into bags and other food packaging materials,
then banana pseudostems stand a real chance of making food packaging much more
sustainable.
“What we’re really wanting at
this stage is an industry partner who can look into how this could be upscaled
and how cheap we can make it,” Prof Stenzel said.
A/Prof Arcot agreed. “I think the
packaging companies would be more willing to have a go at this material if they
knew the material was available readily.”
A capital rejection of jute
Published at 11:41 pm January 24th,
2020
The government ordered use of jute packaging
for six products - paddy, rice, wheat, maize, and sugar Mehedi
Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
'We get them in plastic so we sell them in
plastic'
Over the last
seven years, the government has gradually introduced regulations that made jute
packaging mandatory for 19 agricultural products. But the parties in the supply
chain viewed the regulations with disdain, and continue to use the
environmentally harmful polythene and plastic bags.
The middling
efforts by government authorities have not translated to effective
implementation, especially considering that the Trading Corporation of
Bangladesh (TCB) - which sells daily essentials - is also among the offenders.
In the meantime, jute sacks worth hundreds of crores of taka produced by the
government remain unsold and unused.
What the law holds
In 2013, for
the first time in Bangladesh, the government ordered use of jute packaging
for six products - paddy, rice, wheat, maize, fertilizer, and sugar – aiming to
increase jute use to support the struggling sector, and cut down the rampant
pollution caused by plastic bags. The order was a culmination of the
Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010.
Four years down
the line in 2017, the rules were amended to add another 11 commodities –
chilli, coriander, onion, ginger, garlic, pulses, turmeric, potatoes,
flour, and rice bran. In 2018, poultry and fish feed were included as scheduled
products, raising the number of commodities which must use jute packaging to
19.
Violation of
the law can lead to severe punishments. Scheduled products found packaged
without jute sacks can be seized and redistributed by the government. A
first-time offender can be fined up to Tk50,000 or a year in prison or both.
Repeat offences will double the punishment and lead to further
seizure.
If any company
is the offender, then its owner/director/official will be held liable unless
they prove themselves innocent.
Disdain for jute
Visits to
retail and wholesale markets in the capital found that only rice and potato are
packed in burlap sacks. The other 17 products have continued to be stored and
carried in polythene or plastic sacks.
Outside the TCB
office, onion could be seen hauled out of large plastic sacks and sold to
consumers in smaller polythene bags.
Jewel Hossain,
a representative from TCB dealer Hazrat Enterprise, said they received the
onion packaged in plastic sacks.
“We get them in
plastic so we sell them in plastic,” he said.
A visit to
Karwanbazar also yielded similar results as all the scheduled commodities
except the aforementioned were being sold in plastic packaging instead of jute
sacks. However, rice from Haque Rice Mill, Raju Auto Rice Mills, Karim
Automatic Rice Mill, Rabeya Automatic Rice Mill came in jute sacks which were
coated with plastic.
Poultry feed
manufacturers like Aftab Feed Product Limited, Standard Feed, United Feeds
Limited, and Gram Bangla Layer were found selling their products in
plastic sacks. City Group, Meghna Group and Deshbandhu Group’s sugar came in
plastic sacks.
Bashundhara
Group’s flour, City Groups’ Teer branded flour, Shitalakkhya Flour, Sonargaon
flour, Haque flour, Chaka flour, Banglar Tajmahal, were among flour products
found in plastic bag.
Onions, garlic,
ginger, and chilli were also being sold in plastic sacks at wholesale.
Wholesalers
claimed almost all the onion, garlic, and ginger in Dhaka were imported from
China in plastic packaging, and pleaded that it was out of their hands, in
spite of the mobile court raids.
KM Layek Ali,
general secretary of the Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Association said:
“Every single miller in our association use jute sacks. The people who use
plastic are not millers, maybe they are traders.”
Mozammel Haque,
advisor to the association and owner of Haque Auto Rice Mill, said: “If we do
not use polythene covers, buyers say it is not original.”
Md Ujjal Mia,
manager of Siddik Enterprise, said: “There are no brands that use jute sacks.
Instead of fining us, the government should raid the mills and factories where
these products are stuffed in plastic sacks. Besides, goods like flour and
sugar cannot be packed in jute sacks because of the huge amount that get
wasted.”
Challenges in enforcing
According to
the Department of Jute, there were around 1,152 mobile court raids between July
and December last year. They fined around Tk73.48 lakh in total. The department
acknowledged the difficulty in enforcing compliance.
Sowdagar
Mustafizur Rahman, director general of the Department of Jute, said: “We are
taking two approaches – motivation and enforcement. We are meeting regularly
with the associations related to scheduled products. The trouble in enforcing
is that when we conduct raids like in the case of fertilizers,
businesses go on a strike. That is not preferable at all.”
In response to
concerns about jute sacks wasting sugar and flour, he suggested that businesses
line the inside of jute sacks with fibre polythene like Sonali Bag – a
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation innovation made from jute. However, the
much-touted Sonali Bag has had tremendous difficulty rolling out, and is only
being manufactured on an experimental basis. There is no confirmed timetable on
when it will be commercially marketed. There are also
concerns over its pricing.
Ashraf Hossain
Chowdhury, deputy general manager (Accounts & Finance) at the Bangladesh
Jute Mills Corporation said there is about Tk700 crore worth of unsold jute
sacks in stock.
Dr Shahriar
Hossain, general secretary of the Environment and Social Development
Organization, a pioneer of the anti-polythene movement, said: “Everyone should
obey the rules and regulations of the country. Use of polythene and plastic
must be eliminated to save the environment.”
Rice prices go up by Tk 2-5 a kg
in a week
12:00 AM, January 25, 2020 / LAST
MODIFIED: 03:37 AM, January 25, 2020
Photo:
Collected
Staff Correspondent
Although it is the peak season of
harvesting rice, prices of the staple food are going up both in the capital’s
retail and wholesale markets, dealing a blow to the people with limited income
who are already struggling to make their ends meet.
Within a week, prices of fine rice
have increased by Tk 2 to 5 per kilogram in retail markets and Tk 100 to 150
per sack [50 kg] in wholesale markets.
Prices of coarse rice also went up
by Tk 2 to 3 per kg in retail markets and Tk 40 to 50 per sack in wholesale
markets.
Our correspondents yesterday
visited three kitchen markets and some retail stores in the city’s Karwan
Bazar, Moghbazar and Mirpur areas and found an almost similar hike in rice
prices.
Retail prices of fine rice stood up
at Tk 50 to 54 per kg from about Tk 45 to 48 a week ago. The prices of coarse
rice stood at Tk 32 to 35 from Tk 30 to 31 during this period.
Asked about the price hike, the
sellers blamed millers and the “rising trend” of paddy price.
The consumers, however, termed the
hike “unusual” and criticised both the sellers and millers for hiking the price
with an intention to make extra profits.
“Aman rice has just been harvested
and its processing is going on in full swing. How could the prices of rice
increase in such a peak season?” asked Muhammad Kamruzzaman, a buyer in
Moghbazar area.
“We cannot accept the price hike of
rice. I think the sellers and millers have formed a syndicate to make some
extra profit,” he added.
Jasim Uddin, a rice seller in
Karwan Bazar, said they had nothing to do with the price as they were dependent
on the millers.
“I bought a sack of fine rice at Tk
2,200 a week ago, but now I have to pay Tk 2,450. When I asked the millers
about the increased price, they told me that the prices of paddy were on the
rise,” he said.
Apart from rice, prices of some
other daily essentials -- sugar, lentil, mung bean and soybean oil -- also rose
Tk 5 to 10 per kg in the last 10 to 15 days.
Ikramul Haque, an employee of a
private company in the city’s Mirpur, said in recent times he had been finding
it difficult to maintain his four-member family due to the price hike of daily
essentials.
“A few days ago, onion [prices]
suffered us a lot; and now it’s rice. I have been going through a situation
where I cannot fulfill the demands of my kids on most occasions,” he said.
“I don’t know when we will get a
respite from the price hike,” said Ikramul, while talking to The Daily Star at
a kitchen market in Mirpur 7.
Abul Kalam Azad, a retail store
owner in the same area, said the government should address the issue of price
hike as it creates a misunderstanding between the shopkeepers and
customers.
Disabling Viruses With CRISPR Scissors
Viruses cause billions of dollars
in losses for many food, feed, and fiber crops, including staples like wheat,
rice, potatoes, cassava, beans, and plantains. In a scientific first,
Washington State University researchers delivered a one-two punch to knock out
these viruses, using precise, targeted editing of viral genes.
Popularly known as CRISPR-Cas9,
this genome editing approach can delete and replace individual bases in DNA.
“Genome editing is one of the
most powerful and groundbreaking developments in molecular biology, with
potentially far-reaching applications in agriculture, biology, and medicine,”
said Hanu Pappu, Samuel H. Smith Distinguished Professor and Chuey Endowed
Chair in WSU’s Department of Plant Pathology.
In a recent article in the
journal PloS One, Pappu and his collaborators showed that precise modifications
of multiple genes of a virus at the same time both disabled the virus and made
the plants highly resistant to disease.
Virus infection results in severe stunting of plants,
left, but plants challenged by a virus with edited genes at right, showed no
damage.
The study’s lead authors—Anirban
Roy, a visiting scientist on sabbatical from the Indian Agricultural Research
Institute in New Delhi, and Ying Zhai, a post-doctoral fellow in Pappu’s
lab—used a crop-destroying DNA virus to apply this approach. Their
collaborators included WSU crop science professor Michael Neff and his doctoral
student Jessica Ortiz. Roy was supported by a fellowship from the joint
Indo-U.S. Genome Editing Initiative.
“Commonly referred to as
begomoviruses, these are some of the most destructive viruses of vegetable
crops in tropical and sub-tropical countries around the world,” Roy said.
Begomoviruses are spread by whiteflies, a tiny insect that feeds on plants,
making them extremely difficult to control.
“These viruses tend to mutate and
evolve to escape their host plants’ defenses, and are notorious for overcoming
host plant resistance,” Pappu said. “This makes developing virus resistant
crops that remain disease resistant very challenging.”
With his Indian collaborators,
Sunil Mukherjee and Bikash Mandal, Pappu tried a new tactic: simultaneously
targeting and editing several different genes of the virus that are critical
for its multiplication and survival. The result was remarkably cumulative:
plants were able to resist the virus infection, and they remained symptom-free.
While CRISPR-Cas9 was used to
edit out single bases in one gene, Pappu’s team found a downside to this
approach. The edited virus quickly mutated to its original form and started
causing disease.
Hanu Pappu
“We went back to the drawing
board and tried to come up with a way to disable the virus more effectively,”
Pappu said.“It was a great moment when we did not see any indication that the
virus was able to mutate, after we edited its genes at multiple locations,”
Zhai added.Now, with their proof of concept, the scientists say it could be
possible to extend this approach to any begomovirus-host combination.“Genome
editing is one more weapon in the arsenal for the continued fight to protect
crops from viruses,” Pappu said.Read the team’s PLoS One journal article, Multiplexed
editing of a begomovirus genome restricts escape mutant formation and disease
development (Roy, A., Y. Zhai, J. Ortiz, M.M. Neff, B. Mandal,
S.K. Mukherjee and H.R. Pappu (2019).
Media contact:
- Hanu Pappu, Samuel H. Smith Distinguished
Professor and Chuey Endowed Chair, Department of Plant Pathology,
509-335-3752, hrp@wsu.edu
USA Rice Gives Positive Trade Report at California Grower
Meetings
YUBA
CITY, CA -- More than one hundred growers from throughout the Sacramento Valley
met here and in Colusa yesterday for the California Rice Commission's annual
meetings for industry updates. Growers heard from a variety of speakers
representing their interests, based in both Washington and Sacramento.
State legislative advocates Louie Brown and Ann Grottviet covered 2020 projections for California politics and hot issues on the docket for the California legislature. Todd Manley, representing Northern California Water, explained the 2019 water situation across the state and new funding streams for the decades-long Sites Reservoir project that will provide irrigation security for growers in northern California.
Two speakers provided Washington-focused news,
starting with The Russell Group's Tyson Redpath who spoke of President Trump's
impeachment, U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ratification, Congressional
legislative calendar, and the presidential election timeline. USA Rice
Vice President of International Trade Policy Peter Bachmann provided an update
on U.S. rice trade and predictions for 2020.
"U.S.-grown rice scored several wins in 2019
with increased exports in some key long grain rice markets and a finalized
country-specific quota for exports to Korea, but 2020 is already shaping up to
be an even better year for the industry," said Bachmann.
"Commercial shipments to China are on the horizon, implementation of the
USMCA is imminent, and we're on the brink of upcoming negotiations with both
the United Kingdom and Japan, presenting potential opportunities for our
domestic industry to gain ground on the trade front this year."
California Rice Commission Chair Sean Doherty said, "CRC's winter grower meetings are perfect timing during the off-season to remind our membership what the Commission and our partners like USA Rice, The Russell Group, and others are doing for us year-round."
Doherty added, "Water, state regulations, and trade are always top of mind for California's growers and the updates are always well received. More importantly, these meetings give our growers the opportunity to ask questions in-person to the people that work for us every day in Sacramento and in Washington."
State legislative advocates Louie Brown and Ann Grottviet covered 2020 projections for California politics and hot issues on the docket for the California legislature. Todd Manley, representing Northern California Water, explained the 2019 water situation across the state and new funding streams for the decades-long Sites Reservoir project that will provide irrigation security for growers in northern California.
Two speakers provided Washington-focused news,
starting with The Russell Group's Tyson Redpath who spoke of President Trump's
impeachment, U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ratification, Congressional
legislative calendar, and the presidential election timeline. USA Rice
Vice President of International Trade Policy Peter Bachmann provided an update
on U.S. rice trade and predictions for 2020."U.S.-grown rice scored several wins in 2019
with increased exports in some key long grain rice markets and a finalized
country-specific quota for exports to Korea, but 2020 is already shaping up to
be an even better year for the industry," said Bachmann.
"Commercial shipments to China are on the horizon, implementation of the
USMCA is imminent, and we're on the brink of upcoming negotiations with both
the United Kingdom and Japan, presenting potential opportunities for our
domestic industry to gain ground on the trade front this year."California Rice Commission Chair Sean Doherty said, "CRC's winter grower meetings are perfect timing during the off-season to remind our membership what the Commission and our partners like USA Rice, The Russell Group, and others are doing for us year-round."
Doherty added, "Water, state regulations, and trade are always top of mind for California's growers and the updates are always well received. More importantly, these meetings give our growers the opportunity to ask questions in-person to the people that work for us every day in Sacramento and in Washington."
USA RICE DAILY
A Japanese
Sculptor’s Tribute to Wild Rice Covers an Australian Floodplain
Mitsuaki Tanabe’s untimely death spurred his son to
finish his last work.
JANUARY
22, 2020
Mitsuaki Tanabe hoped to draw
attention to the glories of wild rice with this massive work. COURTESY
OF THE AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION
TAKAMITSU TANABE
WANTS TO TAKE a walk. Meeting in the suburbs of
Yokohama, a city south of Tokyo, we make our way to the Matsunokawa Greenway, a
trail that runs through the town. The path is unkempt, with native trees and
grasses sprawling in tangled tufts across the walkway. It’s deliberate,
explains Takamitsu, who goes by Taka. He points out that the snarl supports
birds and insects.
The path was established more than 30 years ago by Taka’s
parents. The Tanabe family has lived in this area for 400 years, and over the
generations, housing developments gradually encroached on the Matsuno River.
The river became increasingly polluted, so the Tanabes worked with the city of
Yokohama to establish the Greenway around it.
Mitsuaki’s statue “BIRD-Wild Vegetable / Hiyoshi” on
the Matsunokawa Greenway. SELENA
HOY
Taka and I come to an enormous steel bird’s head, its beak
pointed towards the sky. It was made by Taka’s late father, the sculptor
Mitsuaki Tanabe. I wade through the tall grass to get a better look, and seeds
stick to my boots. A brown-and-white bird swoops down, and the grass quivers as
it pecks at something in the brush. “Birds are a kind of indicator because
they’re at the top of the ecosystem,” says Taka. “If the ground condition is
good, with a lot of plants and insects, there are a lot of birds.” Down the
path, we come to another sculpture by Mitsuaki, this one a steel lizard at the
side of the path. The words “WILD CRISIS” are written on its legs.
The crisis facing the world’s biodiversity was the subject of most
of Mitsuaki’s work. His sculptures depicting wild seeds can be found all over
the world, from Thailand to Italy. But Mitsuaki was especially passionate about
wild rice. One of his wild rice sculptures is installed at the Global Seed
Vault in Svalbard, Norway.
The
Conservationist Saving India's Heirloom Rice Varieties
Attempting to explain his
father’s fascination with wild rice, Taka notes that “70 to 80 percent of the
world’s people eat rice as a main staple. It’s a precious food.” Because wild
rice isn’t cultivated, it’s largely ignored. Yet wild rice holds the blueprint
for modern cultivated rice strains.
“Ancestor species of our most
important crops are of significant value as a genetic resource to improve the
characteristics of our crops,” says Dr. Greg Leach, the former chief botanist
of Australia’s Northern Territory. “They may well hold attributes of disease
resistance, drought tolerance, and salinity tolerance, which can adapt our
crops to changing conditions.” And of course, rice is a mainstay in Japan.
In Australia’s Northern Territory, Mitsuaki carved a
strand of wild rice on a granite boulder. COURTESY OF THE
AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION
Mitsuaki graduated with a degree
in sculpture from Tama Art University in 1961, then trained for a time under
the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Over the following decades,
Mitsuaki developed his craft: traveling, working on public projects, and
carving out his own space in the art world. He worked in Australia in the
1990s, and in the early 2000s, he dreamed up a new project.
“Tanabe-san had heard about wild
rice growing in northern Australia and was keen to see this for himself,” says
Leach. He arranged for Mitsuaki to travel to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed
floodplains outside of the city of Darwin. “He was totally blown away at the
extent of wild rice, as elsewhere in the world wild rice has been almost wiped
out due to development of floodplain areas,” Leach says.
A photograph in the Hiyoshi no Mori Museum depicts
Misayo and Mitsuaki Tanabe presenting a 7.5-ton “Momi” sculpture to the
International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. SELENA
HOY
There, Mitsuaki decided to create
one of his wild rice sculptures, which he called “Momi,” in order to raise
awareness of the Northern Territory’s wild rice varieties (which include Oryza officinalis, Oryza rufipogon, Oryza meridionalis, and Oryza australiensis) and to support their
conservation. “His main medium was stainless steel, and we were initially a
little perturbed about having a large stainless steel sculpture in the
wetlands,” says Leach. “However, when Tanabe saw the beautiful granite boulders
around Mount Bundey, he sought approval to use these as his medium for creating
his sculptures.”
Mitsuaki received support from
the Australian Embassy and the government of the Northern Territory, as well as
permission from the aboriginal landowners. “[Mitsuaki was] taking a fantastic
passion from Japan and applying it to something that most Australians aren’t
even aware of, wild rice,” says Michael Hoy, Public Affairs counsellor at the
Australian Embassy in Japan.
Mitsuaki’s “Grub” carving, in one of the boulders
around Mount Bundey. COURTESY OF THE TANABE FAMILY
Mitsuaki went back and forth
between Japan and Australia for 10 years, carving insects and lizards into the
granite boulders, and a 269-foot-long wild rice strand into the floodplain
itself. He visited in the dry season in order to avoid the area’s poisonous
creatures and spent a month per year carving, sometimes with the help of other
sculptors. “Our floodplains are far from pristine, and face a number of threats
such as weeds, feral herbivores, and sea level rise,” says Leach. “The efforts
of a Japanese sculptor have served to highlight the valuable resource we have
in wild rice, as it is a key species in the ecology of the floodplains.”
“It sometimes takes an outside
perspective to awaken us to what we have,” he adds.
But in 2014, Mitsuaki had a heart
attack and collapsed. Within a year, he passed away. His work in northern
Australia was left unfinished.
Misayo and Takamitsu Tanabe at their home in
Yokohama. SELENA HOY
He had so loved working on the
project, reminisce Taka and his mother Misayo. “He was very steadfast and put a
lot of effort into it,” says Misayo. “He was a taciturn person, but if he
started talking about sculpture, he was incredible. He would talk all night.”
Bringing attention to issues of biodiversity was his life’s work. “He thought a
lot about how he could be of use as a human being,” explains Misayo. Both Taka
and Misayo thought he would have wanted his epic Australian endeavor to be
completed.
At the time of his death, says
Leach, “he already had a significant body of work spreading over quite an area.
A few items were unfinished, but the site already achieved his vision as a
statement on the significance of wild rice and the international conservation
value of our wetlands.” Yet the huge strand of wild rice, which Mitsuaki called
“Momi-2010,” was not quite completed, and neither was the uncarved outline of a
beetle nearby.
Taka decided to finish his
father’s work. While not a sculptor himself (he’s the curator of the Hiyoshi no
Mori museum, which is dedicated to both his father’s art and preserving the
ancestral Tanabe home), he enlisted help from artists who had known Mitsuaki,
as well as from the Australia-Japan Foundation.
The “Insect-2016” carving, completed by Taka and the
sculptors Jun Yamazoe and Kazuhisa Aketa. COURTESY OF THE TANABE
FAMILY
“With Mitsuaki’s sculptures, we
wanted to convey the importance of wild rice to future generations,” says
Kazuhisa Aketa, who helped to complete the unfinished “Momi-2010” sculpture.
“The wild rice of the Northern Territory, and rice, a Japanese staple food, may
save the future of the earth,” he says. “And as a sculptor, I thought the work
shouldn’t go unfinished. This special project took more than 10 years, and I
thought it was very important to complete it.”
The “Australian In-Situ Wild Rice
Conservation Project” was finally finished in 2016. In a region with plenty of
wilderness, it has the potential to become a powerful symbol of conservation.
“The project is significant to northern Australia for a number of reasons,”
says Leach. “We now have the artwork of an internationally recognized sculptor
in a dramatic outdoor setting on the approach to a World-Heritage listed area
in Kakadu National Park.”
It also helps foster the
relationship between Japan and Australia. Hoy says that many older Australians
associate Darwin with its bombing by Japan in World War II. “I think for
Australians traveling through the region, finding that a Japanese sculptor has
come to the Northern Territory has helped,” he says. Now, carved into the
floodplain forever, there’s a physical representation of the connection between
the two countries, and “how far we’ve come,” notes Hoy.
Mitsuaki Tanabe himself, walking along the still-incomplete
“Momi-2010.” COURTESY OF THE TANABE FAMILY
Mitsuaki used art to raise
awareness of the natural world, and both his wife and son hope that his message
will continue to resonate, even after his death. “Do you know the term shin-zen-bi?” asks Misayo. (It means “truth,
goodness, and beauty” in Japanese.) “We need beauty during tough times. Looking
at beauty gives us back our energy.”
The Tanabes hope that some of
that energy can go towards the fight for biodiversity, both for the sake of
humanity and the natural world. Mitsuaki saw seeds as the key to that fight.
After all, says Taka, “seeds have infinity power.”
Gastro Obscura covers the world’s most wondrous food and drink.
Cambodia rice crisis signals deeper economic rot
EU tariffs, intense drought and deep debts all loom darkly over
nation’s top crop and employer Cambodia’s beleaguered
rice sector is both literally and figuratively drying up, with drought parching
crops and commercial banks refusing liquidity to farmers and millers in need of
loans to stay afloat. The country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries last year warned farmers that they may only be able plant one crop
during the current dry season, which typically runs through April. The ministry
has said this could result in a smaller rice harvest year on year in 2020, a
significant decline considering the rice sector is still one of the mostly
rural nation’s main employers.
The agricultural sector, of which rice farming is the biggest
component, employed around 3 million of Cambodia’s 15 million workers and
accounted for just over a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)
in 2018, according to state data. While the rice sector has long faced problems
of underfunding and black market dealing, and is increasingly being impacted by
environmental change and degradation, its woes have been compounded by European
Union (EU) tariffs imposed last year on rice imports from Cambodia. Rice
shipments to Europe, previously Cambodia’s largest export market, declined due
to the tariffs by around a third last year, from nearly 300,000 tons in 2018 to
around 200,000 tons, according to Ministry of Agriculture statistics. The blow
was, to some extent, cushioned by an increase of 46% in rice exports to China,
the country’s main political ally. Days after the EU’s tariffs went into effect
last January, Chinese president Xi Jinping promised to increase the rice quota
amount of China imports from Cambodia to 400,000 tons, up from the 300,000 tons
set in 2018.
Cambodian workers load bags of rice
in a file photo. Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin SothyNot only does the quota amount
represent artificial demand, as it requires the Chinese government to enforce
imports, it is also more wishful thinking than a solution for Phnom Penh
considering China failed to meet its smaller quota set for 2018, when it bought
only 170,000 of a promised 300,000 tons. Despite nearly doubling, Cambodia only
exported 248,100 tons of milled rice to China in 2019, according to the
Cambodian General Directorate of Agriculture. This means it fell well short of
the 400,000 ton target and thus likely won’t be enough to lift the industry’s
parched 2020 prospects.
Cambodian workers load bags of rice
in a file photo. Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin SothyNot only does the quota amount
represent artificial demand, as it requires the Chinese government to enforce
imports, it is also more wishful thinking than a solution for Phnom Penh
considering China failed to meet its smaller quota set for 2018, when it bought
only 170,000 of a promised 300,000 tons. Despite nearly doubling, Cambodia only
exported 248,100 tons of milled rice to China in 2019, according to the
Cambodian General Directorate of Agriculture. This means it fell well short of
the 400,000 ton target and thus likely won’t be enough to lift the industry’s
parched 2020 prospects.
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- January 24, 2020
JANUARY 24, 2020 / 2:32 PM /
* * * * * *
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-January 24, 2020 Nagpur,
Jan 24 (Reuters) – Gram and tuar prices firmed up again in Nagpur Agriculture
Produce and Marketing Company (APMC) auctions here on good seasonal buying
support from local millers amid tight supply from producing regions. Fresh hike
on NCDEX in gram, upward trend in Madhya Pradesh pulses and reported demand
from South-based plants also helped to push up prices. About 50 bags of gram
and 100 bags of tuar reported for auction, according to sources.
GRAM
* Desi gram reported higher in open market here on renewed buying
support from local
traders.
TUAR * Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market here on subdued
demand from local
traders.
* Mot prices showed upward tendency in open market here on
increased demand
from local traders.
* In Akola, Tuar New – 5,200-5,400, Tuar dal (clean) – 8,100-8,300,
Udid Mogar (clean)
– 9,900-11,000, Moong Mogar (clean) 9,300-10,200, Gram –
4,400-4,500, Gram Super best
– 5,500-5,700 * Wheat, other varieties of rice and other foodgrain
items moved in a narrow range in
scattered deals and settled at last levels in weak trading
activity.
Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100
kg
FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close
Gram Auction 3,650-3,900 3,500-3,850
Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction 4,400-4,580 4,300-4,580
Moong Auction n.a. 3,950-4,200
Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500
Masoor Auction n.a. 2,200-2,500
Wheat Lokwan Auction 2,050-2,110 2,000-2,120
Wheat Sharbati Auction n.a. 2,900-3,000
Gram Super Best Bold 5,700-6,000 5,700-6,000
Gram Super Best n.a. n.a.
Gram Medium Best 5,100-5,400 5,100-5,300
Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a
Gram Mill Quality 4,300-4,400 4,300-4,400
Desi gram Raw 4,300-4,400 4,250-4,350
Gram Kabuli 8,500-10,000 8,500-10,000
Tuar Fataka Best-New 8,000-8,200 8,000-8,200
Tuar Fataka Medium-New 7,500-7,800 7,500-7,800
Tuar Dal Best Phod-New 7,000-7,300 7,000-7,300
Tuar Dal Medium phod-New 6,300-6,800 6,300-6,800
Tuar Gavarani New 5,050-5,200 5,050-5,200
Tuar Karnataka 5,350-5,450 5,400-5,500
Masoor dal best 6,000-6,200 6,000-6,200
Masoor dal medium 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800
Masoor n.a. n.a.
Moong Mogar bold (New) 9,800-10,500 9,800-10,500
Moong Mogar Medium 8,500-9,500 8,500-9,500
Moong dal Chilka New 8,100-9,100 8,100-9,000
Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki best 8,700-9,500 8,500-9,500
Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 10,000-11,500 10,000-11,500
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 8,500-9,200 8,500-9,300
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 7,200-7,700 7,200-7,700
Mot (100 INR/KG) 6,200-7,400 6,000-7,400
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 5,000-5,400 5,000-5,400
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 6,500-6,600 6,500-6,600
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 11,700-12,000 11,700-12,000
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,450 2,350-2,450
Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,300 2,200-2,300
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,800 2,700-2,800
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,850 2,700-2,850
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,600 2,500-2,600
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,600-4,200 3,600-4,200
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200
Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,700 2,600-2,700
Rice BPT best new (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,800 3,200-3,800
Rice BPT medium new(100 INR/KG) 2,900-3,100 2,900-3,100
Rice BPT New (100INR/KG) 2,700-3,300 2,700-3,300
Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,300 3,200-3,300
Rice Swarna best new (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,000 2,800-3,000
Rice Swarna medium new (100 INR/KG)2,500-2,700 2,500-2,700
Rice Swarna New (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,700 2,400-2,700
Rice HMT best new (100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,500 4,200-4,500
Rice HMT medium new (100 INR/KG) 4,100-4,200 4,100-4,200
Rice Shriram best new(100 INR/KG) 5,200-5,700 5,200-5,700
Rice Shriram med new (100 INR/KG) 4,700-5,100 4,700-5,100
Rice Shriram New (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,300 4,000-4,300
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 8,500-13,000 8,500-13,000
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,500 5,000-7,500
Rice Chinnor best new 100 INR/KG) 5,800-6,200 5,800-6,200
Rice Chinnor medium new(100 INR/KG)5,500-5,700 5,500-5,700
Rice Chinnor New (100 INR/KG) 4,400-4,600 4,400-4,600
Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,550 2,350-2,550
Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 2,050-2,250 2,050-2,250 WEATHER (NAGPUR)
Maximum temp. 30.0 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 12.0 degree Celsius Rainfall :
Nil FORECAST: Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperature likely to be
around 29 degree Celsius and 12 degree Celsius respectively. Note: n.a.—not
available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices,
but included in market prices)
Govt. to buy up surplus Maha
paddy stocks
Friday, January 24, 2020 - 01:10
“Although a slight hike of prices of rice can be seen, as a result of the policy decision taken by the government to stop the importation of rice, the government has been able to save approximately 100 million US dollars in foreign exchange,” the Minister said.
He further said that the circumstances have resulted in the strengthening foreign exchange as well as a decline in interest rates.
The Cabinet of Ministers yesterday further decided to implement several other measures pertaining to the rice market without delay. They include:-
•a minimum certified price of Rs.50 for kilo of paddy with the required quality standard (subject to the criterion of moisture). Minimum certified price of a kilo of paddy with moisture to be certified as Rs. 45
•to purchase rice through District Secretaries as well as the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) ;
•direct purchase of consignments of rice required for government institutions such as the Security Forces, Department of Prisons, Hospitals etc from the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) itself ;
•immediately assign all store houses and warehouses under the purview of the Food Commission for the storage of paddy stocks ;
•loans amounting to approximately Rs.100 billion have also been allocated under a concessionary loan interest rate of 8% for rice purchasers including small, medium scale as well as large scale millers for the purchase of paddy under the certified price ;
•to entrust the monitoring of the paddy purchasing programme in the key producing districts of Polonnaruva, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Vavuniya, Ampara, Batticaloa, Monaragala and Hambantota to several state ministers.
Circulars required to implement the above programmes have been issued by the Secretary to the President.
Exclusive: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay
payments from Iran
JANUARY 24, 2020 / 6:35 PM /
•
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reluctance among Indian traders to ship
premium basmati rice to Iran as U.S. sanctions hobble its ability to pay has
contributed to a sharp drop in overall exports from the world’s biggest
supplier of the grain, trade and government sources said.
FILE PHOTO: A worker spreads rice for drying at a rice mill on
the outskirts of Kolkata, India, January 31, 2019. REUTERS/Rupak De
Chowdhuri/File Photo
Rice shipments from India slipped by more than a quarter to 5.5
million tonnes between April and November 2019 — the first eight months of the
fiscal year — from 7.5 million tonnes in the year-ago period, the sources said.
In terms of value, exports dropped 19% to $3.8 billion from $4.7 billion.
The grain is India’s biggest foreign exchange earning farm
commodity, with shipments worth $7.75 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year.
Basmati rice exports to Iran, New Delhi’s top buyer of the
aromatic grain, dropped to 600,000 tonnes in the eight months from 900,000
tonnes a year earlier, but traders, worried about delayed payments, have not signed
any new contracts with Tehran in the past five days, the sources said.
Shipments are not expected to significantly pick up, with buyers
in Iran owing a record 20 billion rupees ($281.41 million) to India as U.S.-
imposed sanctions make it hard to pay for imported commodities, they added.
“We are in a precarious situation,” Nathi Ram Gupta, president
of the All India Rice Exporters Association, told Reuters. “We have urged the
Indian government to step in to ensure that our dues are cleared by Iran.”
Reuters was unable to contact traders in Iran for comment.
Iranian buyers paid some of the money they owed in November, the
sources said, encouraging Indian traders to sign new contracts and ultimately
pushing dues to an all-time high.
Of the 4.4 million tonnes of basmati rice shipped by India in
the 2018/19 fiscal year, Iran accounted for 1.4 million tonnes.
“Our exports to Iran will definitely fall this year and that is
going to drag down both the country’s basmati and non-basmati rice exports.
We’re worried on two counts of India’s falling rice exports and our mounting
dues,” said Vijay Setia, former president of the All India Rice Exporters
Association.
Beside the drop in exports to Iran, non-basmati rice exports to
Europe have also fallen, with trade and industry officials citing higher
pesticide residues in shipments from India as a factor behind reduced purchases
from the European Union.
Higher benchmark prices in Thailand, the world’s second-biggest
rice exporter, have however prompted some buyers to opt for Indian rice,
pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three months
despite the fall in exports.
India’s 5% broken parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1 rose to around
$366-$371 per tonne from last week’s $364-$368, the highest since Oct. 31.
Domestic prices have also risen
on fresh orders from Africa, traders said.
Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and
Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
Rice imports at
nearly 1.3m tons in 10 months
January 24, 2020 - 14:17
PAID
PROMOTIONAL LINKS
Promoted by Dianomi
TEHRAN- Iran has imported 1.298
million tons of rice during the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar
year (March 21, 2019-January 20, 2020), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic
of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.
According to Rouhollah Latifi, so
far, 1.053 million tons of the mentioned amount has been fully cleared, while
the clearance licensing process is underway for another 51,000 tons.
Imports of foreign rice are
prohibited every year during the harvest season of domestic rice, which is from
late July to late November, Latifi said, adding that since the bans on imports
were lifted, the imports have been underway smoothly.
The country’s rice cultivation
and production have grown this year due to favorable weather conditions and
imports have also been higher than the previous years, the official said.
Back in October 2019, Deputy
Agriculture Minister Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh announced that Iran has become
completely self-sufficient in rice production as it plans to cut up to two
million tons of imports a year.
The Statistical Center of Iran
estimates that Iranians consume approximately 35 kilograms of rice per person
each year. That would mean a domestic demand of nearly three million tons for a
country of 83 million people.
Bakhshandeh said rice
self-sufficiency would save Iran more than $1.1 billion in imports, adding that
it would also be a major success amid efforts to minimize the impacts of the
American sanctions on food security in the country.
A growing problem: Nigerian rice farmers fall short after
borders close
·
·
MAKURDI, Nigeria (Reuters) -
Thomas Tyavwva Maji is planting rice on more of his land in Nigeria’s Benue
State than ever to take advantage of a surge in prices since the country shut
its land borders in August.
But he says he cannot go much
further. With no machinery or irrigation, limited manual labor and no spare
cash for fertilizers, the 45-year-old is not expecting any dramatic change in
his fortunes.
“We work until we get exhausted,
manually we get exhausted,” said Maji, as a woman nearby beat hand-harvested
stalks on the ground to separate the grains from the chaff.
The constraints Maji faces have
bedeviled many rice farmers and millers across Nigeria for years. Despite
government measures designed to spur production, farmers in Nigeria get far
less from their land than other major rice growers and the West African country
is only marginally less reliant on imports.
That’s a problem for a government
that wants to grow all of its own food and boost the country’s agriculture, a
sector that accounts for nearly a third of gross domestic product in Africa’s
biggest economy.
When he came to power in 2015,
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to help the nation become
self-sufficient in rice – once a luxury but now a staple for millions of
Nigerians.
In 2015, Nigeria’s central bank
banned the use of its foreign exchange to pay for rice imports and has backed
loans of at least 40 billion naira ($130 million) to help small-holders boost
output. It also banned rice imports across land borders and kept hefty 70%
tariffs on imports coming through ports.
In August last year, Nigeria went
a step further and closed its land borders altogether to stamp out smuggling,
often from neighboring Benin, with rice being one of the main targets.
(GRAPHIC: Rice Imports from
Thailand - here)
Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu,
said the measures boosted rice production to 9.2 million tonnes last year from
7.2 million in 2015, making Nigeria more or less self-sufficient, though
traders can import rice through ports if they pay the tariffs.
Agricultural data specialist Gro
Intelligence, however, put Nigeria’s rice output at 4.9 million tonnes in 2019,
up 60% from 2013 but well below local consumption of 7 million tonnes.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture, meanwhile, expects Nigeria’s 2020 rice imports to rise 9% to 2.4
million tonnes, in part due to the high cost of unprocessed Nigerian paddy rice
and elevated operating costs at mills.
In Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city,
supermarket shelves remain stocked with a plethora of imported rice brands.
In the markets where most
Nigerians buy their food, sacks of Nigerian rice are piled high but imported
rice is still available, even though some traders keep the foreign grain under
wraps to prevent it being confiscated by customs agents.
(GRAPHIC: Nigerian Rice
Production and Consumption - here)
FILE PHOTO: Farmers are seen
threshing harvested rice in Benue, Nigeria December 3, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi
Sotunde
LOW YIELDS
Small-scale farmers such as Maji
account for 80% of Nigeria’s rice production with a handful of large companies,
such as Coscharis Group, Dangote and Olam, growing the rest, according to the
U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
In Benue state, virtually every
aspect of Maji’s farming manual, from planting to harvesting to leveling out roads
to take the crop to market.
It’s a similar story on many
Nigerian farms, leaving the average yield per hectare at just over 2 tonnes -
half the global average and a fraction of Egypt’s 9.5 tonnes a hectare,
according to U.N. data.
(GRAPHIC: Nigeria Lags in Rice
Yield - here)
Experts say there is little hope
of improvement without significant investment in irrigation, mechanization,
roads and storage. More than 12% of rice is also wasted due to poor roads and
inefficient harvesting, milling and storage, consultants KPMG said in a review
of the Nigeria’s rice industry.
In a good year, Maji makes about
1.5 million naira ($4,900) – nowhere close to the 5 million, at least, a
tractor would cost. Without irrigation, a goal so remote he doesn’t even know
the cost, he can only plant one crop a year.
“At this scale, we will not even
be able to fetch a tractor. Talk less of fertilizer and other chemicals,” Maji
said.
According to the FAO, less than
1% of Nigeria’s farmland is irrigated, compared with a global average of more
than 20%.
Small- and medium-scale rice
millers, who account for more than 80 percent of the local market, also say
they’re struggling to meet increased demand without proper equipment.
At Wurukum Rice Mill in Makurdi,
Iveren Asan works alongside her sister, using a loud diesel-powered generator
to drive machinery processing paddy grains into consumable rice.
Nearby, rice grains that have
been parboiled in vats heated by firewood dry on tarps. She said new buyers
from across the country had surfaced since the border closures - but producing
more would require significant investment in new machines and the higher prices
were not enough on their own.
“We can’t meet the demand. We are
doing the process manually, so we cannot meet the demand,” she said.
(GRAPHIC: Nigeria's Incoming
Foreign Direct Investment Slides - here)
Slideshow (20 Images)
‘INCREDIBLY DISRUPTIVE’
More broadly, experts warned that
extreme measures, such as border closures, taken in the name of food security
were hurting Nigerians, stunting the development of other industries and
holding back foreign investment.
“The border closure has been
incredibly disruptive,” said John Ashbourne, an economist at Capital Economics.
“It stops industries from getting the imports they need, and it pushes up
prices.”
The border closure is set for
review Jan. 31 but the presidency’s Shehu said land frontiers would remain shut
until Nigeria’s neighbors stopped smuggling on their side - and there was “no
sign of compliance yet”.
Ashbourne said even some farming
has taken a hit from government policies.
After glass was added to a central
bank list of items importers cannot buy with foreign exchange, some tomato
paste plants shut because they couldn’t source the jars they needed.
On another farm in Benue State,
Abraham Hon, 51, weaves through rows of melons and corn before reaching his rice,
the crop that generates the most money.
“The prices look pretty good,” he
said, as men cut stalks of rice by hand and laid them in piles on the ground.
“We expect more money in the pocket this year.”
But while he and Asan are happy
with their increased income, they worry about the impact of higher prices on
consumers.
A 50 kg bag of rice can cost as
much as 24,000 naira in Lagos - nearly double the price in July before the
borders were shut and not far below the monthly minimum wage of 30,000 naira.
And consumers, who already spend
more than half their income on food according to the World Bank, are feeling
the squeeze.
“We will reach a point where
people who are buying rice can’t afford to buy rice. They will look at other
alternatives to get energy and get food on their table,” Hon said.
“That in the long term is not in
the interest of we, the farmers.”
(GRAPHIC: Border Closure Boosts
Nigeria's Inflation - here)
Editing by David Clarke
Davao Region’s
Model Rice Farms Identified
By Featuresdesk
(ICG) on January 24, 2020
The Department of Agriculture in Davao Region (DA-11) has identified rice model farms where farmers within the area can learn, apply technologies, and avail of services that would raise their productivity.
DA-11 director Ricardo Oñate Jr.
said the areas with organized and operational cooperatives are in Davao de Oro
province, particularly in Nabunturan and Compostela; in Davao del Norte
province, particularly in Carmen and Sto. Tomas towns; and in Davao Oriental
towns of Banaybanay, Cateel, and Boston.
Oñate said the identified rice
farms are recipients of programs covered by the Rice Competitive Enhancement
Fund (RCEF).
Records from DA-11 showed that
there are about 58,000 hectares of rice area in the region.
Oñate said rice production is a
priority program of the government under RCEF, which was created by Republic
Act 11203, otherwise known as the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
RCEF aims to improve rice farmers’
competitiveness and income. It has a PHP10 billion annual appropriation fund
for six years where 50 percent will be for mechanization program, 30 percent
for seed program, 10 percent credit program, and 10 percent rice extension
services.
Oñate said they are expecting the
delivery of more machinery and equipment within this quarter that will be deployed
in these model farms so the rice farmers can access.
“We will see to it that more model
farms will be established in rice-producing towns,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the plan for
expansion in the lowland is difficult as they are now considering the upland,
Oñate said.
He said negotiations are ongoing
with the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) community through the Department of Agrarian
Reform (DAR), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the tribal
leaders to develop an open area within their ancestral domain.
“We see the discussion going on
smoothly where agreements on respecting culture and tradition of the tribes
have been considered,” he said.He added there will be no cutting
of trees but only utilize the vacant areas. (PNA)
Nigerian rice farmers fall short
after borders close
Reuters
Videos•January 24, 2020
Thomas
Tyavwva Maji - like many other rice farmers and millers - is struggling to take
advantage of rising prices in Nigeria.
He's
planting more rice than ever but a lack of machinery or irrigation, limited
manual labor and no spare cash for fertilizers mean there's a limit to what he
can achieve.
(SOUNDBITE)
(English) RICE FARMER, THOMAS TYAWWA MAJI, SAYING:
"We
don't have tractor, we have not been accessing fertilizer, we have not been
accessing chemicals and all that, even the harvester we have not been
accessing, so our production is very low, but if those things are provided we
will have a bumper harvest."
It's a
similar story across Nigeria's paddy fields, leaving the country's average
yield per hectare at just over two tons - half the global average.
That's
a problem for the government which wants to boost the country's agriculture, a
sector that accounts for nearly a third of GDP.
President
Muhammadu Buhari's mission to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice has seen
imports banned across land borders, and hit with hefty tariffs in ports.
Last
year, land borders were closed altogether to stamp out smuggling.
The
government claims success, saying rice production is up from 7.2 million tons
in 2015 to 9.2 million last year.
But
agricultural data specialist Gro Intelligence disagrees. It puts output at 4.9
million tons.
At
Wurukum Rice Mill in Makurdi, Iveren Asan says new buyers have surfaced since
the borders were closed but that she's struggling to produce more.
(SOUNDBITE)
(English) RICE MILLER, IVEREN ASAN, SAYING:
"We
can't meet the demand because we are doing some of the processes manually so we
cannot meet the demand."
Her
income has increased, but not by enough to buy new machines.
With demand outstripping supply, a 50kg bag now costs nearly double
what it did in July, meaning it is Nigerian consumers - who typically spend
upwards of 70% of their incomes on food - who are feeling the squeeze.
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