Thursday, January 09, 2020

9th January ,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter


Pakistan to export 500,000 MT additional rice to China
JANUARY 8, 2020
Description: r1-696x447-1ISLAMABAD: After successfully completing the export quota of 250,000 MT of rice to China, Pakistan will now export additional 500,000 MT of rice to the country, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Investment and Industries Abdul Razak Dawood said on Wednesday.
In his tweet, the Advisor said that after completing the export quota, the government of Pakistan approached government of China for an additional 500,000 MT of rice which was accepted by the Chinese government.
He also requested all members of Rice Exports Association of Pakistan (REAP) to take advantage of this golden opportunity.

US-Iran crisis hits rice exporters, hundreds of containers struck at Gujarat port

The rice exporters, a sizeable chunk of whom are from Haryana, have stopped second shipment to Iran after the first shipment containing hundreds of containers was stopped at the Mundra port in Gujarat.


Manjeet Sehgal 
Chandigarh
January 8, 2020
UPDATED: January 8, 2020 16:36 IST
Description:
Representative image (PTI)
Indian rice exports to Iran have been hit hard by the growing tensions between the United States and Iran after the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
The rice exporters, a sizeable chunk of whom are from Haryana, have stopped the second shipment to Iran after the first shipment containing hundreds of containers was stopped at the Mundra port in Gujarat.
One of the leading rice exporters based in Kaithal, Narinder Miglani told India Today TV that most of the exporters had initiated their first shipment of this season which has now been withheld.
"I had sent more than 100 containers to Mundra which were about to be shipped to the Bandar-Abbas and Chabahar ports of Iran. We have withheld further shipment until the situation improves. We are not packing the rice now as the fate of the shipments is uncertain," Narendra Miglani said.
Miglani said that the rice exports normally start in the first week of January every year and continue till June. This is a six-month business.
In 2019, India exported basmati rice worth Rs 32,800 crore, out of which rice worth Rs 10,800 crore was imported by Iran. However, the exporters are yet to receive payments amounting to more than Rs 500 crore from Iran.
"Iran had withheld the payments following some currency issue. We have received up to 80 per cent of the payments and 20 per cent have still not been released. However, we trusted the buyers and started sending the shipments to Iran this year," says Narinder Miglani.
Rice exporters now fear that the US-Iran crisis will have a depressing impact on rice sales in India. Prices of Pusa 1121, a popular basmati rice variety in India and abroad, has seen a drop of Rs 150 per quintal within a couple of days. This variety of basmati rice was being sold at Rs 3,050 (per quintal) which dropped to Rs 2,900 per quintal.
The crisis has also impacted the rice prices in the international markets. The prices of this variety, according to Surinder Miglani, at the international level were Rs 5,500 per quintal which have dropped to Rs 5,200 per quintal.
Indian exporters now are estimating that if the situation did not improve it will badly impact rice farmers and exporters both.

WFP India Country Brief, September 2019

REPORT
Published on 30 Sep 2019 View Original

Highlights
Description: previewIn the State of Odisha, WFP is entering into an agreement with Mission Shakti, the State Government’s Directorate for Women’s Self-Help Groups (WSHGs). WFP will support in strengthening the capacities of WSHGs on livelihoods, empowerment and nutrition. There are 600,000 WSHGs, covering about 7 million women across the State.
On 25 September, in a joint ceremony with Ericsson India, WFP and Government of Odisha representatives, WFP handed over the completed report for the project ‘Proving ICT based solutions for improving food security to Government of Odisha’ to its key stakeholders. Funded by Ericsson India, the project was initiated in 2018 to enhance and integrate the Targeted Public Distribution System’s supply chain in Odisha using ICT solutions. Two days earlier, on 23 September, Ericsson India won the 6th CSR impact award for the use of ICT for the same project. The ceremony was attended by WFP Representative and Country Director, Mr. Bishow Parajuli.
Operational Updates
Protecting Access to Food
• The Ministry of Agriculture has requested WFP to provide technical support in enhancing food security of women smallholder farmers, through better access to credit, technology, markets and value addition. WFP has submitted a project proposal to the ministry for a gender assessment of rural markets, which is now awaiting approval and funding.
• WFP has initiated a collaboration with the Department of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti, Government of Odisha, to enhance the food security, livelihoods and market linkages of women smallholder farmers and women microenterprises. A Memorandum of Understanding is undergoing the approval process of the Government of Odisha. Funding for the project has been secured through the private sector.
• WFP received a request from the State Government of Uttarakhand to provide technical assistance to optimise the supply chain of its Targeted Public Distribution Supply Chain. The funding for the project has been approved, and WFP is preparing a formal Letter of Agreement.
• A few months ago, a proposal for supporting improvements in the supply chain and warehousing operations of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Central Warehousing Corporation was submitted to the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) which has now been provisionally approved for funding by the Ministry.

India-Iran trade dips 79.4 per cent in April-Nov; may fall further

Amiti Sen  New Delhi | Updated on January 07, 2020  Published on January 07, 2020
Description: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/b44dih/article30505809.ece/alternates/WIDE_435/bl08flag
Iran is an important trade partner for India   -  MicroStockHub

Escalating tensions could deplete balance in rupee-rial account, fear exporters

India-Iran trade declined a sharp 79.4 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal to $3.5 billion from $17 billion in the comparable period last year after the lapse of the oil sanction waiver extended by the US to India.
Escalating tension between Iran and the US after the recent killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone attack could hurt trade further as India’s exports to Iran, which have sustained despite the economic sanctions, could now take a hit. This is true especially with the balance in the rupee-rial account running out, fear exporters.
“The threats and counter-threats exchanged by Iran and the US after the killing of the Iranian general has created an atmosphere of uncertainty for Indian exporters. Exporters are cautious about their long-term orders. This is especially because the balance in the rupee-rial account is drying up. Once the amount in the balance is over, there is no clarity about how exporters would be paid,” said Ajay Sahai, Director-General, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
Iran has been an important trade partner for India with bilateral trade in 2018-19 posting a 23.7 per cent growth to $17.03 billion. Of this, mineral oil and fuel imports were key, accounting for $12.3 billion.
While imports from Iran declined by 90.3 per cent in the April-November 2019-20 period to $1.29 billion because of reduction of petroleum imports to zero, the fall in exports was lower at 36 per cent to $2.23 billion.

Exporters face uncertainty

Exports of cereals, including basmati, in the first eight months of the current fiscal, were valued at $648 million compared to $1.58 billion in the same period last year, while tea, coffee and spices exports were worth $164 million compared to $189 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Tea exporters, so far, have been optimistic about their trade with Iran as the country bought a record 50 million kg of tea in the January-December 2019 period but are uncertain about the future. “We are very happy with the Iranian market so far but the recent war-like situation has us worried. We were planning a delegation to Iran in February this year, but are now not sure if that would be possible. We have written to the Commerce Ministry about it and are waiting for directions,” said Sujit Patra, Secretary, Indian Tea Association.
Basmati exporters, too, are cautious about what the future holds. “We are managing to export basmati to Iran despite some payment problems. But once the balance in the rupee-rial account gets exhausted, payments may stop. We are apprehensive that the increase in tension between Iran and the US could also affect transportation of shipments,” said a Delhi-based rice exporter.
The rupee-rial payment mechanism is a barter-like arrangement by the two countries to carry out trade without using international currencies like the dollar. Through this mechanism, payment for Iranian goods is deposited in an account in the UCO Bank in rupees and this money is used to pay exporters who supply goods to Iran.

Payment mechanism

With India forced by the US to stop purchase of oil from Iran since April this year, the balance in the rupee-rial account is drying up as oil was the chief item of import from the country.
“The balance in the rupee-rial account is not likely to pay for Indian exports to Iran beyond 3-4 months. The two governments have to look for alternative mechanisms to sustain trade and exports,” said Sahai.
Published on January 07, 2020
Myanmar signs new contract to export rice to China
PUBLISHED 8 JANUARY 2020
MIN LATT
 A rice wholesale center in Mandalay
Description: A rice wholesale center in Mandalay
MANDALAY- Mandalay Rice Development Company signed a new MoU aiming to export 50,000 tons of rice to China, according to the Mandalay Rice Development Company.
The Mandalay Rice Development Company had an agreement with Shwe Charnt Company from China to export 100,000 tons of rice to China in 2019.
However, the company will be exporting the rice to China via the new Chin Shwe Haw road.
In the past, rice exports to China mainly go from Muse Road.
“There have been two companies namely Mandalay Rice Development Company and Muse Rice Development Company. The two companies were exporting rice to China via Muse road. We are now concentrating on border trade. We had signed MoU with the company exporting 100,000 tons of rice. However, we already exported 5,000 tons of rice out of 100,000 because we faced many difficulties. The first difficulty is the company that signed MoU with us wasn’t rice traders and they didn’t understand the rice dealings. However, we were getting much more familiar with the rice dealings. It is inconvenient. So, we would like to urge the government to connect the rice dealing company with us. Now, we sing a new contract with the rice dealing company exporting 50,000 tons of rice. But, we are going to export the rice to China via new route Chin Shwe Haw road. We are trying to export the rice to China in the coming week,” said Managing Director Sai Kyaw from Mandalay Rice Development Company.
Myanmar earned over US$650 million from more than 2.16 million tons of rice and broken rice in 11 months in this FY and it is less than over 780,000 tons of rice and broken rice exported in the same period in last year. Myanmar earned US$1.003 billion in the same period in last FY, said an official from the Ministry of Commerce.
Myanmar found new markets for its rice export in 2017-18 FY and about 3.6 million tons of rice are exported which broke the record in 50 years’ time.
The rice export is declined in this FY as rice demand from EU and China is reduced.
Myanmar is exporting rice through maritime trade to EU and Africa markets and to China via Muse border trade route.

Cheap Rice Imports Choke Sh.13 Billion Economy In Mwe
Description: http://www.kenyanews.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/rice-traders-in-Mwea-2-300x199.jpgRice  traders  idling on Tuesday January 7, 2020 at  Ngurubani  town in Mwea as they wait for prospective buyers of pishori rice at the Nice Rice Millers. Photo by Irungu Mwangi/KNA.
Massive  rice  imports from the Far East have choked the economy of Ngurubani town in Mwea, Kirinyaga County that is the biggest grower and supplier of rice in Kenya.
Data from the Kenya Economic Survey 2019 shows Mwea region produces about 90,000 tonnes of rice, which translates to 80% of what Kenya produces.
Kenya requires about 400,000 tonnes of rice every year meaning that it has to import about 300,000 tonnes, or three times what is produced locally.
A  Senior Agricultural Officer at the ministry of Agriculture headquarters in charge of the Rice Crop, Jane Ndung’u recently said the reality of importation of rice has existed for many years and the traders in the town in the past adjusted to the same.
“What has changed is that the importers are increasingly bringing in very low quality rice, blamed on smuggling through the Kenya Somali border,” she said.
The cheaper rice, Ndung’u said, is then sold at low prices and then blended with Mwea aromatic pishori rice to be sold as pishori variety, at a cheaper price, knocking off demand for the original variety that Mwea is known for.
The Agriculture ministry Rice Promotion Programme Unit says the practice is illegal and should be stopped; while those found engaging in the illicit business should be arrested and prosecuted.
The growth and development of Ngurubani town and allied activities in Kirinyaga County are associated with rice production and marketing.
The  Management of Rice Promotion programme says five million tonnes of pure Pishori is lying in Mwea rice stores because the market is flooded with cheap poor quality rice.
Ndung’u said the Rice Promotion programme unit will be visiting the area with the Kenya Bureau of Standards officials to assess the situation and those carrying out the illegal business have been warned to prepare for the worst.
Traders at Wang’uru town say the imported rice varieties sell for as low as Sh80 per kilogram whereas pure pishori Mwea rice which has a distinctive aroma retails at Sh.130 a kilo.
A  visit to the busy town reveals that milling factories are operating at half capacity because of the diminishing demand, slowing down the rice value chain that has starved the town of the much needed cash flow.
“The cheap imported rice poses stiff competition and for customers seeking to save a shilling in these hard economic times, many opt for the cheaper rice,” says Lisa Gitonga a rice trader in Mwea.
“Our biggest challenges are the unscrupulous traders who use devious means to pass off the imported rice as pure pishori,” adds Gitonga.
She said many customers are not wise enough and cannot differentiate between the pure pishori and a blend of cheap rice.
Strangely, traders raise concerns that pishori sells at about Sh.120 in some dealers outlets in Nairobi and Mombasa where ordinarily it would be higher than Mwea due to transport costs.
Traders and millers said they are disturbed by reports that some dishonest merchants had gone to the extent of spraying the cheaper imports with perfumes to cheat buyers that the product is pure pishori.
At many of the rice shops in Mwea, business is not brisk like before, a situation the traders link to market disruption by the cheap imports.
Jennifer  Wanja said their sales have been on the decline as compared to previous years.
“When I started trading in rice here five years ago, business was booming, but nowadays the trade has slumped as customers opt for cheaper varieties sold elsewhere,” she said.
A  visit to some of the major rice mills, including Nice Rice millers reveals that traders mostly women sit idle looking forward to the tiny trickle of customers coming in.
As a customer walks in, the traders scramble for his attention promising that their rice is pure and grade one.
“All we ask is why would the imported rice, sourced all the way from Pakistan sell cheaper than the locally produced one?” wondered Wawira Karimi who is also a rice trader at Mwea.
“That tells you the farm inputs, that includes fertilizer, chemicals for sprays and labour here is high and adds up to the cost of production. This makes our produce more expensive and unable to compete with the imported variety,” Karimi said.
She said rice farmers and traders were hopeful when the county government said they were to introduce an Italian technology of rice farming aimed at boosting production and earning more for farmers.
Governor  Anne Waiguru had said the new farming technology was set to be introduced in selected areas of the vast Mwea irrigation scheme
The technology according to Waiguru is more efficient in water utilization as compared to canal-irrigated agriculture.
The  governor after a tour of Italy came back and said some investors from Italy were much interested with the potential of rice farming in Mwea in that the area produces the largest amount of rice in the country.
Waiguru had noted that the cost of production was a big challenge to farmers and hence the great need to address the matter.
She  said the new Italian technology, which is also highly mechanized when fully operationalized, would equip farmers with cost effective farming methods, lower the cost of production from the current Sh.50 per kilogram to about Sh.20.
“We may not be able to determine the price of our produce, but we can definitely reduce the cost of production, and thus up scaling the farmer’s total earnings,” she said.
The governor said some Italian investors, Pierluigi Bartoloni, Ventura De Lauretis and Prof. Giuseppe Lepore have shown interest in supporting rice farming and vegetable farming in the county.
“The county government in collaboration with the national government has taken to the control of the destructive Quelea birds which previously forced farmers to hire labour to fight them thus reducing the cost of production,” Waiguru said.
Established in 1954, the Mwea Irrigation Scheme has a gazetted area of 30, 350 acres with the area under irrigation being 26,000 acres in the main scheme and 4,000 acres in the out growers.
WFP India Country Brief, November 2019
REPORT
Published on 30 Nov 2019 View Original

Highlights
• With funding from the 2030 Fund, WFP carried out a scoping study on SouthSouth and Triangular Cooperation opportunities in the country, with support from WFP’s regional office and headquarters.
• WFP facilitated a study tour for a highlevel delegation from the Government of India to Costa Rica to learn about different ways to address gaps in India’s food fortification programme.
• WFP hosted an informal consultation with various policy makers, practitioners, academics and think tanks on how to adjust programming to help the Government accelerate progress towards achieving SDG targets before 2030.
Operational Updates Protecting
Access to Food
• WFP has partnered with Mission Shakti, Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Odisha for enhancing the food security, livelihoods and market linkages of women smallholder farmers and women micro-enterprises in the state. WFP’s funding portion for the project has been secured through the private sector while the Government of Odisha will cover its own costs.
• The Government of Uttarakhand (GoUK) has requested for WFP to provide technical support in optimizing the supply chain of the Targeted Public Distribution System.
The funding for the project has been approved and WFP has shared a formal Letter of Agreement with GoUK for approval. WFP will complete an assessment mission for situation mapping in Uttarakhand in December with support from WFP’s Asia regional bureau and Headquarters.
Description: preview• The Department of Food and Public Distribution has approved a proposal to support improvements in the supply chain and warehousing operations of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Central Warehousing Corporation. Funding has been secured through the private sector.
Improved Nutrition
• WFP has been supporting rice fortification for mid-day meals in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, with 2,700 mt of rice fortified so far in 2019. In November, WFP reached 54,800 people with nutrition and health education sessions and games at the community level.
• A technology-based capacity strengthening tool is being developed for cooks-cum-helpers working under the Mid-Day Meal scheme in Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. The content focuses on food safety and hygiene and is developed in accordance with Mid-Day Meal guidelines of the Government of India.
Evidence and Research
• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has approved the 2019 National Food and Nutrition Security Analysis report, which was launched jointly with WFP in June. The report is available on their website.
• WFP has finalized the report on the end-line evaluation on the fortification of mid-day meals in Dhenkanal District, Odisha and has now shared it with the State Government.
South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC)
• WFP facilitated a study tour of a high-level delegation from the Government of India to Costa Rica to learn more about their national food fortification programme. They found the following best practices would be worthy of replication after contextualization:
(i) Formation of a National Commission of Micronutrients representing a cross-sector of stakeholders; (ii) Food fortification standards in Costa Rica propose higher required levels of micronutrients as well as some additional micronutrients not included in standards in India; (iii) Setting up of a command and control centre for monitoring the roll out of fortified foods; and (iv) Working with representatives of associations of the rice millers.
• WFP also facilitated a visit for a delegation of government officials from the Department of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti, in Orissa to the state of Kerala to observe the implementation of state-wide take-home ration fortification. Kerala’s takehome ration programme was initiated and supported by WFP.

Paddy now to be transported to rice mills by Haryana's food dept

PTI8 January 2020
Chandigarh, Jan 8 (PTI) The transportation of paddy from grain markets to the rice mills in Haryana will now be done by the state's food and civil supplies department and procurement agencies instead of rice millers, said a senior official here.
The step was taken to avoid 'diversion or 'bogus paddy purchase' and strengthen the procurement mechanism, said Additional Chief Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies P K Das in a statement here on Wednesday.
'To avoid diversion or ghost purchase of paddy, from now onwards the transportation of the paddy from mandis to rice mills will be done by the Haryana food and civil supplies department and other procurement agencies instead of leaving it to the millers,” Das said.
He further said the trucks deployed for transportation of paddy will be GPS-fitted so that their movement can be monitored.
He further said that the physical verification of the paddy stock of 1,304 rice mills in the state was done, following which a shortfall of 42,589 metric tonnes (MT) of crop was detected in 1,207 rice mills.
The Additional Chief Secretary further said that show-cause notices would be issued to the rice millers for stock shortage and after receiving replies, strict action will be taken against the wrongdoers.   The ACS said during the verification, it was found that 205 mills had a shortfall of below 5 tonnes, 134 mills had a shortfall of 5 to 10 tonnes, 248 mills had a shortfall of 10-25 tonnes, in 325 mills a shortage of 25-50 tonnes and 295 mills had a shortage of more than 50 tonnes.
He said the highest mismatch in paddy stock in 284 mills was recorded in Karnal, followed by Kurukshetra where the shortfall was found in 236 mills.
Das said about 300 teams were deputed for physical verification, adding that the department took into account factors of total paddy allotted, milling capacity of rice mills, custom milled rice available and delivered to the Food Corporation of India and paddy stock left with the mills.
Notably, the opposition Congress had last year alleged that there were irregularities in the purchase of non-basmati paddy. PTI CHS VSD MKJ

THE NEWS SCROLL08 JANUARY 2020  Last Updated at 10:34 PM | SOURCE: PTI

Paddy now to be transported to rice mills by Haryana''s food dept

Description: https://www.outlookindia.com/images/facebook1.png Description: https://www.outlookindia.com/images/twitter_short.png Description: https://www.outlookindia.com/images/pinterest1.png Description: https://www.outlookindia.com/images/linkedin.png Description: https://www.outlookindia.com/images/google_plus1.png
Chandigarh, Jan 8 (PTI) The transportation of paddy from grain markets to the rice mills in Haryana will now be done by the state''s food and civil supplies department and procurement agencies instead of rice millers, said a senior official here.
The step was taken to avoid "diversion or "bogus paddy purchase" and strengthen the procurement mechanism, said Additional Chief Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies P K Das in a statement here on Wednesday.
"To avoid diversion or ghost purchase of paddy, from now onwards the transportation of the paddy from mandis to rice mills will be done by the Haryana food and civil supplies department and other procurement agencies instead of leaving it to the millers,” Das said.
He further said the trucks deployed for transportation of paddy will be GPS-fitted so that their movement can be monitored.
He further said that the physical verification of the paddy stock of 1,304 rice mills in the state was done, following which a shortfall of 42,589 metric tonnes (MT) of crop was detected in 1,207 rice mills.
The Additional Chief Secretary further said that show-cause notices would be issued to the rice millers for stock shortage and after receiving replies, strict action will be taken against the wrongdoers.  
The ACS said during the verification, it was found that 205 mills had a shortfall of below 5 tonnes, 134 mills had a shortfall of 5 to 10 tonnes, 248 mills had a shortfall of 10-25 tonnes, in 325 mills a shortage of 25-50 tonnes and 295 mills had a shortage of more than 50 tonnes.
He said the highest mismatch in paddy stock in 284 mills was recorded in Karnal, followed by Kurukshetra where the shortfall was found in 236 mills.
Das said about 300 teams were deputed for physical verification, adding that the department took into account factors of total paddy allotted, milling capacity of rice mills, custom milled rice available and delivered to the Food Corporation of India and paddy stock left with the mills.
Notably, the opposition Congress had last year alleged that there were irregularities in the purchase of non-basmati paddy. PTI CHS VSD MKJ

Extremely low concentrations of acetic acid could alter cellular processes in rice blast fungus

All living organisms respond and adapt to changes in their environment. These responses are sometimes so significant that they cause alterations in the internal metabolic cycles of the organism--a process called "metabolic switching." For example, rice blast fungus--a pathogenic fungal species that causes the "rice blast" infection in rice crops--switches to the "glyoxylate cycle" when the nutrient source starts to deplete. Another response to environmental change is called "cell differentiation", where cells switch to another type altogether. In rice blast fungus, for example, the fungal cells differentiate and generate a large amount of pressure on the cell wall, causing the fungus to develop a specialized structure called "appressorium," which ultimately facilitates the infection. Such methods of adaptation have been seen across various organisms, but exactly how they occur is not very clear yet.
In a recent study published in iScience, a team of researchers at Tokyo University of Science, led by Prof Takashi Kamakura, found for the first time that extremely low concentrations of acetic acid alter cellular processes in rice blast fungus. Their research was based on the fact that Cbp1--a protein that can remove acetyl groups from chitin (the main component of the cell wall of fungi)--plays a huge role in appressorium formation by converting chitin into chitosan and releasing acetic acid.
Explaining the objective of the study, Prof Kamakura says:
Metabolic switching in nutrient-deficient environments depends on changes in the nutrient source, but its mechanism has remained poorly understood until now. Since chitin was known to induce a subsequent resistance response (immune response), we speculated that Cbp1 functions to escape recognition from plants. Also, because the enzymatic activity of Cbp1 affects cell differentiation, we hypothesized that the reaction product of chitin deacetylation by Cbp1 may be a signal for cell differentiation.
For their study, the scientists used a mutant form of the fungus that did not produce Cbp1 and thus could not form appressorium as it was unable to produce acetic acid from chitin. The scientists observed that when minuscule concentrations of acetic acid, even as low as a hundred molecules per fungal spore, were added, appressorium formation was restored in the mutants. This implied that acetic acid could act as a chemical signal to trigger cell differentiation. Then, to better understand the role of acetic acid in the glyoxylate cycle, the researchers focused on an enzyme unique to this metabolic pathway: isocitrate lyase. They found that the mutant forms of the fungus had much lower levels of this enzyme, meaning that they could not switch to the glyoxylate cycle. But, as seen before, the addition of acetic acid at an extremely low concentration was enough to restore normal levels of the enzyme and thus induce appressorium formation. "Our study is the first to reveal the novel role of acetic acid in metabolic switching and cell differentiation in eukaryotic cells," remarks Prof Kamakura.
Interestingly, these findings indicate that using chitin molecules from their own cell wall could be a survival strategy used by several types of bacteria and fungi. This would allow them to thrive in environments deprived of nutrients--such as on the surface of a host leaf--and avoid host defense/immune mechanisms. Acetic acid could then be used both as a carbon source and as a signal to trigger metabolic switching and cell differentiation. Prof Kamakura explains, "The use of acetic acid obtained from a pathogen's own cell wall for the activation of the glyoxylate cycle is perhaps a general mechanism in various infection processes."
The finding that extremely low concentrations of a small, simple molecule like acetic acid could induce significant changes in cellular processes is unprecedented and was only known before for certain hormones in animals. Understanding this type of inter-species chemical interactions could prove to be immensely valuable in agriculture, bioengineering, and medicine, to name a few areas. Prof Kamakura concludes, "It is yet to be found whether this phenomenon is common to other organisms. But, since metabolites such as butyric acid derived from human intestinal bacteria are involved in immune cell activation and cancer progression, our findings have implications in a wide variety of fields, including medicine and agriculture."
Source:
Journal reference:
Kuroki, M. et al. (2019) Extremely Low Concentrations of Acetic Acid Stimulate Cell Differentiation in Rice Blast Fungus. iSciencedoi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.100786

How the rice blast fungus 'eats' its own cell wall to launch an attack

JANUARY 8, 2020

Description: How the rice blast fungus 'eats' its own cell wall to launch an attackDuring infection in rice blast fungus, chitin from its cell wall breaks down into chitosan and acetic acid. This process stimulates cell differentiation in the host plant, leading to appressorium formation, which then facilitates the infection process. Credit: Dr. Takashi Kamakura
All living organisms respond and adapt to changes in their environment. These responses are sometimes so significant that they cause alterations in the internal metabolic cycles of the organism—a process called "metabolic switching." For example, rice blast fungus—a pathogenic fungal species that causes the "rice blast" infection in rice crops—switches to the "glyoxylate cycle" when the nutrient source starts to deplete. Another response to environmental change is called "cell differentiation," where cells switch to another type altogether. In rice blast fungus, for example, the fungal cells differentiate and generate a large amount of pressure on the cell wall, causing the fungus to develop a specialized structure called "appressorium," which ultimately facilitates the infection. Such methods of adaptation have been seen across various organisms, but exactly how they occur is not very clear yet.
In a recent study published in iScience, a team of researchers at Tokyo University of Science, led by Prof. Takashi Kamakura, found for the first time that extremely low concentrations of acetic acid alter cellular processes in rice blast fungus. Their research was based on the fact that Cbp1—a protein that can remove acetyl groups from chitin (the main component of the cell wall of fungi)—plays a huge role in appressorium formation by converting chitin into chitosan and releasing acetic acid. Explaining the objective of the study, Prof. Kamakura says, "Metabolic switching in nutrient-deficient environments depends on changes in the nutrient source, but its mechanism has remained poorly understood until now. Since chitin was known to induce a subsequent resistance response (immune response), we speculated that Cbp1 functions to escape recognition from plants. Also, because the enzymatic activity of Cbp1 affects cell differentiation, we hypothesized that the reaction product of chitin deacetylation by Cbp1 may be a signal for cell differentiation."
For their study, the scientists used a mutant form of the fungus that did not produce Cbp1 and thus could not form appressorium as it was unable to produce acetic acid from chitin. The scientists observed that when minuscule concentrations of acetic acid, even as low as a hundred molecules per fungal spore, were added, appressorium formation was restored in the mutants. This implied that acetic acid could act as a chemical signal to trigger cell differentiation. Then, to better understand the role of acetic acid in the glyoxylate cycle, the researchers focused on an enzyme unique to this metabolic pathway: isocitrate lyase. They found that the mutant forms of the fungus had much lower levels of this enzyme, meaning that they could not switch to the glyoxylate cycle. But, as seen before, the addition of acetic acid at an extremely low concentration was enough to restore normal levels of the enzyme and thus induce appressorium formation. "Our study is the first to reveal the novel role of acetic acid in metabolic switching and cell differentiation in eukaryotic cells," remarks Prof. Kamakura.
Interestingly, these findings indicate that using chitin molecules from their own cell wall could be a survival strategy used by several types of bacteria and fungi. This would allow them to thrive in environments deprived of nutrients—such as on the surface of a host leaf—and avoid host defense/immune mechanisms. Acetic acid could then be used both as a carbon source and as a signal to trigger metabolic switching and cell differentiation. Prof. Kamakura explains, "The use of acetic acid obtained from a pathogen's own cell wall for the activation of the glyoxylate cycle is perhaps a general mechanism in various infection processes."
The finding that extremely low concentrations of a small, simple molecule like acetic acid could induce significant changes in cellular processes is unprecedented and was only known before for certain hormones in animals. Understanding this type of inter-species chemical interactions could prove to be immensely valuable in agriculture, bioengineering, and medicine, to name a few areas. Prof. Kamakura concludes, "It is yet to be found whether this phenomenon is common to other organisms. But, since metabolites such as butyric acid derived from human intestinal bacteria are involved in immune cell activation and cancer progression, our findings have implications in a wide variety of fields, including medicine and agriculture."

Government provides solar-powered rice mills for farming areas

Date: Jan 09 , 2020 , 08:27
BY: Severious Kale-Dery
Category: 

The government has dispatched solar-powered rice mills to four strategic rice farming areas to address the problem of inadequate capacity for milling paddy rice.

The mills, which have been dispatched to New Edubiase and Ejura, both in the Ashanti Region, Yamoransa in the Central Region and Fumbisi in the Upper East Region, are part of efforts by the government to boost the cultivation and consumption of rice locally.
Rice mills
Speaking with the Daily Graphic, the Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Mr Emmanuel Asante-Krobea, explained that the mills were currently being installed in the areas where the production of rice was high.
The inability of rice farmers to mill their paddy rice, especially those in the Fumbisi Valley came up strongly late last year when the farmers appealed to the government to intervene by buying their rice for the School Feeding Programme to prevent losses.
Currently, there is no rice milling facility in the Upper East Region and the farmers believe that with the increased interest in rice farming in the region, there is the need to get a mill in the region.
More milling machineries
Mr Asante-Krobea gave an assurance that “come next season, this problem the farmers faced this year will be a thing of the past because we are increasing the national milling capacity”.

He indicated that the government was negotiating with two companies to import rice milling machines into the country to help farmers access and use them to mill their rice, adding: “We expect about 500 additional milling machines from China and Brazil to increase the milling capacity by the next harvesting season.”
He further assured the farmers, especially those in the Fumbisi Valley, that the mills the government had brought in were solar-powered and would, therefore, not require any electricity to operate.
“W hope that between now and September all these measures will be in place to make the farmers comfortable ” he said.
Mr Asante-Krobea admitted that rice processing capacity of the country was low, “because in the past, demand for local rice was low and so people did not invest so much in local rice processing”.
High technology
He gave an assurance that the mills that were being imported were of high technological capacity and could remove all stones, making rice milled in the country comparable to rice anywhere in the world.
He added that the Ministry of Agriculture was in talks with the millers to improve their packaging to attract the needed market, adding that “with this, we think rice production in Ghana will catch up well”.
Harvesters
Mr Asante-Krobea admitted the lack of adequate harvesters in the country and said it was one of the challenges the ministry was tackling.
He said by the next farming season the government would have imported combine harvesters for commercial farmers, adding that currently the ministry was taking delivery of 1,000 hand-held harvesters for smallholder farmers.
He indicated that the sector Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, had set up a rice technical team made up of importers, millers, processors and representatives from the Ministry of Finance to discuss the ministry’s drive towards self-sufficiency in rice production by 2022.

Livestock standouts amid weakening agricultural exports

Export of livestock products was a standout while shipments of key farming products dropped further last year, according to the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority.
VNA Wednesday, January 08, 2020 18:48 
Description: Livestock standouts amid weakening agricultural exports hinh anh 1Vietnam exported 710 million USD worth of livestock products in 2019 (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Export of livestock products was a standout while shipments of key farming products dropped further last year, according to the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority.
Vietnam exported 65 million USD worth of livestock products last month, bringing the total livestock exports in 2019 to 710 million USD, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier. Livestock products were among the handful agricultural items experiencing growth last year.

Rice exports dipped further in 2019. Though the exported rice volume rose by 3.9 percent year-on-year to 6.34 million tonnes, the revenue plunged 9.7 percent to 2.97 billion USD.

The Philippines replaced China as Vietnam’s top rice buyers as the island nation’s imports of Vietnamese rice jumped 2.55 times in volume and 2.34 times in value to 2.15 million tonnes and nearly 900 million USD, respectively.

Similar trends were seen in the export of pepper and cashew nut which both witnessed an increase in volume but a decrease in value.

Vietnam earned 3.74 billion USD from the exports of vegetables and fruits, down 1.9 percent from 2018. Though exports to China declined 13.2 percent year-on-year, the neighbouring country remained Vietnam’s largest importer, accounting for 65.7 percent of the total vegetable and fruit exports. It was followed by the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan and the Netherlands.

Some 1.59 million tonnes of coffee were exported for 2.75 billion USD, down 15.2 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively. Last year, the coffee export prices averaged 1,724 USD per tonne, a year-on-year decrease of 8.9 percent, while the domestic prices slid 2,200 – 2,300 VND per kg from the end of 2018.

The coffee price in the world market decreased because Brazilian coffee growers enhanced selling in the wake of a drop in Brazil’s currency, leading to growing coffee reserves in major markets like the US.

Rubber was one of a few farming items with a positive growth with 1.68 million tonnes exported, worth 2.26 billion USD, up 7.7 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively. China remained Vietnam’s biggest buyer, purchasing 66.5 percent of the total exports, followed by India (8.3 percent) and the RoK (3 percent)./.

U.S. Rice Exports Up in 2019, Likely to Increase Again in 2020 

WASHINGTON, DC -- Trade policy in 2019 felt like a roller coaster, but the numbers show that U.S. rice exports coasted to an increase over 2018 sales.  While 2019 census data is one month short of completion, data though 11 months shows a boost over the 12-month total for 2018.

2019 trade successes came in all shapes and sizes, including:
*    Mexico:  USA Rice executed a quality samples trip to Mexico in early 2019 and a trade mission in fall 2019, and hundreds of promotions throughout the year that have helped boost U.S. sales 15 percent over 2018 levels - this includes a 20 percent increase in rough rice sales to Mexico.
*    Nicaragua:  Nearly 14 years since the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) was ratified, Nicaragua began purchasing significant quantities of rice from the U.S.  American export sales to Nicaragua increased tenfold in 2019 over 2018 and nearly hundredfold since 2016.
*    Korea:  After five years of advocacy and negotiations, the U.S. reached a deal for a guaranteed country specific quota for rice with Korea, ensuring competitors do not erode this important market.  The deal was signed on December 30, 2019, and will ensure USA Rice and the U.S. government coordinate closely with the Korean government on tender schedules and any technical issues that may arise.
*    Iraq:  Since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in 2017, there have been starts and stops to trade with Iraq, however, Iraq purchased more rice in 2019 than in any year since 2010.
*    China:  After more than a decade of negotiating a phytosanitary protocol and several years of developing an inspection regimen for U.S. mills, 2019 saw the certification of 32 U.S. milling facilities for export to China.  USA Rice hosted three trade seminars, attracting more than 100 interested rice importers, participated in two trade shows in China, organized a reverse trade mission of Chinese rice importers to the U.S., and registered the first private sale of U.S. rice in history.  In December, the Administration announced that China would begin purchasing U.S. agricultural products, such as rice, and come into compliance with World Trade Organization requirements around domestic subsidies and their tariff rate quota administration.

In December 2019, USDA revised their 2020 export projections for U.S. rice to 3.125 million tons, up from 2.78 million tons in 2018.

"USA Rice is ramping up efforts for another year of aggressive promotional activities through our USDA Market Access Program, Foreign Market Development, and Agricultural Trade Promotion Program funding," said USA Rice vice president of international Sarah Moran.  "We are looking forward to investments in new markets and exciting opportunities for additional access in 2020 through the combined efforts of the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and USA Rice."

Restaurant review: Start 2020 with a sumie at sunny, satisfying Surya Cafe

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The sushi bowl at Surya Cafe is forbidden black rice, shredded carrot, cucumber, hummus, avocado, picked slaw, nori, shiitake bacon, sesame seeds, edamame and miso-ginger dressing. 
·      

A collection of mirrors hangs above a seating area at Surya Cafe in Garver Feed Mill in Madison.
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To describe Surya Café as indulgent in the context of a restaurant review seems to misunderstand the idea. There are no plates of pasta here, no pork belly mac and cheese or fried ice cream.
Yet that’s the word I kept coming back to as I scribbled my 2020 intentions in a quiet corner of the revived Garver Feed Mill, sipping a smoothie that tasted like an Orange Julius. I’d just come from a challenging noon yoga class at Surya’s sister business, Perennial. I felt warm all the way to my toes.
What a treat, I thought. Do some people feel this good all the time?
Surya, owned by Perennial’s Meg Sirchio and run by chef Lauren Montelbano, opened in Fitchburg in spring 2017 and walked gently onto the east side of Madison last fall.
Inside Surya Cafe at Garver Feed Mill, a sign near the door says "Walk Gently." 
Surya means “sun” in Sanskrit. The menu at both cafés is vegan and gluten-free though they don’t use those words, describing the cuisine as “conscious” and “plant-based.”
Surya’s opening brought the number of vegetarian restaurants in Madison to two. Isthmus reported in December that The Green Owl, open since 2009 on Atwood Avenue, was recently purchased by longtime staffer Erick Fruehling.
The challenge of running an all-veggies-all-the-time restaurant in a smallish Midwestern city is mostly mental. Will I feel full? What about protein? What’s in tempeh, and why are they calling cashews “cheese?” I love nutritional yeast and grew up with wheat germ in my cookies, but I get squirrelly when I see “wings” and “meatballs” on a vegetarian menu with no further clarification.

The chef's choice curry at Surya Cafe changes constantly. This one, made with chickpeas, was on the menu the second week of January. 
Surya backs away from meat substitutes, relying on cuisines that are already more vegetable-centric. The kitchen builds flavor with spice blends, herbs and nuts, with the occasional boost from miso and liquid smoke.
Montelbano studied cooking in India and Thailand, and a pan-Asian element runs through Surya’s menu. There’s a warming, seasonal Thai-style curry ($13), recently with chickpeas and squash, and kitchari, a traditional Ayurvedic stew ($10) made with mung beans and basmati rice. These can be a little bland, but they’re hearty and the portions are generous.
Surya roots through its Midwestern identity with maple syrup to sweeten a wonderful little bowl of brussels sprouts ($7.50). Microgreens from Vitruvian Farms in McFarland dot snack-sized toasts ($7.50) in surprising, creative combinations. Try the “wild card” — spicy peanut butter is a little sweet and salty, with pickled red onions and bok choy as well as thinly sliced apples for crunch.
The "wild card" toast includes spicy peanut butter, house-pickled vegetables, apple and cilantro (when available) on seed-and-nut toast.
The toasts are in competition for my favorite thing at Surya, like an after-school snack for adults. After a few bites of Christian’s toast, a savory variation with herbed cashew spread, I flipped the bread over. Dark and dense as Irish soda bread, the seeds and nuts appeared held together by force of will. (The magic ingredients? Chia seeds, flax seeds and psyllium husks.)
There’s a lot of love in this menu, and a lot to love. Roasted red pepper sauce — flavors of which were echoed in a bell pepper/carrot soup ($3.50/cup) — lifted the earthy notes in quinoa. King oyster mushrooms, sliced horizontally and seared, looked and tasted like vegan scallops ($14.50). I hunted for thin strips of shiitakes, plumped with liquid smoke, tamari and maple, in a sushi bowl of forbidden rice ($13.50).
It was rare for dishes at Surya to trigger that “health food” response in my lizard brain, but when it happened, texture did it. Sweet potato/chickpea tartlets ($7.50) in a cornmeal cauliflower crust mimicked the flavors of an Indian samosa without the flaky pastry edges, making the texture very samey. A cowgirl cookie ($3) was dry, too crumbly to dunk into a lovely housemade chai with oat milk ($4.50/12 ounces).

The entrance to Surya Cafe in Garver Feed Mill in Madison.
About a dozen folks recently wrapped Surya’s start-the-new-year juice fast, a three- to five-day regimen of juices, many of which are on the daily menu. That’s where health claims come in, about immune support (hello, flu season) and metabolism (don't we yoga for this?) and anti-inflammation.
I cannot say with certainty if the bright red-purple “immunity” juice ($8.50) with beets, kale, fennel and citrus helped me fend off my partner’s post-holiday cold. I can say it was complex, chewy in a not-unpleasant way, and satisfyingly sweet.
I would never have known there were hemp hearts or turmeric in the “anti-carcinogenic” Surya sumie ($9, a smoothie/juice hybrid, the internet says). It tasted like the Orange Juliuses of my childhood, with a teensy bit of nuttiness from almond milk.
After the new year, I picked up a two-week class pass to Perennial ($39) and paired vinyasa with veggies. This chilled me out enough that if service at Surya was slow or the water pitcher was empty, I didn’t really mind. Surya has the feel of a neighborhood place, a sunny spot for a refreshing weekend brunch or a cozy chat over an almond milk cortado ($3.25).
Every time I left Surya, I felt better than when I came in. It’s a place I wanted to linger, to indulge, not in calories but in time. I felt grateful. May we all feel a little better this year.
LT Foods looks to expand into packaged snacking biz
08 Jan 2020, 11:44 PM ISTSuneera Tandon
·       LT Foods to roll out its rice snacking brand Kari Kari nationally
·       The company will launch a 20 price point for the snack
Description: Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintNEW DELHI : LT Foods Ltd on Wednesday said it plans to move beyond selling packaged rice in India to launch more branded foods and snacks that will see the maker of Daawat and Heritage rice introduce savoury snacks, sauces, rice meals and cookies.
As part of its plans, the company said that it will roll out its rice snacking brand Kari Kari nationally. The snack is manufactured in India through a joint venture with Japan’s Kameda Seika which sells rice-based snacks.
LT Foods set up a JV, Daawat-Kameda India Pvt. Ltd, in 2017 to enter India’s snacking market; it subsequently started test-marketing Kari Kari in India in the same year.
The brand is now set to expand its reach. In the first phase, it will be available in the top metros, sold largely in modern trade stores, before the company expands the rice and peanut snack to over 40 cities and general trade stores.
The company will subsequently launch a 20 price point for the snack.
“As an organization, we started this journey a few years ago where we are looking at rice value added products, we have launched Daawat sauté sauces in the Indian market four months ago—under LT Foods, as LT foods we are getting in to other rice products as well," Ritesh Arora, head-India and far East, LT Foods Ltd said in an interview.
Arora added that the company has more products in the pipeline that include ready-to-heat rice meals (under Daawat brand), and other sweet snacks under the Kari Kari brand.

LT Foods bets big on Japanese rice-based snacks to woo millennials

Meenakshi Verma Ambwani  New Delhi | Updated on January 08, 2020  Published on January 08, 2020

The firm is in JV with Japanese firm Kameda Seika

LT Foods, known for its Daawat and Royal basmati rice brands, is strengthening its play in the packaged food business by foraying into the premium snacks segment through its joint-venture partnership with Japan-based Kameda Seika.
The joint venture company called Daawat-Kameda (India) Pvt Ltd is set to launch its rice-based gourmet snacks brand ‘Kari Kari’ in key cities in the country.
The two companies had announced their joint venture in 2017 and have since been test marketing the products in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai. The JV company has now set up a manufacturing facility at Sonipat (Haryana) to manufacture ‘Kari Kari’ range of products for a full-scale commercial launch in India.
Vijay Kumar Arora, Chairman & Managing Director, LT Foods, said, “This move is in line with our strategy to diversify into value-added rice-based products. We see huge potential in the premium and healthy snacks segment, which is growing in the range of 22-25 per cent year-on-year.”

Investment details

Arora said that the two partners have made commitments of about 70 crore for the JV venture, out of which investments worth about 25 crore have already been made on setting up the plant and the balance amount will be invested over the next five years on future expansion. Jun Kono, Director, Daawat Kameda (India) Pvt Ltd and Overseas Manager, Kameda Seika, said, “We believe we have the opportunity to create a new category of roasted rice-based healthy snacks to appeal to Indian consumer base. We believe India has the potential to become one of our largest international markets in the long term.”

Distribution strategy

Kari Kari range has been launched in four variants priced at 99 for 135-gm pack and 50 for 60-gm pack.
Ritesh Arora, Head of India, Far East and New Busines, LT Foods, said that the company will focus on making the products available in modern trade stores and premium general trade stores in metros and top cities, besides the e-commerce platform over the next two years.
Published on January 08, 2020

Golden Rice Approved as Safe for Consumption in the Philippines

The genetically modified crop could help combat the country’s vitamin A deficiency

 Engineered with genes that boost its beta-carotene content, golden rice (top) comes with a yellowish hue that makes it stand out from typical white rice (bottom) (International Rice Research Institute
 Nutrient-rich golden rice—a genetically-modified, amber-hued crop—has passed a rigorous biosafety assessment in the Philippines, where it may soon be distributed to combat the country’s widespread vitamin A deficiency. The plant is engineered to be packed with beta-carotene, an orange pigment that the body converts into the essential nutrient vitamin A.

Declared “as safe as conventional rice” by the Department of Agriculture in December, golden rice can now be legally consumed and processed. The stamp of approval makes it the first GMO crop created to combat a public health issue in a lower-income country, reports Steve Baragona for Voice of America. In a statement, congressperson Sharon Garin of the Phillipines' House of Representatives praised the development as “a victory for science, agriculture and all Filipinos,” according to Charissa Luci-Atienza at the Manila Bulletin. The Philippines is one of several lower-income countries with widespread vitamin A deficiency, a dietary condition that can cause blindness and hamstring the immune system. More than half a million children die from the deficiency each year, in large part because they don’t consume enough beta-carotene, which is present in only scant amounts in staple grains like rice. While vitamin A supplements have found their way into many afflicted countries, roughly 20 percent of children under the age of five remain deficient in the Philippines. To fill in the gap, researchers have pushed for the introduction of low-cost crops rich in beta-carotene. Golden rice, first unveiled as a prototype in 1999, fits the bill: Adding less than a cup of the grain to a child’s diet could meet up to half of their daily needs. But by the end of 2018, nearly two decades since the plant’s arrival on the scientific scene, only a handful of countries—Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, all high-income nations with few vitamin A issues—had deemed it safe to grow and eat en masse, reports Michael Le Page for New Scientist. Much of the resistance in these countries and others, Le Page writes, has come from groups campaigning against GMOs and their alleged negative effects on health. That makes the Philippines’ approval of the crop a huge milestone, especially amidst false rumors that its beta-carotene would break down into cancer-causing chemicals, Le Page reports. (As safety assessments continue, Bangladesh may be next in line.) But the recent news has also been met with pushback: Late last month, environmental organization Greenpeace appealed the Department of Agriculture to overturn its decision, citing a lack of data and transparency in the approval process. In an interview with Louise Maureen Simeon at the Philippine Star, Adrian Dubock, an executive at the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board, disputed the claims.
“They examined in detail all the evidence submitted by the Philippine Rice Research Institute and the International Rice Research Institute and found that there was no potential to cause harm from Golden Rice consumed as food, or animal feed, including in processed form,” Dubock tells Simeon. Scientific consensus has long held that golden rice—as well as other GMOs on the market—are safe to plant, process and eat. The crop’s successful safety clearance, officials hope, will help quell the controversy. “We are trying to dispel the notion that commercially-produced biofortified goods are potentially dangerous,” Garin said in the statement. While useful, golden rice shouldn’t be considered a panacea, Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, tells Baragona. Another priority involves diversifying the diets of people in countries suffering from these deficiencies with more fruits and vegetables, he says. Such a shift, however, would take more time and effort, and perhaps a larger cultural change. As a possible substitute for white rice, golden rice might more seamlessly integrate into the diet, explains Dubock in an interview with Baragona. But the golden grain won’t be served to the Filipino public just yet. The crop has yet to get the green light for commercial propagation—a necessary step for farmers to plant it in their fields. The International Rice Research Institute, the Philippine-based organization developing the country’s golden rice, plans to submit its application for approval early this year.

Cheap Rice Imports Choke Sh.13 Billion Economy In Mwea

Description: http://www.kenyanews.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/rice-traders-in-Mwea-2-300x199.jpgRice  traders  idling on Tuesday January 7, 2020 at  Ngurubani  town in Mwea as they wait for prospective buyers of pishori rice at the Nice Rice Millers. Photo by Irungu Mwangi/KNA.
Massive  rice  imports from the Far East have choked the economy of Ngurubani town in Mwea, Kirinyaga County that is the biggest grower and supplier of rice in Kenya.
Data from the Kenya Economic Survey 2019 shows Mwea region produces about 90,000 tonnes of rice, which translates to 80% of what Kenya produces.
Kenya requires about 400,000 tonnes of rice every year meaning that it has to import about 300,000 tonnes, or three times what is produced locally.
A  Senior Agricultural Officer at the ministry of Agriculture headquarters in charge of the Rice Crop, Jane Ndung’u recently said the reality of importation of rice has existed for many years and the traders in the town in the past adjusted to the same.
“What has changed is that the importers are increasingly bringing in very low quality rice, blamed on smuggling through the Kenya Somali border,” she said.
The cheaper rice, Ndung’u said, is then sold at low prices and then blended with Mwea aromatic pishori rice to be sold as pishori variety, at a cheaper price, knocking off demand for the original variety that Mwea is known for.
The Agriculture ministry Rice Promotion Programme Unit says the practice is illegal and should be stopped; while those found engaging in the illicit business should be arrested and prosecuted.
The growth and development of Ngurubani town and allied activities in Kirinyaga County are associated with rice production and marketing.
The  Management of Rice Promotion programme says five million tonnes of pure Pishori is lying in Mwea rice stores because the market is flooded with cheap poor quality rice.
Ndung’u said the Rice Promotion programme unit will be visiting the area with the Kenya Bureau of Standards officials to assess the situation and those carrying out the illegal business have been warned to prepare for the worst.
Traders at Wang’uru town say the imported rice varieties sell for as low as Sh80 per kilogram whereas pure pishori Mwea rice which has a distinctive aroma retails at Sh.130 a kilo.
A  visit to the busy town reveals that milling factories are operating at half capacity because of the diminishing demand, slowing down the rice value chain that has starved the town of the much needed cash flow.
“The cheap imported rice poses stiff competition and for customers seeking to save a shilling in these hard economic times, many opt for the cheaper rice,” says Lisa Gitonga a rice trader in Mwea.
“Our biggest challenges are the unscrupulous traders who use devious means to pass off the imported rice as pure pishori,” adds Gitonga.
She said many customers are not wise enough and cannot differentiate between the pure pishori and a blend of cheap rice.
Strangely, traders raise concerns that pishori sells at about Sh.120 in some dealers outlets in Nairobi and Mombasa where ordinarily it would be higher than Mwea due to transport costs.
Traders and millers said they are disturbed by reports that some dishonest merchants had gone to the extent of spraying the cheaper imports with perfumes to cheat buyers that the product is pure pishori.
At many of the rice shops in Mwea, business is not brisk like before, a situation the traders link to market disruption by the cheap imports.
Jennifer  Wanja said their sales have been on the decline as compared to previous years.
“When I started trading in rice here five years ago, business was booming, but nowadays the trade has slumped as customers opt for cheaper varieties sold elsewhere,” she said.
A  visit to some of the major rice mills, including Nice Rice millers reveals that traders mostly women sit idle looking forward to the tiny trickle of customers coming in.
As a customer walks in, the traders scramble for his attention promising that their rice is pure and grade one.
“All we ask is why would the imported rice, sourced all the way from Pakistan sell cheaper than the locally produced one?” wondered Wawira Karimi who is also a rice trader at Mwea.
“That tells you the farm inputs, that includes fertilizer, chemicals for sprays and labour here is high and adds up to the cost of production. This makes our produce more expensive and unable to compete with the imported variety,” Karimi said.
She said rice farmers and traders were hopeful when the county government said they were to introduce an Italian technology of rice farming aimed at boosting production and earning more for farmers.
Governor  Anne Waiguru had said the new farming technology was set to be introduced in selected areas of the vast Mwea irrigation scheme
The technology according to Waiguru is more efficient in water utilization as compared to canal-irrigated agriculture.
The  governor after a tour of Italy came back and said some investors from Italy were much interested with the potential of rice farming in Mwea in that the area produces the largest amount of rice in the country.
Waiguru had noted that the cost of production was a big challenge to farmers and hence the great need to address the matter.
She  said the new Italian technology, which is also highly mechanized when fully operationalized, would equip farmers with cost effective farming methods, lower the cost of production from the current Sh.50 per kilogram to about Sh.20.
“We may not be able to determine the price of our produce, but we can definitely reduce the cost of production, and thus up scaling the farmer’s total earnings,” she said.
The governor said some Italian investors, Pierluigi Bartoloni, Ventura De Lauretis and Prof. Giuseppe Lepore have shown interest in supporting rice farming and vegetable farming in the county.
“The county government in collaboration with the national government has taken to the control of the destructive Quelea birds which previously forced farmers to hire labour to fight them thus reducing the cost of production,” Waiguru said.
Established in 1954, the Mwea Irrigation Scheme has a gazetted area of 30, 350 acres with the area under irrigation being 26,000 acres in the main scheme and 4,000 acres in the out growers.
By  Irungu  Mwangi

Liberia: Govt Urged to Pay More Attention to Rice Production

8 JANUARY 2020
By Dennis Lake
Monrovia — The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Agriculture and Infrastructure Investment Company (AIIC) is calling on the Liberian Government to pay more attention to the production of the country's staple food -- rice.
CEO Mohammed V. Kamara made the call over the week after returning from Cotonou, Benin, where he represented Liberia at the General Convention of West African Rice Production.
Kamara narrated that he gave a detail insight of Liberia's rice sector, including production and land acquisition. He also told the conferees about the ecology. According to him, he included in his lecture the associated challenges, too, and they were similar to other countries', not excluding farm-to-market road connectivity and acquiring land.
"Representing our respective countries, we came up with some resolutions relating to development and reduction of importation of rice in West Africa. We also came up some rice planting methodologies, including the SRI method, which reduces the quantity of rice needed to be planted," he said.
Kamara stated that the convention came up with a five-year action plan to aid the region's rice planters as majority don't know much about planting "less rice."
"We all agreed that we should urge our governments and their partners to invest in rice production. We realized that if we produce our own rice, most of the moneys we spend outside of our countries, especially in Liberia, approximately US$280,000,000 would be circulated in our own countries base on the kind of rice we export," he stated.
Kamara disclosed that one that they are focusing on homegrown rice production is because the ones produced at home are more nutritional than those that are imported into the sub-region because of organic matters.
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He used the occasion to urge Liberians to be mindful with eating imported foods especially rice; adding: "Most of the imported rice do not go through laboratory processes showing the understanding of production and expiry dates. Most of the rice coming to African countries are re-bagged."
"Most of our people, who are now suffering from Diabetes got the sickness from what they had eaten especially imported rice. Here in Liberia, we want to bring back school feeling program which of course the government of Liberia is also involved in that direction. Before we do that, we need to firstly focus on the type of food, especially rice our future leaders are going to be eating," he added.
Kamara disclosed that he is expected to shortly make an official presentation to the Ministry of Agriculture on what was agreed in Benin.
"We are hoping to follow the footsteps of Nigeria that have closed her borders with other neighboring countries that are helping to import rice into Nigeria market. That country is helping farmers in that country to produce more rice for local consumption. The steps taken by that government is really moving the country forward in area of local rice consumption and we hope to do the same here in Liberia," he cautioned.
He opined that if the Liberia government agrees with their plans, the country would be divided into four zones of rice producing counties. He also stated that in their plan, they will also give attention to counties that are producing less rice so that they will be able to produce more rice in the future

How the rice blast fungus “eats” its own cell wall to launch an attack

Cells of rice blast fungus undergo major changes when it infects its host plant, which includes using the components of its own cell wall
In response to environmental changes and nutrient starvation, cells are known to undergo extreme alterations. This includes switching from one type to another (“differentiation”) and changes in metabolic pathways (“metabolic switching”). In a new study, a research team from Tokyo University of Science showed for the first time how rice blast fungus uses its own cell wall to survive in response to certain stimuli.

All living organisms respond and adapt to changes in their environment. These responses are sometimes so significant that they cause alterations in the internal metabolic cycles of the organism—a process called “metabolic switching.” For example, rice blast fungus—a pathogenic fungal species that causes the “rice blast” infection in rice crops—switches to the “glyoxylate cycle” when the nutrient source starts to deplete. Another response to environmental change is called “cell differentiation”, where cells switch to another type altogether. In rice blast fungus, for example, the fungal cells differentiate and generate a large amount of pressure on the cell wall, causing the fungus to develop a specialized structure called “appressorium,” which ultimately facilitates the infection. Such methods of adaptation have been seen across various organisms, but exactly how they occur is not very clear yet.
In a recent study published in iScience, a team of researchers at Tokyo University of Science, led by Prof Takashi Kamakura, found for the first time that extremely low concentrations of acetic acid alter cellular processes in rice blast fungus. Their research was based on the fact that Cbp1—a protein that can remove acetyl groups from chitin (the main component of the cell wall of fungi)—plays a huge role in appressorium formation by converting chitin into chitosan and releasing acetic acid. Explaining the objective of the study, Prof Kamakura says, “Metabolic switching in nutrient-deficient environments depends on changes in the nutrient source, but its mechanism has remained poorly understood until now. Since chitin was known to induce a subsequent resistance response (immune response), we speculated that Cbp1 functions to escape recognition from plants. Also, because the enzymatic activity of Cbp1 affects cell differentiation, we hypothesized that the reaction product of chitin deacetylation by Cbp1 may be a signal for cell differentiation.”
For their study, the scientists used a mutant form of the fungus that did not produce Cbp1 and thus could not form appressorium as it was unable to produce acetic acid from chitin. The scientists observed that when minuscule concentrations of acetic acid, even as low as a hundred molecules per fungal spore, were added, appressorium formation was restored in the mutants. This implied that acetic acid could act as a chemical signal to trigger cell differentiation. Then, to better understand the role of acetic acid in the glyoxylate cycle, the researchers focused on an enzyme unique to this metabolic pathway: isocitrate lyase. They found that the mutant forms of the fungus had much lower levels of this enzyme, meaning that they could not switch to the glyoxylate cycle. But, as seen before, the addition of acetic acid at an extremely low concentration was enough to restore normal levels of the enzyme and thus induce appressorium formation. “Our study is the first to reveal the novel role of acetic acid in metabolic switching and cell differentiation in eukaryotic cells,” remarks Prof Kamakura.
Interestingly, these findings indicate that using chitin molecules from their own cell wall could be a survival strategy used by several types of bacteria and fungi. This would allow them to thrive in environments deprived of nutrients—such as on the surface of a host leaf—and avoid host defense/immune mechanisms. Acetic acid could then be used both as a carbon source and as a signal to trigger metabolic switching and cell differentiation. Prof Kamakura explains, “The use of acetic acid obtained from a pathogen’s own cell wall for the activation of the glyoxylate cycle is perhaps a general mechanism in various infection processes.
The finding that extremely low concentrations of a small, simple molecule like acetic acid could induce significant changes in cellular processes is unprecedented and was only known before for certain hormones in animals. Understanding this type of inter-species chemical interactions could prove to be immensely valuable in agriculture, bioengineering, and medicine, to name a few areas. Prof Kamakura concludes, “It is yet to be found whether this phenomenon is common to other organisms. But, since metabolites such as butyric acid derived from human intestinal bacteria are involved in immune cell activation and cancer progression, our findings have implications in a wide variety of fields, including medicine and agriculture.”
###
Reference
Title of original paper:
Extremely low concentrations of acetic acid stimulate cell differentiation in rice blast fungus
Journal:
iScience (Cell Press)
DOI:

Tokyo University of Science (TUS) is a well-known and respected university, and the largest science-specialized private research university in Japan, with four campuses in central Tokyo and its suburbs and in Hokkaido. Established in 1881, the university has continually contributed to Japan’s development in science through inculcating the love for science in researchers, technicians, and educators.
With a mission of “Creating science and technology for the harmonious development of nature, human beings, and society”, TUS has undertaken a wide range of research from basic to applied science. TUS has embraced a multidisciplinary approach to research and undertaken intensive study in some of today’s most vital fields. TUS is a meritocracy where the best in science is recognized and nurtured. It is the only private university in Japan that has produced a Nobel Prize winner and the only private university in Asia to produce Nobel Prize winners within the natural sciences field.
Website: https://www.tus.ac.jp/en/mediarelations/
About Professor Takashi Kamakura from Tokyo University of Science
Prof Kamakura graduated from the University of Tokyo, where he obtained a PhD in Agriculture. He worked for RIKEN institute from 1985 to 2003, mainly studying microbial toxicology. Since 1993, his main research involves studying the infection mechanisms of pathogenic fungi. He joined the Department of Applied Biological science at Tokyo University of Science as an Associate Professor in 2003 and became a Professor there in 2009. The corresponding author of this paper, his main research interest is applied microbiology, more specifically, the molecular biology of fungi and bacteria.
Funding information
This study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research (B) (grant number 19H02958).
Media contact
Tsutomu Shimizu


Farm mechanisation gets a shot in the arm
12:00 AM, January 09, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 10:18 AM, January 09, 2020

 

Cabinet approves National Farm Mechanisation Policy

Description: https://assetsds.cdnedge.bluemix.net/sites/default/files/styles/very_big_1/public/feature/images/farmland_of_dinajpur_sadar_upazila.jpg?itok=UJJ-Phr9
Paddy being harvested by a machine in a farmland of Dinajpur Sadar upazila. Photo: Banglar Chokh/file
Farmers may get 50 to 70 percent incentive while buying agricultural machinery and also avail low-cost loans, as the government looks to pivot to farm mechanisation amid rising costs and growing labour shortage.
The cabinet yesterday approved the draft National Farm Mechanisation Policy 2019 to this effect at a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office, which was presided over by the premier.
“Under the policy, farmers would be able to buy farm machinery at lower prices and will get low cost or interest-free loans in easy conditions,” Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told reporters during a briefing at the secretariat.
Initially, the incentive would be given for a fixed period at the farmers’ level in order to get them accustomed to farm machinery. The support would be applied to quality equipment that are essential but used for a limited period, according to the draft policy.
Farmers in haor and coastal regions may get 70 percent subsidy to buy agriculture machinery, while those in other parts of the country would be entitled to 50 percent, said an official of the agriculture ministry.
As per the policy, importers would have to bring in machinery that suits the country’s environment and soil.
The prime minister also told the meeting to incorporate a provision that allows farmers to form a cooperative for buying expensive tools since the equipment are used a few times round the year, the cabinet secretary said.
The policy is expected to accelerate farm mechanisation in the country.
The use of farm machinery would cut the necessity of labourers needed to plant and harvest crops, allowing farmers to: deal with the unavailability of manpower, boost agriculture development and prevent wastes, according to a media brief of the cabinet division.
This will also drive the commercialisation of the farming system, it said, adding that the agriculture ministry would soon publish a notice.  Givem the soaring cost of agricultural labour, the agriculture ministry has already sent a proposal to the finance ministry under the policy, seeking Tk 415 crore for this fiscal year in order to give subsidy to farmers for buying agricultural machinery.
Another proposal involving Tk 4,000 crore would be added to the initiative from the next fiscal year.
Under the Tk 415 crore scheme, the government will offer 3,000 combine harvesters, 2,000 reapers and 300 transplanters to farmers and farm equipment renters at a subsidised rate during the upcoming Boro season, according to a recent letter sent by the agriculture ministry to the finance ministry.
The latest move comes in the face of soaring wages due to a shortage of farm labourers during the peak season of harvesting and transplanting rice, causing a loss in the yield of rice that is cultivated on 71 percent of the total 1.54 crore hectares of cropland, according to official data.
Despite advancement in agriculture production, costs of farmers are rising owing to high labour wages and inefficiency at various stages of cultivation.
As a result, farmers fail to make a profit, the agriculture ministry said in the letter.
Due to high demand and reduced supply, daily farm wages go as high as Tk 600 during peak harvesting seasons, up from nearly Tk 300 in slack seasons.
In its letter, the agriculture ministry said the surging cost of labour has been making farmers helpless during the harvesting period for the last several years. This has made farmers reluctant about growing paddy.
According to agriculturalists and industry operators, currently farmers prepare more than 90 percent of the total croplands by using power tillers and tractors.
A majority of the grains, mainly rice, are threshed by threshing machines and the rate of mechanisation is growing as farmers find the use of agricultural machinery beneficial in terms of cost-saving and timely cultivation.
Yet, the progress in the transplanting of paddy and harvesting of the staple crop has been sluggish over the years owing to the high cost of machines, lack of the machinery suitable for harvesting all types of soils and the dearth of operators and mechanics, agriculturalists say.
Nearly one percent of paddy are transplanted and harvested using machines, said Md Monjurul Alam of the Department of Farm Power and Machinery of the Bangladesh Agricultural University, in November.
There is only 1 percent duty on the import of parts and raw materials needed to produce power tillers, power thresher, power reaper and power seeder and they are exempted from regulatory duty, supplementary duty and value-added tax.
But transplanters and combined harvesters are not included.
The duties would be cut further or made logical in future, the policy said.
The cabinet also approved the draft of the Voter Roll Law (Amendment) 2019.
At present, an individual can add their names to the voter list from January 2 to January 31; but under the proposed amendment the period has been extended to March 1.
It approved a proposal to observe March 1 as the National Insurance Day. 

Rice Prices

as on : 09-01-2020 03:10:41 PM

Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
Arrivals
Price
Current
%
change
Season
cumulative
Modal
Prev.
Modal
Prev.Yr
%change
Rice
Bangalore(Kar)
1391.00
-15.08
64059.00
4350
4350
1.16
Siliguri(WB)
265.00
-90.06
2932.00
3800
3800
-
Gondal(UP)
150.00
-1.64
2679.00
2440
2440
-3.17
Mainpuri(UP)
140.00
7.69
2364.50
2480
2500
-8.82
Bindki(UP)
140.00
-6.67
3459.00
2370
2390
-
Lucknow(UP)
108.00
9.09
2054.00
2480
2500
6.44
Pilibhit(UP)
105.00
5
45908.00
2575
2560
10.75
Agra(UP)
95.00
3.26
1889.00
2540
2545
1.20
Kolar(Kar)
89.00
-
89.00
1827
-
-
Choubepur(UP)
88.00
0.57
682.15
2440
2460
-5.24
Aligarh(UP)
80.00
6.67
1770.00
2550
2550
2.00
Muzzafarnagar(UP)
80.00
100
2851.00
2720
2700
-1.27
Mathura(UP)
72.00
2.86
1346.00
2550
2560
-10.84
Thodupuzha(Ker)
70.00
NC
1260.00
2900
2900
-3.33
Sahiyapur(UP)
70.00
16.67
1272.00
2520
2520
12.75
Allahabad(UP)
65.50
9.17
966.00
2600
2600
13.04
Gazipur(UP)
61.00
10.91
1311.00
3130
3130
6.10
Kalna(WB)
59.50
17.82
793.50
2980
2980
-0.67
Bahraich(UP)
54.00
2.27
451.60
2450
2450
3.81
Kayamganj(UP)
50.00
25
1002.00
2750
2760
10.44
Saharanpur(UP)
49.00
-7.55
1166.00
2715
2700
-1.81
Jayas(UP)
46.50
-1.06
494.50
1950
1950
-2.50
Karimpur(WB)
45.00
-
585.00
3680
-
16.83
Vasai(Mah)
44.00
22.22
782.00
3580
3460
6.55
Beldanga(WB)
40.00
-11.11
615.00
2650
2650
NC
Bankura Sadar(WB)
38.00
8.57
1027.00
2600
2600
-
Kandi(WB)
37.50
-6.25
527.50
2610
2600
6.53
Lalitpur(UP)
36.50
4.29
793.00
2445
2450
-7.39
Badayoun(UP)
36.00
20
554.50
2610
2610
9.66
Jhargram(WB)
36.00
-
489.00
2900
-
7.41
Bareilly(UP)
35.00
-10.26
915.00
2625
2600
12.18
Etawah(UP)
35.00
-12.5
1802.50
2600
2575
11.35
Khalilabad(UP)
35.00
-12.5
545.00
2550
2525
-
Atarra(UP)
32.50
30
404.00
2225
2200
-
Mohamadabad(UP)
31.50
65.79
318.00
2710
2700
-
Kicchha(Utr)
30.60
-39.64
400.50
2100
2200
-
Muradabad(UP)
30.00
NC
527.00
2570
2580
9.36
Jangipura(UP)
30.00
7.14
307.00
2330
2330
4.02
Firozabad(UP)
28.00
7.69
257.10
2740
2750
-
Rampur(UP)
28.00
-
181.00
2570
-
9.36
Lakhimpur(UP)
28.00
12
861.00
2430
2420
5.65
Karsiyang(Matigara)(WB)
26.80
NC
312.20
4000
4000
33.33
Dadri(UP)
25.00
NC
725.00
2800
2850
0.72
Bazpur(Utr)
25.00
-72.25
1713.00
2350
2450
-2.08
Ghaziabad(UP)
22.00
-12
452.00
2800
2825
2.75
Nawabganj(UP)
22.00
-4.35
219.00
2430
2425
-
Chintamani(Kar)
21.00
-
767.00
2200
-
-
Falakata(WB)
20.00
NC
360.00
2600
2600
-1.89
Alipurduar(WB)
20.00
NC
300.00
2600
2600
NC
Asansol(WB)
20.00
308.16
418.59
2820
2820
-6.00
Indus(Bankura Sadar)(WB)
20.00
11.11
660.00
2800
2800
1.82
Naanpara(UP)
19.80
7.61
381.10
2210
2215
-3.91
Basti(UP)
19.00
-29.63
567.50
2520
2520
13.77
Soharatgarh(UP)
19.00
11.76
1056.00
2500
2520
10.62
Shamli(UP)
19.00
72.73
269.50
2715
2710
-
Durgapur(WB)
19.00
322.22
377.75
2720
2720
-
Sirsaganj(UP)
15.00
-6.25
317.50
2650
2640
-3.99
Akbarpur(UP)
14.00
-
273.30
2360
-
7.03
Paliakala(UP)
13.50
22.73
161.00
2340
2310
4.00
Farukhabad(UP)
13.00
8.33
480.00
2750
2780
3.77
Fatehabad(UP)
12.70
5.83
129.00
2150
2320
-3.15
Jhansi(UP)
12.50
-
49.00
2335
-
-0.64
Kannauj(UP)
12.00
9.09
255.70
2750
2720
7.84
Panchpedwa(UP)
11.00
18.28
174.00
1925
2000
-11.49
Mahoba(UP)
9.80
-10.91
187.00
2335
2325
6.86
Kasganj(UP)
9.00
28.57
292.50
2560
2580
4.92
Puwaha(UP)
9.00
12.5
125.70
2650
2650
12.53
Raibareilly(UP)
9.00
-65.38
766.00
2400
2400
11.11
Tamkuhi Road(UP)
7.50
-31.82
254.80
2150
2150
NC
Etah(UP)
7.00
7.69
148.00
2560
2570
1.99
Mirzapur(UP)
7.00
-
110.00
2460
-
7.66
Ajuha(UP)
7.00
-12.5
76.00
2550
2550
-
Bharwari(UP)
6.50
-1.52
13.10
2530
2520
-
Bishnupur(Bankura)(WB)
6.00
-7.69
130.80
2600
2600
-1.89
Tundla(UP)
5.50
-8.33
92.00
2545
2540
0.59
Badda(UP)
5.50
NC
25.70
2650
2650
-
Lalganj(UP)
5.00
-23.08
143.60
2010
2000
-
Ruperdeeha(UP)
5.00
-
109.00
2250
-
32.35
Risia(UP)
4.70
NC
30.40
2450
2450
-
Khurja(UP)
4.50
-10
164.20
2645
2650
1.15
Baberu(UP)
4.20
5
40.70
2300
2280
6.98
Jahangirabad(UP)
4.00
33.33
89.50
2500
2500
-4.76
Achalda(UP)
4.00
NC
79.10
2560
2550
15.84
Boxonagar(Tri)
3.60
-
3.60
2600
-
-
Kosikalan(UP)
3.40
-2.86
101.60
2595
2500
-1.70
Fatehpur Sikri(UP)
2.80
7.69
24.70
2500
2510
-1.57
Khatra(WB)
2.80
12
63.30
2650
2650
NC
Anandnagar(UP)
2.50
-28.57
90.40
2550
2545
10.87
Buland Shahr(UP)
2.50
NC
87.50
2650
2660
1.92
Tulsipur(UP)
2.50
-16.67
39.20
2430
2425
-
Sonamura(Tri)
1.90
-
18.80
2800
-
-
Balarampur(WB)
1.83
-
9.09
2580
-
-3.01
Khair(UP)
1.80
-40
25.90
2560
2550
1.59
Gadaura(UP)
1.50
7.14
153.60
2300
2300
9.52
Muskara(UP)
1.40
-6.67
28.40
2400
2350
6.19
Alibagh(Mah)
1.00
NC
42.00
4200
4200
-41.67
Murud(Mah)
1.00
NC
42.00
4200
4200
-41.67
Mohanpur(Tri)
1.00
-
3.00
3300
-
-
Mugrabaadshahpur(UP)
1.00
-68.75
29.70
2330
2330
-
Wazirganj(UP)
1.00
NC
17.30
2590
2550
-
Ujhani(UP)
0.80
-20
19.60
2600
2600
15.56
Published on January 09, 2020
TOPICS

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Flawed Anchor Borrowers’ scheme, RUGA, others marred agric sector

By Femi Ibirogba, Head, Agro-Economy
08 January 2020   |   3:32 am
Description: https://guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cattle-grazing-agric.jpg
Indications have emerged that lopsided implementation of the Anchor Borrowers’ scheme, the proposed RUGA settlement debacle, very epileptic power supply and appointment of the current minister of agriculture were some of the policies and actions that marred food production and agro-economic development of the country in 2019.
Head, Commercial Agriculture and Training, Lower Niger River Basin Authority, Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr Olabisis Awoniyi, while recalling happenings in 2019, said, “One of the flaws in agricultural policies last year was in the area of Anchor Borrowers’ programme of the Federal Government. Farmers did not have access to the funds as of when due. Farmlands were not prepared on time; maize and other grain farms were affected by Fall Armyworms before funds were available, among other difficulties.” He explained that farmers were asked to look for resources to prepare land, buy farm inputs and be reimbursed later, saying, “As good as the programme may be, agriculture is time-bound, and this failure could reduce yield.”
The anchor borrowers’ programme, some other critics said, revolved around only rice and a few other grains, leaving other farmers out of the scheme.A Lagos-based consultant and agro-product exporter, Mr John-Bede Antonio, said emphasis placed on rice production and its value chain prevented development of other sub-sectors of agriculture in Nigeria, saying total value chain development across various crops and regions is desirable for food security.
Mr Antonio said, “I have stopped eating rice. The emphasis on rice is overblown, irrelevant, irresponsible of the government, impractical and absolutely of no value.“The moment this government leaves in 2023, the furor will die down because it is unsustainable.”He argued that other cash crops which were mainstays of the country’s economy in the past have been neglected despite a promise of a robust agro-economic policy tagged The Green Alternative. He called on the government to extend input and financial support to cocoa, palm oil, coconuts and cashew production because they are real industrial produce that could revolutionise the economy if industrialised, processed and consumed in the country and exported to other African countries the continental free trade agreement.
Other critics of the policy said resources for the scheme have been concentrated in the north, with a very few farmers benefitting in the scheme in the south-east, south-south and the south-west.A commercial rice farmer and processor in Iwo, Osun State, Mr Ayoade Popoola, said despite several efforts to secure loans and inputs through the borrowers’ scheme, he and many other farmers could not get any support in 2019.
From the angle of agro-chemical and agro-machinery, Dr Akin Oloniruha, a former provost of the Ahmadu Bello University College of Agriculture, Kabba, Kogi State, said importation of agro-machinery and chemicals is on the rise, making the country to lose what it gains through the closure of borders.
He emphasised that “We are still importing all our machinery and equipment, thus while import of rice has dropped, that of machinery, equipment and agrochemicals has correspondingly gone up.”He suggested that the “Government will do well to create incentives for local assembly plants for machinery and production plants for agrochemicals to reduce their prices and create more jobs.”
RUGA settlement initiative as divisive policy, farm invasion
The Federal Government hinged its argument for the RUGA settlement policy on the point that over 95 per cent of the 20 million cattle population in Nigeria is managed under the traditional pastoral system which relies predominantly on mobility in search of pasture and water from natural range resources and crop residues, saying full potential of cattle raised under this system of production are limited in both production and per animal productivity due to poor feeding and watering occasioned by long dry season.
So, the policy stipulated that fatal clashes arising between farmers and herders were results of open grazing, therefore, “the need to come up with innovative and integrated approach that would provide housing infrastructure and security incentives to enhance settlement of pastoralists and increase productivity of livestock.”
“One of such innovations,” the government policy explains, “is the ‘Ruga’ settlement model comprising 40 units of huts for 10 pastoral families on a minimum 20ha land with the following facilities: solar powered borehole, water harvesting infrastructure, sanitary facility, mini ruminant feed mills, dispensary, watch tower security posts and access road.”The government claimed that the Ruga settlement model would be spread across 12 states, most of which had persistently experienced farmer-herder clashes. The states were Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara states.
The public criticisms that trailed the announcement of the policy nearly burst the country, and since the suspension, the government policy in the sector has had no clear direction. Similar to the above were the proposed Radio Fulani and alleged N100 billion grant to cattle breeders, which Nigerians rejected and described as sectionalist, ethnic-centric and divisive in a multi-ethnic country.Appointment of Muhammed Nanono as minister of agriculture climaxed the directionless agricultural policies. Many Nigerians have described the minister as too old, and having no adequate knowledge of what to do in the sector.
Rural underdevelopment
A former minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh, once told The Guardian that he was only saddled with the affairs relating to agriculture, not rural development because he was not equipped for such.Rural and food-producing communities have suffered massive infrastructural shortages and dilapidation since the return of democratically elected government in 1999. Audu Ogbeh said this was unconnected with crippling of the local government administration by state governments with the appointment of care taker committees and operation of joint accounts that kept the local government councils stranded financially.
Grading, reconstruction and construction of farm roads and other infrastructure within the jurisdiction of the local authorities have been hampered, and President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration could not effect an immediate shift in 2019.Storage facilities of the Federal Government were also leased out to private investors, making such unavailable for grain farmers’ use.
Poor road networks, according to Dr John Okechukwu, a cassava value chain specialist at IITA and Dr Francis Nwilene, Regional Coordinator of Africa Rice Centre, escalated post-harvest losses in 2019, and marginally increased the cost of food items on getting to the final consumer on accounts of higher cost of transportation.
Moving crops, either processed or raw, from where they were produced in rural areas was costly, difficult and time-consuming, they said, and this affected wholesomeness of foods, profitability to farmers, prices and availability in 2019.Oloniruha, on his part, said “the rural feeder roads to farms remain deplorable as ever,” suggesting that “states and local government councils should begin to live up to their responsibilities so that farm produce can be evacuated to marketplaces with little stress.”
He also said “the menace of herdsmen on arable farms has remained intractable so much so that some farmers had to abandon their farmlands. But with some creativity and innovation, the government can solve this problem. Several farmlands were flooded last year with farmers incurring huge losses and the government is under intense pressure to come to farmers’ assistance.”
Oloniruha said on the loss of crops to flooding and herdsmen, the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) should step up its presence, activities, advocacy and enlightenment to farmers so that they would imbibe the culture of insuring their farms.
“In the livestock section, due to increased demand for day-old-chicks by farmers, the few hatcheries cannot cope. Farmers have to make booking for six months in some cases before they can procure day-old-chicks.“Setting up hatcheries is expensive. Some state governments can take this up as it is also lucrative. “By and by, I think the borders should remain closed until we can devise an ingenious way to effectively and efficiently policing our borders.”
The flipside of the flaws
However, policies adjudged to be good by many Nigerians are closure of some land borders, the Anchor Borrowers’ scheme in various crops and emphasis on local production of rice and poultry products. Dr Awoniyi said, “Border closure is a step in the right direction, and farmers should be encouraged more to produce. Inputs such as seeds should be distributed to farmers to prevent mixture of varieties as many of the locally processed brands of rice in the country were mixture of different varieties, which affects processing and cooking time.”
The government should consider input subsidy that would make inputs get directly to farmers, he suggested, as was done during the administration of a former minister of agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adeshina. He also suggested more of public-private-partnership in all areas of agriculture.
“Farm produce should be bought off the local farmers to prevent glut and youths should be involved in farming through the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) farms in all local government areas,” he added.Despite kicks from certain critics on the scheme, Dr Oloniruha commented that “The Anchor Borrowers’ programme for farmers recorded great success last year,” adding that “Farmers were also able to obtain fertiliser in good time.”Oloniruha argued that closure of the borders encouraged more production of rice and poultry production, saying, “But processing facilities (for rice) are still limited and expensive. One will like to see more processing facilities installed this year.”

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