Int'l researchers fear double blow
Covid-19 threatens hike in food prices, supply chain disruptions
Boro farmers returning home with the
newly-harvested paddy in Bashkuta village under Sadar upazila in Magura, May
09, 2018. — FE/Files
Boro farmers returning home with the
newly-harvested paddy in Bashkuta village under Sadar upazila in Magura, May
09, 2018. — FE/Files
https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/intl-researchers-fear-double-blow-1587611952
________________________________________
Eatala Rajender pulls up Karimnagar rice
millers
Minister
warned that severe action will be initiated against millers if anybody tries to
humiliate farmers
Health
Minister Eatala Rajender inspecting paddy purchasing center at Thanugula on
Tuesday.
Rice millers face price squeeze by importers, says
council
The Malay Economic Action Council
has called for a government review of the rice import monopoly and the padi and
rice industry. (Reuters pic)
Health
Minister Eatala Rajender inspecting paddy purchasing center at Thanugula on
Tuesday.The Malay Economic Action Council
has called for a government review of the rice import monopoly and the padi and
rice industry. (Reuters pic)
Take precautionary measures at PPCs, says Karimnagar
Collector
District
Collector K Shashanka asked rice millers to immediately dump the paddy shifted
to mills from centers.
Collector
K Shashanka conducting meeting with rice millers in Karimnagar on Monday.
According to State government’s instructions, PPC centres have
been established in all villages. Informing that sufficient harvesters were
available in the district, he advised the farmers to bring their produce to
centres one after another according to taken issued by mandal agriculture
officials.
NFA resolves milling woes to ensure stable rice
supply
Collector
K Shashanka conducting meeting with rice millers in Karimnagar on Monday.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/04/19/2008169/nfa-resolves-milling-woes-ensure-stable-rice-supply
NFA working with
millers to solve checkpoint snags
April
20, 2020 | 12:02 am
PHILIPPINES STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
PHILIPPINES STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
Step up paddy and maize procurement, AICC
tells Telangana CM
Our Bureau Hyderabad | Updated on April
22, 2020 Published on April 22, 2020
Published on April 22, 2020
Machines come to rescue
amid lockdown-linked labourer problem
HYDERABAD, APRIL 21, 2020
19:41 IST
Yet, labourer shortage slows down
transport of paddy from purchase centres to mills, godowns
Notwithstanding some hiccups
interspersed by untimely rains playing the spoilsport, the massive exercise of
paddy procurement from farmers at a minimum support price (MSP) at the village
itself in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus by scheduling arrivals
with issuance of farmer-wise tokens, is underway briskly across the State.
Enough harvesters
Initially, the Agriculture
Department had information that only about 5,000 harvesters were available in
the State but the enumeration could bring out that a total of 14,095 machines
were owned in the State. Another 753 harvesters are positioned in the State by
their owners in Tamil Nadu and Punjab who sensed heavy business this rabi
season, that stretches from March last week to May second week.
Migrant labour
Administration in several
districts is encouraging migrant workers, both those who were in transit and
struck in districts and those who come in search of seasonal wage work, to ease
the labourer shortage in procurement, loading and unloading of purchased grain.
“We have distributed 12 kg of rice each to all migrant workers in the district
along with cash of ₹1,500 per family already this
month and offering them wage work too at procurement centre and rice
mills/storage points. Some of them are working already,” District Collector of
Mahabubnagar S. Venkata Rao said, when enquired about the problem. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/managing-harvesting-bluesmachines-come-to-rescue-amid-lockdown-linked-labourer-problem/article31398296.ece
On The Farm: How Farmers Are Working To Meet Demand While
Preparing For An Uncertain Harvest
Apr 20, 2020,07:00am
EDT
Cable bacteria can drastically reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from rice cultivation
Date:April
20, 2020
A Danish-German research collaboration may have found a solution
to the large climate impact from the world's rice production: By adding
electric conductive cable bacteria to soil with rice plants, they could reduce
methane emissions by more than 90%.
Story Source:
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:
Govt using rice for poor to make sanitiser for rich, says Rahul
Gandhi
Reacting to reports that
Centre has decided to use rice in stock to make sanitisers, Rahul Gandhi said
that the poor were dying of hunger and the government wanted to make sanitisers
for the rich
Congress
President Rahul Gandhi (Social Media)
IANS
Updated: 21 Apr 2020, 5:17 PM
Reacting to reports that the Centre
has decided to use additional rice in stock to make ethanol, which could be
used for making sanitisers, Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that the poor were
dying of hunger and the government wanted to make sanitisers for the rich.
Rahul Gandhi said in his tweet,
"When will the poor of Hindustan wake up, you are dying of hunger and from
your share of rice they are going to make sanitisers for the rich."
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April
21, 2020
The Congress has been demanding
free ration till September 20 and Sonia Gandhi has also written to the Prime
Minister on this.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has
also appealed to the government to issue emergency ration cards to the migrants
and the poor, who are not getting rations through the PDS.
He reacted to the reports that the
Centre has allowed the FCI to convert the surplus rice into ethanol to ensure
adequate availability of sanitisers to fight COVID-19. The decision was taken
by the National Biofuel Cordination Committee chaired by Union Petroleum
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as per the National Biofuel policy of 2018.
The ethanol produced will also be
used in production of ethanol blended petrol.
The policy of 2018 allows such
conversions of surplus foodgrains to into ethanol.
For all the latest India News,
Follow India Section.
Rice genetically engineered to resist heat
waves can also produce up to 20% more grain
As plants convert sunlight into sugar, their
cells are playing with fire. Photosynthesis generates chemical byproducts that
can damage the light-converting machinery itself—and the hotter the weather,
the more likely the process is to run amok as some chemical reactions
accelerate and others slow. Now, a team of geneticists has engineered plants so
they can better repair heat damage, an advance that could help preserve crop
yields as global warming makes heat waves more common. And in a surprise, the
change made plants more productive at normal temperatures.
“This is exciting news,” says Maria Ermakova of
Australian National University, who works on improving photosynthesis. The
genetic modification worked in three kinds of plants—a mustard that is the most
common plant model, tobacco, and rice, suggesting any crop plant could be
helped. The work bucked conventional wisdom among photosynthesis
scientists, and some plant biologists wonder exactly how the added gene
produces the benefits. Still, Peter Nixon, a plant biochemist at Imperial
College London, predicts the study will “attract considerable attention.”
When plants are exposed to light, a complex of
proteins called photosystem II (PSII) energizes electrons that then help power
photosynthesis. But heat or intense light can lead to damage in a key subunit,
known as D1, halting PSII’s work until the plant makes and inserts a new one
into the complex. Plants that make extra D1 should help speed those repairs.
Chloroplasts, the organelles that host photosynthesis, have their own DNA,
including a gene for D1, and most biologists assumed the protein had to be made
there. But the chloroplast genome is much harder to tweak than genes in a plant
cell’s nucleus.
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A team led by plant molecular biologist
Fang-Qing Guo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences bet that D1 made by a nuclear
gene could work just as well—and be made more efficiently, as its synthesis in
the cytoplasm instead of the chloroplast would be protected from the corrosive
byproducts of photosynthetic reactions. Guo and colleagues tested the idea in
the mustard Arabidopsis thaliana. They took its
chloroplast gene for D1, coupled it to a stretch of DNA that turns on during
heat stress, and moved it to the nucleus.
The team found that modified Arabidopsis seedlings
could survive extreme heat in the lab—8.5 hours at 41°C—that killed most of the
control plants. The same Arabidopsis gene also
protected tobacco and rice. In all three species, photosynthesis and growth
decreased less than in the surviving control plants. And in 2017, when Shanghai
exceeded 36°C for 18 days, transgenic rice planted in test plots yielded 8%
to 10% more grain than control plants, the team reports this
week in Nature Plants.
The shock was what happened at normal
temperatures. Engineered plants of all three species had more
photosynthesis—tobacco's rate increased by 48%—and grew more than control
plants. In the field, the transgenic rice yielded up to 20% more grain. “It
truly surprised us,” Guo says. “I felt that we have caught a big fish.”
Veteran photosynthesis researcher Donald Ort of
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, says the group presents credible
evidence of plant benefits, but he’s not yet convinced that the D1 made by
nuclear genes could have repaired PSII in the chloroplast. “Anything this
potentially important is going to be met with some skepticism. There are lots
of experiments to do, to figure out why this works,” he says.
Guo plans further tests of the mechanism. He
also has a practical goal: heftier yield increases in rice. The
productivity boost his team saw in modified Arabidopsis was the
largest of the three species—80% more biomass than controls—perhaps because the
researchers simply moved Arabidopsis’ own D1
gene. Guo thinks rice yield might also burgeon if it could be
modified with its own chloroplast gene rather than one from
mustard—further heating up these already hot results.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/rice-genetically-engineered-resist-heat-waves-can-also-produce-20-more-grain
Siberian scientists have created a cure
for the virus from rice and green tea
The specialists of SB RAS ihtt managed to develop a composite
material based on the conventional green tea and husk from rice, which has
strong antiviral properties. The method of obtaining this material of the
Siberian scientists is described in detail in a publication made especially for
the publication of Silicon.
It is noted that from the beginning, the drug was developed for
agricultural purposes, in particular, he was supposed to be a feed additive for
livestock and a means of stimulating the growth of plants. Was later carried
out other work in collaboration with scientists from the center “Vector”. In
addition, to the Siberian chemists were approached by colleagues, who were
interested in the antiviral properties of silicon dioxide. Later studies have
shown that this development demonstrates the effectiveness in dealing with
viruses of West Nile fever and herpes. But the principles of the creation of
this composite are based on the interaction of silica extracted from rice husk
and polyphenols called catechins contained in green tea.
“We put plant material normal machining, however in special
conditions. The result is the destruction of cells green tea and part of the
contained catechins in contact with the surface of silica interacts with it.
This chemical reaction creates surface complexes, which can subsequently
release both components after oral administration of water,” say the authors of
the study.
https://thetimeshub.in/siberian-scientists-have-created-a-cure-for-the-virus-from-rice-and-green-tea/8829/
Hainan to increase acreage for rice to 132,
200 ha in 2020
The scientific research base will be located in
Wenchang County in Puqian and Jinshan areas
HAIKOU, April 20. /TASS/. Hainan will
increase the acreage for rice cultivation by 2.02% – up to 132, 200
hectares in 2020, according the Hainan Daily.
According to the news outlet, the local
government has set the task to increase the cultivated area for grain to
287,000 ha in 2020 (an increase of 350 ha). According to the newspaper,
the authorities also plan to take measures to protect the crop from insects.
At present, 113 varieties of rice are cultivated
on the Island of Hainan with the use of dry land method, and
irrigation systems for torrential production are also under development. In
particular, in the urban district of Wenchang there are two experimental farms
practicing rice cultivation with the use of torrential method.
The Chinese scientists have also created an
experimental plantation on Hainan for experiments on the cultivation of
"saltwater rice", which has salt tolerant properties. Scientists
often use the term “saltwater rice” among themselves, but this name is
unofficial, as, strictly speaking, it does not grow directly in the ocean. This
breed grows and survives in the salt marsh - the soil, the top layer of
which is characterized by the presence of readily-soluble salts, where most
crops would die.
The scientific research base will be
located in Wenchang County in Puqian and Jinshan areas. These areas were
severely damaged by typhoon Rammasun in 2014: due to the storms, a large number
of fertile lands was contaminated with salt and the lands' fertility
decreased significantly. Currently, 24, 700 hectares of rural lands remain
abandoned.
https://tass.com/economy/1147305
[Interview] Lockdown throws up challenges for quarantine of
plant samples for research
by Sahana
Ghosh on 22 April 2020
- The International Plant
Protection Convention (IPPC) said that while the world battles COVID-19,
plant pests, and diseases continue to pose a threat to food production,
stressing we must not let our guard down.
- Quarantine processes for
samples of plant materials brought into the country for research purposes
have been impacted due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-associated
lockdown, according to the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources
(NBPGR) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
- In an interview with
Mongabay-India, NBPGR scientists discuss the challenges in plant
quarantine for research samples under the lockdown, the gaps in plant
biosecurity in India and implications for a post-COVID world.
The International Plant Protection
Convention (IPPC), an
inter-governmental treaty signed by 184 countries, dubbed it an “unfortunate coincidence” that during the International Year of Plant Health
(IYPH) in 2020, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global outbreak is
“showing the world how adopting preventive measures is essential to secure
countries from the introduction and spread of devastating human diseases.”
IPPC, aimed at protecting the world’s plant resources from the
spread and introduction of pests and promoting safe trade, said that the
COVID-19 pandemic is proving that prevention is always better than cure, and
this applies to the health of humans, animals, and plants.
India is a signatory to the IPPC, which stresses while the world
battles COVID-19, plant pests, and diseases that continue to pose a threat to
food production, must not slip through the cracks.
In the past, India like the rest of the world has seen the devastating effects resulting from diseases and pests introduced along
with the international movement of plant material, agricultural produce, and
product, experts have said. Among these are examples like coffee rust
introduced in Sri Lanka in 1875 and its subsequent introduction in India in
1876; fluted scale (sap-sucking insect) on citrus introduced from Sri Lanka in
1928; San Jose scale in apple introduced into India in the 1930s; and bunchy
top of banana introduced from Sri Lanka in 1943.
The COVID-19 associated lockdown in India has posed challenges
to scientists involved in quarantine processing of samples of plant materials
that are brought into India for research purposes. Quarantining these
samples prevents the entry of exotic pests during import.
These small samples are of immense quarantine importance because they usually comprise of germplasm material
or wild relatives or landraces of a crop and are thus more likely to carry
diverse biotypes/ races/ strains of the pest.
In India, the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR)
of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, undertakes
quarantine processing of germplasm including transgenic planting material
imported into the country for research purposes and issues phytosanitary
certificate for research material meant for export. Phytosanitary certification
is an official declaration by the exporting country attesting that consignments
meet phytosanitary import requirements-stating that plants and plant materials
are free from pests and disease. In a year, at least 100,000 (one lakh) samples
are examined by NBPGR in quarantine processes.
In an interview with Mongabay-India, Kuldeep Singh, director, NBPGR
and S.C. Dubey, head and principal scientist, division of plant quarantine at
NBPGR, discussed the challenges in plant quarantine for research samples, the
gaps in plant biosecurity in India, the solutions and implications for a
post-COVID world.
How do plants and plant products enter India? What is the role
of NBPGR in plant biosecurity?
In India, the entry of plants or their parts is in two ways. The
bulk import for commercial use and consumption is being monitored by the
Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (DPPQS), Faridabad,
Government of India. Small samples for research purposes are imported through
ICAR-NBPGR.
In both cases, the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into
India) Order 2003 has to be followed.
ICAR-NBPGR has been empowered under the Plant Quarantine
(Regulation of Import into India) Order 2003 to undertake quarantine processing
of germplasm including transgenic planting material imported into the country
for research purposes.
Besides, NBPGR also issues ‘phytosanitary certificate’ for
research material meant for export. We have well- equipped laboratories, a
greenhouse complex, and a CL-4 level containment facility to undertake the
quarantine processing effectively. NBPGR also has a well-equipped quarantine
station at Hyderabad, which mainly deals with the export samples of the
International Crop Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and
samples for the southern part of the country.
NBPGR’s
Kuldeep Singh (left) and SC Dubey (right). Photo courtesy the scientists.
Can you elaborate on plant quarantine and phytosanitary
certification?
Over the years, during quarantine processing in post-entry
quarantine (PEQ) facilities, a large number of pests have been intercepted in
germplasm and other research material which includes several pests that have
not been reported yet from India. The consignments must be accompanied by a
phytosanitary certificate stating the status of the consignment to be free from
the pests mentioned in the declaration. NBPGR’s role in the biosecurity of the
country is well defined and known. In past (1976-2019), a total of 78 pests
including fungi (6), viruses (19), insects/ mites (26), nematodes (9) and weeds
(18) not reported from India and of quarantine significance for India were
intercepted in imported germplasm and their entry into India through samples
received by NBPGR was checked.
ICAR-NBPGR is providing regular inputs on biosecurity to
government agencies like the Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture,
Ministry of External Affairs, and MoEF&CC
What are the major challenges in plant biosecurity in India?
We need more certified post-entry quarantine (PEQ) facilities to
accommodate a larger number of plant materials for quarantine processes and
rigorous inspection of the material before release.
Further, the Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) procedure is one of the
biggest challenges for quarantine workers. PRA in plant introduction is
essential to decide whether a particular planting material could be permitted
entry or not. If permitted, what would be the manner of import to prohibit the
introduction of new pests in the country. One of the primary responsibilities
of plant protection organisation/ institutions is to identify foreign pests of
crops that are important in the Indian agricultural scenario and assess the
potential damage that those pests could cause if introduced in our country.
This is part of a PRA exercise which consists of risk assessment
(scientific estimation of likelihood and magnitude of risk of establishment of
a given pest) and impact assessment (estimation of the consequences of the
establishment of pest).
Therefore, to ensure that imported commodities have no pest or
disease risk to our agriculture and forestry, the Plant Quarantine Order 2003
has made it mandatory to conduct a PRA for all commodities other than those
given in Schedule V, VI and VII, prior to the issue of import permit.
Updated lists of endemic pests, authentic data on country-wide
survey/ surveillance, as well as literature, are indispensable in PRA
procedures. To facilitate quarantine processing, and biosecurity, we need to
strengthen the harmonisation of the Indian plant quarantine system with the
global plant quarantine system.
This, in turn, depends on enhanced co-ordination of scientists
and resource sharing among the three concerned organisations: Directorate of
Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (Department of Agriculture and
Cooperation and Farmers Welfare), Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(Department of Agricultural Research and Education) and state agricultural
universities/other research institutions.
Additionally, there is a need for integrated agricultural
biosecurity efforts. Presently in India, agricultural biosecurity is managed on
a sectoral basis through the development and implementation of separate
policies and legislative frameworks (e.g. for animal and plant life and
health).
Post
Entry Quarantine growing of seed samples of French bean and soybean for the
detection of seed-borne pests especially viruses associated with seeds. Photo
from NBPGR.
Although the sectoral agencies organise their work with proper
attention towards the other sectors to meet the challenges of biosecurity that
are of interdisciplinary nature, in the present national system, there is a
need for a more harmonised and integrated approach for agricultural biosecurity
working together towards common goals.
At the national level efforts are being made to develop a
coherent biosecurity strategy for the country by the formulation of a
comprehensive Agricultural Biosecurity Bill in 2013. The Department of
Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare (DACFW) has initiated the
establishment of a National Agricultural Biosecurity System. Also, the
re-drafting of the Agricultural Biosecurity Bill in 2018 by the DACFW to
address the issue of national biosecurity in a holistic manner are some of the
important steps in the right direction.
Has the lockdown impacted plant quarantine measures and
biosecurity measures?
Certainly, as the seed materials are not moving across the
world. We do receive a major part of rice germplasm from International Rice
Research Institute during March-April and this may be affected. NBPGR is
monitoring the seeds grown in the post-entry quarantine facility (PEQ) at New
Delhi and Hyderabad. Up to the last week of February, we did post-entry
quarantine inspections at sites where they were indented across the
country for research materials.
In a post-pandemic world, what will be the major changes with
respect to plant biosecurity? Any specific way the NBPGR will also evolve its
strategies?
We are going to receive huge consignments of seed samples for
research purposes after the lockdown period ends. We will take utmost care at
institute level for disinfestation of the outer surface of the packages
containing seeds before it is opened for quarantine.
Internationally, so far there are no specific guidelines for
safe and secure handling of plant and plant products from the areas having an
outbreak of COVID 19. ICAR is having trained scientists and well-equipped
laboratories to handle any such conditions in the case of plant pests. However,
the plant quarantine system in the country needs to be strengthened both in the
terms of manpower and facilities.
What are the control points in plant biosecurity procedures that
will need rethinking in the wake of COVID-19?
The virus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 is known to be a
surface contaminant, the bags containing seed samples need a certain minimum
policy to be handled with care to avoid contamination. Our staff has been
instructed to surface- sanitise the boxes holding the seed samples.
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