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Hin Pisei | Publication date 14 July 2020 | 21:58
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The Kingdom exported 397,000 tonnes of milled
rice to the international market in the first half of this year, surging 41 per
cent year-on-year. YOUSOS APDOULRASHIM
Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) officials have
refuted claims that the Kingdom’s rice exports to the US will hurt farmers
there.
This comes as the USA Rice Federation (USA
Rice), a global advocate for all segments of the US rice industry, testified at
the US International Trade Commission (USITC) hearing late last month,
supporting the removal of rice from a list of eligible commodities under GSP.
USA Rice said the US has long provided GSP
benefits to developing countries, providing duty-free access, though it is only
for parboiled rice.
For least-developed countries like Cambodia
and Myanmar, all rice is eligible for duty-free access into the US.
USA Rice submitted a petition to the Office of
the US Trade Representative (USTR) in March, which has since moved forward into
the formal review process.
Information seen by The Post last week said as
part of the 2020 Annual Review for modification of the GSP programme, the Trade
Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) has decided to accept certain product petitions
for review.
“USTR accepted the petition to remove rice
products from GSP. It’s under consideration. USITC held a hearing on whether
rice should be removed.
“USITC will submit a confidential report to
USTR by August 31. USTR is expected to issue a ruling on or before October 31,
and becomes effective on or before November 1,” the TPSC said.
It said the countries affected are Thailand,
India (which lost GSP status in June last year), Pakistan, Brazil, Vietnam,
Argentina and Cambodia.
CRF president Song Saran told a meeting at the
Ministry of Commerce on Monday: “US imports of Cambodian rice are not a
detriment to their farmers because only 2,000 tonnes are shipped there per
annum.
“These are of the indica rice, organic and
fragrant romduol varieties, which are different from the ones grown in the US.”
US farmers are more known to grow varieties
such as Japonica rice, and its medium-grain variant Calrose, he said.
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng told The Post
on Tuesday that although striking rice off the list of eligible commodities
under GSP would stifle exports to the US, its impact on overall rice exports
would be miniscule.
He noted that the Kingdom exported about 2,000
tonnes of rice to the US last year and just slightly more than 1,000 tonnes in
the first half of this year.
“Taking into account that shipments to the US
market account for less than one per cent of Cambodia’s total rice exports,
there won’t be much of a repercussion,” Yeng said, acknowledging that
small-scale organic-rice farmers would face most of the risks of the
transition.
Local media reported Yeng as saying that with
the removal of GSP, a $20 per tonne tax will be applied on imports of Cambodian
rice.
Commerce ministry spokesman Seang Thay told
The Post that his ministry currently does not have any concrete measures in
place to respond to a potential withdrawal.
Monday’s was a “technical meeting to gather
feedback and no specific decisions have been made so far”, he said.
Cambodia exported 1,819 tonnes of milled rice
to the US market worth $1.672 million last year and 1,100 tonnes worth $1.014
million in the first six months of this year, Thay said.
The Kingdom exported 397,000 tonnes of milled
rice to the international market in the first half of this year, surging 41 per
cent from the year-ago period, data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries show. The exports reeled in $264 million in revenue.
The primary markets for the Kingdom’s milled
rice are China, the EU, the UK and other countries in the ASEAN bloc.
The Ministry of
Economy and Finance submitted a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking him to
formally set a five-day national holiday from August 17-21 to make up for the
Khmer New Year holiday in April that was postponed. Finance minister Aun
Pornmoniroth sent
Cambodia's Permanent
Mission to the UN Office in Geneva on Friday hit back at David Kaye, the UN
special rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of
Opinion and Expression after he raised concerns over the repression of free
speech and
The World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) has warned that snaring of animals has become a crisis that poses a
serious risk to wildlife in Southeast Asia and could spawn the transmission of
zoonotic diseases to humans. Its July 9 report entitled Silence of the Snares:
Southeast Asia’
A former political
party leader known for being critical of the government has been appointed
secretary of state at the Ministry of Rural Development, a royal decree dated
July 9 said. Sourn Serey Ratha, the former president of the Khmer Power Party
(KPP), told The Post
The Ministry of
Interior plans to grant residence cards to more than 80,000 immigrants to
better keep track of them. The ministry announced the plan on July 10,
following the results of an immigration census. “An inter-ministerial committee
and many operational working groups have been set up
Medical supplies from
Cambodia have been donated to member countries of the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) to assist in the fight against Covid-19, said an ADB report published on
July 9. The report stated that the supplies were donated as a response to
global efforts to
At an academic forum
on Saturday to celebrate 70 years of Cambodia-US diplomatic ties, Cambodian
researchers and officials expressed hope of encouraging US investments and for
that country to deepen and improve its bilateral relations. Held at the Royal
Academy of Cambodia, it reviewed the past 70
Forty-seven companies
have successfully registered via a newly-launched information technology
e-business registration platform as of the end of the second week of this
month, Ministry of Economy and Finance secretary of state Phan Phalla said. Six
ministries and state-run institutions have been integrated into a
The giant reptile’s
gaping mouth appears ready to consume its latest victim. It stands taller than
a person and is incredibly life-like with authentic colours, a long spiky tail
and detailed scales adorning its entire body. If it wasn’t 13m long, you may
The Ministry of Health on Sunday confirmed 15
more imported cases of Covid. The 15 men ‒ all Cambodian aged 21 to 33 ‒
arrived from Saudi Arabia on Friday via a connecting flight in Malaysia. They
were travelling with 79 other passengers, three of them women. The ministry
said 80 of the
A
global research company says the US and EU are unlikely to revoke the
preferential trade agreements that underpin Cambodia’s garment sector, a
prediction
MOUNTAIN HOME, TX -- The USA
Rice Leadership Development Program is a mainstay of the USA rice
industry. Under the direction of The Rice Foundation, the program selects
seven participants (producers and industry) each year and through four one-week
sessions over two years, provides them with a thorough understanding of all
aspects of the industry with the goal of providing the background necessary for
class members to become future successful leaders. Typically, the seven class members are selected
in a competitive process that culminates in interviews with a selection
committee during the annual USA Rice Outlook Conference each December.
That class then has two sessions the following year: March in Texas and
Louisiana, and June in Chicago, Moline, Illinois, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
The California session is held in September of the next year and the fourth
session is held during the USA Rice Government Outlook Conference the following
February. Each year an international session is also held
where leadership program alumni participate in a session in an
international location to learn about the rice industry there. This
session is normally conducted in late October-early November. The program has three excellent long-term
sponsors in American Commodity Company, John Deere, and RiceTec, and the Texas
Rice Producers Board contributes to support the session while the group is in
Texas. The program has been in existence more than 30
years and more than 210 individuals have participated. Many of these
alumni have held or are currently holding important leadership positions in the
industry.
The international session
is a game changer
However, this year's program
has been dramatically altered by the coronavirus pandemic. The class that
was selected for the program last December by now should have completed
Sessions I & II. Those two sessions were postponed because of current
travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines. Also, the
California session for the class selected in 2018 is scheduled for September
but it is currently unclear if that session will take place. In addition,
the international session scheduled for this fall is unlikely to take place due
to international travel restrictions. To address this situation, a Rice Leadership
Program Advisory Group was formed consisting of one program alumni from each of
the six major rice producing states, a representative from each of the three
sponsors, the chair of The Rice Foundation, and Chuck Wilson, who is retired
but directed the program for many years. This group unanimously
recommended to putting the program on hold for one year. In other words,
no new participants will be selected in December of this year and those
selected in 2019 will begin their program in March 2021. The Advisory Group determined that this was the
most logical solution to providing a normal program for these class
members. The group also recommended extending the maximum age limit for
application to the program (45) by one year for the next selection cycle so no
one will miss out on applying.
Since the leadership program is under the
direction of The Rice Foundation, these recommendations were reviewed by the
Foundation's board of directors at the board's recent meeting and unanimously
approved. The next call for applications for the program
will be issued in July 2021. Notification of the program's new timeline
will be shared in the USA Rice Daily and on the USA Rice website. (Go here to
subscribe to the USA Rice Daily.) The September session in California and the
alumni international session this fall have not yet been officially canceled,
however, if conditions disallow one or both sessions, those would be pushed
back to 2021 as well. For more information about the Rice Leadership
Development Program, please contact Steve Linscombe.
Sadza
Is Overrated’, Younger Generation Prefers Rice And Bread
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) said that there
is a shift in the country’s staple diet as the younger generation prefers rice
and bread to sadza.
Speaking during a recent briefing with Bulawayo journalists,
GMAZ National Chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said the milling industry should start
to move towards the provision of more wheat products and rice.
Musarara observed that demand for wheat and rice was driven up
by such consumption habits. He said:
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If we are talking about vision 2030, young ones will now become
the working class and would be eating rice and wheat – food that forms their
diet.
What one eats from ages six months to 22 years informs your
diet, for the rest of your life. In our case (in Zimbabwe) that’s what we have
– young ones prefer rice and bread, so as a business we need to move towards
that.
Musarara revealed that in 2005, Zimbabwe was only consuming 12
000 tonnes of rice per year but the figure has risen to 11 000 tonnes of rice
per month.
He said the country requires between 2.2 million to 2.3 million
loaves per day.
By changing their food habits, consumers can
reduce the environmental impact of large-scale agriculture. The simple act of
buying more mung beans instead of rice translates to a reduction in pollution,
said Eufemio T. Rasco, Jr., Chair of the Agricultural Sciences Division of the
National Academy of Science and Technology.
By Patricia B.
Mirasol
The existing three-step linear food
system—food production, marketing, and consumption—is dysfunctional. Consumers
are at the core of this food system and their behavior thus influences its
outcome. For the system to be fixed, a fourth step—waste management—and
circularity need to be established.
This was according to
Academician Eufemio T. Rasco, Jr., Chair of the Agricultural Sciences Division
of the National Academy of Science and Technology, who highlighted “responsible
consumption as the key to a nourishing and regenerative food system,” during
the academy’s 42nd Annual Scientific Meeting.
Responsible consumption and
production is one of the 12 Sustainable Development Goals
adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. It calls “reducing our
ecological footprint by changing the way we produce and consume goods and resources.”
Circularity, meanwhile, as defined by
Wageningen University & Research, “aims to reduce resource consumption and
emissions to the environment by closing the loop of materials and substances.”
CONSUMERS ARE NOT
VICTIMS
To illustrate the three-step linear food system, Mr. Rasco offered the example
of food coming from a distant farm that travels all the way to the city, but
whose waste does not return to the farm it came from.
“The traditional way of fixing the system is
working on the production side so we always view the problem with the
Department of Agriculture,” said Mr. Rasco. “Marketing is occasionally a
problem; traders get greedy and start hoarding. We never look at consumers as
part of the problem. We always see them as the victim.”
Consumers are at the core of the system,
however. “When we choose to eat white rice, millers respond by removing most of
the nutrients to make the rice white. Retailers deliver in plastic bags. As a
consequence, we suffer because excess intake of such equals chronic disease. We
also add to pollution because of the plastics used as part of marketing,” he
said, pointing out that consumer behavior determines the outcome of food systems.
CHANGING HABITS
By changing their food habits, consumers can reduce the environmental impact of
large-scale agriculture. Mr. Rasco said that the simple act of buying more mung
beans instead of rice translates to a reduction in pollution. “The need to use
chemical fertilizers is halved in mung bean production. It also produces less
greenhouse gases than rice,” he explained.
Mr. Rasco acknowledged the challenge of
changing the habits of consumers. To this end, his division plans to target its
initial efforts at the middle class. “They are more educated, more open to food
choices, and have the financial means. Consumers are not the victims. Empower
them by providing the proper information.”
“If the middle class changes, this will have
an effect on the farming sector. They will have to adjust in relation to the
change in demand. There will be a fallout. The poor will also benefit. Prices
will go down and (quality food) will become more available,” he said.
LIFESTYLE AS
ADAPTATION
Further down the line, Mr. Rasco wants to develop apps modeled after the GenoPalate app, which analyzes users’ genes to
provide them with genetic-based nutrition and food recommendations. He is
hoping to work with the Department of Science and Technology and other
interested parties to make this concept a reality.
Imagine, he continued,
being able to ask your mobile phone: “What can I eat for P20?” and your phone
answering “You should not be eating broccoli. That’s expensive. Eat kangkong.
That’s also healthy.”
“The real challenge is how to put all these
data together. Financial ability is very important,” he said.
Added fellow NAST
Academician and faculty member of the University of the Philippines College of
Medicine Antonio Dans, who cited data from The 2017 Prospective Urban Rural
Epidemiology (PURE) study: “Lifestyle is probably not a choice. We
don’t exercise because there’s no place to exercise. We don’t eat healthy
because healthy food is expensive. We smoke because tobacco is cheap. Lifestyle
is an adaptation to the world we live in rather than a choice we make. The way
we change our lifestyle is by changing the world we live in.”
SIDEBAR | Envisioning a better food
system by 2050
In his presentation, Agricultural Sciences
Division Chair Eufemio T. Rasco, Jr., also listed nine features of the
envisioned food system 30 years hence, in keeping with the Philippine Science,
Technology, and Innovation Foresight and 30-year Strategic Plan 2020–2050 of
the Department of Science and Technology.
Higher food production from urban and
controlled environment facilities and more market power to both farmers and
consumers are among the benefits of this envisioned 2050 food system as
mentioned by Mr. Rasco:
1. Individual consumption decisions will be
data- and values-driven.
2. Connection between food producers and the
consumer will be more direct.
3. Food production will be highly diversified,
local, and seasonal.
4. Production will be closer to the kitchen as
urban and peri-urban farms get a bigger share of the food market.
5. Food production from the aquatic
environment will grow faster than land-based production.
6. The food system will be circular. Material
and energy recovered from wastes, valued as a resource, and returned to the
farms and households.
7. Steps in the food system will be digitally
interconnected, allowing for a high level of transparency and efficiency.
·Increasing salinity from rising sea levels, storm surges and
declining river flow, threatens the livelihood of millions of paddy farmers in
the Indian Sundarbans and other Asian deltas.
·Scientists have been developing salt-tolerant rice strains to
help farmers since excess salt can retard plant germination and growth.
·Water harvesting and soil management are also needed to help
farmers survive climatic and development pressures.
A
decade ago, Manirul Saha grew just one crop a year on his small farm in the
Sundarbans, the sea-soaked land some hours south of Kolkata. The 40-something
sowed rice before the summer monsoon and reaped the harvest at rains’ end. A
second crop was always unreliable: As the water evaporated in the post-monsoon
months, more salt would rise to the surface of this coastal land, making the
soil saline and retarding plant growth. Saha had to work as a day labourer to
survive.
Then,
with the help of scientists at the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute
(CSSRI), Saha adopted new farming techniques, including the use of improved
salt-tolerant rice varieties and water-saving techniques. That allowed him to
expand to a second crop.
“I
hardly saved anything before,” he said. “Now I’m saving a lakh [rupees] a
year.”
Low-lying
coastal regions like the Sundarbans, the mangrove-tipped edge of the
Ganges-Brahmaputra delta that cradles eastern India and Bangladesh, are under
threat from rising seas and more frequent storms, such as the cyclone Amphan
that hit the region a
few weeks ago. But the climate danger is not just about sudden destruction or
gradual submergence.
Sea-level
rise, storm surge, and coastal erosion also raise the risk of salinity ingress
into wells, farms, and ecosystems. Excess salt can make water undrinkable, ruin
soil, and hinder germination of seeds.
After the monsoon recedes in September and the soil begins to
dry, the salt in the land – from groundwater or ingress – begins to rise to the
top soil, visible in the small white patches seen here. Soil salinity rises
through the winter and peaks around May, making a winter crop difficult to
cultivate in parts of the coastal Sundarbans. Photo by Vaishnavi
Chandrashekhar.
Salinization
of coastal lands threatens the livelihoods of millions of small paddy farmers
that live in Asia’s deltas. An estimated 16 to 20 million hectares of coastal
land in South and Southeast Asia are already affected by salinity. In India,
that figure is 3 million hectares, concentrated in the eastern states of Odisha
and West Bengal. Research suggests that, for every unit of increase in salinity
above a certain threshold, there is a 12 percent drop in rice yield.
The
threat has pushed institutes like CSSRI to develop and disseminate new
salt-tolerant rice varieties to help farmers over the recent years, along with
improved farming techniques. The largest of these efforts is from the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which ran a project for Stress
Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia from 2007-2019.
According
to Abdelbagi M Ismail, principal scientist at IRRI, the multinational effort
improved research infrastructure, trained researchers, and helped get 1 million
tons of stress-tolerant rice seeds—for salinity, drought, and flood—-produced
and distributed to over 30 million farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South
Asia.
“There
is a need for new varieties that have higher tolerance than existing ones as
the severity of the problem increases with time,” he said.
India’s
CSSRI, meanwhile, has developed 120 stress-tolerant rice varieties in the past
decade, 40 of them with higher resistance to salinity. Some are suitable for
the monsoon crop, others for the dry season, said Dhiman Burman, head of the
CSSRI regional field station at Canning Town in the Sundarbans of West Bengal.
There are also different kinds of salt-tolerant seeds for different types of
land and rice consumption preferences. Seeds that are tolerant to multiple
stressors—salinity as well as drought, for instance—are increasingly necessary,
he said.
Different rice varieties displayed at the
CSSRI field station in Canning in the Sundarbans. Government scientists have
developed and tested these varieties for a variety of environmental conditions.
Canning 7 (third from right, top row) can tolerate higher salinity levels while
Amal Mana (top row, second from right) and Swarna Sub 1 (middle of bottom row)
can tolerate many days of flooding. Photo by Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar.
“Salinity
usually coexists with other challenges,” agreed IRRI’s Ismaili. “The solution
is to develop climate-resilient varieties that can withstand all these
conditions, because it is not possible to predict what will happen in next
season.”
But
developing these seeds isn’t easy. The process takes time and money. There are
genomic boundaries to raising rice’s tolerance to salinity—though some
researchers are cracking that with genetic modification. Getting them into a
market dominated by commercial breeders is another hurdle.
And
there are limits to what technology can accomplish in landscapes shaped by
complex human and natural pressures. “On the ground, there are many
challenges,” said Burman.
Declining freshwater
flow and salinity
Four
million people live in the Indian Sundarbans, on land that lies just one to two
metres above sea level. Farming has always been difficult here due to frequent
flooding, paucity of freshwater, and acidic soil. Most paddy farmers are small
or marginal landholders; more than 40% of the population lives below the
poverty line.
Increasing
salinity is adding to that challenge but is not only due to rising seas and
storms. Upstream dams and other development pressures have drastically reduced
freshwater flows in the rivers that braid the region.
The
pressures were evident on the road from Kolkata to Canning in February.
Initially the landscape is dotted with large-scale brackish aquaculture farms
that leak salt into surrounding fields and brick kilns that ruin the soil for
agriculture. Along the way are glimpses of the Matla River, which once carried
water from the Ganges into the sea but is now largely fed by the monsoon and
tides. Salinity in the Matla increased by around 32% between 1984 and 2013,
according to one study. At Canning, the river is a brown ribbon
of silt.
Scientists at the CSSRI field station in Canning in the
Sundarbans conduct field experiments to trial new seeds under different water
conditions and farming techniques. In this field, wheat and brinjal are being
grown under different water supply conditions in saline soil. Salinity and
water shortages are the main challenges for farming in this coastal region.
Photo by Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar.
The
effects of rising salinity are already apparent in the ecosystem. Some mangrove
species, including the ‘sundari’ that gave the area its name, are dwindling.
The potential impact on farming was made clear in 2009 when Cyclone Aila hit
the coast with a 4 metre storm surge. The inundation left an encrustation of
salt on the land. Thousands abandoned their fields and migrated to Kolkata and
other cities for work. Even after ten years, the land has not fully recovered,
said Sujit Mondal, a farmer in Rangabelia village on Gosaba Island. He still
cannot grow chili, which was his most profitable crop before Aila.
After
Aila, local farmer-activists like Amales Misra in Sagar Island revived heirloom
rice varieties that had been side-lined after the Green Revolution. These
flourished in newly saline soil where commercial seeds failed. CSSRI also
collected 63 traditional varieties, some of which they used to create new ones.
Traditional varieties are hardy, said senior scientist SK Sarangi, but low in
yield. And the grain shape and texture is often not what consumers want. The
challenge for scientists like Sarangi is to create seeds that satisfy diverse
requirements.
Diverse requirements
On
Gosaba, farmers say they prefer tall, long-duration rice for the monsoon when
fields are submerged for four months. Yield and texture are less important
because monsoon rice is for home consumption. But in the dry season, they want
high-yielding salt-tolerant breeds that produce long fine grain that sells well
on the market; a variety called Laliminikit is popular here. Soil and water
conditions can be hyperlocal: Gosaba has enough fresh water for farmers to sow
a second rice crop; the neighbouring island of Bali does not. Finally, said
Sarangi, these rice varieties can’t require too much fertiliser or pesticides.
“The farmers can’t afford to spend much,” he said.
For
that reason, CSSRI and NGOs like the Tagore Society for Rural Development are
promoting water harvesting, drip irrigation, soil management and crop
diversity, alongside better seeds. In Rangbelia, Mondal has started growing
grass pea, or laythra, along with rice in the dry season. He has a small pond
to store water for irrigation and cultivate fresh-water fish that supplements
his income. Dry straw mulching can be seen on some fields to protect soil
moisture. CSSRI is also promoting ridge and furrow land-shaping techniques—the
furrows help with drainage and the less-saline ridges can be used to grow vegetables.
Panchanon Saha, 39, used to harvest only a monsoon paddy crop on
his land near Canning in the Sundarbans. But this February, he was growing a
second crop of cucumber, bitter gourd, tomatoes and beans, seen above. A CSSRI
project helped him try out new seeds and farming techniques especially
ridge-and-furrow landscaping which allows crops to be grown on the less saline
ridges. He also built a pond to harvests rainwater for irrigation and cultivate
freshwater fish, and is now trying out a neem-based pesticide. Photo by
Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar.
Better
farming methods along with improved seeds can increase crop productivity by
half a ton per hectare in this saline land, said CSSRI’s Burman. At least for
some farmers, that has been true. Panchanan Saha, a farmer near Canning, has
seen his income almost double in recent years. He has expanded from one crop a
year to three—the last a harvest of beans, cucumber and bitter gourd. He used
to go to Kolkata several months a year to supplement his income by working on
construction sites. Now, he said, “I don’t have to go to the city anymore.”
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Banner image: Paddy fields in the Indian Bengal Delta are converting to
aquaculture and brick kilns, including in Minakhan a few hours from Kolkata.
Commercial aquaculture is profitable but can leak saltwater into the
surrounding soil. Brick kilns produce material for the expanding city; their
number has expanded by 18% between 2010-11 and 2016-17 in the delta. Photo by
Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar.
North Bengal study documents
rising cases of pachyderms attracted by the local rice beer leading to crop
raids, fatal confrontations.
A
recent study on human-elephant conflict in north Bengal points out that
elephants raided villages where brewing of haaria or rice beer was prevalent.
In the
study, scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) recorded 380
crop-raiding incidents by elephants in north Bengal between 2017 to 2019 and
found that 75% of the localities raided by the animals had haaria breweries.
Details
of the study have recently been published in a paper titled ‘Elephants in the
neighbourhood: patterns of crop-raiding by Asian elephants within a fragmented
landscape of Eastern India’.
Elephants
are attracted to the fermented drink and enter the villages to consume haaria, Dipanjan Naha, the lead author of the paper said.
Consumption of rice beer by elephants have been documented across the elephant
distribution range and a combination of crops and beer distilleries leads to
conflicts.
Since
most of these beer distilleries were concentrated at the edge of forests and in
the periphery of protected areas, the scientists suggested that they should be
“relocated from the vicinity of villages to avoid frequent visitation by
elephants and reduce the current extent of human-elephant conflict”.
Located
in the foothills of eastern Himalayas, north Bengal is wellknown for the
severity of human-wildlife conflicts with nearly 500 fatal elephant attacks in
the last 15 years. The region with its highly fragmented forests and protected
areas, interspersed with tea plantations and open fields, accounts for 12 to
13% of all cases of human-elephant conflict in the country.
Specific times, seasons
“Crop
depredation showed a distinct nocturnal pattern (between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.)
and a majority of the incidents were recorded in the monsoon and post-monsoon
seasons,” Mr Naha said.
Crop-raiding
events had major distinct peaks, with 45% of the incidents recorded in winter
between November to February, followed by 43% between July to October and
remaining 12 % between March to June, the study revealed.
Another
interesting aspect recorded in the study is the proximity of the crop
depredation sites from the nearest forest patches. The researchers found that
the average distance of a field raided by elephants was 1.6km from the nearest
forest patch. Thirty-five per cent of the villages were located within 500m of
a forest patch whereas 63% of the incidents occurred within 1.5km.
In
terms of the composition of the elephant herds raiding the crops, the study
found that over half (57%) of the crop-raiding events involved mixed groups
(adult females, sub-adult females, bulls and calves), whereas 43% of the
incidents involved lone bulls (sub-adult to adult males).
Drunken attacks
Mr.
Naha said an earlier study in 2019 revealed that alcoholism in villagers was a
major trigger for fatal elephant attacks in this region, with intoxicated
people reported to have harassed and chased elephants from villages and crop
fields, provoking attacks.
The
other contributors to the paper include Sambandam Sathyakumar, Suraj Kumar Dash
and Abhisek Chettri and Akashdeep Roy.
First real-time digital platform to monitor rice fields can
bolster food security
Researchers are developing the
first real-time monitoring platform for rice fields, which will give
information about the quantity of rice planted and the harvest achieved
The world may soon get its first real-time paddy-field
monitoring platform, which will give information on the quantity of rice
planted and the harvest achieved.
The app, being built by
researchers from the University of Sydney, can help meet the United
Nations-mandated sustainable development goal No.2 — of ‘Zero Hunger’.
The project has been undertaken in
collaboration with Google Earth and the Group on Earth Observations.
“Accurate and up-to-date information on how much rice has been
planted can be achieved and will be available on the app. This is crucial to
achieving global food and water security,” said project leader Budiman Minasny,
from the Sydney Institute of Agriculture at the university.
He added that the project would use the Google Earth Engine to
build the first real-time mobile application that will allow farmers,
agricultural scientists, non-government organisations and government planners
to manage land use to ensure food security in the world’s rice bowls.
How will it work
The real-time land-use data will be generated using Google Earth
and will be verified by field operators in India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia,
and Vietnam. This will allow the agricultural scientists to monitor and ensure
their accuracy worldwide.
These five countries hold the position of the largest
rice-producing countries across the globe. Among these, India, China and
Indonesia are the world’s three largest producers of rice and together account
for about 60 per cent of the total world production.
Jointly developed with the University Malaysia Terengganu, the
mobile monitoring app Paddy Watch will allow farmers, scientists and
agricultural economists to:
determine
the extent of arable land under rice cropping in near real-time
estimate
potential yields
manage
water use and water security;
account
for greenhouse gas emissions (paddy rice releases methane)
develop
policies for education, economic growth, gender equity, and reducing
social inequality
Using the Google Earth Engine and cloud computing technology,
the project will improve on the work using deep-learning techniques to forecast
crop yields and water consumption.
“The project is digital agriculture writ large on a global
canvas and digital agriculture is post-industrial agriculture. This type of
technology means we can have confidence in our ability to feed the world’s
population in a sustainable way,” according to Alex McBratney, professor and
director of the Sydney Institute for Agriculture and Professor of Digital
Agriculture and Soil Science.
Paddy Watch is being developed in partnership with Universiti Malaysia
Terengganu; the Indonesian Centre for Agricultural Land Resources Research and
Development in the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture; IADA Ketara, Ministry of
Agriculture, Malaysia; the Institute of Soil Science at the Chinese Academy of
Sciences; Indian Agricultural Research Institute; and RIICE remote sensing,
Vietnam.
KANSAS CITY — Many people in the food industry are aware that
prebiotic fibers feed probiotics, or “good bacteria,” in the gut to aid in
digestion and provide other health benefits. Research now is looking at how
each specific prebiotic may match a specific probiotic strain or strains.
Not a lot of science is behind matching a prebiotic to a probiotic
strain, “but it’s possible, we think,” said Bruce R. Hamaker, PhD, a professor
of food science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., in a
virtual webinar held as part of ShIFT20, a virtual event produced by the
Institute of Food Technologists, Chicago. Its annual meeting and exposition was
canceled because of COVID-19.
The prebiotic-probiotic findings could lead to personalized gut
health. A protocol could be designed to select fibers that would promote gut
health in a person by supporting probiotic bacterial groups that were
underrepresented in the person. An in vitro pretest or
microbiota analysis would indicate which fiber-based prebiotics, and at what
levels, should be taken at a personalized level.
Dr. Hamaker gave examples of prebiotics matching with probiotic
strains. Insoluble beta-glucan targets a butyrate-producing genus (Anaerostipes).
“This particular carbohydrate, beta-glucan, was a very specific
kind of substrate for that particular bacteria,” Dr. Hamaker said.
Oligosaccharides tend to match with bifidobacterial/lactobacillus.
Certain soluble polysaccharides match with bacteroidetes (phylum). Soluble
fibers in general are easier to be utilized by bacteria, but some bacteria are
designed to match insoluble fibers, which may depend on a plant’s cell walls.
Mario Martinez-Martinez, PhD, a professor of food science at
Aarhus University in Denmark, also spoke in the webinar about how banana flour
could improve the nutritional profile of bread and cakes. Bananas contain
starches that are digested more slowly than other starches. Food items with a
high glycemic index are quickly digested and absorbed, causing a rise in blood
sugar. Banana flour thus could help in creating foods with a lower glycemic
index.
In gluten-free bread, researchers used banana flour to replace 20%
of the maize and rice flour. In cakes, researchers replaced 10% of the wheat flour
with banana flour, which doubled the inhibition of glucose absorption. Foods
with a high glycemic index are quickly digested and absorbed, causing a rise in
blood sugar. Banana flour thus could help slow digestion.
Information on registering for ShIFT20 may be found here.
North Bengal study documents
rising cases of pachyderms attracted by the local rice beer leading to crop
raids, fatal confrontations.
A
recent study on human-elephant conflict in north Bengal points out that
elephants raided villages where brewing of haaria or rice beer was prevalent.
In the
study, scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) recorded 380
crop-raiding incidents by elephants in north Bengal between 2017 to 2019 and
found that 75% of the localities raided by the animals had haaria breweries.
Details
of the study have recently been published in a paper titled ‘Elephants in the
neighbourhood: patterns of crop-raiding by Asian elephants within a fragmented
landscape of Eastern India’.
Elephants
are attracted to the fermented drink and enter the villages to consume haaria, Dipanjan Naha, the lead author of the paper said.
Consumption of rice beer by elephants have been documented across the elephant
distribution range and a combination of crops and beer distilleries leads to
conflicts.
Since
most of these beer distilleries were concentrated at the edge of forests and in
the periphery of protected areas, the scientists suggested that they should be
“relocated from the vicinity of villages to avoid frequent visitation by
elephants and reduce the current extent of human-elephant conflict”.
Located
in the foothills of eastern Himalayas, north Bengal is wellknown for the
severity of human-wildlife conflicts with nearly 500 fatal elephant attacks in
the last 15 years. The region with its highly fragmented forests and protected
areas, interspersed with tea plantations and open fields, accounts for 12 to
13% of all cases of human-elephant conflict in the country.
Specific times, seasons
“Crop
depredation showed a distinct nocturnal pattern (between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.)
and a majority of the incidents were recorded in the monsoon and post-monsoon
seasons,” Mr Naha said.
Crop-raiding
events had major distinct peaks, with 45% of the incidents recorded in winter
between November to February, followed by 43% between July to October and
remaining 12 % between March to June, the study revealed.
Another
interesting aspect recorded in the study is the proximity of the crop
depredation sites from the nearest forest patches. The researchers found that
the average distance of a field raided by elephants was 1.6km from the nearest
forest patch. Thirty-five per cent of the villages were located within 500m of
a forest patch whereas 63% of the incidents occurred within 1.5km.
In
terms of the composition of the elephant herds raiding the crops, the study
found that over half (57%) of the crop-raiding events involved mixed groups
(adult females, sub-adult females, bulls and calves), whereas 43% of the
incidents involved lone bulls (sub-adult to adult males).
Drunken attacks
Mr.
Naha said an earlier study in 2019 revealed that alcoholism in villagers was a
major trigger for fatal elephant attacks in this region, with intoxicated
people reported to have harassed and chased elephants from villages and crop
fields, provoking attacks.
The
other contributors to the paper include Sambandam Sathyakumar, Suraj Kumar Dash
and Abhisek Chettri and Akashdeep Roy.
“The
results of the study will help wildlife managers prioritise mitigation measures
such as prohibition of alcohol production within villages, changing crop
composition, fencing agriculture fields, implement early warning systems around
protected areas and training local people on how to prevent conflicts,” said
Prof. Sathyakumar, Professor at WII, and co-author of the study.
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Nebraska US Navy Veterans
Mesothelioma Advocate Has Endorsed Attorney Erik Karst of Karst von Oiste To
Ensure a Navy Veteran with Mesothelioma in Nebraska Receives the Best
Compensation Results Possible
"The Advocate has
endorsed attorney Erik Karst of the law firm of Karst von Oiste to ensure a
Navy Veteran with mesothelioma in Nebraska receives the best possible financial
compensation results.”
— Nebraska US Navy Veterans
Mesothelioma Advocate
OMAHA, NEBRASKA, USA, July 14, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/
-- The Nebraska US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma advocate has endorsed attorney
Erik Karst of the law firm of Karst von Oiste to ensure a Navy Veteran with
mesothelioma in Nebraska receives the best possible financial compensation
results. Attorney Erik Karst and his colleagues at the law firm of Karst von
Oiste have been assisting Navy Veterans and people with mesothelioma for decades
and they are responsible for over a billion dollars in compensation results for
people like this. For direct access to attorney Erik Karst of Karst von Oiste
please call 800-714-0303. www.karstvonoiste.com/
The Advocate says, "Because of the Coronavirus we think it is
very possible that people with mesothelioma will get misdiagnosed with
COVID-19. Mesothelioma and the Coronavirus have similar symptoms such as
pneumonia, shortness of breath and high fever. If a person with mesothelioma
gets misdiagnosed with the Coronavirus, they will not receive any compensation.
If your Navy Veteran husband or dad is in a hospital anywhere in Nebraska with
suspected Coronavirus and you know he had significant exposure to asbestos,
please tell his doctor's about his asbestos exposure. The typical person we are
trying to help is over 70 years old-as we would be happy to discuss at
800-714-0303." https://Nebraska.USNavyMesothelioma.Com
The Nebraska US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Advocate offers their
free services to US Navy Veterans with mesothelioma in Omaha, Lincoln,
Bellevue, Grand Island, Kearney, Fremont, North Platte or anywhere in
Nebraska. https://Nebraska.USNavyMesothelioma.Com
For the best possible mesothelioma treatment options in Nebraska
the Nebraska US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Advocate strongly recommends the
following heath care facilities with the offer to help a diagnosed victim, or
their family get to the right physicians at each hospital.
* University of Nebraska Medical Center Eppley Cancer Center
Omaha, Nebraska: www.unmc.edu/cancercenter
About one third of all US citizens diagnosed with mesothelioma
each year are Veterans of the US Navy. Before a Navy Veteran with mesothelioma
or their family retain the services of a lawyer or law firm, they are urged to
call the US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Advocate anytime at 800-714-0303. https://USNavyMesothelioma.Com
The states with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include
Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington,
and Oregon. However-Mesothelioma happens with people in Nebraska-especially to
US Navy Veterans. www.karstvonoiste.com/
For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the
National Institutes of Health’s web site related to this rare form of
cancer: https://www.cancer.gov/types/mesothelioma
Michael Thomas
Nebraska US Navy Veterans Mesothelioma Advocate
+1 800-714-0303 email us here
Rice exports
from the country during 11 months of fiscal year 2019-20 increased 5.05 percent
as compared the exports of the corresponding period of last year.
During the period from July-May, 2019-20 country earned $2.024 billion by
exporting over 3.893 million tons of rice, according the data of Pakistan
Bureau of Statistics.
During 11 months of last financial year about 3.873 million tons of rice
valuing $1.927 billion exported, it added.
Meanwhile, exports of Basmati rice during the period under review also
registered about 27.62 percent growth as about 852,117 metric tons of Basmati
rice worth $724.511 million exported as compared 597,639 metric tons valuing
$581.814 million of same period of last year.
During the period under review, country fetched $1.281 billion by exporting
about 3.01 million tons of rice other then Basmati as against the exports of
3.242 million tons valuing $1.281 billion of same period of last year.
It may be recalled here that food group exports from the country during 11
months of fiscal year ended on June 3, 2020 decreased by 5.02 percent as
compared the exports of the corresponding period of last year.
Different food commodities worth 4.056 billion exported during 11 months of
last year, which stood at $4.270 billion of same period of last year.
The Pakistan
Observer is an English-language daily newspaper published in Islamabad,
Karachi, Lahore. The newspaper was founded in 1988 by the veteran journalist
late Zahid Malik.
The
Anheuser-Busch Foundation has committed $530,000 to support model farms at four
US land grant universities, as it aims to advance sustainable agricultural
practices.
University
of Idaho, North Dakota State University, Montana State University and
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will all receive funding
from the brewer’s charitable foundation.
The
universities are creating model farms to research areas including soil health,
irrigation efficiency and other regenerative practices. The donations will
focus on:
University of
Idaho – $200,000 will go to the Sustainable Water and Soil Health
Demonstration Farm, part of a university-led effort to build the nation’s
largest research dairy farm. Research will focus on cover crops and
rotations, as well as livestock integration, at multiple sites including
Anheuser-Busch-owned locations.
North Dakota
State University – The North Dakota Barley Council, in partnership with
the university, will receive a $150,000 contribution to their Soil Health
and Agriculture Research and Extension (SHARE) Farm projects. With the aim
of improving soil health and production sustainability, research will
focus on the suitability and impact of cover crops following barley in
local rotations.
Montana State
University – As part of an ongoing commitment, Anheuser-Busch will donate
$50,000 to advance research on the amount of water and energy saved using
Low Energy Spray Application (LESA) pivots on barley, while maintaining
yield and quality.
University of
Arkansas System Division of Agriculture – The university will receive
$130,000 to establish a Discovery Farm, which will test different
irrigation strategies to help improve the efficiency of rice farming.
According
to Anheuser-Busch, Idaho and Montana are the top two barley producing states in
the US and Arkansas is the number one producer of rice – both key ingredients
in producing its beer.
The
brewer says that its targeted support of programmes in these regions advances
its 2025 Sustainability Goals and is expected to yield improvements in practice
and knowledge that will benefit farmers around the country.
“The work
of land grant universities is critical as we collectively look for ways to make
farming more sustainable and profitable,” said Bill Bradley, vice president of
community affairs at Anheuser-Busch.
“The
Anheuser-Busch Foundation is proud to work alongside these universities that
are the backbone of agricultural extension support to our growers and we thank
them for their longstanding efforts to help local agriculture communities
thrive.”
Michael
Parrella, University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences dean,
added: “This partnership with the Anheuser-Busch Foundation will strengthen the
assessment and demonstration of regenerative agricultural practices in Southern
Idaho and beyond.
“Learnings
from this research will benefit our producers and partners around the region
and we are grateful for the partnership.”
“Bangladesh largely buys
non-basmati rice. We have come to know that Bangladesh will import rice from
India this year,” said Vinod Kaul, executive director, All India Rice
Exporters’ Association. “We are getting in touch with the Indian embassy in
Bangladesh and Bangladesh embassy in New Delhi to get a clearer picture on this
issue.”
AgenciesIndia had
exported 7,599,552.15 metric tonnes of non-basmati rice worth Rs 21,184.85
crore in 2018-19.
KOLKATA:
The resumption of trade with Bangladesh through the West Bengal border has
raised hopes among India’s non-basmati rice traders of getting fresh orders from the
neighbouring country. Trucks carrying rice are currently going through the
Petrapole-Benapole border, fulfilling orders which were placed prior to the
Covid-19 outbreak.
“Bangladesh largely buys non-basmati rice. We have come to know that Bangladesh
will import rice from India this year,” said Vinod Kaul, executive director, All India Rice Exporters’ Association. “We are
getting in touch with the Indian embassy in Bangladesh and Bangladesh embassy
in New Delhi to get a clearer picture on this issue.”
India had exported 7,599,552.15 metric tonnes of non-basmati rice worth Rs
21,184.85 crore in 2018-19.
Traders said rice millers in Bangladesh were demanding high prices for rice
that they would provide to the government warehouses. “Rice consumption has increased in
Bangladesh as people are staying indoors due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Eating out has stopped. This is increasing the demand for rice in the country.
We are now fulfilling our old orders which are being sent to Bangladesh now,”
said Suraj Agarwal, CEO, Tirupati Agri Trade.
Agarwal said a decision from the Bangladesh government on import of rice from
India is expected by the end of July. Bangladesh has imposed an import duty of
55% on rice, but traders said the government is likely to bring down import
duty on rice shortly.
Rice millers in Bangladesh are not providing rice to the government warehouses
at a fixed rate, said traders. The food directorate of Bangladesh procured 0.34
million tonnes of the staple till July 5 and the target is to procure 19.5
million tonnes by August 31, they said.
If Bangladesh imports from India, it will help the Indian rice trade as prices
have fallen in the country since the outbreak of Covid-19. Subrata Mondol, a
rice miller from West Bengal said, “Since all the state governments in the
country are providing free rice to their people, prices have fallen.”
Exports to Bangladesh will help rice millers recover their costs, said Mondol .
Besides Bangladesh, India’s non-basmati rice exporters have a chance to export
to Thailand and Vietnam, where non-basmati paddy crop has failed.
“All countries are trying to create a buffer stock of rice to deal with the
uncertainty created by the pandemic,”
said Agarwal.
After the monsoon recedes in September and the soil begins to
dry, the salt in the land – from groundwater or ingress – begins to rise to the
top soil, visible in the small white patches seen here. Soil salinity rises
through the winter and peaks around May, making a winter crop difficult to
cultivate in parts of the coastal Sundarbans. Photo by Vaishnavi
Chandrashekhar.
Different rice varieties displayed at the
CSSRI field station in Canning in the Sundarbans. Government scientists have
developed and tested these varieties for a variety of environmental conditions.
Canning 7 (third from right, top row) can tolerate higher salinity levels while
Amal Mana (top row, second from right) and Swarna Sub 1 (middle of bottom row)
can tolerate many days of flooding. Photo by Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar.
Scientists at the CSSRI field station in Canning in the
Sundarbans conduct field experiments to trial new seeds under different water
conditions and farming techniques. In this field, wheat and brinjal are being
grown under different water supply conditions in saline soil. Salinity and
water shortages are the main challenges for farming in this coastal region.
Photo by Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar.
Panchanon Saha, 39, used to harvest only a monsoon paddy crop on
his land near Canning in the Sundarbans. But this February, he was growing a
second crop of cucumber, bitter gourd, tomatoes and beans, seen above. A CSSRI
project helped him try out new seeds and farming techniques especially
ridge-and-furrow landscaping which allows crops to be grown on the less saline
ridges. He also built a pond to harvests rainwater for irrigation and cultivate
freshwater fish, and is now trying out a neem-based pesticide. Photo by
Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar.
Agencies
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