Sunday, September 20, 2020

19th September,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter

 

Basmati , A common heritage of Subcontinent

By Hamid Malik

19 Sep 2020

It's not as simple. There are 3  dimensions. Basmati is a common heritage of subcontinent & that too belongs to a specific Geographical region of Himalyian terrain qualify for both genotype(DNA) & phenotypical characters like typical aroma, cylindrical shape,  3.8/4 ratio of width/length ration,  1.8 to 2.2 times post cooking elongation longitudinally rather than swelling width wise, minimum AGL 7mm , photosynthetic, climate(night temperature after flowering less than 36C & typical Soil. US company patent award for TaXMATI was revoked on Genetically basis. Current GI battle in India between GI declared areas of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal, Utranchal, 29 district of UP & Madhya Pradesh is on phenotypic characters rather than genotype. Now ownership of GI product can't be granted to individual. It's legitimate right of growers of that area. In all kind of old literature in Sanskrit or local language ,product is attributed to Himalyian terrain waters by 5 Eastern rivers of combined Punjab(Chenab, Sind Jehlum, Ravi & Sutlej, 3 central Punjab rivers Bias, Gangs & Yamuna(Jamna).  Let's come to current issue of ownership by India or Pakistan. By the way Nepal(Himalyian proximity) & Bangladesh having Ganga river.

Initially India & Pakistan applied GI Basmati region combindly. Latter on Pakistan entered into arena in Indian court through BGA , Basmati Growers Association, a representative body of Pakistan growers lead by late Mr. Hamid Malhi. Govt of Pakistan through Commerce ministry was backing the move by providing financial ,legal & logistics support. In India APEDA was defending petition on behalf of Indian Govt. In Pakistan ,a split appeared between REAP(Exporters body) & BGA on having ownership of Basmati GI. As a counter move Hamid Malhi submitted a petition in Sind High Court to grant Basmati GI tag to BGA. In the meantime Govt of Pakistan took almost 16 years to draft a GI law which finally is passed by Parliament recently, thanks to untiring efforts & persistent follow up of respectable Zulfikar Thaver sahib. Now we come to Indian application in EU.

 

###

 

 

China donates 3,000 tons of rice to South Sudan

Source: Xinhua Published: 2020/9/18 9:13:37


Manasseh Lomole (L, Front), chairperson of South Sudan's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, and Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Hua Ning (R, Front) sign documents during a handover ceremony of food aid in Juba, South Sudan, on Sept. 17, 2020. The Chinese Embassy in South Sudan on Thursday handed over 3,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to the east African country. (Photo by Gale Julius/Xinhua)

The Chinese Embassy in South Sudan on Thursday handed over 3,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to the east African country.

The embassy said the 1,500 tons of the donation will go for emergency relief to help people affected by recent floods.

The remaining half will be used to support the training of the unified armed forces as part of China's support to South Sudan's peace process.

"On behalf of the people of South Sudan, we say thank for the rice donation," Peter Mayen Majongdit, South Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister, said.

"Our relations with China are unbreakable and we will continue to maintain this strong relationship in various areas," Majongdit added.

Manasseh Lomole, chairperson of South Sudan's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, said the Chinese food aid came at the right time when the conflict-torn country is battling severe disasters such as floods and food insecurity.

"People have been displaced, crops submerged under water, livestock lost and property destroyed. People are heading for a serious food shortage," Lomole added.

The oil-rich South Sudan is currently facing a severe economic crisis amid a fall in global oil prices.

The crisis in the world's newest nation is further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and floods that have affected over 500,000 people nationwide.

Photo taken on Sept. 17, 2020 shows bags of rice donated by the Chinese government to South Sudan in Juba, South Sudan. The Chinese Embassy in South Sudan on Thursday handed over 3,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to the east African country. (Photo by Gale Julius/Xinhua)


 
"The Chinese government and people are very concerned about the recent floods in Unity, Jonglei and other states which affected a big population," said Hua Ning, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan.

Hua said since 2018, the Chinese government has so far provided a total of 9,600 tons of rice to South Sudan in seven batches, adding that Beijing will continue to support South Sudan to attain peace and stability.

"Our own experience has made us fully empathic with South Sudanese people," the Chinese envoy said, adding that China will strive to help the country within its ability.

Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Hua Ning (C) and South Sudanese officials inspect bags of rice during a handover ceremony of food aid in Juba, South Sudan, on Sept. 17, 2020. The Chinese Embassy in South Sudan on Thursday handed over 3,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to the east African country. (Photo by Gale Julius/Xinhua)


 
"China is also willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with South Sudan in disaster prevention and mitigation, so as to reduce the loss of people's lives and property caused by natural disasters," the Chinese envoy added.

Chinese and South Sudanese officials attend a handover ceremony of food aid in Juba, South Sudan, on Sept. 17, 2020. The Chinese Embassy in South Sudan on Thursday handed over 3,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to the east African country. (Photo by Gale Julius/Xinhua)

Manasseh Lomole (L, Front), chairperson of South Sudan's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, and Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Hua Ning (R, Front) exchange documents during a handover ceremony of food aid in Juba, South Sudan, on Sept. 17, 2020. The Chinese Embassy in South Sudan on Thursday handed over 3,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to the east African country. (Photo by Gale Julius/Xinhua)


https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1201292.shtml

Rice will be imported to prevent price hike; warns Min. Bandula Gunawardena

Written by Zulfick Farzan    18 Sep, 2020 | 7:05 PM

Colombo (News 1st);  If rice stocks are not released to the local market, steps will be taken to import rice to the country, warned Minister (Dr.) Bandula Gunawardena at a meeting with representatives from multiple sectors in the agriculture industry.

“The Maximum Retail Price or MRP will not be raised under any circumstance,” said Bandula Gunawardena.

Minister Gunawardena said the network of intermediaries is not releasing rice stocks to the local market.

The Minister said the government would never allow for an artificial rice shortage to be created and stressed rice would be imported in order to prevent a price hike.

https://www.newsfirst.lk/2020/09/18/rice-will-be-imported-to-prevent-price-hike-warns-min-bandula-gunawardena/

 

 

Pakistan Weekly Market Monitor Report - September 2020

Format:Situation Report

 

Source:

 

 Posted:18 Sep 2020

 Originally published

 

18 Sep 2020

Attachments

HIGHLIGHTS

·         In August 2020, the average retail prices for wheat and wheat flour increased by 6.6% and 1.4%, respectively, while the prices of rice Irri-6 and rice Basmati increased by 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively, when compared to the previous month;

·         Headline inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased in August 2020 by 0.63% over July 2020 and increased by 8.21% over August 2019;

·         The prices of staple cereals and non-cereal food commodities in August 2020 experienced negligible to slight fluctuations, except for sugar which experienced a significant price increase and live chicken which had a significant price decrease when compared to the previous month’s prices;

·         In August 2020, the average ToT slightly decreased by 1.3% from the previous month;

·         In September 2020, the total global wheat production for 2020/21 is projected at 770.49 million MT, indicating an increase of 4.46 million MT compared to the projection made in August 2020

https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/pakistan-weekly-market-monitor-report-september-2020

Rice harvest season in Southeastern Iran

Farmers in Nikshahr County, Southern Sistan Va Balouchestan Province in Southeastern Iran, have started harvesting rice. The harvest season will continue until the end of summer. Nikshahr County has special facets from the natural and geographical status. It is famous for its citrus orchards. Zahedan, Iran., Sept 18, 2020. IRNA/

6125**1416

Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dITPHEe8BFMJ:https://en.irna.ir/photo/84044228/Rice-harvest-season-in-Southeastern-Iran+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk

 

Pakistani businessmen puzzled as EU approves plea stating basmati rice is ‘Indian-origin’ product

Pakistan exports face devastation as India is set to register for an exclusive GI tags for Himalayan salt, Multani mitti under Indian brand names in the international market.

News Desk

 

As Pakistan lags behind in implementation of the Geographical Indications (GI) law implemented in March, India has already applied for an exclusive GI tag for Basmati rice in the European Union (EU), reported Profit Pakistan Today.

The EU has approved India’s application in its official journal last week, now stating that Basmati rice is an Indian origin product, even though the same rice is produced in Pakistan at a large scale.

Pakistan’s exports to European countries under threat from India

Ministry of Commerce officials, when contacted, were unaware of this groundbreaking development which could immensely damage Pakistan’s exports to European countries, Basmati rice being a case in point. Abdul Razak Dawood adviser to the Prime Minister (PM) on Commerce had earlier in August directed officials to implement and apply the GI as the law had been implemented over five months ago.

India, to support its claim of exclusivity, has referred to various reports and dictionaries to show that the basmati rice is of Indian origin and conveniently left out the part that the same rice is widely produced in Pakistan.

According to leading rice exporter and former official of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Taufiq Ahmed, the Indian application at EU must be immediately opposed as it could devastate Pakistan’s exports to European nations.

Pakistan must address the issues of the GI law immediately 

Authorities have been ignoring the issue despite multiple requests and reminders. Taufiq explained that if Pakistan does not handle the issue immediately, Pakistani producers will be forced to sell basmati rice under an Indian brand name.

“Apart from opposing the GI tag from the EU, Pakistan must also consult international dictionaries to rectify the definition as the same rice is largely produced in Pakistan. Unfortunately, India is also registering Himalayan salt and Multani Matti with Indian names in the international market,” he added.

According to an official at Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO), an attached department of the Ministry of Commerce which drafted the GI law, the Indian application would definitely be opposed in the EU. Officials say that Basmati rice was stated as a product of both Pakistan and India in the European Rice Regime and Duty-Free Regime, hence, making India’s claim for exclusive rights of Basmati in the EU unlawful.

“The Cambridge dictionary and Wikipedia also show the product as originating from Pakistan and India,” he added. The GI law is aimed at increasing exports, development in rural areas of the country, revenue of agricultural producers and other skilled labour.

World Trade Organisation (WTO) members need to give protection to GIs as per Article 22-24 of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement. Unless Pakistan undertakes the protection of GI it will not be able to obtain the same protection for its goods and exports in other countries implementing and protecting the GI law. The GI law entails industrial, agricultural, and horticultural products and many others.

GVS News Desk with additional input by other sources

https://www.globalvillagespace.com/pakistan-gi-law/

As early variety arrival peaks at Punjab mandis, Basmati rates plunge record 34%

The low price the crop is fetching for farmers in Punjab’s Majha region, which is the hub of Basmati crop in the state, is happening at a time when the rates of Basmati in the international market are almost all-time high between.

Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba | Jalandhar | Updated: September 18, 2020 5:56:07 am

The procuremenbt rates are as low as Rs 1650/quintal.

As Pavitar Singh, a farmer from Tarn Taran’s Khabe Dogran village, closed the deal on 40 quintals of early Basmati variety (PUSU 1509), his return was almost Rs 1000 per quintal less than last year.

While last year Pavitar Singh had sold the same variety at over Rs 2,500 per quintal, this year he has sold it for Rs 1,651 per quintal.

It is a double blow, says the farmer, pointing out that his yield this year is around 10 quintal less per acre. The low price the crop is fetching for farmers in Punjab’s Majha region, which is the hub of Basmati crop in the state, is happening at a time when the rates of Basmati in the international market are almost all-time high between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per quintal and exporters are earning a huge profit.

“What I have sold at Rs 1,651per quintal, traders will sell at the rate of Rs 3,000 to 3,200 per quintal, and then it would be exported for over Rs 5,000 per quintal,” said Pavitar Singh, adding that he could not hold out for long hoping for better price as he has no place to store his produce. The Tarn Taran farmer grows the early variety on 20 acres out of his 60 acres farmland and has so far harvested PUSA 1509 only on 3 acres.

While the early variety (1509) arrival has started peaking at the mandis, the late ones (1121, 1718) will come in October. Punjab Mandi Board (PMB) officials informed that the rate of the crop started at Rs 2,400 per quintal in the first few days, but now with as arrival of the early variety of the crop is about to touch its peak, the rates have crashed badly.

Basmati crop is not purchased by the government, and the private players — exporters, local traders and sheller owners – who purchase it have to pay a 4.50 per cent Mandi fee and Rural Development Fund (RDF) to the PMB. This tax is refundable to the exporters.

“They are offering a lesser price because they know that as per the ordinance they are not supposed to pay 4.50 per cent taxes and also because the government has not refunded their previous years’ taxes. So, when they failed to get back their refundable amount from the government, they started targeting farmers and paying less to them while making huge margins themselves,” said a senior officer in PMB, adding that ultimately it is the farmer who will face the losses.

“The big traders are calculating and deducting their 4.50 per cent taxes before paying farmers and it is big loot,” he added.

Farmers call the low price being offered to them as an impact of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance.

Farmer Gurinder Singh also sold 38 quintals at Rayya Mandi in Amritsar at the rate of Rs 1,800 per quintal on Wednesday.

Similarly, Aman Kaler of Ajnala in Amritsar also sold his Basmati produce for Rs 1,800 per quintal.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Dakuanda General Secretary, Jagmohan Singh, said that the government can now see for itself how much the ordinance would help farmers.

“For non-government purchase crops, the private players always join hands and offer farmers as per their own wishes and same would happen with assured market crops like wheat and paddy when this ordinance will come into existence,” he said, adding that for Basmati farmers were getting price lower than paddy (parmal rice).

“Traders are telling us that rate would not go up due to Covid-19 and farmers have no choice but to sell at this price only as they cannot store their produce for long,” said another farmer, Davinder Singh, who has grown PUSA 1509 on 30 acres and will start harvesting in the coming week. He added that that “traders gang-up and create false price in the market when the crop’s arrival in the mandis is at the peak and after purchasing from farmers the rates are suddenly changed and go up”.

Punjab’s Basmati is mainly exported and it contributes more than 40 per cent of the total export of Basmati worth Rs 34,000 crore per annum.

Vijay Kalra, President of the Federation of Arhtiya Association Punjab, admitted that the rate is less as compared to last year. He said that in Amritsar it was purchased around Rs 2,200 to 2,300 per quintal in the beginning but now some farmers are getting less because there must be high moisture in the grain currently.

Director, Punjab Agriculture Department, Dr Sutantra Airy said that they have worked hard to increase the area under paddy as it is the best alternatives to water-guzzling paddy, but the fluctuation in rates would discourage farmers to increase the area further. He said that Centre must control these rates to ensure farmers do not suffer.

Out of a total of around 6.60 lakh hectares of the Basmati area, PUSA 1509 is sown on around 40 per cent of the area.

Exporters not purchasing yet

The Basmati exporters, who are major buyers of Basmati in Punjab, have boycotted the purchase of the premium rice from the state unless the Punjab government does not waive off Market Committee Fee and Rural Development Fund (RDF).

Ashok Sethi, Director, Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association, said: “We have demanded from the government a complete waiver of Market Fee and RDF, which is 4.5 per cent, and only after that we will purchase it.” He added that there is no point of charging it because it is refundable. “Punjab government has not refunded Rs 200 crore pending amount of these taxes for the past few years,” he said.

 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Chandigarh News, download Indian Express App.

Punjab Cong MLA resigns from Vidhan Sabha after LS clear Bills: ‘Black day’Lok Sabha Thursday passed the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill. It has already passed Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.IndianExpress

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/as-early-variety-arrival-peaks-at-punjab-mandis-basmati-rates-plunge-record-34-6600544/

 

Food Minister: Rice market stable

 UNB

·       Published at 09:08 pm September 17th, 2020

File Photo: Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune

The amount of collected food grains is enough for the government reserve, the minister says

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Thursday said that the market price of rice is affordable and stable amid the coronavirus pandemic as the government’s paddy and rice collection aim has been fulfilled.

“Although the government’s paddy and rice collection target remained unfulfilled, its aim has been achieved successfully in the recently concluded Boro season,” he said.

The minister came up with the remarks at a programme in Niamatpur upazila of Naogaon in the afternoon.

He said the amount of collected food grains is enough for the government reserve.



The country is not facing any food scarcity amid natural disaster like flood and coronavirus pandemic due to proper decision and prudence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the minister said.

Responding to a question regarding rice import, he said: “We’re examining the reserve of rice across the country. If necessary, rice will be imported to keep the market price stable.”

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2020/09/17/food-minister-rice-market-stable

Haryana farmers fret as basmati prices plunge below 2,000

Parmal, PR varieties of paddy are being sold below MSP as the government is yet to begin procurement

 Farmers selling their produce at a grain market in Kurukshetra. (HT Photo ) The price of basmati varieties of rice has dropped below 2,000 leaving farmers who were hoping for a bumper harvest this season crestfallen. Grain markets across the northern districts of Haryana reported that paddy, especially PUSA-1509 (an early variety of basmati), was being sold for 1,800-2,000 per quintal. Farmers say the prices this season were around 800- 1,000 below last year, causing a loss of around 20,000 per acre.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/haryana-farmers-fret-as-basmati-prices-plunge-below-2-000/story-GqZFElMs1s7EghIhn9BL2I.html

Pakistan risks damage to export as India applies for GI tag to basmati in EU

India is also registering Himalayan salt, Multani mitti with Indian names in the international market

 

ISLAMABAD: While Pakistan is yet to implement the Geographical Indications (GI) law promulgated in March this year, India has applied for an exclusive GI tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU). The EU has subsequently published the application of India in its official journal on September 11, 2020, showing Basmati rice as an Indian origin product, despite the fact that similar rice is widely produced in Pakistan. Interestingly, officials of the Ministry of Commerce, when contacted, were unaware of this major development which could ultimately damage Pakistan’s exports, such as the aromatic rice, to European countries. Earlier last month, Adviser to the Prime Minister (PM ) on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood had directed the officials to implement the GI since it was promulgated as a law over five months ago. It may be mentioned here Pakistan, after a delay of almost 18 years, had enacted Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Act in March this year. According to EU’s official journal, any country can oppose the application for registration of a name pursuant to Article 50(2) (a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs within three months from the date of publication. As per the Indian application, basmati is special long grain aromatic rice grown and produced in a particular geographical region of the Indian sub-continent. In India, this region is a part of northern India, below the foothills of the Himalayas forming part of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). The special characteristics of basmati are its long slender kernels with a high length to breadth ratio, an exquisite aroma, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature, intermediate amylose content, high integrity of grain on cooking, and linear kernel elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking. Further, India has claimed that basmati is grown and produced in all districts of the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, as well as in specific districts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Interestingly, to support its claim, India has also referred various dictionaries such as Oxford Dictionary which defines basmati as ‘a kind of long-grain Indian rice with a delicate fragrance’, the French dictionary, Larousse, which defines basmati as an ‘Indian, long grain rice, very appreciated’ and the Cassell food dictionary which defines it as ‘a superior type of Indian white rice which is long grained and slender’. India has also referred other reports to show that the basmati rice is of Indian origin without mentioning that the same is produced in Pakistan. Leading rice exporter and former office bearer of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Taufiq Ahmed says that the Indian application at EU must be opposed immediately as it would badly damage Pakistani products’ exports to European countries.

 

He said that despite repeated requests and reminders, concerned authorities in Pakistan have been ignoring this serious issue for years and now if the problem is not handled swiftly then we would be left with no option but to sell basmati rice with an Indian name/brand. “Apart from opposing the GI tag from the EU, Pakistan must also consult international dictionaries to rectify the definition as the same rice is largely produced in Pakistan. Unfortunately, India is also registering Himalayan salt and Multani Matti with Indian names in the international market,” he said. According to an official at Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO), an attached department of the Ministry of Commerce which drafted the GI law, the Indian application would definitely be opposed in the EU. He said that since the GI law has been promulgated, Pakistan would take up the issue of all GI products of Pakistani origin with the EU. According to officials, Basmati was already recognised as a product of both India and Pakistan in the European Rice Regime and its Duty-Free Regime, making it illegal for India to claim exclusive rights of Basmati in the EU. “The Cambridge dictionary and Wikipedia also show the product as originating from Pakistan and India,” he added. It may be recalled here both India and Pakistan have approved the GI law which includes basmati as a product of their respective origin. The protection of geographical indications is aimed at boosting exports, helping support rural development in the country, and enhancing the livelihood of agriculture producers and skilled craftsmen. Furthermore, the marketing of GI products also enhances secondary economic activities and boost regional economic development in various regions boosting economic development. GI law protects local products such as the Peshawari chappals, Multani blue pottery, Hunza apricots, Hala ajrak, Kasuri methi, Chaman grapes, Turbat dates etc. Member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) need to give protection to GIs under Article 22-24 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement. Unless Pakistan provides GI protection, it cannot obtain the same for its own goods in other countries that have the GI law. The GI law covers a wide variety of industrial, agricultural, and horticultural products among others.

 https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/09/17/pakistan-risks-damage-to-export-as-india-applies-for-gi-tag-to-basmati-in-eu/

 

 

As early variety arrival peaks at Punjab mandis, Basmati rates plunge record 34%

Punjab Mandi Board (PMB) officials informed that the rate of the crop started at Rs. 2,400 per quintal in the first few days, but now with as arrival of the early variety of the crop is about to touch its peak, the rates have crashed badly.

 Farmers call the low price being offered to them as an impact of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance. (Representational image) As Pavitar Singh, a farmer from Tarn Taran’s Khabe Dogran village, closed the deal on 40 quintals of early Basmati variety (PUSU 1509), his return was almost Rs. 1000 per quintal less than last year. While last year Pavitar Singh had sold the same variety at over Rs. 2,500 per quintal, this year he has sold it for Rs. 1,651 per quintal. It is a double blow, says the farmer, pointing out that his yield this year is around 10 quintal less per acre. The low price the crop is fetching for farmers in Punjab’s Majha region, which is the hub of Basmati crop in the state, is happening at a time when the rates of Basmati in the international market are almost all-time high between Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 7,000 per quintal and exporters are earning a huge profit.

 

“What I have sold at Rs. 1,651per quintal, traders will sell at the rate of Rs. 3,000 to 3,200 per quintal, and then it would be exported for over Rs. 5,000 per quintal,” said Pavitar Singh, adding that he could not hold out for long hoping for better price as he has no place to store his produce. The Tarn Taran farmer grows the early variety on 20 acres out of his 60 acres farmland and has so far harvested PUSA 1509 only on 3 acres. While the early variety (1509) arrival has started peaking at the mandis, the late ones (1121, 1718) will come in October. Punjab Mandi Board (PMB) officials informed that the rate of the crop started at Rs. 2,400 per quintal in the first few days, but now with as arrival of the early variety of the crop is about to touch its peak, the rates have crashed badly. Basmati crop is not purchased by the government, and the private players — exporters, local traders and sheller owners – who purchase it have to pay a 4.50 per cent Mandi fee and Rural Development Fund (RDF) to the PMB. This tax is refundable to the exporters. “They are offering a lesser price because they know that as per the ordinance they are not supposed to pay 4.50 per cent taxes and also because the government has not refunded their previous years’ taxes. So, when they failed to get back their refundable amount from the government, they started targeting farmers and paying less to them while making huge margins themselves,” said a senior officer in PMB, adding that ultimately it is the farmer who will face the losses. “The big traders are calculating and deducting their 4.50 per cent taxes before paying farmers and it is big loot,” he added. Farmers call the low price being offered to them as an impact of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance. Farmer Gurinder Singh also sold 38 quintals at Rayya Mandi in Amritsar at the rate of Rs. 1,800 per quintal on Wednesday. Similarly, Aman Kaler of Ajnala in Amritsar also sold his Basmati produce for Rs. 1,800 per quintal. Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Dakuanda General Secretary, Jagmohan Singh, said that the government can now see for itself how much the ordinance would help farmers. “For non-government purchase crops, the private players always join hands and offer farmers as per their own wishes and same would happen with assured market crops like wheat and paddy when this ordinance will come into existence,” he said, adding that for Basmati farmers were getting price lower than paddy (parmal rice). “Traders are telling us that rate would not go up due to Covid-19 and farmers have no choice but to sell at this price only as they cannot store their produce for long,” said another farmer, Davinder Singh, who has grown PUSA 1509 on 30 acres and will start harvesting in the coming week. He added that that “traders gang-up and create false price in the market when the crop’s arrival in the mandis is at the peak and after purchasing from farmers the rates are suddenly changed and go up”. Punjab’s Basmati is mainly exported and it contributes more than 40 per cent of the total export of Basmati worth Rs. 34,000 crore per annum. Vijay Kalra, President of the Federation of Arhtiya Association Punjab, admitted that the rate is less as compared to last year. He said that in Amritsar it was purchased around Rs. 2,200 to 2,300 per quintal in the beginning but now some farmers are getting less because there must be high moisture in the grain currently. Director, Punjab Agriculture Department, Dr Sutantra Airy said that they have worked hard to increase the area under paddy as it is the best alternatives to water-guzzling paddy, but the fluctuation in rates would discourage farmers to increase the area further. He said that Centre must control these rates to ensure farmers do not suffer. Out of a total of around 6.60 lakh hectares of the Basmati area, PUSA 1509 is sown on around 40 per cent of the area.

Exporters not purchasing yet

The Basmati exporters, who are major buyers of Basmati in Punjab, have boycotted the purchase of the premium rice from the state unless the Punjab government does not waive off Market Committee Fee and Rural Development Fund (RDF). Ashok Sethi, Director, Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association, said: “We have demanded from the government a complete waiver of Market Fee and RDF, which is 4.5 per cent, and only after that we will purchase it.” He added that there is no point of charging it because it is refundable. “Punjab government has not refunded Rs 200 crore pending amount of these taxes for the past few years,” he said.

 https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/early-arrival-peaks-punjab-mandis-basmati-rates-plunge-record-34-6600751/

Label launched to help shoppers choose environmentally-friendly rice

A new ecolabel aims to help shoppers reduce their environmental impact by identifying rice that has been sustainably produced. The ‘SRP-Verified’ Label, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of one of the largest food crops in the world, was launched by the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP).

The SRP is a grouping of over 100 public, private, research, financial institutions and civil society organisations led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Over 3.5 billion people rely on rice as a daily staple, but the crop has an undeniable environmental impact. Rice farming consumes up to one-third of the world’s developed freshwater resources and generates up to 20% of global anthropogenic emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

The crop will also be the victim of rising global temperatures, with production expected to fall by 15% by 2050 due to climate change, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. The new Assurance Scheme is based on the SRP Standard for Sustainable Rice Cultivation, the world’s first voluntary sustainability standard for rice. It is underpinned by proven best practices and provides a science-based process to assess compliance. Employing best practices in rice farming can reduce water use by some 20% and methane emissions from flooded rice fields by up to 50%. The scheme will be managed by Germany’s GLOBALG.A.P., which will oversee approval of qualified verification bodies that will be responsible for inspection of producers according to the SRP Standard. NEPCon-Preferred by Nature, a Denmark-based non-profit organisation that supports better land management and business practices, is the first to be approved to perform SRP verification audits, with several others expected to be approved soon. “SRP was established to address global environmental and social challenges in rice production. The Assurance Scheme offers supply chain actors a robust, cost-effective and transparent path to sustainable procurement,” said Wyn Ellis, SRP Executive Director. “Consumers are increasingly demanding that food is produced sustainably, and now they have a reliable way to choose environmentally friendly rice.” With the new label, consumers will be able to trace the rice back to its origin country. The scheme will also benefit an entire industry. By stocking SRP-verified rice, retailers can make significant and measurable contributions to sustainability commitments and climate change targets. Industry actors will also be able to de-risk their supply chains and ensure stability by sourcing through SRP-verified suppliers. Farmers also benefit, according to SRP, who says that switching to its practices can boost farmers’ net incomes by 10-20%. With 90% of the world’s 144 million rice producers living on or near the poverty line, this can make the difference between a secure livelihood and a family going hungry.

 

https://www.fdiforum.net/mag/supply-chain/label-launched-help-shoppers-choose-environmentally-friendly-rice/

News quiz: Life on Venus, an Aussie pop star on China's watchlist and thousands of hungry ducks. How much do you know about the big stories of the week?

Can you power through this list of news quiz questions with the intensity of 10,000 hungry ducks set loose in a rice paddy?

We hope you're limbered up, it's time to find out.

Q1: Scientists are pondering whether life could exist around Venus after a rare chemical was found in its atmosphere. What was the gas they detected?

  • APhosphine
  • BCarbon
  • COxygen
  • DNitrogen

Q2: A Chinese company with links to Beijing's military and intelligence networks has been amassing a vast database of detailed personal information on thousands of Australians, including prominent and influential figures. Which Australian pop star is featured on the list as being of “special interest” or “politically exposed”?

  • ANatalie Imbruglia
  • BKylie Minogue
  • CVanessa Amorosi
  • DNikki Webster

Q3: Former NSW premier John Fahey, one of the key figures in bringing the Olympics to Sydney, has died aged 75. He’s also remembered for an incident on Australia Day in 1994 in which he tackled a man who fired two blank shots from a starter pistol at which public figure?

  • APaul Keating
  • BPrince Charles
  • CLady Diana
  • DJohn Hewson

Q4: Oxford University has announced it will resume a trial for a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca after getting the green light from safety watchdogs. Globally, how many people have received the vaccine so far?

  • A14,000
  • B18,000
  • C29,000
  • D30,000

Q5: The Victorian Government has promised $290 million to help struggling businesses survive coronavirus lockdown and implement an outdoor dining culture that will be enjoyed "for many summers" to come, on top of its $3 billion support fund for business. Which city’s dining culture did authorities draw inspiration from?

  • AMadrid
  • BParis
  • CSingapore
  • DNew York City

Q6: Regional Victoria moved to step three of its coronavirus reopening plan on Thursday. To move to this step, the region was required to get its average coronavirus daily cases to below what number over the previous 14 days?

  • AOne
  • BFive
  • C10
  • D15

Q7: This week US President Donald Trump hosted three world leaders at the White House for the signing of historic peace agreements. Israel signed a pact with the United Arab Emirates and which other nation?

  • ABahrain
  • BQatar
  • CKuwait
  • DIran

Q8: Thousands of ducks have been set loose in rice paddies in Thailand for a regular pest clean-up exercise that benefits rice and duck farmers alike. How long approximately does it take for the 10,000 ducks to clear a 70-hectare farm?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-18/abc-news-quiz-friday-coronavirus-covid19-vaccine-melbourne/12672776

 

Plant nutrient delivery breakthrough

Date:September 17, 2020

Source:Texas Tech University

Summary:The collaboration revealed that the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi provides nitrates to plants, which could lead to reduced fertilizer use.

Share:

    

FULL STORY


When most people think of fungi, the thoughts are usually not good, turning to something that does damage more than those that are actually helpful.

Yet, fungi play a critical role in the growth and development of plant life and have for millions of years. Scientists have known for a long time that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi that live in harmony with about 90% of land plants and play a key role in their root systems, are responsible for carrying needed phosphate to plants to help growth.

Now, however, thanks to a discovery by a team of scientists from Texas Tech University's Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance (IGCAST) in the Department of Plaint and Soil Science, and the Nanjing Agricultural University's State Key Laboratory of crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, that symbiotic role may go even further.

That research team, which included professor Guohua Xu, Prof. Aiqun Chen and Dr. Huimin Feng from Nanjing Agricultural University and, Luis Herrera-Estrella, the President's Distinguished Professor of Plant Genomics and director of IGCAST, and assistant professor Damar López-Arredondo, discovered that AM fungi also acted as a supplier of nitrogen to the plant, the protein (NPF4.5) responsible for transporting nitrates from the fungi to the plant, and that this symbiotic nitrate pathway and the function of the protein are present in crops such as rice, and probably most other plant species.

The results from the paper, "Functional analysis of the OsNPF4.5 nitrate transporter reveals a conserved mycorrhizal pathway of nitrogen acquisition in plants," were recently published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the U.S.

Xu highlighted their finding that the fungi colonization efficiency, promotion of plant growth and nutrient uptake were maintained and even enhanced at high nitrogen supply levels, which is opposite to the high phosphate suppressed colonization, indicating the general contribution of mycorrhizal route to improving N use efficiency at varied N presence.

This discovery could lead to groundbreaking agricultural practices that allow for a reduction in the amount of nitrogen fertilizer required for crop production, which will help reduce production costs and benefit the environment by reducing agrochemical use.

"In our study, we showed the nitrate transporter is contained in many plant species and that it is activated by the mycorrhizal association in maize, sorghum and several other plant species," Herrera-Estrella said. "Based on our data, we propose that nitrate transport takes place in many if not most plant species, and that the protein plays a key role in the process."

Hundreds of millions of years ago, when plants moved from aquatic origins and began taking over land masses, their lack of a strong root system became a hinderance in obtaining water and nutrients. Herrera-Estrella said fossilized evidence showed that, early in in the evolutionary process, land plants developed the relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, which helped improve the fitness of host plants by facilitating mineral nutrition and water absorption and by increasing tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Herrera-Estrella pointed out, though, that past research has discovered that the symbiotic relationship between plants and AM fungi is most active in soil with low phosphate availability and suppressed in soil with high levels of available nutrients. That means cultivated crops that are highly fertilized see a severely reduced or completely suppressed impact from mycorrhiza.

The goal of the research was to determine whether mycorrhiza could provide other nutrients such as nitrogen to the plant. Indirect evidence has shown the fungi could supply the plant with ammonium (NH4+) as a nitrogen source, but that it is quickly converted into nitrate (NO3-) by the microbes in the aerobic soil. That means that under most soil conditions, nitrate is the dominant form of N supplied to the plant.

In order to test for nitrate transfer ability, the researchers used nitrogen isotopes to determine the capacity of the fungi to take nitrate ad deliver it to the plant for intake. Researchers also identified the gene (NPF4.5) specifically activated in rice roots when joined by mycorrhizal fungi and were able to identify the role of this gene in nitrate delivery by producing rice mutants that did not have this transporting gene.

"We found that when the gene is inactivated, the amount of nitrate that the plant can get from the fungi is drastically reduced," Dr. Chen said. "Thus, we functionally confirmed that NPF4.5 was the important protein in the transport of nitrogen from the fungi to the plant. We also used plant transformation to generate the rice plants that enrich NPF4.5 proteins in the absence of the mycorrhiza. We found that these transgenic plants can produce more biomass and show higher nitrogen uptake efficiency than normal plants when grown in nitrate contained medium, which has a great potential for use in agriculture."

Researchers estimate that rice containing the mycorrhizal relationship between plant and fungi could receive more than 40% of its nitrogen due to the mycorrhizal pathway and that the specific nitrate transporter gene, NPF4.5, accounted for approximately 45% of the mycorrhizal nitrate uptake.

López-Arredondo said the next steps in the project will be to test the transgenic plants under field conditions and deeply understand the mechanisms that specifically activate the NPF4.5 nitrate transporter gene when the plant joins with the fungi, as well as discovering the chemical signals the fungi send to the plant to specifically activate this and other nutrient transporter genes probably required for this interaction.

Herrera-Estrella, an Emeritus Professor of Cinvestav in Mexico and member of the US National Academy of Sciences stated "This is an interesting and productive collaboration between Texas Tech and the Nanjing Agricultural University," "This type of international collaboration can rally boost the advancement of science."


Story Source:

Materials provided by Texas Tech University. Original written by George Watson. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

1.      Shuangshuang Wang, Aiqun Chen, Kun Xie, Xiaofeng Yang, Zhenzhen Luo, Jiadong Chen, Dechao Zeng, Yuhan Ren, Congfan Yang, Lingxiao Wang, Huimin Feng, Damar Lizbeth López-Arredondo, Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella, Guohua Xu. Functional analysis of the OsNPF4.5 nitrate transporter reveals a conserved mycorrhizal pathway of nitrogen acquisition in plantsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020; 117 (28): 16649 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2000926117


Cite This Page:

Texas Tech University. "Plant nutrient delivery breakthrough." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 September 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200917105403.htm>.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200917105403.htm

 

Rice Included in New Federal Relief Package  

 

By Ben Mosely

 

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, President Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced an additional $14 billion dollars in aid for agricultural producers who continue to face disruptions and costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will use funds being made available from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act and the CARES Act to support row crops including rice, as well as livestock, specialty crops, dairy, aquaculture, and other commodities.  USDA included rice and made other improvements to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) 2 based on stakeholder engagement and public feedback to better meet the needs of impacted farmers and ranchers.

"America's agriculture communities are resilient, but still face many challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Secretary Perdue.  "We listened to feedback received from farmers, ranchers, and agricultural organizations about the impact of the pandemic on our nations' farms and ranches, and we developed a program to better meet the needs of those impacted."

CFAP 2 payments will be made for three categories of commodities - Price Trigger Commodities, Flat-Rate Crops, and Sales Commodities.  Price trigger commodities are designated by meeting a minimum 5-percent price decline over a specified period of time.  Eligible price trigger crops include barley, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, upland cotton, and all classes of wheat.  Flat-rate crops are those that don't meet the 5-percent price decline trigger or don't have data available to calculate a price change.  Those payments will be calculated based on eligible 2020 acres multiplied by $15 per acre.  These crops include alfalfa, extra long staple (ELS) cotton, oats, peanuts, rice, hemp, millet, mustard, safflower, sesame, triticale, rapeseed, and several others.  Payments will be based on 2020 planted acres of the crop, excluding prevented planting and experimental acres.

"This assistance is very timely with rice harvest ongoing or quickly approaching and will help many rice farmers given the uncertainties in our markets due to COVID-19," said Nicole Montna Van Vleck, California rice farmer and chair of the USA Rice Farmers.  "While rice farmers weren't eligible for the first round of CFAP, we are certainly appreciative of USDA for including us in this round of aid."

Producers can apply for assistance beginning September 21, 2020.  Applications will be accepted through December 11, 2020.   Additional information and application forms can be found at 
farmers.gov/cfap.  For existing Farm Service Agency (FSA) customers, including those who participated in CFAP 1, many documents are likely already on file.  Producers should check with their FSA county office to see if any of the forms need to be updated.

The Rise and Fall of the Quaker Rice Cake, America’s One-Time Favorite Health Snack

Where did they come from and where did they go?

@EaterDetroit

Illustration by Goldsuit

Illustration by Goldsuit

For many American children of the ’80s and ’90s, rice cakes — stacked in a column and kept in long plastic bags — were an omnipresent feature of home kitchens, preschools, and afterschool programs. I can’t remember the first time I held one, but I also can’t remember a time before I did. Palm-sized disks, they’re the same weight as styrofoam with a scant sprinkle of flavor crystals, salt or maybe cinnamon, dusting the top and coating the crevices between each grain of puffy rice. No matter the flavor, they lack marshmallow stickiness and cloying sweetness of Rice Krispies treats, as well as the bake-sale appeal. There was no right way to bite into a rice cake and definitely no good way to contain the stream of crumbs that rained down from the corners of my mouth.

There was, however, that pleasant, satisfying crunch, like taking a chunk out of a perfectly crisp apple, and that miniscule bit of toasted, sometimes sweet, sometimes salty, flavor mixed in with a slurry of desiccated rice matter. It was interesting enough to take down the whole cake, and maybe even dip into the tube bag for another, and another. After all, I was a hungry kid, and one of those suckers wasn’t going to satisfy my bottomless pit of an adolescent stomach.

It’s that feeling of being just on the border of satisfaction that made rice cakes such a staple in American households like mine during the late ’80s and ’90s. During that period of time, many kids like me became well acquainted with diet fads and foods, to the extent that we sometimes didn’t even realize we were snacking on them. All the adults around me seemed to be perpetually trying to lose a few pounds by going on the Atkins Diet or re-enrolling in Weight Watchers. George Foreman Grills whisked away fat and flavor from meat and chocolate cake-flavored Snackwell’s cookies and Slim Fast shake filled pantries. Rice cakes, for a while, were common in my household and something I turned to on the regular for an easy afterschool snack while waiting for my parents to get off work. I could polish off half a package in one sitting, completely defying any alleged dietary benefit.

Plenty of cultures have their own version of rice cakes, but we can partially thank a botanist named Alexander Pierce Anderson for laying the groundwork for the American rice cake as we know it. Anderson was working at the New York Botanical Garden in 1901 studying the water content of nuclei in starch crystals when, as the story goes, he “discovered” steam-puffed rice. Anderson marketed the product to Midwestern investors who bought into the idea, but eventually sold their shares to Quaker, a Midwestern company better known for its oats. He’d caught the company’s eye by demonstrating his rice “cannon” during the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Anderson filled a cylinder with uncooked rice grains and sealed it off, heating the container while rotating it and increasing the interior pressure. When the time was right, he used a sledgehammer to remove the end of the cylinder, sending puffed rice shooting out like a cannon. Anderson and his team offered bags of the puffed rice to the crowd for a nickel a bag; they sold 20,000 pounds of puffed rice, according to the Minnesota Historical Society archive. Quaker used Anderson’s methods to make a variety of cereals and advertised it as “Food Shot From Guns.”

The rice cakes in my childhood pantry came from Quaker, but at the time there were several different companies competing in what the Chicago Tribune referred to as a “rice cake revolution” in 1986. They included brands like Lundberg Family Farms, Hain, and Chico-San. The latter was a macrobiotics company established in 1961 that got its start importing products like soy sauce from Japan and that eventually developed brown rice cakes in the 1970s — the prototype for the larger snack trend. Chico-San’s ads proposed trading bread for rice cakes and using the low-calorie rice saucers as a surface to support jellycottage cheese, fruit, and other toppings. By 1984, Heinz swooped in to scoop up Chico-San’s market share. One rice cake lover suggested to the Chicago Tribune that rice cakes topped with beans were better than tacos, a statement that suggests that person had never had a decent taco.

Similarly, representatives from Quaker tell Eater that rice cakes were first launched as “a low-carb alternative to bread” in the mid-’80s. The advertisements also seemed to target women and working mothers with fat-free snacks to be eaten at work, on the go, and while “kickin’ back.” Print advertisements for Quaker Rice Cakes from that period show thin, grinning models lying on their flat leotard-covered stomachs to emphasize the lightness of rice cakes. The message was clear: Eat this and look like these women. In 1992, the rice cake and popcorn cake market was valued at $174 million and growing. The following year, Quaker had bought out Chico-San from Heinz, solidifying the brand’s dominance as major purveyor of rice cakes with 63 percent of the U.S. rice and popcorn market, according to the Associated Press.

As for the actual health benefits of rice cakes, like so many other foods marketed as “better for you,” they’re really just that — marketing. Rice cakes, while low in fat, are also low in most other nutrients and may have less fiber than similar snacking options like crackers. The refined sugars in rice cakes are also digested quickly in your body, potentially leaving you hungry sooner. But none of that really matters if enough people buy into the fad.

But its popularity did wane. As the low-carb trends declined in the mid-aughts, so too did consumer appetites for blandly seasoned grain cakes. Even so, brands trafficking in rice cakes didn’t entirely die out. Quaker reports that it still produces 500 million rice cakes annually, and a representative from Lundberg tells Eater that the company produced 15 million bags of rice cakes (13 cakes per bag) last year. Speaking generally, the most popular flavors from both brands are lightly salted, followed by options like caramel at Quaker and Lundberg’s cinnamon toast.

Rice cakes have even seen a resurgence in their fortunes in recent years due partly to a surging interest in gluten-free foods. Whole Foods, for example, has a section of its cracker aisle devoted to organic puffed rice and popcorn snacks for the gluten-averse or -intolerant. While slightly spiffier, the advertising angle doesn’t seem to have changed much either. Companies like Rice Up still promote rice cakes as a whole-grain option for weight control. Lundberg reports that in the past year the company’s rice cake sales have increased by 14 percent. And, true to its diet snack roots, Lundberg rice cakes tend to sell best in January — right around the time people are working on their New Year’s resolutions by renewing their gym memberships and cutting back on the sauce.

Rice cakes aren’t going away. They’re merely changing with the times. Following the Everything but the Bagel seasoning trend sparked by Trader Joe’s, Quaker introduced “everything”-flavored rice cakes in 2020. Lundberg also touted recent innovations like the chocolate-covered Chocolate Thin Snackers and Organic Rice Cake Minis, a bite-sized version of the original product geared toward adults and kids crunching on the go.

Recently, I located some rice cakes in the aisles of my own grocery store to indulge the strange nostalgia that I had for a food that’s sometimes compared to dry cardboard. It was exactly as I remembered: a circle of airy rice grains smashed together into a remarkably firm plate. It felt like building material, but the kind that would disintegrate after a heavy rain. With each bite, my ears rang with that satisfying crunch and my mouth grew drier. All the downsides of popcorn but none of the good butter grease. And yet I keep eating them — and that’s the beauty of a successful snack, right? Eating it doesn’t necessarily bring contentment. It’s about the experience of the texture and the chase after just a little more of that wisp of flavor.

https://www.eater.com/2020/9/17/21444184/history-of-quaker-rice-cakes-americas-favorite-health-snack

Fly over fields as rice harvest commences in California

 SEPTEMBER 18, 2020, 7:37 AM

 

The rice harvest for 2020 has begun. This is drone footage over Montna Farms near Yuba City. Most of California’s rice production is in the Sacramento Valley, north of Sacramento.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article245832100.html

What Government Reports Tell About Business In Kashmir

Swati Joshi | September 18, 2020   

 

Among the other landlocked regions like Rajasthan, Telangana, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Assam, and Bihar, J&K has scored the least (12.27) in export preparedness.

EVEN after the removal of Article 370 which was considered a “hurdle” in the development of Jammu & Kashmir, the Naya Kashmir still lags in Ease of Doing Business (EODB) and Export Preparedness Index (EPI).

Ease of Doing Business

J&K ranks 21st in the EODB rankings released by the Department of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The ranking is based on the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).

The DPIIT started a reform exercise in 2014 to rank all states and union territories in India based on some reform parameters with the aim to create a business-friendly environment.

The first report titled “Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms” was released in September 2015 covering the findings of reforms implemented by States/ UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).

Similar reports of the ranking came out in 2006 and 2017-18.

The reforms cover 12 broad areas like labour regulation, land administration, environment regulation, obtaining electric and water supply, etc.

For the rankings of 2019-20, the assessment is based only on the feedback from service users and industries. The respondent data is shared by the states through the BRAP portal.

The users are then surveyed by the DPIIT to determine the efficacy of the reforms.

Under BRAP 2019-20, feedback is only sought on those reforms, which has been implemented by the states and UT.

In 2017-18, Kashmir was put under the category of “aspirers” who have implemented less than 80 percent of reforms. The combine scoreboard of reform evidence and feedback of J&K was 32.76 percent.

For BRAP 2019-20, out of 187 reforms proposed by New Delhi, 137 were implemented in the region.

Neighboring states of J&K- Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Punjab have implemented 175 and 178 reforms respectively. HP ranks 7th and Punjab ranks 19th in EODB.

However, the methodology used in the 2017-18 ranking is different from that of 2019.

The 2017-18 edition used state government and user feedback to compute the score, whereas in 2019 only business feedback (for whom the reforms were intended) was taken onto account.

After the abrogation of Article 370, business stood standstill for a long time in Kashmir. Covid, in 2020, further dented it.

Tourism, handicrafts, and other retail businesses have incurred huge losses during the period, which according to the estimates of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI), is Rs 40,000 crores.

Export Preparedness Index 2020

J&K ranks at the bottom (36th) in the first EPI report prepared by the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, NITI Aayog.

The EPI is done to assess the readiness of the states in terms of their export potential. The readiness is measured based on four pillars (policy, business ecosystem, export ecosystem, and export performance), 11 sub-pillars and 55 indicators.

Gujarat at 75.19 emerged as the leading state followed by Maharashtra (75.14) and Tamil Nadu (64.93).

The scores of J&K in the four pillars are- policy pillar: 0, business ecosystem pillar: 14.92, export ecosystem: 5.63 and export performance pillar: 25.87.

Under the business ecosystem pillar, the sub-pillars like business environment, infrastructure, transport connectivity, and access to finance scored 7.82, 0, 48.29 and 3,56 respectively.

Some important indicators like labour reforms, number of investor summits, single-window clearance scored zero.

In the case of the export ecosystem, sub-pillars like export infrastructure, trade support and R&D infrastructure scored 9.83, 0, and 2.86 respectively.

Growth and Orientation and export diversifications sub-pillar under export performance scored 6.96 and 44.78 respectively.

According to the report, “There is a high scoring range amongst Indian states on the EPI where Gujarat has the highest score of 75.14 and Jammu & Kashmir with the lowest score of 12.27.”

Since the report considers the data from 2016-17 up to 2018-19, J&K is being considered as a state and is grouped under the landlocked category.

Among the other landlocked states like Rajasthan, Telangana, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Assam, and Bihar, J&K has scored the least (12.27) in export preparedness.

The report mentions that J&K needs to improve its performance under the policy and the export ecosystem pillars, considering that it “indicates a glaring paucity in both enabling and facilitating factors that could drive the states towards export-oriented growth.”

As per the report, Kashmiri shawls have the highest Market Performance Index in J&K. It is exported to 44 countries and accounts for 17.8 percent of the share in the erstwhile state’s total export. Other items having high Market Performance Index are carpets, medicine put up for retail sale, shelled walnuts, basmati rice, yarn of polyester and derivatives of pyridine. Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast.

https://agriculture.einnews.com/article_detail/526476673/GgDxkDCDsQwuMvrL?n=2&code=VuZLay2YinrVF2-0&utm_source=NewsletterNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Basmati+Rice+News&utm_content=article

 As early variety arrival peaks at Punjab mandis, Basmati rates plunge record 34%

The low price the crop is fetching for farmers in Punjab’s Majha region, which is the hub of Basmati crop in the state, is happening at a time when the rates of Basmati in the international market are almost all-time high between.

Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba | Jalandhar | Updated: September 18, 2020 5:56:07 am

 

The procuremenbt rates are as low as Rs 1650/quintal.

As Pavitar Singh, a farmer from Tarn Taran’s Khabe Dogran village, closed the deal on 40 quintals of early Basmati variety (PUSU 1509), his return was almost Rs 1000 per quintal less than last year.

While last year Pavitar Singh had sold the same variety at over Rs 2,500 per quintal, this year he has sold it for Rs 1,651 per quintal.

It is a double blow, says the farmer, pointing out that his yield this year is around 10 quintal less per acre. The low price the crop is fetching for farmers in Punjab’s Majha region, which is the hub of Basmati crop in the state, is happening at a time when the rates of Basmati in the international market are almost all-time high between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per quintal and exporters are earning a huge profit.

“What I have sold at Rs 1,651per quintal, traders will sell at the rate of Rs 3,000 to 3,200 per quintal, and then it would be exported for over Rs 5,000 per quintal,” said Pavitar Singh, adding that he could not hold out for long hoping for better price as he has no place to store his produce. The Tarn Taran farmer grows the early variety on 20 acres out of his 60 acres farmland and has so far harvested PUSA 1509 only on 3 acres.

While the early variety (1509) arrival has started peaking at the mandis, the late ones (1121, 1718) will come in October. Punjab Mandi Board (PMB) officials informed that the rate of the crop started at Rs 2,400 per quintal in the first few days, but now with as arrival of the early variety of the crop is about to touch its peak, the rates have crashed badly.

Basmati crop is not purchased by the government, and the private players — exporters, local traders and sheller owners – who purchase it have to pay a 4.50 per cent Mandi fee and Rural Development Fund (RDF) to the PMB. This tax is refundable to the exporters.

“They are offering a lesser price because they know that as per the ordinance they are not supposed to pay 4.50 per cent taxes and also because the government has not refunded their previous years’ taxes. So, when they failed to get back their refundable amount from the government, they started targeting farmers and paying less to them while making huge margins themselves,” said a senior officer in PMB, adding that ultimately it is the farmer who will face the losses.

“The big traders are calculating and deducting their 4.50 per cent taxes before paying farmers and it is big loot,” he added.

Farmers call the low price being offered to them as an impact of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance.

Farmer Gurinder Singh also sold 38 quintals at Rayya Mandi in Amritsar at the rate of Rs 1,800 per quintal on Wednesday.

Similarly, Aman Kaler of Ajnala in Amritsar also sold his Basmati produce for Rs 1,800 per quintal.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Dakuanda General Secretary, Jagmohan Singh, said that the government can now see for itself how much the ordinance would help farmers.

“For non-government purchase crops, the private players always join hands and offer farmers as per their own wishes and same would happen with assured market crops like wheat and paddy when this ordinance will come into existence,” he said, adding that for Basmati farmers were getting price lower than paddy (parmal rice).

“Traders are telling us that rate would not go up due to Covid-19 and farmers have no choice but to sell at this price only as they cannot store their produce for long,” said another farmer, Davinder Singh, who has grown PUSA 1509 on 30 acres and will start harvesting in the coming week. He added that that “traders gang-up and create false price in the market when the crop’s arrival in the mandis is at the peak and after purchasing from farmers the rates are suddenly changed and go up”.

Punjab’s Basmati is mainly exported and it contributes more than 40 per cent of the total export of Basmati worth Rs 34,000 crore per annum.

Vijay Kalra, President of the Federation of Arhtiya Association Punjab, admitted that the rate is less as compared to last year. He said that in Amritsar it was purchased around Rs 2,200 to 2,300 per quintal in the beginning but now some farmers are getting less because there must be high moisture in the grain currently.

Director, Punjab Agriculture Department, Dr Sutantra Airy said that they have worked hard to increase the area under paddy as it is the best alternatives to water-guzzling paddy, but the fluctuation in rates would discourage farmers to increase the area further. He said that Centre must control these rates to ensure farmers do not suffer.

Out of a total of around 6.60 lakh hectares of the Basmati area, PUSA 1509 is sown on around 40 per cent of the area.

Exporters not purchasing yet

The Basmati exporters, who are major buyers of Basmati in Punjab, have boycotted the purchase of the premium rice from the state unless the Punjab government does not waive off Market Committee Fee and Rural Development Fund (RDF).

Ashok Sethi, Director, Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association, said: “We have demanded from the government a complete waiver of Market Fee and RDF, which is 4.5 per cent, and only after that we will purchase it.” He added that there is no point of charging it because it is refundable. “Punjab government has not refunded Rs 200 crore pending amount of these taxes for the past few years,” he said.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/early-arrival-peaks-punjab-mandis-basmati-rates-plunge-record-34-6600751/

 

 

Has the President erred in stopping CBN from funding food imports?

What implication does the President’s directive to the CBN hold for the economy?

 

 

By

 Kalu Aja

The President of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, last week said, “I am restating it that nobody importing food or fertilizer should be given foreign exchange from the Central Bank. We will not pay a kobo of our foreign reserves to import food or fertilizer. We will instead empower local farmers and producers.”

Why is the president stopping the CBN from funding food imports? The answer is simple. The CBN Exchange rates are cheaper than autonomous sources. The CBN lists the exchange rate for the Dollar at $1 to N379, however the Naira is being sold on the parallel market at N440. Hence, importers prefer to access CBN funds to import, because it reduces the cost of those imports. In effect, at N379, the CBN is subsidizing those imports via a ‘strong Naira’

The President’s directive is thus in line with his new overall push to eliminate all subsidies especially subsidies funded by the scare US dollar. In this aspect, the President is simply seeking to protect the foreign reserves which are paying for other imports. So, he is right.

 

Is this a wise strategy?

Nairametrics earlier reported on the NBS recently released report on Nigeria’s total spending, which indicated that about N22.7 trillion was spent on food in 2019. This is 56.7% of the total spending (N40.2 trillion) for that period.

 

Where does the food Nigerians eat come from? Clearly Nigeria has a large agricultural base, but a significant proportion of Nigeria’s food is imported, and the cost of those imports have risen, as the value of the Naira has depreciated in relation to the US dollar.

According to data from the NBS, Nigeria’s spending on food and drink importation increased from $2.9bn in 2015 to $4.1bn in 2017, but dipped in 2018.

 

Have these imports plus local production met local demand on a consistent basis? The answer is no. Take rice for instance, the BBC reports that, “Between 2015, when the foreign exchange restrictions for rice came into effect, and early 2017, the price of a 50kg bag of rice went from $24 to $82 and fell in mid-2017 to $34, but in June 2019, the price stood at $49.”

The law of supply in economics, states that when the price of a commodity increases, its supply also increases. Hence, there is a direct relationship between price and supply of a commodity. In other words, if the price of rice goes up, more suppliers will enter the market to supply rice.

However, In Nigeria, as the price of food is rising, the NBS in the latest Inflation report, says the composite food index rose by 15.48% in July 2020 compared to 15.18% in June 2020. This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other tubers, Meat, Fruits, Oils and fats, and Fish. (essentially everything). The NBS says, the average price of 1kg of rice (imported high quality sold loose) increased year-on-year by 37.72%.

So why has the supply of rice not risen to correspond with rise in prices? Well, because the supply of rice and other foodstuff have indeed risen, but the problem remains logistics processing & storage.

In Nigeria, you only eat corn during corn season, same with mangoes, and tomatoes. Prices fall during harvest, then rise after harvest. The problem is not just with the harvest, but getting that harvest to market, storing the excess, and processing its supplies all year round. Therefore, imports are needed to plug supply holes. Nigerians in 2019 alone spent N1.9trillion or 4.7% of their budget on rice alone. When the President banned food importers from getting the CBN dollar at N379; he simply pushed them to import rice at N440; a N61 difference that will be added to the cost of imports, and will fuel imported inflation.

Where the president got it wrong is trying to fix a local logistics problem with a foreign exchange fix.

The solution is to go back to the various food supply value chains, de-risk and de-cost them. If food is cheap and plentiful, there will be no need for imports and inflation will fall.

https://nairametrics.com/2020/09/18/has-the-president-made-error-in-stopping-cbn-from-funding-food-imports/

West Africa: Feeding The Future With Homegrown Rice and Cassava

ADMIN

·        

·          

Dakar and Cape Town — The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) is celebrating a decade of its Feed the Future campaign, which enables partner organisations to target the root causes of poverty and hunger. Projects in Burkina Faso and Benin have produced expertise and economic stability for local agricultural producers.

Growing rice in Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, the Cooperative Mitiiri Rice Production and Marketing Project led local rice producers to grow an increasingly sustainable supply of the grain while lowering dependence on imports from China.

Established in 2009, Mitiri – then named Association of Young Dynamics for the Development of Bagre – faced financial difficulties. Help from the USADF helped it to secure production equipment, storage and and funds to buy rice.

One of the challenge of rice agriculture in the country is the lack of productive investments and adequate training, and the USADF worked to provide working capital, capacity building and business advisory assistance to modernize, provide training to members on post-harvest techniques, and improve business operations.

As a result, young farmers in the cooperative are seeing higher domestic sales and revenues and contribute to youth employment.

Challenges and the Reduction of Chinese Imports

KRE Daouda, the accounting manager of the Simplified Cooperative Company Mitiiri of Rice Producers of Bagré (SCOOPS Mitiiri), shared some of the trials and successes that come with rice agriculture.

One of the biggest challenges is insufficient production due to the Covid-19 outbreak. “We have noticed that with the pandemic, the demand for rice at the local level increased, and rice production to be adjusted. The shift in the training schedule on agricultural entrepreneurship did not benefit producers. There was also an absence of manpower the work in the fields,” Daouda said.

But the travel restrictions brought by the pandemic also meant that SCOOPS Mitiiri sold more products. “The reduction in rice imports from China had a great impact in the sale of local rice. it must be said that we no longer have the difficulties as before in selling our products,” Daouda said.

The co-operative aims to continue making gains in improving agricultural technique and providing employment in the coming years, believing that this path to success is something achievable for the entire continent.

“We believe that Africa as a whole will be able to produce rice without importing because it is not the land that is lacking but rather the technical and financial means. At the rate things are going, with the interest of our governors in agriculture and the support of projects and NGOs etc., agricultural yields are improving and we are sure that Africa will meet these challenges.”

“USADFs contribution has helped make us a leader among the co-operatives in our area.”.

Between 1 October 2010 and March 31, 2020, USADF invested more than $10 million in Burkina Faso, producing 157 enterprises and entrepreneurs.

Women of Benin at Forefront of Gari Production

In Benin, the Gbenondjou Cassava Production and Commercialization Expansion Project saw the development of the Ajahonmè’s Manioc Transformation Cooperative, a project which aims to feed the population of West Africa.

The majority of the 25-member co-op are women – 21 of them in fact – and they produce a variety of gari or cassava used in many dishes in West Africa.

The goal of economic empowerment of women is a cornerstone of the Cooperative. While a challenge, Gbezounke Sylvie, president of the Adjahonmey “Gbenondjou” Cassava Transformation cooperative, believes this is achievable.

The organisation’s efforts secured them a three-year deal to deliver gari to their newest client, in Senegal. Sylvie confirms that a first delivery was already made from Cotonou to Dakar, the Senegalese capital.

According to Sylvie, this new dynamic was boosted thanks to the support of the USADF, which granted Gbenondjou much-needed funds between 2017 and 2019.

The Gbenondjou Cooperative used these grants to build production capacity and purchase equipment to process cassava into gari while also investing in training its members in financial management, marketing, improved production techniques and hygiene practices. and sanitation for production. This, says Sylvie, made it possible to strengthen the competitiveness and professionalism of the co-op and contribute to food security, advancing the economic status of the rural women and improve their quality of life.

From Producers to Successful Women Entrepreneurs

The lives of the women involved in the co-op are certainly improved.

A transformation that its president links to the impact of American support on their activities and their daily lives. For Sylvie, the support of the USADF has completely changed their lives and the co-op. “It is thanks to the USADF that our members have started to organize their activities well and managed to double their production.“This support has enabled them to make their products competitive while respecting the health and commercial standards required on the market. “In the market, our products are sold first because they are now better presented,” Sylvie says proudly.

Profits made have enabled the co-op to acquire its own land and expand cassava farming areas which, over time, will help boost the level of yield and production.

“Since this new situation, the women members of the cooperative have spent less time in the fields and find time to take care of their household and their children.”

https://thestreetjournal.org/2020/09/west-africa-feeding-the-future-with-homegrown-rice-and-cassava/

Focus on Iraq

09.18.2020

By Chris Lyddon

Iraq, recovering from the effects of war, faces a new battle with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At the same time as controls adversely affect its agrifood production and distribution system, the impact of the crisis on the world economy has hit the value of oil — its one vital export.

The International Grains Council (IGC) forecasts Iraq’s total grains production in 2020-21 at 7 million tonnes, up from 6.5 million the previous year. The wheat crop is predicted at 5.4 million tonnes, up from 4.8 million. Output of barley is forecast at 1.2 million tonnes, down from 1.3 million the year before. The country also is expected to produce an unchanged 300,000 tonnes of rice.

The IGC’s forecast for Iraq’s 2020-21 imports of grain is 3.2 million tonnes, up from 3.1 million in 2019-20. The 2020-21 total includes 2.8 million tonnes of wheat, up from 2.6 million the previous year. Rice imports are seen at an unchanged 1.2 million tonnes.

Iraq is a major importer of wheat flour. The IGC puts its 2020-21 imports at 2 million tonnes, up from 1.9 million the year before.

In a Country Brief on Iraq dated May 15, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that conditions for crop development had been “generally favorable across the country with timely and well-distributed rains.”

“The northern cereal-producing belt of Kirkuk, Nineveh and Al Suleymaniah governorates experienced an early autumn dryness until late November 2019, but abundant precipitation starting from December significantly improved soil moisture content,” the FAO said.

*Estimated **Projected // Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service

The FAO forecast a 6.5-million-tonne grains crop, compared with its forecast for 2019 of 6.8 million.

The Grain Board of Iraq buys from farmers.

“Despite the pressure on the national budget, reports indicate that farmers are paid in cash upon presenting a letter from the ministry of trade confirming the quantity and amount due,” the FAO said.

By May 9, the state buyer had purchased 542,000 tonnes of wheat.

“The wheat purchased is then used in the Public Distribution System (PDS), which distributes subsidized basic food rations to the population,” the FAO explained. “The total cereal import requirements, despite the expectations of an above-average 2020 domestic harvest, are forecast to be near average, a level similar to the previous year, as the government tries to rebuild stocks that have been recently depleted by the COVID-19-related stockpiling by consumers.”

In a separate analysis of the effects of the pandemic, the FAO said Iraq is vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19 due to pre-existing vulnerabilities, including poverty, dwindling natural resources and ongoing displacement due to past conflicts.

“The collapse of the global oil market in April has also had serious implications for Iraq’s capacity to import food,” the FAO said. “Approximately 90% of the government’s income derives from oil revenue.

“From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Iraq has exempted agricultural stakeholders from movement restrictions, allowing them to continue production and transport of agricultural goods.”

However, it warned of challenges to supply chains.

“Unless the constraints facing agricultural supply chains are addressed, food security and job opportunities will be affected,” the FAO said.

In an annual report on the grains sector, the USDA attaché explained Iraq’s system for distributing grain.

“The Public Distribution System was created in September 1990,” the attaché said. “Since then, the system has been updated a number of times. It has consistently provided Iraqis access to a range of staple commodities. In its current iteration, program participants pay 500 Iraqi dinars ($0.42) for each quota of food, which contains shares of flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil.”

The attaché noted that the program allocates nine kilograms of flour eight times per year and allots other staples six times per year.

“The PDS system accounts for a large percentage of Iraqi wheat consumption,” the attaché said.

The attaché put the total amount of wheat distributed under the system at approximately 3.96 million tonnes a year.

“However, there are additional amounts consumed annually in the form of grain or flour, increasing total consumption,” the attaché said. “A large quantity of the wheat flour distributed under the PDS system ends up either as animal feed due to poor quality or because families have no ability to bake the flour.”

Wheat flour milling industry

There are around 300 privately owned flour mills in Iraq.

“Much of the private sector milling capacity remains underutilized,” the attaché said. “Private sector mills receive wheat supplies after the public sector capacity is filled. Some private millers in the past stopped or limited production due to security concerns. However, this constraint no longer occurs. The Iraqi government retains ownership of wheat and products throughout the production process.”

In April 2019, nine flour mills began milling 72% extraction (fine) flour for sale in the Iraqi market, the attaché said. Prior to this change, the only fine flour available in the Iraqi market was imported from Turkey, Iran, Kuwait or Jordan as Iraqi mills produce only 80% extraction flour.

“Iraq continues to import sizable volumes of wheat flour from Turkey, Iran, Kuwait and Jordan,” the attaché said. “Traders estimate that around 85% of flour imports are Turkish, while the remaining 15% comes from other countries. Reportedly, around 100 Turkish mills are producing only for the Iraqi market. Turkish millers produce specifically for the Iraqi market and label products in Arabic as per the buyers’ specifications.”

*Estimated **Projected // Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service

As the Iraqi population is beginning to consume more barley bread over wheat bread for dietary reasons, some wheat flour imports from Turkey are being replaced by barley flour, which is becoming an important source for bread in almost all private sector bakeries, the attaché said.

“Turkish millers sell flour to Iraqi importers on credit, which is paid on a weekly basis after the product is sold,” the report said. “Turkish flour prices are reportedly competitive and stable, in spite of wheat market fluctuations.

“As crossings are limited in the mountainous border region, an advanced logistics and shipping system has developed around the city of Zakho. Reliable statistics on cross-border trade are not available and large volumes of unregistered product are likely flowing to Iraq from both Iran and Turkey.”

Other grains

The attaché put 2020-21 barley consumption at 1.685 million tonnes.

“Iraqis generally use barley as animal feed for sheep, goats, and beef and dairy cattle, which would compete directly with feed grade wheat,” the report said. “Some breads and other dishes for human consumption are produced with barley. However, barley in this case is mostly imported from Turkey and the volumes are low.”

According to the attaché, corn production has been increasing because of rises in yield and area, with agriculture ministry promoting higher yielding hybrid varieties, mostly imported from the United States. Consumption is predicted at 720,000 tonnes in 2020-21.

“Corn in Iraq is mainly used by poultry feed mills, but the use of corn by the aquaculture sector is also increasing,” the attaché said. “Traders supply most imported corn to feed mills. Feed mills prefer imported corn, especially South American origin, due to the quality, moisture rate, and low occurrence of aflatoxins.”

Rice production was briefly prohibited in 2018 in the face of drought, as officials diverted supplies to drinking water, industrial uses and horticulture, the attaché said.

The report put 2020-21 consumption at 1.6 million tonnes, with around 720,000 tonnes distributed through the public system.

“Currently, program participants receive three kilograms of rice every two months,” the attaché said.

Private firms also mill domestic rice and sell it on the local market.

“Long-grain variety Basmati rice is mainly imported from India via UAE,” the attaché said.

Chris Lyddon is World Grain’s European correspondent. He may be contacted at: chris.lyddon@ntlworld.com.

https://www.world-grain.com/articles/14242-focus-on-iraq

 

President for diversification, value addition to explore untapped export markets

 

APP

11:02 PM | September 17, 2020

President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday said the diversification and value addition of products were a must to achieve higher exports and explore the yet untapped global markets, particularly the African region. Addressing the 4th Export Trophy arranged by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president called for use of information technology and artificial intelligence in the agriculture and other businesses to bring more efficiency and profitability.

He said unlike the past, the modern technologies had made it easier for the businessmen to assess the requirements of targeted markets to help design the supply chain accordingly.

He said currently Pakistan’s exports revolved around cotton, wheat, rice and sugarcane, which necessitated the diversification of existing products and investment in modern fields like the information technology.

He told the audience that until 2010, the world’s top 10 companies hailed from the oil sector but currently they had been replaced by the IT (information technology) firms, which manifested the huge scope of the sector. The president, who earlier distributed export trophies among the Lahore-based businessmen for their remarkable contribution in the exports sector, also advised the agriculturalists to think out of the box and consider producing sugar from beetroots to replace the sugarcane which burdened the water resources.

He said the flood irrigation of crops caused huge wastage of rain waters which needed to be mended through modern technology to preserve the natural resource . He said under the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami, the government had massively planted olive trees to meet the country’s needs as well as opening up export opportunities. The president particularly advised the businessmen to adhere to the principles of morality, honesty and sincerity in their trade across the globe, which ultimately paid back in the long term.

He said as an initiative to promote Pakistan’s fruits abroad, the President House dispatched mango packs to different heads of state along with descriptive pamphlets. He also asked the business community to support the industry workers and create job opportunities for women and differently-abled people. The president viewed that Pakistan had successfully sailed through the COVID-19 pandemic due to Allah Almighty’s blessings and support extended to the needy ones by the people as well as the government under the Ehsaas Programme.

Earlier, LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said the export trophy was meant to encourage the businessmen to diversify and increase their exports. He thanked the government for extending support to the business sector particularly during the pandemic and also lauded its policies to bring ease of doing business. He said fortunately, the pandemic did not affect Pakistan’s exports as the indicators showed positive growth comparing with the last year.

He, however, urged his fellow businessmen to tap the Halal Food and IT sectors for exports and focus the African region, besides requesting the government to establish export processing zones.

https://nation.com.pk/17-Sep-2020/president-for-diversification-value-addition-to-explore-untapped-export-markets

Traders organize training workshop for rice value chain

  Published On 18 September,2020 10:20 am

More than 40 rice mills participated in the event.

ISLAMABAD (APP) – The rice traders organized safety and capacity building training workshop for rice millers and other agriculture sector stakeholders in rice value chain, especially to protect the work place rights of woman rice transplanter.

The Rice Partners Pvt Ltd (RPL) one of the top rice exporter of Pakistan in collaboration of Helvetas Pakistan and Swiss Solidarity piloted another Phase-III training workshop to train the agri-workers associated with rice value chain to create awareness of field work for women agri-workers, said a press release issued here.

The development sector organizations also involved in the training process to sensitize the agriculture women workers about fundamental rights of the children of female agriculture workers, especially the rice transplanters.

The Rice Partners Pvt Ltd (RPL) one of the top rice exporter of Pakistan in collaboration of Helvetas Pakistan and Swiss Solidarity piloted a training workshop to train the rice millers, development sector organizations to sensitize them about fundamental rights of the children of female agriculture workers, especially the rice transplanters, said a press release issued here.

More than 40 rice mills including organizations from development sectors, academia and media personnel participated in the event.

Manager Sustainability RPL, Zafar Iqbal while giving the opening remarks highlighted the initiatives of RPL to promote and ensure decent working conditions in rice value chain of Pakistan.

He said that RPL started its philanthropic work from the development of farmers and now it has expanded to the labourers of agriculture sector.

Zafar said that RPL has trained more than 2,8000 farmers on sustainable rice production and also provided them the facility of land laser leveling on 50% cost sharing basis.

Manager Sustainability RPL also narrated that RPL is also working for welfare of agriculture labor. RPL established Community Mother Centers at multiple villages of district Sheikhupura in which decent environment was provided to the children of agriculture labour particularly female rice transplanters.

He added that Free Medical Camps were also organized to provide free medication to the rice transplanters at their working places throughout the rice transplanting season.

He said that around 15,000 families engage in rice transplanting every year only from district Sheikhupura and more than 100,000 from all over the Punjab.

A common practice is that all members from a family take part in transplanting work and children from those families also accompanied their parents.

Renowned Senior Child rights activist and consultant Ms Sadia Hussain said that physical, emotional and psychological health of children belonging to agriculture labour must be considered for a conducive working environment in the rice value chain.

She said that the protection of children and vulnerable adults is a collective societal responsibility.

She said that we must protect the fundamental rights of children particularly right to name, education, health, safety, security; freedom of expression, freedom of association without any discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender, religion, caste and creed.

She further added that children particularly children of agriculture sector labour must be protected against abuses, violence, forced labor and any physical or emotional torture.

Senior Corporate and Development sector Consultant, Annan Waffi Qureshi on the occasion said that juvenile rights should be prioritized in every sector including the agriculture sector.

He highlighted the mode of communication to create the awareness for children’s rights and their protection, especially who belongs to the families working in the rice value chain.

He said that to engage the children in labour work whether forcefully or voluntarily is now a crime in Pakistan and everyone who is present here must raise his/her voice against this crime.

He also highlighted the referral mechanism to report the cases of violation of rights of children. He further added that there are a number of government and non-government organizations that are working for protection of rights of children.

Child Protection and Welfare Bureau and Search for Justice are the prominent institutes which are particularly working for protection of children and stopping violations of their rights.

Field Manager, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Mr. Zahid Rehman also addressed the participants on the occasion.

He said that working conditions of the farms were highly hazardous and exposed children to several risks of insect bites, injuries and infections, exposure to extreme heat and pesticides without any shelter.

Rehman added that keeping in view the hazardous conditions of farms Helvetas and RPL provided moveable backpack canopies covered from all sides to the children of rice transplanters to avoid the insects and provision of shelters along with the dry food, repellents, and water coolers in rice cultivation region of the Punjab.

He further added that similarly, for the larger group of families working jointly at farm level, a bigger shelter tent along with solar plates, fans, air cooler, water cooler and first aid boxes were provided to keep the children in a healthy and safe environment at farm level.

https://dunyanews.tv/en/Business/564506-Traders-organize-training-workshop-rice-value-chain

Rice farmers want sale of rice seed licensed

 

Govt to procure scanners to detect fake ag...

Rice farmers want sale of rice seed licensed

By Hope Mafaranga

17th September 2020 01:43 PM

“Many women in rural areas in Uganda cannot get a daily income as I do. Many often have a tendency of judging jobs, not knowing that even a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.” 

Mustafa Affan, a farmer, preparing a rice garden. (Photo by Hope Mafaranga)

Agnes Kadogo, a mother of two, came from Tanzania to Uganda in 2015 to look for a job.

Kadogo's search landed her in a rice garden. At first, it was so hard for Kadogo to come to terms with the hard labour and working in the swamp where rice is planted.

But, because that was the opportunity that had come her way, Kadogo decided to have a change of mindset.

"I stopped focusing on the mud. I wake up daily to this muddy garden to dig because I realised what I was getting myself out of the job," she said.

Kadogo, who now works at Kibimba in Bugiri district, said she earns sh6,000 daily, which she says is a dream come true.

"Many women in rural areas in Uganda cannot get a daily income as I do. Many often have a tendency of judging jobs, not knowing that even a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step," she says.

Kadogo has taken care of her two children. She says she is also gaining more experience so that when she goes back to her home country, she can employ other people.

She, however, asked the government to license rice seeds so that farmers can get quality and clean seeds.

"Tanzania grows rice because it is one of the staple foods there. Finding a job in a rice company was a godsend because I am now earning and saving. My long term goal is to go back to Tanzania and buy land, where I will still engage in rice farming because I now have the experience. I know the right seeds to plant, the inches to measure when I am making a nursery garden and, above all, I have got the market and economic knowledge on the rice," she said.

Mustafa Affan, a resident of Bugunga village in Bugiri district and a father of four, said he could not think about another job other than growing rice. He says the sh5,500 that he earns daily for the less than six hours of work in the garden, is better than many odd jobs that youth engage in.

FARMERS GET A BOOST

Jemilah Nabirye, another rice farmer in Butaleja district, said when the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) started the Resilient Efficient Agribusiness Chains in Uganda (REACH-Uganda) project in Butaleja, she did not know that she could get 20 bags of rice out of half an acre.

She said before REACHUganda project came, they practised subsistence farming and did not bother about markets.

The REACH-Uganda project has improved the level of market engagement by farmers, strengthened household resilience and increased the availability of agriculture support services, farmers and businesses in the rice value chains.

Nabirye said by employing a market systems approach to development, they have boosted their local markets and they now function more effectively, sustainably and beneficially for the farmers.

She, however, said finding clean seed for rice is next to impossible since government has not licensed the sale of rice seeds. "We are still planting seeds that we get from our harvests, which compromises the quality and quantity of our yields.

If the government could speed up the process of allowing big actors in the rice farming to produce clean seed, it will go a long way in improving the quality of the rice we produce and also give farmers more profit," she said.

Ronald Lamo, the IFDC regional co-ordinator, said they have trained nearly 40,000 rice farmers to improve their capacity on how to access rice markets and increase productivity.

REACH-Uganda encourages farmers to emphasise climate-smart agricultural practices, diversify their income sources and teaches them how to access to finance.

The project is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Partners include Cardno Emerging Markets, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF), the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), and the Royal Tropical Institute.

CHALLENGES

Lamo said farmers are facing challenges of climate change, torrential rains, seasonal roads, lack of information about rice markets as well as poor rice seeds. He said farmers also find difficulty in accessing loans in case they want to expand their enterprises.

Lamo said the government's policy to import rice from China, Pakistan and India was affecting the local farmers since the cost of production of the foreign businesses is way lower than for local farmers.

WORKING WITH OUT-GROWERS

Venugopal Pookat, the managing director of Kibimba Limited, said they are training out-growers to produce their own seed. Abubaker Kiirya, the chairperson of Geshaho farmers savings group in Napinga village, Busolwe subcounty in Butaleja district, said IFDC taught them a saving culture and connected them to financial institutions.

"We started borrowing sh5m, in 2017, but now our loan facility has grown to sh45m," he said. Kiirya said they were also given technical advice on how to utilise the money they get from banks.

SOLUTION

Lamo said they have created linkages between farmers and traders, to eliminate middlemen. "We also organise them to groups and link them with the Microfinance Support Centre, where farmers are given money as a group," he said.

David Slane, the Chief of Party and country representative of IFDC, said they are working with the Integrated Seed Sector Development Project and coordinating with the Directorate of Seed Certification under the agriculture min

 

 

istry, to ensure that the firms are formally licensed to produce rice seed that meets all the legal requirements under the prevailing seed regulation

https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1527233/rice-farmers-sale-rice-seed-licensed

Pakistan risks damage to export as India applies for GI tag to basmati in EU

India is also registering Himalayan salt, Multani mitti with Indian names in the international market

By Ghulam Abbas

ISLAMABAD: While Pakistan is yet to implement the Geographical Indications (GI) law promulgated in March this year, India has applied for an exclusive GI tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU).

The EU has subsequently published the application of India in its official journal on September 11, 2020, showing Basmati rice as an Indian origin product, despite the fact that similar rice is widely produced in Pakistan.

Interestingly, officials of the Ministry of Commerce, when contacted, were unaware of this major development which could ultimately damage Pakistan’s exports, such as the aromatic rice, to European countries.

Earlier last month, Adviser to the Prime Minister (PM ) on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood had directed the officials to implement the GI since it was promulgated as a law over five months ago.

It may be mentioned here Pakistan, after a delay of almost 18 years, had enacted Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Act in March this year.

According to EU’s official journal, any country can oppose the application for registration of a name pursuant to Article 50(2) (a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs within three months from the date of publication.

As per the Indian application, basmati is special long grain aromatic rice grown and produced in a particular geographical region of the Indian sub-continent. In India, this region is a part of northern India, below the foothills of the Himalayas forming part of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). The special characteristics of basmati are its long slender kernels with a high length to breadth ratio, an exquisite aroma, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature, intermediate amylose content, high integrity of grain on cooking, and linear kernel elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking.

Further, India has claimed that basmati is grown and produced in all districts of the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, as well as in specific districts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Interestingly, to support its claim, India has also referred various dictionaries such as Oxford Dictionary which defines basmati as ‘a kind of long-grain Indian rice with a delicate fragrance’, the French dictionary, Larousse, which defines basmati as an ‘Indian, long grain rice, very appreciated’ and the Cassell food dictionary which defines it as ‘a superior type of Indian white rice which is long grained and slender’.

India has also referred other reports to show that the basmati rice is of Indian origin without mentioning that the same is produced in Pakistan.

Leading rice exporter and former office bearer of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Taufiq Ahmed says that the Indian application at EU must be opposed immediately as it would badly damage Pakistani products’ exports to European countries.

He said that despite repeated requests and reminders, concerned authorities in Pakistan have been ignoring this serious issue for years and now if the problem is not handled swiftly then we would be left with no option but to sell basmati rice with an Indian name/brand.

“Apart from opposing the GI tag from the EU, Pakistan must also consult international dictionaries to rectify the definition as the same rice is largely produced in Pakistan. Unfortunately, India is also registering Himalayan salt and Multani Matti with Indian names in the international market,” he said.

According to an official at Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO), an attached department of the Ministry of Commerce which drafted the GI law, the Indian application would definitely be opposed in the EU.

He said that since the GI law has been promulgated, Pakistan would take up the issue of all GI products of Pakistani origin with the EU.

According to officials, Basmati was already recognised as a product of both India and Pakistan in the European Rice Regime and its Duty-Free Regime, making it illegal for India to claim exclusive rights of Basmati in the EU.

“The Cambridge dictionary and Wikipedia also show the product as originating from Pakistan and India,” he added.

It may be recalled here both India and Pakistan have approved the GI law which includes basmati as a product of their respective origin. The protection of geographical indications is aimed at boosting exports, helping support rural development in the country, and enhancing the livelihood of agriculture producers and skilled craftsmen.

Furthermore, the marketing of GI products also enhances secondary economic activities and boost regional economic development in various regions boosting economic development. GI law protects local products such as the Peshawari chappals, Multani blue pottery, Hunza apricots, Hala ajrak, Kasuri methi, Chaman grapes, Turbat dates etc.

Member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) need to give protection to GIs under Article 22-24 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement. Unless Pakistan provides GI protection, it cannot obtain the same for its own goods in other countries that have the GI law. The GI law covers a wide variety of industrial, agricultural, and horticultural products among others.

 https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/09/17/pakistan-risks-damage-to-export-as-india-applies-for-gi-tag-to-basmati-in-eu/

Punjabi farmer saves the country from "ship to mouth" situation, will fight at every platform - Rana Gurjit singh

ASHOK KAURA | September 19, 2020 10:18 AM

FacebookTwitterWhatsAppPinterestLinkedInPrint

KAPURTHALA:MLA Rana Gurjit singh from kapurthala today said that the congress party under the leadership of chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will fight from " Sarak to sansad" ( Road to Parliament) to save the farming community from the three anti farmer ordinance passed by the Union Government.

Terming these ordinances as an organized crime against the farmers of the country especially the Punjabi farmers who saves the country from " ship to mouth" situation from last 50 years by bringing Green revolutions, the MLA said that " it will not provides the control to MNCs by maintaining their monopoly on the market but will also ruin the economy of the state.

He said that the punjabi farmers have made the country self reliant on food grains even destroying their natural resources like underground water but the NDA Government with the unconditional support of so called champion of farmers Sharomani Akali Dal has passed these ordinances to ruin the agrarian based economy of the state.

Talking about the deep impact of these ordinances, the MLA said that the multi national companies are going to control the raw material and crop production in the country, leaving the owners of land into no where. In Punjabs context these ordinances will abolish the mandi system in the state which will be a great threat to the earning of farmers, arthiyas, labourers , rice millers etc.

Earlier the MLA and Deputy commissioner kapurthala Deepti Uppal and farmers from the district were took part in the virtual kisan mela of the Punjab agriculture university.

The farmers have been advised to take part in virtual kisan mela by approaching www.kisanmela.pau.edu. on September 19.

# punjab government

https://www.punjabnewsexpress.com/punjab/news/punjabi-farmer-saves-the-country-from-ship-to-mouth-situation-will-fight-at-every-platform-rana-gurjit-singh-119771

Eng Christopher Kasozi lived twice

By David Sseppuuya

Added 18th September 2020 04:45 PM

And so Kasozi’s 1975 brush with the mercurial President Amin could have been fateful.

 

Eng. Christopher Kasozi Kaya

OPINION

The period July/August and then October 1975 was arguably the highest point in the well-told career of then Ugandan President, General Idi Amin. It was also unquestionably the lowest for one of the country's most senior technocrats.

Idi Amin was an incessant seeker of recognition, principally from the mighty (witness the restaging, before African leaders, of his wedding to Sarah Kyolaba, followed, a little later, by the unprecedented address, in Luganda, to the UN General Assembly on October 1, 1975). And also, the lowly (at my primary school that year, arriving with a swagger, he boasted to us, schoolchildren, how he had driven from Jinja to Budo in 30 minutes, too fast for his bodyguard to keep up — he was alone). Hosting the Organisation of African Unity Summit in Kampala, from July 28 to August 1, was, therefore, a high watermark for the showman President, what with the ostensibly prestigious title of OAU Chairman, which was to avail the General Assembly pulpit, to go with it.

With the OAU summit Uganda, therefore, could not afford any hiccups. Anxiety levels were palpable, government officials pulling and tugging to ascertain that the conference went on without a hitch: cleaning Kampala, securing borders, drilling schoolchildren in parade gymnastics, expelling beggars, stopping at nothing to keep dozens of African leaders happy (nobody seems to have told the Nigerian military, who overthrew General Yakubu Gowon — Go On With Our Nigeria — while he was in Uganda). For Eng. Christopher Kasozi Kaya, the task was a simple one: ensure that there was adequate and uninterrupted water supply at all key venues. 

By 1975, the effects of the disastrous Economic War, declared by Amin in 1972, had begun to kick in, with scarcities of not only "essential goods" like soap, sugar and cooking oil, but also spare parts for motor vehicles and industrial machinery. 

Knowing the frequency of breakdown of pumps and other equipment at the National Water & Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), Kasozi decided to hedge his bets. 

The systems at the Gaba station were broken and NWSC decided to ferry water in trucks (bowsers) and fill Nakasero's Gunhill Tank (adjacent to State House and the Sheraton) that would supply the key conference venues — Nile Mansions (Serena Hotel today), International Conference Centre and International Hotel (Sheraton Hotel) — to ensure an uninterrupted flow. A jumpy and suspicious President presumed that Kasozi was sabotaging the conference and promptly fired him.

This was a time when a number of public servants lost their lives on account of professional decisions that would end up rubbing powerful individuals the wrong way. Joseph Mubiru, the former Governor of the Bank of Uganda and Kasozi's former collegemate at Trivandrum University in India in the 1950s, had been abducted and presumably murdered by state agents in September 1972, five days before another senior technocrat, Chief Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka, disappeared forever in similar circumstances, faulted for taking professional positions on national matters. Frank Kalimuzo, the Vice-Chancellor of Makerere University, had also been murdered following abduction, so the trend was evident, and the dread would have been tangible.

In 1965, Kasozi had become the first Ugandan Engineer Manager of the Kampala & District Water Board, taking over from a departing British expatriate. In 1973, when NWSC was formed, he became founding Managing Director.  

Kasozi was among a clutch of young technocrats who would take over governance and management, and at Trivandrum University in South India, his six years (1954-1964) studying engineering were to overlap with those of other Ugandan students, like the perennial Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, Akbar Adoko Nekyon (first Ugandan minister of Information), Mubiru (first Governor of BOU), Wilson Kityo (Chief Magistrate) and Godfrey Lule (Attorney General). Kasozi would recall a relentless diet of rice of his days in India: rice for breakfast; rice at lunch; rice for dinner, all served with hot piri piri, in dubious nutrition rather like some communities in Uganda do eat bananas — bogoya, gonja, matooke, ndizi, as well as banana beer all year round; or those that do unremittingly consume maize in the form of porridge, popcorn for breakfast, cornflakes, posho/ugali, roast-on-the-cob, and in a potent gin!

And so Kasozi's 1975 brush with the mercurial President Amin could have been fateful. 

As it were, upon dismissal for trying to ensure a flawless and flowing OAU summit, Kasozi chose the quiet life, retreating into private practice with his own firm and in service to the Church. In 1975 Kasozi was 45 years old, which was also just about the life expectancy for a Ugandan male — fate, divine or otherwise, had him survive both a natural death and potential execution at the hands of an insecure state terror machinery. 

His survival granted him a second lease on life, effectively doubling his span to the ripe old age of 90, at which he rested last month. It was a life well-lived.

Kasozi survived by his widow, Mary Kasozi Kaya, and children Paul Sebirumbi, Peter Segujja, Eva Nabawanda Semakula, Patrick Sebanwagi, Philip Seruwagi, and Phares Sekalala.

Eng. Christopher Kasozi Kaya was born on January 17, 1930, and he died on August 26, 2020. He studied at Aggrey Memorial, Kings College Budo and Trivandrum University.

He was the first Ugandan Manager, Kampala and District Water Board and first Managing Director National Water and Sewerage Corporation. He was first chairman Uganda Institute of Professional Engineers, He was fellow, Economic Development Institute of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Board of Governors, Mengo Hospital.

https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1527339/eng-christopher-kasozi-lived-twice

 

 

Indian rice exporters increase considerations after Iran begins putting orders for basmati from Pakistan

September 17, 2020 - by John Show  

Iran has began putting orders with Pakistan for basmati rice, elevating considerations of Indian basmati rice exporters who’ve stalled exports to the Gulf nation attributable to non-payment of their dues price Rs 1,700 crore. However, exporters see this merely as a brief blip.

“Yes, we have heard that Iran has placed some order with Pakistan recently. It is nothing unusual. However, Pakistan exports 6 lakh tonnes of basmati rice in the world markets whereas India’s exports stands at 4.4 – 4.5 millon tonnes,” stated Vinod Kaul, government director, All India Rice Exporters’ Association (AIREA).

Kaul stated that it’s a momentary phenomenon and as soon as Iran clears its dues, India will once more begin exporting to the nation. Iran accounts for 34% of India’s basmati exports to the abroad markets.

Kaul stated exporters are anxious about once they get their a refund.

“They are extremely worried. Also, if Pakistan gradually increases its presence in Iran, then may be in the long term, it may create some problems for Indian exporters,” he stated.

A Crisil examine has said that Iran, which imports round 1.three million tonne of basmati rice yearly, is predicted to register 20 per cent decrease quantity from India as payment-related points proceed from final fiscal due to US sanctions.

India and Iran have been discussing the barter buying and selling system for practically a yr now, ever because the Trump administration started imposing robust financial sanctions on Tehran. Iran has stated it would purchase basmati rice, sugar and medicines from India in lieu of fertilisers. A last determination is but to be taken.

Exports with Iran must be resumed quickly as basmati manufacturing is predicted to be greater this yr. In the final kharif season, India produced 7.5 million tonnes of basmati rice. “This year, the acreage has increased and we are expecting 8 million tonnes of rice,” stated AIREA’s Kaul.

Gurnam Arora, joint managing director, Kohinoor Foods stated Pakistan has been sending basmati rice to Iran by way of some convoluted enterprise route. “The payment was being made in cash. But with India, Iran has a transparent business model. The buyers may have placed some order with Pakistan to meet temporary demand. This will no way impact Indian exports going ahead.”

Arora added that Iran’s personal crop will begin coming by October after which the nation won’t require imported basmati. “Moreover, Indian basmati is superior than basmati from our neighbouring nation,” he added.

http://www.marketnewsreports.us/710/indian-rice-exporters-increase-considerations-after-iran-begins-putting-orders-for-basmati-from-pakistan/

 

Olam Urges International Brands to Adopt New Rice Eco-label to Allow Consumers to Support Farmers and Promote Sustainable Rice Production

 

Submitted by:Olam International

Categories:SustainabilityEnvironment

Posted:Sep 18, 2020 – 09:31 AM ESTPhoto credit: Olam Rice

LONDON, Sep. 18 /CSRwire/ - Olam International is calling for retailers and food brands to back the new “Sustainable Rice Platform-Verified” Assurance Scheme and consumer pack label*, which will allow consumers to choose products that directly support efforts to increase farmer incomes and reduce the environmental impact of rice production. 

Speaking ahead of UN Climate Week, Paul Nicholson, Head of Rice Research and Sustainability for Olam’s global rice business said, “Unlike crops such as coffee and cocoa, consumers have no awareness of the sustainability issues associated with rice, and therefore, no impetus to change them. This label can help galvanise consumer action behind rice – an affordable food that’s unique in its international appeal and the largest food source on earth.

“I know that a label cannot transform a sector overnight, but it can give consumers a chance to catalyse real change. It can give brands a purpose-driven marketing campaign and allow brands and retailers to lead from the front. As Olam has experienced through our own farmer engagement programmes, the SRP Standard works: farmer incomes are increasing by 10-20% while methane emissions are reduced by up to 50%. Now with the Assurance Scheme it will catalyse both ends of the value chain for greater scale.” 

The ‘SRP-Verified’ Label has been developed by the Sustainable Rice Platform – a grouping of over 100 public, private, research, financial institutions and civil society organisations led by the development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The majority of the world’s rice farmers earn just US$2-7 a day and paddy fields emit up to 20% of global manmade methane emissions – a gas more potent than carbon dioxide. 

Paul Nicholson continues, “In 2016 and in partnership with GIZ, Olam was the first private company to trial the SRP indicators with farmers in Thailand. I have seen first-hand what a difference it is making. At Olam we are intent on supporting this initiative to supply SRP-verified rice to allow our customers and partners to re-imagine this sector by improving the livelihoods of farmers and their families, and protecting the environment.

Rice is integral to the global food security system. 144 million households are growing the world’s rice, yet 90% are living at or near the poverty line.

Through SRP, women – often the main labourers – are able to gain their own land tenure certificates. It is also enabling freshwater to be preserved as farmers are learning to keep records, to reduce water, to reduce pesticides. Migratory birds can feed in the vital wetlands without risk of contamination or culling, eating pests naturally.

Paul Nicholson continues, “Our team in India is working with a community who had drawn so much groundwater for irrigation that their community water-source has turned saline. Through the SRP Standard we are helping them to reduce water use and recharge the local aquifer to address the balance between agriculture and local water use.

“Thanks to partnerships with GIZ, as well as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and respective governments, we are currently providing SRP Standard training to about 35,000 farmers in Nigeria, 750 in India, 10,000 in Thailand and 4,000 in Vietnam. But our vision is to see the SRP Standard scaled by the sector so that the label is just as accessible on consumer packs in those domestic nations as it is in international markets.

Other actions being taken by Olam’s rice team and our partners include:

·         Putting data into the hands of customers through Olam’s revolutionary supply chain sustainability insights platform AtSource, which tracks 150 data points across 9 core sustainability topics, connected to 12 Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to monitoring the farm-level indicators under SRP and any additional requirements from customers, AtSource provides social and environmental footprints for the full journey of the product – through processing and logistics to the manufacturer’s door. Tools include country risk assessments and an eco-calculator that can give carbon, water and land use change footprints per tonne of product, essential when reporting impacts for third party supply chains.

·         Participating in sector-wide initiatives including the Sustainable Rice Landscapes Initiative (SRLI).

·         Through Olam’s Re-Imagineers programme, we are actively exploring opportunities to commercialise rice biomass straw to unlock value for farmers and Olam into packaging and other uses.

Five facts about global rice production

1.      Worldwide, 3.5 billion people consume rice and 144 million family farmers produce rice, tragically some 90% of them live at or near the poverty line – many of them are women

2.      1 out of 4 farmers in the world are rice smallholders, who earn on average US$2 to US$7 per day from rice

3.      Irrigated rice cultivation uses 30-40% of the world’s freshwater and is responsible for 10% of global man-made methane emissions

4.      Rice production is a leading cause of habitat loss, both in wetlands and forests

5.      Global rice consumption is projected to grow 13% from 2018 to 2027, requiring 500 million tons of milled rice annually

# # # 

About Olam International Limited

Olam International is a leading food and agri-business supplying food, ingredients, feed and fibre to 25,200 customers worldwide. Our value chain spans over 60 countries and includes farming, processing and distribution operations, as well as a sourcing network of an estimated 5 million farmers.

Through our purpose to ‘Re-imagine Global Agriculture and Food Systems’, Olam aims to address the many challenges involved in meeting the needs of a growing global population, while achieving positive impact for farming communities, our planet and all our stakeholders.

Headquartered and listed in Singapore, Olam currently ranks among the top 30 largest primary listed companies in terms of market capitalisation on SGX-ST.

To subscribe to the Olam Newsroom please click here (privacy statement here). If you do not wish to receive information from Olam please contact media@olamnet.com

More information on Olam can be found at www.olamgroup.com. Follow @olam

Olam is located at 7 Straits View, Marina One East Tower #20-01, Singapore 018936.
Telephone: +65 63394100, Facsimile: +65 63399755.

Contacts for Corporate Communications
Nikki Barber
Group Head of PR
nikki.barber@olamnet.com 
+44 2074848994, 7568108555

Issued on behalf of Olam International Limited by:
WATATAWA Consulting, 77 Robinson Road, Robinson 77 #33-00, Singapore 068896

Ong Chor Hao                                                               
Deputy Director                                                            
chorhaoo@we-watatawa.com                                       
+65 96272674                                                        

Hoong Huifang

Manager
hhoong@we-watatawa.com
+65 91280762


* Launched 14 September: https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-backed-label-launched-help-shoppers-choose-environmentally-0

 Sourced from SRP: http://www.sustainablerice.org

For more information, please contact:

Zoe Maddison Group PR Manager

Phone: +44 (0)78 2590 4234

For more from this organization:

https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/45787-Olam-Urges-International-Brands-to-Adopt-New-Rice-Eco-label-to-Allow-Consumers-to-Support-Farmers-and-Promote-Sustainable-Rice-Production-

No comments:

Post a Comment