Bumper Aman production likely in Rangpur region
Published at 05:16 pm September 23rd,
2020
Map of Rangpur Dhaka
Tribune
A number of
farmers of different villages said their tender Aman rice plants were growing
superbly amid favourable climatic conditions
Officials of
the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) are expecting a bumper Aman rice
production as farmers exceeded its fixed farming target and tender rice plants
are growing superbly in Rangpur agriculture region.
The DAE
officials said frequent rainfalls are working as energizers for excellent
growth of the tender plants on vast tracts of crop lands giving those an
eye-catching look and making farmers happy in all five districts of the region.
“Farmers have
finally cultivated Aman rice on 6,06,852 hectares of land exceeding the fixed
farming target by 1,712 hectares or 1.21 percent in the region this season,”
Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Muhammad Ali said yesterday.
Earlier, the
DAE had fixed a target of producing 16, 97,795 tones of clean Aman rice (25,
46,693 tons of paddy) from 6, 05,140 hectares of land for all five districts in
Rangpur agriculture region.
“Against a
requirement of preparing Aman rice seedbeds on 30,391 hectares of land to
produce seedlings for transplantation on 6,05,140 hectares, farmers prepared
the same on 34,427 hectares, higher by 4,036 hectares than required,” Ali said.
However, the
recent floods damaged Aman rice seedbeds on 1,266 hectares of land causing
losses to seedlings worth Taka 18.76 crore affecting 41,230 farmers of the
region.
Besides, the
floods damaged the transplanted Aman rice crop on 111 hectares of land causing
production losses of 320 tons of rice worth Taka 1.16 crore and affecting 1,222
farmers.
The government
instantly undertook huge post-flood agri-rehabilitation programmes to assist
flood-hit farmers who have finally exceeded the fixed farming target for Aman
rice after recession of floodwaters also braving the coronavirus pandemic.
“Farmer
completed re-transplantation of late varieties of Aman rice seedlings and
broadcasting of seeds by September 15 last successfully recouping losses caused
to the crop by recent floods in the region,” Ali added.
The government
through the DAE effectively implemented the post-flood agriculture
rehabilitation programs spending Tk 1,15,35,840 and distributed specially
prepared Aman rice seedlings among 15,131 flood-hit farmers of the region.
“The seedlings
were prepared on 221 acres of land at community levels, on 500 floating
seedbeds and seedlings on 9,568 floating trays and distributed among
flood-affected farmers who have re-transplanted those on one bigha of land each,”
Ali said.
Besides, late
variety Aman rice seeds were distributed free of cost among many flood-hit
farmers who have already broadcasted those on their affected croplands.
“Many flood-hit
farmers have also cultivated late ‘Ganjia’ varieties of Aman rice using seeds
from their own stocks in affected areas,” Ali added.
A number of
farmers of different villages said their tender Aman rice plants were growing
superbly amid favourable climatic conditions.
Farmers Ariful
Haque Batul of village Najirdigar, Manik Mian of village Darshona and Aiyub Ali
of village Kathihara in Rangpur said that their growing Aman rice plants would
not require supplementary irrigation following frequent seasonal rainfalls.
“The superbly
growing tender Aman rice plants have created greenish blankets on vast tracts
of crop fields all-around now. We are expecting a bumper rice production
despite damages caused by recent floods to the crop this season,” said farmer
Ariful.
Exporters
bank on EU trade pact for pandemic relief
By Dat Nguyen September 23, 2020 |
11:01 am GMT+7
Farmers harvest rice in southern Soc Trang Province, March 10,
2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyet Nhi.
Vietnamese rice, fruit and seafood exporters
are banking on the European market for relief from difficulties imposed by the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Trung An Hi-Tech Farming Jsc in the
Mekong Delta city of Can Tho exported its first batch of Vietnamese rice to the
E.U. last month with zero tariffs under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement
(EVFTA) that took effect August 1.
It shipped 150 tonnes out of a
total 3,000 tonnes that will be delivered to Germany and France this year.
Buyers paid $1,000 for a ton of the
company’s ST20 rice grown in the southern province of Soc Trang. This is the
highest price ever recorded for Vietnamese rice.
Another exporter, Thoai Son Food in
the southern province of An Giang, plans to export 126 tonnes of Jasmine 85
rice to the E.U. by the end of this month.
At least six other companies have
registered to export 4,300 tonnes of rice to the E.U. this month, according to
the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The rising number of orders from
the E.U. follows the EVFTA giving Vietnam a tariff-free rice export quota of
80,000 tonnes a year.
Other types of agriculture produce
also enjoy reduced or zero duties under the pact.
Several exporters this month have
announced or shipped their first batch of coffee, passion fruit, coconut, green
grapefruit and dragon fruit to the E.U.
One of them, the Vina T&T Group
in Ho Chi Minh City, plans to export 20,000 coconuts, 12 tonnes of grapefruit
and three tonnes of dragon fruit to the bloc soon.
Rising orders
Its CEO Nguyen Dinh Tung said the
company will export about 20 tonnes of fruits weekly to the E.U. from now on.
He said that since the trade pact was implemented, there has been an increase
in the number of orders from this market.
The trade pact has helped lower the
prices of Vietnamese fruit, making them more competitive than those from
Thailand, Indonesia, China and Malaysia, he added.
Seafood exporters are also reaping
benefits of the new trade agreement. Shrimp exports to the E.U. rose nearly 16
percent year-on-year in August to $58.8 million after duties on the giant tiger
prawn were eliminated, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood
Exporters and Producers (VASEP). Earlier the duties stood at 4.2 percent.
Nguyen Van Kich, CEO of Cafatex
Fishery Jsc in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, said since the trade
pact took effect, many buyers have started to place orders again after months
without any major activities due to Covid-19 impacts.
He added Vietnamese shrimp quality
is higher than that of India, Thailand and China, and therefore the zero tariff
will give exporters a major advantage.
"The EVFTA could urge European
buyers to replace shrimp from Thailand, India and China with that from Vietnam.
We expect increasing number of customers."
VASEP said rising exports of shrimp
to the E.U. will contribute to a total shrimp export growth of 8 percent this
year to $3.6 billion.
The recent increase in exports to
the E.U. bloc has been a fillip to Vietnamese agriculture and seafood producers
who were hurting from travel restrictions and dwindling global demand as a
result of the pandemic.
Exports to the E.U. in the first
eight months fell 8.9 percent year-on-year to $29 billion, with declining value
in smartphones, textile and garment and agriculture produce, according to
Vietnam Customs.
J:https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/economy/exporters-bank-on-eu-trade-pact-for-pandemic-relief-
Pakistan to oppose Indian
application for GI tag of basmati in EU
ISLAMABAD: Taking
serious notice of the Indian move of demanding exclusive rights of claiming
Geographical Indication (GI) tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU),
Pakistan has decided to oppose the application soon. During a meeting of the
Senate Standing Committee on Commerce, Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO)
Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed Khan informed that Pakistan is preparing its objection to
the said Indian Application and will be submitted within the stipulated time
frame. The meeting was attended by Senators Mir Kabeer Ahmad Muhammad Shahi,
Zeeshan Khanzada, Nuzhat Sadiq, Dilawar Khan, Rana Mehmood ul Hassan, Advisor
to Prime Minister for Commerce, Secretary Commerce and other senior officials
of relevant departments. He said India has applied for GI tag in European Union
for BASMATI rice under 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, mentioned in the EU official journal dated September
11, 2020. According to Mujeeb Ahmed, the Indian application mentions
Basmati rice as an Indian origin product, despite the fact that similar rice is
widely produced in Pakistan. The application is based on half-truth and
frivolous grounds having no legal and factual backing. Pakistan exports 500,000
to 700,000 tons of basmati rice to various countries. Out of that, 200,000 to
250,000 tones are shipped to European countries. The European Union is a
massive destination for local rice exporters and therefore it is a crucial
issue for Pakistan. EU regulation No 972/2006 of June 29, 2006, lays down
special rules for imports of Basmati rice and a transitional control system for
determining their origin has recognized Basmati as a joint product of Pakistan
and India. Basmati is already recognized as a product of both India and
Pakistan under the said European Regulation and its Duty-Free Regime, making it
illegal for India to claim exclusive rights of Basmati in the EU. According to
EU’s official journal, any country can oppose the application for registration
of a name pursuant to Article 10 and 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. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Commerce, according to officials, has
also held a meeting on the same subject to discuss the filling of objections in
the EU besides taking other steps regarding protecting Pakistani products as per
the GI law made by the government this year. Meanwhile, Committee Chairman
Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi also directed the officials of the ministry and
IPO to immediately respond to the Indian application as the move may damage
Pakistani exports. Discussing another agenda of the meeting regarding
smuggling, he said that the illegal trade has reduced substantially due to
effective measures for its eradication which has supported the local industry
and would be instrumental for promoting economic activities and businesses in
the country. He expressed these views while presiding over the SSC on
Commerce & Trade here at Parliament House on Tuesday. Afridi appreciated
the measures taken in this regard and said that the sick units need to be
facilitated to ensure their revival. The committee was apprised about the
problems faced by the farmers due to inadequate prices of tomato and onion
despite good production during the current season.
The
committee was also briefed about the steps being taken for exploring new
markets for dates, tax evasion on computers, laptops and other IT equipment, as
well as the issues of under-invoicing. The chairman and members of the
committee said that the basic purpose is to protect the local industry and its
production for the overall progress of the country. Senator Mir Kabeer
Ahmad Muhammad Shahi said that due to the import of the fruits and vegetable
from neighbouring countries, the local farmers from Balochistan do not get
adequate prices of apple, grapes, onion and tomatoes. He said that the ministry
of commerce and trade should take measures for the protection of local farmers
and the utilization of local production before importing such items. The Ministry
of Commerce secretary assured the committee that the issues would be resolved
in collaboration with the ministry of food security and the committee would be
apprised accordingly. Senator Dilawar Hussain, while talking about Afghan
Transit Trade, said that due to the deficiency of trackers, there is huge
pressure on transit points. He asserted that an appropriate solution to this
should be sorted out. Afridi said that trade is a backbone of the
national economy and an appropriate strategy should be followed to promote
business activities in the country. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce
Abdul Razzak Dawod apprised the committee that State Bank of Pakistan has been
approached for provision of an easy loan through small and medium industries
and consultation process for the IT sector is in progress, which will bear
positive results. Secretary Commerce informed the Committee that
E-Commerce policy has been introduced and the committee in its next meeting
will be informed about a framework in this regard. Chairman of the
committee appreciated these measures, however, he emphasized that sick units
need to be supported so as to cater to the local requirements and as well as
the export orientation from such units. Senator Dilawar Khan
informed the committee that the Trade and Development Authority (TDAP) could
not hold even a single meeting so far. He further informed that he had
sought different details from TDAP which have not been provided yet.
Senator Mirza Afridi said that TDAP is an important organisation, its board
should hold regular meetings to proceed on different issues and the people of
Pakistan should have access to information. He further said that
question has been raised about Trade and Commercial Attaché posted in different
countries. He said that Pakistan produces high-quality tobacco. Trade and
commercial attaché should improve their efficiency and awareness must be
created about Pakistan products in foreign countries. The committee
insisted on the provision of facilities and capacity building of the tobacco
farmers in Mardan, Charsadda and Swabi districts. The committee was further
informed that a project in collaboration with Swabi University has moved
ahead. Senator Dilawar Khan emphasised that all the stakeholders must be
taken into confidence as quality tobacco of the country is produced in these
areas and national exchequer gets taxes of worth billions of rupees.
About the export of the dates, the committee was informed that 70pc of dry
dates were exported to India and due to suspension of trade with India, farmers
have to face huge losses. However, efforts are being made to explore
alternative markets for export of the dates and different countries have been
contacted in this regard. The chairman of the committee emphasized that
these efforts must be expedited to avoid losses to the farmers. Senator Rana
Mehmood ul Hassan suggested that a policy for installation of small sugar mills
should be introduced to promote compatibility in the market. Secretary
Commerce informed the committee that such a proposal is already under
consideration in different ministries. The committee was also apprised
about clearance of containers at Port Qasim as well as money laundering issues
in the country.
United States rice for Brazil:
30,000 tons according to USDA
The
quota establishes that until December this year, 400,000 tons of rice may be
imported from countries outside Mercosur without any tariffs.The United States
reported last week the sale of 30,000 tons of rice to Brazil. This follows on
the decision from the Brazilian Chamber of Foreign Trade (Camex) to slash
tariffs on rice to zero, helping to reduce the price of the grain for
consumers. The quota establishes that until December this year, 400,000 tons of
rice may be imported from countries outside Mercosur without any tariffs. Black
beans and rice are staple for the majority of Brazilians, and despite an
excellent harvest of rice, the country exported most of it, putting the local
market in a bind, and retail prices more than doubled. Normally the main
suppliers of rice to Brazil are Mercosur trade partners, Argentina and Uruguay,
(with no tariffs) and so has been the case this year, to which must be added
Italy, Panama and Vietnam, among others. The purchase made on Sept. 18th is
similar to the volume of 35,500 tons registered for sale by the USA to Brazil
throughout 2010. In May of this year, however, Brazil imported 40,000 tons of
rice, with tariff, from the US. According to data from the US Department of
Agriculture (USDA), the largest annual volume of purchases of American rice
made by Brazil occurred in 2003 (486,000 tons).
https://en.mercopress.com/2020/09/22/united-states-rice-for-brazil-30-000-tons-according-to-usda
At 33, Akwa Ibom is soaring high
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By James Orok
Before now, mention Akwa
Ibom to the average Nigerian and the image that comes to mind is of a people of
maids, houseboys and cooks. But that narrative is very far from the truth,
especially under the current leadership of Udom Emmanuel as governor. At 33
years old, the state which was carved out from Cross River State on September
23, 1987 by President Ibrahim Babangida has come of age. But it has not been an
easy task taking it from where it was to where it is.
Call Akwa Ibom small but
mighty and you won’t be wrong. For instance, surprise is what greets many
Nigerians when they learn that Ibom Air is a state-owned airline. In fact, as
the only state-owned airline in the country, it trumps the country which has no
national carrier. The airline which was launched on June 7, 2019 with three
aircraft, recently brought in two additional planes, taking its fleet to five
airplanes. Presently, Ibom Air flies from Uyo to and fro Lagos, Abuja, Enugu
and Calabar. It also hopes to start flying to Doula in Cameroon soon. Beyond
the airline, the state is also building an international terminal as well as an
additional taxiway at the Victor Attah International Airport.
When he assumed office as
governor on May 29, 2015, Udom knew a major challenge before him was how to
make his state be more than a ‘civil service state.’ But to do that required
investment in infrastructure to increase the productive base of the state. To
drive that change, he understood that power is a sine qua non.
Hence, the state government
started massive investment in the electricity sector. Less than 18 months into
his administration, the government built a 33/11KV, 2 X 15MVA injection
sub-station in Uyo. Following this, there was a race to build sub-stations
across the state. And in collaboration with the Transmission Company of Nigeria
(TCN), the state commissioned a 132/33KV, 1 x 60MVA transformer at Afaha Ube in
Uyo which increased the state’s available power for distribution from 96MW to
144MW. And last year, another substation at Ekim which receives power from the
state-owned Ibom Power Plant was built by the state government and commissioned
by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Among Akwa Ibom people, the improved
electricity supply has been dubbed ‘Ikang Udom’ which means ‘Udom’s light’.
While the state does not
have control over electricity transmission, its investment in the electricity
sector has started to pay off. As it stands, businesses and residents in Uyo
enjoy more than 18 hours of power daily. Also benefitting from ‘Ikang Udom’ are
firms in the Onna industrial hub like the Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing
Company, King Flour Mills, Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services and Lions
Plywood Industry and some palm oil mills. Some feats – the syringe
manufacturing company is the largest in Africa, the meter company is the largest
in the country with capacity to produce three million meters annually while the
flour mills have capacity of 500 metric tonnes daily. Together with the Awa
Industrial hub, Akwa Ibom is designing itself as a reputable factory where over
20 industries produce for not only the state but also for the country.
Recognising the importance
of education, the Udom administration maintained free throughout primary and
secondary school as the state spends N600 million annually to pay the West
Africa Examination Council fees of its students. The state also collaborated
with the Navy and Army to set up secondary schools in the state while it also
constructed and renovated over 500 school blocks through the Inter-Ministerial
Direct Labour Committee. This is in addition to the 601 projects
including class room blocks executed by State Universal Basic Education Board
(SUBEB) through matching grants. And it is on record that Akwa Ibom held the
first summit on education with the vision to make its children more competitive
in the technology- driven world of the 21st century.
Regarding healthcare, Akwa
Ibom which has a population of about five and a half million people is doing
well. The state was also in the forefront in the fight against the Covid-19
pandemic. This is not surprising as the Governor Udom had aggressively had
nightly meetings with medical practitioners and other stakeholders in arresting
the pandemic. It has remodelled hospitals such as Etinan General Hospital,
Methodist Hospital, Ituk Mbang, General Hospital, Iquita-Oron, Ikot Okoro,
Ikono aside from creating isolation centres for Covid-19 treatment. Also, Akwa
Ibom was praised by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for
establishing the best two Polymerase Claim Reaction (PCR) laboratories in the
country. Little wonder the state has recorded one of the lowest rates of
Covid-19 infection.
However, beyond the
emergency situation which 2020 foisted on the globe with Covid-19, Akwa Ibom
had continued to make a mark in agriculture. The state hosts two fertilizer
blending plants and three medium-scale rice mills including the Ibom Golden
Rice mill, owned by Ibiono Ibom Rice Millers Cooperative Society. The Ibom
Golden Rice Mill which services the rice field in Ikot Esen/ Utit Obio, Ibiono
Ibom Local Government Area began production around December 2019. The state
government is also targeting large-scale vegetable farming and cassava
cultivation and processing of staples like garri and odourless fufu.
Then there is also the
construction of over 1, 700 kilometres of roads which the government has built.
These include dualized roads like the Uyo-Etinan road, Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road,
Etinan-East-West road and Eket-Ibeno road and Airport-Okobo road. Also,
work on Ring road II and the 10-lane Ring Road III in Uyo Metropolis are in
advance stages of completion, while contract has been awarded for construction
of surface and underground drain structure for collection and final discharge
of Uyo metropolis flood water at IBB Way, Uyo. These are roads built not just for
the sake of building roads but to create an economic artery whereby goods and
services can be seamlessly transported across the state.
And seeking to encourage
maritime activities, the state which has one of the longest coastline is
working on delivering the Ibom Deep Sea Port. When actualised, this would
translate into more commerce and employment for residents in the state.
While to the casual
observer, these bursts of projects may appear disconnected, they are actually
independent pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which is getting clearer with each
passing day. And these have been responsible for the peace and prosperity being
enjoyed in Akwa Ibom. Now, in the second year of his second term as governor,
Udom is not relenting. And his passion can be gleaned in the opening lines of
his broadcast on May 29, 2020 to mark his fifth year in office.
“Five years ago, I heard
Nigeria’s call in general and Akwa Ibom’s summons in particular and I presented
myself for the task of rebuilding our state,” he said.
“With God’s guidance and
your overwhelming and generous support, we have recast this blessed Land of
Promise into a great and wonderful piece of God’s Real Estate.”
https://thenationonlineng.net/at-33-akwa-ibom-is-soaring-high/
Akwa Ibom tags itself as
‘Land of Promise’ and it is good the governor is keeping his prom
Zahid
Baig 24 Sep 2020
LAHORE: The Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan (REAP) taking strong notice of Indian application to
European Union (EU) for registering Basmati as Indian products under GI laws,
has vowed to defend Pakistan’s rights under the WTO.
“The Indians are making efforts to
muddy the truth and steal our heritage. We know how to respond and they will
know it soon,” warned REAP here on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Punjab Agriculture
Minister Hussain Jehanian Gardezi while chairing a collective meeting of the
provincial agriculture department’s officers, Rice Research Institute, Kala
Shah Kaku, and REAP representatives, announced to defend Pakistan’s right on
Basmati at every forum.
A REAP representative said that in
2004 the Association with the support of government had made efforts during
negotiations with the EU at Geneva through exchange of letters between
EU-Pakistan at WTO Geneva as well as EU-India simultaneously which led to some
agreements establishing that Super Basmati and many other Basmati rice
varieties were being grown in Pakistan and recognized world over as original
Basmati rice rejecting exclusive claim by India.
India could grow very little Basmati
in 2004 that too with great difficulty only in areas directly adjacent to
Pakistan’s borders known as Majha, comprising Amritsar, Gurdaspur and R S Pura
etc. To increase its volume of so-called Basmati, India had pushed hard in 2004
negotiations at Geneva to get included Pusa variety, then known in all Basmati
rice trade circles as ‘duplicate Basmati’ or a non-Basmati that unscrupulous
Indian rice exporters used to mix in the little Basmati they were growing. The
EU-India agreement in 2004 included a long list of so called traditional
Basmati varieties that were in physical short supply but also included Pusa
(duplicate Basmati) as Indian Basmati rice in order to hoodwink the world.
The current misleading application
moved by India is based on fudged reality. They have tried to usurp all true original
Basmati growing areas ignoring reality that all Basmati growing areas of
British India are situated in Pakistan. They accept in the application that the
first ever mention of the word “Basmati” appeared in the epic poem “Heer
Ranjha” by the great Punjabi poet Syed Waris Shah in 1766. Carrying their
fraudulent line forward, they also conveniently and deliberately omitted to
state that Syed Waris Shah lived and wrote this poem at Jandiala Sher Khan,
District Sheikhupura, which was then in British India but now in Pakistan at a
huge distance from the Indian border with Pakistan.
Research was done from 1926 through
1933 under British India in Punjab, which then covered what is today, entire
Pakistan Punjab, Indian Punjab, Haryana, parts of Himachal Pradesh and even
some bordering areas of Uttar Pradesh. This research found that there were no
commercial Basmati rice paddy arrivals in the areas which today are in India.
Dehradun did not grow enough rice to meet its tiny local population’s needs.
Almost the entire Basmati rice paddy arrivals were then from areas that are
today in Pakistan. India is trying to falsely claim that all British India
areas are today India. This is a patent lie. The world will reject such lies
when we tell the truth with evidence, REAP hoped.
The EU-Pakistan agreement through
exchange of letters in 2004 is very much reality even today and confirms
without any doubt that Pakistan is the home of Basmati rice. Then how can India
claim exclusive ownership of the Basmati rice?
All original Basmati growing areas
that were in British India till 1947 are today in Pakistan. Basmati 370, the
mother and father of all Basmati rice in the world, was discovered as a
original historical and natural landrace from Kaulo Tarer, District Hafizabad,
now in Punjab, Pakistan, by Rice Research Station, Kala Shah Kaku, Punjab,
British India, during research from 1926 to 1933. This historic institution has
since become Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, Punjab, Pakistan.
The federal and provincial governments,
growers, traders, dealers, millers, and exporters of original Basmati rice from
Pakistan are all together and will oppose this shady application and it will be
rejected soon, the REAP announced.
BoC asked to speed up rice imports audit
Published September
24, 2020, 2:49 PM
The Bureau of Customs
(BoC) was told to speed up its audit of rice import transactions in 2019, as
well as the collection of unpaid tariffs and penalties from erring importers,
so it could look into more recent cases of undervaluation in rice importation.
This was after the agency
reported that it had assessed some forty importers a total of P1.4 billion in
additional tariffs and penalties for undervaluing their rice shipments between
March and June 2019.
In a statement, the
Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) commended the BoC for finally addressing the
issue of undervaluation of rice imports following FFF’s revelations that
importers may have shortchanged BoC of nearly P2.8 billion in tariff revenues
since the enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law in March last year.
“The BoC report is
probably just the tip of the iceberg. Our analysis shows that undervaluation
and misdeclaration have continued unabated and even worsened in 2020,” said FFF
National Manager Raul Montemayor.
A recent FFF study
indicated that the discrepancy between FOB (point of origin) prices as declared
by importers and the BoC’s own reference values averaged P945 per ton in 2019.
From January to May this year, the gap increased two and half times to P2,416
per ton.
Total revenue losses from
undervaluation from March 2019 to May 2020 alone were estimated at P1.6
billion, according to FFF.
Montemayor said that
during a meeting with the FFF in July, the BoC disclosed that some shippers had
apparently connived with importers to invoice freight and insurance charges as
“other charges” so that these would not be included in tariff computations.
This, according to him,
resulted in additional uncollected tariffs of around P1.1 billion.
Moreover, some P134
million in tariffs were not collected when the BoC assessed imports from India
and Pakistan with only 35 percent tariff instead of 50 percent.
“We hope the BoC will
resolve all these cases quickly and finally end the practice of undervaluation.
We also ask the BoC to be transparent and reveal how many import shipments are
under investigation, how much in security bonds have been collected from them,
and what monetary and other penalties have been imposed on erring importers,”
Montemayor said.
https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/24/boc-asked-to-speed-up-rice-imports-audit/
Bioseed partners with IRRI for hybrid rice
development
Our
Bureau. New Delhi | Updated on September
22, 2020 Published on September 22, 2020
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by ₹50 to ₹1,975/quintal
Hastily hustled farm laws
raise question marks
Bioseed — the hybrid seed business of
diversified conglomerate DCM Shriram — and the Manila-based International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) have signed a memorandum of agreement which allows
the former access to the latter’s world-class research facilities and technical
expertise for advancing biotechnology research.
Under the pact, signed by Bioseed South East
Asia Executive President Paresh Verma and IRRI Director General Matthew Morell,
Bioseed will join the international institute’s Two-Lines Study Group for
hybrid rice development, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Get
access to premium Portfolio content for 14 days
“It will enable Bioseed to leverage IRRI’s
well-established research excellence to advance its biotechnology projects and
accelerate the development of value-added food crops for farmers in the
region,” said Verma.
“This agreement will help increase research
capacity across South and South-East Asia and accelerate the development of
improved crops for climate resilience and nutrition security,” said Remy
Bitoun, Head of IRRI Tech Transfer.
Rise of rice farming in Asia
3,000 years ago explained in UH research
UH News » Research » Rise of rice farming…
·
September
22, 2020
·
UH News
Coastal rice fields in Fujian, China
New research has shed light on how
paddy field rice farming rapidly expanded along Asia’s coastline 2,000–3,000
years ago after freshwater conditions improved, according to an international
team of earth sciences researchers that includes a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa archaeology professor. The findings
were featured in an article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Barry V. Rolett
“Rice is the foundation of Asian
civilizations, and our study reveals a remarkable relationship involving late
Holocene coastal evolution and the rise of rice agriculture across coastal
Asia,” said Professor Barry
V. Rolett in the College
of Social Sciences. “This model helps explain
ancient DNA evidence suggesting a major Bronze Age demographic
expansion of rice farmers of northern East Asian descent.”
Although
rice history is well documented in the lower Yangtze homeland area, the early
southward expansion of paddy rice farming was poorly known. The study
investigated the process using a compilation of paleoenvironmental proxies from
coastal sediment cores from Southeast China to Thailand and other areas of
Southeast Asia.
Rolett
explained that the emergence of coastal plains under enhanced freshwater
conditions created expansive areas suitable for rice. As a result, over the
past three millennia, the extent of coastal land suitable for wetland rice
cultivation grew from about 16,000 to 96,000 square kilometers, or 9,941 to
59,651 square miles.
The
research was supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development
Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Andover
Foundation for Archaeological Research. Rolett’s fellow researchers were Ting
Ma and Zhuo Zheng at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, and Yongqiang Zong at
the University of Hong Kong.
Related
Posts:
https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/09/22/rice-farming-asia-3000-years-ago/
Rice prices up
again
Commoners' woes compounded
YASIR WARDAD | Published: September
24, 2020 09:56:12
File photo (Collected)
Prices of rice increased further in major wholesale
markets across the country in the last few days after remaining almost static
for three weeks.
The hike in the wholesale level is likely to impact the
retails within one or two days which will compound the sufferings of the
commoners, already hit hard by rising costs of other essentials amid the flood
and coronavirus pandemic.
Prices of all varieties of coarse rice, medium quality
Brridhan-28 and 29, and some finer quality witnessed a Tk125-150 hike per 50-kg
sack at mill gates and godowns (Araat) in Dinajpur, Rangpur, Naogaon, Pabna and
Kushtia in the last three days, according to the Bangladesh Auto Major Husking
Mill Owners Association (BAMHMOA).
Brridhan-28 rice, the most available variety in Boro
season, was sold at Tk 47-48 a kg, coarse varieties at Tk 42-43 per kg at mill
gates and Araats in Naogaon, Kushtia and Dinajpur districts on Monday morning--
Tk 2.5-3.0 a kg hike, according to the association.
Rice price also rose at Dhaka wholesales on Wednesday
morning as the coarse varieties were selling at Tk 2,200- 2,250 a sack (Tk
43-44 per kg)-- 100-125 hike per sack.
A decline in availability of paddy, stockpiling of paddy
and rice in large quantities by big millers, warehouse owners and wealthy
farmers amid flood and pandemic, and existing high duties on rice import are
the reasons behind the hike, said traders and market experts.
However, prices of rice at retail markets in the capital
were static until Wednesday noon.
Habibur Rahman, a grocer on Sher-e-Banglanagar Road at
Mohammadpur, said retail prices might increase with end of their old stock.
He said coarse varieties were selling at Tk 45-48 a kg,
medium qualities at Tk 52-54 and finer qualities at Tk 58-70 on the day.
Md Shahidul Patwary Mohon, vice-president of the BAMHMOA,
told the FE that the prices of Brridhan-28 paddy increased by Tk 100-120 per
maund as was selling at Tk 1,180-1,200 a maund (40 kg) on the day. But the
millers have raised prices of rice nominally (by Tk 0.5 to Tk 1.0 a kg) despite
a significant rise in paddy prices, he mentioned.
He, however, claimed that the owners of big storages have
raised rice prices notably by stacking up a large quantity of the staple at
their godowns.
On the other hand, many millers have stopped purchasing
the paddy early in the wake of a paddy supply crunch at the markets, he said.
He also said that a good number of hoarders have got
involved in rice imports.
"As the government hasn't reduced import duties on
rice as per its previous declaration, prices of the staple have also been
increased by the hoarders," he said, adding that rice import duties are 62
per cent at present.
Both the millers and storage owners and traders have
traded blames for the recent price hike.
Chandan Kumar Kundu, a Nilphamari-based trader, said
millers have raised prices for the third time in the past one month.
He said stock of coarse rice like hybrid, Swarna declined
at the mills and prices were also increased by Tk 2.0-3.0 a kg further by the
millers in a week.
Echoing Mr Patwary, he blamed the paddy shortage at the
local markets for the price hike.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) secretary
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said, import duty should be reduced or removed
immediately to encourage importers to ship the staple to the country from
global market to control the local market prices.
Open Market Sale (OMS) of rice by the government should
be started immediately across the country to protect poor from starvation, he
said adding, that rice prices at the city retail markets had already increased
by 15-25 per cent and the recent hike will raise the sufferings of the
commoners, he added.
Economist Prof Golam Hafeez Kennedy said, millers and
their colluder who triggered the rice price hike should be put under close
scrutiny in order to fight any artificial price hike.
He said the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) should
deliver authentic data quickly on rice production in Boro season.
Despite a fall in Boro acreage, the agriculture ministry
had said recently that this year's production was an all-time high (20.26
million tonnes), but the claim was difficult to be substantiated by facts, he
further said.
He demanded of the BBS to publish a real Boro output data
which can be used by the government to initiate crafting of a rice import
policy soon.
In fact, government has failed to meet its boro
procurement target this year amid a surge in rice prices at the country's main
market, market observers said.
The government's stock of rice should be raised to
4.5-5.0 million tonnes following the deluge and the pandemic, Mr Golam Hafeez
viewed.
The government targeted to buy 1.95 million tonnes of
paddy and rice but it has been able to buy only 0.85 million tonnes until
September 15, said the market observers.
The government set the rice purchase price at Tk 35-36 a
kg this year when the millers were selling the staple at Tk 42 a kg at the
mill-gates.
The government has a stock of 1.1 million tonnes of rice
at present.
tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com
https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/rice-prices-up-again-1600919772
To ensure staggered procurement amid covid , Punjab CM allows
use of miller premises as mandi yards
PUNJAB NEWS EXPRESS | September 22, 2020 04:22 PM
CHANDIGARH:To ensure smooth and
seamless procurement of Paddy during the ensuing Kharif season amid Covid-19,
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced a slew of
amendments to the Custom Milling Policy (CMP) 2020-21, including allowing use
of miller premises as Mandi yards.
The Chief Minister has approved
deletion of clause 12 (j) of the Custom Milling Policy (CMP) 2020-21 for this
purpose. The clause deals with those millers who are also commission
agents/arhtiyas and, under existing rules, were not allowed to be allotted to
the agency for which they were operating as commission agents.
The move will help ensure
staggered procurement, thus preventing crowding of the Mandis during the
pandemic, according to an official spokesperson. The decision was taken by the
Chief Minister on the basis of a proposal of the Food & Civil Supplies
Department, after examining the concerns and issues raised by the Punjab Rice
Industry Association in its representation.
The Chief Minister has also
given the nod for certain other amendments in the provisions of Custom Milling
Policy for Kharif 2020-21, including restoration of the Bank Guarantee clause,
maximum permissible allocable RO quantity, and sale of existing mills.
With the go-ahead to
restoration of the Bank Guarantee Clause included in CMP 2020-21 Policy to
previous year's provisions, the required bank deposit percentage will come down
to 5% from the existing 10%. This will not have any financial bearing on the
state exchequer as the bank guarantee acts as a countervailing measure only,
said the spokesperson.
Under the amended rules, the
miller shall now have to submit a bank guarantee to the concerned agency before
the actual storage of paddy in his/her premises, equal to the value of 5% of
acquisition cost of allocable free paddy above 5000 MT. The bank guarantee
shall be released on delivery of due rice to FCI.
Conceding a demand of the Rice
Millers Association, the Chief Minister has also okayed amendment to Clause 10
(b) (i) (8) of CMP 2020-21 to the extent that "In case of more than 50
percent change in ownership/partnership it will be only considered as a new
mill for the sake of registration and there will be no reduction in entitlement
of maximum allocable paddy, provided all the conditions for setting up of new
mill are fulfilled as per prevailing policy."
Additionally, the extent of
maximum permissible paddy under RO scheme has also been resorted to the Custom
Milling Policy (CMP) 2019-20 i.e. upto 3000 MT-1875 MT, above 3000 MT but less
than equal to 4000 MT-2500 MT, above 4000 MT but less than equal to 5000
MT-3750 MT, above 5000 MT but less than equal to 6000 MT-5000 MT and above 6000
MT-6250 MT, the spokesperson added.
Punjab allows use of miller premises for staggered paddy
procurement amid Covid-19
The decision was taken by the chief minister on
the basis of a proposal of the food and civil supplies department, after
examining the concerns raised by the Punjab Rice Industry Association
CHANDIGARH Updated:
HT Correspondent
Hindustan Times,
Chandigarh
With the go-ahead to restoration
of the bank guarantee clause included in the custom milling policy (CMP)
2020-21 to the previous year’s provisions, the required bank deposit percentage
will come down to 5% from the existing 10%.(HT file photo)
To ensure smooth and seamless
procurement of paddy during the Kharif season amid Covid-19, chief minister
Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced a slew of amendments to the custom
milling policy (CMP) 2020-21, including allowing use of miller premises as
mandi yards.
The chief minister approved deletion of
clause 12 (j) of the CMP for this purpose. The clause deals with those millers
who are also commission agents/arhtiyas and, under existing rules, were not
allowed to be allotted to the agency for which they were operating as
commission agents, according to an official spokesperson.
The decision was taken by the chief
minister on the basis of a proposal of the food and civil supplies department,
after examining the concerns raised by the Punjab Rice Industry Association.
The CM has also given the nod for other
amendments in the CMP provisions, including restoration of the bank guarantee
clause and sale of existing mills. With the go-ahead to restoration of the bank
guarantee clause included in CMP 2020-21 to the previous year’s provisions, the
required bank deposit percentage will come down to 5% from the existing 10%.
Under the amended rules, the miller
shall now have to submit a bank guarantee to the agency concerned before the
actual storage of paddy in his/her premises, equal to the value of 5% of
acquisition cost of free paddy above 5,000 MT. The bank guarantee shall be
released on delivery of due rice to Food Corporation of India.
Commission agents end strike as Haryana govt bows to demands
Under fire due to the strike the Haryana
government on Monday night announced that the market fee and rural development
fee on cotton and Barik Dhan (a paddy variety) will be reduced from 2% each to
half a percent
CHANDIGARH Updated: Sep 22, 2020 15:30 IST
Neeraj Mohan
Hindustan Times, Karnal
Labourers at a grain market in
Kurukshetra. Procurement operations in Haryana’s mandis resumed on Tuesday.
(Sourced)
Thousands of paddy growers in Haryana
heaved a sigh of relief as commission agents ended their strike, resuming
procurement operations in most mandis.
The strike ended after a delegation of
commission agents met with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his deputy
Dushyant Chautala late Monday, and procurement operations resumed early
Tuesday.
Under fire due to the strike the
Haryana government on Monday night announced that the market fee and rural development
fee on cotton and Barik Dhan (a paddy variety) will be reduced from 2% each to
half a percent. An official spokesperson said the dues for luster loss and
other outstanding payments to be made to the commission agents will also be
released soon.
Also
Read: Farm
bills, sifting the grain from the chaff
Talking to Hindustan Times, Ashok
Gupta, the president of Haryana State Anaj Mandi Arhtiya Association said, “We
have ended the strike as the government has agreed to accept most of the
demands and resumed procurement on Tuesday morning.”
Gupta said that the government’s decision
to reduce the market fee and rural development fee has come as a big relief to
the commission agents, traders and the farmers, as this will ensure that most
of the produce is procured inside the mandi.
However, procurement operations did not
resume in several grain markets as commission agents said that they needed
written assurance from the government to end the confusion.
“Procurement could not be resumed as
the traders did not come to procure paddy (Basmati) by Tuesday evening. It will
take a day or two to resume procurement in all mandis in the state,” said
Naresh Kumar, a commission agent who works at the Kurukshetra grain market.
Also
Read: Haryana to sell farm produce at 1 per cent in market: Dushyant
Chautala
But officials of the Haryana State
Agriculture Marketing department said that they have released the payments of
the deductions made from the commission of the ahrtias (commission agents) for
luster loss during wheat procurement season.
“The meeting (with ahrtias and rice
mill owners) ended on a positive note. All the issues have been sorted out and
both ahrtias and rice-millers have agreed to end their protest. The written
notification will be issued by Tuesday evening,” a senior officer of Haryana
State Agriculture Marketing Board.
AfCFTA:
MAN, LCCI call for re-opening of Nigeria’s borders
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Merit Ibe
The Manufacturers Association of
Nigeria (MAN) has urged the Federal Government to immediately re-open the
country’s land borders to boost the economy and attract the much-needed
investments following the official flag-off of the African Continental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA) slated for January 1, 2021.
MAN’s President, Mr. Mansur Ahmed, who spoke during a virtual
meeting in Lagos, said the timing was right for the suspension of the border
closure in quest for AfCFTA’s success.
He said the association understood government’s stance on the
border closure following the massive smuggling and importation of counterfeit
goods and other agriculture products into the country.
Ahmed explained that the closure one year after cannot be a
sustainable arrangement as it was originally meant to be closed for certain
period to correct the abnormalities.
He advised that the government should take the opportunity of
the agreement to improve infrastructure for trade, to keep smuggling at
bay, saying the “borders should be opened because we are now about to
start the AfCFTA, so that legitimate businesses can continue.”
In a similar development, the Director-General of the Lagos
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf, also said the
private sector expected the Federal Government to re-open the borders because
of its imperative to the country’s economic fortunes following its negative
contribution to trade since the closure one year ago. He said the country’s
economic growth had remained subdued at two per cent this year due to the
border closure and other challenges, insisting that the country’s economy
remains susceptible to external shocks, especially, oil price
fluctuations.
Noting that the policy has enormous implications for cross
border economic activities, the chamber said it shares concern of
government on issues of security and smuggling, adding that indefinite closure
of the borders is not the solution to the problem.
Expressing excitement over the signing of the AfCFTA, Yusuf
emphasised the need for the country to get prepared for the pressure of
competition inherent in the continental economic integration
agenda.
“A number of commitments were made about the creation of an
environment that would enable the private sector to be competition ready. But
not much has happened in this regard so far.”
Ahmed said: “We understood why the border closure took place
because, at one point, the massive importation and smuggling of counterfeits
and other unacceptable products.
“For instance, bags of rice that have been stored in warehouses
for 10 to 15 years are being imported at obviously very low prices thereby,
making it very impossible for our rice millers to do their businesses to
provide that to the market.
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/afcfta-man-lcci-call-for-re-opening-of-nigerias-borders/
Mars drops Uncle Ben’s, reveals new name for rice
brand
Ben's Original is the new name of the brand formerly known
as Uncle Ben's.(Source: Mars Foods/CNN)
Published: Sep. 23, 2020 at 3:38
PM GMT+5
NEW YORK (AP) — The Uncle Ben’s rice brand is getting a new
name: Ben’s Original.
Parent firm Mars Inc. unveiled the change Wednesday for the
70-year-old brand, the latest company to drop a logo criticized as a racial
stereotype. Packaging with the new name will hit stores next year.
“We listened to our associates and our customers and the
time is right to make meaningful changes across society,” said Fiona Dawson,
global president for Mars Food, multisales and global customers. “When you are
making these changes, you are not going to please everyone. But it’s about
doing the right thing, not the easy thing.”
Several companies have retired racial imagery in recent
months, a ripple effect from the Black Lives Matters protests over the police
killing of George Floyd and other African Americans.
Quaker Oats announced in June that it would drop Aunt Jemima
from syrup and pancake packages, responding to criticism that the character’s
origins were based the “mammy,” a black woman content to serve her white masters.
Quaker said packages without Aunt Jemima will start to appear in stores by the
end of the year, although the company has not revealed the new logo.
“It’s a chain reaction of sorts and it’s really good and
interesting to see so much introspection being done in these companies to
change the trademarks that they’ve invested in,” said Riché Richardson, an
associate professor of African American literature at Cornell University, who
called for Aunt Jemima’s retirement five years ago in a New York Times opinion
piece. “There is a challenge for some people in letting go of these images
because they wrongly link them with a sense of Black identity and empowerment
when in reality these images have never empowered Black people.”
The owner of Eskimo Pie has also said it will change its
name and marketing of the nearly century-old chocolate-covered ice cream bar.
Geechie Boy Mill, a family-owned operation in South Carolina
that makes locally-grown and milled white grits, is also planning a name
change, according to owner Greg Johnsman. Geechie is a dialect spoken mainly by
the descendants of African-American slaves who settled on the Ogeechee river in
Georgia, according to Merriam-Webster.com.
Beyond food brands, the Washington NFL franchise dropped the
“Redskins” name and Indian head logo amid pressure from sponsors including
FedEx, Nike, Pepsi and Bank of America.
Mars had announced in the summer that the Uncle Ben’s brand
would “evolve.”
Since the 1940s, the rice boxes have featured a white-haired
Black man, sometimes with a bow tie, an image critics say evokes servitude.
Mars has said the face was originally modeled after a Chicago maitre d' named
Frank Brown. In a short-lived 2007 marketing campaign, the company elevated
Uncle Ben to chairman of a rice company.
Dawson said months of conversations with employees, customer
studies and other stakeholders led the company to settle on "Ben’s
Original. She said the company is still deciding on an image to accompany the
new name.
Americus Reed II, professor of marketing at The Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania, said the challenge for brands like
Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s is to come up with an new image that isn’t boring.
He said Mars likely settled on keeping the name “Ben” to avoid “throwing the
baby out with the water.” But now, Reed said, the brand might have to define
who Ben is without sparking a new controversy.
“You don’t want to step in it twice,” Reed said. “I think
what you might see is a very watered-down, safe creativity. Let’s not step on anyone’s
toes. You’ll see that for a while.”
Mars announced several other initiatives, including a $2
million investment in culinary scholarships for aspiring Black chefs in
partnership with the National Urban League.
It also is planning a $2.5 million investment in nutritional
and education programs for students in Greenville, Mississippi, the majority
African-American city where the rice brand has been produced for more than 40
years.
Greenville Mayor Errick D. Simmons said it’s always been a
source of pride for the city to be home to the famous rice brand, despite the
controversy over the name. He said Mars is the third-largest employer in
Greenville, creating more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, from rice
farmers to truck drivers.
Simmons praised Mars for seeking the city leadership’s input
on the name change through several meetings in his office. For Greenville, he
said it was important that shoppers continue to seek and find Ben’s Original in
stores with its signature blue and orange packaging “so that people here can
continue to stay employed.”
“For a company, a global multinational company, to be having
these conversations with an African American male mayor sends the right signal
to the world,” Simmons said.
___
https://www.kbtx.com/2020/09/23/mars-drops-uncle-bens-reveals-new-name-for-rice-brand/
RCEF Training
of Trainers ongoing amid new normal
QUEZON CITY, Sept. 22 -- The implementing agencies of the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund-Rice Extension Program (RCEF-RESP) continue to
roll out activities for rice farmers nationwide.
These include school-on-the-air (SOA) programs, technical briefings,
information caravans, information, education, and communication strategies, and
various training activities.
To date, 4, 457 individuals have already completed the training of trainers
(TOT) conducted by the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training
Centers (ATI-RTCs), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), and
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech).
The TOTs were launched in 2019 but were postponed early this year due to the
pandemic. However, with the increasing need for food security, RCEF-RESP
implementing agencies integrated safety protocols to be able to continue
training services for the target beneficiaries.
“This COVID-19 pandemic is a call for us to really transform the sector into a
much more effective and accessible landscape and, consequently, ensure that no
rice farmer is left behind,” ATI Director Alfredo Aton said.
ATI-RTCs have already conducted TOTs on High Quality Inbred Rice Seeds and Farm
Mechanization through a blended learning approach, integrating online lectures
and take-home assignments among the participants. Lectures on various
rice-related topics were complemented with hands-on activities on the use of
rice farming machinery such as mechanical transplanter, hand tractor, and
combine harvester.
Rice experts and other concerned focal persons were also tapped to equip the
trainers with new knowledge and help them build their own network that will
facilitate training of other rice farmers later on.
Meanwhile, SOA programs, online and radio-based information caravans, and
technical briefings are also ongoing. RCEF also continues to support the
enhancement of Farmers’ Information and Technology Services Centers in local
government units located in the identified priority areas, as well as the
establishment and enhancement of Farm Schools.
All of these efforts are poised to uplift the practices and lives of the
farmers towards cultivating rice security. Agriculture Secretary William Dar
has continuously pushed for the need to support the development of rice farmers
to pave the way for “available, affordable, accessible, safe and nutritious
rice for the Filipinos.” # # # (DA-ATI)
https://pia.gov.ph/press-releases/releases/1053962
GIM to provide digital supply chain solution to BEOL
·
Published
at 05:42 pm September 23rd, 2020
GIM will provide
all services related to transporting goods for products including oil, rice,
resin, imported machinery and others to all over Bangladesh
Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited (BEOL),
representing the renowned Rupchanda soybean oil, has signed an agreement with
GIM Digital Truck, an online-based logistics solution provider, to take advantage
of GIM's enterprise services.
The signing recently took place between
Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited (BEOL) and Ejogajog Limited, said a press
release.
During the ceremony, on behalf of Ejogajog
Limited, Md Tarikul Hasan, head of operation, Maruf Mizan, head of
sales, and Md Iftekhar Uddin, senior manager, sales were present. Inam
Ahmed, General Manager of BEOL, signed the agreement on behalf.
According to the memorandum of
understanding (MoU), GIM will provide all services related to transporting goods
for products including oil, rice, resin, imported machinery and others to all
over Bangladesh.
The product line of BEOL comprises brands like
Rupchanda, Kings, Veola, Mizan etc.
Yaseen Fida Hossain, senior general
manager of Ejogajog Limited, said: “Goods in Motion i.e. GIM earned the
trust of customers over the time. We are thrilled to have Bangladesh Edible Oil
Limited as our client, and surely will provide significant value addition in
the supply chain domain through transparency, cost efficiency and data
analytics.”
Inam Ahmed, general manager of
BEOL, said: "With GIM, we hope we can efficiently deliver our
goods in different parts of the country so that our consumers can easily access
the product when needed."
With the slogan “Technology in Logistics,” the
GIM Digital Truck app has already received a huge response from users by
ensuring international grade service and safe transportation.
Currently, GIM has more than 12,000 registered
trucks with carrying capacity of over 100,000 tons across the country.
All sorts of trucks familiar on Bangladesh
roads will be available through the GIM app.
BEOL is looking for new and improved
experience in goods transport and will be able to mitigate their demands for
various capacity trucks on time at different routes across the country though
GIM platform.
Region 6 farmers get P145-M farm machines
September 24, 2020
Some 5,340 rice farmers from 30 farmers› cooperatives and
associations (FCAs) in Region 6 (Western Visayas) received P145 million worth
of farm machinery grants during a ceremony at the Western Visayas Integrated
Agricultural Research Center in Iloilo City, Iloilo province on September 16.
This photo shows Philippine Center for Postharvest Development
and Mechanization Director Baldwin Jallorina (front row) leading the
distribution of machines to rice farmers in Region 6 at the Western Visayas
Integrated Agricultural Research Center in Iloilo City, Iloilo province on
September 16. PHILMECH PHOTO
The machines were distributed at no cost under the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund-Mechanization Program, implemented by the
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech).
PHilMech Director Baldwin Jallorina attended the turnover
ceremony for the machines, during which he explained how the Rice Tariffication
Law (RTL) made it possible for his agency to distribute the machines under a
grant-in arrangement.
“The machines ditributed were from the RTL that is sometimes
criticized as not providing any benefit to farmers and has also been branded as
anti-farmer. These farm machines being distributed was made possible with RTL
that provides P5-billion funding annually (for farm machine equipment
distribution),” Jallorina said in Filipino.
The machines distributed were 27 four-wheel drive tractors, 49
hand tractors, 64 floating tillers, 10 rice precision seeders, 29 rice combine
harvesters, seven walk-behind mechanical rice transplanters, 12 mechanical rice
transplanters, four rice reapers, six mini threshers and three mobile rice
mills.
Mandi fee cut by Haryana, Punjab to benefit basmati trade
TV
Jayan New Delhi | Updated on September
23, 2020 Published on September 23, 2020
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Paddy prices under pressure
in West Bengal
Bills will provide
sustainable, profitable future for farmers, say stakeholders
Gujarat APMC workers fear
lay-offs, seek pay-protection
‘Move will ensure level playing field’
Rice millers and exporters would benefit
significantly from a recent move by Haryana and Punjab governments to slash
market fee levied on basmati rice by 50 per cent or more.
The decision was announced by respective
State governments on Tuesday within two days of the Centre passing a farm Bill
that allows direct trade of agricultural produce outside recognised grain
mandis across the country without any cess. The move is expected to save
hundreds of crores of rupees for agri-business firms dealing in basmati rice.
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While Punjab government announced it would
reduce market development fee (MDF) and rural development fee (RDF) from 2 per
cent to 1 per cent each, Haryana slashed them from 2 per cent each to 0.5 per
cent each, respectively.
Currently, rice mills and processing units
pay 4 per cent for buying basmati crop from designated Agricultural Produce
Marketing Committee (APMC) mandis in these two States.
According to an official spokesperson for
Punjab government, this is being done to open up a level-playing field and the
decision is expected to give millers and traders a relief of ₹100 crore
in Punjab alone.
GPS Randhawa, General, Manager (Projects), at
the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board, said they are yet to receive a
notification from the government, but added that the information is correct.
“This is being done to help millers and
exporters from the State retain their competitive edge as the neighbouring
States have reduced the fee,” Randhawa said.
However, Bal Kishan Bali, President of Punjab
Rice Millers and Exporters Association, said their demand was to reduce MDF and
RDF to 0.5 per cent each as was done by Haryana.
“We would like to procure basmati from grain
mandis. Moreover, unlike other States such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and
Rajasthan, Punjab has not allowed trade outside mandis after the Centre brought
in the ordinances, which have now become a Bill after the parliament passing
them,” Bali said.
According to him, the State government may
have to do this if Punjab has to retain its pole position as the State with
highest basmati exports. India exports over 4 million tonnes of the aromatic
rice annually on an average of which more than 40 per cent comes from Punjab,
he said.
Market fee income
Sanjeev Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretary
to the Haryana government, who has the charge of Department of Agriculture and
Farmers’ Welfare, said the State has reduced MDF on most rice varieties other
than PR varieties and cotton from 2 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
“Besides, the law is being amended by the
Department of Development and Panchayats to bring down HRDF (Haryana RDF) to 0.5
per cent from existing 2 per cent with retrospective effect,” Kaushal said.
In 2018-19, total income from the collection
of market fee was nearly ₹820 crore and HRDF, too,
yielded an income which is slightly less than this, according to information
available from the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board.
Uncle Ben's Rice No Longer Has a Black Man on the Box Because
That's Racist
BY JIM
TREACHER SEP 23, 2020 3:15 PM
EST
Leah Barkoukis
Ever since a black man named George Floyd died in the
custody of a multiracial group of Minneapolis police officers, America has learned
a lot about what is and isn’t racist. Just to name a few examples: The phrase
“master bedroom” is now racist, because it has the word “master” in it.
Refusing to yell “Black lives matter” on command is now racist, because Jimmy
Kimmel wants to keep working in Hollywood. Hiring a white person to do the
voice of a black cartoon character is racist, because… I dunno, it just is.
Rather than trying to list all the things that are now racist, you should just
assume that every single thing you do and say is racist until you’re instructed
otherwise.
For example, have you bought any rice lately? Did it
have a picture of a black man on the box? Well, guess what?
Mars Inc. has renamed its Uncle
Ben’s rice products “Ben’s Original,” making it the latest food producer to
ditch a brand steeped in racist imagery.
The Virginia-based company is also
scrapping the portrait of a white-haired black man that has adorned its rice
boxes for decades — an image that’s long been criticized as a racist
stereotype…
The Uncle Ben’s brand was
established in the 1940s and originally named for a “legendary” Texas rice
farmer, according to an archived page on its website. The portrait long used on
the box was that of Frank Brown, the maitre d’ of a Chicago restaurant who
agreed to pose for the brand, the page says.
That’s right: A rice company used for its logo a
portrait of a living, breathing individual human being, a person who actually
existed on this planet in real life, and now that’s racist because George Floyd
is dead.
Here’s the racist imagery, if you can even bring
yourself to look at it:
(@unclebens
Twitter screenshot)
Doesn’t really look like Al Jolson to me, but that
must be my white privilege talking.
That’s from the company’s Twitter avatar, which you
can see here as they grovel for forgiveness:
Punjab reduces market and rural development fee
from 2% to 1% for basmati
The move will help keep Punjab
Basmati competitive in the international markets, provide relief to the tune of
Rs 100 crore to Basmati traders and millers, an official said.
Share Via Email
Published: 22nd
September 2020 05:27 PM | Last Updated: 22nd
September 2020 05:29 PM | A+A A-
For
representational purposes
CHANDIGARH:
Punjab Government on Tuesday announced a reduction in the Market Development
Fee (MDF) and the Rural Development Fee (RDF) rates, from 2 per cent to 1
percent each thus paving the way to provide a level playing field for Basmati
traders and millers from within and outside Punjab, especially in the light of
the provisions of the new Agriculture Bills.
"This move by the state
government will help keep Punjab Basmati competitive in the international
markets, provide relief to the tune of Rs 100 crore to Basmati traders and
millers. However, the change comes with the caveat that no refund of any fee
will be allowed to any paddy or rice dealer, miller
and trader for export of the Basmati paddy and rice to other countries,"
said an official.
The announcement by CM Capt
Amarinder Singh came in response to a proposal of the Punjab Mandi Board after
a thorough examination of the representations received from the Punjab Rice
Millers and Exporters Association and the Punjab Basmati Rice Millers and
Exporter Association.
The Punjab Rice Millers and
Exporters Association had submitted that with the farm ordinances coming into
force, the disparity in fees and other charges among the Basmati producing
states would be around 4 percent, thus making the rice industry in Punjab
economically unviable as it would be unable to compete with rice exporters in
Haryana, Delhi, and UP which had totally exempted the market fees from
agricultural produce.
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ALSO READ | Explained: What are the
new Agri Bills and why farmers are unhappy
They had also pleaded that
Punjab-based exporters would not be able to cover the additional cost of taxes,
which is 4 per cent plus, thus making it extremely difficult for them to remain
in business. This trend may force them to purchase paddy from other states to
remain in competition with their counterparts in
Haryana, UP and Delhi.
Pointing to the excellent Mandi
infrastructure network of the Punjab Mandi Board, the Association had urged the
State Government to implement 0.35 per cent to 1 per cent usage charges and
mandi fees on the first purchase instead of all other charges that are
currently levied, in order to keep the Punjab rice industry competitive
viz-a-viz other states.
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Commission agents end strike as Haryana govt bows to demands
Under fire due to the strike the Haryana
government on Monday night announced that the market fee and rural development
fee on cotton and Barik Dhan (a paddy variety) will be reduced from 2% each to
half a percent
CHANDIGARH Updated: Sep 22, 2020 15:30 IST
Neeraj Mohan
Hindustan Times, Karnal
Labourers at a grain market in
Kurukshetra. Procurement operations in Haryana’s mandis resumed on Tuesday.
(Sourced)
Thousands of paddy growers in Haryana
heaved a sigh of relief as commission agents ended their strike, resuming
procurement operations in most mandis.
The strike ended after a delegation of
commission agents met with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his deputy
Dushyant Chautala late Monday, and procurement operations resumed early
Tuesday.
Under fire due to the strike the
Haryana government on Monday night announced that the market fee and rural
development fee on cotton and Barik Dhan (a paddy variety) will be reduced from
2% each to half a percent. An official spokesperson said the dues for luster
loss and other outstanding payments to be made to the commission agents will
also be released soon.
Also
Read: Farm
bills, sifting the grain from the chaff
Talking to Hindustan Times, Ashok
Gupta, the president of Haryana State Anaj Mandi Arhtiya Association said, “We
have ended the strike as the government has agreed to accept most of the
demands and resumed procurement on Tuesday morning.”
Gupta said that the government’s
decision to reduce the market fee and rural development fee has come as a big
relief to the commission agents, traders and the farmers, as this will ensure
that most of the produce is procured inside the mandi.
However, procurement operations did not
resume in several grain markets as commission agents said that they needed
written assurance from the government to end the confusion.
“Procurement could not be resumed as
the traders did not come to procure paddy (Basmati) by Tuesday evening. It will
take a day or two to resume procurement in all mandis in the state,” said
Naresh Kumar, a commission agent who works at the Kurukshetra grain market.
Also
Read: Haryana to sell farm produce at 1 per cent in market: Dushyant
Chautala
But officials of the Haryana State
Agriculture Marketing department said that they have released the payments of
the deductions made from the commission of the ahrtias (commission agents) for
luster loss during wheat procurement season.
“The meeting (with ahrtias and rice
mill owners) ended on a positive note. All the issues have been sorted out and
both ahrtias and rice-millers have agreed to end their protest. The written
notification will be issued by Tuesday evening,” a senior officer of Haryana
State Agriculture Marketing Board.
Cotton Major Cash Crop Of Pakistan Faces Immense Challenges
September
24, 2020September 24, 2020 Maimoona Tahir
Cotton,
a major cash crop of country is facing immense challenges as its output has
been on decline from last many years and the production is feared to
be further reduced during current season as last spell of
torrential rains and flash floods
in Punjab and Sindh have damaged the crop standing over
thousands of hectares.
The rains and floods
in Sindh have completely damaged 26.7% cotton crop on
167,641 hectares and 19% or 124,587 hectares of area was partially damaged.
About 80% crop was damaged in
districts of Umerkot and Mirpurkhas, whereas it was also affected in other districts as well,
said Cotton Commissioner in the Ministry of
National food Security and Research Dr Khalid Abdullah.
Talking to APP here on Wednesday,
he said that the rains have also put negative impact
on cotton crop in Punjab as crop standing over 8,034 acres
was badly affected.
The cotton crop in
districts Multan, DG Khan, Rajan Pur
and Muzaffargarh of Punjab Province were affected, he said
adding that crops other than cotton like sugarcane rice and pulses
were also damaged due to rains and floods.
The Commissioner said
that cotton crop sowing in the country during current season
(2020-21) decreased by 1.3 percent as compared the sowing of the corresponding
period of last year.
The crop had cultivated over
2.457 million hectares as against the set targets of
2.663 million hectares, which was less than 1.3 percent of targets
fixed for this season, he added.
He said that about 92 percent
targets of cotton cultivation was achieved during current season,
adding that crop was grown over 2.
489 million hectares
during same period of last year.
In Punjab, he said that
the cotton area was decreased by 2.5 percent as crop had sown over
1.890 million hectares as compared the target of
2.03 million hectares.
However, he said that
the cotton sowing in Sindh registered about 2.7 percent
increase as it cultivated over 0.615 million hectares as against last
year’s 0.599 million hectares.
The Commissioner said that
declining trend in cotton growing area was mainly attributed to
increase in covered area under competing crops including sugarcane, maize and
rice.
In order to cope with the
prevailing situation and encouraging the farmers to grow more cotton, he
said government had evolved a scheme of incentives that would reduce
the input cost of cotton, besides reducing the cost of
doing business.
He said
that government had announced subsidies on fertilizers and pesticides
in its agricultural emergency program and farmers would be provided fertilizers
and pesticides on controlled rates.
Besides, to ensure availability
of cheaper agriculture credit, the government had also
announced to pay 10 percent markup on agriculture loans for growers,
adding that interest rate on agriculture lending was charged at the
rate of 16 percent.
In order to control the
pest attack on cotton like white fly and pink ballworm, he
said government had also provided subsidy on the imports of PB Rope.
He said
that government was also working to ensure 100 percent availability
of high yielding, pest resistant seeds to enhance per-acre crop output.
Originally published by Urduoint
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:00oHl3jglXUJ:https://www.technologytimes.pk/2020/09/24/cotton-major-cash-crop-of-pakistan-faces-immense-challenges/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pkhttps://thedailychronicle.in/news/1804771/rice-market-technological-advancement-growth-analysis-with-forecast-to-2025/
Scientists Draw up Guidelines to Help Agri-food Companies Align with
2030 Agenda
Isaiah
EsipisuReprint | | 
Print | Send by email
Dominic Kimara, the farm manager at an agri-food company, stands
in a rice field grown using conservation agriculture technique. Credit: Isaiah
Esipisu/IPS
- In Amuru district, 47
kilometres from Gulu town in northwestern Uganda, the Omer Farming Company has
proven that it is possible to farm on thousands of acres of land using methods
that conserve the environment and its biodiversity.
On a 5,000 acre piece of land,
the company is growing upland rice with a yield of up to 3.5 metric tons per
acre, using the conservation agriculture method.
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“We do not plough the field,
and we do not use fertilisers,” Dominic Kimara, the farm manager at the
company, told IPS. “Instead, we grow a leguminous crop known as sunn hemp, and
when it is 50 percent flowering, we roll it on the ground so that it can
decompose and form green manure,” he explained.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations, this type of farming technique has several advantages for the
environment because it reduces the use of farm machineries (which often emit
carbon), sequesters carbon, and is cost effective and beneficial to the soil.
According
to the report ‘Fixing the Business of Food initiative‘ by the Barilla Center for Food and
Nutrition Foundation (BCFN),
agri-food companies must consider the environmental and social impacts of
business operations, including their production processes and other internal
processes, with a focus on issues such as resource use (land, water, energy)
and emissions, respect for human rights, diversity and inclusion, and decent
work conditions that improve livelihoods of employees and their families.
The
report, which was released on Sept. 22 alongside the 75th session of the U.N. General Assembly in partnership with the
U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), the Santa Chiara Lab
(SCL) and the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment (CCSI), identifies a
four pillar framework for alignment of the food and agriculture sector with the
Sustainable Development Goals.
“Indeed
the four pillar framework is a sort of instruction manual to guide our efforts
towards the active engagement of the private sector in the implementation of
the 2030 agenda,” said Mariangela Zappia, ambassador and permanent
representative of the Permanent Mission of Italy to the U.N. in New York.
However,
the experts observed that despite a steady increase in investments in
sustainable development and climate action, only eight percent of public
climate finance is directed to the agri-food sector.
“There
is one big risk: that a lot of our colleagues, a lot of other actors in the
world of business feel the danger, but they do not have the courage to really
take actions within their company to make these very difficult decisions,” said
Guido Barilla, chair of Barilla Group and the BCFN Foundation, noting that
the Barilla Group had to take a tough decision to stop the use of palm oil,
which is the cheapest source of fat, but contributes to deforestation.
“We
are late in the 2030 Agenda, we are losing time in completing the
sustainability goals and to really rationalise the dangers and lower the
dangers on climate change and on sustainability issues. It’s unaffordable. We
need to make a call to action,” he said during a virtual launch of the report.
The
report further points out that the shift towards more sustainable and healthier
diets is a strong leverage to improve both planetary and human health.
This comes after a warning by another study about India that projects levels of undersupply and
consequent malnutrition will significantly increase in 2030 and 2050 scenarios.
“Policy incentives in Indian agriculture since the Green
Revolution have predominantly been focused on achieving caloric food security
through increased production of cereals (wheat and rice),” wrote the
researchers in a study titled ‘Sustainable food security in India—Domestic
production and macronutrient availability’.
This,
according to the scientists, has resulted in a heavy carbohydrate-based diet (65–70
percent of total energy intake) which may be significantly lacking in adequate
diversity for the provision of other important nutrients.
The
BCFN report points out that there is need for a radical transformation in order
to cope with the environmental, social, and economic challenges of agri-food
systems at global and local levels. “In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has
exacerbated global development challenges especially for the most vulnerable
communities around the globe,” it reads in part.
So
far, the European Union is already promoting such transformation through the
European Green Deal and the ‘Farm to Fork’ Strategy, aiming to make European
food ‘the global standard for sustainability’.
The
authors explored the main gaps in aligning practices and strategies to
sustainability principles through a deep qualitative analysis of
sustainability reports for 2018 and 2019 published by 12 global companies with high
reputations in terms of sustainability.
The
other pillars include contribution to healthy and sustainable dietary patterns
through its products and strategies, and the impact and influence of companies
beyond the perimeter of their direct and outsourced operations. The report
notes that in some contexts, companies have co-responsibility for enhanced
sustainability throughout their supply chains, value chains and within the
ecosystems in which they operate.
The
last pillar considers companies’ external strategies and engagement: both with
the communities where they operate and with the rules that govern them.
“We
must generate partnerships between the private sector and the public sector so
that everyone in the world has access to healthy diets that are produced
sustainably,” said Rachel Kyte, the Dean, at the Fletcher School at Tufts
University.
Nearly 4,000 hybrid
rice varieties grown in China
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-22
20:22:06|Editor: huaxia
CHENGDU,
Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Agronomists have planted about 4,000 rice varieties in a
hybrid experimental rice base in southwest China's Sichuan Province to acquire
the ideal seeds for large-scale plantation.
The
hybrid rice science park, which opened in May in the Pidu District in the
provincial capital of Chengdu, was named after China's renowned agronomist Yuan
Longping. It has 9,087 square meters for the first phase of construction, along
with 133.33 hectares of outdoor farmland.
This
year, nearly 4,000 rice varieties, each with 50 to 100 stems, have been grown
in the one-hectare experimental field, said Kuang Yinglong, breeding department
manager of the Chengdu branch of the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center.
The
rice seeds will be obtained roughly 20 days after pollination, and the seeds
will be grown in November in Sanya, Hainan Province. The harvesting conditions
can be observed next March, said Kuang.
He said
researchers will further hybridize those with better characters to get the
ideal varieties that are genetically stable.
"Only
one-thousandth of the varieties planted every year may finally become rice
seeds, which can enter the market for farming only if they are examined and
approved by authorities," he said.
Tuesday
marked the Chinese farmers' harvest festival. Enditem
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-09/22/c_139388143.htm
Study zeroes in on target plant hormone to improve
potassium deficiency in rice
Plants
deficient in Potassium more susceptible to salt, drought, chilling and other
stresses
By Sunderarajan Padmanabhan
Last Updated: Tuesday 22 September 2020
Targeting a specific plant
hormone would help rice plants have greater tolerance to potassium deficiency,
in turn, improving rice productivity, a new study has suggested.
The plant hormone called Jasmonate (JA)
is often associated with the plant’s defence against biotic factors like
insects, pests and other pathogens.
The overexpression of a gene
called OsJAZ9 helped make rice plants more
tolerant of potassium deficiency, the study noted. It was conducted by a team
of scientists at the Department of Biotechnology’s New Delhi-based National
Institute of Plant Genome Research (DBT-NIPGR).
There was an enhanced
accumulation of JA-Ile — a bioactive form of the hormone, in rice on potassium
deficiency, the scientist found. The JA-Ile then activates potassium
transporters for its uptake from the media.
The Green Revolution of the 1960s
was driven by another plant hormone called Gibberellins (GA). The new study
suggests that future research could be targeted towards JA that could help
achieve both, nutrient- efficient crops and protection against pests.
Potassium is one of the most
important macronutrients for plants. Plants require, among other things, a high
and relatively stable concentration of potassium ion to activate many enzymes
that are involved in respiration and photosynthesis. Potassium is also involved
in key cellular processes such as energy production, and cell expansion.
However,
despite being among the most abundant minerals in the soil, its availability to
plants is limited. This is because most of the soil potassium (about 98 per
cent) is in bound forms and its release into the soil solution is far slower
than the rate of its acquisition by the roots.
The availability of potassium in
the soil solution or exchangeable form depends on multiple factors like soil
acidity, presence of other monovalent cations like sodium and ammonium ions and
the type of soil particles.
Deficiency in potassium affects
plants by inhibiting the growth of the roots and the shoots. Studies have shown
that plants that are deficient in potassium are more susceptible to salt, drought,
chilling and other abiotic and biotic stresses.
“Future agriculture has to be
input efficient rather than input intensive. This study adds to the
molecular/genetic resources for improving fertiliser use efficiency in rice
which is of prime value for achieving sustainable agriculture,” senior author
of the paper, Jitender Giri, said.
Besides Giri, other members of
the research team included Ajit Pal Singh, Bipin K Pandey, Poonam Mehra and
Thierry Heitz. They have published a paper on their work in the Journal
of Plant
Molecular Biology. (India Science Wire)
FFCCCII donates 110 sacks of rice, 1, 000 hygiene kits to Pateros
Published September
23, 2020, 2:54 PM
To help residents
affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a total of 110
sacks of rice and 1,000 hygiene kits were donated by the Federation of
Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) to the
Municipality of Pateros on Wednesday.
(MMDA/ MANILA BULLETIN)
The donations were
coursed through Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman
Danilo “Danny” Lim, the designated Cabinet member to monitor and help Pateros
in its COVID-19 response.
Lim and FCCCII officials
personally turned over to Pateros Mayor Miguel “Ike” Ponce the donations at the
Municipal Hall.
(MMDA/ MANILA BULLETIN)
It also donated 50
reams of bond papers for the printing of students’ modules.
FCCCII Vice President Dr.
Cecilio Pedro said the MMDA chairman asked for their support to help the
communities of Pateros, the lone municipality in Metro Manila.
Lim said that among the
17 local governments in the National Capital Region, Pateros is the local
government which needs the most support because it has limited resources being
the only municipality and the smallest in the metropolis.
“I am thankful for the
support of the FCCCII to Pateros in these challenging times. The donation is
intended for households under community quarantine,” he said.
“Pateros is blessed
to receive these donations,” he added.
Lim was accompanied by
MMDA EDSA traffic chief Bong Nebrija.
https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/23/ffcccii-donates-110-sacks-of-rice-1-000-hygiene-kits-to-pateros/
Kirinyaga County Gov’t donates
13,000kgs of seeds to rice farmers
By Johnson Muriithi For
Citizen Digital
Published on: September
22, 2020 14:04 (EAT)
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru gives President Uhuru
Kenyatta a tour of the Mwea Rice Mills early this year. PHOTO| COURTESY
Kirinyaga rice farmers have received 13,000
kilograms of high-quality rice seeds from the county government for this
season’s planting.
The donation that includes 10,000 kilograms of
basmati rice seeds and 3,000 kilograms of hybrid variety will be distributed
among 1,000 farmers to be planted on approximately 1,000 acres of land.
Speaking to Members of County Assembly and
farmers’ representatives in Sagana, Governor Anne Waiguru thanked President
Uhuru Kenyatta for the seeds donation which was delivered through the State
Department of Crops Development and Agriculture Research.
She said the seeds will be distributed
immediately to the farmers to enable timely planting, noting that
identification of the beneficiaries was done through collaboration between the
county’s Department of Agriculture, the Mwea Irrigation Water Users Association
(IWUA) and farmers across the rice growing wards in Mwea.
The governor said that the initiative will
complement the efforts by the County Government in promotion of rice production
which include coordination of water provision services in an equitable manner
across the rice scheme and improvement of the road network within the scheme in
order to ease transportation of rice and farm inputs.
The County Government also provides extension
and advisory services to farmers in order to promote good agricultural
practices for increased production as well as collaborate with other
stakeholders for improved production and marketing of rice.
Also Read:
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over man in Kirinyaga turns tragic as woman stabs man’s lover with a beer
bottle to death
2. Kirinyaga:
Governor Anne Waiguru, MCAs end standoff, vow to work together
3. Governor
Waiguru terms Kirinyaga rice husks factory a milestone development
She also noted that the county leaders have
planned to meet the Cabinet Secretaries in charge of Agriculture and Trade in
order to forge a lasting solution to rice marketing woes that have faced rice
farmers in the county.
There has been an outcry that the influx of
cheap rice imports have disadvantaged Mwea rice farmers whose good quality rice
lies in the factory for lack of market and when they sell they are forced to do
so at throw away prices.
Kirinyaga is the largest rice growing county
in Kenya with Mwea irrigation scheme having 26,000 acres under rice grown by
about 7,000 farmers.
The total annual rice production in the scheme
is estimated at 113,000 metric tons and there exists potential for enhanced
production.
Rice has been one of the priority value chains
that support the Big Four Agenda pillar on Food Security and Nutrition.
https://citizentv.co.ke/news/kirinyaga-county-govt-donates-13000kgs-of-seeds-to-rice-farmers-345852/
Are we heading towards
a food crisis?
The government may need to
review the protectionist measures in place in order to avert a food crisis.
Published
2 days ago
on
September 22, 2020
By
Based on the selected food price watch data for August 2020
released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), major consumer staples
showed substantial increases between August 2019 (when the land border closure
took effect) and August 2020. The steep price increases across the food items
is consistent with the increase in food inflation from 13.17% in August 2019 to
16.0% in August 2020. Of more concern is the fact that rice, the most
widely consumed food staple among consumers showed substantial increase in the
two variants; local sold loose (up 37.5% y/y) and imported high quality sold
loose (up 40.7% y/y).
Explore the Nairametrics Research Website for
Economic and Financial Data
READ: Nigeria among countries to be worst hit by food crisis globally
In our view, the predominant factor behind the surge in the prices
of major food items is the closure of the land borders, which has been
exacerbated by administrative controls employed by the monetary and fiscal
authorities in rationing foreign exchange. We recall that in July, the CBN
included Maize on the list of items ineligible for FX from official sources.
Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
not to allocate foreign exchange to importers of food and fertilizer. We also
understand that heavy rainfalls in the northwestern part of the country have
also affected farmlands, as the head of Kebbi state branch of the Rice Farmers
Association of Nigeria revealed that about 90% of the 2 million tons of rice to
be harvested were destroyed.
READ: Has the President erred in stopping CBN from funding food imports?
The persistent increase in the prices of food items despite the
protectionist measures implemented by the government suggests that local
production still lags consumption significantly. Considering the weak harvest
season due to the impact of the global pandemic amidst higher distribution
costs linked to higher PMS prices following the deregulation of the downstream
sector, we believe price of food items will continue to trend upwards.
Additionally, we expect the pass-through impact of the devaluation
in the local currency to put further pressure on imported food inflation.
Overall, we think the government needs to review the protectionist measures in
place in order to avert a food crisis.
CSL Stockbrokers Limited, Lagos (CSLS) is a wholly owned
subsidiary of FCMB Group Plc and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Nigeria. CSLS is a member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
https://nairametrics.com/2020/09/22/are-we-heading-towards-a-food-crisis/
Tariff recoveries from
BOC audit eyed for farmers’ benefit
Jasper Y. ArcalasandBernadette D. Nicolas
September 24, 2020
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RICE
industry groups on Wednesday hailed the Bureau of Customs’ decision to charge
erring importers who undervalued their imports, calling it a victory for
Filipino farmers since the amount to be collected from them could mean
additional funds to support local production.
They
urged the BOC to allocate the tariff recoveries from the audits on over 40
erring rice importers to the government’s rice competitiveness enhancement fund
(RCEF).
They also
pressed the government to chase the “real” importers, as some of the audited
rice importers could be just cooperatives that serve as dummies or fronts of
unscrupulous traders.
The
Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) had
noted that cooperatives used by unscrupulous traders, which include some
farmers-led groups, could be caught in a crossfire as the BOC digs deeper on
the issue of rice import undervaluation.
And the
BOC could be running the risk of collecting lesser or no charges if the dummy
cooperatives are indeed found liable for the rice imports undervaluation since
it was their names that were used for the shipments.
“We call
on the BOC to go hard on these importers and to also prevent this from
happening again in the future,” R1 Executive Director Hazel A. Tanchuling told
the BusinessMirror.
Tanchuling
said BOC’s latest action is crucial in alleviating the problems of the rice
producers and improving their productivity.
“Collecting
the right tariffs is important because the amount collected should go back to
the farmers in support,” she said.
“So,
losses in tariff revenues also reduce potential support to farmers heavily
impacted by liberalization,” she added.
FFF
National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor told the BusinessMirror that the BOC’s
possible tariff recoveries should be part of the RCEF.
“We
think that the tariff recoveries should form part of the rice fund. As
for the penalties, which could be higher than the tariff recoveries, it is not
clear if it will go to RCEF since the RTL [rice trade liberalization law] talks
only of tariffs,” he said.
“We will
need to evaluate where the additional money will be spent best, but either way,
it would be of great help,” he added.
Rice
tariff lib
The RTL
law mandates that rice tariffs collected by the government since its enactment
in March 2019 until 2024 should be earmarked for the government’s RCEF.
Latest
estimates of the FFF showed that unscrupulous rice importers may have
shortchanged the BOC of nearly P2.8 billion since the implementation of the RTL
law.
In a
separate statement on Wednesday, the FFF also reiterated its call on the
government to be more stringent in approving farmer cooperatives and groups as
eligible rice importers, as the practice of using dummy schemes by unscrupulous
traders continues today. (Read this Broader Look piece: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/10/31/pre-and-post-rice-trade-liberalization-law-big-traders-gaming-farmer-groups/)
“Even if
a co-op importer is found guilty of undervaluation, BoC might not be able to
collect anything because many of these co-ops actually have very little funds
or assets, and might be dormant already. Meanwhile, the actual importer
who financed the shipments will go scot-free,” the FFF said.
Customs
Assistant Commissioner and spokesperson Vincent Philip Maronilla told the
BusinessMirror that “a percentage” of the P1.4-billion combined charges to be
collected from the erring audited rice importers will go to the RCEF.
“Yes. A
percentage of the collection will be allocated for RCEF,” Maronilla said in a
message.
Pressed
on the specific percentage of the total charges that could be allotted for
RCEF, the BOC official said: “It will be determined by our collection service
following the provision of the law.”
He said
their legal department has yet to resolve whether penalties and surcharges
which form part of the P1.4-billion charges could also be allocated to RCEF.
Of the
P1.4-billion charges, Maronilla said the duty component amounted to at least
P600 million, while the remaining P800 million were penalties and surcharges.
However,
Maronilla said “not all” duties to be collected from the undervalued rice
imports would go to the RCEF.
“Insofar as
to the portion of additional duties and taxes, yes [that could be used for
RCEF],” he said. “But insofar as to the penalties that are yet to be
determined, whether that could be considered” for credit to RCEF has yet to be
decided, he added.
The
BusinessMirror earlier reported that over 40 rice importers were told by
Customs to pay a combined total of P1.4 billion in “additional audited
assessment” after the BOC found them liable for undervaluing their rice
shipments from March to June last year. (Read story here: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/09/23/rice-importers-charged-p1-4-billion-on-undervaluation/)
The FFF
urged the BOC to fast-track the resolution of the audit cases and “finally end
the practice of undervaluation” so that farmers would receive the correct
amount of benefits that they should get from rice tariff collections.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/09/24/tariff-recoveries-from-boc-audit-eyed-for-farmers-benefit/
Rice
farmers in Kirinyaga receive 13 tons of seeds for planting
Written By: Hunja Macharia
8 hours
ago
33
FILE: Kirinyaga Governor Anne gives H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta a
tour of the Mwea Rice Mills early this year
Kirinyaga rice farmers have received 13 tons of high quality rice
seeds from the National Government for this season’s planting.
The donation that includes 10,000 kilograms of Basmati rice seeds
and 3,000 kilograms of hybrid variety will be distributed among 1,000 farmers
to be planted on approximately 1,000 acres of land.
While speaking to Members of County Assembly and farmers
representatives in Sagana, Governor Anne Waiguru thanked President Uhuru
Kenyatta for the seeds donation which was delivered through the State
Department of Crops Development and Agriculture Research.
Waiguru said that the seeds will be distributed immediately to the
farmers for timely planting, noting that identification of the beneficiaries
was done through collaboration between the county’s Department of Agriculture,
the Mwea Irrigation Water Users Association (IWUA) and farmers across the rice
growing wards in Mwea.
The Governor said that the initiative will complement the efforts
of the County Government in promotion of rice production which include
coordination of water provision services in an equitable manner across the rice
scheme and improvement of the road network within the scheme in order to ease
transportation of rice and farm inputs.
Also Read Naivas Supermarket strike anchor tenant deal with Waterfront Mall Karen
FILE: Kirinyaga County workers store away the received rice seeds.
The County Government also provides extension and advisory
services to farmers in order to promote good agricultural practices for
increased production as well as collaborate with other stakeholders for improved
production and marketing of rice.
Also Read 2/3rd gender headache: Maraga calls for dissolution of Parliament
She also noted that the county leaders have planned to meet the
Cabinet Secretaries in charge of Agriculture and Trade in order to forge a
lasting solution to rice marketing woes that have faced rice farmers in the
county.
There has been an outcry that the influx of cheap rice imports
have disadvantaged Mwea rice farmers whose good quality rice lies in the
factory for lack of market and when they sell they are forced to do so at throw
away prices.
Also Read President Kenyatta unveils new measures to boost Fisheries Sector
Kirinyaga is the largest rice growing county in Kenya with Mwea
irrigation scheme having 26,000 acres under rice grown by about 7,000 farmers.
The total annual rice production in the scheme is estimated at
113,000 metric tons and there exists potential for enhanced production.
Rice has been one of the priority value chains that support the
Big Four Agenda pillar on Food Security and Nutrition.
Tell Us What You Think
Posted By:
- TAGS
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of Crops Development and Agriculture Research
- Governor
Anne Waiguru
- Mwea
Irrigation Water Users Association
- President
Uhuru Kenyatta
Help farmers, stop rice importation’
posted September 23, 2020 at 11:10 pm
by Macon
Ramos-Araneta
·
·
·
Senator Imee Marcos
on Wednesday warned that farm gate prices of rice may go down as she called on
the government to rescue farmers from rice importation.
In a statement,
Marcos called on the government to stop rice importation until after the peak
of the wet season harvest in October so farmers can recover from farm gate
prices being kept low by rice traders.
Marcos, who chairs
the Senate committee on economic affairs, said that farm gate prices of palay
may again plunge from the present 12 to 15 pesos per kilo to seven to eight
pesos, as it did last year when rice imports caused an oversupply and dragged
down prices.
“Importation does not
mean the end of all regulation,” Marcos said.
“Scheduling
importation is one way of helping our local rice farmers while the rice tariffication
law remains in place,” she said.
Marcos also urged the
Bureau of Customs to “go a step further” after it exposed rice traders who
misdeclared and undervalued their imports last year by more than P1 billion.
“Beyond collecting
deficient payments on import duties and taxes, cancel the permits of this
brazen cartel of importers and reshuffle or remove Customs officials who
allowed this to happen,” Marcos said.
Marcos added that
tariff collections must be protected to augment the Department of Agriculture’s
budget which faces a deep cut for next year, limiting the ability to procure
more rice from local farmers and provide them more drying machines, tube wells,
higher-yielding hybrid seeds and fertilizer.
“Local rice farmers
remain on edge, as neighboring countries resume exports after a brief lull
during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Marcos said.
“Our food security
should not depend on imports, though they lower prices for the consumer. We
must support our own rice supply chain,” Marcos said, emphasizing that local
farmers are capable of providing 93% of national supply and that only 7% needs
to be imported.
At present, rice
farmers in Nueva Ecija, Isabela, and Bicol who pegged their production cost at
about 12 pesos per kilo are just about breaking even, with some of them already
having reaped about 30% of their crop this September.
Marcos said that the
lack of drying machines and storage facilities were forcing them to sell palay
at depressed farmgate prices to rice traders instead of the National Food
Authority, which requires a maximum moisture content of 14% to buy rice at 19
pesos per kilo.
Rice farmers also
risk confiscation when drying their palay along local roads, which is
prohibited and could further diminish what profit they could make while
competing with rice imports, Marcos added.
Topics: Senator Imee Marcos , farmers , rice importation
Related stories:
More from this Category:
https://manilastandard.net/mobile/article/335018
Defer rice imports, Imee urges gov’t
Published September
23, 2020, 3:56 PM
Sen. Imee R. Marcos,
chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, has urged the
government to defer rice importation until after the peak of the wet season
harvest in October, to enable farmers to recover from farmgate prices being
kept low by rice traders.
Senator Imee R. Marcos (Senate of
the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
Marcos warned that
farmgate prices of palay might again plunge from the present P12 to P15 per
kilo to P7 to P8, as it did last year when rice imports caused an oversupply
and dragged down prices.
“Importation does not
mean the end of all regulation,” Imee said.
“Scheduling importation
is one way of helping our local rice farmers while the rice tariffication law
remains in place,” she added.
Marcos urged the Bureau
of Customs to “go a step further” after it exposed rice traders who misdeclared
and undervalued their imports last year by more than P1 billion.
“Beyond collecting
deficient payments on import duties and taxes, cancel the permits of this
brazen cartel of importers and reshuffle or remove Customs officials who
allowed this to happen,” she said.
Marcos added that tariff
collections must be protected to augment the budget of the Department of
Agriculture (DA) budget which faces a deep cut for next year, limiting the
ability to procure more rice from local farmers and provide them more drying
machines, tube wells, higher-yielding hybrid seeds, and fertilizer.
Local rice farmers remain
on edge, as neighboring countries resume exports after a brief lull during the
early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marcos said.
“Our food security should
not depend on imports, though they lower prices for the consumer. We must
support our own rice supply chain,” Marcos said, emphasizing that local farmers
are capable of providing 93 percent of national supply and that only seven
percent needs to be imported.
https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/23/defer-rice-imports-imee-urges-govt/
Postaudit
of rice imports yields P1.4B in taxes
Philippine Daily Inquirer /
05:04 AM September 24, 2020
The Bureau
of Customs’ (BOC) postaudit of rice imports has yielded at least P1.4 billion
worth of previously unpaid duties and other fees as a result of undervaluation.
In a
statement on Wednesday, the BOC said there were 245 private importers that
facilitated the entry of rice shipments from March 5 to June 20 at the height
of the longest and most stringent COVID-19 quarantine in the region.
The BOC
said that among these firms, “60 entities with the greatest number of incidents
of deviation and the highest percentage discrepancies in duties paid were
selected for transaction-based audits.”
Citing the
audit results, the BOC said “auditees were found liable for the payment of
P1,417,167,368.10 in customs duties, penalties, surcharges and interest due to
undervaluation, misclassification and/or understatement of freight and
insurance charges.”
Also, the
BOC said “undervaluation of declared customs value remains the primary risk in
revenue collection from rice imports, accounting for P497,941,773.72, or 36.08
percent, of the total deficiency assessment.”
“In terms
of the level of compliance, the audit findings show a low level of compliance
among the audited importers, as 47 auditees, or 85.45 percent, were found to
have violated customs laws and regulations. Meanwhile, eight auditees were
found to have properly declared their goods and provided pertinent documentary
requirements as stipulated in the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act,” the
BOC said.
“On the
other hand, audit examination and investigation of the five auditees were
deferred due to its pending dispute settlement proceedings with the respective
ports of entry,” the BOC added.
The BOC
warned that legal measures and penalties would be imposed on importers found
involved in the smuggling of agricultural products and other commodities into the
country. —BEN O. DE VERA
Read more: https://business.inquirer.net/307997/postaudit-of-rice-imports-yields-p1-4b-in-taxes#ixzz6YyE3AL3k
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebookhttps://business.inquirer.net/307997/postaudit-of-rice-imports-yields-p1-4b-in-taxes
Customs
conducts post-audit of rice imports
By: Ben
O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ
Philippine Daily Inquirer /
04:06 AM September 23, 2020
Following
concerns that rice smuggling may have flourished amid the COVID-19 pandemic,
the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has intensified its audit of import shipments and
raided warehouses of suspected smugglers, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
In a
statement on Tuesday, the DOF quoted Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero
as reporting to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III recently that private
traders’ imported rice stocks were being subjected to post-audit and
post-modification.
Guerrero
said doing so allowed the BOC to assess undervalued rice imports in order to
collect the correct import duties and other taxes due.
“The BOC
has found the valuation of several rice shipments with provisional goods
declaration to be quite low compared to the prevailing market prices,” Guerrero
admitted.
“But those
are subject to post-modification and post-audit. And in the meantime, we are
still conducting the post-modification, verifying the payments of rice because
some of them are clearly undervalued. So we will catch up in the
post-modification and post-audit,” Guerrero added.
The BOC
allowed private rice importers to avail themselves of provisional goods
declaration to speed up entry of these “critical” shipments and ensure food
security amid the COVID-19 crisis.
In turn,
the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) flagged unscrupulous traders taking
advantage of the BOC’s assessment and valuation system for imported rice.
In
response, Guerrero said the country’s second-biggest tax-collection agency
acted on “reports by concerned citizens regarding warehouses suspected of
storing smuggled rice stocks by immediately issuing letters of authority to
enable BOC officers to inspect such warehouses and seize goods without the
requisite importation permits.”
“We
actually raided them and we found out that many of these warehouses were
operating legally and their stocks are covered by proper documents,” the BOC
chief said.
Citing the
BOC’s Customs Memorandum Order No. 07-2020, the DOF said that “if the Customs
district/sub-port collector accepts a provisional goods declaration, the duty
and tax treatment of the goods under provisional declaration will not be
different from that of goods with complete declaration.”
For the
release of shipments under tentative assessment, the importer will be required
to post the required security, whether in the form of surety bond or cash bond,
the DOF added. INQ
Read more: https://business.inquirer.net/307931/customs-conducts-post-audit-of-rice-imports#ixzz6YyE7fJwn
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Paddy procurement :
Amarinder allows use of miller premises as mandi yards
Chandigarh, Sep 22 (UNI) To
ensure smooth and seamless procurement of Paddy during the ensuing Kharif
season amid Covid-19, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced
a slew of amendments to the Custom Milling Policy (CMP) 2020-21, including
allowing use of miller premises as Mandi yards.
The Chief Minister has approved deletion of clause 12 (j) of the Custom Milling
Policy (CMP) 2020-21 for this purpose. The clause deals with those millers who are
also commission agents/arhtiyas and, under existing rules, were not allowed to
be allotted to the agency for which they were operating as commission agents.
The move will help ensure staggered procurement, thus preventing crowding of
the Mandis during the pandemic, according to an official spokesperson.
The decision was taken by the Chief Minister on the basis of a proposal of the
Food and Civil Supplies Department, after examining the concerns and issues
raised by the Punjab Rice Industry Association in its representation.
Capt Amarinder has also given the nod for certain other amendments in the
provisions of Custom Milling Policy for Kharif 2020-21, including restoration
of the Bank Guarantee clause, maximum permissible allocable RO quantity, and sale
of existing mills.
MORE UNI DB ASN 1656
Tags:
#Paddy procurement : Amarinder
allows use of miller premises as mandi yards
FCI extends deadline
for rice procurement from Nellore district
Samdani
MN | TNN | Updated: Sep
23, 2020, 14:42 IST
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AMARAVATI:
A day after chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy directed the police to withdraw
the cases against farmers, the civil supplies department stepped in to bail out
farmers from the procurement
crisis.
Civil supplies commissioner Kona Sasidhar held discussions with district
collector KVN Chakradhar Rao and decided to move the stocks from the godowns in
the district.
At least 30,000 metric tonnes rice procured during the last Rabi season would
be moved to other districts to provide space for procurement of kharif crop.
Industries minister Mekapati Gautham Reddy also reviewed the situation with the officials in Nellore on Tuesday and asked them to achieve better coordination between different departments. “Lack of coordination between different departments is the main problem for the current crisis. We will take all possible measures to help farmers as interests of farmers are paramount for our government,” said Mekapati. He said that a senior officer of joint collector rank would be appointed as coordinator to handle paddy procurement by millers and stock relocation.
