September rice
exports down 29 percent YoY
October 22, 2016
losing rice market due to lack of research and non-availability
of new seeds. These factors have resulted in a massive 29 percent decline in
rice exports during September 2016. Rice export trade is the second largest
foreign exchange earner, ie, some $2 billion annually. However, during last two
years, rice export trade is facing severe crisis and exports falling down.
Exporters said current year will also be challenging and rice exports may further decline, if the government fails to take appropriate measures. According to exports statistics released by Rice Exports Association of Pakistan (REAP), Pakistan''s overall rice exports (in terms of quantity), posted a 29 percent decline in September 2016 compared to September 2015. The country exported some 181,350 tons of rice (Basmati and Non-Basmati) during September 2016 against 254,458 tons in September 2015, showing a decline of 72,108 tons. Non-basmati exports stood at 152,735 tons, down 25 percent in September 2016 compared to September 2015.
Commenting on lower exports, Mahmood Moulvi, Chairman of REAP said non-Basmati export''s decline is a matter of concern. "In my opinion a decrease in non-Basmati exports is due to China''s less import of non-Basmati rice due to higher domestic prices. Pakistan rice is costly due to high input cost, overvalued currency and excessive taxes," he added. He said non-Basmati sector might suffer this year on less import by China (Cambodia & Myanmar may emerge as main Chinese supplier). Although, Vietnam and Thailand may not be able to compete with Pakistan, however India is a major threat to Pakistan''s non-Basmati rice exports.
In addition, Basmati rice exports have been facing stiff competition from India. Lack of research and non-availability of new seeds has caused low yields, chairman REAP said. "High input costs have rendered Basmati rice totally uncompetitive against Indian variety. Along with this, Pakistan lost important and lucrative Basmati market of Iran as banks are not willing to accept documents for shipment to Iran," he maintained. India on the other hand kept supplying Basmati rice during the period of sanction against ''Oil for Food'' payments, he added.
Moulvi said REAP has made efforts to strike a barter deal with Iran against electricity funds lying with the government of Pakistan. He requested the State Bank to intervene and instruct commercial banks to accept documents allowing exporters to regain this lucrative and lost market. REAP has always raised its voice for all the stakeholders of rice and particularly for rice growers. Input cost of rice cultivation is very high as compared to our competitor countries. Other countries'' agriculture industries are heavily subsidised by their respective governments, he added.
The chairman REAP said lack of research and new seeds resulting in lower yields which is the main reason behind high input cost. The government should take immediate steps to increase the production of rice by providing farmers with new technologies/hybrid seeds, etc, he maintained.
Exporters said current year will also be challenging and rice exports may further decline, if the government fails to take appropriate measures. According to exports statistics released by Rice Exports Association of Pakistan (REAP), Pakistan''s overall rice exports (in terms of quantity), posted a 29 percent decline in September 2016 compared to September 2015. The country exported some 181,350 tons of rice (Basmati and Non-Basmati) during September 2016 against 254,458 tons in September 2015, showing a decline of 72,108 tons. Non-basmati exports stood at 152,735 tons, down 25 percent in September 2016 compared to September 2015.
Commenting on lower exports, Mahmood Moulvi, Chairman of REAP said non-Basmati export''s decline is a matter of concern. "In my opinion a decrease in non-Basmati exports is due to China''s less import of non-Basmati rice due to higher domestic prices. Pakistan rice is costly due to high input cost, overvalued currency and excessive taxes," he added. He said non-Basmati sector might suffer this year on less import by China (Cambodia & Myanmar may emerge as main Chinese supplier). Although, Vietnam and Thailand may not be able to compete with Pakistan, however India is a major threat to Pakistan''s non-Basmati rice exports.
In addition, Basmati rice exports have been facing stiff competition from India. Lack of research and non-availability of new seeds has caused low yields, chairman REAP said. "High input costs have rendered Basmati rice totally uncompetitive against Indian variety. Along with this, Pakistan lost important and lucrative Basmati market of Iran as banks are not willing to accept documents for shipment to Iran," he maintained. India on the other hand kept supplying Basmati rice during the period of sanction against ''Oil for Food'' payments, he added.
Moulvi said REAP has made efforts to strike a barter deal with Iran against electricity funds lying with the government of Pakistan. He requested the State Bank to intervene and instruct commercial banks to accept documents allowing exporters to regain this lucrative and lost market. REAP has always raised its voice for all the stakeholders of rice and particularly for rice growers. Input cost of rice cultivation is very high as compared to our competitor countries. Other countries'' agriculture industries are heavily subsidised by their respective governments, he added.
The chairman REAP said lack of research and new seeds resulting in lower yields which is the main reason behind high input cost. The government should take immediate steps to increase the production of rice by providing farmers with new technologies/hybrid seeds, etc, he maintained.
http://www.brecorder.com/agriculture-a-allied/183/95598/
Duterte wants to revive Marcos' agri, fishing
programs
President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday announced that he
would revive two of late President Ferdinand Marcos’s agriculture and fishery
programs. PPD/King Rodriguez
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday
announced that he would revive late President Ferdinand Marcos’ agriculture and
fishery programs.Describing Marcos as one of the brightest Filipinos, Duterte
said he would revive Masagana 99 and Biyayang Dagat which were implemented
during the Marcos dictatorship.“Gusto ko lang kunin yung idea ni Marcos, malayo
na ‘yun — iyong Biyayang Dagat pati Masagana 99. Bright ‘yung tao, alam
niya ‘yung [ga]gawin niya ibalik ko ‘yun dahan-dahan ‘pag natanggap kong makuha
ko [na budget],” Duterte said during his speech in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.
Masagana 99 was a program which promoted the planting of Green
Revolution varieties of rice developed by the International Rice Research
Institute. It increased the production of rice and the country was able to
export “bountiful” 99 cavans of rice per hectare, according to previous
reports.
On the other hand, Biyayang Dagat is a program for allowing
fishermen to loan. Through this project, a study of the Department of Science
and Technology revealed that fisherfolk were able to acquire fishing
paraphernalia, diversified fishing activities and improved marketing mechanisms
and marked capacity to pay for labor.
Duterte lamented how the two projects were not continued by the
previous administrations. He said he ought to revive it using his
administration’s budget which prioritizes education, agriculture and health.
Sayang lang, nanghinayang ako ‘yung kanyang Masagana 99 at
Biyayang Dagat kung iyon dinala ng husto yun, OK na tayo,” Duterte said,
explaining that tirades of succeeding administrations to Marcos stopped the
programs.
The president said he
intends to revive the true function of the Landbank of the Philippines which
was to provide financing for lands. He said it has become commercialized.
He also announced the turnover of millions of pesos worth of rice,
free corn and vegetable seeds for Cagayan and its capital Tuguegarao in his
speech on Sunday. He led the distribution of relief goods and emergency shelter
assistance (ESA) to the families affected by the onslaught of Super Typhoon
Lawin that devastated Cagayan last Oct. 19, 2016.
Last February, Duterte expressed admiration for Marcos'
agriculture and fishery programs. He mentioned Masagana 99 and Biyayang Dagat
as the projects which resulted in the halting of food importation in the country.
www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/10/23/1636542/duterte-wants-revive-marcos-agri-fishing-programs
Speaking on food, key industry
leaders
NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
October 21, 2016, 1:45PM
Specialty
Food & Ag Conference Nov. 8
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
John Grubb, Managing
Director, Sterling-Rice Group
With a 30-year career — half of which has been
spent in as a consultant and half as a senior marketing executive — Grubb has
led the marketing and strategy functions in retail, manufacturing, and food
processing companies. At the Sterling-Rice Group, the Yale graduate focuses
primarily on identifying strategies clients can extend their brands.
Grant Lundberg, CEO, Lundberg
Family Farms
The Sacramento area company can trace its roots
back three generations to Albert and Frances Lundberg who pioneered rice growing
in the region. That tradition was cared on by their children who in the 1960’s
sold their own rice brand instead of combining their product with other
suppliers. Today, under grandson Lundberg, the group keeps looking forward,
tapping the ability to raise the increasingly popular quinoa locally.
PANELISTS
Speaking on Sustainability:
Renaud des Rosiers,
Sustainability Manager at Amy’s Kitchen Inc.
Rosiers has been in charge of making sure food
production also supports the community and the environment since May. His focus
will include how the local organic food pioneering arrying the value of
sustainability throughout the company’s operations plus into its supply chain.
Sonoma County residents Rachel and Andy Berliner started the natural foods
company in 1987, the year their daughter Amy was born. Still independently
owned, the company offers 250 different organic products.
Speaking about Preparing for
Sale:
Jennifer Bice,
Founder and Managing Director, Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery
Located in Sebastopol, Redwood Hill Farm &
Creamery produces specialty dairy products under the Redwood Hill Farm goat
milk dairy and Green Valley Organics, offering lactose-free cow milk dairy. In
2015, Redwood Hill was acquired by Swiss dairy cooperative Emmi.
Bice will address what has happened since the
acquisition, how the company has maintained its culture while planning for
succession in the business begun by her parents.
Speaking about Managing
Growth:
Melanie Dulbecco, CEO
Torani Syrups & Flavors
As the first outside CEO of a 90-year-old firm
in more than 20 years, Dulbecco had lead the company to 20 percent growth on
average per year. The company refers to itself as a “90-year-old startup.” She
will describe the impact of the 2008 recession and “how we navigated to come
through to the other side.”
Speaking about Food Safety:
Michelle Zimmerman, Alvarado
Street Bakery
As Human Safety and Food Safety manager, she
responsible for human and food safety and wellness programs at Alvarado Street
Bakery in Petaluma. The Co-Op with 116 employees features certified organic
breads which are also non-GMO. Alvarado has been in business for more than 35
years. Zimmerman has worked for the company for 29 years.
A food
marketing executive with 30 years of experience at the Sterling-Rice Group plus
a CEO whose family’s rice-growing company continues to develop markets for its
products headline the North Coast Specialty Food & Ag Conference on Nov. 8
at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel & Spa in Santa Rosa.
Keynote
speakers for the event, co-hosted by the North Bay Business Journal and Bank of
America Merrill Lynch, are John Grubb, managing director of the Sterling-Rice
Group and Grant Lundberg, CEO, Lundberg Family Farms, which pioneered rice
growing in the Sacramento area.
Also
speaking will be presenters on how to grow a specialty food business, how to
keep it sustainable and meet food safety requirements, as well as how to
navigate working with new corporate owners.
“This is
a foundational industry to our area. It is a part of who we are,” said Business
Journal Publisher Brad Bollinger.
Each
speaker will offer their company’s story and their personal insights in a
presentation format like that of the popular “Ted Talks.”
Underwriters
for the event are BPM and Pisenti&Brinker with corporate sponsorship by
Manzana Products.
Registration
for the event is 7:30 a.m. The program takes place from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Tickets
are $65 per person or $675 for table of 10. Information: nbbj.news/food16 or
call 707-521-5264
CG serves 2
green colour rice varieties
Cherrupreet Kaur| TNN | Oct 23, 2016, 14:21 IST
As per IGKV scientists, the Tilkasturi and Korma varieties of green colour rice have been sent for testing to the Indian Institute of Rice Research in Hyderabad to test their nutritional content.
Talking to TOI, IGKV's Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding's principal scientist Dr Deepak Sharma said, "These green varieties of rice are rare of the rarest thing, which I have never come across in my entire career. IGKV is in the process of commercialising the products, a
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/raipur/CG-serves-2-green-colour-rice-varieties/articleshow/55011896.cms
Nigeria: Food Poisoning Looms -
Expired Rice Flood Nigerian Markets
By Babalola Yusuf
There are strong indications that expired foreign rice smuggled
into the country may have flooded Nigerian markets, LEADERSHIP can report.
The commodity, according to LEADERSHIP investigation are being
imported from neighboring Benin Republic into Nigeria.
Nigeria shares major borders with Benin Republic at Seme Border
(Lagos), Idiroko (Ogun State), Shaki (Oyo State) and Chikanda (Kwara State).
It was gathered that a larger percentage of rice imported into
the Francophone country were meant for sale in Nigeria. The rice has been
exposed to poor storage facilities, rain, weevils and other unhygienic forms of
storage, thereby making the commodity toxic and not fit for human consumption
anymore.
However, the unwholesome commodity is also smuggled into the
country through methods that include pouring grains of rice into various
crevices of vehicles.
The product are also believed to be conveyed in open wooden
canoes across creeks and waterways with large quantity of unhygienic waters
splashing on them.
The product are also believed to
be conveyed in open wooden canoes across creeks and waterways with large
quantity of unhygienic waters splashing on them.
It was gathered that despite the very obvious activities of the
Federal Operation Unit (FOU) A, Ikeja to stem smuggling, border commands of
Seme, Idiroko, Oyo/Oshun - have not been able to check smuggling of these toxic
commodities from getting into Nigeria in large quantities. Recall that FOU A had seized over 29,750 bags of 50kg of
smuggled rice with Duty Paid Value of N193m and arrested over 163 suspects from
January to September 2016. The same cannot be said of Seme, Idiroko and
Oyo/Oshun Command who had the primary responsibility of policing the borders.
LEADERSHIP investigation further showed that the business of
rice smuggling is growing and appearing increasingly unabated at the land
borders thereby putting Nigeria at risk of consuming the expired rice.
For instance, last week two trucks load of frozen chicken
estimated to be over 2062 cartons valued at over N11million were intercepted at
Ijebu-Ode enroute Sango, a suburb in Ogun by Comptroller General Compliance
team, South West Zone after it had escaped Ogun border Command.
It was reported that articulated vehicles, cars and canoes
loaded with rice crossed through the waters and creeks of Badagry and Agbara,
Idiroko and Saki to land in Sango, Kuto, Iyana ipaja, Iddo, Badagry, Mile 2,
Daleko markets.
Early morning visits to some of these markets showed vehicles in
large quantities offloading their smuggled wares.
In the case of Sango market, opposite the Divisional Police
Station, LEADERSHIP reporter saw smuggled vehicles used to move the commodities
with the connivance of some security operatives, thereby Police causing early
morning traffic as they take turns to discharge their smuggled consignments
into the Sango market for onward distribution to other parts of Lagos
http://allafrica.com/stories/201610220073.html
RICE IMPORTS |
Agri org SINAG urges lifting of 'quantitative restrictions'
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA - It's time to lift the
quantitative restrictions on the importation of rice, and
significantly increase public spending in the rice sector toward assuring rice self-sufficiency, according to the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) chaired by Rosendo So.
"On paper," SINAG argues, "the country's rice industry is supposed to enjoy protection from wanton imports under the rice QRs – quantitative restriction. But this remains merely on paper. Our QRs did not curb rice imports; we have been importing more than the required QRs, even not counting smuggled rice, for the past 10 years."
"The QRs has given us, at best, a fabricated sense of protection from the government for the past 20 years," SINAG adds.
significantly increase public spending in the rice sector toward assuring rice self-sufficiency, according to the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) chaired by Rosendo So.
"On paper," SINAG argues, "the country's rice industry is supposed to enjoy protection from wanton imports under the rice QRs – quantitative restriction. But this remains merely on paper. Our QRs did not curb rice imports; we have been importing more than the required QRs, even not counting smuggled rice, for the past 10 years."
"The QRs has given us, at best, a fabricated sense of protection from the government for the past 20 years," SINAG adds.
Under the QR regime, SINAG reveals,
the livestock and poultry industries were also forced to bear the consequences
of wholesale technical smuggling starting in 2006 with a reduced tariff, from
40% to 5%, on pork offal, pork fats and mechanically deboned meat (MDM) for
chicken.
As if on cue, smugglers and their cohorts in the bureaucracy found a novel way to smuggle pork meat by simply declaring their imports as pork offal or pork fats.
"The imposition or non-imposition of QRs are just temporary relief; what we need, ultimately, is a comprehensive government program that would significantly increase public spending in the rice sector.
"Such government program should be anchored on the development of our capacity to produce our staple and food requirements.
"The Philippines has a higher productivity per hectare than Thailand – one of our main sources of rice imports. Yet, we don't export to Thailand – rather it is Thailand exporting to us," said Rosendo So of SINAG.
Thailand has a comparative advantage since it costs less to produce rice there, as the Thai government continues to provide agricultural assistance in the entire supply chain of their local rice industry – from the infrastructure, all the way to pre-production, production, post-production and marketing stage, adds So.
"All major rice exporting and rice self-sufficient countries, including Vietnam, India, South Korea, Japan and the US, continue to support their respective local rice industries. Globally, subsidies have actually increased over the last 20 years."
In South Korea, SINAG discloses, direct payment programs to rice farmers are still being implemented under the Rice Income Compensation Act. For last year alone, some US$ 1.4 billion was allocated by the Korean government under the direct payment programs (area payment and deficiency payment programs) to its rice farmers.
SINAG says a dramatic boost in public support that the Duterte government should provide the rice sector, can include, among others:
As if on cue, smugglers and their cohorts in the bureaucracy found a novel way to smuggle pork meat by simply declaring their imports as pork offal or pork fats.
"The imposition or non-imposition of QRs are just temporary relief; what we need, ultimately, is a comprehensive government program that would significantly increase public spending in the rice sector.
"Such government program should be anchored on the development of our capacity to produce our staple and food requirements.
"The Philippines has a higher productivity per hectare than Thailand – one of our main sources of rice imports. Yet, we don't export to Thailand – rather it is Thailand exporting to us," said Rosendo So of SINAG.
Thailand has a comparative advantage since it costs less to produce rice there, as the Thai government continues to provide agricultural assistance in the entire supply chain of their local rice industry – from the infrastructure, all the way to pre-production, production, post-production and marketing stage, adds So.
"All major rice exporting and rice self-sufficient countries, including Vietnam, India, South Korea, Japan and the US, continue to support their respective local rice industries. Globally, subsidies have actually increased over the last 20 years."
In South Korea, SINAG discloses, direct payment programs to rice farmers are still being implemented under the Rice Income Compensation Act. For last year alone, some US$ 1.4 billion was allocated by the Korean government under the direct payment programs (area payment and deficiency payment programs) to its rice farmers.
SINAG says a dramatic boost in public support that the Duterte government should provide the rice sector, can include, among others:
- Supporting
rice farmers in the production (price support to farm inputs, seeds, free
irrigation, easy access and terms to credits and insurance coverage;
post-production (dryers and storage facilities) and marketing stage;
- Raising
the farmgate support price of palay and, increase procurement by NFA to at
least 10 percent of the total palay production;
- Incentivizing
local rice millers to modernize their milling operations and storage
facilities.
Contrary to lost perception, So
reveals, "our rice production per hectare, at 4.08 tons/ha., is at par
with the rest of the region; only Vietnam at 5.8 tons/ha. produces more yield.
Thailand is producing only 2.81 tons/ha."
Our problem lies in the:
Our problem lies in the:
- Higher
cost of producing rice
- Decreasing
areas planted to rice, and
- Post-harvest
losses due to unavailability of dryers and antiquated rice mills
"The greatest tragedy of our
times is the destruction of our capacity to produce our own staples," said
So.
____________________________________________________________________________________
SINAG also advocates the following points:
Regulation of rice importation
There is also a need to strengthen and impose tougher measures in the regulation of rice imports – including the proliferation of smuggling and the weeding out of unscrupulous traders and importers who have used farmers' cooperatives as dummies under the private sector rice importation scheme to corner the bulk of rice imports
Though permits are supposedly allocated to farmer cooperatives, the reality is that these permits are being bought (and being recycled) by unscrupulous rice traders or financiers; similar to the schemes already exposed in the series of Senate hearings on the modus of Davidson Bangayan and other consolidators of rice import permits.
Also, during previous Senate hearings, the majority of our senators and the heads of pertinent government agencies were one in the conclusion that it is more expedient, beneficial and advantageous for the country to have the NFA as the sole importer of rice.
It is at the period when private traders were allowed to import that rice smuggling flourished (see table above, years 2011, 2012), and importation was more controlled when there were no/limited private sector importation (years 2013, 2014).
More importantly, as the sole importer of rice; the NFA can also safeguard and guarantee that its mandate of having 15 days buffer stock of rice for the entire country and 17 days in critical areas can be met at any given time.
Global market situation
For a rice-consuming country with an increasing population like the Philippines; rice (food) self-sufficiency remains the only viable option.
Any discussion on the prospect of the rice industry should look into the relatively thin world rice market and, recently the impacts of extreme weather situation; as major considerations.
Recent studies suggest that rice exports went down by an average -11.8% for exporting countries last year. The value of global rice exports also dipped by -18.4% from the $26 billion worth of exported rice in 2014.
Vietnam, our biggest source of imported rice (smuggled or otherwise) has reduced their exports by at least 100,000 tons. Rice production is not increasing significantly at the global level, and this year, the projection is a decline in global rice production.
Global rice production is pegged at 470 million tons; of these, only 39 million to 42 million tons are tradeable. This means that less than 10% of the rice produced globally is available in the world market.
Global rice trade is thin, compared to about 20% for wheat and 15-20% for corn. This relatively thin market means that rice supply (and rice prices) has tended to be more unstable in recent years.
In 2008, global rice prices soared from US$400/MT to about US$800 to US$ 948/MT when rice exporting countries imposed temporary export bans/restrictions and prompted panic buying of rice importing countries, including the Philippines.
The 2008 rice price crisis should already be a wake-up to us all on the vulnerability of the global rice market.
Extreme Weather Situations
According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the vast majority of climate change impacts and the overall impact of climate change on rice production are likely to be negative.
One of the major impacts of climate change is rising-sea levels, making rice production in coastal and low-lying areas more vulnerable. More than half of Vietnam's rice production is in the Mekong River delta, a region which will be most affected by sea-level rise. Vietnam is our main source of imported rice.
Further studies suggest that about 20 million hectares of the world's rice-growing area is at risk of occasionally being flooded to submergence level, in particular in countries like India – another major source of our rice imports. The average yield reduction in drought-prone areas is ranging from 17% to 40%.
Conclusion
1. Promoting rice self-sufficiency and a significant increase in public spending is the only option viable of the local rice industry given the relatively thin global rice market and the onset of extreme weather situations as the new norm;
2. Lift rice QRs, and impose the maximum possible tariff line to rice – at the current international price of rice, the tariff should be at least 50%; and re-impose to 40% the tariff on pork offal, pork fats and chicken MDMs;
In 2014, South Korea decided to lift its QR on rice and; instead established a 513% tariff on all rice imports and further tightened its control over rice imports through its public trading enterprise (similar to NFA). South Korea imposed the tariff despite the protestations from the US, Australia, Vietnam, China and Thailand.
South Korea maintains that the 513% tariff line is justified given their calculation of the actual difference of domestic and import prices of rice for the years 1986 to 1988.
3. Lift rice QR and the revenue generated from rice import tariffs should exclusively be allocated in implementing a comprehensive government program across the whole supply chain of the rice industry that will re-develop our capacity to produce our own staple and food requirements.
4. Lift rice QR, and fully implement recently passed laws that would strengthen anti-smuggling efforts and regulations governing our quarantine and food safety regulations/sanitary and phytosanitary measures (i.e. RA 10611 or the Food Safety Act of 2013 and RA 10845 or the Anti Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016).
5. Lift rice QR and institute special safeguard (SSG) mechanisms that will protect the local rice industry against import dumping, import surges and global price discrimination.
The WTO has recognized the sovereign rights of governments to impose import bans and restrictions, including unilaterally imposing higher tariffs, in the face of economic and social crises caused by import surges or import dumping.
a. Indonesia is imposing a complete ban on rice imports at certain periods of the year - before, during and after the main harvesting season. Last year, Indonesia also imposed a wide-ranging import restriction on apples, grapes, potatoes, beef and poultry.
b. The near ten-fold increase in poultry imports from 2001 to 2002 moved the Cameroon government to increase tariffs on poultry from below 25 percent to 42 percent and subsequently imposed a quantitative restriction of 5,000 MT for poultry by 2005
c. As a result of the sugar import surge between 2000 to 2001, Kenya has raised the tariff for sugar at 125%, from the original 25%
d. Chile has been supporting its agriculture with the use of price bands on selected commodities, namely wheat, vegetables oils and fats, and sugar, which occasionally exceed its WTO bound rates.
6. Impose stringent measures in the accreditation, monitoring and issuance of import permits of rice importers; strengthen the regulatory function of the National Food Authority (NFA) as the sole importer of rice.
____________________________________________________________________________________
SINAG also advocates the following points:
Regulation of rice importation
There is also a need to strengthen and impose tougher measures in the regulation of rice imports – including the proliferation of smuggling and the weeding out of unscrupulous traders and importers who have used farmers' cooperatives as dummies under the private sector rice importation scheme to corner the bulk of rice imports
Though permits are supposedly allocated to farmer cooperatives, the reality is that these permits are being bought (and being recycled) by unscrupulous rice traders or financiers; similar to the schemes already exposed in the series of Senate hearings on the modus of Davidson Bangayan and other consolidators of rice import permits.
Also, during previous Senate hearings, the majority of our senators and the heads of pertinent government agencies were one in the conclusion that it is more expedient, beneficial and advantageous for the country to have the NFA as the sole importer of rice.
It is at the period when private traders were allowed to import that rice smuggling flourished (see table above, years 2011, 2012), and importation was more controlled when there were no/limited private sector importation (years 2013, 2014).
More importantly, as the sole importer of rice; the NFA can also safeguard and guarantee that its mandate of having 15 days buffer stock of rice for the entire country and 17 days in critical areas can be met at any given time.
Global market situation
For a rice-consuming country with an increasing population like the Philippines; rice (food) self-sufficiency remains the only viable option.
Any discussion on the prospect of the rice industry should look into the relatively thin world rice market and, recently the impacts of extreme weather situation; as major considerations.
Recent studies suggest that rice exports went down by an average -11.8% for exporting countries last year. The value of global rice exports also dipped by -18.4% from the $26 billion worth of exported rice in 2014.
Vietnam, our biggest source of imported rice (smuggled or otherwise) has reduced their exports by at least 100,000 tons. Rice production is not increasing significantly at the global level, and this year, the projection is a decline in global rice production.
Global rice production is pegged at 470 million tons; of these, only 39 million to 42 million tons are tradeable. This means that less than 10% of the rice produced globally is available in the world market.
Global rice trade is thin, compared to about 20% for wheat and 15-20% for corn. This relatively thin market means that rice supply (and rice prices) has tended to be more unstable in recent years.
In 2008, global rice prices soared from US$400/MT to about US$800 to US$ 948/MT when rice exporting countries imposed temporary export bans/restrictions and prompted panic buying of rice importing countries, including the Philippines.
The 2008 rice price crisis should already be a wake-up to us all on the vulnerability of the global rice market.
Extreme Weather Situations
According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the vast majority of climate change impacts and the overall impact of climate change on rice production are likely to be negative.
One of the major impacts of climate change is rising-sea levels, making rice production in coastal and low-lying areas more vulnerable. More than half of Vietnam's rice production is in the Mekong River delta, a region which will be most affected by sea-level rise. Vietnam is our main source of imported rice.
Further studies suggest that about 20 million hectares of the world's rice-growing area is at risk of occasionally being flooded to submergence level, in particular in countries like India – another major source of our rice imports. The average yield reduction in drought-prone areas is ranging from 17% to 40%.
Conclusion
1. Promoting rice self-sufficiency and a significant increase in public spending is the only option viable of the local rice industry given the relatively thin global rice market and the onset of extreme weather situations as the new norm;
2. Lift rice QRs, and impose the maximum possible tariff line to rice – at the current international price of rice, the tariff should be at least 50%; and re-impose to 40% the tariff on pork offal, pork fats and chicken MDMs;
In 2014, South Korea decided to lift its QR on rice and; instead established a 513% tariff on all rice imports and further tightened its control over rice imports through its public trading enterprise (similar to NFA). South Korea imposed the tariff despite the protestations from the US, Australia, Vietnam, China and Thailand.
South Korea maintains that the 513% tariff line is justified given their calculation of the actual difference of domestic and import prices of rice for the years 1986 to 1988.
3. Lift rice QR and the revenue generated from rice import tariffs should exclusively be allocated in implementing a comprehensive government program across the whole supply chain of the rice industry that will re-develop our capacity to produce our own staple and food requirements.
4. Lift rice QR, and fully implement recently passed laws that would strengthen anti-smuggling efforts and regulations governing our quarantine and food safety regulations/sanitary and phytosanitary measures (i.e. RA 10611 or the Food Safety Act of 2013 and RA 10845 or the Anti Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016).
5. Lift rice QR and institute special safeguard (SSG) mechanisms that will protect the local rice industry against import dumping, import surges and global price discrimination.
The WTO has recognized the sovereign rights of governments to impose import bans and restrictions, including unilaterally imposing higher tariffs, in the face of economic and social crises caused by import surges or import dumping.
a. Indonesia is imposing a complete ban on rice imports at certain periods of the year - before, during and after the main harvesting season. Last year, Indonesia also imposed a wide-ranging import restriction on apples, grapes, potatoes, beef and poultry.
b. The near ten-fold increase in poultry imports from 2001 to 2002 moved the Cameroon government to increase tariffs on poultry from below 25 percent to 42 percent and subsequently imposed a quantitative restriction of 5,000 MT for poultry by 2005
c. As a result of the sugar import surge between 2000 to 2001, Kenya has raised the tariff for sugar at 125%, from the original 25%
d. Chile has been supporting its agriculture with the use of price bands on selected commodities, namely wheat, vegetables oils and fats, and sugar, which occasionally exceed its WTO bound rates.
6. Impose stringent measures in the accreditation, monitoring and issuance of import permits of rice importers; strengthen the regulatory function of the National Food Authority (NFA) as the sole importer of rice.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/133623/agri-org-sinag-urges-lifting-of-quantitative-restrictions
Agri group:
Import cap on rice failed to protect Philippines’ farmers
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 01:44
AM October 24, 2016
Farmer
groups and agribusiness operators are in favor of letting the import
restriction on rice lapse by mid-2017, saying this has been useless in curbing
the influx of grains from abroad anyway.
The Samahang
Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) said protection of the domestic rice industry
remained only on paper as the Philippines has been importing more than the
minimum volume the country had committed to under a World Trade Organization
(WTO) mechanism.
Under the
quantitative restriction (QR) mechanism of the WTO, a country is allowed to
limit the volume of required imports instead of a total ban on importation.
Waiver
Based on the
current QR, the Philippines could limit importation to 805,200 tons yearly
through private traders. However, this does not include
government-to-government importation done through the National Food Authority
(NFA).
For the
Philippines, this option will lapse on June 30, 2017. The country was able to
extend a waiver on the QR’s conclusion several times before, and government
officials are at odds on whether to initiate negotiations for yet another
waiver.
Two more years
Majority of
the country’s economic managers want to allow free trade and thus let the QR
lapse while the Department of Agriculture wants to try for an extension of at
least two years more.
“Promoting
rice self-sufficiency and a significant increase in public spending is the only
option viable of the local rice industry given the relatively thin global rice
market and the onset of extreme weather situations as the new norm,” Sinag
chair Rosendo So said.
With the QR
lifted, So said the government should impose the “maximum possible tariff” rate
on imported rice.
South Korea experience
He said that
at the current international price of rice, the tariff should be at least 50
percent.
“In 2014,
South Korea decided to lift its QR on rice and instead established a
513-percent tariff on all rice imports and further tightened its control over
rice imports through its public trading enterprise similar to NFA,” he said.
He added
special safeguard (SSG) mechanisms also needed to be implemented against import
dumping, import surges and global price discrimination.
“The
government should impose stringent measures in the accreditation, monitoring
and issuance of import permits of rice importers; and strengthen the regulatory
function of the National Food Authority (NFA) as the sole importer of rice,” he
said.
http://business.inquirer.net/217323/agri-group-import-cap-rice-failed-protect-philippines-farmers
CG serves 2 green colour rice varieties
Sun,23 Oct 2016
These rice varieties are soft in quality and highly aromatic while the husk is also very thin. After being cooked, the natural green colour and aroma will appeal to rice eaters."The farmer Prahlad, who has been growing this variety since 15 years, said, "Korma variety should be kept unpolished. Only then will it retain its natural colour.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/raipur/CG-serves-2-green-colour-rice-varieties/articleshow/55011896.cms
http://www.nyoooz.com/raipur/642402/cg-serves-2-green-colour-rice-varieties
CBN to fund rice milling plant
for Coscharis farm
By Chijioke Nelson |
24 October 2016 | 12:38 am
CBN
Maduka tasks govt on entrepreneurial challenges
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it will fund the rice milling plant for the 2000-hectare Coscharis Farm located at Anaku, in Anambra State, to ensure that the product is made available to consumers.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it will fund the rice milling plant for the 2000-hectare Coscharis Farm located at Anaku, in Anambra State, to ensure that the product is made available to consumers.
Besides, the apex bank has reassured that it’s
ready to support any entrepreneurial initiative aimed at liberating the country
from the stronghold of endless importation of items that can be made locally.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who made the
remarks during the tour of the rice farm, expressed pleasure for switch to
agriculture by a company he described as being in the business of machines,
spare parts, and car importation for decades.
“We started this with him, about two years ago when we granted him a N2 billion Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS). With his own resources, he added to it and that is why he is where he is today.
“We have naira, and we would lend to people so
that we can grow our food and feed our people. Forecast has it that by 2050,
Nigeria would have the third largest population in the world. So, we need to
begin to prepare for that day. Nobody is going to prepare for us and we must be
able to feed our people,” the governor said.
He reiterated that there is no foreign exchange
to import food, especially when we can produce those items in the country.
The Managing Director of the farm, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, however, urged government to urgently respond to entrepreneurial challenges besetting the development and growth of businesses in the country.
The Managing Director of the farm, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, however, urged government to urgently respond to entrepreneurial challenges besetting the development and growth of businesses in the country.
Maduka said that beside the foreign exchange
challenges, many other issues relating to the growth of private initiatives are
left unattended, even at ministry level.
He said that the farm will provide full time
employment for about 3000 people, as well as drive ancillary industrial growth
in the state when all the phases of the investment are complete.
He said the farm phase of the business
currently employs over 250 people, adding that the rice mill and irrigation
components of the investment for which the CBN has given approval in principle
to finance, will significantly enhance the capacity of the business to create
more jobs and boost economic activities.
The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh,
noted that the response of enterprising Nigerians towards food production is
now inspiring great confidence in our country.
“I think Nigeria’s independence is just
beginning to be established and unless a country feeds itself, every other dream
can’t be fulfilled. This is amazing and I have seen similar things in Kebbi
State. I am very proud of Coscharis and the effort the governor is making to
support him.
“I am also proud of the role the CBN is playing
because they are giving a lot of credit support, even allocating the scarce
foreign exchange that we have to a critical sector like agriculture.
“The rice sector alone will take up to two
million people before we began to satisfy our needs of eight million tonnes.
This is heavily mechanised, the smaller farmers don’t have all these machinery
but they contribute immensely.
“Millers are there. The marketers, the
transporters, the distributors, all of them will be part of this business, just
for rice. We have not even talked about cassava, maize, sorghum, millets,
beans, yams so the future is huge, the jobs are there. So, the time is coming
when Nigerians don’t need to cross the desert to go and suffer in Europe,” he
said.
Climate change
puts agriculture on the hot seat
AGRICULTURE is on the hot seat
due to climate change, even as the agricultural development agenda undergo a
major shift because of the significant reduction in food production and global
food insecurity.
Agricultural scientists, economic
experts, academics and civilized societies agree that “a dramatic increase in
efforts and investment is required to transition from vulnerable nonsustainable
systems to sustainable agriculture.” In order to achieve food security,
reduce poverty, safeguard and restore ecological systems, the all-embracing
concept of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) may yet save the day for the
projected 9 billion world population by 2050. By then, according to United
Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates made in 2009,
crop yields will need to increase by 70 percent.
UN defines CSA as “agriculture
that sustainably increases productivity, enhances resilience [adaptation], reduces/removes
greenhouse gases [mitigation], where possible, and enhances the achievement of
national food security and development goals.”
“Based on this definition, the
bottom line is how countries look at their national interest and operationalize
CSA in their respective countries,” said Dr. Leo Sebastian, Climate Change,
Agriculture and Food Security-Southeast Asia (CCAFS-SEA) regional program
leader of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR).
Pros and cons abound in any science-based agricultural
techniques, including CSA. For one, social movements across the globe blasted
it as a mere a project of agro-industry that will actually worsen climate
change by failing to address such issues as governance, land uses and agricultural
research.
Critics also fear that CSA is a
“Trojan horse” set to marginalize smallholder farmers, journalist-author Fred
Pearce writes in When the Rivers Run Dry: “They [critics] believe the arrival of carbon markets, brokers
and traders in the fields of Africa can do nothing but harm.”
By dictionary definition, carbon
market is any market in which carbon-emission allowances trading takes place.
For example, companies are given a certain quota or permit to pollute a certain
amount of carbon dioxide. These companies can sell their spare permits to other
companies who wish to pollute more than their allowable limit.
In fact, talks have started among
Brussels, China, South Korea and California (where carbon markets are in
various state of development) about possible collaboration, although this move
sparked a rally in European Union against carbon permits.
On the other hand, other critics
fear that the high cost of employing consultants to monitor carbon uptake of
farm soils will make it impossible for small farmers to earn income from the
sale of the carbon absorbed by their soils. Only large landowners are able to
reduce carbon market-transaction costs resulting in a new phase of
land-grabbing called “soil grabbing.”
Gina Castillo, agriculture
program manager at Oxfam America and a steering committee member of the African
CSA Alliance, fears that farmers may be left out of any climate-adaptation
efforts. Thus, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warns: “These
efforts must have at their heart smallholder farmers. Without their participation
we will fail.”
Concerns were, likewise, aired
about CSA prioritizing mitigation and carbon sequestration in soils over food
security and adaptation to climate change. Devlin Kuyek, a researcher for
Grain, a small international nonprofit organization that supports small farmers
and social movements that struggle for community-controlled and
biodiversity-based food systems in Africa, Asia and Latin America, called CSA a
“meaningless label…meant to conceal the social, political and environmental implications
of the different technology choices.”
“I do not want to be refuting
other people’s analysis, opinions, perspectives, prejudices or biases on CSA. I
think that’s for them to explain their position. For me, what matters most is
what is really happening on the ground. What people are doing, not what they
are arguing about,” Sebastian said.
“Climate change will impact on
all of us. As such, inclusive and concerted efforts will be needed whether you
are a big corporate entity or a small-holder farm. The big challenge is how we
can bring everybody to start working and addressing the challenge.
“We cannot afford to make the
issue of climate change an ideological debate. The sooner we can work together
and start assuming responsibilities without antagonizing each other, the better
it will be for our world. I think that the CSA approach and the Global Alliance
for Climate-Smart Agriculture are big strides toward that,” he said.
Sebastian, a former executive
director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute, pointed out: “In the case
of the Philippines, are we going to focus on addressing the interest of our
smallholder farmers or the big corporate farms? For countries, where CCAFS has
been working, like in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR, the focus is very
clear—CSA is for smallholder farmers, how we can improve their resilience to
climate change, sustainably increase their productivity and contribute to green
agriculture.”
Over at the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna, scientists point out that
“environmental stresses constrain rice production, affecting about 30 percent
of the 700 million poor in Asia alone who live in rain-fed rice-growing areas.
These stresses can be caused by extreme climatic changes, like drought, flooding
or rising sea levels, while some can be inherent, like high-iron toxicity in
the soil. Our breeding programs aim to develop rice types that can survive in
these harsh environments.”
Dr. Bruce Tolentino, IRRI deputy
director general for communication and partnerships, said: “When we at IRRI
speak about CSA, we refer to the rice varieties developed that better tolerate
drought, salinity, heat and flooding, and the tools that enable farmers to save
water, reduce carbon emissions and plant on less-favorable soils.”
Surprisingly, funding for rice
research comes mostly from western countries. As climate change threatens
resource security and availability, IRRI scientists say, investment into
research and development cannot be ignored.
IRRI Director General Matthew
Morell revealed that over 95 percent of funding for rice research from 2010 to
2015 came from the West. Governments of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations “should seize the opportunity to drive the next Green Revolution and
secure its own future food needs by increasing funding support for agriculture
R&D [research and development],” Morell said.
On the whole, scientists from six
research institutions—Wageningen University Research University of
California Davis, French Agricultural Research Centre for International
Development, UN FAO, CGIAR CCAFS and Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research— said “CSA is a way to achieve short- and long-term agricultural
development priorities in the face of climate change and serve as an integrator
to other development priorities.”
CSA needs support from countries
in “securing the necessary policy, technical and financial conditions to enable
them to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes, build
resilience and the capacity of agricultural and food systems to adapt to
climate change and seek opportunities to reduce and remove greenhouse gases
while meeting their national food security.”
At the same time, more knowledge
is needed about CSA, while continuous interaction between science,
policy-makers and farmers essential not only to align research and
decision-makers, but also to improve the efficiency of investments to
successfully confront climate change.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/climate-change-puts-agriculture-on-the-hot-seat/
