VN bids for Bangladesh rice
sale
Update: August, 08/2017 - 09:00
HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam is taking part in an international
aucton being held today by Bangladesh on bids to import 50,000 tonnes of
non-basmati parboiled rice.
According to the tender, the imported rice would
have to be shipped to Chittagong and Mongla ports within 40 days of the
contract siganture. The rice has to have been harvested in the past year.
In May, Việt Nam and Bangladesh decided to extend a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) on rice trade, allowing Việt Nam to sell up
to 1 million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh each year until 2022.
After signing the deal, Bangladesh requested 300,000
tonnes of 5-per cent broken rice to reach its target of importing 500,000
tonnes by the end of 2017.
Bangladesh has a population of more than 170 million
with a low supply capacity unequal to its high consuming power. The country
often faces disasters and bad harvest while Việt Nam’s rice production industry
is seeking more markets.Việt Nam sold more than 300,000 tonnes of rice to
Bangladesh in 2011 and 2012.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Việt Nam’s rice exports in the first seven months of 2017 were
estimated at 3.3 million tonnes and US$1.5 billion, up 15.7 per cent in volume
and 13.7 per cent in value over the same period in 2016. — VNS
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/381578/vn-bids-for-bangladesh-rice-sale.html#5u5BZ2UxK7CbAzrU.97
USA Rice Hosts Fifth Annual Medium Grain
Cooking Contest in Japan
By Sarah
Moran
TOKYO,
JAPAN -- For the fifth consecutive year, USA Rice held its premier promotional
activity here culminating with a cooking contest featuring U.S. medium grain
rice. This year, 184 professional chefs
participated in the restaurant and deli categories, and 395 student chefs took
part in the day-long event highlighting the quality and versatility of U.S.
medium grain rice.
Six
finalists from both the restaurant and deli categories competed in the final
contest. Restaurant chefs were tasked
with creating a dish for a party or reception, while deli chefs were instructed
to come up with a deli item to liven up a special event. The winning restaurant entry was a Lobster
and Seafood Ceviche with U.S. Medium Grain Salad and Coriander, and the winning
deli entry was a U.S. Medium Grain and Diced Vegetables Salad served in a Mason
jar.
"Promoting
usage of U.S. origin rice at the professional level is a strategic move since
most of the rice imported under the Simultaneous-Buy-Sell (SBS) system that
enters the commercial market is used by the foodservice industry," said
Jim Guinn, director of USA Rice Asia Promotion Programs, who attended the
event. "In 2016, the demand for
U.S. rice was unprecedented, setting records for both volume and market share
of imports."
Colorful
first prize deli dish
Trade
contacts indicate that both those records are likely to be broken this year,
driven by several factors, including the quality and versatility of U.S. rice,
the favorable price of U.S. rice compared to domestic varieties, and a Japanese
government policy that incentivizes the production of super premium varieties
and rice for feed, leaving a void in reasonably priced rice varieties favored
by the foodservice industry.
"We
also see a greater awareness of U.S. rice as a result of activities like the
chefs contest that was reported on by mainstream media," said Guinn. "Self-initiated testing of U.S. rice by
private companies and rice-related associations within Japan also is driving
increased imports."
EDITORIAL: Trade helps rice farmers, and
many others
By
Enterprise readers Updated 1:00 pm, Monday, August 7, 2017
Rice
farmers in Southeast Texas got some good news recently - and it's been a while
since you've read those words. Rice farming in this region and the entire state
has plummeted in recent years because the profit just wasn't high enough - or
there at all.
That may
change. China, which had previously banned U.S. rice imports because of
disagreements over safety protocols, has agreed to allow the sales. Rice
farmers are obviously excited.
As Louis
Broussard, owner of the Beaumont Rice Mill, put it, "The more demand, the
more competition for rice, the better the prices. It definitely won't
hurt."
That's
true in any business, but the key issue here is foreign trade. When U.S. firms
can sell to customers beyond our border, they have an obvious opportunity to do
better.
That
used to be widely understood, but foreign trade has been knocked around lately.
At first it was just some in the Democratic Party, who thought foreign trade
took too many U.S. jobs. The election of President Trump brought that erroneous
viewpoint to the Republican Party.
One of
Trump's first acts was to kill a Pacific trade deal aimed at countering China's
growing influence in Asia. He has also threatened to pull the U.S. out of the
North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, though he has
backed away from that position lately.
Members
of Congress from Texas need to encourage him to understand the positive
benefits of trade. Many of them are Republicans, and they can influence the
White House.
That
should be an easy argument for Southeast Texas, which brings in oil from around
the world to refine here, and exports chemicals made here to many countries
abroad.
Of
course U.S. officials must be vigilant against dumping, when foreign companies
sell products here below cost to weaken U.S. competitors. When that happens,
swift sanctions must follow.
But
that's a small part of international trade. Mostly it's an agreement between a
willing buyer and seller for the benefit of both.
The U.S.
already imports a lot from China, mostly low-cost consumer items that wouldn't
be made here anyway. If we can sell China more rice grown here, that's a change
for the better.
-----------------------------------
Do you
have something to say? Email us a letter to the editor at opinions@beaumontenterprise.com
Make sure to include your name, mailing address and phone number so we can
contact you to verify the letter, but only your name and city of residence will
be published. You can also mail letters to The Enterprise, P.O. Box 3071, Beaumont,
TX, 77704. The limit on letters is 200 wordshttp://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/editorials/article/EDITORIAL-Trade-helps-rice-farmers-and-many-11739700.php
NFA
assures no fake rice in Abra
August 8, 2017
BANGUED, Abra, Aug. 8(PIA) -- The National
Food Authority assured that there is no fake rice in the province.
Veralew D.G De Vera, Branch Manager of
NFA-Abra, said as he strongly believes that the province of Abra is totally
free from fake rice. Abra has massive land for production of agricultural
products most especially rice which is the staple food of Filipinos. Rice
supply in the province is sufficient and they are not importing rice at the
moment, he claimed.
De Vera also assured that the NFA has adequate
supply of rice in its bodegas and is ready to supply the grains requirement of
Abra in the next three months or more. (JDP/MTBB/Christian Allister G. Tubadeza
– PIA CAR, Abra)
http://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/111502088902
Could perennial crops be an answer to
climate change?
IANS|
Updated:
Aug 07, 2017, 12.56 PM IST
BENGALURU:
While India reaped
the benefits of the Green Revolution in the 1960s, her neighbour China is now
taking the lead in another area of sustainable agriculture -- developing crops
that meet the challenges posed by global warming. Chinese agricultural
scientists are working to convert seasonal crops into perennial crops that
regrow after being harvested and deliver multiple yields before dying.
"They are saving labour costs. Besides, greater soil carbon storage and lesser input requirements mean that perennial crops have the potential to mitigate global warming," Erik J. Sacks, Associate Professor of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, told this correspondent in an e-mail. China's Yunnan Agricultural University (YAU) started working on perennial rice after the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines wound up this project in 2001 owing to a financial crisis.
At YAU, Fengyi Hu and his colleagues developed a perennial rice by crossing Oryza sativa -- the short-lived Asian rice -- with a wild African perennial O. longistaminata.
The cross, known as PR 23, "apparently lasts at least five years and gives 10 seasons of grain twice a year with yields comparable to seasonal rice", Nandula Raghuram, Professor and Dean of Biotechnology at New Delhi's Indraprastha University, told this correspondent.
"They are saving labour costs. Besides, greater soil carbon storage and lesser input requirements mean that perennial crops have the potential to mitigate global warming," Erik J. Sacks, Associate Professor of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, told this correspondent in an e-mail. China's Yunnan Agricultural University (YAU) started working on perennial rice after the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines wound up this project in 2001 owing to a financial crisis.
At YAU, Fengyi Hu and his colleagues developed a perennial rice by crossing Oryza sativa -- the short-lived Asian rice -- with a wild African perennial O. longistaminata.
The cross, known as PR 23, "apparently lasts at least five years and gives 10 seasons of grain twice a year with yields comparable to seasonal rice", Nandula Raghuram, Professor and Dean of Biotechnology at New Delhi's Indraprastha University, told this correspondent.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/could-perennial-crops-be-an-answer-to-climate-change/articleshow/59951858.cms
Aerobic rice a bliss for farmers facing water
scarcity in Bihar
S K Jain| TNN | Updated:
Aug 8, 2017, 02:06 PM IST
SAMASTIPUR: There is some good news for farmers of the state
struggling with perennial problem of water scarcity, particularly for paddy
production.
Scientists of Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU), Pusa (Samastipur), have found a new variety of aerobic ricewhich will grow in puddled soil. The iron-efficient variety of paddy christened as 'Rajendra Neelam', has been developed with a view to coping with the problem of erratic rains in the state and the problem of water crisis. Aerobic rice is a production system in which especially developed rice varieties are grown in well-drained, non-puddled and non-saturated soils. With appropriate management, the system aims for yields of at least 4 to 6 tonne per hectare.
Rajendra Neelam , the variety, which was found by Prof Lilanjay of plant reading and genetics department at RAU, have already been released by the State Variety Release Committee (SVRC) for Bihar and notified by the Central Variety Release Committee (CVRC), New Delhi.
According to sources, the new variety of the crop is now being grown on two hectares of agricultural farm in RAU and is expected that 60 to 80 quintals of breeder seeds would be produced in October-November this year for marketing among farmers and government agencies. The seeds thus produced could be cultivated in June 2018, added sources.
Scientists of Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU), Pusa (Samastipur), have found a new variety of aerobic ricewhich will grow in puddled soil. The iron-efficient variety of paddy christened as 'Rajendra Neelam', has been developed with a view to coping with the problem of erratic rains in the state and the problem of water crisis. Aerobic rice is a production system in which especially developed rice varieties are grown in well-drained, non-puddled and non-saturated soils. With appropriate management, the system aims for yields of at least 4 to 6 tonne per hectare.
Rajendra Neelam , the variety, which was found by Prof Lilanjay of plant reading and genetics department at RAU, have already been released by the State Variety Release Committee (SVRC) for Bihar and notified by the Central Variety Release Committee (CVRC), New Delhi.
According to sources, the new variety of the crop is now being grown on two hectares of agricultural farm in RAU and is expected that 60 to 80 quintals of breeder seeds would be produced in October-November this year for marketing among farmers and government agencies. The seeds thus produced could be cultivated in June 2018, added sources.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/aerobic-rice-a-bliss-for-farmers-facing-water-scarcity-in-state/articleshow/59959510.cms
Erratic Weather Threatens Livelihood Of Rice
Farmers In Madagascar
Samantha Reinders for NPR
Children
walk through a rice field outside the town of Kelilalina in eastern Madagascar.
Rice is the dominant food and the dominant crop on the Indian Ocean island, but
changing weather patterns are disrupting production in some parts of the
country.
All his life, 56-year-old Jeanpier Marolahy has been
growing rice in eastern Madagascar, on the steep hills that slope down from the
central highlands toward the Indian Ocean.
The thin, weather-beaten Marolahy knows that rice
production is all about water and timing. The grain needs a lot of water at
first, but if torrential rains fall at harvest time, they can destroy the crop.
Rice is a hugely important part of life on the island
nation off the southeastern coast of Africa. At times, it shows up for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. In much of the country, it dominates the
landscape, planted in small plots across millions of acres of land.
But erratic rains and powerful storms are threatening
rice production in parts Madagascar and putting the livelihoods of subsistence
farmers like Marolahy at risk.
For years, Marolahy says, the wet and dry seasons arrived
in his fields in a relatively predictable pattern. But that is no longer the
case.
The weather has clearly changed, Marolahy says, from when
he was a boy.
Ankle-deep in the mud of a rice paddy, Marolahy notes
that when he was a kid, this part of eastern Madagascar might get hit by a
cyclone once every five years. Now, he says, he can get five big storms in a
single year.
Complicating matters even more, this area was plagued by
a four-month drought last year that Marolahy says was the worst he has ever
seen.
Marolahy has two small rice paddies in a narrow valley
just outside the Ranomafana National Park. He also has two smaller plots of
rice and vegetables terraced into an adjacent hillside. These four fields are
the only source of income for his family.
This year, the rains have been steady, but he says it has
been abnormally cold and the seedlings are growing very slowly.
“Look,” he says, pointing to a 10-foot-by-10-foot plot of
bright green rice shoots. “They are like this.” He holds open his thumb and
forefinger. “But they should be like this,” he says, holding his hands about 6
inches apart. At night, he covers the seedlings with banana leaves to try to
keep them warm.
Marolahy isn’t just another farmer complaining about
uncooperative weather. Climate scientists say weather patterns are becoming
more unpredictable.
Researchers tracking the temperature in the adjacent
national park say the highs and lows in this part of Madagascar have become far
more extreme over the past two decades.
In 2014, Celia Harvey, a scientist with Conservation
International, helped conduct a study looking at how changing climatic conditions are affecting 600 small-scale
farmers on the island nation.
“We found that farmers are experiencing very variable
rainfall and very variable crop production,” Harvey says.
The study also found that small-scale farmers in
Madagascar are ill-prepared to deal with climatic fluctuations.
“They have large families. They have very small areas of
land. They’re very poor. They lack access to basic services. They’re really
living on the edge in many ways,” she says. “So they depend almost entirely on
rice production for both their food security and for income generation. So anything
that affects their rice production ultimately very quickly undermines their
livelihood.”
According to the World Bank, three-quarters of the population of Madagascar lives in poverty. Most of those people survive by growing their own food.
In Madagascar, these small, subsistence farms are
particularly vulnerable to tropical storms. Madagascar is as long from tip to
toe as Texas. Its 1,000-mile-long east coast stands as a long, straight bulwark
protecting southern Africa from storms that barrel west across the open Indian
Ocean. As ocean temperatures rise, climate scientists expect that more powerful
and more frequent tropical storms will buffet Madagascar.
“Madagascar is one of those countries that are very
exposed to cyclones, and when cyclones come through, farmers typically lose
most of their rice crop,” Harvey says.
Marolahy, the rice farmer, says he has few options on how
to deal with the erratic weather. His land is the most valuable thing he owns.
He can’t just move somewhere else or find another job. His strategy to deal
with the fluctuations in his rice yields is to expand. Later this year, he
plans to burn the bushes off a hillside above his rice paddies and try planting
cassava and beans.
Not far from Marolahy’s fields, another family of rice
farmers is also diversifying. Perline Ramaniandaibe and her two daughters are
panning for gold in a small stream that serves as both the sewer and the spring
for the village of Kelilalina in eastern Madagascar.
Ramaniandaibe says some days they don’t find any gold,
but other days, they find a few flecks of the precious metal. They use the gold
to support their rice farm.
“We don’t have any other way to make money, only this,
this gold,” she says.
One of the benefits of panning for gold, Ramaniandaibe
says, is that when flooding makes it impossible to work in their fields, the
rising water cuts in to the hillsides, exposing soil that potentially could
yield more gold. She concedes that ripping up agricultural land to search for
gold is a problem over the long term, but at least it can bring in some cash
when crops fail.
And there may be another silver lining to climate change
for some parts of the island. While researchers say storms and erratic rainfall
will make it harder to grow rice in eastern Madagascar, rising temperatures might boost rice production in the central highlands of the country, where lowe
https://news.wbhm.org/npr_story_post/2017/erratic-weather-threatens-livelihood-of-rice-farmers-in-madagascar/
Growth in Rice Imports
Tuesday,
August 08, 2017
The Islamic Republic of Iran
Customs Administration also reported that the UAE, India, Pakistan, Thailand,
Turkey and Iraq were the main countries from where the products were imported,
Mizan Online reported.
India’s English-language
daily the Tribune recently wrote that increased buying from Iran has led to
Basmati rice emerging as the top agricultural export in the Indian commodity
basket.
During the April-June period,
basmati contributed 29% to India’s agricultural and processed food product
exports value-wise, followed by buffalo meat (19.33%). According to the
country’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority
data, basmati exports for the Q1 stood at 1.25 million tons compared to 1.18
million tons during the corresponding period of last year.
Iranians consume 3.2 million
tons of rice a year, of which more than 2.2 million tons are supplied by
domestic farmers.
The Agriculture Ministry
expects domestic rice production to increase by 10-15% in the current Iranian
year, because of favorable weather condition and timely distribution of seeds,
fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and equipment among local farmers.
The government periodically
places a ban on imports during the harvest season to support local farmers.
Import tariffs have increased from 22% four years ago to 40% at present for the
same reason.
The two northern provinces of
Gilan and Mazandaran are home to a majority of Iran’s paddy fields.
Director General of Grains
and Staple Foods Office with the Ministry of Agriculture Kaveh Khaksar said 81%
and 70% of rice harvest in the two provinces respectively were mechanized in
the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2017).
“The figures are estimated to
increase to 86% for Mazandaran and 80% for Gilan in the current year. Expansion
of mechanization is aimed at increasing productivity and achieving
self-sufficiency. A 100% automation of rice harvest is projected by the end of
the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan [2017-22],” he said.
Khaksar noted that out of the
185,000 hectares of paddy fields in Mazandaran, 38,000 hectares went under
mechanized rice cultivation. In Gilan, mechanized rice planting was carried out
over 95,000 hectares from a total of 238,000 hectares of paddy fields.
According to Kambiz Abbasi,
an official with the Ministry of Agriculture, the government of President
Hassan Rouhani invested 6 trillion rials ($156 million) on mechanization of
rice production, which investment is “unprecedented”.
He added that mechanization
would cut rice harvesting costs by up to 70%.
Abbasi noted that in view of
water shortage in Iran, the administration is not willing to expand paddy
fields in provinces other than Mazandaran and Gilan.
According to the Central and
West Asia Rice Center, with around 54% of Central and West Asia’s paddy fields
located in Iran, the country accounts for 61% of the regions’ combined rice
production.
CWARice was officially
established in 2010 at the Rice Research Institute of Iran in the city of Rasht
in Gilan. Its member states include Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan,
Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The mission of CWARice is to
conduct advanced rice research with an emphasis on new production technologies
that will be required to adapt rice production systems in the region to
climate change
https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-domestic-economy/69864/growth-in-rice-imports
And now some real news
When they prioritise
agricultural investments under CPEC, the Chinese are not looking for land. They
have plenty of it. They want our water
08-Aug-17
I recently came across some real
news about Pakistan which merits sharing, and commenting. According to a July,
2017 article by Carole Dalin at University College, London and fellow authors,
in Nature, world’s top journal for scientific knowledge, Pakistan is the
largest exporter of depleted groundwater embedded in agricultural exports in
the world. We account for 29 percent of the global trade in agricultural
products grown from over abstraction of groundwater, ahead of the United States
(27 percent) and India (12 percent). So we are number one in something, should
we be happy and proud that we even beat the United States, let alone India? Or
is there a cause for concern?
The research presented by Dr
Dalinet al. is predicated upon the concept of virtual water coined by my
esteemed colleague, Prof Tony Allan, at King’s College, London. The concept is
simply that all agricultural, or for that matter any industrial products
require a certain amount of water to produce, which is embedded in those
products as virtual water. For example, it takes about 22,000 liters of water
to produce one kilogram of beef, 1,350 liters for one kilogram of wheat, 3,000
liters for a kilogram of rice, 140 liters for a cup of coffee etc. As a water
researcher, I have my reservations about the concept and its use, which are
beside the point. One has to concede that it is an amazing teaching devise for
drawing attention to the impact on water resources, for producing goods and
services, particularly agricultural products that make our life styles
possible.
So what does it mean that
Pakistan is the largest exporter of depleted groundwater as virtual water
through its agricultural exports? In Pakistan, up to 80 percent of the water
required by crops to grow comes from groundwater, and not from surface water,
as is commonly believed. In fresh groundwater zones, most of the water is in
fact, surface water that seeps through canals into groundwater, that is pumped
back up to the surface for agriculture. Groundwater extraction rates in
Pakistan are much beyond the natural recharge rates, at which, the groundwater
is replenished.
Water scarcity in Pakistan is socially constructed, and large farmers
engaged in agricultural exports are the culprits and the beneficiaries of it.
We have one of the largest reserves of groundwater in the world but we misuse
it for the benefit of commercial interests
In the upper Indus we extract 54
percent more water than can be naturally replaced in the aquifer and by 18
percent in the lower Indus. This over extraction of water Dalinet al.
demonstrate is mostly used to grow wheat, rice, cotton and other crops such as
sugarcane, respectively. The water therefore is virtually embedded in these
crops. Almost all of our virtual water exports are in the form of rice (82
percent) to four main countries, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Bangladesh. To
put it simply, we are living beyond our (water) means to grow rice among
others, not for ourselves, but to sell to other countries.
So, is that a good thing? The
answer depends on one’s perspective. If one is a free market and free trade
enthusiast, one can argue that the benefits we gain in terms of foreign
exchange and revenue for the agricultural sector outweigh the cost of drawing
down the groundwater. The things we are able to import, with the dollars we
earn from our agricultural exports, give us the means to pursue other developmental
ends including poverty alleviation.
If one is from an environmental
sustainability or social equity perspective it is a very bad thing. From an
equity standpoint, the costs of lowering groundwater are overwhelmingly borne
by the poor and small farmers. They do not have the resources to pay for the
equipment or the electricity for deep tubewells to get to ever receding
groundwater, thereby leading to increasing rural poverty. In the long run,
everyone pays a price as springs and wetlands dry up, and groundwater resources
get dangerously low. It is no coincidence that Pakistan has the highest
urbanization rates in Asia. Poor farmers unable to compete in the race to the
bottom — literally — are abandoning farms and heading to the cities, putting
the urban infrastructure under unprecedented stress.
Is there an absolute scarcity of
water in Pakistan? How can the largest exporter of virtual water protest water
scarcity? The answer simply is that there is no absolute water scarcity. It is
socially constructed, and large farmers engaged in agricultural exports are the
culprits and the beneficiaries of it. There are only three types of water
storage: glaciers, surface (dams) and groundwater. We have one of the largest
reserves of groundwater in the world, and we misuse it for the benefit of
commercial interests. The Chinese when they prioritize agricultural investments
under CPEC, are not looking for land. They have plenty of it. They want our
water. We would do well to remember that, in this season of hollering about
conspiracies and attacks on democracy.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/08-Aug-17/and-now-some-real-news
Scientists Look for Impact of Pollution from Pills in Wastewater
Difficult to filter, chemicals from
drugs and personal-care products are of 'emerging concern' in waterways like
the Santa Cruz River.
by Nicholas Gerbis, Arizona Science Desk
LISTEN
The pipeline leak that spilled sewage into the Santa Cruz River is sealed,
but another pollution problem persists, one many other American waterways
share.
Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are chemicals from drugs and
personal-care products that most wastewater treatment plants don’t filter out.
“‘Emerging concern’ is kind of a relative perspective. It usually means
that they’re not regulated, but that there’s things that either might scare
people or have preliminary toxicological impacts,” said Paul Westerhoff, vice
dean for research at Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
Westerhoff worked with Jacelyn Rice of Duke University on the study, which
appeared online in Nature Geoscience in July.
Some CECs, including estrogenic compounds from products like synthetic
birth control, disrupt the hormones of aquatic wildlife, harming reproduction.
“If you look upstream and downstream of a wastewater treatment plant,
there’s a lot higher degree of feminization downstream,” Westerhoff said.
Feminization is more or less what it sounds like: A shift in male biology
toward female traits. While some fish are naturally intersexual, in other
species this can produce odd outcomes, like testes containing egg cells.
The effects on humans require further study.
Westerhoff and Rice combined several databases from the Environmental
Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey and other sources to model the
concentration levels of three natural and synthetic estrogens of ecological
concern.
“There’s over 14,000 wastewater treatment plants that discharge into
mostly rivers and lakes around the country, and we wanted to understand how
pervasive this problem could be,” Westerhoff said.
Treated wastewater provides an important source of stream flow and helps
maintain aquatic and riparian wildlife habitats. Wastewater discharges supply
more than 50 percent of flow for more than 900 U.S. streams.
The health of creatures that depend on that water — including humans —
depends largely on dilution.
“How dangerous something is for, say, a fish in a river in this case,
depends upon not only if a chemical is there at a very low level, but what is
that concentration?”
Dilution can pose a problem for the Santa Cruz River as it flows north of
Nogales because it consists entirely of wastewater four to six months each
year.
Similar conditions occur downstream of large metropolitan areas in
Arizona: Wastewater makes up the lion’s share of the Salt and Gila rivers for
large parts of the year, and localized spots of high concentration exist near
Verde River communities on the Mogollon Rim.
Westerhoff cited Oak Creek, near Sedona, as another example.
“Any time you have a wastewater treatment plant that discharges into the
river, you’ll have some degree of exposure to these compounds," Westerhoff
said.
The study found that one pollutant’s concentration exceeded the federal
safety threshold in three-fifths of the 1,000-plus wastewater-fed rivers with
pronounced low-flow periods. The other two endocrine-affecting substances
exceeded those levels in one-third of such rivers.
The authors expect such rates to worsen under conditions of drought,
population growth and climate change. Perhaps ironically, conservation efforts
like low-flow toilets could worsen the effect, if bodies continue to produce
the same volume of CEC-tainted waste but flush less water with which to dilute
them.
Westerhoff hopes the findings will inform a national discussion about
America’s deteriorating and outdated water infrastructure, preferably one that
includes CECs.
“The wastewater treatment plants aren’t necessarily designed to remove
them to a high enough degree using the technologies that were largely installed
in the 1970s.”
As CECs gained attention in the past few decades, regulatory mandates have
lagged. That poses a problem, since any potential upgrades must compete for tax
dollars or federal grants with other demands.
Meanwhile, CECs or no, water infrastructure in the U.S. continues to
circle the drain, Westerhoff said.
“The American Society of Civil Engineering gives our water and wastewater
infrastructure ‘C’ and ‘D’ grades.”
https://news.azpm.org/p/news-topical-nature/2017/8/7/115059-us-streams-like-santa-cruz-river-see-high-pollutant-concentrations-during-low-flow/
Houston
Eats! conference examines food and history
Published
11:08 am, Monday, August 7, 2017
·
Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle
James Beard Award-winning
chef Hugo Ortega of Xochi will be among the speakers participating in the
Houston Eats! conference Sept. 8-9 that explores Houston diversity and food.If
you're interested Vietnamese supermarkets, local barbecue, Chinese bakeries,
the Texas rice industry, Mexican tortilla factories, kolaches, and Houston
restaurant history, you'll want to attend the Houston Eats!conference,
Sept. 8-9.
Organized by the Gulf Coast Food Project and Foodways
Texas, the conference brings together historians, farmers, food
writers, sociologists, artists and activists to discuss Houston food history
and diversity. The two-day conference, which is free and open to the public,
will also explore how Houston eats now and how the city's food scene will
change in the future.
The Sept. 8 events will be held at the M.D.
Anderson Library, Rockwell Pavilion; Sept. 9 events will be at the Student
Center South, Multipurpose Room 237S. The conference is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
on both days; held at the University of Houston main campus.
The conference begins with a keynote
speaker Tyina L. Steptoe, author of "Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a
Jim Crow City." Steptoe, associate professor of history at the University
of Arizona, will speak between 9 and 10 a.m. on Sept. 8.
Other conference highlights:
* Asian supermarkets and food practices in
Houston: Sept. 8; 10 to 11:30 a.m.
* "In the Land of the Links: Tracing
Houston Barbecue Traditions" by Houston Chronicle barbecue columnist J.C. Reid: Sept. 8; 11:30 a.m. to noon.
* "Lost Restaurants of Houston":
Sept. 8; 1 to 1:30 p.m
http://www.chron.com/entertainment/restaurants-bars/article/Houston-Eats-conference-examines-food-and-history-11739383.php
Cordilleran
traditional woven fabrics showcased in exhibit
Tuesday, August 08, 2017
THE Cordillera has a rich cultural heritage that is
exhibited in its dances, rice planting practice, food, and rituals including
loom weaving that attracts fabric-experts locally and internationally.
As part of the enhancement of this cultural heritage,
a multi-awarded photojournalist is showing the different hand woven materials
of the region through photos.
Photojournalist Dave Leprozo Jr., who advocates for
the preservation of the region’s culture, is showcasing his culture-inspired
photographs at SM City Baguio featuring the different traditional “habi” (woven
fabrics) from the six provinces in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The photos exhibit mainly the traditions, culture and
other activities where the featured woven fabrics are normally used, both as a
“bahag” (G-String) for men and “tapis” for women.
Leprozo said “the exhibit aims to showcase the unique
and the colorful tradition of the Cordillerans,” adding “every province has its
distinct woven fabric that symbolizes its colorful heritage and practices.
Cordillera is very unique.”
Based on the region’s history, the different woven
fabrics were traded with other nations during the 15th century. Weaving is an
age old craft of each of the tribal peoples in the region that can be
recognized in its own distinct designs, colors and patterns and is still
practiced today.
These woven fabrics are being used by tribal folks
during weddings, birth of a child, death, rice harvest, thanksgiving and other
special occasions and in some areas, the locals wear them for their day-to-day
activities.
The photo exhibit at the mall allows the public to
take a peek at the region’s culture through the collection of photos on
display.
The first showing of the collection was in 2016 at
the University of the Cordillera, then moved to the University of Baguio.
It was also displayed at The Mall in Boracay, the
National Center for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) museum in Intramuros before it
traveled to the United States and was already exhibited at the San Francisco
public library and San Jose Community College both in California, Daly City,
Westlake City and at the San Francisco City hall in California before the SM
showing as part of the Cordillera Month celebration.
Daniel Los Bañes, a 61-year-old resident of this city
who saw the collection, expressed amazement in seeing the beautiful
photographs.
“It's wonderful. I am normally seeing these during
parades and to see it in a photograph is also beautiful," Los Bañes said.
Leprozo’s other photo collection depicting the
Cordillera rice practices, was donated to the International Rice Research
Institute in Laguna and remains on display at the facility as an attraction and
information material on the region's rice cultural practices. (PNA)
UnitedHealth Group Names Two New Directors
·
Dr. Valerie
Montgomery Rice, President and Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine
·
Sir Andrew
Witty, former CEO and Director of GlaxoSmithKline; Chancellor of the University
of Nottingham
August 07, 2017 06:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The board of directors of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:
UNH) announced Valerie Montgomery Rice, M.D., and Sir Andrew Witty have joined
the board.
Richard Burke, chairman of the board
of directors of UnitedHealth Group, said, “Valerie Montgomery Rice and Andrew
Witty both have broad firsthand experience in health systems and research and
the application of modern health care data and analytics. Each is a leading
thinker on the future of health care. Valerie brings us in-depth knowledge and
understanding of the specific health care needs of a wide range of communities,
and how to better prepare the next generation of health care leaders to address
those needs. Andrew has deep experience in health technology research and
access strategies, as well as extensive skills in improving care delivery
through developing partnerships and sharing information. His broad
international experience in health care will help us grow to serve more people
in more nations around the world. We are pleased and gratified to welcome them
to the board.”
Montgomery Rice is the
President and Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine, a medical school in
Atlanta, Georgia, and has served in that capacity since 2014 and as the EVP and
Dean from 2011 to 2014. Prior to joining Morehouse School of Medicine, she
served as Dean of the School of Medicine and Senior Vice President of Health
Affairs at Meharry Medical College, and as the director of the Center for
Women’s Health Research, one of the nation’s first research centers devoted to
studying diseases that disproportionately impact women of color. Montgomery
Rice also serves as a Council Member of the National Institute of Health (NIH)
National Center for Advancing Translational Science. Montgomery Rice is a
Member of the National Academy of Medicine and a renowned infertility
specialist and women’s health researcher. She holds a bachelor’s degree in
chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a medical degree from
Harvard School of Medicine. Montgomery Rice completed her residency in
obstetrics and gynecology at Emory University School of Medicine and her
fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Hutzel Hospital in
Detroit, MI.
Witty was CEO and a board
member of GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), a global pharmaceutical company, from 2008
to April, 2017. He joined GSK in 1985 and, prior to 2008, served in various
senior roles in Europe, South Africa, the U.S. and Asia. He is Chancellor of
the University of Nottingham, a British public research university, serving in
that capacity since January 2013. He is a Business Ambassador for the U.K.
Prime Minister. Witty serves on the Singapore Economic Development Board
International Advisory Committee, the Council at the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine and as an Advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation. Witty was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to the
economy and the U.K. pharmaceutical industry. He also serves on the board of G1
Therapeutics, Inc.
About
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH)
is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to helping people live
healthier lives and helping make the health system work better for everyone.
UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through two
distinct platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care coverage and
benefits services; and Optum, which provides information and technology-enabled
health services. For more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at www.unitedhealthgroup.com or follow @UnitedHealthGrp on Twitter.
Contacts
UnitedHealth Group
Tyler Mason, 424-333-6122
Vice President
Tyler Mason, 424-333-6122
Vice President
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170807005244/en/UnitedHealth-Group-Names-Directors
United
States Rice Seed Market 2017 By Key Manufacturers – Dupont Pioneer, Bayer,
Kaveri and Nuziveedu Seeds
Report Synopsis:
Initially, the research study provides subtle
knowledge of the Rice Seed market composition, evaluates and overviews its
multifaceted aspects & applications. It formulate both its quantitative and
qualitative patterns of investigative research. The research study split the
United States Rice Seed market on the basis of different parameters and
assesses each section as well as sub-section of Rice Seed market.
Do Inquiry Before Accessing United
States Rice Seed Market 2017 Report at: https://market.biz/report/2017-2022-united-states-rice-seed-market-lpi/119342/#inquiry
The major areas on which the report focuses on
related to each firm are key competitor profile overview/description, fiscal
& accounting details, business strategies and recent developments.
Key Dominant players in Rice Seed
market:
Dupont Pioneer
Bayer
Nuziveedu Seeds
Kaveri
Mahyco
RiceTec
Krishidhan
Rasi Seeds
JK seeds
Syngenta
Longping High-tech
China National Seed
Grand Agriseeds
Dabei Nong Group
Hefei Fengle
WIN-ALL HI-TECH SEED
Gansu Dunhuang Seed
Dongya Seed Industry
Keeplong Seeds
Guangxi Hengmao Agricultural Technology
Opulent Technology
Zhongnongfa
Anhui Nongken
Saprotan Utama
Bayer
Nuziveedu Seeds
Kaveri
Mahyco
RiceTec
Krishidhan
Rasi Seeds
JK seeds
Syngenta
Longping High-tech
China National Seed
Grand Agriseeds
Dabei Nong Group
Hefei Fengle
WIN-ALL HI-TECH SEED
Gansu Dunhuang Seed
Dongya Seed Industry
Keeplong Seeds
Guangxi Hengmao Agricultural Technology
Opulent Technology
Zhongnongfa
Anhui Nongken
Saprotan Utama
Get Sample Copy Of Report From
Here: https://market.biz/report/2017-2022-united-states-rice-seed-market-lpi/119342/#requestforsample
United States Rice Seed market is Splited into
two segments product and application.
Product Based Analysis of Rice Seed
Market:
Long-grain rice
Medium-grain rice
Short-grain rice
Medium-grain rice
Short-grain rice
Application Based Analysis of Rice
Seed Market:
Agricultural Production
Scientific Research
Scientific Research
In addition,the elements that triggers and
restrict the growth of the United States Rice Seed industry are mentioned and
clarified in depth in this research study. It assists professionals in taking
crucial business decisions to publicize their business. The study also
scrutinize areas having potentialities for future market growth. It also
provides information about emerging markets, profitable markets, static
markets, declining markets, saturated markets or mature markets along with
growth benefits.
Overall the Rice Seed report offers complete
substantial analysis of the parent market, key strategies followed by dominant
industry Players, forthcoming segments, former, current and forecast market
analysis in terms of volume and value along with entire research conclusions.
The Report serves as a valuable/profitable
guide for the industry players and other individuals who are interested in
studying the Rice Seed market
http://incrediblenews24.com/20170808/united-states-rice-seed-market
Could perennial crops be an answer to
climate change?
THE HANS
INDIA | Aug 08,2017 , 05:11 AM IST
While India reaped the benefits of the Green
Revolution in the 1960s, her neighbour China is now taking the lead in another
area of sustainable agriculture -- developing crops that meet the challenges
posed by global warming.
Chinese agricultural scientists are working to
convert seasonal crops into perennial crops that regrow after being harvested
and deliver multiple yields before dying. “They are saving labour costs.
Besides, greater soil carbon storage and lesser input requirements mean that
perennial crops have the potential to mitigate global warming,” Erik J Sacks,
Associate Professor of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, said in an
e-mail.
China’s Yunnan Agricultural University (YAU) started
working on perennial rice after the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) in the Philippines wound up this project in 2001 owing to a financial
crisis.
At YAU, Fengyi Hu and his colleagues developed a perennial
rice by crossing Oryza sativa -- the short-lived Asian rice -- with a wild
African perennial O. longistaminata.
The cross, known as PR 23, “apparently lasts at
least five years and gives 10 seasons of grain twice a year with yields
comparable to seasonal rice”, Nandula Raghuram, Professor and Dean of
Biotechnology at New Delhi’s Indraprastha University, said.
“It seems very convincing and promising,” said
Raghuram, one of the 50 delegates from over a dozen countries who recently
toured different perennial rice-growing sites in the Yunnan province and tasted
the cooked rice. “Farmers we spoke to seemed enthusiastic about adopting
perennial rice and possibly other crops because of lower input costs.”
Noting that perennial rice is a great idea, “next only
to hybrid rice”, he said perennial legumes are also being developed and it may
be possible to have both rice and legume grow perennially in alternative
rows/plots on the same field. “This also reduces or eliminates the need for
nitrogen fertiliser and reduces the pest/pathogen problems typical to
monocultures,” Raghuram said.
Work on developing perennial wheat, buckwheat,
sorghum and sunflower are also at various stages in China. “The fact is that
rice farmers in China are beginning to adopt perennial rice because they see
the benefits to themselves,” Sacks said. “Similarly, in the US, some leading
farmers are beginning to adopt Kernza (a perennial wheat-like crop) because
they find the market conditions and environmental benefits advantageous.”
Perennial crops hold many benefits, including
reduced chemical runoff -- which means less water pollution -- and reduced soil
erosion as these plants develop much greater root mass and protect the soil
year-round. Their superior capacity to store carbon and manage resources is
widely recognised by ecologists and soil scientists.
The Land Institute in Kansas, according to Timothy
Crews, its Director of Research, plans to convert US farmlands to 70 percent
perennial crops from the current 25 percent within 50 years.
However, MS Swaminathan, considered the father of
India’s Green Revolution, said the main problem with perennial varieties is the
need to effectively manage the “unholy triple alliance” of weeds, pests and
pathogens.
“Perennial rice used to be common in the past, but I
think because of the pest problem, farmers had given it up,” Swaminathan told
this correspondent. “There is also perennial wheat and many crops in nature
that tend to be perennial. The advantage of perennial crops is that they will
be very helpful where there is labour shortage and where the work is being done
by family labour.”
Raghuram admitted that perennial crops may not be a
panacea for all the ills of agriculture -- especially agrarian distress and
farmers’ suicides in India -- but “they can be an engine for progressive
change, both in economic and environmental terms. The challenge for scientists,
extension workers and policymakers is to make it happen”.
“While the present varieties of perennial rice
developed in China may be suited for Chinese agro climates, “they do offer
adequate proof of concept that they can be developed for other agro climates
and markets”, Raghuram noted.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which
has been highly supportive of the Chinese efforts to develop perennial rice, is
keen to extend this technology to other parts of the world.
“Perennial rice, combined with perennial legumes,
has huge potential in Asia, especially India,” Hans Dreyer, director of FAO’s
plant production division, told this correspondent on the telephone. “A
south-south collaboration on this technology can make this happen.”
Anil Rajvanshi, director of Nimbkar Agricultural
Research Institute in Phalton, Maharashtra, who is visiting the Land Institute
in the US this month, is all for perennials.
“In India we should have a national mission for
developing perennial crops for wheat and rice, and ultimately for other crops
and vegetables,”Rajvanshisaid. “Crops are like factories. We never destroy a
factory after the produce is made and sold. In fact, most of the time we tweak
the machinery and use the same factory to produce different products.”
“Yet in agriculture, after the harvest we uproot the
plants, till the soil and replant a new crop. This increases soil erosion,
takes away a lot of minerals from the soil and uses up a huge amount of water
and energy to develop new root structure, besides increasing the time of
harvest,” he added. “Perennial crops, on the other hand, hold the soil and
tremendously reduce the energy required for food and fruit
production,”Rajvanshi concluded.
.By KS
Jayaraman
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Commoner/2017-08-08/Could-perennial-crops-be-an-answer-to-climate-change/317500
How a Rice Cooker Can Cut Your Food Budget
·
A rice cooker may seem fairly
limited as far as kitchen tools go. It can accomplish one simple task very
well, and that’s it.
But
it’s time to expand your horizons. With a little creativity, it’s possible to
use a rice cooker instead of your other kitchen tools to make all your meals
and save on your food budget.
How a Rice Cooker Works
A rice cooker is made up of an
electric heat source, a pot and a thermostat. In normal use, you fill the pot
with rice and water and heat it.
Once the water boils off, the
temperature inside the pot can rise above the boiling point. Once the
thermostat detects this, the rice cooker turns off or, with newer models, goes
to a “warm” setting. If your rice to water ratio was correct, you’re left with
perfectly cooked rice after flipping just one switch.
Many home cooks have realized that,
with some tinkering, you can cook many things in a rice cooker — not just rice.
The most famous proponent of the rice cooker is probably the late film critic
Roger Ebert, who took a detour from cinema to write his guide to rice cookers
in 2009, called “The Pot and How to Use It.”
We spoke to Neal Bertrand, a
resident of southern Louisiana who published his own rice cooker cookbook,
called “Rice Cooker Meals: Fast Home Cooking for Busy People.” Bertrand,
through his own experimentation and the input of cooks from the Louisiana State
University Agricultural Center, assembled 60 recipes that can be made using a
rice cooker.
‘A Portable Kitchen’
A rice cooker can make much more
than rice, from pasta to seafood and even beef. And using this one tool to cook
can really help you save both time and money. For example, making pasta is a
matter of putting it in a bowl with water and a little olive oil, followed by
all the other ingredients.
Most of the recipes just require
waiting until the rice cooker switches from “cook” to “warm,” but for gumbo and
other dishes with lots of liquid, Brennan recommends using a kitchen timer as
well. In addition, some of the meat dishes require browning in a skillet,
though he said the rice cooker can also be used to brown meat in a pinch.
For someone extremely
budget-conscious, a rice cooker can potentially replace many normally-used
kitchen tools, including a stove.
“I call it a portable kitchen,”
Bertrand said. “All you need is a rice cooker, your ingredients and a source of
electricity.”
Bertrand said readers of the
cookbook had told him they were able to eat during power outages in Louisiana
by plugging their rice cookers into generators.
Buying a Rice Cooker
A
decent rice cooker should cost $40 or less, according to The Sweethome, a home
goods review website. Using the right credit card could go along way in making
that expense more affordable and in rewarding any future ingredient purchases. (Here are a few credit cards
that reward you for grocery spending. But before applying, make sure to
check your credit. Many rewards credit cards require good to excellent credit
scores to qualify. You can check two of your scores for free on Credit.com.)
To get any potential rice cooker
chefs started, we’ve provided Bertrand’s recipe for Black-Eyed Pea &
Sausage Jambalaya. Bertrand said it is a favorite from his cookbook. Enjoy!
1 lb. smoked link beef or pork
sausage, sliced and browned. (Browning optional)
1 (15.5-oz.) can black-eyed peas with jalapenos
1 (10.5-oz.) can beef broth
1 1/4 cups (10 oz.) uncooked white rice
1/2 stick butter, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 (15.5-oz.) can black-eyed peas with jalapenos
1 (10.5-oz.) can beef broth
1 1/4 cups (10 oz.) uncooked white rice
1/2 stick butter, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped green onions
Brown the sausage in skillet and
drain excess grease. Add all ingredients to rice cooker, stir, cover and press
down COOK switch. Once the meal is cooked, and the COOK switch pops up to WARM
mode, let it stand covered 10 minutes before serving.
Philippines.
Gov’t plans to import more rice next year
08.08.2017
THE NATIONAL Food Authority (NFA) plans to import in 2018
double the rice it is bringing in this year, according to a presentation in a
budget hearing last week in the House of Representatives.
The briefing, conducted by NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino, showed the state grains agency plans to import some 580,050 metric tons (MT)in 2018, more than double the 250,000 MT it purchased from suppliers in Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore late last month as it rushed to replenish depleted state stocks especially for the July-September lean season.
Besides that, NFA also plans to procure about 1.2 million MT of paddy rice locally, more than five times 2017’s 225,000 MT program, the same brief showed.
“Ang mandate ng NFA is really to procure local. Pag nagkaroon ng shortfall, ‘dun lang magkakaroon ng importation. (NFA can import only when there is a shortfall in local production),” Rachel Miguel, executive assistant to the NFA administrator, told reporters last week.
In a phone interview yesterday, NFA spokesperson Marietta J. Ablaza said the agency’s local palay procurement totaled 274,411 bags, or roughly just 13,720 MT, in the seven months to July.
The NFA is mandated to maintain a buffer stock sufficient for 15 days at any given time and 30 days during the lean months either via local palay procurement or importation.
The government has also approved private sector importation of some 805,200 MT of rice in an auction that is expected to take place next quarter.The government last year approved the importation of 500,000 MT but brought in just half of that volume.
For this year, the Department of Agriculture targets to produce 18.5 million MT of palay, 4.93% up from 2016’s 17.627 million MT.Palay output reached 4.42 million MT in the first quarter, a 12.38% growth from the 3.93 million MT produced in 2016’s comparable three months.
In its latest estimate, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) projects rice production in the second quarter to have increased by 11% to 4.1 million MT from 3.69 million MT a year ago.The PSA is scheduled to release second-quarter farm output data on Aug. 15 as well as the gross domestic product report for the same period two days later.
The briefing, conducted by NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino, showed the state grains agency plans to import some 580,050 metric tons (MT)in 2018, more than double the 250,000 MT it purchased from suppliers in Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore late last month as it rushed to replenish depleted state stocks especially for the July-September lean season.
Besides that, NFA also plans to procure about 1.2 million MT of paddy rice locally, more than five times 2017’s 225,000 MT program, the same brief showed.
“Ang mandate ng NFA is really to procure local. Pag nagkaroon ng shortfall, ‘dun lang magkakaroon ng importation. (NFA can import only when there is a shortfall in local production),” Rachel Miguel, executive assistant to the NFA administrator, told reporters last week.
In a phone interview yesterday, NFA spokesperson Marietta J. Ablaza said the agency’s local palay procurement totaled 274,411 bags, or roughly just 13,720 MT, in the seven months to July.
The NFA is mandated to maintain a buffer stock sufficient for 15 days at any given time and 30 days during the lean months either via local palay procurement or importation.
The government has also approved private sector importation of some 805,200 MT of rice in an auction that is expected to take place next quarter.The government last year approved the importation of 500,000 MT but brought in just half of that volume.
For this year, the Department of Agriculture targets to produce 18.5 million MT of palay, 4.93% up from 2016’s 17.627 million MT.Palay output reached 4.42 million MT in the first quarter, a 12.38% growth from the 3.93 million MT produced in 2016’s comparable three months.
In its latest estimate, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) projects rice production in the second quarter to have increased by 11% to 4.1 million MT from 3.69 million MT a year ago.The PSA is scheduled to release second-quarter farm output data on Aug. 15 as well as the gross domestic product report for the same period two days later.
http://www.blackseagrain.net/novosti/philippines-gov2019t-plans-to-import-more-rice-next-year
NFA to reduce reliance on cheap rice imports
AUGUST 8, 2017
Expect a major policy shift in the National Food
Authority’s buffer stocking scheme next year as the state-run grains agency
looks to reduce its reliance on cheaper imported rice while increasing local
procurement.
With the impending influx of cheaper rice from abroad, NFA
Administrator Jason Laureano Aquino said the NFA would be increasing local
palay procurement to 1.2 million metric tons next year, a massive increase from
the 225,000 MT projected for this year.
“The NFA targets to procure locally 1.2 million MT of
paddy. This is higher than the NFA 2017 target of 225,000 MT,” Aquino told
Congress during a budget hearing last week.
“This would also ensure government support to marginalized
rice farmers to be affected by cheaper farmgate prices as a result of higher
importation of cheaper rice from abroad,” he said, citing President Rodrigo
Duterte’s order to source buffer stocks from local farmers.
For this year, the NFA plans to buy 43 million bags of rice
from farmers nationwide in a bid to replenish its dwindling rice stocks, which
have remained critically low despite the expected arrival of imports in the
next two months.
NFA Spokesperson Marietta Ablaza has said the grains agency
would buy the bulk of the target volume during the main harvest season from
October to December.
“So far, we have procured about 230,000 bags during the dry
season harvest, and we plan to have a massive buying of palay during our main
harvest to beef up our stocks,” Ablaza told The Manila Times in a telephone
interview.
The lower buying price of P17 per kilo, however, is making
it difficult for the agency to compete with private traders.
The NFA was created with the intention of protecting the
interests of both rice producers and consumers. As such, its two primary
mandates are to stabilize the price of rice and to ensure food security.
The price stabilization mandate means that the NFA tries to
influence prices on two fronts. It must support the palay farmgate price at a
level that is enough to ensure a reasonable return for farmers. At the same
time, it must also ensure that the price of rice is low enough for consumers.
Over the past decade, the NFA has relied massively on
cheaper imported rice to replenish its buffer stocks since it could not compete
with private millers and traders in buying locally grown palay.
Buying rice from abroad cuts the agency’s spending and it
can earn more and slash losses by selling to consumers at higher prices.
Aquino also told members of Congress that they were also
looking to import 580,050 MT of rice in 2018, more than double that imported by
the government this year. But the volume is significantly lower than the
average state-led importation over the last decade.
Sought for comment, Rachel Miguel, special assistant to the
NFA chief, said the importation would help augment local palay procurement.
Miguel did not disclose the target arrival for the imported
rice, saying the proposal was still subject to the approval of the
multi-sectoral NFA Council.
The NFA Council has not been keen on exercising the
importation option as it pushes institutional reforms within the debt-ridden
grains agency.
Under a recent NFA restructuring proposal, rice for buffer
stocking will be accumulated via higher domestic procurement, while import
volumes would be reduced via encouraging the private sector to undertake the
purchases.
The NFA’s policy of “buy high-store long-sell low” will now
shift to a policy where the agency’s selling prices are gradually increased to
approach market levels, with social welfare agencies handling subsidized rice
if needed but buying stocks from NFA at market prices.
http://www.manilatimes.net/nfa-reduce-reliance-cheap-rice-imports/343120/
Loans
offer for rice harvest
August 8,
2017
Sok Chan
/ Khmer Times Share:
The government has
injected another $23 million through the Rural Development Bank (RDB) to
provide loans to rice mills and exporters who lack working capital to buy rice
from farmers in the up-coming harvest season and stabilise the rice price.
RDB’s CEO Kao
Thach said yesterday that mills and exporters who meet the criteria may apply
for the loans without discrimination.
“We hope that the
total of $50 million of government emergency loans would stabilise the rice
price during the harvest season because most rice mills and rice exporters
still have working capital to purchase rice from farmers in this new harvest
season,” Mr Thach said.
He said that the
rice harvest season starts in September, so the new loan would help to
stabilise prices.
The government
has also approved another $15 million to RDB to work with private partners to
build silos and warehouses in Kampong Thom, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces, Mr
Thach said.
“Besides the
western provinces such Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pailin and Pursat, the
government found that Kampong Thom, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces also have the
potential to produce rice, so we have to build warehouses and silos in that
area,” Mr Thach said.
“As planned, we want the capacity of the
warehouses to store from 50,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes and silos to dry from
1,500 tonnes, but sizes would be changed according to the price and
infrastructure of the silo and warehouse.”
He added that the
government had approved $30 million to build warehouses and silos for the rice
sector.
In April, the
government conducted a $15 million bidding contract to build a 3,000-tonne silo
facility and 200,000-tonne rice warehouse. Cambodia Rice Bank won the contract
for the facilities in Battambang.
The silo is
expected to be finished by the end of the year and the warehouse will be fully
operational for the 2018 harvest season.
Phou Puy, CEO of the Cambodia Rice Bank,
said that once the facility is ready, it will help stabilise prices during the
harvest season and will benefit farmers in Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pursat
and Siem Reap provinces.
“We spent about $5 million on machines and
other facilities for silos and all of these facilities will be installed in
July,” Mr Puy said.
He said the Cambodia Rice Bank also signed
two other agreements with Taiwan’s Agrosun Co. and Thailand’s International
Rice Engineering Co. to supply machinery for the silos.
Mr Puy said farmers would no longer have
concerns about rice production and price fluctuations after harvests. The rice,
he said, could be stored when prices were low and released to be sold when
prices recovered.
Mr Thach said
that silos and warehouses in Kampong Thom, Prey Veng and Takeo would be smaller
than in Battambang, but investment would be expanded in future in these
strategic rice-growing areas.
Nguon Sokha,
secretary of state at the Finance Ministry, said the government through the
ministry had decided to inject more capital to the RDB to provide loans to all
key players in the agricultural production chain – from farming communities,
processing factories to exporters and microfinance institutions
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5077015/loans-offer-rice-harvest/
Thailand approves flood relief measures
worth $48 million
A general view shows a flooded area in
Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand.Dejbordin Limsupanark
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's cabinet
on Tuesday approved 1.6 billion baht ($48 million) in relief for farmers hit by
floods in the north and northeast.
Twenty-nine people have been killed and
some 700,000 hectares of farmland damaged by flooding in 36 of Thailand's 77
provinces, with damages estimated at $300 million.
Thailand is the world's second-biggest
rice exporter and some of the areas hit by flooding are used for growing rice.
The government has said the floods could impact rice production during the
off-season production cycle starting mid-August.
However, the country's rice export
association has said the floods will not likely affect Thailand's export target
of 10 million tonnes this year.
The relief measures approved on Tuesday
will be distributed to some 560,000 farming households.
In 2011, widespread floods killed more
than 900 people and caused major industrial disruption, cutting economic growth
to just 0.1 percent.
When Thailand's junta took power in
2014, it proposed a 10-year water management plan to avoid a repeat of the 2011
floods, but it is still under review.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn had urged the
government to work out long-term water management plans, Prime Minister Prayuth
Chan-ocha told reporters on Tuesday.
Opponents of the military government
last week accused the government of responding slowly to the flood crisis,
adding to simmering political tensions.
Reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat, Pracha Hariraksapitak, Panarat
Thepgumpanat; Writing by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre
Thai Rice Exporters
Association: Rice exports unaffected by northeastern floods
BANGKOK, 8 August 2017
(NNT) - The President of Thai Rice Exporters Association stated that
northeastern floods have not affected rice exports.
Mr. Charoen Laothammathat, President of Thai Rice Exporters Association spoke regarding the northeastern floods stating that the disaster have not affected rice exports, because rice exports rely mainly on in stock jasmine rice, while the new season’s jasmine rice will be harvested during November to December. He noted the global market price of jasmine rice rose to 850 US dollar up from 800 US dollar last month, due to increasing demand.
Thai Rice Exporters Association will visit the flooded areas to survey jasmine rice farm in the Northeast and assess the situation to calculate whether production could drop and affect next year's rice exports.
However, most of the northeastern provinces are located on highlands, and they are unlikely to be severely affected. As for the lowlands, rice fields could be damaged but not to an extent that the overall rice yield will be affected.
Mr. Charoen Laothammathat, President of Thai Rice Exporters Association spoke regarding the northeastern floods stating that the disaster have not affected rice exports, because rice exports rely mainly on in stock jasmine rice, while the new season’s jasmine rice will be harvested during November to December. He noted the global market price of jasmine rice rose to 850 US dollar up from 800 US dollar last month, due to increasing demand.
Thai Rice Exporters Association will visit the flooded areas to survey jasmine rice farm in the Northeast and assess the situation to calculate whether production could drop and affect next year's rice exports.
However, most of the northeastern provinces are located on highlands, and they are unlikely to be severely affected. As for the lowlands, rice fields could be damaged but not to an extent that the overall rice yield will be affected.
https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/996247-thai-rice-exporters-association-rice-exports-unaffected-by-northeastern-floods/
Rice export increases this fiscal year:
ministry
Submitted
by Eleven on Tue, 08/08/2017 - 16:44
Writer: Nilar
A rice
business in Bayintnaung (Photo-Myint Thu/EMG)
Myanmar has exported about 950,000 tonnes of rice and
broken rice to other countries since by the end of July this fiscal year,
according to the Ministry of Commerce.The majority of the exported rice and
broken rice went to China, Thailand, Singapore, India and Japan, the ministry
said.The country earned US$ 276 million from rice exports from April to July
this year and made US$ 150 million more than that of last year’s export.
Nearly 500,000 tonnes of exported rice went through border trade and about 370,000 tonnes of exported rice used the sea route, according to official figures.Myanmar started exporting more than one million tonnes of rice annually from fiscal year 2012-13 and 1.8 million tonnes of rice were exported in 2014-15 as the biggest export.The Myanmar Rice Federation says it expected to export more than 2 million tonnes of rice in fiscal year 2017-18.The country exported rice to 43 foreign countries this fiscal year.
Nearly 500,000 tonnes of exported rice went through border trade and about 370,000 tonnes of exported rice used the sea route, according to official figures.Myanmar started exporting more than one million tonnes of rice annually from fiscal year 2012-13 and 1.8 million tonnes of rice were exported in 2014-15 as the biggest export.The Myanmar Rice Federation says it expected to export more than 2 million tonnes of rice in fiscal year 2017-18.The country exported rice to 43 foreign countries this fiscal year.
http://elevenmyanmar.com/business/10967
India: Monsoon-2017: Daily monsoon / Flood situation report
of 07 August 2017
REPORT
07/08/2017 (1600 Hours)
1.
CENTRAL WATER COMMISSION
(DAILY WATER LEVELS AND FORECASTS FOR LEVEL FORECAST SITES)
According to the Central
Water Commission (CWC) report dated 07/08/2017, there is no unprecedented flood
site in the country. However, 01 High flood site in Uttar Pradesh & 09
Moderate flood sites has been reported in Bihar-05, Assam-01 & Uttar
Pradesh-03 respectively.
2.
IMD WARNING DURING NEXT 03
DAYS:
07 August (Day 1):♦ Heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely at isolated places
over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam & Meghalaya;
heavy at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh
& Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andaman
& Nicobar Islands.
08 August (Day 2):♦ Heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely at isolated places
over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam &
Meghalaya; heavy at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, East
Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
09 August (Day 3):♦ Heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely at a few places over
Arunachal Pradesh and Assam & Meghalaya and at isolated places over
Nagaland , Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura; heavy at isolated places over Jammu
& Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh &
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan, Chhattishgarh, Bihar, Coastal Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana.
3.
NDRF OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENT
(54 Teams- 1960 personnel)
Total 54 teams (Assam-09,
Punjab-01, U.P.-08, Arunachal Pradesh-01, J & K-04, Gujarat-10,
Rajasthan-02, Delhi-01, Bihar-05, WB-04, Uttarakhand-03, Jharkhand-03, Himachal
Pradesh-01 & Madhya Pradesh-02) consisting of 1960 personnel with 162 boats
are deployed.
Achievement during flood -2017 season are as under:
Assam : So far NDRF teams
rescued 82 persons ,evacuated 532 persons, retrieved 5 dead bodies and provide
medical assistance to 30 persons.
Rajasthan: During last 24
hour NDRF on 06.08.2017 team conducted rescue ops at Distt- Jalore Rajasthan
and evacuated 28 personand distributed 900 food packet. So far teams have
rescued 122 persons, evacuated 847 persons, 13 live stocks and retrieved 03 dead
bodies and also distributed Food- 7810Pkts and Medicines.
Gujarat: So far teams have
rescued 1355 persons, evacuated 7286 persons, 27 livestock and retrieved 11
dead bodies and distributed food- 71193 pkts, Water pouches/ bottles- 81150
Nos, Dry Ration ( Rice, Dal, Suger, Churaetc -1750 Bags,Biscuits / Namkin- 2225
Pkts, Cloth- 1750 Nos and Blanket- 75 Nos.
WB: During last 24 hour
NDRF on 06.08.2017 team conducted rescue and relief operation at Ghatal, West
Medenipur, WB and evacuated 03 persons and distributed relief material water
pouches- 2200Nos, Dry Ration- 16 bags, Milk powder 6 Kgs, and Gur60Kgs. So far
teams have rescued 253 persons, evacuated 1029 persons and retrieved 05 dead
bodies and distributed food 1500 Pkts, Water pouches/ bottles- 25564 Nos, Dry
Ration ( Rice, Dal, Suger, Churaetc – 236 Bags, Baby food - 244 Ctns, Milk-
1056 Pkts, Gur -2205 Kgs, Tarpoline- 58 Nos, Vegetable- 540 Kgs and Medicines.
Uttarakhand:On
05.08.2017Team assisted 255 Pilgrims(Total -360) of Kailash Mansarover Yatra and
local villagers in crossing over the Blocked area at Paldhar, distt-
Pithoragrah.
Uttar Pradesh: On
06.08.2017 teams evacuated 395 flood affected persons and distributed 800 food
Pkt. So far teams have evacuated 603 persons and distributed 800 food packets .
http://reliefweb.int/report/india/india-monsoon-2017-daily-monsoon-flood-situation-report-07-august-2017
Non-basmati rice shipments slow as stronger
rupee lifts export prices
India's non-basmati rice exports are likely to slow over
the next few months as its shipments of the grain have become too expensive on
the world market due to a rally in the rupee and an increase in local paddy
prices.
India’s
non-basmati rice exports are likely to slow over the next few months as its
shipments of the grain have become too expensive on the world market due to a
rally in the rupee and an increase in local paddy prices. Lower shipments from
the world’s biggest rice exporter will give rivals Vietnam, Thailand and
Cambodia a chance to raise their share of the global market. “Other origins are
cheaper than India. There will be definitely a slowdown in exports,” Nitin
Gupta, business head of rice at Olam India, told Reuters. India was offering 5
percent broken parboiled rice this week at around $410 a tonne, free-on-board
(FOB) from Kakinada port on the east coast. In comparison, Thai rice was
offered at between $390 and $392 a tonne, and Vietnam rice was quoted at $400
to $405 a tonne. “Due to an appreciating rupee, we can’t match prices quoted by
Vietnam or Thailand,” said M. Adishankar, executive director at Sri Lalitha, a
leading exporter based at Kakinada. The rupee has risen more than 6.5 percent
so far in 2017, reaching its highest in more than two years. A stronger rupee
means rice shippers have to raise their dollar-denominated export prices to
cover their purchases and other costs. Key buyers of Indian rice in Africa –
such as Benin, Senegal and Guinea – were not comfortable buying at the current
level, Adishankar said.
Last
month, India’s high prices resulted in suspension of a government-to-government
deal with Bangladesh, which needs to import rice to replenish stocks hit by
flash floods. After the deal with India was called off, Bangladesh agreed to
buy 1 million tonnes of rice from Cambodia. In India, paddy rice prices are
still rising as most of the supplies from the winter crop have already been
consumed. “Until new summer crops enter into the market from October, paddy
supply will remain tight,” said a Kakinada-based exporter who declined to be
named. Indian farmers had planted 28 million hectares of paddy rice as of Aug.
4, up 4.9 percent from a year ago, but lower rainfall in southern states has
raised concerns over the harvest. “If Indian prices come down we can see demand
from West African markets from October onwards for Christmas,” said Gupta of
Olam India. “Prices need to come down by $10 to $15 (per tonne) to become
competitive.”
http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/non-basmati-rice-shipments-slow-as-stronger-rupee-lifts-export-prices/799444/
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- August 09, 2017
Reuters | Aug 9,
2017, 02:00 PM IST
Rajkot Oilseeds Complex Open- August 09, 2017
Reuters | Aug 9,
2017, 02.00 PM IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/nagpur-foodgrain-prices-open-august-09-2017/articleshow/59985058.cms
On July 1, 2017, the corporation had rice stocks in excess
of 21 million tonne (MT) against the buffer stocks requirement of 13.5 MT
besides around 5.4 MT of grain is yet to be received from the millers.
The Food Corporation of India’s
(FCI) rice stocks have been growing steadily in the last few years, mainly
because of the lukewarm response to the corporation’s Open Market Sale Scheme
(OMSS) and its inability to export the excess grain because of World Trade
Organisation (WTO) constraints. On July 1, 2017, the corporation had rice
stocks in excess of 21 million tonne (MT) against the buffer stocks requirement
of 13.5 MT besides around 5.4 MT of grain is yet to be received from the
millers. With the new procurement season for 2017-18 (October-September) is to
begin within two months, the corporation is holding on to huge stocks which
would push up the Centre’s food subsidy expenses. According to an official, the
weekly sales under OMSS have few takers as rice grown all across the country
unlike in case of wheat. “The export of excess stocks of rice is ruled out as
WTO has already raised objections on subsidised grain being shipped out of the
country few years ago,” an official told FE.
This leaves FCI with little scope of
selling excess stocks under OMSS prior to the commencement of new procurement
season. In the ongoing (2016-17) procurement season (Oct-Sept), FCI in
collaboration with state agencies has purchased more than 38.5 MT of rice from
farmers against 34.2 MT procured in the previous year (2015-16). During FY17,
FCI had allocated 30.35 MT rice to states for implementation of National Food
Security Act while the offtake was around 29.29 MT, thus leaving out the rest
of the stocks as excess.
Meanwhile, FCI has fixed the base price of
Rs 2,500 per quintal (excluding local grain purchase taxes) for raw rice of
grade-A quality under OMSS for bulk buyers for current fiscal. The FCI has
incurred Rs 3,191.64 per quintal as economic costs (includes procurement,
storage and transportation) in FY17. As the excess stocks rise, FCI has worked
out the economic cost of rice for 2017-18 at Rs 3,264.23 per quintal. The
corporation has been able to reduce wheat stocks through OMSS as the grain is
grown largely only in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
Rajasthan. In case of OMSS for rice, bulk buyers have not shown much interest
as because of ample local supplies.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG),
in its report last week, had stated that due to non-settlement of entire
expenses of FCI by finance ministry over the years, the corporation has paid
more than Rs 42,000 crore between 2011-12 and 2016-17 as interest on the loans
availed by the corporation. “Excess holding of grain stocks also pushe up our
(FCI)’ expenses,” an official said. FCI mostly procures around 55-60 MT of rice
and wheat annually from farmers and around 50-55 MT is supplied to states for
implementation of NFSA
http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/fci-rice-stocks-balloon-on-export-barrier-omss-failure/798202/
