Amin AhmedDecember 15, 2018
INSUFFICIENT
investment in agriculture R&D has resulted in sub-optimal yields and a
lower-than-potential productivity growth curve of basmati rice varieties.—White
Star
ISLAMABAD:
The celebrated export of Pakistan’s basmati rice as well as its production has
slipped, according to a study of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The
study, ‘Investment in Research and Development for Basmati Rice in Pakistan’
points out that the contribution of basmati rice as a major export commodity is
below its potential.
Pakistan
is fourth largest rice exporter in terms of quantity, and rice is the country’s
second largest export earner, after cotton.
In
the last decade, Pakistan’s overall rice export growth has remained unchanged
and, in the case of basmati, has dropped significantly.
Newer
long grain, non-aromatic varieties have been cutting into basmati’s share of
the premium rice market. Low value, non-basmati varieties can still thrive by
catering to low-priced, lower-quality markets but premium varieties require
greater research and development investment to maintain their edge.
The
study notes that being a niche variety with a relatively small gene pool,
basmati requires more research than other varieties in order to increase its
yields, protect it from disease, enhance its ability to compete with other
varieties, and increase its resilience to climate and other environmental
changes.
Under-investment
in basmati research and development (R&D) has led to underperformance of
the subsector.
Merely
increasing budgetary allocations of public sector R&D will not achieve the
intended purpose.
A
wholesale reform of the R&D institutional structure is almost impossible
given incumbent interests and the absence of political motivation.
While
investment in basmati R&D requires attention to the entire value-chain, the
single most important aspect is to develop seed varieties that can thrive in
changing ecological and marketing environments.
The
study says that the cess collected from rice exporters in the last two decades
has not been chanelled as the Export Development Fund Act stipulates. The Act
specifies that the cess funds can be used for R&D, technical institutes,
market and product development, and other areas related to export enhancement.
Rice
exporters pay a surcharge of 0.25 per cent, which is deducted by the bank from
foreign receipts and submitted to the State Bank of Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, December 15th,
2018
Conserving indigenous paddy varieties
- Dec 16 2018, 00:43am ist
- updated: Dec 16 2018, 00:45am ist
Traditional
Paddy Blocks
Traditional
Paddy Blocks
Lab to field:
Blocks of heriloom paddy varieties at The Organic Farming Research Centre
in Navile, Shivamogga district. photos by author
Traditional
Paddy Blocks
Traditional
Paddy Blocks
Recently, the Organic Farming Research
Centre (OFRC) at the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences,
Shivamogga, was brimming with activities, reminding one of a festive
season.
There were hundreds of farmers from across the state. They
competed with each other to have a glimpse of paddy stacks of native
varieties. The centre had set up 192 paddy stacks of various native varieties which
included Rajamudi, Gandhasale, Rajabhoga, Chinnaponni, HMT, Ambemohar,
Huggi Bhatta, Malgudi Sanna, Jeerige Sanna, Burma Black and Rathna Choodi.
Sustainable cultivation
One of the largest demonstrations of paddy stacks in
Karnataka, the effort intended to popularise sustainable paddy cultivation
among the farming community. The enthusiasm was such that each one of the
farmers wanted to have the latest updates on those varieties. A two-member expert team comprising associate researcher M Y Ullas and Dr S Pradeep, director, OFRC, conducted interactions with the farmers clarifying their doubts. The duo also provided inputs and perception.
Sarojamma, a farmer from Harihar, was surprised to see the varietal diversity. “I thought I was rich enough as I had 30 varieties of indigenous paddy. However, I am stunned to see these many varieties here,” she exclaimed. Shivaji Gouda Patil, a farmer from Hangal, was satisfied as he found a variety that suited the soil of his field, in these blocks.
After the Green Revolution in the early 1960s, the high-yielding paddy varieties hit the market, promising higher yields. There was more focus on the use of chemicals for higher yields. As a result, soil lost its fertility and local varieties disappeared from the fields.
It took a few decades for farmers to realise the consequences of the use of chemicals on the crops. As a result, they returned to organic farming gradually and, in turn, started growing local varieties. Unfortunately, many of these varieties were on the brink of extinction.
Farmers’ groups in the state and elsewhere in the country collected seeds of local varieties and engaged in their cultivation. Over the years, more farmers were drawn to local varieties and sustainable methods of farming.
While there are many individual efforts, several such efforts in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal came together under the banner of Save Our Rice Campaign, with an aim to build a movement towards achieving food security and sovereignty, reviving our rice culture and sustaining rice eco-systems. The campaign which was launched in 2004, attempts to sustain rice by creating linkages between different sectors, building alternative models for sustainable ecological rice cultivation, developing capacities to address issues related to rice, and developing a platform of people with rice culture as a common concern. Both farmers’ organisations and individual farmers are a part of this network.
Field visits, tours, workshops and training programmes are organised to help understand the transitioning farmers understand seed selection and cultivation method.
The campaign has also been backed by Krishi Vigyan Kendras and other government-run agriculture research stations. Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Brahmavara and Organic Farming Research Station, Naganahalli, Mysuru have conducted workshops and demonstrations in this regard.
OFRC’s then-coordinator Dr N Devakumar had set up 70 stacks of native varieties for the demonstration eight years ago, which largely benefited farmers. Now the number of native varieties has reached 192. The centre is engaging farmers to preserve as many varieties as possible.
“The Green Revolution ensured food sufficiency in the country. It is high time we focused on quality,”
Dr Manjunatha K Naik, vice-chancellor, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga points out. “The university has taken an initiative to preserve local varieties,” he adds. Naik promises distribution of seeds at subsidised rates to farmers.
“Mostly, these local varieties are not affected by diseases. The cost of cultivation is also less,” Pradeep explains. The state has many varieties that are highly adaptable to changing weather conditions. The centre plans to create a database of every variety and analyse the nutritional values. However, preserving indigenous varieties of paddy isn’t just enough. There is a need to create a market for the produce.
“A few paddy growers’ associations have created the market for their produce. The government should focus on on-farm research, standardise sustainable paddy practices and implement sustainable farming techniques,” stresses G Krishna Prasad, a member of Save Rice Campaign. Those who are interested can contact
Ullas on 6361596337.
International Rice Research
Institute Execs Visit PNG
The International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) visited Papua New Guinea to learn more about the country’s
rice industry and how farmers can increase production in an environmentally
sustainable way.
Dr Jean Balie, head of IRRI’s
agri-food policy platform, and Dr David Johnson, IRRI representative for South
East Asia, visited Papua New Guinea between 3 and 7 December with support from
the Australian Government.
During the visit, they met with
Henry Ame MP and Vice Minister for Agriculture, Koi Trappe and Frances Daink,
the Acting Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock to better
understand the government’s priorities and objectives for growing rice across
the country.
Dr Balie and Dr Johnson also
visited Trukai rice farms in Mul-Baiyer and Erap to see firsthand how rice is
being grown to support livelihoods and food security.
Trukai’s Hamamas Rice is the
first rice to be grown commercially in PNG.
Farmers from Trukai rice farms in
Umi and Chingwam discussed with IRRI the latest techniques in growing rice more
efficiently and how production can be increased sustainably.
In Mul-Baiyer, the delegation
visited Trukai’s 10-hectare pilot rice project which celebrated its first
harvest in October 2016.
IRRI is a leading international
not-for-profit agricultural research and training organisation that aims to
improve livelihoods and nutrition through rice-based agri-food systems.
As part of efforts to grow Papua
New Guinea’s economy, Australia is supporting the development of Papua New
Guinea’s agriculture sector by connecting different industries with
international experts.
Climate change is paving the way for
shock-proof seeds
Updated: Dec 16, 2018, 06.14 AM
IST
As farmers
increasingly battle the effects of climate change, seed companies and
government research bodies are developing climate-resilient seeds.
In
a village 70 km from Hyderabad, researchers of Kaveri Seeds are experimenting
with new varieties — not just to find high-yielding seeds but seeds that will
have high climate resilience. One can see columns of climate-controlled net houses
in Kodakandla village in Telangana’s Jangaon district, where the new seeds are
being tested to check if they can withstand climate shocks. Nearby lie the
remains of a maize harvest. Elsewhere, hybrid varieties of chilli are being
tested on over 10 acres.
“Earlier, the focus of R&D was yield. Now, with groundwater levels going down and temperatures rising, we need to develop tolerance in seeds to different kinds of stress,” says Yogendra Varma, the head of research & development at Kaveri.
The effects of climate change, like more frequent heat waves, dry spells, droughts and changing frequency and intensity of rain, on agriculture cannot be ignored. And at risk are not just the 120-million farmers of the country but also more than 500 companies that make up India’s Rs 15,000 crore seed industry.
“Farmers want stability in their crops even if the yield is 10-15% lower,” says GV Bhaskar Rao, chairman and managing director of Hyderabadbased Kaveri Seeds.
Rao says the company is spending 7-8% of its a substantial amount given the seed Rs 772 crore in 2017-18. But the search for climate-resilient varieties comes with a business risk: it can up to seven years to introduce a new variety — from R&D stage to commercial launch — and the success rate can be less than 1%, says Varma, the R&D head.
These hardy varieties are being sent for processing to Kaveri Seeds’ 30-acre seed processing facility — around 20 km away from Kodakandla, in Pamulaparthi village. The unit is like a giant warehouse, with rows of gunny sacks basking in sunlight. In one corner, raw paddy seeds are being processed in a multi-stage process, where a contraption tosses the seeds up in the air to remove impurities. In another part of the plant, cotton and okra seeds are being cleaned for packaging. This plant, with a capacity to process 85 tonnes of seeds an hour, is Kaveri’s biggest, processing 60% of the company’s output.
The other major seed players in the Indian market are multinationals like Bayer AG, DowDuPont’s Corteva Agriscience and Syngenta and home-grown Nuziveedu Seeds, United Phosphorus, Rasi Seeds, Ankur Seeds and Ajeet Seeds. Bayer completed its acquisition of Monsanto globally earlier this year, but the two companies still operate as separate entities in India.
Meanwhile, cotton seeds, which make up a third of the seed market in India, are also being given a climate shield.
India is the world’s largest cotton producer and last financial year, the crop was cultivated on 11.3 mn hectares – most of it genetically modified Bt cotton. Genetically modified seeds are different from hybrids since they have a gene inserted from an unrelated species. For instance, the second-generation Bt cotton in India, introduced by Monsanto, has two genes from bacterium bacillus thuringiensis. But farmers sowing Bt cotton have been battling pink bollworm attacks for the past few years even though resistance to these worms was supposed to be the USP of the genetically modified variety.
Now, to minimise the impact of bollworms, which usually attack late in the crop’s lifecycle, companies are introducing Bt cotton varieties that take shorter time to grow. Early maturity also saves the crop from truant rain.
Nagpur-based Ankur Seeds has created such a seed variety that needs 20 days less to mature than regular Bt cotton, which has a growth period of 160-180 days.
“In the 1960s and 70s, new varieties were invented so that they could be useful for the next 25 years. But now, if we invest in new seeds, they will only be useful for three to four years because of unpredictable weather events,” says MG Shembekar, managing director at Ankur Seeds.
According to an estimate in the 2017-18 Economic Survey, when temperatures are 1° Celsius higher than normal, farm incomes fall by 6.2% during kharif season and 6% for rabi season in unirrigated districts. Similarly, when rainfall is 100 mm less than the average, farm incomes decline by 15% during kharif season and by 7% during rabi season.
Climate change can reduce wheat yields by 6-23% by 2050 and 15-25% by 2080, says a paper by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.
The earth’s average surface temperature has risen by 1° Celsius since pre-industrial levels and the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change vowed to keep global temperature increase this century to below 2° Celsius. This year, United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called for further restricting global warming to 1.5° Celsius and countries negotiated hard at 24th Conference of Parties at Katowice in Poland last week to put in place an action plan to achieve objectives of the Paris deal.
Last year was India’s fourth warmest year ever since record-keeping began in 1901, with annual mean temperature 0.71° Celsius higher than the 1971-2000 average.
At its field labs, Kaveri Seeds is also testing a chilli hybrid seed that will be resistant to strong winds during cyclones. It is also trying to create a quick growth chili variety with a 150-day lifecycle compared with the usual 230-240 days.
Hybrid seeds are produced by cross-pollinating two different but related plants to produce a variety with specific traits. But unlike non-hybrid varieties, these seeds from a hybrid plant cannot be used to grow the same variety, which means farmers have to buy new seeds every season.
The shorter-duration chilli variety will need to be irrigated once in two weeks instead of once or twice a week, says Khuman Singh Chauhan, who heads Kaveri’s R&D for vegetables. These seeds for the future will be water-efficient as rains become erratic and the number of dry days during monsoons rise, he adds.
Besides tackling the likelihood of low water availability, extreme temperatures is another challenge for seed makers to overcome.
Kaveri Seeds is developing a tomato hybrid that can withstand temperatures of up to 45° Celsius. Most of the current varieties cannot endure the mercury crossing 42°. Tolerance to high temperatures is being ingrained in seeds of other crops too.
The IARI, under the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) programme, is experimenting with a wheat variety that can endure heat stress. The crop usually requires a minimum temperature of 8-10° Celsius at night in winter in north India. But this variety is tolerant to higher temperatures. For paddy, which is India’s largest crop by acreage, there are attempts to make the seeds more tolerant to flooding and drought, depending on which part of the country paddy is planted.
For instance, a variety launched some years ago by a government institute in Cuttack, Odisha, can withstand submergence for around 10 days in a flood. This is ideal for fields in river basins prone to flooding like the Brahmaputra delta in Assam.
Another paddy variety, already planted on six lakh hectares in Chhattisgarh and Bihar, has drought-tolerance properties.“We have to scale it up by bringing in the private sector,” says M Prabhakar, NICRA’s principal investigator.
Bayer AG plans to bring to India a paddy variety that can withstand flooding for two weeks. “While the product has been launched in Bangladesh, we’re working towards introducing it in India soon,” says a company spokesperson.
In India and Bangladesh, around five million hectares, or just under a tenth of the total area for rice fields, are prone to floods every year, according to the International Rice Research Institute. Rice fields are also a source of methane emissions, due to the bacteria in the soil when the fields are filled with water during planting. “We need to adopt a forward-thinking approach — to not only address issues that farmers are facing today but preempt challenges that they might have to overcome in the future,” says a spokesperson at Corteva that produces maize, paddy, mustard and millet seeds.
CLIMATE CHANGE: A LOOMING THREAT:
“Earlier, the focus of R&D was yield. Now, with groundwater levels going down and temperatures rising, we need to develop tolerance in seeds to different kinds of stress,” says Yogendra Varma, the head of research & development at Kaveri.
The effects of climate change, like more frequent heat waves, dry spells, droughts and changing frequency and intensity of rain, on agriculture cannot be ignored. And at risk are not just the 120-million farmers of the country but also more than 500 companies that make up India’s Rs 15,000 crore seed industry.
“Farmers want stability in their crops even if the yield is 10-15% lower,” says GV Bhaskar Rao, chairman and managing director of Hyderabadbased Kaveri Seeds.
Rao says the company is spending 7-8% of its a substantial amount given the seed Rs 772 crore in 2017-18. But the search for climate-resilient varieties comes with a business risk: it can up to seven years to introduce a new variety — from R&D stage to commercial launch — and the success rate can be less than 1%, says Varma, the R&D head.
These hardy varieties are being sent for processing to Kaveri Seeds’ 30-acre seed processing facility — around 20 km away from Kodakandla, in Pamulaparthi village. The unit is like a giant warehouse, with rows of gunny sacks basking in sunlight. In one corner, raw paddy seeds are being processed in a multi-stage process, where a contraption tosses the seeds up in the air to remove impurities. In another part of the plant, cotton and okra seeds are being cleaned for packaging. This plant, with a capacity to process 85 tonnes of seeds an hour, is Kaveri’s biggest, processing 60% of the company’s output.
The other major seed players in the Indian market are multinationals like Bayer AG, DowDuPont’s Corteva Agriscience and Syngenta and home-grown Nuziveedu Seeds, United Phosphorus, Rasi Seeds, Ankur Seeds and Ajeet Seeds. Bayer completed its acquisition of Monsanto globally earlier this year, but the two companies still operate as separate entities in India.
Meanwhile, cotton seeds, which make up a third of the seed market in India, are also being given a climate shield.
India is the world’s largest cotton producer and last financial year, the crop was cultivated on 11.3 mn hectares – most of it genetically modified Bt cotton. Genetically modified seeds are different from hybrids since they have a gene inserted from an unrelated species. For instance, the second-generation Bt cotton in India, introduced by Monsanto, has two genes from bacterium bacillus thuringiensis. But farmers sowing Bt cotton have been battling pink bollworm attacks for the past few years even though resistance to these worms was supposed to be the USP of the genetically modified variety.
Now, to minimise the impact of bollworms, which usually attack late in the crop’s lifecycle, companies are introducing Bt cotton varieties that take shorter time to grow. Early maturity also saves the crop from truant rain.
Nagpur-based Ankur Seeds has created such a seed variety that needs 20 days less to mature than regular Bt cotton, which has a growth period of 160-180 days.
“In the 1960s and 70s, new varieties were invented so that they could be useful for the next 25 years. But now, if we invest in new seeds, they will only be useful for three to four years because of unpredictable weather events,” says MG Shembekar, managing director at Ankur Seeds.
According to an estimate in the 2017-18 Economic Survey, when temperatures are 1° Celsius higher than normal, farm incomes fall by 6.2% during kharif season and 6% for rabi season in unirrigated districts. Similarly, when rainfall is 100 mm less than the average, farm incomes decline by 15% during kharif season and by 7% during rabi season.
Climate change can reduce wheat yields by 6-23% by 2050 and 15-25% by 2080, says a paper by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.
The earth’s average surface temperature has risen by 1° Celsius since pre-industrial levels and the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change vowed to keep global temperature increase this century to below 2° Celsius. This year, United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called for further restricting global warming to 1.5° Celsius and countries negotiated hard at 24th Conference of Parties at Katowice in Poland last week to put in place an action plan to achieve objectives of the Paris deal.
Last year was India’s fourth warmest year ever since record-keeping began in 1901, with annual mean temperature 0.71° Celsius higher than the 1971-2000 average.
At its field labs, Kaveri Seeds is also testing a chilli hybrid seed that will be resistant to strong winds during cyclones. It is also trying to create a quick growth chili variety with a 150-day lifecycle compared with the usual 230-240 days.
Hybrid seeds are produced by cross-pollinating two different but related plants to produce a variety with specific traits. But unlike non-hybrid varieties, these seeds from a hybrid plant cannot be used to grow the same variety, which means farmers have to buy new seeds every season.
The shorter-duration chilli variety will need to be irrigated once in two weeks instead of once or twice a week, says Khuman Singh Chauhan, who heads Kaveri’s R&D for vegetables. These seeds for the future will be water-efficient as rains become erratic and the number of dry days during monsoons rise, he adds.
Besides tackling the likelihood of low water availability, extreme temperatures is another challenge for seed makers to overcome.
Kaveri Seeds is developing a tomato hybrid that can withstand temperatures of up to 45° Celsius. Most of the current varieties cannot endure the mercury crossing 42°. Tolerance to high temperatures is being ingrained in seeds of other crops too.
The IARI, under the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) programme, is experimenting with a wheat variety that can endure heat stress. The crop usually requires a minimum temperature of 8-10° Celsius at night in winter in north India. But this variety is tolerant to higher temperatures. For paddy, which is India’s largest crop by acreage, there are attempts to make the seeds more tolerant to flooding and drought, depending on which part of the country paddy is planted.
For instance, a variety launched some years ago by a government institute in Cuttack, Odisha, can withstand submergence for around 10 days in a flood. This is ideal for fields in river basins prone to flooding like the Brahmaputra delta in Assam.
Another paddy variety, already planted on six lakh hectares in Chhattisgarh and Bihar, has drought-tolerance properties.“We have to scale it up by bringing in the private sector,” says M Prabhakar, NICRA’s principal investigator.
Bayer AG plans to bring to India a paddy variety that can withstand flooding for two weeks. “While the product has been launched in Bangladesh, we’re working towards introducing it in India soon,” says a company spokesperson.
In India and Bangladesh, around five million hectares, or just under a tenth of the total area for rice fields, are prone to floods every year, according to the International Rice Research Institute. Rice fields are also a source of methane emissions, due to the bacteria in the soil when the fields are filled with water during planting. “We need to adopt a forward-thinking approach — to not only address issues that farmers are facing today but preempt challenges that they might have to overcome in the future,” says a spokesperson at Corteva that produces maize, paddy, mustard and millet seeds.
CLIMATE CHANGE: A LOOMING THREAT:
- Earth’s average surface
temperature has already risen 1° Celsius since 19th century.
- 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate
Change vows to keep temperature increase this century to below 2° Celsius
and will strive to restrict it further to 1.5° Celsius.
- Climate change is already
having an adverse impact on agriculture, thanks to rising temperatures,
more intense extreme weather events, more frequent dry spells and
droughts, variations in frequency and level of rains and rising sea
levels.
(Source:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Food and Agriculture Organization)
‘Adopt
climate resilient Agriculture practices’
A project
has been undertaken under National Innovation for Climate Resilient Agriculture
(NICRA) in the waterlogged areas of the State to develop climate resilient
agriculture.
Published: 17th
December 2018 07:40 AM | Last Updated: 17th
December 2018 07:40 AM |
BHUBANESWAR: The
Indian Institute of Water Management (IIWM) of Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR) has adopted innovative water and crop management strategies to
address farm distress faced by Odisha’s coastal districts due to multiple
weather hazards like flood, drought and cyclone.
A project has been undertaken under National
Innovation for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) in the waterlogged areas
of the State to develop climate resilient agriculture.
While farmers of Puri have already adopted
‘Agro-forestry and pond based framing’ and are fetching higher income, the
ICAR-IIWM has advised farmers of other coastal districts to adopt the
technology for enhancing farm output.
The IIWM-Bhubaneswar recently organised a
fair-cum-farmers-scientists interaction meet at Alisha village in Puri to
disseminate the technologies and sensitise farmers.
Addressing the farmers, Director of National
Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack Himanshu Pathak said there are several
rice varieties and cultivation practices which can be adopted by farmers of
waterlogged areas.
He advised farmers to adopt climate-resilient
agriculture and cultivate new rice varieties which have been developed
especially for waterlogged areas.
Director of IIWM SK Ambast assured to provide
all types of technical support to improve the challenging ecosystem and
farmers’ income which has increased four to five times after adopting the
pond-based and land shaping technology.
Climate scientist from IIT-Bhubaneswar, Prof
UC Mohanty said since coastal areas are more vulnerable to multiple weather hazards,
farmers should adopt water management technology for higher productivity and
income. He solicited Government’s support to scale up the new agricultural
practices.
About 250 farmers from different villages of
Puri and experts from ICAR-IIWM, NRRI, Cuttack and Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar attended
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/2018/dec/17/adopt-climate-resilient-agri-practices-1912640.html
IMF ties Pakistan’s debt
transparency to bailout deal
KARACHI: Pakistan’s debt
transparency is an utmost prerequisite for a possible bailout package from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), a spokesperson of the Washington-based
lender said, adding the talks with the country continue to reach understanding
on the economic policy priorities.
IMF Communications Department
Director Gerry Rice said discussions with Pakistan are active and “they
continue toward reaching an understanding on the policy priorities and reform
to stabilise the economy, lay the foundations for sustainable, inclusive
growth”.
Rice was addressing a presser on
Thursday, according to a transcription made available on the IMF’s website on
Saturday.
“When a program is agreed by staff
with the authorities, it goes forward to the board. And the board representing
our membership, including the United States, of course, makes the final
decision on whether that program should go ahead,” he said, responding to a
question whether or not IMF considers the US insistence that any of IMF loan to
Pakistan should not be used to repay the country’s debt to China.
China has pledged more than $50
billion of financing for infrastructure developments in Pakistan under its belt
and road initiative aimed at improving regional connectivity.
Ratings agency Fitch said
Pakistan’s external debt servicing will stay high throughout the next decade,
with China Pakistan Economic Corridor-related outflows set to begin in the
early 2020s.
The IMF’s director said debt
sustainability in a country's debt profile is “one of the priority issues that
the IMF looks at in the context of a program discussion with a member”.
“That definitely will be the case
in the case of Pakistan,” he added.
IMF staff team was engaged with
Pakistan till November to discuss a financial support to the country’s ailing
balance of payment position. The next board meeting is scheduled for January
15.
The talks have been elongated with
Pakistan having been pledged with six billion dollars of financial assistance
from Saudi Arab. The country’s official reserves also moved towards recovery as
two billion dollars have already been received from Saudi Arab.
Government said it has brought down
the external financing requirement to seven billion dollars from earlier
estimated $12 billion for the current fiscal year.
Rice further said debt transparency
is essential to conduct proper analysis of the sustainability of a country’s
debt.
“That is what the IMF does when we
are going into a program with our member countries. So that will be the case in
Pakistan,” he added. “One of the things that we do in every program is to have
a very detailed debt sustainability analysis to ensure that indeed the
country’s debt profile is sustainable.”
Matco Foods plans to form joint
venture with Dutch company
By Usman Hanif
Published: December 16, 2018
The joint venture will import raw
material and sell in line with Matco Foods’ existing rice glucose and rice
protein business. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: Matco Foods, a 50-year old agribusiness
which exports rice to over 150 countries, has announced plans to diversify its
product range in collaboration with Dutch Barentz International.
The company has applied to the Competition
Commission of Pakistan (CCP) for a joint venture in Pakistan with Barentz
International, according to a notification submitted to the Pakistan Stock
Exchange.
“The investment in the joint venture
corporation is subject to approval of CCP and completion of requisite
compliance requirements under applicable law,” stated the notification. Barentz
International deals in raw material for pharmaceutical, personal and homecare,
food and nutrition and animal nutrition industries.
Apart from this, Netherlands’ Barentz group
operates in 60 countries of Europe and Asia. It generated a turnover of €1.1
billion in 2017 while catering to thousands of customers in the 60 countries
with over thousands of employees. “Matco is moving towards new business with
Barentz International, which possesses vast experience,” BMA Securities analyst
Faizul Sultan told The Express Tribune. “We hope the Pakistani market will take
full advantage of its experience.”
“The size of investment will be about Rs1
billion, we are forming joint venture under the title of Business Pakistan,”
said Matco Foods Limited Chairman Jawed Ali Ghori while talking to The Express
Tribune. “The company will be registered in Pakistan with 49% share of Matco.”
The joint venture will import raw material
and sell in line with Matco Foods’ existing rice glucose and rice protein
business, commented Matco Company Secretary Muhammad Latif Qureshi in the
notification. Barents International will market Matco’s glucose, which it
extracts from rice in Karachi and Matco will import the raw material and
provide it to fast moving consuming goods (FMCGs) companies, like Nestle and
Lotte Corporation.
Published in The Express
Tribune, December 16th, 2018.
Published: December 15, 2018 3:29
pm On: Nepal
PARSA: Property worth million of rupees
was reduced to ashes in a fire at a rice mill at Sakhuwa Prasauni Rural
Municipality this morning.
The fire at the mill owned by
Gayasuddin Miya originated from a electric short-circuit at 2:00 am and was
doused with the help of Armed Police Force; Nepal Police and the locals,
officials informed.
Rice stock, sailor machine, other
machinery and cash Rs 700,000 were destroyed in the fire.
The doctors told whether white rice causes diabetes
By paradox
15.12.2018
Does frequent use of the product serious disease.
Earlier researchers stated that
white rice allegedly increases the risk of developing type II diabetes. A new
study has shown that this is absolutely not true.
The fact that people in Asian
countries eat white rice almost daily, but in Asia indicators for type 2
diabetes is no higher than in other parts of the world. White rice has a really
high glycemic index and contain a lot of starch, but because such indicators
diabetes does not develop. Experts from the National University of Singapore
found that even a daily consumption of rice does not cause the disease. Their
findings are made after careful analysis of the incidence of diabetes in
different Asian countries, where white rice is the basis of the diet. In
addition, scientists have found that rice is not a dangerous product.
Far more dangerous are other
products that people in Asian countries substitute for rice. It is, first and
foremost, the chicken, red meat and noodles. Scientists have found that regular
use of these products the risk of diabetes really increasing.
Debunked the
popular myth about the dangers of white rice
By paradox
16.12.2018
Previously believed that white rice can cause diabetes.The consumption of white rice has long been associated with an
increased risk of developing type II diabetes, but research staff, National
University of Singapore showed that pic to diabetes all the same arguments.
While Singapore scientists claim that even intensive consumption of white rice
does not make one a diabetic.
It is known that white rice
contains much starch and has a high glycemic index. Prior to this, repeatedly
argued that its use leads to high blood sugar levels – it is from this
circumstance that linked the probability of diabetes. But scientists from
Singapore have got data to refute the connection between love to the dishes of
white rice and increased risk of developing type II diabetes.
Researchers have analyzed the
statistics of cases of diabetes in Asian countries, where white rice is the
staple food of the people. In parallel, the authors of the project were
monitoring the feeding habits of ethnic Chinese population of Singapore. In
result they made the appropriate conclusion.
“The results obtained clearly
showed that the rice does not lead to a higher risk of type II diabetes. The
probability of occurrence of the disease in most cases depends on the
accompanying food,” the researchers noted.
Accompanying food, in their
opinion, is noodles, red meat and chicken. Their daily consumption is really
brought to the development of diabetes, experts said.
http://micetimes.asia/debunked-the-popular-myth-about-the-dangers-of-white-rice/
Matco to setup
joint venture company with Barentz International
The JV is being set up for the import, sales, and distribution
of ingredients used in pharmaceutical, personal care, food & nutrition, and
animal nutrition in the life science and food nutrition sector
December 14, 2018
🔊 Listen to Article
LAHORE: Matco Foods on Fri
day announced it had reached an
agreement with Barentz International to set up a joint venture company in
Pakistan for the import, sales, and distribution of ingredients used in
pharmaceutical, personal care, food & nutrition, and animal nutrition in
the life science and food nutrition sector.
day announced it had reached an
agreement with Barentz International to set up a joint venture company in
Pakistan for the import, sales, and distribution of ingredients used in
pharmaceutical, personal care, food & nutrition, and animal nutrition in
the life science and food nutrition sector.
In a notification sent to the
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, Matco Foods said the joint venture
with Barentz International was subject to approval from the Competition
Commission of Pakistan (CCP).
Also, it added the investment in
the joint venture would be subject to approval from CCP and completion of
required compliance requirements under applicable law.
Matco said these activities were
in line with its existing rice glucose and rice protein business.
And Barentz is a leading provider
of ingredients for the pharmaceutical, personal care, food & nutrition, and
animal nutrition industries.
Barentz is a Netherlands based
privately owned group serving thousands of customers in sixty countries with
over 1000 people in employment.
In March, the company reached an
agreement with Beijing Meckey Engineering Co for the supply of a
rice glucose manufacturing plant with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes per
year.
This new plant will increase the
total production capacity of the company to 30,000 tonnes of rice glucose and
3,000 tonnes of rice protein per year.
Matco Foods was the first company
in 2018 to get successfully listed on PSX.
Matco Foods is known for
exporting 75 percent of its basmati rice abroad due to increased profit
margins. Its basmati rice brand of Falak is considered the bestselling brand
from Pakistan and exports its rice to over 60 countries globally.
It is one of Pakistan’s leading
agri-business with over fifty years of experience in the rice industry. It is
operating over 5 processing plants and is considered among the country’s
largest rice exporters.
Matco Foods shares were trading
at Rs27.26, up Rs1.29 (+4.97%). KSE-100 Index was trading at 38,250.41 points,
up 238.78 points (+0.63%) at the time of filing this report
Police, FDA arrest seven for
misbranding rice
Some of the
low quality rice in the warehouse
Two owners of a warehouse and their five employees have been
arrested in a joint operation by the police and the Food and Drugs Authority
(FDA) for allegedly re-packaging low quality and low-cost rice as popular and
high-cost brands and selling them to the unsuspecting public.The names of the
owners of the warehouse have been given by the police as Alhassan Fuseni, 40,
and Sumaila Sudique, 50.The names of their five employees have been withheld by the police.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer of the FDA, Mr James Lartey, said some officers of the Accra Regional Police Command and the FDA received information that some traders were re-packaging rice of low-cost brands and selling them as high-cost brands at the Okaishie Market in Accra.
Re-packaging
On December 12, 2018, a joint team from the Ghana Police Service and FDA went to the said venue and found the suspected traders, believed to be the owners of the warehouse, busily re-packaging the rice from unknown brands to some other bands which were popular and high priced in the market.
The names of the different brands of the high quality and high priced rice have been withheld by the police to protect consumers, while investigations continue.
However, the names of the low quality and low priced rice were given as Dio and Aroma rice.
Mr Lartey said during initial investigations, the joint team found about 2,000 bags of assorted low priced rice in the warehouse, which were going to be re-packaged as a high-quality brand for sale to the public.
The team, he said, arrested the seven persons for interrogation, while officials of the FDA took samples of the rice for testing and locked up the warehouse.
The illegal activity, according to the FDA, was known as misbranding of food, a practice which contravenes the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851 section 103).
Warning
The FDA warned all persons economically motivated to adulterate food to put a stop to it because it was an offence under the Public Health Act, 2012 ( Act 851).
"Offenders will face the full rigours of the law when apprehended," it stated.
‘Adopt
climate resilient Agriculture practices’
A project has
been undertaken under National Innovation for Climate Resilient Agriculture
(NICRA) in the waterlogged areas of the State to develop climate resilient
agriculture.
Published: 17th December 2018 07:40
AM | Last Updated: 17th December 2018 07:40 AM |
BHUBANESWAR: The
Indian Institute of Water Management (IIWM) of Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR) has adopted innovative water and crop management strategies to
address farm distress faced by Odisha’s coastal districts due to multiple
weather hazards like flood, drought and cyclone.
A project has
been undertaken under National Innovation for Climate Resilient Agriculture
(NICRA) in the waterlogged areas of the State to develop climate resilient
agriculture.
While farmers
of Puri have already adopted ‘Agro-forestry and pond based framing’ and are
fetching higher income, the ICAR-IIWM has advised farmers of other coastal
districts to adopt the technology for enhancing farm output.
The
IIWM-Bhubaneswar recently organised a fair-cum-farmers-scientists interaction
meet at Alisha village in Puri to disseminate the technologies and sensitise
farmers.
Addressing the
farmers, Director of National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack Himanshu
Pathak said there are several rice varieties and cultivation practices which
can be adopted by farmers of waterlogged areas.
He advised
farmers to adopt climate-resilient agriculture and cultivate new rice varieties
which have been developed especially for waterlogged areas.
Director of
IIWM SK Ambast assured to provide all types of technical support to improve the
challenging ecosystem and farmers’ income which has increased four to five
times after adopting the pond-based and land shaping technology.
Climate
scientist from IIT-Bhubaneswar, Prof UC Mohanty said since coastal areas are
more vulnerable to multiple weather hazards, farmers should adopt water
management technology for higher productivity and income. He solicited
Government’s support to scale up the new agricultural practices.
About 250
farmers from different villages of Puri and experts from ICAR-IIWM, NRRI,
Cuttack and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar attended
The doctors told whether white rice causes diabetes
By paradox
15.12.2018
Does frequent use of the product serious disease.
Earlier researchers stated that
white rice allegedly increases the risk of developing type II diabetes. A new
study has shown that this is absolutely not true.
The fact that people in Asian
countries eat white rice almost daily, but in Asia indicators for type 2
diabetes is no higher than in other parts of the world. White rice has a really
high glycemic index and contain a lot of starch, but because such indicators
diabetes does not develop. Experts from the National University of Singapore
found that even a daily consumption of rice does not cause the disease. Their
findings are made after careful analysis of the incidence of diabetes in
different Asian countries, where white rice is the basis of the diet. In
addition, scientists have found that rice is not a dangerous product.
Far more dangerous are other
products that people in Asian countries substitute for rice. It is, first and
foremost, the chicken, red meat and noodles. Scientists have found that regular
use of these products the risk of diabetes really increasing
http://micetimes.asia/the-doctors-told-whether-white-rice-causes-diabetes/
FACT CHECK:
Verifying Osinbajo, Obi at TV debate
December 15
12:272018
To keep politicians accountable at the vice-presidential and
presidential debate, TheCable was live-checking the supposed facts and figures
being bandied by those seeking the highest offices in the land.
The participating parties are;
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), All
Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Young
Progressives Party (YPP).
Peter Obi of the PDP, and APC’s
Yemi Osinbajo are debating alongside Ganiyu Galadima of ACPN, Khadijah
Abdullahi-Iya of ANN and Umma Abdullahi-Getso of YPP.
OBI: There are about two million vehicles
in Nigeria.
CHECKED: False. According to the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), Nigeria has a total vehicle population of about 11,547,236 as
at the third quarter of 2017.
OSINBAJO: Lagos-Ibadan expressway was
“practically” abandoned for 16 years under PDP.
CHECKED: False. The Goodluck Jonathan administration made many
interventions on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, awarding a multi-billion naira
contract to Julius Berger and RCC. The administration fixed the Ibadan to Ogere
section of the road.
OSINBAJO: A bag of fertiliser now sells
for N6,000 to N7,000.
CHECKED: Largely correct. Price of fertiliser has experienced a
drastic drop following the Nigeria-Morocco fertiliser deal. Current prices are
between N5,500 and N6,500. As at 2016, a bag of fertiliser sold above
N10,000.
OBI: Nigeria has fallen on the
global competitive index from 124 to 127.
CHECKED: False. According to the latest (2018) World Economic
Forum report, Nigeria rose on the index by 10 places. Obi’s claim was true in 2016.
OSINBAJO: There is a tax threshold for
SMEs, SMEs get to a level before they pay taxes.
CHECKED: True. There is a lower tax rate of 20% applicable to
small companies in manufacturing, agriculture and mining within their first
five years of business. The problem with the law is that the turnover threshold
to qualify is only N1 million which is not in tune with current realities.
OBI: Nigeria’s foreign direct
investment for 2015 was $21bn, while it fell to $12bn in 2017.
CHECKED: False. According to NBS capital importation reports,
Nigeria’s total imported capital stood at $9.6 billion in 2015, and $12.3
billion in 2017. Perhaps Obi meant 2014, when Nigeria’s total capital imported
stood at $20.7 billion.
OBI: African trade today is less
than 9 percent.
CHECKED: False. According to Afriexim Bank, Intra-Africa trade is
around 15 percent. In 2016, intra-African exports made up 18 percent of
total exports according to Brookings Institution. According to UNDP, Africa’s
share of global trade is currently 2 percent.
OSINBAJO: Nigeria went down by 64 places
under PDP, but has risen by 24 places under APC.
CHECKED: Partly false. Nigeria went down from 120 to 170 between
2008 and 2015, under PDP rule. Under the APC, ease of doing business has risen
from 170 in 2015 to 146 in 2018, according to the World Bank Ease of Doing
Business report.
OBI: Oil gives you 80% of foreign
exchange earnings.
CHECKED: Point valid, figures near accurate. As at 2017 NBS
figures showed that Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings from oil the oil sector
stood above 90%.
GALADIMA: We have four refineries in
Nigeria, and none is working.
CHECKED: The refineries according to NNPC reports are working at
sub-optimal levels. Not totally dysfunctional.
UMMA GESTO: Nigerian Airways was one of
the largest in the world.
CHECKED: False. Nigerian Airways was one of the largest in Africa.
OBI: The federal government spends
only N5 on the health of each Nigerian citizen per day.
CHECKED: True. Based on budgetary and population calculations done
by TheCable, the federal government allocates N4.7 to every Nigerian’s health
per day.
OBI: Apple Inc’s market cap is
bigger than the economies of Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.
CHECKED: Apple’s market cap today is $788.57 billion. The
economies of these three countries are bigger than Apple. When Apple was $1
trillion a few months ago, it was bigger in dollar terms.
OSINBAJO: Nigeria producing 90% of the rice
we consume.
CHECKED: Dicey. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, the
country’s rice import has dropped drastically with a surge in local production.
The CBN estimates that Nigeria has legally imported less than 25,000 tonnes of
rice in 2018 — validating Osinbajo’s claims.
Africa Rice Centre says Nigeria produces 75% of its rice
consumption, adding that rice smuggling is a big problem in
Nigeria. Nobody tracks the amount of rice smuggled into the country.
According to the Thailand Rice Exporters Association, the rice
exported to Nigeria between January and October 2018 was 6,121 tonnes,
representing a drastic drop when compared to 2016 when all-year import stood at
58,260 metric tonnes.
But the rice exported to Benin Republic, where most of Nigeria’s
smuggled rice comes from, has increased from 805,765 metric tonnes in 2015 to
1,214,568 metric tonnes as at October 2018.
However, the United States Department of Agriculture says
Nigeria’s imports rose in 2018 and Nigeria is projected to produce 4.79 million
metric tonnes in 2019 and import as much as 2.4 million metric tonnes in 2019.
https://www.thecable.ng/live-fact-check-verifying-osinbajo-obi-vice-presidential-candidates-at-2019-poll-debate
Rice tariff bill not expected to significantly raise imports — USDA
December 17, 2018 | 12:06 am
A worker is seen at an NFA warehouse in Quezon City. -- PHILSTAR/MICHAEL
VARCAS
THE US Department of Agriculture
does not expect significant growth in the volume of rice imports in Markey Year
(MY) 2018-2019 even with the passage of the rice tariffication bill.
The USDA said sufficient overseas
orders have been made, though the law would favor imports from ASEAN countries.
The USDA said that potential
imports over the long term will depend mainly on the Philippines’ domestic
production. The USDA said the law, which lberalizes the rice importation
process, will bring down rice prices by P2 to P7 per kilo, helping contain
inflation.
The Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) reported that palay production for the three months to December
may decline 1.3% to 7.22 million metric tons (MT), due to a decline in the area
planted to rice. The yield per hectare may also fall 0.51% to 3.91 MT.
The PSA added that the average
farmgate price of palay fell 0.20% from a week earlier to P20.01 per kg in the
first week of December.
The average wholesale and retail
prices of well-milled rice also fell, according to PSA.
The average wholesale price of
well-milled rice fell 0.26% from a week earlier to P42.43 per kg in the first
week of December. The average retail price of well-milled rice fell 0.26% to
P45.93 per kg.
The average retail and wholesale
prices of regular-milled rice, also fell, the PSA said.
The average wholesale price of
regular-milled rice fell 0.56% from a week earlier to P39.21 per kg. The
average retail price of regular-milled rice fell 0.66% to P42.17 per kg.
The average farmgate price for
yellow corn in grain form rose 1.35% week-on-week to P14.23 per kg, the PSA
said. The average wholesale price rose 0.49% to P20.63 per kg.
The average retail price was
unchanged week-on-week at P25.73 per kg.
The average farmgate price for
white corn in grain form rose 1.11% from a week earlier to P14.55 per kg.
The average wholesale price for
white corn in grain form rose 0.97% week-on-week to P20.90 per kg. The average
retail price rose 0.07% to P27.84 per kg. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
Exciting future for SMC
HIDDEN
AGENDA - Mary Ann LL. Reyes (The Philippine Star)
- December 16, 2018 - 12:00am
For a local conglomerate well on
its way to surpassing the P1 trillion mark in terms of revenues, it’s all about
grabbing business opportunities as they come along.
“Looking back, yes, we have
missed good opportunities. But now, we are keen on projects with national
significance,” according to San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang.
One such project is his proposed
P735-billion new international airport in Bulacan. The NEDA board, which earlier
gave its approval to the proposal, has scheduled to take it up for a second
pass this week. Once approved, it will be subject to a Swiss Challenge being an
unsolicited proposal. If it survives the challenge, it can be operational five
years from approval of all government permits needed.The project involves
building a new gateway in Bulacan over a 2,500-hectare property with six
runways that can handle up to 100 million passengers a year.
As part of the proposed revised
concession agreement, government has agreed to undertake the needed
right-of-way acquisitions (expropriation being a power that can be exercised
only by government) while SMC will shoulder the costs, including those for
local government permits.
Another much-awaited
infrastructure project by SMC is its Skyway Stage 3 connector road project
which Ang said will be ready by December of next year. The project’s cost has
increased by P10 billion to P55 billion-P56 billion due a slight change in the
original design. The SMC chief executive revealed that he expects the few
remaining right-of-way problems (involving six landowners from a high of 56) to
be resolved soon.
The Skyway Stage 3 project is a
six-lane elevated expressway extending 17.54 kilometers from Gil Puyat in
Makati to Balintawak in Quezon City.
Then there is the
Tarlac-Pampanga-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) whose last exit in Rosario, La
Union is expected to be opened by July 2019. SMC has submitted a P24-billion
proposal to extend TPLEX by 56 kilometers from Rosario to San Juan, but what is
more exciting for me is the proposal to extend it another 400 kilometers all
the way from Rosario to Laoag, Ilocos Norte. Imagine how much travel time to
the far North will be reduced once this materializes. No more 10-hour travels.
For those living in Quezon City,
we are particularly excited about the MRT-7 project which according to Ang will
be ready by 2020. He said that will there are a few right-of-way problems
remaining, everything seems to be going as planned. There are plans to loop this
to the proposed airport which will make it very convenient to go to the Bulacan
airport. “Everything will be interconnected,” he said.
Ang is also looking forward to
increased business for the Manila North Harbor project, especially after ICTSI
acquired a 50 percent stake. Once ICTSI completes the transaction which is
still subject to approval of the Philippine Competition Commission, the
remaining 43.3 percent share in Manila North Harbor Port Inc. (MNHPI) will be
held by San Miguel Holdings, 6.5 percent by IZ Investment Holdings, and 0.17
percent by Petron. MNHPI has a 25-year concession to operate, manage, and
maintain North Harbor.
With ICTSI as partner, Manila
North Harbor will soon no longer service only domestic cargo but will soon
handle international cargo as well.
Meanwhile, as part of its
sustainability efforts, SMC has exited the plastic bottled water business under
the “Purewater” brand. This does not mean though that SMC will no longer be
selling bottled drinking water. It will be back, this time using returnable
regular glass bottles.
Ang revealed that they will be
introducing into the market soon flavored water without carbonation contained
in these glass bottles.
But even with his hands already
full, Ang is still looking at other projects. One of this is going into palay
importation, especially after President Duterte announced that he will lift
quota restrictions on rice imports. However, to remove the quantitative
restrictions, RA 8178 or the Agricultural Tariffication Act has to be amended. Senate
Bill 1998 has already been approved lifting rice import restrictions which will
be replaced by tariffs.
SMC’s top honcho is confident
that once San Miguel goes into palay imports, the price of rice domestically
will go down significantly.
Off hand, he is thinking of
choosing three sites (SMC has 18 sites for its animal feed production) where he
can install six silos each that can receive the imported rice. Importing rice
fits well into SMC’s current business. Ang says the broken rice can be used in
SMC’s breweries for fermentation while the rice husks can be used for the power
plants. He explained that rice husk has the same heating value (4,000-45,000
kcal) as low-grade coal.
He prefers to import palay rather
than rice because the milling of palay into rice produces rice bran which is
used in poultry feeds and the husk for fuel.
Many of SMC’s new power plants
are equipped with circulating fluidized bed boilers which can utilize not only
coal but rice husks, sewage waste, and even old carpets and clothes, he said.
Speaking of sewage waste, SMC has
already submitted to the DPWH an unsolicited proposal to build a P3-billion
bridge connecting Caticlan to Boracay Island. The bridge, which will be around
890 meters, will have a pipe that can bring sewage and waste from Boracay to
Caticlan, and transport fresh water from Caticlan to Boracay. To recover its
investment, SMC will charge a fee for vehicles and pedestrians using the
bridge, and well as the waste, sewage, fresh water and even power lines that
will be passing through it.
SMC, which is operating the
Caticlan Airport, also plans to build two hotels near the airport that will
have 1,000 hotel rooms, half of which will be completed next year, and the rest
in 2020.
There are also plans by SMC to
put up a world-class waterpark next year and according to reports, Disneyland
Park of South Korea will be involved in the design and construction. The
waterpark will also have its own hotel.
As for his NAIA Expressway, which
is built at a staggering cost of P20.45 billion, Ang said they are finally
seeing light at the end of the tunnel especially now that daily traffic has
increased. Though it will probably take 20 years before SMC recovers its
investment, Ang said they undertook it as part of their share in nation building.
He plans to remove the cash lane
at NAIAX soon because this has been causing traffic and will require all users
to install RFID stickers which they can get for free.
For
comments, email at mareyes@philstarmedia.com
https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/12/16/1877289/exciting-future-smc
14 Bago
farmers’ groups get equipment, alternative livelihood
By Panay
News
Monday, December 17, 2018
BACOLOD City – Fourteen farmers’
associations in Bago City, Negros Occidental were given P4.2-million worth of
farm equipment and projects from the local government.
Particularly among rice farmers,
machinery contributes to the improvement of yield, according to Mayor Nicholas
Yulo.
As of November this year, Bago’s
average rice yield was pegged at 4.4 metric tons per hectare, up from the 4.1
metric tons per hectare in 2017.
“By boosting our production, we
can also contribute to increasing the province’s rice self-sufficiency level
and ensuring food security,” Yulo said.
Dubbed the rice granary of Negros
Occidental, Bago contributes to 19 percent of the total rice production in the
province.
A hand tractor, two threshers,
multi-tilling machine, three rice planting machines, and five pumps with
engines were given out to 10 farmers’ associations.
They included the Punta Playa
Multi-Purpose Association, Mailum Organic Village Association, Barangay Napoles
Women Association for Rural Improvement, Fermina Small Water Impounding System
Association, Bago Integrated Farmers Association, Small Farmers Association of
Abuanan, Dulao and Antipuluan, Newton-Camingawan-Para Farmers Association,
Barangay Malingin Farmers Association, Association of Rice Farmers of Tabunan,
and the Sagasa Women’s Group.
They were also given livelihood
projects like balut (fertilized duck egg)
making, food processing, salted egg making, and mushroom production.
Four fisherfolk associations –
Taloc Baybay Fisherfolk Association, Calubay Anahaw Small Fishermen
Association, Can-itum Integrated Fisherfolk Association, and Barangay
Calumangan Integrated Fisherfolk Association – were provided alternative
livelihood projects such as fish vending and rag making, as well as cooking
equipment and facilities.
Yulo and Bago City agriculturist
Carlito Indencia led the distribution on Dec. 13 in Barangay Balingasag.
The Bago City government funds
the machinery and the livelihood projects through its Agriculture Development
Program, Indencia said.
The program is aimed at
developing the rice and fishery sectors, and providing farmers and fisherfolk
alternative sources of income, he said. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
https://www.panaynews.net/14-bago-farmers-groups-get-equipment-alternative-livelihood/
