Climate change science presented
to uncertain Governor Abbott
First Warning Weather takes
in-depth look at climate info given to Governor
Posted: Jan 08, 2019 08:58 PM CST
Updated: Jan 09, 2019 06:06 PM CST
Jim Spencer and David Yeomans
addressed the scientific evidence presented to Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Tuesday. Abbott recently said, he wasn't clear about the climate change issue
because he wasn't a scientist.
Click on the video above for the
full report. Below, see the letter presented to Governor Abbott and to Jon
Niermann, Chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
This topic sparked a considerable
Facebook discussion after Jim posted a viewer's skeptical email. See it, and/or
comment here: https://www.facebook.com/jimspencerKXAN/
----------------------------
January 8th, 2019
The Honorable Greg Abbott
Governor of State of Texas
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711
Cc: Jon Niermann, Chairman, Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality
Dear Governor Abbott,
At a press conference last month
to discuss a new report on the impacts of Hurricane Harvey, a reporter asked
you whether man-made climate change has played a role in Texas' weather
disasters. You replied that it would be impossible for you to say, as you are
not a scientist.
We, the undersigned, are climate
scientists and experts, and can report to you that climate change is happening,
it is primarily caused by humans, and it is having a devastating impact on
Texas, including increasing deadly flooding resulting from Hurricane
Harvey.
Furthermore, the recently
released National Climate Assessment, put together by more than a dozen federal
agencies and more than 300 scientists found that, left unchecked, climate
change will have dangerous results for the Southern Great Plains, which
includes Texas. The report finds:
· Annual average temperatures will increase by 3.6°–5.1°F by the
mid-21st century and by 4.4°–8.4°F by the late 21st century
· An additional 30–60 days per year above 100°F than we currently
experience
· Higher temperatures could result in an additional 1,300 deaths
per year by the end of the century
· Extreme heat will pose health risks to outdoor agricultural
workers, with some communities “projected to lose more than 6% in annual labor
hours by the end of the century”
· Sea level rise along the western Gulf of Mexico “is likely to be
greater than the projected global average of 1–4 feet or more. Such a change,
along with the related retreat of the Gulf coastline, will exacerbate risks and
impacts from storm surges.”
· Up to $20.9 billion in coastal property is projected to be
flooded at high tide by 2030
· The Edwards Aquifer will suffer from “a decrease of water supply
during droughts, a degradation of habitat for species of concern, economic
effects, and the interconnectivity of these impacts.”
We can take actions now to help
us adapt to the impacts of climate change. And, as one of the biggest wind
energy producers in the U.S., we can also play a key role in reducing the
emissions that will drive future changes in the climate. The only thing missing
is leadership.
We therefore request the
opportunity to brief you on the climate science and the need for the State
of Texas to take immediate action to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Sincerely,
Andrew Dessler, Ph.D.
Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Reta A. Haynes Chair in
Geosciences
Texas A&M University
Daniel Cohan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of
Environmental Engineering
Dept. of Civil and Environmental
Engineering
Rice University
Charles Jackson, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Institute for Geophysics
The University of Texas at Austin
Kerry H. Cook, Ph.D.
Professor, Jackson School of
Geosciences
Dept. of Geological Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
Richard M. Mitterer, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Dept. of
Geosciences
University of Texas at Dallas
Gerald North, Ph.D.
Research Professor of Atmospheric
Sciences
University Distinguished
Professor Emeritus
Texas A&M University
Joshua W. Busby, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Public
Affairs
Texas LBJ School of Public
Affairs
The University of Texas at Austin
Sylvia Dee, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Earth, Environmental,
and Planetary Sciences
Rice University
Dr. John B. Anderson, Ph.D.
Maurice Ewing Professor of
Oceanography Emeritus
Rice University
Yangyang Xu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of
Atmospheric Sciences
Texas A&M University
Laurence Yeung, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and
Planetary Sciences
Rice University
Robert A. Dull, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow
Environmental Science Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
Rasika M. Harshey, Ph.D.
Professor of Molecular
Biosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
Hongjie Xie, Ph.D.
Professor
Dept. of Geological Sciences
University of Texas at San
Antonio
Gunnar W. Schade, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Texas A&M University
Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Texas A&M University
Caroline Masiello, Ph.D.
Professor, Earth, Environmental,
and Planetary Sciences
Rice University
Francisco L. Pérez, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus and Soils Lab
Director Emeritus
Dept. of Geography and the
Environment
The University of Texas at Austin
Stephen F. Ackley
Associate Professor of Research
Dept. of Geological Sciences
University of Texas at San
Antonio
Sylvia G. Dee, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Earth,
Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
Rice University
Ian Dalziel, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Professor, Jackson School of
Geosciences
Institute for Geophysics
The University of Texas at Austin
Yuko M. Okumura, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Jackson
School of Geosciences
Institute for Geophysics
University of Texas at Austin
Courtney Schumacher, Ph.D.
Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
E. D. Brockett Professorship in
Geosciences
Texas A&M University
Kara Kockelman, Ph.D.
Dewitt Greer Centennial Professor
of Transportation Engineering
Dept. of Civil, Architectural and
Environmental Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Mark Torres, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Earth, Environmental,
& Planetary Sciences
Rice University
Emily Northrop, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Dept. of Economics and Business
Southwestern University
Joshua Long, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental
Studies
Southwestern University
William Quinn, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Biological
Sciences
St. Edward’s University
The quest for the missing proteins in rice
January 9,
2019, Macquarie University
Credit: CC0 Public
Domain
Researchers have identified over
5,700 new proteins in rice and are calling for a global effort to find the
remaining missing proteins, in a new study co-authored by Macquarie University.
The international team of
scientists from Australia, Iran and Japan say there's an estimated 35,000
proteins encoded by the rice genome, and yet we still don't have
experimental evidence for 82 per cent of them.
This is important because rice is
the major food source for more than half the world's population, and in order
for it to grow in warmer climates and with less
water we will need to better understand rice at the molecular
level.
"The genome of rice was
completed and published in 2001," says Professor Paul Haynes from
Macquarie University, and a co-author on the study. "So surely we know
enough about it now that we should be able to manipulate how it grows to meet
our needs? Well, we don't."
"What we have for rice, like
most of the well-studied plant and animal species, is a good first
approximation of what the gene sequence actually encodes for, but there is
still a very large amount of information yet to be confirmed."
Rice is Australia's ninth largest
agricultural export and generates approximately $800 million in revenue each
year, but this productivity comes at a significant cost.
Australian farmers use large
amounts of water to
irrigate their crops. The increasing demand for this water is threatening the
sustainability of their rice production.
"It is imperative that we find
ways to make rice better adapted to environments with warmer climates and less
available water," says Paul.
One way to do this would be to give
commercial rice varieties some of the characteristics of native Australian
varieties of rice, he says.
These plants grow vigorously in
many wild areas across Australian without additional watering, in part because
their roots grow longer and penetrate deeper into the soil allowing the plants
better access to underground reserves of both water and nutrients.
"If we could somehow transform
commercial rice varieties so that they grow deeper roots, thereby increasing
water uptake efficiency while still retaining high grain yields, we could
produce more sustainable plants that would help to future-proof the Australian
rice industry," says Paul.
And that's why finding rice's
remaining missing proteins is so critical.
Missing proteins are ones that
appear to be encoded in the rice's genes but have not been experimentally
confirmed to exist in the rice itself.
The idea of missing proteins
originally arose from researchers working on the human genome, says Paul, but
it's equally applicable to important cereal crops like rice.
The Human Proteome Project is
making a map of all the proteins encoded by the human
genome, to advance the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
Paul's team took a similar approach
when they looked at rice.
Initially they found that 98.5 per
cent of the proteins in rice are considered missing. However by mining publicly
available datasets and matching this data with information from the rice
genome they were able to reduce this percentage of missing
proteins to 82 per cent.
"If we are to continue to feed
the ever-increasing number of people on our planet, we really need to produce
rice which is more sustainable in terms of better water use and better nutrient
uptake, while still maintaining current levels of grain production," says
Paul.
"This will require us to
understand rice at the molecular level in a way that we have never done
previously.
"It is only by understanding
in great detail what happens inside a particular cell that we can really
understand what goes on at the whole organism level, and how we can potentially
change how that particular organism responds to an external set of
circumstances or stimuli."
The team hopes this study will form
the basis of a large-scale scale international collaborative project aimed at
identifying all the remaining missing proteins in rice.
More information: Mohsen Rahiminejad et al. The Quest for Missing Proteins in
Rice, Molecular Plant (2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2018.11.009
Arkansas State Meeting
All in the Family
By Deborah Willenborg
STUTTGART, AR -- Rice farmers from
around Arkansas and the Mid-South met at the Grand Prairie Center here
yesterday for the Arkansas Rice annual meeting.
More than 400 people attended, including vendors and business interests
that support rice farming, as well as state officials and legislators on hand
to discuss a variety of topics, from the proposed restructuring of the state
government to the recently passed Farm Bill and more.
In keeping with the meeting's theme
of "Family Farming," USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward talked
about the USA Rice mission of being the family's "out of town" voice,
fighting in Washington for sound policies, and advocating for U.S.-grown rice
in markets here and around the world. 
"I appreciate the opportunity
to share with folks in Arkansas what we are doing on their behalf and to hear
firsthand their concerns and priorities," said Ward. "It was also nice to be able to share
some good news -- bipartisan passage of the 2018 Farm Bill and positive
developments in Iraq and China."
Josh Hankins, USA Rice director of
grower relations & the Rice Stewardship Partnership, gave a presentation on
the new conservation search tool available on the revamped USA Rice website,
and Vice President of Domestic Promotion Michael Klein took part in a check-off
panel discussion.
Following the general session, Ward
and Klein were joined by Sarah Moran, USA Rice international vice president, to
present both a review of recent activities and a look ahead to the Arkansas
Rice Research and Promotion Board (ARRPB) meeting. The ARRPB is made up of nine rice
representatives who are nominated by industry organizations and appointed to
two-year terms by the governor. The
board is responsible for allocating Arkansas rice promotion and research
check-off funds annually, and for the past 30 plus years, the ARRPB has awarded
promotion funds to the USA Rice Council in recognition of the exemplary work
performed by the Council on behalf of Arkansas rice farmers. The board voted yesterday to continue the
relationship.
"It's gratifying to know
farmers in this state entrust us with their hard earned funds," said
Ward. "We appreciate the financial
and moral support as we push for real progress for the U.S. rice
industry."
Arkansas rice
information and outfitters pop up shop
Market Information
Daily Rough Rice Prices
(updated daily)
Market Year Average Price Tracker (updated monthly)
USA Rice Daily
Meeting
Discusses Markets For Arkansas Rice, Impact Of Government Shutdown
Betsy Ward, president and CEO of USA Rice Federation,
speaking at the Arkansas Rice Annual Meeting Tuesday in Stuttgart.
CREDIT ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU
The Arkansas
Rice Annual Meeting took place Tuesday in Stuttgart. It’s a key event for
industry and government leaders to discuss the state of agriculture.
Organizers
say about 400 people attended the meeting, included several top state
officials, state senators and state representatives.
On the minds
of many this year was the impact the current political climate is having on
growers. Among those speaking was Betsy Ward, president and CEO of the USA Rice
Federation. The group advocates for all segments of the nation’s rice industry
with offices in Little Rock, suburban Washington, DC and Hamburg, German.
The conference
was emceed by Talk Business & Politics host Roby Brock. After Ward's
comments to the group, she was interviewed by Brock for KUAR News.
Listen
Listening...
4:38
Hear Roby Brock's interview with USA Rice Federation
President and CEO Betsy Ward.
INTERVIEW
HIGHLIGHTS
On the
recently-passed Farm Bill and a new marketing provision with Cuba
Overall
we’re really pleased with the Farm Bill. We worked a long time to maintain the
provisions that we had in the 2014 Farm Bill which worked very well for rice,
but one of the tweaks that they made was, there’s a program that’s funded
through the Farm Bill, it’s the export promotion programs that are managed by
USDA and they tweaked it a little bit to allow some funding to be used to
promote in Cuba which is kind of interesting since we haven’t really been doing
much in Cuba under the Trump Administration.
But at the
same time there is still a credit restriction that has been in place which has
hampered efforts to try to make deals with Cuba
You’re
right. They need cash. They don’t have a lot of money, so the inability of our
banks to basically loan money, to give credit to Cubans, really restricts their
ability to buy a lot of U.S. ag products. They want to buy our rice and corn
and chicken and all those things, but the ability to at least go down and
promote our products is a step in the right direction.
How the
government shutdown is impacting agriculture
We got a
Farm Bill passed and now we are going to have difficulty unless the government
opens up having farmers go sign up and finish off their loans from last year.
The FSA offices are primarily shuttered, so it makes it very difficult to move
forward in this new crop year with those folks not working. In Washington,
everybody we work with at USDA is on furlough so they’re not available to –
they’re really not permitted to actually work, so you can’t contact them if you
have questions. They’ve suspended some of the key economic reporting that they
do from the USDA that people rely on to sort of project what they think is
going to be happening in the coming year, and I think that hampers everybody.
And finally for us, we do a lot of market promotion with USDA funds and all of
that funding has been suspended. So we’re basically not promoting any markets
overseas which is a tragedy for us.
When that
changes, new opportunities are expected for Arkansas producers
We have been
working on market access to China for over 10 years. The issue had been the
lack of something called the phytosanitary protocol which we negotiated an agreement
with China on last July. It was signed and probably within a few days of it
being signed was when the Trump Administration announced the tariffs on steel
and aluminum, and then other products from China. So the Chinese sort of
stopped the forward progress that we were making on rice. There has been a
renewed effort to… I think you know President Trump had met with the president
of China a few weeks ago. There’s a delegation there now trying to relieve some
of the pressure on agriculture, soybeans in particular, but also rice is at the
top of the list. So we are fairly optimistic that the Chinese will allow rice
imports now, and so we’re just looking for the first offer to come. This is
potentially a huge market for all of us.
Meeting
Discusses Markets For Arkansas Rice, Impact Of Government Shutdown
Betsy Ward, president and CEO of USA Rice Federation,
speaking at the Arkansas Rice Annual Meeting Tuesday in Stuttgart.
CREDIT ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU
The Arkansas
Rice Annual Meeting took place Tuesday in Stuttgart. It’s a key event for
industry and government leaders to discuss the state of agriculture.
Organizers say
about 400 people attended the meeting, included several top state officials,
state senators and state representatives.
On the minds
of many this year was the impact the current political climate is having on
growers. Among those speaking was Betsy Ward, president and CEO of the USA Rice
Federation. The group advocates for all segments of the nation’s rice industry
with offices in Little Rock, suburban Washington, DC and Hamburg, German.
The
conference was emceed by Talk Business & Politics host Roby Brock. After
Ward's comments to the group, she was interviewed by Brock for KUAR News.
Listen
Listening...
4:38
Hear Roby Brock's interview with USA Rice Federation
President and CEO Betsy Ward.
INTERVIEW
HIGHLIGHTS
On the
recently-passed Farm Bill and a new marketing provision with Cuba
Overall
we’re really pleased with the Farm Bill. We worked a long time to maintain the
provisions that we had in the 2014 Farm Bill which worked very well for rice,
but one of the tweaks that they made was, there’s a program that’s funded
through the Farm Bill, it’s the export promotion programs that are managed by
USDA and they tweaked it a little bit to allow some funding to be used to
promote in Cuba which is kind of interesting since we haven’t really been doing
much in Cuba under the Trump Administration.
But at the
same time there is still a credit restriction that has been in place which has
hampered efforts to try to make deals with Cuba
You’re
right. They need cash. They don’t have a lot of money, so the inability of our
banks to basically loan money, to give credit to Cubans, really restricts their
ability to buy a lot of U.S. ag products. They want to buy our rice and corn
and chicken and all those things, but the ability to at least go down and
promote our products is a step in the right direction.
How the
government shutdown is impacting agriculture
We got a
Farm Bill passed and now we are going to have difficulty unless the government
opens up having farmers go sign up and finish off their loans from last year.
The FSA offices are primarily shuttered, so it makes it very difficult to move
forward in this new crop year with those folks not working. In Washington,
everybody we work with at USDA is on furlough so they’re not available to –
they’re really not permitted to actually work, so you can’t contact them if you
have questions. They’ve suspended some of the key economic reporting that they
do from the USDA that people rely on to sort of project what they think is
going to be happening in the coming year, and I think that hampers everybody.
And finally for us, we do a lot of market promotion with USDA funds and all of
that funding has been suspended. So we’re basically not promoting any markets
overseas which is a tragedy for us.
When that
changes, new opportunities are expected for Arkansas producers
We have been
working on market access to China for over 10 years. The issue had been the
lack of something called the phytosanitary protocol which we negotiated an
agreement with China on last July. It was signed and probably within a few days
of it being signed was when the Trump Administration announced the tariffs on
steel and aluminum, and then other products from China. So the Chinese sort of
stopped the forward progress that we were making on rice. There has been a renewed
effort to… I think you know President Trump had met with the president of China
a few weeks ago. There’s a delegation there now trying to relieve some of the
pressure on agriculture, soybeans in particular, but also rice is at the top of
the list. So we are fairly optimistic that the Chinese will allow rice imports
now, and so we’re just looking for the first offer to come. This is potentially
a huge market for all of us.
Smog turns
‘garden city’ into a polluted hub
January 08, 2019
A Pakistani family walk during dense fog and smog in Lahore. —
AFP/File
LAHORE: At his house on the busy
Mall Road, environmental lawyer Rafay Alam runs three air purifiers around the
clock, keeps his windows shut and stuffs towels into the gaps under his doors.
Some winter days, when the city’s
smog is particularly bad, “I don’t send my daughter to school,” he admits. “I
am not going to risk permanent damage to her lungs.”
The country’s second-largest city
is choking on smog, driven in part by smoke from bricks kiln and steel mills,
burning of rice stubble and garbage, growing numbers of vehicles on the road
and large-scale losses of trees as the expanding city makes way for new roads
and buildings, residents say.
Many in the city of 11 million
complain of headaches and burning eyes and throats as air pollution levels this
winter have on some days hit five times the legal limit, according to a global
air quality index that many in Lahore check via the AirVisual phone app.
Alam thinks it’s time for the government
to declare a public health emergency on the worst days, when the air is full of
dust and pollutants that can cause health issues including asthma, lung damage,
bronchial infections and heart problems.
Many in Lahore complain of
headaches and burning eyes as air pollution levels have recently hit five times
the legal limit
The air pollution in Lahore is bad
throughout the year, but in winters there is temperature inversion where a
layer of warm air is prevented from rising and it traps all the pollutants
below it, which renders them visible, he said.
Lahore, once known as the Garden
City but now choked with cars, regularly figures on air quality indexes as one
of the most polluted cities in the world — and many of the pollutants are also
drivers of climate change.
The PTI government has restarted
air quality monitoring in Lahore after the previous government ceased it two
years ago, said Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin
Aslam.
During that two-year period, air
quality monitoring stations in the province weren’t working because of lack of
funding and capacity, Alam said.
The prime minister, who grew up in
Lahore, said he sees tackling the city’s smog problem as a priority.
“It is a serious issue that must be
addressed,” Mr Khan told his cabinet.
In November, the Lahore High Court
ordered the Punjab government to implement recommendations of the Smog
Commission, set up by the court in 2017 to look at the drivers of smog and find
ways to reduce them.
Those included curbing emissions from
factories, closing brick kilns that fail to use fuel-efficient technology, and
fining polluting vehicles and farmers burning rice stubble in the winter.
The commission also ordered
planting of trees in urban areas and efforts to spread environmental awareness
in schools.
Monitors, meetings
Mr Aslam said the government now
has a team travelling around Lahore reading the city’s air quality monitors,
with the data feeding into the city’s own air quality index.
That index, updated daily, is
posted for public use on the Environmental Protection Department’s website.
Since coming into office, Mr Khan
has organised meetings with brick kiln owners and won a two-month winter
shutdown of factories in 12 districts, including Lahore.
The government has also pushed brick
kiln owners to shift to cleaner technology, offering loans to make the switch,
as well as issuing fines for kilns that operate using the dirtiest
technologies, such as burning used tires.
The Environment Protection
Department has fined farmers who burn crop stubble — a traditional practice —
and is looking at promoting zero tillage farming as an alternative, though
making the switch will be costly for farmers, Aslam admitted.
As well, the government is
considering setting higher emissions standards for vehicles — but warned the
switch could make petrol “more expensive for consumers as a result”, he said.
The Environmental Protection
Department said the level of smog pollution was lower this year than last in
Lahore because of anti-smog measures already under way.
But Mr Alam said monitors installed
in his house continue to show hazardous levels in his neighbourhood.
It’s not just brick kilns and
farmers who are causing air pollution. The country uses the most polluted fuel
in the world and tackling this problem will require a tremendous change in the
energy and transport sectors, he said.
He said the country needed a
nation-wide system of air quality monitors in its cities to better understand
what is happening and drive action.
Cutting smog would have other
benefits as well, he said.
“By reducing greenhouse gases that
cause air pollution you are also addressing climate change. The two are
linked.”
Abid Omar, who founded the Pakistan
Air Quality Initiative, a non-profit group that publishes data about air pollution
and its health impacts, agreed that a broad approach is needed.
“We have to reduce air pollution at
the source, be it industry, agriculture, urban waste or transportation. This
will require time, money and planning,” he admitted.
Published in Dawn, January 8th,
2019
Call to make FTA beneficial for both Pakistan, Sri Lanka
OUR STAFF REPORT
January 08, 2019
LAHORE - High Commissioner of Sri Lanka
Noordeen Mohamed Shaheid has said that terrorism remained a big challenge for
Sri Lanka but today Sri Lanka is a peaceful country. He said, “We have defeated
terrorism but this target could not be achieved without immense support of
Pakistan.”
He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of
Commerce & Industry. The LCCI President Almas Hyder presented the address
of welcome while Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzad Nasir, Vice President
Faheem-ur-Rehman Saigal also spoke on the occasion. Executive Committee members
and former office-bearers were also present on the occasion.
The High Commissioner said that Sri Lankan
nation has great honor of Pakistan and learnt a lot from its experience. He
said that Sri Lanka and Pakistan have signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) but
some certain issues need to be resolved. The Agreement should be implemented
and made beneficial for both countries. He said that there is a vast scope for
the expansion of two-way trade between Pakistan and Sri Lank. Both countries
should introduce new products for trade and make business-to-business contacts
stronger. He said that Sri Lanka offer huge opportunities in various sectors of
economy.
LCCI President Almas Hyder said that Sri Lanka
is at take-off stage and Pakistani business community should avail this great
opportunity. He said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are members of SAARC and enjoy
friendly relations based on historical linkages. He said that cooperation
between two countries especially in defence sector has played major role in
further strengthening the mutual ties.
He said that both the countries are steady
trading partners. By way of signing Free Trade Agreement in June 2005, the
private sector representatives of Pakistan and Sri Lanka were provided with
greater opportunities to take the trade and economic relations to next level.
He said that from 2005 on, there was significant increase in bilateral trade
but it is also a fact that we have so far not succeeded to fully exploit the
existing potential of trade between two countries. He said that among the top
importing and exporting countries for Pakistan, Sri Lanka comes at 43rd and
19th places respectively.
The balance of trade is in favour of Pakistan
and it is encouraging to see that bilateral trade figures are following
increasing trends. The overall trade figures went up from $314 million to 372
million during 2016 and 2017. Pakistan is exporting cotton, pharmaceuticals,
cement, rice, fertilizers and home textiles etc. to Sri Lanka. The imports from
Sri Lanka are vessels for breaking up, vegetable products, fibre board of
woods, natural rubber and fruits etc.
Almas Hyder said that there is considerable
demand in Sri Lanka for Pakistani products like light engineering goods, auto
parts, industrial raw materials, surgical instruments and plastic goods etc.
“We are in a position to easily tap the market demand of Sri Lanka in fields
like sports goods, electrical fans and household appliances etc.”, he added and
said that the business communities of the two countries should keep on
exploring the opportunities of mutual interest. Business delegations composed
of sector-specific participants or product-specific groups of entrepreneurs
should be organized regularly.
Gov’t should use more drastic measures
against millers who are fleecing rice farmers
1
min ago
I am happy that a high level team
from the government which consisted of the Minister of State and the newly
appointed REO, Mr Dennis Jaikarran, visited the owner of Hampton Court Rice
Mills on Sunday, January 6th. It was my understanding that they were there to
instruct the miller to pay the rice farmers of Region Two for their paddy,
after a group of rice farmers met with the government about the issue of being
owed long outstanding payments for their paddy by this miller.
The issue of farmers being paid
for their paddy is not a new one. It started way back since the previous
administration and no one seems to care to resolve this issue. This is not the
only rice miller that owes the farmers for paddy purchased since 2018. There
are many more in this region who I understand will be selling their rice mills
to avoid paying the farmers.
I remember back in 1994, I was
with a high-level team from the PPP government and the RPA at Hills Rice Mills
at Vilvoorden. The high-level team was led by the late General Secretary, Mr
Fazal Ali, after a group of farmers from Wakenaam Island met with the late President
Dr Cheddi Jagan at Freedom House to complain about the issue of payments for
their paddy which was sold to Hills Rice Mills over a year ago.
The late President instructed Mr
Fazal Ali, the General Secretary of the RPA to meet with the management of that
rice mill to negotiate the urgent payment for the affected rice farmers. I
happened to be on that high level team at the bargaining table.
First of all we told the
managing director of the mill, that we were there on behalf of the President to
help solve the payment crisis after a group of rice farmers had met with him.
We had a list of the names and
the amount of money owed to each rice farmer which was presented to him and his
team of officers at the table. He acknowledged owing the farmers large sums of
money for over a year and stated he would immediately pay in full, the farmers
whom he owed $200,000. For those over that amount, he promised to pay them in
full within a month’s time. The other farmers were owed over a million dollars
each.
We then entered into an agreement
which both parties signed to and after the signing we were instructed by the
General Secretary and the President to follow up on the payments for the
outstanding farmers which was duly honoured by the rice miller at Hills.
The Rice Factories Act was
then passed in the National Assembly in 1994, to protect the rice farmers’
interests, however, no one from the RPA or GRDB is policing the act to ensure
that that the farmers are being paid on time. This new government should use
more drastic measures against all the millers who are fleecing the rice farmers
of their hard sweat and blood. Rice farming is a back-breaking job since the
farmers have to toil in the sun and rain to care their crops and at the end of
the day, they are being robbed of their hard earned cash by some unscrupulous
millers.
If the industry falters, all will
suffer.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
Increase in
rice facilities boosts price of Kingdom’s paddy rice
Cheng Sokhorng | Publication date 09 January 2019
| 07:44 ICT
Share
A farmer harvests paddy rice in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district in
2016. Heng Chivoan
As a result of more rice
facilities constantly being installed, the price of paddy rice for the
2018-2019 season was between 900 riel and 1,300 riel ($0.22 and $0.32) per kg,
an increase on the previous season, according to industry insiders.
Cambodia Rice Federation
vice-president Vong Bun Heng noted that the price was a 25 per cent increase on
the 2017-2018 season.
The price depends on the type of
rice and its quality, with premium paddy rice sold at 1,300 riel per kg, with
normal rice sold at 900 riel per kg, according to Bun Heng.
“The price is moving in the right
direction now. We expect paddy rice [yields] in the next season will keep
increasing,” he said, adding that the rising prices were due to an increase in
rice facilities which are able to process more of farmer’s paddy rice.
The Kingdom’s main paddy rice
collection season starts from the end of each year to the beginning of the
following year.
In 2016, rice farmers in
Battambang province, one of the Kingdom’s major rice producing regions, protested
a drop in prices by blocking roads to demand government intervention.
Som Song, president of
Agricultural Development Chamroeurn Phal – an agricultural cooperative
consisting of 288 members on 2,225ha of rice fields in Sangke district’s Raing
Kesei commune in Battambang province – said the price is an improvement on the
past when farmers could only sell their paddy rice for between 500 riel and 600
riel per kg.
Provincial farmers this season
are able to sell their rice for between 800 riel and 1,100 riel per kg.
“When we got into contract
farming with rice millers, our prices became secure and there were no concerns
about fluctuation."
“When we do not have contract
farming, paddy prices fluctuate depending on the broker’s word. However, the
price is not as unbearable for us as it was back then [two years ago],” he
said.
Path Sarourn, Takeo province’s
O’Saray Agricultural cooperative president, said prices in the province reached
1,300 riel per kg for premium rice and 900 riel for normal rice – an approximately
20 per cent increase on the previous year’s season.
“We are happy with the current
price. We sell to local rice millers and brokers from Vietnam who give us
better prices,” he said.
However, Sarourn said he needs to
enter contract farming in order to ensure stable prices in the long term.
Centre for Policy Studies
director Chan Sophal said that as the Kingdom’s paddy rice market has entered
the international market they now have less control over prices.
“Our rice industry cannot set the
price for farmers. There is no way to ensure a good price all the time, unless
the government guarantees it. But, that would be difficult,” he said.
Back home, it’s Cong and
BJP
The Krushak
Morcha activists also attempted to gherao the Secretariat protesting State
Government’s failure to resolve farmers’ problems.
Published: 09th
January 2019 02:45 AM | Last Updated: 09th January
2019 03:15 AM
BJP Krushak
Morcha sets up mandi at Sachivalaya Marg on Tuesday | EXPRESS
BHUBANESWAR:
Even as the Biju Janata Dal leaders, led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, are
staging a dharna in front of Parliament in Delhi for hike in minimum support
price of paddy, the State unit of BJP hit the streets over farmers’ issues on
Tuesday. Despite the bandh call given by Central Trade Unions, Krushak Morcha
activists from across the State congregated in the Capital to join the
political parties who took out rallies for their cause. The farmers marched to
the Secretariat over a host of demands including loan waiver, bonus of `100 per
quintal of paddy and ensuring MSP to farmers.
The Krushak
Morcha activists also attempted to gherao the Secretariat protesting State
Government’s failure to resolve farmers’ problems. They took out a rally from
State BJP headquarters to Secretariat via Housing Board but could not proceed
beyond Keshari Talkies as police put up a barricades there. The BJP, which has
been protesting alleged irregularities in paddy procurement by Government
agencies, opened a Mandi (paddy procurement centre) on Sachivalaya Marg to highlight
the plight of farmers during sale of paddy.
Claiming that
farmers of the State are forced to go for distress sale of paddy due to
shortage of mandis and nonpayment of MSP by government- appointed agencies,
State BJP Krushak Morcha president Sivaji Mohanty said the offer price to
farmers at all paddy procurement centres ranges from `1,000 to `1,200 per
quintal against MSP of `1,750 per quintal.
“Farmers are
not getting MSP for paddy due to price cut at mandis. As rice millers are
dictating terms, farmers are asked to sell their stock at the price offered by
miller agents,” Mohanty said. He further alleged that rice millers are not
lifting paddy from mandis till they get a price cut for 4 to 5 kg per bag. The
protest by farmers for such illegal price cut at the mandis remains unheard.
Reminding
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of his promise at a Sohela farmers’ rally in
Bargarh district in 2015 of providing bonus of `100 per quintal of paddy over
and above the MSP, Mohanty said the farmers will continue their protest till
the Governm e n t f u l f i l s i t s commitment. Criticising the BJD for
holding a protest in New Delhi, party vice president Samir Mohanty said ruling
party members led by the Chief Minister are on a picnic in the National Capital
while farmers are crying for more paddy procurement centres.
Cong joins the
race Bhubaneswar: Tuesday turned
out to be the day of farmers as Congress also joined the race along with ruling
BJD and BJP to woo them by submitting a memorandum to the Governor here
demanding a hike in the MSP of paddy, farm loan waiver, opening of mandis for
procurement and pension for cultivators. Criticising the BJD Government for not
correcting the ground situation where farmers are selling paddy `500 to `600
less than the MSP as mandis are not being opened at the right time because of
largescale irregularities at the local level, the farmers’ cell of OPCC
threatened to launch a Statewide agitation if the demands were not met.
The Parliament
gherao by BJD by ignoring the real picture here is meant for the upcoming
polls, said chairman of Odisha Pradesh Kissan Congress (OPKC) Amiya Patnaik and
asked Odisha Government to follow the Congress government in Chhattisgarh where
the MSP on paddy has been fixed at `2,500 per quintal. Members of OPKC took out
a padayatra from Congress Bhavan to Raj Bhavan here before submitting
memorandum to the Governor. Meanwhile, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik alleged
that announcement of schemes by BJD is confined to files only as more than 3
lakh farmers and workers migrate to neighbouring states in search of work.
Referring to KALIA scheme before elections, Niranjan asked who will be the
actual beneficiaries.
Co-operative
allegations proved false
hursday, 10 January 2019 01:50
FacebookTwitter
Minister of
Industry and Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons &
Cooperative Development Rishad Bathiudeen meets Namal Karunaratne of Lanka
Govijana Sansadaya (All island Farmers’ Federation-AIFF) on 9 January in
Colombo.
- Rishad, Co-op officials
prove allegations to be false
- ‘It’s not our Ministry
that sources foreign funds’ - Rishad
- ‘We alleged based on
info we received’ – AIFF’s Karunaratne
The Sri Lankan consumer can
benefit only when the small scale rice miller is safeguarded. “We praise
Minister Rishad Bathiudeen for promptly looking into this issue and clarifying
it,” said Namal Karunaratne of Lanka Govijana Sansadaya (All island Farmers’
Federation-AIFF) on 9 January. Karunaratne was speaking after a meeting with
the Minister of Industry & Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced
Persons & Co-operative Development Rishad Bathiudeen at the Co-operative
Department, Colombo on 9 January. The meeting was called by Minister Bathiudeen
after Namal Karunaratne made false allegations on TV against Minister Bathiudeen.
At a recent press conference AIFF’s Karunaratne alleged that Minister
Bathiudeen has led the process of registering a false cooperative entity called
as Sri Lanka Rice Producers Cooperative Association aimed at fraudulently
collecting funds for it. A Sri Lanka Co-operative Rice Producers Association
already exists and therefore registration of another co-operative bearing such
a similar name is illegal, he said on TV, adding that the newly registered
co-operative also applied for a loan from a company in China of more than Rs.
1000 million.
Minister Bathiudeen, joined by Secretary of the Ministry KDN Ranjit Ashoka clarified that he does not have any powers to approve loans for co-operatives and clearly showed that his officials did not do so either. “Any foreign fund application should go through the Finance Ministry and External Resources Department and not though our Ministry. Our officials have not approved nor recommended any such fund applications. Therefore this is clearly a false allegation,” Minister Bathiudeen said and added, “I am also instructing my officials to speed up support work for local co-operatives and to speed up registration processes also.”
After clarifications were made, AIFF’s Karunaratne said: “We praise Minister Rishad Bathiudeen for promptly looking into this issue and clarifying it.” He added: “We made these allegations based on the information we received. We have to safeguard our farmers and millers and that is why we took up this cause. We shall clarify to the media of our error today.”
Minister Bathiudeen, joined by Secretary of the Ministry KDN Ranjit Ashoka clarified that he does not have any powers to approve loans for co-operatives and clearly showed that his officials did not do so either. “Any foreign fund application should go through the Finance Ministry and External Resources Department and not though our Ministry. Our officials have not approved nor recommended any such fund applications. Therefore this is clearly a false allegation,” Minister Bathiudeen said and added, “I am also instructing my officials to speed up support work for local co-operatives and to speed up registration processes also.”
After clarifications were made, AIFF’s Karunaratne said: “We praise Minister Rishad Bathiudeen for promptly looking into this issue and clarifying it.” He added: “We made these allegations based on the information we received. We have to safeguard our farmers and millers and that is why we took up this cause. We shall clarify to the media of our error today.”
* Minister meets with Farmers'
Federation to clarify allegations of false cooperative entity
Wed, Jan 9, 2019, 08:59 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Wed, Jan 9, 2019, 08:59 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan
09, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of Industry and Commerce, Resettlement of
Protracted Displaced Persons and Cooperative Development Rishad Bathiudeen
today clarified that the allegation of registering a false cooperative entity
aimed at fraudulently collecting funds is clearly false.
Meeting
with the representatives of the All Island Farmers' Federation (Lanka Govijana
Sansadaya) on 9 January at his Ministry, Minister Bathiudeen said the
allegation made by the Farmers' Federation convener Namal Karunaratne was false
and his Ministry has no authority to collect funds.
Minister
Bathiudeen has called the meeting after Namal Karunaratne made false
allegations on TV against the Minister.
At
a recent press conference Karunaratne has alleged that Minister Bathiudeen has
led the process of registering a false cooperative entity called as Sri Lanka
Rice Producers Cooperative Association aimed at fraudulently collecting funds
for it. 
A
Sri Lanka Cooperative Rice Producers Association already exists and therefore
registration of another cooperative bearing such a similar name is illegal,
Karunaratne has said on TV, adding that the newly registered cooperative also
applied for a loan from a Company in China at more than Rs. 1 billion.
Minister
Bathiudeen, joined by Secretary to the Ministry KDN Ranjith Ashoka clarified
that he does not have any powers to approve loans for cooperatives and clearly
showed that his official too did not do so.
"Any
foreign fund application should go through the Finance Ministry and External
Resources Department and not though our Ministry. Our officials have not
approved nor recommended any such fund applications. Therefore this is clearly
a false allegation," Minister Bathiudeen said.
The
Minister added that he is also instructing his officials to speed up support
work for local cooperatives and to speed up registration processes also.
After
clarifications were made, Karunaratne praised Minister Bathiudeen for promptly
looking into this issue and clarifying it.
"We
made these allegations based on the information we received. We have to
safeguard our farmers and millers and that is why we took up this cause. The
Sri Lankan consumer can benefit only when the small scale rice miller is
safeguarded. We shall clarify to the media of our error today," he said.
Huawei to develop 'sea rice' with
renowned Chinese agriculturalist
Developing rice able to grow in saline-alkali soil would
transform 100 million hectares of China's land into arable farmland feeding 80
million more people a year. Melissa FlickrCC BY-NC-ND 2.0
China looks set
to carry out the world's first space launch of 2019 on Thursday
A variety of salt-resistant rice will be developed by Chinese
tech giant Huawei Technologies and renowned agriculturalist Yuan Longping, who
is commonly known in China as the 'father of hybrid rice', following an
agreement made yesterday.
The development of so-called 'sea
rice' that can grow in saline-alkali soil aims to transform 100 million
hectares of China's saline land into arable farmland. This would yield an extra
30 billion kilos of grain every year and feed 80 million more people, reports state
media Xinhua.
·
Chinese hybrid rice produces record-breaking yield
Oct 16, 2017 14:22 Guinness World RecordYuan Longping agriculture Shandong ProvinceHebei Province
Originally developed by a group
of scientists headed by Yuan, the new variety of hybrid rice beganproduction tests at a research centre in Qingdao,
a port city in the eastern province of Shandong, in September 2017.
Wild sea rice is sometimes found in saline-alkaline soil at
junctures where rivers join the sea. The plant is resistant to pests, diseases,
salt and alkali, and does not need any fertiliser.
Plans to increase the yield of
salt-resistant hybrid rice to 300 kilograms per mu (667 square metres) by 2020
were previously announced in January 2017 by Yuan, who was
nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
Yuan, an 88-year-old academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering,
began exploring hybrid rice in the 1960s and developed the world's first
species of hybrid rice in 1974. He has continued to
set new records for the average yields of hybrid rice plots ever since.
Last June, Yuan headed a team of Chinese scientists in the
deserts of Dubai where they successfully grew and harvested rice, achieving a
top yield of 500 kilogrammes per mu.
The goal is to cover around 10
percent of the UAE's desert land, which has a total area of 83,600 square
kilometres, with paddy fields.
Spotlight: Climate scientists alarmed after
report dubs 2018 Australia's 3rd hottest year on record
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-01-10 11:38:53|Editor: mym
SYDNEY, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Last year was Australia's third
warmest since records began, according to the national Bureau of Meteorology's
(BOM) Annual Climate Statement for 2018.
While the news might be welcomed by Australia's ice cream
vendors and air-conditioning salesmen, climate scientists down under are
becoming increasingly alarmed.
"We have seen (carbon) emissions rise in Australia for the
last four years, and with that we will see a continued rise in temperatures and
a worsening of extreme whether," head of research and acting CEO at the
Australian Climate Council Martin Rice told Xinhua on Thursday.
"What the data indicates is that climate change is
intensifying in Australia and around the world, and we seeing new extreme heat
records."
EVERY STATE AND TERRITORY IN AUSTRALIA HEATING UP
Compared to records from 1961 to 1990, Thursday's report shows
that average temperatures were up 1.14 centigrades in 2018, with every single
state and territory enduring higher than normal day and night-time
temperatures.
"The average maximum temperature for the country as a whole
was particularly warm, sitting 1.55 centigrade above the 1961-1990 average,
making 2018 Australia's second warmest year on record for daily high
temperatures," said senior climatologist at the BOM Dr. Lynette Bettio.
"Average minimum temperatures for 2018 were also 0.73
degrees celsius above average, the eleventh warmest on record."
NATIONAL RAINFALL TOTALS DRY UP
As well as being hotter, it was also dryer with September
rainfall figures going down as the driest ever for the month.
Throughout the rest of the year, national rainfall measurements
were 11 percent below the 1961-1990 average.
Bettio explained that across large areas of the country's
southeast, rainfall totals were in the lowest 10 percent on record,
exacerbating severe drought conditions that continue to ravage many rural and
farming communities in Australia.
"New South Wales State had its sixth driest year on record,
while the Murray-Darling River Basin saw its seventh driest year on
record."
WARMER WHETHER SET TO CONTINUE
While last year will go down as a scorcher, the dramatic
increase in temperatures is predicted to continue.
"With more greenhouse pollution levels in the atmosphere,
we will continue to see temperatures rise," Rice said.
"Nine of Australia's hottest years on record have occurred
since 2005 and this is part of a long-term trend that is being driven by
climate change."
With this in mind, Rice and his team at the Australian Climate
Council are urging more to be done in order to arrest the increasing
temperatures.
"Australia is one of the sunniest and windiest countries on
the planet," he said.
"So we must accelerate the transition away from fossil
fuels and toward clean, reliable and affordable renewable energy
technologies."
"We also need to look at ways we can make our agriculture
and transport sectors more efficient."
Identifying rice proteins key to creating
more efficient strains: scientists
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-01-09 13:13:14|Editor: Lu Hui
SYDNEY, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Scientists are calling for a global
effort to identify the protein composition of rice, an understanding they hope
will allow them to create a more heat and drought resistant crop.
The international team made up of researchers from Australia,
Iran and Japan released a study on Wednesday in which they identify 5,700 new
proteins in the grain.
However they say that with an estimated 35,000 proteins encoded
by the rice genome, 82 percent of which are unknown, we are a long way from
being able to harness its full potential.
While the genome of rice was successfully mapped and published
by 2001, study co-author Paul Haynes from Australia's Macquarie University says
that scientists still don't know enough to be able to adapt it to best suit
humanity's needs.
"It is imperative that we find ways to make rice better
adapted to environments with warmer climates and less available water,"
Haynes said.
In Australia and many other areas, rice production is under
pressure from limited supply of water, which Haynes believes can be alleviated
by merging commercial rice with wild varieties to increase root length.
"If we could somehow transform commercial rice varieties so
that they grow deeper roots, thereby increasing water uptake efficiency while
still retaining high grain yields, we could produce more sustainable plants
that would help to future-proof the Australian rice industry," Haynes
said.
"If we are to continue to feed the ever-increasing number
of people on our planet, we really need to produce rice which is more
sustainable in terms of better water use and better nutrient uptake, while
still maintaining current levels of grain production."
The team hopes that their initial study will form the basis of
an international collaborative project aimed at identifying all the remaining
missing proteins in rice.
Gov’t should use more drastic measures
against millers who are fleecing rice farmers
Dear Editor,
I am happy that a high level team
from the government which consisted of the Minister of State and the newly
appointed REO, Mr Dennis Jaikarran, visited the owner of Hampton Court Rice
Mills on Sunday, January 6th. It was my understanding that they were there to
instruct the miller to pay the rice farmers of Region Two for their paddy,
after a group of rice farmers met with the government about the issue of being
owed long outstanding payments for their paddy by this miller.
The issue of farmers being paid
for their paddy is not a new one. It started way back since the previous
administration and no one seems to care to resolve this issue. This is not the
only rice miller that owes the farmers for paddy purchased since 2018. There
are many more in this region who I understand will be selling their rice mills
to avoid paying the farmers.
I remember back in 1994, I was
with a high-level team from the PPP government and the RPA at Hills Rice Mills
at Vilvoorden. The high-level team was led by the late General Secretary, Mr
Fazal Ali, after a group of farmers from Wakenaam Island met with the late
President Dr Cheddi Jagan at Freedom House to complain about the issue of
payments for their paddy which was sold to Hills Rice Mills over a year ago.
The late President instructed Mr
Fazal Ali, the General Secretary of the RPA to meet with the management of that
rice mill to negotiate the urgent payment for the affected rice farmers. I
happened to be on that high level team at the bargaining table.
First of all we told the
managing director of the mill, that we were there on behalf of the President to
help solve the payment crisis after a group of rice farmers had met with him.
We had a list of the names and
the amount of money owed to each rice farmer which was presented to him and his
team of officers at the table. He acknowledged owing the farmers large sums of
money for over a year and stated he would immediately pay in full, the farmers
whom he owed $200,000. For those over that amount, he promised to pay them in
full within a month’s time. The other farmers were owed over a million dollars
each.
We then entered into an agreement
which both parties signed to and after the signing we were instructed by the
General Secretary and the President to follow up on the payments for the
outstanding farmers which was duly honoured by the rice miller at Hills.
The Rice Factories Act was
then passed in the National Assembly in 1994, to protect the rice farmers’
interests, however, no one from the RPA or GRDB is policing the act to ensure
that that the farmers are being paid on time. This new government should use
more drastic measures against all the millers who are fleecing the rice farmers
of their hard sweat and blood. Rice farming is a back-breaking job since the
farmers have to toil in the sun and rain to care their crops and at the end of
the day, they are being robbed of their hard earned cash by some unscrupulous
millers.
If the industry falters, all will
suffer.
Increase in
rice facilities boosts price of Kingdom’s paddy rice
Cheng Sokhorng | Publication date 09 January 2019
| 07:44 ICT
A farmer harvests paddy rice in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district in
2016. Heng Chivoan
As a result of more rice
facilities constantly being installed, the price of paddy rice for the
2018-2019 season was between 900 riel and 1,300 riel ($0.22 and $0.32) per kg,
an increase on the previous season, according to industry insiders.
Cambodia Rice Federation
vice-president Vong Bun Heng noted that the price was a 25 per cent increase on
the 2017-2018 season.
The price depends on the type of
rice and its quality, with premium paddy rice sold at 1,300 riel per kg, with
normal rice sold at 900 riel per kg, according to Bun Heng.
“The price is moving in the right
direction now. We expect paddy rice [yields] in the next season will keep
increasing,” he said, adding that the rising prices were due to an increase in
rice facilities which are able to process more of farmer’s paddy rice.
The Kingdom’s main paddy rice
collection season starts from the end of each year to the beginning of the
following year.
In 2016, rice farmers in
Battambang province, one of the Kingdom’s major rice producing regions,
protested a drop in prices by blocking roads to demand government intervention.
Som Song, president of
Agricultural Development Chamroeurn Phal – an agricultural cooperative
consisting of 288 members on 2,225ha of rice fields in Sangke district’s Raing
Kesei commune in Battambang province – said the price is an improvement on the
past when farmers could only sell their paddy rice for between 500 riel and 600
riel per kg.
Provincial farmers this season
are able to sell their rice for between 800 riel and 1,100 riel per kg.
“When we got into contract
farming with rice millers, our prices became secure and there were no concerns
about fluctuation."
“When we do not have contract
farming, paddy prices fluctuate depending on the broker’s word. However, the
price is not as unbearable for us as it was back then [two years ago],” he
said.
Path Sarourn, Takeo province’s
O’Saray Agricultural cooperative president, said prices in the province reached
1,300 riel per kg for premium rice and 900 riel for normal rice – an
approximately 20 per cent increase on the previous year’s season.
“We are happy with the current
price. We sell to local rice millers and brokers from Vietnam who give us
better prices,” he said.
However, Sarourn said he needs to
enter contract farming in order to ensure stable prices in the long term.
Centre for Policy Studies
director Chan Sophal said that as the Kingdom’s paddy rice market has entered
the international market they now have less control over prices.
“Our rice industry cannot set the
price for farmers. There is no way to ensure a good price all the time, unless
the government guarantees it. But, that would be difficult,” he said.
|
01-10-2019
03:14 AM CET - Fashion,
Lifestyle, Trends
|
Indonesian President observes
rice stock availability at Jakarta`s Bulog warehouses
Reporter: Antara
President Joko Widodo visited a
warehouse of Bulog at Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, on Thursday.
(10/1/2019). ANTARA News (Agus Salim)
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo observed the
availability of rice stock at the warehouses of Jakarta`s state-owned logistics
company Bulog here on Thursday to ensure sufficient supply of this basic
commodity.
"Today, I want to observe the stock of basic commodities, particularly rice, at Bulog`s warehouses," Widodo noted on the sidelines of his visit during which he was accompanied by Bulog President Director Budi Waseso and several cabinet members.
He said the current rice stock remains sufficient.
"This year`s stock is higher than that of last year," the president, who was accompanied by Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution and Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita during his visit, stated.
Currently, Jakarta`s Bulog warehouses have rice stock totaling 2.1 million tons to be used for maintaining stability in the prices of this basic commodity, he noted, adding that he was informed of the prices of the commodity having decreased to some Rp50 per kilogram (kg).
The prices were lower due to the market operation launched by Bulog to maintain price stability over the past few days, Widodo, who aspires to be reelected in the upcoming presidential election, remarked.
The president is giving serious attention to the stable prices of basic commodities. Hence, he has frequently visited markets for observing the prices of basic commodities and conversing with the local traders.
On Jan 4, President Widodo began the second day of his official visit to East Java Province by visiting the Ngemplak wholesale market in Tulungagung District to check and observe prices of staple foods sold there.
He visited kioks selling rice and chicken, among others. He also bought two kg of rice and five kg of chicken meat. A merchant named Sukri said a kilogram of chicken meat cost Rp31 thousand.
"The price has gone down," he stated.
Reporting by Agus Salim, Rahmad Nasution
"Today, I want to observe the stock of basic commodities, particularly rice, at Bulog`s warehouses," Widodo noted on the sidelines of his visit during which he was accompanied by Bulog President Director Budi Waseso and several cabinet members.
He said the current rice stock remains sufficient.
"This year`s stock is higher than that of last year," the president, who was accompanied by Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution and Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita during his visit, stated.
Currently, Jakarta`s Bulog warehouses have rice stock totaling 2.1 million tons to be used for maintaining stability in the prices of this basic commodity, he noted, adding that he was informed of the prices of the commodity having decreased to some Rp50 per kilogram (kg).
The prices were lower due to the market operation launched by Bulog to maintain price stability over the past few days, Widodo, who aspires to be reelected in the upcoming presidential election, remarked.
The president is giving serious attention to the stable prices of basic commodities. Hence, he has frequently visited markets for observing the prices of basic commodities and conversing with the local traders.
On Jan 4, President Widodo began the second day of his official visit to East Java Province by visiting the Ngemplak wholesale market in Tulungagung District to check and observe prices of staple foods sold there.
He visited kioks selling rice and chicken, among others. He also bought two kg of rice and five kg of chicken meat. A merchant named Sukri said a kilogram of chicken meat cost Rp31 thousand.
"The price has gone down," he stated.
Reporting by Agus Salim, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Canada to consider importing
Pakistani mangoes, rice
January 10, 2019
Minister calls for enhanced
collaboration in agriculture, boosting trade. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Canada’s bilateral relations
have bright future prospects not only in the context of bilateral trade but
also keeping in view the mutual benefits, which would be attained in agro
research and development, said Federal Minister for National Food Security and
Research Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan.
In a meeting
with Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Wendy Gilmour on Wednesday, he said
that the country’s trade of agricultural commodities has been influenced by
sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures adopted by the developed countries.
The procedural formalities like pest risk analysis and stringent conditions
render trade difficult.
In such a
situation, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research is making efforts
to obtain maximum market access for agro-commodities, he explained.
He shared
that Pakistan imports mostly pulses and canola seeds from Canada. “Last year,
Pakistan imported 880,525 tons of oil seed and pulses, whereas the volume of
Pakistan’s export to Canada remained 14,521.36 tons,” the minister recalled.
He outlined
the need for bilateral trade, between the two nations, to be accelerated
through harmonisation of SPS measures.
Speaking on
the occasion, Gilmour added that Canada was eager to explore new areas of
cooperation and the country believes in scientific rigour. “In fact, Canada is
always ready to share information,” she said. She disclosed that canola was the
major commodity which Pakistan imports from Canada and “Pakistan imports agro
products worth $800 million from our country.”
The federal minister expressed desire for
Canada to consider and proceed forward to open its market for Pakistani mangoes
and rice, which are of exceptional quality. Currently, Canada imports these
items from Mexico and Brazil. The Canadian ambassador agreed to consider the
issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th,
2019.
Canada keen to increase volume of Pakistani mangoes, rice import
Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Wendy Gilmour called on
Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research Sahibzada Mehboob
Sultan here in Islamabad.
Pakistan and Canada’s bilateral relations have good future
prospects not only in bilateral trade context but in getting mutual benefits in
agro research and development.
Pakistan trade of agro commodities has been influenced by SPS
measures of the developed countries. The procedural formalities like pest risk
analysis and stringent conditions make trade difficult. In this situation the
Ministry of National Food security is trying to get maximum market access for
agro-commodities.
Pakistan imports mostly Pulses and Canola seeds from Canada,
during last year Pakistan imported 880525 metric ton (0.94 MMT) of oil seed and
pulses, whereas the volume of Pakistan export to Canada is 14521.36 Metric ton
(0.88MMT).
Federal minister for National Food Security Sahibzada Mehboob
Sultan said that bilateral trade between the two countries could be accelerated
through harmonization of SPS measures between two countries; moreover the
vibrant liaison between importers and exporters of agro commodities is
essential.
The Minister further said that cooperation in technical assistance
to improve alignment of National SPS and quality infrastructure with
international standards, it is also in the interest of both the countries to
specify mutual areas in research for long term implications in existing and
potential trade agreements in future. Seminar and frequent sessions to increase
awareness and understanding of issues of the relevant markets.
Mehboob Sultan said Pakistan could benefit from Canada to minimize
post harvest losses of perishable food items, constructions of packing houses
and cold storages equipped with state of the art technology, so that the fruit
and vegetables may be saved from wastage and same may be exported.
Mehboob Sultan added that we could jointly work in establishment
of pest and disease free areas across Pakistan, which will not only minimize
the risk associated with our agro commodities export but will reduce the
post-harvest cost of plant and plant material and this will give sound footings
to Pakistan in international market
. Mehboob Sultan said that both countries should jointly work for
intensive cooperation in value addition of projects to increase the production
of agro commodities based on general crop production practices and using scarce
resources efficiently.
The Minister added that we could jointly work on efficient plant
breeding technologies to introduce pest and disease resistance and water use
efficient varieties of crops for better production.
Canadian Ambassador Ms. Wendy Gilmour said that Canada is eager to
explore new areas of cooperation and she further said that we believe in
scientific rigor and we support that any modification should not harm human
beings or animals, Canada is always ready to share information.
Ms. Ambassador said that canola is the major import of Pakistan
from Canada and Pakistan imports worth 800 million (0.8 billion) US$ agro
products from our country. She further added that Canada is greatly benefitting
from Pakistani Canadians who are contributing a lot in Canada.
Federal Minister expressed his desire that Canada must consider
and proceed forward to open its market for Pakistani Mangoes and Rice which are
of exceptional quality, currently Canada is exporting these food products from
Mexico and Brazil, Canadian ambassador agreed to look into the proposed import
from Pakistan.
She added that it is a tremendous opportunity between the two
countries and we are cognizant of best practices which are conducive to human
and environment friendly.
Federal Minister welcomed the high Commissioner to Pakistan and
reiterated that both we shall move together to facilitate the trade as per
international best practices. Federal Secretary NFS&R Hashim Popalzai and
other officials of the Ministry were present.
Customs seizes tramadol, rice, worth over N54m in Kaduna
ON JANUARY 9, 20197:10 PMIN
The Nigeria Customs Federal
Operation Unit, Zone `B’, has seized
three cartons of Tramadol 255 mg and 1,100 bags of foreign rice with Duty Paid
Value of over N54 million in Kaduna. Customs seizes bags of rice Drug Abuse:
NGO, NDLEA, NYSC move to curb menace among youths The Area Controller of the
zone, Mohammed Sarkin Kebbi, who disclosed this while conducting Journalists
round the seized items on Wednesday in Kaduna, said the rice were in various
vehicles covered in local rice bags. The Controller further explained that the
three cartons of tramadol were uncovered along Kaduna Abuja road, concealed in
a truck conveying motorcycle spare parts. He said the discovery was done based
on intelligence information from good Nigerians, adding that each carton of
tramadol had a market value of over N5 million, thus putting the value of the
total seizure at N15 million. He noted that tramadol drugs are still being
imported into the country in large quantities in spite of the ban on it. He
added that between December and January, the command had seized 1,100 bags of
smuggled foreign rice. “We also have about 10 vehicles that are intercepted
with various smuggled goods,” he said. According to him, the seizure is
important to the customs service in its commitment to stem smuggling, including
illicit drugs. “Customs will remain committed to preventing banned drugs from
getting to the teaming youths. “Tramadol is very expensive and sell very fast
because criminals have been able to put the drugs into the market, ” he
said. 
PH’s biggest rice seed production area eyed in N. Samar
TACLOBAN CITY -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) will transform
San Roque, Northern Samar from being a poverty-stricken town into the biggest
rice seed production center in the country this year. In a post on his social
media account Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the project
will tap about 2,000 hectares for the production of seeds of high-yielding rice
varieties developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). The
project, a major component of the Samar Rice Development Program (SRDP), is a
joint project of the DA, PhilRice, San Roque town local government, a private
company, and farmers. The SRDP, which is up for launching this year, targets
about 100,000 to 200,000 hectares of rich lands into rice production areas.
“Under the program, a private seed production group will set up a nucleus farm
of 200-hectares, establish rice seeds processing facilities and a refrigerated
warehouse for seeds storage. The private seed production group will engage
farmers of San Roque in a seed production contract where the seeds from the
farmers will be bought by the company,” Piñol explained. Under the agreement,
DA and PhilRice will support the program by providing the farmers with
technical training, equipment and loan support. Farm-to-market roads and
solar-powered irrigation systems will also be installed in the seed production
areas of the farmers. The agriculture department will purchase the seeds
produced in San Roque town to be distributed to the farmers in the rest of
Samar Island, including parts of Leyte. The San Roque local government will be
tasked to consolidate the areas to be developed into seed production areas. San
Roque is a fourth class town in Northern Samar located 280 kilometers north of
Tacloban City, the regional capital.
The SRDP will be the first major beneficiary
of the Rice Tarrification Program with an estimated PHP10-billion fund for
2019. The project seeks to introduce new rice farming technologies and
equipment to develop areas and contribute to a bigger national rice production
and poverty reduction in Samar Island. “From the current average of two metric
tons per hectare average yield in the island, the SRDP targets an average
production of six metric tons by introducing high-yielding rice varieties
developed by PhilRice and commercial hybrid seeds and solar irrigation systems
in the vast rain-fed areas of the island,” Piñol said.
By
2020, the SRDP is expected to contribute an estimated 1.2 million metric tons
of paddy rice to the national production, which would make Samar Island as one
of the country’s major rice-producing areas, the DA chief said. The DA will
organize the Project Management Office tasked to handle and monitor the
implementation of the SRDP. It will be chaired by the DA Secretary with the
heads of the other support agencies as members. (PNA)
Egypt’s GASC seeks white rice for March 20-April 20 and/or April
1-30
Shoaib Ur RehmanJanuary
10, 2019
DUBAI: Egypt’s state grain buyer,
the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said on Wednesday it was
seeking cargoes of at least 20,000 tonnes of white rice in an international
purchasing tender for arrival March 20-April 20 and/or April 1-30.
GASC said it was seeking white
rice with 10 percent to 12 percent broken parts. The deadline for offers, to be
submitted on a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) basis, is Jan. 27. Each bidder
should present samples alongside their offer to be tested by the Ministry of
Agriculture.
Rice tariffs in European market ‘almost certain’
The noose around the
Cambodian rice sector is tightening as the European Commission (EC) is almost
certainly implementing the safeguard measures on rice exports from Cambodia and
Myanmar from mid-January onwards, said a source close to the issue. The action
is expected to culminate in the regressive tax imposition, beginning with 175
euros per tonne on Jan 15, 150 euros per tonne a year later, and 125 euros the
subsequent year. “I hate to break the news but we have learned that the EC will
implement the safeguard clause with immediate effect for varieties of rice
customs codes. “This affects rice with a ratio more than three (not broken
rice), while those with a ratio below three are allowed access.
It is bad news
for Cambodia as the only quality we will be able to export is broken rice,
since all others are subject to tax,” said the source who declined to be named
because of the issue’s sensitivity. Tariffs will only apply to milled Indica
rice from Cambodia and Myanmar with CN codes 1006 30 27, 1006 30 48, 1006 30 67
and 1006 30 98, according to the source. According to Confagricoltura, an
organisation that represents Italian agricultural businesses, a written
procedure to activate the tariffs started on Jan 4 following a hung verdict a
month earlier when EU members failed to come to a consensus over the tax
imposition.
As a result, the
EC was tasked with issuing a final decision on the subject by Jan 15. Last
March, the EC launched an investigation to ascertain whether imports of
semi-milled and milled Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar resulted in
serious difficulties to European Union producers of similar or competing
products. “In this safeguard thing, Cambodia loses out big time as the EC
imposes duties on all rice over ratio three, which means only broken rice can
be imported tax-free. Anything above ratio three will be taxed.
“Myanmar has
been exporting primarily broken rice to EU all this time, representing 70 to 80
percent of their exports to EU, whereas Cambodia doesn’t export broken rice as
ours is not competitive at all. Our broken rice is mainly sold in the domestic
market because it fetches a higher price,” the source said. Data from the Secretariat
of One Window Service for Rice Export showed that between January and November
2018, Cambodia exported 497,420 tonnes, down 13 percent compared to the
corresponding period in 2017.
That year rice exports rose 17.21 percent to reach
635,325 tonnes, with a total value of $333.1 million. Cambodian rice exports in
2017 represented 1.6 percent of global rice exports, World’s Top Exports
research portal showed. That year Cambodia was the ninth biggest exporter in
the world, while Myanmar held the tenth spot. Observers argue that, unlike the
proposal to withdraw Cambodia’s Everything-but-arms (EBA) status, the rice tax
imposition is not politically motivated. “We definitely cannot save the rice
issue but we still have good hope that we can avoid the EBA revocation.
They seem to be
separate issues. Unlike the EBA revocation where ample notice will be given,
there is no grace period for safeguards,” the source said. Yesterday, Khmer
Times reported that local exporters rued over the lack of clarity that was causing
delays of shipments, with buyers reluctant to go ahead with exchanges.
Chan Sokheang, chairman and CEO of Signatures of Asia,
said if the EU activates the tariffs, many buyers might cancel their orders,
inflicting pain to the rice sector. To this, the source said zero import duties
should apply to rice consignments that were already on the way to the EU on the
regulation’s enforcement date. “EC’s Directorate General for Trade has
indicated that a bill of lading dated prior to the date of entry into force of
the tariffs could be used to demonstrate that the rice is already on the way,”
the source added.
China inches
towards allowing U.S. rice sales
File photo of David Wildy, a prominent Arkansas farmer,
in a field of soybeans that were damaged by dicamba.
DAN CHARLES / NPR
NEWS 
China
customs has announced it will allow imports of U.S. rice and industry leaders
are waiting for the first orders. The move is part of the Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Protocol signed between the United States and China from July
2017.
USA Rice CEO
and President Betsy Ward told Talk Business & Politics the ongoing trade
war has hampered efforts to open the Chinese market after the agreement was
reached. Industry leaders hope that the Chinese will buy several hundred
thousand metric tons of U.S. rice, Ward said.
Listen
Listening...
Listen to USA Rice CEO Betsy Ward talk to Talk Business’
Roby Brock at the Annual Arkansas Rice Meeting in Stuttgart about the state of
agriculture.
Officials
have spent 10 years working on a deal to sell rice in the world’s most populous
country with China consuming as much rice as Arkansas produces every 13 days,
according to estimates.
“We are
fairly optimistic the Chinese will allow rice imports,” she said. “This is
potentially a huge market for us.”
China will
now need to post the list of approved U.S. export mills and facilities of
milled rice developed in consultation between the U.S. rice industry, United
States Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) and China’s Agricultural Inspection Service, according to the
Agriculture Council of Arkansas. In 2017, USA Rice worked with U.S. and Chinese
government officials to facilitate Chinese inspections at 10 U.S. mills and
facilities interested in exporting rice to China to demonstrate their compliance
with the complex U.S.-China phytosanitary protocol.
“What is
still not 100% clear is whether China has published the complete list of all
the U.S. facilities approved to ship to China,” said Bobby Hanks, Chair of USA
Rice’s International Trade Policy Committee and a Louisiana miller. “We will be
looking in the days ahead to USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative for
clarification to make sure that all approved U.S. facilities are eligible. We
of course are looking for the first confirmed rice sale to China.”
China’s rice
imports have grown in recent years and are hovering near 5 million metric-tons.
China has
been a member of the World Trade Organization since 2001, but the U.S. has been
barred from selling rice there because it lacked the phytosanitary standards
required by the Chinese government. Seminars will be held in China and the U.S.
to educate consumers about the different kinds of American rice. Demand for
export rice will be highest in coastal areas, restaurants, hotels, and high
income consumers.
Arkansas
farmers were projected to grow 1.4 million rice acres during the 2018 season,
an uptick from 2017 when about 1.161 million acres were planted. It was 47.1%
of all rice acres planted in the U.S., according to the B.R. Wells Arkansas
Rice Research study issued by the University of Arkansas Division of
Agriculture.
Those acres
accounted for 82.6 million hundredweight of rice, and it represented 46.4% of
the 178.2 million hundredweight produced in the country. During the last three
years, Arkansas has accounted for more than 47% of the nation’s total rice
production, the report found. Per acre, farmers had a yield of 164.4 bushels
per acre or 7,400 pounds. It was the third highest yield on record in the state
and a 570 pound per acre uptick from 2016.
Rice is
grown in 40 of Arkansas’ 75 counties and is predominately grown in the eastern
section of the state. The first rice crop was grown on a single acre in Lonoke
County in 1902, although there are reports of the crop in the state before the
Civil War, according to historians. Rice acres steadily grew from then and by
1955 the federal government initiated a set of controls capping the number of
rice acres at 500,000. Controls were lifted in the 1970s, and the number of
rice acres continued to grow. The state set its all-time rice acreage record in
2010 when farmers planted 1.785 million acres.
Talk
Business and Politics is a content partner of KASU. Their show airs on
KASU 91.9 FM on Mondays and Fridays during NPR’s Morning Edition at 6:51
am. It also airs during NPR’s All Things Considered on Wednesdays at 5:20
pm. You can follow more of their coverage on their website TalkBusiness.net where
you can also catch the latest Northeast Arkansas news.
Enactment of rice tariffication bill to stabilize prices-NEDA
MANILA, Philippines — The National Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA) urges the immediate enactment of the rice tariffication bill,
saying it is “fundamental” to the stabilization of food prices. The bill
amending the two-decade old Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 replaces the
quantitative restriction (QR) on rice imports with a 35 percent tariff. It is
set to be transmitted to Malacañang for President Duterte’s signature, having been
ratified by both chambers of Congress last Nov. 28.
Under the new import regime, legitimate rice traders can import
rice from various sources without permit from the National Food Authority
(NFA), provided they secure a sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance from
the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and pay the
appropriate tariff to the Bureau of Customs. The NFA, on the other hand, would
merely focus on ensuring the sufficiency of buffer stocks for use in emergencies.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia
said as there is a need to periodically replenish the buffer stocks, the NFA
can still sell cheap rice but to targeted markets. “In selling rice, the NFA
may opt to focus on far-flung areas, which some private traders may not find
profitable to serve,” he said. He also noted that even with tariffication in
place, the rice subsidy provided under the government’s conditional cash
transfer program would continue. “The aim of the bill is to make rice
accessible and affordable to every Filipino, and to make the rice sector
competitive,” he said.
The bill also provides for the establishment of the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) using tariff revenue, the proceeds of
which would be used by the DA for productivity enhancing programs for rice
farmers. Key interventions to be financed by the RCEF include the improvement
of farm mechanization, development of high-yielding rice seed varieties and
promotion of use, expanded rice credit, crop diversification, and extension
services. As a safety net measure to the rice sector, the bill provides for the
imposition of a special safeguard duty on rice in the event of sudden price
fluctuations.
An SSG is essentially an
additional tariff imposed on agricultural commodities, the purpose of which is
to allow free trade but prevent foreign suppliers from undercutting prices
charged in the domestic market. In the event of a supply shortage, the
President is empowered to allow importation of a specified volume at lower
rates to increase supply and stabilize prices. “Increasing the number of market
players and competition in the rice sector are critical for the bill to deliver
on its promise of lower rice prices for everyone,” said Pernia. He also urged
the DA, along with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to carry out
information dissemination campaigns on the new rice importation regime
and ensure that rice traders are ready to participate when the bill is enacted.
Rice
tariffs in European market ‘almost certain’
January 10, 2019
Sangeetha
Amarthalingam / Khmer Times
The
noose around the Cambodian rice sector is tightening as the European Commission
(EC) is almost certainly implementing the safeguard measures on rice exports
from Cambodia and Myanmar from mid-January onwards, said a source close to the
issue.
The
action is expected to culminate in the regressive tax imposition, beginning
with 175 euros per tonne on Jan 15, 150 euros per tonne a year later, and 125 euros
the subsequent year.
“I hate
to break the news but we have learned that the EC will implement the safeguard
clause with immediate effect for varieties of rice customs codes.
“This
affects rice with a ratio more than three (not broken rice), while those with a
ratio below three are allowed access. It is bad news for Cambodia as the only
quality we will be able to export is broken rice, since all others are subject
to tax,” said the source who declined to be named because of the issue’s
sensitivity.
Tariffs
will only apply to milled Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar with CN codes
1006 30 27, 1006 30 48, 1006 30 67 and 1006 30 98, according to the source.
According
to Confagricoltura, an organisation that represents Italian agricultural
businesses, a written procedure to activate the tariffs started on Jan 4
following a hung verdict a month earlier when EU members failed to come to a
consensus over the tax imposition. As a result, the EC was tasked with issuing
a final decision on the subject by Jan 15.
Last
March, the EC launched an investigation to ascertain whether imports of
semi-milled and milled Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar resulted in
serious difficulties to European Union producers of similar or competing
products.
“In this
safeguard thing, Cambodia loses out big time as the EC imposes duties on all
rice over ratio three, which means only broken rice can be imported tax-free.
Anything above ratio three will be taxed.
“Myanmar
has been exporting primarily broken rice to EU all this time, representing 70
to 80 percent of their exports to EU, whereas Cambodia doesn’t export broken
rice as ours is not competitive at all. Our broken rice is mainly sold in the
domestic market because it fetches a higher price,” the source said.
Data
from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export showed that between
January and November 2018, Cambodia exported 497,420 tonnes, down 13 percent
compared to the corresponding period in 2017. That year rice exports rose 17.21
percent to reach 635,325 tonnes, with a total value of $333.1 million.
Cambodian
rice exports in 2017 represented 1.6 percent of global rice exports, World’s
Top Exports research portal showed.
That
year Cambodia was the ninth biggest exporter in the world, while Myanmar held
the tenth spot.
Observers
argue that, unlike the proposal to withdraw Cambodia’s Everything-but-arms
(EBA) status, the rice tax imposition is not politically motivated.
“We
definitely cannot save the rice issue but we still have good hope that we can
avoid the EBA revocation. They seem to be separate issues. Unlike the EBA
revocation where ample notice will be given, there is no grace period for
safeguards,” the source said.
Yesterday,
Khmer Times reported that local exporters rued over the lack of clarity that
was causing delays of shipments, with buyers reluctant to go ahead with
exchanges.
Chan
Sokheang, chairman and CEO of Signatures of Asia, said if the EU activates the
tariffs, many buyers might cancel their orders, inflicting pain to the rice
sector.
To this,
the source said zero import duties should apply to rice consignments that were
already on the way to the EU on the regulation’s enforcement date.
“EC’s
Directorate General for Trade has indicated that a bill of lading dated prior
to the date of entry into force of the tariffs could be used to demonstrate
that the rice is already on the way,” the source added.
Niigata rice exports to China start
Jiji Press
Rice produced in Niigata
Prefecture to be exported to Shanghai
7:16 pm, January 09, 2019
Jiji PressYOKOHAMA (Jiji Press) — The
National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, or JA Zen-Noh,
resumed Tuesday exports of rice produced in Niigata Prefecture to China after a
break of nearly eight years.
Niigata rice exports were
suspended following the triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company
Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant just after the March 2011
earthquake and tsunami.
JA Zen-Noh, the business and
marketing arm of the Japanese agricultural cooperatives, or JA, group, will
resume Niigata rice sales in Shanghai late this month on a trial basis.
It aims to expand Japanese rice
sales in the huge Chinese market with a population of more than 1.3 billion
amid falling domestic consumption.
China lifted its import ban on
Niigata rice in November last year.
The export resumption is “a
landmark event” that will be appreciated by producers, agriculture minister
Takamori Yoshikawa said at a ceremony in Yokohama on Tuesday.
JA Zen-Noh President Genichi
Jinde said he regards the resumption as “the first step” in efforts to expand
rice sales overseas.
JA Zen-Noh will sell a total of
500 bags each containing 2 kilograms of polished Niigata rice in Shanghai,
targeting wealthy consumers. The organization plans to expand its Chinese sales
network to cover Beijing and other cities.
China introduced its import
restrictions on Japanese farm and fishery products in April 2011. The
regulations still affect products produced in 10 prefectures including
Fukushima, where the TEPCO power plant stands.
China also maintains import
restrictions on Niigata products other than rice.
The Japanese government aims to
increase the country’s annual exports of farm, forestry and fishery products
plus food to one trillion yen in 2019.
The exports totaled ¥807.1
billion in 2017, of which rice accounted for only ¥3.2 billion.
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005466081
“You work with figures, I work with facts…’ Buhari insists
Nigeria has achieved food security
President
Muhammadu Buhari
FacebookTwitterEmailSMSWhatsAppMore
DESPITE the many negative reports
by several internationally recognised bodies on the rate of hunger and
poverty in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari insists that the nation has
achieved food security under his administration.
Buhari said this during an
interview conducted by a team of journalists drawn from Arise Television,
ThisDay Newspaper, and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). The
interview was aired on Arise TV on Monday night and is also available on the
station’s Youtube
Channel.
Buhari said he and his team were
“very lucky”, having prayed a lot to God, and as a result, the rainy seasons of
2016, 2017, and 2018 were quite favourable to Nigerian farmers, regardless of
the flood disasters that occurred in some states across the nation.
He accused the media of not fully
appreciating “the luck we have, and what we did in Agriculture”.
“I am sure you will know that we
have virtually achieved food security,” Buhari said.
He explained that he directed the
Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, and the Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to come up with measures that would ensure that local
farmers are able to access soft loans in order to improve their harvests.
“We made fertilizer available at
virtually half the price we met it, and we are producing it locally. We work
together with another African country, Morocco.
“…I’m sure you have felt it. We
don’t import rice, virtually, anymore. We don’t import rice, we have stopped
importing rice, and we are even exporting grains.
“But we want to be
self-sufficient in maize so that the chicken feed and so on, can be there
locally. We made tremendous progress.
“I very much recommend that you
do some in-depth study in it and see how much we have earned in Agriculture.”
However, one of the journalists
pointed out to Buhari that his comments on food security were contradictory to
the realities on the ground as evidenced in several reports by reputable
international organisations. For instance, figures show that several millions
of Nigerians are unemployed and the country recently overtook India
as the poverty
capital of the world.
To this Buhari replied, “You work
with figures, I work with facts. I’m telling you this, (and) that’s why I
recommend that you see the Minister of Agriculture and the Governor of the
Central Bank (to explain to you) how much money Nigeria was thought to be
allocated to import rice, to import other foodstuffs, and how much we are now
giving for import of food.”
Buhari said many people are
leaving their white collar jobs and are returning to agriculture and many
hitherto unemployed Nigerians have taken up agriculture and are doing well.
There are no available statistics
to support Buhari’s claims that Nigeria has achieved food sufficiency. Rather
Buhari’s administration claims it has reduced rice importation by 90 percent.
A fact-check
report by The
ICIR showed this claim is false.
In fact, the 2018 United States
Department of Agriculture report puts Nigeria’s rice importation in 2018 at about
400,000 tonnes and estimates that the country will only be
second to China in rice importation by 2019.
The CBN Governor, Emefiele,
however, disputes the USDA report, saying that available data shows “that rice
imported legally into the country is less than 25,000 tonnes in 2018 so far”.
But as Nigeria records a drop in
the rate of legally imported rice, the Benin Republic, one of Nigeria’s closest
neighbours continue to record a huge spike in theirs.
The Minister of Information and
Culture, Lai Mohammed, once confessed that “as Nigeria’s rice import falls,
Benin’s rice imports increase” and that “most of the parboiled rice imported by
Benin eventually land in Nigeria through smuggling”.
According to data from the International Grains Council,
over half of Nigeria’s imports in 2015 entered from neighbouring Benin, where
the duty on rice is only 12 per cent, and most of Benin’s rice imports, up to
30,000 truckloads per year, are routed via transit shipments through Niger to
the northwest of Nigeria.
KPK Deputy Unfazed by Wednesday's Terror Threats
Translator:
Ricky Mohammad Nugraha
Editor: Laila
Afifa
10 January 2019 07:12 WIB
The situation at KPK deputy chief Laode
Muhammad Syarif on Wednesday, January 9, 2019, after a Molotov cocktail-looking
device was found. TEMPO/Francisca Christy Rosana
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The
Molotov explosive device found yesterday at the house of Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK)
Deputy Chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif did not scare him to
stay at his only house.
“What, and
move to a hotel?” said Laode on Wednesday when asked if he planned to move to a
house that he might consider to be safer. Interestingly, Laode who just came
home from work seemed unfazed by the incident.
Around 05:30
Western Indonesia Time (WIB) on Wednesday, a Molotov cocktail-looking device
was discovered by Laode’s personal driver Bambang.
According to
Laode, this incident is certainly an unwanted effect of his job and considers
the terror as a risk that cannot be separated from his position as a leader in
an anti-corruption agency.
As of the
safety of him and his family, Laide said that he is entirely confident that
police would provide ample protection. He also hopes that police would soon be
able to uncover the assailant and what their motives were.
On Wednesday, the house of two KPK
higher-ups, Laode and KPK Chairman Agus Rahardjo, were terrorized
by the finding of a Molotov cocktail explosive that was placed inside a
plastic bag hung over the gate of their houses.
Rice tariffication improving PHL’s WTO standing
January 9, 2019 | 9:13 pm
A worker is seen at an NFA
warehouse in Quezon City. -- PHILSTAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
THE Philippines’ decision not to extend
quantitative restrictions on rice has improved its position with potential
trading partners, its World Trade Organization (WTO) representative said.
“Our view is that the perception
of the Philippines as a trading partner has improved after the current
administration’s declared policy of ending its quantitative restriction on the
importation of rice and our making progress towards tariffication,”
Representative to the Philippine Mission to the WTO Ambassador Manuel A. J.
Teehankee said in an e-mail interview.
The Philippines has been
receiving queries from WTO-members about its obligation to move away from a QR
regime, which were brought up frequently during the country’s trade policy
review last year.
The QR is a non-tariff measure
imposed by a member of the WTO to limit the volume of a particular commodity
entering its borders.
Annex 5 of the Agreement on
Agriculture which was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade allowed members to apply for special treatment
in certain products by complying with certain provisions under the deal.
Rice is the only commodity in the
Philippines that enjoys special treatment, granted to the country upon acceding
to the WTO in 1995.
With the QR, the Philippines
sought more time to achieve self-sufficiency in the staple grain, to counter
the impact of the expected influx of cheap rice imports.
The waiver’s validity ended a
decade later but was further extend by seven years after the Philippines
lobbied for an extension which was granted in 2007.
This continued until its 2012
expiry after which the country negotiated for another extension, again to buy
more time to prepare farmers for liberalized trade. The second request for an
extension was granted in 2014 and ended June 30, 2017.
However, the country failed to
amend the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996, and replace the quantitative
restriction on rice imports, in time for the waiver’s expiry.
The waiver was nevertheless
extended up until the country passed the law.
In November, Senate Bill No.
1998, Act Replacing the Quantitative Import Restrictions on Rice with Tariffs,
Lifting the Quantitative Export Restrictions, made it past the chamber’s
plenary.
Under the measure, the country
will apply a 35% tariff for rice shipments from ASEAN member states, in
recognition of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement. For non-ASEAN member states,
a 50% tariff equivalent will be applied.
Rice tariffication has raised
concerns that rice farmers may lose their livelihoods because of their inability
to compete with cheaper imported rice.
Mr. Teehankee said that “the
interests of our rice producing farmers and sectors are safeguarded while
assisting them in becoming competitive and also be able to avail of the
benefits of higher value-added rice production that can be exported.”
The Senate bill as approved
proposes the creation of a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund which will be
funded from tariffs.
It will receive a minimum P10
billion every year for six years, after which period all duties collected from
the importation of rice are expected to have replaced the allocated funds.
The fund will provide assistance
to rice farmers, helping them develop inbred rice seeds, farming equipment and
upgrade their rice-growing skills. — Janina C. Lim
Enactment of rice tariffication bill to stabilize prices — NEDA
Michael Varcas
The bill amending the two-decade old Agricultural Tariffication
Act of 1996 replaces the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice imports with a
35 percent tariff.
Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) -
January 10, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) urges the immediate
enactment of the rice tariffication bill, saying it is “fundamental” to the
stabilization of food prices.
The bill amending the two-decade
old Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 replaces the quantitative
restriction (QR) on rice imports with a 35 percent tariff.
It is set to be transmitted to
Malacañang for President Duterte’s signature, having been ratified by both
chambers of Congress last Nov. 28.
Under the new import regime,
legitimate rice traders can import rice from various sources without permit
from the National Food Authority (NFA), provided they secure a sanitary and
phytosanitary import clearance from the Bureau of Plant Industry of the
Department of Agriculture (DA) and pay the appropriate tariff to the Bureau of
Customs.
The NFA, on the other hand, would
merely focus on ensuring the sufficiency of buffer stocks for use in
emergencies.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary
and NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia said as there is a need to periodically replenish
the buffer stocks, the NFA can still sell cheap rice but to targeted markets.
“In selling rice, the NFA may opt
to focus on far-flung areas, which some private traders may not find profitable
to serve,” he said.
He also noted that even with
tariffication in place, the rice subsidy provided under the government’s
conditional cash transfer program would continue.
“The aim of the bill is to make
rice accessible and affordable to every Filipino, and to make the rice sector
competitive,” he said.
The bill also provides for the
establishment of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) using tariff
revenue, the proceeds of which would be used by the DA for productivity
enhancing programs for rice farmers.
Key interventions to be financed
by the RCEF include the improvement of farm mechanization, development of
high-yielding rice seed varieties and promotion of use, expanded rice credit,
crop diversification, and extension services.
As a safety net measure to the
rice sector, the bill provides for the imposition of a special safeguard duty
on rice in the event of sudden price fluctuations.
An SSG is essentially an additional
tariff imposed on agricultural commodities, the purpose of which is to allow
free trade but prevent foreign suppliers from undercutting prices charged in
the domestic market.
In the event of a supply
shortage, the President is empowered to allow importation of a specified volume
at lower rates to increase supply and stabilize prices.
“Increasing the number of market
players and competition in the rice sector are critical for the bill to deliver
on its promise of lower rice prices for everyone,” said Pernia.
He also urged the DA, along with
the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to carry out information
dissemination campaigns on the new rice importation regime and ensure
that rice traders are ready to participate when the bill is enacted.
Rice research to be funded $1.6 million following levy
Reuben Wylie
JANUARY 10 2019 - 10:00AM
Rice growers in Griffith and
around the country will pay an additional $3 for every tonne of rice
they sell if recommendations put forth to the government in a report by Rice
Growers Australia (RGA) are approve
Samar town
eyed as PH’s biggest rice seed producer
SAMAR TOWN EYED AS PH’S BIGGEST RICE
SEED PRODUCER
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Rice
Research Institute (PhilRice) are working together to develop San Roque,
Northern Samar as the country’s biggest seed production center which could
potentially produce high-yielding varieties in 2,000 hectares of agricultural
land.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the two agencies would
coordinate with the local government of San Roque, a private company and
farmers for the implementation of the Samar Rice Development Program (SRDP).
“The SRDP, which will be launched this year, targets about
100,000 to 200,000 hectares of rich lands into rice production areas,” Piñol
said Wednesday in a statement.
San Roque is a poor town in Northern Samar, which is among the
10 poorest provinces in the country.
Once implemented, Piñol said the program would transform the
poor town into one of the most progressive localities in Northern Samar.
“Under the program, a private seed production group will set up
a nucleus farm of 200 hectares, establish rice seeds processing facilities and
a refrigerated warehouse for the storage of the seeds,” he explained.
“The private seed production group will engage the farmers of
San Roque in a seed production contract where the seeds from the farmers will
be bought by the company,” Piñol added.
He said the program will be supported by the DA and PhilRice by
providing the farmers with technical training, equipment and loan support.
“The DA will purchase the seeds produced in San Roque to be distributed
to the rice farmers in the rest of Samar Island, including parts of Leyte,”
Piñol said.
He also said farm-to-market roads and Solar-Powered Irrigation
Systems (SPIS) will also be installed in the seed production areas of the
farmers.
The SRDP targets to boost the average rice yield in Samar Island
to 6 metric tons from the current 2 metric tons per hectare by 2020.
San Roque Mayor Don Abalon said the program would also bring in
an estimated P600 million earnings for the local farmers.
Neda: Rice tariffication to stabilize inflation
January
09, 2019 at 09:10 pm
The
National Economic and Development Authority said the immediate enactment into
law of the Rice Tariffication bill will stabilize food prices and overall
inflation rate.
Economic
Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said once signed into law, the Rice
Tariffication bill would make rice affordable from various sources. Rice supply
will also no longer the sole responsibility of the National Food Authority.
The
measure amends the two-decade-old Republic Act No. 8178, or the Agricultural
Tariffication Act of 1996, and replaces the quantitative restrictions on rice
imports with tariff.
The
bill, which was ratified by both chambers of Congress on Nov. 28, 2018, is set
to be transmitted to Malacañang for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.
“The
aim of the bill is to make rice accessible and affordable to every Filipino,
and to make the rice sector competitive,” Pernia said.
Under
the new rice importation regime, legitimate rice traders can now import rice
without NFA permits, provided they secure a sanitary and phytosanitary import
clearance from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry and pay
the appropriate tariff to the Bureau of Customs.
The
NFA, on the other hand, will focus on ensuring sufficient buffer stocks to
address emergency situations. As there is a need to periodically
replenish the buffer stocks, NFA can still sell cheap rice, but to very
targeted markets.
“In
selling rice, the NFA may opt to focus on far-flung areas, which some private
traders may not find profitable to serve,” Pernia said.
Pernia
said wven with rice tariffication, rice subsidy under the government’s
conditional cash transfer program or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program
would continue benefiting poor households.
Pernia
said that through the establishment of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement
Fund coming from the tariff revenues, the Agriculture Department would have an
additional source of funding for its programs and projects to increase the
productivity and enhance the competitiveness of the sector.
Key
interventions to be financed by the RCEF include farm machinery and equipment
to improve farm mechanization, rice seed development, propagation and promotion,
expanded rice credit, crop diversification and extension services.
A
portion of the rice tariff revenues in excess of P10 billion will be used to
provide direct financial assistance to rice farmers.
The
measure also provides safety nets to the rice sector as it grants the president
emergency power to increase, reduce, or adjust existing tariff rates to
safeguard Filipino farmers.
The
bill also provides the imposition of a special safeguard duty on rice in case
of extreme or sudden price fluctuations in accordance with RA 8800 or the
Safeguard Measures Act.
The
bill empowers the president, for a limited period and for a specified volume,
to allow importation at lower rates for the benefit of consumers in the event
of possible rice shortage.
Pernia
asked the DA, along with the Department of Trade and Industry and other
concerned agencies, to carry out information dissemination campaigns on the new
rice importation regime and ensure that rice traders are ready to participate
when the bill is enacted into law.
“Increasing
the number of market players and competition in the rice sector are critical
for the bill to deliver on its promise of lower rice prices for everyone,”
Pernia said.
Identifying rice proteins key to creating
more efficient strains: scientists
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-01-09 13:13:14|Editor: Lu Hui
SYDNEY, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Scientists are calling for a global
effort to identify the protein composition of rice, an understanding they hope
will allow them to create a more heat and drought resistant crop.
The international team made up of researchers from Australia,
Iran and Japan released a study on Wednesday in which they identify 5,700 new
proteins in the grain.
However they say that with an estimated 35,000 proteins encoded
by the rice genome, 82 percent of which are unknown, we are a long way from
being able to harness its full potential.
While the genome of rice was successfully mapped and published
by 2001, study co-author Paul Haynes from Australia's Macquarie University says
that scientists still don't know enough to be able to adapt it to best suit
humanity's needs.
"It is imperative that we find ways to make rice better
adapted to environments with warmer climates and less available water,"
Haynes said.
In Australia and many other areas, rice production is under
pressure from limited supply of water, which Haynes believes can be alleviated
by merging commercial rice with wild varieties to increase root length.
"If we could somehow transform commercial rice varieties so
that they grow deeper roots, thereby increasing water uptake efficiency while
still retaining high grain yields, we could produce more sustainable plants that
would help to future-proof the Australian rice industry," Haynes said.
"If we are to continue to feed the ever-increasing number
of people on our planet, we really need to produce rice which is more
sustainable in terms of better water use and better nutrient uptake, while
still maintaining current levels of grain production."
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/09/c_137730672.htm
https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/01/10/1883690/enactment-rice-tariffication-bill-stabilize-prices-neda
https://en.tempo.co/read/1163347/kpk-deputy-unfazed-by-wednesdays-terror-threats/full&view=ok
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Why India’s toilet data is too good to be true
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has increased access to toilets and reduced open defecation in India but not to the extent that the government claims, shows a study.
Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint
Mumbai: The country is close to attaining the long-sought and desperately important goal of universal sanitation coverage, according to India’s official sanitation statistics. The latest data from the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) portal suggests that 27 out of India’s 36 states and Union territories are now open defecation free (ODF) with 98.6% of Indian households having access to toilets.
If these numbers sound too good to be true, they are most likely to be quite off the mark. New study by a team from the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (RICE) suggests that 44% of the rural population in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan still defecate in the open. However, according to SBM, the three states are either fully or largely ODF, except for Bihar.
According to SBM data, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh have achieved 100% sanitation coverage of rural household (proportion of households with toilets). However, the RICE survey found the proportion of rural households with toilets lagging in all the three states.
The difference is particularly stark in the case of Bihar, the survey of 1,558 households in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan shows.
These four states accounted for nearly half of the households without toilets and defecating in the open, as of 2015-16, according to data from the large-scale National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
While the study questions the extent of Swachh Bharat’s success, it also highlights its impact. The researchers find that access to toilets has risen sharply over the past four years. In 2018, 71% of the rural population in these states owned a latrine compared with 37% in 2014.The increase in toilet ownership seems to have been driven by SBM.
The survey reveals that 57% of rural households without a latrine in 2014 had one by 2018 and 42% of them received government support. There is also significant disparity across states. In Madhya Pradesh, 83% of households who did not have a toilet in 2014 had one in 2018, while in Bihar the corresponding figure was 37%.
While toilets are an important first step for sanitation, they still need to be used. As we have highlighted in this column earlier, reducing open defecation requires behavioural change .
The RICE survey found open defecation in the four states to have decreased from 70% in 2014 to 44% in 2018 with the biggest improvements in Madhya Pradesh (43 percentage points) and Uttar Pradesh (26 percentage points).
However, these improvements may have been driven almost entirely by the construction of latrines rather than any change in behaviour, the RICE study suggests.
Around 23% rural households across the four states owning a latrine were found to defecate in the open. This is the same proportion as in 2014.
In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, open defecation among toilet owners actually increased between 2014 and 2018.
Taken together, these results imply that SBM did not induce any behavioural change. More than behavioural change, SBM may be forcing change through coercion, the authors suggest.
Across the four states, it was found that coercion was a major means to achieve targets. More than half of the households surveyed (56%) said that they were aware of coercion in their village and 12% said they faced it in their own households. Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households were more likely to be at the receiving end of coercive tactics, the study suggests.
These latest findings reiterate the importance of adopting a more holistic approach to open defecation rather than the current singular focus on toilet construction. While building more toilets has undeniably helped India’s sanitation challenge, the impact would be far greater if these initiatives were combined with interventions targeting behavioural changes.
Further, for toilets to prevent diseases better, they need to be a part of an integrated sanitation approach that includes water supply, water connections, and waste management .
The RICE survey highlights the challenge on this front. Of the toilets built with government support in the four states, only 42% were twin-pit latrines—the recommended toilets for safe and sustainable waste management.
https://www.livemint.com/Politics/d0gb1cTpVnVwJaUQIPIaaP/Swachh-Bharat-Abhiyan-Why-Indias-toilet-data-is-too-good-t.html
