One gets life term in dowry death case
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Hisar: A district court on
Saturday awarded life imprisonment to a man in a dowry death case. Additional
District and Sessions Judge Pankaj awarded the life term to Suresh, husband of
Jyoti of Ghiray village in the district, but acquitted his parents. The police
had registered the dowry death case on May 25, 2017. The complainant had
alleged that Suresh used to harass Jyoti and demand a car as dowry after the
marriage. However, a social panchayat brought about reconciliation between them
and Suresh assured them that he would not harass Jyoti. TNS
Man booked on rape charge
Hisar: The police registered a
case of rape against a man on a complaint by a 30-year-old married woman in the
district on Sunday. The police said that the complainant alleged that the
accused kidnapped and raped her for nine days at various locations in
Rajasthan. The police said a case under Sections 366 (abduction), 376 (rape)
and 506 (criminal intimidation) has been registered against Sonu, who is yet to
be arrested. TNS
Two rice millers, 8 guarantors booked
Kaithal: The police have
registered cases of cheating against two rice millers and eight guarantors.
Hafed provided paddy worth crores to two rice mills for custom milling in
2017-18 and 2018-19. The rice millers neither provided rice nor returned paddy
worth Rs 11 crore to Hafed. A total of 3,973 metric tonnes (MT) of paddy was
given to Gurbachan Singh, proprietor of Haryana Agro Foods. The
firm delivered 2,662 MT of rice to Hafed with
rice worth Rs 6.71 crore outstanding. In the other case, Hafed provided 63,311
quintals of paddy to Ram Ji Rice Land. After supplying some quantity of rice,
the firm failed to return rice worth Rs 5.59 crore. OC
New Studies
Raise Apprehension About Use of CRISPR Technology in Medicine
Two
independent researches, on rice and mouse embryos, found abundant off-target
mutations in the experiments using CRISPR, where editing the DNA involved
changes of base cytosine to thymine.
05 Mar
2019
Image
Courtesy: Livescience.com. Image for representational use only.
Biology labs around the world, over the past
few years, have started seeing the gene editing technology, CRISPR, of having
the potential to be used in many aspects of human concerns. Be it developing
crops with special traits or newer medicines for dangerous diseases, CRISPR has
steadily enhanced research. But, apprehensions about the process of gene
editing, especially while using it in medicines are also in place. And two
recent research studies published in Science have shown that the gene editing technology
could cause many unwanted and potentially dangerous off target genetic changes.
How CRISPR Technology Works
Fundamentally, CRISPR is a technique to edit
the genomes of organisms. In its original form, CRISPR guides an enzyme named
as Cas9 to a particular target in a genome. The Cas9 is the molecular scissor
that cuts the DNA in its both strands. Researchers now can introduce a new
sequence in the region where the cut has been made, thus, producing an
altogether new sequence. Because of the improvised control that CRISPR
technology has, researchers didn’t expect to have off target errors.
CRISPR technology was adapted from the way
bacteria and archea defend themselves from outside attacks. In this natural
procedure, CRISPRS derived RNA and other kinds of Cas proteins including Cas9
from these organisms. They defend themselves by cutting and destroying the DNA
of attackers like viruses.
Studies that Found Off-Target Mutations in Gene
Editing
The two independent researches, mainly based in
China, worked independently on rice and mouse embryos. Both of the studies
found abundant off target mutations in the experiments where editing the DNA
involved changes of base cytosine to thymine.
In the rice study led by Gao Caixia of Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS), the researchers compared 77 plants whose DNAs they have edited by
altering different bases of the DNAs. The researchers studied the mutation
rates in those edited DNAs. They found that when the base cytosine was altered
for thymine, the off-target mutations were doubled. In a response to Science, Gao told, “We were so surprised,
and worried we had to be really, really careful with our results because the
whole world will be looking closely.” He further said, “Fortunately, the
other group worked with the mouse and made a very similar observation, and
their system, to be honest, is even better than ours.”
In the other study that took into account gene
editing by CRISPR in mouse embryo, researchers found similar results. The
collaborative study between CAS and Stanford University, California, introduced
a DNA base editor to one of the two cells in a newly formed mouse embryo. By
comparing the progeny of the two cells, researchers found that when base
cytosine was altered, the off-target mutation rate was 20 times more than
common background mutation rates. Moreover, some of the mutations took place in
crucial regions of the genome that play a role in cancer.
The findings of the studies give warning
signals in the use of CRISPR technology. They also hint that more extensive
researches should be done before using the gene editing technique in developing
medicines targeted for genetic disorders.
Rice
tariffication law’s IRR done, sent to NEDA
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RICE TARIFFICATION LAW’S IRR DONE, SENT TO NEDA
Following a series of consultations among
stakeholders of the rice industry, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has
completed the implementing rules and regulations
(IRR) for the Rice Tariffication Act (RA 11203).
(IRR) for the Rice Tariffication Act (RA 11203).
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol
The DA has also submitted the finished IRR to
the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for approval, which
would signal the official rollout of the law.
“Actually the DA worked overtime. The IRR is
complete,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a press briefing on
Monday. The DA’s nationwide public consultations with local rice farmers ran
from Feb. 26 to March 1. Consultations were done in Nueva Ecija, Batangas,
Davao City and Iloilo City.
Piñol admitted local farmers feared the law
would lead to the death blow to the local rice industry by discouraging rice
planters to produce the staple. But the consultations, described by Piñol as a
“successful exercise,” helped clear some doubts on the possible effects of the
law.
RA 11203 completely abolishes quantitative
restrictions to ensure a steady supply of rice in the domestic market, which
was also seen to put local producers at a disadvantage for not being able to
compete with the imported supply.
But Piñol said imported rice would not
penetrate all of the markets in the country as it provides only 15 percent of
the total national requirements. “[T]hat volume actually may not be able to
influence the prices in other parts of the country to the point that farmers
will be losing money,” he said.
“We explained to them (farmers) that even if
importers would like to bring in bigger volume of rice, there’s a limitation to
how much you can access in the world market and the moment you accept more,
there would be a spike of prices in the world market,” Piñol said.
The total volume of rice traded in the world
market every year is about 40 million metric tons (MT), with some 38 million MT
already committed to specific importing countries. Piñol said farmers mulled
for an assurance that there would be no drastic drop in the prices of palay
when the law takes affect. Specifically, he said the stakeholders have proposed
that the National Food Authority (NFA) be allowed to procure buffer stocks more
than 15 to 30 days.
Piñol admitted he supports this position,
noting that the NFA’s buffer stocks “should be more than 30 days.” Under the
law, the NFA is mandated to have at least 15-days worth of consumption at any
given time and 30-day buffer during lean season, which starts in July and ends
in September. The lean months is when the country’s rice farmers are planting
and rice supply is at its lowest.
As announced, the Rice Tariffication Act takes
effect on March 5. It allows unlimited importation of rice as long as traders
secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and pay a
35 percent for all imports from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean), 40 percent for in-quota or within minimum access volume (MAV) from
non-Asean, and 180 percent for out-quota and non-Asean or as calculated by the
Tariff Commission.
The new law also calls for the establishment of
the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) which will be endowed with P10
billion a year for six years to improve mechanization, access to seed and
financing in the industry.
Farmers contest rice tariffication law hours
before IRR signing
Anna
Gabriela A. Mogato
Published
1:45 PM, March 05, 2019
Updated
1:45 PM, March 05, 2019
NO PROTECTION. Rice industry stakeholders,
primarily farmers, are concerned that there aren't enough safeguards in the law
despite the government's promise to protect the industry. Photo by Maria
Tan/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – Rice
stakeholders expressed frustration with what they say is the lack of safeguards
in the rice tariffication law, hours before the implementing rules and
regulations (IRR) of the measure was set to be signed.
In a press conference on Tuesday, March 5,
Federation of Free Farmers president Raul Montemayor said the law has loopholes
which the government has not been able to answer. (READ: Duterte signs rice tariffication law)
Montemayor was also present during the
government's consultations with rice stakeholders last week to aid the drafting
of the IRR, which they also found problematic.
"What came out was that they don't have a
plan, they don't know what to do. The best answer came from NEDA (National
Economic and Development Authority) – they said they will still study
it," Montemayor said in Filipino.
NFA to halt regulatory functions on March 5
"The what-if scenarios aren't clear yet.
The law isn't well-thought-out. They just wanted
to bring in more rice to lower the inflation rate. They're just thinking about
it now."
Among the questions raised by the stakeholders
were the ability of President Rodrigo Duterte to use his powers to adjust the
tariff in case too much or too little rice is coming into the market, and the
capability of the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy palay and sell cheap
rice.
As the NFA also loses its regulatory powers starting Tuesday,
Montemayor questioned how else could the rice industry be protected from the
influx of rice imports or smuggling.
While the IRR can provide more details of the
law's implementation, the stakeholders are concerned that it will still be
limited by the law.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol told reporters on Monday, March 4, that
they have taken the rice stakeholders' comments into consideration for the
drafting of the IRR.
So far, Piñol said they are still eyeing to
raise the NFA's buffer stock so it would last more than 30 days. Duterte said last year that the country
should have enough buffer stock for 60 days. (READ: Filipino farmers urged to sell their palay to NFA)
Aside from this, the Department of Agriculture
can still extend partial regulatory powers through the Price Act.
However, the final contents of the IRR will
still depend on NEDA. – Rappler.com
Rice tariffication law IRR set to be signed
March 5
Anna
Gabriela A. Mogato
Published
4:33 PM, March 04, 2019
Updated
4:52 PM, March 04, 2019
SPECULATIONS. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel
Piñol pointed to the industry's uncertainty as the reason behind the temporary
climb of palay's farmgate prices. Photo by Darren Langit/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – The implementing rules
and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication law
is set to be signed on Tuesday, March 5, also the same day when the law is
scheduled to take effect.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol told
reporters in a briefing on Monday, March 4, that while they were able to fast
track the drafting of the IRR after holding consultations with farmers in various
provinces last week.
"There were actually
misgivings initially... towards the end, the stakeholders understood that it's
there, there’s nothing they can actually do about it," he added.
"[T]hey actually relented when we appealed
to them to give the law a chance to be implemented."
The faster the implementation of the law, will
also mean that revenues coming from tariffs will start pouring into the Rice
Competitiveness and Enhancement Fund sooner, Piñol reasoned.
During the consultation, Piñol said that
farmers only asked that there should be a way to make sure that the farmgate
prices for palay, or unhusked rice, will not drop too low that they would be
losing money.
According to the draft IRR presented by the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) last week, there will be a
"preferential attention" given to farmers
and cooperatives should they be heavily affected by the the law.
However, the draft also said that a
"selection criteria" will also be identified and used for this.
"One of the salient points raised by the
stakeholders would be for the NFA (National Food Authority) to be allowed to
procure buffer stocks [to last] more than just 15 to 30 days," Piñol said.
"That's the way it should be. Because the
moment that prices drop, they (farmers) have somewhere to turn to. And I think
NEDA will take that into consideration [for the IRR]," he added.
According to the draft IRR, NFA's buffer stocks
will still follow the 15-day and 30-day inventory system until December 2019.
Last year, President Rodrigo Duterte had
ordered to have at least 60 days' worth of buffer stock, higher than the usually
mandate of the NFA to always have 15 days' worth of buffer stocks at any given
time and 30 days' worth of buffer stocks during lean season.
Aside from this, the farmers were also told
that there is still a limit in bringing in imported rice as an influx of this
would ramp up its price in the world market.
"Imported
rice cannot fully penetrate the market, only 15% of that total [rice]
requirement at best, actually. That
volume will not be able to influence the prices in all parts of the country to
the point that farmers will be losing the money," Piñol said.
However, Piñol said that there may be an issue
with implementing the law if the IRR will not be immediately signed tomorrow.
Aside from consultations, the Department of
Agriculture and representatives from NEDA also took time to explain the Rice
Tariffication law to the farmers in detail.
Piñol noted that this could help clear up the
uncertainty from the industry that he said lead to the initial drop in farmgate
prices for palay, or unhusked rice.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority
showed that the average farmgate price for palay posted a slight increment to
P19.64 per kilogram (kg) during the third week of February from P19.63 per kg a
week prior.
This is, however, lower by 1.46% from last
year’s P19.93 per kg when the palay prices were continuously increasing amid
the low buffer stocks of the National Food Authority.
Average wholesale and retail prices of well
milled rice posted a slight decline by 0.43% to P41.22 per kg and
0.27% P44.63 per kg, respectively. These are, however, higher in a year on year
comparison.
Average wholesale and retail prices of regular
milled rice also saw a decline by 0.87% to P37.76 per kg and 0.90% to P40.72
per kg, respectively. Similar to well milled rice, both average prices of
wholesale and retail prices arehigher from a year ago –Rappler.com
Palay prices firm, rice prices
edge down in 3rd week of Feb.
March 4, 2019 | 10:17 pm
PHILSTAR
THE average farmgate price of palay, or
unmilled rice, rose 0.05% week on week to P19.64 per kilogram in the third week
of February, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority
(PSA) on Monday.
According to PSA, the average price of
wholesale well-milled rice, fell 0.43% week on week to P41.22 per kg. At
retail, well-milled rice averaged P44.63, down 0.27% from a week earlier.
The average wholesale price of regular-milled
rice fell 0.87% week on week to P37.76 per kg. The average retail average price
fell 0.90% to P40.72 per kg.
In a news conference, Agriculture Secretary
Emmanuel F. Piñol said that price of rice at farmgate level is now starting to
recover after a drastic drop to an average of P14 to P15 per kg, amid
speculation of price pressure brought on by imported rice under the Rice
Tariffication Act.
“The DA believes that the fall to P15 was only
an initial market shock. The price is returning to P17 to P18,” Mr. Piñol told
reporters in Quezon City on Monday.
“Right now the farmers are starting to realize
that the price pressure is not that intense. We explained to them that even if
the importers bring in bigger volumes of rice, there’s a limit to how much you
can access in the world market. If you access more, world prices would spike,”
Mr. Piñol said. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
Effects of rice tariffication law temporary: Piñol
By Cherry Mhae Palicte March 2,
2019, 8:33 pm
DAVAO CITY --
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol assured farmers that the effects of the
rice tariffication law are only temporary.
During a consultation held in Davao City on Thursday, farmers from various parts of Mindanao expressed their apprehension with the law.
“If there is an adverse effect, it will be temporary. Continue planting rice and don’t fear the influx of rice imports. If you stop planting rice and our production will decrease to 60 percent, surely the traders will manipulate the prices,” Piñol told the farmers.
He also clarified reports that the current low buying price of unhusked rice is brought about by the rice tariffication law, saying it was not the case.
However, Piñol told farmers that the influx of cheap imported milled rice could result to lower wholesale price of milled rice at PHP35.31 per/kg (from the average of PHP42.25 per/kg in 2018) and lower farmgate price at PHP16.94 per/kg (from an average of PHP20.43 per/kg in 2018).
He also called on farmers to trust President Rodrigo Duterte, "who himself understood that it (rice tarrification) would be beneficial to all."
He assured that the Department of Agriculture will continue to help farmers improve their competitiveness and farm income, enhance resiliency to disasters and climate risks, and ensure access to safe and nutritious rice.
Piñol said rice farmers can avail of assistance from the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which has a PHP10 billion allocation from RA 11203 on top of the budget of DA’s Rice Program.
He said about PHP5 billion is allotted for farm mechanization, PHP3 billion for seeds, PHP1 billion for credit, and PHP1 billion for technical skills training.
“DA will help you along the way. Just tell us what to do and what you need,” he added. (PNA)
During a consultation held in Davao City on Thursday, farmers from various parts of Mindanao expressed their apprehension with the law.
“If there is an adverse effect, it will be temporary. Continue planting rice and don’t fear the influx of rice imports. If you stop planting rice and our production will decrease to 60 percent, surely the traders will manipulate the prices,” Piñol told the farmers.
He also clarified reports that the current low buying price of unhusked rice is brought about by the rice tariffication law, saying it was not the case.
However, Piñol told farmers that the influx of cheap imported milled rice could result to lower wholesale price of milled rice at PHP35.31 per/kg (from the average of PHP42.25 per/kg in 2018) and lower farmgate price at PHP16.94 per/kg (from an average of PHP20.43 per/kg in 2018).
He also called on farmers to trust President Rodrigo Duterte, "who himself understood that it (rice tarrification) would be beneficial to all."
He assured that the Department of Agriculture will continue to help farmers improve their competitiveness and farm income, enhance resiliency to disasters and climate risks, and ensure access to safe and nutritious rice.
Piñol said rice farmers can avail of assistance from the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which has a PHP10 billion allocation from RA 11203 on top of the budget of DA’s Rice Program.
He said about PHP5 billion is allotted for farm mechanization, PHP3 billion for seeds, PHP1 billion for credit, and PHP1 billion for technical skills training.
“DA will help you along the way. Just tell us what to do and what you need,” he added. (PNA)
Push for
cost-competitive rice production continues
(The
Philippine Star) - March 3, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Some experts maintain
that targeting a national average rice yield level of six tons per hectare
(t/ha) is too much to achieve self-sufficiency and that 4.5t/ha will be enough.
This may be true if the country is only
interested in achieving self-sufficiency per se, disregarding competition from
imported rice. But in the context of ASEAN economic integration, the
Philippines must produce rice at a competitive price to profitably sell it in a
common regional market.
The Philippine rice industry is now staring at
a different scenario. Because of the Philippines’ commitment to the World Trade
Organization, the country needs to replace its quantitative restriction (QR)
policy with its tariff equivalent.
QR is a trade restriction placed on the amount
of an item or service that can be imported into a country. Tariff refers to a
tax levied on a commodity imported from another country.
Along with this, there are bills pending in
Congress to have the tariff policy fully implemented. Under a tariff regime,
the government can no longer restrict the total amount of rice to be imported
into the country.
As a consequence, importers can bring in rice
from abroad as long as they see it profitable after paying for transportation,
insurance, port charges, and most especially the tariffs or taxes imposed by
the government. This will mean stiff competition between domestically produced
and imported rice.
If rice will be imported from an ASEAN
member-country such as Thailand or Vietnam, the tariff will be 35 percent of
the value. At this tariff level, the landed cost in Manila of white Thai rice
with 25 percent broken grains will be around P31 per kilogram and P27/kg if
from Vietnam, according to a study by the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
While this will benefit consumers, especially
the poor who spend about a third of their income on food, it will distort and
reduce the prices of domestically produced rice. This will further disadvantage
the income of Filipino rice farmers who, at present, only produce an average of
less than 4t/ha per season at a high cost of P12/kg.
If the landed cost of imported rice prevails in
the wholesale market, and wholesalers, rice millers, and paddy traders maintain
their marketing margins, this will mean that a rice farmer, say, in Nueva
Ecija, will need to produce a kilo of paddy at around P8 to hold on to his
current profit margin.
At an average production cost of P48,000/ha,
the Filipino farmer must produce a yield of around six tons in order to put up
a semblance of competitiveness with Thai and Vietnamese farmers.
Thus, averaging 6t/ha with a production cost of
P8 per kilo, courtesy of strategic government support such as cost-reducing
technologies, free irrigation, and post-harvest facilities in the medium term
(until 2022) will make Filipino farmers competitive.
It will also probably sustain the country’s
rice industry in the long run. Beyond this period, more efficient marketing and
production measures will need to be pursued for the country to remain
competitive.
In less favorable areas where it is more
difficult to increase rice yields and farmers incur higher production costs,
farmers are at higher risk of bowing out of the rice business. The government
must then provide safety nets such as training on diversified farming systems
and start-up production support, so they will have an easier transition into
equally fruitful economic activities.
If and when this happens, the area planted to
rice will surely shrink. This means that those who remain in the rice industry
must attain higher yields to help feed the country. This gives impetus to the
urgent need of modernizing Philippine agriculture that systematically links and
manages the whole value chain from pre-production, production, processing,
marketing, and consumption.
Modernization will continuously improve
agricultural productivity and add value to all the players in the system,
especially poor and marginalized farmers.
The main drivers in this transformation are
programs propelled by science-based innovations, policy reforms, sound
management and governance systems, a new breed of entrepreneurs, mobilized
farming communities, and market-oriented agro-based processing industries.
If farmers can produce enough rice for all
Filipinos at competitive prices through modern agriculture, then the country
will achieve its much-cherished quest for sustainable rice security. –
PhilRice
https://www.philstar.com/business/agriculture/2019/03/03/1898077/business
Banks promise loans to
struggling rice exporters
|
Update: March, 04/2019 - 08:00The
banking industry, under the Government’s guidance, has commmitted to offering
low-interest loans to enterprises so they can buy, store and export rice. —
Photo baomoi.com
|
Since the Lunar New Year (Tết) holiday, the rice export market has seen prices dropping due to oversupply.
The SBV directed commercial banks to focus on timely lending to enterprises so they can buy rice from farmers.
At a meeting held late last week in Đồng Tháp Province, commercial banks, including Agribank, Vietcombank and Sacombank, committed to providing loans worth trillions of Vietnamese đồng with an interest rate of 6 per cent per year to rice enterprises.
Nghiêm Xuân Thành, chairman of Vietcombank, said the bank committed to provide low-interest loans worth VNĐ9 trillion (US$387.82 million) to rice enterprises that have feasible plans.
Trịnh Ngọc Khánh, chairman of Agribank’s Members’ Council, also committed to ensure sufficient capital for lending.
The banks have committed to creating favourable conditions for individuals and businesses to access capital for production, and the purchase and consumption of rice.
SBV Governor Lê Minh Hưng said the banking sector would strive to meet the needs of farmers and businesses in the production, purchasing, processing and consumption of rice with appropriate interest rates, terms and loan cycles.
Banks have been urged to work closely with enterprises to resolve their capital problems and offer solutions, which could include increasing the loan limit and speeding up disbursement for enterprises so they can quickly purchase paddy.
In addition, the central bank has asked its branches in 13 Mekong Delta provinces to closely follow changes in the paddy market and credit activities in the region to advise provincial people’s committees and the central bank about solutions to boost lending.
Lending to the rice industry and to agricultural and rural development in general is the focus of the banking industry, according to Hưng. The credit balance of the sector accounts for a large proportion of the credit of the entire economy.
Nguyễn Quốc Hùng, director of the Credit Department of SBV, said that, as of the end of last year, the credit balance for agricultural and rural areas nationwide increased by 21.4 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year.
Last year, total outstanding loans of the rice industry reached VNĐ99 trillion, an increase of VNĐ29.8 trillion compared to the end of 2017.
Lê Minh Hoan, secretary of the Đồng Tháp Province’s Party Committee, said it was important to create a longer-term vision for the rice industry, which affects millions of farmers.
The region needs a specific action plan to resolve the problem of “high cost yet poor quality”, he said.
Cooperation among the sectors is needed and cooperative models are a promising solution in restructuring the agricultural sector.
Phạm Thái Bình, director of the Trung An High-Tech Agricultural Joint Stock Company, said that large-scale fields could create value chains between businesses and farmers.
However, the large-scale field model accounts for only about 100,000 hectares out of a total of two million hectares in the region.
Bình has asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to address any issue related to the sustainable development of the rice industry. — VNS
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/506208/banks-promise-loans-to-struggling-rice-exporters.html#zAsb4gdjFD2oS4m4.99
Economic
cluster optimistic inflation to continue downtrend for rest of 2019
Published March 5,
2019 4:01pm
By JON
VIKTOR D. CABUENAS, GMA News
Inflation
is likely to continue its downward path for the rest of the year given recent
developments in the country, members of the government's economic cluster said
Tuesday.
"[W]e
are optimistic that the downward path of inflation will continue for the rest
of the year," the Departments of Finance and Budget and Management, as
well as the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said in a joint
statement.
The
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier on Tuesday reported inflation at
3.8 percent in February, marking the fourth consecutive month of
deceleration.
"We,
the economic managers, are pleased by the report that the country’s inflation
rate slid further to 3.8 percent in February as price levels start to normalize
and settle back to the government’s target," the economic cluster said.
"This
will be backed by the recent enactment of the Rice Industry Modernization Act
(RA 11203), which is expected to bring down rice prices and cut inflation by
0.5 to 0.7 percentage points this year and 0.3 to 0.4 percentage points next
year," it explained.
The Rice Tariffication Law also
allows the unlimited importation of rice as long as private sector traders
secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the
35-percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.
The law
earmarks P10 billion for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), of
which P5 billion will be allotted to farm mechanization and P3 billion to
seedlings. The fund intends to ensure that rice imports won’t drown out the
agriculture sector and rob farmers of their livelihood.
"Based
on the monitoring of the Philippine Statistics Authority, prevailing retail
prices of regular-milled rice has now declined by around PhP5.00 since it
peaked in September 2018," the statement read.
"Our
work does not stop here. We must ensure that the change to a rice tariff
regime—from government-led to market-led—is seamless and fast," it added.
In terms
of the expected El Niño which the state weather bureau PAGASA forecasts to come
in during the first quarter, the economic team said the government must take
steps to strengthen the agriculture sector.
"Around
19 provinces are expected to experience drought this year including Metro
Manila," the economic team said.
"Thus,
the government must take pro-active measures to mitigate its adverse impacts on
the agriculture sector in the immediate term and to increase its resiliency
against extreme weather conditions over the medium to long term," it
added.
The
economic cluster said it will also remain watchful of developments in the
global oil market, as it noted that the Land Transportation Franchising and
Regulatory Board (LTFRB) should increase its efforts to cover more of the
targeted beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pasada Program.
"Nevertheless,
the economic team is upbeat that inflation is again starting to become
manageable," it said.
"While
we constantly keep a close watch on the general prices of goods, we can now pay
greater attention to programs that will further propel economic growth and help
us reach our long-term development goals," the statement added.
For his
part, Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes noted that while the recent
inflation figures are welcome, this should be made sustainable.
"Inflation
could have been lower if the excise tax on fuel was removed. This comprises a
staggering P9 per liter for gasoline. The erosion of income last year cannot be
recovered by the easing of inflation now," he said in a separate
statement.
"We
thus maintain that candidates seeking Senate and congressional seats should be
asked whether they are in favor of removing excise tax on petroleum
products," he added.
The Tax
Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), signed into law by President
Rodrigo Duterte in 2017, also provides that starting 2019, excise taxes for diesel be
hiked by a total of P4.50 and those of gasoline by P9.00 under the second
tranche."The TRAIN Law green remains an important issue even
during the elections," said Reyes. — BM, GMA News
BSP:
Monetary settings remain appropriate, premature to talk about RR cuts
Published March 5,
2019 3:42pm
By JON
VIKTOR D. CABUENAS, GMA News
While
the February inflation print fell in line with the government target, the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday said it is still premature to talk
about possible cuts in the reserve requirement, and current monetary settings
remain appropriate.
"This
is consistent with our forecasts that for 2019 and 2020, inflation is expected
to average at around 3 percent, highlighting the non-persistence of supply-side
pressures we managed in 2018 with the tightening moves of the BSP from May
through November," BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said in a text message.
The
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier in the day announced the February inflation print at 3.8 percent,
the slowest since the 4.3 percent in March 2018.
With
this, Guinigundo said the monetary settings—overnight borrowing rate at 4.75
percent, the overnight lending rate at 5.25 percent, and the overnight deposit
rate at 4.25 percent—remain appropriate.
"We
continue to consider our current monetary settings as appropriate given the
emerging risks both here and abroad," he said.
The
Monetary Board is scheduled to meet on March 21 to discuss whether or not
current conditions warrant a change in key policy settings.
"[T]he
Monetary Board will be meeting this month precisely to review the stance of
monetary policy given the expected new data that would be available from now
until the next meeting against the backdrop of a softening global
economy," said Guinigundo.
"It
may be premature to talk about a possible reduction in either policy rate or
the RRR at this time considering that the year-to-date inflation remains above
the target of 2-4 percent," he explained.
The late
BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr., who died last month after battling tongue
cancer for more than a year, said he wanted to cut the reserve requirement
ratio to the single-digit level during his term, which was
supposed to end in 2023.
"More
important, our forecasts for the next two years are anchored on the current
policy rate of 4.75 percent. But these policy issues will remain on the table.
Timing is the critical issue," said Guinigundo. — BM,
GMA News
Newton Fund's Sustainable Rice Initiative
Last
week, Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and
the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), hosted
a workshop in Bangkok on sustainable rice production.
Published
4 March 2019
From:
Brian Davidson, British Ambassador
to Thailand
Science and innovation is at the forefront of
the modern partnership between Thailand and the UK. Both countries recognise
the importance of strong science as key to our continuing development and
prosperity. We also recognise the importance of international collaboration to
accelerate the pace of scientific discovery.
This
international collaboration is exemplified by the Newton UK
- Thailand Research and Innovation Partnership Fund. Launched in 2014, the Fund
is supporting up to 325 million Thai baht worth of joint science and innovation
activities – and is jointly funded by both the UK and Thailand.
Under the Partnership Fund, the UK and Thai
governments support a diverse range of world class science. This includes
research on human and animal health; agriculture; resilience against drought
and other extreme weather; as well as the promotion of innovation and
entrepreneurship. This work helps to tackle difficult global challenges, as
well as supporting “Thailand 4.0”, Thailand’s ambitious economic development
strategy.
Last
week, Thailand’s National
Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the
UK’s Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), hosted a workshop
in Bangkok on sustainable rice production. The workshop brought together
scientists from the UK, Thailand, China, the Philippines and Vietnam to discuss
the outcomes of their joint research, which was funded through the Sustainable
Rice Research Initiativeunder the Newton.
The scientists presented some of the key
findings from their research. They also discussed some of the opportunities and
challenges in relation to rice. These included improving rice breeding and the
development of new strains, increasing the nutritional value of rice, as well
as maintaining crop yield under difficult environmental conditions.
After three years of research, initial findings
look promising. The researchers are helping to make rice production more
resilient to the growing risks of climate change, ensuring it will continue to
play its vital role as a staple food in both Thailand and the region. The
burning of rice straw is also a major contributor to pollution and greenhouse
gases, and researchers are looking closely at the alternatives.
At the workshop in Bangkok, Deputy Prime
Minister Prajin Jantong presented poster awards to some of the most exciting
and innovative projects in the initiative. He spoke about the importance of
rice to the Thai economy and the Thai people, as well as to consumers around
the world. He also spoke about the importance of research into improvements to
the way rice is bred and grown, so that it can be more resilient to the threats
of pests, climate change, and weather extremes.
This
Sustainable Rice Research Initiative has brought together UK and Thai
scientific excellence, with partners from around the region, to improve our
understanding of a crop which is vital for health and economic wellbeing. I
look forward to further work under the Newton UK
- Thailand Research and Innovation Partnership Fund in other, equally
important, areas of science and innovation, and to continuing to deepen our
research and innovation cooperation with Thailand.
CRISPR
base-editing linked to off-target effects
4 March 2019
By
Appeared in BioNews 989
Two new studies suggest that a form of CRISPR base editing
is more error-prone than previously thought.
The results of the studies published in
the journal Science – which examined base editing methods in mouse embryos and
rice – could have implications for the therapeutic potential of this form
of genome
editing.
'The single-base gene-editing method was
believed to be safe but the new testing tool showed the contrary, so we should
make clinical standards as soon as possible to ensure the safety of
gene-editing technique,' said Dr
Yang Hui of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences at
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the mouse study.
Both studies concluded that cytosine base
editing was associated with a large number of off-target mutations.
This form of editing changes the DNA bases
cytosine to thymidine. However, both studies also found that a different form
of base editing, which converts adenine to guanine, was not linked to wide
off-target effects.
Scientists in the mouse study developed a new
method of measuring off-target effects called Genome-wide Off-Target analysis.
The researchers edited one cell of a mouse embryo when it was at two-celled
stage. They introduced a fluorescent marker so that they could distinguish
edited cells from unedited cells. After allowing the cells to grow and divide,
they were then able to examine the daughter cells of both the edited and
non-edited cells and check for mutations.
The adenine base editor was associated with
almost no off-target effects, but the cytosine base editor changed around one
nucleotide in 20 million. That is about 20 times above the mutation rate in
ordinary cell division. Some of these mutations occurred in genome regions
that are associated with cancer development leading to concern that use
of this form of base editing could increase cancer risk.
Professor David Liu, whose group pioneered
cytosine base editing said of the mouse study: 'It's a clever, elegant method
designed to boost the signal so that we can now detect and understand these
rarer types of guide-independent, off-target events.'
The rice study analysed DNA in 77 plants that
had been altered with different base editors, controls and untreated plants.
The researchers found that cytosine base editing roughly doubled the background
mutation rate.
CRISPR base-editing technologies had been
widely believed to be a safer form of genome editing and several companies are
already investigating the feasibility of using it as a therapy for inherited
genetic mutations in humans. The results from these two papers highlight that
cytosine base editing may not be as safe as believed. However, the mouse study
used higher levels of base editor than is likely to be needed for therapy in a
clinical context, and it is possible that using a lower level of base editor
might reduce this risk, the authors note.
Commenting in Wired, Dr Steve Murray at the
Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, who is part of a consortium developing
safeguards and standards around therapeutic genome-editing, said: 'I don't
think we or anybody can come up with a hard and fast rule, that above a certain
number of errors it's not useful for anything and below which it's useful for
everything. Every disease is different. Every therapy is different. Every
patient is different.'
SOURCES & REFERENCES
|
CGTN | 1
March 2019
|
|
STAT News | 28
February 2019
|
|
Science | 28
February 2019
|
|
Science | 28
February 2019
|
|
Wired | 28
February 2019
|
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not be as successful in humans as hoped...
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Researchers have identified a new enzyme to
make the genome editing approach, CRISPR, able to target more locations
within the genome...
|
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28 August 2018 - by
|
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may be on the horizon, thanks to developments in genome editing...
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30 October 2017 - by
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Scientists have developed the genome editing
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guanine-cytosine...
|
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Rice
Reigns at 2019 Farm & Gin Show
By Kane Webb
MEMPHIS, TN -- Over the weekend, this city was
"Ag Central," hosting the 67th Annual Farm & Gin Show with more
than 400 exhibitors and 15,000 attendees, of which most are farmers. And
just about everyone one of them stopped by the USA Rice booth to spin the THINK
RICE wheel and test their rice knowledge.
"It's amazing how many young attendees
make their way back to the booth each year, wanting to spin the wheel and
answer their question," said Josh Hankins, USA Rice director of grower
relations and the Rice Stewardship Partnership. "I lost track of the
number of people who said they looked for the booth each year, even waiting in
line at times, to share in the rice trivia experience with us."
While many of the "contestants" got
their answer correct, no one left the booth without learning a little more
about the rice industry, or a take away to remind them about USA Rice.
Crayons and informative coloring booklets were a hit with the children, but
their parents also received new recipe brochures and other handouts on the
versatility and nutritious value of U.S.-grown rice.
For most events, inclement weather can have a
negative impact on attendance, but in farming, it can be the opposite. Rice
farmer Eric Unkel, from Kinder, Louisiana, attended this year's show, and said,
"With field work stalled due to the rainy weather over the weekend, it was
an opportunity to come up and learn more about the latest technologies, new products,
and services, as well as visit with old friends."
Vegetables-Based Rice: RightRice Receives $5.5
Million Minority Investment Led By Strand Equity
·
Vegetables-based grain brand RightRice has
secured a $5.5 million minority investment led by Strand Equity after launching
its products exclusively in Whole Foods across the U.S. and via
Amazon.RightRice was created by Keith Belling who is also the mastermind behind
one of the fastest-growing potato chips brands Popchips, and it is one of the
first brands to launch in collaboration with both Whole Foods and Amazon.
Vegetables-based grain brand RightRice has
secured a $5.5 million minority investment led by Strand Equity after launching
its products exclusively in Whole Foods across the U.S. and via
Amazon.RightRice was created by Keith Belling who is also the mastermind behind
one of the fastest-growing potato chips brands Popchips, and it is one of the
first brands to launch in collaboration with both Whole Foods and Amazon.
Keith
Belling is the creator of RightRiceRIGHTRICE
Belling
said in a statement: “We are thrilled that Seth Rodsky (founder and managing
partner of Strand Equity) and Strand wanted to lead our round, and that so many
tastemakers and industry leaders shared my vision for RightRice.”“Seth was one of my favorite and most helpful investors at Popchips and was my first call when I started thinking about funding,” he added.
Furthering plant-based movement
Strand Equity prides itself on being a leading growth equity firm investing in the next generation of consumer brands. It partners with emerging brands to scale their businesses through its marketing and operational expertise, as well as its extensive network of industry relationships.
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LIKE
The firm
has invested in some of the most prominent brands in the better-for-you
category in the past, including Hippeas, antioxidant-infused beverage company
Bai, and baby foods brand Happy Family which was sold to Danone in 2013.Strand Equity’s latest investment was triggered by the $3 billion rice category that Rodsky described as “massive,” yet it has experienced “little or no innovation” over the years. RightRice, however, came to the market as a disruptor.
RightRice is “one of the most compelling brands and product propositions we’ve seen,” he said. “We are excited for the chance to invest in Keith, who has proven to be an innovator and category creator.”
Belling and Rodsky also worked closely to put together a group of investors that help RightRice with various facets of the business as it launches and grows.
RightRice
has three already seasoned varieties.RIGHTRICE
The
investors group includes celebrities and executives in the food, retail, sports
and entertainment industries, such as Kris Jenner, Ashley Graham, Impossible
Foods’ COO David Lee, Roc Nation’s CEO Jay Brown, as well as VaynerMedia’s CEO
Gary Vaynerchuk.Lee said in a statement: “For me, RightRice is more than just a great investment. It’s a chance for me to further the movement in the plant-based eating.”
Down the road, Belling said the investment proceeds will be used for supporting RightRice’s launch and driving the brand’s awareness and sales.
“We’re taking a grassroots approach to building our brand, with a mix of social and digital media integrated with creative influencer marketing campaigns,” he said.
Putting more rice back on people’s plates
The creation of RightRice stemmed from Belling’s passion for rice and his vision to create the first dry and shelf-stable rice grain made from a blend of nutritious vegetables on the market.
“Similar to Popchips which evolved from my passion for snacking,” he said. “I have always loved rice but found myself eating a lot less because of the empty calories and all the carbs.
“When I talked to friends about it, I was surprised by how many people [also] told me they were eating a lot less rice, or had cut it out entirely… And like me, many of them said that cauliflower rice didn’t give them what they were looking for in terms of taste, texture or flavor,” added Belling.
So RightRice needs to make up all the nutrients consumers are not able to find in the regular and cauliflower rice, and it also must hit on taste, texture and ease of cooking.
RightRice
follows the plant-based diet movement.RIGHTRICE
“It took
a lot of trial and error before we found just the right blend of lentils,
chickpeas, green peaks and a bit of rice,” Belling said, adding that over 90%
of the product itself is vegetables, thus it easily caters to the trendy
consumer demand for plant-based diet.“We’re excited at the chance to help reinvigorate the rice aisle by leading a new category of vegetable rice that puts more rice on people’s plates,” he said.
Additionally, RightRice contains 10 grams of protein and five grams of fiber per serving, which is more than twice the amount of protein and five times the amount of fiber as white rice.
“One of the reasons why rice is so popular across cultures and demographics is its ability to soak up flavors and sauces. And capturing that was one of the most important milestones when we developed the product,” added Belling.
RightRice is currently available in an original version, as well as in three already seasoned varieties – lemon pepper, Spanish and garlic herb.
“Our already seasoned flavors mean no more mystery pack of ingredients to pour into the saucepan,” said Belling. “And RightRice cooks quickly and easily, offering protein packed meal solutions whether as a side dish or as part of classic rice dishes like paella or risotto.”
I
previously worked at William Reed Business Media for three years, covering
consumer trends, regulations, M&A and sustainability in the confectionery
and snacks sectors. I shared my ‘sweet’ insights with several mainstream media
outlets, including Washington Post, NPR’...
Read
More
https://www.forbes.com/sites/douglasyu/2019/03/04/plant-based-rice-rightrice-receives-5-5-million-minority-investment-from-strand-equity/#141735c02821
How
to stop an insect apocalypse
Posted by Tremont
Staff on March 5, 2019 at 2:00 am
How to stop an insect apocalypse
We might not love creepy-crawlies, but if insects
were to vanish within a century, as some scientists predict, there would be
dire consequences for us humans. Is it too late to save bees, bugs and
butterflies?
We often pay little attention to unless
one happens to bite, sting or generally bother us. But lately, they‘ve become
an unlikely source of nostalgia.
People have started to notice their absence,
reminiscing about unwittingly swallowing tiny flies while cycling through the
countryside, about car windscreens splattered with dead bodies at the end
of a long journey or moths flocking to the light when a window was
left open.
And science is backing up such anecdotal
observations. A says insects are hurtling down the path to
extinction.
More than 40 percent of species are in
decline and a third is endangered, the analysis found. Worldwide, we lose 2.5
percent of insect biomass each year, and if numbers continue to
fall at their current rate, there could be no insects left in 100
years.
The results are “shocking,” says Francisco
Sanchez-Bayo, environmental scientists at the University of Sydney and
co-author of the study. He predicts “catastrophic consequences.”
“The word catastrophic is appropriate because
the disappearance of insects brings with it the starvation of myriad
vertebrates that depend on them, and therefore the collapse of entire
ecosystems,” he told DW.
:
Insects don‘t only play an important role in
our food production, by providing a free , but are themselves food for all kind
of animals. Without bugs, amphibians and and fish would struggle to
find enough food.
The six-legged helpers also clear away
carcasses of animals that die in the wild and decompose plant waste. Without
bugs, life as we know it would come to a halt.
A world without insects
Permalink https://p.dw/p/3DqSG
A world without insects
But is it too late to stop an insect
apocalypse? Read on for three main drivers of insect declines and
possible solutions.
Intensive agriculture is bug-unfriendly
According to the meta analysis, the steepest
declines in insect biomass have occurred in the past 30 years.
Sanchez-Bayo says this is the direct result of agricultural
intensification.
The Green Revolution of the 1950s and 1960s
changed the way farmers tended their fields. Fallow practices were abandoned,
monocultures were developed and artificial fertilizers were introduced as a
means avoiding nutrient depletion in the soil.
became common features of pest and
weed control, and trees and hedgerows were eliminated to generate more
space.
Though this resulted in a huge gain in yield, it
also implied a loss of insect habitat and led to chemical residues .
Sanchez-Bayo says the world needs to change the
way it grows food. One way forward could be a farming method known as
Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which combines traditional agricultural
practices with modern technologies.
“IPM advocates the use of natural means of pest
and weed control, rotation of crops to maximize biodiversity of beneficial
insects and avoid nutrient depletion, and only uses pesticides as the last tool
to control a pest or weed outbreak,” Sanchez-Bayo told DW.
By way of example, he cited the International
Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, which managed to reduce the use
of insecticides in rice crops by 93 percent without losing yields.
Monocultures provide little food for
butterflies and other insects
Climate change could cause major insect wipeout
Although intensive agriculture has
been identified as the main driver for insect declines in Europe,
scientists say the main culprits in other parts of the world are climate change
and deforestation.
Even in pristine, virgin tropics, far away from
fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, insect numbers have
steadily dropped.
In Puerto Rico‘s Luquillo rainforest, for
example, . During the same period, forest temperatures have risen
2 degrees Celcius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The number of lizards,
frogs and birds that eat insects has declined synchronously.
:
Calculations by researcers at
the highlight the correlation between global warming and insect survival.
Their projections suggest that if we
experienced global warming of 3.2 degrees Celcius above preindustrial levels,
as is likely on the basis of current pledges made under the Paris Climate
Agreement, 49 percent of insects would lose half of their geographic
range.
If we limited warming to 2 degrees
Celcius above preindustrial levels, 18 percent would lose half of
their range. In a 1.5 degree scenario, however, the number would
drop to six percent.
Rachel Warren, lead author of the study,
says it‘s very possible that population decreases would actually be
even larger than projected because they didn‘t factor such things as
intensive agriculture into their calculations.
“It‘s no question that there are many pressures
on insects and if we don‘t achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement,
there will be another big pressure on them,” Warren told DW.
She says it‘s not only important that
we manage to achieve the 1.5 C degree goal, but how we achieve it.
“Land availability is a major factor for insect
losses. If we use too much land to grow plants for biomass energy, that would
be bad for biodiversity,” she explained. “So anything we can do to reduce
our energy and land demand, such as using less power and eating less red
meat, is great.”
Urbanization — let
your garden grow wild
Big cities and concrete landscapes also play a
significant role in insect numbers, and of the global population expected
to be living in urban areas by 2050, that impact is set to grow.
Densely built neighborhoods and sealed,
concrete roads strip bees and bugs of their natural habitats,
while light pollution leads nocturnal insects astray.
Wild, native flower meadows offer vital food
and micro-habitats for many insects, especially in cities
Researchers are therefore calling on governments
to create more green spaces in cities by rewilding public parks and private
gardens, and planting wild flowers along roadsides and on traffic islands.
A in Switzerland found that
nature-friendly gardens, with deadwood, compost, unmowed grassland and native
flowers, can greatly increase the biodiversity of flying and soil-dwelling
insects and largely compensate for the negative effects of urbanization.
The wilder and more diverse the gardens, the
more insects the researchers counted, including rare millipedes that
have not yet been found anywhere else in Switzerland.
Brigitte Braschler, biologist at the Universtiy
of Basel and co-author of the study, has been researching insects her entire
life and says that although the decline in biodiversity “is very strong”, it‘s
not too late to change the trend.
“The public is waking up to the problem and is
willing to act. Certain species are already lost but I‘m positive we can stop
the decline or at least slow it down,” Braschler told DW.
Health
minister urges public to eat fortified rice
05 MAR 2019
Health and Sports Minister Dr Myint Htwe has urged
people to eat fortified rice to prevent stunting in children and anaemia in
pregnant women and children.
He said fortified rice with the right micronutrient
composition is produced by the Myanmar Rice Millers Association.
"People need to know the advantages of fortified
rice,” the health minister said at a recent workshop on fortified rice in
Yangon. “If they consume fortified rice, they can prevent stunting, anaemia and
other micronutrient deficiencies."
Malnutrition is a pressing health challenge for the
country. Forty percent of pregnant women suffer from anaemia and one in four
children is small for their age in Myanmar, according to the Nationwide
Micronutrient and Food Consumption Survey for 2017-18.
Fortified rice, with its added nutrients, is a good
way to address micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition.
Fortified rice is enriched with vitamins and minerals,
including eight essential micronutrients: iron, zinc, folic acid, and vitamins
A, B1, B3, B6 and B12.
PATH – a global non-profit organisation that works to
accelerate health equity by bringing together public institutions, businesses,
social enterprises, and investors to solve the world's most pressing health
challenges – is working with 20 private-sector partners in Myanmar, such as
rice millers and equipment producers, to ensure that good manufacturing and
hygiene standards are met at factories and production plants.
"People in Myanmar are among the highest rice
consumers in the world. Therefore, if we add nutrients to rice for prevention
of micronutrient deficiency, we can solve the nutrition problem,” said Daw Lwin
Mar Hlaing, deputy director of the Department of Public Health’s National
Nutrition Centre.
Only 14 rice millers produce fortified rice with the
right micronutrient content among the hundreds of registered rice millers
nationwide.
An estimated 350,000 people eat fortified rice in the
country, according to the centre.
AVA
investigating case of dead rat found in bag of rice
image:
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
The rat was found in a bag of House Brand
basmati rice bought at Sheng Siong. (Photo: Facebook/Vegnesh Jodimani)
04
Mar 2019 04:23PM (Updated: 04
Mar 2019 11:45PM)
SINGAPORE: The Agri-Food and Veterinary
Authority (AVA) said on Sunday (Mar 3) it was investigating a case of a
dead rat found in a bag of rice.
The incident came to light when Facebook user
Vegnesh Jodimani shared a photo of the dead rodent, which he
said had been in a bag of House Brand basmati rice from Sheng Siong
supermarket.
In the post on Saturday afternoon, Mr
Vegnesh said the 5kg bag was purchased from the Sheng Siong outlet at
Block 739 Bedok Reservoir Road.
"We were shocked to see a dead rat inside.
My whole house is full of dead rat smell," he wrote.
In response to queries from Channel
NewsAsia, AVA said it has received feedback on the case and is
investigating.
"Food safety is a joint
responsibility," said AVA.
"While the authorities continue to be
vigilant and work to ensure that the regulatory measures are in place and
properly enforced, the food industry and consumers should play their part
too," it added.
"ISOLATED
INCIDENT": KNP TRADING
On Monday, KNP Trading, which distributes House
Brand rice, told Channel NewsAsia that this was an "isolated
incident".
The company said it was assisting AVA with
the investigations and was also conducting an internal investigation.
"We are shocked of this development and
very concerned with the unpleasant experience that our customer has
encountered," the company said in a statement.
"We wish to apologise to the customer, who
we are trying to contact, and everyone else who (has) been affected by
this."
According to the company, the bags of basmati
rice are packed by its supplier in India. The supplier has since been given a
notice to conduct investigations and submit the findings.
"Regardless, we take responsibility for
our products," KNP Trading said.
The company also confirmed that it had
begun the recall of House Brand Basmati 5kg with the batch number STHB –
16441.
A Sheng Siong spokesperson told Channel
NewsAsia on Monday that all House Brand basmati rice products have been
immediately removed from the stores.
"Our
Bedok Reservoir Road 739A store was informed by the customer last Saturday
afternoon of the incident ... We have conducted a refund for the customer and
will work closely with AVA," the spokesperson added.
Source: CNA/ad/zl/aa(hs/hm)
Companies Rush To Patent Wildlife Of The
Philippines – OpEd
Shells
of Conus magus. Photo Credit: Richard Parker, Wikipedia Commons
There is a silent but reckless “gold rush” in
Asia. One where a handful of genomic companies and their pharma- ceutical
partners are rushing to privatize the genes of plants, animals and humans to
sell for profit.
The commodity they seek to exploit is not gold
but biological information. The raw material they need is human DNA: that make
up genes of human life, plant, and animal genes. They are the gene hunters and
have invaded the Philippine shores.
Already, biopirates, skirting the
loosely-crafted anti-biopiracy law in the Philippines and with the help of some
Philippine scientists, have successfully acquired patents for a pain-killing
snail, a cancer-curing tree and several vegetables and fruit that are remedies
to diabetes.
The Philippine sea snail (Conus magus) has
already been patented by Neurex, Inc. a US-based pharmaceutical company and has
earned millions of dollars for the company. Neurex, and the University of Utah,
have been isolating from the snail a toxin called SNX-111 which is a pain
killer that is reported by scientists to be 1,000 times more powerful than
morphine.
SNX-111 or Ziconitide was recently reported by
Rosemarie Foster of Drug Infoline as having been issued a letter of approval by
the US Food and Drug Administration on June 28 last year for treatment of
chronic pain. The drug will be marketed by the company Elan Corporation.
The report added that Zoconitide is 100 to
1,000 times more potent than morphine, so potent to completely paralyze a fish
within a matter of seconds. SNX 111 blocks critical openings in nerve cells,
interrupting pain signals on their journey through the spinal cord to the
brain. It is administered through a small tube directly into the spinal cord.
During the first year that the pain killer
SNX-111 was marketed, it has earned Neurex more than $80 million. Neurex has
entered into a marketing deal with Warner Lambert, one of the world’s major
international pharmaceutical companies to further push the product. SNX-111
will be worth more when sold outside the US. Another medical company, the
US-owned Medtronic which specializes in medicinal plants, has signed a contract
with Neurex, to sell the pain killer SNX-111.
As a pain killer, it is important in hospitals,
drugstores and most especially, to the growing number of battlefields
worldwide. There are also reports that the toxin from the snail is being tested
for insecticidal properties to fight insects pests that have developed
resistance to most chemicals.
Neurex owns all three patents of the Philippine
sea snail under US Patent numbers 5189,020, 5559,095 and lastly 5587,454 which
is referred to the snail toxin treatment for victims of stroke.
Biopiracy is the exploration, extraction and
screening of biological diversity and indigenous knowledge for commercial,
genetic and bio- chemical purposes.
Philippine endemic plants have not been spared.
“Ampalaya” or bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is now privately-owned by the
US National Institute of Health, the US Army and the New York University which
have successfully gained the US patent numbers US 5484889, JP 6501089 and EP
553357, respectively, on the Vitamin A-rich vegetable.
Ampalaya, mixed with another Philippine
vegetable “talong” or egg- plant (Solanum melongena) are traditional food that
make up the Philippine delicacy “pinakbet”, an effective cure against diabetes.
Today, scientists from the US pharmaceutical
company Cromak Research, Inc. in New Jersey has started raking in profits
reaching to as high as $500 million from a anti-diabetic product extracted from
the two vegetables. Diabetes, together with cancer and tuberculosis, was named
recently by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a leading disease for this
new century.
The diabetic remedy was granted the US patent
number 5900240 for Cromak. It is taken as a dietary supplement. The importance
of the diabetic drug is crucial not only to some 22 million Americans who are
afflicted by the disease yearly, 200,000 of whom die yearly, but also to 170
million others in developing nations, epidemiologist Venkat Narayan of the
Diabetes International Foundation said.
Talong and ampalaya are low-calorie traditional
Philippine food which have contributed largely to the prevention of diabetes
among Filipinos, according to diabetologists Dr. Julie C. Cabato and Dr.
Marcelino Salango. Both lowers glucose level in blood thus lessen- ing
possibility of diabetes especially for the aging and obese people as well as
those who lead sedentary lifestyles, they added.
The piracy of biodiversity also threatens the
Philippine yew tree (Taxus sumatrana) which has been reported by the
government’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as having
aroused interest by a US university. A senior science research specialist of
DENR said two scientists from the university were given a DENR permit to
collect specimen of the tree in 1998 in the mossy montane forest of Mount
Pulag, the country’s second highest mountain.
The scientists reported that the tree, found
only in Mount Pulag, contains taxol, a cancer-curing chemical.
The biopiracy of plants and animals puts
ownership of these valuable resources into the hands of the few companies which
can control the storage, patenting, licensing, reproduction and sale. As it is,
the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) in its publication
“Issues and Trends in Biodiversity: Conserving Indigenous Knowledge”, 70
percent of the genetic diversity of the world’s 20 major food crops have been
lost from farmers’ fields and the remaining 30 percent are controlled by food
and pharmaceutical giants.
It further said that 68 percent of all crop
seeds collected in devel- oping countries and 85 percent of all fetal
populations of livestock breeds are stored in genebanks in industrialized
countries or in international agricultural research centers.
In the Philippines alone, some 150 traditional
rice varieties are stored at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
and are being used to breed input intensive artificial varieties which are then
sold back to the farmers for planting.
The piracy of biodiversity in the Philippines
is made worse by the inadequate provisions as well as limited implementation of
Executive Order 247 which provides policies on bioprospecting but says nothing
on biopiracy. Biopriacy is done by multinational firms and govern- ments of
developed countries which patent and map chromosomes of genetic resources
without informing, consulting, acknowledging and duly compensating the
resources.
The most well known biopiracy in the
Philippines is the theft of an antibiotic extract from a soil in the province
of Iloilo which became the world-known drug erythromycin. It was isolated by a
Phil- ippine scientist Abelardo Aguilar who was then working with the Eli Lilly
Co. and who was from the province of Iloilo. Upon Aguilar’s discovery of the
new drug, he was promised by Eli Lilly a hefty share of the profits. Despite
the millions of dollars earned by erythromy- cin and with the Philippine
government’s intervention that Aguilar be recognized and be given a share,
Aguilar and his relatives received nothing until recently.
Human tissues are even being owned by companies
through human tissue piracy and tissue culture. Tissue culture is the
reproduction of a microorganism, plant and animal cells in the laboratory. The
culture of human cells is crucial for the biotechnology industry. When kept
under proper conditions, “immortalized” human cells can produce in perpetuity
and provide an infinite quantity of cells that contain the unique DNA of the
original tissue donor or “tricked donor” as in the case of indigenous people
who gave away a part of their lives without their knowing.
Last year, two Philippine nongovernment
organizations, working on rural development and environmental concerns bared
that some Ifugao tribes people were lured into sharing their blood to foreign
scientists who posed as medical researchers. Nothing was heard from the scientists
after they collected blood and hair samples from the ethnic peoples.
Followingly, the Baguio City-based United
Nations (UN) accredited Indigenous Peoples International Center for Policy
Research and Education or Tebtebba Foundation, reported that Aeta tribespeople
displaced by the Mount Pinatubo eruption in the province of Zambales were
tricked into giving blood samples to a foreign medical team who presented
themselves as aid workers.
Vicky Tauli Corpuz who heads Tebtebba and sits
as the chairperson of the UN Indigenous Peoples Volunteer Fund says “the
biopiracy of indigenous peoples’plants and animals is a clear demonstration of
disrespect for indigenous peoples rights; the attempts to gather human tissues
from indigenous peoples clearly is an exploitation which should be condemned by
governments.”
Mary Carling who once headed the Cordillera
Peoples Alliance (CPA) in the Philippines condemned the tissue piracy in strong
terms saying “biopiracy is an extension of the imperialist policies of global
corporations to whoose ultimate aim is to control the world’s resources”.
It should be recalled that in 1996, Hagahai
tribes peoples in Papua New Guinea gave blood, tissue, and hair samples to
American anthro- pologist Carol Jenkins in exchange for soap, candies and
chocolates. Unknown to the Hagahais, their tissues were used to create an
anti-leukemia drug. The tribe’s blood contained HTLV-1 which is resistant to
the illness.
Many in the Philippines are unaware of the
onslaught of biopirates on biodiversity, traditional knowledge and indigenous
systems. One of these, the Philippine Indigenous Peoples Network say the UN
Convention of Biodiversity (UNCBD) should impose a deter- ring punishment to
any company or institute seeking a patent based on indigenous products and
knowledge.
But this is easier said than done. In a country
where poverty is prevalent and the administrative systems are not functioning
well, some indigenous people are being forced to gamble their last remaining
natural resources of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge for a decent meal.
Premier urges rice traders to focus on China
and Vietnam
Prime
Minister Hun Sen on Friday said that rice exporters should turn to China and
Vietnam in an effort to diversify the export market away from the European
Union. Speaking at the groundbreaking of a China-funded hospital in Tboung
Khmum province, Mr Hun Sen said exporting more to China and Vietnam is key to
the survival of the sector after the EU imposed tariffs on Cambodian rice and
initiated the process to temporarily halt the country’s preferential trade
status. Mr Hun Sen asked exporters to focus on filling the quota the Chinese
government has for imports of Cambodian rice, which was recently expanded from
300,000 to 400,000 tonnes. “At the moment the price of rice has decreased and I
have instructed the ministers of agriculture and commerce to focus on China and
Vietnam, which will help lift the price of the commodity,” Mr Hun Sen said. He
said China is a priority market for the Kingdom, with the government doing its
utmost to expand export of agricultural products to the East Asian giant. Last
year, the world’s second-largest economy was the country that bought the
largest amount of Cambodian rice, importing 170,000 tonnes. Hun Lak, vice
president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), said diversifying Cambodia’s
export markets is crucial. “We now face tariffs in the EU so we have to turn to
other markets to restore investor confidence,” Mr Lak said. He said the
government can help the private sector fill China’s quota by providing incentives
that can reduce production costs. “The fact that the quota was expanded is a
good sign, but in order to actually fill that quota we must reduce production
costs so that we can be competitive in that market,” Mr Lak said. Last year,
Cambodia exported 626,225 tonnes of rice to international markets, a drop of
1.5 percent compared to 2017. The largest market for Cambodian rice continues
to be the EU, which imported almost 270,000 tonnes, equivalent to 42.98 percent
of total exports. By individual country, after China, the largest buyers were
France (90,000 tonnes), Malaysia (40,000 tonnes), Gabon (30,000 tonnes), and
the Netherlands (26,000 tonnes).
Author Name:
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/583377/premier-urges-rice-traders-to-focus-on-china-and-vietnam/
Govt tells basmati exporters to stick to EU’s
pesticide rules
NEW DELHI: The government has asked rice
exporters to conform to the pesticides standards of the European Union for shipments
to the bloc, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products
Export Development Authority asked exporters and laboratories to ensure that
the rice samples are drawn in accordance with internationally accepted methods
for the determination of pesticide residues.
India’s basmati exports to the EU had declined ar ..
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/68254643.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
‘Nigeria overtakes Egypt as largest rice producer in
Africa’
Nigeria
has overtaken Egypt as the largest rice producer in Africa,
Director-General,Africa Rice Center, Benin Republic, Dr Harold Roy-Macauley has
said .
Roy-Macauley,
told The Nation that Nigeria is now the largest rice producer at 4 million
tonnes a year.
Egypt
was producing 4.3 tonnes annually but production has reduction by almost 40
percent this year, attributed to the Egyptian government decision to limit
cultivated to preserve water resources.
Egypt
rice cultivation requires about 1.8 billion metres of water in evaporation,
transpiration and irrigation each year.
Africa
produces an average of 14.6 million tonnes of rough rice annually.
He said
there were efforts to increase overall rice production in Africa but expressed
doubts that it will curb rice importation as population has increased across
the continent.
He said
consumers are looking for rice that safe and certified.
To meet
expectations, he said his centre is ready to partner with Nigeria and other
governments in Africa to train farmers, extension officers and exporters on
best practice’s in cultivation and post- harvest care and to understand market
requirements.
Roy-
Macauley stressed the African rice value chain needs to be better integrated
and be capable of competing with imported rice in terms of quality.
He added
that the goal to achieving rice self- sufficiency is not just about on farm
assistance but also involves introducing rice varieties that fit the diverse
African agro-ecologies, improve irrigation facilities and disseminate rice
growing techniques to farmers.
Funds
for rice industry to hit P22B with rice import law
MANILA,
Philippines–Government funding for the country’s rice industry is seen to hit a
record of P22 billion this year with the implementation of the Rice Import
Liberalization Law, the agriculture chief said. In an interview with reporters
on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said that with funding from the
national government along with the agency’s budget for the sector, “the rice industry
will be given the biggest budget in history.
NFA to stop regulating rice trade as
Rice Tariffication Law takes effect
ABS-CBN News
MANILA
- (UPDATE) The
National Food Authority (NFA) on Monday said that it will stop regulating
international and domestic rice trade starting Tuesday, March 5, when the Rice
Tariffication Law takes effect.
The
agency said that it will also stop licensing and registering entities engaged
in the grains business, collecting regulatory fees and enforcing rules and
regulations in the grains business, among others.
“We will
just be waiting for the release of the final IRR (implementing rules and
regulations) before we fully shift our focus on buffer stocking for calamities
and emergencies, as stated under the law, and on the eventual restructuring of
our agency to suit its new functions,” said NFA officer-in-charge Tomas
Escarez.
The IRR
for the new law is expected to be released by the National Economic and
Development Authority on Tuesday.
“March
is the start of the summer crop harvest and we are ready to buy palay from our
farmers,” Escarez said.
Agriculture
Secretary Manny Piñol, meanwhile, said Filipino rice farmers can compete with
imported rice by planting better varieties of the grain.
“That
opens a new window of opportunity for Filipino farmers na kung ganun pala ang
treatment ng consumers sa good quality rice varieties, then that could be the
focus of Filipino farmers,” Piñol said.
He added
that the local rice industry will receive a lot of funding this year and next
year because the tariffs that will be collected from imported rice will be
channeled back to Filipino rice farmers.
Farmers'
groups have opposed the
removal of import quotas on rice, saying flooding the local market with cheap
imported rice will kill the Philippine rice industry.
The
Alliance of Rice Farmers Against Rice Tariffication said the measure, meant to
make rice more affordable in the Philippines, will lead to the "death of
the rice industry."
"Pres.
Duterte should review and junk this law and in its place, draft another measure
that represents the interest of rice farmers and producers, consumers not only
the interest of importers," the group said in a statement.
Economic
managers had been batting for the removal of import quotas on rice as a key
measure to control inflation, which hovered near 10-year highs last year.
Premier urges rice traders to
focus on China and Vietnam
Chea Vannak / Khmer Times
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday said that rice
exporters should turn to China and Vietnam in an effort to diversify the export
market away from the European Union.
Speaking at the groundbreaking of a
China-funded hospital in Tboung Khmum province, Mr Hun Sen said exporting more
to China and Vietnam is key to the survival of the sector after the EU imposed
tariffs on Cambodian rice and initiated the process to temporarily halt the
country’s preferential trade status.
Mr Hun Sen asked exporters to focus on filling
the quota the Chinese government has for imports of Cambodian rice, which was
recently expanded from 300,000 to 400,000 tonnes.
. .
“At the moment the price of rice has decreased
and I have instructed the ministers of agriculture and commerce to focus on
China and Vietnam, which will help lift the price of the commodity,” Mr Hun Sen
said.
He said China is a priority market for the
Kingdom, with the government doing its utmost to expand export of agricultural
products to the East Asian giant.
Last year, the world’s second-largest economy
was the country that bought the largest amount of Cambodian rice, importing
170,000 tonnes.
Hun Lak, vice president of the Cambodia Rice
Federation (CRF), said diversifying Cambodia’s export markets is crucial.
“We now face tariffs in the EU so we have to
turn to other markets to restore investor confidence,” Mr Lak said.
. .
He said the government can help the private
sector fill China’s quota by providing incentives that can reduce production
costs.
“The fact that the quota was expanded is a good
sign, but in order to actually fill that quota we must reduce production costs
so that we can be competitive in that market,” Mr Lak said.
Last year, Cambodia exported 626,225 tonnes of
rice to international markets, a drop of 1.5 percent compared to 2017.
The largest market for Cambodian rice continues
to be the EU, which imported almost 270,000 tonnes, equivalent to 42.98 percent
of total exports.
By individual country, after China, the largest
buyers were France (90,000 tonnes), Malaysia (40,000 tonnes), Gabon (30,000
tonnes), and the Netherlands (26,000 tonnes).
. .
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/583377/premier-urges-rice-traders-to-focus-on-china-and-vietnam/
