Rice
exporters lose share to cheaper counterparts
TNN | Sep 18, 2019, 04:00 IST
Chennai:
Rice exports — non-basmati variety — from India during April-July plunged 26.5%
year-on-year, as cheaper varieties from Pakistan and other neighbouring
countries flooded key African markets, coupled with government withdrawing
export incentives from April 1. Data from the directorate ceneral of commercial
intelligence and statistics Government of India says that India’s rice exports
in April-July, plunged 26.5% from a year ago to 3.14 million tonnes and
non-basmati rice saw a 37% dip to 1.7 million tonnes. The price difference is
up to $20 per tonne. Rice is mainly exported from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and
Kolkata.
“The minimum support price is going up, making our rates up to $20 higher, per metric tonne. As a result, Q1 of FY20 saw a 30% drop in exports compared to the same period in FY19,” said Nikhil Singh, CEO, Rajputana Rice. Besides with an increase in the minimum support price, the pinch is seen since April 1 after the government withdrew the 5% incentive for exporters, he added. Traders, who are forced to pass on the increase in rates to the importing nations are seeing a drop in purchase from Rwanda, Angola among other countries. Vishal Agrawal, CEO of Saya Overseas — another rice exporter — said exports are down nearly 50% . “We used to export up to 100 containers a month ( one container has 23 tonnes) and now we have 60-70 which sometimes drops to even 50 containers a month to Africa,” he said. Kunal Rathod, co-founder and head of growth of logistics firm Cogoport said, “Higher tariffs on non-basmati rice threaten India’s export market. Exporters need to look for potential new markets such as Mexico which is relying less on supplies from the US.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/71174884.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Misbah-Ul-Haq bans
biryani, netizens troll Pakistan cricket team
Misbah-Ul-Haq has asked for a change in diet
for the players in the national camp and the domestic tournament to instil a
new fitness culture in the setup.
Updated: Sep 18, 2019 08:20 IST
New Delhi
As soon as the newly appointed Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq
decided to scrap biryani and all oil-based red meat food from the players’
menu, social media took a dig at the Green Brigade which has been considered
one of the most ‘unfit’ cricketing team globally.
In the recently concluded 2019 ICC World Cup, questions were
raised over the Pakistan team’s diet and fitness before former Pakistan pacer
Shoaib Akhtar also termed skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed as ‘fat and unfit’.
Moreover, Pakistani fans had alleged that the team was spotted
eating junk food ahead of their crucial match against arch-rivals India.
Reportedly Misbah took the decision to help his team achieve the
much required fitness. However, netizens trolled the development through their
jokes and memes on various social media platforms.
Here’s a look at some of the tweets -
Misbah-ul-Haq
has banned biryani, red meat & dessert from the diet of players
who are taking part in Pakistan's national camp.
If this were the case Inzy and Sarfraz would have NEVER made to Pakistan team .
If this were the case Inzy and Sarfraz would have NEVER made to Pakistan team .
End of biryani culture from Pakistan
domestic cricket - Misbah gave strict suggestions to PCB to take good care of
fitness of domestic cricketers. Pasta, boiled rice, beans, bar b q roast &
less oily meals are now served to cricketers along bundle of fruits during #QEA19.
(GEO)
(GEO)
Japanese
govt donates 20 rice reapers,20 threshers to Nasarawa farmers
ON SEPTEMBER 18, 20191:03 PMIN
AGRICBY LAWAL SHERIFAT FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsAppPinterestShare The Japanese
government has donated 20 rice reapers and 20 rice threshers to small scale
farmers in Awe, Obi and Keana Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State. Rice Farm Speaking in Azara,
Awe LGA, the Ambassador of Japan to Nigeria, Yutaka Kikuta, said that the
donation was under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project
(GGP), under which the Japanese embassy, within two decades, have funded 170
projects across Nigeria, worth over 12 million U.S. dollars. Yutaka, further
explained that the scheme is designed to provide mechanized rice farming
equipment to increase and improve the quantity and quality of rice produced by
rice farmers, towards enhancing the economic well being of communities in the
three local government areas. The Japanese ambassador added that the
development in the agricultural sector, is in line with the themes of the 7th
Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7), with the
Japanese government pledging to further support economic transformation in
Africa. IYC to FG: Don’t create fresh row with Water Resources Bill 13-year old
Nigerian student to participate in International High Level Conference He also
said the initiative is expected to be achieved through the promotion of
innovation in agriculture, developing and expanding agricultural technologies,
increasing income of small farmers through the Small Holder Horticulture
Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP), among others. Yutaka noted that before the
commencement of the project in 2011, local farmers recorded over 20 per cent
loss of harvested rice due to damage from the traditional method of threshing
as well as additional cost of hiring manual labour. “With the introduction of
20 rice reapers and 20 threshers, it’s our expectation that this will reduce
time and loss of rice from reaping to threshing and save costs. Also speaking,
Gov. Abdullahi Sule, commended the Japanese government for the choice of Nasarawa State farmers to benefit from the
collaboration, considering the comparative advantage the state has in the rice
value chain. The governor disclosed that the state was blessed with 140, 000
hectares of land suitable for rice, with the state having a capacity to produce
over 350, 000 tones of rice.
He said that through the GGP, 442
rice farmers were empowered and trained to improve rice production
technologies, management, with 35 front line extension agents. “Farmers were
also trained in good agricultural practice, as well as 11 extension agents that
were trained in Japan on improved rice production technologies and research
methods. Sule described the event as yet another milestone in his
administration’s determination to further strengthen the collaboration with the
Japanese government, towards achieving the desired import substitution and
backward integration policy of the Federal Government.
“This intervention is in tandem with
the vision, development objectives of this administration, aimed at giving
agriculture its pride of place as the major mover of our state economy,” he
stated. The governor, however, directed the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as
the Nasarawa Agricultural Development Programme, to evolve a strategy to
monitor the use of the reapers and threshers, as reported by NAN. vanguard
IRRI forms hybrid
rice, sustainability partnership
09.18.2019
MANILA, PHILIPINES — The
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the African Agricultural
Technology Foundation (AATF) signed a four-year partnership agreement aimed at
helping African smallholder farmers increase rice productivity, income, and
resilience through access to good quality seeds and sustainable agronomic
practices.
“The partnership with AATF supports
IRRI’s strategy to accelerate the dissemination of elite rice varieties, good
agronomic practices, and knowledge, to improve food security and the economic
sustainability of rice-based agri-food systems,” said Remy Bitoun, head of IRRI
Tech Transfer. “This agreement is an evidence of our long-term commitment to
the rice value chain in Africa. AATF’s expertise in technology transfer and
extensive network across 23 countries in Africa is essential for delivering
innovations to farmers and accelerating the benefits of these technologies to
help ensure food and nutrition security in the region.”
According to IRRI, demand for rice
in Africa is increasing at over 6% per year, faster than any other staple food.
“Local rice farmers are not yet
able to capitalize on this demand, as African smallholder farms yield on
average 2 tonnes per hectare, as compared to the global average of 3.4 tonnes,”
the IRRI said. “This is due to a variety of factors, including the use of
low-yielding outdated local varieties, traditional cultivation practices, low
involvement of private seed companies in rice seed production and business, and
prevailing biotic and abiotic stresses, together with climate change
adversities.”
The partnership between AATF and
IRRI will include testing of IRRI and AATF varieties, and dissemination of
high-yielding and nutritious varieties; testing and promoting suitable
agronomic practices and digital technologies for water management, crop care,
mechanization, and postharvest; and regular exchange of information.
AATF and IRRI will meet regularly
to develop joint projects for African rice sector development, including the
seed industry and market needs and opportunities.
“AATF is pleased to be working with
IRRI on delivering these potentially life-changing technologies for our
smallholder farmers,” said Kayode Sanni, Rice Project manager at AATF. “Rice is
increasingly becoming an important staple food for more and more Africans and
upgrading our technologies and rice value chain will be key factors in meeting
that need. IRRI has made significant strides in uplifting the productivity and
livelihoods of farmers in Asia, and through this collaboration we hope to use
this knowledge to benefit our African farmers.”
To further the partnership and
expand the networks of both parties, AATF will become a member of the
IRRI-convened Hybrid Rice Development Consortium (HRDC) and Direct Seeded Rice
Consortium (DSRC), while IRRI will become a member of the AATF-led Alliance for
Hybrid Rice in Africa (AHyRA).
Seed
distribution under RCEF ready to go
Implementation of the
seed component under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) is all
set following the release of its guidelines submitted 59 days before the
deadline.
The Fund covers rice
farm mechanization; inbred rice seed development, propagation, and promotion;
expanded rice credit assistance; and rice extension services.
Dr. Flordeliza H.
Bordey, PhilRice Deputy Executive Director and RCEF Program Director, said the
program will promote high-quality inbred rice seeds to farmers.
“Provinces with high
potential for competitiveness will be considered. These areas are selected
based on the evaluation of their size of area harvested, yield level, cost of
production, and share of irrigated area. Selected areas must also have an
annual area planted of more than 500 ha for dry season 2019-2020,” Bordey said.
Farmers will receive
seeds for two consecutive cropping seasons until Dec. 2020. Implementers said
that farmers can still avail of seeds once the target yield in their area is
achieved.
The program director,
however, emphasized that only farmers who are enlisted in the Registry System
for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) will be provided with free seeds.
Eligible farmers are entitled to a maximum of 80kg of inbred seeds depending on
farm size for October to December planting.
“We are targeting to
distribute more than 2 million bags at 20kg/bag certified seeds this year. It
roughly translates to planting around 1 million hectares of rice land. We
expect to distribute more next season,” Bordey added.
Farmer-beneficiaries
will be given rice production manual and seed propagation booklet to help them
achieve the yield potential of certified seeds. Varieties for distribution
include NSIC Rc 160, Rc 216, Rc 222, and two location-specific inbred
varieties.
“We are requesting the
help of the local government units (LGUs) to validate and enlist farmers in the
RSBSA. LGUs will also identify the distribution areas and schedule,” she said.
Bordey added that the
LGUs will be tapped to identify drop-off points and schedule for seed delivery
and potential temporary seed storage facilities; assist in seed delivery
inspection; announce details of seed distribution; and facilitate seed
distribution.
As preparation for
program implementation, Bordey said they have reached officials and agriculture
workers in 53 provinces involving 672 municipalities. Technical briefings on
seed preparation and PhilRice technologies will also be conducted before seeds
are given to farmers.
With the interventions,
Bordey said the seed component is hoped to contribute in increasing yield up to
6t/ha in high-yielding provinces and 5t/ha in medium-yielding provinces by
2024. The RCEF component programs also aim to help lower production cost by
30%, reduce postharvest losses to 12%, and trim down marketing cost by P1/kg.
To be implemented from
2020 until 2025 Dry Season, the RCEF will be reviewed by the Congressional
Oversight Committee on Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization after six
years.
For more information,
contact the Agricultural Training Institute’s Farmers Contact Center:
0920-946-2474.
PhilRice News
Support
from local governments pour in for RCEF implementation
Workers of the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) are receiving commitment from the local
government units to ensure that the program will benefit farmers in their area,
particularly on seed distribution.
“We pledge our full
support for the RCEF-Seed. Ground works will be covered and that information
regarding seed distribution will be properly coordinated and implemented by our
municipalities. We wouldn’t do this just because we were requested, but
primarily because we want to help our rice farmers,” Albay Gov. Francis C.
Bichara said.
Under RCEF-Seed, local
government units (LGUs) are requested to validate a master list called Registry
System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture or RSBSA by cross-checking the listed
names with the list of members of farmer organizations in the
city/municipality. Their assistance on facilitating or endorsing the
accreditation of rice farmer organizations within their scope to DA-RFO are
also sought.
They will also be tapped
on identifying drop-off points and schedule for seed delivery and potential
temporary seed storage facilities; assigning seed delivery inspector;
announcing details of seed distribution; and facilitating seed distribution.
Partnership on monitoring of area planted and yield and conducting social
mobilization, communication, and capacity enhancement activities are also
encouraged.
Bichara said that
farmers will “continue to suffer [from the influx of cheap rice from the
international market] if the government will not provide/subsidize farm
machines, sustainable irrigation, and inputs.”
As of Sept. 5, 30
governors had expressed their commitment in buying, milling, and drying palay
from the farmers in their areas. Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali announced the
release of P250-M capital to fund the procurement of palay this wet season.
Ilocos Norte Gov. Matthew Manotoc, Ilocos Sur Vice-Gov. Jeremias Sinsgon, and
La Union Vice-Gov. Mario Ortega pledged P200M. Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino
committed P300M.
In Isabela, its
provincial government partnered with the National Food Authority to increase
the buying price of palay from P20.40 to P26.40. Meanwhile, the municipal
government of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro sourced out P6.8 million this wet
season to purchase and distribute 8,990 bags of seeds to 3,741 farmers. Farmers
also pay P760 for every 40kg of certified seeds, which is 50% less than the
retail price.
Prior to the
commitments, RCEF-Seed implementers engaged the local government units through
series of consultations.
“We [made] 747 cities
and municipalities in the 57 RCEF provinces aware of the program. With this
partnership, yield and income of farmers are expected to increase, which will
help boost economic development in the locality. The RCEF- Extension Services
Program may also offer Training of Trainers and refresher courses to the
agricultural extension workers,” said Dr. Flordeliza Bordey, PhilRice Deputy
Executive Director and RCEF Program Director.
For more information,
contact the Agricultural Training Institute’s Farmers Contact Center:
0920-946-2474.
Philrice News
UH Hilo students grow exotic
rice in East Hawaiʻi
·
September
17, 2019
Horticultural students with
greenhouse-grown rice varieties Jefferson, Carolina Gold, Koshihikari and White
Basmati. (Photo credit: Sharad Marahatta)
Horticultural students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo are conducting
important trials on the potential economic viability of growing exotic rice
cultivars in East Hawaiʻi. The broad objective of the
project, which runs through June 2020, is to evaluate the performance of
selected exotic rice varieties cultivated in Hawaiʻi. But an equally
important part of the project is in using the trials as a way to educate
undergraduate students on rice husbandry practice through experiential
learning.
Students enrolled in agriculture and horticulture courses are
mentored in growing rice and trained in the procedures of conducting
experimental trials. The students learn about rice seed sowing, seedling
transplanting, how to develop experimental pot and plot settings, labeling,
fertilizer application, data recording, harvesting and data analysis. At the
end of growing out the rice, soil samples will be taken, and the soil nematodes
will be extracted, identified and correlated with the rice yield. The students
will then assess the potential economic viability of rice production in
East Hawaiʻi.
The principal investigator of the project, “Evaluation of rice (Oryza
sativa) varieties for an experiential education in Hilo, Hawaiʻi,” is Sharad Marahatta, an assistant professor of horticulture, and Norman Arancon, associate professor of
horticulture, is the co-investigator. Both teach and conduct research at
the UH Hilo College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural
Resource Management and say the findings of this project could
benefit the farmers and the entire agriculture community of Hawaiʻi.
“This grant has encouraged us to continue rice research, involve
undergraduate students in research and evaluate rice agronomic practices
in Hawaiʻi,” says Marahatta.
Rice project details
From left: Carolina Gold,
Koshihikari, White Basmati and Jefferson
The project involves the rice
varieties Carolina Gold, Koshihikari, White Basmati and Jefferson, which will
be seeded separately in community pots in greenhouses. At one month, rice
seedlings will be transplanted into pots and/or field plots. Each transplanted
rice variety will be replicated at least four times and the transplanted pots
and plots will be arranged in randomized complete blocks.
The trials are being conducted at the 110-acre UH Hilo Farm Laboratory located in Panaʻewa, 5 miles south of Hilo. The farm is an
experiential place of learning where students put classroom theory into
practice with projects in hydroponics, floriculture, forestry, vegetable
cultivation, sustainable agriculture, livestock production, equine science,
beekeeping, tropical fruit and aquaculture.
The project is funded by the County of Hawaiʻi via the
Rice Imitator Is
Now World’s Worst Agricultural Weed
Sep 17, 2019 08:59 AM EDT
(Photo : eliasfalla)
The world's worst agricultural weed looks a lot like the rice
plant with its green stems. Sadly, early growers of rice may be blamed for
unwittingly giving the barnyard grass the edge to root itself as the perfect
rice imitator.
This new research conducted by a team of researchers
from the Washington University in St. Louis and Zhejiang University, China's
Academy of Sciences, releases evidence that the barnyard grass may have
benefitted from the cultivation practices that old farmers used to engage in. Continuous
hand weeding is one of the identified practices that may have caused the spread
of such weeds along the Yantze River Region about a thousand years ago.
The barnyard grass is known in the global agricultural community
as a type of invasive weed that usually grows among row of cereals and crops.
They used to be easily identifiable because of their red stems, but their
evolution has made it even more challenging for farmers to tell them apart from
their crops. This new study was published in the Nature Ecology and Evolution
journal on September 16.
"Asia is a continent of rice
farmers who despite advancements in technology, prefer to weed their farmland
with their bare hands. Any of the weeds that stick out are carefully identified
and removed from the crops area," said Kenneth Olsen, a Biology professor in Arts and Sciences.
"Over a hundred generations has passed yet the practice of hand weeding
remains the same and in place. This practice, however useful it has been has
allowed some strains of barnyard grass to specialize in growing in rice fields.
In fact, they have evolved to closely mimic how the rice plant looks like that
it has become challenging to tell them apart from the real rice plants. This
practically saved them from detection and the possible pull out."
Olsen worked in collaboration with
Longjiang Fan from Zhejiang University, the corresponding author of the study
who has been working on a study particularly focused on the evolution of rice
genomics and the evolution of the agricultural weed. They worked together on the
interpretation and analyses of the data collected.
This study worked with the
sequenced genome of the weed that mimic the rice plant and compared it with the
non-mimic type of the weed. This is the initial step they took to better
understand how such Vavilovian mimicry occurred.
It is characterized by the adaptation of weeds to make them look a lot like the
domesticated plants.
"The advent of agricultural practices about 10,000
years ago, humans have developed a habitat for these naturally growing weeds to
exploit," Olsen said. "The most successful among these
agricultural weeds are those that have evolved to escape easy detection and
continue to proliferate in what they consider a fertile new environment."
Olsen openly speaks of his speculation that since US rice farmers
depend highly on mechanized methods of farming, it has become even more
challenging for them to detect the spread of such weeds.
"If farmers are not in the field to do the labor by hand,
these weeds will only continue to grow and simply blend in."
Development of
rice fish systems in the Ayeyarwaddy Delta, Myanmar
This project is improving
productivity and profitability of rice-fish systems in Myanmar.
Rice and
fish are key elements of the diet and major agricultural production sectors in
Myanmar. Rice-fish systems encompass a spectrum of farming and fishing
practices, from traditional capture of fish in rice-dominated landscapes through
to controlled farming of fish in rice fields.
Rice
farming covers approximately 8 million ha and involves more than 5 million
rural households. Governments of the recent past favoured ‘command and control’
based policies that discouraged rice farmers from diversification and making
production decisions based on market demand.
Such
policies have constrained crop and land-use diversity, as well as opportunities
for poverty reduction. Recent policy shifts are now encouraging farmers to
diversify farming systems in agriculture, livestock and fisheries, presenting a
window of opportunity for developing and implementing diversified and
productive rice-fish systems.
This
project will characterise rice-fish systems; identify gender-equitable outcomes
of improvements in production and management systems; and strengthen the
capacity and enabling environment.
Expected Project Outcomes
- Better
understanding of rice-fish systems potential and evidence-based
improvement options for policy development and extension.
- Prototype
rice-fish systems are available and being adopted by lead farmers and
producer groups within selected areas of the Ayeyarwady Delta.
- Mapping
and modelling has identified promising areas for promoting new domains of
rice-fish system practice and its adaptability to climate change.
- Private
sector engaged at different points in the rice and fish value chains to
promote adoption of rice-fish system improvements.
- Evidence-based
and gender sensitive extension activities are promoting promising
rice-fish system improvements.
- Increased profitability and productivity
of rice and fish systems delivering improved income, nutrition and gender
equity in small-scale rice farming households.
GIEWS Country
Brief: Bangladesh 17-September-2019
REPORT
FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT
Boro paddy output in 2019
estimated at record high
Cereal import requirements in
2019/20 forecast close to five-year average
Prices of rice at low levels in
July, after steady declines between September 2018 and April 2019
Prices of wheat remained
generally stable, so far, in 2019 and close to year‑earlier level
Severe floods in northern and
eastern parts expected to affect households’ food security
High levels of severe food
insecurity persist in Cox’s Bazar District, where almost 1 million refugees
reside
Boro paddy output in 2019 estimated at record high
Harvesting of the 2019 Boro paddy
crop, which accounts for about 55 percent of the annual output, was completed
in May. The output is estimated at a record high of 19.7 million tonnes. The
large output reflects above-average plantings and high yields, following
favourable weather conditions.
The 2019 minor Aus paddy crop,
accounting for about 10 percent of the total annual output, is currently being
harvested. Production is forecast to decrease compared to last year’s high
level, mostly reflecting the contraction in plantings as farmers shifted from
paddy to more profitable crops, including jute, maize and vegetables. In
addition, some standing crops were lost to floods following heavy rainfall in
June and the first half of July, mostly in the northern and eastern parts of
the country.
Planting of the 2019 Aman paddy
crop, which accounts for 35 percent of the annual output is ongoing and will
continue until end‑September. So far, the June-October monsoon season has been
characterized by average to above-average precipitation, with an overall
positive impact on planting operations and development of crops. Some
replanting, due to flood damage, took place in the most affected areas.
Overall, the Aman area planted is expected to decrease compared to last year’s
high level, mostly owing to low market prices.
The 2019 main season maize crop
was harvested by the end of July. The output is estimated at a record high
level, reflecting an expansion in the area sown, driven by robust demand from
the feed industry and bumper yields as farmers increased the use of
high-yielding seed varieties. The 2019 secondary season maize crop will be
planted towards the end of the year.
The production of the 2019 winter
wheat crop, harvested in April, is officially estimated at 1.3 million tonnes,
close to the five-year average.
Cereal imports in 2019/20 forecast close to five-year average
Wheat import requirements, which
account for the largest share of the cereal imports, are estimated at a record
of 5.7 million tonnes in the 2019/20 marketing year (July/June), 12 percent
above the previous five-year average following steady increases since 2012/13.
The strong demand for wheat largely reflects a shift in diet preferences.
Similarly, maize import requirements are expected to increase to 1.8 million
tonnes, 6 percent more than last year’s record level and the fifth consecutive
annual increase due to sustained demand for feed. By contrast, the ample
domestic supplies of rice following the record 2018 output have lowered import
requirements and, consequently, rice imports are estimated at a well
below-average level of 250 000 tonnes.
Overall, total cereal import
requirements in 2019/20 are forecast close to the five-year average at 7.8
million tonnes.
Prices of rice at low levels in July, while those of wheat close
to year-earlier levels
Domestic prices of rice in the
capital, Dhaka, decreased by about 10 percent between January and April 2019,
reflecting abundant supplies from the record harvests in 2018. However, since
April, prices remained generally stable, reflecting a number of measures
implemented by the Government that sought to halt the declining trend of the
preceding months. These measures include larger procurement purchases of the
Boro season rice crop compared with the same season last year and an increase
in import duties now set at 55 percent from the previous 28 percent ( FPMA Food
Policies ). Overall, in July 2019, prices of rice were about 20 percent below
their year-earlier levels.
Prices of wheat, which is mostly
imported, were relatively stable between April and July 2019, reflecting
adequate supplies from imports and the bumper 2019 harvest.
Severe floods expected to worsen food insecurity in northern and
eastern parts
In June and early July, severe
floods have affected about 5.3 million people, mostly in the northern and
eastern parts of the country. The most affected districts are Lalmonirhat,
Kurigram, Gaibandha, Sylhet and Sunamganj (located in the north) and some
districts in the Dhaka and Chittagong divisions. Floods have deteriorated the
already precarious living conditions and the food security situation of about
910 000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the Cox Bazar District. Most refugees
fled to Bangladesh following the resurgence of violence in Rakhine State in
Myanmar in late August 2017. They reside in temporary settlements where they
suffer from high level of food insecurity and require humanitarian assistance
to cover their basic needs. In addition, the influx of refugees is putting
strain on the already limited resources of the host communities.
Disclaimer: The designations
employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not
imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning
the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities,
or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
INDONESIA'S
BULOG SAYS UNLIKELY TO IMPORT RICE THROUGH END-2020
9/17/2019
JAKARTA, Sept 18 (Reuters) -
* Indonesia food procurement agency Bulog said it's unlikely that
the country will import rice through the end of next year due to high
stockpiles, agency head Budi Waseso told reporters on Wednesday
* As of this week, the country has 2.6 million tonnes of rice
stocks, which is more than sufficient until the main rice harvest in April,
said Waseso
* "In April, rice harvest will start again, and we will
absorb those. If the harvest can be optimized, we don't need imports until end
of 2020," he said (Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe, Writing by
Fransiska Nangoy)
World must
transform food production or face unrest, scientists warn
WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 18 2019
Maize plants are seen in a farm
in Lujan, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina on August 2, 2019. PHOTO
| REUTERS
In Summary
· Global over-dependence on a relatively small number of
staple foods leaves populations vulnerable to crop failures, with climate
change adding to the strain.
· The damage the modern food industry does to human
health, development and the environment costs the world $12 trillion a year.
By REUTERS
The world must diversify its food
production and consumption, or face damaging supply disruptions that could lead
to suffering and social unrest, scientists warned on Monday.
A new global study found the
health and environmental benefits of transforming the way we farm would
outweigh heavily the cost of doing so, with the authors urging governments to
do more to support sustainable agriculture.
"A small disruption in
supply really can do a lot of damage and leads to huge price increases,"
said Per Pharo of the Food and Land Use Coalition, the global alliance of
economists and scientists behind the study.
"That creates suffering and
social unrest. And it will highly likely also lead to hunger and
instability," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Global over-dependence on a
relatively small number of staple foods leaves populations vulnerable to crop
failures, with climate change adding to the strain, the report said.
"Four different crops
provide 60 per cent of our calories - wheat, rice, maize and potatoes. That
increases our vulnerability," said Pharo.
Dr
Khem Singh Gill (1930-2019): One of the pioneers of Green Revolution, he helped
develop 30 crop varieties
Apart from the Padma Bhushan, Dr Gill was the recipient of
countless other awards. PAU officials said his research was documented in
hundreds of scientific papers, books and articles.
Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba |Jalandhar |Updated: September 18,
2019 12:14:50 pm
Dr Khem Singh Gill passed away on Tuesday. (Express File Photo:
Gurmeet Singh)
Known for his contribution towards breeding new crop varieties and
one of the pioneers of the Green Revolution in the state, former Punjab
Agriculture University (PAU) vice-chancellor and Padma Bhushan awardee Dr Khem
Singh Gill passed away at a Ludhiana hospital Tuesday morning. He was 89.
Dr Gill was known as the ‘sage-scientist’ of Punjab. He was born on
September 1, 1930, in a small village called Kalke in Moga district, and served
as PAU V-C from 1990 to 1993. He is survived by a daughter and two sons.
Under his guidance, PAU developed more than 30 varieties of wheat,
pearl millet and other crops, which made India self-sufficient in terms of food
grains. The recommendation/release of WL 711 variety of wheat by Dr Gill and
launch of semi-dwarf, high yielding varieties of wheat made Punjab the ‘wheat
granary of India’, which produces 21 per cent of India’s wheat and 8.5 per cent
of its rice.
Dr Gill studied agriculture sciences at Khalsa College, Amritsar,
in 1949, and subsequently pursued a Masters in genetics and plant breeding in
1952. He was one of the nuclear staff when PAU was established in 1962. After
doing his PhD from California, he returned to India in 1966 to take over as
professor and head of PAU’s department of genetics at the Hisar campus. On May
25, 1968, Dr Gill was appointed the head of the department of plant breeding
and became the right-hand man of Dr M S Randhawa, who played a major role in
establishing agricultural research in India.
Dr Gill was the founding trustee of ‘The Kalgidhar Trust’. As
director of the Akal Academies, he set up the first academy at Muktsar in 1993.
This wave of setting up academies continued over the years, and today there are
117 Akal Academies in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal
Pradesh. He remained the director of these academies till date.
PAU’s present V-C Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon described Dr Gill an
illustrious human being, a dedicated agricultural researcher and an
administrator par excellence. “He was one of the pillars of PAU. Such persons
are rare in this world. He was a great scientist as well as teacher and his
persona was larger than life. PAU and I will personally miss Dr Gill,” he said.
“A recipient of the Padma Bhushan, Dr Gill is credited with
catalysing the Green Revolution in Punjab with his research in plant breeding.
He devoted his life to the service of mankind,” he added.
Dr Gill founded the Crop Improvement Society of India and remained
its president from 1974 to 1979 and patron till date. He was an adviser to
Wheat and Triticale Research at the global level and on the board of trustees
and programme committee of the CIMMYT, Mexico (1988-93), as well as senior
vice-president of the International Triticale Association (1988-94). He
evaluated the UNDP global project on sorghum and millets at the International
Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad (1981) and on
rice at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines (1983).
SC raps Centre on manual scavenging: No country sends its people to
gas chambers to die
Kirpal Singh Aulakh, former V-C of PAU, said, “I have the privilege
and honour to start my professional career under his leadership as assistant
plant pathologist (oilseeds) in 1968 and then plant pathologist (rice). He was
not only a dynamic leader but a father figure for all his colleagues.”
PAU Registrar Dr RS Sidhu, officers, scientists and staff of the
university paid tribute to Dr Gill. A condolence meeting was also held at PAU
campus Tuesday.
Apart from the Padma Bhushan, Dr Gill was the recipient of
countless other awards. PAU officials said his research was documented in
hundreds of scientific papers, books and articles.
COLUMN: Truth-tellers
are really heroes
Yes, President Trump's
erroneous insistence that Alabama would be hit by Hurricane Dorian – and his
ham-handed alteration of an official map to support his mistake – has spawned
countless hilarious memes. But the larger implications of this incident are far
more serious. It starkly symbolizes this president's ferocious war on any facts
or findings that contradict his warped view of the world.
He's single-handedly destroying
the ability of his own government to make sensible policy because he refuses to
accept the work of professionals – scientists and economists, intelligence
analysts and agronomists – who remain dedicated to their standards of
independent nonpartisanship.
Three former administrators of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) made this point
about weather forecasting in the Washington Post, but their words apply to all
information produced by government researchers.
"Even a hint that a forecast
or warning was influenced by politics would undermine the public's trust and
the ability to respond quickly and effectively under potentially
life-threatening conditions," wrote Jane Lubchenco, D. James Baker and
Kathryn D. Sullivan. "If political appointees overrule trained scientists,
imposing political concerns on scientific matters, they endanger public safety
as well as the credibility and morale of the agency charged with protecting
that safety."
When Trump inflates the size of
his inaugural crowds, or denies hush-money payments to former girlfriends, he's
being outrageous, but not dangerous. But when his delusions undermine
government policy, the consequences can be deeply damaging.
When he insists that trade wars
are "easy to win," or that tax cuts pay for themselves, the results
can be fiscal disaster. When he denies that Russia tried to help him win the
last election, he cripples our ability to protect the integrity of future
elections.
No issue illustrates Trump's war
on facts better than climate change. Maria Caffrey was a climate scientist for
the National Park Service who documented the potential danger to coastal parks
from future sea level increases. After Trump took office, she writes in The
Guardian, senior park service officials "tried repeatedly, often aggressively,
to coerce me into deleting references to the human causes of the climate
crisis."
After a long battle, Caffrey's
report was published, but she was forced out of her job. "Politics has no
place in science," she writes. "I am an example of the less discussed
methods the administration is using to destroy scientific research. ... The
current administration may only last a matter of years, but its actions may
potentially impact our planet for centuries."
As an analyst in the State
Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Rod Schoonover produced a
report "on the national security implications of climate change" for
the House Intelligence Committee. But his superiors truncated his live
testimony and blocked the submission of his written conclusions.
"The White House trampled
not only on the scientific integrity of the assessment but also on the analytic
independence of an arm of the intelligence community," Schoonover writes
in the Post, after resigning from "the institution I loved."
Lewis Ziska, a plant scientist
for the Department of Agriculture, documented "how rice is losing
nutrients because of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,"
writes Politico. Department officials tried to bury his findings, "which
raised serious concerns for the 600 million people who depend on rice for most
of their calories."
"You get the sense that
things have changed, that this is not a place for you to be exploring things
that don't agree with someone's political views," Ziska told Politico.
"That's so sad. I can't even begin to tell you how sad that is."
The political leadership at NOAA
bent to the president's pressure, contradicting their own analysts and issuing
a statement supporting Trump's fallacious claims about the risk to Alabama. But
the professionals in the agency are fighting back and defending their
integrity.
Craig McLean, NOAA's chief
scientist, said the heads of his own agency had acted "inappropriately and
incorrectly" when they undermined their staff's forecast that Alabama was
not in danger. "My understanding is that this intervention to contradict
the forecaster was not based on science, but on external factors including
reputation and appearance – or, simply put, political," Mclean wrote.
"I have a responsibility to
pursue these truths," he added. "I will."
McLean speaks for a vast army of
professionals – judges and journalists, analysts and researchers – who share
his determination. The best way to constrain the Lord of the Lies is to pursue
the truth, wherever it leads.
Steve and Cokie Roberts can be
contacted by email at stevecokie@gmail.com. This may be their last column
together, since Cokie passed away earlier this week.
Introducing the
October 2019 Issue
Monsters of the Mesozoic skies,
the quest for a room-temperature superconductor and more
Credit: Scientific American
For me, there's nothing particularly special about seeing a
small Cessna take to the air. But watching an Airbus A380, the world's largest
commercial airliner, ascend is something altogether different. The way it
lumbers into the sky just doesn't seem real. Yet mechanical and aerodynamic
adaptations make flight possible for such bulky craft.
I imagine I would've had the same impression (and a dose of
terror) watching a hulking pterosaur take wing, especially compared with the
smaller feathered dinosaurs and birds that evolved later. Pterosaurs were the
first vertebrates to fly, and while some were quite small, others were
enormous. And like today's jumbo jets, an intricate set of physiological
adaptations, which paleontologist Michael B. Habib details in this issue's
cover story, “Monsters of the Mesozoic Skies,” allowed them to lift
off. They were quadrupedal and had massive necks, for instance, much like the
fearsome dragons in Game of Thrones, which inspired
Habib and his colleagues when they were naming one of the pterosaur
species.
Pterosaurs are now gone, as are,
unfortunately, most of the 110,000 or so distinct varieties of rice that were
once planted across India. Some could tolerate flood, drought, salt and
pestilence; some had unique nutritional value; and some were just uniquely
pleasant and used in special rituals. With the Green Revolution in the 1950s
and 1960s, the government began to focus on high-yield cultivars, which can
produce a lot of grain but are expensive and vulnerable to environmental
assaults, and that number has dwindled to about 6,000 varieties across India
today. Thankfully, as he writes in “Restoring Rice Biodiversity,” conservationist
Debal Deb has made it his life's work to redress this problem.
Whether it's rice or wheat, we
should all eat more whole grains and more whole foods in general, but markets
in the U.S. and elsewhere are littered with “ultraprocessed” foods, including
candy bars and potato chips, as well as less obvious things like flavored
yogurt and vodka. New research, which journalist Ellen Ruppel Shell describes
in “Obesity on the Brain,” suggests that these unnatural
concoctions disrupt gut-brain signals in a way that encourages overeating. More
fruits and vegetables, preferably of heirloom varieties, please!
Elsewhere, scientists recently
used a small device called a diamond anvil cell to apply about half the
pressure at the center of the earth to a mix of lanthanum and hydrogen. Then
they shot the mash with a laser and synthesized an entirely new material,
lanthanum hydride, in hopes of finding a long-coveted room-temperature
superconductor. Such a substance, which ferries a current without resistance,
could accomplish technological wonders. Journalist Bob Henderson explains in “The Stuff of Dreams” how theory and computer modeling
are now guiding a decades-old quest that was once based mostly on guesswork and
luck.
Of course, whether it's studying
ancient creatures, biodiversity or something else, all science involves a bit
of conjecture and serendipity. That's part of what makes the process of
research and discovery so frustrating and ever so delightful. Fortune may favor
the bold, but it rewards inquisitive minds as well.
This article was originally published with the title
"Dragon Up" in Scientific American 321, 4, 6 (October 2019)
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1019-6
ABOUT THE
Why does pasta or
rice water boil over?
17 September 2019
Part of the show
Code Making and Breaking
BOILING_POT
Credit: CC0 via Pixabay
Question
When pasta or rice is added to
boiling water, there is a sudden surge of the boiling water, to the point that
the pot boils over with bubbles. Why is this?
Answer
We received this im-pastable question from Anthony. To find the
answer, Phil Sansom went to speak to Phillip Broadwith, business editor of
Chemistry World magazine...
Phil - Ah, the classic pasta-water-rice-water surge. Enemy of
carb-lovers everywhere! I got in touch with Phillip Broadwith, business editor
of the Chemistry World magazine - and he said that to understand this, you
first have to understand how boiling works.
Phillip - Boiling is the process of a liquid turning into a gas.
It starts with a tiny bubble, formed by a small amount of water vapourising
into steam – usually at some kind of imperfection on the bottom or sides of the
pan.
Phil - When the bubble is big enough it detaches from the bottom
or the sides and rises up, growing bigger as it rises, and bursts to the
surface. Those bursting bubbles are what you see when the water rolls and
boils.
Phillip - But how aggressively the water boils is determined by
the temperature and the number of sites where bubbles can form. If you have
water that’s hot enough to be boiling, but doesn’t have a lot of surface for
bubbles to form on, it won’t boil very hard. But if you suddenly add more
surface – for example by adding pasta or rice – then a lot of bubbles will form
all at once, so you get that big surge. This phenomenon can be particularly
spectacular if you superheat the water in a very smooth container – for example
a mug in a microwave oven. It’s then possible to get the water well above 100°C
without boiling, but then if you add coffee granules, you can get a huge surge
of boiling, which can be quite dangerous as it'll spit scalding liquid all over
you.
Phil - So boiling happens a lot quicker once there are lots of
corners and edges and surfaces where the bubbles can form. Regular forum user
Alan Calverd got to the same answer, but he also said, “if the added material
contains starch or gluten, the bubbles can form a strong mat instead of
bursting at the surface, so the next group of bubbles pushes the mat upwards
and the pan boils over." So there’s a second dimension to this. Rice and
pasta both contain starch and gluten, and that’s why you sometimes get that
foam on the top, which adds to the boiling over problem. For rice, there’s an
easy fix that I myself approve of: rinse it! And do it properly in a bowl
rather than a colander, multiple times, until the water runs clear.
Phillip: This gets rid of a lot of the loose starch particles on
the surface, which will also make your cooked rice less sticky. Even better
cook your rice by the absorption method, which starts with the rice in a
measured amount of cold water and heats it gently with a lid on until it’s
absorbed all the water.
Phil - Thanks Phillip. I’m off to make dinner. Next week’s
nail-biting question comes from John.
John - I want to know, if enough
people in the world donated their finger and toenail clippings, could enough
keratin be produced to satisfy the demand, and thus stop poaching of wild
animals in Africa?
DA chief turns over P480-M agri-assistance to farmers in
NorMin
Philippine Information Agency
18 Sep 2019, 16:38 GMT+10
18 Sep 2019, 16:38 GMT+10
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Sept. 18 -- Department
of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William D. Dar turned over a total of P480.24
million worth of agriculture support to farmers in Northern Mindanao.
Dar led the distribution of farm machinery
and equipment to the different farmers' associations in Northern Mindanao on
Monday, September 16, 2019 at the Northern Mindanao Agricultural Crops and
Livestock Research Complex (NMACLRC) in Dalwangan, Malaybalay City.
The amount comprised farm machinery and
equipment which are provisions from the 2018 unprogrammed funds and the 2019 regular
programs under the banner programs: rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock and
organic agriculture of DA-regional field office 10.
The assistance is part of the government's
efforts in increasing productivity and income of farmers to make them more
competitive.
Dar also recognized the partnership of the
different stakeholders in hurdling the challenges besetting the agriculture
sector which include the African Swine Fever (ASF), fall army worm, copra and
palay prices.
Further, he emphasized that DA has been
accelerating the implementation of interventions funded by the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Funds (RCEF) to assist the farmers affected by the
implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law.
The RCEF has four components:
mechanization, provision of high-yielding rice seeds, credit support and
extension support and education of rice farmers.
He also stressed a much broader perspective
for agriculture as an industry, from production to high value-adding to
processing and marketing, both local and global, in which the value chain
approach will help farmers earn more. (DA RFO10)
Rice excluded from
trade accord U.S. and Japan aim to ink soon
BLOOMBERG
SEP
18, 2019
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO – U.S. rice growers won’t get increased sales under the current
terms of a trade deal agreed by President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, people familiar with the accord said.
While there are still details to
be finalized, the people said there won’t be any expansion of Japan’s quotas
for U.S.-grown rice. U.S. producers hope the issue will be dealt with in the
second phase of negotiations between the two countries, according to one of the
people.
Still, it’s unclear whether or
when Trump and Abe will continue talks, given that any trade deal in Japan has
to be approved by the Diet and the Trump administration is running out of time
before the 2020 presidential election.
Japan is a key export market for
U.S. rice farmers, who have been under pressure after the Asian nation signed
trade agreements with other countries, including the revised 11-member
Trans-Pacific Partnership. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue had
suggested the White House may make a concession on rice, which is “sort of a
cultural issue in Japan,” local media have reported.
“Although we are glad to see the
bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Japan, we were disappointed to see
that U.S. rice was not included,” said Stuart Hoetger, a rice trader and
manager of Pinnacle Rice Coop in Chico, California. A spokesperson for the U.S.
Trade Representative didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Japan is required to import
682,000 tons of rice under World Trade Organization commitments, with the U.S.
typically making up about half of that amount, according to USA Rice. Since
Japan signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership, there’s been more competition from Australian producers, the
industry group said.
Chris Crutchfield, president of
rice miller and marketer American Commodity Company LLC in Williams,
California, said the U.S. industry wants not only more volume but better
quality access to the Japanese market. Much of the U.S. rice going to Japan is
auctioned by the government and used to make noodles, beer or sake, with only a
small amount sold as table rice. American rice should be allowed to be
auctioned directly to private buyers and marked as being grown in the U.S.
“We still believe the
administration is going to get us something better than we currently have,”
Crutchfield said by telephone.
Type 2 diabetes:
The best food to lower blood sugar levels
TYPE 2 diabetes is a lifelong condition that
requires close monitoring to keep the risks at bay. Diet plays a key role in
managing the condition. A recent study reveals swapping out potatoes or rice
for a certain food can reduce blood sugar levels by more than 20 per cent.
By Adam Chapman
09:29, Wed, Sep 18, 2019 | UPDATED: 09:30, Wed, Sep 18,
2019
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Type 2
diabetes: Dr Mosley gives his dietary tips
Play Video
Pulses
are extremely nutrient-dense food
Study authors
Prof.
Alison Duncan, Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, and Dan
Ramdath of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, found that swapping out half of a
portion of these starchy side dishes for lentils can significantly improve your
body's response to the carbohydrates.Replacing half a serving of rice with lentils caused blood glucose to drop by up to 20 per cent. Replacing potatoes with lentils led to a 35 per cent drop.
"Pulses are extremely nutrient-dense food that have the potential to reduce chronic diseases associated with mismanaged glucose levels," said Duncan, who worked on the study with PhD student Dita Moravek and M.Sc. students Erica Rogers, Sarah Turkstra and Jessica Wilson.
The study involved 24 healthy adults fed four dishes - white rice only, half white rice and half large green lentils, half white rice and half small green lentils, and half white rice and half split red lentils.
Researchers measured glucose levels in the participants' blood before they ate and during two hours afterward. They repeated the process for white potatoes alone and the same combinations of potatoes and lentils.
Type
2 diabetes: Study reveals lentils can significantly reduce blood sugar
levels (Image:
Getty Images )Type
2 diabetes: Common symptoms (Image: Getty Images )
"We
mixed the lentils in with the potatoes and rice because people don't typically
eat pulses on their own, but rather consume them in combination with other
starches as part of a larger meal, so we wanted the results to reflect that,”
said the study authors.Blood glucose fell by similar amounts when half of the starch was replaced with each of the three types of lentils.
Blood glucose comprises sugar found in the blood during digestion in the upper digestive tract and depends on the starch content of foods consumed.
Pulses, such as lentils, can slow digestion and the release of sugars found in starch into the bloodstream, ultimately reducing blood glucose levels, said Duncan.
”This slower absorption means you don't experience a spike in glucose. Having high levels over a period of time can lead to mismanagement of blood glucose, which is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes. Essentially, eating lentils can lower that risk, explained Duncan.
Type
2 diabetes: Key facts (Image: Getty Images )
Type
2 diabetes: Keeping active can also help to manage blood sugar levels (Image: Getty Images )
Type
2 diabetes: Persistent tiredness is a warning sign (Image: Getty Images )
The
study author added: “Pulses contain components that inhibit enzymes involved in
absorption of glucose, and fibre contained in these foods can encourage the
production of short-chain fatty acids, which can also help to reduce blood
glucose levels."We are hoping that building evidence for approval of a health claim for pulses will further encourage people to add pulses to their side dishes."
Keeping physically active is another key component of diabetes management.
The NHS recommends aiming for at least 150 minutes of activity every week.
Find out the best exercise to control blood sugar levels here.
As Diabetes UK explains, the benefits of being active with diabetes include:
- Helps
the body use insulin better
- Helps
a person look after their blood pressure, because high blood pressure
means a person is more at risk of diabetes complications
- Helps
to improve cholesterol (blood fats) to help protect against problems like
heart disease
- Helps
a person lose weight if they need to, and keep the weight off after
they’ve lost it – there are so many more benefits to losing extra weight
- Gives
a person energy and helps them sleep
- Helps
mind as well as the body – exercise releases endorphins. Being active is
proven to reduce stress levels and improve low mood.
- And
for people with Type 2 diabetes, being active helps improve their HbA1c.
According to the NHS, people with type 2 diabetes may experience:
- Peeing
more than usual, particularly at night
- Feeling
thirsty all the time
- Feeling
very tired
- Losing
weight without trying to
- Itching
around a person’s penis or vagina, or repeatedly getting thrush
- Cuts
or wounds taking longer to heal
- Blurred
vision
World must transform food production
or face unrest, scientists warn
REUTERS
ROME
Published17.09.201900:08
The world must diversify its food
production and consumption, or face damaging supply disruptions that could lead
to suffering and social unrest, scientists warned on Monday. A new global study
found the health and environmental benefits of transforming the way we farm
would outweigh heavily the cost of doing so, with the authors urging
governments to do more to support sustainable agriculture. "A small
disruption in supply really can do a lot of damage and leads to huge price
increases," said Per Pharo of the Food and Land Use Coalition, the global
alliance of economists and scientists behind the study.
"That creates suffering and
social unrest. And it will highly likely also lead to hunger and instability,"
he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Global over-dependence on a relatively
small number of staple foods leaves populations vulnerable to crop failures,
with climate change adding to the strain, the report said. "Four different
crops provide 60% of our calories — wheat, rice, maize and potatoes. That
increases our vulnerability," said Pharo. The panel said the report was
the first of its kind to assess the benefits of transforming global food
systems as well as the cost of inaction. The damage the modern food industry
does to human health, development and the environment costs the world $12
trillion a year equivalent to China's GDP the study found. It proposes a series
of solutions, from encouraging more diverse diets to improve health and reduce
dependency on specific crops, to giving more support to the types of farming
that can restore forests, a key tool in fighting climate change.
The study said the reforms could
also free up 1.2 billion hectares of agricultural land for restoration, an integral
part of efforts to curb climate change and halt biodiversity loss. That is more
than twice the size of the Amazon rainforest, which spans seven nations.
"What we're saying is realistic if the reform agenda is
implemented," said Pharo, adding that under the proposed changes,
consumers would actually get "slightly more affordable food."
"The excuse that we cannot priorities environment at the same time because
we've got to focus on development, on human welfare, is simply false. We can deliver
both."
Fish farming started
around 8,000 years ago in China: Study
T V Jayan New Delhi | Updated
on September 17, 2019 Published
on September 17, 2019
File photo
People in China were engaged in
fish farming at least 8,000 years ago –at least 4,500 years earlier than the
records exist from Egypt, showed an international study on Monday.
A team of Japanese, Chinese,
German and the UK, scouring an early stone age (Neolithic) settlement called
Jiahu in the present-day Henan Province in Central China, stumbled upon
evidence to show that those who lived there between 6,200-5700 BC were farming
common carp, a freshwater fish popularly found in water bodies in Asia and
Europe even today. The new findings, published in the journal Nature Ecology
& Evolution, pushes the clock back much beyond 1,500 BC, during which
Egyptians were believed to have been engaged in farming Nile tilapia fish.
The study assumes importance
because the origins of fish farming and domestication are poorly known till
date even though aquaculture is the fastest-growing global food production
system and it now provides half of all fish consumed by humans. In contrast,
there are better records available to show that humans domesticated land
animals at least 10,500 years ago.
"There has been a lot of
research on domesticated plants and animals, but fish have been poorly
understood. This paper shows that humans started to manage fish very
early," Mark Hudson of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human
History at Jena in Germany, who is the co-author of the paper, told BusinessLine. The
main author of the study, Tsuneo Nakajima of Lake Biwa Museum in Kusatsu in
Japan, however, was not available for comments as he was on yet another field
expedition.
The archaeologists discovered
multiple number of pharyngeal teeth of carp for three different settlement
periods at Jiahu: Period 1 between 7000-6600 BC, Period II between 6600-6200 BC
and Period III between 6200-5700 BC.
The researchers measured 588
pharyngeal carp teeth extracted from fish remains in Jiahu corresponding with
the three Neolithic periods, and compared the body-length distributions with
findings from other sites and a modern sample of carp raised in Matsukawa
Village in Japan. While the remains from the first two periods revealed
unimodal patterns of body-length distribution peaking at or near carp maturity,
the remains of Period III displayed bimodal distribution, with one peak at
350-400 mm corresponding with sexual maturity, and another at 150-200 mm.
"Under the climate similar
to the present, carp becomes sexually mature in body-lengths of 300mm. We think
that the unimodal distribution suggests fishing of wild carp when they become
sexually mature and come to the lakeshore, so that the peak of the graph must
be consistent with BL 300mm," said Junzo Uchiyama, a fellow at the
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in Norwich in
the UK and another co-author of the study
The bimodal distribution identified
by researchers in the study was similar to that documented at the Iron Age
Asahi site in Japan (400 BC - AD 100), and is indicative of a managed system of
carp aquaculture that until now was unidentified in Neolithic China.
"In such fisheries," the
study noted, "a large number of cyprinids (carp) were caught during the
spawning season and processed as preserved food. At the same time, some carp
were kept alive and released into confined, human regulated waters where they
spawned naturally and their offspring grew by feeding on available resources.
In autumn, water was drained from the ponds and the fish harvested, with
body-length distributions showing two peaks due to the presence of both
immature and mature individuals."
The fish belonging to the carp
family have been widely exploited by humans since at least 40.000 years ago.
While the historical records showed that carp were raised in artificial ponds
and paddy fields in East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, by the second
millennium BC. But, given that rice paddy fields in China dated back to the
fifth millennium BC, scientists believed that carp aquaculture might have also
had a similar antiquity. However, there has been no archaeological evidence to
support that till date.
"There is already evidence
of rice at Jiahu. So far no evidence of rice paddy fields. But the evidence for
carp aquaculture suggests that the Neolithic people at Jiahu were able to
control water channels to some extent. Therefore rice paddies are not
impossible. The technology for rice paddy fields and carp aquaculture may have
developed in tandem, " Observed Hudson.
Rice excluded from trade accord U.S. and Japan aim to ink soon
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO – U.S. rice growers won’t get increased sales under the current
terms of a trade deal agreed by President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, people familiar with the accord said. While there are
still details to be finalized, the people said there won’t be any expansion of
Japan’s quotas for U.S.-grown rice. U.S. producers hope the issue will be dealt
with in the second phase of negotiations between the two countries, according
to one of the people.
Still, it’s unclear whether or when Trump and Abe will continue
talks, given that any trade deal in Japan has to be approved by the Diet and
the Trump administration is running out of time before the 2020 presidential
election.
Japan is a key export market for U.S. rice farmers, who have been
under pressure after the Asian nation signed trade agreements with other countries,
including the revised 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership. U.S. Agriculture
Secretary Sonny Perdue had suggested the White House may make a concession on
rice, which is “sort of a cultural issue in Japan,” local media have reported.
“Although we are glad to see the bilateral agreement between the U.S. and
Japan, we were disappointed to see that U.S. rice was not included,” said
Stuart Hoetger, a rice trader and manager of Pinnacle Rice Coop in Chico,
California. A spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t respond to
a request for comment. Japan is required to import 682,000 tons of rice under
World Trade Organization commitments, with the U.S. typically making up about
half of that amount, according to USA Rice. Since Japan signed the Comprehensive
and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, there’s been more
competition from Australian producers, the industry group said. Chris
Crutchfield, president of rice miller and marketer American Commodity Company
LLC in Williams, California, said the U.S. industry wants not only more volume
but better quality access to the Japanese market. Much of the U.S. rice going
to Japan is auctioned by the government and used to make noodles, beer or sake,
with only a small amount sold as table rice. American rice should be allowed to
be auctioned directly to private buyers and marked as being grown in the U.S.
“We still believe the administration is going to get us something better than
we currently have,” Crutchfield said by telephone.
USA Rice Launches School Nutrition Newsletter
By Lesley
Dixon
ARLINGTON, VA - Last week, USA Rice launched the "Schools
Think Rice" newsletter to engage with school nutrition professionals
throughout the year and provide a platform to distribute the industry's school
nutrition resources to interested parties. The first edition of the newsletter
was sent to more than 1,250 school nutrition professionals who USA Rice
interacted with during the annual School Nutrition Association trade show, and
has a National Rice month theme, providing NRM stats, a featured school
foodservice recipe, educational materials, and more.
"We are very excited about the launch of this
newsletter," said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice domestic promotion manager.
"We have educational resources school nutrition officials are looking for
so establishing this direct pipeline to them will be huge for keeping
U.S.-grown rice top of mind within the school foodservice space."
The quarterly newsletter will follow future themes of "Ring
in 2020 with USA Rice," "Spring Meal Planning," and "Back
to School with USA Rice." Each newsletter edition will include a welcome
message from USA Rice, a school foodservice recipe of the month, lesson
plan/activity and marketing tip, and include the ability to send questions
directly to USA Rice.
"By
providing resources and recipes for inclusion in school promotions we expect to
see not only the professionals behind the counter get excited about U.S.-grown
rice, but also the students who are being served and have both groups Think
Rice all year long!" Jacobs continued.
Results
from the first newsletter edition were promising with an above average
agriculture and foodservice open rate of more than 20 percent and on sector
average click-through rate. To view the first edition of the School Think Rice
newsletter, click here.
usa Rice daily news
Punjab: Basmati’s early
variety fetches lower price than last year, arhtiyas blame sanctions on Iran
While traders said that US sanctions on Iran, which is a big
importer of Basmati from India, was the reason behind the slump, the farmers
blamed the arhtiyas of ganging up to show less demand in order to keep the
prices artificially lower.
Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba |Jalandhar |Published: September
17, 2019 3:34:09 am
A basmati exporter said that around 16 lakh tonnes basmati worth Rs
12,000 to Rs 13,000 crores is exported to Iran and this time they were worried
due to US sanctions.
Early variety of rice — PUSA 1509 (basmati rice) — has already
started hitting grain markets in the state with farmers fetching an opening
price which is around Rs 200 lower than last year. In 2018, the same variety
fetched Rs Rs 2500 to 2600 per quintal, compared to Rs 2300/2500 this year.
While traders said that US sanctions on Iran, which is a big
importer of Basmati from India, was the reason behind the slump, the farmers
blamed the arhtiyas of ganging up to show less demand in order to keep the
prices artificially lower.
Basmati crop is procured by the private players and paddy is
procured by government beginning October 1 after main paddy varieties
(non-basmati) reach the markets.
Meanwhile, farmers also said that government procurement
arrangements should be made a week in advance as and not from October 1 as this
time paddy sowing was done a week in advance, from June 13 as against June 20
last year. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh had announced early paddy sowing
this year.
The opening price for basmati’s early variety has worried farmers
who grow late basmati variety- PUSA 1121 and PUSA 1718, which last year fetched
Rs 3300 to 4000 per quintal. Both these are much superior varieties and come in
the market in October.
Ujagar Singh, a farmer who sold his crop at Tarn Taran grain
market, said: “I have sold around 500 quintals of PUSA 1509 in last 5 days and
the rate on the first day on September 11 was Rs 2500 per quintal, while today
I sold it at the rate of Rs 2300 per quintal as traders and arhtiyas fleece
farmers due to no control of the government over its price.”
“Traders create false market price when there is peak arrival
period of the crop in the mandis and after that the rates suddenly goes up,”
said another farmer, Onkar Singh, who sold his crop at the rate of Rs 2500 per
quintal Sunday at Sultanpur Lodhi Market. He said farmers have to go by the
wishes of traders as they cannot hold back the crop once it is harvested and
has to bring in the mandi.
“The rate of the crop should have been around Rs 2800 to 3000 per
quintal, but it will be that once farmers have sold it, and it is time for the
traders to mint money,” said farmer Davinder Singh, who had sold yield from his
20 acres in the past one week.
Former chairman of Punjab Mandi Board, Ravinder Singh Cheema, said:
“It is because of US sanctions on Iran, which is major importer of Basmati from
India, that the situation is not clear about how much basmati will be exported
to Iran this time. This has impacted prices in Punjab.”
A basmati exporter said that around 16 lakh tonnes basmati worth Rs
12,000 to Rs 13,000 crores is exported to Iran and this time they were worried
due to US sanctions.
“This time we are expecting production of around 8 lakh metric
tonnes of 1509 variety and it is arriving in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Batala, Tarn
Taran, Dhuri, Sunam, Phagwara, Fazilka, Sultanpur Lodhi markets,” said Cheema.
Business CRF: Rice exports to Europe may fall 10%
CRF:
Rice exports to Europe may fall 10%
September 17, 2019
The
Cambodia Rice Federation has predicted that the value of rice exports to the
European market may decline by around 10 per cent this year to $180 million.
Hong Menea
The Cambodia Rice Federation
(CRF) predicted that the value of rice exports to the European market may
decline by around 10 per cent this year.
CRF president Song Saran said in
a Facebook post that the value of rice exports to Europe was more than $200
million last year.
However, the federation predicts
that the export value to the market will drop to around $180 million due to
safeguards imposed by the EU earlier this year.
Nagpur Foodgrain
Prices Open- September 18, 2019
SEPTEMBER
18, 2019 / 1:31 PM /
Nagpur
Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-September 18, 2018 Nagpur, Sept 18
(Reuters) – Gram and tuar prices reported down in Nagpur Agriculture Produce
and Marketing Committee (APMC) here on lack of demand from local millers amid
high moisture content arrival. Easy condition on NCDEX and fresh fall in Madhya
Pradesh gram prices also affected sentiment. About 1,000 bags of gram and 150
bags of tuar reported for auction, according to sources.
GRAM
* Desi gram
showed weak tendency in open market here in absence of buyers.
TUAR
* Tuar
varieties reported steady here on subdued demand from local traders amid ample
stock in ready
position.
* Major rice
varieties reported down in open market here on poor buying support from
local traders.
* In Akola,
Tuar New – 5,500-5,700, Tuar dal (clean) – 8,100-8,200, Udid Mogar (clean)
– 7,300-8,100,
Moong Mogar (clean) 8,200-8,900, Gram – 4,300-4,400, Gram Super best
– 5,600-6,000 *
Wheat and other foodgrain items moved in a narrow range in
scattered deals
and settled at last levels in weak trading activity.
Nagpur
foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg
FOODGRAINS
Available prices Previous close
Gram Auction
3,500-4,200 3,650-4,225
Gram Pink
Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction
4,780-5,400 4,800-5,450
Moong Auction
n.a. 3,950-4,200
Udid Auction
n.a. 4,300-4,500
Masoor Auction
n.a. 2,200-2,500
Wheat Lokwan
Auction 1,845-2,075 1,880-2,080
Wheat Sharbati
Auction n.a. 2,900-3,000
Gram Super Best
Bold 5,800-6,000 5,800-6,000
Gram Super Best
n.a. n.a.
Gram Medium
Best 5,400-5,600 5,400-5,600
Gram Dal Medium
n.a. n.a
Gram Mill
Quality 4,300-4,400 4,300-4,400
Desi gram Raw
4,250-4,350 4,300-4,400
Gram Kabuli
8,300-10,000 8,300-10,000
Tuar Fataka
Best-New 8,200-8,300 8,200-8,300
Tuar Fataka
Medium-New 7,700-8,000 7,700-8,000
Tuar Dal Best
Phod-New 7,400-7,600 7,400-7,600
Tuar Dal Medium
phod-New 6,800-7,300 6,800-7,300
Tuar Gavarani
New 5,550-5,700 5,550-5,700
Tuar Karnataka
6,000-6,100 6,000-6,100
Masoor dal best
5,500-5,600 5,500-5,600
Masoor dal
medium 5,200-5,300 5,200-5,300
Masoor n.a.
n.a.
Moong Mogar
bold (New) 8,000-8,800 8,000-8,800
Moong Mogar
Medium 7,000-7,600 7,000-7,600
Moong dal
Chilka New 6,800-7,800 7,000-7,800
Moong Mill
quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki
best 8,500-9,000 8,500-9,000
Udid Mogar best
(100 INR/KG) (New) 7,500-8,500 7,500-8,500
Udid Mogar
Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,600-6,500 5,600-6,500
Udid Dal Black
(100 INR/KG) 4,500-5,100 4,500-5,100
Mot (100
INR/KG) 5,600-6,700 5,600-6,700
Lakhodi dal
(100 INR/kg) 4,800-5,100 4,800-5,100
Watana Dal (100
INR/KG) 5,800-6,000 5,800-6,000
Watana Green
Best (100 INR/KG) 7,500-8,000 7,500-8,000
Wheat 308 (100
INR/KG) 2,250-2,350 2,250-2,350
Wheat Mill
quality (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,200 2,100-2,200
Wheat Filter
(100 INR/KG) 2,650-2,750 2,650-2,750
Wheat Lokwan
best (100 INR/KG) 2,550-2,650 2,550-2,650
Wheat Lokwan
medium (100 INR/KG) 2,300-2,450 2,300-2,450
Lokwan Hath
Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP Sharbati
Best (100 INR/KG) 3,300-4,000 3,300-4,000
MP Sharbati
Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,100 2,800-3,100
Rice Parmal
(100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,300 2,200-2,300
Rice BPT best
new (100 INR/KG) 2,900-3,400 3,000-3,500
Rice BPT medium
new(100 INR/KG) 2,500-3,000 2,600-3,000
Rice Luchai
(100 INR/KG) 2,900-2,800 2,900-3,000
Rice Swarna
best new (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,650 2,600-2,750
Rice Swarna
medium new (100 INR/KG)2,200-2,300 2,300-2,400
Rice HMT best
new (100 INR/KG) 3,600-4,000 3,600-4,000
Rice HMT medium
new (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,400 3,200-3,400
Rice Shriram
best new(100 INR/KG) 4,400-5,000 4,500-5,000
Rice Shriram
med new (100 INR/KG) 4,100-4,300 4,200-4,400
Rice Basmati
best (100 INR/KG) 8,000-13,500 8,000-13,500
Rice Basmati
Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,200 5,000-7,200
Rice Chinnor
best new 100 INR/KG) 5,300-5,700 5,400-5,800
Rice Chinnor
medium new(100 INR/KG)5,000-5,200 5,100-5,300
Jowar Gavarani
(100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,550 2,350-2,550
Jowar CH-5 (100
INR/KG) 2,050-2,250 2,050-2,250 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 32.7 degree
Celsius, minimum temp. 24.8 degree Celsius Rainfall : 48.7 mm FORECAST:
Generally cloudy sky with a few spells of rains or thunder-showers. Maximum and
minimum temperature likely to be around 33 degree Celsius and 25 degree Celsius
respectively. Note: n.a.—not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded
from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices)
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Rice Prices
as on : 17-09-2019 01:42:18 PM
Arrivals in tonnes;prices in
Rs/quintal in domestic market.
|
Arrivals
|
Price
|
|||||
|
Current
|
%
change |
Season
cumulative |
Modal
|
Prev.
Modal |
Prev.Yr
%change |
|
|
Rice
|
||||||
|
Bangalore(Kar)
|
2933.00
|
-41.56
|
45538.00
|
4500
|
4500
|
4.65
|
|
Sultanpur(UP)
|
260.00
|
13.04
|
3813.00
|
2775
|
2750
|
18.09
|
|
Siliguri(WB)
|
210.00
|
1.94
|
5035.00
|
3800
|
3800
|
-
|
|
Hardoi(UP)
|
160.00
|
23.08
|
4340.00
|
2420
|
2430
|
0.41
|
|
Gondal(UP)
|
148.00
|
5.71
|
6538.00
|
2480
|
2480
|
8.53
|
|
Barhaj(UP)
|
110.00
|
-8.33
|
6708.00
|
2420
|
2420
|
8.52
|
|
Bindki(UP)
|
100.00
|
-16.67
|
3850.00
|
2430
|
2400
|
-
|
|
Agra(UP)
|
95.00
|
-13.64
|
3587.00
|
2610
|
2600
|
2.76
|
|
Srirampur(ASM)
|
90.00
|
12.5
|
370.00
|
2800
|
2800
|
12.00
|
|
Kanpur(Grain)(UP)
|
90.00
|
-40
|
4395.00
|
2340
|
2325
|
7.59
|
|
Lucknow(UP)
|
84.50
|
4.32
|
2442.50
|
2880
|
2880
|
25.22
|
|
Kalipur(WB)
|
82.00
|
5.13
|
1314.00
|
2350
|
2350
|
-
|
|
Barabanki(UP)
|
81.00
|
-6.9
|
420.00
|
2425
|
2450
|
5.90
|
|
Aligarh(UP)
|
80.00
|
14.29
|
3230.00
|
2550
|
2550
|
1.19
|
|
Rampurhat(WB)
|
66.00
|
3.12
|
920.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
-4.00
|
|
Pilibhit(UP)
|
65.00
|
-7.14
|
12155.50
|
2670
|
2665
|
4.09
|
|
Puranpur(UP)
|
64.00
|
-20
|
6260.00
|
2650
|
2600
|
6.43
|
|
Cachar(ASM)
|
60.00
|
50
|
3461.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
NC
|
|
Jorhat(ASM)
|
60.00
|
118.18
|
1283.50
|
3400
|
3400
|
6.25
|
|
Gauripur(ASM)
|
48.00
|
-4
|
1724.50
|
4500
|
4500
|
NC
|
|
Naugarh(UP)
|
45.50
|
18.18
|
2450.00
|
2450
|
2460
|
18.64
|
|
Lalganj(UP)
|
45.00
|
80
|
290.00
|
1750
|
1750
|
3.55
|
|
Gazipur(UP)
|
44.00
|
-10.2
|
4988.50
|
3230
|
3210
|
11.38
|
|
Pandua(WB)
|
42.00
|
-6.67
|
1006.00
|
2950
|
2950
|
-7.81
|
|
Karimganj(ASM)
|
40.00
|
NC
|
340.00
|
2450
|
2450
|
-
|
|
Kayamganj(UP)
|
40.00
|
33.33
|
991.00
|
2650
|
2660
|
11.81
|
|
Beldanga(WB)
|
40.00
|
NC
|
2075.00
|
2600
|
2600
|
-2.26
|
|
Muzzafarnagar(UP)
|
39.00
|
8.33
|
930.50
|
2830
|
2825
|
1.98
|
|
Saharanpur(UP)
|
38.00
|
31.03
|
993.50
|
2810
|
2840
|
1.44
|
|
Lakhimpur(UP)
|
35.00
|
NC
|
1633.50
|
2400
|
2420
|
6.67
|
|
Jhargram(WB)
|
35.00
|
-7.89
|
815.00
|
2900
|
2900
|
-3.33
|
|
Lalitpur(UP)
|
30.00
|
7.14
|
1561.00
|
2400
|
2640
|
-
|
|
Naanpara(UP)
|
29.00
|
19.83
|
860.80
|
2400
|
2400
|
6.19
|
|
Madhoganj(UP)
|
27.00
|
-11.48
|
3288.00
|
2320
|
2330
|
3.57
|
|
Mathura(UP)
|
25.00
|
4.17
|
804.50
|
2640
|
2600
|
3.53
|
|
Jayas(UP)
|
24.50
|
6.52
|
1063.40
|
2110
|
2100
|
5.50
|
|
Tamluk (Medinipur E)(WB)
|
24.00
|
NC
|
176.00
|
2700
|
2700
|
-5.59
|
|
Asansol(WB)
|
22.00
|
15.79
|
2432.10
|
2900
|
2900
|
-6.45
|
|
Indus(Bankura Sadar)(WB)
|
22.00
|
-8.33
|
2427.00
|
2800
|
2800
|
NC
|
|
Durgapur(WB)
|
20.20
|
22.42
|
1294.60
|
2700
|
2700
|
-4.42
|
|
Etawah(UP)
|
20.00
|
-13.04
|
1836.50
|
2625
|
2625
|
8.02
|
|
Dadri(UP)
|
20.00
|
-20
|
708.00
|
2920
|
2920
|
9.36
|
|
Karsiyang(Matigara)(WB)
|
19.90
|
0.51
|
726.90
|
3400
|
3400
|
13.33
|
|
Kolaghat(WB)
|
19.00
|
NC
|
218.00
|
2700
|
2700
|
-5.59
|
|
Dhekiajuli(ASM)
|
18.00
|
NC
|
454.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
NC
|
|
Sahiyapur(UP)
|
17.50
|
-7.89
|
1283.50
|
2455
|
2455
|
12.87
|
|
Bharthna(UP)
|
15.00
|
-25
|
5823.00
|
2650
|
2640
|
8.16
|
|
Sitapur(UP)
|
14.50
|
-9.38
|
550.00
|
2450
|
2460
|
-
|
|
Champadanga(WB)
|
14.00
|
-22.22
|
445.00
|
3000
|
3000
|
-6.25
|
|
Fatehabad(UP)
|
12.50
|
150
|
31.50
|
2050
|
2350
|
-12.77
|
|
Bareilly(UP)
|
11.00
|
-75.56
|
1476.00
|
2690
|
2675
|
4.47
|
|
Alappuzha(Ker)
|
10.00
|
NC
|
120.00
|
7400
|
7350
|
9.63
|
|
Milak(UP)
|
10.00
|
-
|
10.00
|
2550
|
-
|
-
|
|
Nadia(WB)
|
10.00
|
-16.67
|
431.00
|
3800
|
3800
|
-3.80
|
|
Badayoun(UP)
|
9.00
|
-18.18
|
533.50
|
2580
|
2570
|
6.39
|
|
Sirsaganj(UP)
|
9.00
|
-30.77
|
428.00
|
2640
|
2660
|
-5.04
|
|
Karvi(UP)
|
9.00
|
-10
|
314.00
|
2360
|
2345
|
7.27
|
|
Tamkuhi Road(UP)
|
8.50
|
NC
|
523.50
|
2250
|
2250
|
4.17
|
|
Khurja(UP)
|
8.00
|
6.67
|
508.80
|
2680
|
2700
|
2.68
|
|
Jafarganj(UP)
|
8.00
|
-65.22
|
1246.00
|
2450
|
2450
|
-
|
|
Kaliaganj(WB)
|
8.00
|
-20
|
60.00
|
3450
|
3450
|
-
|
|
Robertsganj(UP)
|
7.50
|
-31.82
|
388.45
|
2370
|
2375
|
6.52
|
|
Jasra(UP)
|
7.00
|
-22.22
|
425.00
|
2600
|
2600
|
13.04
|
|
Mirzapur(UP)
|
6.50
|
30
|
419.00
|
2425
|
2415
|
10.73
|
|
Soharatgarh(UP)
|
6.50
|
30
|
437.50
|
2460
|
2460
|
18.84
|
|
Mugrabaadshahpur(UP)
|
6.50
|
-50
|
221.50
|
2260
|
2260
|
-
|
|
Dibrugarh(ASM)
|
6.00
|
-22.08
|
182.50
|
3000
|
3000
|
2.74
|
|
Hailakandi(ASM)
|
6.00
|
NC
|
37.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
NC
|
|
Sehjanwa(UP)
|
5.00
|
66.67
|
258.10
|
2160
|
2160
|
NC
|
|
Ruperdeeha(UP)
|
5.00
|
-16.67
|
269.00
|
2250
|
2250
|
12.50
|
|
Fatehpur(UP)
|
4.50
|
-35.71
|
905.10
|
2410
|
2425
|
9.55
|
|
Bangarmau(UP)
|
4.00
|
33.33
|
115.70
|
2450
|
2460
|
6.52
|
|
Kasganj(UP)
|
4.00
|
-20
|
120.50
|
2570
|
2550
|
-6.88
|
|
Kosikalan(UP)
|
4.00
|
NC
|
188.80
|
2615
|
2600
|
0.58
|
|
Puwaha(UP)
|
4.00
|
-33.33
|
316.20
|
2480
|
2460
|
1.22
|
|
Jahangirabad(UP)
|
3.00
|
-25
|
143.00
|
2600
|
2600
|
-0.95
|
|
Melaghar(Tri)
|
2.50
|
25
|
28.00
|
2700
|
2700
|
-5.26
|
|
Kalimpong(WB)
|
2.30
|
-8
|
34.70
|
2900
|
2900
|
-36.96
|
|
Tundla(UP)
|
2.20
|
37.5
|
257.90
|
2580
|
2560
|
2.58
|
|
Purwa(UP)
|
2.00
|
NC
|
4.00
|
2150
|
2150
|
-
|
|
Sindholi(UP)
|
2.00
|
100
|
19.00
|
1850
|
1900
|
-
|
|
Khair(UP)
|
1.50
|
50
|
45.70
|
2590
|
2580
|
1.57
|
|
Nandyal(AP)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
9.00
|
3950
|
3900
|
-
|
|
Penugonda(Mah)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
28.00
|
4090
|
4090
|
0.25
|
|
Alibagh(Mah)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
86.00
|
2200
|
2200
|
-56.00
|
|
Murud(Mah)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
87.00
|
2200
|
2200
|
-45.00
|
|
Achnera(UP)
|
0.70
|
NC
|
37.80
|
2550
|
2560
|
NC
|
|
Ujhani(UP)
|
0.60
|
NC
|
25.90
|
2590
|
2630
|
6.15
|
Published on September 17, 2019
Iran Struggles With Food Security
Amid Sanctions
Rice field in Bandpey, northern Iran (Ali Azad via Wikimedia
Commons)
by Austin Bodetti
As Iran wrestles with devastating
economic sanctions imposed after the United States’ withdrawal from the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action, the news media has highlighted the impact on
Iran’s economy as a whole, noting predictions by the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank that it would contract by between 3.8 and 6 percent
this year. The potential effect on Iran’s food security, however, has received
less attention. In the wake of the sanctions, several top Western
agribusinesses opted to stop selling food to the import-dependent
country.
Despite Iran’s sizable deserts
and troubles with water scarcity, agriculture has managed to thrive in the
country for much of its history. Iranian farmers grow products as varied as barley, grapes,
melons, rice, wheat, and medicinal plants, and agriculture represented 9.5 percent of Iran’s gross domestic
product in 2016. The sector employed about 17 percent of Iranians in 2018.
“Despite being located in an arid
and semiarid area, Iran benefits from having weather diversity, and the
difference between the coldest and hottest areas reaches 40°C, making it
possible to grow a variety of products at any given time,” says Mohammad
Bakhshoodeh, who heads the department of agricultural economics at Shiraz
University. “Iran has comparative advantages in dozens of agriculture products,
especially in horticultural ones and, of course, in saffron.”
In a semi-successful bid to
withstand decades of sanctions, Iran has long endeavored to achieve
agricultural self-sufficiency. This quest began soon after the Iranian
Revolution, and, in fact, the role of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in undermining
agriculture in Iran fueled much of the rebellion against him. To
insulate farmers from sanctions and protect them from the turmoil of the global
economy, Iran has relied on a mix of subsidies and tariffs on
agricultural imports. The United Nations has noted that Iran considers its goal of
self-sufficiency “a top national priority.”
“To keep national food security,
the Iranian government focuses on self-sufficiency policies, concentrates on
domestic production of food and other agricultural products, and encourages
productivity enhancement of basic inputs, particularly that of water,”
Bakhshoodeh tells LobeLog. “Moreover, the government supports
farmers with policies of guaranteeing purchases, expanding agricultural
insurances with significant coverage, and so on.”
Iran’s investment in agriculture
has yielded noticeable results, potatoes providing one example. Iranian
farmers cultivated 5,102,340 metric tons of potatoes in
2017, over five times as many as in 1979, the year of the Iranian Revolution.
Nonetheless, the country has a long way to go before it realizes
self-sufficiency. In 2017, Iranians imported 1.2 million metric tons of rice, 1.3
million of barley, and 9.5 million of corn, a sign that, while Iran has
lessened its reliance on other countries, recessions and sanctions can still
threaten its food security.
“Imports of agricultural products
have always been an obstacle to sustaining agriculture in Iran, and they may
cause farmers’ income to decrease,” notes Bakhshoodeh. “However, to ensure
greater food security, Iran allocates subsidized foreign exchange to importing
critical foods such as wheat and rice, promotes the optimum use of scarce inputs
in the agricultural sector, and relies on domestic production for the purpose
of food security.”
Anecdotal evidence suggests that
sanctions have already started to bite at agriculture and food security in
Iran. Earlier this year, Iranian officials banned the export of potatoes and onions to
guarantee a supply for the domestic market. In a more bizarre example,
Iranian-backed Syrian militias complain that Iran is feeding them less meat and
more potatoes because of sanctions.
“Iran is a net importer of
agricultural products, so it might be affected by foreign policies such as
sanctions,” says Bakhshoodeh. “It seems that the availability of food, a pillar
of food security, has not been seriously affected by the sanctions. However,
because of price increases, many poor households cannot afford enough food and
cannot easily buy as much food as they need in the long run. In general, the
dominance and traditional structure of Iranian agriculture prevents or at least
postpones the negative impacts of sanctions on the availability of food.”
Climate change and environmental
degradation have aggravated Iran’s difficulties. Droughts and floods—environmental issues compounded by global warming—affect farmland in
much of Iran, and the problem seems on track to grow far worse in the coming
years. On the World Resources Institute’s list of the world’s most
water-stressed countries, Iran ranks fourth. If Iran ever wants to end its
dependence on imported food, the country will have to overcome water scarcity.
“Given the problem of water
scarcity, achieving food security in Iran has been a big challenge,” says
Gholamreza Soltani, a professor of natural resource economics at Shiraz
University and the editor in chief of an academic journal on agricultural
economics. “Iran needs to import water to sustain the intensive agricultural
commodities necessary for achieving food security.”
Experts expect that, as Iran’s
economy deteriorates and environmental degradation worsens, Iran will have to
retool its agricultural and economic policies to depend less on imports.
“In the face of sanctions, Iran
must improve agricultural trade patterns to import water-intensive commodities
and export water-efficient ones,” Soltani tells LobeLog. “This
would result in the net import of virtual water, contributing to food
security.”
Though the recent reimposition of
sanctions has only renewed Iran’s
fervor for self-sufficiency in agriculture, guaranteeing the country’s food
security amid a financial crisis will likely demand a far more comprehensive
strategy. Much of Iran’s domestic policy has contributed to its problems with agriculture,
and sanctions are limiting Iranian officials’ ability to reform
their environmental policy. Even so, some scholars argue that Iran is coming closer to
accomplishing its agricultural objectives than it appears. For now, though,
food security remains a pressing challenge.
“The major issue with food
security is that food is becoming less affordable for the middle class,”
says Sina
Azodi, a foreign policy advisor at Gulf
State Analytics. “There is plenty of food available in stores, but
inflation has made [it] less affordable. Adding to the problem is that, as the
economy shrinks, people are losing jobs, and, thus, less food is getting to
their tables.”
Austin Bodetti studies the
intersection of Islam, culture, and politics in Africa and Asia. He has
conducted fieldwork in Bosnia, Indonesia, Iraq, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Oman,
South Sudan, Thailand, and Uganda, and his research has appeared in The Daily
Beast, USA Today, Vox, and Wired.
Indonesia agrees to import Indian rice & sugar to
push trade volume to $50 billion
The bilateral trade is
currently in favour of Indonesia and export of rice and sugar from India will
help to bridge trade deficit, ET has learnt.
By
, ET Bureau|
Sep 17,
2019, 12.23 PM IST
0Comments
Getty Images
This decision to import Indian rice and sugar is understood to have been
taken by Jakarta in the backdrop of India providing level playing field to
Indonesian palm oil by charging same duties on Malaysian palm oil.
NEW DELHI: SE Asia’s
biggest nation Indonesia has
decided to purchase rice and sugar from India — a move that will help to
reduce trade deficit between
the two sides and push trade volume
to $ 50 billion by 2025.
The bilateral trade is currently in favour of Indonesia and export of rice and sugar from India will help to bridge trade deficit, ET has learnt.
This decision to import Indian rice and sugar is understood to have been taken by Jakarta in the backdrop of India providing level playing field to Indonesian palm oil by charging same duties on Malaysian palm oil.
On September 16 the Embassy of India, Jakarta, in partnership with the Ministry of Trade of Government of Indonesia, jointly hosted a Multi Product Road Show, focusing on exports of Bovine Meat, Rice and Sugar from India to Indonesia.
The event attended by 40 member trade promotion delegation led by Paban Kumar Borthakur, Chairman of the Agricultural Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) (an apex body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India). The business delegation of APEDA comprised of senior representatives of Indian Agro Industry from key commodities of rice, sugar and bovine meat.
During the first leg of the visit to Jakarta, a B2B meeting session was held, which was followed by a Business Seminar on 16th September, which was inaugurated by Enggartiasto Lukita, Minister of Trade, Indonesia. It was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesian meat producers/importers associations, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), State Procurement/Logistics Agencies (Bulog, PT Berdikari and PT PPI), private import houses and retailers, apart from the Media.
Ambassador of India Pradeep Kumar Rawat in his opening address reiterated the target of $ 50 billion set for bilateral trade, to be achieved by 2025 and urged the participant companies of both countries to explore means to diversify trade basket through focused items such as bovine meat, sugar and rice. In his inaugural address at the event, Lukita expressed the hope that the multi product road show would lead to greater synergies in trade between the two sides.
During the visit to Jakarta, the APEDA delegation also had discussions with Director General of Foreign Trade of Indonesian Ministry of Trade, Bulog & Pt Berdikari (State Owned Procurement Agencies of Indonesia), and AGRI (Indonesian Refined Sugar Association).
Bilateral trade between India and Indonesia during 2018-19 was $ 21.11 bn and in the context of achieving the target of $ 50 billion set by the leaders of both countries, the visit of APEDA led business delegation to Indonesia is aimed at exports of Buffalo Meat, Rice and Sugar into Indonesian market.
The bilateral trade is currently in favour of Indonesia and export of rice and sugar from India will help to bridge trade deficit, ET has learnt.
This decision to import Indian rice and sugar is understood to have been taken by Jakarta in the backdrop of India providing level playing field to Indonesian palm oil by charging same duties on Malaysian palm oil.
On September 16 the Embassy of India, Jakarta, in partnership with the Ministry of Trade of Government of Indonesia, jointly hosted a Multi Product Road Show, focusing on exports of Bovine Meat, Rice and Sugar from India to Indonesia.
The event attended by 40 member trade promotion delegation led by Paban Kumar Borthakur, Chairman of the Agricultural Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) (an apex body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India). The business delegation of APEDA comprised of senior representatives of Indian Agro Industry from key commodities of rice, sugar and bovine meat.
During the first leg of the visit to Jakarta, a B2B meeting session was held, which was followed by a Business Seminar on 16th September, which was inaugurated by Enggartiasto Lukita, Minister of Trade, Indonesia. It was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesian meat producers/importers associations, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), State Procurement/Logistics Agencies (Bulog, PT Berdikari and PT PPI), private import houses and retailers, apart from the Media.
Ambassador of India Pradeep Kumar Rawat in his opening address reiterated the target of $ 50 billion set for bilateral trade, to be achieved by 2025 and urged the participant companies of both countries to explore means to diversify trade basket through focused items such as bovine meat, sugar and rice. In his inaugural address at the event, Lukita expressed the hope that the multi product road show would lead to greater synergies in trade between the two sides.
During the visit to Jakarta, the APEDA delegation also had discussions with Director General of Foreign Trade of Indonesian Ministry of Trade, Bulog & Pt Berdikari (State Owned Procurement Agencies of Indonesia), and AGRI (Indonesian Refined Sugar Association).
Bilateral trade between India and Indonesia during 2018-19 was $ 21.11 bn and in the context of achieving the target of $ 50 billion set by the leaders of both countries, the visit of APEDA led business delegation to Indonesia is aimed at exports of Buffalo Meat, Rice and Sugar into Indonesian market.
