With Trump vote in mind, Japan yields on beef but
protects its rice
Motegi and Lighthizer to finalize
trade deal details ahead of next week's summit
RINTARO
TOBITA and ALEX FANG, Nikkei staff writers
SEPTEMBER
21, 2019 04:18 JST
Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, who is also president of the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party, eats rice from local supporters in Fukushi
ma during the 2017 lower house
election campaign. © Reuters
ma during the 2017 lower house
election campaign. © Reuters
TOKYO/NEW
YORK -- Japan will not offer the U.S. tariff exemptions for rice in their
soon-to-be-signed trade deal, Nikkei has learned.
The exemptions would have been granted under the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade agreement, and the decision not to offer them this time marks
a different approach by Tokyo than for beef.
Japan is ready to compromise on beef, reflecting political
considerations on both sides as the clock ticks toward a final bilateral trade
deal.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who has led Japan's
negotiating team, will work out the remaining details on the home turf of U.S.
Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. President Donald Trump and Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe are set to sign the deal this coming Wednesday in New York
on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Tokyo's calculations seem closely aligned with the American
electoral map. Tokyo is driving a harder bargain on rice than it did with the
TPP, which Washington withdrew from after Trump took office. The U.S. would
have been able to export up to 70,000 tons a year of rice tariff-free under the
TPP, but Japan does not plan to include a zero-tariff allowance in this trade
deal.
For Trump, seeking a second term in the 2020 election, there is
more to gain from low-tariff beef exports to Japan than from rice, which will
likely make the trade-off easier to accept.
Most U.S. rice production is concentrated in the South -- home
to Republican leader Trump's key support base. But short-grain rice, the most
commonly consumed type in Japan, is almost exclusively grown in the heavily
Democratic-leaning state of California.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds
up "Make Our Farmers Great Again!" caps as he departs from the
White House in 2018. © Reuters
Japan is the top export market for the state's rice, according
to the Rice Growers Association of California. Yet the industry's size relative
to the state's economy, coupled with a liberal political atmosphere in
California that is unlikely to shift in 2020, makes its rice exports to Japan
low on Trump's agenda.
Meanwhile, Trump in 2016 won eight of the 10 states with the
most cattle -- among them Texas, which alone accounts for 13% of the country's
cattle inventories.
Motegi, along with new Agriculture Minister Taku Eto and Trade
Minister Isshu Sugawara, met Friday to confirm Tokyo's approach to the last few
days of negotiations. The two countries reached an accord on the broad outlines
of a deal in late August, with an eye toward signing a final version at this
month's meeting.
The tougher terms for rice, a politically sensitive crop, aim to
get Japanese farmers on board with substantial tariff cuts elsewhere.
The deal is expected to roughly follow the TPP terms on beef and
pork on Japan's side. The current 38.5% duty on U.S. beef would be lowered in
phases to 9% in April 2033 for about 90% of imports.
The tariff on low-grade pork would fall to 50 yen (46 cents) per kilogram from
the current 482 yen, with the 4.3% levy on higher-quality pork being phased
out.
Washington, meanwhile, is seen expanding its low-tariff
allowance for imports of Japanese beef. The current system includes a separate
quota for Japanese beef, letting in 200 tons per year with a duty of 4.4 cents
per kilogram. Under the new deal, Japan will be added to a broader framework
alongside Australia and other trading partners, which permits a total of 64,000
tons in imports per year at the same rate.
"We could export more than 3,000 tons a year with nearly
all of it in the low-tariff allowance," a Japanese source familiar with
the discussions said.
One of Tokyo's main concerns at this point is putting to rest
fears about Trump's long-standing threats to impose tariffs on auto imports
from Japan and elsewhere on national security grounds. Such a move could do
real damage to the nation's auto industry.
"At a summit in September last year, Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe received direct assurance from President Trump that there will be no
additional tariffs on Japanese automobiles," Motegi told Nikkei on
Wednesday. "I hope to reconfirm this at the final negotiations for a
bilateral trade deal."
At last September's summit, the two sides said in a joint
statement that they would "refrain from taking measures against the spirit
of" the document. The Japanese side intends to seek another such pledge at
the upcoming meeting.
The language may largely resemble the previous statement,
setting limits rather than shielding Japan from tariffs indefinitely.
Tokyo has also asserted that it will not accept auto export caps
like those included in the revamped North American Free Trade Agreement and is
urging Washington to make clear in some way that it will not take such steps
with Japan.
Negotiations are expected to continue on the removal of U.S.
tariffs on auto parts. The current deal is believed to scrap duties on a wide
range of other industrial goods.
Agriculture dep’t to at least double tariffs on
imported rice to help local farmers
Published Sep 21, 2019 9:31:13 AM
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines,
September 21) – The
Department of Agriculture said it will at least double tariffs on imported rice
in a move to ease the situation of local farmers suffering from low prices of
their produce.
“We have to holistically and
systematically protect the consuming public and much more, the farmers,"
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said in a statement. "So I have taken
the necessary steps and the direction where we will enforce legal messures to
at least double the current tarrif of 35 percent during these times when we
have greatly exceeded the volume needed to fill up the slack in national rice
supply," Dar added.
In an earlier statement, he said
the DA will release by the end of the month an order raising duties on rice
from Southeast Asian countries to 75 percent from the current 35 percent while
tariff on imported rice from other countries will be increased to 100 percent
from 50 percent.
Dar's succeeding statement
removed reference to the numbers except to say that the current 35 percent
tariff will at least be doubled. It also said another option is to impose
stringent sanitary and pythosanitary and inspection measures on rice imports.
He said the DA will protect
farmers by not allowing additional imports especially this main harvest season
and so that they can benefit from the respectable farmgate prices of palay set
by the government through the National Food Authority.
Asked for an explanation, Dar
told CNN Philippines that the earlier statement was "recast" because
they are still discussing the numbers.
The agriculture chief noted that
there is an oversupply of rice in the country following the implementation of
the rice tariffication act, a measure that opened the country to rice imports.
Farmers have been complaining
that the deluge of imports has caused a plunge in prices of unmilled rice or
palay, while a lawmaker blames natural disaster.
Dar said the government imported
2.4 million metric tons of rice in February 2019 and this is beyond what
is needed by this country.
The move to increase tariffs is
in line with the Anti-Dumping Act of 1999 wherein anti-dumping duties are
imposed on imports which the government determines to be priced below fair
market value, the statement added.
The DA said that the country
produces 93 percent of its rice supply. The remaining rice requirement for the
Filipino food staple is sourced abroad.
According to a Philippine
Statistics Authority data, as of the second week of August 2019, the average
farmgate price of palay was ₱17.62 per kilogram, lower than the ₱22.28 per kg
in the same period last year.
This translates to a decline of
about 21-percent. The production cost of unmilled rice is around ₱12.
To address this, the DA said two
weeks ago that it will 'flood' markets with more than 3 million bags of
National Food Authority (NFA) imported rice for a month. The measure aims to
bring the down rice prices by ₱2 per kilo and raise the support price for palay
from ₱17 to ₱19.
Grains in the Rain
-September
20, 2019
Of the major food crops, only
rice is currently able to survive flooding. Thanks to new research, that could
soon change — good news for a world in which rains are increasing in both
frequency and intensity.
The research, published today
in Science, studied how other crops compare to rice when submerged in
water. It found that the plants — a wild-growing tomato, a tomato used for
farming and a plant similar to alfalfa — all share at least 68 families of
genes in common that are activated in response to flooding.
Rice was domesticated from wild
species that grew in tropical regions, where it adapted to endure monsoons and
waterlogging. Some of the genes involved in that adaptation exist in the other
plants but have not evolved to switch on when the roots are being
flooded.
“We hope to take advantage of
what we learned about rice in order to help activate the genes in other plants
that could help them survive waterlogging,” says study lead Julia
Bailey-Serres, a University of California, Riverside, professor of genetics.
In the study, the team examined
cells that reside at the tips of roots of the plant, as roots are the first
responders to a flood. Root tips and shoot buds are also where a plant’s prime
growing potential resides. These regions contain cells that can help a plant
become more resilient to flooding.
Drilling down even further, the
team looked at the genes in these root tip cells, to understand whether and how
their genes were activated when covered with water and deprived of oxygen.
“We looked at the way that DNA
instructs a cell to create particular stress response in a level of
unprecedented detail,” says one of the lead researchers, UC Riverside’s
Mauricio Reynoso.
“This is the first time that a
flooding response has been looked at in a way that was this comprehensive,
across evolutionarily different species,” adds study co-author Siobhan Brady,
an associate professor of plant biology at UC Davis.
The genes involved in flooding
adaptations are called submergence up-regulated families (SURFs). “Since
evolution separated the ancestors of rice and these other species as many as
180 million years ago, we did not expect to find 68 SURFs in common,” says
co-author Neelima Sinha, professor of plant biology at UC Davis.
The study was an international
collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research
Program. Researchers from UC Davis, as well as Emory, Argentina’s National
University of La Plata and Netherland’s Utrecht University participated.
While UC Riverside researchers
conducted flooding experiments and analysis of rice plant genomes, scientists
at Davis did the same with the tomato species while the alfalfa-type plant work
was done at Emory.
Though the SURFs were activated
in all the plants during the flooding experiments, their genetic responses
weren’t as effective as in rice. The wild tomato species that grows in desert
soil withered and died when flooded.
Climate change also produces
periods of excessive drought, and separate efforts are under way to examine
crop resilience to those conditions as well. However, Bailey-Serres said
flooding responses are understudied compared to drought, making this work all
the more important.
The group is now planning
additional studies to improve the survival rates of the plants that currently
die and rot from excess water.
This year is not the first in
which excessive rains have kept farmers from being able to plant crops like
corn, soybeans and alfalfa. Floods have also damaged the quality of the crops
they were able to grow. As the climate continues to change, this trend is
likely to continue. Without efforts to ensure our crops adapt, the security of
the world’s food supply is at risk.
“Imagine a world where kids do
not have enough calories and nutrients to develop,” says Bailey-Serres.
“We as scientists have an urgency to help plants withstand floods, to ensure
food security for the future.”
Source: UC Riverside
Advances
in Hybrid Technology Boost the Adoption of Hybrid Rice Seeds in Asia
One of the biggest breakthroughs in
modern agriculture is the breeding and adoption of hybrid rice seeds. Hybrid
rice seeds are primarily produced by combing two variants of rice to obtain
higher yield. Further, hybrid rice seeds also exhibit higher resistance to
pests and have improved ability to withstand harsh climate conditions.
Thus, hybrid rice seeds are widely used by farmers across
the major rice producing nations in Asia including India, China, Philippines,
Vietnam and more. However, one of the issues with hybrid crops is that the
seeds are unable to produce plants with the same qualities. Thus, farmers have
to invest in new seeds every year which puts significant financial burden on
the farmers. Thus, there was a noteworthy increase in the number of research
activities towards tackling the aforementioned problems put forward by hybrid
rice seeds.
Scientific Breakthroughs Reduce
Financial Burden on Farmers
As farmers were compelled to buy
new hybrid rice seeds annually, farming with hybrid seeds proved to be an
expensive process. However, in 2018, scientists struck gold when a technique to
clone hybrid rice seeds was discovered. Scientists from France and the US
modified a hybrid variant of Rice Japonica to enable the production of cloned
seeds in some plants. Thus, owing to this step forward, farmers can re-plant
the seeds from the hybrid plants in their farm and gain higher yields every
year without having to purchase new hybrid rice seeds that are expensive. In
addition, one of the researchers working on the project has expressed that the
discovery has the potential to revolutionize the agricultural landscape in the
future. In addition, this seed production approach enables the plant to clone
itself without fertilization – which does not affect quality. Further,
this technique is likely to be applicable for a range of other crops including,
millets, corn, wheat and barley among others. The research team is focusing on
maximizing the efficiency of this technique to ensure its adoption moves in an
upward trajectory in the upcoming years.
Improving Food Security with
Hybrid Rice Seeds
Natural disasters cause tremendous
damage to human lives, infrastructure, agriculture, and various other verticals
of life. In addition, natural disasters including, earthquakes, floods, pose as
a constant threat to the production of rice and thus, food security is pivotal.
Hybrid rice seeds have emerged as one of the most efficient methods to secure
food for the future. In addition, as more than 50% of the global population
relies on rice, a dent in its production cycle could affect the well-being of millions
of people worldwide. Further, it is critical to ensure that the production of
rate of rice is in sync with the growing rate of population. However, as the
area of cultivable land is not accelerating at the required pace, food security
is a growing concern. Hybrid rice seeds are expected to improve food security
owing to an enhanced yield of nearly 15-20% in comparison with the traditional
inbred rice variants. Another major factor that is likely to drive the
prospects of hybrid rice seeds in the upcoming years is its capacity to
withstand hostile weather conditions. Moreover, hybrid rice seeds are tolerant
to floods, low-temperature, drought, and salinity among others. Thus, owing to
the exceptional aforementioned properties of hybrid rice seeds, its adoption
has witnessed a healthy growth in nations including, China, Vietnam, and India.
To know more about this market,
request a sample@https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8182
Scientists create first portrait of a
Denisovan by analysing chemical changes to DNA
The ancient hominins shared many traits with Neanderthals: Low
foreheads and wide rib cages, an elongated face and a wide pelvis; but differed
in the structure of jaw and skull
By DTE Staff
Last
Updated: Friday 20 September 2019
An artist’s impression of a young female
Denisovan, based on skeletal traits derived from chemical changes to ancient
DNA. Photo: Maayan Harel
Scientists have for the first
time restructured Denisovans' skeletal features, using DNA methylation
(chemical changes), to understand how the long–lost human relative looked
like, the Nature reported.
A team of computational
biologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found Denisovans shared
Neanderthal’s facial features, but had a wider jaw and skull.
Until now, only bone fragments
and teeth of were discovered from Siberia’s Denisova Cave, which was likely
occupied by the ancient humans from more than 200,000 years ago to around
50,000 years ago. Earlier this year, researchers discovered a jawbone from the Tibetan Plateau and
a human like finger.
However, these fossils were not large or complete enough for scientists
to reconstruct their facial features.
In the study, a team co-led by
Liran Carmel and David Gokhman, identified differences in methylation patterns
of Denisovans and Neanderthals from those of modern humans.
“It does help to paint a clearer
picture of how they might have looked. Just the idea that it’s possible to use
the DNA to predict morphology so well is very impressive,” said Bence Viola, a
palaeoanthropologist at the University of Toronto in Canada who has analysed
Denisovan remains, but was not involved in the research.
An artist's impression of
Neanderthal. Photo: Michael Smeltzer, Vanderbilt University
The team used DNA data from two
Neanderthals, five ancient and 55 present-day humans, and five chimpanzees, in
addition to the Denisovan finger bone, according to the study published in the
journal Cell.
The results identified 56
anatomical features in which Denisovans differed from modern humans and/or
Neanderthals. Of these 34 features differed in the skull: They had wide heads
and long dental arches — a potential adaptation for big teeth.
The researchers also found that
the ancient hominins shared many traits with Neanderthals — low foreheads and
wide rib cages, an elongated face and a wide pelvis.
However, their fingertip was
slender like humans’, not thick like the Neanderthal fingers, the Nature reported.
According to researchers, the
novel approach could have wide range of potential applications. They can help
predict traits, such as behaviour, that do not leave an impression in the
fossil record.
Myanmar to export 10,000 bags of rice to China in a
few days
A rice wholesale center in Mandalay
PUBLISHED 20 SEPTEMBER 2019
MIN LATT
Mandalay – Mandalay Rice Development Company (MRDC) had an
agreement with a company from China to export 100,000 tons of rice under border
barter system and 500 tons (over 10,000 bags of rice) will be exported to China
in a few days time, said its managing director Sai Kyaw.
“We will export rice to China this month and they are ready to be
sent next week. We planned to send 500 tons initially to learn about the
advantages and disadvantages to send rice officially. I think their country had
high demand of rice. So they offered us to buy rice from us. If the delivery of
the 500 tons of rice is convenience, we will export more rice,” he said.
China agreed to export fertilizers, iron and steel products,
construction materials, electronic appliances and farm machinery with five per
cent discounts. People and companies who want to import the above mentioned
materials, can contact the MRDC.
Traders are targeting to cooperate with importers and exporters to
export rice and import goods and machinery from China to create a win-win
situation.
Nigeria: Border Closure Positive
for Economy - Emefiele
20 SEPTEMBER 2019
By James Emejo
Abuja — The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr.
Godwin Emefiele Thursday expressed appreciation to the federal government for
the recent border closure, noting that it had yielded positive results for the
economy, particularly agriculture.
Speaking at a crucial meeting with state governors on how to
collaborate towards making their respective states economically viable through
agriculture, at the CBN headquarters in Abuja, he said though the apex bank had
tried its best to curtail smuggling of rice by blocking bank accounts, the
closure of the borders had proved to be a game-changer.
He said: "Our story in rice production has yielded positive
results. At this point it really fit to thank and commend the federal
government for the border closure.
"Whereas at the CBN we have been doing everything possible
through blocking of accounts and all that to restrict smuggling of rice into
the country, but we think the border closure has resulted in very good result
for all of us and I will give you an example."
According to Emefiele, prior to the closure, about two rice millers
had approached him "and said they had about 30,000 metric tonnes each. All
of these had large quantities of processed rice in their warehouses that they
needed to be purchased but they were not being purchased because of the
incidence of smuggling."
He said:"One week after the border was closed, these
millers came back and said that all the rice in their warehouses had all been
purchased and that in fact, they were even stopping people from paying monies
into their accounts because they can't meet demand again.
"That is a good example. What are we doing through this -
it is creating jobs for our people. We need to support any efforts that would
create jobs and avoid exporting jobs to other countries."
This is as virtually the state governors, who were led to the
meeting by Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Governor of Ekiti
State, Mr. Kayode Fayemi, all commended Emefiele for an uncommon passion
towards the revival of key sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture.
Emefiele had managed to exact commitments from the state chief
executives particularly in the area of yielding land for agriculture
cultivation.
It was an evening of encomiums for the apex bank boss as the
governors took their turns to commend his unprecedented stewardship to the
country.
They all promised to provide all the needed support for the
smooth running of the CBN intervention programmes in their respective states.
For those who were already on board of the popular anchor
borrower programme (ABP), the governors vowed to expand it while those who were
yet to join also made commitments to be involved going forward.
Also present at the meeting were governors of Lagos, Jigawa,
Anambra, Zamfara, Bauchi, Imo, Benue, Borno, Kebbi, Ogun, Adamawa and Gombe and
Sokoto states.
However, Fayemi, while commending the CBN governor, pointed out
that agriculture remained the way to go if the country must make any headway-
and expressed joy that more states have decided to latch on to the CBN
intervention scheme to repositioning their state economy amidst the present
fiscal challenges.
Governor of Jigawa State, Mr. Muhammadu Badaru thanked Emefiele
adding that "the passion I have seen is enough for me to write a
book."
Program tests resilience of rice in frigid, salty soil
2019-09-20
10:04:19China DailyEditor : Li Yan
A
technician collects rice seedlings for transfer to a salinity test field at the
Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center.
(Photo/Xinhua)
A
rice breeding program aimed at testing the resilience of rice strains that can
grow in salty, frigid soil at high elevations was launched this week in the
northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
The
program, unveiled in a national agricultural park in Tieli city on Wednesday,
is the country's first to test experimental rice species that are tolerant of
saline-alkaline land-also known as saltwater rice-in frosty environments in
Northeast China, according to the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research
and Development Center.
"Previous
trial planting in parts of Heilongjiang province covered about 0.67 hectares at
most. The new program now covers 2 hectares and is expected to expand
significantly in the future," said Li Jiming, deputy director of the
research center based in Shandong province.
Currently,
the average annual output of saltwater rice varieties planted in salty land in
Northeast China stands at about 3.75 metric tons per hectare, Li said. It is
generally acknowledged that a new strain of rice attains market potential if it
can yield more than 4.5 tons per hectare, agricultural experts have said.
By
applying these varieties to the harsh conditions in Tieli, which is situated
between the alkalized stretches of Songnen Plain and the snowcapped Lesser
Khingan Mountain, Li said the program is intended to breed and select a few
strains that demonstrate the highest yields and resilience.
"Freezing
temperatures will be a major impediment to our cultivation," he
said."Rice seedlings die out quickly as soon as frost develops on their
stalks."
According
to Li, there are about 2.7 million hectares of saline-alkaline land in
Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, the three major grain-producing
areas in China, and 4 million hectares of such land in Inner Mongolia
autonomous region.
"The
breeding program is expected to provide valuable experience for overall rice
farming in these regions," he said.
As
the climate shifts and a growing population strains arable land, Chinese
agricultural scientists have been striving to tap into unused land resources
and develop innovative ways to produce food.
Research
into rice strains that can grow in saline-alkaline soil began in the late 1980s
in China. As of recently, the center in Shandong province has established eight
trial planting bases across different types of salty land in five
provincial-level regions across China, covering a total of 1,333 hectares of
salty land
New study opens the door to flood resistant
crops
Date:September
19, 2019
Source:University
of California - Riverside
Summary:Of
the major food crops, only rice is currently able to survive flooding. Thanks
to new research, that could soon change -- good news for a world in which rains
are increasing in both frequency and intensity.
Share:
FULL STORY
Of the major food crops, only
rice is currently able to survive flooding. Thanks to new research, that could
soon change -- good news for a world in which rains are increasing in both
frequency and intensity.
The research, newly published
in Science,
studied how other crops compare to rice when submerged in water. It found that
the plants -- a wild-growing tomato, a tomato used for farming and a plant
similar to alfalfa -- all share at least 68 families of genes in common that
are activated in response to flooding.
Rice was domesticated from wild
species that grew in tropical regions, where it adapted to endure monsoons and
waterlogging. Some of the genes involved in that adaptation exist in the other
plants but have not evolved to switch on when the roots are being flooded.
"We hope to take advantage
of what we learned about rice in order to help activate the genes in other
plants that could help them survive waterlogging," said study lead Julia
Bailey-Serres, a UC Riverside professor of genetics.
In the study, the team examined
cells that reside at the tips of roots of the plant, as roots are the first
responders to a flood. Root tips and shoot buds are also where a plant's prime
growing potential resides. These regions contain cells that can help a plant
become more resilient to flooding.
Drilling down even further, the
team looked at the genes in these root tip cells, to understand whether and how
their genes were activated when covered with water and deprived of oxygen.
"We looked at the way that
DNA instructs a cell to create particular stress response in a level of
unprecedented detail," said one of the lead researchers, UC Riverside's
Mauricio Reynoso.
"This is the first time that
a flooding response has been looked at in a way that was this comprehensive,
across evolutionarily different species," added study co-author Siobhan
Brady, an associate professor of plant biology at UC Davis.
The genes involved in flooding
adaptations are called submergence up-regulated families (SURFs). "Since
evolution separated the ancestors of rice and these other species as many as
180 million years ago, we did not expect to find 68 SURFs in common," said
co-author Neelima Sinha, professor of plant biology at UC Davis.
The study was an international
collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research
Program. Researchers from UC Davis, as well as Emory, Argentina's National
University of La Plata and Netherland's Utrecht University participated.
While UC Riverside researchers
conducted flooding experiments and analysis of rice plant genomes, scientists
at Davis did the same with the tomato species while the alfalfa-type plant work
was done at Emory.
Though the SURFs were activated
in all the plants during the flooding experiments, their genetic responses
weren't as effective as in rice. The wild tomato species that grows in desert
soil withered and died when flooded.
Climate change also produces
periods of excessive drought, and separate efforts are under way to examine
crop resilience to those conditions as well. However, Bailey-Serres said
flooding responses are understudied compared to drought, making this work all
the more important.
The group is now planning
additional studies to improve the survival rates of the plants that currently
die and rot from excess water.
This year is not the first in
which excessive rains have kept farmers from being able to plant crops like
corn, soybeans and alfalfa. Floods have also damaged the quality of the crops
they were able to grow. As the climate continues to change, this trend is
likely to continue. Without efforts to ensure our crops adapt, the security of
the world's food supply is at risk.
"Imagine a world where kids
do not have enough calories to develop," said Bailey-Serres. "We as
scientists have an urgency to help plants withstand floods, to ensure food
security for the future."
Story Source:
Materials provided
by University of
California - Riverside. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.
Journal Reference:
1.
Mauricio
A. Reynoso, Kaisa Kajala, Marko Bajic, Donnelly A. West, Germain Pauluzzi,
Andrew I. Yao, Kathryn Hatch, Kristina Zumstein, Margaret Woodhouse, Joel
Rodriguez-Medina, Neelima Sinha, Siobhan M. Brady, Roger B. Deal, Julia
Bailey-Serres. Evolutionary flexibility in flooding response
circuitry in angiosperms. Science, 2019; 365 (6459): 1291
DOI: 10.1126/science.aax8862
Cite This Page:
University of California - Riverside. "New study opens the
door to flood resistant crops." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 September
2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190919142253.htm>.
Posted at: Sep 20, 2019, 7:58 AM; last updated: Sep 20, 2019,
8:00 PM (IST)
Scientists identify 340 genes to develop
salt-tolerant paddy
If
all works out as per plan, the CSSRI will develop the first salt-tolerant paddy
through the direct gene transfer method
Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Karnal, September 19
Tribune News Service
Karnal, September 19
The Central Soil
Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) has identified 340 genes from halophytes
plants (salt-tolerant grass found in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat) to develop
salt-tolerant varieties of paddy.
Now, CSSRI
scientists have started the process to transfer the suitable gene into
high-yielding paddy varieties for developing salt-tolerant varieties with the
help of National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack, Odisha, and Indian
Agricultural Statistical Research Institute, New Delhi.
Earlier, the CSSRI had development 10
salt-tolerant varieties of paddy, five each of wheat and mustard, and one of
gram, but all were developed with the conventional breeding method.
A salt-tolerant
land race variety, Pokkali, is already available, but has tolerance at seedling
establishment stage and can be grown in only coastal areas. This variety is
also used as one of the parents for developing new salt-tolerant variety
through the conventional method.
“If all works out as per plan, CSSRI scientists
will be able to develop the first salt-tolerant paddy variety through the
direct gene transfer method,” said Dr PC Sharma, Director, CSSRI.
The gene
transfer method will help in reducing the time taken for the development of
salt-tolerant variety from seven to eight years in the conventional breeding
method to three years in molecular approaches (gene transfer), he added.
The Director
said the salt-affected soil was a big challenge which reduced crop
productivity. The institute has already reclaimed around 3.5 lakh hectares of
salt-affected soil in the state so far, while around 3.1 lakh hectares is yet
to be reclaimed, for which the CSSRI has been working.
Dr Anita Mann,
senior scientist and project in charge, said: “Keeping in mind the problem of
salinity, we have started work by adopting the biotechnological method, which
is more effective and time saving, on ‘potential gene mining from salt tolerant
grasses for improvement of salt tolerance in crops’ project funded by National
Agricultural Science Fund in 2017.”
“Based on the
achievements of the project, we organised a three-day training programme
recently in which participants from several institutes were made aware of the
project’s achievements,” she added.
Crop Progress Report:
Missouri
By Rance Daniels
HORNERSVILLE, MO -- It has been an
interesting rice growing season so far. It all started with an extremely wet
fall and harvest, which in turn put us behind this spring with little to no
field prep done for planting. When spring did come, it seemed the wet weather
cycle was stuck on repeat. We would get a couple of days to get field prep work
done and as much planted as we could, and then it would rain. All throughout
spring, we worked hard for 2 to 3 days and then got a week or so out of the
field because of wet weather. We finally finished planting the crop the first
week of June, so the rice spread out from the first of April to the first of
June planting dates. The abundance of rain continued all the way up until about
10 days ago.
According to Missouri rice farmer
Zach Worrell, this season's rain hindered both spraying and fertilizing in a
timely manner. "It was an expensive crop overall, grassy in some fields
due to lack of field prep because of last fall's wet harvest. The lack of grass
control increased populations of rice stinkbugs. Some fields were sprayed
twice, which is unusual in Missouri. Harvest has found early April plantings
yields to be lower than mid-April and later planting dates."On the bright
side, all this rain led to lower water pumping cost on our rice acres.
Harvest is in full swing now that most everyone has started. The
yields at this point are just average to a little below, and acreage is down
roughly between 20 and 30 percent from last year. The weather so far has been
great, and the 10-day outlook is good. We'd like to see it stay dry until at
least Thanksgiving. This week we have rolled up poly pipe off our earliest
planted row rice fields and have laid poly pipe on some bean fields that are
just now needing to be irrigated.
Harvest is in full swing now that most everyone has started. The
yields at this point are just average to a little below, and acreage is down
roughly between 20 and 30 percent from last year. The weather so far has been
great, and the 10-day outlook is good. We'd like to see it stay dry until at
least Thanksgiving. This week we have rolled up poly pipe off our earliest
planted row rice fields and have laid poly pipe on some bean fields that are
just now needing to be irrigated.
Despite all the rain earlier this
year, hopefully we will all be able to remember the 2019 harvest season for
perfect weather and smooth and efficient rice production from the field.
Market Informatio
Cook-off highlights SW
La. rice industry
Area students compete for bragging rights
·
·
Sep
19, 2019
Annual Rice
Cook-Off
Cal Cam Rice Growers Association and the Port of Lake
Charles hosted their annual NRM-Rice Cook Contest on Wednesday to showcase area
students and their rice cooking talents at the Port of Lake Charles in Lake
Charles, La., Wednesday, Sept.18, 2019. (Rick Hickman/Lake Charles American
Press)
The Cal-Cam Rice Growers
Association and the Port of Lake Charles held their 22nd annual National Rice
Month Rice Cook-Off Contest for area students from Calcasieu, Cameron and South
Beauregard parishes. More than 20 students advanced to the final competition
held at the port office, aiming to win bragging rights, prizes and cash.
The event is designed to promote
the area's rice industry, which is comprised of nearly 30 farmers and mills,
said Adam Habetz, Cal-Cam Rice Growers Association.
"September is National Rice
Month. As rice producers, in conjunction with the month, we hold the cook-off
for the area kids to promote rice, get them to cook more of it and have it
around the house more," he said.
The Port of Lake Charles is a
major contributing factor to the region's successful rice industry, Kane Webb,
USA Rice Federation field services director, said. Rice from local mills like
Supreme Rice and Farmers Rice as well as mills from Southeast Texas are shipped
worldwide from the port.
In fact, a large supply was being
loaded for Iraq during Wednesday's competition, Webb said.
"It's a huge aspect for the
economy overall and the agricultural economy especially in Southwest
Louisiana," he said.
In addition to jobs generated at
farms, mills and the port, last year Louisiana's rice industry
"contributed a gross farm value right at $280 million for the state,"
Webb said.
Sara Ellis, Bell City High School
teacher, said her students participate annually in the competition. She said
she views the event as a hands-on approach to teaching the impact of
agriculture on a rural economy.
"Those kids pass every day
rice fields on their way to school... This is how the majority of people around
here are making their living. I just try to relate it back to them in that way
to help them see the importance," she said.
All participants in the
competition received a rice cooker from Farmers Rice Mill, a bag of recipes and
cooking utensils and first- through third-place winners received a cash prize:
Danon Jackson, Moss Bluff Middle School, first place, seafood risotto;
Zachariah Bleichroth, Vinton High School, second place, green rice casserole;
and Paige Laughlin, Starks High School, third place, cozy cocoa rice pudding;
Makala Snyder, Johnson Bayou High School, "Heart Healthy," bayou
stuffed bell peppers.
S. Korea
remains cautious over whether to maintain developing-nation status
SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- South
Korea remains cautious over whether to stick to its special and differential
treatment under the World Trade Organization as the United States pushes to
reform the global trade body.
South Korea has been keeping
developing country status since 1995 mainly to protect its sensitive
agriculture industry, especially rice.
Hong Nam-ki, the minister of
economy and finance, said South Korea needs to "fundamentally" review
whether it can maintain the status in the future, saying other developing
countries are taking issue with South Korea's status.
"A very cautious approach is
needed" Hong said in a meeting with officials at a government in central
Seoul. He said South Korea will take into account national interest, its
economic status and economic impact when it decides whether to keep the status.
Hong Nam-ki (R), the minister of
economy and finance, speaks in a meeting with officials at a government in
central Seoul on Sept. 20, 2019. (Yonhap)
1 of 2
The comments came as U.S. President
Donald Trump is seeking to overhaul the rules of the Geneva-based trade body to
make sure that self-declared developing countries do not take advantage of the
benefits that come with the status.
The U.S. has proposed that the WTO
strip countries of developing country status if they meet certain criteria --
being members of Group of 20 advanced economies; being members of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); being high-income
countries as classified by the World Bank and taking up at least 0.5 percent of
total global trade.
South Korea meets all four of the
criteria, which could undermine its efforts to maintain its status
In July, Trump named South Korea,
Mexico and Turkey as countries claiming developing-country status even though
they are members of both the G-20 and the OECD, a group of 36 mostly rich
nations.
Trump also said if no substantial
progress is made in overhauling the WTO rules by mid-October, the U.S. will no
longer treat as a developing country any WTO member Washington says is not one.
The issue of the developing country
privileges is also about future multilateral negotiations, meaning that South
Korea's agricultural subsidies and its agricultural tariffs won't be affected
even if Seoul decides to forgo the status.
Currently, South Korea imposes a
513-percent tariff on imported rice for quantities outside the quota of 409,000
tons of annual rice imports from the U.S. and four other countries under the system
of tariff-rate quotas meant to provide minimum market access.
Hong said South Korea is in the
final stages of negotiations with the U.S., China, Australia, Thailand and
Vietnam over rice tariff, though he did not provide any further details.
Government data showed 54 percent
of the 1 million South Korean farming households grow rice, a staple food for
Koreans.
South Korea paid 8.2 trillion won
(US$6.87 billion) in agricultural subsidies to farmers out of the 11.49
trillion won available in 2015, the latest year for which statistics are
available.
South Korea's total agricultural
subsidies largely depend on the value of agricultural output in a given year
and the ceiling hovers around 11.49 trillion won.
entropy@yna.co.kr
(END)
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190920001800320(END)
House probes rice cartels, smuggling
Jess
Diaz (The Philippine Star) - September 20, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The House of
Representatives will look into reports of rampant rice smuggling and the
existence of cartels that control the procurement, importation and sale of the
basic staple.
House Resolution No. 332, filed by
party-list group Magsasaka, prompted the investigation.
Other groups belonging to the
leftist Makabayan bloc proposed the passage of a supplemental budget of P15
billion to help farmers affected by low palay prices.
The proposal, contained in a
resolution, followed the filing of a similar measure by House members belonging
to the Liberal Party for the allocation of available funds amounting to P13
billion for farmers.
Assistant minority leader Magsasaka
Rep. Argel Joseph Cabatbat told the weekly Party-list Coalition forum yesterday
that despite the unregulated importation of rice under a new law, cartels
continue to smuggle the staple.
“Rice smuggling and cartels do not
only deny the government of revenue but also put poor Filipino families on the
edge of hunger and poverty,” Cabatbat said.
He said the law liberalizing rice
importation provided that imports are levied a 35-percent tariff, but this has
not benefited consumers and farmers.
“Rice prices remain high, while
palay prices have fallen to record lows,” he said.
Cabatbat said the House would begin
its inquiry after passing the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020.
“Imported rice entering the country
through legal and illegal means continue to flood the local market, depriving
the government of billions in taxes and killing our rice farmers as well,” he
said.
He said cartels and traders control
the sale of imported rice in the market to keep prices high, while offering low
prices for the farmers’ palay produce.
P15-billion supplemental budget for NFA
Under the Makabayan resolution, the
P15 billion would be given to the National Food Authority (NFA) to enable the
agency to buy palay at P20 a kilo and sell the same as rice at P27 to prop up
the price of palay and force down retail prices of rice.
The Liberal Party version would
authorize the government to use P13 billion for cash grants to farmers.
The supplemental fund for the NFA
being pushed by lawmakers will help the agency procure at least 750,000 metric
tons of palay from local farmers, NFA administrator Judy Dansal said.
“It will favor the NFA if that will
be granted,” Dansal said. “We can buy more volume of palay and serve more
farmers.”
Local farmgate prices of palay have
been dropping since the implementation of the Rice Tariffication law in March.
Based on figures from the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the average price of palay fell 4.4
percent to P16.68 per kilo as of end-August.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar
echoed Dansal’s sentiments, saying the additional P15-billion budget would help
with the procurement of palay from local farmers.
“This will help the NFA buy more
palay,” he said.
Palay price up
Farmers said the Department of
Agriculture (DA) should ensure that palay prices would not go down further
when it releases large volume of rice in the market.
Dar announced that the DA would
bring down rice prices to P27 per kilo by flooding the market with 3.6 million
bags of rice and increase palay price to P19 from P17 per kilo for clean and
dry.
The NFA set Oct. 10 as a
deadline to dispose of the 3.6 million sacks of rice in its warehouses.
“It took the DA almost a month
before deciding to release the rice that is equivalent to 10 days of stock.
Since farmers will harvest early this September-October, the DA might use it as
an excuse not to buy palay from farmers,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
chairman Danilo Ramos said.
With the higher buying price for
palay, the NFA removed the add-on incentive payments to farmers.
Chona Maramba, NFA Western
Pangasinan assistant manager, said the agency would buy dry and clean
palay at a higher price of P19 per kilo, but the cash incentive would be
dropped.
She said the production cost of
palay is around P12 per kilo and with the new buying price, farmers will earn
P7 compared to P5.
The old incentive scheme includes
payment of P3 per kilo as buffer stock fee, P0.20 for drying, P0.20 for delivery
and additional P0.30 as cooperative development fee for qualified recipients.
Cash grants
Deputy Speakers Mikee Romero of
1-Pacman and Mujiv Hataman of Basilan proposed that rice farmers be included in
the government’s cash transfer program.
Romero said the cash assistance
would allow farmers suffering from low palay prices to recoup part of their
losses.
He said billions in revenues from
rice imports could be used to beef up funding for the program.
Last week, the NFA Council agreed
to fix the buying price for clean and dry palay with 14 percent moisture
content at P19 per kilo and wet palay with 30 percent moisture content at P14
per kilo.
It is one of two measures approved
by the council to cut down the retail prices of rice and sustain its local
palay-buying operations.
The NFA Council also resolved to
flood Metro Manila and other markets nationwide with 3.6 million 50-kilogram
bags of rice, making up NFA’s old imported stocks valued at P4.86 billion.
Proceeds from the sale of old stocks can be used to procure palay from
farmers. – With Catherine Talavera, Rhodina
Villanueva, Eva Visperas
UPDATE 1-Thai August exports slump as
strong baht adds to trade war woes
SEPTEMBER 20, 2019Orathai Sriring,
Satawasin Staporncharnchai
3 MIN READ
* Aug exports fall 4% y/y, even with
gold boost
* Rice exports plunge 45% y/y,
deepest fall since mid-2012
* Strong baht hurt farm shipments -
official
* Baht is Asia’s top performing
currency this year (Adds detail, comments)
By Orathai Sriring and Satawasin
Staporncharnchai
BANGKOK, Sept 20 (Reuters) -
Thailand’s exports plunged in August, as the strength of the baht hit its key
commodity shipments, adding to the woes caused by escalating global trade
tensions.
Exports, a key driver of Thai growth,
fell 4% in August from a year earlier, worse than a forecast 2% fall, despite a
378% surge in gold exports. Excluding volatile gold, exports would have slumped
9.8%.
In July, annual exports unexpectedly
rose 4.28%, distorted by unusually high gold shipments.
Officials and exporters blamed the
fall on the baht, Asia’s best performing currency this year, which hit its
highest levels in over six years against the dollar.
“The baht makes our products more
expensive than others’,” commerce ministry official Pimchanok Vonkorporn told
reporters. Rice exports were a particular concern, he said.
Thailand, the world’s second biggest
rice exporter, saw rice exports slumping 45% in August from a year earlier, the
biggest contraction since mid-2012. Shipments of tapioca slipped 25% and rubber
dropped 7.2% last month.
The strong baht has been a major
challenge for Thailand’s export-reliant economy, which grew just 2.3%, the
weakest annual pace in nearly five years, in the second quarter.
The government has repeatedly
expressed its concern about the baht’s strength.
The currency has appreciated 6.8%
against the dollar this year, sustained by Thailand’s hefty current account
surplus, which the state planning agency predicts at 5.9% of gross domestic
product this year.
In trade weighted terms, Thailand’s
nominal effective exchange rate was the highest since 1997.
“The baht is quite a big worry for
us,” said Supant Mongkolsuthree, head of the Federation of Thai Industries.
The government has urged firms to
exploit the strong baht by importing machines and capital goods for investment.
But imports in August fell 14.6% from
a year earlier, with electrical machines down 17.6% and raw materials down 28%.
Thailand had a trade surplus of $2.05 billion last month.
In August, annual exports of cars and
car parts fell 12.6%, while electronics dropped 10.5%, also hit by the trade
tensions.
Exports to China, Thailand’s biggest
market, fell 2.7% in August year-on-year, while those to the United States rose
5.8%.
Pimchanok said it would be difficult
to achieve the ministry’s export growth target of 3%.
In the January-August period, exports
dropped 2.19% from a year earlier while imports declined 3.61%. ($1 = 30.46
baht)
Additional reporting by Kitiphong
Thaichareon Editing by
Pangasinan farmers get P5-M worth of machinery,
equipment
By
Hilda Austria September
21, 2019, 2:32 pm
EQUIPMENT FOR FARMERS. Farmer-beneficiaries inspect
the tractor they received from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) 1
(Ilocos region) in Sta. Maria, Pangasinan on Friday (Sept. 20, 2019). A total
of 2,535 farmers in Pangasinan will benefit from the PHP5 million worth of
machinery and equipment from DAR-1. (Photo courtesy of Enzo Austria
Jr.)
STA. MARIA, Pangasinan -- About 2,535 farmers in
Pangasinan received PHP5.076 million worth of farm machinery and equipment from
the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) 1 (Ilocos region) on Friday.
Director of DAR-1, engineer Leandro
Caymo, said in an interview Friday that the recipients were agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs) and non-ARBs from the six districts of the province.
Distributed to the farmers were
five cultivator/tiller worth more than PHP1.3 million; 14 irrigation water
pumps worth more than PHP1.2 million; one 4WD tractor worth more than PHP1.2
million; and five rice transplanters worth more than PHP1.1 million, Caymo
said.
The distribution, he said, was made
under the climate-resilient farm productivity support program and agrarian
reform community connectivity and economic support services project.
“The farmers are given the
machinery and equipment for them to adopt or be resilient to the effects of
climate change, such as the El Niño phenomenon among others, as we also wanted
to lower the cost of their production by farm mechanization equipment,” Caymo
said.
The DAR, he said, is almost done in
the distribution of lands among farmer-beneficiaries, hence it is now focusing
on services and assistance to the ARBs.
“We only have 900 hectares left in
Region 1 for distribution. Right now, we are into assisting our ARBs with legal
needs and also with services to further enhance their production,” Caymo said.
In his speech before the farmers,
he asked them to take care and make use of the machinery and equipment they
have received from DAR.
Isidro Soriano, 71, a farmer,
thanked the DAR for the grant.
“We are grateful because this will
be a big help to us. It is really hard to find farm workers nowadays and it is
also costly,” Soriano said. (PNA)
As per
Haryana’s policy for 2018, by the end of September millers had to return entire
67% of the custom milled rice (CMR) from the paddy procured
Sep 20,
2019, 06.23 PM IST
BCCL
Millers have also been seeking a downward revision in the CRM they have to
deliver and higher milling charges.
CHANDIGARH: Haryana’s
paddy custom milling policy for 2019 is set to give millers a month more to
return part of the dehusked rice
to government agencies, according to an official, accommodating one of several
demands of millers who are finding it tough to stick to timelines.
Paddy dehusked at the mills is packed and transported to collection centres or railway stations, from where they are moved to government agencies. As per Haryana’s policy for 2018, by the end of September millers had to return entire 67% of the custom milled rice (CMR) from the paddy procured. Of this, 40% had to come in by March 31.
An official of Haryana Food and Supplies department, who did not wish to be named, said these mills are likely to get a month more to return up to 40% of CMR.
For some time now, mill owners have been complaining that they find it difficult to meet the delivery timelines due to the higher moisture levels in paddy and the hectic process of paddy procurement.
“Mills are far stretched for timely delivery as paddy procurement process is cumbersome in the months of October and November. Moreover, millers need time for drying the high moisture levels,” the official said, adding that Haryana’s mills had delivered almost the entire CMR for the previous season.
Every state has a paddy custom milling policy which it reviews annually. While Punjab has announced its policy, Haryana is set to do so before October 1, the start of the current paddy procurement season. The two states are home to the largest rice mills in the country.
Millers have also been seeking a downward revision in the CRM they have to deliver and higher milling charges.
“The mills are forced to procure paddy with high moisture levels due to pressure from government and rising competition among millers. It leads to rise in breakage and millers had been incurring loss of margin in the recent years,” said a miller based in Kaithal.
Most rice mills are in the country are in trouble due to the high cost of milling. Most of their earnings come from rice bran, husk and broken rice, produced during the processing. But now millers are anxious that the income from husk could dwindle as the National Green Tribunal had targeted industrial boilers in the National Capital Region for using biomass.
Paddy dehusked at the mills is packed and transported to collection centres or railway stations, from where they are moved to government agencies. As per Haryana’s policy for 2018, by the end of September millers had to return entire 67% of the custom milled rice (CMR) from the paddy procured. Of this, 40% had to come in by March 31.
An official of Haryana Food and Supplies department, who did not wish to be named, said these mills are likely to get a month more to return up to 40% of CMR.
For some time now, mill owners have been complaining that they find it difficult to meet the delivery timelines due to the higher moisture levels in paddy and the hectic process of paddy procurement.
“Mills are far stretched for timely delivery as paddy procurement process is cumbersome in the months of October and November. Moreover, millers need time for drying the high moisture levels,” the official said, adding that Haryana’s mills had delivered almost the entire CMR for the previous season.
Every state has a paddy custom milling policy which it reviews annually. While Punjab has announced its policy, Haryana is set to do so before October 1, the start of the current paddy procurement season. The two states are home to the largest rice mills in the country.
Millers have also been seeking a downward revision in the CRM they have to deliver and higher milling charges.
“The mills are forced to procure paddy with high moisture levels due to pressure from government and rising competition among millers. It leads to rise in breakage and millers had been incurring loss of margin in the recent years,” said a miller based in Kaithal.
Most rice mills are in the country are in trouble due to the high cost of milling. Most of their earnings come from rice bran, husk and broken rice, produced during the processing. But now millers are anxious that the income from husk could dwindle as the National Green Tribunal had targeted industrial boilers in the National Capital Region for using biomass.
