Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- December 04, 2019
DECEMBER 4, 2019 / 3:29 PM
* * * * * *
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-December 4, 2019 Nagpur,
Dec 4 (Reuters) – Gram prices reported strong again in Nagpur Agriculture
Produce and Marketing Company (APMC) here on good buying support from local
millers amid weak supply from producing regions. Notable rise on NCDEX, upward
trend in Madhya Pradesh pulses and repeated enquiries from South-based millers
also jacked up prices. About 150 bags of gram reported for auction, according
to sources.
GRAM
* Desi gram prices recovered in open market here on renewed buying
support from local
traders.
TUAR * Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market here on subdued
demand from local
traders amid ample stock in ready position.
* Wheat Lokwan variety repored down in open market here on poor
demand from local
traders amid good supply from producing belts.
* In Akola, Tuar New – 5,600-5,800, Tuar dal (clean) – 8,400-8,600,
Udid Mogar (clean)
– 9,200-10,700, Moong Mogar (clean) 8,600-9,500, Gram –
4,350-4,400, Gram Super best
– 6,200-6,400 * Other varieties of wheat, rice and other foodgrain
items moved in a narrow range in
scattered deals and settled at last levels in thin trading
activity.
Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100
kg
FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close
Gram Auction 3,710-4,175 3,550-4,080
Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction n.a. 4,750-5,200
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 2,000-2,125 2,000-2,120
Wheat Sharbati Auction n.a. 2,900-3,000
Gram Super Best Bold 5,900-6,100 5,900-6,100
Gram Super Best n.a. n.a.
Gram Medium Best 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800
Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a
Gram Mill Quality 4,350-4,400 4,350-4,400
Desi gram Raw 4,350-4,400 4,300-4,350
Gram Kabuli 8,500-10,000 8,500-10,000
Tuar Fataka Best-New 8,400-8,600 8,400-8,600
Tuar Fataka Medium-New 8,000-8,200 8,000-8,200
Tuar Dal Best Phod-New 7,600-7,800 7,600-7,800
Tuar Dal Medium phod-New 7,000-7,400 7,000-7,400
Tuar Gavarani New 5,500-5,600 5,500-5,600
Tuar Karnataka 6,000-6,100 6,000-6,100
Masoor dal best 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800
Masoor dal medium 5,300-5,400 5,300-5,400
Masoor n.a. n.a.
Moong Mogar bold (New) 9,000-9,800 9,000-10,000
Moong Mogar Medium 8,000-8,500 8,000-8,700
Moong dal Chilka New 7,500-8,500 7,600-8,500
Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki best 8,500-9,500 8,500-9,500
Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 9,500-11,000 9,500-11,000
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 8,500-9,200 8,500-9,200
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 6,600-7,200 6,600-7,200
Mot (100 INR/KG) 6,400-7,500 6,400-7,500
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 4,800-5,000 4,800-5,000
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 8,800-10,000 8,800-10,000
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,450 2,350-2,450
Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 2,250-2,350 2,250-2,350
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,800 2,700-2,800
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,650-2,750 2,700-2,850
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,600 2,400-2,650
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,400-4,200 3,400-4,200
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200
Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,500 2,400-2,500
Rice BPT best new (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,600 3,000-3,600
Rice BPT medium new(100 INR/KG) 2,700-3,000 2,700-3,000
Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,100 3,000-3,100
Rice Swarna best new (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,800 2,600-2,800
Rice Swarna medium new (100 INR/KG)2,400-2,500 2,400-2,500
Rice HMT best new (100 INR/KG) 3,800-4,000 3,800-4,000
Rice HMT medium new (100 INR/KG) 3,600-3,800 3,600-3,800
Rice Shriram best new(100 INR/KG) 4,500-5,000 4,500-5,000
Rice Shriram med new (100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,400 4,200-4,400
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 8,500-13,500 8,500-13,500
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,500 5,000-7,500
Rice Chinnor best new 100 INR/KG) 5,300-5,500 5,300-5,500
Rice Chinnor medium new(100 INR/KG)5,000-5,200 5,000-5,200
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. 30.9 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 16.1 degree Celsius Rainfall :
Nil FORECAST: Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperature likely to be
around 30 degree Celsius and 15 degree Celsius respectively. Note: n.a.—not
available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices,
but included in market prices)
From All Corners of the World
Dec 04, 2019
Researchers are scouring the
globe to sample the wild relatives of modern crops in a bid to protect genetic
diversity, NPR reports.
So far, the Crop Trust — which
includes about a hundred scientists from more than two dozen countries — has
gathered some 4,600 seed samples from 371 wild relatives of key crops,
according to NPR. These crops include lentils, potatoes, chickpeas, and rice,
it adds. NPR also notes that collecting these samples can be treacherous, as
many of these plants are found in remote regions, including spots that are also
home to leeches or tigers.
But the researchers note that
these wild relatives could help domesticated crops survive. For instance, the
University of Costa Rica's Griselda Arrieta Espinoza, who was part of the team
that collected samples of the wild rice Oryza glumaepatula from a
river where crocodiles live, tells NPR that O. glumaepatula is resistant
to a fungus that has plagued domesticated rice and could be crossed with those
crop breeds.
This "natural reservoir of diversity ... has allowed plant
breeding to attempt to keep pace with the demands of the growing human
population," Steven Tanksley, a professor emeritus of plant breeding at
Cornell University who is not part of the project, tells NPR. But he notes that
this took millions of years to evolve and "when you lose it, you really
can't repeat that process."
Scientists hunt wild relatives of food crops to bolster defences
Author:
AFP|Update: 04.12.2019 00:01
Humans have domesticated wild
plants for some 10,000 years to provide food but in doing so they have bred out
many of their natural defences, leaving them -- and us -- potentially exposed /
© AFP/File
Scientists have been on a global
search for the wild relatives of our food crops, hoping to bolster their
defences against disease and climate change, a study showed Tuesday.
Humans have domesticated wild
plants for some 10,000 years to provide food but in doing so they have bred out
many of their natural defences, leaving them -- and us -- potentially exposed.
"We live in an
interdependent world. No single country or region harbors all of the diversity
that we need," said Chris Cockel, coordinator of the Crop Wild Relatives
project at the Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank.
"A wild relative of one of
these crops, in the Americas, Africa or Asia, cold be the source of say, pest
resistance, which can benefit all of us in the future," Cockel said in the
report.
The high yields sought by humans
have come at the cost of less genetic diversity which typically makes plants
more susceptible to pests, diseases and the sort of extreme climatic conditions
brought about by global warming and development.
By going back to the original
source plants of some 28 foods -- for example, of rice, potatos, oats,
groundnuts -- researchers collected as wide a variety of seeds as possible in
25 countries to fill in the gaps in existing gene banks.
"We are looking to capture
as much diversity as possible... populations separated by even a few kilometres
(miles) may be genetically quite different," said Luigi Guarino, Director
of Science with the Crop Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to
promoting crop diversity.
The MSB at Kew Gardens, home to
the Royal Botanic Society, has so far distributed nearly 3,300 samples of 165
species as a result of the project.
"Many countries have now
realised how important crop wild relatives are -- and what an invaluable source
they are for breeders," Cockel said.
The most well known seed storage
project is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault where nearly a million samples are
now stored deep within the ice some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the North
Pole.
It aims to house a collection of
as many seeds as possible as an insurance against the loss of other seed banks
around the world.
Extreme weather could wipe out
crucial food crops. So 100 scientists spent 6 years hunting for the plants'
hardier wild cousins.
Members
of the International Potato Center (CIP) gene bank show a selection of recently
collected fruit from four different potato wild relatives. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
- As
carbon emissions rise and the planet warms, domesticated crops like rice
and wheat are losing
nutritional value, and climate disasters are putting
harvests and farmland at risk.
- Scientists
keep seeds from important crops locked in seed
vaults, but most vaults lack seeds from the wild
relatives of important crops.
- Those
wild cousin plants may be more adaptable to changing climates and could
one day be used to mitigate food insecurity around the world.
- So
an international non-profit called the Crop Trust scoured 25 countries to
find 371 wild relatives of plant species like potatoes, rice, and carrots.
- Visit
Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
In case
a catastrophe hits, seeds from most plant species are locked safely in vaults
deep within the Earth — a kind of agricultural insurance policy.
But a
group of researchers is convinced this insurance doesn't quite cover all our
bases.
According
to an international non-profit called the Crop Trust, many seed vaults lack
seeds from the wild cousins of domesticated crops, including some species of
wild rice, lentils, potatoes, and carrots.
These
wild crop relatives could be crucial in the effort to make the world's food
system more resilient to climate change. Already, some domesticated crops are
faltering in the face of extreme temperatures and drought. Those crops' wild
cousins, however, could hold the genetic key to increasing their hardiness.
So for
the last six years, more than 100 Crop Trust scientists have been scouring the planet
for seeds.
The
scientists traveled to 25 countries to find these species, according to
a report the
non-profit released on Tuesday.
All
told, the scientists collected more than 4,600 seed samples from 371 species of
plants — many of which are endangered— related to 28 globally important crops.
"We
have made incredible progress tracking down crop wild relatives that could hold
the key to food's survival," Marie Haga, the outgoing executive director
of the Crop Trust, said in a press release. "But there is more to be done,
and as threats to the world's biodiversity mount, this work is more urgent than
ever."
Here's
what the six-year quest looked like.
Seeds vaults and seed banks around the world
store back-up seeds for all major food crops.
A
researcher puts away a jar of seeds in in the Millennium Seed Bank vault, an
international conservation project coordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew,
England. Crop
Trust
These
vaults are the most important agricultural safeguard in the world.
The largest seed vault in the world,
the Global Seed Vault, holds more than 983,500 seed samples.
The
Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Longyearbyen, Norway. AP Photo/John McConnico
The Crop
Trust oversees the vault in partnership with the Norwegian government.
According to the non-profit,
seeds
from almost every country in the world are housed there, and the vault is the
"ultimate insurance policy for the world's food supply."
The idea is that in the event of a global
disaster, people from anywhere in the world should be able to withdraw seeds
for crops that they'd need to re-grow.
Two
researchers in the Millennium Seed Bank vault. Crop Trust
Seed
vaults also preserve the genetic diversity of available food crops, storing as
many plant varieties as we can find.
But
according to Crop Trust researcher Nora Castañeda-Álvarez, some of these seed
banks lack crucial samples.
"We
found chinks in the armor of the global food system: Many important species
were entirely absent from these collections or were seriously underrepresented
in them," she said in a release. "We needed an urgent rescue mission
to find and safeguard as many crop wild relatives as possible."
The problem is that as climate change alters
precipitation patterns and increases the frequency and intensity of severe
weather, it will become more challenging to grow enough food for the world's
population.
A
collection of domesticated, wild, and "intermediate" (a genetic
combination of wild and domesticated) eggplants on display at the Universitat
Politècnica in Valencia, Spain. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
Extreme
weather events like storms and heat waves act as "triggers or
stress-multipliers" on food prices and food security, Cynthia Rosenzweig,
a co-author of a recent
report from
the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said.
What's more, increased carbon-dioxide levels in
the atmosphere lower the nutritional value of food staples like rice and wheat.
Samples
of recently collected wild relatives of the potato plant are displayed at the
Embrapa Clima Temperado headquarters in Brazil, June 8, 2018. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
Research
has shown that growing these crops in environments with
higher levels of carbon dioxide decreases their concentrations of protein,
zinc, and iron.
That's a
dire threat for the 821 million people who are already undernourished
worldwide.
Currently,
76% of the world's population derives most of its daily protein from plants,
which is why researchers expect climate change to catalyze a global food
crisis.
A recent report warned that global agricultural
production will drop by one-third if farmers do not immediately start planting
crops that are resilient to climate change.
A
seed collector looks at the fruit of a wild potato relative in Ecuador's
Llanganates National Park on November 10, 2017. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
According
to the Crop Trust, domesticated crops — which are often the result of genetic
tweaking — lack the genetic make-up necessary to stand up to severe conditions
like heatwaves, temperature extremes, and wildfires.
The wild relatives of staple crops are generally
hardier than their domesticated counterparts.
A
plant conservation practitioner collects wild seeds in Uganda. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
"If
we are to feed a growing population, we need to make our food crops more
resilient. And crop wild relatives can help breeders develop new
'climate-proof' varieties," Haga said.
Some wild varieties of staple crops have
developed tolerance to heat and drought, and defense systems that protect them
from pests and diseases.
A
sample of wild and hybrid alfalfa plants collected in Inner Mongolia, China,
July 10, 2018. LM
Salazar for the Crop Trust
"These
wild plants ... hold the genetic diversity which breeders will need to improve
those crops so we can feed 9 billion people with nutritious food," Hannes
Dempewolf, senior scientist and the head of global initiatives at the Crop
Trust, said in a press release.
So Haga, Dempewolf, and more than 100 other
scientists from the Crop Trust spread out across the globe in search of wild
crop relatives.
Seed
collector Lenin Rosero from Ecuador searches for Solanum colombianum, a potato
wild relative, in the country's Cayambe-Coca National Park. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
Over the
course of six years, the researchers visited 25 countries.
They tracked down 371 wild relatives of 28
staple crops.
A
staff at Embrapa Clima Temperado in Brazil examines a wild potato
relative. LM
Salazar for the Crop Trust
These
crops included wild bananas, lentils, chickpeas, potatoes, sorghum, and
carrots.
They collected 4,644 seed samples.
A
collection of sorghum seeds that were collected by Sudan's Agricultural
Research Corporation. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
All
told, the scientists spent a collective 2,973 days in the field.
After
the collected seeds are dried, scientists clean them to remove unwanted dust
and debris.
''Cleaning
is what takes the longest. Then, there's the x-raying, the counting, the
banking, and the germination testing," Janet Terry, seed collection
manager at the Millennium Seed Bank, said.
In
Nepal, seed collectors had to travel by elephant to ward off Bengal tigers and
aggressive rhinos.
Seed
collectors from the Nepal Agricultural Research Council ride an elephant's back
to cross a muddy stream in Nepal. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
"The
expeditions were not a walk in the park," Dempewolf said. "They were
perilous at times, and physically demanding, with heat, dust, sweat and danger
from wild animals — from blood-sucking leeches to tigers."
The seed collectors' stories from the field
often sounded like scenes from an Indiana Jones movie, Dempewolf added.
Members
of the Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Agrícolas collecting team search the
slopes of Guatemala's Huehuetenango forest for wild potatoes. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
In
Ecuador, during a group's fourth attempt to find an elusive type of wild rice,
they had to wear shin-high plastic boots with metal tips to protect their legs
from venomous snakes.
In Central America, collectors tracked down
wild potatoes, beans, and rice.
Seed
collector Lenin Rosero searches for a rice wild relative, on the banks of
Ecuador's Napo River. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
In
total, researcher collected 332 samples of wild rice from 12 countries.
They also collected 131 samples of nine
different banana species found deep in the forests of Malaysia, Nepal, and
Vietnam.
Plant
conservationists at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development
Institute headquarters in Kuala Lumpur extract seeds from banana wild relatives
collected in the field. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
In the
past, collectors could easily find wild bananas. Now, they have to venture
deeper into the disappearing rainforests of southeast Asia and collect them
before monkeys eat them.
The bananas we eat today are particularly
vulnerable to disease outbreaks.Seed
collectors from Malaysia, Pakistan, and Vietnam hunt for banana wild relatives.
LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
Since
the 1940s, a fungus called Panama disease has destroyed countless banana
plantations. In August, Colombian authorities declared a state of emergency
after a strain of the disease arrived in the country.
According
to Crop Trust scientists, the banana's wild cousins could help breeders develop
varieties resistant to this fungus and other diseases, as well as
drought.
But some of the wild species that the
scientists hoped to find are already gone.
Seed
collectors hunt for a wild relative of barley high in the Chilean Andes. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
Despite
crop relatives' resilience, deforestation and urban development are
cutting into wild plant species' habitats, causing extinctions.
In some Costa Rican fields, seed collectors had
once found wild rice. Now those areas hold tilapia ponds or have been razed to
make room for sugarcane plantations.
In
Costa Rica's Guanacaste province, researchers Marcela Turcios (left) and
Griselda Arrieta from the University of Costa Rica collect a rice wild relative
that is considered a weed by farmers. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
In the
Maule region of Chile, a fire destroyed 4,000 hectares, including the habitat
of a wild form of barley. Determined collectors only managed to collect one
sample from that species.
But for the most part, the Crop Trust team
succeeded in its quest.
Plant
conservationists from eight African countries met in Uganda in 2014 to learn
how to properly extract seeds from fleshy fruit collected in the field. LM Salazar for the Crop Trust
The
4,644 samples collected include a carrot relative that grows well in salty
water, an oat wild relative resistant to mildew, and the difficult-to-find wild
variety of the Bambara groundnut.
The collected seed samples have been added to
multiple banks around the world.
Rows
of boxes containing seed samples sit inside the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard,
Norway. AP
Photo/David Keyton
They are
also now available to breeders and farmers everywhere.
Researchers at the University of California,
Davis and other institutions are now working to cross-breed wild and domestic
species.
At a
University of California, Davis greenhouse, scientists are cross-breeding wild
and cultivated chickpeas. Doug Cook
Crossing
wild relatives with their domesticated counterparts may help breeders develop
new, resilient crop varieties that are better able to adapt to temperature
extremes and climate unpredictability.
UPDATE
1-IRAQ OUTLINES 2020 WHEAT IMPORT GOAL, SAYS PROTESTS NOT DISRUPTING CARGOES
12/4/2019
(Adds details, background)
BAGHDAD, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Iraq, a major Middle East grain
importer, said on Wednesday it planned to purchase 750,000 tonnes of wheat from
abroad in 2020 and said nationwide protests that have extended to a key port
were not disrupting shipments so far.
Iraq needs between 4.5 million and 5 million tonnes of wheat a
year to supply its food rationing programme. It mixes local wheat with grain
from Australia, Canada and the United States.
"This is within our planning budget," Hassanein
al-Zubaidi, the new head of the Iraq Grain Board, told Reuters, referring to
the target of importing 750,000 tonnes of wheat next year.
Zubaidi, who took up the post as head of the state grain buyer in
October, said Iraq had 1.2 million tonnes of strategic wheat reserves, enough
to last three months.
Zubaidi replaced Naeem al-Maksousi a week after the eruption of
protests against the government and demanding an end to corruption. Protests,
in which nearly 400 demonstrators have been killed, have spread to the Gulf
port of Umm Qasr.
But Zubaidi said on Wednesday shipments were offloading normally.
"We don't currently have problems in discharging rice and wheat from
vessels in Iraqi ports," he said. Umm Qasr receives imports of grain,
vegetable oils and sugar shipments to a nation largely dependent on imported
food.
Zubaidi said Iraq, which had a two-month strategic reserve of
rice, signed a contract to import 120,000 tonnes of Vietnamese rice last week.
The country's rice purchases from local farmers were expected to
reach 667,000 tonnes this season, he said.
The grain board, which falls under the Trade Ministry, holds
regular international tenders to import wheat and rice for the rationing
programme that covers flour, cooking oil, rice, sugar and baby milk formula.
The programme was first created in 1991 to combat U.N. economic
sanctions. (Reporting by Moayed Kenany; Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by
Mark Potter and Edmund Blair)
Peasant
Farmers urge gov’t to be committed to 2022 ban on imported rice
Rice Being imported
The Peasant Farmers Association of
Ghana (PFAG) has asked government to exhibit ample commitment if it really
wants to ban rice importation by 2022.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which made the announcement in November
just when a national conversation about local rice production was underway,
says the move is aimed at strengthening local rice farmers to produce for
domestic consumption and export.
Speaking to Citi Business News ahead of Friday’s Farmers’ Day Celebration, the
Head of Programmes and Advocacy of the Peasant Farmers Association, Charles
Nyaaba, said even though the Association would have preferred an immediate ban
on rice imports, it wants to see practical steps being taken to implement the
2022 ban.
Farmers’ Day: ‘There is nothing to celebrate’ – Farmers' association
jabs ahead of ‘big day’
Source: Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor |
george.nyavor@myjoyonline.com
Date: 04-12-2019 Time: 10:12:45:am
The
Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has said it would be ridiculous for
its members to observe this year’s Farmers’ Day celebrations when most of them
are battling with post-harvest losses and lack of market.
For
PFAG, “there is nothing to celebrate when some members are still counting on
their losses,” the association that represents the majority of smallholder
farmers in Ghana said in a press release issued on Wednesday.
PFAG,
however, commended government for setting aside a day to appreciate farmers’
role in the growth and development of the country.
In
the press release issued on Wednesday ahead of this year’s Farmers’ Day
celebrations on December 6, 2019, PFAG also congratulated all smallholder
farmers, especially those who will be awarded prizes at the local lev
This
year’s Farmers’ Day celebrations is themed: “Enhancing Small Scale Agriculture
towards Agribusiness Development.”
PFAG
said while it fully supports the government’s ban on the importation of rice by
2022 and other food crops that can be produced in Ghana, it wants government to
remain committed to the plan.
“Adopting
Nigeria’s food importation ban concept [immediate ban] will not only help to
reduce Ghana’s import bill but create employment opportunities in Ghana and
stabilize the cedi would as well as put smiles on the faces of smallholder rice
farmers. Concrete measures need, therefore, to be put in place to commence a
ban on imports such as a reduction in 2020 rice imports,” said PFAG.
Read the full PFAG release below.
Press Release by Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana on the 35th
Farmers Day Celebration
Accra,
Date:
4th December, 2019
Message of Solidarity to Smallholder Farmers in Ghana
The
Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) on the occasion of the 35th
Farmers’ Day Celebration wishes to once more commend the government of Ghana
for setting aside a day to appreciate the contribution of farmers to the growth
and development of the country.
As
the nation celebrates its 35th edition of farmers’ day under the theme:
“Enhancing Small Scale Agriculture towards Agribusiness Development”, PFAG
congratulates all smallholder farmers especially those who will be awarded
prices at the local level.
Unfortunately,
however, critical issues on the eve of this celebration have taken the spirit
off the year’s theme. Smallholder rice farmers who are keen in agribusiness are
apprehensive and despondent as the rice they produced during the last crop
season lies waste and possibly to the vagaries of harmattan bush fires.
Farmers
are confronted with a lack of access to combine harvesters, lack of storage and
exploitation by traders who have taken advantage of the desperate situation.
The National Food Buffer Stock is on record in November 2019 to have publicly
announced plans to mop up the surplus rice by providing minimum guarantee
prices to farmers which never materialized leaving the rice farmers to their
fate.
It
is worrying and would be ridiculous to members of PFAG who represent a majority
of smallholder farmers in Ghana to observe the nations’ holidaying and
rejoicing in celebrating of farmers when most of PFAG members are suffering
from postharvest losses and lack of market. For PFAG, “there is nothing to
celebrate when some members are still counting on their losses”
Ghanaian
farmers have proven their ability to produce enough rice to meet domestic
consumption. This is manifested by the drastic increase in rice production in
2019 of which greater quantities still remain unharvested due to lack of
harvesting equipment and guaranteed market. Unfortunately, only 34 per cent of
Ghanaians consume Ghana rice while 680, 000 tonnes of rice costing $500 million
is imported annually.
The
PFAG believes that the high appetite for imported rice has significantly
contributed to rice millers lacking market for Ghana rice leading to the
current rice glut in Northern Ghana. This phenomenon if not addressed with the
urgency it deserves, could worsen the poverty situation of smallholder farmers
and a majority of rural people who still rank as the poorest in the country and
thereby negatively impacting on the successes the nation chalked in recent
times on the campaign against poverty and food insecurity.
PFAG
RECOMMENDATIONS TO GOVERNMENT
1 While
PFAG fully supports the pronouncement by government to ban the importation of
rice by 2022 and other food crops that can be produced in Ghana, PFAG calls for
a show of commitment of the pronouncement by stringent concrete steps to be put
in place as PFAG would rather wish for an immediate ban and not wait until
2022. Adopting Nigeria’s food importation ban concept will not only help to
reduce Ghana’s import bill but create employment opportunities in Ghana and
stabilize the cedi would as well as put smiles on the faces of smallholder rice
farmers. Concrete measures need, therefore, to be put in place to commence a
ban on imports such as the reduction in 2020 rice imports.
2
Institutional purchase of local rice by all government institutions such as the
school feeding programme, free SHS, the military and para institutions.
3 Government
should mandate all banks to increase their loan portfolio with low-interest
rate on agriculture. There should be flexible procedures for smallholder
farmers to be able to access these loans.
4
Increase budget allocation and subsidies for combine harvesters, rice mills and
rice packaging materials.
5
Explore new technologies to address aflatoxin and other post-harvest challenges
in rice production.
6
Bring storage facilities closer to rice farming areas by first completing the
One District One Warehouse programme, commission the completed ones and set up
temporary cocoons in the communities.
7
Ensure timely release and distribution of good quality fertilizer and seeds to
rice farmers as well as ensuring that, stringent measures are taken to curb
smuggling of same.
Finally,
PFAG thanks His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his commitment to developing Ghana through agricultural
modernization by introducing the “Planting for Food and Jobs” which supports
farmers with fertilizer and seeds and reduce the burden on access to
inputs. PFAG is highly optimistic that the above concerns raised would be
given the urgent attention they deserve.
Long
live Ghana, long live the peasant farmer who continues to toil to put food on
the table of Ghanaians.
The
Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), is an apex membership base and
Non-partisan organization in Ghana with the mandate to advocate for pro-poor
agriculture and trade policies that affect the livelihoods of smallholder
farmers.
For
any clarification, contact the following numbers:
Signed
by: Abdul- Rahman Mohammed (National President and Board Chairman of PFAG)
CC: The Minister, MoFA
Palayan City holds answers for farmers’ woes
amid deluge of imports
SUSTAINING AGRICULTURE. For five years now,
the city government of Palayan brings farmers together for an annual congress
where they interact with government officials and experts. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA,
Philippines – Officials seeking solutions to the impact of falling prices of
palay, or unhusked rice, on farmers’ incomes amid a deluge of imports may find
answers in a city in Nueva Ecija that has been helping improve farmers’ lives
by making agriculture work for people instead of the other way around.
Relief for
farmers reeling from the impact of open importation of rice is emerging from
Palayan City, which has recently received a P152 million grant from the World
Bank, through the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), which is being
overseen by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The grant
was part of more than P25 billion that the World Bank allotted in loans and
grants for the PDRP and is now seeing results in Palayan, which is now
constructing the city’s first onion cold-storage facility worth P190 million
after putting in an equity of more than P19 million and getting another P19
million from the national government.
While the
programs and campaign being carried out by the city government would directly
benefit only farmers in Palayan, what the city is doing may well serve as a
national template for a government in search of a way to keep the balance
between low rice prices for consumers and sufficient income for Philippine
farmers.
For city
officials, led by Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas, the answer lies not in wave after
wave of financial or material aid but where answers could provide lifetime
solutions—in the minds of farmers.
HANDS ON. Palayan City Mayor Adrianne May
Cuevas (second from right) discusses ways to help farmers skirt middlemen with
agriculture technicians at a crop storage facility built by the city government
for farmers. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Mindsets are
the fields on which these solutions are going to bear fruit. First, to make
farmers believe they can do better not only with their most basic tasks in the
farm but also with their lives. Second, to give these farmers the invisible
tool of knowledge to perform tasks not only in their paddies but also out in
the market where their produce need to have value.
“We tell
farmers not to belittle themselves,” said the mayor in an online chat with
INQUIRER.net. “They’re not just farmers,” she said.
The
cold-storage facility, to be operational next year, would free onion farmers
from being forced to sell all their produce at depressed prices for fear of
spoilage.
With more
than 80 percent of funds coming in the form of grants, all the city government
has to worry about are funds to maintain the facility once it is completed.
Farmers in
Palayan also plant rice and corn but they’re learning now that their paddies
are good not only for those traditional crops.
At the fifth
Palayan City Farmers’ Congress held at the Farmers’ Plaza at Singalat village
in Palayan recently, officials of different government agencies joined the city
government in offering farmers two ways to achieve long-term financial
stability.
One is to
learn how technology could help in farming. While the national government thrust
is to equip farmers with implements and mechanize farms, the Palayan City
government is adding new knowledge about other crops and the technology to
plant and nurture these.
Farmers in
Palayan plant rice, corn and onions and are idle in between harvests of these
crops. During that pause, the mayor said the farmers could plant other
high-value crops that would bring them additional income.
The idea is
to make the farms productive all-year-round.
It is doing
so with the help of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which was
a prominent presence at the fifth farmers’ congress in Palayan.
In a report
from Philippine News Agency (PNA) Orlando Anselmo, director of DOST in
Pampanga, said his office has been giving scientific support to Palayan farmers
giving them access to technology that they can apply to farming.
One is
access to solar-powered water pumps for irrigation.
Backyard
growers of chicken, pigs, ducks and other commercial animals that produce
manure now have the knowhow in turning these animal wastes into energy,
according to Anselmo.
The
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), according to the PNA report, was also
at the farmers’ congress, offering lessons on entrepreneurship to farmers, not
to turn them into sellers of used clothes, or ukay-ukay, or other items but for
them to be the direct sellers of their produce to end-users.
The cold
storage facility under construction with World Bank funding would be central to
that objective.
The biggest
headache of farmers now is falling prices of their rice harvests. Although it
could be considered a band-aid solution, the Palayan City government started
buying palay from farmers at prices higher than standard market rates. This
would force traders wanting to buy the farmers’ rice harvest to compete for
supply by offering higher prices, the mayor said.
This
measure, however, is only a short-term solution. Mayor Cuevas knows that for
farmers’ lives to improve not only from harvest to harvest but for good, they
have to learn new things.
It’s not to
wean them away from farming, but to make farming technology-driven and not
dependent on guesswork.
Brigida
Pili, head of the DTI office in Nueva Ecija, said in a PNA report that Go
Negosyo Centers had been established on the ground floor of the Palayan City
Hall to provide information and training to farmers, and anyone interested, on
starting and running a business.
Pili said
that in Palayan, several farmers had already improved their lives by becoming
entrepreneurs.
While the
number of farmers that can undergo training on the application of technology to
agriculture may be limited, the mayor said that over time, their ranks would
grow and turn farming not only as a source of daily income but also a career
and enterprise for farmers.
“If 40
farmers train now and acquire this new knowledge, that’s a good start,” said
the mayor in the online chat. “Forty now, forty next year, forty in the
succeeding year and so on, and you’ll have an army of tech-savvy farmers,” the
mayor said.
The idea is
contained in the theme chosen by the mayor for the fifth farmers’ congress in
the city, originally in Filipino—“Sa Makabagong Agrikultura, Agripreneur
Linangin at Palakasin Now Na” which roughly translates to “For A Modern
Agriculture, Agripreneur Strengthen Now”, agripreneur being the shortcut for
agriculture entrepreneur.
At the fifth
farmers’ congress were other agencies of government like the Department of
Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippine Rice
Research Institute, Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System and the
Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
State
learning institutions, such as the Central Luzon State University and Nueva
Ecija University of Science and Technology, also shared studies on agriculture
development.
Cows, a
carabao, farm equipment and machinery and appliances were raffled off to farmer
participants.
City agriculturist Esmonia Lulu said the
annual congress was a brainchild of Cuevas to advance the agriculture sector in
the city. But while just concerning farmers of Palayan, the city government’s
agriculture improvement programs offer the elusive solution to declining
farmers’ income and their inability to compete with cheaper imports—a paradigm
shift in mindsets.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1198129/palayan-city-holds-answers-for-farmers-woes-amid-deluge-of-imports-2#ixzz67EYne0XY
