Factbox:
A lot of soy, a little rice - China's historical U.S. agricultural purchases
DECEMBER 14, 2019 / 4:00 AM /CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S.
government said on Friday China would
buy an additional $32 billion in U.S. farm goods over the next two years as
part of an initial trade deal.FILE PHOTO: Soybeans in a field on Hodgen Farm in
Roachdale, Indiana, U.S. November 8, 2019. Picture taken November 8, 2019.
REUTERS/Bryan Woolston
China gave no firm commitment on an
amount of U.S. goods, but said it may buy more wheat, rice and corn — goods it
has not traditionally bought. Soybeans made up more than half of China’s
agriculture purchases from the United States in 2017, at about $12.2 billion.
Below are agricultural goods China
has bought from the United States in the past:
SOY
China bought about 60% of all
exports of U.S. soybeans, the main U.S. export crop by value, before the trade
war. Since the current marketing year started on Sept. 1, China has purchased
about 10 million tonnes of soybeans worth some $3.5 billion, according to
government data.
SORGHUM
China began buying U.S. sorghum,
which it uses for production of baiju liquor and animal feed, in 2008. Its
purchases peaked at $2.115 billion in 2015, but fell by more than half to
$1.030 billion in 2016. So far this year, it has bought $117.149 million worth.
PORK
China has increased pork imports
after a fatal pig disease, African swine fever, devastated its herd. U.S. pork
exports to China and Hong Kong were up 34% in value at $974.8 million from January
to October. The shipments top full-year 2018 exports to the region of $852.5
million. Full-year exports to China and Hong Kong set a record of $1.1 billion
in 2017.
BEEF
China officially resumed U.S. beef
imports in 2017 after a 14-year ban, but maintains restrictions on shipments.
Exports of U.S. beef to China and Hong Kong from January to October were down
20% from a year earlier at $657.9 million. China and Hong Kong imported a
record $1 billion in U.S. beef in 2018.
CORN
China was a top five buyer of U.S.
corn from 2011 to 2013 but has not been a major buyer since as domestic
production increased. In 2017, it bought $142.036 million worth, and so far in
2019 it has bought $52.857 million.
RICE
China, the world’s largest rice
producer, typically buys small amounts of U.S. rice. Purchases peaked at $5.311
million in 2010. In 2017, they totaled $759,000. So far this year, U.S. rice
exports to China have been worth just $147,000.
POULTRY
China in November lifted a nearly
five-year ban on U.S. poultry that had been imposed in January 2015 because of
a U.S. outbreak of avian flu. The market bought $500 million worth of American
poultry products in 2013.
WHEAT
China is the world’s No. 2 wheat
producer after the European Union and holds roughly half of all global wheat
inventories. In recent years it has been the No. 3 or 4 buyer of U.S. hard red
spring wheat, a high-protein variety used to blend and improve the quality of
lesser grades of wheat.
EQUIPMENT
Some analysts had speculated that
equipment might be counted in an agriculture component of an eventual trade
deal. Farm machinery exports this year through October were a little over $200
million, according to data from U.S. Census Bureau. Beijing’s biggest purchase
in the past two decades was in 2015 when it imported about $430 million of
machines.
Reporting by Tom Polansek, Julie
Ingwersen, Rajesh Kumar S
PH to import less rice in 2020; becomes world’s largest rice
importer
Published December 13, 2019, 10:00 PM
By Madelaine B.Miraflor
The Philippines is seen to import
less rice in 2020, but will still emerge as the world’s largest buyer of rice.
The Global Agricultural
Information Network (GAIN) report prepared by the US Department of
Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service said that global trade for
rice for next year will be “nearly unchanged with reduced imports for China
partially offsetting higher imports for Ghana and the Philippines.”
This only means one thing:
Philippines, for 2020, will still be the world’s biggest rice importer.
For 2020, USDA sees that
Philippines importing as much as 2.7 million metric tons (MT) of rice, which is
lower than the 2.4 million MT of rice that China may import.
Its earlier forecast for next
year was that Philippines may import only as much as China did at 2.5 million
MT. The gap only appeared when all outlook said the world’s second largest
economy will be producing more rice locally.
As a result, Philippines will be
outpacing all countries when it comes to rice imports starting this year.
USDA changed its earlier forecast
and said that the country’s actual rice imports may end at a record 3.2 million
MT instead of 3 million MT, still the highest amount of imported rice allowed to
enter the country.
China, on the other hand, may end
the year with only 2.4 million MT rice imports, officially giving up its status
as the world’s biggest rice importer despite having nearly 1.5 billion
population.
Sometime in October, Agriculture
Secretary William Dar did acknowledge that Rice Tariffication Law or Republic
Act (RA) 11203 already resulted to an overwhelming amount of rice imports to
the detriment of Filipino rice farmers.
It is also for this reason why
President Rodrigo Duterte said a couple of times last month that he will stop
rice importation, which temporarily appeased the rice farmers.
The confusion whether the
Philippine government will really stop or continue rice tariffication
eventually came to an end when Duterte, together with his cabinet members,
decided that RA 11203 must stay and will stay the same.
They ended up agreeing that they
will leave the recently passed RA 11203 alone and will instead control the
volume of imported rice that enters the country by restricting the issuance of
permit to rice traders.
Passed in January and implemented
in March, RA 11203 allowed the unimpeded entry of imported rice into the
country, which resulted not only to lower retail cost of rice but also to the
continuous decline of palay, forcing farmers to sell their yield at a loss.
Cameroon seeks
investors for large rice-growing project in the Far-North
- Friday, 13 December 2019 12:46
(Business in Cameroon) - On December 5, 2019, Cameroon, through the
ministry of agriculture and rural development
(Minader) issued a call for expression of interest for local and foreign
investors wishing to exploit agricultural land developed for rice production in
the department of Logone et Chari, in the Far North.
The project will be carried out on an area
of more than 10,000 hectares, out of the 13,102 hectares developed for this
purpose in the districts of Zina (6521 ha), Makary (411 ha), Logone Birni (970
ha). In the area of Mara, Goulfey, Moulouang, Hilél and Goulfey Gana, the
project will cover 2,200 ha.
Through this project, the Cameroonian
government wants to increase rice production in the northern part of the
country, which rarely exceeds the 100,000 tonnes produced by the Société
d'expansion et de modernisation de la riziculture de Yagoua (Semry).
This call for expression of interest comes
amid Cameroon’s crusade against massive food imports that greatly affect the
country’s trade balance.
One of the food products massively imported by the country is rice, which cost the country XAF508.5 billion between 2015 and 2017, according to figures published by the ministry of commerce.
One of the food products massively imported by the country is rice, which cost the country XAF508.5 billion between 2015 and 2017, according to figures published by the ministry of commerce.
By way of comparison, the value of rice
imports during the period specified is 1/3 of Cameroon's 2020 public investment
budget.
China Announces U.S.-grown Rice Included in Phase I Purchases
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Earlier today, President Trump and U.S. Trade
Representative (USTR) Ambassador Lighthizer announced that after months of
negotiations and work, an agreement in principle has been reached between the
U.S. and China on trade.
China held a press conference this morning and confirmed that it
will increase agricultural purchases "by a notable margin," including
purchases of U.S.-grown rice, wheat, and corn.
The deal will roll back some U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and
will not implement the additional round of tariffs on Chinese products that was
scheduled to effect December 15. USTR indicated that June 2019 tariffs on
Chinese products, including rice being imported to the U.S., would remain in
effect. USTR shared that the deal also requires structural reforms and other
changes to China's economic and trade regime in the areas of intellectual
property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency
and foreign exchange.
"Today's announcement is positive news for U.S. farmers and
ranchers, especially with a commitment by China to purchase U.S.-grown rice in
addition to other commodities," said Dow Brantley, Arkansas rice farmer
and USA Rice's representative on the federal Agricultural Policy Advisory
Committee, primarily responsible for providing feedback to USDA and USTR on
trade agreements. "USA Rice is pleased to hear that rice will be part of
China's purchases and we look forward to more closely reviewing the details
once the written agreement is made public."
USTR anticipates an early January signing of the agreement once
details are laid out in writing and formally cleared by both sides.
2019 USA Rice Outlook Conference Covers New Ground, Sets Stage
for Continued Enhancements
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS - The 2019 USA Rice Outlook Conference
wrapped here earlier this week with an unprecedented level of programming for
the more than 850 attendees.
"Over the three days of the conference we had more than 30
hours of programming, 48 sessions, and almost 80 different presenters sharing
insights and knowledge from our five stages," said USA Rice Chair and
California rice farmer Charley Mathews, Jr. "I can't recall an Outlook
Conference this densely packed with opportunities."
Navigating all that programming could have proved a challenge, but
this year USA Rice unveiled a mobile app, sponsored by BASF, to help attendees
get where they needed to be, connect with each other, post running comments on
the sessions, and offer immediate feedback on speakers and programs.
The second General Session that closed the conference featured
Outlook mainstays Nathan Childs and Jim Wiesemeyer and added Outlook newcomer
A.B. Stoddard.
Childs, an agricultural economist with USDA's Economic Research
Service, shared data from the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates
(WASDE) released moments before he took the stage on Tuesday.
Wiesemeyer, policy analyst for Pro Farmer, described the lay of
the political landscape as he sees it, offering insights into who will be
influential in ag policy in 2020 and what the election season may hold.
A.B. Stoddard, associate editor and columnist with RealClearPolitics,
provided in-depth political analysis of the current state of affairs, and
predicted that the 2020 presidential election will, in the end, come down to
Wisconsin, and shared the very real possibility of a truly brokered Democratic National
Convention in Milwaukee next July.
The session also featured the long-awaited drawing for the Think
Rice Road Trip Truck. Almost 700 hopefuls had cast their lot to leave with the
tricked out 2019 F-150 that had spent the previous three months traversing the
Mid-Atlantic promoting U.S.-grown rice and was parked prominently in the
Exhibit Hall throughout the Conference. At the appointed hour, 80th
International Rice Festival Queen AnnaLisa Meredith drew the lucky winner -
Randy McNeil from Jonesboro, Arkansas.
It wasn't just the schedule that was packed, the Exhibit Hall
itself was bursting at the seams with a record 87 exhibitors and the four
program stages sponsored by FMC, Heritage Agriculture of Arkansas, Indigo Ag,
and The Rice Foundation. Rice grading technology, mill equipment, and of course
farm equipment were all on display, as were financial service companies,
regulatory agencies, and more. There was even an opportunity for attendees to
eat without leaving the hall with the Riceland Food Truck serving up delicious
gumbo, jambalaya, and more, all featuring U.S.-grown rice.
"We took some risks in expanding certain areas of this
Outlook Conference, but they really seemed to pay off, enhancing both the
attendee and sponsor/exhibitor experience," said USA Rice President &
CEO Betsy Ward. "Planning is already underway for Outlook 2020 in Austin,
Texas, and we're determined to outdo ourselves, though that's going to be a
tall order for sure."
Attendees of the 2019 USA Rice Outlook Conference still have the
opportunity to complete surveys on the sessions they attended and access
presenter materials via in the mobile app, and feedback is always welcome and
encouraged
This Zojirushi
Rice Cooker Is an Utterly Perfect Machine
The Japanese rice cooker has
withstood a decade of weekly use
This story is part of a group of stories called
Welcome to Buy This Thing, a column dedicated to the kitchen
products and home goods Eater writers and industry pros obsess over.
In 2009, I lived in a crowded Brooklyn
apartment, and for Christmas I asked for a rice cooker to free up stovetop
space I shared with my roommates. My mom, the most determinedly online
Christmas shopper I know, skipped the $40 domestic options and imported a Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker from Japan. It offered something called “fuzzy logic”
cooking, it could make five different kinds of rice plus porridge, and it sang
“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” every time you turned it on. To be honest, I
thought it was a bit much.Ten years later, I still use this perfect machine at least once a week. The fuzzy logic system, which allows the cooker to make small adjustments based on moisture and other variables, makes extremely good white rice of all kinds, especially sushi rice. The brown rice setting makes rice a bit too wet for my preferences, but this Healthyish method of cooking brown rice on the white rice setting, which better suits American tastes, works great.
What I really adore about this rice cooker, however, is the porridge setting. If I have an excess of chicken stock, I’ll make a golden, rich congee; if I’m making meatballs, I’ll make big batches of a cheater polenta. And most mornings in the winter start with a creamy oatmeal cooked on the porridge setting. The only downside is it’s not particularly fast — about an hour. If I really had my shit together, I’d put oatmeal in the night before and set a timer, because the rice cooker can do that, too. It’s relatively simple to make rice (or polenta) on a stovetop, but I find having a little machine I trust to make part of the meal frees up my brain and makes dinner more possible.
Over the past 10 years, home cooking culture in the US has become grain-obsessed, and the Neuro Fuzzy is now big in America. (I remember the disappointment in my mom’s voice when she saw it at Williams-Sonoma.) I love this rice cooker so much I thought about buying another Zojirushi rice cooker duty-free in the Tokyo airport, as if two would double my happiness. But there’s no need. After a decade of use, it might finally be time to get a new nonstick bowl; but everything else about it, from the buttons to the little nubby rice paddle, works just as well as the day it arrived.
A sizzling shrimp and rice crepe that captures the best flavors
of Vietnamese cooking
Sizzling Rice Crepes
Rice has higher arsenic levels
because of climate change, Seattle researchers find
The list of foods affected by climate change is growing. A new
University of Washington study has found that rising temperatures will increase
arsenic levels in rice.Rice is good at absorbing arsenic. The plant’s system is like a straw that draws water. Rice is grown in flooded fields. Flooding also releases arsenic and other minerals into the soil.
“It’s a perfect storm for accumulation of arsenic in rice,” said Yasmine Farhat, a UW doctoral student and co-author of the study. She and her colleagues grew rice in different climate controlled chambers at varying temperatures. What they found was the warmer the temperature, the more arsenic was absorbed.
“We saw increase in arsenic in the water that is surrounding the plant roots,” said Farhat. “We saw it in the green leafy tissue of the plant, and finally, we can see it in the grain tissue as well.”
This doesn’t mean it’s time to give up rice.
Farhat says the good news is Americans in general don’t eat as much rice so we’re not exposed to dangerous levels of arsenic. For half of the world, though, rice is a major staple. Farhat says as the planet continues to warm, more work will be needed to find ways to reduce the risks
Arsenic in their chapatis putting
Bihar’s rural population at
increased cancer risk
Study by scientists shows chapatis, which are a part of the staple diet
in Bihar, can pose greater risk to the arsenic-exposed populations of Bihar.
Photo: https://www.sciencedirect.com/
New Delhi: Scientists have found that chapatis in rural homes in
Bihar contain higher amounts of arsenic than previously estimated, putting the
population of areas exposed to the harmful chemical element at an increased
risk of cancer.
The research, published in the
journal Science of The Total
Environment, shows that lifetime cancer
risk of the arsenic-exposed population from Bihar was higher than the threshold
values set by the US-based Environmental Protection Agency.
Wheat is one of the most
important food grains in India, after rice. While arsenic exposure from rice is
extensively studied, it is not well explored for wheat, researchers pointed out
in the study.
Arsenic accumulation in food
grains is usually due to high arsenic levels in the soil or water in the area.
19 villages in 10 arsenic-affected districts studied
“Whether the arsenic in the
grains is due to accumulation from soil or other reason like pesticides which
might have arsenic, needs to be studied further and we are initiating further
studies on this regard,” Debapriay Mondal, from the University of Salford, told
ThePrint in an email.
“Our study was based on household
sample collection and wheat is procured from the Public Distribution System in
many rural households of Bihar.
As a part of this study, we can
say that people living in arsenic- exposed areas of Bihar have another
potential route of exposure over rice and water, that is wheat,” Mondal said.
The team, including scientists
from the Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Center and Aryabhatta Knowledge
University in Patna, collected data from 77 households across 19 villages in 10
arsenic-affected districts of Bihar.
Of the 154 participants who were
surveyed, 78 per cent consumed rice every day, while chapati was consumed every
day by 99.5 per cent of the participants.
According to the team, previous
studies have demonstrated that arsenic concentration in wheat flour is lower
than that in the grains, as bran is removed during the process of grinding.
However, in the samples studied, researchers did not find an appreciable
lowering of arsenic in the wheat flour. They suspect there is external arsenic
contamination during processing and grinding.
“The estimated increased cancer
risk due to arsenic exposure from wheat intake is around 1 in 10,000 in this
studied arsenic exposed populations of Bihar,” Mondal said.
Larger study on food habits in arsenic-exposed areas of Bihar
The research is part of an
ongoing larger study, “Nutri-SAM: Nature and nurture in arsenic-induced
toxicity of Bihar, India”, which is looking at the diet and food habit of
arsenic-exposed populations in Bihar. The objective is to determine if there is
any food habit that can help reduce arsenic exposure or induced toxicity.
“To address this, we are also
looking at arsenic exposure from the staple food. In Bihar the consumption of
wheat is high and we found that almost every participant consume wheat in the
form of chapati every day over rice,” Mondal said.
“Bihar is one of the most
arsenic-affected states in India next to Bengal and Assam with distinct dietary
habits compared to Bengal, prompting this study in Bihar,” he said, noting that
the state was less explored compared to West Bengal in terms of arsenic
exposure from food intake.
Whither syndicate in
rice market
Abdul
Bayes | Published: December
13, 2019 22:08:16
"One
should hardly have to tell academicians that information is a valuable
resource: knowledge is power. And yet it occupies a slum dwelling in the town
of economics. Mostly it is ignored…" (J. Stigler 1961 )
In the
Research Almanac 2019 of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
held recently, Nazneen Ahmed, Mainul Haque and Nahian Azad Shashi from the same
institute presented a paper on rice market in Bangladesh. We reckon it as
a timely task since a lot of noise has been hovering around the past or present
volatility in rice market along with the correlates. Rice is the staple food in
Bangladesh occupying more than three-fourths of cultivated land,
accounting alone for more than one-third of household budget of the poor and
both marketed and marketable surplus of rice have been increasing over time.
Research showed that over half of the paddy output is marketed compared to
one-fifth in the 1980s. Admittedly, introduction of high yielding varieties
(HYV) coupled with the growth of good communication system turned
subsistence rice farming into a commercial one. Thus, for example,
a rise in paddy or rice prices go to benefit not only the large and medium land
holding group, as it did in the past, but also the small and marginal ones now.
Mention may also be made of the tremendous spread of the tenancy market that
enabled landless households in rural areas to become de facto land owning
households.
The research
carried out by Nazneen Ahmed et al. made an attempt to dig deep into the recent
'disarray' in rice market in Bangladesh. The researchers reached the
conclusion, seemingly contrary to popular wisdom, that there is no syndicate in
rice market; our rice market works competitively.
One
might recall that after many years of continuous fall in rice prices, the
market turned out to be volatile in 2007-8 threatening food security in the
country. The skyrocketing price of rice at that time owed much to the
world-wide oil crisis and supply shock in major rice growing areas. The
situation worsened with export ban from India followed by other rice exporting
countries. But within the last couple of years, rice prices in Bangladesh
hardly witnessed a steep rise. Sadly, it continues to happen even at the behest
of the government's claim of supply outstripping demand, and
declining per capita consumption of rice.
The
'Syndicate' - defined as a combination of individuals or commercial
firms to promote some common interest - is a common parlance in Bangladesh as
far as prices of agricultural products are concerned. Be it onion or
rice, the syndicate seems to be the villain. However, vindication of this
hypothesis is rare if not absent. It is in this context that the research paper
intended to shed some light on the role of the syndicate, as well as
other correlates, in influencing the recent rise in rice prices.
As mentioned
before, the research done is timely in the sense that in popular
parleys, media and even in academic corners, the syndrome of syndicate
dominates the mind-set while explaining the swings in rice market. Let us
pick up some of the pertinent points from the paper, albeit paraphrased: (a)
there is no syndicate in the rice market but 50 large mills have the capacity
to influence the supply and prices of the staple food; (b) there are very big
auto rice mills and some of them have 400-500 tonnes of daily processing
capacity; (c) the top 50 rice mills out of 949 auto rice mills have around 20
per cent of the total fortnightly rice milling capacity in the country;
(d) the dominance of millers in procurement is revealed by
the information that they procure paddy mostly during the harvesting
season when prices remain low and store the grains to continue milling for
several months until the next harvest takes place; (e) analysing
the trend of wholesale and retail prices of fine, medium and coarse rice since
2006, they observed seasonality as one of the major factors for variation in
rice prices; (f) the researchers found that the gap between wholesale and
retail prices widens during the slack season, meaning prices go up prior to
harvesting of paddy; (g) at that time, it is natural that prices would go up
because of low supply. So, if prices increase at that time, apparently it would
not be right to think there is anti-competitive behaviour or collusion in the
market' (h) there is competitive behaviour among the actors in the market.
"Apparently
there is no syndicate. We can't say strongly that there is anti-competitive
behaviour…We don't know whether they are engaged in any syndication but what we
are trying to say is that they are very big and they can store high quantity of
rice legally…….It is not that they are doing syndication but if they
retain rice for two more days or up to 20 days instead of 15 days during
any crisis, they can naturally influence the price …. rice and
paddy could be retained by auto rice millers who are part of large corporates.
They are the ones who have natural capacity to have some influence over the
market."
Rice consumers
could be in confusion with the finding that there is no syndication. In fact
the paragraph above hints to a potential hidden collusion among the millers who
manage a lion's share of rice and some of them having rice storage in excess of
capacity; they have some influence by retaining rice for up to 20 days instead
of 15 days in any crisis.
As mentioned
in the paper, regular market monitoring, access to demand and supply data, of
both home and abroad, imports from different sources etc. at the
beginning of the season should help avert unintended consequences faced by poor
consumers of rice - the largest supplier of calorie.
Abdul Bayes is
a former Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University and currently an
Adjunct Faculty of East West University. abdulbayes@yahoo.com
Can kitchen gardens combat climate change?
·
14
December 2019
Image copyrightFAARM PROJECT
That's been the experience of a community in Bangladesh, whose
rice crop - the source of their food and income - was ruined when seasonal
rains came early.
It was in April 2017 that the rain came to the north-eastern
floodplain of Sylhet Division, ruining the rice crop. It should have come two
months later.
Farmers lost most or all of their harvest, It meant no income -
and not enough food - for their families.
Scientists warn that climate change is affecting the crops
people can grow and the nutrients they get in their food.
Sabine Gabrysch, professor for climate change and health at the
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Potsdam Institute for Climate
Impact Research, said: "It's so unfair because these people have not
contributed anything to climate change."
Speaking to the BBC at a conference of health and climate
experts in Berlin, organised by the Nobel Foundation, Prof
Gabrysch said: "They're very directly hit by climate change, because then
they lose their livelihoods and they lose their nutrients. And their children
are suffering most, because they're growing fast and they need many
nutrients."
Even before the early rains, she said, a third of women were
underweight and 40% of children chronically undernourished.
"People are already at the brink of existence where they
suffer from many diseases and they don't have much to buffer," Prof
Gabrysch added. "They have no insurance."
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
She is leading a study into the impact of the floods in Sylhet Division, and is working with more than
2,000 women in villages across the area,
Half said their families were significantly affected by the flood.
The most common way they tried to cope was to borrow money, mainly from money
lenders who were charging high interest rates, and families then fell into
debt.
The team had already begun educating the community to grow their
own food in their gardens, on higher ground, where they could grow a more
nutritionally varied crop of fruit and vegetables, and keep chickens.
Prof Gabrysch said: "I don't think it can compensate for
the loss of the rice crop honestly, because that's their livelihood, but at
least it can help them to some degree."
But even when rice - and the other starchy foods that people in
developing countries rely on - grows well, climate change can mean it is not as
nutritious as it was.
Prof Kristie Ebi, from the department of Global Health at the
University of Washington, has studied levels of nutrients.
She has found crops like rice, wheat, potatoes and barley now
have higher concentrations of carbon dioxide. That means they need less water
to grow, which is not as positive as it might sound, because it means they take
up less micronutrients from the soil.
Diseases on the
move
Research by Prof Ebi's team found rice crops they studied had,
on average, a 30% reduction in B vitamins - including folic acid, crucial for
pregnant women - compared to normal levels,
She said: "Even today in Bangladesh, as the country becomes
wealthier, three out of four calories come from rice.
"In many countries, people eat a lot of the starches as a
main component of their diet. So having less micronutrients could have very
significant consequences."
And she warns that a warming world also means diseases are on
the move.
"There are major risks from diseases that are carried by
mosquitoes. And there's major risk from diarrheal diseases, and infectious
diseases.
"As our planet warms, these diseases are changing their
geographic range, their seasons becoming longer. There's more transmission of
these diseases.
"And many of these primarily affect children. That's why
we're so concerned about what this means for maternal and child health, because
they're on the front line. They're the ones who are seeing the
consequences."
Diseases traditionally seen as tropical are moving north.
This year, Germany saw the first cases of West Nile virus, which is carried by mosquitoes.
Sabine Gabrysch said: "The infectious disease spread is
something that makes people realise climate change is also coming to us."
Nobel Laureate Peter Agre warns that climate change means
diseases are moving - with some not seen in the places they had been
established, and others appearing in new places - in particular moving to
higher altitudes as temperatures rise, something
that has been seen South America and Africa.
That matters because people living in the tropics have
traditionally lived at higher altitudes in order to avoid disease.
Prof Agre, who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry,
warned there should be no complacency, and as temperatures warmed diseases
would move.
"The famous phrase is 'it can't happen here'. Well, it
can."
This content was created as a co-production between Nobel Media AB
and the BBC.
This food could be what’s triggering your sleep
problems according to new research
Are you finding
it hard to sleep?
Lucy Buglass13 December 2019 4:30 pm
If
your diet contains lots of refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta and
rice, you might find it harder to drift off.
Scientists
from Columbia University, New York, looked at the food diaries of over 50,000
post-menopausal women. They discovered that refined carbohydrates could be
having an impact on sleep quality.
It
turned out that those whose diets had a higher glycemic index (GI) were more
likely to find it harder to get to sleep.
The
reason for this is that carbohydrate-rich foods like white bread, pasta and
rice produces a high amount of GI, and it causes sugar spikes.
Study
author Dr James Gangwisch said, “When blood sugar is raised quickly, your body
reacts by releasing insulin, and the resulting drop in blood sugar can lead to
the release of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which can interfere
with sleep.”
According
to Bupa, insomnia affects a third of people in the UK. This can be caused by
environmental habits, lifestyle, temporary stress such as loss of a job or
finances, and mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
But
diet could also have an impact on your sleep, according to this study. Other
known dietary triggers are alcohol, caffeine and heavy meals.
Results
published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggested that a higher
consumption of refined carbohydrates with a high GI raises the risk of
insomnia.
Added
sugars and processed grains were also found to be particularly responsible,
whereas vegetables and whole fruits (not juice) reduced the risk.
Dr
Gangwisch added, “Whole fruits contain sugar, but the fibre in them slows the
rate of absorption to help prevent spikes in blood sugar.
“This
suggests the dietary culprit triggering the women’s insomnia was the
highly-processed foods that contain larger amounts of refined sugars that
aren’t found naturally in food.”
An initiative to make native
rice, vegetable varieties available to urban consumers
At the Jawahar centre of BDRF, regional coordinator Sandeep Kakade
talked about over 350 varieties of rice and millet which have been conserved by
them.
Written by Parthasarathi Biswas | Pune | Published: December 14, 2019
8:38:58 am
Some of the native varities saved at the Jawahar facility of BDRF.
(Express photo)
For the last few decades, the Pune headquartered-BAIF
Development and Research Foundation (BDRF) has undertaken the work of
conserving and preserving various native and indigenous varieties of rice,
millet and vegetables. Now, such rare but healthier varieties of rice and
millet-based products will be available to urban consumers under the brand
‘Farming Monk’.
Under the Maharashtra Gene Bank Project, scientists of BDRF, in
close collaboration with local communities, have undertaken the work to save
various varieties of rice, pulses, vegetables and millets. which are not used
much despite having numerous health benefits. Tribal communities have been at
the forefront of cultivating such varieties in most parts of the state. But
over the years, such varieties have become rare as improved seeds and hybrids
have taken their place.
At the Jawahar centre of BDRF, regional coordinator Sandeep
Kakade talked about over 350 varieties of rice and millet which have been
conserved by them. These include some rare varieties like black rice and red
rice. “We have finished registration of 34 varieties with the National Bureau
of Plant Genetic Resource,” he said.
The gene bank, meticulously build by the institute, has
varieties of rice which, Kakade said, can also withstand very heavy rainfall.
Varieties like Kamal Vath, Ashwini, Rajgude and Surtikollam had survived the
very heavy rainfall which the commonly-cultivated Pusa had failed.
As part of the project, 800 farmers in Palghar and Jawahar
talukas of the region undertook seed trials with these varieties. Twenty of the
preserved varieties have been accepted by local farmers and local seed banks
help them conserve the seed. Such varieties have formed the base for
better-yielding hybrids, but have fallen out of favour for the majority of
farmers.
The Farming Monk project aims to help such farmers get better
prices for their produce by making it available to the greater public. Ravi
Gajraj, a Buddha Fellow working with BDRF, said currently four different
varieties of rice are being marketed under the brand. “Farmers grow these rices
in various parts of the state and mill it there. Quality control, branding and
sales is being managed centrally,” he said.
Currently, the brand is available at select outlets in Pune as
well as some online platforms. Gajraj said there are plans to make the products
available more widely in the days to come.
Tirumala: Millers asked to supply
more rice to Annaprasadam Trust Hans News Service | 13
Dec 2019 11:18 PM
IST HIGHLIGHTS Additional Executive
Officer A V Dharma Reddy said that vegetable donors and Rice Millers’
Association play a vital role Annaprasadam wing of TTD. Tirumala: Additional
Executive Officer A V Dharma Reddy said that vegetable donors and Rice Millers'
Association play a vital role Annaprasadam wing of TTD. He requested the rice
millers to increase their contributions to provide qualitative Annaprasadam
(free food) to pilgrims. A review meeting with representatives of AP and TS
Rice Millers association was held in Tirumala on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT He
complimented the Rice Millers Association for providing Sona Masuri rice to TTD
at Rs.37 per kg when the market rate is Rs.45 . He also thanked the Association
for providing Rs.55 lakh worth rice free of cost in the last two months on his
request. The Additional EO also asked them to consider contributing more rice
to the TTD Annaprasadam. The Rice Millers also sought Additional EO to consider
providing darshan to Rice Millers to encourage more donations to which Dharma
Reddy assured them to place their representation in the upcoming Trust Board
Meeting for approval. Procurement General Manager Jagadeeshwar Reddy, DyEO
Annaprasadam Nagaraju, Dy EO Marketing Natesh Babu, Catering Officer GLN
Shastry, AP Rice Millers Association president G Venkateswara Rao, association
representatives from Khammam, Nizamabad, Guntur participated.
Nigeria: Inside Taraba Booming
Local Rice Business
13 DECEMBER 2019
By Magaji Isa Hunkuyi
Jalingo — Local rice business is booming in Taraba State
following the closure of Nigerian borders, which has drastically reduced
foreign rice coming into the country.
North-East Trust's finding revealed that both farmers and local
rice dealers are reaping from the booming market across farming communities in the
state.
Hundreds of merchants from across the country including rice
millers now source rice paddy and locally processed rice from the state.
Potential of the state in rice production was not fully exploit
until recently when demands for both paddy and locally processed rice
increased.
The state has vast fertile land suitable for rice production
during wet and dry seasons and thousands of farmers engaged in rice farming,
turning out thousands of tonnes of rice paddy annually.
Findings further revealed that the three major rivers in the
state-River Benue, River Taraba and River Donga have fertile wet land
stretching hundreds kilometers and is suitable for both wet and dry season rice
farming.
It was further gathered that only about 25 percent of these lands
are being utilized while the remaining lay fallow.
Major areas where rice farming is taking place include
Tau,Yalwan Tau,Donada,Lau,and Didango.
Others are Sheka, Kambari,Amar, Gassol, MutumBiyu,Donga,
Chinkai,Ibbi,Sansani,Ibbi sarkin Kudu,Bali and several other areas.
North East Trust's investigation also revealed that currently
there are about seven major markets for paddy and locally processed rice in the
state.
The markets are located in MutumBiyu, Bantaje, Didango, Lau,
Donga, Jalingo and Tella.
It was further discovered that majority of rice milling
companies in the country sourced paddy rice from MutumBiyu paddy market.
At Mutum-Biyu paddy rice, there are depots with pyramid of rice
paddy purchased by major rice milling companies in the country.
Similarly, some millers also purchased locally processed rice
from the state and package them for sale after reprocessing and packaging.
The booming rice market in the state also gave rise to
increasing number of local rice milling business. There are over 14 local rice
milling facilities across seven local government areas of the state.
A local rice miller, Mallam Habibu Jalingo, told North East
Trust that every day over 3000 bags of 100kg bags of rice paddy is being
processed locally in the state and there was a ready market.
Is your diet to blame for your insomnia? Scientists find
worrying link: SLEEPY BREAD
·
12 Dec 2019,
·
Updated: 12 Dec 2019,
WE'VE all experienced them -
those restless nights where we spend hours tossing and turning relentlessly
trying to get some sleep.
In fact, as many as 16 million
adults in the UK are plagued by insomnia.
Scientists believe your diet makes all the difference
between a good night’s sleep and a bad oneCredit: Getty -
Contributor
However, new research may finally
give an insight into why so many people are struggling to get those much-needed
zzzs.
Top scientists, from the Columbia
University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, have found that your
diet may be party to blame for insomnia.
Postmenopausal women who consume
a diet high in refined carbohydrates, particularly added sugars, are more
likely to develop insomnia, they found.
This is because refined carbs
such as white bread, white rice, added sugars and fizzy drinks have a higher
glycemic index, the rating system for foods containing carbs, and cause a more
rapid increase in blood sugar.
Increase in blood sugar
On the other hand, those who eat
high amounts of vegetables, fibre, and whole fruit were less likely to develop
problems with the condition.
The study's lead author Professor
James Gangwisch said: "When blood sugar is raised quickly, your body
reacts by releasing insulin, and the resulting drop in blood sugar can lead to
the release of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which can interfere
with sleep.
"Whole fruits contain sugar,
but the fiber in them slow the rate of absorption to help prevent spikes in
blood sugar.
"This suggests that the
dietary culprit triggering the women's insomnia was the highly processed foods that
contain larger amounts of refined sugars that aren't found naturally in
food."
The results came after the
researchers gathered data from more than 50,000 participants in the Women's
Health Initiative who had completed food diaries.
Refined carbohydrates
Since most people, not just
postmenopausal women, experience a rapid rise in blood sugar after
eating refined carbohydrates, the authors suspect that these findings may also
hold true in a broader population.
Prof Gangwisch now says that by
identifying the foods that trigger insomnia - people might be able to find a more
straightforward way of curing the condition.
Writing in The American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition, he said: "Insomnia is often treated
with cognitive behavioural therapy or medications, but these can be
expensive or carry side effects.
"By identifying other
factors that lead to insomnia, we may find straightforward and low-cost
interventions with fewer potential side effects."
What is insomnia?
Insomnia means you regularly have
problems sleeping.
You have insomnia if you
regularly:
·
Find
it hard to go to sleep
·
Wake
up several times during the night
·
Lie
awake at night
·
Wake
up early and cannot go back to sleep
·
Still
feel tired after waking up
·
Find
it hard to nap during the day even though you're tired
·
Feel
tired and irritable during the day
·
Find
it difficult to concentrate during the day because you're tired
You can have these symptoms for
months, sometimes years.
The most common causes are:
·
Stress,
anxiety or depression
·
Noise
·
A
room that's too hot or cold
·
Uncomfortable
beds
·
Alcohol,
caffeine or nicotine
·
Recreational
drugs like cocaine or ecstasy
·
Jet
lag
·
Shift
work
You probably do not get enough
sleep if you're constantly tired during the day.
Insomnia usually gets better by changing your sleeping habits.
Previous studies have explored a
possible link between refined carbohydrates and insomnia, but results have been inconsistent.
And because the studies didn't
follow individuals over time, it's not clear if a diet that's high in
refined carbs triggered the onset of insomnia, or if insomnia caused
individuals to eat more sweets.
Prof Gangswich is now calling on
further studies to be taken out to determine if increasing the amount of whole
foods would prevent insomnia.
Thai rice farmers shun pesticides and fight climate change
AFP-JIJI
- DEC 12, 2019
MAE RIM, THAILAND – Battling drought, debt and ailments blamed on pesticides, rice
farmers in northern Thailand have turned to eco-friendly growing methods
despite powerful agribusiness interests in a country that is one of the top
exporters of the grain in the world.
Walking through a sea of green
waist-high stalks, farmer Sunnan Somjak said his fields had been “exhausted” by
chemicals, his family regularly felt ill and his profits were too low to make
ends meet.
But that changed when he joined a
pilot agricultural project for the SRI method, which aims to boost yields while
shunning pesticides and using less water.
“Chemicals can destroy
everything,” the 58-year-old said, adding that the harvest in his village in
Chiang Mai province has jumped 40 percent since employing the new method.
There have been health benefits
too: “It’s definitely better, we don’t get sick anymore,” he added.
SRI was invented in the 1980s in
Madagascar by a French Jesuit priest, and the technique has spread globally.
It works by planting crops wider
apart — thus drawing in more nutrients and light — and limiting the amount of
water that gets into fields, which helps microorganisms flourish to act as
natural fertilizers.
In a plus for debt-laden farmers,
it also uses fewer seeds, and farmers are encouraged to use plants and ginger
roots that naturally deter insects rather than using chemical alternatives —
meaning fewer expenses.
Traditional Thai rice farmers
earn around 3,000 baht a month ($100), but Sunnan was able to increase his
income by 20 percent after adopting the SRI method.
“I’ve finally gotten rid of my
debts,” he said.
Rice is a staple in the diet of
around 3 billion people globally.
But agricultural workers are
locked in a vicious cycle. Beset by drought and floods brought on by climate
change, farmers contribute to the disruption as their fields release methane
and nitrous oxide, two greenhouse gases.
With SRI, paddy fields are not
permanently flooded, which reduces methane emissions by 60 percent, according
to Tristan Lecomte, founder of Pur Projet, a French company supporting the
technique.
The project also helped Sunnan
plant trees around his crops to reinforce the water table.
According to Lecomte, rice yields
can jump from 20 percent to more than 100 percent compared to the traditional
method.
Southeast Asia, where agriculture
supports millions, is slowly embracing SRI.
The U.S.-based Cornell University
created a center specializing in the technique in 2010; more than 2 million
farmers in the region — especially from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos —
have been trained.
In Bac Giang province in Vietnam,
net profits for farmers were as much as 226 percent higher after adopting the
SRI method than when using traditional ones, according to Abha Mishra, who led
a large project on behalf of the Asian Institute of Technology.
The Philippines, which grows rice
but is also one of the world’s leading importers, is also interested in this
method, and the Ministry of Agriculture has started training farmers.
The method is also used in parts
of India, China and Africa. But though there is support from NGOs, as well as
some scientists and authorities, it has a long way to go before widespread
adoption.
It faces resistance domestically
from agribusiness because there is no new hybrid seed or fertilizer to sell.
Industry lobbies are very active
in Southeast Asia — particularly in Thailand, one of the largest users of
pesticides in the world.
And they recently won a big
battle over chemical use in agriculture.
Thai authorities, who had
committed to ban controversial glyphosate, backtracked at the end of November,
deciding that “limited” use would eventually be allowed. The use of two other
herbicides has also been extended.
Lecomte says the other challenges
potentially affecting the rate of adoption are that the SRI method is quite
complex to learn and that it is labor-intensive.
“You have to plant one by one and
closely control the amount water,” he explained, adding that the extra manual effort
required means some farmers don’t want to try the method, and others give up
early on.
Asia Rice-India prices rebound, Vietnam sees uptick in demand
Karthika Suresh Namboothiri
December 12, 2019
7:04 AM EST
7:04 AM EST
BENGALURU — Indian rice export prices rebounded this week from
three-year lows as exporters increased rates to compensate for a rising rupee,
while low supply and an uptick in demand from Cuba, Iraq and Philippines pushed
up Vietnamese rates.
Top exporter India’s 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted around
$358-$363 per tonne this week, up from last week’s $356-$361, which was the
lowest since January 2017.
The appreciation in the rupee has been forcing traders to raise
prices, but demand is still subdued, said an exporter based at Kakinada in the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian rupee on Thursday rose to its highest level in more
than a month, trimming exporters’ margin from overseas sales.
India’s rice exports in October fell 42% year-on-year to 485,898
tonnes, government data showed, due to weak demand from African countries for
non-basmati rice.
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice were quoted at $350 a tonne
on Thursday, up slightly from $345 last week.
“Supply has run very low
now as the harvest has ended while demand from exporters to fulfill shipments
to Cuba and Iraq is still high,” said a trader in Ho Chi Minh City, adding
demand from Philippines had also been picking up in the past two weeks.
Another trader said local supplies would increase from late next
month when the winter-spring harvest begins.
Meanwhile, prices of 5% broken Thai rice were little changed at
$397-$411 a tonne on Thursday versus $397-$410 the week before.
“We were expecting the price to drop with new supply this month
but prices have not changed much,” a Bangkok-based trader said.
Prices for the Thai variety have been high relative to competitors
throughout the year, largely due to the strength of the local currency.
“I have not been able to sell any for more than two months now
because of the high prices,” another trader in Bangkok said. “My usual
customers say they have been buying from Vietnam and Myanmar. Rice from those
countries are of similar quality to ours and more importantly, their rice is
cheaper.”
Bangladesh, the world’s fourth largest rice producer, could face
severe damage to its growth in agricultural output due to climate change and
rising sea-levels, the World Bank said in a report this week.
The country produces around 35 million tonnes of rice annually.
(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Phuong Nguyen in
Hanoi and Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; editing by Arpan Varghese and Jane
Merriman)
PH to import less rice in 2020; becomes world’s largest rice
importer
Published December 13, 2019, 10:00 PM
By Madelaine B.Miraflor
The Philippines is seen to import
less rice in 2020, but will still emerge as the world’s largest buyer of
rice.The Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report prepared by the
US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service said that
global trade for rice for next year will be “nearly unchanged with reduced
imports for China partially offsetting higher imports for Ghana and the
Philippines.”
This only means one thing:
Philippines, for 2020, will still be the world’s
biggest rice importer.
For 2020, USDA sees that
Philippines importing as much as 2.7 million metric tons (MT) of rice, which is
lower than the 2.4 million MT of rice that China may import.
Its earlier forecast for next
year was that Philippines may import only as much as China did at 2.5 million
MT. The gap only appeared when all outlook said the world’s second largest
economy will be producing more rice locally.
As a result, Philippines will be
outpacing all countries when it comes to rice imports starting this year.
USDA changed its earlier forecast
and said that the country’s actual rice imports may end at a record 3.2 million
MT instead of 3 million MT, still the highest amount of imported rice allowed
to enter the country.
China, on the other hand, may end
the year with only 2.4 million MT rice imports, officially giving up its status
as the world’s biggest rice importer despite having nearly 1.5 billion
population.
Sometime in October, Agriculture
Secretary William Dar did acknowledge that Rice Tariffication Law or Republic
Act (RA) 11203 already resulted to an overwhelming amount of rice imports to
the detriment of Filipino rice farmers.
It is also for this reason why
President Rodrigo Duterte said a couple of times last month that he will stop
rice importation, which temporarily appeased the rice farmers.
The confusion whether the
Philippine government will really stop or continue rice tariffication
eventually came to an end when Duterte, together with his cabinet members,
decided that RA 11203 must stay and will stay the same.
They ended up agreeing that they
will leave the recently passed RA 11203 alone and will instead control the
volume of imported rice that enters the country by restricting the issuance of
permit to rice traders.
Passed in January and implemented
in March, RA 11203 allowed the unimpeded entry of imported rice into the
country, which resulted not only to lower retail cost of rice but also to the
continuous decline of palay, forcing farmers to sell their yield at a loss.
Cabinet approves maximum retail
price for rice
Import levy on wheat
flour slashed:
Friday, December 13, 2019 - 01:09
Addressing the weekly Cabinet media briefing held at the Government Information Department yesterday, Minister Pathirana said that a portion of the paddy stocks purchased under the government paddy purchasing programme for the 2018/2019 Maha Season, have been released to the market through the private sector small and medium rice mills.
The Minister of Finance, Economic and Policy development informed the Cabinet regarding the measures taken to issue rice produced from 42,000 MT of paddy remaining in the government stores. Considering the agreement with rice mill owners the Cabinet of Ministers decided to put a ceiling of Rs.98 and to supply rice to the market without any shortage.
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https://www.dailynews.lk/2019/12/13/local/205583/cabinet-approves-maximum-retail-price-rice
Feeding
1.4 billion: Smart farming with China's big grain silo
Sixty percent of people in China live on rice as their staple
food, and most of this rice is produced in the "Rice Capital" that is
northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Here, the town of Jiansanjiang is one
of the most important grain-producing bases in the country, with 15 state-owned
farms.
In recent years the farms have shifted from manual planting to
full mechanized production with the practice of China's smart agriculture
technology. This involves remote satellite sensing maps, big data and 5G. It
means that smart farms may one day be transformed into unmanned farms, using
advanced technology to put more bowls of rice on Chinese tables.
How will new USMCA trade deal
affect La. farmers?
How will new
USMCA affect La. farmers?
By Lester Duhé |
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - On
Tuesday, Dec. 10, House Democrats agreed to finally back the new United States,
Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA), which was originally signed by President
Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and former Mexican
President Enrique Peña Nieto more than a year ago.
“These trade deals are
significant because what they do is they provide an opportunity for the U.S. to
be price competitive in international markets,” said Michael Deliberto, a
professor of agricultural economics at the LSU AgCenter
He says more than 50% of rice in
the United States is produced and exported to Mexico. Much of that rice comes
from Louisiana farmers.
“Michael, you think this is not
only a big win for U.S. farmers, but farmers right here in Louisiana as well?”
questioned WAFB’s Lester Duhé.
“Yes,” Deliberto replied.
Rice and other products from the
U.S. will now have duty free access to both the Mexican and Canadian markets
without tariffs in those countries.
“Canada is a buyer of milled
rice. Canada by volume is typically in our top five. Mexico is our largest
export customer for rice by volume as by value, and it’s been like that for a
considerable amount of time,” said Deliberto.
A farmer from Erwinville, Donald
Schexnayder, the owner of R Schexnayder & Sons, believes the new deal will
keep domestic markets steady, firm, and open.
“It’s just going to one thing,
continue the market that we have in Mexico. It’s a big deal with agriculture in
our end anyway because we sell a lot of corn and soybeans to Mexico,” said
Schexnayder.
The deal should give
international buyers the opportunity to receive high quality products from the
United States and those grown in Louisiana.
“What it does is either lets us
increase our market share and let’s us become price competitive in those export
markets,” said Deliberto.
The deal will also strengthen
labor and environmental standards.
The Trump administration says the
USMCA will result in freer markets and fairer trade as a whole.
Govt trains
more rice farmers under RCEF-backed program
December 13, 2019
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said 22 batches of rice
planters are currently undergoing training on seed production and machine
operation to improve their productivity and help them compete against their
Southeast Asian counterparts.
The government is training
farmers through the Rice Extension Services Program (RESP), a key component of
the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. Republic Act (RA) 11203 had mandated
the set up of the P10-billion RCEF, which consists of tariffs from rice
imports.
Since the implementation of the
RESP, the DA said 77 batches of rice planters have completed the training.
Aside from farmers, the training program also covers regional focals,
agricultural extension workers, farmers and farmworker, including members of
cooperatives and associations.
Of the P10-billion RCEF, the DA
said 10 percent or P1 billion was allotted to skills training in developing new
education modules, and other related extension efforts.
The money is being used by
implementing agencies that include the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI),
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech),
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), and Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority (Tesda).
The DA said 70 percent of the
extension funds go to Tesda, while PhilMech, PhilRice, and ATI get 10 percent
each to carry out their tasks related to the rice fund program.
Among the topics covered for the
training include high-quality inbred rice production, farm mechanization,
high-quality rice seed production, seed certification and analysis, rice
machinery operation and maintenance, and management of agri-machinery pool.
“We are conducting the training
using a top-down approach, meaning we train the specialists first, these are
experts who will then train the agricultural extension workers who will later
become the ‘trainers’ who will teach the farmers and farmworkers on the
ground,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said in a statement.
Also under RESP, communication
campaigns, accreditation of farm schools, and granting of scholarships are
being undertaken.
To date, 96,382 copies of
information, education and communication materials have been reproduced and
distributed including farmer’s guides and references. Technical briefings were
also conducted for 154 batches of participant-beneficiaries.
Out of the 43 farm schools
targeted for this year, 20 have already been accredited. Tesda is implementing
the scholarship program for farmers and farmworkers listed in the Registry
System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture to enroll in a farmers’ field school
which is being conducted by the accredited farm schools. To date, 8,945
scholarships have been granted.
“We see to it that training
modules are harmonized to ensure the timely delivery of services intended for
the rice farmers under RCEF,” said Dar.
Aside from rice extension
service, the other three components of RCEF are rice seed development,
propagation and promotion; rice farm machinery equipment; and expanded rice
credit assistance.
The training program was rolled
out after RA 11203, which removed the quantitative restriction on rice, took
effect on March 5. The law also eased the rules on importing rice and limited
government intervention in the domestic rice market.
The new grain on the
block
DECEMBER 13, 2019 17:19 IST
Cookies, payasam, plum cake and
halwa... bamboo rice lends itself to delicious dishes
The creamy and golden brown
payasam, served in a small paper cup, tasted like traditional wheat payasam,
sticky and moderately sweet. But turns out, it is mulayari (bamboo
rice) and not wheat. A crowd had formed around the stall serving mulayari payasam
and people were relishing it. Food products made of mulayari were
a huge draw at the Kerala Bamboo Fest 2019 that concluded in the city recently.
Promoting bamboo rice
From halwa to neyyappam, cookies,
biscuits and even plum cakes, bamboo rice was the flavour of the fair. The
protein-rich rice with a low-glycemic index is popular among healthy eaters,
says P P Daniel, managing partner of Baza Agro Food Products, based in Wayanad,
which aims at promoting the rice in the State. The company had its formal
launch at the fest, showcasing a range of goodies made of bamboo rice. “People
are showing interest in bamboo rice mainly because they are aware of its health
benefits. We are trying to diversify into more products that can make it more
appealing. Christmas cake, for instance. Instead of maida, we have used bamboo
rice and dried jackfruit powder for the flour,” he says.
Anything that is made using rice
and wheat can be made using bamboo rice, says Baburaj M, trustee of Uravu, a
non-profit organisation based in Wayanad that deals with bamboo processing,
training and design. “The fact that it is completely organic makes it popular.
When looking at alternative food choices, bamboo rice would be an ideal
replacement for rice as it is safe for diabetics and is a store house of
vitamins and is low on starch.”
Bamboo rice in Kerala is usually
obtained from the bambusa bambos, the Indian spiny
bamboo (mullu
mula), which is the most commonly found variety in the forests of
Kerala. The rice is produced when a bamboo plant completes its lifecycle of 35
to 40 years. At the end of its life span, it flowers into rice seeds. A single
bamboo grove can yield up to 500 kgs of bamboo rice.
The potential of bamboo
Though in the North Eastern
States of India and in China and Japan, bamboo rice and shoots are consumed in
plenty, Kerala is only still waking up to the potential of bamboo as food,
Baburaj says. In its lifetime, a bamboo stores starch and energy, which it
transfers to the seeds at the end of its flowering. “It is said that a single
grain of bamboo rice contains the strength of a whole bamboo. The Chinese call
it the ultimate act of sacrifice by the bamboo tree, giving its life up for the
next generation.”
Earlier, when the bamboo flowered
in the forests of Wayanad, the tribes would collect the grain, store it and use
it for consumption. Today, however it is an industry; along with the tribals,
even those living on the fringes of the forest collect grain. Tarpaulin sheets
are spread out at the base of the bamboo groves, so that the grain is easy to
collect.
The rice that is available in the
market today, including online stores, could be from other States as well, not
just Kerala. It is also expensive—priced at around ₹500 a kilo.
Organisations such as Uravu are
also looking at diversifying into cookies and biscuits made of bamboo shoots.
“Even though bamboo shoots are easily available in Kerala, we have not yet
understood its uses. It has an acidic flavour, which is perhaps why it was
never used in traditional Kerala cuisine. We are working out ways in which the
shoots can be used in food,” says Baburaj.
Iran’s payment default leaves
rice traders apprehensive about further export
As
per information, Iran owes about ₹1,200 crore to
the state’s farmers
CITIES Updated: Dec 12, 2019 22:53 IST
With Iran failing to clear their
pending dues for the last eight months, rice traders in Haryana are reluctant
to export this season’s produce to the country, fearing more defaults. As per
information, Iran owes about ₹1,200 crore to the state’s farmers. Adding to their apprehension
is the fact that Basmati price have seen a steep fall this season.
This development is likely to
affect rice traders of the country, especially Haryana, adversely as Iran is
the biggest consumer Indian aromatic Basmati rice as it imports about 20-25% of
India’s total rice exports of 4.5 million tonnes every year.
Haryana’s rice traders say that
payment of about ₹1,200 crore was stuck in Iran since May this year when India
stopped importing oil from the country due to US sanctions. Though the Iran
government had started to clear pending payments, it stopped after clearing
dues to the tune of ₹100 crore.
The traders say that the delay has
caused them huge losses and the Indian government did not intervene to help
them clear their dues.
As per members of the All India
Rice Exporters Association (AIREA), most of the affected traders belong to
Haryana and Punjab. They further said the farmers had to sell their produce for
around ₹2,500 per quintal, the lowest in
the past five years.
“Since Iran is the largest basmati
importing market for Indian traders and the annual the basmati exports to Iran
in the past three years had increased to 14.83 lakh MT (₹10,790 crore) in 2018-19 from 7.16
lakh MT (₹3,778 crore) in 2016-17. But the
delay in payments has left farmers not wanting to take any risks next year,”
said Vijay Setia, former president of AIREA.
AIREA president Nathi Ram Gupta
said, “The delay in payment has affected the big rice exporters of the country.
They will now have to focus on the local market, which may lead to a fall in
prices, affecting both traders and farmers.”
“The bad trade with Iran has also
affected farmers during this harvesting season. Affected traders could not
purchase paddy this year and farmers had to sell their produce at ₹2,000 to ₹2,800 per quintal this season
against ₹3,000 to ₹4,500 per quintal last year,” said
Gurdev Singh, a rice trader of Kurukshetra.
Division of
Agriculture releases Lynx, a high-yielding medium-grain rice variety
·
Lynx,
a new medium-grain rice variety from the University of Arkansas System Division
of Agriculture, offers high yields and early maturity. (UA System Division of
Agriculture photo by Xueyan Sha.)
Lynx, a new medium-grain rice
variety from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, offers
high yields and early maturity.
“Lynx consistently
showed a yield advantage over both Jupiter and Titan in rice-growing areas
north of I-40 and west of Crowley’s Ridge, where the majority of the state’s
medium-grain rice is grown,” said Xueyan Sha, professor and rice breeder for
the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division
of Agriculture.
“Lynx reaches 50 percent heading
in an average of 86 days, the same as Jupiter,” Sha said, “but it matures three
to four days earlier. It appears to have a better seedling vigor than Jupiter
and a slightly better milling yield than Titan.
“Its plump kernel size is similar
to that of Titan but much larger than Jupiter,” he said.
Lynx averaged 207 bushels per
acre in 62 statewide and regional replicated trials from 2016 through 2019, Sha
said. That’s compared to 202 bushels per acre for Jupiter and 201 bushels per
acre for Titan.
Those tests also indicated Lynx
has good grain and milling quality, and good lodging and blast resistance compared
with Jupiter and Titan, Sha said.
Lynx had an average milling yield
of 59 percent whole kernel and 68 percent total milled rice in 30 state and
regional tests, Sha said.
In tests where the plants were
inoculated with disease, Lynx showed moderately susceptible to leaf blast.
Also, in inoculated tests and under natural infestation, it appeared
susceptible to sheath blight and false smut, similar to Jupiter. It is more
susceptible to bacterial panicle blight, false smut. Lynx is more susceptible
than Jupiter to bacterial blight, but only because Jupiter is the only rice
variety with a moderate level of resistance to the disease, Sha said.
Sha said 4.5 acres of Lynx
foundation seed was grown this year and will be available to seed growers in
2020. Seed will be available to rice producers in 2021.
For more information, visit the
Division of Agriculture’s Variety Testing Program website: https://aaes.uark.edu/variety-testing/,
or contact Xueyan Sha at xsha@uark.edu.
To learn more about Division of
Agriculture rice breeding and research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural
Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uark.edu. Follow us on Twitter
at @ArkAgResearch and
Instagram at ArkAgResearch.
Bulacan farmers get certified in-bred palay seeds
Published December 13, 2019, 7:33 PM
By Philippine News Agency
PANDI, Bulacan — Farmers in this province have started receiving certified
in-bred seeds from the Department of Agriculture (DA) through its Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
AID TO FARMERS. Sacks of certified seeds are distributed to
farmer-beneficiaries in Pandi, Bulacan on Thursday (Dec. 12, 2019). This is
under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program of the
Department of Agriculture in an effort to help improve the competitiveness of
the Filipino rice farmers. (Photo courtesy of the municipality of Pandi)
Provincial agriculturist Maria Gloria Carillo told the
Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday that Bulacan was allocated a total of
17,285 bags of certified seeds weighing 20 kilos each.
Of the total, Carillo said some 5,594 bags of certified seeds
were already distributed to the farmers here as spearheaded by the Philippine
Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).
“Initially, farmers from the towns of Pandi, San Miguel,
Plaridel, San Ildefonso, San Rafael, Baliwag and Calumpit were identified as
beneficiaries of the in-bred seeds under the RCEF program,” she said.
Farmer leaders in the province are also asking the government
for fertilizer and pesticide subsidies to help them recover losses due to low
palay prices.
The RCEF, or Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, is created
under Republic Act 11203, or the rice tariffication law.
It aims to help farmers through a PHP10-billion fund covering
the seed, machine, credit, and extension support to improve the competitiveness
of the Filipino rice farmers.
Of the figure, 50 percent will be allotted for rice farm
machinery and equipment; 30 percent for rice seed development, propagation and
promotion; 10 percent for expanded rice credit assistance; and 10 percent for
rice extension services.
Under the program, farmers who are listed in the DA’s Registry
System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) can receive 20 to 80 kilograms
of high-quality rice seeds for two consecutive seasons.After two seasons,
farmers are still entitled to the program benefits if their municipality
achieves the target yield.
Congress cuts palay-buying fund by P3 billion
Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) -
December 14, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — There will
be less money to buy the rice farmers’ palay produce next year.
The P3-billion reduction in the
palay procurement fund of the National Food Authority (NFA), which the Senate
initiated, was retained in the final version of the proposed P4.1-trillion 2020
national budget.
The 37 members of the
Senate-House of Representatives budget conference committee signed their report
containing the final version on Wednesday. Later that day, the two chambers
ratified the report.
President Duterte had proposed P7
billion for the NFA palay procurement fund, which the House increased by P3
billion to P10 billion.
Using the P3 billion alone, the
NFA could buy 150 million kilos, or three million 50-kilo bags, of dry palay at
P20 per kilo. The NFA offers a much lower price for wet palay. The P10 billion
is good for 500 million kilos.
The House had hoped that with NFA
buying more of the rice farmers’ produce, prices, which have fallen to below
production cost, would go up.
In their version of the budget,
senators slashed the palay procurement fund back to P7 billion, giving the
P3-billion House augmentation to the Land Bank for lending to local government
units, also for palay buying, at an interest rate of two percent per year.
Land Bank stood to earn P60
million a year in interest income on funds belonging to taxpayers.
In the conference committee
version, the P3 billion was allocated to the Department of Agriculture for
distribution to farmers as cash aid, again through Land Bank.
It is not clear if the
state-owned bank would charge an administrative cost, which it does in the case
of tens of billions in cash transfers to poor households under the Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
According to Sen. Sonny Angara,
who chairs the Senate finance committee, it was Sen. Cynthia Villar, head of
the agriculture committee, who authored the P3-billion palay-buying fund
reduction.
In the wake of Sen. Panfilo
Lacson’s claim that the approved 2020 budget is laden with pork barrel funds,
Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, who is House appropriations committee chairman,
insisted that there is no pork in the spending bill.
“In compliance with the express
instructions of the President, the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB)
contains no pork, no last-minute insertions and no parked funds. The budget
process was undertaken with utmost transparency,” he said.
Ungab said allegations that the
outlay includes pork “is unfair and misleading.”
“The Supreme Court has already
declared pork barrel funds as unconstitutional and clearly defined what
constitutes pork. The 2020 budget is pork-free,” he said.
He added that all changes made in
the proposed spending program “were aligned with the President’s priorities and
were based on the recommendations of the Cabinet departments and other
government agencies.”
“Both houses ratified the budget
bill. The representatives of both the Senate and the House agreed on the
amendments to, and final version of, the 2020 GAB in the conference committee,”
Ungab stressed.
Despite the ratification of the
budget program by the conference committee, some agencies are still batting for
changes in their respective allocations.
The Public Attorney’s Office
(PAO) has sent President Duterte a letter requesting the latter to veto a
special provision in the GAB that limits and prevents the use by PAO of
maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) funds for its Forensic
Laboratory Division.
Aside from the deletion of the
P19.5 million allocated for the purchase of equipment of the PAO-Forensic
Laboratory Division, PAO head Persida Acosta said “it has come to our attention
that a provision in the General Appropriations Bill was inserted to the effect
that no funds may be used for the meetings and other maintenance and operating
expenses of the PAO Forensic Laboratory.”
The changes “have only one
objective – to paralyze the PAO Forensic Laboratory and jeopardize its
operations, depriving them of the opportunity to assist the clients of the PAO,”
Acosta said.
The Commission on Population
(PopCom), meanwhile, said Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s removal of some
P195 million from the Department of Health (DOH)’s budget for the procurement
of birth control implants would have dire consequences.
“The action of the Senate
president is regrettable, since there is no scientific basis for the removal of
progestin subdermal implants (PSI),” PopCom executive director Juan Antonio
Perez III said in a statement. “Likewise, there is no new evidence that PSIs
are abortifacients.”
PopCom records showed that in
2018, the the government’s population control program required about 150,000 to
200,000 implants every six months.
Currently, the DOH has about
190,000 implants in stock and this will run out by the middle of 2020.
Perez said the reasons given by
Sotto in cancelling the budget are based on the same arguments already rejected
by the Food and Drug Administration in November 2017. –
Rhodina Villanueva, Sheila Crisostomo
t https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/12/14/1976879/congress-cuts-palay-buying-fund-p3-billion#skwLEZp3q0wKke22.99
