With
ADB’s help, Pakistan to revive agri-growth
January 13, 2020
KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is striving
to lift agricultural growth in the country but its policies reflect little
understanding of the basic paradigm of agricultural development.
Agriculture being a
provincial subject is supposed to be handled with political wisdom and not with
political naivety or political expediency. So far, the PTI’s political naivety
and political expediency have dictated agricultural policies, making them least
effective.
Now, Prime Minister Imran
Khan is promising once again to revitalise agricultural growth with the help of
global institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He is also relying
on the agricultural cooperation framework of the China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC), details of which are yet to be made public.
In December 2019, ADB’s
Chief for Rural Development and Food Security Dr Akmal Siddiq met the prime
minister and both discussed in detail how Pakistan’s agriculture sector can be
revitalised.
The ADB official told PM
Imran that his institution had plans to introduce corporate agriculture on a
wider scale in Balochistan. He also said the ADB had approved a $1-million
grant for promoting the use of information technology in Pakistan’s agriculture
and the project would commence in 2020.
In November, the ADB had approved
a $275-million loan for an irrigation project in Punjab aimed at boosting crops
growth by 50% and benefiting 200,000 farmers of Jhelum and Khushab districts.
Prior to that, in October
2019, the ADB had announced that between 2020 and 2022 it would be lending an
average of $2.4 billion a year to Pakistan, up from $1.4 billion a year in the
past.
Part of the increased
financing would cover projects in the agriculture sector. Already, the
ADB-financed or co-financed projects cover crucial areas of Pakistan’s
agriculture like irrigation, water resources, agricultural marketing
development, etc.
Towards the end of October
2019, President Arif Alvi and Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing
inaugurated the Pak-China Agriculture Cooperation Exchange Centre in Islamabad
under the Pak-China Agricultural Cooperation Forum.
The forum has been created
to help Pakistan benefit from Chinese experience in the agriculture sector.
Chinese companies will help Pakistan find out sustainable solutions to key
agricultural problems like low yield of crops and livestock, pre- and post-harvest
wastage and poor marketing.
In addition to opening up
its own market for Pakistani agricultural products like rice and fish, China
has also promised to assist Pakistan in the acquisition of modern agricultural
technologies and in marketing of its Halal food products across the region.
In November, the ADB
approved a $2.5-million grant in technical assistance for the adoption of
modern technology to boost productivity of agriculture sector in Punjab. Under
this project, farmers’ access to technology will be enhanced for better
harvesting of crops, post-harvest management and direct marketing of the farm
produce.
Earlier, in September last
year, China agreed to provide technical assistance for 13 mega projects of
Pakistan’s agriculture sector. These include setting up mega storage facilities
and designated processing zones for different crops across Pakistan and setting
up a large-scale dairy farming and processing unit in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as a
Pakistan-China joint venture.
These are in addition to
several other projects in the area of agriculture and livestock research,
production of small agricultural machinery, development of disease-resistant
seed varieties of various crops, etc.
Stumbling blocks
Pakistan’s agriculture
sector suffers from a host of constraints. These include low spending on
research, lack of certified seeds, low yields of crops, broken supply chain,
shallow value-addition base, scarcity of irrigation water and skilled farm
labour, rudimentary farm practices, improper, insufficient grain storage
facilities, high post-harvest losses, lack of marketing infrastructure,
ever-rising cost of inputs, insufficient access to information regarding price
discovery and a lack of access to formal finance.
The ADB’s help has always
proved crucial in supporting Pakistan’s agriculture and one can hope that
Chinese help would also be meaningful.
However, implementation of
the identified projects with the technical and financial assistance of the ADB
and China would require ideal coordination between the federal and provincial
governments.
A key question is whether
this cooperation could be forthcoming? Secondly, in seeking Chinese help in the
agriculture sector, the underlying objective is to boost agricultural exports
to China and other Asian countries.
Meeting this objective
will, however, require a real transfer of technology from China to Pakistan and
speedy removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to exports to Chinese markets.
Have we secured any solid
guarantees in this regard? If yes, what we have promised in exchange? These are
important issues that require open public debate.
Another important issue
that needs to be debated in the context of agricultural revival plan is
Pakistan’s high population growth rate. Sadly, the PTI government keeps harping
on agricultural growth and food security, leaving the other key issue of
population growth untouched.
The writer is a mechanical
engineer and is doing masters
Published in The Express
Tribune, January 13th, 2020.
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Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
Transforming
Punjab’s agriculture through agro-ecological zoning
Amin
AhmedJanuary 13, 2020
AGRO-ECOLOGICAL
zones have been identified in Punjab to formulate policies and strategies for a
sustainable and diversified use of natural resources and investments to harness
production potential.
The
development is a result of two years of collective work by institutions and
teams of experts, backed by the Punjab government and supported by the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
Data
compiled in the agro-economic zones report reveals an enormous potential for
crop diversification and precision for enhanced crop productivity. That
includes land characteristics, topography, land use, soil and water analysis, weather
and climate, yield and profitability, which can lead to making recommendations
towards what should be grown and where and when.
Crop
suitability maps have been developed for more than 50 commodities, and this
meticulous rehash of agro-ecological zones could make smallholders farming a
profitable business and promote overall efficient agricultural enterprising.
The
purpose of establishing agro-ecological zones in Punjab is to devise policies
and strategies for sustainable and diversified use of natural resources to
improve production potentials in agriculture. There is a need to plan cropping
systems for different areas according to water availability, soil and climatic
conditions.
In
order to plan cropping systems, the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council
(PARC) divided Pakistan into ten distinct zones in 1980 based on physical
geography, climate, land use and water availability. It divided Punjab into
four broad categories with eleven sub-zones.
Agriculture
contributes around one quarter to Punjab’s GDP, but the overall added value
from this sector in the provincial economy is disproportionately low compared
to other sectors
Due
to the changing climate from 1980 to 2017, PARC identified 11 zones, whereas
the new study delineated 14 zones, including Cholistan desert, arid irrigated,
cotton-sugarcane, Rod Kohi, semi-desert irrigated, mix cropping, cotton mix
cropping, maize-wheat mix cropping, Thal-gram crop, rice-wheat, Thal zone-2,
rice zone, groundnut-medium rainfall, and high rainfall.
Suitability
maps of agronomic crops showed that wheat is suitable for cultivation in the
whole of Punjab except in a few areas of the province, such as Attock and
Rawalpindi.
Rice
is most suitable in areas of upper Punjab such as Gujranwala, Sialkot and
Gujrat, and in a few areas of Sheikhupura, Sargodha and Nankana Sahib. Cotton
is most suitable in the lower areas of Punjab such as Khanewal, Vehari, Multan,
Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar.
Suitability
maps of fruits showed that citrus fruits can be grown in different patches
across the whole of Punjab, while the core areas include Jhelum, Sargodha,
Gujranwala, Layyah and Rajanpur. Mango is most suited to central Punjab and a
few areas of lower Punjab, including Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, etc. Guava is
best for cultivation in central Punjab and a few areas of upper Punjab such as
Gujrat, Jhelum and Sialkot.
The
suitability maps of vegetables showed that garlic is suited to almost all of
Punjab except in Attock and Rawalpindi. Cabbage is suitable for cultivation in
Gujrat and Narowal, and in a few patches in all of Punjab. The most suitable
areas for turnip cultivation are Bhakkar, Layyah, and Mianwali, which are the
desert areas of Punjab.
Agriculture
contributes around one quarter to the GDP of Punjab, whose share is two-thirds
of the total national agricultural output, leading in major commodities meant
for food security in the country.
However,
the overall added value from agriculture in Punjab’s economy is
disproportionately low compared to other sectors of the economy, according to
the chairman of the agro-ecological zones committee, Iqrar Ahmad Khan, who is
also a former vice-chancellor of the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad.
The
agro-ecological zoning of Punjab is a cornerstone in the efforts towards
transforming Punjab’s agricultural and food systems. Agro-ecological zones will
allow the identification of the most suitable cropping systems through critical
analysis and assessment of agro-climatic and edaphic (soil-related) variables,
as well as the available resources for crop production, and the development of
agriculture integrated production planning.
It
will further aim to assist agriculturists in improving the yield of major
crops, by correctly identifying the production potential of the agricultural
systems which is driven by climate, soil characteristics and landform
conditions. This will, in the end, enhance agricultural efficiency and economic
development, coupled with sustainability, says FAO Representative in Pakistan
Mina Dowlatchahi.
“FAO
stands ready to continue assisting the agricultural sector of Pakistan to add
to the contribution from agriculture to the national economy and livelihoods of
rural communities,” she adds.
Unlike
the previous agro-ecological zones exercise carried out in 1980, when only
regional climate data was used to delineate agro-ecological zones for
conventional crops, the current methodology brings big data and analytics into
the equation to delineate new agro-ecological zones at a scale of 100 metres,
keeping in view the small landholdings of the country.
The
new agro-ecological zones revealed an enormous potential for crop diversification
as well as substantially enhanced crop productivity. The meticulous assessment
of agro-ecological zones will help to make smallholder farming a profitable
business and enhance overall agriculture efficiency because successful adoption
of cropping systems and crops in a specified region heavily depends on critical
analysis and assessment of agro-climatic norms and available resources for crop
production.
Last
week, FAO published a report on agro-ecological zones, which says that for the
last two decades there has been no improvement in the yield of major crops.
This may be due to factors including climate variability, the cultivation of
crops in areas that are not suitable for those crops (for instance, planting
rice in an area more suitable for cotton), declining water availability,
gradual changes in the soil nutrient status and a lack of true-to-type
cultivars.
Pakistan’s
agriculture sector has been dominated by five crops: wheat, rice, sugar cane,
maize and cotton. The narrow choice of crops is due mainly to a lack of
understanding about the scope for more crops and a misallocation of resources.
Also, the country has been unable to take advantage of the diversity of climate
and land geographies, and consequently, it has become a net importer of otherwise
locally cultivable crops such as fruits, vegetables, pulses and oilseeds, among
others.
This
also means the country spends enormous amounts of foreign exchange to import
edible oil, pulses and seeds of many agricultural crops. There is a need to
diversify and add more crops to existing cropping systems to achieve
sustainability and diversification. The disadvantages and limitations
associated with the expansion of cropland make it critically important to know
where and how to increase crop yield on existing cropland area.
An
assessment of the physical and biological potential of natural resources that
leads to the delineation of agro-ecological zones specific to crops presents a
useful preliminary evaluation of this potential and ensures that representation
is maintained at an appropriate bio-geographic scale for regional sustainable
development planning.
Publish
in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 13th 2020
Agriculture:
Soya bean a miracle crop for national food security
Dr
Saeed A. AsadJanuary 13, 2020Facebook Count
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PAKISTAN
produces huge quantities of major staple and non-staple food crops, including
wheat, rice, maize, sugar cane and cotton. Still, the state of food security in
the country is far from satisfactory.
A
rise in population, climate change and depleting water resources are only
exacerbating the situation, and failure to achieve food security may push the
country towards food imports.
Gauging
the severity of the food security issue, the federal government has launched
the Prime Minister’s National Agriculture Emergency Programme to increase the
productivity of some selected livestock and crops, including oilseeds such as
canola, mustard, soya bean, etc.
Despite
their significant importance in food and feed, oilseed crops are categorised as
minor crops in Pakistan. Because of their secondary position at research and
policy level, oilseed crops have failed to find a priority place in our
cropping system until recently.
Major
oilseed crops grown in Pakistan are canola, rapeseed, cotton and sunflower,
which are primarily used for edible (cooking) oil needs. With an annual
population growth rate of around two per cent, the demand for cooking oil has
been on the rise in Pakistan with every passing year, but the local production
of oilseed crops is negligible, and country is dependent on imported edible
oil.
It
can help reduce edible oil imports, which have almost doubled to 3.35m tonnes
in the last five years
For
example, during the 2016-17 fiscal year, only 12pc of our total edible oil
requirement of nearly 3.6 million tonnes was met by local produce. The
remainder was contributed by imports, which cost the country around $3 billion.
Edible
oil imports have doubled in the last five years, rising from 1.67m tonnes in
2014-15 to 3.35m tonnes in 2018-19, according to the Pakistan Bureau of
Statistics.
Soya
bean is a rich and economical source of nutrition, containing up to 42pc of
best-quality protein, 22pc oil contents and 30pc carbohydrates besides
significant amounts of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
The
soya bean seed also contains many limiting amino acids, namely lysine, linoleic
and linolenic acids, which are essential for human but not synthesised by human
body itself. Therefore, soya bean oil is the best source of essential elements
required for human growth and development.
Owing
to its prime nutritional value and multiplex uses, it is also called the
“golden bean”. Moreover, it contains the highest amounts of oil and protein
contents than other oilseeds.
Soya
bean is a non-conventional crop and owing to its marginal cultivation, it is
less popular among Pakistani farmers. Interestingly, all the four provinces
of
Pakistan are suitable for soya bean cultivation and this crop needs minimal
amounts of fertilisers as compared with cash crops like cotton, sugar cane,
maize, etc.
Historically,
soya bean was recognised as popular crop for intercropping with sugar cane, an
ideal combination of an exhaustive and restorative crop. Its cultivation in
Pakistan peaked in 1990, but then it started to decline gradually and almost
disappeared from our fields by 2010.
Soya
bean is a short duration crop, maturing in 90 to 120 days depending on the seed
variety and weather. It also fits well in our existing cropping system without
clashing with major crops.
Therefore,
farmers could utilise rice, cotton, and rain-fed fallow areas for soya bean
cultivation. The respective patterns for soya bean cultivation in rain-fed,
rice and cotton areas are wheat-soya bean-wheat, rice-soya bean-rice, and
cotton-soya bean-cotton.
The
cultivation of soya bean after exhaustive crops (wheat, rice and cotton) also
helps restore the soil fertility and health for the next exhaustive crop,
because soya bean captures nitrogen from air and stores it in the soil.
Due
to a lack of policy and low return value, soya bean has failed to earn a
respectable position in the existing farming schemes of Pakistan.
The
unavailability of quality seeds, lack of production technology, extension
services and marketing facilities have worsened the situation.
As
the soya bean can help cut edible oil imports to a significant extent, the
Ministry of National Food Security and Research needs to launch a massive
information drive at federal level in close coordination with provincial
agricultural departments and oilseed boards.
The
Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has already taken initiatives for
increasing soya bean cultivation in a few districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
distributing soya bean seed to farmers free of cost.
PARC
and regional agricultural research institutes including Faisalabad’s Ayub
Agricultural Research Institute and Swat’s Agricultural Research Institute have
developed some novel varieties of soya bean suitable for local soil and
climatic conditions.
Better
availability of native seed varieties is imperative for the success of the soya
bean crop across the country. The efforts being made in this regard need to be
accelerated and taken to the level of small farmers rather than focused only on
progressive growers.
Small
farmers comprise more than 90 per cent of our farming community and a little
incentive to smallholder peasants can yield promising results.
Marketing
soya bean in Pakistan is no more a problem because of its versatility and wide
use in human food, livestock and poultry feeds. Poultry feed has emerged as the
biggest user of this crop after oil extraction in the country. Moreover, its
other uses in paints, polymers, wood adhesives, synthetic fibres, fire foams,
pesticides, medicines, cosmetics and papers make it an ideal crop to embed in
our existing cropping patterns.
Soya
bean is in indeed a miracle crop, and a little effort by the government to
boost its cultivation may save billions of dollars being spent on edible oil
imports.
The
writer is an assistant professor at the Centre for Climate Research and
Development of the COMSATS University Islamabad
Publish
in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 13th 2020
Sino-Pak
FTA-II: will Pakistan benefit?
By Ali Salman / BEENISH JAVED
: January 13,
2020
ISLAMABAD: China and Pakistan have signed phase-II of the free trade
agreement (FTA), which has become effective on January 1, 2020, 15 years after
the phase-I was operationalised.
In this article, we weigh the possible benefits Pakistan can draw from
this agreement.
China is already ranked as the second largest export destination for
Pakistan with a share of 8% in Pakistan’s total exports, after the United
States (17%).
Unsurprisingly, Pakistan’s exports to China are heavily concentrated in a
few products such as cotton and rice, which account for 75% of Pakistan’s total
exports to China.
China also occupies the largest share in Pakistan’s total imports at 29%.
Since the Sino-Pak FTA, the trade volume between the two countries has
increased from $2.2 billion in 2005 to approximately $15.6 billion in 2019.
Pakistan’s exports jumped to $1.74 billion in 2017-18 from $575 million
in 2006-07. Correspondingly, China’s exports to Pakistan increased to $15.74
billion in 2017-18 from $3.5 billion in 2006-07.
The bilateral trade balance has remained tilted in China’s favour as
Pakistan’s exports to China could not keep pace with its imports from the
country.
In FY19, the trade deficit with China came down to $10.89 billion, which
accounted for 34.22% of Pakistan’s total trade deficit.
According to Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul
Razak Dawood, the FTA-II is targeted to generate an additional $500 million in
exports in its first year of implementation. Hopes are high.
A review of the new FTA deal reveals that market access given to Pakistan
is on a par with Asean member countries – something that was missing in the
previous FTA and, therefore, was a major concern for Pakistani exporters.
It also seems that the private sector has been thoroughly consulted
before operationalising the agreement.
The FTA-II offers new opportunities to the exporters. This calls for
joint efforts by the government and the private sector to turn these
opportunities into concrete gains for Pakistan, otherwise, this may become
another case of GSP Plus status, which could not be leveraged substantially.
Some challenges to convert this opportunity into material gains are worth
repeating.
A high cost of production and the subsequent lack of competitiveness has
always been a setback for the major export industries such as textile and
leather.
Industrialists should utilise the provisions under the new phase to
import cheaper inputs and focus should also be placed on product branding and
marketing as this remains a weak area of the country’s trade strategy.
It is pertinent to note that neither the new FTA nor the previous one
catered to the stringent non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that restrain Pakistan’s
agro-based exports to China.
According to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in 2016 alone, China
initiated and enforced 87 technical barriers to trade and 12 sanitary and
phyto-sanitary cases on exports of certain products from Pakistan such as
organic chemicals, oilseeds, meat, fruits, grains, seeds, animal fodder, etc.
Including a provision or two on the NTBs in the new FTA could have been
beneficial for boosting agro-exports to China.
Since Pakistan will be lowering its tariffs for China on 5,237 items over
time, there is a possibility of increased import bill given the nature of those
items (high-value products). Not to mention, the devaluation of yuan amidst the
US-China trade war is also not auguring well for Pakistan.
Therefore, we should proceed with caution since China has a strong
manufacturing base for export of goods as compared to imports.
Nonetheless, the ball is in Pakistan’s court now. It needs to take
certain measures so as to ensure exports grow in the long run.
Firstly, it is important that Pakistan examines the impact of reduced
tariffs on each product and correspondingly rationalises its import tariffs to
avoid trade diversion as happened previously.
Secondly, Pakistan needs to expedite the completion of Special Economic
Zones (SEZs) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) so that Chinese
investments can flow into the sectors that will benefit from the new FTA.
Thirdly, there are various internal barriers to trade that require
attention such as cumbersome regulations, poor infrastructure, multiplicity of
taxes, high energy prices, lack of research and development, just to name a
few.
Therefore, unless the government improves the regulatory environment,
enhances supply capacity, broadens export basket and takes measures to develop
a footprint in global value chains, FTAs will do little to improve Pakistan’s
struggling exports in the long run.
The writers are affiliated with PRIME Institute, an independent economic
policy think tank based in Islamabad
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2020.
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Malaysia,
Pakistan keen to enhance trade in commodities 
Monday, January 13th, 2020 at
, Business | News
Monday, January 13th, 2020 at
, Business | News
by BERNAMA / pic by BLOOMBERG
MALAYSIA and Pakistan are keen to further
explore ways to enhance trade in commodities, as well as avenues to further
expand Malaysian palm oil’s share in Pakistan.
A statement issued in conjunction with Primary
Industries Minister Teresa Kok’s official visit to the country said the
minister and Pakistan’s advisor for Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production
and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood took the opportunity in a bilateral dialogue
to explore various issues of common interest to both countries.
“For example, Pakistan is a net exporter of
rice, fruits and other produce that are required by Malaysia, and Dawood
encouraged Malaysia to consider instituting trading practices that could allow
smoother passage of these products into Malaysia.
“On her part, Kok highlighted that medium
density fibreboard (MDF) exporters from Sri Lanka enjoyed lower duties whereas
Malaysia’s higher quality MDF was subjected to higher import tariffs,” she
said.
Meanwhile, she said Pakistan is a key importer
of Malaysian palm oil and products — in 2018, it imported 1.16 million metric
tonnes of palm oil valued at RM2.97 billion.
She highlighted the importance of Pakistan as
an end-user of Malaysian palm oil and facilitated by the joint-venture refinery
between Malaysia and Pakistan in Port Qasim.
She said, while Pakistan is one of the most
regular and dependable buyers of Malaysian palm oil and products, the commodity
has the potential for a higher uptake in Pakistan, given that its local
production of oils and fats meets only around 20% of its consumption needs.
“It, thus, depends heavily on imports to meet
growing domestic demand and consumption. Demand has been increasing at a rate
of 4.5% per year for the past seven years due to increasing population, income
and consumer spending.
“Palm oil is widely used for the manufacture of
vanaspati (ghee) and it is also the preferred raw material for the food
industry in Pakistan, especially for frying and in confectionery items,” she
added.
During her visit there, Kok was also invited to
deliver the keynote address at the 5th Pakistan Edible Oil Conference on Jan
10. — Bernama
Skyrocketing
prices of essential commodities
Sir, I am writing to you to express my
deep concern over the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities which is
making the life of the common people very hard. The Government has failed
miserably in its promise of keeping inflation low. The prices of essential
commodities such as pulses, vegetables, cereals, cooking oil, sugar, rice, and
petrol, etc. have been rising unrelentingly.
All measures to bring the prices down have
failed. I just want to ask the concerned ministry and authorities what is
happening. The poor are desperate, while the rich are having a gala! Why does
the Government not put a rein on inflation? Why is the Government PDS such a
big failure?
See the paradox! On one hand we have food
grains worth millions of rupees rotting in the FCI godowns, and on the other
hand, the poor and the middle classes of our country are not getting the grain
and pulses at reasonable price.
Why does the Government not make these food
grain and pulses available to the common people?
Once the Government will supply these food
items into the market, the prices will automatically go down. Besides, the
Government need to act strictly against the hoarding and black-marketing of
food items.
Through the columns of your esteemed daily I
appeal to the concerned ministry to look into the matter and take steps to
alleviate people’s troubles.
Maaz
Azher
Karachi
Rice inventory up 14% in early Dec. amid surge in NFA stocks
January 13, 2020 | 12:03 am
PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
THE national rice inventory was estimated at
3.098 million metric tons (MT) as of Dec. 1, up 14% from a year earlier, the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
According to the PSA’s Rice and Corn Stocks
Inventory report, the inventory rose 4.6% month-on-month. The rice inventory is
sufficient for about 96 days’ consumption based on an average daily consumption
estimate of 32,000 MT.
Households accounted for 51.9% of inventories,
commercial warehouses 32.6%, and the National Food Authority (NFA) 15.5%. No
breakdown was provided for how much of the stocks were accounted for by
imported rice.
Household inventory grew 5.3% year-on-year,
while stocks held by commercial warehouses fell 7.3%. NFA stocks rose 370.6%
from a year earlier.
All segments reported higher stocks
month-on-month. Inventory held by households increased 5.3%, those of
commercial warehouses grew 2.9%, and NFA holdings increased 5.9%.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said that it
is projecting palay production for 2019 of about 18.4 million MT, lower than
the 19-million MT target, which factored in about P16.07 billion worth of
agricultural damage during the period.
For 2020, it targets 19.6 million MT with the
support of the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which
includes a P3-billion seed component. The DA’s distribution of inbred seed
through the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) started in late 2019
for dry-season planting in 2019 and 2020.
RCEF aims to reduce cost of production by about
half from the current P12 per kilo, as well as to increase yield per hectare to
6 MT from 4 MT.
The corn inventory was reported at 794,870 MT,
up 26.2% year-on-year, but down 33.7% month-on-month.
Corn held in commercial warehouses accounted
for 77.1% of the total, while households held 22.9%. The NFA did not hold corn
stocks.
Both sectors increased their holdings comparing
year-on-year. Households raised their stocks 89.7%, while commercial warehouse
inventory increased 14.8%.
Month-on-month, household inventory fell 18.1%,
while holdings of commercial warehouses fell 37.2%. — Vincent Mariel P.
Galang
Kerala Electrician Starts Organic Paddy
Farming; Opens India’s First ‘Rice Park’
Now growing a 118 rare varieties of
rice, Jayakrishnan, along with his friend Leneesh, also sells organic
‘superfoods’, made from their fresh farm produce.
·
JANUARY 13, 2020
In
Kozhikode, Kerala, everyone recognises Jayakrishnan Thaazhathuveettil as the
pioneer of organic paddy farming in the state. Partnering with his friend
Leneesh K, Jayakrishnan has helped revive 118 traditional, rare and exotic
varieties of paddy, many of which hold excellent medicinal properties.
The former electrician has an interesting
story about the starting point of his organic journey.
Thirteen years ago, his son, Bhagath was just
one year old, when he suffered from a bout of chronic sickness. When the
prescribed medicines failed to provide relief, a worried Jayakrishnan observed
the consumption habits of his family, and realised that the chemical-laden food
in their diet was possibly responsible for recurring health issues.
Jayakrishnan decided to return to his
ancestral vocation of farming. He leased a 7-acre plot of land in Kozhikode and named
it Anadha Farms to grow paddy. However, unlike most around him, he opted for organic
farming which was quite a revolutionary concept at the time.
“My son is now a healthy 14-year-old! My family and I have given up using chemicals like soaps, toothpaste, refined sugar, dishwashing bars etc., and opted for all-natural alternatives like coconut cake, burnt rice husk (for washing). I absolutely feel that we—my mother Janaki, wife Reshma, and children, Bhagath and Rudra—are leading a much healthier and happier life now,” shares Jayakrishnan.
An electrician who became organic farmer
Jayakrishnan had heard about long-lost
varieties like Mullan Kayama, Rakthashali, Valkya Chennel or KalaMalli
Phula—which once fulfilled several medicinal requirements for the community. He wished to revive these varieties and
bring them back on people’s plates.
Drawing inspiration from Subhas Palekar’s
zero-budget spiritual farming and Fukuoka’s natural farming methods, before
formulating his own methodology. Today, aside from over a hundred varieties of paddy, the Kerala
farmer also
cultivates over 50 varieties of traditional tubers and 20 varieties of native
vegetables.
“I collect diverse varieties of paddy seeds by
travelling all across the country, including indigenous communities in obscure
hamlets of India. I procure the remaining seeds through an extensive
network of rice farmers spread across continents. I even have a few varieties
sourced from Pakistan and Thailand!” says the electrician-turned-farmer.
The
prized varieties of rice
While
the revenue from farming does not earn him a fortune, his annual harvest of
20 tonnes of exotic rice is nearly enough to sustain his passion for exploring
and discovering newer paddy species.
Speaking with The Better India, he enthusiastically explains the incredible health
benefits of some of his prized paddy varieties.
The Mullan Kayama is an aromatic medicinal variety, once consumed by
royalty, while Rakhthashaali is red rice, which is deemed to have
anti-cancerous properties, as well as antioxidant benefits. He procured the Kalabhatti paddy from remote parts of Odisha,
which is a dark purple variety enriched with calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamins
B & E and zinc, and also has blood purifying properties. The Kanaka Choorna, proven to have a high content of gold
as a micronutrient, is another exceptional find. The Valkya Chennel rice is known to boost energy
levels while the KalaMalli
Phula is rich in
antioxidants. Basmati
Nagni, Assam Black, Mapillai Chemba and Rakhta Choodi are four of his other best varieties.
Folk Rice Park & Knowledge Centre
Jayakrishnan works in partnership with
Leneesh, who runs a similar paddy farm in Wayanad. Leneesh, a former journalist, had been
growing paddy using organic methods for the past few years, ever since he
participated in the Save Our
Rice campaign by NGO Thanal.
“I met Jayakrishnan at a paddy seed festival and was deeply intrigued by his passion. For a while, we exchanged seeds regularly and supported each other’s efforts. In 2018, we joined hands and decided to pursue paddy farming together as a joint venture,” Leneesh shares.
The duo has recently opened the Folk Rice
Centre & Knowledge Centre, on Leenesh’s 13-acre rice farm in Wayanad. The
park attracts visitors from all over Kerala, as well as tourists from other
states. Interestingly, such a rice park is perhaps the first-of-its-kind in
India. With their exhibition of lost indigenous rice varieties, a guided walk
through the park is an enriching experience for any visitor.
The two friends also conduct extensive
awareness campaigns among the public. Jayakrishnan himself regularly visits
schools and colleges, conducting workshops on organic farming and rice
varieties. He also actively advocates the ideas on social media.
Jayakrishnan and Leneesh, also run ‘Paithrugam,’ a chain of organic superfoods concocted from their fresh farm produce. For example, their all-organic baby food mixture Shishu Bhojan – made with traditional rice varieties, pulses and nuts – is one of the local bestsellers. Shaali Paani (organic health drink from powdered black rice), Glypor (food mixture to regulate insulin levels in diabetic patients) and Oushadha Kootu (porridge mix from rice, pulses and medicinal herbs) – are some of the other consumer favourites.
“I started farming for selfish reasons”
To ensure the proliferation of his efforts,
Jayakrishnan regularly offers his seeds to interested farmers and educates them
about the A to Z of his methodology. Jayakrishnan ardently wishes the people of
Kerala to switch back to their older consumption habits, sans any harmful
chemicals or hybrid cultivars.
Winding up the conversation, Jayakrishnan mentions that while he is a staunch advocate of organic farming and zero-waste lifestyle, he is not averse to technology. Rather, he believes that modern technology and traditional habits should go hand in hand to foster a perfect society and environment. In fact, he has also implemented unique machines in his fields to help in sowing, watering of saplings or conserving the seeds after harvest.
“I started farming for selfish reasons (you
can say). But, it’s all good now since the outcome has been great.”
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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something to share?
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size=0 width="100%" align=center>
Feeling Sour? 5 Feel-Good Foods That Will Put You in a
Good Mood
Be a little mindful and you can eat
your way to happiness!
·
JANUARY 10, 2020
Emotional
well-being is directly proportional to how nutrient-dense your diet is. We’re
not making this up as a study published in the journal ‘Nutritional Neuroscience’ proves it.
The lack of a nutritious diet takes a toll on
your mental health, often resulting in anxiety or even depression. The antidote
to the problem, according to the study, is to introduce a wider variety of
nutrient-dense foods in the diet.
We bring you five ways in which you can bring
more nutrition into your life, while ensuring that you load up on foods that
are also high on endorphins and serotonin, among other chemicals that the
nervous system naturally produces to reduce stress and deal with pain. These
chemicals are also called “feel-good” as they boost happiness.
Break
your Fast with Healthy Food!
If you’re breaking your fast, you might as well
have food that help you begin your day on a happy note. Dark chocolate, bananas
and oats are some of nature’s goodies that are naturally loaded with
happiness-nutrients!
And choc-a-bloc
with all these yummy ingredients is this Banana Chocolate Overnight Oats that is ready to
eat in the morning if you only leave it soaked overnight.
Yes, it really is that simple.
Hangry?
Don’t get Angry, Snack Smart Instead!
Not listening
to those hunger pangs you get in the evening, is one of the worst things to do
to your body. If you’re a millennial office-goer, or just a day-dreamer, it
always helps to have some healthy snacks at hand. Guilt free munchies such as Brazil nuts will
ensure that you keep irritability and anxiety at bay while offering a delicious
rich, creamy taste.
When
Granny says Eat Whole Food, Say I do!
Whole
foods such as lentils have complex carbohydrates, increasing the brain’s
production of serotonin. Also, your granny would swear by it for perfectly
peachy health. Introduce more whole foods and staples such as dal-chawal for
lunch or dinner. They’re simple to cook, easy to eat and pack a whole punch of
nutrition in one meal. You could try experimenting with interesting varieties
of rice such as Aromatic Black Rice to mix up the flavours.
Bottoms
Up! Ehm . . . We mean Water.
Colas or
diet colas are loaded with sugars and harmful artificial sweeteners such as
aspartame; chuck ‘em out of the window. If you must have your customary drink
to combat mid-day slump, let it be something that is free and guarantees good
health. Water is inarguably, the single most important thing for our physical
and mental well-being. Storing it in pretty copper
bottles help nourishes your body. Copper ensures mental, physical and chemical well
being of your body.
Stay
Strong, Whispered My Dark Chocolate
The
darker the chocolate, the better it is. While sugary foods are best avoided,
it’s perfectly alright to indulge yourself once in a while with some organic dark chocolate. Especially, if it’s infused with
natural ingredients like lemon and ginger. So, go on, eat your way to good
health and a happy mood.
All you really need to do is just be a little
mindful.
(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)
Donovan Stanberry | Deciphering The Food Import Bill – Part 3
Published:Sunday | January 12, 2020 | 12:42 AM
Ian Allen
The banana industry has taken a serious
battering from liberalization of our traditional export market
An analysis of our Food Import Bill reveals that the major
imports of plant based food include:
- Cereal – wheat, rice, and corn, both as raw
material for processing into consumer-ready products as well as finished
products;
- Food preparations, that is, semi-processed
food, serving as raw material in our food-manufacturing industry;
- Processed finished goods – breakfast cereals,
biscuits, chips, confectionary, nuts, pastries, and other baked products;
- Refined sugar;
- Coconut and cocoa products.
Before analysing the structure of our
plant-based food imports, it is apt at this juncture to salute our 220,000
farmers, who, collectively, ensure that we are more or less self-sufficient in
basic plant-based foods to sustain a healthy nation, that is, vegetables,
starches, fruits, herbs, and condiments.
Fresh vegetables constitute a mere 2.2 per cent
of our food imports, and this is destined mainly for the hotel sector. We
produce enough tubers and bananas to ensure that we could live without flour
and rice if we must. We also produce a wide variety of fruits, some of which
are seasonal. Basically, were we to cease importation of wheat, rice, and
products derived from them, we would lose the variety of dainty options, but we
certainly, would not die!
In 2018, imports of cereal for food, that is,
other than for animal feed, including for processing and finished goods, valued
nearly US$90 million, or just about 10 per cent of all food imports. This is
the result of a taste for these products that we have built up since the days
of slavery when we, essentially, imported everything we consumed and produced
only sugar for Britain. The slaves should be credited for the first attempt at
diversifying our agriculture through their production of tubers and vegetable
on their free day. It was these same slaves who developed the peasantry in the
post-emancipation period and whose descendants now evolved into our 220,000
small farmers.
It is going to take serious and sustained re-education
to change this well-entrenched taste pattern, notwithstanding the fact that
science is now telling us that our tubers, breadfruit, and banana give us
better carbohydrate than flour and rice, and they are gluten-free.
Attempts in the 1970s to establish our starches
as our major staples were met with stiff resistance, and the absence of flour
and rice on the plate had serious political consequences for the then
Government, which was pushing the now fashionable ‘Eat What You Grow’ campaign.
Indeed, we have grown considerably since then,
with Scientific Research Council (SRC), the Rural Agricultural Development
Authority (RADA), and the 4-H Clubs coming up with a number of formulations
from our local starches. These formulations have been largely ignored by the
formal commercial food establishments.
LOCALS
CAN DO MUCH MORE
Our local food establishments can do much more.
RADA, for instance, has produced an excellent pancake mix from cassava, with
accompanying syrup from otaheite apple, which is begging for commercialisation.
Bammy sticks and roasted/fried breadfruit
should be a staple in our fast-food restaurants, replacing some of the
unhealthy Irish potato fries.
In luxury hotels in London, for instance, sweet
potato chips have replaced chips from Irish potato. All over Latin America,
even franchises of major North American fast-food chains offer menu
incorporating the mix of local food items they produce. We need to see more
sweet potato-, breadfruit- and yam-based salads punches and pastries. These options
are not only healthier, but they would significantly bolster local agriculture
and rural livelihoods.
The situation with juices and drinks is
analogous. Between imports of concentrates, juice mixes, and finished juice
products, we spent over US$45 million in 2018.
We once had a thriving, vertically integrated
citrus industry, which was almost decimated by a series of diseases. However,
apart from oranges, we have a great variety of fruits – june plums, mangoes,
sour sops, otaheite apples, passion fruit, cherries, etc. We have not been able
to sustain our juice-manufacturing industry with a consistent supply of fruits
because apart from citrus, we refuse to develop orchards.
This generation is, basically, reaping what was
planted 30 or more years ago by our grandparents in our backyards! A roll-out
of orchards on those fertile irrigated lands in Bernard Lodge is an opportunity
waiting to happen not only for import replacement, but more significantly, for
exports.
The world is salivating for our mangoes. We
have market access to the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, but we
have to scrape from multiple farms/backyards to consolidate a pallet of mangoes
for shipment!
In terms of Irish potatoes, in 2018, Jamaica
imported fresh and frozen potatoes to the tune of US$24 million. We have
significantly reduced importation of table Irish potatoes to the extent where
in 2018, we were satisfying well over 80 per cent of our consumption through
local production. This is an important and commendable effort of the Ministry
of Agriculture and our farmers, an effort that has been sustained since 2009.
The bulk of our imports now are for fries. The ministry has been conducting
trials with varieties of potatoes more suitable for fries for a good while now.
These efforts need to be accelerated. Once these varieties have been tried and
proven, I have no doubt that the feat, with respect to table potatoes, can be
repeated for potatoes for fries.
WORRYING
AND DISAPPOINTING
The most worrying and disappointing aspect of
our imports of plant-based foods relates to the importation of coconut products
(US$8.2 million), coffee products (nearly US$2 million), cocoa products
(US$10.3 million), and banana and plantain chips (US$9.2 million) – all
products from traditionally strong export sectors that have declined
significantly.
While the coconut industry has faced the
challenge of diseases and hurricanes, this sector still has tremendous
potential. The Coconut Industry Board has, for years, been more content with
watching its shares in SEPROD grow than in using said shares or part thereof to
invest in expansion and development of the sector. It is nothing short of an
indictment that we are importing such quantities of coconut products, not to
mention the significant export potential.
Admittedly, coffee imports are not very
significant in value, but we have to watch this carefully. Coffee production
has fallen from just over 600,000 boxes in the 2003-04 crop year to 206,933
boxes in 2017-18, according to data from Jamaica Agricultural Commodities
Regulatory Authority (JACRA).
Cocoa deliveries to fermentaries in that
2017-18 crop year were a mere 220 tonnes when in the 1960s, we were exporting
over 2,000 tonnes of cocoa! These traditional crops have been positioned,
essentially, as commodities, though we receive premium prices on account of
exceptional quality. That we are importing over US$10 million of cocoa products
is testament to the extent this sector has declined.
The banana industry has taken a serious
battering from liberalisation of our traditional export market. When we had
duty-free access to Britain, we were exporting in the heydays well over 100,000
tonnes of banana.
With the loss of that market, the industry has
reoriented itself to focus on the domestic market and value added, even though
in recent years exports to Canada, Cayman, Trinidad, and the Turks and Caucus
Islands have been encouraging. The value-added aspect of the industry will,
however, never take off if we continue to import US$9 million worth of banana and
plantain chips.
FORGING
LINKAGES
In relation to snacks, in 2018, we spent
approximately US$60 million importing an assortment of biscuits, wafers, nuts,
confectionaries, chewing gum, chips, pastries, and other baked products.
There is no doubt in my mind that our
manufacturing sector can produce a variety of snacks to replace some of these
imports. As said above, RADA and the 4-H Clubs have developed local snacks,
which remain samples and are only seen at our agricultural shows. These efforts
must be commercialised, with our manufacturers forging backward linkages with
farmers to improve farmers’ productivity and capacity to supply consistently.
There is one additional consideration regarding
this category of imports: they are laced with refined sugar and sodium,
precipitating a public-health crisis with respect to non-communicable diseases.
Apart from giving a boost to local farmers
through import replacement, the Government needs to promulgate enhanced food
standards to regulate the levels of salt and sugar in our snacks. This will
help to curb our imports of these products and provide an additional impetus
for our manufacturers to produce wholesome snacks.
In the next article, I will look at how our
food-based manufacturing sector and agriculture should be repurposed to create
greater wealth through an export orientation.
- Donovan Stanberry, PhD, CD, JP, campus
registrar, University of the West Indies, Mona, and former permanent secretary
in the agriculture ministry. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.
Gov’t raises ₱12 B from
tariffs on rice imports
Published January
11, 2020, 10:00 PM
By CHINO S. LEYCO
The rice tariffication law has yielded more
than enough to fund the government’s compensation program for farmers who
suffered a reduction or loss of income arising from the liberalized importation
of the Filipino staple food, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
Since the removal of the quantitative
restrictions (QRs) on rice trading was implemented in March last year, the
Bureau of Customs already raised ₱12.3 billion, well above the minimum P10
billion requirement for the rice competitiveness enhancement fund (RCEF).
In a statement, Finance Secretary Carlos G.
Dominguez III said the ₱2.3-billion excess as of end-December last year gives
the government more funds to immediately extend direct aid to farmers and make
the farm production more efficient.
To recall, the rice tariffication law removed
the QRs on rice trading and imposes a minimum 35 percent tariff on imports of
the grain, with revenues earmarked for farmer productivity and competitiveness
programs.
Dominguez said the rice liberalization should
be viewed as an “opportunity to revolutionize the agriculture sector and help
farmers become more competitive in the global economy.”
Under the law, tariffs collected from rice
imports will go to the annual ₱10-billion RCEF, which will be used to finance
the modernization of the agriculture sector.
RCEF is also expected to provide farmers with
greater access to cheap credit, high-quality seeds, agricultural machinery and
skills training on farm mechanization and other modern farming technologies.
Before rice tariffication, the cash-strapped
National Food Authority (NFA) regulated private rice imports and agency was the
chief importer of the grain, incurring a total of ₱187 billion in tax subsidies
from 2005 to 2015 or an average of ₱19 billion a year.
Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran estimated
that NFA lost around ₱11 billion annually before the rice tariffication law.
But with the new tax regime on rice, Beltran
said the government has already earned over ₱11 billion in less than a year, a
complete reversal of the average of ₱11 billion it has been losing every year
during the pre-RTL regime.
Aside from the additional revenue, Dominguez
also cited the law’s favorable impact on headline inflation, which bottomed out
at 0.8 percent last October mainly due to lower rice prices.
When the law took effect in March, inflation
during the month immediately decelerated to 3.3 percent, and gradually tapered
in the succeeding month as rice imports began to enter the market and slashed
prices by about P8 a kilo on average.
Low rice prices boosted household spending,
which helped drive gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 6.2 percent in the
third quarter of 2019.
According to Philippine Statistics Authority
(PSA) data, the average retail price of rice in the fourth week of November
sunk to its lowest level in three years to ₱36.67 per kilo since the government
eased rules on importation.
‘Meeting
country’s rice needs without imports, a huge challenge’
12 January,
2020
There will be many challenges in the
agriculture sector within the next 10 years and one key challenge is people’s
changing food habits. Pic: Lake House Media Library
Sri Lanka needs 196,000 mt of rice per month
for consumption and the challenge before the country is to increase production without resorting to
rice imports, an authority on agricultural science, Professor, Weed Science and
President, Weed Science Society of Sri Lanka (WSSSL), Prof. Buddhi Marambe
said.
He
said that the country’s food security was threatened and the situation could
take a turn for the worse. The world is concerned about food security at
present in a big way and it encompasses the properties of availability, access,
affordability, quality, nutrition and safety, he said.
“However, the Overarching Agriculture Policy
developed with the assistance of the European Union for public consultations
would help the country to manage the situation,” he said.
Prof. Buddhi Marambe is also the Chairman,
National Experts Committee on Climate Change Adaptation (NECCCA), Ministry of
Environment and Chairman, National Invasive Species Specialist Group (NISSG),
Ministry of Environment.
Technical Assistance to Modernisation of
Agriculture Program (TAMAP) in Sri Lanka commissioned a short-term expert team
to assist the government to improve its support to farmers, farmer
organisations and the extension services. TAMAP supported the country in the
development of an Overarching Agriculture Policy (OAP). With the adoption of
the OAP it is expected that the entire agriculture sector in Sri Lanka will
become more effective, efficient and competitive.
A large number of agriculture business models
were assessed with a view to their applicability in the Sri Lankan context,
established a ranking of preferred farmer business models for Sri Lanka as well
as an inventory of the necessary resources and finally a roadmap to achieve the
preferred structure.
“It is necessary to have in place a mechanism
to minimise crop damage and waste.
To this end, the OAP will facilitate reduction
in agriculture wastage. The crop losses during three Yala and Maha seasons in 2015,
2016 and 2017 had compelled the country to import rice. However, in 2018 the
country had a bumper harvest, he noted.
The agriculture sector is experiencing 20 to 40
percent post harvest losses especially as regards to perishable products.
“We need to think in a novel way to overcome
this problem which will have serious implications for food production and food
security,” he said.
The policy had been developed over the past 10
months through wide stakeholder consultations at central and local level supported
by the EU’s Technical Assistance to Modernisation of Agriculture project, he
said.
The OAP was part of Sri Lanka’s strategic
response to the evolving priorities and challenges in the global, national and
sectoral environments. Prof. Marambe said.
The Green Climate Fund is expected to provide
USD 100 billion every year from 2020 to tackle climate change issues. However,
to-date only USD 10.2 billion had been committed. This is an area where the
country should strongly focus on and take necessary action, he said.
There had been 4.8 percent growth in the
agriculture production, in 2018, despite the challenging weather conditions,
and technology adoption was at a higher rate in Sri Lanka and this was the
secret of sustainable development, he noted.
“Food imports had become inevitable in the face
of unfavourable weather conditions. There will be many challenges in the
agriculture sector within the next 10 years and one key challenge is people’s
changing food habits.
This has
resulted in an increasing demand for grains which in turn has increased human
consumption. The demand for animal feed also has increased over the years.”
Prof. Marambe said.
Duterte still wants rice importation suspended
By:
Edwin O. Fernandez, Orlando B. Dinoy, Ryan Rosauro - @inquirerdotnetPhilippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:40 AM January 12, 2020
PIGCAWAYAN,
Cotabato, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has again said he would order
the suspension of rice importations to help rice farmers struggling with low
palay prices due to foreign competition following the implementation of the
rice tariffication law.
Speaking
to peasant leaders and government employees from the Soccsksargen region here
on Friday, Duterte said he would leave it to Agriculture Secretary William Dar
“to make the projections (and) timeline of when to import and when not to
import.”But he added: “When it is nearing harvest time, on that period,
importation will stop.”
“And
then,” he said, “I will buy what you worked hard for. I told Secretary [Dar]
that if we lose [because] the price [of palay] from the people is high, buy it
still. If we lose, then we lose.”
Margin
of safety
Duterte
pointed to the need to always have “a margin of (safety of rice inventory)” in
timing the suspension and resumption of rice purchases from abroad.
“If
people see there [is enough inventory of] rice, they would be confident they
will not go hungry,” he said.
After
he signed Republic Act No. 11203, or the rice tarrification law, in February
last year, the President on several occasions said he would suspend rice
importations during the harvest season and buy palay even at prices that would
result in losses for the government.
But
just days after he last said he would suspend rice importation on Nov. 19 last
year, he backtracked and instead called for ramping up palay purchases and
giving cash subsidies to small farmers.
He
had changed his mind after meeting with Dar, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez
III, his economic manager, and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
‘Folly’
He
then explained that it “would be folly” to stop importations just because of
projected rice production but never knowing the extent of damage to crops that
typhoons might bring.
At
the Pigcawayan meeting, the President asked the farmers to give the law a
chance to succeed.
“Let
me assure you that in the long run, this measure will not only help strengthen
our economy, but also provide new opportunities for your sector,” he said.
He
promised that the government would hold regular consultations with farmers “in
order to determine your needs” and invest in infrastructure, such as
farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, farm equipment and other tools to
raise rice production.
Better
seeds
He
also said the government was developing better seeds and the Department of
Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the
National Food Authority were working to ensure the distribution of rice to the
beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Duterte
urged farmers to take advantage of the government training programs meant to
improve their skills and their production with help from the DA, the Department
of Science and Technology, and the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority would help them.
The
rice tarrification law replaced quantitative restrictions on rice imports with
tariffs.It also created the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which would
raise P10 billion a year from rice tariffs, to help farmers modernize and
become more competitive.
Detrimental
to farmers
The
law was aimed at making the staple affordable to consumers but has resulted in
the influx of cheap imports that plunged local rice prices to levels
detrimental to farmers.
With
quotas lifted, the Philippines became the world’s biggest rice importer last
year with a record importation of 3 million metric tons.
As
imports grew, the average buying price for palay fell to as low as P11 to P14
per kilogram in November last year.
Sagip
Saka Act
Sen.
Francis Pangilinan on Saturday urged the administration to implement the Sagip
Saka Act, or RA 11321, to help struggling rice farmers.
The
law institutionalizes a Farmers and Fisherfolk Enterprise Development Program
to ensure that the agriculture and fisheries industry are productive.It would
provide skills development, production inputs, equipment and facilities, and
infrastructure for production and postproduction activities.
He
said two major farmers’ groups — the Alyansa Agrikultura and the Federation of
Free Farmers — have warned of lower rice production because many farmers were
unwilling to grow rice due the continuing decline of palay prices.
Pangilinan
said a faster and effective implementation of RA 11321 would bring direct
benefits to farmers and fisherfolk “and encourage them to continue feeding us.”
—With a report from Leila B. Salaverria
Follow
us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
PHL rice stockpile at highest level in 2.5 years due
to imports
-
January 13,
2020
The country’s total rice inventory as of
December 2019 rose by 14 percent to over 3 million metric tons (MMT), the
highest in more than two-years-and-a-half, the Philippine Statistics Authority
(PSA) said in a report.
In its monthly inventory report, the PSA said
total rice stockpile as of December 1, 2019 reached 3.098 MMT, the
highest in the past 31 months or since the 3.214 MMT recorded in May 2017.
“It increased by 14 percent and 4.6 percent
compared with the previous year’s level of 2.718 [million] metric tons and
previous month’s level of 2.962 [million] metric tons, respectively,” the PSA
said in its report published recently.
Industry players, experts and government
officials have attributed the higher rice inventory to the increase in imports
after Republic Act 11203, which took effect in March 2019, relaxed rules
on importing the staple.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier said
the country ended 2019 with a rice stockpile sufficient for 100 days, or at
least 3.2 MMT, based on the BusinessMirror’s computations.
“Rice is available in the warehouses of
importers, plus farmers, plus households,” said the DA.
In its report, the PSA said more than half or
about 51.9 percent of the country’s rice inventory were held by households,
while 32.6 percent and 15.5 percent were in commercial warehouses and National
Food Authority (NFA) depositories, respectively.
Rice stockpile held by households expanded by
5.3 percent to a two-year high of 1.607 MMT from its 2018 level of 1.527 MMT.
Stocks in commercial warehouses reached 1.009
MMT while those in NFA warehouses reached 480,660 MT.
“A surge of 370.6 percent was noted in NFA
depositories. On the other hand, a decrease of 7.3 percent was observed in
commercial warehouses,” the PSA said.
“Month on month, rice stocks inventory in all
sectors increased. Increases of 5.3 percent, 2.9 percent, and 5.9 percent were
noted in the households, commercial warehouses, and NFA depositories,
respectively,” it added.
In the same report, the PSA said the country’s
total corn inventory as of December 1, 2019 rose 26.2 percent to 794,870 MT
from 629,910 MT recorded in the same period in 2018.
However, the volume was 33.7 percent lower than
the 1.198 MMT recorded in November 1, 2019, the PSA added.
Of the total corn inventory, 77.1 percent or
about 612,590 MT were held by commercial warehouses while the remaining volume
of 182,280 MT was in households, according to the PSA.
“With reference to the previous year’s level,
stocks in both households and commercial warehouses increased respectively by
89.7 percent and 14.8 percent,” it said.
“Compared with previous month’s level, a
decrease of 18.1 percent and 37.2 percent was recorded in the household and
commercial warehouses, respectively,” the PSA added.
PH’s largest rice suppliers see lower production
Updated January
13, 2020, 10:56 AM
By Madelaine B. Miraflor
Philippines, the world’s top rice importer, may
soon have to pay more for imported rice as its two biggest suppliers for the
staple, Vietnam and Thailand, will both see lower production this year.
Two separate reports prepared by United States
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) showed
that Vietnam’s paddy production will go down during the current market year
(MY), while Thai rice exports are “forecast to tumble further in 2020, dropping
to the lowest level in seven years” due to production decline and stiffer
global competition.
This is bad news for the Philippines, said
Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) National Manager Raul Montemayor. As prices of
imported rice increase, the country may eventually succumb to higher prices
amid insufficient local palay production.
“International prices could inch up due to
lower hectarage and output from major exporters,” Montemayor said in a text
exchange.
“And we have no choice. We can’t produce enough
rice, more so now that farmers are downscaling their production due to the low
prices. We have no choice but to import. We can negotiate prices but in the end
we have to pay what the sellers are demanding otherwise they won’t supply us,”
he added.
For this year, the Philippines is expected to
produce 19.6 million metric tons (MT) of palay and import around 2.7 million MT
of rice. Last year, the country imported a record amount of 3 million MT,
officially making it the world’s top rice importer, beating China.
Based on the USDA report, Vietnam, which sold
2.15 million MT of rice to the Philippines last year, will see lower production
due to unfavorable weather conditions and crop restructuring.
“MARD [Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development of Vietnam] lowered its estimates for the country’s production for
the MY 2018 to 2019 Autumn crop, especially in the Mekong Delta, due to a
reduction in cultivated area,” the report said.
“Several factors drove this reduction,
including uncertainty on weather conditions and the water supply and lower
paddy prices, which encouraged farmers in the Mekong Delta to switch to other
crops such as fruits, vegetables, and aquaculture,” it added.
Combined with lower production in the Central
region due to droughts that occurred early last year, USDA-FAS assessed
Vietnam’s Autumn crop for MY 2018 to 2019 at 2.8 million hectares (HA) and 15.2
MMT, down from 2.9 million HA and 15.4 MMT in the previous MY.
Vietnam’s total exports will also be lower than
estimates at 6.6 million MT from 6.7 million MT.
Meanwhile, Thai rice exports for 2020 are
forecast down by a third compared to two years ago as exportable supplies fall
and prices remain high.
“Thailand competes with more competitive Indian
and Vietnamese rice, which is priced about 20 percent lower. Thus, even as the
Philippines soared to become the top global importer, Thailand’s share of its
trade was marginal, undercut by Vietnamese prices,” a separate USDA report
showed.
“At the same time, China has shifted its
trading position from net importer to net exporter, returning as a major
exporter of low-priced rice as it seeks to offload its copious stocks. Its
expansion of market share in African markets has come largely at the expense of
Thailand,” it added.
Looking ahead to 2020, Thailand’s export
“prospects are grim,” said the report. This as lower demand from key markets
and uncompetitive pricing, compounded with a severe drought, are expected to decimate
offseason rice production.
Related
Posts
Rice stocks sustain increase in December
January 13,
2020
THE country’s
rice stocks inventory sustained an increase as of December 1 last year,
reaching 3.098 million metric tons (MT), up to 14 percent from 2.718 million MT
in 2018, latest government data showed.
In its monthly
inventory report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the latest
figure was also 4.6-percent higher than the previous month’s 2.962 million MT.
It said stocks
in households and NFA depositories surged by 5.3 percent to 1.527 million MT
and 370.6 percent to 480,660 MT, respectively. Inventory in commercial
warehouses, on the other hand, fell by 7.3 percent to 1.009 million MT from the
previous year’s 1.089 million MT.
Compared with
their levels in November 2019, rice stocks inventory in all sectors posted
significant increments. Increases of 5.3 percent, 2.9 percent, and 5.9 percent
were noted in the households, commercial warehouses, and NFA depositories,
respectively.
Of the total
rice stocks inventory as of December 1, more than half or 51.9 percent were
from households, while 32.6 percent from commercial warehouses, and 15.5
percent from NFA depositories.
The increase in
the country’s rice stock was mainly attributed to the implementation of
Republic Act 11203 or “The Rice Tariffication Law,” which opened up the market
to less costly imported rice.
Agriculture
Secretary William Dar recently said that the Philippines’ rice imports has
reached nearly 3 million MT since the passage of the law in February last year.
This translated to rice stock inventory good for 100 days, Dar said.
Meanwhile, the
PSA said the country’s corn stocks inventory totaled 794,870 MT during the
reference period, a 26.2-percent increase from 629,910 MT in December 2018.
Month-on-month, however, it was lower by 33.7 percent from 1.198 million MT.
On an annual
basis, stocks in both households and commercial warehouses rose by 89.7 percent
to 182,280 MT and 14.8 percent to 612,590 MT, respectively. Meanwhile, there
were no corn stocks in NFA depositories for this month.
Compared with
previous month’s level, a decline of 18.1 percent and 37.2 percent was recorded
in the household and commercial warehouses, respectively.
Of the total
corn stocks inventory, 77.1 percent were from commercial warehouses and the
remaining 22.9 percent were from households, PSA said.
FCI may face serious storage problem in a few weeks,
here’s why
Published: January 13, 2020 1:41:35 AM
According to
official sources, FCI’s grain stocks (central pool stocks built up under a
virtually open-ended procurement policy) is already close to its capacity of 76
million tonne (MT).
However, the Centre’s dues to the FCI have now
touched an all-time high and FCI is being made to borrow more from NSSF.
(Representative image)
By
Prabhudatta Mishra
The Food
Corporation of India (FCI) is badly hamstrung: even as its Rs 1.95-lakh-crore
bills to the government remain unhonoured and a debt crisis is looming, it
hasn’t yet got the nod for liquidating its patently surplus grain stocks
through massive open market operations (OMOs).
According to
official sources, FCI’s grain stocks (central pool stocks built up under a
virtually open-ended procurement policy) is already close to its capacity of 76
million tonne (MT). Given the expected (low) pace of offtake under PDS and
other government schemes, the requirement to shift the huge paddy stocks now
lying with millers and the mandated rabi wheat purchases effective April, it
may face a serious storage problem in a few weeks.
Even if the
OMOs result in losses, it would still be a far better way for FCI to manage its
operations as the realisations will ease its liquidity issues and enable it to
retire part debt.
Over three
years in a row, the fiscally stressed Centre has made FCI take National Small
Savings Fund (NSSF) loans under sovereign guarantee to ensure the corporation’s
operations aren’t disrupted. However, the Centre’s dues to the FCI have now
touched an all-time high and FCI is being made to borrow more from NSSF.
Sources said
FCI had 56 MT of rice and wheat in its own and hired facilities and another 26
MT of paddy (rice equivalent of 17 MT) procured for the central pool lying with
millers as of December 1.
While the
stocks with millers will need to be shifted to FCI warehouses by April, another
16-17 MT of kharif rice is likely to be bought by the corporation over the next
four months as part of kharif procurement. Add to this the rabi wheat purchases
to start from April and the storage problem will get worse. According to
official data, FCI has purchased 25.2 MT of rice between October and December
2019 in the current kharif season, which is more than half of the total
quantity it bought in the whole of 2018-19 (October-September). From Uttar
Pradesh, India’s second-largest rice producer, the agency has procured 2.6 MT
for this kharif season, as on December 30 against 1.4 MT in the year-ago
period. If this trend continues, FCI will end up procuring about 46 MT of rice
this year from across the country, against 34.4 MT in 2018-19.
It has to make
room for wheat crop of around 35 MT to be procured in April-May out of its total
storage capacity. Given that PDS offtake from the central pool is expected to
be less than 25 MT till April, FCI would have to grapple with a storage problem
if OMOs aren’t quickly stepped up.
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Sustainable SRI and Rice Production
Learnings from
an Irrigated Agriculture Management Project in Tamil Nadu
Vibhu Nayar (vibhunayar@gmail.com) is the principal
secretary-cum-project director, Government of Tamil Nadu, IAMWARM Project,
Chennai. V K Ravichandran (vkr9999@yahoo.com)
is professor of agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, IAMWARM Project,
Multi-Disciplinary Project Unit (MDPU), Chennai. B C Barah (barah48@yahoo.com) is former NABARD
chair professor, Indian Agricultural Research Institute and NCAP, New Delhi.
Norman Uphoff (ntu1@cornell.edu) is
professor of Government and International Agriculture, Cornell University,
Ithaca, the United States.
In Tamil Nadu,
the extreme variation in rainfall had reduced the availability of water to
agriculture and caused the groundwater table to fall by 37%. The production of
rice, an important crop, had became particularly precarious. A well-designed
upscaling strategy boosted and sustained the production of rice; it also
helped the build-up of organic matter and improved soil fertility. This
experience shows that the System of Rice Intensification offers an attractive
opportunity for increasing food production per unit of water and improving
efficiency.
The views expressed in this article by the
authors are purely personal.
Over the past
half century, technical advancements have significantly changed the ecosystem
of rice production in India, but rice production has not increased apace with
the increases in the population. The shrinking area, declining soil fertility,
growing water scarcity, and climatic adversity affected production and food
insecurity.
Paddy is
believed to be an aquatic crop, and the cultivation field is kept flooded, but
submergence suffocates and degrades the roots and drastically reduces
production capacity. To achieve more food with less water, there is an urgent
need for innovation in production.
Given the
severe land and water constraints in Tamil Nadu, an appropriate strategy of
increasing agricultural productivity (yields) is essential for food security.
The strategy prior to 2013 needs to be understood in three broad phases. Phase
1, the period from 1971 to 1981 was the initial green revolution regime, when high
yielding varieties (HYV) of rice were introduced in the state. The green
revolution strategy continued in phase 2, 1982–90, when concerted efforts were
made to expand canal irrigation in the state. Then during phase 3, 1990–2013,
the increase in the area under borewell irrigation became prominent.
The temporal
and spatial spread of irrigation availability from both surface and subsurface
flows contributed to substantial increases in rice production from the 1990s,
but the increase was mainly yield-led rather than due to an expansion in the
area. The gain in yield could be attributed to a combination of improved
varieties and intensive use of “modern” inputs, together with the increase in
irrigated area.
However, the
long-term trend in production did not sustain at the desired level,
particularly in the past decade (Figure 1, p 47). The yield in 2017–18
was 11% higher than in 2000–01. From 2002 to 2006, successive monsoons failed,
and the yield declined. From 2006 to 2013, however, the average productivity increased
to 3,066 kilogram (kg) per hectare (ha); this increase is partly attributable
to the adoption of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methods throughout the
state ever since 2006–07.
Genesis of SRI
in Tamil Nadu
The
agroecological innovations known as SRI were first tested in the Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University (TNAU) in 2000, followed by large-scale adaptive
research trials conducted in two major river basins (Tamiraparani and Cauvery)
in 2003. In the on-farm trials, average rice yields were found to be 22% higher
than under conventional methods of rice cultivation. Farmers’ net income
increased 15%–42% (Anjugam et al 2008; Barah 2009). However, the pace of
adoption or spread of SRI in Tamil Nadu was slow until 2007 when, observing the
slow pace and realising its immense potential, SRI was considered as one of the
water-saving technologies in a large project planned by the project authorities
in the World Bank-assisted Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water-Bodies
Restoration and Management (IAMWARM) project. The state government incentivised
the promotion of SRI and provided funding to raise both crop and water
productivity in rice cropping.
The fairly
large-scale demonstration of SRI practices under the IAMWARM was undertaken for
the first time during 2007–08. This demonstration served as a synergistic
catalyst for the wider adoption of SRI, and the state’s department of
agriculture took a mission mode approach to promoting it. It was felt that
long-term growth in agriculture in Tamil Nadu requires a strategy for
increasing the efficiency and productivity of water use in a sustained manner.
The following
analysis of the implementation of SRI under the IAMWARM project indicates that
for maximising socio-economic impacts, there is an urgent need for
understanding the concerns of land and water productivity. Table
1 shows the changes that have taken place in the rice sector after SRI
was introduced in 2007–08 and compares the situation with the previous
five-year period. The rainfall variability and vagaries of weather made the
production relationships complex. After 2011–12, the area under SRI increased
18% over the preceding year, while total production jumped by 29%. The rice
area was the same in 2010–11 and 2011–12; the increase in SRI area is
responsible for improved production and productivity.
The
disaggregated district-level analysis shows a clearer picture. Figure 2 shows
difference in yields across the districts with SRI methods in 2011–13. In
unfavourable weather, conventional practices are affected severely, but SRI
practices perform well. In 2012–13, cyclonic weather conditions were adverse
and affected the area, yield, and production of all crops in Tamil Nadu.
In the case of rice, total production fell 46%, from a high of 7.46 million
tonnes in 2011–12 to 4.05 million tonnes in 2012–13; the area under paddy
declined by 22%; and the average yield declined by 31%. There was wide
disparity within the state in the average yield of paddy—from only 588 kg per
ha in Ramanathapuram district to 4,728 kg per ha in Kanyakumari district.
In the state,
the area under SRI increased rapidly, almost doubling from 4,20,000 ha in
2007–08 to 8,00,000 ha in 2013–14 (Table 2). The share of SRI area in
the total rice area increased from 23.5% in 2007–08 to a high of 52.8% in
2014–15. The prime reason for this increasing trend in SRI was
probably the favourable policy environment of the promotion of SRI and in
the rice sector. The innovation boosted rice production, and it was stabilised
by the strategy of upscaling SRI in mission mode.
In the first
two years since the introduction of SRI in 2007–08, the share of area over the
base year average (2001–06) was slow, due to the occurrence of natural
calamities of flood, unseasonal rainfall, and cyclones (Figure 3). After
2010–11, rice production witnessed a conspicuous increase over the base period
as the area under SRI grew over 40%.
The yield also
shows a positive upward trend, except in 2008–09 when the Nisha cyclone
devastated 4,70,000 ha of rice crop and severely reduced output and yield
(Table 2). It may be noted that the rice productivity level was higher than the
base year during 2007–08, which indicates that SRI was capable of withstanding
the stress of cyclones, droughts, and heavy rains. The unusual rains in March
2008 also directly affected nearly 1,68,000 ha under rice. It may be inferred
that when the monsoon was favourable, SRI acreage as well as rice productivity
show very good performance as in 2011–12 and 2014–15 (Figure 4).
On 30 December
2011, the cyclone Thane hit Tamil Nadu and caused extensive damage to the paddy
crop in nine districts: Cuddalore, Villupuram, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam,
Thiruvarur, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, Dharmapuri, and Thiruvannamalai. The
crop damage was over 50% on 1,85,000 ha, and it affected the livelihood of
2,50,000 small and marginal farmers. Moreover, the areas under irrigation were
severely affected by the prolonged dry spell, the deficit rainfall during the
south-west monsoon, and the uneven temporal spread during the north-east
monsoon. As a result, the availability of surface and
subsurface sources of irrigation water declined, and resulted in an increase in the fallow land, while the productivity of SRI was sustained (Table 2).
subsurface sources of irrigation water declined, and resulted in an increase in the fallow land, while the productivity of SRI was sustained (Table 2).
Under the
circumstances, the scope for the expansion of the area under cultivation and
irrigation is limited; the only way to meet the growing food requirement is to
narrow down the yield differentials among the districts amidst the temporal
climate exigencies. SRI provides the opportunity for sustaining productivity in
such situations, and it may be generalised that SRI performs well and sustains
production in heterogeneous climate conditions too. The analysis of
temporal data on production and productivity shows that from 2007–08 to
2012–13, rice productivity levels were higher than in the base year 2005–06;
the productivity was attributable mostly to SRI. Therefore, it is reasonable to
term SRI a “climate-smart” strategy. Incidentally, the paddy yields in Tamil
Nadu are found to be consistently higher than the national average, a good part
of which is attributed to the advantages rendered by the promotion and adoption
of SRI.
IAMWARM Project
and SRI Promotion in Tamil Nadu>
Tamil Nadu’s
geographic area is classified into 17 river basins (127 sub-basins), most of
which are water-stressed. The World Bank project IAMWARM was implemented from
2007 in four phases in 61 sub-basins. The implementation of SRI was the main
focus of rice production technology under the IAMWARM project from its
beginning in 2007–08, and a substantial area under rice cultivation has
been brought under SRI across the districts.
Depending on
the intensity of adoption, the yield has increased up to 170%, except in a
few districts. About 50% of the total area under rice in the state has been
brought under SRI; in the districts, the percentage varies from 20% to 69%.
This is a remarkable achievement, and it has contributed immensely to the
total rice production at the state level. The adoption of SRI practices has led
to a steady improvement in the rice yield compared to conventional methods of
cultivation (Figure 5). In 67% of the districts, rice productivity
increased more than 64%.
In the IAMWARM
project area, there is a relative increase in rice productivity in SRI over the
state average productivity (Figure 6). Irrespective of annual variation, the
yield-contributing parameters—number of tillers per hill, number of productive
tillers per hill, and grains per panicle—are observed to be higher in SRI
demonstration plots than under conventional practices. That results in raising
the productivity of rice under SRI over that of rice under conventional methods
in the state (Table 3).
Effect of SRI
on Input Use Efficiency at the Farm Level
An attractive
and motivating proposition of SRI is the substantial reduction in seed rate to
7.5 kg per ha from the 60 kg per ha under conventional methods. Assuming that
the price of seeds is ₹35 per kg, SRI saves ₹1,837 per ha on
seed (Table 4). At the same time, the total labour requirement under SRI
was less (880 hours per ha) than the conventional method (1,000 hours per ha),
amounting to a considerable saving of ₹2,359 per ha on labour cost (at the wage rate
of ₹150 per day).
The decrease in
the cost of labour under SRI is mainly because transplanting and weeding takes
less labour and time. Transplanting takes about 378 hours per ha under SRI, but
435 hours under conventional practices. Weeding in an SRI field takes 100 hours
per ha, but takes 122 hours under conventional practices. This cuts overall
labour costs by 17.46%, and therefore, the total cost (Table 5), and
hence the net return per ha of SRI is a significantly higher ₹15,548 (paddy
grain valued at ₹11 per kg), which is 44.5% higher than that
from the conventional methods.
Model of
Upscaling SRI Practices
A distinctive
feature of the SRI method is that it is knowledge-intensive rather than
input-intensive as in green revolution technology; therefore, capacity-building
of the stakeholders is a high priority in its promotion. An in-depth analysis
of performance at the farmers’ fields shows that SRI has a yield advantage of
20% over the conventional method, which catapults farmers’ acceptance of SRI.
Adopter farmers
were given intensive training under the direct supervision of scientists and
researchers of the IAMWARM project, and demonstrations were conducted in
selected basins in Tamil Nadu. The efficient use of external nutrients—with
more foraging area of root volume, along with intermittent alternate wetting
and drying (AWD) irrigation in SRI plots—enhanced the growth of tillers, root
development, number of productive tillers, and the percentage of grain filling,
which synergistically enhance the grain yield of paddy (Pandian et al 2011;
Zhao et al 2009). The field observations show that the invigorated younger
seedlings provide better crop establishment (Table 3). The efficient
utilisation of resources and minimal inter- and intra-space competition create
favourable conditions of SRI management (Dass and Chandra 2013). These tangible
benefits attracted farmers’ attention and enhanced the acceptance of SRI.
SRI allows each
plant to be better exposed to sunlight; it enables the circulation of
atmospheric air, and the penetration of light uniformly causes the “edge
effect.” The reduced canopy humidity along with the change in microclimate
reduce the incidence of pest and diseases (Uphoff 2005; Mishra and Salokhe
2010). The field survey also revealed that the cost of pests and disease,
including rodent control, is lower.
The adoption of
SRI substantially enhances labour productivity and the net income of farmers
compared to that under the traditional cultivation of rice (Bruno 2002). The
study estimates that SRI yields a host of direct economic benefits over the
conventional method; among these are a 17.46% reduction in labour cost,
substantial saving in seed rates, and saving in nursery area. The saving in
seed cost (87.47%) is a crucial tangible economic incentive to farmers for
adopting this method. The significant water saving in the practice of AWD is
the most critical consideration for the promotion of SRI in Tamil Nadu.
Conjunctive use
and the water economy constitute the major concern in water-stressed
agriculture like in Tamil Nadu. To understand irrigation use better and
investigate it in depth at the micro level, a special study was conducted from
2007 to 2013 at Varaganadhi sub-basin (Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu), where
the rainfall was relatively good and the groundwater recharge substantial. The
experiment shows that the number of pumping hours fell, indicating substantial
energy saving under SRI.
In general, the
study of water use at the field level revealed variable differences in SRI and
conventional practices. The difference is marginal at the land-preparation
stage, even though no special water-saving tillage methods were employed in
SRI. On account of the decrease in pumping hours under SRI, there was 36.72%
energy saving as compared to that in conventional paddy, and 42% less water was
consumed (Ravindra and Bhagya Laxmi 2010; Uphoff 2007; Kumar et al 2010). The
water saving was highest at the nursery stage, followed by weeding and panicle
initiation (Table 6). This has pinpointed the scope for saving critical
inputs in various operations. Table 7 presents the number of irrigation and
pumping hours for water lifting in both situations. An analysis of energy use
for irrigation in various operations clearly shows water saving across the
operations in the entire crop cycle (Figure 7).
Conventional
paddy fields are kept continuously flooded in more than 10 centimetre of
standing water, but SRI farmers followed intermittent irrigation with AWD cycle
in the study area. The SRI method is thus credited for substantial reduction of
irrigation numbers, pumping hours, and overall water usage in paddy (Table 7).
The water consumption in conventional paddy fields was nearly two times that of
SRI. Zhao et al (2009) report that SRI led to 40%–47% reduction in water use,
68%–94% increase in water use efficiency (WUE), and 100%–130% increase in
irrigation WUE compared to traditional flooding. Other studies also report that
AWD saves 42% of water, and there is no yield penalty (Uphoff et al 2013:
Ravindra and Bhagya Laxmi 2010).
Savings in
Power
The cumulative
irrigation water use shows that SRI has a huge potential for reducing the
quantum of water use and bringing in purposeful management in irrigation water
usage (Figure 8). It depicts that under SRI management, crop operations
uniformly use less water. The analysis notes that SRI saved about 571.4 pumping
hours per ha in a season as compared to the conventional method. This amounted
to 3,028 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of savings in electricity consumption, which is
currently fully subsidised by the state. At the state aggregate level, SRI
management saves about ₹12,112 per ha of paddy (cost of power is ₹4 per unit
kWh).
Conclusions
In Tamil Nadu,
water conflicts coexist with the dominant rice cultivation practice; therefore,
identifying alternative methods of growing rice is of critical importance. It
used to be believed that rice is an aquatic crop, but it does not require
flooded or standing water; it is enough to keep the soil moist. This has been
demonstrated in field experimentation and confirmed by a large body of
empirical evidence. Observing the usefulness of SRI and encouraged by empirical
demonstration, farmers were motivated and encouraged to adopt the practice in a
manner that substantially reduces water use and increases the productivity of
rice.
The evaluation
of the impact of SRI on the production of rice in Tamil Nadu suggests that SRI
methods can be used to produce significantly greater quantities of paddy. Under
SRI, paddy yield is higher because of the synergistic effect of young
seedlings, innovative transplanting methods, mechanical weeding operations, and
intermittent irrigation, which together save considerable water and electric
energy at the field level. Using these methods reduces the consumption of seeds
and pesticides and the usage of labour, and therefore lowers the production
costs on these accounts and raises farmers’ profits. Using SRI methods also
reduces the consumption of water (which is not priced currently).
The application
of the principles of SRI empirically proved that rice can be grown with less
water and other inputs than the traditional practice, and that yields can still
be higher. The evidence derived from the analysis shows that there is an
emerging opportunity for savings in electricity, conjunctive use of
groundwater, and production costs (seeds, pesticides, labour). Robust planning
efforts are needed to promote and upscale SRI for sustainable improvements in
paddy production and efficient water resource management at the macro level.
Continuous
adaptation at farmers’ fields to suit their local conditions lies at the core
of SRI practices. The perception analysis suggests that farmers are willing to
continue the SRI method, which is an important condition for sustainability. To
derive policy clarity for wider dissemination of various steps and phases,
there is the need to validate not only the principles and practices of the
technology, but also its scientific basis. Since SRI is a knowledge-intensive
innovation, more emphasis is needed on capacity strengthening, motivation, and
stakeholder participation, particularly on continuous crop care. Hence, it may
be concluded that SRI combines both scientific rigour and socio-economic
policy.
The academic
acceptance of SRI is growing due to the evidence generated by the stakeholders
as reflected in scientific papers and other documentation. The principles of
SRI have already been validated both on-station and on-farm, and its
socio-economic and ecological impact assessed. The method is now adopted by
nearly 20 million farmers in 61 countries. The best part is that farmers in
general and small and marginal farmers remained particularly insulated from the
arguments and counter-arguments among the stakeholders, and they routinely
adopt SRI. Farmers using groundwater will certainly appreciate and realise a
quantum of saving of water, time, and electricity under SRI irrigation. If SRI
is adopted in the entire command area, the water so saved can be utilised to
cultivate a larger area and achieve crop diversification.
Unfortunately,
SRI has not yet become a major method of cultivation, owing to prevailing
institutional barriers, behavioural factors, and the political economy
dimension of vested interests. Some of the principal challenges to overcome
include the resistance to accept SRI, resistance of transplanting labourers,
training and extension facilities that lack innovation, imprecise water
management, and unavailability of essential tools. If these issues are
addressed on priority, SRI will boost rice yields and farmer income not only in
Tamil Nadu, but also in other states.
References
Anjugam, M,
Varatha Raj S and S Padmarani (2008): “Cost-Benefit Analysis of SRI Technique
in Paddy Cultivation,” Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University, Coimbatore.
Barah, B C
(2009): “Economic and Ecological Benefits of System of Rice Intensification
(SRI) in Tamil Nadu,” Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol
22, July–December, pp 209–14.
Bruno, A
(2002): “Evaluation of the SRI in Fianarantsoa Province of Madagascar,” Assessment
of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), N Uphoff, ECM Fernandes,
L P Yuan, J M Peng, S Rafaralahy and J Rabenandrasana (eds), Proc International
Conference, Sanya, China, 1–4 April, Cornell International Institute for Food,
Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD), Ithaca, NY, pp 140–42.
Dass, Anchal
and S Chandra (2013): “Effect of Different Components of SRI on Yield, Quality,
Nutrient Accumulation and Economics of Rice (Oryza sativa) in Tarai Belt of
Northern India,” Ind J Agron, Vol 57, No 3, pp 250–54.
Kumar, R
Mahendra, K Surekha, C H Padmavathi, L V Subba Rao, P C Latha, M S Prasad, V
Ravindra Babu, A S Ramprasad, O P Rupela, V Goud, P Muthu Raman, N
Somashekar, S Ravichandran, S P Singh and B C Viraktamath (2010): Research
Experiences on SRI and Future Directions, Journal of Rice Research,
Vol 2, pp 61–71.
Mishra, A and V
M Salokhe (2010): “FLOODING STRESS: The Effects of Planting Pattern and Water
Regime on Root Morphology, Physiology and Grain Yield of Rice,” Journal
of Agronomy and Crop Science, Vol 196, No 5, pp 368–78.
Pandian, B J, D
Rajkumar and S Chellamuthu (2011): System of Rice Intensifi cation: A
Synthesis of Scientifi c Experiments and Experiences,
Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
Ravindra, A and
S Bhagya Laxmi (2010): “Potential of the System of Rice Intensification for
Systemic Improvement in Rice Production and Water Use: The Case of Andhra
Pradesh, India,” Paddy and Water Environment, Vol 9, pp 89–97.
Uphoff, N
(2004): “System of Rice Intensification Responds to 21st Century Needs,” Rice
Today 42.
— (2007):
“Envisioning ‘Post-Modern Agriculture’: A Thematic Research Paper,” Cornell
University, accessed through WAASAN Website, Ithaca.
Uphoff, N, A
Kassam and A Thakur (2013): “Challenges of Increasing Water Saving and Water
Productivity in the Rice Sector: Introduction to the System of Rice
Intensification (SRI) and This Issue,” Taiwan Water Conservancy,
Vol 61, No 4, pp 1–13.
Zhao, L M, L H Wu, Y S Li, X H Lu, D F Zhu
and N Uphoff (2009): “Influence of the System of Rice Intensification on
Rice Yield and Nitrogen and Water Use Efficiency with Different N Application
Rates,” Experimental Agriculture, Vol 45, No 3, pp 275–86.
Updated On : 10th Jan, 2020
SEARCA calls
for set of biotechnology regulatory policies
Published January
11, 2020, 10:00 PM
By MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR
Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate
Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) is calling for a favorable set of
biotechnology (BT) regulatory policies in the Philippines amid calls for the
revocation of the commercial permit of Golden Rice, a genetically modified (GM)
rice variety.
In a statement, SEARCA said that aside from the
safety questions on the BT products, an “effective communication and
science-based regulatory frameworks” is also important.
It issued the statement weeks after the
Philippine government has approved Golden Rice for direct use as food and feed
as well as for processing (FFP).
To be specific, the Philippine Department of
Agriculture’s (DA) Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) found Golden Rice “to be as
safe as conventional rice” after rigorous biosafety assessment.
The biosafety permit was addressed to the
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI).
Such decision, however, earned the ire of
environment group Greenpeace, who questioned the Philippine Government’s
approval process which the group said has lacked transparency and public
participation.
“Behind the hype, GE ‘Golden’ rice is
environmentally irresponsible, poses risks to human health and could compromise
food, nutrition and financial security,” Greenpeace said.
IRRI, however, said that for containing
beta-carotene (provitamin A), Golden Rice has the potential to be a suitable
complementary intervention to address vitamin A deficiency (VAD), a condition
that afflicts 250 million people worldwide.
“We stand behind products of agri-biotechnology
that increase agricultural productivity to feed a growing population in the
midst of dwindling natural resources and erratic changes in climate,” SEARCA
Director Glenn B. Gregorio said.
“Due attention must be given to our resource-poor farmers by providing them access to information, best practices, and new technologies that gives them a fighting chance to cope with the many challenges they face and to open up better opportunities for them and their families so that they can have better quality lives,” he added.
“Due attention must be given to our resource-poor farmers by providing them access to information, best practices, and new technologies that gives them a fighting chance to cope with the many challenges they face and to open up better opportunities for them and their families so that they can have better quality lives,” he added.
The FFP approval is just one of the regulatory
milestone in the journey to develop and deploy Golden Rice in the Philippines.
With this approval, PhilRice and IRRI will now proceed with sensory
evaluations.
To complete the Philippine biosafety regulatory
process, Golden Rice will still require approval for commercial propagation
before it can be made available to the public. This follows from the field
trials harvested in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija and San Mateo, Isabela in September and
October 2019.
The Philippines now joins a select group of
countries that have affirmed the safety of Golden Rice.
In 2018, Food Standards Australia New Zealand,
Health Canada, and the United States Food and Drug Administration published
positive food safety assessments for Golden Rice. A biosafety application was
lodged in November 2017 and is currently undergoing review by the Biosafety
Core Committee in Bangladesh.
Malaysian minister vows to promote bilateral trade
KARACHI: Malaysian Minister for Primary
Industries Teresa Kok Suh Sim has assured the Pakistani business community, of
all possible cooperation for promotion of bilateral trade and investment, a
statement said.
The minister pledged that she would also lobby
with other Ministries of Malaysia to get the trade related issues resolved
which were raised by Pakistani businesspersons. She was speaking with officials
of Pakistan-Malaysia Business Council (PMBC) of Federation of Pakistan Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) at a local hotel.
Malaysian Consul General Khairul Nazran Rehman
and the commercial counsellor were also present on the occasion, while the PMBC
team was led by its Chairman Bashir Janmohammed.
She supported the demand made by Pakistani
business community for direct flights of Malaysian Airline to Karachi, as it
would facilitate the movement of the two business communities.
PMBC Chairman Bashir Janmohammed and his team
called for earliest review of the free trade agreement between Pakistan and
Malaysia to make it practical and equally beneficial for both the countries.
“At present, the trade balance is in favour of
Malaysia, and the volume of bilateral trade could be multiplied within next few
years if certain adjustments are made in the FTA,” he said. Prime Minister
Imran Khan wanted more trade with Malaysia and the government was also working
on revision of the FTA.
Janmohammed said if Malaysia facilitated and
relaxed the policy for import of Pakistani rice, the volume could be increased
to at least half a million tons from the present 0.1 million tons a year.
He said PMBC would send a big business
delegation to explore the Malaysian market for Pakistani products, especially
rice.
Also, he invited Malaysian business delegations
to visit Pakistan to see trade and investment opportunities.
Perviaz Khan from Dalda Foods proposed working
on joint ventures for growing palm trees on the coastal line of Pakistan as
Malaysia had expertise in this field.
Malaysian Minister for Industries also held a
meeting with members of Pakistan-Malaysia Friendship Association, headed by
Shahid Jawed Qureshi.
Minister: Malaysia, Pakistan to
extend cooperation in palm oil trade
BY AZRIL ANNUAR
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — Primary Industries
Minister Teresa Kok’s visit to Pakistan has unearthed strong potential for
Malaysia and the South Asian nation to cooperate further in palm oil trade as
well as other commodities, her ministry said.
The Primary Industries Ministry said Kok and
Pakistan’s Advisor for Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production and
Investment Abdul Razak Dawood had a four-eye meeting over common interests for
the two nations.
“The two leaders took the opportunity for a
bilateral dialogue to explore various issues of common interest to both
countries. Both emphasised the excellent cordial bilateral relations and
further explored areas for enhancing trade.
“Pakistan is a key importer of Malaysian palm
oil and products. In 2018, Pakistan imported 1.16 million metric tonnes (MT) of
palm oil from Malaysia valued at US$0.83 billion (RM2.97 billion). Avenues to
further expand Malaysian palm oil share in this growing market was also
discussed.
“For example, Pakistan is a net exporter of
rice, fruit and other produces that are required by Malaysia and Abdul Razak
Dawood encouraged Malaysia to consider instituting trading practices that could
allow smoother passage of these products into Malaysia,” said the statement.
During her keynote address at the 5th Pakistan
Edible Oil Conference (PEOC) in Karachi, Kok highlighted the importance of
Pakistan as an end user of Malaysian palm oil, facilitated by the joint venture
refinery between Malaysia and Pakistan in Port Qasim.
She also described Pakistan as one of
Malaysia’s most regular and dependable buyers of local palm oil and products.
She emphasised that palm oil has the potential
for higher uptake in Pakistan given that its local production of oils and fats
meets only around 20 per cent of its consumption needs.
It depends heavily on imports to meet growing
domestic demand and consumption, which has been increasing at a rate of 4.5 per
cent each year for the past seven years, due to increasing population, income
and consumer spending.
Palm oil is widely used for the manufacture of vanaspati (ghee) and it is also the preferred raw
material for the food industry in Pakistan, especially for frying and in
confectionary items.
At the same time, during her discussion with
Abdul Razak, Kok pointed out that Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) exporters
from Sri Lanka enjoyed lower duties whereas Malaysia’s higher quality MDF were
subjected to higher import tariffs.
“Other product opportunities were also
discussed and both leaders agreed to convey these matters to the concerned
authorities in their respective countries so that solutions could be worked out
to benefit better trade relations between Malaysia and Pakistan,” said the
statement.
Malaysian
Minister For Boost In Bilateral Trade
Sat 11th January 2020 | 06:58 PM
Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries,
Madam Teresa Kok Suh Sim has assured Pakistan business community, of all
possible cooperation for promotion of bilateral trade and investment-on
KARACHI, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News
- 11th Jan, 2020 ) :Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries,
Madam Teresa Kok Suh Sim has assured Pakistan business community,
of all possible cooperation for promotion of bilateral trade
and investment-on.
She was speaking at an interactive session with
office bearers of Pakistan Malaysia Business Council
of Federation of Pakistan on
Friday at a local hotel.
Malaysian Consul General, Khairul Nazran Rehman
and the Commercial Counselor were also present. The Council team was led by its
Chairman Bashir Janmohammed.
The Minister heard patiently to Pakistan businessmen
and pledged that she would also lobby with other Ministries of Malaysia to
get the trade related issues resolved which were raised by them.
She supported the demand by Pakistani business community
for direct flights of Malaysian Airline to Karachi to facilitate the movement of the two business communities
aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investment, economic cooperation.
Chairman PMBC Bashir Janmohammed and his team
called for earliest review of free trade agreement between Pakistan and Malaysia to
make it practical and equally beneficial to both the countries.
At present, the trade balance is in favour
of Malaysia, and the volume of bilateral trade could be
multiplied within next few years if certain adjustments are made in the FTA, he
said.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted
more trade with Malaysia and
the Government was also working on revision of the FTA.
He said if Malaysia facilitated
and relaxed the policy for import of Pakistani rice,
the volume could be increased to at least half a million tones from the
present 0.1 million tones a year.
He said PMBC would send a big business delegation
to explore Malaysian market for Pakistani products
especially rice. Also, he invited Malaysian businessmen delegation to visit Pakistan to
see trade and investment opportunities.
Perviaz Khan from Dalda
Foods proposed for joint ventures for growing palm trees at coastal line
of Pakistan as Malaysia had
expertise in this field.
Malaysian
Minister for Industries also had meeting with members of Pak-Malaysia
Friendship Association, headed by ShahidJawed Qureshi.
Industrial
Growth Imperative For Pakistan’s Economy
While Pakistan
has been blessed with many natural blessings like four seasons, good
agricultural crops, sea ports, our economy still remain very vulnerable. There
are many reasons for our feeble economy, the fundamental reason is our
inconsistent policies. We have never made policies which are country specific
but it rotates with the change of Governments.
Though we
consider ourselves as agriculturally based economy, over the decade we have
only concentrated on Wheat, Rice, Sugarcane and Cotton. We have never given any
priority to the Oilseed Crops. This is the reason that our Country remain
dependent over 90% on the import of Edible Oils and Oilseeds.
To improve the
Oilseed crops, we need to give some fertile portion of the land to the Oilseeds
and increase the support price for farmers. We also need to inculcate the
culture of research in agriculture so that we can improve the yield of our
various crops.
It is indeed
important to increase our exports and for that purpose we need to reduce our
cost of doing business so that our products can remain competitive in the world
markets. Our infrastructural cost is exorbitantly high and this is the reason
that we are not very much competitive in the Global markets.
While great
emphasis is indeed required to promote exports, we have to concentrate on
giving incentives to the Industries. Without industrialization neither we can
improve our indigenous production nor we can create employment. To promote
industries, it is absolutely necessary to improve our infrastructure and reduce
the cost of the same.
Trade
facilitation is the key to promote industries and we need to remove all the
obstacles and create the culture of trade facilitation. Our Country has
tremendous potential as we have enormous talent. What we need is the
consistency in the Government policies and a clear roadmap to move forward.
Our Government
also have to change the mindset of changing the policies of previous
Governments even if they are doing good for the Country. We have to learn to
give credit to those who are doing good and we must not criticize only for the
sake of criticism.
Our sea ports
are best in the region and some more concentration is required to improve the
berthing facilities at Port Karachi and Port Qasim so that Country may not loose
valuable foreign exchange in the shape of demurrages. We should make our port
users friendly so that Pakistan can become a transshipment hub for the landlock
countries. Our road network is still better, however, we need to improve the
railway facilities as railway is the cheapest mode of transportation.
The role of our
trade bodies are indeed very much significant, however, they also need to
develop their Research & Development (R&D) Department to give necessary
feedback to the Government.
Farmers receive P58-m aid
posted January
11, 2020 at 11:20 pm by PNA
President
Rodrigo Duterte on Friday distributed P58 million worth of agricultural
assistance to farmers in Soccsksargen.
Among the farm
equipment turned over by the President were six four-wheel drive tractors, five
rice combine harvesters, and 27 hand tractors. He likewise distributed
fertilizers and certified seeds.
“It is my hope
that the farm inputs and machinery to be distributed today will reinforce the
short and long term solutions that we have already implemented that aim to
raise greater productivity and competitiveness in the agricultural sector,”
Duterte said.
The President
also extended financial assistance to the farmers through the Rice Farmers
Financial Assistance cash cards worth P5,000 each. One- hundred rice farmers
from Libungan, Cotabato received the financial aid.
He also
promised to invest in much- needed infrastructure such as farm-to-market roads,
irrigation systems, farm equipment and other tools aimed at increasing rice
productivity.
At the same
time, the President pitched for the continuous implementation of the Rice
Tariffication Law, assuring farmers that the measure will help strengthen the
country’s economy and provide more opportunities for the agricultural sector.
“To our dear
farmers, let me take this opportunity to encourage you to give the Rice
Tariffication Law a chance. Let me assure you that in the long run, this
measure will not only help strengthen our economy, but will also provide new
opportunities for your sector,” he said.
Commentary: Innovation offers benefits for all
Source:
Xinhua| 2020-01-11 16:50:08|Editor: mingmei
BEIJING,
Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists and research projects were honored
Friday with national science awards in a high-profile event to recognize the
innovative spirit that is key to the country's future development.
The
Chinese government has prioritized innovation and decided in 2012 to take an
innovation-driven development strategy in a bid to increase production and
boost the overall national strength.
Basic
research, a fundamental source of innovation, has received longer and more
stable support, while the transformation of science and technology achievements
has been emphasized.
The
country has accelerated the construction and improvement of a national
innovation system, allowing scientists more say on research choices and encouraging
enterprises to play a bigger role in R&D investment.
Painstaking
efforts have resulted in great progress. The research programs honored on
Friday, including the invention of a highly effective catalyst for drug
production and a stem-cell treatment for lupus, are among the long list of
China's advances in recent years.
China's
pursuit of innovation, largely relying on sci-tech progress, has a clear
reason: China will not go back to its old development path of high
energy-consumption, severe pollution and cheap labor.
China is
striving to shift to middle and high-end manufacturing industries, and it needs
to upgrade technologies.
China
pledges to cut its carbon emissions and return blue skies and clean water to
its people, and it needs solutions from science and technology.
Almost
every aspect of the lives and living standards of China's 1.4-billion people -
stable economic growth, a better environment, safe food, new medicines and fast
transport - calls for innovation.
China
has encouraged science and technology to solve its development problems.
Take
green development, for example. Chinese researchers have won the national
science award for developing a clean system to reduce emissions from coal-fired
power plants, as coal still accounts for 59 percent of the national energy
consumption.
At
Friday's ceremony, scientists won awards for technologies that could help
detect pollutants from agricultural products, prevent water pollution in
paper-making and kill pests with green preparations.
Meanwhile,
China has also brought great benefits to the world with its technological
achievements. Advanced technology and products from China have played a key
role in promoting sustainable development and improving people's livelihood in
the developing countries.
The
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has provided more than 1.8 billion yuan
(about 260 million U.S. dollars) for construction of science and technology
projects in association with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) since 2013,
benefiting many Asian and African countries.
Chinese
agriculture scientists have bred new rice varieties named Green Super Rice with
high and stable yields to help reduce hunger and increase local farmers'
incomes in developing Asian and African countries.
China
has also opened its planned space station to international payloads, and
invited scientists around the world to participate in its future missions to
explore the moon, asteroids and comets.
China
has been frank in showing the reasons for and goals of its innovation drive. For
those countries who adopt an open and inclusive attitude as China does, they
shall be rewarded with many a new opportunity through scientific exchanges and
cooperation with China.
Commentary: Innovation offers benefits for all
Source:
Xinhua| 2020-01-11 16:50:08|Editor: mingmei
BEIJING,
Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists and research projects were honored
Friday with national science awards in a high-profile event to recognize the
innovative spirit that is key to the country's future development.
The
Chinese government has prioritized innovation and decided in 2012 to take an
innovation-driven development strategy in a bid to increase production and
boost the overall national strength.
Basic
research, a fundamental source of innovation, has received longer and more
stable support, while the transformation of science and technology achievements
has been emphasized.
The
country has accelerated the construction and improvement of a national
innovation system, allowing scientists more say on research choices and
encouraging enterprises to play a bigger role in R&D investment.
Painstaking
efforts have resulted in great progress. The research programs honored on
Friday, including the invention of a highly effective catalyst for drug
production and a stem-cell treatment for lupus, are among the long list of
China's advances in recent years.
China's
pursuit of innovation, largely relying on sci-tech progress, has a clear
reason: China will not go back to its old development path of high
energy-consumption, severe pollution and cheap labor.
China is
striving to shift to middle and high-end manufacturing industries, and it needs
to upgrade technologies.
China
pledges to cut its carbon emissions and return blue skies and clean water to
its people, and it needs solutions from science and technology.
Almost
every aspect of the lives and living standards of China's 1.4-billion people -
stable economic growth, a better environment, safe food, new medicines and fast
transport - calls for innovation.
China
has encouraged science and technology to solve its development problems.
Take
green development, for example. Chinese researchers have won the national
science award for developing a clean system to reduce emissions from coal-fired
power plants, as coal still accounts for 59 percent of the national energy
consumption.
At
Friday's ceremony, scientists won awards for technologies that could help
detect pollutants from agricultural products, prevent water pollution in
paper-making and kill pests with green preparations.
Meanwhile,
China has also brought great benefits to the world with its technological
achievements. Advanced technology and products from China have played a key
role in promoting sustainable development and improving people's livelihood in
the developing countries.
The
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has provided more than 1.8 billion yuan
(about 260 million U.S. dollars) for construction of science and technology
projects in association with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) since 2013,
benefiting many Asian and African countries.
Chinese
agriculture scientists have bred new rice varieties named Green Super Rice with
high and stable yields to help reduce hunger and increase local farmers'
incomes in developing Asian and African countries.
China
has also opened its planned space station to international payloads, and
invited scientists around the world to participate in its future missions to
explore the moon, asteroids and comets.
China
has been frank in showing the reasons for and goals of its innovation drive.
For those countries who adopt an open and inclusive attitude as China does,
they shall be rewarded with many a new opportunity through scientific exchanges
and cooperation with China.
An easy pill to swallow
· Published at 11:00 pm January 11th, 2020
Photo: SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
The campaign is targeting the inoculation of some 21
million children
A major health concern in Bangladesh is the severe
deficiency of vitamin-A among children, which results in a raft of symptoms
including blindness, delayed growth, skin disorders, and poor wound healing.
To that end, it is good to know that the government is
well aware of the crisis and has taken various steps to improve the situation,
including, but not limited to, a comprehensive campaign to provide children
between six months and 59 months with various forms of vitamin-A supplements.
The campaign is targeting the inoculation of some 21
million children, through the use of mobile health centres being set up at bus
stands, railway stations, launch terminals, airports, and other venues where
queuing up is convenient.
Needless to say, this is an excellent initiative.
While providing vitamin-A supplements to children is a
great way to tackle this most pressing of health crises in the short term,
there are other initiatives that the government can consider in the long run as
well.
We can further develop, for example, the vitamin-A rich
Golden Rice that scientists in Bangladesh have been working on for the longest
time.
This needs to be made a priority so that it can enter the
market in a more timely manner.
Supplements and capsules are a good short-term strategy,
since vitamin-A rich foods are usually out of the reach of poor and those
living in the more rural areas of Bangladesh, Golden Rice stands to make a big
impact in terms of tackling vitamin-A deficiency if it can get the proper
approval in time from the international community of scientists and
researchers.
Bangladesh has, for the longest time, faltered when it
comes to health care, but with the potential success of the vitamin-A drive, we
stand to turn things around.
A lot of soy, a little rice- China’s historical U.S. agricultural
purchases
The
United States and China are due to sign a Phase 1 trade deal on Jan. 15 that
U.S. officials have said will include a vow by China to buy an additional $32
billion in U.S. farm goods over the next two years.
China
has not confirmed Trump’s goal of $40 billion to $50 billion of annual sales,
which represents a near doubling of its purchases before the trade war began in
2018. Recent large Chinese purchases of Brazilian soybeans and a pair of
unexpected policy moves by Beijing have dimmed U.S. hopes of reaching the lofty
imports figure.
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:
SOYBEANS
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 11.1 million tonnes of soybeans worth
some $4 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. From January to November
2019, it bought $139.094 million worth.
PORK
China has increased pork imports to record levels after a fatal pig disease,
African swine fever, devastated its herd. U.S. pork exports to China and Hong
Kong were up 49% in value at $1.18 billion from January to November 2019. The
shipments were above full-year 2018 exports of $852.5 million and topped a
prior full-year record of $1.08 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 November 2019 were down 19% from a year earlier at $746.4
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 from January to November 2019 it 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 totalled
$759,000 from January to November 2019, U.S. rice exports to China have been
worth just $165,000.
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 last 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.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Tom Polansek, Julie Ingwersen, Rajesh Kumar; Singh, Mark Weinraub and Karl Plume; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Tom Polansek, Julie Ingwersen, Rajesh Kumar; Singh, Mark Weinraub and Karl Plume; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Tensions between US and Iran hit Basmati
rice export
The US-Iran confrontation has hurt Basmati rice
growers of Punjab and Haryana and hit the economy hard.
Published: 11th January 2020 12:30 PM |
Last Updated: 11th January 2020 12:30
PM
For representational
purpose.
Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: The US-Iran confrontation has hurt Basmati
rice growers of Punjab and Haryana and hit the economy hard. With sales to
Iran, which constituted 30% of the trade, nose-diving on the back of a ban by
the European Union over complaints of pesticide residue in grains, Punjab
tenants are facing a glut and sliding prices.
Ashik Sethi, Director of Punjab Rice Millers Exports
Association, said India exported Basmati about 40 lakh ton worth Rs
36,000 crore to some 100 countries, which is now down 50%. Iran alone bought
some 14 lakh ton worth Rs 12,000 crore. With the Gulf turning a conflict zone
no exporter wants to risk shipments.
“Since May last year, exports to Iran have come down as
India is not buying oil from them under the bilateral rupee trade agreement.
Basmati exports were also affected as payments were delayed.
Now it has totally stopped,’ said, traders.
Now it has totally stopped,’ said, traders.
They said, earlier EU’s pesticide restriction rules
kicked in and exports to Europe slipped from 4 lakh ton to 1.35 lakh ton and
Basmati prices dropped to Rs 2600 to Rs 2,700 per quintal
against last year’s price of Rs 3,600 to Rs 3,700 per quintal.
Sethi says, “In 2011, USA started rejecting Basmati rice
shipments due to pesticide issue and EU and GSS states like Saudi Arabia, which
imported 35% of the stock, followed. The Centres mandate in November that EU
consignments be tested by the Export Inspection Agency (EIA) of the union,
which charged Rs 1,450 per ton added to costs and misery.
Paddy worth Rs 555 crore
procured from farmers in Krishna district
Joint collector Dr K Madhavi Latha said that the
pending payments to the farmers will also be cleared shortly and that there was
no need of apprehensions.
Published: 12th January 2020 11:04 AM |
Last Updated: 12th January 2020 11:04
Image used for
representational purpose (File photo| EPS)
VIJAYAWADA: Krishna joint collector Dr K Madhavi Latha
said 3.03 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured so far from 26,093 farmers
from the district through 268 procurement centres. She said that the paddy was
worth Rs 555.69 crore of which Rs 392.88 crore has already been paid to the
farmers.
The joint collector participated in ‘dial your JC’
initiative held on Saturday. About 17 calls, of which 11 were regarding paddy
procurement, were received by her. On the occasion, she said that the pending
payments to the farmers will also be cleared shortly and that there was no need
of apprehensions.
A few farmers informed the JC that rice millers were not
providing transportation to process the stocks. She assured that transportation
would be immediately provided and directed the officials to take steps for the
same.
Commentary: Innovation offers benefits for all
Source:
Xinhua| 2020-01-11 16:50:08|Editor: mingmei
BEIJING,
Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists and research projects were honored
Friday with national science awards in a high-profile event to recognize the
innovative spirit that is key to the country's future development.
The
Chinese government has prioritized innovation and decided in 2012 to take an
innovation-driven development strategy in a bid to increase production and
boost the overall national strength.
Basic
research, a fundamental source of innovation, has received longer and more
stable support, while the transformation of science and technology achievements
has been emphasized.
The
country has accelerated the construction and improvement of a national
innovation system, allowing scientists more say on research choices and
encouraging enterprises to play a bigger role in R&D investment.
Painstaking
efforts have resulted in great progress. The research programs honored on
Friday, including the invention of a highly effective catalyst for drug
production and a stem-cell treatment for lupus, are among the long list of
China's advances in recent years.
China's
pursuit of innovation, largely relying on sci-tech progress, has a clear
reason: China will not go back to its old development path of high
energy-consumption, severe pollution and cheap labor.
China is
striving to shift to middle and high-end manufacturing industries, and it needs
to upgrade technologies.
China
pledges to cut its carbon emissions and return blue skies and clean water to
its people, and it needs solutions from science and technology.
Almost
every aspect of the lives and living standards of China's 1.4-billion people -
stable economic growth, a better environment, safe food, new medicines and fast
transport - calls for innovation.
China
has encouraged science and technology to solve its development problems.
Take
green development, for example. Chinese researchers have won the national
science award for developing a clean system to reduce emissions from coal-fired
power plants, as coal still accounts for 59 percent of the national energy
consumption.
At
Friday's ceremony, scientists won awards for technologies that could help
detect pollutants from agricultural products, prevent water pollution in
paper-making and kill pests with green preparations.
Meanwhile,
China has also brought great benefits to the world with its technological
achievements. Advanced technology and products from China have played a key
role in promoting sustainable development and improving people's livelihood in
the developing countries.
The
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has provided more than 1.8 billion yuan
(about 260 million U.S. dollars) for construction of science and technology
projects in association with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) since 2013,
benefiting many Asian and African countries.
Chinese
agriculture scientists have bred new rice varieties named Green Super Rice with
high and stable yields to help reduce hunger and increase local farmers'
incomes in developing Asian and African countries.
China
has also opened its planned space station to international payloads, and
invited scientists around the world to participate in its future missions to
explore the moon, asteroids and comets.
China
has been frank in showing the reasons for and goals of its innovation drive.
For those countries who adopt an open and inclusive attitude as China does,
they shall be rewarded with many a new opportunity through scientific exchanges
and cooperation with China.
Where you 'bean' all my life? Rainbow board
dishing up pulses Jan. 16
Rainbow
board holds monthly 'Go Green' challenges in all of its schools to encourage
environmental stewardship
18 h By:
(File)
Rainbow District School Board invites staff and
students to eat pulses and share recipes Jan. 16.
Secondary school cafeterias, which are operated
by Chartwells, will feature a special Asian rice bowl with tofu, basmati rice,
onions, peppers, black beans, corn and mushrooms.
This Go Green initiative is part of the
Environmental Committee’s ongoing efforts to encourage sustainable practices,
increase awareness about global food security, and promote well-being.
Pulses include a variety of lentils, beans and
peas, and can be added to soups, casseroles, salads and sauces for an extra
dose of protein, iron and fibre.
“Pulses contain a variety of essential vitamins
and minerals needed to sustain a healthy diet,” says director of education Norm
Blaseg. “Increasing our pulses intake is good for us and the planet.”
This low-fat, low-cost food source is
drought-tolerant and frost-hardy. Pulse crops enrich the earth where they are
grown, improving the health and long-term fertility of soils.
“Pulses are water efficient and have one of the
lowest carbon footprints of any food group,” said Blaseg. “The Eat Pulses
challenge will present the opportunity to reflect on how our eating practices
directly impact the environment. Everyone is encouraged to participate.”
Rainbow District School Board’s Environmental
Committee is issuing monthly challenges to staff and students throughout the
school year.
Last month, students researched Indigenous
perspectives on caring for Mother Earth, and learned about Noojmowin, an
Anishnaabe term for the holistic health and well-being of people, families,
communities and the planet.
Rice export earnings exceed $250 in
three months
During
three months of the current fiscal year, Myanmar earned over 250 million
US dollars from the exports of
around 900,000 tons of rice and broken rice, according to Myanmar Rice
Federation. Till December 27 of 2019-20 FY, Myanmar exported 894,889.703 tons
of rice and broken rice worth 256.452 million US dollars. During this period,
Myanmar exported over 600,000 tons of rice worth over 180 million US dollars to
53 countries and around 290,000 tons of broken rice worth over 75 million US
dollars, to 45 countries. Myanmar exports rice to the EU and Africa via sea
route and China via Muse border trade. During three months, Myanmar earned over
34 million US dollars from exports of over 130,000 tons of rice and broken rice
via border trade. Border trade accounted for 15 per cent of the total rice
export. Myanmar earned over 220 million US dollars from exports of over 760,000
tons of rice and broken rice via sea route. It made up over 85 per cent of the
total rice export. In 2018-19 FY, Myanmar earned 709.693 million US dollars
from exports of 2.355 tons of rice and broken rice, according to the MRF. In
2017-18 FY, Myanmar’s rice exports reached a record high within over 50 years,
with the exports of nearly 3.6 million tons of rice and broken rice. According
to the statement by the MRF on May 18, 2019, the MRF is taking necessary
measures to deal with the declining rice price in the summer paddy harvest
season and the farmers’ difficulties. It is found that the business is weak due
to the difficulties in warehouse, paddy drying and transport. In the past, only
11 companies exported rice to China. Currently, more than 40 rice export
companies have been chosen. They can export rice to China after the list is
sent to China.
Govt calls on farmers to stop growing
rice in off-season
BANGKOK (NNT) -
The government has called on farmers to stop growing rice in the off-season to
save water for personal consumption. Three million rai of land in the Chao
Phraya River basin has already been used to grow rice in the extra season, but
is yet to be provided with water. Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon
has delivered policy for the steering of the National Water Directorate, which
has been following the overall water situation and introducing measures to
alleviate problems. So far, 18 provinces have been declared drought-affected
zones and 54 others have been declared "at risk" of lacking
sufficient water for consumption and agriculture. Gen Prawit said there is a
reduced volume of water this year, particularly in the Chao Phraya River basin
where the water supply will only be sufficient for consumption, and should be
used very sparingly for agriculture; plants which consume less water should be
grown instead.
The government
has taken measures to provide enough water for the people’s consumption and ordered
the drilling of more artesian wells. Meanwhile, the Office of National Water
Resources has integrated operational plans to prevent drought in the 2019/2020
season by preparing reserves of water for consumption in areas at risk of being
hit by drought. This water will be provided to hospitals and for cash crops.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Ministry of the Interior
will take measures to contain the adverse effects of drought on rice grown in
the extra season while farmers would receive compensation payments for any
damage to their rice farms due to drought.
Rice Federation Presents Regional
Rice Report to MOA
According to
recent data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) domestic
rice consumption in the region increased from 11 million tons of white rice in
2008/2009 to 18 million tons to 2016/2017.
Mohammed
Kamara, President of the National Rice Federation of Liberia (NRFL) has
presented the regional consultation framework of rice producers’ summary report
to the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) for
review and consideration. The document was drafted at the West African Regional
rice conference recently held in Benin which aimed at enhancing sustainable
rice production in order to reduce rice importation in the sub region. West
Africans eat varieties of food including tubers (cassava, yam, eddoes, potato),
and rice, and studies have shown that many in the sub-region, if not all, dwell
on rice as the main staple than the rest of the other food crops. According to
recent data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) domestic
rice consumption in the region increased from 11 million tons of white rice in
2008/2009 to 18 million tons to 2016/2017. The report among other things,
stressed the need for leaders in the sub region to allocate sufficient
budgetary resources at least 20 percent of the national budget for agriculture
toward the rice sector for innovative practices that can enhance sustainable
rice production, empower various national rice platforms to ensure their
sustainability and as well as encourage exchange visits for the benefit of
countries to share experiences on sustainable rice production system and set up
collaboration with research field schools to test sustainable rice production.
Presenting the report, Kamara stated that the rice federation of Liberia has
formulated a 5-year plan intended to increase the production of rice in
Liberia. He said the plan seeks to support local farmers to produce more rice
and will require the government’s support. According to him, the rice sector
still faces many challenges which, he said, will need the government to make
more investment to mitigate the constraints. Receiving the report, Precious
Tetee, acting Agriculture Minister, thanked Kamara for ably representing the
country. She said the MOA remains committed to providing support to rice
producers to make the country reduce importation. Liberia’s equatorial climate
is characterized by heavy rainfall and an ideal sunshine every year. The
country hosts about 41% of the Upper Guinea Tropical Rainforest with fertile
soil; however, agriculture remains rather rudimentary in the country that
imports rice from India, China and the United States every year to feed its
population of 4.8 million.
PH’s
largest rice suppliers see lower production
Philippines,
the world’s top rice importer,, may soon have to pay more for imported rice
as its two biggest suppliers for the staple, Vietnam and Thailand, will both
see lower production this year. Two separate reports prepared by United States
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) showed
that Vietnam’s paddy production will go down during the current market year
(MY), while Thai rice exports are “forecast to tumble further in 2020, dropping
to the lowest level in seven years” due to production decline and stiffer
global competition. This is bad news for the Philippines, said Federation of
Free Farmers (FFF) National Manager Raul Montemayor. As prices of imported rice
increase, the country may eventually succumb to higher prices amid insufficient
local palay production.
“International
prices could inch up due to lower hectarage and output from major exporters,”
Montemayor said in a text exchange. “And we have no choice. We can’t produce
enough rice, more so now that farmers are downscaling their production due to
the low prices. We have no choice but to import. We can negotiate prices but in
the end we have to pay what the sellers are demanding otherwise they won’t
supply us,” he added. For this year, the Philippines is expected to produce
19.6 million metric tons (MT) of palay and import around 2.7 million MT of
rice. Last year, the country imported a record amount of 3 million MT,
officially making it the world’s top rice importer, beating China. Based on the
USDA report, Vietnam, which sold 2.15 million MT of rice to the Philippines
last year, will see lower production due to unfavorable weather conditions and
crop restructuring.
“MARD [Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam] lowered its estimates for the
country’s production for the MY 2018 to 2019 Autumn crop, especially in the
Mekong Delta, due to a reduction in cultivated area,” the report said. “Several
factors drove this reduction, including uncertainty on weather conditions and
the water supply and lower paddy prices, which encouraged farmers in the Mekong
Delta to switch to other crops such as fruits, vegetables, and aquaculture,” it
added. Combined with lower production in the Central region due to droughts
that occurred early last year, USDA-FAS assessed Vietnam’s Autumn crop for MY
2018 to 2019 at 2.8 million hectares (HA) and 15.2 MMT, down from 2.9 million
HA and 15.4 MMT in the previous MY. Vietnam’s total exports will also be lower
than estimates at 6.6 million MT from 6.7 million MT.
Meanwhile, Thai
rice exports for 2020 are forecast down by a third compared to two years ago as
exportable supplies fall and prices remain high. “Thailand competes with more
competitive Indian and Vietnamese rice, which is priced about 20 percent lower.
Thus, even as the Philippines soared to become the top global importer,
Thailand’s share of its trade was marginal, undercut by Vietnamese prices,” a
separate USDA report showed. “At the same time, China has shifted its trading
position from net importer to net exporter, returning as a major exporter of
low-priced rice as it seeks to offload its copious stocks. Its expansion of
market share in African markets has come largely at the expense of Thailand,”
it added. Looking ahead to 2020, Thailand’s export “prospects are grim,” said
the report. This as lower demand from key markets and uncompetitive pricing,
compounded with a severe drought, are expected to decimate offseason rice
production.
Malaysian Minister For
Boost In Bilateral Trade
Sat 11th January 2020 | 12:00 AM
KARACHI, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News
- 10th Jan, 2020 ) :Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries,
Madam Teresa Kok Suh Sim on Friday evening assured Pakistan business community,
on behalf of her government,
of all possible cooperation for promotion of bilateral trade
and investment.
She was speaking at an interactive session with
office-bearers of Pakistan Malaysia Business Council
of Federation of Pakistan at
a local hotel.
Malaysian Consul General, Khairul Nazran Rehman
and the Commercial Counselor were also present. The Council team was led by its
Chairman Bashir Janmohammed.
The minister heard patiently to Pakistan businessmen
and pledged that she would also lobby with other Ministries of Malaysia to
get the trade related issues resolved which were raised by them.
She supported the demand by Pakistani business community
for direct flights of Malaysian Airline to Karachi to facilitate the movement of the two business communities
aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investment, economic cooperation.
Chairman PMBC Bashir Janmohammed and his team
called for earliest review of free trade agreement between Pakistan and Malaysia to
make it practical and equally beneficial to both the countries.
At present, the trade balance is in favour
of Malaysia, and the volume of bilateral trade could be
multiplied within next few years if certain adjustments are made in the FTA, he
said.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted
more trade with Malaysia and
the government was also working on revision of the FTA.
He said if Malaysia facilitated
and relaxed the policy for import of Pakistani rice,
the volume could be increased to at least half a million tones from the
present 0.1 million tones a year.
He said PMBC would send a big business delegation
to explore Malaysian market for Pakistani products
especially rice. Also, he invited Malaysian businessmen delegation to visit Pakistan to
see trade and investment opportunities.
Perviaz Khan from Dalda
Foods proposed for joint ventures for growing palm trees at coastal line
of Pakistan as Malaysia had
expertise in this field.
Malaysian
Minister for Industries also had meeting with members of Pak-Malaysia
Friendship Association, headed by Shahid Jawed Qureshi.
Puducherry CM Narayanasamy moves HC against L-G Kiran Bedi
When the file with regard to this was sent to the L-G, Bedi refused to
accept the proposal and insisted cash should be directly credited to the
account of the beneficiary, said the CM.
Published: 11th January 2020 06:13 AM | Last
Updated: 11th January 2020 06:13 AM |
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy (File | PTI)
Express News Service
PUDUCHERRY: The turf war in Puducherry has intensified, with the Chief
Minister, V Narayanasamy moving the Madras High Court challenging the order of
the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and Lt Governor Kiran Bedi on distribution
of cash in lieu of free rice. The High Court has agreed to hear the writ plea
next week.
After assuming power in 2016, the Congress government decided to provide
free rice as per its poll promises. Addressing a press conference on Friday,
the CM said that the decision was taken after the Union Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution accepted the government’s plan to
distribute of free rice to the UT residents. He also said that the Ministry
assured him that if he sends the proposal in this regard, the ministry would
“grant approval” immediately.
When the file with regard to this was sent to the L-G, Bedi refused to
accept the proposal and insisted cash should be directly credited to the
account of the beneficiary, said the CM. But when the government insisted, the
L-G forwarded the file to the MHA and the ministry passed an order
contradictory to the Union Food and Public Distribution ministry.
Narayanasamy said that it is the “prerogative” of the elected government
to decide the welfare schemes for its people. He further said that if there is
any “irregularities in the procurement of rice” and “lack of quality”, then the
action should be taken against the officials responsible for the procurement.
He said that the neighbouring States like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
and Karnataka were providing free rice and the MHA has not been apprised
properly the L-G in this regard.
What Petition says?
According to petitioner, in furtherance of its poll promises during 2016 Assembly elections, the government had passed a resolution on June 7, 2019 to continue the welfare scheme of providing the items in kind and referred the same to Union Home Ministry on September 5. However, the ministry differed and advised the government to continue the scheme with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) (cash) scheme in lieu of distribution of free rice. Not stopping with this, the Administrator (Bedi) also passed an interim order that rice will not be supplied in kind, but the benefit will only be by DBT mode. Accordingly, cash is being credited. Finally in December, the Union Home Affairs Ministry passed an order, answering the reference, by issuing an advisory to the Union Territory to continue with DBT (cash) scheme in lieu of distribution of free rice under Puducherry State Free Rice Scheme.
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