25th January,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter

Senate committee reviews Geographical Indications law

The Newspaper's Staff ReporterUpdated

January 24, 2020

The GIs identify products with specific geographical origin and possess qualities or reputation attributable to that place. — Dawn/File

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile Industry on Thursday reviewed the Geographical Indications (Registration & Protection) Bill 2019 and agreed to finalise it in the meeting next week.

The meeting was chaired by Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi who said the issue has been pending since the committee was formed in March, 2018.

Senator Shibli Faraz remarked that it is beyond comprehension as to why Pakistan has taken so long to come up with legislation on geographical indicators (GIs).

Intellectual Property Organisation Pakistan Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed Khan briefed the committee that delays were mainly procedural and the work on latest draft initiated in 2016. The draft was approved by the cabinet in August 2019 which was subsequently laid in the senate this month. The GIs identify products with specific geographical origin and possess qualities or reputation attributable to that place. These generally include agricultural, traditional or manufactured products.

These are essential to protect indigenous products and promote them worldwide as ‘made in Pakistan’. The list of products identified in the law include Khewra salt, basmati rice, Kohat shawl, Hunza ruby, Skardu topaz, Multan camel skin art, Patuki floriculture, Mansehra tea, Sahiwal cattle, truck art, Wazirabad cutlery work, Sindhi topi, Sialkot sports goods, Hala coloured Pottery, Kashmir pashmina, among many others prospective GIs.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2020

https://www.dawn.com/news/1530204/senate-committee-reviews-geographical-indications-law

Between India and Pakistan, let's give the seeds a chance

Indra Shekhar Singh  | Updated on January 24, 2020  Published on January 24, 2020

The Indian seed sector lost one of its biggest export markets when the governments of India and Pakistan suspended trade relations between the two countries. The political climate hasn’t been the most favourable in recent times, but this New Year is an opportunity to separate politics and economics for the benefit of farmers on both sides of the border.

India loses more from the trade embargo. Pakistan has been our third top destination for fruit and vegetable seeds for many years. In 2018-19, India exported fruit and vegetable seeds worth $17,528,530 and in 2017-18 that number was $14,160,248. It is a $3 million increase from the previous year, and perhaps wealth generated from the trade would have grown as Indian seeds are very popular in Pakistan because of similar agro-climatic conditions, quality and unmatched culinary value.

Export avenues

Remember, this wealth is generated only from the trade of fruit and vegetable seeds. What about other seeds such as cotton, cereal etc? Germplasm and plants care little for borders but they do care more for favourable soil, climate and water. As a result, North India supplied a lion’s share of all types of seeds to Pakistan. They included paddy, wheat, legumes, cotton, etc. Indian varieties do very well in Pakistan because over time, they have adapted to similar cultivation patterns, monsoon and soils.

The Indo-Pak seed trade was in the range of Rs 1,300-1,500 crore a year. The industry estimated the trade going up to Rs 2,000 crore in the coming years. That is Rs 2,000 crore pumped straight into the pockets of farmers and seed breeders. The prosperity it brings across the borders can be a great example of Indo-Pak partnership. But by banning seed exports, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Apart from the export seed stock losses on the Indian side, the Pakistani side experienced disruption of steady seed supply, generating a large gap.

India's loss, China's gain

But the vacuum created by this ban is being used by Chinese seed companies to expand in Pakistan. While the Indian farmers and seed sector are losing millions of dollars, the Chinese seed sector is now growing and has access to Pakistani germplasm, which may, in the future, be detrimental to the interests of the Indian seed sector. The Pakistani and Chinese governments are already working to develop a hybrid variety of ‘basmati’ rice. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recent statement prioritised agriculture and wanted deeper cooperation with China.

Although the Chinese seeds don’t match up to the Indian varieties in their culinary value, it’s only a matter of time before economics and high yields exhaust the demand for Indian seeds.

Business as usual

Meanwhile, India is supplying medicines to Pakistan on humanitarian grounds as they are essential commodities. Why should seeds be any different? The Indian Essential Commodities Act defines some seeds as essential. India can also become a seed testing and quality hub for Pakistani seeds as we have the best infrastructure within the SAARC countries.

This is another avenue through which jobs can be generated in the agriculture sector as Indian scientists and technicians will be employed to assist Pakistan in their quality assessment. Currently, Indian certified seeds are valued in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan and Nepal. We can strive to create a robust system of trade, unaffected by politics, in both countries.

(Program Director – Policy and Outreach for the National Seed Association of India)

Published on January 24, 2020

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https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/between-india-and-pakistan-lets-give-the-seeds-a-chance/article30643524.ece

Exclusive: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from Iran

Commodities

 (Jan 24, 2020 08:41AM ET)

By Mayank Bhardwaj and Neha Dasgupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reluctance among Indian traders to ship premium basmati rice to Iran as U.S. sanctions hobble its ability to pay has contributed to a sharp drop in overall exports from the world's biggest supplier of the grain, trade and government sources said.

Rice shipments from India slipped by more than a quarter to 5.5 million tonnes between April and November 2019 -- the first eight months of the fiscal year -- from 7.5 million tonnes in the year-ago period, the sources said. In terms of value, exports dropped 19% to $3.8 billion from $4.7 billion.

The grain is India's biggest foreign exchange earning farm commodity, with shipments worth $7.75 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year.

Basmati rice exports to Iran, New Delhi's top buyer of the aromatic grain, dropped to 600,000 tonnes in the eight months from 900,000 tonnes a year earlier, but traders, worried about delayed payments, have not signed any new contracts with Tehran in the past five days, the sources said.

Shipments are not expected to significantly pick up, with buyers in Iran owing a record 20 billion rupees ($281.41 million) to India as U.S.- imposed sanctions make it hard to pay for imported commodities, they added.

"We are in a precarious situation," Nathi Ram Gupta, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association, told Reuters. "We have urged the Indian government to step in to ensure that our dues are cleared by Iran."

Reuters was unable to contact traders in Iran for comment.

Iranian buyers paid some of the money they owed in November, the sources said, encouraging Indian traders to sign new contracts and ultimately pushing dues to an all-time high.

Of the 4.4 million tonnes of basmati rice shipped by India in the 2018/19 fiscal year, Iran accounted for 1.4 million tonnes.

"Our exports to Iran will definitely fall this year and that is going to drag down both the country's basmati and non-basmati rice exports. We're worried on two counts of India's falling rice exports and our mounting dues," said Vijay Setia, former president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.

Beside the drop in exports to Iran, non-basmati rice exports to Europe have also fallen, with trade and industry officials citing higher pesticide residues in shipments from India as a factor behind reduced purchases from the European Union.

Higher benchmark prices in Thailand, the world's second-biggest rice exporter, have however prompted some buyers to opt for Indian rice, pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three months despite the fall in exports.

India's 5% broken parboiled variety rose to around $366-$371 per tonne from last week's $364-$368, the highest since Oct. 31.

Domestic prices have also risen on fresh orders from Africa, traders said.

https://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/exclusive-indias-rice-exports-fall-sharply-as-sanctions-delay-payments-from-iran-2067093

Laos weighs on export of 100,000 tons rice to Cuba

·       ASEAN+

·       Friday, 24 Jan 2020

4:36 PM MYT

VIENTIANE: Laos government has assigned Phan Phet Agriculture Development Co, Ltd. to carry out a feasibility study on the export of 100,000 tons of rice a year to Cuba, according to the website of the Laos Ministry of Industry and Commerce on Friday (Jan 24).

The scheme was initiated by Laos Ministry of Industry and Commerce and other sectors when Cuba's Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment visited the company in September 2019, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Friday.

Phan Phet is situated in Nonghiew village of Hadxaifong district, Lao capital Vientiane, and is a large agribusiness operator. Established in 2008, the firm currently manages about 1,000 hectares, about 50 percent of the farming area is in Hadxaifong district and the rest in other provinces.

The company's Chairman, Thongsavanh Meeboun, said the company did not grow merely rice. His firm encouraged farmers with potential and supported them by providing bio-fertilizers, seeds, advice on farming techniques and assistance with machinery.

The company last year planned to sell 10,000 tons of rice to China's Hong Kong and Taiwan after negotiating exports with international partners, yet with no confirmed export figure.

It will be a challenge for the company to produce rice for sale to Cuba. To achieve the target, it will need to study the adequate provision of funding, land, use of new technology, farming methods, seeds, machinery and disease management.

Laos' main export products to Cuba are clothes, while Cuba sells tobacco, sugar, white gold, coffee and mechanical parts to Laos.

According to Laos' rice export statistics over the past five years, the main markets are Vietnam, Thailand and Belgium.

From 2015-2019, Laos earned about US$70mil from the sale of rice to Vietnam, over US$40mil from Thailand, and more than US$11mil dollars from Belgium.

Laos sold rice to more than 30 countries in Asia and Europe.

In 2020, theLaos government is aiming to produce 4.7 million tons of rice, of which 2.5 million tons will supply domestic needs. Some 2.1 million tons will be used for local consumption while 400,000 tons will be stockpiled. Some 500,000-600,000 tons will be used for domestic processing and at least 1 million tons for domestic goods and export, said the report.

Those numbers indicate there is strong potential for Laos to sell 100,000 tons of rice to Cuba, which would equate to 10 percent of total rice exports. The scheme is part of efforts to develop the two countries' trade ties and enhance diplomatic relations, according to the report. - Xinhua/Asian News Network

TAGS / KEYWORDS:Loas , Rice , Cuba

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/01/24/laos-weighs-on-export-of-100000-tons-rice-to-cuba

U Ye Min Aung, Secretary-General, Myanmar Rice Federation; and Managing Director, Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation: Interview

MyanmarAgriculture

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Interview: U Ye Min Aung

In what ways can Myanmar diversify production?

U YE MIN AUNG: Diversification is great in theory, but it is difficult to achieve. It requires state support and economic strength. If we examine regional trends, it took Thailand and Vietnam decades of commercial rice farming to gather the financing and technical ability to diversify at scale. On top of that, our market has unique issues to overcome. Before diversification can truly take place, we need to study our ecology to enable us to use it effectively. Following Cyclone Nargis in 2008 we have seen an increase in pests and disease. Additionally, Myanmar’s farmland consists mostly of paddy fields, which are not immediately suitable for vegetable cultivation without treatment.

In agriculture supply-side policies tend to fail, so if we insist on diversification before we are able to bring it to scale we will not succeed. Diversification within a commodity chain is what we can consider. With rice, for instance, we do not currently manufacture rice oil, biscuits, cosmetics or noodles. Globally, rice consumption has slowed but the market for rice-based products, such as glucose, is growing. Meanwhile, the country consumes 80% of the rice it produces, meaning that diversification for the sake of exports alone is not necessary, although these exports do help ensure sectoral price stability and absorb market shocks. The number of countries Myanmar exports to has grown considerably in recent years, almost tripling from 20 countries in 2012 to nearly 60 by 2019. There has also been significant improvements in the quality of production, with certification having played a role in this. We have international laboratories and inspection companies coming to Myanmar to verify our output, and this is raising standards right across the supply chain.

How would you assess the technology and storage facilities in the sector’s supply chain?

YE MIN AUNG: Adequate storage facilities are vital for Myanmar. Without effective drying equipment the effects of climate change are acutely felt, with crops being ruined. Improvements are slowly taking place, but the sector needs investment as it is undercapitalised and lacking expertise. On the farming side, moves towards more effective and sustainable practices are under way but they are only in the early stages. For instance, drip irrigation is starting to be implemented and can greatly increase efficiency, improve soil quality and reduce methane emissions by removing the need to flood rice paddies. Rice cultivation needs to be intensified in Myanmar, though not at the expense of the environment. The System of Rice Intensification developed by Cornell University provides a great method for maintaining this balance, with an emphasis on controlling inputs and plant management, and it has already seen success in Myanmar. Naturally, pesticides are still necessary in the sector, but there needs to be more education concerning their application, and businesses have a responsibility to support this. It is in the public interest to ensure that safety regulations are in place and illicit trade is kept to a minimum. In addition, farmers must follow health and safety procedures.

Access to finance remains the largest challenge in the sector. Without this, it is difficult to improve irrigation facilities, quality and yields, and storage capabilities. Our neighbours developed their agricultural sectors with the help of consistent, innovative and well-capitalised financial solutions. The Myanmar Agriculture Development Bank has a huge role to play in the sector, and we encourage the government to prioritise its expansion. The bank already has over 220 branches nationwide, but it must focus on diversifying its product portfolio and increasing its outreach programmes. There is also a role for microfinance institutions to play, but they is not yet at a sufficient capacity level to generate real change. Though we are latecomers to mechanised agriculture, we can now use this technology to accelerate our growth trajectory. Our next step as a nation should be to prioritise expanding banking facilities for farmers.

Anchor text: 

U Ye Min Aung

https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/interview/theory-practice-u-ye-min-aung-secretary-general-myanmar-rice-federation-and-managing-director

India-UK joint research meeting at ICRISAT

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SANGAREDDY, JANUARY 24, 2020 19:47 IST

Rajeev Varshney, Rajeev Gupta and Peter Carberry of ICRISAT with Professor of University of Cambridge Howard Griffiths during the General Assembly of TIGR2ESS underway at ICRISAT in Sangareddy district.   | Photo Credit: Mohd Arif

Interdisciplinary research to make Indian agriculture sustainable in a changing world

Over a hundred scientists from varied disciplines gathered at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to discuss an India-UK joint research programme for more interdisciplinary research to make Indian agriculture sustainable in a changing world and to ensure food security.

The first General Assembly of TIGR2ESS (Transforming India’s Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable Food Supplies), an UK-India research programme, which began in 2018 and brought over 20 research institutions together, concluded at ICRISAT on Friday. The programme was from January 20-24, where crop scientists, sociologists, biologists, nutrition experts and archaeologists, among others, discussed the way ahead.

“The General Assembly is an important milestone for TIGR2ESS, affording us an opportunity to strengthen the interdisciplinary nature of our research and put in place plans with tangible outcomes for positive agricultural and socio-economic change in India,” said professor Howard Griffiths, principal investigator for the programme and University of Cambridge’s advocate in Cambridge-India relations.

The programme seeks to address four key research questions: What should an Evergreen Revolution deliver? Can crop productivity increase, whilst maintaining yield stability? Can water supplies be shared to match community demand? How can we best engage and educate for local community well-being?

These questions were being answered by six distinct but fully integrated, flagship projects which are heavily reliant on research collaborations, exchanges and women empowerment.

Rajeev Gupta, a co-lead in Flagship Project 2, noted that multidisciplinary approach of TIGR2ESS is crucial for India’s Green Revolution to reach the next level.

“Screening of several hundred lines of sorghum and pearl millet for water use efficiency is among the many areas where the project has made progress since its inception,” Dr. Gupta, a principal scientist at ICRISAT who oversees genomics and crop trait discovery, said.

“India is among the top producers in dairy, rice, wheat and pulses. It has seen around two percent productivity gains in crops like pearl millet owing to hybridization and the private sector. In Africa, the productivity is either stable or declining. Why are we lagging so far in Africa?” asked Peter Carberry, Director General, ICRISAT, while emphasizing the need for transferring the learnings and successes from the programme to sub-Saharan Africa.

To strengthen collaboration between India and the UK’s scientific institutions and to build research capacity, over 50 early career researchers, from both within and beyond TIGR2ESS, are receiving training in key research skills, from writing research grant applications to deep learning with artificial intelligence during the Assembly. To further strengthen collaboration, specifically in agriculture research, he announced a fellowship programme that will soon be rolled out with India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR). The fellowship will facilitate 30 Indian researchers to undertake research work at crop science universities in the UK for two years.

Rice imports at nearly 1.3m tons in 10 monthsJanuary 24, 2020 - 14:17

TEHRAN- Iran has imported 1.298 million tons of rice during the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019-January 20, 2020), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

According to Rouhollah Latifi, so far, 1.053 million tons of the mentioned amount has been fully cleared, while the clearance licensing process is underway for another 51,000 tons.

Imports of foreign rice are prohibited every year during the harvest season of domestic rice, which is from late July to late November, Latifi said, adding that since the bans on imports were lifted, the imports have been underway smoothly.

The country’s rice cultivation and production have grown this year due to favorable weather conditions and imports have also been higher than the previous years, the official said.

Back in October 2019, Deputy Agriculture Minister Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh announced that Iran has become completely self-sufficient in rice production as it plans to cut up to two million tons of imports a year.

The Statistical Center of Iran estimates that Iranians consume approximately 35 kilograms of rice per person each year. That would mean a domestic demand of nearly three million tons for a country of 83 million people.

Bakhshandeh said rice self-sufficiency would save Iran more than $1.1 billion in imports, adding that it would also be a major success amid efforts to minimize the impacts of the American sanctions on food security in the country.

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/444489/Rice-imports-at-nearly-1-3m-tons-in-10-months

Gov’t cracks down on rice importers’ ‘dummies’

By: Karl R. Ocampo - @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:14 AM January 25, 2020

The country’s agriculture chief is imposing a ban on small farmers’ groups that were used as “dummies” by bigger traders to import rice following the deregulation of rice trade.

Speaking to reporters in a press conference on Friday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said cooperatives and associations that willingly gave
their import permits for the use of traders would not be allowed to import anymore.

“They (farmers) are making this a living by letting traders use their cooperatives. We will ban them. We have the listing. They will no longer participate,” said Dar.

He added that based on data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI)—the office responsible for the issuance of import permits—there were “hundreds” of these associations that could be guilty of participating in such a scheme.

Dar said many of these farmers groups did not have the financial capacity to import the volume they had indicated in their documents. As such, he has instructed BPI to impose stricter requirements to traders before issuing them permits.

“We have strengthened our guidelines. Before they can import, they should be financially stable for the past three years. If they don’t have any warehouse capacity, they also cannot import. [It’s these practices] that result in the falling prices of palay. This is their fault,” the secretary added.

Less than a year since the government allowed the unimpeded importation of rice, the country’s rice imports increased by 58 percent to 3 million metric tons (MT) from 1.9 million MT in 2018 and by 275 percent against the 2017 record.

Asked whether the same penalty would be incurred by traders who made use of cooperatives as a means to import, BPI director George Culaste told the Inquirer that they have yet to identify those that were on the other end of the scheme.“We have the list of the cooperatives because we have

https://business.inquirer.net/288907/govt-cracks-down-on-rice-importers-dummies

Deciphering the sugar code

by University of Münster

Researchers discover vaccine to strengthen the immune system of plants. Credit: Sruthi Sreekumar Researchers discover vaccine to strengthen the immune system of plants. Credit: Sruthi Sreekumar

Like animals and humans, plants possess a kind of immune system. It can e.g. recognize pathogenic fungi by the chitin in their cell walls, triggering disease resistance. Some fungi hide from the immune system by modifying some of the chitin building blocks, converting chitin into chitosan. Researchers of the University of Münster now found that plants can react to a certain pattern in this chitosan, stimulating their immune system. They are already developing a chitosan-based plant immune-stimulant in order to reduce the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture. Their results are published in JACS (Journal of the American Chemical Society).

Background

Chitosans, so-called polysaccharides, are probably the most versatile and promising functional biopolymers. Chitosans can make plants resistant to diseases, promote their growth, and protect them from heat or drought stress. Under chitosan dressings, even large wounds can heal without scars, chitosan nanoparticles can transport drugs across the blood/brain barrier, and chitosans can replace antibiotics in animal fattening as antimicrobial and immunostimulating feed additives. But of course, chitosans are not miracle cures either. "There are many different chitosans and for each individual application, exactly the right one must be found to make it work. Until now, we knew far too little about their effects and how they can be used effectively. With our research, we have now come a step closer to this understanding," explains Prof Bruno Moerschbacher from the Institute for Biology and Biotechnologies of Plants at Münster University.

Chitosans consist of chains of different lengths of a simple sugar called glucosamine. Some of these sugar molecules carry an acetic acid molecule, others do not. Chitosans therefore differ in three factors: the chain length and the number and distribution of acetic acid residues along the sugar chain. For about twenty years, chemists have been able to produce chitosans of different chain lengths and with different amounts of acetic acid residues, and biologists have then investigated their biological activities.

Thus, an understanding slowly developed of how these two factors influence the antimicrobial or plant-strengthening effect of chitosans. Such well-characterized chitosans, now called second-generation chitosans, are currently used as the basis for new chitosan-based products such as the plant biostimulant "Kitostim" which was developed based on the research results of the Münster team. It promotes growth and development of plants, and it strengthens them against disease and heat stress.

Bruno Moerschbacher suspected early on that the third structural factor, the distribution of acetic acid residues along the sugar chain, also plays a decisive role in determining biological activities. However, this hypothesis could not be tested for a long time because the acetic acid residues are randomly distributed in all chemically produced chitosans. As biochemists and biotechnologists, the members of his team have therefore used enzymes for the production of chitosans, i.e. the natural 'tools' involved in the biosynthesis of chitosan in chitosan-containing fungi. With their help, they have now succeeded in producing short chitosan chains, so-called oligomers, with a defined arrangement of acetic acid molecules, and tested their bioactivity.

For this test, the researchers used rice cells that they treated with chitosan oligomers to stimulate their immune system. When they used chitosan oligomers consisting of four sugar units (so-called tetramers) carrying only a single acetic acid residue, they found that the tetramer with the acetic acid residue at the first ('left-most') sugar unit (the so-called non-reducing end) had a strong immunostimulating effect, while the other three tetramers were less active or inactive. Thus, very clear differences in bioactivity were found between chitosans with the same chain length (four) and the same number of acetic acid residues (one) when they differed in the position of the acetic acid residue. The researchers led by Bruno Moerschbacher are currently testing the use of this tetramer as a kind of vaccine that stimulates the plants' natural immune system.

Outlook

Such a clear dependence of the bioactivity of a complex sugar on its molecular structure has almost never been observed before. The first and to date only example was human heparin, whose anticoagulant effect is based on a certain distribution of sulphuric acid residues along the sugar chain. It is now known that heparin achieves this effect by binding a coagulation factor to this specific binding site, thus inactivating it. And on the basis of this knowledge, it has been possible to develop anticoagulants with precisely dosed effects and without side effects, which are a blessing for dialysis patients, for example. "It is now our hope that the precisely defined chitosans can be used in a similar way to enable, for example, scar-free wound healing under chitosan dressings," said Bruno Moerschbacher, whose research group is already collaborating with dermatologists and other biomedical experts.

https://phys.org/news/2020-01-deciphering-sugar-code.html

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https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/india-uk-joint-research-meeting-at-icrisat/article30645263.ece

Italy welcomes bioeconomy, kisses agricultural runoff goodbye

By Tommaso Cinquemani | Agronotizie

 Jan 24, 2020 (updated:  Jan 24, 2020)

Many agrifood industries produce large quantities of waste. The tomato industry, for instance, processes millions of tons of tomatoes into peeled, pureed and concentrated tomatoes. [IIT]

Languages: Français | Deutsch

This article is part of our special report Bioeconomy in the CAP’s nine objectives.

This article is also available in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish.

In 2017, Italy’s entire bioeconomy sector had a total turnover of €300 billion and, within 13 years, employed two million people. The country’s Bioeconomy Strategy was taken up a notch and made even more ambitious at the start of 2019. EURACTIV’s partner Agronotizie reports.

Italy has invested heavily in the bioeconomy, primarily in research, also supported by the European Union.

The Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) has a team of researchers who are working on the use of biomass for the production of bioplastics. The waste materials which can be used are diverse, as discarded orange peels from orange juice production, coffee grounds, rice husks, corn, parsley, all of which researchers have converted to plastic.

And in relation to the circular economy, IIT researchers have developed bioplastic plant pots which, unlike plastic ones, are not thrown away when plants are re-planted. Instead, they are buried and degrade, providing the soil with nutrients – an example of perfect circularity.

Fertilisers from agro-industry waste

Many agrifood industries produce large quantities of waste. The tomato industry, for instance, processes millions of tons of tomatoes into peeled, pureed and concentrated tomatoes.

The skins and seeds of the fruits remain in factories before being sent to biogas plants, but in the future, they could be converted to food for rabbits and cattle.

Researchers from the National Research Council (CNR) have in fact used tomato processing by-products to enrich feed intended for rabbits and dairy cattle.

The positive aspects are twofold: making the most of waste and providing animals with healthier nutrition. And, in fact, analysis carried out on the meat of those animals revealed an increase in nutritional quality.

Researchers are now working on artichoke leaves and ‘pastazzo’ (the residue which remains after squeezing citrus fruits). However, there are two problems that need to be addressed: the seasonality of the products, which sees the availability of the by-products peaking in a limited timeframe; and the costs of transportation, storage and processing.

In the same EU Regulation 2019/1009 on fertilisers (available on Fertilgest, the portal dedicated to crop nutrition), organic and organo-mineral fertilisers, previously regulated at national level, are regulated for the first time at European level, a concrete step towards developing a circular economy, which would allow waste to become raw material (if it has certain characteristics).

Things that have been the basis of agriculture for thousands of years, like the use of livestock wastewater as a fertiliser, could also reduce business expenditure as fertilisers no longer need to be purchased.

Not just fossil fuels

A simple but effective method of reusing agrifood production waste is to transform biomass into energy.

Enzo Perri, a researcher at the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy Analysis (CREA) told AgroNotizie that, “during the grinding of olives there is an abundance of stones which are an excellent source of energy. These can be used in a biomass burner for heating greenhouses or, as I do myself, heating the home”.

In addition to the pomace (pulp and stones), the milling industry produces large quantities of ‘vegetation water‘, composed of water (70-80%), fatty acids and phenols.

Although such waste has become costly for the mills to dispose of these days, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) has found a way to reuse it.

The researchers have developed a machine that transforms vegetation water into gas through a reforming process.

Silvano Tosti, author of the research and head of the ENEA Laboratory of Nuclear Technologies, told AgroNotizie that “the organic part of the water is first concentrated and then brought to a high temperature. With the help of a catalyst gases such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide are released”.

In this way, the mill is autonomous in its disposal of vegetation water, and produces energy in the form of heat that can be used for industrial or domestic purposes.

Enabling farms to be energy independent is also one of the goals of CNH Industrial, which manufactures tractors under the New Holland, Case IH and Steyr brands.

The group intends to contribute to the development of energy independent farms capable of supplying their own energy needs independently, transforming biomass of agricultural origin into gas.

New Holland has, in fact, launched a methane-powered tractor prototype, the T6 Methane Power.

[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic]

EURACTIV's editorial content is independent from the views of our sponsors.

Languages: Français | Deutsch

https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/italy-welcomes-bioeconomy-kisses-goodbye-to-agricultural-runoff/

Chinese tariff rate quota policy severely impacted US wheat exports

by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Bowen Chen, post-doctoral research associate in agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois, concluded that China's tariff rate quota policies significantly affected wheat imports from the US. Credit: Marianne Stein

The U.S. and China recently agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve the current trade war between the two countries. But that is just the latest development in longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.

China has consistently used tariff rate quotas to restrict grain imports, and in 2016 the U.S. launched a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China's implementation of tariff rate quotas on wheat, corn and rice. In their report, issued in April 2019, WTO sided with the U.S., but did not provide an assessment of the effect on U.S. exports.

A new study from University of Illinois, published in Agricultural Economics, quantifies those effects and shows that China's tariff quota administration significantly affected U.S. grain exports, particularly for wheat.

"Our analysis shows that if China hadn't used trade policies to restrict trade, wheat imports from the U.S. could have been more than 80% higher in 2017. That's a value of around $300 million," says Bowen Chen, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at U of I. Chen is lead author on the study, which was conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation.

The dispute concerns China's administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQ), a policy instrument intended to regulate imports. Tariff rate quotas establish two tiers of tariffs, with a lower tariff for in-quota imports and a much higher tariff for out-of-quota imports. Chinese tariffs for grain commodities were 1% for in-quota and 65% for out-of-quota imports.

The system is intended to allow some access for imports at a low tariff rate, while the second-tier tariffs provide protection for domestic commodities. Under the TRQ agreement, China is obligated to import certain quantities of grain at the low tariff level. However, the U.S. contended that these obligations were not fulfilled, and that China's imports of corn, wheat and rice were far below in-quota quantities.

Chen and his colleagues analyzed trade and price data to assess the impact of Chinese TRQ policies on U.S. grain exports. They also sought to explore the rationale behind the grain quota administration in order to better inform policy initiatives and trade negotiations.

The researchers obtained monthly trade data for grain commodities from 2013 to 2017, using information from a United Nations database and the Ministry of Commerce in China. They also looked at domestic price data published by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Using the trade and price data, they estimated the import demand elasticities for corn, wheat and rice.

"We estimate how the prices would have been reduced if China was not imposing the tariffs. Then we simulate how the quantities would change based on the price and elasticity," Chen says.

Overall, the researchers concluded that China's 2017 grain imports could have been $1.4 billion or 40% higher. Wheat imports from the U.S. could have been $324 million or 83% higher without the restrictive policies. Corn and rice imports were affected to a lesser extent.

Chen cautions that those results are contingent on Chinese domestic prices being equal to world prices, assuming that China would not maintain high prices to support domestic production.

"If China liberated their import policy and reduced domestic price support, such market policy reforms would alleviate pressure from trading partners," Chen says. "However, they may not be interested in full trade liberalization at this time."

Chen explains that China has used TQR as a trade policy instrument to stabilize domestic prices and restrict imports, and his research can help understand why they engage in this practice.

"These restrictions will make foreign commodities more expensive and give more incentive for domestic producers, so China can eat more domestically produced food," he says.

"China wants to feed itself and be less dependent on other suppliers. Furthermore, China has huge grain stocks and want to use them. Finally, international prices are volatile, so for food security reasons they don't want prices to fluctuate too much. They want to have stable food prices so people can feel safe, buying the same food with the same budget."

Chen says the study can have implications for trade negotiators and policy makers, both in the U.S. and China, by showing the effect the TQR policy has on trade.

The new phase one trade deal stipulates that tariff rate quota administration not be used to prevent the full utilization of agricultural tariff rate quotas. The implementation of the trade deal will likely benefit U.S. grain exports to China, Chen notes.

Soybean trade is an important part of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and that will be the topic for Chen's next research project.

"We will quantify the impact on U.S. soybean exports to China, calculating how exports have been reduced by the trade war in the last year. That's what I'm currently working on," he says.

https://phys.org/news/2020-01-chinese-tariff-quota-policy-severely.html

Researchers develop biodegradable, recyclable material made from banana waste

24 JANUARY 2020

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have discovered a novel way to turn banana plantation waste into recyclable, biodegradable packaging material.

Over the past few months, Packaging Europe has been exploring innovative bio-based alternatives to single-use plastics – from spray-on edible peels to flexible films made from waste crustacean shells. Now, Australian scientists have made a discovery in this field that they believe could provide a sustainable packaging solution while at the same time preventing food waste.

Associate Professor Jayashree Arcot and Professor Martina Stenzel were looking for ways to convert agricultural waste into a useful product when the banana-growing industry came to their attention. According to A/Prof Arcot, in most cases, only 12% of the banana plant (the fruit) is actually used, with the rest being discarded post-harvest.

“What makes the banana-growing business particularly wasteful compared to other fruit crops is the fact that the plant dies after each harvest,” said A/Prof Arcot.

“We were particularly interested in the pseudostems – basically the layered, fleshy trunk of the plant which is cut down after each harvest and mostly discarded on the field. Some of it is used for textiles, some as compost, but other than that, it’s a huge waste,” she continued.

A/Prof Arcot and Prof Stenzel wondered whether the pseudostems would be valuable sources of cellulose – an important structural component of plant cell walls – that could be used in packaging, paper products, textiles and even medical applications such as wound healing and drug delivery.

“The pseudostem is 90% water, so the solid material ends up reducing down to about 10%,” A/Prof Arcot said. “We bring the pseudostem into the lab and chop it into pieces, dry it at very low temperatures in a drying oven, and then mill it into a very fine powder.”

Prof Stenzel continued: “We then take this powder and wash it with a very soft chemical treatment. This isolates what we call nano-cellulose which is a material of high value with a whole range of applications. One of those applications that interested us greatly was packaging, particularly single-use food packaging where so much ends up in landfill.”

When processed, the material reportedly has a consistency similar to baking paper.

Expand

Pictures: Richard Freeman/UNSW

A/Prof Arcot said depending on the intended thickness, the material could be used in a number of different formats in food packaging. “There are some options at this point, we could make a shopping bag, for example,” she said.

“Or depending on how we pour the material and how thick we make it; we could make the trays that you see for meat and fruit. Except of course, instead of being foam, it is a material that is completely non-toxic, biodegradable and recyclable.”

A/Prof Arcot said she and Prof Stenzel have confirmed in tests that the material breaks down organically after putting ‘films’ of the cellulose material in soil for six months. The results apparently showed that the sheets of cellulose were well on the way to disintegrating in the soil samples.

“The material is also recyclable. One of our Ph.D. students proved that we can recycle this three times without any change in properties,” Professor Arcot said.

Tests with food have also reportedly proved that the product poses no contamination risks.

“We tested the material with food samples to see whether there was any leaching into the cells,” Professor Stenzel said. “We didn’t see any of that. I also tested it on mammalian cells, cancer cells, T-cells and it’s all non-toxic to them. So, if the T-cells are happy – because they’re usually sensitive to anything that’s toxic – then it’s very benign.”

Other areas of agricultural waste that the duo has looked at are the cotton and rice-growing industries – they have extracted cellulose from both waste cotton gathered from cotton gins and rice paddy husks.

“In theory, you can get nano-cellulose from every plant, it’s just that some plants are better than others in that they have higher cellulose content,” Prof Stenzel said.

“What makes bananas so attractive in addition to the quality of the cellulose content is the fact that they are an annual plant,” A/Prof Arcot added.

The researchers say that for the banana pseudostem to be a realistic alternative to plastic bags and food packaging, it would make sense for the banana industry to start the processing of the pseudostems into powder which they could then sell to packaging suppliers.

“If the banana industry can come on board, and they say to their farmers or growers that there’s a lot of value in using those pseudostems to make into a powder which you could then sell, that's a much better option for them as well as for us,” Prof Arcot said.

And at the other end of the supply chain, if packaging manufacturers updated their machines to be able to fabricate the nano-cellulose film into bags and other food packaging materials, then banana pseudostems stand a real chance of making food packaging much more sustainable.

“What we’re really wanting at this stage is an industry partner who can look into how this could be upscaled and how cheap we can make it,” Prof Stenzel said.

A/Prof Arcot agreed. “I think the packaging companies would be more willing to have a go at this material if they knew the material was available readily.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tK0wAdzwkk

A capital rejection of jute

 Mehedi Al Amin

 Published at 11:41 pm January 24th, 2020

The government ordered use of jute packaging for six products - paddy, rice, wheat, maize, and sugar Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

'We get them in plastic so we sell them in plastic'

Over the last seven years, the government has gradually introduced regulations that made jute packaging mandatory for 19 agricultural products. But the parties in the supply chain viewed the regulations with disdain, and continue to use the environmentally harmful polythene and plastic bags.

The middling efforts by government authorities have not translated to effective implementation, especially considering that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) - which sells daily essentials - is also among the offenders. In the meantime, jute sacks worth hundreds of crores of taka produced by the government remain unsold and unused.

What the law holds

In 2013, for the first time in Bangladesh, the government ordered use of jute packaging for six products - paddy, rice, wheat, maize, fertilizer, and sugar – aiming to increase jute use to support the struggling sector, and cut down the rampant pollution caused by plastic bags. The order was a culmination of the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010.

Four years down the line in 2017, the rules were amended to add another 11 commodities – chilli, coriander, onion, ginger, garlic, pulses, turmeric, potatoes, flour, and rice bran. In 2018, poultry and fish feed were included as scheduled products, raising the number of commodities which must use jute packaging to 19.

Violation of the law can lead to severe punishments. Scheduled products found packaged without jute sacks can be seized and redistributed by the government. A first-time offender can be fined up to Tk50,000 or a year in prison or both. Repeat offences will double the punishment and lead to further seizure.

If any company is the offender, then its owner/director/official will be held liable unless they prove themselves innocent.

Disdain for jute

Visits to retail and wholesale markets in the capital found that only rice and potato are packed in burlap sacks. The other 17 products have continued to be stored and carried in polythene or plastic sacks.

Outside the TCB office, onion could be seen hauled out of large plastic sacks and sold to consumers in smaller polythene bags.

Jewel Hossain, a representative from TCB dealer Hazrat Enterprise, said they received the onion packaged in plastic sacks.

“We get them in plastic so we sell them in plastic,” he said.

A visit to Karwanbazar also yielded similar results as all the scheduled commodities except the aforementioned were being sold in plastic packaging instead of jute sacks. However, rice from Haque Rice Mill, Raju Auto Rice Mills, Karim Automatic Rice Mill, Rabeya Automatic Rice Mill came in jute sacks which were coated with plastic.

Poultry feed manufacturers like Aftab Feed Product Limited, Standard Feed, United Feeds Limited, and Gram Bangla Layer were found selling their products in plastic sacks. City Group, Meghna Group and Deshbandhu Group’s sugar came in plastic sacks.

Bashundhara Group’s flour, City Groups’ Teer branded flour, Shitalakkhya Flour, Sonargaon flour, Haque flour, Chaka flour, Banglar Tajmahal, were among flour products found in plastic bag.

Onions, garlic, ginger, and chilli were also being sold in plastic sacks at wholesale.

Wholesalers claimed almost all the onion, garlic, and ginger in Dhaka were imported from China in plastic packaging, and pleaded that it was out of their hands, in spite of the mobile court raids.

KM Layek Ali, general secretary of the Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Association said: “Every single miller in our association use jute sacks. The people who use plastic are not millers, maybe they are traders.”

Mozammel Haque, advisor to the association and owner of Haque Auto Rice Mill, said: “If we do not use polythene covers, buyers say it is not original.”

Md Ujjal Mia, manager of Siddik Enterprise, said: “There are no brands that use jute sacks. Instead of fining us, the government should raid the mills and factories where these products are stuffed in plastic sacks. Besides, goods like flour and sugar cannot be packed in jute sacks because of the huge amount that get wasted.”

Challenges in enforcing

According to the Department of Jute, there were around 1,152 mobile court raids between July and December last year. They fined around Tk73.48 lakh in total. The department acknowledged the difficulty in enforcing compliance. 

Sowdagar Mustafizur Rahman, director general of the Department of Jute, said: “We are taking two approaches – motivation and enforcement. We are meeting regularly with the associations related to scheduled products. The trouble in enforcing is that when we conduct raids like in the case of fertilizers, businesses go on a strike. That is not preferable at all.”

In response to concerns about jute sacks wasting sugar and flour, he suggested that businesses line the inside of jute sacks with fibre polythene like Sonali Bag – a Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation innovation made from jute. However, the much-touted Sonali Bag has had tremendous difficulty rolling out, and is only being manufactured on an experimental basis. There is no confirmed timetable on when it will be commercially marketed. There are also concerns over its pricing.

Ashraf Hossain Chowdhury, deputy general manager (Accounts & Finance) at the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation said there is about Tk700 crore worth of unsold jute sacks in stock. 

Dr Shahriar Hossain, general secretary of the Environment and Social Development Organization, a pioneer of the anti-polythene movement, said: “Everyone should obey the rules and regulations of the country. Use of polythene and plastic must be eliminated to save the environment.”

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2020/01/24/a-capital-rejection-of-jute

Rice prices go up by Tk 2-5 a kg in a week

12:00 AM, January 25, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:37 AM, January 25, 2020

Photo: Collected

Staff Correspondent

Although it is the peak season of harvesting rice, prices of the staple food are going up both in the capital’s retail and wholesale markets, dealing a blow to the people with limited income who are already struggling to make their ends meet. 

Within a week, prices of fine rice have increased by Tk 2 to 5 per kilogram in retail markets and Tk 100 to 150 per sack [50 kg] in wholesale markets.

Prices of coarse rice also went up by Tk 2 to 3 per kg in retail markets and Tk 40 to 50 per sack in wholesale markets.

Our correspondents yesterday visited three kitchen markets and some retail stores in the city’s Karwan Bazar, Moghbazar and Mirpur areas and found an almost similar hike in rice prices.

Retail prices of fine rice stood up at Tk 50 to 54 per kg from about Tk 45 to 48 a week ago. The prices of coarse rice stood at Tk 32 to 35 from Tk 30 to 31 during this period.

Asked about the price hike, the sellers blamed millers and the “rising trend” of paddy price.

The consumers, however, termed the hike “unusual” and criticised both the sellers and millers for hiking the price with an intention to make extra profits.

“Aman rice has just been harvested and its processing is going on in full swing. How could the prices of rice increase in such a peak season?” asked Muhammad Kamruzzaman, a buyer in Moghbazar area.

“We cannot accept the price hike of rice. I think the sellers and millers have formed a syndicate to make some extra profit,” he added.

Jasim Uddin, a rice seller in Karwan Bazar, said they had nothing to do with the price as they were dependent on the millers.

“I bought a sack of fine rice at Tk 2,200 a week ago, but now I have to pay Tk 2,450. When I asked the millers about the increased price, they told me that the prices of paddy were on the rise,” he said.

Apart from rice, prices of some other daily essentials -- sugar, lentil, mung bean and soybean oil -- also rose Tk 5 to 10 per kg in the last 10 to 15 days.

Ikramul Haque, an employee of a private company in the city’s Mirpur, said in recent times he had been finding it difficult to maintain his four-member family due to the price hike of daily essentials.

“A few days ago, onion [prices] suffered us a lot; and now it’s rice. I have been going through a situation where I cannot fulfill the demands of my kids on most occasions,” he said.

“I don’t know when we will get a respite from the price hike,” said Ikramul, while talking to The Daily Star at a kitchen market in Mirpur 7.

Abul Kalam Azad, a retail store owner in the same area, said the government should address the issue of price hike as it creates a misunderstanding between the shopkeepers and customers. 

https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/rice-prices-go-tk-2-5-kg-week-1858639

Disabling Viruses With CRISPR Scissors

January 24, 2020

Viruses cause billions of dollars in losses for many food, feed, and fiber crops, including staples like wheat, rice, potatoes, cassava, beans, and plantains. In a scientific first, Washington State University researchers delivered a one-two punch to knock out these viruses, using precise, targeted editing of viral genes.

Popularly known as CRISPR-Cas9, this genome editing approach can delete and replace individual bases in DNA.

“Genome editing is one of the most powerful and groundbreaking developments in molecular biology, with potentially far-reaching applications in agriculture, biology, and medicine,” said Hanu Pappu, Samuel H. Smith Distinguished Professor and Chuey Endowed Chair in WSU’s Department of Plant Pathology.

In a recent article in the journal PloS One, Pappu and his collaborators showed that precise modifications of multiple genes of a virus at the same time both disabled the virus and made the plants highly resistant to disease.

Virus infection results in severe stunting of plants, left, but plants challenged by a virus with edited genes at right, showed no damage.

The study’s lead authors—Anirban Roy, a visiting scientist on sabbatical from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, and Ying Zhai, a post-doctoral fellow in Pappu’s lab—used a crop-destroying DNA virus to apply this approach. Their collaborators included WSU crop science professor Michael Neff and his doctoral student Jessica Ortiz. Roy was supported by a fellowship from the joint Indo-U.S. Genome Editing Initiative.

“Commonly referred to as begomoviruses, these are some of the most destructive viruses of vegetable crops in tropical and sub-tropical countries around the world,” Roy said. Begomoviruses are spread by whiteflies, a tiny insect that feeds on plants, making them extremely difficult to control.

“These viruses tend to mutate and evolve to escape their host plants’ defenses, and are notorious for overcoming host plant resistance,” Pappu said. “This makes developing virus resistant crops that remain disease resistant very challenging.”

With his Indian collaborators, Sunil Mukherjee and Bikash Mandal, Pappu tried a new tactic: simultaneously targeting and editing several different genes of the virus that are critical for its multiplication and survival. The result was remarkably cumulative: plants were able to resist the virus infection, and they remained symptom-free.

While CRISPR-Cas9 was used to edit out single bases in one gene, Pappu’s team found a downside to this approach. The edited virus quickly mutated to its original form and started causing disease.

Hanu Pappu

“We went back to the drawing board and tried to come up with a way to disable the virus more effectively,” Pappu said.“It was a great moment when we did not see any indication that the virus was able to mutate, after we edited its genes at multiple locations,” Zhai added.Now, with their proof of concept, the scientists say it could be possible to extend this approach to any begomovirus-host combination.“Genome editing is one more weapon in the arsenal for the continued fight to protect crops from viruses,” Pappu said.Read the team’s PLoS One journal article, Multiplexed editing of a begomovirus genome restricts escape mutant formation and disease development (Roy, A., Y. Zhai, J. Ortiz, M.M. Neff, B. Mandal, S.K. Mukherjee and H.R. Pappu (2019).

Media contact:

• Hanu Pappu, Samuel H. Smith Distinguished Professor and Chuey Endowed Chair,  Department of Plant Pathology, 509-335-3752, hrp@wsu.edu

https://scienceblog.com/513688/disabling-viruses-with-crispr-scissors/

USA Rice Gives Positive Trade Report at California Grower Meetings   

By Deborah Willenborg

YUBA CITY, CA -- More than one hundred growers from throughout the Sacramento Valley met here and in Colusa yesterday for the California Rice Commission's annual meetings for industry updates.  Growers heard from a variety of speakers representing their interests, based in both Washington and Sacramento.

State legislative advocates Louie Brown and Ann Grottviet covered 2020 projections for California politics and hot issues on the docket for the California legislature.  Todd Manley, representing Northern California Water, explained the 2019 water situation across the state and new funding streams for the decades-long Sites Reservoir project that will provide irrigation security for growers in northern California.

Two speakers provided Washington-focused news, starting with The Russell Group's Tyson Redpath who spoke of President Trump's impeachment, U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ratification, Congressional legislative calendar, and the presidential election timeline.  USA Rice Vice President of International Trade Policy Peter Bachmann provided an update on U.S. rice trade and predictions for 2020.

"U.S.-grown rice scored several wins in 2019 with increased exports in some key long grain rice markets and a finalized country-specific quota for exports to Korea, but 2020 is already shaping up to be an even better year for the industry," said Bachmann.  "Commercial shipments to China are on the horizon, implementation of the USMCA is imminent, and we're on the brink of upcoming negotiations with both the United Kingdom and Japan, presenting potential opportunities for our domestic industry to gain ground on the trade front this year."

California Rice Commission Chair Sean Doherty said, "CRC's winter grower meetings are perfect timing during the off-season to remind our membership what the Commission and our partners like USA Rice, The Russell Group, and others are doing for us year-round."

Doherty added, "Water, state regulations, and trade are always top of mind for California's growers and the updates are always well received.  More importantly, these meetings give our growers the opportunity to ask questions in-person to the people that work for us every day in Sacramento and in Washington."

USA RICE DAILY

A Japanese Sculptor’s Tribute to Wild Rice Covers an Australian Floodplain

Mitsuaki Tanabe’s untimely death spurred his son to finish his last work.

BY SELENA HOYJANUARY 22, 2020

Mitsuaki Tanabe hoped to draw attention to the glories of wild rice with this massive work. COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION

Australia

TAKAMITSU TANABE WANTS TO TAKE a walk. Meeting in the suburbs of Yokohama, a city south of Tokyo, we make our way to the Matsunokawa Greenway, a trail that runs through the town. The path is unkempt, with native trees and grasses sprawling in tangled tufts across the walkway. It’s deliberate, explains Takamitsu, who goes by Taka. He points out that the snarl supports birds and insects.

The path was established more than 30 years ago by Taka’s parents. The Tanabe family has lived in this area for 400 years, and over the generations, housing developments gradually encroached on the Matsuno River. The river became increasingly polluted, so the Tanabes worked with the city of Yokohama to establish the Greenway around it.

Mitsuaki’s statue “BIRD-Wild Vegetable / Hiyoshi” on the Matsunokawa Greenway. SELENA HOY

Taka and I come to an enormous steel bird’s head, its beak pointed towards the sky. It was made by Taka’s late father, the sculptor Mitsuaki Tanabe. I wade through the tall grass to get a better look, and seeds stick to my boots. A brown-and-white bird swoops down, and the grass quivers as it pecks at something in the brush. “Birds are a kind of indicator because they’re at the top of the ecosystem,” says Taka. “If the ground condition is good, with a lot of plants and insects, there are a lot of birds.” Down the path, we come to another sculpture by Mitsuaki, this one a steel lizard at the side of the path. The words “WILD CRISIS” are written on its legs.

The crisis facing the world’s biodiversity was the subject of most of Mitsuaki’s work. His sculptures depicting wild seeds can be found all over the world, from Thailand to Italy. But Mitsuaki was especially passionate about wild rice. One of his wild rice sculptures is installed at the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway.

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Attempting to explain his father’s fascination with wild rice, Taka notes that “70 to 80 percent of the world’s people eat rice as a main staple. It’s a precious food.” Because wild rice isn’t cultivated, it’s largely ignored. Yet wild rice holds the blueprint for modern cultivated rice strains.

“Ancestor species of our most important crops are of significant value as a genetic resource to improve the characteristics of our crops,” says Dr. Greg Leach, the former chief botanist of Australia’s Northern Territory. “They may well hold attributes of disease resistance, drought tolerance, and salinity tolerance, which can adapt our crops to changing conditions.” And of course, rice is a mainstay in Japan.

In Australia’s Northern Territory, Mitsuaki carved a strand of wild rice on a granite boulder. COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION

Mitsuaki graduated with a degree in sculpture from Tama Art University in 1961, then trained for a time under the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Over the following decades, Mitsuaki developed his craft: traveling, working on public projects, and carving out his own space in the art world. He worked in Australia in the 1990s, and in the early 2000s, he dreamed up a new project.

“Tanabe-san had heard about wild rice growing in northern Australia and was keen to see this for himself,” says Leach. He arranged for Mitsuaki to travel to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed floodplains outside of the city of Darwin. “He was totally blown away at the extent of wild rice, as elsewhere in the world wild rice has been almost wiped out due to development of floodplain areas,” Leach says.

A photograph in the Hiyoshi no Mori Museum depicts Misayo and Mitsuaki Tanabe presenting a 7.5-ton “Momi” sculpture to the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. SELENA HOY

There, Mitsuaki decided to create one of his wild rice sculptures, which he called “Momi,” in order to raise awareness of the Northern Territory’s wild rice varieties (which include Oryza officinalis, Oryza rufipogon, Oryza meridionalis, and Oryza australiensis) and to support their conservation. “His main medium was stainless steel, and we were initially a little perturbed about having a large stainless steel sculpture in the wetlands,” says Leach. “However, when Tanabe saw the beautiful granite boulders around Mount Bundey, he sought approval to use these as his medium for creating his sculptures.”

Mitsuaki received support from the Australian Embassy and the government of the Northern Territory, as well as permission from the aboriginal landowners. “[Mitsuaki was] taking a fantastic passion from Japan and applying it to something that most Australians aren’t even aware of, wild rice,” says Michael Hoy, Public Affairs counsellor at the Australian Embassy in Japan.

Mitsuaki’s “Grub” carving, in one of the boulders around Mount Bundey. COURTESY OF THE TANABE FAMILY

Mitsuaki went back and forth between Japan and Australia for 10 years, carving insects and lizards into the granite boulders, and a 269-foot-long wild rice strand into the floodplain itself. He visited in the dry season in order to avoid the area’s poisonous creatures and spent a month per year carving, sometimes with the help of other sculptors. “Our floodplains are far from pristine, and face a number of threats such as weeds, feral herbivores, and sea level rise,” says Leach. “The efforts of a Japanese sculptor have served to highlight the valuable resource we have in wild rice, as it is a key species in the ecology of the floodplains.”

“It sometimes takes an outside perspective to awaken us to what we have,” he adds.

But in 2014, Mitsuaki had a heart attack and collapsed. Within a year, he passed away. His work in northern Australia was left unfinished.

Misayo and Takamitsu Tanabe at their home in Yokohama. SELENA HOY

He had so loved working on the project, reminisce Taka and his mother Misayo. “He was very steadfast and put a lot of effort into it,” says Misayo. “He was a taciturn person, but if he started talking about sculpture, he was incredible. He would talk all night.” Bringing attention to issues of biodiversity was his life’s work. “He thought a lot about how he could be of use as a human being,” explains Misayo. Both Taka and Misayo thought he would have wanted his epic Australian endeavor to be completed.

At the time of his death, says Leach, “he already had a significant body of work spreading over quite an area. A few items were unfinished, but the site already achieved his vision as a statement on the significance of wild rice and the international conservation value of our wetlands.” Yet the huge strand of wild rice, which Mitsuaki called “Momi-2010,” was not quite completed, and neither was the uncarved outline of a beetle nearby.

Taka decided to finish his father’s work. While not a sculptor himself (he’s the curator of the Hiyoshi no Mori museum, which is dedicated to both his father’s art and preserving the ancestral Tanabe home), he enlisted help from artists who had known Mitsuaki, as well as from the Australia-Japan Foundation.

The “Insect-2016” carving, completed by Taka and the sculptors Jun Yamazoe and Kazuhisa Aketa. COURTESY OF THE TANABE FAMILY

“With Mitsuaki’s sculptures, we wanted to convey the importance of wild rice to future generations,” says Kazuhisa Aketa, who helped to complete the unfinished “Momi-2010” sculpture. “The wild rice of the Northern Territory, and rice, a Japanese staple food, may save the future of the earth,” he says. “And as a sculptor, I thought the work shouldn’t go unfinished. This special project took more than 10 years, and I thought it was very important to complete it.”

The “Australian In-Situ Wild Rice Conservation Project” was finally finished in 2016. In a region with plenty of wilderness, it has the potential to become a powerful symbol of conservation. “The project is significant to northern Australia for a number of reasons,” says Leach. “We now have the artwork of an internationally recognized sculptor in a dramatic outdoor setting on the approach to a World-Heritage listed area in Kakadu National Park.”

It also helps foster the relationship between Japan and Australia. Hoy says that many older Australians associate Darwin with its bombing by Japan in World War II. “I think for Australians traveling through the region, finding that a Japanese sculptor has come to the Northern Territory has helped,” he says. Now, carved into the floodplain forever, there’s a physical representation of the connection between the two countries, and “how far we’ve come,” notes Hoy.

Mitsuaki Tanabe himself, walking along the still-incomplete “Momi-2010.” COURTESY OF THE TANABE FAMILY

Mitsuaki used art to raise awareness of the natural world, and both his wife and son hope that his message will continue to resonate, even after his death. “Do you know the term shin-zen-bi?” asks Misayo. (It means “truth, goodness, and beauty” in Japanese.) “We need beauty during tough times. Looking at beauty gives us back our energy.”

The Tanabes hope that some of that energy can go towards the fight for biodiversity, both for the sake of humanity and the natural world. Mitsuaki saw seeds as the key to that fight. After all, says Taka, “seeds have infinity power.”

Gastro Obscura covers the world’s most wondrous food and drink.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/australia-outdoor-art

Cambodia rice crisis signals deeper economic rot

EU tariffs, intense drought and deep debts all loom darkly over nation’s top crop and employer Cambodia’s beleaguered rice sector is both literally and figuratively drying up, with drought parching crops and commercial banks refusing liquidity to farmers and millers in need of loans to stay afloat. The country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries last year warned farmers that they may only be able plant one crop during the current dry season, which typically runs through April. The ministry has said this could result in a smaller rice harvest year on year in 2020, a significant decline considering the rice sector is still one of the mostly rural nation’s main employers.

The agricultural sector, of which rice farming is the biggest component, employed around 3 million of Cambodia’s 15 million workers and accounted for just over a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018, according to state data. While the rice sector has long faced problems of underfunding and black market dealing, and is increasingly being impacted by environmental change and degradation, its woes have been compounded by European Union (EU) tariffs imposed last year on rice imports from Cambodia. Rice shipments to Europe, previously Cambodia’s largest export market, declined due to the tariffs by around a third last year, from nearly 300,000 tons in 2018 to around 200,000 tons, according to Ministry of Agriculture statistics. The blow was, to some extent, cushioned by an increase of 46% in rice exports to China, the country’s main political ally. Days after the EU’s tariffs went into effect last January, Chinese president Xi Jinping promised to increase the rice quota amount of China imports from Cambodia to 400,000 tons, up from the 300,000 tons set in 2018.Cambodian workers load bags of rice in a file photo. Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin SothyNot only does the quota amount represent artificial demand, as it requires the Chinese government to enforce imports, it is also more wishful thinking than a solution for Phnom Penh considering China failed to meet its smaller quota set for 2018, when it bought only 170,000 of a promised 300,000 tons. Despite nearly doubling, Cambodia only exported 248,100 tons of milled rice to China in 2019, according to the Cambodian General Directorate of Agriculture. This means it fell well short of the 400,000 ton target and thus likely won’t be enough to lift the industry’s parched 2020 prospects.

https://www.asiatimes.com/2020/01/article/cambodia-rice-crisis-signals-deeper-economic-rot/

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- January 24, 2020

JANUARY 24, 2020 / 2:32 PM /

* * * * * *

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-January 24, 2020 Nagpur, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Gram and tuar prices firmed up again in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Company (APMC) auctions here on good seasonal buying support from local millers amid tight supply from producing regions. Fresh hike on NCDEX in gram, upward trend in Madhya Pradesh pulses and reported demand from South-based plants also helped to push up prices. About 50 bags of gram and 100 bags of tuar reported for auction, according to sources.

GRAM

* Desi gram reported higher in open market here on renewed buying support from local

traders.

TUAR * Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market here on subdued demand from local

traders.

* Mot prices showed upward tendency in open market here on increased demand

from local traders.

* In Akola, Tuar New – 5,200-5,400, Tuar dal (clean) – 8,100-8,300, Udid Mogar (clean)

– 9,900-11,000, Moong Mogar (clean) 9,300-10,200, Gram – 4,400-4,500, Gram Super best

– 5,500-5,700 * Wheat, other varieties of rice and other foodgrain items moved in a narrow range in

scattered deals and settled at last levels in weak trading activity.

Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg

FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close

Gram Auction 3,650-3,900 3,500-3,850

Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600

Tuar Auction 4,400-4,580 4,300-4,580

Moong Auction n.a. 3,950-4,200

Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500

Masoor Auction n.a. 2,200-2,500

Wheat Lokwan Auction 2,050-2,110 2,000-2,120

Wheat Sharbati Auction n.a. 2,900-3,000

Gram Super Best Bold 5,700-6,000 5,700-6,000

Gram Super Best n.a. n.a.

Gram Medium Best 5,100-5,400 5,100-5,300

Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a

Gram Mill Quality 4,300-4,400 4,300-4,400

Desi gram Raw 4,300-4,400 4,250-4,350

Gram Kabuli 8,500-10,000 8,500-10,000

Tuar Fataka Best-New 8,000-8,200 8,000-8,200

Tuar Fataka Medium-New 7,500-7,800 7,500-7,800

Tuar Dal Best Phod-New 7,000-7,300 7,000-7,300

Tuar Dal Medium phod-New 6,300-6,800 6,300-6,800

Tuar Gavarani New 5,050-5,200 5,050-5,200

Tuar Karnataka 5,350-5,450 5,400-5,500

Masoor dal best 6,000-6,200 6,000-6,200

Masoor dal medium 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800

Masoor n.a. n.a.

Moong Mogar bold (New) 9,800-10,500 9,800-10,500

Moong Mogar Medium 8,500-9,500 8,500-9,500

Moong dal Chilka New 8,100-9,100 8,100-9,000

Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.

Moong Chamki best 8,700-9,500 8,500-9,500

Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 10,000-11,500 10,000-11,500

Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 8,500-9,200 8,500-9,300

Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 7,200-7,700 7,200-7,700

Mot (100 INR/KG) 6,200-7,400 6,000-7,400

Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 5,000-5,400 5,000-5,400

Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 6,500-6,600 6,500-6,600

Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 11,700-12,000 11,700-12,000

Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,450 2,350-2,450

Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,300 2,200-2,300

Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,800 2,700-2,800

Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,850 2,700-2,850

Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,600 2,500-2,600

Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.

MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,600-4,200 3,600-4,200

MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200

Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,700 2,600-2,700

Rice BPT best new (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,800 3,200-3,800

Rice BPT medium new(100 INR/KG) 2,900-3,100 2,900-3,100

Rice BPT New (100INR/KG) 2,700-3,300 2,700-3,300

Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,300 3,200-3,300

Rice Swarna best new (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,000 2,800-3,000

Rice Swarna medium new (100 INR/KG)2,500-2,700 2,500-2,700

Rice Swarna New (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,700 2,400-2,700

Rice HMT best new (100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,500 4,200-4,500

Rice HMT medium new (100 INR/KG) 4,100-4,200 4,100-4,200

Rice Shriram best new(100 INR/KG) 5,200-5,700 5,200-5,700

Rice Shriram med new (100 INR/KG) 4,700-5,100 4,700-5,100

Rice Shriram New (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,300 4,000-4,300

Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 8,500-13,000 8,500-13,000

Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,500 5,000-7,500

Rice Chinnor best new 100 INR/KG) 5,800-6,200 5,800-6,200

Rice Chinnor medium new(100 INR/KG)5,500-5,700 5,500-5,700

Rice Chinnor New (100 INR/KG) 4,400-4,600 4,400-4,600

Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,350-2,550 2,350-2,550

Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 2,050-2,250 2,050-2,250 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 30.0 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 12.0 degree Celsius Rainfall : Nil FORECAST: Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperature likely to be around 29 degree Celsius and 12 degree Celsius respectively. Note: n.a.—not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices)

https://in.reuters.com/article/nagpur-foodgrain/nagpur-foodgrain-prices-open-january-24-2020-idINL4N29T1QT

Govt. to buy up surplus Maha paddy stocks

Friday, January 24, 2020 - 01:10

Ishara Mudugamuwa

The government is intervening to manage the currently volatile rice market by buying up surplus paddy stocks in the Maha cultivation season of 2019/2020. This is to encourage the private sector paddy millers to purchase paddy under a fair price thus ensuring a fixed price for paddy, Co-Cabinet Media Spokesman Information and Communications Technology, Higher Education, Technology and Innovations Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena announced yesterday. Addressing the weekly Cabinet media briefing at the Government Information Department yesterday, Minister Dr. Gunawardane said the harvesting of paddy for the Maha cultivation season 2019/20 has already begun and a harvest of three million metric tons of paddy harvest is expected.
“Although a slight hike of prices of rice can be seen, as a result of the policy decision taken by the government to stop the importation of rice, the government has been able to save approximately 100 million US dollars in foreign exchange,” the Minister said.
He further said that the circumstances have resulted in the strengthening foreign exchange as well as a decline in interest rates.
The Cabinet of Ministers yesterday further decided to implement several other measures pertaining to the rice market without delay. They include:-
•a minimum certified price of Rs.50 for kilo of paddy with the required quality standard (subject to the criterion of moisture). Minimum certified price of a kilo of paddy with moisture to be certified as Rs. 45
•to purchase rice through District Secretaries as well as the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) ;
•direct purchase of consignments of rice required for government institutions such as the Security Forces, Department of Prisons, Hospitals etc from the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) itself ;
•immediately assign all store houses and warehouses under the purview of the Food Commission for the storage of paddy stocks ;
•loans amounting to approximately Rs.100 billion have also been allocated under a concessionary loan interest rate of 8% for rice purchasers including small, medium scale as well as large scale millers for the purchase of paddy under the certified price ;
•to entrust the monitoring of the paddy purchasing programme in the key producing districts of Polonnaruva, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Vavuniya, Ampara, Batticaloa, Monaragala and Hambantota to several state ministers.
Circulars required to implement the above programmes have been issued by the Secretary to the President.

Govt. to buy up surplus Maha paddy stocks | Daily News

Exclusive: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from Iran

Mayank Bhardwaj, Neha Dasgupta

JANUARY 24, 2020 / 6:35 PM /

•          

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reluctance among Indian traders to ship premium basmati rice to Iran as U.S. sanctions hobble its ability to pay has contributed to a sharp drop in overall exports from the world’s biggest supplier of the grain, trade and government sources said.

FILE PHOTO: A worker spreads rice for drying at a rice mill on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, January 31, 2019. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/File Photo

Rice shipments from India slipped by more than a quarter to 5.5 million tonnes between April and November 2019 — the first eight months of the fiscal year — from 7.5 million tonnes in the year-ago period, the sources said. In terms of value, exports dropped 19% to $3.8 billion from $4.7 billion.

The grain is India’s biggest foreign exchange earning farm commodity, with shipments worth $7.75 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year.

Basmati rice exports to Iran, New Delhi’s top buyer of the aromatic grain, dropped to 600,000 tonnes in the eight months from 900,000 tonnes a year earlier, but traders, worried about delayed payments, have not signed any new contracts with Tehran in the past five days, the sources said.

Shipments are not expected to significantly pick up, with buyers in Iran owing a record 20 billion rupees ($281.41 million) to India as U.S.- imposed sanctions make it hard to pay for imported commodities, they added.

“We are in a precarious situation,” Nathi Ram Gupta, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association, told Reuters. “We have urged the Indian government to step in to ensure that our dues are cleared by Iran.”

Reuters was unable to contact traders in Iran for comment.

Iranian buyers paid some of the money they owed in November, the sources said, encouraging Indian traders to sign new contracts and ultimately pushing dues to an all-time high.

Of the 4.4 million tonnes of basmati rice shipped by India in the 2018/19 fiscal year, Iran accounted for 1.4 million tonnes.

“Our exports to Iran will definitely fall this year and that is going to drag down both the country’s basmati and non-basmati rice exports. We’re worried on two counts of India’s falling rice exports and our mounting dues,” said Vijay Setia, former president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.

Beside the drop in exports to Iran, non-basmati rice exports to Europe have also fallen, with trade and industry officials citing higher pesticide residues in shipments from India as a factor behind reduced purchases from the European Union.

Higher benchmark prices in Thailand, the world’s second-biggest rice exporter, have however prompted some buyers to opt for Indian rice, pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three months despite the fall in exports.

India’s 5% broken parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1 rose to around $366-$371 per tonne from last week’s $364-$368, the highest since Oct. 31.

Domestic prices have also risen on fresh orders from Africa, traders said.

Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-rice-exclusive/exclusive-indias-rice-exports-fall-sharply-as-sanctions-delay-payments-from-iran-idUSKBN1ZN1L1

Rice imports at nearly 1.3m tons in 10 months

January 24, 2020 - 14:17

PAID PROMOTIONAL LINKS

Promoted by  Dianomi

TEHRAN- Iran has imported 1.298 million tons of rice during the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019-January 20, 2020), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

According to Rouhollah Latifi, so far, 1.053 million tons of the mentioned amount has been fully cleared, while the clearance licensing process is underway for another 51,000 tons.

Imports of foreign rice are prohibited every year during the harvest season of domestic rice, which is from late July to late November, Latifi said, adding that since the bans on imports were lifted, the imports have been underway smoothly.

The country’s rice cultivation and production have grown this year due to favorable weather conditions and imports have also been higher than the previous years, the official said.

Back in October 2019, Deputy Agriculture Minister Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh announced that Iran has become completely self-sufficient in rice production as it plans to cut up to two million tons of imports a year.

The Statistical Center of Iran estimates that Iranians consume approximately 35 kilograms of rice per person each year. That would mean a domestic demand of nearly three million tons for a country of 83 million people.

Bakhshandeh said rice self-sufficiency would save Iran more than $1.1 billion in imports, adding that it would also be a major success amid efforts to minimize the impacts of the American sanctions on food security in the country.

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/444489/Rice-imports-at-nearly-1-3m-tons-in-10-months

A growing problem: Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close

Libby George

JANUARY 23, 2020 / 1:42 PM

·        

·        

MAKURDI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Thomas Tyavwva Maji is planting rice on more of his land in Nigeria’s Benue State than ever to take advantage of a surge in prices since the country shut its land borders in August.

But he says he cannot go much further. With no machinery or irrigation, limited manual labor and no spare cash for fertilizers, the 45-year-old is not expecting any dramatic change in his fortunes.

“We work until we get exhausted, manually we get exhausted,” said Maji, as a woman nearby beat hand-harvested stalks on the ground to separate the grains from the chaff.

The constraints Maji faces have bedeviled many rice farmers and millers across Nigeria for years. Despite government measures designed to spur production, farmers in Nigeria get far less from their land than other major rice growers and the West African country is only marginally less reliant on imports.

That’s a problem for a government that wants to grow all of its own food and boost the country’s agriculture, a sector that accounts for nearly a third of gross domestic product in Africa’s biggest economy.

When he came to power in 2015, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to help the nation become self-sufficient in rice – once a luxury but now a staple for millions of Nigerians.

In 2015, Nigeria’s central bank banned the use of its foreign exchange to pay for rice imports and has backed loans of at least 40 billion naira ($130 million) to help small-holders boost output. It also banned rice imports across land borders and kept hefty 70% tariffs on imports coming through ports.

In August last year, Nigeria went a step further and closed its land borders altogether to stamp out smuggling, often from neighboring Benin, with rice being one of the main targets.

(GRAPHIC: Rice Imports from Thailand - here)

Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the measures boosted rice production to 9.2 million tonnes last year from 7.2 million in 2015, making Nigeria more or less self-sufficient, though traders can import rice through ports if they pay the tariffs.

Agricultural data specialist Gro Intelligence, however, put Nigeria’s rice output at 4.9 million tonnes in 2019, up 60% from 2013 but well below local consumption of 7 million tonnes.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, expects Nigeria’s 2020 rice imports to rise 9% to 2.4 million tonnes, in part due to the high cost of unprocessed Nigerian paddy rice and elevated operating costs at mills.

In Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, supermarket shelves remain stocked with a plethora of imported rice brands.

In the markets where most Nigerians buy their food, sacks of Nigerian rice are piled high but imported rice is still available, even though some traders keep the foreign grain under wraps to prevent it being confiscated by customs agents.

(GRAPHIC: Nigerian Rice Production and Consumption - here)

FILE PHOTO: Farmers are seen threshing harvested rice in Benue, Nigeria December 3, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

LOW YIELDS

Small-scale farmers such as Maji account for 80% of Nigeria’s rice production with a handful of large companies, such as Coscharis Group, Dangote and Olam, growing the rest, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

In Benue state, virtually every aspect of Maji’s farming manual, from planting to harvesting to leveling out roads to take the crop to market.

It’s a similar story on many Nigerian farms, leaving the average yield per hectare at just over 2 tonnes - half the global average and a fraction of Egypt’s 9.5 tonnes a hectare, according to U.N. data.

(GRAPHIC: Nigeria Lags in Rice Yield - here)

Experts say there is little hope of improvement without significant investment in irrigation, mechanization, roads and storage. More than 12% of rice is also wasted due to poor roads and inefficient harvesting, milling and storage, consultants KPMG said in a review of the Nigeria’s rice industry.

In a good year, Maji makes about 1.5 million naira ($4,900) – nowhere close to the 5 million, at least, a tractor would cost. Without irrigation, a goal so remote he doesn’t even know the cost, he can only plant one crop a year.

“At this scale, we will not even be able to fetch a tractor. Talk less of fertilizer and other chemicals,” Maji said.

According to the FAO, less than 1% of Nigeria’s farmland is irrigated, compared with a global average of more than 20%.

Small- and medium-scale rice millers, who account for more than 80 percent of the local market, also say they’re struggling to meet increased demand without proper equipment.

At Wurukum Rice Mill in Makurdi, Iveren Asan works alongside her sister, using a loud diesel-powered generator to drive machinery processing paddy grains into consumable rice.

Nearby, rice grains that have been parboiled in vats heated by firewood dry on tarps. She said new buyers from across the country had surfaced since the border closures - but producing more would require significant investment in new machines and the higher prices were not enough on their own.

“We can’t meet the demand. We are doing the process manually, so we cannot meet the demand,” she said.

(GRAPHIC: Nigeria's Incoming Foreign Direct Investment Slides - here)

Slideshow (20 Images)

‘INCREDIBLY DISRUPTIVE’

More broadly, experts warned that extreme measures, such as border closures, taken in the name of food security were hurting Nigerians, stunting the development of other industries and holding back foreign investment.

“The border closure has been incredibly disruptive,” said John Ashbourne, an economist at Capital Economics. “It stops industries from getting the imports they need, and it pushes up prices.”

The border closure is set for review Jan. 31 but the presidency’s Shehu said land frontiers would remain shut until Nigeria’s neighbors stopped smuggling on their side - and there was “no sign of compliance yet”.

Ashbourne said even some farming has taken a hit from government policies.

After glass was added to a central bank list of items importers cannot buy with foreign exchange, some tomato paste plants shut because they couldn’t source the jars they needed.

On another farm in Benue State, Abraham Hon, 51, weaves through rows of melons and corn before reaching his rice, the crop that generates the most money.

“The prices look pretty good,” he said, as men cut stalks of rice by hand and laid them in piles on the ground. “We expect more money in the pocket this year.”

But while he and Asan are happy with their increased income, they worry about the impact of higher prices on consumers.

A 50 kg bag of rice can cost as much as 24,000 naira in Lagos - nearly double the price in July before the borders were shut and not far below the monthly minimum wage of 30,000 naira.

And consumers, who already spend more than half their income on food according to the World Bank, are feeling the squeeze.

“We will reach a point where people who are buying rice can’t afford to buy rice. They will look at other alternatives to get energy and get food on their table,” Hon said.

“That in the long term is not in the interest of we, the farmers.”

(GRAPHIC: Border Closure Boosts Nigeria's Inflation - here)

Editing by David Clarke

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-economy-rice/a-growing-problem-nigerian-rice-farmers-fall-short-after-borders-close-idUSKBN1ZM109

Davao Region’s Model Rice Farms Identified

By Featuresdesk (ICG) on January 24, 2020

The Department of Agriculture in Davao Region (DA-11) has identified rice model farms where farmers within the area can learn, apply technologies, and avail of services that would raise their productivity.

DA-11 director Ricardo Oñate Jr. said the areas with organized and operational cooperatives are in Davao de Oro province, particularly in Nabunturan and Compostela; in Davao del Norte province, particularly in Carmen and Sto. Tomas towns; and in Davao Oriental towns of Banaybanay, Cateel, and Boston.

Oñate said the identified rice farms are recipients of programs covered by the Rice Competitive Enhancement Fund (RCEF).

Records from DA-11 showed that there are about 58,000 hectares of rice area in the region.

Oñate said rice production is a priority program of the government under RCEF, which was created by Republic Act 11203, otherwise known as the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

RCEF aims to improve rice farmers’ competitiveness and income. It has a PHP10 billion annual appropriation fund for six years where 50 percent will be for mechanization program, 30 percent for seed program, 10 percent credit program, and 10 percent rice extension services.

Oñate said they are expecting the delivery of more machinery and equipment within this quarter that will be deployed in these model farms so the rice farmers can access.

“We will see to it that more model farms will be established in rice-producing towns,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the plan for expansion in the lowland is difficult as they are now considering the upland, Oñate said.

He said negotiations are ongoing with the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) community through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the tribal leaders to develop an open area within their ancestral domain.

“We see the discussion going on smoothly where agreements on respecting culture and tradition of the tribes have been considered,” he said.He added there will be no cutting of trees but only utilize the vacant areas. (PNA)

http://pageone.ph/davao-regions-model-rice-farms-identified/

Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close

Reuters Videos•January 24, 2020

Thomas Tyavwva Maji - like many other rice farmers and millers - is struggling to take advantage of rising prices in Nigeria.

He's planting more rice than ever but a lack of machinery or irrigation, limited manual labor and no spare cash for fertilizers mean there's a limit to what he can achieve.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) RICE FARMER, THOMAS TYAWWA MAJI, SAYING:

"We don't have tractor, we have not been accessing fertilizer, we have not been accessing chemicals and all that, even the harvester we have not been accessing, so our production is very low, but if those things are provided we will have a bumper harvest."

It's a similar story across Nigeria's paddy fields, leaving the country's average yield per hectare at just over two tons - half the global average.

That's a problem for the government which wants to boost the country's agriculture, a sector that accounts for nearly a third of GDP.

President Muhammadu Buhari's mission to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice has seen imports banned across land borders, and hit with hefty tariffs in ports.

Last year, land borders were closed altogether to stamp out smuggling.

The government claims success, saying rice production is up from 7.2 million tons in 2015 to 9.2 million last year.

But agricultural data specialist Gro Intelligence disagrees. It puts output at 4.9 million tons.

At Wurukum Rice Mill in Makurdi, Iveren Asan says new buyers have surfaced since the borders were closed but that she's struggling to produce more.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) RICE MILLER, IVEREN ASAN, SAYING:

"We can't meet the demand because we are doing some of the processes manually so we cannot meet the demand."

Her income has increased, but not by enough to buy new machines.

With demand outstripping supply, a 50kg bag now costs nearly double what it did in July, meaning it is Nigerian consumers - who typically spend upwards of 70% of their incomes on food - who are feeling the squeeze.

https://news.yahoo.com/nigerian-rice-farmers-fall-short-121857917.html