27th January,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter

Republic Day special menu: Tricolour dessert, Kozhi Chettinad & Keerai Masial recipes for happy guests
The best way to make the most of your off day is by indulging in scrumptious food.
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Last Updated: Jan 25, 2020, 06.40 PM IST|Original: Jan 25, 2020, 06.40 PM IST
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Agencies
 These delicious Tricolour meals will make your weekend special.
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NEW DELHI: Turn your Republic Day special by treating your guests with delicious Tricolour meals and dessert.

From pizza and paneer tikka to Kozhi Chettinad and Keerai Masial, these recipes are sure to leave your house guests impressed.

ROCKET, SMOKED SALMON AND FOUR CHEESE FOCACCIA

Ingredients:
Thin crisp Cooked pizza base - 1
Four cheese sauce — 40ml
Rocket leaves - 40gms
Smoked salmon - 30gms
Pine nuts - 10gms
Dry Ricotta cheeses crumble - 20gms
Black pepper and salt - to taste
Extra virgin olive oil - to drizzle
Micro herbs - for garnish


Agencies
 Rocket, smoked salmon and four cheese Focaccia
Method:
- Cook pizza base until crisp
- In a bowl, mix rocket, ricotta and pine nuts with olive oil and seasoning (salt and black pepper)
- Top pizza base with rocket mix and smoked salmon
- Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil
- Garnish with micro herbs
- Serve cold

(The recipe by chef Prem K Pogakula- Executive Chef at The Imperial, New Delhi)

KOZHI CHETTINAD

Ingredients:
Chicken - 500 grams
Onions - 2 large sliced thinly
Tomatoes - 2 medium size cubed
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tbsps
Curry Leaves - 10-12
Oil - 2 tbsps
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Lemon Juice - 2 tbsps
Coriander Leaves/Cilantro - 3 tbsps, finely chopped
Salt as per taste

For Chettinad Masala
Coriander Seeds - 3 tbsps
Dry Red Chillies - 4 to 5 or as per taste
Fennel Seeds - 2 tsps
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Cinnamon Stick - 5 cm stick
Black Stone Flower - 3 pieces
Whole Peppercorns - 2 tsps
Cardamom Pods - 5
Star Anise - 1
Cloves - 4
Fresh Coconut - 1/4 cup


Agencies
 Kozhi Chettinad
Method:
- In a bowl add salt, turmeric powder and lemon juice to the chicken and mix well. Let it marinate for 15 to 20 mins
- Now to make the Chettinad masala, dry roast all the spices except the coconut in a circular deep cooking pot until they turn golden brown
- Once it begins to emit an aroma, add the freshly grated coconut and let it all roast until the coconut also becomes light golden
- Move them into a mixer and grind them into a fine smooth paste
- Heat oil in a pan, add the onions and cook them until they turn soft
- Add in the curry leaves and the ginger garlic paste. Sauté it for a min
- Then add the marinated chicken and mix it well. Add the cubed tomatoes next and cover the pan. Allow it to cook for 10 mins. Switch off the heat and let the steam go all by itself
- Transfer the chicken into the same cooking pot used to dry roast all the spices. Add water if needed
- Add the ground masala, mix it well and cover the pot and let the dish simmer for 10 mins
- Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve

(The recipe is by chef Prakash Patil, Executive Sous Chef at The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi)

TRICOLOUR PANEER TIKKA

Ingredients:
Paneer – 1000 grams
Yoghurt – 2 tablespoons
Turmeric – 1 tablespoon
Paprika – 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder – 1 tablespoon
Ginger – 1/2 tablespoon (fresh)
Garlic – 1/2 tablespoon (paste)
Garam masala – 1/2 tablespoon
Black cumin – 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

For mint chutney filling
Mint – 1/2 bunch
Fresh coriander – 1 bunch
Baby Spinach – 2 2/3 handfuls
Greek yoghurt – 1 tablespoon
Green chilli – 1 (chopped)
Fresh ginger – 1 tablespoon


Agencies
 Paneer Tikka
Method:
- Cut paneer in dices and slit in between to fill
- For the marinade, whisk together the yoghurt, turmeric, paprika, ginger and garlic paste, garam masala, salt and black cumin and leave aside.
- Place a teaspoonful of the mint chutney filling in the slit of each slice of paneer, spreading evenly and then leave to one side
- Apply the yoghurt marinade all over each slice of paneer. Skewer and grill in a tandoor until gently browned on the edges. If you cannot access a tandoor, cook on skewers under a hot grill. Serve hot with a sprinkling of lemon juice and chaat masala.

(The recipe is by Sudip Misra, Executive Chef at Bengaluru Marriott Hotel, Whitefield)

KEERAI MASIAL (with carrot and coconut rice)

Ingredients:

For Keerai masial
- Spinach-blanched and chopped - 300gms
- Split green lentils (moong dal) - 50gms
- Chopped onion - 40gms
- Clarified butter - 30 ml
- Whole cumin seeds - 5gms
- Red chilly whole - 3 nos
- Mustard seeds - 3gms
- Curry leafs - 10nos
- Grated coconut - 30gms
- Turmeric powder - 3gms
- Chopped ginger - 8gms
- Salt to taste

For carrot and coconut rice
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
Onion (small & chopped) - 1
Madras curry powder - 1
Dry red chile - 1
Carrots (grated) - 100gms
Coconut (grated) - 50gms
Cilantro sprigs
Salt to taste


Agencies
 Keerai Masial
Method:

For Keerai masial
- Boil moog Dal till al dente with salt and turmeric.
- heat ghee in pan, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds dry red chilies & wait till it crackles
- Now add chopped ginger and garlic and cook till the color turns to light brown color
- At this stage add onion and cook till translucent
- Now toss al dente moog Dal first in the same mixture and then add spinach
- check for seasoning and cook till all the ingredients mix together.
- finish with grated coconut and serve hot

For carrot and coconut rice
- Cook rice. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium- Cook onion, curry powder, salt, and chilly until onion is softened, about 3 minutes.
- Add carrots, grated coconut, and little water. Now add rice sauté and sprinkle with cilantro.
- Take a glass bowl and arrange the two dishes as desired.

(The recipe is by Chef Prem K Pogakula- Executive Chef at The Imperial, New Delhi)

PISTA, CHOCOLATE & MANDARIN

Ingredients:

For pista kheer
Pista - 100 gram
Milk - 1000 ml
Sugar - 100 gram
Rice broken - 50 gram
Cardamom green - 05 gram

For chocolate mousse
White chocolate - 220 gram
Milk - 60 ml
Egg yolk - 40 gram
Whipped cream - 165 gram
Vanilla pod - 1 pc


Agencies
 Pista, Chocolate & Mandarin
For Mandarin
Mandarin - 1 pc
Sugar - 60 gram
Water - 200 ml

Method:
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
- Make Sabayon with egg yolk and add whipped cream along with vanilla pods to make the mousse.
- Boil the milk and add cardamom, rice, Pista and sugar.
- Simmer on slow heat and cook well.
- Make sugar syrup by melting sugar on high heat and add mandarin.
- Assemble in layers starting with the kheer in the bottom layer, followed by mousse and finally add the candied mandarin on top.

(The recipe is by Chef Abdul Wahid, Pastry Chef, The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi)


JANUARY 24, 2020 / 6:35 PM / 5 DAYS AGO
Exclusive: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from Iran
Mayank Bhardwaj, Neha Dasgupta
3 MIN READ
•
•
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.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-rice-exclusive/exclusive-indias-rice-exports-fall-sharply-as-sanctions-delay-payments-from-iran-idUSKBN1ZN1L1
Iraq says total local rice purchases at 306,000T for 2019-20 season
Iraq planted its largest rice area in 20 years in 2019 due to plentiful rain.
By Moayed Kenany, Reuters News
BAGHDAD- Iraq, a major Middle East rice importer, said on Sunday it had ended its local purchasing season for 2019-2020 at 306,000 tonnes. "The local buying season ended on Saturday," a statement by the trade ministry said.
 Iraq planted its largest rice area in 20 years in 2019 due to plentiful rain.
It had banned rice planting the year before that in June 2018 because of water shortages, but reversed the decision for the 2019 season on better weather. Iraq needs 1 million tonnes of rice annually to satisfy domestic demand. (Reporting By Moayed Kenany Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Toby Chopra, William Maclean) ((Maha.Dahan@thomsonreuters.com; + 9712 4082101; Reuters Messaging: maha.dahan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Author Name: https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/markets/story/Iraq_says_total_local_rice_purchases_at_306000T_for_201920_season-TR20200126nL8N29V05NX1/




Five-year programme launched to increase rice yield in 15 districts
SIALKOT: A five-year programme costing Rs 6.63 billion has been launched under Agriculture Emergency a National Programme for enhancing profitability through increasing rice yield in 15 rice growing districts of Punjab. Agriculture Department sources told on Sunday that under the programme, special attention would be focused on the promotion of mechanized farming in these districts. Under the programme, efforts would be made for timely sowing of identified ecological best verities through the promotion of direct seedling of rice drill in these districts. The mechanized transplanting of rice nurseries would replace the outdated manual transplanting. The project was being carried out in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Okara, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib, Bahawalnager, Jhang, Narowal, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Chiniot, Gujrat, Lahore and Faisalabad districts where area under rice both Basmati and course verities would be brought under cultivation on 70,000 acres of land in these areas. Under the programme, the government would provide riding type rice transplanter, walk-after typerice transplanter, nursery raising machine, direct seedling drill, rice straw chopper, water tight rotavator and knapsack power sprayer. The government would also provide subsidy to the rice growers for purchasing tested paddy seeds and pesticides. The government would also provide subsidy amounting Rs 1,500 per acres to growers for encouraging combined harvesting.





India’s rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from Iran
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. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Author Name: https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/indias-rice-exports-fall-sharply-as-sanctions-delay-payments-from-iran/



26 JANUARY, 2020
Iraq says total local rice purchases at 306,000T for 2019-20 season
Iraq planted its largest rice area in 20 years in 2019 due to plentiful rain.
By Moayed Kenany, Reuters News
BAGHDAD- Iraq, a major Middle East rice importer, said on Sunday it had ended its local purchasing season for 2019-2020 at 306,000 tonnes.
"The local buying season ended on Saturday," a statement by the trade ministry said.
Iraq planted its largest rice area in 20 years in 2019 due to plentiful rain.
It had banned rice planting the year before that in June 2018 because of water shortages, but reversed the decision for the 2019 season on better weather.
Iraq needs 1 million tonnes of rice annually to satisfy domestic demand.
(Reporting By Moayed Kenany Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Toby Chopra, William Maclean) ((Maha.Dahan@thomsonreuters.com; + 9712 4082101; Reuters Messaging: maha.dahan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/markets/story/Iraq_says_total_local_rice_purchases_at_306000T_for_201920_season-TR20200126nL8N29V05NX1/


Border closure: Nigeria’s rice imports to hit 2.4mmts –US Agency
January 26, 2020 PAUL OGBUOKIRI with Agency reports

Against the backdrop of the high cost of the local rice and its supply shortage, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says Nigeria’s rice import will rise this year by 9 per cent to 2.4 million metric tonnes. Excerpts by PAUL OGBUOKIRI with Agency reports

…as Nigerians consume 7mmts of rice yearly

• Production grew by 60% to 4.9mmts in 2019


Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close


Thomas Tyavwva Maji is planting rice on more of his land in Benue State than ever to take advantage of the surge in prices since the Federal Government shut the Nation’s land borders in August 2019.


But he says he cannot go much further. With no machinery or irrigation, limited manual labour and no spare cash for fertilizers, the 45-year-old farmer 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 bedevilled many rice farmers and millers across Nigeria for years. Despite government measures designed to spur production, farmers in the country get far less from their land than other major rice growers and the West African country is only marginally less reliant on imports, reports Reuters.


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, 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, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) listed rice as one the 41items it banned from accessing its foreign exchange for the importation of the grain and the apex bank further backed loans of at least N40 billion ($130 million) to help small-scale farmers boost output under its ‘Anchor Borrowers Programme’.


The government also took the step of banning rice imports across the Nation’s land borders and kept hefty 70 per cent tariffs on rice imports coming through ports.


Also, in August last year, the Federal Government went further to announce the closure of the land borders altogether to stamp out smuggling, often from neighbouring Benin, with rice being one of the main targets.


Speaking on the benefits of the border closure, Senor Special Assistant to the President on Media, Garba Shehu, said the measures boosted rice production to 9.2 million metric tonnes last year from 7.2 million in 2015, making Nigeria more or less self-sufficient.


Despite the claim, however, the government did not stop anybody who can pay the 70 per cent tariff from importing.


This came as the Agricultural data specialist Gro Intelligence put Nigeria’s rice output at 4.9 million tonnes in 2019, up 60 per cent from 2013, which is about 2.1 million metric tonnes less than the 7 million tonnes Nigerians consume yearly.


Similarly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that Nigeria’s 2020 rice imports will rise by 9 per cent to 2.4 million metric tonnes despite the border closure, in part due to the high cost of unprocessed Nigerian paddy rice and elevated operating costs at mills.


Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph Market Survey team observed that 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.


Low yields


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


In Benue State, virtually every aspect of Maji’s farming is manual, from planting to harvesting to levelling out roads to take the crop to market and 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.


Experts say there is little hope of improvement without significant investment in irrigation, mechanisation, roads and storage. More than 12 per cent 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 N1.5 million ($4,900) – nowhere close to the N5 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 Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), less than 1 per cent of Nigeria’s farmland is irrigated, compared with a global average of more than 20 per cent.


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 closure – 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.



‘Incredibly disruptive’
More broadly, experts warned that extreme measures, such as border closure, 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 January 31 but the presidency says land frontiers would remain shut until Nigeria’s neighbours 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 the Central Bank’s 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 N24, 000 in Lagos – nearly double the price in July before the borders were shut and not far below the monthly minimum wage of N30, 000.
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. 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.”
by Taboola
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Agric Minister scores local rice production high
Yesterday at 4:33 PM
Tell your friends 
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Sabo Nanono on Monday scored high, local rice production in Nigeria, predicting that the country might soon begin exportation of the produce.
 Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Sabo Nanono (fourth from left), during a familiarisation tour of Nestlé Nig. Plc. headquarters at Ilupeju, Lagos, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. [NAN]
The minister made the assessment during a familiarisation tour of Nestlé Nigeria Plc. headquarters at Ilupeju, Lagos State.
Nanono said that the country’s land border closure had resulted in increased output by many rice milling plants which, he noted, were operating below capacities before the closure.
He said that, with the improved production rate, Nigerian rice might soon be exported.
“Before the closure of our land border, most of these rice milling plants were partially operating, but now, they not only operate in full capacities but are also expanding.
“If we maintain the momentum in the next two years, we may export rice to other countries.
“I was worried in terms of the production of rice, but what I have found out is that most rice producers have stocked rice for the next six months.
“This means that before the stock is finished, dry season rice will be harvested, and before that finishes, rainy season rice will come out,” he said.
According to the official, it is a complete cycle.
“What we observed is that it is only in three months – from November to January – that rice is not being grown in this country.
“We cultivate rice in a nine-month cycle; probably as we move on, the cycle will widen; so, we do not have a problem with rice processing.’’
The minister also noted that there had been expansion of local rice value chain as well as the creation of more jobs due to increased rice production.
“One or two months ago, the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and I were at Kano State to assess rice processing.
“As at now, we have 11 rice milling plants with the capacity to produce from 180 tonnes to 350 tonnes of rice per day.
“In a few months, another mill with a capacity to produce 400 tonnes per day is going to be opened. Apart from that, there are about 34 smaller mills; then, we have clusters in different areas.
“When I was in Kaura, local rice farmers asked me to tell President Muhammadu Buhari to throw the keys of the borders into the ocean,” he said.
The minister said that local rice farmers were fully engaged and used between 200 farm lands and 300 farm lands directly.
“Think of the indirect jobs that they also create,” the minister said.
At a press conference later, Nanono said that the ministry would recruit and train 50,000 extension workers in the next three year to aid local farmers.
He said that lack of extension workers to aid local farmers had resulted in poor production of crops.
According to him, insufficient extension agents was a major problem in the agriculture sector.
“We are currently emphasising the issue of extension agents for local farmers.
“We lack extension agents in this country. We need extension officers to guide local farmers on how to use fertilisers in the different soils they farm on.
“If we do not have extension agents, we will always have issues in production of quality crops, especially beans,’’ he said.
He noted that extension workers knew the right level of chemicals and other inputs to apply to crops.
“Unfortunately, we are lacking them. That is why the ministry aims to recruit and train about 50,000 extension officers in the country in the next three years.
“One way to engage a large number of youths is to train them as extension officers for local farmers.
“We also want to train some as specialised extension officers – those that will carry farmers along; they will become farmers on site.
“If our Agriculture Mechanisation programme comes through as we hope, it will involve a lot of unemployed youths,” Nanono said.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nestle Nig. Plc., Mr Mauricio Alarcon, thanked the minister for the visit and hoped for a better working relationship with the ministry.
“As a company, we are not really sourcing for loans from the government but we want loans to be given to the right people in the agriculture value chain.
“We want loans to be given to processors and farmers. These are the ones that need the loans most – thanks to the Anchor Borrowers scheme.
“We source 80 per cent of our products locally. We source 100 per cent of maize for Golden Morn locally; Soya, millet, sugar, salt and cocoa are also locally-sourced.
“We are very pleased with the visit of the minister because we aim to collaborate to make a difference in the agriculture sector,’’ Alarcon said.
He said that the company was convinced that there were much opportunities of collaboration in Nigeria.
“It this through this type of interactions that we can make a difference,” he added.
https://www.pulse.ng/news/local/agric-minister-scores-local-rice-production-high/6m4gwp6
TL-VP
PTI January 27, 2020 18:32 IST
VP seeks global cooperation for early detection of new viruses
Hyderabad, Jan 27 (PTI) Amid the new coronavirus scare
across the globe,Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday
underscored the need for global cooperation for early
detection of new viruses and to contain any serious fallout
from outbreak of epidemics.
Addressing scientists and researchers of CSIR-Centre
for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here, the Vice
President, while referring to the newly-discovered strain of
coronavirus, said it was spreading across the nations and
causing a major concern to health authorities
    "Period outbreak of epidemics and new viruses
highlighted our vulnerability to diseases," he said, according
to an official release.
    Referring to the vital role of the Indian Science and
Technology Innovation System in achieving national goals as
India aspires for sustainable and inclusive growth, Naidu
appealed to the private sector to create a fund for financing
innovative scientific projects that will address societal
concerns.
Funding for basic research also has to be stepped up,
the vice president said.
Stressing that the outcome of every scientific
endeavour must improve the lives of people, he urged CCMB
scientists and other scientific labs to find answers to the
many challenges the world was facing today like poverty,
effects of climate change, pollution and lack of clean
drinking water.
Lauding CCMB for developing bacterial blight-resistant
Sambah Mahsuri rice variety in collaboration with Indian
Institute of Rice Research, Naidu asked scientists to find
ways to develop more disease and pest-resistant crops and aid
in increasing productivity to make agriculture viable and
sustainable.
    Touching upon the problem of growing anti-microbial
resistance, the vice president said modern medicine was facing
a serious threat on account of it and expressed the fear that
many antibiotics might eventually become ineffective if the
trend continued unchecked.
    Calling for developing new antibiotics, apart from
preventing drug resistance, he expressed happiness that the
CCMB was working in that direction.
     The vice president also urged CCMB to develop Rapid
DNA Testing Kits for detection of some of the rare diseases
and many other genetic disorders.
    "It is important to predict and prevent genetic
diseases as more than 70 million Indians are estimated to be
suffering from genetic disorders, according to the
Organization for Rare Diseases India (ORDI)," Naidu said.
    He also advised institutions like CCMB to take up
campaigns on a massive scale to create awareness among the
people about the health risks associated with consanguineous
marriages, particularly those relating to congenital
disorders.
    Naidu said young scientists should be allowed to take
up challenging research assignments and come up with
innovative ideas.PTI VVK
BN BN
https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2020/01/27/mds13-tl-vp.html

Spread of newly-discovered strain of Coronavirus is causing concern: VP
Hans News Service   |  27 Jan 2020 2:19 PM GMT

HIGHLIGHTS
Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu today underscored the need for global cooperation for early detection of new viruses and to contain any...
Hyderabad: Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu today underscored the need for global cooperation for early detection of new viruses and to contain any serious fallout from the outbreak of epidemics.
Addressing scientists and researchers of CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, the Vice President while referring to the newly-discovered strain of Coronavirus, said that it was spreading across the nations and causing major concern to health authorities.
He pointed out that period outbreak of epidemics and new viruses highlighted our vulnerability to diseases.
Referring to the vital role of the Indian Science and Technology Innovation (STI) System in achieving national goals as India aspires for sustainable and inclusive growth, he appealed to the private sector to create a fund for financing innovative scientific projects that will address societal concerns.
Observing that investment in STI plays a major role in promoting research and developing cutting edge technologies, Naidu said the funding for basic research also has to be stepped up.
Stressing that the outcome of every scientific endeavour must improve the lives of people, he called upon scientists of CCMB and other scientific labs to find answers to the many challenges the world was facing today like poverty, effects of climate change, pollution, lack of clean drinking water, sanitation, increasing urbanization and growing drug resistance, among others.
Lauding CCMB for developing bacterial blight-resistant Sambah Mahsuri rice variety in collaboration with Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Naidu urged scientists to find ways to develop more disease and pest-resistant crops and aid in increasing productivity to make agriculture viable and sustainable. He stressed the need to protect farmers from the vagaries of nature.
Touching upon the problem of growing anti-microbial resistance, Naidu said that modern medicine was facing a serious threat on account of it and expressed the fear that many antibiotics might eventually become ineffective if the trend continued unchecked.
Calling for developing new antibiotics, apart from preventing drug resistance, he expressed his happiness that CCMB was working in that direction.
.The Vice President also urged CCMB to develop Rapid DNA Testing Kits for detection of some of the rare diseases and many other genetic disorders. "It is important to predict and prevent genetic diseases as more than 70 million Indians are estimated to be suffering from genetic disorders, according to the Organization for Rare Diseases India (ORDI)", Naidu added.
He also advised institutions like CCMB to take up campaigns on a massive scale to create awareness among the people about the health risks associated with consanguineous marriages, particularly those relating to congenital disorders.
While expressing his delight that India was now at 3rd position globally in the number of peer-reviewed Science and Engineering Publications and moved to 52ndposition in the Global Innovation Index, he said there was no room for complacency. "We need to improve further and aim to be among the top nations in scientific discoveries and inventions", Naidu stressed.
The Vice President said that young scientists should be allowed to take up challenging research assignments and come up with innovative and out-of-box ideas.
Earlier, he went around the exhibits which highlighted the research activities undertaken by CCMB.
CCMB Director, Dr. Rakesh Mishra, Directors of various CSIR labs, senior scientists and researchers were present on the occasion.
https://www.thehansindia.com/telangana/spread-of-newly-discovered-strain-of-coronavirus-is-causing-concern-vp-600368

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MATERIALS
High-value "flash graphene" can be made from cheap trash
By Nick Lavars
January 27, 2020
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A new graphene production method developed at Rice University uses what is known as flash Joule heating to make the material on the cheap
Jeff Fitlow
VIEW 4 IMAGES
Graphene’s potential as a game-changing material is well understood, but the search is very much on for new and improved ways to produce it. Scientists at Rice University are reporting a big breakthrough in this area, demonstrating a new processing technique that can convert a wide range of trash products into “flash graphene” in a cheap and efficient manner.
With high thermal and electrical conductivity, an ultra-thin profile and incredible strength, graphene is already opening up some exciting possibilities in the world of material science. One of the main ways of producing the one-atom-thick sheets is through chemical vapor deposition, a process whereby a carbon source (typically methane) is pumped into a chamber to force a chemical reaction and leave a thin layer of graphene on the surface of a thin substrate.
This can be a laborious and expensive process, with the current commercial price of graphene ranging from US$67,000 to $200,000 per ton, according to Rice University chemist James Tour. He led a team of researchers in developing a new way of putting the wonder material together, which can use all manner of things as the carbon source to tackle environmental waste at the same time.
The process leverages what is known as flash Joule heating, in which an electrical current is passed through a conductive material to generate heat. Using this technology to heat any carbon-containing materials to around 3,000 Kelvin (around 4,940° F or 2,730° C) turns trash into graphene flakes in around 10 milliseconds, while all the non-carbon elements that are left over are turned into useful gases.
“When this process is industrialized, elements like oxygen and nitrogen that exit the flash reactor can all be trapped as small molecules because they have value,” Tour says.

Rice University chemist James Tour led a team of researchers in developing a new way of producing the wonder material graphene
Jeff Fitlow
The most promising aspect of this new technology is the vast range of materials that can be used to generate the graphene flakes. The team says everything from banana peels, to coal, to other food waste and even plastics can act as the source of carbon and used to create bulk graphene at a fraction of the cost of current methods.
“This is a big deal,” Tour says. “The world throws out 30 to 40 percent of all food, because it goes bad, and plastic waste is of worldwide concern. We’ve already proven that any solid carbon-based matter, including mixed plastic waste and rubber tires, can be turned into graphene.”
Another exciting outcome of the research are the possibilities that a far cheaper form of graphene could open up. The team has tested composites of plastics and concrete that are enhanced with its flash graphene, with the latter proving particularly promising. Tour says that cement with a concentration of just 0.1 percent of flash graphene could reduce the immense environmental impact of concrete production by a third.
“By strengthening concrete with graphene, we could use less concrete for building, and it would cost less to manufacture and less to transport,” he says. “Essentially, we’re trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane that waste food would have emitted in landfills. We are converting those carbons into graphene and adding that graphene to concrete, thereby lowering the amount of carbon dioxide generated in concrete manufacture. It’s a win-win environmental scenario using graphene.”
From here, Tour and his team hope to continue refining their flash graphene production, scaling it up within the next two years to produce 2.2 lb (1 kg) of the stuff each day. Their immediate focus will be a newly funded project aimed at converting coal into flash graphene.
“This could provide an outlet for coal in large scale by converting it inexpensively into a much-higher-value building material,” Tour says.
The research was published in the journal Nature, while the video below provides an overview of the technology.
Rice lab makes pristine graphene in a flash
Source: Rice University
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Nick has been writing and editing at New Atlas for over six years, where he has covered everything from distant space probes to self-driving cars to oddball animal science. He previously spent time at The Conversation, Mashable and The Santiago Times, earning a Masters degree in communications from Melbourne’s RMIT University along the way.
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Business News of Monday, 27 January 2020
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
Today in 2010: Farmers call on government to ban importation of rice
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 Ghana spends over $1.5 billion on the importation of rice
It is estimated that Ghana spends over $1.5 billion on the importation of rice.

The increasing taste for the consumption of foreign rice has caused a decline in the purchase of locally produced rice. It is on this backdrop, that farmers have called on the government to place a ban on the importation of foreign rice.

In 2010, the then President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Mohammed Adam Nashiru, advised the government to increase tariff on imported rice, this he believed could create a market for local farmers.

It is not clear as to whether Ghana’s rice production capacity can meet the demand of its population.

The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, in 2019 announced that the government plans to ban the importation of rice by 2022 to boost local rice production.

“Government has a plan and the plan is that we have given ourselves up to 2022 to ban rice imports into this country…government is doing so just to support the local rice farmers to make sure they get market and value for whatever we produce.”

Read the full story originally published on January 27, 2010, on Ghanaweb

Government has been asked to ban the importation of rice into the country and encourage the production and consumption of the foodstuff locally.

Mr. Mohammed Adam Nashiru, President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, a civil society organization, who made the call, suggested to the authorities to increase tariff on imported rice, to create market for locally produced rice to increase the income of farmers to support the economy.

The leader of the Association was speaking at a meeting of rice farmers from the Tamale area, on Tuesday. Mr. Nashiru said the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Region Regions (the three Northern Regions) last year produced 500,000 metric tones of rice and could meet the local demand for the staple. He expressed worry that lack of interest and political will by successive governments to support rice production had led to low production of the crop in the country.

Mr. Nashiru called on government to take positive steps to support farmers to increase yield to reduce the country's high import bill on rice. Mr. Roy Ayariga, National Programme Coordinator of the Northern Rural Growth Programme, advised rice and maize farmers in the three Northern regions to increase output since local and external demand for rice and maize was high.

He encouraged farmers in the Northern Region to engage in dry season farming to increase production. The Single Mothers, operators of a restaurant in Bolgatanga, served local rice as lunch for the participants, to promote the consumption of the food in the country.
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Pakistan-China FTA: second time’s the charm?
Is Phase 2 China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement any better than the previous one? Profit does a close reading of/ summarizes the latest study on the FTA.
By
Meiryum Ali
 -
January 27, 2020
233

2





It is a truth universally acknowledged, that Pakistan’s first free trade agreement (FTA) with China was a bit of a dud. Signed in 2006 with much fanfare, and beginning operations in 2007, Phase 1 of the FTA did little to improve Pakistani exports to China, and only worsened our trade deficit with our neighbour.
So Pakistan went back to the drawing board, with somewhere between 11 reported meetings of negotiations over seven years with the Chinese. The result is Phase 2 of the China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, which was finalized in 2019, and implemented on January 1, 2020. This new phase is set to last until 2024.
Not everyone is happy: just this week, there were grumbles from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on whether Pakistan could fully take advantage of the FTA, considering how useless and poor Pakistan’s exports are. Instead of signing an FTA, the the FPCCI called upon the government to “urgently develop a robust and holistic industrial policy that would lead to massive industrialisation.”
Considering that the last time Pakistan had any semblance of a formal industrialization policy was around 60 years ago, the FPCCI plea is just a little too late. But it is a valid point to raise – what is even the point of an FTA with China? Are Pakistani exporters actually going to benefit, or is this another poorly thought out scheme designed to look good in the news, and little else?
Fortunately, there’s a study out there to answer this: the “China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement Phase II – A Preliminary Analysis”. Written by LUMS economists Nazish Afraz and Nadia Mukhtar, the report was commissioned by the Pakistani Business Council (PBC), and the Consortium for Development Policy Research. (The PBC is a lobbying group for big business in Pakistan and was established in 2005. It features 82 Pakistani conglomerates and multinationals.) Their research indicates that, for now, the results look a little promising, albeit with a few caveats.
But first, what happened in Phase 1?
A little context: Pakistan’s global exports have never been the healthiest. According to the Economic Complexity Index, Pakistan ranks 94th in terms of the complexity of products it exports. Similarly, on the Global Competitiveness Index, Pakistan ranks 107th out of 140 countries. And despite Pakistan’s global exports increasing by 47% between 2005 and 2018, imports have gone up by 140% in the same period.

On top of these great global figures, Pakistan’s trade with China has always been asymmetric. Consider: only 7% of Pakistani exports went to China – most went to Europe and the United States. On the flip side, China took up 28.5% of Pakistan imports – by far the largest trading partner.
The original FTA was meant to address, and also foresee, these sorts of problems. The first phase spanned between 2007 and 2012, and involved the elimination of tariffs on 7,500 tariff lines. 
The original aim was to speed up bilateral trade. As per the report’s analysis: “bilateral trade flourished, growing by 242% between 2007 and 2018—nearly six times faster than the growth of Pakistan’s trade with the rest of the world in the same period.” Total trade with China since the signing of the FTA also shot up, to $16.4 billion in 2018.
Phase 1 of the FTA changed the nature of the kind of exports that were sent to China. Prior to 2007, Pakistan was exporting mostly ores, slag and ash; raw hides and leather; machinery and mechanical appliances; oil seeds; and copper to China. But after the FTA, Pakistan began to send more cotton, plastics, organic chemicals, gums and resins. Cotton in particular emerged as a winner, with “exports to China have grown from $271 million to $873 million between 2015-2018.”, according to the report.
However – and it is a big ‘however’ – this FTA benefited China significantly more than it did Pakistan. Between 2014 and 2018, Pakistani exports to China declined 7% annually, while imports from China rose 12% annually.  Another way of looking at it: Pakistan’s trade deficit with China represented 25% of Pakistan’s total trade deficit in 2007. By 2018, this had shot up to 38%, or around $13 billion.

Why did this happen? Well, Pakistan offered much better concessions to Chinese exports than China did to Pakistani exports. This was something China exploited, as evidenced by the the difference between the utilization rate of preferential tariff lines by China (57%) and Pakistan (5%).
According to the report: “This led to the domestic market being flooded by China’s exports of finished products comprising clothing and shoes, medical and surgical items, and fans and rubber tires, thereby curtailing local production in Pakistan and preventing local producers from achieving economies of scale in the face of low profitability.”
Most of the duty-free access to China was given to low value products, like cotton bedsheets, minerals such as chromium and copper, and cotton yarn (the latter made up 40% of Pakistan’s total exports to China in 2017). These industries are a small part of the Pakistani economy, but are important raw material providers to China’s higher value export industries: readymade garments, electronics, etc.
But China offered little to no concessions on what are actually Pakistan’s top exports, like rice, frozen fish, crab, leather hides, knitted cotton apparel (the latter made up just 2% of Pakistan’s exports to China in 2017). In hindsight, the first China-Pakistan FTA should have been a warning about the kind of unbalanced, exploitative economic arrangements China has a habit of pursuing.
These kinds of discrepancies, real or perceived, also irked business groups in Pakistan. The report claims business groups “believed that Pakistan had negotiated poorly, both in terms of getting access for the products for which it was better placed to export to China, and also in terms of granting access to Chinese goods that were perceived to have inundated the Pakistani market, contributing to premature deindustrialization.”
But the biggest impediment in gaining any benefits from the FTA, was in fact something out of the FTA’s control. In 2010, China signed the ASEAN-China FTA (ACFTA). Pakistan’s comparative advantage was practically destroyed, as China offered infinitely better tariffs to ASEAN members and also to one of Pakistan’s biggest competitors, Bangladesh. In fact, the ACFTA has been estimated to have led to a whopping loss of 80% of Pakistani export volume to China.

Which obviously leads to the question: what is the point of an FTA between two countries (no matter how poorly thought out), if any gains are to be eradicated due to a completely unrelated FTA?
The new and improved FTA
Phase 2 of the FTA (to be called FTA2) was negotiated with these problems in mind. According to the report’s preliminary analysis, the outlook is hopeful, and the tariff structure has definitely improved.
Along the 8,238 product lines that FTA2 effects, Pakistan is now offered lower tariffs on 46% of the products under FTA2, as compared to FTA1.
About 45% of tariff lines, or 3,707 items, have been offered duty free access.  A further 30% of tariff lines will have duty-free access by 2030. Additionally, 75% of all products will have zero tariff applied by the FTA’s last year, and 93% of product lines will face a tariff of 10% or less. Only nine out of the 8,238 face a tariff of 30% or more.
Other improvements in FTA2 include standard safeguard clauses, which are a feature of FTAs around the world (one wonders why they were not included before), and real time electronic exchange of data to curtail misreporting. 
The report is also hopeful about Pakistan’s competitiveness, claiming that unlike previously where Pakistan’s exports were eroded because of the ASEAN-China FTA, this time around, Pakistan has better access than its top competitors.
What makes this report interesting and relevant, is that it not only shows the difference between the tariffs of FTA1 and FTA2, but also shows how FTA2 could affect three categories of products.
These are: Priority 1 products, or products that Pakistan exports to China (5% of the tariff lines); Priority 2 products, or products that Pakistan exports and China imports, but Pakistan does not yet export to China (17% of  tariff lines); and Priority 3 products, or products that China imports, but Pakistan does not export at all (65% of tariff lines).

The second phase of the FTA can positively benefit all three categories, explained below:
2. The Priority 1 category contains those Pakistani products that already have an established market in China, and therefore have the highest potential for growth. There are 401 products in this category under FTA2.
Now consider: by the final year of FTA2, 835 of Priority 1 product lines will have duty-free access to China, and 93% of product lines will face tariffs of less than 10%. In total, 445 of the product lines will face lower tariffs under FTA2, compared to FTA1.
Looked at another way: almost $11.5 billion, or more than 80% of Pakistan’s export basket to China will now fall in the duty-free category. This is a sharp increase from FTA1, which only affected $5.7 billion of Priority 1 products.
The winners in this category are cotton plastics, vehicle parts, footwear, leather, and food items like  frozen seafood, sweet biscuits, frozen orange juice, machine parts, acrylic polymers, and steel parts.
1. Under the Priority 2 category, fall products that Pakistan could take advantage of, since Pakistan is already globally competitive in these goods, and China has an established import market for those goods. There are 1436 products in this category.
Now, under  FTA2: 70% of Priority 2 product lines will have duty-free access to China, which is an increase of 575 product lines from FTA1. A full 47% of these product lines will face lower tariffs under FTA2. If Pakistan could expand exports in these goods, it could be looking at an additional duty-free market of $79.6 billion.
Even better: under Phase 2, Pakistan will face better or equal access on 77% of Priority 2 tariff lines, compared to its top five competitors in China.
The winners in this category are machinery and mechanical appliances, steel and iron.
1. Under the Priority 3 category, fall potential new exports for Pakistan. The report includes this because this category provides opportunities “to diversify and expand Pakistan’s export offering to the world, starting with China”, under which “new trade creation” can happen.
This is the largest group of products, with 5872 product lines. Of these, 80% or 4701 product lines will have duty-free access to China by the final year of the FTA2. 34% of Priority 3 product lines have better access under the new FTA.

If actually acted upon, the potential winners in this category are accessories of motor vehicles,  refrigerators, freezers, heat pumps, woven cotton trousers and woven cotton babies’ garments.
It’s not just about the tariffs
So the Pakistani government has ironed out its tariff structure with China – great! Theoretically under the new FTA, Pakistan is looking to gain not just in the areas where it already has a competitive advantage, but also in new export areas.
So what then is stopping Pakistan from increasing its exports to China? Turns out, quite a fair bit. The report highlights significant challenges to Pakistani exports, some of which are China’s fault, and some of which are Pakistan’s fault.
First, there is a massive information gap about China’s market. As per the report, Pakistani exporters are much more familiar with European and American markets, and less so about China. This is compounded by the fact that there remains a language barrier with regard to China, and adequate resources for translators do not exist. This can lead to issues such as not knowing enough about Chinese regulatory requirements, to also not knowing which Chinese firms to partner with in the event of exports.
This general lack of information also creates an atmosphere of reluctance when it comes to exporting to China. As an example, the report highlighted: “a prominent Pakistani food manufacturer in Pakistan that exported to China was not happy with the Chinese buyer that they partnered with for distribution. After that single bad experience, they have not tried again to find a suitable partner.”
There are also issues on the supply side: Pakistani manufacturers have difficulty delivering on the quantities China requires, mostly due to their own low capital and labour shortage. This lack of scale of production means that Pakistani exporters cannot maintain competitive pricing.
Finally, despite the big fuss created around CPEC, and general ‘close ties’ with China, there is in fact very little trade facilitation between the two countries. As the report notes, “many exporters present had no knowledge of the Pakistan-China Joint Business Council.”
Even when exports are cleared to go, sometimes even routine things like inspections can be destabilizing. For example, the report notes that because Pakistani products are not trusted in China, and there is often unnecessary and annoying inspection of Pakistani packages.
“Exporters of fruit juices reveal that inspections were so invasive that they ruined the packaging which caused leakages and product damage”, the report noted. Additionally, containers from Pakistan often face extra delays and restrictions.
Finally, there is little marketing of Pakistani goods. The theory posited by the report is that as China becomes richer, its consumers will be more discerning about quality. In some cases (such as fruit), Pakistani products are often of a higher quality. But due to the lack of information (because of the lack of marketing), these goods remain overlooked.
To combat these problems, the report has a few suggestions.
These include having a commercial consulate in China, separate from the embassy, whose sole task is to facilitate research on the Chinese market. This consulate could help Pakistani exporters to find suitable Chinese partners who understand Chinese demand, and have the relevant distribution networks.
The report also suggests that the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan create a budget to improve branding and marketing of Pakistani goods.
Another suggestion: that the Pakistani government work closely with China to improve inspections, so that unnecessary enforcement on Pakistani shipments is curtailed.
The report also calls upon the government to help exporters with their weak supply chain, such as “better access to inputs, trade and customs facilitation, and technical support in meeting Chinese compliances”.
Somewhat hilariously, the report also calls on the government to show a little more common sense: “The government should constantly monitor other FTAs that China signs, or any special re-export facilities China offers to other countries.” – basically, to not have a repeat of the ASEAN-China FTA disaster.
Why are these suggestions even important? Because it is not enough For Pakistan to have an FTA with China. To truly maximize the benefits that Pakistan can receive, there needs to be structural reform and admittedly, a little bit of hand holding on the part of the Pakistani government to make sure that exporters are actually able to crack the Chinese market, and receive the benefits of lower tariffs. Until then, one can pick and theorize tariff differentials indefinitely – but the asymmetric trade will not change.





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Meiryum Ali
The author is a member of the staff and can be reached at meiryum.ali@pakistantoday.com.pk
https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/01/27/pakistan-china-fta-second-times-the-charm/

Five-year program launched to increase rice yield
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January 27, 2020

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Sialkot
A five-year programme costing Rs 6.63 billion has been launched under Agriculture Emergency a National Programme for enhancing profitability through increasing rice yield in 15 rice growing districts of Punjab.
Agriculture department sources told APP on Sunday that under the programme, special attention would be focused on the promotion of mechanized farming in these districts.
Under the programme, efforts would be made for timely sowing of identified ecological best verities through the promotion of direct seedling of rice drill in these districts.
The mechanized transplanting of rice nurseries would replace the outdated manual transplanting. The project was being carried out in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Okara, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib, Bahawalnager, Jhang, Narowal, Kasur, Mandi
Bahauddin, Chiniot, Gujrat, Lahore and Faisalabad districts where area under rice both Basmati and course verities would be brought under cultivation on 70,000 acres of land in these areas.
Under the programme, the government would provide riding type rice transplanter, walk-after type rice transplanter, nursery raising machine, direct seedling drill, rice straw chopper, water tight rotavator and knapsack power sprayer.
The government will also provide subsidy to the rice growers for purchasing tested paddy seeds and pesticides.
The government will also provide subsidy amounting Rs 1500 per acres to growers for encouraging combined harvesting. The concept of the programme was to promote mechanized cultivation aimed at enhancing per acre yield. In this regard, the government would provide agricultural machinery to growers at concessional rates for encouraging mechanized agriculture and ensure economic benefits of the growers.—APP
https://pakobserver.net/five-year-program-launched-to-increase-rice-yield/


Thai rice rates soar on drought, demand shifts to India
Export prices for rice from Thailand jumped to their highest in more than two-and-a-half years as a drought threatened to sap supply, in turn boosting demand for a relatively cheaper variety from top exporter India. Prices of second largest exporter Thailand's benchmark 5% broken rice rose to their highest since June 2017 at $440-$460 per tonne, from $435-$445 the week before, with traders attributing the jump to concerns that the ongoing drought will squeeze supply. “The market is worried about the shortening of supply, so some mills are refusing to sell, pushing the price higher," a Bangkok-based trader said. A strong baht, which is trading close to an over six-year peak, is also another factor keeping Thai prices high despite the lack of fresh demand. “Things have been very quiet, there were some small deals with markets like Iraq but so far nothing big enough to impact price," a Bangkok-based trader said. The high Thai prices prompted some buyers to opt for rice from India, pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three months. India's 5% broken parboiled variety rose to around $366-$371 per tonne from last week's $364-$368, the highest since Oct. 31, further supported by higher demand from African countries. “Demand has been improving slowly. Since Thai prices are moving up quickly, some demand is getting diverted to India," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. In neighbouring Bangladesh, domestic rice prices have risen this week despite good crops and sufficient stocks, which consumers blamed on poor market monitoring. A senior commerce ministry official denied these claims, and said legal action will be taken if any traders try to stockpile rice to make windfall profits. Vietnam's markets, meanwhile, are closed from Jan. 23-29 for the Lunar New Year holiday.
https://www.brecorder.com/2020/01/28/565536/thai-rice-rates-soar-on-drought-demand-shifts-to-india/

SEARCA, PhilRice renew ties for PH rice industry
posted January 26, 2020 at 09:40 pm by Brenda Jocson
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Los Baños, Laguna—The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture and the Philippine Rice Research Institute have renewed their partnership to further collaborate and address challenges, particularly leadership development, in the country’s rice sector.
Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Director, said the Center is keen to contribute in addressing regional and global challenges, elevating agricultural families’ quality of life.
“The Center will do so by enabling the families to access new and innovative financial services; to adopt new, sustainable, resilient production technologies and systems; to integrate with modern postharvest and logistics system; and to gain access to and operate in modern networks and markets,” he said.
Dr. Gregorio also said PhilRice, through PhilRice Research and Development work in its central and branch stations, will work to improve the competitiveness of the Filipino rice farmer and the Philippine rice industry.
PhilRice is mandated to help develop high-yielding and cost-reducing technologies so farmers can produce enough rice for all Filipinos.
“PhilRice also aims to transform the rice industry to be more profitable, resilient, and sustainable through responsive, balanced, environmentally sound and partnership-based research, development, and extension,” Dr. Gregorio said.
Signed on January 20, 2020, SEARCA and PhilRice under the three-year Memorandum of Understanding commit to collaborate on several activities including joint research, capacity building activities, and knowledge and information exchange.
Signatories to the agreement were Dr. John C. de Leon, PhilRice Executive Director, and Dr. Gregorio of SEARCA. The signing ceremony was held after Dr. Gregorio’s presentation of SEARCA’s 11th Five-Year Plan in a seminar titled “2020: A Clear AgriVision for Tomorrow.”
The seminar was attended by PhilRice executives and staff as well as students of the Central Luzon State University.
“SEARCA wants to build transformational leadership,” Dr. Gregorio said explaining that “in transforming our key partners, they will become the movers in transforming the farmers and the agricultural sector.”
Dr. De Leon said PhilRice and SEARCA “shall work together with other partners like DOST and PCAARRD on building more leaders for R&D institutions ready to face the new challenges in rice-based farm productivity.”
Past SEARCA-PhilRice collaborations include research on improving the agricultural insurance program to enhance resilience to climate change; on estimating the demand elasticities of rice in the Philippines; on nature, sources, and causes of productivity growth in Philippine agriculture; on assessment of Gulayan ng Masa Program of the Department of Agriculture; and on value chain analysis of corn in the Philippines and benchmarking with other corn-producing countries.
SEARCA and PhilRice also jointly published a 12-volume monograph series that captured the findings of their collaborative project on “Productivity Growth in Philippine Agriculture” conducted with the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research.
The project analyzed the productivity growth in Philippine agriculture by measuring and disaggregating the sources of said growth over time using analytical approaches appropriate to Philippine conditions. It also identified policy and investment levers that could serve as basis for formulating strategies to promote agricultural growth in the country.
Dr. Gregorio said the results and recommendations of this research may also be used in other countries of Southeast Asia, possibly contributing to agricultural and rural development in the region.


Rice industry downplays ultimate impact of RCEF
January 27, 2020 | 12:01 am
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By Vincent Mariel P. Galang
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THE Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) estimates that the cost of production in the Philippines was P12.72 per kilo between 2013 to 2014, while the Thai cost was equivalent to P8.86 and Vietnam’s P6.22. Only Indonesia performed worse at P15.74.
At such high cost levels, the Philippine Statistics Authority estimates that a farmer’s net return per hectare was P33,349 in 2018, up 43%.
The government’s main tool for addressing competitiveness is the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), a feature of the Rice Tariffication Act (Republic Act 11203) signed in March. The fund will support farm mechanization, credit, training, seed provision, and other programs to help farmers eventually compete with their low-cost Southeast Asian neighbors.
RCEF is to be provided with P10 billion a year from tariffs of 35% charged on imported Southeast Asian grain. The fund will run for six years.



According to initial plans, the fund is to be distributed to about 55 rice producing provinces across the country, across 947 municipalities. It will fund about P5 billion worth of machinery via the handled by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech); P3 billion for rice seed development to be undertaken by PhilRice; P1 billion for credit assistance via Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); and another P1 billion for extension services for skills development to be provided by PhilMech, PhilRice, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
“The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund ay gagamitin para matulungan natin ‘yung ating mga farmer maging competitive (RCEF will help farmers become more competitive). When you say competitive, madagdagan ‘yung kanilang ani, mababawasan natin ‘yung kanilang production cost para at the very least madagdagan ‘yung kanila kita (we mean higher yields and lower production costs so at the very least the farmers will earn more),” Department of Agriculture Director for Field Operations Roy M. Abaya said in a November interview.
Through RCEF, Mr. Abaya said that the government hopes to reduce production costs by 30%, while increasing the average yield by about 50%, with a resulting doubling in farmer incomes. The yield per hectare target is 6 metric tons (MT) from the current 4 MT. The initial RCEF disbursements were made in September.
Mr. Abaya said that by the next harvest season, during this year’s dry season, he expects significant production gains with a corresponding decline in costs. By 2021, he said costs will drop further, leading to a corresponding drop in imports as the cost differential with imports narrows.
Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Research Fellow Roehlano M. Briones said he expects the RCEF to start showing its effects next year, though achieving competitiveness ultimately remains an open question.
“Whether rice will be competitive by 2021, that is a matter of degree. I would say with all of these programs it would be more competitive than what it is today, but whether that is enough to match the cost of production (of the rest of AEAN)… You can close some part of that gap, but you will still have that gap,” he said in a December phone interview.
He said RCEF may also not be enough to reverse years of sluggish performances by the industry.
“They will get a competitiveness boost from the additional resources through the RCEF, but this is probably not enough to reverse decades of underdevelopment plus real geographic disadvantages,” he said.
Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, also sees an increase in the yield of farmers by 2020, but he noted that the P10-billion annual fund is not enough to help the country’s rice farmers. The bottom line is that he lacks confidence in major gains.
“At least ‘yung mabibigyan, bababa (cost) and hopefully may konting increment sa yield. (Recipients can expect gains in bringing down costs and I hope a little increment in yields) That can happen in the next season so by dry season 2020…. ‘Wag tayong mag-e-expect ng malaking gains immediately kasi maliit lang ‘yung pondo and then starting pa lang (We should not expect big gains immediately because the funds are limited and the process is just starting),” he said in a November phone interview.
“It’s actually very small compared doon sa expected losses ng farmers kasi kung we produce 19 billion kilos a year ‘yung P1 drop in price is already a P19 billion loss to the farmers. ‘Yung sinasabi nila na ito na ang nakakasalba sa farmer. It’s very far from the truth (RCEF is very small compared with the farmers’ expected losses due to rice tariffication. If we produce 19 billion kilos a year each P1 drop in price is already a P19 billion loss to the farmers. When they claim that RCEF will save the farmers, it’s very far from the truth),” he said.
He added that any uneven distribution of the fund raises the risk that some rice-growing areas will become even less competitive.
He said farmers, as they develop, will demand different forms of assistance beyond what is contemplated in the law governing RCEF.
“The concept of RCEF in terms of earmarking an amount for the sector okay kami doon, pero ‘yung paggamit n’ya, dapat gawin s’yang more flexible… tingnan kung saan ‘yung pangangailangan (we are all right with the RCEF earmarking concept but the use of funds needs to be more flexible and responsive to the need),” he said.
Pampanga State Agricultural University Professor Roy S. Kempis also noted the importance of meeting the exact needs of rice farmers beyond one-size-fits-all measures.
“A substantial part of the fund (should be) used for ‘targeted’ rice competitiveness enhancement. What I mean by ‘targeted’ rice competitiveness enhancement is to extend assistance based on a thorough understanding of the needs of the rice farm (and) farmer,” he said in a November email.
He said in Nueva Ecija, farm mechanization should be the key focus, coupled with training for the farm workers left to operate the machinery. In Tarlac, loans or assistance to acquire herbicides should not be on the program as they negatively impact rice production.
“Syempre may effect naman ‘yung good seed, ‘yung irrigation during the dry season tsaka mechanization, pero at the LGU level, mag-o-orchestrate ‘yan doon kasi nandoon ang action (Of course good seed will have an effect, as will irrigation during the dry season and mechanization. But at the local government level, it all needs to be orchestrated because that’s where the action is),” Rolando T. Dy, executive director of Center for Food and Agri-Business of University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), said in a November phone interview.
He noted the importance of having a champion for the rice industry coordinating programs in every province, be it the governor or mayors.
He said the priority should be cash assistance, the most immediate need.
“Eh aantayin mo ba ‘yung tractor eh nagugutom na ‘yung farmer? Magtatanim yan kailangan may working capital sila (What’s the use of waiting for the tractor if the farmer goes hungry. The farmer needs to plant and needs working capital),” he said.
Rene Cerilla, legal and policy development officer of the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahan ng Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), said it is difficult to forecast what’s in store for rice farmers given the unfavorable experiences of the past.
“Machines hindi angkop sa lugar, hindi rin tinuturan ‘yung mga farmer kung paano gagamitin ‘yung machines (It is possible the machinery will not suit local conditions; also, there is limited training in their use)” he said in a November phone interview.
“Dapat komprehensibo ang pagtingin sa mga magsasaka hindi lamang sa ani kung hindi pati sa pagpapababa ng gastos at tsaka iyong pagbigay ng full value chain doon sa produkto ng magsasaka (Farmers should be evaluated comprehensively, and not just in terms of yields but also production costs and access to the full value chain).
Farmers need new skills, technology and research to become international
Sok Chan / Khmer Times  Share:   

Saran Song, chief executive officer of Amru Rice (Cambodia), and president of the Cambodia Rice Federation. KT/Siv Channa

For Cambodia to reach its full potential in agriculture, it needs more investment, diversification in crops, access to new technology, more research and development on related products, the full mechanisation of rice cultivation and plain, old-fashioned cash.
For in depth analysis of Cambodian Business, visit Capital Cambodia
.
That was the view of stakeholders at an agriculture seminar hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce  and USAID’s Feed the Future Cambodia Harvest II project which work to accelerate the growth of the horticulture sector. The event was also sponsor by DFDL, an Asean integrated investment advisory firm with 11 offices in the Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, Bangladesh, Singapore and three collaborating firms in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The seminar also introduced the US government’s upcoming Agriculture Trade Delegation February 6-7, which aims to grow agriculture trade and investment ties between the United States and Cambodia.
Speaking at the seminar in Phnom Penh called Unlocking Investment in Cambodian Agriculture, Saran Song, chief executive officer (CEO) of Amru Rice (Cambodia), and president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) said that in the last five years there has been dramatic change in the agriculture sector in the Kingdom.
Song added that Cambodia has produced market-oriented, quality rice to fulfill the demand and standards of overseas buyers beyond fulfilling local consumption.
Farmers are moving from traditional growing and cultivation methods to more modern and mechanised methods, he said.
Commercialising rice for export improves farmers’ livelihoods but they need to diversify and need to earn more per month or year otherwise they will have to move away from their homeland, Song added.
“Rice alone one is not sustaining their lives. They need to start to think of other agriculture products, such as cassava, cashew nuts and other crops to help them live better, support their families better and have a bigger impact on their communities,” he added.
Song added that farmers must reorganise and join agricultural cooperatives to become stronger and encourage them to maintain competitiveness, to help them become market leaders in the community and to unite in how to sell and bargain with rice millers to satisfy market needs.
More importantly, farmers need to become entrepreneurs because they need to transform from being just farmers to becoming entrepreneurs, said Song.
“Being an entrepreneur means they can innovate products, create new products, design, get information, conduct contract farming, improve their business model, maintain production, get easier access to finance, digitalise – all this they need to know. If they do not know it, I do not think we can compete with farmers in Thailand, Vietnam, India, the US [etc],” Song added.
Song said that farmers do not know how to manage water resources or how to use nutrients or  fertilisers. They need to learn and mitigate against climate change regarding crop tolerance make use of pesticides properly.
“The most important thing, they [farmers] must start to think about is exports, but they do not know the information the market needs and what the standards are,” he added.
Song mentioned that investment in rice mills in the last three to five years is declining in the rice sector compared with real estate and construction. He said that If there is more investment in infrastructure in rice production, it will make Cambodia competitive in the long term.
Cambodia’s potential is not only for rice, but for cassava, cashew nuts and other main crops that farmers can adopt and cultivate after the rice harvest can generate more income for their family across the whole year.
Veena Reddy, USAID Cambodia mission director, said the agriculture sector is important for the Cambodian economy and it contributes a lot to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 40 percent of the nation’s workforce, helping to develop Cambodia.
She added that Cambodia has the potential in rice and would like to achieve similar success in other major crops, such as pepper, cassava, maize, soybeans, and cashew nuts. Farmers must also move up to the agriculture value chain from raw goods to processed exports.
“Improving productivity using with technology can help Cambodian agriculture become competitive in the global market. High-quality modern technology, packaging, food safety and other equipment is in demand by the Cambodian agriculture sector to meet export standards,” Reddy said.
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NEWS / LOCAL / FIFE
St Andrews University oceans research centre nominated for architectural award
  by Cheryl Peebles
 January 27 2020, 7.13am
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© Tom Manley
The award-nominated Scottish Oceans Institute in St Andrews.
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St Andrews University’s new marine research hub is in the running for an architectural prize.
The £16.5 million Scottish Oceans Institute has been nominated in the Scottish Property Awards for architectural excellence in a public use building.
Opened in September by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon the striking structure overlooking East Sands beach replaced the Gatty Marine Laboratory.
Boasting a state-of-the-art aquarium and teaching facilities, the centre is a global base for research focused on conservation and the impact of climate change on oceans.
Its contemporary design by Glasgow-based BMJ Architects incorporated renewable materials including external cladding made from rice husks.
Inspired by its seaside location, the building also features a wave-shaped roof, solar shading which wraps the facade like water against a sea wall and an entrance modelled on a ship’s sail.
Real estate and investment management firm JLL managed the scheme built by Balfour Beatty.
Niall Robertson, director at JLL, said: “The Scottish Oceans Institute is a remarkable building and a world-class facility that Scotland can be truly proud of.
“A series of partners were involved in the scheme’s process from its conception to delivery.
“To be collectively nominated for such a significant award is testament to the vision and collaboration shown from each of these partners.
“We are proud to have project managed the entire project from start to finish, so to see the building now open and being used as intended is incredibly satisfying.”
The nomination also represents work carried out by RSP Consulting Engineers, Morgan Associates, B&W, Sentinel and Gleeds.
Winners will be announced a ceremony in Edinburgh on February 20.
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BREAKINGRice industry downplays ultimate impact of RCEF
January 27, 2020 | 12:01 am
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By Vincent Mariel P. Galang
Reporter
THE Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) estimates that the cost of production in the Philippines was P12.72 per kilo between 2013 to 2014, while the Thai cost was equivalent to P8.86 and Vietnam’s P6.22. Only Indonesia performed worse at P15.74.
At such high cost levels, the Philippine Statistics Authority estimates that a farmer’s net return per hectare was P33,349 in 2018, up 43%.
The government’s main tool for addressing competitiveness is the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), a feature of the Rice Tariffication Act (Republic Act 11203) signed in March. The fund will support farm mechanization, credit, training, seed provision, and other programs to help farmers eventually compete with their low-cost Southeast Asian neighbors.
RCEF is to be provided with P10 billion a year from tariffs of 35% charged on imported Southeast Asian grain. The fund will run for six years.



According to initial plans, the fund is to be distributed to about 55 rice producing provinces across the country, across 947 municipalities. It will fund about P5 billion worth of machinery via the handled by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech); P3 billion for rice seed development to be undertaken by PhilRice; P1 billion for credit assistance via Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); and another P1 billion for extension services for skills development to be provided by PhilMech, PhilRice, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
“The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund ay gagamitin para matulungan natin ‘yung ating mga farmer maging competitive (RCEF will help farmers become more competitive). When you say competitive, madagdagan ‘yung kanilang ani, mababawasan natin ‘yung kanilang production cost para at the very least madagdagan ‘yung kanila kita (we mean higher yields and lower production costs so at the very least the farmers will earn more),” Department of Agriculture Director for Field Operations Roy M. Abaya said in a November interview.
Through RCEF, Mr. Abaya said that the government hopes to reduce production costs by 30%, while increasing the average yield by about 50%, with a resulting doubling in farmer incomes. The yield per hectare target is 6 metric tons (MT) from the current 4 MT. The initial RCEF disbursements were made in September.
Mr. Abaya said that by the next harvest season, during this year’s dry season, he expects significant production gains with a corresponding decline in costs. By 2021, he said costs will drop further, leading to a corresponding drop in imports as the cost differential with imports narrows.
Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Research Fellow Roehlano M. Briones said he expects the RCEF to start showing its effects next year, though achieving competitiveness ultimately remains an open question.
“Whether rice will be competitive by 2021, that is a matter of degree. I would say with all of these programs it would be more competitive than what it is today, but whether that is enough to match the cost of production (of the rest of AEAN)… You can close some part of that gap, but you will still have that gap,” he said in a December phone interview.
He said RCEF may also not be enough to reverse years of sluggish performances by the industry.
“They will get a competitiveness boost from the additional resources through the RCEF, but this is probably not enough to reverse decades of underdevelopment plus real geographic disadvantages,” he said.
Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, also sees an increase in the yield of farmers by 2020, but he noted that the P10-billion annual fund is not enough to help the country’s rice farmers. The bottom line is that he lacks confidence in major gains.
“At least ‘yung mabibigyan, bababa (cost) and hopefully may konting increment sa yield. (Recipients can expect gains in bringing down costs and I hope a little increment in yields) That can happen in the next season so by dry season 2020…. ‘Wag tayong mag-e-expect ng malaking gains immediately kasi maliit lang ‘yung pondo and then starting pa lang (We should not expect big gains immediately because the funds are limited and the process is just starting),” he said in a November phone interview.
“It’s actually very small compared doon sa expected losses ng farmers kasi kung we produce 19 billion kilos a year ‘yung P1 drop in price is already a P19 billion loss to the farmers. ‘Yung sinasabi nila na ito na ang nakakasalba sa farmer. It’s very far from the truth (RCEF is very small compared with the farmers’ expected losses due to rice tariffication. If we produce 19 billion kilos a year each P1 drop in price is already a P19 billion loss to the farmers. When they claim that RCEF will save the farmers, it’s very far from the truth),” he said.
He added that any uneven distribution of the fund raises the risk that some rice-growing areas will become even less competitive.
He said farmers, as they develop, will demand different forms of assistance beyond what is contemplated in the law governing RCEF.
“The concept of RCEF in terms of earmarking an amount for the sector okay kami doon, pero ‘yung paggamit n’ya, dapat gawin s’yang more flexible… tingnan kung saan ‘yung pangangailangan (we are all right with the RCEF earmarking concept but the use of funds needs to be more flexible and responsive to the need),” he said.
Pampanga State Agricultural University Professor Roy S. Kempis also noted the importance of meeting the exact needs of rice farmers beyond one-size-fits-all measures.
“A substantial part of the fund (should be) used for ‘targeted’ rice competitiveness enhancement. What I mean by ‘targeted’ rice competitiveness enhancement is to extend assistance based on a thorough understanding of the needs of the rice farm (and) farmer,” he said in a November email.
He said in Nueva Ecija, farm mechanization should be the key focus, coupled with training for the farm workers left to operate the machinery. In Tarlac, loans or assistance to acquire herbicides should not be on the program as they negatively impact rice production.
“Syempre may effect naman ‘yung good seed, ‘yung irrigation during the dry season tsaka mechanization, pero at the LGU level, mag-o-orchestrate ‘yan doon kasi nandoon ang action (Of course good seed will have an effect, as will irrigation during the dry season and mechanization. But at the local government level, it all needs to be orchestrated because that’s where the action is),” Rolando T. Dy, executive director of Center for Food and Agri-Business of University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), said in a November phone interview.
He noted the importance of having a champion for the rice industry coordinating programs in every province, be it the governor or mayors.
He said the priority should be cash assistance, the most immediate need.
“Eh aantayin mo ba ‘yung tractor eh nagugutom na ‘yung farmer? Magtatanim yan kailangan may working capital sila (What’s the use of waiting for the tractor if the farmer goes hungry. The farmer needs to plant and needs working capital),” he said.
Rene Cerilla, legal and policy development officer of the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahan ng Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), said it is difficult to forecast what’s in store for rice farmers given the unfavorable experiences of the past.
“Machines hindi angkop sa lugar, hindi rin tinuturan ‘yung mga farmer kung paano gagamitin ‘yung machines (It is possible the machinery will not suit local conditions; also, there is limited training in their use)” he said in a November phone interview.
“Dapat komprehensibo ang pagtingin sa mga magsasaka hindi lamang sa ani kung hindi pati sa pagpapababa ng gastos at tsaka iyong pagbigay ng full value chain doon sa produkto ng magsasaka (Farmers should be evaluated comprehensively, and not just in terms of yields but also production costs and access to the full value chain).
https://www.bworldonline.com/rice-industry-downplays-ultimate-impact-of-rcef/

Dacoits kidnap girl, loot cash, gold from house
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OUR STAFF REPORT
January 27, 2020

SIALKOT-Four dacoits Sunday allegedly kidnapped a girl besides looting cash, gold, foreign currency, etc, in the jurisdiction of Sabzpir police station.
READ MORE: US at risk of ecological disaster due to improperly stored nuclear waste
According to police, one Khalid lodged a report that four armed men entered his house at Chobara Galli Aman Wali area. They collected 15-tola gold, Rs 165,000 in cash, foreign currency 40,000 Saudi Riyal, and also took away his 19-year-old daughter Tahira with them.
Police have registered a case and started investigation.
Five-year programme launched to increase rice yield in 15 distts
A five-year programme costing Rs 6.63 billion has been launched under Agriculture Emergency a National Programme for enhancing profitability through increasing rice yield in 15 rice growing districts of Punjab.
READ MORE: SC orders investigation into illegal tax refunds case
Agriculture department sources told APP on Sunday that under the programme, special attention would be focused on the promotion of mechanized farming in these districts.
Under the programme, efforts would be made for timely sowing of identified ecological best verities through the promotion of direct seedling of rice drill in these districts.
The mechanized transplanting of rice nurseries would replace the outdated manual transplanting. The project was being carried out in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Okara, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib, Bahawalnager, Jhang, Narowal, Kasur, Mandi
Bahauddin, Chiniot, Gujrat, Lahore and Faisalabad districts where area under rice both Basmati and course verities would be brought under cultivation on 70,000 acres of land in these areas.
READ MORE: PM meets Sindh IGP in Islamabad
Under the programme, the government would provide riding type rice transplanter, walk-after typerice transplanter,nursery raising machine, direct seedling drill, rice straw chopper, water tight rotavator and knapsack power sprayer.
The government will also provide subsidy to the rice growers for purchasing tested paddy seeds and pesticides.
The government will also provide subsidy amounting Rs 1500 per acres to growers for encouraging combined harvesting.
The concept of the programme was to promote mechanized cultivation aimed at enhancing per acre yield. In this regard,the government would provide agricultural machinery to growers at concessional rates for encouraging mechanized agriculture and ensure economic benefits of the growers.
READ MORE: CM Balochistan calls on PM
Meanwhile, Multan police have recovered illegal weapons during a search operation launched here at Basti Malook police station area, police said on Sunday.
According to sources, the police teams encircled the area and blocked the traffic on the road passing through the areas of Chah Sundarwala, Chah Baghwala, Chak 5-Faiz and suburban areas.
They combed the area and targeted dozens of houses and conducted biometric identification of 47 people. The teams also recovered four illegal weapons during the search operation. The operations were being conducted on daily basis to make area crime-free, the police said.
https://nation.com.pk/27-Jan-2020/dacoits-kidnap-girl-loot-cash-gold-from-house


Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close
January 27, 2020 | 12:02 am
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MAKURDI, NIGERIA — 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.
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 US 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.
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 UN’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 UN data.
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.
‘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.” — Reuters



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Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close
January 27, 2020 | 12:02 am
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Font Size
• A A A
MAKURDI, NIGERIA — 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.
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 US 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.
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 UN’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 UN data.
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.
‘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.” — Reuters




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Five-year program launched to increase rice yield
By
 admin
 -
January 27, 2020

Share





Sialkot
A five-year programme costing Rs 6.63 billion has been launched under Agriculture Emergency a National Programme for enhancing profitability through increasing rice yield in 15 rice growing districts of Punjab.
Agriculture department sources told APP on Sunday that under the programme, special attention would be focused on the promotion of mechanized farming in these districts.
Under the programme, efforts would be made for timely sowing of identified ecological best verities through the promotion of direct seedling of rice drill in these districts.
The mechanized transplanting of rice nurseries would replace the outdated manual transplanting. The project was being carried out in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Okara, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib, Bahawalnager, Jhang, Narowal, Kasur, Mandi
Bahauddin, Chiniot, Gujrat, Lahore and Faisalabad districts where area under rice both Basmati and course verities would be brought under cultivation on 70,000 acres of land in these areas.
Under the programme, the government would provide riding type rice transplanter, walk-after type rice transplanter, nursery raising machine, direct seedling drill, rice straw chopper, water tight rotavator and knapsack power sprayer.
The government will also provide subsidy to the rice growers for purchasing tested paddy seeds and pesticides.
The government will also provide subsidy amounting Rs 1500 per acres to growers for encouraging combined harvesting. The concept of the programme was to promote mechanized cultivation aimed at enhancing per acre yield. In this regard, the government would provide agricultural machinery to growers at concessional rates for encouraging mechanized agriculture and ensure economic benefits of the growers.—APP
https://pakobserver.net/five-year-program-launched-to-increase-rice-yield/

Average retail price of rice at 6-year low
By
 Jasper Y. Arcalas
 -
January 27, 2020













THE average retail price of regular-milled rice (RMR) fell by over 12 percent to P36.53 per kilogram (kg), the lowest level recorded for the variety in nearly six years, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Figures from the PSA showed that the latest figure was the lowest recorded since the third week of January 2014, when RMR was priced at P36.46 per kg.
PSA data indicated that the average wholesale price of RMR also declined by 14.87 percent to P33.02 per kg, from P38.79 per kg recorded in the same period last year.
Authorities and experts attribute the drop in rice prices to the surge in imports after the industry was deregulated by the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law in March 2019.
The passage of the RTL law was hailed by authorities and some industry experts, calling it one of the biggest reform measures in recent years. The law sought to increase the country’s supply of affordable rice.
The Philippines has overtaken China as the world’s top buyer of rice last year after the country’s total purchases surged to 3 million metric tons.
Latest PSA data also showed that the average retail price of well-milled rice (WMR) fell to P41.45 per kg, 8.32 percent lower than last year’s P45.21 per kg. Its average wholesale price dropped by almost 11 percent to P37.24 per kg, from P41.82 per kg last year.
Turnaround
As the retail prices of rice continued to fall, the average farm-gate price of paddy posted a turnaround during the reference period as it rose by 1.02 percent to P15.79 per kg, from P15.63 per kg in the last week of December.
However, the latest average buying price for unhusked rice was 20.85 percent lower than the quotation of nearly P20 per kg last year, data from the PSA showed.
Historical PSA data showed that the average farm-gate price of palay is still the lowest in eight years owing to the detrimental effects of higher rice imports.
On an annual basis, the average farm-gate price of palay in 2019 settled at P16.20 per kg, 20 percent lower than the average quotation of P20.20 per kg in 2018, the PSA said in a separate report.
Also, the average palay price last year was the lowest in eight years as its previous average price of P16.20 per kg was recorded in 2012, according to historical PSA data.
“Palay price decreased due to the effect of lower buying price offered by local buyers and traders, presence of imported rice and higher volume of production,” the PSA said.
In its recent report on the performance of the agriculture sector, the PSA said total unmilled rice output in 2019 declined by 1.3 percent on an annual basis due to a series of contractions in the previous quarters.
Total palay output fell to a three-year low of 18.814 million metric tons (MT), PSA data showed
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/01/27/average-retail-price-of-rice-at-6-year-low/

[OPINION] The price we pay when we neglect our farmers
Farmers like Mang Dante struggle to survive the severe effects of the rice tariffication law. It's because of stories like his that farmers need your moral and financial support.
Lorelei Baldonado Aquino
Published 10:27 AM, January 27, 2020
Updated 10:57 AM, January 27, 2020
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What extreme circumstance could have possibly compelled a 58-year-old farmer to take his own life?
That question has been nagging at me since I learned earlier this week that I will no longer see Mang Dante* when we go back to Nueva Ecija for our planned medical mission.
The first time I met Mang Dante was when I did an interview with him, along with two other farmers, prior to the event that Team Pilipinas sponsored for them last December.

The second was during the event itself, the Maagang Pamasko para sa Magsasakang Pilipino, an early Christmas party that we threw for our beloved Nueva Ecija farmers who were severely affected by the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law early last year.
During those two occasions, I remembered one thing about Mang Dante. He had the saddest eyes I had ever seen.
I was not sure if it was due to the years of working like a horse tilling his land from sun-up to sun-down, and moonlighting as a construction worker – two backbreaking jobs that, sadly, both yield a meager income.
Is it due to the incessant stress of having to feed, send to school, and financially support 5 children?
Together with his wife who works as a dressmaker, Mang Dante hoped that, through education, the next generation of their family would be able to break the shackles of extreme poverty that crippled them and the generations before them.
Is it because he could no longer work his beloved land after he had a stroke one and a half years ago, a condition which left him partially paralyzed?
Nobody really knows. But Mang Dante was a dignified man, who felt he was bonded to the precious farmland that he was used to working for so long.
Last December, when Mang Dante received his Noche Buena packages and other Christmas gifts (the same items that we brought for all 106 of our recipient-farmers), as well as a cash gift from a donor for his therapy, I witnessed a glimmer of happiness in his usually tired, dull eyes.
I mourn the fact that I will never see Mang Dante again.
Aside from regret, there is that guilt that we were not able to do more for him, and the frustration of not having enough resources to alleviate our farmers’ suffering. The feeling that’s gripping me right now is resentment. (READ: [ANALYSIS] Plummeting rice prices: How will our rice farmers cope?)
The Philippines was the world's biggest rice importer in 2019 due to the lifting of quantitative restrictions on rice imports. We got that rank despite the fact that we are a predominantly agricultural country. (READ: [ANALYSIS] Duterte's ban on rice imports: Enough of these capricious policies)
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Meanwhile, our local farmers went bankrupt. Some could not even sell their palay unless they offered it at an extremely low price. (READ: Rice tarrification: Birth pains force farmers' kids out of school)
The government was also able to get more than its estimated P10 billion in tariffs from these imports, yet when our local farmers struggled to make ends meet, they were offered loans and credit instead of sufficient grants and cash subsidies.
Hoping to be heard, farmers' groups submitted some 50,000 signatures for its petition to repeal the Rice Tarrification Law to the House of Representatives. But so far, there are hardly any plans to repeal, revise, or suspend the said law.
The government has been repeating promises to put an end to corruption, and stop rice cartels and other entities from manipulating rice prices. Until now, farmers continue to lose big-time to unscrupulous rice traders, smugglers, cartels, and hoarders.
Finally, I resent how there are government officials who add insult to injury through their insensitive public pronouncements, such as “Baliw na baliw kayo sa research (You're going gaga over research),” and “Why eat galunggong if it’s too expensive?”
There are also those whose insatiable greed drives them to buy rice and corn farms and convert them into subdivisions, without consideration of future generations that will be deprived of their staple food.
If not for these kinds of power wielders, our farmers will not be as miserable as they are now. They will not be suffering as much.
Mang Dante may even be alive today.
Binhi ng pag-asa
Mang Dante’s story became our inspiration for the next Team Pilipinas project, tentatively titled Binhi ng Pag-asa.
Our aim is to provide a lifeline to farmers who need moral and financial support until an actual solution is in sight. We want them to know that there is hope, and that there are people who would like to help.
Plans are still tentative, but we would like to cover as many towns as our resources would allow. We plan to coordinate with the municipal agricultural offices, and distribute seeds and fertilizers to approximately 100 farmers from each town or two per barangay.
We plan to do this for each crop cycle, or 3 times a year.
To this end, we would like to make an appeal to generous ninongs and ninangs, whether as individuals or as corporate sponsors, to pledge an estimated P1500 per year.
Last Christmas, the municipal agricultural office of Talavera distributed free seeds, and we gave each farmer 2 bags of fertilizers at P250 per bag. Assuming this price is standard in all the areas covered, P1500 should be enough for one year’s supply of fertilizers.
We also hope to gather government officials, agricultural experts and NGOs in a forum to work together to share best practices – both in planting and in marketing – and share the forum’s recommendations to all interested farmers.
Finally, we would like to keep our promise to Mang Dante to return to Talavera with a medical and dental mission this March.
Please email tiny_aquino@yahoo.com if you would like to volunteer your services for the medical mission this March. We will be needing doctors, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists, as well as civilian volunteers. We will also be needing various medicines and hygiene kits.
For financial donations and pledges, please email tiny_aquino@yahoo.com. We will get in touch with you as soon as we’ve set up our accounts. – Rappler.com
*Note: Name has been changed per the daughter's request to hide her father's identity.
Lorelei Baldonado Aquino, 46, is a University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman alumna. She works as a freelance writer and an active volunteer for Team Pilipinas, a group established for those who want to do their own small share to be part of the solution to our country's myriad of problems. She is also the blogger behind Mom on a Mission.
https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/ispeak/250123-opinion-price-pay-when-we-neglect-local-farmers

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The best way to lose weight boils down to these three things
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ONE SMALL THING
The best way to lose weight boils down to these three things
The evidence shows that there isn’t one better way to lose weight, but diets that work all have these things in common.

Whatever diet appeals to your appetite and way of life, focusing on whole foods is something that all healthy plans promote.Getty Images
March 5, 2018, 11:10 PM PKT / Updated Jan. 26, 2020, 7:41 PM PKT
By Samantha Cassetty, RD
Call it what you will: An eating plan, a lifestyle, a diet, a philosophy, but few things garner such heated debate as how to lose weight. The truth is, whether you’re on a low-carb keto program, devoted to the Paleo lifestyle, all in on the Whole 30, or remain committed to low-fat eating, these plans have more in common than you think. What’s more, follow any one of them religiously, and you’ll likely notice results.
In one recent study, Stanford University researchers put more than 600 overweight adults on either a healthy low-fat or low-carb diet. It turns out, participants had similar levels of weight loss success on each plan. Researchers looked for clues (such as insulin levels and gene patterns) to see if there are any factors that might make someone more successful on either diet, but after combing through the data, they were not able to make any connections.
What they did note is that eaters on both plans followed some really simple advice. This advice is the common thread among all healthful weight loss and dietary approaches. So if you’re looking for the best way to lose weight, focus on these three commandments of healthy eating.
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WHERE WE ARE
What science says about the best way to eat (and what we're still figuring out)

1. Eat more vegetables

Considering that 9 in 10 Americans fail to meet their produce requirements, it’s pretty safe to say you need to eat more vegetables. And no matter what food philosophy you subscribe to, vegetables are a big part of the program. Vegetables have a lot going for them: They fill you up for very few calories, and they flood your body with the nutrients it needs to fight diseases, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.
If you follow food trends, you might think you have to fall in love with cauliflower and kale to reap all the rewards that vegetables offer, but that isn’t the case. Be it broccoli, carrots, red peppers, cabbage, spinach, asparagus, brussels sprouts or any other vegetable, the idea is to eat a variety of them and find plenty of ways to enjoy their goodness. So if you just can’t stomach steamed Brussels sprouts, try them roasted, or give sautéed brussels sprouts a try. If raw zucchini isn’t your thing, see if you like it spiralized into noodles or grilled on a grill pan.
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FOLLOW THIS
A sensible, carb-conscious eating plan for people with type 2 diabetes
Using a layered approach is another great way to build a good veggie habit. For example, start with a food you already enjoy — say, pasta — and layer some vegetables into your bowl. This can help you explore a new food with one you already love eating, and from there, you can try new ways to savor it. Take spinach, for instance. After trying it with pasta, you may want to fold it into an omelet or another favorite food, or explore it on its own with different cooking techniques (sautéed or steamed) or different flavor additions (garlic or golden raisins). The possibilities are limitless!
I’ve converted countless veggie haters into veggie eaters, and upping your vegetable game can have tremendous payoffs in how you look and feel.
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A BETTER WAY
Trying to eat more plants? Follow a flexitarian diet

2. Eat less sugar

You can blame biology for your sweet tooth. We’re hardwired to have a preference for sweets, and this drive is universal and begins early on, according to research on the subject. Sugar makes food taste good, so food companies add it to everything from breads to soups to salad dressings to cereals, yogurts, and more. This adds up to way too much sugar!
On average, Americans consume more than 19 teaspoons of sugar per day — far in excess of the American Heart Association’s 6 teaspoon limit for women and 9 teaspoon limit for men. This is not doing your waistline any favors, which is why every weight-loss plan advocates eating less sugar.
There has been some confusion that a low-fat diet means you can feast on low-fat cookies and other treats, but this, again, is the food manufacturers’ influence. The true intent of low-fat dining is to eat more healthful foods that are naturally low in fat: fruits, vegetables, beans, lean proteins, and whole grains.
There is plenty of research to support a low-fat lifestyle, just as there is strong evidence that you can lose weight by cutting carbs. Different approaches work for different people, but if you want to slim down, cutting back on added sugars is consistent advice across all programs.
One more note on added sugars: Whether you call it agave, cane juice, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, fruit juice concentrate, date sugar, or any of the 61 names for added sugar, they all spell trouble for your health and your waistline.
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DO IT BETTER
Mediterranean diet named the best diet of 2020. Here's how to make it work for you

3. Eat more whole foods

I’m in favor of any program that promotes whole foods over hyper-processed fare, and this is one thing the popular diet plans can agree on. Overly processed foods have been linked to weight gain, perhaps because many unhealthy packaged foods (think: potato chips, ice cream, frozen pizza, cookies, and the like) lack the fiber found in many whole foods, including vegetables. Fiber helps fill us up, and research suggests that by simply adding more fiber to your menu, you can lose weight nearly as well as a more complicated approach. Consistently choosing whole foods is one way to do this.
Newer research suggests it’s easier to overeat processed foods. Think of how long it takes to eat a fast-food sandwich compared to a plate of fish, salad, broccoli and brown rice. When researchers conducted a similar experiment, matching meals for calories, carbs, protein, fat and sugar, and allowing people to eat as much (or as little) as they liked, they found that people ate about 500 calories more per day when eating heavily processed foods — and they gained an average of two pounds during the short study period. They ate more, ate faster, and experienced some changes in their appetite-regulating hormones that can make it harder to feel full. But those same folks lost about two pounds when given the whole foods diet, suggesting that prioritizing whole foods can help you regulate your appetite and weight.
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CHEAP & HEALTHY
How to plan a week's worth of healthy lunches for under $20
Whole foods include fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, eggs, seafood, chicken and so on. Food philosophies may differ around which of these foods to emphasize, but that’s okay, since the evidence shows that there isn’t a single best way to lose weight. The goal is to select an approach that feels sustainable to you. If you’d like to live without pasta, perhaps a low-carb method centered around vegetables and quality proteins, like seafood, chicken and lean beef would be a good fit. Vegans and vegetarians can lose weight by choosing fruits, vegetables, whole grains and plant proteins. Nut lovers may do well shedding pounds with a Mediterranean-style menu. Whatever diet appeals to your appetite and way of life, focusing on whole foods is something that all plans promote.
CORRECTION (Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, 10:25 a.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misstated how many Americans fail to meet their produce requirements. It’s 9 out of 10, not 1 out of 10.

MORE FROM SAMANTHA CASSETTY, RD

• Bad nutrition advice dietitians want you to forget
• What you need to know about going vegan
• What is healthier: natural sugar, table sugar or artificial sweeteners?
• The MIND diet: 11 foods to eat to keep your brain healthy
Want more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding easier, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Samantha Cassetty, RD
Samantha Cassetty is a registered dietitian in New York City. For more great tips that make it easier to eat well and live better, follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
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Customs and Nigeria’s future beyond oil By Ahmed Abdullahi   | Published Date Jan 27, 2020 1:37 AM TwitterFacebookWhatsAppTelegram Globally, revenue from Customs Duty constitutes large chunk of funds for financing governance. Although accruals from natural resources like oil is important as well, countries of Europe and America rely heavily on earnings from Customs sources to finance governance. This is more so when it is considered that natural resources are finite and subject to external manipulation, hence over reliance on them can portend great risk for any economy. The contribution of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) had been a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly until a non-carrier Comptroller General, Col Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd), was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari on August 27, 2015. Ironically, the man who was confronted by unprecedented challenges from vested interests upon assumption of office is, today, being applauded by Nigerians. President Buhari is also receiving kudos for his decision to insist on Ali as Customs boss. Col Ali has moved the Nigerian Customs Service to an unimaginable level of efficiency. Recently, it was announced that the NCS now generates average revenue of between N7billion and N8billion daily since the borders were closed. When the Col Ali-led NCS insisted in August 2019 that closing of the Nigerian land borders with its neighbours remains the only panacea to ameliorating the many challenges facing Nigeria, the fear of many was that Nigeria’s revenue was going to drop. This singular move has left smugglers from neighbouring countries with no choice than to bring their goods through the ports, which they pay duty on. ADVERTISEMENT HOW OVER 5000 NIGERIA MEN HAVE PERMANENTLY OVERCOME TERRIBLE BEDROOM PERFORMANCE DUE TO THIS RECENT DISCOVERY BY MEDICAL CONSULTANTS Recently, Col Ali noted said, “There was a day in September 2019 that we collected N9.2billion in one day. It has never happened before. This is after the closure of the border and since then, we have maintained an average of about N4.7billion to N5.8 billion on a daily basis which is far more than we used to collect”. ADVERTISEMENT SURULERE MAN REVEALS NEW HERBAL SOLUTION THAT REVERSES WEAK ERECTION AND HELPS LAST UPTO 48 MINUTES IN BED WITH NO SIDE EFFECTS Ali’s magic wand is simple: with the border closure, all those smugglers  who used to ship cargoes to Benin Republic and then discharged and smuggled into Nigeria have no choice now that border is closed. They are forced to bring their goods to either Apapa or Tin Can Island where the required duty will be collected. Under Col Ali’s watch as the Customs boss, there has been a significant reduction in the amount of fuel consumed daily in Nigeria. Before his transformation of the NCS, Nigeria was assumed to be consuming about 10.2 million litres of fuel every day, but with the border closure and re-invigorated Customs, it has been discovered that huge chunk of the 10.2 million litres of fuel is smuggled across the Nigerian border. Today, the NCS has provided another life line for the Nigerian Farmers. After the border closure in August, Col Ali advised Nigerians to bear the temporal pains. “We don’t have to eat rice every day. There are other alternatives. I assure you that the price will stabilise and the ordinary farmer will have value for his farming business.” His decision on the border closure is premised on many factors. One of it is to preserve the health of Nigerians who were been fed daily with expired and re-bagged imported rice. With Ali’s turning around the Customs, all the junk food items that were hitherto dumped in our country that causes cancer everywhere have been curtailed. Importers polish the rice with chemicals and retag it for unsuspecting consumers to eat. Before Ali became the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, one of the hallmarks of the Nigerian Customs identity was corruption and sharp practices, which left Officers leaving in affluence while government revenue grow lean. But immediately after his appointment, Col Ali vowed to sack any officer who cannot live within his or her remuneration and gets involve in illicit ways to acquire wealth. To motivate officers to put in their best, about 2,508 Officers where recently promoted to various ranks. Despite the controversies generated, locally and internationally, in favour and against the border closure, rice and poultry farmers are smiling to the banks due to bumper sales. Until now, the Nigerian Market and border space were taken over by smuggling activities to the obvious disadvantage of the farmers, traders and Nigeria’s economy. Nigerians’ insatiable appetite for foreign goods and corruption should be blamed for aiding this illegal business over the years. Consequently, this has made it very difficult for successive governments to change the narrative. The unprecedented step came on August 21, 2019 when the federal government announced the closure of all its land borders to tackle dumping and smuggling of goods into the country. The policies and interventions were meant to redirect the nation’s focus from being heavily dependent or a consumer of foreign goods to a more productive nation that consumes its products. Nigerian Customs demonstrated the needed determination to wean the country from the clutches of powerful and highly influential traders and dealers who have kept the masses of Nigerians hostage to foreign consumption and condemned the youths to perpetual unemployment. The border closure was long overdue. We may say the present action came too late because one anticipated it to have come a little bit earlier, but it is better late than never. According to World Bank, about 80% of imports into Benin are destined for Nigeria. Nigeria banned the importation of rice from Benin in 2004 and from all its neighbours in 2016, but that has not stopped the trade, hence the drastic action. Expectedly, there are reports that the ban is affecting trade across the region, but the truth is that Nigeria’s economy has witnessed a bullish turn around since the action was taken. A week after the borders were closed, the same rice millers’ association said that all the rice that they had in their warehouses have all been sold. Indeed, a lot of people have been depositing money in their accounts and they have even been telling them, ‘please hold on don’t even pay money yet until we finish processing your rice. The benefit is that it has helped to create jobs for our people. It has helped to bring integrated rice milling in the country back into business again and they are making money. Nigeria’s rural communities are bubbling because there are activities; rice farmers are able to sell their paddy. The poultry business is also doing well, and also maize farmers who produce maize from which feeds are produced are also doing business. These are the benefits. Ahmed Abdullahi wrote from Abuja.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/customs-and-nigerias-future-beyond-oil.html

Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close
January 27, 2020 | 12:02 am
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MAKURDI, NIGERIA — 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.
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 US 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.
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 UN’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 UN data.
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.
‘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.” — Reuters
https://www.bworldonline.com/nigerian-rice-farmers-fall-short-after-borders-close/

Farmers need new skills, technology and research to become international
Sok Chan / Khmer Times  Share:   

Saran Song, chief executive officer of Amru Rice (Cambodia), and president of the Cambodia Rice Federation. KT/Siv Channa

For Cambodia to reach its full potential in agriculture, it needs more investment, diversification in crops, access to new technology, more research and development on related products, the full mechanisation of rice cultivation and plain, old-fashioned cash.
For in depth analysis of Cambodian Business, visit Capital Cambodia
.
That was the view of stakeholders at an agriculture seminar hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce  and USAID’s Feed the Future Cambodia Harvest II project which work to accelerate the growth of the horticulture sector. The event was also sponsor by DFDL, an Asean integrated investment advisory firm with 11 offices in the Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, Bangladesh, Singapore and three collaborating firms in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The seminar also introduced the US government’s upcoming Agriculture Trade Delegation February 6-7, which aims to grow agriculture trade and investment ties between the United States and Cambodia.
Speaking at the seminar in Phnom Penh called Unlocking Investment in Cambodian Agriculture, Saran Song, chief executive officer (CEO) of Amru Rice (Cambodia), and president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) said that in the last five years there has been dramatic change in the agriculture sector in the Kingdom.
Song added that Cambodia has produced market-oriented, quality rice to fulfill the demand and standards of overseas buyers beyond fulfilling local consumption.
Farmers are moving from traditional growing and cultivation methods to more modern and mechanised methods, he said.
Commercialising rice for export improves farmers’ livelihoods but they need to diversify and need to earn more per month or year otherwise they will have to move away from their homeland, Song added.
“Rice alone one is not sustaining their lives. They need to start to think of other agriculture products, such as cassava, cashew nuts and other crops to help them live better, support their families better and have a bigger impact on their communities,” he added.
Song added that farmers must reorganise and join agricultural cooperatives to become stronger and encourage them to maintain competitiveness, to help them become market leaders in the community and to unite in how to sell and bargain with rice millers to satisfy market needs.
More importantly, farmers need to become entrepreneurs because they need to transform from being just farmers to becoming entrepreneurs, said Song.
“Being an entrepreneur means they can innovate products, create new products, design, get information, conduct contract farming, improve their business model, maintain production, get easier access to finance, digitalise – all this they need to know. If they do not know it, I do not think we can compete with farmers in Thailand, Vietnam, India, the US [etc],” Song added.
Song said that farmers do not know how to manage water resources or how to use nutrients or  fertilisers. They need to learn and mitigate against climate change regarding crop tolerance make use of pesticides properly.
“The most important thing, they [farmers] must start to think about is exports, but they do not know the information the market needs and what the standards are,” he added.
Song mentioned that investment in rice mills in the last three to five years is declining in the rice sector compared with real estate and construction. He said that If there is more investment in infrastructure in rice production, it will make Cambodia competitive in the long term.
Cambodia’s potential is not only for rice, but for cassava, cashew nuts and other main crops that farmers can adopt and cultivate after the rice harvest can generate more income for their family across the whole year.
Veena Reddy, USAID Cambodia mission director, said the agriculture sector is important for the Cambodian economy and it contributes a lot to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 40 percent of the nation’s workforce, helping to develop Cambodia.
She added that Cambodia has the potential in rice and would like to achieve similar success in other major crops, such as pepper, cassava, maize, soybeans, and cashew nuts. Farmers must also move up to the agriculture value chain from raw goods to processed exports.
“Improving productivity using with technology can help Cambodian agriculture become competitive in the global market. High-quality modern technology, packaging, food safety and other equipment is in demand by the Cambodian agriculture sector to meet export standards,” Reddy said.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50683980/farmers-need-new-skills-technology-and-research-to-become-international

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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE > BUSINESS
Bulgaria invites Pakistan to invest in SEZs
By  Our Correspondent
Published: January 26, 2020
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PHOTO: REUTERS
LAHORE: Tax holidays, lowest taxes and duties and an overall tax rate of around 10% make Bulgaria a lucrative destination for investment, which Pakistani businessmen should explore by joining hands with their Bulgarian counterparts, said Bulgarian Ambassador Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov.
Speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the envoy said that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Bulgaria had all the facilities for investors.
While recognising the strong diplomatic and political relations between Bulgaria and Pakistan, spanning over 55 years, he stressed that private sectors of both countries should interact with each other, exchange trade and industry-related information to cement mutual trade and economic ties.
“Bulgaria is an EU member state and enjoys a lot of benefits in this respect. It can be a gateway to the European Union for Pakistani businessmen,” remarked the ambassador. “Bulgaria is connected with Pakistan by road via Iran, therefore, trade is more convenient between the two countries,” he pointed out.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh appreciated Bulgaria for its continued support for the GSP Plus status, given to Pakistan by the European Union, which was of critical importance in boosting Pak-EU trade relations.
Sheikh pointed out that the total trade volume between Pakistan and Bulgaria had averaged around $33 million over the past few years, which did not reflect the actual potential of bilateral trade.
To enhance the trade volume, he said, there was a need to capitalise on the progress made at the second session of Pakistan-Bulgaria Inter-Governmental Commission on Economic Cooperation held in Islamabad last year, where both the countries agreed to enhance cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
Sheikh saw a considerable scope for enhancing imports by Bulgaria of Pakistan’s citrus fruit, mangoes, rice, value-added textile, dates, furniture and marble.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2020.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
Read more: Bulgaria , Business , China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE > BUSINESS
Bulgaria invites Pakistan to invest in SEZs
By  Our Correspondent
Published: January 26, 2020
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LAHORE: Tax holidays, lowest taxes and duties and an overall tax rate of around 10% make Bulgaria a lucrative destination for investment, which Pakistani businessmen should explore by joining hands with their Bulgarian counterparts, said Bulgarian Ambassador Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov.
Speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the envoy said that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Bulgaria had all the facilities for investors.
While recognising the strong diplomatic and political relations between Bulgaria and Pakistan, spanning over 55 years, he stressed that private sectors of both countries should interact with each other, exchange trade and industry-related information to cement mutual trade and economic ties.
“Bulgaria is an EU member state and enjoys a lot of benefits in this respect. It can be a gateway to the European Union for Pakistani businessmen,” remarked the ambassador. “Bulgaria is connected with Pakistan by road via Iran, therefore, trade is more convenient between the two countries,” he pointed out.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh appreciated Bulgaria for its continued support for the GSP Plus status, given to Pakistan by the European Union, which was of critical importance in boosting Pak-EU trade relations.
Sheikh pointed out that the total trade volume between Pakistan and Bulgaria had averaged around $33 million over the past few years, which did not reflect the actual potential of bilateral trade.
To enhance the trade volume, he said, there was a need to capitalise on the progress made at the second session of Pakistan-Bulgaria Inter-Governmental Commission on Economic Cooperation held in Islamabad last year, where both the countries agreed to enhance cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
Sheikh saw a considerable scope for enhancing imports by Bulgaria of Pakistan’s citrus fruit, mangoes, rice, value-added textile, dates, furniture and marble.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2020.
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FBR unit unearths novel way of evading tax
Mubarak Zeb KhanUpdated January 25, 2020
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Preliminary investigations have revealed tax evasion of billions in just three cases that fall under the category of money laundering. — APP/File
ISLAMABAD: The Direc¬torate General of Intelligence and Investigation (DG I&I) of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has unearthed several cases involving business concerns that park money in far-flung areas after making cash transactions in order to avoid taxes.
Preliminary investigations have revealed tax evasion of billions in just three cases that fall under the category of money laundering.
“The government has decided to investigate the origins of these accounts and will try to conclude the probe by taxing the amounts [involved] under relevant tax laws,” a senior official told Dawn on Friday.
He said the cases would be dealt with under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 and Benami (Prohibitions) Act, 2017. Strange patterns of tax evasion are emerging but the government is committed to documenting the economy so that everybody is liable to pay tax, according to the official.
Official documents seen by this reporter show that the Hyderabad chapter of DG I&I has filed three complaints with the Court of Special Judge Customs, Taxation and Anti-Smuggling, Karachi, under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.
Raids carried out on properties of several business concerns
The complaints have been filed against three persons — Hikmat¬ullah, Abdul Nafay and Hayat¬ullah — after thorough investigations. According to sources, the amounts received in the accounts of these individuals are far grea¬ter than what their tax declarations suggest. It was found that between 2014 and 2018 Hikmat¬ullah, who is reportedly a scrap dealer, had multiple bank accounts.
He declared receipts of Rs1.57 million and paid no income tax. However, the bank credits amounted to Rs10.5bn.
According to FBR, Hikmatullah concealed his true revenue/turnover/income from the government with the intention of evading due taxes on his income. His is a sole-proprietorship business, but he indulged in high-level financial activity in his bank accounts.
The tax evasion estimated in this case comes to about Rs5.64bn.
In the second case, Abdul Nafay, who also is running a sole-proprietorship business, declared receipts of Rs3.39m and paid no income tax during the period from 2014 to 2018. However, the bank credits are amounting to Rs6.61bn.
The document shows Nafay is a wholesaler of rice and dry fruits and is maintaining several accounts in different banks for business transactions. It is estimated that the tax amount evaded comes to about Rs3.6bn.
Another wholesaler of rice and dry fruits, Hayatullah, is maintaining several accounts in different banks for business transactions. From 2014 to 2018 he declared receipts of Rs1.45m and paid only Rs51,000 as income tax. However, the bank credits are amounting to Rs1.96bn.
The FBR estimates a tax evasion of over Rs1bn in the case of Hayatullah.
According to the documents, the regional directorates of I&I in Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar and Islamabad have also conducted raids on properties of fraudsters in different sectors.
The Faisalabad directorate conducted raids on properties of two unregistered persons from the engineering sector, who were engaged in taxable supplies without paying any sales tax in Sargodha. The names of their units are M/s Muhammad Ashraf Engineering Works and M/s Ali Raza Haider & Brothers Engineering Works, Sargodha.
A scrutiny of impounded records is under way to ascertain the size of tax fraud in this case.
The Multan directorate of I&I carried out a raid on the premises of Malik Plastic Factory, which is engaged in manufacturing and supplying shopping bags and other plastic products without being registered for sales tax. The said business is paying electricity bills of about Rs11.728m per annum and making supplies of approximately Rs60m but paying no sales tax.
Similarly, the Peshawar directorate impounded a huge number of illegal filter rods in Mardan during the ongoing campaign against counterfeit cigarettes. Evaded amount of Federal Excise Duty is expected to run into millions in this case.
The Islamabad directorate of I&I conducted a raid on a leading uniform brand — M/s Saqib Brothers — which too was engaged in making taxable supplies without getting registered for sales tax.
According to the tax official, proceedings are under way in all these cases. Director General of I&I Dr Bashirullah Khan has advised his teams to complete the investigations as soon as possible.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2020
https://www.dawn.com/news/1530405/fbr-unit-unearths-novel-way-of-evading-tax

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 their records with us. We haven’t identified the traders,” he said


Read more: https://business.inquirer.net/288907/govt-cracks-down-on-rice-importers-dummies#ixzz6CPr65CIp
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

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• Bulgarian Ambassador Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov calls for joint ventures
Bulgarian Ambassador Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov Calls For Joint Ventures
 4 days ago  Sat 25th January 2020 | 05:03 PM

Bulgarian Ambassador Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov said on Saturday that lowest duties and tax rates, overall taxes were around 10 per cent and also tax holidays had made his country a lucrative destination for investment
LAHORE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2020 ) :Bulgarian Ambassador Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov said on Saturday that lowest duties and tax rates, overall taxes were around 10 per cent and also tax holidays had made his country a lucrative destination for investment. Pakistani businessmen should avail this opportunity by joining hands with their Bulgarian counterparts.
Talking to business community here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), the Ambassador said that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Bulgaria had all facility for investors. He mentioned that Pakistan and Bulgaria had deep diplomatic relations of over 55 years and there were also political relations among the two countries but this was the time to bring private sectors of the two countries closer to each other.
Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov said that there was a dire need to exchange trade and industry related information to cement mutual trade and economic ties. "Bulgaria is EU (European Union) member state and enjoys a lot of benefits in this respect. Bulgaria can be a gateway to European Union for Pakistani businessmen, as Bulgaria is connected with Pakistan by road via Iran so that the trade is more convenient among the two countries," he maintained.
LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that Pakistan and Bulgaria enjoyed cordial diplomatic, political and economic relations. He appreciated Bulgaria for its continued support for GSP Plus status which had critical importance in boosting Pakistan-EU trade relations. Total trade volume between Pakistan and Bulgaria had been averaging around US $ 33 million for the last few years that did not reflect the actual potential of bilateral trade, he argued.
To enhance the trade volume, he stressed the need to capitalize on the progress made at 2nd Session of Pakistan-Bulgaria Inter-Governmental Commission on Economic Cooperation held in Islamabad last year in May where both countries agreed to enhance cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
He said that there was a considerable scope for Bulgaria to enhance its imports of citrus fruit, mangoes, rice, value-added textiles, dates, furniture and marble etc. from Pakistan. The potential areas where Pakistan and Bulgaria could enhance economic cooperation through joint ventures were information technology, food processing, automotive, livestock, tourism, agriculture technology, maritime and railways etc., he added.
Irfan Iqbal suggested to connect private sectors of both countries for exploiting potential opportunities and it could be done through exchange of export-oriented delegations and participation in trade fairs and exhibitions. He hoped that this spirit of friendship and cooperation would go a long way in enhancing the trade relations between the two countries.
Lahore Chamber's Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad said that economic relations between Pakistan and Bulgaria could be further strengthened through exchange of trade delegations, single country exhibitions, trade fairs and catalogue shows. He was of the view that establishment of Pak-Bulgaria Business Forum could also be helpful to enhance trade cooperation. He also suggested appointing an Honorary Consul of Bulgaria in Lahore.
Sheikh Khurram Aftab and LCCI Executive Committee Members Fiaz Haider were also present.
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/bulgarian-ambassador-aleksandar-borisov-paras-819194.html


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The Observer
Coronavirus outbreak
Coronavirus: from one food market to global panic
China was praised for its early response to the disease

Emma Graham-Harrison and Michael Standaert
Sun 26 Jan 2020 04.20 GMTLast modified on Tue 28 Jan 2020 14.19 GMT
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 Coronavirus: what you need to know – video explainer
In the final days of 2019, Xia Qingqing joined her parents for a late-night dinner just 200 metres away from the now-notorious South China seafood market, in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
It has since been identified as the source of the new coronavirus that has infected more than 1,400 people worldwide, killed more than 40 and plunged China into chaos. Just as hundreds of millions of people should be reuniting with their families to celebrate the biggest holiday of the year, the lunar new year, swathes of the country have been put on lockdown and celebrations all but called off.
As Xia and her parents tucked into a special winter rice and egg porridge on 27 December, even city authorities may not have known that the virus had started spreading around the city.
It was not until three days later that they put out a public warning about a “pneumonia of unknown cause” which doctors had identified in Wuhan, and four days later that national authorities filed their first report about the outbreak with the World Health Organisation.
In early January, 36-year-old Xia started running a low fever. By then, authorities had closed the seafood market for disinfection, and identified 44 patients with the unknown pneumonia.
But when she went to a local hospital on 4 January for a check-up, no one asked Xia about possible links to the market, or mentioned the mystery new illness. Doctors told her to go home, rest and take over-the-counter medication.
She followed their advice but her condition continued to worsen. Her fever intensified, she started having respiratory problems, and eating or drinking became painful.
Her illness was developing in tandem with knowledge about the mysterious new outbreak. On 9 January, China announced it had identified a new coronavirus, from the same family that caused the 2002 Sars outbreak, in one of the Wuhan patients. Like all viruses in the corona family, it had originated in an animal; scientists were already racing to uncover the source.
The next day, authorities announced the first death from the disease and released the genetic sequence of the new virus online for study, winning plaudits for an approach that seemed very different from the official cover-up that exacerbated the Sars crisis.
There were even hopes that Beijing might have managed to stop the outbreak before it had really begun. On 13 January, Chinese authorities said they had not identified any new cases for over a week; and although a first case was reported outside the country in a traveller to China, she had first developed symptoms days earlier.
If the disease came only from eating some kind of infected animal, and the market where it had originated was shut, there was perhaps a real possibility that no further cases would appear.
But it has now emerged that even though China freely shared details of the cases it had identified in the early days of January, doctors on the ground in the city where the disease began were not testing widely for the new virus as the month progressed.
There is growing concern that a failure to carry out comprehensive testing during the early days of the outbreak could have helped the virus spread.



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 Scanning the body heat of passengers at Rome airport.
Xia believes she is one of many victims who do not show up in statistics; she was finally admitted to hospital on the day after the genetic code was released. Despite her link to the market at the centre of the outbreak, and symptoms that matched those of confirmed victims, she was never tested.
“Before there were any testing kits, which was before 16 January, I was regarded as a highly suspected case, meaning that I showed almost all of the symptoms,” Xia told the Observer.
But the hospital was already struggling with a sharp increase in patients showing symptoms that matched the reported coronavirus ones. Xia estimates that there were only two doctors on staff to check hundreds of people seeking help.
Terribly overstretched, they focused only on the most serious cases and so on 20 January doctors discharged Xia into the care of her parents, without even formally noting her link to the South China seafood market on medical notes.
That was the day China confirmed the disease could be spread between humans, rather than just picked up direct from an animal source.
The number of patients had tripled, cases had appeared in other major cities, including the capital Beijing, and in a sign of official concern, the country’s authoritarian president, Xi Jinping, made his first comments on the virus, saying it must be “resolutely contained”.
Yet Xia was sent home, still sick, without having been tested. She is being cared for by her parents, but is terrified she might infect them; they try to protect themselves by staying five metres away from her at all times.
Three days later, China stunned its citizens and the world by putting Wuhan under quarantine. From the morning of 23 January, no trains, planes or public transport would be allowed to leave the city; roadblocks later stopped most private cars from leaving either.
Closing off a major industrial and commercial hub, home to 11 million people, was the bluntest possible admission that Beijing was now extremely worried about the new disease. Further decisive action included a pledge to build a new 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to the disease in under a week, and a second within two weeks.
Work has already started on the first, and given China’s track record of throwing up a similar hospital in Beijing during the Sars crisis, there is little doubt that the prefabricated facility will be finished in this extraordinary timescale.
And in a sign that authorities had shifted from trying to downplay the disease, a very last-minute tribute to the doctors and nurses battling the disease was included in the new year television gala show, one of the most high-profile broadcasts of the year.
By the time lunar new year’s day dawned , the government had gone even further. More than 50 million people were in lockdown across the country, and nearly every province in China had declared a “level 1” health emergency, the most serious kind, which allows quarantines and other serious measures.
Yet all this may come too late to ward off a major public health crisis, infectious disease experts have warned. Yi Guan, a senior Hong Kong-based virologist who helped identify the cause of the Sars virus, said he was much more worried about this disease, and feared the window for controlling its spread might already have closed.
“I’ve never felt scared. This time I’m scared,” Yi, who heads the University of Hong Kong’s state key laboratory of emerging infectious diseases, told China’s influential Caixin magazine.
He visited Wuhan expecting to find the city on a “war footing” but instead was met with chaos and incompetence.
“I don’t think the local government has done what it should do,” he said. “They haven’t even been handing out quarantine guides to people who were leaving.”



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 Empty shelves at a supermarket in Wuhan. Photograph: Yuan Zheng/EPA
The coronavirus could hardly have emerged at a worse time for Chinese authorities, appearing in the weeks before the lunar new year, China’s most important holiday. It is usually the occasion for the biggest human migration on the planet – up to 3 billion trips – as people race home to celebrate with family, travelling on packed trains, buses and planes.
For the army of migrant workers from rural towns and villages who have powered decades of economic growth in China, it can be the only time in the year they get to return home and see their children and parents who have stayed behind.
Even as the scale of the crisis became apparent, millions whose travel plans did not take them near Wuhan packed their bags and set off for the annual reunion, although many journeys were longer than usual.
Evidence that patients may be able to carry the disease without any fever, cough or other common symptoms has added to concern. Tests have showed that a child in one family who did not appear unwell was in fact carrying the disease, the Lancet has reported.
But widespread apprehension has changed the nature of the celebration. Normally a time for parties and celebration, banquets and fireworks, instead across the country – even in places far from the centre or any reported cases – people were cancelling their party plans and staying home.
Streets, malls and restaurants were empty, attractions from the Great Wall to the Forbidden City and Shanghai’s Disneyland had closed, and from Monday all group tourism – domestic and foreign – will be suspended.
Instead, many people stayed at home, and took to the internet to find out more about the crisis. From the early days of the outbreak, warnings were appearing on China’s vibrant but censored social media. In early January, eight people were arrested for “spreading hoaxes” about what came to be known as the coronavirus, AFP reported.
Weeks later, vast numbers of people were turning to the internet for information about the crisis, as state media downplayed it and kept it off the front page of official papers, such as the People’s Daily, and out of the main headlines on key television news programmes.
On Saturday, discussion about the disease on micro-blogging site Weibo had reached 8 billion views, according to the What’s on Weibo website. “It’s very rare to see news topics get this big,” site editor Manya Koetse said on Twitter.
By Saturday evening, China had confirmed it was dealing with a total of 1,372 confirmed cases, and a death toll of 41. Together with cases identified outside China – spread from Australia to the United States and France – more than 1,400 people have been infected. By comparison, during the main Sars epidemic, which lasted from late 2002 until July 2003, in total 8,098 people got sick, and 774 died.
Although most of the victims who have died from this new coronavirus have been older, and some have been in bad health, more people could be at risk if overwhelmed hospitals are not able to treat those with the disease. There is no cure or vaccine, but medical support can help patients’ own immune systems to fight the disease.
Xia – who is no longer feverish but has a bad cough, often producing blood – says she is comforted by the actions of the central government now in taking control.
“At this point I think the focus should be on how, together, we’re going to pull through,” she said. But she thinks Wuhan officials will bear the brunt of scrutiny in coming weeks and months.
“There can be no doubt they simply missed the best time for containing the outbreak,” she said. “The Wuhan government didn’t offer timely and effective support to hospitals in terms of medical materials … they failed to raise awareness among the public.”
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Congress slams Vijayvargiya for his ‘poha’ comment
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NEW DELHI, JANUARY 24, 2020 20:14 IST
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“He has connected the food of the construction worker to his nationality and called them the infiltrators,” said Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev.
The Congress on Friday slammed senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya for his remarks that ‘labourers who had eaten poha (flattened rice) while working at his residence looked like illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ and demanded an apology.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev said “this is the real face of the government which is watching your eating habits”.
“We condemn the statement made by Vijayvargiya ji. He has connected the food of the construction worker to his nationality and called them the infiltrators,” said Ms. Dev.
“If a responsible senior leader of the BJP like Mr. Vijayvargiya can today declare someone as a foreign infiltrator because he or she is having ‘poha’ as is being reported, you can profile a census on nationality and connect it to national security. This is the reason why we are saying that this Government will use the National Population Register (NPR) for profiling people,” she added.
“This is the way we suspect the government will conduct the NPR [survey] to do profiling on the basis of religion, on the basis of community, on the basis of language and now even food.”
The controversy erupted after Mr. Vijayvargiya claimed that he suspected that the labourers who had been engaged for construction work at his Indore house could be Bangladeshis as they had ‘strange’ eating habits.
“Two days after I became suspicious, they stopped working at my house. I have not filed any police complaint yet. I only mentioned this incident to warn people,” the BJP leader was reported as having said while speaking at a meet to support the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
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https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/congress-slams-vijayvargiya-for-his-poha-comment/article30645405.ece

January 24, 2020 January 23, 2020 / Local News / By Catholic Herald / Leave a Comment

 Image courtesy of Thinkstock.com
SDCCW scholarship
The Superior Diocese Council of Catholic Women will award four $500 Scholarships for women completing their second year of post-high school education, continuing their education for career advancement or returning to the work field. To apply, contact Mary Werner at 715-748-4709 or email werner@tds.net. Winners will be notified by phone or email and recognized at the 70th Annual SDCCW Convention June 16 at St. Joseph’s, Rice Lake. Applications must be postmarked by April 15
DOS service event
On May 2, the Diocese of Superior is hosting a Service Immersion – Corporal Works of Mercy event on burying the dead.
There will be a group formation, prayer and service experience at the St. Anthony de Padua Parish Hall and Cemetery in Tony. Participants will have an hour of learning on the Corporal Works of Mercy and then head to the cemetery to clean head stones and pray for those who have been laid to eternal rest.
More specific details will be provided to those who register for this opportunity.
Life in the Spirit Seminar
The Diocese of Superior’s Life in the Spirit Seminar, Saturday, Jan. 25, at St. Bridget, River Falls, serves as an introduction to a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is an invitation to make or renew a deep personal commitment to Jesus Christ in openness to the Holy Spirit and his gifts. The event, which includes talks, reflections, discussions and more, is from 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Cost is $5. For information, contact Mary Joan Sutton, 715-441-9699.
Retrouvaille retreat
Retrouvaille, a “rediscovery” weekend retreat for married couples, is designed to help couples reestablish communication and gain insight into themselves as individuals and as a couple. Central Wisconsin Retrouvaille is Feb. 14-16 at St. Anthony’s Spirituality Center, Marathon. For more information or to register, call 877-922-4673 or visit www.helpourmarriage.org.
Lent begins Feb. 26
Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26, marks the beginning of Lent and is also one of the prescribed Special Days of Prayer in the Diocese of Superior. The focus of this day is for the general needs of humankind.
World Day of the Sick
World Day of the Sick, Feb. 11, is sponsored by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care and has been celebrated since 1992 on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. This celebration is a reminder to pray for all those who are sick and to recognize and honor those who work in healthcare and those who serve as caregivers.
Rite of Election March 1
The Rite of Election/Call to Continuing Conversion always falls on the First Sunday of Lent. It will be celebrated March 1 by Bishop James P. Powers at 3 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Superior.
Magnify at St. Joseph, Rice Lake
“Magnify: A Season of Hope,” a teen and parent event, will take place 5-8 p.m. March 4 at St. Joseph, Rice Lake. The Lent event includes Mass, adoration, pizza, music and a talk by Jon Konz. Visit stjosephricelake.com to register.
Music Ministry Retreat upcoming
The Music Ministry Retreat and Workshop is Feb. 7-8 at Holy Family Church, Woodruff. The presenter is ValLimar Jansen, a dynamic singer, composer and leader of worship. “We’re looking forward to ValLimar’s assistance to us as the presenter for our annual event,” said Paul Birch, director of the Office of Worship. “In sharing her wonderful abilities as storyteller, composer and performer, she will help us make the connection between pastoral music and evangelization in a way that is joyful, heartfelt and rooted in our understanding of the Eucharist.”
Friday events begin at 5 p.m. and include dinner and a concert, while Saturday includes presentations and lunch. The Friday evening concert, 7-8:15 p.m., is open to the public, $10 at the door and free for ages 12 and younger. For registration, see www.catholicdos.org/pastoral-musicians.
La Crosse releases offender list
The Diocese of La Crosse published the list of clergy with substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse Jan. 18. The list of names and other information is available on the diocesan website, diolc.org, under the Protect and Heal banner. The release coincided with a pastoral letter from Bishop William Callahan, which was read at weekend Masses throughout the diocese. The list was published after a comprehensive and independent audit of all clergy files dating back to 1868 by the independent audit firm Defenbaugh & Associates, Inc. Established in 1868, the Diocese of La Crosse serves nearly 200,000 Catholics in 19 counties.
Regional events for adults
For women
“Embracing Your Call to Holiness,” a women’s retreat, is Saturday, March 7, at St. Mary’s Community Center in Altoona. Sponsored by the La Crosse Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, the featured speaker for the day is Laura Boronski, singer, songwriter, wife and mother of eight. Check-in and registration will take place from 8-9:30 a.m., with optional confessions, rosary and Mass starting at 7:30 a.m. The first presentation will be at 10 a.m., followed by lunch and an afternoon presentation. Learn more at www.ldccw.org.
The Women of Faith Conference is Saturday, March 28, at Marshall School in Duluth. The 2020 theme is “Worthy” and keynote speaker is radio host Deby Schlapprizzi.
For men
Duluth’s 2020 Men of Faith Conference is Saturday, Feb. 29, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Marshall School in Duluth. The presenter is the “Dynamic Deacon,” Harold Burke-Sivers. The daylong conference will consist of four talks on the theme of “Men on Fire.” There will also be confessions and Mass. For details and registration information, visit www.dioceseofduluth.org. The cost is $30 before Feb. 17, $15 for college and high school students.
The 2020 Archdiocesan Men’s Conference is March 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights with keynote speaker Fr. Paul Scalia. More information at www.archspm.org/
faith-communities/men.
Phelps parish to host reflection
Rescheduled due to inclement weather, the morning reflection titled “You Are Not Alone, And Never Were” was moved from Saturday, Jan. 18, to Saturday, Feb. 1. The retreat will be held at St. Mary’s Parish in Phelps from 9 a.m. to noon and will include prayer, music and discussion.
The interactive morning will explore God’s presence in one’s life within the ups and downs, good times and challenges, and will provide an opportunity to complete an autobiographical sketch of a personal sacred journey with the Lord.
Event leaders will be Joseph Abel, Ph.D., and Sharon Abel, Ph.D., parishioners at Nativity of Our Lord Parish in Rhinelander. The couple had been involved with ministry and faith formation for more than 40 years before recently retiring to Rhinelander.
For more information or to register, contact Michele Rein at 715-547-3558.
March for Life pilgrimage in progress
A group from the Diocese of Superior left Tuesday, Jan. 21, for Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual March for Life. The high school students, their families and chaperones will return Sunday, Jan. 26, and will visit several sites during the pilgrimage. The March is Friday, Jan. 24. More details and photos will be published in an upcoming issue.
https://superiorcatholicherald.org/news/local-news/diocesan-news-briefs-6/

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Coronavirus outbreak
Coronavirus: from one food market to global panic
China was praised for its early response to the disease

Emma Graham-Harrison and Michael Standaert
Sun 26 Jan 2020 04.20 GMTLast modified on Tue 28 Jan 2020 14.19 GMT
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 Coronavirus: what you need to know – video explainer
In the final days of 2019, Xia Qingqing joined her parents for a late-night dinner just 200 metres away from the now-notorious South China seafood market, in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
It has since been identified as the source of the new coronavirus that has infected more than 1,400 people worldwide, killed more than 40 and plunged China into chaos. Just as hundreds of millions of people should be reuniting with their families to celebrate the biggest holiday of the year, the lunar new year, swathes of the country have been put on lockdown and celebrations all but called off.
As Xia and her parents tucked into a special winter rice and egg porridge on 27 December, even city authorities may not have known that the virus had started spreading around the city.
It was not until three days later that they put out a public warning about a “pneumonia of unknown cause” which doctors had identified in Wuhan, and four days later that national authorities filed their first report about the outbreak with the World Health Organisation.
In early January, 36-year-old Xia started running a low fever. By then, authorities had closed the seafood market for disinfection, and identified 44 patients with the unknown pneumonia.
But when she went to a local hospital on 4 January for a check-up, no one asked Xia about possible links to the market, or mentioned the mystery new illness. Doctors told her to go home, rest and take over-the-counter medication.
She followed their advice but her condition continued to worsen. Her fever intensified, she started having respiratory problems, and eating or drinking became painful.
Her illness was developing in tandem with knowledge about the mysterious new outbreak. On 9 January, China announced it had identified a new coronavirus, from the same family that caused the 2002 Sars outbreak, in one of the Wuhan patients. Like all viruses in the corona family, it had originated in an animal; scientists were already racing to uncover the source.
The next day, authorities announced the first death from the disease and released the genetic sequence of the new virus online for study, winning plaudits for an approach that seemed very different from the official cover-up that exacerbated the Sars crisis.
There were even hopes that Beijing might have managed to stop the outbreak before it had really begun. On 13 January, Chinese authorities said they had not identified any new cases for over a week; and although a first case was reported outside the country in a traveller to China, she had first developed symptoms days earlier.
If the disease came only from eating some kind of infected animal, and the market where it had originated was shut, there was perhaps a real possibility that no further cases would appear.
But it has now emerged that even though China freely shared details of the cases it had identified in the early days of January, doctors on the ground in the city where the disease began were not testing widely for the new virus as the month progressed.
There is growing concern that a failure to carry out comprehensive testing during the early days of the outbreak could have helped the virus spread.



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 Scanning the body heat of passengers at Rome airport.
Xia believes she is one of many victims who do not show up in statistics; she was finally admitted to hospital on the day after the genetic code was released. Despite her link to the market at the centre of the outbreak, and symptoms that matched those of confirmed victims, she was never tested.
“Before there were any testing kits, which was before 16 January, I was regarded as a highly suspected case, meaning that I showed almost all of the symptoms,” Xia told the Observer.
But the hospital was already struggling with a sharp increase in patients showing symptoms that matched the reported coronavirus ones. Xia estimates that there were only two doctors on staff to check hundreds of people seeking help.
Terribly overstretched, they focused only on the most serious cases and so on 20 January doctors discharged Xia into the care of her parents, without even formally noting her link to the South China seafood market on medical notes.
That was the day China confirmed the disease could be spread between humans, rather than just picked up direct from an animal source.
The number of patients had tripled, cases had appeared in other major cities, including the capital Beijing, and in a sign of official concern, the country’s authoritarian president, Xi Jinping, made his first comments on the virus, saying it must be “resolutely contained”.
Yet Xia was sent home, still sick, without having been tested. She is being cared for by her parents, but is terrified she might infect them; they try to protect themselves by staying five metres away from her at all times.
Three days later, China stunned its citizens and the world by putting Wuhan under quarantine. From the morning of 23 January, no trains, planes or public transport would be allowed to leave the city; roadblocks later stopped most private cars from leaving either.
Closing off a major industrial and commercial hub, home to 11 million people, was the bluntest possible admission that Beijing was now extremely worried about the new disease. Further decisive action included a pledge to build a new 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to the disease in under a week, and a second within two weeks.
Work has already started on the first, and given China’s track record of throwing up a similar hospital in Beijing during the Sars crisis, there is little doubt that the prefabricated facility will be finished in this extraordinary timescale.
And in a sign that authorities had shifted from trying to downplay the disease, a very last-minute tribute to the doctors and nurses battling the disease was included in the new year television gala show, one of the most high-profile broadcasts of the year.
By the time lunar new year’s day dawned , the government had gone even further. More than 50 million people were in lockdown across the country, and nearly every province in China had declared a “level 1” health emergency, the most serious kind, which allows quarantines and other serious measures.
Yet all this may come too late to ward off a major public health crisis, infectious disease experts have warned. Yi Guan, a senior Hong Kong-based virologist who helped identify the cause of the Sars virus, said he was much more worried about this disease, and feared the window for controlling its spread might already have closed.
“I’ve never felt scared. This time I’m scared,” Yi, who heads the University of Hong Kong’s state key laboratory of emerging infectious diseases, told China’s influential Caixin magazine.
He visited Wuhan expecting to find the city on a “war footing” but instead was met with chaos and incompetence.
“I don’t think the local government has done what it should do,” he said. “They haven’t even been handing out quarantine guides to people who were leaving.”



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 Empty shelves at a supermarket in Wuhan. Photograph: Yuan Zheng/EPA
The coronavirus could hardly have emerged at a worse time for Chinese authorities, appearing in the weeks before the lunar new year, China’s most important holiday. It is usually the occasion for the biggest human migration on the planet – up to 3 billion trips – as people race home to celebrate with family, travelling on packed trains, buses and planes.
For the army of migrant workers from rural towns and villages who have powered decades of economic growth in China, it can be the only time in the year they get to return home and see their children and parents who have stayed behind.
Even as the scale of the crisis became apparent, millions whose travel plans did not take them near Wuhan packed their bags and set off for the annual reunion, although many journeys were longer than usual.
Evidence that patients may be able to carry the disease without any fever, cough or other common symptoms has added to concern. Tests have showed that a child in one family who did not appear unwell was in fact carrying the disease, the Lancet has reported.
But widespread apprehension has changed the nature of the celebration. Normally a time for parties and celebration, banquets and fireworks, instead across the country – even in places far from the centre or any reported cases – people were cancelling their party plans and staying home.
Streets, malls and restaurants were empty, attractions from the Great Wall to the Forbidden City and Shanghai’s Disneyland had closed, and from Monday all group tourism – domestic and foreign – will be suspended.
Instead, many people stayed at home, and took to the internet to find out more about the crisis. From the early days of the outbreak, warnings were appearing on China’s vibrant but censored social media. In early January, eight people were arrested for “spreading hoaxes” about what came to be known as the coronavirus, AFP reported.
Weeks later, vast numbers of people were turning to the internet for information about the crisis, as state media downplayed it and kept it off the front page of official papers, such as the People’s Daily, and out of the main headlines on key television news programmes.
On Saturday, discussion about the disease on micro-blogging site Weibo had reached 8 billion views, according to the What’s on Weibo website. “It’s very rare to see news topics get this big,” site editor Manya Koetse said on Twitter.
By Saturday evening, China had confirmed it was dealing with a total of 1,372 confirmed cases, and a death toll of 41. Together with cases identified outside China – spread from Australia to the United States and France – more than 1,400 people have been infected. By comparison, during the main Sars epidemic, which lasted from late 2002 until July 2003, in total 8,098 people got sick, and 774 died.
Although most of the victims who have died from this new coronavirus have been older, and some have been in bad health, more people could be at risk if overwhelmed hospitals are not able to treat those with the disease. There is no cure or vaccine, but medical support can help patients’ own immune systems to fight the disease.
Xia – who is no longer feverish but has a bad cough, often producing blood – says she is comforted by the actions of the central government now in taking control.
“At this point I think the focus should be on how, together, we’re going to pull through,” she said. But she thinks Wuhan officials will bear the brunt of scrutiny in coming weeks and months.
“There can be no doubt they simply missed the best time for containing the outbreak,” she said. “The Wuhan government didn’t offer timely and effective support to hospitals in terms of medical materials … they failed to raise awareness among the public.”
As 2020 begins…
… we’re asking readers, like you, to make a new year contribution in support of the Guardian’s open, independent journalism. This has been a turbulent decade across the world – protest, populism, mass migration and the escalating climate crisis. The Guardian has been in every corner of the globe, reporting with tenacity, rigour and authority on the most critical events of our lifetimes. At a time when factual information is both scarcer and more essential than ever, we believe that each of us deserves access to accurate reporting with integrity at its heart.
More people than ever before are reading and supporting our journalism, in more than 180 countries around the world. And this is only possible because we made a different choice: to keep our reporting open for all, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay.
We have upheld our editorial independence in the face of the disintegration of traditional media – with social platforms giving rise to misinformation, the seemingly unstoppable rise of big tech and independent voices being squashed by commercial ownership. The Guardian’s independence means we can set our own agenda and voice our own opinions. Our journalism is free from commercial and political bias – never influenced by billionaire owners or shareholders. This makes us different. It means we can challenge the powerful without fear and give a voice to those less heard.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/26/coronavirus-from-food-market-to-global-panic-response-mistakes


Universities must share their oppressive pasts
Evadne Kelly and Carla Rice  25 January 2020
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For the first time, a Canadian university – the University of Guelph – is reconciling with its history of teaching eugenics. Few universities in Canada have looked closely at their historical involvement in oppressive research, teaching and practice. Fewer still have made their archives accessible.

Through the first half of the 1900s, the eugenics movement had close ties to post-secondary institutions. For example, leaders at the University of Alberta also engaged in the eugenics movement and at the Alberta Eugenics Board. Two of the three founding colleges of the University of Guelph – the Macdonald Institute and the Ontario Agricultural College – officially taught eugenics between 1914 and 1948.

Once, eugenics spread the deeply damaging idea that it is possible, and even desirable, to improve the human race through selective breeding. It ultimately spawned policies aimed at eradicating those deemed “unfit” through institutional confinement, restrictive marriage, immigration laws and sterilisation. Eugenics was considered a science from the early 1900s until the 1930s, when its scientific reputation began to decline and shift.

Exhibiting eugenics

Canadian universities have restricted access to those archives that implicate their institutions in profiting from oppressive ideas and practices. Kathryn Harvey, the school’s head archivist, made the University of Guelph archive available to us.

Using the archives, we developed a co-created, multimedia and multi-sensory exhibition at the Guelph Civic Museum called Into the Light: Eugenics and Education in Southern Ontario, which began in September 2019 and runs until March 2020. It is the first of its kind to bring to light the difficult history of Canadian university involvement in teaching eugenics.

Into the Light is co-created by Mona Stonefish (our project Elder), Peter Park, Dolleen Tisawii’ashii Manning, Evadne Kelly, Seika Boye and Sky Stonefish, with key supports from Carla Rice (ReVision Centre), Dawn Owen (Guelph Civic Museum) and Sue Hutton (Respecting Rights, a project at ARCH Disability Law Centre). It brings together Indigenous and disabled people who carry personal histories of forced confinement and sterilisation.

The exhibition embraces disability and decolonising curatorial practices that disrupt and unsettle. By presenting artistic, sensory and material expressions of memory through different formats, it “speaks the hard truths of colonialism” as Ho-Chunk scholar Amy Lonetree writes. By showing more than 30 years of eugenics course documents (1914-48) from the Macdonald Institute and Ontario Agricultural College, it is thus a rare opportunity to consider how eugenics was taught and practised in Ontario.

Teaching eugenics

In Into the Light, the eugenics course documents are accompanied by multiple perspectives. Take, for example, one of the course slides, entitled “Eugenical Classification of the Human Stock” that was initially displayed at the Second International Eugenics Congress in 1921.

The slide includes a chart which shows the connection between eugenics and British colonialism. In it, Cecil Rhodes is classified as a “superior” person of “genius”. In 1921, Rhodes was celebrated for his forceful British colonial and white supremacist agenda. Today, Rhodes is recognised as an early architect of apartheid, a policy that involved the systematic dehumanisation of South Africa’s Black population from 1948 to 1994.

Also shown on the chart are the eugenic traits of those whom eugenicists deemed to be “unfit”, including people classified as feeble-minded, poor, criminal and epileptic. In the process of claiming the land and its peoples, Canadian colonial administrators, officers, physicians, educators and scientists framed First Peoples as impaired and “mentally unfit” in order to justify their actions.

As decolonising scholar Karen Stote writes in An Act of Genocide, this was a precursor to unethical sterilisation and forced institutionalisation.

Food was often used to perpetuate colonialism. In a section of the exhibit at the Guelph Civic Museum, there is a stack of potato sacks, created by the artists, which shows a stereotypical image of an ‘Indian’ with ‘Eugenics Brand’ written on the sacks. Bright light streams between the sacks.

The sacks reveal the forced domestic and agricultural labour imposed on those who were placed, sometimes violently, in Ontario residential institutions.

The sacks are accompanied by the smell of rotting potato to evoke the feeling of being denied comfort and nutrition.

The eugenics course suppressed independent thinking and experiential knowledges. But Into The Light centres once-marginalised survivor experiences and encourages viewers to think critically.

The effect of eugenics

The exhibition has had a jarring impact on university students, especially those in psychology, sociology, human development, political science and social work who are aiming for careers in the same professions that once supported eugenics.

One psychology graduate student, for example, spoke about how his relationship towards the University of Guelph transformed after visiting the exhibition. When he learned about the university’s role in teaching eugenics, his pride quickly turned to feelings of discomfort and disorientation. But he became open and eager to change when he realised that the university chose to expose and address its history instead of trying to cover it up.

For survivors and aggrieved groups, the display of archival documents has had an impact also. One survivor of the Mohawk Institute and the Training School for Girls said she felt relieved and validated after decades of being silenced, denied and disbelieved – all of which compounded the crimes she experienced due to eugenics.

Dalhousie University and Ryerson University are two schools with close ties to 19th century figures who profited from oppression, enslavement and colonisation – Lord Dalhousie and Egerton Ryerson, respectively.

Both schools are coming to terms with these histories. They are establishing scholarly panels and consultation processes with aggrieved groups, that can address colonial, racist and ableist attitudes, policies and practices.

University archivists, librarians, researchers and administrators across the country should work with communities to find meaningful ways of making their archives accessible to those targeted by destructive ideas and practices. Uncovering hidden stories of the past calls into question our ways of doing things in the present; for aggrieved and justice-seeking groups, an open past opens up more just possibilities for the future.

Evadne Kelly is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Guelph and Carla Rice is professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Guelph, Canada. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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Five-year Programme Launched To Increase Rice Yield In 15 Distts
 3 days ago  Sun 26th January 2020 | 01:30 PM

SIALKOT, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Jan, 2020 ) ::A five-year programme costing Rs 6.63 billion has been launched under Agriculture Emergency a National Programme for enhancing profitability through increasing rice yield in 15 rice growing districts of Punjab.
Agriculture department sources told APP on Sunday that under the programme, special attention would be focused on the promotion of mechanized farming in these districts.
Under the programme, efforts would be made for timely sowing of identified ecological best verities through the promotion of direct seedling of rice drill in these districts.
The mechanized transplanting of rice nurseries would replace the outdated manual transplanting. The project was being carried out in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Okara, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib, Bahawalnager, Jhang, Narowal, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Chiniot, Gujrat, Lahore and Faisalabad districts where area under rice both Basmati and course verities would be brought under cultivation on 70,000 acres of land in these areas.
Under the programme, the government would provide riding type rice transplanter, walk-after typerice transplanter,nursery raising machine, direct seedling drill, rice straw chopper, water tight rotavator and knapsack power sprayer.
The government will also provide subsidy to the rice growers for purchasing tested paddy seeds and pesticides.
The government will also provide subsidy amounting Rs 1500 per acres to growers for encouraging combined harvesting.
The concept of the programme was to promote mechanized cultivation aimed at enhancing per acre yield. In this regard,the government would provide agricultural machinery to growers at concessional rates for encouraging mechanized agriculture and ensure economic benefits of the growers.
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/five-year-programme--to-increase-rice-819673.html

State to invite bids to hire 33 lakh tonne of foodgrain storage space
CITIES Updated: Jan 25, 2020 22:18 IST

Gurpreet Singh Nibber
Hindustan Times, Chandigarh

   
CHANDIGARH
The Punjab food and civil supplies department on Saturday conducted a pre-bid conference for building cover area plinth (CAP) for storing foodgrains with a total capacity of 33.5 lakh tonne. As many 50 private players took part in the conference.
Accepting the fact that it’s a crisis situation in Punjab as far as foodgrain (wheat and rice) storage is concerned, the Centre accepted state’s demand to allow hiring of more open spaces on which grain will be stored on a raised platform and covered with tarpaulin.
“It is a crisis situation. Our godowns are full as wheat and rice of previous two years is still to be moved out. So, we have asked for more space from the Government of India and we will float tenders soon,” agriculture director Anandita Mitra said.
The department has carried out storage gap analysis with state procurement agencies – Markfed, Punsup, Pungrain — and the Warehousing Corporation and will float tenders to invite bids. The bids will be called for storage for three years, she said, adding all districts in state need storage except Pathankot, Muktsar and Faridkot. Maximum shortage for storage space is in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Sangrur districts.
The conference was held in the presence of officials of the Food Corporation of India and state procurement agencies. The bid will be received till February 5 and opened on February 6 to be finalized by February 15. “After that, we have decided to a give deadline of 60 days till April 16 to make the storage space ready,” she said.
Creating a storage space of up to 5,000 tonnes of foodgrains involves an expenditure of ₹35 to ₹40 lakh.
Of the 111 lakh tonne wheat stored in state godowns, 63 lakh tonne is stored in covered godowns and 48 lakh tonnes in open facing the vagaries of weather. Apart from wheat, 84 lakh tonne of rice also stored in state godowns. In the rabi marketing season starting April 1, 135 lakh tonne of more wheat will come for storage in godowns.
What is worrying the state department is slow movement of rice and wheat from the state godowns to consuming states by the Food Corporation of India. The monthly movement of wheat form state is 7 lakh tonne and rice 6 lakh tonne, which 2 to 3 lakh tonne less the monthly average of the previous year. Also, arrangements are being made to store wheat in the rice mills temporarily.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/state-to-invite-bids-to-hire-33-lakh-tonne-of-foodgrain-storage-space/story-BczSNYiB9D43M1a0Lz0tVK.html

Organic Rice Market With Good Revenue Status Till 2025
Published
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According to 99Strategy, the Global Organic Rice Market is estimated to reach xxx million USD in 2019 and projected to grow at the CAGR of xx% during the 2020-2025. The report analyses the global Organic Rice market, the market size and growth, as well as the major market participants.
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Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction Market (2020 To 2027) | ABB Robotics , Arcelor Mittal , Asite Solutions , Bentley Systems

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 A new informative report on the global Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction market titled as, Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction has recently published by Contrive Datum Insights to its humongous database which helps to shape the future of the businesses by making well-informed business decisions. It offers a comprehensive analysis of various business aspects such as global market trends, recent technological advancements, market shares, size, and new innovations. Furthermore, this analytical data has been compiled through data exploratory techniques such as primary and secondary research. Moreover, an expert team of researchers throws light on various static as well as dynamic aspects of the global Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction market.
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Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview
Chapter 2 Industry Cost Structure and Economic Impact
Chapter 3 Rising Trends and New Technologies with Major key players
Chapter 4 Global Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction Market Analysis, Trends, Growth Factor
Chapter 5 Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction Market Application and Business with Potential Analysis
Chapter 6 Global Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction Market Segment, Type, Application
Chapter 7 Global Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction Market Analysis (by Application, Type, End User)
Chapter 8 Major Key Vendors Analysis of Digital Transformation on the Building and Construction Market
Chapter 9 Development Trend of Analysis
Chapter 10 Conclusion
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Farm machinery, equipment distributed to Manipur farmers
  NE NOW NEWS
IMPHAL , January 26, 2020 9:07 am
3 min read


Image: DIPR, Manipur

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Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh on Saturday distributed farm machinery and equipment to the farmers of the State during a distribution function at Iboyaima Sumang Leela Shanglen in Imphal.
The machinery and equipment distribution was held under under the Sub Mission of Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM), 2019-20.
Public health engineering minister Losii Dikho, deputy chairman of State Planning Board S Rajen, vice-chairman MIDA O Lukhoi, commissioner (Agriculture) Kh Raghumani, director (Agriculture) Laltanpuii Vanchhong, officers and staffs of Agriculture department, farmers and others attended the function.
Speaking at the function, N Biren stated that there is economic growth in the State and Manipur is marching ahead as the rate of Gross State Domestic Product has increased drastically in last few years.
Highlighting the rising demand of traditional ‘Chak-hao’ outside the State, he exhorted the farmers to put their efforts to increase the production of ‘Chak-hao’, the exotic rice variety, to cater to the demands.
Elaborating the importance of proper irrigation facilities to increase the food grain production in the State, the chief minister said Thoubal Multipurpose Project will be completed soon.
The project will provide irrigation facility to different areas of the State, he added.
The chief minister said around 500 places have been identified for the ground water management projects in the State.
The project cost amounting to around Rs. 275 crores has been submitted to the Ministry.
He further mentioned that around 280 check dams would be constructed on the streams at the different foothills for drinking and irrigation purposes.
In this regard, a project cost of around Rs. 475 crores has been submitted to the Ministry, he added.
The chief minister said the government would give its priority for the development of tourism, agriculture and horticulture sectors this year.
He continued that there is a steep increase in the influx of foreign and domestic tourists in the State in the last 2-3 years. According to the reports, around 10,000 foreign tourists and 1.5 lakhs domestic tourists have visited the State in a year, he added.
Biren maintained that the State Government fully endorsed the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ to bring inclusive development in the State.
Apart from the welfare schemes launched by the Central Government, the State Government has also introduced various welfare schemes for the people of the State.
The government opens its door 24×7 to extend every possible support to uplift the lives of the people, he added.
In his speech, agriculture minister V Hangkhanlian said the government has introduced various schemes for doubling the agricultural production by the year 2022.
He appealed the people and farmers to put their collective efforts to increase the agricultural production.
He thanked the chief minister, officers and staffs of the department and farmers of the State whose efforts have made the State to achieve the Krishi Karman Award 2017-18.
Around 139 machinery and equipment including tractors, power tillers, reapers, threshers, mini rice mill etc. were distributed to the selected beneficiaries of the State
Rice prices on the rise
 Bilkis Irani
• Published at 11:24 pm January 25th, 2020

Prices of all varieties of rice have increased, with retailers, wholesalers and millers trading blame Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune

Retail traders said prices of rice continued to increase due to supply shortage and price increases by the millers and wholesalers
Prices of all varieties of rice have increased at kitchen markets in the capital, with retailers blaming short supply and syndication of millers and wholesalers.
Retail traders said prices of rice continued to increase due to supply shortage and price increases by the millers and wholesalers.
Visiting kitchen markets in Malibagh, Rampura, and Shukrabad in the city on Saturday, the price of non-packed rice was found to have gone up by Tk2-10 a kg while price of packed rice rose by Tk5-10 a kg.
The fine variety of Miniket rice (non-packed) was selling at Tk58-62 a kg, while the coarse variety (non-packed) was selling at Tk50-55 a kg in the retail markets. The packed Miniket rice was selling at Tk65 a kg, showing an increase of Tk5 a kg.
Fine variety of Najirshail (non-packed) was found selling at Tk60-70 a kg in retail markets, which was Tk53-60 a kg earlier. Standard variety of Najirshail (non-packed) was selling at Tk55-60, which was previously Tk45-55 a kg. Packed Najirsail was found retailing at Tk78 a kg, marking a rise by Tk10 a kg.
BR-28 rice price increased by Tk2 a kilogram. The fine variety of BR-28 was found retailing at Tk46-50 a kg, while Swarna was selling at Tk35-40 a kg in the city’s kitchen markets on Saturday.
Prices of aromatic rice increased by Tk5-10 a kg. Old variety of aromatic rice was retailing at Tk110 on Saturday, while the new variety was retailing at Tk90-95 a kg. Paijam and Basmoti were retailing at Tk35-36 and 60-65 a kg, respectively.
“The price of all types of rice has increased. Price of a 50-kg sack of Miniket increased by Tk250-350 in the wholesale markets. So, the retail prices also increased,” said Abdur Rahman, a trader at a kitchen market in Malibag.
Trader Nannu Mia said, “Rice mill owners have raised the prices due to supply shortage of boro paddy, as the crop was last harvested in May-June of 2019.”
Noor Nabi Patwari, a resident of Rampura, said, “It’s all about syndicate; the price of paddy is low; so, how could the price of rice increase?”
“Some government officials are involved in this syndicate. Although the prime minister is trying to develop the country, some officials are making the country’s kitchen markets unstable. Strict action should be taken in this regard,” he added.
Ariful Islam from Shukrabad said, “Farmers are forced to sell paddy at Tk450 per mound, while the labour cost to produce that quantity of the produce is Tk500. So, increasing prices of rice seems illegal.”
Refuting the allegation, Layek Ali, general secretary at the Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mill Owners’ Association, said: "We are not responsible for the increase in prices of rice; retailers and wholesalers increased the prices."
“We are selling all types of course variety of rice at Tk27-29 a kg. However, these types of rice are   being sold at a much higher price at the retail and wholesale markets in the city. This price increase at the wholesale and retail markets creates pressure on us,” he said further.
“When the price of paddy is so low, how could the prices of rice be so high? The government should take strict measures to stop this unreasonable rice price hike,” he remarked, while adding that if this trend continued, rice cultivation would decrease by 15 percent.

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

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Paul Flynn: Rice and lentil dishes for all seasons
I love all rice dishes and lentils are a great match for almost every main course
Sat, Jan 25, 2020, 06:20

Paul Flynn

Chicken pilaff

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The best rice dish I ever ate was a welcome dinner in France with the Scouts when I was 14. It was chicken a la crème, generously flecked with tarragon, nestling on buttery rice. I lapped it up like a happy little hound. The other boys were bewildered and disdainful and worried that this was the sort of food they we going to be forced to eat for the rest of the trip. I however, was hopeful that this would be the case. More for me.
That was without doubt a lightbulb moment in my life, although I didn’t know it at the time. It started a curiosity about food that only three years later found me happily ensconced in the kitchen of a local restaurant, with a life of cooking ahead of me.
I pity the blinkered cook and eater. Curiosity and appetite are such happy bedfellows. They make life so much richer.
Rice dishes are numerous and diverse and I love them all. Rice carries spice in a warm comforting embrace. From a saffron-hued paella to a crisp bottomed Iranian tahdig, there is so much variety. A comforting risotto or just a simple rice pudding . . . there are so many rice dishes, all of them wonderful.
I use a rice cooker for this chicken pilaff. Of course I’m not presuming you all have rice cookers, but you can follow the same timings if you cook it in a pot.
The salad is a mushroomy winter version of that Italian staple, panzanella. We have it with steak. The bread carries all the flavours of everything else in the dish. The Italians never throw anything out.
The lentils are a Tannery staple in the winter months. They go with practically every main course but sometimes I like to warm them gently and serve them with soft creamy goat’s cheese, for an earthy nutritious, delight.
A brilliant shortcut for lentils and one I employ when I am feeling lazy at home is to take a tin of lentils and warm them through with a clove of crushed garlic, a little balsamic vinegar and a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper. It is almost instantaneously delicious.
CHICKEN PILAFF
Serves four
Ingredients
1 large knob of butter
3 chicken breasts cut into 2cm chunks
125g smoked bacon lardons
1 large leek, cut in half lengthways , washed and shredded
350g basmati rice
A pinch of cinnamon
700ml chicken stock
Salt and pepper
200ml tub of sour cream
1 tbsp spicy mango chutney
Method
1 Preheat an oven to 170 degrees or equivalent. Put your butter in a largish, oven-proof pot, over a medium heat. When it is foaming, add the chicken and brown it gently for a couple of minutes.
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2 Add the leeks and bacon and cook for another minute or so.
3 Add the rice and cinnamon and mix well, then add the stock and salt and pepper.
4 Bring to a simmer, place a lid on top and cook for 25 minutes in the oven.
5 When the time is up, fluff the rice up gently with a fork and place a clean tea towel over the top of the pot, without the lid, and leave for a few minutes. This will remove any excess moisture.
6 For the sauce, mix the sour cream and mango chutney together and serve with the pilaff.
LENTILS VINAIGRETTE
Serves four
 Lentils vinaigrette
Ingredients
200g dried Puy lentils
1 slice smoked streaky bacon
A sprig of thyme
50ml olive oil
1 stick of celery, finely diced
1 shallot, peeled and finely diced
1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
20ml red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Method
1 Cover the lentils generously in cold water, add the bacon and thyme and bring to a simmer and cook for around 15-20 minutes, until they are soft but not broken up.
2 Meanwhile, gently sweat the diced vegetables in half the olive oil until just cooked – they must still have some bite.
3 Strain the lentils, reserving a little of the water. Remove the bacon and thyme.
4 Add the vegetables to the lentils, along with the rest of the olive oil, mustard, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper.
5 Reserve until needed. It will keep for up to a week in the fridge. Best served warm.
MUSHROOM, ROASTED BREAD AND SPINACH SALAD
Serves four

Ingredients
Half a French stick, torn into pieces
150ml olive oil
250g button mushrooms, washed, dried and cut in half
250g chestnut mushrooms, washed, dried and cut in half
6 shallots, peeled and sliced
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 tbsp honey
30ml red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
250g bag baby spinach, washed and dried
Method
1 Roast the bread with a little of the olive oil for 10-12 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees, until golden and crunchy.
2 Put the remaining olive oil in a large pan – use a wok if you have one. Heat until gently smoking, then add the mushrooms, shallots and garlic.
3 Cook for three to four minutes, then add the red wine vinegar, honey and finally the spinach. Season and turn the spinach through the mushrooms until it starts to wilt.
4 Finally add the bread into the mixture and fold it through.
5 Serve warm or at room temperature.
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Exclusive: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from Iran
 CommoditiesJan 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.
Exclusive: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from Iran

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