Conservation conference highlights innovations
Images
from the recent National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference.
Some 725 registrants at the
recent National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference heard the
latest updates on sustainable production practices currently employed and soon
to be adopted on farms across the Sunbelt.
More than 100 speakers, including
farmers, consultants, university scientists and industry representatives,
discussed sustainable production practices from cover crops to irrigation
systems to innovative ways to control weeds and pests.
"We've charted new territory
for agriculture," said John LaRose, conference chairman, in his welcoming
remarks to the 23rd annual conference in Memphis, Tenn.
He praised speakers, for working
"in a united effort," to develop more sustainable production systems
through "innovation and state-of-the-art research."
Here are a few images by Farm Press staff from the 2020
conference.
Is PTI losing the battle against inflation?
The increase
in consumer prices was recorded at 14.6 per cent in January. This was the
highest growth in consumer price index in about 12 years.
Items which
impact the welfare of the poorest of the poor have seen a spike in prices including
sugar, edible oil, pulses, wheat, rice, flour, vegetables, fruits, meat,
chicken, and milk. Despite an effort to protect the lifeline consumers from
hike in energy prices, one observes prices of LPG increasing.
The pain is
not expected to be relieved anytime soon as the full year inflation forecast by
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is between 11 to 13 per cent.
It is clear
from the recent high-level cabinet meetings that the prime minister is
concerned. The coalition members are using this to their advantage, and so are
the members from opposition parties in the parliament. Most prime time talk
shows, during January, highlighted skyrocketing prices as a key issue that
could bring pressure on the government, not just from the citizens and voters,
but also from other power centers in Pakistan.
It will be
fair to say that the initial policy response to inflation has been left by the
government to the central bank, which in turn continues to keep a tight
monetary policy with high rates of interest. However even the central bank
acknowledges that high policy rate without a fiscal and administrative response
cannot be a remedy for growing prices seen in food, utilities, and energy
sector.
Moreover,
the monetary policy statement in January did not give much good news. It
expects a further increase in prices of food and utilities before things start
to settle down latter in 2020. The policy also doesn’t show a roadmap as to how
success may be achieved and perhaps this is something that the ministry of finance
will have to explain. Furthermore, any volatility in oil and energy prices due
to geo-political situation or otherwise also needs to be studied as a possible
risk to Pakistan’s macroeconomic stability.
Our analysis
reveals that inflation in recent months has jacked up the cost of doing
business. This is being seen in the form of increased prices of imported and
local inputs, gas, electricity, taxes faced by businesses, and rise in
compliance costs for tax payers.
The impact
of devaluation on inflation was also visible in the last quarter. This has hit
the large scale manufacturing hard with automobiles, iron and steel, food,
beverages, fertilizers, chemical, pharmaceutical, and leather sectors posting
negative 5.93 per cent growth for the period July to November 2019. For the
same period borrowing by the private sector for working-capital or expansion of
businesses declined by 71 per cent – partially due to high interest rates.
Some
businesses are also finding it hard to payback the sums borrowed in the past
for output and productivity enhancements. This is reflecting in an increase in
non-performing loans faced by the banking sector, and discouraging performance
in the industry and services sectors is bound to reflect in job losses.
Under such a
scenario, and possibility of backlash, it is becoming highly unlikely for the
government to continue passing the impact of high energy costs to the
end-consumers. Also, it may not be possible for them to continue to make up for
the missed tax revenue targets by arbitrarily increasing non-tax sources of
revenue.
It is best
now to be candid with the IMF, and suggest a possible relief in key targets,
which are directly or indirectly impacting the welfare of the poorest. Then
there are a few governance-related measures which the government will need to
expedite on their own. For example, during the previous review, IMF mission
expressed surprise that there were delays in releases of development budget –
key to keeping unemployment levels low especially in times of economic
downturn. Also, it was highlighted that there have been delays in expediting
initiatives under the poverty alleviation Ehsaas programme, which will expand
the social safety nets.
There are
also certain measures which federal government needed to ensure in coordination
with the provincial administrations. For example, the gaps seen in the current
price monitoring system haven’t been plugged and could cost the government
dearly as we approach the holy month of Ramadan. It is during times just prior
to Ramadan that hoarding is seen most intensively. The proceedings from the
recent Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meetings have shown government’s
inability to correctly forecast and manage the buffer stocks in wheat and
sugar. One only wonders if the new IT-based price complaint apps, launched to
keep a check on prices, will be able to deliver the magic in time.
Where ECC
should focus immediately is to ensure that National Price Monitoring Committee
meets on a regular basis. Alongside, it is important to pay heed to the recent
assessments and recommendations by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP)
to check hoarding and cartelization. They have provided detailed assessments
which goes beyond food sector and calls for protecting the consumers from malpractice
seen in banking operations, cellular phone companies, and enterprises in
cement, sugar, refinery, LPG, iron and steel, jute, and fertilizer sectors.
We have also
not heard if CCP’s recommendations to Ministry of National Food Security &
Research have seen partial or fully implemented. For example, an evaluation is
much needed to see if sasta bazaars, itwar bazaars, and other subsidized
outlets including Utility Stores Corporation have been able to provide adequate
quality supplies at affordable prices.
In most
prior analyses of price hike under the PTI government one reads that this trend
was also attributed to the closure or reduction in trade with neighboring
countries. However, no such analysis goes a step further to highlight that it
was a mistake to hurt consumer welfare in Pakistan by putting restrictions in
the past on trade via Torkhum and closure of trade at Wagah-Attari gate.
Shutting down trade with India led to food shortages and price hikes across
Pakistan, but this mistake was only realized once hospitals and patients
started to report a shortage of life saving drugs in the market.
Finally, all
provincial chief ministers will do good to put in place an independent price
monitoring mechanism. The prices and supplies of daily-use commodities may be
verified through sources other than government officials. The prices from both
official and independent source should be uploaded on an online dashboard in
real-time for all districts. All deputy commissions should prepare a weekly
report on any violation of official price list for essentials. This report may
be reviewed by chief ministers, while they chair the weekly cabinet meetings.
Such
measures will strengthen social accountability and help elected leadership to
better respond to the hardships faced by citizens during times of low economic
growth and inflation.
Dr Ahmed is
an Economist and author of ‘Pakistan’s Agenda for Economic Reforms’ published
by the Oxford University Press. He tweets @vaqarahmed
Vietnam sees rice export growth in January
Vietnam
exported 560,000 tonnes of rice in January 2020, earning 270.3 million USD, an
increase of 12 percent in volume and 39 percent in value month-on-month,
according to the General Department of Customs.
Myanmar earns US$300 M from over 1 M
tons of rice export
PUBLISHED 7
FEBRUARY 2020
EMG
Myanmar
earned US$300.366 million from 1.047 million tons of rice and broken rice
exports from October 1 to January 17 in this fiscal year, according to Myanmar
Rice Federation (MRF).
It
earned about US$220 million from over seven million tons of rice export to 56
countries in that period and over US$80 million from over 300,000 tons of
broken rice export in the same period, it said.
It
earned over US$39 million from over 150,000 tons of rice and broken rice
exports through border routes in that period. It is over 14 per cent of total
rice and broken rice exports. It earned over US$260 million from over 890,000
tons of rice and broken rice exports through maritime routes in that period.
They are over 14 and 85 per cents of total rice and broken rice exports
respectively.
Myanmar
exported 2.355 million tons of rice and broken rice and earned US$709.693
million in 2018-19 FY, announced the MRF.
Myanmar
is using border trade routes and maritime trade routes to export rice and
broken rice exports.
Myanmar
is exporting rice to EU and African markets via maritime trade and China
through Muse border trade mainly.
Myanmar
exported about 3.6 million tons of rice in 2017-18 FY due to new markets and it
broke the record over fifty-year time.
The
MRF is dealing with the issues caused by the low market price in 2019 summer.
It said the farmers are facing difficulty to have enough silos, paddy drying
system and vehicles to carry rice, announced the MRF on May 18.
A
total of 11 companies were officially exported rice to China previously and now
more than 40 companies are chosen to export rice to China.
Rice exports likely to dip by 18-20%
in FY20
Friday, 07 February 2020 | PTI | Mumbai
India’s rice exports is expected
to witness around 20 per cent decline this fiscal, due to heightened
geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and tighter trade norms, a report said
on Thursday.
According to a report by the
US-based trade finance company Drip Capital, export of rice has witnessed a
significant decline across the world owing to heightened geopolitical tensions
in the Middle East — one of the biggest export market.
Following this, India’s rice
exports is likely to go down by 18-20 per cent in 2019-20, the report said.
“Exports so far are looking bleak
with Iran, the biggest export market, seeing a 22 per cent fall in shipments.
Other export markets like the UAE (33 per cent), Nepal (23 per cent), Yemen (2
per cent), Senegal (90 per cent) and Bangladesh (94 per cent) have also seen a
fall in rice shipments from India,” Drip Capital co-founder and co-CEO Pushkar
Mukewar said.
On the other hand, exports to
certain nations defied the broader trend and registered an increase. Saudi
Arabia witnessed a 4 per cent rise, while for Iraq it was 10 per cent, Benin (8
per cent) and the USA (4 per cent), he added.
World food prices rise in January
REPORT
Harvesting wheat in the Russian Federation.
© FAO/Maxim Zmeyev
FAO Food Price Index rises for
the fourth consecutive month, with prices of most commonly-traded food
commodities up
6 February 2020, Rome - World
food prices rose for the fourth consecutive month in January.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged
182.5 points during the month, up 0.7 percent from December and 11.3 percent
higher than the same month a year earlier.
Vegetable oils, sugar, and wheat
were the chief drivers of the index, which tracks monthly changes in the
international prices of commonly-traded food commodities.
The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index
increased 7.0 percent for the month, hitting a three-year high as prices for
palm, soy, sunflower and rapeseed oils all rose. Prices lost strength in the
second half of January, however, reflecting uncertainties over trade, the
potential impact of the recent coronavirus outbreak and trade tensions between
India and Malaysia.
The FAO Sugar Price Index rose
5.5 percent, propelled by expectations of much lower sugar output in several
major producing countries. The increase was mitigated by the continuous
weakness of the Brazilian currency and the recent decline in crude oil prices,
which affects demand for sugarcane to make ethanol.
The FAO Cereal Price Index rose
2.9 percent from December, led by higher wheat prices, followed by maize and
rice, largely on firmer demand and a faster pace in purchases by several
countries.
The FAO Dairy Price Index rose
0.9 percent, buoyed by strong import demand for butter, cheese and skim milk
powder.
The FAO Meat Price Index,
meanwhile, reversed an 11-month upward streak and declined 4.0 percent during
the month because of reduced purchases from China and the Far East as well as
large export availabilities of pig and bovine meats.
2019 likely to register record cereal output
FAO also issued a new forecast
for world cereal production in 2019, anticipating a record high of 2 715
million tonnes, a 2.3 percent increase from the previous year.
The new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief,
also released today, noted "mixed" prospects for the upcoming 2019
coarse grain harvests in the Southern Hemisphere, which are about to start.
Argentina's maize crop is set to
benefit, buoyed by favourable rainfall, above-average sown area, high domestic
prices and strong export prospects. The slow pace of the soybean harvest has
led to delays in sowing maize in neighboring Brazil.
In the Northern Hemisphere,
winter wheat plantings are expected down in Europe due to untimely heavy rains
in France and the United Kingdom, while a contracting in winter cereals sowing
is expected in Ukraine and the United States of America. By contrast, stronger
outturns are expected in the Russian Federation, where official estimates show
a record planted area for winter wheat, and in India and Pakistan.
FAO raised its forecast for world
cereal utilization in 2019/20 to 2 714 million tonnes, up 1.2 percent from the
previous year, mostly reflecting a sizable official upward adjustment to the
U.S estimate for maize used for feed.
World cereal stocks by the close
of seasons in 2020 are expected to amount to 863.3 million tonnes, marginally
lower than their opening levels. The resulting global cereal stock-to-use ratio
is now projected at 30.9 percent, a comfortable level by historical standards.
World trade in cereals in 2019/20
is anticipated to rise 2.3 percent to 420.2 million tonnes, the second highest
on record, led by increasing shipments of wheat from the European Union and
Ukraine to Asia.
Contact
FAO Media Relations Office
(+39) 06 570 53625
FAO-Newsroom@fao.org
(+39) 06 570 53625
FAO-Newsroom@fao.org
Crop Monitor for Early Warning | No. 46 –
February 2020
REPORT
Published on 06 Feb 2020
Overview: In East Africa, harvest is complete for main season cereals in
the north of the subregion and yields were favourable except in Sudan and South
Sudan due to flood damage, socioeconomic impacts, and conflict, and parts of
Ethiopia due to dry conditions early in the season and to a lesser extent
desert locust. In the south of the subregion, harvest is complete for second
season crops and yields were generally average despite unprecedented flooding caused from record October to December rains. In West Africa,
harvest of main season sorghum and millet is complete across the Sahel and
yields were generally average except in Gambia and conflict affected areas. In
the Middle East and North Africa, winter cereals are favourable due to good
precipitation throughout the start of the season except in central Morocco
where early season dryness continues to impact crops. In Southern Africa, there
is concern for main season maize and sorghum crops across much of the central
and south due to dry conditions from poor October to December rainfall and
below-average rainfall forecast for February. In Central and South Asia, winter
cereals, to be harvested from May 2020, are in dormancy stage and developing
under generally favourable conditions. In Southeast Asia, wet-season rice
harvest is complete and final yields were mixed due to early season drought
damage in June and July followed by flood damage after August. Dry-season rice
sowing is underway with some concern due to carryover dry conditions from the
previous season. In Central America and the Caribbean, harvest is complete for
Segunda season crops and yields are average due to abundant and
well-distributed rainfall.
Rice exports may
fall by 20 per cent this fiscal
Our
Bureau Mumbai | Updated on February
05, 2020 Published on February 05, 2020
India is the world’s largest rice exporter with over 25 per cent
share in global markets - Getty
Images/iStockphoto
Rice exports from India is set to
fall 18-20 per cent this fiscal because of weak demand from West Asian
countries. Geopolitical issues and financial sanctions on Iran are restricting
exports.
This apart, tighter trade norms
and higher MSP (minimum support price) offered by the government encouraged
farmers to tap the domestic market more, rather than focusing on the daunting
export markets.
Export
potential
Rice contributes over two per
cent of the overall exports from India. The sector had reported a CAGR (compounded
annual growth rate) of 14 per cent between FY '10 and FY '19.
However, rice exports this year
have seen a decline across the globe with a major dip coming from the West
Asian countries amid heightened geopolitical tensions. It resulted in a sharp
fall in prices and lower realisation for exporters, said a research report on
India’s rice export, including that of basmati, by the US-based trade finance
company Drip Capital.
Being a kharif crop (August -
November), rice shows a clear seasonal pattern in exports as well. The four
months post-harvest (December - March) see over 40 per cent of annual exports.
The current year’s (FY19-20) rice export figures have also been trending much
below the previous years’ performance. Pushkar Mukewar, co-founder and co-CEO,
Drip Capital, said exports so far this fiscal are looking bleak with Iran, the
biggest export market, seeing a 22 per cent fall in shipments. Exports to other
countries have fallen, including the UAE (33 per cent), Nepal (23 per cent),
Yemen (2 per cent), Senegal (90 per cent) and Bangladesh (94 per cent), he
said. On the other hand, exports to some countries such as Saudi Arabia (4 per
cent), Iraq (10 per cent), Benin (8 per cent) and the USA (4 per cent) have
increased.
Global market
share
India is the world’s largest rice
exporter with over 25 per cent share in global markets.
Haryana, the top basmati rice
exporting State, with a CAGR of 3 per cent between FY16-19, shipped rice worth
$2.41 billion in FY19 alone. Gujarat is second with shipments of $1.10 billion
in FY19. However, Gujarat has posted an impressive CAGR of 47 per cent over
FY16-19. Other major contributing states are Delhi, West Bengal and Andhra
Pradesh.
No clear path for Golden Rice to reach consumers
Seed choice study reveals flawed
assumptions behind hotly debated GMO
After nearly
three decades of development, Golden Rice is still beset by problems, according
to Glenn Davis Stone, professor of sociocultural anthropology and environmental
studies in Arts & Sciences. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Heralded as a genetically modified crop with the potential to
save millions of lives, Golden Rice has just been approved as
safe for human and animal consumption by regulators in the Philippines. The
rice is a beta carotene-enriched crop that is intended to reduce Vitamin A
deficiency (VAD), a health problem in very poor areas.
But a new study finds that most families at risk for VAD can’t
grow Golden Rice themselves, and most commercial farmers won’t grow it either.
“Many families with Vitamin A deficient kids don’t even have
rice land to plant it,” said Glenn Davis Stone,
professor of sociocultural anthropology and environmental studies in Arts &
Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of a new paper in
the journal Technology in Society.
“And those in the mountains won’t plant it because it has been bred into the
lowland varieties of rice known as IR-64 and RSC-82.”
Stone
The regulatory approval in the Philippines is a landmark for the
scientists who developed Golden Rice for nutritional purposes. It is the first
such approval in the developing world. But even after nearly three decades of
development, Golden Rice is still beset by problems, according to Stone.
Golden Rice still has to be approved for commercial sale, and it
still needs a company to grow marketable quantities of seed. And even then,
Stone argues, there is no clear path for the rice to get to poor children.
Stone, an internationally recognized expert on the human side of
global agricultural trends, was an early advocate for keeping an open mind
about ‘humanitarian’ GMO crops, such as Golden Rice. Since 2013, he has
directed a major Templeton Foundation-funded research project on rice
in the Philippines.Stone’s new study is based on surveys and
interviews of more than 115 rice farmers in the Nueva Ecija region, considered
part of the ‘rice bowl’ of the Philippines.Writing in the Feb. 7 issue of The Conversation,
Stone and his study co-author Dominic Glover, a rice researcher at the
Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex, suggest that
backers of Golden Rice — and even some economists who have tried to project its
health impacts — have made certain flawed assumptions about farmers’ willingness
to plant the crop.
“The old claim, repeated again in a recent book, that Golden
Rice was ‘basically ready for use
in 2002’ is silly,” Stone and Glover wrote. “As recently as
2017, IRRI made it clear that Golden Rice still had to be ‘successfully
developed into rice varieties suitable for Asia, approved by national
regulators, and shown to improve vitamin
A status in community conditions.’
“The Philippines has managed to cut its childhood VAD rate
in half with conventional
nutrition programs. If Golden Rice appears on the market in the
Philippines by 2022, it will have taken over 30 years of development to create
a product that may not affect vitamin levels in its target population, and that
farmers may need to be paid to plant.”
The
Philippines has rated 'Golden Rice' safe, but farmers might not plant it
Glenn
Davis Stone, Washington University in St Louis
Updated 11:03 am EST,
Friday, February 7, 2020
(The Conversation is an independent and
nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Glenn
Davis Stone, Washington University in St Louis and Dominic Glover, Institute of
Development Studies
(THE
CONVERSATION) “Golden Rice” is probably the world’s most hotly debated
genetically modified organism (GMO). It was intended to be a beta
carotene-enriched crop to reduce Vitamin A deficiency, a health problem in very
poor areas. But it has never been offered to farmers for planting.
Why
not? Because Golden Rice has an activist problem, according to its proponents.
They insist that the rice would have prevented millions of child deaths by now
had it not been blocked by anti-science activists.
In
particular, they single out Greenpeace, which has campaigned against approval
of Golden Rice as part of its broader opposition to GMOs. Greenpeace responds
that its actions are not what has kept Golden Rice from reaching the market.
We
study developing-world agriculture, including use of genetically modified
crops, and are conducting ongoing research on Golden Rice, originally funded by
the Templeton Foundation. We advocate keeping an open mind about Golden Rice,
which may eventually have some nutritional potential in limited cases. But our
view, based on numerous scientific studies, is that the rice is still beset by
problems that have little to do with activists.
Filling
a nutritional gap?
Vitamin
A is one of many nutrients lacking in the diets of the world’s poorest
children. Vitamin A deficiency, or VAD, can cause blindness and even premature
death.
The
vitamin comes directly from animal products and indirectly from beta carotene
in plants, which the human body can convert to Vitamin A. Plant scientist Ingo
Potrykus, who co-developed Golden Rice, has claimed that “VAD often occurs
where rice is the major staple food.” White rice grains contain no beta
carotene.
But
it’s not rice’s job to provide vitamins. Most diets across Asia and Africa
consist of a carbohydrate core such as rice or maize, which provides calories
and bulk, and a sauce, stew or soup for flavor and nutrients.
Since
rice is a poor source of vitamins and minerals, any child eating a rice-only
diet will be sick. Genetically modifying rice to contain beta carotene is at
best a band-aid for extreme cases of VAD, not a corrective for a widespread
problem.
Decades
of development
Potrykus
and colleagues devised a strategy for producing Golden Rice in 1992, and
announced in 2000 that they had developed an experimental prototype. Potrykus
appeared on the cover of Time magazine with his rice, which the cover
proclaimed “could save a million kids a year.”
The
biologists were on to something, but the prototype was nowhere near ready for
farmers or consumers. The beta carotene concentration was far too low, and
researchers did not know if the plants would grow well. The prototype was also
a rice variety that farmers in VAD areas would not grow.
In
2002 Golden Rice research moved to the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) in the Philippines to be developed for Filipino farmers. Meanwhile
scientists at the global agricultural company Syngenta, which had acquired
commercial rights to the rice, began to develop a new package of genes to
improve the beta carotene levels. By 2005 they unveiled Golden Rice 2, which
accomplished this.
Next,
researchers inserted these GR2 genes into multiple plants, with the goal of
introducing them without disrupting other genes. Each insertion is called an
“event.” IRRI breeders took the most promising event and began breeding the
trait into two trusty lowland rice varieties.
But
there was a problem. Field trials showed that the introduced genes had indeed disrupted
other genes and lowered the rice’s productivity, so breeders turned to a
different event. By 2017 field trials showed that this rice grew adequately.
The rice was submitted to the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry, which
designated it as safe in December 2019.
However,
Golden Rice still has to be approved for commercial sale and still needs a
company to grow marketable quantities of seed. Proponents’ claim that the rice
would be given free to farmers is false: No one has offered to produce and distribute
the rice seed for nothing. And even if someone were to grow marketable
quantities of seed for sale, two crucial problems remain.
Unanswered
questions
First,
the claim that Golden Rice will remedy Vitamin A deficiency remains unproven.
As IRRI scientists themselves stressed in 2013, “It has not yet been determined
whether daily consumption of Golden Rice does improve the vitamin A status of
people who are vitamin A deficient.”
Vitamin
A is fat-soluble, and children with VAD rarely have fats in their diet.
Moreover, they usually suffer from gut parasites and infections that make it
harder to convert beta carotene to vitamin A.
A
2012 study, which has been cited over 70 times – despite being retracted in
2015 for breaching research ethics – seemed to show that Golden Rice would
raise children’s vitamin A levels. But children in the study were fed balanced
meals that included fats, thus demonstrating only that Golden Rice worked in
children who did not need it.
Even
the latest analysis of Golden Rice’s safety points out that research has yet to
show that it will mitigate VAD. And by the time Golden Rice gets to
undernourished children, its beta carotene level may be very low, since the
compound deteriorates fairly quickly.
Second,
there is no clear way for the rice to get to the children who need it.
Projections of the benefits of Golden Rice assume that farmers will immediately
grow it, but families poor enough to be affected by VAD often lack land to grow
rice for themselves. VAD in the Philippines has been highest in Mountain
Province, where farmers are unlikely to plant lowland rice varieties, and in
part of metro Manila where no rice farming occurs.
To
reach undernourished kids in areas like these, Golden Rice would have to be
grown by commercial farmers and sold in markets. We examined whether farmers
would plant Golden Rice in a new study of seed selection practices in a “rice
bowl” area of the Philippines.
Farmers
choose from a large and rapidly changing array of rice seeds, based on
agronomic performance, market demands and local trends. Their choices show that
varieties containing the “Golden” trait are out of fashion, overtaken by newer
and better performing varieties.
Some
might adopt Golden Rice if it could fetch a premium in the market, but extremely
poor customers are unlikely to pay it. Farmers may need subsidies to plant
Golden Rice, but it is unclear who would pay them to plant it.
An
oversold solution
The
old claim, repeated again in a recent book, that Golden Rice was “basically
ready for use in 2002” is silly. As recently as 2017, IRRI made it clear that
Golden Rice still had to be “successfully developed into rice varieties
suitable for Asia, approved by national regulators, and shown to improve
vitamin A status in community conditions.”
The
Philippines has managed to cut its childhood VAD rate in half with conventional
nutrition programs. If Golden Rice appears on the market in the Philippines by
2022, it will have taken over 30 years of development to create a product that
may not affect vitamin levels in its target population, and that farmers may
need to be paid to plant.
[
You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and
editors. You can get our highlights each weekend. ]
This
article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
Read the original article here:
https://theconversation.com/the-philippines-has-rated-golden-rice-safe-but-farmers-might-not-plant-it-129956.
The Philippines has rated
‘Golden Rice’ safe, but farmers might not plant it
February 8, 2020 12.50am AEDT
Authors
Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies, Washington
University in St Louis
Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies
Disclosure statement
Glenn Davis Stone has received
funding from the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundatioin for
Anthropological Research, the John Templeton Foundation, and the John Simon
Guggenheim Foundation.
Dominic Glover has received
funding from various sources to support different pieces of work on the spread
and impacts of transgenic crop technologies in the global South, including the
John Templeton Foundation, the UK's Economic and Social Research Council and
the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (UNHCHR, on behalf of the
UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food).
Partners
“Golden Rice” is probably the world’s most hotly
debated genetically modified organism (GMO). It was intended to be a beta
carotene-enriched crop to reduce Vitamin A deficiency, a health problem in very
poor areas. But it has never been offered to farmers for planting.
Why not? Because Golden Rice has
an activist problem, according to its proponents. They insist that the rice
would have prevented millions of child deaths by now had it not been blocked
by anti-science activists.
In particular, they single
out Greenpeace,
which has campaigned against
approval of Golden Rice as part of its broader opposition to
GMOs. Greenpeace responds that its actions are not what has kept
Golden Rice from reaching the market.
We study developing-world
agriculture, including use of genetically
modified crops, and are conducting ongoing research on Golden Rice,
originally funded by the Templeton Foundation.
We advocate keeping an open mind about
Golden Rice, which may eventually have some nutritional potential in limited
cases. But our view, based on numerous scientific studies, is that the rice is
still beset by problems that have little to do with activists.
Filling a nutritional gap?
Vitamin A is one of many
nutrients lacking in the diets of the world’s poorest children. Vitamin A deficiency,
or VAD, can cause blindness and even
premature death.
The vitamin comes directly from
animal products and indirectly from beta carotene in
plants, which the human body can convert to Vitamin A. Plant scientist Ingo Potrykus, who co-developed
Golden Rice, has claimed that “VAD often occurs where rice is the major staple food.”
White rice grains contain no beta carotene.
But it’s not rice’s job to
provide vitamins. Most diets across Asia and Africa consist of a carbohydrate
core such as rice or maize, which provides calories and bulk, and a sauce, stew
or soup for flavor and nutrients.
Since rice is a poor source of vitamins
and minerals, any child eating a rice-only diet will be sick.
Genetically modifying rice to contain beta carotene is at best a band-aid for
extreme cases of VAD, not a corrective for a widespread problem.
Decades of development
Potrykus and colleagues devised a
strategy for producing Golden Rice in 1992, and announced in 2000 that they
had developed an experimental
prototype. Potrykus appeared on the cover of Time magazine with
his rice, which the cover proclaimed “could save a million kids a year.”
The biologists were on to
something, but the prototype was nowhere near ready for farmers or consumers.
The beta carotene concentration was far too low, and researchers did not know
if the plants would grow well. The prototype was also a rice variety that
farmers in VAD areas would not grow.
In 2002 Golden Rice research
moved to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
in the Philippines to be developed for Filipino farmers. Meanwhile scientists
at the global agricultural company Syngenta, which had acquired commercial
rights to the rice, began to develop a new package of genes to
improve the beta carotene levels. By 2005 they unveiled Golden Rice 2, which
accomplished this.
Next, researchers inserted these
GR2 genes into multiple plants, with the goal of introducing them without
disrupting other genes. Each insertion is called an “event.” IRRI breeders took
the most promising event and began breeding the trait into two trusty lowland
rice varieties.
Packets of different rice breeds stored in a
refrigerated room at the International Rice Research Institute Rice Germplasm
Bank, Laguna, Philippines, Nov. 27, 2003. Joel
Nito/AFP via Getty Images
But there was a problem. Field
trials showed that the introduced genes had indeed disrupted other genes and
lowered the rice’s productivity, so breeders turned to a different
event. By 2017 field trials showed that this rice grew adequately. The rice was
submitted to the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry, which designated it as safe in
December 2019.
However, Golden Rice still has to
be approved for commercial sale and still needs a company to grow marketable
quantities of seed. Proponents’ claim that the rice would be given free to farmers is
false: No one has offered to produce and distribute the rice seed for nothing.
And even if someone were to grow marketable quantities of seed for sale, two
crucial problems remain.
Unanswered questions
First, the claim that Golden Rice
will remedy Vitamin A deficiency remains unproven. As IRRI scientists
themselves stressed in 2013, “It has not yet been determined whether
daily consumption of Golden Rice does improve the vitamin A status of people
who are vitamin A deficient.”
Vitamin A is fat-soluble, and
children with VAD rarely have fats in their diet. Moreover, they usually suffer
from gut parasites and infections that make it harder to convert beta carotene to
vitamin A.
A 2012 study, which has been
cited over 70 times – despite being retracted in 2015 for
breaching research ethics – seemed to show that Golden Rice would raise children’s vitamin A levels.
But children in the study were fed balanced meals that included fats, thus
demonstrating only that Golden Rice worked in children who did not need it.
Even the latest analysis of
Golden Rice’s safety points out that research has yet to show that it will mitigate VAD.
And by the time Golden Rice gets to undernourished children, its beta carotene
level may be very low, since the compound deteriorates fairly quickly.
Fortifying foods like rice with micronutrients is an established
strategy for reducing malnutrition. But Golden Rice is the first effort to do
this through genetic engineering.
Second, there is no clear way for
the rice to get to the children who need it. Projections of the benefits of
Golden Rice assume that farmers will immediately grow it, but families poor
enough to be affected by VAD often lack land to grow rice for themselves. VAD
in the Philippines has been highest in Mountain Province, where farmers
are unlikely to plant lowland rice varieties, and in part of metro Manila where
no rice farming occurs.
To reach undernourished kids in
areas like these, Golden Rice would have to be grown by commercial farmers and
sold in markets. We examined whether farmers would plant Golden Rice in a new study of seed
selection practices in a “rice bowl” area of the Philippines.
Farmers choose from a large and
rapidly changing array of rice seeds, based on agronomic performance, market
demands and local trends. Their choices show that varieties containing the
“Golden” trait are out of fashion, overtaken by newer and better performing
varieties.
Some might adopt Golden Rice if
it could fetch a premium in the market, but extremely poor customers are
unlikely to pay it. Farmers may need subsidies to plant Golden Rice, but it is
unclear who would pay them to plant it.
An oversold solution
The old claim, repeated again in
a recent book,
that Golden Rice was “basically ready for use
in 2002” is silly. As recently as 2017, IRRI made it clear that
Golden Rice still had to be “successfully developed into rice varieties suitable
for Asia, approved by national regulators, and shown to improve vitamin
A status in community conditions.”
The Philippines has managed to
cut its childhood VAD rate in half with conventional nutrition
programs. If Golden Rice appears on the market in the Philippines by
2022, it will have taken over 30 years of development to create a product that
may not affect vitamin levels in its target population, and that farmers may
need to be paid to plant.
[ You’re smart and curious about the world. So
are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can get our
highlights each weekend. ]
No clear path for golden rice to reach
consumers
Seed choice
study reveals flawed assumptions behind hotly debated GMO
Date:
February 7, 2020
Source:
Washington University in St. Louis
Summary:
Heralded
as a genetically modified crop with the potential to save millions of lives,
Golden Rice has just been approved as safe for human and animal consumption by
regulators in the Philippines. The rice is a beta carotene-enriched crop that
is intended to reduce Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), a health problem in very poor
areas. But a new study finds that most families at risk for VAD can't grow
Golden Rice themselves, and most commercial farmers won't grow it either.
Share:
FULL STORY
Heralded as a genetically
modified crop with the potential to save millions of lives, Golden Rice has
just been approved as safe for human and animal consumption by regulators in
the Philippines. The rice is a beta carotene-enriched crop that is intended to
reduce Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), a health problem in very poor areas.
But a new study finds that most
families at risk for VAD can't grow Golden Rice themselves, and most commercial
farmers won't grow it either.
"Many families with Vitamin
A deficient kids don't even have rice land to plant it," said Glenn Davis
Stone, professor of sociocultural anthropology and environmental studies in
Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of a
new paper in the journal Technology in Society. "And
those in the mountains won't plant it because it has been bred into the lowland
varieties of rice known as IR-64 and RSC-82."
The regulatory approval in the
Philippines is a landmark for the scientists who developed Golden Rice for
nutritional purposes. It is the first such approval in the developing world.
But even after nearly three decades of development, Golden Rice is still beset
by problems, according to Stone.
Golden Rice still has to be
approved for commercial sale, and it still needs a company to grow marketable
quantities of seed. And even then, Stone argues, there is no clear path for the
rice to get to poor children.
Stone, an internationally
recognized expert on the human side of global agricultural trends, was an early
advocate for keeping an open mind about 'humanitarian' GMO crops, such as
Golden Rice. Since 2013, he has directed a major Templeton Foundation-funded
research project on rice in the Philippines.
Stone's new study is based on
surveys and interviews of more than 115 rice farmers in the Nueva Ecija region,
considered part of the 'rice bowl' of the Philippines.
Writing in the Feb. 7 issue of
The Conversation, Stone and his study co-author Dominic Glover, a rice
researcher at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex,
suggest that backers of Golden Rice -- and even some economists who have tried
to project its health impacts -- have made certain flawed assumptions about
farmers' willingness to plant the crop.
"The old claim, repeated
again in a recent book, that Golden Rice was 'basically ready for use in 2002'
is silly," Stone and Glover wrote. "As recently as 2017, IRRI made it
clear that Golden Rice still had to be 'successfully developed into rice
varieties suitable for Asia, approved by national regulators, and shown to
improve vitamin A status in community conditions.'
"The Philippines has managed
to cut its childhood VAD rate in half with conventional nutrition programs. If
Golden Rice appears on the market in the Philippines by 2022, it will have
taken over 30 years of development to create a product that may not affect
vitamin levels in its target population, and that farmers may need to be paid
to plant."
Story Source:
Materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. Original written
by Talia Ogliore. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.
Journal Reference:
1.
Dominic
Glover, Sung Kyu Kim, Glenn Davis Stone. Golden Rice and technology adoption theory: A
study of seed choice dynamics among rice growers in the Philippines. Technology
in Society, 2020; 60: 101227 DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.101227
Cite This Page:
Washington University in St. Louis. "No clear path for
golden rice to reach consumers: Seed choice study reveals flawed assumptions
behind hotly debated GMO." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 February 2020.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200207153632.htm>.
Drastic bumblebee population drop shocks scientists
When scientist Peter Soroye first
saw the figures showing estimated bumblebee populations in North America had
fallen by nearly 50% in a single generation, he immediately checked the
numbers. But these, published in journal Science, were accurate.
Rising temperatures are
contributing to drastic declines of bumblebees across Europe and North America
at rates “consistent with a mass extinction”, threatening food cultivation, the
study concluded. The researchers estimated that Europe’s bumblebee populations
fell by 17% between the two periods the study looked at - from 1901 to 1974 and
from 2000 to 2014 - while in North America, the figure was 46%.
“We couldn’t believe that the
declines were this severe over such a short time period,” said Soroye, lead
author of the study and a PhD student at University of Ottawa. “I reckon I must
have gone through, like, seven times to double check that everything was right
and it was. And so yes, these declines are really drastic. They’re really
severe,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
Declining bee populations have also
been linked to heavy pesticide use and habitat loss caused by changes in land
use. But Soroye said global warming was exacerbating their plight.
Bumblebees are larger than
honeybees, and while they do not produce honey, they are important pollinators.
If the trend continues, nutritious
fruits, nuts and many vegetables would have to be substituted by staple crops
like rice, corn, and potatoes, leading to an imbalanced diet, the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization warned in 2019.
Source: reuters.com
Branching
out for a new green revolution
FEBRUARY
7, 2020
GA-induced H3K27me3 modification
enhances nitrogen stimulation of tillering. Credit: Xiangdong Fu, Institute of
Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
Researchers
at the University of Oxford and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered
a new gene that improves the yield and fertilizer use efficiency of rice.
The
worldwide late-20th century 'Green Revolution' saw dramatic year-by-year
increases in global grain yields of rice and other cereals. The Green
Revolution was fueled by new high-yielding dwarfed Green Revolution Varieties
(GRVs) that are still in widespread use today, and by increased fertilizer use.
The
numbers of grain-bearing branches ('tillers') per plant are increased in GRVs,
and further enhanced by increased nitrogen fertilizer use, thus boosting grain
yield. However, fertilizers are costly to farmers and cause extensive
environmental damage. Developing new GRVs combining increased tiller number and
grain yield with reduced nitrogen use is thus an urgent global sustainable
agriculture goal.
A
major new study, published today as the cover story of journal Science,
led by Professor Xiangdong Fu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute
of Genetics and Developmental Biology, and Professor Nicholas Harberd from the
Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford, part-funded by the
BBSRC-Newton Rice Initiative, has for the first time discovered a gene that can
help reach that goal.
The
study identified a rice gene that responds to nitrogen, and hence increases the
accumulation in plant cells of a protein called NGR5. Nitrogen-stimulated NGR5
accumulation then alters the structure of genes that inhibit tiller growth,
switching them off and thus increasing the numbers of yield-enhancing tillers.
Professor
Harberd said: "Discovering how nitrogen stimulates tiller growth was
exciting in itself. But our discovery was particularly exciting because NGR5
controls the activity (via a mechanism known as chromatin modulation) of
multiple genes in the rice genome, genes likely responsible for many different
rice responses to soil nitrogen in addition to tiller growth."
The
increased tiller number of GRVs is also caused by accumulation of another
branching-promoting protein called DELLA, an accumulation that is reduced by
the plant hormone gibberellin (GA). The study found that GA also reduces NGR5
accumulation, and that tiller growth is the product of complex interactions
between the NGR5 and DELLA proteins.
Increased NGR5 activity boosts
grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency. Credit: Xiangdong Fu, Institute of
Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
Professor
Harberd said: "We next reasoned that further increase in the accumulation
of NGR5 might increase tiller number and yield with reduced fertilizer use. To
our delight, we found that increasing NGR5 accumulation caused an increase in
both tiller number and grain yield of a current elite rice GRV,
especially at low fertilizer levels."
The
researchers say NGR5 should now become a major target for plant breeders in
enhancing crop yield and fertilizer use efficiency, with the aim of
achieving the global grain yield increases necessary to feed a growing world
population at reduced environmental cost.
Professor
Harberd added: "This study is a prime example of how pursuing fundamental
plant science objectives can lead rapidly to potential solutions to global
challenges. It discovers how plants coordinate their growth in response
to soil nitrogen availability, then shows how that discovery can enable
breeding strategies for sustainable food security and future new green
revolutions."
Eat your food
with hands to enjoy it more
PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 07, 2020,
11:26 PM IST
New York: Why people eat rice with
hands in most parts of India? Because directly touching the food makes
experience of eating more enjoyable, say researchers.
The study, published in the
Journal of Retailing, revealed that when high self-control individuals touch
food directly with their hands, compared to when they use cutlery, they not
only find what they eat — tastier and more satisfying — but also eat more.
“Our results suggest that for
people who regularly control their food consumption, direct touch triggers an
enhanced sensory response, making food more desirable and appealing,” said
study researcher Adriana Madzharov from Stevens Institute of Technology in the
US.
In her first experiment,
Madzharov had 45 undergraduate students visually inspect and evaluate a cube of
Muenster cheese, hold it before eating it and then asked them to answer
questions about their eating behaviour.
Half of the participants used a
pick and sampled a cheese cube with an appetizer while the other half sampled a
cheese cube without pick.
Initially, the two groups did not
indicate any difference.
The researchers found that
participants who reported a high degree of self-control when consuming food —
individuals who report that they can resist tasty foods and are conscious about
what and how much they eat — when using their hands found the cheese tastier
and more appetizing.
Even when Madzharov manipulated
participants’ thinking on self-control, goals and food consumption, these
findings persisted, suggesting that a high degree of self-control influences
how people experience food when they touch it directly with their hands — to
show whether self-control is real or primed.
In the second experiment, the
researchers separated a new set of 145 undergraduate students into two groups.
The first group was told to
imagine that they have decided to be more careful with their diet and cut back
on excessive eating in order to achieve their long-term objective of being fit and
healthy.
The second, that they had decided
to worry less about their weight all the time and allow themselves to indulge
in tasty foods more often in order to enjoy life and experience its pleasures.
All participants were given a
plastic cup with four mini donuts inside it — only half of them were allowed to
use their hands, while rest used picks.
As in the first experiment, the
participants were then asked to visually inspect and evaluate the mini donuts
on hedonistic qualities such as texture, freshness, quality and nutrition.
The researcher also instructed
them to report their level of focus and attention when eating the mini donuts
to get a measure of mindfulness and sensory experience.
The study found that when
participants were primed with self-control (vs. indulgent) thinking, they
evaluated the sampled food more positively than when they touched it directly
with their hands.
It also suggests that the
mechanism driving this effect was the enhanced sensory experience that
participants reported in the direct touch or self-control condition.
SOURCE: IANS
Ready for CBI probe in paddy procurement, if Hooda demands it in
writing: Dushyant Chautala
The Indian Express8 February 2020
CBI probe in paddy procurement, Dushyant Chautala, Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, punjab news, indian express news
More
However, Chautala Friday claimed
that a shortfall of only 36,000 metric tonne (MT) out of total procurement of
64 lakh MT has been detected, which is just half per cent of the total
procurement.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister
Dushyant Chautala Friday said that the government would order a CBI probe into
the procurement of paddy if former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda makes
such a demand in writing. Chautala, however, added that the probe would cover
paddy procurement by the government over 10 years, including the five when
Hooda was CM.
“If Hooda sahab gives in writing,
we will get probed the procurement of paddy, which took place in past 10 years.
The figures would reveal under whose regime the scam actually took place,”
Chautala said while addressing a press conference along with Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on the completion of the 100 days of the BJP-JJP
government.
Hooda, however, hit back daring
Chautala to further increase the ambit of the probe to include latter’s
grandfather’s tenure too. “Get the procurement that took place during your
grandfather’s (Om Prakash Chautala) tenure investigated too. In fact, Chautala
wants to evade the CBI probe into the matter. He should get investigated the
procurement of this season only as is being demanded by the opposition,” Hooda
told The Indian Express.
Haryana government officials had
recently claimed detection of Rs 90-crore scam in paddy procurement and
transportation process following which the government decided that from now
onwards the transportation of paddy from mandis to rice mills will be done by
the state Food and Civil Supplies Department and other procurement agencies
instead of leaving it to the millers. The decision was taken after the
government had detected a shortfall of 42,589 metric tonne (MT) paddy in its
stocks at rice mills. The involvement of rice millers, procurement agencies,
arhtiyas and marketing board officials is being suspected into the scam.
However, Chautala Friday claimed
that a shortfall of only 36,000 metric tonne (MT) out of total procurement of
64 lakh MT has been detected, which is just half per cent of the total
procurement. “One per cent of the differentiation is allowed to the millers as
the weight of paddy reduces with the passage of time. Even during the regime of
Hooda in 2013, a shortfall of as much as 65,000 MT was found when the
procurement was just 60 per cent of this year’s paddy purchase,” said Chautala,
who also holds the portfolio of food and civil supplies department.
“We have taken action against
those millers wherever the shortfall is more than 1 per cent in the weight of
paddy. We have kept on hold their payment of Rs 700 crore. A scam can be called
only after release of the payment. We are still making recovery from them,” he
added.
Nigerian Growing Local Rice Production At The
Verge Of Collapse
Published
February 7, 2020
By
From being the world’s second
largest rice importer years back, the narrative appears to have changed as the
Nigeria has continued to take steps to ramp domestic production.
According to a recent report,
Nigeria has overtaken Egypt as the largest rice producer in Africa. The
Director-General, Africa Rice Center, Benin Republic, Dr Harold Roy-Macauley,
who disclosed this, said Nigeria is now the largest rice producer at four
million tons a year. Egypt was producing 4.3 tons annually but the country’s
production had reduced by almost 40 per cent last year. Africa produces an
average of 14.6 million tons of rice annually, he explained.
Indeed, the remarkable achievement
recorded by the country in the area of rice production, as disclosed by
Roy-Macauley, was the outcome of robust collaboration between the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, that focused on areas
in the agriculture sector where the country has comparative advantage, in their
quest to drastically reduce the nation’s huge import bill.
However, the recent influx of
foreign rice in Nigerian markets through the land border not checked will
fustrate the growing local rice production which experts believe is at the
verge of collapse. With the success recorded so far in the Agricultural
sub sector amid CBN, Ministry of Agriculture and Nigeria Customs
service contribution towards making sure Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in
rice production in the world, it is important to note that if left unattended
to, this sabotage will affect rice production in this coming farming season and
we will not get it right again because many investors, both local and foreign,
will be discouraged from investing in the fastest-growing and most
improved Agricultural sub sector in Nigeria.
As part of efforts to reach
different markets across the six geopolitical zones of the country, we spread
our dragnet to Utako Market Abuja, Terminus Market Jos, Mile 3 Market
Port-Harcourt, Ochanja Market Onitsha; Ogbete Market in Enugu, G-Cappa/
Mile 2 Market Lagos, Jimeta Main Market Yola , Central Market kaduna and Singer
Market Kano where we sadly discovered that foreign rice is coming back ‘geometrically’
and Nigerians are going back to it even though it is not healthy but because of
cost comparison and finishing. Nigeria’s biggest city, supermarket shelves
remain stocked with a surplus of imported rice brands. In the markets, where
most Nigerians buy their food, sacks of rice are piled high, both
Nigerian and imported rice. The question that needs an answer is ‘where is it
coming from’.
The Way Out
As we are all aware, the
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (retd) a
strong-willed man, who is determined to carry out border closure policy to the
later cannot be at all the land borders and as a result, the bad elements among
his officers and men are seen aiding smuggling. Continuous confiscation
of imported rice in the markets by customs agents will reduce the level of
foreign rice influx into Nigerian local markets. The strengthening of imported
rice tax force involving all stakeholders such as Nigeria Customs Service
(NCS), Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Rice Millers
Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) , Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN)
, Rice dealers association of Nigeria , Nigerian Police and Agriculture or
Agribusiness correspondents will produce unprecedented results. If this is not
done and done very fast, the growing local rice production industry in Nigeria
will collapse especially now that farming season is fast approaching, investors
will lose money and there will be lost of jobs that has been created along the
value chains.
Finally, any country that cannot
produce what its citizens consume cannot be said to be developing. This
administration has been making efforts and inputs in terms of subsidies both in
cash and materials to all sectors that have to do with agriculture and food
production in the country. It is, therefore, very sad that same government
agencies are aiding importation of food at the same time through
smuggling at the land border.
May I announce that the Nigerian
Farmers Forum (NFF) would soon be unveiled.
Barentz enter
joint venture with Pakistan-based Matco Foods
Posted
By: Emma Upshallon: February 07,
2020In: Agriculture, Business, Distribution, Food, Industries, Ingredients
Ingredients
distributor Barentz has formed a joint venture with agribusiness Matco Foods,
as it targets growth in Pakistan.
Located
in Pakistan, Matco Foods exports to over 60 countries around the globe from its
four rice processing plants and one rice glucose plant.
According
to Dutch-based Barentz, the new joint venture will better serve the rapidly
growing Pakistani food processing market and will focus initially on human
nutrition and pharmaceutical products.
The
collaboration will utilise Matco Foods’ extended network within the local
Pakistan food industry combined with Barentz’ broad ingredients portfolio.
Hidde
van der Wal, CEO of Barentz, said: ‘We already had a good partnership with
Matco Foods and we both see complementary business opportunities in the local
Pakistan market.
“Pakistan
has a fast-growing economy with a good variety of multinational and local food
manufacturers. Our broad ingredients portfolio in combination with Matco Foods’
strong local network will certainly add value to the local life science
markets, starting with human nutrition and pharmaceuticals.”
Khalid
Ghori, CEO of Matco Foods, added: “We have invested in processing
facilities to produce ingredients such as rice glucose syrup, rice proteins and
maltodextrin. Through these activities, we have an excellent insight into and
an extended network with the local food industry. We are proud to have set up
this joint venture with Barentz and to further explore their strong
global ingredient portfolio.”
Established
in 1953, Barentz has operations in more than 60 countries with a strong
presence in Europe and Asia.
Last year, the firm formed a joint
venture with South Africa-headquartered raw materials supplier SK Chemtrade Services and Dutch ingredients company TasteStrik.
Food Insecurity: An Imminent Threat to Pakistan
- 82
FEBRUARY 7, 2020
In “The Coming Famine: The
Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid,”
Julian Cribb put out a categorical picture of impending planetary crisis–a
global food shortage that threatens to hit by the mid-century and would dwarf
any in our previous experience. This threat is maybe trivial for developed
countries. However, the underdeveloped countries are going to face the
worst-ever food shortage crisis. Among the underdeveloped or the developing
countries, Pakistan is going to be the central point.
In the previous decade, Pakistan
faced a very striking pressure only due to the food shortage and food security.
A research paper published in the Pakistan Development Review, entitled, “The
state of food security in Pakistan: Future challenges and coping strategies,”
pointed out, “Despite significant improvement in the aggregate food supply,
malnutrition is a widespread phenomenon in Pakistan. Rather, it has been argued
that per capita food intake in the country has been higher than the recommended
average at the national level. Nevertheless, one-third of all pregnant women
were malnourished and over 25 per cent of babies had low birth weight in
2001-2. Malnutrition was a major problem responsible for more than 30 per cent
of all infant and child deaths in the country in 2001-02.”
This shortage of food and food
security has become worsened over time. It may have been better in the previous
decades but in this decade, Pakistan is facing a low standard internationally.
The third-quarter report of State Bank of Pakistan in 2019 warns Pakistan about
food shortage due to climate change and increase in population. As climate
changes have affected Pakistan incredibly for the last few years, they have
also left a massive influence on agricultural productivity. The rapidly growing
population requires food and other essential resources to survive while
agriculture has changed its structure negativity and country is enduring
through food shortage.
Once, Bangladesh also suffered
through the same issue. But later it became attentive towards the issue and has
now brought multiple changes in its food aspects. Even though Bangladesh was
greatly vulnerable to climate change than Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan was one
of the major exporters of wheat and basmati rice. But haplessly, due to climate
change and unchecked population, it has now reached a position of food
shortage.
Paradoxically, climate change has
led to the consequences of food shortage. According to a UN report, Pakistan
has occupied the fifth position, which has the risk of hard climate change. And
it is, for sure, that the climate change will leave no opportunity in impacting
agriculture, and it is doing so. Besides, as the population is increasing,
people are moving towards cities in the search of jobs, better education and
improved lifestyle. It is blinking to the fact that the enormous growth in
population is impacting cultivable lands. Thus, the lands for agriculture are
being converted to houses as everyone requires a roof over their heads. And
they also require food to eat.
Climate
changes have left a massive influence on Pakistan’s
Shipping Giant Sued By Insurers And Trader Over Ruined Rice
Law360, London (February 6, 2020, 6:37 PM GMT) -- AXA, AIG and a
Singaporean importer-exporter are suing MSC Mediterranean
Shipping Co. SA over more than 574 tons of rice that was allegedly damaged en route from Pakistan to Madagascar. The High Court claim for breach of duty and negligence says the cargo shipment — 521,352 kilograms of rice in 20 containers — left Karachi in December 2017 on board either the MSC Tasmania or the MSC Lana, according to a bill of lading. Problems with the shipment, which occurred between December 2017 and March 2018, resulted in loss, damage or delay, the claim asserts. No additional details about the allegedly. . .
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Kenya
Next in Line for Trade Negotiations with U.S.
WASHINGTON,
DC -- The Trump Administration has a new trade target in its sights for 2020 -
Kenya. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced yesterday their
intention to negotiate a free trade agreement with this country that represents
a growing economy within Africa, and wants to set the tone for other east
African nations interested in expanding their global footprint.
Kenya
is a large consumer of rice, both producing it domestically and importing more
than 500,000 tons on average, with a high of nearly 625,000 tons in 2017.
Current imports are primarily long grain rice coming from Pakistan, Thailand,
and India, with trace amounts in years past from the U.S.
Kenya's
population is growing rapidly, with more than 50 million people in 2019
compared to less than 9 million in 1960. With an increase in people comes
an increase in demand for food, including rice. U.S.-grown rice shipped
to Kenya currently faces a 35 percent tariff which is of course an obstacle to
entry. Kenya's products currently enter the U.S. duty-free through the
African Growth and Opportunity Act requirements, set to expire in 2025.
USTR indicated that they will be
formally notifying Congress of their intent to negotiate a trade agreement,
followed by a call for public input. "We look forward to negotiating
and concluding a comprehensive, high-standard agreement with Kenya that can
serve as a model for additional agreements across Africa," said USTR
Ambassador Robert Lighthizer.
"USA
Rice will be taking a deeper look into market potential for sales of U.S. rice
to Kenya and surrounding African nations as populations and demand for rice in
the region grow," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward.
"We appreciate the Administration's robust approach to trade this year,
and eliminating the duty U.S. rice faces in Kenya would go a long way to building
a new market for U.S. rice."
USA
Rice was invited and participated today in a U.S.-Kenya Small and Medium
Enterprise Roundtable hosted by USTR to identify and discuss ways to strengthen
commercial cooperation between businesses as well as how to reduce barriers and
increase trade between the two countries.
usa RICE DAILY
