STEM
Competition Adds an "R" for Rice
ROCKVILLE, MD -- Students from the Charles E.
Smith (CES) Jewish Day School here recently got their brains in high gear for
an academic competition that married U.S. rice and STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics). After learning all about U.S.-grown rice
from curriculum provided by USA Rice, the middle school students participated
in four activities that studied the relationship between the structure and
function of different types of rice.
The students collected qualitative and quantitative observations about each type of rice and then compared that data with written descriptions of the different varieties to determine the accuracy of their observational skills. At the conclusion of the competition, students had even more fun making sushi rolls using rice donated by USA Rice.
"This is one of the most unique incorporations of rice in a classroom that I have come across," said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice director of domestic promotion. "It just goes to show that the versatility of rice cannot be understated, and even a single grain can serve as an educational resource."
In addition to the donated rice and curriculum materials including Registered Dietitian guides to U.S.-grown rice, USA Rice also provided students with Think Rice pens and notepads.
"I commend the teaching staff at the Jewish Day School for developing such an interesting intersection between rice and STEM," said Jacobs. "These students not only learned what they should within the STEM disciplines, but also left with a newfound appreciation of U.S.-grown rice."
The students collected qualitative and quantitative observations about each type of rice and then compared that data with written descriptions of the different varieties to determine the accuracy of their observational skills. At the conclusion of the competition, students had even more fun making sushi rolls using rice donated by USA Rice.
"This is one of the most unique incorporations of rice in a classroom that I have come across," said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice director of domestic promotion. "It just goes to show that the versatility of rice cannot be understated, and even a single grain can serve as an educational resource."
In addition to the donated rice and curriculum materials including Registered Dietitian guides to U.S.-grown rice, USA Rice also provided students with Think Rice pens and notepads.
"I commend the teaching staff at the Jewish Day School for developing such an interesting intersection between rice and STEM," said Jacobs. "These students not only learned what they should within the STEM disciplines, but also left with a newfound appreciation of U.S.-grown rice."
There’s
science to making great fried rice
Chefs make the dish often without realizing the
physics behind it
Science underlies what chefs in
Chinese restaurants do to cook rice quickly and completely — without burning.
SERGE_BERTASIUS/ISTOCK /GETTY IMAGES PLUS
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March 4, 2020 at 6:45 am
To make fried rice like a pro,
use science. That’s what two physicists now advise.
Chefs typically toss the frying
food into the air from deep, rounded pans ⎯ or woks ⎯ before catching it again.
Launching rice and its fixings allows a chef to cook it over really hot flames
without burning. At times, temperatures in a pan can reach 1,200° Celsius
(2,192° Fahrenheit). This helps create the tastiest stir-fried fare. Now,
Hungtang Ko and David L. Hu have analyzed videos of five chefs cooking up fried
rice in Chinese restaurants. By doing this, Ko and Hu uncovered the repeated
motions used to toss that rice. Both Ko and Hu work at the Georgia Institute of
Technology in Atlanta.
The scientists found that the
chefs relied on a specific pattern of motion. And they repeated those motions
about three times a second. Ko and Hu described those movements February 12 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Each
repetition included sliding a wok back and forth at the same time it was rocked
to and fro. The chefs used the rim of the stovetop as a fulcrum on which to
balance their pan as they rocked it.
Cooking fried rice like a pro
requires tossing it in the air to avoid burning. Physicists analyzed details of
chefs’ movements. They now report that sliding and rocking motions repeat about
three times a second, launching the food from a wok. Blue lines track the edges
of the pan, with the left side moving clockwise and the right side
counterclockwise. The red line notes the motion of the wok’s center.
Cooks use similarly complex
patterns of movement to cook up other foods. They will tilt and rotate batter
in a pan, for instance, to get smooth, flat crepes.
Ko and Hu used a computer to
simulate the trajectories of rice that would occur in a wok moved in various
ways. Along the way, the scientists hit on some key culinary tips. The rocking
and sliding motions shouldn’t be totally in sync. If they are, the rice won’t
mix well and could burn. Also, the wok’s movements should repeat rapidly.
Moving the wok even faster could launch the rice higher. That might allow
cooking at higher temperatures, they say, and perhaps a quicker meal.
But faster shaking may be hard on
a cook. Chefs at Chinese restaurants can struggle with shoulder pain, studies
have shown. Rapidly shaking their heavy woks could be part of the problem. One
solution, Ho and Ku suggest, might be a stir-frying robot. It could be built
based on their newfound results, they say, to take the weight off chefs’
shoulders.
East Chinese province to plant over 660 hectares
of rice in saline-alkali soil
Source:
Xinhua| 2020-03-05 18:54:41|Editor: huaxia
QINGDAO, March 5 (Xinhua) -- A team led by Yuan Longping, the
renowned agronomist known for developing the first hybrid rice strains,
launched an ambitious program for planting 10,000 mu (about 660 hectares) of
rice in saline-alkali soil in east China's Shandong Province on Thursday.
Workers have started to level 330 hectares of saline-alkali soil
in Qingdao, a coastal city of Shandong. Rice seedlings will be transplanted in
May.
According to Zhang Guodong, deputy director of Qingdao's
saline-alkali tolerant rice research and development center led by Yuan, they
will plant the other 330 hectares of saline-alkali tolerant rice in Dongying
and Weifang, also coastal cities of Shandong.
Yuan did not visit the program site due to the coronavirus
epidemic, but he sent a letter conveying his support.
The team will plant Chaoyou 1000, a promising super hybrid rice
combination, in the saline-alkali soil. The team planted 500 mu of Chaoyou 1000
in Dongying last year, and the yield reached 600 kg per mu, according to Yuan's
letter.
Researchers on Yuan's team tested growing rice in saline-alkali
soil last year in six bases across China, including Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region and the provinces of Heilongjiang, Shandong and Zhejiang.
They also succeeded in planting saline-alkali tolerant rice in
Dubai of the United Arab Emirates.
The total testing areas amounted to 20,000 mu and the yield
reached over 500 kg per mu.
China has about 100 million hectares of saline-alkali soil, of
which about one-fifth could be ameliorated to arable soil.
Major rice research platform to be built in
northeast China
Source:
Xinhua| 2020-03-05 11:44:48|Editor: huaxia
BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- A major rice research platform will
be built in northeast China with a total investment of about 90 million yuan
(about 13 million U.S. dollars) to promote the upgrading of the rice industry
in the northern part of the country.
The construction of the northern rice research center of the
China National Rice Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences has recently been approved by the National Development and Reform
Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
The center will be built in Baoqing County, Shuangyashan City,
Heilongjiang Province. As a national science and technology innovation
platform, the center is expected to significantly improve the contribution of
science and technology in the rice industry in northern China, and promote the
development of a high-quality rice industry.
The center will focus on rice resources innovation, new variety
selection, ecological research, cultivation technology innovation and soil
fertilization and remediation research
East Chinese province to plant over 660 hectares
of rice in saline-alkali soil
Source:
Xinhua| 2020-03-05 18:54:41|Editor: huaxia
QINGDAO, March 5 (Xinhua) -- A team led by Yuan Longping, the
renowned agronomist known for developing the first hybrid rice strains,
launched an ambitious program for planting 10,000 mu (about 660 hectares) of
rice in saline-alkali soil in east China's Shandong Province on Thursday.
Workers have started to level 330 hectares of saline-alkali soil
in Qingdao, a coastal city of Shandong. Rice seedlings will be transplanted in
May.
According to Zhang Guodong, deputy director of Qingdao's
saline-alkali tolerant rice research and development center led by Yuan, they
will plant the other 330 hectares of saline-alkali tolerant rice in Dongying
and Weifang, also coastal cities of Shandong.
Yuan did not visit the program site due to the coronavirus
epidemic, but he sent a letter conveying his support.
The team will plant Chaoyou 1000, a promising super hybrid rice
combination, in the saline-alkali soil. The team planted 500 mu of Chaoyou 1000
in Dongying last year, and the yield reached 600 kg per mu, according to Yuan's
letter.
Researchers on Yuan's team tested growing rice in saline-alkali
soil last year in six bases across China, including Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region and the provinces of Heilongjiang, Shandong and Zhejiang.
They also succeeded in planting saline-alkali tolerant rice in
Dubai of the United Arab Emirates.
The total testing areas amounted to 20,000 mu and the yield
reached over 500 kg per mu.
China has about 100 million hectares of saline-alkali soil, of
which about one-fifth could be ameliorated to arable soil.
₱520M rice fund empowers farmers in Caraga Region
By DA CaragaPublished on March 5, 2020
BUTUAN CITY, Mar. 5 -- March 5,
2020, marks the first anniversary of the implementation of the Republic Act
11203 or the Rice Tarrification Law (RTL).
Over
a year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) – Caraga together with its
implementing agencies took the challenge to pursue a more efficient
implementation of the four component programs of the Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
As
a result, a total of ₱520 million agri support has been poured to the rice
farmers in the region. This includes the provision of farm machinery, quality
seeds, credit, and training and extension services.
Today,
DA-Caraga Regional Executive Director Abel James I. Monteagudo together with
Engr. Rene Q. Morales lead the turn-over of farm machinery to eligible farmer
associations held at DA-Caraga ILD Grounds, Brgy. Taguibo, Butuan City.
"You
are now receiving the fruit of the implementation of RTL. The rice tariff
revenues are allocated to programs that will make Caraga rice farmers globally
competitive. Rest assured that more interventions are coming and sooner will be
realized. We just need your support and your cooperation," Monteagudo
said.
In support of agricultural
modernization, DA-Caraga distributed a total of ₱350 million worth of farm
equipment. Around 280 farmer associations and cooperatives received their
proposed farm equipment such as mechanical rice transplanters, four-wheel-drive
tractors, rice combine harvesters, hand tractors, rice threshers, rice reapers,
seed spreader, and pump and engine set.
Robert
"Datu Bantiles" Tagalogon, tribal leader of Manobo Farmers Sectoral
Tribal Council Inc. in La Paz, Agusan del Sur is very grateful from the five
pump and engine set they received.
According
to Datu Bantiles around 3,000, Manobo rice farmers will benefit easier access
to the water supply.
"We
are now ready for the next cropping season through the help of the pump and
engine. We are looking forward to an abundant harvest," said Datu
Bantiles.
On
the other hand, the DA – Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) – Agusan
distributed ₱65.5 million worth or an equivalent of 86,243 bags of inbred rice
seeds to 34,258 farmers in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and
Surigao del Sur for the November – December 2019 planting season. This
corresponds to an estimated planted area of 44,852 hectares.
Another
round of seed distribution worth ₱72.96 million will be done this month for the
wet cropping season that will benefit more than 40,000 farmers.
In
addition to RCEF credit assistance, the DA together with the Agricultural
Credit Policy Council, Landbank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the
Philippines open more windows for financial aids such as loan programs intended
to eligible beneficiaries.
Under
the Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance (SURE-Aid) Program, a total of
6,596 rice farmers from the provinces of Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte,
Agusan del Sur, and Agusan del Norte including Butuan City received a
₱15,000-loan at zero interest payable in eight years.
Meanwhile,
the release of cash grants to 1,210 qualified rice farmers under the Rice
Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program provided unconditional ₱5,000 cash
assistance to farmers with one-half to two hectares of rice land. Another
16,000 rice farmers will receive the said assistance not later this month.
For
the training and extension component, DA-Agricultural Training Institute –
Caraga together with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority –
Caraga is closely working to conduct more refresher courses, training,
accreditation programs, and scholarships.
The
department aims that on the next six years as a result of RCEF, it will
effectively reduce the average production cost of palay by ₱4 kg, from the current
₱12 kg, increase the average yield by at least two tons per hectare from the
current four metric tons per hectare, and double the income of rice farmers.
(DA Caraga/PIA Caraga)
Ilocos Norte rice farmers urged to diversify crops
By
Leilanie Adriano March
5, 2020, 12:57 pm
TRY
AGRI-BUSINESS. Ilocos
Norte Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc is one with rice farmers whom he urged to
shift to high-value crops and engage in agribusiness to increase productivity.
Manotoc attended a farmers’ festival in Barangay Cataban, Laoag City on
Wednesday where 34 farmer-cooperators harvested an average of 8.6 tons per
hectare at the 10-hectare hybrid rice model farm sponsored by hybrid rice
companies. (PNA photo by Leilanie Adriano)
LAOAG CITY – The disruptive effects of
global climate change and rice tariffication among other social issues make
farming more challenging during these times thus the need for farmers to
consider adding crops that can be resilient under different weather conditions.
During a harvest festival on the
10-hectare hybrid rice model farm in Barangay 61 Cataban, this city on
Wednesday, Provincial Agriculturist Norma Lagmay said Ilocos Norte continues to
be one of the country’s Top 12 rice-producing provinces but time has come that
farmers need to strategize so that they will not only depend on rice planting
for income.
“We produce more rice than we
consume. And with the effect of the rice tariffication law, I hope that we will
shift to other crops such as fruits and vegetables as additional source of
income,” Lagmay said.
At present, the Department of
Agriculture (DA) is in the process of drafting a national crop diversification
program to support rice farmers who are struggling in the face of competition
from rice imports. In Ilocos Norte, Lagmay said there are areas that are no
longer suitable for rice production and these can be utilized for crop
diversification.
Crop diversification refers to the
addition of new crops other than rice on a particular farm which can help
increased revenue, creating new markets and improved rural communities’ quality
of life.
Backing this move, Laoag Mayor
Michael Marcos Keon told farmers the city government is ready to support farm
mechanization and the restoration of soil fertility programs in every barangay
to ensure sustainable agriculture.
Meanwhile, the provincial
government of Ilocos Norte is also assisting farmers by giving them farm
machinery, seeds, and fertilizer subsidy to reduce farming inputs. Other crops
being promoted in the province include garlic, shallot, corn, moringa
(malunggay), tobacco, mango, and dragon fruit among others.
The Department of Agriculture
through the Provincial Veterinary Office is also distributing livestock
dispersal to all interested farmers to increase their income. (PNA)
.
This includes the provision of farm machinery, quality seeds, credit, and
training and extension services.
Where have all the workers gone?
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:20 AM March 06,
2020
It’s not easy anymore to find workers for our farm operations,” I’ve been
hearing many farmers tell me lately. I’m making the rounds again talking to
various farmers in different parts of the country in the course of a research
study. Whether they are tilling less than a hectare or operating hundreds of
hectares of consolidated farms, a persistent clamor our research team keeps
hearing is for easier access to farm machinery, because farmworkers are getting
hard to find or costly to hire.
One thing is
very different about our farm sector now compared to the 1970s. Back in 1977, I
lived among rice farmers in Bicol, Panay, and Central Luzon studying the
various farm machines being used in threshing and drying harvested palay. My
masteral thesis research was on the appropriate choice of technology for
Philippine rice farms, and with abundant farm labor then, I noted that the
large McCormick threshers (tilladora) found in Central Luzon made little
economic sense. With cheap and abundant farm labor, savings in labor cost
simply could not offset the large capital investment the machine entailed.
Similarly, the kerosene or rice hull-fueled flat bed palay dryers developed by
UP Los Baños agricultural engineers proved unattractive to farmers. The capital
cost was simply too high, whereas sun drying on available pavements or mats had
minimal capital cost even if it required more labor.
Fast forward
to 2020, and we’re finding farmers in Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon all
clamoring for farm machines. “The problem is 4Ps!” is a cry we hear wherever we
go. The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the Philippine version of targeted
conditional cash transfers, is designed to incentivize poor parents to keep
their children in school, thereby investing in their family’s long-term welfare.
But farmers swear that their workers are no longer inclined to work as hard, or
not at all, because “the 4Ps cash doleout has made them lazy.” One sugar farmer
observed that “they might come to work in the field in the morning, but in the
afternoon, they’d rather be drinking.”
People also
point to BBB (Build, build, build) as another problem. Farmers say they are
forced to match the wages being paid to construction workers, which is higher
than the minimum wage for farmworkers, if they are to get workers at all.
There’s apparently so much demand for workers in both government and private
construction projects now that farmworkers are being siphoned off the farms.
“Many
agrarian reform beneficiaries would rather lease their piece of land to a large
farm consolidator, buy a motorcycle, and be a ‘habal-habal’ (motorcycle taxi)
driver instead,” our research team heard more than one sugar planter point out.
It made me recall the doctoral research of Danielle Guillen, where she found
that farmers are drawn into driving tricycles and habal-habal because it
provides them cash daily, even if total income from farming would actually be
higher. But cash flow, she found, is often more important to the poor than the
level of income, which leads them to leave farming in favor of occupations that
put cash in their pockets every day.
All told,
various farm machines are now commonly seen in our farms, and for a logical
reason. In rice farms, combine harvesters that mechanically harvest and thresh
palay as they pass through the rice fields earned the name “halimaw” (beast)
from farmworkers who earlier saw them to be eating up their jobs; it seems that
resistance to them has since become muted. In sugar farms, mechanical grabbers
that load harvested cane into trucks are now common, especially because this
task cannot be done by women, who can still be relied upon for the work of
cutting cane in the fields. Even so, sugar planters attest that tapaseros have
become much harder to find, especially since the traditional sacadas have
become small landowners after agrarian reform.
It has taken
us so much longer to get here than the Thais and Vietnamese did—because we seem
to love making babies much more than they do—but now the direction is
unmistakable: We must pursue wide farm mechanization vigorously now, or else.
cielito.habito@gmail.com
https://opinion.inquirer.net/127843/where-have-all-the-workers-gone#ixzz6FuFWYW3D
Farmers get P100-B fund
Farmers get P100-B fund
A
total of P100 billion worth of assistance, aside from the
P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, was released to Filipino
farmers during the transition to rice tariffication, said Senator Cynthia
Villar.
Villar,
chairman of the Senate agriculture and food committee, said the farmers started
last year to receive the benefits of the law through seed distribution, credit
and extension programs.
Soon,
Villar farm machinery will be distributed to rice-producing towns under the
law’s mechanization program.
She
noted that this is also provided under Republic Act 11203 or the Rice
Tariffication Law.
The
senator, however, admitted a delay in the distribution of farm machinery due to
the change of leadership in the Department of Agriculture—from Emmanuel
Piñol to William Dar although SARO-BMB-E-20-001084 was already received
for the amount of P5 billion.
Aside
from the P10-billion RCEF, LandBank and the DA Agricultural Credit Policy
Council implemented the P4.8-billion Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance
Program or SURE AID which provided a one-time loan assistance of P15,000 at
percent interest for eight years.
This
program, Villar said, helped rice farmers with farms measuring one hectare and
below whose income were affected by the drop in the farmgate price of palay.
She
said P3-billion unconditional cash assistance was implemented to benefit
the small farmers. The program was funded by the Department of Finance and
provided P5,000 each to 600,000 farmers owning one hectare and below.
To
ensure that the palay produce of local farmers will be bought at a reasonable
price, P7-billion was allocated under the National Food Authority to procure
palay from local farmers.
The
P31 billion budget for rice subsidy under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program was also used to procure rice from local farmers and distributed to
beneficiary households.
Farmers
also received assistance under the P7 billion National Rice Program which
included provision for hybrid seeds, fertilizer for inbred seeds, irrigation
support and rehabilitation and improvement of small scale irrigation projects;
agriculture, machinery, equipment and facilities support services; extension
services; and research and development.
Assistance
to farmers was also funded in the National Irrigation Administration worth P36
billion; P1 billion allocation to the PhilMech/PhilRice; and Farm to Market
Roads worth P9.9 billion.
Villar
said improvement of our country’s credit rating was also attributed to the
enactment of the law which allowed us to save about P35 billion in interest
payments of our government’s loans from other countries.
New study shows CRISPR can be applied to produce biofortified
rice
Joan
Conrow | Cornell
Alliance for Science | March 5, 2020
This article or excerpt is included in the GLP’s
daily curated selection of ideologically diverse news, opinion and analysis of
biotechnology innovation.
The study was led by Prof. Pamela Ronald and Oliver Dong, a
post-doctoral fellow in the Ronald laboratory at the University of California,
Davis, and members of the Innovative
Genomics Institute (IGI) in Berkeley. Other collaborators
included scientists from the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and
the Joint Bioenergy Institute, both in Northern California.
The research team used CRISPR-Cas9 to insert marker-free DNA
fragments, or cassettes, into the rice genome at two targeted locations. Though
other CRISPR researchers had previously achieved targeted insertions in plants,
they used relatively small fragments of DNA, which restricted the amount of
genetic information that could be introduced into the genome. The Ronald team
inserted a 5.2 kb cassette that was more than twice the size of previous
similar targeted insertions, resulting in carotenoid-enriched rice with a
golden-colored grain.
Previous biofortification work in rice relied on conventional
agrobacterium- or particle bombardment-based plant transformation, which
integrates transgenes at random locations in the plant genome. This can disrupt
gene function, sometimes resulting in reduced yield.
In this new approach, Ronald and her team identified genomic
“safe harbors” that could accommodate insertion of the carotenoid cassette
without disrupting desirable agronomic traits. They also demonstrated the
lack of off-target mutations in the carotenoid- enriched plants, as evidenced
by whole-genome sequencing.
The results suggest that CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing offers a
promising strategy for making genetic improvements in rice — a staple food for
more than half the world’s population — and other crops. The study also
suggests that targeted gene insertion could facilitate stacking multiple genes
with desired traits in a specific location in the genome — a process that is
currently challenging using conventional plant breeding.
This article originally ran at
the Cornell
Alliance for Science and has been republished here with
permission. Follow
the Alliance for Science on Twitter @ScienceAlly. Follow
Joan Conrow @joanconrow
Geo-economics of Basmati rice to play inevitable role in India, Pak
relations: Book
05 MARCH 2020 Last Updated at 5:38
PM | SOURCE: PTI
New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) The geo-economics of Basmati rice is
going to play an "inevitable" role in Indo-Pak relations in the
future, according to a new book.
Citing a likely decrease in the
flow of Indus waters from India to Pakistan, the book titled "Basmati
Rice: The Natural History Geographical Indication" noted that Pakistan will
push for aggressive posturing in future as more than 80 per cent of its crops
(including Basmati paddy) depend on this water for irrigation.
"The geo-economics of
Basmati rice is going to play an inevitable role in determining a number of new
agendas in both sides of borders in relation to security and peace," the
book penned by S Chandrasekaran said.
According to the book, over 80
per cent of water under the Indus Water Treaty (that was signed between the two
countries in 1960) is utilised by Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan.
"The Indus river is
extremely sensitive to factors of climate change. An estimated 70 to 80 per
cent of its flow derives from glaciers, the highest proportion of any river in
Asia. For this reason, the Indus river is expected to see high flow in the
first half of the century as glaciers melt down, then receding flow later in
the century, then no flow at all," it said.
The Indus covers a distance of
around 1,800 miles from source to sea. Apart from flooding in 2010, it has
mostly run dry for its last few hundred miles to the sea, the book said.
Chandrasekaran also noted that
the Basmati rice could become an "economic tool" for India.
"India has not approached
the subject of Basmati rice in such larger economic interest, even though it
could provide additional economic benefits to millions of farmers in India if
appropriate measures were taken. The current geo-economic trends explicitly
indicate that Basmati rice could become an economic tool for ''Bharat'',"
the book said.
The legal and historical facts
provide ability to register Basmati rice as an exclusive Geographical
Indication (GI) of India, it said.
"Such exclusive ownership
position of India has ability to claim penalty or royalty on infringement of
use of word ''Basmati rice'' by Pakistan in international court or WTO, which
could run several billion dollars of compensation to India," the author
wrote.
Chandrasekaran, who hails from
Tamil Nadu, has spent substantial period of his career working upon Geograhical
Indication and Basmati rice’s evolution, trade and on its future aspects.
Prior awareness and knowledge
about "Indications of Origin" for British and British-India policy makers,
and non-inclusion of Basmati rice in the list of "other than physical
assets" (Partition Proceedings: Volume II –Assets and Liabilities (Expert
Committee No II), Annexure I) emphasise the fact that the implicit right of
Geographical Indication of Basmati rice is exclusively vested with India, the
book said.
Chandrasekaran suggested that
India may need to reshape her trade diplomacy on Basmati rice in the context of
"New Trade Agreements" and Pakistan policy.
"It could be firmly
concluded that the labelling of rice grown in Pakistan, as Basmati is
infringement based on historical reputation of West Punjab, particularly
because agriculture never existed in that region," he wrote.
If any trading partner of India
recognises and imports rice grown from Pakistan as Basmati rice, India may need
to impose compensatory import tariff or such measures, on such value of imports
of the trading partner destining to India, to recoup the export loss in order
to protect and exercise the rights accrued through appropriate historical
reputation under global trade agreements, the book claimed.
Grown in North West of India,
especially in Indo-Gangetic Plain and Sivalik Hills, the Indian domestic market
of Basmati rice is estimated over Rs 10,000 crore for packaged and organised
sector as per published data. The price band of various Basmati rice brand
varies from Rs 100 to Rs 225 per kilogram.
"The increase in disposable
income and branding has significantly increased the consumption of Basmati
rice. No other Indian Geographical Indication (GI) has grown to such size of
volume and value like Basmati rice," the book said.
"In our constitution, a new
section could be introduced under fundamental rights ensuring – ''Right to
Nature''," it suggested.
Geographical Indication is a
public right combination of quality-linked geography with reputation in common
parlance.
"Geography is nothing but
nature. The Basmati rice provides livelihood for millions of farmers and this
heritage is to be protected as public rights with larger ''public policy
instrument''.
Such combination of livelihood
and heritage forms culture of India since immemorial time not only in Basmati
rice but also in a number of products," it said. PTI AKV AKV TRS TRS
Vietnam eyes growing demand for rice in Senegal
·
VIETNAM
·
Thursday, 05 Mar 2020
6:44 PM MYT
Vietnam exported 96,665 tonnes of
rice to Senegal in 2019, up 13 times year on year. - VN
HANOI
(Vietnam News/ANN): Vietnam this year would have opportunities to continue
increasing rice exports to Senegal, as well as Africa as a whole, due to high
demand from those markets, the Vietnam Nam Trade Office in Algeria said.
This
year, Senegal's demand for imported rice is forecasted to be high because
people are storing more food, including rice, during the serious outbreak of
locusts in East Africa – which has destroyed crops – and the Covid-19 epidemic,
it said.
According
to the US Department of Agriculture, Africa's rice demand in 2020 is estimated
at 15.7 million tonnes. Of which, Senegal may have to import 1.3 million
tonnes, it said.
In
2019, Vietnam had strong growth in rice exports to Senegal compared to 2018,
the trade office said. The exports reached 96,665 tonnes of rice, earning
US$32.6 million, up 13 times in volume and 10.2 times in value year on year.
In this market, Vietnamese rice
has to compete with rice from India, Pakistan, Thailand, China, Brazil,
Argentina, Uruguay, the US, Malaysia and Cambodia. - Vietnam News/Asia News
Network
Barter trade deal with
Iran; Ministry restarts consultative process
By MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN on March 6, 2020
Commerce Ministry has restarted
consultative process for a barter trade deal with Iran as normal bilateral
relations are not possible between the two countries till removal of US
sanctions.
For this purpose, Prime Minister's
Advisor on Commerce, Industries and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak
Dawood, on Thursday presided over an internal meeting meant to formulate a
comprehensive strategy for this purpose.
Recently, Pakistan's embassy in
Tehran had communicated Iranian concerns regarding delay in fulfillment of
Pakistan's commitment for finding a workable solution to US sanctions against
Iran by establishing a mechanism for transactions and resumption of banking
channels.
In this regard, Pakistan's embassy
in Tehran has proposed the following: (i) establishing credible banking
channels by opening bank branches of non-sanctioned Iranian banks in Pakistan
and vice versa; (ii) signing of Free Trade Agreement (FTA); and (iii) trade
mechanism as proposed by the Iranian side to settle outstanding payments for
electricity being imported by Pakistan. The Iranian side is willing to import
Pakistani rice (and other commodities) against cost of electricity being
imported from Iran in Balochistan.
Official sources told Business
Recorder that the meeting presided over by the Prime Minister's Advisor on
Commerce discussed different scenarios with respect to commencement of
bilateral trade through land route and sea.
However, the main issue being faced
is non-availability of payment mechanism due to which trade is negligible.
Nevertheless, informal trade is continuing which is hurting local industry.
The sources said it has been decided
to convene another meeting which will be attended by the Ministry of Finance,
State Bank of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Federation of Pakistan
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Quetta Chamber of Commerce and
Industry so that the decision on barter trade should be taken after due
diligence with the stakeholders.
Previously due to security issues
along the Pakistan-Iran border, negative public statements against Pakistan
emanated from Iran, and the government, as part of its principled approach to
strengthen its relations with neighbouring countries, is eager to explore all
avenues of strengthening bilateral relations with Iran particularly in the
economic areas.
The sources said Pakistan has
pursued a policy of balanced engagement with Iran vis-Ã -vis Arab countries for
the past several years. Given Pakistan's financial compulsions, recent warming
of its relations with Saudi Arabia and UAE has created an impression of a tilt
in this balanced approach towards the Arabs, at the expense of Iran.
The sources said Pakistan can apply
for waiver on the following grounds: (i) Pakistan's economy is highly dependent
on import of oil while Iran is an oil producing country and can offer oil to
Pakistan at a comparatively cheaper price; and (ii) there has always been
demand of medical/surgical instruments and of Pakistani rice and fruits in
Iran. Pakistan is quite capable of meeting Iranian needs for these products by
improving the requisite logistics/infrastructure in this regard.
According to sources, in case legal
means of trade are not explored between Iran and Pakistan, the population in
border areas is likely to be involved in exploring illegal means/channels of
trading goods, which may ultimately give rise to the greater risks of
money-laundering and terror financing.
Iranian authorities are charging a
fee from Pakistani drivers and business community of Rs3,750 as compared to
Pakistan visa fee of Rs2,750 being charged by Pakistan from Iranian citizens.
The visa fee and visa can be cancelled any time by Iranian authorities without
assigning any reason.
The export consignments from
Pakistan to Iran are required to be attested by the consulate of Iran at Quetta
with attestation fees of Rs100,000 for consignment of million tons of rice and
it takes around 2-4 days.
Pakistan has not imposed any such
condition on Iranian imports. Load tax is charged at the rate of 10 percent of
the fare of the transport company. If a truck is charged Rs40,000 for travel
from Quetta to Zahedan the transporter has to pay Rs4,000 even though the
distance from Taftan border to Zahedan is 80 kms.
According to sources, there is a
wide difference between trade data released by Iran Customs and Pakistan Bureau
of Statistics. The Iranian customs data shows that the bilateral volume crossed
$1 billion in 2017 while data reported by FBR shows the total trade of $392
million. Pakistan will emphasize the need of reconciliation of trade data.
The government of Iran has imposed a
ban on import of a number of agricultural goods including fruits and
vegetables, seasonal ban on rice and the country specific ban on wheat from
Pakistan. The ban on import of kinoos since 2011-12 is seriously affecting
Pakistani fruit exporters and Pakistan is losing on average $30 million per
annum.
Talking about Pak-Iran Free Trade
Agreement (FTA), the sources said, in order to finalize the Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) with Iran, three or four meetings of the Technical Negotiating
Committee (NNC) have been held since 2016. The third meeting of the TNC was
held in Tehran in 2017. Draft of FTA in goods and Mutual Recognition Agreement
(MRA) on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitory have
been shared.
US sanctions on Iran were
categorized into primary sanctions and secondary sanctions. The primary
sanctions prevented US citizens or entities from engaging in transactions with
Iran and its government. The secondary sanctions were applicable on non-US
persons and entities.
After GCPOA, the USA lifted the
secondary sanctions on Iran with effect from January 26, 2016 while primary
sanctions remained enforced. However, following US decision to withdraw from
JCPOA, the secondary sanctions were re-introduced partly on August 7, 2018 and
partly on November 5, 2018. The US issued 180-day waivers for relaxation of
some of the sanctions with effect from November 5, 2018.
Recently, the US imposed further
sanctions on Iran after tensions rose between the two counties over killing of
Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.
The secondary sanctions pertain to
the following: (i) financial and banking institutions; (ii) insurance related
issues; (iii) Iran's energy and petrochemical sectors; (iv) shipping sector;
(v) trade in gold and other precious metals; and (vi) supply of goods and
services related to the auto sector.
In order to trade with Iran in the
presence of US sanctions, countries have employed different methods. Countries
including China, Japan and South Korea have been granted a waiver by the US for
import of oil as the economies of these countries are largely dependent on oil
imports from Iran. Similarly European countries have devised a Special Purpose
Vehicle (SPV) for trade with Iran. SPV facilitates European-Iran trade while
reducing the need for transactions between the European and Iranian financial
systems. It will do this by allowing European exporters to receive payments for
sales to Iran from funds that are already within Europe and vice versa. Further
details are being worked out. However, this mechanism will include only trade
in food and medicines. Petroleum products will be kept outside this mechanism.The
sources further stated that Pakistan is also considering various options for
engaging in trade with Iran. Currently, trade with Iran is conducted mainly
through Dubai. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, although a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) was signed between SBP and Bank Markazi Jamhouri Islami
Iran (BMJII) on April 13, 2017 in Tehran, Pakistani banks are still reluctant
to do business with the Iranian banks and have adopted a risk averse approach.
Another reason is comparatively low volume of trade with Iran compared with
USA.
A committee under the chairmanship
of the then Minister of State for Revenue, Hammad Azhar, comprising public and
private sector (Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry) representatives had
been constituted.
SBP, however, maintains that since
the entire banking sector is under sanctions, it is not possible to open
branches of Iranian banks in Pakistan. Following deliberations, the committee
has come up with the following proposals to overcome the payment problem with
Iran: (i) seek waiver from the US on sanctions; (ii) establish a mechanism for
barter trade; and (iii) set up a dedicated bank to do business with Iran.
Major Rice Research Platform To Be Built In Northeast China
A major rice research platform will be built in northeast China
with a total investment of about 90 million yuan (about 13 million U.S.
dollars) to promote the upgrading of the rice industry in the northern part of
the country
BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Mar, 2020 )
:A major rice research platform will be built in northeast China with a
total investment of about 90 million Yuan (about 13 million U.S. Dollars) to promote
the upgrading of the rice industry in the
northern part of the country.
The construction of the northern rice research center of the China National
Rice Research Institute of the Chinese academy of
Agricultural Sciences has recently been approved by the National Development
and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Affairs.
The center will be built in Baoqing County, Shuangyashan City,
Heilongjiang Province. As a national science and technology innovation
platform, the center is expected to significantly improve the contribution of
science and technology in
the rice industry in
northern China, and promote
the development of a high-quality rice industry.
The center will focus on rice resources innovation, new variety
selection, ecological research, cultivation technology innovation
and soil fertilization and remediation research.
Ban on rice import still in place to boost production:
Tanzanian minister
The ban on import of rice and other food crops hasn't been
lifted by Tanzanian government, a media report by
Xinhua said on Wednesday quoting a deputy minister.
"To protect local farmers from a competitive market
suffocated by cheap imports, the government will continue to make sure that
there are no imports of rice in the country," said Deputy Minister for
Agriculture Hussein Bashe.
He was addressing a meeting on boosting rice production.
"Tanzania is currently producing one million tonnes of rice
annually and our strategy should focus on producing three to four million
tonnes of rice annually," Bashe told the meeting.
He also acknowledged the need for "heavy investment"
in irrigation farming and the production of high-quality seeds, according to
the report.
Rice is the second most cultivated food and commercial crop in
Tanzania after maize, with a cultivated area of about 681,000 hectares, which
represents 18 percent of the cultivated land.
However, yields are generally very low, at between one and one
and a half tonnes per hectare, due to the use of mostly traditional farming
methods.
World Bank
Invests Over 22 Billion in Agriculture
Memory Harold March 5, 2020
World bank coordinating with the
ministry of Education in past projects.
Ministry
of Education and Sports in partnership with the Worldbank is investing over 22
billion towards skills training for the Agricultural Sector in the country.
This investment is
being made through the Uganda Skills Development Project (USDP) aiming at
improving the sector and boosting the country’s economy.
The training is aimed
keeping participants abreast of the latest trends in skills upgrading and
fostering technological advancement.
Through this
investment, the country will witness a revamp of the 100 year old Bukalasa
Agricultural Institute, as well as construction of new Infrastructure at
Sesefarm Insitute Kalangala, Rwentanga Farm Institute in Mbarara and Kaberamaido
Technical and Vocational Institute.
Bukalasa Agricultural Institute,
one of the scho
MARCH 5, 2020 / 7:21 PM / UPDATED A DAY AGO
Asia Rice-Drought-hit Thailand's rates soar to 6-1/2 yr peak on
supply dearth
Sumita Layek
3 MIN READ
* Vietnam rates rise to $390-$400/tonne this week from $365-$375
* More orders coming from Malaysia, Cuba, Africa-Vietnamese trader
* Indian rupee falls to lowest in 16 months
* Bangladesh sets ‘Boro’ production target of 20 mln tonnes
By Sumita Layek
BENGALURU, March 5 (Reuters) - A supply crunch in drought stricken
Thailand pushed rice export prices to their highest in 6-1/2 years this week,
while Vietnamese rates bounced back to a more than one-year high on firm
demand.
Thailand’s benchmark 5% broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices jumped to
$460-$467 per tonne on Thursday, their highest since August 2013, from
$430-$452 last week.“Most of the demand is from domestic buyers who are
stocking up rice amid fears of shortages,” a Bangkok-based trader said.
The protracted drought in many rice producing areas caused market concerns
over possible supply shortages and is the main reason for the price hike as
overseas demand remained flat, traders said.
The dry season, which usually starts in November and lasts until
April, could persist into June, the Thai government said.
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 rose to $390-$400
on Thursday, their highest since December 2018, versus $365-$375 a week earlier
on strong demand.
“The Philippines remains the largest buyer, and we have seen more
orders coming in from Malaysia, Cuba and Africa,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh
City said.
Vietnam’s rice exports in the first two months of this year likely
rose 11.5% from a year earlier to 811,000 tonnes, the government’s General
Statistics Office said on Saturday.
“The strong demand has outpaced the rise in supplies as local
farmers are still harvesting rice from the winter-spring crop,” another trader
in the city said, adding that farmers have harvested 60%-70% of the crop.Meanwhile,
in top exporter India, rice export prices extended losses due to weak demand
and as rupee fell to the lowest level in 16 months.
India’s 5% broken parboiled variety rates RI-INBKN5-P1 inched lower
to $367-$371 per tonne this week, from last week’s $369-$373.“Weak rupee is
allowing us to lower prices in dollar terms, but still demand is not picking
up,” said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra
Pradesh.
Weak rupee increases exporters margin from the overseas sale.Neighbouring
Bangladesh has set a production target of 20 million tonnes for summer variety
rice crop “Boro”, for the current year, a senior agriculture ministry official
said.Boro contributes more than half Bangladesh’s typical annual rice output of
around 35 million tonnes.
In 2019, the country produced a record 20.4 million tonnes of Boro,
up from 19.6 million tonnes the previous year, the agriculture ministry says.
(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Khanh Vu in Hanoi
and Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; editing by David Evans)
Vietnam eyes growing demand for
rice in Senegal
·
VIETNAM
· Thursday,
05 Mar 2020
· HANOI
(Vietnam News/ANN): Vietnam this year would have opportunities to continue
increasing
· rice
exports to Senegal, as well as Africa as a whole, due to high demand from those
markets, the Vietnam Nam Trade Office in Algeria said.
This
year, Senegal's demand for imported rice is forecasted to be high because
people are storing more food, including rice, during the serious outbreak of
locusts in East Africa – which has destroyed crops – and the Covid-19 epidemic,
it said.
According
to the US Department of Agriculture, Africa's rice demand in 2020 is estimated
at 15.7 million tonnes. Of which, Senegal may have to import 1.3 million
tonnes, it said.
In
2019, Vietnam had strong growth in rice exports to Senegal compared to 2018,
the trade office said. The exports reached 96,665 tonnes of rice, earning
US$32.6 million, up 13 times in volume and 10.2 times in value year on year.
In this market, Vietnamese rice
has to compete with rice from India, Pakistan, Thailand, China, Brazil,
Argentina, Uruguay, the US, Malaysia and Cambodia. - Vietnam News/Asia News
Network
Rice prices expected to fall further
March 5, 2020 | 12:30 am
THE Duterte administration
expects the price of rice to decline further on the second year of the law
lifting import restrictions that brought prices to a seven-year low.
During a Palace briefing on
Wednesday, Socioeconomic Undersecretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said the price of
rice could fall to around P34 to P35 per kilo this year, from the current price
of around P36 per kilo — the lowest since 2013.
She said prices are seen to drop
with the implementation of the Rice Tarriffication Law (RTL) and measures to
boost production of rice farmers, particularly through the Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
“Ngayon pumalo na tayo at P36…The
lowest one that we saw was in 2013 which was P33.70 and ito ngayon ang
pinakamababa after six years, seven years. Hopefully, talagang
bababa pa rin tayo with the intercession of the RCEF that will
increase production of rice… We are hoping that the retail price will go down,”
Ms. Sombilla said.
“It depends on how all of these
will work out, but we are hoping it could still go down to P34 or P35 this
year. There are so many factors, including how the world market will be
evolving in the coming months.”
Agriculture Secretary William D.
Dar said during the same briefing that P2.3 billion for the RCEF has already
been approved by President Rodrigo R. Duterte and is expected to be released
soon in order to assist farmer beneficiaries under the RTL.
“P2.3 billion is awaiting to be
fully accessed and through the program’s steering committee of the rice
competitiveness enhancement fund, We are going to request the allocation of
P1.3 billion for crop diversification and P1 billion for crop insurance….Again,
for the very purpose of helping rice farmers increased their levels of
productivity, competitiveness and profitability,” Mr. Dar said.
The Agriculture secretary assured
that the rice inventory is currently good for 80 days, and no shortage in rice
is expected. — Gillian M. Cortez
China grain output must stay stable amid coronavirus outbreak,
provinces told
China must not let grain output
decline this year, a government working group said, amid worries that measures
to contain the ongoing coronavirus outbreak could hurt food security in the
world’s most populous country.
Just weeks away from the start of spring planting, the central
government’s work group on managing the coronavirus ordered provinces to
mobilise farmers and guarantee that planted acreage and grain output remain
stable.
A lockdown on the movement of people to contain the spread of
the coronavirus has raised fears that farmers will be unable to plough their
fields and sow crops.
Hubei province, the virus epicentre with the strictest lockdown,
produced 9% of China’s rice crop in 2019.
In a statement posted on the government’s website, the group
also said that regions with good growing conditions should restore
double-cropping of rice, reversing recent years’ policy that had sought to
target higher quality grain over quantity.
It also said they should expand the planted acreage of early
crop rice and reduce the amount of land left fallow.
It urged officials to help farmers facing a labour shortage to
avoid the risk of arable land being left untended.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton, editing by Louise Heavens and Nick Macfie)
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton, editing by Louise Heavens and Nick Macfie)
Major rice research platform to be built in
northeast China
BY BRINKWIRE ON
MARCH 5, 2020
BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) — A major
rice research platform will be built in northeast China with a total investment
of about 90 million yuan (about 13 million U.S. dollars) to promote the
upgrading of the rice industry in the northern part of the country.
The construction of the northern
rice research center of the China National Rice Research Institute of the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has recently been approved by the
National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Affairs.
The center will be built in Baoqing
County, Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province. As a national science and
technology innovation platform, the center is expected to significantly improve
the contribution of science and technology in the rice industry in northern
China, and promote the development of a high-quality rice industry.
The center will focus on rice
resources innovation, new variety selection, ecological research, cultivation
technology innovation and soil fertilization and remediation research.
China to reach 2020 grain
targets despite coronavirus outbreak: ministry
BEIJING (Reuters) - China can attain
this year’s grain targets despite a coronavirus outbreak, agriculture officials
said on Thursday, adding that a recovery of the pig herd was also on track.
More than half of China’s grain area
is planted in the spring, Pan Wenbo, director of planting administration at the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, told a media briefing, but
roadblocks intended to curb the spread of the virus have also served as an
obstacle to planting.
Hubei province, an important rice-growing
region and the epicenter of the outbreak, had suffered the most severe
problems, said Zhang Yanqiu, director of the ministry’s seed management bureau.The
ministry is working to get extra supplies to farmers in the central province,
who also face a shortage of key inputs such as fertilisers, he added.“If we can
solve Hubei’s problem, the country’s problem will be solved,” said Zhang.
China’s fertilizer makers are
operating at more than 60% of capacity, he added.
Nationwide planting progress is
comparable to regular years, however, Pan said, adding that he had confidence
China could reach its annual grain target.
Spring planting will be an important
key performance indicator for local government officials this year, he added.
A higher price paid by state
reserves for rice this year will also send a signal to farmers to grow more
grain, Pan said.China is also trying to encourage farmers to plant two crops of
rice each year, a trend that has been in decline as costs have risen.
“To ensure the absolute safety of
rations, rice production must be stabilized, and in particular the area of
double-season rice cannot continue to decline,” said Pan.
Curbs on people’s movement have
caused a shortage of staff working to prevent disease in livestock, said Yang
Zhenhai of the ministry’s animal husbandry department, although he added that
this year’s bird flu situation was “generally stable”.
Yang added, “We are also confident
that the annual production capacity of pigs will be basically restored to a level
close to normal years.”China is rebuilding its huge hog herd after an epidemic
of African swine fever nearly halved the number.Reporting by Tian Lun Yew and
Dominique Patton; Editing by Pete
