Follow the link to View/Download the latest Rice News
- 21st November,2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter
Riceplus
A Voice for Rice Community
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Friday, October 31, 2014
What's the secret of cooking perfect rice?
Indian chef Anjum Anand returns to her roots as she searches out the scented secrets of one of India’s most popular dishes
Anjum Anand cuts a regal figure, sashaying through the hectic city streets of Hyderabad, right in the belly button of India. The television chef and creator of the Spice Tailor brand, supplying regional Indian sauce mixes to supermarkets, is serenely unruffled even by the flocks of motor-rickshaws – tiny, yellow, three-wheeled taxis – that hurtle past, barely missing her gold Jimmy Choos. The honk of horns and screech of brakes pulsate through the damp heat, but she remains cool, elegant and focused. Her mission: to get to the heart of Hyderabadi food and the dish it claims as its own, the biryani.
A biryani, as any Indian food fan knows, is a fluffy concoction of saffron-scented rice, saffron, marinated lamb and crisp onions – which might sound like a pilaf, or pilau, but it isn’t. “Pilau never has the crisp onions,” says Anand. “And the biryani is layered, while a pilau is mixed.” A biryani has special significance for Indians, too. “Whenever we invite people around, it has to be part of the meal. Men always gravitate to it first, eat the meat and rice, and suck on the bones,” says Anand, who was born in London to a Punjabi father and north-west Indian mother, and brought up in London and Switzerland.
In fact, as befits a country whose cuisine is as diverse as the whole of Europe, every region of India has its own take on biryani, most notably Lucknow to the north. But Hyderabad reckons itself to be the king of biryanis. Generally made with mutton or lamb, they are the purist’s favourite, what Melton Mowbray is to pork pies or Naples is to pizza.
The dish is part of the Mughal gastronomy, brought by invading Persians, and characterised by mild spicing, and the use of northern basmati rice rather than the short-grained local variety. The cuisine is mild, creamy and as aristocratic as Anand herself next to the screaming heat of Hyderabad’s competing cuisine, the chilli-heavy Andhra cooking, indigenous to the local Andhra Pradesh region.
At dinner that evening, the local grandee and food expert Mehboob Alam Khan explains that a true Hyderabadi biryani is “kacchi” – made by cooking rice with raw mutton or lamb, rather than “pakki”, which uses precooked meat. And the connoisseur’s favourite is a white biryani, with no saffron or crisp onions, relying on the skill of the chef and the quality of the simple spices, meat, marinade and rice to shine through.
Related Articles
Right on cue, two men carry in a “deg”, the traditional wide-based, narrow-topped copper cooking pot, this one the size of a baby bath. “These things are always better cooked in quantity,” Khan declares. As the seal of dough, or “dum”, around the top is broken, a gush of fragrant steam explodes like a genie out of a bottle. The men use plates to scoop the biryani on to vast serving dishes, and we eat it with the traditional creamy raita and michi ka salan, a dish of chillies in a peanut sauce, marvelling at the subtle, but not bland, flavours.
At a house in a former army barracks near the centre of Hyderabad, another family are making their version, on a more domestic scale, to feed a visiting group of children from a local orphanage. Raeeza Naeem and her sister cook their marinated lamb first in a pressure cooker, as their mother had taught them, before layering up the meat and rice in a pan. “The rice needs to be precooked, three quarters done for pakki biryani, a quarter done for kacchi,” Raeeza tells me, breaking a grain to show me the tiniest pin prick of white remaining in the middle of the otherwise cooked, translucent rice.
A few tablespoonfuls of saffron-scented milk and water go over the top, before Raeeza makes four deep holes in the rice with the handle of a wooden spoon and trickles a teaspoonful of oil in each. The lid goes on, weighed down with a heavy rock – “easier than all that dough business”, says Raeeza. She puts it on a high heat until steam starts to escape, before turning the heat down to a thread. How will you know it is done? “You can hear the tsk-tsk-tsk of the rice in the hot oil when the liquid is absorbed,” she says. Clearly its reputation as a complex dish is overblown. “Oh, yes. Our mother used to say, I can’t be bothered to cook, I’ll make a biryani.”
The rice whispers to us when it is ready, and the children and family sit on the white-sheet-covered floor to eat together. The rice, fragrant with costly saffron, and moist, delicate meat, is exquisite. It’s an important tenet of Islam, says Raeeza’s husband. “When you give, you have to give the best.”
As for me, I couldn’t say which I preferred, the pakki or the kacchi, but I do plan to make both, starting with Anand’s definitive version, which is right here for you.
Anjum Anand’s proper Hyderabad biryani recipe
SERVES
4
4
INGREDIENTS
Oil to fry
2 medium onions, finely sliced
1lb 2oz/500g pieces of lamb, lean pieces of leg with bone is ideal
16 green cardamom pods
6 cloves
2 x 2in/5cm cinnamon sticks
Handful chopped coriander
Handful chopped mint leaves
7oz/200g chapati flour or half wholemeal, half bread flour
1lb 2oz/500g good-quality basmati rice
1 small lemon
Large pinch saffron strands
4 tbsp whole milk
4 tbsp ghee or butter
Oil to fry
2 medium onions, finely sliced
1lb 2oz/500g pieces of lamb, lean pieces of leg with bone is ideal
16 green cardamom pods
6 cloves
2 x 2in/5cm cinnamon sticks
Handful chopped coriander
Handful chopped mint leaves
7oz/200g chapati flour or half wholemeal, half bread flour
1lb 2oz/500g good-quality basmati rice
1 small lemon
Large pinch saffron strands
4 tbsp whole milk
4 tbsp ghee or butter
Marinade
4 fl oz/110g plain yogurt
5 large cloves garlic, made into a paste
½oz/10g ginger, made into a paste
1¼-1½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 rounded tsp garam masala (good quality really helps)
½ tbsp green papaya paste (grated skin and flesh from a raw green papaya – optional but helps tenderise the meat)
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder or to taste
¾ tsp black cumin seeds (shahi jeera)
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 fl oz/110g plain yogurt
5 large cloves garlic, made into a paste
½oz/10g ginger, made into a paste
1¼-1½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 rounded tsp garam masala (good quality really helps)
½ tbsp green papaya paste (grated skin and flesh from a raw green papaya – optional but helps tenderise the meat)
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder or to taste
¾ tsp black cumin seeds (shahi jeera)
2 tbsp lemon juice
METHOD
Heat 1½in deep oil in a medium-size saucepan and deep fry the onions slowly until just brown and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen roll. Reserve the oil.
Heat 1½in deep oil in a medium-size saucepan and deep fry the onions slowly until just brown and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen roll. Reserve the oil.
Wash the lamb/mutton. Prick all over with the point of a knife and put in a bowl with all the marinade ingredients. Add 8 of the cardamom pods, 3 cloves and 1 cinnamon stick, half the coriander and mint, 2 tbsp of the onion oil and two-thirds of the onions, squidged in your hands (if the onions are still soft in places, don’t worry about it). Mix well. Leave to marinate, covered, overnight in the fridge or for a few hours.
When ready to cook, place the meat in the base of a heavy-bottomed pan and allow to come back to room temperature. Make a firm dough with the chapati flour and 150ml water, kneading until stretchy. Roll into a sausage as long as the diameter of the pan. Press it into the top edge of the pan where the lid will go.
Wash the rice in several changes of water and soak for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, place a large pot (about 5in) of water to boil with the remaining spices and herbs, onions and 2 tsp lemon juice. Season well; it should taste salty.
Heat the saffron in a dry pan until crisp and add the milk, bring to a simmer and cook for 1-2 mins. Take off the heat and add the ghee/butter.
Add the soaked rice to the water and bring back to a boil. Start timing it once it comes back to a boil. Meanwhile, place a bowl in the sink to catch some of the draining rice water. After two minutes, taking a spoon with holes in it, quickly take out 2-3 spoons of rice, allowing the excess water to drip out, and scatter straight over the meat. There needs to be just enough rice to cover the meat. Once the remaining rice has cooked for another minute (three minutes in total), drain it into the bowl in the sink. Scatter this rice over the rest.
Add 100ml of the rice water to the saffron pan, and evenly spoon over the rice. Press the lid down and place over moderate heat. After 7-8 minutes, some steam will escape. Let it steam for one minute, then turn the heat right down (level 2 on electric hob; on gas, use heat diffuser or cast-iron flat pan). After two minutes, squidge the dough back so no more steam escapes. Cook for 50 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Serve with cucumber raita.
source with thanks:Riceplus Magazine
Amira Expands Distribution in the UK with Asda
* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.
0 COMMENTS
Amira Expands Distribution in the UK with Asda
Amira Extends Agreement for In-Store and Online Distribution with Asda, a UK-Based Subsidiary of Wal-Mart
Amira Nature Foods Ltd (the “Company”) (NYSE:ANFI), a leading global provider of packaged Indian specialty rice, today announced that it has reached an agreement with Asda, a wholly owned division of Wal-Mart, to offer Amira’s branded products through its e-commerce platform, extending the previously announced partnership to sell Amira branded products in 256 Asda stores. Combined with its existing agreements with Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose, Amira’s branded products now reach British consumers wherever they choose to shop, whether it’s in-store or online.
Asda is one of Britain’s largest supermarkets and operates as a multi-channel retailer through its physical stores and growing e-commerce platform. Asda reported in its most recent earnings results that its online market share has increased to 18.4% and that its Click and Collect program continues to drive e-commerce growth, attracting more than 20,000 customers per week. Click and Collect allows shoppers to purchase their items online and pick up their orders in their local Asda stores.
Commenting on the agreement, Karan A. Chanana, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Amira Group, said: “We are very excited to secure this partnership with Asda, which allows us to serve British consumers wherever and however they choose to shop. We will continue to focus on growing our distribution and are confident that the superior flavor of Amira’s premium basmati rice will become a staple for households across the U.K.”
Amira first entered the U.K. market with its branded rice products in June 2013 and has since secured agreements with major retailers Morrisons, Tesco, Waitrose and Asda. Today, the company’s assortment of premium basmati rice products reach a majority of British shoppers, providing luxurious gourmet products at an affordable price.
About Amira Nature Foods
Founded in 1915, Amira has evolved into a leading global provider of branded packaged Indian specialty rice, with sales in over 60 countries. The Company sells Basmati rice, which is a premium long-grain rice grown only in certain regions of the Indian sub-continent, under its flagship Amira brand as well as under other third party brands. Amira sells its products through a broad distribution network in both the developed and emerging markets. The Company’s global headquarters are in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and it also has offices in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Amira Nature Foods Ltd is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “ANFI.” For more information please visit www.amira.net.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
20th October,2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter shared by Riceplus Magazine
Rice cultivation made easy with ‘aerobic system’ GOLLAPUDI SRINIVASA RAO The new system is less labour-intensive, requires less input and less seed Agricultural scientists in the district have introduced and popularised ‘aerobic system of rice cultivation’ wherein a farmer can directly sow the seed like any other crop. The system is less labour-intensive, needs less input and less seed.At a demonstration programme held at Reddypuram on Sunday, a local farmer’s crop which was grown using the ‘aerobic system’ was shown to about 300 farmers who had arrived here from different parts of the district.Explaining the method, District Agriculture Technology and Transfer Centre (DATT) director R. Uma Reddy said farmers need not raise nursery and wait to get maximum yield. Also, they need not plough the land. “Using the seed drill pulled either by tractor or bulls, farmers can easily sow the seed. Due to good spacing, paddy will not develop any disease and yield will be more compared to the traditional method of cultivation,” he said.A farmer, Biksham, from Govindaraopet mandal said he too adopted the method and came to share his experience. “As said by Mr. Uma Reddy, the method requires only 15 kg seed per acre as against 30 kg in the traditional method,” he said. Usually, farmers raise nursery and transplant it after ploughing and watering fields. They also need labourers to transplant paddy which is expensive.Another farmer Venkat Reddy from Kunur village in Zafargad mandal said he did not have any problem with the aerobic system of cultivation, but wanted power weeder to curb the growth of weed in the field.Director (Extension) Raji Reddy urged the farmers to not opt for paddy crop in Rabi season, but go for green gram, jowar, maize and other crops. “If you opt for paddy, then adopt this method to save input cost and water,” he said addressing the farmers.Mr. Uma Reddy said the new method was very useful to the farmers. Ageing Japan struggles with rice farming Shuichi Yokota may be the future of Japan’s struggling rice industry.The 38-year-old is about half the age of most growers and he relies on cutting-edge technology to cultivate vast paddy fields that eclipse the bulk of the country’s rice plots.And Mr. Yokota doesn’t fear opening up to foreign competition — taboo in a place where rice is a sacred cow that is protected by subsidies and massive tariffs.His farm in Ryugasaki, a community north of Tokyo, has ballooned more than fivefold in 15 years into an operation spanning 112 hectares (275 acres) — almost 30 times bigger than the tiny commercial rice fields commonly found in the area. “This is simply the consequence of retiring farmers asking me to cultivate their rice paddies for them,” he said.“I am one of very few full-time farmers in this area, and the people who were retiring didn’t have anyone in the family to continue growing rice. But they don’t want to sell the land.”While many of Japan’s farmers get by with centuries-old farming methods, Mr. Yokota and his colleagues share workload information and data such as temperature and water levels — monitored by sensors installed in each paddy — on their smartphones. Mr. Yokota may be an accidental giant among rice growers, but some are betting that people like him are the best hope for fixing an inefficient system, with wider calls for a shake up of Japan’s cosseted agricultural sector.Prices have tumbled as Japan’s rice consumption has halved in 50 years, and there are fears the sector is rotting from the inside despite — or some say, because of — decades-old protectionism.That reverence has translated into strong protections for tiny plots tended by families who inherited land through generations — resulting in a hefty premium in stores. Tokyo has for decades stabilised prices by controlling supply and penalising overproduction to protect farmers — a key voter base — from volatile world markets. Unused farmland This policy, known as “gentan” and referring to small-scale cultivation, effectively made rice farming a part-time job left to older relatives while younger family members worked in other sectors.But, as with much of the greying nation, many farmers are now retiring — the average is about 66 years old — with few interested in replacing them. That has left some 400,000 hectares of farmland unused across the country, an area almost twice the size of Tokyo.“What needs to be done is encourage older farmers to retire and then gather small pieces of land into one big lot for someone capable like Yokota,” said Masayoshi Honma, an economics professor at Tokyo University. — AFP Ubon Ratchthani ready for disbursement of farm subsidies tomorrow UBON RATCHATHANI, 19 October 2014 (NNT) - Ms. Suwimol On-in, Director of Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Office of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-Operatives (BAAC) revealed the readiness to distribute to rice farmers in the province a government subsidy of 1,000 baht per rai, but not exceeding 15,000 baht or 15 rai per household. As the money distribution will begin nationwide tomorrow (20 October 2014), the BAAC branch manager reminded farmers to bring respective Identification cards, along with rice growers’ certificates and BAAC bank passbooks to claim the money at nearest BAAC branches. Ms. Suwimol said however that her office is waiting for a full list of eligible farmers from the Agricultural Extension Office in the province. The Office has so far issued certificates of guarantees to 83,000 rice growers, out of the 202,000 farm families in total. The complete list of eligible farmers is expected by the end of this month. And registration for the subsidies will continue until 15 November 2014 India’s total rice output unlikely to fall below 100 million tons Rice production unlikely to slip despite some impact on kharif crop in few states, due to rains following cyclone Hudhud Rice production stood at a record 106.54 million tonnes in the 2013-14 crop year (July-June). The government is aiming to achieve 106 million tonnes this year. Photo: Mint New Delhi: The country’s overall rice production is unlikely to slip below the level of 100 million tonnes this year despite some impact on the kharif crop in few states due to rains following “Hudhud” cyclone, a top government official said. Rice production stood at a record 106.54 million tonnes in the 2013-14 crop year (July-June). The government is aiming to achieve 106 million tonnes this year. Currently, the kharif (summer) rice is ready for harvest. “Overall rice production will definitely be below last year’s level but it should not fall below 100 million tonnes,” agriculture secretary Ashish Bahuguna said. The kharif rice contributes more than 80% of the total rice production. The government has projected lower kharif output of 88.02 million tonnes for this year taking into account the deficient monsoon rains. Now that the kharif crop is ready for harvest, the recent cyclone “Hudhud” has affected the crop not only in Andhra Pradesh but also in other states, resulting in possible further drop in overall rice production. Asked about impact of cyclone on kharif rice crop, Bahuguna said: “There will be some damage not only in Andhra Pradesh, but in others states like Odisha, Chattigarh and Jharkhand as well.” Rainfall due to cyclone in some places will boost prospects of late sown crop, while in some places it will damage the crop. “However, we are yet to make the assessment. We expect we will make up from improved yields,” he said. The US department of agriculture (USDA) has also pegged India’s rice production this year to be at 100 million tonnes, which includes 87 million tonnes of kharif rice and 13 million tonnes of rabi rice. “Continued deficient rains and ‘normal’ cyclones in eastern coast during October/November could further affect the harvest of kharif rice and planting prospects for the upcoming rabi rice,” the USDA had said in its latest report image :Rice production stood at a record 106.54 million tonnes in the 2013-14 crop year (July-June). The government is aiming to achieve 106 million tonnes this year. Photo: Mint Who Stands to Gain Most from India-Myanmar Rice Deal? Posted on October 20, 2014 by Asia Briefing By Benedict Lynn India’s minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan, has confirmed New Delhi’s plans to import up to 100,000 tons of Burmese rice to supply its northeastern states, Nagaland and Mizoram. The final details are currently being hammered out, but the deal, which should see 200,000 metric tons of rice sold per month over the next five months, is set to come into effect by the end of October. This will be the first time in almost three decades that the world’s largest exporter of rice (a title once held by Myanmar) will have had to import the commodity. Construction work on the Guwahati Silchar railway project has created logistical bottlenecks hindering delivery from the mainland to the far-flung Northeastern states. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is ferrying Indian rice through Bangladesh for Tripura, and has turned to Myanmar to supply Nagaland and Mizoram. North-East-India The Indian Embassy in Rangoon announced an exploratory tender for the rice imports last week. However, the region is a hotbed of political uncertainty and criminal activity, resulting in low bidder turnout and high costs. Just two Burmese companies bid for the sales contract, asking US$800 per ton of rice.India has since turned to the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF), the country’s main independent rice industry oversight body. The MRF has halved the price, on the condition that India will be responsible for transporting the commodity from the border station. Once issues such as tax rates and quality control have been agreed upon, the tender process will be reopened to Burmese firms. This is exciting news for the newly outward-looking republic, a country where, according to a recent World Bank report, “the agriculture sector represents between 35 to 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and that up to 70 percent of the labor force (of 32.5 million) is directly or indirectly engaged in agricultural activities or depend on agriculture for their income.”Despite an abundance of fertile land, however, hesitant investors, underdeveloped infrastructure and a shrinking global demand for Myanmar’s low quality 25 percent broken grain have resulted in the country falling well short of its ambitious three million ton export target for this fiscal year. The republic hopes to export 4 million tons by 2020.For a country as heavily reliant on agriculture as Myanmar, this deal, although temporary, is therefore crucial. According to the World Bank report, the republic has the “potential to more than double its rice exports.” It is also, however, of critical strategic importance to India. The 1,009 mile border between the two neighbors is the only border Asia’s third largest economy shares with an ASEAN member state, making it India’s gateway into Southeast Asia. India has long been trying to assert itself amidst growing regional influence from China, currently the world’s top importer of Burmese rice. As such it has been turning its attention to its smaller neighbors, and Myanmar is no exception. Bilateral trade between the two has grown to US$2.18 billion in 2013-14, up from US$12.4 million in 1980-81. BAAC to start handing assistance money to rice farmers tomorrow SAMUTSONGKRAM, 19 Oct 2014, (NNT) - The Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) tomorrow (October 20th) would start handing out the assistance funds of 1,000 per rai, with the maximum of 15,000 baht per household, to rice farmers. Rice farmers in Samutsongkram who have registered their names for the funding program have been submitting required document to the officials, as the handing out starts tomorrow. They have expressed their approval of the campaign, saying they would use the money to fund their sideline activities to supplement their income, or farm drought resistant crops. Meanwhile, in Phichit Province, the Agricultural Office revealed that 49,154 rice farmers have registered for the assistance money. All 15 BAAC offices in the province will start handing out the money tomorrow as earlier announced. South Korea Rice Forecast at Similar Level to Last Year’s Near-average Output 20 October 2014 SOUTH KOREA - Harvesting of the 2014 rice crop is almost complete. FAO forecasts the 2014 rice production (in paddy terms) at 5.5 million tonnes, 2 percent below last year’s good outcome.Assuming average yields, the anticipated decrease is attributed to a 2 percent contraction in plantings.The area planted to paddy has been declining since 2002, particularly in recent years, as farmers shift to more profitable crops and more land is converted to other uses. According to official data, the area planted to rice decreased by 23 percent in 2014 compared to the 1.1 million hectares planted in 2002.In addition to rice, small quantities of barley, maize and other cereals are produced.“Improving agricultural productivity and promoting rice exports are top priorities for the Burmese government,” notes the World Bank report. It seems India too stands to gain much more than just a temporary supply of rice. The potential of the northeast in further strengthening trade relations between the two countries has been thus far largely untapped. It will be interesting to see just how temporary this deal really is. Exporting rice “harder” under new ministry guidelines: Vice Head of Rice Division Doaa Farid / October 19, 2014 Head of Citizens Against Price Rises Association expected that rice prices in the local market will significantly increase Head of Citizens Against Price Rises Association expected that rice prices in the local market will significantly increase(AFP Photo) New conditions on rice exports listed by the Ministry of Supply are more arduous for exporters, Rice Division Vice Chairman at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Mostafa Atallah, said Sunday.Mahmoud Al-Askalany, Head of Citizens Against Price Rises Association, expects local market rice prices will significantly increase. He added that the exported local rice will be sold abroad at lower prices than it is sold locally, with exporters losing out.For the first time since 2013, rice exporters will be allowed to return to the international market after the government approved rice exports with certain conditions. This includes selling one tonne of rice to the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) at EGP 2,000 per tonne exported, the Ministry of Supply announced.Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy pointed out that exporters will be required to pay $280 per tonne, to be placed in the general budget.Hanafy said in a statement the decision will contribute to reducing rice prices delivered to GASC, adding that it is expected to export around 1m tonnes of the grain. The total value of the export is $1bn, with $280m to be placed in the general budget.However, Atallah expected rice exports will not exceed 300,000 tonnes. In March, Hanafy said that issues with rice exports have yet to be resolved, explaining that he would reconsider a decision to suspend exporting rice. Hanafy attributed the demands to resume supply in order to open new rice markets abroad.Former Minister of Supply Mohamed Abu Shady announced in October 2013 that rice exports were to be halted in November 2013 “until all ration needs of the grain are met”.At the time, Abu Shady said that the government sells 1.4m tonnes of subsidised rice per year at EGP 1.5 per kg. “I will not pay heed to the interests of a few dozen rice exporters at the expense of domestic markets,” Abu Shady said.Egypt produces 6.5m tonnes of rice, of which it uses between 3.5m and 4m tonnes, according to Abu Shady.In 2012, Egypt exported 650,000 tonnes of rice to 58 countries in Europe and the Arab region, Atallah said. The total value of Egyptian exports in 2014 marked $16.8bn at the end of September, recording a 2.2% increase compared to $16.4bn during the corresponding period last year. The figure falls below Ministry expectations for the first nine months of the year, which were targeted for $18.6bn.The targeted value of exports in 2014 is $25bn, compared to $21.5bn in the previous year according to an October report from the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade. Vietnamese Rice Exports Reach 4.9 Million Tonnes This Year HANOI, Oct 20 (Bernama) - Vietnam exported more than 139 tonnes of rice during the first two weeks of October, bringing total export volume to 4.9 million tonnes so far this year.The latest volume generated more than US$2.1 billion in value, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reports citing the Vietnam Food Association (VFA). The price for rice in October is US$458.35 per tonne -- an increase from US$439.11 per tonne in September.Without government interventions to increase temporary rice stocks, the price of rice remained high due to the large volume of rice exported to China via border gates.Vietnam expects to produce 25.48 million tonnes of paddy for 2014, with 8.5 tonnes of rice for export.-- BERNAMA Farmers unhappy with MARD’s rice-production restructuring strategy VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has set high goals when drafting the rice-production restructuring strategy, which Vietnamese farmers have found “unfeasible” and “unrealistic”. MARD believes that the country should strive to export white long-grain rice for an average $600 a ton by 2020 and fragrant specialty rice for $800 per ton.Experts said the plan was impractical because the rice export price set for 2020 would be nearly double the current export price, about $430-440 per ton.Nguyen Dinh Bich, a renowned rice expert, said $600-800 per ton was unreachable, especially when international organizations predict that global rice prices will not increase and even fall from now to 2020. MARD has also decided that by 2020 one hectare of rice cultivation in Vietnam would need revenue of VND100-120 million.An analyst has pointed out inconsistencies in the MARD plan. The agency plans to reduce the rice-growing area in the country from 7.9 million hectares to 7 million hectares. However, if high revenue were actually attainable, no farmer would want to give up rice cultivation and would expand their farming areas.The analyst went on to say that MARD’s planning had discouraged farmers because they had not found solutions to improve production and, in particular, farmers’ incomes. Bich said that farmers should have a higher proportion of profits in the rice production chain, because this was the key to sustainable development.He believes that it is necessary to re-organize the current supply chain so that exporters and farmers can closely cooperate to optimize profits.If so, privately owned small companies, which have been acting as intermediaries by collecting rice from farmers to sell to export companies, would no longer play an important role in the supply chain. However, rice export companies do not agree. Lam Anh Tuan, director of Thinh Phat Company in Ben Tre Province, noted that the existence of private merchants, serving as a link between farmers and exporters, was necessary, because of small-scale production, the main characteristic of Vietnamese agriculture.Tuan knows that many export companies have gained success when cooperating with farmers to export fragrant rice. However, he believes that, in this case, cooperation can be maintained because both sides can benefit from it. “Exporters need to join hands with farmers to ensure the high quality of fragrant rice,” he explained. “However, it will be unreasonable to ask us to be responsible for outlets for low-quality rice like IR 50404.”Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, the leading rice expert in Vietnam, said the strategy drafted by MARD does not focus on settling the biggest problems – the role of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) and state-owned food corporations, and the quality of Vietnamese rice. Thanh Mai Tags:rice-production restructuring strategy,farmers,rice, Cuba will sow rice to avoid its importation Submitted by: Camila Business and Economy Of total rice consumed in Cuba only a third part of it is grown on the island, the rest is imported mainly from Vietnam. That is why the government has proposed to plant this cereal which would be half the cost of importing it. The Agriculture Minister, Gustavo RodrÃguez Rollero, after passing through the central provinces of the island inspecting investments and projects related to the food, said the project will be realized by 2016. In 2014 the country fields should provide 254,000 tons of the 700,000 basic demand of rice in Cuban diet. Only just less than half a million tonnes will be imported mainly from Vietnam or Brazil to meet the rest of the national need. The economic reform undertaken since 2011 includes a reduction of purchases abroad. Within this strategy, the Ministry of Agriculture expects to harvest 538,000 tons of rice fields in 2016. If the plan succeeds, external acquisitions of the cereal will represent only 24% of national consumption. The news of the new plan coincides with the opening of state investment in the central provinces of the island, with new industries to support the planting of cereal. Kharif rice area coverage crosses last year's level: Govt. The government today said that acreage under kharif rice had touched 380.06 lakh hectares (ha) across the country as of yesterday, crossing the level of 376.74 ha at this time of the season last year.As regards rabi crops, coarse cereals (jowar and maize) have been sown in 5.48 lakh ha so far and oilseeds in 0.45 lakh ha, as compared to 4.91 lakh ha and 0.58 lakh ha at this time last year, respectively, an official statement added. Paddy price plunge hits farms By Zaw Htike | Monday, 20 October 2014 Paddy prices have taken a big hit from a recent drop in demand from China, as border officials have strangled the bilateral rice trade by stepping up efforts to prevent illegal imports. Rice exports to China make up over 50 percent of total rice exports, but while they are legal from Myanmar’s perspective the exports are illegal from Beijing’s point of view as there is no bilateral agreement on health standards. Yet its border officials had generally allowed the trade until a crackdown on illegal imports began last month.Chinese buyers had paid higher–than–market rates particularly over the past few months, even as negotiations have begun on the Sanitary and Phyo–Sanitary (SPS) health agreement that would allow legal Myanmar rice exports to China to begin. Closing the border to Myanmar rice has led to significant problems for rice exporters, causing prices to drop ahead of the harvest, said U Thein Aung, chair of the Myanmar Freedom Farmer League.“We were expecting quite a good price for exports from this year’s harvests. But [if the closure continues], farmers will be stuck with all the rice they have grown, and exports will be terrible,” he said.Rice prices have increased significantly for local farmers over the past two years, driven partly by the surge in Chinese demand. A World Bank report from earlier this year said there was negligible overland rice trade to China in 2010–11, while it constituted 752,000 tonnes by 2012–13.China has also significantly increased prices for rice, paying about US$436 a tonne in 2013, compared with $381 a tonne in 2012 and $316 a tonne in 2011. Prices for 2014 were understood to be higher still, until the recent border crackdown.Traders told The Myanmar Times in August that exports could increase further this year as Chinese buyers looked to diversify away from Vietnamese imports.Spurred by the expected increase in demand, farmers have been expanding the areas under cultivation and spending more on inputs such as fertiliser, said U Thein Aung. “We worry that if paddy prices drop, prices will be below the breakeven point,” he said.U Lu Maw Myint Maung, joint secretary of the Myanmar Rice Federation and a leading exporter, said he expects the paddy price to continue falling.“Exporters have already begun decreasing the amount of rice they are buying to ship to the Chinese market. If this trend continues, exporters won’t buy a lot of rice for the harvest season and it can lead to further loses for farmers,” he said. “I don’t think paddy will be more than K3000 a basket if this trend continues.”Rice exports to Europe have also decreased slightly since August, though not on the level seen by China.Overall, U Lu Maw Myint Maung said Myanmar’s current level of production is geared toward exporting about 100,000 tonnes a month, and if volumes drop below that, rice prices will also decline. He added that Myanmar had been exporting up to 3500 tonnes of rice a day to China, but shipments now total less than 20 tonnes a day through the Muse border gate in northern Shan State.“Myanmar traders are not sending their rice through Muse because they are worried it will be confiscated, and Chinese traders are not coming to Muse to buy Myanmar rice as they were doing before,” he said.“In Myanmar, the local price for rice harvests is already decreasing as a result.” Image:Current prices mean tough work for increasingly little reward. Photo: Kaung Htet Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- Oct 20 Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:31pm IST Nagpur, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Gram prices in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) moved down on poor buying support from local millers amid increased supply from producing regions. Fresh fall on NCDEX, high moisture content arrival and easy condition in Madhya Pradesh gram prices also affected sentiment, according to sources. * * * * FOODGRAINS & PULSES GRAM * Gram varieties reported strong in open market on good Diwali festival demand from local traders amid tight supply from producing regions. TUAR * Tuar varieties zoomed up again in open market on good festival season demand from local traders. Reports about weak overseas arrival also boosted prices. * Masoor varieties recovered in open market on good seasonal demand from local traders amid tight supply from producing belts. * In Akola, Tuar - 4,600-4,700, Tuar dal - 7,100-7,400, Udid at 7,000-7,200, Udid Mogar (clean) - 7,800-8,100, Moong - 6,900-7,300, Moong Mogar (clean) 8,300-9,000, Gram - 2,600-2,800, Gram Super best bold - 3,600-3,900 for 100 kg. * Other varieties of wheat, rice and other commodities remained steady in open market in thin trading activity, according to sources. Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close Gram Auction 2,400-3,030 2,490-3,070 Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600 Tuar Auction n.a. 3,950-4,200 Moong Auction n.a. 5,200-5,500 Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500 Masoor Auction n.a. 2,600-2,800 Gram Super Best Bold 3,850-4,200 3,700-4,100 Gram Super Best n.a. Gram Medium Best 3,650-3,750 3,550-3,650 Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a. Gram Mill Quality 3,450-3,550 3,300-3,350 Desi gram Raw 2,850-2,900 2,700-2,800 Gram Filter new 3,200-3,600 3,100-3,500 Gram Kabuli 8,500-9,800 8,500-9,800 Gram Pink 7,200-7,400 7,200-7,400 Tuar Fataka Best 7,400-7,600 7,250-7,450 Tuar Fataka Medium 7,150-7,250 7,000-7,100 Tuar Dal Best Phod 7,100-7,200 6,700-6,900 Tuar Dal Medium phod 6,800-7,000 6,600-6,800 Tuar Gavarani 5,050-5,100 4,850-4,900 Tuar Karnataka 5,500-5,600 5,300-5,400 Tuar Black 8,300-8,600 8,100-8,400 Masoor dal best 6,700-6,800 6,600-6,700 Masoor dal medium 6,500-6,600 6,400-6,500 Masoor n.a. n.a. Moong Mogar bold 9,000-9,800 9,000-9,800 Moong Mogar Medium best 8,200-8,600 8,200-8,600 Moong dal super best 7,800-8,200 7,800-8,200 Moong dal Chilka 7,500-7,700 7,500-7,700 Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a. Moong Chamki best 7,000-8,500 7,000-8,500 Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) 8,000-8,200 8,000-8,200 Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 6,900-7,500 6,900-7,500 Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 6,200-6,700 6,200-6,700 Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,800 4,000-4,800 Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 2,900-3,100 2,900-3,100 Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,400 3,200-3,400 Watana White (100 INR/KG) 3,250-3,350 3,250-3,350 Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 4,400-5,200 4,400-5,200 Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,200-1,500 1,200-1,500 Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) 1,700-1,750 1,700-1,750 Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 1,300-1,500 1,300-1,500 Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,450 2,100-2,450 Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,850-2,000 1,850-2,000 Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a. MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200 MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 1,950-2,350 1,950-2,350 Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG) 1,200-1,300 1,200-1,300 Wheat Best (100 INR/KG) 1,500-1,800 1,500-1,800 Rice BPT new (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,500 3,000-3,500 Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 1,700-1,900 1,700-1,900 Rice Swarna new (100 INR/KG) 2,300-2,600 2,300-2,600 Rice HMT new (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,400 4,000-4,400 Rice HMT Shriram (100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,800 4,800-5,800 Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 10,200-13,300 10,200-13,300 Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 7,200-9,800 7,200-9,800 Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG) 5,200-5,700 5,200-5,700 Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 1,300-1,500 1,400-1,600 Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,700-1,800 1,700-1,800 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 34.9 degree Celsius (94.3 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp. 20.3 degree Celsius (68.5 degree Fahrenheit) Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a. Rainfall : 0.0 mm FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 35 and 21 degree Celsius respectively. Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices.) India's total rice output unlikely to fall below 100 mt New Delhi, Oct 20 (PTI) The country's overall rice production is unlikely to slip below the level of 100 million tonnes this year despite some impact on the kharif crop in few states due to rains following 'Hudhud' cyclone, a top government official said.Rice production stood at a record 106.54 million tonnes in the 2013-14 crop year (July-June). The government is aiming to achieve 106 million tonnes this year. Currently, the kharif (summer) rice is ready for harvest. Michael Koch] Why Korea, and the world, must protect crop diversity Published : 2014-10-19 20:46 Updated : 2014-10-19 20:46 With Pyeongchang currently hosting the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Michael Koch, director of finance at the Global Crop Diversity Trust, explains why we need to act now to ensure future generations will be able to feed themselves. Speaking at the opening of the regular session of the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is taking place at the Alpensia Convention Center in Pyeongchang, Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu pledged that South Korea would “take the initiative in upgrading the value and preservation of biodiversity.” This pledge is immensely important, not just for South Korea, but for the world. Yet, it has received little attention, even here in the host nation. Why is that? Why is the preservation of biodiversity not much higher on national agendas? Whilst the global challenges posed by climate change are issues that most people are familiar with, biodiversity and its importance for our future is much less understood. Worldwide, we rely on a relatively small number of crops to feed the human race ― only about 150 crops, and a relatively small number of varieties of each of these crops, are cultivated on a large scale. The risks of relying on such a narrow base are enormous, and could have a disastrous impact on world food supplies. However, there are approximately 7,000 crop species in existence, and 80,000 edible plant species, each of which exists in a vast range of varieties. For instance, South Korea has 26,906 varieties of rice in its national genebank. These varieties have developed as a result of variations in regional growing conditions and the intervention of farmers over millennia to meet specific conditions or needs. So from a pragmatic perspective, biodiversity’s significance is obvious. Its preservation will ensure we can continue to feed our children, and our children’s children, in an increasingly crowded and inhospitable world. It is this diversity that enables the same crop to be grown in very different habitats, and for different markets, and crucially provides us with the raw materials to breed new varieties to adapt to changing conditions. If we lose that diversity, we lose the tools that we need to develop that crop ― potentially posing a threat to its continued existence. Do we really want to do without rice? Worryingly, diversity is already declining. In order to stem the tide we need to put in place a rational and cost-effective system for its conservation, underpinning the world’s future food supplies. The Global Crop Diversity Trust is the only worldwide response to this issue. Founded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Biodiversity International on behalf of CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) 10 years ago, the Crop Trust is an international organization working to guarantee the conservation of crop diversity, forever. It does so in support of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of 2001, which 132 countries have signed, including the Republic of Korea. Working in partnership with agricultural research centers around the world, we are spearheading the conservation of crop diversity in genebanks. To give an indication of the breadth of this diversity, the collection of rice supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust at the International Rice Research Institute’s genebank in the Philippines conserves a staggering 131,862 varieties. Remember, South Korea has about 29,000. A lot, but not as many as it has access to through the International Rice Research Institute. There is an economic aspect to this argument too. The agriculture and food sector in the Republic of Korea accounts for 2-3 percent of gross national income, and employs around 4 percent of the country’s working population. The future of this sector, including the jobs and businesses it supports, is equally reliant on crop diversity. Whilst global in scope, the task at hand is neither technologically complicated, nor, considering its importance, expensive. The varieties of many of the most important crops can simply be stored at low temperature as seed in genebanks. However, funding even for this fairly straightforward process can be surprisingly difficult to come by, and many genebanks around the world have faced cutbacks that have meant the loss of unique seed varieties. In response to this, the Crop Trust is raising an endowment, the interest from which will guarantee the effective conservation of all the varieties of key food security crops. Equally importantly, our work will ensure that these varieties can be used to develop new strains to feed future generations. The Crop Trust has already raised over $180 million from governments, foundations, companies and individuals around the world. In order to preserve crop diversity forever, we are working to increase that sum to $500 million by the time of our international pledging conference in January 2016. It is in this way, by contributing to this vital fund to protect the world’s agriculture forever, that the government in South Korea, and indeed those around the world, can take one vital step in making good on Minister Yoon Seong-kyu’s pledge to take the initiative in preserving biodiversity. By Michael Koch Michael Koch is the director of finance at the Global Crop Diversity Trust) the sole international organization devoted to ensuring the conservation and availability of crop diversity worldwide. ― Ed. USA Rice Welcomes Ben Mosely Ben Mosely Right to work ARLINGTON, VA - The USA Rice Federation is pleased to welcome Ben Mosely as the new Vice President of Government Affairs. Mosely comes to USA Rice from the U.S. Senate where he was most recently a senior staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. In that role, Ben advised the Ranking Republican Member, Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), on commodity and risk management programs, including cotton, rice, soybeans, corn, peanuts and crop insurance. Mosely was instrumental in getting the 2014 Farm Bill drafted and passed, including strong advocacy for rice industry priorities.Prior to his work on the Agriculture Committee, Ben worked on agriculture issues for Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and served on the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. "Ben's arrival is perfectly situated: after passage of the Farm Bill, but during the crucial implementation stage," said Betsy Ward, USA Rice's president and CEO. "Ben's deep understanding of the Farm Bill, and his strong conservation credentials, make him a great asset to our organization and our members. I know they join me in welcoming Ben."Mosely is a native of Donalsonville, Georgia and he fully appreciates the impact federal farm policy has on rural communities. When not working on farm policy, Ben enjoys duck hunting, fishing, and golf. Toronto Students Hungry for a Challenge Compete in Contest Thistletown Knows Rice! TORONTO, CANADA -- Earlier this month, the "Wrap up with Rice Culinary Challenge" featured 12 Toronto high school students who faced off at the Loblaws® Cooking School at Maple Leaf Gardens. The "Wrap Up with Rice" event, was part of feed tomorrow, a week-long series of events dedicated to raising awareness and money to help feed Toronto school children. Three teams of four students were allotted one hour to create their rice-based masterpieces in front of a panel of media judges, a celebrity chef, members of the Toronto District School Board, and the Toronto Foundation for Student Success (TFSS). Students began preparing for the competition in September at the twelve Toronto high schools offering a Culinary Arts and Tourism program. The students were asked to create an original rice recipe with ingredients that could be found at a local grocery store. Rice was stressed as a food staple in the competition due to its affordability, practicality, and cultural relevance. Following intense deliberations, the judges ranked the recipes as follows: 1st place : Jacked up Jerk created by Thistletown Collegiate Institute 2nd place: Crispy Sushi Pancake with Asian-Style Salad by Western Tech Collegiate Institute 3rd place: The Rain Forest Spicy Garlic Shrimp with Coconut Rice by Heydon Park Secondary School Contact: Sarah Moran (703) 236-1457 Crop Progress: 2014 Crop 91 Percent Harvested WASHINGTON, DC -- Ninety-one percent of the nation's 2014 rice acreage has been harvested, according to today's U.S. Department of Agriculture's Crop Progress Report. Rice Harvested, Selected States Week Ending State October 19, 2013 October 12, 2014 October 19, 2014 2009-2013 average Percent Arkansas 82 85 91 87 California 87 59 85 62 Louisiana 100 100 100 99 Mississippi 93 87 89 91 Missouri 78 69 78 84 Texas 100 100 100 100 Six States 87 82 91 85 CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures CME Group (Preliminary): Closing Rough Rice Futures for October 20. Month Price Net Change November 2014 $12.500 - $0.045 January 2015 $12.650 - $0.065 March 2015 $12.915 - $0.065 May 2015 $13.110 - $0.065 July 2015 $13.290 - $0.065 September 2015 $12.655 - $0.065 November 2015 $12.630 - $0.065 Japan's 'sacred' rice farms rotting from inside Oct 19, 2014 by Harumi Ozawa Rice farmer Shuichi Yokota checks the growth conditions of his rice with a smartphone in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki prefecture, on August 17, 2014 Shuichi Yokota may be the future of Japan's struggling rice industry.The 38-year-old is about half the age of most growers and he relies on cutting-edge technology to cultivate vast paddy fields that eclipse the bulk of the country's rice plots.And Yokota doesn't fear opening up to foreign competition—taboo in a place where rice is a sacred cow that is protected by subsidies and massive tariffs. His farm in Ryugasaki, a community north of Tokyo, has ballooned more than five-fold in 15 years into an operation spanning 112 hectares (275 acres)—almost 30 times bigger than the tiny commercial rice fields commonly found in the area."This is simply the consequence of retiring farmers asking me to cultivate their rice paddies for them," Yokota said. "I am one of very few full-time farmers in this area, and the people who were retiring didn't have anyone in the family to continue growing rice. But they don't want to sell the land. "While many of Japan's farmers get by with centuries-old farming methods, Yokota and his colleagues share workload information and data such as temperature and water levels—monitored by sensors installed in each paddy—on their smartphones.Yokota may be an accidental giant among rice growers, but some are betting that people like him are the best hope for fixing an inefficient system, with wider calls for a shake up of Japan's cossetted agricultural sector. Prices have tumbled as Japan's rice consumption has halved in 50 years, and there are fears the sector is rotting from the inside despite—or some say, because of—decades-old protectionism.Ageing farmers are also facing fresh competition, with the country's largest supermarket chain Aeon jumping into the rice business."The situation is extremely serious—this is the dawn of a very difficult time," said Yoshito Yamada, a 66-year-old farmer in the northeastern city of Kitakata.Rice farmer Shuichi Yokota checks the growth conditions of his rice with a smartphone in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki prefecture, on August 17, 2014 Rice reverence Whether it is a bed for a piece of raw fish, an essential component of almost every meal, or the key ingredient in making sake, rice is Japan's unparallelled staple food and enjoys a revered status.Hundreds of years ago it was a currency, a symbol of wealth and power, and a ritual offering that still forms a key part of the native Shinto religion, as well as tradition-bound Sumo wrestling."Nothing gets done here without rice," said Sachiko Goto, head of the Tokyo Sushi Academy, a chef-training school. That reverence has translated into strong protections for tiny plots tended by families who inherited land through generations—resulting in a hefty premium in stores.Tokyo has for decades stabilised prices by controlling supply and penalising over-production to protect farmers—a key voter base—from volatile world markets,This policy, known as "gentan" and referring to small-scale cultivation, effectively made rice farming a part-time job left to older relatives while younger family members worked in other sectors.But, as with much of the greying nation, many farmers are now retiring—the average is about 66 years old—with few interested in replacing them. That has left some 400,000 hectares of farmland unused across the country, an area almost twice the size of Tokyo."What needs to be done is encourage older farmers to retire and then gather small pieces of land into one big lot for someone capable like Yokota," said Masayoshi Honma, an economics professor at Tokyo University.It is estimated that ditching rice tariffs—which can reach 778 percent—would see local prices fall by about 341 yen ($3.20) per kilogram, according to Japan's agricultural ministry.An average five-kilogram (11-lb) bag in a Tokyo supermarket costs between 1,500-2,000 yen, up to three times a comparable bag in Sydney, Bangkok and Beijing.Rice farmer Shuichi Yokota checks the growth conditions of his rice with a smartphone in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki prefecture, on August 17, 2014 Overseas markets Despite resistance to change by the powerful agricultural lobby, some older rice farmers such as Yamada blame the subsidy system for a now stagnant sector.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last year said he would end production quotas from 2018 and abolish some cash handouts to rice farmers while expanding other payments—leading to claims the policy was toothless.Despite his plan to shake up the economy, Abe has avoided taking an axe to rice tariffs that have long been seen as untouchable. The levies have kept imports of foreign rice to a trickle—77 tons last year against domestic production of eight million—and they remain a key stumbling block in Tokyo's trade talks, including the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed 12-nation free-trade bloc.Despite fears the industry would crumble if it has to compete globally, Yokota insists competition might be an opportunity to tap new markets."If our supply exceeds domestic consumption, then we will bring it overseas—the TPP wouldn't be a threat in that sense," he said. Explore further: The effects of growing rice in low water and high salt conditions Nigeria's New Rice Policy Attracts U.S.$1.6 Billion Private Sector Investments By Chibuzor Emejor Abuja — Team Leader, Rice Value Chain of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), Dr. Olumuyiwa Osiname, has said the new rice policy introduced by the present administration in Nigeria has attracted $1.6 billion of private sector investments in the last three years.Making a presentation at a symposium to mark 2014 World Food Day in Abuja, Osianame assured that Nigeria would become a net exporter of rice within the next four years.He noted that the number of integrated mills in the country has grown from just one in 2011 to 20 by 2014. He expressed optimism that the 10 integrated rice mills recently approved by the Federal Executive Council would complement the existing mills in coping with rapidly expanding production of paddy rice across the country.He stated that the biggest impact of this new paradigm in rice production is the opening up of direct access of small scale farmers to inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers and farm machinery as well as direct participation of the private sector in agricultural businesses. He observed that the effect of new policy has resulted in the availability of seeds of improved rice varieties released directly to farmers, adding that milled rice from the paddy is competitive with imported rice in both market and culinary qualities.Speaking on the investment opportunities that abound in the rice sub-sector, Osiname said the by-products from the rice mills were of commercial opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises [SMEs] in the areas of energy, oil extraction and animal feeds. On the steps taken by the government to protect locally produced rice from undue influx of foreign rice by smugglers, he explained that an Inter-ministerial Committee has been established to control indiscriminate import of both paddy and brown rice into the country.He pointed out that prospective importers would be allowed to import rice only on quota basis after a review of their backward integration programme.While commenting on the success of the introduction of dry season paddy rice scheme, he said it accounted for about 50 per cent of the total additional paddy production by ATA. He further explained that the dry season rice farming has taken advantage of the irrigation facilities and Fadamas that are available in the country, particularly in the northern parts of the country.Osiname said the dry season farming has ensured regular supply of paddy rice all year round as well as provided jobs for Nigerians during the otherwise slack period of the year Korgutt rice gets national ID Panaji: Goa's hardy red kernel variety, korgutt, is now up among the country's elite rice varieties, after being approved recently by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, for its tolerance to salinity stress at seedling stage.The traditional rice land race from the state has been accorded due recognition as a unique germplasm by the bureau after the Old Goa-based Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) applied for registration following over four years of research in the field. "Korgutt as been granted national identity number INGR14055 for record purposes as well as conservation for future use," said Manohara K K, scientist in genetics and plant breeding, ICAR, Goa.After the delicious, pulpy Cardozo Mancurad variety growing on a tree in the Cardozo family compound in Mapusa was registered by the bureau in August 2011, korgutt has become the second crop variety to be granted national recognition and the first in rice from Goa. While updating its website recently, the bureau showed a description pertaining to the registration: 'Landrace (Korgut) from Farmer's field, Chorao Island, Tiswadi Taluka, North Goa' (sic). The salt-resistant variety has been added to the list of unique land races from other parts of the country. Some of them are submergence-tolerant, high-yielding and short duration varieties.The ICAR scientist had first evaluated korgutt under natural coastal salinity conditions at Chorao island in a farmer's field for four years. "The evaluation over the years for its yield and contributing characters proved that korgutt can adapt to highly saline conditions in coastal areas," said Manohara.Later, three scientists from the Central Rice Research Institute—Krishnendu Chattopadhyay, Bishnu Charan Marndi and Onkar Nath Singh—carried out research under artificial conditions at their institute campus in Cuttack. "Here too they found korgutt is 100% tolerant to salinity, as it could withstand salinity up to 12dS/m (deciSiemens per metre) at seedling stage," said Narendra Pratap Singh, director, ICAR, Goa.Farmers have been growing korgutt in the inter-tidal mud flats and khazan lands for decades, but of late the production has shown a decline. The national identity, it is believed, will help popularize korgutt across the country. "The seeds of korgut will be made available to researchers involved in the development of high-yielding, salt-tolerant rice varieties for coastal saline soils," said Singh.With rising sea levels posing a challenge to growing food in low-lying areas, climate-smart crops, such as korgutt, are likely to be preferred by farmers. China’s GMO Stockpile With its world-leading research investments and vast size, China will dominate the future of genetically modified food—despite the resistance of its population. By David Talbot on October 21, 2014 Rice (Oryza sativa) is a staple crop for half of the world’s population, but it can accumulate high levels of arsenic. When consumed over time, arsenic can lead to cancer and skin lesions. But the plant has its own mechanisms for fighting arsenic accumulation, according to a paper published today (October 20) in PNAS. Researchers based in Korea and Japan have shown that a rice transporter protein called OsABCC1 prevents arsenic from damaging plant tissues by sequestering the element in vacuoles. Because of this, potentially harmful arsenic remains in these cellular waste containers rather than building up in rice grains.“What they have shown in this paper is really quite impressive,” said Andy Meharg, chair of plant and soil science at Queen’s University Belfast in the U.K. “The difference between having these ABC transporters and not having them is very, very large.”The researchers now hope to find rice plants that express high levels of OsABCC1 or to genetically engineer rice to overexpress the transporter. This strategy “offers one of the simplest and most cost-effective approaches to solving the problem of arsenic contamination of rice and rice-based products,” Mary Lou Guerinot, who studies metal transport at Dartmouth College, wrote in an e-mail to The Scientist.Rice accumulates arsenic both because of its growing conditions and biology. The crop is often grown in flooded rice paddy fields, where arsenic becomes arsenite, a compound that bears a strong chemical resemblance to silicic acid. The rice plants take up the silicic acid through transporters in their roots. Silicon makes rice plants stiff and sharp, allowing them to remain upright in damp conditions and to ward off pests. But while rice is getting its needed dose of silicon, it’s accidentally drinking up arsenite. Arsenic is also found as arsenate, which mimics the key nutrient phosphate.Arsenic toxicity is particularly problematic in areas of Southeast Asia where people drink arsenic-contaminated water and eat rice as a staple of their diets. Sometimes, they grow and cook their rice in the same arsenic-rich water they drink. “The risk is related to the concentration in rice that they have, and also the water they are drinking, and the amount of rice that [they] eat,” said Steve McGrath, a biogeochemist at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, U.K., who was not involved in the study.Arsenic toxicity also poses a problem for rice; among other things, it can significantly stunt plant growth.The researchers opted to examine the role of OsABCC1 in rice because of previous research led by coauthor Won-Yong Song of Pohang University of Science and Technology, whose team found that related transporters sequesters arsenic in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Song and his colleagues have now found that OsABCC1 is found in the lipid membrane surrounding vacuoles, called the tonoplast, in rice cells. When the researchers knocked out OsABCC1, the rice grew poorly in the presence of arsenic compared to wild-type plants. Furthermore, while only 3.4 percent of arsenic found in total in the rice plants ended up in rice grains in wild-type rice, 20 percent to 24 percent made it to the rice grains in plants when OsABCC1 was knocked out. The next step is to determine whether increased OsABCC1 expression can reduce arsenic levels in rice below their current levels in major cultivars. “The key now is to find rice or make rice through GMO [genetically modified organism] techniques that are suited to storing arsenic in the vacuoles,” said Meharg.Study coauthor Jian Feng Ma, a professor at the Institute of Plant Science and Resources at Okayama University in Japan, said that his team plans to proceed on all fronts. He and his colleagues will attempt to use a strong promoter to overexpress OsABCC1, and they will also look at how expression levels of the transporter vary naturally between rice cultivars. If they find a cultivar that expresses high levels of the transporter and sequesters extra arsenic, they then may be able to breed that cultivar with more mainstream varieties.Finally, Ma’s team continues to look for other transporters that either help bring arsenic to the rice grain or sequester it. “Maybe there are a lot of transporters for arsenic in different cells,” he said. “If you combine all of them, maybe you can get an arsenic-free rice.” W. Song et al., “A rice ABC transporter, OsABCC1, reduces arsenic accumulation in the grain,” PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1414968111, 2014. Tags.transporter protein, rice , Plant breeding, genetic modification, arsenic and Arabidopsis It is a hot, smoggy July weekend in Beijing, and the gates to the Forbidden City are thronged with tens of thousands of sweat-drenched tourists. Few make the trek to the city’s east side and its more tranquil China Agricultural Museum, where several formal buildings are set amid sparkling ponds ringed by lotus plants in full pink bloom. The site, which is attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, promises that it will “acquaint visitors with the brilliant agricultural history of China”—but what’s missing from the official presentation is as telling as what’s on display. At least 9,000 years ago, people living in China were the first to cultivate rice, developing elaborate irrigation systems. Today, rice is the nation’s (and half the world’s) most important crop. Some 2,500 years ago, the Chinese also invented the first really efficient iron ploughshares, called kuan, with a curved V shape that efficiently turned hard soil. These millennia-old innovations are matched by those of the past century. A display honors Yuan Longping, China’s revered “father of hybrid rice,” who in the mid-1960s posited that if he could find male-sterile rice plants—ones unable to self-pollinate—he could create hybrid strains reliably and at large scale. (In general, hybrids are more vigorous and higher-yielding than the parent varieties.) He later found such plants and, together with other researchers, created a process to make high-yielding hybrids year after year, revolutionizing rice production. But the exhibits don’t mention the vast suffering wrought by Chinese agricultural failure. Yuan himself lived through Chairman Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward” of 1958–1961, which triggered a collapse in food production and distribution by banning private farming in favor of vast collective farms. As many as 45 million people died, most by starvation. The museum also says nothing about the most fought-over product of modern-¬day agricultural technology: genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Yes, there’s a 1990s-era gene gun, which used high-¬pressure gas to blast DNA-coated particles into plant cells to create early transgenic crops. And there’s a stalk representing the big GMO success story that used this approach: Bt cotton, a pest-resistant variety that has been planted widely in China for 15 years, greatly increasing production while slashing pesticide use. (The plant, which incorporates DNA from a soil bacterium that’s harmful to insects, makes up 90 percent of the cotton crop and by one estimate produces a $1 billion annual economic gain for farmers.) But the story seems to end more than a decade ago. China’s ruling Communist Party faces rising popular opposition to GMOs. As in any other nation, there are a variety of views within China about whether it’s safe to eat food made with genetically engineered ingredients. But Chinese citizens have lately witnessed a number of major food safety scandals, including a 2008 disaster in which melamine-tainted milk products killed six babies or toddlers, sending 54,000 more to the hospital, and a 2010 revelation that some cooking oil sold to consumers had been recovered from drains and probably contained carcinogens. Against this backdrop, otherwise implausible-sounding claims from a vocal minority of GMO critics (such as an assertion that GMO soybean oil was associated with a higher incidence of tumors) gain traction in the country’s social media, which many Chinese favor over official state media as a source of news. The Chinese press and social media lit up when, in 2012, Greenpeace released a scary-sounding report on a research project that involved feeding children “golden rice,” which is engineered to produce beta-carotene and thus make up for vitamin A deficiencies. (It turned out that the parents were not told the rice was genetically modified; China fired three researchers involved.) Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” triggered a collapse in food production by banning private farming in favor of vast collective farms. As many as 45 million people died. Recent informal opinion surveys in Chinese social media suggest that large majorities believe GMOs are harmful, and scientific surveys also indicate that opposition is significant. An academic survey this year found that roughly one-third of respondents opposed GMOs outright and another 39 percent worried about them—a stark difference from earlier government surveys. Such opposition is often tinged with nationalism. With growing quantities of GM corn and soybeans being imported to China—largely for animal feed but also for processing into food ingredients such as oil—the notion is spreading through social media that Americans are trying to poison Chinese consumers, or at least foisting on them the GMOs that they refuse to eat themselves (although in fact, most processed food Americans eat contains genetically modified ingredients). A Chinese general decreed earlier this year that no GMO ingredients, not even a little oil, should be allowed in soldiers’ food. So for now, anyway, the government is holding back on approving new GMOs for food crops. Today no genetically modified food (with the exception of a virus-resistant papaya) is grown in China, even for animal feed. The Ministry of Agriculture issued its last significant safety approvals five years ago—for a pest-resistant rice developed in China and a variety of corn whose phosphorus content is more digestible to pigs, enhancing growth and reducing subsequent pollution—but never gave the okay for actual planting. The safety certificates expired in August. A recent endorsement of GMOs by the aging Yuan Longping himself has done little to move the policy or change public opinion. Ji-kun Huang, director of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, says, “The technology is ready, but politically, it’s sensitive. Commercialization will be a long way off. Rice is a staple food, and public concern about safety is serious.” Yet despite the uncertainties, research on GMO crops continues. By one count published in Nature Biotechnology, 378 Chinese groups employing thousands of scientists are engaged in this work. The government will have spent some $4 billion on GMOs by 2020. Researchers are using the latest modification technologies and drawing from high-throughput genomic analysis of thousands of crop strains, accelerating the pace of discovery. Cautious though they are of arousing public opposition, Chinese leaders are well aware that their country will need a lot more food. Growing it will require new agricultural tricks. The world’s most populous nation, China has more than 1.3 billion inhabitants, a number expected to rise to almost 1.4 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, accelerating climate change will pose great challenges for farmers, bringing deeper droughts, more flooding, and hotter heat waves (see “Why We Will Need Genetically Modified Foods,” January/February 2014). Although crop yields in China tripled from the 1960s through the 1990s, thanks to hybrid varieties and generous spraying of pesticides, those gains slowed significantly 15 years ago. Since then, yields have flattened. To make matters worse, rapid industrialization is eating into the supply of arable land. Finally, the population will be getting not just larger but richer; rising GDP means more demand for meat, putting huge pressure on crops. Demand for imported corn alone is expected to surge from about five million tons this year to more than 20 million tons in just 10 years. Much of that crop is expected to feed animals ultimately headed for Chinese slaughterhouses. In anticipation, the nation is building a storehouse of genetically modified crop strains for future use. China sees this as a way of protecting its long-term security. In fact, the country is the world’s top public spender on genomics and genetic modification of crops, says Scott Rozelle, a China scholar and food security expert at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. “Certainly we [the United States] aren’t doing much—and the big multinationals aren’t doing much right now in terms of spending on plant biotech research,” Rozelle says. “And yet China continues to do it.” So far China has been able to feed itself, so there is no impetus to deploy this new technology, he adds. “Yet they continue to pour money into it. Are they doing it for the love of science? They are putting away for a rainy day—or a non-rainy one. And when that day comes, I think they will have more GM technologies than anyone.” The government keeps current food prices low by investing in irrigation and subsidizing farmers, and it keeps meat on the table thanks at least in part to imported corn and soybeans. China became a net food importer in 2008 and the world’s top food importer four years later; it now imports about 5 percent of its food. This makes China’s stance on GMO food crops critical for the entire global market; if China green-lights GMOs, many other countries that export to China may accept them too. Meanwhile, the rising use of imports puts pressure on China to do more to feed its own people, and that helps drive internal research on GMOs. Imports are “a very important issue for food security,” says Dafang Huang, chief scientist of the Biotech Research Institute at the China Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, which is collaborating on a vast array of agricultural genome sequencing and GMO efforts. “I think the high-level officials are very concerned. We have to use the new technology. We have to develop the GMO.” Rice Editor Exuberant and prone to charming bursts of laughter, Caixia Gao embodies the optimistic, energetic present of GMO research in China. Wearing a gray T-shirt emblazoned with “Just Do It” in large pink letters, she leads a tour of her greenhouses at the State Key Lab of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. She’s one of the world’s leaders in using sophisticated gene-editing technologies, including those known as TALENs and CRISPR. The earlier gene guns were analogous to shotguns: they could not precisely control where they inserted DNA into a plant cell. The process was, quite literally, hit or miss. The new methods, by contrast, insert molecules that can cut specific sequences of DNA. This makes it possible to delete or add a gene at any desired spot on the genome, or even to change just a few nucleotides, something unthinkable with older methods. Since the new tools make their changes without relying on genes taken from other species such soil bacteria, they could also answer some of the objections leveled against transgenic crops. Gao is at the vanguard of genetic engineering in rice. As she strides through a humid greenhouse filled with test trays of rice plants (the air feels cleaner here—though anything would be better than the heavy smog outdoors), she explains that each has had one or more of its genes “knocked out” using the new editing tools. On one shelf sits a strain that grows straighter; more plants can fit in a given area. On another, she shows off one with a desirable fragrance: “It smells good and tastes good—for quality.” These features could help the market accept future strains engineered for traits such as disease resistance. Finally, she arrives at a tray of rice plants half as tall as the surrounding ones. Their small stature resulted from editing out a single gene; while the implications aren’t yet clear, the hope is that less of the plant’s energy is going into making leaves and more into making the edible seeds. That would permit higher yields. Large-scale field trials are going on all over the country, but public data is scant. Scientists feel they must hide the locations of the trials. They have reason to worry. Gao’s trays are part of a massive nationwide enterprise. In 2002, Chinese scientists were among the first to sequence a rice genome; this year they released the sequences of 3,000 varieties as part of a continuing effort with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines and the Beijing Genomics Institute to develop a crop known as “green super rice” (GSR). BGI has been using high-throughput technology to systematically compare these strains. The goal is to identify the genes that might be important for traits such as yield, flavor, pest and herbicide resistance, and tolerance to drought, salt, and immersion. Combined with the gene-editing tools, this new wealth of knowledge means that an era of very rapid and precise GMO development is at hand. PHOTO ESSAY: China’s Growing Bets on GMOs Gao and colleagues are doing similar systematic studies on the next-most-important crops: corn, wheat, and soybeans. They recently invented a wheat strain that resists the second-most-common wheat disease, powdery mildew. We drove to the outskirts of Beijing, where behind a row of industrial buildings, outdoor test plots were full of new crop varieties made with both conventional breeding and GMO technology. The GMOs included a soybean plant whose beans produce more oil and an acre or so of rice that can avoid leaf death. Large-scale field trials are going on all over the country, but public data is scant. Two to three hours outside Beijing, a number of test fields of wheat have recently been harvested, Dafang Huang says. Work at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science includes planting drought-resistant varieties of wheat. Other Chinese institutions are making similar progress on drought-resistant corn, he adds. But like many of their colleagues across the country, the scientists feel that they must hide the locations of the trials. (They have reason to worry. Three years ago Australian Greenpeace activists destroyed a field of GM wheat plants; last year, activists in the Philippines destroyed a test plot of golden rice. Gao and Huang told me they worry that something similar could happen in China.) But while there is no central public repository of field trial data, Huang told me it was safe to assume that the plantings are widespread—and productive. “You can imagine that many, many field trials are going on in the different areas,” he says. “Basic research is very open, but for the field trials, I think the data is very secret.” Researchers sometimes wonder if their work will ever see the light of day. “We can do research—we have enough financial support—but I don’t know if Chinese scientists can produce the product,” Gao says. At the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, Qifa Zhang, the lab’s director, is hard at work on GSR. He also developed an insect-resistant Bt rice, which is still barred from commercialization. But he’s reticent when it comes to talking about GMOs. “Inaccurate quotations of such interviews have done me more harm than help,” he lamented in an e-mail. “I prefer not to talk.” Going It Alone At the beginning of this year, China released a policy document stressing the need to match its world-class basic research with a more modernized seed industry. The goal: to consolidate many of the country’s thousands of seed companies and develop ones more like Monsanto, linking basic research to large-scale production of seed. So I was looking forward to visiting Da Bei Nong Group, the giant Chinese animal feed and seed company that is the most valuable agricultural company in the Chinese market. I was to visit the DBN Biotech Research Center in Beijing, headed by Lu Yuping, former head of Syngenta’s research unit there. DBN’s projects include herbicide-tolerant soybeans as well as corn with so-called stacked traits of herbicide and insect resistance; the tour was to include a view of extensive laboratory and field trials. Then came the indictments. In early July, just three weeks before my visit, a federal grand jury in Des Moines, Iowa, indicted Mo Yun, wife of Da Bei Nong Group’s billionaire chairman, on one count of conspiracy to steal trade secrets: to wit, valuable corn seed from test fields in Iowa and Illinois owned by DuPont Pioneer, Monsanto, and LG Seeds. Yun’s indictment followed those of six other employees of the company or its subsidiaries in late 2013. One was accused of trying to drive across the border from Vermont to Canada with containers of kernels stashed under the seats; others are accused of packing stolen corn into Ziploc bags and attempting to FedEx them from Illinois to Hong Kong. All told, the cost to Pioneer and Monsanto totaled $500 million, prosecutors allege. Despite all this, the circumspect, soft-spoken Lu gamely agreed to meet me for an off-site interview. Unsurprisingly, he would not comment on the U.S. indictments, saying the accusations are unrelated to his unit. But he says the DBN Biotech Center is using gene-editing technologies to create male-sterile rice, hoping to accelerate the sort of research Yuan pioneered, while it continues the top-priority research into herbicide tolerance in corn and soybeans. He stressed that the company was working on its own varieties, in part to deal with insect threats that occur mostly in China. “Some pests are China-specific, and this is our challenge—we have to have new innovations,” he says. While the accusations fit into a larger narrative of alleged Chinese corporate espionage, it would be a mistake to assume that such malfeasance, if it’s actually occurring, is a mainstay of China’s GMO strategy. Stealing seeds would help avoid a couple of years of breeding work. But given the extensive government-funded in-house work it has to draw upon, DBN’s own biotech R&D may be as productive as that of multinational seed companies, says Carl Pray, an economist at Rutgers University who is a close watcher of the Chinese agriculture sector. His sense is that DBN is “doing some pretty good research,” he says, adding, “I don’t think that the research they are doing really can match the latest research at Monsanto, DuPont, or Syngenta, but the technology is probably getting to a point where it will work fairly well in China.” In addition, Chinese companies would enjoy structural and economic advantages. The example of Bt cotton is instructive. Back in 1997, Monsanto introduced its insect-resistant cotton to China shortly before Biocentury Transgene, a startup partly owned by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, started to commercialize its own Bt cotton seed, which it was able to sell for half the price. The company quickly overtook Monsanto, and today its seed commands almost the entire Chinese cotton market. It is not hard to imagine that China could repeat the feat with corn, soybeans, and other crops (Qifa Zhang is working with another major Chinese seed company, China National Seed, on rice). China has restricted R&D by multinational seed companies, leaving the market wide open to local firms. And since most of the results would be consumed within China, those companies wouldn’t have to worry about regulations in the GMO-skittish European Union or elsewhere. Yet even promising startups—ones encouraged by the government—are holding back on GMOs. A few years ago, Xing Wang Deng arrived in Beijing to start a lab at Peking University through China’s 1,000 Talents Program, which attempts to bring Chinese-born experts back from abroad. A native of rural Hunan province, he had earned a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, and wound up running his own lab at Yale. There, he led basic research into understanding how plants respond to light stimuli. Nobody knows when China will begin deploying its GMO stockpile. But few doubt that at some point the government will decide to plant what it has been developing in its labs. Since Deng has extensive experience identifying the functions of plant genes, he’s in the perfect position to guide research using next-generation, highly precise genetic tools to subtly change crop genomes. During my visit, a brand-new lab space was being readied on campus; a few miles away stood new office space for his startup company, Frontier Laboratories. But Deng won’t include GMOs in his initial batch of products. He’s trying to develop hybrid rice and wheat varieties using chemically induced mutations and molecular biology techniques such as looking at genetic markers to aid conventional breeding. He’s even working on ways to make crops herbicide-resistant without adding genes from soil bacteria. “These might yield similar results to genetic modification,” he says. Deng’s delicate dance to avoid the GMO label is a sign of the social and political climate—for now. “It seems the government is not in a rush,” he says. “It probably has more challenging issues on its hands, so this is not one to deal with at the moment. The [need for] GMOs is not rising to [such a] crisis that the government has to deal with it.” Crises will come. The Chinese government that wants to avoiding provoking the outrage of its GMO-wary citizens may at some point face a broader and even more distressed constituency: farmers watching crops dying, and citizens who can’t afford—or even find—enough food. Temperature increases and precipitation decreases could slash China’s net yields of rice, wheat, and corn by 13 percent over the next 35 years, according to an analysis by scientists at Peking University’s Center for Climate Research. Even an outcome that merely keeps yields flat would be catastrophic in the face of population growth and rising demand. “If we have some very serious agricultural disasters for the government officials, they have to make decisions to push the commercialization of GMOs,” says Dafang Huang. Even if China can increase yields by improving existing agricultural practices, as it probably can, Rozelle and other China watchers expect the country to approve GM corn at some point; the demand for corn for animal feed will become too urgent, and using the crop for animal feed is far less controversial than growing it for human consumption. Nobody knows when or to what extent China will begin deploying its GMO stockpile to feed its citizens. But few doubt that at some point, when costs rise and supply gets tighter, the government will decide it’s time to plant what it has been developing in its labs. And when that happens, given China’s centrally managed economy, farms and families can be expected to adopt the technology quickly. “Once the official attitude is changed, everything will be changed very soon,” says Huang. And in the decades to come, if one of the innumerable GMO strains sprouting in the labs of Gao and others should help get the nation through a mega-drought or pronounced heat wave, that fix might well seem museum-worthy to future curators of Chinese agricultural history. How Rice Overcomes Arsenic Researchers have discovered a transporter protein in rice that sequesters arsenic in vacuoles, preventing the toxic element from traveling into grains. By Kate Yandell | October 20, 2014 CHARLES HAYNES, FLICKRRice (Oryza sativa) is a staple crop for half of the world’s population, but it can accumulate high levels of arsenic. When consumed over time, arsenic can lead to cancer and skin lesions. But the plant has its own mechanisms for fighting arsenic accumulation, according to a paper published today (October 20) in PNAS. Researchers based in Korea and Japan have shown that a rice transporter protein called OsABCC1 prevents arsenic from damaging plant tissues by sequestering the element in vacuoles. Because of this, potentially harmful arsenic remains in these cellular waste containers rather than building up in rice grains. “What they have shown in this paper is really quite impressive,” said Andy Meharg, chair of plant and soil science at Queen’s University Belfast in the U.K. “The difference between having these ABC transporters and not having them is very, very large.” The researchers now hope to find rice plants that express high levels of OsABCC1 or to genetically engineer rice to overexpress the transporter. This strategy “offers one of the simplest and most cost-effective approaches to solving the problem of arsenic contamination of rice and rice-based products,” Mary Lou Guerinot, who studies metal transport at Dartmouth College, wrote in an e-mail to The Scientist. Rice accumulates arsenic both because of its growing conditions and biology. The crop is often grown in flooded rice paddy fields, where arsenic becomes arsenite, a compound that bears a strong chemical resemblance to silicic acid. The rice plants take up the silicic acid through transporters in their roots. Silicon makes rice plants stiff and sharp, allowing them to remain upright in damp conditions and to ward off pests. But while rice is getting its needed dose of silicon, it’s accidentally drinking up arsenite. Arsenic is also found as arsenate, which mimics the key nutrient phosphate. Arsenic toxicity is particularly problematic in areas of Southeast Asia where people drink arsenic-contaminated water and eat rice as a staple of their diets. Sometimes, they grow and cook their rice in the same arsenic-rich water they drink. “The risk is related to the concentration in rice that they have, and also the water they are drinking, and the amount of rice that [they] eat,” said Steve McGrath, a biogeochemist at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, U.K., who was not involved in the study. Arsenic toxicity also poses a problem for rice; among other things, it can significantly stunt plant growth. The researchers opted to examine the role of OsABCC1 in rice because of previous research led by coauthor Won-Yong Song of Pohang University of Science and Technology, whose team found that related transporters sequesters arsenic in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.Song and his colleagues have now found that OsABCC1 is found in the lipid membrane surrounding vacuoles, called the tonoplast, in rice cells. When the researchers knocked out OsABCC1, the rice grew poorly in the presence of arsenic compared to wild-type plants. Furthermore, while only 3.4 percent of arsenic found in total in the rice plants ended up in rice grains in wild-type rice, 20 percent to 24 percent made it to the rice grains in plants when OsABCC1 was knocked out. The next step is to determine whether increased OsABCC1 expression can reduce arsenic levels in rice below their current levels in major cultivars. “The key now is to find rice or make rice through GMO [genetically modified organism] techniques that are suited to storing arsenic in the vacuoles,” said Meharg. Study coauthor Jian Feng Ma, a professor at the Institute of Plant Science and Resources at Okayama University in Japan, said that his team plans to proceed on all fronts. He and his colleagues will attempt to use a strong promoter to overexpress OsABCC1, and they will also look at how expression levels of the transporter vary naturally between rice cultivars. If they find a cultivar that expresses high levels of the transporter and sequesters extra arsenic, they then may be able to breed that cultivar with more mainstream varieties. Finally, Ma’s team continues to look for other transporters that either help bring arsenic to the rice grain or sequester it. “Maybe there are a lot of transporters for arsenic in different cells,” he said. “If you combine all of them, maybe you can get an arsenic-free rice.” W. Song et al., “A rice ABC transporter, OsABCC1, reduces arsenic accumulation in the grain,” PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1414968111, 2014. Tags:transporter protein, rice , Plant breeding, genetic modification, arsenic and Arabidopsis Vistas of national rice breeding and the myth of traditional rice October 20, 2014, 12:00 pm By Dr Parakrama Waidyanatha Continued from yesterday Emergence of new rice varieties (NIVs) Developing lodging resistant varieties then became the major challenge for the rice breeders, but fortunately, a new plant type created in Taiwan around 1960, exemplified by Taichung (Native 1) paved the way. It had short sturdy lodging resistant stems and short, upright, narrow leaves which could efficiently capture sunlight. The International Rice Research Institute based in the Philippines, experimenting with the new plant type developed the variety IR 8. However, both IR 8 and Taichung Native 1 failed to perform in Sri Lanka due to several reasons. Consequently, a major interdisciplinary rice improvement programme was launched with the objective of breeding short statured lodging resistant and fertilizer responsive varieties which were also resistant to diseases. Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) by then had turned out to be a major disease both here and elsewhere in Asia. A series of new improved varieties NIVs) such as Bg 11-11 (4.5 month variety) and Bg 34-6 (3.5 month variety) were released with the requisite attributes and a yield potential of 7 t/ha replacing H 4 and H 7. Another high yielding red rice Bg 3-5 replaced H 9. A major breakthrough was the development of Bg34-8 with a yield potential of 7 t/ha which became immensely popular, replacing the traditional variety Pachchaperumal with an average yield of only 2-3 t/ha. The new varieties had adequate resistance to BLB, and by 1974 the extent under them increased to over 55% as against the old improved varieties (OIVs, the H series) which were reduced to 24%. Over the years, more and more NIVs began to emerge, a major one being BG 94-1, a 3.5 month variety, which was able to replace even the existing 4 and 4.5 month varieties because of the higher yield potential and the ability to cultivate in both Maha and Yala seasons. The resulting conservation of water and field time was notable. The farmer acceptance of these NIVs continued to steadily increase replacing both the OIVs and the traditional varieties., and prompting breeders to steadily develop more and more dwarf statured varieties with increasingly higher yields. Some examples being Bg 90-2, Bg 94-1 and Bg 94-2 with yield potentials of 10 t/ha. The outstanding variety being Bg 94-1, a 3.5 month variety, which replaced Bg 43-1 as a variety for both seasons. Although the NIVs had resistance to leaf diseases, they were found to be susceptible to several pests such as brown plant hopper and gall midge. However, our breeders were again able to breed varieties resistant to these pests with the introduction of resistant genes from some Indian varieties. Interestingly, two of the new varieties that emerged, Bg 400-1 and Bg 276-5 also showed resistance to iron toxicity, enabling their introduction to high iron soils in the Wet Zone. In fact they replaced the low yielding traditional varieties there from. So if the policy makers need varieties for iron toxic soils, the answer obviously is these new varieties and not the low-yielding traditional ones. New red rice varieties with high nutritive value Until about the late 1980s the rice breeding thrust had essentially been for productivity to achieve self sufficiency. The breeding scope thereafter broadened also to accommodate other attributes such as grain quality, nutritional value and consumer preference. All the NIVs bread hitherto were, however, white except Bg34-6 which was red but with limited yield potential. However, given the demand for red rice both from the northern and southern regions, a new high yielding variety of red rice, At 16 was developed for cultivation in the high potential areas. In the last two decades, NIVs exceeding 10t/ha such as Bg 358, Bg 352, Bg 300 and At362 which are now the most popular varieties among farmers emerged. Bg 403 is a red variety with the same potential yield. In addition many other red varieties in all age classes such as At 303, Bw 272-6/B ( 3month varieties), At 362, At353, Bw 364 (3.5 months) and At 402, Bw 401 and Bg 406 ( 4months) with yield potential in excess of 8 t/ha are available with equally high nutritive value as the traditional ones. Is there then any rationale to get back to traditional rice with inherently much lower yields and far greater susceptibility to pests, diseases and lodging. There are, however, claims of yields of 4 to 5 t/ha from traditional varieties apparently from small plots under well managed conditions. This may be true . But the danger is when extents under these varieties are expanded the risk for pest attacks increase substantially, and if they are to be grown organically without pesticide, the damage could be even greater. The Department of Agriculture together with the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) had in 2011 published a booklet comparing yields and nutritive values of 25 popular traditional varieties. Unfortunately only the nutritive values for some of the NIVs are in it but not the yields. Yield data records of NIVs from farmers fields are, therefore, incorporated for comparison. Anti-glycation data adapted from another publication by scientists of the ITI are also incorporated in the Table below. It shows that whereas the white varieties have lower protein, antiglycation ( higher the % , greater the health benefit) , antioxidant, iron and zinc levels, all red rice varieties irrespective of whether they are improved or traditional have comparable levels, and hence comparable health benefits. The primary objective of grain breeding is to breed for energy (carbohydrate) and palatability, and other nutriments being secondary. They are usually derived from other foods - pulses, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. Breeding high protein rice together with the high yield attribute had not met with much success although some traditional rice varieties with as much as 15% protein have been reported from other countries. About 8 – 9% protein appears what is achievable. In any case, given the massive yield advantage of all NIVs, there is no argument to return to traditional varieties on a large scale, given also the fact that the special attributes of these varieties are already available in the new red rice varieties. Whither rice research? The need is now not to go back to traditional rice, but to face the enormous challenges of climate change and the resultant vagaries of weather leading to crop losses, the demand for more food from the limited land resources given the ever increasing population, and more seriously, the problem of environmental pollution leading to diseases such as CKDU. Is our political resolve and resource allocation equal to the task? Sadly it is not so. We have, for example, an ageing rice research team in the Department of Agriculture without competent replacements for lack of a coherent training and succession plan. Of a full cadre of 8 -10 breeders and other rice researchers at the Rice Research and Development Institute , for example, there is now only one fully trained (PhD) researcher who is also due to retire in a few years. The situation is no better in other institutes of the Department of Agriculture (DOA). What are the authorities doing? (Concluded)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)