Riceplus Magazien is a quarterly magazine that publishes research articles including industry realted for the rice sector.It shares global and regional articles on rice.Riceplus Magazine also publishes two digital magazines on daily basis namely Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter & Exclusive ORYZA Rice E-Newsletter for entire global agriculture community.For more information visit on www.ricepluss.com
A workshop introducing advanced
post-harvest rice technologies was held by the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research
Institute (CLRRI) and Sontag Consult in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on
April 8.During the workshop, attendees discussed the current condition of
rice preservation and processing in Vietnam and factors that could increase
rice quality and export values.A number of technological solutions and advanced
equipment for effective preservation, storage and processing of rice were also
introduced; such as, rice cleaning, drying and milling technologies,
technologies for parboiled rice production, and eco-friendly rice husk burning
stoves.
According to CLRRI Director Prof.
Nguyen Hong Son, the Mekong Delta is the country’s rice farming hub where more
than 90 percent of rice for export is produced. Last year, the region exported
over six million tonnes of rice.Despite that, the rice export values have
remained lower than those of other countries in the region, due to not only a
lack of high-quality varieties but also outdated post-harvest handling, he
said.Prof. Pham Van Tan from the Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Engineering
and Post-harvest Technology noted that out-of-date handling techniques have
increased post-harvest losses of rice in the Mekong Delta to about 13.7
percent, which equates to more than 781 million USD per year.Poor preservation
has also reduced rice export value, he added, urging the need for the delta to
apply advanced technology in rice post-harvest handlin
SCIENCE CITY OF MUNOZ, Nueva
Ecija — The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhiRice) has recommended the
use of drought-tolerant varieties and technologies to help farmers cope with
the ongoing El Niño phenomenon.“Rice normally grows at temperatures between 20-35°C.
Reports have indicated that temperatures above 35°C is critical for rice growth
especially during the reproductive stage. At present, temperature may reach up
to 38 to 40°C,” said Dr. Norvie Manigbas, PhilRice plant breeder.Based on the
studies, rice yield can decrease by 10 percent for each 1°C increase in minimum
night temperature during the dry season.
Dr. Jasper G. Tallada, head of the PhilRice’s Climate Change
Center, said drought affects all stages of rice growth.”It does not only reduce
water supply but also increases the amount of water needed for plant
transpiration,” he said.For irrigated lowland, PhilRice said farmers may
consider planting several early-maturing varieties.“Use of direct seeding
technologies can also help farmers cope up with El Nino so that rice plants can
escape drought or heat. Direct seeded rice matures earlier by seven to 10 days
compared to transplanted culture due to stress during transplanting,” Manigbas
said.
For water-saving technologies, the PhilRice recommended the
alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and low-cost drip irrigation system (LDIS)
technologies.Developed by International Rice Research Institute, AWD guides
farmers when to irrigate or not the rice field. Hence, this prevents wasteful
use of water.PhilRice studies show that use of AWD also minimizes greenhouse
gas emissions in paddy fields.
LDIS is also used for efficient use of water and is recommended
for irrigating rice-based crops.Meanwhile, the use of fossil fuel-free
technologies such as the rice hull gasifier-pump system, windmill-pump system,
rice hull stove and carbonizer lessens production cost and is
environment-friendly.The rice hull gasifier-pump system uses rice hull instead
of gasoline or diesel in pumping water from the ground. It is recommended for
rainfed areas where fuel expenses are high.
The wind mill-pump system is applicable in areas where wind
energy is abundant.A device called rice hull carbonizer processes the rice hull
into biochar (charcoal).
Aside from being used as soil conditioner, biochar is also
popular as main ingredient in producing organic fertilizers thus, reducing
dependence on synthetic fertilizers.
Over the last century, the global
population has quadrupled. In 1915, there were1.8 billion people in
the world. Today, according to themost recent estimate by
the UN, there are 7.3 billion people — and we may reach 9.7
billion by 2050. This growth, along
with rising incomes in
developing countries (which cause dietary changes such as eating more protein
and meat) aredriving upglobal
food demand.Food demand is expected to increase anywhere between59% to 98% by 2050.
This will shape agricultural markets in ways we have not seen before. Farmers
worldwide will need to increase crop production, either by increasing the
amount of agricultural land to grow crops or by enhancing productivity on existing
agricultural lands through fertilizer and irrigation and adopting new methods
like precision farming.However, the ecological and social trade-offs of
clearing more land for agriculture are often high, particularly in the tropics.
And right now, crop yields — the amount of crops harvested per unit of
land cultivated — are growing too slowlyto meet the forecasted demand for
food.Many other factors, from climate change to urbanization to a lack of
investment, will also make it challenging to produce enough food. There isstrong academic
consensusthat climate
change–driven water scarcity, rising global temperatures, and extreme weather
will have severe long-term effects on crop yields. These are expected to impact
many major agricultural regions, especially those close to the Equator. For
example, the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, one of the most important
agricultural regions worldwide, may face an18% to 23% reductionin soy and corn output by 2050, due to
climate change. The Midwestern U.S. and Eastern Australia — two other globally
important regions — may also see asubstantial declinein agricultural output due to extreme
heat.Yet some places are expected to (initially) benefit from climate change.
Countries stretching over northern latitudes — mainly China, Canada, and Russia
— are forecasted to
experience longer and warmer growing seasonsin certain areas. Russia, which is
already a major grain exporter, has huge untapped production potential because
oflarge crop yield gaps(the difference between current and
potential yields under current conditions) andwidespread abandoned
farmland(more than 40
million hectares, an area larger than Germany) following the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, in 1991. The country arguably has the most agricultural
opportunity in the world, but institutional reform and significant investments
in agriculture and rural infrastructure will be needed to realize it.Advanced
logistics, transportation, storage, and processing are also crucial for making
sure that food goes from where it grows in abundance to where it doesn’t. This
is where soft commodity trading companies, such as Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, or
COFCO, come in. While Big Food companies such as General Mills or Unilever have
tremendous global influence on what people eat, trading companies have a much
greater impact on food security, because they source and distribute our staple
foods and the ingredients used by Big Food, from rice, wheat, corn, and
sugar to soybean and oil palm. They also store periodically produced grains and
oilseeds so that they can be consumed all year, and they process soft
commodities so that they can be used further down the value chain. For example,
wheat needs to be milled into flour to produce bread or noodles, and soybeans
must be crushed to produce oil or feed for livestock.
Nonetheless, even if some regions increase their output and
traders reduce the mismatch between supply and demand, doubling food production
by 2050 will undeniably be a major challenge. Businesses and governments will
have to work together to increase productivity, encourage innovation, and
improve integration in supply chains toward a sustainable global food balance.
First and foremost, farmers, trading companies, and other
processing groups (Big Food in particular) need to commit to deforestation-free
supply chains. Deforestation causes rapid and irreversible losses of
biodiversity, is thesecond largest source of
carbon dioxide emissionsafter
fossil fuels, and has contributed greatly to global warming—adding to the
negative pressure on agriculture production for which these forests were
cleared in the first place.Farmers must also grow more on the land they
currently operate through what is called “sustainable intensification.” This
means using precision farming tools, such as GPS fertilizer dispersion,
advanced irrigation systems, and environmentally optimized crop rotations.
These methods can help produce more crops, especially in parts of Africa,
Latin America, and Eastern Europe with large yield gaps. They can also reduce
the negative environmental impacts from over-stressing resources–preventinggroundwater depletionand
thedestruction of fertile
landsthrough over-use
of fertilizer.The agricultural sector also needs significant long-term private
investment and public spending. Many large institutional investors, includingpension fundsandsovereign wealth funds, have already made
major commitments to support global agricultural production andtradingin recent years—not least because
agricultural (land) investments have historically delivered strong returns,
increased diversification, and outpaced inflation.Still, investment in
agriculture in most developing countries has declinedover the last 30 yearsandmuch less is spent on R&Dcompared to developed
countries—resulting in low productivity and stagnant production. And because
banking sectors in developing countriesgive fewer loans to
farmers(compared to
the share of agriculture in GDP), investments by both farmers and large
corporations are still limited. To attract more financing and investment in
agriculture, the risks need to be reduced by governments. Regulators need to
overhaul policies that limit inclusion of small, rural farmers into the
financial system— for example, soft loans (i.e., lending that is more generous
than market lending) and interest rate caps discourage bank lending. More
supportive policies, laws, and public spending on infrastructure would help
create a favorable investment climate for agriculture.Global policy makers,
corporations, and consumers must put the global food balance higher up the
agenda. International business leaders who are participating in this supply
chain have to better communicate the need for policy changes and for developed
countries to incentivize investment in regions where there is the most
potential for growth. Our food security will depend on it.
size=0 width="100%" align=center>
Maarten Elferinkis the founder and Managing Director
of Vosbor, an Amsterdam based commodity service and solutions provider
dedicated to sustainability, originating soft commodities and derivative
products selectively in Eastern Europe and the FSU for distribution in the
Asia-Pacific region.
Florian Schierhornis a post-doctoral researcher at the
Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies in Halle,
Germany and was selected for participation in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
on Economic Sciences in 2014. His overall research relates to the question of
how to meet global food security without increasing pressure on land.
Good weather set the stage for good planting conditions for the
2016 rice crop in Louisiana. “In general, we’re off to a good start,” said Steve Linscombe,
director of the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station. “I think
this has probably been the most favorable growing conditions in the month of
March in my career.”Some farmers were finished planting as early as March 7, he
said.Linscombe said most farmers appear to have good stands, with only a few
scattered fields needing to be replanted.The bird repellent AV-1011 is working
well at preventing birds from eating rice seed, he said. “This has been an
outstanding product for us.”Unlike last year, rains kept farmers out of fields
for only a few days, he said.All research projects on the Rice Research Station
are on schedule, with a few plots remaining to be planted.
Louisiana’s rice crop could increase over last year’s 412,000 acres, Linscombe
said. It may be too late to replant flooded corn fields, and a portion of that
land could be used to grow rice.
“By the end of the week, there won’t be too much left to plant in southwest
Louisiana,” said AgCenter rice specialist Dustin Harrell.Planting started in
early February, and Harrell estimated a third of the crop had been planted
before March 10. Favorable weather this year, unlike 2015, allowed farmers to
drill-seed more of their rice.Farmers prefer to spread their planting over a
few weeks to prevent the rice from ripening and reaching desired moisture
levels all at once, Harrell said. “I feel we’ll be close to the acreage we
had last year,” he said.
Not much rice has been planted in northeast Louisiana, and Harrell
expects it will be at least two weeks before it gets fully underway. “A lot of
that ground is still underwater,” he said.Andrew Granger, AgCenter county agent
in Vermilion Parish, said planting is 80 percent complete there.
Farmers who haven’t finished are probably still harvesting crawfish, or they don’t
typically plant early, Granger said.Vermilion Parish rice acreage is likely to
decrease by about 10-15 percent this year to around 40,000. “The price is the
drag,” he said.Todd Fontenot, AgCenter county agent in Evangeline Parish, said
farmers are taking advantage of the good weather. “If they’re not finished
planting, they’re going to be finished this week.
It’s moving along pretty
fast,” he said.Fontenot estimated 65 percent of the fields are planted and
doesn’t expect an acreage change from 2015 in Evangeline Parish. “We’ll be
pretty much in line with the 40,000 acres last year,” he said.Jeremy Hebert,
AgCenter county agent in Acadia Parish, said planting is nearly finished. “It’s
going very, very well, with extremely favorable growing conditions,” he said.Farmers
are pleased with the stands. “It seems like everything planted has germinated,”
Hebert said.Acreage will be at least the same as last year’s 82,000 acres, he
said. “I haven’t heard of anybody reducing rice acreage.”Frances Guidry,
AgCenter county agent in Jefferson Davis Parish, said planting has gone
smoothly. ”Some are done. Some actually were done in the middle of March,” she
said.Farmer Johnny Hensgens, of Calcasieu Parish, said he only has 100 acres
remaining, and he will be finished by week’s end.He finished planting last year
in March. “I could have finished in March this year, but I held off,” Hensgens
said.
He said some of his seed seemed reluctant to emerge after cool temperatures
that followed rain, but he didn’t have a problem with blackbirds feeding on
seed because he used AV-1011. Two neighboring farmers who didn’t use the
product had blackbird problems, he said.Farmer Clarence Berken, of Jefferson
Davis Parish, said his planting went well. “We couldn’t have had any better
weather in terms of getting it out there and getting it done,” he said.Berken
said he finished planting earlier than ever. “I think everybody is satisfied
with the way things have gone.”
Copyright 2016 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
S. Korean rice hits Chinese
shelves for first time
2016/04/07 16:23
By Kim Boram
BEIJING, April 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korean rice hit shelves in
Beijing for the first time in history on Thursday to meet rising Chinese demand
for Korean-made agricultural products and foodstuffs.China's state-run
agricultural trading company COFCO Corp. imported some 72 tons of South Korean
rice in February and put it on sale in an upscale supermarket of BHG Indigo
department store in Beijing.It is the first time that the Korean staple grain
has been exported to China, while South Korea imports 200,000 tons of Chinese
rice every year in accordance with the mandatory import quota set by the World
Trade Organization."Exports of rice represent our efforts to help South
Korean agricultural products go overseas," Agricultural Minister Lee
Dong-phil said during a ceremony marking the arrival of the Korean rice in
Beijing.
"It also marks the
first step to strike balance in the rice trade between the two countries."
He said he will make efforts to tap deeper into the world's biggest rice buyer
that imports an annual 2.5 million tons.The Chinese sale of South Korean rice
came nearly a decade after the Seoul government asked Beijing to open the market,
which had been blocked by the Chinese government's tough quarantine
requirements.In a Korea-China summit meeting in September last year, their
leaders agreed to ease quarantine regulations on South Korean rice.Following
the agreement, some 30 tons of rice went to Shanghai and 72 tons to Beijing
since the beginning of the year.
The South Korean government expects that a total 2,000 tons of
rice will be shipped to China by the end of this year, with the total amount of
outbound shipments reaching 4,000 tons.Exports of South Korean agricultural
products to the world's second-largest economy have been on a steady rise in
recent years as the Korean Wave, or Hallyu, is spreading Korean culinary
culture and cuisine from TV dramas and the K-pop boom.Some US$1 billion won
worth of South Korean food was sold in China last year, with the figure
projected to rise to $1.4 billion this year.
Thai rice exporters sign MOU to
sell 150,000 tons of rice to Hong Kong
BANGKOK: — Thai exporters
yesterday entered a memorandum of understanding agreement with Hong Kong rice
importers to sell 150,000 tons of quality rice.The signing of MOU was witnessed by the commerce minister Mrs
Aphiradee Tantraporn.Under the MOU, seven Hong Kong companies agreed to buy 150,000
tons of rice from Thai rice exporters.The deal is estimated to be worth 120
million USD.The Commerce Ministry has plans to increase Thailand’s market share
in Hong Kong from 57% to 65% for 2016. This will represent a total of no less
than 200,000 tons of Thai rice exports to the former colony.The ministry also
has plans to further increase this amount to 300,000 tons within the next 1 – 2
years.Official estimate for Thai rice exports for this year is that the target
of 9 – 9.5 million tons will be met.
However it is still lower than last
year’s rice exports which were 10 million tons.This is due almost entirely to
the national drought crisis which had caused production to drop.There are
altogether 12 million tons of rice stocks remaining which will not help market
prices for Thai white rice to increase any time soon.As a consequence, the
Ministry of Commerce has been forced to revise its marketing plans to focus
more on the quality of Thai rice.Markets targeted for high quality rice are
primarily in the Asian region such as Hong Kong, Singapore, China and the US
which have higher purchasing power.In order for the plan to be successful the
ministry has had to garner the cooperation of the private sector as well as
farmers. Higher production quality has been specified for rice farmers focusing
on planting ‘Rice Berry’ and organic rice crops while the private sector has
been tasked with coming up with effective marketing programs.These efforts have
enabled the ministry to confidently assert that Thailand’s rice exports will
see a marked increase within this year, according to the Commerce minister.
Rice millers face cash flow
problems due to dodgy middlemen
BANGKOK, 7 April 2016 (NNT) –
The Thai Rice Mills Association has called on the government to protect rice
mill operators from suspicious exporters and middlemen.
The association held a seminar that was attended by more than 200
rice millers. Secretary-General of the Thai Rice Mills Association Kriengsak
Tapananon said many rice millers are having cash flow problems, which he blamed
on intermediaries who failed to compensate producers.Mr. Kriengsak wants the government
to mediate negotiations between rice millers and supply chain middlemen.President
of the Thai Rice Mills Association Manas Kitprasert said that rice farmers have
also been affected by the rice millers’ cash flow problems. The lack of funds
has forced rice millers to scale back their rice purchases from farmers. The
knock-on effect will likely introduce fluctuations in the rice market.
Commerce minister visits Hong Kong to expand
bilateral trade and investment
Date : 7 เมษายน 2559
BANGKOK, 7 April 2016 (NNT) - Commerce Minister
Abhiradee Tantraporn has visited Hong Kong from April 5-7, 2016, to expand
trade and investment between the two countries and push for ASEAN-Hong Kong
Free Trade Agreement negotiations. She seized the opportunity to promote
Discover Thai Taste 2016 event to be held from April 5 to 30 at Mira Hotel
where an exhibition on Riceberry will be organized. Besides, the Rice Exporters
Association of Thailand will discuss with the Rice Importers Association of
Hong Kong marketing and public relations plans to promote the Thai rice in
2016. Thai exporters have also entered a memorandum of understanding with Hong
Kong rice importers to sell 150,000 tons of quality rice. Under the MoU, seven
Hong Kong companies have agreed to buy 150,000 tons of rice from Thai rice
exporters.
The Commerce Ministry has planned to increase
Thailand’s market share in Hong Kong from 57% to 65% in 2016. The ministry also
has plans to further increase the amount to 300,000 tons within the next few
years. Thai rice exports throughout this year have been targeted at 9 million
to 9.5 million tons.
The Deputy Director at the Agribusiness Technical Service Unit
under the Department of Agriculture, Aba Sankareh, has said the Department of
Agriculture through its line ministry is working hard to make The Gambia a net
rice exporter rather than a net rice importer.Achieving this needs concerted efforts of
all stakeholders in the value chain actors in rice, ranging from producers, to
transporters, processors, marketers and importers, he said, while delivering a
statement at a day’s consultative rice stakeholders meeting held at Tango.
The meeting was organised by the
Agribusiness Service Unit with support from the Gambia Commercial Agriculture
and Value Chain Management Project (GCAV).The meeting discussed the feasibility
of a partnership agreement between rice producers, processors and importers, as
well as strengthening public-private partnerships.The project’s objective of
this component is to improve the rice value chain and coordination, through
support to SMEs and producer organisations, to enhance their productive
capacity and competitiveness and develop market linkages, Mr Sankareh said.“The
subcomponent will facilitate farmers’ access to market by creating and
supporting commercial partnership between farmers, organisations and private
agribusinesses,” he said.
This, he noted, would foster the integration
of a greater number of smallholder producers in performing and remunerative
value-chain by developing and implementing public-private alliance in the
project areas aimed at improving market linkages.According to Mr Sankareh, the
forum was also held to bring all the rice actors and players together to
discuss what to be done, or what strategy or plans would be put in place to see
that The Gambia is able to “graduate in the next year to be a net exporter of
rice”.This was one of the fundamental aspects that led to organising the
consultative meeting to share ideas, experience and expertise, as well as to
discuss challenges affecting the rice value chain, and carve a way forward in
the best interest of the Gambian populace in achieving self-sufficiency in
rice, he said.
Mr Sankareh also dilated on the importance
attached to the GCAV project, and called for better public-private partnerships
to be able to make head way in agricultural production.He said GCAV is a
project that is focusing on two commodities: vegetable and rice, adding that
they are trying to effect partnerships with members of the private sector
through the value chain on vegetable and rice.For the national requirement to
be met in rice, the nation should be able to attain about one hundred thousand
plus metric tonnes of rice.“We have visions in place like Vision 2016, Vision
2020 and now Vision 2025,” he said, adding that the objective of Vision 2016
is: ‘eat what you grow and grow what you’ and at the same time trying to make
The Gambia a net rice exporter rather than a net rice importer.
They are also trying to promote private
sector investment in the rice sector, he said, adding that in most countries
private sector-led agriculture is the goal when it comes to investment.According
to Mr Sankareh, the outcome of the meeting would be forwarded to the
policymakers, because “their role is also very crucial”.
A worker carries a bucket of
freshly milled rice at a small milling operation on the outskirts of Phnom Penh
in 2012.Pha Lina
Agricultural products have been granted an
exemption from the value-added tax (VAT) as part of agovernment
effortto support
local rice farmers and millers, according to a prakas issued Wednesday by the
General Taxation Department.The prakas, effective immediately, aimed to reduce
the cost farmers pay for seeds and rice millers must pay for paddy, making rice
production more price-competitive, the prakas said
Celebrate spring and summer with tehri, a
potent one-pot rice dish from the Hindi heartland
The first time I had to describe tehri to someone, I was at a
loss. More difficult than explaining the simple dish was accepting the fact
that there was someone who did not know what tehri was. After all, I had grown
up eating it every other day.
As luck would have it, in the
years to come, I had to describe the dish many times over, to many people. And
so I adopted a simple shortcut: I called it “yellow pulav”. It is another
matter altogether that tehri and pulav are as different as chalk and cheese;
their only similarity is that they are rice dishes. The differences I usually
leave for my culinary skills to explain.A staple of vegetarian households in
the dusty small towns of Uttar Pradesh, tehri is a potent one-pot meal that
owes its origin to the vegetarian employees of the Nawabs of Awadh, who could
not eat the meaty biryani, and invented a vegetarian counterpart which was
simpler to make. Another story goes that during the time of famine, when meat was hard to
find, the cooks of the royal kitchen substituted mutton with potatoes, and thus
was born tehri.Unlike pulav or biryani, tehri is neither rich nor ceremonial,
but an ordinary meal for ordinary people. And in that ordinariness lies its
specialty. Although cooked throughout the year, it is in spring that the true
character of the dish comes out, when other than potatoes, peas and cauliflower
are also added to it.
One does not know if the rice
dish got its colour from spring or if spring adopted tehri for its rich yellow
colour, but when bright yellow flowers blossom on the rich soil of the Hindi
heartland, a pot of tehri is certainly being cooked somewhere.
Tehri
Ingredients:
2 cups long-grain basmati rice,
soaked for 20-30 minutes
1 cup shelled green peas
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 large onion sliced
1 large potato cut into 4
50 ml cooking oil (mustard oil
preferred)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 to 1.5 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp ghee
2.5 cups water
Method:
In a large, thick-bottomed
pressure cooker, pour the oil and heat till smoking point.
When the oil begins to smoke, add
bay leaves, cumin seeds, and onion. Stir.
When the onion turns translucent,
add the potatoes and the cauliflower.
Stir for another couple of
minutes and add the turmeric, coriander powder and red chilli powder.
When the vegetables turn a light
shade of brown, and the spices are cooked, add the soaked rice and stir gently
for about a minute, until every grain is covered in oil. Make sure the rice
does not break.
Add shelled peas and water.
Finally add salt, garam masala
and ghee, and give it another stir. Close the cooker.
Turn the stove off after the
first whistle and let the rice cook in its own steam.
Open the cooker after about 10
minutes; serve immediately with plain curd, fresh coriander chutney, or pickle.
Best eaten in the warm spring
sun, among flying kites and playful banter.
Note:In summer, the dish can easily be made without the peas and
cauliflower: just increase the quantity of potatoes. Soaked soya nuggets can
also be added.
The Deputy Director at the Agribusiness Technical Service Unit
under the Department of Agriculture, Aba Sankareh, has said the Department of
Agriculture through its line ministry is working hard to make The Gambia a net
rice exporter rather than a net rice importer.Achieving this needs concerted efforts of
all stakeholders in the value chain actors in rice, ranging from producers, to
transporters, processors, marketers and importers, he said, while delivering a
statement at a day’s consultative rice stakeholders meeting held at Tango.
The meeting was organised by the
Agribusiness Service Unit with support from the Gambia Commercial Agriculture
and Value Chain Management Project (GCAV).The meeting discussed the feasibility
of a partnership agreement between rice producers, processors and importers, as
well as strengthening public-private partnerships.The project’s objective of
this component is to improve the rice value chain and coordination, through
support to SMEs and producer organisations, to enhance their productive
capacity and competitiveness and develop market linkages, Mr Sankareh said.“The
subcomponent will facilitate farmers’ access to market by creating and
supporting commercial partnership between farmers, organisations and private
agribusinesses,” he said.
This, he noted, would foster the integration
of a greater number of smallholder producers in performing and remunerative
value-chain by developing and implementing public-private alliance in the
project areas aimed at improving market linkages.According to Mr Sankareh, the
forum was also held to bring all the rice actors and players together to
discuss what to be done, or what strategy or plans would be put in place to see
that The Gambia is able to “graduate in the next year to be a net exporter of
rice”.This was one of the fundamental aspects that led to organising the
consultative meeting to share ideas, experience and expertise, as well as to
discuss challenges affecting the rice value chain, and carve a way forward in
the best interest of the Gambian populace in achieving self-sufficiency in
rice, he said.
Mr Sankareh also dilated on the importance
attached to the GCAV project, and called for better public-private partnerships
to be able to make head way in agricultural production.He said GCAV is a
project that is focusing on two commodities: vegetable and rice, adding that
they are trying to effect partnerships with members of the private sector
through the value chain on vegetable and rice.For the national requirement to
be met in rice, the nation should be able to attain about one hundred thousand
plus metric tonnes of rice.“We have visions in place like Vision 2016, Vision
2020 and now Vision 2025,” he said, adding that the objective of Vision 2016
is: ‘eat what you grow and grow what you’ and at the same time trying to make
The Gambia a net rice exporter rather than a net rice importer.
They are also trying to promote private
sector investment in the rice sector, he said, adding that in most countries
private sector-led agriculture is the goal when it comes to investment.According
to Mr Sankareh, the outcome of the meeting would be forwarded to the
policymakers, because “their role is also very crucial”.
A worker carries a bucket of
freshly milled rice at a small milling operation on the outskirts of Phnom Penh
in 2012.Pha Lina
Agricultural products have been granted an
exemption from the value-added tax (VAT) as part of agovernment
effortto support
local rice farmers and millers, according to a prakas issued Wednesday by the
General Taxation Department.The prakas, effective immediately, aimed to reduce
the cost farmers pay for seeds and rice millers must pay for paddy, making rice
production more price-competitive, the prakas said
Celebrate spring and summer with tehri, a
potent one-pot rice dish from the Hindi heartland
The first time I had to describe tehri to someone, I was at a
loss. More difficult than explaining the simple dish was accepting the fact
that there was someone who did not know what tehri was. After all, I had grown
up eating it every other day.
As luck would have it, in the
years to come, I had to describe the dish many times over, to many people. And
so I adopted a simple shortcut: I called it “yellow pulav”. It is another
matter altogether that tehri and pulav are as different as chalk and cheese;
their only similarity is that they are rice dishes. The differences I usually
leave for my culinary skills to explain.A staple of vegetarian households in
the dusty small towns of Uttar Pradesh, tehri is a potent one-pot meal that
owes its origin to the vegetarian employees of the Nawabs of Awadh, who could
not eat the meaty biryani, and invented a vegetarian counterpart which was
simpler to make. Another story goes that during the time of famine, when meat was hard to
find, the cooks of the royal kitchen substituted mutton with potatoes, and thus
was born tehri.Unlike pulav or biryani, tehri is neither rich nor ceremonial,
but an ordinary meal for ordinary people. And in that ordinariness lies its
specialty. Although cooked throughout the year, it is in spring that the true
character of the dish comes out, when other than potatoes, peas and cauliflower
are also added to it.
One does not know if the rice
dish got its colour from spring or if spring adopted tehri for its rich yellow
colour, but when bright yellow flowers blossom on the rich soil of the Hindi
heartland, a pot of tehri is certainly being cooked somewhere.
Tehri
Ingredients:
2 cups long-grain basmati rice,
soaked for 20-30 minutes
1 cup shelled green peas
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 large onion sliced
1 large potato cut into 4
50 ml cooking oil (mustard oil
preferred)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 to 1.5 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp ghee
2.5 cups water
Method:
In a large, thick-bottomed
pressure cooker, pour the oil and heat till smoking point.
When the oil begins to smoke, add
bay leaves, cumin seeds, and onion. Stir.
When the onion turns translucent,
add the potatoes and the cauliflower.
Stir for another couple of
minutes and add the turmeric, coriander powder and red chilli powder.
When the vegetables turn a light
shade of brown, and the spices are cooked, add the soaked rice and stir gently
for about a minute, until every grain is covered in oil. Make sure the rice
does not break.
Add shelled peas and water.
Finally add salt, garam masala
and ghee, and give it another stir. Close the cooker.
Turn the stove off after the
first whistle and let the rice cook in its own steam.
Open the cooker after about 10
minutes; serve immediately with plain curd, fresh coriander chutney, or pickle.
Best eaten in the warm spring
sun, among flying kites and playful banter.
Note:In summer, the dish can easily be made without the peas and
cauliflower: just increase the quantity of potatoes. Soaked soya nuggets can
also be added.
South Korea's Agricultural
Minister Lee Dong-phil (R) checks rice products at a ceremony to celebrate the
first export of Korean rice to China in Beijing on April 7, 2016. (Photo
courtesy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)