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RAQ BUYS 150,000 T RICE FROM U.S.
AND SOUTH AMERICA -TRADE
4/14/2016
CHICAGO/HAMBURG, April 14 (Reuters) - Iraq's state grainsbuyer
purchased 150,000 tonnes of rice to be sourced from theUnited States and South
America in a tender on Thursday, U.S.
and European traders said.The purchase involved 90,000 tonnes of
U.S.-origin ricebought at $558 a tonne c&f free out Iraq, they said.A
further 60,000 tonnes, thought likely to be sourced fromSouth America, was also
purchased at $466 a tonne c&f free out,
they said.A tender for at least 30,000 tonnes had closed on April 12
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) on
Thursday set upward targets for Kharif crops mainly rice, sugarcane and maize
in view of sufficient availability of water and agriculture inputs.The target
for sugarcane was set at 67.53 million tonnes from 1.12 million hectares for
2016-17 as compared to 65.03 million tonnes in 2015-16. Rice production target
was fixed at 6.83 million tonnes from 2.8 million hectares, maize at 4.60
million tonnes and moong at 111,400 tonnes.Addressing a news conference after the
committee’s meeting, National Food Security Minister Sikandar Bosan said there
would be no shortage of agricultural inputs during Kharif. The availability of
urea and DAP would be normal.He said surplus stocks of fertiliser would be
available because several fertiliser plants have started production following
improvement in gas supply after RLNG injection into the system.The committee’s
meeting was informed that as many as Rs332.7 billion agricultural credit was
disbursed during the first nine months of this fiscal year by various banks and
financial institutions against the target of Rs600bn set by the State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP).
The disbursement during the July-March period of 2015-16
depicted an increase of 15.3pc when compared to the disbursement of Rs288.7bn
during the corresponding period last year.The meeting was also informed that
the availability of certified seeds of various crops was satisfactory and
supply of pesticides and herbicides during Kharif would be normal.According to
the first estimate received by the ministry, the wheat production during the
Rabi season was expected to be 25.45 million tonnes against the target of 26
million tonnes. Mr Bosan explained that the actual production would be measured
when the second estimate is released next month.In view of better prospects for
wheat production, the government has enhanced the targets of its procurement.
Punjab will procure 4.0 million tonnes against 3.2 million tonnes last year and
Passco one million tonnes against 800,000 tonnes last year. While Sindh will
procure 1.1 million tonnes against 900,000 tonnes last year.Provincial
governments held a meeting in Lahore last week to finalise arrangements to
start official procurement from April 20, for which there will be no shortage
of ‘bardana’, Bosan said.Despite all these positive developments, he said,
state of affairs of farmers in terms of profitability is not satisfactory.
Since agriculture has been devolved, the provincial governments should earmark
sufficient allocations for farmers under the annual development programme. He
praised Punjab for earmarking Rs100bn for farmers development.
In response to a question, Mr Bosan said that his ministry was
finalising a new framework for agriculture as directed by the prime minister.
Reforms for the agricultural sector benefiting the farming community would be
announced in the federal budget 2016-17. The ministry has already held
consultative meetings with the provinces in this regard, he said.
Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2016
Historic data suggests monsoon
may be delayed by ten days
VINSON
KURIAN
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL
13:
The India Meteorological
Department (IMD) may have forecast an above-normal monsoon this year, but it is
highly probable that its onset over Kerala will be delayed by more than 10
days.There is a lot of physical evidence in support of such a delay this year,
says PV Joseph, eminent monsoon researcher and former IMD director.Normally,
the date for the monsoon’s onset is June 1. But whenever the El Nino phenomenon
takes place, not only is the monsoon delayed, but delays of 10 to 20 days have
been reported in the following year as well.For instance, 2002 had a strong El
Nino. That year, the monsoon set in on June 9.The following year, the onset was
pushed to June 13.Again, in the strong El Nino years of 1957 and 1982, the
onset was around the normal date, but in 1958 and 1983, it made landfall on
June 14 and June 12, respectively.Given that 2015 was an El Nino year, and the
monsoon’s onset was June 5, there is a high probability that it will be more
than 10 days late this year, Joseph toldBusinessLine.
Warm anomalies
A study of 100 years of monsoon
onsets over Kerala by Joseph et al, published in 1994, showed that there is
statistical significance for delays in the year immediately following an El
Nino.There have been exceptions, though not many, Joseph noted. In 1972, a
strong El Nino year, the onset was on June 18. The following year, it hit
Kerala on June 4.Globally, the satellite-monitored warmest sea-surface
temperature anomalies (areas of maximum surface temperatures in the sea) for
January-March 2016 are close to but south of the Equator.
During this season, the overlying
circum-global band of rain clouds associated with the Inter Tropical
Convergence Zone (ITCZ, on which the monsoon rides) has produced unusually high
rainfall.In such a situation, past data has shown that the crossing of the ITCZ
cloud band from the southern to the northern hemisphere in the Indian Ocean
will be delayed, leading to delays in the onset of the monsoon over Kerala.“We
have to now monitor satellite pictures to look for the formation of the
pre-monsoon rain peak in the Bay of Bengal (which is nothing but a part of the
ITCZ displaced northward), a good prior indicator for the date of onset over
Kerala,” Joseph said.For a June 1 onset, the pre-monsoon rain peak occurs
around April 21.“When this gets pushed to early May, the monsoon onset over
Kerala is delayed by as much as two weeks,” he said.
In the lab genetic approach-breeding
high yielding rice
Genetic Approach To Breeding High-Yield Rice
Scientists have uncovered the regulator of a gene that limits growth of
wind-pollinated flowers in rice, which could lead to improved crop yield. Asian
Scientist Newsroom | April 15, 2016 | In the Lab AsianScientist (Apr. 15, 2016)
- Rice is a staple food for more than 3.5 billion people worldwide, and as
such, meeting the demand for high-yielding rice is an urgent task for breeders.
Now, researchers in China have found the regulator of a gene that limits rice
plant growth, blocks pollination and reduces seed production. Their discovery
was published in Plant Cell.
Superior,
high-yielding hybrid plants are often produced by crossing two diverse parental
lines. However, this task is quite complicated in rice, a self-pollinating plant.
One approach to solving this problem originated in the 1970s, when Chinese
scientists figured out how to produce male sterile (MS) rice lines. The use of
MS lines allows breeders to perform controlled pollination, leading to
successful hybrid rice production. Unfortunately, in these MS lines, the
panicle (flower head) often remains enclosed in the surrounding leaf sheath
because the uppermost internode—the region of the stem that supports it—is
short, leading to blocked pollination and reduced seed production.
To allow panicles to elongate and emerge from
the leaf sheath, breeders use rice plants with a mutation in the gene ELONGATED
UPPERMOST INTERNODE1 (EUI1), which encodes an enzyme that deactivates the plant
hormone gibberellin (GA). This deactivation allows GA to stimulate the
uppermost internode to extend, leading to panicle extension as well as
increased plant height. Understanding what regulates the enzyme EUI1 in normal,
or wild type, plants is crucial. According to Professor Chu Chengcai of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, “A further understanding of the molecular
mechanism through which EUI1 activity is regulated during development will
provide a more flexible way to fine-tune panicle extension, which may greatly
help breeders improve hybrid rice seed production.
” By isolating
and exhaustively analyzing a dwarf mutant with impaired panicle extension, Chu
and colleagues uncovered a critical regulator of EUI1 gene expression in rice.
This regulator, HOX12, binds directly to regulatory elements of the EUI1 gene,
functioning as a transcription factor, or central regulator. The scientists
propose that HOX12 helps regulate plant growth in response to environmental
cues through its effect on EUI1, which acts as a switch to regulate the
migration of floral-derived GA from the panicle to the stem. The next step will
be to determine the upstream initiators of the HOX12-EUI1 regulatory cascade
and the physiological conditions under which these modulations occur. The
article can be found at: Gao et al. (2016) Rice HOX12 Regulates Panicle
Exsertion by Directly Modulating the Expression of ELONGATED UPPERMOST
INTERNODE1 Read more from Asian Scientist Magazine at: http://www.asianscientist.com/2016/04/in-the-lab/genetic-approach-breeding-high-yielding-rice-cas-china/http://www.asianscientist.com/2016/04/in-the-lab/genetic-approach-breeding-high-yielding-rice-cas-china/
THE Philippines should take advantage of stable price of rice in
the international market and immediately import the 500,000 metric tons (MT)
that it needs, an International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) expert
said.This, amid worries that another global food crisis similar to the
situation in 2007 and 2008 could possibly occur again soon, owing to declining
stocks in the world market.“It is important for the Philippines to have
adequate stocks. It is better to obtain the stocks early than late, particularly
if prices are already moving up,” V. Bruce J. Tolentino, IRRI deputy director
general for communication and partnerships, told the BusinessMirror.However,
National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Renan B. Dalisay said there is no
need to panic yet, considering that the price of rice in the world market is
still lower than $400 per MT (reaching an average of $370.48 in March) and that
the country’s inventory will still be sufficient until the lean months.
“We are monitoring the stocks and prices of rice in the world
market daily. It’s always good to err on the side of caution, but there is no
need to panic,” Dalisay said, adding that if the Philippines acts hastily, it
might further agitate the already tense situation in the global market.
“It is the Philippines that is usually being watched, [as we are
a major importer of rice.] Once we react, everyone else will follow. We do not
want to cause panic and cause prices to shoot up,” he added.
But he said the agency is already preparing the groundwork for the
procurement of rice so that the country would not be hit badly, if such crisis
happens.
“We are already doing all the preparatory work so that in case
more developments unfold, we will be able to quickly contract out the volume of
rice we would need to import,” Dalisay explained.He added that should the NFA
monitor any wayward movements or behavior in world market prices, the agency
should be swiftly prepared to import the 500,000 MT it is considering to
procure.Meanwhile, IRRI’s Social Science Division Head Samarendu Mohanty said
in an interview the Philippines importing 500,000 MT of rice would not have an
effect on the prices as of the moment.“At this moment, there is rice available
in the market. So if the Philippines decides to import 500,000 MT, there will
be no impact,” Mohanty said.
Tolentino agreed, adding that 500,000 MT is not a huge volume
that could affect the market. But if it gets bigger than this volume, he said
it could cause prices to move up.Despite the current stability in the rice market,
Mohanty said rice-stock levels, particularly from the five major exporting
countries (India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United State), have gone
down significantly due to El Niño, causing a tight-supply situation in the rice
market right now.“The current El Niño has resulted in lower harvests and
irregular planting across several rice-producing countries. Combined with lower
stocks in a few key countries, emerging patterns in regional and global grain
supply threaten the repeat of the painful rice price crisis in 2007 and
2008,” IRRI said in a statement.
Mohanty said the main cropping seasons (which will start in
June) in the major rice producing areas—especially in India—would ultimately
decide the future of the rice market.“The Indian monsoon is the key to what
happens to the market. If harvests during the wet season goes bad, then we may
have a crisis,” he said. But good news has surfaced, he said, as the India
Meteorological Department projected that monsoon rains in the country would be above
average.
“It’s good news. But things can change. We still have two-and-a
half months… The threat of a rice price crisis hangs in the air. It all depends
on the monsoon,” Mohanty said.Tolentino added that it would also depend if the
drought worsens and affects the harvest of major rice exporters.
“What’s really crucial is that the drought does not worsen in
the other parts of Asia, particularly Eastern India, Indonesia and Southern
Vietnam. Those are the ones who are suffering right now. It’s still mild but it
can get worse. If it gets worse, then we have a problem,” he said.The IRRI is
calling for a joint action, particularly the Asean + 3 and India, to address or
stop such a food crisis from happening.According to the research institute,
improvements in germplasm, agronomic technology and human capacity and three of
the key ingredients, which will enable the region to respond effectively to
food security crisis.
“New and improved germplasm must be combined with more effective
agronomic and cultivation and management techniques to maximize their positive
impact on food security. Across all rice-growing countries, extension workers
and farmers must be taught ways on how they might extract the best results from
new varieties through correct land preparation, water management, and plant
nutrition and protection,” IRRI said.The agency added that Asean plus Three and
India should also invest in the Asean Rice Breeding Initiative (Arbi) and the
Agriculture Innovations and Research and Development Fund (AIRDF).
The Arbi will be a “major, region-wide program of scientific
work and capacity-building that will enable the entire region to achieve a
rice-based, food-secure future,” according to IRRI.
It will complement Asean’s AIRDF, designed to “build a new
generation of Asean rice scientists,” particularly through IRRI’s Rice Science
Academy
When U.S. trade ambassador Darci Vetter set foot in Arkansas,
there was no doubt she would be confronted by folks unhappy with the role of
long-grain rice in free-trade deals. And so she was.With Congress ready to take
up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Vetter, the chief U.S. agriculture
negotiator for the deal, spoke at the William H. Bowen School of Law in Little
Rock on March 29. With her main presentation in support of the deal complete,
most of the question-and-answer session that followed dealt with rice sector
worries.The worries are hardly new. Some were outlined a few weeks earlier by
Carl Brothers, Riceland Foods senior vice president and CEO, at his Mid-South
Farm and Gin Show talk. The Trans-Pacific Partnership provides Mexico with “a
40 percent duty on Vietnamese rice that would see a 10-year phase-out,” said
Brothers. “That’s very concerning and we expressed that to the (Obama)
administration. It really bothers me that Vietnam is not only cheating on their
domestic supports but is being rewarded in this case.”
Rice, whose plantings are dwarfed by the millions of corn,
soybeans, and cotton acres in the U.S., could see its acreage climb this
spring.The grain is projected to steal more than 400,000 acres from other
commodities this year, according to USDA’s Prospective Plantings report.U.S.
acres of all rice are projected to climb 17% to 3.064 million acres. And
planting intentions in three states—Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas—are up
substantially.
Delayed planting and drought in Texas and much of the West
sharply reduced rice acres last year, said Ted Wilson, director of the Texas
A&M AgriLIFE Research Center at Beaumont, Texas. Rice prices are also not
as depressed as prices for corn, soybeans, and cotton, Wilson said.“Good
planting conditions are also favoring rice,” Wilson noted. “And the relaxing of
drought is helping rice acres rebound.” If USDA’s Prospective Plantings
projections play out this year, Wilson said that rice acres will rebound to
pre-drought levels.In Arkansas, the country’s number one rice-producing state,
all rice acres are expected to climb 275,000 acres, to 1.58 million, a 21%
year-over-year increase.“The Arkansas rice crop is up because other crop
returns are not as favorable, and U.S. rice markets are showing some strength,”
said Eric Wailes, agricultural economist with the University of Arkansas.
Chuck Wilson, director of the Rice Research and Extension Center
at the University of Arkansas agrees. “It’s all about price,” Wilson said.
“Dry, warm weather has also been conducive to planting rice. I knew going into
it that if planting conditions were favorable in March and April, we would
plant a lot more rice in Arkansas.”Mississippi growers are expected to plant
220,000 acres of rice, or 128,000 more acres to rice this year, up 47% from last
year, also due to favorable planting conditions and profit potential.Texas
growers intend to plant 56,000 more acres of rice this year, or 189,000 total
acres, a 42% year-over-year increase. Most of those acres will be planted in
Matagorda, Wharton, and Colorado counties, where soils are lighter, and where
some growers were unable to plant anything last year.“Drought began to lift in
those counties last year. The water levels in the reservoirs started to
increase,” Wilson said, and water contracts are now being honored by the Lower
Colorado River Authority.
Cuba
ready to import Arkansas rice but embargo must go, diplomat says
By Dave Edmark
Special to The Commercial
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas-produced
rice would be popular in Cuba and the nation wants to buy it if the U.S. trade
embargo is lifted, a Cuban diplomat said April 13 during a visit with
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture officials.“Rice produced
in Arkansas has a long-grain variety that is a favorite of the Cuban country,”
said Juan Lamigueiro Leon, deputy chief of mission at the Cuban Embassy in
Washington. “We are ready to import this variety from Arkansas. The only
problem we have is according to the restriction that’s still in place by the
Congress, the so-called embargo, trade between Arkansas and Cuba cannot be
supported by commercial credits.”
Under provisions of the embargo
enacted by Congress in 1962, Cuba must pay cash to import American products.
Lamigueiro said commercial credits are necessary to support high levels of
international trade.“We really need the support of Arkansas companies to put
away all these restrictions and to start with no more trade conditions, an important
change for important commerce between Arkansas and Cuba,” Lamigueiro said.
Lamigueiro was one of three
officials from the Cuban Embassy who came to the Fayetteville campus during a
three-day visit to the state. He was accompanied by Yusel Arias Cruz of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Karin Diez, a first secretary in the embassy.
They were escorted to campus and other northwest Arkansas locations by Dan
Hendrix, president of the Arkansas World Trade Center, and other officials from
the center.Jean-Francois Meullenet, head of the Food Science Department at the
Division of Agriculture and for the Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and
Life Sciences, introduced members of the delegation during a news conference at
the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science on campus. He and several faculty
researchers met with the Cubans to describe the division’s agricultural
research activities.“We’ve had the pleasure of visiting with them this morning
to talk about the work we’re doing in local foods, food innovation and food
safety, as well as poultry production and poultry disease prevention,”
Meullenet said.
Lamigueiro said the group
discussed future cooperation between U.S. and Cuban universities. He praised
Arkansas agricultural production and said university research would be an
important factor in exchanges between Arkansas and Cuba.“We see the
relationship between Arkansas and Cuba where companies, universities and
institutional research would play a role,” Lamigueiro said.He added that the Arkansas
World Trade Center has helped the Cuban government identify companies that
would be interested in investing in Cuba and doing business there. Lamigueiro
said his government is working with the center to organize a delegation of
Arkansans to visit Cuba.Noting that the number of American travelers to Cuba
has been predicted to increase, Lamigueiro said Arkansas agriculture could
benefit. “If we reach 1 million American visitors to Cuba, we will need to
import agricultural products from Arkansas,” he said.
Earlier this week, Lamigueiro
participated in a news conference in Little Rock at which a state council of
the national organization Engage Cuba was launched amid calls for an end to the
U.S. trade embargo. Arkansas Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward and Dow Brantley of
the USA Rice Federation also participated.The Cuban delegation was also
scheduled to visit with representatives of several northwest Arkansas
industries during its visit before leaving Thursday.
Vietnam could export more than 3 million tons of rice in the first
half of 2016, up 12 percent from a year ago, on rising demand from China and
other Southeast Asian nations amid supply concerns caused by drought, the
government said on Friday.Rice shipments in the three months ending June are
projected at 1.6 million tons, including sales to China, the government
reported on its website citing the Vietnam Food Association (VFA). However, the
VFA lowered their projection by 11 percent amid a drought in Vietnam's main
rice-growing region, the government said.Vietnam, the world's third-largest
rice exporter after India and Thailand, shipped 1.55 million tons of rice in
the January to March period, up 38 percent from a year ago, according to
Vietnam Customs data released on Wednesday.The Southeast Asian country has been
fighting the worst drought and sea water intrusion in 90 years in its Mekong
Delta food basket, brought on by climate change and the El Nino weather
pattern. The El Nino typically brings hot, dry conditions to Southeast Asia.
The drought conditions have led other countries in the region to
bolster rice imports. Late last year, Vietnam sold 1 million tons of rice to
Indonesia and another 450,000 tons to the Philippines for delivery by the end
of the first quarter of 2016.The disasters have lowered the first-quarter
growth of Vietnam's agriculture sector, reducing the Delta's winter-spring
paddy output while lifting the country's rice export prices to a five-month
high in late March."Given the relatively high prices, VFA reckons that
rice exports could lose their competitive edge and market share in the coming
time," the government report said.
Vietnam's paddy output could dip 0.5 percent this year, the first
drop since 2010/2011, to 28 million tons due to the dry weather and government
plans to switch from rice to corn production, said Aurelia Britsch, senior
commodities analyst at BMI Research.BMI forecasts global rice production to
decline in 2015/2016, the first in seven seasons, and a global rice deficit of
13 million tons could emerge for 2015/2016 after consistent surpluses in the
crop years from 2005/06 to 2013/14.Vietnam could follow Thailand to restructure
rice cultivation by reducing planting areas and switching to other crops with
less water usage, said Le Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Research Institute for
Climate Change under Can Tho university."Scientists and the authority
should reassess the direction for the Delta and should not race into rice
production," Tuan told Reuters.
VFA forecasts decline of rice exports in second
quarter
Friday, 04/15/2016, 12:32
VOV.VN - The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has planned to
export 1.6 million tons of rice for the second quarter of this year, 200,000
tons lower than the initial plan.
This is attributable to the implementation of the signed
contracts and the impact of drought and saline intrusion which make rice yields
to fall.Rice exports in the first quarter saw positive results. The country
shipped 1.59 million tons of rice to get US$692 million in the period, up 41.6%
in volume and 40.8% in value against the same period last year.The VFA
attributed the sharp increase in the first three months to the implementation
of G-to-G contracts signed with Indonesia and the Philippines last year and
newly signed contracts with China.According to VFA, the export prices of
Vietnamese rice also stood higher than those offered by other suppliers in Asia
and Vietnam’s rice exporters are likely to lose competitive edge and market
shares in the coming time.Rice exports in the first half of this year are
expected to hit over 3 million (excluding the volume exported through illegal
channels), up 12% against the corresponding period last year.
150,000 tons of Thai rice sold
to Hong Kong during trip headed by commerce minister
BANGKOK, 15 April 2016 (NNT) –
The Ministry of Commerce has announced success in selling as high as 150,000
tons of rice during a trip in which it led Thai businessmen to Hong Kong. The
trip was aimed at expanding the market of Thai rice and fruits in Hong Kong.
Minister of Commerce Apiradi
Tantraporn who led the trip met with her Hong Kong counterpart to discuss
Thailand’s durian exports to Hong Kong. Last year, more than 50% of Thai durian
exports worth six billion baht were to Hong Kong.In the past, Hong Kong found
that some Thai durians were coated with turmeric and contaminated.. The minister said Thailand and Hong Kong agreed to work closely
together to tackle the problem of contaminated Thai durian exports. No
turmeric-coated durians from Thailand were found in markets in Hong Kong during
this period, she said.The minister also warned Thai durian exporters to conform
to Hong Kong’s regulations for fresh fruit and vegetable exports
Rice prices
continued gains today after news of a long awaited Iraqi rice tender yesterday.
Rice prices continued to push towards their next objective of $10.50. The
market may need some additional support to get prices to this level as weak
exports and prospects for a large 2016 crop remain a drag on prices.
WASHINGTON, DC -- It's a busy
time of year with rice planting underway in areas where the weather is
cooperating. It's also an important time of year to be thinking about
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and what you need to be
doing to ensure your farm is up-to-date and in compliance to maintain program
eligibility and maximize protection.
Last year was the first time
since the 2014 Farm Bill was passed that farmers had the opportunity to elect
and enroll in either the Agriculture Loss Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss
Coverage (PLC) programs. After a careful analysis was conducted and
released by USA Rice, the overwhelming majority of rice farmers opted for the
PLC program for their rice coverage. According to USDA, PLC was
selected by 99 percent of long grain rice growers, 94 percent of Southern
medium grain rice growers, and 68 percent of Temperate Japonica rice growers.
PLC is designed to provide
assistance to enrolled farmers when the effective price of their commodity is
less than the statutory reference price. For long grain and Southern
medium grain rice, the reference price is $14.00/cwt and for Temperate
Japonica rice, $16.10/cwt.
If triggered, payments for the
2015 crop year will be made starting in November, following the release of
2015/2016 Marketing Year Average Price data in late October. While the
election between ARC and PLC is completed and remains in effect through 2018,
producers must still enroll their farm by signing a contract each year to
receive coverage.
"It's important that farmers
consult their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices as soon as they can to
ensure program eligibility," said Ben Mosely, USA Rice vice president of
government affairs.
"If you have bought or sold
land, or if you have picked up or dropped rented land from your operation,
make sure you report the changes to the office as soon as possible,"
Mosely continued. "You need to provide a copy of your deed or
recorded land contract for purchased property. Failure to maintain
accurate records with FSA on all land you have an interest in can lead to
possible program ineligibility and penalties."
Mosely is encouraging growers to
contact their local FSA office to schedule an appointment to enroll. If
a farm is not enrolled during the 2016 enrollment period, producers on that
farm will not be eligible for financial assistance from the ARC or PLC programs
should crop prices or farm revenues fall below the historical price or
revenue benchmarks established by the program.
"For payment limitation
purposes,June
1, 2016is the last
day to add a person, spouse, or legal entity to your operation for payment limitation
purposes," Mosely said. "The deadline to visit your local FSA office
and enroll your acres into PLC or ARC for the 2016 crop year isAugust 1,
2016. I suggest everyone
try to visit with the FSA personnel sooner rather than later to allow time for
possible issues to be resolved."
Farm Bureau's Duvall Sees a
United Ag as Key to Success
WASHINGTON, DC -- The American Farm Bureau Federation
(AFBF) elected Georgia's Vincent "Zippy" Duvall as
its new president earlier this year. USA Rice President & CEO
Betsy Ward joined other agricultural leaders in welcoming
President Duvall to the Washington food and agricultural community at a
lunch in his honor yesterday.Duvall talked about his background as a dairy farmer and his
goals for the AFBF which has as its mission representing American agriculture
on legislative issues. He sees a lot of unity in the agricultural
community that he called "a small town" in the big town of
Washington. "Staying united on key issues is important as we fight
for legislative priorities and opportunities in the coming year,"
Duvall said. In his travels around the United States to meet with state
AFBF leaders he often hears the call for more education to the average
American about agriculture and the bounty it brings to all citizens.
"This was a great opportunity to get to know Zippy and
his plans for AFBF," said Ward. "He will be a strong leader
for agriculture and the rice industry looks forward to working closely with
him and AFBF on legislative issues impacting rice in the coming year."
What would the TPP mean for
Southern rice producers?
Ambassador Darci Vetter faces questions from Mid-South producers
When U.S. trade ambassador Darci Vetter set foot in Arkansas,
there was no doubt she would be confronted by folks unhappy with the role of
long-grain rice in free-trade deals. And so she was.With Congress ready to take
up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Vetter, the chief U.S. agriculture
negotiator for the deal, spoke at the William H. Bowen School of Law in Little
Rock on March 29. With her main presentation in support of the deal complete,
most of the question-and-answer session that followed dealt with rice sector
worries.
The worries are hardly new. Some were outlined a few weeks
earlier by Carl Brothers, Riceland Foods senior vice president and CEO, at his
Mid-South Farm and Gin Show talk. The Trans-Pacific Partnership provides Mexico
with “a 40 percent duty on Vietnamese rice that would see a 10-year phase-out,”
said Brothers. “That’s very concerning and we expressed that to the (Obama)
administration. It really bothers me that Vietnam is not only cheating on their
domestic supports but is being rewarded in this case.”Domestic supports and
nations cheating on existing trade deals were also burrs under Brothers’
saddle. “I thought the WTO would establish some baseline supports for farmers
and they’d be taken down over time. Well, the only one that’s playing by the
rules is the United States. I say everyone else is cheating.
“A U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) study says that’s
exactly what is happening. These people don’t even make reports (to the WTO).
They haven’t reported in years.“We had quite a discussion with the U.S. trade
ambassador while we were in D.C. recently. I think we finally got their
attention. They talked about bringing a WTO against one of those countries.
We’d love for (the case to center on) rice but it could be any U.S.
commodity.”In 2007/08, there was a huge run up in prices. India and Vietnam cut
down on rice exports out of concern they’d run out of rice in their countries.
“Prices went up really high and they supported their farmers even more in an
effort to feed their own populations. That fed into the whole domestic support
issue.”
Feature:
Sino-Philippine agricultural cooperation a boon for Filipinos
Source: Xinhua
2016-04-15 21:45:10
MANILA, April 15 (Xinhua) --
Juanito Torres has spent almost his whole life growing crops in thePhilippines. Since 2015, the 78-year-old
peasant was even more dedicated as he started growing Mestiso 38, a new
hybrid rice variety introduced by Chinese agricultural experts.
"I harvested 334 cavans for
1.5 hectares of land (translated to 12.69 tons per hectare) in one season,
highest yield I have ever achieved," said Torres.
EXPANDING HYBRID RICE CULTIVATION
Torres is part of the hybrid rice
technology program initiated by the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural
Technology (PhilSCAT).
As a model farmer in his neighborhood,
he was chosen to grow the hybrid rice variety as a demonstration for his
fellow farmers.
During the harvest season,
PhilSCAT will organize farmers' field day, on which hundreds of farmers are
invited to see Torres' achievements and learn about technologies and
machinery usage relating to hybrid rice cultivation.
Torres, on the other hand, get
the seeds for free and can keep the rice for himself.
Torres is not the only famer
growing Chinese hybrid rice varieties on demonstration farmland organized by
PhilSCAT.
This year, the center has
established demonstration sites in five major rice growing provinces, which
covers an area of 50 hectares in total.
Farmers have been recommended by
local communities to grow Chinese hybrid rice varieties and monitor its
production.
The PhilSCAT was established
cooperatively in 2000 by the Chinese and Philippine governments with an
initial five million dollar donation from China and the Philippines,
respectively.
Through the joint efforts of
Chinese and Philippine experts, PhilSCAT has built up a bridge and linkage in
the demonstration trial of quality hybrid rice varieties, show casing of
advanced and practical agro-machinery and training and promotion of
agricultural technologies.
Apart from demonstration, the
center also brought in more than 150 varieties to test their adaptability in
the Philippines.
So far, four varieties including
Mestiso 38 have passed the Philippines' National Rice Cooperative Tests (NCT)
and are ready to be sold in the market.
"All the Chinese varieties
that I've grown are high-yielding and well-adapted," said Torres, who
added that many neighbors and friends asked him where to purchase those
seeds.
"We farmers love Chinese
hybrid rice varieties, and we really want to be able to buy the seeds in the
market," he said.
Cheng Liangji, Chinese
Co-Director of PhilSCAT, said the center is commercializing Mestiso 38 so to
make the variety accessible to as many farmers as possible.
In south Philippines, Dosepco
Davao Oriental Seed Producers Cooperative has signed a memorandum of
agreement with PhilSCAT to produce Mestiso 38.
Under the MOA, PhilSCAT assigns
experts to teach cooperative the way to produce the seeds, collecting minimal
fees to only to cover travel expenses.
So far, the cooperative has already
produced 18 tons of Mestiso 38 seeds, enough to grow 900 hectares of rice.
Cheng said it is only the
center's first step. PhilSCAT will spare no efforts in making hybrid rice
varieties available for as many farmers as possible.
EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Another important objective of
PhilSCAT is to make available relevant technologies on biogas technology and
energy generation in local households and farms.
Starting from 2013, the center
has set up biogas household digesters in north Philippine province of Nueva
Ecija.
Nora Mendoza from Science City of
Munoz is especially grateful of the program.
"Two of my major
consumptions were solved because of biogas technology. First is the odor that
came from my piggery and second is my cooking LPG gas consumption," said
Mendoza.
She said her family of six are no
longer buying LPG gas because they can already cook food from biogas. and the
Odor was minimized, to her neighbors' surprise.
"Thanks to PhilSCAT and to
the other agencies that make this project possible," said Mendoza, who
also use the gas for lighting when there is power outage.
The 45-year-old has a piggery
consist of 20 small pigs and four large ones.
By showcasing the usage of biogas
facilities to every party interested, she can use the facility for free.
After she fulfilled her demonstration responsibility, she will be able to own
the facility.
In the meantime, experts from
PhilSCAT are providing her in-time technological training and support so that
she can operate the facility with ease.
Many of Mendoza's neighbors have
come to ask her where to purchase the biogas facility.
"Even if it costs as much as
60,000 pesos (1,301 U.S. dollars), they are willing to buy it," said
Mendoza, who added that the biogas facility China offers is suitable for
small household and easy to use.
"Besides, I can use it for
at least 10 years," she said.
Aldrin Badua, Torres' son-in-law,
who is an agricultural engineer, said the Philippines is at a very early
stage in using agricultural machinery and agricultural related technologies
including biogas, and the country needs China's help in promoting awareness.
"Simply letting farmers know
how useful those machinery and technologies are will make a change," he
said.
Like many other Filipino
agricultural experts, Badua applauded Sino-Philippine cooperation.
"Such network and linkage
between countries and government agencies will help push Philippine
agricultural industry forward," he added.
Apart from farmers, hundreds of
agricultural experts, researchers and university professors took trainings in
Chinese universities with PhilSCAT's help.
"I've sent more than 100
people from our university to China for training courses," said Dr.
Firma Viray from Central Luzon State University.
In charge of the exchange and
training programs, Viray considered the trainings in China a good
opportunities for faculties to open their mind and improve themselves.
"They come back with more
advanced technologies to share with their students, as well as the Chinese
culture," she said.
GEARING TOWARDS RICE SELF
SUFFICIENCY
Attaining rice self-sufficiency
has long been the Philippine government's priority. Many factors have been
considered to hinder food sufficiency such as land conversion, deteriorating
irrigation system, corruption, inappropriate policies, lack of farm credit
and backward farmers. A population of more than 100 million people is also a
challenge as the demand for food is huge.
PhilSCAT's ultimate goal is to
help modernize the country's agriculture and further support government's
goal of food sufficiency.
Working for more than a decade in
the Philippines, Cheng Liangji found similarities between China and
Philippines.
"To rice eating nations like
both our countries, rice is more than just food. It is the very basis of our
culture," said Cheng, who added that is why farmers are the most
indispensable member of the society.
"I have seen how PhilSCAT
continues to ascend into higher level of educating the farmers with
technological innovations and tools that will equip them to increase their
yield and income and I am very proud that I belong to the pool of experts who
provide such services to them," said Cheng.
Emmanuel Sicat, director of
PhilSCAT, believed that the center's greatest contribution to Philippine
agriculture is raising awareness of various agricultural industry
stakeholders.
"When they see for
themselves how much agricultural mechanization and other technologies can
help them harvest more, they begin to demand for them. That's a very
promising sign," said Sicat
Photo taken on April 11, 2016 shows rice
terraces in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southwest China. (Xinhua/Wang
Song)
ABIDJAN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A group of
Chinese agricultural experts on Wednesday joined other Cote d'Ivoire farmers at
the Chinese-funded rice farming project in Guiguidou, Divo sub-region, some 180
km from Abidjan, to plant rice seedlings just before the start of the rain
season.
Just like the support provided in other sectors
such as infrastructure construction and industry, China is supporting Cote
d'Ivoire in the agricultural sector.Guiguidou rice farming project is an
example of Sino-Cote d'Ivoire agricultural cooperation that was launched in
1995. Twenty years since its initiation, Guiguidou project still stands as a
shining example of China's support for Africa.Lu Ning, the head of Chinese
technical team, arrived in Cote d'Ivoire eight years ago to lead the
project.Local farmers call him "Boss," a title he reluctantly
accepts. "I am also a farmer and farming is my profession. I came here to
help them increase production and income," he says."Rice is the
fourth cereal product cultivated in Cote d'Ivoire. Due to high temperatures and
rains, there are two farming seasons in a year. However, the average rice
production at the national level still remains less than three tons per
hectare," Lu said.Chinese agricultural experts teach rice growing
techniques to local farmers at a Chinese-funded farming project in Guiguidou,
some 180 km from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. (Xinhua/Chen Chen)
After several tests, the Chinese technical team
worked with the National Office for Development of Rice Farming and Local
Agricultural Councils to introduce different strains of rice which were better
adapted to Cote d'Ivoire's environment.The Chinese experts equally taught
Guiguidou farmers how to use new rice farming techniques to increase their
harvest.A good number of these farmers have tried to grow the Chinese rice
variety in the last few years."We have been beneficiaries of this
cooperation project. The Chinese have taught us farming and they also taught us
other skills like repairing roads," said Benjamin Simpore, a 30-year old
farmer who has been working with the Chinese technical team since 2010."My
wife and I have been working here together. They gave us a free two-acre piece
of land to grow our own food crops. This has enabled us to improve our living
conditions," he said.The Chinese technical team is currently comprised of
eight experts, with majority of them having spent more than five years in Cote
d'Ivoire.In the last two years, the cooperation has yielded the first
results.The Chinese technical team managed to introduce a series of materials
that have helped to increase productivity as well as rice quality.Through this
agricultural cooperation project, Chinese experts have expressed confidence
that they will be able to support the achievement of Cote d'Ivoire's objective
of becoming self-sufficient in rice production.Rice is a staple food in Cote
d'Ivoire, with average annual consumption of 70 kilograms per person. The
country currently consumes about 1.7 million tons of rice annually.Cote
d'Ivoire was once a rice exporter, but with progressive disengagement of the
government from the rice sector, it has not been able to meet its own requirements
and has been importing huge quantities of rice, spending about 500 million
dollars annually on rice imports in recent years.
Vietnam’s H1
2016 rice exports may rise 12 pct from year ago
15.04.2016
Vietnam could export more than 3 million tons of rice in the first
half of 2016, up 12 percent from a year ago, on rising demand from China and
other Southeast Asian nations amid supply concerns caused by drought, the
government said on Friday.Rice shipments in the three months ending June are
projected at 1.6 million tons, including sales to China, the government
reported on its website citing the Vietnam Food Association (VFA). However, the
VFA lowered their projection by 11 percent amid a drought in Vietnam's main
rice-growing region, the government said.Vietnam, the world's third-largest
rice exporter after India and Thailand, shipped 1.55 million tons of rice in
the January to March period, up 38 percent from a year ago, according to
Vietnam Customs data released on Wednesday.
The Southeast Asian country has been fighting the worst drought
and sea water intrusion in 90 years in its Mekong Delta food basket, brought on
by climate change and the El Nino weather pattern. The El Nino typically brings
hot, dry conditions to Southeast Asia.The drought conditions have led other
countries in the region to bolster rice imports. Late last year, Vietnam sold 1
million tons of rice to Indonesia and another 450,000 tons to the Philippines
for delivery by the end of the first quarter of 2016.The disasters have lowered
the first-quarter growth of Vietnam's agriculture sector, reducing the Delta's
winter-spring paddy output while lifting the country's rice export prices to a
five-month high in late March.
"Given the relatively high prices, VFA reckons that rice
exports could lose their competitive edge and market share in the coming
time," the government report said.Vietnam's paddy output could dip 0.5
percent this year, the first drop since 2010/2011, to 28 million tons due to
the dry weather and government plans to switch from rice to corn production,
said Aurelia Britsch, senior commodities analyst at BMI Research.BMI forecasts
global rice production to decline in 2015/2016, the first in seven seasons, and
a global rice deficit of 13 million tons could emerge for 2015/2016 after
consistent surpluses in the crop years from 2005/06 to 2013/14.Vietnam could
follow Thailand to restructure rice cultivation by reducing planting areas and
switching to other crops with less water usage, said Le Anh Tuan, deputy head
of the Research Institute for Climate Change under Can Tho
university."Scientists and the authority should reassess the direction for
the Delta and should not race into rice production," Tuan told Reuters.
Australia-China research centre in Adelaide aims to develop
healthier wheat and rice
Posted earlier today at 3:52am
PHOTO: Scientists want to make
wheat and other grains healthier. (Getty Images)
An Australia-China research centre based at Adelaide University hopes
to develop healthier wheat and rice, to boost diets and life expectancies.The
centre will gather researchers in human health, nutrition and agricultural
science and be run in conjunction with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.The
director of the new Adelaide centre, Professor Bob Gibson, said the challenge
was to generate new grains with proven long-term health advantages."We're
growing for quantity rather than quality and, to some degree, we have the
skills now to be able to turn this around and grow grains specifically to meet
specific nutritional needs," he said.
"On current projections
young adults in most countries will have a shorter life expectancy than their
parents because of a worldwide rise in non-communicable diseases."Professor
Gibson said chronic health problems such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes
killed an estimated 38 million people annually."We can see the same trends
happening now in China, and one of the things we agreed between the two universities
is let us try to get in there to do things before it gets too bad," he
said.Adelaide and Shanghai Jiao Tong universities already have a joint
laboratory for plant science and breeding based at the Waite campus in
Adelaide.The Federal Government has just given $1 million to the new Adelaide
centre, taking its total funding to $4.9 million in cash and other support from
research and industry partners.The backers of the venture include GrainCorp,
Australian Grain Technologies, Bright Rice, China Agricultural University and
Zhengzhao University.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-16/australia-china-research-aims-to-make-rice-and-wheat-healthier/7331608Vietnam's H1 2016 rice exports may increase 12
percent
HANOI - Vietnam could export
more than 3 million metric tons of rice in the first half of 2016, up 12
percent from a year ago, on rising demand from China and other Southeast Asian
nations amid supply concerns caused by drought, the government said on Friday.
Rice shipments in the three months
ending June are projected at 1.6 million metric tons, including sales to China,
the government reported on its website citing the Vietnam Food Association
(VFA). However, the VFA lowered their projection by 11 percent amid a drought
in Vietnam's main rice-growing region, the government said. (baochinhphu.vn)
Vietnam, the world's third-largest
rice exporter after India and Thailand, shipped 1.55 million metric tons of
rice in the January to March period, up 38 percent from a year ago, according
to Vietnam Customs data released on Wednesday.
The Southeast Asian country has been
fighting the worst drought and sea water intrusion in 90 years in its Mekong
Delta food basket, brought on by climate change and the El Nino weather
pattern. The El Nino typically brings hot, dry conditions to Southeast Asia.
The drought conditions have led other
countries in the region to bolster rice imports. Late last year, Vietnam sold 1
million metric tons of rice to Indonesia and another 450,000 metric tons to the
Philippines for delivery by the end of the first quarter of 2016.
The disasters have lowered the
first-quarter growth of Vietnam's agriculture sector, reducing the
Delta's winter-spring paddy output while lifting the country's rice export
prices to a five-month high in late March.
"Given the relatively high
prices, VFA reckons that rice exports could lose their competitive edge and
market share in the coming time," the government report said.
Vietnam's paddy output could dip 0.5
percent this year, the first drop since 2010/2011, to 28 million metric tons
due to the dry weather and government plans to switch from rice to corn
production, said Aurelia Britsch, senior commodities analyst at BMI Research.
BMI forecasts global rice production
to decline in 2015/2016, the first in seven seasons, and a global rice deficit
of 13 million metric tons could emerge for 2015/2016 after consistent surpluses
in the crop years from 2005/06 to 2013/14.
Vietnam could follow Thailand to
restructure rice cultivation by reducing planting areas and switching to other
crops with less water usage, said Le Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Research
Institute for Climate Change under Can Tho university.
"Scientists and the authority
should reassess the direction for the Delta and should not race into rice
production," Tuan told Reuters.
