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OMOGUEN:THE GOLDEN RICE PROJECT IN THE PHILIPPINES
The Golden Rice Project in the Philippines
Tuesday, October 17, 2017 By ROBERT L. DOMOGUEN MOUNTAIN LIGHT “GIVING
ownership and control of the Golden Rice (GR) to those who truly need it,”
conclusion of a three-part series article ***** In science, it often happens
that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is
mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear
that old view from them again.
They really do it. It doesn't happen as often
as it should because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But
it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that
happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan ***** The two previous
articles in this series preceding this one tried to highlight the efforts of
scientists in developing and promoting golden rice as an alternative solution
to vitamin A deficiency in the Third World. In both articles, we also showed
that there are individuals and groups who are opposed to GR as a food crop and
its uses.
Unfortunately, the debate on the GR project may
have unnecessarily or unfortunately labeled the crop and this technology as
both wicked, which is rather subjective and irresponsible. In writing about GR
and engaging the discussion, I intend to find an objective and correct
awareness on the crop, how it can reach the market and how the technology can
be managed, owned or controlled by the farmers and communities who needed it
most.
I am happy to find voices in the scientific
community who advance this outlook – for the needy farmers to own and have
control of GR and its technology. Most of these scientists are actually engaged
in promoting GR as an alternative natural solution to existing strategies of
addressing VAD, especially in areas where the distribution of vitamin A
supplements are not effective or where poverty prevents people from eating a
“variety of diets.” People who simply oppose GR because it comes in the form of
a genetically modified organism (GMO) are not helpful in this quest GMO crops
have long been in existence already. In science, it is absurd opposing practical
and beneficial discoveries to human survival, at a time when these are
critically needed like the green revolution technologies did several decades
past. When viewed through a biased ideological lens, GR as a crop, its uses and
benefits can be entirely negated or accepted. Sometimes, the methods of
opposition employed and/or their acceptance and enforcement in the hands of
ideologues can be destructive and unreasonable, where the end justifies the
means.
The destruction of the GR experiment station
and the GR crops grown in Pili, Camarines Sur, to the dismay of local residents
and rice farmers, will continue to tarnish and highlight the unreasonable
action taken by opposing groups in advancing their seemingly “crusading moral”
cause. Meanwhile, experts have already affirmed this reality to be true. A
Patents’ for Humanity Award recipient, there is a need for what GR can deliver:
vitamin A. To put this into context and right perspective, the World Health
Organization estimated around 250,000 to 500,000 vitamin A-deficient children
become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their
sight.
Some
aggressive commercial interest may have put a dent into this great pursuit. Its
success may yet add fuel to the biotech industry’s cause. I am largely
interested in the potential of GR for real good, especially in this part of the
globe. When it succeeds, I join the scientists and advocates who want the GR
seeds given to farmers free to use in their rice fields. Ads by Kiosked
Published in the SunStar Baguio newspaper on October 17, 2017. Latest issues of
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Pakistan’s current and potential trade
agreements have been severely criticized time and again by this column. Ranging
from accusations of being ill-prepared and accepting concessions on items that
already have 0 percent tariff to the potential of imports damaging local
economy, negotiators of trade agreements have a lot to answer for.
However,
imagine as in an ideal situation where Pakistan’s negotiators were masters of
this art and went into meetings well-prepared. Would Pakistan still be facing a
substantial trade deficit? The answer is, yes.
Pakistan’s competitive advantage in China has eroded away completely in recent
years (read “Pakistan-China FTA farce, published by BR Research on September,
22). For example, Pakistan’s top export cotton and its derivatives face
extremely tough competition from Vietnam which is covered under the China-ASEAN
trade agreement. However, if Pakistan was given preferential market access for
all its major exports, would its trade deficit with China turn into a trade
surplus?
Obviously,
as long as Pakistan imports high value-added goods from China and exports
resource-based goods, trade deficit will persist. But this in no way implies
that it is acceptable for negotiators to give away market access without
receiving significant concessions in return which has been the case time and
time again.
In
itself, trade deficit is not all-evil as it is painted to be. A fast-growing
economy, which is what Pakistan hopes it is and will be courtesy CPEC, pulls in
more imports as its expands. Pakistan’s imports of capital goods are for the betterment
of Pakistan’s long term economy. The larger issue is the decline in exports
which Pakistan’s trade agreement negotiators are culpable for, at least in
part.
Along
with the myriad of issues faced by the manufacturing community is the lack of
access to markets of Pakistan’s trading partners. From lack of R&D,
availability of finance, energy related issues to the lack of capacity to enjoy
economies of scale, Pakistan’s industry faces a lot of challenges. But if these
challenges were to be done away with, Pakistan’s exports would still be
hampered by its ineffective trade agreements. For example, even if Pakistan’s
rice is superior to Vietnam’s, Pakistan faces 65 percent tariff compared to
ASEAN’s 33.7 percent. It would not make economic sense for Chinese importers to
opt for Pakistan’s rice when the alternative costs significantly less.
A
stronger and more competitive manufacturing industry goes hand in hand with
better market access. Rather than raising a hullabaloo about rising imports,
policies conducive to facilitating and improving the quality and range of
Pakistan’s exports are required as well as trade agreements that allow
Pakistan’s products better market access.
The
share of food and processing industries’ exports in Iran’s total non-oil
exports in terms of value in H1 increased by 7% YOY
With
around $118 million worth of exports, chocolate products were the main item
shipped from Iran to overseas destinations during the six months
Iran’s
exports in food and processing industries witnessed a 9.3% and 23.4% rise in
value and volume respectively.These exports rose to 923,000 tons worth $1.4
billion during the six months to Sept. 22 from 748,000 tons worth $1.28 billion
in the corresponding period of last year, IRNA reported.“With around $118
million worth of exports, chocolate products were the main item shipped from
Iran to overseas destinations during the six months. Other major exports
include dairy products, tomato paste, juice and concentrate,” Kaveh Zargaran,
secretary-general of the Federation of Iranian Food Associations, announced.
The official
noted that the increase in exports by food and processing industries came, as
Iran’s agro product exports saw a 2.5% decline in value and volume during the
period under review year-on-year.According to Zargaran, the fall in agro
exports owes mainly to decline in the exports of pistachio and apple.
Although
pistachio exports decreased considerably by 43% and 48% in value and weight
respectively during the period, the delicacy still tops Iran’s agro exports. A
total of $63 million worth of pistachio was exported in H1 from Iran.The share
of food and processing industries’ exports in Iran’s total non-oil exports in
terms of value during the period increased by 7% YOY. This is while the value
of total non-oil exports witnessed a 3% YOY decrease during the period.
Dairy
Exports Earn $500m
Dairy
exports earned close to $500 million during the six months. According to
Zargaran, government support in the form of subsidy has played a major role in
boosting dairy exports.
“If the
current trend of dairy exports continues and nothing comes on the way, a
one-billion-dollar record by the yearend is likely,” he added.According to the
official, dairy exports earned $773 million in the last fiscal year to March
2017.
Among
the exported products, yogurt topped the list with $218 million, followed by
cheese with $187 million, infant formula with $129 million and cream and ice
cream with $120 million.
Rise
in Agro Imports
Zargaran
said the country imported about 9 million tons of agro products worth $5.90
billion during the six-month period, registering a 13% and 26% rise in weight
and value respectively year-over-year.Rice, corn, soybean, unprocessed
vegetable oil and veal were major agricultural products imported into the
country during the period.
Rice
imports, with a 37% share (around $996 million) in total imports, registered a
staggering 108% year-on-year jump in value.Close to 3.5 million tons of corn
worth $813 million were imported, marking a rise of 40% and 29% in tonnage and
value respectively. Soybean imports rose by 11% in value, registering 1.18
million tons worth $620 million.
Unprocessed
vegetable oil imports stood at around $600 million, indicating an 85% hike.Veal
imports worth $231 million had a 26% YOY increase in value.Iran’s nominal food
production capacity stands at 100 million tons per year. However, currently,
only 40 million tons are produced annually in the country, which indicate a
large gap.
“There
is a noticeable production deficiency in the country’s food industry while food
exports generate the highest amount of value added,” Mehdi Sadeqi-Niaraki, an
official with the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, has been quoted as
saying by IRNA.“Last year (March 2016-17), Iran exported $2.958 billion worth
of food products,” he said.Sadeqi-Niaraki noted that Iran is targeting the
export of $6.5 billion worth of food products annually by the fiscal 2025-26
COLOGNE, GERMANY - Earlier this month, USA Rice
exhibited at the Anuga 2017 "Taste the Future" trade show
here. With more than 7,400 exhibitors and 160,000 visitors, 90 percent of
whom are involved in their companies' purchasing decisions, Anuga is the
world's largest and most important trade fair for food and
beverages, and USA Rice has exhibited there for the past nineteen years.
Several USA Rice member companies attended
Anuga, including American Commodity Company, Sun Valley Rice Company, and
Farmers' Rice Cooperative, all from California. The show provided their
representatives the opportunity to meet with partners, foodservice
specialists, press, and U.S. Department of Agriculture personnel from the
region.
"Anuga is a great place to meet current
and potential trade contacts from all over Europe, Asia, and the Middle
East," said Derek Alarcon, Farmers' Rice Cooperative Director of
Export Sales, who attended the show. "There was great interest in
U.S. rice and this year there was no discussion of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) in rice like we've typically heard in the past. Buyers over
here understand U.S. rice is free of GMOs but they say convincing consumers of
that is the challenge."
Participants noted that there was considerable
traffic at the USA Rice booth and many quality leads were developed. The
European market expects high quality food products and therefore the market
commands a premium and provides a higher value for U.S. rice.
"Interest really centered around medium
grain with the most common point of discussion on lower production and higher
prices," said Chris Crutchfield, President and CEO of American Commodity
Company, who attended the show. "With carry over stocks down
considerably and planted acreage and yield both off, prices have strengthened
and customers are seeking less expensive alternatives. It looks like
global supply will remain tight pending the Australian harvest in the spring of
2018 and any lifting of the current Egyptian export ban."
The USA Rice booth was stocked with
informational brochures and various U.S. rice samples for viewing by visitors.
Vietnam braces for typhoon
Khanun after floods kill 72
HANOI: Vietnam braced for typhoon Khanun on
Monday after destructive floods battered the country’s north and centre last
week, killing 72 people, the disaster prevention agency said.
Last week’s floods were the worst in years, the
government and state-run Vietnam Television said, with thousands of homes
submerged. Another 200 houses collapsed and several towns remain cut off by the
floodwater.
The
floods also damaged more than 22,000 hectares (54,300 acres) of rice.
Vietnam is the world’s third-largest exporter
of rice and the second-biggest producer of coffee, although the floods have not
affected the Southeast Asian nation’s coffee belt.
Eighteen
people from the hardest-hit province of Hoa Binh in the north were buried by a
landslide, but only thirteen bodies have been found, Vietnam’s disaster agency
said.
The government has said it is fixing dykes,
dams and roads damaged by last week’s flood and is preparing for typhoon
Khanun, which is expected to cause heavy rain in northern and central Vietnam
from Monday.
It has also warned ships and boats to avoid the
approaching typhoon.
Vietnam is prone to destructive storms and
flooding due to its long coastline. A typhoon wreaked havoc across central
provinces last month.
Floods have also affected nine out of 77
provinces in Thailand, Vietnam’s neighbour to the west. Three people had been
killed in flooding since last Tuesday, Thailand’s disaster agency said on
Monday.
The Thai capital, Bangkok, was hit by heavy
rain at the weekend, with gridlocked traffic bringing parts of the city to a
standstill. Bangkok has often been described as the “Venice of the East”
because of its many waterways.
However,
the floods prompted criticism of Bangkok’s city government, with some social
media users accusing authorities of not managing water levels in canals
properly.
The city government defended itself, saying it
was working closely with the irrigation department. Thailand suffered its worst
flood in five decades in 2011, with hundreds of people killed, industrial
estates engulfed and key industries crippled
International students graduate from 'super rice' program
2017-10-16 14:06chinadaily.com.CN
A group of international students graduated
Friday from an agricultural training program sponsored by the Ministry of
Commerce and received graduation certificates from Yuan Longping, China's
renowned rice scientist, Xinhua reports.The 45-day program, hosted by Yuan
Longping High-Tech Agriculture Company, taught advanced breeding and
cultivating techniques of "super rice" to 21 students from countries
including Thailand, Indian, Pakistan and Ethiopia. The program also brought
them to hybrid rice test fields in Huaihua and Zhangjiajie in Central China's
Hunan province.
Yuan, dubbed as China's "father of hybrid
rice", awarded certificates to the international students and
congratulated them by speaking English at a ceremony held in Changsha, the
capital city of Hunan.
"I am not a qualified teacher," Yuan
said, joking that he can only spared time for those international students to
share his thoughts and experience with them.
The students were impressed by the training and
inspired by what they have learnt.
Huang Dahui, the deputy director of Longping
High-Tech International Training Institute, said the faculty has held more than
100 such training programs since 2000, and more than 6,000 foreign students
have benefited from the programs.
"The programs have introduced our advanced
technology to the whole world and also deepened friendships between China and
different countries," Huang said.
http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-16/277211.shtml
President emphasises need
for achieving food security
ISLAMABAD: President
Mamnoon Hussain has emphasised the need for adoption of a multidimensional
approach for investing in food security and uplifting the rural livelihoods to
control the migration patterns in the rural areas.
“I am confident that food security will
continue to be one of the priority areas for our future public and private
investments to achieve self-sufficiency and rural development,” the president
said in a message on the occasion of World Food Day being observed on Monday.
He was pleased to learn that the Ministry of
National Food Security and Research (NFS&R) and Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) in collaboration with other UN agencies and partner
organisations are celebrating the day to highlight the significance of
achieving self-sufficiency in food grains.
Mamnoon said that it is heartening to note that
Pakistan has made significant progress in food production over the last
seventy years as it has witnessed a considerable increase in the production of
wheat and rice. The present government is also focusing on the sustainable
development of agriculture sector and in this regard has taken a number of
measures for the welfare of the farming community, he added.
“Pakistan is now not only self-sufficient
in both these food grains, but it has also become an exporter of these
commodities,” he said.
The president stressed that the food security,
in the context of population growth, is a major concern and millions of humans
around the globe are in constant need of food and shelter. This is particularly
true for Pakistan as it has been working in close coordination with
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in managing the Afghan refugees, he
emphasised.
He also said that Pakistan is
committed to achieving food security and alleviate poverty in line with the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Pakistan’s current and potential trade
agreements have been severely criticized time and again by this column. Ranging
from accusations of being ill-prepared and accepting concessions on items that
already have 0 percent tariff to the potential of imports damaging local
economy, negotiators of trade agreements have a lot to answer for.
Iran’s
exports in food and processing industries witnessed a 9.3% and 23.4% rise in
value and volume respectively.These exports rose to 923,000 tons worth $1.4
billion during the six months to Sept. 22 from 748,000 tons worth $1.28 billion
in the corresponding period of last year, IRNA reported.“With around $118
million worth of exports, chocolate products were the main item shipped from
Iran to overseas destinations during the six months. Other major exports
include dairy products, tomato paste, juice and concentrate,” Kaveh Zargaran,
secretary-general of the Federation of Iranian Food Associations, announced.
COLOGNE, GERMANY - Earlier this month, USA Rice
exhibited at the Anuga 2017 "Taste the Future" trade show
here. With more than 7,400 exhibitors and 160,000 visitors, 90 percent of
whom are involved in their companies' purchasing decisions, Anuga is the
world's largest and most important trade fair for food and
beverages, and USA Rice has exhibited there for the past nineteen years. 
