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Gowan Company Receives Federal
Registration For Gambit™ Herbicide On Rice
11 December 2017
YUMA, AZ– (December 11th, 2017) – Gowan
Company is pleased to announce it has received Federal registration for Gambit™
herbicide. Gambit™ contains the active ingredients halosulfuron and
prosulfuron and is highly effective for sedge and broadleaf weed control in
rice. In addition to Federal registration, Gowan has received state
registrations in Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri. State registrations have
been filed, and are currently pending, in Texas and Mississippi with approval
expected by the end of December 2017.
Gowan brands Permit® and Permit
Plus® have been effective and widely used herbicides in Mid-South rice
production for many years. Gambit offers even more comprehensive weed
control including groundcherry, alligatorweed, and texasweed. In addition,
Gambit® adds over 50 additional broadleaf weeds to the spectrum covered by
Permit Plus.
Gambit is the next evolution in the Permit rice herbicide
portfolio that brings a new active ingredient to rice and provides an
additional tool in the fight against problematic weeds in rice fields
throughout the Mid-South and Texas.
“Federal registration of Gambit
is another example of Gowan’s continued commitment to develop innovative
solutions for the grower in a very challenging U.S. rice market,” said Gowan
USA product manager, Salvatore Strano. “Gambit is the next evolution in the
Permit rice herbicide portfolio that brings a new active ingredient to rice and
provides an additional tool in the fight against problematic weeds in rice
fields throughout the Mid-South and Texas.”
Gambit is also registered for use
in field corn, grain sorghum and proso millet applications.
About Gowan: Gowan Company, based in
Yuma, Arizona, USA, is a family-owned developer, registrant and marketer of
crop protection products, seeds, and fertilizers. Gowan champions technology
for agriculture and horticulture through innovative product development, public
advocacy and quality production.
Field of stem rust: Infecting adult wheat stems in the field.
The pathogen kills wheat plants by girdling stems, resulting in crops
comprising a tangled mess.
Researchers find approach to cultivate high-manganese, low-cadmium rice
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-03 15:36:56|Editor: Xiang Bo
BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have found a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) that can be used to cultivate high-manganese, low-cadmium rice, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) said in a statement Tuesday.
According to Qian Qian, chief expert and researcher in the field at CAAS, people often have an inadequate intake of manganese, an essential mineral in bone formation and the digestion of cholesterol, carbohydrates and protein.
Although the manganese content in rice grains can be increased via biological enhancement, this also increases the content of cadmium, a poisonous heavy metal, making the control of the elements in rice a major challenge, he said.
Researchers created a strain combined with a high-manganese strain and a low-manganese strain, and detected a major QTL via a high-density genetic map.
They found that the QTL contained a gene that regulated and controlled the absorption of manganese and had a significant drop in cadmium, improving the root system capability of absorbing manganese.
The research was subsidized by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Farmer leaders join agri-biotechnology congress Tuesday, January 02, 2018 By LAUREN ALIMONDO Advancing biotechnology in the country, some 200 farmer leaders from different regions in the country convene for the National Agri-biotechnology Farmers Congress recently. The conference theme, "Share the bounty of Agri-biotechnology through mutual coexistence and Responsible Stewardship" highlighted sessions of the conference which include biotechnology updates, golden rice, science communication, Food Safety Act of 2013, and plant biotech. "We want to let all our farmers know that biotechnology is very useful. Magagamit natin sa pagsasaka dahil ngayon lumiliit na iyong sakahan kaunti lang ang aanihin natin. But the aim of the technology is, sa kaunting lupa, malaki ang aanihin kasi marami na tayong populasyon so kailangan nating magproduce ng maraming pagkain," Philippine Farmers Advisory Board President Edwin Paraluman said. The activity, with series of interactive lectures on biotechnology, seeks to help farmers' awareness of the challenges faced by agricultural biotechnology. It also aims to enhance farmers’ knowledge on the policy issues, based on the stakeholders' experiences with agricultural biotechnology, and gave farmer-level experiences with biotechnology crops. Asian Farmers Regional Network Philippines (ASFARNET) country president Reynaldo Cabanao said the conference is much relevant also to the Cordilleras, especially all major type of vegetables are from the highlands supplying Manila areas. Biotechnology involves any technique that uses whole or part of a living thing to make new products, improve or develop plants and animals. Potentials of biotechnology include fighting diseases, increasing yield, safer crops, nutritious food, safer crops, environmental friendly, and better industry. The event highlights include the declaration of support for the application of biotechnology in Agriculture. "After thorough discussion with the scientists, experts, and farmer resource persons on the various issues confronting Filipino farmers in food production, problems on hunger and poverty as well as the science, safety, and potential and actual benefits of modern biotechnology," stated in the declaration. "We believe that biotechnology will reduce dependence and indiscriminate heavy use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals that are harmful to humans, animals and the environment." Conceived in 2003, ASFARNET-Philippines is composed of farmer-leaders and key stakeholders from 15 regions of the country. Most of the members of ASFARNET- Philippines are adoptors of biotech corn since 2003, and are actively involved in advocating the use of the technology. About 100,000 small-scale Filipino farmers planted biotech corn in more than 350,000 hectares in 2008.
The prospects of key crops and the livestock sector in
2018 are somewhat promising but structural issues remain and need increased
attention.Only three out of five key crops are expected to do well, showing an
increase in production and a modest growth in yield, and the livestock sector
also seems set to perform better than the year before.
Wheat, sugarcane and rice are all heading in the right
direction, and we may see additional output and yield enhancement this year.
Officials and growers say the output of maize, however,
may either remain stagnant or record a slight decline due to multiple reasons.
If all goes well, cotton output, too, may touch the 13 million-bale mark but
will still remain below the original target of 14.04m bales.
Two key challenges to crops that have so far continued
to haunt the agriculture sector might also remain there in 2018 even if their
severity weakens.The first is to bring the national average yield of key crops
closer to the global average and the second is to improve supply and the value
chain.
How closely we chase the objective of bridging the
yield gap depends upon how seriously ongoing yield enhancement programmes based
on seed research and modernisation of farming practices are implemented.
Lethargy on this count will not only result in a slower
growth of the crop sector but will also constrain the country’s ability to meet
the growing demand for food grains and cotton at home, and to achieve the
desired growth in the export of grains, food items and textiles.
If distortions in supply chain of crops are not managed well the
country can neither maintain a sober inflation nor get a high per-unit value
for food and textile exports.Cotton: The current
season’s cotton output looks set to exceed 13m bales against the second
assessment of the cotton crop assessment committee. This is by no means a very
optimistic assessment as by mid-December the country had already produced
10.685m bales.
Sindh is sure to contribute 4m bales, up from the
earlier estimates of 3.7m bales—a number already achieved by mid-December.
However, even a 13m-bale output would not only be lower
than the original target of 14.04m bales but also insufficient to cover growing
demand from the textile sector after the recent spike in textile exports.
Had Punjab’s cotton output not come under pressure
(despite an increase in the area under cultivation) due to climatic reasons,
the total national production would be around 13.5m bales.
Wheat: The target for
wheat output in the upcoming season is 26.46m tonnes, up from 25.75m tonnes in
the previous season.
A shortage of irrigation water and less or no rain in
some wheat-growing areas might make the achievement of this target difficult,
according to a Suparco assessment. But officials of provincial agricultural
departments say, on the basis of field reports received so far, that the target
could be achieved despite some reduction in the area under cultivation.
They are pinning their hopes on the projected increase
in yields, thanks to the introduction of some new varieties in the past couple
of years and a greater awareness created among farmers about the proper care of
the crop.
According to Dawn reports, experiments on winter wheat
are being conducted in four high-altitude regions. If encouraging results
emerge, the country will begin growing this crop as well, though on a limited
scale. The winter wheat crop is expected to offer a 20-30pc higher yield than
spring wheat — an added advantage.
Rice: The rice harvest
in 2017 is estimated to have reached 7.55m tonnes, according to officials who
say that in 2018 production would cross eight million tonnes even if the area
under cultivation remains the same.
Their optimism springs from a faster growth in
production of coarse rice — thanks to an expanding use of high-yield varieties—
and a modest increase in even Basmati rice.
For several years, Pakistan has been promoting the use
of paddy seeds that survive and grow on less water and has also been teaching
farmers how to reduce post-harvest losses.
Mechanised paddy harvesting and newer techniques of
replanting the saplings, too, have been playing their role in boosting the rice
output for some years now. Hopefully these trends should become stronger in
2018, officials of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR)
say.
Sugarcane: The
sugarcane output has been growing steadily leading to surplus sugar production
in the country and a crash in domestic prices.
Sugar exports continue to bring in the much-needed
foreign exchange into the country. Delays over the fixation of the support
price of cane by provinces continue to occur, and the year 2017 was no
exception.
Farmer lobbies persist in demanding an upward revision
in support prices even when the same are notified. The same is expected to
happen in 2018.
But on sugarcane farms we can expect changes: a
straight 10pc increase in cane production (to 89m plus from 81.4m tonnes in
2017) and a rise in per-hectare yield to 64 tonnes per hectare from 62 tonnes
per hectare, according to initial official projections, not yet finalised.
Maize: The maize output
that exceeded 6.1m tonnes for the first time in 2017 may remain under pressure
in 2018 for the simple reason that the 2017 output gain came from a big 12pc
increase in the area under cultivation.
In 2018 this might not be the case and the area under
cultivation could shrink, officials say, adding that total production could
range between 5.3m and 5.5m tonnes.
They are, however, optimistic that the per-hectare
yield of a little less than 4.6 tonnes in 2017 may actually rise to 5 tonnes
per-hectare due to a wider adoption of high-yield varieties of the grain.
Livestock: In
the absence of data obtained via physical animal surveys, authorities continue
to make calculations about milk and meat production on the basis of inter
census growth rates between 1996 and 2006.
Much has changed since 2006 and the entry and progress
of large milk and meat processing companies have changed the entire landscape
of value-added livestock industries.
An increase in economic growth, the consequent rise in
income levels in recent years and the proliferation of chains of super markets
also continues to boost demand for dairy and milk products. That is why
officials of MNFSR remain upbeat about growth in the livestock sector in 2018.
But whether an anticipated growth in the sector’s performance
will also help in the export of meat and meat preparations and of food items in
which milk is used as the main ingredient cannot be predicted right now as
competition in export markets is getting tougher.
One way of looking at the high impact of grains and
livestock sectors’ performance could be the growth of the food and beverages
segment of large-scale manufacturing. Here, an 11.49pc expansion in output in
FY17 topped by a further 14.24pc growth in five months of this fiscal year
indicates that things are moving in the right direction.
Cheng Sokhorng | Publication date 02
January 2018 | 08:19 ICT
A woman harvests her rice crop at a paddy field in Phnom Penh’s
Dangkor district in 2016. Heng
Chivoan
Cambodian rice exports in 2017 increased 17 percent by volume
compared to the year before, with exporters pushing to fill orders under
China’s expanded import quota while shipments to European markets remained
steady, according to Agriculture Ministry figures.
A total of 635,600 tonnes of rice was exported to international
markets in 2017, up from 542,144 tonnes the previous year, according to a
Facebook post by Hean Vanhan, director general of the general directorate of
agriculture at the ministry.
China, which agreed to accept 200,000 tonnes of rice from
Cambodia in 2017 – doubling the previous limit – and will expand the quota to
300,000 tonnes this year, was the top destination for rice shipments.
Over five years, total rice exports have grown 67.78 percent
from 378,800 tonnes in 2013, the figures show.
Chray Son, deputy director of Capital Food Cambodia, a
Battambang province rice exporter, said the increase in exports to China was
welcome, but Europe remained the market with high potential for future growth.
“Cambodian rice is becoming more popular and the quality is
being recognised in the international market,” he said.
But rice exports were still small compared to neighbouring
countries, and the industry would need to focus on quality seeds and building
more storage, drying and irrigation facilities in order to reach its goal of
exporting 1 million tonnes a year, Son added.
Som Song, director of Agricultural Development Chamroeurn Phal,
an agricultural cooperative in Raing Kesei commune in Battambang province’s
Raing Kesei district, said that even though 2017 was a profitable year, farmers
in his area were still hampered by a lack of storage and drying facilities.
“We do not have a place to dry our paddy rice, so we have to
sell at a low price,” Song said.
The state-run Rural Development Bank (RDB) provided about $15
million in low-interest loans last year to two companies to build and operate
rice storage warehouses and rice-drying facilities. Amru Rice is building one
facility in Kampong Thom, while Khmer Food Group is constructing two in Prey
Veng and Takeo provinces.
The facilities, which are each set to have the capacity to store
50,000 tonnes of paddy rice and dry approximately 1,500 tonnes of rice daily,
are scheduled to be completed this month.
Meanwhile, another RDB project, based on a $15 million loan to
Thaneakea Srov (Kampuchea) Plc in 2016, is also set to start operating in
Battambang province this year with a massive 200,000-tonne capacity silo and
warehouse facility and the ability to dry 3,000 tonnes of paddy rice a day.
Iranian customs bans rice imports
order registration
January 1, 2018
TEHRAN-
The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) banned any
registration for imports of rice until further notice, IRNA reported.
“Regarding the mass imports of rice, more than one million tons,
during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-
August 22, 2017), which surpassed domestic consumption and pulled market into
recession, no further order registration should be allowed,” Iranian
Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati wrote to Industry, Mining and Trade
Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari on December 20.
Accordingly, IRICA announced on Sunday that registration for
imports of rice is forbidden until further notice due to the order of
agriculture minister and exports and imports regulations of Iran Trade
Promotion organization (TPO).
Iran harvests 2.4 million tons of rice per year after improving
its second crop (in October), according to IRNA.
The country has imported above one million tons of rice since
the beginning of the year, IRICA released data shows.
Nigeria to stop rice importation in 2018:
president
Source:
Xinhua| 2018-01-01 19:48:27|Editor: ZD
LAGOS, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on
Monday announced that the country would stop importation of rice from 2018, to
encourage the production of local rice.
The president, who said this in his address to the nation in
Abuja to mark the beginning of 2018, said it is in view of this reality that in
2015 he appealed to people to go back to the land.
Buhari said Nigerians must get used to discipline and direction
in economic management as the days of business as usual are numbered.
"I am highly gratified that agriculture has picked up,
contributing to the government's effort to re-structure the economy," he
said.
"Rice imports will stop this year. Local rice, fresher and
more nutritious rice will be on our dishes from now on," he said.
"By the same token, I am today appealing to enterprising
Nigerians with ideas and unemployed graduates and other able-bodied and
literate men and women with ideas, not to just sit and wait for employment from
the government or the Organized Private Sector," the Nigerian leader said.
According to him, great nations are built by enterprising people
who turn their hands to anything that circumstances dictate, noting that the
All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government was slowly stabilizing the
economy.
The president told the country that the diversification efforts
embarked upon by the government had resulted in improved output, particularly
in agriculture and solid minerals sectors.
He also maintained that the relative exchange rate stability had
improved manufacturing sector performance.
The Nigerian leader, however expressed sadness over the
unnecessary hardships inflicted on Nigerians during the Christmas and New Year
celebrations following acute petrol scarcity across the country.
The president attributed the hardships to the activities of a
few but heartless individuals working within the nation's oil and gas sector.
He reiterated the determination of his administration to get to
the root of the persistent petrol scarcity, and ensure that whichever groups
were behind this manipulated hardship would be prevented from doing so again.
President Buhari added that the activities of such unpatriotic
individuals would not divert his administration's determination to uplift the
quality of life of the citizens.
Fuel scarcity during festive periods is a recurrent feature in
Nigeria, although it disappeared in the last two years.
The scarcity is said to be caused by greedy marketers who tried
to take undue advantage of the high inter-state movements during the season.
Filipino
farmers could incur losses of as much as $4 billion under a zero rice-tariff
trade regime within the Asean, according to a recent study of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In the study, titled “Market implications of the integration
scenario of Southeast Asian rice markets,” authors Gen Furuhashi and Hubertus
Gay projected the outcomes of rice trade within the Asean region under two
scenarios by 2025: a zero-tariff regime and a fully integrated market. The authors noted that, under a
zero-tariff regime, rice farmers in the Philippines would incur production
losses of at least $2.082 billion, while under a fully integrated market they
could lose $3.966 billion.
The value of the country’s rice production is estimated at $6
billion annually. The country is still importing rice, with the tariff imposed
of on rice coming from other Asean member-countries set at 35 percent.
“As expected, the main changes in the overall welfare for
consumers and producers depend on the trade situation of the respective
country. Producers in exporting countries and consumers in importing countries
gain from tariff reduction and further integration,” the study read.
“Conversely, consumers in exporting countries and producers in importing
countries lose.”
Under a zero-tariff regime, Asean member-countries would
eliminate their tariffs, while a fully integrated market would entail both the
removal of tariffs and nontariff measures. Under the second scenario, the
differences between domestic prices and border prices of rice would be
eliminated within the region.
“The first [scenario] involves the elimination of tariffs within
the region, while protection vis-à-vis countries outside the region remains
unchanged,” the study read.
“The second scenario involves closer price integration across
the region, again with protection versus countries outside the region
unchanged. This scenario reflects the elimination of not just tariffs but of
all forms of nontariff forms of protection that cause prices to diverge across
the region,” it added.
The production losses would be due to the projected influx of
cheaper rice imports from fellow Asean countries, according to the study.
The OECD projected that the Philippines’s rice imports, which
accounts for 40 percent of the total regional volume, would reach 2.251 million
metric tons (MMT) by 2025. Of the volume, 94.62 percent, or about 2.13 MMT,
would come from Asean member-countries.
Under a zero-tariff regime, the Philippines’s rice imports would
increase by 1.2 MMT, while a fully integrated Asean market would mean
additional purchases of 2.6 MMT.
“Any reduction in trade barriers for importing countries will
inevitably lead to lower rates of national self-sufficiency. Those ratios are
about 10 percent lower with full price integration in Indonesia and the
Philippines,” the study read.
“However, despite this, the majority of rice consumed in these
countries will still be sourced from domestic production—pointing to a large
and competitive domestic rice sector remaining post reforms,” it added.
The OECD study concluded that the hike in rice imports would cut
the Philippines’s self-sufficiency ratio to 80 percent under a zero-tariff
regime and could fall to as much as 73 percent in a fully integrated market.
The study noted that the Philippines has never achieved rice self-sufficiency.
In 2016 the OECD estimated that Philippine rice production by
2025 would reach 13.67 MMT with a total rice consumption of 15.872 MMT.
However, under a zero-tariff regime, the Philippines’s rice production would be
cut by 441,500 metric tons (MT), or about 3 percent , while consumption would
increase by 678,200 MT, or by 4 percent.
Under a closer market integration, local rice production would
decline by nearly 1 MMT, while consumption could increase by 1.577 MMT. This
translates to an output reduction of about 7 percent and a consumption
increment of 10 percent.
The study also noted that, under the two scenarios, the producer
price of rice in the Philippines would significantly fall, as a consequence of
lower production volume and the influx of cheaper rice imports.
“Under the baseline, domestic prices are 50 percent higher than
adjusted border prices in Malaysia, implying a modest degree of protection
beyond that provided by tariffs; but much higher in the Philippines [over 100
percent] and Indonesia [nearly 100 percent]. Hence, a much bigger overall
stimulus to regional trade would come from deeper price integration than from
tariff reform alone,” the study read.
“The dismantling of high rates of price protection across the
region would naturally imply substantial national price effects. In the more
radical scenario of full internal liberalization, producer prices in importing
countries—Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia—would fall by 39.3 percent,
45 percent and 26.2 percent, respectively, relative to the baseline,” it added.
However, under the two scenarios, the OECD study concluded that
the change in the Philippines’s welfare would be positive, as increased rice
consumption would outweigh the losses incurred by Filipino farmers.
The OECD estimated that under a zero-tariff scenario rice
consumption by 2025 would result in earnings of $2.51 billion and $5.01 billion
under an integrated scenario. The overall change in welfare under a zero-tariff
regime is pegged at $80.4 million and $697 million under an integrated market.
“The Philippines accounts for about two-thirds of the overall
$125 million in gains most from the tariff reform scenario [due to reducing its
own tariffs and the fact that it is the most important trader in the region].
Consumers gain approximately $2.5 billion from lower prices, while producers
lose $2.1 billion,” the study read.
“The total welfare gains are over 15 times higher with full
price integration, at $2.2 billion, with gains of $700 million to the
Philippines and the remaining gains spread more evenly across countries. In
importing countries, lower prices would deliver approximately $6.4 billion and
$5 billion of gains to consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines,
respectively, with a large share of those gains coming at the expense of
producers,” it added.
Asean member-countries seek to create a fully integrated
regional market by 2025, which includes improving food security, as stipulated
under the Asean Economic Community Blueprint 2025.
While water and agriculture experts in the country keep
highlighting issues that have by now assumed critical proportions, the
commitment to addressing them seems to be missing; while a rapid increase in
population has increased water demand.
Experts believe 93 to 95 per cent of Pakistan’s total
surface water/freshwater is utilised in the agriculture sector and, according
to a Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) presentation, the country
has the lowest productivity per unit of water i.e. 0.13kg/m3 with India at
0.39kg/m3 and China 0.82kg/m3.
The agriculture sector’s contribution to GDP remains at
21pc but progressive growers agree that given the quantum of surface water
utilised in the farm sector its efficiency leaves a lot to be desired.
Because of these shortcomings Pakistan comes up with
lesser per-hectare yields of wheat, cotton, sugarcane and rice according to the
Pakistan Ministry of National Food Security and Research 2014-15 statistics.
While water and agriculture experts in the country keep
highlighting issues that have by now assumed critical proportions, the
commitment to addressing them seems to be missing
But policymakers have to go beyond the rhetoric on the
integrated water resource management to be ready to face the challenges ahead
if they aim to offset the impact of water scarcity.
The country’s water challenges could be put
into the following categories: inadequate storage, lack of water efficiency
leading to a lower per-acre productivity, unchecked groundwater abstraction;
lack of rational water pricing, canal inefficiency, and a contiguous but
dilapidated irrigation infrastructure.
Under the Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator Pakistan is
bracketed with nations under water stress, for our per-capita water
availability remains less than 1,700m3. If a country’s water availability falls
below 1,000m3 it is rated as a water scarce country. Until 2010 Pakistan’s
water availability was around 1,223m3.
Ahmad Zeeshan Bhatti, a researcher at the Pakistan
Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), opines that the International
Institute of Water (IWMI) says countries that will not be able to meet
estimated water demands in 2025, even after accounting for future adaptive
capacity, are called “physically water scarce”.
Countries with sufficient renewable resources that
would have to make a very significant investment in water infrastructure to
access them are called “economically water scarce”. So as yet “we are
economically, not physically scarce”, he says.
Pakistan stores 10pc of total surface freshwater with a
30-day carryover capacity (14 million acre-feet) achieved through Mangla and
Tarbela dams, says a senior Wapda officer. India remains far ahead with a
170-day capacity.
Irrigation channels’ efficiency remains below 40pc for
multiple reasons — chiefly sedimentation — though this could be increased to
80pc with lining as per one research.
The desired investment attributes water infrastructure
to inter-provincial discord and trust deficit. Small and medium size dams are
not built for want of resources in provinces although Sindh has lately
completed the rain-fed Darawat dam in Jamshoro.
A senior Wapda officer, who deals with the water
sector, believes that things have to go in tandem if sustainable growth is to
be achieved. By building mega dams like Diamer-Bhasha and 90 small and medium
sized dams, Pakistan can achieve 90-day carryover capacity, “although by 2050
our demand will have further increased” he bemoans.
He adds that due to ownership issues international
funding is not feasible for the Diamer-Bhasha dam and that even after its
completion it will offer only marginal relief as with its 6.4MAF storage, the
impact of sedimentation losses in the existing dams can only be offset so that
new achievable storage would remain between 1-2MAF.
“If work starts on Bhasha it will takes nine years to
complete. I don’t see a new storage being built in Pakistan in the next 5-7
years. Successive governments have preferred short-term projects for political
mileage instead of long-term projects”, he observes.
“Water availability may not be a serious issue because
it is management that actually matter,” he says.
Wapda has a list of seven future water projects for
storage and run-of-the-river purposes which are at the early stage of
submission. These projects include run of the river Dasu, Mohmand (0.67MAF) and
Shyok dams (5.5MAF) for storage with the latter’s feasibility study to be
completed in February this year.
As experts and policymakers lay emphasis on water
storage, the issue of the dying Indus delta and sustainable environmental flows
post-Kotri barrage has taken a back seat.
Such flows — essential for deltaic region to check sea
intrusion — are often described as a wastage of water, notwithstanding the fact
that the sea continues to devour fertile agriculture lands in coastal districts
of Badin, Thatta and Sujawal along Sindh’s 350km long coastline.
Around 3.5 million acres of land has been lost since
1980 with sea water intruding up to the Thatta-Sujawal bridge.
“Germanwatch in its Global Climate Risk Index 2017 has
ranked Pakistan seventh in terms of vulnerability. This means we should revisit
the 1991 Water Accord in the backdrop of the climate change as it must have
impacted flows considerably.
“Likewise, the Indus Water Treaty can be amended to
adjust to the requirements of climate change”, points out Dr Imran Saqib
Khalid, who heads the environment and climate change unit at the
Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
He says that groundwater abstractions on both sides of
the borders remain massive and unchecked. “Satellite data shows that the
groundwater aquifer tilts towards India”, he claims and urges policymakers to
look at how to ensure quality, quantity and equity in water distribution.
But what Dr Imran Khalid suggests not does seem
possible unless Pakistan has its National Water Policy in place. The policy’s
draft has been submitted to the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
By 2050, says the UN’s World Water Development Report
2015, developing countries will have to increase food production by 60pc. It
warns that “climate change will exacerbate the risks associated with variations
in the distribution and availability of water resources”.
The provinces need to rationalise water pricing in both
agriculture and non-agriculture sectors to improve revenue generation and
investment in irrigation. Canal water being cheap usually leads to wastages.
It is encouraging to see Sindh working on the draft of
the agriculture policy as a component of the World Bank-funded Sindh
Agriculture Growth Project (SAGP). The draft policy talks about ‘climate smart
agriculture’.
Sindh Abadgar Board Vice President Mahmood Nawaz Shah
says water pricing is also necessary for all sectors of the economy given the
fact Pakistan is heading towards water scarcity. Pakistan’s farm sector gets
95pc of the country’s total water resources while in rest of the world hardly
70-75pc of water is diverted to the agriculture sector.
“We need to have more per acre productivity with the
same quantum of water coupled with investment in human resource, technology and
a high efficiency irrigation system to achieve our objectives”, he says.
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 1st,
2018
https://www.dawn.com/news/1380112/will-we-be-able-to-go-beyond-the-rhetoric-to-face-the-water-challenges-ahead12:00 AM, January 02, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:06 AM, January 02,
2018
A
report published in The Daily Star (December 23, 2017) regarding food security
situation in Bangladesh revealed that Bangladesh stood 89th in the Global Food
Security Index-2017, as the last one among the South-Asian countries.The Global
Food Security Index considers the core issues of affordability, availability,
and quality across the 113 countries. The index is a dynamic quantitative and
qualitative benchmarking model, constructed from 28 unique indicators, that
measures these drivers of food security across both developing and developed
countries.
Article 15 of the Constitution of
the Peoples Republic Of Bangladesh state- “it shall be a fundamental
responsibility of the state to attain, through planned economic growth, a
constant increase of productive forces and a steady improvement in the material
and cultural standard of living of the people, with a view to securing to its
citizen- the provision of basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter,
education and medical care”. Bangladesh is vulnerable to climatic disaster and
repeated floods caused great damage to rice crops this year. A section of rice
millers allegedly hoarded rice and deliberately hiked prices after the country
lost crops -- primarily estimated at 20 lakh tonnes -- to flashfloods in Haor
areas and fungal attack in the last Boro season.
The National Food Policy of 2006
represents an important departure from the past by applying a comprehensive and
integrated approach to food security, including the availability, access and
utilisation dimension of food security. Policy has outlined following three
main objectives:
Objective 1: Adequate and stable
supply of safe and nutritious food
Objective 2: Increased purchasing
power and access to food of the people
Objective 3: Adequate nutrition for
all individuals, especially women and children
However, Cox's Bazar district
administration imposed a weeklong ban on NGOs involved in distributing aid to
Rohingyas at Ukhia and Teknaf starting from December 11, 2017. Interestingly,
government circular stated that the amount of food and non-food items being
distributed by the NGOs among the refugees were more than what they require.
Food availability does not necessarily guarantee food security and moreover,
refugee children largely suffer from malnutrition.
Let alone refugees, a large segment
of Bangladeshi population still suffers from food insecurity. Recent price hike
had an impact on food security and overall poverty situation. At least 5.2 lakh
people have fallen into poverty because of rice price hike, according to a
recent study of the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM). It has
also caused a rise in head count poverty rate by 0.32 percentage points in past
few months in the country.
There is a demand to promulgate
food security act. Most of the countries of the world have right to food law
but Bangladesh doesn't currently have one. It is high time to codify a law to
ensure food security.
2018 is a year of lifestyle
change for the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol
For agriculture chief
Emmanuel Piñol, this means focusing on food production for local consumption.
Also, less overseas trips for agriculture officials to get export orders.
Don’t mind the growth targets and
projections on production. Piñol will never give one. What he wants is to get
to the day when there’s less people complaining about being hungry, either
through his doorstep at the DA office or commentaries on his popular Facebook
account.
“We will focus on what the Filipinos need,” he said.
To do that, Piñol said the DA will have less participation in
international marketing shows starting 2018.
“Those roadshows will just make
you go around places,” the DA chief said.
According to him, the country “is
wasting money going around the world marketing our products” when bulk of the
country’s 100 million plus population are struggling to find something to eat.
“We have always campaigned for
exports, not realizing that the Philippines is a market of 100 million people
and we could not even satisfy their [food] requirements. Like for example, we
go around the world promoting our coffee and yet we are also importing coffee,”
Piñol stressed.
Based on a data from the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the value of agro-based products exports
stood at US$2.4 billion from January to July this year, which is higher
compared to the US$2 billion seen in the same period last year.
From July, 2016 to July, 2017,
agriculture exports also improved from US$4.8 billion to US$5.3 billion.
During his more than a year stint
as DA Secretary, Piñol has already been to China, Russia, Vietnam, South Korea,
Argentina, among other countries, for different official purposes, most of
which for the goal of marketing the country’s high value commodities and for
accompanying President Rodrigo Duterte in his many state visits.
There was even a time when Piñol dreamed of making the
Philippines a rice exporter.
But that won’t happen again as the DA promised to continue with
the “dramatic improvements” it has been doing in the past months.
“We already made dramatic
improvements on the agriculture sector and this mainly because we have purpose
and specific,” Piñol said.
“Like for example, guided by the
directives of the President, we have to first satisfy the requirements of
Filipinos and this is something that no other President has actually come up
with in terms of policy statement. What he said is ‘produce enough for
Filipinos and if there’s a surplus, that’s the time we will export’,” he
further said.
It was in October when Piñol
realized that there’s a need for DA to “tweak its priorities” when it comes to
food production as more and more homegrown commodities are being shipped abroad
to boost the country’s exports.
This was his response to
Duterte’s skeptical remarks over agriculture lands being converted in a way
that most of their yields are meant for exports.
According to Duterte, this is one
of the main reasons why the country can’t be self-sufficient when it comes to
food.
This year, some of the
international expos the country participated in include International Food Expo
(IFEX) in Abu Dhabi; Shanghai New International Expo Centre in China; Natural
and Organic Products Europe (NOPE 2017) trade show in United Kingdom, among
others.
Food self-sufficiency is only met
once the country already significantly reduced its dependence on imported
goods, especially for staple food crops like rice.
As of now, the country is still
dependent on rice imports when it comes to securing its buffer stocks.
Duterte is particularly blaming
the country’s inability to achieve food security to the thousands of hectares
of land occupied by huge private plantations in Mindanao.
Right now, Mindanao has the
largest contiguous banana plantation in the world, which is owned by Tagum
Development Corp. (TADECO). TADECO also happens to be one of the major banana
exporters in the world.
Multinational firm Dole Foods
Corporation also has a big pineapple plantation in the region.
Moving forward, Piñol said he
wouldn’t do anything that will hurt exports as this is still an important part
of the economy.
“We will not attempt to
discourage traditional exporters from changing their marketing strategy. In
fact, we will support them at the same time we will intensify efforts to
produce more of the commodities needed by the local market,” he further said.
First and hopefully the last
avian flu outbreak
His critics said Piñol may have
overreacted in terms of dealing with the country’s first avian flu outbreak.
But then again, he considers this
as his “biggest challenge” for the year.
It was in August when avian
influenza (AI) was first detected and then later on in Nueva Ecija in August.
When this happened, DA proceeded
to ban the shipments of poultry products from the entire Luzon to other parts
of the country, a decision it eventually reversed as if it shouldn’t have done
it in the first place.
Agriculture lobby group Samahang
Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said that because of the ban, which lasted
for weeks, the country’s entire poultry industry stood to lose billions of
pesos for an issue that would have been an isolated case. And it somehow did.
“It was my biggest challenge for
the year [as the Agriculture Secretary] but it was dealt effectively. Lessons
were learned and things were handled well,” Piñol said.
Moving on from the incident, one
of the areas that have been hit by bird flu in August can soon be declared free
from the virus, while disinfection activities and re-stocking of birds in other
towns are already on-going.
Arlene Vytiaco, Bureau of Animal
Industry (BAI) head of Animal Disease and Control Section, earlier said that
Jaen — one of the three areas in Nueva Ecija and Pampanga that were tested
positive for AI in August — already passed four tests of swab sampling
conducted by the government.
Under the Avian Influenza
Protection Program (AIPP), swab samples must be collected in affected areas
every seven days before an area can be declared free from the virus. Samples
must be done in five cycles.
Meanwhile, she said that
disinfection activities in San Luis in Pampanga as well as in San Isidro and
Jaen in Nueva Ecija already concluded in October, adding that re-stocking of sentinel
birds in these areas are already on-going.
How to spend the budget in one
year
Food production, mechanization,
lending program for farmers, dairy program — these are where the budget of the
DA will go next year. At least for the most part.
For next year, the agency and its
attached agencies will get a budget of R60.6 billion.
If the DA can utilize this all,
then it may have a better chance to get a bigger fund in the next years to
come.
To recall, Piñol was originally
requesting of P220 billion for 2018. At some point, he even said before that he
will not settle for a budget lower than P120 billion for next year.
This, after the DA may have
failed to allocate its funds to its proper use, which could also be the reason
why it took so long for lawmakers to give the agency’s 2018 budget proposal a
go.
There was a time when Senator
Cynthia Villar, who serves as the chair of the Senate committee on agriculture
and food, said she had to”realign” the budget for the agriculture sector so it
can be used “on more important things.”
“I realigned (the budget proposal
for agriculture). I put the budget to more important things. I didn’t add
anything. I just fixed it in a way that rice seeds will be provided to PhilRice
(Philippine Rice Research Institute) so they can distribute inbred seeds to
cooperatives and irrigators. In that way, they can teach farmers how to plant
inbred seeds that will give them yield of 6 metric tons (MT) per hectare,”
Villar said in an earlier report.
According to her, there is now a
misconception among the officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) over
the use of hybrid rice seeds over inbred varieties.
Back to present, Piñol hasn’t
given up. If he can “can show that the agency spent its budget efficiently” in
2017, then it should prove the DA is capable of handling funds as much as P200
billion.
For now, there’s a P60 billion
upcoming 2018 budget and a R4-billion unspent fund out of its 2017 budget of
P47 billion to worry about.
“We estimate around P4 billion to
be left unused out of our budget for this year. But that’s not because we have
the intention of not using it. It’s just we had to face some technical issues
in some of our projects,” he explained.
As for the agriculture sector’s
growth for next year, Piñol said he “doesn’t want to estimate but there will be
a dramatic growth” as the government is now more focused.
For this year, he is hoping for
the sector to perform well despite the back-to-back calamities that pestered
the country in the latter part of the year. Last week, it has been reported
that Tropical Depression Urduja has incurred as much as R1 billion worth of
damage to the entire agriculture sector.
In the end, despite his
accomplishments for the year, Piñol still apologized to Filipinos for the
government’s shortcomings.
“The best gauge in judging
the performance of the Department would be in the sufficiency of basic
commodities,” he said.
“I’m sorry that this is not
being felt right now by Filipino consumers because despite our efforts to
produce more, since there’s anomaly in the food supply chain, we will still not
be able to bring down the price of the food. And something has to be done,” he
finally stressed.
