Asia Rice-India, Vietnam attract
fresh buying; supply weighs on Thai market
Rice export
prices rose for both the Indian and Vietnamese varieties this week, bolstered
by a pick up in demand, while fresh supply and a lack of interest from overseas
buyers weighed on Thai rice prices. Prices for top exporter India’s benchmark 5
percent broken parboiled variety rose for the first time in four weeks to
$383-$386 per tonne from last week’s $378-$383 range. “Demand is good,
especially in containers from west Africa market,” Nitin Gupta, vice president,
rice business at Olam India, said. Also supporting the Indian variety, the
rupee was at its firmest since the start of the year, slashing exporters’
returns from foreign sales and prompting them to raise prices. Vietnam, the
world’s third-largest shipper of the grain after Thailand, also saw prices for
its 5 percent broken rice variety gain to $355 a tonne from $345 last week.
“The government said it would buy rice from farmers for stockpiling, and demand
is also seen rising,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. “However,
increasing supplies from an ongoing harvest will likely keep prices from rising
further.” The winter-spring harvest in the Mekong Delta will peak at the end of
this month. The country’s central bank earlier this week asked local commercial
banks to lower their lending rates to 6 percent for short-term loans to
farmers, rice processors and exporters to help absorb the winter-spring output.
“Malaysia is buying, and we have also been approached by customers from China
and the Philippines, who are seeking to buy Vietnamese rice,” another trader
said. In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice prices eased to $380-$390,
free on board Bangkok, from last week’s $383-$398. Fresh supply and the
weakening of the domestic currency contributed to the price dip, while
demand remained flat, traders said. “There are now talks that there could be a
drought during this dry season and that could impact supply next quarter,” a
trader said. “Exporters are still looking to the Philippines for a possible
deal, but so far things have remained quiet.” Meanwhile, summer rice output in
Bangladesh is expected to hit 19.62 million tonnes from 19.57 million tonnes
last year, Mizanur Rahman, a senior official of Department of Agriculture
Extension, told Reuters. The summer-sown crop, also known as ‘Boro’, usually
contributes more than half of Bangladesh’s typical annual rice production of
around 35 million tonnes. Bangladesh, the world’s fourth largest producer, saw
imports surge in 2017 after floods wrought havoc on local crops, prompting the
country to act to shore up domestic reserves.
Date: 07-Mar-2019
Division of
Agriculture agronomists named researchers of the year at conservation
conference
·
·
Mar 9, 2019
Division Rice
Agronomist Jarrod Hardke named Rice Researcher of 2019
Division
Cotton Agronomist Bill Robertson named Cotton Researcher of 2019
The awards
were given at the National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference
FAYETTEVILLE —
Two University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture agronomists were
recognized for their efforts in cotton and rice research at the National
Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference.
Bill
Robertson, cotton agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, was named Cotton
Researcher of 2019 and Jarrod Hardke, rice agronomist for the Division of
Agriculture, was named Rice Researcher of 2019 at the conference on Jan. 30.
The award
recognizes researchers for their work in testing and evaluating conservation
systems concepts and equipment and promoting the benefits of conservation
farming. Conservation and sustainable farming are important to both Hardke and
Robertson.
“My work
involves a sustainable approach to rice production,” Hardke said. “I am
fortunate to be able to collaborate with researchers across disciplines where
we attempt to emphasize conservation and sustainability of all resources
including fertility, pest management, agronomics, and irrigation. Efficiency is
the key to conservation and we pursue it every day.”
Robertson’s
research puts a focus on evaluating more environmentally friendly practices the
cotton supply chain desires and how those practices impact producer
profitability.
“It is truly a
great honor to be recognized by the Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice
Conference for my work in cotton,” Robertson said. “This has always been one of
my favorite meetings. The producer to producer information exchange is great. I
love having the opportunity to help facilitate this interaction at this and
other meetings.”
Hardke earned
a bachelor’s in crop and pest management from the University of Arkansas,
Fayetteville, and a doctorate in entomology from Louisiana State University. He
joined the Division of Agriculture in 2012. His research focuses on agronomic
production practices in rice including the evaluation of seeding rates,
planting dates, cultivar selection, and emerging grower management issues.
“It is always
a very humbling experience to be recognized for the work I feel fortunate to
do,” Hardke said. “Having grown up working on a rice farm, being able to work
on rice issues to help all growers is something that means a great deal to me.
I sincerely appreciate this recognition and hope to continue working on behalf
of rice growers for a long time.”
Robertson
earned a bachelor’s in plant science from West Texas State University and a
master’s and doctorate in agronomy from Texas A&M University. He joined the
division in 2014. Robertson spends most of his time in the field working with
county agents and producers overseeing 12 large-plot on-farm cotton variety
testing locations. Robertson uses several of these locations to evaluate
practices that reduce cotton’s environmental and how those practices improve soil
health and impact producer profitability.
The National
Conservation System Cotton and Rice Conference is one of four-conference event
that took place Jan. 30 - Feb. 1. The Southern Corn and Soybean Conference, the
Southern Precision Ag Conference and the Delta States Irrigation Conference
occurred simultaneously at the Crown Plaza in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Green tea, rice compounds show promise against Alzheimer’s:
Study
A diet
containing compounds found in green tea and carrots reversed Alzheimer’s-like
symptoms in mice, an advance that could one day pave the way for treatment of
dementia in humans, say researchers
Published: 8
Mar 2019, 10:00 PM
A diet containing compounds found in green
tea and carrots reversed Alzheimer's-like symptoms in mice genetically
programmed to develop the disease, an advance that could one day pave the way
for treatment of dementia in humans, say researchers.
The study, led by the University of Southern
California in the US, supports the idea that combination therapy, rather than a
single magic bullet, may offer the best approach to treating people living with
Alzheimer's.
Combination treatment is already the standard
of care for diseases such as cancer, HIV infection and rheumatoid arthritis.
The findings, published in the journal
Biological Chemistry, showed that a combination of EGCG, or
epigallocatechin-3-gallate - found in green tea; and FA, or ferulic acid -
found in carrots, tomatoes, rice, wheat and oats, completely restored spatial
working memory.
After three months of treatment, the
Alzheimer's mice performed just as well as the healthy comparison mice.
"You don't have to wait 10 to 12 years
for a designer drug to make it to the market. You can make these dietary
changes today. I find that very encouraging," said Terrence Town,
Professor at the varsity.
For the study, the researchers assigned 32
mice with Alzheimer's-like symptoms to one of four groups with an equal number
of males and females for three months.
The dosage was 30 milligrams per kilogram of
body weight - a dosage well-tolerated by humans and easily consumed as part of
a healthy diet.
The researchers noted that many mouse
discoveries never translate into human treatments.
However, the findings lend credence to the
idea that certain readily available, plant-based supplements might offer
protection against dementia in humans, they said.
Pollution destroys 21% wheat, 6%
rice crop every year: IIT-M study
The economic loss caused by the plant-damaging pollutant to the country
is estimated to be about USD 5 billion for wheat and USD 1.5 billion for rice
MUMBAI Updated: Mar 10, 2019 23:25 IST
Snehal Fernandes
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Picture for representation only.(REUTERS)
Surface ozone is destroying around 22 million
tonnes (21%) of India’s wheat yield and 6.5 million tonnes (6%) rice crop every
year, a multi-institute study led by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras
(IIT-M) has revealed, with Punjab and Haryana alone accounting for losses of
16% and 11% for wheat and rice respectively. 
The economic
loss caused by the plant-damaging pollutant to the country is estimated to be
about USD 5 billion for wheat and USD 1.5 billion for rice.
Surface ozone
is generated by chemical reactions between primary pollutants such as oxides of
nitrogen and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight.
The sources of
these primary pollutants are power plants, vehicles, industries, and biomass
burning.
“Like any
other gas, surface ozone enters the plant leaves through its stomata as part of
normal atmospheric gas exchange. Upon uptake it dissolves in the water present
in the plant and further reacts with other chemicals affecting photosynthesis
and thereby crop yields,” said Sachin Gunthe, principal investigator and
associate professor, environmental and water resources engineering division,
department of civil engineering at IIT-M.
Researchers
said the findings of the study are important in view of the projected rise in
manmade pollution, including surface ozone, with significant impact on the
Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) which is an important agricultural region. A decrease
in crop yield in India – also the second-most populous country – therefore will
have a serious impact on its food security and economic growth.
A previous
study estimated losses of 15% and 6% for wheat and rice yield, respectively
based on measurements of surface ozone levels recorded mostly in urban,
suburban and high altitude areas, thus not adequately accounting for ozone over
rural agricultural areas which can be compensated by using chemistry transport
meteorological models.
The new study
attributed the increase in both crop yield and economic losses in the new study
to the regional chemistry transport model WRF-Chem simulations, which factored
in differing ozone chemistry in rural agricultural fields away from urban and
semi-urban monitoring stations.
The study
provides spatial distribution of yield losses, which could be of interest to
scientific communities not limited to environmentalists, botanists and plant
physiologists.
Wheat is a
Rabi crop cultivated between November and April, while rice is grown during the
Kharif season from June to October as well as Rabi season. Compared to wheat,
crop loss for rice is less because surface ozone levels are lower as the main
harvesting period is soon after the monsoon and also because rice is relatively
less sensitive to ozone compared to wheat.
Although there
is a permissible human exposure level for surface ozone set by the Central
Pollution Control Board, there are no safe levels prescribed for plants.
For the study,
the five-member team used WRF-Chem model to simulate mixing ratios for surface
ozone every hour to derive accumulated ozone levels that exceed 40 parts per
billion by volume (ppbv) – also referred to AOT40 – during the Kharif and Rabi
seasons across various states.
Findings
showed that a combination of higher crop production and coincident exposure to
elevated surface ozone levels resulted in IGP region, comprising of states of
Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar and West Bengal, to bear the maximum
brunt of losses in wheat and rice yields. Among the leading wheat producing
states, the highest crop loss of estimated 5.5 million tonnes (23%) is recorded
in MP, followed by 5 million tonnes (21%) in UP every year. Both these states
incur an economic loss of more than USD 1 billion each every year.
Of the major
states – Punjab, UP, Bihar and West Bengal in the IGP region, and Orissa and
Andhra Pradesh (AP) – that cultivate rice, Punjab incurs a maximum loss of
around 1.5 million tonnes (11.5%) followed by 1 million tonnes (9%) in UP
annually. These two states suffer an annual economic loss of around USD 0.3
billion each.
“There is an urgent
need to conduct strategic ozone observations, especially over agricultural
fields, and the development of annual regional-emission database to support
policy making in India,” said Gufran Beig, co-author, Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology, Pune. “There is also a need for aggressive cooperation
between agricultural scientists and scientists involved in studies on air
pollution to carry out research to develop ozone-resistant cultivars.
Study Finds Diet That Mimics Fasting May Help Those with
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
08 March 2019
People with
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) live with frequent, miserable episodes of
abdominal pain, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, rectal bleeding. Such people,
often, find it difficult to find out which foods work best for them and those
that do not. Interestingly, new research now suggests that keeping gut health
in check might have less to do with the food one eats and more to do...
Ghana needs improved technology to fix
challenges with Agric – Scientist
Source: Ghana| Myjoyonline.com |Abubakar Ibrahim
Date: 08-03-2019 Time: 02:03:01:pm
Charles
Afriyie-Debrah, a scientist with the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research
A scientist with the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR), is urging farmers to accept
improved technology as a key tool to help deal with agricultural
challenges in the country.
Charles Afriyie-Debrah says problems like
pest attack on farms as well as climate change can be dealt with if
farmers are open minded to the use of better technology.
Mr. Afriyie Debrah who is Biosafety Officer
at the Crop Research Institute of the CSIR was speaking at a training
program for farmers at Bunso in the Eastern region on
biotechnology application to agriculture and biosafety.
“This GMO technology can be used to
introduce genes into crops like cotton to make it resistant to pests. So
farmers do not have to spray too many times,” he explained to the farmers.
“This will make us less dependent on
government for chemicals to deal with pests on farms. It will help us save money.
We would also have no need to spray chemicals which could endanger our health,”
he said.
He explained the technology can also be used
to increase vitamin A content in foods like rice, make tomato have extended
shelve life, among others.
The sensitization programme organised by
Alliance for Science Ghana had the objective of sensitizing farmers
on the basics of GMO technology and the role it can play in the country’s
agricultural sector.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are
organisms whose genetic makeup have been altered to introduce beneficial traits
including resistance to disease, pests and harsh weather conditions.
Ghana is currently undertaking the trials of
two GMO crops following the passage of the National Biosafety Act 2011 to allow
for the commercialisation of such products.
The GMO cowpea currently under trials at the
Savannah Agric Research Institute in Nyankpala has been modified to resist the
deadly bollworm pests which can destroy up to 80 per cent of produce
on cowpea fields. It is expected that this
The Nitrogen Efficient, Water Efficient, Salt
Tolerant (NEWEST) rice has also been modified to be more efficient in the use
of nitrogen and water, and as well be tolerant of salty soils.
Reuben Quainoo of Alliance for
Science Ghana which organised the event in an interview urged the CSIR to
speed up the ongoing trials on GMO crops so that they can be made
available to farmers soon.
“There should be the deliberate effort on the
part of the state to champion the application of technology in Agric. We cannot
continue doing things the same way we have done it for all these years and
expect different results. The CSIR scientists, they should not delay,” he
noted.
“I could hear the farmers asking where are
the seeds? Where are the seeds? Let us make the seeds available to them so they
take their own decision on whether they want to plant or not,”
Mr. Quainoo added.
Study shows that climate impacts
from rice cultivation are large but can be reduced drastically
Anantapur Mar 11, (Research Matters):
·
Study shows that climate impacts from rice
cultivation are large but can be reduced drastically
Oryza sativa, or rice, is the staple food of more than
half the world’s population and supports the livelihoods of around 145 million households. Since
its domestication thousands of years ago, rice has played an essential role in
shaping civilisations. However, present-day practices of rice cultivation may
harm the planet's climate, shows a recent study conducted in India.
Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
of the United States of America, the study assesses if intermittent flooding in
rice fields, a common practice in India, could be contributing to large
emissions of two greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide.
“Evidence suggests that rice has been grown
for at least 10,000 years. At first, rice was grown in forest clearings under a
system of shifting cultivation. The crop was direct-seeded, without standing
water and fertilisers—conditions only slightly different from those to which
wild rice was subject”, says Dr Kritee, a researcher at the Environmental
Defense Fund, New York, and the lead author of the paper. The absence of
standing water and fertilizers leads to negligible production of methane and
nitrous oxide, respectively.
Over the
years, the practice of rice cultivation changed in order to increase
production. “Puddling the soil, turning it to mud and transplanting seedlings
became integral parts of rice farming giving a head start to higher yields”,
says Dr Kritee. In this PNAS study, the researchers assessed the climate impact
of different intermittent flooding and fertiliser use regimes in rice farms for
three years. They defined three kinds of intermittent flooding patterns: mild-intermittent
flooding where there is a near-constant and shallow flooding of soil,
medium-intermittent flooding where the water levels fluctuate at an
intermediate level, and intense intermittent flooding where the water levels
fluctuate most intensely and reach much below the root zone of the rice plant
many times during a season.
The
researchers hypothesized that by managing the quantity of nitrogen, water and
organic matter added to land, the net climate impacts of rice cultivation could
be reduced. By simultaneously changing these variables in farmer-managed plots,
the researchers compared the greenhouse gas emissions between conventional
farms: farms that make use of chemical fertilizers, and those with
climate-smart practices: farms that use high organic matter, low quantities of
chemical fertilizers and mild intermittent flooding. They also made an attempt
to understand the causes of variations in the emission rates of nitrous oxide
with respect to methane under varied soil and farm management parameters.
The study
showed that nitrous oxide levels were 30-45 times higher under medium or
intense forms of intermittent flooding as compared to those typically found
under continuous flooding. Also, the flooding pattern was found to be the most
important predictor of nitrous oxide emissions from rice farms indicating that
more intense the intermittent flooding, higher the nitrous oxide emissions.
Overall, the findings of the study show that by co-managing the use of
fertilisers and organic matter along with a mild form of intermittent flooding
(that avoids both, standing water and intense forms of intermittent flooding),
can minimize both methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice farms in India
by an average of 60 percent.
The study also
used a mathematical framework, called Technology Warming Potential framework, to compare the
collective climate impacts of various greenhouse gases and the different
technologies used in rice cultivation. “Such a framework is important to
consider because a single flooding pattern can lead to the production of more
than one greenhouse gas. In our use of this framework, we assumed that for a
period of 200 years, both nitrous oxide and methane are emitted continuously
and indefinitely at different rates under different flooding regimes. Then we
compared the cumulative climate impact of each flooding pattern”, explains Dr
Kritee.
Lastly, the PNAS
study showed geospatial risk analysis, for the entire Indian subcontinent
(including Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangalore), that clarifies which
geographic areas might hold the highest risk of large nitrous oxide
emissions. As expected, the risk analysis indicated that rice farms that
were rainfed and irrigated with multiple wet and dry cycles were at risk for
high emissions of nitrous oxide. On the other hand, rice irrigated with
continuous flooding, and those in wetlands were less susceptible to such
emissions. Authors have provided a similar geospatial
analysis for the entire world and other detailed
discussions here.
Studies like
this are crucial given that the current estimates of global methane emissions
from rice farms are at 36
Million Metric Tons, and these methane emissions from rice are
expected to double by 2100. The current mitigation policies support the use of
intermittent flooding as a means to reduce methane emissions from rice farms.
However, they have mostly ignored the possibility of high rates of nitrous
oxide emissions and increase in net climate impact of rice farming due to
intermittent flooding. This PNAS study highlights the fundamental ways in which
the pathways to reduce methane emissions can increase nitrous oxide emissions.
The authors
suggest that more research that provides rigorous data from medium- and
intense-intermittently flooded rice farms from multiple geographies around the
world is necessary. “It is absolutely possible to advance rice farming
practices through governmental and corporate policies that achieve triple
win—i.e., maximise yields, farm-level profits and minimise environmental
impacts. Triple win, however, requires that at a minimum the global community
immediately start mapping water levels across farmer-managed rice fields across
the world. This will help design the best climate mitigation strategies for
different rice growing countries”, says Richie Ahuja, a co-author of the study.
DAKOTA
RICE CORN AND SOYBEAN GROWERS ANNUAL MEETING
JERRY GROSKREUTZ
March 10, 2019
The Dakota
Rice Corn and Soybean Growers will be holding their annual meeting on Monday
March 18, 2019 at Jessie James Lanes right on Highway 3 in Northfield. The
Social Hour begins at 6:00 pm with the Dinner at 6:30. The Annual Meeting will
begin at 7:00 pm. All corn and soybean growers in Rice and Dakota County are
welcome. There is no charge and you do not have to pre-register.
The guest
speaker will be Paul Meints the Research Director for the Minnesota Corn
Growers. There here are always reports from other organizations and groups that
the Dakota Rice Corn and Soybean Growers partner with. In addition the Dakota
Rice Corn and Soybean Growers sponsor two scholarships with Agriculture Future
of America. In the past we have heard reports from those scholarship students.
Pollution destroys 21% wheat, 6%
rice crop every year: IIT-M study
The economic loss caused by the plant-damaging pollutant to the country
is estimated to be about USD 5 billion for wheat and USD 1.5 billion for rice
MUMBAI Updated: Mar 10, 2019 23:25 IST
Snehal Fernandes :Hindustan
Times
Picture for representation only.(REUTERS
Surface ozone is destroying around 22 million
tonnes (21%) of India’s wheat yield and 6.5 million tonnes (6%) rice crop every
year, a multi-institute study led by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras
(IIT-M) has revealed, with Punjab and Haryana alone accounting for losses of
16% and 11% for wheat and rice respectively.
The economic
loss caused by the plant-damaging pollutant to the country is estimated to be
about USD 5 billion for wheat and USD 1.5 billion for rice.
Surface ozone
is generated by chemical reactions between primary pollutants such as oxides of
nitrogen and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight.
The sources of
these primary pollutants are power plants, vehicles, industries, and biomass
burning.
“Like any
other gas, surface ozone enters the plant leaves through its stomata as part of
normal atmospheric gas exchange. Upon uptake it dissolves in the water present
in the plant and further reacts with other chemicals affecting photosynthesis
and thereby crop yields,” said Sachin Gunthe, principal investigator and associate
professor, environmental and water resources engineering division, department
of civil engineering at IIT-M.
Researchers
said the findings of the study are important in view of the projected rise in
manmade pollution, including surface ozone, with significant impact on the
Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) which is an important agricultural region. A decrease
in crop yield in India – also the second-most populous country – therefore will
have a serious impact on its food security and economic growth.
A previous
study estimated losses of 15% and 6% for wheat and rice yield, respectively
based on measurements of surface ozone levels recorded mostly in urban,
suburban and high altitude areas, thus not adequately accounting for ozone over
rural agricultural areas which can be compensated by using chemistry transport
meteorological models.
The new study
attributed the increase in both crop yield and economic losses in the new study
to the regional chemistry transport model WRF-Chem simulations, which factored
in differing ozone chemistry in rural agricultural fields away from urban and
semi-urban monitoring stations.
The study
provides spatial distribution of yield losses, which could be of interest to
scientific communities not limited to environmentalists, botanists and plant
physiologists.
Wheat is a
Rabi crop cultivated between November and April, while rice is grown during the
Kharif season from June to October as well as Rabi season. Compared to wheat,
crop loss for rice is less because surface ozone levels are lower as the main
harvesting period is soon after the monsoon and also because rice is relatively
less sensitive to ozone compared to wheat.
Although there
is a permissible human exposure level for surface ozone set by the Central
Pollution Control Board, there are no safe levels prescribed for plants.
For the study,
the five-member team used WRF-Chem model to simulate mixing ratios for surface
ozone every hour to derive accumulated ozone levels that exceed 40 parts per
billion by volume (ppbv) – also referred to AOT40 – during the Kharif and Rabi
seasons across various states.
Findings
showed that a combination of higher crop production and coincident exposure to
elevated surface ozone levels resulted in IGP region, comprising of states of
Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar and West Bengal, to bear the maximum
brunt of losses in wheat and rice yields. Among the leading wheat producing
states, the highest crop loss of estimated 5.5 million tonnes (23%) is recorded
in MP, followed by 5 million tonnes (21%) in UP every year. Both these states
incur an economic loss of more than USD 1 billion each every year.
Of the major
states – Punjab, UP, Bihar and West Bengal in the IGP region, and Orissa and
Andhra Pradesh (AP) – that cultivate rice, Punjab incurs a maximum loss of
around 1.5 million tonnes (11.5%) followed by 1 million tonnes (9%) in UP
annually. These two states suffer an annual economic loss of around USD 0.3
billion each.
“There is an
urgent need to conduct strategic ozone observations, especially over
agricultural fields, and the development of annual regional-emission database
to support policy making in India,” said Gufran Beig, co-author, Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune. “There is also a need for aggressive
cooperation between agricultural scientists and scientists involved in studies
on air pollution to carry out research to develop ozone-resistant cultivars.”
Division of
Agriculture agronomists named researchers of the year at conservation
conference
·
Mar 9,
2019
FastFacts:Division
Rice Agronomist Jarrod Hardke named Rice Researcher of 2019
Division
Cotton Agronomist Bill Robertson named Cotton Researcher of 2019
The awards
were given at the National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference
FAYETTEVILLE —
Two University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture agronomists were
recognized for their efforts in cotton and rice research at the National
Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference.
Bill
Robertson, cotton agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, was named Cotton
Researcher of 2019 and Jarrod Hardke, rice agronomist for the Division of
Agriculture, was named Rice Researcher of 2019 at the conference on Jan. 30.
The award
recognizes researchers for their work in testing and evaluating conservation
systems concepts and equipment and promoting the benefits of conservation
farming. Conservation and sustainable farming are important to both Hardke and
Robertson.
“My work
involves a sustainable approach to rice production,” Hardke said. “I am
fortunate to be able to collaborate with researchers across disciplines where
we attempt to emphasize conservation and sustainability of all resources
including fertility, pest management, agronomics, and irrigation. Efficiency is
the key to conservation and we pursue it every day.”
Robertson’s
research puts a focus on evaluating more environmentally friendly practices the
cotton supply chain desires and how those practices impact producer
profitability.
“It is truly a
great honor to be recognized by the Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice
Conference for my work in cotton,” Robertson said. “This has always been one of
my favorite meetings. The producer to producer information exchange is great. I
love having the opportunity to help facilitate this interaction at this and
other meetings.”
Hardke earned
a bachelor’s in crop and pest management from the University of Arkansas,
Fayetteville, and a doctorate in entomology from Louisiana State University. He
joined the Division of Agriculture in 2012. His research focuses on agronomic
production practices in rice including the evaluation of seeding rates,
planting dates, cultivar selection, and emerging grower management issues.
“It is always
a very humbling experience to be recognized for the work I feel fortunate to
do,” Hardke said. “Having grown up working on a rice farm, being able to work
on rice issues to help all growers is something that means a great deal to me.
I sincerely appreciate this recognition and hope to continue working on behalf
of rice growers for a long time.”
Robertson
earned a bachelor’s in plant science from West Texas State University and a
master’s and doctorate in agronomy from Texas A&M University. He joined the
division in 2014. Robertson spends most of his time in the field working with
county agents and producers overseeing 12 large-plot on-farm cotton variety
testing locations. Robertson uses several of these locations to evaluate
practices that reduce cotton’s environmental and how those practices improve
soil health and impact producer profitability.
The National
Conservation System Cotton and Rice Conference is one of four-conference event
that took place Jan. 30 - Feb. 1. The Southern Corn and Soybean Conference, the
Southern Precision Ag Conference and the Delta States Irrigation Conference
occurred simultaneously at the Crown Plaza in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Import duties on brown rice rise in E.U.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — The European Commission
increased the import duty on
“husked” or brown rice (non-basmati) to €65 per tonne. As of
March 8, the new duty stands for the European Union (E.U.). In accordance
with international
agreements, rice import duties in the E.U. are reviewed twice a
year, on March 1 and Sept. 1.
The European Commission noted the increase in
demand of husked rice had reached more than 264,000 tonnes since September
2018, leading to an increase in import duties. This import duty had not changed
since the March 2012 review. “The legislation in place highlights that if the
level of imports for husked rice in the first six months of the marketing year
is below 191,113 tonnes, the duty should be fixed at €30 per tonne which was
the case until today’s decision,” the European Commission said. “When it
exceeds 191,113 tonnes, but is not higher than 224,839 tonnes, the duty should
be fixed at €42.5 per tonne. Finally, which applies in this case, if it exceeds
258,565 tonnes, the duty needs to be set at €65 per tonne.” Import duties of
€65 per tonne are now fixed until the next review, which will be on Sept. 1,
2019. The European Commission will continue to monitor the market closely.
Cambodia rice export up 1.9 pct
in 1st two months
PHNOM PENH,
March 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia exported 112,486 tons of milled rice in the first
two months of 2019, an increase of 1.9 percent over the same period last year,
according to an official report on Friday. China is the biggest buyer of
Cambodia rice, said the report from the Secretariat of One Window Service for
Rice Export. Cambodia export 43,452 tons of milled rice to China during the
Jan.-Feb. period this year, up 32 percent over the same period last year, it
said, adding that Chinese market absorbed 38.6 percent of Cambodia's total rice
export. According to the report, Cambodia rice export to the European markets
declined by 33 percent during the period because the European Union, in
January, imposed tariffs on rice going from Cambodia in a bid to curb a surge
in rice imports from the kingdom. The Southeast Asian nation shipped 33,969
tons of rice to Europe in the first two months of this year, down 33 percent
over the same period last year, the report said. Cambodia produces around 10
million tons of paddy rice a year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Woman
killed in Banke rice mill accident
Published:
March 10, 2019 12:40 pm On: Nepal
RASTRIYA SAMACHAR SAMITI
RANJHA: A woman was killed after she became
snarled up in machinery at a rice mill at Phattepur in Rapti Sonari Rural
Municipality-6 in Banke district on Saturday evening.
The deceased
has been identified as local resident Smriti Tharu (28) of Sidhanawa.
According to
Police Chief at Bhagawanpur-based Area Police Office, Inspector Birendra BK,
the incident took place when Tharu was working in the rice mill and her shawl
was accidentally caught by the flywheel of the rice mill.
She died on
the spot, said Inspector BK, adding her body has been kept at the Bheri
Hospital in Nepalgunj for postmortem.
Bringing help
closer to the farmers
A screen shot of a farmer’s database showing
what help the farmer has received from government and the location of his farm
and house. (Screenshot from Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol)
A screen shot of a farmer’s database showing
what help the farmer has received from government and the location of his farm
and house. (Screenshot from Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol)
The Department of Agriculture has started
validating rice and corn farmers in the country using the farmer’s database.
(File photo)
A screen shot of a farmer’s database showing
what help the farmer has received from government and the location of his farm
and house. (Screenshot from Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol)
A screen shot of a farmer’s database showing
what help the farmer has received from government and the location of his farm
and house. (Screenshot from Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol)
The Department of Agriculture has started
validating rice and corn farmers in the country using the farmer’s database.
(File photo)
A screen shot of a farmer’s database showing
what help the farmer has received from government and the location of his farm
and house. (Screenshot from Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol)
March 10, 2019
WHEN it comes to the use of digital
technology in agriculture, the Philippines is not really at the top of the
list.
"The Philippines have tried to use the technology but it was costly and complicated," Henry Aguda, chief technology and operations officer and chief transformation officer of Union Bank, said during the TechUp Pilipinas Agri Summit in Davao City in 2018.
He pointed out that these technologies can help increase the yield of the farmers.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has mentioned in earlier reports that it is keen on using technology to improve the agriculture of the country.
Clint Hassan, DA director for information and communications technology service (ICTS), said in the same summit that the agency has already laid down information technology (IT) initiatives in 2018 to 2020.
We may be seeing one of these IT initiatives now as DA implements a program that uses digital technology to identify that farmers who will benefit from the assistance provided by the government.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, March 10, DA Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said DA regional offices have been directed to validate farmers in the country using drones and digital technology. This is to ensure that government interventions "will not go to the 'wrong hands'."
Piñol said ICTS designed an IT system that will store information about every farmer and fishermen in the country.
"The format will employ the aerial mapping and geo-tagging technology to ensure that the location of the farms and houses of the farmers and fishermen are validated," Piñol said.
He said they are piloting this initiative by initially identifying and validating rice and corn farmers in the regions. This is part of the agency's preparation for the delivery of support and interventions from government this year.
Piñol said these interventions include the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) and the P30-billion National Fertilizer Support Program (NFSP).
The RCEF is expected to be released this mid-year and this involves the delivery of farm equipment and machinery and seeds for rice farmers while the NFSP provides at least six bags of fertilizer for each rice and corn farmer all over the country.
Piñol said in the past, "government interventions were marked by irregularities with seeds, fertilizers and machinery going to the wrong beneficiaries."
"The delivery of interventions in the past were also marred by political interference leading some farmers to complain that only those who are close to the political powers received help," he added.
"With the implementation of the Farmer’s Database which uses Digital Technology through Aerial Mapping and Geo-Tagging, the interventions will be delivered directly to the real beneficiaries," Piñol said.
"The Philippines have tried to use the technology but it was costly and complicated," Henry Aguda, chief technology and operations officer and chief transformation officer of Union Bank, said during the TechUp Pilipinas Agri Summit in Davao City in 2018.
He pointed out that these technologies can help increase the yield of the farmers.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has mentioned in earlier reports that it is keen on using technology to improve the agriculture of the country.
Clint Hassan, DA director for information and communications technology service (ICTS), said in the same summit that the agency has already laid down information technology (IT) initiatives in 2018 to 2020.
We may be seeing one of these IT initiatives now as DA implements a program that uses digital technology to identify that farmers who will benefit from the assistance provided by the government.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, March 10, DA Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said DA regional offices have been directed to validate farmers in the country using drones and digital technology. This is to ensure that government interventions "will not go to the 'wrong hands'."
Piñol said ICTS designed an IT system that will store information about every farmer and fishermen in the country.
"The format will employ the aerial mapping and geo-tagging technology to ensure that the location of the farms and houses of the farmers and fishermen are validated," Piñol said.
He said they are piloting this initiative by initially identifying and validating rice and corn farmers in the regions. This is part of the agency's preparation for the delivery of support and interventions from government this year.
Piñol said these interventions include the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) and the P30-billion National Fertilizer Support Program (NFSP).
The RCEF is expected to be released this mid-year and this involves the delivery of farm equipment and machinery and seeds for rice farmers while the NFSP provides at least six bags of fertilizer for each rice and corn farmer all over the country.
Piñol said in the past, "government interventions were marked by irregularities with seeds, fertilizers and machinery going to the wrong beneficiaries."
"The delivery of interventions in the past were also marred by political interference leading some farmers to complain that only those who are close to the political powers received help," he added.
"With the implementation of the Farmer’s Database which uses Digital Technology through Aerial Mapping and Geo-Tagging, the interventions will be delivered directly to the real beneficiaries," Piñol said.
Philippines set to be world’s 2nd
largest rice importer
Louise Maureen Simeon (The
Philippine Star) - March 11, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is once
again setting record levels in terms of buying rice in the world market as it
is expected to be the second-largest global importer this year at 2.6 million
metric tons (MMT) of rice.
After the 2008 rice crisis, the Philippines
is now seen sourcing some 2.6 million MT after the removal of quantitative
restrictions on Filipinos’ basic commodity.
This makes the country the second-largest
rice importer for 2019, next to China with an estimated 4.5 million MT of rice
imports.
In the latest report of the United States
Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS), this year’s
importation is 37 percent higher than the 1.9 million MT imports in 2018.
Just last week, Republic Act 11203 or the
Rice Import Liberalization Law took effect, which replaced rice import
quantitative restrictions with tariffs and reverted the Minimum Access Volume
to its 2012 levels.
Rice is a staple food in the country and the
law is intended, in part, to spur imports in order to quell domestic unrest
caused by inflation.
“As a result of this legislation, higher rice
imports are expected from nearby ASEAN member countries, with their relative
low cost and preferential access to the Philippines,” the USDA said.
“This is a record not seen since the
international price spike in 2008 and would make the Philippines the
second-largest global importer in 2019,” the report added.
Given the high non-most favored nation (MFN)
tariff rate and in the absence of a free trade agreement, it is not anticipated
that the US or other countries will be competitive enough to pick up much of
the expanded volume of Philippine imports.
The USDA already hiked this year’s rice
imports from the earlier projection of 2.3 million MT following the lifting of
the quantitative restriction on the commodity.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, for his
part, said the huge volume of importation is only temporary and will eventually
slowdown.
“Ironically, we are also expecting a higher
local harvest this year. I believe that when the market chokes, the inflow of
imported rice will naturally slow down,” Piñol told The STAR.
“This is just for now because everybody is
excited to import. With the price of local palay dropping to as low as P16 [per
kilo], local rice prices could go as low as P36. That would be competitive with
the imported rice,” he said.
In fact, application to bring in the
commodity even before the law took effect already reached nearly two million
MT.
The country’s additional imports also aim to
strengthen buffer stocks ahead of the midterm elections scheduled in May 2019.
Rice consumption has also been raised to
13.75 million MT from 13.65 million MT as rising food prices are forcing less
affluent Filipinos to consume more rice and less meat and vegetables.
Production of milled-rice this year is seen
decreasing by one percent to 12.15 million MT from the 12.23 million MT in
2018.
USDA said there may be slight reduction in
area planted as rice areas in 2019 will be at 4.81 million hectares, one
percent lower than the 4.84 million hectares last year.
PHL rice
imports to hit 2.6 MMT–USDA
-
March 11, 2019
THE opening up
of the Philippine rice market could push its imports this year to a record-high
2.6 million (MMT) metric tons, making it the second- biggest buyer of the
staple since the 2008 rice price crisis, according to the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA).
In its monthly
grains report, the USDA projected that rice exports to the Philippines would
expand by 4 percent to 2.6 MMT, from the estimated volume of 2.5 MMT in 2018.
The USDA also
revised upward its February forecast for Philippine rice imports in 2019 from
2.3 MMT to 2.6 MMT.
The USDA
attributed the hike in imports to the implementation of the rice trade
liberalization (RTL) law, paving the way for a new trade regime for the
Philippines.
Under the RTL
law, importers would just have to secure a sanitary and phytosanitary
import-clearance (SPS-IC) from the Bureau of Plant and Industry prior to
shipment arrivals. The law also deregulated the National Food Authority (NFA),
removing all its power over rice trade in the country.
“As a result
of this legislation, higher rice imports are expected from nearby Association
of Southeast Asian Nations member- countries, with their relative low cost and
preferential access to the Philippines,” the USDA said in the report, published
over the weekend.
“[The
2.6-million metric ton import volume] is a record not seen since the
international price spike in 2008 and would make the Philippines the
second-largest global importer in 2019,” it added.
Government
data submitted to the World Trade Organization indicated that this could be the
biggest volume of rice to be imported by the Philippines in history,
overshadowing the volume it purchased in 2008.
In 2008, the
Philippines imported 2.39 MMT of rice, with 2.297 MMT of the total volume being
bought by the NFA; while in 2010, the country purchased 2.369 MMT.
Despite the
anticipated increase in imports, the USDA maintained its rice output forecast
for the Philippines at 12.15 MMT, slightly lower than last year’s 12.235 MMT.
In a separate
report, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted that
global rice prices continued to decline despite the liberalization of the
country’s rice industry.
“February
quotations of Indica white rice declined across much of Asia, as fresh demand remained
persistently thin, overshadowing news of the passage of the rice tariffication
law in the Philippines,” FAO said in its monthly rice market monitor report
published recently.
FAO’s higher
quality Indica rice index in February fell by 4.7 percent to 191, from 200 in
January. Likewise, lower quality Indica index declined by 7.2 percent to 194
from 209 in the previous month, FAO data showed.
Quotations for
5-percent brokens of Vietnamese rice fell for the third straight month to $335
per MT, while its 25-percent brokens declined further to $323 per MT, FAO data
showed.
“According to
the Index, international prices in the first two months of 2019 were 1.1
percent below their levels in the corresponding period of 2018,” FAO said.
‘Rice tariffication needs
delicate balance’
Delon Porcalla (The
Philippine Star) - March 11, 2019 - 12:00am
Sacks of rice husks are transported in
Barangay Talogtog in Lingayen, Pangasinan on Saturday.
Cesar Ramirez
MANILA,
Philippines — The Duterte administration should “strike a delicate balance” in
implementing the rice tariffication law by making sure this will benefit both
the farmers producing the rice and the consumers eating the staple, a
party-list group said yesterday.
“Lower rice
prices would be greatly appreciated by consumers. But how about our farmers?
Economic managers should strike a delicate balance in order to represent the
interest of both consumers and producers,” lawyer Rico Paolo Quicho said.
The first
nominee and president of party-list Sulong Dignidad made the pronouncements
after an official of the National Economic and Development Authority said
imported rice will push prices lower than the National Food Authority’s selling
price once imports start arriving in markets.
Quicho also
expressed concern over the effects of rice liberalization to local farmers
after the Philippine Institute for Development Studies projected a 29-percent
decline in rice farmers’ income upon implementation of the tariffication
law.
“There are
already projections that our farmers would suffer losses. Our local rice
farmers cannot expect to compete against cheaper imports if rice prices
suddenly dropped,” he added.
A party-list
member of the House of Representatives from the farmers sector has also
revealed the irony that the National Food Authority does not have the
capability at all to fulfill its new mandate under the new law.
Rep. Cecil
Chavez of Butil party-list pointed out that the NFA does not have the
logistics, funds as well as the equipment needed to be able to undertake its new mandate
of buying palay for its supposed new role of buffer stocking for
national emergencies.
“As much as we
want the NFA to really buy palay from farmers at prices above the
production cost, we cannot just see how a diminished NFA can do that role
effectively,” she said.
“The
NFA is in an ‘underwhelming state’ and is hobbled by financial, logistical
and personnel morale problems and it needs propping up to be able to undertake
its new mandate under the new rice import liberalization regime,” Chavez maintained.
Senate to look into planned
deregulation of sugar imports
Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
Published 8:10
PM, March 10, 2019
Updated 8:10
PM, March 10, 2019
SENATE INQUIRY.
Legislators want to question economic managers amid the proposal to liberalize
sugar imports, a month after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the rice
tariffication law which liberalized rice imports. Photo by Gregg Yan/WWF
BACOLOD,
Philippines – The Senate may call in economic managers to question the proposal
to liberalize sugar
imports, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Saturday,
March 9.
"We will
be fighting the proposals from the executive [branch].... If this
legislation will affect the people...we will be fighting it tooth and nail. And
if it is [an] administrative order, we will fight them on that and question
them," Zubiri told Rappler.
"The
Senate has the oversight on that also – we [can] call them through committee
hearings and question them on the difficulty of implementing such moves."
Sugar industry
stakeholders have been rallying
against the proposal, fearing that it may hurt sugarcane farmers and
increase the number of insurgents. (READ: Gov't must
listen to stakeholders before deregulating sugar imports – Piñol)
Economic
managers had pitched to liberalize sugar imports last January after sugar prices
climbed as production dropped last year. This comes after the
government's move to liberalize the rice trade, through the rice
tariffication law signed in February.
Other Stories
Also in
February, 10 senators, including Zubiri, passed a resolution calling on
economic managers not to pursue the proposal to deregulate sugar imports, as it
would heavily affect 28 provinces that produce sugar.
Zubiri told
reporters in a press conference on Saturday that he was asked by reelectionist
Senator Cynthia Villar to schedule a hearing by July, after the May polls.
By then,
lawmakers will be reviewing both Republic Act (RA) No. 10659 or the Sugarcane
Industry Development Act (SIDA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA)
charter.
"[We will
be checking the] implementation of the funding support from the government,
[because] this is not automatically appropriated. It's supposed to be
automatically appropriated but it's not and I don't know why," Zubiri
said, referring to the SIDA.
"These
are the feasible [things] we can review."
As for the SRA
charter, Zubiri said they will also look into the SRA's participation in the
National Biofuels Board. Under RA No. 9367 or the Biofuels Act, the SRA is
mandated to ensure enough feedstock supply, as ethanol is one of the
by-products in producing sugar.
Zubiri also
told reporters that economic managers should focus instead on bridging sugar
producers to consumers and cutting the middlemen.
"Instead
of killing the farmers, they should come up with the alternative, bridging the
producer [to] the consumer," he said. – Rappler.com
https://www.rappler.com/business/225322-senate-to-look-into-planned-deregulation-sugar-imports
Hoodlums
attack Customs in Ogun, injure 2 officers
56
Steve Agbota
Two Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officers
were on Friday injured when hoodlums, sponsored by suspected smugglers,
attacked a Customs patrol team that was escorting seized smuggled rice from
Ilaro with bottles, cutlasses, sticks and other dangerous items at
Papalanto area of Ogun State.
A statement
obtained and signed on Friday by the Ogun Customs command Spokesman,
Abdullahi Maiwada, indicated that it took the intervention of men of the
Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to restore normalcy at the
scene of the confrontation.
 Maiwada added: “Officers of the Nigeria
Customs Service (NCS), Ogun command, while escorting seized smuggled rice
from Ilaro navigating to Abeokuta Government Warehouse for safe keeping on
Friday at about 08:00hours were obstructed by a group of hoodlums who pelted
our personnel with stones, bottles, cutlasses, sticks, and other dangerous
items.“Our officers restrained themselves by controlling the situation, short of using force. On the arrival of reinforcement teams from the army, police, Federal Operations Unit and Command teams, the hoodlums were overpowered but not before serious injuries were inflicted on two Customs personnel who are currently responding to treatment in the hospital.
“In the face
of the provocative hostility, officers tactically succeeded in securing the
seizures out of the scene in a professional manner thereby avoiding any loss
of life,” he added.
He also said the seized items had been secured with three suspects currently undergoing interrogation at the Customs Command Headquarters.
Recall that
an officer attached to the command, Inspector of Custom Abdullahi Kuso, was
almost lynched at the same location (Papalanto) on July 7, 2018, by a group
of criminals.
Said he:
“Finally, we wish to commend the patriotic roles of our sister agencies and
law-abiding citizens in assisting the command to perform its lawful duty of
revenue collection and suppression of smuggling in the interest of our dear
country.
“We wish to
categorically state that we will continue to prosecute the anti-smuggling
crusade in spite of the unwarranted attacks. We want to use this medium to
advise parents/guardians to warn their wards to desist from obstructing
Customs officers performing their legitimate duties as the service will not
hesitate to use appropriate force in the interest of the nation.”
|
Wheat, rice growers pleased with WTO ruling
March 8, 2019
The National
Association of Wheat Growers and USA Rice said last week they are pleased with
the World Trade Organization's dispute panel ruling that China's domestic
subsidies for wheat and rice are in violation of its WTO obligations.
"We are
very happy with it," said NAWG CEO Chandler Goule at a news conference
during the Commodity Classic in Orlando, Fla.
"The WTO
ruled against programs that the Chinese were subsidizing their growers at more
than $10 per bushel," Goule added.
"USA Rice
is pleased with this outcome,̦ said COO Bob Cummings in a news release.
The economic
impacts of China's practices are enormous. In 2015, the year before the WTO
case was filed, China's "market price support" for rice, corn, and
wheat was estimated to be nearly $100 billion in excess of the levels China
committed to when it joined the WTO, Cummings said.
"The WTO
ruling vindicates the USA Rice stance that China has for years been undertaking
excessive and illegal support programs, and it will set a precedent for the
future," said Cummings.
RECOMMENDED STORIES FOR YOU
"Many
other countries are believed to be subsidizing their agricultural producers in
excess of their WTO commitments, and we believe this ruling is a compelling
reason for them to curb these practices."
The future of
the case is uncertain. China has said it will review the findings, but has not
said whether it will exercise the right of appeal in the next 60 days.
Meanwhile, the
United States continues to block appointments of new judges to the appellate
body which would take up the appeal. If there is no resolution, there will not
be enough judges to consider it.
–The Hagstrom Report
Import duties
on brown rice rise in E.U.
Photo: Adobe
stock
03.08.2019
BRUSSELS,
BELGIUM — The European Commission increased the import
duty on “husked” or brown rice (non-basmati) to €65 per tonne.
As of March 8, the new duty stands for the European Union (E.U.).
In accordance
with international
agreements, rice import duties in the E.U. are reviewed twice a
year, on March 1 and Sept. 1.
The European
Commission noted the increase in demand of husked rice had reached more than
264,000 tonnes since September 2018, leading to an increase in import duties.
This import duty had not changed since the March 2012 review.
“The
legislation in place highlights that if the level of imports for husked rice in
the first six months of the marketing year is below 191,113 tonnes, the duty
should be fixed at €30 per tonne which was the case until today’s decision,”
the European Commission said. “When it exceeds 191,113 tonnes, but is not
higher than 224,839 tonnes, the duty should be fixed at €42.5 per tonne.
Finally, which applies in this case, if it exceeds 258,565 tonnes, the duty
needs to be set at €65 per tonne.”
Import duties
of €65 per tonne are now fixed until the next review, which will be on Sept. 1,
2019. The European Commission will continue to monitor the market closely.
WASDE: Corn Carryout Increased
March 8, 2019
11:00 AM
USDA's World
Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates for March ( Farm Journal )
World
Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates as published by USDA
WHEAT
The outlook
for 2018/19 U.S. wheat this month is for larger supplies, lower exports,
reduced domestic use, and higher ending stocks. Supplies are increased by 5
million bushels on higher imports. Wheat exports are lowered 35 million bushels
to 965 million with reductions in Hard Red Spring and White on stronger than
expected export competition for these classes. Wheat food use is reduced by 5
million bushels to 965 million, based primarily on the latest NASS Flour
Milling Products report. Wheat ground for flour was lower in the first half of
the 2018/19 Marketing Year than previously forecast. Projected 2018/19 ending
stocks are raised 45 million bushels to 1,055 million. The season-average farm
price range is unchanged at the midpoint of $5.15 per bushel and the range is
narrowed to $5.10 to $5.20. Global wheat supplies are reduced, primarily on
lower production forecasts for Kazakhstan and Iraq. Projected 2018/19 world
trade is fractionally higher as larger EU and Brazil exports more than offset
reductions for the United States and Mexico. The EU is increased 1.0 million
tons to 23.0 million as its recent improved export competiveness is expected to
continue for the remainder of the trade year. Global imports are raised for
Algeria, Morocco, and the Philippines while decreased for Bangladesh, the EU,
Mexico, and Venezuela. Projected 2018/19 world consumption is reduced 5.1
million tons with India accounting for 3.0 million of the decrease as its total
wheat consumption is lowered to 95.0 million, compared to last year’s 95.8
million. This reduction is based on an upward revision to the official Indian
government wheat stocks estimate for 2018/19. Global ending stocks are
increased 3.0 million tons to 270.5 million, down 3 percent from last year’s
record.
COARSE GRAINS
This month’s
2018/19 U.S. corn outlook is for lower corn used for ethanol, reduced exports,
and larger stocks. Corn used to produce ethanol is lowered 25 million bushels
to 5.550 billion based on the most recent data from the Grain Crushings and
Co-Products Production report, and the pace of weekly ethanol production during
February as indicated by Energy Information Administration data. Exports are
reduced 75 million bushels to 2.375 billion, reflecting diminished U.S. price
competitiveness and expectations of increased exports for Brazil and Argentina.
With no other use changes, ending stocks are raised 100 million bushels to
1.835 billion. The season-average corn price received by producers is lowered 5
cents at the midpoint to $3.55 per bushel. For sorghum, 2018/19 exports are
lowered 15 million bushels to 85 million, which if realized would be the lowest
since 2012/13. Food, seed, and industrial use is lowered 5 million bushels
reflecting a reduction in the projected amount of sorghum used to produce ethanol.
Offsetting is a 20 million bushel increase in feed and residual use. The
midpoint price forecast is lowered 5 cents to $3.30 per bushel.
The global
coarse grain production forecast for 2018/19 is down slightly to 1,371.9
million metric tons. This month’s foreign coarse grain outlook is for
marginally lower production, virtually unchanged trade, greater use, and
reduced stocks relative to last month. Brazil corn production is unchanged,
with increased yield expectations offset by a reduction in area. Faster-than-normal
planting progress improves yield prospects for second-crop corn in the
Center-West, while area is down reflecting updated expectations for both first
and second-crop corn. Corn production is raised for India, but lowered for
South Africa. Australia coarse grain production is higher, as a forecast
increase in barley more than offsets a reduction for sorghum. Major global
trade changes for 2018/19 include higher projected corn exports for Argentina
and Ukraine and reduction for the United States. For 2017/18, Brazil’s exports
for the marketing year ending February 2019 are raised based on larger than
expected late-season shipments. Partly offsetting is a reduction for Argentina.
China’s coarse grain imports for 2018/19 are lowered, reflecting lower forecast
sorghum and barley imports. China’s corn feed and residual use is raised with
lower sorghum and barley imports. Corn imports are raised for the EU and
Canada. Foreign corn ending stocks for 2018/19 are lowered from last month,
mostly reflecting reductions for China, Brazil, and Argentina.
RICE
This month’s
outlook for 2018/19 U.S. rice is for higher imports, lower exports, and
increased ending stocks. All the supply and demand changes are for medium- and
shortgrain rice. Total rice imports are raised 0.5 million cwt to record 29.0
million on increased China shipments to Puerto Rico. All U.S. rice exports are
down 2 million cwt to 98 million on a slow shipment pace to date of medium- and
short-grain rice. Even with this reduction, 2018/19 rice exports are forecast
to increase 11 million cwt from the previous year as U.S. rice is expected to
be more competitive. Rice ending stocks are raised 2.5 million cwt to 49.6
million, the largest in more than 30 years. The all rice season-average farm
price is raised $0.10 per cwt at the midpoint to a range of $11.70 to $12.70
per cwt. The entire change is due to increased long-grain prices.
Global 2018/19
rice supplies are raised 6.3 million tons to 664.2 million, mostly on a large
increase for India production. India’s rice crop is raised 5.0 million tons to
a record 116.0 million due to favorable summer rainfall and updated government
data. Bangladesh production is raised 0.5 million tons to 35.0 million also on
favorable weather and increased harvested area. Global exports are reduced 0.4
million tons to 47.4 million but still remain record large. Global consumption
is raised 1.7 million tons to 492.0 million, led by a 1.1 million ton increase
for India. With world supplies rising more than tot
OILSEEDS
U.S. soybean
supply and use changes for 2018/19 include higher crush and lower ending stocks
compared with last month’s report. Soybean crush is raised 10 million bushels
to 2,100 million on higher domestic disappearance of soybean meal and a lower
soybean meal extraction rate reflecting data reported by NASS in the Oilseed
Crushings report. With exports unchanged, soybean stocks are projected at 900
million bushels, down 10 million from last month. With increased crush, soybean
oil production is raised 115 million pounds to 24.6 billion. Soybean oil used
for methyl ester production for biodiesel is raised 200 million pounds to 8.2
billion on record production for the first quarter of the marketing year
(Oct-Sept). With increased production more than offset by higher use, soybean
oil stocks are forecast lower.
The
season-average soybean price range forecast of $8.10 to $9.10 per bushel is
unchanged at the midpoint. Soybean oil and meal prices are also unchanged at
28.5 to 31.5 cents per pound and $295 to $335 per short ton, respectively. The
2018/19 global oilseed outlook includes lower production, crush, and increased
stocks compared to last month. Global oilseed production is down 0.2 million
tons, with lower soybean production more than offsetting higher rapeseed and
cottonseed. Soybean production is reduced 0.9 million tons to 360.1 million on
lower production for Brazil and Paraguay. Production for Brazil is down 0.5
million tons to 116.5 million, reflecting dry weather conditions and lower
yields for Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goias.
Global oilseed
crush is down 0.5 million tons mainly on lower soybean crush for China, which
is down on slower-than-expected pace to date. China’s soybean crush pace is
expected to increase during the second half of the marketing year as the South
American harvest advances and leads to increased global supplies. Global
oilseed ending stocks are up 0.8 million tons to 121.7 million, with soybeans
accounting for 0.5 million of the increase.
LIVESTOCK,
POULTRY, AND DAIRY
Total U.S. red
meat and poultry production for 2019 is lowered from the previous month as
lower forecast beef and turkey production more than offsets higher pork
production. Beef production is reduced from the previous month on the pace of
fed cattle slaughter in the first quarter and lower expected marketings in
mid-2019. Partly offsetting the lower fed cattle slaughter is higher expected
cow slaughter. The lower production forecast also reflects lighter carcass
weights in 2019. The pork production forecast is raised slightly on the current
pace of slaughter and heavier first-quarter carcass weights. The broiler
production forecast is unchanged from last month. The turkey production
forecast is decreased as hatchery data is pointing to lower-than-previously
expected poult placements. Forecast egg production is increased on continued
growth in the laying flock.
The 2019 beef,
broiler, turkey, and egg trade forecasts are unchanged from the previous month.
Pork imports are lowered for 2019, reflecting larger domestic supplies and
limited demand for foreign product. Forecast pork exports are lowered on slower
international demand for U.S. pork products. Cattle price forecasts are raised
for 2019 on current price strength and expectations of firm demand throughout
the year. First- and third-quarter hog prices are reduced from the previous
month. First-quarter broiler and egg price forecasts are reduced on recent
price data. First-half turkey prices are raised.
For 2019, the
milk production forecast is lowered on smaller expected dairy cow numbers. The
fat basis export forecast is reduced on slower expected sales of butterfat due
to increased global competition. Skim-solids basis exports are lowered on
expected strong competition in international skim milk powder markets and
slower expected demand for whey products. The fat basis import forecast is
lowered slightly while the skim-solids basis import forecast is unchanged.
Annual product price forecasts for cheese, butter, nonfat dry milk (NDM) are
raised from the previous month, but the whey price forecast is reduced
slightly. The Class III price is raised as the higher cheese price projection
more than offsets the lower whey price. The Class IV price is increased on
higher forecast butter and NDM prices. The all milk price forecast is raised to
average $17.00 to $17.60 per cwt.
COTTON
The U.S.
2018/19 cotton supply and demand estimates are unchanged from last month. The
projected range for the marketing year average price received by producers of
69.0 to 71.0 cents per pound is reduced 2 cents, as the reported average price
for January fell below previous expectations.
This month’s
2018/19 world cotton estimates show higher production and ending stocks, and
slightly lower trade. Production is estimated up 350,000 bales in Brazil on
higher area and 200,000 bales up in Pakistan based on arrivals at gins.
Production is 100,000 bales lower in Australia due to weather. World trade is
forecast 140,000 bales lower with reductions for Brazil and Indonesia on the
export and import sides based on activity to date. Ending stocks for 2018/19
are forecast 590,000 bales higher this month, at 76.1 million bales. This would
be 5.1 million bales below their revised 2017/18 level.
Cambodia rice export up 1.9 pct in 1st two
months
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-03-08 22:17:53|Editor: xuxin
PHNOM PENH, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia
exported 112,486 tons of milled rice in the first two months of 2019, an
increase of 1.9 percent over the same period last year, according to an
official report on Friday.
China is the biggest buyer of Cambodia rice,
said the report from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export.
Cambodia export 43,452 tons of milled rice to
China during the Jan.-Feb. period this year, up 32 percent over the same period
last year, it said, adding that Chinese market absorbed 38.6 percent of
Cambodia's total rice export.
According to the report, Cambodia rice export
to the European markets declined by 33 percent during the period because the
European Union, in January, imposed tariffs on rice going from Cambodia in a
bid to curb a surge in rice imports from the kingdom.
The Southeast Asian nation shipped 33,969
tons of rice to Europe in the first two months of this year, down 33 percent
over the same period last year, the report said.
Cambodia produces around 10 million tons of
paddy rice a year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Sabah faces Viet rice blacklist
Published on: Sunday, March 10, 2019
By: Hayati Dzulkifli
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah may be blacklisted from future Vietnamese rice imports
following an alleged rice transhipment bungle by Malaysian Customs which,
according to a spokesman for seven Vietnamese firms involved, is said to have
incurred them over RM10 million in losses.
Peter Doan told Daily
Express, Saturday, the transhipment in 351 containers accounted for 9,000
metric tonnes of rice worth USD3 million. These were seized by Malaysian
Customs at Kota Kinabalu port last October, even though meant for Southern
Philippines and did not breach any Malaysian law.
He said unexpected seizure
was the first that they encountered in the past 20 years.
He said the consignment, was
meant for Zamboanga after calling at Kota Kinabalu (KK) Port and Labuan Port.
Its vessel departed from Vietnam on Sept 8, and reached KK Port on Sept 10,
2018. “Due to port congestion in Labuan, the shipping line agent (for the seven
firms) discharged the cargo in Sepanggar Port for a while but when it applied
for loading to Labuan Port on Sept 24, last year, Customs here rejected the
application for the transhipment and detained the cargo for the purpose of
investigation.
“Based on its initial schedule, the consignment was meant for buyers in the Philippines and was supposed to reach Zamboanga between Oct 12 and 15, last year, which did not materialise because of what happened.
“Based on its initial schedule, the consignment was meant for buyers in the Philippines and was supposed to reach Zamboanga between Oct 12 and 15, last year, which did not materialise because of what happened.
“We have been in rice
trading with our Sabah and Labuan trading company for almost 20 years now and
to our knowledge, there is no requirement for import permit for rice
transhipment regulated by Customs,” he said via WhatsApp Call.
Peter said they even checked
with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) that transhipment of rice does not
need Import Permit until March 31, 2019.
He claimed they showed all
the necessary documents to prove the rice cargo is only for transhipment during
a meeting with Customs. Yet the cargo was not released following an
investigation to be carried out.
“On Jan 10, this year, we
tried to sort this out with the Customs here where the representatives of the
seven firms together with our Vietnam Trade officer, Pham Quoc Thinh attached
with the Vietnam Embassy in Kuala Lumpur attended the meeting at the Malaysian
Customs here. The Customs officials said they need us to provide the Import
Permit.
“They pointed out that we
discharged the containers the Sepanggar Port without customs declaration. But
in fact, our cargo is for rice transhipment and therefore we only have to
declare customs in Labuan Port upon arrival in Labuan.
“The most preposterous
accusation by Customs was that we kept the containers in Sepanggar Port for
smuggling purposes which is totally untrue because Customs rejected our
application for loading at Labuan Port since Sept 24, last year,” he said,
adding that cargo was seized since Oct 5, last year until now.
Representatives of the seven
firms staged a protest outside the Malaysian Embassy in Ho Chi Minh city on
Saturday morning to express their frustration over the matter.
He said they hoped the Malaysian Government would look into their predicament and to instruct the Customs to release their cargo without any delay.
He said they hoped the Malaysian Government would look into their predicament and to instruct the Customs to release their cargo without any delay.
“If this matter prolongs
with no solution by the Malaysian Government, then the Vietnam Food Association
will stop all rice trading with Sabah,” he said.
Peter also said they would
be filing a suit against Malaysian Customs. If Malaysian authorities do not
sort out this problem, our Vietnam Food Association will announce to stop all
rice trade with Sabah.
“We may also report to our
Vietnam Prime Minister and Director of World Trade Organisation (WTO),” he
said.
To a question, Peter claimed
that he was informed about 16 out of the 351 containers have been emptied, so
far, and it is believed that the rice sacks were auctioned to a
government-linked company.
Case of doubtful
declaration?
The rice consignment from
Vietnam seized by Malaysian Customs from 351 containers in Kota Kinabalu last
year was due to doubtful declaration, according to Ministry of Agriculture
(MoA) sources. They said based on the Bill of Loading, the vessel was supposed
to anchor at Labuan Port but changed its shipping direction to Kota Kinabalu
Port.
They said the rice was on transhipment to the Philippines via Labuan Port. However, the MV Formosa No. 9 vessel was detained at KK Port.
They said the rice was on transhipment to the Philippines via Labuan Port. However, the MV Formosa No. 9 vessel was detained at KK Port.
“The seizure and
investigation is being carried out by Malaysia Customs Department (JKDM) in
Sabah as well as the prosecution under Custom Act 1967 for making false
declaration and other offences,” they said, without elaborating what the other
offences were.
“This case was not handed
over to MoA and JKDM will continue investigating the case until the prosecution
level.
Furthermore, the Ministry
has received a directive from the Cabinet and we (MoA) need to present a
Cabinet paper end of March on the way forward for transhipment,” they said
The horrors
and nightmares of 1994 haunt farmers
MARLEN V.
RONQUILLO
The Philippine
Senate ratified the Uruguay Round — General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(UR-GATT) in the dying days of 1994 — that meant the accession of the
Philippines into the World Trade Organization (WTO), the new overseer of global
trade. Given that the previous efforts at globalizing the international trading
environment was focused on industry, the pro-farming, pro-agriculture sector
protested the accession. The fear was this. The WTO accession would be a leap
into the unknown. It might be, the pro-farming groups said, like jumping from
the frying pan into the fires of hell.
The snake-oil
salesmen-cum-technocrats of the Fidel Ramos administration, who prepared the
talking points for the gullible senators, tried to ease the fears and
nightmares of the pro-agriculture groups. Of course, like snake-oil salesmen
and used-car dealers, the promised scenarios were too good to be true.
I was a
full-time farmer then. And I admit to having committed one monumental folly ,
giving the hucksters the benefit of the doubt. That the hucksters branded the
anti-GATT voices as anti-poor and anti-development effectively tamed down our
meek protests.
What did they
promise us, the farmers, who in 1994 were torn between our gut feel to dismiss
the WTO promises as scams and our gullible side, which said the WTO promises
may be true? Three things, all heavenly.
A yearly
increase of P3.4 billion in agricultural export earnings
Creation of
new 500,000 agricultural jobs yearly
Increase in
the annual GVA (gross value added) of agriculture by least P60 billion
In the year
2000, an assessment was made. What happened to those heavenly promises after
six years? Did the WTO accession really bring to the agriculture sector a
much-welcome renaissance? Or, was the gut feel of the farmers then – that it
would be like jumping into the fires of hell – eminently validated ?
The general
findings of assessment after assessment can be summed up as:
Agriculture
productivity declined
Agricultural
prices fell
Agricultural
export earnings declined
Reckless
importation eroded food security and self-sufficiency
Farm
unemployment rose
Agricultural
transnational corporations and global trading giants had been the prime
beneficiaries
To put the
assessment into two timelines would lead to a better appreciation of the brutal
impact of the accession on Filipino farmers and the agriculture sector. First,
the performance of agriculture from 1991 to 1994 was much, much better than the
performance of the sector from 1995 to 2000.
But what was
to follow was this: From 2001 hence, the record of agriculture was a
nightmarish failure.
What about the
promise of “market access” so Philippine agricultural products could move with
ease into the markets of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) economies? It did not happen. In fact, the WTO was a reverse
Robin Hood. It was a case of the rich countries dumping with ease their
agricultural products (yellow corn, soya, etc.) and inputs (fertilizers,
pesticides, etc.) into the helpless developing countries like the Philippines,
the rich sucking what could be profitable from the developing economies.
The horrors
and nightmares of 1994 are now haunting us, farmers, as the Rodrigo Duterte
administration and a pliant Congress had effectively dismantled the last
protection enjoyed by the small farmers, the end of the quantity restriction on
rice imports and the start of the regime of reckless rice importation. And the
selling of the rice tariffication policy – horrors of all horrors – invoked
essentially the same words used by the WTO salesmen in 1994: the elimination of
“trade distorting” structures and the stabilization of the supply of the basic
staple.
The Orwellian
tone of the rollout of the rice import liberalization policy pushes us back,
the affected farmers, into an eerie and scary sense of déjà vu. We have been
through this horror show before. Even the words to promote the accession in
1994 and rice import liberalization now are eerily similar.
Then, the
muffled voices of the farmers were effectively shut down by accusations that
any anti-WTO sentiment was “anti-poor” and “anti-development.” Today , the
economic managers of the DU30 administration essentially raise those same
arguments – that those protesting the end of the QR (quantitative
restrictions), the 3 million small rice farmers, are not at all concerned with
the interests of the broader society, the 80 million rice consumers.
The so-called
economists and flacks from both the Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd government and
the Duterte administration have praised the rice tariffication policy.
There are two
questions left unanswered by the Aquino-Duterte flacks and the economic
managers of the administration: 1) Is importation a viable national food
security strategy? 2) What if an epic climatic development results in a significant
drop in the rice productions of China and India, the two top rice producers?
The answer to
the first question is no. And never.The answer to the second question is this –
global chaos in the rice-eating world will take place. There will be a mad
scramble for the available rice surplus. Global prices of rice will skyrocket.
The global rice surplus, in this time of plenty, is about 50 million metric
tons. Bring it down to 30 million metric tons and this scenario will take
place.
In such an
event, the Philippines, now dependent on importation for its rice supply, will
run out of rice to buy.
And remember
this. The global rice surplus is thin by any standard. And it is vulnerable to
production downturns.
Only a
reckless and cynical government will anchor its food security on importation,
especially for the basic staple.
Foreign rice threatens Nigeria’s
rising domestic production
| Published
Date Mar 10, 2019 2:18 AM
The Sunday
Rice Market in Kamba area of Kebbi state.
Despite rising
Nigeria domestic rice production profile, imported and smuggled rice continue
to make consumers first choice in the market and it’s everywhere,
investigations by Daily Trust on Sunday have revealed.
Domestic rice
production received a boost when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Anchor
Borrowers’ Programme in Kebbi State in November 2015 to address the huge import
problem.
Current
statistics in the public domain indicates that in 2016, 58, 260 metric tonnes
of rice was imported into the country and that by November 2017, the figures
have dropped to 23,192 metric tonnes; this figures further shrink to just 6,
277 metric tonnes in 2018.
However,
despite that figures of local production and various brands in the market, many
wonders where all the foreign rice that floods the country comes from even with
the official ban on rice importation through the land borders.
With more
speechifying claims around the rice revolution, Daily Trust went to the
producing states to investigate the nation’s drive to achieve self-sufficiency
in rice. And also to understand the underlying issues that may drive down
production and how the local rice fares in the market vis-a-vis the imported or
smuggled rice.
How smuggling
erodes success, threatens investments
Millers and
other stakeholders in the sector are of the belief that smuggling of foreign
rice is threatening their confidence.
Mr Babatunde
Ajibola, Head, Media and Communications, Elephant Group Plc, said in Lagos that
the massive rice smuggling into the country was threatening the confidence and
ability of local rice millers and farmers.
He noted that
a visit to major rice markets, such as Iddo, Daleko, Ketu, Mile 12, Alaba and
Sango-Ota, revealed that the various brands on display were imported with few
or no local ones.
“This
unprecedented flooding of the nation’s major markets with smuggled imported
rice is of great concern to investors in rice, Agro companies and farmers in
spite of government’s ban on the products.
Observers said
thousands of tonnes of rice come through the porous borders floating the market
and making difficult for investors.
In Katsina
State, the acts of bringing in commodities most especially Rice, Vegetable oil
and other consumables is called ‘Fito’ and is the most thriving and lucrative
business and commercial activities being perpetrated by the majority of people
residing across the Nigeria- Niger border along the state.
This act
involves ferrying commodities most especially rice across the border through
the numerous illegal routes due to the porous nature of the border.
People of
these Border communities knowingly or unknowingly see this act as just another
way of making a living despite several fracases with law enforcement agencies
like the customs in which many lives have been lost.
In Katsina,
there exist some recognised border points namely Magama in Jibia, Dankama in
Kaita and kwangolom in Daura and Babban Mutum in Baure. However, these
smugglers to evade customs and other security operatives by using untarred
roads and difficult farmlands to drive in their commodities.
Their
operational cars popularly referred to as “Rai banza” are old rickety Peugeot
which normally gets overloaded with rice and other items to move into the
country.
Also, big time
importers engaged these youths to either use motorcycles, J5 buses or Peugeot
cars to ferry Rice across the border in which each bag is charge N300 from Dan
Isa town in the Niger Republic to get into Nigeria, a distance of 5km.
Sometimes, the
trailers mostly from Cotonou, Benin Republic carrying the rice reaches Hirji
village, another border town community to unload before the youths are engaged.
Hirji is just a kilometre to Magama in Jibia.
Investigation
showed that a bag of rice sells between N9,000 to N11,000 at both Dan Isa and
Hirji. The prices fluctuate depending on the exchange rate as business is
done in French francs (CFA).
As at this
week, in Magama a border town Jibia , in Nigeria, the rice sells for N11,500
and by the time it reaches Katsina the price jerks up to N12,500.
Aside youths,
women are not left out in this trade as they troop to Jibia to purchase this
rice from the youths and then transport to Katsina.
Sometimes they
pay the youths N700 difference to ride through untarred roads to appear behind
army barracks and Dubai market to Katsina town.
Hajiya Jamila,
a divorcee told our reporter that she was introduced to the business after the
demise of her husband.
“ I make a
living from this and people come from Kano even to get supply some times they
make available monies to help them get it across’ she added
Most of the
routes used along Jibia passes through Hirji, Bayan post, Gidan Dan Bafilace,
Agangaro, Riko and Gutama.
In Kwongolom
of Maiadua local government, several routes are also been used to perpetuate
such act.
Towns like
Maimaje, Botsotsuwa, Tsatsumburm and Yekuwa of Niger Republic are always the
routes for the illegal trade.
A Nigerien,
Musa said every now and then youths on motorcycles do pass by his farmland
carrying bags of rice to evade officials.
A Maiadua
resident Muhammad Aliyu told our reporter that the cost of carrying such rice
varies on the difficulty of the roads during such trips.
‘When security
is tight definitely it’s higher and can reach N500 but most at times the cost
ranges from 200-300’ he said
Malam Salisu
who runs a noodle joint in Katsina and hailed from Tawa state in Niger said
hardly a car they board to Nigeria that will not be stocked with rice.
He said,
people are tucked between bags of rice noting that even our people do help come
in with rice for Nigerians, they pay us a good price of between N1000 to
N1500’.
Despite the
risk involved, smuggling continues in Katsina and the customs are always at
fracas with them arresting and seizure people are still going into the trade.
On many
occasion, motorcyclist in Large numbers can be seen carrying between three to
five bags while these specialised cars are also spotted.
A lot of lives
have been lost between the smugglers and officials over confrontations at
different places in the state.
In January
last month alone, the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria
Customs Service, Zone ‘B’, said it seized 1,520 bags of parboiled rice in
Katsina with a duty paid value of N62m and two persons were arrested.
Also in the
last quarter of last year, The former Area Comptroller in charge of
Katsina/Kaduna command, Oyeleke Olakunle Abdulrazak said 606 bags of 50Kg
foreign rice, 239 bags of 50Kg imported sugar, 73 bales of second-hand
clothing, 327 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 25 motor vehicles of various kind,
one truck and two motorcycles were seized.
In Sokoto
state, foreign rice still dominates the local food stores and markets according
to Daily Trust investigations.
A resident of
Sokoto metropolis, who is privy to the rice business, wondered if the ban in
the community would totally block it from gaining access to the markets and
stores because of the porous nature of Nigeria’s borders.
The resident,
who sought for anonymity, said the smugglers now use motorcycles to bring in
the commodity through unapproved routes. “The motorcyclists are very conversant
with the terrain because they are born and brought up there. The smugglers use
them for their illicit business.”
He suggested
intensive sensitization campaign especially in the border communities to
discourage them from involving in such economic sabotage.
When our
reporter visited Illela border community, he observed that their market was flooded
with foreign rice.
One of the
traders, who spoke to our reporter, confirmed that they were getting it from
the neighbouring Niger Republic through secret routes.
When contacted
the Head of Customs in the border post, DC Sa’idu Ahmed said their renewed
onslaught on smugglers was the reason for the traders to be running out of
stock.
According to
him, they have over five checkpoints along the axis and their men were there 24
hours daily.
On his part,
the spokesman of Sokoto zonal command of Customs, Magaji Mailafiya said they
were not raiding market to recover foreign rice to avoid rancour.
“We emphasized
on intelligent surveillance which enables us to track the movement of
contraband including foreign rice from the loading point to storage facilities
where it is re-bagged and reloaded for onward delivery to marketers,” he said.
He said that
it was through this arrangement that they had been making a lot of seizure
along Sokoto- Gusau road and Koko-Yauri road in Kebbi states, adding that the
command had in January intercepted two tankers conveying foreign rice along
these roads.
Our findings
in the area shows that the smuggling usually crash the price of the rice per
bag near the boarders.
A 50kg bag of
smuggled rice can cost as low as N10500 and N11,000 at the boarder.
How
upsurge in mills boost local production
One of the
good things that have happened to the current drive to increase local
production is the increase in local capacity to mill the rice.
Nigeria has
been able to attract both local and foreign investments in the last few years
into processing, leading to many local brands to debut the market.
There are
currently many rice mills (large-scale, medium and small-scale) in the country
producing different brands of the rice.
Olam mill in
Rukubi in Nasarawa has a capacity for 105,000 capacity and produces the Mama
Gold/pride, which is currently a household name in the country.
WATCOT mill is
said to even have a bigger capacity of 120,000 located in Argungu, in Kebbi
State. It produces the Bulls brands. Also located in the state is Labana Mill
in Birni-Kebbi producing Labana and Lake Rice brand, which is a joint venture
between Kebbi and Lagos states.
Popular Farm
Rice Mill located in Chalawa in Kano state produces some of its parent brands
by Stallion (Royal Stallion Shinkafa, the Supper Champion). Kano is also host
to the Umza Rice Mill.
In Benue
state, Mikap and Ashi mills have also entered the market with their local
brands called Miva and Ashi.
Onynx Mill in
Bida, Niger State is producing the Savanah Premium while another brand from KK
mill in Sokoto state is also in the market.
In Anambra
State, Stine Rice Mills produces the Anambra Rice which is a product of the
Anambra state government while Ebony Rice by Ebonyi integrated Rice Limited is
also a household name in Nigeria.
Another N10bn
Lolo rice mill is also billed to take off in Kamba and Dangote is said to be
building another N20bn rice mill which is slightly larger at Saminaka area of
the state. WACOT has started the second N20bn rice mill plant in Yauri-all in
Kebbi State.
Besides these
big mills, there are host of many other local brands spreads across many
localities.
These milling
companies hunt through the major producing belts and major grains markets for
paddy to feed their various mills.
Olam’s Vice
President Corporate and Government Relations Olam Nigeria, Ade Adefeko, had
told our agric editor during a recent interview that apart from its out grower
policy, his company also source for paddy rice from major producing belt
including Nasarawa, Taraba and Kwara states.
Chairman, Umza
Rice in Kano, had during a similar interview, told our agric editor that the
company usually takes delivery of paddy rice from Jigawa, Taraba, Kwara and
other parts of the country.
A visit to the
company in Kano will show long cue of fully loaded trailers waiting to offload
paddy rice.
Walcott’s
agent at Lafiagi also confirmed that the company also buys paddy rice from as
far as Kwara state.
This,
according to our findings, has been a catalyst for local farmers in the rice
producing belt to expand their farm hectares.
For instance,
in Kebbi State, rice production has become a serious business. Buyers go as far
as to the farms to buy rice. In the state, there are farmers who have up to 200
hectares of rice fields.
Investigations
revealed that the Sunday Rice Market at Kamba is usually flooded with finished
rice and paddy from different areas of the state and neighboring Niger and
Benin Republic. A 50kg of finished local rice is sold between N9,500 and 8,000
at the border areas. Paddy that are sold between N10,000 and N9,000 at Birnin
Kebbi, Bunza, Suru, Bagudo, Argungu, Augie are sold at Kamba rice market
between N7,000 to N6000.
Project
Coordinator of Labana rice farms, Alhaji Umar Dodo Aliero, revealed a new strategy
that will further boost production from their end and if every other thing goes
well the farm is expected to realize over 198,600 bags of rice during
harvesting. “We can transplant about 50 hectares in a day. We have developed
our own variety of rice,’’ he said.
On a similar
front, Taraba State is one of the largest producing states than many people
previously thought as this investigation has shown.
A survey of
the major markets in the states has shown that about four major big millers in
the country- Olam Rice Farm based in Rukubi in Nasarawa State, Stallion Rice,
WACOT in Argungu, Kebbi State, Umza in Kano, and other medium scale milling
companies in Benue state troop to the place to buy paddy rice.
Daily Trust on
Sunday went to
Mutum-Biyu in Gassol, Karim Lamindo Local Government areas and Yelwa at the
outskirt of Jalingo to assess production level and it was discovered that
although this is not the production peak period, many millers have aggregated a
lot of paddy from the state.
Olam alone
collects about 430 trailers of rice annually, about half of this paddy comes
from Mutum Biyu (Gassol) alone, 70 trailers from Jalingo and other places in
the state. Each of these trucks carries 30 tonnes of rice.
Emeka Isaac
Amakwe who is into procurement with Olam said the company gives out money to
the indigene to source this paddy which the company buys between N100 to N119
per Kg.
Stallion Group
has an aggregation centre for collecting paddy through various agents who are
also rice farmers.
It is a common
sight to see many trucks loading paddy out of mutum biyu daily as a visit to
the area twice have shown- the same in Jalingo, the state capital.
Daily Trust on
Sunday findings
in rice producing communities of Kwara State have shown massive production of
local rice. Communities along the River Niger including Lafiagi, Patigi, Paada
and Shonga recorded massive production of rice in the last planting season.
Our Agric
Editor, who visited some of the communities gathered that local rice milling
companies like Umza, Olam, Stallion and Walcott are the main buyers of paddy
rice from the communities.
Their agents
were stationed at their various collecting centres to buy paddy directly from
the farmers.
One of the
agents, who spoke with Daily Trust on Sunday at
Lafiagi, Suleiman Mohammed, said over 100 trucks had already left the community
since the beginning of dry season.
He said a 50kg
paddy costs between N7,000 and N8,000.
At Pada,
hundreds of bags of paddies are being moved to Patigi on daily basis from where
agents will buy them off for their companies.
There are lots
of rice productions along Kaima and Barutine axis of Kwara State from where
millers buy them off to Kebbi and Kano states.
The rice
producing communities in Kwara are said to be producing about one million
metric tonnes per anum.
Investigations
in Benue revealed that rice is produced in commercial quantity at Naka in Gwer
West, Guma, Ikpayongo in Gwer East, Kwande, Oju, Ushongo, Buruku, Kastina-Ala,
Makurdi, and Agatu local government areas respectively among others.
Presently,
most warehouses are stocked with rice paddy while marketing points such as the
one located at Daudu in Guma have overfilled their barn with more paddies still
being brought for sales by the farmers.
Rice
specialist and Chairman of Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN) in Benue state,
Fidelis Iyorumgwa Akosu, intimated that the 6000 registered farmers of the
association are currently doing exploit under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
anchor borrowers programme.
Akosu said
each of the farmers under the programme is growing at least two hectares of
rice farm which is expected to produce a maximum of between 120 and 160 bags of
100kg at the end of harvest with the advantage of modern technology implored
and adequate rainfall.
The RIFAN
chairman worried about the smuggling of rice from the state by alleged Anambara
traders who go as far as re-packaging the local rice and sell same as foreign
produce because according to him the quality of rice produced in the state is
quite better than other.
Akosu stressed
that current local rice production is rising in the state following the massive
involvement of farmers in growing the crop, especially, as there are ready
markets for the produce.
Our
correspondent who visited rice producing and processing areas such as, Wadata
in Makurdi, Daudu in Guma and Wurukum rice mills observed massive rice being
processed by both farmers who brought their paddy for sales and millers doing
their job to bring forth the finest of the rice for consumers delight
In Kaduna, the
State Chairman of Rice Farmer Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Muhammad Umar
Nungu, said that Rice farmers across the 23 LGAs in Kaduna has reached about 85
percent production capacity out of the expected target despite the fact that
some parts of the producing areas in the state are affected by severe crisis.
In Sokoto
state, before the FG’s interventions, farmers across Sokoto state could not
produce above 50,000 tonnes of local variety.
Alhaji Salihu
Ibrahim, chairman of RIFAN disclosed that the support was enjoyed by 33,000
farmers during the wet season and 10,000 for dry season which allowed
production capacity to reach 175,000 metric tonnes adding that Attajiri Mill,
KK polish local variety to a level that matches all attribute of foreign rice.”
The state has
over 120,000 registered members with major producing communities in Goronyo,
Wurno, Kebbe, Silame, Sabon Birni, Tambuwakl, and Wamakko.
Our
correspondents in Edo and Kogi states report that there has been a significant
increase in rice production activities despite the input challenges bedeviling
the industry in some places-some like Kaduna are ridden with conflicts.
In Anambra
state, the chairman of JOSAN Integrated Rice Mills and Farms, Chief Oliver
Okeke, has commended the Anambra Government for the successful inauguration of
the JOSAN Rice Mills, with about 10,000 farmers.
Okeke said in
Abuja that the resuscitation of the JOSAN Giant Mill, formerly Omor Rice Mill,
meant that the country would soon bounce back as the largest rice mill in West Africa.
Consumers’
taste, preference, a huge problem
Although this
investigation has found a huge increase in rice production across all the
belts, there are factors that threatening the survival of the local brands.
Many people
across the market seem to prefer the “better-polished” imported rice for two
reasons: its cleaner appearance, the price, which in some case is even lower
than the locally produced ones.
“Since the
prices are almost the same or lower, people will naturally buy the foreign ones
because even in the cooking, some of the local rice melts and gums together
which is why I prefer the foreign rice which has better quality,” a buyer, Mrs
Emmanuella Emeka, told Daily Trust in Wuse market in Abuja and many shared her
opinion.
This is a
factor that shapes the performance of the foreign rice people like Mr. Jonathan
Emeka who sells local brands wants the government to step up more campaign
against foreign rice.
But Mrs
Veronica Aremu, a resident of Ita-Amadu area of Ilorin told Daily Trust that
there is no much difference between the price of local rice and the foreign
ones. ‘’So instead of buying the local rice that usually melts during cooking,
I will rather add the little money and get the foreign one that will rise with
good quality,’’ she added.
She said in
many rice markets in Ilorin, the common brand of rice you can find are Pearl,
Falcon, Royal Stallion, Tomato Aroso, Thai Caprice and Moto, which are mainly
foreign rice and are sold between N15,500 to N17,000 per 50kg compare to the
local rice like Mama Gold and Umza which are sold close to N16,000 too.
A notable
farmer at Lafiagi, one of the main rice producing communities in Kwara State,
Abdullahi Ndako, attributed the differences in the quality to the poor milling
process by the local millers while activities of the smugglers are crashing the
prices of foreign rice at the detriment of the local ones.
A seller at
the rice market in Daleko, Mushin, Lagos, simply identified as Mum Abdullah,
said there was a very low quantity of local rice in the market.
She noted that
only a few people have local rice, the majority of the market men and women
depend on foreign rice.
She also
listed Pearl, Falcon, Royal Stallion, Tomato Aroso, Thai Caprice and Moto,
Tripple Seven and Oriba as common rice brand at the market, which according to
her are foreign brands.
Our
correspondent in Lagos reports that the Lagos State government local rice ‘Lake
rice’, is sold only at a few designated locations and is not available all year
round.
The way out
for the local brands
These findings
demonstrate that the federal government needs to deconstruct Nigerians’
perceptions of the rice produce locally. It would not be out-of-place if a
subsidy is placed on the final product in the market to attract first choice
preference.
Struggling is
killing the millers, the farmers and as well denying the government of the huge
money it can generate if the product comes through the normal seaports.
The fact that
the smuggling still thrives massively across the country’s land borders, the
customs and other sister agencies needs to re-strategize to protect the farmers
and the millers.
In the opinion
of Mr Babatunde Ajibola, Head, Media and Communications, Elephant Group Plc,
investors in rice business including agro companies and farmers can only
survive if government addresses the issue of illegal rice smuggling.
Mr. Babatunde
Olajire, an agric economist, said apart from checking the activities of the
smuglers, the federal government can grant rice producers a kind of subsidy or
better still a kind of tax waivers to some of millers in order to reduce the
price of the local rice.
‘’If the price
is cut down, local rice will be able to compete favorably with the smuggled
rice in the market and this will lead to more production. Also, the waivers or
the subsidy will encourage more millers into the production and this will mean
more employment for the people,’’ he said.
Mr. Olajire,
who spoke with one of reporters on phone from Ibadan, said with such policy
more farmers will embrace rice farming knowing fully that there are enough millers to off take the paddy rice from
them.
Economic
cluster optimistic inflation to continue downtrend for rest of 2019
By Panay News
-
Saturday, March 9, 2019
MANILA –
Inflation is likely to continue its downward path for the rest of the year
given recent developments in the country, members of the government’s economic
cluster said Tuesday.
“[W]e are
optimistic that the downward path of inflation will continue for the rest of
the year,” the Departments of Finance and Budget and Management, as well as the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said in a joint statement.
The Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier on Tuesday reported inflation at 3.8 percent
in February, marking the fourth consecutive month of deceleration.
“We, the
economic managers, are pleased by the report that the country’s inflation rate
slid further to 3.8 percent in February as price levels start to normalize and
settle back to the government’s target,” the economic cluster said.
“This will be
backed by the recent enactment of the Rice Industry Modernization Act (RA
11203), which is expected to bring down rice prices and cut inflation by 0.5 to
0.7 percentage points this year and 0.3 to 0.4 percentage points next year,” it
explained.
The Rice
Tariffication Law also allows the unlimited importation of rice as long as
private sector traders secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant
Industry and pay the 35-percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in
Southeast Asia.
The law
earmarks P10 billion for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), of
which P5 billion will be allotted to farm mechanization and P3 billion to
seedlings. The fund intends to ensure that rice imports won’t drown out the
agriculture sector and rob farmers of their livelihood.
“Based on the
monitoring of the Philippine Statistics Authority, prevailing retail prices of
regular-milled rice has now declined by around P5.00 since it peaked in
September 2018,” the statement read.
“Our work does
not stop here. We must ensure that the change to a rice tariff regime – from
government-led to market-led – is seamless and fast,” it added.
In terms of
the expected El Niño which the state weather bureau PAGASA (Philippine
Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) forecasts to
come in during the first quarter, the economic team said the government must
take steps to strengthen the agriculture sector.
“Around 19
provinces are expected to experience drought this year including Metro Manila,”
the economic team said.“Thus, the government must take pro-active measures to
mitigate its adverse impacts on the agriculture sector in the immediate term
and to increase its resiliency against extreme weather conditions over the
medium to long term,” it added.
The economic
cluster said it will also remain watchful of developments in the global oil
market, as it noted that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory
Board (LTFRB) should increase its efforts to cover more of the targeted
beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pasada Program.
“Nevertheless,
the economic team is upbeat that inflation is again starting to become
manageable,” it said.
“While we
constantly keep a close watch on the general prices of goods, we can now pay
greater attention to programs that will further propel economic growth and help
us reach our long-term development goals,” the statement added.
For his part,
Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes noted that while the recent inflation
figures are welcome, this should be made sustainable.
“Inflation
could have been lower if the excise tax on fuel was removed. This comprises a
staggering P9 per liter for gasoline. The erosion of income last year cannot be
recovered by the easing of inflation now,” he said in a separate statement.
“We thus
maintain that candidates seeking Senate and congressional seats should be asked
whether they are in favor of removing excise tax on petroleum products,” he
added.
The Tax Reform
for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), signed into law by President Rodrigo
Duterte in 2017, also provides that starting 2019, excise taxes for diesel be
hiked by a total of P4.50 and those of gasoline by P9.00 under the second
tranche.
“The TRAIN Law
green remains an important issue even during the elections,” said Reyes. (GMA News)
Foreign rice threatens Nigeria’s
rising domestic production
| Published
Date Mar 10, 2019 2:18 AM
The Sunday
Rice Market in Kamba area of Kebbi state.
Despite rising
Nigeria domestic rice production profile, imported and smuggled rice continue
to make consumers first choice in the market and it’s everywhere,
investigations by Daily Trust on Sunday have revealed.
Domestic rice
production received a boost when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Anchor
Borrowers’ Programme in Kebbi State in November 2015 to address the huge import
problem.
Current
statistics in the public domain indicates that in 2016, 58, 260 metric tonnes
of rice was imported into the country and that by November 2017, the figures
have dropped to 23,192 metric tonnes; this figures further shrink to just 6,
277 metric tonnes in 2018.
However,
despite that figures of local production and various brands in the market, many
wonders where all the foreign rice that floods the country comes from even with
the official ban on rice importation through the land borders.
ADVERTISEMENT
With more
speechifying claims around the rice revolution, Daily Trust went to the
producing states to investigate the nation’s drive to achieve self-sufficiency
in rice. And also to understand the underlying issues that may drive down
production and how the local rice fares in the market vis-a-vis the imported or
smuggled rice.
How smuggling
erodes success, threatens investments
Millers and
other stakeholders in the sector are of the belief that smuggling of foreign
rice is threatening their confidence.
Mr Babatunde
Ajibola, Head, Media and Communications, Elephant Group Plc, said in Lagos that
the massive rice smuggling into the country was threatening the confidence and
ability of local rice millers and farmers.
He noted that
a visit to major rice markets, such as Iddo, Daleko, Ketu, Mile 12, Alaba and
Sango-Ota, revealed that the various brands on display were imported with few
or no local ones.
“This
unprecedented flooding of the nation’s major markets with smuggled imported
rice is of great concern to investors in rice, Agro companies and farmers in
spite of government’s ban on the products.
Observers said
thousands of tonnes of rice come through the porous borders floating the market
and making difficult for investors.
In Katsina
State, the acts of bringing in commodities most especially Rice, Vegetable oil
and other consumables is called ‘Fito’ and is the most thriving and lucrative
business and commercial activities being perpetrated by the majority of people
residing across the Nigeria- Niger border along the state.
This act
involves ferrying commodities most especially rice across the border through
the numerous illegal routes due to the porous nature of the border.
People of
these Border communities knowingly or unknowingly see this act as just another
way of making a living despite several fracases with law enforcement agencies
like the customs in which many lives have been lost.
In Katsina,
there exist some recognised border points namely Magama in Jibia, Dankama in
Kaita and kwangolom in Daura and Babban Mutum in Baure. However, these
smugglers to evade customs and other security operatives by using untarred roads
and difficult farmlands to drive in their commodities.
Their
operational cars popularly referred to as “Rai banza” are old rickety Peugeot
which normally gets overloaded with rice and other items to move into the
country.
Also, big time
importers engaged these youths to either use motorcycles, J5 buses or Peugeot
cars to ferry Rice across the border in which each bag is charge N300 from Dan
Isa town in the Niger Republic to get into Nigeria, a distance of 5km.
Sometimes, the
trailers mostly from Cotonou, Benin Republic carrying the rice reaches Hirji
village, another border town community to unload before the youths are engaged.
Hirji is just a kilometre to Magama in Jibia.
Investigation
showed that a bag of rice sells between N9,000 to N11,000 at both Dan Isa and
Hirji. The prices fluctuate depending on the exchange rate as business is
done in French francs (CFA).
As at this
week, in Magama a border town Jibia , in Nigeria, the rice sells for N11,500
and by the time it reaches Katsina the price jerks up to N12,500.
Aside youths,
women are not left out in this trade as they troop to Jibia to purchase this
rice from the youths and then transport to Katsina.
Sometimes they
pay the youths N700 difference to ride through untarred roads to appear behind
army barracks and Dubai market to Katsina town.
Hajiya Jamila,
a divorcee told our reporter that she was introduced to the business after the
demise of her husband.
“ I make a
living from this and people come from Kano even to get supply some times they
make available monies to help them get it across’ she added
Most of the
routes used along Jibia passes through Hirji, Bayan post, Gidan Dan Bafilace,
Agangaro, Riko and Gutama.
In Kwongolom
of Maiadua local government, several routes are also been used to perpetuate
such act.
Towns like
Maimaje, Botsotsuwa, Tsatsumburm and Yekuwa of Niger Republic are always the
routes for the illegal trade.
A Nigerien,
Musa said every now and then youths on motorcycles do pass by his farmland
carrying bags of rice to evade officials.
A Maiadua
resident Muhammad Aliyu told our reporter that the cost of carrying such rice
varies on the difficulty of the roads during such trips.
‘When security
is tight definitely it’s higher and can reach N500 but most at times the cost
ranges from 200-300’ he said
Malam Salisu
who runs a noodle joint in Katsina and hailed from Tawa state in Niger said
hardly a car they board to Nigeria that will not be stocked with rice.
He said,
people are tucked between bags of rice noting that even our people do help come
in with rice for Nigerians, they pay us a good price of between N1000 to
N1500’.
Despite the
risk involved, smuggling continues in Katsina and the customs are always at
fracas with them arresting and seizure people are still going into the trade.
On many
occasion, motorcyclist in Large numbers can be seen carrying between three to
five bags while these specialised cars are also spotted.
A lot of lives
have been lost between the smugglers and officials over confrontations at
different places in the state.
In January
last month alone, the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria
Customs Service, Zone ‘B’, said it seized 1,520 bags of parboiled rice in
Katsina with a duty paid value of N62m and two persons were arrested.
Also in the
last quarter of last year, The former Area Comptroller in charge of
Katsina/Kaduna command, Oyeleke Olakunle Abdulrazak said 606 bags of 50Kg
foreign rice, 239 bags of 50Kg imported sugar, 73 bales of second-hand
clothing, 327 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 25 motor vehicles of various kind,
one truck and two motorcycles were seized.
In Sokoto
state, foreign rice still dominates the local food stores and markets according
to Daily Trust investigations.
A resident of
Sokoto metropolis, who is privy to the rice business, wondered if the ban in
the community would totally block it from gaining access to the markets and
stores because of the porous nature of Nigeria’s borders.
The resident,
who sought for anonymity, said the smugglers now use motorcycles to bring in
the commodity through unapproved routes. “The motorcyclists are very conversant
with the terrain because they are born and brought up there. The smugglers use
them for their illicit business.”
He suggested
intensive sensitization campaign especially in the border communities to
discourage them from involving in such economic sabotage.
When our
reporter visited Illela border community, he observed that their market was
flooded with foreign rice.
One of the
traders, who spoke to our reporter, confirmed that they were getting it from
the neighbouring Niger Republic through secret routes.
When contacted
the Head of Customs in the border post, DC Sa’idu Ahmed said their renewed
onslaught on smugglers was the reason for the traders to be running out of
stock.
According to
him, they have over five checkpoints along the axis and their men were there 24
hours daily.
On his part,
the spokesman of Sokoto zonal command of Customs, Magaji Mailafiya said they
were not raiding market to recover foreign rice to avoid rancour.
“We emphasized
on intelligent surveillance which enables us to track the movement of
contraband including foreign rice from the loading point to storage facilities
where it is re-bagged and reloaded for onward delivery to marketers,” he said.
He said that
it was through this arrangement that they had been making a lot of seizure
along Sokoto- Gusau road and Koko-Yauri road in Kebbi states, adding that the
command had in January intercepted two tankers conveying foreign rice along
these roads.
Our findings
in the area shows that the smuggling usually crash the price of the rice per
bag near the boarders.
A 50kg bag of
smuggled rice can cost as low as N10500 and N11,000 at the boarder.
How
upsurge in mills boost local production
One of the
good things that have happened to the current drive to increase local
production is the increase in local capacity to mill the rice.
Nigeria has
been able to attract both local and foreign investments in the last few years
into processing, leading to many local brands to debut the market.
There are
currently many rice mills (large-scale, medium and small-scale) in the country
producing different brands of the rice.
Olam mill in
Rukubi in Nasarawa has a capacity for 105,000 capacity and produces the Mama
Gold/pride, which is currently a household name in the country.
WATCOT mill is
said to even have a bigger capacity of 120,000 located in Argungu, in Kebbi
State. It produces the Bulls brands. Also located in the state is Labana Mill
in Birni-Kebbi producing Labana and Lake Rice brand, which is a joint venture
between Kebbi and Lagos states.
Popular Farm
Rice Mill located in Chalawa in Kano state produces some of its parent brands
by Stallion (Royal Stallion Shinkafa, the Supper Champion). Kano is also host
to the Umza Rice Mill.
In Benue
state, Mikap and Ashi mills have also entered the market with their local
brands called Miva and Ashi.
Onynx Mill in
Bida, Niger State is producing the Savanah Premium while another brand from KK
mill in Sokoto state is also in the market.
In Anambra
State, Stine Rice Mills produces the Anambra Rice which is a product of the
Anambra state government while Ebony Rice by Ebonyi integrated Rice Limited is
also a household name in Nigeria.
Another N10bn
Lolo rice mill is also billed to take off in Kamba and Dangote is said to be
building another N20bn rice mill which is slightly larger at Saminaka area of
the state. WACOT has started the second N20bn rice mill plant in Yauri-all in
Kebbi State.
Besides these
big mills, there are host of many other local brands spreads across many
localities.
These milling
companies hunt through the major producing belts and major grains markets for
paddy to feed their various mills.
Olam’s Vice
President Corporate and Government Relations Olam Nigeria, Ade Adefeko, had
told our agric editor during a recent interview that apart from its out grower
policy, his company also source for paddy rice from major producing belt
including Nasarawa, Taraba and Kwara states.
Chairman, Umza
Rice in Kano, had during a similar interview, told our agric editor that the
company usually takes delivery of paddy rice from Jigawa, Taraba, Kwara and
other parts of the country.
A visit to the
company in Kano will show long cue of fully loaded trailers waiting to offload
paddy rice.
Walcott’s
agent at Lafiagi also confirmed that the company also buys paddy rice from as
far as Kwara state.
This,
according to our findings, has been a catalyst for local farmers in the rice
producing belt to expand their farm hectares.
For instance,
in Kebbi State, rice production has become a serious business. Buyers go as far
as to the farms to buy rice. In the state, there are farmers who have up to 200
hectares of rice fields.
Investigations
revealed that the Sunday Rice Market at Kamba is usually flooded with finished
rice and paddy from different areas of the state and neighboring Niger and
Benin Republic. A 50kg of finished local rice is sold between N9,500 and 8,000
at the border areas. Paddy that are sold between N10,000 and N9,000 at Birnin
Kebbi, Bunza, Suru, Bagudo, Argungu, Augie are sold at Kamba rice market
between N7,000 to N6000.
Project
Coordinator of Labana rice farms, Alhaji Umar Dodo Aliero, revealed a new
strategy that will further boost production from their end and if every other
thing goes well the farm is expected to realize over 198,600 bags of rice
during harvesting. “We can transplant about 50 hectares in a day. We have
developed our own variety of rice,’’ he said.
On a similar
front, Taraba State is one of the largest producing states than many people
previously thought as this investigation has shown.
A survey of
the major markets in the states has shown that about four major big millers in
the country- Olam Rice Farm based in Rukubi in Nasarawa State, Stallion Rice,
WACOT in Argungu, Kebbi State, Umza in Kano, and other medium scale milling
companies in Benue state troop to the place to buy paddy rice.
Daily Trust on
Sunday went to
Mutum-Biyu in Gassol, Karim Lamindo Local Government areas and Yelwa at the
outskirt of Jalingo to assess production level and it was discovered that
although this is not the production peak period, many millers have aggregated a
lot of paddy from the state.
Olam alone
collects about 430 trailers of rice annually, about half of this paddy comes
from Mutum Biyu (Gassol) alone, 70 trailers from Jalingo and other places in
the state. Each of these trucks carries 30 tonnes of rice.
Emeka Isaac
Amakwe who is into procurement with Olam said the company gives out money to
the indigene to source this paddy which the company buys between N100 to N119
per Kg.
Stallion Group
has an aggregation centre for collecting paddy through various agents who are
also rice farmers.
It is a common
sight to see many trucks loading paddy out of mutum biyu daily as a visit to
the area twice have shown- the same in Jalingo, the state capital.
Daily Trust on
Sunday findings
in rice producing communities of Kwara State have shown massive production of
local rice. Communities along the River Niger including Lafiagi, Patigi, Paada
and Shonga recorded massive production of rice in the last planting season.
Our Agric
Editor, who visited some of the communities gathered that local rice milling
companies like Umza, Olam, Stallion and Walcott are the main buyers of paddy
rice from the communities.
Their agents
were stationed at their various collecting centres to buy paddy directly from
the farmers.
One of the
agents, who spoke with Daily Trust on Sunday at
Lafiagi, Suleiman Mohammed, said over 100 trucks had already left the community
since the beginning of dry season.
He said a 50kg
paddy costs between N7,000 and N8,000.
At Pada,
hundreds of bags of paddies are being moved to Patigi on daily basis from where
agents will buy them off for their companies.
There are lots
of rice productions along Kaima and Barutine axis of Kwara State from where
millers buy them off to Kebbi and Kano states.
The rice
producing communities in Kwara are said to be producing about one million
metric tonnes per anum.
Investigations
in Benue revealed that rice is produced in commercial quantity at Naka in Gwer
West, Guma, Ikpayongo in Gwer East, Kwande, Oju, Ushongo, Buruku, Kastina-Ala,
Makurdi, and Agatu local government areas respectively among others.
Presently,
most warehouses are stocked with rice paddy while marketing points such as the
one located at Daudu in Guma have overfilled their barn with more paddies still
being brought for sales by the farmers.
Rice
specialist and Chairman of Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN) in Benue state,
Fidelis Iyorumgwa Akosu, intimated that the 6000 registered farmers of the
association are currently doing exploit under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
anchor borrowers programme.
Akosu said
each of the farmers under the programme is growing at least two hectares of
rice farm which is expected to produce a maximum of between 120 and 160 bags of
100kg at the end of harvest with the advantage of modern technology implored
and adequate rainfall.
The RIFAN
chairman worried about the smuggling of rice from the state by alleged Anambara
traders who go as far as re-packaging the local rice and sell same as foreign
produce because according to him the quality of rice produced in the state is
quite better than other.
Akosu stressed
that current local rice production is rising in the state following the massive
involvement of farmers in growing the crop, especially, as there are ready
markets for the produce.
Our
correspondent who visited rice producing and processing areas such as, Wadata
in Makurdi, Daudu in Guma and Wurukum rice mills observed massive rice being processed
by both farmers who brought their paddy for sales and millers doing their job
to bring forth the finest of the rice for consumers delight
In Kaduna, the
State Chairman of Rice Farmer Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Muhammad Umar
Nungu, said that Rice farmers across the 23 LGAs in Kaduna has reached about 85
percent production capacity out of the expected target despite the fact that
some parts of the producing areas in the state are affected by severe crisis.
In Sokoto
state, before the FG’s interventions, farmers across Sokoto state could not
produce above 50,000 tonnes of local variety.
Alhaji Salihu
Ibrahim, chairman of RIFAN disclosed that the support was enjoyed by 33,000
farmers during the wet season and 10,000 for dry season which allowed production
capacity to reach 175,000 metric tonnes adding that Attajiri Mill, KK polish
local variety to a level that matches all attribute of foreign rice.”
The state has
over 120,000 registered members with major producing communities in Goronyo,
Wurno, Kebbe, Silame, Sabon Birni, Tambuwakl, and Wamakko.
Our
correspondents in Edo and Kogi states report that there has been a significant
increase in rice production activities despite the input challenges bedeviling
the industry in some places-some like Kaduna are ridden with conflicts.
In Anambra
state, the chairman of JOSAN Integrated Rice Mills and Farms, Chief Oliver
Okeke, has commended the Anambra Government for the successful inauguration of
the JOSAN Rice Mills, with about 10,000 farmers.
Okeke said in
Abuja that the resuscitation of the JOSAN Giant Mill, formerly Omor Rice Mill,
meant that the country would soon bounce back as the largest rice mill in West
Africa.
Consumers’
taste, preference, a huge problem
Although this
investigation has found a huge increase in rice production across all the
belts, there are factors that threatening the survival of the local brands.
Many people
across the market seem to prefer the “better-polished” imported rice for two
reasons: its cleaner appearance, the price, which in some case is even lower
than the locally produced ones.
“Since the
prices are almost the same or lower, people will naturally buy the foreign ones
because even in the cooking, some of the local rice melts and gums together
which is why I prefer the foreign rice which has better quality,” a buyer, Mrs
Emmanuella Emeka, told Daily Trust in Wuse market in Abuja and many shared her
opinion.
This is a
factor that shapes the performance of the foreign rice people like Mr. Jonathan
Emeka who sells local brands wants the government to step up more campaign
against foreign rice.
But Mrs
Veronica Aremu, a resident of Ita-Amadu area of Ilorin told Daily Trust that
there is no much difference between the price of local rice and the foreign
ones. ‘’So instead of buying the local rice that usually melts during cooking,
I will rather add the little money and get the foreign one that will rise with
good quality,’’ she added.
She said in
many rice markets in Ilorin, the common brand of rice you can find are Pearl,
Falcon, Royal Stallion, Tomato Aroso, Thai Caprice and Moto, which are mainly
foreign rice and are sold between N15,500 to N17,000 per 50kg compare to the
local rice like Mama Gold and Umza which are sold close to N16,000 too.
A notable
farmer at Lafiagi, one of the main rice producing communities in Kwara State,
Abdullahi Ndako, attributed the differences in the quality to the poor milling
process by the local millers while activities of the smugglers are crashing the
prices of foreign rice at the detriment of the local ones.
A seller at
the rice market in Daleko, Mushin, Lagos, simply identified as Mum Abdullah,
said there was a very low quantity of local rice in the market.
She noted that
only a few people have local rice, the majority of the market men and women
depend on foreign rice.
She also
listed Pearl, Falcon, Royal Stallion, Tomato Aroso, Thai Caprice and Moto,
Tripple Seven and Oriba as common rice brand at the market, which according to
her are foreign brands.
Our
correspondent in Lagos reports that the Lagos State government local rice ‘Lake
rice’, is sold only at a few designated locations and is not available all year
round.
The way out
for the local brands
These findings
demonstrate that the federal government needs to deconstruct Nigerians’ perceptions
of the rice produce locally. It would not be out-of-place if a subsidy is
placed on the final product in the market to attract first choice preference.
Struggling is
killing the millers, the farmers and as well denying the government of the huge
money it can generate if the product comes through the normal seaports.
The fact that
the smuggling still thrives massively across the country’s land borders, the
customs and other sister agencies needs to re-strategize to protect the farmers
and the millers.
In the opinion
of Mr Babatunde Ajibola, Head, Media and Communications, Elephant Group Plc,
investors in rice business including agro companies and farmers can only
survive if government addresses the issue of illegal rice smuggling.
Mr. Babatunde
Olajire, an agric economist, said apart from checking the activities of the
smuglers, the federal government can grant rice producers a kind of subsidy or
better still a kind of tax waivers to some of millers in order to reduce the
price of the local rice.
‘’If the price
is cut down, local rice will be able to compete favorably with the smuggled
rice in the market and this will lead to more production. Also, the waivers or the
subsidy will encourage more millers into the production and this will mean more
employment for the people,’’ he said.
Mr. Olajire,
who spoke with one of reporters on phone from Ibadan, said with such policy
more farmers will embrace rice farming knowing fully that there are enough
millers to off take the paddy rice from them.
https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/foreign-rice-threatens-nigerias-rising-domestic-production.html
India-Pak: Calls for de-escalation and
dialogue smack of defeatism
Indian Air Force officials
display a wreckage of AMRAAM air-to-air missile fired by Pakistan Air Force
fighter jet during a strike near the Line of Control, at Defence Ministry in
New Delhi, on 28 February. REUTERS
India must shed its pusillanimity and adopt a
multi pronged approach using all the elements of state power.
In the aftermath of
the game changing and highly successful Balakot strike, undertaken by Indian
Air Force on 26 February in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and the
unsuccessful aerial attack attempted by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in Jammu
and Kashmir on 27 February, in which the former lost a MiG 21 and the latter an
F16, some sections in India have loosely been advocating de-escalation,
dialogue and even mediation to ease tensions. Others have urged that India
eschew the military option and keep the pressure on Pakistan mainly through
diplomacy. Such an approach not only displays a complete lack of understanding
of what Pakistan is all about, but also smacks of defeatism and lack of resolve.
It is also disturbing that the National Security Adviser (NSA)
of the time, formerly an Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief, now openly justifies
India’s having eaten humble pie and not having punished Pakistan for the Mumbai
attacks of 26 November 2008 on the grounds that India lacked the required
special forces to do so and that retaliatory airstrikes would have been
perceived as an act of war by Pakistan. In other words, he is not uncomfortable
with India being condemned to pusillanimity in its dealings with Pakistan in
the face of the latter’s continuous export of terrorism to India. In a somewhat
similar vein, a former Research an Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief loses no
opportunity to plug the line that dialogue with Pakistan is our best bet today,
as he sees in Imran Khan a leader who is his own man and one who earnestly
desires peace. This notwithstanding the fact that the latter is clearly a
creature of the Army and one who is known to cultivate radical elements, has no
intention of winding down the infrastructure of terror, and presides over a
government that connived in the Pulwama attack, attempted an air attack against
our military establishments in Jammu and Kashmir and is now engaged in scores
of ceasefire violations targeting innocent civilians.
It is axiomatic that our dealings with Pakistan must be governed
by its nature and its approach to us. Few will disagree that since its very
inception in 1947, Pakistan has regarded India as an existential enemy and has
accordingly bent all its energies to hurt us. This is the result of Pakistan’s
internal dynamics including its identity crisis, about which we can do nothing.
Indeed, all India’s efforts to befriend Pakistan and assuage its concerns
through a variety of magnanimous gestures over the decades such as the Indus
Waters Treaty, return without any quid pro quo of nearly 93,000 prisoners and
over 5,000 square miles of territory captured in the 1971 conflict, unilateral
accord of MFN treatment etc., have proved unavailing. In these circumstances,
it would be reasonable to deduce that anti Indianism is a part of Pakistan’s
DNA and no matter what concessions we make, an adversarial relationship with
the latter is an inevitability. It could, in fact, be argued that the extreme
restraint and generosity shown by us in our dealings with Pakistan historically
has only encouraged it to continue with its export of terrorism against India.
Accordingly, it is time that India shed its pusillanimity and adopted a whole
of government multi pronged approach using all elements of state
power—military, diplomatic, economic, commercial, etc—in overt and covert mode,
to impose such pain on Pakistan that it is compelled to give up its involvement
with terrorist activities directed against us. It goes without saying that to
succeed, such a policy would need to be sustained over several months, if not
years, and that we should not be derailed from pursuing it on account of any
short term setbacks or pressures which are inevitable in such an exercise.
In the backdrop of the reality that is Pakistan, calls for de
escalation, dialogue and mediation make little sense and smack of defeatism and
lack of resolve.
It may, further, be pointed out that in the instant case it is
illogical to ask India to de-escalate when it is Pakistan that has escalated
the situation by promoting the Pulwama attack by the Jaish e Mohammed, which it
assiduously shelters and supports. Moreover, India was merely exercising its
right of self defence in taking out JeM’s training base at Balakot, from where
additional strikes against it were being planned. Pakistan’s subsequent
abortive airstrike against our military installations in J&K was a blatant
act of aggression. Nothing more nothing less. Accordingly, any calls for
de-escalation should be directed solely at Pakistan, which, after all, has been
responsible for any number of terror attacks against India and innumerable
ceasefire violations directed against our civilian population.
We also need to appreciate that given Pakistan’s flawed DNA,
dialogue will not induce it to dial down on terrorism and thus lead to
de-escalation. We have been talking to Pakistan for the last 70 years to no
avail. Dialogue only serves Pakistan’s purpose as a means to lull us into
complacency about its nefarious designs against us and to persuade the
international community about its pacific intentions so necessary for the
continued inflows of foreign military and developmental assistance on which it
is so dependent.
Those touting mediation as an expedient to ease the situation
would do well to recall India’s bitter experience in this regard on the Kashmir
issue. Moreover, we need to bear in mind that there are no honest brokers in
the real world and everyone has his own axe to grind. Above all, we need to be
clear that no one is going to pull our chestnuts out of the fire and if we are
serious about bringing a recalcitrant Pakistan to heel we will have to do so
largely on our own.
STEPS THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN
Diplomacy, as distinct from mediation, certainly has an
important role in coercing Pakistan. India’s increasing heft emanating in large
measure from its rapid economic growth and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
activist foreign policy makes it well placed to influence countries to try and
compel Pakistan to give up on its use of terrorism as an instrument of foreign
policy. One of the steps in this direction could be to impose sanctions on
Pakistan designed to impede foreign assistance accorded to it, to impose
restrictions on its exports and to restrain the travel of its military
personnel and their families. In order to persuade the international community
to take action against Pakistan we must provide tangible evidence of the
seriousness of our concerns in the matter. We simply cannot expect the
international community to act against Pakistan if we ourselves start
dialoguing or acting in a business as usual mode with it as has been our past
practice. On the contrary, we must have a steadfastly pursued multi pronged
policy designed to continuously tighten the noose around Pakistan until such
time as it shuts down the infrastructure of terror. The following could be a
portfolio of such policies:
1. A campaign to project Pakistan as a terrorist state and call for
imposition of sanctions against it accompanied by an Act of Parliament
declaring it as a terrorist state and breaking diplomatic relations with it.
2. Exercise of full rights over the Indus waters as legally
permitted under the Indus Waters Treaty by maximising the use in India of these
waters as permitted under the treaty inclusive of building of storages on the
western rivers. A notice should also be given for suspension of the treaty
citing Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which
provides for the same in the event of a fundamental change of circumstances
under which the treaty was concluded. The fundamental change being Pakistan’s
reprehensible behaviour as demonstrated by its export of terror and complete
absence of any display of goodwill, friendship and cooperative spirit on the
basis of which the treaty is predicated.
3. Pakistan’s faultlines must be ruthlessly exploited,
particularly in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Its human rights violations
in these areas as well as in PoK must be given widespread publicity including
at international fora. Disaffected elements from Pakistan may be provided
asylum within a broader asylum policy to be framed by us.
4. Covert action, and if need be focused strikes, should be
undertaken to take out terrorist elements and their supporters in Pakistan.
Contingency plans for several such actions should be developed so that
following any further Pakistan sponsored terrorist actions against us those
required can be automatically triggered within a matter of hours.
5. Rather than proactively providing comfort to Pakistan’s
economic development as done by us in the past we should take punitive steps.
We must prevail upon the European Union to no longer provide duty free access
to Pakistani textile exports which they had earlier given with our consent. We
should undercut Pakistan’s rice and textile exports, withdraw from TAPI, press
the Financial Action Task Force to place Pakistan on its black list, and use
our influence in the international and regional financial institutions to stall
financial support to Pakistan.
6. India should disavow the Durand Line and as a part of its
assistance programmes in Afghanistan should build dams on the tributaries of
the Indus in that country for power projects as well as irrigation.
7. India should coordinate actions with Afghanistan and Iran
vis-a-vis Pakistan, as these two countries are also the victims of the latter’s
terror factories.
Finally, it would be helpful if the opposition parties in India
could for once bury the hatchet with the government on national security issues
like our Pakistan policy. Their pronouncements not only reflect poorly on them,
but are detrimental to our efforts to coerce Pakistan as they lend grist to the
latter’s propaganda machine and keep us from putting up a united front.
Satish
Chandra was formerly High Commissioner to Pakistan and later Deputy National
Security Advisor.
One Reply to “India-Pak: Calls for
de-escalation and dialogue smack of defeatism”
You are right.It was foolish on part of our post
independence leadership to have expected Pakistan to behave.It has not for it
is not in its DNA.So be it.All the measures suggested by you will be readily
endorsed by overwhelming majority of Indians.The govt that will take oath after
23rd of May 2019 should do this to put an end to our problems on western front.
More farmers to grow rice in Ho
Friday
8th March, 2019
By Sumaiya Salifu Saeed, GNA
Ho, Mar. 08, GNA - The Ho Municipality
is to record an increase in rice farmers this year. 
Mr William
Afari, Ho Municioal Director of Agriculture told the Ghana News Agency that
through the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative, more farmers who
benefitted from improved seeds and subsidized fertilizers last year, were
increasing their rice farms.
He said a new
breed of rice seed to be added to the programme would allow rice to grow well
on cassava and maize lands, which was exciting farmers to increase their rice
farms.
Mr Afari said
the new breed known as “upland rice”, performed better on upland and had higher
market value than those planted in swampy areas.
He said a
private agro company was helping farmers in the Municipal area in mopping of
rice for easy marketing. Mr Afari noted
that the only challenge was the unavailability of small machinery for rice
harvesting, which was not a component of the initiative.
Last year, the
Municipality through PFJ supported 2,608 beneficiaries made up of 1,789 males
and 819 females as against 2,084 who benefitted in 2017 comprising of 1,608
males and 476 females.
GNA
