Rice farming returns to Humpty Doo using Australia's
own native grains
Tuesday at 04:06
(Supplied:
CDU)
The
potential for a native rice industry in Australia's far north has been talked
about for decades, but has never been tested at a commercial level.
Key
points:
·
Charles Darwin University is set
to start trial plantings of native rice
·
The rice is expected to fetch a
premium price as a local product for tourists and gourmet restaurants
·
Because of its value, researchers
can afford to grow the rice under cover to protect it from hungry magpie geese
That
is set to change, with trials of wild rice due to be planted near Darwin later
this year.
Federal
funding for the Future Food Systems CRC is expected to deliver $1.8 million for
Charles Darwin University's (CDU) project to develop a commercially-viable
native rice industry.
CDU's
Dr Sean Bellairs said after years of studying native rice, it was a major step forward to
now be looking at trials.
"So
we've got a good background in terms of the ecological importance of the native
rice, and we've done nutritional studies which found it's an excellent product
with some really interesting and unique food qualities," he said.
"But
what we don't have is information on the agronomy of it.
"So how much fertiliser do
we put onto it to maximise yield? What sort of conditions should we grow it
under? How do we best harvest it?
"That's what this research
will be doing, getting to grips with those important technical issues that
someone growing it commercially needs to know and needs to be able to do
efficiently to make it economically viable."
(ABC:
Caddie Brain)
Ready to start planting
Dr
Bellairs said trial plantings would initially take place on the NT Government's
Beatrice Hill and Coastal Plains research farms on the outskirts of Humpty Doo,
but also near Fogg Dam on land owned by Pudakul Aboriginal Cultural Tours.
"Fogg
Dam is notorious perhaps for the failure of commercial rice back in the 1950s
[the dam was built for the rice farm].
"But
even last year I was able to go below the dam and there's a beautiful field of
native rice growing there, which we were able to harvest for our research
purposes," he said.
"So in a way you could say
it's a rice comeback for Humpty Doo, but what we're growing is more valuable
than normal commercial rice."
GIF:
1950s
rice project in Top End
Dr
Bellairs said the native rice, with its unique qualities and different colour,
should fetch a premium price.
"This
rice is an ancient grain, it's a unique product with cultural significance to
the Northern Territory," he said.
"This
won't be sold like normal long-grain rice that you buy in a 2-kilogram bag from
your supermarket, but rather little packets of 100-grams that are the same
value as that 2-kilogram bag.
"So
we're really looking at a high-value, local product for tourism, gourmet
restaurants and as a special addition to a meal."
According
to the CRC for Developing Northern Australia, which has launched a separate
$505,000 project towards kick-starting a native rice industry, the sector has
the potential to produce more than 1 million tonnes of specialty rice each year.
(ABC
Rural: Matt Brann)
But what about the magpie geese?
One
of the reasons rice previously failed in northern Australia was because of
crops getting destroyed by hungry birds, especially magpie geese.
Dr
Bellairs said native rice was an important food source for geese, but believed
its value would allow for the grain to be grown under cover.
"Because of the value of the
grain from those plants, we can afford to grow it in protected conditions, grow
it in cages, which means the magpie geese can't touch it," he said.
"We've
carried out some initial pilot studies with tourists, showing little 100-gram
packets, and people were prepared to pay $10 each for the cultural importance.
"If
we're getting that sort of return for it, then yes, it'll be viable to grow it
under wire cages [or netting]."
Dr
Bellairs said the native rice was also tolerant of the fungal disease rice
blast, which was responsible for wiping out the Ord Irrigation Scheme's dream of a rice industry
comeback in 2011.
Commercial
varieties of rice continue to be trialled near Adelaide River by the White
family at Mt Keppler Station.
Sandiganbayan refuses to suspend proceedings vs. ex-DOST
secretary
Published April 2, 2019, 11:55 AM
By Czarina Nicole Ong
The Sandiganbayan Sixth Division
refused to suspend the proceedings of the graft case against former Department
of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary William Padolina even though he has
already elevated it to the Supreme Court.
Sandiganbayan (MANILA BULLETIN)
Padolina, in his capacity as a
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) board member, was earlier
charged, alongside former Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap,
with one violation each of Section 3(e) and 3(g) of R.A. 3019, also known as
the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
They were accused of instituting
a car plan from 2008 to 2009 that allowed several employees to obtain personal
loans amounting to P15.8 million from the Philippine National Bank (PNB) for
the purchase of private cars.
Hold Out Agreements (HOA) were
signed to enable the PhilRice Car Plan, even though it subjected “PhilRice’s
deposit with PNB to the agreement that said deposit will not be withdrawn until
the car/personal loans guaranteed are paid in full amounting to P15,780,000,”
their charge sheet read.
The private cars were even leased
by PhilRice for the official use of all the beneficiaries despite the fact that
they were still entitled to transportation allowances.
As a result of their actions,
PhilRice was not able to utilize its deposits with PNB during the subsistence
of the loans and its failure to obtain the best possible car rental deals,
among other things.
Padolina filed a motion to
suspend the proceedings, seeking for the suspension of his case before the
Sandiganbayan because of his pending petition for certiorari, which was filed
on January 25, 2009.
In his petition before the SC,
Padolina prayed for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and he
questioned the rulings of the court on August 15 and December 6, 2018 that
denied his motion to quash and motion for reconsideration, respectively.
He pleaded with the Sandiganbayan
to exercise “judicial courtesy” while they await the SC ruling on his petition.
Padolina further argued that there might be possible confusion and disruption
in the proceedings because of the pending motions of his co-accused.
However, the anti-graft court
denied his motion because it has not received any TRO from the SC. Without any
TRO, the Sandiganbayan ruled that the mere filing of the petition for
certiorari cannot interrupt its proceedings.
The Sandiganbayan likewise did
not buy into the contention of Padolina that proceeding with his case despite
the pending incidents of his co-accused will result in confusion and disorder.
Lastly, the anti-graft court
found no basis for his request for “judicial courtesy.” “The proceedings in
this case will not render the subject of the petition for certiorari moot,” the
resolution read.
“To grant the present motion is
to unwarrantly exempt the accused of his burden to prove the existence of an
urgent necessity in order to prevent serious damage, which is indispensable for
the issuance of a TRO or writ of preliminary injunction,” it added.
Aside from Padolina, the other
PhilRice Board of Trustees members included in the charge sheet were Johnifer
Batara, Fe Laysa, Winston Corvera, Gelia Castillo, Senen Bacani, Rodolfo Undan,
and Executive Director Ronillo Beronio and Cashier Fe Lumawag.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/04/02/sandiganbayan-refuses-to-suspend-proceedings-vs-ex-dost-secretary/
Falling growth rate of rice yield
worrying: IRRI chief
12:00
AM, April 02, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:06 AM, April 02, 2019
Matthew
Morell
Rice yield is increasing but the
rate of increase has slowed down in recent years in a worrying development for
Bangladesh, said Matthew Morell, director general of the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI).
The growth rate of rice yield
slowed to 1 percent in 2011-2017 from 2.8 percent in 2001-10.
“This needs to increase to ensure
the staple for the growing population,” he told The Daily Star in an interview
last week in Dhaka.
Continuous population growth is a
major challenge for Bangladesh as it enforces tough choices in the form of
making more land available for agriculture or urbanisation.
“Bangladesh is a country that does
not have new frontiers to find new land, and you also have pressures on water
availability and water quality.”
Over the last five and a half
decades, the international agency helped Bangladesh develop more than 100
high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice by working with Bangladesh Rice Research
Institute (BRRI) and other state research agencies.
And cultivation of HYVs has
resulted in increasing yield and enabled the nation to triple its annual
production to about 3.50 crore tonnes from about 1 crore of the cereal just
after independence, according to official data.
In fiscal 2016-17, the annual
average yield of the staple food stood at 3.07 tonnes per hectares in contrast
to 1.09 tonnes in 1970-71, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
(BBS).
In recent years, the yield of rice
from each hectare hovered around the 3 tonne-mark.
The yield increase is linked to a
number of factors, including the introduction of new varieties and improvement
in farm management practices at farmer's level, Morell said.
Mechanisation of rice production
and operating larger farm sizes are necessary to increase productivity.
Bangladesh has released several
climate-smart rice varieties, three of which are drought-tolerant, six
submergence-tolerant and 10 salinity-tolerant.
Cultivation of the varieties has
reduced production loss from climatic stresses, significantly increased rice
production in stress-prone areas and income of farmers, and improved food
security, he said.
Asked about food safety concerns,
Morell said: “We agree with the concern and we agree with the general desire to
reduce unnecessary use of chemicals.”
IRRI promotes practices such as
integrated pest management that minimise the use of synthetic pesticides.
“This has beneficial effect on rice
agro ecosystem and human health and it also addresses food safety concerns.”
Rice, in general, is safe, but
there are few things that need to be checked from time to time such as heavy
metal and arsenic contamination and pesticide use.
“These are really very significant
problems. We should be monitoring the rice crop to make sure there are not any
issues that we need to be concerned about.”
For Bangladesh, it is cadmium and
arsenic contamination that need to be checked from time to time. Arsenic is
present in soil and water and cadmium in soil, so regular screening is needed.
IRRI is developing methods to
detect to heavy metal presence in rice, Morell said.
It has established an IRRI South
Asia Regional Centre in Varanasi, India. The centre's lab facilities can
analyse rice grain quality and identify metal contamination in rice.
“Bangladesh can take advantage of
this facility,” the IRRI chief said.
On the genetically-engineered
Golden Rice, he said the variety has got approval from regulatory agencies from
the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It is currently going through the
regulatory process in Bangladesh and in the Philippines.
In Bangladesh, the application was
lodged to the National Committee of Biosafety in November, 2017.
“It's about 15 months. They are
examining the dossier. So, we would hope that they will make their decision in
the coming months.”
On concerns related to Golden Rice,
he said the IRRI has very rigorous criteria for releasing the variety.
“This is why we went to go through
the regulation process in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. These are
some of the toughest regulatory agencies in the world and Golden Rice met the
criteria set by them.”
The variety can be made available
to farmers the way other HYVs were.
IRRI said BRRI scientists are
introducing the beta-carotene producing Golden Rice trait into the popular,
high-yielding local inbred rice varieties (BRRI Dhan 29).
This means that farmers will be
able to save their seeds for replanting in succeeding planting seasons, it
added.
On the risks of cultivation of the
crop here, Morell said: “It's a very well understood product and there is
beta-carotene in many plants. This is something that occurs naturally in other
plants. So, I do not see any particular risks here in Bangladesh.”
For policymakers, Morell said the
science and technology are needed in many areas to help improve productivity.
“But it is no good if that
knowledge stays in the laboratory. It needs to come out to the farmers. That's
an important area for policymakers to think about.”
