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The Ministry of Industries, Mining
and Trade has lifted its seasonal ban on rice imports.
The decision has been communicated to all customs bureaus across
the country in a letter signed by Ali Vakili, the director general of Imports
and Free Trade Zone Department of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration,
Fars News Agency reported.
Every year, during the rice harvest season, the government bans
rice imports in support of domestic farmers and production.
Referring to the rise in prices of local rice varieties and the
importance of meeting domestic needs, Abbas Qobadi, deputy minister of
industries, mining and trade, underscored the need for allocating subsidized
foreign currency to import rice in a letter to the Central Bank of Iran’s
Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati.
Iranians consume more than 3 million tons of rice per
annum.
“Domestic rice production is expected to reach 2.5 million tons
by the end of the current Iranian year [March 19, 2020],” said Director General
of the Agriculture Ministry's Grains and Essential Goods Department Faramak
Aziz Karimi.
The difference between domestic production and local need is
imported from the UAE, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Iraq.
“The
Pakistan community would equally want to contribute to Uganda’s development by
investing especially in Agriculture produce, but most of them need government
help to ease the process of land acquisition, Nakadama said at the function.
A
section of Pakistan Nationals, some of them with Ugandan citizenship have
expressed concern over the bureaucratic process in Uganda’s land system.
“Sometimes it may take forever” a Pakistan/Ugandan National who preferred
anonymity stated. “We hope our consulate will help us solve this problem” He
added.
It was during the celebrations of the 14th August Pakistan independence day
held by the Pakistan community under the Pakistan Association in Uganda at an
only male attended the function at the Pakistan consulate in Ntinda
suburbs Kampala.
Perhaps for fear of retribution, most of the affected Pakistanis were not
willing to openly speak but their consular Lukia Nakadama (former minister)
did. She expressed government willingness to find a solution and support for
the investors.
Her first move was to invite the state minister for Lands Persis Namuganza as
the guest of honor at tods colorful independence celebrations.
“The Pakistan community would equally want to contribute to Uganda’s
development by investing especially in Agriculture produce, but most of them
need government help to ease the process of land acquisition, Nakadama said at
the function.
She said Pakistan has many potential investors who would (If given the
opportunity) employ a number of Ugandans, but also widen the country’s tax
base.
Namuganza
pledged government support towards the Pakistanis’ requests saying that the
government does not discriminate among investors. “We treat all investors in
the same way and we always work towards creating a conducive environment for
every one of them both local and foreign.” She said.
She
added that she has been receiving such requests of assistance especially from
Pakistan rice farmers and she has “Always helped them”. Namuganza urged
the leaders of the Pakistan Association in Uganda to lead their members to her
office which “is always open for everyone” so that they can receive the
necessary assistance.
Meanwhile, Nakadama warned Pakistan businessmen against internal disputes and
fights, saying that such conflicts cripple efforts of development for both the
Pakistan community but also Uganda’s business community.
She highlighted the fact that she has received several cases in her office
related to fights between Pakistan businessmen and although she has tried to
settle them amicably, many of them seem to be endless and unsolvable.
“You should accept competition amongst yourselves because it indicates a
healthy environment for doing business” She advised them.
On the contrary, Imran Nadeem the Secretary-general of the Pakistan Association
of Uganda clarified on what Nakadama referred to as ‘Internal fights’ saying
that “What she calls fights is Just competition among ourselves. We do not have
any conflicts at all” he stressed.
Nadeem, however, contradicted himself with a rejoinder to his statement that
“All business communities compete and sometimes disagree, Coca-Cola competes
with Pepsi and you can’t call that fighting. I can’t say that she was lying but
I believe we don’t fight; we only compete” seemingly confirming Nakadama’s
claim.
Namuganza also reiterated Nakadama’s words by advising members of the Pakistan
community to love one another even if they are competitors in the same
business, but also love all other races including Ugandans and other foreign
Nationals.
About the Kashmir conflict
Commenting about the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir
territory on the borders of the two countries, Nadeem and other leaders of the
Pakistan community in Uganda expressed agony over what they call “Inhuman acts
committed against Kashmir residents by the Indian government of India”.
“We stand together in solidarity with our brothers, sisters and children
in Kashmir, while calling upon the Indian government to respect the United
Nations council resolution which states that the people of Kashmir have the
right to decide whether they belong to Pakistan or India” Nadeem added.
August 18, 2019The 2019 newly conferred and upgraded scientists
(from left): Mario V. Navasero, MSc; Imelda Angeles Agdeppa, PhD; Fe M. de la
Cueva, PhD; Olivia P. Damasco, PhD; Charito Tranquilan-Aranilla, MSc; Sofronio
C. Camacho, MSc; and Reynante L. Ordonio, PhD.
The Science Career System (SCS)
held its 2019 oath-taking of newly conferred and upgraded scientists on August
9 at a hotel in Quezon City.
The oath-taking was hosted by the
SCS and National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines (NAST PHL).
The Civil Service Commission
(CSC) and the Department of Science and Technology conferred the Scientist rank
to six new researchers and upgraded the rank of one scientist from the
University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), the Department of Agriculture
(DA) and DOST.
The newly conferred and upgraded
scientists are:
1.For Sofronio C. Camacho, Scientist
I from the Forest Development Center. He conducted significant researches
for more than three decades in the areas of community-based forest management,
citronella production and processing, bamboo production and harvesting, forest
traditional knowledge, mangrove ecosystems, forest certification and climate
change.
His researches contribute greatly
to the development of human communities and help promote sustainable and
equitable forest management and rehabilitations/restoration of degraded areas in
our country.
2. Dr. Fe M. de la Cueva,
Scientist I from the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) is the principal
investigator for many research projects with outputs that are now being used by
several relevant industries and stakeholders.
Among her contributions that
created an impact to the national economy or pest industry include the
development of virus using antibody-based and nucleic acid based detection
techniques, which subsequently made the Plant Laboratory of IPB as the National
Virus Indexing Lab for banana by Bioversity International.
3. Dr. Olivia P. Damasco,
Scientist I also from IPB, pioneered the banana tissue culture, a breakthrough
technology that contributed tremendously in value of clean planting materials
needed by the banana industry.
More recently, as the principal
investigator, she initiated the in vitro conversation of the Philippine
sugarcane germplasm collections. In an environment highly vulnerable to natural
calamities, climate change, and urbanization, the in vitro gene bank offers
assurance of security and safety of valuable plant genetic resources.
4. Dr. Reynante L. Ordonio,
Scientist I from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) of the DA,
found for the first time in sorghum that gibberellin (GA) is crucial for the erectness
of its culum.
He showed that GA deficiency
resulting from any loss-of-function mutation in four genes involved in the
early steps of GA biosynthesis not only results in severe dwarfism but also
abnormal culm bending in sorghum.
5. Dr. Imelda A. Agdeppa,
Scientist II from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the DOST,
conducted numerous researches, which were considered as basis for crafting laws
and policies for the improvement in nutritional status of Filipinos.
They include the “Integrated
Model on School-Based Gardening, Nutrition Education and Supplementary Feeding”
which became the reference of the recently released National Supplementary
Feeding Act, and the “Pilot-Scale Commercialization Iron Fortified Rice” that
led to the release of local ordinances for the sale and consumption of
iron-fortified rice (IFR) in numerous local government units (LGUs).
This intervention model has been
fully adopted for implementation in different parts of the country. IFR is
included as a food commodity in the Family Food Packs of the Department of
Social Welfare and Development; used in the supplementary feeding program of
the Department of Education, and has attracted adopters of the technology
resulting to wider distribution of IFR.
6. Charito T. Aranilla, Scientist
I of Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, conducted significant researches in
the fields of radiation chemistry and radiation processing, utilizing ionizing
radiation like gamma radiation and electron beam to modify polymeric materials for
various applications.
She pioneered the
carboxymethylation of kappa-carrageenan (CMKC) and opened doors to more nonfood
applications of the polysaccharide. Carboxymethylation transformed
k-carrageenan from degrading to radiation crosslinking-responsive polymer.
The CMkC can be used as a
stand-alone material for developing crosslinked and sterile hydrogel for wound
care management. The crosslinked hydrogel also demonstrated super-absorbency
and biodegradability that can be utilized to ameliorate sandy soil and improved
water holding capacity to make suitable for crop cultivation.
7. Mario V. Navasero, Scientist
II from the National Crop Protection Center of UPLB, is notable for his
achievements during the period for his upgrading (2013-2015), which included
the discovery and use of Comperiella calaunica (Hymenoptera: Encytridae), an
efficient biological control agent and specific parasitoid, that contributed to
the cessation of outbreak of invasive cocolisap Aspidiotus Rigidus Reyne (Hemiptera:
Diaspididae), elucidate the chemical bases of repellency of some
plants to some major pests of rice and eggplant, and assessment of potential
impact of Bacillus thuringiensis eggplant,
the first insecticide-protected plant being developed in the country, on
nontarget arthropods.
The scientists were sworn in by
CSC and SCC Chairman Alicia de la Rosa-Bala; Science Secretary Fortunato T. de
la Peña; NAST PHL President Acd. Rhodora V. Azanza; National Research Council
of the Philippines (NRCP) President Dr. Ramon A. Razal, NAST PHL Director IV
Luningning E. Samarita-Domingo, Chairman of Special Technical Committee on
Natural Sciences, Acd. Fabian M. Dayrit, chairman of Special Technical
Committee on Agricultural Sciences, Acd. Eufemio T. Rasco Jr. and Chairman of
Special Technical Committee on Social Sciences Dr. Maria Cynthia Rose B.
Bautista.
The conferred scientists are
ranked to receive the corresponding salary grade. They are also entitled to
representation and travel allowances; Magna Carta benefits; membership in international
scientific organization and/or subscription to scientific journals; publication
assistance; and foreign travel assistance for oral paper presentation of $3,000
per scientist every two years.
With this development, the roster
of scientists conferred under the system brings the total number to 168 since
it was institutionalized in 1983 by then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The
system is the government’s effort for personnel in the government institutions
with limited number of available higher plantilla positions.
A meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur of Pak-Malaysia Business
Council of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI)
and Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council of Malaysia on 31st July, 2019 in Hotel
Mandarin, Kuala Lumpur. Dato' Sri Mohammed Nazir Meraslam, Chairman,
Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council welcomed M. Bashir Janmohammed, Chairman,
Pak-Malaysia Business Council of FPCCI and Muhammad Usman, Vice Chairman
Pak-Malaysia Business Council. Meeting was also attended by Directors and
Members of the Council, Muhammad Iqbal, Dato' Sri Mohammedali, Farhan Iqbal, M.
Aslam, Haji Essa, Muhammad Saleem Khan and others.
The Meeting noted with concern that trade between Malaysia and Pakistan has
declined in last few years mainly because of imports of Palm Oil by Pakistan
from Indonesia. Malaysian share has shrunk to about 25%. No significant
increase in export from Pakistan to Malaysia in last 2 years. Pakistan is able
to export big quantity of Rice. Malaysia purchases from Pakistan about 100,000
tons per annum. Pakistan has capacity to export One Million tons of Rice. It
was decided that both the Councils would approach Malaysian Government for
increase in quota for import of Rice from Pakistan.
Members pointed out that the reason for decrease in Palm Oil import is mainly
because of levy of Export Duty on Crude Palm Oil by Malaysian Government when
its price go above RM 2,250 in KLCC. Pak-Malaysia Business Council has
requested Malaysian Government to waive off this condition which will
considerably increase import of Palm Oil by Pakistan.
Regarding export from Pakistan, it was pointed out that for every export
consignment, a Permit has to be obtained by Exporters and there is Import Duty
on Mangoes and Mandarin in Malaysia. The exporters have to get permit or
quality certification in Malaysia for each consignment.
M. Bashir Janmohammed Chairman pointed out that many countries have agreed to
appoint pre-shipment Surveyors and their certification is accepted by the
buyers. He urged Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council to assist in this regard.
Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council proposed to hold Investment Conference in
November, 2019 in Kuala Lumpur to achieve the following purpose:- To look for
opportunities to narrow trade imbalances between two countries; To provide
brief on potential opportunities available in Pakistan and Malaysia for
investment on trade; To brief the potential investors from Malaysia about
viable projects in Pakistan in the field of Plantation of Oil Palm, Energy,
Infrastructure etc.; To bring in keen Pakistani investors for B2B meetings with
Malaysian business entities. To introduce the culture of Pakistan through a
cultural shows and holding a Food Festival; To introduce the haute couture of
Pakistan by holding a Fashion Show that will be featured by some of the big
names in the fashion industry.
M Bashir Janmohammed, Chairman, PMBC fully supported the idea and assured that
PMBC will play its role in promoting and assisting the Conference and will ask
Pakistani businessmen to join Conference and also participate in Food Festival
and Fashion Show.
It was decided that both the Councils will invite Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Dr. Mahathir Mohammad and Ministers from Malaysia and Pakistan to attend this
event. High Commission of Pakistan in Malaysia assured of their full
co-operation in this respect. Bashir Janmohammed met His Majesty the King of
Malaysia, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
Sheikh Mohammed Zayed Al-Nahyan in Kuala Lumpur after His Majesty was sworn in
on 30th July, 2019 as new King of Malaysia. M Bashir Janmohammed presenting
Crest to Dato' Sri Mohamed Nazir Meraslam, Chairman, Malaysia-Pakistan Business
Council on 31st July, 2019 in Kuala Lumpur.-PR
ISLAMABAD: The weekly inflation for the week ended on August 8 witnessed an
increase of 1.23pc for the combined income group, as compared to the previous
week.
The Sensitive Price Indicator
(SPI) in the combined group was recorded at 270.31 points, as against 267.02
points registered in the previous week, according to the latest data released
by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The inflation for the lowest
income group also increased from 245.50 points last week to 249.01 points,
showing an increase of 1.43pc.
As compared to the corresponding
week of last year, the SPI for the combined group in the week under review
witnessed an increase of 17.76pc, while that of the lowest income group
increased by 14.46pc.
The weekly SPI has been computed
with base 2007-08=100, covering 17 urban centres and 53 essential items for all
income groups and combined.
The SPI for the income groups
from Rs8001-12,000, Rs12,001-18,000, 18,001-35,000 and above Rs35,000 per month
increased by 1.35pc, 1.33pc, 1.27pc and 1.1pc respectively.
During the week under review,
average prices of three items registered a decrease, while that of 25 items increased
with prices of 25 items remaining unchanged. The items that witnessed a
decrease in their prices included bananas, red chilli and wheat.
The items that recorded an
increase in their average prices included onions, chicken, tomatoes, potatoes,
vegetable ghee, garlic, sugar, eggs, cooking oil (tin), cooked daal, vegetable
ghee, bath soap, gram (pulse), gur, cooked beef, masoor (pulse), wheat flour,
maash (pulse), mustard oil, rice (irri-6), moong (pulse), LPG cylinder, beef,
curd and fresh milk.
Similarly, the items which
recorded no change in their prices included rice (basmati broken), bread,
mutton, milk (powdered), salt, tea (packet), tea (prepared), cigarettes, long
cloth, shirting, lawn, georgette, gents sandal, gents chappal, ladies sandal, electricity
charges, kerosene oil, firewood, electric bulb, washing soap, matchbox, petrol,
diesel and local telephone call.
New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan
Point News - APP - 17th Aug, 2019 ) :New York went
on alert for
two hours Friday during the morning rush hour because of three suspicious
objects that turned out to be empty rice cookers.
Police said the alarm was first
sounded in Manhattan around
7:00 am (1100 GMT) when a passenger saw a cooker abandoned at the Fulton Street
subway station near the World Trade
Center -- a neighborhood rebuilt after the September 11
attacks in 2001.
A second rice cooker was found in
an another part of the same station.
The station was quickly evacuated, service on two subway lines was
suspended and trains on other lines serving Fulton Street bypassed the station.
As police announced
the objects turned out to be harmless, a third suspicious object was detected
on 16th Street in the Chelsea district
further to the north.
It, too, turned out to be a rice
cooker, said John Miller, the New YorkPolice Department's
deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism.
It was in Chelsea that
a pressure cooker containing a homemade explosive device detonated in September2016, injuring
31 people and triggering panic in a city that had not endured an attack since
9/11.
Ahmad Rahimi, an Afghan-born man who
sympathized with jihadist causes, was sentenced to life in prison over that
incident. He had actually placed multiple bombs across New Jersey and Manhattan, but
only one caused any damage.
Surveillance camera footage showed the
two rice cookers found at the Fulton Street station were placed there by
the sameman, who took
them out of a shopping cart, said Miller.
Miller said he did not know if the
third cooker was linked to the first two, although they were all the same model.
Since the attack by
Rahimi, the US financial capital has been hit by two other attacks.
In October2017, an
Uzbek man named
Sayfullo Saipov used a truck to run over bikers and pedestrians on a bike path
in Manhattan,
killing eight people and injuring 12.
By Kunle FalayiBBC Africa business reporter,
Lagos
17 August 2019
Nigeria
has invested a lot in boosting rice production in recent years
President Muhammadu Buhari has
directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to block food importers' requests for
foreign currency in a bid to boost local agriculture in Africa's most populous
country.
It is a continuation of a policy that the president began after
coming to office in 2015, when he banned the use of foreign exchange to import
dozens of items including the staple food, rice.
Since then, domestic rice production has increased, but the
policy has been criticised for not taking the low capacity of local farmers
into consideration. The policy has also coincided with a rise in food prices,
which has been blamed on insecurity in some of the country's main food
producing areas.
How much is
Nigeria spending on importing food?
According to data from Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS), the amount of money the country has been spending on importing food and
drink increased from 2015 to 2017, dipped in 2018 and if the trend from the
first quarter of this year continues, the bill will go up again for this year.
In 2015, Nigeria spent nearly $2.9bn (£2.4bn) and by 2017 that
had risen to $4.1bn, the NBS says.
But the data picture is confusing as leading figures have quoted
other figures.
Last December, central bank governor Godwin Emefiele said the
annual food import bill was $1.9bn and had fallen from $7.9bn in 2015, the
Punch newspaper reported.
But in September 2018, the agriculture minister at the time,
Audu Ogbeh, said Nigeria spent $22bn importing food every year.
Which foods are
imported?
Nigeria does produce the basic food commodities such as sugar,
wheat flour, fish, milk, palm oil, pork, beef and poultry but up to now
domestic farmers have not been able to satisfy demand of the country's 200
million people, hence the need for imports. With the foreign exchange ban
Nigerian farmers will now have to increase production.
Official figures show that domestic rice production has gone up
since 2015.
Rice
production has increased but farmers cannot meet all the demand
According to figures from the UN's Food and Agriculture
Organization, rice production has increased from an annual average of 7.1
million tonnes between 2013 and 2017 to 8.9 million tonnes in 2018.
However, there are also reports that rice smuggling has
increased - as customs officials continue to seize large quantities of the
grain at the borders. This suggests that Nigerian rice farmers are still not
producing enough.
Would
restricting food imports boost local production?
Many experts believe that the policy of restricting food imports
does have some merits, but the policy cannot be introduced in isolation.
Agricultural economist Idris Ayinde argues that restricting food
imports should be a gradual process since the country cannot yet meet domestic
demand for most food commodities, and the policy risks increasing food price
inflation further.
Local rice production has increased, but the foreign exchange
ban was coupled with policies aimed at supporting farmers through subsidies and
loans.
For instance, last November, the government spent $165m
subsidising rice production. Despite this, people continue to buy rice that has
been smuggled into the country.
Some farmers are investing in innovative methods while others lack
the capacity to boost capacity
Attempts to boost local production of palm oil have also been
hit by smuggling. Foreign exchange to import palm oil was also restricted in
2015, but local producers have not been able to fill the gap.
The government now hopes that investing up to $500m in the
industry can boost production from 600,000 tonnes a year to five million
tonnes.
In addition to questions over local capacity, there is also a
concern that the government's policy threatens the independence of the central
bank. Former deputy governor of the bank Kingsley Moghalu said the president's
directive contradicts the law, adding that the central bank's economic policy
should not be "imposed by a political authority".
Could prices go
up?
Economic theory suggests that reducing the supply of something
will increase the price. There is a general belief therefore that if domestic
supply cannot immediately replace what was once imported, Nigerians will end up
paying more for their food.
Between 2015, when the foreign exchange restrictions for rice
came into effect, and early 2017, the price of a 50kg bag of rice went from $24
to $82. It later fell in mid-2017 to $34.
But in June this year, the price stood at $49.
Why doesn't
Nigeria produce more food?
The agricultural sector, which remains a major employer, has
suffered years of neglect as Nigeria has spent decades relying on oil to provide
much-needed foreign exchange and government revenue.
Media caption'We're farming in a shipping container', says
Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja
There may be lots of people working on farms but a lack of
investment has led to low productivity. In addition, not all available
agricultural land is being used. It is estimated that just over a third of
available land is being cultivated.
But following a big drop in the oil price five years ago, the
country has renewed its interest in agriculture. If this enthusiasm can be
converted into greater investment then the country should be able to produce
more food.
In 2014, the seed industry was
stunned by the news of theft of corn germplasm from production fields in Iowa
and Illinois, by Chinese nationals trying to transport the seeds back to China.
In 2018, the industry was shocked a second time by the theft of rice germplasm
from a private research facility in Kansas, with those responsible having
similar plans to send seed back to China.
The seed industry is continuously
working to develop new innovations, but these innovations come at a cost, both
in time and money. For many crops, it can be a 7- to 10-year period to develop
and commercialize a new variety, costing upwards of $1 million per year. For
new seed technologies, it can cost upwards of $100 million to $150 million to
bring a new seed technology to market. While this investment in innovation may
seem daunting, it is necessary for our future crop production.
Unfortunately, seed piracy, like
the thefts that took place in Iowa and Kansas, can have a huge impact on the
ability to invest in new innovations. It is estimated that the theft of corn
germplasm in Iowa cost researchers five to eight years of research and in the
range of $30 million to $40 million, while the rice germplasm theft was
estimated to have cost the owners $3 to $18 million in research investment.
These are significant amounts of time and money. It is obvious that
organizations are looking at ways to get their hands on new innovations.
The seed industry is a small,
tight-knit group and has a strong tradition of watching out for each other.
Only by working together can we prevent seed piracy and ensure that we can
continue to have the innovations to meet our future needs.
So how can you can help? If you see
or suspect seed piracy contact the SIPA Tip Line.
James Weatherly serves as the
Seed Innovation and Protection Alliance executive director.
Calls to the SIPA Tip Line are
anonymous and confidential. Since 2015, the SIPA Tip Line has received a steady
increase in tips on potential seed piracy issues ranging from soybeans, leafy
greens, pulses and carrots to potential infringement of seed coating
technologies. All reports are reviewed and tips are passed along to the
appropriate organization.
Yet, seed piracy is not limited
to just foreign nationals. Seed piracy also includes unauthorized saving of
seed and brown bagging, which also have a serious impact on the industry and
our ability to produce new innovations.
SIPA estimates that approximately
5% of soybean production in the United States is saved or brown bagged seed and
costs the industry approximately $1.72 billion annually in lost profits. When
you consider that approximately 20% of soybean seed revenue is invested back
into research, that is an estimated $340 million that could be used for new
innovations (based on 2015 U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics).
For wheat, the story is even
harsher. An estimated $451 million to $677 million in seed costs are lost in
the U.S. to saved seed or brown bagging (please note that some of this saved
seed may be legal under U.S. law). It is estimated that 10% of seed costs are
reinvested back into new wheat innovations, meaning that an estimated $45
million to $68 million is lost every year that could have been put into
research for new innovations.
From 2000 to 2008, the United
States farm cash receipts from the sale of vegetables and pulses (including
potatoes) averaged $17.4 billion. If you estimate that seed value represents on
average 6% of total cost of production and if you estimate that between 2% and
4% of seed value is lost to piracy, approximately $20.8 million to $41.8
million is potentially lost annually that could be used for research and
development.
These days, commodity prices are
low, making farm profitability difficult. Farmers are constantly looking to
find ways to save on costs; however, seed piracy is a choice that, in the end,
hurts all of the industry. And you can help! If you see or suspect seed
piracy, contact the SIPA Tip Line at 1-844-SEED TIP.
Together we can ensure that the
needs of future generations are met through our innovations!
Researchers
conducted experiments using the plant Setaria viridis, a close relative of
maize and sorghum. Photo by Natalia Bateman/CoETP
Aug. 16 (UPI)
-- Scientists have discovered a way to ease a bottleneck in the photosynthesis
process. The breakthrough could allow plants to turn the sun's rays into food
more efficiently, boosting crop yields.
In lab tests,
scientists found they could accelerate a plant's conversion of sunlight into
food by encouraging the production of a protein that controls the rate in which
electrons flow during photosynthesis.
"We tested
the effect of increasing the production of the Rieske FeS protein, and found it
increases photosynthesis by 10 percent," lead researcher Maria Ermakova, a
scientist at the ARC Center of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis in
Australia, said in a news release. "The Rieske FeS protein
belongs to a complex which is like a hose through which electrons flow, so the
energy can be used by the carbon engine of the plant."
When scientists
triggered the over-expression of Rieske FeS proteins, more electrons flowed
during the photosynthesis process.
Plants use one
of three metabolic pathways for carbon fixation during the photosynthesis. Most
research into accelerating photosynthesis has focused on the C3 pathway, which
is utilized by wheat and rice. The latest research focused on accelerating the
C4 pathway, which is used by crops like maize and sorghum.
"These
results demonstrate that changing the rate of electron transport enhances
photosynthesis in the C4 model species, Setaria viridis, a close
relative of maize and sorghum. It is an important proof of concept that helps
us enormously to understand more about how C4 photosynthesis works," said
study co-author Susanne von Caemmerer, deputy director of the Center of
Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis.
Several studies
have recently highlighted the need for changes in diet and land use patterns if
climate change is to be slowed and global warming limited to 2 degrees Celsius.
Breakthroughs that boost photosynthesis could allow farmers to grow more food
with less land, a necessity if the agricultural sector is to feed the world's
growing population while aiding the fight against climate change.
"It is
really exciting, as we are now ready to transform this into sorghum and test
the effect it has on biomass in a food crop," von Caemmerer said.
When Chelsea Rochman at the
University of Toronto and colleagues began their study on medakas
(small Japanese rice paddy fish), they did not expect to find what they did.
They first soaked ground-up
polyethylene in San Diego Bay for three months and then fed it to these fish
along with a laboratory diet. They also fed the same diet to a comparison
group of medakas but along with virgin polyethylene also ground-up.
The medakas eating the plastic immersed in the Bay suffered greater liver
damage. How much of a danger then is our seafood?
Defined as less than 5mm in
size, microplastics have been found in 114 types of aquatic
life, over half of which are consumed by humans. Oysters
exposed to food-container plastic (polystyrene) have fewer eggs and
impaired less-motile sperm. Does eating them do the same to us?
Nobody knows. A comprehensive study of plastics in seafood and
its implications for human health points to the gaps in our knowledge. It
calls for more research into the toxicity of various plastics and in
identifying lower risk seafood.
There is some evidence for
the quantity of microplastic pieces per cubic meter of water — from the
surface to a depth of 1000 meters in one study. The numbers range from
four pieces at the surface increasing to about a dozen at 200 meters down then
declining to three or so at a 1000 meters down. It is certainly not super
dense. At the same time, little fish ingesting it and bigger fish eating
smaller ones, and one can see a problem developing, particularly for us
the final consumer.
The copious plastic debris
flowing into the ocean estimated at 8 million tons annually continues
to add to the 100 million tons already there. Engineering experts at
Stanford University have discussed “the potential for meaningful
change” in the status quo. They have some interesting
observations: Microplastics are now in “about a quarter of the sea foods
in our markets and even in table salt.” They are also in “94 percent of
tap water samples in the US and in nearly every brand of bottled water.”
At this we checked tap water and some bottled water and did not notice
any. Insidious, if these are microscopic.
Research in other parts of the
world exemplify the global extent of the microplastics menace. In
a study of commercial fish caught off the Portuguese coast, microplastics
were found in 19.8 percent of the 26 species of fish tested. Plastic
polymers, polyethylene and polypropylene as well as fibers like polyester,
rayon and nylon had been ingested. As might be expected, the fish taken
off Lisbon and its environs were worst affected.
In another study, fish and
bivalves taken from markets in California and Makassar,
Indonesia were examined for anthropogenic debris. Plastic was
again confirmed in seafood sold for human consumption. Debris was found
in about a quarter of individual fish and a third of shellfish raising concerns
about human health.
North Sea fish have been studied
for plastic ingestion also. Foekema and his fellow
researchers found particles up to 4.8 mm in five of seven common North Sea
fish species. Usually only one particle was found and in only 2.6 percent
of the 1204 individual specimens tested. Cod showed the highest frequency
with one third involved. In another study of 400 individual
fish from four species, only two particles were found, both in one
individual, a sprat, confirming the relative low incidence of plastics in North
Sea fish. The particles in the sprat were microbeads.
Then there is the ubiquitous
cigarette butt. Is there something prophetic about dropping and stubbing
it as the final act of a habit statistically known to shorten the lives of
smokers? Discarding butts may be socially acceptable but when 6.5
trillion cigarettes are smoked each year around the world, and an estimated
two-thirds of the ends flicked away carelessly, butts become the most
littered plastic item. Made of cellulose acetate they degrade slowly, and
then into tiny microplastic pieces finding their way often into waterways and
oceans.
The thrown-away butt, a lethal
parcel of absorbed nicotine, heavy metals and chemicals, appears to marine life
as food floating on the surface. It has been found to be deadly to
fish, and to inhibit plant growth. A new addition, e-cigarettes are
growing in popularity, their discarded pods posing a similar problem —
not to mention the e-cigarette itself, a package of plastic, electric circuitry
and battery.
Another disturbing trend is for manufacturers
to add plastic microbeads as cheap fillers in household products
like toothpaste, shampoo and cosmetics. Washed down the drain,
and small enough to bypass the water filters at reclamation plants, these
eventually find their way into the ocean. Of course some can be swallowed
accidentally by product users. A Mother Jones (May 28 ,
2015) article pictures an array of products containing them.
Fish are fooled by microbeads
which are a similar size and shape to fish eggs. Add all the other plastics
and the chemicals adhering to them and they become a meal with long-term
consequences for other predators as well. The Guardian newspaper reports
on five species affected by ocean plastics. Fish-eating birds,
whales with plastic-clogged stomachs, turtles snagged by plastic six-pack
holders, crabs ingesting microplastics that also enter through their gills,
even vital oxygen producing ocean bacteria are being harmed.
Birds eating plastic had stunted
growth and kidney problems noted a University of Tasmania study with
particular reference to the near-threatened flesh-footed shearwaters
(long-winged oceanic birds). They have estimated a million seabirds dying
annually from plastic ingestion, and other researchers have tagged
balloons as the “no.1 marine debris risk of mortality for seabirds.”
A high-risk item, ingesting a balloon fragment is 32 times more likely to
cause death than a hard plastic item.
A map of the US showing
the interest levels in plastic pollution for the different states as
measured by the numbers of tweets about the subject might be appropriate in our
new world of politics by tweet led by the president. None of it helps the
individual dying of kidney, liver or pancreatic cancer. Infertility
clinics abound as sperm counts decline in the west and specially in
the US … joining the oysters mentioned earlier.
If we reflect on the issues, a
logical answer emerges; that is, to reduce plastics, ban single-use items,
increase recycling, and dispose of the rest safely. Above all, educating
us remains key. Who knew cigarette butts are not just an unsightly
nuisance but deadly?
Meena Miriam Yust is an attorney
based in Chicago, IL with a special interest in the environment.Arshad M. Khan is a
former professor who has, over many years, written occasionally for the print
and often for online media outlets.
A parasitic worm that causes
billions of dollars of crop damage annually, could actually make plants more
resilient in the face of disease, a new study finds. Using chemical compounds
secreted by this parasite, the researchers on the new paper think they might be
able to develop a sustainable pesticide for some of the world’s biggest crops,
such as soybeans, rice, and wheat.
The parasites in question – nematodes also known as roundworms –
produce a pheromone called ascaroside, which they use for communication between
one another. The team of international researchers had carried out previous
studies that showed that in the presence of this compound, plants increase
their immune response – most likely as a hardwired defence mechanism against
the parasites, which typically infest the soil around their roots.
In their recent Journal of Phytopathology study,
the researchers isolated the ascaroside compound, and applied it to test
plants of four major crops: soybeans, rice, wheat, and maize. When they then
infected those treated plants with a range of fungal, bacterial, and other
plant diseases, they discovered that overall, these plants were more capable of
fighting off threats.
In rice, for instance, the pheromone treatment reduced the effects
of a particularly damaging bacteria, which has been known to kill up to 50% of
rice crops in Asia. In soybean plants, ascaroside helped the plants ward off
the damaging Mosaic Virus, as well as strains of bacterial blight. Treated
wheat plants were more resistant to two prominent types of fungus that affect
crops globally.
When these results were combined with the researchers’ previous
investigations on barley, potato, tomato, and thale cress plants, they found
that the worm pheromone boosted plants’ resistance to an impressive 15 out of
16 major plant pathogens and pests, overall.
It’s thought that the presence of the worm’s pheromone essentially
primes the crops’ immune systems, making them more alert to incoming threats,
and more capable of mounting a stronger defence. While the study found that
ascaroside treatments couldn’t provide complete protection against every
pathogen the crops faced, the researchers think that the partial protection it
does offer could, however, significantly reduce the amount of pesticide applied
to crops, overall.
The discovery is part of a new trend in agricultural research to
find ways of developing crops that have in-built resistance to pests –
including, for instance, the breeding of genetically-resistant plants. The
particular benefit that this new research has to offer is that the treatment
that’s applied to the plants is completely natural. So, while it functions like
a pesticide, it won’t unintentionally damage the wider environment, which is
the major caveat of applying pesticides to crops.
The hope is that with further development, the ascaroside
treatment could provide crops “with more
environmentally friendly protection against pests and pathogens,” the
scientists reason.
They’re well on their way to that goal. Some of the researchers on
the paper have launched a startup company to commercialize their
discoveries, and now they’re investigating whether seeds treated with the worm
pheromone will grow into plants with stronger immune systems, from the get-go.
Posted: Aug 16, 2019 / 05:58 PM CDT / Updated: Aug 16, 2019 / 05:59 PM CDT
BOONEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA) — Sunny
Bradshaw wanted to grow blackberries, strawberries and blueberries when he came
to Booneville, and he got to realize his dream when he and his wife Linda Rose
opened Sunnyland Berry Farm.
The Bradshaws have been running
Sunnyland since 1983, a time when Ronald Reagan was president and Sally Ride
became the first American woman in space. Since then, they have raised
countless berries and many neighborhood children.
The Bradshaws came to Booneville
from Stoneville, Miss., where Sunny worked in rice research. They came to
Booneville so Bradshaw could take a job in the Dale Bumpers Research Farm’s
small fruits division. Linda also took a job at the research farm, taking a job
in the grasses division.
“I wanted to raise blueberries,
blackberries, and strawberries before I came here,” Sunny said.
A Fouke man named Aubrey Enoch
inspired Sunny to raise the berries.
“He and his wife were both
[retired] school teachers. They had strawberries, blackberries and blueberries
on their property. I just listened to him, and I went back home [to
Mississippi], and for eight years I searched Arkansas for a place to work and a
place to raise this fruit. I found the place, and we’ve been here for 36
years,” Sunny said.
Farming wasn’t much of a transition
for Sunny. As a rice researcher, Sunny worked with horse tractors and Japanese
harvesting equipment.
Sunny and Linda did some research
before they started farming.
“We visited over eight farms in the
area before we even planted. What you do, you see what the farmers in the local
area are raising,” Sunny said.
The Bradshaws found that no other
farmers in the area were raising blueberries, strawberries or blackberries.
Sunny read a book on how farmers
can successfully tap into their customer base.
“What you do is you put a pinpoint
[on your property] and then you draw a circle 30 miles out away from your
property. From your pinpoint you go 30 miles, and then when you go all the way
around and make the circle you’re doing 60 miles away from your property,”
Bradshaw said. “You’re seeing where you’re going to draw your customers, you
know, the small towns, how many people you’re going to draw from. I had five or
six [towns] that were 4,000 people, and of course, we have Fort Smith, that’s 60,000
or more.”
At first, Sunny and Linda didn’t
have competitors who farmed blackberries, blueberries and strawberries, but
when a competitor came along, Sunny made sure to shake his hand.
“I would shake the man’s hand
because I know how much work it involves; in order to do what I’m doing, it
takes a lot of work,” he said.
The Bradshaws’ farm was 10 acres.
In 1990, the Sunnyland had
one-and-a-third acre filled with four varieties of blackberries, two and a half
acres of cardinal strawberries, two and a half acres worth of blueberries, 144
peach trees of eight different varieties, boysenberries, table grapes and 400
tomato plants.
“At one time, our 10 acres was the
most diversified fruit farm in Northwest Arkansas with eight different kind of
fruits on the property,” Sunny said.
Sunnyland also featured a pond that
folks could come and catch catfish from.
“I would charge $1 per pole to go
to the pond,” Sunny said.
In 1990, Sunny and Linda were named
Farm Family of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce.
The Bradshaws raised something more
special than berries at Sunnyland. They helped raise 15 children. With the
exception of their son, all the kids were from around the neighborhood. The
kids would help Sunny and Linda pick fruit and were paid .30 cents a quart. The
girls picked faster than the boys, Sunny said.
Although Sunnyland has winded down
a bit in berry output, Sunny and Linda are still plenty busy.
“The plants are still there. What
I’m going to wait for is cold weather, and I’m gonna get out there and I’m gonna
brush all of them down again, and then hopefully in March and April I will have
small plants growing, and I will transplant them to the garden, and then in
three years, if I’m still alive, we will have a massive harvest of
blackberries,” Sunny said.
RICE development project that uses modern farming methods
has helped farmers increase harvests from less than two tonnes per hector to
six and even eight tonnes.
Japanese Ambassador to Tanzania Shinichi Goto listens to Rukia
Makeetta the Head of Crop Production department at KATC during a visit to Rice
demonstrations farms at the centre earlier this week. Supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), the Tanrice project implemented in the Lower Moshi Irrigation Scheme
involves developing training packages on irrigated and upland rice cultivation. Speaking during the press tour of Japanese funded
projects, Kilimanjaro Agricultural Training Center (KATC) principal, Nicodemus
Shauritanga said through JICA the centre has been conducting a series of
training sessions for extension officers and farmers on rice farming on
irrigated land as well as in rain-fed conditions, covering 90 irrigation
schemes and 77 rain-fed areas. He said JICA’s support for the irrigation facility
development and its operation and maintenance have contributed to boosting rice
production in the country. “Together with improvement of infrastructure, capacity
building in irrigation management plays a significant role in promoting rice
industry development in various regions,” he said. Through the project farmers have learned things like
irrigation scheme management, gender roles in agriculture and agro-processing,
crop marketing and handling agricultural machinery. These technologies and skills resulted in about 40percent
increase in rice production for irrigated plots, 50-percent increase for rain
fed lowland areas and 140percent increase under rain fed upland conditions, he
elaborated. The training programs are organized by KATC and Ministry
of Agriculture Training Institutes (MATIs) at Igurusi, Ilonga, Mtwara, Tumbi,
Ukiliguru and Kizimbani Agricultural Training Institute (KATI) in Zanzibar. Data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) shows that rice production in Tanzania has increased about
13 times in 40 years, from 223,000 tonnes in 1974 to 2,871,963 tonnes in 2017. Japan places emphasis on agriculture development in
Africa through various initiatives, including the Coalition for African Rice
Development (CARD), aiming at supporting efforts of African countries to double
rice production in ten years. JICA’s series of cooperation projects started with the
Kilimanjaro Region Agricultural Development Project in 1974. It was followed by
the development of Lower Moshi Irrigation Scheme and the Kilimanjaro
Agricultural Development Center, currently the Kilimanjaro Agricultural
Training Center (KATC).
Consumer Campaign Yields
Historic Results for USA Rice
By Lesley Dixon
ARLINGTON, VA -- Last September, USA
Rice partnered with The FeedFeed agency, the largest and most engaged digital
cooking community, to conduct a year-long campaign with goals to drive mass
awareness and celebrate U.S.-grown rice, develop engaging content, and educate
audiences on the benefits of rice consumption.
This strategy used visual storytelling via Instagram, blog posts, and
recipe videos to raise awareness throughout the year, which then was amplified
across FeedFeed's and USA Rice's multiple social media accounts.
The FeedFeed selected four
influencers with backgrounds that aligned with promoting U.S.-grown rice who
were each responsible for creating four original and on-trend, rice-focused
recipes accompanied by photography and video, a blog post, and an Instagram
post. These were then promoted across
The FeedFeed's and USA Rice's multiple social media platforms.
To further amplify USA Rice's
messaging and increase exposure, the created recipes were included in The
FeedFeed's weekly meal planners, featured on USA Rice's recipe feed on
thefeedfeed.com, and highlighted on IGTV through The FeedFeed's digital TV
series.
By the time the campaign concluded
last month, 16 U.S.-grown rice recipes had been posted and boosted by The
FeedFeed and USA Rice. Overall, the
recipe posts, regrams, blogs, and videos generated a USA Rice record of more
than 31.6 million consumer impressions and 430,000 engagements.
"The results from this campaign
are tremendous," said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice domestic promotion
manager. "We were able to finally
have U.S.-grown rice be part of the social conversation, expose a brand-new
audience to different varieties and uses of U.S.-grown rice, and achieve a
Federation first of reaching more than 31 million people within the year."
The collection of recipe created
were: Braised Chicken with Arborio Rice,
Black Rice Pudding, Brown Rice Jambalaya, Black Fried Rice, Crispy Sushi Rice
Cakes, Congee with Spinach, Carottes Râpées, Veggie Brown Rice Burrito Bowl,
Wild Rice Soup, Spicy Rice Bowl, Sweet Potato Brown Rice Sushi, Apple Cide
Braised Chicken and Wild Rice, Spicy Chicken Soup with Brown Rice, Brown Rice
Burger, and Roasted Vegetable & Rice Salad.
In addition to the immediate impact
of the campaign, USA Rice retains the right to use and access all created
recipes, videos, and photos.
"While we are pleased with this
year's results, we still have a lot more to do in the domestic market, which,
after all, is the largest market for U.S. rice," continued Jacobs. "We have big things planned for Year Two
of our partnership with The Feedfeed, so stay tuned. You won't want to miss it!"
Just three of the U.S. rice recipes
shared on social media by the multi-millions
From
rice fields to trash fields: Indonesian farmers find profit in pollution
Robie de Guzman • August 16, 2019
• 150
Once home to rice farmers and
their luscious green paddy fields, this Indonesian village is now a dump for
truckloads of rubbish.
As Indonesia looks to tackle the
country’s growing mountain of trash, the residents of East Java’s 200-hectare
Bangun village have found a way to reel in profit from the problem — by opening
their gates to garbage trucks and choosing to turn their fertile fields into
rubbish sorting plots.
The health and environmental
repercussions for Bangun village might be huge, said non-government
organization, Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (ECOTON), which
has been observing the issue in the area for the last five years.
Now, more than 60 percent of the
village residents have opted to enter the rubbish sorting business, and for the
time being, that looks unlikely to drop.
“If I’m farming, I need to wait
three months to get results, but if I’m sorting rubbish, we can make money in a
day, two days or even a week,” said one farmer, Siti Maimanah.
On average, a worker in Bangun
can earn between $7-14 per week picking through the sea of paper and plastic,
and that can rise to $35 if the piles are particularly high – a tempting
proposition when the farming alternative would leave them waiting with nothing
for weeks on weeks, said Maimanah.
Ecoton said it has obtained
evidence that the garbage in the area is imported from at least 54 countries
around the world, including Europe, the United States, Australia, and Asia,
under the pretense it is ‘paper waste’. Reuters found plastic packaging amongst
the piles, including from Canada and the United States.
That’s adding on top of the huge
amount of garbage the world’s fourth-most populous country with 260 million
people generates on its own.
Earlier this year, the city of
Surabaya sent back more than 200 tonnes of trash to Australia and U.S. as part of
efforts to push back ‘foreign trash’ amid a spike in imports from Western
countries after China banned imports.
“Our country has been labeled a
dirty country and now America is adding their rubbish on top. Sending this
garbage is clearly a violation of the law,” said Ecoton’s protest coordinator,
Prigi Arisandi, during a recent protest in front of the U.S. consulate in
Indonesia’s second-biggest city, Surabaya.
The archipelago of more than
17,000 islands has been struggling to cope with the waste, with much of it
going into landfill and often eventually seeping out to pollute rivers and
oceans. According to a 2015 study published in the Science journal, Indonesia
was the world’s second-biggest contributor of plastic pollutants in the oceans.
The mountain of trash in Bangun
village is also not going to vanish overnight despite the government’s efforts
and plan to set up waste-to-energy plants across the country.
And for now, Indonesians like
Maimanah say their day-to-day survival is far more important than the
environment. (REUTERS)
Chinese scientists complete high-resolution 3D
genome map of rice
BY BRINKWIRE ON
AUGUST 16, 2019
WUHAN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese
scientists completed a high-resolution three-dimensional genome map of rice,
which is a breakthrough in the crop’s genetic improvement, according to the
research team.
The team from Huazhong Agricultural
University in central China’s Hubei Province aimed to investigate the genome
architecture and its effects on the growth of rice through the map.
The study will help reveal the
genome architecture of rice and promote research on the genetic improvement of
rice and other crops, according to the research team.The study has been
published in the international academic journal Nature Communications.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture is supposed to use the “latest available science” to help the
nation’s farmers avoid risk, according to its own mission. So it was more than
a little surprising when, last year, the agency decided not to promote an
alarming study (that two of its employees had
contributed to) that showed climate change could lessen the nutritional value
of rice — a crop the agency says the U.S. is a “major
exporter” of.
Here’s the gist of the research:
Rice may not be super flavorful by itself, but for millions of people,
particularly in Southeast Asia, it’s an important source of both protein and
calories. Rice also contains a suite of B vitamins, iron, and zinc. But those
nutrients appear to decrease if rice is grown in high ambient concentrations of
CO2 — the kind that climate models are predicting for the end of the century.
Scientists say that could exacerbate the incidence of illnesses like malaria
and diarrheal disease in places that rely on the staple crop.
At first, the Agricultural
Research Service, the USDA’s in-house research arm, seemed open to promoting
the study. When Jeff Hodson, the director of communications at the University
of Washington’s school of public health (from where two of the paper’s contributors
hailed), reached out to the ARS about coordinating efforts to get the word out
to journalists about the research, he was told the department had begun
drafting a press release. But a week later he was notified the USDA had killed
its promotional efforts around the study.
In an email explaining the
decision to Hodson, a USDA spokesperson wrote, “The narrative really isn’t
supported by the data in the paper.” She added: “Please let me know how you
will proceed with your own press release.”
Questions about the muffling of
the rice research were also circling within the USDA. Lewis Ziska, a 25-year
veteran of the department who worked on the study told Grist the decision to
keep the paper quiet was a departure from protocol. The highly unusual manner
in which the ARS abruptly canceled the press release and the excuse the agency
gave for doing so, he said, “indicated that it wasn’t a question of the science
anymore, it was a question of the ideology.” He began to wonder if the study
was being buried due, at least in part, to the Trump administration’s apparent
indifference toward climate change.
“This is the first time that
we’ve been told that the data don’t support the findings for any climate paper;
that’s never happened before,” Ziska said.
But despite the USDA’s
non-promotion, the paper did not quietly fade into academic obscurity. After
checking with the interim head of the School of Public Health — who said in an
email that the research seemed “straightforward” — Hodson decided to press on
with promoting the paper. The university issued a press release that included a
quote from Ziska, and they helped connect reporters with him as well as the
school’s own scientists. The research garnered coverage in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Seattle Times, among other outlets.
Ziska and his team’s findings
that protein, iron, and zinc levels decreased in rice grown in higher carbon
dioxide concentrations verified the work of Samuel Myers, a research scientist
at Harvard’s Center for the Environment who works closely on the human health
impacts of climate change. To Myers, who examined this incident against the
backdrop of the Trump administration’s war on climate science, it seemed to be
part of a pattern.
“The USDA is part of a federal
administration that can only be described in legal terms as ‘exhibiting
depraved indifference to climate change,’” he said. Suppressing a study that
highlighted the negative effects of global warming on a major food staple is,
Myers added, “completely consistent with the way the federal administration has
been acting for the past two and a half years.”
The Trump administration’s
combative position on all things climate and environment has had a significant
and lasting impact on multiple federal agencies. Earlier this month, Ziska
decided to abandon his tenure at the USDA after securing a job at Columbia
University. At the Environmental Protection Agency, employees say morale has
plummeted as the agency continues to roll back key environmental and health regulations.
Mentions of climate change have disappeared from government websites.
Rather than try to increase
retention rates, some critics say these agencies are happy to lose some of
their more seasoned officials. The Bureau of Land Management is planning to
move its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Colorado, in what at least one representative and multiple environment groupshave called a
scheme to shake its tenured policy officials. And in July, the USDAgave its D.C.-based employees a week to
decide whether they would relocate to the department’s new headquarters in
Kansas City. Administration officials said the move was aimed at cutting costs;
critics said it was yet another attempt to bleed tenured talent.
In a statement to Grist, a USDA
spokesperson pushed back on the idea that the agency is suppressing climate
change research. “No one attempted to block the paper – it is freely available
in the science literature,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that higher-ups at
the agency disagreed with the paper’s conclusion that rising levels of CO2
would put 600 million people at risk of vitamin deficiency. “Issuing an ARS
press release would have erroneously signified that ARS concurs with the
nutrition-related claims,” the spokesperson noted.
“The notion that this is not of
public health significance is just ridiculous,” said Harvard’s Myers, in
response to the ARS’s position on the research. The controversial study just
focused on rice, he added, but “every other food crop across the board is
losing nutrients in response to CO2.”
A spokesperson for the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes Science
Advances, the journal where the rice article appeared, stood
behind the research, saying that the study went through “rigorous peer review”
before it was published.
For Ziska, the incident
constituted an abdication of one of ARS’s responsibilities, which is working to
solve climate change-related issues that farmers face. “It’s surreal to me,” he
said.
Arkansas farmers may have planted
up to 150,000 acres of furrow-irrigated or row rice, as it’s also known, in
2019. That’s up from about 100,000 in 2018, according to the University of
Arkansas’ Dr. Jarrod Hardke.
More farmers might have tried the
practice if the weather had been more cooperative last spring, said Hardke, who
spoke at one of the stops on the Mississippi County Rice Irrigation Field Day
on the Mike and Ryan Sullivan Farm near Blytheville, Ark.
“Even with total rice acreage
going down this practice is still going up,” said Hardke, Extension rice
agronomist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “It
could have obviously still gone up further had we not been reducing total acres
given the year and the weather.”
Hardke was one of about a dozen
speakers who participated in the field day, which was attended by more than 300
farmers and industry members. Furrow-irrigated rice was a prime topic of
discussion, but speakers also discussed the impact of cover crops, no-till
planting and irrigation timing.
The weather and the fact some farmers had not irrigated their
soybeans until a few days before the field day at Florenden Farms near Burdette,
Ark., 0n Aug. 5 also drew comments from Hardke and others.
‘’ Villagers upset over Jakarta crackdown on trash
imports
PUBLISHED
AUG
17, 2019, 5:00 AM SGT
BANGUN (Indonesia) • Indonesia's
crackdown on imported foreign waste has upset the village of Bangun, where
residents say they earn more money sorting through piles of garbage than
growing rice in once-lush padi fields.
Overwhelmed by a spike in waste
imports after China closed its doors to foreign garbage, Indonesia has
tightened import rules and Customs inspections, sending hundreds of tonnes of
foreign waste back to their origin countries.
Green groups praised the
crackdown, but Bangun residents say restricting trash from countries such as
the United States, Canada and Australia will wipe out a key source of income.
"If they're going to forbid
us from this, there must be a solution. The government hasn't provided us with
jobs," said Mr Heri Masud as he took a break from sifting through rubbish
piled high around the village of 3,600 people.
The front and backyards of homes
in Bangun overflow with waste on land that once was used to grow rice.
Villagers look for plastic and aluminium to sell to recycling firms. Tofu
makers also buy waste to burn as fuel when making the soya-based food.
Mr Heri said the money from
sorting trash is used to fund activities such as sending villagers on the haj
pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia. "Every year, 17 to 20
people from this village go on a haj. That's funded from this waste."
Mr Salam, 54, said recycled
rubbish paid for his children's schooling and also helped him buy livestock and
a house for his family.
Fumbisi (UE), Aug 15, GNA –
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has underlined the government’s
determination to support rice farmers in the Builsa South District to
substantially increase production.
He said everything would be done to develop the vast fertile valleys of Fumbisi
and Gbedembilisi to cut down on rice imports.
Ghana has been spending millions of dollars to import rice, but he noted that,
the country could produce enough of the cereal grain for both local consumption
and export, when the expansive land in the area was fully developed.
President Akufo-Addo was addressing chiefs and people of Fumbisi as part of his
six-day working visit to the Upper East, Upper west and Northern Regions.
He said agriculture research findings showed that “when the necessary attention
and investment is given to the Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi rice valleys, enough
rice could be produced from those valleys to feed the nation”.
“It is against this background that government is interested in developing the
fertile lands to realize the full agriculture potentials of the area,
particularly in the area of rice production to boost food security in the
region and Ghana as a whole”.
He added that they were eager to make Fumbisi, the hub of rice production in
the whole of West Africa, and promised to establish an Agricultural College in
the town to train students in various fields of agriculture to enhance
productivity and growth.
“There can be no better place than Fumbisi to have an agricultural college that
has the potential to develop the rice basket not just in Ghana but West
Africa.”
He told the gathering that he was going to do everything within his power to
make sure that this became a dream come true.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, said everybody
who had studied agriculture in Ghana knew of the prospects of the Fumbisi rice
valleys which “has about 5,000 hectares of farm land for development”.
Just about 900 hectares of this huge land is being used.
He said Fumbisi over the years, had been held back on its contribution to the
development of agriculture in the country as over 4,000 hectares of good rice
fields had been left to fallow.
Dr. Akoto spoke of plans to expand the Agriculture mechanization centre in the
area and build mills there to enable farmers add value to their produce.
His ministry had been working hard to procure farm implements and equipment to
increase rice production in the area.
Naab Clement Anyaturk Akanko II, applauded the government for implementing
various social interventions in the area to fight poverty.
He appealed to the government to fix bad roads in the area including the
Wiaga-Fumbisi-Wiesi, Kanjarga-Fumbisi-Uwasi and Fumbisi-Zamsa roads linking the
various farms to the market centres to reduce cost of transport and
post-harvest losses.
He also wants the Fumbisi Health Center to be upgraded to the status of a
District Hospital and supplied with the needed equipment and facilities to
deliver quality care – bring down infant and maternal mortality.
The President was accompanied by Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of
Education, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwasi Amoako
Atta, Minister of Roads and Highways, Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson, the Minister of
Special Development Initiative, Madam Tangoba Abayage, the Regional Minister
and other high ranking public officials.
Government
to provide paddy driers to farmers to increase their earning potential Sat,
Aug 17, 2019, 09:47 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Aug 17, Colombo: The government has received the cabinet nod to
provide paddy driers to farmers to enable them to earn more money for their
harvests.After milling, the harvested paddy with high moisture content should
be dried properly for safe storage since high moisture in the harvested paddy
promotes the development of insects and molds. The delay in drying, incomplete
drying or uneven drying will result in the loss of the anticipated standard of
the rice.
Paddy
drying is often a problem for the farmers and they have to sell their wet paddy
stock at a lower price to the large scale rice mill owners due to lack of
proper on-farm drying technologies at affordable cost.
As
such, in accordance with the recommendations of the working committee appointed
on the instructions given by the Cabinet Committee on Cost of Living, a
proposal has been made to implement a pilot project among the paddy farmers in
the Polonnaruwa District which has a higher production and grows paddy twice a
year for popularizing the drying technology.
President
Maithripala Sirisena at the request of the Non Cabinet Minister of Economic
Reforms and Public Distribution, Dr. Harsha de Silva has made a proposal to
provide paddy driers to the paddy farmer associations in the Polonnaruwa
district as a pilot project.
It
has been proposed to provide a mobile drier with a capacity of 2 metric tons
(MT) valued at Rs.3 million (without tax) and a fixed drier with a capacity of
6 MT valued at Rs. 6 million (without tax) for five farmer organizations each
in the Polonnaruwa District adopting a mechanism for recovering the expenditure
incurred by the Government,
The
farmer associations will be selected by the Department of Agrarian Services,
with the assistance of the all Island Rice Millers Association.
The
cabinet has given its approval to the proposal put forward by the President.
| 16 Aug 2019 10:42 PM TTD, SVBC
conduct Lakshmi Puja in Ongole HIGHLIGHTS The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams
(TTD) in association with SVBC organised Lakshmi Puja at Rice Millers
Association in Ongole on Friday. Ongole: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams
(TTD) in association with SVBC organised Lakshmi Puja at Rice Millers
Association in Ongole on Friday. Priest K Srinivasacharyulu has conducted the
vratham and puja in grandeur manner and explained the participating women about
the importance of each step as they are performing it. A large number of women
and devotees participated in the programme and received the theertham and
prasadam after the puja. Tata Badrinath, Vemuri Bujji, Chakka Prasad, Annam
Srinu, Nallamalli Balu, Gurram Badri, Biyyapu Vijay, Suresh and others
coordinated for the grand success of the programme.
ABIDJAN,
IVORY COAST – APRIL 04: Liberian President George Weah (Photo by Cyrille
Bah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Liberian President George Weah
has issued an Executive Order suspending tariffs on 40 agricultural products in
the country, a move aimed at fully maximizing farmers’ potentialities in
contributing to the economy.
A statement by the Executive
Mansion on Thursday said the new Executive Order, which took effect on
Wednesday, would also enable key market players to overcome constraints in the
agriculture sector.
“Accordingly, the Executive Order
notes that tariffs associated with agriculture inputs are high, thus adversely
affecting the agriculture sector and poor rural farmers who rely predominantly
on agriculture for their livelihood,” the statement said.
The 40 affected agriculture
products include live bovine animal breeding, all types of agriculture seeds of
cereals including rice, animals or vegetable fertilizer, whether mixed together
or chemically treated, fertilizer produced by mixed or chemical treatment,
among others.
The statement said relevant
authorities would immediately begin to establish the processes and procedures
by administrative regulation for the granting of tax exemption to eligible
beneficiaries within the agriculture sector.
“It is further projected that by
reducing the tariff on agriculture inputs, local farmers would be able to
access high-quality agriculture inputs at affordable prices, agricultural
productivity would improve, agricultural activities would become commercially
viable, product consistency would increase and local farmers would have
sustained higher incomes,” the statement said.
The order synergizes with the
government’s Pro-Poor Agenda for prosperity and development which, among other
things, places priority on food security and other agriculture productions,
added the statement.
Japonica rice futures listed on Dalian Commodity
Exchange
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-08-16 15:25:03|Editor: Li Xia
DALIAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Japonica rice futures were listed on
the Dalian Commodity Exchange on Friday, with a benchmark price of 3,550 yuan
(504 U.S. dollars) per tonne for each contract.
"Japonica rice, or polished round-grained rice, plays an
important role in China's food security," said Li Zhengqiang, president of
Dalian Commodity Exchange, based in the northeast China city of Dalian.
Japonica rice futures can provide open and transparent future
price signals for growers and food processing firms to hedge price risks, said
Li.
China's futures market reported robust growth in the first half
of this year (H1) with launches of a slew of new options such as natural
rubber, cotton and corn.
The total transaction of the futures markets across the country
reached 128.6 trillion yuan in H1, up 33.79 percent year on year, data from the
China Futures Association showed.
Jin Guowei, vice mayor of Dalian, said at the listing ceremony
on Friday that the listing of the rice futures is timely, will effectively push
for structural adjustments and transformation in the food industry, and will
change the long-standing trend of "good harvest, weak prices."
Rice is one of the three main grain varieties in China with
Japonica rice mainly cultivated in the north and Indica rice grown in the
south.
INSTEAD
of a cash transfer program, the government will roll out a P1.5-billion loan
program with zero interest rate for rice farmers who incurred losses due to
influx of cheaper imports that pulled down farm-gate prices.
Agriculture
Secretary William D. Dar on Friday said the Department of Agriculture (DA)
changed the initial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to a loan facility
due to lack of funding.
Dar explained that it would cost the government about P6 billion to provide
P5,000 for some 1.1 million rice farmers tilling one hectare of land and below.
“We don’t have that kind of money,” he said in his speech during a forum in
Manila on Friday. “Wala na iyong cash transfer. We need P6
billion,” he added. [The cash transfer is gone. We need P6 billion].
In a separate statement, Dar announced that the Agricultural Credit Policy
Council (ACPC) Governing Council approved on Thursday the Expanded Survival and
Recovery Assistance Program for Rice Farmers (SURE Aid).
Under the SURE Aid, rice farmers planting on land one hectare and below may
apply for a one-time zero-interest loan amounting to P15,000, payable up to
eight years.
LandBank
Interested
rice farmers may access the program starting September 1. The program will be
implemented by the LandBank of the Philippines (LandBank) with its guidelines
to be jointly crafted by the ACPC and LandBank.
“This loan assistance is a manifestation of the strong desire of the government
to help Filipino rice farmers,” Dar said.
Nonetheless, Dar assured rice farmers that the DA would continue to look for
other measures to help them adjust with low palay prices.
“We will continue to look at measures to improve the living conditions of our
rural stakeholders. Rest assured that with RCEF [Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund], farmers will increase productivity and earn more,” Dar he
added.
The ACPC Governing Council is chaired by the Agriculture Secretary with the
Central Bank Governor sitting as vice-chairman.
Its members include the Secretaries of the Department of Finance (DOF), Department
of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Director-General of the National
Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
Alongside Dar, the meeting was attended by BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G.
Fonacier, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon, DBM Director Cristina B.
Clasara, NEDA Assistant Director Diane Gail L. Maharjan, and ACPC Executive
Director Jocelyn Alma R. Badiola, according to DA.
Also in attendance were Monetary Board Member Dr. Bruce Tolentino, LBP First
Vice President Emellie Tamayo and other key officials from DA and ACPC, it
added.
Last week, Dar and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III agreed to
implement a UCT program for rice farmers who were affected by the drop in the
farm-gate price of palay.
The
Federation of Free Farmers said rice planters have lost some P40 billion in the
first half as cheaper imports that entered the country following the
effectivity of RA 11203 — the rice trade liberalilzation law — pulled down
farm-gate prices. ###
The person of interest who sparked an evacuation in Lower Manhattan in the rice cooker subway scare has been apprehended, cops said Saturday.
The arrest unfolded around 1 a.m. in the Bronx, where police also took a shopping cart into evidence, cell phone video shows.
The Friday morning incident sent the morning rush into a scramble when someone left two rice cookers in the Fulton Street subway station around 7 a.m., prompting NYPD to shut down the station and evacuate the area.
Police later determined the objects were not explosives, authorities said.
UPDATE-The below individual has been located and the investigation continues. Thank you to all who called in tips as well as our federal partners who as ALWAYS stand by our side @NewYorkFBI @ATFNewYork @NYCTSubway @NYPDDCPI @NYPDnews
The NYPD had named Larry Griffin II, of West Virginia, as a person of interest in the case after he was allegedly caught on CCTV footage leaving the devices.
A cousin of Griffin said the man is known to pick up random objects and leave them in different spots.
“Little Larry’s a good person. He’s got issues, but he don’t ever mean no harm or anything,” Tara Brumfield told WSAZ in West Virginia. “Whether it’s tools or a fishing pole or something like that like he’ll pick up one thing and leave it there and then pick up another and then leave it there and I’ve watched him do stuff like that a bunch of times.”
During the investigation, cops tweeted photos of Griffin, who police sources described as emotionally disturbed and homeless.
“I don’t know what the deliberate act is, whether it was to breed fear and alarm the public, or whether he was discarding items he was no longer interested in,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller told reporters at a news conference after the incident.
According to West Virginia police, Griffin was charged in 2017 for sending bestiality videos involving a chicken to a minor.
But Griffin’s father told The Post he didn’t believe his son meant to cause harm.
Three suspicious packages forced one of New York City’s busiest transit hubs to shut down Friday morning, but authorities later discovered the packages were harmless.
The Fulton Street subway complex was shut down after two empty rice cookers were found, and another rice cooker was later discovered at at West 16th Street and 7th Avenue. Authorities do not yet know if the packages are related, according to NYPD Chief of Transit Edward Delatorre. (RELATED: Over 90,000 Sign Petition To Rename Street Outside Trump Tower After Obama)
“I don’t know what the deliberate act is,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said at a press conference. “Whether it was to create fear and alarm on the part of the public, or whether he was discarding items he was no longer interested in.”
Miller also praised local authorities for taking swift action to investigate the situation.
The 2019 newly conferred and upgraded scientists
(from left): Mario V. Navasero, MSc; Imelda Angeles Agdeppa, PhD; Fe M. de la
Cueva, PhD; Olivia P. Damasco, PhD; Charito Tranquilan-Aranilla, MSc; Sofronio
C. Camacho, MSc; and Reynante L. Ordonio, PhD.
The 2019 newly conferred and upgraded scientists
(from left): Mario V. Navasero, MSc; Imelda Angeles Agdeppa, PhD; Fe M. de la
Cueva, PhD; Olivia P. Damasco, PhD; Charito Tranquilan-Aranilla, MSc; Sofronio
C. Camacho, MSc; and Reynante L. Ordonio, PhD.
