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Monday, November 25, 2019
Friday, November 22, 2019
22nd November,2019 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter
Will shut down units if cops not withdrawn:
Rice millers
Posted at: Nov 22, 2019, 7:50 AM; last updated: Nov 22, 2019,
7:50 AM (IST)
Kurukshetra, November 21
Rice millers on
Thursday threatened to shut down their units if the police are not withdrawn. The
police was deployed at rice mills across the state on Wednesday to ensure that
not a single grain was taken out of the mills not brought inside following
reports of “bogus” purchase of paddy.
The rice millers
have also threatened to hand over the keys of their mills to the government and
stop the delivery of custom-milled rice if the cops were not withdrawn. This
was decided at a meeting here.
Haryana Rice Millers and Dealers Association
chairman Jewel Singla, who chaired the meeting, said it was impossible for the
millers to work in “stifling” conditions.
“We are ready to
cooperate with the state government. We have no objection to the inspection of
our units. Our only grouse is the way we are being treated. The method adopted
by the authorities is wrong,” he said.
Karnal:
Congress’ Assandh MLA Shamsher Singh Gogi has demanded that an independent
agency must inquire into ‘bogus’ procurement of paddy by rice millers. “On
paper, the quantity of paddy brought to grain markets of the district is more
than the production. The stock of all rice mills should be checked and their
record put in the public domain so that people know about the nexus among
officials, rice millers and arhtiyas,” the Congress leader said. tns
We are ready to cooperate with the state
government. Our only grouse is the way we are being treated. The method adopted
by the authorities is wrong.
[ANALYSIS] Duterte’s ban on rice
imports: Enough of these capricious policies
JC Punongbayan
Published 1:31 PM, November 21, 2019
Updated 1:31 PM, November 21, 2019
You might call it policy-making
by trial-and-error.
In a recent late night press
conference, following days of speculation,
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Agriculture Secretary William Dar to stop all importation of
rice and buy more rice from our local farmers.
Said Duterte, “Kung
gusto talaga nating walang problema, bilhin lahat ng produce ng farmers….Para
‘yung farmers, may resulta sa pawis nila.” (To avoid problems
let’s buy all the produce of farmers. So their efforts will pay off.)
Some sectors are hailing these
pronouncements, which they expect will aid rice farmers whose incomes have been
wiped out by the recent Rice Tariffication Act.
But let’s not forget that Duterte
himself signed the Rice
Tariffication Act on Valentine’s Day this year, resulting in
the massive wave of rice imports. Now, capriciously, Duterte wants to reverse
his very own policy.
There are ways to help out our
embattled rice farmers without banning rice imports altogether. In fact, such a
ban might only backfire.
Not bad per se
Rice tariffication per se was not
bad.
It ended the decades-long
monopoly of the National Food Authority (NFA) in the importation of rice, which
not only caused perennial shortages and surpluses but also strained our
government’s coffers no end. (READ: Will rice tariffication
live up to its promise?)
Before, the NFA used to set a
quota on the total amount of rice our country can import. Now, just about
anyone can import rice as long as they pay the necessary import taxes (also
called tariffs).
Indeed, rice tariffication
flooded the domestic market with foreign rice and depressed rice prices
everywhere. The US Department of Agriculture estimates, in fact, that by end of
2019 the Philippines will likely become the world’s largest rice
importer, beating China.
Wipeout
Government policymakers expected
– indeed intended – for rice prices to go down with rice tariffication. What
surprised them, though, was the extent that this happened.
Figure 1 below shows that by end
of October farmgate prices of palay (unhusked rice) dropped by about 24%
relative to last year. Meanwhile, retail prices of well-milled and
regular-milled rice dropped by 13% and 17%, respectively.
Figure 1.
Although falling rice prices are
a boon to rice consumers, they spell lower incomes for millions of rice farmers
nationwide – although rice prices did fall at different rates across
the regions, as shown in the graphs made by my friend AJ Montesa (Figure 2).
Some stuff
on falling palay prices pic.twitter.com/cHtg8DFoT8
— AJ Montesa (@ajamontesa) November
18, 2019
Figure 2.
Proponents of rice tariffication
anticipated such hardships on our farmers. That is why they earmarked
P10-billion worth of tariff revenues – also called the Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (RCEF) – to help tide over our farmers.
But this may not be enough.
The Philippine Rice Research
Institute (PhilRice) recently came up with a study showing that rice farmers
across the country have suffered about P61.8 billion in
lost incomes.
PHL to curb
rice imports via nontariff measures
November 22, 2019
Photo
from http://irri.org
MANILA will maximize nontariff
measures (NTM) to limit rice imports and disallow “dummy” cooperatives from
participating in rice trade, instead of an outright suspension of shipments,
the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday.
Agriculture Secretary William D.
Dar said the government will only tighten the guidelines for importing rice.
Dar said this was one of the directives given by President Duterte to him
during their meeting last November 20 to thresh out the Chief Executive’s
pronouncement of suspending rice imports during harvest.
The meeting was also attended by
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Finance Secretary Carlos G.
Dominguez III.
Dar said the Bureau of Plant
Industry, an attached agency of the DA, will continue to process sanitary and
phytosanitary import clearances (SPSIC), but the agency will evaluate
applications using more stringent guidelines.
Aside from this, the DA chief
said the President has also ordered the increase in the National Food
Authority’s (NFA) buffer stock volume to 30 days, from 15 days, and to extend
the unconditional cash transfers for farmers to 2020.
Tougher rules
Dar said rice traders will now
have to show proof that their shipments comply with the government’s more
stringent measures covering heavy metal content, pesticide residue, filth
contaminants and microbial presence.
He said the government will also
deploy teams that will inspect shipments at the country of origin “to ensure
rice quality and safety for consumers and at the same time prevent the spread
of crop pests and diseases [in the country].”
In a news briefing on Thursday,
Dar told reporters, “We will see to it that [import] rules are tight during the
main harvest season. We have all the facts so we will be strict in implementing
these rules.”
The BusinessMirror earlier
reported that the stringent food safety measures are aimed at limiting rice
imports.
Rice traders and importers would
have to secure an SPSIC first from the BPI so they can bring the staple from
other countries into the Philippines. This requirement was mandated by the rice
trade liberalization law.
“All rice importers will have to
comply with the guidelines as required in securing the SPSIC,” said Dar.
Probe under way
The DA chief also directed the
BPI to investigate importers and traders who have not used their SPSICs despite
securing the document. Some traders were issued SPSIC as early as March, when
the law took effect.
The BPI reported that only about
two-thirds of some 3,000 SPSIC issued to importers have been used to date,
which means there are some 1,000 unused SPSICs covering 1 million metric tons
of rice.
Latest BPI data showed that as of
October 31, 2,105 SPSICs have been used to import 1.693 MMT of rice from India,
Italy, Myanmar, Pakistan, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam.
“Using the data we have, we will
continue to improve these guidelines based on our experience,” said Dar.
He said the government will look
into the possibility of imposing a validity period on issued SPSICs, which do
not have an expiration date.
Removing dummies
Dar also revealed that the
stringent SPS measures will weed out farmers’ cooperatives and groups that are
being used as dummies of unscrupulous businessmen.
The DA chief cited the
BusinessMirror’s stories about “dummy” cooperatives edging out legitimate
traders in rice imports as among the reasons for their decision to go after
these groups (See “Farmer groups
‘top rice importers’—are they?” in the BusinessMirror, November 21, 2019, and “Pre- and
post-rice trade liberalization law, big traders gaming farmer groups,” in
the BusinessMirror, October 31, 2019).
He said the DA is in “constant”
communication with concerned agencies, such as the Cooperatives Development
Authority (CDA), Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Competition Commission
(PCC).
Dar said the DA is now in the
process of “appreciating” the data provided by the CDA regarding the financial
capacities of cooperatives that are registered with the BPI.
“That is what’s happening right
now, [cooperatives] are being used. That’s why we want to make the rules
stringent because they are just being used,” he said.
Dar said the government will not
hesitate to open the warehouses or even file charges against the importers,
including cooperatives, if the results of the PCC’s current probe on rice
industry players will find that they served as dummies.
While he encourages all farmers’
associations, cooperatives and groups to venture into agribusiness, including
rice importation, Dar stressed they must follow the law.
Dar had issued a memorandum order
that required traders to ship their consignments to the Philippines within a
prescribed period of time.
The same order “strengthened”
registration procedures for interested rice importers by requiring them to
submit documents proving their financial and logistical capacity to import
rice, such as annual income tax return with audited financial statement for the
last three years.
Dar’s tack backed
The Federation of Free Farmers
(FFF) welcomed Dar’s pronouncements and has thrown its support behind the DA’s
move to weed out farmers’ cooperatives and groups acting as dummies.
“We have expressed our concern in
the past about the use of small farmers’ cooperatives and organizations as
virtual dummies of large financiers and importers who are apparently submitting
fictitious financial records and evidence of warehouses to secure import
clearances from the BPI,” the FFF said.
However, FFF noted that the use
of SPS will only bring temporary relief against the influx of rice imports, as
importers would eventually find a way to comply with the food safety measures.
Also, FFF said the use of NTMs
could open the DA to lawsuits from importers and even from the country’s rice
trade partners at the World Trade Organization.
“We, therefore, maintain that the
best way to control the surge in imports is through the imposition of general
safeguard duties on imports. The legal and factual basis for doing this now is
readily available,” it added.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
holds a press conference at the Malacañan Palace
on November 19, 2019. VALERIE
ESCALERA/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
President Duterte has ordered Agriculture Secretary William Dar to
suspend the importation of rice until the end of the Filipino farmers’ harvest
season and to buy palay from them. 
He did not say, however, when the suspension would take effect, or
how long it would last.
The President issued the directive as local farmers bewailed the
sharp drop in palay prices, which they blamed on the rice tariffication law
that lifted quantitative import restrictions.
They have been complaining of low farmgate prices for their palay
since the rice tariffication law allowed the entry of cheap, imported rice.
In a hastily called press conference on Tuesday night, Duterte was
asked if he would order Dar to suspend rice importation amid falling prices of
palay. “Yes, because it is harvest time,” he replied.
Palay fund
He said he would ask Congress to allocate funds to buy palay from
farmers, even if it meant billions of pesos in losses for the government.
A national farmers’ group said Duterte’s suspension of rice
imports would not enable farmers to recoup their losses.
The Kilusan Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang
Panlipunan (Katarungan) estimated the farmer’s total losses at P140 billion
this year, equivalent to P30,000 per hectare.
“The implementation of RA (Republic Act) No. 11203 has dealt a
severe blow to poor Filipino farmers,” Katarungan spokesperson Jansept Geronimo
said in a phone interview.
Some farmers have reportedly stopped sending their children to
school due to low income, while others have been forced to borrow from loan
sharks to be able to provide for their basic needs.
On Wednesday, a farmers’ alliance held a “national day of protest”
against the rice tariffication law in different parts of the country.
Geronimo and more than 70 farmers from Sariaya town in Quezon
province blocked the section of Maharlika Highway in Barangay Concepcion Uno
around 9 a.m.
“As expected, some affected motorists got angry, but most of them
were sympathetic to us,” he said. “Some of them even encouraged us to go on
with our protest.”
Duterte said the government was ready to incur P3 billion in
losses from buying palay so the farmers would live.
“At whose expense? All of us. The producers and the eaters,” he
said.
He said rice importation must continue soon after the harvest
season ended because the produce of farmers was not enough to sustain the needs
of 110 million Filipinos eating rice.
Safeguard vs corruption
But he said he could not stop the implementation of the rice
tariffication law, which he considered a safeguard against corruption. He was
apparently referring to corruption that attended the issuance of import permits
by the National Food Authority to certain groups.
Signed in February, the law allows individuals and businesses to
import additional volumes of rice but requires them to pay tariffs to fund mass
irrigation, warehousing and rice research to help farmers.
It sought to boost the rice supply in
the country following soaring prices of the staple in 2018. But the
implementation of the law had the opposite effect as it led to plunging palay
prices.
Hungry or angry
Duterte reiterated his warning that
Filipinos might go hungry and resort to riots if there was not enough rice in
the country. “So you choose if you are in my position: the people will go
hungry or the farmers will get angry?”
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary
Ernesto Pernia was optimistic that the
President would seek the advice of his economic team on the plan to suspend
rice imports.
On Tuesday, Pernia said the
liberalized rice trade that resulted in lower prices had benefited the poor.
Bangko Sentral Governor Benjamin
Diokno expressed confidence that a suspension of rice imports would not raise
inflation.
Limit import volume
Advocacy groups are calling for the
imposition of special safeguard (SSG) duties to limit the volume of imported
rice.
The Philippine Chamber of
Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI), Federation of Free Farmers and Alyansa
Agrikultura said imposing the duties to curb the entry of imported rice was the
“legal” way to deal with the glut.
To date, about 2.9 million metric
tons of rice had been imported, which, according to Sen. Cynthia Villar, “has
gone beyond what is needed by the country.”
The groups recommended a safeguard
duty of 70 percent on top of the 35 percent tariff from member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations to make imports more expensive.
“The benefit of SSG … is it
automatically puts a cap on imports as the price of imported rice becomes at
parity with local prices, making the Filipino farmers’ rice competitive,” PCAFI
said in a statement.
Bayan Muna lawmakers, meanwhile,
are seeking an inquiry into the purchase and distribution by the Department of
Agriculture (DA) of P88 million worth of “defective” and “inappropriate” farm
equipment.
The grain dryers with biomass furnaces and power generators were
supposedly bought by the DA in order to help Filipino farmers cushion the
impact of the rice tariffication law.
Not about imports
04:25 AM November 22,
2019
“Import
lovers” is a misplaced tag branded on those of us who have long argued for
opening our rice trade—the last country in the world to do it, after three
postponements over 25 years. It’s as if we are completely callous and
unsympathetic to the plight of Filipino rice farmers, favoring foreign farmers
over them.
Those
critics miss the point. It’s not about getting more imports—even as that would
be the natural immediate effect of removing absolute government control on
trade. Rather, it’s about attaining an inherently stronger, competitive,
resilient and profitable farm sector over the long term, and with it,
prosperous farmers, who would not have to languish in poverty for decades.
We’ve always held that this game-changing reform of removing government control
over rice importation is the bitter pill we’ve long needed, to finally
transform and modernize our agricultural sector, well beyond rice.
Our
traditional approach to rice policy— where government controlled and restricted
rice imports in the name of pursuing full rice self-sufficiency—has proven over
the years to be a formula for failure. That it has been a failure is rather
clear, yet certain loud voices are still asking that we reverse our tracks,
turn around and go right back to that policy regime.
How do we
know it was a failure? For one, it brought us no closer to self-sufficiency in
our main staple. Instead, it led to an ever-widening gap between our domestic
rice prices and those overseas. Back in the 1970s, Filipinos actually paid rice
prices lower than the import price. But the subsequent shielding of the
domestic rice industry from imports, seemingly inspired by a brief episode of
self-sufficiency then, abetted a widening gap between domestic and
international prices. By 1980, local prices were 11 percent higher. By 1995,
Filipino consumers were paying 25 percent more for rice than their counterparts
in the region did. At the turn of the century, the gap had grown to 87 percent,
and since then, we’ve paid up to 2-3 times what consumers in our neighbors did
for the staple.
This all
means that through four decades, we increasingly became more costly producers
of the commodity. Government saw little impetus to be assiduous in helping
domestic rice producers improve their productivity and cost competitiveness,
from the farmers to the millers. They were, after all, shielded from
competition. Higher prices through trade protection, rather than effective
productivity-raising support, became government’s primary tool to help rice
producers. The policy regime not only bred complacency, but it also bred
corruption and smuggling, which became more and more rewarding as the gap
between domestic and import prices grew wider.
Worse, this
age-old policy regime kept our rice farmers persistently poor. Most were
hampered by low productivity, with lack of access to credit being a primary
barrier to applying productivity-raising inputs. At the same time, growing
volumes of smuggling, the profitability of which rose over time as the
domestic-international price gap widened, were hurting the farmers as well.
Meanwhile,
we had made our staple so much more costly than it needed to be, crowding out
nutrient-rich foods from the diets of our poor, whose limited food budgets were
taken up almost entirely by rice. Our higher rates of severe malnutrition seen
in stunting, with its lifelong damage to our poor children, ultimately trace to
the failed rice policy regime, which inadvertently proved to be antipoor and
rendered millions of Filipinos food-insecure.
There is now
a clamor from certain quarters to return to all that, after we’ve taken the
bitter pill that will push government and producers toward doing the right
things to finally bring our rice farmers to greater competitiveness. What we
need to do now is wrap sugar around that bitter pill, with outright cash
assistance to aggrieved rice farmers as necessary, and have the patience to
wait for the bitter pill to do its work.
Turning back
will not help farmers—not now, not in the future. It will only condemn them to
more of the same poverty they’ve endured for decades, and deprive them of this
one chance for true change.
cielito.habito@gmail.com
86 pct rice tariff
needed for farmers to survive - advocacy group
ABS-CBN News
MANILA - (UPDATE) The government
needs to raise tariffs on imported rice to 86 percent from 35 percent to help
Filipino farmers compete and ensure the survival of the local rice industry, an
advocacy group said on Thursday.
Following Agriculture Secretary William Dar's announcement that
the government will continue to allow rice importation, Alyansa Agrikultura
appealed to authorities to raise the tariff on imported grain.
Alyansa Agrikultura chairman Ernesto Ordoñez said that while the
rules of the World Trade Organization prevent the Philippines from unilaterally
stopping imports, the WTO also allows the country to use tariffs to protect
local farmers from unfair competition.
"The rule states that anybody can import but you must
follow the tariff. The problem is that the tariff is ridiculously and wrongly
low," Ordoñez said in an interview on ANC's Market Edge.
Ordoñez, who served as Agriculture as well as Trade
undersecretary during the term of former president Fidel Ramos, said the tariff
needs to be raised to 86 percent to make the price of imported rice equal to
local rice.
The duty can eventually be lowered to 35 percent once local
farmers are ready to compete in terms of price with farmers from other
countries.
An agriculture advocate earlier said that it would take up to 4
years to get local farmers competitive with farmers from other countries.
Ordoñez meanwhile agreed with the government's move to implement
stricter sanitary guidelines for rice imports. He said this would help control
the amount of rice being shipped to the country.
Farmers
protest rice tariffication after suspension of imports
LEYTE. Leyte farmers stage a lightning protest against the Rice
Tariffication Law on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. Farmers' group Katarungan
said similar protests were staged in at least 30 provinces in the country.
(Photo courtesy of Katarungan-Eastern Visayas)
November 21, 2019
LOURDES Cabelis,
a 53-year-old mother of two, joined other farmers in a lightning rally in
Barugo, Leyte as part of a nationwide protest against rice tariffication.“If the government is sincere (in wanting) to help the farmers, (officials) should go down to the farms and see for themselves our real situation,” Cabelis, who hails from Barugo, Leyte, said.
Land reform advocacy group Katarungan launched the protest in behalf of the rice farmers, who have been reeling from the low farmgate prices of palay (unhusked rice) as a result of rice tariffication.
“We, the farmers and major stakeholders in the rice industry, launch this nationwide protest to help the public understand the hardships that we are suffering at present and to express our disenchantment and frustration over government’s failure to address the crisis at hand,” said Jansept Geronimo, national spokesperson of Katarungan.
The group is calling for the suspension of rice importations. It launched the protest action even after President Rodrigo Duterte confirmed Tuesday night, November 19, 2019, that he had ordered the suspension of rice importations.
Under the Rice Liberalization Act, or Republic Act (RA) 11203, quantitative restrictions on rice imports are removed and replaced with tariffs of 35 percent on rice coming from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members.
A manifesto signed by 36 farmers’ groups said the law “not only ‘tariffied’ rice at a rate that unfairly caused huge losses in farmers’ incomes, it also unilaterally liberalized the rice industry by removing almost all major government controls over rice imports and domestic trade”.
The government adopted rice tariffication in a bid to bring down prices of rice and tame inflation, which was elevated for most of 2018.
Following the implementation of rice tariffs in March 2019, farmgate prices of palay have decreased.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the average farmgate price of palay went down by 23.5 percent to P15.52 per kilogram as of the first week of November 2019 from P20.28 per kilogram in the same week in 2018.
“With annual palay production at 19 million tons, every peso decline in palay prices means taking away P19 billion from the pockets of small farmers. We estimate that total losses of farmers for 2019 alone could reach P 140 billion, or P 30,000 per hectare. This is more than 10 times the damage wrought by Typhoon Yolanda to the agriculture sector in 2013, and it is all man-made,” the farmers said in their manifesto.
They warned of a brewing socioeconomic and humanitarian crisis in poverty-stricken rural areas because of the low palay prices.
“Farmers will default on their debt payments and may fail to borrow again for the next season. They may have to stop their children’s schooling. They will find it difficult to feed their families or buy medicine for their sick children,” said Geronimo.
“Many of them may stop farming altogether. Ironically, farmers were better off when quantitative restrictions on imports were still in place. They are now barely surviving because of a law that was touted to be good for them,” he added.
Supporting the manifesto were the Federation of Free Farmers, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka, Kilusan Para Sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan, Butil Party List, Magsasaka Party List, Alyansa Agrikultura, Freedom from Debt Coaliton, Bantay Bigas, Paragos, Task Force Mapalad, National Movement for Food Sovereignty, National Food Coalition, Pambansang Koalition ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan, Aniban ng Magsasaka sa Agrikultura, PKSK, and Centro Saka, Inc.
Also, Aniban ng mga Magsasaka, Mangingisda at Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, Alab Katipunan-BPMP, Laban ng Masa, Kilusang Maralita sa Kanayunan, Kilusan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino, Pambansang Katipunan ng Makabayang Magbubukid, Rice Watch Action Network, Integrated Rural Development Foundation, Sanlakas, Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights, Caret, People’s Development Institute, Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights, National Food Authority Employees Association, Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees, National Trade Union Center, Episcopal Church in the Philippines, Philcongrains, and Dr. Ted Mendoza of the University of the Philippines- Los Banos and the Integrated Rural Development Foundation.
Fund assistance for farmers
Five days after the signing of the Rice Tariffication Law in February 14, 2019, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia declared that the law “ushers in a new rice policy that will set in motion big reforms in the agriculture sector and will ensure the availability of cheaper rice (closer to world prices) in the market.”
According to the socioeconomic chief, the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund will be used “to provide key interventions to support farmers and enhance their competitiveness and profitability, including farm machinery and equipment to improve farm operations, rice seed development, propagation, and promotion, expanded rice credit, and extension services.”
“A portion of the rice tariff revenues in excess of P10 billion will be used to provide direct financial assistance to rice farmers affected by the removal of the quantitative restrictions and for diversification to high-value crops,” Pernia said.
Farmer Dhon Daganasol of Carigara, Leyte, however, said farmers have difficulty accessing government financial help.
“When farmers sell their rice to some private buyers, the rate goes down from P15 per kilo to P14 and P12, depending on the rice moisture. If it rains, the lower it goes,” said Daganasol, president of Katarungan-Eastern Visayas.
“What we demand is that there should also be a government agency that will buy our palay, and not the private businessmen alone,” added Cabelis, who led a signature campaign for 10,000 farmers in Leyte and Samar against the said law.
Duterte, aside from ordering the suspension of rice importations, asked Congress and the Department of Agriculture to set aside P3 billion for the purchase of rice grown by Filipino farmers.
The President directed Agriculture Secretary William Dar to fill government warehouses with locally grown rice.
The farmers said they need more support for their seeds, fertilizer, and farm equipment.
“Unfortunately, the farmers don’t receive much,” said Daganasol, adding that that the lack of government assistance hindered their productivity.
Daily Trust Agric
Conference begins Tuesday
By . | Published Date Nov 22, 2019
6:13 AM T
The third edition of the Daily Trust
Agric Conference and Exhibition will commence on Tuesday, November 26, 2019, at
the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The conference, with the
theme “Repositioning Rice, Sugar and Dairy Production for Optimal Yield, is
expected to be declared open by the Minister of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Muhammad Sabo Nanono.
The conference is aimed at tackling critical
issues along the rice, sugar and dairy value chains, with a view to increasing
output.
Renowned businessman, Emmanuel
Ijewere, who is a co-chairman of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group, will chair the
event at which the Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Sugar Development
Council, Dr Latif Busari and the Executive Director/CEO, National Animal
Production Research Institute, Zaria, Prof. C.A.M Lokpini, will examine issues
vital to the growth of the value chains highlighted. Notable among the financial
institutions that have confirmed participation in the two-day conference are
First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Unity Bank
Plc, Jaiz Bank Plc as well as the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System
for Agricultural Lending Plc and the Bank of Agriculture.
Others are agricultural development
programmes/projects; the National Quarantine Service; agricultural research
councils and agricultural research institutes. Also expected are agro-allied
industries such as the projects section of the Dangote Group, the Honeywell
Group, Wamco, Olam Group, L & Z Integrated Dairy Farms Limited, Umza Rice
Mill Limited, and Labana Rice Group Limited. In the agrochemical industries arm
of the sector, Notore Chemical Industries Nigeria has also confirmed its
participation. There are also development partners, rice millers’ association,
paddy rice dealers, and other interested parties. The event will begin at
9:30am daily.
Duterte order to suspend rice importation
won't push through, Dar says
Published Nov 21, 2019 11:55:39
AM
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 21) – Contrary to President Rodrigo Duterte's verbal
order, Agriculture chief William Dar on Thursday said that rice
importation will not be suspended, at least during the harvest season.
Dar, in a briefing Thursday, said that the Bureau of Plant
Industry will just be much stricter in implementing the issuance of import
clearances to traders to ascertain that only good quality would enter the
country.
“The DA through the Bureau of Plant and Industry, will strictly
implement the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPSIC).
For instance, the agency will conduct pre-inspection at the point of origin of
imported rice stock to ensure rice quality and safety for consumers and at the
same time protect the spread of crop pests and diseases.”
Asked if this means that rice imports would go on as
long as importers comply with requirements, the Agriculture chief said, “Yun po ang ibig sabihin.”
[Translation: That is what that means.]
Dar made the statement a day after his meeting with
Duterte, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Finance chief Carlos
Dominguez III on Wednesday, regarding the President’s order to suspend the import
policy in a bid to help farmers who are suffering from historic low prices of
unhusked rice.
The official added that the National Food Authority is also
directed to buy more palay from farmers who are suffering from historic low
prices of unhusked rice (palay).
"NFA will increase the country’s emergency buffer stock
from 15 days to 30 days by buying more palay from the rice farmers," Dar
said.
Around 600,000 affected farmers tilling less than a hectare
of farmland will also each receive ₱5,000 in cash assistance from the
government in 2020 and 2021, he said.
He added that the NFA is also ordered to sell regular
well-milled rice at an average of 20,000 or more bags a day. One bag is
equivalent to 50 kilos.
A farmers' group previously
questioned the Duterte's recent directive, saying there is no
legal basis to do so.
The rice trade liberalization law authorizes the President to change
import duties as long as they are allowable under international agreements to
which the Philippines is a signatory, but it does not state whether a chief
executive could stop rice importation.
BSP sees no inflation impact from halt to rice importation
November 21, 2019 | 12:30 am
REUTERS
SUSPENSION of rice importation
amid the ongoing harvest, as ordered by President Rodrigo R. Duterte, should
have no impact on inflation, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor
Benjamin E. Diokno said on Wednesday.
“It will not [affect
inflation]. Walang (There will be no) impact sa (on)
inflation,” Mr. Diokno told reporters at the BSP headquarters in Manila City.
Mr. Duterte said in a late-night
press conference on Tuesday that he had ordered the suspension of rice
importation as farmers reeled from falling prices.
He clarified, however, that the
suspension was only for the duration of the current harvest season that runs
from late September to mid-December.
Mr. Duterte was to meet
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar on Wednesday to discuss specifics of his
order.
Republic Act No. 11203 — which
liberalized importation of the staple after it was enacted on Feb. 19 and came
into effect early the following month — resulted in an estimated P8 per
kilogram (/kg) drop in retail prices of the staple, as intended.
Average farmgate prices, however,
have fallen by 16.26% to 17.17/kg as of September from P20.51/kg in 2018’s
comparable nine months, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
A surge in prices of rice, which
accounts for 9.6% of the theoretical basket of goods widely used by households
that is the basis for computing year-on-year price changes, due to delayed
importation caused headline inflation to hit successive multi-year peaks last
year. Inflation has been on a general downtrend this year, falling back into
the BSP’s 2-4% target range for 2019 at 2.6% in the 10 months to October after
clocking in at a decade-high 5.2% in 2018.
On the flip side, however,
farmers have been reeling from smaller incomes since the government was not
able to adequately implement safeguards that came with RA 11203.
“Di naman nakaka-apekto kasi
marami namang mga imports na darating pa lang e. Tapos ang concern nga is
harvest season so baka lalong bumaba ang presyo. So
temporary lang naman ’yun (It won’t affect inflation because
there are still a lot of imports that have yet to arrive. Also, the concern is
that it’s harvest season so prices might continue to go down. This is
temporary),” Mr. Diokno explained.
For one farmers group, however,
safeguard measures have more legal basis under RA 11203, which is otherwise
silent on suspension of rice importation.
“Matagal na naming pinu-push ’yung (We
have been pushing for the implementation of) general safeguard duties, kasi
pag na-impose nga sana iyon (because if the higher rates
were imposed), it becomes more expensive for importers to bring in more rice,”
Federation of Free Farmers Chairman Leonardo Q. Montemayor said by phone.
“Ang isang problema dito (One
problem) is how will the suspension of importation be carried out kasi under
the law, free importation na,” he added.
“You cannot just say bawal
na yung (say stop) importation. It’s against the law,” he said.
The Philippine Chamber of
Agriculture and Food, Inc. said imports could resume in January or February
next year “to ensure that imports will not coincide with harvest by dry season
in March-April 2020.”
Besides allowing a special
safeguard duty to protect rice farmers sudden or extreme price fluctuations, RA
11203 also allows the president to increase, reduce, revise or adjust import
duty rates when Congress is not in session.
If there is an expected shortage,
or any event that may require intervention from the government, he is also
authorized “for a limited period and/or a specified volume, to allow the
importation at a lower applied tariff rate to address the situation.”
Mr. Duterte on Tuesday night also
said he has ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) to purchase all of
farmers’ rice.
“NFA must procure them without
condition and regardless of moisture content; especially in areas devastated by
typhoons, monsoon floods and earthquakes — at P19/kg, just so our farmers will
have something for their families this coming festive season,” Samahang
Industriya ng Agrikultura Chairman Rosendo O. So said in a statement. — Vincent
Mariel P. Galang with LWTN
Agric Ministry in talks with top
rice importers to prioritize local brands
Business News of Thursday, 21 November 2019
Source: www.citinewsroom.com
Rice producers in Ghana continue to struggle
to break even
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is in talks with 20
major importers of rice into Ghana to get them to rely on locally produced rice
for both domestic consumption and export.
Rice producers in Ghana continue to struggle to break even as the country’s rice import increases annually.
In some parts of the Northern and Upper East Regions, local farmers are losing their investments due to the lack of a ready market for their produce.
Cost of production for local farmers is often very high with less support from the government.
Citi FM and Citi TV’s Cheif Executive Officer, Samuel Attah-Mensah has been at the forefront of a new campaign to draw attention to the local rice production sector.
Addressing the media, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said the importation of rice will reduce drastically in about three years’ time as the government builds the capacity of local rice farmers.
At the moment, we are in communication with the 20 biggest importers of rice in this country. We have had three meetings with them and we are telling them that, time is going to come soon when they cannot do business and give rice farmers in Thailand, Vietnam and America an opportunity to overcome our own. Our farmers were asleep because of the lack of government’s support. Therefore, it means that if you want to import rice into this country, it means that you are taking away bread from the mouth Ghanaian farmers and giving it to those in Thailand. What we are now saying is that, in two or three years’ time, we will work out on an agreement for them to buy from local millers.”
Ghana’s voracious appetite for imported rice according to analyst have an apparent negative effect on the national economy.
Though it is one of the four main cereals produced and consumed in Ghana alongside maize, millet and sorghum, many believe that efforts made in the past to resolve the rice importation puzzle virtually failed to produce the desired results rendering it a seemingly intractable enterprise.
While rice farmers are asking the government to get them a ready market for their produce, some others are making a difference in food production despite the many challenges they face in their work.
Rice producers in Ghana continue to struggle to break even as the country’s rice import increases annually.
In some parts of the Northern and Upper East Regions, local farmers are losing their investments due to the lack of a ready market for their produce.
Cost of production for local farmers is often very high with less support from the government.
Citi FM and Citi TV’s Cheif Executive Officer, Samuel Attah-Mensah has been at the forefront of a new campaign to draw attention to the local rice production sector.
Addressing the media, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said the importation of rice will reduce drastically in about three years’ time as the government builds the capacity of local rice farmers.
At the moment, we are in communication with the 20 biggest importers of rice in this country. We have had three meetings with them and we are telling them that, time is going to come soon when they cannot do business and give rice farmers in Thailand, Vietnam and America an opportunity to overcome our own. Our farmers were asleep because of the lack of government’s support. Therefore, it means that if you want to import rice into this country, it means that you are taking away bread from the mouth Ghanaian farmers and giving it to those in Thailand. What we are now saying is that, in two or three years’ time, we will work out on an agreement for them to buy from local millers.”
Ghana’s voracious appetite for imported rice according to analyst have an apparent negative effect on the national economy.
Though it is one of the four main cereals produced and consumed in Ghana alongside maize, millet and sorghum, many believe that efforts made in the past to resolve the rice importation puzzle virtually failed to produce the desired results rendering it a seemingly intractable enterprise.
While rice farmers are asking the government to get them a ready market for their produce, some others are making a difference in food production despite the many challenges they face in their work.
PHILIPPINES
MAKES U-TURN ON RICE IMPORT SUSPENSION, BUT WILL TIGHTEN RULES
11/20/2019
MANILA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines will not suspend rice
imports but will tighten food safety measures to control the entry of cheap
grain that is hurting incomes of local farmers, the agriculture chief said on
Thursday.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar made the announcement after a
meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, who had ordered the suspension of rice
imports after purchases surged, making the Philippines the world's top buyer
this year.
Duterte had wanted the suspension implemented during local harvest
season, but its legality is unclear because he signed a law in February lifting
curbs on importation of the grain.
His economic team is also against reinstating rice import
restrictions, the removal of which helped rein in inflation that last year had
quickened to the highest in nearly a decade.
Dar said Duterte has instead issued a directive for the Department
of Agriculture, through its Bureau of Plant Industry, to strictly implement the
issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance.
"The agency will conduct pre-inspection at the point of
origin of imported rice stock to ensure rice quality and safety for consumers
and at the same time protect the spread of crop pests and diseases," he
told reporters.
The Philippines, which often buys rice from southeast Asian
neighbours Vietnam and Thailand, has imported 2.9 million tonnes this year,
more than double the annual average in recent years and dislodging China from
the top spot among importers.
Rice imports surged after Manila lifted a two-decade-old cap on
annual purchases to replace it with tariffs at levels critics called
insufficient to protect farmers.
"He (Duterte) said that the Rice Tariffication Law will be
pursued to provide affordable and quality rice to all Filipinos," Dar
said.
Farmgate rice prices have fallen more than 20% over the last nine
months as a result of increased domestic supply.
Dar said strict food safety requirements had, in fact, helped
reduce the volume of rice imports to 85,000 tonnes in October from a monthly
average of 254,000 tonnes in the first nine months.
To ensure Filipino farmers are able to sell and make a profit from
their produce, Duterte has ordered state agency National Food Authority to
double the country's emergency rice buffer stock to 30 days of supply by buying
more from local producers, Dar said. (Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by
Kim Coghill)
Switching back to coarse cereals can offer
multiple benefits: Study
T
V Jayan New Delhi | Updated on November 21, 2019 Published
on November 21, 2019
India can benefit substantially
on m
ultiple fronts such as
nutritional security, energy and water utilisation and even cut its greenhouse
gas emissions if it promotes the cultivation of coarse cereals, showed a study
by researchers from India, Austria and the US.
ultiple fronts such as
nutritional security, energy and water utilisation and even cut its greenhouse
gas emissions if it promotes the cultivation of coarse cereals, showed a study
by researchers from India, Austria and the US.
During the Green Revolution of
the 1960s and the 1970s, the focus has mainly been on increasing rice and wheat
output. As a result, a large number of farmers shifted away from more
nutritious coarse cereals to high-yielding crops such as rice, leading to
narrowing in the diversity of cultivated crops.
Rice focus
Between 1966 and 2011, the total
cropped area for monsoon cereals remained nearly constant, but harvested areas
dedicated to monsoon rice increased from 52 per cent to 67 per cent. Currently,
rice accounts for 74 per cent of kharif cereals production, 80 per cent of
energy and 81 per cent of water used for cereal production in the season.
Besides, nearly 90 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from kharif cereals
production comes from rice alone. In a study published in the prestigious
journal, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences,
the scientists, led by Ruth DeFries and Kyle Davis of Columbia University in
the US, on Tuesday, showed that there can be multiple benefits if farmers were
encouraged to switch back to coarse cereals. They found that increasing
combined calories supplied by coarse cereals such as finger millet, pearl
millet and sorghum from the present 14 per cent to 21-32 per cent can help
improve the nutritive value of food, apart from reducing irrigation demand,
energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Holistic
analysis
“This is the first time that the
various nutritional and environmental aspects, including water use, climate
resilience, and greenhouse gas emissions, of coarse cereals have been analysed
in a holistic manner,” DeFries of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and
Environmental Biology at Columbia University told BusinessLine.
The authors found that planting
more coarse cereals could on average increase available protein by 1-5 per
cent, increase iron supply by between 5-49 per cent; increase climate
resilience (1-13 per cent fewer calories would be lost during times of
drought); and reduce GHG emissions by 2-13 per cent. The diversification of
crops would also lower demand for irrigation water by 3-21 per cent and reduce
energy use by 2-12 per cent, while maintaining calorie production and using the
same amount of cropland.
“To make agriculture more
sustainable, it's important that we think beyond just increasing food supply
and also find solutions that can benefit nutrition, farmers, and the
environment. This study shows that there are real opportunities to do just
that. India can sustainably enhance its food supply if farmers plant less rice
and more nutritious and environment-friendly crops such as finger millet, pearl
millet, and sorghum,” said lead author Kyle Davis, a postdoctoral research
fellow at the Data Science Institute at Columbia University, New York.
DeFries said some States in India
are starting to include coarse cereals in their public distribution systems,
which promotes cultivation, as would increased research attention on improving
yields of coarse cereals. Davis said it was important for the governments to
increase public awareness on the nutritional and environmental benefits of
coarse cereals.
“One key insight from this study
was that despite coarse grains having lower yields on average, there are enough
regions where this is not the case. A non-trivial shift away from rice can
therefore occur without reducing overall production,” said study co-author
Narasimha Rao, a researcher at the International Institute of Applied Systems
Analysis in Austria.
The authors point out that the
Indian Government is currently promoting the increased production and
consumption of these nutri-cereals — efforts that they say will be important to
protect farmers’ livelihoods and increase the cultural acceptability of these
grains.
With nearly 200 million
undernourished people in India, alongside widespread groundwater depletion and
the need to adapt to climate change, increasing the supply of nutricereals may
be an important part of improving the country's food security, they said.
Among Indian authors of the study
were Ashwini Chhatre and Nabin Pradhan of the Indian School of Business in
Hyderabad and Suparna Ghosh-Jerath of New Delhi-based Public Health Foundation
of India.
Bangladesh GMO Golden Rice
approval was expected in November, but regulatory hurdles remain
Erik
Stokstad | Science |
November 21, 2019
Soon. That has long been scientists’ answer when asked about the
approval of Golden Rice, a
genetically modified (GM) crop that could help prevent childhood blindness and
deaths in the developing world.
…
The Golden Rice under review in
Bangladesh was created at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in
Los Baños, Philippines. Researchers bred the beta-carotene genes into a rice
variety named dhan 29 …. In tests of dhan 29 Golden Rice at multiple locations,
researchers at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in Gazipur found
no new farming challenges and no significant differences in quality—except for
the presence of vitamin A.
BRRI submitted data to the
Bangladeshi Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change in November
2017. The Biosafety Core Committee, a group of eight officials and scientists,
has since been reviewing environmental risks, such as the plant’s potential to
become a weed, as well as food safety. The review is nearing completion; on 28
October, the Dhaka Tribune reported that a decision would be made by 15
November.
That date has come and gone; the
holdup appears to be due to the death of a committee member. But a source
familiar with the committee’s deliberations says some members remain skeptical
of Golden Rice ….
China reduces greenhouse gas emissions in
rice production: study
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-11-21 17:05:05|Editor: Xiang Bo
BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The greenhouse gas emissions from
China's rice fields have been reduced by 70 percent over the past five decades,
according to a recent Chinese study.
China's rice agriculture, a primary source of greenhouse gas
emissions, has experienced great changes in the last five decades due to
changes in dominant varieties and farming practices. Researchers from the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences comprehensively assessed the impacts
of these changes on greenhouse gas emissions.
Through large-scale variety comparison, field monitoring and
historical data mining, researchers found that China's average yield of rice
has increased by 130 percent over the past five decades. With rice planting
area shifting northwards, the adoption of high-yielding varieties and
innovation in irrigation systems, the greenhouse gas emissions from China's
rice fields have been reduced by 70 percent, with the reduction of methane
emissions most significant.
The findings illustrate that it is possible to enhance rice
productivity at reduced environmental costs through screening for low emission
varieties and agronomic techniques. Future innovations should ensure that rice
farming progressively adapts to climate change, while continuing to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, according to the study.
The study was published in the journal Environmental Research
Letters.
Golden rice
finally on track for approval in Bangladesh, so what is the delay?
Bangladesh is set to become the first country to approve golden
rice. But will the potentially life-saving transgenic crop face yet more
regulatory hurdles?
Golden rice was developed almost
two decades ago by biologists Prof Ingo Potrykus of the Institute of Plant
Sciences in Switzerland and Prof Peter Beyer at Freiburg University in Germany
as a way to prevent vitamin A deficiency in the developing world. Lack of
vitamin A is a leading cause of childhood blindness and can also make children
more susceptible to death from other illness like measles.
Vitamin A is made from
beta-carotene, which is found in carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, and other
vegetables. And although vitamin A deficiency is uncommon in the developed
world, many children in low-income countries subsist on just a few bowls of
rice a day, which does not provide essential nutrients and vitamins. The problem
is particularly pressing in Bangladesh where vitamin A deficiency affects more
than 20 per cent of children, as well as China, India, and other Asian
countries.
To create golden rice, Potrykus and
Beyer, in collaboration with the agrochemical behemoth Syngenta, modified rice
plants with beta-carotene genes from maize. By doing this, rice plants started
to produce the rich orange-coloured pigment. Then, the transgenic plants were
donated to publicly funded research centres to develop their own versions of
golden rice using local rice varieties.
Since the inception of golden rice
in the late 1990s, debates have raged over the transgenic crop, considered a
genetically modified organism (GM), and it has struggled to gain approval. Ed
Regis, science journalist and author of the book Golden
Rice: The Imperiled Birth of a GMO Superfood published last
month, blames the delay on eco groups like Greenpeace and their general opposition to GMO crops. Whereas advocates
tend to focus on its life-saving merits, opponents criticise the approach
as risky and unnecessary.
Moreover, stringent international
regulations such as the Cartagena Protocol have stymied approval of many GM
crops. Precautionary regulations like Article 15 of the protocol stifle
biotechnology based on potential risks to human health or the environment, i.e.,
guilty until proven innocent, explains Regus in his book — even if that crop
has the potential to save millions of lives. Regus argues that “the effects of
withholding, delaying or retarding Golden Rice development through overcautious
regulation has imposed unconscionable costs in terms of years of sight and
lives lost”.
In Bangladesh, the golden rice in
question was developed at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in
Los Baños, Philippines. This particular version is based on the dhan 29 rice
variety widely grown in Bangladesh. Moreover, researchers at the Bangladesh
Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in Gazipur found no new farming challenges and
no significant differences in quality — apart from for the presence of vitamin
A.
Now, after two years undergoing the
regulatory approval process, dhan 29 golden rice seems to be on track to
receive the final stamp of approval from the Bangladeshi Ministry of
Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. So, what’s the holdup?
Approval was expected on 15 November
but has been delayed seemingly due to the death of a committee member.
Others suggest some committee members remain unconvinced. Nevertheless, hopes
remain high, especially since the committee previously approved another
transgenic crop. If everything goes to plan, farmers might be planting golden
rice seed by 2021. After that, the question will be how well the new crop is
adopted.
Norm Borlaug Gave Us The Green Revolution: What's Next?
By Hank Campbell | November 20th 2019
02:31 AM |
Dr. Norm Borlaug, the "father of the Green
Revolution", is credited with saving a billion lives using agricultural
science, and for the last 50 years he and his successors debunked the
Malthusian claims of cynics like Paul Ehrlich, John Holdren, and their
modern-day acolytes like Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, and Naomi Oreskes.
When Holdren and Ehrlich (and the other Ehrlich) were trying to drum up support for mandatory birth control and a world government to enforce it(1), Borlaug and the science community quietly made farming more efficient than ever. Today, even the poorest people in most of the world can afford to be fat, something never possible before, and that is thanks to the legacy of Dr. Borlaug.
But what's next? Can we do for everything what they did for cereals?
It certainly seems possible. With older techniques like organic-certified mutagenesis we may have hit caps on growing food under inhospitable conditions, but genetic engineering, RNAi, and now CRISPS-Cas9 there is reason for optimism that everyone will be able to have a variety of locally grown, affordable, diverse foods.
But first, baby steps.
Drs. Norman and Julie Borlaug (his granddaughter). Credit: AgriLife via Flickr. Go here to read Organic Industry A-Team stooge Tom Philpott attack her for supporting science. The reputation of Grist has gotten much better since he took his conspiracy theories to Mother Jones.
A recent paper in PNAS found that the next phase in the Green Revolution may be ready to begin. Whereas the first phase was to get people enough of anything, thanks to science and technology a country like India can now diversify beyond the “rice dominated monsoon cereal production ” that Borlaug had to optimize.
Their models basically turned knobs of pollution, resources, and output and found that replacing some rice crops with millets and sorghum would be better for the country without undermining calorie production or using more land. Part of their secret sauce for convergence was reducing impacts of climate change, which are basically impossible to model but seem to be mandatory to get published in PNAS.(2)
But it's reason for optimism, especially when environmental groups and their political allies at media corporations act more like a doomsday cult. Yet Dr. Borlaug faced the same cultural milieu and now has taken his place as one of the most important scientists of the 20th century.
There are challenges, sure. Opposed to science are $2 billion in activist groups engaged in a war of extinction on food and chemicals, but just like there are still vaccine deniers, a new generation will see through their scaremongering, even in Europe, and not want developing countries to be left behind.
When Holdren and Ehrlich (and the other Ehrlich) were trying to drum up support for mandatory birth control and a world government to enforce it(1), Borlaug and the science community quietly made farming more efficient than ever. Today, even the poorest people in most of the world can afford to be fat, something never possible before, and that is thanks to the legacy of Dr. Borlaug.
But what's next? Can we do for everything what they did for cereals?
It certainly seems possible. With older techniques like organic-certified mutagenesis we may have hit caps on growing food under inhospitable conditions, but genetic engineering, RNAi, and now CRISPS-Cas9 there is reason for optimism that everyone will be able to have a variety of locally grown, affordable, diverse foods.
But first, baby steps.
Drs. Norman and Julie Borlaug (his granddaughter). Credit: AgriLife via Flickr. Go here to read Organic Industry A-Team stooge Tom Philpott attack her for supporting science. The reputation of Grist has gotten much better since he took his conspiracy theories to Mother Jones.
A recent paper in PNAS found that the next phase in the Green Revolution may be ready to begin. Whereas the first phase was to get people enough of anything, thanks to science and technology a country like India can now diversify beyond the “rice dominated monsoon cereal production ” that Borlaug had to optimize.
Their models basically turned knobs of pollution, resources, and output and found that replacing some rice crops with millets and sorghum would be better for the country without undermining calorie production or using more land. Part of their secret sauce for convergence was reducing impacts of climate change, which are basically impossible to model but seem to be mandatory to get published in PNAS.(2)
But it's reason for optimism, especially when environmental groups and their political allies at media corporations act more like a doomsday cult. Yet Dr. Borlaug faced the same cultural milieu and now has taken his place as one of the most important scientists of the 20th century.
There are challenges, sure. Opposed to science are $2 billion in activist groups engaged in a war of extinction on food and chemicals, but just like there are still vaccine deniers, a new generation will see through their scaremongering, even in Europe, and not want developing countries to be left behind.
Rice yields could plummet 40% by 2100 due to
climate change: Stanford University
At least 2 billion people, especially in Asia, could be affected
due to the scarcity
By DTE Staff
Last
Updated: Wednesday 20 November 2019
Global yields of rice, the
world’s largest staple food crop, could plummet by as much as 40 per cent by
2100, affecting two billion people, a new study by Stanford University in the
United States has said.
The plummeting of the yields
would be caused by increasing temperatures. Moreover, changes in the chemistry
of the soil due to increased temperatures would cause the rice grown to contain
twice as much toxic arsenic than the rice that is consumed today, the study has
added.
To arrive at their conclusions,
the researchers grew a medium-sized rice variety in soil from California’s
rice-growing region (Sacramento Valley). The experiment took place in
greenhouses, the temperatures of which were based on a five degree Celsius
temperature increase.
Carbon dioxide levels were
increased to twice as much as what they are today. Both, the temperature of the
greenhouse and the carbon dioxide level were based on estimates by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The scientists found that because
of the higher temperatures, the inherent arsenic in the soil was destabilised
and taken up by the rice plants. The arsenic went on to inhibit the absorption
of nutrients and decrease the plants’ growth and development, causing yields to
plummet by 40 per cent.
The researchers said the
development was worrying not just because rice is the food of half of the
world’s population but also because the increased levels of arsenic could pose
health threats to adults and infants alike.
Consistent exposure to arsenic
causes skin lesions, cancers, exacerbation of lung disease and death. Since
rice is also the first food that is given to infants in many cultures because
it is low in allergens, infants are especially at risk.
However, the scientists expressed
the hope that given the technology available today, rice varieties could be
grown which would address these threats.
The research was published on
November 1 in the journal Nature Communications.
China's top 10 advances in agricultural
science help feed the nation
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-11-20 12:27:31|Editor: huaxia
NANJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese experts have selected the
10 most significant advances in cutting-edge agricultural science and
technology in fields that are making life better for farmers and helping to
feed the world's most populous nation.
Research on rewiring of the fruit metabolome in tomato breeding
helped restore the original good taste of tomatoes of former times and provided
big data and innovative methods for the study of the molecular mechanism of
plant metabolites.
Scientists found that a selfish genetic element confers
non-Mendelian inheritance in rice, and this study challenges traditional
genetic laws, and could help cultivate new high-yield rice varieties.
In another study, scientists discovered a single transcription
factor that promotes both yield and immunity in rice.
The selected advances include studies in modulating plant
growth-metabolism coordination for sustainable agriculture, genomic variation
in more than 3,010 diverse accessions of Asian cultivated rice, and rapid
evolution of H7N9 highly pathogenic viruses that emerged in China in 2017.
Chinese scientists have also achieved advances in genetic
studies of cotton, bacterial resistance and a new mechanism of plant immune
pathways.
The 10 advances by Chinese agricultural scientists last year
were announced at the Forum 2019 on Science and Technology for Agricultural and
Rural Development in China, which opened Wednesday in Nanjing, capital of east
China's Jiangsu Province.
Potatoes take center stage on Chinese dining
tables
Source:
Xinhua| 2019-11-21 09:30:32|Editor: Wang Yamei
NANJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- In Chinese cuisine, potatoes are
usually cooked into a dish rather than being a staple food like wheat and rice.
Now Chinese scientists have found ways to make more than 300 kinds of
Chinese-style staples like steamed breads and noodles from potatoes.
China has the largest planting area and output of potatoes in
the world. However, they don't suit Chinese dietary habits and tastes as a
staple food, because potatoes contain no gluten protein, and have a poor
formability and ductility.
Experts believe potatoes are rich in nutritional and functional
components, and making potatoes into staple foods could help improve nutrition
and health. It could also help optimize China's agricultural structure,
relieving the pressure of resources and environment, guaranteeing food security
and realizing sustainable development.
Scientists from the Institute of Food Science and Technology of
the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) have developed processing
technologies to make potato staples like noodles, steamed breads and steamed
stuffed buns.
The products have entered China's markets. CAAS researchers
believe potato staples have broad market prospects in countries along the Belt
and Road.
The technology was introduced during the Forum 2019 on Science
and Technology for Agricultural and Rural Development in China, held in Nanjing,
capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.
Climate change pushed Indus Valley migrants
west to east: Study
The research found new evidence at two sites in the Great Rann
of Kutch and Thar desert to come to this conclusion
By Akshit Sangomla
Last
Updated: Thursday 21 November 2019
An illustrated map of the Indus Valley civilisation. Photo:
Getty Images
A new study by
the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITKGP) has found new evidence
for the popular hypothesis that climate change caused human migration during
and after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC).
The researchers concluded this from the study of two previously
unknown post-Harappan, Iron Age sites in the western part of the Great Rann of
Kutch (GRK) and the lower fringes of the Thar desert.
The Iron Age (3100-2300 years before now) is often referred to
as the ‘Dark Age’ because of scant historical and archaeological evidence from
that period. These are the first Iron Age sites found in this particular
region.
The evidence from the sites at Karim Shahi in the GRK and
Vigakot in Thar proves that human habitation continued in the region up to the
Early Medieval Period (900 years before now).
The study published in the journal Archaeological
Research in Asia brought together evidence from archaeological
remains like unearthed pottery, historical anecdotes and paleoclimatology to
establish that the inhabitants of the IVC slowly moved from the Indus valley
sites in the west into the Ghaggar-Hakra valley in the east.
“Our findings suggest that such human migration was far more
expansive than thought before. We believe that the gradual southward shift of
Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) over the last seven thousand years forced
people to migrate for greener pastures,” Anindya Sarkar, lead author of the
study and professor of geology and geophysics at IITKGP, said.
The shifting of the ITCZ decreased monsoon rains and led to the
drying up of rivers which would have made agriculture rather difficult.
But the sites in Karim Shahi and Vigakot show evidence of
continued existence of river systems and regular rainfall right until when the
Persian traveller and scholar Al Biruni visited Kutch. He documented the river
Mihran flowing into the sea at two places — the city of Loharani and a place
called Sindhu Sagar.
This was backed up with evidence from the analysis of sediments,
pollen and oxygen isotopes in fossil molluscan shells retrieved from the sites.
The inhabitants of these sites were traders throughout the time and traded with
far-off civilisations in Persia and China, according to Sarkar.
The human migration from the IVC is very similar to the one that
will take place from regions impacted by the consequences of human-induced
climate change, especially low-lying coastal regions and islands which often
bear the brunt of the extreme weather events and sea level rise due to global
warming.
Back in 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had
noted that the single greatest impact of climate change will be on human
migration. Experts believe that by 2050, more than 200 million people will be
forced to leave their homes and become climate migrants or even climate
refugees but this number is highly uncertain.
This is because people move their place of habitation because of
a wide variety of social, political, economic and other environmental reasons
which are all interconnected and it is difficult to delineate one from the
other, according to the report Climate
Change, Migration and Displacement published by Overseas
Development Institute and United Nations Development Programme in November
2017.
It also stated that in 2016, about 24 million people were instantly
displaced by the sudden onset of climate events like cyclones and floods but
there is very little evidence to inform about the number of people migrating
due to slow onset events like drought and desertification.
The evidence for such climate change-based migration is slowly
surfacing.
For instance, between 2011-2015, climatic changes like severe
drought-induced conditions led to armed conflict, which in turn, led to asylum
seeking and migration, according to a research paper published
in the journal Global Environmental Change in
January 2019.
“The effect of climate on conflict occurrence is particularly
relevant for countries in Western Asia in the period 2010–2012, when many
countries were undergoing political transformation,” says the study.
“This finding suggests that the impact of climate on conflict
and asylum seeking flows is limited to specific time period and contexts,” it
further adds. Further work in this regard is required to identify climate
migrants and refugees already living among us.
USA Rice Exhibits at the Food & Hospitality China (FHC)
Trade Show
By Sarah Moran
SHANGHAI, CHINA -- Using Agricultural
Trade Promotion (ATP) funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign
Agricultural Service (FAS,) USA Rice recently exhibited here at one of the
largest food shows in China focused on the hotel, restaurant, and institutional
and hospitality sectors.
Three U.S. millers/exporters - Farmers' Rice Cooperative, American Commodity Company, and Sun Valley Rice - joined with USA Rice to showcase their companies and capabilities to this target audience. Each company was provided with an interpreter to make contacts and trade discussions easier and more productive.
Visitors had the opportunity to taste test rice offered by the three exporters. The freshly cooked rice was judged by the visitors to be very good.
"Traffic at the booth was steady with a lot of visitors from the food trade, foodservice, and hospitality industries," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice director of Asia promotions. "A surprising number of people we talked with displayed some knowledge of U.S. rice - a good sign that our messages are reaching the desired target audience."
Three U.S. millers/exporters - Farmers' Rice Cooperative, American Commodity Company, and Sun Valley Rice - joined with USA Rice to showcase their companies and capabilities to this target audience. Each company was provided with an interpreter to make contacts and trade discussions easier and more productive.
Visitors had the opportunity to taste test rice offered by the three exporters. The freshly cooked rice was judged by the visitors to be very good.
"Traffic at the booth was steady with a lot of visitors from the food trade, foodservice, and hospitality industries," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice director of Asia promotions. "A surprising number of people we talked with displayed some knowledge of U.S. rice - a good sign that our messages are reaching the desired target audience."
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Face time in real time
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The FHC
trade show attracted 3,500 exhibitors from 49 countries, with separate show
halls for meats, fruits and vegetables, wine and alcoholic beverages, and dairy
products.
Fewer U.S. companies and FAS cooperators attended this year's show due to ongoing trade tensions, and the punitive tariffs focused on U.S. agricultural products. However, the interest by Chinese companies in U.S. rice has not waned although importers remain cautious until those trade tensions ease.
"To date, sales of U.S. rice to China have been challenging, but the potential is too great to withdraw from our commitment to the market here," said Guinn.
USA Rice will host a trade mission for eight Chinese rice importers December 9-18, beginning with their first stop at the USA Rice Outlook Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Fewer U.S. companies and FAS cooperators attended this year's show due to ongoing trade tensions, and the punitive tariffs focused on U.S. agricultural products. However, the interest by Chinese companies in U.S. rice has not waned although importers remain cautious until those trade tensions ease.
"To date, sales of U.S. rice to China have been challenging, but the potential is too great to withdraw from our commitment to the market here," said Guinn.
USA Rice will host a trade mission for eight Chinese rice importers December 9-18, beginning with their first stop at the USA Rice Outlook Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rice Prices
as on :
21-11-2019 02:41:58 PM
Arrivals in tonnes;prices in
Rs/quintal in domestic market.
|
Arrivals
|
Price
|
|||||
|
Current
|
%
change |
Season
cumulative |
Modal
|
Prev.
Modal |
Prev.Yr
%change |
|
|
Rice
|
||||||
|
Pilibhit(UP)
|
4000.00
|
-11.11
|
76212.50
|
2520
|
2520
|
10.53
|
|
Gadarpur(Utr)
|
2367.00
|
-34.47
|
91851.00
|
2790
|
2368
|
-
|
|
Bangalore(Kar)
|
1981.00
|
-28.97
|
106778.00
|
4650
|
4650
|
8.14
|
|
Shahjahanpur(UP)
|
300.00
|
25
|
3611.50
|
2750
|
2760
|
17.52
|
|
Roorkee(Utr)
|
220.00
|
86.44
|
2269.00
|
2500
|
2500
|
-
|
|
Puranpur(UP)
|
175.00
|
644.68
|
4207.00
|
2510
|
2650
|
7.26
|
|
Hardoi(UP)
|
160.00
|
NC
|
6940.00
|
2450
|
2430
|
-1.21
|
|
Barhaj(UP)
|
150.00
|
-28.57
|
9563.00
|
2400
|
2380
|
7.14
|
|
Muzzafarnagar(UP)
|
135.00
|
-32.5
|
4170.00
|
2650
|
2670
|
1.92
|
|
Bindki(UP)
|
100.00
|
42.86
|
7418.00
|
2340
|
2350
|
6.85
|
|
Agra(UP)
|
98.00
|
NC
|
4269.00
|
2580
|
2590
|
4.03
|
|
Bazpur(Utr)
|
90.50
|
50.58
|
4281.50
|
2200
|
2200
|
-10.20
|
|
Bareilly(UP)
|
84.00
|
82.61
|
1961.50
|
2500
|
2500
|
8.70
|
|
Naugarh(UP)
|
77.50
|
-16.22
|
3731.50
|
2500
|
2500
|
11.11
|
|
Gazipur(UP)
|
76.00
|
-6.17
|
5534.50
|
3200
|
3200
|
18.52
|
|
Aligarh(UP)
|
75.00
|
-6.25
|
4045.00
|
2540
|
2550
|
1.60
|
|
Sahiyapur(UP)
|
70.00
|
75
|
1421.50
|
2470
|
2470
|
9.53
|
|
Kalipur(WB)
|
70.00
|
12.9
|
2590.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
-
|
|
Saharanpur(UP)
|
67.00
|
3.08
|
1806.50
|
2610
|
2600
|
0.38
|
|
Jorhat(ASM)
|
65.00
|
-45.83
|
2440.50
|
3400
|
3400
|
6.25
|
|
Mathura(UP)
|
65.00
|
8.33
|
1675.50
|
2560
|
2560
|
-5.19
|
|
Kalna(WB)
|
62.50
|
-4.58
|
1505.50
|
2980
|
2950
|
-0.67
|
|
Azamgarh(UP)
|
60.00
|
20
|
3322.50
|
2470
|
2475
|
9.29
|
|
Dadri(UP)
|
50.00
|
66.67
|
1283.00
|
2850
|
2870
|
3.64
|
|
Gauripur(ASM)
|
45.00
|
12.5
|
2371.50
|
4500
|
4500
|
NC
|
|
Allahabad(UP)
|
45.00
|
-18.18
|
1745.50
|
2680
|
2650
|
16.52
|
|
Khalilabad(UP)
|
45.00
|
NC
|
875.00
|
2390
|
2385
|
9.89
|
|
Karimganj(ASM)
|
40.00
|
NC
|
900.00
|
2450
|
2450
|
-
|
|
Chintamani(Kar)
|
40.00
|
207.69
|
404.00
|
2700
|
2700
|
20.00
|
|
Kayamganj(UP)
|
40.00
|
14.29
|
1629.00
|
2730
|
2720
|
15.68
|
|
Jaunpur(UP)
|
39.00
|
95
|
939.20
|
2330
|
2380
|
2.64
|
|
Bankura Sadar(WB)
|
38.00
|
8.57
|
733.00
|
2500
|
2500
|
-3.85
|
|
Jangipura(UP)
|
36.00
|
12.5
|
1060.00
|
2350
|
2360
|
3.52
|
|
Pandua(WB)
|
35.00
|
-20.45
|
2168.00
|
3100
|
3100
|
-1.59
|
|
Kolar(Kar)
|
32.00
|
-50.77
|
212.00
|
5600
|
5414
|
28.62
|
|
Vishalpur(UP)
|
32.00
|
190.91
|
498.80
|
2690
|
2600
|
16.45
|
|
Jhargram(WB)
|
32.00
|
-8.57
|
968.00
|
2900
|
2900
|
-3.33
|
|
Muradabad(UP)
|
30.00
|
15.38
|
770.40
|
2570
|
2570
|
11.74
|
|
Lakhimpur(UP)
|
30.00
|
NC
|
2045.00
|
2380
|
2400
|
6.73
|
|
Chitwadagaon(UP)
|
30.00
|
20
|
309.00
|
2350
|
2430
|
11.90
|
|
Bahraich(UP)
|
29.80
|
6.43
|
2279.30
|
2440
|
2460
|
3.83
|
|
Islampur(WB)
|
29.00
|
7.41
|
548.00
|
3800
|
3800
|
-
|
|
Lalitpur(UP)
|
26.00
|
8.33
|
1444.00
|
2390
|
2385
|
-13.09
|
|
Raiganj(WB)
|
26.00
|
13.04
|
490.00
|
3700
|
3700
|
-
|
|
Safdarganj(UP)
|
25.00
|
-13.79
|
677.00
|
2430
|
2500
|
6.58
|
|
Farukhabad(UP)
|
24.00
|
41.18
|
824.50
|
2700
|
2760
|
14.41
|
|
Indus(Bankura Sadar)(WB)
|
24.00
|
9.09
|
1883.00
|
2800
|
2800
|
NC
|
|
Pratapgarh(UP)
|
22.50
|
12.5
|
157.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
5.73
|
|
Wansi(UP)
|
22.00
|
-4.35
|
978.00
|
2110
|
2110
|
NC
|
|
Akbarpur(UP)
|
20.50
|
36.67
|
956.20
|
2440
|
2430
|
10.41
|
|
Achalda(UP)
|
20.00
|
233.33
|
83.30
|
2600
|
2500
|
36.84
|
|
Falakata(WB)
|
20.00
|
NC
|
920.00
|
2600
|
2600
|
-7.14
|
|
Naanpara(UP)
|
19.00
|
6.74
|
915.80
|
2210
|
2220
|
36.00
|
|
Choubepur(UP)
|
18.10
|
-6.22
|
1640.40
|
2450
|
2460
|
4.26
|
|
Jayas(UP)
|
17.80
|
4.71
|
1120.00
|
2060
|
2050
|
6.46
|
|
Asansol(WB)
|
17.80
|
-1.11
|
2087.06
|
3000
|
3000
|
2.04
|
|
Durgapur(WB)
|
16.40
|
2.5
|
1489.40
|
2800
|
2800
|
-1.75
|
|
Jafarganj(UP)
|
16.00
|
-30.43
|
980.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
2.13
|
|
Devariya(UP)
|
15.00
|
-33.33
|
1144.00
|
2440
|
2480
|
8.20
|
|
Sirsaganj(UP)
|
15.00
|
-16.67
|
467.00
|
2650
|
2610
|
-3.64
|
|
Kannauj(UP)
|
12.00
|
NC
|
467.50
|
2700
|
2700
|
20.00
|
|
Champadanga(WB)
|
12.00
|
-29.41
|
579.00
|
3150
|
3150
|
3.28
|
|
Badayoun(UP)
|
11.00
|
NC
|
694.50
|
2675
|
2650
|
17.84
|
|
Shamli(UP)
|
11.00
|
-31.25
|
163.00
|
2645
|
2645
|
-5.54
|
|
Dibrugarh(ASM)
|
10.20
|
112.5
|
426.40
|
3100
|
3100
|
6.16
|
|
Nawabganj(UP)
|
10.00
|
17.65
|
460.25
|
2460
|
2450
|
13.89
|
|
Vilthararoad(UP)
|
10.00
|
NC
|
861.00
|
2150
|
2150
|
NC
|
|
Mohamadabad(UP)
|
8.50
|
-85.34
|
193.00
|
2760
|
2750
|
-
|
|
Jhansi(UP)
|
7.50
|
25
|
145.10
|
2270
|
2265
|
NC
|
|
Hailakandi(ASM)
|
7.00
|
NC
|
156.00
|
2450
|
2450
|
2.08
|
|
Ahirora(UP)
|
7.00
|
27.27
|
138.60
|
2300
|
2300
|
NC
|
|
Bishnupur(Bankura)(WB)
|
6.50
|
NC
|
505.00
|
2600
|
2600
|
-1.89
|
|
Atarra(UP)
|
6.00
|
50
|
314.00
|
2375
|
2360
|
7.95
|
|
Kasganj(UP)
|
6.00
|
20
|
242.00
|
2560
|
2580
|
1.19
|
|
Khurja(UP)
|
6.00
|
-7.69
|
452.30
|
2620
|
2575
|
NC
|
|
Buland Shahr(UP)
|
5.50
|
10
|
171.80
|
2661
|
2650
|
2.94
|
|
Tundla(UP)
|
5.50
|
22.22
|
239.70
|
2565
|
2565
|
3.22
|
|
Etah(UP)
|
5.00
|
-33.33
|
301.50
|
2580
|
2550
|
2.79
|
|
Shikohabad(UP)
|
5.00
|
25
|
129.50
|
2650
|
2750
|
-3.64
|
|
Jahangirabad(UP)
|
4.00
|
14.29
|
177.50
|
2550
|
2550
|
-0.78
|
|
Ranaghat(WB)
|
3.20
|
NC
|
94.40
|
3700
|
3700
|
4.23
|
|
Kosikalan(UP)
|
3.10
|
-35.42
|
229.50
|
2565
|
2530
|
-2.10
|
|
Baberu(UP)
|
2.60
|
44.44
|
64.10
|
2320
|
2345
|
-
|
|
Imphal(Man)
|
2.40
|
NC
|
50.00
|
4900
|
4900
|
-
|
|
Anandnagar(UP)
|
2.20
|
-12
|
232.20
|
2445
|
2450
|
6.30
|
|
Charra(UP)
|
2.00
|
66.67
|
58.20
|
2530
|
2540
|
1.20
|
|
Kishunpur(UP)
|
2.00
|
-33.33
|
212.00
|
1800
|
1800
|
NC
|
|
Balarampur(WB)
|
1.82
|
0.55
|
32.66
|
2600
|
2580
|
-2.62
|
|
Gadaura(UP)
|
1.80
|
80
|
587.10
|
2300
|
2300
|
15.00
|
|
Fatehpur Sikri(UP)
|
1.60
|
-11.11
|
53.20
|
2565
|
2545
|
-0.19
|
|
Khair(UP)
|
1.50
|
87.5
|
50.30
|
2570
|
2570
|
4.90
|
|
Doharighat(UP)
|
1.50
|
NC
|
55.50
|
2100
|
2100
|
5.00
|
|
Nandyal(AP)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
48.00
|
4250
|
4250
|
-
|
|
Jambusar(Kaavi)(Guj)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
103.00
|
3000
|
3200
|
11.11
|
|
Alibagh(Mah)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
116.00
|
4200
|
4200
|
-16.00
|
|
Murud(Mah)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
117.00
|
4200
|
4200
|
5.00
|
|
Lamlong Bazaar(Man)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
25.00
|
4800
|
4800
|
-
|
|
Gurusarai(UP)
|
0.70
|
16.67
|
16.60
|
2450
|
2500
|
6.52
|
Published on November 21, 2019
TOPICS
PHILIPPINES
MAKES U-TURN ON RICE IMPORT SUSPENSION, BUT WILL TIGHTEN RULES
11/20/2019
MANILA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines will not suspend rice
imports but will tighten food safety measures to control the entry of cheap
grain that is hurting incomes of local farmers, the agriculture chief said on
Thursday.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar made the announcement after a
meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, who had ordered the suspension of rice
imports after purchases surged, making the Philippines the world's top buyer
this year.
Duterte had wanted the suspension implemented during local harvest
season, but its legality is unclear because he signed a law in February lifting
curbs on importation of the grain.
His economic team is also against reinstating rice import
restrictions, the removal of which helped rein in inflation that last year had
quickened to the highest in nearly a decade.
Dar said Duterte has instead issued a directive for the Department
of Agriculture, through its Bureau of Plant Industry, to strictly implement the
issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance.
"The agency will conduct pre-inspection at the point of
origin of imported rice stock to ensure rice quality and safety for consumers
and at the same time protect the spread of crop pests and diseases," he
told reporters.
The Philippines, which often buys rice from southeast Asian
neighbours Vietnam and Thailand, has imported 2.9 million tonnes this year, more
than double the annual average in recent years and dislodging China from the
top spot among importers.
Rice imports surged after Manila lifted a two-decade-old cap on
annual purchases to replace it with tariffs at levels critics called
insufficient to protect farmers.
"He (Duterte) said that the Rice Tariffication Law will be
pursued to provide affordable and quality rice to all Filipinos," Dar
said.
Farmgate rice prices have fallen more than 20% over the last nine
months as a result of increased domestic supply.
Dar said strict food safety requirements had, in fact, helped
reduce the volume of rice imports to 85,000 tonnes in October from a monthly
average of 254,000 tonnes in the first nine months.
To ensure Filipino farmers are able to sell and make a profit from
their produce, Duterte has ordered state agency National Food Authority to
double the country's emergency rice buffer stock to 30 days of supply by buying
more from local producers, Dar said. (Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by
Kim Coghill)
Indonesia's
Bulog aims to lower rice stock by new year
NOVEMBER
21, 2019 / 11:33 AM / A DAY AGO
JAKARTA, Nov 21 (Reuters) -
* Rice stock at Indonesia’s state
food procurement agency (Bulog) is estimated to drop to 1.31 million tonnes by
Jan. 1, 2020 from 2.25 million tonnes as of Nov. 18, its Chief Executive
Officer Budi Waseso told parliament
* The agency aims to procure 1.6
million tonnes of rice from local farmers next year, Waseso said, adding that
there is no plan yet to import rice
* “There is no import plan and
hopefully there is no need for imports,” he said
* Bulog aims to have 1.35 million
tonnes rice stock by the end of 2020
* So far this year the agency has
bought 1.15 million tonnes of rice from local farmers (Reporting by Bernadette
Christina Munthe Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
Indonesia's Bulog wants $1.42 bln
government funding for rice procurement
NOVEMBER 21, 2019 / 4:33 PM
JAKARTA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Indonesia’s state food procurement
agency (Bulog) needs government funding of 20 trillion rupiah ($1.42 billion)
in 2020 to finance purchases of rice needed as a buffer stock, its chief
executive said on Thursday.
The agency typically takes up bank loans to purchase government
rice reserves which Bulog stocks to stabilise prices and which can only be sold
under the direction of the government.
But the agency is facing rising financial costs due to its large
debt, Bulog’s chief executive Budi Waseso told reporters after attending a
parliamentary hearing where he asked for the funding.
About 80% of Bulog’s revenue used to come from a social security
programme which involved the government buying rice from Bulog, Waseso said, a
programme which has since been changed.
“That’s why we propose that the rice reserves are being funded by
the government,” he said.
He said Bulog currently has nearly 28 trillion rupiah in debt, a
jump from 2017’s debt level after the agency was directed to import nearly 1
million tonnes of rice last year.
Bulog’s total short term debt stood at around 13 trillion rupiah at
the end of 2017, according to its financial report.
“We are buying rice every day, which means our debt continues to
increase, meanwhile there is no assignment to sell,” Waseso said.
Bulog expected to procure 1.6 million tonnes of rice from local
farmers next year.
In the past three years, the government budgeted 2.5 trillion
rupiah per year to help finance the rice purchase, he said, to subsidise price
gaps.
The request for funding comes at a time when the government is struggling
to raise revenue from tax and the budget deficit is seen widening to 2.2% of
GDP from 1.84% this year.
$1 = 14,090 rupiah Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe Writing
by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
DA issues tougher guidelines on acquiring rice import permits
MANILA,
Philippines – The Department of
Agriculture (DA) maintains it is not stopping the issuance of permits to import
rice.
“Hindi namin pinapa-stop (We are not stopping the importation.) We are implementing the law properly,” Secretary William
Dar said.
Instead, the Department made the
guidelines stricter which include inspection of storage houses.
On Tuesday (November 19),
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the suspension of rice importation because it
is currently harvest time in the country.
According to the Federation of
Free Farmers, stricter guidelines of rice importation is similar to stopping
the process.
But they argue that the measure
is just temporary while rice exporters are completing their requirements.
“In the meantime, na hindi sila
maka-comply tigil muna ang export nila sa atin (In the meantime that they cannot comply, they need to stop
exporting to us),” explained the farmers’ group’s
Chairman Leonardo Montemayor.
The DA, meanwhile, will
investigate farmers’ cooperatives and organizations who are using dummies in
order to proceed with their importations.
“We will now look at three years
of their business engagements kung may financial capability ba (if they have the financial capability),” Dar said.
“Mayroon ba silang warehouses? So
lahat po ng pag-i-igting na iyon (Do they have warehouses?
So we will intensify everything),” he added.
Dar said the President also wants
to increase the buffer stocks of the National Food Authority (NFA) from 15 days
to 30 days.
This would require the agency to
purchase more palay from local farmers.
The NFA was also ordered to sell
not lower than 20,000 sacks of rice per day.
Likewise, the unconditional cash
transfer for farmers affected by the decreasing price of rice brought about by
the rice tariffication law will be also be expanded to three years. – MNP (with details from Rey Pelayo)
Duterte: No rice imports during harvest
time
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:30 AM November 21, 2019
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a press
conference at the Malacañan Palace on November 19, 2019. VALERIE ESCALERA/PRESIDENTIAL
PHOTO
President
Duterte has ordered Agriculture Secretary William Dar to suspend the
importation of rice until the end of the Filipino farmers’ harvest season and
to buy palay from them.
He did not
say, however, when the suspension would take effect, or how long it would last.
The
President issued the directive as local farmers bewailed the sharp drop in
palay prices, which they blamed on the rice tariffication law that lifted
quantitative import restrictions.
They have
been complaining of low farmgate prices for their palay since the rice
tariffication law allowed the entry of cheap, imported rice.
In a hastily
called press conference on Tuesday night, Duterte was asked if he would order
Dar to suspend rice importation amid falling prices of palay. “Yes, because it
is harvest time,” he replied.
Palay fund
He said he
would ask Congress to allocate funds to buy palay from farmers, even if it
meant billions of pesos in losses for the government.
A national
farmers’ group said Duterte’s suspension of rice imports would not enable
farmers to recoup their losses.
The Kilusan
Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan (Katarungan)
estimated the farmer’s total losses at P140 billion this year, equivalent to
P30,000 per hectare.
“The
implementation of RA (Republic Act) No. 11203 has dealt a severe blow to poor
Filipino farmers,” Katarungan spokesperson Jansept Geronimo said in a phone
interview.
Some farmers
have reportedly stopped sending their children to school due to low income, while
others have been forced to borrow from loan sharks to be able to provide for
their basic needs.
On
Wednesday, a farmers’ alliance held a “national day of protest” against the
rice tariffication law in different parts of the country.
Geronimo and
more than 70 farmers from Sariaya town in Quezon province blocked the section
of Maharlika Highway in Barangay Concepcion Uno around 9 a.m.
“As
expected, some affected motorists got angry, but most of them were sympathetic
to us,” he said. “Some of them even encouraged us to go on with our protest.”
Duterte said
the government was ready to incur P3 billion in losses from buying palay so the
farmers would live.
“At whose
expense? All of us. The producers and the eaters,” he said.
He said rice
importation must continue soon after the harvest season ended because the
produce of farmers was not enough to sustain the needs of 110 million Filipinos
eating rice.
Safeguard vs
corruption
But he said
he could not stop the implementation of the rice tariffication law, which he
considered a safeguard against corruption. He was apparently referring to
corruption that attended the issuance of import permits by the National Food
Authority to certain groups.
Signed in
February, the law allows individuals and businesses to import additional
volumes of rice but requires them to pay tariffs to fund mass irrigation,
warehousing and rice research to help farmers.
It sought to boost the rice supply in the
country following soaring prices of the staple in 2018.
But the implementation of the law had the
opposite effect as it led to plunging palay prices.
Hungry or angry
Duterte reiterated his warning that Filipinos
might go hungry and resort to riots if there was not enough rice in the
country. “So you choose if you are in my position: the people will go hungry or
the farmers will get angry?”
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto
Pernia was optimistic that the President
would seek the advice of his economic team on the plan to suspend rice imports.
On Tuesday, Pernia said the liberalized
rice trade that resulted in lower prices had benefited the poor.
Bangko Sentral Governor Benjamin Diokno
expressed confidence that a suspension of rice imports would not raise
inflation.
Limit import volume
Advocacy groups are calling for the
imposition of special safeguard (SSG) duties to limit the volume of imported
rice.
The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and
Food Inc. (PCAFI), Federation of Free Farmers and Alyansa Agrikultura said
imposing the duties to curb the entry of imported rice was the “legal” way to
deal with the glut.
To date, about 2.9 million metric tons of
rice had been imported, which, according to Sen. Cynthia Villar, “has gone
beyond what is needed by the country.”
The groups recommended a safeguard duty of
70 percent on top of the 35 percent tariff from member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations to make imports more expensive.
“The benefit of SSG … is it automatically
puts a cap on imports as the price of imported rice becomes at parity with
local prices, making the Filipino farmers’ rice competitive,” PCAFI said in a
statement.
Bayan Muna lawmakers, meanwhile, are
seeking an inquiry into the purchase and distribution by the Department of
Agriculture (DA) of P88 million worth of “defective” and “inappropriate” farm
equipment.
The grain
dryers with biomass furnaces and power generators were supposedly bought by the
DA in order to help Filipino farmers cushion the impact of the rice
tariffication law. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1192596/duterte-no-rice-imports-during-harvest-time
Government to build 80,000
capacity warehouses, vows to store surplus rice
General News of Thursday, 21 November 2019
Source: Dailyguidenetwork.com
Minister of
Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Government is constructing 80 Warehouses to store surplus rice
produced across Ghana.
Each of the Warehouses has a capacity of 1,000 metric tons, giving a total of 80,000 metric tons capacity.
Aside that, Government is making efforts to attract foreign investors into the rice subsector to help deal with the issue of rice surpluses and its marketing to help improve the income of rice farmers nationwide.
Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto made this known in an address to the media after he met with the rice technical team and importers to lay out plans towards the ban on the importation of rice.
According to him, government believed that marketing can be a constrain so there was the need to put in place the needed infrastructure.
He said 50 of the warehouses were being built by the Ministry of Special Initiatives while 30 was being built by the Food and Agriculture Ministry.
The Minister pointed out several initiatives that the Akufo-Addo’s government has put in place to improve rice production in Ghana since 2017.
According to him, in 2017, a total of 350, 000 metric tons of high-yielding rice seeds were distributed to farmers in the forest belt of the country.
In 2018, he said, a total of 700 metric tons of rice seeds were distributed.
The number, he said, increased to over 1,000 metric tons in 2019.
According to him, government was working to set up small mills to cater for cluster of rice farmers.
The Minister stressed that there was the need to add value to the surpluses because its neighboring countries cannot absorb all the surpluses.
He noted that the Akufo-Addo’s government was working hard to improve the livelihoods of farmers.
He lamented that until the current government came to power in 2017, the living standards of Ghanaians farmers was nothing to write home about.
The Minister stated emphatically that “Ghanaian farmers are the poorest group of workers in the country.”
He said Government was of the view that smallholder farmers can deliver if they were supported by the state.
He accused the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of scheming to frustrate Government’s agriculture programmes.
However, he stated that NDC has not been able to contest the immense economic and social impacts the Agriculture programmes of the Government have had on the lives of Ghanaian farmers over the last three years.
Each of the Warehouses has a capacity of 1,000 metric tons, giving a total of 80,000 metric tons capacity.
Aside that, Government is making efforts to attract foreign investors into the rice subsector to help deal with the issue of rice surpluses and its marketing to help improve the income of rice farmers nationwide.
Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto made this known in an address to the media after he met with the rice technical team and importers to lay out plans towards the ban on the importation of rice.
According to him, government believed that marketing can be a constrain so there was the need to put in place the needed infrastructure.
He said 50 of the warehouses were being built by the Ministry of Special Initiatives while 30 was being built by the Food and Agriculture Ministry.
The Minister pointed out several initiatives that the Akufo-Addo’s government has put in place to improve rice production in Ghana since 2017.
According to him, in 2017, a total of 350, 000 metric tons of high-yielding rice seeds were distributed to farmers in the forest belt of the country.
In 2018, he said, a total of 700 metric tons of rice seeds were distributed.
The number, he said, increased to over 1,000 metric tons in 2019.
According to him, government was working to set up small mills to cater for cluster of rice farmers.
The Minister stressed that there was the need to add value to the surpluses because its neighboring countries cannot absorb all the surpluses.
He noted that the Akufo-Addo’s government was working hard to improve the livelihoods of farmers.
He lamented that until the current government came to power in 2017, the living standards of Ghanaians farmers was nothing to write home about.
The Minister stated emphatically that “Ghanaian farmers are the poorest group of workers in the country.”
He said Government was of the view that smallholder farmers can deliver if they were supported by the state.
He accused the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of scheming to frustrate Government’s agriculture programmes.
However, he stated that NDC has not been able to contest the immense economic and social impacts the Agriculture programmes of the Government have had on the lives of Ghanaian farmers over the last three years.
India rice export prices slide to multi-year low on supply
influx
NOVEMBER 21, 2019 / 6:26 PM
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian rice
export prices fell to their lowest in nearly three years this week as fresh
supplies from the summer-sown crop loom large, with subdued global demand also
crimping exports from other major centres.
A farmer carries saplings to plant in a rice field on the outskirts
of Ahmedabad, India, July 5, 2019. REUTERS/Amit Dave
Top exporter India’s 5% broken
parboiled variety was quoted around $358-$362 a tonne this week, the lowest
since January 2017 and down from $363-$368 the previous week.
“Export demand is negligible.
New-season supplies have started in a few southern states and could rise next
month,” said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra
Pradesh.
Paddy rice prices have been
trading below the government-set purchase price of 1,835 rupees per 100kg in
many spot markets because of weak export demand, he said.
Cyclone Bulbul soaked the eastern
Indian states and major coastal areas of neighbouring Bangladesh this month,
damaging paddy rice crop and delaying supplies.
“This won’t have a big impact on
overall rice output,” said Mizanur Rahman, a senior official at the Department
of Agriculture Extension.
Over the past few weeks domestic
rice prices have risen in Bangladesh despite good crops and sufficient stocks.
The country’s Food Minister attributed the price increase to unscrupulous
traders and said that stern measures would be taken against those found to be
manipulating prices.
In Vietnam, meanwhile, rates for
5% broken rice were steady at $345-$350 a tonne.
“Demand remained very weak,” said
a trader in Ho Chi Minh City. “No fresh deals have been clinched so far.”
PHILIPPINES FEARS
While the Philippines has decided
not suspend rice imports, it will instead tighten food safety measures to
control the entry of cheap grain that the government says is hurting incomes of
local farmers.
“We are still very concerned
about the Philippines’ move given Philippines is the largest export market of
Vietnam,” another Ho Chi Minh trader said.
Traders said that preliminary
data showed that about 181,000 tonnes of rice was scheduled to be loaded at Ho
Chi Minh City ports over Nov. 1-15, with most of the shipments bound for West
Africa.
Thailand’s benchmark 5% broken
rice prices were around $394-$410 a tonne on Thursday, versus $395-$409
last week, amid muted demand as a strong baht continues to push up export
prices.
The Thai government has stepped
up efforts to open new markets for Thai rice, seeking deals with Iraq and
Turkey, but traders say the prospect of sales remains slim because of the high
prices and tougher competition.
“Overall export quantity has been
reduced this year due to lack of global demand and high prices,” a
Bangkok-based trader said.
“There is also more competition
from the likes of Myanmar as their export capability has increased this year.”
Reporting by Phuong Nguyen in
Hanoi, Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Rajendra Jadhav in
Mumbai; Editing by David Goodman
Makabayan bloc: Duterte suspension order on
rice importation only a ‘media stunt’
By: Daphne
Galvez - Reporter / @DYGalvezINQ
INQUIRER.net /
05:04 PM November 21, 2019
MANILA,
Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to suspend rice importation
during harvest season is only a “media stunt” to “appease” the public, the
Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives said Thursday.
The
President earlier ordered Agriculture Secretary William Dar to suspend the
importation of rice until the end of the harvest season at least and to buy
palay (unhusked rice) from local farmers.
However, Dar
on Thursday said that rice importation will continue under the Rice
Tariffication Law, clarifying that Duterte only wants to strictly enforce
guidelines on importation.
“It’s just a
media stunt, it’s damage control dahil galit na galit ang mamamayan (because
people are angry already),” Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said in a
press conference.
“That’s the
hallmark of this administration, it will issue statements just to appease the
people and eventually babawiin niya (they will take it back),” he added.
The
Makabayan lawmakers challenged Duterte to issue an executive order (EO) to
formalize the suspension of rice importation and to “show his sincerity” in
helping the disadvantaged Filipino farmers.
“Parang
laway lang ito… Dapat bigyan ng pangil itong pagsasalita ni President Duterte
sa pamamagitan ng EO,” ACT Teachers’ party-list Rep. France Castro said in the
same press conference.
(It’s all
talk for now. The President should issue an EO to enforce it.)
“President
Duterte, kung sinsero ka, mag-issue ka ng EO at maglaan ng pondo para bilhin
ang ani ngayon ng mga magsasaka,” she added.
(President
Duterte, if you’re sincere, you should issue an EO and allocate funds to buy
the harvest of local farmers.)
The
lawmakers also challenged the Duterte administration to repeal the
controversial Rice Tariffication law, which they claimed caused the price of
palay (unhusked rice) to drop to the detriment of Filipino farmers.
The
President should also certify as urgent proposed measures that seek to help
local farmers, such as the Rice Industry Development Act (RIDA), they added.
“Hinahamon
namin ang Duterte administration na i-certify as urgent yung mga panukala dito
sa kongreso katulad ng RIDA at i-repeal na ‘yung rice liberalization law,”
Zarate said.
(We
challenge the Duterte administration to certify as urgent the RIDA as well as
other bills in Congress, and repeal the rice liberalization law.)
The rice
tariffication law, which was signed in February, lifted the quotas on rice
importation and imposed tax. The law was intended to stabilize the rice supply
in the country by liberalizing the rice industry.
PHL to curb
rice imports via nontariff measures
November 22, 2019
Photo from http://irri.org
MANILA will maximize nontariff
measures (NTM) to limit rice imports and disallow “dummy” cooperatives from
participating in rice trade, instead of an outright suspension of shipments,
the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday.
Agriculture Secretary William D.
Dar said the government will only tighten the guidelines for importing rice.
Dar said this was one of the directives given by President Duterte to him
during their meeting last November 20 to thresh out the Chief Executive’s
pronouncement of suspending rice imports during harvest.
The meeting was also attended by
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Finance Secretary Carlos G.
Dominguez III.
Dar said the Bureau of Plant
Industry, an attached agency of the DA, will continue to process sanitary and
phytosanitary import clearances (SPSIC), but the agency will evaluate
applications using more stringent guidelines.
Aside from this, the DA chief
said the President has also ordered the increase in the National Food
Authority’s (NFA) buffer stock volume to 30 days, from 15 days, and to extend
the unconditional cash transfers for farmers to 2020.
Tougher rules
Dar said rice traders will now
have to show proof that their shipments comply with the government’s more
stringent measures covering heavy metal content, pesticide residue, filth
contaminants and microbial presence.
He said the government will also
deploy teams that will inspect shipments at the country of origin “to ensure
rice quality and safety for consumers and at the same time prevent the spread
of crop pests and diseases [in the country].”
In a news briefing on Thursday,
Dar told reporters, “We will see to it that [import] rules are tight during the
main harvest season. We have all the facts so we will be strict in implementing
these rules.”
The BusinessMirror earlier
reported that the stringent food safety measures are aimed at limiting rice
imports.
Rice traders and importers would
have to secure an SPSIC first from the BPI so they can bring the staple from
other countries into the Philippines. This requirement was mandated by the rice
trade liberalization law.
“All rice importers will have to
comply with the guidelines as required in securing the SPSIC,” said Dar.
Probe under way
The DA chief also directed the
BPI to investigate importers and traders who have not used their SPSICs despite
securing the document. Some traders were issued SPSIC as early as March, when
the law took effect.
The BPI reported that only about
two-thirds of some 3,000 SPSIC issued to importers have been used to date,
which means there are some 1,000 unused SPSICs covering 1 million metric tons
of rice.
Latest BPI data showed that as of
October 31, 2,105 SPSICs have been used to import 1.693 MMT of rice from India,
Italy, Myanmar, Pakistan, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam.
“Using the data we have, we will
continue to improve these guidelines based on our experience,” said Dar.
He said the government will look
into the possibility of imposing a validity period on issued SPSICs, which do
not have an expiration date.
Removing dummies
Dar also revealed that the
stringent SPS measures will weed out farmers’ cooperatives and groups that are
being used as dummies of unscrupulous businessmen.
The DA chief cited the
BusinessMirror’s stories about “dummy” cooperatives edging out legitimate
traders in rice imports as among the reasons for their decision to go after
these groups (See “Farmer groups
‘top rice importers’—are they?” in the BusinessMirror, November 21, 2019, and “Pre- and
post-rice trade liberalization law, big traders gaming farmer groups,” in
the BusinessMirror, October 31, 2019).
He said the DA is in “constant”
communication with concerned agencies, such as the Cooperatives Development
Authority (CDA), Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Competition Commission
(PCC).
Dar said the DA is now in the
process of “appreciating” the data provided by the CDA regarding the financial
capacities of cooperatives that are registered with the BPI.
“That is what’s happening right
now, [cooperatives] are being used. That’s why we want to make the rules
stringent because they are just being used,” he said.
Dar said the government will not
hesitate to open the warehouses or even file charges against the importers,
including cooperatives, if the results of the PCC’s current probe on rice
industry players will find that they served as dummies.
While he encourages all farmers’
associations, cooperatives and groups to venture into agribusiness, including
rice importation, Dar stressed they must follow the law.
Dar had issued a memorandum order
that required traders to ship their consignments to the Philippines within a
prescribed period of time.
The same order “strengthened”
registration procedures for interested rice importers by requiring them to
submit documents proving their financial and logistical capacity to import
rice, such as annual income tax return with audited financial statement for the
last three years.
Dar’s tack backed
The Federation of Free Farmers
(FFF) welcomed Dar’s pronouncements and has thrown its support behind the DA’s
move to weed out farmers’ cooperatives and groups acting as dummies.
“We have expressed our concern in
the past about the use of small farmers’ cooperatives and organizations as
virtual dummies of large financiers and importers who are apparently submitting
fictitious financial records and evidence of warehouses to secure import
clearances from the BPI,” the FFF said.
However, FFF noted that the use of
SPS will only bring temporary relief against the influx of rice imports, as
importers would eventually find a way to comply with the food safety measures.
Also, FFF said the use of NTMs
could open the DA to lawsuits from importers and even from the country’s rice
trade partners at the World Trade Organization.
“We, therefore, maintain that the
best way to control the surge in imports is through the imposition of general
safeguard duties on imports. The legal and factual basis for doing this now is
readily available,” it added.
9 /
LAST MODIFIED: 03:39 AM, November 21, 2019
Jacking up rice prices won’t be
tolerated
Warns food minister saying rice stock sufficient; government
starts procurement of Aman paddy
Photo:
Collected
Star
Report
The government yesterday sounded a
note of warning against unscrupulous traders and said rice price manipulation
would not be tolerated as the country had no shortage of the staple.
“It will not be acceptable at any
cost if anyone tries to manipulate rice prices … there is no reason to hike the
price illegally,” Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder told reporters after a
meeting with rice mill owners and traders at the Secretariat.
Meanwhile, the food office
yesterday started procuring Aman paddy from farmers in some areas where the
harvest began.
The government has decided to procure
6 lakh tonnes of paddy this Aman season, the highest for the season in the last
24 years, according to ministry data.
The minister said the paddy price
did not increase, so there was no logic in increasing prices of rice, reports
BSS.
“Farmers would rather have
benefited had the paddy price been higher, but unfortunately it did not
happen,” he said.
He also said a control room had
already been opened under the food ministry and vigilance teams were monitoring
the rice market at the field level.
Asked, Majumder said the ongoing
nation-wide transport strike would not impact rice prices for the next 8-10
days as each market across the country has sufficient rice stock.
Moreover, the Directorate of
National Consumer Rights Protection has already been asked to take necessary
actions if any irregularities come to its notice, he added.
If required, the minister said, the
food ministry would operate mobile courts to this end.
The country produces nearly 3.44
crore tonnes of rice annually against the demand of almost 2.16 crore tonnes,
he said.
At present, the country’s food
crops stock is about 14,52,707 tonnes at different warehouses of the
government. Of the stock, 11,13,303 tonnes are rice.
Acting food secretary Omar Faruque,
Director General of the Department of Food Nazmanara Khanum, Bangladesh Auto
Major and Husking Mills Owners Association President Abdur Rashid, Bangladesh
Auto Rice Mill Association President Khorshed Alam and representatives from the
home, commerce and agriculture ministries, among others, attended the meeting.
DA: Rice Tariffication Law ‘will be pursued’ but stricter
measures to be implemented
Ian Nicolas
Cigaral (Philstar.com) - November 21, 2019 - 12:54pm
MANILA, Philippines — The
Philippine government will not stop the implementation of the Rice
Tariffication Law, but tighter measures will be imposed amid outcry from
farmers hurt by falling palay (paddy rice) farm-gate prices.
“The Rice Tariffication Law will be
pursued to provide affordable and quality rice for all Filipinos,” President
Rodrigo Duterte was quoted as saying by Agriculture Secretary William Dar
during a press conference Thursday.
Duterte on Tuesday said he directed
Dar to pause the purchase of rice from abroad during harvest season to help
local farmers.
At Thursday’s media interview, Dar
said the president gave three orders that seek to safeguard Filipino farmers’
business amid the influx of imported rice:
- The National Food Authority should
increase the country’s emergency buffer stock from 15 days to 30 days by
buying more palay from farmers. The grains agency was also told to
purchase more palay and sell more regular milled rice at an average of
20,000 bags or higher.
- The unconditional cash transfer to rice
farmers affected by low palay prices will be extended from one to two
years with the budget of P3 billion a year.
- The Department of Agriculture, through the
Bureau of Plant Industry, will strictly implement the issuance of sanitary
and phytosanitary import clearance, especially during harvest season.
Last February, Duterte signed the
Rice Tarrification Law which lifted the more than two-decade-old
cap on rice imports in a bid to bring down prices of the staple
grain.
Under the law, individuals and
businesses can import additional volumes of the crop from Southeast Asian
countries like Thailand and Vietnam but will have to pay tariffs. The proceeds
will be used to fund mass irrigation, warehousing and rice research
to help local farmers compete.
But some groups said the influx of
cheap rice from abroad has been hurting Filipino farmers. Government data shows
prices of palay plunged 24.49% in the third quarter, as farmers were forced to
sell their produce to traders at lower prices amid the presence of imported
rice in the market.
The US Department of
Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service has reported that the Philippines is
poised to dislodge China from the top and emerge as the world’s biggest rice
importer.
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