Basmati growers to be registered
on portal
Will get advisory on fertiliser,
pesticide use; exports to get boost 
Karnal,
January 27 Concerned over complaints from the European Union and other
countries, the Agriculture Department will register all basmati growers in the
state on the Centre’s portal basmati.net with the help of Agricultural and
Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to maintain the
quality of basmati.
Karnal,
January 27 Concerned over complaints from the European Union and other
countries, the Agriculture Department will register all basmati growers in the
state on the Centre’s portal basmati.net with the help of Agricultural and
Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to maintain the
quality of basmati.
As per the authorities, this step will boost
basmati exports by incorporating quality traceability in production and supply.
At present, India exports rice worth Rs 53,990 crore, including basmati valued
at Rs 32,804 crore. This information was disclosed by Vinita, DGM, APEDA, at a
workshop on “online registration of farmers in basmati.net system for
organising the supply chain of export of basmati rice”. The department would
upload information, including names of farmers, mobile numbers, land records
and details of quality and quantity of fertilisers and pesticides used. The
farmers would get advisory about fertilisers and pesticides from APEDA, she
said.
Thai rice rates soar on drought,
demand shifts to India
Export
prices for rice from Thailand jumped to their highest in more than
two-and-a-half years as a drought threatened to sap supply, in turn boosting
demand for a relatively cheaper variety from top exporter India. Prices of
second largest exporter Thailand's benchmark 5% broken rice rose to their
highest since June 2017 at $440-$460 per tonne, from $435-$445 the week before,
with traders attributing the jump to concerns that the ongoing drought will
squeeze supply. “The market is worried about the shortening of supply, so some
mills are refusing to sell, pushing the price higher," a Bangkok-based
trader said. A strong baht, which is trading close to an over six-year peak, is
also another factor keeping Thai prices high despite the lack of fresh demand.
“Things have been very quiet, there were some small deals with markets like
Iraq but so far nothing big enough to impact price," a Bangkok-based
trader said. The high Thai prices prompted some buyers to opt for rice from
India, pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three
months. India's 5% broken parboiled variety rose to around $366-$371 per tonne
from last week's $364-$368, the highest since Oct. 31, further supported by
higher demand from African countries. “Demand has been improving slowly. Since
Thai prices are moving up quickly, some demand is getting diverted to
India," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra
Pradesh. In neighbouring Bangladesh, domestic rice prices have risen this week
despite good crops and sufficient stocks, which consumers blamed on poor market
monitoring. A senior commerce ministry official denied these claims, and said
legal action will be taken if any traders try to stockpile rice to make
windfall profits. Vietnam's markets, meanwhile, are closed from Jan. 23-29 for
the Lunar New Year holiday.
Myanmar earns US$280 M from rice
and broken rice export
Rice
bags are being uploaded to trucks in Wadan wharf (Photo-Zeya Nyein)
PUBLISHED 27
JANUARY 2020
ZEYA
NYEIN
Myanmar
earned over US$280 million from over 980,000 tons of rice and broken rice
export from October 1 to January 10 this fiscal year, according to the Myanmar
Rice Federation (MRF).
It
earned over US$200 million from over 684,000 tons of rice export to 55
countries and over US$78 million from over 302,000 tons of broken rice export
to 46 countries in this period.
Myanmar
is exporting rice and broken rice to the EU market and African market via
maritime trade routes and China through Muse border trade.
It
earned over US$37 million from over 144,000 tons of rice and broken rice export
from border trade route and it is over 14 per cent of total rice and broken
rice export. It earned over US$245 million from over 842,000 tons of rice and
broken rice export from maritime trade and it is over 85 per cent of total rice
and broken rice export.
The
MRF announced that Myanmar earned over US$709 million from over two million
tons of rice and broken rice export in 2018-19 FY.
Myanmar
exported about 3.6 million tons of rice and broken rice in 2017-18 FY and it
broke the record in over 50-year history.
It
is dealing with the issues caused by the low market price this year. It said
that farmers are facing difficulties not having enough silos, paddy drying
system and vehicles to carry rice, announced the MRF on May 18.
A
total of 11 companies were officially exported rice to China previously and now
more than 40 companies are chosen to export rice to China. If the companies’
list is sent to China, the rice export will resume, replied Aung Htoo, Deputy
Minister for Commerce to farmers from Danubyu on June 28.
State
and regional governments will supervise the buying of paddy in accord with a
law to protect the rights of farmers and promote their interests and the state
and regional governments need to submit about the union government.
The
government is planning to buy paddy from Bago, Ayeyawady and Yangon regions
using state fund and it planned Ks8 billion for Bago Region and Ks5 billion for
Ayeyawady Region, said Aung Htoo in early November.
If
the market price for paddy lowers more than the base price, the government
planned Ks15 billion to buy out the paddies, said the deputy minister.
Rice prices on the rise in Dhaka
·
Published
at 11:27 pm November 18th, 2019
Varieties of rice Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
Rice traders claimed that the prices went up
as mill owners hiked the prices at mill gates
Prices of some varieties of rice have suddenly
increased by around Tk3-8 a kilogram in Dhaka’s kitchen markets over the
week.
Rice traders claimed that the prices went up
as mill owners hiked the prices at mill gates.
Visiting several kitchen markets in the
capital including Rampura, Malibagh and Panthapath, coarse variety of Sawrna
rice was found selling at Tk38-40 a kg while BR-28 at Tk42-45 which was Tk38
earlier.
Moreover, Miniket rice variety sold at Tk50 a
kg, compared to its previous price of Tk40-45, Jirasail at Tk45 compared to
Tk40 and Kalijira rice at Tk105 compared to Tk90-100.
Masud Rana, a local trader in Malibagh kitchen
market, said: “I don’t know exactly what is causing the price hike but there is
no supply shortage. Millers and wholesalers have increased the price. So we
have increased it as well.”
Ahmed Sultan, a consumer from Panthapath area,
said the kitchen market was already unstable due to the giddy high pieces of
onion. "Since there is no effective market monitoring system in place, traders
and millers are taking advantage of the situation and increasing rice prices
also," he alleged.
However, Md Farhad Hussen, general secretary
of Noagoan district rice mill owners' association, denied such
allegation.
He said: “It is not the mill owners but the
middlemen who are increasing the prices. Today, I sold Gguti Swarna rice at
Tk27 a kg as wholesale price. The price increased by at least Tk3 a kg at all
mills. Then it is not fair to retail this rice variety at Tk38-40.”
“We don’t have supply shortage. But the prices
of Miniket and Swarna verities were lower before the government had fixed the
prices and we adjusted accordingly.” he said.
The government has taken three initiatives to
balance the rice market. The initiatives are imposing 55% duty on rice import,
setting 2 lakh tons export limit and procuring 6 lakh of tons paddy at Tk26 a
kg from farmers and 4 lakh tons of Sawarna rice at Tk35-36 a kg from millers,
Farhad added.
However, he also hinted that the prices of
rice might increase more since the government fixed the highest price this
time.
KM Layek Ali, secretary general of Bangladesh
Auto Major and Husking Mill Owners' Association, said: "Only the price of
Miniket rice, which is derived from Jirashail paddy, has increased. Millers increased
the price by Tk1.5-2 a kg. Now the price stood at Tk42-45 a kg. But why is it
selling at more than Tk50 at retail market? The matter should be
investigated."
He said a maund of paddy now cost Tk1020-1040
which was Tk700-800 earlier. The government fixed the price of thick grain
paddy at Tk26 a kg.
However, both Layek Ali and Farhad Hussein
said they could not buy paddy from farmer directly. They have to buy through
middlemen.
India’s rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from
Iran
Reluctance among Indian traders
to ship premium basmati rice to Iran as U.S. sanctions hobble its ability to
pay has contributed to a sharp drop in overall exports from the world’s biggest
supplier of the grain, trade and government sources said.
Rice shipments from India slipped by more than a quarter to 5.5
million tonnes between April and November 2019 — the first eight months of the
fiscal year — from 7.5 million tonnes in the year-ago period, the sources said.
In terms of value, exports dropped 19% to $3.8 billion from $4.7 billion.
The grain is India’s biggest foreign exchange earning farm
commodity, with shipments worth $7.75 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year.
Basmati rice exports to Iran, New Delhi’s top buyer of the
aromatic grain, dropped to 600,000 tonnes in the eight months from 900,000
tonnes a year earlier, but traders, worried about delayed payments, have not
signed any new contracts with Tehran in the past five days, the sources said.
Shipments are not expected to significantly pick up, with buyers
in Iran owing a record 20 billion rupees ($281.41 million) to India as U.S.-
imposed sanctions make it hard to pay for imported commodities, they added.
“We are in a precarious situation,” Nathi Ram Gupta, president
of the All India Rice Exporters Association, told Reuters. “We have urged the
Indian government to step in to ensure that our dues are cleared by Iran.”
Reuters was unable to contact traders in Iran for comment.
Iranian buyers paid some of the money they owed in November, the
sources said, encouraging Indian traders to sign new contracts and ultimately
pushing dues to an all-time high.
Of the 4.4 million tonnes of basmati rice shipped by India in
the 2018/19 fiscal year, Iran accounted for 1.4 million tonnes.
“Our exports to Iran will definitely fall this year and that is
going to drag down both the country’s basmati and non-basmati rice exports.
We’re worried on two counts of India’s falling rice exports and our mounting
dues,” said Vijay Setia, former president of the All India Rice Exporters
Association.
Beside the drop in exports to Iran, non-basmati rice exports to
Europe have also fallen, with trade and industry officials citing higher
pesticide residues in shipments from India as a factor behind reduced purchases
from the European Union.
Higher benchmark prices in Thailand, the world’s second-biggest
rice exporter, have however prompted some buyers to opt for Indian rice,
pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three months despite
the fall in exports.
India’s 5% broken parboiled variety rose to around $366-$371 per
tonne from last week’s $364-$368, the highest since Oct. 31.
Domestic prices have also risen on fresh orders from Africa,
traders said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
VP seeks global cooperation for early detection of new viruses
Addressing scientists and
researchers of CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here, the
Vice President, while referring to the newly-discovered strain of coronavirus,
said it was spreading across the nations and causing a major concern to health
authorities 'Period outbreak of epidemics and new viruses highlighted our
vulnerability to diseases,' he said, according to an official release.
Referring to the vital role of
the Indian Science and Technology Innovation System in achieving national goals
as India aspires for sustainable and inclusive growth, Naidu appealed to the
private sector to create a fund for financing innovative scientific projects
that will address societal concerns.
Funding for basic research also
has to be stepped up, the vice president said.
Stressing that the outcome of
every scientific endeavour must improve the lives of people, he urged CCMB
scientists and other scientific labs to find answers to the many challenges the
world was facing today like poverty, effects of climate change, pollution and
lack of clean drinking water.
Lauding CCMB for developing
bacterial blight-resistant Sambah Mahsuri rice variety in collaboration with
Indian Institute of Rice Research, Naidu asked scientists to find ways to
develop more disease and pest-resistant crops and aid in increasing
productivity to make agriculture viable and sustainable.
Touching upon the problem of
growing anti-microbial resistance, the vice president said modern medicine was
facing a serious threat on account of it and expressed the fear that many
antibiotics might eventually become ineffective if the trend continued
unchecked.
Calling for developing new
antibiotics, apart from preventing drug resistance, he expressed happiness that
the CCMB was working in that direction.
The vice president also urged
CCMB to develop Rapid DNA Testing Kits for detection of some of the rare
diseases and many other genetic disorders.
'It is important to predict and
prevent genetic diseases as more than 70 million Indians are estimated to be
suffering from genetic disorders, according to the Organization for Rare
Diseases India (ORDI),' Naidu said.
He also advised institutions like
CCMB to take up campaigns on a massive scale to create awareness among the
people about the health risks associated with consanguineous marriages,
particularly those relating to congenital disorders.
Naidu said young scientists
should be allowed to take up challenging research assignments and come up with
innovative ideas.PTI VVK BN BN
The best
kind of rice for weight loss
MONDAY
JANUARY 27 2020
Usually, when you tell someone that you want to
lose weight, they will advise you to stop eating rice. But does rice really
hinder your weight loss success?
Nutritious, delicious and highly versatile are
some of the words used to describe rice. Yet with all its attributes, rice has
suffered constant onslaught from the healthy eating proponents. The first piece
of advice one is given as they embark on a weight loss journey is to cut out
rice. If like many rice lovers you are kept from enjoying your favourite dish
for fear of wrecking your weight loss goals, you will be relieved to know that
rice is not fattening or unhealthy.
Rice is made up of digestible starch and a special type of carbohydrate called resistant starch, which recent research suggests may be key for weight control. The body does not have the enzymes to digest resistant starch, so it bypasses the small intestine and is metabolised in the colon, where it is fermented into short-chain fatty acids that feed healthy colonies of gut bacteria. The more resistant starch a food has, the fewer calories from that starch our bodies will absorb.
Rice is made up of digestible starch and a special type of carbohydrate called resistant starch, which recent research suggests may be key for weight control. The body does not have the enzymes to digest resistant starch, so it bypasses the small intestine and is metabolised in the colon, where it is fermented into short-chain fatty acids that feed healthy colonies of gut bacteria. The more resistant starch a food has, the fewer calories from that starch our bodies will absorb.
Portion
Regina Nantege, a dietician, notes that rice just like any other food item affects your weight depending on how much you eat.
All types of rice have the same calorific value but different amounts of fibre. Experts recommend eating brown rice, red rice, unpolished rice and hand pounded rice because they have more fibre since they are not processed and retain the outer layer.
“If you are concerned about weight gain, then it is safe to eat brown, red and the other coloured variety that contain fibre, antioxidants and are more filling,” she advises.
The darker the colour of rice, the more antioxidants it has. If you want to lose weight, switch to the more coloured varieties of rice that are full of dietary fibre and boost your metabolism, both of which help in losing weight. For example, 100 grammes of brown rice contains 111 calories while one cup of red rice contains 216 calories.
Regina Nantege, a dietician, notes that rice just like any other food item affects your weight depending on how much you eat.
All types of rice have the same calorific value but different amounts of fibre. Experts recommend eating brown rice, red rice, unpolished rice and hand pounded rice because they have more fibre since they are not processed and retain the outer layer.
“If you are concerned about weight gain, then it is safe to eat brown, red and the other coloured variety that contain fibre, antioxidants and are more filling,” she advises.
The darker the colour of rice, the more antioxidants it has. If you want to lose weight, switch to the more coloured varieties of rice that are full of dietary fibre and boost your metabolism, both of which help in losing weight. For example, 100 grammes of brown rice contains 111 calories while one cup of red rice contains 216 calories.
Cooking
method
White rice is the unhealthiest type of rice according to Dr David Okoth Dimo, because most of the minerals and nutrients are stripped off during industrial processing. It also has a high glycemic index meaning it will be quickly digested and causes a spike in your blood sugar levels. And because it is easily digested, it makes you hungry sooner thus increasing your calorie intake.
However, there is an easy and natural way to reduce calories in rice. According to research presented at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting, using coconut oil and a refrigerator can slash calories by as much as 60 per cent.
By testing out 38 different kinds of rice and simulating human digestion in a test tube, they devised a recipe for the least caloric way to cook rice: drop a teaspoon of coconut oil into boiling water, then add half a cup of non-fortified white rice and cook it for about 40 minutes. After cooking, put it in the fridge for 12 hours.
Rice cooked this way had at least 10 times the resistant starch as normally prepared rice and 10-15 per cent fewer calories. But researchers think that with certain kinds of rice, the method could cut calories by 50-60 per cent since the glucose units in hot cooked rice have a loose structure, but when it cools down, the molecules rearrange themselves into very tight bonds that are more resistant to digestion.
Making rice starch more resistant has other perks besides cutting calories. It will also feed your good bacteria.
White rice is the unhealthiest type of rice according to Dr David Okoth Dimo, because most of the minerals and nutrients are stripped off during industrial processing. It also has a high glycemic index meaning it will be quickly digested and causes a spike in your blood sugar levels. And because it is easily digested, it makes you hungry sooner thus increasing your calorie intake.
However, there is an easy and natural way to reduce calories in rice. According to research presented at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting, using coconut oil and a refrigerator can slash calories by as much as 60 per cent.
By testing out 38 different kinds of rice and simulating human digestion in a test tube, they devised a recipe for the least caloric way to cook rice: drop a teaspoon of coconut oil into boiling water, then add half a cup of non-fortified white rice and cook it for about 40 minutes. After cooking, put it in the fridge for 12 hours.
Rice cooked this way had at least 10 times the resistant starch as normally prepared rice and 10-15 per cent fewer calories. But researchers think that with certain kinds of rice, the method could cut calories by 50-60 per cent since the glucose units in hot cooked rice have a loose structure, but when it cools down, the molecules rearrange themselves into very tight bonds that are more resistant to digestion.
Making rice starch more resistant has other perks besides cutting calories. It will also feed your good bacteria.
How to
make healthy rice
- When eating out, opt for plain boiled rice instead of fried rice.
- Rice does not contain protein so it should be eaten with an animal or plant-based protein.
- Soak rice before you cook it and wash it three to four times to remove starch. Boil rice with excess water to keep starch levels low.
- Add vegetables rich in fibre to your bowl of rice.
- To enhance the flavour of brown rice, cook it with coconut oil instead of just plain water.
- When eating out, opt for plain boiled rice instead of fried rice.
- Rice does not contain protein so it should be eaten with an animal or plant-based protein.
- Soak rice before you cook it and wash it three to four times to remove starch. Boil rice with excess water to keep starch levels low.
- Add vegetables rich in fibre to your bowl of rice.
- To enhance the flavour of brown rice, cook it with coconut oil instead of just plain water.
Source: time.com
