USDA
Trade Champion Bob Spitzer Honored with 2020 USA Rice Industry Award
WASHINGTON, DC -- USA Rice has long been known for punching
above its weight class in Washington, but the industry would not have seen the
success it has if it were not for the intricate network of industry advocates
spread throughout the executive and legislative branches of government.
In some instances, those advocates have gone above and beyond for U.S.
agriculture and rice has been able to reap the benefits.
In a Government Affairs Conference meeting yesterday between rice industry leaders and government trade officials, USA Rice honored one of these "unsung" heroes by presenting the 2020 USA Rice Industry Award to Bob Spitzer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). A lifelong career civil servant, Spitzer has dedicated his career to growing market access and development for U.S. agricultural products, and has spent more than 35 years with USDA and several additional years with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Spitzer currently serves as senior policy advisor within the Trade Policy and Geographic Affairs branch of FAS, covering Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Some of his crowning career achievements include work completed on the Uruguay and Doha Rounds of World Trade Organization negotiations as well as more recent roles in laying the groundwork for deals with Europe and Asia through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreements. Most important to rice, Spitzer served as the lead USDA representative in the revamped North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, leading to the creation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, ratified by Congress last month.
Spitzer has the formidable task of leading USDA negotiating teams in partnership with the U.S. Trade Representative for 2020 talks with the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Kenya.
"We are indebted to Bob for the work he has done for not only USA Rice, but for all of U.S. agriculture throughout his long tenure," said Bobby Hanks, chair of the USA Rice International Trade Policy Committee. "He is known for being the guy behind the scenes rather than out front during negotiations. For example, his expertise was vital in preserving our duty-free market access into Mexico and Canada through the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)."
Hanks added, "We will be collaborating with Bob throughout the rest of his term as he works on free trade agreements with the UK and Kenya. This award is well-deserved, and we wish Bob much luck in his future endeavors."
In a Government Affairs Conference meeting yesterday between rice industry leaders and government trade officials, USA Rice honored one of these "unsung" heroes by presenting the 2020 USA Rice Industry Award to Bob Spitzer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). A lifelong career civil servant, Spitzer has dedicated his career to growing market access and development for U.S. agricultural products, and has spent more than 35 years with USDA and several additional years with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Spitzer currently serves as senior policy advisor within the Trade Policy and Geographic Affairs branch of FAS, covering Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Some of his crowning career achievements include work completed on the Uruguay and Doha Rounds of World Trade Organization negotiations as well as more recent roles in laying the groundwork for deals with Europe and Asia through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreements. Most important to rice, Spitzer served as the lead USDA representative in the revamped North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, leading to the creation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, ratified by Congress last month.
Spitzer has the formidable task of leading USDA negotiating teams in partnership with the U.S. Trade Representative for 2020 talks with the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Kenya.
"We are indebted to Bob for the work he has done for not only USA Rice, but for all of U.S. agriculture throughout his long tenure," said Bobby Hanks, chair of the USA Rice International Trade Policy Committee. "He is known for being the guy behind the scenes rather than out front during negotiations. For example, his expertise was vital in preserving our duty-free market access into Mexico and Canada through the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)."
Hanks added, "We will be collaborating with Bob throughout the rest of his term as he works on free trade agreements with the UK and Kenya. This award is well-deserved, and we wish Bob much luck in his future endeavors."
Rice
Prices
as
on : 27-02-2020 10:30:06 AM
Arrivals in tonnes;prices in
Rs/quintal in domestic market.
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Arrivals
|
Price
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|||||
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Current
|
%
change |
Season
cumulative |
Modal
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Prev.
Modal |
Prev.Yr
%change |
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Rice
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||||||
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Lakhimpur(UP)
|
35.00
|
16.67
|
1275.00
|
2450
|
2470
|
6.52
|
|
Jambusar(Kaavi)(Guj)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
50.00
|
3100
|
3300
|
3.33
|
February 27, 2020
Laos sees increasing income from rice export to
China
Source:
Xinhua| 2020-02-26 13:50:48|Editor: zyl
VIENTIANE, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Laos has earned more from the
sale of rice to China in the past few years due to trade preference
arrangements between the two countries.
In 2017, the value of rice sold by Laos to China was 5.6 million
U.S. dollars. This figure increased to 7.25 million U.S. dollars in 2018 and to
14.54 million U.S. dollars in 2019, according to Lao Ministry of Industry and
Commerce.
The Chinese market is increasingly attractive to businesses
across a range of fields. This is driven by rapidly changing demographics in
China, along with rising incomes, increased consumer spending and an
increasingly open business environment, local daily Vientiane Times reported on
Wednesday.
China's economic growth has increased and plays an important
role in the ASEAN economy, said the report. The trade preferences which Laos
and China are party to include the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA),
said the report.
As a result, trade growth between Laos and China has sharply
increased, particularly under the ACFTA.
The Trade Preferences offer Lao entrepreneurs the chance to
export more goods to China as these arrangements provide special and
differential treatment, mainly in terms of tariff reduction or exemption and
foreign investment attraction.
Laos has an export quota of 50,000 tons of polished rice from
the Chinese government. However, the effects of natural disasters may pose
challenges for Lao rice exporters in meeting the target, said the report.
China is Laos' largest rice export market, and the country's
second-biggest trading partner
Cần Thơ rice farmers switch to high-value
crops
Update: February,
26/2020 - 09:00
Farmers of the Trường Khương A
Commune Co-operative in Cần Thơ City use bags to protect young milk
apples from pests. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Liêm
CẦN THƠ
— More rice farmers in Cần Thơ City have switched to other crops or have
rotated the cultivation of rice with other crops to increase income and cope
with drought.Farmer Trần Ngọc Thới in Ô Môn District’s Trường Lạc Ward, for example, turned his 1ha of rice field to Ido longan two years ago.
He harvested longan early this year and had a yield of 8.8 tonnes, with a profit of VNĐ200 million (US$8,600) from the first crop. Profits from longan are three times higher than from rice, he said.
Most rice fields in Trường Lạc Ward had switched to high-value fruit like durian, longan and jackfruit, he said.
Other farmers in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta city rotated the cultivation of rice and other short-term crops to save irrigation water.
Lê Thanh Phong, who owns 2.1ha of rice field in Thốt Nốt District’s Thuận An Ward, said he would switch to sesame and watermelon for the summer-autumn crop because of prolonged hot weather and the high location of his field.
In last year’s summer-autumn crop, he grew 0.6ha of sesame and earned a high profit of VNĐ35 million ($1,500) a crop.
Thốt Nốt is estimated to have 580ha of sesame and vegetables this year, up 50ha against last year, according to the district’s Economic Bureau.
Nguyễn Thị Mãi, deputy head of the bureau, said the district had helped farmers restructure their crops properly to save irrigation water, and adapt to unfavourable conditions. The restructuring would improve income for farmers, she said.
The city last year turned 2,292ha of rice fields into fruit and other crops, according to the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The profit is two to four times higher than rice.
The city has 19.53ha of fruit and 13,249ha of vegetables, up 6.8 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, against 2018.
Many farmers in the city have also developed urban agriculture and expanded fruit orchards that offer tourism services. The city has 37 fruit orchards that offer tourism services, mostly in Phong Điền, Cái Răng and Thốt Nốt districts. They grow mostly durian, mango, milk apple and rambutan.
The city has encouraged farmers to restructure their crops toward increasing value and quality for sustainable agriculture.
It has also encouraged farmers to join co-operatives or co-operative groups, which can work with companies that can guarantee outlets for farmers.
Trương Văn Kiệm, deputy head of the Cần Thơ Co-operative Alliance, said that under the collective farming model, farmers were supplied quality plant seeds and breeding animals, and provided cultivation techniques and disease prevention and control methods.
“Most participating farmers have stable guaranteed outlets so they are not reducing prices to traders.” — VNS
N. Korean rice sellers raking it in
thanks to skyrocketing prices
Small-scale rice sellers are resorting to purchasing rice from
local farms to keep up with the demand
By Kang Mi Jin
2020.02.26 4:00pm
The rise of North Korean rice
prices have led to massive profits for rice wholesalers who acquired rice from
China before the closure of the Sino-North Korean border in late January, Daily
NK has learned.
The dearth of Chinese rice due to
the border shutdown led rice prices to skyrocket up to between KPW 6,000 to KPW
6,500 initially. Now, however, prices have now settled back down to between KPW
5,500 and KPW 6,000 in parts of the country.
North Korean commodity prices
stayed relatively stable despite international sanctions and such a steep rise
in prices over such a short period is the first observed in 10 years.
“The rise in rice prices due to
the coronavirus means that merchants have had to find any way possible to
acquire more rice,” a Ryanggang Province-based source told Daily NK today.
“Small-scale rice sellers
typically sell about 50 kilograms of rice per day in markets in Pyongsong. Now
that they have no more Chinese rice to sell, they are purchasing rice from
local farms to sell in the markets,” the source said.
Large rice wholesalers,
meanwhile, are reportedly making large profits from the increases in price all
over the country.
“There are five large-scale rice
wholesalers in Hyesan and they have about 10-18 tons of rice imported from
China,” the source said. “They had acquired the rice to sell for Lunar New
Years, Jeongwol Daeborum [celebrating the first full moon after Lunar’s], and
Kim Jong Il’s birthday on February 16 and are now selling it in the markets.”
The wholesalers are making
“unimaginable” sums of money, the source added.
“The donju [North Korea’s wealthy
entrepreneurial class] are selling rice they obtained [before the shutdown of
the border] at expensive prices and are making more money off their rice than
usual,” one source said.
The wholesalers in Hyesan have
reportedly released only some of their stocks of rice into the markets as part
of efforts to keep prices high. Nonetheless, Daily NK sources reported that
rice prices have fallen slightly as the supply of rice continues to increase in
the markets.
Rice sellers in markets in Hyesan
reportedly have typically made profits of KPW 300 to 400 off the sale of one
kilogram of rice, which means they have been able to make profits of up to KPW
15,000 to KPW 20,000 when they sell 50 kilograms on a given day.
With the price of rice
skyrocketing by at least KPW 1,000, rice sellers in the city are now making
twice as much, sources said.
The price of one kilogram of rice
in Hyesan Market cost KPW 5,700 today, which is a decrease of about KPW 700
from Feb. 19 and Feb. 20.
Please direct any comments or
questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Sustainable Rice
Platform nominated for MacArthur Grant
Photo courtesy of Olam.
02.25.2020
SINGAPORE — The Sustainable
Rice Platform (SRP) has been shortlisted for a $100 million
grant from the MacArthur Foundation, for improving the livelihoods of 500,000
rice farmers while reducing environmental impacts.
SRP is a multi-stakeholder platform
established in December 2011. The SRP is co-convened by UN Environment and the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to promote resource efficiency and
sustainability in trade flows, production and consumption operations, and
supply chains in the global rice sector.
Members include Olam International,
GIZ, IFC, WCS, Mars, LT Foods, Sun Rice, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development.
The SRP is addressing the “rice
paradox” through a framework for increasing production in a sustainable way.
According to the SRP, there is a
paradox where rice is vital to food security yet simultaneously has the largest
carbon footprint of all food crops. By 2050, rice production will need to
almost double to meet the population demand, which under current conditions,
will require additional land equivalent to the size of Chile, and add 300
billion kgs of CO2 equivalent emissions.
“Mobilizing investments for small-scale
rice farming communities to shift toward sustainable rice production is
essential for our planet’s survival and to preserve the backbone of global food
supply,” said Matthias Bickel, chairperson SRP board, director Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. “Engaging these
communities is key to combatting climate change and to preserving natural
resources like fresh water. It’s high time to overcome the underinvestment in
small-scale farming and to tackle farmers as agripreneurs in a market-driven
environment.”
The SRP principles were first put
to the test in a pilot project implemented by Olam, in partnership with the
Thai Rice Department and German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Starting with 71 farmers in 2016, the
project in Thailand has trained over 6,000 farmers to date on climate-smart
practices and has produced the world’s first fully verified sustainable rice.
“With the SRP Standard for
Sustainable Rice Cultivation, we have a definition and proven model for
sustainable rice,” said Sunny Verghese, co-founder and group chief executive
officer of Olam. “Together with our partners, Olam is aiming to bring 150,000
rice farmers in our Asia and Africa supply chains under the standard by 2023
and we’ll be monitoring the impact through our sustainable sourcing tool,
AtSource. Yet, this is a drop in the ocean when we consider the millions of
rice-farming households around the world, so this prize funding holds an extremely
exciting opportunity for the sector to scale up action and re-imagine global
rice markets.”
Today, SRP projects have reached
500,000 rice farmers across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, with results
including a 10% increase in farmers’ income, 20% savings in water use and 50%
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The goal is to reach 1 million farmers
by 2023.
The program subsequently has been
designated as one of the Top 100, in the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change
competition, in recognition of its “real and measurable progress in solving a
critical problem of our time.”
The shortlist, or Top 100,
represents the top 21% of competition submissions. The final award recipient
will be announced in fall 2020.
Free power to
Punjab farmers to continue: CM
February
26, 2020
Chandigarh,
Feb 26 (IANS) Criticising the Opposition for spreading lies, Punjab Chief
Minister Amarinder Singh here on Wednesday said free power to farmers would
continue till his government was in power.
Speaking
on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the House, the Chief
Minister also reiterated his commitment to the hassle-free procurement of grain
and urged the Centre not to tinker with MSP-based purchases as that would
affect the livelihood of a large number of farmers.
Stating
that the government was committed to improve farmers’ socio-economic security
through debt relief and other measures, the Chief Minister said Rs 4,603 crore
debt relief had been provided to 5.62 lakh eligible farmers and the rest would
get it soon. The necessary budgetary provisions would be announced by the
Finance Minister on Friday, he added.
Pointing
out that hassle-free procurement had always been his government’s priority, he
said due to non-interference in mandis’ operations, farmers were reaping higher
returns for their produce.
For
the last six crops, farmers had received an additional Rs 44,000 crore, which
was an unprecedented achievement for farmers, he added.
Listing
his government’s efforts for crop diversification, he said they were not enough
and the Finance Minister would announce in his budget speech a comprehensive
scheme to achieve diversification with greater thrust on maize cultivation.
To
conserve groundwater through crop diversification, the area under paddy has
been reduced by 2.50 lakh hectares, he said and added, it caused only 12 lakh
tonnes output drop.
The
wheat output has increased by 7.30 lakh tonnes in the last three years. Basmati
rice and cotton output increased by 2.10 lakh tonnes and 4.81 lakh bales,
respectively, he added.
Warning
against the nefarious designs to disturb peace and harmony in the state, Singh
said he would deal with Pakistan-based terrorists and gangsters with an iron
hand. No one would be allowed to destroy the hard-earned peace, he added.
The
government, he said had worked hard to protect every section of society,
including minorities, weaker sections and women, by ensuring all-round peace,
without which there could be no investment or industrial development.
“Nobody
wants to invest in a disturbed place,” Singh said and added, Punjab had emerged
as the preferred investment destination due to the peaceful environment.
–IANS
vg/pcj
Farmers in Mekong
Delta provinces enjoy bumper winter-spring rice crop
Thursday, February 27, 2020 16:08
On the last days of February, farmers in the Mekong Delta have
entered the peak harvest season of the winter-summer rice crop. Despite the
impacts of saltwater intrusion and drought on coastal areas, most farmers have
enjoyed a bumper crop and the price of paddy has also increased compared to at
the beginning of the crop.
Rice harvesting in Can Tho City.
(Photo: SGGP)
Experts said that the global rice supply declines due to the
impacts of climate change, the price of rice will benefit farmers in the Mekong
Delta.
Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, a farmer in Long My District in Hau Giang Province, said that he had just finished harvesting rice then sold fresh paddy to traders for VND5,000 per kilogram at the field. He was so happy as this price was VND300 per kilogram higher than that at the beginning of the rice crop. His one-hectare rice field got productivity of nearly 7 tons per hectare.
Mr. Tuan is one of the thousands of farmers in Long My District who have just harvested around 500 hectares of winter-spring rice. The farmers like Mr. Tuan was happy when the local authority mobilized nearly 100 combine harvesters to help farmers to simultaneously harvest their rice. The rental of a combine harvester fluctuated from VND260,000-VND300,000 per 1,000 square meters, depending on the condition of paddy, standing or falling, lower than the cost for manual harvesting which was from VND400,000-VND500,000 per 1,000 square meters.
Currently, farmers in the Mekong Delta have harvested around 750,000 hectares out of 1.5 million hectares of winter-spring rice with the yield of around 6.8 tons per hectare, or around 5 million tons of paddy. Although some coastal areas were threatened by saltwater intrusion, the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and provinces actively carried out several measures so the damage was insignificant. Of which, the fact that farmers grow rice earlier to avert drought and saltwater intrusion has shown its effectiveness. Besides, the fact that provinces also finished key works to prevent saltwater intrusion early and operated them timely has protected the rice-growing areas.
Currently, local enterprises are buying wet paddy at VND4,400-VND5,400 per kilogram, VND300-VND500 per kilogram higher than that at the beginning of the crop; only the price of the IR50404 rice variety for the domestic market is low, at VND4,400 per kilogram. Of which, the price of long-grain paddy is higher than normal paddy by VND300-VND800 per kilogram. The price of paddy bought at the warehouses of enterprises is from VND5,400 to VND6,400 per kilogram, higher than the price of fresh paddy sold at the field by an average of VND1,000 per kilogram.
The prices of paddy have increased sharply when farmers entered peak harvest season. particularly, many traders and enterprises went to the fields of farmers to deposit and sign underwriting contracts, collecting long-grain paddy at VND5,000-VND5,200 per kilogram, and VND6,000-VND6,100 per kilogram for the RVT rice variety alone. Especially, the ST24 rice variety fetched up to VND7,100 per kilogram. More importantly, the rice yield was estimated at 7.3-7.5 tons per hectare, said Mr. Tran Chi Hung, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hau Giang Province.
This year, global rice production is forecast to slightly drop from 499 million tons to 497.8 million tons. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the global trade and consumption this year are expected to climb to 46.2 million tons of rice, an increase of nearly 2 million tons compared to last year. Rice exports of Vietnam are forecast to edge up slightly to 6.75 million tons compared to the level of 6.7 million tons last year.
After being the largest rice importer of Vietnam for more than 10 years, in 2019, China fell to the fourth place because of changes in tariff policies, tighter control on the quality of rice, along with a high inventory of rice.
However, rice experts said that rice reserves of China will run out after the end of the Covid-19 outbreak. Therefore, rice imports in China will increase significantly. Meanwhile, besides traditional markets, the export of rice of Vietnam is expected to be more optimistic when the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement not only helps to increase the export turnover of Vietnam but also to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products in the European market. The Vietnam Food Association said that this year, rice exports of Vietnam are expected to be promising thanks to the positive impacts of new-generation free trade agreements, as well as changes in the supply and demand of the global market. With policies on the interest rate cut, Vietnam actively works with the Philippines on the export of rice, at the same time intensifying control on healthy competition among domestic enterprises, to widen the doors for the export of rice of Vietnam.
At the present, severe drought and saltwater intrusion not only affect the remaining area of winter-spring rice but also the production of the upcoming summer-autumn rice crop. Enterprises concerned that if farmers grow rice for the summer-autumn rice crop late, the production and the quality of rice will be affected. According to the MARD, drought and saltwater intrusion will continue to last for a long time, so provinces in the Mekong Delta should continue to implement solutions to protect the production of farmers.
Many institutes and universities in the Mekong Delta have researched and produced salt-tolerant rice varieties for local farmers. Lately, the High Agricultural Technology Research Institute of the Mekong Delta has tested around 68 rice and glutinous rice varieties. Scientists appreciated some rice varieties for their quality and their salt and drought tolerance. By actively applying various measures to tackle drought and saltwater intrusion, only 30,000 hectares of winter-spring rice were affected or damaged in various degrees. The figure for damage is merely equal to one-seventh of the historic drought and saltwater intrusion in 2016.
Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, a farmer in Long My District in Hau Giang Province, said that he had just finished harvesting rice then sold fresh paddy to traders for VND5,000 per kilogram at the field. He was so happy as this price was VND300 per kilogram higher than that at the beginning of the rice crop. His one-hectare rice field got productivity of nearly 7 tons per hectare.
Mr. Tuan is one of the thousands of farmers in Long My District who have just harvested around 500 hectares of winter-spring rice. The farmers like Mr. Tuan was happy when the local authority mobilized nearly 100 combine harvesters to help farmers to simultaneously harvest their rice. The rental of a combine harvester fluctuated from VND260,000-VND300,000 per 1,000 square meters, depending on the condition of paddy, standing or falling, lower than the cost for manual harvesting which was from VND400,000-VND500,000 per 1,000 square meters.
Currently, farmers in the Mekong Delta have harvested around 750,000 hectares out of 1.5 million hectares of winter-spring rice with the yield of around 6.8 tons per hectare, or around 5 million tons of paddy. Although some coastal areas were threatened by saltwater intrusion, the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and provinces actively carried out several measures so the damage was insignificant. Of which, the fact that farmers grow rice earlier to avert drought and saltwater intrusion has shown its effectiveness. Besides, the fact that provinces also finished key works to prevent saltwater intrusion early and operated them timely has protected the rice-growing areas.
Currently, local enterprises are buying wet paddy at VND4,400-VND5,400 per kilogram, VND300-VND500 per kilogram higher than that at the beginning of the crop; only the price of the IR50404 rice variety for the domestic market is low, at VND4,400 per kilogram. Of which, the price of long-grain paddy is higher than normal paddy by VND300-VND800 per kilogram. The price of paddy bought at the warehouses of enterprises is from VND5,400 to VND6,400 per kilogram, higher than the price of fresh paddy sold at the field by an average of VND1,000 per kilogram.
The prices of paddy have increased sharply when farmers entered peak harvest season. particularly, many traders and enterprises went to the fields of farmers to deposit and sign underwriting contracts, collecting long-grain paddy at VND5,000-VND5,200 per kilogram, and VND6,000-VND6,100 per kilogram for the RVT rice variety alone. Especially, the ST24 rice variety fetched up to VND7,100 per kilogram. More importantly, the rice yield was estimated at 7.3-7.5 tons per hectare, said Mr. Tran Chi Hung, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hau Giang Province.
This year, global rice production is forecast to slightly drop from 499 million tons to 497.8 million tons. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the global trade and consumption this year are expected to climb to 46.2 million tons of rice, an increase of nearly 2 million tons compared to last year. Rice exports of Vietnam are forecast to edge up slightly to 6.75 million tons compared to the level of 6.7 million tons last year.
After being the largest rice importer of Vietnam for more than 10 years, in 2019, China fell to the fourth place because of changes in tariff policies, tighter control on the quality of rice, along with a high inventory of rice.
However, rice experts said that rice reserves of China will run out after the end of the Covid-19 outbreak. Therefore, rice imports in China will increase significantly. Meanwhile, besides traditional markets, the export of rice of Vietnam is expected to be more optimistic when the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement not only helps to increase the export turnover of Vietnam but also to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products in the European market. The Vietnam Food Association said that this year, rice exports of Vietnam are expected to be promising thanks to the positive impacts of new-generation free trade agreements, as well as changes in the supply and demand of the global market. With policies on the interest rate cut, Vietnam actively works with the Philippines on the export of rice, at the same time intensifying control on healthy competition among domestic enterprises, to widen the doors for the export of rice of Vietnam.
At the present, severe drought and saltwater intrusion not only affect the remaining area of winter-spring rice but also the production of the upcoming summer-autumn rice crop. Enterprises concerned that if farmers grow rice for the summer-autumn rice crop late, the production and the quality of rice will be affected. According to the MARD, drought and saltwater intrusion will continue to last for a long time, so provinces in the Mekong Delta should continue to implement solutions to protect the production of farmers.
Many institutes and universities in the Mekong Delta have researched and produced salt-tolerant rice varieties for local farmers. Lately, the High Agricultural Technology Research Institute of the Mekong Delta has tested around 68 rice and glutinous rice varieties. Scientists appreciated some rice varieties for their quality and their salt and drought tolerance. By actively applying various measures to tackle drought and saltwater intrusion, only 30,000 hectares of winter-spring rice were affected or damaged in various degrees. The figure for damage is merely equal to one-seventh of the historic drought and saltwater intrusion in 2016.
IRRI signs MoU to
further research
Photo courtesy of IRRI.
02.26.2020
International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) and the Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) in Nepal
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further research and academic
cooperation in the agriculture and forestry sectors of Nepal.
Under the MoU, the IRRI will
collaborate with AFU students and faculty can work with IRRI scientists in its
headquarters in the Philippines and other country offices. Joint training
programs, collaborative research projects, access to agricultural research and
educational facilities, and exchange of knowledge and expertise by way of
faculty, researchers, and students also are proposed under the MoU.
Sharada Thapaliya, vice-chancellor
of AFU, emphasized that the MoU is a means to strengthen teaching and research
capabilities, covering the broad areas of natural resource management,
including food security.
The partnership will help
strengthen the university’s teaching system through quality extension works,
linking AFU with government agencies, international and national NGOs,
community-based organizations, cooperatives, industries, and other key
stakeholders.
“This major new initiative will
help Nepal achieve its development goals primarily through training the next
generation of researchers and agriculturists,” said Nafees Meah, IRRI regional
representative for South Asia.
According to IRRI, rice is Nepal’s
most important staple food crop and agricultural product, providing 53% of
cereal consumption and 30% of protein intake for 30 million Nepalese. It also
contributes to 21% of the country’s agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP)
and 7% to gross domestic product (GDP) and rural employment.
“Nearly 6 in 10 Nepalese are
directly engaged in agriculture, making it the primary source of subsistence
and livelihood in the country,” IRRI said. “At the same time, 8 in 10 people in
Nepal reside in rural areas, where the incidence and severity of poverty has
been twice as high as in urban areas over the last few years.”
Director General Matthew Morell
said the MoU will help expedite the Nepal-IRRI Collaborative Five-Year Workplan
that will potentially boost food and nutrition security, end poverty, and
improve livelihoods.
In June 2018, the government of
Nepal, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management, and Cooperatives
(MoALMC), and IRRI signed a Collaborative Five-Year Workplan, 2018-23, to
reinvigorate Nepal’s rice sector and help achieve food and nutrition security.
The MoU was signed by Yubak Dhoj
G.C., Secretary of MoALMC, and Morell. The work plan outlines projects intended
to build technical skills and capabilities, increase grain yield, and promote a
more market-driven seed system for climate resilient rice varieties to reduce
Nepal’s burden of rice imports.
AFU was established in Chitwan in
2010 and is the first technical university of Nepal promoting education and
R&D in agriculture, veterinary, fisheries, forestry through teaching,
research, and extension. With over 100 faculty, 250 support staff, and 1,880
students, AFU aims for the holistic development of agriculture, livestock,
aquaculture, and forestry to ra
Sustainable rice partnership shortlisted for $100
million grant
The multi-stakeholder alliance –
the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) – comprises 100 global public, private and
civil society organisations, and promotes resource-use efficiency and climate
change resilience, both on-farm and throughout the rice value chain.
The Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) – of
which Olam
International is a founding member – has been shortlisted
for a US $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation, for improving the
livelihoods of 500,000 rice farmers while reducing environmental impacts.
There is said to be a paradox where rice is vital to food
security yet simultaneously has the largest carbon footprint of all food crops.
By 2050, rice production will need to almost double to meet the population
demand, which under current conditions, will require additional land equivalent
to the size of Chile, and add 300 billion kgs of CO2 equivalent
emissions.
SRP, first conceived by the
United Nations and the International Rice Research Institute, is addressing the
“rice paradox” through a framework for increasing production in a sustainable
way.
Food security: To
grow our own or copy the Singapore model?
February 27, 2020
The proponents of rice
tariffication have been arguing that it is better to import cheaper rice from
the world market and nudge the “inefficient” rice producers at home to switch
to the production of higher value-adding crops. This way the rice-consuming
public is assured of cheaper rice, while the marginal rice farmers have the
opportunity to earn more. The government is also spared of the difficult task
of having to allocate extra resources to buoy up farmgate prices for palay
while keeping the retail prices for rice at a low level based on the old
buy-high-sell-low operational guidepost of the downsized National Food
Authority (NFA).
In this regard, the proponents of
rice trade liberalization even cite Singapore as an example of a food-secure
nation. Singapore literally imports all the food requirements needed by a
population of six million citizens and three million or so guest workers.
But Singapore is not comparable
to the Philippines. It is a city state with virtually no agricultural
lands.
Singapore is not also in the
business of importing food sans any development framework. In fact,
Singapore’s food security is a study on the centrality of the role of the
government in securing food security for its population. Singapore has a
Singapore Food Agency, which oversees the multiple tasks of diversifying
sources of food imports (involving over 100 countries), coordinating with food
importers and processors, ensuring the safety and availability of rice and
essential food stuffs, preventing volatile swings in food prices, and so on. In
short, Singapore has a holistic approach to food security.
Landless Singapore is also in
agriculture. It invests in the lands of other countries. It is a keen
promoter of urban agriculture. Singapore claims that it is now
“self-sufficient” in tomatoes, thanks to hydroponics. To boost urban
agriculture and promote R&D, Singapore even set up an Agriculture
Productivity Fund, with a beginning budget of US$45 million in 2014.
Singapore also tries to add value
to its food and raw materials imports by processing and re-packaging them into
exportables. Philippine supermarkets carry some of the re-processed Singapore
food exports such as snacks in cans or in tetrapaks.
Incidentally, Singapore has a
strong-dollar policy. In sharp contrast to the continuous depreciation of the
Philippine peso, the value of the Singapore dollar has hardly changed vis-à-vis
the US dollar for several decades already. A senior Singaporean economist
explained to this author that Singapore needs a strong Sing dollar to be able
to import all its food and raw material requirements at affordable rates. But
at the same time, Singapore has to add extra value for every unit of
import. Eventually, a great percentage of these imports are
converted into higher value exports. This can only happen if a country moves up
the industrial ladder and invests continuously on productivity and innovation.
Like South Korea and Taiwan,
Singapore had become a “newly-industrialized country” or NIC in the
1980s-1990s, bypassing the Philippines in those decades. Unknown to many
Filipinos, Singapore has become a little Germany, exporting high-precision
products such as munitions, aircraft parts and pharmaceutical products.
In the 1980s-1990s, Singapore became a major destination of Philippine
electronics because Singapore had by then “graduated” at a higher level
of electronics assembly while the Philippines remained stuck at the low or
middle levels of the global value chain production for electronics (still true
at present).
When Malaysia imposed
restrictions on the supply of water to its neighbor, the Singapore’s Public
Utilities Board promoted the development of “NEWater”, clean water based on
purified waste water (sewage). The “NEWater” technology is now being
exported by Singapore to the Middle East and other countries.
In summary, the argument that
Singapore is food secure because this country has embraced full economic
deregulation, as represented by our rice trade liberalization program, rings
hollow. The agricultural economists imagining a seamless global market
for rice and other food items doing wonders for Singapore and other countries
are simply engaged in idle imagining.
A deregulated market by itself
cannot secure food security for its population. Nor can it sort out what
are the best uses of its land and other resources. The reality is that most
countries in the world pursue their respective food security programs through
the very visible and interventionist hand of the government.
This is exemplified by the United
States and the European Union, both of which are heavy subsidizers of
their farmers. India and other developing countries have been questioning
the hypocrisy of the developed countries, which seek the all-out opening of
agricultural markets while providing tens of billions of dollars annually to
their home producers. This is one reason why the World Trade Organization (WTO)
has failed to conclude its Doha Development Round trade talks that started two
decades ago, in 1999-2000.
Big rice producers with limited
rice imports such as China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea all
maintain a balanced approach to rice production at home, which they shower with
government assistance and protection, and rice importation, which is strictly
monitored and regulated. China even aggressively looks for lands in other
countries where they can invest on the production of crops they need to export
back to China. The point is that most countries of the world
have a state-centric policy on food security.
Meantime, in the Philippines,
there is so much uncertainty as to what will happen next under the Rice
Tariffication Law dubbed by organized farmers as Rice Liberalization Law.
The first year of RTL’s implementation saw big rice importers gaming the rice
trade sector. They imported over three million tons of rice, making the
Philippines the world’s biggest rice importer. In the process, they succeeded
in depressing the farmgate prices of palay to the great sorrow of palay
producers all over the archipelago.
Rice farmers who cannot earn or
make profits from their rice lands under the new rice trade lib regime, no
thanks to RTL, are likely to give up rice farming and sell their lands or land
rights to the land bankers, land speculators and big agribusiness
consolidators. Small rice farmers, especially the landless tenants who are
simply renting the lands or still doing share cropping, cannot switch easily to
the imagined production of higher value-adding crops. In the first place,
there is the role of culture. Ano ang nakagisnang gawain ng magsasaka sa
palay maliban sa pagsasaka sa palayan? Secondly, the infras in
the rice areas are not easy to change or modify to give way to new farming
systems. The switch can only be made by the richer agribusiness
investors, who have the capacity to invest on new infras.
In the end, government
agricultural policy makers should ask themselves: Para
kanino ba talaga ang RTL?
‘Virus may have
slowed rice shipments to PHL’
By
February 27, 2020
In
File Photo: The National Food Authority (NFA) stores its buffer rice stock consisting of imports and paddy it purchased from farmers in its
warehouses.
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said
the 61.8-percent year-on-year decline in the country’s rice imports as of
February 14 may have been partly caused by the stringent rules implemented by
exporting countries to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
BOC Assistant Commissioner
Vincent Philip Maronilla told the BusinessMirror that the bureau is now looking
closely into the factors that have contributed to the decline in rice shipments
to the Philippines under the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law.
“I think trading of all goods,
including foodstuff, have been affected by the regulations adopted by countries
to avoid the spread of COVID-19,” Maronilla said via SMS.
“Also, the DA [Department of
Agriculture] has been extra vigilant in the issuance of SPS [sanitary and
phytosanitary permits] to ensure the health and safety of the domestic farm
sector and the Filipino people,” he added.
Aside from COVID-19, Maronilla
said it is also possible that traders have stayed away from the export market
for now as farmers will start harvesting rice soon.
“Maybe they [traders] are
anticipating that our farmers’ production would be huge [and that] they will
have a hard time competing.
The harvest season is coming,” he
said. In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the BOC said it
collected P1.71 billion in rice tariffs from traders who imported 209,320
metric tons of rice from January 1 to February 14. This is lower than the
759,810 MT brought into the country during the same period in 2019.
Rice tariffs collected as of
February 14 were also 23.1 percent lower than the P2.22 billion the BOC
collected in the same period last year.
The BOC’s collection last year
under the RTL law reached P12.3 billion from 2.03 million metric tons of
private-sector imports.
P10 billion in
tariffs
Despite this, Maronilla expressed
confidence that the government will be able to collect P10 billion in rice
tariffs this year. The amount will be earmarked for the Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
“For us, it is still too early to
sound the alarm. In fact, if you look at last year, when we implemented the RTL
law around March, we were able to catch up with our target of collecting P10
billion. It reached P10 billion even before the end of the year, so collection
could [pick up] anytime,” said Maronilla.
The RCEF was set up under RA
11203 to finance farm modernization initiatives, such as providing local
growers with wider access to credit and training along with funds for
mechanization and inputs, like fertilizer and high-quality seeds.
The excess of P10 billion
collected for RCEF will also be used to finance other programs to boost the
yield of farmers and improve their competitiveness.
Section 13(c) of RA 11203 states
that 10 percent of the P10-billion RCEF shall be made available in the form of
credit facility with minimal interest rates, and with minimum collateral
requirements to rice farmers and cooperatives.
The rest of the RCEF will be set
aside for farm machinery and equipment; rice seed development, propagation and
promotion; and rice extension services, as provided under RA 11203.
On top of paying tariffs, the
Department of Finance also said rice importers are required under RA 11203 to
secure SPS-IC from the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry, which assumed the food
safety regulation function of the National Food Authority under this law.
This requirement will ensure that
rice imports are free from pests and diseases, that could affect public health
and local farm production.
Average farm-gate
price of rice at 8-year low
February 27, 2020
-
Farmers
in Bayambang, Pangasinan, continue to produce rice despite the fall in farm-gate
prices. A policy brief published by the Philippine Rice Research Institute in
November 2019 indicated that the drop in rice prices caused planters to incur
P61.77 billion in losses.
Ahead of the expected start of
rice harvest in March, data from the Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) showed that the farm-gate price of unmilled rice fell to its lowest level in 8 years in the first week of February.
Authority (PSA) showed that the farm-gate price of unmilled rice fell to its lowest level in 8 years in the first week of February.
PSA data indicated that the
average farm-gate price of dry palay settled at P15.97 per kilogram. The figure
was 19.1 percent lower than the P19.73 per kg in the same period last year.
On a weekly basis, however, PSA
data showed that the figure was the same as price recorded in the last week of
January.
Historical PSA data showed that
the current average farm-gate prices of dry palay is the lowest since the
P16.02 per kg recorded in the first week of July 2011.
Palay harvest will kick off in
the first week of March and will run until the middle of May.
The decline in farm-gate prices,
which started last year, was attributed by authorities and industry players to
the surge in rice imports after Republic Act (RA) 11203, or the rice trade
liberalization law, took effect on March 5, 2019.
To prevent farm-gate prices from
declining steeply during harvest, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said
recently that it will void all unused import clearances for some 1.8 million
metric tons of rice issued last year.
Agriculture Secretary William D.
Dar also said the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) will no longer issue sanitary and
phytosanitary import clearances (SPS-ICs) to farmers’ organizations that serve
as dummies of unscrupulous traders.
Dar made an assurance that
invalidating SPS-ICs issued in 2019 will not cause a shortfall in rice supply,
as the Philippines has stocks sufficient for at least three months. Apart from
this, he said 175,000 metric tons (MT) of imported rice entered the country in
January.
“We will void unused SPS-ICs
because we have rice inventory good for 90 to 94 days. Plus harvest is coming,”
he told reporters in an interview.
The agriculture chief said he has
instructed BPI Executive Director George Culaste to find out why there are
still unused SPS-ICs, some of which were issued a few months after the
effectivity of the rice trade liberalization law.
He added the government may
indicate an expiration date for the SPS-ICs to force traders to bring rice into
the Philippines within a specified period of time.
Data from the BPI, an attached
agency of the DA, showed that there were some 1,752 unused SPS-IC at the end of
2019. The BPI issued a total of 4,069 SPS-ICs from March 5 to December
31, 2019, for 3.63 MMT of imported rice.
The agriculture chief urged
traders to desist from applying for SPS-ICs during harvest so as not to depress
the farm-gate price of unhusked rice. He said the BPI may approve fewer SPS-ICs
during harvest.
The enactment of RA 11203
deregulated the rice industry and eased import requirements. Under the law, traders
must secure SPS-ICs from the BPI prior to purchasing imported rice.
The DA said it is banking on the
P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund and its hybrid rice program
to increase palay output to 19.6 MMT, from last year’s 18.48 MMT.
Image
Credits: Laila D. Austria
IRRI signs MoU to
further research
02.26.2020
Under the MoU, the IRRI will collaborate with AFU students and
faculty can work with IRRI scientists in its headquarters in the Philippines
and other country offices. Joint training programs, collaborative research
projects, access to agricultural research and educational facilities, and
exchange of knowledge and expertise by way of faculty, researchers, and
students also are proposed under the MoU.
Sharada Thapaliya, vice-chancellor of AFU, emphasized that the MoU
is a means to strengthen teaching and research capabilities, covering the broad
areas of natural resource management, including food security.
The partnership will help strengthen the university’s teaching
system through quality extension works, linking AFU with government agencies,
international and national NGOs, community-based organizations, cooperatives,
industries, and other key stakeholders.
“This major new initiative will help Nepal achieve its development
goals primarily through training the next generation of researchers and
agriculturists,” said Nafees Meah, IRRI regional representative for South Asia.
According to IRRI, rice is Nepal’s most important staple food crop
and agricultural product, providing 53% of cereal consumption and 30% of
protein intake for 30 million Nepalese. It also contributes to 21% of the
country’s agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) and 7% to gross domestic
product (GDP) and rural employment.
“Nearly 6 in 10 Nepalese are directly engaged in agriculture,
making it the primary source of subsistence and livelihood in the country,”
IRRI said. “At the same time, 8 in 10 people in Nepal reside in rural areas,
where the incidence and severity of poverty has been twice as high as in urban
areas over the last few years.”
Director General Matthew Morell said the MoU will help expedite
the Nepal-IRRI Collaborative Five-Year Workplan that will potentially boost
food and nutrition security, end poverty, and improve livelihoods.
In June 2018, the government of Nepal, through the Ministry of
Agriculture, Land Management, and Cooperatives (MoALMC), and IRRI signed a
Collaborative Five-Year Workplan, 2018-23, to reinvigorate Nepal’s rice sector
and help achieve food and nutrition security.
The MoU was signed by Yubak Dhoj G.C., Secretary of MoALMC, and
Morell. The work plan outlines projects intended to build technical skills and
capabilities, increase grain yield, and promote a more market-driven seed
system for climate resilient rice varieties to reduce Nepal’s burden of rice
imports.
AFU was established in Chitwan in 2010 and is the first technical
university of Nepal promoting education and R&D in agriculture, veterinary,
fisheries, forestry through teaching, research, and extension. With over 100
faculty, 250 support staff, and 1,880 students, AFU aims for the holistic
development of agriculture, livestock, aquaculture, and forestry to raise the
socio-economic conditions of rural Nepal.
Rice exporters
in India see growth in global price
India had exported almost
12 million tonnes of rice in 2108-19.
ET Bureau|
Last
Updated: Feb 27, 2020, 11.36 AM IST
“The rice exports market holds potential for growth as the crop size is not
high in Thailand due to drought this year, whereas prices are rising in Vietnam
and Bangladesh,” Rajiv Kumar, executive director, The Rice Exporters’
Association, told ET.Rice export from India is seen
picking up on an expected increase in demand from southeast Asia. India, currently the world’s largest exporter of rice, has seen a 35 per cent fall in rice exports so far this year, as domestic rates have been higher than that offered by competitors. However, exporters of common variety rice now are hopeful that the supply slump in Thailand due to drought and price increase in Vietnam and Bangladesh—the other major rice producing nations—will turn the market favourable for them.
“The rice exports market holds potential for growth as the crop size is not high in Thailand due to drought this year, whereas prices are rising in Vietnam and Bangladesh,” Rajiv Kumar, executive director, The Rice Exporters’ Association, told ET.
India had exported almost 12 million tonnes of rice (basmati and non-basmati) in 2108-19. Till the third quarter of FY20, the country had exported 6,398,275 tonnes of the commodity, as per data from Agricultural and Processed Food Product Export Development Authority (APEDA).
According to Kumar, after taking into account average domestic rice consumption of about 8 million tonnes every month, India has adequate stock of the commodity to push its export. Every year, the country exports about 12 million tonnes of rice, including the premium basmati variety.
Also, exporters are anticipating Bangladeshi authorities to ban rice export in order to keep domestic prices in check. The nation had extended 15 per cent cash subsidy to rice exporters in February this year as local prices were unviable for exports.
“Bangladesh is expected to curtail export of rice to curtail the rising domestic price of rice,” Ajay Kedia, analyst at Kedia Commodity, said, adding that India’s rice export scenario will brighten as the output has been affected by drought in Thailand and domestic prices have spiked in Bangladesh. He said prices have surged to a one-year-high in Vietnam and it will strengthen the global rice market.
Indian traders are also vying for a larger pie of Africa’s rice market which saw export from China surge last year. “China prefers imports of fresh rice, but it also exports old rice to Africa,” a Tamil Nadu-based rice exporter said. Shipments from China remain affected due to the coronavirus outbreak and the situation is likely to further open the market for other players, he said.
According to Rice Exporters’ Association’s Kumar, global cues are turning favourable for rice export from India though bilateral agreements and preferential treaties limit the potential.
He said Thailand, the largest buyer of rice in the international market, levies a duty of 50 per cent on rice from India, whereas it is 35 per cent in Vietnam. “Global rice export market is based on thin margins and a 15 per cent difference in duty is a substantial disadvantage for India exporters,” said Kumar. Indonesia extends duty exemption of $35 per tonne to Pakistan, which makes Indian rice dear by 11 per cent,” Kumar sai
