Rice News Headlines...
·
Pakistan needs a
fresh disaster mitigation strategy
·
NFA targets 71,000
food guardians
·
Indonesia may face
rice shortage due to El Nino
·
Plant scientists
tackle big data problems at workshop
·
A new lease of life
for Rudrur research station
·
New Director For
Indian Institute Of Rice Research
·
Attending conferences
is rewarding
·
Rice prices may reach
boiling point in coming months
·
IRRI sees PH as rice
importer soon
·
V R Babu appointed as
IIRR Director
·
PhilRice should help
build farmers’ climate resilience’
·
Marcos’s unmatched
legacy
·
IRRI sees PH as rice
importer soon
News Detail...
Pakistan needs a fresh
disaster mitigation strategy
The rural
economy takes a huge hit from frequent floods that can be better managed, says Ibrar ul Hassan Akhtar.
The history of disasters in South
Asia reveals what is at stake in the face of climate change.
Analyses of data for natural disasters — from
the international disaster database EM-DAT, and covering hazards including droughts, epidemics,
floods and landslides — shows that India is the country that has been most
affected by these events since 1900, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Afghanistan. [1] .Every year, agricultural
losses related to disaster cost Pakistan an average of US$15-20 million. This
is due to poor governance, rural communities residing inside flood-prone areas, a
lack of adaptive agricultural research and a resistance to changing what has become a
‘flood business’ — the government compensating those affected by floods and
then resettling them back to the same flood-prone areas. This spells
a need to rethink the country’s national framework for disaster management
to protect its agricultural economy.
Rising disaster
risk
According to EM-DAT data, the risk of natural disasters in Pakistan has
increased over the past 100 years: four per cent (four events) of the global
total of natural disasters occurred in the country during 1900-1947, rising to
64 per cent (79 events) during 1948-1990 and 32 per cent (40 events), in just
the past 15 years, from 1991-2015.Development policy has also
changed, alongside these trends, over the past few decades. There is no doubt
that Pakistan has shifted towards industries based on agricultural raw
materials such as cotton ginning (separating fibres from seeds) or rice exports
— much less agricultural growth is occurring among farming communities. The
agro-industrial sector contributes around 21-25 per cent to national GDP (gross
domestic product).
Wheat, cotton, sugar cane and rice are the crops of major
economic importance for the country. Wheat is mainly grown in the Rabi growing
season (October-May), which generally avoids the floods caused by monsoon rains
that typically fall from June until September. It follows that extreme monsoon
events and floods harm the national economy directly — through losses to life
and of crops, livestock and houses — and indirectly, through the huge
investments the government then needs to make to rehabilitate affected areas.Cotton,
sugar cane, rice and other high-value crops are mainly grown in Kharif season
(July-September), when they are most at risk from the monsoon floods. Cotton
contributes an average of around 1.5 per cent to GDP, with rice providing 0.7
per cent, sugar cane 0.6 per cent and maize 0.4 per cent.
Although geospatial technology can help to map and
monitor areas at risk of disaster, this is not enough. The adoption of policies
to reduce the impacts of flooding needs legislation.”
Ibrar ul
Hassan Akhtar
The numbers on losses speak for themselves. During
the flooding that took place in each of the past six years (2010-2015),
Pakistan lost cumulatively more than an estimated 1,359,000 hectares of
cotton, 372,000 hectares of sugar cane and around 1,391,000 hectares of rice.
[2-4, unpublished data 2013-15]
No doubt, the 2010 floods were the worst in terms of geographical extent and
damage to crops. But they also highlighted the lack of a preparedness
infrastructure and mechanisms in Pakistan.
Life on the edge
Systems that rely on satellite technology, such
as remote sensing and geographic information systems, have helped improve the
country’s management of disasters, through near-real-time situation analysis,
coverage of a wider area than could be monitored physically on the
ground, and through spatial analysis. Crucially, this technology has also
enabled us to understand how many of the country’s rural population live inside
or near flood-prone areas and rely on smallholdings for their livelihood.In
the province of Punjab, 531,000 hectares (4.4 per cent) of agriculture is
practised inside the floodplain; in Sindh province, the figure is 489,000
hectares (7.4 per cent).
During the monsoon season, rising rivers can easily flood crops up to
five to ten kilometres around the river channel. Geospatial analyses have
identified several districts in Punjab and Sindh with significant areas of
crops growing inside floodplains during the July-September flood season.But
although geospatial technology can help to map and monitor areas at risk of
disaster, this is not enough. The adoption of policies to reduce the impacts of
flooding needs legislation — to permanently relocate families to safer zones,
adopt flood-resilient cropping practices as a preventive measure, and promote
research into cropping systems adapted to floods. In essence, it needs a
revised disaster-management framework.
Such a framework would also reinforce the role of technology, by
promoting tools that are more time-effective and reliable. For example,
conventional approaches to data collection in Pakistan rely on centuries-old
administrative systems; they need to be revamped with state-of-the-art
geospatial technologies that can visualise and measure every inch of land
surface in the country.
Capacity building is important too: those running management systems lack
proper technical skills, adding further to improper planning and the tendency
towards unscientific approaches to tackling natural disasters.
Pakistan needs a framework that promotes proper assessments of
climate change, develops mitigation strategies, maps risk-prone areas by
classifying multiple disasters and supports research for agricultural
adaptations that can add resilience to cropping systems. The country’s
bureaucratic approach to disaster management needs to turn into a technocratic
one.Ibrar ul
Hassan Akhtar is a
scientist at Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission,
Islamabad. He can be contacted at ibrar.space@gmail.com
The
views expressed in this article are his and do not reflect the official view of
his organisation.
References
http://www.scidev.net/global/disasters/opinion/pakistan-disaster-mitigation-strategy.html
NFA
targets 71,000 food guardians
November 13, 2015
Leonard T. Pineda I
ILOILO
CITY, November 13 (PIA) --- The National
Food Authority (NFA)-6 has intensified its campaign on food security by
recruiting more food guardian volunteers in Western Visayas.NFA-6 Information
Officer Cashmere Gemarino said that they are targeting at least 71,000
volunteers in the region who will advocate and perpetuate the best practices
for ensuring food security and non-wastage of rice.“This is part of the
agency’s #1for100iNFAntry campaign in order to form a proactive army of 1
million food guardian volunteers nationwide,” she said.
Based
on research done by the Philippine Rice Research Institute, every individual is
wasting an average of 2 tablespoons of rice, which becomes 3.3 kg annually and
at 100 million population, it adds up to 330,000 MT (metric tons) per year.This
also amounts to P27 million worth of rice wasted every day, or P10 billion
worth of rice wasted every year.The NFA said that food guardians pledge not to
waste rice; help in making sure that rice is available, accessible, affordable
and visible in public markets; and follow the correct food handling procedures
to make sure that rice is safe for consumers.Interested food guardian
volunteers can sign up at http:foodguardian.me where they could get their free
digital ID. (JCM/LTP/PIA-Iloilo).
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/2421447385333/nfa-targets-71-000-food-guardians#sthash.ONFqdT6m.dpuf
Indonesia may face rice shortage due to
El Nino
Workers unloading sacks of rice from farmers at the biggest rice
market in Jakarta on Sept 9, 2015. PHOTO: AFP
PUBLISHED
NOV 14, 2015, 5:00 AM SGT
Delayed decision on imports also contributes
to failure to secure target of 1.5 million tonnes
Indonesia faces the prospect of a rice shortage, largely because
of a prolonged dry spell caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon coupled with
a delayed decision by the government to import the staple for the country's
reserve stock.Trade Minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong disclosed this week that
the government had secured only one million tonnes of rice, half a million
tonnes short of the target for the year end.
"We got only a small amount of rice at soaring
prices," he told The Jakarta Post, addressing criticism about the delay in
making a decision on imports that has cost the country not only in terms of
stock availability but also price.He said Indonesia was overtaken by the
Philippines, which entered the market early to rake in 1.5 million tonnes,
higher than its normal purchase of around 500,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes
annually.Indonesia secured imports at more than US$400 (S$570) a tonne, higher
than the price of around US$340 in the second quarter of this year when the
government floated the import plan for the first time.
HARD BARGAIN
We got only a small amount of rice at soaring prices.
TRADE MINISTER THOMAS TRIKASIH LEMBONG, addressing criticism
about the delay in making a decision on imports that has cost the country not
only in terms of stock availability but also priceIndonesia is the world's fourth most populous country with 250
million people and has been importing rice to meet domestic demand almost every
year since 1985. It had previously been self-sufficient for 16 years.
Indonesians consume about 2.5 million tonnes of rice every
month. The Jakarta Post noted that it is a politically sensitive commodity in
the country because it is the main food staple as well as farmers' main crop.Mr
Sutarto Alimoeso, chairman of the association of Indonesian rice-paddy huskers,
told tvOne: "The government is doing a relatively good job in trying to
ensure rice supplies are adequate because it needs to import only up to 1.5
million tonnes despite the fact that it is an El Nino year."Campaigns for
the consumption of cassava and potato as an alternative to rice and repairing
dilapidated irrigation systems are among the keys to ensuring adequate supplies
for Indonesians, according to Mr Sutarto.
President Joko Widodo has made it a priority for Indonesia to be
self-sufficient in key commodities - such as rice, corn, soya beans and sugar -
and as part of this push the government embarked on a range of programmes,
including infrastructure improvements in the form of repairs to damaged
irrigation systems.Reports said Mr Joko earlier this year insisted that stocks
would remain adequate even though they were running low and agreed to the
import plan only late last month. He said the decision to import rice was
necessary to maintain sufficient stocks in anticipation of failed harvests due
to prolonged drought.
The declining supplies have affected prices. The price of the
most widely sold "medium type" of the grain has gone up from 7,000
rupiah (70 Singapore cents) a kilogram in August to 8,600 rupiah now, according
to rice trader Zulmawan, who goes by only one name, in Cilacap, Central Java."They
decided to import late. Rice prices wouldn't have risen this much had they
acted more timely," he told The Straits Times.Drought has badly affected
the rice-growing regions of Karawang and Indramayu in West Java as well as
Klaten in Central Java, according to Mr Zulmawan. "Stocks held by traders
and wholesalers are declining. The worries are for January and February, ahead
of the March main rice harvest."
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-may-face-rice-shortage-due-to-el-nino
Plant scientists tackle big data problems at workshop
By Patricia Waldron
Yaw Nti-Addae
Boyce
Thompson Institute associate professor Lukas Mueller presents at the GOBII
workshop.Participants at the first Genomic and Open source Breeding Informatics
Initiative (GOBII) workshop at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) the week of
Nov. 2 attempted to plan a one-size-fits-all solution to handling big data in
plant research programs. olecular
biologists, computational biologists and software developers traveled from
breeding centers in the Philippines, India and Mexico, and from Cornell
University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to decide the best way to
store and share the trillions of data points generated in the pursuit of
breeding better crops.
Ultimately,
the GOBII project seeks to create the architecture for a publicly accessible
genomics database to accelerate the development of improved crop varieties.GOBII
researchers work with breeding centers associated with the Consultative Group
for International Agricultural Research, a consortium that supports
agricultural research for global development. The centers work to facilitate
crop improvement, with the goal of increasing plant yield, nutritional value
and resilience in the face of climate change.The database will need to be
robust enough to handle a monumental amount of data of multiple types, while
also being user-friendly so that plant breeders can efficiently make use of the
information – a task equivalent to “finding a shirt that fits everyone,” said
Kevin Palis, a software developer at the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) in Los Baños, Philippines.
Breeding
centers may sequence tens of thousands of varieties of a single crop to create
a catalog of millions of genetic markers for different traits like
disease-resistance or heat tolerance. The mountains of data can be used for a
plant-breeding strategy called genomic selection, which uses statistical
modeling to predict how a new plant variety will perform before being tested in
the field. But to use these markers to make better, faster choices, breeders
need tools to access and analyze the information. The GOBII project hopes to
bridge the gap between plant breeders and available genomic resources to yield
better crops, especially in developing countries.“There’s so much information
that one can store, and all the centers have overlapping needs, so the goal is
to come up with the core requirements that are going to satisfy all the
centers,” said Yaw Nti-Addae, GOBII’s lead software developer.
Nti-Addae
said that the four-day workshop was successful in bringing the interested
parties face to face and in planning out a roadmap for the project.In April
2015 the group received $18.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation through Cornell to create a breeding database for five major staple
crops – wheat, rice, maize, sorghum and chickpea – but ultimately, they hope to
develop a system that will work for any crop.Previously, researchers working on
a single crop have maintained their own data sets, using a variety of
platforms, formats and terminology, which are not easily shared. IRRI has
developed the International Rice Information System, but plenty of data is
sitting in individual spreadsheets.
“We
don’t have [a database] set up yet and we don’t have that much capability to
develop something,” said Victor Jun Ulat, a bioinformatician at the
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Texcoco, Mexico.BTI’s Lukas
Mueller, associate professor, is a collaborator on the project. His lab has
developedCassavaBase, a database of genomic data and physical traits from
thousands of cassava varieties. Peter Bradbury, a USDA computational biologist
who works on TASSEL, a software program that analyzes sequence data to find
markers associated with plant traits, also attended the workshop.“The plant
people moved into the big data realm,” said Ramil Mauleon, a bioinformatics
specialist at IRRI, “and now we have to find a way to get a handle on it.”Patricia
Waldron is the staff science writer for the Boyce Thompson Institute.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/11/plant-scientists-tackle-big-data-problems-workshop
A new lease of life for Rudrur research
station
Regional Sugarcane and Rice
Research Station at Rudrur in Banswada Assembly constituency is on the path of
regaining its past glory with four premier institutions functioning at one
place.It is being revamped after the launch of Government Agriculture
Polytechnic College and Food Science Technology. Krishi Vignana Kendram (KVS)
attached to the research station is also on the premises providing training to
farmers in cultivable methods. “All four are at one place on the sprawling
300-acre land and all the research work on various crop varieties is going on
well,” said Principal Scientist (Agronomy) and Head, B. Joseph.Established in
the year 1932 by the last Nizam of the Hyderabad State, Mir Osman Ali Khan, to
conduct research on sugarcane to develop high yielding varieties, the station
subsequently took up research on other crops also.
The basic idea behind the
establishment of the station was water being available with the construction of
the Nizam Sagar Project.During the course of eight decades, the station had
seen several ups and downs while carrying out research work. Scientists here
developed several varieties of paddy and also sugarcane that was sent to the
local Nizam Sugar Factory at Bodhan. But later, for reasons best known to the
rulers, the research station was somewhat neglected.As of now, as many as ten
agriculture scientists on regular basis and five research assistants are doing
research at the station affiliated to Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State
Agriculture University. “We need at least 10 more scientists to carry out the
research work in full swing,” said Prof. Joseph.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-telangana/a-new-lease-of-life-for-rudrur-research-station/article7875787.ece
New Director For Indian Institute Of Rice
Research
November 13,2015, 03.36 PM
IST | | THE HANS INDIA
Dr. Vemuri Ravindra Babu has been appointed as
Director, Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad by Indian Council of
Agricultural Research. Dr. Babu has
assumed charge as Director on 9th November, 2015. The scientific community
expressed its happiness over the selection of Dr.V.R.Babu to this prestigious
position at one of the India’s premier Rice Research Institutes established in
the year 1965.
IIRR has completed its 50 years and is
celebrating Golden Jubilee this year, taking over of Dr.Babu as Director of
IIRR on this occasion assumes a great significance. Dr.Babu hails from
Nizamabad district of Telangana and worked in various capacities in several
states like AP, Telanagana and Gujarat.
He had contributed immensely for agricultural
research and is instrumental in development of several rice varieties and
specialized in Bio-fortification of rice. His current focus is ensuring
the nutritional security to the poor along with food security. ICAR has
recognized his contributions to agriculture research in general and rice in
particular. With the help of his colleague scientists at IIRR he is chalking
out the strategies for stepping up the rice production, also to face the
challenges emerged out of water, climate change and labour related issues.
________________________________________
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2015-11-13/New-Director-For-Indian-Institute-Of-Rice-Research-186298
Attending
conferences is rewarding
November
13, 2015
Attending agri-related conferences is rewarding in a number of
ways. For one, you meet interesting persons you would not normally meet
elsewhere.At the recent rice forum in Vietnam organized by Bayer CropScience
and the International Rice Research Institute, we met Dr. Manuel Regalado, a
long time researcher at PhilRice and now deputy director of the same.We were
most excited by a novel concept on palay drying that he has been working on for
sometime which promises a big impact on the rice industry once it is
commercialized.
The technology will enable farmers to dry their palay faster and
with very minimal loss in the quality of the grains. He calls the technique Far
Infrared Ray (FIR) radiation of palay grains. In their experiment, this
technique can reduce the moisture content of the grains from 18% to 13% in a
matter of two hours. That’s so much faster than the conventional system of
spreading the grains on a concrete floor or using a mechanical dryer that could
take several hours to do the job.
DR. MANUEL REGALADO, PhilRice deputy director and scientist, has an
ongoing research on the use of Far Infrared Ray (FIR) for drying palay. In
their experiment, palay with 18 percent moisture content can be dried to 13
percent moisture content in just two hours with the use of the technology. The
wavelength of FIR is similar to that of the water molecule in the grain of
rice, hence the palay dries fast when hit by FIR.Dr.
Regalado explained how FIR works. He said that the wavelength of FIR is similar
to the wavelength of the water molecule inside the grain. If the grains are
exposed to FIR, the ray hits the water molecule inside the grain so it dries
faster with practically no loss in grain qualTo dry the gains, Dr. Regalado and
his team made a ceramic plate out of lahar. When the ceramic plate is subjected
to heat coming from a rice hull gasifier burner, it gives out FIR. The ceramic
plate is placed above the grains that are moved around by a conveyor
underneath.Once it is finally ready for commercialization, the technology will
have a great impact on the rice industry.
VETERAN RICE BREEDER – At the Vietnam rice forum, we
also met a veteran rice breeder at PhilRice, Ms. Thelma F. Padolina who holds a
degree in chemistry and an MS in crop science. She heads a group that has been
responsible in producing various outstanding rice varieties that are
commercially grown by farmers today. She also heads a technical working group
that tests certain lines before they are approved as varieties by the National
Seed Industry Council (NSIC) for commercial production.
Two well known varieties developed by Ms. Padolina and her team
are NSIC Rc 160 and 218. These have excellent eating quality and are well liked
by consumers because they are soft when cooked. These varieties are good for
both the wet and dry seasons, yielding five to six tons per hectare. It is said
that these two varieties are also the favorite of rice millers because they
have a high milling recovery.
Some millers use the two varieties in coming up with what they
call ramble rice. This is a mixture of several varieties that will be
acceptable to most customers. Why do they have to do that? Well, there is an
inbred variety NSIC Rc 222 which usually yields 30 cavans higher than most
other commercial varieties. The problem is that when cooked, the rice is hard
because it has a high amylose content. So by mixing the varieties with more
desirable eating quality, they can come up with the ramble that can be
acceptable in price and eating quality to many consumers.
**** **** ****
AANI FARM TOUR – If you want to see an
award-winning organic farm, better join the AANI Farm Tour tomorrow, November
15. The tour will visit the Costales Nature Farms in Majayjay, Laguna which has
become a favorite destination for tourists who are interested in organic
farming.Aside from organic vegetables, Costales also raises organic pigs and
poultry. It has also become a training center for people who want to go into
organic farming. It is an accredited technology provider in organic agriculture
by the Agricultural Training Institute of the Department of Agriculture. You
can contact Jocelyn Mahipus for your reservation at 0917-795-0616.
http://www.mb.com.ph/attending-conferences-is-rewarding/
Rice prices may reach
boiling point in coming months
PTI | Nov 15, 2015, 09.00PM IST
As per the government estimates, kharif rice production
is estimated at 90.61 million tonnes in 2015-16 crop year.NEW DELHI: After pulses, rice prices may also shoot
up and reach a "boiling point" in the coming months due to depletingstocks and likely fall in its kharif output,
according to industry body Assocham. The
report, however, contradicts the current price trend in the market, where
wholesale prices of non-basmati prices are ruling down at Rs 25 per kg as
against Rs 30 per kg last year. Similarly,
wholesale rates of premium basmati rice have declined sharply by about 30 per
cent to Rs 44-45 per kg at present from Rs 62-65 per kg last season, as per
traders.
Whereas
industry body Assocham in
its study said after pulses, onion and mustard oil, rice prices may trouble
consumers if timely adequate safeguards are not taken. "...prices of rice may shoot up
and reach a boiling point in the coming months as the stock of the key staple
cereal is depleting fast owing to deficient rains and fall in output," the
study said. As per the government
estimates, kharif rice production is estimated at 90.61 million tonnes in
2015-16 crop year. "...this
is unlikely to be achieved due to severe deficit rains in Punjab, Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka and the best
that could be achieved is 89 million tonnes," it said adding that overall
rice output may be around 103 million tonnes during 2015-16.
That
apart, the study said rice stocks have declined in last three years from 24.59
million tonnes in 2012 to 13.89 million tonnes (plus unlimited paddy 3.61
tonnes) in stocks at present. "Increasing
export outgo on account of PDS (Public Distribution System) and other welfare
schemes will continue to weigh on availability in the open market. Unless
government is able to handle the situation prudently, depleting stocks will
soon reflect on the open market prices", adds the study.
The Times of India
IRRI sees PH as
rice importer soon
November
14, 2015
An expert of the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) said the Philippines has a lot of potential, in terms
of rice production, and could even reach exporter status.“I think it can
increase production and reach a level where they can become a rice exporter,”
said Dr. Tobias Kretzschmar, head of the Genotyping Services Laboratory of the
Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology Division of IRRI.According to
Kretzschmar, there are a lot of rice varieties in the Philippines that are
grown and sold, which contain the majority of IRRI germ plasms, living genetic
resources such as seeds or tissue that are maintained for the purpose of animal
and plant breeding, preservation, and other research uses.
“But I think if we look at the very current situation, PhilRice is
catching up. I think PhilRice is releasing more varieties into the market than
IRRI at the moment. So from becoming a major work horse, I think we are
stepping back in our support for the Philippines because the Philippine
national program is strong enough to probably lead itself,” he said.
http://www.mb.com.ph/irri-sees-ph-as-rice-importer-soon/#6gHiKIj7pgHzJULz.99
V R Babu appointed as IIRR Director
PTI AUTHOR: NITI PTI
BOT - NOVEMBER 14, 2015
Hyderabad, Nov 13
(PTI) Dr Vemuri Ravindra Babu has been appointed the Director of
Hyderabad-headquartered Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR) by the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).Babu, who assumed charge on November 9,
hails from Nizamabad district of Telangana and served in various capacities at
the IIRR, established in 1965, an IIRR statement said.
He has contributed immensely to agricultural research and is
instrumental in development of several rice varieties and specialised in
bio-fortification of rice, according to IIRR.With the help of his scientist
colleagues at IIRR, Babu is chalking out strategies for stepping up rice
production and working on issues surrounding challenges arising out of water,
climate change and labour-related issues, it said.
http://news.niticentral.com/2015/11/14/v-r-babu-appointed-as-iirr-director/
PhilRice should help build farmers’
climate resilience’
SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ, Nueva Ecija—A former director of the
Philippine Rice Research Institute said those in the agency must think out of
the box as it pursues a climate-resilient agriculture for Filipino farmers.Calixto
Protacio, former executive director, said this as the agency observed its 30th
anniversary this weekend.The anniversary is marked by 70 rice varieties bred,
24 rice machines developed, 23 patents applied for, and several other
achievements in rice research and development.Protacio led the two-day
celebration at PhilRice’s central experiment station here along with officials
and various stakeholders, including farmers.
“We are eager to do more so our research outputs will reach more
farmers, particularly the resource-poor farmer,” Protacio said in his
anniversary message.PhilRice, which has been leading rice R & D efforts
since its founding in 1985, has provided cost-reducing and yield-enhancing
technologies on rice.Muñoz Mayor Nestor Alvarez said with PhilRice, Muñoz is
now heralded as among the major rice seeds hub in the country.“Muñoz is
privileged to host PhilRice. Along the national highway, one cannot help but
notice the proliferation of rice seed centers, making the Science City a major
rice seeds hub in the Philippines,” he said.This certainly creates a domino
effect in terms of livelihood creation from people manning the rice fields,
sales agents, to the many of input dealers in the city.
Eduardo Jimmy P. Quilang, PhilRice deputy executive director for
development, noted that the institute has become visible through the Be
RICEponsible campaign, a nationwide initiative to convince local governments to
issue ordinances on half-cup serving of rice on major food establishments to
arrest the issue on rice wastage.Quilang said the campaign has yielded
encouraging results. “We are all united to help reduce rice wastage in the
Philippines,” he said.Eden Gagelonia of the PhilRice’s rice engineering and
mechanization division said the institute is also leading efforts to mechanize
the rice industry. “A number of machines has been developed to help reduce work
load in farming and make them useful even for women farmers.
’’Meanwhile, former executive director Leocadio S. Sebastian
advised PhilRice to “properly position itself” amid climate change and other
threats to rice food production.“PhilRice should focus its programs, harness
its networks and partners, and think outside the box in developing, together
with our farmers and concerned stakeholders, options for a competitive,
sustainable, and climate-smart agriculture,” said Sebastian, who headed
PhilRice from 2000-2008.Aside from its central experiment station here,
PhilRice also has branch stations in Batac City, Ilocos Norte; San Mateo,
Isabela; Los Baños, Laguna; Ligao City, Albay; Murcia, Negros Occidental;
Romualdez, Agusan del Norte; Central Mindanao State University, Bukidon; and
Midsayap, North Cotabato.In 2015, Philrice received the Anak ni Juan Award from
the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPhl).
It recognizes PhilRice as the agency with the most number of
patents applied.Jerry Serapion, Philrice intellectual property management
chief, said the award is a testament to the intensive knowledge production
going on in the institute.As a research institute, PhilRice is tasked to
advance the various frontiers of rice science. Protacio said that this year,
more than 25 scientific publications have been produced by the institute’s
researchers and scientists.Some of these were even published in some of the
most reputable journals in the world such as the Journal of Food Agriculture
and Environment, International Journal of Ecology and Conservation, Philippine
Journal of Crop Science, and the Philippine Agricultural Scientist.
http://thestandard.com.ph/news/-provinces/192011/-philrice-should-help-build-farmers-climate-resilience-.html
Marcos’s unmatched legacy
Conclusion
IN his first term, President
Marcos immediately sat out to solve the country’s most urgent problems of
inadequate food supply, lack of basic social services, infrastructure support
and a lethargic economy controlled by aliens and a well-entrenched oligarchy.
He relentlessly pursued his political and social platform of “rice and roads.”
The priority was to achieve food security for his people.It was during Marcos’s
presidency that the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was
established to serve as the focal point of research efforts in rice technology,
not only for the country, but also for the rest of the world.
The different high-yielding
varieties developed at IRRI soon changed the agricultural landscape in most
rice-producing nations in the Third World, includingour country. As a result, the Philippines began exporting rice in 1977. After
being a rice importer for many decades, the country was able to ship 15,000
metric tons of rice to Indonesia. Since then, the country has been consistently
exporting rice in varying amounts to such countries as Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore, Vietnam, Brazil, Australia and Germany.
Aware that the agriculture-based
economy could not compete with the emerging markets in Asia, President Marcos
ordered on September 28, 1979 the implementation of the country’s 11 heavy
industrialization projects and announced this before the University of the
Philippines Law Alumni Association. At that time. we were already on the way to
NIC-hood status (newly industrialized country).The projects were
integrated steel, petrochemical complex, heavy engineering industries, the
expansion of the cement industry, the industrialization of the coconut
industry, an integrated pulp and paper mill, copper smelter, aluminum smelter,
phosphate fertilizer, the manufacture of diesel engines and Alcogas.
In reaction, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank and their allies, including the
President’s technocrats, led by then-Prime Minister Cesar Virata; the Makati
Business Club, led by the late Jaime Ongpin and the Zobel-Ayala group; and the
Center for Research and Communication, an institution associated with Opus Dei,
whose spokesman was Dr. Bernardo Villegas, went to work, relentlessly blocking
and delaying the projects at every turn.To oppose Marcos, they even came up with
a sardonic slogan to dramatize their effort: “You can’t eat steel!”Visibly
irritated over the negative reactions of the IMF-World Bank and the Makati
business group, Marcos issued a strong public statement accusing them of
sabotaging the country’s industrialization plan.
A year later, Ninoy Aquino, who
ignored the government’s request to suspend his return to the country, was
assassinated on his arrival at the airport. The incident triggered a political
and economic crisis in the country, exacerbated by a spate of oil-price
increases, inflation, capital flight and the deliberate tightening control of
credits by the IMF-World Bank and other foreign creditors.As a consequence,
Marcos’s massive industrialization plan evaporated into thin air.
Look what happened:
The economy in the post-Marcos
years turned from bad to worse notwithstanding his successors’ accumulated
budgets in 29 years of more than P30 trillion. This huge budget, which is now a
subject of a comprehensive research work by the Philippine Council of
Management Research Institute, was supposed to spur economic growth.By
comparison, Marcos’s official accumulated budget in 20 years was only P486.42
billion. Yet, on records, none of them or all of his successors combined could
not even match his economic infrastructures of roads, bridges, hospitals and
schools; a tri-modal transportation system of air, land and sea; communication
facilities; energy infrastructure; and the laws required to safeguard the
economy and make it progressive.
Marcos’s laws and other edicts
Marcos crafted and formulated
with the help of experts 7,883 presidential decrees (PDs) and other legal
issuances from September 21, 1972 up to February 26, 1986, a span of 14 years.Justice
Manuel Lazaro said these laws set the rules, regulations and penalties for
almost every facet of lawful and ethical human conduct—from birth to grave.
They are categorized as follows:
PD (1 to 2036); Letters of Instruction (1 to 1525); Letters of Implementation
(1 to 157); General Orders (1 to 61); Executive Orders (EO) (366 to 1093);
Administrative Orders (349 to 504); Proclamations (1081 to 2486); and Memo
Circulars (599 to 1297).Out of the 7,883 presidential issuances, only 67 PDs or
less than .01 percent have either been repealed or modified. The minimal
percentage of 67 PDs either repealed or modified by EO 187 issued by Corazon
Aquino were the decrees increasing the penalties for certain offenses against
public order and security, e.g., PDs 38, 1735, 1834, 1974 and 1996.
Interestingly, the rationale and
purpose of the PDs repealed or modified were resurrected in enacting Article
134-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by RA 6968. Notably, 7,816
issuances are still effective and enforced up to the present. These laws are eloquent proof of the wisdom, vision, dedication
and foresight Marcos possessed as instruments of good and effective governance.Lazaro
said: “No President in the country’s legal history had codified more laws.
Worth mentioning are the 15 codified laws, with social and economic relevance.
These are the Local Tax Code [PD 231]; Labor Code of the Philippines [PD 442];
Real Property Tax Code [PD 464]; Child and Youth Welfare Code [PD 603];
Insurance Code [PD 612];
“Revised Forestry Code [PD 705];
Code of Sanitation [PD 856]; Coconut Industry Code [PD 961]; Water Code [PD
1067]; Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines [PD 1083]; National
Building Code [PD 1096]; Philippines Environment Code [PD 1152]; Fire Code [PD
1185]; Government Auditing Code [PD 1445]; Tariff and Customs Code [PD 1464];
and Code of Agrarian Reform [PD 444].”
More important, there is the
Judicial Development Fund, the wellspring of the financial benefits of the
members of the judiciary. There is also the Philippine Amusement and Gaming
Corp., a consistent source of revenues for the country.In essence, as long as
the laws he issued are embedded in the country’s legal system, Marcos lives and
they will continue to guide and safeguard the nation and its people.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/marcoss-unmatched-legacy/
IRRI sees PH as
rice importer soon
November
14, 2015
An expert of the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) said the Philippines has a lot of potential, in terms
of rice production, and could even reach exporter status.“I think it can
increase production and reach a level where they can become a rice exporter,”
said Dr. Tobias Kretzschmar, head of the Genotyping Services Laboratory of the
Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology Division of IRRI.
According to Kretzschmar, there are a lot of rice varieties in the
Philippines that are grown and sold, which contain the majority of IRRI germ
plasms, living genetic resources such as seeds or tissue that are maintained
for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, preservation, and other research
uses.“But I think if we look at the very current situation, PhilRice is
catching up. I think PhilRice is releasing more varieties into the market than
IRRI at the moment. So from becoming a major work horse, I think we are
stepping back in our support for the Philippines because the Philippine
national program is strong enough to probably lead itself,” he said.
http://www.mb.com.ph/irri-sees-ph-as-rice-importer-soon/#eL8iRs2OIGmZUU2b.99
