Tuesday, December 06, 2016

6th December,2016 daily global,regional and local rice e-newsletter by riceplus magazine

 

FPCCI calls for enhanced trade ties with Syria

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) asked the business community of Pakistan to explore trade and investment opportunities in Syria.There is a lot of scope for Pakistani textiles, rice, pharmaceuticals, sports goods and agricultural products in Syria, said Abdul Rauf Alam, President FPCCI.He said this while talking to Syrian Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E. Radwan Loutfi, here at FPCCI Capital House. Other business leaders were also present on the occasion.
Alam said Syria is a potential market for Pakistani products and the improvement in the overall security situation will likely result in opening many opportunities for Pakistani business community, which may include massive reconstruction activities.“Trade with Syria might be a little risky right now, but higher risks mean higher profitability and our business community will surely benefit from the situation after peace is restored”, he added.He asked the Syrian Ambassador to help develop linkages between FPCCI and its Syrian counterpart, and to bring a delegation of Syrian businesspeople to Pakistan. He stressed the promotion of Pakistani products and services in Syrian market, hoping that Pakistani business would capture a sizeable share in that market.
On the occasion, the Syrian Ambassador ensured all out cooperation to improve trade. He said he would try to establish links between the apex chamber of his country and FPCCI.The Ambassador said that Aleppo used to be the biggest industrial center of Syria where production has dropped due to unrest; he said, agricultural production had also declined and the demand is being met by imports.Syria is still the fourth largest producer of olives in the world, and there was no dearth of opportunities in his country, he informed.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/blog/2016/12/04/fpcci-calls-for-enhanced-trade-ties-with-syria/
India's basmati rice export to grow 10% on China market:ICRA


 India and China together contribute around 40 per cent of the global rice production, which is estimated at around 740 million tonne of paddy, ICRA said, adding of this the communist nation's share was at around 27 per cent. | 1 Comments Indias basmati rice export to grow 10% on China market:ICRA Export of basmati rice is expected to grow by 10 percent to Rs 25,500 crore in 2017-18, mainly on account of China opening its market to India, rating agency ICRA has said. Opening up of China as an export destination is a positive for the Indian basmati rice industry, ICRA said in a report here. This will provide a fillip to exporters, who are just recovering from the muted global demand and a correction in prices in the recent past, it said. "While in FY17, basmati rice export value is expected to remain in line with the FY16 levels, it is expected to grow by 10 per cent to Rs 25,500 crore in FY18.

 "China has agreed to import basmati rice from 14 companies in India. In the ongoing harvesting season the volume of basmati paddy is expected to be lower than last year. With the addition of a new market, this could push up the realisations next year. Further, depending on the demand over the coming months, farmers may increase basmati sowing in the FY18 season," ICRA Assistant Vice-President Deepak Jotwani said. India and China together contribute around 40 per cent of the global rice production, which is estimated at around 740 million tonne of paddy, ICRA said, adding of this the communist nation's share was at around 27 per cent. However, both the countries are also the largest consumers of rice, thereby restricting their participation in the international trade, it pointed out. While India is a net exporter of rice, China is a net importer, ICRA said.


Chinese rice is typically short in length and non- aromatic. However, with the increasing income levels and flourishing global trade, the population in China has also developed a preference for other varieties of rice, ICRA said. This has opened up import from other major rice-producing countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and India, it said. Moreover, it said, China has emerged as the largest importer of rice in recent years.


 In India, non-basmati rice accounts for a majority (90-92percent volume share) of the total rice production. However, around 90 per cent of the same is consumed domestically. Basmati rice, being a premium variety, commands a higher price and the majority (around 75percent) of its production is exported, the rating firm said. In volume terms, non-basmati rice export from the country stood at 6.4 million tonne in FY16, while shipments were 4 million tonne in the same period, it added.

Rabi sowing picking up pace despite demonetisation woes

Our Bureau
Acreage, however, a tad lower than last five years’ average
New Delhi, December 2:  
Despite demonetisation leading to a cash crunch in the economy, the sowing of Rabi crops in the season so far, at 415.53 lakh hectares, was 8.5 per cent greater than the 382.84 lakh hectares sown in the same period last year.While acreage under wheat, pulses and oilseeds increased compared to the same period last year, rice and coarse cereals acreage declined.
Total sowing in the period, however, remained marginally below the normal five-year average of 416.66 lakh hectares for the same time-frame. “Last year was a drought year, so acreage was low.
Sowing this year
Comparing this year’s sowing to last the five years’ average gives a better picture. “Sowing has been only slightly lower than the previous five years’ average, which shows that demonetisation has had a limited impact so far,” an agriculture expert from a Delhi-based think tank said.
Sowing of wheat, over 173.93 lakh hectares till December 2, was higher than the 152.56 lakh hectares covered in the same period last year, but lower than the last five years’ average of 189.58 lakh hectares.
Higher coverage has been reported from Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Haryana while there has been lower coverage in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
The area under pulses, at 112.95 lakh hectares, is higher than both last year’s acreage of 99.83 lakh hectare as well as the last five years’ average of 103.94 lakh hectares.
Higher acreage has been reported from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, among others, while lower acreage has been reported from Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Haryana.
Oilseeds acreage till December 2 was at 70.70 lakh hectare, which was higher than the acreage of 64.21 lakh hectares in the same period last year and the last five years’ average of 69.32 lakh hectares.
Higher acreage was recorded in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam while lower acreage has been reported in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
Rice acreage till December 2, at 13.37 lakh hectares, was lower than last year’s acreage of 14.84 lakh hectares in the same period but higher than the last five years’ average of 9.44 lakh hectares. Higher coverage has been reported from Tamil Nadu and Odisha, while there was lower coverage in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.
The area under coarse cereals, at 44.59 lakh hectares till December 2, was lower than last year’s coverage of 51.40 lakh hectares but marginally higher than the last five years’ average of 44.38 lakh hectares.
A larger area has been covered in States such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, while acreage has gone down in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Rabi sowing generally starts in October and goes on till January.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/rabi-sowing-picking-up-pace-despite-demonetisation-woes/article9407465.ece

Punjab is set for record rice production this year, but at a heavy price

With no checks on the use of groundwater to irrigate farms, the state's water table is falling at an alarming rate.

Dec 04, 2016 · 07:00 am  
Nidhi Jamwal
Punjab is heading for record paddy production this year. The state agriculture department has estimated the harvest for the 2016-’17 kharif (monsoon) season will be 186 lakh metric tonnes, nearly 10 lakh metric tonnes more than last year’s yield. State officials are jubilant as it is “an all-time high output”.
With an eye on the Assembly elections next year, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has ordered the immediate lifting of the paddy crop from farmers and sought daily reports on the progress in procurement. Punjab’s high-steroid growth, which started with the Green Revolution in the 1970s, it appears, is refusing to slow down.
But underneath this hype lies another narrative – a worrisome one – of the overexploitation of the state’s groundwater resources. “Over 97% of the cultivated area in Punjab is irrigated, the highest in the country,” said Dr Rajan Aggarwal, head of the soil and water engineering department at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. “But, 75% is irrigated using groundwater while only 25% of the area benefits from canal irrigation.”
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal stressed that Punjab was in danger of turning into a desert in less than a decade due to falling groundwater levels.
The 2013 Report of the High-Level Expert Group on Waterlogging in Punjab noted that “the water table in the state is falling by up to one metre per year”.
The Central Ground Water Board, too, warned of an impending water and agrarian crisis in the state. “In Punjab, groundwater development is 172%, which is an overdraft,” said Dr SK Jain, regional director (north-western region) of the board’s Chandigarh office. “Simply put, it means that groundwater extraction is much more than the recharge. And, if the present trend continues, then 50 blocks in 14 districts of Punjab may completely run out of groundwater in the next one decade.”
Groundwater development is the ratio of net yearly extraction of groundwater to the total utilisable groundwater resources for irrigation. At 100% groundwater development, water extraction is equal to water recharge. Anything beyond that is an overdraft.

Feeding the nation

Punjab is called the granary of India. While it occupies only 1.5% of the country’s total geographical area, it is the top contributor of foodgrains to the central grain pool, thereby feeding the entire nation through the public distribution system.
According to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Punjab State Focus Paper 2015-’16, the state alone contributes more than 43% of wheat to the central pool and over 29% of the rice. A few years ago, this contribution stood even higher at 55% of wheat and 42% of rice.
Wheat and rice are the two major crops of Punjab. Of the state’s total geographical area of 50 lakh hectares, 41 lakh hectares is under cultivation – over 35 lakh hectares for wheat and 30 lakh hectares for rice. Since wheat is a rabi (winter) crop and rice is a kharif crop, farmers in Punjab grow both on the same farmland. The time gap between the crops allows them to till their land using the same farm equipment and harvesting machinery. Wheat is indispensable as it is the state’s staple diet, but rice is grown primarily to feed the central pool.
“Farmers continue to grow wheat and rice because it is picked up in large quantities by the government under the minimum support price, thereby giving farmers an assured return,” said Dr Rajan Aggarwal of Punjab Agricultural University.
Before the advent of paddy, the main kharif crops in Punjab were maize, cotton and pulses. In the 1960s, about three lakh hectares of cultivable area was under rice cultivation, which has now touched 30 lakh hectares. In 1970-’71, the gross cropped area under maize was 9.7%, which came down to 1.7% in 2010-’11. In the same period, areas growing pulses and oilseeds also plunged from 7.2% to 0.2% , and 5.2% to 0.7%, respectively.

Falling water table

Paddy, grown on 75% of cultivable land in Punjab, is a highly water-intensive crop. To grow one kilogram of rice, farmers in the state use 5,337 litres of water. During the 2015-’16 crop season, Punjab contributed an estimated 93.5 lakh tonnes to the public distribution system. In terms of water consumption, this is equivalent to five times the capacity of the Gobind Sagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam – which irrigates 40% of Punjab’s net irrigated area – in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
Paddy also requires a minimum average annual rainfall of 1,150 millimetres, though the most suitable average annual rainfall is between 1,750 mm and 3,000 mm.
In sharp contrast, the average annual rainfall in Punjab is 650 mm-700 mm. “This, too, has declined in the last two decades to 400 mm-500 mm, putting an additional burden on groundwater, as farmers have sunk deeper tubewells to irrigate their paddy fields,” said Dr SK Jain of the Central Ground Water Board.
With the expansion of land under paddy in Punjab, the number of tubewells has also increased from 200,000 in the 1970s to the present 4,000,000. Over 14 lakh tubewells run on electricity and the state government plans to allot 1.5 lakh more power connections for tubewells.
Predictably, an indiscriminate use of groundwater for paddy cultivation has led to a sharp decline in the water table. Of the 138 administrative blocks in Punjab, 110 blocks are overexploited, four are critical and two are semi-critical, reports the Central Ground Water Board. Only 22 blocks are safe, but they have other problems such as arsenic, fluoride and uranium contamination.
The overexploited blocks are those where groundwater extraction is more than 100% of the recharge. In critical blocks, groundwater development is between 90% and 100% of the recharge. And under the semi-critical category, groundwater development is between 70% and 90% of the recharge.

No checks in place

In 1999, the Punjab government stopped billing farmers for the electricity and water they used for their fields. This tradition of freebies has continued, and the power subsidy for farmers in 2016-’17 stood at Rs 6,364.4 crore, which is borne entirely by the state government.
The government has also refused to regulate the use of groundwater. In 2010, it refused to adopt the Central government’s model bill for management of groundwater. In Punjab, no permission is required to dig tubewells, and there is no restriction on the depth of the tubewells, which are sinking deeper by the year.
“Both the state and the Centre have done nothing to protect, regulate and manage Punjab’s aquifers that irrigate 75% of the state’s land and are its lifeline,” said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
The state government claims it is working towards conserving groundwater by promoting drip irrigation, which saves water by taking it directly to the plant roots or into the soil surface through a network of pipes and valves. However, at present, only 1% of total cultivable land in Punjab is under drip irrigation.
The state government also enacted the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act in 2009 that bans paddy transplantation – the shifting of rice saplings from the nursery to the field – till June 10. Early transplantation leads to groundwater depletion as the water in the fields evaporates quickly as a result of high temperatures, which ease with the advent of pre-monsoon showers in mid-June. Last year, this deadline was pushed to June 15.
But, keeping in mind the extent of the groundwater crisis in the state, these measures are not enough.

Saving Punjab

As part of the Central government’s National Project on Aquifer Management, the mapping of Punjab’s aquifers is underway and is expected to be completed by next year. This will give a clear picture of the state of its aquifers.
“Aquifer mapping is good, but we need to see what use these maps will eventually be put to, and if they translate into effective management of groundwater,” said Dr Himanshu Kulkarni, executive director of the Pune-based Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management.
Apart from the mapping of aquifers, the Centre has given the Punjab government a Rs 100-crore subsidy to lay underground irrigation pipelines under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. “In the present flood irrigation system for wheat and rice crops, a lot of water is wasted due to evaporation as the water channels are unlined and open,” said Jain. “Underground irrigation pipelines will address this problem.”
The state government, in turn, is offering farmers a subsidy for the same.
But, Thakkar is critical of these capital-intensive solutions. “These half-baked measures do not address the real issue of high paddy cultivation and consequent unsustainable groundwater consumption in Punjab,” he said.
Also, the main irrigation canals of the Bhakra dam are open to the air, leading to evaporation. “How will farmers laying underground pipelines in their fields solve the problem,” he asked.
The Punjab Agricultural University has consistently suggested reducing the area under paddy cultivation by at least 12 lakh hectares. This area can then be diversified into growing other less water-intensive kharif crops such as maize, which has only one-sixth the water requirement of paddy. Pulses and soyabean are other alternatives.
But this is easier said than done in a state where farm distress leads to around 2,000 farmer suicides every year. The farmers themselves are against making the switch unless they are given an assured market and minimum support price.
Punjab’s share in the central grain pool is on the decline, though it still remains the main contributor. Between 2007-’08 and 2010-’11, its share of wheat and rice fell from 60.9% to 45.4%, and 27.8% to 25.3%, respectively. Its current share of wheat is still lower at 43% while that of rice has risen slightly to 29%. If it wants to retain its top position, it has to diversify and reinvent itself without any further exploitation of its aquifers.
Nidhi Jamwal is an independent environment journalist based in Mumbai. Her Twitter handle is @JamwalNidhi
We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.

http://scroll.in/article/821052/punjab-is-set-for-record-rice-production-this-year-but-at-a-heavy-price

Korea to reduce rice paddies in 2017

Published : 2016-12-05 09:35
Updated : 2016-12-05 09:45
South Korea will reduce its rice paddies some 4.5 percent in 2017 from this year as part of an ongoing effort to deal with a chronic supply glut of the staple crop, the farm ministry here said Monday.The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it has set the target of nationwide rice cultivation area at 744,000 hectares next year, down 35,000 from this year's 779,000.


The ministry said it will help farmers convert their rice paddies into fields growing other crops.The decision came as South Korea has been suffering from an oversupply of rice for years. The annual rice consumption of the South Korean population has been on a sharp decline due mainly to changes in diet and eating habits.

The country has some 300,000 tons of rice in excess this year, as the 4.2-million-ton supply situation exceeds the 3.9 million tons expected to be consumed.In order to remove the oversupply in the market, The government purchased all of this year's rice surplus and set them aside in the form of public reserves.

Per capita rice consumption reached 62.9 kilograms per year in 2015, sharply down from the 128.1 kg tallied in 1985, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. (Yonhap
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20161205000169







Each furrow-irrigated field may require different handling

Rice Farmers should be prepared to fertilizer their furrow-irrigated or row rice acres on a field-by-field basis, LSU AgCenter Extension rice specialist says.
Forrest Laws | Dec 05, 2016
Don’t think you can use a “cookie-cutter” approach to fertilizing or managing your fields in a furrow-irrigated or row rice situation, says Dustin Harrell, Extension rice specialist with the LSU AgCenter.“Every furrow-irrigated rice field is not the same,” Dr. Harrell said during a presentation at a Row Rice Production meeting in Rayville, La. “We may have fields that are close to being level; we may have some with a pretty good slope on there and we’ll get water down them quickly.

“And, depending on what your field is like, that’s going to change the nitrogen rate recommendations. The nitrogen recommendations will not be the same across all these different fields. You may have a field with a tenth or less slope; you may collect the water at the end of the furrow; you may have tailwater recovery or a small levee at the end.”The number of practices can vary, and growers need to have a plan for dealing with them before they get into irrigating their rice, Dr. Harrell noted in a presentation to about 60 growers from northeast Louisiana.The meeting was organized by the Northeast Louisiana Rice Growers Association with the assistance of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service’s Richland Parish office in Rayville, La.

http://www.deltafarmpress.com/rice/each-furrow-irrigated-field-may-require-different-handling





Rice output likely to fall 6pc in Punjab during 2016/17


December 04, 2016

LAHORE: Rice output in Punjab is likely to fall nearly six percent to 3.3 million tons during the current crop year of 2016/17 as the sowing area in the province touched decade-low levels, government projected on Saturday. In the last crop season, rice output was recorded at 3.5 million tons in the province, accounting for more than half of the country’s total outputs.Official figures showed that area under rice cultivation plummeted to 1.70 million hectares in the current agriculture year, which was the lowest sowing area in the past 10 years. In 2007/08, the acreage was recorded at 1.72 million hectares.
In 2015/16, paddy was planted on around 1.78 million hectares. Overall, rice acreage fell 4.7 percent in the current season over the previous year.Rice was planted on 1.78 million hectares in 2015/16 as against 1.87 million hectares in 2014/15, showing a 5.2 percent decline.
Pakistan’s Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) has set 2016-17 (July – June) rice production (milled basis) target at around 6.83 million tons from around 2.8 million hectares.
An expected crop shortage has already ignited a price hike at the local markets.Wholesale price of new milled rice rose to Rs80-85/kilogramme from Rs55-60/kg last year.Usually, milled rice wholesale prices came down to Rs50-60/kg with the advent of paddy harvesting. “This time around, soaring prices have baffled traders,” a trader said. “Low output forecast further aggravated the situation.”
During the last decade, rice sowing area in the province ranges between 1.70 million and 1.97 million hectares. Acreage shrinkage was observed in the last couple of years. Over the past two-year alone, sowing area shrank approximately 10 percent.In 2014-15, paddy output stood at 3.64 million tons, down four percent over the previous year.
An official said farmers are getting low returns owing to a huge carryover stocks. Besides, better profits on fodder and other competitive crops encouraged farmers to switch to those crops. “Erratic monsoon rainfalls were also one of the reasons of a relatively low output,” he added.Rice, being one of the staple foods, is cash crop of Pakistan. Fed on the western rivers, Punjab is blessed with the biggest rice producing belt of the country, occupying a major chunk of total national cropped area.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in a report released in July, raised Pakistan’s exports forecast for 2016/17 by 0.1 million tons to 4.5 million tons on a stronger pace of trade only if the country achieves rice production of seven million tons.The United States Department of Agriculture projected around 20 percent more purchases by Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan from Pakistan.   The country exported 3.946 million tons of rice during the July-May period of 2015/16.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/169528-Rice-output-likely-to-fall-6pc-in-Punjab-during-201617


Rabi sowing picking up pace despite demonetisation woes

Our Bureau
Acreage, however, a tad lower than last five years’ average
New Delhi, December 2:  
Despite demonetisation leading to a cash crunch in the economy, the sowing of Rabi crops in the season so far, at 415.53 lakh hectares, was 8.5 per cent greater than the 382.84 lakh hectares sown in the same period last year.While acreage under wheat, pulses and oilseeds increased compared to the same period last year, rice and coarse cereals acreage declined.Total sowing in the period, however, remained marginally below the normal five-year average of 416.66 lakh hectares for the same time-frame. “Last year was a drought year, so acreage was low.
Sowing this year
Comparing this year’s sowing to last the five years’ average gives a better picture. “Sowing has been only slightly lower than the previous five years’ average, which shows that demonetisation has had a limited impact so far,” an agriculture expert from a Delhi-based think tank said.
Sowing of wheat, over 173.93 lakh hectares till December 2, was higher than the 152.56 lakh hectares covered in the same period last year, but lower than the last five years’ average of 189.58 lakh hectares.
Higher coverage has been reported from Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Haryana while there has been lower coverage in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
The area under pulses, at 112.95 lakh hectares, is higher than both last year’s acreage of 99.83 lakh hectare as well as the last five years’ average of 103.94 lakh hectares.
Higher acreage has been reported from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, among others, while lower acreage has been reported from Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Haryana.
Oilseeds acreage till December 2 was at 70.70 lakh hectare, which was higher than the acreage of 64.21 lakh hectares in the same period last year and the last five years’ average of 69.32 lakh hectares.
Higher acreage was recorded in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam while lower acreage has been reported in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
Rice acreage till December 2, at 13.37 lakh hectares, was lower than last year’s acreage of 14.84 lakh hectares in the same period but higher than the last five years’ average of 9.44 lakh hectares. Higher coverage has been reported from Tamil Nadu and Odisha, while there was lower coverage in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.
The area under coarse cereals, at 44.59 lakh hectares till December 2, was lower than last year’s coverage of 51.40 lakh hectares but marginally higher than the last five years’ average of 44.38 lakh hectares.
A larger area has been covered in States such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, while acreage has gone down in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Rabi sowing generally starts in October and goes on till January
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/rabi-sowing-picking-up-pace-despite-demonetisation-woes/article9407465.ece





Farmers to make rice affordable by 2017 On December 5, 201611:20 amIn NewsComments Rice farmers have assured Nigerians of their readiness to make the price of rice affordable and accessible by 2017. Mr Aminu Goronyo, the National President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), gave the assurance in a telephone interview in Abuja on Monday. He said the association had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some farm input suppliers in the country to ensure prompt supply of cheap fertilisers and pesticides to boost production. Goronyo said some individuals and corporate bodies caused the current scarcity and hike in the price of rice in order to sabotage government efforts in agricultural diversification.


 “We are going to assist the FG to produce more than enough rice for this country in 2017. Rice “It is part of the plan that we must bring down the price of rice in this country “There are several efforts that we are making to see that in no distant time, this price of rice will come down for Nigerians to have access to affordable milled rice,’’ Goronyo assured. The national president said that the association was also collaborating with both local and foreign companies to assist in the electronic mapping and registration of rice farms across the country. He said this would help government to plan by having accurate and verifiable available land for rice production in the country. Goronyo gave the assurance that rice production rate would be doubled in 2017 above the seven million tonnes produced this year.

“We have more than 4.5 million hectares of FADAMA land for rice production and each hectare has the capacity with a very good practice and management to produce five tonnes per hectare minimum. “So, in one production cycle, we can produce 10 million metric tonnes of paddy rice and our consumption rate in this country is between 6.5 and seven million metric tonnes per annum. “So if we can produce 10 million metric tonnes in one production cycle and we have three production cycles in a year, it means that we can feed this country and even export this rice that we produce,’’ he said. The RIFAN president said the association would continue to support the Federal Government agricultural diversification as a way of boosting the economy Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/farmers-to-make-rice-affordable-by-2017/

 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/farmers-to-make-rice-affordable-by-2017/





Rice price not likely to fall yet

Posted By: Our Reporteron: December 04, 2016

Bag of Rice
Contrary to what the federal government had promised, the month of November has come and gone, yet the price of rice has not come down and may not likely fall this year as the price of dollar remains high and local farmers are yet to start milling rice. As the price of rice went astronomically high like prices of other products in the country, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, declared that the price of rice would start to fall from last month, November, as Nigerians boosted  local production.The Agriculture and Rural Development Minister had stated that more Nigerians had returned to their various farms, adding that at the next harvesting season in November (last month), the price of rice would start to crash. This came as the government said that the delay in the approval of the 2016 budget had made it impossible to implement the capital expenditure in the agricultural sector.
Chief AuduOgbeh said this while addressing members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja.Ogbeh, who stated that the government could not be involved in the importation of rice as speculated in some quarters, stressed that his ministry would not encourage rice importation because it would be detrimental to local production.
He said the federal government was against rice smuggling and noted that the Seme border had become a notorious route for the smuggling of contraband products into the country. “We will not encourage rice importation and there is no way our ministry or government can be involved in importing rice when we are working hard to be self-sufficient in local production. By November when the full-scale harvest starts, rice prices will fall,” the minister said.
This came as good news to Nigerians who have endured the hardship of inflation since the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, days after November, there is still no sign of the price coming down as investigations in the major rice markets in the cities reveal almost the absence of local rice, while foreign smuggled rice arevintagely displayed.
The surprising thing is that the few available local rice in the city market is even more expensive than the foreign ones.
At the leading rice market,Daleko, in Mushin, Lagos, while a 50kg of smuggled imported long grain rice sells for N18,000 to N18,5000, the locally grown rice of the same quantity sells for N21,000 to N22,000.
A bag of 50kg long grain rice from Ebonyi State, ‘African Sisi’, sells for N21,000. Also the same quantity of rice from Benue State, ‘Mama Pride’, sells for N20,000. The unpolished locally grown rice is even more expensive. A 50kg of Ofada rice, grown in Ogun State, goes for about N28,000 while a similar rice from Ebonyi State  also sells for about N26,000.
Investigations reveal that the price of the unpolished rice is higher because health conscious consumers prefer it as it is perceived to be superior as the natural nutrients have not been stripped off as a result of processing.
Explaining why the locally grown rice is more expensive, AlhajiSanniAdamu, a major rice dealer, said it was one of the Nigerian factors.Prompting him to explain what he meant, he said that a lot of expenses are incurred while handling the product and transporting from the towns it is cultivated to the major cities. For instance, he said, “it costs N2,500 to transport a 50kg of Mama Pride from Benue State to Lagos markets while it costs less to transport the same quantity of smuggled rice from the Nigerian/ Seme and Idiriko Borders to the market.”
Though, the locally grown rice is cheaper in the areas where they are grown. Research reveals that a 50kg bag of ‘African Sisi’ sells for about N19,000 in the eastern part of the country with the smuggled rice selling as high as N23,000 to N24,000.On why only few bags of locally grown rice can be seen in the market despite the federal government’s promise that there will be surplus local rice in the market this month, AlhajiAdamu, whose warehouse is at No. 300 Kampbell line, in Daleko market, lamented that Nigerian farmers were yet to start harvesting rice, adding that “though consumers demand more for the imported long grain rice.”
Speaking with Chief Comfort Idowu,another major rice dealer at Iddo rice market in Lagos, she said that going by everything on ground, the price of rice will not fall this month or even next month.“How will the price fall this month when foreign exchange is still going up and our local farmers are yet to harvest rice? Even if they harvest rice, can they produce enough to feed half the country?” she questioned.“Okay, at this Iddo market, how many brands and bags of local rice have you seen? The few bags of local rice here cannot even feed the people in this market, not to talk of the whole of Nigeria,” she hissed.
“The price of rice will not fall now except the federal government lifts the ban on importation and empowers our local farmers. The ban on rice is just creating avenues for the Custom officers to make more money by extorting money from smugglers and selling off some of the seized rice,” lamented Mr. Michael Ikeduru, a rice merchant at Iddo market.Ganiyu Quadri, chairman of Alimosho LGA, had also said a bag of rice will drop to N9000 in Lagos before this month. Retailers are of the opinion that the rising price of rice is due to the ban on its importation. They believe that the hike in price is due to the activities of some individuals who monopolise the market


GIEWS Country Brief: Guyana 29-November-2016

Published on 29 Nov 2016

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT
·         Rice production in 2016 forecast down from 2015 record level
·         Rice exports in 2016/17 marketing year to slightly decline from last year’s high level
Rice production in 2016 forecast down from 2015 record level
The FAO forecast for Guyana’s 2016 cereal production points to a decline of 19 percent from last year’s high level, but still above the five-year average. The forecast mainly reflects a sharp reduction in rice output. After eight years of uninterrupted production growth, Guyana saw the first rice crop of the 2016 season severely hampered by dry weather; low profit margins also discouraged farmers from sowing. The harvest of the second season is well advanced, prospects are uncertain as untimely rains hampered plantings and preliminary reports point to the crop being affected by diseases, which will likely reduce any potential recovery of the output lost during the first season. As a result, 2016 annual rice production is now forecast at 860 000 tonnes (paddy equivalent), implying a nearly 200 000 tonnes contraction from the 2015 record level.
Rice exports in 2016/17 marketing year to decline from last year’s high level
Rice is the country’s second most important export commodity, after gold, with normally about half of the annual rice production being exported. Rice exports in the 2016/17 marketing year (January/December) are anticipated to decline by 4 percent from last year’s high level, mainly reflecting this year’s tighter domestic supplies.



GIEWS Country Brief: El Salvador 02-December-2016

Report
Published on 02 Dec 2016 View Original

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT
·         Cereal production in 2016 anticipated to recover from last year’s drought-reduced level
·         Cereal imports forecast to decline in 2016/17 marketing year (September/August)
·         Maize and rice prices continued to decline in November, while bean prices increased seasonally
Cereal production in 2016 anticipated to recover from last year’s drought-reduced level
Cereal production in 2016 is forecast to reach 1 million tonnes, a 25 percent increase over last year’s drought-reduced level. The anticipated increase in cereal output mainly reflects a recovery in maize production. Harvest of the main “de primera” season, which represents some 60 percent of the annual maize output, concluded in October. Preliminary official estimates point to a good outcome for the season. Planting of the secondary crop also concluded in October and prospects are favourable, as weather conditions were good and farmers received inputs from the Government, including seeds and fertilizers. The official forecast for the maize crop production in 2016 point to 850 000 tonnes, a bumper level. The 2016 rice crop production is forecast to decline some 5 percent from last year’s good level and reach 37 000 tonnes, as the secondary season was affected by dry weather conditions. However, at this level, output will remain above average.
Cereal imports forecast to decline in 2016/17 marketing year
Cereal imports in the 2016/17 marketing year (September/August) are forecast to decline sharply from last year’s record level, reflecting the positive outlook for the 2016 cereal production. The bulk of the decline stems from lower maize imports for the 2016/17 marketing year (September/August), which are anticipated at 430 000 tonnes, down 38 percent year‑on‑year.
Maize and rice prices continued to decline in November, bean prices increased seasonally
Wholesale prices of white maize in November continued their declining trend of the previous months and were some 21 percent below their levels from a year earlier reflecting ample supplies from the good main season harvest concluded in October. Rice prices also declined from the previous month and from a year earlier, as supplies from the main season harvest began to supply the markets. By contrast, bean prices increased seasonally, as the harvest of the main season crops will not begin until mid-December. However, prices remain some 17 percent below their year earlier levels, reflecting ample supplies from imports and carryover stocks from the harvest in November
http://reliefweb.int/report/el-salvador/giews-country-brief-el-salvador-02-december-2016



Gumbo Catches on in Toyko 

Gumbo featuring U.S. medium grain
TOKYO, JAPAN -- Seventeen restaurants across the city are participating in a U.S. medium grain rice winter menu promotion that began last week and runs through February 2017.  Internet advertising on a popular restaurant search website connects consumers with promotion partner restaurants.

Tony Roma's, one of the menu promotion partners, developed eight different gumbo menu items so that their customers can enjoy a different gumbo dish every week for eight weeks.

"Gumbo is still a new menu item in Japan, but chefs here are very creative and have developed several styles of gumbo that are served as a kinds of winter soup here," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice's director of Asia promotion programs.  "It is also a great dish to give chefs an idea that rice is an excellent ingredient for soup and U.S. medium grain rice works nicely in this application."

To encourage more restaurants to make gumbo using U.S. medium grain rice, a special information webpage was added to the USA Rice Japan website that includes recipes and a short video demonstrating how easy it is to prepare.

"We learned through past events, such as the Taste of America campaign and various soup promotions, that gumbo was a menu item that piqued the attention of restaurant chefs," said Guinn.  "Gumbo is a great 'gateway' dish to encourage chefs to use U.S. medium grain rice as a soup ingredient." 





Musings On The Rice Debate

Ade Adefeko
Dec 6, 2016 3:54 am | Leave a comment

The Rice debate in Nigeria is an intense and fierce one by different players who don’t understand the dynamics and only tend to put out emotional arguments not grounded on facts and logic but only aim to score cheap political points. They try to play to the fact that self-sufficiency is a walk in the park and merely requires sloganeering and mantra speak. I beg to disagree, we need to think through the issues and be pragmatic in our approach.As a background and to further contextualize the issue, let us dimension our consumption and production and then find out the gap and thereafter look at factors militating against our quest to achieve self-sufficiency and what can be done to realize same.
Nigeria depending on the data being presented and the one you believe consumes between 5.5 -7.0million metric tons of rice per annum.  For this article, I will use the figure and data provided by the highest echelons of government which for now is 7 million tons. About 2.7 million tons of that is produced locally but if we add the recent two million tons of paddy (which translates to about 1.2 million tons of packaged rice- as about 22-23 per cent is husk and 7-8 percent is bran while balance 10 per cent is rejects)  the government tells us has been generated by the farmers in Kebbi, Niger, Nasarawa, Kano, Jigawa, Ebonyi that will be 3.9 million tons meaning we technically have a gap of three million tons  which can only be met by  legitimate imports or smuggling.Another thing dynamic Nigerians might not be aware of is that rice consumption in the country is almost entirely parboiled rice. In West Africa, only Nigeria consumes parboiled rice. Other West African countries including all the neighboring countries Niger, Benin, Cameroon, Chad are not consumers of parboiled rice. In Africa, South Africa is probably the only other major country that consumes parboiled rice.

Whenever the tariff differential between the Nigeria rice tariff and the tariff in Benin Republic) and Togo is very wide the resultant effect is significant and massive levels of illegal cross border trade flows( smuggling). As per the industry sources, illegal smuggling of rice from Benin, Niger and Cameroon have been to the level of between 500,000mt to 2,000,000mt per annum over the past 6-7 years.The markets in northern Nigeria like Kano are completely swamped with smuggled rice which enters the country through land borders with Niger Republic and Katsina state. Legitimate importers of rice in Nigeria have thus effectively been shut out of Kano and other northern markets for several years.

The shipments of parboiled rice from India and Thailand into Lome, Cotonou, and Douala ports is a very fair estimate of smuggled rice into Nigeria as none of these countries have internal consumption of parboiled rice. All the imports of parboiled rice into these countries finally find their way into Nigeria.Often times the Ministry of Agriculture touts the drop in official import volumes into Nigeria as evidence of increase in local production whereas in actual fact the drop in official import volumes has been more than offset by increased arrivals of parboiled rice in Benin and Togo evidencing heightened smuggling activity which needs to be seriously curtailed.

Almost all the rice that one can see in markets across the length and breadth of the country is imported rice. There is very little of locally produced or milled rice seen in the market whether it is in big markets like Lagos, Abuja, Kano or Onitsha or even the smaller markets like Makurdi, Ilorin,  and Kaduna. To be fair to the current government and particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria, its intervention programme tagged Anchor Borrowers Scheme to encourage local production by granting single digit loans to out growers is yielding results albeit in trickles but it is a good start. Conversely paddy prices in Nigeria have hovered around 60,000 naira per metric ton from 2015 and has climbed to 140,000 in 2016 which is significantly higher than the prices in India and Thailand. This makes it challenging for Rice millers in Nigeria to be competitive.

In addition, Rice millers have found that it is challenging to procure large quantity of quality paddy in an efficient manner. As a result, most of the rice mills are operating below capacity. Although the Federal ministry of agriculture claims that there are about 21 rice mills in the country one reckons that there are not more than 9-10 Mills that are active and in regular production. The average yield in Nigeria for paddy is around 2.25mt per hectare. This leads to a situation of high production cost for the farmer, high paddy prices for the rice miller, low level of surplus paddy available for sale by the farmer and also poor earnings for the rice farmer.The number of jobs and improved livelihoods that can be created in rural areas by investment and improvement in paddy production is in several multiples coupled with rice milling and distribution as part of the entire value chain.


The process of developing a rice farm of meaningful scale (thousands of hectares) can take      anywhere from 5-10 years. Experience shows that the rice farming part of the value chain requires 4-6 times the investment required in rice milling. Rice farming also has a multi-year gestation period as land has to identified, purchased and title documents obtained, cleared and levelled, irrigation and other infrastructures built and soil testing, seeds testing and multiplication and best practices developed for each site. Further rice farming investments by the corporate sector also entails engaging with the host communities and farmers on a deeper level which has enduring socio economic benefits for the communities far beyond added rice production.

Private sector investment in rice farming and cultivation is essential in ensuring a workable and enduring linkage between farm to factory in the rice value chain. A Rice mill simplistically speaking is a piece of hardware which can be set up within 18-24 months. Rice milling technology is fairly standardized and readily available. But for a rice mill to function effectively it needs steady and reliable supply of good quality paddy at competitive prices which is not available today. The biggest bottleneck in the rice value chain is rice farming and not rice milling. It requires long gestation, bigger quantum of investments and a complexity of factors to manage.

Nigeria has suitable agro climatic conditions for cultivation of paddy. The current low yields are a function of poor seeds, no or low level of usage of inputs like fertilizer and pesticides, lack of irrigation, poor farming and post-harvest practices etc. These can be addressed in my view through engaging, supporting and training the farmers under the Farmer Out grower Programs run by the investors in their areas of operation. If the investors are engaged in commercial farming they have ready access to knowledge, expertise and resources that are required to effect that change and government should simply enable through right policies and easing the land tenure process.

The way forward in order to assess the demand and supply situation on the one hand is for policy makers to work with right set of data and one that is accurate and complete. Ignoring the supply of imported parboiled rice into and from neighboring countries leads to false assumptions and consequently wrong policy formulation. On the other hand, the current Tariff of 70% for imports is not sustainable for trading and as such high tariffs cannot sustain imports into the country as cost of smuggled rice through land borders is far cheaper, moreover the Central Bank has placed a technical ban by not allowing Form-M and by extension allotting foreign exchange.

With regards to production, farmers should be encouraged with government declaring a minimum support price for rice farmers and buy the paddy from the farmers and aggregate the paddy in silos and storage facilities of the Ministry of Agriculture as a first step. This would help to provide clear and hard data about the actual production levels and availability of paddy in the country in addition to building a strategic reserve.Another part of the policy thrust should be to encourage investors/corporates in Rice business in Nigeria to invest in Rice farming. The policy should aim at getting the investor to have a Commercial Rice farming to cover at least 50% of their milling capacity and to rely on Farmer Out grower programs for the rest of the paddy.


This would kick-start the much needed investment and corporate participation in Rice farming. Every investor in rice milling should be mandated to incorporate a rice farming component to assure a minimum 50% supply against stated capacity. If this is not done there is a real risk of investors who have only done the relatively small/minor investment in rice milling alone to compete unfairly against the investors who have invested in both rice milling and rice farming. They can do so by being able to bid up the paddy procurement price because they do not have the high capital investments and associated costs, from the catchment area of companies that have invested in integrated farming and milling projects.

In conclusion, we should not resort to banning Rice Imports overnight without adequate mechanisms put in place to ensure self- sufficiency.  Rather a fiscal measure like a hike in duties and levies should be considered whilst we work hard to ramp up production with my aforementioned recommendations.



 

Farmers Petition to Improve Conditions

The government has three months to act on issues raised in a petition submitted yesterday to the National Assembly and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries or risk a mass protest being staged. A group of 300 people, representing 2,260 families from Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Kandal, Takeo, Preah Vihear, Tbong Khmum and Kampot provinces, handed over their petition urging the government to improve conditions to help farmers cope with the low prices of produce by setting aside $400 million for the agricultural sector. According to the petition, farmers were faced with a lack of access to markets which are now flooded with imported rice and vegetables from Vietnam and Thailand.

 Farmers are also being forced to sell their produce below market value or risk not selling any, they said.They also cited a lack of technical expertise in the production and processing of local produce.“I request that the government not import vegetables and rice from abroad. Please value our local products,” said Hul Douk, a farmer from Prey Veng province’s Kanhchriech district.

In a bid to stabilize falling prices, in late September the government gave the green light to the Rural Development Bank (RDB) to disburse loans totaling $27 million to millers to buy paddy rice from farmers at 840 riel ($0.21) per kilogram. However, the response has been poor with only $1.5 million having been disbursed. Only five rice millers have applied for the loans, two of whom withdrew their applications, RDB president Kao Thach told Khmer Times yesterday.Local media reports attribute the poor response to rice millers facing bankruptcy after a tough year, while industry players are reluctant to become involved because of the many strings attached to the loans.

Prime Minister Hun Sen last month also called on microfinance institutions to consider setting up a mechanism to delay loan repayments for farmers who are struggling to cope with the low global rice prices. Land activists, who also signed the petition, said they were having their land confiscated by authorities and also having their land cleared without compensation. Government solutions to land disputes are also said to be slow and ineffective, with many becoming victims and losing their land along with the natural resources essential to entire communities.“Land issues in the country are some of the most contentious and the government does not seem to want solutions to it for the citizens,” said Nhil Pheap, an officer at the Coalition of Cambodia Farmer Community.“We see many land communities are still without a solution and it is hard to accept.Land issues are systemic and that means officials from the provincial level to the national level must stop this systemic conspiracy.
”Lay Phallim, a representative from the Land Management Ministry who accepted the petition from the demonstrators, said the ministry will look into the issues raised and will work towards resolving land disputes.“The ministry will continue to help in solving the problem for them,” he said.Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Lor Rasmey insists that the government has been actively addressing the issue of falling rice prices, but will look into the issues raised in the petition.“We will check the people’s request, whether or not it is accurate, and we will look into it further,” he said. “Overall, we will work for everyone’s mutual benefit in line with our regulations. And if it is the brokers who are causing trouble with the rice price decline, please report it to local authorities so they can find a solution.

”Land conflicts have been rife, originating from when the Khmer Rouge forced thousands of farmers off their land and destroyed most of the nation’s property records.Thomson Reuters Foundation reported last month that between 2000 and 2014 alone, 770,000 people were affected by land conflicts, citing charges presented by human rights lawyers at the International Criminal Court in Hague
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32796/farmers-petition-to-improve-conditions/


Amira Nature Foods gets approval to export basmati rice to China



Return to: FBR Home | Food | Dried Food | News Listing
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
FBR Staff WriterPublished 05 December 2016

Amira Nature Foods has received an approval to export basmati rice to China, which is considered as the world's largest rice market.The company is among 14 Indian firms which have been given the approval to export the specialty rice variety to China, reported the Business Standard.
Amira Nature Foods joins other Indian companies like Dawat rice brand maker LT Foods, Kohinoor Foods and India Gate rice brand maker KRBL, which have been approved for bringing the long grain Indian rice to the country.

Amira Nature Foods chairman Karan A Chanana said: “International expansion has been a strong pillar of our growth, and we are very excited to have this tremendous opportunity to further increase our international distribution footprint with Amira's entrance into the China market.“We are truly honored to be granted approval into China with our premium, Amira [branded] basmati rice as we continue to execute on our strategic global growth initiatives.”Considered to be the largest producer and largest importer of rice in the world, China is estimated to have imported around $2bn worth of rice in the last twelve months.All-India Rice Exporters’ Association executive director Rajen Sundaresan was quoted by the publication as saying: “India used to export 4,000-5,000 tonnes of basmati rice annually to China through Hong Kong. After this clearance, the rice can directly be sold in China.”

Founded in 1915 and headquartered in Dubai, Amira Nature Foods has operations across India, Singapore, the US, the UK, Germany and Malaysia.The company mainly sells basmati rice sourced from the Indian sub-continent under its Amira brand and also under third party brands.Along with being a branded packaged specialty rice provider, Amira Nature Foods also sells other food products across five continents.Amira Nature Foods has got clearance from China to import basmati rice. Photo: courtesy of Amira Nature Foods Ltd

FG stops 571,000 tonnes of rice from entering Nigeria

December 6, 2016
Bags of rice

Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja
The Federal Government on Monday announced that 571,000 tonnes of foreign rice warehoused in neighbouring countries were being targeted for the Nigerian market for the Christmas and New Year season, but vowed to stop their entry.It also stated that Nigeria recently took delivery of 110 rice mills in its bid to enhance local production so as to commence the exportation of white rice from next year.The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who disclosed these in Abuja, stated that some of Nigeria’s neighbours, particularly the Republic of Benin, were not moving goods within the region as required by relevant treaties.He, however, stated that the Federal Government would henceforth check all illegal movements of food and non-food items into Nigeria from the neighbouring countries.

Ogbeh said, “What they do is that they import goods, station themselves at our borders and then smuggle them into Nigeria. For instance, the Republic of Benin doesn’t eat parboiled rice. They eat white rice. But all the rice that comes from the borders into Nigeria is parboiled.“I have a list now of all the ships that left Thailand in the last seven weeks and they’ve arrived; 571,000 tonnes of rice waiting to enter Nigeria for Christmas. But we won’t allow that. We have to review the treaty in the region, because we are at the losing end. Why are we doing this? It is because this rice is not definitely grown in the Republic of Benin.”

He added, “They bring tomato paste and chicken not produced in the Republic of Benin and because the Nigerian market is so huge, that they want to exploit it. But no economy out of sympathy should damage our own and we should not out of sentiment allow anybody to do things to us, which we can’t do to them.“When Dangote was trying to ship his cement through the Republic of Benin to Togo, it took him one year to persuade them.”Ogbeh reiterated that the country would start exporting rice from next year, as he stated that 110 mills had been acquired to make this a reality.He said, “We can make it happen. We have just brought in 110 rice mills of different capacities. Some can do 100 tonnes, others 50, 40, 20 and 10 tonnes. We are going to give them to cooperative organisations and rice millers all over the country to enhance their milling capacities.

“We have another 12 rice mills to come in maybe next year so that the milling capacity is strong enough for us and we too will begin to export white rice to West Africa.”On the issue of possible famine in Nigeria from January next year, the minister stated that the government was prepared and promised that the country would not experience such.The minister stated, “We want to put it quite clearly that there is no danger of famine in the country, because the government will not allow that to happen. We are already taking steps to make sure that Nigerians don’t go through any such harrowing experience. There has been some panic over the massive purchase of grains from many of the big grain producing fields in some parts of the country.

“This fear was heightened by emirs and chiefs in the North, who met with us on Tuesday last week and raised the same anxiety. It is true that for the first time in our history, we are witnessing an extra-ordinary purchase of our grains from the West, North and Central Africa. We are even getting demands from as far as Namibia; they are asking for grains in large quantities of up to 37,000 tonnes of maize.”
Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.


http://punchng.com/fg-stops-571000-tonnes-rice-entering-nigeria/


Demonetisation puts brakes on agri-commodity exports

Exports of cotton, groundnut, soya meal affected; exporters fail to meet commitments due to lower arrivals

Vimukt Dave  |  Ahmedabad December 6, 2016 Last Updated at 00:29 IST
2714

 

Soya, groundnut crop may miss estimatesMCX raises transaction charges for agri and non-agri commoditiesPak stops permits for agri import from IndiaOpen interest in non-agri commodities declines on uncertainty over govt policy move

Demonetisation has not only impacted the arrival of agricultural-commodities in the market, but the export orders in commodities such as cotton, groundnut and soyameal have also taken a toll. With exporters facing difficulties to source products from the markets, non-fulfilment of orders in November has led to order book cancellations and fall in forward contracts.

Groundnut and cotton exporters have stopped forward contracts for January as they are averse to taking risk under the current circumstances. During October-November, around 700,000 bales of cotton have been exported against an order book of two million bales for the said period. Groundnut exporters, too, say they have prior commitments for November and December for 135,000 tonnes but are not in a position to fulfil the same due to lower arrivals.  Cotton exporters have booked orders of about two million bales (one bale is 170 kg) for November, December and January. According to exporters, in this condition, exporters might fulfil only one million bales order by end-December; the remaining orders might be delayed or cancelled.

According to industry sources, if the cash problem persists, exports of rice and maize might also get affected in the coming days.“The October-December period is crucial for groundnut exports because during these months, we have maximum orders. It’s harvesting time and prices in domestic market remain lower as the supplies are steady. That way, we can offer competitive prices to the buyers. But, now because of demonetisation, arrival at the mandis in groundnut-producing states have declined.

Thus, we’re unable to fulfil our commitments,” said Sanjay Shah, vice-chairman of Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council.  Currently, against an estimated daily arrival of about 350,000 bags (of 55 kg each), the actual daily arrival is 170,000-185,000 bags.  According to groundnut exporters, November-December is an advantageous time for Indian exporters as competition is limited. January onwards, Argentina and Africa will enter in the market, which increases competition.  Shah said: “Going by the current situation, exporters are not getting into forward contracts for January as they don’t want to take risk. Several deals have already been delayed and some may cancel if the situation will not revive shortly.”

Agriculture experts also believe that delay or cancellation might hurt the image of the country and demand might shift to competition. “Supply is important to fulfil the export commitments. In present condition, farmers are not selling as they want cash and buyers have no cash on hand. As on date, cotton, groundnut and soya meal exports have been affected but if the situation will not change soon, then basmati rice, maize and pulses exporters might also face trouble,” said G Chandrashekhar, economic advisor of Indian Merchant Chamber.

Chirag Pan, CEO of Jaydeep Cotton Fibres, said: “The cotton sector always deals in cash with farmers. Currently, arrival should be 200,000 bales a day. Against it, daily arrival is only 100,000 bales at the peak time. Export is uncertain now so we are not taking new orders as we are not sure to complete committed orders.”

Adding to it, Pan said India exports 70 per cent of cotton during October and March every year. The industry expects six million bales of cotton exports in the current cotton year (October-September), but in this scenario, exports might not be over 4.5 million bales

Liquidity crunch

 

 

·         With exporters facing difficulties to source products from the markets, non-fulfilment of orders in November has led to fall in forward contracts

·         Cotton exporters have booked orders of 2 bn bales but only 50% shipment is possible

·         If the cash problem persists, exports of rice and maize might also get affected in the coming days

Nigeria Customs intercepts container of jollof rice, yam porridge, egusi from India

The Tin-Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has intercepted a 20ft container of “READY TO EAT FOODS’’ like egusi soup, jollof rice, ogbono, yam porridge imported from India.The Customs Area Comptroller, Bashar Yusuf, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Monday in Lagos by the Public Relations Officer of the Command, Uche Ejesieme.Mr. Yusuf spoke with stakeholders at the SDV/SCOA Terminal while handing over the container of imported prepared foods to officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC.

The comptroller described the scenario as an “aberration”, considering the fact that government granted zero duty for the importation of machinery for the packaging of agricultural products.“Why should indigenous menu be imported into the country at a time when investors are much sought after to boost local industries,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Yusuf as saying.The controller said the command generated N25.7 billion in November, up from N25.3 billion recorded in October.Mr. Yusuf said that the higher revenue was recorded in spite of the recession and low imports.

He said that the command would continue to explore all avenues for maximum revenue collection. According to him, this is in view of the exigencies of the moment, which placed more responsibilities on the service.Mr. Yusuf urged potential investors to take advantage of the numerous export potential in the country for their socio-economic benefits.In a related development, while briefing a group of senior officers undergoing training in the command, the controller admonished them to make professionalism, integrity and transparency as their watchword.He also urged the officers to ensure effective leadership and supervision in carrying out their duties.Mr. Yusuf said the various trade facilitation tools as provided in the automation of Customs procedures would guide the officers in the discharge of their functions.

The comptroller told the officers to see training and re-training as a veritable tools that would sharpen their knowledge toward achieving desired results.He appreciated the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, for effectively re-positioning the service in spite of global recession.“NCS is still working tirelessly to remain on top of its statutory mandate,’’ he said.Mr. Yusuf said that this could not have been possible if not for the pragmatic leadership of the comptroller-general and his management.

“In this era and dispensation, officers are expected to be above board with deep sense of commitment and responsibility in the discharge of their functions.“The Change ideology of the comptroller -general must be given priority attention,” he said.He, however, warned that anybody that fails to key into the new order would be seriously sanctioned.
(NAN

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/217123-nigeria-customs-intercepts-container-jollof-rice-yam-porridge-egusi-india.html




Indonesia Agricultural Machinery Market Outlook to 2020 - Integration of Small Farm holding Structure and Government Support to Foster Growth - Research and Markets

December 05, 2016 06:34 AM Eastern Standard Time

“Indonesia Agricultural Machinery Market Outlook to 2020 - Integration of Small Farm holding Structure and Government Support to Foster Growth”
Indonesia Agricultural Machinery Market Outlook to 2020 - Integration of Small Farm holding Structure and Government Support to Foster Growth provides a comprehensive analysis regarding the performance of the agricultural machinery and equipment market in Indonesia.
The revenues of the industry have been segmented on the basis of agricultural machinery including Tractors, Combine Harvesters, Rice Transplanters and Tractor Implements. Under each segment, aspects such as market size on the basis of revenue and sales volume have been computed.
The report also covers market share in each segment along with the competitive landscape of major agricultural machinery manufacturers, country overview on the basis of macro-economic variables, pricing analysis, agricultural overview and business model of major agricultural machinery manufacturers.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Executive Summary
2. Research Methodology
3. Country Overview
4. Agricultural Overview
5. Government Policy Impacting The Agricultural Machinery Market in Indonesia
6. Market For Tractors and Implements
7. Customer Insight on Indonesia Agriculture Equipments
8. Analyst Recommendations
Companies Mentioned
·         PT Kubota Machinery Indonesia
·         Yanmar Indonesia
·         Quick Tractors (CV. Karya Hidup Sentosa)
·         PT Rutan (Agrindo)
·         Traktor Nusantara (Massey Ferguson and Tym)
·         PT Satrindo Mitra Utama (John Deere)
·         Altrak 1987 (New Holland)
·         Maxxi
·         Galaxy
·         Tanikaya
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/gtvmd9/indonesia

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McKinney says he is driven to support, help farmers solve problems

Nathan McKinney 
Posted Dec 5, 2016 at 4:18 PM
By Dawn Teer / Stuttgart Daily Leader
Editor's Note: This is the ninth and final question and answer session article with local scientists at the University of Arkansas (UofA) Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC) in Stuttgart.
Name: Nathan McKinney
Education: B.S. and M.S. in agronomy: University of Arkansas. Ph.D. in agronomy: Kansas State University
Field of expertise: Crop Production
Hometown: Fayetteville
Family: Married to Susie, 36 years, with two grown children, Ginger and Baker.
When did you become interested in rice research?
I am not directly involved in the research at our station, but I serve in an administrative support role. And the RREC is host to a number of research efforts on other commodities. For example, we have corn fertility studies and soybean variety trials this year at the RREC. Several scientists from the Fayetteville campus use our land and labs for research covering a number of important crops and cropping systems.
What courses did you take that steered you into the field that became your career?
I enjoyed essentially every course I took, and I think they all helped prepare me for some aspect of my career. But my favorites were crop production, soil fertility and statistics (Yes, I had 24 credit hours of advanced statistics).
What do you do at UARREC?
I am serving as the interim director, which means I provide the administrative support and leadership to our faculty and staff. It is intended to be a temporary assignment. So if I’m successful, I will hire an enthusiastic, well-trained scientist to lead our Center for many years while I return to my permanent assignment in Fayetteville.
What are you currently working on or developing? And why?
I am encouraging each of our faculty to use a portfolio approach to research. That is, solving problems that will impact farmers now and forecasting solutions to problems that will likely occur over the next ten years. And I am seeking to be as efficient with our current resources as possible.
What research that you have done has been able to help the average rice farmer?
We do several things that help the entire range of farming operations. Some examples include new variety development, weed and disease management, insect and nematode management and novel irrigation concepts. I am convinced that every farmer benefits from our research-based recommendations. If we hope to keep Arkansas farmers competitive and profitable, it is incumbent upon us to introduce new and innovative ideas that every farm operation can apply.
What are some of the research differences between what you do and the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center?
Arkansas farmers and the state of Arkansas are our biggest stakeholders and we take that investment as a mandate to focus on Arkansas issues, while other agencies have a broader mission to solve national and global issues. Our missions overlap, we cooperate on many projects and we are co-located. So I see only a few differences and many similarities.
What would people be surprised to learn about your job and what you do?
While my job requires a scientific background, that is not my daily focus. Dealing effectively with people to help them solve their problems is what motivates me; that’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.
Do you have a support staff that assist you in your research? Who are they and what do they do?
Every faculty and staff member supports the mission, and I am grateful for every one of them. In turn, my chief aim is to motivate and equip them to serve our stakeholders. Everyone here has an important job. The proverb ‘for want of a nail’ rings true at the RREC






50th Anniversary Celebrated for Rice That Prevented Asia Famines

December 05, 2016 5:50 AM
Anjana Pasricha

Indian Farmer Nekkanti Subba Rao
Back in 1966, Nekkanti Subha Rao, a farmer in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh planted a semi-dwarf rice variety developed by the International Rice Research Institute on 1,000 hectares of land.Crossbred from a tall variety in Indonesia and a dwarf variety in China, IR8 was the world’s first high-yielding rice and is credited with having prevented famines and sparking the Green Revolution in rice in Asia.As India and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines celebrate the 50th anniversary of what came to be known as the Miracle Rice, farmer Rao, now 80 years old, recalls the wonder of the moment when he harvested an astonishing 7.5 tons per hectare.
“Never before,” he said. “Every farmer feeling very, very, very happy, happy. 100 percent success.”In the 1960s and 1970s, when India and several Asian countries grappled with food shortages, IR8 and varieties that followed helped triple rice output in Asia and fended off the specter of widespread hunger.“It transformed agriculture, which averted the perennial food crises that happened in those years, those decades. It saved millions of lives,” said Dr. Nafees Meah, IRRI’s regional representative for South Asia.After India, IR8 went on to be planted across a host of Asian countries, such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia, where rice is the staple food for most people.
In all these countries, say agriculture scientists, it did not just boost yields. The shorter length of the crop made it sturdier and less prone to collapsing before harvest time. And as it took less time to mature compared to traditional rice strains, it allowed farmers to cultivate more than one crop on the same land.“It reduced the duration quite significantly and it continues to do so. Vietnam right now, in many parts of Mekong Delta where water is there, they grow three crops a year, primarily because of shorter duration varieties,” said Samarendu Mohanty, Head of Social Sciences at IRRI in Philippines.
Mature rice fields of Peta, IR8 and DGWG varieties.

In about two decades, the IR8 made way to a host of other high yield varieties, but it is the parental strain for many of these. Recalling its phenomenal contribution, Mohanty said that in India alone, it is estimated to have contributed $1.3 billion annually to the rice sector.But ensuring food security is no longer the only challenge for Asia - a continent that is far more affluent than it was 50 years ago. At the same time, malnourishment continues to haunt millions of poor in the region, especially in South Asia. And everywhere, farmers are battling climate change.
“Developing new varieties that are higher yielding and more nutritious, but ones that have less of an environmental footprint, ones that require less water, fertilizer, pesticide and ones that actually have reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rod Wing, an American scientist at IRRI in Manila as he outlines the challenges of the 21st century.
In recent years, new varieties that are more resistant to droughts and floods are showing promising results in east India and Bangladesh, a delta country where flash floods used to submerge or wash away crops.“With these new varieties, we have got a real opportunity,” Meah said. “It has been adopted by millions of farmers, so they see the benefits of it. And it’s a real improvement for their livelihoods as well.”
To improve nutritional levels, a genetically engineered strain has been developed to address Vitamin A deficiency that kills many under the age of five. On the other end of the spectrum, as Asia copes with what are sometimes called diseases of affluence and witnesses an explosion in the incidence of diabetes, scientists are developing varieties with low glycemic index, which release energy slowly.But the core challenge of productivity that IR8 sparked has still not gone away.
“The big question is how do we solve the 10 billion people question? That is, how are we going to feed three more billion people on the planet by 2050? It is a huge, daunting task,” said Wing at IRRI, pointing out that rice is the staple diet of more than half the world.And while farmers are harvesting higher and higher yields, they continue to battle other problems.“Cost of cultivation very, very high now. Labor cost is high,” rued farmer Subha Rao from his home in Andhra Pradesh.


Each furrow-irrigated field may require different handling
Rice Farmers should be prepared to fertilizer their furrow-irrigated or row rice acres on a field-by-field basis, LSU AgCenter Extension rice specialist says.
 | Dec 05, 2016
       
Don’t think you can use a “cookie-cutter” approach to fertilizing or managing your fields in a furrow-irrigated or row rice situation, says Dustin Harrell, Extension rice specialist with the LSU AgCenter.“Every furrow-irrigated rice field is not the same,” Dr. Harrell said during a presentation at a Row Rice Production meeting in Rayville, La. “We may have fields that are close to being level; we may have some with a pretty good slope on there and we’ll get water down them quickly.“And, depending on what your field is like, that’s going to change the nitrogen rate recommendations. The nitrogen recommendations will not be the same across all these different fields. You may have a field with a tenth or less slope; you may collect the water at the end of the furrow; you may have tailwater recovery or a small levee at the end.”
The number of practices can vary, and growers need to have a plan for dealing with them before they get into irrigating their rice, Dr. Harrell noted in a presentation to about 60 growers from northeast Louisiana.The meeting was organized by the Northeast Louisiana Rice Growers Association with the assistance of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service’s Richland Parish office in Rayville, La.
http://www.deltafarmpress.com/rice/each-furrow-irrigated-field-may-require-different-handling