REAP urges SBP to give six-month relaxation
December 21, 2016
The Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan (REAP) has sent a SOS message to the State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) seeking a six-month relaxation for the rice exporters for the
year 2015-16 who could not succeed to achieve export performance as required by
the SBP to match with Export Refinance Scheme.
Heavy penalties are being imposed on the exporters against short performance by the State Bank which is adding to the woes of exporters already under financial burden because of declining rice exports, especially Basmati for the last few years. There are many reasons of this sharp decline in Pakistani rice exporters which include unfavourable local and international prices and Indian rice factor, said a letter written by the REAP to the Governor SBP.
"We have already discussed this issue with the Ministry of Finance. For the year 2014-15, this relaxation was extended by the SBP and now we are seeking the same relaxation for the year 2015-16", said Senior Vice President Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan Shahjahan Malik while talking to this scribe, here on Tuesday. He urged the government to extend a relief of six months for saving the rice export sector from total collapse.
Shahjahan reviewing the year 2015-16 said it could be termed as bleak year for rice exports, especially for Basmati whose export fell by 18 to 20 percent. He said one of the major factors behind their Basmati rice exports' decline was lower rates of Indian Basmati rice because they had good new seeds giving them more per acre yield as compared to Pakistan.
Heavy penalties are being imposed on the exporters against short performance by the State Bank which is adding to the woes of exporters already under financial burden because of declining rice exports, especially Basmati for the last few years. There are many reasons of this sharp decline in Pakistani rice exporters which include unfavourable local and international prices and Indian rice factor, said a letter written by the REAP to the Governor SBP.
"We have already discussed this issue with the Ministry of Finance. For the year 2014-15, this relaxation was extended by the SBP and now we are seeking the same relaxation for the year 2015-16", said Senior Vice President Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan Shahjahan Malik while talking to this scribe, here on Tuesday. He urged the government to extend a relief of six months for saving the rice export sector from total collapse.
Shahjahan reviewing the year 2015-16 said it could be termed as bleak year for rice exports, especially for Basmati whose export fell by 18 to 20 percent. He said one of the major factors behind their Basmati rice exports' decline was lower rates of Indian Basmati rice because they had good new seeds giving them more per acre yield as compared to Pakistan.
He said just because of their lower prices, the Indians were far ahead of the Pakistanis in Saudi market which is also a big consumer of Basmati rice. Similarly, he said that they could not take advantage of normalisation of Iran-US relations which could earn as a big Basmati market. "We are yet to set up a banking channel which could help us opening L/Cs and make our presence felt in Iran," the REAP Senior Vice Chairman added.
On long term basis, he said their rice research institutes should introduce new higher yield rice seeds with resistance against diseases and climate change. More per acre yield could help us marketing cheaper rights, he said, and added that they are researching on some new varieties in collaboration with Chinese at his organisation to bring new varieties with higher yields.
However, it will take three to four years for making such varieties commercially acceptable for the growers after their introduction. On the front of REAP, he said they would be sending two delegations - one to Saudi Arab and another to the US for marketing Pakistani rice. "There are reservations on pesticide residue in Indian rice in the US which is not present in Pakistani rice and we are planning to take advantage of it", Shahjahan Malik concluded
http://www.brecorder.com/agriculture-a-allied/183/115539/
Ties with
Iran: Envoy urges businessmen to daub trade potential
There are extensive opportunities
to urge trade family between Pakistan and Iran, pronounced Pakistan Ambassador
to Iran Asif Ali Khan Durrani during his revisit to a Rawalpindi Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (RCCI) on Monday.
Addressing a traders, he pronounced
that Pakistan and Iran have aged story and they are culturally, historically,
linguistically and religiously trustworthy with any other.He pronounced that
Pakistan is confronting an appetite predicament and Iran has adequate energy
sources in terms of electricity and gas. As a universe powers have carried
sanctions on a nation there are good opportunities for Pakistani businessmen to
daub trade intensity in Iran, a envoy added.“Pharmaceutical, information
technology, petro chemical and line can offer as pivotal areas of investment to
urge shared trade.” Durrani pronounced that Iran is a large marketplace and
Pakistani products have a good repute and value in Iranian market. There is a
large approach of Pakistani basmati rice, he added.
Talking about a problems
opposition trade he pronounced there is a need to urge a banking channels to
residence a LC issues and atmosphere links with approach flights from Tehran to
Islamabad and other cities.He sensitive a participants about a arriving “Aalishan
Pakistan Expo” in Iran to be hold on Mar 4-7. Durrani positive his full
team-work and pronounced that his bureau is prepared to yield any assistance in
this regard.Also vocalization on a occasion, RCCI President Raja Amer Iqbal
pronounced that a sell of delegations is important, as singular nation
exhibitions can be a good source of introducing products in any other’s market.
Assuring a envoy of their
appearance in a arriving expo, Iqbal pronounced that a business village is
prepared to urge a shared trade volume and business activities between a dual
countries.He urged a supervision to take evident stairs to solve issues like
etiquette tariffs, clearance, third currency, banking channel and improved
railway links. He pronounced that a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor offers a
large event for traders to urge informal trade and connectivity. An flexible
response and assistance is compulsory from a government, he added.The envoy was
given a brief lecture on RCCI stream and arriving events.
Published in The Express Tribune, Dec 20th,
2016.
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FCI staff against digitisation,
says rice millers’ body
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 20
Hailing the
demonetisation decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Punjab Rice Millers
Association today accused the Food Corporation of India (FCI) employees for
trying to derail the motive of demonetisation.“We have welcomed the
demonetisation move of the Prime Minister who have also announced that it would
abolish inspector raj and help to weed out corruption from the country,”
association president Tarsem Saini said. He alleged that FCI employees in the
state were adamant that the country remained dependent on manual systems
instead of digital ones.
Saini said to
make the process digital, the Chief Managing Director of the Food Corporation
of India had set up three computerised labs in Punjab for rice acceptance at
Patiala, Jagraon and Sunam and even digital moisture metres had been installed,
but employees of the FCI refused to use the digital system and insisted on
manual process.“If the digital process is implemented there will not be any
opportunity for employees to indulge in corruption, which they do in manual
process, thus they have even gone on strike against the digital processes,”
Saini alleged.
The
association alleged that to continue with their corrupt practices, the staff of
the Food Corporation of India and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation were on
strike for nearly 10 days. “To root out corruption, the Food Corporation of
India management had invested huge sums to make the FCI weighbridges online but
the agencies and Food Corporation of India employees were creating obstacles
not to implement the same,” Saini said
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/fci-staff-against-digitisation-says-rice-millers-body/339761.html
New ‘Survivor’ Rice Variety
The Cambodian Agricultural
Research and Development Institute (CARDI) is carrying out research to develop
a new rice variety that can withstand drastic climatic changes, survive pest
attacks, and is resistant to plant diseases.According to state news agency AKP,
the CARDI research involves incorporating desirable traits from the Romduol and
Leangchey rice species into a new laboratory-developed variety called “Ei Air”.“The
new rice variety can be planted all through the year and can withstand floods,
drought, diseases and pest attacks,” said Ouk Makara, director of CARDI.
“It will have all the good qualities of
Romduol and the strong survival traits of Leangchey,” added Mr. Makara.“The
selected new variety can survive under [climatic] stress and retain desirable
grain qualities. This will have positive impacts in the lives of poor farmers.”Mr.
Makara said CARDI’s research had the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and
other rice research centers in neighboring countries.
Researchers in Asean and the Greater Mekong
Sub-region are creating more robust, climate-ready rice varieties that boost
yields and adapt well to harsh conditions. According to the International Rice
Research Institute in Manila, a process known as marker assisted back-crossing
can identify favorable survival traits, and combine them with other favorable
traits to create more robust, elite rice varietieshttp://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33376/new----survivor----rice-variety/
Philippines eyes faster 2017
farm output, banking on China demand
Reuters
China lifted a ban on Philippine exports of pineapples and bananas in October and pledged to import more fish and farm products from the Southeast Asian nation after President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to build a commercial alliance with Beijing."Our farmers are upbeat nowadays because of the opening of new export markets for them," Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol told a media briefing on Tuesday.
Next year's growth target in agriculture would outpace this year's forecast of a 3.5 percent to 5 percent increase. Piñol said 2016 growth would be supported by another bumper rice harvest in the final quarter, thanks largely to favorable weather.
He expected unmilled rice output to rise to 18.57 million tons next year from a projected 17.9 million tons this year as the government increases support to farmers by providing more seeds and irrigation services.
The moves should boost average yield per hectare to six tons in some areas from close to four tonnes currently, he said.Piñol said the Philippines, one of the world's biggest rice importers, was on track to be self sufficient in rice production by 2019.Agriculture accounts for about a tenth of the country's gross domestic product, but Piñol said he wants to raise the sector's contribution to overall economic output to 20 percent.
DA pins hope on hybrid seeds to hit rice
self-sufficiency goal
-
December
20, 2016
The
Department of Agriculture (DA) will plant hybrid rice seeds in 1 million
hectares of irrigated lands starting next year in its bid to achieve rice self-sufficiency
by 2019.Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the government will
identify 10 initial areas with 1,000 hectares of irrigated land under the
Masaganang Ani (MA) 6000 program.“The DA is positive that it can be done. We are now in the process of finalizing the MA 6000 program, which will initially target 1 million hectares of irrigated areas,” Piñol told reporters in a news briefing on Tuesday.
“These areas will be supported with hybrid-rice seeds, sufficient fertilizer, and efficient irrigation system and mechanization,” he added.
“The purpose of the Masaganang Ani 6000 is to address the issues that would contribute to productivity. It’s the existing irrigated area that we are going to utilize, we are not expanding,” he said.
The DA said it is eyeing to improve the national average rice production to 6 metric tons (MT) per hectare from the current 3.9 MT per hectare. Citing farmers’ testimonies, Piñol said they are able to produce more than the national average yield by planting hybrid rice seeds in areas with proper irrigation system and efficient farm machines.
“If we can perfect that program then we can achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2019,” Piñol added.Increasing the productivity of the 1 million hectare areas targeted under the MA 6000 program by 2 MT per ha. would increase annual rice output by 2.4 million metric tons (MMT) and wipe out imports.“Considering that the areas being targeted are irrigated, the increase in rice output could reach 2.4 MMT.“We are currently short of 1.8 MMT of rice, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO],” Piñol said.
Citing the FAO data, he said farmers lose about 20 percent of their harvest during the milling of rice due to the use of inefficient machines.“The old rice mills have a recovery rate of 60 percent against the 65 percent recovery rate of new rice mills, so that’s 5 percent being wasted,” he said.“Our intention is really to modernize the post-harvest facilities, hoping that at least we can cut post-harvest losses to as low as 10 percent,” Piñol added
Thailand Exports 9.3 Million Tons of Rice Jan
to Mid-Dec 2016: Commerce Ministry
Bangkok. Thailand
has exported 9.3 million tons of rice so far this year, mostly to China and
countries in Africa, the commerce ministry said on Monday (19/12), well short
of the government's target for 2016.
The top
importers of Thai rice this year were Benin, Ivory Coast, South Africa, China
and Cameroon, she added. Thailand has stocks of about 8 million tons left over
from a rice-buying scheme under the previous government that paid farmers well
above market rates for their rice. Most of the rice has been stored for more
than five years, the foreign trade department said, making it difficult to sell
it at target prices and to find potential buyers.
The
current military government has been trying to sell off stockpiles from the
scheme through several state auctions since it took power in 2014. Duangporn
said the rice could be used for industrial purposes, adding that the government
plans to offload all of the remaining rice stocks from the scheme by end-2017
http://img.beritasatu.com/cache/jakartaglobe/909x605-2/2014/04/2014-04-17T070523Z_847281681
Rice Export Firms Get Go
Ahead
”In October, China signed a memorandum of
understanding with Cambodia to import rice with an export quota of 200,000 tons
per year from the Kingdom.Earlier this month, a delegation of Chinese experts
inspected the quality and safety at 28 rice mills during a week-long visit to
Cambodia. All of the rice mills passed quality and food hygiene tests for
export to China.CRF vice president Hun Lak told Khmer Times yesterday that the
18 local rice export companies would begin exporting rice to China next month.
The other 10 local rice export companies that passed inspection will proceed
with exports later.
Mr. Lak said there was no limit in the amount
of rice exports for each company as it is a free market but he could not
disclose how many tons would be exported to China in January.“We start
exporting rice to China based on orders and it depends on price negotiations.
We do not know the amount of rice to be exported yet,” he said.Mr. Lak said
that the quality, standard and hygiene were accepted by China, but export
quantities more or less depended on price as China always compares prices with
Cambodia’s neighbors. He added that more rice would be exported if Cambodia can
compete with the price offered by Thailand and Vietnam.
Phou Puy, president of the Battambang-based
Green Rice Miller, a company that has been exporting rice to China for years,
told Khmer Times yesterday that the demand for Cambodian rice from China has
been increasing of late.
He said Cambodian rice quality and prices can
compete with both Thailand and Vietnam and added that exports to China would
increase if the amount, quality and price were acceptable to both parties. “I did
not calculate yet how many tons of rice we export to China, but overall about
60,000 tons of rice have been exported to China, the European Union, Malaysia
and Brunei,” Mr. Puy said.
“The price of rice sold to China is between
$500 FOB [free on board] per ton to about $620 FOB per ton – it depends on the
season and market.”Amru Rice (Cambodia) president Song Saran told Khmer Times
that Amru is new to the Chinese market and most of its exports are to the
European Union, but he is optimistic about the new market’s potential. He said
Amru exported about 500 tons to 1,000 tons of rice to China this year.“I really
appreciate this new market. Market diversification gives plenty of choices to
farmers,” he said. Cambodia
exported about 500,000 tons of rice to the international market in the first 11
months of this year, a five percent increase compared with the same period last
year. China alone imported about 107,091 tons
Buzz Nigeria
State rice stocks headed for disposal
Warehouse charges cost B510m a month
20 Dec 2016 at 07:56 5,547 viewed4 comments
NEWSPAPER SECTION: BUSINESS | WRITER: PHUSADEE
ARUNMAS
Forklifting sacks of rice at a processing plant
in Ayutthaya province. The government plans to bring the quantity of state rice
stocks down as much as possible next year. THITI WANNAMONTHA
The government is committed to disposing all 8
million tonnes of state rice stocks next year.According to Duangporn Rodphaya,
director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, most of the existing 8
million tonnes of rice stocks are white rice, and 5 million tonnes of the total
is poor-quality grain unfit for human consumption.
The remaining 3 million tonnes are mixed-grade
in quality, suitable for human consumption.The government has been paying 510
million baht a month for rice warehouses.According to Mrs Duangporn, the
Commerce Ministry is in talks with the Energy and Industry Ministry to find
proper ways to use rice stocks unsuitable for human consumption for industrial
purposes, such as biomass and ethanol production.
For good-quality grain, she said, the
authorities will call general auctions at opportune periods.Since the May 2014
coup, 8.68 million tonnes of rice has been sold via 23 auctions, fetching 89.2
billion baht.Government-to-government rice deals have unloaded an estimated 3.8
million tonnes worth 50 billion baht.The state-held rice stocks have fallen
sharply from the 18.7 million tonnes accumulated through various rice-pledging
schemes during 2011-14.According to Mrs Duangporn, lower rice supply will
benefit the government if it succeeds in selling existing state-held stocks.
The government expects Thailand's rice
shipments to remain strong, with this year's figures possibly exceeding the
Commerce Ministry's target of 9.5 million tonnes.As of Dec 14, she said
Thailand had shipped 9.3 million tonnes, up 2% from the same period last year,
fetching US$4.17 billion.The top five importers were Benin, China, Ivory Coast,
South Africa and Cameroon.Of the total exports, white rice made up for 50%, hom
mali rice 25% and parboiled, glutinous and Pathum Thani fragrant rice comprised
the rest.Mrs Duangporn said hom mali rice shipments have risen this year to 2
million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes last year, mainly to China, Indonesia
and the Philippines."Thailand's rice prices have gradually improved thanks
to the government's myriad measures, teamed with the private sector promoting
rice sales," Mrs Duangporn said.
Bangkok Post
LAKE Rice Now Selling at
N12,000 Per Bag In Lagos
·
Post by
Iheoma Hendy December 20, 2016
As promised, the Lagos State Government has
commenced the sale of its ‘LAKE Rice’ at the price of N12,000 for 50kg and
N6,000 for 25kg.Last week, the Special Adviser on Food Security to Governor
Akinwumi Ambode, Sanni Okanlawan, said that the rice sale which was earlier
slated to begin from December 15 was postponed to this week to ensure plots to
hijack the project was averted.The state government had planned to sell the
rice at N13,000 per 50kg bag at the 57 Local Government and Local Council
Development area headquarters.During the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry
National Agriculture Stakeholders Summit, Okanlawon said that government was
installing mechanisms for Lagosians to celebrate the best Yuletide without
hiccups posed by money bags.
According to Okanlawan:
“We are working out the modalities to make sure
that what the government intends to sell at N13,000 was not hijacked and sold
to Lagosians at N15,000, that is what we do not want. From all indications,
hopefully, by next week LAKE Rice will be out, so, we want everything to be in
place before it is out.”Also Read: Lagos Markets Reduce Prices of Food
Condiments by 55%
National Helm reports that LAKE Rice is now
available and can be bought at the following locations nearest to you:
LAGOS EAST
Ikorodu – Odogunyan Farm Service Centre
Epe – Temu Farm Service Centre
Eredo – Noforija Town Hall
Ibeju – Magbon Alade High School
Maryland – Subeb Premises
LAGOS WEST
Agege – LSADA Complex/Farm Service Centre
Ojo – LAISA Agric Bus Stop
Mowo – Coconut House
Badagry – Town Farm Service Centre, Marina
Oshodi – Ikeja Grammar School, Bolade
LAGOS CENTRAL
Ajah – Ministry of Agric Area Office
Lagos Island – Lastma Office Adeniji/Freeman
Ajegunle – Alakoto Senior High School, Tolu
Surulere – TESLIM Balogun stadium
Yaba – Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre,
Rowe Park
LAKE Rice is the acronym of both Lagos and
Kebbi States joint product subsidised by the government. In March, Lagos State
government signed an MoU with the Kebbi State Government to produce rice paddy
to be milled and packaged in Lagos State.
Scientists
look to ‘sea rice’ to lift output
Source: Xinhua | December 21, 2016, Wednesday
YUAN Longping, China’s renowned
rice scientist, is leading a research to cultivate new strains of high yield
“sea rice.”The research team plans to spend three years developing a breed that
can withstand water with a salinity of up to 0.8 percent, with a yield over 300
kilograms per mu (about 665 square meters), said Yuan, known as the “father of
hybrid rice,” during a seminar in Sanya City in Hainan Province.“Over half of
the world’s population relies on rice as their staple food, while the
proportion is over 60 percent in China,” Yuan said, adding that China has more
than 1 billion mu of saline-alkaline soil, and it will be of great significance
to convert such soil into arable land by developing sea rice with a high
salinity tolerance.Using 100 million mu of land to grow sea rice, the country
could produce an extra of 30 billion kg of rice and feed an extra 80 million
people.
Sea rice is sometimes found in saline-alkaline soil where rivers
join the sea. The plant is resistant to pests, diseases, salt and alkali, and
does not need fertilizer.Currently, the most advanced sea rice breed in China
has a yield of 400kg per mu, but can only be grown in water with salinity less
than 0.3 percent.A sea-rice research center, with Yuan as the chief scientist,
was established in October in Qingdao, Shandong Province. With dozens of breeds
of sea rice brought in from worldwide, researchers will use gene sequencing
technology to cultivate new strains. For decades, scientists led by Yuan have
worked on new approaches to significantly increase rice yields.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nation/Scientists-look-to-sea-rice-to-lift-output/shdaily.shtml
TDAP relevance?
APROPOS your report ‘Is TDAP losing its relevance?’ (Dec 18).
The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan has lost its relevance because of
the country’s changing export base, says the report in the first paragraph. In
the last paragraph, it says that the CE, TDAP, did not agree with the proposal
to re-locate the TDAP headquarters to Islamabad.
Globally, only the cities that are commercial hubs qualify for
having headquarters of organisations like TDAP.
In Germany, trade promotional activities are carried out not from its capital
city, Bonn, but from Cologne, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf.Similarly, the centre
for business promotion in the US is not Washington, but New York. The same is
true for China’s key cities: Beijing and Shanghai.It should be agreed that the
ministry of commerce, like other ministries, may be located in Islamabad, but
our capital city has no routes in commerce and trade.
The argument that the TDAP is located in the south of the
country, though most of its officers are from the north, and cannot be posted
elsewhere is absurd and invalid. All federal government employees are bound to
serve at any place in the country.If (basmati) rice, kinno, etc, are grown and
exported from Punjab, IRRI rice and dry chilies produced in Sindh are shipped
from its capital city.Date fruit, too, is cultivated in Sindh and Balochistan
and its export originates from the south of the country.
The main reason for falling export from Pakistan is the poor
attention, by those at the helm of affairs in Islamabad, to all regions
producing products with export potential.A glaring example of such uneven
attention is the failure by the authorities concerned to take suitable measures
for renovating a highly advance date-processing factory (now in ruins), set up
at Turbat with technical and financial assistance from the US government in the
middle of the last century. If renovated, dates processed in that factory could
generate hundreds of new jobs for the youths of Kech Makran and earn millions
of dollars in foreign exchange for the country.Exports from Pakistan will
increase only by according equal treatment to the people and produce of all
regions.
M. Essa Jalbani
SunRice’s
interim profit hit by California glut
SunRice has run into a sliding
international rice price.
The Australian
Australia’s $1 billion monopoly
rice exporter SunRice has posted a slide in its interim net profit as
Californian rice millers dumped rice on the international market while limp
economic conditions across the Middle East and the Pacific dried up sales.SunRice,
whose shares are listed on the National Stock Exchange and is one of the
nation’s biggest agricultural exporters, also experienced tough trading
conditions for its Always Fresh supermarket food range, as private label brands
won over shoppers, and its dairy cattle feed business suffered from reduced
demand.
However, the biggest hit to its
bottom line came from challenging conditions driven by the worldwide oversupply
that has slashed prices for medium-grain rice. Deteriorating economic
conditions were experienced in some of SunRice’s key export markets in the
Middle East and the Pacific.SunRice recorded a 13.2 per cent fall in half-year
net profit to $20.8 million for the six months to October 31 as revenue for the
period fell 11.5 per cent to $568.3m.
“The Californian (rice) industry
recovered from drought and had a very large crop, and unfortunately the millers
and processors in California are trying to work that surplus off very rapidly
by crashing market prices around the world,’’ SunRice chief executive Rob
Gordon said.
“Prices year on year nearly
halved in a lot of the export destinations, and as much as we have maintained a
really significant brand premium, when the underlying price charged by one of
your major high-quality competitors comes off by nearly half, it does put a bit
of pressure on.”SunRice’s Riviana business, which sells Always Fresh, saw
profit drop by nearly 60 per cent.SunRice confirmed previous guidance that
full-year net profit for 2017 would be around $40m.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/sunrices-interim-profit-hit-by-california-glut/news-story/8524980815a647092eb3e2937cb79f9d
AgCenter offers rice
growing seminars
Tue, 12/20/2016 -
14:12
The LSU AgCenter will conduct a series of rice clinics in
January and February throughout the rice-growing areas of Louisiana to help
farmers get ready for the upcoming crop year.Farmers will be able to get advice
about key decisions that must be made early in the year, including variety
selection and field preparations for the 2017 crop, said Steve Linscombe,
director of the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station.“Topics to
be covered in the clinics will include controlling weeds, insects and
diseases,” Linscombe said. “We also will talk about our research for variety
development and agronomic practices in addition to an economic outlook for
rice.”
The sessions will be held at various locations on the following dates:
• Jan. 5 at the Acadia Parish Education Center in Crowley, 2122 N. Parkerson Ave., behind Gatti’s Pizza restaurant, starting at 8:10 a.m.
• Jan. 10 in Welsh at the Welsh Community Center, 101 Palmer St., starting at 8:15 a.m.
• Jan. 11 in Ville Platte at the Civic Center, 704 N. Soileau St., starting at 8 a.m.
• Jan. 12 in Abbeville at the Vermilion Parish Library, 405 E. Saint Victor St., starting at 8 a.m.
• Jan. 17 at the DeWitt Livestock Facility adjacent to the LSUA campus south of Alexandria, starting at 8:20 a.m.
• Feb. 8 at the Rayville Civic Center, 827 Louisa St., starting at 9 a.m
http://www.richlandtoday.com/local/agcenter-offers-rice-growing-seminars
Scientists look to ‘sea rice’
REAP urges SBP to give six-month relaxation
December 21, 2016
The Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan (REAP) has sent a SOS message to the State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) seeking a six-month relaxation for the rice exporters for the
year 2015-16 who could not succeed to achieve export performance as required by
the SBP to match with Export Refinance Scheme.
Heavy penalties are being imposed on the exporters against short performance by the State Bank which is adding to the woes of exporters already under financial burden because of declining rice exports, especially Basmati for the last few years. There are many reasons of this sharp decline in Pakistani rice exporters which include unfavourable local and international prices and Indian rice factor, said a letter written by the REAP to the Governor SBP.
"We have already discussed this issue with the Ministry of Finance. For the year 2014-15, this relaxation was extended by the SBP and now we are seeking the same relaxation for the year 2015-16", said Senior Vice President Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan Shahjahan Malik while talking to this scribe, here on Tuesday. He urged the government to extend a relief of six months for saving the rice export sector from total collapse.
Shahjahan reviewing the year 2015-16 said it could be termed as bleak year for rice exports, especially for Basmati whose export fell by 18 to 20 percent. He said one of the major factors behind their Basmati rice exports' decline was lower rates of Indian Basmati rice because they had good new seeds giving them more per acre yield as compared to Pakistan.
Heavy penalties are being imposed on the exporters against short performance by the State Bank which is adding to the woes of exporters already under financial burden because of declining rice exports, especially Basmati for the last few years. There are many reasons of this sharp decline in Pakistani rice exporters which include unfavourable local and international prices and Indian rice factor, said a letter written by the REAP to the Governor SBP.
"We have already discussed this issue with the Ministry of Finance. For the year 2014-15, this relaxation was extended by the SBP and now we are seeking the same relaxation for the year 2015-16", said Senior Vice President Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan Shahjahan Malik while talking to this scribe, here on Tuesday. He urged the government to extend a relief of six months for saving the rice export sector from total collapse.
Shahjahan reviewing the year 2015-16 said it could be termed as bleak year for rice exports, especially for Basmati whose export fell by 18 to 20 percent. He said one of the major factors behind their Basmati rice exports' decline was lower rates of Indian Basmati rice because they had good new seeds giving them more per acre yield as compared to Pakistan.
He said just because of their lower prices, the Indians were far ahead of the Pakistanis in Saudi market which is also a big consumer of Basmati rice. Similarly, he said that they could not take advantage of normalisation of Iran-US relations which could earn as a big Basmati market. "We are yet to set up a banking channel which could help us opening L/Cs and make our presence felt in Iran," the REAP Senior Vice Chairman added.
On long term basis, he said their rice research institutes should introduce new higher yield rice seeds with resistance against diseases and climate change. More per acre yield could help us marketing cheaper rights, he said, and added that they are researching on some new varieties in collaboration with Chinese at his organisation to bring new varieties with higher yields.
However, it will take three to four years for making such varieties commercially acceptable for the growers after their introduction. On the front of REAP, he said they would be sending two delegations - one to Saudi Arab and another to the US for marketing Pakistani rice. "There are reservations on pesticide residue in Indian rice in the US which is not present in Pakistani rice and we are planning to take advantage of it", Shahjahan Malik concluded
http://www.brecorder.com/agriculture-a-allied/183/115539/
Ties with
Iran: Envoy urges businessmen to daub trade potential
to lift output
Source: Xinhua | December 21, 2016, Wednesday |
Print Edition
YUAN Longping, China’s renowned rice scientist, is
leading a research to cultivate new strains of high yield “sea rice.”
The research team plans to spend three years developing a breed that can
withstand water with a salinity of up to 0.8 percent, with a yield over 300
kilograms per mu (about 665 square meters), said Yuan, known as the “father of
hybrid rice,” during a seminar in Sanya City in Hainan Province.“Over half of the world’s population relies on rice as their staple food, while the proportion is over 60 percent in China,” Yuan said, adding that China has more than 1 billion mu of saline-alkaline soil, and it will be of great significance to convert such soil into arable land by developing sea rice with a high salinity tolerance.
Using 100 million mu of land to grow sea rice, the country could produce an extra of 30 billion kg of rice and feed an extra 80 million people.
Sea rice is sometimes found in saline-alkaline soil where rivers join the sea. The plant is resistant to pests, diseases, salt and alkali, and does not need fertilizer.
Currently, the most advanced sea rice breed in China has a yield of 400kg per mu, but can only be grown in water with salinity less than 0.3 percent.
A sea-rice research center, with Yuan as the chief scientist, was established in October in Qingdao, Shandong Province. With dozens of breeds of sea rice brought in from worldwide, researchers will use gene sequencing technology to cultivate new strains. For decades, scientists led by Yuan have worked on new approaches to significantly increase rice yields.
