Monday, November 06, 2017

6th November,2017 daily global regional local rice e-newsletter



Bangladesh wheat imports jump 30%

Reuters . Dhaka | Update: 19:22, Nov 05, 2017
      Bangladesh’s wheat imports climbed nearly 30 percent to more than 2.1 million tonnes in the July to October period from a year earlier, food ministry data showed, with traders expecting the same pace in the coming months.The South Asian country has emerged as a major buyer of rice and wheat after floods destroyed its latest crops, sending staple rice prices to record highs that prompted many to switch to flour.
This upwards trend in imports will continue until end of this year, said a Dhaka-based wheat importer.
“What we are seeing is that there is a robust demand in the domestic markets as many people are switching to flour given the high prices of staple rice,” he added.
Traditionally the world’s fourth-biggest rice producer, Bangladesh’s rice imports are set to hit their highest levels in a decade as the government races to shore up depleted stocks and combat high prices.
“I am buying more flour and less rice these days to cope with the situation,” said Raqib Hasan, a private sector employee and the sole earning member in a family of six.
“We used to eat rice three times a day. .. now we are taking only one meal with rice.”
Bangladesh imported 5.8 million tonnes of wheat in the year to June 2017, making it one of the world’s biggest importer of the grain.
Bangladesh has turned to the Black Sea region for wheat as supply from India dwindled to meet growing demand while the country’s output has stagnated at around 1 million tonnes.
The government has bought 200,000 tonnes of wheat in an inter-state deal at $252 a tonne from Russia, which is set to overtake the United States as the world’s biggest wheat exporter this year.
Bangladesh also buys smaller quantities of high-quality Australian and Canadian cargoes for blending.


Republic of Korea supports Ghana with $9 million to develop rice industry in Central Region

DAILY GRAPHIC 

05 NOVEMBER 2017
An official of the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) explaining the Ghana Rice Business Centre Model to Dr  Owusu Afriyie Akoto (2nd left), the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nana Kwabena Adjei Ayeh II (right), Vice President of Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), and some dignitaries during the exhibition.
An official of the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) explaining the Ghana Rice Business Centre Model to Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto (2nd left), the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nana Kwabena Adjei Ayeh II (right), Vice President of Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), and some dignitaries during the exhibition.
The Republic of Korea has offered Ghana $9 million to develop a rice industry in the Central Region.
The choice of the region for the project followed a recommendation by some Korean rice experts that it had the potential to produce enough rice to feed the country and also for export.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who made this known when he opened the fourth Ghana National Rice Festival in Accra yesterday, said the experts had assessed the rice production potential in all the 10 regions of Ghana.
The two-day festival is on the theme: “Ghana Rice for food! Ghana Rice for Jobs!
According to the minister, the experts established that even though all the regions had the potential to produce rice on a large scale, the Central Region was more endowed.
Importation
Between 2007 and 2015, Dr Akoto said, the value of rice imports escalated eight-fold from $152 million in 2007 to a peak of $1.2 billion in 2014 and 2015.
“In the same period, the volume of rice imports climbed from 441,000 metric tonnes to 630,000 metric tonnes”, he added.
The minister said the statistics implied that pressure was not only being put on the nation’s trade balance but also made the country vulnerable to global price increases and supply shortages in the rice market.
Dr Akoto said in the past few months, innovative efforts had been made to transform the entire agricultural sector into a vibrant and high-yielding sector to save the country from unnecessary importation and huge import bills.
He explained that the overall objective of the “Planting for Food and Jobs” by the government was to provide enough food to ensure “food and nutrition security in the country.”
According to him, about 750,000 jobs in both direct and indirect employment would be created during the first year of its implementation.
Appeal
The President of Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), Mr Imoro Amoro, appealed to the government to support the body to expand and establish Ghana Rice Business Centres to help create more employment in the country.
He said the Ghana National Rice Festival had come to stay to help create awareness and promote local rice brands to create jobs, food security and wealth in the country.
“I also urge the companies importing rice into the country to come and invest in Ghana rice production to promote industrialisation in the country,” the president added.
For her part, the Policy Advisor of the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation, Nana Ama Oppong-Duah, said the festival would encourage rice farmers to work hard and produce sufficient rice for both the local and international markets, adding that, it would also help promote sustainable food systems in Africa.
“I would, therefore, encourage value chain members to include nutritious crops in their farming systems to ensure not only self-sufficiency in rice but also the production of nutritious food,” she stated.
Writer's email:rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh

Posted at: Nov 6, 2017, 1:20 AM; last updated: Nov 6, 2017, 1:20 AM (IST)

Traders’ cartel offers lower prices, growers start stocking basmati

Traders’ cartel offers lower prices, growers start stocking basmati
Des Raj has refused to sell his produce in the Fazilka grain market due to the lower rates. Tribune photo
Praful Chander Nagpal
Fazilka, November 5
Basmati growers here are up in arms as the popular 1121 aromatic variety is fetching a lower price in the Fazilka market compared to other markets due to a cartel raised by the private traders.
Traders, including exporters and rice millers, are the bulk buyers of the variety.
As farmers are being offered lower price, they have started stocking the paddy. Sources said traders have been purchasing paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal compared to Rs 3,300-3,400 per quintal in nearby districts for the past five days.
“Private traders and exporters have connived to keep prices low. The farmers are left with no other alternative but sell it to private traders in the absence of minimum support price and government policy,” alleged Des Raj of Balluana village who has been waiting to sell his produce at Fazilka.
“Farmers switched over to the less water-consuming variety on the persuasion of the government which has now let them down,” said another farmer Angrej Singh.
Basmati growers of Theh Qalandar village said villagers have decided not to sell their produce at lower rate.
They claimed that about 20,000 bags (each weighing 35 kg) of basmati have been produced in the village so far. Out of those, only 3,000 bags have been sold by farmers. The rest has been stored in the hope of getting a better price after the dismantling of the cartel.
Official sources said the arrival of 1,46,567 tonnes of paddy had been recorded in the district so far. “I have directed the market committee authorities to look into the matter and take action,” said DCIsha Kalia. http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/traders-cartel-offers-lower-prices-growers-start-stocking-basmati/493027.html

PCA says wild rice rule won't bankrupt Northland

 
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sites/default/files/styles/16x9_860/public/19QKZi6C70d59REcY9z9ng_Vs3pzDVCkE.jpg?itok=LeuPDbAf
If state administrative law Judge LauraSue Schlatter agrees that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency proposal to protect wild rice from sulfate is officially "reasonable," she will be among the few people to publicly say so.
Schlatter's job in coming months will be to pore over testimony about the PCA sulfate standard and determine whether the proposal is legal, follows state rules and is needed and reasonable.
So far, after multiple public hearings, it seems almost everyone is saying it's not.
Mining supporters want no sulfate rule at all, saying there's no major crisis with wild rice downstream of where mines operate. Business and government groups say the rule would be too costly to meet.
"The rule being proposed raises significant technical, ecological and economic questions which must be addressed prior to moving forward," Marianne Bohren, executive director of the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, testified last week at a public hearing on the rule.
Environmental groups want to stick with the current, statewide sulfate standard of 10 parts per million, saying it's simple and potentially effective at protecting wild rice if it's enforced. (So far, it hasn't been.)
"What WaterLegacy is saying, and what tribal leaders, both Chippewa/Ojibwe and Dakota are saying, is that we should keep the existing standard and enforce it consistently and rigorously in all wild rice waters," said Paula Maccabee, attorney for Minnesota-based WaterLegacy.
Scientists have found that sulfate — which can come from sewage effluent, mine discharges and other industrial processes — is converted to sulfides in the sediment of many wild rice lakes and rivers. The rate of that conversion changes depending on the amount of carbon and iron in the water (generally, more sulfides with high carbon, less sulfide with high iron). It's those sulfides that prevent wild rice from thriving in some areas; the proposed new rules would study the water chemistry of each wild-rice lake and river to determine what sulfate level they could handle and still grow wild rice.
Maccabee also noted that research appears to show that higher sulfate-sulfide levels increase toxic methyl mercury, a pollutant already targeted because of its potential impact on human health.
"The need to prevent sulfate loading from wastewater in Minnesota is driven by public health as well as environmental quality," she said. "The old rule, if it were enforced, already protects against mercury methylation. The new rule could make it worse .... That's not reasonable."
Doomsday scenarios
Iron Range leaders are warning that the new wild rice sulfate rule could end mining as we know it, closing taconite plants and putting thousands of people out of work. (That contrasts with PolyMet's guarantee that it will meet the state's current sulfate standard by using reverse osmosis treatment that's already included in its copper mining plan.)
Critics of the new rule say the PCA should delay any action until next year, when a cost analysis is completed on the rule's economic impact. Larry Sutherland, head of U.S. Steel's Minnesota mining operations in Keewatin and Mountain Iron, which employ some 1,700 miners, said adding reverse osmosis treatment to remove sulfate at Keetac's wastewater system could cost $200 million, a price tag that would be prohibitive for the plant to remain competitive in the global iron ore market. The implication is that the plant could close if the new rule is adopted.
"And you still can't guarantee any benefit" for wild rice, Sutherland said at the Virginia public hearing on the rule, adding that the PCA concedes the error rate for each water body's sulfate standard could be as high as 20 percent.
In testimony last week in Brainerd, the WLSSD's Bohren said the proposed sulfate-sulfide standard could cost the district millions of dollars to meet. Wastewater treatment plants simply aren't designed to remove sulfate, and Bohren said the cost of adding reverse osmosis treatment to remove sulfate — the only known method — could be $500 million and raise the plant's electric costs 600 percent.
Those extra costs could dramatically raise Duluth's monthly sewage rate for residents, from $40 to $75 per month and as high as $140 per month for homeowners if large industrial customers — namely Verso in Duluth and Sappi and USG in Cloquet — were forced to shut down. The Sappi mill already pays WLSSD about $10 million per year for its wastewater treatment. If reverse osmosis was required, that bill could hit $28 million, Bohren said.
"We're assuming the large industrial users would not continue to operate if that happened," she said, foretelling a major hit for Twin Ports jobs.
Bohren also noted that several scientists have raised questions about the PCA's conclusions on the relationship between sulfate, sulfide and wild rice.
"We're not saying wild rice shouldn't be protected. We're saying we don't think the PCA has had enough time to get to where they need to be," Bohren told the News Tribune.
PCA officials say Bohren's and other testimony critical of possible compliance costs is premature. The new sulfate rule wouldn't even apply to the WLSSD because the Duluth harbor, where the WLSSD releases its outflow, is not on the official state list of wild rice waters. (Upstream sections of the St. Louis River are considered wild rice waters but would not affect the WLSSD permit. Bohren countered that there's no guarantee other groups wouldn't petition to put the Duluth harbor on the wild rice list.)
"As it stands now the rule wouldn't apply to them," said Shannon Lothamer, the PCA official charged with ushering the wild rice sulfate rule through the process. "We understand their concerns, because the cost of what's out there for treatment now is so high. But these are really worst-case scenarios that are being thrown out there."
Protect wild rice, technology will follow
Lotthammer said the PCA is under legal obligation, under the Clean Water Act, to protect wild rice. It's also a social obligation, she said. The PCA plans to move ahead to develop a scientifically defensible rule to protect wild rice, then come up with affordable ways to meet that rule.
Only when the rule is adopted and specific sulfate-sulfide limits are set for each lake and river where wild rice exists, and then only as pollutant discharge permits are renegotiated to meet the rule, would businesses or municipalities have to make changes.
PCA officials say if those changes are too expensive, the state will include variances in specific discharge permits for municipalities and companies that discharge sulfate. The closing of a plant and the community upheaval that would cause clearly meets the state's criteria for variances, Lotthammer noted.
"That's where we certainly plan on issuing permit variances. But first we have to find that point (for each waterway) where we think wild rice is protected," she said.
Several municipal wastewater plants have variances for phosphorus removal because of the high cost of treatment, Lotthammer added. And the WLSSD already has a discharge permit variance for mercury pollution because it proved there was no feasible way for it to meet the mercury standard for discharge into Lake Superior. The WLSSD already is discharging water with less mercury than the rain that falls on Duluth. The PCA realized that, and granted the variance in the agency's operating permit, Lotthammer noted.
Critics counter that the variance process can take years, is expensive and isn't guaranteed because variances also require federal agency approval.
PCA officials note that there are myriad examples of how regulation inspired technical breakthroughs that make pollution control more affordable than naysayers predicted. Coal-fired power plant operators said they couldn't affordably reduce acid rain- and smog-causing pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, yet have done exactly that with so-called smokestack scrubbers. They also have moved to reduce mercury.
Reserve Mining Co. argued that it wasn't feasible to stop dumping taconite tailings into Lake Superior, that on-land disposal was too costly. Now, Northshore Mining is thriving at the Silver Bay site decades after moving to on-land disposal.
Minnesota's wild rice sulfate rule will help push development of new, less expensive sulfate-removing technology, Lotthammer said. (The University of Minnesota Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute already is developing bacteria that can eat eliminate sulfate, testing it in Iron Range mine pit lakes in a process where, if successful, sulfate treatment would be dirt cheap.)
"We really think that there will be innovation to help us get to where we need to protect wild rice," she said. "Until those innovations happen, until their are options out there that are affordable, we're not going to force anyone out of business."
——————————————-
What's the rule?
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in August unveiled details of the new wild-rice sulfate standard — years in the works, developed after an old sulfate standard was deemed too vague and too difficult for the industry to meet. A law in place since 1973 limited sulfate pollution in all Minnesota waters that hold wild rice to 10 parts per million. The rule was rarely enforced until tribal and environmental groups began pushing the PCA to include sulfate in pollution discharge permits.
State lawmakers tried to stifle the sulfate rule but failed, as did court challenges. So the state funded research to find out what it was about sulfate that harms wild rice.
Studies found that it's not sulfate that directly harms wild rice. Instead, wild rice is inhibited when sulfate converts into sulfides (but because the sulfate pollution leads to sulfides, sulfate is still the target of the regulation.)
Because that conversion is different in each lake and river (depending on water chemistry, carbon and iron), the PCA proposed eliminating the old, statewide sulfate limit and instead studying the water chemistry of each wild-rice lake and river to determine what sulfate level they could handle and still grow wild rice. The new rule, if enacted, would limit sulfides to 120 parts per billion. Ultimately pollution discharge permits for wastewater plants, mines and other sulfate-emitters would be changed to limit sulfates with the goal of keeping sulfides below the benchmark of 120 parts per billion and protecting wild rice.
There are about 1,300 lakes and rivers listed so far on the statewide list of wild-rice waters. About 350 of those wild-rice waters are downstream of industries or cities that discharge sulfate and are the most likely to be affected by the changes.
What's next?
If state administrative law Judge LauraSue Schlatter rules the wild rice sulfate rule unreasonable, the PCA has to go back to the drawing board and start over (although the old sulfate rule would remain in effect). If she finds it reasonable, it will be up to PCA Commissioner John Linc Stine to decide when and how to move forward.
Any legal challenges to the PCA rule would be heard in the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Then, it will be up to the federal Environmental Protection Agency to decide if the state rule meets the Clean Water Act standard to protect wild rice.
Public comments on the wild rice rule will be accepted through Nov. 22, with comments sent to: minnesotaoah.granicusideas.com/discussions or mail to Office of Administrative Hearings, P.O. Box 64620, St. Paul, MN 55164-0620 (Docket 80-90030-34519).


Scientists develop rice that grows in seawater

·       SHAZMA KHAN

·       NOV 4TH, 2017

Due to the growing shortage of freshwater, the rice cultivation has declined which is a primary source of food for over half of the global population. In order to overcome the problem, a Chinese scientist has developed a process to grow rice in seawater.
China contains a third of its land with swamps, bogs, and clay-like or salty-like costal water. These waters make processes like photosynthesis and respiration difficult as the salt stresses plant’s water-absorption process. This in turn slows the plant’s growth converting it to its death. Thus, the 87-year-old Chinese scientist Yuan Longping created a new high-yield strain of rice able to grow in saltwater.
Longping planted 200 various saltwater-tolerant rice strains on the Yellow Sea to see which one would grow best in salty conditions. His work yielded 8,030 pounds of rice per acre in comparison to the US growers that harvest around 7,200 to 7,600 pounds per acre annually, as per China’s Xinhua News Agency.
Yuan exclaimed, “If a farmer tries to grow some types of saline-tolerant rice now, they most likely will get 1,500 kilogrammes per hectare. That is just not profitable and not even worth the effort. Farmers will have an incentive to grow the rice if we can double the yield.”
However, the experiment did not exactly imitate the actual situations in the country. Instead, it used water with comparatively lower salt concentration than it is actually present in nature.
“It’s still only maybe 10% the level of salt in sea water. So the ‘salt-proof’ rice does have a long way to go before it could help ordinary farmers,” said Assistant Director General for Agriculture at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) Ren Wang while talking to Business Insider.
According to Wang, China is already making more rice than any other country and this technique could increase the country’s food supply drastically. The saltwater rice can also free up freshwater lands, which are reserved for rice at present, in order to grow other foods.
The saltwater rice has already been available to consumers with a price around eight times more than ordinary rice. Yet, people buying the rice are appreciating its texture and flavor. The rice also has many health benefits including being rich in calcium.

Protect wild rice, technology will follow
Lotthammer said the PCA is under legal obligation, under the Clean Water Act, to protect wild rice. It's also a social obligation, she said. The PCA plans to move ahead to develop a scientifically defensible rule to protect wild rice, then come up with affordable ways to meet that rule.
Only when the rule is adopted and specific sulfate-sulfide limits are set for each lake and river where wild rice exists, and then only as pollutant discharge permits are renegotiated to meet the rule, would businesses or municipalities have to make changes.
PCA officials say if those changes are too expensive, the state will include variances in specific discharge permits for municipalities and companies that discharge sulfate. The closing of a plant and the community upheaval that would cause clearly meets the state's criteria for variances, Lotthammer noted.
"That's where we certainly plan on issuing permit variances. But first we have to find that point (for each waterway) where we think wild rice is protected," she said.Several municipal wastewater plants have variances for phosphorus removal because of the high cost of treatment, Lotthammer added. And the WLSSD already has a discharge permit variance for mercury pollution because it proved there was no feasible way for it to meet the mercury standard for discharge into Lake Superior. The WLSSD already is discharging water with less mercury than the rain that falls on Duluth. The PCA realized that, and granted the variance in the agency's operating permit, Lotthammer noted.
Critics counter that the variance process can take years, is expensive and isn't guaranteed because variances also require federal agency approval.PCA officials note that there are myriad examples of how regulation inspired technical breakthroughs that make pollution control more affordable than naysayers predicted. Coal-fired power plant operators said they couldn't affordably reduce acid rain- and smog-causing pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, yet have done exactly that with so-called smokestack scrubbers. They also have moved to reduce mercury.
Reserve Mining Co. argued that it wasn't feasible to stop dumping taconite tailings into Lake Superior, that on-land disposal was too costly. Now, Northshore Mining is thriving at the Silver Bay site decades after moving to on-land disposal.
Minnesota's wild rice sulfate rule will help push development of new, less expensive sulfate-removing technology, Lotthammer said. (The University of Minnesota Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute already is developing bacteria that can eat eliminate sulfate, testing it in Iron Range mine pit lakes in a process where, if successful, sulfate treatment would be dirt cheap.)
"We really think that there will be innovation to help us get to where we need to protect wild rice," she said. "Until those innovations happen, until their are options out there that are affordable, we're not going to force anyone out of business."


Low-hanging fruits in the rehabilitation of Marawi

 November 4, 2017, 10:00 PM
By Dr. Emil Q. Javier
Rice hybrids
This is a further elaboration of how we can build better in Marawi through inclusive agribusiness.The announcement this week by Henry Lim that SL Agritech Corporation, the region’s leading hybrid rice breeder, is partnering with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) regional government, Go Negosyo and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to develop a 50-hectare model rice village around Marawi is precisely the kind of private sector initiative needed to exploit the low-hanging fruits in building better in war-torn Lanao del Sur.
Intensive hybrid rice cultivation is highly productive and will immediately raise income of small farmers while having long-term, sustainable implications to industry competitiveness and national food security. Hence, the strategic direction set by DA Secretary Manny Piñol to progressively devote our rice farms to hybrids.
Technology is available and it is a matter of approximating the conditions where hybrid rice cultivation has proven to be successful e.g. in Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Pangasinan.
There are five key success factors, namely, good seeds, water, fertilizers, mechanization and markets. Out of necessity the inputs will initially have to be provided for free to help the farmers who have little cash but have land and family labor. Since the inputs can pay for themselves, the real challenge is putting in place linkages and institutions that will provide these inputs and services to the small farmers on a pay-as-you-go basis in the long-run.However, family labor is invariably not enough. Availability and cost of additional labor are key constraints. But the cost of tractors for land preparation, rice transplanters, grain combines and grain dryers are beyond the means of individual small farmers. The machines can be acquired and operated by cooperatives and/or by small and medium scale enterprises. There is room for both business arrangements.
The Go Negosyo connection is therefore vital. SL Agritech is well-placed to provide the primary production technology requisites. Go Negosyo for its part will supply the organization and management expertise to support the cooperatives and small- and medium- scale enterprises (SMEs) who will ultimately provide the institutional back bone for the provinces’ rice sector. The expected volume of production is small and can readily be absorbed by the National Food Authority (NFA) and the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) for their emergency rice distribution requirements.

Yellow genetically modified (GM) corn hybrids
Actually the bigger, even more immediate opportunity is the upside from raising the productivity of the 106,000 hectares in Lanao del Sur planted to corn which is twice as large as the area planted to rice (54,000 hectares). Unlike rice which requires irrigation for high productivity, corn is rainfed and there is no pressing, constraining demand for development of irrigation.
Yellow corn is the major feed ingredient of our vibrant poultry and livestock industries. We used to import a lot of corn but now we are self-sufficient with feed corn but we need more.
Hybrid yellow GM corn which has built-in resistance to insects and has tolerance to the herbicide, glyphosate, is now being very successfully and profitably grown on 800,000 hectares. The leading provinces engaged in hybrid yellow GM corn production are Cagayan, Isabela, Pangasinan, Bukidnon, North and South Cotabato.
Similarly the successful introduction of hybrid yellow GM corn cultivation in Lanao del Sur is another low-hanging fruit just waiting for a push from the private sector. Many Maranao farmers are traditional corn growers. The GM corn hybrid technology is now widely adopted in the neighboring provinces of Bukidnon, North and South Cotabato. From an agro-ecological point of view there is absolutely no reason why Maranao farmers cannot benefit from the same.
The SL-Agritech-Go Negosyo-DA-ARMM connection is a template the other agribusinesses can take a leaf from. The feed millers and the poultry and livestock producers should be part of the action.

Just apply more fertilizers
But even more immediate than introducing highly productive rice, corn coconut and cassava varieties (the four major crops) is the opportunity to raise yields and incomes of farmers in Lanao del Sur simply by applying additional fertilizers on their existing crops. By now all rice farmers are using the improved inbred varieties released by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). However, the amounts of fertilizers most farmers apply to their rice crops are way below the recommended levels. The same is true with corn.
In fact, hardly anybody applies fertilizers on coconut and cassava. And yet, in most places coconuts benefits from the simple application of sodium chloride, the common table salt.
Thus, if we want to make an immediate impact on the lives of Maranao farmers, government must find a way to scrupulously provide them fertilizers without the ghost farmers, ghost and/or overpriced fertilizer program which have bedeviled past subsidized fertilizers in the past.
This is the challenge Henry Lim, and Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship, Joey Concepcion, and DA Secretary Manny Piñol hopefully can address more intelligently than previous government bureaucrats.
Diversification, relay cropping and intercropping with other valuable crops ought to be in the development agenda for Lanao del Sur but that will require more deliberation, institutional planning, irrigation and human resource development.

*****
Dr. Emil Q. Javier is a Member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and also Chair of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP). For any feedback, email eqjavier@yahoo.com.

NRRI team to assess crop loss by pest attacks


Berhampur (Odisha), Nov 5 A team of experts from the National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack, is scheduled to review and assess the damage caused to crops because of pest attack in Ganjam district.As Ganjam is one of the worst-affected districts due to massive pest attack in the state, experts of the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) have already reviewed the croploss on Friday, officials said.
They said crops on around 19,904 hectares of land were destroyed due to the insect attack. Crops on 13,009 hectares area were destroyed by brown plant hopper (BPH). Paddy was cultivated on 2.16 lakh hectares area in the district.
The NRRI team will soon visit the fields to asess the damage, said Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA), Ganjam, Manoj Behera.They are likely to study the pesticides used by the farmers to control the pest menace, while the extent of damage due to pest attack would be known after getting reports from all blocks, he said.Meanwhile, the state government is contemplating sending the pesticides used by the farmers for laboratory test to the Central Insecticides Laboratory (CIL), Faridabad, to ascertain their quality, officials said. Several farmers complained that the pesticides, which they used, were not effective.
A six-member expert team, led by Bhagaban Patra, professor in entromology department of OUAT, visited different blocks in the district and interacted with the farmers about the use of pesticides. "We'll submit our report to the government soon with some recommendations," said Patra after visiting the affected areas of Aska, Sorada, Bhanjanagar and Hinjili blocks.
Farmers in different areas staged demonstrations, displaying their damaged plants. They demanded compensation for the crop loss. Many farmers said they expected a bumper crop this year due to favourable climate, but all hopes were shattered due to the pest attack.Bhubaneswar, Nov 5 The Odisha government today said it would soon dole out compensation to farmers who have suffered crop losses due to pest attack.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will chair a meeting tomorrow to discuss the situation arising out of pest attack, an official said.
Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan today reviewed the situation during a high-level meeting here.It was decided during the meeting that steps will be accelerated to tackle the situation and the affected farmers would be compensated according to the relief code, a senior official said.The collectors and other officials of various districts provided information about the prevailing situation in their areas through video conferencing.Balakrishnan said the situation was under control and there was no need to panic as the area under pest attack was not very large.
The district collectors have been asked to intensify awareness drives. Revenue officials, self help groups (SHGs) and grassroot level workers would be mobilised for the purpose, he said.The state government has already given the nod for disbursal of assistance for rabi crop loss, he said.Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupad Sethi said Rs 216 crore has been sanctioned for drought-affected farmers.Experts at the meeting felt that the incidence of pest attack increased in some areas due to irregular rainfall and moisture content in the atmosphere, said an official.
Also, mixing of different insecticides, absence of proper gap between plants and excessive use of urea helped the pest spread, he said.It is estimated that crops in about 1.78 lakh hectares of agricultural land in nine districts of Odisha have been attacked by pests, officials said.Standing crops in 8,211 villages in 92 blocks and 19 urban local bodies in nine districts are reeling under pest attack, an official of the SRC office said. Unable to control the attack of brown planthopper, many farmers have burnt their paddy crop in about 10 districts of the state.
P Nabin Kumar, a farmer of Bargarh district who had consumed pesticide last night, died during treatment at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) today, officials said.Opposition parties including the Congress and the BJP have mounted a scathing attack on the BJD government in the state over the issue.
They have alleged that distribution of spurious pesticides in many areas aggravated the problem.


After farmer suicides and crop burning in Odisha, lens on ‘substandard’ pesticides

Dr Saurabh Garg, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, said there was no reason to worry. “It (BPH) is not an exotic pest. It is local to the area. It is nothing farmers are not aware of."

Written by Sampad Patnaik | New Delhi | Updated: November 5, 2017 7:29 pm

The state government has reportedly announced compensation for farmers who have lost more than a third of their crops. At least three farmer suicides and crop burning in eight districts of Odisha over the last 10 days have given rise to allegations that pesticides provided to affected farmers may not have been suitable for their pest problem, and prompted the state government to announce compensation for crop loss.
Farmers in Ganjam, Bargarh, Koraput, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir, Sambalpur and Subarnapur districts have reported crop damage by the brown planthopper (BPH), known as chakada poka, said an official in the agriculture department. Brunda Sahu, a farmer in Bargarh district, allegedly committed suicide after torching his pest-affected crops. There are allegations that Sahu’s despair over crop loss was compounded by the apathy of local government officials.
Media reports have alleged that the crops were damaged because the pesticides provided were either substandard, or unsuitable for planthoppers.  The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has sought reports on the suicides from principal secretaries of revenue, agriculture, superintendent of police and collector of Bargarh, officials said.
The state government has reportedly announced compensation for farmers who have lost more than a third of their crops. However, the government may not award any compensation to the farmers burning their crops, an official said. It is difficult for government officials to establish the causes and extent of loss if crops are burnt, the official added.
The BJP has alleged a scam in the distribution of pesticides in the state. State BJP president Basanta Kumar Panda told The Sunday Express, “The Odisha government has given distribution rights of pesticides to an institution named Surabhi. No such institution exists. This, as per my information, will reveal a scam worth Rs 500 crore.”
Pramod Kumar Mohanty, who is part of a three-member team sent by the state government to test pesticide samples, told The Sunday Express over phone, “The samples will have to be tested in Bhubaneswar to determine quality.” Mohanty, Deputy Director in the Agriculture Department, also said that Bargarh is “the most affected district”. Bargarh is referred to as the rice bowl of Odisha.
Dr Saurabh Garg, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, said there was no reason to worry. “It (BPH) is not an exotic pest. It is local to the area. It is nothing farmers are not aware of. There is no reason for farmers in the state to assume there is a pesticide crisis,” he said.  “The pest attack is a recurrent problem. The government has been aware of it for 17 years. They are apathetic to the plight of farmers in Odisha,” said Panda, who is also the MLA from Nuapada.
KTR Wants Cotton Farmers To Get Optimum Price For Their Produce

Odisha’s Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout was unavailable for comment until Monday, his office said.According to Rice Knowledge Bank, a website partnering the Indian Institute of Rice Research, a high number of planthoppers initially turns leaves orange-yellow and then brown and dry, a condition called hopperburn. While hopperburn kills affected plants, BPH can also transmit two incurable diseases, rice ragged stunt and rice grassy stunt, the website notes.

‘Rice smuggling may drag Nigeria back to importation era’

By Hussein Yahaya & Maryam Ahmadu-Suka (Kaduna) | Publish Date: Nov 5 2017 3:00AMAlhaji Muhammad Abubakar is the Chairman of Umza International Farms in Kano, the farm which at moment concentrates mainly on milling hundreds of bags of paddy rice per day. In this interview, he explains how rice smuggling into the country will kill the nation’s rice industry if not urgently curtailed.
Paddy rice being offloaded at the Umza International farm, Kano PHOTOS: Hussein Yahaya
On our way to your farm, we saw a long queue of trailers waiting to offload paddy rice… cut in. 
What you have seen is the paddy we are buying from all over the country from farmers. We started this procurement on 7th October, 2017 and since then, this has been the situation on daily basis. In a day, we receive 100 to 120 trucks of paddy. This is a significant progress over what we saw over the years since we were into production.
This year, there is tremendous increase in the production of paddy and the good thing is that, other states are trying to take over from the states that are known for producing paddy. We have seen a lot of progress from Kaduna, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina and Bauchi states. This is a very good and I must say that the quality of the paddy coming in is not like what we used to see because there is also tremendous development in that regard. The paddy is of good quality and long grain because the seeds have changed and the after harvest handling by the farmers has also improved to some extent.
Let’s talk about your milling machine. You said you receive over 100 trucks of paddy per day, what is the capacity of your mill?   
 We have opened a new mill which increased the capacity by 120 metric tons per annum which brings our combined capacity to 190 metric tons per annum. We are using a new brand of machine from Japan which is the best in the world now. There is none better than that in terms of rice milling. It will enable us consume more of the paddy and our requirement for paddy has now increased to an extent that we have to look for it from all over the country.
You talk about the improvement of the paddy coming from all parts of the country. As an expert in the industry, what do you think farmers can do to further improve their produce?
If you compare the paddy we bought from farmers seven years ago to what we are buying now, you will see that there is tremendous development in terms of the quality of the paddy which means there is transformation from the old seeds to better seeds. This is due to the intervention from the government, the improved seeds from seed companies as well as efforts of extension workers in training farmers on how to handle the paddy after harvest. 
These changes have impressed me a lot because I have been buying paddy for over eight years and I have seen the quality of paddy when we started and its quality now. So I am sure there is a lot of development in that regard.
You have been interacting with some of these farmers as you get the paddy from them. What do you think are the challenges they face and where do you think the government and other stakeholders can come in? 
Of course the farmers have challenges, but through the intervention of the government and so many groups, most especially the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), most of these challenges are being addressed. I must identify CBN because it has helped farmers with various intervention funds, especially through the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP); and also the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. But we still have a common challenge with them. Initially, they had challenge of market. They produced but didn’t know where to sell the paddy, now they have a market; there are mills like ours and others all over the country where farmers can sell their paddy at premium price. But still you can only sell if you have a buyer and a buyer can only buy if he can sell, so our challenge is their challenge and the ultimate challenge is the menace of smuggling.
You mentioned the issue of market, but the farmers complain that some of the millers take their paddy at giveaway prices. How would you react to this?     
 This has changed in the last four years because paddy has been on the increase. In the last four years, we were buying a ton of paddy for N60,000, today we are buying at N120,000. Last year, we bought it for as high as N150,000. So the claim that we are buying the paddy at giveaway price is a thing of the past, now, all farmers are getting better prices for their commodity and we thank God for that and they also have market where they can sell and get their money at once.
You have mentioned smuggling as a major challenge in the milling industry, how do you think this can be curbed?
 This is a question I cannot answer because we have done everything humanly possible to tell the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) that smuggling is going on and it is a challenge to us, it can kill our industry, it can kill the farmers, but there is little they have done in that regard. 
But let me be fair to the Comptroller-General of NCS, retired Colonel Hameed Ali. He listens to us anytime we want to talk with him and we can see the zeal and the effort of his office to make sure that they curtail this issue of smuggling. But I don’t think there is any other officer that is on the same page with the CG with regards to stopping rice smuggling into the country.
Which area do you think is prone to rice smuggling into the country?
 There is no border in the country that is immune to smuggling because the smuggling is not hidden. You can go to the border as a journalist and you will see how the smuggling is taking place. People will come on motorcycles with five to six bags and they will pay the custom officials N500 per bag and if you come with a truck load, you will pay more. 
So you see, it is not something that is done secretively. You go to the borders and you will see many motorcycles and vehicles bringing in bags of rice and this is what they do all through the day because they know no one is checking.
Some are saying smuggling in Nigeria has persisted because the smugglers still have a market to sell and partly because people still believe that foreign rice is better than the local variety in terms of quality and sometimes price…. 
We have mentioned it a hundred times that fresh rice cannot be compared with stale rice. Here in Nigeria, we don’t even have rice to stock for years and you should know that whatever any country will sell for you has to be something they don’t need. So what they are bringing in as foreign rice is rice that has stayed for about three, four years in their warehouses and everybody knows the principle of warehousing; it is first in, first out. They cannot produce rice this year and mill it and bring it to you. Compare that to what we have here in our mills which is usually from hand to mouth. 
It is what we get this year that we mill immediately and sell immediately. So you cannot even compare the quality of local rice with that of foreign rice. I want to assure Nigerians that definitely Nigerian milled rice is better in terms of quality, nutrients and safety from health hazards.
Any hope for reduction in the price of local rice? 
I give you from now to next year, you will see a reduction in the price of local rice because last year, as I told you, we bought paddy for N150,000 and this year we are buying at N120,000. Once we continue like that, definitely, we will reduce our prices to be at per or even far lower than foreign rice.
                                                                                      

Food Security In Doubt: Current Phase Of Bangladesh – OpEd

Pastoral scene in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has made significant progress in the context of its food security. The country has achieved self-sufficiency in its rice production; however, it is still vulnerable towards the loss of its food production that is caused by natural calamities. This improved production of rice has helped Bangladesh increase its Global Food Security Index from 34.7 in 2012 to 36.8 in 2016, but is still in the vulnerable category.
Bangladesh is especially dependent on rice, a food source that causes an unbalanced nutrition intake when being too dominant in a diet. However, the production of rice has helped in reducing the prevalence of undernourishment, it has managed to improve its average dietary energy supply too.The achievements as regards to food security in Bangladesh have been somewhat satisfactory. However, natural calamities like floods, cyclones and droughts have made the records unstable. This year, the challenge has been intensified by the influx of an estimated 604,000 forcibly displaced Rohingyas of Rakhine State of Myanmar.
The recent threats to food security are largely a result of the damage caused by two successive floods: the flash flood during April and the monsoon flood since late June. It was estimated that farmers lost two million tons of rice this year because of the floods.Just three months into the 2017-18 financial year, the government and private traders imported over a million tons of rice, an eight-fold rise already from last fiscal’s import.
“Rice import has increased significantly. There are macroeconomic pressures. Such a huge influx of Rohingyas in a short span of time, it is really admirable that Bangladesh is tackling this humanitarian crisis,” said Dr. Sue Lautze, FAO country representative in Bangladesh.The most evident threat to food security is the recent price volatility in the rice market. Apart from the production loss of mainly Boro during the floods, the incompetence of the responsible authorities in handling the initial uncertainties also made the food grains market unstable. Similarly, the opportunistic rice millers; information asymmetry regarding the export of rice by the Indian government; the government’s lack of vigilance; and phased reduction of import duties on rice have fuelled the upheaval in the rice market.
As a result, the lack of availability of food grains at a reasonable price has started afflicting households below the poverty line. Even, the marginally non-poor, food-secure households are in the poverty trap with no access to food.The current food shortage and price hike crisis would persist beyond November when farmers would start harvesting Aman paddy. However, on the question of Rohingyas, a lot depends on the international community’s assistance and food supports.
During critical situations like this, the inflation of the food price cannot be ruled out. However, the government has taken market-based procurement policies, it has been able to attain only one-fifth of the targeted procurement for Boro.What is encouraging yet is Bangladesh’s ranking has gone two notches up in this year’s global hunger index, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said in a report.Bangladesh has ranked 88 out of 119 countries on the global hunger index. However, Bangladesh is ahead of its neighbors India and Pakistan. Bangladesh stood at 90 positions among 118 countries in last year’s ranking. According to the report, among other South Asian countries, India ranked 100, Pakistan 106, Nepal 72, SriLanka, 84, and Afghanistan 107.
Between the early 1990s and 2007, Bangladesh drastically cut the number of its malnourished people from an astounding 36.1 percent to 16.4 percent. According tothis year’s global hunger index, some 15.1 percent of the Bangladeshi population still faces hunger.Bangladesh is in a vulnerable position, as a flood-prone country, and it is an alarming prospect that climate change is making this worse. In 2017, three episodes of severe flash floods affected large areas of the country, particularly the northern districts. The floods affected the livelihoods of at least 8 million people.
The country sits at the head of the Bay of Bengal, across the largest river delta on Earth. Nearly one-quarter of Bangladesh is less than seven feet about sea level; two-thirds of the country is less than 15 feet above sea level. Sea surface temperatures in the shallow Bay of Bengal have significantly increased, which, scientists believe, has caused Bangladesh to suffer some of the fastest recorded sea level rises in the world.
According to the Bangladesh government’s 2009 Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, “in an ‘average’ year, approximately one-quarter of the country is inundated.”Every four to five years, “there is a severe flood that may cover over 60% of the country.”A three-foot rise in sea level would submerge almost 20 percent of the entire country and displace more than 30 million people. Some scientists project a five-to-six-foot rise by 2100, which would displace perhaps 50 million people.
These changes are happening to the people of Bangladesh, not caused by them. As a country, Bangladesh emits only 0.3 percent of the emissions producing climate change.
About Author:
*Zulker Naeen
 is a South Asian Fellow at Climate Tracker. He is also a communication graduate of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB),
e-mail: naeenzulker@gmail.com
References:
Ahmad, R. (2017). Rising from dire straits. Dhaka: The Daily Star.
Desk, T. (2017). Bangladesh ranked higher than India, Pakistan in global hunger index. Dhaka: Dhaka Tribune.
Farin, S., & Bari, E. (2017). Going regional to tackle local food crisis. Dhaka: The Daily Star


Dip in basmati export earnings worrisome

G. CHANDRASHEKHARhttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/multimedia/dynamic/03208/PO06_Basmati_rice_3208339g.jpg

Lower availability, higher prices have hurt the export prospects of this aromatic rice
Basmati rice, a multi-billion dollar export commodity, is unfortunately on a decline over the last three years. This year (2017-18) it could get worse, with tighter availability, higher domestic prices and lower exports. Following deficient south-west monsoon in the principal growing States of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, the area under Basmati rice cultivation is estimated to be about 8 p...
http://premium.thehindubusinessline.com/portfolio/real-assets/spotlight-dip-in-basmati-export-earnings-worrisome/article9944105.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication


Pakistan Faces Serious Water Crisis, Warns Expert

http://plenglish.com/images/2017/noviembre/03/1Falta-de-agua-en.jpgIslamabad, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Pakistan faces today a serious water crisis that will threaten the country''s food security if the situation persists, warned an expert on the issue.Speaking at a senatorial forum, Chairman of the Indus River System Authority, Sher Zaman Khan, urged to build new dams to avoid large levels of fluid loss.

If we do not build more reservoirs soon, in the near future Pakistan will not be able to carry out important crops such as wheat, rice, sugarcane, cotton and corn due to the acute shortage of water, he warned.At the meeting, Muhammad Ashraf, President of the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Pcrwr), criticized the absence of a national policy on this vital issue.Recently, the Central Bank (SBP) stressed that the growing gap between demand and supply of water is an important social and economic concern for the country.

Any delay in the reforms would only aggravate the situation as the water deficit will expand due to the growing demand, derived from the increase in population, urbanization and development, and a decrease in available supplies, SBP warned in its annual report on the national economy.For the institution, the aim of the transformations is to improve the efficiency in the consumption and management of water, as well as to develop the capacity of the organisms in charge of regulating hydrological resources.


The current storage capacity is inadequate since the three main water reservoirs in Pakistan: Mangla, Tarbela and Chashma represent only 30 days of consumption, when the amount is set to 120 by international standards.In September, Pwrwr revealed that the shortage of water and diseases caused by the poor quality of the liquid in the country provoke annual losses amounting to almost 28 billion rupees (about 266 million dollars).Pcrwr cited data from the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, which estimates that in Pakistan about 200,000 children die every year from diarrheal diseases due to the consumption of contaminated water.


A report by a team of Pakistani experts was released in July, according to which 90 percent of the drinking water in Karachi city, with 20 million inhabitants, is contaminated by several bacteria and human waste

Pakistani farmers harvest rice
Source:Xinhua Published: 2017/11/3 21:26:33
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http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2017/2017-11-03/1afad81e-e885-406b-be53-9ce81ea42715.jpeg
Pakistani farmers pack sacks of rice on the outskirts of eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Nov. 3, 2017. Pakistan's rice exports surged by 28.74 percent during the first three months of the country's current fiscal year starting from July 2017, according to a statement from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Photo: Xinhua

 
http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2017/2017-11-03/c515f6d1-b5c9-4d26-8369-1eae89464866.jpeg
Pakistani farmers harvest rice on the outskirts of eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Nov. 3, 2017.Photo: Xinhua

  
http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2017/2017-11-03/3c61014b-d083-4269-a00d-b3f5bbaf882b.jpeg
Pakistani farmers harvest rice on the outskirts of eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Nov. 3, 2017.Photo: Xinhua

  
http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2017/2017-11-03/1affabf7-3146-4ca4-ae9e-6f0397c4bf38.jpeg
Pakistani farmers harvest rice on the outskirts of eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Nov. 3, 2017.Photo: Xinhua
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1073466.shtml

Smog not that alarming: govt

Updated November 04, 2017
Sale of masks has picked up due to smog. — White Star

Sale of masks has picked up due to smog. — White Star
LAHORE: As the smog cover over Punjab further thickened to the detriment of public health on Friday and officials saw no immediate relief against it, Environment Minister Zakia Shahnawaz termed it a regional phenomenon being caused mainly by pollutants from neighbouring countries (India).At a news conference she said there were local contributions (of smog causing particulate matter) but they were lesser than from India where rampant crop stubble burning itself was a huge problem.
Indian farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, start burning paddy stubble by mid-October every year which leads to plumes of smoke blackening the skies. Pakistani Punjab farmers too follow the suit but the ratio of farm fire here is stated to be much less than in India.
A drop in temperature and increase in humidity makes the pollutants remain close to the ground, causing smog that choked many cities in Punjab, including Lahore, for the first time last year.
Environment Secretary Saif Anjum said there was smog over Punjab but its intensity was less than last year when the eye and throat irritation was rampant. Wind too carried pungent smell. Now the situation was not that alarming, he told media persons.
Reports from different cities indicated thickening of fog or smog because of further drop in night temperatures, also causing poor visibility. Lahore, too, remained under a thick blanket of smog throughout the day. It was particularly troublesome in areas where roads have been dug or on the construction path of the orange metro train.
Motorway and National Highway Authority Spokesperson Imran Shah said thick fog blanketed the central and south Punjab last night and on Friday, reducing visibility on the motorway and the national highway from Sahiwal, Khanewal, Multan to Bahawalpur (20 metres), Lahore to Pattoki (50 metres), from Bahawalpur to Sadiqabad (100 to 40 metres, from Kala Shah Kaku to Kot Momin (100 to 50 meters) and Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad (60 meters).
The Met department said enhanced moisture and lowering temperatures had thickened fog turning into smog by trapping the ever-increasing particle matter.
Official sources said stubble was still being burnt in Pakistani rice growing areas despite a ban under Section 144.
“SUPARCO satellite’s imagery is being restricted by thick canopy of fog or smog. Therefore, the figures showing farm fire in our Punjab may not be correct,” an official claimed.
Minister Zakia Shahnawaz nevertheless blamed Indian farmers for the smog which was causing trouble for them also. They had burnt 35 million ton of paddy residue last year and “are doing so again.”
She said local contributions included emissions from vehicular traffic using substandard fuel, and industrial emissions. But the government was aware of the hazards of smog and was adopting strict measures to control local contributions. The smog policy was also in place engaging all departments to fight the menace.
Mr Saif Anjum said smog had moved towards Attock and Bahawalpur and also beyond New Delhi on the Indian side. Easterly wind was carrying smoke and particulate matter from Indian Punjab to Pakistan. The incursion would be stopped only after reversal of the wind direction.
He said the provincial government was struggling to reduce local pollution contributions. As many as 197 cases had been registered against farmers for burning crop residue under Section 144 and 65 arrested so far. In Lahore alone 175 steel factories had been sealed for burning cheap fuel like used tyres. Cases against defiant owners of 22 factories too had been registered.
He said the agriculture department was creating awareness among farmers on the hazards of burning crop residue, teaching them how to alternately use it instead. Traffic police had challaned 15,718 smoke emitting vehicles in the last one week, realizing Rs 4.6 million fine only in Lahore. Several vehicles were also impounded and fitness certificates of 91 others were cancelled for causing pollution.
Mr Anjum said the EPD had installed five pollution monitoring units in Lahore and was constantly watching the situation.
Prof Ehsan Wahid Rathore of the health department said there was no significant disease development in Punjab due to smog. There was no need of any panic but children and the elderly should be protected against smog as they already were vulnerable to disease in changing weather.
Met Department’s Chief Riaz Khan said dry weather in the past two months was causing smog but its ingredient was less than the last year.
Mr Saif Anjum said brick kilns were generating smoke because of their age-old technology. His department had established a model kiln near Lahore where emissions were zero and the brick quality the highest. This technology would be shared with local brick kiln owners.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed (from London) all departments concerned to take necessary measures to effectively deal with smog.
He has directed that recommendations of experts should be implemented to avoid ill-effects of smog, especially protecting children and the elderly from it. He said all departments had been activated to meet the challenge.
Dawn, November 4th, 2017

Pakistan’s dry future


While the mainstream media spend plenty of time and resources covering the squabbles of the nation’s political leadership, pressing issues don’t get the time and space on our television channels and newspapers that they should. Water continues to grow exceedingly scarce in Pakistan. The situation can soon become so dire that every social and economic facet of life will get affected adversely.
This Thursday, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) told the Senate Forum for Policy Research that Pakistan dumps water worth 21 billion dollars into the sea every year. This is happening despite the fact that- according to the Falkenmark Indicator — Pakistan is a country suffering from water scarcity. Today, the population of the country is 207 million and there is 861 cubic metres of water available for every person. By the year 2050, it is estimated that the population of Pakistan will be 371 million and there will be 482 cubic metres of water for every person. The Falkenmark Indicator classifies this as absolute scarcity.
IRSA said on Thursday that the country is forced to lose 21 billion dollars worth of water because the country does not have a sufficient number of water reservoirs. They further stated that Pakistan needs three Mangla sized dams to stop this loss of precious water. While the problem of water loss is severe, the authorities must not give such sweeping statements given the environmental degradation associated with large dams like Mangla. Instead, they have to look towards innovative solutions to the country’s water crisis that are designed in consultation with environmentalists, anthropologists and communities that stand to be affected.
Nonetheless, it needs to be stressed thatwe can only store 30-days worth of water. Meanwhile, our neighbour to the east can save up to 320-days of water. This is not surprising, since unlike India, Pakistan is yet to develop a national water policy.
Pakistan also loses water because of uncontrolled dumping of industrial, animal and human waste which contaminates ground water reserves, because of our outdated and inefficient irrigation system and because of our dependency on water intensive crops such as rice and sugarcane.
It’s high time that this country’s leaders put less time into politicking and more into issues which actually affect the common man. The media has an essential role to play here, because until it stops feeding the circus which our national political narrative has become and brings more attention to these matters, issues like Pakistan’s upcoming drought will not gain any political significance.  *
Published in Daily Times, November 4th 2017.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/134145/pakistans-dry-future/


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Crop loss' suicide

Sunil Patnaik
Berhampur: A farmer killed himself in the state on Friday allegedly because of crop loss due to pest attack.Alaya Jena of Erendra village in Patapur police limits allegedly killed himself after failing to address the pest problem."Jena was worried by the attack by the brown plant hopper pest in his field. He had administered some pesticide five days ago, but in vain. On Friday when his wife was preparing dinner, he consumed pesticide," said his younger brother, Pintu.
Jena was shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital at night, where he died.BNPur police station inspector-in-charge Ajay Kumar Mishra said: "We have registered an unnatural death case after Pintu Jena lodged a complaint."Ganjam collector Prem Chandra Chowdhary said: "I have asked the tehsildar and the agriculture officer of the area concerned to visit the spot and submit a joint report."Deputy director of agriculture Manoj Kumar Behera said paddy crops in 12 out of 22 blocks in the district were reeling from crop loss due to brown plant hopper pest attacks.
Earlier on Friday, another two farmers, K. Bakeya Reddy and D. Dhanalaxmi of Rampa village in Chikiti block in the district, set fire to their crops.A six-member team of agriculture scientists, led by Bhagaban Patra of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, visited affected areas in six blocks of the district. The team collected samples of pesticides used by the farmers. It also recorded the statements of farmers about pest control, he said.Another team of the Central Rice Research Institute from Cuttack will visit the affected areas on Monday, said Behera.
https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/odisha/crop-loss-suicide-183486


La Niña watch begins; rice output seen growing

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM November 04, 2017
Despite heavy rainfall due to cyclones that plagued southeast Asia this year, conditions for growing rice remained favorable in most parts of the region, according to the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS).However, the La Niña watch was declared this week, with the weather phenomenon expected to affect the Philippines starting this month until February.
While El Niño brings drought, La Niña is marked by heavier-than-usual rainfall.But despite the onset of La Niña, global trade still points to a modest expansion next year, with import growth to be concentrated in Asia.The Philippines, for its part, plans to lift its quantitative restrictions on rice imports, which means that there will be no more limit to the volume of rice it could buy from other countries.
As for this year, despite tropical storms entering most countries in Asia including the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, global rice production still managed to inch up to 500.8 million tons in October from September’s 500.7 million tons.Harvest of wet-season rice is ongoing in Asia except Indonesia, where dry-season rice is being harvested.Based on the AMIS report, recent cyclones did not significantly affect crop conditions.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that production of unmilled rice for the second semester is expected to rise by 6.76 percent from last year’s record of 7.01 million metric tons (MT) for the period.For the first semester this year, the agriculture sector was able to produce 8.57 million MT of paddy rice.As for the commodity’s local price, an increase is being mulled by the state agency National Food Authority, which currently buys palay at P17 a kilo.



China Is Developing Rice That

China: Old Country, New Tricks

More than half the global population relies on rice to survive, but meeting that demand is difficult due to the increasing scarcity of freshwater, which is required for rice cultivation. To get around the problem, an 87-year-old Chinese scientist named Yuan Longping is developing a new high-yield strain of rice that grows in saltwater.
Swamps, bogs, and clay-like or salty coastal waters make up roughly a third of the total arable land in China. Growing rice in these locales is nearly impossible because salt stresses plants’ water-absorption process. Specifically, saltwater makes photosynthesis and respiration more difficult for stalks and slows their growth to death.
Salt from coastal flooding and tides has left just a fraction of China’s total land open to freshwater rice farming, and in Dongying, a region on China’s eastern coast, 40 percent of land has a salt concentration higher than 0.5 percent, according to the World Bank. Experts expect the rising waters from global climate change to exacerbate this problem.
For his research, Longping planted 200 different saltwater-tolerant rice strains at the Qindao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center on the Yellow Sea. According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, his efforts yielded 8,030 pounds of rice per acre. For comparison, most commercial U.S. growers harvest between 7,200-7,600 pounds per acre annually.
Though promising, Longping’s experiment did not mimic the actual conditions in China, instead using water with a much lower salt concentration than could be found in nature.
“It’s still only maybe 10 percent the level of salt in sea water,” Assistant Director General for Agriculture at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) Ren Wang told Business Insider, so the “salt-proof” rice does have a long way to go before it could help ordinary farmers.

The Future of Food

China already produces more rice than any other country on Earth, but if Chinese farmers had access to rice that grows in saltwater, they could plant it in the vast saltwater lands of their country, increasing the nation’s food supply significantly, Wang told Business Insider.
Longping’s rice could also free up freshwater lands that are currently reserved for rice to grow other foods. More affluent Chinese citizens are demanding more meatand less grain-based food, but meeting that need has proven increasingly difficult given the amount of freshwater land reserved for rice cultivation.
Longping’s early success with rice that grows in saltwater also comes at a time when rice producers are reporting particularly unfavorable conditions.
According to the UN FAO’s 2017 global rice production forecast, Sri Lanka and South Korea are experiencing “abnormal dryness,” and Bangladesh recently suffered the worst flooding to hit South Asia in a decade. Nepal and India were also hit by floods and droughts this year, and citizens of those nations will consequently see an increase in prices.
With ice shelves the size of Delaware breaking off the Antarctic with increasing frequency, Longping’s approach to agricultural innovation may determine how future generations cope with the food scarcity that could follow the loss of freshwater land to saltwater flooding.

Iran to Buy 30,000 Tons of Indian Rice

Saturday, November 04, 2017

 

Iran to Buy 30,000 Tons of Indian RiceIran’s state grains buyer Government Trading Corporation has issued an international tender to buy 30,000 tons of rice to be sourced from India, European traders said on Wednesday.The tender closes on Dec. 12, Reuters reported.The rice is sought in three consignments of 10,000 tons for shipment in early 2018, they said.More than 1.05 million tons of semi- and wholly-milled rice worth close to $996 million were imported into Iran during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22), registering an 84.4% and 108.4% surge in weight and value respectively compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Rice imports accounted for 6% and 4.2% of the volume and value of Iran’s overall imports respectively during the six-month period.Imports are taking place while every year and during the rice harvest season, the government bans rice imports in support of local farmers and domestic production.
“The ongoing seasonal ban on rice imports will be in effect until Nov. 21,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Yazdan Seif recently said, noting that the ban went into effect in August.Rice importers bypass the ban during the harvest season by receiving the import permit before the ban period.Deputy Agriculture Minister Abbas Keshavarz said nearly 2.3 million tons of rice have been produced in the country in the current crop year. Iranians annually consume 3 million tons of rice. The two northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran are home to a majority of Iran’s paddy fields.



 

 

La Niña watch begins; rice output seen growing

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM November 04, 2017
Despite heavy rainfall due to cyclones that plagued southeast Asia this year, conditions for growing rice remained favorable in most parts of the region, according to the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS).
However, the La Niña watch was declared this week, with the weather phenomenon expected to affect the Philippines starting this month until February.
While El Niño brings drought, La Niña is marked by heavier-than-usual rainfall.
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But despite the onset of La Niña, global trade still points to a modest expansion next year, with import growth to be concentrated in Asia.
The Philippines, for its part, plans to lift its quantitative restrictions on rice imports, which means that there will be no more limit to the volume of rice it could buy from other countries.
As for this year, despite tropical storms entering most countries in Asia including the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, global rice production still managed to inch up to 500.8 million tons in October from September’s 500.7 million tons.
Harvest of wet-season rice is ongoing in Asia except Indonesia, where dry-season rice is being harvested.
Based on the AMIS report, recent cyclones did not significantly affect crop conditions.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that production of unmilled rice for the second semester is expected to rise by 6.76 percent from last year’s record of 7.01 million metric tons (MT) for the period.
For the first semester this year, the agriculture sector was able to produce 8.57 million MT of paddy rice.
As for the commodity’s local price, an increase is being mulled by the state agency National Food Authority, which currently buys palay at P17 a kilo. http://business.inquirer.net/239894/la-nina-watch-begins-rice-output-seen-growing brand from Korea

First-in-S'pore products from Japan and premium rice
First-in-S'pore products from Japan and premium rice brand from Korea
Nov 04, 2017 06:00 am

RAFFLES CITY SHOPPING CENTRE

Unwanted lipsticks donated by people have been used as part of an art installation by Cultural Medallion recipient and multimedia artist Chng Seok Tin.
A collaboration between the Raffles City Shopping Centre and Very Special Arts Singapore, the artwork comprises 46 brightly coloured flowers handmade from treated aluminium foil and decorated with the lipsticks
Called No Indecent Assault In Speech, the installation was unveiled at a ceremony on Wednesday.
Ms Chng also designed three red lip sofas in different sizes for shoppers to rest on while appreciating the main installation, which is on display at Raffles City Shopping Centre from now till Nov 7.

http://www.tnp.sg/sites/default/files/styles/rl780/public/np_20171104_shop04-64b_1654247_1.jpg?itok=W47wz6Di

TONG SENG PRODUCE

The local rice importer and distributor has brought in Super Oning Koshihikari, a premium rice brand produced in Pyeongtaek City and used in many Korean restaurants.
Its quality is ensured through strict management and the product was conferred the Good Agricultural Practices certification in South Korea.

 http://www.tnp.sg/lifestyle/shopping/first-spore-products-japan-and-premium-rice-brand-korea

Photo essay: Navara, the medicinal 'wonder rice' grown in Kerala's Palakkad
Navara is cited as a special cereal with properties to remedy the basic ill affecting the circulatory, respiratory and digestive system.

Friday, November 03, 2017 - 16:49 http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/default/files/styles/news_detail/public/Navara%2C%20the%20wonder%20rice%20%281%29-compressed.jpg?itok=yO-ziBGV
As we approached the Navara Eco Farm (NEF) located on the banks of the picturesque Chittur River at Karukamani in Palakkad district, we saw vast vistas of green paddy fields straddling the Navara crop.
Peacocks strutting around with their feathers spread out herald a welcome to the ancestral home of Narayanan Unny, an enterprising agriculturist who specializes in the cultivation of Navara rice.
http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/all/var/www/images/A%20peacock%20perched%20on%20a%20roof%20in%20the%20%20farmhouse-compressed.jpg
A peacock perched on a roof in the farmhouse.
Strolling around the farm and the paddy fields, we got a whiff of the countryside, learnt about traditional techniques of farming and watched workers toiling hard in the fields to transplant the rice. We also stumbled upon a resting place which was used as a surveillance post in olden days to keep vigil against pilferage of grain.
http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/all/var/www/images/A%20surveillance%20post%20in%20the%20paddy%20%20fields-compressed.jpg
A surveillance post in the paddy fields.
The ambling pathways in the sprawling 18-acre farm offers excellent exercise coupled with scenic views. The farm teems with medicinal herbs, coconuts and lovingly tended fruit trees droop with the weight of mangoes, jackfruit, lemons, papayas and pomegranates.
The dense foliage in the farm shelters a bewildering variety of birds and butterflies. An organic vegetable garden has several varieties of vegetables which keep the kitchen well supplied.
We saw workers winnowing, thrashing paddy after the harvest and having a siesta under an enormous mango tree overlooking the ancestral home. The old tree has been a silent witness to the sweat, toil and success of three generations of traditional agriculturists.
http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/all/var/www/images/After%20the%20harvest-compressed.jpg
After the harvest. 
NEF flaunts many claims to fame –it is not only the world’s largest Navara farm but also the only certified organic medicinal farm.
The prime focus here is the cultivation of Navara, the wonder rice. What makes it distinct are its medicinal properties and therapeutic qualities.
Tracing the origin of this indigenous plant of Kerala, Unny said, "The rice finds mention in ancient Ayurvedic text like 'Ashtanga Hridaya' and 'Susruta Samhita' which refers to it as a 'pious grain' used on auspicious occasions."
http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/all/var/www/images/Drying%20paddy%20after%20the%20harvest-compressed.jpg
Drying paddy after the harvest. 
Grown from time immemorial, Navara is known as 'Shashtika rice' as it takes a short span of 60 days to grow and mature. It has been used in Ayurvedic treatment from the ancient times and prescribed as a health food for people of all ages.
Navara is cited as a special cereal with properties to remedy the basic ill affecting the circulatory, respiratory and digestive system. But the yield and quality of Navara varies from location to location.
As the cultivation of Navara was restricted to a limited area and did not multiply substantially, it is considered an endemic crop. It is hailed as the 'gold with fragrance' because if a farmer has a stock of seeds with him he can earn a good price in any season.
http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/all/var/www/images/Narayanan%20Unni%2C%20the%20farming%20%20evagelist%20in%20his%20farm-compressed.jpg
Narayanan Unny in his farm. 
Grown mainly in Palakkad, the rice belt of Kerala, Navara is Kerala's indigenous medicinal cereal plant. Herbal healers have endorsed its rich medicinal properties. The paddy is used for Ayurvedic treatments since time immemorial.
Traditionally 'Navarakhi' and 'Navaratheppu' are two major treatments in Ayurveda for arthritis, paralysis and neurological disorders. Navara Kizhi is also used in Ayurveda for treatment of polio, psoriasus, rheumatism, diabetes, snake bite, peptic ulcer, emaciation of limbs, lifestyle maladies while the porridge of Navara grains in milk is prescribed as special food for invalids and infants. It has also anti-cancer properties.
Navara, the native genetic resource of Kerala, famed for its extensive use especially in Panchakarma treatment (traditional rejuvenation therapy), is popular among foreign tourists and stressed out executives.
http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/all/var/www/images/Navara%2C%20the%20wonder%20rice-compressed.jpg
Navara, 'the wonder rice'.
Scientists at the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) have identified an anti-cancer gene in the rice and say it is effective against breast cancer. According to a scientist of KAU research wing, once clinically developed it will be a great boon to cancer patients. It is a unique cereal having high content of free amino acids.
Describing his experience of cultivating this singular strand of rice, Unny, the third generation owner who took over the farm in 1995 said, "The cultivation of this medicinal rice variety was almost extinct when I took it up as a mission to rescue this fragile heritage rice. Non-availability of pure seeds, low yield and high cost of production leading to commercial non-viability and conversion to organic farming posed great challenges." Tireless in spirit, Unny relentlessly pursued his venture.
Unny's strenuous efforts have not gone unnoticed. He bagged the maiden organic certification for Navara cultivation in 2006. He formed rice clusters for Navara and Palakkadan Matta varieties of rice and applied for Geographical Indication (GI) certification.
http://www.thenewsminute.com/sites/all/var/www/images/Vast%20vistas%20of%20paddy%20fields%20and%20%20swaying%20coconut%20trees-compressed.jpg
Vast vistas of paddy fields and swaying coconut trees.
In 2007, these two varieties were the first agricultural products in India to earn the GI tag. Navara Eco Farm epitomizes environment friendly farming, preservation of ecology, and bio-diversity. He was honoured with the Plant Genome Savoir Community Recognitive Award for his conservation efforts.
To cater to the increasing number of visitors and growing breed of researchers and scientists to his farm, Unny has joined the bandwagon of agro-tourism promoters, synergizing both agriculture and tourism. He has ambitious plans to start the first rice museum in India showcasing different varieties of rice and traditional farming implements.
All photographs by Susheela Nair. 
Susheela Nair is a Food, Travel, Lifestyle Writer and Photographer contributing content, articles and pictures on food, travel, lifestyle, photography, environment, and ecotourism to several reputed national publications. Her writings constitute a wide spectrum which also includes travel portals & guide books, brochures and coffee table books. 


Scientists develop rice that grows in seawater

·       SHAZMA KHAN

 NOV 4TH, 2017
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Due to the growing shortage of freshwater, the rice cultivation has declined which is a primary source of food for over half of the global population. In order to overcome the problem, a Chinese scientist has developed a process to grow rice in seawater.
China contains a third of its land with swamps, bogs, and clay-like or salty-like costal water. These waters make processes like photosynthesis and respiration difficult as the salt stresses plant’s water-absorption process. This in turn slows the plant’s growth converting it to its death. Thus, the 87-year-old Chinese scientist Yuan Longping created a new high-yield strain of rice able to grow in saltwater.
Longping planted 200 various saltwater-tolerant rice strains on the Yellow Sea to see which one would grow best in salty conditions. His work yielded 8,030 pounds of rice per acre in comparison to the US growers that harvest around 7,200 to 7,600 pounds per acre annually, as per China’s Xinhua News Agency.
Yuan exclaimed, “If a farmer tries to grow some types of saline-tolerant rice now, they most likely will get 1,500 kilogrammes per hectare. That is just not profitable and not even worth the effort. Farmers will have an incentive to grow the rice if we can double the yield.”
However, the experiment did not exactly imitate the actual situations in the country. Instead, it used water with comparatively lower salt concentration than it is actually present in nature.
“It’s still only maybe 10% the level of salt in sea water. So the ‘salt-proof’ rice does have a long way to go before it could help ordinary farmers,” said Assistant Director General for Agriculture at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) Ren Wang while talking to Business Insider.
According to Wang, China is already making more rice than any other country and this technique could increase the country’s food supply drastically. The saltwater rice can also free up freshwater lands, which are reserved for rice at present, in order to grow other foods.
The saltwater rice has already been available to consumers with a price around eight times more than ordinary rice. Yet, people buying the rice are appreciating its texture and flavor. The rice also has many health benefits including being rich in calcium

Rice drives India’s agri exports
Farm exports, led by rice, jumped by 13 per cent during April-September as dealers overseas built up stocks amid fears of a ban by the EU, which strengthened quality norms.

Rice drives India's agri exportsAccording to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), exports of agricultural products registered with it jumped to $8.73 billion in April-September from $7.69 billion in the corresponding period a year ago. In rupee terms, Apeda-registered exports jumped by 8.64 per cent to Rs 56,183 crore from Rs 51,499 crore.
 The rise in farm exports was primarily driven by rice, both basmati and non-basmati, which contribute nearly 44 per cent to the country’s annual farm shipments. Exports of rice rose by over 30 per cent in dollar terms and 25 per cent in rupee terms during April-September as European buyers built inventories in anticipation of tighter quality tests effective November 1.
“European buyers built their inventories on fears a smaller quantity of rice would pass the quality tests. Iran, too, purchased a huge quantity of rice, resulting in an increase in overall exports,” said Gurnam Arora, joint managing director, Kohinoor Foods. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), in a communication to Apeda, said basmati rice from India needed to pass through a pre-shipment residue test for 22 pesticides from November 1. Apeda clarified that the minimum residue limit for propiconazole was under review.

The value of basmati rice exports jumped to $2.13 billion in April-September from $1.63 billion in the same period a year ago. Exporters’ realisation rose to $997 a tonne from $789 a tonne last year. Rice exports were 2.13 million tonnes in April- September, up from 2.07 million tonnes in the same period of 2016.

Guar gum also witnessed a sharp rise in exports from 163,958 tonnes ($180 million) in April-September 2016 to 252,568 tonnes ($317 million) in the comparable period this year. Increasing demand from shell gas companies for oil drills yielded 14 per cent higher realisation this year at $1,255 a tonne.


Traders’ cartel offers lower prices, growers start stocking basmati

Basmati growers here are up in arms as the popular 1121 aromatic variety is fetching a lower price in the Fazilka market compared to other markets due to a cartel raised by the private traders.Traders, including exporters and rice millers, are the bulk buyers of the variety.As farmers are being offered lower price, they have started stocking the paddy. Sources said traders have been purchasing paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal compared to Rs 3,300-3,400 per quintal in nearby districts for the past five days.“Private traders and exporters have connived to keep prices low. The farmers are left with no other alternative but sell it to private traders in the absence of minimum support price and government policy,” alleged Des Raj of Balluana village who has been waiting to sell his produce at Fazilka.

“Farmers switched over to the less water-consuming variety on the persuasion of the government which has now let them down,” said another farmer Angrej Singh.Basmati growers of Theh Qalandar village said villagers have decided not to sell their produce at lower rate.They claimed that about 20,000 bags (each weighing 35 kg) of basmati have been produced in the village so far. Out of those, only 3,000 bags have been sold by farmers. The rest has been stored in the hope of getting a better price after the dismantling of the cartel.Official sources said the arrival of 1,46,567 tonnes of paddy had been recorded in the district so far. “I have directed the market committee authorities to look into the matter and take action,” said DCIsha Kalia.




‘Find right markets’ before hiking organic rice

Farmers at Ubon Ratchathani are harvesting their organic Hom Mali rice.












THE GOVERNMENT has to find the right market for organic rice before it encourages farmers to increase the area producing the crop from 300,000 rai (48,000 hectares) this year to 1 million rai in 2019, Thai Rice Exporters Association president Pol Lieute-nant Charoen Leothamatas said.

He added that when farmers grow organic rice for export, they need a certificate to prove it matches global standards, and that was both difficult and expensive to achieve. If the government wants to promote the country as an organic rice producer, it has to help farmers to apply for global organic rice certification, help develop rice seed and find a market with the right demand for the product, Charoen said recently. Currently, the export of organic rice from Thailand accounts for only 5,000 tonnes of a total of 11 million tonnes exported per year.
However, there is a potential market for rice farmers if they can control the quality of their crop and develop rice seed to match the niche demand, he added. Montri Gosalawat, the secretary-general of the Progressive Farmer Association who has grown organic rice since 1995, said that although organic rice was still a niche product, the demand has led to double-digit growth each year since 2009. It is especially popular in quality markets such as the United States and Europe.

The global demand for organic rice average 10,000 tonnes a year, of which Thailand exports half. With the market growing at an average 20 per cent a year, Thailand has great potential to develop and export organic rice if the government supports knowhow, applications for certification, development of seed and market sourcing, Montri said. Production costs for organic rice are normally cheaper than on chemical rice farms.
However, the organic rice price is higher because growing time is longer – meaning there is just one crop a year -– and demand is higher both in the domestic market and overseas.  The government target is to have 3 million framers harvesting organic rice from 10 million rai by the year 2021. That would boost the supply of organic rice in the market by more than 200 per cent, but it will also reduce the price of organic rice, and mean that new markets have to be found. Man Samsri, head of organic rice farming at Naso district in Yasothorn province, said the global price was not a factor when his area changed to growing organic 10 years ago.
  “We changed our ways to grow organic rice because we need to improve our quality of life [that has suffered from farming with chemicals], and also to produce quality rice for our families to consume,” Man said. The group has a total of 2,131 farmers who have combined their land to produce organic rice on 42,694 rais. Their rice now fetches a higher price in the market, Man said. Currently, the group produces about 300 tonnes of organic rice a year. It has global “Hom Mali” certification, and 90 per cent of production is exported to Europe and the United States.
The remaining 10 per cent is sold in the domestic market at an average price of Bt80 per kilogram – higher than the regular Hom Mali price of about Bt45 per kilogram. “The high price is the final reason why we produce a high quality of organic rice, but our main benefit of producing organic rice is our strong health from consuming it,” Man said. “This is the way to be sustainable farmers for the long term. If we have quality products, we can find the market that has the purchasing power to pay for quality products.”
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Economy/30330875


Govt should fix MSP for basmati, say farmers
Buoyed by the steep increase in the prices of 1121 Basmati rice this season in comparison to last year, farmers of Punjab have demanded that the Centre should announce the minimum support price (MSP) for basmati rice to help the farmers to come out of financial mess.The 1509 basmati rice fetched Rs 2,500 as compared to Rs 1,600 last year, while the 1121 basmati rice fetched Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 this year as compared to Rs 2,500 last year. The price of superior basmati rice variety of 1121 has witnessed 25 per cent jump in the wholesale market as the rice which was available for Rs 8,000 per quintal was now being sold for Rs 10,000.Interestingly, in view of the 1121 basmati rice fetching higher price in the Nabha grain market, farmers from Sangrur district were also bringing their produce to the local grain market.Basmati traders Rakesh Gupta and Deepak Gupta, while confirming the steep increase in the prices of basmati this year, said the main reason behind the increase was lesser farmers going in for Basmati rice which had witnessed slump last year. They said this year, the arrival of basmati had witnessed steep decrease and hardly any farmer brought their produce to the grain market.

Another wholesale Basmati trader Ashok Arora said even though the new crop was yet to arrive, the prices of basmati had started touching new heights. He said the prices were likely to go up further as the production was very low this year with fewer farmers sowing the 1121 paddy variety this year.Onkar Singh Aghol, general secretary, Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal), said like normal rice, the Centre should also fix the MSP for Basmati rice so that more and more farmers could sow the crop to get better remuneration. He said this would also help the farmers to come out of the financial mess.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/chandigarh/govt-should-fix-msp-for-basmati-say-farmers/493100.html

Saturday, November 04, 2017

4th November,2017 daily global regional local rice e-newsletter by riceplus magazine



Amarinder opposes GI tagging of Basmati
CHANDIGARH: Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the Geographical Indications (GI) tagging of 13 Basmati producing districts of Madhya Pradesh as it would adversely affect other Basmati producing states in the country, including Punjab.In a letter to Modi, Amarinder has urged him to immediately direct the Ministry of Commerce to drop the idea of issuing GI tag for the 13 districts for which Madhya Pradesh has sought inclusion in the list of regions eligible for GI tagging of Basmati.
Terming it an economically and socially important international issue, Amarinder said with two lakh Punjab farmers engaged in Basmati cultivation, the move to include Madhya Pradesh in GI tagging could have a negative effect on the agriculture of the state, as well of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Western UP and two districts of Jammu and Kathua in J&K, which are already GI tagged.

Amarinder said he had written a demi-official letter to the then Union Minister of State for Commerce on April 18, 2017 highlighting Punjab's concerns, but the issue did not appear to have been resolved. Seeking the Prime Minister's intervention, he stressed the need for early resolution and status quo to be maintained on the issue.


India asks Germany to resolve early fungicide issue in rice
New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) India today asked Germany to address at the earliest the issue related to the tolerance level of fungicide tricyclazole in Basmati rice exports. The issue was raised by Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in a meeting with German Food and Agriculture Minister Peter Bleser here. The European Union has decided to bring down the tolerance level of fungicide tricyclazole to zero level from next year which is likely to impact India's basmati rice shipments. In an official statement, Agriculture Ministry said that Singh "requested the German Minister to use his good office for early resolution of the issue relating to Tricyclazole in Indian rice exported to the EU." Singh also raised the issue of acceptance of digital phytosanitary certificates by the EU countries. India and Germany also discussed about ongoing bilateral projects being implemented in various areas of farm sector.
 Separately, Singh also met Danish Minister Environment and Food Minister Esben Lunde Larsen, Serbia Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimovic and stressed on further cooperation in the field of agricutlure with India. PTI LUX MKJ .
http://www.newindianexpress.com/pti-news/2017/nov/03/india-asks-germany-to-resolve-early-fungicide-issue-in-rice-1691341.html
Indian farmers behind smog in Pakistan: EPD minister


https://cache.pakistantoday.com.pk/smog-3-300x168.jpg LAHORE: Without having the actual data of air pollution within Pakistan, Punjab government has blamed the crop stubble burning in the Indian part of Punjab as a major reason of smog in Pakistan. Environment Protection Department (EPD) Minister Zakya Shahnwaz expressed these views during a media briefing along with EPD and Meteorological department officials. During the press briefing, no official could explain the actual statistics of air pollutants present in the atmosphere and no actual figures were given regarding the air quality monitoring conducted earlier by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Smog has continued to wreak havoc throughout Punjab for the last 10 days, causing low visibility and diseases among the citizens. Prior to the occurrence of smog in the country, EPD had formulated a smog policy to cope with the issue preemptively. However many questions were raised by the authorities concerned when on November 3, 2016, the phenomenon of smog was experienced for the first time in Lahore.

Maintaining that the major reason behind smog was the burning of crop stubbles in Indian Punjab, Zakya Shahnwaz stated that around 35 million tons of rice paddies were burnt by farmers on the other side of the border. Presenting a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) image depicting the situation of crop stubble burning in Indian Punjab, the minister alleged that the activity was the major contributor of smog in Pakistan.

“The situation of smog is worse in India than in Pakistan. We have taken sufficient measure to deal with the issue and now we are monitoring the situation on daily basis,” she added. Secretary EPD, Capt (r) Saif Anjum speaking on the occasion stated that hundreds of factories have been sealed in wake of smog while strict measures also have been taken against the vehicles causing pollution.
 “EPA has sealed at least 175 industrial units during the campaign against violators of the environmental law while it also has lodged First Information Report (FIR) against 22 factories,” he said and added that around 16,000 vehicles have been fined on charges of causing pollution. However, he did not explain whether the fine was posed by EPA or traffic police. Chief Meteorologist Muhammad Riaz stated the phenomenon was caused due to lack of timely rain. Like the EPD minister, he also reiterated that the smog has been caused due to the burning of crop stubbles which resulted in smog and entered with air which blew towards Pakistan. During yesterday’s press briefing, EPA officials tried to express that the department’s performance was up to the mark in an attempt to befool the public but the reality was altogether different and the inefficiency of the concerned departments was evident. The air pollution is a major contributor to smog but EPA has kept silent about it for years.

Though it was the primary responsibility of EPA to monitor air quality in the province, especially after the 18th amendment in the constitution but the department refrained from performing the duties despite continuous warnings of international organizations like World Bank, WHO and many experts. Smog is a byproduct of different pollutants like nitrogen oxides, Particulate Matters (PM2.5 and PM10), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), tropospheric ozone and Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (PAN). All of these substances are very chemically reactive and are harmful to human and other living things. Though the EPA has started taking actions against violators however this move is being carried out without any scientific evidence as no fact-based data of pollution level in the city and other parts of the Punjab has been recorded.
After last year’s occurrence of smog in Lahore, EPA procured the air pointers to monitor the air quality after investing a huge amount but to date, no data has been released. According to information available with Pakistan Today, said air pointers had to be installed in five different districts of the Punjab, which EPA has failed to install to date. However, some of these air pointers were installed in Lahore ten days earlier to monitor the air quality however the authorities continue to ignore the bad air quality in rest of the province.

Even though it has been labelled that Indian farmers are to be blamed for the smog in Pakistan, no official could inform the actual composition and structure of pollutants entering the country. Sources state that if the air was blowing toward eastern direction then it was the responsibility of the Met office to inform other concerned departments. Many experts believe the newly established coal-fired power plant in Sahiwal may be the reason behind smog in the southern part of Punjab but EPD secretary denied the accusation while stating that modern technology has been adopted in the said plant.  

SMOG | Burning rice residue, is this the reasons?


PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESSLAHORE:  The government may have sprung into action to control the smog which is dominating the city’s atmosphere, but experts fear these efforts have come too late in the day. Come late October, the city is engulfed with smog and this has been the case for the last few years during the late fall and early winter season. According to recent research, the gradual built up of smog is a result of rampant and unchecked carbon emissions from multiple sources such as vehicular and industry emissions, coupled with rice residue burning in the Indian and Pakistani Punjab region.
In the wake of the recent smog built up, the Punjab Environment Protection Department sprung in action and held a press conference. As she spoke to the media,   Provincial Environment Minister Begum Zakia Shahnawaz said the issue was not only limited to Punjab, but had engulfed a significant part of South Asia.
The minister claimed the situation in neighbouring Indian Punjab was far worse and has been increasing due to the burning of rice residue.  She said that the situation was exasperated by the wind direction from east to west, which puts further pressure on the environment in western Punjab. According to Environment Protection Department Secretary Saif Anjum, smog buildup can also reach the Khyber-Pakhtukhwa region given the weather conditions.  Anjum added that during the coming days, the situation was likely to remain the same or might even get worse in terms of reduced visibility. Commenting on relevant measures to control the situation, the secretary added 197 FIRs have been registered against farmers who were found burning their rice residue, while 65 growers were arrested. He said that apart from legal action, the department has also launched an awareness campaign to curtail residue burning. According to Saif, during the last one week, 15,178 smoke-emitting vehicles were also fined. Moreover,, as many as 175 factories and smoke emitting units have been closed, while 35 factories were charged with FIRs for not complying with emission standards. Sectary EPA admitted that environmental pollution has increased over the past few years and there is a pressing need to adopt sustainable practices. Commenting on these measures, Lahore Baachao Therik Convener and Lahore Conservation Society member Imrana Tiwana rubbished the ministry’s claims. She said it is high time that the government takes the wellbeing of people seriously. Calling it a national emergency that has reached catastrophic levels, Tiwana added the negligence on the part of departments concerned could constitute a criminal offence. The social activist said there were no signs of the government seriously implementing environmental safety policies. “Now when the lives of people are at risk, the ministry is resorting to excuses. “Focusing on the industries, vehicular emission laws, uncontrolled and mismanaged urbanisation doesn’t seem to be a priority of government departments. It is simply a matter of taking very simple steps to avoid this situation,” Tiwana said. “As far as the issue of carbon emissions from India is concerned, it is one of the many contributing factors. I am sure it is as much of a problem for them as it is for us since the matter of carbon emissions is a global issue and not limited to just one region,” Tiwana added. Burning rice residue In a research paper titled “Why Do Farmers Burn Rice Residue? Examining Farmers’ Choices in Punjab, Pakistan”, it was found that the total cost of handling rice residue and preparing wheat fields after rice, when farmers fully burn rice residue, is Rs3,424 (US$ 41) per acre. The research found out that the practice of burning costs substantially less than others such as using the residue as compost. The paper was written by Forman Christian College Department of Economics Associate Professor Tanvir Ahmed and Innovative Agriculture Faisalabad President/Chief Executive Officer Bashir Ahmad. The research found out that incorporation of rice residue, which is the next best alternative in terms of the cost of handling residue and preparing wheat fields, costs 20% more than the cost of a full burn. The researchers also noticed that the most important alternate practice of full residue removal, on average, is 34% more costly than simply burning the residue. According to the research, with a total area of about 1.1 million hectares, rice/wheat cropping is the dominant cropping system in many districts in Punjab, Pakistan and approximately 80% of the wheat crop in the province is grown after harvesting rice. Often, there is widespread late planting of wheat, especially when basmati rice is the preceding rice variety. Farmers burn rice residue as many believe it has a beneficial effect on yields. The research suggests that growers who are burning their residue will need some form of incentive to move them towards rice residue incorporation, which is the next best alternative. Adopting full incorporation or removing pural and incorporating the lower parts of rice stem, however, requires investment in new planting equipment which needs to be subsidised. The average subsidy required to incentivise farmers to move towards residue incorporation would be in the range of Rs674-908 (US$ 8-11) per acre. That is the difference between the average cost of fully burning and the average cost of full or partial incorporation of residue into the soils.

http://ricenewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/RASFF-Portal-300x240.jpgAlerts – Issued by European Commission RASFF Portal on Basmati Rice



Japanese Gov’t Boosts Local Rice Production
November 3, 2017
  
https://www.liberianobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Farm-equipment-2-696x392.jpg Farmers pose with the Japanese government donated BCS rotary tillers.
Donates US$500K farm equipment
The Japanese government has donated to Liberian farmers some energy saving farming equipment that will enable them to produce more rice to feed the country’s growing population.The equipment, which comes with a US$500,000 price tag, include 31 pieces of BCS rotary tillers and 424 pieces of garden weasels.
The donation is part of the Japanese Rice Grant Project implemented by the Community of Hope Agriculture Project (CHAP) in five of the 15 counties that suffered the worst of the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and 2015. The counties are Lofa, Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Bomi and Montserrado.
CHAP executive director Robert Bimba donated the farm equipment simultaneously to heads of farming cooperatives from those counties at the formal program held in Monrovia over the weekend.
CHAP is a locally-based non governmental organization working with local farmers to build their capacity.
Director Bimba described agriculture as key to Liberia’s food security recovery, urging the farmers to help grow more rice to fed the population. He underscored the importance of the project to the farmers from the Ebola affected counties.
He said the organization formally launched the Japanese Rice Project in Bomi, Cape Mount, Grand Bassa and Montserrado counties with the objectives to build the capacity of farmers, link them with markets, and making available to them seed rice, fertilizers and rain boots.
“The project is working with over 1,800 farmers, so we want to thank the Japanese government and the Ministry of Agriculture for the grant,” he said.
A representative of the farmers thanked CHAP, the Japanese government and the authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture for the donations, which they promised to use for their intended purpose.
The Japanese government is also constructing the Somalia Drive thoroughfare, while in the health sector, it has contributed US$2.256 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund to protect Liberian children from infectious diseases.UNICEF said it will use the Japanese grant to strengthen the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) services which focus on seven of Liberia’s 15 counties with more than 450,000 children and will fund training and supplies to strengthen the capacity of healthcare workers at the community level to treat and prevent childhood diseases.
Published: November 3, 2017
PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan dumps water worth $22 billion into the sea every year mainly because of lack of storage capacity and poor conservation practices, Indus River System Authority (Irsa) Chairman Sher Zaman Khan said on Thursday.
Briefing the participants of the Senate Forum for Policy Research, Khan warned if the current water crisis continued, it would aggravate food security situation as the country would not be able to produce major crops.
“If dams are not constructed on a war footing, in the near future Pakistan will not be able to produce major crops like wheat, rice, sugarcane, cotton and maize due to the acute water shortage,” Khan told the forum meeting.
The Irsa chief informed the forum – chaired by Senator Nayyar Husain Bokhari – that the water regulator had already informed the provinces they might face 36% irrigation water shortage during the Rabbi season (October-March).
According to Khan, about 500,000 tonnes of silt deposits in the Terbela dam and the Mangla dam every day. “Because of this, [our] two major water reservoirs have already lost 12% of their storage capacity,” he added.
The forum unanimously agreed to the need for construction of more dams, especially the Kalabagh dam, on an urgent basis to help improve the water conservation system.
The meeting was informed that monsoon rains are a major source of water in Pakistan.
Khan said 80% of water comes from monsoon rains and the rest from other sources. However, he added, due to shortage of storages, huge quantity of water is dumped into the sea which otherwise could be stored.
At the forum, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashraf underscored the importance of dams. He expressed serious reservation to the absence of a national water policy.
“Kalabagh dam can easily be completed in five years,” he said, adding that the Akhoori dam could also be constructed as an alternative to Kalabagh dam within a few years. He warned that out of the 43 lakes in Pakistan, levels of 26 have dropped drastically in the past few years.
He also spoke about the depleting quality of drinking as well as ground water. “The analyses of the water quality in major cities of Pakistan in 2015-16 are eye-opener and call for measures on a war footing to save as many lives as possible,” he said.
Irsa committee meets
An emergency meeting of the Irsa Advisory committee reviewed the water availability situation. The meeting was chaired by Irsa Chairman Sher Zaman and attended by Irsa members and officials of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the provincial irrigation department.
Irsa spokesperson Khalid Rana told reporters the committee anticipated that the country would receive 23.96 million acre feet (MAF) water instead of 29.48 MAF estimated earlier. Irsa had anticipated 20% water shortage for during Rabi season but now it expected 36% shortage.
“Sindh, Punjab and Wapda submitted their working paper regarding the water availability in the reservoirs and rivers. The advisory committee reviewed the data and forecast that the water shortage for the Rabi season will be 36%,” Rana said.
Earlier the total water availability was estimated of 29.48 MAF – 24 MAF from river flows and about 7.8 MAF currently stored in two reservoirs. In October, however, the rivers received 4.1 MAF water – 17% less than anticipated 4.9 MAF.
Since Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) are exempted from any cut in their water share, they will get their full share of 1.9 MAF. The shortage would be distributed between Sindh and Punjab.
(With additional input from Zafar Bhutta)

Paddy bonus casts shadow over rice export in Chhattisgarh

A major portion of the state is reeling under severe drought

R Krishna Das  |  Raipur 
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Representational image

The bonus on paddy announced by the Chhattisgarh government had cast a shadow over the export prospects of rice in the state.
The state government had announced a bonus of Rs 300 per quintal on paddy which would be procuring at minimum support price (MSP) from the farmers. While the move had cheered the farmers who would be getting a higher return, the rice traders in the state had been in distress.
 The Centre has approved Rs 80 per quintal hike in paddy MSP at Rs 1,550 for common grade variety and Rs 1,590 for ‘A’ grade variety. The farmers in Chhattisgarh would hence get Rs 1,850 per quintal for common grade and Rs 1,890 for “A” grade variety of paddy that they would sell to the government through the societies.
A major portion of the state is reeling under severe drought. Subsequently, the production was likely to be affected. The government estimates that it would bear a 30 per cent loss in paddy production. For the kharif marketing season 2017-18, Chhattisgarh had set a target to procure 6.9 million tonnes of paddy at MSP.

“Following less production, a major portion of the produce would be consumed by the government at MSP while the farmers would be reluctant to sell the leftover stock to traders at a lower price,” Yogesh Agrawal, president of Chhattisgarh rice millers’ association, said. The traders would either have to purchase paddy at the higher price or would be deprived of stock, he added.
According to Agrawal, the traders in Chhattisgarh quoted the high price to their counterparts abroad as they were left with no other option. Following a competition, traders abroad would prefer to purchase from Odisha, Maharashtra or Andhra Pradesh.
Besides, the state government had announced that it would not release water for Rabi crops due to drought, which would affect around a million tonnes of paddy. The entire stock of summer rice (Rabi rice) produced in the state is exported.Chhattisgarh had been exporting about 1.5 million tonnes of parboiled rice. The produce is shipped mainly to African countries besides neighbouring Bangladesh.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/paddy-bonus-casts-shadow-over-rice-export-in-chhattisgarh-117110300776_1.html
Floods cut rice yield in NE by 400,000-500,000 tonnes
By Thai PBS


Over one million rai of rice farm land in the Northeast have been damaged by flooding and this will bring down rice yield for the 2017-18 main crops by 5-6 percent or between 400,000-500,000 tonnes, according to the Thai Rice Exporters.

Speaking after a meeting with agricultural and commerce officials as well as rice millers from 20 northeastern provincess on Thursday (Nov 2) to assess rice production situation and rice prices in the aftermath of massive flooding, Charoen Laothammatat, president of Thai Rice Exporters Association said over one million rai of rice field in the region has been damaged.

Northeastern provinces, including Roi Et, Ubon Ratchathani and Yasothon which are major rice-growing areas, were severely affected by flooding in July-August caused by heavy rainfalls from tropical storm “Sonca.”



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