In its regular update on palay, rice and corn prices, PSA
said the average price of palay went up to P20.55 per kilogram from P18.78 per
kg last year. Week-on-week, prices were less than one percent lower.
Egypt's rice farmers see rough times downstream of new Nile
mega-dam
APRIL 23, 2018 / 9:05 PM /
KAFR ZIADA, Egypt/DUBAI (Reuters) - Rice farmers in Kafr Ziada
village in the Nile River Delta have ignored planting restrictions aimed at
conserving water for years, continuing to grow a medium-grain variety of the
crop that is prized around the Arab world.
Farmer Mohamed Abdelkhaleq
speaks during an interview with Reuters in a field in the Beheira Governorate,
north of Cairo, Egypt April 4, 2018. Picture taken April 4, 2018.
REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A decision thousands of kilometers to the south is about to
change that, however, in another example of how concern about water, one of the
world’s most valuable commodities, is forcing change in farming, laws and even
international diplomacy.
Far upstream, close to one of the sources of the Nile, Ethiopia is
preparing to fill the reservoir behind its new $4 billion Grand Renaissance
Dam, possibly as soon as this year.
How fast it does so could have devastating consequences for
farmers who have depended on the Nile for millennia to irrigate strategic crops
for Egypt’s 96 million people, expected to grow to 128 million by 2030.
Safeguarding Egypt’s share of the Nile, on which the country
relies for industry and drinking water as well as farming, is now at the top of
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s agenda as he begins a second term.
At the same time, authorities are finally tackling widespread
illegal growing of the water-intensive rice crop, showing a sense of urgency
that even climate change and rapid population growth has failed to foster.
The crackdown means Egypt will likely be a rice importer in 2019
after decades of being a major exporter, rice traders say.
Cairo has decreed that 724,000 feddans (750,000 acres) of rice
can be planted this year, which grain traders estimate is less than half of the
1.8 million feddans actually cultivated in 2017 – far in excess of the
officially allotted 1.1 million feddans.
Police have started raiding farmers’ homes and jailing them
until they pay outstanding fines from years back.“The police came to my house
at three in the morning and took me to the station to pay the fine,” said
Mohamed Abdelkhaleq, head of the farming association in Kafr Ziada, some 125 km
(80 miles) north of Cairo in Beheira governorate.“Even if the fine is 1
Egyptian pound (5 U.S. cents), they’ll come to your house.”Three other farmers
reported similar experiences and said this year they would not plant rice.Reda
Abdelaziz, 50, said some people have become afraid to leave the village.“If
you’re traveling and they take your ID card and see you have a fine on you,
they’ll put you in jail,” he said.Abdelkhaleq took to the local mosque’s
loudspeaker last month to say the government was doubling the fine for
unauthorized rice cultivation to 7,600 pounds per feddan.Mostafa al-Naggari,
who heads the rice committee of Egypt’s agricultural export council, says if
the government sticks to the new approach Egypt will likely have to import as
much as 1 million tonnes of rice next year.“The dam has opened the door for
there to be more of an awareness of water scarcity issues, but Egypt has for a
long time needed to review its water allocation policy,” he said.
NO AGREEMENT
Egypt has long considered the Nile its own, even though the
river and its tributaries flow through 10 countries. Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat famously said in 1979 that he was prepared to go to war over the Nile if
its flow was ever threatened.
But any threat from Ethiopia in the past was empty – until now.
The new dam, cutting through the Blue Nile tributary just before its descent
into southeastern Sudan, will offer Addis Ababa immense political leverage over
its downstream neighbors.
Sudan and Egypt are the biggest users of the river for
irrigation and dams. Egypt wants to be assured that the dam will not affect the
river’s flow, estimated at about 84 billion cubic meters on average per year.
Ethiopia aims to use the dam to become Africa’s biggest power
generator and exporter, linking tens of millions to electricity for the first
time.
The two countries have not been able to agree on a comprehensive
water-sharing arrangement despite years of negotiations.
Ethiopia was not party to and does not recognize a 1959
agreement between Egypt and Sudan that gave Cairo the rights to the lion’s
share of the river. For its part, Egypt refuses to sign on to a 2010 regional
water-sharing initiative that takes away its power to veto projects that would
alter allocations.
Ethiopia says that its dam won’t affect the Nile’s flow once its
79 billion cubic meter reservoir is filled. The issue is over how fast that happens.
Ethiopia wants to do it in as little as three years; Egypt is aiming for seven
to ten, sources close to the matter said.
There’s no doubt the flow of the Nile will be affected during
those years. What’s not known is how dramatically, and there is little data
available to answer that question.
Farmer Reda Abdelaziz speaks
during an interview with Reuters in a field in the Beheira Governorate, north
of Cairo, Egypt April 4, 2018. Picture taken April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd
El Ghany
Sources at Egypt’s irrigation ministry have estimated the loss
of 1 billion cubic meters of water would affect 1 million people and lead to
the loss of 200,000 acres of farmland.
On that basis, “if (the dam is) filled in 3 years it might
destroy 51 percent of Egypt’s farmland, if in 6 years it will destroy 17
percent,” said Ashraf el Attal, CEO of Dubai-based commodities trader Fortuna
and an expert on Egypt’s grain trade.
BE READY TO ADAPT
The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has said Egypt
requires an “urgent and massive” response to maintain food security in coming
years for a number of reasons, including water scarcity, urbanization and the
effects of climate change.
Talks among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the dam in early April
stalled over what Sudan’s foreign minister called “technical issues”. No date
has been set for the next round.
“The filling of the GERD is just the most critical issue for the
three countries to decide upon, and now, ahead of the first filling,” said Ana
Cascão, an independent researcher on Nile hydropolitics.
“A fair and equitable filling strategy must take into account
different scenarios on climate and rainfall variability – if it will be one of
drought, then the three countries are ready to agree on a slower filling,” said
Cascão.
Rice farmers, who typically begin planting at the end of April,
said they may now leave their lands fallow given the difficulty of quickly
switching to other summer crops like cotton and corn that require different
machinery and techniques.
Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty told Reuters the situation
posed a big threat to crops, livelihoods and even political stability if
efforts to coordinate fail.“Imagine to what extent these people will become
vulnerable,” he said.
(GRAPHIC: The Nile's troubled waters - tmsnrt.rs/2qq8XGc)
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-rice-insight/egypts-rice-farmers-see-rough-times-downstream-of-new-nile-mega-dam-idUSKBN1HU1O0
Iran
temporally lifts ban on rice imports amid drought concern
23 April 2018 19:37 (UTC+04:00)
Baku,
Azerbaijan, April 22
By
Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
Iran,
a rice growing country, has reportedly permitted merchants to import the
strategic product as the ongoing water crisis has triggered concerns in the
country. "Following a decision by the senior government officials, from
today on, importing rice from all crossings is legal and the importers only
need to observe the regulations set by the standards organization as well as
Health Ministry," an official with the country’s agriculture ministry told
ISNA news agency on April 22.Under the new directive, the merchants are allowed
to import rice until July 22 and there will be no changes in the customs
tariffs on the imports of the product.
Iran
normally allows imports of rice in late September when the local farmers have
concluded cultivating the cereal grain and again limits the imports in late
July.The Islamic Republic imported worth of $1.2 billion of rice over the last
fiscal year which ended on March 21.
Rice
producer turns into importer
Over
the past several years Iran has turned into a large importer of rice as India
and Pakistan have secured a strong position for their rice in the Iranian
market. In 2010, Iran imported $916 million worth of rice, out of which $369
million were from India, giving it a 40 percent share in the Iranian market. By
2014, the Indian share in Iran’s rice market had gone up to 89.51 percent
($1.28 billion in rice imports from India out of the total Iranian imports of
$1.43 billion), Financial Tribune reported.
The
share of Indian rice in Iran rose further to 92 percent in 2015 ($729.71
million). In 2016, the Indian share came down to 72.82 percent ($503.02
million).By contrast, Pakistan’s export of rice to Iran fell from $124.76
million in 2010 to $15.64 million in 2014 and further to $3.47 million in 2015
before rising to $8.48 million in 2016.
Thus
between 2010 and 2016, the share of Pakistan’s rice in Iranian market went down
from 13.62 percent to 1.22 percent.Being a water-scarce country, Iran is set to
limit rice production, which will create a significant opportunity for rice exporting
countries, including Pakistan.
Water
crisis
The
Islamic Republic of Iran Meteorological Organization earlier announced that
about 97 percent of the country is experiencing drought to some
degree.Addressing the nation on the occasion of the beginning of the new
Iranian year President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei
mentioned drought as a problem that needs to be addressed.
Iran's
total annual water consumption is approximately 93 billion cubic meters, out of
which about 92 percent is used in agriculture (86 billion cubic meters), 6.6
percent in municipality (6.18 billion cubic meters), and 1.2 percent in
industry (1.12 billion cubic meters), according to the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization. According to the country’s officials, up to 70
percent of water used in the agriculture sector is being wasted.
Over
the past months, Iran has seen several protests in different cities due to the
drought.
Pakistan’s export
performance is correlated to cotton prices – and this is a concern
Published: April 23, 2018
This is why there is a need for
value addition and diversification PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: Over the years, Pakistan’s export performance
has been shaped more than any other factor by international commodity prices.
When international commodity prices, particularly those of cotton, go up,
exports also increase. A fall in the prices drives down exports. Due to
volatility of world commodity prices, the export growth has remained
inconsistent.
Pakistan’s exports registered the most
impressive growth in 2010-11 when they went up by 26.13% to $24.81 billion from
$19.67 billion in 2009-2010. In 2010 and 2011, average world cotton prices were
high, around $1.05 per pound and $1.55 per pound, respectively, compared with
$0.63 per pound in 2009.
Due to high cotton prices, exports of
textiles and clothing went up from $10.35 billion in 2009-10 to $13.92 billion
in 2010-11, up 34.49%. In 2011-12, total and textiles and clothing export
receipts fell to $23.62 billion and $12.45 billion, respectively. In 2012,
world average cotton prices came down to $0.89 per pound before marginally
rising to $0.90 in 2013. In 2012-13, total exports increased to $24.46 billion
by 3.56%, while textiles and clothing exports registered 5.62% growth to reach
$13.15 billion.
In 2017, however, cotton prices surged to
$0.86 per pound, which mainly accounts for the 7.70% growth in textiles and
clothing exports and 10.8% increase in overall exports in the first half of
2017-18 (July-December 2017). In December 2017, the rupee was also devalued by
5%; however, it had little to do with the export increase from July-December
2017. In the first three months of 2018, exports have continued to increase as
there has been an upward movement of world cotton prices.
To give further credence to the correlation
between world cotton prices and Pakistan’s export performance, it’s important
to compare their movements on a calendar year basis. Pakistan’s total exports
registered robust increase of 21.99% and 18.36% pc in 2010 and 2011,
respectively. During those years, textiles and clothing exports also increased
substantially by 20.19% (2010) and 16.97% (2011).
In 2010 and 2011, world cotton prices shot
up 66.67% and 48.57%, respectively. In recent years, Pakistan’s total and
textiles and clothing exports registered the steepest decline of 10.68% and
6.17% respectively in 2015, when world cotton prices fell by 15.66%. After
registering negative growth in 2015 and 2016, Pakistan’s total and textiles and
clothing exports went up by 9.98% and 4.03%, respectively in 2017. In that
year, average world cotton prices also increased by 16.22%.
The correlation between world cotton price
and Pakistan’s exports makes sense, because the country’s export basket remains
largely comprised of cotton manufactures, such as home textiles, cloth and
garments. Between 2009-10 and 2016-17, the T&C sector on average accounted
for 55.39 pc of Pakistan’s total export earnings. After textiles and clothing
sector, Pakistan’s major export is another primary commodity, rice, which
accounts for nearly 9% of total export receipts. Exports of rice also depend on
rice prices in international market. Like textiles and clothing exports, in
recent years, rice exports registered the highest increase of 23.04% in
2010-11. After registering a decline in three consecutive years (2014-15 to
2016-17), rice exports went up by 12.48% during the first half of the current
financial year mainly because of the price effect.
Thus one of the greatest economic weaknesses
of Pakistan is that it remains primarily an exporter of primary commodities,
such as rice, or commodity-based manufactures, such as textiles and clothing
and leather products. High value added or technology-based products, such as
electrical and mechanical goods, have a very low share in the export portfolio.
The overwhelming dependence of export
revenue on primary commodities entails two perils: one, the commodity prices
fluctuate steeply in the international market. At times, prices change up to
50%, and even more, over a year. Two, over the long run, non-oil primary
commodity prices exhibit a largely declining trend. As a result, countries like
Pakistan whose export baskets consist mainly of primary commodities or
manufactures derived from them experience sharp fluctuations in their export
revenue from time to time.
Besides, such economies not only experience
adverse terms of trade (the ratio of export to import prices); in the long-run,
the terms of trade also deteriorates. The prices of goods imported by these
countries, which mainly consist of finished capital and consumer goods, far
exceed export prices.
For example, in 2016-17 Pakistan’s average
terms of trade was 57.17% (index of average export price: 701.43, index of
average import price 1226.92), while in 2005-06, the average terms of trade was
65.01%. When terms of trade are less than 100% more capital leaves the economy
in the form of import payments than entering it in the form of export receipts.
In order to counteract the declining price effect, a country needs to produce
and export larger quantities of commodities. The problem, however, is that
higher commodity supply in the international market, relative to the demand, depresses
prices.
Like other countries, Pakistan’s export
basket reflects its production base. As long as we remain largely a producer of
primary commodities and their manufactures, we will continue to remain hostage
to fluctuations in international commodity prices. While allocating scarce
resources, the government’s policies, in the form of subsidies and tax
exemptions, also favour the traditional sectors. It is high time to promote
value added, technology-based sectors through fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.
The writer is an Islamabad-based columnist
Published in The Express
Tribune, April 23rd, 2018.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in
the conversation.
DAR gives
CLOAs, farm machines to Rizal Arbos
April 23, 2018
THE Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) said it recently awarded certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs)
and P9.7 million worth of farm machines to 10 different agrarian reform
beneficiaries’ organizations (Arbos) in the province of Rizal.According to the
DAR, 21 farmers received their individual CLOAs, while the Arbos were given the
machines during a ceremony held in Tanay town on April 20.DAR Undersecretary
for Support Services Rosalina L. Bistoyong led the turnover of the farm
machinery to various Arbos in the area, while Undersecretary Karlo S. Bello of
Field Operations Office spearheaded the CLOA distribution.
“With these machines, our
agrarian-reform beneficiaries can now till their land faster and more
efficiently,” Bistoyong was quoted in a statement as saying. “These [machines]
will greatly help in decreasing losses in production and increase their yield
and income.”
The farm machines consisting of
heavy-duty farm tractors, rice reapers, shredders and power tiller cultivators
were turned over to the Arbos, where more than a thousand are ARB members.
DAR Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque,
Romblon and Palawan) Regional Director Luis Bueno explained that the machines
were given as “equipment grant.” Bueno added the machines will be managed and
operated by the farm organization as a business asset. Minimal user fees
will be collected for its use for the maintenance of the farm equipment.
The project is implemented under
DAR’s Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services,
which aims to transform ARBs into viable entrepreneurs by providing them with
support services to increase their income and farming
capabilities.
capabilities.
RECIPIENT Arbos
The agrarian reform
beneficiaries’ organizations (Arbos) given certificates of land ownership
awards (CLOAs) and P9.7 million worth of farm machines are the following:
· Palaypalay Maunlad Farmers Association Inc.;
· Pagkalinawan Nagsaca Farmeras Association Inc.
· Nagkaisang Magsasaka ng Punta Inc.;
· Llano Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative Inc.;
· Sipsipin Maunlad Farmers Association Inc.;
· Niogan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose
Cooperative Inc. Madilaydilay Agrarian Reform Cooperative Inc.;
· Sampaloc Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose
Cooperative Inc.
· Organization of ARB Farmers of Inalsan Inc.; and
· Organic Farmers of Barangay Macabud Inc.
Sri Lanka Maha
2018 rice production rebounds 62-pct
23.04.2018 | UkrAgroConsult
Sri Lanka's rough rice production in the main Maha cultivation
season has been upped to 2.4 million metric tonnes, rebounding 62 percent from
the drought stricken season last year, though output will be 14 percent below
normal.
The forecast by Sri Lanka's Department of Agriculture is based on
643,161 hectares of paddy land sown up to February 2018, up from an earlier
forecasts of 2.14 metric tonnes based on 601,000 hectares sown.In 2017 only
543,000 hectares were sown, and output collapsed to 1.48 million metric tonnes.
After covering seed paddy needs and wastage Sri Lanka's Maha paddy
production will be 2.21 million kilograms, up 66 percent from a year
earlier.Based on a rice requirement of 199,021 metric tonnes a month, the Maha
output will be sufficient for 7.56 months of consumption.
Sri Lanka cut import taxes on rice last year, as drought wilted
rice output.Taxes have not yet been raised, but from 2015 to April 2018 the
rupee has collapsed from 131 to 156 pushing up the costs of imported
rice.Global rice price have also picked up.Sri Lanka's rice prices in January
were lower than the unusual highs seen in 2017 and has since settled about 5 to
10 percent lower than the same levels seen in 2017 by March and April.
In the week ending April 19, the higher graded Samba rice was
quoted at 97.20 rupees kilogram at the Sri Lanka's Marandagamulla wholesale
market, up from 92.96 rupees a kilo, a year earlier.
White raw rice was quoted at 76.10 rupees a kilogram down from
83.16 rupees a year earlier, Raw Red was 74.50 rupees, down from 80.21 and Nadu
rice was trading at 81.00 rupees down from 87.93 a kilogram a year
earlier.Before the currency collapse, Samba wholesale prices were around 75-76
rupee, White Raw around 63 rupees, Red Raw around 72 and Nadu around 64 rupees
at this time of the year. A permanent
currency fall validates the unsound monetary policy of a soft-pegged central
bank.
http://www.blackseagrain.net/novosti/sri-lanka-maha-2018-rice-production-rebounds-62-pct
Egypt's rice farmers see rough times downstream of new Nile
mega-dam
KAFR ZIADA, Egypt/DUBAI (Reuters) - Rice farmers in Kafr Ziada
village in the Nile River Delta have ignored planting restrictions aimed at
conserving water for years, continuing to grow a medium-grain variety of the
crop that is prized around the Arab world.
Farmer Mohamed Abdelkhaleq speaks during an interview with Reuters
in a field in the Beheira Governorate, north of Cairo, Egypt April 4, 2018.
Picture taken April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A decision thousands of kilometers to the south is about to
change that, however, in another example of how concern about water, one of the
world’s most valuable commodities, is forcing change in farming, laws and even
international diplomacy.Far upstream, close to one of the sources of the Nile,
Ethiopia is preparing to fill the reservoir behind its new $4 billion Grand
Renaissance Dam, possibly as soon as this year.How fast it does so could have
devastating consequences for farmers who have depended on the Nile for
millennia to irrigate strategic crops for Egypt’s 96 million people, expected
to grow to 128 million by 2030.
Safeguarding Egypt’s share of the Nile, on which the country
relies for industry and drinking water as well as farming, is now at the top of
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s agenda as he begins a second term.At the same
time, authorities are finally tackling widespread illegal growing of the water-intensive
rice crop, showing a sense of urgency that even climate change and rapid
population growth has failed to foster.The crackdown means Egypt will likely be
a rice importer in 2019 after decades of being a major exporter, rice traders
say.
Cairo has decreed that 724,000 feddans (750,000 acres) of rice
can be planted this year, which grain traders estimate is less than half of the
1.8 million feddans actually cultivated in 2017 – far in excess of the
officially allotted 1.1 million feddans.
Police have started raiding farmers’ homes and jailing them
until they pay outstanding fines from years back.“The police came to my house
at three in the morning and took me to the station to pay the fine,” said
Mohamed Abdelkhaleq, head of the farming association in Kafr Ziada, some 125 km
(80 miles) north of Cairo in Beheira governorate.“Even if the fine is 1
Egyptian pound (5 U.S. cents), they’ll come to your house.”
Three other farmers reported similar experiences and said this
year they would not plant rice.Reda Abdelaziz, 50, said some people have become
afraid to leave the village.“If you’re traveling and they take your ID card and
see you have a fine on you, they’ll put you in jail,” he said. Abdelkhaleq took
to the local mosque’s loudspeaker last month to say the government was doubling
the fine for unauthorized rice cultivation to 7,600 pounds per feddan.
Mostafa al-Naggari, who heads the rice committee of Egypt’s
agricultural export council, says if the government sticks to the new approach
Egypt will likely have to import as much as 1 million tonnes of rice next year.
“The dam has opened the door for there to be more of an
awareness of water scarcity issues, but Egypt has for a long time needed to
review its water allocation policy,” he said.
NO AGREEMENT
Egypt has long considered the Nile its own, even though the
river and its tributaries flow through 10 countries. Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat famously said in 1979 that he was prepared to go to war over the Nile if
its flow was ever threatened.
But any threat from Ethiopia in the past was empty – until now.
The new dam, cutting through the Blue Nile tributary just before its descent
into southeastern Sudan, will offer Addis Ababa immense political leverage over
its downstream neighbors.
Sudan and Egypt are the biggest users of the river for
irrigation and dams. Egypt wants to be assured that the dam will not affect the
river’s flow, estimated at about 84 billion cubic meters on average per
year.Ethiopia aims to use the dam to become Africa’s biggest power generator
and exporter, linking tens of millions to electricity for the first time.
The two countries have not been able to agree on a comprehensive
water-sharing arrangement despite years of negotiations.
Ethiopia was not party to and does not recognize a 1959
agreement between Egypt and Sudan that gave Cairo the rights to the lion’s
share of the river. For its part, Egypt refuses to sign on to a 2010 regional
water-sharing initiative that takes away its power to veto projects that would
alter allocations.
Ethiopia says that its dam won’t affect the Nile’s flow once its
79 billion cubic meter reservoir is filled. The issue is over how fast that
happens. Ethiopia wants to do it in as little as three years; Egypt is aiming
for seven to ten, sources close to the matter said.
There’s no doubt the flow of the Nile will be affected during
those years. What’s not known is how dramatically, and there is little data
available to answer that question.
Farmer Reda Abdelaziz speaks
during an interview with Reuters in a field in the Beheira Governorate, north
of Cairo, Egypt April 4, 2018. Picture taken April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd
El Ghany
Sources at Egypt’s irrigation ministry have estimated the loss
of 1 billion cubic meters of water would affect 1 million people and lead to
the loss of 200,000 acres of farmland.
On that basis, “if (the dam is) filled in 3 years it might
destroy 51 percent of Egypt’s farmland, if in 6 years it will destroy 17
percent,” said Ashraf el Attal, CEO of Dubai-based commodities trader Fortuna
and an expert on Egypt’s grain trade.
BE READY TO ADAPT
The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has said Egypt
requires an “urgent and massive” response to maintain food security in coming
years for a number of reasons, including water scarcity, urbanization and the
effects of climate change.
Talks among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the dam in early April
stalled over what Sudan’s foreign minister called “technical issues”. No date
has been set for the next round.
“The filling of the GERD is just the most critical issue for the
three countries to decide upon, and now, ahead of the first filling,” said Ana
Cascão, an independent researcher on Nile hydropolitics.
“A fair and equitable filling strategy must take into account
different scenarios on climate and rainfall variability – if it will be one of
drought, then the three countries are ready to agree on a slower filling,” said
Cascão.
Rice farmers, who typically begin planting at the end of April,
said they may now leave their lands fallow given the difficulty of quickly
switching to other summer crops like cotton and corn that require different
machinery and techniques.
Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty told Reuters the situation
posed a big threat to crops, livelihoods and even political stability if
efforts to coordinate fail.“Imagine to what extent these people will become
vulnerable,” he said.
(GRAPHIC: The Nile's troubled waters - tmsnrt.rs/2qq8XGc)
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall
The politics of rice
MA. LOURDES TIQUIA
Then there is corruption, decades of mismanagement at the National
Food Authority causing it to be bled dry. Government subsidies to the agency
stand at P45 billion over a 10-year period. The NFA is consistently among the
top five GOCC losers. And you can count the number of times a boat capsized
with imported rice missing; the empty but “fully stocked” NFA warehouses; the
diversion and selling of NFA stocks to chosen private rice traders; when an NFA
official acts beyond deadlines from quotas, prepaid taxes not being settled,
multiple bills of lading and removing all NFA representatives in the ports of
entry of NFA, among others. Are we seeing government-sanctioned smuggling?
And when you have an NFA administrator telling a congressional
hearing that the remaining rice supply stocked by the NFA was just equivalent
to about one-and-a-half days, how should the market react? What happened to the
buffer? Who earned from it? Was there diversion of stocks? Or was the
announcement premeditated to ensure a desired outcome? When you have a
political operative as head of NFA, you wonder if the manipulation painted PRRD
into a corner, thus making him choose publicly and exhibit weakness in the
decision-making process.
When PRRD said “I trust him” in relation to NFA Administrator
Jason Aquino, one could see that it gave more power to Aquino than the NFA
Council which oversees and sets policy for the NFA. That’s an 11-member council
headed by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco and with the BSP governor, DBP
chair, LBP president, the heads of DoF, DTI, NEDA, sitting in it. And PRRD
chooses Aquino over the council? Why is retired Lt. Col Jason Laureano Aquino
so strong with PRRD? He is the class baron of PMA Class 1991, a Scout Ranger
and affiliated with the Faeldon-Magdalo group. Aquino was for a while with the
Bureau of Customs during the time of Danny Lim before securing an appointment w
ith PRRD, a payback for the early support given during the pre-campaign stage.
Aquino had to act now and save his neck instead of wait for the audit requested
by the council. Why?
In April 2017, PRRD fired Usec Halmen Valdez who oversaw rice
importation for the NFA. The allegation was that she was a holdover and was
associated with the then presidential assistant for food security and
agricultural modernization, now Sen. Francis Pangilinan. Valdez was for
importation to be done by the private sector while Aquino was for government to
do the importation. It was all about importation. And exactly a year later, on
April 17, 2018, PRRD removes Evasco, the chairman of the NFA Council. The
removal was again over the importation issue and Aquino walks away smiling.
Government-to-government (G2G) is more prone to corruption and
financial stress as against government-to-private sector (G2P) importation. G2G
is exempted from the Procurement Law and needs a huge outlay from LBP. A
one-million-ton rice importation requires at least P24 billion. Replacing
Evasco in the council with Agriculture Secretary Piñol is not responding to the
problem. Worse, adopting the old formula will further bury NFA in a circle of
financial disasters and market forces that have not been addressed since time
immemorial: “Once the NFA imports rice and then ‘floods’ the market with
cheaper rice, it causes high volatility in markets by causing rice prices to
severely decline. Increasing the buying price is also unfair, as 2 million
Filipino families depend on rice farming. Then PRRD will have to look at the
100 million rice consumers, for any hikes in prices will also affect them.” As
NEDA has pointed out, “any increases in the buying price will fuel inflation
and increase poverty.” The NFA administrator is rushing to import rice because
of his self-declared shortage and PRRD has given the go-signal to import more
than what is needed. That’s a balancing act of 2 million rice farmers in the
country, or 2 million households dependent on rice farming and a total of 22
million Filipino families buying the commodity. What if the importation was
riddled by anomalies and sweetheart deals?
What PRRD and the public missed was Executive Order No. 1 issued
June 2016 placing 12 “graft-prone” agencies, the NFA included, under the
Cabinet Secretary for the latter to study and evaluate. It was the first crack
of the proverbial Duterte whip on corruption and poverty alleviation thereby
enhancing a holistic approach. And today, Evasco is corrupt? What gives, Mr.
President?
When buffer stocks in Region VIII end up in San Miguel, Bulacan to
a most preferred buyer, you wonder why. When a number of cooperatives from San
Miguel, Bulacan are given quotas or allocation to import rice and yet they are
not authorized to engage in rice importation, you ask why. Mr. President, why
is Aquino clean?
http://www.manilatimes.net/the-politics-of-rice-2/394573/
NFA-6:
WE’RE NOT SELECTIVE
Availability of rice stocks dictates sale – director
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
ILOILO City – The National Food
Authority (NFA) in Region 6 is not favoring any group of accredited retailers
buying rice from its Iloilo warehouse, according to Director Angel Imperial. A
“simple miscommunication” was how he considered the complaint of Alyansa ng
Industriya ng Bigas (ANIB), an association of rice retailers in Iloilo.
According to ANIB, retailers from
a rival group got lots of stocks from the grains agency’s Iloilo warehouse
while its own members were turned away or released only with a few bags on
April 18.Imperial said the availability of stocks is what determines the volume
of rice that NFA could sell to retailers.
A retailer cannot get the same
number of sacks of rice all the time, he stressed.
Imperial defended NFA Iloilo
manager Oliver Cambas from ANIB’s accusation of being selective.“’Yung
gusto nila na equal distribution, to me hindi.
It should be equitable. ‘Equal’ and ‘equitable’ are two different thing,” said
Imperial.
There are things to consider, he stressed.
“Who needs the supply the most?
If you are the provincial manager, who will you prioritize?” said
Imperial.During calamities, for example, relief operations (rice distribution)
takes precedence, he stressed.NFA is required to have a rice reserve good for
at least 15 days during harvest season and at least 30 days during the lean
months of July to September. These buffer stocks are maintained to ensure
that the country would have rice in case of emergency situations or natural
disasters.
Imperial said NFA also takes into
consideration the rice requirements of government agencies such as the
Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Bureau of Jail Management
and Penology.
Another priority, he said, are
the island municipalities or barangays that do not produce rice.“Ang
matira, ‘yun na ‘yung pangbenta natin through accredited rice
retailers,” said Imperial.There are 165 accredited NFA rice retailers in Iloilo
province.
Today, Imperial is meeting
retailers. The concern of ANIB would be among the matters he would
discuss.According to the NFA regional director, 250,000 metric tons of rice
imports would be delivered to the country by the second half of May.
Of these, 8,000 metric tons would
go to Western Visayas, said Imperial.Half of the 8,000 metric tons would go to
Iloilo while the other half to Bacolod City (Negros Occidental), he added. “We
will discuss with the retailers how we’ll handle these incoming stocks,” said
Imperial. “Ano
ang magiging setup natin…ano ang inaasahan sa mga accredited
retailers and what they can expect also from us para
malinaw.”/PN
No thanks to eggs: Next year's flu shot will shield only 20%
against dominant strain
by Angus
Liu |
Apr 23, 2018 10:42am
Recent doubts about traditional egg-based flu shots
could mean more business for vaccines manufactured in cells. (Getty/scyther5)
Protection against the dominant
H3N2 flu strain offered by the coming season’s flu vaccine will still be far
from optimal—putting it mildly. And that's thanks to the widely used
manufacturing process based on eggs, a new study predicts.
Using a method known as pEpitope,
two Rice University researchers analyzed the newly proposed flu vaccine
formulation. Their conclusion? An estimated 20% efficacy against H3N2, as
published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.“The vaccine has
been changed for 2018-19, but unfortunately it still contains two critical
mutations that arise from the egg-based vaccine production process,” said study author Michael Deem, Rice’s John
W. Cox Professor in biochemical and genetic engineering. “Our study found that
these same mutations halved the efficacy of flu vaccines in the past two
seasons, and we expect they will lower the efficacy of the next vaccine in a
similar manner.”
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news and updates delivered to your inbox and read on the go. Every season,
scientists must predict the circulating viruses months ahead so that vaccine
producers can produce millions of shots in time. Previously, the biggest worry
was that the prediction wouldn't match the circulating strains, making the
vaccine less useful in practice.
But recent studies have pointed
to the egg-based production process, from which most flu vaccines are produced,
making new and forthcoming technology more important.
While manufacturers are culturing
the targeted strains in eggs, those viruses undergo structural changes.
These unintended mutations wind up making the vaccine strain different from the
actual circulating strain, according to Deem.
A previous study by University of
Pennsylvania researchers identified the same problem in the 2016-17
season. A CDC interim report, which calculated the 2017-18 season flu vaccines’
efficacy at 25% against the nasty H3N2 strain, also noted that “genetic changes in the vaccine
virus hemagglutinin protein that arise during passage in eggs might result in a
vaccine immune response that is less effective against circulating
viruses.”Deem and collaborator Melia Bonomo found the original strain used for
flu shots in the past two seasons—before the egg-based culturing—was such a
perfect match to the circulating strain that it would have led to 47% efficacy
in the final product. As the CDC is still compiling final data for 2017-18, the
Rice team pegged its real-world estimate at about 19%.
A different H3N2 strain was recommended by the WHO—and adopted by an FDA
advisory panel—for inclusion in the 2018-19 flu vaccine for the northern
hemisphere. The WHO based its recommendation on the fact that circulating H3N2
viruses were better inhibited by ferret antibodies raised against the newly
adopted A/Singapore/INFIMH-16-0019/2016 strain propagated in eggs.
But Deem said the ferret method
has been considerably less predictive of human effects over the past 10 years
than they had been in the preceding three decades, and they don’t yet know why.
In comparison, Rice’s pEpitope method accurately predicted flu shot efficacy
results for more than 40 years, according to the study.Recent doubts about
traditional egg-based flu shots could mean more business for vaccines
manufactured in cells. These include Sanofi’s recombinant vaccine family
Flublok, made in insect cells, and Seqirus’ Flucelvax, which developed in
mammalian cells. For the six months ended Dec. 31, Seqirus reported a 504% leap in Flucelvax sales to
$308 million.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb
said in February that cell-based flu shots appear “to have somewhat better
effectiveness in preventing influenza than the egg-based vaccine,” based on a
preliminary analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services. The FDA is working with CDC and NIH to fully understand the
scientific basis behind it, he added.
In their study, the Rice team
predicted efficacy of 47% for an experimental vaccine produced from insect
cells. Deem said that reduced efficacy of vaccines seen in the previous seasons
will happen again as long as they are produced in eggs.
Chinese
scientists find nanomaterial could reduce lead levels in rice
Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/4/23 16:38:53
Chinese scientists have discovered a nanomaterial that reduces the
lead levels in rice, potentially helping improve the quality of rice, and
ensuring food safety. Lead in soil can be absorbed by rice roots, seriously
affecting rice quality and food safety. This calls for research on how to
reduce the migration of lead from soil to rice, to minimize its threat to human
health. Nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAP) is a nanomaterial that has been used in the
restoration of lead-contaminated water and soil. Researchers from the Institute
of Solid State Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences used hydroponic
experiments to investigate nHAP's potential for reducing the toxicity and
mobility of lead in rice.
They found that nHAP existing in root cells was beneficial for
reducing lead levels and restraining the movement of lead from the roots to
shoots. The research was published in the journal "Environmental Science:
Nano." The research provides a theoretical basis for environmental
nanomaterials inhibiting lead. It also provides technical support for reducing
the absorption and transfer of lead in rice. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1
Tinkering with root hair may help boost crop yields
|
Monday 23 April 2018
Researchers are exploring mechanisms
adopted by plants to survive in low phosphate soils to figure out if they can
enhance survival in poor water and soil conditions
Have you
ever wondered how a plant is able to sense nutrients in the soil? The answer
lies in the root design. Plants have the capability to change angle and length
of their roots as well as hair-like extensions on roots for absorbing nutrients
from soil.Now researchers are exploring mechanisms adopted by plants to survive
in low phosphate soils and figuring out if they can develop better strategies
for plants to deal with poor water availability and low soil minerals.
In a
collaborative study, researchers at the National Institute of Plant Genome
Research (NIPGR) here have discovered in rice plant that production and
transport of a hormone, auxin, in root hair zone triggers elongation of root
hair under low phosphate conditions. The results of the study have been
published in journal Nature Communications.
Phosphate is
an important nutrient for plant growth and development. Researchers sayonce roots
sense low availability of phosphate in the soil, the information is
communicated to the plant which then signals back use of auxin to roots, in
order to stimulate root hairs to grow longer and capture phosphate.
The study
explains how auxin serves as an important signal for phosphate status in the
root. A specific gene, OsAUX1, mobilizes auxinin the region of root where it
signals hair elongation when roots encounter low soil phosphate.
Root hairs
help to absorb phosphate and water from soil. The root hairs elongate to
increase surface area to capture scarce nutrients such as phosphate under low
soilphosphate conditions.
“Green
revolution helped almost triple yields of major crops like rice and wheat.
However, it was highly dependent on chemical fertilizers like phosphate and
urea. India imports almost 90 percent of raw material for producing phosphate
fertilizers. This inspired us to engineer plant roots for better nutrient
acquisition,” Jitender Giri told India Science Wire. Bipin K Pandey,
a member of the team, explained that the study had revealed big role of tiny
cellular extensions - root hairs- in nutrient acquisition from poor soils.
In another
study published in the same journal, the research group has used Arabidopsis, a
model plant, to further explore the phenomenon.It has been seen that when auxin
synthesis or its transport to root tissues is disrupted, plant shows poor root
hair elongation in response to low external phosphate conditions.
This
research teams included members from NIPGR (India),University of
Nottingham (UK), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, (China), CIRAD (France),
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden), University of
Aberdeen (UK), JIRCAS (Japan), James Hutton Institute (UK), Rothamsted Research
(UK), The Pennsylvania State University, (USA) and University of Adelaide
(Australia). The research work at NIPGR was funded by the Department of
Biotechnology.
@ratnesh_thakur
(India
Science Wire)
Move from news to views
and get in-depth reports on issues that matter to you, every fortnight.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/tinkering-with-root-hair-may-help-boost-crop-yields-60280
Rice farmers ‘less to gain’ in Alibaba link
Economy April 24, 2018 01:00
By WICHIT CHAITRONG
THE NATION
THE NATION
ALIBABA'S ONLINE market may
help Thai fruit farmers increase their incomes but rice farmers may not have
much to gain due to oversupply in the global market, an economist said.
Experts
have urged the government, businesses and farmers to embrace information and
technologies to revive the sector suffering from low productivity and declining
prices for most of the products. Thai consumers have paid higher prices
for local fruits , including durian, in recent years, said Nipon Poapongsakorn,
a veteran economist at Thailand Development Research Institute at the forum on
“Driving farm sector with technology.” It is partly because Chinese consumers
are buying more fruits from Thailand, he added.
"There
are many Chinese traders buying durian and other exotic fruits for sales in
their market and many of them use Alibaba market place as a key platform,"
said Nipon.At the same time, Thai consumers are buying more apple and other
imported fruits due to cheaper prices, he noted in reference to the positive
impact of free trade.
Nipon
said, however, Thai rice farmers would not enjoy higher prices due to glut of
supply in the global market."There are about 200 million rice farmers
worldwide, so it is impossible for our farmers or government raise the prices,
said Nipon.He suggested the government improve its forecasts of annual farm
production and if a forecast is close to the actual volumn, it will help both
traders and farmers to prepare for the ups and downs of the market.He said
should the government use technology smartly it would succeed. He raised the
example of the US government forecasts of the country’s annual farm production
which have been 90 per cent accurate to the actual output.The government could
employ weather forecast Technology, satellites images and field survey as
well.
State
officials in Thailand have failed to support farmers as they spend most of
their times formulating agricultural policy, Nipon said. The government
should instruct them to work closely with the farmers, instead of assigning
them to formulate agricultural policies, he said.Researchers at the Bank of
Thailand use big data to analyse the agriculture sector on which the
livelihoods of 5.8-5.9 million people depend. They found a growing population
of aging farmers (over 50 years old), in line with an aging society while the
number of younger farmers (under 40 years old), has decreased. The truth is
that the number of farm labourers has been dwindling , while the bright side is
that younger farmers could access new technology much easier.
Egypt's
Rice Farmers Brace for Crisis as Ethiopia Prepares Nile Mega-dam
Egypt will likely be a rice importer in 2019
after decades of being a major exporter, rice traders say, as Ethiopia moves to
fill reservoir
Reuters
Apr 23, 2018 8:55 PM
Farmer Mohamed Abdelkhaleq speaks during an interview with
Reuters in a field in the Beheira Governorate, north of Cairo, Egypt April 4,
2018. \ MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY/ REUTERS
Far upstream, close to one of the
sources of the Nile, Ethiopia is preparing to fill the reservoir
behind its new $4 billion Grand Renaissance Dam, possibly as soon as this year.How
fast it does so could have devastating consequences for farmers who have
depended on the Nile for millennia to irrigate strategic crops for Egypt’s 96
million people, expected to grow to 128 million by 2030.
Safeguarding Egypt’s share
of the Nile, on which the country relies for industry and drinking water as
well as farming, is now at the top of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s agenda as he begins a
second term.
At the same time, authorities are
finally tackling widespread illegal growing of the water-intensive rice crop,
showing a sense of urgency that even climate change and rapid population growth
has failed to foster.The crackdown means Egypt will likely be a rice importer
in 2019 after decades of being a major exporter, rice traders say.
Cairo has decreed that 724,000
feddans (750,000 acres) of rice can be planted this year, which grain traders
estimate is less than half of the 1.8 million feddans actually cultivated in
2017 – far in excess of the officially allotted 1.1 million feddans.
Police have started raiding
farmers’ homes and jailing them until they pay outstanding fines from years
back.“The police came to my house at three in the morning and took me to the
station to pay the fine,” said Mohamed Abdelkhaleq, head of the farming
association in Kafr Ziada, some 125 km (80 miles) north of Cairo in Beheira
governorate. “Even if the fine is 1 Egyptian pound (5 U.S. cents), they’ll come
to your house.”
Three other farmers reported
similar experiences and said this year they would not plant rice.Reda
Abdelaziz, 50, said some people have become afraid to leave the village.
Farmer Reda Abdelaziz speaks during an interview with Reuters
in a field in the Beheira Governorate, north of Cairo, Egypt April 4,
2018. \ MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY/ REUTERS
“If you’re traveling and they
take your ID card and see you have a fine on you, they’ll put you in jail,” he
said.Abdelkhaleq took to the local mosque’s loudspeaker last month to say the
government was doubling the fine for unauthorized rice cultivation to 7,600
pounds per feddan.Mostafa al-Naggari, who heads the rice committee of Egypt’s
agricultural export council, says if the government sticks to the new approach
Egypt will likely have to import as much as 1 million tonnes of rice next year.
“The dam has opened the door for
there to be more of an awareness of water scarcity issues, but Egypt has for a
long time needed to review its water allocation policy,” he said.
No agreement
Egypt has long considered the
Nile its own, even though the river and its tributaries flow through 10
countries. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat famously said in 1979 that he was
prepared to go to war over the Nile if its flow was ever threatened. But
any threat from Ethiopia in the past was empty – until now. The new dam,
cutting through the Blue Nile tributary just before its descent into
southeastern Sudan, will offer Addis Ababa immense political leverage over its
downstream neighbors.
Sudan and Egypt are the biggest
users of the river for irrigation and dams. Egypt wants to be assured that the
dam will not affect the river’s flow, estimated at about 84 billion cubic
meters on average per year.Ethiopia aims to use the dam to become Africa’s
biggest power generator and exporter, linking tens of millions to electricity
for the first time.
The two countries have not been
able to agree on a comprehensive water-sharing arrangement despite years of
negotiations.Ethiopia was not party to and does not recognize a 1959 agreement
between Egypt and Sudan that gave Cairo the rights to the lion’s share of the
river. For its part, Egypt refuses to sign on to a 2010 regional water-sharing
initiative that takes away its power to veto projects that would alter
allocations.
Ethiopia says that its dam won’t
affect the Nile’s flow once its 79 billion cubic meter reservoir is filled. The
issue is over how fast that happens. Ethiopia wants to do it in as little as
three years; Egypt is aiming for seven to ten, sources close to the matter
said.There’s no doubt the flow of the Nile will be affected during those years.
What’s not known is how dramatically, and there is little data available to
answer that question.
Sources at Egypt’s irrigation
ministry have estimated the loss of 1 billion cubic meters of water would
affect 1 million people and lead to the loss of 200,000 acres of farmland.On
that basis, “if (the dam is) filled in 3 years it might destroy 51 percent of
Egypt’s farmland, if in 6 years it will destroy 17 percent,” said Ashraf el
Attal, CEO of Dubai-based commodities trader Fortuna and an expert on Egypt’s
grain trade.
Be ready to adapt
The U.N.’s
Food and Agriculture Organisation has said Egypt requires an “urgent and
massive” response to maintain food security in coming years for a number of
reasons, including water scarcity, urbanization and the effects of climate
change.
Talks among Egypt, Sudan and
Ethiopia on the dam in early April stalled over what Sudan’s foreign minister
called “technical issues”. No date has been set for the next round.“The filling
of the GERD is just the most critical issue for the three countries to decide
upon, and now, ahead of the first filling,” said Ana Cascão, an independent
researcher on Nile hydropolitics.“A fair and equitable filling strategy must
take into account different scenarios on climate and rainfall variability – if
it will be one of drought, then the three countries are ready to agree on a
slower filling,” said Cascão.
Rice farmers, who typically begin
planting at the end of April, said they may now leave their lands fallow given
the difficulty of quickly switching to other summer crops like cotton and corn
that require different machinery and techniques.Irrigation Minister Mohamed
Abdel Aty told Reuters the situation posed a big threat to crops, livelihoods
and even political stability if efforts to coordinate fail.“Imagine to what
extent these people will become vulnerable,” he said.
Chinese scientists find
nanomaterial could reduce lead levels in rice
Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/4/23
16:38:53
Chinese scientists have discovered a nanomaterial that reduces the
lead levels in rice, potentially helping improve the quality of rice, and
ensuring food safety. Lead in soil can be absorbed by rice roots,
seriously affecting rice quality and food safety. This calls for research on
how to reduce the migration of lead from soil to rice, to minimize its threat
to human health. Nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAP) is a nanomaterial that has
been used in the restoration of lead-contaminated water and soil. Researchers
from the Institute of Solid State Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences
used hydroponic experiments to investigate nHAP's potential for reducing the
toxicity and mobility of lead in rice.
They found that nHAP existing in root cells was beneficial for reducing lead levels and restraining the movement of lead from the roots to shoots. The research was published in the journal "Environmental Science: Nano." The research provides a theoretical basis for environmental nanomaterials inhibiting lead. It also provides technical support for reducing the absorption and transfer of lead in rice.
They found that nHAP existing in root cells was beneficial for reducing lead levels and restraining the movement of lead from the roots to shoots. The research was published in the journal "Environmental Science: Nano." The research provides a theoretical basis for environmental nanomaterials inhibiting lead. It also provides technical support for reducing the absorption and transfer of lead in rice.
Isabela millers send more rice to Metro
Manila
05:18 AM April 24, 2018
SANTIAGO CITY—Isabela rice millers sent
14,000 bags of commercial rice to Metro Manila on Monday, part of their
commitment for 100,000 bags to stabilize prices of the staple.The Isabela Rice
Millers Association would absorb the cost of selling the stocks at P39 a
kilogram. It valued the initial deliveries at P27.3 million.
The group joined millers of Nueva Ecija and
Bulacan provinces who earlier sent cheaper rice to Metro Manila after heeding
President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for the poor to have access to affordable
rice.
Imported rice
Prices shot up when the National Food Authority
(NFA) stopped distributing rice sold for less than P40 a kilo. NFA buffer
stocks suffered a sharp drop as the agency awaited 250,000 metric tons of rice
imported from Vietnam and Thailand at the end of May.
“The stocks would further be boosted as we have
been buying now more rice from farmers and cooperatives,” said Malou
Luluquisen, information officer of NFA in Cagayan Valley.
Mel Coronel,
president of the Nueva Ecija Rice Millers Association, said 30,000 bags of rice
had been delivered by their members since April 16. —Reports from Villamor Visaya Jr. and Anselmo
Roque
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/984687/isabela-millers-send-more-rice-to-metro-manila
NFA-Quirino targets 10,000 bags of ‘palay’
CABARROGUIS, Quirino: The National Food Authority (NFA) expressed
concern over its difficulty in buying palay (unmilled rice) direct from farmers
as the agency targets 10,000 bags to ensure supply during the lean months.Antonio
Macato, NFA provincial manager, said they have been exerting all efforts to
ensure the availability of quality cheap rice in the market during the coming
months when supply becomes low but have difficulty because of lower buying
price the agency could offer farmers.
Commercial traders buy dry palay at P22 per kilo while NFA offers
P17 per kilo.In Quirino, the NFA has a procurement target of 10,000 bags of
palay this cropping season, Macato said adding that they need the support of
the provincial government of Quirino to increase their buying price.“We have
already requested the provincial government to support the agency’s Palay
Marketing Assistance for Legislators and Local Government Units program to be
able to increase the NFA’s buying price,” he added.
While waiting for the provincial government’s response, they
have been meeting with farmers and even sought the support of the Provincial
Farmers’ Action Council (PFAC) that pledged to deliver one bag of palay each
from the members.On top of the commitments made by the NFA employees and their
relatives in Quirino province, we are expecting at least 2,000 bags from the
council,” Macato said.
Meanwhile, the Isabela Rice Millers group from Region 2 has
committed to deliver 14,000 bags of rice to be distributed in Metro
Manila to supply the markets with alternative affordable commercial rice
in the absence of the cheaper NFA rice.
On Monday, the first batch of deliveries was made with 20 trailer
trucks carrying 700 bags of rice each converging at the NFA regional
office in Isabela.The rice will be delivered to various wholesalers and
retailers in Tondo, Malabon, Caloocan, Marikina, Batasan Hills and Parkway
Village in Quezon City, Parañaque, and in Tanza, Cavite.The rice from Isabela
will be sold at P39 per kilo, similar to the previous delivery of Nueva Ecija
traders, who committed a total of 10,000 bags of rice.
Blockchain: the future of food traceability?
Training Day for Foreign Ag Service
By Asiha Grigsby
WASHINGTON, DC -- Last week, USA Rice
participated in a "Meet the Cooperators" seminar series led by the
U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC) to provide training to
approximately 30 new foreign service personnel and other staff at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA). These
annual seminars provide opportunities for local trade associations to educate
USDA staff about our organizations and how we work together to increase exports
of rice.
In addition to explaining the structure of USA
Rice and who we represent, Sarah Moran, USA Rice vice president international
who attended the training, stressed the value of the partnership we have with
USDA and the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).
"Four of our top six export markets were
opened through trade agreements," said Moran. "Rice is consumed in nearly every
culture yet only about 10 percent of the world's rice is traded. Since it's so thinly traded, it is a heavily
protected commodity hence the necessity of trade agreements and then promotion
to gain access."
Moran discussed the U.S. - Colombia Trade
Promotion agreement in detail, including the tariff rate quotas (TRQ) which
have created a top market for U.S. rice.
Additionally, the establishment of an export trading company to manage
the TRQs has led to over $60 million in research funds going to the six U.S.
rice research institutions since 2012.
Attendees were engaged, asking questions about
USA Rice activities in food aid, trade with Iraq, Farm Bill discussions, and
gluten free trends.
23 April
2018
“The
Blockchain, can change…well everything.” That was the prediction of Goldman
Sachs in 2015. There has been a lot of talk in the media recently about
Blockchain, particularly around Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but just as
the investment bank giant predicted, the technology is starting to have more
wide-reaching impacts on other sectors. Here, Shan Zhan, global business
manager at ABB’s food and beverage business, looks at how blockchain can be
used to enhance food traceability.
A report
from research consultancy Kairos Future describes blockchain as a founding
block for the digitaliza-tion of society. With multinationals such as IBM and
Walmart driving a pilot project using blockchain technol-ogy for traceability,
the food and beverage industry needs to look at the need for the protection of
tracea-bility data.
The
United Nations recognizes food security as a key priority, especially in
developing countries. While most countries must abide by strict traceability
regulations, which are particularly strong in the EU, other regions may not
have the same standards or the data may be at risk of fraud.
Food
fraud is described by the Food Safety Net Services (FSNS) as the act of
purposely altering, misrepre-senting, mislabeling, substituting or tampering
with any food product at any point along the farm-to-table food supply chain.
Since the thirteenth century, laws have existed to protect consumers against
harm from this. The first instance recorded of these laws was during the reign
of English monarch King John, when England introduced laws against diluting
wine with water or packing flour with chalk.
The
crime still exists to this day. While malicious contamination intended to
damage public health is a signif-icant concern, a bigger problem is the
mislabeling of food for financial gain. The biggest areas of risk are bulk
commodities such as coffee and tea, composite meat products and Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC) labelled fish. For example, lower-cost types of rice
such as long-grain are sometimes mixed with a small amount of higher-priced
basmati rice and sold as the latter. By using blockchain technology in their
tracea-bility records, food manufacturers can prevent this from happening.
Blockchain
is a type of distributed ledger technology that keeps a digital record of all
transactions. The rec-ords are broadcasted to a peer-to-peer (P2P) network
consisting of computers known as nodes. Once a new transaction is verified, it
is added as a new block to the blockchain and cannot be altered. And as the
authors of Blockchain Revolution explain, “the blockchain is an incorruptible
digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not
just financial transactions but virtually everything of value”.
When
records of suppliers and customers are collected manually, to ensure the end
manufacturer can trace the entire process, this does not protect the
confidential data of suppliers. Blockchain technology anonymizes the data but
it is still sufficient to ensure that the supply chain is up to standard.
In the
case of mislabeled basmati rice, blockchain technology would prevent food fraud
as the amount of each ingredient going into the supply chain cannot be lower
than the volume going out. This would flag the product as a fraudulent product.
Not only
can it help to monitor food ingredients, it can also monitor the conditions at
the production facility. These are often very difficult to verify and, even if
records are taken, they can be falsified. A photo or digi-tal file can be taken
to record the situation, such as a fish being caught, to show that it complies
with the MSC’s regulations on sustainably caught seafood.
The
blockchain will then create a secure digital fingerprint for this image that is
recorded in the blockchain, known as a hash. The time and location of the
photograph will be encrypted as part of this hash, so it cannot be manipulated.
The next supplier in the blockchain will then have a key to this hash and will
be able to see that their product has met the regulations.
Food and
beverage manufacturers can also use blockchain to ensure that conditions at
their production facil-ities are being met, or any other data that needs to be
securely transferred along the production line. While we are not yet advanced
enough with this technology to implement across all food and beverage supply chains,
increased digitalization and being at the forefront of investment into these
technologies will help plant managers to prepare their supply chain against the
food fraud threat.
For more
information, please contact:
ABB
Strombergintie
1
Helsinki
FI-00380
Tel: +358 10 2224260
Email:
vilma.lindell@fi.abb.com
Web:
www./new.abb.com/products/measurement-products/food-and-beverage/beverage
The next
big thing: U.S. rice
FABEX
Show Features Sushi Made from U.S. Rice
By Sarah Moran
TOKYO, JAPAN -- USA Rice participated in FABEX
2018, one of the major trade shows targeting foodservice and deli/take-out
operators held at the Tokyo Big Site earlier this month. The USA Rice booth featured various new style
sushi menus to introduce innovative usages of U.S medium grain to the more than
78,000 visitors, including hand-shaped sushi rice prepared using a special
sushi roll making machine.
"Our taste tests convinced booth visitors
that U.S. medium grain works perfectly for traditional sushi as well as
"new style" sushi menus," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice director of
USA Rice Asia Promotion Programs.
"We believe that identifying the use of U.S. medium grain in sushi
will provide a new opportunity to promote rice menus at restaurants and delis. In fact, our booth garnered attention not
only from restaurants that are looking for new menu ideas but also from food
manufacturers who are looking for a high quality and versatile rice."
The "new style" sushi menus use
vinegars that differ from the usual sushi vinegar, including sherry vinegar,
wine vinegar, and tomato-flavored vinegar.
This prompted interest from dressing and sauce companies working closely
with supermarkets, and could afford the U.S. industry another avenue to develop
additional collaborative business relationships. Guinn concluded, "Australia recently introduced a reasonably
priced short grain rice to this market so, for U.S. rice to remain competitive,
we must continue to communicate with traders and end users about the quality
and versatility of U.S rice in new usages, especially through menus such as
sushi."
US Rice
Daily
Up the Rice Field Aquatic Food Web
By Ken W. “Creekman” Davis
The Video: Larger protozoa in a
feeding frenzy due to copious amounts of bacteria as the rice straw
decomposition continues.Ken W. “Creekman” Davis is
an aquatic
biologist and wildlife photojournalist with more than 30-years
experience. His images have been published in more than 4000 different
periodicals, newsletters, brochures, encyclopedias and websites.
Kenyatta talks trade with Uganda, Pakistan leaders
Published on 22.04.2018 à 14h21
by APA News
President
Kenyatta departed from London on Sunday, after holding bilateral meetings with
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and President Yoweri Museveni
both focused on trade and security.The President held talks with Abbasi
following concerns that trade between two countries has not been promising over
the past years.Pakistan is currently the leading importer of Kenyan products
and more than 80 per cent of the rice imported into Kenya comes from Pakistan.Data
from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2016, Kenya’s total
exports to Pakistan dropped to $178.19 million from $186.87 million in 2015.
The
total imports from Pakistan increased from $359.03 million in 2015 to $394.65
million in 2016.The total volume of trade between the two countries stood at
$572.84 million in 2016, in favour of Pakistan.“Trade with Pakistan has dropped
below historical highs, and the President engaged the Pakistani PM on getting
trade back on an upward trajectory. Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Dr Monica
Juma will be following this matter up fairly quickly,” Manoah Esipisu, the
State House spokesperson said on Sunday.“The bilateral talks with President
Museveni also focused on trade and security. Uganda is a major partner and the
leaders have to review fairly regularly the state of trade and investment
between the two countries,” Esipisu said before departing from London.
Neighbouring
Uganda, which for many years has been the largest buyer of Kenyan goods, was
overtaken this year by Pakistan. Uganda has in the past years been the driver
of Kenya’s exports, while Tanzania was once the second largest buyer of goods
from Nairobi, before narrowing its orders.Kenyatta who attended the
Commonwealth Summit in London also chose to market Kenya by going on two hugely
popular and robust platforms, the policy think-tank Chatham House, and
broadcaster CNN.
Kenya
emerged from the summit with an endorsement across the board for its new role
as a champion for blue economic development. Canada has already offered to
co-host the November Blue Economy Conference in Nairobi.The high-profile blue
economy summit will be a massive conference similar to the WTO meetings and the
UNCTAD summit.
DAR gives
CLOAs, farm machines to Rizal Arbos
April 23, 2018
THE Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) said it recently awarded certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs)
and P9.7 million worth of farm machines to 10 different agrarian reform
beneficiaries’ organizations (Arbos) in the province of Rizal.According to the
DAR, 21 farmers received their individual CLOAs, while the Arbos were given the
machines during a ceremony held in Tanay town on April 20.
DAR Undersecretary for Support
Services Rosalina L. Bistoyong led the turnover of the farm machinery to
various Arbos in the area, while Undersecretary Karlo S. Bello of Field
Operations Office spearheaded the CLOA distribution.
“With these machines, our
agrarian-reform beneficiaries can now till their land faster and more
efficiently,” Bistoyong was quoted in a statement as saying. “These [machines]
will greatly help in decreasing losses in production and increase their yield
and income.”
The farm machines consisting of
heavy-duty farm tractors, rice reapers, shredders and power tiller cultivators
were turned over to the Arbos, where more than a thousand are ARB members.
DAR Mimaropa (Mindoro,
Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) Regional Director Luis Bueno explained that
the machines were given as “equipment grant.” Bueno added the machines will be
managed and operated by the farm organization as a business asset. Minimal
user fees will be collected for its use for the maintenance of the farm
equipment.
The project is implemented under
DAR’s Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services,
which aims to transform ARBs into viable entrepreneurs by providing them with
support services to increase their income and farming
capabilities.
capabilities.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/dar-gives-cloas-farm-machines-to-rizal-arbos/
Thailand’s
rice production plan announced
Bangkok (NNT/VNA) – The Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has announced a rice production plan for the 2018/2019 production year. Under the plan, more than 33 million tonnes of rice will be produced from 70 million rice fields nationwide to keep up with demand. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Lak Wachananawat said the first round of rice production in the 2018/2019 production year includes 58 million Rai which are expected to yield more than 25 million tonns of rice. Eight million tonnes will be produced from 12.2 million Rai of rice fields in the second round.
The global rice trade has a tendency to improve due to continuous demand from many countries particularly those in Africa and the Middle East, said the deputy minister.Furthermore, rice production in important rice importers such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines is not sufficient for domestic consumption. This is a good opportunity for Thailand to export more rice, said the deputy minister-VNA
In its regular update on palay, rice and corn prices, PSA said the
average price of palay went up to P20.55 per kilogram from P18.78 per kg last
year. Week-on-week, prices were less than one percent lower.
Rice prices up anew in April
Louise Maureen Simeon (The Philippine
Star) - April 22, 2018 - 12:00am
On the other hand, the average retail price of well-milled rice
increased by five percent to P43.70 per kg.The wholesale price of
regular-milled rice climbed by eight percent to P37.31 per kg. Its
average retail price also increased eight percent to P39.91 per kg.Rice prices
have been increasing since the start of the year due to the lack of
supply of the cheaper rice from state-run National Food Authority (NFA) which
serves as stabilizer in the market to avoid jacking up of the prices of
commercial rice.
As NFA waits for its stock
replenishment via importation, rice millers from Isabela committed to deliver
14,000 bags of rice to be distributed in Metro Manila markets starting next
week. This is in line with the Tulong sa Bayan caravan to supply the market
with alternative affordable commercial rice in the absence of the cheaper NFA
rice.The rice from Isabela will also be sold at P39 per kg, similar to the
previous delivery of Nueva Ecija traders last week.The rice will be delivered
to various wholesalers and retailers in Tondo, Malabon, Caloocan, Marikina,
Batasan Hills and Parkway Village in Quezon City, Parañaque, and in Tanza,
Cavite.
The Tulong sa Bayan caravan is a
joint project of the NFA, Office of the President, the Confederation of Grains
Retailers Association of the Philippines Inc., and the Philippine Confederation
of Grains Associations. PSA earlier said the country’s rice inventory remained
low this year, declining by 22 percent to 1.7 million metric tons (MT) last
month.
Total rice inventory as of the
end of March was lower than the 2.2 million MT recorded last year.Meanwhile,
farm gate prices of white corn grain grew 34 percent to P17.48 per kg.
Week-on-week, prices were down one percent. Prices of yellow corn grain
likewise picked up by 26 percent to P14.39 per kg and increased by one percent
on a weekly basis.
The average wholesale price of
yellow corn grain increased 12 percent to P20.07 per kg.Retail price of yellow
corn grain went up six percent while wholesale and retail prices of white corn
grain expanded by 34 percent and two percent to P20.70 per kg and P30.02 per
kg, respectively.
Khon
Kaen farmers beg for water to save 1,000 rai of rice fields
Breaking News April 23, 2018 11:02
By The Natiohn
Hundreds of farmers in two
villages in Khon Kaen's Muang district called on Monday for irrigation
officials to urgently supply water to save 1,000 rai of rice fields.
The
residents of Ban Bueng I-thao and Ban Tha Kae villages in Tambon Sila said
their rice plants had fully grown and would soon be ready to harvest but their
fields had dried out because the provincial irrigation office was refusing to
release water via an irrigation canal.
They
said their rice plants could die in two weeks if they didn’t get water.
The
villagers said they could not grow rice as usual in the rainy season as their
fields are always flooded at that time of year.
They
therefore had to grow the rice during the dry season but then depended upon
water from the irrigation canal …and this year officials had stopped releasing
water earlier than usual.
One of
them, Samarn Paodee, 47, said during the rainy season, their land is under
two-metre-high water for more than a month so all their crops are damaged.
Pakistani Basmati Rice Rates
Tuesday 24th, April 2018
|
|||||
City
|
Price
(Rs) /40kg
|
Up/Down Price (Rs)
|
Up/Down Ratio
|
شہر
|
|
|
Arif Wala
|
3760 - 3840
|
+40
|
+1%
|
عارف والا
|
|
|
Bahawal Pur
|
3440 - 3640
|
+120
|
+3%
|
بہاولپور
|
|
|
Bhakhar
|
4400 - 4800
|
بھکر
|
|||
|
Chakwal
|
2800 - 3000
|
چکوال
|
|||
|
Chichawatni
|
4400 - 4600
|
چیچہ وطنی
|
|||
|
D G KHAN
|
3600 - 4000
|
ڈیرہ غازی خان
|
|||
|
Faisalabad
|
4000 - 4200
|
فیصل آباد
|
|||
|
Gujar Khan
|
3940 - 4000
|
گوجر خان
|
|||
|
Gujranwala
|
3880 - 3920
|
گوجرانوالہ
|
|||
|
Hasanabdal
|
4040 - 4440
|
حسن ابدال
|
|||
|
Hazro
|
4040 - 4440
|
حضرو
|
|||
|
Jalal Pur
Jattan
|
3480 - 3560
|
-120
|
-3%
|
جلالپور جٹاں
|
|
|
Jauharabad
|
4000 - 4000
|
جوہر آباد
|
|||
|
Jhelum
|
3520 - 3600
|
جہلم
|
|||
|
Kalurkot
|
4600 - 4800
|
کلور کوٹ
|
|||
|
Khanewal
|
4000 - 4000
|
خانیوال
|
|||
|
Lahore
|
3800 - 4800
|
لاہور
|
|||
|
Lala Musa
|
3560 - 3640
|
-40
|
-1%
|
لالہ موسیٰ
|
|
|
Layyah
|
4200 - 4400
|
لیہ
|
|||
|
Lodhran
|
3800 - 3860
|
-140
|
-3%
|
لودھراں
|
|
|
Mandi
Bahaudin
|
4000 - 4200
|
منڈی بہاؤالدین
|
|||
|
Mian Channu
|
3800 - 4000
|
میاں چنوں
|
|||
|
Mianwali
|
3988 - 4000
|
میاںوالی
|
|||
|
Multan
|
3600 - 3800
|
ملتان
|
|||
|
Narowal
|
3600 - 3800
|
نارووال
|
|||
|
Noshehra
wirkan
|
3880 - 3920
|
نوشہرہ ورکاں
|
|||
|
Okara
|
4000 - 4320
|
اوکاڑہ
|
|||
|
Pak Pattan
|
4400 - 5600
|
پاکپتن
|
|||
|
Qila Dedar Singh
|
3880 - 3920
|
قلعہ دیدار
سنگھ
|
|||
|
Rahim Yar
Khan
|
3360 - 3420
|
رحیم یار خان
|
|||
|
Raiwind
|
4400 - 4600
|
رائے ونڈ
|
|||
|
Rajan Pur
|
3440 - 3520
|
راجن پور
|
|||
|
Rawalpindi
|
4000 - 4400
|
راولپنڈی
|
|||
|
Sadiq Abad
|
4480 - 4480
|
صادق آباد
|
|||
|
Sahiwal
|
4200 - 4400
|
ساہیوال
|
|||
|
T T Singh
|
4160 - 4160
|
ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ
|
|||
|
Vehari
|
3800 - 4000
|
وہاڑی
|
|||
|
Wazirabad
|
3880 - 3920
|
وزیر آباد
|
|||
Tuesday 24th, April 2018
|
|||||
City
|
Price
(Rs) /40kg
|
Up/Down Price (Rs)
|
Up/Down Ratio
|
شہر
|
|
|
Arif Wala
|
3760 - 3840
|
+40
|
+1%
|
عارف والا
|
|
|
Bahawal Pur
|
3440 - 3640
|
+120
|
+3%
|
بہاولپور
|
|
|
Bhakhar
|
4400 - 4800
|
بھکر
|
|||
|
Chakwal
|
2800 - 3000
|
چکوال
|
|||
|
Chichawatni
|
4400 - 4600
|
چیچہ وطنی
|
|||
|
D G KHAN
|
3600 - 4000
|
ڈیرہ غازی خان
|
|||
|
Faisalabad
|
4000 - 4200
|
فیصل آباد
|
|||
|
Gujar Khan
|
3940 - 4000
|
گوجر خان
|
|||
|
Gujranwala
|
3880 - 3920
|
گوجرانوالہ
|
|||
|
Hasanabdal
|
4040 - 4440
|
حسن ابدال
|
|||
|
Hazro
|
4040 - 4440
|
حضرو
|
|||
|
Jalal Pur
Jattan
|
3480 - 3560
|
-120
|
-3%
|
جلالپور جٹاں
|
|
|
Jauharabad
|
4000 - 4000
|
جوہر آباد
|
|||
|
Jhelum
|
3520 - 3600
|
جہلم
|
|||
|
Kalurkot
|
4600 - 4800
|
کلور کوٹ
|
|||
|
Khanewal
|
4000 - 4000
|
خانیوال
|
|||
|
Lahore
|
3800 - 4800
|
لاہور
|
|||
|
Lala Musa
|
3560 - 3640
|
-40
|
-1%
|
لالہ موسیٰ
|
|
|
Layyah
|
4200 - 4400
|
لیہ
|
|||
|
Lodhran
|
3800 - 3860
|
-140
|
-3%
|
لودھراں
|
|
|
Mandi
Bahaudin
|
4000 - 4200
|
منڈی
بہاؤالدین
|
|||
|
Mian Channu
|
3800 - 4000
|
میاں چنوں
|
|||
|
Mianwali
|
3988 - 4000
|
میاںوالی
|
|||
|
Multan
|
3600 - 3800
|
ملتان
|
|||
|
Narowal
|
3600 - 3800
|
نارووال
|
|||
|
Noshehra
wirkan
|
3880 - 3920
|
نوشہرہ ورکاں
|
|||
|
Okara
|
4000 - 4320
|
اوکاڑہ
|
|||
|
Pak Pattan
|
4400 - 5600
|
پاکپتن
|
|||
|
Qila Dedar
Singh
|
3880 - 3920
|
قلعہ دیدار
سنگھ
|
|||
|
Rahim Yar
Khan
|
3360 - 3420
|
رحیم یار خان
|
|||
|
Raiwind
|
4400 - 4600
|
رائے ونڈ
|
|||
|
Rajan Pur
|
3440 - 3520
|
راجن پور
|
|||
|
Rawalpindi
|
4000 - 4400
|
راولپنڈی
|
|||
|
Sadiq Abad
|
4480 - 4480
|
صادق آباد
|
|||
|
Sahiwal
|
4200 - 4400
|
ساہیوال
|
|||
|
T T Singh
|
4160 - 4160
|
ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ
|
|||
|
Vehari
|
3800 - 4000
|
وہاڑی
|
|||
|
Wazirabad
|
3880 - 3920
|
وزیر آباد
|
|||
·
83
SHARES
·
https://business.inquirer.net/249683/nfa-says-cheap-rice-will-back-late-may
·
·
·
NFA says cheap rice will be back in late May
Agency says priority will be highly populated cities where
poverty rate is high
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM April 23,
2018
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
Poor Filipino households can expect the
low-priced subsidized rice to be back in the market by the latter part of May,
according to the country’s grains agency.
The National Food Authority (NFA) said it
has secured its terms of reference (TOR) for the importation of 250,000 metric
tons (MT) of rice. This is expected to immediately replenish the agency’s
reserves.
Upon the shipments’ arrival, NFA said it
would return the NFA rice to the market to be priced at its previous levels—P27
and P32 a kilo. According to NFA spokesperson Rex Estoperez, the cheaper
variant would be the regular NFA rice while the pricier variant would be of
better quality to give consumers some preference.
Although private traders have come up with
a cheaper commercial rice currently being sold at P39 a kilo, this was still
P12 more expensive than the subsidized rice.
Retail prices for regular-milled and
well-milled rice are now at P39.91 and P43.70 a kilo, respectively, based on
the latest price monitoring report of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Under the agency’s chosen mode of
procurement, which is the government-to-government scheme, the agency may issue
a Notice to Proceed (NTP) to its winning bidders by May 7.
It will then take 10 to 15 days for the winning supplier of the bid to deliver the imports to the country.
It will then take 10 to 15 days for the winning supplier of the bid to deliver the imports to the country.
The existing rice trade agreements of the
Philippines allow it to buy rice from Vietnam and Thailand.
“As soon as the stocks arrive, NFA will
focus on immediate distribution. We assure [the public] that the rice will be
quickly made available to areas in most need of government support, especially
highly populated cities where poverty rate is high, in poor provinces, and in
island municipalities across the country,” NFA Administrator Jason Aquino said.
He added that the NFA would be implementing
strict market monitoring and enforcement to ensure that poor households would
get access to affordable rice.
The supply of cheap NFA rice came to a halt
after the buffer stock of the agency got depleted. The NFA is mandated to keep
a 15-day buffer and a 30-day stock during the lean months of July to September.
Read more: https://business.inquirer.net/249683/nfa-says-cheap-rice-will-back-late-may#ixzz5Da8UUU8K
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