Wednesday, February 06, 2019

5th February,2019 Daily global regional rice e-newsletter


5th February,2019
Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter

Rice output seen hitting 20 million metric tons in 2019
February 5, 2019 | 9:54 pm
Description: rice farmersFarmers load sacks of rice sold to a local trader in Pulilan Bulacan. -- PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is expecting a rebound in rice production this year, projecting a harvest of 20 million metric tons (MT), Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said.
“This year, the DA is projecting a historic harvest of 20 million metric tons and this is based on the increase in the number of farmers using inbred and hybrid seed, from 48% to 60% last year,” Mr. Piñol said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Mr. Piñol said agriculture is not dying, despite claims made by newspaper columnists after targets were not met, leading to more imports of key staples.
“For as long as people eat, farmers and fishermen will always be around,” Mr. Piñol said.
“For the record, the Duterte administration posted the highest harvest of rice in the history of the country with 19.28 million MT in 2017, higher by over one million MT than the last production of the Aquino administration. Even when the rice sector suffered over one million MT in losses in 2018 because of the almost monthly tropical disturbances, the harvest was still a very high 19.066 million MT,” Mr. Piñol added.
The rice tariffication bill is expected to become a law this year. With its passage, quantitative restrictions on rice imports will be removed, while tariffs will be used to help the domestic rice farmers through the creation of the P10 billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
On Monday, SL Agritech Corp. said that P10 billion is not enough to support rice farmers across the Philippines. The company also noted that hybrid seed should be included in the assistance the RCEF will be providing.
“Hybrid rice must be included because that is the latest technology that can help the farmers,” Frisco M. Malabanan, SL Agritech Senior Technical Consultant, told reporters.
“It is now that we in the industry are asking that we plant 1.5 million hectares of hybrid rice in one year. This is the solution to be self-sufficient, so we do not keep relying on our neighbor countries,” Mr. Malabanan said.
In fisheries, Mr. Piñol said that the industry is expected to grow as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) started establishing post-harvest facilities for fishermen.
“Fisheries which for years posted negative growth, leveled off this year and it is expected to grow with the establishment of ice-making, cold storage and post-harvest facilities this year in the fishing communities,” Mr. Piñol said.
“Also, the closed fishing season program is showing positive results with the big fish like tuna and others swimming close to shore to feed on the pelagic species which have multiplied because of the conservation program,” Mr. Piñol added.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the total volume of fisheries production in 2018 was an estimated 4.38 million MT, up 0.92%. Among the three subsectors — aquaculture, municipal and commercial fishing — only aquaculture posted an increase.
Aquaculture fisheries production rose 2.98% to 2.30 million MT in 2018. The subsector had a 52.95% share of fisheries production.
Municipal fishing production meanwhile was 1.11 million MT in 2018, down 1.78%. The subsector accounted for 25.41% of fisheries output.
Commercial fishing production declined 0.71% to 941.59 thousand MT in 2018, comprising 21.64% of total fisheries output. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio


Secretary Perdue Stresses Trade at USA Rice Government Affairs Conference  

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. rice industry convened their annual Government Affairs Conference here yesterday with board and strategy meetings to be followed up with two days of Capitol Hill and Administration meetings. In remarks to the group, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue praised the industry for its outstanding commitment to conservation and made clear to everyone that he knows how important trade is to agriculture - but particularly rice.

"The Secretary is well-aware that about half of our annual crop is exported each year; it was comforting to hear him say that he is aware of the negative impact retaliatory tariffs are having on agriculture and us specifically," said Charley Mathews, Jr., California rice farmer and chairman of USA Rice. "Ag is frequently one of the first victims of a trade war, and with the current disputes we are in - with China, Mexico, and the European Union in particular - we are feeling it."

Perdue pointed to recent positive trade developments, such as successful tenders to supply rice to Iraq and China clearing final hurdles that could translate to big business for U.S. rice exporters soon. He also shared that a priority of his is to secure Congressional approval for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that is slated to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"We strongly support Congressional approval of USMCA; but no NAFTA and no USMCA is not an option for us," said Betsy Ward, president & CEO of USA Rice. "That's a message we are carrying into all of our meetings with Members of Congress and the Administration."

Ward said that while U.S. agriculture revenue is expected to grow by $400 million under USMCA, a complete withdrawal from NAFTA with no replacement deal could cost the ag sector more than $9.3 billion.

"With Mexico as our top market and Canada as our number four market these agreements are crucial to the future of the U.S. rice industry," she said. "Secretary Perdue understands this and we thank him for fighting for us."


Basmati Rice Production to Fall by 9.24 % to 5.18 Million Metric Tonne: NBHC

05 February, 2019 5:31 PM IST By: Abha Toppo

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Description: https://krishijagran.com/media/13853/basmati.jpg
The National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) has released the final kharif crop estimates for the year 2018-19, which shows that production of basmati rice is likely to fall by 9.24 percent to 5.18 million metric tonne.
Head of research & development at NBHC, Dr Hanish Kumar Sinha told that the pulses production is expected to plunge marginally to 9.10 million tonne from 9.35 million tonne last year. He said this is mainly because of the fall in Urad production by 10.11 % largely due to the shift in acreage towards soybean in some parts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Sinha further said the overall production of oilseeds is estimated to be 19.87 million metric tonne that is 5.36 percent lower than last year's figure of 21 million metric tonne. Meanwhile, other oilseed like Niger is expected to increase by 11.83 %.  
NBHC said cotton crop is been badly affected due to fluctuating weather conditions. It added that the yearly cotton productivity in India can drop 4.57 % due to insufficient rainfall in the top two producing states i.e. Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Sugarcane is likely to rise marginally by 3.25 % on increased sowing. And last but not the least Jute and Mesta is expected to improve slightly by 5.11 % amidst favourable weather conditions.      
The table below shows the details of the final estimate for the 2018-19 Kharif crop: 
Description: https://krishijagran.com/media/13854/kharif.jpg

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View From the Past

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125 Years Ago, 1894
Rice Planters! Rice Millers! We can sell you for $350 a Rice Mill that will clean, hull and polish ready for the table and market 75 to 100 bushels rough rice in 10 hours, with 6 to 8 horsepower. Can be operated by one man and occupies no more floor space than a corn mill. You cannot afford to be without one. Also, best “French Burr” corn mills $115 to $130; saw mills, plantation size, $200, up to $350; Engines and Boilers. Write for catalogues and prices. V.V. Badham, Agent, Genl. Agt., Columbia.
100 Years Ago, 1919
On Wednesday morning last as the steamer Santiago was coming up the Sampit River, she shied and struck the newly rebuilt steam tug Tom T, which was tied on the outside of the recently rebuilt barge Ethel, moored to the Red Store wharf near Brightman’s railway. The tug Tom T was cut almost entirely in half about midship. The force of the collision drove the tug and her boiler through the hull of the barge Ethel. The ship went into the tug and barge with such force that both went to the bottom immediately and before anything could be done to save them. The Tom T and Ethel will prove a total loss. It is estimated that the two boats were worth at least forty thousand dollars.
75 Years Ago, 1944
Times Tattles by I.D. Clare – The notorious spot, just out of the city limits, where whiskey may be bought at all times for a price, was closed Monday night. Wonder if the proprietor had been tipped off of an impending raid?. . . Professor Hal Middleton said that his Winyah music makers are tuned up for the concert to be given at Front and Broad Streets.
50 Years Ago, 1969
Three students, who authorities said perpetrated a bomb hoax at Winyah High School last week, have been reprimanded by police and school officials. A bill for $25 has been sent to parents of each youngster, much as false alarm pranksters are billed. School officials suspended the students from school last week and placed them on probation for the rest of the year. They are also precluded from participating in school activities for the rest of the year.
25 Years Ago, 1994
A report that the 25 mph signs placed on the South Causeway by Pawleys Island Town Council was done without permission from the State Department of Transportation was denied by Pawleys Island Mayor Julien Kelly. “The state highway department came down and removed all of the traffic signs without telling us,” said Kelly. “I thought vandals had gotten the damn things until I got a letter from Florence.” Walt Brendt of the SCDOT said the signs were removed because they were illegal and that drivers who received tickets can write Pawleys Island Magistrate Barry McCall’s court to ask for new trials. “It will be up to the magistrate to refund the fines,” Brendt said. “We are not going to give any money back,” said Kelly.
Compiled by Elizabeth Huntsinger from the Georgetown Times archives.

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Judiciary Dismisses Claims Of Releasing “Poisonous” Rice Into Market
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February 4, 2019
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Description: judiciary, poisonous rice
The Judiciary has come out to defend itself amid alleged claims by a section of the media that it ordered release of poisonous rice into the market.
In a statement on Monday, Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Communication Catherine Wambui termed the reports malicious and only aimed at tainting the image of the Judiciary.
“The Judiciary’s attention has been drawn to reports in section of the media that the Judiciary ordered release of poisonous rice into the market…This is a malicious and false position aimed at tainting the image of the judiciary,” the statement read in part.
Wambui said the allegations are not based on facts as the matter before court was never on poisonous rice but about 20% of a batch that did not meet size standards.
“The Judiciary will like to caution the media against reporting inaccurately and urge them to always verify facts before publishing,” she said.
The director added that the matter was resolved amicably three months ago and both parties consented to the decision of releasing good rice into the market.
She blamed the multi-agency that refused to initiate the process after the agreement resulting to the stock being intact by the time Justice Eric Ogola delivered his ruling which ordered immediate release of rice.
“By consent of both parties in the case, the good rice was released more than 3 months ago but the multi-agency refused to open the go-down. So by the time of the judgement, all the stock was intact,” said Wambui.
“In his judgement, Justice Eric Ogola considered all the issues and ordered an immediate release. Poison had never been an issue in the entire proceedings.”
In July last year, a team of detectives allegedly impounded 1 million bags of poisonous rice in Mombasa.
The office of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) stated that the rice, originally from Pakistan, had been pronounced unfit for human consumption but somehow found its way into Kenya.
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2019 Arkansas Pesticide Application Clinics set

  
Arkansas producers can learn to get the most out of their pest management dollars at one of six pesticide application clinics across the state, according to a news release.
This spring’s clinics will be: Feb. 20 – Stuttgart — Rice Research Center in Stuttgart; Feb. 21 – McGehee – Men’s Center; Feb. 22 – Forrest City – Woodruff Electric Cooperative Corp.; March 5 – Newport – ASU-Newport; March 6 – Paragould – Greene County Fairgrounds and March 7 – Manila – Manila Municipal Airport.
Registration opens at 8:30 a.m., with the sessions beginning at 9 a.m. Lunch will be served.
“This is an opportunity for producers to get their pre-season skills honed by learning about new technology to help them be more productive and efficient in the field,” said Jason Davis, extension spray application technologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Attendees can also obtain free nozzle tests by bringing three to five nozzles and caps to be analyzed for percentage wear, Davis said.
“This analysis has the potential to save a producer thousands of dollars and is a great way to set them up with better nozzles for the upcoming spray season.”
For more information about the meetings, contact Jason Davis at jdavis@uaex.edu or 501-749-2077.
For more information about application and pest management, contact a county extension office, www.uaex.edu/counties or visit www.uaex.edu.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without discrimination.

Rice tariffication mechanism to protect farmers
By Marilyn Galang  February 4, 2019, 7:03 pm
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QUEZON, Nueva Ecija -- Senator Cynthia Villar said on Sunday that the rice tariffication bill will protect Filipino farmers from the influx of imported grains as a result of the removal of quantitative restriction.
Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said farmers were being misled by some groups who are against tariffication to protect their vested interest.
“Unlike claims that tariffication will result to flooding of imported rice to Philippine market, this will make such importation beneficial to local rice producers,” she told farmers during the Patimyas Ani Festival in this municipality.
The rice industry, she explained, is set to be liberalized due to the expiration of quantitative restriction on June 30, 2017.
"Pag nag-liberalize ka nang walang tariff, kawawa ang mga farmers (When you liberalize without tariff, the farmers will suffer)," Villar said.
"Di ba kaya mo tina-tariff ang imports para protektahan yung local producers mo? (You impose tariff on imports to protect the local producers, isn’t it?)," she added.
Villar said with the tariffication bill comes the annual allocation of PHP10-billion in Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which is now included in the pending 2019 national budget.
The amount will be channeled through the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and among other agencies to upgrade farmers’ technology and know-how.
The fear over importation, she explained further, appeared to be baseless since rice supply is actually limited in the world.
Only Asian countries, she said, produce rice.
“So over importation will only lead to increase in prices of the staple which would also benefit farmers,” Villar said.
She stressed that the government's grant of free irrigation to farmers, mechanization and use of improved inbred rice varieties will cut production cost. (PNA)


Productivity, mechanization, and post-harvest technologies

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Description: https://www.panaynews.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Yap-Urban-farmer_colored.jpgTHE Central Luzon Agriculture, Aquatic and Resources Research and Development Consortium (CLAARRDEC) recently conducted the Rice Farms and Industry Encounters through the Science and Technology Agenda (FIESTA) at the Philippine Rice Research Institute’s (PhilRice’s) Central Experiment Station in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
The event carried the theme “Diwang Makabago at Tradisyunal na Teknolohiya sa Agrikultura at Pangisdaan, Handog sa mga Pilipinong Magsasaka.”
The Rice FIESTA is an amalgamation of culture, traditions, and technology highlighting pre and postharvest machinery, biofertilizer, integrated rice and rice-based package of technology, and other technologies that were developed through the support of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).
The DOST-PCAARRD, which initiated the FIESTA as a technology diffusion platform, funded the activity together with other agencies.
FIESTA is a PCAARRD event-based technology transfer modality which aims to promote science and technology (S&T) and its products towards providing competitive and profitable business ventures for the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the agriculture, aquatic and natural resources sectors of the country.
This is in line with PCAARRD’s Industry Strategic S&T Plan (ISP) for rice which primarily aims to increase rice productivity and modernize rice production and postproduction systems in the country.
The ISP focuses on topics such as rice productivity, mechanization, and postharvest technologies.
Among the agricultural machinery featured in the event include the impeller-type compact ricemill, ride-behind transplanter, combined conduction and far-infrared radiation dryer, and different attachments for hand-tractors.
The technologies are expected to realize the goal of producing healthy and sufficient rice for the Filipinos.
The activity was conducted with the support provided by Central Luzon State University, and other government agencies and private institutions like Kubota Philippines, Inc. which exhibited different farm machinery like the Kubota NSPU-68CMD Rice Transplanter, and the Kubota SR-K800PH Automatic Seeder.
Since farmers from the different provinces in the country differ in terms of the quantities of inputs used, technologies adopted, and management skills employed, these result in the varying yield and production cost among them.
To address the concern, economists from the Socioeconomics Division of PhilRice shared ways on how to narrow these gaps to help the farmers increase their productivity and income based on the findings from 33 major rice producing provinces in the Philippines.
A senior science research specialist from the Socioeconomics Division presented the results of the study Narrowing the Yield and Cost Gaps: Comparative Efficiency of Rice Farming in the Philippines.
Adopting high-quality seeds, such as hybrid, can increase yield by 1.81 metric tons per hectare (mt/ha) from the baseline yield of 4 mt/ha. A ton increase in farmers’ yield can lead to production cost reduction of P0.91 per kilogram, the researcher said.
The use of high-quality seeds and better access to irrigation water can also significantly increase farmers’ yield growth.
Higher yield and better management skills of farmers, along with their adoption of high-quality seeds and mechanized harvesting and threshing, will then reduce their production cost./PN

Portraying rice cultivation on canvas


Description: http://www.orissapost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG-20190202-WA0015.jpg

BHUBANESWAR: Cultivation is the chief source of livelihood in Odisha. Keeping this in mind, Dhauli College of Art and Crafts in collaboration with N.R.R.I organised a three-day art expo at National Rice Research centre in Cuttack from Saturday.
The fest concluded Monday afternoon. At least 25 top students showcased their paintings based on rice cultivation. The concluding day of the fest was attended by Prakash Kar of N.R.R.I and Chandan Kumar Samal of Dhauli College of Art and Crafts. Interacting with Orissa Post, Kar said, “In the wake of modernism, people are forgetting the contribution of our farmers. Therefore, we have organised this huge art fest to create awareness amidst general masses.”
Artist Raja Ram Swain said, “All the artistes have truly enjoyed depicting the story of farmers through paintings. Right from ploughing to planting the crop, all aspects of rice cultivation are drawn immaculately on canvas through watercolour, acrylic and more. The ‘Rebirth’ of farming through paintings was brought through water colours. It went beyond decorative manuscripts and was comprehended by the elite class due to their love for art.”
Goswami Panchayat, an art critic from Cuttack feels that paintings should cross the border of feminism and beauty and it should capture realistic images of people. This has been accurately done by these budding yet brilliant artistes of Dhauli College of Art and Crafts.
Manisha Moharana, Sanjukta Rani Das, Biswaranjan Dash, Asit Kumar Samal, Bimaljyoti Tripathy, Chandramani Patra, Sulagna Das, Biswadeep Biswal, Pabitra Mohan Nayak, Kunal Mandal, Soumyaranjan Samant, Niranjan Nayak, Om Prakash Barik, Gopal Krushna Nayak, Srikant Kumar Rout, Iswar Kumar Mohanta and many others participated in this intuitive art expo.

Feb. 4, 2019 2:37 pm

This Delaware teen is working to solve Asia’s arsenic rice crisis

Charter School of Wilmington senior Preeti Krishnamani has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious national Regeneron Science Talent Search. She'll present her project in D.C. next month.
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Preeti Krishnamani.
(Courtesy photo)
Preeti Krishnamani found her passion for rice paddies in the 10th grade, when she had the opportunity to work in them with Universitiy of Delaware’s Dr. Angelia Seyfferth at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The focus was on an issue near to her heart, as a young Indian-American woman: lowering the levels of arsenic in rice, especially in Southeast and East Asian areas where the levels have the highest impact on communities.
That was just two years ago. Today, the graduating senior at Charter School of Wilmington (CSW) is getting ready to go to Washington D.C. to present her project, “Effects of Silicon Amendments on the Concentration and Adsorption Properties of Iron-Oxides in Paddy Soils,” as one of just 40 pre-college students nationwide to be named as a finalist in the highly prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS).
She is the first CSW student to be a finalist in the competition, and only the sixth from Delaware since it began in 1942 as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. 
In early January, Krishnamani was named as one of 300 Scholars (essentially STS semifinalists) by the Society for Science & the Public and Regeneron. That honor came with two $2,000 awards, one for her and one for CSW.
She learned she’d been picked a few weeks later. As a finalist, Krishnamani will be awarded a minimum of $25,000, up to a top prize of $250,000.
“It’s really exciting,” said Krishnamani, “especially representing Delaware, being an agricultural state.”
This isn’t the first major honor for this young project. Last year, Krishnamani was one of 15 finalists selected in the 2018 International BioGENEius Challenge.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring compound in many soils — a byproduct of volcanic ash and different metal ores. The amount of arsenic that leeches into most food crops is negligible, but rice, because of the way its grown and harvested, can have levels so high that it’s believed to cause health issues in parts of the world where rice is a daily staple.
“It’s a huge public health threat that causes diseases and cardiovascular problems,” said Krishnamani. “It’s one of the potential reasons diabetes is a big problem in Asia.”
Scientists around the world have been working on solutions to the arsenic rice crisis for decades, but the solutions are often not accessible to some parts of Asia like India and Bangladesh.
“Most [of the research] has been in genetically modified plants, but there are more cost effective ways,” the student said.
Krishnamani’s project is based on silicon soil amendment; silica, which also occurs naturally in soil and other organic matter, has been found to be effective in minimizing arsenic absorption in rice.
While there have been effective (but costly) synthetic silicon fertilizers introduced, Krishnamani’s project has introduced the idea of utilizing the hulls of the rice — a waste product that is commonly burned — by using natural silica from them to create a natural, sustainable rice fertilizer.
“It’s a productive way to use the waste and recycle it back into the rice,” she said.
The Regeneron STS Finals will happen in early March. In addition to the competition, she will be presenting her project on March 7 in a public showcase National Geographic Society in D.C

Beware of corn syrup? Bud Light Super Bowl ad shames Miller Lite, Coors Light for using it, but dietitians say it’s not that bad
PUBLISHED MON, FEB 4 2019 • 5:05 PM EST | UPDATED MON, FEB 4 2019 • 7:17 PM EST
KEY POINTS
·       Anheuser-Busch used one of its Super Bowl ad spots to shame Bud Light rivals Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup to brew their beers.
·       Dietitians say the added sugars are mostly removed during the beer-making process.
Description: SS: Bud Lite corn syrup ad  1
A scene from Bud Lite’s 2019 Super Bowl ad.
Source: Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch used one of its Super Bowl ads to shame Bud Light rivals Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup to brew their beers, but dietitians say the sweetener isn’t all that bad when used in the fermentation process.
In the 60-second commercial, an order for corn syrup inadvertently shows up at the wrong castle. The Bud Light king takes an arduous journey up mountains and across the sea to deliver it to the Miller Lite and Coors Light castles, which both use corn syrup in their brewing processes.
The ad prompted backlash from corn grower industry groups and Millers Lite and Coors Light, who are both owned by MillerCoors, the U.S. subsidiary of Molson Coors. Added sugars, especially high-fructose corn syrup, have come under intense scrutiny fueling an obesity epidemic that has left nearly 40 percent of U.S. adults obese.
Molecular difference
While corn syrup sounds pretty close to high-fructose corn syrup, it’s actually quite different on the molecular level, Margaret Slavin, an associate professor in nutrition and food studies at George Mason University, told CNBC.
Corn syrup is essentially corn starch that has been mostly broken down into single glucose molecules. To make high-fructose corn syrup, scientists use enzymes that change about half of those glucose molecules into fructose. The result is a sweeter substance that’s cheaper to produce than regular sugar.
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Super Bowl ad winners and losers with the former marking VP for GM
Miller Lite and Coors Light use corn syrup to feed yeast in the brewing process. Yeast eats sugar, in this case corn syrup, and turns it into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Anheuser-Busch uses rice to feed the yeast when brewing Bud Light. Rice takes a little bit longer to digest because corn syrup is pre-digested, since the enzymes break it down, Slavin explains.
The end result for both? Beer.
“I’m a little surprised at (corn syrup) being used in advertising in such a way,” said Slavin, a registered dietitian. “I think it’s more playing on consumer hot topics and concerns than on a particular scientific concern whether or not they’re using sugar or rice or some other refined grain to feed the yeast.”
Consumer fears
Nicole Lund, sports dietitian at NYU Langone, said one of her clients came in Monday asking her what she thought about the commercial and the implication that consumers should stay away from beer made with corn syrup. He said one of his friends prefers Coors Light and was a little nervous about drinking it.
Like Slavin, Lund says the ad plays into consumer fears about high-fructose corn syrup and weight gain. Our bodies store whatever they haven’t used for energy. Added sugars are typically found in foods we tend to overeat, like soda or candy, so they commonly get stored as fat, she said.
However, it’s not really an issue when sugars get mostly stripped out during the beer-making process, she said.
“With a lot of these trendy things, you have to take a step back and decide how big of an issue it is to your life, but for the most part, that’s probably not somebody’s biggest issue,” Lund said. “Especially if they’re drinking six beers a day, it would probably be more about the quantity than which beer they’re choosing.”
MillerCoors shoots back
MillerCoors, which makes Miller, Coors and a variety of other lagers and brews, agreed. In a post on its website titled “About those Bud Light ads,” Miller took a jab at its rival and explained why brewers use the syrupy sweetener.
“As Anheuser-Busch pointed out in a series of low-performing television spots aired during Sunday’s football game, both Miller Lite and Coors Light use corn-derived sugars during fermentation,” Miller said, adding that it “aids in making them light-bodied, easy-drinking beers with reduced calories and carbohydrates.” It also said that none of the sugars make their way into the final product.
Anheuser-Busch has been promoting its transparency efforts. In January, Bud Light became the first beer in the U.S. to start displaying ingredient labels.
“We don’t have anything against corn syrup, we just don’t use it in Bud Light,” the company said in a statement. “Consumers want transparency and we’re providing it. Bud Light’s Super Bowl commercials are only meant to point out a key difference in Bud Light from some other light beers.”
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Duterte asked to veto provisions in rice tariffication bill

Various groups in the rice industry urge President Rodrigo Duterte to veto provisions which they say would lead to loss of jobs
Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
Published 5:30 PM, February 04, 2019
Updated 5:31 PM, February 04, 2019
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Description: VETO SOUGHT. Various sectors under the rice industry call for President Rodrigo Duterte to veto provisions in the rice tariffication bill, which only needs his signature to become a law. Photo by Anna Mogato/Rappler
VETO SOUGHT. Various sectors under the rice industry call for President Rodrigo Duterte to veto provisions in the rice tariffication bill, which only needs his signature to become a law. Photo by Anna Mogato/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – In a bid to protect the local rice industry, various groups that help supply the country's staple are calling for President Rodrigo Duterte to veto certain provisions in the rice tariffication bill.
Under the bill, the NFA will no longer monitor and regulate the entry of rice imports, as well as decide the volume and timing of the imports. Its role would be limited to providing stocks in case of calamities.
The groups said the bill would affect not only farmers' livelihood and availability of rice for poor consumers, but would also lead to loss of jobs if there is uninhibited rice importation. (READ: With rice tariffication, what happens to food security?)
Aside from wholesale and retail businesses, this could affect 2.7 million farmers and 6,600 registered rice millers which employ around 55,000 workers.
National Food Authority (NFA) Employees Association-Central Office president Maximo Torda added that this may mean the loss of jobs for 4,635 NFA employees "from Batanes in the north up to Tawi-Tawi in Mindanao."
The industry representatives were set to meet with Duterte on Monday afternoon to appeal to the President to veto the provision removing the NFA's powers, along with with details related to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
In 2018, Duterte declared the bill as urgent amid the rice shortage and increasing rice prices. (READ: Rice tariffication good for the country, Filipino farmers)
That same year, the Senate also approved the bill, which includes a mechanism to provide financial aid to make the rice industry more competitive. Last January 15, the bill already reached the President's table for signing.
Other Stories

Media made inflation worse? Economic team never flagged it until now


No more cheap NFA rice in 2019 – Piñol


[ANALYSIS] Will rice tariffication live up to its promise?

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority released on Monday showed that the average wholesale price of well milled rice grew 5.08% year on year to P41.56 per kilogram (kg) on wholesale, while its retail price saw a slightly higher year on year increase at 6.34% to P45.11 per kg.
Meanwhile, both wholesale and retail prices for regular milled rice also rose by 6.44% to P38.35 per kg and 7.75% to P41.43 per kg, respectively.
Hybrid, a solution?
Description: HYBRID RICE. Rice Productivity Advocacy Incorporated representative Francisco Malabanan says the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund should also include support for hybrid rice. Photo by Anna Mogato/Rappler
HYBRID RICE. Rice Productivity Advocacy Incorporated representative Francisco Malabanan says the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund should also include support for hybrid rice. Photo by Anna Mogato/Rappler
Rice Productivity Advocacy Incorporated representative Francisco Malabanan said they are totally not against the rice tariffication bill "since it is already needed," but there are certain provisions that have to be changed. (READ: Will rice tariffication live up to its promise?)
For instance, the group wants to remove the added tax on both inbred and hybrid rice seeds to make it more affordable for farmers to procure.
Aside from this, Malabanan said the proposed RCEF only covers the production and promotion of inbred rice seeds.
Under the proposed RCEF, P5 billion of the P10-billion annual fund allocated for the industry will be given to the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization for farm equipment, P3 billion will be set aside for the Philippine Rice Research Institute for research, and P1 billion each will be given to banks for loans with interest and the Agricultural Training Institute as well as Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for training.
"Ang kailangan isama doon ay ang hybrid rice [seeds] sapagkat iyon naman ang pinaka-latest technology na makakatulong sa mga magsasaka para mas mataas ang kanilang production at makapag-compete at hindi mamatay ang palay production ng ating bansa," he added.
(They should include hybrid rice [seeds] because that involves the latest technology which can help our farmers increase their production and make them more competitive. It would also ensure that the palay production in our country will not die.)
Malabanan, who is also a senior technical consultant of homegrown hybrid rice producer SL Agritech Corporation, also said that since the country is only 6% away from total rice self-sufficiency, the expanded use of hybrid rice can fill the gap.
"Si Secretary [Emmanuel Piñol], sinusuportahan ang [hybrid] rice initially. Pero ang problem, hindi naman siya sinuportahan ng economic managers, kaya hindi niya na pinush ang aming kahilingan na makapagtanim [sa] 1.5 million hectares ng hybrid rice," he added.
(Secretary Emmanuel Piñol initally supported the use of hybrid rice. But the problem is that he wasn't supported by the economic managers, that's why he didn't push for our request to be able to use 1.5 million hectares for hybrid rice.) – Rappler.com
  1.  Nairobi
Judiciary denies links to ''poisonous'' rice after Judge Ogola's ruling
·        Japheth Ogila

·        Posted On: 04th Feb 2019 15:34:56 GMT +0300
Description: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/images/monday/ditrkzupuz5d9tylin5c5833c373e44.jpg
Justice Eric Ogola during a past court session. He recently ruled in favour of Phoenix Global Kenya in rice case where he ordered state agencies to release controversial rice from warehouses. [Photo: Courtesy]
The Judiciary has responded to rumours circulating on the interweb over the weekend claiming one of its judges “ordered poisoned rice to be sold in Kenya.”
A video circulating on social media based on a ruling by Justice Eric Ogola in a court in Mombasa on January 31, 2019, has caused panic among Kenyans. In his ruling, Justice Ogola ordered 10 million kilograms of rice earlier declared unfit by Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) into the market.
On Monday February 4, the Judiciary released a statement saying the claim was not factual. The Judiciary says the matter before the court was not about poisonous rice but about 20 per cent of a consignment of rice that should be reclassified and downgraded because it does not meet size standard.
“The Judiciary's attention has been drawn to reports in sections of the media that the Judiciary ordered release of poisonous rice into the market. This is malicious and false position aimed at tainting the image of the Judiciary,” read the statement that was signed by Catherine Wambui, Deputy Director of Communication and Public Affairs at the Judiciary.
The Judiciary says that the good rice was ordered for release into the market three months ago, only for the multi-agency to fail to open the go down after the importer. “… by the time of the judgement, all the stock was still intact. In the submissions, parties agreed that indeed even the rice which was alleged not to meet the size actually had minimal size variation,” reads the statement.
Additionally, by the time Justice Ogola delivered a ruling on January 31, 2019, all the rice bags were still in store.
The ruling
In the case, the petitioner, Phoenix Global Kenya (importer), sought to compel several government agencies - the Kenya Revenue Authority, KEBS, Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to open the warehouse and release the rice.
The rice worth Sh250 million had been held at a Mombasa warehouse after it was found unfit for human consumption.
Justice Ogola said in the ruling that the DCI may have not followed the required flawless sample testing criterion to prove that the rice was indeed unfit.
He notes in the ruling: " In my view, the integrity of the DCI’s sampling process and submission of samples for testing is questionable as not only do the reports fail to identify which Samples Collection Form the tests conducted relate to
but, also, the dates for submission of samples are inherently contradictory."
Phoenix Global Kenya swore an affidavit claiming that it had suffered damages amounting to  Shs.53,938,446.60. The company attributed the losses predominantly to costs incurred in storage, financial interests, wages, loss of businesses due to bad reputation and sampling and testing.
Its plea was headed as Justice Ogola ruled in its favour, ordering KEBS to additionally pay Phoenix Global Kenya Sh15 million as damages for illegal detention of 10,327 metric tonnes of rice.
KEBS were also asked to ascertain: Whether the white substance meets the requirement of any grade of rice, the percentage of moisture in the white substance, if the white substance has aflatoxin contamination, the arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead content in the white substance, whether the white substance is fit for human consumption.
Rice imports
Chairman of Irrigation Water Users Association Moris Mutugi said imports flooding the market will hurt earnings if not controlled. “We are expecting a bumper harvest and we foresee struggle to get market. If imports must come, then they should not be brought here to compete with ours,” he said.
Kenya imported 625,000 tonnes of rice last year compared to 507,999 in 2016.

Ombudsman tells policymakers to keep eye on staple imports

·       Rachmadea Aisyah
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta   /   Mon, February 4, 2019   /   05:55 pm
Description: Ombudsman tells policymakers to keep eye on staple imports The Indonesian Ombudsman building in Jakarta (tribunnews.com/File)

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The Indonesian Ombudsman has urged the government to maintain a strict policy on the import of rice, corn, sugar and salt -- four staple commodities, whose imports often spark controversy -- ahead of the presidential and legislative elections in April.
The Ombudsman recorded that in its four years in office from 2014 to 2018, the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had authorized the import of 4.7 million tons of rice, 5.7 million tons of corn, 17.2 million tons of sugar and 12.3 million tons of salt.
“In this political year, attention to import administration might be lacking because of the intensity of the national political process,” Ombudsman member Alamsyah Saragih told reporters on Monday. “If we do not pay attention to it, it could lead to disadvantages for various stakeholders.”
Alamsyah said imports of corn, sugar and salt, which are meant for industrial purposes, had been increasing because industrial players were looking for better quality ingredients leading to price reductions for the commodities produced by local farmers.
“This year, industrial verification must be done thoroughly in order to avoid importing too much,” he said. “We encourage the government, especially the Industry Ministry, to verify industrial requirements and audit stocks of local supplies.”
Alamsyah also cited the plan by state-owned logistics company Bulog to export rice, which showed stocks were getting excessive as Bulog this year distributed less rice to poor families.
Last month, Bulog head Budi Waseso said the rice-export plan was being carried out to prevent stock overflows, with the domestic harvesting season coming in March to May. (bbn)

TOPICS :


Rice Sufficiency And Food Security Drive
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 February 5, 2019
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One fascinating fact about Nigeria and the strength of its agriculture is that, as is the case with many other economic and social sectors, it is under reported, under-appreciated and its data is often unfairly distorted. That is partly why the awareness of our more than self-sufficiency in the key crops that constitute our staple foods and which give the nation a satisfactory level of food availability, security and stability, is patently  latent.
For instance, many Nigerians may latently know that the country is the largest producer of sorghum in Africa and self-sufficient in that commodity. The country is also self-sufficient in millet production, being the second largest producer of the crop on earth. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has all the data supporting that self-sufficiency reality. In the case of yam, cocoyam, cassava, sweet and Irish potatoes, there is no need to attribute our national self-sufficiency status to any local or foreign sources of data because the information is widespread, generally accepted as fact for which we all feel happy. God endowed  us with the energy, the wisdom, the water and land to grow and be self-sufficient in these staples food crops.
The country is also self-sufficient in most fruits and vegetables that are consumed daily by millions of Nigerians: citrus, lemon, pawpaw, pineapples, mangoes, guava, tomatoes, varieties of pepper and many nuts and legumes. The one knotty and naughty food crop that posed a challengeto all administrations, is rice. The FAO reported that Nigeria’s rice self-sufficiency was 98.7in 1960-1964;98.8 per cent in the 1970-1974 period and 83.8 per cent as at 1989-1996. It was from that level of self-sufficiency that the country became the largest importer of rice in Africa. In February 2012, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, said Nigeria was importing five million metric tons of rice per annum.
That imported rice, according to Alhaji Aliko Dangote,drainsUS$1.8 billion from the country’s foreign exchange yearly.  He said the country imports 3.2 million metric tons of processed rice annually, which he frowned at.  He disclosed this in 2016 while launching a 20, 000-strong rice out growers scheme for his paddy rice processing mill in Jigawa state. Dangoterightly felt that the money spent importing rice could be used better: “This huge foreign exchange would have been used on more impactful social development interventions if they were not needed for rice imports,” he said.
Then enters the Buhari-led administration, which is diversifying and growing the Nigerian economy by boosting the agricultural sector to deepen national food security and provide more agro raw-materials to processing industries.  The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), which he launched on November 17, 2015, in Kebbi state, is one of the strongest initiatives aimed at returning the country to self-sufficiency in rice production. It is driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in concert with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, that of Water Resources and various state governments. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said “the broad objective of the ABP is to create economic linkage between smallholder farmers and reputable large-scale processors with a view to increasing agricultural output and significantly improving capacity utilization of processors.” This is happening. Dozens of new rice mills of various installed processing capacities have sprung up across the country, furiously processing paddy rice harvested in the country.
Consequently, the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, reported a huge reduction in the importation of rice and a few other commodities between 2013 and 2017. Specifically, he said US$1.424 billion was spent in importing the commodities in 2013, while only US$628.6 million was spent for their importation in 2017, a saving of over US$800 million. An elated Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, added that Thailand and India, both dominant rice exporters to Nigeria, were able to export just 5, 161 and 426 metric tons of rice to Nigeria respectively in 2017. This was a paltry quantity compared with the 3.2 million metric tons imported annually as testified by Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Other ABP objectives achieved include an increase in financing the agricultural sector by banks; raising a generation of farmers who see agriculture as a business and the deepening of the cashless policy and widening financial inclusion. The level of poverty among smallholder farmers has been reduced. More of them now live in improved dwellings, own agricultural machinery and send their children to school. The CBN Governor said that the programme has improved the economic and social standing of millions of Nigerians through the disbursement of N160 billion by the apex bank. The money empowered 850, 000 smallholder farmers across the country; they now have timely access to fertilisers, certified seeds and safe agro-chemicals.
Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the dominant rice exporters to Nigeria, Thailand and India, sold only 5, 161 and 426 metric tons of rice to Nigeria respectively by the close of 2017, against the 3.2 million metric tons imported annually as testified by Alhaji Aliko Dangote. Another initiativeof the Buhari-led administration which is empowering and moving Nigerians out of povertyis the TraderMoni scheme.  It is a loan programme “created specifically for petty traders and artisans across Nigeria. It is a part of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), being executed by the Bank of Industry.”
Under the scheme targeted at 20 million petty traders, Nigerians in the specified category“can receive interest-free loans starting from N10,000 and growing all the way to N100,000,” based on the beneficiary’s record of paying back.  So far over N15 billion has been disbursed as loans to the beneficiaries. Although the notoriously,largely-partisan Transparency  International of Olusegun Obasanjo has joined the opposition in describing the scheme as a vote-buying ploy, the truth is that it is genuinely aimed at reducing poverty among its clearly defined, targeted beneficiaries.The positive impact it is making on the wellbeing of its beneficiaries cannot be erased by mischievous allegations.
–Dambatta, a journalist, sent this piece from Abuja

Customs strike: Importers say essential food prices would go up

2019-02-04 19:32:23
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Description: http://static.dailymirror.lk/media/images/image_1540810730-dc9a0569e1.jpg
   
Description: http://static.dailymirror.lk/media/images/image_1549289555-a368418496.jpgThe Essential Food Commodities’ Importers and Traders Association today said it has decided to increase the prices of a number of essential food items this week due to the work-to-rule campaign by the Customs.
The Associations’ Media Spokesperson Hemaka Fernando said the strike had resulted in a backlog of containers consisting of imported essential food items at the Colombo harbour.
He said the importers had to pay demurrage of US$ 36 per day for one 40-foot container and US$ 20 for 20-foot container until the containers are released.
“In addition to these charges, we have to pay Rs.850,000 for one container of potatoes because of the increased import tax on potatoes which came into effect from last Friday. In this crisis situation, we have decided to increase the prices of food items during this week,” he said.
Accordingly, prices of imported rice, sugar, dhal, potatoes, onions and green grams would go up.
When contacted, Chairman of the Customs Superintendents Union Uditha Jayasinghe said they have to charge the increased tax amount from the containers which arrived at the port even before the date when the tax was increased.
He said the number of containers which are being released from the port had been reduced to 200 per day due to the Customs work-to-rule campaign. “This could only intensify this week,” he said.
Earlier, it was reported that trade unions outside the Customs including the Essential Food Commodities’ Importers and Traders Association had backed the Customs work-to-rule campaign.
However, the Association rejected these reports and said it had even rejected an invitation extended by the Customs trade unions for a meeting.
Mr. Fernando said that they are not concerned about the issue of Customs Director General, but the cause of the strike. “This is an issue of the Customs. Not ours. We are simply affected by their work-to-rule campaign,” he said. (Indika Sri Aravinda)

Rise against the clock
  • Proactive research and analysis are needed to effectively address future nutritional problems
Ramu Bishwakarma, Kathmandu
Description: http://assets-cdn.ekantipur.com/images/third-party/miscellaneous/Rise-against-the-clock-pixabay-05022019083225-1000x0.jpg
Feb 5, 2019-
Over the weekend, I read ‘How rice became a staple in the hills and mountains and why that’s unsustainable’ in the Kathmandu Post. As a student of social change, I found the article quite interesting. Rice was indeed not a common staple food for most villagers, especially in the hills and mountain areas. As mentioned in the article, the perception of cultural inferiority toward foods other than rice—coupled with external forces such as the perception of development workers and policymakers that rice was the food staple to be provided to the farmers when they are food insecure—most likely contributed to establish the rice culture in rural hills and mountains in Nepal.
While the rice-culture was subtly taking over the traditional staples through socio-cultural and market forces, consumers were not actively informed about nutritional values offered by different staple foods. There must have been research about it at national and international levels, but the findings from this research did not reach consumers. For that matter, even the mentioned article    this op-ed itself are likely only going to circulate within smaller networks (and mostly within an echo-chamber of like-minded researchers and journalists). This points to the overall lack of proactive research and analysis in our efforts to address future societal problems.
Analyses and research conducted after the fact are useful to understand the history and draw lessons for learning purpose. But understanding them before or as they happen, and their future implications are equally, if not more, important to help minimise or avoid future negative consequences. Two aspects are particularly important to make these analyses effective: intentionality and specificity. Such analyses should be intentional to improve our knowledge about current and future trends, and the topic of analysis should be specific enough to produce tangible change.
Analyses that are reflective in nature are good for learning lessons and to understand what has happened. But if we stop there and don’t analyse the current and future trends, we will miss an opportunity to introduce corrective measures. And if these findings do not reach to the relevant stakeholders in a timely manner, they cannot make necessary policy, programmatic and advocacy interventions at the time of need.
Let’s take the case of the referred article. If the researchers and analysts had paid attention to the details of the emerging trends of the culturally perceived superiority of rice in the hills and mountain areas at the time when it started (after the 1980s), and if the results of such analyses were received by the relevant stakeholders, all the negative effects we are seeing now triggered by or associated with rice-based diets could have been minimised or even avoided. As such, we wouldn’t have experienced the rice-driven negative consequences, as captured by the Post’s article as a nation today.
With this premise, I have two specific recommendations. One, all researchers, analysts, and think tanks alike should give equal importance, if not more, to proactive and predictive studies as much as they do on reflective studies, especially on the topics that hold severe implications to people and society. For instance, fast food culture is evolving rapidly in Nepal these days. Given the ways in which the new generation is flocking toward the industry, it is possible that in the next five or 20 years, we will talk about various public health and dietary problems associated with such foods, just like the way we are talking about the rice at this moment. Thus, it’s important to conduct predictive analyses of emerging fast food culture and its possible implications at present and in future.
We must learn from our historical shortcomings. A strong communication and advocacy intervention about the current status of fast food consumptions, its nutrition values, consumption trends, and health and socio-economic implications, if well analysed and disseminated, could greatly benefit the public.
Bishwakarma, PhD, is a Sr. Technical Advisor for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning for Lutheran World Relief in Baltimore, USA.
Published: 05-02-2019 07:22

Productivity, mechanization, and post-harvest technologies

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Description: https://www.panaynews.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Yap-Urban-farmer_colored.jpgTHE Central Luzon Agriculture, Aquatic and Resources Research and Development Consortium (CLAARRDEC) recently conducted the Rice Farms and Industry Encounters through the Science and Technology Agenda (FIESTA) at the Philippine Rice Research Institute’s (PhilRice’s) Central Experiment Station in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
The event carried the theme “Diwang Makabago at Tradisyunal na Teknolohiya sa Agrikultura at Pangisdaan, Handog sa mga Pilipinong Magsasaka.”
The Rice FIESTA is an amalgamation of culture, traditions, and technology highlighting pre and postharvest machinery, biofertilizer, integrated rice and rice-based package of technology, and other technologies that were developed through the support of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).
The DOST-PCAARRD, which initiated the FIESTA as a technology diffusion platform, funded the activity together with other agencies.
FIESTA is a PCAARRD event-based technology transfer modality which aims to promote science and technology (S&T) and its products towards providing competitive and profitable business ventures for the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the agriculture, aquatic and natural resources sectors of the country.
This is in line with PCAARRD’s Industry Strategic S&T Plan (ISP) for rice which primarily aims to increase rice productivity and modernize rice production and postproduction systems in the country.
The ISP focuses on topics such as rice productivity, mechanization, and postharvest technologies.
Among the agricultural machinery featured in the event include the impeller-type compact ricemill, ride-behind transplanter, combined conduction and far-infrared radiation dryer, and different attachments for hand-tractors.
The technologies are expected to realize the goal of producing healthy and sufficient rice for the Filipinos.
The activity was conducted with the support provided by Central Luzon State University, and other government agencies and private institutions like Kubota Philippines, Inc. which exhibited different farm machinery like the Kubota NSPU-68CMD Rice Transplanter, and the Kubota SR-K800PH Automatic Seeder.
Since farmers from the different provinces in the country differ in terms of the quantities of inputs used, technologies adopted, and management skills employed, these result in the varying yield and production cost among them.
To address the concern, economists from the Socioeconomics Division of PhilRice shared ways on how to narrow these gaps to help the farmers increase their productivity and income based on the findings from 33 major rice producing provinces in the Philippines.
A senior science research specialist from the Socioeconomics Division presented the results of the study Narrowing the Yield and Cost Gaps: Comparative Efficiency of Rice Farming in the Philippines.
Adopting high-quality seeds, such as hybrid, can increase yield by 1.81 metric tons per hectare (mt/ha) from the baseline yield of 4 mt/ha. A ton increase in farmers’ yield can lead to production cost reduction of P0.91 per kilogram, the researcher said.
The use of high-quality seeds and better access to irrigation water can also significantly increase farmers’ yield growth.
Higher yield and better management skills of farmers, along with their adoption of high-quality seeds and mechanized harvesting and threshing, will then reduce their production cost./PN

Focus on the Farmer Series Finale  

ARLINGTON, VA -- The final subject the USA Rice "Focus on the Farmer" Facebook series is Austin Davis, a third generation farmer from Shaw, Mississippi.  Austin graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in Industrial Engineering and now works with his brother and father on the family's operation, Larry Davis Farms, growing soybeans and rice.

The year-long series that has run the first week of each month since March 2018 brought attention to twelve young rice farmers who help put U.S.-grown rice on America's plates - and to let them tell the real story of food production in their own words.

"Social media definitely has its benefits," said Austin.  "Unfortunately, there is a lot of incorrect information that gets spread with regard to agriculture.  We must do our best to let the truth be known about our practices and that we, as producers, are good stewards of the land."

Follow along with Austin all week, and look, "like," and, most importantly, share the posts to help spread the U.S. rice story! 

‘Banks to feel more pain from rice tariff bill than default of Hanjin’

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Description: https://39byfk2z09ab1y1bzj1l5r82-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/top01-020519-696x335.jpgFarmers, millers, retailers and irrigators urged President Duterte to veto the rice tariffication bill, as the unimpeded entry of imports could cause businessmen to stop paying bank loans estimated at P300 billion.
THE full liberalization of the rice industry may hurt banks more than the default of South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil), as thousands of millers could go bankrupt.
In an open letter to President Duterte, a coalition of rice farmers, millers, retailers and irrigators outlined the economic consequences of the enactment of the rice tariffication bill into law.
The Coalition of Farmers’ Organizations, Unions, Retailers, and Rice Millers to Protect the Philippine Rice Industry (C-FOURR PROTECT) said the unimpeded entry of cheap rice following the conversion of import caps into tariffs could significantly cut palay production.
This, C-FOURR PROTECT pointed out, would create a detrimental domino effect on the rice industry value chain with the local millers suffering the brunt of an open rice market, as lower palay output could cause their facilities to go unused.
The underutilization of rice mill facilities, the group said, could lead to eventual closures and worse, the default of about P300 billion worth of loans obtained by millers from local banks. HHIC-Phil borrowed a total of $412 million, or about a P21.6-billion loan from five local banks. Based on C-FOURR PROTECT’s estimate, a complete rice mill facility costs about P30 million to P50 million to put up, which would mean that the whole Philippine rice milling industry is
valued at about P200 billion to P300 billion.
“Imagine a scenario where these rice milling facilities could not be operated at full capacity because of lack of enough local palay produce to mill and the owners default on their bank loans citing unfavorable business climate similar to the recent bankruptcy case of the Subic-based Hanjin Heavy Industries Inc.,” the open letter read, a copy of which was provided to reporters on Monday.
“The big loan exposure of the owners of these rice mills will definitely shake the very foundation of the banking industry and cause shock waves to the whole Philippine financial system,” it added.
C-FOURR PROTECT also estimates that around 55,000 workers of 6,600 registered rice millers nationwide could be displaced by a more open rice market.

Millers’ dilemma

Rowena del Rosario-Sadicon of the Nueva Ecija Rice Millers Association said around 10 percent, or about P30 billion of the P300-billion investment made by local millers nationwide, were poured into Nueva Ecija. Sadicon said these loans are still being amortized by rice millers.
 “Our partnership with the banks is important. It is important that they have confidence in us that we are capable of repaying the money we borrowed from them,” she told the BusinessMirror.
“If the farmers will not plant anymore, then we won’t have anything to mill. We will depend on rice importation, which we are already doing now, but it would not be enough as we have institutional clients needing locally produced rice,” she added.
Sadicon, who is also vice president for Marketing and Manager for International Trade of Victor Del Rosario Rice Mill, also pointed out that their supply of rice hull, which they use as biomass fuel to run their mills, would also be reduced due to lower palay output.
“Shortage in local palay production will mean shortage in the supply of ipa or rice hull used as biomass fuel, binder in cement manufacturing as well as earth/land fillers,” C-FOURR PROTECT said in its letter.
The rice tariffication bill approved by the bicameral conference committee will lapse into law on February 15 if President Duterte does not act on it. Rice industry stakeholders have been calling on Duterte to veto specific provisions of the bill, such as removing the powers of the national ood to intervene in the domestic market.


Feb. 4, 2019 2:37 pm

This Delaware teen is working to solve Asia’s arsenic rice crisis

Charter School of Wilmington senior Preeti Krishnamani has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious national Regeneron Science Talent Search. She'll present her project in D.C. next month.
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Preeti Krishnamani.
(Courtesy photo)
Preeti Krishnamani found her passion for rice paddies in the 10th grade, when she had the opportunity to work in them with Universitiy of Delaware’s Dr. Angelia Seyfferth at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The focus was on an issue near to her heart, as a young Indian-American woman: lowering the levels of arsenic in rice, especially in Southeast and East Asian areas where the levels have the highest impact on communities.
That was just two years ago. Today, the graduating senior at Charter School of Wilmington (CSW) is getting ready to go to Washington D.C. to present her project, “Effects of Silicon Amendments on the Concentration and Adsorption Properties of Iron-Oxides in Paddy Soils,” as one of just 40 pre-college students nationwide to be named as a finalist in the highly prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS).
She is the first CSW student to be a finalist in the competition, and only the sixth from Delaware since it began in 1942 as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. 
In early January, Krishnamani was named as one of 300 Scholars (essentially STS semifinalists) by the Society for Science & the Public and Regeneron. That honor came with two $2,000 awards, one for her and one for CSW.
She learned she’d been picked a few weeks later. As a finalist, Krishnamani will be awarded a minimum of $25,000, up to a top prize of $250,000.
“It’s really exciting,” said Krishnamani, “especially representing Delaware, being an agricultural state.”
This isn’t the first major honor for this young project. Last year, Krishnamani was one of 15 finalists selected in the 2018 International BioGENEius Challenge.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring compound in many soils — a byproduct of volcanic ash and different metal ores. The amount of arsenic that leeches into most food crops is negligible, but rice, because of the way its grown and harvested, can have levels so high that it’s believed to cause health issues in parts of the world where rice is a daily staple.
“It’s a huge public health threat that causes diseases and cardiovascular problems,” said Krishnamani. “It’s one of the potential reasons diabetes is a big problem in Asia.”
Scientists around the world have been working on solutions to the arsenic rice crisis for decades, but the solutions are often not accessible to some parts of Asia like India and Bangladesh.
“Most [of the research] has been in genetically modified plants, but there are more cost effective ways,” the student said.
Krishnamani’s project is based on silicon soil amendment; silica, which also occurs naturally in soil and other organic matter, has been found to be effective in minimizing arsenic absorption in rice.
While there have been effective (but costly) synthetic silicon fertilizers introduced, Krishnamani’s project has introduced the idea of utilizing the hulls of the rice — a waste product that is commonly burned — by using natural silica from them to create a natural, sustainable rice fertilizer.
“It’s a productive way to use the waste and recycle it back into the rice,” she said.
The Regeneron STS Finals will happen in early March. In addition to the competition, she will be presenting her project on March 7 in a public showcase National Geographic Society in D.C.

Duterte asked to veto provisions in rice tariffication bill

Various groups in the rice industry urge President Rodrigo Duterte to veto provisions which they say would lead to loss of jobs
Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
Published 5:30 PM, February 04, 2019
Updated 5:31 PM, February 04, 2019
Reddit
Description: VETO SOUGHT. Various sectors under the rice industry call for President Rodrigo Duterte to veto provisions in the rice tariffication bill, which only needs his signature to become a law. Photo by Anna Mogato/Rappler
VETO SOUGHT. Various sectors under the rice industry call for President Rodrigo Duterte to veto provisions in the rice tariffication bill, which only needs his signature to become a law. Photo by Anna Mogato/Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – In a bid to protect the local rice industry, various groups that help supply the country's staple are calling for President Rodrigo Duterte to veto certain provisions in the rice tariffication bill.
Under the bill, the NFA will no longer monitor and regulate the entry of rice imports, as well as decide the volume and timing of the imports. Its role would be limited to providing stocks in case of calamities.
The groups said the bill would affect not only farmers' livelihood and availability of rice for poor consumers, but would also lead to loss of jobs if there is uninhibited rice importation. (READ: With rice tariffication, what happens to food security?)
Aside from wholesale and retail businesses, this could affect 2.7 million farmers and 6,600 registered rice millers which employ around 55,000 workers.
National Food Authority (NFA) Employees Association-Central Office president Maximo Torda added that this may mean the loss of jobs for 4,635 NFA employees "from Batanes in the north up to Tawi-Tawi in Mindanao."
The industry representatives were set to meet with Duterte on Monday afternoon to appeal to the President to veto the provision removing the NFA's powers, along with with details related to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
In 2018, Duterte declared the bill as urgent amid the rice shortage and increasing rice prices. (READ: Rice tariffication good for the country, Filipino farmers)
That same year, the Senate also approved the bill, which includes a mechanism to provide financial aid to make the rice industry more competitive. Last January 15, the bill already reached the President's table for signing.
Other Stories

India Grain: Wheat, maize prices down on subdued demand, paddy flat

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Monday, Feb 4

By Sampad Nandy

NEW DELHI – Prices of mill-quality wheat fell across key spot markets today because of weak demand from wholesalers and flour millers amid a rise in arrivals, traders said.

Arrivals continued to rise as the early-sown wheat crop has started trickling into markets in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. 

Better demand for the good-quality new wheat crop cushioned the overall fall in prices, the traders said. 

"Demand is seen weak going ahead as bulk buyers have started drifting to the weekly government auctions under the open market sales scheme to source the food grain at a cheaper rate," Indore-based trader N.K. Agarwal said. 

"In the long term, prices are likely to edge down once crops from the current rabi season starts arriving in larger quantities," a Delhi-based trader said. 

Arrivals in Indore were pegged at 1,400-1,500 bags (1 bag = 100 kg), about 200-300 bags higher than Saturday. In Kota, Rajasthan, arrivals were estimated to have risen by 200-300 bags to 1,500-1,600 bags.

Prices of maize also fell across key spot markets as feed manufacturers avoided making bulk purchases at higher rates, traders said. Prices have risen sharply during the last few weeks due to a persistent supply crunch. 

"Despite a weakness in demand, prices are seen edging up in coming days as the supply crunch is likely to persist until the rabi crop from the current season starts arriving," said Shiv Kumar, a trader based in Davangere, Karnataka.

At Davangere, maize arrivals were pegged at 800-900 bags (1 bag = 100 kg), compared with 1,000 bags on Saturday. In Nizamabad, Telangana, arrivals were estimated at 600-700 bags, down 100-200 bags from the previous day. 

Basmati paddy prices remained steady in a lacklustre trade in Amritsar, a local trader said.

Basmati paddy prices are likely to remain steady going ahead as rice millers are not likely to purchase the poor-quality paddy, local traders said. 

Following are today's prices for wheat, maize and paddy, in rupees per 100 kg, in key wholesale markets, and the change from the previous day:

Commodity
Market
Price
(in rupees)
Change
(in rupees)
Wheat
Kota
2,110-2,170
(-)20-30
Wheat
Indore
2,080-2,120
(-)10-20
Maize
Davangere
2,070-2,100
(-)10-20
Maize
Nizamabad
2,020-2,030
(-)10-20
Basmati 1121 Paddy
Amritsar
3,760-3,780

End

Edited by Subham Mitra

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Kenya;s Kano rice farmers reap from new technology
·        Kevine Omollo

·        Posted On: 04th Feb 2019 14:32:09 GMT +0300
Description: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/images/monday/hed1ridapwlk5c5824179cd0d.jpgMonica Awino spreads rice to dry before milling at Nyang'ande in Nyando, Kisumu County. (Photo: Denish Ochieng/ Standard)NYANGANDE, KENYA: It is a sunny Friday morning, and Monica Awino spreads her rice in the sun to dry at her Nyang’ande home in Nyando, Kisumu County.
For over two decades, Awino had toiled and prayed for better harvest, in vain.
The last two seasons however have seen her prayers shift from better harvest to reliable market, after bumper harvest courtesy of a new technology dubbed System for Rice Intensification (SRI).
The system, borrowed from Mwea Irrigation Scheme involves intensive utilization of water, where farmers have equal access of the limited commodity for a particular number of days, and give it away to other farmers, and the cycle continues.
The system also promotes mechanization, use of certified seeds and intensive sensitization which has seen the likes of Awino embrace team work, in terms of planning right from land preparation, planting, harvesting and marketing.
Three plots away from Awino’s is Jack Otange, 30, who has been in the trade for 10 years. The young farmer has three quarter of an acre, and last week harvested 32 bags of paddy rice, a big improvement from the 10 bags he used to get.
Just like Awino, he planted a hybrid seed, Arize 644, which has become the scheme’s preferred rice variety in the recent past.
“I have dried my rice and just waiting for sales. We have information that the price per kilo of paddy has dropped to Sh32, but we have no other option, since we can’t keep the produce for long,” he said.
His sentiments are echoed by Austin Abuto, whose 1.1 acre piece earned him 50 bags. Abuto who has been in the trade since 1992 says the fortune has revived people’s hopes in rice farming.
“I first ventured into the trade in 1992, but I pulled out after it proved not viable. But five years ago, with the news of improved farming techniques, I got back to the farm, and I do not regret,” he said.
And just like the rest, Abuto is worried by the low prices coming with the bumper harvest.
“We had agreed that this season the price of paddy would move from the previous Sh37 to Sh40 per kilo. But things have worsened, with the price dropping to Sh33,” he said.
The trio are some of the over 80 farmers at Siany CC3, an out grower rice scheme in Kisumu County, who are counting blessings after implementing modern farming techniques with the scheme becoming a model farm standing tall between over 40 outgrower schemes in the county.
When The Standard visited the scheme on Friday, there was a myriad of activities at the 100-acre scheme which has since become a model farm.
Harvesting was at the peak, with women hitting the dry rice husks to shed off paddy, while young men ferrying sacs of paddy to the drying areas and to the store as farmers ponder about their next move.
Others were in the open fields drying their paddy, while others were busy recording their harvests in the books as with scheme management.
All these benefits however seems to be turning to curses due to lack of market. This has seen middlemen penetrate the farms with Ugandan businessmen who are taking advantage of the already disadvantaged farmers.
“Since I started rice farming in 1993, I have never harvested above 15 bags per acre, but there has been some positive change since 2016 where the harvest jumped to 40 bags,” said Awino.
Last season, the Ugandan traders were offering Sh37 per kilo of paddy, which the farmers considered low, but there are fears that this price may go lower with improved harvest.
“But do we have options? The stores we use here are not up to the standards, and our produce may not be safe there for long. We will have to dispose the produce to avoid wasting them since we are also in need of money for other domestic needs and preparation for the next planting season,” said Otange.
In 2015, a group of farmers from the scheme visited Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kirinyaga County for benchmarking which would change farming for the better.
“We realised that apart from lack of uniformity, our people had not embraced the spirit of mechanisation due to the small size of parcels here,” said Dr Paul Omanga, who was part of the tour.
Omanga would later mobilize farmers through Nyabon, a technical advisory team implementing farm mechanization at the scheme, organize them into four blocks, making it easy to pull resources and seek the assistance of other players.
According to Dr Omanga, outgrower farmers have had no proper infrastructure, with most of them relying on rain-fed agriculture, and using traditional methods of farming.
And with lack of support from the relevant government agencies, they have had little knowledge of the changing trends in farming, with most of them recycling seeds, and avoiding the use of fertilizer in a bid to reduce the cost of production.
“Convincing farmers to come together was not an easy task, and the first season saw only 50 acres of land put into use. In the second season, there were 25 more acres, and today the entire scheme lying on 100 acres is utilized,” said Omanga.
This phenomenon has pushed the harvest, with farmers like Awino lacking space in their houses to store the produce, and have since come together to construct a makeshift store at Nyang’ande Market.
The marketing challenge may worsen when the farmers roll out two harvests per season, which Omanga said they have been looking into in order to economically maximize the use of the scheme.
“We are now looking into bringing in the National cereals and Produce Board to consider taking our rice so that farmers do not have to live at the mercy of the middlemen after toiling to revive the dwindling rice production,” he added. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001311945/rice-farmers-reap-from-new-technology

image: https://www.star2.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/str2_cooksnook030219_abirami_1-1170x480.jpg

Cook’s Nook: Fresh salads galore

Description: Cook’s Nook: Amy Beh cooks 3 auspicious CNY dishes
Cook’s Nook: Amy Beh cooks 3 auspicious CNY dishes
Description: Fun, festive cookbooks to start the year right
Fun, festive cookbooks to start the year right

These fresh, vibrant salads offer are great for brightening up the festive season and for that much needed post-celebratory dieting.
RICE ON THE GO
Miso dressing
1 tbsp white miso sauce
1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salad
3/4 cup long grain Basmati rice, soaked for 10 minutes, then cooked
20g finely diced carrot
10g finely diced red capsicum
10g finely diced green capsicum
3 snow peas, cut into slanting pieces and scalded briefly
Topping
adequate amount of crispy seaweed
dash of freshly ground black pepper
To make
Whisk the miso dressing well together. Set aside.
Combine cooked rice with the diced vegetables and snow peas. Drizzle in miso dressing gradually, then toss to mix evenly. Dish out and serve with a sprinkling of seaweed and pepper.
image: http://www1.star2.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/str2_cooksnook030219_abirami_3.jpg
Description: http://www1.star2.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/str2_cooksnook030219_abirami_3.jpgWONDER SALAD
Dressing
100ml sour cream
1 tbsp finely chopped dill
2 tbsp finely chopped jalapenos
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
pinch of ground cumin
Salad
30g broccoli florets
30g cauliflower florets
20g red capsicum, sliced
20g green capsicum, sliced
20g yellow capsicum, sliced
2 cabbage leaves
2 purple cabbage leaves
1 red onion, sliced finely
30g carrot, shredded
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
30g canned chickpeas, well drained
50g rocket leaves
To make
Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Stir to mix the dressing well. Set aside.
Blanch broccoli and cauliflower florets in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds. Dish out and steep in a basin of ice-cold water for 10 minutes. Add all vegetables in a large bowl.
Gently fold the chickpeas through the vegetables then transfer mixture to a serving platter lined with rocket leaves. Drizzle the dressing over the vegetables and serve at once.
image: http://www1.star2.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/str2_cooksnook030219_abirami_2.jpg
Description: http://www1.star2.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/str2_cooksnook030219_abirami_2.jpgNOODLE FANTASY
Dressing
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sriracha sauce
1-2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp brown sugar or to tase
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander stems
Salad
100g Korean sweet potato vermicelli
1/3 cup bean sprouts, tailed
10g red capsicum, julienned
20g green dragon chives, cut into 5cm lengths
1 tsp finely chopped bird’s eye chilies
1 tbsp chopped spring onion
1/3 cup coriander leaves
Garnish
1/2 a red chilli, seeded and sliced finely
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
To make
Mix the dressing in a small bowl. Set aside.
Soak noodles in cold water for 20 minutes. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add in the soaked noodles and 1 teaspoon cooking oil. Scald for 8 to 10 minutes or till al dente. Drain and rinse well then transfer to a large bowl. Using a pair of kitchen scissors, roughly cut the noodles to about 6cm length.
Pour dressing over the noodles. Toss to combine. Add bean sprouts, capsicum, green dragon chives, bird’s eye chillies, chopped spring onion and coriander leaves. Toss briskly to combine.
Transfer the noodles to a serving platter and garnish with red chilli and coriander leaves.

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10 of the best tapas bars and restaurants in Almería, Spain

As Spain’s gastronomic capital for 2019, Almería will be in the spotlight. Here, the author of a new book on Andalucían food picks her favourite places to eat
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Description: Panoramic cityscape of Almeria (Almería) Spain.
 Shore and simple … Almería’s food scene focuses on traditional dishes done with style. Photograph: Tomasz Czajkowski/Getty Images
Some find it a bit of a mystery that Almería has been named Spain’s gastronomic capital for 2019. The modest city in the south-eastern corner of the peninsula is often overlooked and draws fewer visitors than the rest of Andalucía. Yet it boasts Europe’s largest Islamic fortress, after Granada’s Alhambra, with 10th-century walls clambering over two rocky hills, peering down over the compact city below. Islamic flavours don’t stop there as, following centuries of connecting Almería’s traders with the Arab world, there are daily ferries from Algeria and Morocco. Their imprint is part of the food scene – along with succulent seafood fresh from the Mediterranean.
Remember that many places are closed on Monday.

Bar Casa Puga

Description: Traditional Spanish bar Casa Puga. Almeria, Andalusia, Spain.

 Photograph: Alamy
This venerable tapas bar opened in 1870 and, though the service can be offhand, it thrives on an enticing, buzzy ambience, with jamones dangling from the ceiling, varnished wood shining like a mirror and shelves crammed with bottles and cheeses. The free tapas – with a glass of wine (the house Albuñol is €1.80) or beer – are minimal but for €8-€10 more substantial half raciones of grilled kidneys, fried fish, octopus or a juicy Raf tomato salad are available. Get there when the doors open at noon and again at 8pm for elbow room.
 Calle Jovellanos 7, +34 950 231 530, 
barcasapuga.es

Bar Bahía de Palma

Description: Bagel and a glass of wine in front of the menu at Bahia De Palma, Almeria, Spain.

I think this is the friendliest tapas bar in Almería. It dates from 1963 when the original owner arrived from Mallorca – hence the name Bay of Palma. Bullfighting memorabilia dominates beside the pictures of flamenco artists, a performance tradition that continues sporadically (check its Facebook page). As a daytime bar (open 9am-5pm) it serves copious Spanish breakfasts and weekday set lunches (€12). There are a few outside tables but sit there and you will miss out on the classic tiled interior and general bonhomie. Free tapas (fried fish, cod pil pilcroquetas) are generous, particularly on Fridays when migas (fried breadcrumbs with black pudding, chorizo and green pepper) is on the menu.
 Calle Mariana 17, +34 661 20 59 59, on 
Facebook

Restaurante-Tetería Almedina

Description: Tea tray with cups and teapot on a table next to a plate of pastries at Restaurante-Teteria Almedina, Almeria, Spain.

Once you’ve puffed your way uphill to the fortress, then back down again, duck into this Moroccan tearoom to recover. The tranquil retreat has charm, both at outside tables in a plant-filled alleyway and in the traditional salons inside. Sip fresh mint tea (€5), enjoy a taboulé (€5-€7), tuck into lamb couscous (€15) or a chicken, almond and olive tagine (€10). This delicious Moroccan food is prepared and served by a father, son and daughter team from across the Strait of Gibraltar.
 Calle Paz 2, +34 629 27 78 27, on 
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Valentín

Description: Dining room at Valentin, Almeria, Spain.

A more upmarket, contemporary option, Valentín is found amid a tight network of winding streets. Here there is a choice between white-linen tablecloths in the slick restaurant, or more relaxed dining on the high stools in the back room and outside. Valentín is renowned for mouth-watering, high-quality seafood: langoustines, red prawns, cuttlefish, squid-ink rice with prawns or a seafood paella. And no, the paella is not a tourist-focused creation but for locals who love this stalwart of the Levant (Spain’s eastern coast). Count on €40-€50 for an à la carte experience.
 Calle Tenor Iribarne 19, +34 950 26 44 75 
restaurantevalentin.es

Bodega Las Botas

Description: Bodega las Botas, Almeria. Andalucia, Spain.

 Photograph: Lucas Vallecillos/Alamy
Down a narrow alleyway near Valentín, Las Botas is distinctive for its low, handpainted chairs and tables outside. Inside, it’s delightfully old-fashioned jamón-land with a dizzying lineup of top Cinco Jotas (ham) legs, a bull’s head, and a smattering of related photos. It is not the cheapest (a ración of red mullet is €14, six seafood croquettes €8) but service is excellent and the wine selection is good: a glass of smooth Ribera del Duero is €2. Order grilled meat and the waiter will go up the alleyway to its mother restaurant, Marisquería Baviera, where owner Pedro Sánchez, who started work in a bar aged eight, has held forth since 1968.
 Calle Fructuosa Pérez 3, +34 950 23 42 39, on 
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Tito’s

Description: Vegetarian tapas at Tito’s City, Almeria, Spain.

Across the broad Paseo de Almería, just behind the market, a spacious, cool restaurant and cocktail bar has recently opened. Tito’s is the offshoot of an eponymous beach-bar in cosmopolitan Mojácar – a 90-minute drive up the coast – and is run by Tesne, the founder’s daughter. The menu is a blast of world food and will satisfy vegans and vegetarians, as well as those looking for something different to the city’s traditional dishes. Vegan tapas include tofu satay with basmati rice (€3.50) and quinoa with wok-fried vegetables and almonds (€3). Copious salads (€10) are inventive, a red prawn Thai curry (€14) delicious and homemade cakes really hit the spot. There’s live music on Friday and Saturday nights.
 Rambla Obispo Orberá 17, +34 950 30 73 78, on 
Facebook

Café Express

Description: Plate of prawns at Bar-Cafeteria Express, Almeria, Spain.

For vegetarians and seafood fans on a budget, this little cafe is perfect. Amid the buzz of Almería’s renovated food market, this is where to bring fish, shellfish, vegetables or meat to be freshly grilled by the charming Inmaculada. The seafood section of the market is downstairs – ask for the fish to be cleaned. Grilling a generous portion costs €6, washed down with a glass of Almerían wine (€2) or beer. Inmaculada recommends local specialities, including fat red prawns, anchovies, red mullet, calamares and tuna. Raf tomato salad with anchovies works well as a starter.
 Stand 17, Mercado Central, on 
Facebook

Cafe Cyrano

Description: Cocktail on the bar at Café Cyrano, Almería, Spain

A couple of blocks south of the market, you have it all – breakfast, tapas, lunch, cakes and cocktails at tables and sofas in a mellow atmosphere, perfect for when those cloudless Almerían skies take a break or the heat sizzles. With a strong artsy agenda and plentiful bookshelves, Cyrano has carved out a niche. Free (generous) tapas are listed on a blackboard, while a changing menu includes inventive salads, sandwiches, burgers (€10), as well as Korean bulgogi (barbecued beef, €15) and a red velvet layer cake to finish. Draught beers, good wines and coffee crown what’s on offer.
 Calle Mendez Nuñez 19, +34 950 58 99 64, on 
Facebook

Taberna Entrevinos

Description: Taberna Entrevinos, Almeria, Spain
With a traditional tiled-and-beamed setting, this popular tavern justifies a walk to its rather uninspiring location east of the centre. Carnivores will be thrilled (Ibérico pork secreto, €18, caramelised pork knuckles, juicy rib steak, Black Angus steak, wagyu beef carpaccio, €15), also pescatarians (octopus, bonito tuna salad, €14) and vegans, too. Plus, sherry aficionados are in for a treat. For cheaper prices, eat on a stool at the lengthy bar where you pick your tapas (about €2), though the restaurant at the back is warm, cheerful and perfect for protracted indulgence.
 Calle Francisco García Góngora 11, +34 950 25 75 61, 
tabernaentrevinos.net

La Barraquilla

Description: Seafood dishes and a glass of red wine on a serving counter at La Barraquilla, Almeria, Spain.

It is worth investing €12-€15 in a taxi to whisk you to this chiringuito, a local legend for more than 40 years and open every day of the year. Although uninspiring to look at, this simple restaurant has a great beach location. Ultra-fresh seafood, of course, heads the menu: choose from a counter of fresh shellfish and fish but beware, as prices climb according to weight. Don’t miss the soupy arroz de mariscos (seafood and rice, €15), delicious semolina migas (€7) or patatas a lo pobre (poor man’s potatoes, €8). Book a table in the front section with a view over the Med.
 Avenida de la Playa, El Alquián, +34 850 52 01 71, on 
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Fiona Dunlop is author of Andaluz: A Food Journey through Southern Spain (Interlink Books, £27) and leads food tours through Andalucía

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Iran: Over $1b Worth of Rice Imported in 10 Months
About 1.11 million tons of rice worth around $1.1 billion were imported into Iran during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2018-Jan. 20), which shows a 0.89% decline in weight and 4.41% rise in value compared with the similar period of last year.
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Removal of tariff on hybrid rice seeds pushed
MANILA, Philippines — Rice industry stakeholders are urging the government to remove the tariff on hybrid rice seeds and allocate a portion of the P10-billion fund for improving hybridization. SL Agritech Corp., the largest producer of hybrid rice and seeds in the country, sought the removal of up to 50 percent levy on imported hybrid rice seeds. “This will have a huge effect on our farmers. All seeds especially hybrid cannot be produced in the Philippines since we do not have a compact area due to land reform,” SL Agritech technical advisor Frisco Malabanan told reporters yesterday.
The rice tariffication bill was already submitted to the Office of the President last month and will lapse into law if not acted upon next week. “If we will follow the proposed tariff bill, tariff will be up to 50 percent. Hybrid seeds are already costly.  The tariff will further discourage farmers to plant more,” he added. Read more at https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/02/05/1890814/removal-tariff-hybrid-rice-seeds-pushed#eh7z7yaj7LRBScrO.99
Date: 05-Feb-2019




Contest yields three winners for best local paddy
 The third Best Paddy Competition came to an end Friday, crowning agricultural communities in three provinces for their jasmine, fragrant or IR rice varieties. Organised by the Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF), the competition gave awards in three categories – phka romdoul (jasmine rice), sen kra oub (fragrant rice), and IR. The best phka romdoul paddy rice award was given to an agricultural community in Takeo province, while the awards for sen kra oub and IR went to communities in Battambang and Kampong Chhnang provinces, respectively. CRF said in a press release that more communities entered the competition this year hoping the contest will enhance exposure for their rice in Cambodia and abroad. Participation in the competition encourages farmers to produce rice exclusively and following strict quality standards, CRF said. The competition helps strengthen the quality of rice and makes it more competitive in international markets, CRF president Sok Puthyvuth told reporters at the event. “There is still great demand for quality milled rice in the international market. By holding a completion to select the best paddy rice, we hope to promote Cambodian rice and help increase the quality of our rice so that it can compete in foreign markets,” Mr Puthyvuth said. Last year, exports of milled rice dropped by 1.5 percent, amounting to just 626,225 tonnes. China is the biggest market for Cambodia’s milled rice, absorbing about 270,000 tonnes in 2018. Last month, Chinese president Xi Jinping said his country’s import quota for Cambodian rice will be increased to 400,000 tonnes for 2019, an increase of 100,000 tonnes. Cambodian premium fragrant rice, Malys Angkor, won the World’s Best Rice award in 2018 – the fourth achievement it earned for Cambodia, after landing second in the previous three years. Since participating in the annual World Best Rice contest, Cambodia’s rice has been crowned four times with best awards – in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018.  
Date: 05-Feb-2019


Rice tariffication mechanism to protect farmers
By Marilyn Galang  February 4, 2019, 7:03 pm
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QUEZON, Nueva Ecija -- Senator Cynthia Villar said on Sunday that the rice tariffication bill will protect Filipino farmers from the influx of imported grains as a result of the removal of quantitative restriction.
Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said farmers were being misled by some groups who are against tariffication to protect their vested interest.
“Unlike claims that tariffication will result to flooding of imported rice to Philippine market, this will make such importation beneficial to local rice producers,” she told farmers during the Patimyas Ani Festival in this municipality.
The rice industry, she explained, is set to be liberalized due to the expiration of quantitative restriction on June 30, 2017.
"Pag nag-liberalize ka nang walang tariff, kawawa ang mga farmers (When you liberalize without tariff, the farmers will suffer)," Villar said.
"Di ba kaya mo tina-tariff ang imports para protektahan yung local producers mo? (You impose tariff on imports to protect the local producers, isn’t it?)," she added.
Villar said with the tariffication bill comes the annual allocation of PHP10-billion in Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which is now included in the pending 2019 national budget.
The amount will be channeled through the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and among other agencies to upgrade farmers’ technology and know-how.
The fear over importation, she explained further, appeared to be baseless since rice supply is actually limited in the world.
Only Asian countries, she said, produce rice.
“So over importation will only lead to increase in prices of the staple which would also benefit farmers,” Villar said.
She stressed that the government's grant of free irrigation to farmers, mechanization and use of improved inbred rice varieties will cut production cost. (PNA)

Vietnamese rice makes name in world market
Description: https://cdnimgen.vietnamplus.vn/t660/Uploaded/wbxx/2019_02_05/vietnam_rice_industry.jpg Hanoi (VNA) - In 2018, Vietnam’s total rice exports reached 6.15 million tonnes, with export turnover of 3.15 billion USD. The industry saw a 5.7 percent increase in volume and a 19.6 percent increase in value compared to 2017.  Loc Troi 28 is a short term rice variety and the final product between the hybrid of Loc Troi 1 and Basmati rice variety of India. High-yielding, fragrant and nutritious compared to other varieties, Loc Troi 28 was well received at an international rice convention held in China. Huynh Van Thon, Chairman and General Director of Loc Troi corp., said Loc Troi 28 rice variety has surpassed Homali rice variety of Thailand and, SKO of Cambodia to win the top quality.  “This is a high-yielding variety that meets the strict demand of consumers regarding quality and food safety,” he added.  Vietnamese rice producers now focus on production value, not just increasing volume. Furthermore, Vietnam has become a member of the global sustainable rice production programme, and for the first time in years, Vietnam’s rice price is higher than Thailand’s. Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Industry and Trade, said “With huge competition coming from major rice exporting countries, Vietnam has proven its capacity and its rice product has shown its quality.” In recent years, Vietnam’s rice industry has paid more attention to promotional activities. The launch of Vietnam’s national rice logo has reiterated the efforts to bring more rice to the world market. However, in the context of global warming and unpredictable weather patterns, as well as limitation in value chains and farmers’ struggle to make a living from growing rice, there is much needed to be done.  Bui Chi Buu, former Director of the Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Vietnam, said “Farmers still meet with lots of difficulties, and in order to help the farmers, we should cut out the middle man so traders and sellers can buy rice directly from farmers, increasing farmers’ profitability.” The global market is changing at a rapid pace and it requires Vietnam’s rice industry to heighten the production volume, improve the quality and deliver more diverse rice products.-VNA
Date: 05-Feb-2019

Rice tariffication is good for our rice farmers, our country

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Description: Ramon L. Clarete

Introspective

Description: Rice tariffication is good for our rice farmers, our country
DA Undersecretary Fred Serrano threw his support to groups urging President Duterte to veto the rice tariffication law in Friday’s issue of Business Mirror.
Blaming the senators for their version of tariffication or SB 1998, Serrano maintains that rice tariffication, which converts the quantity restriction on imported rice (QR) into tariff protection rates, is not about removing the “regulatory power of the NFA to control the entry of imported rice in the country.”
That is not entirely correct. Rice tariffication should remove the power of NFA to regulate rice imports. Article 4.2 of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture prohibits the use of restrictions on agricultural imports other than tariffs — and that includes non-tariff measures maintained through state-trading enterprises such as the NFA.
The enrolled rice bill sent to Malacañang hits the bull’s eye on rice tariffication. The rice import monopoly of NFA is removed by the proposed law, and is replaced with tariff protection. Congress approved 35% tariff rate on imported rice from ASEAN (and at least 5% higher if imported outside of ASEAN) to protect the local rice industry.
Putting aside the topic of complying with our WTO obligation, is the law now on the President’s desk good for our farmers? Opponents (e.g. founding Chairman Robert Hernandez of Alyansa ng Industriya ng Bigas) disagree. He contends that “deregulating the NFA would mean unregulated entry of imported rice, which would flood the market and depress palay prices.”
Let us check the data. Once the President enacts rice tariffication, we should expect that private sector importers would import rice from ASEAN member states particularly Vietnam or Thailand, since the import tariff and freight cost are lowest. The tariff on imported rice from ASEAN would raise the price that rice consumers in our country pay by 35%. This is called the implicit tariff (IT).
If the implicit tariff is entirely passed on to farmers, a 35% IT will result in a 35% nominal protection rate (NPR). But under current trading restrictions implemented by the NFA, this is not the case. In 2017 for example, only 23% of the potential protection was passed on to farmers (Table 1). That is, roughly three fourths of what consumers pay above free trade price for rice does not go to rice farmers. Instead it goes to rice traders and to inefficiencies in the domestic rice marketing system (Dawe et al., 2008; Mataia, et al., 2018).
Description: Nominal Protection Rate and Implicit Tariff Rate of Rice from Nueva Ecija, 2017
Rice consumers in Metro Manila in 2017 paid on average 41% more than the landed price of rice imported freely from Vietnam or Thailand. But our rice farmers sold their rice at only 9% above this free trade price. The difference or 32% went to rice traders, millers, and/or simply lost to market inefficiencies in the rice value chain.
NFA and trade restrictions, especially in rice distribution, “displace private transportation, storage, and handling, rendering marketing less competitive and efficient” (Jandoc and Roumasset 2018).
A compelling argument why President Duterte should sign this bill into law is that in doing so he kicks off the process of substantially reducing the inefficiencies and collusion in the rice market system, which for nearly half a century had made rice farmers poor. Farmers become better off as they capture more of the intended trade protection of the law from rice traders in collusion with corrupt NFA agents.
If farmers obtained 10% NPR in 2017, rice tariffication coupled with investments in infrastructure under the government’s Build, Build, Build program, could potentially raise NPR from 10% to 35%.
The tariff rate on imported rice could be lowered in the future without harming the vast majority of farmers. The current proposed tariff level of 35% is a maximum rate. If it is lowered, most of the rice farmers who are rice consumers during most part of the year can be made better off, along with non-rice farmers in rural areas, fisherfolk, workers and residents in urban areas.

References
Jandoc, K. and Roummaset, J. 2018. Rice Tariffication and its Role in Reducing Rice Prices. Unpublished paper.
Dawe, D., P. Moya, C.Casiwan and J. Cabling. 2008. “Rice Marketing systems in the Philippines and Thailand: Do large numbers of competitive traders ensure good performance?” Food Policy 33(5): 455-463
Mataia, A., J. Beltran, R. Manalili, B. Catudan, N. Francisco and A. Flores. 2018. Rice Value Chain Analysis in the Philippines. Muñoz City, Philippines: Philippine Rice Research Institute.

Ramon L. Clarete is a professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics.
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Rice millers set $5-billion export target for 2023
Published: February 3, 2019
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Description: Rice. PHOTO: REUTERS
Rice. PHOTO: REUTERS
KARACHI: Pakistan has had enough power plants and road infrastructure and now the government will develop the agriculture sector with the help of Beijing under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), remarked Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries, Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Saturday.
He was talking to members of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) which included its Chairman Safder Hussain Mehkri, former chairman Abdul Rahim Janoo and others. The adviser appreciated the new target of exporting $5 billion worth of rice, assuring rice millers that the government would provide full support.
Dawood said the Japanese were also willing to help Pakistan in the agriculture sector, adding that in 2003, when he visited the REAP office, rice exports were only $300 million and now they had crossed $2 billion.
“People at REAP are not ordinary, they are visionary people who keep thinking about boosting their sector,” remarked the PM adviser. “Let us meet every quarter or six months to discuss and take a step forward to this goal.”
Earlier, the REAP chairman revealed that the rice exporters were aiming to ship $5 billion worth of the commodity by 2023.
“Farmers who use modern technologies get a yield of 70 maunds (40 kg) per acre as compared to regular farmers who get a yield of 40 maunds per acre,” said Arif Nadeem, CEO of Pakistan Agriculture Coalition. Rice exporters said the sector needed backward integration and the industry and government should join hands in order to train farmers in new ways of farming.
Pakistan’s seeds were degenerating and these should be replaced with better seeds, they said. Farming practices in the country are also obsolete, which should be modernised.
According to the exporters, the rice crop in the country is damaged as it does not have modern drying and storage facilities. Rice mills are also in need of adopting innovative ways of processing.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 3rd, 2019.