Thursday, April 25, 2019

25th April,2019 Daily GLobal Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter




Uncertainty looms over basmati, tea exports after Iran sanctions
India annually exports 30 million kg of tea and one million tonnes of basmati rice to Iran. 
New Delhi | Kolkata: Uncertainty looms over tea and basmati rice exports from India as the US intends to fully clamp down on Iran oil exports, say companies and trade association. Industry is concerned as India is an importer of crude oil from Iran and any sanction on Iran can impact trade of other commodities India export. India annually exports 30 million kg of tea and one million tonnes of basmati rice to Iran.  Iranian demand for orthodox Indian teas was very strong from the beginnin .. 

Raids on rice mills conducted in Nalgonda

On a tip off that by colluding with the organisers of IKP Paddy Procurement Centres, the rice millers were transporting extra 100 to 300 kgs of paddy in each lorry to their mills.

By AuthorTelanganaToday  |  Published: 25th Apr 2019  1:26 am
Nalgonda: Task Force of Nalgonda Police on Wednesday conducted raids on rice mills at different places in the district and filed cases against their millers for illegally transporting additional paddy from IKP Centre.
On a tip off that by colluding with the organisers of IKP Paddy Procurement Centres, the rice millers were transporting extra 100 to 300 kgs of paddy in each lorry to their mills. Task Force teams along with Legal Metrology Department officials have conducted raids on the rice millers in Miryalaguda division on the district and verified the records. The raids were conducted following the instructions from Superintendent of Police AV Ranganath.
The team had also conducted raids on Shiva Ramakrishna Rice Mill at Gundur, Maha Vishni Rice Mill at Thungapadu and Hari Krishna Rice Mill at Nidmanoor in Miryalaguda revenue division.
Task Force Circle Inspector P Naga Durga Prasad informed that it was identified with the evidence that the millers were transported extra 100 to 300 kgs of paddy per a load of lorry from the IKP Paddy procurement centres by colluding with the centre organisers and cheated the farmers. Cases were booked against the owners of these rice mills, he added.
Inspector of Legal Metrology Rama Krishna informed that they have collected the evidences to prove that millers were indulged in irregularities during the inquiry. The raids on rice millers would continue in the district, he added.

Rice millers raise the alarm over smuggling, say 50 trucks are smuggled daily

By Joke Falaju, Abuja
25 April 2019   |   3:52 am

Description: https://guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Ilyasu.jpg
Iliyasu Nazifi

• Say 50 trucks of rice are smuggled daily
Rice millers have raised the alarm over unbecoming rate of smuggling in the Nigeria, alleging that over 50 trucks of foreign rice are smuggled into the country daily.AfricaRice Centre had earlier said smuggling of the product was killing the local industry, and had prevented accurate evaluation of deficit in local production with attending consequences.
Between 2015-2018, no fewer than 200 medium and small-scale rice mills emerged, complementing the existing seven mega rice mills in Kano State and this gave rice production a boost it had never received.The common scenario in places like Kura, Gezawa, Bunkure, Garun Malam and Tudun Wada local government areas of Kano State was to see a cluster of small-scale rice millers doing business, but unfortunately, many of them have been experiencing reduction in patronage.
Chief Executive Officer of Golden Star Rice Mill, Iliyasu Nazifi, said rice production received a lot of interventions from the Federal Government, but the success recorded in the last three years is being eroded.He attributed this to activities of rice smugglers, alleging some level compromise within in the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
He said: “As I speak to you now, many small and medium-scale rice mills are on the verge of folding up because of foreign rice being smuggled into the country. Go into the markets and you will understand what I am talking about,” he said.A rice merchant, Mallam Hudu Badamasi Bunkure, at the Zangon Buhari Rice Milling Centre in Bunkure Local Government Area, told The Guardian that he used to buy 70 bags of milled rice weekly from the centre, adding that in the last three months, demand for the local rice had reduced to 25 bags per week due to what he termed “unfavourable competition with foreign rice.”
Another rice miller, Alhaji Abba Dantata, told The Guardian that he had to cut down 50 percent of his workforce to manage and move the business on, and that it was disheartening to see how foreign rice was being smuggled into the country freely.“This is a bad omen and a threat to all that which the Federal Government has done in the agricultural sector. Many small and medium-scale rice milling companies have stopped operations and many more will do if necessary actions are not taken to address the issue. This will, in due course, affect the mega rice mills,” Dantata lamented.He called on stakeholders to, as a matter of urgency, draw the attention of the customs to brace up and double its efforts in addressing the smuggling menace.

Toxic fungi that causes memory loss, vomiting and diarrhoea on Earth can be found floating in space - but scientists aren't sure whether it poses a threat to astronauts

·       Mycotoxins are toxic and can be produced by many different fungi 
·       Cause health issues ranging from poisoning to immune deficiency and cancer
·       Carried to the ISS on-board the humans sent to space for various missions  
·       Damage from the chemicals remains unknown for long-duration space travel 

Toxic chemicals made by fungi that pose a 'serious health threat' to humans on Earth have been found in space, but scientists don't know how dangerous they are in orbit.
Mycotoxins are produced by many fungi from different sources, including seeds, rice and black mould and cause a host of health issues.  
They can trigger symptoms of memory loss, vomiting and nausea while long-term effects include immune deficiency and even cancer. 
Some fungi capable of creating the toxic chemicals have been found on the ISS. 
Risks of mycotoxins during long-duration space flight remains a mystery, despite extensive investigations into the risks some other microbes pose to astronauts, such as Staphylococcus aurus.
Scroll down for video 
Description: Fungi Fusarium pictured, artist's impression) produces mycotoxins in cereal crops and they can affect humans and animals. Mycotoxins can be dangerous to human health and have been found on the ISS but the long-term risks to astronauts remains unknown
+2Fungi Fusarium pictured, artist's impression) produces mycotoxins in cereal crops and they can affect humans and animals. Mycotoxins can be dangerous to human health and have been found on the ISS but the long-term risks to astronauts remains unknown
Microorganisms which pose a risk to human health cover almost all surfaces on our planet and were transported to space via humans on-board various rockets. 
Understanding mycotoxins is difficult as people affected by them are stressed or battling immune deficiency conditions. 
A British woman who lived with 'thick black mould' in her bathroom for a year says the presence of mycotoxin caused years of exhaustion, memory loss and hair loss.
Emma Marshall, 29, from Hackney, described symptoms of brain fog, headaches and skin rashes which took over and 'sucked the life out of her'.
This poses an issue for future astronauts as long-duration space travel has been known to increase stress levels and diminish the immune response of astronauts. 
Researchers at Ghent University in Belgium looked into this and assessed the existing scientific research into the topic. 
They found a staggering lack of evidence and research into the topic and that most focused on detecting different fungal species and not what role it may play.    
'But about mycotoxins we found almost nothing,' Sarah de Saeger, co-author of the new paper, told Live Science.
Mycotoxins prey on the weak and vulnerable and other microbes previously identified on the ISS includes some which are known for weakening the immune system. 
This potentially a catastrophic combination of factors is woefully understudied, according to the scientists who published their research in the journal Astrobiology.
Knowledge on how they may evolve and adapt under the stressful conditions of space is also a mystery and requires further research. 
A recently published study found the International Space Station is teeming with bacteria and fungi that can cause diseases.
The International Space Station (pictured) is teeming with bacteria and fungi that can cause diseases. They also form biofilms that promote antibiotic resistance and can even corrode the spacecraft, scientists warn

WHAT ARE MYCOTOXINS? 

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by certain moulds (fungi) and can be found in food.  
They cause a variety of health issues and pose a serious health threat to both humans and livestock, according to the World Health organisation. 
The adverse health effects of mycotoxins range from acute poisoning to long-term effects such as immune deficiency and cancer.
Moulds that can produce mycotoxins grow on numerous foodstuffs such as cereals, dried fruits, nuts and spices.
Most mycotoxins are chemically stable and survive food processing.
Several hundred different mycotoxins have been identified, but the most commonly observed mycotoxins that present a concern to human health and livestock include aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, patulin, fumonisins, zearalenone and nivalenol/deoxynivalenol.
They also form biofilms that can promote antibiotic resistance and even stop spacecraft parts from working correctly, scientists warn.
The findings are important to protect the health of astronauts and the safety of crafts on future manned long missions to Mars and beyond.
The station - built in 1998 and orbiting around 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth - has been visited by over 222 astronauts and up to six resupply missions a year up until August 2017. 
The station's components were built in sterile environments before being sent into orbit and routine monitoring has taken place since. 
NASA scientists found that the microbes on the ISS mostly came from people and were similar to those found in public buildings and offices here on Earth.
The most prominent bacteria were Staphylococcus - making up over a quarter (26 per cent) of total species isolated from samples taken - followed by Pantoea (23 per cent) and Bacillus (11 per cent).
They included organisms that are considered opportunistic pathogens on Earth.
That includes Staphylococcus aureus, which made up a tenth of total isolates identified. It is commonly found on the skin and in the nasal passage.
Experts also located Enterobacter, which is associated with the human gastrointestinal tract.

Transferability Added to Arkansas Water Tax Credits Program  

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC), which establishes policy for conservation, water rights, and resource planning, oversees a state tax credit of up to $10 million a year available to farmers and landowners to precision level fields for more efficient water utilization, build on-farm water storage (reservoirs), and invest in on-farm improvements to convert groundwater to surface water. 

These tax credits have been available for some time but have been underutilized.  Nearly ninety percent of this $10 million is left on the table each year because many growers are not familiar with the program, and because many that could utilize the credits don't have the positive net income with a tax liability that these programs could offset.  

But now, due to the work of a collective group of companies and ag advocates, farmers and landowners should find these tax credits more attractive.  

"The change was made during the recent legislative session that allows farmers and landowners to turn the credits into cash by transferring the credits to third parties who do have state tax liabilities," said Kevin McGilton, vice president of government affairs for Riceland Foods, one of the companies advocating for the policy change.  "The change becomes effective January 1, 2020."

Andrew Grobmyer, executive vice president of the Ag Council of Arkansas, another group that helped push the new policy, said, "Allowing the water conservation and development credits to be transferred is a significant and important enhancement in this tough farm economy, and we commend the General Assembly and our Governor for supporting this effort." 

Growers who are considering participating in the credits via the three practices mentioned above must begin the application process for the credits before any of the on-farm work has begun.  

Go 
here for more information on this opportunity.
USA Rice Daily



Can gene editing provide a solution to global hunger?

BY UTIBE EFFIONG AND RAMADHANI ABDALLAH NOOR

APRIL 24, 2019
According to the World Food Program, some 795 million people – one in nine people on Earth – don’t have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That will only get worse with the next global food crisis, predicted to occur within four years by experts at the recent Third International Conference on Global Warming and Food Security.
Unprecedented population growth, increasing conflict and displacement, natural calamities and emergence of major epidemics are some of the factors that will compound complexities of global food security over the coming years. And recent natural disasters in food-exporting Asian and African countries, as well as regions like California, may hasten a crisis.
In the face of these facts, any technique that can improve food production would be a welcome development. To counteract the coming problem, it is imperative to try novel and daring solutions across the agricultural food chain, including the gene modification of crops. While genetically modified (GM) crops could be our best hope for feeding an increasingly hungry planet, they need to be developed within a regulatory framework that takes potential risks into account and protects farmers, consumers and the environment.
GM crops in the developing world
Gene modification can produce nutrient-rich, highly productive, drought- and pest-resistant crop varieties much needed by small-scale farmers globally. For example, scientists at biotech company Cellectis have extended the shelf life of potatoes by disabling a single gene that promotes accumulation of sweet sugars within the tuber. Using this technique, they also reduced its production of cancer-promoting agents including acrylamide, which is often produced when a potato is fried.
One can imagine these kinds of improvements being of particular interest to farmers in Africa and the rest of the developing world, who rely on staple crops including corn, rice, potatoes and soy. Along with genetically modified cotton, GM corn and soy are currently grown in the African countries of Burkina Faso, Egypt and South Africa.
In most African countries, however, GM crops remain a farfetched idea. Despite important economic progress and agricultural successes, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Africa remains the world’s most food-insecure continent. One-third of our continent’s population is chronically undernourishedChronic malnutrition, or “hidden hunger,” though often invisible, is devastating and deadly. Over half of children’s deaths globally can be averted if children have access to nutritious foods.
How does gene editing work?
Conventionally, the production of genetically modified organisms involves inserting desired foreign genes into the genome of a plant or animal. But a different technique known as gene editing modifies plant, as well as animal and human, genomes without the introduction of foreign genetic materials.
Gene editing uses biological catalysts called transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) that can be engineered to bind to any DNA sequence. Scientists can introduce these enzymes into living cells where they cut out unwanted pieces of DNA, in effect editing the genome. This technique, known as TALEN-mediated genome engineering, is also referred to as Genome Editing with Engineered Nucleases.
Genome editing is not a new idea. It has been used to create gene edits in human stem cells as well as in worms, fish, mice and cattle with varying degrees of success. In the laboratory, TALENs have also been used to successfully correct the genetic error underlying diseases such as sickle cell anemia.
In crop science, gene editing has been used to make Cellectis’s less sugary potato, as well as a soybean containing high levels of omega-3. The first commercial application of this technology in a plant for human consumption was approved this spring, when the US company Cibus announced an edited version of canola. The new canola plant is designed to grow well even when farmers apply particular herbicides that are used to control glyphosate-resistant weeds. Now there is talk of using this technique to manipulate photosynthesis to produce more food. Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines have engineered rice plants to extract energy from sunlight far more efficiently than they do now.

RISKS ALONG WITH THE PROMISE

Techniques for genetic engineering are not perfect. Significant genetic errors have been produced by the commonly applied techniques of genome editing, including TALENs, in the past. In laboratory models, off-target events that produce unwanted mutations, sometimes with fatal results, have been described in plantsfish and human cells.
For now, there remain many uncertainties about the impact of gene-edited organisms on the environment and health. While gene editing may not introduce foreign genetic material, the technology definitely changes the composition of the product at a very fundamental level. Research is currently under way to improve these techniques, reduce the frequency of unwanted mutations and improve the safety of genome editing.
While GMO crops cover 170 million hectares of land globally, representing 11% of all arable land, they remain controversial. Golden rice, for example, promises to save one million children a year from vitamin A-related mortality. Despite biotech company Sygenta offering the license to grow golden rice free of charge for humanitarian use, its approval has been stalled in most settings.
Of course, ideally we’d be able to increase food access in ways that don’t include risk, but there are few, if any, options at this level of potential positive impact that are risk-free.

REGULATORY PROTECTIONS

Because strict regulatory oversight is mostly lacking on GM techniques including genome editing, it’s conceivable that biotech companies may develop experimental gene-edited crops for testing in developing countries where the need for food is greater than the political will to protect the masses.
India’s experience with GMO crops makes the point. The country poorly regulated adoption of genetic engineering. While still a multifarious issue, activists contend that indedtedness and crop failure – both, they say, inevitable outcomes of the corporate model of industrial agriculture introduced in India – have further stressed some Indian farmers.
Interestingly, the move toward genome editing as the favored approach to genetic engineering may, at least in part, provide some leeway for biotech companies to avoid regulation. Genome editing using TALENs and similar techniques are either outside the jurisdiction of the US Department of Agriculture or were not envisioned when existing regulations were created.
The USDA currently relies on a product-based regulatory framework that focuses less on the technology used to develop the crop and more on the inherent risk of the final product. The emphasis is on any potential risk the new traits or attributes introduced into the plant pose to the public or the environment. But considering the reality of unanticipated, and often controversial, novel techniques of food production, it might be a better idea for the USDA to utilize process-based regulations as done by the EU, Argentina, Brazil, and several other countries. In those countries, the regulators focus on how food crops are developed, not just on the final outcome.
The world needs more nutrient-rich, environmentally friendly food production. More gene editing in food crops makes sense, but only with prudent regulatory mechanisms in place to ensure the safety of these new approaches to food availability. We don’t want to see more harm than good done as we seek to address the issue of global food security.
Utibe Effiong is a Resident Physician at St. Mary Mercy Hospital and Research Scientist for the Exposure Research Laboratory, University of Michigan. Ramadhani Abdallah Noor, a Tanzanian doctor and research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health, is a New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute.
This article was co-authored by Zimbabwean Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, CEO of Food Agriculture Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network. It originally appeared on The Conversation.
Image: World Food Programme

Modifying Rice Preparation Could Reduce Harmful Arsenic


Description: Modifying Rice Preparation Could Reduce Harmful Arsenic
Credit: Pixabay.
Contamination of rice with arsenic is a major problem in some regions of the world with high rice consumption. Now, researchers reporting in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology have found a way to reduce inorganic arsenic in rice by modifying processing methods at traditional, small-scale parboiling plants in Bangladesh. The new method has the added benefit of increasing the calcium content of rice, the researchers say.

People in Bangladesh eat about a pound of rice per person per day, according to statistics from the International Rice Research Institute. This consumption is among the highest in the world, placing Bangladeshis at risk for elevated exposure to inorganic arsenic, a toxic substance and carcinogen that can enter rice from the soil of flooded paddies. After harvest, most rice in the country is parboiled, a process that involves soaking the rough rice (with husk intact) in water and then boiling it, followed by other steps to produce polished white rice. Andrew Meharg from the Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, and colleagues wondered if parboiling wholegrain rice (with the husk removed) would reduce the levels of different forms of arsenic compared with parboiling rough rice. That’s because the husk can have high levels of inorganic arsenic, and it could also act as a barrier, preventing arsenic species from leaving the rest of the grain during parboiling.

The researchers tested their new processing method in 13 traditional, small-scale parboiling plants throughout Bangladesh. The team used ion chromatography interfaced with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to analyze arsenic species in rice. They found that in untreated rough rice, inorganic arsenic is highly elevated in the bran compared with the husk. Parboiling wholegrain rice instead of parboiling rough rice reduced levels of inorganic arsenic by about 25 percent in the final polished grain, while increasing calcium by 213 percent. However, the new method reduced potassium by 40 percent. The researchers say that the potassium loss must be balanced with the advantages of reduced arsenic and increased calcium.

This article has been republished from materials provided by the American Chemical Society. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

Reference
Modifying the Parboiling of Rice to Remove Inorganic Arsenic, While Fortifying with Calcium. Habibur Rahman, Manus Carey, Mahmud Hossain, Laurie Savage, M. Rafiqul Islam, and Andrew A. Meharg. Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b06548.

Faculty Win Grant to Study Russian Disinformation Campaigns

Description: The Torchbearer Statue on a beautiful fall day
An interdisciplinary research team from communications, anthropology, and political science will study Russian disinformation campaigns in three former Soviet republics as part of a $1.6 million Minerva research grant awarded through the United States Department of Defense.
UT researchers were one of only 12 academic groups nationwide selected for the prestigious Minerva Research Initiative awards this year.
The research team for the project consists of faculty members from five departments: Maureen Taylor (advertising and public relations), Catherine Luther (journalism and electronic media), Suzie Allard (information sciences), Michael Fitzgerald and Brandon Prins (political science), and Alex Bentley (anthropology). Also closely involved in the project are Natalie Rice, research associate for the College of Communication and Information’s Center for Information and Communication Studies, and Oleg Manaev, global security fellow at the UT Institute of Nuclear Security.
“The study will monitor and analyze the content of Russian information warfare and measure the effectiveness the tactics have in shaping opinion in Eastern European nations Georgia, Ukraine, and Belarus,” said Taylor, director of the School of Advertising and Public relations and principal investigator for the study.
The research will include a close inspection of both traditional media and popular social media platforms, including Russian-language local news media in the Baltics, Facebook, Twitter, and Vkontake, a Russian online social media and social networking service. Onsite public opinion polling and focus group testing will be conducted in cooperation with the Independent Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS), a Lithuania-based research center with more than 25 years of experience in research in the former Soviet Union countries, and Baltic Surveys.
Each team member brings specific expertise to the project and all will contribute to analysis of data collected:
  • Maureen Taylor oversees the research and conducts the monitoring and evaluation for the grant.
  • Catherine Luther provides expertise in the areas of international and intercultural communication and political psychology for data evaluation purposes.
  • Suzie Allard provides knowledge of information flows across media platforms and adds expertise to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the research team.
  • Michael Fitzgerald, a Cold War expert and researcher of Russian and post-Soviet politics and government, provides context for the project, especially the efforts of Vladimir Putin’s regime to use mass communication in the service of its national security and foreign policies.
  • Brandon Prins will use the collected data to model relationships between propaganda and opinion and evaluate how Russian disinformation campaigns further political and social conflict.
  • Alex Bentley, who teaches the graduate class Big Data Social Sciences, will analyze social media data to study how propaganda and disinformation are deployed and shared in the United States. He will be supported by postdoctoral scholar Damian Ruck.
  • Natalie Rice, whose dissertation work provided a foundation for understanding traditional media in former Soviet republics, is the project manager.
  • Oleg Manaev, an expert on Soviet propaganda, serves as the lead liaison with international partners.
“The project is significant because it not only measures Russian propaganda, but also assesses how this propaganda shapes public opinion,” said Prins, professor of political science. “We want to model the relationships between propaganda and opinion and evaluate how disinformation campaigns upset democratic institutions.”
The three countries selected for the project are increasingly the targets of propaganda campaigns.
“There is evidence that the selected countries are serving as testing grounds for Russian media tactics designed to influence public opinion and collective behavior with the goal of employing them against Russia’s political rivals such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany,” said Luther, director of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media.
The vision for the research project grew out of Rice’s doctoral dissertation. Rice studies Russian propaganda, and the project extends this work by adding social media tracking and creating a mechanism to measure the effects of both traditional and social media.
The project began in April 2019 and will last through March 2024. After the project concludes, researchers plan to study foreign disinformation campaigns in Asia and Oceania.
The Minerva Research Initiative was started in 2008 by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and is a Department of Defense-sponsored, university-based social science research program. The goal of Minerva is to “improve the department’s understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape the regions of the world.” The results of the research are unclassified and intended to be of widespread importance.
CONTACT:
Brian Canever (865-974-0937, bcanever@utk.edu)

Use of chemicals on rice crop discussed

LAHORE: Speakers at a seminar called upon rice growers to avoid over-use of chemicals to ensure safe and healthy basmati rice from farm to fork.
The seminar, Khushal Kissan, organised by the Pakistan Basmati Heritage Association (PBHA), was attended by a large number of basmati growers from Narang Mandi and District Sheikhupura. PBHA has been formed for promotion and preservation of basmati rice heritage of Pakistan.
Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) former chairman Samiullah Naeem, Shahzad Chaudhry and Raja Arsalan also attended the event.
PBHA Coordinator Imran Sheikh highlighted the mission of PBHA and stressed on farmers to avoid overuse of chemicals, especially tricyclazole and buprofezin in Basmati rice to ensure safe and healthy basmati rice from farm to fork.
PBHA Convener Shahid Tarar shared the challenges being faced in Basmati rice production and export. He said Pakistan not only lagged behind in productivity of Basmati rice, but also was less competitive than other rice-producing countries due to the rising cost of production.
PBHA Director Sheikh Adnan shared the expectations of PBHA from Basmati rice farmers and assured of providing healthy and certified seed on subsidised rate during this season.

Boro harvest begins amid falling rice price


12:00 AM, April 25, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:06 AM, April 25, 2019

 

Description: https://assetsds.cdnedge.bluemix.net/sites/default/files/styles/big_2/public/feature/images/paddy_20.jpg?itok=Zpqe8ZLt&c=bb66778947b29fd3ea02fc1fa41776a4
Prices have been falling for the last several months due to good harvests in the previous three crop seasons. Star/file
Farmers have started harvesting the biggest paddy crop, boro, in various parts of the country but the declining prices of the staple have stoked concerns of losses.
The prices of rice have been falling for the last several months owing to good harvests in the previous three crop seasons.
On April 22, the wholesale price of coarse grain of boro rice was Tk 26-Tk 28 per kg in Dhaka Sadar, down from Tk 27.50-Tk 29 a month earlier. Three months ago, it was selling for Tk 30-Tk 32, according to the Department of Agricultural Marketing.
This time last year, the coarse boro grain was selling at Tk 37-Tk 38 a kg at the wholesale level.
And millers say the prices are likely to fall further once the freshly harvested rice is added to the existing stock of 12.68 lakh tonnes.
“There is plenty of stock of rice and appetite for the cereal from traders is low,” said Nirod Boron Saha, a rice and paddy wholesaler and commission agent at Naogaon, a major rice trading hub in the northwest.
Amid the scenario, farmers in northeast Bangladesh, particularly those regions marked by backwater swamp, have recently started harvesting paddy as a precautionary measure to sudden onrushes of water, which is expected soon.
“The market is down and the presence of buyers is still low,” said Jyotimohon Das, a farmer in Sunamganj, located in northeast Bangladesh.
At present, the just-harvested coarse paddy is selling for about Tk 500 per maund, which is less than last year.
Take the case of Rajib Talukder, a grower in Netrokona, who could bag only 16 maunds of paddy from nearly two acres of land. He sold each maund of paddy for Tk 475, which is almost 21 percent lower than last year.
Farmers have planted paddy on 49.33 lakh hectares area in the current boro season, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension.
KM Layek Ali, general secretary of the Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mills Association, expects the overall yield would be good this season if there is no natural disaster.
In such a scenario, the prices of paddy are unlikely to cross Tk 500 a maund, he said, while demanding the government allow export of two lakh tonnes of fine rice.
“Otherwise, the government will have to buy more rice to protect growers from losses this season,” he said.
The government earlier announced it would purchase 12.50 lakh tonnes of rice during the current boro season.
However, Saha said the government could export rice instead of allowing the private sector to do the job.

Neda: Scale up exports of special rice varieties

April 24, 2019
THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is encouraging farmers to increase their production of special varieties of rice to respond to the increasing demand in the international market now that restrictions on exports have been repealed.

Neda reminded rice farmers and traders that the recent rice law, or Republic Act 11203, not only replaced the quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariff, but it also repealed all laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and other issuances imposing quantitative export quotas on rice exports.

“We encourage producers of special varieties of rice, such as heirloom, organic and aromatic long-grain rice, to continue striving to be competitive and to increase their export volume capabilities. These kinds of rice command higher premium, thus resulting in higher earnings for farmers,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.

The Philippines, after 40 years of hiatus, began to export rice in 2013 with a shipment consisting of 15 metric tons of organic black rice and 20 metric tons of aromatic long grain rice.

The value of rice exports in 2018 is about US$0.47 million, 46.87 percent lower than its level in the previous year. Rice exports hardly made a dent in the total exports earnings from agricultural products, which reached $6.03 billion in 2018.

Prior to the enactment of RA 11203, the Philippines had an export quota on rice by virtue of Presidential Decree 4 of 1972, as amended. Exporters of rice needed to secure an export permit from the National Food Authority. They had to submit an application, including the documentary requirements, which would be up for NFA’s review and approval. This particular section was repealed in RA 11203.

“The government has already started supporting exportation of special rice varieties by removing the export quota power of the NFA in RA 11203. Now, these special rice varieties have tons of room for growth,” Pernia said, saying these rice breeds are in high demand in the US, Canada, countries in the Middle East and Europe.

“The rice sector must work towards raising productivity with better farm methods and tools,” Pernia added. (PR)

PH asks Japan to open market for specialty rice
posted April 24, 2019 at 07:40 pm by Othel V. Campos
The Philippines is asking Japan to open its market for specialty rice as a part of the discussions for an upgraded bilateral trade agreement.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, a member of the Philippine panel to the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, said Manila would try to convince Japan to open its market to Philippine specialty rice exports.
Japan has one of the most restrictive rice markets to protect its own farmers, while the Philippines recently lifted the quantitative restriction on rice imports.
“We know that rice is a sensitive commodity for the Japanese, as it was with us. We’re just asking for a small quota―enough for our specialty rice to have access into their market at a lower tariff,” Rodolfo said.
He said the Philippines had no plans to flood Japan with rice.  “And we do not even have that capacity to flood any market with rice since we are also a net-importer [of rice],” Rodolfo said.
Japan maintains a 778-percent tariff on rice imported outside the minimum access scheme. Rice is one of Japan’s five “sacred” agricultural products, along with wheat, beef and pork, dairy products and sugar.
National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia said Filipino farmers should increase their production of special varieties of rice to respond to the increasing demand in the international market.
Pernia said Republic Act 11203, did not only replace the quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariff but it also repealed all laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and other issuances imposing quantitative export quotas on rice exports.
“We encourage producers of special varieties of rice, such as heirloom, organic, and aromatic long-grain rice, to continue striving to be competitive and to increase their export volume capabilities,” Pernia said in a statement.
“These kinds of rice command higher premium, thus resulting in higher earnings for farmers,” Pernia said.
The Philippine and Japanese panels met for a third round of talks during the Holy Week, on April 15 to 17, to fine-tune the important points of discussions.
Rodolfo said Japan in return might ask the country to reduce the import tariff on automotive exports to the Philippines.
“Right now, they’re at 20 [percent tariff]. We’re also expecting this. We can discuss this but there has to be some sort of favorable concessions,” he said.
Rodolfo said while Japan was willing to put everything on the table, “but quoting them, they said it will be difficult to do so.”
The two countries earlier held substantive discussions on improving market access for top Philippines exports through the general review of PJEPA.
PJEPA covers trade in goods, trade in services, investments, movement of natural persons, intellectual property, customs procedures, improvement of the business environment and government procurement.
The Philippines is continuously pushing for its offensive interest in the improvement of market access especially for major agricultural exports, renegotiation of rules of origin for some products and a framework for the entry of additional categories of skilled workers from the Philippines to Japan.
Among the products of interest to the Philippines are bananas, mangoes and pineapples.
Rodolfo said the Philippine panel was looking forward to wrapping up the discussions for an upgraded bilateral trade agreement within the next six months.

Forget white rice or even brown rice. Try red rice tonight

·       Description: Red Rice and Quinoa Salad (Carl Tremblay/America’s Test Kitchen via AP)
Red Rice and Quinoa Salad (Carl Tremblay/America’s Test Kitchen via AP)
·       Description: “Vegan for Everybody.” It includes a recipe for Red Rice and Quinoa Salad. (America’s Test Kitchen v
“Vegan for Everybody.” It includes a recipe for Red Rice and Quinoa Salad. (America’s Test Kitchen via AP)
By America’s Test Kitchen
Published: April 24, 2019, 6:05 AM
0
Regular white rice; aromatic basmati; chewy, healthful brown rice; and even rustic wild rice are common pantry items. But there’s one rice variety that doesn’t get enough play: red rice.
Red rice sportssurprisea red husk, and it has a nutty flavor and is highly nutritious. For a rice and grain salad that was colorful, hearty, and a little out of the ordinary, we mixed this healthful rice with nutty quinoa, cooking both in the same pot using the pasta method.
We gave the rice a 15-minute head start and then added the quinoa to the pot to ensure that both grains were done at the same time. Then we drained them, drizzled them with lime juice to add bright flavor, and let them cool.
Next, we looked for ingredients that would make this salad fresh and a little sweet. We added dates and orange segments for sweetness (and used some of the orange juice in our dressing).
Cilantro and red pepper flakes added a fresh bite and a bit of spiciness to round it out. If you buy unwashed quinoa (or if you are unsure whether it’s washed), be sure to rinse it before cooking to remove its bitter protective coating (called saponin).

Red Rice And Quinoa Salad

Servings: 4-6. Start to finish: 45 minutes
3/4 cup red rice
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup prewashed white quinoa
3 tablespoons lime juice (2 limes)
2 oranges
1 small shallot, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro plus 1 cup leaves
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 ounces pitted dates, chopped (1 cup)
Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot over high heat. Add rice and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add quinoa to pot and continue to cook until grains are tender, 12 to 14 minutes. Drain rice-quinoa mixture, spread over rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons lime juice, and let cool completely, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut away peel and pith from oranges. Holding fruit over bowl, use paring knife to slice between membranes to release segments. Cut segments in half crosswise. If needed, squeeze orange membranes to equal 2 tablespoons juice in bowl.
Whisk 2 tablespoons orange juice, remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice, shallot, minced cilantro, and pepper flakes together in large bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in oil. Add rice-quinoa mixture, dates, orange segments, and remaining 1 cup cilantro leaves, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
Nutrition information per serving: 348 calories; 96 calories from fat; 11 g fat (1 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 397 mg sodium; 62 g carbohydrate; 7 g fiber; 25 g sugar; 6 g protein

PH asks Japan to open market for specialty rice
posted April 24, 2019 at 07:40 pm by Othel V. Campos

The Philippines is asking Japan to open its market for specialty rice as a part of the discussions for an upgraded bilateral trade agreement.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, a member of the Philippine panel to the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, said Manila would try to convince Japan to open its market to Philippine specialty rice exports.
Japan has one of the most restrictive rice markets to protect its own farmers, while the Philippines recently lifted the quantitative restriction on rice imports.
“We know that rice is a sensitive commodity for the Japanese, as it was with us. We’re just asking for a small quota―enough for our specialty rice to have access into their market at a lower tariff,” Rodolfo said.
He said the Philippines had no plans to flood Japan with rice.  “And we do not even have that capacity to flood any market with rice since we are also a net-importer [of rice],” Rodolfo said.
Japan maintains a 778-percent tariff on rice imported outside the minimum access scheme. Rice is one of Japan’s five “sacred” agricultural products, along with wheat, beef and pork, dairy products and sugar.
National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia said Filipino farmers should increase their production of special varieties of rice to respond to the increasing demand in the international market.
Pernia said Republic Act 11203, did not only replace the quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariff but it also repealed all laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and other issuances imposing quantitative export quotas on rice exports.
“We encourage producers of special varieties of rice, such as heirloom, organic, and aromatic long-grain rice, to continue striving to be competitive and to increase their export volume capabilities,” Pernia said in a statement.
“These kinds of rice command higher premium, thus resulting in higher earnings for farmers,” Pernia said.
The Philippine and Japanese panels met for a third round of talks during the Holy Week, on April 15 to 17, to fine-tune the important points of discussions.
Rodolfo said Japan in return might ask the country to reduce the import tariff on automotive exports to the Philippines.
“Right now, they’re at 20 [percent tariff]. We’re also expecting this. We can discuss this but there has to be some sort of favorable concessions,” he said.
Rodolfo said while Japan was willing to put everything on the table, “but quoting them, they said it will be difficult to do so.”
The two countries earlier held substantive discussions on improving market access for top Philippines exports through the general review of PJEPA.
PJEPA covers trade in goods, trade in services, investments, movement of natural persons, intellectual property, customs procedures, improvement of the business environment and government procurement.
The Philippines is continuously pushing for its offensive interest in the improvement of market access especially for major agricultural exports, renegotiation of rules of origin for some products and a framework for the entry of additional categories of skilled workers from the Philippines to Japan.
Among the products of interest to the Philippines are bananas, mangoes and pineapples.
Rodolfo said the Philippine panel was looking forward to wrapping up the discussions for an upgraded bilateral trade agreement within the next six months.

Should we have meat import quotas after we tariffied the QR on rice?

Description: Ramon L. Clarete

Introspective

Description: Should we have meat import quotas after we tariffied the QR on rice?
Last week, BusinessWorld carried a report about a plan by Agriculture Secretary Piñol to limit meat imports due to high inventory of meats and meat products in cold-chain facilities in the country. In his words, he wants to broker a deal among meat importers and meat processors, on the one hand, and meat producers, on the other, for the amount of meat imports to be allowed into the country.
I did text a member of a family in the hog-raising business in General Santos City about this. She confirmed this concern, texting me that her family is worried about meat imports, and “the farmers there are suffering.”
I haven’t asked the opinion of owners of downstream businesses to the country’s piggeries or the chicken industry about the glut of meats in our country.
If his plan pushes through, Secretary Piñol has to lower the quantity of imported meat that he would permit into the country. He has three options he may consider taking in doing that. One, he imposes a quantitative restriction on meat imports to protect livestock raisers. Two, he may just reduce the minimum access volumes (MAV) of imported meats and meat products. Or three, he may use sanitary and phytosanitary permits, reminiscent of the abuse of SPS rules in the case of garlic imports a few years back.
There may be other measures, but in my opinion, those would likely be derivatives of any of the above three.
The agriculture tariffication act of 1996 poses a legal hurdle to either of the first two options. Section 6 of that law provided that “in lieu of quantitative restrictions, the maximum bound rates committed under the Uruguay Round Final Act shall be imposed on the agricultural products whose quantitative restrictions (QR) are repealed by this Act.” Meats and meat products are among the products covered by the 1996 tariffication law.



It is the policy of the state to use tariff and not quantity measures to protect local producers. In fact this year, we finished making good our treaty obligation in the WTO, when Congress passed the law to tariffy the QR on rice imports.
The tariffication act may offer him the legal rule he needs to reduce the meats’ MAV, but on closer scrutiny not. “In case of shortages or abnormal price increases in agricultural products, whose quantitative restrictions are lifted under this Act, the President may propose to Congress, revisions, modifications, or adjustments of the Minimum Access Volume (MAV)…”
The words are “revisions, modifications, or adjustments,” which changes could include reduction of the MAVs. However, the law requires that such changes are done in the context of a shortage or abnormal price increases of meats. These market situations require expanding rather than reducing the MAV.
However, an unvalidated information reached me about former agriculture secretary Alcala having offered higher meat MAV to get a principal supplier in meats in the world not to block the legal waiver which we applied for and obtained in 2014 from the WTO to extend our QR on rice imports for another 3 years.
If true, here’s a case of a distortion causing another! In the desire of the Aquino government to extend the rice QR, a distortion, it distorted the market of meats in the country. And that may have caused by now this glut that Secretary Piñol is talking about. Again, the information I received could be fake.
On the third option, Secretary Piñol cannot use sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures to restrict meat imports. A few Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) officials during the administration of former President Aquino reportedly slowed down the issuance of SPS permits allegedly to raise prices of garlic in the country. Isn’t there a case on this already in the Sandiganbayan?
SPS permits are issued when the conditions for them are met by the applicant. If the applicant meets the country’s health and sanitary standards of meats and meat products, the BPI has no choice but to approve the application. But reportedly the issuance of SPS permits for imported garlic slowed down at a time when local garlic harvest was bad, causing prices to go up by more than 300%. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairperson, Senator Villar conducted several hearings on the problem, and because of what she did, eyes are focused now on SPS regulators to prevent a similar abuse in other industries.
The WTO rules may be the least of Secretary Piñol’s concern. He announced his plan to issue quantity restrictions for imported meats, if in his judgment doing so serves the best interest of our agriculture sector.
WTO rules aside, let us talk about the cons and pros of restricting meat imports. I am for staying the course on liberalizing meat imports. The meat processing industry grew because of imported meats. They import meats because there is not just enough locally of the kinds of meats they need and at prices competitive with imported ones.
Livestock raisers may have another opinion, and they may be correct. But the rebuttal mirrors what they have been receiving from corn farmers. Corn is a key input to raising pigs and chicken. The raisers and feed millers have wanted to import corn, because in their words there is not enough corn in the country, or the corn price is higher than what they could get for in the world market.
Corn farmers shoot back saying there is enough corn in the country, but the transportation logistics is not good enough to make it available to the livestock raisers in the provinces surrounding Metro Manila.
Reduced meat imports hamper the growth of the meat processing industry. Besides meat processors, the hotels and restaurants depend on imported meats, and their businesses expansion thwarted.
Description: pork meat marketPHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
Big hotels and restaurants can take care of their needs under a regime of reduced meat imports. But there are SMEs, who are likely to go under with reduced quotas of imported meats. I remember a friend of mine, Raymund Fabre, who was running a small restaurant as his other skill to his competence working in the development industry. It was ten years ago, when he invited me to his mobile diner in what used to be open spaces in the now uptown side of Bonifacio Global City. I am saying this not to remind Raymund to invite me again.
He told me his business started because of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, which led the way to tariffying the meat import quotas. He can survive paying the tariff on his imported meat, but he cannot with a quota because of the uncertainty it brings to his business.
Introducing meat quotas comes from the same insular and discarded thinking that has pervaded our agriculture sector for decades. True, imported meat quota helps existing livestock growers by raising prices of livestock.
However, it takes the sector in the opposite direction of faster growth. Faster growing agriculture sectors in the rest of ASEAN 5 have significantly stronger farm trade capacity. Both their exports and imports of farm products are significantly higher.
Meat prices in the country should be in the neighborhood of landed cost of imported meats plus the tariff. If policy makers calibrate trade policy to make inefficient livestock raisers survive, i.e. those whose costs are unnecessarily high, whose technologies are out of date, or simply who can’t offer their products at internationally competitive prices, they raise prices of meats and make investments in downstream industries less viable. They end up quashing the job and business opportunities in meat-using industries.
Efficient members of the industry support trade protection, because not only does trade protection particularly by meat quotas give them extra profits, but also they shield them as well from intense competition from meat importers.
The growth of our agriculture sector has lagged behind the rest of the economy. Many have blamed extreme weather for that. Climate change cannot be discounted as one of the important factors, but trade protection can be another.
The farm industry’s lackluster growth may be traced to these: its inefficient members survive; the efficient ones are not compelled to be as competitive as their international competitors; and their market is thin, with prices that make the country’s downstream industries less viable.
Reduced imported meat quota can do that to the livestock, meats, and downstream meat industries. However, if the Secretary decides not to push with his plan, that would be a move forward.
Some in the development industry, and this includes me, need to reflect and act on the need to complete the reform process: help displaced farmers transition to other sources of incomes in the least time possible.
Without the real assistance, the trade policy reform leaves a scar in society’s fabric. After decades, the grievance fuels future leader to swing the policy reform cycle back to trade protection and slower growth.
Financial resources are needed to assist backyard livestock raisers who can’t survive the competition with imported meats find other sources of income. In theory this should not be as difficult, since there is positive net benefit of the reform effort.
Taxing the winners to compensate the losers from a policy reform is a centuries-old idea attributed to an economist by the name of Kaldor. We need to operationalize Kaldor’s idea, and refrain from paying lip service to inclusive trade liberalization.
But there is reason to be hopeful. In the recent rice tariffication law, consumers of rice are taxed at the rate of 35%, the revenues of which are to be used to make rice farmers competitive, including assisting farmers diversify into other industries. Consumers still get their rice price lower than in the previous regime of a QR in rice.
The law calls the fund, RCEF or rice competitiveness enhancement fund, which rings a sourly familiar tune, like the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or ACEF. This was the fund created by the 1996 agriculture tariffication act from the revenues of the tariffs on MAVs Policy makers have regarded ACEF as a complete failure. The farmers have not become competitive after several years of ACEF.
To prevent RCEF from becoming another ACEF, the rice industry needs a very good strategy of making efficient rice farmers become more competitive internationally through use of better technology, innovative organization of farm production to avail of scale economies, and displaced rice farmers helped to move to other industries in the farming sector or even in non-agricultural industries at the least time possible.
In the meantime, the Secretary may consider using agriculture safeguards for the problems in the meat industry. The safeguards law allows his office to raise the tariff on meat imports, if the volume of meat imports exceed the threshold quantity defined in our law by as much as a third of the current import tariff. This is consistent with our treaty obligations under the WTO. Each end of the year, the duty will have to be lifted, but can be imposed again in the following year or in any time of a year, whenever the condition for breaching the safeguards volume is met.

Ramon L. Clarete is a professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics.

NEDA urges more exports of special rice varieties
Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) - April 25, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Exports of special rice varieties should be ramped up to respond to increased demand overseas now that restrictions for outbound shipments have been removed, said the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday.
With the recent enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law or Republic Act 11203, quantitative restrictions on imports and exports of rice were repealed. Volume restrictions on inbound shipments are replaced with the imposition of tariff.
“We encourage producers of special varieties of rice, such as heirloom, organic and aromatic long-grain rice, to continue striving to be competitive and to increase their export volume capabilities. These kinds of rice command higher premium, thus resulting in higher earnings for farmers,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia.
After a 40 year hiatus, the country resumed rice exportation in 2013 with a shipment consisting of 15 metric tons of organic black rice and 20 metric tons of aromatic long grain rice.
The value of rice exports in 2018 was only about $0.47 million, 46.87 percent lower than the previous year.
Rice exports hardly made a contribution to total export earnings from agricultural products, which reached $6.03 billion in 2018.
Before the enactment of the law, exporters of rice had to secure an export permit from the National Food Authority.
“The government has already started supporting the exportation of special rice varieties by removing the export quota power of the National Food Authority in RA 11203.  Now, these special rice varieties have tons of room for growth,” Pernia said, citing the rice breeds are in high demand in the US, Canada, and countries in the Middle East and Europe.
NEDA said this is in line with the government’s goal of providing rice farmers with more income opportunities.
The agency said the creation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, a P10-billion annual subsidy for the rice sector, also assures support for the development of high-yielding rice seed varieties, along with improvements in farm mechanization and other productivity-enhancing programs.
“The rice sector must work towards raising productivity with better farm methods and tools,” Pernia said.

PH asks Japan to open market for specialty rice
posted April 24, 2019 at 07:40 pm by Othel V. Campos

The Philippines is asking Japan to open its market for specialty rice as a part of the discussions for an upgraded bilateral trade agreement.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, a member of the Philippine panel to the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, said Manila would try to convince Japan to open its market to Philippine specialty rice exports.
Japan has one of the most restrictive rice markets to protect its own farmers, while the Philippines recently lifted the quantitative restriction on rice imports.
“We know that rice is a sensitive commodity for the Japanese, as it was with us. We’re just asking for a small quota―enough for our specialty rice to have access into their market at a lower tariff,” Rodolfo said.
He said the Philippines had no plans to flood Japan with rice.  “And we do not even have that capacity to flood any market with rice since we are also a net-importer [of rice],” Rodolfo said.
Japan maintains a 778-percent tariff on rice imported outside the minimum access scheme. Rice is one of Japan’s five “sacred” agricultural products, along with wheat, beef and pork, dairy products and sugar.
National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia said Filipino farmers should increase their production of special varieties of rice to respond to the increasing demand in the international market.
Pernia said Republic Act 11203, did not only replace the quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariff but it also repealed all laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and other issuances imposing quantitative export quotas on rice exports.
“We encourage producers of special varieties of rice, such as heirloom, organic, and aromatic long-grain rice, to continue striving to be competitive and to increase their export volume capabilities,” Pernia said in a statement.
“These kinds of rice command higher premium, thus resulting in higher earnings for farmers,” Pernia said.
The Philippine and Japanese panels met for a third round of talks during the Holy Week, on April 15 to 17, to fine-tune the important points of discussions.
Rodolfo said Japan in return might ask the country to reduce the import tariff on automotive exports to the Philippines.
“Right now, they’re at 20 [percent tariff]. We’re also expecting this. We can discuss this but there has to be some sort of favorable concessions,” he said.
Rodolfo said while Japan was willing to put everything on the table, “but quoting them, they said it will be difficult to do so.”
The two countries earlier held substantive discussions on improving market access for top Philippines exports through the general review of PJEPA.
PJEPA covers trade in goods, trade in services, investments, movement of natural persons, intellectual property, customs procedures, improvement of the business environment and government procurement.
The Philippines is continuously pushing for its offensive interest in the improvement of market access especially for major agricultural exports, renegotiation of rules of origin for some products and a framework for the entry of additional categories of skilled workers from the Philippines to Japan.
Among the products of interest to the Philippines are bananas, mangoes and pineapples.
Rodolfo said the Philippine panel was looking forward to wrapping up the discussions for an upgraded bilateral trade agreement within the next six months.

Neda: Scale up exports of special rice varieties

April 24, 2019
THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is encouraging farmers to increase their production of special varieties of rice to respond to the increasing demand in the international market now that restrictions on exports have been repealed.

Neda reminded rice farmers and traders that the recent rice law, or Republic Act 11203, not only replaced the quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariff, but it also repealed all laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and other issuances imposing quantitative export quotas on rice exports.

“We encourage producers of special varieties of rice, such as heirloom, organic and aromatic long-grain rice, to continue striving to be competitive and to increase their export volume capabilities. These kinds of rice command higher premium, thus resulting in higher earnings for farmers,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.

The Philippines, after 40 years of hiatus, began to export rice in 2013 with a shipment consisting of 15 metric tons of organic black rice and 20 metric tons of aromatic long grain rice.

The value of rice exports in 2018 is about US$0.47 million, 46.87 percent lower than its level in the previous year. Rice exports hardly made a dent in the total exports earnings from agricultural products, which reached $6.03 billion in 2018.

Prior to the enactment of RA 11203, the Philippines had an export quota on rice by virtue of Presidential Decree 4 of 1972, as amended. Exporters of rice needed to secure an export permit from the National Food Authority. They had to submit an application, including the documentary requirements, which would be up for NFA’s review and approval. This particular section was repealed in RA 11203.

“The government has already started supporting exportation of special rice varieties by removing the export quota power of the NFA in RA 11203. Now, these special rice varieties have tons of room for growth,” Pernia said, saying these rice breeds are in high demand in the US, Canada, countries in the Middle East and Europe.

“The rice sector must work towards raising productivity with better farm methods and tools,” Pernia added. (PR)

Commerce Ministry will call and meet Singapore Company for rice export to Ivory Coast case
Description: Workers unload non-compliant rice of Burmese origin from a truck at The Kossihouen Waste Disposal and Technical Landfill Centre some 45kms from Abidjan on April 16, 2019, ahead of it's destruction. Photo: Sia Kambou/AFP
Workers unload non-compliant rice of Burmese origin from a truck at The Kossihouen Waste Disposal and Technical Landfill Centre some 45kms from Abidjan on April 16, 2019, ahead of it's destruction. Photo: Sia Kambou/AFP
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce will meet a Yangon based Singapore company which bought rice from three Myanmar companies and exported it to the Ivory Coast which then had to destroy it.
Ministry of Economy and Commerce permanent secretary Aung Soe said, “Firstly we must listen to the explanation given by this company. And then we will form a team to meet and ask questions of the persons concerned then we will draw conclusions from the meetings. This Singapore Company is Olan International Company based in Singapore.”
According to current examinations made by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the quality of Myanmar rice has no problem.
Three Myanmar companies Shwe Wah Yaung, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Ayer Hinthar, sold Olan International Company with FOB (Freight on Board) sold the rice which met quality standards to the Singapore Company.
Myanmar Rice Federation Vice-Chairman Aung Than Oo also said the rice got soaked with rain while uploading onto the ship and about two to three layers of rice were wet with rainwater and the shipment took about 8 months when it finally reached the port in Africa and because of this the quality of rice was degraded when it reached the final port.
Ministry of Economy and Commerce permanent secretary Aung Soe said that the rice soaked with rainwater should be separated from dry rice and must be covered on the deck by tarpaulin but the vessel MV Ocean Prince failed to do this so the rice soaked with rainwater solidified.
This vessel unloaded about 4,000 tons of Myanmar rice in Guinea and then the port authority stopped them from unloading more rice due to quality standards. Then the vessel continued its journey and finally reached Ivory Coast on April 17 and the port authority decided to destroy the rice of about 18,000 tons for being damaged and not meeting quality standards.
Last year Myanmar exported over 3.2 million tons of rice both low and high grade, Myanmar is one of the five leading exporters in world rice market.