Saturday, July 06, 2019

6th July,2019 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter


US should be leading climate change research

It is no secret that the current administration does not accept that climate change/global warming is no big deal, if not an utter falsehood. I was appalled (but sadly, not surprised) the the administration is actively sabotaging research efforts into combating this phenomenon, in fact, planning to fire the scientists working in this area as of July 15.
There has been a remarkable finding about the food value of rice when affected by climate change; millions in the world live on rice. No one may ever hear of this research even if it is allowed to continue. Why is the government doing this when we could, again, be leading the world?
Sue Norman


Can we question our food self-sufficiency wish?

recent editorial in Kuensel titled “A stunted agriculture sector” grabbed my attention, just because we have been trying to achieve food self-sufficiency since the establishment of the agriculture sector in 1961 together with the commencement of the first five-year plan in 1961. Similarly, an opinion piece by the former Secretary of the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement, Chencho Norbu, titled “The changing landscape of Paro valley” in Kuensel on March 9, 2019 articulates how the lush paddy fields of Paro valley changed. These two pieces, that came up recently, are just the tip of an ice berg, for Bhutan has been struggling to produce enough grains, edible oils and livestock produce for our own consumption.
Rice can be a classic example for it is the staple diet for Bhutanese and the ‘numbers’ on rice imports and produced are not encouraging. Bhutan’s “Annual Statistical Year Book 2018”, shows that, in 2017, we produced about 86,386MT of rice and imported almost an equal quantity of rice: about 78,449MT. Reading through our agriculture statistics shows the wide range of foods we import. However, it isn’t the diverse produce we import that’s alarming, but the quantity we import. Let’s say almost all the food that we have in our stores have been brought-in from other countries contributing to the global food-chain carbon footprint. So much for a ‘least-developed’ country and a highly ‘pro-claimed’ carbon negative country.
Having said that, do we have a choice? Can we achieve food self-sufficiency?
Being in the “heart” of the Himalayas, Bhutan does not have agriculture friendly geography. According to the Land Use and Land Cover assessment of Bhutan 2016 undertaken by Forest Resources and Management Division, Department of Forests and Park Services, only 2.75% of our area is cultivated (may be it is cultivable) agriculture land. This means that about 57% of Bhutanese, who are employed in agriculture activities, are depending on just 2.75% of our land. Well, there is nothing we could do for scanty agriculture land, but what is alarming is, of this 2.75% of our agriculture land, 39% and 10% of potential dry lands and wet-lands were left fallow in 2016, according to the Bhutan RNR Statistics 2016. These numbers tell us that, already scare agriculture lands are left fallow and empirical evidence from Bhutan and elsewhere suggests that fallow land brings in vegetation cover triggering a whole new level of problem: human-wildlife conflict. It is now trendy to refer to it as human-human conflict instead of human-wildlife conflict and that’s a whole new story for another article.
The 2017 Population and Housing Census of Bhutan (2017PHCB) reported, labour shortage; human-wildlife conflict and water shortage/irrigation as the top three cited reasons for leaving the land fallow by Bhutanese farmers. Intriguingly, all these reasons are linked: labour shortage is due to rural-urban migration, which is triggered by un-balanced regional development, which leads to fallow lands. Fallow land brings vegetation closer to farms, which brings wild animals closer to existing farmlands. It is an irony that, while we celebrate having 71% of forest cover [and increasing], we are losing some portion of our agricultural lands to forests. However, this is just a small part of the story, for, we lost prime agriculture lands of Paro and Thimphu to urban expansion.
In the front of water, Food and Agriculture Organization, AQUASTAT data ranks Bhutan 6thin the world for renewable internal freshwater resources per capita at 100,475.50 cubic meters. Though we have one of the highest fresh water per capita in the world, our farmers and households are grappling with drinking water shortage let-alone irrigation water. We are seriously going wrong somewhere, even with the existence of many organisations in various ministries looking after water.
Let’s shift gear and look at the “national issue” – rural-urban migration (as reflected in the 2017PHCB). We have one of the highest rate of rural-urban migration in south-east Asia and one of the most important and often talked about, but a lot ‘over-looked’ drivers leading to it could be the myth of ‘easy’ life in urban centres and employment opportunities. This probably should be ENOUGH reason, for us, to strategize (not relocating ministries from Thimphu to other dzongkhags) and make our rural areas attractive. Given our rich forest cover and biodiversity, enhancing the eco-tourism project could be one potential area, together with making our roads commuter friendly to make our rural areas liveable. One of the important aspects of agriculture friendly infrastructure: farm roads have reached almost all parts of our country. All that it demands is to keep it safe and automobile friendly. Make our rural areas “liveable.”
With continued efforts of our agriculture sector and our ever hardworking farmers, we can still dream of achieving food self-sufficiency. However, since, it isn’t unusual for our farmers to not find market for their farm produce during ‘season,’ investing in environment friendly storage area is, now, call of our time. It is also about time for us to seriously venture into post-harvest management strategies together with investing in marketing infrastructure for our farm produce. Our agriculture sector has been working on improved varieties of crops from day one, and sure enough, we now have some good varieties of food and fruit crops.
Given the scarcity of agriculture land, it will be worth for us to invest in fast growing and producing higher yield varieties of crops together with stress tolerant varieties. However, an important question that demands answer still lingers in the minds of our farmers – losing all the ‘fruits’ of their hard-work to wild animals and weather anomalies, which will be frequent at the pace with which climate change is hitting us. Wildlife insurance scheme may not necessarily work, as it didn’t earlier too, and there are evidences elsewhere of its failure. The best we could do is relax our conservation policies on “pest” animals, make our forests animal friendly and nip the drivers of farm marginalisation.It is easier said than done but make our rural areas liveable.
Sacramento-area rice company secures first U.S. contract to sell rice to China
JULY 05, 2019 11:49 AM, UPDATED JULY 05, 2019 11:49 AM
Come fly over incredibly green Colusa County rice fields in beautiful weather
Here's an aerial tour over Colusa County rice fields. The drone video is by Cody Thomas. Rice spans about a half million acres in California, supplying virtually all of America's sushi rice as well as providing habitat for millions of birds. 
A Sacramento-area rice producer is the first U.S. company to secure a contract to export rice into China after its government began permitting American rice imports late last year.
The Sun Valley Rice Co., based in Arbuckle in Colusa County, announced a contract to sell Calrose medium-grain rice to Shenzhen Yintuo, part of the Dragon Ocean Hing Group, a Chinese importer-exporter, according to a news release by Sun Valley Rice.
“Fifteen years of patience and hard work have paid off,” Sun Valley Rice CEO Ken LaGrande said in a prepared statement. “It is truly an honor and a privilege to blaze this trail of trading history – American rice in China. Our team has worked with incredible tenacity and diligence to reach this point.”
Reuters reported that China opened up its customs to U.S. rice as a gesture of goodwill after years of talks with the United States. Sun Valley Rice’s contract was for 40 tons of rice, according to Reuters.
Now, although the two countries are entangled in a trade war, Sun Valley Rice is selling rice to Shenzhen Yintuo in time for China’s Mid-Autumn Festival. Rice sold by Sun Valley Rice will be available for retail and food service distribution in China, according to the release.
“We chose Sun Valley Rice because when we first toured the U.S., we went to California and witnessed that Sun Valley Rice had clearly studied Asian cultures deeply (especially Japanese and Chinese),” said William Li, overseas director of Shenzhen Yintuo and vice president of the Dragon Ocean Hing Group, in a prepared statement.
Sun Valley Rice, founded in 2000, initiated talks with China on the California rice market in 2004, according to the release.
“It has been a long journey,” said Steve Vargas, senior vice president of global rice trading for Sun Valley Rice, in a prepared statement. “It has taken a great deal of effort on the part of Sun Valley Rice, as well as the USA Rice Federation, to gain access to the Chinese market.”
Sun Valley grows rice in Colusa, Glenn, Sacramento, Yuba, Sutter, Butte and Yolo counties and sells its product internationally.
The United States Department of Agriculture reports that China is the world’s largest rice producer and consumer, while the U.S. produces less than 2% of the world’s rice.

How India’s Water Ends Up Everywhere But India

By David Fickling | Bloomberg
July 6 at 2:03 AM
As a child in 1943, the Indian economist Amartya Sen watched one of the worst famines of the 20th century sweep through his native Bengal. Contrary to the popular image, the disaster didn’t manifest as a widespread shortage of food, he later wrote. The middle classes hadn’t “experienced the slightest problem during the entire...

Cambodia’s rice export to China up 66 pct in H1

Source: Xinhua| 2019-07-05 23:43:37|Editor: yan
PHNOM PENH, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia exported 118,401 tons of milled rice to China in the first six months of 2019, up 66 percent over the same period last year, said an official report on Friday.
China remained the top buyer of Cambodian rice during the January-June period this year, said the report of the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export, adding that the export to China accounted for 42 percent of the country's total rice export.
Meanwhile, the country shipped 93,503 tons of rice to the European markets, down 32 percent because the European Union imposed earlier this year duties for three years on rice importing from Cambodia in a bid to curb a surge in rice imports from the country and to protect European producers.
The EU reinstated the normal customs duties of 175 euros per ton in year one, progressively reducing it to 150 euros per ton in year two and 125 euros per ton in year three.
According to the report, the Southeast Asian country exported a total of 281,538 tons of rice to 50 countries and regions around the world during the first half of this year, up 3.7 percent over the same period last year.

June inflation hits 22-month low

By: Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:07 AM July 06, 2019
Inflation in June slowed to 2.7 percent year-on-year, the slowest rate of increase in prices of basic goods in 22 months, mainly due to base effects, lower educational costs arising from the government’s free tuition program and the decline in rice prices.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released on Friday showed that June’s headline inflation rate was the lowest since the 2.6 percent posted in August 2017.
In the first half, inflation averaged 3.4 percent, within the government’s 3 to 4 percent target range for the entire 2019.
National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a press conference that rice prices continued to decline, posting a 1.7-percent year-on-year drop in June after a 0.7-percent decline in May.
Mapa said the Rice Tariffication Law being implemented since March, which slapped tariffs on all rice imports as it liberalized rice trade, was a major contributor to the lower prices of the Filipino staple food.
Also, year-on-year corn prices declined while increments in the prices of meat, fish, vegetables, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery eased.
Education costs also declined by 4.5 percent in June as students at SUCs have been enjoying the free tuition program, Mapa said.
Mapa later told reporters that since it was during the second half of last year that inflation surged, the rates in the coming months were expected to be at about the same level as in June.
To recall, it was in June last year when the headline rate breached the 5-percent level amid higher excise taxes slapped on consumption, elevated global prices, and domestic food supply bottlenecks, especially of rice.
In June, slower year-on-year price increases were also noted in the following commodity groups: alcoholic beverages and tobacco; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; furnishing, housing equipment and routine maintenance of the house; transport, and communication.
Month-on-month, inflation slowed to 0.2 percent in June from 0.3 percent in May.
In an economic bulletin, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil S. Beltran noted that “the streamlining of food supply continues to drive down food inflation.”
“Lower petroleum prices in the previous month also helped tame non-food inflation,” Beltran added.
Beltran said the easing of inflation alongside the full implementation of the P3.7-trillion 2019 national budget would enable the government to boost economic growth in the next quarters.
Last year, annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a three-year low of 6.2 percent as headline inflation accelerated to a 10-year high of 5.2 percent in 2018.
First-quarter GDP growth, meanwhile, fell to a four-year low of 5.6 percent, below the government’s downgraded 6-7 percent target range for 2019, due to the delayed approval of this year’s appropriations.

Checking resurgence of rice smuggling By Engr. Ilyasu Nazifi |
Published Date Jul 6, 2019 2:17 AM
 For the umpteenth time, Nigeria’s fledgling local rice industry is facing the grim threat of collapse as toxic foreign rice dominate most of the country’s major food markets. Across the country, rice smugglers are having a field day filling our markets and stores with imported rice whose quality and safety are as questionable as the unscrupulous elements that brought them. According to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), rice is the most smuggled item, constituting 70% of all rice products in the local markets and sucking away foreign exchange. . Despite the outright ban on rice imports, it appears smugglers are always finding ways to circumvent measures to halt their illegal trade. ADVERTISEMENT Reports say toxic foreign rice worth over N1tr is currently waiting at Benin Republic to get into Nigeria through illegal routes. Many markets such Singa in Kano, Terminus in Jos, Sango in Ogun, Utako in Abuja, Ogbete in Enugu and Jimeta in Yola are overwhelmed with foreign rice being sold side by side with Nigerian brands. But the most worrisome issue is how these imported rice brands are loaded with deadly chemicals, repackaged with fake production and expiry dates, and shipped in after over 20 years in foreign silos. In the last four months, at least 1m metric tonnes of toxic foreign rice was brought into Nigeria, according to a survey by the Rice Processors Association of Nigerian (RIPAN). The menace of rice smuggling is festering despite the commendable efforts of the federal government such as the anchor-borrower scheme which has enabled Nigerian farmers and processors to raise rice production. According to research, at least 200,000 smallholder farmers in 29 states are benefitting from N43bn released by the CBN, resulting in 2.5m jobs as at October 2018. This initiative has made it possible for about 862,069 farmers to cultivate about 835, 239 hectares of land for 16 crops including rice. The overwhelming quantity of foreign rice in our local markets is making it difficult if not impossible for Nigerian rice to access the markets. Unless, the menace of rice smuggling is totally eliminated, our local rice industry is facing a serious danger of collapse. Way Forward There are three key steps to radically curtail the menace of rice smuggling in order to help develop the rice industry in Nigeria. First, it is apparent that despite the increasing efforts of the Customs to check smuggling, our borders are still embarrassingly porous. For N100, smugglers on motorcycles or trucks buy their way into Nigeria to convey foreign rice. Through Katsina axis, Kamba town in Kebbi State and Seme border between Lagos and Benin Republic, smugglers are shoving tonnes of foreign rice and crippling Nigeria’s already weak economy. “Nigeria is losing huge revenues, foreign exchange and jobs to this menace as Nigerian Rice processors are shutting down due to inability to gain market access as a result of the influx of foreign rice in our local markets,” according to RIPAN chairman Muhammad Abubakar Maifata. Therefore, it has become necessary for the federal government to deploy more customs officers with support from sister agencies. Secondly, the NCS should also be empowered to intensify efforts at raiding local markets and seizing all foreign rice brands to discourage open sale of the illegal commodity.  This step could be made easier if the NCS deploys intelligence officers to monitor activities of  smugglers and their clients. On the other hand, the NCS should engage rice dealers constantly and enlighten them on the benefit of patronizing local rice producers while also alerting them on the dangers of importing rice that are harmful to public health. Thirdly, the re-introduction of marketing boards has become very crucial in order to protect rice farmers and processors from incurring losses as a result of glut. Akinwumi Adesina, a former minister of agriculture, had worked to re-establish marketing boards to help farmers but the plan could not be implemented before the administration expired. Marketing boards would certainly to scale agricultural hurdles of poor financing, fluctuating prices and inability to access markets.
Price stability, as a key component of the marketing boards, will attract new investments in agriculture and encourage expansion of production while also protecting farmers from selling their products at give-away prices in the event of glut. However, these boards should be dominated by the private sector stakeholders with government representatives serving only in advisory capacity. If constituted, marketing boards could help the country in achieving food sufficiency and security through establishing national strategic grains reserves where rice paddy and maize, which are Nigeria’s most vital crops, could be stored and sold to processors.
In addition to this, government silos could be used to store rice and maize through the marketing boards rather than being leased to farmers, who in most cases cannot afford the costs.   As such, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration should revisit its predecessor’s plan on marketing boards and proceed to implement it.

June inflation softened to 22-month low of 2.7%
 July 05, 2019 at 08:20 pm by Julito G. Rada

Inflation rate in June eased to a 22-month low of 2.7 percent from 3.2 percent in May on continuing softer price adjustments in some commodity groups such as food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.
The June inflation was significantly slower than 5.2 percent registered a year ago. It was also the slow
est in 22 months since it settled at 2.6 percent in August 2017.
This brought inflation in the first half of 2019 to 3.4 percent, or within the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.
“We still need to caution against upside risks, including weather-related shocks and uncertainties in the global oil market,” National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia said.
Pernia said the entry of more rice imports helped stabilize food prices.  “We continue to experience the effects of the administrative measures the government had set in motion starting late last year. Further, the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law allowed the entry of ample imported rice into the country that helped bring rice prices down,” he said.
“Since the effectivity of the law, private traders have applied for the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances of 1.26 million metric tons of rice imports from the Bureau of Plant and Industry. Of these, 576, 000 MT have already arrived in the Philippines as of June 7, 2019,” he said.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said the 2.7-percent inflation in June was consistent with the regulator’s assessment that inflation would firmly settle within the target range of 2 to 4 percent for 2019 and 2020.
“The BSP will keep close watch over latest economic developments to ensure that the monetary policy stance remains consistent with the BSP’s price stability objective while being supportive of economic growth,” Diokno said.
ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa said with inflation well-within target, the BSP would likely look to “tap on the accelerator once more after having slammed hard on the brakes in the previous year. ING is penciling in a policy rate cut by the BSP at its August meeting should inflation continue to show it will remain within target and second-quarter growth is projected to be soft.”
The benign inflation environment compelled the Monetary Board, the policy-making body of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, to keep the benchmark policy rates steady at 4.5 percent on June 20. 
Pernia said the slower inflation comes with the optimism that the quality of life will improve along with the economy’s robust growth. 
“The government will continue putting in place preemptive measures to mitigate the impact of weather-related shocks and uncertainties in the international oil market. The government will also implement measures to prevent the spread of the African swine fever in the country while moderating its effects on inflation,” he said.
“We note that the prevalence of adverse weather conditions in the country remains an upside risk to inflation, especially with the start of the rainy season. We should prepare for the possible onslaught of nine to 13 typhoons in the coming months, as well as the above-normal amount of rainfall brought by the southwest monsoon or habagat. On the other hand, the weak El Niño phenomenon has been forecast to persist until August 2019, with a chance to continue until the first quarter of 2020,” he said.
“We reiterate our call to beef up production support and farm recovery programs in areas affected by El Niño. We also pitch for an assessment on the vulnerability and sustainability of farm areas to ensure that farming activities are adaptive to the environment and resilient to weather disturbances,” said Pernia.
Rise in fuel price leaves residents concerned
Description: https://images.tribuneindia.com/cms/gall_content/2019/7/2019_7$largeimg06_Saturday_2019_064311925.jpg
Residents watch the live telecast of the Union Budget in Amritsar on Friday. Photo: Sunil Kumar
Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 5
Though the personal income tax rates have been left untouched, a hike in customs duty on fuel, gold and precious items has left residents, mainly traders, worried.
Raj Kumar, a shopkeeper, said the common man did not find any respite in the Union Budget. The demand of bringing petrol and diesel under the GST remains unmet and, in contrast, hike in price will jack up the cost of essential items. He said additional Rs 1.5 lakh tax relief on home loan for purchase of a house up to Rs 45 lakh would be a boon for middle-income families.
Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal president Piara Lal Seth said the hike in fuel prices would increase the input cost of the MSME sector which had already been battling liquidity crisis since demonetisation and the GST. “Middle-income group did not receive any benefit in the tax slab. Rs 3,000 per month pension for traders with less than Rs 1.50 crore annual turnover is highly insufficient,” he said.
Gunbir Singh, president, Dilbir Foundation, said duty hike on tiles, cashew kernels, vinyl flooring, auto parts, selected synthetic rubber, digital, video recorder and CCTV camera would affect the purchasing power of the middle-class people. “A new PPP model may accelerate the growth of the Indian Railways. It is good that start-ups were shown priority, like angel tax, as they will not require scrutiny from the Income Tax Department.”
Ashok Sethi, Director, Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association, said the present government had assured the rice exporters that interest subvention would be provided to boost exports, but the Budget didn’t have any mention.
Lok Sabha MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla said Narendra Modi-led Central Government showed its anti-Punjab face by not sparing a single thought for border farmers. There is nothing to lift farmers out of the morass of mounting debt. He felt that youth were also neglected.
Dr SS Chhina, a local resident, said the road map to accomplish the goals in agriculture is missing in the Budget. No special attention has been given to rural areas to bridge the gap in urban and rural areas, he added.

CCP urged to act against cartelisation
KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has complained to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) about the cartelisation of middlemen, who increased prices rice varieties on each rupee depreciation, making it difficult for SME rice exporters to honour their commitments.

UNISAME President Zulfikar Thaver said the middlemen were taking undue advantage of the situation. “This disabled SME exporters from earning from their commitments, and many SME exporters not carrying inventories had to suffer continued losses due to costly purchases to honour their bookings,” he added.

UNISAME has urged CCP to take notice of the matter and conduct enquiry and question the middlemen on the day to day increase in prices, despite the fact that huge quantity of rice was hoarded by the millers and middlemen.

“The paddy is purchased by the middlemen and the millers at harvest time, and they stock the paddy for the entire season. There is no justification for increasing prices in this manner,” a UNISAME statement said. There was no shortage or any extraordinary increase in demand, it added. It alleged that the middlemen were taking a collective decision as a cartel to take advantage of the depreciation, which was depriving SMEs from honouring their external commitments.

Inflation eases to 22-month low of 2.7% in June

By: Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ
Inquirer Business / 10:09 AM July 05, 2019
MANILA, Philippines — Base effects, free tuition at state universities and colleges (SUCs), and lower rice prices pulled inflation down to 2.7 percent year-on-year in June, the slowest rate of increase in prices of basic commodities in 22 months.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released Friday showed that last month’s headline inflation rate was the lowest since the 2.6 percent posted in August 2017.
National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a press conference that rice prices continued to decline, posting a 1.7-percent year-on-year drop to sustain the 0.9-percent decline in May.
Mapa said the Rice Tariffication Law being implemented since March, which slapped tariffs on all importation and liberalized rice trade, was a major contributor to lower prices of the Filipino staple food.
Education costs also declined 4.5 percent in June as students at SUCs have been enjoying the free tuition program, Mapa said.
Mapa later told reporters in an ambush interview that since it was in the second half of last year that inflation surged, the rates in the coming months were expected to be at around the same level as in June.
To recall, it was in June last year when the headline rate breached the 5-percent level amid higher excise taxes slapped on consumption, elevated global prices, and domestic food supply bottlenecks, especially of rice.  (EditorMike U. Frialde)

Scientists demonstrate ASF risk posed by animal feed

BY PW REPORTERS ON JULY 5, 2019
Description: Animal FeedFarmers have been urged to consider the risk of exposure to viruses like African swine fever and PED from animal feed. Caroline Stock reports from the ONE Alltech Ideas conference in Kentucky
Scientists in the US have discovered that potentially harmful DNA from the African swine fever (ASF) virus can survive on feed ingredients including corn, rice and wheat, as well as complete feed, imported from Asia.
With research proving that the virus can be spread to pigs from infected feed and water, they said feed poses a serious potential biosecurity risk which producers have to take seriously.
Description: Jon De Jong, swine nutritionist at Pipestone Veterinary Services in Minnesota
Jon De Jong, swine nutritionist at Pipestone Veterinary Services in Minnesota
Speaking at the ONE Alltech Ideas conference in Lexington, Kentucky, Jon De Jong, swine nutritionist at Pipestone Veterinary Services in Minnesota, said previous work by Pipestone vet Scott Dee had identified that porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv) could survive in imported feed.
The team thought the same might apply to ASF. To test the theory, they commissioned third-party scientists in China to take thousands of samples from feed mills at a rate of 250 a day, testing bulk feed ingredients, including corn, soy, rice, wheat and distiller’s dried grain with solubles.
Of the ingredients and complete feed tested, 1-2% was positive for DNA from the virus. The researchers also detected virus DNA in dust around the feed mill, as well as on feed trucks and trailers, complete feed in bins, hair and shoes of feed mill staff, and in the fresh market where pigmeat is sold to shoppers.
With this knowledge, the Pipestone researchers began to investigate the survivability of ASF during transportation from China to the US. Testing the virus in different feed materials ranging from soya bean meal to complete feed, they simulated a 37-day trip across the Atlantic to see if the virus survived.
“We were able to prove that if a feed is inoculated with a virus, it does survive across the ocean,” Dr De Jong told delegates.
“The second question was whether it could infect pigs if they consume that feed, and researchers at Kansas State University showed that that’s possible.
“We didn’t have this knowledge nine months ago, and this completes the circle for us,” he added. “If it can survive in feed, then it can make pigs sick, so quality control of feed is critical.”
With so many feed ingredients coming from Asian countries, Dr De Jong said having that knowledge should encourage farmers to make more considered sourcing decisions. That could include asking feed suppliers where their ingredients come from and asking ingredient manufacturers about their biosecurity practices.
“The goal is to protect global trade and herd health, so you have to ask if you’ll continue sourcing from ASF countries, what the level of contamination could be, what the transportation time is, and how long you can store it,” he said.
“We also need to ask whether we can mitigate the effects of the viral load in the feed.”
In a bid to do this, Dr De Jong said Pipestone had partnered with Alltech and animal health company Cornerstone to develop a dietary supplement that could help protect pigs from viral infections.
Named APC after the three companies involved, the blend of organic acids and essential oils has been shown to prevent the transmission of PEDv, PRRS and Seneca Valley virus from feed to pigs.
“When PED hit the North American herd we started work on this product to stop viral transmission in the feed,” Dr De Jong explained.
“We conducted two trials and found that if you inoculate the feed with APC at a rate of 15lb/tonne the PED virus can’t replicate. What’s more, including APC in the diet didn’t affect average daily gain or feed conversion.”
Having replicated the trials against PRRS and Seneca Valley virus, Dr De Jong said the team is confident that APC – which is being launched in the US this month and will be available in Europe later in the year – could work against a number of damaging viral infections.
“This is a groundbreaking study,” he added. “We focus on filtering air to protect pig health, but until now we’ve never really done anything with our feed.
“We’ve shown time and again that viruses can be transmitted by feed, so it’s important that farmers think about the interventions they could make to protect their herds.”

NARI Trains Scientists On Plant Breeding

Description: http://foroyaa.gm/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/NARI-696x437.jpg
Abdoulai G. Dibba
The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), with funding from the EU funded Agriculture project being implemented by FAO in the Gambia, recently completed a five-day training program for young Gambian scientists on groundnut breeding.
The event which was held at the NARI conference hall, brought together twenty-six participants: NARI, The Gambia College School of Agriculture, the National Seed Secretariat, and the National Coordinating Organization of Farmer Associations in the Gambia (NACOFAG).
The training aims to develop the next generation of home-grown crop and plant breeders to adapt to modern tools for enhancing the precision and efficiency of their breeding programs.
According to the organizers, the objective of the training is to provide participants with the theoretical knowledge on modern plant breeding methods and techniques; that after the course, participants will be able to adopt good principles of breeding methodologies and will improve the quality of their research and enhance their knowledge.
In his statement at the opening, the Director General of NARI Ansumana Jarju, reminded the young research scientists that the training was just the beginning; that they do not have to become professors to be breeders. He said the course will provide a theoretical background on modern breeding methods and techniques including the use of biotechnology, experimental techniques, planning, information management tools and software, to be able to adopt good principles of breeding methodologies and to improve the quality of their research.
The FAO Consultant Moussa Sie, said the course became a requirement because there is no breeder at NARI and the University of the Gambia is not providing such a breeding program.
Sie said the course will combine both theory and practice and will provide opportunity for participants to share experiences with other crop breeders, to enable them have latest updates in areas of relevance in rice breeding and the worldwide exchange of rice genetic resources. Professor Sie said Gambia is a net importer of food and produces only half of its national requirement of staple foods. “The government’s effort to address the deficit in the agriculture sector has resulted in designing a project which aims to create sustainable production and productivity of crops and livestock, reduce food insecurity and malnutrition, and create the enabling environment for an improved national economy,” he concluded.
NARI’s Crop Research Director Kebba Drammeh, said the institute has been handicapped in the area of research for some time now and the training will assist in the creation of the next generation of researchers. Drammeh continued that for nearly thirty years or more, NARI has been depending on outside expertise for crop plant breeding; that the training is expected to lift the burden of relying on outside breeders when the need arises.
“Our gene bank is dysfunctional. We therefore hope that this training and the continuous support from FAO, will go a long way in assisting us build our Gene Bank once again,” he concludes.
Crop breeding is the art and science of improving important agricultural plants for the benefit of humankind.

Enterprise Partner is Newest Member Category for USA Rice  


ARLINGTON, VA - Following months of analysis, USA Rice has rolled out a new member category, the Enterprise Partner, designed to widen the base of an already vertically-integrated trade association. 

"As an organization, USA Rice has always been about representing the entire industry, up and down the supply chain from the farm to the end use, but we realized we were leaving out quite a few interested parties, so we created the Enterprise Partner group," explained California rice farmer and chair of USA Rice Charley Mathews, Jr.  "There are individuals and businesses who both support our industry, but also depend on a healthy U.S. rice industry for much of their business, too.  Those are our Enterprise Partners."

Entities involved in banking and insurance; farm inputs, equipment, and technology; crop consultant work; research institutions and other non-profits are all eligible for membership.  As are allied businesses that want to see a vibrant U.S. rice industry but don't fit into another membership category.

"Of course as with most member organizations, members get access to proprietary resources and discounts on event registration and exhibiting, but we also are offering a seat at the policy table at USA Rice," Mathews said.  "Members also have the opportunity to participate in the vast array of trade missions and consumer campaigns the organization conducts each year which pay immediate dividends to the participants."

However, it is affiliation with the U.S. rice industry's sector-leading sustainability and conservation programs and initiatives that will likely encourage many to join.

"Sustainability is important to us and our customers, so to be able to demonstrate that we are working side-by-side with some of the most responsible producers on the planet makes a huge impact," said Matt Lindsay, director of irrigation resources at Delta Plastics.  "We support the great work USA Rice and its members are doing and Delta Plastics looks forward to strengthening our relationship through this new opportunity."

For more information on applying to join USA Rice as an Enterprise Partner, or through one of the other membership organizations, visit 
www.usarice.com/join


Brad Robb
Dr. Steve Linscombe talks about The Rice Foundation’s recently released sustainability report during the 110th Annual Rice Field Day held at the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley, La.

U.S. rice industry reviews pillars of improvements

Rice sustainability report released
Brad Robb | Jul 05, 2019
In 2017, Dr. Steve Linscombe retired from the Louisiana State University Rice Research Center after 35 years of service, but he has much more he wants to do for the industry that fueled his career for so long.
Linscombe, a world renowned and respected rice breeder and researcher with over 30 varietal releases to his credit, knows that when one door closes, another one usually opens, and for him, that door led to an opportunity to become the new executive director of The Rice Foundation.
He returned to Crowley, La., last month to participate in the 110th Annual Rice Field Day with a specific message to each rice farmer in attendance. “The rice industry has come so far in terms of environmental, social, and economic improvements,” says Linscombe. “These three areas are being called our pillars of sustainability, and they are interwoven. You can’t have one without the other. We have a great message that must be told to the end users of our product, and we have recently taken a big first step to tell it.”
Thanks to a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), The Rice Foundation was able to commission a rice industry sustainability report that highlights 36 years of constant improvements and how those improvements have solidified the U.S. rice industry’s position as one of, if not the most, sustainable in the world.
While the definition of sustainability may be open to interpretations, the U.S. rice industry’s extensive track record of improvements is evident, and Linscombe complimented the many growers who have helped make those improvements.
“U.S. rice farmers have not only raised the yield bar tremendously, they have increased rice production’s land use efficiency by 34 percent over that time period,” says Linscombe. “Through a 52 percent reduction in water use, less trips across fields through adoptions of conservation tillage, and more efficient equipment, 34 percent less energy is being used to produce our nation’s annual rice crop — that’s huge.”

Climate change and biodiversity

Linscombe noted that no matter your view about climate change, it is real, and the 1,000-pound gorilla in rice production is the large volume of methane being emitted from each year’s crop. “Upland crops don’t produce high volumes of methane because they’re not flooded,” he told the tour group. “When you get into an aquatic situation, there’s more tendency to produce methane, but the gains made by all of you and other growers across the six rice-producing states have helped this industry as a whole reduce our cumulative methane production by over 40 percent.”
Soil loss has never been an issue or major concern in rice production, but that does not mean it was overlooked in this sustainability analysis. “Because of the way rice has been produced through the decades, we have actually decreased soil loss by 28 percent,” says Linscombe. “We do have an area where our industry can really take great pride, and that is in the area of biodiversity.”
Production rice ground contributes to the biodiversity of habitats for a wide variety of birds, waterfowl, and other animals that make rice fields their homes or stopping grounds along their migratory routes. Grain and crop stubble left after harvest are actively foraged by this flurry of activity.
“Rice farmers have provided very diverse waterfowl habitats for many decades, but six years ago, an alliance solidified between USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited through the creation of the Rice Stewardship Partnership (RSP) significantly propelled these conservation efforts forward,” says Linscombe. “NRCS matching grant funding, through its Regional Conservation Partnership Program, as well as funds from private partners, is helping rice farmers implement conservation practices on their operations.”
In the report, value placed on the habitats created by overwintered flooded rice fields is estimated to be almost $3.5 billion. “The partnerships between these aforementioned organizations and these funds they bring to the table will be used by rice producers to create and sustain essential habitat areas on over 700,000 acres of production rice fields between now and 2023,” says Linscombe.

Economics and the future

Findings in the report state rice farming operations, rice mills, and the 125,000 jobs they create contribute over $34 billion annually to the U.S. economy. “Our ag economists found that each rice farm contributes $1 million to its local economy,” says Linscombe. “That doesn’t even count impact from the number of sponsored activities and civic donations rice industry organizations make to communities and food banks.”
While each aspect of any sustainability analysis is important and contributes to an industry’s overall sustainability picture, any industry would collapse if it lacked one particular aspect — economic sustainability. “If rice farmers and rice mills are not profitable, it will have negative ramifications down the supply chain,” says Linscombe. “In many cases, a town or a community’s economic stability relies almost exclusively on the business of rice.”
As more rice operations adopt new technologies like variable rate equipment and automated water control structures, the sustainability levels reflected in those three pillars should improve. Mills are also making sustainability improvements by moving toward no-waste practices and using renewable energy sources.
The U.S. Rice Industry Sustainability Report is the first of its kind for the industry. An executive summary of the report and the full version in pdf format are available electronically at https://www.usarice.com/sustainability/sustainability-report.
You may also contact The Rice Foundation at 1-800-888-RICE (7423) for a printed copy.
United States Makes First-Ever Rice Sale to China-Trade Group
By Reuters
·       July 3, 2019CHICAGO — A private importer in China last week bought U.S. rice for the first time ever, in the midst of a trade war between the two nations, a rice industry group said on Wednesday.
The Chinese importer bought two containers, about 40 tonnes, of medium-grain rice from California-based Sun Valley Rice, said Michael Klein, a spokesman for USA Rice, a trade group that promotes the sale of the U.S. grain.
The U.S. rice was milled and packaged into bags for consumer and food service use, Klein said.
China was a major buyer of U.S. soybeans and pork before the trade war started by the Trump administration. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that China had agreed to make unspecified new purchases of U.S. farm products after he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but purchases of major export crops have so far been elusive.
It was not immediately clear whether the rice purchase was a goodwill gesture following the Trump-Xi meeting. The rice deal follows a sale of 544,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China confirmed last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the largest such sale since March.
China is the world's largest rice grower and consumer, producing 148.5 million tonnes of the grain in the 2018/19 marketing year and importing 3.5 million tonnes.
The United States produced 7.1 million tonnes of rice in 2018/19 and exported less than 3 million tonnes.
Chinese officials agreed to allow imports of U.S. rice in July 2017, following years of negotiations. But a nearly year-long trade dispute between the two countries threatened the first sale.
"It looked dicey for us for a while, with the hostility going back and forth ... We were about to have a market, and saw it snatched away, or so we thought," Klein said.
Sun Valley Rice hopes the deal lays the groundwork for more sales of U.S. rice to China in the future, representatives said.
"Sun Valley has been a leader when it comes to agriculture trade with China, we have been taking the first steps," said Karen Leland, Sun Valley's chief marketing officer.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen and Barbara Smith in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

RPT-Asia Rice-India rates gain, other hubs struggle to keep up
Diptendu Lahiri
JULY 5, 2019 /
(Repeats with no changes to text)

* Vietnam’s shipments to EU could get boost from free trade deal

* Bangladesh unable to clinch deals since lifting export ban

* Strong baht denting demand for Thai rice- traders

By Diptendu Lahiri

BENGALURU, July 4 (Reuters) - Rice export prices in India inched up this week, helped by a stronger rupee and a slight uptick in demand, while other hubs in Asia struggled to compete with rates offered by the top exporter.

India’s benchmark 5% broken, parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1 rose to $371-$374 per tonne from last week’s $369-$372.

“The appreciating rupee has been forcing us to raise prices,” said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

India has raised the price at which it will buy new-season common rice varieties from local farmers by 3.7%, the farm minister said on Wednesday.

Traders in neighbouring Bangladesh said the country has been unsuccessful in securing fresh deals since its ban on rice exports was lifted in May.

“It is nearly impossible for us to make any deal when India can offer competitive rates,” a Dhaka-based trader said.

Bangladesh lifted the longstanding ban with an aim to sell as much as 1.5 million tonnes to support local farmers following a drastic drop in domestic prices.

On Thursday, the country signed an agreement with China, one of nine such deals, as part of which China will provide 2,500 tonnes of rice to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, rates for the 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 fell to $330-$335 a tonne on Thursday, from $340-$345 last week, with a trader in Ho Chi Minh city attributing the dip to a pick-up in the ongoing summer-autumn harvest.

Another trader said Vietnam’s rice shipments to the European Union could get a boost once the free trade agreement signed between the country and the EU on Sunday takes effect.

“However, Vietnamese rice exports to the EU will still face technical barriers and competition from Thailand and Cambodia,” the trader said, adding the single-currency bloc will limit rice shipments from Vietnam at 80,000 tonnes a year.

Similarly, prices for second-biggest rice exporter Thailand’s benchmark 5% broken variety RI-THBKN5-P1 narrowed to $395-$413 a tonne on Thursday, free on board Bangkok (FOB), from the previous week’s $395-$415 range.

“Domestic prices have dropped due to lacklustre demand but the export prices remain high because of the exchange rate,” a Bangkok-based rice trader said.

A strong local currency was making Thai rice less competitive in overseas markets, traders said.

“If the baht remains strong then it will be hard for us to compete with Vietnam and India,” another trader in Bangkok said. (Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Arpan Varghese and Deepa Babington)
United States makes first-ever rice sale to China: trade group
Julie Ingwersen, Barbara Smith
JULY 4, 2019
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A private importer in China last week bought U.S. rice for the first time ever, in the midst of a trade war between the two nations, a rice industry group said on Wednesday.
The Chinese importer bought two containers, about 40 tonnes, of medium-grain rice from California-based Sun Valley Rice, said Michael Klein, a spokesman for USA Rice, a trade group that promotes the sale of the U.S. grain.
The U.S. rice was milled and packaged into bags for consumer and food service use, Klein said.China was a major buyer of U.S. soybeans and pork before the trade war started by the Trump administration. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that China had agreed to make unspecified new purchases of U.S. farm products after he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but purchases of major export crops have so far been elusive.

It was not immediately clear whether the rice purchase was a goodwill gesture following the Trump-Xi meeting. The rice deal follows a sale of 544,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China confirmed last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the largest such sale since March.
China is the world’s largest rice grower and consumer, producing 148.5 million tonnes of the grain in the 2018/19 marketing year and importing 3.5 million tonnes.

The United States produced 7.1 million tonnes of rice in 2018/19 and exported less than 3 million tonnes.
Chinese officials agreed to allow imports of U.S. rice in July 2017, following years of negotiations. But a nearly year-long trade dispute between the two countries threatened the first sale.“It looked dicey for us for a while, with the hostility going back and forth ... We were about to have a market, and saw it snatched away, or so we thought,” Klein said.
Sun Valley Rice hopes the deal lays the groundwork for more sales of U.S. rice to China in the future, representatives said.“Sun Valley has been a leader when it comes to agriculture trade with China, we have been taking the first steps,” said Karen Leland, Sun Valley’s chief marketing officer.

Iran shows interest in import of 5 lac ton rice from Pakistan

  Last Updated On 05 July,2019 10:10 am

Iran shows interest in import of 5 lac ton rice from Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD (APP) – Iran showed interest in import of 5 lac ton rice from Pakistan and askedDescription: https://img.dunyanews.tv/news/2019/July/07-05-19/news_big_images/498989_91364547.jpg the Pakistani side to devise necessary mechanism for early shipment.
An Iranian delegation led by Minister for Industries, Mine and Trade, Reza Rahmani, called on Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production, and Investment Razaq Dawood, in the first session of 8th Pak-Iran Joint Trade Committee to review progress of issues relating to bilateral trade, said a press release issued by Ministry of Commerce.

Iran keen to import 0.5m tons of rice from Pakistan

Published: July 5, 2019
Description: Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Business Reza Rahmani appreciated Dawood’s stance on bilateral trade issues and agreed to step up efforts to enhance trade with Pakistan in order to improve economic wellbeing of both countries. PHOTO: APP
Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Business Reza Rahmani appreciated Dawood’s stance on bilateral trade issues and agreed to step up efforts to enhance trade with Pakistan in order to improve economic wellbeing of both countries. PHOTO: APP
ISLAMABAD:  
Pakistan intends to improve bilateral trade and economic ties with Iran, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production Abdul Razak Dawood.
He made the remarks while talking to an Iranian delegation, led by Minister of Industry, Mines and Business Reza Rahmani, during first session of the 8th Pak-Iran Joint Trade Committee held to review progress on issues relating to bilateral trade.
The adviser underlined the importance of issues pertaining to two-way trade, which were discussed during the prime minister’s recent visit to Iran, and expected positive response from the Iranian side.
These issues included removing barriers which made Pak-Iran preferential trade agreement – signed in 2006 – ineffective and establishing a barter trade mechanism in order to ramp up bilateral trade in agriculture, food and pharmaceutical products.
“To start barter trade, both countries should select a few items having competitive advantage,” he asserted. “In this regard, Pakistan can enhance export of wheat, sugar, rice and fruits to Iran.”
The adviser apprised the delegation that bilateral trade was not up to the true potential and urged Iran to take necessary measures to remove non-trade barriers so that the real potential could be tapped.
He also suggested elimination of various forms of taxes such as road and load taxes on vehicles/trucks, which crossed the borders, to facilitate trade between the two nations.
During the meeting, Iran expressed keen interest in importing 500,000 tons of rice from Pakistan. It urged Pakistan to establish a necessary mechanism for early shipment of rice.
Speaking during the meeting, Rahmani appreciated Dawood’s stance on bilateral trade issues and agreed to step up efforts to enhance trade with Pakistan in order to improve economic wellbeing of both countries. He promised to address all the issues which were hampering bilateral trade and assured the PM aide of creating a win-win situation for both sides.
The Iranian side acknowledged the fact that Pakistan-Iran trade relations did not match the real potential and emphasised the need for constituting a committee for barter trade.
“Both the countries have a huge potential in agriculture, which has not yet been exploited,” the delegation highlighted.
Iran extended full support for removing potential bottlenecks in order to enhance trade and jointly develop a way forward.
Furthermore, it requested Pakistan government to open more border points between Pakistan and Iran mainly at Ramdan, Pishin and Korak, which would uplift bilateral trade.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2019.
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Price hike makes life difficult for low-income families

Shazia HasanUpdated July 05, 2019
Description: A WOMAN shops for groceries at Shahabuddin Market on Thursday.—Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
A WOMAN shops for groceries at Shahabuddin Market on Thursday.—Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
KARACHI: “Learning about the rise in costs, customers are cursing us on our face,” said a shopkeeper at a retail grocery shop at Shahabuddin Market here on Thursday.
“Everything costs more now. Sugar has gone up from Rs50 per kilogram to Rs70, flour was Rs35 per kilo but it is Rs50 now. There is a Rs20 per kg increase in lentil prices, too. The variety of rice which was available at Rs80/kg is now being sold at Rs100 as the Rs120 variety is selling at Rs150 and what was being sold for Rs150 earlier is now Rs180 a kilo,” he added.
“But we didn’t raise these costs. We don’t set prices. We are ourselves fighting an uphill battle as we try to survive in this retail market business during this terrible inflation. The cereals, lentils, flour and other stuff that we sell is brought here by us from Jodia Bazaar on loan. We need to pay the bigger retailers there in order to stay in business.
‘Our salaries are still the same and yet the price of everything has gone up’
“Meanwhile, we also maintain customers’ monthly accounts. We have had these people as our customers for 30 to 40 years now. We can’t turn them away. They take groceries from us on loan throughout the month and pay us after they get their salaries.
“Sadly, after the recent rise in costs they are unable to pay us back in full. For instance where they owed Rs10,000, they are able to only come up with Rs9,000, making it worse for them the following month as then they need to pay back Rs11,000 but they still can only pay Rs9,000. It is like quicksand pulling them deeper and deeper into debt,” the shopkeeper said.
“And if we look at our entire country now, it seems like it is also running on promises and loans that just won’t clear,” he smiled sadly. “We are all begging and borrowing and it won’t be long before many of us may also be forced to steal.”
Cutting costs
A housewife there bargaining with a shopkeeper for a quarter of a kilogram of tea leaves shared her plight with Dawn. “Our salaries are still the same and yet the price of everything has gone up,” she said. “We are trying to make ends meet still but not wasting money on anything. We don’t go out in the evenings anymore, we haven’t got any new clothes made this year, we are also willing to eat less ourselves but what do you do about the children? They need to eat after all. How do you expect us to send them to bed hungry?”
When asked to raise their voices about this injustice, the woman said that she didn’t feel it was going to bring about any change. “Who cares about us? What good would our complaining do? The government will do as it pleases anyway. The only change we see now is the ‘change’ or tabdeeli we were promised. But then we didn’t realise that it was going to be a negative change and not a positive one as we were made to believe,” she said.
‘We are being crushed’
“These are just flour, lentils and rice that we are unable to afford. Having mutton at Rs1,100/kg, beef at Rs680/kg and chicken at Rs200/kg is simply unthinkable. We are told that such and such politician is in jail to pay for his corruption or whatever. But he or she are still better off in jail as they are getting better food there than the people of this country,” said a very agitated male customer. “It is just us common people who are being punished for no fault of ours. We are being crushed. Where do we go?”
Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2019



·      JUL 5TH, 2019

·      KARACHI
Meeting of the Board of Directors of Pak-Malaysia Business Council of FPCCI was recently held in the Federation House under the Chairmanship of M Bashir Janmohammed, which was attended by directors and members of the Council. The Meeting was also attended by Engr Daroo Khan Achakzai, President of FPCCI and Muslim Muhammadi, Vice President, Deputy Secretary General and other officials of the Federation.

Pakistan-Malaysia bilateral trade position was reviewed, particularly with a view to enhance exports of Pakistani goods to Malaysia, in order to narrow-down trade imbalance with Malaysia. It was decided to make all out efforts to increase the volume of export of rice, halal food products, meat, frozen seafood, fresh vegetables & fruits, particularly mangoes and non-traditional items to Malaysia. The Council stressed on the need for exploring new areas of mutual co-operation to boost bilateral trade and economic ties with Malaysia.

The problems and constraints in the way of exports from Pakistan and probable remedies were also deliberated, particularly Import Duty on Mangoes and Mandarin (Kinoo) in Malaysia and non-availability of refrigerated containers for shipment of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, besides Malaysian export duty on crude palm oil, which discourages import of palm oil from Malaysia, which has come down to about 20%. It was agreed that Mango Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur would be arranged in current season, in collaboration with High Commission of Pakistan in Malaysia.

The Council noted that there is no Commercial Counselor at Pakistan High Commission in Kuala Lumpur for last one year. Similarly, the post of High Commissioner is also vacant as the recently appointed incumbent (Amna Baloch) has not taken the charge as yet. Since they play vital role to promote business and facilitate Pakistani businessmen. The Council has taken up the matter with Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment and other relevant authorities, for ensuring earliest posting of Commercial Counsellor in Malaysia.

The Council is in regular contact and correspondence with its Malaysian counterparts, viz. Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council, Kuala Lumpur. They are in the process of organizing a Full-Day Seminar in Malaysia to promote business and Malaysian investment in Pakistan, besides arranging a familiarization Trip to Pakistan in August/September, 2019 to promote tourism in Pakistan. The Council had also invited them to bring a trade delegation from Malaysia in October this year for promotion of trade between both the countries.

The Council's member based in Islamabad, Brig Muhammad Zareef Malik (retd) was co-opted as Director of Pak-Malaysia Business Council for liaison in Islamabad.
John Sheehy obituary
Michael Jackson
Fri 5 Jul 2019 17.51 BSTLast modified on Fri 5 Jul 2019 17.52 BST
 John Sheehy, plant physiologist, had an uncanny ability to go to the heart of complex problems. Photograph: IRRI
Description: John Sheehy, plant physiologist, had an uncanny ability to go to the heart of complex problems.My friend and former colleague John Sheehy, who has died aged 76, was an eminent plant physiologist who made significant contributions to understanding the growth and yield of pasture grasses, legumes and the world’s most important staple crop, rice.Born in Swindon to Bernard Sheehy, a railway worker, and Josephine (nee O’Connor), a nurse, John spent the second world war years on his grandparents’ farm in the west of Ireland. After the war the family moved to Newport, Monmouthshire.
After St Illtyd’s grammar school in Cardiff, John attended Aberystwyth University, gaining a BSc in physics (1965), followed by an MSc in electronics (1967). He joined Prof John Cooper at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station in Aberystwyth, retraining as a plant physiologist and deploying his prodigious quantitative skills to understand plant growth. He was awarded a PhD in 1971.
John then joined the Grassland Research Institute (GRI) in Hurley, Berkshire, as a biomathematician, where he carried out award-winning research on gaseous exchange and functioning of legume nodules. Leaving GRI in 1989 to set up his own consultancy business, Creative Scientific Solutions, he lectured part-time in systems and information analysis at Brunel University.
In 1995, John joined the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines as a crop modeller, establishing the Applied Photosynthesis and Systems Modelling Laboratory. Initially his research supported IRRI’s breeding programme to develop a new plant type and increase rice yield. Having an uncanny ability to go to the heart of complex problems, and dissecting them down to core elements, John concluded that yield could only be increased by “turbocharging” photosynthesis. He conceptualised the anatomical and biochemical changes needed, after comparing rice with maize, and persuaded some of the world’s best scientists to join a global project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
He retired from IRRI in 2009 and returned to the UK to live in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. But the “C4 rice” project (now led by Oxford University) has made considerable progress in reaching his vision.
John was a compassionate and thoughtful leader, inspiring loyalty and respect from all his research groups. He was made OBE in 2012 for services to agricultural research and development, and a fellow of Aberystwyth University in 2014.
He was passionate about rugby union, a lover of wine and a keen golfer until poor health prevented it.
John married Gaynor Bellis in 1971. She survives him, as do his two daughters, Rhiannon and Isabel, six grandchildren and a younger sister and brother.
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