Pakistan's rice exports increased by 50.76
percent during first quarter of current financial year
During the period of July-September 2019,
about 839,356 metric tons of rice worth $470.584 million were exported as
compared to the exports of 551.586 metric tons valuing $312.147 million of the
same period of last year.
According to the data released by the
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the exports of basmati rice increased by 47.29
per cent, about 212,873 metric tons of basmati rice valuing $194.669 million
exported as compared the 127,669 metric tons worth $132.166 million of same
period of last year.
Country earned $275.915 million by
exporting rice other then basmati, as about 226,983 metric tons of above
mentioned commodity exported 423,917 metric tons valuing $179.981 million of
same period of last year, it added.
Meanwhile, 34,090 metric tons of fish and
fish preparations worth $79.549 million were also exported in first quarter of
current financial year as compared to the exports of 25,859 metric tons valuing
$67.294 million of same period of last year.
According the trade data, the fish and fish
products exports registered about 81.21 per cent growth in last three months as
compared to the same period of last year, the data reveled.
During the period under review, fruits and
vegetables exports from the country also recorded positive growth of 10.20 per
cent and 21.11 per cent respectively.
The country earned $111.338 by exporting
about 131,762 metric tons of fruits, where as $38.459 million by exporting
145675 metric tons of vegetables respectively, it added.
Meanwhile the exports of the commodities that
remained on down track during the period under review included wheat 88.11 per
cent, spices 2.71 per cent, oil seed nuts and kernals reduced by 13.50 per cent
and the exports of sugar decreased by 22.95 per cent.
It may be recalled here that food group
exports of the country during first quarter of current financial year increased
by 13.98 per cent as different food commodities worth US$984.757 million
exported as compared to the exports of $864.005 million of the corresponding
period of last year.
Meanwhile, the imports of the food
commodities into the country decreased by 24.78 per cent as it came down from
$1.458 billion of first quarter of last year to $1.096 billion in same period
of current financial year.
Direct rice seeding technology introduced
FAISALABAD: The University of Agriculture
Faisalabad has introduced the Direct Rice Seeding Technology (DRST) with 36 per
cent water saving and Rs 20,000 per acre expenditures.
Due to this technology, farmers can
obtain 30 per cent extra yield. This was told by the speakers during a function
on the Farmers Day at Chak Bandi Rajoa Sadaat on Sunday. Prof Dr Muhammad
Ashraf, UAF Vice Chancellor, was the chief guest on the occasion.
Addressing the event, Dr Muhammad
Ashraf said that mechanisation was a key to achieve maximum agricultural yield
potential but unfortunately we could not ensure the mechanisation due to
various factors. He was of the view that this was the only way to enable our
small farmers to achieve productivity at par with the farming community of
modern world.
Dr Ashraf said that UAF Faculty of
Agricultural Engineering had been utilising reverse engineering techniques to
develop affordable and practicable machinery for the small farmers.
Col (R) Syed Asim Ali Shah while
delivering welcome address said that he provided his cultivated area for rice
direct seeding technology introduced by UAF Water Management Research Centre
(WMRC) which resulted a wonderful crop this year. He added that he would also
repeat this experience on maximum land resources of his farm. He offered more
collaboration with other scientists of the varsity in order to attract small
farming community.
Prof Dr Muhammad Arshad, Director
Water Management Research Centre, said that the UAF was striving hard to saving
irrigation water by utilising various techniques.
An ongoing conversation on diversity in science
Stories from the front line of research on inclusivity in STEM
7:36 pm, 27 October 2019
COURTESY OF SARAH PALMER/THE
GAIRDNER FOUNDATION
The Gairdner/L’Oréal-UNESCO
Forum on Diversity and Excellence in Science took place at the
MaRS Centre on September 30.
The conference was hosted in part by the Gairdner Foundation,
which aims to recognize “international excellence in fundamental research that
impacts human health.”
“Many groups are
underrepresented in research, including women, ethnic minorities, people with
disabilities, Indigenous people, and socially disadvantaged populations,” said
Dr. Janet Rossant, a professor at U of T’s Departments of Molecular Genetics
and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, in an interview with The Varsity.
Rossant is also the president and scientific director of the Gairdner
Foundation, and chief of research emeritus at the SickKids Research Institute.
“This is an ongoing conversation and ongoing discussion that we
have to have across many aspects of our lives today.”
Stories from the front line
A panel discussion named “Diversity in STEMM- Stories from the Frontline”
included Dr. Eugenia Duodu, Dr. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, and Dr. Janet Smylie,
and was moderated by Dr. Imogen Coe.
“We need to be having those conversations about those kinds of
uncomfortable things in order to move forward,” said Coe, a professor at
Ryerson University’s Faculty of Science, and an advocate for equity in STEM.
Smylie is a professor at U of T’s
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and also serves as the director of the Well
Living House, which focuses on bettering health outcomes for Indigenous children and
families.
Her talk focused on the
importance of a balance of power, specifically highlighting the importance of
finding an individual balance in one’s life.
Duodu received her PhD in chemistry from U of T and is the chief
executive officer of Visions of Science, a charitable organization which uses
STEM as a way to empower youth from low-income areas in Toronto.
She spoke about a time where she was not invited to a competition
that her colleagues were invited to. “It was really interesting that there was
this kind of assumption that this is not something that I would [want to] be a
part of,” she said.
Karim is the associate scientific director of the Centre for the
AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, a research centre focused on
studying HIV. She is also a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia
University Medical Centre.
She discussed how her activism work tied into the medical work she
was doing. “That anti-apartheid activism era in my life gave me an opportunity
to respect all forms of knowledge,” she said.
She further elaborated that it enabled her “to understand, even in
communities where literacy levels are low and people may not have degrees,
[that] they have important knowledge that could be tapped into.”
Afternoon STEM talks
The afternoon session included eight talks about STEM topics with
L’Oréal-UNESCO scientists Dr. Eugenia Kumacheva, Dr. Vanessa D’Costa, Dr. Janet
Rossant, Dr. Nausheen Sadiq, Dr. Victoria Arbour, Dr. Molly Shoichet, Dr. Kate
(Hyun) Lee, and Karim.
The concept of arsenic in rice was discussed in Sadiq’s talk, who
is a research chemist at Brooks Applied Labs and a L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in
Science fellow. The reasoning behind this, Sadiq said, is that “in Canada,
there is no set limit for arsenic in food.”
A focus of Sadiq’s PhD research was
on arsenic levels in rice. A type of rice she looked at was rice cereal, which
is often eaten by babies, which has relatively high amounts of arsenic.
“If you take [one thing] away from today, from me speaking,” said
Sadiq jokingly, “it’s please wash your rice.”
Philippines to nearly triple local
rice purchases, scraps safeguard duty proposal
Published:October 28, 2019
Updated:October 28, 2019 1:38 AM PDT
MANILA — The Philippine government will nearly treble rice
purchases from local farmers this year, officials said on Monday, after it
rejected a proposal last week to impose safeguard duty.
The National Food Authority (NFA) said it will now buy up to 1.14
million tonnes of unmilled rice from local farmers, who were hurt by the
removal of quantitative import restrictions, compared with the previous target
of 389,000 tonnes.
The state-run agency’s purchases this year have already exceeded
half of the new target, spokeswoman Rebecca Olarte said.
NFA also said it has been authorized by its council to buy the
staple grain at 19 pesos ($0.37) per kilogram, from 17 pesos previously, and
sell them to retailers at 23 pesos per kg, reduced from 25 pesos.
The announcement comes after Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto
Pernia said on Friday that the “foolhardy idea” of imposing safeguard duty on
rice imports, which could push up inflation, has been dropped.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar had pushed for the safeguard
duty to be imposed on top of existing tariffs, as proposed by some farmers’
groups, to ease the pain of local producers hit by a surge in rice imports.
The Southeast Asian nation, which is one of the world’s biggest
rice importers and often buys grains from its neighbors Vietnam and Thailand,
lifted a two-decade-old cap on purchases early this year and replaced it with
tariffs.
The policy shift has led to unhampered rice importation by the
private sector, with this year’s purchases seen reaching a record annual volume
of more than 3 million tonnes, way beyond what the country needs to fill the
supply gap.
While that helped bring down retail prices and ease inflation to
the lowest in nearly three years in September, from its peak in almost a decade
last year, farmers suffered as farmgate prices plunged.
The fall in farmgate prices is not a nationwide concern, however,
according to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, saying those in central and
southern Philippines in particular “seem to be holding up.”
($1 = 51 Philippine pesos) (Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; editing
by Uttaresh.V)
Cheap rice
imports choke small town’s Sh13b economy
Mt Kenya
Star 28th Oct 2019 09:55:15 GMT +0300
Traders waiting for buyers at Nice Ricers
Millers. [Kamundia Muriithi, Mt Kenya Star]Massive rice
imports mainly from Pakistan have chocked the economy of Ngurubani town in
Mwea, Kirinyaga County, which is the biggest grower and supplier of rice in
Kenya, slowing development and pushing farmers to diversify into other crops.
Mwea region produces about 100,000 tonnes of rice, which is
80 per cent of what Kenya produces.
However, Kenya requires massive rice imports mainly from
Pakistan have chocked the economy of Ngurubani town in Mwea, Kirinyaga County
which is the biggest grower and supplier of rice in Kenya, slowing development
and pushing farmers to diversify into other crops.
According to the Kenya Economic Survey, 2019, Mwea region
produces about 100,000 tonnes of rice, which is 80 per cent of what Kenya
produces.
However, Kenya requires about 400,000 tonnes of rice every
year meaning that it has to import about 300,000 tonnes, or three times of what
is produced locally.
While this reality has existed for many years, and traders in
the town have adjusted to it, what has changed is that the importers are
increasingly bringing in very low-quality rice, blamed on smuggling through the
Somali-Kenya border and weaker surveillance at the Port of Mombasa.
The cheaper rice is then sold at rock bottom prices and then
blended with Mwea’s aromatic pishori rice to be sold at pishori variety, at a
cheaper price, knocking off demand of the original variety that Mwea is known
for.
The imported rice varieties sell at as low as Sh80 per
kilogramme whereas pure Mwea pishori rice, which has a distinctive aroma,
retails at Sh130.
In a bigger blow to the area’s economy, as the construction
of Thiba Dam, which was supposed to flow in more money because of doubling of
rice farming area, has stalled indefinitely.
A visit to the bustling town revealed that milling factories
are operating at half capacity because of the diminishing demand, slowing down
the rice chain that has starved the town of cash flow.
The cheap imported varieties pose stiff competition, and for
customers seeking to save a shilling in the hard economic times, many opt for
the cheaper rice. But their biggest hurdle are unscrupulous traders who use
devious means to pass off the imported varieties as pure pishori.
Many customers are not wiser and cannot differentiate between
pure pishori and a blend of cheap rice and the pishori. Strangely, traders
raise concern that “pishori” sells at about Sh120 in some dealers in Nairobi
and Mombasa whereas ordinarily it would be higher than Mwea’s due to
transportation cost.
They say such rice could be adulterated or perfumed blends
that is killing their businesses. Traders and millers said they were disturbed
by reports that some dishonest merchants had gone to the extent of spraying the
cheaper imports with perfumes to cheat buyers that that is pure pishori.
At top rice mills and rice shops in Mwea town, business is
not roaring like before a situation the dealers linked to business disruption
by the cheap imports. “Our sales have been on a decline compared to previous
years. When I started trading rice here seven years ago, business was booming,
but nowadays has slumped down as customers opt for a cheaper varieties sold
elsewhere. Other consumers unknowingly buy cheaper rice blended with pishori
out there unknowing believing that is pure pishori. Those of us who deal with
genuine pishori area suffering,” said Jane Njagi, a trader at Nice Rice
Millers.
When Mt Kenya Star visited some of the rice
mills in Mwea on Thursday, we found the traders, mostly women, idly looking
forward to the tiny trickle for customers. However, milling machines continue
to roar processing rice produced from the Mwea irrigation scheme.
As a customer walked in, the traders scrambled for his
attention promising that their rice is pure and grade one.
The customer who we later identify as Michael Kanuthu, a
petrol truck driver heading back to Nairobi from taking delivery to Meru, told
us he had made it a habit of stopping at Nice Rice Millers where he is certain
of buying pure pishori.
“Every time I pass through this route I buy enough rice to
last my family for weeks. I’m reluctant to buy the commodity elsewhere as I
can’t tell whether it is blended with other varieties,” he says.
Traders say if they could get as many customers as Kanuthu
who appreciate the pure pishori, their fortunes would change for the better.
But that is just a wish since customers have cheaper alternatives.
Peris Wawira, a rice farmer and trader at Mwea, wondered why
rice that is imported all the way from Pakistan would sell cheaper than locally
produced ones.
“That tells you the farm inputs, that is fertilizer, chemical
sprays and labour here is high and adds up to the cost of production. This
makes our produce expense and unable to compete with imported varieties,” says
Wawira.
She says the best measure the government can adopt to address
this is by subsidizing farm inputs and providing more water to reduce costs
associated with hiring people to channel water to paddies.
“Mwea has the capacity to multiply rice production several
times and feed the nation only if adequate water is provided, inputs subsidized
and the government helps us to find more market,” says Wawira.
Stakeholders say many factors like insufficient water supply
and high cost of production are contributing to lower rice production wherase
Mwea irrigation scheme has potential to produce more.
At Top Graders Rice Millers, the director Loise Njoki, said
whereas they have a milling capacity of 1000 bags of rice daily, they were
doing only 200.
Njoki said the miller which has been operating since 2015
providing employment to over 100 traders and farmers, deals only in pure
pishori. She said cheap imports was posing unfair competition.
“Truck drivers have been buying our rice in large quantities
but they now prefer cheaper rice. We are left with consumers who buy smaller
quantities,” she said.
Njoki called on the government to complete construction of
Thiba dam so that more acreage can be put under rice production, while also
intervening to lower production cost.
“Cheaper inputs such as fertilizer and controlling of the
destructive quelea birds, which force us to hire even 10 people to fight them
can lower production expenses and make our rice competitive,” says Njoki who is
also a rice farmer.
At Nice Rice Millers, Head of Operations Peninah Kamunde said
they mill 60 tonnes of rice every day but that is still below their capacity.
She said their pure pishori rice whereas loved by customers
is under threat from cheaper imports. She said the adulteration of pure Mwea
pishori alters the market and shatters the loyalty of consumer who find the
fake pishori unpalatable.
“We go the extra mile to ensure only pure pishori comes from
our mills and is traded here. It is now upon the relevant government agencies
to shield farmers from other faked rice out there,” said Kamunde.
She said apart from weeding out fake rice, provision of
adequate water by completing Thiba Dam, lowering cost of inputs would enable
farmers to access cheaper fertilizer and sprays to control rice blast.
In an interview in May this year, Tai Rice Millers proprietor
Edwin Kagombe expressed concern over competition from the cheap imports. He
said the cheap Pakistan grain is dumped into a big store in Mwea always after
every harvesting season and the is blended with the Mwea pishori rice and
offered to unsuspecting consumers at a much cheaper cost.
He said the adulterated rice was affecting
business and called for protection of farmers against unfair trade practices.
Peter Njagi, a farmer, said rice farming is a tedious and that the government
should protect farmers
‘How we process rice without stones or sand’
By Femi
Ibirogba
28 October 2019
| 1:31 am
Amos Fakunle
Mr Amos Fakunle is a manager with one of the rice processing companies based in Ibadan, Oyo State. He spoke with FEMI IBIROGBA during an exhibition by farmers, processors and input suppliers to mark the year’s World Food Day. Excerpts:
Nigerians were not eating local rice as a result of stones and sands before now. Do you think they are responding positively to local brands now?
Yes. We are Nigerians and we have studied the problems associated with local rice and we also know the quality of foreign rice. The knowledge of the two has made us to strike a balance in quality. And the taste of Nigerians is changing. We add neither chemicals nor preservatives.
How do
you remove stones?
When farmers harvest paddies, we buy and first of all, we destone and wash. After washing, we soak and after soaking, we parboil. After parboiling, we dry. We do not wait for sun to dry. We use a mechanical dryer. After drying, we mill. After milling, we destone again mechanically.
When farmers harvest paddies, we buy and first of all, we destone and wash. After washing, we soak and after soaking, we parboil. After parboiling, we dry. We do not wait for sun to dry. We use a mechanical dryer. After drying, we mill. After milling, we destone again mechanically.
Now that
smuggling of rice has reduced or stopped, can Nigerian farmers produce enough
rice, minding that we use mainly rain-fed agriculture?
There is irrigation agriculture in Nigeria too. Nigerian farmers are able if the government will provide the right atmosphere of security. Then they should provide improved varieties of seeds. The road network and electricity generation are important too. When farmers produce, processors will buy and Nigerians will buy because we have decided to look inward.
There is irrigation agriculture in Nigeria too. Nigerian farmers are able if the government will provide the right atmosphere of security. Then they should provide improved varieties of seeds. The road network and electricity generation are important too. When farmers produce, processors will buy and Nigerians will buy because we have decided to look inward.
Let me
tell you that Nigerian rice is more nutritious than imported rice. They use
chemicals to bleach the rice to look white, but the Nigerian rice is not
bleached. We process as the rice comes; no colouring or bleaching.
Are you
urging Nigerians to change their taste?
They have to. From our experience of producing and consuming local rice, morbidity has reduced by about 80 per cent among the staff. We are all eating Nigerian rice.
They have to. From our experience of producing and consuming local rice, morbidity has reduced by about 80 per cent among the staff. We are all eating Nigerian rice.
Why has
your company delved into rice manufacturing? Is it because of the new food
policy?
Sincerely yours, before the closure borders or forex restriction on food imports, we had started production of rice. Going into production is a passion. When that passion is developed in the investor, and other staffers, the idea could come into a reality. So, processing rice is a passion of our chairman.
Rice processing requires a lot more than other crops you can think of. The desire to add value to rice, help in the reduction of food import and create more jobs led us into rice processing.Eating the Nigerian rice is becoming part of our lives. We have stopped eating imported rice. There are problems associated with eating imported rice.
Sincerely yours, before the closure borders or forex restriction on food imports, we had started production of rice. Going into production is a passion. When that passion is developed in the investor, and other staffers, the idea could come into a reality. So, processing rice is a passion of our chairman.
Rice processing requires a lot more than other crops you can think of. The desire to add value to rice, help in the reduction of food import and create more jobs led us into rice processing.Eating the Nigerian rice is becoming part of our lives. We have stopped eating imported rice. There are problems associated with eating imported rice.
Vietnam:
Half of Mekong Delta expected to be lost
7:29 pm, October 27, 2019
Viet
Nam NewsMore
than half of the Mekong Delta will disappear under sea level in the next two
generations if no action is taken now, research has found.
The
results of the five-year-long Rise and Fall research project funded by the
Netherlands government were announced to the press on Oct. 24.
The
findings shed light on the linkages between land subsidence, groundwater
extraction and saline intrusion in the Mekong Delta, locally known as the Cuu
Long Delta, while giving out a red alert over the future of Vietnam’s largest
rice production area.
The
delta is home to more than 17 million people, most of whom are farmers who grow
nearly 60 percent of the country’s rice and 40 percent of the country’s
aquaculture products.
Rapid
economic development in the region since the 1990s led to a drastic increase of
groundwater extraction for agriculture, aquaculture and living activities,
researchers from Utrecht University and Deltares institute found.
The
over-extraction of groundwater reserves, estimated at about 2.5 million cubic
meters a day in 2015, triggered and accelerated mass land subsidence in the
delta with some areas sinking at a rate of up to 6 centimeters a year.
It
ultimately left the Mekong Delta, which saw almost no subsidence in the 1990s,
merely 80 centimeters above the current sea level.
“I
come from the Netherlands which is a flat land but I have seen some parts in
the Mekong Delta even flatter than the Netherlands during my field trips to the
region,” said Philip Minderhoud, leader of the research group.
“Groundwater
extraction is not free. We pay for it by elevation and once below sea level the
costs of protecting the land rapidly increase.”
The
researchers also made projections of the sinking rate of the delta taking into
account subsidence induced by groundwater extraction and rising sea levels due
to climate change.
If
groundwater usage keeps growing at 2 percent per year, the outlook will be at
its bleakest as a number of areas will be under sea level by less than 10 years
from now while the southern half and beyond will be engulfed by seawater by
2080.
In
other scenarios which see no increase in groundwater extraction, the percentage
of land falling under sea level will subsequently decrease. Nearly 50 percent
of the delta will sink below sea level in case of stable extraction and only a
third if the water use is reduced by 75 percent.
While
the irreversible sinking already set in motion accelerated quickly, river
sediment which was supposed to compensate land subsidence became insufficient.
It was either blocked upstream due to a series of dam constructions on the
Mekong River or destroyed by sand miners, according to the research findings.
The
sand starvation made the tide intrude deeper with greater volume, resulting in
exacerbating salinization that would seriously damage the region’s crops and
aquaculture industry.
“It
is recommended that the government of Vietnam tackles the root causes related
to the mining of groundwater and sand,” Minderhoud said.
“The research is not to scare
people but to prepare them. Vietnam has to take action now. That’s the crucial
part.”Speech
New report shows 95% baby food tested positive
for toxic metals
BY CARMEN GOMEZ ON
OCTOBER 27, 2019
A recent study has revealed that
there are high chances of baby food containing traces of poisonous heavy
metals. These chemicals include lead and arsenic. This research was
commissioned by the HBBF or the Bright Futures for Healthy Babies. A report was
released on Thursday. It showed that 168 different baby foods were tested to
detect presence of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury.
The researchers discovered that 95%
of the tested baby foods had traces of contamination by one or more of the four
mentioned heavy metals. Further, one out of four baby foods that were examined,
contained all the four of these harmful heavy metals. Merely 9 out of the
tested 168 baby food productsdid not contain any trace amount of the four
metals.
The food products posing maximum
risk include rice-based items like rice cereals and puff snacks as well as
fruit juices. In particular, rice can easily absorb arsenic. The chemical is
commonly used as a pesticide on growing rice. Out of the 7 infant rice cereal samples
that were tested, 4 tested positive for containing inorganic arsenic. This
refers to a more poisonous form of arsenic. In fact, it exceeds the 100 parts
in a billion limits that is generally proposed by the FDA or the Administration
of Drug and Food.
Apart from these, carrots and sweet potatoes also tested positive
for contamination as they are root crops. Out of these 4 metals, the most
serious threat is lead. It appeared in 94% of the tested baby foods. Next on
the list was cadmium, followed by arsenic as they were present in nearly 75% of
baby food materials. The chemical found the least number of times was mercury.
It contaminated less than a third of all the tested products. 13 different
kinds of food, varying over 61 different brands were tested in this experiment.
They included teething biscuits, fruit juices, infant formula and cereals.
News
Journalist At Industry News Publisher
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Nigeria: We Can Supply Enough Rice
Nationwide - Cross River Farmers, Govt
Photo: Pixabay
rice.
27 OCTOBER 2019
By Eyo Charles
Calabar — Although a good number of Nigerians are complaining
and blaming the Federal Government for closing the country's borders, rice
cooperatives, big-time farmers, including the Rice Farmers Association of
Nigeria (RIFAN) in Cross River State are full of praises for the order.
Among the eight local government areas in the state which are
predominantly, rice producers are Ogoja, Yala, Bekwara, Abi, Ikom, Obudu.
Farmers in these areas have said this is the first time the
government has taken a very bold step in ensuring that local investors and
farmers get real value for their investment.
They are therefore calling on the federal government to
permanently keep the borders closed so that Nigerian processed rice can also be
made popular and its acceptability amongst the people sustained.
Governor Ben Ayade's administration has established the largest
rice seedling and a multiplication plant in Calabar, which claims to have the
capability to churn out better quality, more vitamins and nutritious rice for
the entire country.
The governor commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking the
bull by the horn in banning the importation of rice. He urged law enforcement
agencies to deal ruthlessly with rice cabals that dare to thwart the
government's order.
Last year, President Buhari formally commissioned the rice
seedling factory and said his government will give its support to bolster its
agricultural policy and encourage local rice production.
Ayade had said: "The factory is the first in Africa. It is
also a seed multiplication centre, which produces high-yield, disease-resistant
and vitamins rich rice seeds and seedlings.
"This facility is one of many investments made in
agriculture in keeping with the commitment to decouple the state from the
federal allocation through non-oil sources."
Last week, when a Japanese group, Sasakawa African Group, which
gives methodological support and empowerment to smallholder farmers in 12
African countries including Nigeria, undertook a media field tour to assess how
local farmers had imbibed their training and were utilising their technical
support to improve their yields, income and knowledge, the farmers spoken to
said with sufficient support, they have the land from which to flood the
markets with processed and high quality rice.
Sasakawa, which resumed support activities in parts of Nigeria
including Cross River State in 2015, donated two rice milling and processing
machines to two rice cooperatives in Ogoja, regarded as the home of rice
production, and in Yala, another major rice producer.
In these two local government areas alone, there are over 300
rice farmers. In the rest of the six local government areas which produce rice
in large quantities, there are over 100 individual and big-time farmers.
Some of the rice cooperatives such as Nkamero Tesmo Association
in Nkamero village in Bansara community in Ogoja LGA of the state, Paradise
Ideal Farms and Okomaya ACAI Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative Society, in Ikom,
have come out to decry importation of rice at the detriment of efforts of local
farmers such as themselves.
Chairman of Tesmo Association, Mr. Gregory Eworo, said:
"The only challenge we had was the lack of milling and processing machines
which made a teeming number of our members in the state to troop to Ebonyi and
other nearby states for the service.
"But now we no longer travel far distances with tons of our
produce at great cost because Sasakawa has afforded us the machine at no cost.
A good number of farmers and members now patronise us. With the vast lands
owned by our members, for instance, we can meet the demands in much of the
South-South states if we have more of such machines, patronage and markets,
which is our major headache."
Eworo expressed anger that when they used to take their rice to
process in Ebonyi State, the millers would bag the rice and label it 'Produced
in Ebonyi'.
"We were not happy with the Ebonyi rice millers for
claiming that the rice my members and other farmers in the state toiled hard to
cultivate and harvest was produced in Ebonyi; all that was because we did not
have our rice milling and processing machines.
"With time, we will stamp the origin of our rice on our
bags. Our village and farmers are happy with Sasakawa for donating the machines
to us. They have helped us a lot except that attracting market is now the
problem.
"With the mill provided by Sasakawa, no one will easily
know that the rice processed here is our local rice. With this high quality, we
can fill the gap created by the ban on foreign rice and closure of the
borders," Eworo said.
He listed electricity and de-stoner machine as what they needed
to help separate sand from the rice, making it near perfect and better than the
foreign variety.
A big-time farmer, Mr. Fidelis Momfem, said he has large
hectares of rice farms in the community, adding "I and other farmers
produce in large commercial quantities. We can supply rice round Nigeria if we
are supported."
In Nyanya Izigwe, another major rice-producing community in
Bekwara LGA where, with the support of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and
Sasakawa providing inputs and technology, rice demonstration farms are
blossoming, the farmers have a slogan: 'We Rebuild Nigeria With Rice'.
Most members of the community are engaged in rice farming and
said they apply the NPK fertilizer alongside employment of other methodologies
taught by extension officers and Sasakawa officers.
Mr. Abu Thomas, who has two hectares of rice farm in Bekwara
said they are 30 in their group and have enjoyed support from Agric experts but
that they need more input. "We need this variety of rice and will continue
with the programme of Sasakawa," they said.
Country coordinator of Sasakawa, Prof Sani Miko, disclosed that
they donated two of the mills which are capable of polishing rice and milling
it such that it would be difficult to know it was local rice.
He urged farmers to ensure maximum use of the machines to
encourage his association to donate de-stoner machines that will help to remove
stones from the processed rice.
He also advised them not to rely on the government to supply all
their needs, but pool their resources together and popularise their efforts to
market and attract investors.
Prof Miko said he could see how determined and enthusiastic rice
farmers in the state were. "As such, we are going to do more business
training and group dynamics to boost their knowledge, yields, adaptation and
attraction of wider markets for the local rice," he said.
The South-South vice chairman of RIFAN, Emmanuel Anoh,
buttressed the claims by the Cross River rice farmers that they can flood the
country with rice. "I can vouch for that claim. There are big-time and
committed rice investors and farmers in the state. The tons of rice cultivated
and harvested seasonally is huge," he said.
He praised the Buhari's administration for banning foreign rice,
saying that will strengthen local farmers, and impact the economy to such
extent that it can become a goldmine.
"The policy is a welcome development and will certainly
transform rice production in Nigeria and attract migration back to the rural
areas," he said.
UAF Introduces Direct Rice Seeding Technology
FAISALABAD, (APP - UrduPoint /
Pakistan Point News - 27th Oct, 2019 ) ::The University of Agriculture, Faisalabad has introduced
'Direct Rice Seeding Technology'
with 36 percent water saving
and minimizing per acre input which would enable farmers to obtain 30 percent
extra yield.
This was revealed at a function
held to mark the 'Farmers' Day' at Chak Bandi Rajoa Sadaat on Sunday,
in which, UAF vice chancellor Prof Dr
Muhammad Ashraf was chief guest.
Addressing on the occasion, Dr
Muhammad Ashraf said mechanization was the key to achieve maximum agricultural
produce but unfortunately in Pakistan, no mechanization could be
ensured owning to various factors.
He was of the view that this was
the only way to enable small farmers to achieve productivity at par with the
farming community of modern world.
Dr. Ashraf said the UAF Faculty
of Agricultural Engineering had been utilizing reverse engineering techniques
to develop affordable and practicable machinery for small farmers.
A progressive farmer Col (R) Syed
Asim Ali Shah said that he provided his cultivated area for rice direct
seeding technology introduced by
the UAF Water Management
Research Centre (WMRC) which would give wonderful yield this year.
He added that he would also repeat this experience on maximum land
resources of his farm.
He offered more collaboration with other scientists of the varsity
in order to attract small farming community.
Prof Dr. Muhammad Arshad,
Director Water Management Research
Centre said that UAF was
striving hard to saving irrigation water by
utilizing various techniques.
He added that direct seeding technology would
be adopted on large scale due to its importance in coming days.
He maintained that farmer could
save land preparation charges by direct seeding technique, which of course
saves water up to 40 percent.
Prof Dr Qamar Bilal said the university was strengthening ties
with small farmers by introducing economical agronomic packages.
He added that outreach activities
were being expedited to transfer modern agricultural technology at
the doorstep of farmers.
Dr. Muhammad Javed, Director Financial Aid, Muhammad Jamil,
Secretary to vice chancellor, Dr. Ahmad Waqas and others also spoke on the
occasion.
Customs arrests 15 suspected rice smugglers in Yola
October
27, 2019
The
Adamawa and Taraba states joint command of the Nigeria Customs Service has
arrested fifteen suspects for re-bagging foreign rice to sell as local
rice.
Owolabi
Adenusi reports that in spite of closed borders, smugglers are devising dubious
means of bringing in the banned food item.
In
the latest raid, 15 suspects were found with 900 bags of rice with duty paid
value of N14.5 million. They were being repackaged at a warehouse.
The
command said it remains undeterred in enforcing the restriction on the
importation of foreign rice and issues this warning to smugglers.
The Taraba and Adamawa States
customs command has mounted strategic posts to ensure smuggled products no
longer slip into the country in spite of porous borders.
Bangladesh close to releasing Golden Rice
12:07 am
October 28th, 2019
Golden rice IRRI
Visiting Nobel Laureate Sir Richard John
Roberts made the announcement at a regional seminar in Dhaka after he held an
impromptu meeting with the ministers of agriculture and environment on Sunday
Bangladesh will take a decision on the release
of the world’s first Vitamin-A enriched rice variety by November 15.
Visiting Nobel Laureate Sir Richard John
Roberts made the announcement at a regional seminar in Dhaka after he held an
impromptu meeting with the ministers of agriculture and environment on Sunday.
Vitamin A enriched rice, popularly known as
Golden Rice, has been in the regulatory approval process since November 2017
and the Ministry of Agriculture has long been pushing the Environment Ministry
for its seal of approval.
Golden Rice is rich with beta carotene, also
known as pro-vitamin A, a substance human bodies can convert to Vitamin A. Both
Bangladesh and the Philippines have readied for release of the world’s first
Vitamin-A enriched rice varieties, heralding a new era in the fight against
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD).
According to the World Health Organization's
global VAD database, one in every five pre-school children in Bangladesh is
vitamin A-deficient. Among pregnant women, 23.7% suffer from VAD.
The International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) says VAD is the main cause of preventable blindness in children, and
globally, some 6.7 million children die every year and another 350,000 go blind
because they are vitamin A deficient.
Once released, Golden Rice will be the culmination
of a long-touted partial remedy for VAD.
Coming to Dhaka to deliver a keynote speech at
a ‘Regional Seminar on GMO Crops: Policy and Practices in South Asia’ at
North-South University on Sunday, the 1993 Medicine Nobel winner Sir Richard
Roberts enquired about the Golden Rice release development with the organizers.
That immediately prompted Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, who
was also present at the seminar, to call up his cabinet colleague Environment
Minister Md Shahab Uddin and set up an impromptu meeting.
Several hours later, as Sir Richard Roberts
returned to the seminar venue after holding his meeting with the ministers, he
spoke at the concluding session and informed that a final decision on Golden
Rice will be taken by November 15.
“If Golden Rice is approved here (in
Bangladesh) that will be a big message for the whole world, where 3,000
children die each day owing to VAD,” said the English biochemist and molecular
biologist credited for developing the mechanism of gene splicing, an important
source of protein diversity.
Current status
Golden Rice is a transgenic variety, as a gene
from maize has been infused into rice paddy for beta carotene expression. That
is why a biosafety approval is a prerequisite for varietal release in
Bangladesh. To complete the biosafety review process, Bangladesh Rice Research
Institute (BRRI) lodged an application with the National Technical Committee on
Crop Biotechnology (NTCCB) at the Ministry of Agriculture on November 26, 2017.
It then forwarded the application to the National Committee on Biosafety (NCB)
at the Ministry of Environment on December 4, 2017.
Rice does not contain beta carotene.
Therefore, dependence on rice as the predominant food source generally leads to
Vitamin A deficiency, most severely affecting small children and pregnant
women.
Consumption of only 150 grams of Golden Rice a
day is expected to supply half of the recommended daily intake (RDA) of Vitamin
A for an adult. People in Bangladesh depend on rice for 70% of their daily
calorie intake.
Policy
Colloquium
Speaking as a panellist at the Policy
Colloquium session at the seminar organized by the South Asian Institute of
Policy and Governance (SIPG) of North South University, Professor Dr Zeba Islam
Seraj said there should be a specialized cell within the environment ministry
to deal with the GMO (genetically modified organism) events. Otherwise, the
issue of advancing the frontier science and release of future biotech products
would suffer, feared Dr Zeba, who heads the Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology at DU.
Anwar Faruque, an ex-agriculture secretary,
emphasized on investing more in research and development of agro-biotechnology,
while Lal Teer Seed Limited’s Managing Director Mahbub Anam shared some of the
private sector’s experiences about research and development.
Another panellist and Executive Editor of
Dhaka Tribune Reaz Ahmad said most of the anti-GMO campaigns are not founded on
any scientific basis.
“These arguments are placed mostly out of
ignorance,” Reaz Ahmad said, emphasizing the need for spreading science
education among the masses.
Former director general of Bangladesh Rice
Research Institute (BRRI) Dr Jibon Krishna Biswas, and Dr Krishna Prasad Pant,
a Fellow of the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics
(SANDEE) also spoke as panellists at the colloquium, moderated by SIPG Director
Prof Sk. Tawfique M Haque.
Earlier, research scientists, university
faculties and experts presented presentations in the business session of the
seminar with NSU Trustee Board Member M A Kashem and Vice-Chancellor Professor
Atiqul Islam speaking as guests at the closing session.
Blocking of genetically modified
rice "has cost millions of lives and has led to blindness in
children,quot; Environment
By
October 27, 2019
Stifling international regulations have been blamed for
postponing the approval of a foodstuff that could have saved millions of lives
this century. The claim is made in a new investigation into the controversy surrounding
the development of Golden Rice by a team of international scientists.
Golden rice is a form of normal white rice that has been
genetically modified to provide vitamin A to combat blindness and other
diseases in children in developing countries. It was developed two decades ago,
but is still struggling to get approval in most countries.
"Golden rice has not been made available to those for whom
it was intended in the 20 years since it was made," says the science
writer Ed Regis. "If these countries were allowed to grow, millions of
lives would not have been lost through malnutrition and millions of children
would not have gone blind."
Vitamin A deficiency is virtually unknown in the West, where it
occurs in most foods. However, for people in developing countries, vitamin A is
a matter of life or death. It is believed that it is not responsible for
killing more children than HIV, tuberculosis or malaria – around 2,000 deaths
per day. Worldwide, about one third of children under the age of five suffer
from the condition that can also lead to blindness.
As a solution to this crisis, Peter Beyer, professor of cell
biology at Freiburg University in Germany, and Ingo Potrykus of the Institute
of Plant Sciences in Switzerland focused on the new technology for genetic
engineering at the end of the 20th century. They introduced genes for a
chemical known as beta-carotene into the DNA of normal rice. In this way they
have modified the rice genes so that the plants started to produce
beta-carotene, a rich orange-colored pigment that is also an important
precursor of the body to make vitamin A.
Golden Rice has not been made available to those for whom it was
intended in the 20 years since it was made.
Ed Regis, science writer
“In Bangladesh, China, India and elsewhere in Asia, many
children live daily from a few bowls of rice and almost nothing else. For them,
a daily supply of Golden Rice could now bring the gift of life and vision,
”says Regis in his book, Golden Rice, which is being published this month.
Unfortunately, that daily supply did not come true – and Regis
is clear where the blame lies. To begin with, many ecological action groups, in
particular Greenpeace, have tried to block Golden Rice approval because of
their general opposition to genetically modified crops. "Greenpeace's
opposition to Golden Rice was especially persistent, vocal and extreme, perhaps
because Golden Rice was a genetically modified crop that had so much to
offer," he says.
For its part, over the years, Greenpeace has insisted that Golden
Rice is a hoax and that its development diverted resources from dealing with
global global poverty, which it believed was the real cause of the planet's
health problems.
Nevertheless, this opposition did not have the power to put
Golden Rice in its tracks, Regis says. The real problem lies in an
international convention known as the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, an
agreement aimed at ensuring the safe handling, transport and use of modified
living organisms, which entered into force in 2003.
The Cartagena protocol contains a very controversial clause
known as principle 15 or, more generally, the precautionary principle. It
states that if a product of modern biotechnology poses a potential risk to
human health or the environment, measures must be taken to limit or prevent its
introduction. The doctrine, in the case of Golden Rice, was interpreted as
"guilty until proven innocent," says Regis, an attitude completely
out of place with the crop's potential to save millions of lives and stop blindness.
As a result, every aspect of Golden Rice's development, from
laboratory work to field trials to screening, got entangled "in a
Byzantine web of rules, guidelines, requirements, limitations and
prohibitions," and it's only in the last few years that there have been
steps taken to approve it – although so far only in the US, Canada and
Australia. It is still waiting for the green light – hopefully by the end of
this year – in countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh, where it is
much more urgent.
"The effects of withholding, delaying or delaying Golden
Rice's development through excessive monitoring have entailed unacceptable
costs in terms of years of sight and lost lives," Regis concludes.
Golden Rice: The Imperiled Birth of a GMO Superfood is published
by Johns Hopkins University Press
Making both conventional and organic agriculture work in PH
(Part 1)
October 26, 2019, 10:00 PM
Dr. Emil Q. Javier
One of the key issues confronting
Philippine agriculture (and the rest of the world!) is to what extent organic
agriculture should be pushed to replace the current mainstream agricultural
practices, also collectively referred to, as conventional agriculture.
This was the theme of the public consultation organized by the
Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines, Inc. (CAMP), the
Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture
(SEARCA), the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources
Research and Development (PCAARRD-DOST), and the Institute of Plant Breeding
(IPB), College of Agriculture and Food Science held at UP Los Baños campus last
week.
The advocates of organic
agriculture claim that the present chemical-based, industrial agriculture is
unhealthy and unsafe to consumers and the producers (farmers) themselves and
destructive of the environment. Further that organic produce are more
nutritious and taste better.
The advantages of organic
agriculture are attained by adoption of environment-friendly farming practices
such as use of resistant varieties, green manuring, mulching, crop rotation,
and use of beneficial soil organisms. Likewise, from the exclusive use of
natural products for fertilizers and for pest control. Moreover, organic
agriculture specifically prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms
(GMOs).
The defenders of conventional
agriculture on the other hand, contend that the claimed
environmentally-friendly practices are not exclusive to organic agriculture but
are also practiced by conventional agriculture.
And, pointedly, the complete ban
on chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides and GMOs because of their alleged
adverse effects is controverted by scientific data.
According to the International
Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM),… organic agriculture is a production system that sustains
the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes,
biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science
to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good
quality of life for all involved…
The concern for the health of
people; conservation of biodiversity and the environment; application of the
principles of science, particularly ecology; respect for tradition and
promotion of fairness in the definition are unassailable noble purposes.
However, the implication that the
inverse of organic agriculture (i.e. conventional agriculture) is bereft of
these noble purposes and features is not true. These features are common to and
shared by the two competing farming models.
The point of departure and bone
of contention in the definition is the phrase… rather that the use of inputs with
adverse effects, namely chemical fertilizers, synthetic
pesticides and GMOs.
Crops extract mineral nutrients
like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulfur, magnesium, manganese,
iron, zinc, and boron from the soil. Over a period of time the soil is depleted
of these minerals and becomes barren. Hence, the need for fertilizers to
replace the lost minerals. Fertilizers can come in the form of crop residues,
animal manures, and chemical fertilizers. In the case of nitrogen, certain
microorganisms which can fix nitrogen from the air, can be deployed.
Environment degradation such as
soil acidification, salinization, pollution of aquifers, rivers, lakes and
seas, and emission of greenhouse gases leading to global warming are attributed
to excessive application and misuse of chemical fertilizers.
But this is true as well with the
over-application of animal manures.
That the judicious moderate
application of chemical fertilizers is sustainable and not necessarily inimical
to soil health is borne by long-term experiments in three continents.
The well-known Rothamsted Station
plots in England which had been sown to wheat and applied with chemical
fertilizers since 1856 are still growing wheat. The Morrow plots at the
University of Illinois in the USA (where I earned a master’s degree in
agronomy) had been growing maize and soybean with fertilizers since 1876.
And closer to home, the Chandler
plots at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños had been
growing three crops a year of chemically fertilized rice since 1963 and still
producing 20 tons of palay a year.
On the other hand, organic
fertilizers compared with chemical fertilizers, have low nutrient density and
need to be applied by the tons per hectare. The collection, transport and
spreading in the field of organic fertilizers involve high logistic costs.
Moreover, organic fertilizers are not always available in the volumes required
and could be expensive, like chicken manure and vermicompost.
Not so appreciated is the lack of
synchrony between the slow, steady release of nutrients from organic
fertilizers, on one hand, and the uneven crop demand for nutrients, on the
other. This is particularly true for the spike of nutrient requirement of
annual crops during the rapid tillering, flowering and fruit development
stages.
Thus, for most crops in different
growing environments in many countries, organic crops yield less than their
conventional counterparts. A USDA meta-study (2014) reported yield penalties of
as much as 45% in cotton, 35% in corn, 31% in soybean, 17% in okra, and 7% in
safflower.
Hence, the higher retail prices
of organic products to make up for higher production costs and lower yields. It
goes without saying that higher food prices will make more Filipinos food
insecure.
However, there are very important
benefits from organic fertilizers which are not provided by chemical fertilizers.
Organic matter improve soil aggregation and facilitate aeration and drainage.
Many beneficial organisms come with organic fertilizers (but also deleterious
microorganisms). And third, organic fertilizers supply essential trace elements
not found in pure synthetic compounds.
Therefore the judicious approach
is a balanced mix of organic and chemical fertilizers.
The real advantage of organic
produce lies in the fact that often they are clean of pesticide residues
because truly organic farmers refrain from the use of pesticides as much as
possible. Or they resort to botanical pesticides which are often less toxic and
less persistent in the environment (albeit less effective) compared with most
chemical pesticides.
However, this is not always true.
Methyl bromide is toxic to humans
and a known carcinogen but still allowed in organic strawberry production in
many jurisdictions.
Pyrethrins from chrysanthemum
flowers are safe to humans but very toxic to bees and aquatic life. Rotenone
from the derris plant is mildly toxic to humans but extremely toxic to insects
and aquatic life and is associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Copper sulfate is a common
fungicide allowed in organic farming. It contains copper which is a heavy
metal. LD50 is a measure of toxicity; it is the dosage of a poison at which
half of a target population die. Copper sulfate has an LD50 of 300 mg/kg of
bodyweight. On the other hand, Mancozeb, a chemical fungicide has an LD50 of
4,500 to 11,200. Thus, Mancozeb a forbidden fungicide is 15 to 37 times “safer”
than copper sulfate which is allowed.
A chemical is synthetic if it
does not exist in the natural world. The basis for prohibiting use of a
pesticide is its active ingredient. But the organic label prohibits compounds
existing in nature if they are produced by chemical synthesis. Thus prohibition
is idiosyncratic, not based on the pharmacology of the chemical, but based on
doctrine.
The global chemical industry
reeling from massive lawsuits and relentless pressure from environmentalists,
the medical profession and the consuming public is turning out chemicals and
biostimulants which are increasingly more benign, less persistent and more
target specific than the existing traditional organic pesticides. Depriving
farmers and consumers of these future potentially healthier and safer options
is myopic and mindless.
To be continued… Part 2
Dr. Emil Q. Javier is a member of
the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and also chairman of the
Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP).
For any feedback, email
eqjavier@yahoo.com
Myanmar produces 30 m tons of paddy
in 2018-19 FY
PUBLISHED 27
OCTOBER 2019
In
2018-19 fiscal year, around 17.9 million acres of monsoon paddy were grown and
paddy production was around 30 million tons of paddy, said Dr. Aung Thu, Union
Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.
Paddy
production still tops the list of local agro products. Pawsanhmway paddy
accounted for around 1.3 million acres of total paddy growing acres.
There
is a high demand for Pawsanhmway paddy in the local market. Farmers get a good
price for Pawsanhmway paddy.
Pawsanhmway
paddy got the Word’s Best Rice Award at Rice Traders World Rice Conference held
in Hochimin City of Vietnam in 2011.
The
agricultural sector contributes to 30 per cent of the GDP and 25 per cent of
the export earnings. The rural people which account for 70 per cent of have to
rely on agriculture and breeding.
Till
June of 2018-19 FY, Myanmar planted 15,083,156 acres of monsoon paddy and
2,777,899 acres of summer paddy and produced over 1,294.5 million baskets of
paddy—1,082,587,039 baskets of monsoon paddy and 211,969253 baskets of summer
paddy, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.
In
Myanmar, more than 19 acres are put under monsoon and summer paddy annually.
More than five million rural households are engaging in the paddy growing.
Block on GM
rice ‘has cost millions of lives and led to child blindness’
Eco
groups and global treaty blamed for delay in supply of vitamin-A enriched
Golden Rice
Sat 26 Oct 2019 12.05 EDT
Ordinary
rice and Golden Rice, a GM crop. Photograph: Erik de Castro/Reuters
Stifling international regulations have been blamed for delaying
the approval of a food that could have helped save millions of lives this
century. The claim is made in a new investigation of the controversy
surrounding the development of Golden Rice by a team of
international scientists.Golden Rice is a form of normal white rice that has been genetically modified to provide vitamin A to counter blindness and other diseases in children in the developing world. It was developed two decades ago but is still struggling to gain approval in most nations.
“Golden Rice has not been made available to those for whom it was intended in the 20 years since it was created,” states the science writer Ed Regis. “Had it been allowed to grow in these nations, millions of lives would not have been lost to malnutrition, and millions of children would not have gone blind.”
Vitamin A deficiency is practically unknown in the west, where it is found in most foods. For individuals in developing countries, however, vitamin A is a matter of life or death. Lack of it is believed to be responsible for killing more children than HIV, tuberculosis or malaria – around 2,000 deaths a day. On a global scale, about a third of children under five suffer from the condition which can also lead to blindness.
As a solution to this crisis, Peter Beyer, professor of cell biology at Freiburg University in Germany, and Ingo Potrykus of the Institute of Plant Sciences in Switzerland, turned to the new technology of genetic manipulation in the late 20th century. They inserted genes for a chemical known as beta-carotene into the DNA of normal rice. In this way, they modified the rice genes so that the plants started to make beta-carotene, a rich orange-coloured pigment that is also a key precursor chemical used by the body to make vitamin A.
Golden Rice has not been made available to those for whom it was
intended in the 20 years since it was created.
Ed Regis, science writer
“In Bangladesh, China, India and elsewhere in Asia, many
children subsist on a few bowls of rice a day and almost nothing else. For
them, a daily supply of Golden Rice could now bring the gift of life and sight,”
states Regis in his book, Golden Rice, which is published this month.Unfortunately, that daily supply has not materialised – and Regis is clear where the blame lies. For a start, many ecology action groups, in particular Greenpeace, have tried to block approval of Golden Rice because of their general opposition to GM crops. “Greenpeace opposition to Golden Rice was especially persistent, vocal, and extreme, perhaps because Golden Rice was a GM crop that had so much going for it,” he states.
For its part, Greenpeace has insisted over the years that Golden Rice is a hoax and that its development was diverting resources from dealing with general global poverty, which it maintained was the real cause of the planet’s health woes.
Nevertheless, this opposition did not have the power, on its own, to stop Golden Rice in its tracks, says Regis. The real problem has rested with an international treaty known as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, an agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms, and which came into force in 2003.
The Cartagena Protocol contains a highly controversial clause known as Principle 15 or, more commonly, the precautionary principle. This states that if a product of modern biotechnology poses a possible risk to human health or the environment, measures should be taken to restrict or prevent its introduction. The doctrine, in the case of Golden Rice, was interpreted as “guilty until proven innocent”, says Regis, an attitude entirely out of kilter with the potential of the crop to save millions of lives and halt blindness.
As a result, every aspect of Golden Rice development, from lab work to field trials to screening, became entangled “in a Byzantine web of rules, guidelines, requirements, restrictions, and prohibitions”, and it is only in the last few years that steps have been taken to give it approval – though so far only in the US, Canada and Australia. It is still awaiting the go-ahead – hopefully by the end of this year – in countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh, where it is far more urgently needed.
“The effects of withholding, delaying or retarding Golden Rice development through overcautious regulation has imposed unconscionable costs in terms of years of sight and lives lost,” Regis concludes.
Scientists say China can have pollution-free food security, but is
it ready to foot US$14 billion bill?
Food agency says high cost of replacing coal-fired grain driers
with heat pumps will be worth it if China wants its secret network of
stockpiles to be sustainable
·
Nation’s
emergency grain stockpile occupies a vast network of warehouses
Published: 12:00am, 27 Oct, 2019
Chinese scientists are devising ways to make drying
grain more efficient. Photo: Xinhua
They were supposed to be China’s last line of defence against
starvation and each one was built to feed the country’s billion-plus people for
at least 10 days.
Introduced in the aftermath of the disaster of the Great Leap
Forward, China’s emergency grain storage stockpile sits in a vast network of
warehouses. Their number and locations are secret, but in November, Central China
Television reported that one of them covered about 3 sq km (1.2 square miles).
It is a network that requires constant maintenance in the form
of heating and cooling to guard against spoilage.
So far, those processes have been driven by coal, with about 1.7
million tonnes of the fuel burned annually – about as much coal as Iran uses
each year.
Combines harvest soybeans at a farm in Heilongjiang
province. Photo: Xinhua
While accessible and relatively cheap, coal is a major pollutant
and researchers have been on a quest to find a replacement.
After a series of pilot studies, they now think they might have
a clean and innovative solution – but it will cost about US$14 billion to
build.
At first, the government looked at hay and natural gas as alternatives
to coal, but hay was in limited supply and natural gas was too costly to
import.
Scientists then proposed electric heat pumps, which work like an
air conditioner in reverse, sucking heat from the outside and releasing it
indoors.
“The results are positive … the technology is now ready for mass
application,” Dr Zhang Zhentao, a researcher with the Technical Institute of
Physics and Chemistry in Beijing, who joined the programme in 2015, said on
Wednesday.
There were problems to overcome. Zhang and his colleagues found
that the efficiency of a heat pump dropped along with the outside temperature,
and in China’s agricultural northeast, winter temperatures can fall to minus 40
degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit).
They solved this by using carbon dioxide to move heat through
the pump. Compared to freon, carbon dioxide can absorb heat efficiently, even
in extremely cold weather because it freezes at minus 78.5 degrees Celsius.
Industrial driers usually have open tops, and as water vapour
goes into the atmosphere, heat is wasted. Zhang and his colleagues decided to
pack grain into sealed silos, where waste heat was used to power a condenser
that extracted water from the vapour.
The silos also kept the temperature of the pump above zero
degrees, which avoided turning the moisture left on the device by humidity into
frost.
The scientists estimated that it cost about 36 yuan (US$5) to
have a coal-fired drier dehydrate a tonne of corn, but found that a heat pump
drier on one of the pilot sites cut that cost by a third.
While some farmers complained that coal drying over-baked and
burned grains or reduced their nutritional content, Zhang said the new
technology produced the same dry food with higher weight and better quality,
which would increase the farmer's income.
The government is keen on the work of Dr Zhang
Zhentao and his colleagues, an official says. Photo: Handout
At a pilot facility in northeastern Heilongjiang province where
300 tonnes of grain a day were processed, researchers found that corn could be
dried at more than 80 degrees while the outside temperature was 30 degrees
below zero.
While it was slower than coal-power driers of the same size and
cost almost twice as much to build, the government was “very keen” on heat pump
technology, an official from the National Food and Strategic Reserves
Administration said.
“It’ll take years to recoup the higher cost of initial
investment, but in the long term the technology is more sustainable with higher
public acceptance,” the official said.
It was not clear when Beijing would go ahead with drier
conversions or how many sites might be involved, but Zhang and his colleagues
estimated that it could cost China as much as 100 billion yuan.
They said heat pumps could also be used in the food processing
and tobacco sectors, and estimated that if all industrial driers in China were
to be converted, a 1 trillion yuan industry could be created.
Wang Dianxuan, professor with the National Engineering
Laboratory for Grain Further Processing and Food Storage at Henan University of
Technology, said drying helped preserve emergency food stocks, but that pest
prevention and environmental controls also needed to improve.
“We must take a comprehensive and systematic approach …
[emergency food stockpiling] is a complex issue,” he said.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post
print edition as: Pollution-free grain sites may cost 100b yuan
Pakistan: Relief sought for farmers hit by
heatwave
The Newspaper's Staff Reporter
Updated October 26, 2019
LAHORE: Farmers have called upon
the government to declare emergency in areas hit by the current heatwave,
document the tentative losses incurred by the farmers due to failure of corn,
cotton and rice crops and announce an incentive package enabling them to bear
the brunt and go for the next crops.
The government should write off
loans of, disburse financial or other assistance to farmers from the heatwave
hit areas, demands Dr Zafar Hayyat, president of the Farmers Bureau of Pakistan
(FBP), a platform of progressive growers.
“This should include per acre
financial aid, special subsidy on fertilizer and seed for the next crops,
waiving off abiyana (water rate) and theka (lease) and loans on soft terms or
preferred rates for the next rabi crop,” he says while speaking at a press
conference here on Friday.
South Punjab, particularly cotton
growers who were also suffering from whitefly attack, faced this brunt more
than the rest of the country, he says, lamenting that no scientific impact
analysis has so far been done by the concerned departments of the impact.
He says the farmers tried their
best to overcome the issues but falling prices of cotton and no timely policy
intervention by the government discouraged them to spend more on their ailing
crop, resulting in further loss to national cotton production.
“Lower cotton yield is not going
to hit the farmers alone, but the textile industry and overall national economy
in the form of reduced exports.”
Likewise, maize crop suffered
grain loss due to the heatwave and many farmers converted it either to silage
or sold it as green fodder to recover some of their losses. Poor maize crop
will affect the poultry industry, which uses corn as a major ingredient in the
feed, he fears.
The situation of rice crop, which
fetches $2 to 2.5 billion per annum foreign reserves, is also no different due
to poor grain setting and it may face 20 to 35 percent yield shortage.
The FBP president demanded a
proper scientific analysis of the climatic change to assess the impact of
current heatwave and sharing it with farmers and policy-makers on the priority
basis, setting up a task force to assess the factors responsible for the
lowering cotton production and documenting them for the stakeholders.
Published in Dawn, October 26th,
2019
Mwea traders decry
influx of fake Pishori rice sprayed with perfume
Linda Shiundu
For the longest time, Kenyans thought they had
been eating Mwea’s aromatic rice while forking out extra coins to avoid feeding
their families on cheap imports. It is now evident that the country has been
feeding on a big fat lie perpetuated by merchants whose only goal is to
maximise profits at the expense of consumers and farmers. Francis Atwoli stuns
Kenyans after throwing away KSh 150k iPhone on live TV As the farmers anxiously
wait for the rice to mature, the shady cereal dealers prepare for the
harvesting period in a special way. Photo: The Standard Source: UGC Kisumu
Girls' students behind i-Cut app among finalists for prestigious European Prize
Rice farmers in Mwea are now decrying the increase of fake Pishori rice being
imported into the country by scrupulous traders, KTN reported on Friday,
October 25. Ironically, as the farmers anxiously wait for the rice to mature,
the shady cereal de.alers in Mwea town too prepare for the harvesting period in
a special way. According to the farmers, they traders import the rice then
spray it with perfume to lure buyers into believing that it is the original
pishori rice. READ ALSO: MP Babu Owino impresses supporters online with video
of him feeding daughter The rice cartels then sell the fake pishori at KSh 80
while the original rice goes for KSh 160 which is expensive due to the high
cost of production and transportation. Photo: Kofar Source: UGC “We know the
importers place their orders in Pakistan and Thailand for shiploads of
rice," explained one of the farmers. "By November 2, when we harvest,
their stores will be full of imported rice,” added the farmer. The rice cartels
then sell the fake pishori at KSh 80 while the original rice goes for KSh 160
which is expensive due to the high cost of production and transportation. READ
ALSO: Peter Ndegwa: Wife pens sweet message following appointment of first
Kenyan Safaricom CEO When customers complain after the fake aroma fades, they
are told the fragrance disappeared because they washed the rice too vigorously.
Photo: Kofar. Source: UGC The farmers are now calling on the government to
intervene and save them from the influx that has disadvantaged them.
"Initially we used to have so many customers but of late you find they
prefer buying the cheaper rice which is fake," said another farmer.
"We asked the county government to get us cheap fertilizer so we can also
sell our rice at a fair price," added the farmer. READ ALSO: Nairobi:
Hundreds of job seekers left stranded after non-existent employer dupes them
with fake interviews According to them, in cases when customers complain after
the fake aroma fades, they are told the fragrance disappeared because they
washed the rice too vigorously. “This is another lie by the rice dealers. The
aroma is supposed to linger even after washing and cooking," explained
another farmer. It can only fade if the rice is washed for a long time and then
exposed to the sun,” he added. Rice importation, agriculture and food security
experts said that it is a necessary evil in because the country produces about
200,000 tonnes while the annual consumption is 600,000 tonnes. Do you have an
inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through
news@tuko.co.ke or
These 10 baby
foods have the highest levels of lead, says report
Updated Oct 27, 8:07 AM; Posted Oct 26, 10:00 AM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nearly all baby
foods sold in the United States include trace amounts of lead, but some contain
much more of the potentially harmful metal than others.
A recent
study conducted by Healthy Babies Bright Future (HBBF) found that 95% of all popular baby foods in
the country contain toxic heavy metals, with 94% containing lead.
Researchers tested 168 different baby food
items, consisting of 61 brands and 13 types of food, including infant formula,
teething biscuits, cereals, and fruit juices, all of which were selected by
parents at their local stores and online. The study tested for lead, cadmium,
arsenic and mercury, with lead being, by far, the most prevalent of the group.
Of the 158 baby food items that tested
positive for lead, these 10 contained the highest amount, measured in parts per
billion (ppb):
· Healthy Times Organic Brown Rice
Cereal - 4+ months: 67.4 ppb
· SOBISK Breakfast Biscuits -
Golden Oats Snack: 60.1 ppb
· NurturMe Organic Quinoa Cereals
- Quinoa + Sweet Potato + Raisin Cereal: 39.8 ppb
· Sprout Organic Quinoa Puffs Baby
Cereal Snack - Apple Kale Snack: 39.3 ppb
· Gerber Sweet Potato - Sitter 2nd
Food Veggie: 29.3 ppb
· Beech-Nut Classics Sweet Carrots
- 2: 27.2 ppb
· Parent’s Choice (Walmart)
Organic Strawberry Rice Rusks - Stage 2, 6+ months: 26.9 ppb
· Beech-Nut Classics Sweet
Potatoes - Stage 2, from about 6 months: 24.1 ppb
· Beech-Nut Classics Sweet Carrots
- Stage 2: 23.5 ppb
· Earth’s Best Whole Grain Rice
Cereal: 22.5 ppb
According to the study, lead was found in
94% of baby foods, cadmium in 75%, arsenic in 73% and mercury in 32% of foods.
Twenty-six percent of baby foods contained all four metals, 40% contained three
metals, 21% contained two metals, and 8% contained only one metal. Only 5%
(nine baby foods) contained no metals.
These metals found in baby foods can lead
to various problems for children, including IQ loss, attention deficits, and
other learning and behavioral issues.
According to the study, while the FDA has
proposed to limit the amount of toxic heavy metals in baby food in the past, no
action has been taken.
ADVICE FOR PARENTS
HBBF recommended five healthier food
substitutions that can help in reducing babies’ exposure to heavy toxic metals:
· Rather than rice snacks, parents
can give their children rice-free snacks, which which contain much lower levels
of toxic metals.
· Parents can use organic teething
foods, like frozen bananas and chilled cucumbers, instead of teething biscuits
or rice tusks.
· Multi-grain cereals, like
oatmeal, can also be fed to babies instead of rice cereal.
· Babies can drink tap water
instead of fruit juice.
· Feed babies a variety of fruits
and veggies instead of just carrots and sweet potatoes.
View Comments4
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
Block on GM rice ‘has cost millions of lives and
led to child blindness’
Eco groups and global treaty blamed for delay in
supply of vitamin-A enriched Golden Rice
Sat 26 Oct 2019 17.05 BST
Ordinary rice and Golden Rice, a GM crop. Photograph: Erik de
Castro/Reuters
Stifling international
regulations have been blamed for delaying the approval of a food that could
have helped save millions of lives this century. The claim is made in a new
investigation of the controversy surrounding the development of Golden Rice by a team of
international scientists.
Golden Rice is
a form of normal white rice that has been genetically modified to provide
vitamin A to counter blindness and other diseases in children in the developing
world. It was developed two decades ago but is still struggling to gain
approval in most nations.
“Golden Rice has not been made
available to those for whom it was intended in the 20 years since it was
created,” states the science writer Ed Regis. “Had it been allowed to grow in
these nations, millions of lives would not have been lost to malnutrition, and
millions of children would not have gone blind.”
Vitamin A deficiency is
practically unknown in the west, where it is found in most foods. For
individuals in developing countries, however, vitamin A is a matter of life or
death. Lack of it is believed to be responsible for killing more children than
HIV, tuberculosis or malaria – around 2,000 deaths a day. On a global scale,
about a third of children under five suffer from the condition which can also
lead to blindness.
As a solution to this crisis,
Peter Beyer, professor of cell biology at Freiburg University in Germany, and
Ingo Potrykus of the Institute of Plant Sciences in Switzerland, turned to the
new technology of genetic manipulation in the late 20th century. They inserted
genes for a chemical known as beta-carotene into the DNA of normal rice. In
this way, they modified the rice genes so that the plants started to make
beta-carotene, a rich orange-coloured pigment that is also a key precursor
chemical used by the body to make vitamin A.
“In Bangladesh, China, India and elsewhere in
Asia, many children subsist on a few bowls of rice a day and almost nothing
else. For them, a daily supply of Golden Rice could now bring the gift of life
and sight,” states Regis in his book, Golden Rice, which is published this month.
Unfortunately, that daily supply
has not materialised – and Regis is clear where the blame lies. For a start,
many ecology action groups, in particular Greenpeace, have tried to block approval of Golden Rice because
of their general opposition to GM crops. “Greenpeace opposition to Golden Rice
was especially persistent, vocal, and extreme, perhaps because Golden Rice was
a GM crop that had so much going for it,” he states.
For its part, Greenpeace has
insisted over the years that Golden Rice is a hoax and that its development was
diverting resources from dealing with general global poverty, which it
maintained was the real cause of the planet’s health woes.
Nevertheless, this opposition did
not have the power, on its own, to stop Golden Rice in its tracks, says Regis.
The real problem has rested with an international treaty known as the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety, an agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling,
transport and use of living modified organisms, and which came into force in
2003.
The Cartagena Protocol contains a
highly controversial clause known as Principle 15 or, more commonly, the
precautionary principle. This states that if a product of modern biotechnology
poses a possible risk to human health or the environment, measures should be
taken to restrict or prevent its introduction. The doctrine, in the case of
Golden Rice, was interpreted as “guilty until proven innocent”, says Regis, an
attitude entirely out of kilter with the potential of the crop to save millions
of lives and halt blindness.
As a result, every aspect of
Golden Rice development, from lab work to field trials to screening, became
entangled “in a Byzantine web of rules, guidelines, requirements, restrictions,
and prohibitions”, and it is only in the last few years that steps have been
taken to give it approval – though so far only in the US, Canada and Australia.
It is still awaiting the go-ahead – hopefully by the end of this year – in
countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh, where it is far more urgently
needed.
“The effects of withholding,
delaying or retarding Golden Rice development through overcautious regulation
has imposed unconscionable costs in terms of years of sight and lives lost,”
Regis concludes.
Border closure: Big scramble for rice
October 27, 2019
By:
barely two months to the
Christmas and New Year celebrations, the rising prices of basic foodstuff
occasioned by the acute shortage in their supply, has raised fears among
Nigerians that this year’s Yuletide is set to be a bleak one.
This is coming on the heels of
the recent closure of Nigeria’s land borders with its neighbours (which the
Government said implies total ban on importation of food through Nigeria’s land
borders) which has drastically reduced the influx (smuggling) of most imported
food items into Nigeria.
Most hit items, Sunday
Telegraph investigation reveals, includes rice, vegetable oil, frozen chicken
and turkey, stockfish and second hand clothing. These items are either
outrightly prohibited from being imported into the country or among the 43
items the Central Bank of Nigeria considered ineligible for foreign exchange
allocation by the apex bank.
The Federal Government has said
that ‘total closure of the land borders’ is indefinite, pending when it will be
able reach an agreement with the countries to strictly obey the ECOWAS protocol
on transit of cargo and movement of people from one country to another.
However, backlash of the border
closure is the rapidly rising price food items in the market, the imported and
locally produced ones inclusive, forcing Nigerian inflation to rise for the
first time in three months.
Nigeria’s annual inflation
edged up to 11.24 per cent in September 2019, its highest level since June,
after falling to 3 1/2-year low of 11.02 per cent in the previous month. Food
prices rose the most in three months after the government partially closed the
borders with Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, to curb the smuggling of rice.
Inflation Rate in Nigeria averaged 12.43 per cent from 1996 until 2019, reaching
an all time high of 47.56 per cent in January of 1996 and a record low of -2.49
per cent in January of 2000
Despite border closure,
smuggling not abating
Despite the border closure,
which the Federal Government believes will end smuggling across the country’s
borders as well as encourage local producers and manufactures of the effected
goods, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday, said it has since the
border closure, intercepted 1,879 bags of foreign rice illegally smuggled into
the country through Niger, Kogi, and Kwara states.
The Customs Area Controller in
charge of Kogi and Niger states, Yusuf Abba-Kassim, told journalists at a press
briefing in Minna, Niger State, that all the seizures were in October.
Mr. Abba-Kassim said the command
also intercepted eight cars being smuggled into the country by suspected
smugglers in his zone.
Analyst predict increase in
food inflation
In view of the rising food
prices without any immediate solution in sight to mitigate the short supply of
the food items, Meristem analysts have said that the complete closure of all
land borders will further pressure the prices of foods items in the coming
periods.
“We are of the opinion that the
envisaged increase in food prices could set the progress of the Monetary Policy
Committee’s (MPC’s) growth strategy a step back.
“With the uptick in inflation,
coupled with the border closure which could incite further rise in the
inflation figure, we expect foreign investors to price this into their risk
assessment for the market, dampening their confidence in the space.”
Meristem analysts further said
that the increase in the inflationary trends was not unconnected to the recent
regulations in the domestic economy which “has begun to weigh in on inflation
figures.”
They stated that the partial
closure of land borders in August inhibited the free movement of goods,
resulting in an uptick in the prices of food items such as frozen foods, rice,
vegetable oil and fruits, amongst others. “In September, the food price index
rose by 13.51 per cent as against13.17 per cent in August, mirroring the
pressure on the aforementioned items. Core price index walked a similar path,
trending upwards by 8.94 per cent year-on-year, on the back of price increase
in hospital services, cleaning, clothing, footwear and household appliances,
amongst others.
Price of local rice spikes, as
scramble triggers scarcity
Following the closure of the
Nigerian borders, prices of food products have been on steady rise with no
ameliorative intervention in sight, says Ebuka Uzoigwe, a rice seller in
Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Uzoigwe is one of the traders
who lamented the ordeal traders now have to go through to get supply of rice,
adding that the country is not yet prepared for the border closure.
He said: “The border closure
has triggered a scramble for local rice, thus forcing the price of rice to go
up. The local rice is speedily going out of the reach of ordinary people and it
is not yet Christmas. The rice is not even available and even where it is
available, it is costly. Before the border closure, local rice was sold between
N12, 000 and N14, 000 but now Mama’s Pride is N20, 000 while Chef’s Choice is
N18, 000. They are almost the same price with foreign rice which is sold from
between N22, 000 – N24, 000 but unavailable. Most of the bags of foreign rice
you see in the market today are old stocks.”
Uzoigwe noted also that even
with ready cash, it was difficult to get supply of local rice.
“Some of us came together,
contributed money and ordered a trailer load of local rice. It is two months
now since we gave money to our supplier and we have not gotten any supplies.
Only recently, he called us to tell us that to facilitate timely delivery of
the supply, we must add an extra N1500 for each bag of the rice. It is the
final consumer that bears the brunt.”
Mrs. Ngozi Okereke in Orlu told
our correspondent that Coscharis local rice sells for N21, 000 a bag. She also
lamented the sudden hike in the price of local rice in the market.
She said: “It defeats the purpose of closing the borders and banning the
importation of foreign rice.”
There is a massive drop in the
consumption of frozen turkey and chicken. Most of the people spoken to actually
did not make reference to border closure as reason for not consuming frozen
turkey and chicken but noted that there is the awareness that it is unhealthy.
A house wife, Dora Ikemefuna,
said: “Many people hardly bother about frozen turkey or chicken because of the
well highlighted health risks. In Owerri now, if you want fresh chicken or
turkey, just go down to Relief Market or Amakohia Market, you will see young
men whose job is to kill and dress the turkey or chicken for you at a little
cost and that is fresh food. So, most people no longer go after frozen chicken
in shops when they could get it fresh and cheaper in these markets. Again, you
can get chicken for N1000, N1500, N2000, N2500 and even N3000 and above. So you
can make your choice according to your pocket.”
Consumers fear bleak Christmas as
rice hit N28, 000 per 50kg bag
With the rapidly rising prices
of foodstuffs in the market in the country, a foodstuff seller in Ogba Sunday
Market, Ogba, Lagos State, Mrs. Amina Muhammed, has expressed strong fear that
this year’s Christmas and New Year celebrations will be a bleak one.
She said that her fear stems
from the fact that Nigerians try to make themselves happy during that period by
making merry with food and drinks. The expected increase in demand cannot be
made rather as the supply of local and foreign rice is drying up. “Local rice
would be more than N35,000 by then and I don’t know how many Nigerians can
afford it at that price.”
Mrs. Muhammed said that Ofada
Rice now sells at N54,000 per 50kg bag while foreign rice for those that still
have it, goes for N25,000, N28,000 respectively.
Mr. Nzube Ezelagu who is also a
rice seller in Mushin Market, Lagos, said on Thursday that the price of
Nigerian rice is rising daily as 50kg per bag now goes for N21,000, N22,000,
N23,000 and N24,000 depending on the brand. This is over 10 per cent increase
of the price it was sold on Thursday (the previous week) at N19, 000 per 50kg
bag.
Prices of rice rise by 80 and
30 per cent in Kwara
Before the closure of the
borders, the price of foreign rice, the long grain rice from Thailand was N14,
500 per 50 kg bag, while the short grain from India sold for N13, 500 per 50kg
bag. But after the border closure, the foreign rice from both Thailand and
India, which is now very scarce in major markets in Kwara State because of
incessant raids by the Custom officials, now goes for N23, 000 and N25, 000 per
50kg bag, which is about 80 per cent increase.
For the Nigerian Rice, before
the border closure, Ofada Rice sold at N12, 000 per 50kg bag, while the other
brands go for between N15, 000 and N16, 000 per 50kg bag. The prices of the
local rice also jumped to between N18, 500 and N20, 500 per 50kg bag. This is
over 30 per cent increase against the price sold before the border closure.
As for frozen chicken and
turkey before border closure, whole frozen chicken was sold for N9, 000, while
whole frozen turkey was sold for N11, 000. The irony of the whole thing now is
that these items have disappeared from major markets. Investigation by our
correspondent revealed that it was as a result of the fear of Customs officials
who constantly raid major markets and warehouses to confiscate banned items.
Interestingly, majority of
people in the state, especially Ilorin, have boycotted rice and shifted to
other commodities like yam and beans which are far cheaper and more affordable.
Rice cheapest in Kebbi
The closure of borders by the
Federal Government did not affect the price of the rice much in the state known
as one of the major rice producing states in the country.
A survey carried out by our
correspondents inside the Birnin-Kebbi Central Market and some top supermarkets
in the city shows that a 50kg bag of rice sells at N15, 000 as against N14, 000
it was sold before the closure of the land borders across the country.
The fact remains that there is
a healthy rivalry and competitiveness between the three major rice processing
and milling companies in the state -Labana Rice Ltd. Wacott Rice Nig. Ltd. and
Lolo Rice Ltd. However, it is interesting to note that rice processed by the
locals sells at between N10, 000 and N11, 000 per bag of 80kg bag.
In his words during an
interview, the State chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN),
who is also a rice farmer, Alhaji Muhammad Sahabi Augie, applauded the Federal
government decision to close land borders, adding that the closure will in no
small way go a long way in boosting the morale of various rice farmers in the
country.
He said rice processed in
Nigeria will be sold cheaper if the borders remain closed and Nigerians
themselves help government by shunning foreign rice and patronise local rice.
The RIFAN chairman said with
the wet season planting about to be harvested, more rice will be produced
across the country, which will invariably bring prices down and many households
in the country will be able to afford them.
The General Manager of LABANA
Rice Ltd. situated in Birnin-Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital, Abdullahi Idris
Zuru, stated that rice processors across the country under the leadership of
Muhammed Abubakar met at the union level in Kano State and they all agreed to
cooperate with the Federal government to maintain stable and acceptable prices
across board.
Karnal
bans paddy purchase Oct 27, 2019, 5:55 AM; last updated: Oct 27,
2019, 5:55 AM (IST)
Police personnel at the gate of
grain market in Karnal on Saturday. Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed
Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Karnal, October 26
The district authorities on Saturday banned the
procurement of PR variety of paddy. Paddy that arrived till Friday will be purchased.
Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh has confirmed this.
“The procurement
agencies have already procured more than their quota fixed for this year,” the
DC said.
On Saturday, farmers were not allowed to enter
the Karnal grain market with their paddy. The police have been deployed on the
entry gates of the grain market, leading to resentment among farmers and
arthiyas. Farmers and arhtiyas demand revocation of the ban.
Rajnish
Chaudhary, president of the Karnal Arhtiyas Association, hit out at the
district authorities for taking, what he described as, an “anti-farmer”
decision.
“The police have
been deployed at the grain market, resulting into inconvenience to farmers and
the arthiyas. The authorities should lift the ban,” he said.
Vinod Goel, state
vice-president, Haryana Rice Millers and Dealers Association, met the Deputy
Commissioner and apprised him of the problems being faced by farmers because of
the ban. “Still, a large quantity of PR variety is yet to be brought to the
grain markets. What will farmers do?”
After the
formation of new government, the matter would be raised with the Chief
Minister, he added.
ZAINAB AHMED: $3bn
W’Bank Loan to Solve Nigeria’s Two Critical Power Problems
October 27, 2019 4:01 am
THE EXECUTIV
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Following the conclusion of the
2019 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the
Nigerian delegation led by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed,
addresses journalists. The federal government team, which includes the Governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, his deputies and
directors as well as a couple of heads of agencies address fiscal and monetary
concerns in the economy. Kunle Aderinokun, Obinna Chima, Ndubuisi Francis, Nume
Ekeghe and Nosa Alekhuogie present the excerpts
World Bank Loan
We have very productive meetings
with the World Bank group, the country team on the power sector in Nigeria. The
discussion was centred around the power sector recovery program wherein we
received an update on the outstanding issues covering sustainable fiscal
support, policy as well as regulatory environment.
We also discussed extensively the
need for the sector to be more operationally efficient and also the
infrastructure investment that would be required to ensure the power sector is
restored to full production in a manner that is sustainable.
We identified the imperative of
solving two critical problems. One, which is operational efficiency and two,
revamping associated infrastructure in the power sector to ensure that the
overall success of the intervention in the power sector are achieved
We made two set of requests to
the bank. The first is technical assistance from the bank to implementing
agencies especially the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on the
review of the performance improvement plans of the distribution networks and
also two, we asked for technical assistance on business continuity regulation
as well as to the Ministry of Finance in the assessment of contingent
liabilities in the power sector and options of dealing with them
And most importantly, we put a
request for financing of the sector at the range of $1.5 billion to $4 billion.
At the end of the day, it is like we would be looking at the funding size of $3
billion that will be provided in four tranches of $750 million each.
Our plan is that the team will be able to go to the World Bank for the approval of the first tranche in April 2020.
Our plan is that the team will be able to go to the World Bank for the approval of the first tranche in April 2020.
Power Sector
The $3 billion that we are trying to raise from the World Bank is for financing the power sector. This financing will include right now, the gap between what is provided for in the current tariff and the cost of the businesses themselves so there is a tariff shortfall but it would also enhance our ability to pay the previous obligations that have crystalised that we have not yet been able to pay. Some portion of it will be for the transmission network and if we are able to expand the facility to $4 billion, the additional $1 billion is for the distribution network. It will help us to exit the subsidy that is now inherent in the power sector. It is supposed to be to reform the sector, to restore the distribution business side of the sector especially on a stronger footing so that they are freed up enough to go out and raise financing to invest in expanding the distribution network.
The $3 billion that we are trying to raise from the World Bank is for financing the power sector. This financing will include right now, the gap between what is provided for in the current tariff and the cost of the businesses themselves so there is a tariff shortfall but it would also enhance our ability to pay the previous obligations that have crystalised that we have not yet been able to pay. Some portion of it will be for the transmission network and if we are able to expand the facility to $4 billion, the additional $1 billion is for the distribution network. It will help us to exit the subsidy that is now inherent in the power sector. It is supposed to be to reform the sector, to restore the distribution business side of the sector especially on a stronger footing so that they are freed up enough to go out and raise financing to invest in expanding the distribution network.
Jollof Bond
We held a number of bilateral meetings. One of the bilateral meetings was with the United Kingdom minister of state for international development. We also participated in the. UK investment summit to explore further areas of corporation. I am happy to announce the willingness of the UK authorities to support our infrastructure financing through the possible issuance of jollof bonds. Already a working committee is being set up to interface with Nigeria on this possible naira denominated bond. The CBN will be leading in this efforts we will also explore all options in this regard at the next UK investment summit that will be holding in January 2020.
We also had a discussion with the UK on the secretary, the Island of Jersey. We met with the representative of the Island of Jersey, we explored areas of mutual cooperation even the possibility of signing an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation as well as asset repatriation.
Other bilateral meetings we have included meeting with Japan international Corporation (JICA) agency as well as with Dutch Bank on existing areas of corporation on how we can attract additional investment into Nigeria.
The jollof bond, some countries call their own sala bonds. Essentially these are bonds that are issued offshore but denominated in the local currency and the importance of such a bond is that it protects the country, the issuer from exchange rate exposure. We are contemplating such a bond. There has been proposals made to us not just by the UK government but also by Deutsche Bank and today also by the World. Bank. Looking at that as another instrument to raise financing for the national budget. In the past we have issued euro bond which have done well but we are considering this option because it could be cheap and even if it is not, it will be more cost effective because we are protected from exchange rate differential risk.
We held a number of bilateral meetings. One of the bilateral meetings was with the United Kingdom minister of state for international development. We also participated in the. UK investment summit to explore further areas of corporation. I am happy to announce the willingness of the UK authorities to support our infrastructure financing through the possible issuance of jollof bonds. Already a working committee is being set up to interface with Nigeria on this possible naira denominated bond. The CBN will be leading in this efforts we will also explore all options in this regard at the next UK investment summit that will be holding in January 2020.
We also had a discussion with the UK on the secretary, the Island of Jersey. We met with the representative of the Island of Jersey, we explored areas of mutual cooperation even the possibility of signing an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation as well as asset repatriation.
Other bilateral meetings we have included meeting with Japan international Corporation (JICA) agency as well as with Dutch Bank on existing areas of corporation on how we can attract additional investment into Nigeria.
The jollof bond, some countries call their own sala bonds. Essentially these are bonds that are issued offshore but denominated in the local currency and the importance of such a bond is that it protects the country, the issuer from exchange rate exposure. We are contemplating such a bond. There has been proposals made to us not just by the UK government but also by Deutsche Bank and today also by the World. Bank. Looking at that as another instrument to raise financing for the national budget. In the past we have issued euro bond which have done well but we are considering this option because it could be cheap and even if it is not, it will be more cost effective because we are protected from exchange rate differential risk.
Border Closure
In a manner of speaking, IMF supports the border closure that we’ve done because they understand that the closure wasn’t meant to be vindictive. It was meant to be for us to restore our relationship with our neighbours prior to the commitments that we made.
Let me give you an example, the commitments that we have within these countries is that goods can come through your ports to Nigeria, but when they come, they are supposed to come in sealed containers escorted to Nigeria for the Nigerian Customs to open them for inspection as well as charges. But that is not what is happening; they allowed containers to be opened and they also allowed goods to be smuggled beyond the formal borders through several illegal borders.
In a manner of speaking, IMF supports the border closure that we’ve done because they understand that the closure wasn’t meant to be vindictive. It was meant to be for us to restore our relationship with our neighbours prior to the commitments that we made.
Let me give you an example, the commitments that we have within these countries is that goods can come through your ports to Nigeria, but when they come, they are supposed to come in sealed containers escorted to Nigeria for the Nigerian Customs to open them for inspection as well as charges. But that is not what is happening; they allowed containers to be opened and they also allowed goods to be smuggled beyond the formal borders through several illegal borders.
But now that we have commit to
the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), we have to ensure that
rules are obeyed otherwise local industries will be greatly affected.
Businesses have been suffering due to the activities of smugglers but with the
more opening up following our commitment to the AfCFTA, this will get worse
unless we make sure now that everybody comes back to obey the rules as agreed.
The border closure is not permanent and there are lots of discussions going on at the technical level and at some point, it will be at the level of Presidents and then real commitments will be made and hopefully, everybody will comply to own side of the agreement.
The border closure is not permanent and there are lots of discussions going on at the technical level and at some point, it will be at the level of Presidents and then real commitments will be made and hopefully, everybody will comply to own side of the agreement.
There will be an economic impact
on the side of our neigbours due to the border closure. This is something that
the President (Buhari) has avoided from 2015. There were several engagements to
try to get them to improve but things were getting worse. So, it was just a
measure that had to be taken.
GODWIN EMEFIELE
Health of Banks
The strategic health of the Nigerian banking sector remains very strong. The central bank has as a matter of policy since 2015 tried to avoid being sensational about stress-testing. Stress-testing has become part of our normal routine, in trying to check the strategic health of all the banks in the industry. So, what you would is that is that from time to time, maybe one bank failed one ratio or the other and we advise that the bank should improve on the ratio – whether it is capital adequacy ratio, liquidity ratio, or other forms of ratios that have been prescribed to the banking industry. So, the fact that you read that seven banks failed stress test does not mean that those banks are weak, what we are saying is that there areas that they are weak, we try to make sure they address them. If for instance, they fail capital adequacy ratio, we counsel them about how to resolve it. So, it has nothing to do with the weakness of any bank that would lead to any panic or systemic crisis in the industry.
Health of Banks
The strategic health of the Nigerian banking sector remains very strong. The central bank has as a matter of policy since 2015 tried to avoid being sensational about stress-testing. Stress-testing has become part of our normal routine, in trying to check the strategic health of all the banks in the industry. So, what you would is that is that from time to time, maybe one bank failed one ratio or the other and we advise that the bank should improve on the ratio – whether it is capital adequacy ratio, liquidity ratio, or other forms of ratios that have been prescribed to the banking industry. So, the fact that you read that seven banks failed stress test does not mean that those banks are weak, what we are saying is that there areas that they are weak, we try to make sure they address them. If for instance, they fail capital adequacy ratio, we counsel them about how to resolve it. So, it has nothing to do with the weakness of any bank that would lead to any panic or systemic crisis in the industry.
USSD
About five months ago, you are aware that there is a drive for us to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria. I had made my commitments to Bill Gates Foundation as well Queen Maxima that we would deepen financial inclusion that by 2020, the rate of financial inclusion would have accelerated to about 80 percent. At this time, we are close to about 65 percent which we moved from about 42 percent to 65 percent in about 18 months and we believe that we can achieve this 80 percent if everybody that is the bank and telecoms company corporate with us.
About five months ago, you are aware that there is a drive for us to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria. I had made my commitments to Bill Gates Foundation as well Queen Maxima that we would deepen financial inclusion that by 2020, the rate of financial inclusion would have accelerated to about 80 percent. At this time, we are close to about 65 percent which we moved from about 42 percent to 65 percent in about 18 months and we believe that we can achieve this 80 percent if everybody that is the bank and telecoms company corporate with us.
About five months ago, I held a
meeting with some telecoms companies and leading banks in Nigeria at the CBN in
Lagos and the issue of the cost of USSD came up. I hear it is N1500 per minute
and at that time, we came to a conclusion that the use of USSD is a sunk cost,
meaning that it is not an additional cost on the infrastructure of the telecoms
companies.
But the telecoms companies
disagreed with us and said it was an additional investment in infrastructure
and that for that reason, they needed to impose it. I appealed to them to
please review this downwards and they refused.
I understand that about 3 to 4
weeks ago, rather than reduce it, they went ahead to increase from N1500 to
N4500 that is a 300 percent increase. I opposed it and I have told the banks
that we would not allow this to happen. The banks are the people who give these
businesses to the telecoms companies and I leave the banks and the telecoms
companies to engage. And I have told the banks that they have to move their
business and move their traffic to a telecoms company that is ready to provide
it at the lowest possible and if not at zero cost and there is where we stand
and we must achieve it.
FX Restriction
He said that CBN restriction of FX on things that can be produced locally, I say that is false. If you feel that we are restricting access to foreign exchange, for the importation of items that can be produced in Nigeria.If you are a foreign direct investor that is interested in doing business in Nigeria I will say instead of you facilitating the import of these items into Nigeria, we want you to come and produce it in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a market of over 200 million people, so you do not have a choice than to come, bring your investment plans and equipment, come and produce that item in Nigeria so that Nigerians can consume it, you will make your profit and take your dividend out of the country.
So, I disagree with that position.
Loan to Deposit Ratio
It is clear to everybody that access to credit is something that has to be tackled and the central bank and the bankers committee has used various means, moral suasion, begging, cajoling to get the banks to really do more in the area of access to credit but the penultimate monetary policy committee reviewed the average LDR in the industry and came up with the conclusion that the LDR has been at best flat. In most case, the ratios were dropping so at the July meeting where the average industry LDR was found to be 57 per cent, we had to impose a three per cent increase from 57 to 60 per cent. And luckily the banks have done marvelous work trying to embrace this. Most of them have actually worked with us and we saw loans rising from about N15.3 trillion in the banking industry in July to, as at the last time we held the meeting to about N16.3 trillion which is a remarkable and phenomenal increase and these loans are being channeled not only to agric, to manufacturing to SMEs, to consumer credit.
And the fact that we are saying
that the banks should place more emphasis on the private sector rather than
just buying securities which is zero risk instruments and the rest of them. We
are happy that they are complying and it is such that moving it from 60 to 65
is another push towards making sure that we achieve this objective. We have
been talking about the GDP rate being about 2 per cent or 1.9 per cent, but we
think that doing this makes it easy for the people to raise loans from banks
which will help to spur consumer demand, will help to spur manufacturing
output, which will itself positively impact on output and GDP. And that is the
reason we are calling on everybody, the banks to participate and am sure that
all of you here know that the banks are living up to expectation. And all we
can do is to thank them for doing what we expect them to do so as to continue
to encourage them to do what we expect them to do.
Trade Tension and Border Closure
Just as the minister said, it really doesn’t have any relationship, Nigeria is a country that has its own policy, and we have a responsibility to put in place policies that will help growth in our country, policies that will help grow our own agricultural and manufacturing sector and to that extent we have heard since 2015, Mr. President saying that there is a need for us to eat what we grow and grow what we eat. Nigeria cannot allow a situation where while the president of Nigeria says we must grow what we eat or produce what we eat that then another country allows this same policy to be undermined because they allowed the smuggling of this same goods that Mr. President said we should produce, they allowed these products to be smuggled through their borders into Nigeria and I repeat since 2015 the president and government of Nigeria has been engaging this countries about the need for them to control the influx of some of these smuggled goods into Nigeria but I can tell you nothing happened. Two weeks to the closure of the border, I was called by rice millers, not less than five rice milers were complaining that each of them had nothing less than 30, 000 metric tonnes of milled rice in their ware houses that they couldn’t sell as a result of smuggling. I was called by some of the poultry farmers that we were also financing through our intervention that they couldn’t sell their eggs and poultry item s.
Just as the minister said, it really doesn’t have any relationship, Nigeria is a country that has its own policy, and we have a responsibility to put in place policies that will help growth in our country, policies that will help grow our own agricultural and manufacturing sector and to that extent we have heard since 2015, Mr. President saying that there is a need for us to eat what we grow and grow what we eat. Nigeria cannot allow a situation where while the president of Nigeria says we must grow what we eat or produce what we eat that then another country allows this same policy to be undermined because they allowed the smuggling of this same goods that Mr. President said we should produce, they allowed these products to be smuggled through their borders into Nigeria and I repeat since 2015 the president and government of Nigeria has been engaging this countries about the need for them to control the influx of some of these smuggled goods into Nigeria but I can tell you nothing happened. Two weeks to the closure of the border, I was called by rice millers, not less than five rice milers were complaining that each of them had nothing less than 30, 000 metric tonnes of milled rice in their ware houses that they couldn’t sell as a result of smuggling. I was called by some of the poultry farmers that we were also financing through our intervention that they couldn’t sell their eggs and poultry item s.
a week after border closure, the
rice millers called back to say, government thank you very much, we don’t know
what happened, we don’t know if it was you that spoke to the president, with
this border closure, we have exhausted all our rice in our warehouses, people
are coming.
There is need and by making sure
that Nigeria produced rice is purchased, it also means that we are creating
jobs for the mills, for workers in the mills, for rice farmers. By closing the
border, where our poultry items are now being purchased, it means we are
creating jobs for poultry farmers and those that are into the poultry business.
That is the only way we can create jobs for our people and see to the
emancipation of our country.
The honourable minister said its
temporary but I would not disagree that it is, I would caution and appeal that
before it is open, some firm decisions and agreement must be reached where
protocols must be obeyed, when we say we want this to stop, other countries
must respect what we want because it is also meant for the growth and the good
for our country.
RPT-Asia Rice-Vietnam
rates hit multi-month peak on robust demand from Africa, Cuba
Sumita Layek
OCTOBER 25, 2019 / 6:34 AM
* Vietnamese rates rise to $350-$355/tonne from $350
* Indian rupee hits highest in over one-week
* Demand muted for Thai variety- traders
* Philippines may ease rice import restriction -Vietnamese trader
By Sumita Layek
BENGALURU, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Vietnamese rice export prices rose to
a four-and-a-half-month high this week on healthy demand from Africa and Cuba
as supply remained scant, while a stronger rupee helped rates for Indian
variety recover from a four-month low.
Rates for Vietnam’s benchmark 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 rose to
$350-$355 a tonne — a four-and-a-half month high — from $350 a tonne a week
earlier due to limited stockpiles.
“Supplies are running low while demand remains steady, especially
from Africa and also Cuba,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
The Vietnamese market could get a further fillip as the
Philippines, which accounts for 36% of total shipments from Vietnam, might be
considering easing its restrictions on rice imports soon, another trader said.
In September, prices for the Vietnamese variety had touched their
lowest in nearly 12 years at $325 per tonne.
In top exporter India, prices for the 5% broken parboiled variety
RI-INBKN5-P1 rose to $368-$372 per tonne from $365-$370 a week ago.
The Indian rupee on Thursday hit its highest in more than a week,
reducing exporters’ margins.
President of the Rice Exporters Association B. V. Krishna Rao,
however, said, “demand from African countries is still weak”.
India’s rice exports in August fell 29% year-on-year to 644,249
tonnes due to weak demand from African countries for non-basmati rice, among
other factors.
Neighbouring Bangladesh, meanwhile, has failed to secure any
overseas deals since a long-standing export ban was lifted in May, due to
cheaper rice from competitors.
“We are still looking for a market to export rice. India can export
rice at $370-390 per tonne while we are asking for at least $500,” said Shah
Alam Babu, president of Rice Exporters Association.
Prices in second biggest exporter Thailand’s benchmark 5-percent
broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 rose to $396-$410 a tonne on Thursday from $395-$400
last week.
Traders attributed the slight rise in prices to the changes in the
currency exchange rate.
“There has been very little change in demand and supply and the
strengthening of the baht has moved the price up slightly,” a Bangkok-based
trader said.
A stronger baht has marred demand for the Thai variety for many
months now.
“If the baht weakens a little, we may be able to sell some rice, but
at the moment, Thai rice is just too expensive compared with competitors,”
another rice trader said. (Reporting by Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Panu Wongcha-um in
Bangkok, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; editing by Arpan
Varghese and Shinjini Ganguli)
Punjab and
Haryana are facing the heat: They need lasting solution for stubble fires
Sanjeev Verma | TNN | Updated: Oct 27, 2019, 9:48 IST
In Punjab, Sangrur,
Bathinda, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Mansa and Patiala districts witnessed high
incidence of padd...
Despite
numerous efforts made by Punjab and Haryana governments, paddy stubble burning
continues to hound the states, much to the chagrin of environmentalists and
experts.
Though the number of incidents of paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana have reduced in the last three years, experts feel that a lot more needs to be done. A committee constituted by the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare to look into the issue of crop residue burning has flagged off serious concern regarding initiatives being taken by the state governments. The committee has called for an urgent need to look into after-sales service for the crop residue management (CRM) machinery, especially happy seeders, in Punjab and Haryana. The committee has also recommended modification of agronomic practices according to local and farm-level conditions.
Though the number of incidents of paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana have reduced in the last three years, experts feel that a lot more needs to be done. A committee constituted by the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare to look into the issue of crop residue burning has flagged off serious concern regarding initiatives being taken by the state governments. The committee has called for an urgent need to look into after-sales service for the crop residue management (CRM) machinery, especially happy seeders, in Punjab and Haryana. The committee has also recommended modification of agronomic practices according to local and farm-level conditions.
The
committee headed by Nagesh Singh, head and consultant in the centre for poverty
studies and social registry of National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD),
has found that despite various efforts Punjab has recorded the higher number of
paddy farm fires in 2018 when compared with Haryana. A total of 28.10 million
tonnes of paddy straw was produced in Punjab and Haryana in 2018 out of which
11.3 million tonnes was burnt in fields. Punjab accounted for 88.15% of the
paddy straw burnt in these two states.
This year, despite all measures, Punjab saw 4,373 incidents of paddy straw burning till October 23. Haryana has registered 2,714 farm fire incidents.
Punjab produced 83% GHGs in 2018
Around 23 million tonne of green house gases (GHGs) and particulate matter (PM) was estimated to be emitted from paddy residue burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in 2018. Out of the 23 million tonnes of GHG and PM emission, Punjab contributed 82%, Haryana contributed 11% and UP 7%. Of the total emissions, carbon dioxide contributed 93.7% of the pollutants.
In Punjab, Sangrur, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Mansa and Patiala districts witnessed high incidence of paddy straw burning. Whereas in Haryana, highest number of farm fires were witnessed in Fatehabad, Sirsa, Kaithal, Karnal and Kurukshetra. The committee has also recommended, “Some form of coercive action, such as imposition of fines on farmers still indulging in burning of paddy straw would also be helpful in combating straw burning.”
Problems in use of CRM, happy seeders
The committee, after interaction with various farmer bodies in a number of districts in Punjab and Haryana, has recommended, “both the state governments would need to frame rules on after-sales service and work out an incentive/disincentive mechanism for machinery suppliers so that they invest in after-sales service.”
Citing an example, the committee, during one of its visits to the Sirsa district in Haryana, found that after an initial one or two days, happy seeders developed snags and lack of after-sales support from the vendor left farmers with no other option but to resort to crop burning. Another significant observation by the committee is that untrained or poorly trained happy seeder operators have resulted in unnecessary snags. This was pointed out by a farmer producer organisation, being assisted by a team of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) that is supporting crop residue management initiatives in 19 villages in Ludhiana and Patiala districts.
The interaction with farmers also led the committee members come to a conclusion that delayed delivery of happy seeders is one of the main reasons for burning paddy residue. The committee, therefore, has strongly recommended that CRM machinery needs to be provided to farmers latest by September 30. Procurement of paddy in Punjab grain markets starts from October 1.
The committee has pointed out that many farmers took to CRM machinery for sowing wheat for the first time in 2018. Naturally, they were apprehensive. The committee, in its interaction with farmers has found out that those who used happy seeder for sowing wheat are satisfied with the growth of the wheat crop. The committee recommended that this should also be publicised among farmers.
Best solution: plough paddy straw back into soil
Both Punjab and Haryana governments as well as the central government have been trying to convince farmers for a long time now to move from paddy-wheat cropping cycle and try something else. But these efforts have not been very successful, noted the committee.
The other measure that the governments have been pushing quite aggressively through incentives is the utilisation of paddy straw in industrial applications, especially power generation.
But the committee, after studying the ground scenario, feels that the most sustainable solution for paddy straw is its incorporation in the soil. “This can be easily achieved by supporting farmers in buying CRM machinery and running a sustained information, education and communication campaign for proper utilisation of the machinery,” reads the report.
Choice of paddy variety
Many farmers have also told the committee that their choice of paddy varieties is influenced by the preference of the rice millers and the price that millers are willing to pay, outside the scope of the minimum support price. “This is an issue that needs further examination and a solution that is acceptable to the farmers should be worked out,” the committee has recommended.
According to the farmers’ feedback, the earliest maturing variety of paddy, PR 126, had a higher brokerage percentage during milling. The committee pointed out there were reports that many millers had advertised in newspapers in May to discourage farmers from planting PR 126. “Punjab has a strong network of more than 3,600 rice mills and they play a major role in the varieties that the farmers grow,” reads the report.
In the study conducted by the committee, basmati paddy variety has come across as a crop that leaves behind very little residue, as it is harvested mostly manually. But this is a choice the governments have to consider carefully weighing in the other factor, basmati guzzles a lot of water than non-basmati varieties.
This year, despite all measures, Punjab saw 4,373 incidents of paddy straw burning till October 23. Haryana has registered 2,714 farm fire incidents.
Punjab produced 83% GHGs in 2018
Around 23 million tonne of green house gases (GHGs) and particulate matter (PM) was estimated to be emitted from paddy residue burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in 2018. Out of the 23 million tonnes of GHG and PM emission, Punjab contributed 82%, Haryana contributed 11% and UP 7%. Of the total emissions, carbon dioxide contributed 93.7% of the pollutants.
In Punjab, Sangrur, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Mansa and Patiala districts witnessed high incidence of paddy straw burning. Whereas in Haryana, highest number of farm fires were witnessed in Fatehabad, Sirsa, Kaithal, Karnal and Kurukshetra. The committee has also recommended, “Some form of coercive action, such as imposition of fines on farmers still indulging in burning of paddy straw would also be helpful in combating straw burning.”
Problems in use of CRM, happy seeders
The committee, after interaction with various farmer bodies in a number of districts in Punjab and Haryana, has recommended, “both the state governments would need to frame rules on after-sales service and work out an incentive/disincentive mechanism for machinery suppliers so that they invest in after-sales service.”
Citing an example, the committee, during one of its visits to the Sirsa district in Haryana, found that after an initial one or two days, happy seeders developed snags and lack of after-sales support from the vendor left farmers with no other option but to resort to crop burning. Another significant observation by the committee is that untrained or poorly trained happy seeder operators have resulted in unnecessary snags. This was pointed out by a farmer producer organisation, being assisted by a team of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) that is supporting crop residue management initiatives in 19 villages in Ludhiana and Patiala districts.
The interaction with farmers also led the committee members come to a conclusion that delayed delivery of happy seeders is one of the main reasons for burning paddy residue. The committee, therefore, has strongly recommended that CRM machinery needs to be provided to farmers latest by September 30. Procurement of paddy in Punjab grain markets starts from October 1.
The committee has pointed out that many farmers took to CRM machinery for sowing wheat for the first time in 2018. Naturally, they were apprehensive. The committee, in its interaction with farmers has found out that those who used happy seeder for sowing wheat are satisfied with the growth of the wheat crop. The committee recommended that this should also be publicised among farmers.
Best solution: plough paddy straw back into soil
Both Punjab and Haryana governments as well as the central government have been trying to convince farmers for a long time now to move from paddy-wheat cropping cycle and try something else. But these efforts have not been very successful, noted the committee.
The other measure that the governments have been pushing quite aggressively through incentives is the utilisation of paddy straw in industrial applications, especially power generation.
But the committee, after studying the ground scenario, feels that the most sustainable solution for paddy straw is its incorporation in the soil. “This can be easily achieved by supporting farmers in buying CRM machinery and running a sustained information, education and communication campaign for proper utilisation of the machinery,” reads the report.
Choice of paddy variety
Many farmers have also told the committee that their choice of paddy varieties is influenced by the preference of the rice millers and the price that millers are willing to pay, outside the scope of the minimum support price. “This is an issue that needs further examination and a solution that is acceptable to the farmers should be worked out,” the committee has recommended.
According to the farmers’ feedback, the earliest maturing variety of paddy, PR 126, had a higher brokerage percentage during milling. The committee pointed out there were reports that many millers had advertised in newspapers in May to discourage farmers from planting PR 126. “Punjab has a strong network of more than 3,600 rice mills and they play a major role in the varieties that the farmers grow,” reads the report.
In the study conducted by the committee, basmati paddy variety has come across as a crop that leaves behind very little residue, as it is harvested mostly manually. But this is a choice the governments have to consider carefully weighing in the other factor, basmati guzzles a lot of water than non-basmati varieties.
Strong
baht to shave rice exports by up to B40bn
published : 28 Oct 2019 at 06:00
newspaper section: Business
writer: Phusadee Arunmas
The strong baht is expected to
whittle down the revenue of Thai rice exports in baht terms by 30-40 billion
baht this year. (Bangkok Post file photo)
The strong baht is expected to whittle down the
revenue of Thai rice exports in baht terms by 30-40 billion baht, lowering
shipments to 8-8.1 million tonnes this year.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice
Exporters Association, said rice export prospects remain dim, with the baht
making local grains more expensive than those from Vietnam, China and India.
Prices of Thai white rice are around US$50 per tonne higher than
those of Vietnam, while China, which holds hefty rice stocks, has beefed up
shipments of its cheaper rice to Africa.
"Thai rice shipments may slip as low as 8 million tonnes
this year from 11.2 million tonnes last year, led by a sharp drop in white rice
exports," said Mr Chookiat.
The strong baht is expected to lower white rice shipments by up
to 35% from 5.49 million tonnes last year.
Normally Thailand's rice exports average 10 million tonnes a
year, with white rice making up half the amount.
He said white rice shipments may only total 3 million tonnes
this year.
In July, the association cut its target for annual rice exports
from 9.5 million tonnes to 9 million.
Of the total, white rice will account for 3.9 million tonnes,
followed by parboiled rice at 2.8 million tonnes, hom mali
rice at 1.3 million tonnes, aromatic rice at 600,000 tonnes and glutinous rice
400,000 tonnes.
Major rice-importing countries have also changed their
rice-buying policies. The Philippines allows its private sector to play a
greater role in imports, stiffening competition in the domestic market.
The drought in Thailand will also cut rice output and may result
in higher prices, said the group.
The Commerce Ministry's latest report put rice exports in the
first nine months this year down by 28.1% year-on-year to 5.9 million tonnes.
