Friday, January 24, 2020

24th January,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter


Furrow-irrigated rice gaining popularity in Southeast Missouri
·       JESSE BAALMAN
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Rice has historically been grown in level fields surrounded by levees that are flooded with 5-8 inches of water. The seedlings are typically soaked and then dropped into the fields where they mature after four or five months.
Missouri is one of the first places to adopt a furrow-irrigated growing system. This involves building raised beds within fields, which appeals to farmers who need to conserve their labor costs.
According to Gene Stevens, a researcher of cropping systems at Fisher Delta Research Center in Portageville, the method works well for those who have a hard time finding workers.
“The main advantage of furrow-irrigated rice is that there’s less labor because you don’t have to build the levees up and knock them down,” said Stevens, an agronomy extension professor at the center. “Also, most of our rice is rotated with soybeans in alternating years.”
The disadvantages, Stevens said, have to do with weed and insect control. Furrow-irrigated rice is more vulnerable than conventional rice fields to billbugs, stinkbugs and a fungus called blast caused by windblown spores.
Still, furrow irrigation has taken off in the Bootheel region in southeast Missouri, home to exceptional soil conditions. Rice can’t be grown on lighter ground because it requires very heavy soil to help with water management.
The clay and silt soils make Missouri a competitive place to grow rice, said Jeff House, field specialist in agronomy for MU Extension in New Madrid County.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Missouri is one of six states, including Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, that make up 99% of all rice grown in the country.
Missouri currently has 224,000 acres planted in rice, and the total 2018 value of the state’s rice production was $179.4 million.
One lesson the researchers at the Fisher Delta Research Center have learned about growing rice is that flat beds with small widths produce higher yields.
Travis Jones, field specialist in agronomy for MU Extension in Stoddard County, said they have also found that furrow-irrigated rice is more susceptible to weed germination than conventionally flooded rice because it’s much harder for weeds to germinate in standing water.
“At least one if not two additional herbicide trips are made across furrow-irrigated rice when compared to flood rice and more residual herbicides are used,” he said.
But with careful management, solutions can be found to overcome most of the problems of growing rice in Missouri, Stevens said.
Finding these solutions means yield rates would besimilar to those of rice grown the conventional way. Stevens said they’re often not as high but sometimes they are actually higher.
“More and more each year I see farmers trying it out,” Jones. “As far as rice as a whole, we’re probably at our maximum.”
Southeast Missouri is a low-lying region that’s a part of the Southern alluvial Mississippi River Delta. In the early 20th century, a system of ditches, levees and canals were built to drain the uninhabitable land that was infested with mosquitoes and malaria.
This system, known as the Little River Drainage District, is the world’s largest man-made drainage effort.
“We have the ideal soil, infrastructure and transportation that we already utilize,” House said. “The only limiting factor is acreage.”
House said farmers are becoming more efficient at handling rice and the specialized equipment that comes along with it.
The abrasive crop requires equipment with a hardened interior to cut through its sandpaper-like texture. This process, House said, has been refined to where farmers know when they plant in April or May what they’ll harvest in September or October, though every year is different.
“We’re not like the rest of the state because this is all reclaimed swampland,” House said.

Rice Futures: High Expectations In 2020

Jan. 23, 2020 8:15 AM ET

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 Includes: GRUJJGTFRJA

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Summary
Description: Stella MwendeThe deficit in rice production is expected to continue in 2020.
China's shift from a major rice importer to exporter has affected countries such as Thailand.
Forecast of increased beer production with a CAGR of 1.28% is seen as a major catalyst in rice production and consumption.
Inadequate innovative rice strains have affected production in Thailand as opposed to Vietnam.

Thesis

As reported in my previous article, decreased global inventories were poised to push the rice prices higher. A 10-year analysis of the global consumption levels from 2009 to 2010 indicated that the global deficit at the period was 25.3 million metric tonnes. Falling demand from prime countries such as India and China was also a key factor in the likelihood of low prices getting into 2020. However, despite the increase in production of off-season rice, the high global competition, decreased exports from emerging powerhouses and unfavorable climate will further raise the price of rice futures. The ETF chosen for investing in rice futures is ELEMENTS Linked to the Rogers International Commodity Agriculture ETF (NYSEARCA:RJA).

Introduction

A 10-year analysis of the RJA ETF shows that the total return is picking up from a decade low earnings as compared to the volatile nature of agricultural futures. In a return vs. market fundamental analysis, it was seen that the normalized percentage change as at that January 17, 2020, period fell by 26.02% as compared to rice at 45%. The trading price at this same period rose by 1.27% to trade at $5.63. We can here assert that the ETF's position has strengthened especially since it has been trading under the $5.50 mark since July last year.
Description: https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2020/1/20/50283380-1579534239076735.png
Source: YCharts
The month of January 2020 has seen a decline in the global production of rice as compared to that of 2019. The end of the year saw Pakistan increase its rice production to 7.5 MMT owing to the currency's devaluation against the US dollar. Sri Lanka's department of agriculture maintained that the Maha season was set for a total rice production of 2.4 MMT in 2019-2020. While this production is significant owing to the destruction of up to 20,000 hectares of paddy rice in 2020, it is still below the expected target. In 2018, Sri Lanka produced 3.0 MMT of rice.

Thailand is feeling the pressure

Since 2013, Thailand's total rice production was 20 MMT before falling by almost 5 MMT in 2015. Africa has remained Thailand's main export market since 2013 with China reportedly slashing its import to less than 1 MMT (see figure below).
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Source: USDA
Africa's rice imports have also subsided from 2017, with Indonesia taking a huge cut - to less than 0.3 MMT in 2019. This reduction has been attributed to increased domestic production of the commodity. Philippines, which is the top global rice importer, has taken a hit with reduced production from Thailand as well as Vietnam. A decrease in rice production from Thailand will lead to increased import prices as feared by the Philippines government. On a global front, Philippines has risen to play a major role after it imported 3.0 MMT of rice in 2018.

Bullish Global Rice Prices

December report by The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) indicated that the 100B rice quotes in Thailand rose to $428 a ton. Vietnamese price was competitive at $355, India at $362 and Pakistani at $358 a ton. Rice futures in the US have increased their trading price in the last year from $10.60 on January 10, 2019, to $13.52 on January 17, 2019.
Description: https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2020/1/21/50283380-15795995590408528.png
Source: Markets Insider
This jump represents an annual increase of 27.55% with a ton of rice trading at a cost of $560 in the US. Only Uruguay decreased its prices to $516 per ton. However, Uruguay's export base in 2017 entailed more than 50 markets internationally. At the time, it exported 1.014 MMT at $454 per ton. So from 2017 to 2020, Uruguay's price range has increased by 13.66%.

Rice types and climatic barriers

Innovative rice exporters are now altering the variety of rice to not only suit market demands but also cope with the climatic change affecting production. In a statement, the Thai Rice Exporters Association's President, Mr. Charoen Laothamatas, explained:
Thai rice quality has dropped because of climate change and global warming, as well as changing the plantation method. Farmers prefer to use machinery and chemicals that affect Thai rice's aromatic quality and good taste Because of the labor shortage, , while other exporters such as Vietnam have developed their own varieties every year to serve consumer demand. Vietnam now has seven or eight rice types for export to serve global demand.
China has also increased its off-season rice production in the FY 2019-2020. According to the USDA, China has now shifted from importing to exporting of rice, with its main market including Africa, which comprises of Thailand's main rice destination. Chinese researchers as early as 2017 developed close to 200 new rice strains that could tolerate saltwater and still maintain high yields to feed almost 200 million people. Countries like Vietnam that have developed new rice grains are able to cope with harsh climatic conditions that have affected India, Bangladesh and Thailand.

US Beer Market

US beer consists of rice that provides good source of (fermentable) sugar. According to the US Brewers Association that is composed of more than 4,000 independent brewers, rice was established as an ingredient in the beer style guidelines spanning from 1979. Therefore, the beer industry provides an important rice destination. For instance, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) dubbed the "King of Beers" emerged as the largest purchaser of US rice in the beer industry in 2018. With a market capitalization of $155.3 billion and the stock trading at $80.03, the company has seen a rise in beer production over the past year. However, with the price of rice going up, we expect reduced production in the FY 20.
In a Forbes Report published on December 31, 2019, craft beer production in the US was expected to increase from 24.3 million barrels in 2015 to 27 million barrels in 2019 (a rise of 11.11%). This production is significant owing to the fact that the prediction was for 1 million barrels with a single-digit increase in production levels. Further, the forecast of 2019-2026 perceives an increase in global beer market value from $602.69 billion in 2018 to $667.25 billion. The expected CAGR is 1.28% with the increase in value attributed to popularity and increased consumption in developing countries. An increase in beer production and consumption is expected to increase rice demand leading to an increase in prices.

Final Thoughts

Decreased rice production levels are expected deep into 2020. This inventory level is expected to push the price of rice futures higher. Climatic changes such as droughts, floods and irregular weather have caused significant damages to rice plantations such as in Thailand. Without development of resistant strains of the rice crop as seen in China and Vietnam, further dips in production are expected. China has changed tune from a high net importer to a major exporter of rice globally. This shift has hurt economies such as Thailand. While the involvement of China may lower prices, decreased inventories in the US and Thailand and high beer production may give a robust push to the commodity.
Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Campaign grinds to a halt as big violators go unpunished

Emran Hossain | Published: 02:27, Jan 24,2020
      
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A BSTI mobile court destroys spurious powdered milk during a recent drive in Dhaka. — New Age photo
The safe food campaign has come to a halt as government agencies responsible for taking the campaign ahead appeared to have sided with dishonest businessmen.
Fate of many major food standards related cases filed last year by different government agencies appears doomed with wilful destruction of evidences by them.
Even the High Court’s initiative to prevent the marketing of contaminated pasteurised milk has been put on the back burner with the government smelling a conspiracy against the local milk industry, which it felt was active behind the move.
All the 14 local pasteurised milk brands accused of marketing cow milk contaminated with banned antibiotics and excessive heavy metals continued their businesses without having to face a trial.
Independent researchers are afraid of disclosing their findings of dangerous adulteration and contamination in foods and prefer to keep it a secret even after being published in international journals.
‘Consumers fate is sealed when the protector turns predator,’ Consumers Association of Bangladesh president Ghulam Rahman told New Age.  
He said that government agencies’ priority to promote businesses instead of protecting consumers’ interest is evident in almost all their moves.
‘Laws are there to protect consumers. But there is nobody to implement those,’ said Ghulam Rahman.
In its latest press conference in the 2nd week of January the CAB demanded that a separate ministry be formed to look into consumer rights.
The existing public ministries and offices are all concerned with protecting industrialists and businesses and there is nobody to listen to consumers’ plights, the CAB chief said.
The safe food campaign began four years ago when Bangladesh Food Safety Authority came into being, three years later the food safety law was formulated.
The campaign has been very limited and based in the capital. Outside the capital the BFSA remained virtually absent.
The new law was applied in a very small number of cases only in the capital with BFSA’s food inspectors around the country remaining virtually inactive.
Food safety officers said that they were frustrated and suffered from a complete lack of motivation because of confusing leadership of their high-ups.
About 18 food safety inspectors based in Dhaka filed 166 cases under the safe food law since the safe food campaign began.
Most of the cases were filed against small businesses on charges of selling foods long after their shelf lives had expired.
Few cases were against big companies using deceptive advertisements for marketing their products.
One of the inspectors, who filed several cases against two big companies, was called to the office of a former minister last year and was asked to withdraw the cases.
At the minister’s office, the inspector found the accused relaxingly loitering around. The inspector said that he was humiliated before them with questions like who gave him the authority to file such cases.
‘Going against businesses in the country means taking a lot of professional troubles and risking life even,’ said an inspector requesting anonymity.
‘You might even lose your job or never get your hope of promotion realised,’ he said.
The inspector did not withdraw the cases but has lived in fear ever since.
The legal proceedings of the cases he had filed were however stayed anyway through the High Court.
‘Influential ruling party lawmakers, lawyers by profession, appeared on behalf of the accused businessmen to prove the government wrong,’ said the inspector.
On Monday, a Dhaka court flew into a rage during the trial of a case filed against Quasem Food Products for manufacturing substandard potato chips.
Quasem Food Products is one of the 61 companies accused of manufacturing 73 uneatable food items last year.
The court said that that Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution destroyed all evidences relating to the prosecution of all the 61 companies.
The BSTI also gave false information to the government prosecutor to save the companies and in some cases framed innocent grocers or shopkeepers to let the real culprits go, said the court.
The BSTI told the court during the hearing that they do not preserve evidence  more than 72 hours.
‘Your decision to destroy evidence in 72 hours reveals your predetermination to let the culprits go,’ the food court judge special metropolitan magistrate Mehedi Pavel Sweet told the BSTI.
The court said that it was flooded with allegations from consumers against government agencies such as the BSTI.
‘Your performance is very poor. You better serve people better,’ the judge said.
The BSTI took a lot of flak last year when it found 73 food items not conforming to its standards but did not take any action against them.
The indifference of the national standards enforcing institution sparked a public outcry and resulted in a public litigation seeking direction from the High Court to protect consumers.
The High Court expressed its disappointment with BSTI’s performance and had asked it to regularly update the court on its activities.
BSTI director general Muazzem Hossain told New Age that they did not have enough space to preserve evidence of substandard foods.
‘It is also difficult to protect evidence of perishable foods,’ said Muazzem, who hastened to add that they worked under many limitations and that they also had a limited jurisdiction.
According to the law, Muazzem said, only those products needing mandatory certification from us is under our control.
At the moment only 181 products, including 72 food items, need to have BSTI license to be sold in the market.
The jurisdiction represents less than 5 per cent of packaged food industry in Bangladesh.
About 95 per cent of businesses producing foods in the country do not need standards certification to run their businesses.
Many of the businesses however regularly use fake BSTI certification and rarely get punished because of it.
Laboratory activities of the BSTI are mainly limited to testing samples commercially for private businesses.
BSTI’s poor market monitoring gives businesses the golden opportunity to flood the market with substandard products.
The samples that it tests as part of regular market monitoring are often supplied by their producers. The BSTI collects samples on its own sometimes.
When a sample fails to pass the test, its producer always gets a second chance to send a second sample in for test, which most of the time meets the full standards compliance, said BSTI officers.
The producers of the substandard or adulterated foods rarely get their licenses cancelled irrespective of the seriousness of their crime.
Of the 73 food items found substandard last year some were contaminated with excessive lead, but the BSTI served merely show cause notices on their producers and did not take any action against them.
‘We are not here to hurt businesses. We have to act by the law,’ said Muazzem.
The country’s other food laboratories were not operating properly either, often because of government’s reluctance in using them effectively.
The food testing laboratory established to monitor qualities of food sold in both south and north city corporations in Dhaka remained out of operation for the last two years.
The food testing laboratory did not test a single sample in 2018 and 2019 because it did not have an analyst.
In 2017 the laboratory had tested 501 food samples while 569 samples were tested the year before.
Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research also remain busy with commercial tests for private businesses. Reports of its researches are rarely made public.
‘There is no denying the fact that our laboratories are not enough to take the safe food campaign ahead,’ said BFSA member Monzur Morshed Ahmed.
He said that food testing laboratories needed a lot of improvements and they did not even have standards for testing many food products sold in the market.
‘It will need time to improve laboratory services,’ he said.
The laboratory of the Institute of Public Health is the only one who publishes yearly report on its market monitoring through press conference.
Last year the IPH faced scathing criticism from government food regulators after it revealed that raw cow milk, fodder and other food items were contaminated with banned antibiotics, excessive heavy metals and other impurities.
The BFSA and the BSTI were quick to question IPH’s methodologies of tests and cast their doubts about the IPH having the capacity to run proper tests.
Last year the BFSA hit headlines several times for withholding names of powder milk importers even after detecting heavy metals in them.
The BFSA did not ban the milk brands. Neither did it withdraw them from the market, despite being aware of the fact that the children, the elderly and the sick people were consuming them.
Milk ranks among the food items considered most dangerous for consumption.
The BFSA found gaping leaks along milk value chains but did very little to improve the situation.
For instance, cold chain is not maintained in supplying pasteurised milk by companies to retailers. Bacterial growth starts in pasteurised milk in half an hour of its production if the cold chain is not maintained.
The cold chain is preserving pasteurised milk under 4 C until it is consumed.
But, the BFSA so far failed to force companies to maintain cold chain.
In another desperate attempt to serve businessmen the BFSA overstepped the law when it said last year that calcium carbide could be applied for ripening mangoes artificially.
Use of calcium carbide is legally prohibited in Bangladesh.
After chromium presence in poultry meat was reported on the media last year, the BFSA dismissed the reports saying chromium gets destroyed by cooking, which is not true.
The BFSA even conducted researches justifying illegal practices among businesses.
For instance, a BFSA investigation concluded in 2018 that miniket rice was cultivated in Bangladesh, contradicting the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.
According to the BRRI, miniket is over-polished BRRI-29, a thick but popular rice grown in Bangladesh.
Businessmen claim Miniket to be a different variety of rice and its price is higher than regular BRRI-29 rice.
Even the High Court noticed the visible favouritism shown by the BFSA and the BSTI towards businesses, even after they faltered in all counts to maintain food standard.
At a hearing last year, the High Court reprimanded the BSTI officials for sitting idle in air conditioned offices wasting public money.
It scolded the BFSA officials at another hearing saying ‘are you scared of the big businesses?’ ‘You better quit, go home and cook food,’ the court told the BFSA officials.
Many BSTI employees spearheaded social media campaign supporting campaign of private businesses that safe food campaign was a pretext to destroy home grown food business.
Even the prime minister said that she believed there was a conspiracy going on against local milk companies.
Soon after the PM’s remark came, the jurisdiction of the High Court bench, whichin a suomotoorder asked the production of pasteurised milk by 14 companies to stop last year, was curtailed.
The bench no longer has the power to issue suomoto and now hears cases not related to food standards.
Even independent researchers and safe food campaigners became the victims of smear campaigns by government officers and businesses throughout last year.
After a group of Dhaka University teachers revealed last year that many products certified by the BSTI do not conform to the national standards, the BSTI employees joined the campaigns calling the researchers names and identifying them as agents of foreign companies.
The team of researchers were led by Dhaka University’s pharmacy department teacher professor ABM Faroque.
Even Faroque’s own department was quick to notify public in a rare statement that the department had nothing to do with the research.
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A file photo shows that BSTI mobile court staff dumps adulterated chocolates after confiscating those during a drive. — New Age photo

How onions and old cheese could help inflammatory bowel disease: Scientists find diets rich in pre and probiotics ease gut cramps - but milk, pasta and rice will make them worse

·       Researchers tested diet on 19 patients to see if would improve their gut health
·       They found nearly two in three (61.3 per cent) reported less severe symptoms
·       Patients all had severe Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, all forms of IBD 
A diet rich in pre and probiotic foods could improve the symptoms of millions of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) sufferers, researchers say.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts set strict meal plans for 19 patients and monitored them over two months.
Their diets were made up of lots of prebiotics, like onions and bananas, and probiotics, such as yohurts and old cheese. 
After eight weeks more than two in three of participants reported a dramatic decline in the severity of their symptoms. 
The scientists say the two food types increase the number of 'good' fatty acids which lessen inflammation in the gut.  
Assistant professor Ana Maldonado-Contreras, lead author of the study, said diet was the 'best medicine' to treat IBD. 
She warned sufferers should steer clear of milk, pasta, rice, refined sugar and fresh cheese, which all only further inflame the gut.
Description: A diet rich in pre and probiotic foods could improve the symptoms of millions of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) sufferers, researchers say
+A diet rich in pre and probiotic foods could improve the symptoms of millions of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) sufferers, researchers say
Probiotics are foods containing live bacteria thought to keep the gut healthy. 
Prebiotics are types of fibre which serve as food for this bacteria, helping them thrive in the body.
As well as onions and bananas, prebiotic foods which feature on the list include; garlic, artichokes, leeks, asparagus and ground flax seeds.
IBD is the name given to a group of conditions in which the intestines become inflamed.
Two major types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. There are thought to be around 620,000 sufferers in the UK, with a further 3million in the US.

WHAT IS INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE?

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a medical term that describes a group of conditions in which the intestines become inflamed (red and swollen).
Two major types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Ulcerative colitis affects the large intestine (colon) whereas Crohn's disease can occur in any part of the intestines.
Symptoms may include:
·       Abdominal cramps and pain frequent
·       Watery diarrhoea (may be bloody)
·       Severe urgency to have a bowel movement
·       Fever during active stages of disease
·       Loss of appetite and weight loss
·       Tiredness and fatigue anaemia (due to blood loss) 
People of any age can get IBD, but it's usually diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 40.
The conditions are chronic and cannot be cured so treatment usually relies on medication and lifestyle changes to manage the symptoms, but may include surgery.
IBD is thought to affect some three million people in the US, over 300,000 Britons, and 85,000 Australians.
Symptoms include abdominal cramps, watery diarrhoea, fever and loss of appetite. 
The latest study found 61.3 per cent of patients who followed the diet, called IBD-AID, reported a significant easing in the condition.
Meals were designed to increase the numbers of bacteria which produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
These nourish intestine lining cells and help to reducing inflammation.
Assistant professor Maldonado-Contreras and her colleagues tested it on patients who had severe Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.
After analysing stool samples from the patients, they found that the foods included in the diet correlated with a large amount of SCFAs.  
They also found a decline in 'bad' strains of bacteria, such as escherichia, alistipes, and eggerthella, all of which inflame the gut. 
Patients who stuck to the diet for a minimum of 50 per cent of the time for eight weeks saw a dramatic decrease in the severity of their symptoms, the researchers added. 
IBD-Aid advises avoiding certain foods to ‘starve’ bad bacteria and allow the gut to recover.
It adds that all trans fats and foods containing partially hydrogenated oil, such as shop-bought muffins and cakes, should be avoided.
The diet has three phases. The first, termed 'bringing it back to basics', aims to help patients who have severe symptoms and who cannot tolerate many foods.
It advises eating soft-cooked pureed food, including smoothies, vegetables and even meat and fish, via a blender. 
The second phase tries to introduce patients with symptoms which are hopefully now less severe to more foods and textures.
More fibrous foods are added, such as beans and lentils, but are still pureed or cooked until they are very soft.
Tomatoes, aged cheese and well-cooked lean meat is also allowed. In the final phase, termed 'Remission', patients are ideally becoming stronger and more comfortable eating a wider variety of foods.
Their bowel movements will be more solid and controlled.  They can now eat things such as stir-fried vegetables and meat, shellfish, citrus fruit and apples. 
Assistant Professor Maldonado-Contreras and her colleagues said the results allowed them to customise diet guidelines to emphasise foods known to improve gut health. 
She said: 'Your food is your best medicine. Nowhere else is this more real than for those suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
'Thus, we developed the IBD-Anti-Inflammatory Diet (IBD-AID) to relieve IBD symptoms while providing nutrient adequacy.'

National study raises alarm about arsenic, lead and other heavy metals in baby food

by JOCE STERMAN and ALEX BRAUER, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Thursday, January 23rd 2020
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SAN FRANCISCO (SBG) — From formula to rice cereal, fruits and veggies to snacks, a recent study from a consumer advocacy group found toxic heavy metals in some of the food we feed our children.
Instead of nursery rhymes, you'll find warnings about pesticides and toxic chemicals painted on the walls of Suzanne Price’s organic baby boutique, Sprout, in San Francisco. The mom of two daughters isn’t trying to scare new parents. Instead, she says her goal is to help educate them about what could be in the products they’re considering for their children and offer healthier alternatives her staff has thoroughly researched. She told Spotlight on America, "I really believe in sharing information, no matter what. I really think people should know the facts and make their own choices."
When it comes to choices about what your children eat, a recent study is sounding an alarm informed moms like Price says people should hear. She said, "I do think studies like this will help push companies to do the right thing."

Boutique owner Suzanne Price provides customers safer alternatives to potentially toxic baby products (Photo: Alex Brauer, Sinclair Broadcast Group)
The study we discussed with Price is a 2019 report from the consumer advocacy group, Healthy Babies, Bright Futures. The organization discovered toxic heavy metals like arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in 95% of the more than 150 baby food products they tested. Their study included big brands and small ones and included food bought at chain stores and online. The study showed the results of testing done on products ranging from cereal and snacks to juice, formula and containers of fruits and veggies.
Dr. Gina Solomon is the former deputy secretary for science and health at California's Environmental Protection Agency. She now works as a principal investigator at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California. We asked her about the Healthy Babies, Bright Futures study.
"I understand that people are concerned when people hear about heavy metals in baby food. That is worrisome," Dr. Solomon explained. "One of the things people should know is heavy metals like lead and arsenic are very widespread in the environment and they get into a lot of things."
One of the biggest problem foods pointed out by the study? Rice. This common ingredient in many baby foods, including cereal and snacks, contains arsenic. But Solomon explained it's naturally occurring in the environment and gets picked up from the soil. Still, that doesn't make it any easier for parents to swallow, as studies cited by the Food and Drug Administration show any exposure to heavy metals, in general, has the potential to impact brain development in children. The rice industry maintains inorganic arsenic in rice grown in the United States poses no public health risk.
"There are some things that are very hard to change so what we need to see from the Food and Drug Administration and these companies making these products, are best efforts to bring the levels down, to be aware of where this food is coming from and that it has the lowest feasible levels," Solomon said.
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Dr. Gina Solomon with the Public Health Institute talks about a study that uncovered heavy metals in baby food (Photo: Alex Brauer, Sinclair Broadcast Group)
Right now, the FDA has no enforceable limits for most heavy metals when it comes to baby food, although the agency has proposed them when it comes to arsenic in apple juice and rice cereal.
Last year some of the biggest names in the baby food business took matters into their own hands, joining together with partners like Cornell University and the Environmental Defense Fund to form a Baby Food Council. The group says they’re committed to improving their methods to limit heavy metal contamination and reduce levels. “Although heavy metals are naturally occurring in the environment, we are always looking to reduce their presence in food," a representative of one manufacturer said in a release about the council. Another said, "We never stop asking ourselves, ‘Can we do more?’ This question inspires our commitment to continuously raise our high standards and improve our methods to reduce and limit contaminants in all our foods."
For now, experts say the best thing parents can do is switch things up when it comes to children's diets. Dr. Timur Durrani, associate professor with the University of California San Francisco, told Spotlight on America feeding your children a varied and balanced diet that doesn’t focus too much on any one food is a solid step to limit exposures. He advises breastfeeding as long as possible and then choosing non-processed options for your children when possible after they've made a move to solid foods.
"Anytime a child has an exposure to a potentially neurotoxic substance that is problematic," Durrani said. "Our interest and our goal is to minimize that as much as possible."
Mixing things up in your child's diet won't stop every exposure to heavy metals, but it helps. And when it comes to rice, Durrani says you may want to consider infant cereals or snacks made with oatmeal or mixed grains that are often sold at about the same cost. He advised choosing white rice over brown, given arsenic levels have shown to be lower with that variety. The FDA has even issued some cooking advice for rice. The agency says cooking rice in extra water that doesn't evaporate and has to be poured off can lower arsenic levels in the food significantly.
Moms like Suzanne Price understand there's a lot of information parents have to wade through. Her advice is to listen but try not to get overwhelmed. "What I always tell people is you do what you can do. You can’t get rid of every bad thing in the environment around your child," she said. "But you can make less of them by making some smart choices."

Disabling viruses with CRISPR scissors

January 23, 2020
Description: Anirban Roy in the laboratoryAnirban Roy helped modify a crop-destroying virus to help plants resist infection.
Viruses cause billions of dollars in losses for many food, feed, and fiber crops, including staples like wheat, rice, potatoes, cassava, beans, and plantains. In a scientific first, Washington State University researchers delivered a one-two punch to knock out these viruses, using precise, targeted editing of viral genes.
Popularly known as CRISPR-Cas9, this genome editing approach can delete and replace individual bases in DNA.
“Genome editing is one of the most powerful and groundbreaking developments in molecular biology, with potentially far-reaching applications in agriculture, biology, and medicine,” said Hanu Pappu, Samuel H. Smith Distinguished Professor and Chuey Endowed Chair in WSU’s Department of Plant Pathology.
In a recent article in the journal PloS One, Pappu and his collaborators showed that precise modifications of multiple genes of a virus at the same time both disabled the virus and made the plants highly resistant to disease.
Description: Plants in a laboratory Virus infection results in severe stunting of plants, left, but plants challenged by a virus with edited genes at right, showed no damage.
The study’s lead authors—Anirban Roy, a visiting scientist on sabbatical from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, and Ying Zhai, a post-doctoral fellow in Pappu’s lab—used a crop-destroying DNA virus to apply this approach. Their collaborators included WSU crop science professor Michael Neff and his doctoral student Jessica Ortiz. Roy was supported by a fellowship from the joint Indo-U.S. Genome Editing Initiative.
“Commonly referred to as begomoviruses, these are some of the most destructive viruses of vegetable crops in tropical and sub-tropical countries around the world,” Roy said. Begomoviruses are spread by whiteflies, a tiny insect that feeds on plants, making them extremely difficult to control.
“These viruses tend to mutate and evolve to escape their host plants’ defenses, and are notorious for overcoming host plant resistance,” Pappu said. “This makes developing virus resistant crops that remain disease resistant very challenging.”
With his Indian collaborators, Sunil Mukherjee and Bikash Mandal, Pappu tried a new tactic: simultaneously targeting and editing several different genes of the virus that are critical for its multiplication and survival. The result was remarkably cumulative: plants were able to resist the virus infection, and they remained symptom-free.
While CRISPR-Cas9 was used to edit out single bases in one gene, Pappu’s team found a downside to this approach. The edited virus quickly mutated to its original form and started causing disease.
Description: Closeup of Hanu PappuHanu Pappu
“We went back to the drawing board and tried to come up with a way to disable the virus more effectively,” Pappu said.
“It was a great moment when we did not see any indication that the virus was able to mutate, after we edited its genes at multiple locations,” Zhai added.
Now, with their proof of concept, the scientists say it could be possible to extend this approach to any begomovirus-host combination.
“Genome editing is one more weapon in the arsenal for the continued fight to protect crops from viruses,” Pappu said.
Read the team’s PLoS One journal article, Multiplexed editing of a begomovirus genome restricts escape mutant formation and disease development (Roy, A., Y. Zhai, J. Ortiz, M.M. Neff, B. Mandal, S.K. Mukherjee and H.R. Pappu (2019).

Media contact:

·       Hanu Pappu, Samuel H. Smith Distinguished Professor and Chuey Endowed Chair,  Department of Plant Pathology, 509-335-3752, hrp@wsu.edu

Govt. approves Rs. 100 b in loans for paddy purchases

Friday, 24 January 2020 00:25
  • Private buyers and mill owners can obtain loans at 8% interest to buy paddy at Govt. set prices 
  • Cabinet approves minimum price at Rs. 50 per kilo 
  • Three million metric tons of paddy expected for Maha season
  • State Ministers appointed to monitor paddy purchasing in key districts   
By Uditha Jayasinghe

Cabinet has approved a wide-ranging paddy purchasing program for three million metric tons of Maha season paddy, which includes setting a minimum price of Rs. 50 and providing Rs. 100 billion in loans at 8% interest for private buyers, a top official said yesterday.   

Paddy harvesting has already begun and the Cabinet of Ministers this week decided that the Government will mediate in purchasing surplus of paddy stocks in the Maha season of 2019/2020 with objective of encouraging the private sector paddy millers to purchase paddy under a fair price to ensure sustaining a fixed price of paddy.

Therefore a minimum certified price of Rs. 50 for a kilo of paddy with the due standard (subject to the criterion of moisture) has been mandated. The minimum certified price of a kilo of paddy with moisture is to be certified at Rs. 45.

“Cabinet has also approved giving loans through State and private banks approximately amounting to Rs. 100 billion under a concessionary loan interest rate of 8% for private sector buyers including small and medium scale as well as large scale millers for the purchase of paddy under the certified price,” Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told media.

He also defended the high prices of rice that have been seen in the market for the last few months, insisting that the Government had decided not to import rice as it could cause market distortions as it was too close to harvest time.

“During the previous Government we saw that every time prices increased they would resort to imports, but this is bad on two counts. One is that previous foreign exchange flows out of the country and secondly when rice imports are made so close to harvest time it drives down prices and farmers close the opportunity to get a good price. This is the Government that is on the side of the farmers, so the decision was taken not to import rice but to wait till the Maha season,” he said.

The Government program to purchase rice will be carried out through district secretaries and Government agents as well as the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB). Direct purchase of quantities of rice required for Government institutions such as the armed forces, Department of Prisons, public hospitals and other public institutions will be done directly from Paddy Marketing Board (PMB).

Cabinet also decided all store houses or warehouses under the purview of the Food Commission will be used for storing the paddy stocks purchased. Lorries and trucks belonging to the Government will be used for transportation of paddy stocks

Monitoring of the paddy purchasing program in the Districts of Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Vavuniya, Ampara, Batticaloa, Monaragala and Hambantota has been assigned to several State ministers.

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Chinese tariff rate quota policy severely impacted U.S. wheat exports, study shows

Marianne Stein, Illinois College of Ag, Consumer and Environmental SciencePublished 4:39 p.m. CT Jan. 23, 2020
Ripening wheat on the Palouse hills of Washington. (Photo: Doug Wilson/USDA)
URBANA, Ill. – The U.S. and China recently agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve the current trade war between the two countries. But that is just the latest development in longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.
China has consistently used tariff rate quotas to restrict grain imports, and in 2016 the U.S. launched a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s implementation of tariff rate quotas on wheat, corn and rice. In their report, issued in April 2019, WTO sided with the U.S., but did not provide an assessment of the effect on U.S. exports.
A new study from University of Illinois, published in Agricultural Economics, quantifies those effects and shows that China’s tariff quota administration significantly affected U.S. grain exports, particularly for wheat.  
“Our analysis shows that if China hadn’t used trade policies to restrict trade, wheat imports from the U.S. could have been more than 80% higher in 2017. That’s a value of around $300 million,” says Bowen Chen, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at U of I. Chen is lead author on the study, which was conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation.
The dispute concerns China’s administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQ), a policy instrument intended to regulate imports. Tariff rate quotas establish two tiers of tariffs, with a lower tariff for in-quota imports and a much higher tariff for out-of-quota imports. Chinese tariffs for grain commodities were 1% for in-quota and 65% for out-of-quota imports.
The system is intended to allow some access for imports at a low tariff rate, while the second-tier tariffs provide protection for domestic commodities. Under the TRQ agreement, China is obligated to import certain quantities of grain at the low tariff level. However, the U.S. contended that these obligations were not fulfilled, and that China’s imports of corn, wheat and rice were far below in-quota quantities.
Chen and his colleagues analyzed trade and price data to assess the impact of Chinese TRQ policies on U.S. grain exports. They also sought to explore the rationale behind the grain quota administration in order to better inform policy initiatives and trade negotiations.
The researchers obtained monthly trade data for grain commodities from 2013 to 2017, using information from a United Nations database and the Ministry of Commerce in China. They also looked at domestic price data published by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Using the trade and price data, they estimated the import demand elasticities for corn, wheat and rice.
“We estimate how the prices would have been reduced if China was not imposing the tariffs. Then we simulate how the quantities would change based on the price and elasticity,” Chen says.
Overall, the researchers concluded that China’s 2017 grain imports could have been $1.4 billion or 40% higher. Wheat imports from the U.S. could have been $324 million or 83% higher without the restrictive policies. Corn and rice imports were affected to a lesser extent.
Chen cautions that those results are contingent on Chinese domestic prices being equal to world prices, assuming that China would not maintain high prices to support domestic production.
“If China liberated their import policy and reduced domestic price support, such market policy reforms would alleviate pressure from trading partners,” Chen says. “However, they may not be interested in full trade liberalization at this time.”
Chen explains that China has used TQR as a trade policy instrument to stabilize domestic prices and restrict imports, and his research can help understand why they engage in this practice.
“These restrictions will make foreign commodities more expensive and give more incentive for domestic producers, so China can eat more domestically produced food,” he says.
“China wants to feed itself and be less dependent on other suppliers. Furthermore, China has huge grain stocks and want to use them. Finally, international prices are volatile, so for food security reasons they don’t want prices to fluctuate too much. They want to have stable food prices so people can feel safe, buying the same food with the same budget.”
Chen says the study can have implications for trade negotiators and policy makers, both in the U.S. and China, by showing the effect the TQR policy has on trade.
The new phase one trade deal stipulates that tariff rate quota administration not be used to prevent the full utilization of agricultural tariff rate quotas. The implementation of the trade deal will likely benefit U.S. grain exports to China, Chen notes.  
Soybean trade is an important part of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and that will be the topic for Chen’s next research project.
“We will quantify the impact on U.S. soybean exports to China, calculating how exports have been reduced by the trade war in the last year. That’s what I’m currently working on,” he says.
The paper, “Tariff quota administration in China’s grain markets: an empirical assessment,” is published in Agricultural Economics.
JANUARY 23, 2020

Cambodia rice crisis signals deeper economic rot

A Cambodian rice farmer during harvest season in Kompong Chhnang, Cambodia. Photo: AFP Forum
EU tariffs, intense drought and deep debts all loom darkly over nation’s top crop and employer
Description: Cambodia rice crisis signals deeper economic rotCambodia’s beleaguered rice sector is both literally and figuratively drying up, with drought parching crops and commercial banks refusing liquidity to farmers and millers in need of loans to stay afloat.
The country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries last year warned farmers that they may only be able plant one crop during the current dry season, which typically runs through April.
The ministry has said this could result in a smaller rice harvest year on year in 2020, a significant decline considering the rice sector is still one of the mostly rural nation’s main employers.
The agricultural sector, of which rice farming is the biggest component, employed around 3 million of Cambodia’s 15 million workers and accounted for just over a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018, according to state data.
While the rice sector has long faced problems of underfunding and black market dealing, and is increasingly being impacted by environmental change and degradation, its woes have been compounded by European Union (EU) tariffs imposed last year on rice imports from Cambodia.
Rice shipments to Europe, previously Cambodia’s largest export market, declined due to the tariffs by around a third last year, from nearly 300,000 tons in 2018 to around 200,000 tons, according to Ministry of Agriculture statistics.
The blow was, to some extent, cushioned by an increase of 46% in rice exports to China, the country’s main political ally. Days after the EU’s tariffs went into effect last January, Chinese president Xi Jinping promised to increase the rice quota amount of China imports from Cambodia to 400,000 tons, up from the 300,000 tons set in 2018.
Description: https://static.asiatimes.com/uploads/2020/01/Cambodia-Rice-Baitang-2016-e1579769595656.jpgCambodian workers load bags of rice in a file photo. Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy
Not only does the quota amount represent artificial demand, as it requires the Chinese government to enforce imports, it is also more wishful thinking than a solution for Phnom Penh considering China failed to meet its smaller quota set for 2018, when it bought only 170,000 of a promised 300,000 tons.
Despite nearly doubling, Cambodia only exported 248,100 tons of milled rice to China in 2019, according to the Cambodian General Directorate of Agriculture. This means it fell well short of the 400,000 ton target and thus likely won’t be enough to lift the industry’s parched 2020 prospects.
Those numbers don’t tell the whole story, however.
While the total tonnage of Cambodia’s rice exports fell by less than 1% last year, chiefly because of the uptick of exports to China, official data shows that the total financial value of rice shipments fell by 4.3%, down to US$501 million. In other words, exports to China aren’t nearly as profitable as exports to the EU.
Yet it is farmers, not middlemen exporters, who are paying the heaviest price. Voice of America reported this month that rice dealers are offsetting the additional cost of EU tariffs by paying farmers less for their produce.
Some farmers say they are now selling their crops for half the price they received in 2018. One producer told VOA that he now sells fragrant rice, a high-quality brand, for 700 riel (US$0.17) per kilogram, when it previously sold for 1,300 riel.
On December 26, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen stressed that his government won’t intervene in 2020 to prop falling prices, as it did in 2017 during an election year when his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) was keen to secure rural votes.
Description: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen delivering a speech during an event attended by garment workers in Kampong Chhnang province. Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen delivers a speech in Kampong Chhnang province. Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy
Cambodia isn’t a “communist country,” he said in his December 26 speech, while stating that “we could only make an appeal, but the market mechanism does not require the state to set the prices.”
His government’s strict adherence to market principles is questionable. It has previously set arbitrary interest rate caps on the microfinance sector, imposed annual minimum wage increases for garment workers, and bailed out the manufacturing sector on numerous occasions.
More likely, Phnom Penh knows that any direct intervention in the rice sector will require more than just price controls, and that state injections could cost billions of dollars at a time when state coffers are needed for more profitable sectors, like garment manufacturing, which could soon be hit by new punitive tariffs from the EU.
Falling profits couldn’t come at a worse time for Cambodia’s rice farmers. The cost of pesticide and fertilizer is rising and fluctuating weather patterns mean farmers are now increasingly dependent on such products to maintain yields.
Flooding and droughts are also becoming increasingly common, which requires farmers to spend even more money on water pumps and irrigation systems, and to put aside enough capital in case of crop failures.
According to a report by ASEAN Today, 45,000 hectares of rice-growing paddies were affected by droughts in December, for which the government was only able to provide financial relief to half of affected farmers.
Farmers are likely instead to turn to the already overheated microfinance sector, which has grown faster in Cambodia than almost any other country worldwide. Between 2004 and 2014, the average loan from a microfinance institution rose from $200 to $1000, twice as fast as per-capita income growth, Bloomberg noted last year.
A report published last August by two local nongovernmental organizations, Collateral Damage: Land Loss and Abuses in Cambodia’s Microfinance Sector, found that 2.4 million Cambodians now have combined outstanding microfinance debts worth around $8 billion, a third of the country’s GDP.
Description: https://static.asiatimes.com/uploads/2020/01/Cambodia-Rice-Market-Siem-Riep-e1579770064659.jpgA Cambodian rice seller in Siem Reap town’s Old Market. Photo: AFP Forum
That makes an average debt per borrower of $3,370, the highest in the world for microfinance lending.
For years, experts have warned that the microfinance sector is overheated and that a significant number of borrowers are using loans for non-productive means, usually to purchase consumer goods or to repay other loans.
The Collateral Damage report states that mounting debts are pressuring farmers to sell their land to make repayments, as well as leading to more child labor, migration to neighboring Thailand and Vietnam, and even illegal “bonded labor.”
As profits are falling for farmers at the same time as they need to make new investments in equipment, microfinance loans are expected to rise in 2020. So, too, will the number of defaults, or non-performing loans (NPLs), analysts warn.
Reports suggest that the banking sector’s NPL ratio is currently around 2%, though this could be considerably higher because banks often include these debts under different categories and many debts are taken by borrowers to refinance other loans, the World Bank warns.
At the same time, however, millers and exporters find it increasingly difficult to access credit from commercial banks, which are increasingly wary of lending to the debt-ridden agricultural sector.
Whether private financial institutions lend or not is usually a litmus test for business confidence in a sector.
In December, the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), a farmers’ group, called upon the state-owned Rural Development Bank (RDB) to make $200 million available for emergency loans so that millers could continue to purchase their paddy.
Description: https://static.asiatimes.com/uploads/2020/01/Cambodia-Rice-Farmer-2019-e1579770134265.jpgA Cambodian rice farmer during harvest season at Kompong Chhnang province. Photo: AFP Forum
The harvest season for premium fragrant rice begins around November, but millers are often cash-strapped at that time of year after purchasing white and fragrant rice varieties harvested between July and October.
It thus isn’t unusual for rice dealers to request RDB assistance. In 2016 and 2017, for instance, the RDB injected an additional $27 million and $23 million in credit for millers to continue buying harvested rice.
But the RDB only extended an additional $50 million for new loans last month, leaving millers to search elsewhere for the additional $150 million they requested.
The CRF’s vice-president, Chan Sokheang, told the Phnom Penh Post in December that commercial banks have recently halved the amount of their agricultural loans, with some trimming credits by up to 60%.
Cambodia’s banks aren’t usually wary about lending. In fact, Cambodia has the fastest growing lending sector in East Asia, with domestic credit growing nine-fold since 2007, the World Bank reported last year.
The World Bank report showed the number of outstanding loans provided by the banking and microfinance sectors were worth more than 100% of Cambodia’s GDP for the first time in 2019.
The National Bank of Cambodia warned in April last year that this leveraging could have “destabilizing effects on the economy.”
Description: A Cambodian woman holds riel bank notes. Photo: AFP ForumA Cambodian woman holds riel bank notes. Photo: AFP Forum
Unpredictable weather and disruptions to international trade have compounded the structural problems that have vexed Cambodia’s rice sector for years.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported last year that some 44% of Cambodia’s rice exports are undocumented and smuggled out of the country, chiefly because millers cannot afford to purchase the entire harvest and growers look to informal brokers for quick cash.
Recent reports suggest that the government could do more to build silos and warehouses for millers (three new ones were built in late 2018), improve exporters’ infrastructure and invest more in research and development to produce new and better strains of rice.
Civil society groups are speaking out about the perceived lack of government support, with discussion groups in Phnom Penh questioning why the government cannot use part of its $3 billion in foreign reserves to help subsidize the agricultural sector.
The call emerged after Hun Sen said that he may use foreign reserves to offset the tariff costs incurred if Cambodia is removed from the EU’s Everything But Arms (EBA) preferential trade scheme in punitive response to his democratic backsliding.
The EU is expected to make its EBA decision next month. Any revocation of EU privileges would devastate many of Cambodia’s export-oriented industries, particularly the garment sector, and likely require the government to divert further funds away from rice growers to cushion the blow on manufacturers.
Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close
January 24 2020 12:13 AM
Description: Women buy rice
Women buy rice at Wurukum Rice Mill in Makurdi, Nigeria, in this December 2, 2019, photograph.
By Libby George/Makurdi, Nigeria
Thomas Tyavwva Maji is planting rice on more of his land in Nigeria’s Benue State than ever to take advantage of a surge in prices since the country shut its land borders in August.
But he says he cannot go much further.
With no machinery or irrigation, limited manual labour and no spare cash for fertilizers, the 45-year-old is not expecting any dramatic change in his fortunes.
“We work until we get exhausted, manually we get exhausted,” said Maji, as a woman nearby beat hand-harvested stalks on the ground to separate the grains from the chaff.
The constraints Maji faces have bedevilled many rice farmers and millers across Nigeria for years.
Despite government measures designed to spur production, farmers in Nigeria get far less from their land than other major rice growers and the West African country is only marginally less reliant on imports.
That’s a problem for a government that wants to grow all of its own food and boost the country’s agriculture, a sector that accounts for nearly a third of gross domestic product in Africa’s biggest economy.
When he came to power in 2015, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to help the nation become self-sufficient in rice — once a luxury but now a staple for millions of Nigerians.
In 2015, Nigeria’s central bank banned the use of its foreign exchange to pay for rice imports and has backed loans of at least 40bn naira ($130mn) to help small-holders boost output.
It also banned rice imports across land borders and kept hefty 70% tariffs on imports coming through ports.
In August last year, Nigeria went a step further and closed its land borders altogether to stamp out smuggling, often from neighbouring Benin, with rice being one of the main targets.
Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the measures boosted rice production to 9.2mn tonnes last year from 7.2mn in 2015, making Nigeria more or less self-sufficient, though traders can import rice through ports if they pay the tariffs.
Agricultural data specialist Gro Intelligence, however, put Nigeria’s rice output at 4.9mn tonnes in 2019, up 60% from 2013 but well below local consumption of 7mn tonnes.
The US Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, expects Nigeria’s 2020 rice imports to rise 9% to 2.4mn tonnes, in part due to the high cost of unprocessed Nigerian paddy rice and elevated operating costs at mills.
In Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, supermarket shelves remain stocked with a plethora of imported rice brands.
In the markets where most Nigerians buy their food, sacks of Nigerian rice are piled high but imported rice is still available, even though some traders keep the foreign grain under wraps to prevent it being confiscated by customs agents.
Small-scale farmers such as Maji account for 80% of Nigeria’s rice production with a handful of large companies, such as Coscharis Group, Dangote and Olam, growing the rest, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
In Benue state, virtually every aspect of Maji’s farming manual, from planting to harvesting to levelling out roads to take the crop to market.
It’s a similar story on many Nigerian farms, leaving the average yield per hectare at just over 2 tonnes — half the global average and a fraction of Egypt’s 9.5 tonnes a hectare, according to UN data.
Experts say there is little hope of improvement without significant investment in irrigation, mechanisation, roads and storage.
More than 12% of rice is also wasted due to poor roads and inefficient harvesting, milling and storage, consultants KPMG said in a review of the Nigeria’s rice industry.
In a good year, Maji makes about 1.5mn naira ($4,900) — nowhere close to the 5mn, at least, a tractor would cost.
Without irrigation, a goal so remote he doesn’t even know the cost, he can only plant one crop a year.
“At this scale, we will not even be able to fetch a tractor. Talk less of fertilizer and other chemicals,” Maji said.
According to the FAO, less than 1% of Nigeria’s farmland is irrigated, compared with a global average of more than 20%.
Small- and medium-scale rice millers, who account for more than 80% of the local market, also say they’re struggling to meet increased demand without proper equipment.
At Wurukum Rice Mill in Makurdi, Iveren Asan works alongside her sister, using a loud diesel-powered generator to drive machinery processing paddy grains into consumable rice.
Nearby, rice grains that have been parboiled in vats heated by firewood dry on tarps.
She said new buyers from across the country had surfaced since the border closures — but producing more would require significant investment in new machines and the higher prices were not enough on their own. “We can’t meet the demand. We are doing the process manually, so we cannot meet the demand,” she said.
More broadly, experts warned that extreme measures, such as border closures, taken in the name of food security were hurting Nigerians, stunting the development of other industries and holding back foreign investment.
“The border closure has been incredibly disruptive,” said John Ashbourne, an economist at Capital Economics. “It stops industries from getting the imports they need, and it pushes up prices.”
The border closure is set for review January 31 but the presidency’s Shehu said land frontiers would remain shut until Nigeria’s neighbours stopped smuggling on their side — and there was “no sign of compliance yet”.
Ashbourne said even some farming has taken a hit from government policies.
After glass was added to a central bank list of items importers cannot buy with foreign exchange, some tomato paste plants shut because they couldn’t source the jars they needed.
On another farm in Benue State, Abraham Hon, 51, weaves through rows of melons and corn before reaching his rice, the crop that generates the most money.
“The prices look pretty good,” he said, as men cut stalks of rice by hand and laid them in piles on the ground. “We expect more money in the pocket this year.”
But while he and Asan are happy with their increased income, they worry about the impact of higher prices on consumers.
A 50kg bag of rice can cost as much as 24,000 naira in Lagos — nearly double the price in July before the borders were shut and not far below the monthly minimum wage of 30,000 naira.
And consumers, who already spend more than half their income on food according to the World Bank, are feeling the squeeze.
“We will reach a point where people who are buying rice can’t afford to buy rice.
They will look at other alternatives to get energy and get food on their table,” Hon said.
“That in the long term is not in the interest of we, the farmers.”

Brazil expresses willingness to import wheat, rice from India

Jan 23, 2020 09:00 PM   
Description: Beautiful Image
Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias. Reuters
New Delhi, January 23
Brazil on Thursday expressed willingness to import items such as wheat, rice, millets, and sorghum, from India, said an official release after a meeting of ministers of the two countries.
Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar held a meeting with Brazilian Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply Tereza Cristina Correa da Costa Dias to discuss various bilateral trade opportunities, interests and issues.
Both ministers affirmed that agriculture is a priority for both Brazil and India and resolved to strengthen cooperation in the agriculture and allied sectors, said the release.
It added that Dias said both the countries share a common challenge with a huge part of the population being engaged in agriculture and most of them being small and marginal farmers with low income and lack of market access and very little access to new technology and innovations.
During the meeting, she said removal of bottlenecks will provide a major impetus to boosting trade and business ties.
She said wheat, rice, millets, and sorghum are some of the products that India would like to export to Brazil and that she will try to move forward on this as far as possible, the release quoted her saying.
Tomar, who also holds the portfolios of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, said the bilateral trade at USD 1.045 billion in 2018-19 was way below potential and is not reflective of the strengths of both economies and there is a need to encourage more trade given the huge complementarities and synergies that exist between India and Brazil.
He said India is interested in diversifying the commodity basket with regard to agricultural exports to Brazil.
Brazil imports onions, fresh and dried grapes, wheat and meslin, maize, rice, soyabean and cotton from various countries.
The Union agriculture minister requested Brazil to explore sourcing these agricultural items from India. PTI 

One cent off of electricity costs for industrial sector

Thou Vireak | Publication date 24 January 2020 | 09:54 ICT

Description: Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem said the price of electricity will be cut by 40 riel ($0.01) per kilowatt-hour for the industrial sector next month. Hong Menea
The government is poised to reduce the price of electricity by 40 riel ($0.01) per kilowatt-hour for the industrial sector next month, said Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem on Tuesday.
Insiders lauded the announcement but called on the government to improve the quality of electricity supply.
Sem said the move will enhance competitiveness in the industrial sector. “In accordance with government policy, we’ve decided to cut 40 riel per kilowatt-hour off the price of electricity for the sake of investment in our country’s industrial sector.
“Last year we reduced the price by 80 riel per kWh. We vow to continue reducing the price little by little,” he said.
The Kingdom currently generates most of its energy through hydropower dams and coal-fired plants, accounting for around 48 per cent and 47 per cent of power production, respectively.
Some 15 per cent of electricity demand is met by imports from neighbouring countries.
The Cambodia Rice Federation’s more than 300 rice millers are set to receive a huge positive impact, despite the relatively low price cut, its secretary-general Lun Yeng said.
He told The Post on Thursday that the move will reduce production costs and help boost the production chain in the rice sector and maintain competitiveness.
“We welcome the good news. We want stability and quality in electricity supply for the rice sector, which will increase our competitiveness,” Yeng said.
He said some of his federation’s rice millers paid between $30,000 and $40,000 in monthly electricity fees.
Speaking on local TV on Tuesday, Sem said Cambodia will consume 2,214MW during that dry season, 414MW more than last year, but the fact that reservoirs are almost full now ensures the country suffers no chronic blackouts such as those experienced last year.
Federation of Association for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia president Te Taingpor said the move shows that the government has control of electricity stability, which allows it to cut the price.
However, he noted that the price remains higher than in neighbouring countries. “Small and medium-sized enterprises stand to benefit greatly. However, I am concerned that the price of electricity is still higher than it should be,” he said.

A growing problem: Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close

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MAKURDI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Thomas Tyavwva Maji is planting rice on more of his land in Nigeria’s Benue State than ever to take advantage of a surge in prices since the country shut its land borders in August.
FILE PHOTO: Farmers are seen threshing harvested rice in Benue, Nigeria December 3, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
But he says he cannot go much further. With no machinery or irrigation, limited manual labor and no spare cash for fertilizers, the 45-year-old is not expecting any dramatic change in his fortunes.
“We work until we get exhausted, manually we get exhausted,” said Maji, as a woman nearby beat hand-harvested stalks on the ground to separate the grains from the chaff.
The constraints Maji faces have bedeviled many rice farmers and millers across Nigeria for years. Despite government measures designed to spur production, farmers in Nigeria get far less from their land than other major rice growers and the West African country is only marginally less reliant on imports.
That’s a problem for a government that wants to grow all of its own food and boost the country’s agriculture, a sector that accounts for nearly a third of gross domestic product in Africa’s biggest economy.
When he came to power in 2015, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to help the nation become self-sufficient in rice – once a luxury but now a staple for millions of Nigerians.
In 2015, Nigeria’s central bank banned the use of its foreign exchange to pay for rice imports and has backed loans of at least 40 billion naira ($130 million) to help small-holders boost output. It also banned rice imports across land borders and kept hefty 70% tariffs on imports coming through ports.
In August last year, Nigeria went a step further and closed its land borders altogether to stamp out smuggling, often from neighboring Benin, with rice being one of the main targets.
(GRAPHIC: Rice Imports from Thailand - here)

Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the measures boosted rice production to 9.2 million tonnes last year from 7.2 million in 2015, making Nigeria more or less self-sufficient, though traders can import rice through ports if they pay the tariffs.
Agricultural data specialist Gro Intelligence, however, put Nigeria’s rice output at 4.9 million tonnes in 2019, up 60% from 2013 but well below local consumption of 7 million tonnes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, expects Nigeria’s 2020 rice imports to rise 9% to 2.4 million tonnes, in part due to the high cost of unprocessed Nigerian paddy rice and elevated operating costs at mills.
In Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, supermarket shelves remain stocked with a plethora of imported rice brands.
In the markets where most Nigerians buy their food, sacks of Nigerian rice are piled high but imported rice is still available, even though some traders keep the foreign grain under wraps to prevent it being confiscated by customs agents.
(GRAPHIC: Nigerian Rice Production and Consumption - here)
 LOW YIELDS
Small-scale farmers such as Maji account for 80% of Nigeria’s rice production with a handful of large companies, such as Coscharis Group, Dangote and Olam, growing the rest, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
In Benue state, virtually every aspect of Maji’s farming manual, from planting to harvesting to leveling out roads to take the crop to market.
It’s a similar story on many Nigerian farms, leaving the average yield per hectare at just over 2 tonnes - half the global average and a fraction of Egypt’s 9.5 tonnes a hectare, according to U.N. data.
(GRAPHIC: Nigeria Lags in Rice Yield - here)

Experts say there is little hope of improvement without significant investment in irrigation, mechanization, roads and storage. More than 12% of rice is also wasted due to poor roads and inefficient harvesting, milling and storage, consultants KPMG said in a review of the Nigeria’s rice industry.
In a good year, Maji makes about 1.5 million naira ($4,900) – nowhere close to the 5 million, at least, a tractor would cost. Without irrigation, a goal so remote he doesn’t even know the cost, he can only plant one crop a year.
“At this scale, we will not even be able to fetch a tractor. Talk less of fertilizer and other chemicals,” Maji said.
According to the FAO, less than 1% of Nigeria’s farmland is irrigated, compared with a global average of more than 20%.
Small- and medium-scale rice millers, who account for more than 80 percent of the local market, also say they’re struggling to meet increased demand without proper equipment.
At Wurukum Rice Mill in Makurdi, Iveren Asan works alongside her sister, using a loud diesel-powered generator to drive machinery processing paddy grains into consumable rice.
Nearby, rice grains that have been parboiled in vats heated by firewood dry on tarps. She said new buyers from across the country had surfaced since the border closures - but producing more would require significant investment in new machines and the higher prices were not enough on their own.
“We can’t meet the demand. We are doing the process manually, so we cannot meet the demand,” she said.
(GRAPHIC: Nigeria's Incoming Foreign Direct Investment Slides - here)

Slideshow (20 Images)
‘INCREDIBLY DISRUPTIVE’
More broadly, experts warned that extreme measures, such as border closures, taken in the name of food security were hurting Nigerians, stunting the development of other industries and holding back foreign investment.
“The border closure has been incredibly disruptive,” said John Ashbourne, an economist at Capital Economics. “It stops industries from getting the imports they need, and it pushes up prices.”
The border closure is set for review Jan. 31 but the presidency’s Shehu said land frontiers would remain shut until Nigeria’s neighbors stopped smuggling on their side - and there was “no sign of compliance yet”.
Ashbourne said even some farming has taken a hit from government policies.
After glass was added to a central bank list of items importers cannot buy with foreign exchange, some tomato paste plants shut because they couldn’t source the jars they needed.
On another farm in Benue State, Abraham Hon, 51, weaves through rows of melons and corn before reaching his rice, the crop that generates the most money.
“The prices look pretty good,” he said, as men cut stalks of rice by hand and laid them in piles on the ground. “We expect more money in the pocket this year.”
But while he and Asan are happy with their increased income, they worry about the impact of higher prices on consumers.
A 50 kg bag of rice can cost as much as 24,000 naira in Lagos - nearly double the price in July before the borders were shut and not far below the monthly minimum wage of 30,000 naira.
And consumers, who already spend more than half their income on food according to the World Bank, are feeling the squeeze.
“We will reach a point where people who are buying rice can’t afford to buy rice. They will look at other alternatives to get energy and get food on their table,” Hon said.
“That in the long term is not in the interest of we, the farmers.”
(GRAPHIC: Border
Closure Boosts Nigeria's Inflation - here)
Editing by David Clarke