NFA Bicol has enough rice
By: Michael B. Jaucian - Correspondent / @mbjaucianINQ
Inquirer Southern Luzon / 03:22 PM March 19, 2020
LEGAZPI CITY –– The National Food Authority (NFA) assured
the public that there is enough rice to last until April 14, the end of the
enhanced community quarantine.
Henry Tristeza, NFA-Bicol director, said they have
163,000 bags in their warehouse and would prioritize local governments and the
Department of Social Welfare and Development, that would need rice for the
community.
As of noon Thursday, Bicol remained free of coronavirus
disease.
5 natural supplements that are as powerful as Rx drugs
Liz Meszaros | March 19, 2020
In today’s booming health and
wellness market, thousands of supplements are readily available and tirelessly
promoted. Some are effective and can bring health benefits, while others may be
purely snake oil. But, as physicians, did you know that there are several little-known
supplements whose health benefits rival those of currently available
prescription drugs? And that these effects are supported by research?
Five little-known supplements may carry a wealth of health
benefits, and these are backed by research.
Here’s a list of five such
supplements--made from naturally occurring ingredients--with a brief overview
of each, and some of their research-backed benefits.
Curcumin (turmeric). Curcumin is a biologically active polyphenolic compound found in
turmeric, which is a spice made from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa Linn,
a perennial shrub indigenous to India. Curcumin has been used for centuries for
medicinal purposes and is most commonly cultivated and consumed in Asian
countries.
The potential health benefits of
curcumin are many. To begin with, it has anti-inflammatory effects, which it
achieves by blocking Nf-kB, an inflammatory signaling molecule. In several
studies, curcumin has been shown to decrease pain when taken over the long
term. For example, in elderly and middle-aged patients with osteoarthritis, curcumin (1,500 mg/d TID for 28
days) was as effective as diclofenac (an NSAID) in reducing pain, and demonstrated
better tolerability. When compared with acetaminophen (2,000 mg), 400- to
500-mg doses of curcumin afforded equivalent pain relief
for general day-to-day pain.
Curcumin also has antioxidant properties, and may work to
decrease C-reactive protein levels and lipid peroxidation, both markers of
oxidation. Better yet, curcumin seems to have anti-cancer benefits due to its ability to
initiate autophagy. It has also been shown to decrease risks for colorectal, prostate,
and breast cancers.
And, for those with cancer, curcumin may enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy
as well as protect healthy cells from radiation therapy.
The recommended daily dose for
curcumin is approximately 500 mg. Because it’s fat soluble, curcumin should be
taken with a meal or other source of fat (eg, fish oil) to boost absorption.
Because it’s poorly absorbed, taking it concurrently with a supplement that
contains bioperine and piperine, the active ingredient in black pepper, is
recommended.
Berberine. Berberine is a compound found in many plants, including
European barberry and the Oregon tree. Like curcumin, it is yellow, and—in ages
past—used to dye wool, leather, and wood. This substance has anti-inflammatory
properties and may also have lipid-lowering and anti-diabetic effects. These
health benefits may be due to berberine’s ability to activate AMPK, an enzyme
vital for cell growth, function, and maintenance of the cellular energy
balance. Berberine may also have anti-fungal and antibiotic properties.
In one study,
researchers found that berberine was as effective as metformin in lowering
blood sugar levels. In other studies, berberine was found to lower not
only triglyceride and blood pressure levels, but total and LDL cholesterol levels as
well. Finally, its antimicrobial effects, cardiovascular protection, and cancer-fighting abilities make berberine a
multitasking supplement superhero.
The most common dosage is 1,500
mg/d, divided into 3 equal doses throughout the day, taken with meals. Take
care, however: Berberine is a powerful supplement and has the potential to
interact with numerous medications.
Spirulina. A type of cyanobacteria, spirulina is blue-green mixture
of algae species that contains bioactive compounds. It was a food source for
the Aztecs and other Mesoamericans until the 16th century, but was recently
popularized when NASA considered growing it in space to feed astronauts. And
now we know why: Spirulina is chock-full of nutrients.
Consider that 7 g of dried
spirulina powder (1 tbsp) contain 4 g of protein, 11% of the recommended
dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin B1 (thiamine), 15% of the RDA of vitamin B2
(riboflavin), 4% of the RDA of vitamin B3 (niacin), 21% of the RDA of copper,
and 11% of the RDA of iron. It also includes both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty
acids.
Another big plus: Spirulina
contains vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and manganese, and small amounts of
almost every nutrient the human body needs.
Its health benefits are many and
may stem from its ability to inhibit nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
phosphate oxidase (NADPH), a pro-oxidation compound that generates reactive
oxygen species (ROS) that are important in antimicrobial defense and inflammation.
Spirulina has been shown, in preliminary studies, to not only lower lipid peroxidation, triglyceride,
and blood pressure levels,
but also boost the immune system. And, great news for all the
allergy sufferers out there: Spirulina may even significantly reduce nasal allergy symptoms.
The general dosage of spirulina
is 1-3 g/d, usually taken in divided doses throughout the day.
Rhodiola rosea. This herb grows in the cold climates and mountainous regions of
Europe and Asia—such as Russia, Scandinavia, and China—where it is commonly
used in traditional medicine. The substances found in the roots of rhodiola are
considered adaptogens, which help the body adapt to stress. As such, rhodiola
can decrease mental and physical fatigue, and may be particularly beneficial in
those faced with prolonged stress—like physicians struggling with stress or
burnout. It is also thought to support overall good health and decrease
depression and anxiety.
There’s a lot of research backing
up the health benefits of rhodiola, but most of it is inconclusive. For
example, in a meta-analysis of 11 clinical trials,
researchers found that rhodiola reduced physical and mental fatigue, but noted
that “methodological flaws limit accurate assessment of efficacy.”
In a systemic review, rhodiola was found to
alleviate the symptoms of mild to moderate depression and mild anxiety, as well
as enhance mood. However, the authors stated that their findings were “not
definite due to the lack of available experimental data,” further noting that
“randomized controlled trials with a low risk of bias are needed to further
study the herb.”
Rhodiola is available in capsule
or tablet forms, as a dried powder, or as a liquid extract. Dosages and amounts
of the extract vary widely between brands and formulations. In general, normal
doses range from 250 mg to 680 mg.
Red yeast rice. Red yeast rice is a fermented product of rice on which red
yeast has been grown. It has been used in China for centuries as a medicinal
food that promotes circulation. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors—or
monacolins—occur naturally in red yeast rice. If this sounds familiar, it may
be because monacolins are also the active ingredients in statins (like
lovastatin). Other active ingredients of red yeast rice include betasitosterol,
campesterol, stigmasterol, and sapogenin (sterols), as well as isoflavones and
monounsaturated fatty acids.
In light of this, it is not
surprising that red yeast rice may reduce cholesterol levels and be beneficial
in those with hyperlipidemia. In a meta-analysis of 93 studies on three red
yeast rice preparations, researchers found mean decreases in total and LDL
cholesterol levels of 34 mg/dL and 28 mg/dL, respectively, and a mean decrease
in triglyceride levels of 35 mg/dL. They also observed increased HDL
cholesterol levels (6 mg/dL). They concluded that the lipid-modifying effects
of red yeast rice were similar to those seen with pravastatin, simvastatin,
lovastatin, atorvastatin, and fluvastatin.
Red yeast rice may also be useful
for the secondary prevention of myocardial infarction. In a large study including
nearly 5,000 participants with coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction
history, researchers observed a 45% reduction of secondary myocardial
infarction risk and a 33% reduction in mortality risk in participants taking a
red yeast rice capsule formation (0.6 g bid) compared with placebo.
Red yeast rice formulations that
contain monacolin K are considered to be drugs rather than supplements,
according to the FDA. If you do buy a supplement formulation, in which there
may be only trace amounts of monacolin K, make sure it is from a reputable
vendor, and check the label carefully for ingredients and concentrations of
monacolin. Of note, these supplements may not offer the same health benefits as
those with monacolin K.
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Malaria Is Devastating Rwanda's
Rice Farmers — but the Government Still Won't Commit to This Easy Fix
Rice
farmers put food on Rwandans' tables and prop up the economy, but get little
help coping with the malaria-carrying mosquitoes in their fields.
Mar 19 2020, 7:35pm
KIGALI,
Rwanda — Rice farming is a priority crop in Rwanda, but
working in the flooded fields means 10 hours a day exposed to mosquitoes.
Nyirabashyitsi Esperance can’t remember a year when she didn’t get malaria from
tending the fields — some years she’s gotten infected twice.
“Every
time you work the field, you get malaria,” said Esperance, 50, who’s been
farming for 19 years.
Rwanda’s
tens of thousands of acres of bright green, grassy rice fields present a
paradox for the landlocked East African country. The crop is a dietary staple
for virtually every family here — and it brings in a good chunk of the
country’s GDP. So the government is embarking on an aggressive campaign to
produce even more. But the waterlogged fields where the grain grows are the
ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, so the disease is rampant.
Experts
say there’s a relatively easy fix to this problem — but most farmers are still
waiting for relief.
ABOUT
100,00 RWANDESE HOUSEHOLDS ARE INVOLVED IN RICE CULTIVATION. NYIRABASHYITSI
ESPERANCE SAYS LOCALS DON'T HAVE MANY OTHER OPTIONS. PHOTO: PATRICIA
GUERRA/VICE NEWS.
Sindayigaya
Marc had a taste of what life without the threat of malaria feels like back in
2016. Researchers from the Rwanda Biomedical Center came to where he lives and
works, in the Bugesera District in Rwanda’s Eastern Province. They brought with
them something that changed Marc’s life, but only for six months: a larvicide
that kills mosquitoes before they hatch.
Marc was
one of dozens of farmers in the study who began applying the larvicide, called
Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, or Bti, to the fields himself, using the
same machine they use for pesticides. The study also involved preparing
community action teams to deliver malaria-prevention education to villages.
Marc had
been infected with malaria so many times that he stopped going to the hospital
when he got the trademark fever and chills. His three kids have all had it too.
Suddenly, they were free from the disease — and the worry.
The
study showed that over a year, there was a 90% decrease in mosquito density in
Marc’s rice fields. But when the study ended, farmers were left without the
larvicide — and with ten times the amount of mosquitoes once again.
On a
recent afternoon in his field, Marc pointed to mosquito larvae in water. Years
earlier, he had been trained to identify and spray them. Now, “[we] can’t do
anything about it,” he said. Marc added that when there were fewer mosquitoes,
the farmers had been able to stay in the fields later in the day and wear short
sleeves. “If [there were] no mosquitoes,” he said, he could work even more.
After
their study concluded in 2015, the researchers from the Rwanda Biomedical
Center and their Dutch partners had recommended the government incorporate Bti
into their farming practices. The larvicide has been used in the United States
for over 30 years, and it’s EPA-approved. The agency says it doesn’t pose a
risk to humans.
But the
government never funded national Bti spraying. And over the next nearly five
years, the government pushed to increase rice production by turning marshlands
into rice fields. The number of reported malaria cases, meanwhile, increased
68%, from 2.5 million in 2015 to 4.2 million in 2018, according to the World
Health Organization.
In a
2018 study, the country’s experts “hypothesized that a potential contributor to
the increase in cases” was this push to convert the marshlands.
In 2016,
the government established a national strategy titled “The Rwanda We Want:
Towards Vision 2050.” In it, they outline their hope to eradicate malaria by
mid-century. While cases began to decline between 2016 and 2018, malaria in
Rwanda is still extremely widespread. The World Health Organization says the whole
population is at risk for the disease. Without proper care, malaria’s
complications can be deadly.
NYIRABASHYITSI
ESPERANCE WALKING ONTO THE RICE FIELDS OF THE MUHANGA DISTRICT RICE
COOPERATIVE. PHOTO: PATRICIA GUERRA/VICE NEWS.
And
despite these widespread concerns about the lack of malaria prevention or
education for tens of thousands of rice farmers and surrounding communities,
Rwanda has been ramping up its push for more rice for years. In the Rulindo
district in the country’s north, the new planting season kicked off with
fanfare in late September.
Charles
Bucagu, the deputy director general of the Rwanda Agriculture Board, stood atop
a hill overlooking vast fields. He said the government was undergoing a “crop
intensification program,” aiming to increase the amount of rice yield from
under two tons per acre to almost three, through farmer training and new tools.
“Efficiency
is critical,” he told VICE News after a small event marking the beginning of
planting. Rice brings a “significant contribution in terms of food security”
and economic development.
Rice
brings about $64.8 million of revenue to Rwanda annually. And although the
country relies heavily on domestic rice production, they still have to import
some. The government’s goal is to be self-sufficient by 2050. As part of their
efforts to expand farming, the government often rents parcels of land to
farming cooperatives to exploit, and farmers get a cut of what they harvest.
Dr.
Diane Gashumba, the country’s then-minister of health, told VICE News in
September that malaria in and around rice fields must be addressed, and that
the government is “really committed” to exploring larviciding after seeing
countries like Brazil apply the technique successfully. “We need rice,” she
said, “we cannot stop rice farming… but also, there is a way.”
On
February 14, the office of the prime minister announced that he had accepted
Dr. Gashumba’s resignation. In a tweet, he said her resignation “follows a
series of habitual gross errors and repeated leadership failures.”
On March
11, one month after her resignation and five months after Bucagu’s statement,
the government finally reintroduced larvicide to Rwanda’s rice fields.
The
announcement came as Rwandans started yet another agricultural season. But the
commitment is only to a six-month spraying program — and only in the Gasabo
district, one of 30 in Rwanda.
Bti will
be sprayed three times each month, mainly using drones, and community health
workers will help with the targeting of surrounding mosquito breeding sites.
The decision was made in response to a request from Rwanda’s Biomedical
Center’s team for almost $200,000 in funds, and the test run’s success will
inform whether the Bti program gets scaled nationally, said Dr. Emmanuel
Hakizimana, the director of vector control at the center.
Hakizimana
believes malaria eradication in rice paddies is feasible, but Bti spraying is
just the first step. “The problem is not rice farming; the problem is lack of
prevention,” he said, explaining that larviciding must be combined with malaria
detection and treatment, indoor spraying, insecticide-treated nets, and the use
of repellent. “It’s not impossible,” Hakizimana added.
NYIRABASHYITSI
ESPERANCE REMOVES WEEDS FROM THE RICE PADDY BY HAND. PHOTO BY PATRICIA
GUERRA/VICE NEWS.
The
around 1,000 farmers on Esperance’s co-op earn about 1.4 U.S. dollars per day.
She gathered 567 pounds of rice during the last season and was given 128 pounds
for her family by the co-op. She said she doesn’t earn enough to buy bug
repellent. The head of her co-op, Joseph Hitumukiza, said his organization
doesn’t have the resources to give farmers the tools to protect themselves,
either. So he advises them to save money in case they get malaria and need to
be treated.
Citizens
have good access to healthcare, but information around prevention is still
lacking. When asked what measures she takes against the disease, Esperance said
she boils the water she drinks at home. While boiling water is recommended in
areas where the quality is unreliable, it bears no effect on malaria.
Last
fall, Esperance developed a fever and headache. She thought it was malaria, but
she simply took acetaminophen and waited for the symptoms to pass. She said she
wishes there was more outreach to farmers on how to better prepare for the
conditions on the field and at home. Despite the risk she faces each day, she
said her options are slim.
“There’s
nothing else here than being a farmer,” Esperance said.
NYIRABASHYITSI
ESPERANCE. PHOTO BY PATRICIA GUERRA/VICE NEWS.
This
reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation in
partnership with Malaria No More.
Cover:
Sindayigaya Marc is forced to wear long sleeves in high temperatures to protect
himself against malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
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More
like this
‘Unprecedented’ Swarms of Locusts
Are Devouring Crops and Slamming Into Planes in East Africa
It's the worst locust
infestation Kenya has seen in 70 years.
Jan 24 2020, 6:44pm
Swarms
of locusts in east Africa have devastated crops and sent a passenger plane off
course, and now the UN is warning that without international intervention the
voracious insects threaten the food security of tens of millions of people.
Ethiopia,
Somalia, and Kenya are all struggling to deal with the food-munching insects
and if efforts to eradicate them are not increased, the infestation will “threaten the food security
of the entire subregion,” the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the U.N. said this week.
The
swarms of insects are the worst seen in Ethiopia and Somalia for 25 years,
while Kenya has not seen a locust infestation on this scale this size for 70
years. Uganda and South Sudan are also under threat.
Last
month a swarm of locusts smashed into the engines of a passenger plane in
Ethiopia, sending it off course.
"The
speed of the pests' spread and the size of the infestations are so far beyond
the norm that they have stretched the capacities of local and national
authorities to the limit," the U.N. said in a statement.
The only
option left, the U.N. said, to effectively control the locust swarms was
spraying insecticide from aircraft.
But
officials in Kenya say they are simply overwhelmed.
“‘Our resources are strained because the aircraft
are serving all the affected counties,” Hamadi Boga, the principal secretary at
the department of agriculture, told Africa News.
Boga
also warned that the situation in Kenya is about to get much worse, when the
locusts start laying eggs.
“Our
officers are exhausted from battling the pests from the past weeks. The locusts
have started copulating and will soon start laying eggs. We have tagged sprayed
areas with GPS to help us in dealing with hatched nymphs.’‘
Worried
about the locust swarms spreading across the border with Kenya, authorities in
Uganda have urged locals to stock up on food.
The UN
said it was “activating fast-track mechanisms that will allow us to move
swiftly to support governments in mounting a collective campaign to deal with
this crisis,” but called for help to combat the crisis.
The UN warned back in November that
a locust infestation in Ethiopia could spread into neighboring countries. Now
it is predicting that locust swarms will continue to grow until at least June.
Some
farmers in Ethiopia have already lost all their crops to the locusts, which can
travel up to 90 miles per day and eat their own body weight in food. A swarm of
desert locusts, which contains up to 80 million adult locusts in each square
kilometer, can consume as much food crops in a day to feed 2,500 people.
Cover:
In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, two Samburu men who work for a
county disaster team identifying the location of the locusts, are surrounded by
a swarm of desert locusts filling the air, near the village of Sissia, in
Samburu county, Kenya. The most serious outbreak of desert locusts in 25 years
is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food
security in some of the world's most vulnerable countries, authorities say,
with unusual climate conditions partly to blame. (AP Photo/Patrick Ngugi)
Keep Reading
Colombia: We’ll Spray Toxic
Chemicals to Keep Americans from Doing Drugs
A
new decree, urged on by Trump, means aerial fumigation of coca using glyphosate
will likely resume in Colombia after a five-year hiatus.
By Mike Power
Jan 21 2020, 11:56pm
LUIS ROBAYO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Colombian government has published a proposed
law that will allow it to resume a controversial program of
aerial fumigation of coca crops using glyphosate, a weed-killer thought to
cause cancer in people exposed to it regularly and in
high doses.
“The resumption of the spraying
would increase the capacity of the Colombian state to confront drug trafficking
in less time and in a more effective way,” said Colombia’s Ministry of Justice in a statement announcing the
decree in late December.
The decree, similar in legal status
to an executive order in the U.S., calls for a program of new crop-spraying flights,
with national police oversight. The plans are in the final stage of their
passage to law, and spraying is expected to begin “in the second half of this
year,” said Ricardo Vargas, an expert in crop fumigation and coca at National
University of Colombia.
The proposals by the Colombian
president, Ivan Duque – after a five year hiatus in coca spraying – have been
criticized by local government officials, environmentalists, drug policy
experts and rural communities living under the proposed toxic flight paths.
The strategy will please U.S.
President Donald Trump, who last year admonished his Colombian counterpart for
failing to stem record coca crops. In a speech last year, Trump said Duque had “done
nothing for us” on cocaine. Trump has also threatened to cut aid and de-certifyColombia, the most U.S.-friendly nation in
Latin America, as an ally in the war against drugs if the nation did not do
more.
U.S. embassy officials in Bogotá
called the move “a critical step." “The US supports the efforts of the
Colombian government to achieve our joint objective of halving coca cultivation
and cocaine production by the end of 2023,” said an embassy statement. Last
week, in what looks like a sweetener for Duque, U.S. officials announced a $5 billion rural aid program for
Colombia, via the new U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
Glyphosate is used as a weedkiller
worldwide, albeit at lower concentrations than those generally deployed in
Colombia. But U.S. courts have ruled that it has caused cancer in three cases.
The German firm Bayer now owns Monsanto, which has sold the chemical in its
Roundup line of weedkillers to millions of U.S. householders for decades. Bayer
is now liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
In May 2019, an Oakland, CA, jury
ordered agrochemical giant Monsanto to pay more than $2 billion to a husband and
wife who contracted non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a type of cancer, after using
Roundup. A jury ruled that Roundup caused Alberta and Alva Pilliod to fall ill.
Monsanto appealed, and the couple eventually settled for a joint $86 million in
July 2019.
This was the third verdict against
the company over the product. Dewayne Johnson, a former school groundskeeper
with terminal cancer, won a $289 million victory in state court last year, and
Edwin Hardeman, who used Roundup at home, was awarded $80 million.
Colombia already destroys coca
crops using manual eradication, in which workers pull the plants up by the
roots, and also with small-scale, targeted drone spraying of glyphosate.
But the world’s biggest cocaine
producer suspended the aerial spraying of coca fields by U.S. contractors in
2015 after a study by the World Health Organization found that glyphosate is
carcinogenic.
During those nearly 25 years,
during U.S.-led anti-drug war action Plan Colombia, U.S. pilots and Colombian
police sprayed glyphosate on 4,420,000 acres of Colombian territory, said Adam
Isacson, of WOLA, the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and
advocacy organization. The scale of the proposed new spraying campaign is yet
to be decided.
In August 2018, Kevin Whitaker, who
was then U.S. ambassador, told the Wall Street Journal that “seven or eight of
the crop dusters that had worked the coca fields here remain in Colombia. I
told embassy staff and the Colombians the same thing: We need to be ready for a
restart.”
Cocaine production has grown
despite hopes that the historic peace deal with Farc guerillas in 2016 would
curtail it. As part of the peace deal, which put an end to the world’s
longest-running civil conflict, the government pledged to help coca farmers
move into legal agriculture. But that has not happened in most cases – and so
the coca trade has flourished, with cocaine prices dropping, and purity rising
to unprecedented levels across the U.S. and EU.
Up to 120 community leaders, some
of whom had called for alternative investment in the demilitarized areas
including coca alternatives, have been killed in Colombia this year in a wave
of extrajudicial killings, according to research this week by human rights
group, Frontline Defenders.
Vargas said communities have not
had the help they needed to move away from the coca trade and now will take the
brunt of the new spraying program. “Many social leaders, some of whom have been
for promoting the substitution of coca, have been threatened or killed. The
government is failing to offer physical security for them.
“Fumigations disrupt the poor
stability of people living in these territories, pollute water, affect people's
health, generate forced displacements and with them schools, or sources of
income for parents, causing social upheaval. It affects forest and woodland,
creating conflict and uncertainty for all communities.”
Colombia is today producing a huge
volume of cocaine, with the UN reporting that 1,379 tons were produced in 2017
– up a third on 2016. The UNODC also says the area under coca cultivation in
Colombia has tripled over the past five years, reaching 169,000 hectares
(417,600 acres) at the end of 2018.
But experts have decried the return
to aerial spraying before it has even begun.
“The resumption of aerial spraying
is about as effective as shoveling water,” said Sanho Tree, director of the
Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, a U.S. think tank.
Tree says the cycle of rural poverty and coca-planting is exacerbated by
spraying programs, and that investment in roads would be more effective.
“Coca farmers live in remote areas
without access to the infrastructure necessary to get hundreds of kilos of food
crops to market. A kilo of coca paste is easy to transport and sell,” said
Tree. “When the state destroys their livelihood, they are forced into food
insecurity and yet they must continue to feed their families. What’s the one
crop they know how to grow, for which there are ready and willing buyers, and
doesn’t require modern transportation infrastructure? Coca! Lather, rinse,
repeat,” he said.
Vargas said spraying crops is 83
times less effective than state aid: “What is observed in Colombia is that in
the medium and long-term aerial fumigation does not mean a reduction in
supply,” he said. “On the contrary, according to a UNODC evaluation in
Colombia, coca re-planting is 0.6 percent when a farmer receives voluntary crop
substitution plans, but forced eradication prompts a replanting level of almost
50 percent.”
The new move could force coca
farmers to plant in isolated national parks, where spraying of any kind will
remain illegal. Coca monoculture and land clearance in these untouched areas
causes devastating habitat loss; Colombia is one of the world’s most
biologically diverse countries, and is home to 10 percent of the world's
species.
Eleonara Davalos, professor of
public policy at Universidad EAFIT in Medellin, Colombia, said the plan to
fumigate crops from planes was “a short-term strategy.” She said despite the
prior 25-year spraying campaign and ensuing eradication efforts, most of the
areas under cultivation in the 1990s are still growing coca today. “About 90
percent of the coca growing in Colombia today is growing in the same areas as
it did in the past,” she added.
Keep Reading
Global food security at risk if India, Pakistan
fight
Research
shows limited nuclear war between India, Pakistan will impact food security for
billions worldwide
Vakkas Dogantekin |19.03.2020
ANKARA
A nuclear war between India and
Pakistan would significantly impact global food security, according to nearly
20 scientists who analyzed the outcome of a potential nuclear standoff between
the South Asian neighbors.
The research, published in the
official journal of the U.S.’ National Academy of Sciences, revealed "the
impacts of such low-likelihood but severe events … to inform the public and
policy makers”.
“A limited nuclear war between
India and Pakistan could ignite fires large enough to emit more than 5 Tg
[teragram] of soot into the stratosphere,” said the article published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
“Climate model simulations have
shown severe resulting climate perturbations with declines in global mean
temperature by 1.8 °C and precipitation by 8%, for at least 5 y [years]."
Evaluating potential impacts on
the global food system, scientists calculated that “global caloric production
from maize, wheat, rice, and soybean falls by 13 (±1)%, 11 (±8)%, 3 (±5)%, and
17 (±2)%” over a five-year period.
“Total single-year losses of 12
(±4)% quadruple the largest observed historical anomaly and exceed impacts
caused by historic droughts and volcanic eruptions,” the report said.
The research suggested that
“domestic reserves and global trade can largely buffer the production anomaly
in the first year” but “persistent multiyear losses … would constrain domestic
food availability,” particularly in food-insecure countries.
“By year 5, maize and wheat
availability would decrease by 13% globally and by more than 20% in 71
countries with a cumulative population of 1.3 billion people,” the report
added.
The scientists drew attention to
the “increasing instability in South Asia”, and warned that “a regional
conflict using <1% of the worldwide nuclear arsenal could have adverse
consequences for global food security unmatched in modern history.”
Long-fraught relations between
the two nuclear rivals brought them to the brink of war in 2019, after India
scrapped the special provisions of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
India and Pakistan both hold
Kashmir in parts but claim it in full. China also controls part of the
contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two conventional
wars over the territory.
Central Visayas has abundant rice supply
Published March 20, 2020, 10:10 AM
By Minerva Newman
CEBU CITY – There is enough supply of rice in Central Visayas,
contrary to rumors that have circulated in Cebu that has been the cause of
panic-buying in the province.
In a message relayed through the
Office of Presidential Assistant to the President for the Visayas Michael Lloyd
Dino, Grains Retailers Confederation (GRECON) Cebu President Teresita Alegado
said that there was abundant supply of rice from the private suppliers since
they were no longer limited to any quota that was formerly imposed by the
government.
Alegado said that under Republic
Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law, any supplier who is willing to pay the
tariff can import rice. The current supply of rice is more than double compared
to what it was from this same period last year.
“We should not panic, first and
foremost supply is not a problem and as long as the entry of supply and goods
are not impeded, we have abundant supply of rice grains,” Alegado said.
She added that importers usually
don’t wait for situations to get worst or supplies to go low, they continuously
order for more supply for the market especially for the current health
situation.
Alegado bared that there was rice
coming to Cebu from Vietnam and Thailand, and she said that the market now was
good because she noticed people are now buying the more expensive quality of
rice.
She further asked the public to
refrain from spreading the news of rice shortage. The National Food Authority
(NFA) Central Visayas currently has a buffer stock of 139,939 sacks of rice for
the region.
NFA-7 Regional Director Rocky
Valdez said the daily consumption of the region is at 36,420 sacks per day, and
based on the current supply and with the daily average sales of the NFA rice
which is at
1,849 sacks, the supply will
still be enough for 76 days.
Valdez instructed all the NFA-7
provincial offices in Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor toprioritize
local government units, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
and government agencies in availing of NFA rice. NFA rice is priced at
P27/kilo, he added.
Authorized retailers are only
allowed to purchase 15 to 30 sacks of NFA rice per week and Valdez bared that
most of the public now choose to buy high end and expensive quality of rice.
Dino said he will make sure that
all sanctions are imposed on all retailers who will take advantage of the
current situation, and hoard rice to create an artificial shortage.
As Many As 1,126 Centres Established For Wheat Procurement
17 hours ago Thu 19th March 2020 | 05:34 PM
Minister for National Food Security
and Research Khusro Bakhtyar on Thursday was informed that as many as 1,162
wheat purchase centers has established across the country to facilitate growers
for selling their products on official fixed rates
ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint /
Pakistan Point News - 19th Mar, 2020 ) :Minister for National Food Security and
Research Khusro Bakhtyar on Thursday was informed that as many as 1,162 wheat purchase centers has
established across the country to facilitate growers for selling their products
on official fixed rates.
Khusro Bakhtyar chaired a meeting
via video link regarding arrangements made for the procurement of wheat.
The meeting was also attended by
the Federal Secretary
NFS&R, provincial ministers for Agriculture of Punjab & KP,
Managing Director PASSCO and Secretaries of food departments of Punjab, Sindh and KP.
The procurement for Punjab was fixed at 4.5 million tons, Sindh 1.4 million tons, Balochistan 1 million tons and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa at 0.45 million The minimum
support price (MSP)
was approved at Rs 1400/- per 40 kg.
All the participants of the meeting
showed consensus that procurement of wheat by feed millers, non
players like rice mills and ginners should be disallowed.
The Federal Minister directed to devise daily or weekly monitoring
procedure to evaluate procurement targets.
He also suggested to follow
directions given by ECC related to intra-provincial agreements defining the
quantity and price of
the wheat crop
so that sharing of cost by all the provinces should be
rationalized.
Theminister said that there is
sufficient supply of wheat and flour in the country and government is also going to
procure heavily in this season.
He further stated that there is no
need to panic as satisfactory reports have been given by respected food
ministers and representatives of food departments regarding supply of flour and wheat in all provinces.
It was further informed that Punjab and Sindh will start public
procurement from March 25 subject to weather conditions. The
procurement is to be done on first come first serve principle.
It was decided to conduct another
meeting in the 1st week of April to reviewarrangements
made by all provinces,
to assure their procurement position.
It was also suggested to restrict
intra district movement of wheat crop and to ban private
sector from procurement
until the public sector procurement
Adequate wheat, flour available: Khusro Bakhtiar
Published: March 20, 2020
PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: The government would heavily procure wheat
this season, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Khusro
Bakhtiar said on Thursday, reassuring consumers that there was no need for
panic as sufficient wheat and flour were available in the country.
The minister chaired a meeting via video
link on the arrangements made for the procurement of wheat, which was also
attended by the food ministers of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa besides
officials of relevant departments.
The government has set the wheat procurement
target for Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) at
1.8 million tonnes, for Punjab at 4.5 million tonnes, for Sindh at 1.4 million
tonnes, for Balochistan at 1 million tonnes and for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa at 0.45
million tonnes.
The minimum support price for wheat has been
set at Rs1,400 per 40 kg.
The meeting was informed that 1,162 wheat
purchase centres had been established throughout the country and district
administrations in all the provinces had been ordered to take strong action in
order to curb any hoarding of the commodity.
It was agreed that the procurement of wheat
by feed millers and non-players like rice millers and cotton ginners should be
banned.
The minister gave directives for devising a
daily or weekly monitoring mechanism to evaluate the procurement targets.
“There is sufficient supply of wheat and
flour in the country and the government is also going to procure heavily in
this season,” Bakhtiar said. “There is no need to panic as satisfactory reports
have been given by provincial food ministers and representatives of food
departments regarding supply of flour and wheat in all provinces.”
The minister called for following directives
given by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) regarding inter-provincial
agreements on the quantity and price of wheat crop so that cost-sharing by all
the provinces should be rationalised.
Published in The Express
Tribune, March 20th, 2020.
Discontinue sowing oldest paddy
variety to check stubble burning: Centre to Punjab
PUSA-44
is a 130-day crop, which is sown early, before the onset of monsoon leading to
more consumption of ground water. It also matures late, leaving a short window
for wheat sowing in the rabi season.
CITIES Updated: Mar 19, 2020 23:39 IST
Chandigarh One of the oldest paddy
varieties, PUSA-44, cultivated on at least 1/6 (16%) of the total area under
the crop in Punjab will soon not be grown.
The Centre’s department of
agriculture research has asked Punjab to stop cultivating the variety, grown
for around 40 years, from the upcoming kharif season. The Centre has also
directed state procurement agencies and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) not
to procure the paddy variety after harvest. The greater quantity of biomass
(stubble) that the variety produces is said to have prompted the decision at a
meeting that the central department held for in-situ (at its original place,
without transport) management of paddy stubble.
PUSA-44 is a 130-day crop, which is
sown early, before the onset of monsoon leading to more consumption of ground
water. It also matures late, leaving a short window for wheat sowing in the
rabi season.
In Punjab, 77 lakh acre is under
paddy and in the 2019 season, the PUSA-44 variety was sown over 13 lakh acre.
“The variety, on an average, is seven inches taller than other indigenous
varieties of our university and produces 15-20% more biomass (stubble), leading
to severe environment degradation, when burnt after harvest,” said Punjab
Agricultural University (PAU) vice-chancellor BS Dhillon.
Dhillon added he was all for
discontinuing PUSA-44, as there were better varieties such as PR-126 and PR-121
(of PAU) which mature in the much shorter time of 100-110 days.
“Farmers have a different
perspective. We, as researchers, have to consider all aspects. PUSA-44 is water
guzzler. What would farmers grow when there is no water left under our farms,”
said Dhillon, adding that stopping stubble burning remained a challenge. Punjab
agriculture secretary Kahan Singh Pannu said the government would examine the
issue.
Farmers’ view
Farmers claim the variety gives a
yield of 2-3 quintal per acre more than other varieties. “Farmers in a distress
scenario would never like to lose yield, even if it is 2-3 quintal more,” said
BS Rajewal, president, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). “It gives a good yield,
rice millers like it because of good output, low brokerage, low discolouration.
All other varieties of PAU do not match it,” Rajewal said, claiming that the
PAU had never recommended the oldest variety grown in the state. He also
claimed that the variety was grown over large areas under different names and
procured as well under varying names.
RPT-ASIA
RICE-THAI, VIETNAM RATES JUMP AS VIRUS SPREAD RAISES SUPPLY CONCERNS
3/19/2020
(Repeats with no changes)
* Thai prices rise for sixth
straight week
* Drought continues to lift prices
in Thailand
* Indian export prices steady near
over two-month low
* Indian rupee touches record low
* Coronavirus fears trigger panic
buying in Bangladesh
By Harshith Aranya
BENGALURU, March 19 (Reuters) -
Thailand's rice export rates extended gains this week to hit a 6-1/2 year peak,
and Vietnamese prices rose to their highest in almost 16 months, as the spread
of the coronavirus raised concerns about sufficiency of available stocks.
Thailand's benchmark 5% broken rice
<RI-THBKN5-P1> prices were quoted at $480-$505 per tonne on Thursday,
their highest since August 2013 and up from $470-$495 last week. This is also
their sixth consecutive weekly rise.
Traders said market concern over
supply shortages due to the ongoing drought was the main factor driving up
prices.
"Some millers are stockpiling
rice as domestic concern rises over food shortage in case the outbreak of
coronavirus gets worse," a Bangkok-based rice trader said.
"There is no demand because of
the high prices, and as supply becomes less and less, I think prices will get
even higher."
Domestic demand for some rice
types, such as jasmine, has increased slightly over consumers' concerns about
the widening spread of the virus, traders said.
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken
rice <RI-VNBKN5-P1> rose to $410 per tonne, the highest since November
2018, from $400-$405 a week earlier.
"Domestic supplies are thin,
and exporters are finding it hard to secure rice for their contracts," a
trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
"Farmers are not selling their
rice, as they fear the coronavirus outbreak will last for a long time."
Preliminary shipping data showed
195,400 tonnes of rice is to be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City port between March
1-25, with most of the rice heading to Malaysia, West Africa and Cuba.
The Vietnamese government on
Wednesday said it will ensure an annual rice output of 22 million tonnes.
In India, export prices were
steady, near their lowest in over two months, as export demand improved
slightly amid a depreciation in rupee to a record low.
India's 5% broken parboiled variety
<RI-INBKN5-P1> was quoted $363-$367 per tonne this week, unchanged from
last week.
Indian rupee was trading near a
record low on Thursday, raising exporters margins from the overseas sale.
Local broken rice prices could
moderate in the coming weeks as demand has been falling from the poultry
industry, said Nitin Gupta, vice president for Olam India's rice business.
Chicken sales have plunged on
rumours that chickens were spreading coronavirus.
Domestic prices of rice have risen
by up to 5% in Bangladesh, as coronavirus fears triggered panic buying.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra
Majumder urged people not to panic as the government has sufficient stocks of
food-grains. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Khanh
Vu in Hanoi and Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; additional reporting by Swati Verma
in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans)
© Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020.
Click For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
Rice, pulse,
sugar, egg, potato get pricier amid virus fear
FE
Report | Published: March 20, 2020 12:16:56
Focus
Bangla file photo used for representation
Prices of key
essentials items, including rice, pulses, sugar, egg and potato soared notably
last week which the market observers and traders attributed to a panic-buying
by the city-dwellers, triggered by fears of coronavirus spread.
They said,
more customers than usual rushed to kitchen markets and shops and were buying
more goods than normal.
In fear of
further spread of novel coronavirus in Bangladesh amid a global pandemic, many
city-dwellers were making food stockpiles at their homes concerned to any
possible lockdown amid the viral infection that already killed one in the
country.
Prices of
staple rice increased by Tk 3.0-6.0 per kilogram (kg) at retail depending on
varieties.
Finer quality
miniket, najirshail and jeerashail were sold at Tk 60-68 per kg on Thursday,
the last working day of the week.
Medium quality
Brridhan-28, paijam and lata were traded at Tk 52-56 a kg while coarse variety
swarna and BR-11 at Tk 40- 42 a kg on the day.
Raqibul Alam,
a grocer at Zakir Hossain Road at Mohammadpur, told the FE that people who have
purchasing capacity are now busy stocking rice, pulses, potato, flour, onion,
other cooking ingredients, dry food and sanitary items to prepare for any bad
situation which may arise out of the virus outbreak.
Acknowledging
that both wholesalers and retailers were charging additional prices for the
items, he said there was a huge stock of the products in the city wholesale
markets.
Haji Mohammad
Asadullah, a Babubazar-based trader, said millers have also increased prices of
the items by Tk 1.5-2.0 per kg in the last three days amid rising demand in
Dhaka, Chattogram and other big cities.
"Millers
in Kushtia and Rangpur district supplied the best quality miniket at Tk
2,750-2,780 for a 50-kg sack on Wednesday which was Tk 1,600 a few days back.
He said
retailers in Dhaka also want to make more profits now which is hitting the
consumers, especially the common people.
Asadullah said
they were selling best quality miniket at Tk 53-54 a kg which were retailing at
Tk 60-65 a kg by the grocers and chain-shops.
Potato prices
rose by Tk 5.0 per kg and the essential item was sold at Tk 25 (cardinal,
diamond) and Tk 35 (local or carriage) a kg.
Sugar prices
increased to Tk 70-75 per kg from Tk 68-72 a kg.
Egg prices
jumped to Tk 108- 110 per dozen on Thursday which was Tk 90-96 a dozen a week
back.
Coarse lentil
was traded at Tk 80-90 per kg and finer quality lentil at Tk 120-145 a kg on
the day-Tk 10- 20 hike in a week.
Amid a
significant cost hike of hand sanitisers of all brands, this correspondent
noticed a price hike of baby diapers too.
In many places
of the city, there was also supply shortage of sanitisers, baby diapers, dry
foods, oral saline and other necessary items.
tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com
Louisiana
Crop Gets Going
By Kane Webb
LAKE CHARLES, LA -- While things have slowed down across the
country because of COVID-19, the last week and a half was busy for rice farmers
in southwest Louisiana. Planting is underway, and moving quickly
according to Dr. Dustin Harrell, rice specialist with the LSU AgCenter Rice
Research Station in Crowley.
"A lot of rice has been water seeded, and with this past weekend's warmer weather, that rice has really taken off," said Harrell. "With this warmer weather, we're getting to take advantage of the warmer soils. While this year's early growth isn't necessarily surpassing the better than average mark, it is definitely better than last year's."
After talking with farmers across the region, Harrell estimates that south Louisiana could be more than 75 percent planted in the next week or two, if the weather holds. Taking advantage of this weather opportunity, several growers had indicated they have close to two-thirds of their planting intentions already in the ground. There are also reports that some row rice planting is getting underway on the more traditional rice ground in northeast Louisiana.
Planting is never seamless, however, as sporadic showers have made their way across the region, some leaving behind an inch or two of rain.
"The field conditions were becoming more ideal, and we did get some rice drilled earlier this week but that stopped when the rain started," said Paul Johnson from his fields near Thornwell. "We woke up Tuesday with two inches in the rain gauge, but I'm not going to complain. We're ahead of where we were last year at this time with rice moving out of the ground, so that's a good thing!"
Something else noticeably different this planting season is the younger generation is out of school and in the fields with their mothers and fathers. "Yesterday I passed a tractor and realized the driver couldn't have been more than a teenager," said Harrell.
With all the school closures, farmers suddenly have an extra hand or two available. Those kids aren't getting to sit around the house during this break, they're going to learn the planting part of the spring season, not just join the harvesting piece during their late summer vacation.
"A lot of rice has been water seeded, and with this past weekend's warmer weather, that rice has really taken off," said Harrell. "With this warmer weather, we're getting to take advantage of the warmer soils. While this year's early growth isn't necessarily surpassing the better than average mark, it is definitely better than last year's."
After talking with farmers across the region, Harrell estimates that south Louisiana could be more than 75 percent planted in the next week or two, if the weather holds. Taking advantage of this weather opportunity, several growers had indicated they have close to two-thirds of their planting intentions already in the ground. There are also reports that some row rice planting is getting underway on the more traditional rice ground in northeast Louisiana.
Planting is never seamless, however, as sporadic showers have made their way across the region, some leaving behind an inch or two of rain.
"The field conditions were becoming more ideal, and we did get some rice drilled earlier this week but that stopped when the rain started," said Paul Johnson from his fields near Thornwell. "We woke up Tuesday with two inches in the rain gauge, but I'm not going to complain. We're ahead of where we were last year at this time with rice moving out of the ground, so that's a good thing!"
Something else noticeably different this planting season is the younger generation is out of school and in the fields with their mothers and fathers. "Yesterday I passed a tractor and realized the driver couldn't have been more than a teenager," said Harrell.
With all the school closures, farmers suddenly have an extra hand or two available. Those kids aren't getting to sit around the house during this break, they're going to learn the planting part of the spring season, not just join the harvesting piece during their late summer vacation.
usa rice dal
Global food
security at risk if India, Pakistan fight
Research
shows limited nuclear war between India, Pakistan will impact food security for
billions worldwide
Vakkas Dogantekin |19.03.2020
ANKARA
A nuclear war between India and
Pakistan would significantly impact global food security, according to nearly
20 scientists who analyzed the outcome of a potential nuclear standoff between
the South Asian neighbors.
The research, published in the
official journal of the U.S.’ National Academy of Sciences, revealed "the
impacts of such low-likelihood but severe events … to inform the public and
policy makers”.
“A limited nuclear war between
India and Pakistan could ignite fires large enough to emit more than 5 Tg
[teragram] of soot into the stratosphere,” said the article published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
“Climate model simulations have
shown severe resulting climate perturbations with declines in global mean
temperature by 1.8 °C and precipitation by 8%, for at least 5 y [years]."
Evaluating potential impacts on
the global food system, scientists calculated that “global caloric production
from maize, wheat, rice, and soybean falls by 13 (±1)%, 11 (±8)%, 3 (±5)%, and
17 (±2)%” over a five-year period.
“Total single-year losses of 12
(±4)% quadruple the largest observed historical anomaly and exceed impacts
caused by historic droughts and volcanic eruptions,” the report said.
The research suggested that
“domestic reserves and global trade can largely buffer the production anomaly
in the first year” but “persistent multiyear losses … would constrain domestic
food availability,” particularly in food-insecure countries.
“By year 5, maize and wheat
availability would decrease by 13% globally and by more than 20% in 71
countries with a cumulative population of 1.3 billion people,” the report
added.
The scientists drew attention to
the “increasing instability in South Asia”, and warned that “a regional
conflict using <1% of the worldwide nuclear arsenal could have adverse
consequences for global food security unmatched in modern history.”
Long-fraught relations between
the two nuclear rivals brought them to the brink of war in 2019, after India
scrapped the special provisions of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
India and Pakistan both hold
Kashmir in parts but claim it in full. China also controls part of the
contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two conventional
wars over the territory.
NFA Bicol has enough rice
By: Michael
B. Jaucian - Correspondent
/ @mbjaucianINQ
Inquirer
Southern Luzon / 03:22 PM March 19, 2020
LEGAZPI CITY –– The National Food Authority
(NFA) assured the public that there is enough rice to last until April 14, the
end of the enhanced community quarantine.
Henry Tristeza, NFA-Bicol director, said
they have 163,000 bags in their warehouse and would prioritize local
governments and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, that would
need rice for the community.
As of noon Thursday, Bicol remained free of
coronavirus disease.
Liberia:
Commerce Ministry Drops Quota on Importation of Rice and Frozen Foods amid
Coronavirus
According to Commerce Minister,
Prof. Wilson Tarpeh, the regulation is not new and his administration is only
resurrecting it
Monrovia – Murmurs of a looming shortage of rice and frozen foods
brought on by fears of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, are being complicated
by reports that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has applied a quota to
reduce the importation for major rice and frozen foods imports in Liberia.
Some Liberian importers speaking
to FrontPageAfrica Wednesday expressed disappointment over the move seen as a
setback to the George Weah-led administration’s earlier pledge toward
establishing an open market to level the playing field for import of basic
commodities.
Some local businesses complained
Wednesday that the move restricting the importation of rice during a major
health epidemic puts the country’s national security at risk.
Contacted Wednesday, Commerce
Minister Professor Wilson Tarpeh defended the move, saying it is a practice
that was in place before but has now been resurrected.
Said Prof Tarpeh: “Rice
importation is licensed to registered businesses who meet certain
predetermined, and published minimum requirements. One of these is the
capacity to maintain buffer stock equal to 25 (Twenty-five) percent of their
respective quota allocation. This allocation is then subjected to
performance-based review annually and adjusted depending on the performance
review.
The process is intended to ensure an uninterrupted supply of the grain at affordable price and build a strategic reserve to guarantee availability even during periods of challenges.”
The process is intended to ensure an uninterrupted supply of the grain at affordable price and build a strategic reserve to guarantee availability even during periods of challenges.”
But some businesses disagree,
arguing that the quota system on rice importation gives Liberian importers the
opportunity to benefit from the trade.
The quota system has been a
subject of much controversy in the past, especially during the Interim
Government of Charles Gyude Bryant when George Haddad’s Bridgeway Corporation
was widely believed to have been given 75 percent of the rice import market,
and the remaining 25 percent to two other companies.
Today, that number has been
shared amongst several importers.
In 2019, rice imports quantity
for Liberia was nearly 300,000 tonnes. Though Liberia rice imports quantity
fluctuated substantially in recent years.
The impact of the government’s
decision to slice the quota could be felt in the coming days as some importers
expect ships bringing in rice to ease fears of a looming shortage on the
Liberian market.
“Rice importation is licensed to registered businesses who
meet certain predetermined, and published minimum requirements. One of
these is the capacity to maintain buffer stock equal to 25 (Twenty-five)
percent of their respective quota allocation. This allocation is then subjected
to performance-based review annually and adjusted depending on the performance
review. The process is intended to ensure uninterrupted supply of the grain at
affordable price and build a strategic reserve to guarantee availability
even during periods of challenges.”
– Prof. Wilson Tarpeh, Minister
of Commerce and Industry
RELATED POSTS
Mar 19, 2020
Mar 19, 2020
Mar 18, 2020
Rice, Liberia’s staple food is
long been a controversial, topical issue. In April 1979, then
minister of agriculture, Florence Chenoweth, proposed an increase in the
subsidized price of rice from $22 per 100-pound bag to $26. The
Progressive Alliance of Liberia called for a peaceful demonstration
in Monrovia to protest the proposed price increase.
Since then Liberians have been
wary of the issue with many fearing any increase in the price of rice spelling
trouble for the poverty levels and those languishing at the bottom of the economic
ladder.
The decision by the Commerce
Ministry to drop the quota is also being fueled by suggestions that the
recently-imported Chinese Long Grain Rice is being rejected by local consumers
with some indications that the lower quota was meant to appease some Chinese
importers.
Critics say, importation of cheap
rice while appealing to some, has long term implications.
Liberia currently imports 99% of
its needs with major imports including Petroleum Products
Rice, Building Materials, Vehicles, Pharmaceutical Products, Machineries Electronics, Spare Parts, Electrical Appliances and Stationeries
Rice, Building Materials, Vehicles, Pharmaceutical Products, Machineries Electronics, Spare Parts, Electrical Appliances and Stationeries
Ironically, many of the major
import trading partners, like Liberia have been hit by the Coronavirus
pandemic: Ivory Coast, Japan, People’s Republic of China, India, the United
States of America, Turkey, and the European Union, the United States of
America.
Recently, the Liberia Maritime
Authority issued the MARINE ADVISORY: 03/2020
informing interested parties on how to deal with the outbreak after reports of
the virus on several ships were reported.
The circular notes that only
those cleared by the port authorities should be allowed on board and limit
visitor access to the vessel and to the crew as much as possible.
The coronavirus epidemic is
upending the carefully calibrated logistics of global shipping, as plunging
exports from China and other countries hit by the virus disrupt the trade of
American goods, especially farm products such as fruit and meat destined for
Asia.
Congestion at Chinese ports and
interrupted sailings have squeezed space on China-bound vessels and created an
imbalance of the 40-foot long refrigerated containers used to ship fruit, meats
and other perishables on three-week voyages across the Pacific, with many stuck
on the China side.
This is why many say dropping the
quota now could spell country, especially for a post-war, transitioning
democratic nation, heavily reliant on imports to survive.
Panic buying eats into drought-hit rice, pasta
supply
Mar 19, 2020 – 4.13pm
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Share
Australia is facing a rice shortage as panic buying, which has
been blasted by the Morrison government as un-Australian, leaves
shelves bare and sparks calls for rationing.
Pasta supplies are also running low and farmers
who grow durum wheat say most of what they have left is needed to plant a
winter crop.
SunRice chief executive Rob Gordon says the
company is trying to source rice from overseas to keep up supplies to stores
and supermarket chains. Nic Walker
Major pasta producer San Remo has warned
customers that dispatch of orders will be delayed because of high demand and
told consumers they should check with local supermarkets to see when supplies
will be replenished.
Barilla, another of the big players in pasta,
relies on imports from Italy and is working with its factories there to try to
get more supplies to Australia.
Australia is no longer self-sufficient in rice
after one of the worst droughts in the country’s history and a jump in water
prices for irrigated agriculture in the Murray Darling Basin.
SunRice, Australia’s biggest supplier, said the
coronavirus spike in demand had exacerbated what was already a shortage after
a big drop in rice
production in the Riverina region of NSW.
The 2019 rice crop in the Riverina was the
second smallest on record at 54,000 tonnes and the crop rice growers are
preparing to harvest in the next few months will be even smaller. In
comparison, the 2018 crop was 623,000 tonnes.
SunRice chief executive Rob Gordon said the
company was trying to source rice from overseas to keep up supplies to stores
and supermarket chains.
“We are producing stock as quickly as possible
from our rice processing and packing facilities in the Riverina. However,
demand for products is currently exceeding supply capability,” he said.
RELATED
High water prices driving growers out of Murray Darling
Basin
SunRice has offered fixed-price contracts to
farmers to encourage commercial growing of rice this year following drought and
water policies that “have fundamentally changed the Murray Daring Basin”.
Mr Gordon said the 2018 rice crop had been
produced when there were “much greater allocations of water at affordable
prices”.
SunRice is in talks with federal and state
governments about national water reform, allocation policies and the Murray
Darling Basin Plan after cutting jobs in the Riverina.
The company expects its Deniliquin and Leeton
mills to remain open this year but is considering their future beyond 2020.
Privately owned San Remo declined to speak
to The
Australian Financial Review but posted an update on its
website on Thursday saying it was "working around the clock to ensure a
steady supply".
San Remo said pasta availability would vary
from supermarket to supermarket around Australia.
It put the onus back on supermarkets to provide
information on when stock would be available.
Migration of Rainfed Crops Can
Lead To Serious Environmental Damage
March
18, 2020 11:37 AM EDT
2 Min Read
Many research searches to
estimate the adversarial results of climate change on crops; however, most
analysis implies that the geographic distribution of crops will stay unchanged
sooner or later.
New analysis utilizing 40 years
of worldwide knowledge, led by Colorado State University, has discovered that
publicity to rising excessive temperatures has been considerably moderated by
the migration of rainfed corn, wheat, and rice. Scientists stated continued
migration, nonetheless, could lead to important environmental prices.
Utilizing new, high-decision
datasets on crop areas all over the world, the analysis crew analyzed the
placement of crops, climate, and irrigation from 1973 to 2012. They centered on
rainfed crops since they’re highly delicate to modifications in temperature and
extreme climate.
The research confirmed that
publicity to elevated high temperatures for corn, wheat, and rice was a lot
lower than it will have been if the crops have been positioned the place they
have been within the Seventies.
CSU postdoctoral fellow and first
creator Lindsey Sloat stated this doesn’t imply there’s a limitless capability
for farmers to adapt to local weather change by shifting the place they develop
crops.
Researchers additionally
discovered that not like the opposite crops, there was an enormous growth
within the manufacturing of soybeans and that these crops are being grown in
hotter areas around the globe.
Sloat mentioned the analysis
workforce would subsequently delve into analyzing different climate variables,
shifting past temperature to contemplate how modifications in a harvested space
can alter publicity to different extreme climate circumstances.
Nigeria doing poorly in Agric research, says Senate President
President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, has decried
Nigeria’s poor performance in the area of Agricultural Research and
Development.
Lawan made this known in his concluding remarks after the Senate
considered a bill that seeks to amend the Agricultural Research Council of
Nigeria Act.
According to the Senate President, given the number of specialized
agricultural institutes in the country, Nigerian farmers should have access to
technology needed to make farming easy.
“I want to say that we are doing very poorly in the area of
agricultural research and development.
“It is a very bad commentary that our farmers have to still dry
tomatoes and peppers, which is an open sort of drying.
“They put them along roads, or sometimes just sweep hard surfaces.
It is not acceptable, ware not making serious progress.
“We should at least have very simple technology that can help our
people. We don’t have to go for something very big, that our farmers can use to
enhance their performance.
“Even though we have almost 22 or 23 research institutes in the
country, most of them specialized, and some of them are supposed to be funded
by the rice research in Pategi Local Government Area, Kwara State.
“There is supposed to be money for rice development, sugar, palm
oil and these kind of things.
“We need to fund the agricultural sector, especially those
institutions that will improve our performance as a country,” Lawan said.
Earlier, sponsor of the bill for an Act to amend the Agricultural
Research Council of Nigeria, Senator Abdullahi Adamu (APC – Nasarawa West),
said the piece of legislation would provide comprehensive guide for National
Agricultural Research Programmes and Project Management.
According to the lawmaker, despite contributing 21 percent to
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the agricultural sector operates below
its potential because research institutes are not coordinated and strengthened.
“The agricultural sector currently employs a significant portion of
the Labour force, and contributes about 21 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
“Ironically, in spite of this, agricultural resource and technical
endowment as well as interventions by successive administrations, Nigerian
agricultural sector has been operating far below its potential because the
research institutes or centers are not well coordinated and strengthened,”
Adamu said.
He added that, “agriculture is driven by technologies, which are in
turn generated by research.
“Agriculturally advances countries are only so advanced because of
a workable and well-funded agricultural research system.”
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, referred the bill which scaled
second reading to the Committee on Agriculture for further legislative work.
