Climate change could increase rice yields
American
Society of Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America, Crop Science
Society of America
Rice is the most consumed staple
food in the world. It is especially common in Asia, where hunger concerns are
prevalent.
Rice is classified as an annual
plant, which means it completes its life cycle within one growing season then
dies. However, in some tropical areas, rice can continue to grow year after
year when taken care of properly.
Just as grass grows back in a lawn
after it is mowed, rice can be cut after it is harvested, and the plant will
regrow. The farming practice of cutting the rice above ground and allowing it
to regrow is called ratooning.
Although Rice ratooning allows
farmers to harvest more rice from the same fields, it requires a longer growing
season compared to traditional single-harvest rice farming.
In many areas of the world where
rice is grown, a long growing season isn’t a problem due to the tropical
climates. But in Japan, cooler weather means rice ratooning has been a rare
farming practice.
Hiroshi Nakano and a research
team set out to learn more about the potential of ratooning to help Japanese
rice farmers. Nakano is a researcher at the National Agriculture and Food
Research Organization.
Average temperatures in Japan
have been higher in recent years. As climate change continues to affect the
region, rice farmers may have a longer window for growing rice. “Rice seedlings
will be able to be transplanted earlier in the spring, and farmers can harvest
rice later into the year,” explains Nakano.
“The goal of our research is to
determine the effects of harvest time and cutting height of the first harvest
on the yield of the first and second rice crops,” says Nakano. “Ultimately, we
want to propose new farming strategies to increase yield as farmers in
southwestern Japan adjust to climate change.”
During the study on rice
ratooning, researchers compared two harvest times and two cutting heights of
the first crop. After the first harvest, they collected the seeds from the cut
off portions of the rice plants. Researchers measured the yield by counting and
weighing the seeds. The second harvest of rice was done by hand and the yield
was determined in the same way.
The total grain yield and the
yields from the first and second crops were different depending on the harvest
times and cutting heights. This wasn’t too surprising, since the team already
knew harvest time and height affected yield.
Rice plants harvested at the
normal time for the first crop yielded more seed than the rice plants harvested
earlier. “That’s because the plants had more time to fill their spikelets with
seed,” explains Nakano.
“At both harvest times, rice
harvested at the high cutting height had a higher yield than the low cutting
height,” says Nakano. That’s because the plants cut at a higher height had
access to more energy and nutrients stored in their leaves and stems.
“Our results suggest that
combining the normal harvest time with the high cutting height is important for
increasing yield in rice ratooning in southwestern Japan and similar climate
regions,” says Nakano. “This technology will likely increase rice grain yield
in new environments that arise through global climate change.”
Learn more about this research
in Agronomy Journal. This work was supported by the National Agriculture
and Food Research Organization (NARO).
American Society of
Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America, Crop Science Society of
America: Collectively, these Societies represent more than 12,000 individual
members around the world. The scientists' memberships build collaborating
partnerships in the agronomy, crops, and soils science fields for the
advancement of knowledge.
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2020/09/15/climate-change-could-increase-rice-yields/5804043002/
DirtWork Alert: Satellite
Imagery AI/ML Predicts 1 in 3 Permian Basin Oil Wells before Permits
DirtWork Alert satellite imagery predicts Permian Basin oil
wells before drilling permits
Posted: Tuesday,
September 15, 2020 9:01 am
Associated Press |
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 15,
2020--
Sourcewater, Inc., the technology
leader in upstream energy and water intelligence, released its white paper,
“Permian Basin Well Pads versus Drilling Permits for Predicting New Drilling.”
The research, led by a Rice University research scholar, analyzed 12,854
Permian Basin oil and gas wells to measure the time and probability relationships
between drilling permits, new drilling events and oilfield well pads detected
in Sourcewater’s patented DirtWork Alert™ satellite imagery AI/ML analytics
service.
This press release features
multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005483/en/
DirtWork Alert satellite imagery
predicts Permian Basin oil wells before drilling permits (Graphic: Business
Wire)
Key findings include that 1 in 5
Texas drilling permits and only 1 in 2 New Mexico permits were ever drilled. At
the same time, satellite imagery detection of well pad construction predicted
fully one-third of all drilled wells on median almost three months ahead of any
drilling permit filing. Moreover, drilling permits paired with
satellite-detected well pads were far more likely to be drilled than permits
without a well pad, in about half the time of permit without a pad.
“Traditional energy intelligence
relies on regulatory records such as drilling permits and completion reports,”
said Sourcewater Founding CEO Josh Adler. “These public data are self-reported,
often late, missing or erroneous, and do not even attempt to track some of the
most important energy activities on the ground. Sourcewater is pioneering AI/ML
analysis of satellite imagery to identify energy activity that never shows up
in regulatory data, or shows up too late to matter. We contextualize those
results in the best data gathering, analytics and geospatial visualization
platform in the industry to show upstream energy activity earlier and better
than any other source. In a tough time for our industry, we are applying all
our creativity, technology and perseverance to give our clients an edge.”
To get a free copy of the White
Paper, visit: https://info.sourcewater.com/permian-dirtwork-white-paper
About Sourcewater
Sourcewater, Inc., ( www.sourcewater.com ) an MIT spinout based in
Houston, Texas, is the technology leader in upstream energy and water
intelligence. Sourcewater gathers, analyzes and visualizes satellite imagery,
regulatory data and subsurface insights to show oilfield activity earlier, more
completely and more accurately than any other source. The company has been
granted nine U.S. patents.
View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005483/en/
CONTACT: Camille Alfaro, Director
of Marketing
P: +1 (713) 909-4664
E:camille@sourcewater.com
KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH
AMERICA TEXAS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: OIL/GAS SATELLITE
ENERGY DATA MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
SOURCE: Sourcewater, Inc.
Copyright Business Wire 2020.
PUB: 09/15/2020 10:00 AM/DISC:
09/15/2020 10:01 AM
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005483/en
Tanzania, Pakistan Set to Address
Trade Imbalance in Diplomatic Ties
15 SEPTEMBER 2020
Tanzania Daily
News (Dar es Salaam)
By Hilda Mhagama
TANZANIA and Pakistan plan to establish bilateral business
council to strengthen commercial ties and cooperation that will accelerate
trade between the two countries and reduce trade imbalance.
According to Pakistan High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Muhammad
Saleem, trade volume between both countries stands at 154 million US dollars in
2019/2020 and can only grow if economic ties are strengthened.
To reach this goal, it is important to focus not only on trade
but also on investment in key sectors such as agriculture, mining and oil and
gas, the reason why Pakistan and Tanzania are in talks to support the
establishment of the council, Mr Saleem added.
Speaking during the Pakistan- Tanzania business conference in
Dar es Salaam over the weekend, he said trade volume between two countries was
not satisfactory was in November 2020, they will facilitate a Tanzania business
delegation to visit their country and explore untapped opportunities available.
Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA),
President, Mr Paul Koyi said the council will comprise 15 people whereby during
the trip they will also sign Memorandum of Understanding with Federation of
Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to facilitate trade between
the two countries.
"We need to increase trade with Pakistan as the current
status is not good, we have a clear move to empower our tea growers to add
value to their products as there is an opportunity to export tea in their
market," he explained.
Carried under the theme 'Partnership for Shared Prosperity' the
conference was co-hosted by TCCIA and high commission for Pakistan in Tanzania
were businesspeople from both countries met and discussed hindrance of smooth
trade.
Pakistan's export in goods and services in 2019/2020 valued at
USD 69.8 million while imports from Tanzania valued USD 85 million.
Pakistan major exports include textiles, linens, tents, woven
cotton fabric, furniture, rice, machinery parts and accessories.
Main imports from Tanzania were raw cotton, tea, dry fruits,
cloves, hides, groundnuts, beans, chickpeas, Arabic gum and wattle extract.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation,
Minister Plenipotentiary, Mr Luangisa Francis said there was no balance of
trade between the two countries.
Mr Francis said statistics from Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA)
indicate that exports from Tanzania to Pakistan rose from 39bn/- in 2015 to
69bn/- in 2019 and imports from Pakistan rose to 90bn/- in 2019 from 80bn/- in
2015.
TanTrade, Acting Director for Business Development, Mr Boniface
Ngowi, said they are charged with the mandate of spearheading trade development
in the country and find markets for all products produced in Tanzania.
"Tanzania has not explored the Pakistan export
opportunities thus there is no balance of trade, we are also calling on
Pakistan businesspeople to come and invest in Tanzania as there is a conducive
investment and trade environment," he said.
The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) indicate
potential exists in enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries.
The key export item around the globe is textiles which can be
improvised through effective bilateral talks and measures.
Successful improvement of the catalytic
activity of photosynthetic CO2 fixing enzyme Rubisco
Date:
September
15, 2020
Source:
Kobe
University
Summary:
A research group have succeeded in
greatly increasing the catalytic activity of Rubisco, the enzyme which fixes
carbon from carbon dioxide in plant photosynthesis. The research team also
hypothesized the mechanism which determines the enzyme's catalytic activity. In
the future, it is hoped that increasing the photosynthetic ability of
agricultural crops will lead to improved yields.
Share:
FULL
STORY
A research group consisting of Associate
Professor FUKAYAMA Hiroshi (Kobe University, Graduate School of Agricultural
Science) and Professor MATSUMURA Hiroyoshi (Ritsumeikan University) et al. have
succeeded in greatly increasing the catalytic activity of Rubisco (*1), the
enzyme which fixes carbon from CO2 in plant photosynthesis. The
research team also hypothesized the mechanism which determines the catalytic
activity of Rubisco, based on structural analysis of the proteins.
In the
future, it is hoped that increasing the photosynthetic ability of agricultural
crops will lead to increased yields.
These
results were published in the international scientific journal Molecular
Plant on August 31.
Main
Points
- Photosynthesis
determines a plant's growth rate. The low activity of the enzyme Rubisco,
which is the catalyst for the reaction that turns CO2 into
organic carbon, limits the rate of photosynthesis.
- Rubisco
consists of two types of protein; large subunits (RbcL) and small subunits
(RbcS). RbcS is an important factor for determining the speed of the
catalyst.
- A
hybrid Rubisco consisting of rice RbcL and sorghum RbcS demonstrated a
catalytic rate that was approximately 2 times higher than that of rice
Rubisco. This is believed to be the first time in the world that such a
large increase in Rubisco activity has been achieved.
- The
102 amino acid found inside RbcS is isoleucine in rice and leucine in
sorghum. Analysis of the protein structures indicated the possibility that
the difference in amino acid type could affect the catalytic activity.
- It
is hoped that the method to improve photosynthesis demonstrated in this
study could be applied to many other crops which, like rice, have low
Rubisco activity such as wheat, soybean and potato.
Research
Background
Growth
speed in plants is mainly determined by photosynthetic ability. Thus improving
photosynthesis in agricultural crops can increase their yield. In
photosynthesis, Rubisco is an enzyme that acts as the initial catalyst for the
reaction which turns CO2 into organic carbon. However, Rubisco
has two major drawbacks which limit photosynthesis: its catalytic activity is
very low, and it can be inhibited by O2 (ie. Rubisco can
mistakenly fix to O2 molecules instead of CO2 molecules,
creating a toxic compound that needs to be recycled by the plant).
Rubisco's
catalytic activity varies depending on the type of plant. Most major crops,
such as rice, wheat and soybean are C3 plants that use regular
photosynthesis. C4 plants, such as corn and sugarcane, on the
other hand, have acquired a mechanism to concentrate CO2 (the C4 photosynthetic
pathway).
The
catalytic rate is low in C3 plants, whereas in C4 plants
it tends to be high. Rubisco with high catalytic activity tends to be inhibited
easily by oxygen, therefore it cannot function effectively in atmospheric
conditions where there is a low concentration of CO2 if the
plant doesn't have a CO2-concentrating mechanism. However, as the
amount of atmospheric CO2 is continuing to increase, it is
believed that if C3 plants had the same highly active type of
Rubisco as C4 plants then this could be utilized to improve
photosynthetic ability.
Research
Findings:
Rubisco
is made up of two types of protein- large subunits (RbcL) and small subunits
(RbcS). The sequence of the amino acids in RbcS varies greatly between species.
This team has been focusing on conducting research into RbcS. They genetically
modified rice (a C3 plant) by transferring RbcS from the C4 plant
sorghum, successfully increasing the catalytic rate of rice Rubisco 1.5 times.
This rice with sorghum RbcS inserted (SS line), produced a chimera form of
Rubisco from both sorghum RbcS and rice RbcS. Next, the rice RbcS gene was
knocked out in the sorghum RbcS incorporated rice plants using CRISPR/Cas9 gene
editing.
In this
CSS line (sorghum RbcS transferred/rice RbcS knocked out), the rice RbcS was
completely replaced by sorghum RbcS, producing hybrid Rubisco. This
approximately doubled the catalytic rate to that which is equivalent to C4 plants.
Although many researchers have been able to improve Rubisco's catalytic
characteristics, there have been no examples of such a large increase being
achieved. Furthermore, CSS line plants demonstrated a higher photosynthetic
rate than unmodified (wild type) rice under high CO2 conditions,
even though the amount of Rubisco in their leaves was over 30% less.
Subsequently,
the researchers conducted x-ray crystallography (*2) in order to illuminate the
mechanism by which sorghum RbcS increases Rubisco's catalytic activity. RbcL is
present in Rubisco's catalytic site. Near this catalytic site, there is a
structure called RbcS βC. The 102 amino acid found in βC is isoleucine in rice
and leucine in sorghum. Leucine has smaller molecules than isoleucine.
Therefore, it is thought that in sorghum RbcS the gaps between amino acid
molecules become bigger, making the reaction site more pliable and thus
increasing catalytic activity. Although further research is necessary to prove
this, it is believed to be a previously unproposed ground-breaking theory for
Rubisco research.
Conclusion
The CSS
line produced in this study demonstrated high photosynthetic ability, however
crop yield was not improved. Hopefully, it will be possible to vastly improve
plant growth and productivity through appropriate control of Rubisco levels.
The
current research used the C3 plant rice, however it is vital to
consider the applications of this methodology and investigate whether or not
the same strategy can be used to increase Rubisco's catalytic activity in other
major crops, such as wheat, soybean and potato.
It is
thought that the 102 amino acid is an important determinant of the catalytic
activity. Further research is being carried out to investigate this; for
example by replacing only the amino acid at the 102 site with another amino
acid and producing Rubisco.
Glossary
1.
Rubisco (Ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase): In
photosynthesis, the enzyme Rubisco is the catalyst for the initial reaction
that fixes CO2. It is not only the catalyst for the photosynthesis
reaction (carboxylase reaction) but also serves as the catalyst for the
oxygenase reaction where O2 is the substrate. Plants accumulate
large amounts of Rubisco in their leaves to compensate for the very slow rate
of the catalyst. Around half of the soluble proteins in rice plant leaves are
Rubisco and it is known to be the most prevalent protein on Earth.
2. X-ray
crystallography: A method to determine the spatial coordinates
of the atoms that make up a crystal by analyzing the diffraction obtained from
x-raying a single crystal. This is one way of determining the structural
arrangement of proteins. It is necessary to produce protein crystals.
Story
Source:
Materials provided by Kobe University. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal
Reference:
1.
Hiroyoshi
Matsumura, Keita Shiomi, Akito Yamamoto, Yuri Taketani, Noriyuki Kobayashi,
Takuya Yoshizawa, Shun-ichi Tanaka, Hiroki Yoshikawa, Masaki Endo, Hiroshi
Fukayama. Hybrid Rubisco with Complete Replacement of
Rice Rubisco Small Subunits by Sorghum Counterparts Confers C4-Plant-like High
Catalytic Activity. Molecular Plant,
2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2020.08.012
Cite This Page:
Kobe University. "Successful
improvement of the catalytic activity of photosynthetic CO2 fixing enzyme
Rubisco." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 September 2020.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915090123.htm>.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915090123.htm
Egypt turns to science to
mitigate water crisis
Alamein’s 150k cbm/day
desalination plant has been inaugurated as first phase to offset water
scarcity
Mohammed El-Said
Among the most fertile of Egypt’s lands in Daqahleya
governorate, 48-year-old farmer Mohamed Awad used to plant rice at this time of
the year.
In 2020, however, he has been prevented from doing so by the
local authorities, as the Egyptian government moves to allocate only a certain
area of land to cultivate rice to decrease the country’s water
consumption.
Awad said that rice is one of the best crops for farmers in
Egypt to grow in economic terms, but “due to the construction of the Ethiopian
dam, the government started to decrease the area cultivated with the water
consuming crop.”
Whilst ostensibly to save water,
the decision has negatively affected thousands of farmers across Egypt, like
Awad, who have had to plant other crops they are not used to.
Egypt is heavily dependent on River Nile water, which provides
about 97% of its present water needs. This still means that Egyptians can
access only 660 cbm per person, one of the world’s lowest annual per capita
water shares.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia is proceeding with construction on the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Egypt believes will threaten its water
security.
The Egyptian government blames overpopulation for the
exponential increase in water demands. With the population expected to double
in the next 50 years, Egypt is projected to experience critical countrywide
fresh water and food shortages by 2025, according to a study conducted by the
Geological Society of America (GSA).
Over the next 30 years, Egypt’s population is estimated to reach
150 million which will lead to a decrease in the per capita share of water to
350 cm/year.
Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohammed Abdel Aaty
explained that his ministry is bulking out on the amount of water available,
with 33% of Egypt’s water coming from recycled water resources. A further 55%
of the virtual water comes in the form of crops that are imported as
commodities and food items.
Egypt’s per capita share of water currently stands at below the
international standard of 1,000 cbm/year, with the country taking 600 cbm/year.
Despite the potential threat to accessing water from this source due to the
Ethiopian dam project, the country’s share of River Nile waters is stable.
Four-directive strategy
Ragab Abdel Azeem, Deputy Minister of Water Resources and
Irrigation, said that in order to meet the country’s water needs, the ministry
has set a strategy using four directives. These will develop water resources,
rationalise water use, purify water and protect it from pollution, whilst also
creating the appropriate environment for implementing these aspects.
Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
Abdel Azeem noted that the ministry is working on implementing a
modern irrigation system as an alternative to flood irrigation. The Ministry of
Water Resources and Irrigation has also implemented programmes and campaigns to
educate farmers and citizens about the importance of balanced water
consumption.
In addition to this, the ministry is undertaking several studies
to estimate Egypt’s underground reservoir, and its potential uses in
development without depleting this non-renewable natural resource.
“We have, in the past two years, started to implement the use of
solar energy for irrigation in underground wells instead of diesel,” Abdel
Azeem said.
The project started in the New Valley Governorate, with a
three-year plan to make all wells across the governorate solar-powered. The
project was also implemented in the Nile Delta governorates, to operate
irrigation systems using solar energy. A number of government buildings
nationwide are also being converted to using solar energy.
Drought tolerant crops
Researchers have identified new drought-resistant plant genes
that could cope with water scarcity. They have also looked into cultivating
rice, which could help in decreasing the salinity of the soil in Egypt’s
coastal governorates.
Said Soliman, Professor of Genetics at Zagazig University’s
Faculty of Agriculture, outlined one local experience relating to
environmentally viable rice cultivation. Soliman has gained long-term
experience in developing new species of rice that resist drought and use less
water during cultivation.
He said that he has developed a variety of rice, which was given
the name “Oraby” in honour of the political leader Ahmed Oraby and who is
Zagazig University’s symbol.
This new variety of engineered rice only takes about 120 days to
grow, compared to the 145 days for normal rice. He added that the Oraby rice
variety can be cultivated twice yearly.
It can also be cultivated on all
types of land, with successful cultivation experiments having been undertaken
using the sandy soils of Toshka, as well as in clay soil. According to Soliman,
there are several other benefits to the new variety of rice developed at
Zagazig University.
Not only is Oraby rice considerably more productive than normal
varieties, it is also possible to cultivate 2m feddan of Oraby rice using the
same amount of water as that needed for 1m feddan of normal rice.
Desalination
Another solution to mitigating the water access crisis is the
use of desalinated water. This would see a dependence on groundwater as well as
the desalination of seawater to meet the domestic demand for water.
Late in 2019, the government established the Alamein
desalination plant, located on the Mediterranean Coast. The plant expects to
produce 150,000 cbm/day of drinking water from desalinated seawater.
A recent study noted that the domestic water sector is one of
the largest users of water in Egypt, consuming more than 16% of the country’s
total renewable water resources.
Egypt is urgently in need of a plan to offset the increase in
current domestic water consumption, from around 9.2bn cbm in 2016 to about 15bn
cbm of water by 2040. This would use alternatives to River Nile waters,
according to findings of a study published in the American Journal of
Engineering Research (AJER).
According to the study, domestic water in Egypt is taken from
two main sources. The first source is surface water, which supplies about
88.99%, with the second source being groundwater, which supplies about 10.77%
of total demands. A further 0.24% is taken from sea water desalination plants.
The major factor affecting the amount of diverted water for domestic use is the
efficiency of the country’s delivery networks.
“Groundwater and seawater desalination are together a promising
source for meeting the future water needs of Egypt. By 2040 Egypt will need
additional 5bn cbm to meet the domestic use of water to reach the needed amount
15 bn cbm,” said Osama Sallam, the author of the study and researcher at the
Egyptian National Water Research Center, and Water Projects Manager, at the
UAE’s Environment Agency.
Sallam added that Egypt’s groundwater stock is fresh with low
levels of salinity, allowing for the future domestic water demands to be met.
He noted that it is also cheaper than seawater desalination methods.
The process of seawater desalination is very expensive, with the
cost of desalinating 1 cbm of water currently stands at $1,000. This is in
addition to the other operating and maintenance costs.
This process, however, is a
promising source of water for coastal governorates particularly as Egypt relies
on cheaper sources for energy that will help in decreasing the cost of
desalination.
Harvesting water from desert air
A total of 97% of Egypt’s land is desert, found in Sinai as well
as the Eastern and Western Deserts, with only a restricted line of fertile
lands available hugging the River Nile.
For arid countries like Egypt, scientists at the University of
California at Berkeley have developed a device that produces water from dry
desert air, using only sunlight. The method is dependent on developing a
molecular powder, a metal–organic framework (MOF), that is highly porous and
acts like a sponge to absorb water.
According to the study published in Science Advances Journal,
the powder saturated with water during a moist and cool night after it was
packed in a frame at a plexiglass box. After this step, it releases water as
sunlight heats it during the day, resulting in water condensation on the sides
of the box which was kept open at night and closed in the day.
https://dailynewsegypt.com/2020/09/16/egypt-turns-to-science-to-mitigate-water-crisis/
ICAR appoints 2 SKUAST-K professors as Emeritus
Scientists
GK News Network
Srinagar, September 16, 2020, 3:30 AMSeptember 15, 2020, 11:28 PM
UPDATED: September 15, 2020, 11:28
PM
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, (ICAR), Union Ministry of
Agriculture has offered position of Emeritus Scientists to two faculty members
of SKUAST-K, Prof M Y Zargar and Prof G A Parray, for a period of three years,
an official statement said.
It said the offer has been made on the basis of their “life time
achievements” including contributions to agricultural education and research
and the projects submitted by them for investigation during their tenure as
Emeritus Scientists.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:F8767kPLY4sJ:https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/icar-appoints-2-skuast-k-professors-as-emeritus-scientists/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
Rice farmers see reasons for hope as harvest begins
Issue Date: September 16, 2020
By Ching Lee
Farmers
harvest rice in a Glenn County field. Marketers say retail demand for rice
jumped at the start of the pandemic and has remained strong, but that slumping
sales to food-service buyers have reduced overall demand for the crop this
year.
Photo/Fred Greaves
·
·
Farmers
expect rice harvest in the Sacramento Valley to ramp up this week, and they
express optimism for their crop and its prospects.
Based
on harvested fields of some earlier-maturing varieties already making their way
to dryers, farmers say they anticipate crop yields will be about average.
Despite a recent heat wave, they reported a largely typical growing season—even
though the pandemic has made for an unusual marketing year.
With
wildfire smoke blanketing California skies, Colusa County farmer Leo LaGrande
said harvest has so far been "on the muddy side," as lack of sunlight
prevented fields from drying completely, which could potentially slow harvest.
Most of what he's harvested are Japanese short-grain varieties, which mature
earlier than medium-grain Calrose, the state's predominant variety. He noted
strong winds last week did help dry fields faster and that the smoke cover has
allowed the crop to mature "at a good, steady pace."
With
uncertainty about how the pandemic will further shake up demand for California
rice, LaGrande said he's excited to learn about shipping channels opening
again, with more imports of consumer goods from China coming into the United
States, which bodes well for U.S. exports finding capacity in shipping
containers.
"That's
a big deal," he said, "because that creates an availability of ships
going back (to Asia), and a lot of that usually carries ag products."
In
the early days of the pandemic lockdown, when Americans loaded up on pantry
staples such as rice, California marketers scrambled to fill orders from
retailers trying to restock empty grocery shelves. That uptick in retail demand
has slowed, said Chris Crutchfield, president and CEO of American Commodity Co.
in Williams, which markets rice domestically and internationally.
Even
though domestic retail demand remains "much higher than pre-COVID," Crutchfield
said demand from food service has "dropped off the charts," and
increased retail sales have not offset reductions in food service. For this
reason, overall domestic shipments of California rice during the last two
months have trended lower than before the pandemic, he added.
"People
were talking about a lack of inventory. It's not as low as we thought," he
said.
California
farmers grew more rice this year—507,000 acres compared to 498,000 acres last
year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With an "excellent
growing season" in 2020, Crutchfield said he expects better yields and
more supply coming through the pipeline.
"All
that put together, I still feel a little positive about the upcoming
year," he said, noting that prices to farmers have been "very
strong" the last two years. "I suspect it'll still be a profitable
crop year for the farmers."
He
pointed to good market prospects in South Korea, the second-largest export
market for California rice. This represents the first year South Korea has
implemented a country-specific quota for rice imports that guarantees market
access and a minimum tonnage from the U.S., all of which will come from the
Golden State, Crutchfield added.
But
one important Asian market—China—remains out of reach for now. With soured
U.S-China relations, there have been no exports of U.S. rice to China, after
the country made an initial purchase last year from a Colusa-based rice
company. This is despite a 2017 phytosanitary protocol reached between the two
nations and a completed Phase 1 U.S.-China trade agreement that included
commitments to buy more U.S. rice.
Crutchfield
said private Chinese importers have expressed their desire to buy California
rice, but none of them are doing so until the Chinese government either makes a
purchase or tells them directly it's OK to import U.S. rice. With the U.S.
presidential election in less than two months, he said "it's certainly not
imminent or even probable that we would see (U.S. rice exports to China)
anytime soon."
With
domestic demand down by more than 30%—a trend expected to continue until
restaurants reopen and begin serving at full capacity—Crutchfield said
California rice marketers will need to rely on more traditional export markets
such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and look to other foreign markets such
as the Middle East, which is more challenging from a pricing standpoint.
In
Glenn County, farmer Bill Weller has been harvesting his rice crop since late
August, which he said is early for him. He said prices to growers have been
strong this year and that the cooperative to which he markets his rice has sold
more rice domestically this year, attributing the enhanced demand to COVID-19
and increased retail sales.
Weller
also owns a brewery business and uses some of his Calrose rice for brewing
beer, which he said "adds a lot of value to our rice."
Though
it's still early to determine overall yields, Weller said his crop appears
"above average" so far. He noted a recent heat wave could accelerate
growth of the crop, causing the plants to lodge or fall over, which could slow
harvest and reduce yield somewhat.
Sutter
County farmer Jon Munger, who has been harvesting a short-grain variety since
the start of the month, said much of that rice will be sold domestically to
retail and food-service markets. He said though sales on the retail side
"seem to be holding," it's hard to know how long that can be
sustained and when demand from food service will return.
"I
think it's to be determined," he said. "A lot of this, unfortunately,
there's not much history to go by."
Of
harvest, Munger said he expects to start on the medium-grain this week and that
progress appears "right on schedule, based on when we planted." He
noted short-grain varieties are already prone to lodging and recent high winds
didn't help.
LaGrande
said even though the year started with "a lot of concerns" because of
COVID-19, he remains "cautiously optimistic" about the rice crop's
outlook.
"We
think there's great opportunity with the product that we grow," he said.
"We're excited about this upcoming year and about getting our exports
going again and, of course, restaurants opening up."
(Ching
Lee is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.)
Permission
for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau
Federation when reprinting this item.
https://www.agalert.com/story/?id=14318
Fall
Whole Grain: The Return of Miss Fluffy
By Deborah Willenborg
ARLINGTON, VA -- For those readers of a certain
age, the cover image on the Fall issue of the USA Rice Whole Grain will be a
blast from the past. Everyone else will get an introduction to Miss
Fluffy, a U.S. rice spokesgrain from the 1960s, as Staff Writer Lesley Dixon
takes a retrospective look at the history of advertising rice in the 20th
century in this issue's cover story.
"Miss Fluffy may seem outdated but she
personifies the message we got from recent marketing research that consumers
think of rice as exciting, lively, and fun," said Michael Klein, USA Rice
vice president of marketing, communications, and domestic promotion.
"This story reminds us that advertising has to 'keep it fresh,' and that
the rice industry always has."
Read about other ways USA Rice stays current
with different forms of outreach in stories about our new podcast, The
Rice Stuff; a brewpub partnership that produced a craft beer made with
purple rice grown in Louisiana; and a series of webinars that share the
industry's unparalleled sustainability story.
"In this issue, we also introduce the new
leadership our organization elected over the summer," said Klein.
"That personnel change every two years guarantees an influx of different
ideas and perspectives that keep our industry dynamic."
If you do not receive the Whole Grain in your
mailbox, or you'd like additional copies to distribute to friends, neighbors,
and colleagues, or you would like to advertise in future issues, contact Deborah Willenborg.
Breadcrumb
·
Home
·
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Press
release
14
SEP 2020 PRESS
RELEASE ENVIRONMENT
UNDER REVIEW
UN-backed label launched to help
shoppers choose environmentally friendly rice
Pixabay
Bangkok, 14 September 2020 – A new ecolabel launched today by the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP)
will help shoppers reduce their environmental impact by identifying rice that
has been sustainably produced. The SRP – a grouping of over 100 public,
private, research, financial institutions and civil society organizations led
by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI)– has developed the “SRP-Verified” Label to reduce the
environmental impact of one of the largest food crops in the world.
"SRP-Verified" ecolabel
Over 3.5 billion people rely
on rice as a daily staple, but the crop has an undeniable
environmental impact. Rice farming consumes up to one-third of the world’s
developed freshwater resources and generates up to 20% of
global anthropogenic emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
This life-giving crop will also be the victim of rising global temperatures,
with production expected to fall by 15% by 2050 due to climate change, according to the
International Food Policy Research Institute.
The new Assurance Scheme is
based on the SRP Standard for
Sustainable Rice Cultivation, the world’s first voluntary
sustainability standard for rice. It is underpinned by proven best practices
and provides a science-based process to assess compliance. Employing best
practices in rice farming can reduce water use by some 20% and methane emissions
from flooded rice fields by up to 50%.
The scheme will be managed by Germany-based GLOBALG.A.P., which will oversee approval of
qualified verification bodies that will be responsible for inspection of
producers according to the SRP Standard. NEPCon-Preferred by Nature, a
Denmark-based non-profit organization that supports better land management and
business practices, is the first to be approved to perform SRP verification
audits, with several others expected to be approved soon.
“SRP was established to address global environmental and social
challenges in rice production. The Assurance Scheme offers supply chain actors
a robust, cost-effective and transparent path to sustainable procurement.
Consumers are increasingly demanding that food is produced sustainably, and now
they have a reliable way to choose environmentally friendly rice,” said Wyn
Ellis, SRP Executive Director.
With the new label, consumers will be able to trace the rice
back to its origin country. The scheme will also benefit an entire industry. By
stocking SRP-verified rice, retailers can make significant and measurable
contributions to sustainability commitments and climate change targets.
Industry actors will also be able to de-risk their supply chains and ensure
stability by sourcing through SRP-verified suppliers.
Farmers also benefit - switching to SRP practices can boost
farmers’ net incomes by 10-20%. With 90% of the world’s 144 million rice
producers living on or near the poverty line, this can make the difference
between a secure livelihood and a family going hungry.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the Sustainable Rice Platform
The Sustainable Rice
Platform (SRP) is a global multi-stakeholder alliance led by
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), together with over 100 public, private, research,
financial institutions and civil society organizations. SRP, whose Secretariat
is hosted by UNEP, works with partners to transform the global rice sector by
improving smallholder livelihoods in developing countries, reducing the social,
environmental and climate footprint of rice production; and by offering the
global rice market an assured supply of sustainably produced rice
About GLOBALG.A.P.
GLOBALG.A.P. is a global
organization with a crucial objective: safe, sustainable agriculture worldwide.
GLOBALG.A.P. sets and operates voluntary standards for the certification of
agricultural products around the globe – and more and more producers,
suppliers, and buyers are harmonizing their certification standards to match
our Company’s Purpose: the right of every generation to safe food.
About the UN Environment Programme
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides
leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by
inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality
of life without compromising that of future generations.
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-backed-label-launched-help-shoppers-choose-environmentally-0
How Should Researchers Ensure Racial Diversity In Clinical
Trials For The Coronavirus Vaccine?
By Greater
Boston Staff
September
15, 2020Greater
Boston
In a New York Times op-ed, the
presidents of four historically Black universities and medical schools argue
that the lack of racial diversity in clinical trials for a potential
coronavirus vaccine “creates problems on two fronts: treatment and trust."
To discuss, Jim Braude was joined by one of the authors, Dr. Valerie Montgomery
Rice, the president of Morehouse School of Medicine.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/science-and-technology/2020/09/15/how-should-researchers-ensure-racial-diversity-in-clinical-trials-for-the-coronavirus-vaccine
Paddy buying norms unjust: Kumari Selja
·
Posted: Sep 16, 2020 07:33 AM (IST)
·
Updated : 8 hours ago
Chandigarh, September 15
State Congress president Kumari
Selja has questioned the new conditions for giving paddy to rice millers for
custom
milled rice.
She accused the BJP-JJP
government of harassing people during the pandemic. She said after the
lathicharge on farmers and labourers in Kurukshetra, other sections were on
target.
Selja said new conditions had
been imposed as part of a conspiracy to harass rice millers. If these new
conditions were implemented, farmers and rice millers would suffer, she said.
“They will face difficulty in
selling paddy,” she stated. She said the government wanted to give paddy to
only 600 out of 1,400 rice mills.
Selja said it was clear that the
government was deliberately harassing rice millers. She said the state Congress
was with rice millers and farmers.
She claimed that if the
government policy was not changed soon, rice millers could refuse to purchase
paddy, which would directly affect farmers as they would have trouble in
selling the crop.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/paddy-buying-norms-unjust-kumari-selja-141649
Seaweed
capsule packed with stem cells could repair damage after heart attack, scientists
find
PUBLISHED: 22:04
BST, 14 September 2020 | UPDATED: 22:11 BST, 14 September 2020
A tiny capsule made from seaweed and packed
with stem cells is being tested as a treatment for heart attack patients.
Roughly the thickness of a grain of rice, the
capsule is injected into the heart through an incision in the side of the
chest.
It is filled with up to 30,000 stem cells,
which kick-start the healing process in cardiac muscle left severely damaged by
the lack of blood that occurs during a heart attack.
A tiny capsule made from seaweed and packed
with stem cells is being tested as a treatment for heart attack patients (file
image)
GOOD HEALTH
HONOURED
Good Health has received more nominations
than any other newspaper health section in the prestigious 2020 MJA awards,
which recognise excellence in health and medical journalism.
Good Health writers dominate the highly
competitive Freelance Of The Year category, with Fiona MacRae, Caroline Scott
and Jo Waters all shortlisted for their work for the section. Fiona’s feature
on developments in the flu jab was also shortlisted for the Science Explained
award. The tally of Mail nominations includes medical correspondent Ben Spencer
for the Mental Health Story Of The Year award, and health reporter Eleanor
Hayward for Newcomer Of The Year. The winners will be announced on September
23.
ADVERTISEMENT
Stem cells, usually found in bone marrow and
capable of turning into bone or muscle, are the building blocks of all human
tissue. The idea is that, once in place, they will start to grow into healthy
new heart muscle within days or weeks of somebody having an attack.
This would help repair damage that often
leads to heart failure, where the weakened heart muscle is unable to push blood
efficiently around the body.
Treatments for heart failure include
medication, such as blood pressure pills, and lifestyle changes to reduce the
strain on the heart, but these cannot undo the damage done. Heart failure kills
more than 100,000 people a year in the UK. Many more live with debilitating
symptoms, such as breathlessness and exhaustion.
Previous attempts at injecting stem cells
have largely failed because either the cells are destroyed by the immune
system, which regards them as a foreign material, or they migrate away from the
area of damage to other parts of the body.
It is hoped the seaweed capsule can both keep
the cells in the heart and stop them being attacked by the body’s defences.
Seaweed contains a compound called alginate,
which makes a soft gel when mixed with water. It is already widely used in
medicine, as, for example, a stabiliser to stop tablets crumbling and in
slow-release pills, where the active drug needs to be released gradually in the
stomach.
+3
·
Treatments for heart failure include
medication, such as blood pressure pills, and lifestyle changes to reduce the
strain on the heart, but these cannot undo the damage done. Heart failure kills
more than 100,000 people a year in the UK (file image)
DO
THIS
Practise yoga to reduce anxiety, say
scientists at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, following a study of 226 people
with generalised anxiety disorder. Participants were offered education on
stress management and yoga — those who tried yoga experienced less anxiety than
those on the stress management course.
ADVERTISEMENT
Alginate is ideal as it breaks down slowly in
the gut and is highly biocompatible, so does not trigger an attack by the
immune system. The capsules, which measure just 1.5mm in diameter and were
developed by scientists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine, both
in Houston, Texas, have a porous membrane that lets the stem cells gradually
escape.
In animal studies, the researchers injected
several capsules into damaged cardiac muscle. The results, published in the
journal Biomaterials Science, showed that four weeks after having the seaweed
capsule injected, 41 per cent of rats saw a significant improvement in their
ejection fraction scores — a measure of how much blood the heart is able to
pump in each beat.
But when the researchers injected the stem
cells without putting them inside a capsule, only 16 per cent of the rats
experienced an improvement.
Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of
the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘Repairing a broken heart with stem cells
has been an aspiration for over a decade, but has so far proved elusive.
‘The alginate capsule is a step in the right
direction.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8732279/Seaweed-capsule-packed-stem-cells-repair-damage-heart-attack-scientists-find.html
Farmers' group urged DA to buy all local palay to be harvested
in coming months
Published September 15, 2020 1:18pm
By JON VIKTOR D. CABUENAS, GMA News
Farmers' group Samahang
Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) called on the government to walk the talk and
intensify the buying of palay or unmilled rice, as it said the administration's
budget is not even enough to procure 10% of the national harvest.
In a statement on Tuesday, SINAG
called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to prepare a higher budget to
increase the procurement of palay from local farmers, given the competition
they have from imported rice due to the liberalization of the industry from the
Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
"The situation today is very
different. It is very dire for our rice farmers because of the COVID pandemic
and the deluge of imports courtesy of the Rice Tariffication Law," said
SINAG chair Rosendo So.
"Sino nga ba ang bibili ng
palay? Nagrereklamo rin ang member millers ng SINAG dahil ang mga bodega ng
local millers ay puno pa rin dahil hindi sila makasabay sa pagbaha ng murang
imported rice mula nang maisabatas ang RTL," he added.
According to SINAG, the National
Food Authority (NFA)—mandated to ensure food security through the availability,
affordability, and accessibility of rice—does not have enough funds to procure
a significant percentage of the country's total output with only P14 billion at
best, including a rollover fund of P7 billion.
SINAG said that at P19 per
kilogram, the P14 billion will only be able to buy 739,842 metric tons (MT) of
palay. This is equivalent to only 8.18% of the total expected palay harvest of
9 million MT.
"Instead of forging deals
with foreign institutions and trumpeting the studies multilateral agencies in
transforming our sector; the DA must first forge a deal with the local rice
farmers that they will buy all the palay that will be harvested this coming
weeks and months, if only for the rice farmers to survive this cropping season
and the RTL," said SINAG.
For its part, the DA assured farmers
bigger earnings, as it claimed it will take the "extra mile" by
picking up the produce from their respective barangays.
"We will continue to buy
palay as high as P19 per kilo, at 14 percent moisture content, from our farmers
to assure them of bigger earnings, and if need be pick up their produce at a
designated area in their barangay," Agriculture Secretary William Dar was
quoted as saying in a statement released by the DA on Tuesday.
"We have instructed NFA
offices nationwide, through administrator Judy Dansal, to offer transport
services for farmers who cannot deliver their produce to the agency's
warehouses, and likewise avail of its drying facilities," said Dar, who
chairs the NFA Council.
According to NFA Region 3
director Elvira Obaña, they target to buy a total of 1,747,700 bags of palay
from farmers in Central Luzon starting this month until the end of the year.
Dar also instructed the NFA to
immediately mill the palay, then sell it to local government units or the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It will then subsequently
roll-over the amount to be able to buy more from farmers.
Aside from this, Dar also called
on the governors of top 12 rice-producing provinces to help NFA buy palay
direct from their farmer-constituents to stabilize prices. These include Nueva
Ecija, Isabela, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Iloilo, Camarines Sur, Tarlac, Negros
Occidental, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, North Cotabato, and Leyte.
"Their direct procurement
will significantly shore up the national average farmgate price of palay, thus
helping more farmers," he said.—AOL, GMA News
Show comments
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/755634/farmers-group-urged-da-to-buy-all-local-palay-to-be-harvested-in-coming-months/story/
How Africa
can move from net food importer to exporter
AfDB says that modern agriculture,
driven by technologies such as drought resilience, crop protection and yield
enhancement, can also contribute substantially to employment and wealth
creation as well as to the improvement of health and nutrition on the
continent. As such, agriculture will build the cornerstone of Africa’s economic
transformation.
By
Emmanuel Ntirenganya
Published : September 15, 2020 | Updated : September 15,
2020
A solar-powered irrigation system
in Nasho, Eastern Province. The project was developed to modernise Rwanda’s
agriculture sector and specifically improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods. /
Photo: Sam Ngendahimana
Africa
remains a net food importer, meaning that it imports more foods than it
exports. And, increased food demand and changing consumption habits are leading
to Africa’s rapidly rising food import bill.
This
is one of the issues that were talked about in a virtual session during the
2020 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF 2020) Summit that was co-hosted virtually by
Rwanda last week (from September 8 to September 11, 2020).
The
African Development Bank (AfDB) estimated that in 2017, Africa spent $64.5
billion on importing foods, and the food import bill is projected to increase
to over $110 billion by 2025, if the status quo remains. This, according to the
Bank, is unsustainable, irresponsible, and unaffordable.
Africa’s
exports of food and agricultural products are worth between $35 billion and $40
billion a year, according to McKinsey & Company – a US-based management
consulting firm.
Producing
more and adding value to farm produce
AfDB
said that Africa’s food imports include wheat, sugar, rice, beef, and soybeans,
yet, these commodities can be produced on the continent.
By
continuing to pay for food to be imported, the Bank said that Africa is losing
precious foreign exchange, so it must quickly eliminate the negative balance,
and start to sow, grow, process, consume, and ultimately to export the food
itself.
It
added that export of primary agricultural production is still very
high in Africa compared to other regions of the world.
Therefore,
it said, agriculture offers a realistic prospect for large-scale job creation,
especially in fragile economies, if agricultural produce gets added value
before export.
Given
the importance of food and nutrition, promoting agricultural value chains and
improving market access have the potential to diversify economies, raise
incomes, increase food security and macroeconomic stability, contribute to
mitigating conflict and prevent internal and external migration.
Easing
and boosting intra-Africa food trade
A
World Bank report – Africa Can Help Feed Africa: Removing barriers to regional
trade in food staples – which was released in 2012 indicated that Africa’s
farmers can potentially grow enough food to feed the continent and avert future
food crises if countries remove cross-border restrictions on the food trade
within the region.
The
World Bank pointed out that the continent would also generate an extra $20
billion in yearly earnings if African leaders can agree to dismantle trade
barriers that blunt more regional dynamism.
The
Bank’s report also pointed out that rapid urbanisation will challenge the
ability of farmers to ship their cereals and other foods to consumers when the
nearest trade market is just across a national border.
Speaking
at a virtual session during the AGRF 2020 Summit, Moussa Faki Mahamat,
Chairperson of the African Union Commission said that with Covid-19 has underscored the need to boost food trade
within thecontinent such as through the African Continental
Free Trade Area.
“As
much as we were worried about the health plan [to deal with Covid-19 pandemic],
we were also worried about the food plan, because many countries were expecting
to get rice shipments from Asia,” he said.
“Sometimes
[in Africa], there are countries that have a surplus, while there are others
that have a deficit in the same region. Lack of infrastructure, unaccustomed to
trade among themselves, they end up importing [foods] like rice from Asia, yet
they can buy such commodities from neighboring countries,” he said.
“So
there are dysfunctions in our business, in the way we act. ... This is
something that is absolutely urgent,” he said, pointing out that Africa should
increase food trade between its countries.
However,
he called for more investment into and modernisation of the agriculture sector
in Africa.
Speaking
at the same Summit, President Paul Kagame said that “the only reason that
Africa can continue to import large amounts of its food from outside the
continent, is that it simply has not been a priority to add value to our own
products and do more business with each other.”
Prioritising
agriculture, lowering production cost
The
recommendations of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP) which urges every African country to invest at least 10 percent of
their public expenditure into agriculture, has largely not been implemented.
The
fact that some agricultural commodities imported overseas – such as wheat from
Russia and Canada – reach Africa and are sold at lower prices than
those produced on the continent is somehow paradoxical.
What
happens is that Africa food producers have difficulties competing on the market
as their edible products are more expensive than imported ones.
This
would not be the case if Africa invested enough money or subsidised food
production to make it more affordable, as it would help the continent to lower
the cost of production.
“No
region has built a modern economy without first strengthening the agriculture
sector. This is true of both in ancient economies, and in modern times,” said
Hailemariam Desalegn, the Board Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA).
Scaling
up technology use in agriculture
AfDB
says that modern agriculture, driven by technologies such as drought
resilience, crop protection and yield enhancement, can also contribute
substantially to employment and wealth creation as well as to the improvement
of health and nutrition on the continent. As such, agriculture will build the
cornerstone of Africa’s economic transformation.
As
a result, technology-driven agriculture will help to leverage the potential of the continent’s youthful
population.
According
to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), over 60 percent of Africa’s
estimated 1.2 billion people are under the age of 25. Yet, with little job
creation currently in the rural areas where the majority of the population
resides, there is a growing uncertainty over the continent’s preparedness to
tap this resource.
Therefore,
there is a need to engage the youth into the agriculture sector from farm
production to agribusiness such as agro-processing through helping them to
easily access technologies and financing.
entirenganya@newtimesrwanda.com
https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/how-africa-can-move-net-food-importer-exporter
Kenya: How Scounderels Blend Mwea
Rice With Cheap Imports
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14 SEPTEMBER 2020
By Irene Mugo
A multi-million-shilling racket, in which cheap rice imports are
blended with the highly-valued Mwea pishori, has been going on in the country,
taking millions of consumers for a ride all the way to the dining table.
While Kenya's paddy-grown rice in the Mwea plains is prized for
its aroma and quality, business buccaneers adulterate it and sell to
unsuspecting consumers. The poor quality rice is usually sprayed with 'perfume,
a chemical property that brings out the aroma', but the scent fades after
washing, compared to the original rice that maintains its pleasant smell after
cooking.
On Saturday, a multi-agency team comprising the Directorate of
Criminal Investigations, Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards
destroyed contraband rice worth millions of shillings that was destined for the
kitchen table.
It all starts at the expansive Mwea Irrigation Scheme, which
produces 76 per cent of paddy in Kenya. There, cartels buy the high grade
pishori and mix it with low quality products from Asia and pass it to
unsuspecting buyers.
Farmers at the scheme are now worried since the unbranded cheap
imports have taken a toll on locally produced rice.
"Consumers come for Mwea rice for the aroma that can be
smelt from the packet, but they are finding it hard to tell the real one from
the blend," said Ms Mary Mumbi, a trader at Ngurabani centre in Mwea
constituency.
Slender grain
"To tell pure pishori rice, aroma buyers should look out
for a nice-looking slender grain. The amount of broken grains should be minimal
or zero. It should also be polished white rice," said Vincent Koskei, a
manager at Mwea Irrigation Agriculture Development.
The manager said the sector needs a clear mandate of each
stakeholder to avoid repetitiveness along the value chain to foster food security.
While a kilo of Mwea pishori rice goes for between Sh130 and
Sh140, the imports are selling at Sh80 for the same quantity.
Today, it's hard to get pure packaged pishori rice from Mwea,
which was, for years, the most successful irrigation scheme in the country.
As a result, farmers in the 22,000-acre irrigation scheme,
between Rivers Nyamindi and Thiba, hardly get premium price for their produce,
which amounted to 121,000 tonnes last year.
Mr Moris Mutugi, the chairman of Mwea Rice Farmers Association,
has been a rice farmer since the 1970s and has seen the collapse of prices for
Mwea pishori due to the cheap imports and for lack of certified seeds.
He also faults the "oppressive import guidelines" for
denying local farmers fair play in the market.
"We've enough rice to satiate the market for a while before
the country can open up for imports," Mr Mutugi said. In the 1970s, he
added, it would not be a struggle to differentiate the rice brand produced from
the county.
"You could tell it's Mwea rice from the whiff it sent to
the air from a distance, but that is no longer the case. What was uniquely our
brand and quality rice is now compromised," he said.
Before it was run down, the National Irrigation Board (NIB) used
to supply seeds, but currently, farmers are not obliged to buy seeds from
government-licensed dealers. With the downturn in the economy, Kenyans are also
turning to the compromised rice.
Stop at Sagana
"The cheap imported rice is bad for our business because
Kenyans want to save money in this harsh economic times. They are often
choosing the imports over our locally grown rice," Ms Wairimu Karanja,
another trader says.
On a normal day, it's not unusual to see buyers stop at Sagana,
on the busy Nyeri-Nairobi highway, to buy what is branded as aromatic pishori.
What most buyers are unaware of, however, is that they're taking home a blend
of two or more rice varieties under the guise of pure pishori.
Traders have been importing rice from Thailand, which normally
grows the Jasmine variety, and from Pakistan, the world's 10th producer of rice
by quantity. Thailand is also known for exporting broken rice.
It's this broken rice -- at best cheap, and at worst substandard
-- that's mixed with the brand from the irrigation scheme by only adding a
small portion of the locally grown produce to maintain its whiff.
All the cartels need is rice that has the same texture, colour
and size as the locally grown rice.
Cost of production
While blaming the cheap imports for their predicament, farmers
also cite the high cost of production. Farmers spend between Sh28 and Sh30 to
produce a kilogramme of paddy rice. Since most consumers cannot tell the
difference between pure pishori and adulterated until it's cooked, deceitful
traders are now taking advantage of that culinary illiteracy.
To the farmers who own rice paddies in Mwea, the imports have
triggered a rise in blending, which, if not controlled, will push them over the
edge, counting insurmountable losses.
While market liberalisation has opened up the sector to be competitive
across the value chain, Mr Mutugi opines that it has also given some players
the leeway to exploit farmers.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2019 says, the country
imports a third of all consumed rice to bridge the gap. Now Mwea farmers want
the government to intervene and regulate the imports.
"During the peak seasons, the government should ensure
there are no rice imports for farmers to leverage on the sales of their
rice," Mr Mutugi said.
In the local market, there are more than 300 brands approved by
the Rice Release Committee, where only a few are aromatic.
While rice scientists indicate that the aroma is just a
demand-driven trait that does not add any nutritional value, they have
continuously upgraded seeds for high yields that would fetch higher returns for
farmers.
With the help of Mwea Irrigation Agriculture Development (Miad)
centre, farmers grow two aromatic varieties, both Pishori: the NIBAM 10 and
NIBAM 11. While NIBAM 10 has higher yields, it has less distinct aroma.
Quest for yields
But in the market, it's the distinct aroma that gives rice from
the county an edge over the other varieties, thus giving Mwea pishori a brand
identity.
Scientists are now grappling with the quest for yields and
maintenance of the pishori aroma.
"The more the aroma, the lower the yields, hence the
preference by farmers to capitalise on the yields," Mr Koskei says.
While researchers agree that blending of rice has affected the
quality reaching the consumers and compromises the Mwea brand, they insist they
provide quality seeds to farmers.
"The seeds are still the same and the aroma is still
present. The market is what has distorted our production," he said.
According to Mr Koskei, variety as a trait determines the
production rate as some produce 8,000 metric tonnes (MT) per hectare and others
as low as 3, 000MT/ha.
Besides the choice of rice planted, other factors that determine
the aroma of the produce include crop production and post-harvest management.
Farmers hastening the drying of rice after harvest will commonly
alter with the aroma of rice.
"Speeding the drying period will always have bad results.
The moisture content should gradually be lowered from 21 and 25 per cent at
harvesting stage to 14 per cent before the grains are stored," he said.
Already, Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has issued guidelines
to traders on the labelling of rice.
Blending is not illegal
While blending is not an illegal practice, Kebs requires that
milled rice composed of two or more varieties be clearly and conspicuously labelled
as such, a guideline that has been overlooked by the traders.
Without declaration of the blends, as required by Kebs, traders
in Kirinyaga have been duping consumers into buying rice under the guise of
pure while it's a blend or a repackage of cheap imports.
"Consumers are the biggest casualties in the blending
matrices being practised by traders," Mr Koskei said.
Artificial aroma
For blending, all one needs are grains of similar
characteristics, colour and texture.
Kebs insist that a declaration of varieties blended as pure is
prohibited and is an offence punishable by law.
It also prohibits blends from being declared as aromatic.
"It shall be an offence to introduce any artificial aroma
to the varieties blend milled rice," Kebs guidelines indicate.
But Mr Mutugi points an accusatory finger at Kebs, who are
mandated to inspect the standards of rice being sold while ensuring their
guidelines are adhered to.
"Kebs has failed farmers because all these trade
malpractices are happening under their watch," Mr Mutugi says.
The blending has influenced consumers' trust on the Mwea brand
because quality of each purchase is not guaranteed, which affects prices.
"The quality of rice purchased from us is no longer
guaranteed and the consequence is a decline in prices for farmers who are
practising it to make ends meet as opposed to subsistence," he said.
With the government seeking to double the production of rice in
Mwea after the completion of the Sh20 billion Thiba Dam to 118,000MT per year,
their biggest challenge is to stop the cartels within the rice belt.
Value chain
In the past, farmers observed that the government had a stake
across the rice value chain, which included provision of farm inputs, land
preparations, storage and marketing.
"But nowadays, all these are left for the private sector to
dictate. They can sometimes play to their advantage due to competition, which
at times is overrated," Mr Mutugi said.
With some farmers growing rice in wet lands, the quality of the
produce reaching stores has been compromised.
More so, water shortages have been a constant headache for
farmers in the scheme, alongside pests and diseases, migratory birds and high
cost of inputs.
Experts say that for optimal production of rice in Mwea, farmers
require an additional three million cubic metres of water on top of what Thiba
dam will provide.
For a complete crop season, farmers require 16 irrigation
circles, but with the current supply of water from River Thiba and Nyamindi,
they are getting between six to 10, which is insufficient.
During the main season in December, they harvest 72, 000MT and a
second crop in February also known as ratoon produces 60 per cent of the main
harvest standing at 42,000MT in February and March.
At Miad, they say rice production has been increasing over the
years because of enhanced good farming practices, expansion of the irrigation
scheme and improved crop management.
To emphasise the effects of water shortage, Mwea Irrigation
Scheme Manager Innocent Ariemba said the water requirement stands at nine cubic
metres per second to supply all areas under the crop. However, it currently
receives 7.5 cubic metres per second, which is insufficient for production.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202009150079.html
UPDATE
3-NIGERIA REELS FROM TWIN CRISES THAT THREATEN FOOD AVAILABILITY
9/14/2020
(Removes graphics)
By Libby George
ABUJA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Mal Shehu Ladan took a boat across what
was, until this month, a growing rice paddy. Now, like thousands of hectares of
rice in Nigeria's Kebbi state, it is under water.
"Almost all my farm has been flooded. I didn't harvest any
rice," Ladan told Reuters. "It's going to be devastating."
Floods early this month across northwest Nigeria destroyed 90% of
the 2 million tons that Kebbi state officials expected to harvest this autumn,
the head of the state branch of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria told
Reuters. The loss amounts to some 20% of the rice Nigeria grew last year, and
the waters are still rising.
Farther south, outside Nigeria's capital, Abuja, chicken farmer
Hippolite Adigwe is also worried. A shortage of maize forced him to sell most
of his flock of more than 1,000 birds, and the 300 left are hungry. Chicken
feed prices have more than doubled, and he isn't sure how long he can cope.
Twin crises, floods and maize shortages, come just after movement
restrictions and financing difficulties caused by COVID-19 containment measures
complicated spring planting.
Some farmers and economists say it could push Nigeria, Africa's
most populous nation, into a food crisis. Rice is the country's staple grain,
and chicken is a core protein.
"There is a real fear of having food shortages," Arc
Kabir Ibrahim, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria told
Reuters. "The effect on the food system is going to be colossal."
Nigeria took roughly 4,000 tons of millet and sorghum from the
regional economic bloc's (ECOWAS) strategic stocks last month and released
30,000 tons of its own maize. It also gave four companies special permission to
import maize.
The prominent Nigerian Economic Summit Group has called for
"a complete overhaul" of agriculture policy.
Problems accessing foreign exchange to import food are adding to
shortages. In July, the central bank added maize to a list of items for which
importers are banned from using its dollars. Rice and fertilizer were already
on the list, along with other items that Nigeria wants made locally.
Last week, even as food prices spiked, President Muhammadu Buhari
vowed that not one cent of central bank dollars would go to food or fertilizer
imports, as Nigeria would continue encouraging local farmers over imports.
Importers can use dollars from pricier parallel markets. But these
are tough to find due to an oil price crash that has cut Nigeria's core source
of foreign exchange.
SWITCHING GRAINS
Rice prices had already risen substantially due to a land border
closure last year that aimed to stamp out smuggling and boost local production.
Peter Clubb of the International Grains Council said the spike
drove consumers to eat maize instead. This, along with a disappointing crop
late last year and the foreign exchange issues, boosted maize prices to 180,000
naira per ton from around 70,000 naira in March.
Farmers say that consumers grappling with inflation, the first
hike in fuel prices since 2016 and a power price spike can only pay so much
more for food.
Ayodeji Balogun, chief executive at commodities exchange Afex,
said the central bank's lending scheme for farmers has significantly expanded
output, and can work long term.
But the coming months will be tough. Fertilizer prices hit a
record after a COVID-19 outbreak shut down country's sole urea plant for two
weeks, meaning more farmers will skip fertilizers, limiting crop yields.
"The worst is yet to happen," Balogun said. "It is
a problem across grains."
Buhari has pledged more support, and Agriculture Minister Muhammed
Sabo Nanono visited the northwest area this weekend and promised to provide
farmers with high-quality seeds and to set up a special committee to ensure
they have all they need to plant new crops as soon as possible.
Adigwe, the chicken farmer, said he thinks barring foreign food in
order to help farmers is not a bad idea, but "there are some factors that
were not considered."
"Can local production sustain the population of
Nigeria?" (Reporting by Libby George; Additional reporting by Hamza
Ibrahim in Kano, Abraham Achirga in Abuja and Angela Ukumadu in Lagos; Editing
by Veronica Brown and David Evans)
© Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Click For Restrictions -
https://www.agriculture.com/markets/newswire/update-3-nigeria-reels-from-twin-crises-that-threaten-food-availability
Farmers blame low palay prices on ‘unpredictable’ rice imports
September 14, 2020 | 7:24 pm
PHILSTAR
THE ‘unpredictable’ pattern of
rice imports has depressed farmgate prices of palay, or unmilled rice,
according to an organization of farmers.
In a statement, Federation of
Free Farmers (FFF) National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said rice traders are
offering low prices for palay out of fear that imports will flood the market in
the coming months.
According to the FFF, rice
imports for the first eight months of the year fell 25% year on year to 1.66
million metric tons (MT), with the national rice inventory as of Aug. 1 also
posting a 16% decline year on year.
“The decline in farmgate prices
is surprising considering the lower imports. Palay buying prices usually go up
in September because of the scarce supply of palay and then go down only during
the peak harvest season in October and November,” the FFF said.
Based on the group’s field
reports, the buying price of palay in September has declined to as little as
P16 per kilogram on a dry basis, and from P11 to P13 per kilogram for wet
palay.
FFF also said that palay prices
averaged P18.39 per kilogram in late August, citing data from the Philippine Statistics
Authority.
“Last year, traders bought palay
from farmers during the first half of the year at relatively high prices and
were caught flat footed by the massive inflow of imports in the second half of
the year. Many of them could not unload their stocks at a profit and some had
to suspend their operations,” Mr. Montemayor said.
Mr. Montemayor said that despite
three million tons of excess imports in 2019, the Bureau of Plant Industry
still issued sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances for 3.75 million tons
of rice imports between January and September this year.
“However, less than half of the
allowed volume has entered the country so far, mainly due to the increase in
international prices of rice in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic and weather disturbances in the region,” Mr. Montemayor said.
Mr. Montemayor added the
Department of Agriculture (DA) has repeatedly assured that the country has
ample rice supply, but did not say that the surplus rice inventory is due to
imports.
“The problem now is that we
already have a surplus at present, the main harvest is coming in, and the
importers might still bring in more stocks in the coming months. The
anticipated surplus is what is driving palay prices down,” Mr. Montemayor said.
The DA was asked to comment but
had not replied at deadline time. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
Top Searches
https://www.bworldonline.com/farmers-blame-low-palay-prices-on-unpredictable-rice-imports/
Ag
& Food Policy Summit Showcases Conservation Efforts in California Rice
Country
By Lesley Dixon
WASHINGTON, DC -- Sustainability and conservation
were the focus last week at the Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit West,
and rice was the star of the show. This year, the annual event focused on
California agriculture and was held virtually due to COVID-19, but the speakers
did not let the pandemic get in the way of discussing topics ranging from food
waste to cell-based food technology. Speakers highlighted the importance
of partnerships forged between farmers and environmental organizations.
"The wonderful thing about working with
agriculture is that there are a lot of innovative farmers who want to be part
of the solution, and we have found that we have a lot to learn from
farmers," said Ashley Boren, executive director of Sustainable
Conservation. "We have also found that when you bring diverse
interests together, you can really foster innovation. By working on the
ground and really understanding how things play out there, we can use that
knowledge to help inform policy at the government level to support the kinds of
things we'd love to see."
Among the topics discussed were the great
strides in water usage reduction, and water and air quality that California
farmers have made in the Sacramento Valley over the last several decades.
"Farmers care about the land they farm, and
they care about conservation," said Dan Cameron, farmer and chair of the
California State Board of Food and Agriculture. "It's a natural
fit."
Paul Buttner, manager of environmental affairs
at the California Rice Commission, talked about the California rice industry's
partnerships with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource
Conservation Service (NRCS) and Ducks Unlimited to provide half a million acres
of habitat for shore birds, migratory birds, and ducks, as well as
ground-dwelling creatures like garter snakes.
Buttner also reported on the innovative
two-year, $1.4 million project to raise baby fingerling salmon in
winter-flooded California rice fields.
"Baby salmon grow very rapidly in rice
fields, because it's full of exactly what they need to grow big and fast,"
said Buttner. "We want to not only grow the fish in the fields but
then demonstrate what their survivability is."
The NRCS-funded program implants tiny transmitters
into young salmon to determine how many of the fish raised in rice fields
survive the full trip out to the Pacific Ocean.
"California rice's next journey is to take
all of the wealth of experience working with our farmers to provide world class
water-bird habitat, like we've been doing for the last couple of decades, and
turn our attention to doing the same thing for salmon," said
Buttner. "We have additional work to do and I'm very excited to see
what the future holds in this area."
Australia to
run out of homegrown rice by Christmas this year
September 15, 2020
Australia to run out of homegrown
rice by Christmas this year. Rob Gordon, Chief of Sun Rice warned that the
domestic-grown rice is going to get over. The local supplies are dwindling and
Australia may need to rely on imported rice, especially from Vietnam.
There are rice products on the
shelves but are imported rice from Vietnam. The dwindling stock of domestic
rice produces is the result of both natural and health pandemic. The low
rainfall, dry weather, and COVID19 pandemic are contributing to the diminishing
stock.
Australia to run out of homegrown
rice by Christmas
Sun Rice is the biggest rice
supplier of Australia and has already lost at least $400mn in exports. Riverina
region in New South Wells is one of the most rice-producing parts in the
country. However, Sun Rice had to cut down the workforce by one-third there.
The harvesting figures of
Australia have reduced by 90 percent since 2017, reported the Daily Mail. Last Year, the production was bad too.
Sun Rice harvested only 54000 tonnes of rice than an average of 800000 tonnes.
Lack of irrigation water has also
caused the problems, complained to farmers.
New South Wales contributes to 98
percent of the rice industry. However, poor allocation of water is taking it to
the verge of collapse, NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey told.
The panic buying during the
COVID19 pandemic added more problems for Australia. The situation was so poor,
that Prime Minister reportedly called Vietnam. Reports say that Prime Minister
Scott Morrison called Vietnam counterpart to ensure that the Australia-owned
companies in Vietnam continue to export rice despite closed borders.
http://theasianherald.com/australia-to-run-out-of-homegrown-rice-by-christmas-this-year/
Ancient DNa is revealing the genetic
landscap
Ancient DNA is revealing the genetic landscape of
people who first settled East Asia
Melinda
A. Yang, University of Richmond
Published 3:01 pm
CDT, Tuesday, September 15, 2020
(The Conversation is an independent and
nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Melinda
A. Yang, University of Richmond
(THE
CONVERSATION) The very first human beings originally emerged in Africa before
spreading across Eurasia about 60,000 years ago. After that, the story of
humankind heads down many different paths, some more well-studied than others.
Eastern
regions of Eurasia are home to approximately 2.3 billion people today – roughly
30% of the world’s population. Archaeologists know from fossilsand artifacts
that modern humans have occupied Southeast Asia for 60,000 years and East Asia
for 40,000 years.
But
there’s a lot left to untangle. Who were the people who first came to these
regions and eventually invented agriculture? Where did different populations
come from? Which groups ended up predominant and which died out?
Ancient
DNA is helping to answer some of these questions. By sequencing the genomes of
people who lived many millennia ago, scientists like me are starting to fill in
the picture of how Asia was populated.
Analyzing
ancient genomes
In
2016, I joined Dr. Qiaomei Fu’s Molecular Paleontology Lab at the Institute of
Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in
Beijing. Our challenge: Resolve the history of humans in East Asia, with the
help of collaborators who were long dead – ancient humans who lived up to tens
of thousands of years ago in the region.
Members
of the lab extracted and sequenced ancient DNA using human remains from
archaeological sites. Then Dr. Fu and I used computational genomic tools to
assess how their DNA related to that of previously sequenced ancient and
present-day humans.
One
of our sequences came from ancient DNA extracted from the leg bones of the
Tianyuan Man, a 40,000-year-old individual discovered near a famous
paleoanthropological site in western Beijing. One of the earliest modern humans
found in East Asia, his genetic sequence marks him as an early ancestor of
today’s Asians and Native Americans. That he lived where China’s current
capital stands indicates that the ancestors of today’s Asians began placing
roots in East Asia as early as 40,000 years ago.
Farther
south, two 8,000- to 4,000-year-old Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers from Laos
and Malaysia associated with the Hòabìnhian culture have DNA that, like the
Tianyuan Man, shows they’re early ancestors of Asians and Native Americans.
These two came from a completely different lineage than the Tianyuan Man, which
suggested that many genetically distinct populations occupied Asia in the past.
But
no humans today share the same genetic makeup as either Hòabìnhians or the
Tianyuan Man, in both East and Southeast Asia. Why did ancestries that
persisted for so long vanish from the gene pool of people alive now? Ancient
farmers carry the key to that answer.
DNA
carries marks of ancient migrations
Based
on plant remains found at archaeological sites, scientists know that people
domesticated millet in northern China’s Yellow River region about 10,000 years
ago. Around the same time, people in southern China’s Yangtze River region
domesticated rice.
Unlike
in Europe, plant domestication began locally and was not introduced from
elsewhere. The process took thousands of years, and societies in East Asia grew
increasingly complex, with the rise of the first dynasties around 4,000 years
ago.
That’s
also when rice cultivation appears to have spread from its origins to areas
farther south, including lands that are today’s Southeast Asian countries. DNA
helps tell the story. When rice farmers from southern China expanded southward,
they introduced not only their farming technology but also their genetics to
local populations of Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers.
The
overpowering influx of their DNA ended up swamping the local gene pool. Today,
little trace of hunter-gatherer ancestryremains in the genes of people who live
in Southeast Asia.
Farther
north, a similar story played out. Ancient Siberian hunter-gatherers show
little relationship with East Asians today, but later Siberian farmers are
closely related to today’s East Asians. Farmers from northern China moved
northward into Siberia bringing their DNA with them, leading to a sharp
decrease in prevalence of the previous local hunter-gatherer ancestry.
Past
populations were more diverse than today’s
Genetically
speaking, today’s East Asians are not very different from each other. A lot of
DNA is needed to start genetically distinguishing between people with different
cultural histories.
What
surprised Dr. Fu and me was how different the DNA of various ancient
populations were in China. Weandothers found shared DNA across the Yellow River
region, a place important to the development of Chinese civilization. This
shared DNA represents a northern East Asian ancestry, distinct from a southern
East Asian ancestry we found in coastal southern China.
When
we analyzed the DNA of people who lived in coastal southern China 9,000-8,500
years ago, we realized that already by then much of China shared a common
heritage. Because their archaeology and morphology was different from that of
the Yellow River farmers, we had thought these coastal people might come from a
lineage not closely related to those first agricultural East Asians. Maybe this
group’s ancestry would be similar to the Tianyuan Man or Hòabìnhians.
But
instead, every person we sampled was closely related to present-day East
Asians. That means that by 9,000 years ago, DNA common to all present-day East
Asians was widespread across China.
Today’s
northern and southern Chinese populations share more in common with ancient
Yellow River populations than with ancient coastal southern Chinese. Thus, early
Yellow River farmers migrated both north and south, contributing to the gene
pool of humans across East and Southeast Asia.
The
coastal southern Chinese ancestry did not vanish, though. It persisted in small
amounts and did increase in northern China’s Yellow River region over time. The
influence of ancient southern East Asians is low on the mainland, but they had
a huge impact elsewhere. On islands spanning from the Taiwan Strait to
Polynesia live the Austronesians, best known for their seafaring. They possess
the highest amount of southern East Asian ancestry today, highlighting their
ancestry’s roots in coastal southern China.
Other
emerging genetic patterns show connections between Tibetans and ancient
individuals from Mongolia and northern China, raising questions about the
peopling of the Tibetan Plateau.
Ancient
DNA reveals rapid shifts in ancestry over the last 10,000 years across Asia,
likely due to migration and cultural exchange. Until more ancient human DNA is
retrieved, scientists can only speculate as to exactly who, genetically
speaking, lived in East Asia prior to that.
[Understand
new developments in science, health and technology, each week. Subscribe to The
Conversation’s science newsletter.]
This
article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-is-revealing-the-genetic-landscape-of-people-who-first-settled-east-asia-139458.
https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Ancient-DNA-is-revealing-the-genetic-landscape-of-15569384.php
Farm and
rural families should stand up and be counted in the 2020 Census
Data collection ends Sept. 30
9:30 am
Caption
The 2020 Census is underway. Participation and leadership from
farmers, ranchers and other agricultural leaders is critical and will have an
impact on rural communities for the next 10 years.
Many farmers and ranchers complete other Census surveys, such as
the Census of Agriculture, but the 2020 U.S. Census also is important. The U.S.
Constitution calls for a complete count every 10 years of everyone living in
the United States and its territories, regardless of gender, age, race, ethnic
origin or citizenship.
For your community, county and state, census participation is
about legislative representation and money. The 2020 Census will determine how
the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives will be allocated to each
state, for the next 10 years. Similarly, many states use Census data as part of
legislative redistricting processes.
Each year, $675 billion in federal spending comes back to local
communities, counties and states through programs that use census data in
determining allocations.
They include things like health and medical programs; nutrition
assistance and the school lunch program; energy assistance and housing
programs. Funds may come back through grants for schools, parks, education and
library services, or fire and emergency services.
Of course, a big one is funding for highway and road planning
and construction. Regardless of how you use the roads — foot, bicycle,
motorcycle, car, truck, or horse and buggy — federal money allocated based on
the census affects you.
Census data are also factored into allocation of money through
various farm bill and U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, including the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Other rural programs that receive funding based on census data
include:
• Rural education.
• Rural business enterprise grants.
• Rural home rental assistance.
• Water and waste disposal for rural communities.
• State wildlife grants.
• Rural housing preservation grants.
• Hunter education and safety.
Most people already received invitations to participate in the
2020 Census through mailings that began March 12. They can continue to complete
the census online at www.2020census.gov,
by phone or by mail with a paper questionnaire.
To encourage more households to self-respond, the Census Bureau
sent a seventh mailing, including a paper questionnaire, in late August to
early September, to the lowest-responding communities. Some households also may
be contacted by phone or email.
Many households in rural areas with no mail delivery to physical
addresses, or those who receive mail at U.S. Post Office boxes or by other
means, should have received census forms this summer using a non-contact process
called “update leave,” where census staff verified the address and dropped off
a census form at the door. Those forms still can be mailed in, but even if the
form was lost or misplaced, you can still complete the census online or by
phone.
On Aug. 9, Census workers began knocking on doors nationwide to
follow up with those who had not yet self-responded by internet, phone or mail.
Census takers wear masks and other personal protective equipment and are
trained in social distancing.
As of Aug. 30, about 64.4% of people self-responded nationwide
and 82.4% of U.S. households have been counted in total. Yet, self-response
rates in 13 states or territories remain below 60%.
There are rural areas in almost all states — including
high-responding states — where response is much lower. To see daily-updated
self-response rates down to the local level, visit https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html,
and to see state totals, see https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates/nrfu.html.
The goal of the 2020 Census is to get a complete and accurate
count. Leadership from farmers, ranchers, ag businesses and rural families is
essential for rural communities to benefit from the Census for the next 10
years.
A few ways you can help are:
• Spread the word to friends, neighbors, employees, and others
in your community, that it is important to participate in the 2020 Census.
• Remind others that their participation is essential. Some,
especially immigrant farm workers, may be concerned about how information about
them will be used. By law, the Census Bureau can’t share or disclose anyone’s
individual data with any other organization or agency, including law
enforcement and immigration enforcement.
• Self-respond online at www.2020census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020 from 7
a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern time, or by mail. Respond online in English or 12 other
languages, or receive assistance through language guides and videos available
in 59 languages. Or, if a census taker knocks at the door, answer.
Data collection for the 2020 Census ends Sept. 30. Now is the
time to stand up and be counted.
https://www.agrinews-pubs.com/2020/09/14/farm-and-rural-families-should-stand-up-and-be-counted-in-the-2020-census/az2inns/
Govt agencies may procure 495 lakh tonnes of rice in
2020-21: Food Ministry
Mon, Sep 14
2020 10:15:15 PM
New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS): Government agencies may set
a new record in rice procurement as the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs,
Food and Public Distribution said on Monday that around 495.37 lakh metric
tonnes (LMT) of rice has been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming
Kharif Marketing Season 2020-21.
Previously, actual procurement of
paddy (in terms of rice) was 420.22 LMT in KMS 2019-20, which was a record
procurement, said the ministry in a statement.
As per the statement, Secretary,
Department of Food & Public Distribution (DoFPD), Government of India,
chaired a meeting of State Food Secretaries through video conference on
September 11 to discuss the procurement arrangements for ensuing Kharif
Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21.
Around 495.37 LMT of rice has
been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2020-21 (Kharif Crop)
season which is 19.07 per cent more than the 416 LMT procurement estimate of
KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop). In KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop), actual procurement of
paddy (in terms of rice) was 420.22 LMT.
During ensuing KMS 2020-21,
procurement estimates for Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have jumped by 100 per
cent and more, and for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand are
higher by 50 per cent and more in comparison to KMS 2019-20, as per the statement.
The leading states in terms of
estimated procurement of rice are Punjab (113 LMT), Chhattisgarh (60 LMT) and
Telangana (50 LMT) followed by Haryana (44 LMT), Andhra Pradesh (40 LMT), Uttar
Pradesh (37 LMT) and Odisha (37 LMT), said the ministry.
In view of COVID-19, Secretary,
DoFPD requested all states to take necessary steps to ensure social distancing
during procurement operations. Other issues of states regarding food subsidy
were also discussed during the meeting.
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=751109
India may lose basmati rice Iran market to Pakistan
NEW DELHI: India could lose its
position as leading exporter of basmati rice to Iran, with Tehran now beginning
to procure the produce from Pakistan, foreign media reported. For the first
time in decades, basmati rice exports from India to Iran have fallen
drastically in the first half of 2020-21 owing to disruption in payments, a
result of the US-led sanctions.
New Delhi and Tehran are now
exploring a conventional barter tradeto address the concerns. The matter was
discussed between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Iranian
counterpart Javad Zarif during the former’s recent visit. Iran is now importing
basmati rice from Pakistan while Indian consignments worth Rs1,500 crore are
stuck owing to payment issues, the sources said.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/715100-india-may-lose-basmati-rice-iran-market-to-pakistan
India may lose Iran basmati rice market to Pakistan
NEW DELHI: India could lose its
position as the leading exporter of basmati rice to Iran, with Tehran now
beginning to procure the produce from Pakistan, foreign media reported.
For the first time in decades,
basmati rice exports from India to Iran have fallen drastically in the first
half of 2020-21 fiscal owing to disruption in payments, a result of the US-led
sanctions. New Delhi and Tehran are now exploring a conventional barter trading
system to address the rising concerns.
The matter was discussed between
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif
during the former’s recent visit to that country. Jaishankar had made a
stopover in Tehran while on his way to Moscow last week for the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation’s foreign ministers’ meeting. Iran is now importing
basmati rice from Pakistan while Indian consignments worth Rs1,500 crore are
stuck owing to payment issues, the sources said.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/715133-india-may-lose-iran-basmati-rice-market-to-pakistan
India may lose basmati rice Iran market to Pakistan
NEW DELHI: India could lose its
position as leading exporter of basmati rice to Iran, with Tehran now beginning
to procure the produce from Pakistan, foreign media reported. For the first
time in decades, basmati rice exports from India to Iran have fallen
drastically in the first half of 2020-21 owing to disruption in payments, a
result of the US-led sanctions.
New Delhi and Tehran are now
exploring a conventional barter tradeto address the concerns. The matter was
discussed between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Iranian
counterpart Javad Zarif during the former’s recent visit. Iran is now importing
basmati rice from Pakistan while Indian consignments worth Rs1,500 crore are
stuck owing to payment issues, the sources said.
https://agriculture.einnews.com/article_detail/526244892/_fBoa4OvwjPV9TSb?n=2&code=VuZLay2YinrVF2-0&utm_source=NewsletterNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Basmati+Rice+News&utm_content=article
Rice procurement estimated at 495.37 LMT for
Kharif Crop Season of 2020-21
Secretary, Department of Food
& Public Distribution (DFPD), Government of India, chaired a meeting of
State Food Secretaries through video conference on 11.09.2020, to discuss the
procurement arrangements for ensuing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21.
Around 495.37 LMT rice has been estimated for procurement during the
forthcoming KMS 2020-21 (Kharif Crop) season which is 19.07% more than the 416
LMT procurement estimate of KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop). In KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop),
actual procurement of paddy (in terms of rice) was 420.22 LMT, which was a
record procurement.
During ensuing KMS 2020-21,
procurement estimates for Tamil Nadu & Maharashtra have jumped by 100
percent and more, and for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand are
higher by 50 percent and more in comparison to KMS 2019-20. The leading States
in terms of estimated procurement of rice are Punjab (113 LMT), Chhattisgarh
(60 LMT) and Telangana (50 LMT) followed by Haryana (44 LMT), Andhra Pradesh (40
LMT), Uttar Pradesh (37 LMT) and Odisha (37 LMT).
In view of COVID-19, Secretary,
DoFPD requested all States to take necessary steps to ensure social distancing
during procurement operations. Other issues of States regarding food subsidy
were also discussed during the meeting.
https://udaipurkiran.com/rice-procurement-estimated-at-495-37-lmt-for-kharif-crop-season-of-2020-21/
Tanzania, Pakistan Set to Address
Trade Imbalance in Diplomatic Ties
15 SEPTEMBER 2020
Tanzania Daily
News (Dar es Salaam)
By Hilda Mhagama
TANZANIA and Pakistan plan to establish bilateral business
council to strengthen commercial ties and cooperation that will accelerate
trade between the two countries and reduce trade imbalance.
According to Pakistan High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Muhammad
Saleem, trade volume between both countries stands at 154 million US dollars in
2019/2020 and can only grow if economic ties are strengthened.
To reach this goal, it is important to focus not only on trade
but also on investment in key sectors such as agriculture, mining and oil and
gas, the reason why Pakistan and Tanzania are in talks to support the
establishment of the council, Mr Saleem added.
Speaking during the Pakistan- Tanzania business conference in
Dar es Salaam over the weekend, he said trade volume between two countries was
not satisfactory was in November 2020, they will facilitate a Tanzania business
delegation to visit their country and explore untapped opportunities available.
Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA),
President, Mr Paul Koyi said the council will comprise 15 people whereby during
the trip they will also sign Memorandum of Understanding with Federation of
Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to facilitate trade between
the two countries.
"We need to increase trade with Pakistan as the current
status is not good, we have a clear move to empower our tea growers to add
value to their products as there is an opportunity to export tea in their
market," he explained.
Carried under the theme 'Partnership for Shared Prosperity' the
conference was co-hosted by TCCIA and high commission for Pakistan in Tanzania
were businesspeople from both countries met and discussed hindrance of smooth
trade.
.
Pakistan's export in goods and services in 2019/2020 valued at
USD 69.8 million while imports from Tanzania valued USD 85 million.
Pakistan major exports include textiles, linens, tents, woven
cotton fabric, furniture, rice, machinery parts and accessories.
Main imports from Tanzania were raw cotton, tea, dry fruits,
cloves, hides, groundnuts, beans, chickpeas, Arabic gum and wattle extract.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation,
Minister Plenipotentiary, Mr Luangisa Francis said there was no balance of
trade between the two countries.
Mr Francis said statistics from Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA)
indicate that exports from Tanzania to Pakistan rose from 39bn/- in 2015 to
69bn/- in 2019 and imports from Pakistan rose to 90bn/- in 2019 from 80bn/- in
2015.
TanTrade, Acting Director for Business Development, Mr Boniface
Ngowi, said they are charged with the mandate of spearheading trade development
in the country and find markets for all products produced in Tanzania.
"Tanzania has not explored the Pakistan export
opportunities thus there is no balance of trade, we are also calling on
Pakistan businesspeople to come and invest in Tanzania as there is a conducive
investment and trade environment," he said.
The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) indicate
potential exists in enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries.
The key export item around the globe is textiles which can be
improvised through effective bilateral talks and measures.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202009160172.html
Unheard of for years, 'Tiger of Terror' finally on
Intel radar
·
Wed, Sep 16
2020 12:45:54 PM
By Deepak Sharma
New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS): A Kenyan food import
company, Magnum Africa, operating from Nairobi has rekindled hopes at the
headquarters of India's external Intelligence agency -- RAW -- of locating one
of the most sought after fugitives, Tiger Memon, the mastermind of 1993 Mumbai
serial blasts, which killed 257 people in one of the worst ever terror attacks
in the subcontinent.
For the past five years, the
elusive Tiger Memon involved in drug trafficking has been literally off the radar
of Intel agencies.
Tracking Magnum Africa's dealings
in Pakistan has disclosed that under the garb of trade-in grains the company
was involved in an international drug trafficking racket. On paper, Magnum
imported high-quality rice and other grains from Pakistan but its real deals
were related to narcotics.
Tracking a 35kg heroin deal,
smuggled from Karachi into India, the police caught Abdul Majid alias Moosa in
February 2020.
Moosa, an accused in serial
blasts, is considered Tiger Memon's right-hand man. Moosa was arrested at the
Mumbai airport while he was on his way to Dubai from Nairobi. Moosa's
subsequent interrogation sheds light on Tiger Memon's whereabouts.
The Intelligence dossier on the
'Tiger of Terror' says the 59-year-old Memon sought help from underworld don
Dawood Ibrahim to execute serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.
While Dawood Ibrahim's specific
addresses in Karachi have been traced, Tiger Memon remains almost unheard of,
untraceable thus elusive.
"We have enough evidence
against Dawood Ibrahim's presence in Karachi, but we have little information to
go on in Tiger Memon's case, who is the prime accused..., " says Ujjwal
Nikam, the chief prosecutor of the serial blasts.
The last time when police traced
Tiger Memon, it was in July 2015. Tiger had called his mother in Mumbai, hours
before his younger brother Yakub was hanged for his role in the Mumbai serial
blasts.
In the three minutes telephonic
conversation with his mother, Tiger had vowed to avenge the hanging of Yakub.
Since then Tiger has not been heard of.
"We have sent several
Interpol notices to Pakistan to track and arrest Tiger Memon. But there was not
even a whisper from the other side. On our files, Tiger, the mastermind of the
serial blasts, is an absconder.
"Though the trial has ended,
we still await his arrest. The moment he is caught, a fresh charge sheet would
be filed on the basis of the evidence already placed before the court,"
said Nikam, the special public prosecutor in several leading terror cases,
including the Mumbai bombings.
Sources said that after executing
the Mumbai serial blasts, Tiger Memon escaped to Pakistan and lived in
Karachi's Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. Later on, he shifted his base to the posh
Defence Housing Area in the same city. Though Dawood and his brother Anees
Ibrahim also live in Karachi, sources said that Tiger Memon and the D company
have separate businesses.
Tiger Memon, mostly involved in
drug trafficking has also launched a few prime construction projects in
Karachi. Apart from organized crime operations, Tiger Memon also runs guest
houses and hotels in Dubai.
The charge sheet in Mumbai serial
blasts says that Tiger Memon had roped in Moosa to help him in the execution of
bombings on March 15, 1993. Moosa, on his instructions, had bought three
scooters that were used in the blasts.
After the serial blasts, Moosa
fled to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, and from there he went to Bangkok. Later,
Memon got him a Pakistani passport under the name of Anwar Muhammed.
Sources said Moosa then shifted
to Nairobi and has been running Magnum Africa, initially involved in the import
of rice from Pakistan.
https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=751645
Growing climate-resilient crops
imperative: speakers
Staff
Correspondent
For a number of years, rice
cultivation in haor areas, which account for one-fifth of the total rice
production in Bangladesh, has been bearing the brunt of climate change.
To tackle this, rice growers in the
haor regions need short-duration, cold-tolerant and high yielding varieties,
said Additional Agriculture Secretary Kamalaranjan Das.
He made the remark at an online
workshop, organised by International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) yesterday.
A new five-year research project --
"Development of Short-duration Cold-tolerant Rice Varieties for haor Areas
of Bangladesh", funded by Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF), was launched
at the workshop.
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute
(BRRI) is a partner of this project.
The additional secretary said this
new project would help bring a positive change in the lives of the haor people
and also contribute to food and nutrition security.
Boro paddy is the main crop in haor
areas. But almost every year, flash flood in April caused by heavy rainfall in
the upstream submerge almost the entire Boro yield in this region. The Boro
season usually begins in mid-November, but many farmers start sowing in late
October to avoid flash flood.
BRRI Director General Md Shahjahan
Kabir said population of Bangladesh is increasing at the rate of 1.37 percent
per year, but arable land is decreasing at 0.4 percent.
He said the global climate change
has been continuously challenging the country's food security.
Saying that there is about 1.26
million hectares of cultivable land in the northeastern haor areas where
farmers can grow only one crop every year, the scientist said flash flood often
damages that only crop, putting Bangladesh's food security in jeopardy.
"That is why BRRI and IRRI
have been trying to develop cold and submergence tolerant varieties. With this
aim, BRRI has already collected germplasms from South Korea, Nepal and Japan
and have finished their characterisation," he added.
KGF Executive Director Dr Jiban
Krishna Biswas said Boro rice is faced with two adverse conditions in the haor
areas.
"This project is expected to
develop varieties that could stand up to these adverse conditions -- low
temperature and flash flood - and also give high yield," Biswas said.
IRRI Director General Dr Mathew
Morrell said the critical climactic challenges that the haor areas in
Bangladesh face are going to intensify in the future due to the global climate
change.
"So, developing cold tolerant,
short duration and high yielding rice varieties is an imperative for building
resilience," he added.
IRRI's Head of Plant Breeding
Division Dr Hansraj Bhadwaj, South Asia Representative Dr Nafees Meah and
Bangladesh Representative Dr Humnath Bhandari were present at the workshop,
among others.
https://www.thedailystar.net/city/news/growing-climate-resilient-crops-imperative-speakers-1961473
https://www.kws24.com/research-on-brown-rice-market-impact-of-covid-19-2020-2026-ashasia-golden-rice-daawat/
BRRI-IRRI launch project to develop new rice varieties for haor areas
Tribune Desk
·
Published
at 06:37 pm September 14th, 2020
File photo: Farmers seen ploughing their agricultural land
in a Haor in Sunamganj Dhaka Tribune
For a number of years, rice cultivation in the
haor areas, which account for one-fifth of the total rice production in
Bangladesh, has been bearing the brunt of climate change
A five-year research project has been launched
to develop new rice varieties for the haor areas in Bangladesh.
The project, titled "Development of
Short-duration Cold-tolerant Rice Varieties for Haor Areas of Bangladesh"
was launched at a workshop organized by International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) on Monday.
The project will be funded by Krishi Gobeshona
Foundation (KGF). Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) is a partner of the
project.
For a number of years, rice cultivation in the
haor areas, which account for one-fifth of the total rice production in
Bangladesh, has been bearing the brunt of climate change. To tackle the
problem, rice growers in the haor regions need short-duration, cold-tolerant
and high yielding varieties of rice. The purpose of this project is to develop
such varieties of rice.
Regarding the project, Additional Agriculture
Secretary Kamalaranjan Das said: “IRRI-Bangladesh ties go a long way back. IRRI
has played a crucial role in ensuring food security in the country. We hope
that this new project will help bring a positive change in the lives of the
haor people and also contribute towards food and nutrition security across the
country.”
KGF Executive Director Dr Jiban Krishna Biswas
said: “Boro rice is sandwiched by two adverse conditions in the haor areas. Any
deviation from these conditions damages the crop. So, this project is expected
to develop varieties of rice that could stand up to these adverse conditions -
low temperature and flash flood - and also give high yield.”
IRRI Director General Dr Mathew Morrell said:
“The critical climatic challenges that the haor areas in Bangladesh face are
going to intensify in the future due to global climate change. So, developing
cold tolerant, short duration and high yielding rice varieties is imperative
for building resilience.”
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/agriculture/2020/09/14/brri-irri-launch-project-to-develop-new-rice-varieties-for-haor-areas
Matco Foods Limited
BR Research 16 Sep 2020
Matco Foods Limited (PSX: MFL) was
established in 1964, as a private limited company under the repealed Companies
Ordinance, 1984. It is primarily in the business of processing and exporting
rice, rice glucose, rice protein. It also trades biscuits, pink salt, bran oil,
masala, and kheer.
Three years after inception, in
1967 it set up its first rice processing plant in Larkana, Sindh. Since then it
has added to its production capacity and product portfolio. By 1999, it had
developed its own brand name “Falak” under which it sold its products. Today
the company has five processing plants and apart from catering to the domestic markets,
Matco Foods also exports to USA, Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Middle East,
Australia, and South Africa among many others.
Shareholding pattern
Matco Foods Limited is largely
owned by its directors, CEO, their spouses, and minor children; together they
hold 60 percent of the shares of the company. Within this category, Dr. Tariq
Ghori, Mr. Khalid Sarfaraz Ghori and Mr. Jawed Ali Ghori own the highest number
of shares- almost 20 percent each. About 11 percent is distributed with the
local general public while 15 percent is held by the foreign shareholders. The
latter solely includes International Finance Corporation. It first became an
investor in the company fairly recently in 2012. The remaining about 14 percent
of the shares of Matco Foods is with the rest of the categories.
Historical operational
performance
Matco Foods has seen four
consecutive years of positive topline growth with growth rate also on a rise.
This was subsequent to a period of negative growth rate between FY14 to FY16.
However, despite the positive topline growth seen in the last four years,
profitability has not followed suit. Rather, it has declined owing to a
consistently rising cost of production that has remained above 80 percent and
crossed the 90 percent in FY20.
Looking at the results of the last
two years specifically, in FY18 when the company went public, the company saw a
nearly 10 percent incline in its topline. This was due to a combination of
factors; favourable export prices in the international rice market, exchange
gain on export sales and tax benefit due to installation of Rice Glucose Plant
(Phase 1) in addition to company listing. During the year, the company also
exported its first rice glucose container.
Moreover, it focused on high margin
basmati rice which was essentially responsible for a value terms growth of
almost 22 percent in export sales. In quantitative terms there was a 16 percent
decline due to “absence of tender business” and decline in IRRI export; the
quantity of which was deliberately cut due to low margins.
Despite the higher revenue from
sales as well as exchange gain, profit margins were comparatively low due to
high costs. Main cost driver for the company was the rice consumed that made 90
percent of the total cost. Cost of production as a percentage of revenue rose
to 87 percent keeping profit margins lower than the previous year.
In FY19, topline registered a near
17 percent incline. This was due to focusing on high margin basmati rice.
Pakistan’s overall rice exports also saw an improvement as they increased by
almost 10 percent. Despite the increase in revenue, gross margins reduced
further year on year due to a gradual rise in costs of production, mainly
driven by rice consumed. The company collectively earned Rs 260 million from a
net exchange gain and other income. The latter rose as a result of gain on sale
of property, plant, and equipment. This allowed net margin to improve
marginally.
Risks
The company sells more in the
international market than it does in the domestic market. Some of the risks the
company faces as an industry player are increased input costs arising due to
inflation, competition and entrants of new competitors, risks associated with
fluctuating exchange rate, production and harvesting of rice crop, interest
rate risk and government regulations.
Recent results and future
outlook
Matco Foods saw the highest jump in
sales revenue in FY20 at 44 percent. A major chunk of this, about 40 percent of
the revenue was earned in the last quarter of FY20. During the year, Pakistan’s
overall rice exports also crossed the $ 2.1 billion mark. News reports suggest
that due to the outbreak of Covid-19, a lot of the sectors saw exports and
orders faltering, similar situation was faced by the rice sector. However, when
India, another major rice exporter in the region went under a strict lock down,
a lot of the orders, majorly from the Middle East were directed towards
Pakistan, that allowed latter’s rice exports to pick up.
Matco Foods has been consistently
expanding its product portfolio, adding varieties of salt, gur shakkar, and
various kinds of kheer in addition to focusing on brand development that may
give way for better profits in the future.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40018786
Ilocos Norte gets P4-M prize as Agri-Pinoy rice
achiever
By
Leilanie Adriano September
15, 2020, 5:43 pm
BOOSTING
PRODUCTIVITY. A
rice farmer in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte applies fertilizer to sustain his rice
crops. To boost farmers' productivity, the government also provides farming
inputs. (PNA photo by Leilanie G. Adriano)
LAOAG CITY – The province of Ilocos Norte
continues to lead the way in terms of rice sufficiency as it hit again its rice
production target with a surplus of more than 150 percent.
Recognized as one of the country’s
top 10 rice producers, Ilocos Norte was awarded PHP4 million check recently
through Department of Agriculture (DA) regional director Nestor Domenden, as an
Agri-Pinoy rice achiever.
The turnover of the check coincided
with the distribution of multi-million farm machinery and equipment to further
inspire Ilocos Norte farmers to boost their productivity.
According to provincial
agriculturist Norma Lagmay, the PHP4 million prize will be utilized to help rice
farmers improve their way of life in the face of the coronavirus disease 2019
(Covid-19) pandemic.
The DA-initiated Agri-Pinoy Rice
Achiever’s Award identifies the top 10 rice-producing communities in the
country. The competition is divided into three categories: Local Government
Units (LGUs), Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs), and Irrigators
Associations (IAs) for the regional level and national level.
Based on the Philippine Statistics
Authority data, the volume of rice production in Region 1 had an increment of
6,033 metric tons from 488,855 metric tons production in 2019 to 494,887.85
metric tons production in 2020.
La Union recorded the highest
growth at 19.83 percent, followed by Ilocos Sur at 2.42 percent, Ilocos Norte
at 2.42 percent, and Pangasinan at 0.91 percent.
As to yield, the province of Ilocos
Sur registered the highest level yield per hectare at 5.30 metric tons,
followed by Ilocos Norte at 5.21 metric tons, La Union at 4.92 metric tons, and
Pangasinan at 4.74 metric tons.
In receiving the award, Governor
Matthew Joseph Manotoc said in a virtual interview Tuesday that agriculture
remains to be a top priority under his administration. (PNA)
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1115510
Machinery: A growing feature of
farming
Sorn Sarath / Khmer Times
Farmers
harvesting rice paddy by machine. KT/Chor
Sokunthea
The Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has been working with the private sector and
development partners to integrate the use of agricultural machinery into
middle-class farming communities to respond to the current and future decline
in the agricultural workforce.
Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon
said that to implement the government’s vision to modernise Cambodia’s
agriculture sector, MAFF’s General Department of Agricultural Engineering has
been making great efforts in research and cooperation with relevant parties to
gradually promote the use of machinery in line with relevant geographical
characteristics, the size of a farmer’s land and his or her resources.
“We have seen a decrease in the
workforce in the agriculture sector recently, so we need a strategy to deal
with the challenges this is creating,” he said. “Our research shows that
Cambodia has mostly smallholders…so we need to increase the use of small
machinery that can benefit them according to the resources available to them.”
Sakhon said that the Kingdom’s
workforce in agriculture in 1993 was more than 80 percent and so far has
decreased to about 32 percent. He expects that it will continue to decline to
around 20 percent by 2050.
“Now the use of machinery in
farming and harvesting has reached 90 percent and we are integrating new
technology that allows farmers to increase their harvests as well,” he said.
While most farmers may not be
able to afford some kinds of machinery, the minister said that the ministry is
cooperating with the private sector to provide leasing services to their
communes to help farmers who are not be able to buy the equipment.
Last week, the government via
MAFF offered 130 rice-planting machines to a farming community in Takeo
province’s Prey Kabas district.
Marin Udom, deputy
general-manager of the agriculture equipment division of RMA Cambodia, said
that most farmers cannot afford their products outright so they need a loan to
buy the equipment.
“Farmers do not have enough money
and they need a loan from a bank which currently comes with very strict
terms. We are a supplier and the government as well as MAFF should urge loan
providers to ease and facilitate the process of lending,” he said.
Udom added that during the
current COVID-19 pandemic, farmers are finding it more difficult to get loan
approvals and they rely on their children who work in manufacturing, which is
also affected by Coronavirus, for revenue.
“Now those who need to buy new
agriculture equipment, the banks can lend them only 50 percent of its cost when
before they provided up to 70 to 80 percent,” he noted.
Udom said on average RMA Cambodia
could sell about 300 units a year and this year sales declined.
The government aims to make
Cambodia a high middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by
2050. At the same time, it has an ambition to modernise Cambodia’s agricultural
sector to be more competitive, environmentally resilient and sustainable in
order to increase the income of farmers’ families, expand prosperity and
improve the wellbeing of the Cambodian people.
China-based Zoomlion Heavy
Industry and Technology Co Ltd in September handed over agricultural machinery
to MAFF to contribute to modernising agricultural work in Cambodia.
Sakhon said the modernisation of the agriculture sector is also
a new approach and has the scope to develop it, focusing on intensive
production, relying mainly on the use of new technology, research and
development, mechanisation as well as increasing irrigation capacity
to raise productivity and diversify crops and markets.
Figures from the Ministry of
Agriculture show that in 2020 the rice harvest increased to more than 85
percent of the total cultivated area. In particular, the use of tools for
sowing and planting rice are also on the rise, as they are for planting
vegetables, irrigating, fertilising and harvesting potatoes.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50764036/machinery-a-growing-feature-of-farming/
Haryana Rice millers up in arms against new CMR policy
·
Posted: Sep 15, 2020 07:31 AM (IST)
·
Updated : 1 day ago
Karnal,
September 14
Unhappy
with the new Custom Milled Rice (CMR) policy 2020-21, state’s rice millers are
not showing interest in getting themselves registered for paddy procurement.
They
claimed that the new policy was not miller-friendly. They said the government
had raised the FD guarantee to Rs 50 lakh for the first tonne of paddy from Rs
10 lakh earlier and Rs 10 lakh per tonne further from Rs 5 lakh. The millers
demanded the government to go with the CMR policy applicable 2 years ago.
PK
Das, Additional Chief Secretary, said around 200 rice millers got themselves
registered for the CMR policy and were hopeful that around 500 more would get
themselves registered. He said they were looking into the demands of the rice
millers and some relaxation could be given in the policy. — TNS
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/rice-millers-up-in-arms-against-new-cmr-policy-141351
Farmers'
group urged DA to buy all local palay to be harvested in coming months
Published September 15, 2020 1:18pm
By
JON VIKTOR D. CABUENAS, GMA News
Farmers'
group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) called on the government to
walk the talk and intensify the buying of palay or unmilled rice, as it said
the administration's budget is not even enough to procure 10% of the national
harvest.
In
a statement on Tuesday, SINAG called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to
prepare a higher budget to increase the procurement of palay from local
farmers, given the competition they have from imported rice due to the
liberalization of the industry from the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
"The
situation today is very different. It is very dire for our rice farmers because
of the COVID pandemic and the deluge of imports courtesy of the Rice
Tariffication Law," said SINAG chair Rosendo So.
"Sino
nga ba ang bibili ng palay? Nagrereklamo rin ang member millers ng SINAG dahil
ang mga bodega ng local millers ay puno pa rin dahil hindi sila makasabay sa
pagbaha ng murang imported rice mula nang maisabatas ang RTL," he added.
According
to SINAG, the National Food Authority (NFA)—mandated to ensure food security
through the availability, affordability, and accessibility of rice—does not
have enough funds to procure a significant percentage of the country's total
output with only P14 billion at best, including a rollover fund of P7 billion.
SINAG
said that at P19 per kilogram, the P14 billion will only be able to buy 739,842
metric tons (MT) of palay. This is equivalent to only 8.18% of the total
expected palay harvest of 9 million MT.
"Instead
of forging deals with foreign institutions and trumpeting the studies
multilateral agencies in transforming our sector; the DA must first forge a
deal with the local rice farmers that they will buy all the palay that will be
harvested this coming weeks and months, if only for the rice farmers to survive
this cropping season and the RTL," said SINAG.
For
its part, the DA assured farmers bigger earnings, as it claimed it will take
the "extra mile" by picking up the produce from their respective
barangays.
"We
will continue to buy palay as high as P19 per kilo, at 14 percent moisture
content, from our farmers to assure them of bigger earnings, and if need be
pick up their produce at a designated area in their barangay," Agriculture
Secretary William Dar was quoted as saying in a statement released by the DA on
Tuesday.
"We
have instructed NFA offices nationwide, through administrator Judy Dansal, to
offer transport services for farmers who cannot deliver their produce to the
agency's warehouses, and likewise avail of its drying facilities," said
Dar, who chairs the NFA Council.
According
to NFA Region 3 director Elvira Obaña, they target to buy a total of 1,747,700 bags
of palay from farmers in Central Luzon starting this month until the end of the
year.
Dar
also instructed the NFA to immediately mill the palay, then sell it to local
government units or the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It
will then subsequently roll-over the amount to be able to buy more from
farmers.
Aside
from this, Dar also called on the governors of top 12 rice-producing provinces
to help NFA buy palay direct from their farmer-constituents to stabilize
prices. These include Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Iloilo,
Camarines Sur, Tarlac, Negros Occidental, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, North
Cotabato, and Leyte.
"Their
direct procurement will significantly shore up the national average farmgate
price of palay, thus helping more farmers," he said.—AOL, GMA News
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/755634/farmers-group-urged-da-to-buy-all-local-palay-to-be-harvested-in-coming-months/story/
Unleash the ducks! Thai drought
worries threaten farming tradition
SEPTEMBER 15, 20201:08 PMUPDATED 20 HOURS AGO
By Prapan Chankaew
NAKHON PATHOM, Thailand (Reuters) - After harvesting the rice
crop in this part of central Thailand, a flock of around 10,000 ducks is
released from a pen and instinctively stream towards the flooded fields to devour
pests such as snails hiding in the rice stubble.
This way of raising ducks in rice-growing areas has long been a
tradition in the area and other parts of the region. Thais call it “ped lai
thoong”, which means “field chasing ducks”.
The Khaki Campbell ducks, a British breed, are brought to the
fields after 20 days in nursery and will be raised on the move for the next few
months.
After roaming free for about five months, they are returned to
the farm to produce eggs for up to three years.
“The benefit (for the breeder) is that we reduce costs to feed
the ducks,” said Apiwat Chalermklin, 34, a breeder who took over the business
from his father.
“And in return, for the rice farmer the ducks help eat pests
from the farm and the farmers can reduce the use of chemicals and pesticides.”
On Sunday, Apiwat’s ducks appear to be finding plenty of pests
such as snails and insects to feed on during their field-cleaning job that he
expects to last a week in this 15 acre (67 hectares) farm.
Apiwat has four flocks of ducks that move around different rice
fields in Nakhon Pathom province where farmers typically cultivate three rice
crops every year.
“They help eat golden apple snails and remains of unwanted rice
husks that drop into the field from last harvest. The ducks also step on the
rice stubble to flatten the ground and make it easier to plough,” said farmer
Prang Sipipat.
For now, farmers say the system works well for both the duck
raiser and rice grower, but even though there has not been drought in Nakhon
Pathom they are worried about the threat.
Thailand, which is the world’s second-biggest rice exporter,
faces a prolonged drought affecting many growing areas this year.
Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Stephen Coates
https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-ducks/unleash-the-ducks-thai-drought-worries-threaten-farming-tradition-idINKBN26610S
Leaders to
learn online
by OLIVIA
DUFFEY
The annual Rice Industry
Leadership Program will be hosted online this year.
As part of the program, the
Ricegrowers Association of Australia will offer a series of online professional
development workshops focused on ‘‘upskilling the next generation of leaders
for industry and communities’’.
The introductory level workshops
will cover topics like time management, communication skills and public
speaking.
They will be facilitated by Josh
Farr from Campus Consultancy.
RGA leadership coordinator
Ainsley Massina said the program would traditionally bring emerging leaders
together in one place for a residential program.
She said when that option was
abandoned due to Coronavirus restrictions, the RGA reassigned funding for the
program to develop the online format.
‘‘We are always looking for
people to take on leadership roles in the industry and these skills will assist
them with that,’’ she said.
‘‘But the skills are also
important to people running their own business or even studying.
‘‘We understand a thriving
community and thriving businesses, regardless of the type of business, are
vital to the rice industry’s success.’’
The workshop is fully subsidised
for eligible participants, who must live in or be connected to a rice growing
community.
Workshops on each topic are
limited to only 30 participants, so registering early is strongly encouraged.
Applications for the time
management program close this Thursday, and the program will take place from
9am to 2pm on September 22.
The communication skills program
deadline is October 1, and the session will be held from 9am to 2pm on October
6.
The public speaking workshop will
be held from 9am to 2pm on October 20, with registration closing on October 15.
For more information or to
register, go to www.rga.org.au.
https://www.corowafreepress.com.au/deniliquin-news/2020/09/15/1605773/leaders-to-learn-online
Uncharted territory: Legal experts weigh in
on the COVID-19 outbreak
Credit: fivepointsix/iStock
The spread of the new coronavirus
has affected people all over the world, and state and local governments are
taking sweeping actions to halt the spread of the disease and mitigate the
public health and economic impact of the outbreak.
HLS scholars and legal experts
consider the important legal and policy concerns and challenges that have
emerged—including those involving civil liberties, privacy, historical
precedent, and economic impact—as cities, states and countries respond to the
epidemic.
The following selection of their
articles and op-eds will be updated regularly.
An article by Vivek Wadhwa: Usually good for a conspiracy
theory or two, U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that the virus causing
COVID-19 was either intentionally engineered or resulted from a lab accident at
the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Its release could conceivably have
involved an accident, but the pathogen isn’t the mishmash of known viruses that
one would expect from something designed in a lab, as a research report in
Nature Medicine conclusively lays out. “If someone were seeking to engineer
a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the
backbone of a virus known to cause illness,” the researchers said. But if
genetic engineering wasn’t behind this pandemic, it could very well unleash the
next one. With COVID-19 bringing Western economies to their knees, all the
world’s dictators now know that pathogens can be as destructive as nuclear
missiles. What’s even more worrying is that it no longer takes a sprawling
government lab to engineer a virus. Thanks to a technological revolution in
genetic engineering, all the tools needed to create a virus have become so
cheap, simple, and readily available that any rogue scientist or college-age
biohacker can use them, creating an even greater threat. Experiments that could
once only have been carried out behind the protected walls of government and
corporate labs can now practically be done on the kitchen table with equipment
found on Amazon. Genetic engineering—with all its potential for good and
bad—has become democratized.
Continue
Reading at 
Foreign Policy »
An article by Cass Sunstein: The world is soon likely to
confront a serious new challenge to the fight against Covid-19: vaccine
hesitancy. In the U.S. and U.K., large numbers of people — at least
30 percent — have said in recent surveys that they would hesitate to take
or refuse a vaccine that could protect them from the coronavirus and slow its
spread. These numbers probably understate the problem. People might tell a
researcher that they will get vaccinated even if they won’t. And the problem
might be even worse if a vaccine is made available under a speeded up
“emergency use” exception to the usually lengthy approval process, amplifying
public concerns about rushing it out. What can be done? To answer that
question, we need to understand why some people are reluctant to take vaccines.
Research explores the influence of three factors, often known as the three
Cs. The first is convenience. Human beings suffer from inertia, and they
also procrastinate. If it’s not so easy to get vaccinated, many people won’t do
it. Physical proximity to vaccination sites helps; so do short waiting
times. Long lines hurt. So do paperwork requirements and administrative
obstacles. If widespread immunity is the goal, officials must not underestimate
the importance of eliminating inconveniences, both small and large. The good
news is that when vaccines are easily available, the rate of vaccination
increases greatly, even among people who have doubts. The second factor is
complacency. With respect to diseases, a lot of people tend to think that their
personal risk is low. “Optimism bias,” as it is called, makes vaccination seem
unnecessary. The third factor is confidence: public trust in the efficacy
and safety of the vaccine, and also in the motivations and competence of those
who are behind it.
Continue
Reading at 
Bloomberg »
An article by Noah Feldman: With each passing day, there is
more reason to think that President Donald Trump’s Food and Drug Administration
may issue an emergency use authorization for two or more Covid-19 vaccines in
late October. In an ideal world, this would be terrific news. We are, after
all, in the grip of a major global emergency. Roughly 1,000 Americans die from
the virus every day, or roughly one every 80 seconds. A vaccine would save
lives. Yet an emergency use authorization, or EUA, is likely to be met with
pervasive skepticism by many Americans, and not only Democrats. The reason
isn’t hard to see. Trump has tried over the last four years to politicize
nearly every aspect of independent judgment by government officials. He has
delegitimized agencies like the Department of Justice and the FBI, which he
sees as threats, and attacked institutions from the judiciary to the post
office when it has suited his political purposes. Now, Trump (and the rest of
us) are about to inherit the whirlwind. At precisely the moment when we could
benefit massively from public trust in independent agency judgment, our trust
is shot. Trump critics have become accustomed to distrusting Trump’s agencies,
much as Trump himself has somewhat successfully convinced his own supporters
that there is no such thing as governmental objectivity or independence, but
only politics all the way down. Even if there is good reason for the EUA to be
issued and for people who have the opportunity to receive the vaccines to do
so, some — perhaps many — rational people aren’t going to trust the FDA enough
to make that choice.
Continue
Reading at Bloomberg »
https://today.law.harvard.edu/roundup/uncharted-territory-legal-experts-weigh-in-on-the-covid-19-outbreak/
DA urges C. Luzon farmers to sell palay to NFA
By
Zorayda Tecson September
15, 2020, 7:00 pm
PALAY
PROCUREMENT.
Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar encourages farmers to sell
their palay to National Food Authority that buys the grains at a higher price
compared to private rice traders. Dar graced the inauguration of the Research
Outreach Station in Magalang, Pampanga on Monday (Sept. 14, 2020). (Photo
by DA-Central Luzon)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The Department of
Agriculture (DA) is urging rice farmers in Central Luzon to sell their palay
(unhusked rice) to the National Food Authority (NFA), which buys grains at a
higher price.
DA Secretary William Dar, in his
visit to Magalang town, this province on Monday for the inauguration of the
Research Outreach Station, said NFA which is under the DA, started procuring
dry palay at PHP19 per kilo this month.
“NFA is buying dry palay with 14
percent moisture content at PHP19 per kilo,” Dar said.
He said he earlier received reports
that farmers could not sell their palay as private rice traders were offering
to buy their produce at only PHP11 per kilo.
“I am now telling them to connect
with NFA. The NFA is buying all the palay produce now for buffer stocking. They
have the capacity to buy more,” he said.
Dar particularly cited the
NFA-Tarlac which has the capacity to buy some 500,000 bags of dry palay.
At present, he said the NFA-Tarlac
has only procured 28,000 bags of the grains.
The secretary also said that he
instructed the NFA to immediately mill the palay then sell it to local
government units (LGUs) or the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD), and subsequently roll over the amount and to buy more from farmers.
“What they can buy now, they will
mill and then sell, to buy more. So that is what we will do,” Dar said.
Likewise, he encouraged farmers to
go to their cooperative/association which will coordinate with NFA in selling
their produce.
Meanwhile, NFA-Region 3 Director
Elvira Obaña said they target to buy a total of 1,747,700 bags of palay from
farmers in Central Luzon starting this month until the end of the year. (PNA)
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1115483#:~:text=CITY%20OF%20SAN%20FERNANDO%2C%20Pampanga,grains%20at%20a%20higher%20price.
Rice-to-fiberboard firm, after default, wants to
borrow $53 million more
September
14, 2020, 5:05 p.m. EDT2 Min Read
A
company building a novel factory in California that has defaulted on its debt
payments is seeking the state’s approval to sell an additional $53 million in
tax-exempt bonds.
CalPlant I LLC, constructing the
world’s first facility converting rice cultivation debris into fiberboard, will
appear before the California Pollution Control Financing Authority on Tuesday
for its request to borrow more, according to a company filing and the agency’s agenda.
Bags
of rice prepared for shipment from the Port of Sacramento. Municipal bonds are
funding construction of a California facility to convert rice production debris
to fiberboard.
Bloomberg News
Proceeds will go to the
operation’s costs and not to cover debt service for its previous unrated
tax-free bonds, the company’s filing said. The firm skipped a July payment on a
$228 million issue sold in 2017, although it has continued to meet obligations
for last year’s $74 million deal. The company plans to get the consent of its
bondholders before issuing the debt.
The request will test
California’s appetite for such ventures that are intended to produce economic
and environmental benefits and will also gauge investors’ risk tolerance.
Already, a company backed by Fortress Investment Group private equity funds
plans to sell a record amount of unrated municipal bonds this month to finance
a passenger train to Las Vegas from a Mojave Desert town, after California and
Nevada officials granted the company the states’ limited allotment of municipal
bonds for such projects.
Amid low rates, bond buyers have
moved further down in credit quality in search of fatter returns. Still, for
the past three weeks, investors have yanked cash out of municipal-bond
high-yield funds, according to Refinitiv Lipper US Fund Flows data.
Project Woes
CalPlant has run into many
troubles during construction. Last month, fire swept through its storage yard
holding the fiberboard material called rice straw, and last week, insurance
adviser Marsh USA Inc. said it’s not “commercially feasible” for the company to
get property coverage for construction risks under the terms of its policy that
expired in August.
A report from the California
financing agency on CalPlant’s request couldn’t be disclosed yet, according to
Spencer Walker, attorney for California Treasurer Fiona Ma. He also declined to
state her position on the matter. CalPlant is responsible for debt payments,
not the agency issuing the bonds on its behalf.
Elizabeth Whalen, a spokesperson
for CalPlant, declined to comment on the proposed financing.
“The plant startup and
commissioning specialists returned to Willows in August after leaving the site
in March for Germany due to the pandemic,” she said by email. “We anticipate
starting the plant in November 2020.”
https://www.bondbuyer.com/articles/rice-to-fiberboard-firm-after-default-wants-to-borrow-53-million-more#:~:text=Private%20activity%20bonds-,Rice%2Dto%2Dfiberboard%20firm%2C%20after%20default%2C%20wants,to%20borrow%20%2453%20million%20more&text=A%20company%20building%20a%20novel,million%20in%20tax%2Dexempt%20bonds.
Nigeria reels from twin crises
that threaten food availability
By Libby George
4 MIN READ
ABUJA (Reuters) - Mal Shehu Ladan took a boat across what was,
until this month, a growing rice paddy. Now, like thousands of hectares of rice
in Nigeria’s Kebbi state, it is under water.
few birds he has
“Almost all my farm has been flooded. I didn’t harvest any
rice,” Ladan told Reuters. “It’s going to be devastating.”
Floods early this month across northwest Nigeria destroyed 90%
of the 2 million tons that Kebbi state officials expected to harvest this
autumn, the head of the state branch of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria
told Reuters. The loss amounts to some 20% of the rice Nigeria grew last year,
and the waters are still rising.
Farther south, outside Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, chicken farmer
Hippolite Adigwe is also worried. A shortage of maize forced him to sell most
of his flock of more than 1,000 birds, and the 300 left are hungry. Chicken
feed prices have more than doubled, and he isn’t sure how long he can cope.
Twin crises, floods and maize shortages, come just after
movement restrictions and financing difficulties caused by COVID-19 containment
measures complicated spring planting.
Some farmers and economists say it could push Nigeria, Africa’s
most populous nation, into a food crisis. Rice is the country’s staple grain,
and chicken is a core protein.
“There is a real fear of having food shortages,” Arc Kabir
Ibrahim, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria told Reuters. “The
effect on the food system is going to be colossal.”
Nigeria took roughly 4,000 tons of millet and sorghum from the
regional economic bloc’s (ECOWAS) strategic stocks last month and released
30,000 tons of its own maize. It also gave four companies special permission to
import maize.
The prominent Nigerian Economic Summit Group has called for “a
complete overhaul” of agriculture policy.
Problems accessing foreign exchange to import food are adding to
shortages. In July, the central bank added maize to a list of items for which
importers are banned from using its dollars. Rice and fertilizer were already
on the list, along with other items that Nigeria wants made locally.
Last week, even as food prices spiked, President Muhammadu
Buhari vowed that not one cent of central bank dollars would go to food or
fertilizer imports, as Nigeria would continue encouraging local farmers over
imports.
People stand outside after their houses were destroyed following
heavy rains in Kebbi state, Nigeria in this handout picture taken September,
2020. SEMA/Handout via REUTERS
Importers can use dollars from pricier parallel markets. But
these are tough to find due to an oil price crash that has cut Nigeria’s core
source of foreign exchange.
SWITCHING GRAINS
Rice prices had already risen substantially due to a land border
closure last year that aimed to stamp out smuggling and boost local production.
Peter Clubb of the International Grains Council said the spike
drove consumers to eat maize instead. This, along with a disappointing crop
late last year and the foreign exchange issues, boosted maize prices to 180,000
naira per ton from around 70,000 naira in March.
Farmers say that consumers grappling with inflation, the first
hike in fuel prices since 2016 and a power price spike can only pay so much
more for food.
Ayodeji Balogun, chief executive at commodities exchange Afex,
said the central bank’s lending scheme for farmers has significantly expanded
output, and can work long term.
But the coming months will be tough. Fertilizer prices hit a
record after a COVID-19 outbreak shut down country’s sole urea plant for two
weeks, meaning more farmers will skip fertilizers, limiting crop yields.
“The worst is yet to happen,” Balogun said. “It is a problem
across grains.”
Buhari has pledged more support, and Agriculture Minister
Muhammed Sabo Nanono visited the northwest area this weekend and promised to
provide farmers with high-quality seeds and to set up a special committee to
ensure they have all they need to plant new crops as soon as possible.
Adigwe, the chicken farmer, said he thinks barring foreign food
in order to help farmers is not a bad idea, but “there are some factors that
were not considered.”
“Can local production sustain the population of Nigeria?”
Reporting by Libby George; Additional reporting by Hamza Ibrahim
in Kano, Abraham Achirga in Abuja and Angela Ukumadu in Lagos; Editing by
Veronica Brown and David Evans
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-food-crisis/nigeria-reels-from-twin-crises-that-threaten-food-availability-idUSKBN2652IZ
Country's three major grains in stable supply
By YANG
WANLI | China Daily | Updated: 2020-09-15 09:00
Women perform a dragon dance on Saturday to celebrate a red rice
harvest in Jinlong village of Kaiyang county, Guizhou province. QIAO
QIMING/FOR CHINA DAILY
China's
three major cereal grains - wheat, rice and corn - will continue to see stable
output, ensuring the country's food security, said the National Food and
Strategic Reserves Administration.
Reserves
of wheat and rice recently hit a record high, Wang Xiaohui, deputy director of
the China National Grain and Oils Information Center, said on Friday.
Wheat is
expected to see production outstrip demand by about 14 million metric tons
during seasonal sales next year, Wang said, adding that rice is also expected
to see production surpass demand by about 17 million tons.
The
administration said that government summer cereal purchases will end soon, with
about 50 million tons of wheat and 4.72 million tons of rice already purchased
from major production areas by the end of August.
Average
prices for government purchased wheat was 2.36 yuan ($0.35) per kilogram, an increase
of 0.06 to 0.1 yuan compared to last year, the administration said.
Compared
to government purchases, summer wheat and rice purchases on the open market
took a bigger share - 87 percent and 90 percent, respectively - said Qin Yuyun,
head of the administration's food reserves department.
Qin also
said that China is expected to see a bumper autumn harvest amid smooth
production if no major natural disasters occur in the following months.
China's
cereal output consists of early rice, summer grain and autumn production-which
includes corn, and middle- and late-season rice, and accounts for
three-quarters of the year's grain production.
"In
order to improve farmer enthusiasm, government purchase prices for middle-and
late-rice were raised to 2.54 yuan per kg," Qin said. "Moreover, we
will intensify the inspection of illegal activities that disturb the market
order."
As
China's soybean consumption mainly relies on imports, Wang said China has
continued to expand its soybean planting area, and annual output is expected to
hit 19.2 million tons by the end of the year.
However,
he said the cost of soybean imports might rise in the coming months as the
United States and Brazil, two major soybean exporters, are facing logistical
challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters.
https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202009/15/WS5f60122aa3101ccd0bee0570.html
Rice procurement estimated at 495.37 lakh tonnes in Kharif
season of 2020-21
"Around 495.37 lakh tonnes
rice has been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2020-21
season which is 19.07 percent more than the 416 lakh tonnes procurement
estimate of KMS 2019-20," an official statement said.
PTI
The food ministry
on September 14 said the rice procurement is estimated at 495.37 lakh
tonnes in the kharif season of 2020-21 marketing year.
The secretary in the Department
of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), Sudhanshu Pandey, chaired a meeting of
state food secretaries through video conference on September 11 to discuss the
procurement arrangements for ensuing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21.
Paddy is mainly grown in Kharif
(summer sown) season. "Around 495.37 lakh tonnes rice has been estimated
for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2020-21 season which is 19.07
percent more than the 416 lakh tonnes procurement estimate of KMS
2019-20," an official statement said.
During ensuing KMS 2020-21,
procurement estimates for Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have jumped by 100 percent
and more, and for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand are higher by
50 percent and more in comparison to KMS 2019-20.
The leading states in terms of
estimated procurement of rice are Punjab (113 lakh tonnes), Chhattisgarh (60
lakh tonnes) and Telangana (50 lakh tonnes) followed by Haryana (44 lakh
tonnes), Andhra Pradesh (40 lakh tonnes), Uttar Pradesh (37 lakh tonnes) and
Odisha (37 lakh tonnes).
In
view of COVID-19, states have been requested to take necessary steps to ensure
social distancing during procurement operations. Other issues of states
regarding food subsidy were also discussed during the meeting.
First Published on Sep 14, 2020 10:35 pm
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/rice-procurement-estimated-at-495-37-lakh-tonnes-in-kharif-season-of-2020-21-5839351.html
Haryana Rice millers
up in arms against new CMR policy
·
Posted: Sep 15, 2020 07:31 AM (IST)
Karnal,
September 14
Unhappy
with the new Custom Milled Rice (CMR) policy 2020-21, state’s rice millers are
not showing interest in getting themselves registered for paddy procurement.
They
claimed that the new policy was not miller-friendly. They said the government
had raised the FD guarantee to Rs 50 lakh for the first tonne of paddy from Rs
10 lakh earlier and Rs 10 lakh per tonne further from Rs 5 lakh. The millers
demanded the government to go with the CMR policy applicable 2 years ago.
PK
Das, Additional Chief Secretary, said around 200 rice millers got themselves
registered for the CMR policy and were hopeful that around 500 more would get
themselves registered. He said they were looking into the demands of the rice
millers and some relaxation could be given in the policy. — TNS
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/haryana-rice-millers-up-in-arms-against-new-cmr-policy-141351
Govt agencies may procure 495 lakh
tonnes of rice in 2020-21: Food Ministry
Date
9/14/2020 4:02:56 PM
(MENAFN - IANS)
New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Government agencies may set a new
record in rice procurement as the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution said on Monday that around 495.37 lakh metric tonnes (LMT)
of rice has been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming Kharif
Marketing Season 2020-21.
Previously, actual procurement of
paddy (in terms of rice) was 420.22 LMT in KMS 2019-20, which was a record
procurement, said the ministry in a statement.
As per the statement, Secretary,
Department of Food & Public Distribution (DoFPD), Government of India,
chaired a meeting of State Food Secretaries through video conference on
September 11 to discuss the procurement arrangements for ensuing Kharif
Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21.
Around 495.37 LMT of rice has
been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2020-21 (Kharif Crop)
season which is 19.07 per cent more than the 416 LMT procurement estimate of
KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop). In KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop), actual procurement of
paddy (in terms of rice) was 420.22 LMT.
During ensuing KMS 2020-21,
procurement estimates for Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have jumped by 100 per
cent and more, and for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand are
higher by 50 per cent and more in comparison to KMS 2019-20, as per the
statement.
The leading states in terms of
estimated procurement of rice are Punjab (113 LMT), Chhattisgarh (60 LMT) and
Telangana (50 LMT) followed by Haryana (44 LMT), Andhra Pradesh (40 LMT), Uttar
Pradesh (37 LMT) and Odisha (37 LMT), said the ministry.
In view of COVID-19, Secretary,
DoFPD requested all states to take necessary steps to ensure social distancing
during procurement operations. Other issues of states regarding food subsidy
were also discussed during the meeting.
--IANS
pj/kr
MENAFN1409202002310000ID1100796754
:https://menafn.com/1100796754/Govt-agencies-may-procure-495-lakh-tonnes-of-rice-in-2020-21-Food-Ministry+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk
VIETNAM
AUG COFFEE EXPORTS DOWN 8.9% M/M; RICE SHIPMENTS UP 26.3%
9/14/2020
HANOI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Vietnam exported 100,188 metric tonnes
of coffee in August, down 8.9% from July, government data released on Monday
showed.
The country's coffee exports in the first eight months of this
year fell 2.1% from a year earlier to 1.15 million tonnes, the Customs
Department said in a statement.
The Southeast Asian country's rice exports in August rose 26.3%
from July to 605,566 tonnes, the department said, adding that rice shipments in
the January-August period rose 0.6% on the year to 4.61 million tonnes.
Export price
peaks, Vietnam’s rice advances towards the EU
Chia sẻ |
14/09/2020 16:07
GMT+7
The rice price in the world
market, which is at a nine-year high, helped Vietnam earn $2.2 billion from
rice exports in the first eight months of the year.
Vietnam’s fragrant rice was able
to take full advantage of the tariff exemption in the EU market.
The rice exports have been
breaking records this year, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. With the sharp rice
export turnover increase, Vietnam has become the second largest rice exporter
in the world.
The Ministry of Agricuture and
Rural Development (MARD) reported that while the export volume in the first
eight months of the year decreased by 1.7 percent to 4.5 million tons, export
turnover still increased by 10.4 percent compared with the same period last
year, bringing revenue of $2.2 billion.
The Philippines was the top client
for Vietnam’s rice in the first seven months of the year with 35.3 percent of
market share. It imported 1.5 million tons of rice worth $688 million, up by
2.7 percent in quantity and 17.3 percent in value.
The exports to other markets also
increased sharply. Exports to Indonesia, for example, were up by three times,
to China by 84 percent. Particularly, exports to Senegal soared by 19.8 times.
Regarding the average export
price, it saw a 12.5 percent year-over-year increase in the first seven months
to $487.2 per ton. Vietnam’s 5 percent broken rice increased from $470 per ton
to $480-490 per ton, the highest level since late 2011.
Thailand’s rice price continued
to increase slightly. However, the demand for Thai rice was low because of the
uncompetitive price. Analysts therefore believe that Vietnam has the
opportunity to boost exports.
Asked about rice exports to the
EU after EVFTA took effect, director of the Department of Crop Production
Nguyen Nhu Cuong said Vietnam has been preparing to export rice to the EU for a
long time. To date, the procedures on fragrant rice variety recognition for
export to the EU have been set.
According to Cuong, the fragrant
rice cultivation area in Mekong Delta provinces accounts for 25 percent of the
total cultivation area, about 1 million hectares, and the fragrant rice output
is estimated at 3.5 million tons.
Under EVFTA, Vietnam can export
up to 30,000 tons of fragrant rice to the EU every year at a preferential
tariff, which is equal to 1.2 percent of fragrant rice output in Mekong Delta,
which means great potential for fragrant rice exports.
If Vietnam can strictly observe
the rules set by the EU and export 30,000 tons of fragrant rice in particular
and 80,000 tons of rice in general under the quotas at high prices, this will
help heighten the efficiency of Vietnam’s rice production and strengthen the
Vietnamese rice brand in the choosy market.
This will also help in
negotiations for expanding the quotas for fragrant rice exports to the EU in
the future.
https://vietnamnet.vn/en/business/export-price-peaks-vietnam-s-rice-advances-towards-the-eu-673180.html
NFA still has
P10-B for palay procurement
Published September 14, 2020, 3:03 PM
by Madelaine
Miraflor
For the remainder of the year, the National
Food Authority (NFA) still has more than P10 billion budget to buy as much as
10 million bags of locally produced unhusked rice, a top official of the
state-run grains agency said.
In a text exchange, NFA Administrator Judy
Dansal said NFA is still set to buy 10 million bags of palay from rice farmers
for the remaining part of 2020. If this isn’t enough, she said, the agency
could still buy more since it has “credit lines available.”
“For this year, we have P7 billion from
subsidy, P5.5 billion from corporate receipts that include our sales of rice,
and P2.5 billion from cash and credit lines. So far, we already used P3 billion
for procurement,” Dansal said on Monday.
“Yes [we can buy more palay because] we
have credit lines available and the DOF [Department of Finance] supports us,”
she added.
She said this amid calls by some groups for
the Philippine government to buy more palay from farmers so they wouldn’t be
forced to sell their produce at current farmgate price of about P11 per
kilogram (/kg) to P12/kg.
In the Philippines, the cost to produce
rice is about P12/kg, while NFA, whose sole mandate has been reduced to buffer
stocking for calamities and emergencies after the passage of Rice Tariffication
Law, buys palay at P19/kg.
Every year, NFA gets an annual budget of P7
billion to procure palay, which it sells to local government units (LGUs) and other
government agencies like Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to
support their relief efforts.
Dansal told Business Bulletin that while
NFA could increase the amount of palay it could buy for this year, the agency
couldn’t buy it all because some farmers would still choose to sell to traders.
“We don’t buy everything. The private
traders of course will also buy because they have clients requiring local rice
too,” she said.
At present, NFA procures 33,775 bags of
palay per day nationwide in different provinces.
In August, Dansal said it is not the
supply, but the lack of rice milling facilities and low buying price that
impedes the agency’s palay procurement.
According to her, NFA’s rice milling
warehouse could only cater to 25 percent of its palay inventory, forcing the
agency to keep its contract with private millers, while farmers sometimes opt
to sell their produce to traders when the farm-gate price of palay is higher
than the government buying price.
“The market dictates the price. So if the
farm-gate price of palay is high, higher than the P19/kg buying price of the
government, the farmers sell their produce to the private traders,” she said.
Also on Monday, the Federation of Free
Farmers (FFF) pointed to the unabated entry and unpredictable pattern of rice
imports as the main cause for the current drop in palay farmgate prices.
Data from the Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) showed that palay prices have been on a downward trend,
averaging P18.39/kg in late August, down about 5 percent from their peak in May
2020.
Field reports, on the other hand, showed that buying prices, as of September,
have already gone down to as low as P16/kg on a dry basis and to P11/kg to
P13/kg for wet or freshly harvested palay.
The FFF noted that the decline in farmgate
prices is surprising considering that imports from January to August 2020
totaled only 1.66 million tons, or about 25 percent lower than in the same
period last year.
In turn, national rice inventories as of
August 1 were about 16 percent lower than in the previous year, which should
also help push the price of palay higher.
FFF National Manager Raul Montemayor attributed the declining prices to
speculative behavior of traders arising from the lack of a clear rice import
policy from the DA.
“Many traders are playing safe and buying
low because they fear that imports will continue to come in and flood the
market again in the coming months. Last year, they bought palay from farmers
during the first half of the year at relatively high prices and were caught
flatfooted by the massive inflow of imports in the second half of the year.
Many of them could not unload their stocks at a profit and some had to suspend
their operations,” he said.
Normally, palay buying prices really go up
in September because of the scarce supply of palay and then go down only during
the peak harvest season in October and November.
https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/14/nfa-still-has-p10-b-for-palay-procurement/#:~:text=For%20the%20remainder%20of%20the,state%2Drun%20grains%20agency%20said.
PHL rice inventory as of Aug. 1
falls 16.3%
ByJasper
Y. Arcalas
September 14, 2020
THE country’s rice inventory as of August 1 fell 16.3 percent to
1.786 million metric tons from the same period of last year’s 2.133 MMT, the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed.
Likewise, the inventory was 15.1 percent lower than the 2.104
MMT rice inventory recorded in July, according to the PSA’s latest monthly rice
and corn stocks report.
“Of the total stocks for this month, 47.7 percent were in the
households, 40.9 percent were in commercial warehouses, and 11.4 percent were
in NFA [National Food Authority] depositories,” the PSA said.
Rice stocks held by households reached 852,460 MT while those in
commercial warehouses was estimated at 729,950 MT, according to PSA data. NFA
buffer stock was at 203,850 MT.
“Year-on-year, rice stocks inventory in households rose by 7.5
percent. However, stocks in commercial warehouses and NFA depositories dropped
by 17.1 percent and 55.8 percent, respectively,” the PSA said.
“Month-on-month, rice stocks inventories in all sectors posted
decreases. A decline of 20.6 percent was recorded in the households, 9.7
percent in commercial warehouses, and 8.4 percent in NFA depositories,” the PSA
added.
Rice industry sources said household figures were high during
the month as Filipinos stocked up on the staple to ensure their supply during
the Covid-19-induced lockdowns imposed by the government. Sources noted that
stocks in commercial warehouses fell due to lower imports this year.
“The supply is good for 51 days, which is okay but it is much
lower than the previous years,” Federation of Free Farmers National President
Raul Q. Montemayor told the BusinessMirror. “So it is still surprising why
palay prices are going down. Unless it is really the speculative behavior
on the part of the traders,” he added.
Last month, rice industry groups sounded the alarm over the
government’s rice buffer stock, which they said will last for only seven days
based on a nationwide daily consumption rate of 33,000 metric tons (MT).
In the same report, the PSA disclosed that corn inventory as of
August 1 grew by 1.1 percent to 732,180 MT from last year’s 724,080 MT.
“However, the total corn stocks inventory as of 01 August 2020
was lower by 1.3 percent compared with the previous month’s level of 741,660
thousand metric tons,” the PSA said.
“About 86.8 percent of the current stocks inventory level were
in commercial warehouses and 13.2 percent were in the households,” it added.
Corn stocks held by commercial warehouses reached 635,660 MT
while those stored in households were estimated at 96,520 MT, PSA data showed.
“In comparison with the previous year’s same period level, corn
stocks in the households and commercial warehouses grew by 3.5 percent and 0.8
percent, respectively,” it said.
“Corn stocks in the households increased by 25.5 percent, while
stocks in the commercial warehouses decreased by 4.4 percent relative to the
previous month’s level,” it added.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/09/14/phl-rice-inventory-as-of-aug-1-falls-16-3/
Palay output
likely up in Q3
Louise
Maureen Simeon (The Philippine Star
- September 14,
2020 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines
— The country’s production of palay (unhusked rice) likely jumped in the third
quarter amid more planted areas and better yield, according to the
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Based on the
latest crop estimates of the PSA, palay production from July to
September may surge by 16.4 percent to 3.55 million metric tons
(MT).
Production of
unhusked rice reached 3.05 million MT in the third quarter of 2019.
Harvest area in
the third quarter likely went up by 15.7 percent to about 743,000 hectares.
Yield per hectare, on the other hand, may rise to 4.31 MT from 4.11 MT in the
previous year level.
About 10
percent of the updated standing crops have already been harvested.
As for the
farmer’s planting intentions for the period, about 1.02 million hectares or 57
percent of the perceived area have been actually planted.
Meanwhile, corn
production in the third quarter may also go up by 3.4 percent to 2.82 million
MT from the 2.72 million MT a year ago.
The latest
projection is just slightly higher than the earlier forecast of 2.81 million
MT.
This as harvest
area may rise five percent to 919,580 hectares from 874,400 hectares in 2019.
Yield per hectare, however, may decrease to 3.06 MT from 3.11 MT
https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/09/14/2042162/palay-output-likely-q3
Rice inventory
down in August
Louise
Maureen Simeon (The Philippine Star
) - September
14, 2020 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines — The country’s rice inventory went down by 16.3 percent to 1.79
million metric tons (MT) as of end-August from 2.13 million MT in the same
period last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The current
inventory is also 15.1 percent lower than the previous month’s volume stock of
2.1 million MT.
The PSA did not
specify the number of days that the stock inventory of Filipinos’ main staple
will be sufficient.
But, based on
the average daily consumption of Filipinos of 32,000 MT, the current inventory
is sufficient for 56 days.
Households had
nearly half of total inventories at 48 percent while commercial warehouses held
about 41 percent. Supplies from the National Food Authority depositories
cornered 11 percent of the total.
On a monthly
basis, rice stocks in households and commercial warehouses decreased by 21
percent and 10 percent, respectively. An eight percent decrease was also noted
in NFA depositories.
Meanwhile,
prices of Filipinos’ main staple continued to be on the downward trend
year-on-year and have already stabilized compared to when the quarantine
started in March.
The PSA said
the average wholesale price of well-milled rice is now at P38.91 per kilogram
as of the third week of August.
This is 0.4
percent lower than the P39.07 per kilo level from the same period a year ago,
and 0.2 percent lower on a weekly basis.
Its average
retail price also decreased by 0.4 percent to P42.42 per kilo, while week-on-week
prices went down by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the
wholesale price of regular-milled rice was P35.35 per kilo, down 0.2 percent,
while its average retail price was at P38.11 a kilo.
Local farmers,
on the other hand, continue to slowly see a gradual increase in farm gate
prices.
The average
farm gate price of palay is now at P18.39 per kilo, a 4.4 percent improvement
from the P17.61 per kilo last year. On a weekly basis, it also registered a 0.2
percent increase.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/09/14/2042163/rice-inventory-down-august
Nine Vietnamese
rice varieties given tariff quotas in EU
Nine Vietnamese
fragrant rice varieties will enjoy tariff export quotas to Europe under the
Europe-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.
VNA Sunday, September 13, 2020 16:37
As part of the agreement, the EU
will give Vietnam a quota of 80,000 tonnes of rice with a zero-per-cent tax
rate per year, including 30,000 tonnes of milled rice, 20,000 tonnes of
unmilled rice and 30,000 tonnes of fragrant rice.
The EU will also fully liberalise broken rice, helping Vietnam export an
estimated 100,000 tonnes to the EU annually.
For products made from rice, the EU will bring the tax rate down to 0 percent
after three to five years.
Rice plantations in Mekong Delta provinces account for about 25 percent of the
total cultivated area, equivalent to about 1 million hectares. Fragrant rice
output is estimated at 5.5 million tonnes.
The amount of fragrant rice exported to the EU was entitled to a preferential
tariff quota of 30,000 tonnes, equivalent to 1.2 percent of the rice produced
in the region./.
https://en.vietnamplus.vn/nine-vietnamese-rice-varieties-given-tariff-quotas-in-eu/182888.vnp
Upper
West Region Rice Parboilers Association appeals for equipment
The
association is asking for support in the form of dryers, pavilion and
tarpaulins
The Upper West Region Rice
Parboilers Association has appealed to government, civil society organisations
and international donor communities to come to its aid with the provision of
de-stoner and dryer machines to improve on parboil rice production.
Presently, the association has only one de-stoner machine, which is inadequate
to meet the production levels of members and consumer demands.
The weather condition is also affecting products, and therefore any support in
the form of dryers, pavilion and tarpaulins would help improve the quality of
parboil rice produce to access markets and better prices for members.
Madam Benedicta Naab, Chairperson of the Association, made the appeal at a
two-day rice parboiling techniques training workshop organised for 35 women
representatives from five rice parboiler groups in Wa.
The women were drawn from Wa Municipal, Wa East and Wa West Districts with
facilitators coming from rice parboiling groups from Navrongo in the Upper East
Region.
The European Union and German Government funded the programme with GIZ and the
Market Oriented Agriculture Programme (MOAP) in North West in collaboration
with the Regional Agriculture Department, organised the workshop to add value
along the rice value chain development.
Madam Naab bemoaned the poor quality of parboiled rice products in the region
and attributed it to the lack of modern machines and equipment and effective
parboiling technique, which resulted in poor quality products.
She explained that with the provision of skills and techniques acquired from
the workshop, the cost of production would still remain high and difficult for
parboilers to increase profit levels due to the influx of foreign rice products
in the market, without equipment.
The association urged government to consider providing free ferilizers to rice
farmers to boost rice production and encourage local consumption, as it had
become a staple food for many households in the communities.
Madam Naab also appealed to the government to provide soft loans to members of
the association to expand their businesses, and provide means of transport for
the association to haul paddy rice from the hinterlands and warehouses.
She indicated their willingness to go into large-scale rice production next
year to complement the produce they buy from other farmers and pleaded with the
government and other benevolent organisations to support them with tractors and
other equipment to execute their plan.
Madam Henrietta Abaah, the lead facilitator, gave the assurance that the new
technology provided members of the association would help them to produce
quality products for the markets and urged the MOAP to supply the association
with vessels and other equipment to parboil paddy rice to reduce cost on
firewood, time and other unexpected challenges.
Rice farmers at Fumbisi appeal
for combine harvesters
Rice farmers at Fumbisi in the
Builsa South District of the Upper East Region are appealing to government to
support them with combined harvesters to harvest their rice this year.
The rice harvest would begin in November and go on to January, depending on the
variety of the crop and the availability of equipment.
Mr Richard Akuka, a rice farmer at Fumbisi, made the appeal on behalf of his
colleagues in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the side-line of the
inauguration of the Builsa South Commercial Farmers Association.
He said government through the Savannah Zone Agriculture Productivity
Improvement Project (SAPIP) under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture
(MOFA),supported farmers in the area with seed and fertilizers, adding that the
SAPIP initiative had boosted their production.
“Government has supported us with fertilizer and seed, we have worked well and
are now appealing for help to able to harvest. We need combine harvesters. Even
if it will be on credit bases, so that we pay back after sales or else if we
get good yields and we are not able to harvest and it dries on the field, the
buyers will not buy.”
Mr Akuka emphasized that “Our main challenge is the lack of combine harvesters,
because if we are able to do all this work, and at the end we don’t harvest, it
means our suffering will be in vain.”
Responding to the appeal by the farmers in a separate interview, Mr Wilson
Doku, a Value Chain and Agribusiness Specialist working with the SAPIP, said
“As part of the project objective, we are setting up mechanization service
centres, right from land development to processing.”
He said the Centres would be driven by the private sector, “We will advertise
it for the private sectors to apply. Even though it will be subsidized, we will
give you a period of time to pay”, he told the farmers.
Mr Doku said procurement processes had begun, and contracts were awarded for
work to start, “We are very hopeful that Builsa South will be one of the
Districts that will benefit, we only need a private sector person to lead that
process”, he added.
He said his outfit would ensure that the private individual would be stationed
in the District for farmers to benefit from the equipment, “Hopefully before
the end of the year, all the implements will come in. Harvesting has been one
of the biggest challenges.”
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Rice-farmers-at-Fumbisi-appeal-for-combine-harvesters-1058767
India could lose basmati rice
market in Iran to Pakistan as US sanctions disrupt payments
Tehran and New Delhi explore barter trading options even as Iran has
stepped up importing basmati rice from Pakistan.
NAYANIMA BASU 14 September, 2020
12:04 pm IST
File
image of India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (left) with his
Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif | Photo: ANI
New Delhi: India could lose its position as the leading exporter of basmati
rice to Iran, with Tehran now beginning to procure the produce from Pakistan,
ThePrint has learnt.
For the first time in decades,
basmati rice exports from India to Iran have fallen drastically in the first
half of 2020-21 fiscal owing to disruption in payments, a result of the US-led
sanctions. New Delhi and Tehran are now exploring a conventional barter trading
system to address the rising concerns.
The matter was discussed between
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif
during the former’s recent visit to that country. Jaishankar had made a stopover in Tehran while on his way to Moscow
last week for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s foreign ministers’
meeting .
India and Iran have been
discussing the barter trading system for nearly a year now, ever since the
Donald Trump administration began imposing tough economic sanctions on
Tehran.
Iran has said it will buy basmati
rice, sugar and medicines from India in lieu of fertilisers. New Delhi,
however, is yet to firm up its decision, Iranian government sources told
ThePrint.
Iran is now importing basmati
rice from Pakistan while Indian consignments worth Rs 1,500 crore are stuck
owing to payment issues, the sources said, adding that Tehran has now asked New
Delhi to quickly move on this decision by utilising the banking channels of UCO
Bank and IDBI Bank that continue to maintain a presence there.
Sanctions and the barter system
Due to the US sanctions on Iran,
it has become difficult for Indian banks to operate the payment mechanism,
while exporters are finding it increasingly difficult to sell rice in that
market.
Some of the exporters, who used
to ship their basmati rice consignments through Dubai, have now come under the
scanner of investigating agencies.
The Indian government believes a
traditional barter trading system with Iran will be difficult since India has
stopped buying crude oil from that country. This is because India exports
basmati rice worth $1 billion to that market, and hence buying fertilisers
worth that amount will not be cost-effective, according to Indian government
sources.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce
and Industry is exploring the options of extending a limited line of credit to
Iran via the EXIM Bank so that the payments issue for Indian exports can be
sorted out until the sanctions are lifted.
“Exporters are concerned that
rice exports can also come under sanctions and payments have become a huge
issue,” said Ajay Sahai, DG and CEO, Federation of Indian Export Organisations
(FIEO). “Basmati rice exports to Iran have taken a hit this year. Getting the
market back will be difficult if we lose it to other countries, if and when the
sanctions are lifted.”
Owing to the US’ unilateral
sanctions, India brought down its crude imports from Iran to zero in May last
year. In 2019, India was the top exporter of basmati rice to that country,
shipping nearly 1.6 million tonnes.
China eyeing massive investments in Iran
While India has made it clear to
Iran that it will not be able to make much progress in the next phase of
the Chabahar Port project as long as the US
sanctions are there, Tehran has asked New Delhi to invest in some of the
affiliated projects such as free trade zones, economic enclaves and other
logistical infrastructure.
Even though the Chabahar port
project was spared from American sanctions, Indian players have
shied away from participating in the next phase, which entails constructing a
rail link from the port to Zahedan in the Sistan-Baluchistan province and a
218-km road from Zaranj to Delaram.
“India has to see these projects
from the perspective of its own national interest and not through the prism of
other countries,” said a top Iranian official, who refused to be named. “We are
telling India to at least invest in the ancillary projects that will feed into
the larger Chabahar project. Many countries are waiting to invest in these
projects but we want India to come in but it should not be too
late.”
According to the official, India
should “utilise this opportunity to be a major partner in the lucrative
project” even as China is planning investments of billions of dollars
under the new and updated Iran-China strategic partnership deal.
“Wish India also did the same… To
be close to China does not mean we are against India,” the official said.
The China-Iran agreement is
expected to overshadow even the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor. Under this deal, China is also expected to build a major port
development project on the Strait of Hormuz.
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https://theprint.in/india/india-could-lose-basmati-rice-market-in-iran-to-pakistan-as-us-sanctions-disrupt-payments/501818/
Aman farming target exceeds by 1.17% in Rangpur region
BSS
·
Published
at 01:48 pm September 14th, 2020
Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune
Earlier, the government undertook massive
post-flood agriculture rehabilitation programs to assist flood-affected farmers
in attaining the fixed Aman rice farming target to recoup crop losses caused by
the recent floods in the region this season
Despite damages caused by floods, farmers have
exceeded the farming target of Aman rice this season with government
assistance, braving the Covid-19 pandemic, in Rangpur agriculture region.
“Farmers have already brought 6,12,235
hectares of land under Aman rice farming, exceeding the fixed farming target by
1.17%,” said Muhammad Ali, Additional Director of the Department of
Agricultural Extension (DAE) for Rangpur region.
Earlier, the government undertook massive
post-flood agriculture rehabilitation programs to assist flood-affected farmers
in attaining the fixed Aman rice farming target to recoup crop losses caused by
the recent floods in the region this season.
The government, through the DAE, continues
distributing specially prepared Aman rice seedlings among 15,225 flood-hit
farmers free of cost for re-transplanting those on 15,225 bigha of submerged
cropland with one bigha each in the region.
Earlier, the DAE fixed a target of producing
16, 97,795 tons of clean Aman rice (25,46,693 tons of paddy) from 6,05,140
hectares of land for Rangpur agriculture region this season.
“Farmers have already transplanted Aman rice
seedlings by Saturday on 6,12,235 hectares of land which is higher by 7,095
hectares or 1.17 percent against the fixed farming target of the crop,” Ali
said.
Earlier, farmers had prepared Aman rice
seedbeds on 34,427 hectares of land, higher by 4,036 hectares or 13.28% than a
requirement of preparing the same on 30,391 hectares to produce seedlings for
transplantation on 6,05,140 hectares of land.
“However, the recent floods damaged Aman rice
seedbeds on 1,196 hectares of land causing losses to seedlings worth TK15.95
crore and affecting 38,705 farmers in the region,” Ali said.
Besides, the floods damaged the transplanted
Aman rice crop on 111 hectares of land causing production losses of 320 tons of
rice worth Tk 1.16 crore and affecting 1,222 farmers.
As a part of the government programs, the DAE
has prepared community Aman rice seedbeds on 221 acres of land in flood-hit
areas and distribution of the prepared seedlings among 14,732 flood-hit farmers
of the region is nearing completion.
Besides this, 500 floating Aman rice seedbeds
have also been prepared in flood-hit areas and the prepared seedlings are being
distributed among 125 flood-affected farmers.
“In addition to this, the DAE continues
distributing late variety Aman rice seedlings after preparing those on 9,568
floating trays among 368 flood-affected farmers with 26 trays to each of the
farmers of the region,” Ali said.
Besides, late variety Aman rice seeds have
been distributed free of cost among flood-hit farmers who have already
broadcasted those on their affected croplands.
Many flood-hit farmers have cultivated late
‘Ganjia’ varieties of Aman rice using seeds from their own stocks in affected
areas.
“Farmers are expected to complete
re-transplantation of Aman rice seedlings on their submerged croplands by the
next couple of days to further exceed the fixed farming target in the region
this season,” Ali added.
He hoped with full confidence that farmers
would achieve a bumper production of Aman rice despite damages caused by recent
floods to the crop in all five districts of Rangpur agriculture region this
season.
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2020/09/14/aman-farming-target-exceeds-by-1-17-in-rangpur-region
