16.87L QUINTALS RICE RELEASED FOR
RATION CARD HOLDERS THIS MONTH
Tuesday, 17 January 2017 | Staff Reporter | Raipur | in Raipur
The
Chhattisgarh government has allocated 16.87 lakh quintals of rice for ration
card holders under the PDS system for the current month, officials informed.Notably,
as many as 1.83 crore ration card holder members among families are now linked
to Aadhaar under the Public Distribution System (PDS), they informed. A
total of 12,021 ration shops have also been computerized in Chhattisgarh and
connected using Andorid based Tablets.
The move had been taken to
further strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS) and make its
functioning more transparent, officials informed.
Considerable progress has also been
achieved in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan with 17,000 (99%), 11,965 (97%)
and 24,649 (96%) automated Fair Price Shops (FPSs) respectively, the Central
government has informed.
As a result, these States have been
able to reduce ghost lifting, achieve better targeting of food subsidies by
authentication of eligible beneficiaries, improvement in service delivery,
weeding out bad FPSs, etc.
Notably, Union Minister of Consumer
Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has requested States
to expedite the reforms so as to bring transparency in the functioning of
Public Distribution System (PDS), which is a key feature of National Food
Security Act (NFSA).
Highlighting the significant role
played by Central and State Governments in ensuring food security to more than
80 crore eligible beneficiaries under the NFSA, which is presently being
implemented in 34 States/UTs, Paswan requested Kerala and Tamil Nadu also to
implement the Act as early as possible.The Minister was addressing the
inaugural session of the National Conference on Reforms in PDS and Computerization
in New Delhi recently.
He appreciated the significant
efforts made by the various State/UT Governments in achieving 100% digitization
of ration cards and automating 1.5 Lakh Fair Price Shops across the country.
Officers from the State Governments
of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra
shared the Best Practices in Aadhaar Seeding, FPS automation and Supply Chain
Management for the benefit of others States/UTs.
The Minister also requested the
concerned States/UTs, lagging behind in PDS Computerization in general, and in
Aadhaar seeding and FPS automation in particular.
Paswan said due to Aadhaar seeding
a total of 2.33 crore ghost/fraudulent/duplicate ration cards have been deleted
across 27 States and UTs which has led to estimated ‘Rightful Targeting of Food
Subsidies’ of Rs. 14,000 crore.
Addressing the conference Union
Minister of State of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution C.R.
Chaudhary emphasized the need to further improve the efficiency and
transparency of all operations related to food security i.e. production,
procurement, storage, logistics, distribution and nutrition among others.
In order to ensure the timely
delivery of quality food-grains and protect consumer rights, he requested the
concerned stakeholders to modernize procurement operations, construct
scientific storage facilities, implement NFSA and complete the end to end
computerization of TPDS operations within the desired time frames.With a view
to ensuring that only eligible beneficiaries get ration supply under Public
Distribution System (PDS) and for their error-free identification, ration cards
have been linked with Aadhaar numbers, officials informed.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/1687l-quintals-rice-released-for-ration-card-holders-this-month.html
Global Rice Starch Market 2017:
BENEO, Ingredion, Bangkok starch, Thai Flour & AGRANA
Press release from: Market Research Store QY
Rice Starch
Further, an evaluation of the history of the
global market and the basic information of the global market is included in the
report. A developmental perspective of the industry is also documented in the
report. Competitive profiles of the key players in the industry are also
discussed.
The research report provides both an assessment
of recent developments in the industry along with forecasts examining the
industry from the perspective of major competitors, present players and
prospective end users in the Rice Starch market.
Forecasts are generated on the basis of region,
type, product, supply, demand, and other vital factors of the global market.
The research report analyzed the major factors driving the global Rice Starch
market in various countries with a satisfactory and manufacturing and structure
of the global market. Forecasts are also provided region-wise in the research
report.
The research report comprises several chapters,
tables, figures, graphs, and various other presentations formats so as to
provide a precise overview of the market. The sequence of the report is
maintained in such a way that highlights the overall flow of the global market.
Recent developments in the global market are further described in the research
report. The report also summarizes latest trends along with abstracts of the
Rice Starch market. Major competitors of the global market including commercial
and non-commercial participants in the global market are also covered in the
report.
Thus, the research report provides in-depth
analysis covering all the major regions, competitors, and vital aspects of the
Rice Starch industry.
About Us:
MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination
for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository
of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market
statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.
Contact US:
http://www.openpr.com/news/414599/Global-Rice-Starch-Market-2017-BENEO-Ingredion-Bangkok-starch-Thai-Flour-AGRANA.html
SNP Genotyping and Analysis Market:
Increasing Demand from Breeding and Animal Livestock Continue to Support the
Rise of Genotyping Market
Press release from: TMR
SNP genotyping and analysis is used mainly as a research
tool to identify genomic variations that lead to different morphological traits
and can determine the health and ancestry of plants and animals. The growth of
the market is attributed mainly to the increasing demand from diagnostic
research, pharmacogenomics and animal breeding along with technological drivers
such as reducing cost of sequencing and introduction of innovative
technologies.
Request a PDF Brochure with Report Analysis:
www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag...
There is an increasing opportunity in developing and
developed countries for genotyping services which will be within the reach of a
common man and that will represent several billion dollars worth of business
since people want to understand their genetic make-up in terms of aesthetic
awareness (height, weight, obesity) or for serious diseases (diabetes, cancer,
cardiovascular and others).
The market products are internally affected by power of
substitution since there are around 8 to 10 different efficient techniques to
carry out SNP genotyping such as TaqMan, SNPlex, Microarray, MALDI-TOF etc.
With the completion of the Human Genome Project, over 2 million SNP’s have been
added to global databases which in turn have initiated a series of research and
development projects to understand potential of developing diagnostic tests
through rapid genotyping techniques.
A considerable amount of revenue is spent on research to
developing diagnostic products similar to companion diagnostics which would
enable to give us a preview of how a genome would unfold as an individual grows
older. There is a high intensity of research in food crops such as rice, wheat,
oats, corn, maize and other grasses. SNP genotyping in agriculture gained
acceptance long before other applications.
The GeneChip Rice 44K array offered by Affymetrix is one of
the most popular platforms for rice genotyping which identifies variants that
impact yield. Fluidigm’s SNPtype assays have been utilized by International
Rice Research Institute which holds the world’s largest ex-situ collection of
rice germplasm and plays a very large role in maintaining this repository.
The global market for SNP genotyping and analysis is
expected to reach USD 9,485.2 million by 2019, up from USD 2,385.2 million in
2012, growing at a CAGR of 21.8% throughout the forecast period.
Geographically, North America represents the largest market because of origin
of several SNP technologies, awareness and increasing demand from
pharmacogenomics and animal breeding sectors.
Browse Research Report:
www.transparencymarketresearch.com/snp-single-nucleotide-...
The Asia-Pacific region is expected to record the highest
CAGR of 23.1% during the forecast period as improving healthcare
infrastructure, increasing investments by players in emerging economies such as
China and India, and a large untapped research facilities segment will also
boost growth of this market segment. Life Technologies Corporation, Illumina
Inc., Affymetrix Inc, Fluidigm, Sequenom and Roche are some of the key vendors
operating in this market.
About Us
Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market
intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The
company’s exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis
provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR’s
experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data
sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.
This release was published on openPR.
http://www.openpr.com/news/415094/SNP-Genotyping-and-Analysis-Market-Increasing-Demand-from-Breeding-and-Animal-Livestock-Continue-to-Support-the-Rise-of-Genotyping-Market.html
PHL retraces
journey toward food security
-
Part Three
THE Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) defines food security as “the access for all people at all
times to enough food for a healthy, active life.” Meanwhile, food
self-sufficiency is defined by the International Food Policy Research Institute
as being able to meet consumption needs (particularly for staple-food crops)
from own production rather than by
buying or importing.
buying or importing.
Piñol has hinted of programs that
may focus on the development of other crops as a substitute to rice and means
to achieve food security in the country.
“Also, we are looking at other
commodities that would fill in whatever shortage or gap in the staple-food
production,” Piñol said. “I have directed the DA [Department of
Agriculture]-Bureau of Agricultural Research Director Nick P. Eliazar to
intensify studies on adlai, which is a native indigenous
plant found in mountainous areas. [People thre] have been consuming and eating
it as their staple food.”The Philippines, as of 2015, is self-sufficient in the
following agricultural crops: sugarcane, calamansi,
papaya, pomelo, tomato,
cabbage, eggplant, cassava and sweet potato, according to the Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA).
‘Warming up’
ROGER V. Navarro, president of
Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (PhilMaize), said it’s about time that the
agriculture chief sits down with his policy and planning team, and craft a
comprehensive program for the development and direction of the agriculture
sector under the current administration.“Piñol has to buckle up, seat down and
make formal plans and directives for his operatives to be implemented down the
ground,” Navarro told the BusinessMirror. “He should make things formal in
papers and documentation, and not in social media.”
Navarro added the government has
procedures and processes run through the bureaucracy and not by social-media
posts of grandstanding pronouncement, which Piñol would later retract.
Navarro suggests that the overall
framework of the DA’s program should be for food security, under which are
specific targets per agricultural commodity, such as self-sufficiency. “If you
ask me, I would suggest to bring back the banner program—they may call it
whatever—because this will give more focus on government interventions,”
Navarro said, referring to the previous DA’s administration banner program
priorities on rice, corn and high-value crops.
“It [the program] should be based
on per-capita consumption, growth rate of population, land production area and
imports plus government intervention. Target should be quantified each year for
measurement, proper evaluation and adjustment,” Navarro added.
Tough time
IN a press briefing last
mid-December, Piñol admitted that he and his current DA team experienced a
tough time in their first six months in office due to the programs
created by the previous administration.
created by the previous administration.
“The journey has been tough and
hard for us, simply because some of our activities actually were constrained by
the fact that the budget for the half of the year has been allocated already
designed by the previous administration,” Piñol said.
“We’re not saying that these
programs are not relevant to the vision of the current leadership. This
situation actually somehow tied our hands in really implementing drastic
reforms in the agriculture department,” he added.
Recently, the DA said it would
bank on the inputs of the International Rice Research Institute (Irri) and the
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in crafting a national
rice-farming program.
“The government has plenty of
work to do pertaining to rice. We would be very dependent on Irri and PhilRice
in terms of formulating our program,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary for
Operations Federico E. Laciste Jr. said in a statement.
Laciste, who is also the deputy
director of the Philippines’s National Rice Program, said collaboration in
developing a national strategy for rice farming is important to uplift the
lives of Filipino farmers.
Irri said Laciste was briefed on
the various collaborative research projects implemented jointly by the research
institute and the PhilRice, in support of the National Rice Program.
The projects include the “Rice
Crop Manager,” a Web-based decision support tool for precision farming, and the
Philippine Rice Information System, a satellite-based rice forecasting and
monitoring system. Also included is the “Green Super Rice,” (GSR) which is
composed of climate-smart varieties developed under the Next Generation
(NextGen) project.
PDP 2017-2022
IN the draft of its six-year
Philippine Development Plan (PDP), the Duterte administration has set a more
modest production target for the agriculture and fisheries sector.
The national government is keen
on growing farm production by 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent annually starting this
year until 2022, when the President steps down from office. The previous
administration had initially targeted to increase annual agriculture and
fisheries output by 3 percent to 5 percent.
“The sector has yet to overcome
recurring challenges related to productivity, competitiveness, climate and
disaster risks, and resource degradation and depletion,” the draft chapter read.
“Greater trade liberalization,
e.g., implementation of the Asean Economic Community [AEC] and free-trade
agreements, and lifting of quantitative restrictions [QR] on rice in 2017
provides opportunities to the sector, as well as poses risks to small farmers
and fishermen who remain uncompetitive,” it added.
The PDP draft pointed out that
crops subsector, which accounts for nearly half of agriculture and fisheries
output, pulled down the overall growth of the sector in the past years.
“The subsector’s poor performance
was due to: a] impacts of typhoons and El Niño that greatly affected rice and
corn productions, especially in Mindanao; b] coconut scale infestation in
Calabarzon; and c] limited adoption of high-yielding varieties of selected
commodities,” the draft read.
To be continued
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/phl-retraces-journey-toward-food-security-3/
A eyes solar energy for
small-scale irrigation
POSTED ON JAN - 17 - 2017
DA Assistant Secretary for Field Operations and National Rice
and Corn Programs Deputy Director Federico E. Laciste Jr. was given a tour at
the PhilRice Central Experiment Station in Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija,
January 17.
Laciste visited various facilities
and laboratories including the Palayamanan Plus site, FutureRice Farm, Seed
Processing Center, Rice Engineering and Mechnization Division, and the Rice
Science Museum. He was also briefed on PhilRice’s R&D programs and
strategic plan for 2017-2022.
In a short interview during the tour, Laciste revealed DA’s plan
in providing free irrigation for farmers. According to Laciste, while the plan
will have to undergo due process, DA is in the meantime exploring
solar-generated energy for small-scale irrigation
http://www.philrice.gov.ph/da-eyes-solar-energy-small-scale-irrigation/
Rice farming: Drew Braithwaite of
Benerembah aims high
LINDSAY HAYES, The Weekly Times
PROGRESSIVE young rice farmer Drew Braithwaite is a classic case
of “if you want something done ask a busy person”.
The father-of-three has a full diary this year, which will see
him juggle family, farming and business commitments with international travel
as the winner of a prestigious Nuffield scholarship.
Drew, 35, and wife Abby run a mixed cropping enterprise with his
parents, Ian and Colleen, on their 1100ha irrigation farm, Red Hill, at
Benerembah in southern NSW.
With the use of cutting-edge technology the family produces
high-yielding rice, canola, cereal and seed crops in rotation, engaging a
fulltime employee along with harvest staff.
“We use cameras on manned planes for our imagery and I write all
the variable rate technology prescriptions myself,” Drew said.
The cropping plant includes a John Deere header, a seeder,
chaser bins and tractors fitted with GPS. Drew joined the farming partnership
in 2002, adding his agricultural science qualifications and agronomy skills to
Ian’s decades of primary production experience with good results.
He later worked as a commercial agronomist. Today, with other
calls on his time, Drew engages an agronomist abreast with the latest agronomy
practices for advice on soil health and nutrient management.
EYES OPEN
ENDOWED with a get-up-and go attitude, and ready to embrace new
ideas, he introduced best-practice irrigation and cropping techniques which, in
the family’s ongoing quest for improvements, are being finetuned today.
Drew also runs a windrowing business, independent Ag, and is
active on industry bodies. He is a member of Ricegrowers’ Association of
Australia, Benerembah Warrawidgee Water Users and the Rice Research and
Extension Committee Panel, among others.
The most recent drought was a turning point for the business,
marking the end of livestock trading and a switch to full-scale cropping.
This involved laser-levelling, installing one-sided channels for
easier water management and enlarging and setting up the bays for row cropping.
“Water efficiency is the driver of our business so we need to
produce more for less moving forward,” Drew said.
“Our aim is to grow the right crop in each field, meaning rice
on low water-use fields and high-value crops such as seed crops on our paddocks
that have high water use.
“We are trialling an automated stop that measures the depth of
the water (in the bays) and can be adjusted remotely with the use of a phone.
“This is early days but very exciting.”
PRIZE EXAMPLE
DREW’S farming practices and rice variety trials will be
showcased at the International Temperate Rice Conference in Griffith in March
when overseas and Australian delegates visit the Braithwaite property to see
the results first hand.
A total of 300ha is planted to reiziq medium grain rice
annually.
The family has set the bar high, aiming for a yield of 12.5-plus
tonnes/ha.
“We are trying to get a tonne of rice per megalitre of water,”
Drew said.
“We are getting close. We are trying to focus on water
productivity and growing more seed crops.”
The wheat harvest finished on December 29.
Normal year yields are 6 tonnes/ha and 7 tonnes/ha for hard and
soft wheat respectively. Drew expects yields from last harvest, though, still
to be totted up, to be less due to the wet winter.
“We did not irrigate any winter crops last year which is very
rare,” he said.
The grain, sold to the best price, is currently warehoused on
and off farm waiting for a good market.
The faba beans returned 4 tonnes/ha and 44ha of seed canola,
grown under contract to Pacific seeds along with some seed wheat, yielded 1.2
tonnes/ha.
The Braithwaites bring in contractors to deliver some of the
grain and cart some themselves using semi-trailers.
INDUSTRY LEADER
DREW’S successful farming practices and the potential benefits
to the rice industry from his study topic led to his Nuffield scholarship.
Drew completed the scholarship’s global focus program last year,
travelling to Ireland, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands and
the US where scholars visited the Board of Trade in Chicago.
He said it was a great agricultural and cultural experience that
enabled him to understand how the countries farmed and the values which shaped
their views on agricultural and food policies.
This year Drew will pack his bags again and head to New Zealand,
the US and Vietnam to undertake his six-week individual study tour where he
will weigh up options to optimise returns to rice farmers.
His topic is “branding versus hedging” in the rice industry,
which he said had been successful in growing, storing, milling and marketing
rice under the current pool system.
“This has been very successful and has provided great returns
to growers even during extreme droughts with SunRice’s strong consumer
brands,” Drew said.
“Under the pool system indicative rice prices are given at
planting, but the final price is not determined until all the rice in the pool
is sold.”
He said this model was under some pressure with new crops
entering the area with well-developed futures markets, enabling growers to fix
the prices for some of their production. Family affair: Rice farmers Drew
and Abby Braithwaite with their children Macey, Harriet and Georgia on their
farm at Benerembah in southern NSW.
His quick move
derails the gravy train
2017-01-18 09:18:17
The government
decision to drastically reduce the import duty on rice imports had come as a
surprise to the business circles.
The business community had
another surprise when they learnt that Number One in yahapalanaya himself had
taken this decision.Meanwhile, a story doing the rounds in business circles
says that Number One had intervened to lift all restrictions on rice imports
and reduce the import duty in order to preempt a subtle bid by a powerful
purohita to give an undue advantage to a rice importing company he had a stake
in, they say
http://www.dailymirror.lk/122326/His-quick-move-derails-the-gravy-train-
Việt Nam extends rice trade deal
with Philippines
Update: January,
17/2017 - 15:50
|
image:
http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2017/1/17/gao923232PM.jpg
|
|
Rice loaded for exports. — Photo vietq.vn
|
HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam will continue to supply up to 1.5 million
tonnes of rice per year to the Philippines following the extension of the rice
trade agreement between the two countries.
The agreement has been extended to December 31, 2018, according
to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It is a solid legal foundation that will
allow Việt Nam to maintain its share in the Philippines rice market as the
product is mostly imported to the country via governmental auctions.
The extension of the deal will help stabilise Việt Nam’s rice
export market. The country has been competing with both traditional rice
exporters, such as Thailand and India, and emerging ones, such as Pakistan,
Cambodia and Myanmar.
The Philippines is a key rice importer of Việt Nam, buying
500,000-1,500,000 tonnes of rice from Viet Nam every year and accounting for
17-20 percent of the country’s total overseas rice shipments during 2011-2015.
— VNS
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/349843/viet-nam-extends-rice-trade-deal-with-philippines.html#toGxjZqmHRbDWXqQ.97
UNL receives
grant to research hybrid wheat
Mia Everding
Labourers work
in a paddy field | Reuters
BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has approved the
State Government proposal for extension of Kharif paddy procurement deadline to
April 30. Paddy procurement is in full swing in most of the districts except
Kandhamal where the the process will start from next week, Joint Director
(Procurement) in the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department B K Prusty
said.
Setting a
target to procure 30 lakh tonnes of rice for the 2016-17 kharif marketing
season (KMS), the state government started the procurement operation from Bargarh
district on November 29 last year. Since post harvest operation of paddy is
still on in many parts of the state, the state government requested the
Ministry of Agriculture to extend the paddy procurement deadline from March 30
to end of April, 2017, he said.
Besides,
demonetisation of high currentcy notes impacted paddy procurement as the
agencies involved in procurement could not pay the minimum support price to the
farmers due to cash crunch. About 17.45 lakh tonnes of paddy (equivalent to
11.87 lakh tonnes of rice) worth Rs 2,562 crore has been procured till date and
Rs 2,012 crore has been credited to bank accounts of farmers, Prusty added.
This year
procurement of paddy has been five percent more as compared to the
corresponding period last year. About 16.63 lakh tonnes of paddy were procured
by this time last year. Registered rice millers have already delivered 2,46,490
tonnes of rice to the state government.
The Odisha
State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) is the principal procurement agency of
the State Government. The corporation is procuring paddy in all the 30
districts through Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), pani
panchayats, Large Scale Agriculture Multipurpose Societies (LAMPS) and women
self help groups. The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department has
introduced paddy procurement automation system (P-PAS) in 294 of the 314 blocks
of the state. The remaining 20 blocks do not have surplus paddy for
procurement.
The custom
milled rice collected under the decentralised procurement system are supplied
under the public distribution system in the state. The surplus rice was
delivered to the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The deadline for Kharif paddy
procurement is March while for Rabi crop it is June. FCI will not accept rice
from the paddy procured beyond the stipulated time frame
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/2017/jan/17/government-to-procure-kharif-paddy-till-april-30-1560598.html
US Trade Policy: In Trump's America, Louisiana
Rice Farmers Hope For New Market
BY ON
Set against a calm blue sky and
acres of flat, open land, a whirling hydraulic drive wheel grumbled through the
silence as it churned into the ground, pushing a boat along the shallow
waters of Fred Zaunbrecher’s rice farm in Rayne, Louisiana. It was the middle
of January and they were harvesting crawfish, fishing in sacks of the
critters that thrive in the stubble of the rice fields picked clean from
the summer’s harvest.
The crustaceans, a Louisiana
delicacy, help feed steady revenue to Zaunbrecher and his three brothers who
oversee the farm. The crawfish are a stable business, but the rice – the
principal crop for Zaunbrecher – is not. A barrel goes for just $16 these days,
down from about $25 four years ago, he said.
"Our livelihood right now is
growing rice and selling it. And we plan on being in this business for a
long time," Zaunbrecher, 59, told International Business Times.
"We're optimistic that things are going to improve. If they don't,
we're going to be out of business."
Recently, there has been fresh cause for hope: Cuba. It's a
nearby, rice-loving country with whom trade had long been forbidden because
of an embargo. But under President Barack Obama, the United States has
worked to ease those restrictions. No state was more excited by that prospect
than Louisiana, which has precedent for doing business with the country and
recently dispatched trade delegations there amid the president's new
policies.
Relations with Cuba, however, have
been thrown into a limbo-state with the election of President-elect Donald
Trump, who has threatened to walk back normalization efforts. In the deeply red
state of Louisiana, the prospect of a Trump presidency largely breeds
excitement – and Zaunbrecher is no exception – but the president-elect's
hostility toward Cuba could create another roadblock for the Louisiana rice
industry hoping to rush into a brand new, potentially lucrative market.
"I think if you could snap
your fingers and get the Cuba market going, rice would probably go up three or
four dollars a barrel right away here," Zaunbrecher said. "It
would just be that good."
Under Trump, that might never
happen.
About one month before
Election Day, a Louisiana trade delegation that included Gov. John
Bel Edwards went to Cuba. During that trip leaders from the Louisiana
Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) signed, as did Cuban officials, a
memorandum of understanding to conduct trade once rules were lifted.
"We have some of the best agricultural products and
logistically, it makes more sense for the Cubans to trade with
us," LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain said at the time.
"We want to ensure we are on the same playing field as everyone else once
trade restrictions are relaxed."
The idea was to be first in line should the embargo be
lifted. In conversations with people involved in Louisiana trade, nearly all
said it was natural for rice to be the first product to export. It
could also prove to be a valuable endeavor. Cuba imports about 80
percent of its food and has the highest per-capita rice
consumption in the
Western Hemisphere. It currently gets most of its rice from Vietnam but used to
pay high prices for U.S. rice varieties.
And while other U.S. states do grow rice, there's a history of
trade between Cuba and Louisiana, which has exported more than $1.4 billion in allowed essential goods to the
island nation over the past decade. Virginia has exported the second-most over
that time at just $424 million. With Obama making tangible normalization progress and Louisiana
officials making inroads with visits to the country, trade with Cuba was
beginning to seem like a very real boost on the immediate horizon for
rice growers.Elton Kennedy, a rice producer in Louisiana, has been to Cuba
twice as a part of trade delegations. "We're all hungry to do business
with them," he said to IBT. "They're certainly anxious to do business
with us."
But because of the oppressive socialist Castro regime in Cuba –
and an important bloc of Republican Cubans in the swing state of Florida who
escaped the country – normalizing relations with the country can prove
politically tricky. Louisiana rice producers have realized this and Trump has
already adopted some hard-line stances, such as when he threatened to reverse what Obama has already
done, like allowing U.S.
flights into Cuba.After the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Trump
tweeted: "If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban
people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate
deal."Trump has also appointed Mauricio Claver-Carone, a staunch pro-embargo lobbyist, to
his transition team, which doesn't bode well for anyone hoping for further
loosening of restrictions.
http://www.ibtimes.com/us-trade-policy-trumps-america-louisiana-rice-farmers-hope-new-market-2474504
Specialty rice program nears release of 2 aromatic lines
MondayPosted
Jan 16, 2017 at 11:23 AMUpdated
Jan 16, 2017 at 1:14 PM
By Ryan McGeeney/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL
STUTTGART - The University of
Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's specialty rice program, seated in the
Rice Research and Extension Center at Stuttgart, is planning to release two
varieties of aromatic rice in the coming years, researchers recently.
Debra Ahrent Wisdom, a program
and research associate for the Division of Agriculture at Stuttgart, said two
jasmine-type aromatic rices, currently known simply as AR-1105 and AR-1102, are
scheduled to be released in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
"These are really the first lines we've released through the specialty
rice program," Ahrent Wisdom said. "We determined there was a demand
for these aromatics through conversations with growers, millers and marketers,
and also by simply looking at rice imports across the country."
Ahrent Wisdom said that while the
United States (and Arkansas in particular) doesn't typically import much long-
or medium-grain rice, imports of aromatics such as jasmine and basmati are
strong.
"There's an interest among
consumers for aromatic rice," she said, noting that immigrants and foreign
nationals, particularly from Asian counties such as India and Thailand,
overwhelmingly prefer the rice grown in their countries of origin.
"We can't grow the varieties
they grow in Thailand and India, because of the photo period
sensitivities," Ahrent Wisdom said. "We can't just say, 'send us some
seed and we'll grow it here.' It doesn't work that way. There's something about
the environment in Thailand and India that makes those aromatic lines just pop.
And it's not everywhere in those countries - it's just certain pockets where
the soil and the environment just works.
"We don't happen to have
that particular environment here - so we work around the environment we
have," she said.
Ahrent Wisdom said both of the
new varieties claim Jazzman, a jasmine aromatic line originally developed by
Louisiana State University, as a parent. In three years of test trials, AR-1105
and AR-1102 have averaged yields of 170 and 150 bushels per acre, respectively.
While the yields aren't comparable to most long-grain rice varieties, the
numbers represent a strong showing among aromatics, she said.
Jarrod Hardke, extension rice
agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said specialty rices like Ahrent
Wisdom's aromatic lines make up less than one percent of overall rice
production in Arkansas, the leading rice state in the country. Nevertheless,
producers are always looking for an edge in marketing opportunities, he said.
"Our growers do want some
investment," Hardke said. "Any kind of value-added product, anything
we can find a fit for, at a premium, and can grow and sell, that's great. But
to date, specialty rice markets are still pretty small."
Karen Moldenhauer, a professor of
Crop, Soil and Environmental Science for the Division of Agriculture in
Stuttgart, said the RREC has been working with aromatic varieties for more than
a decade, although the specialty didn't become a focus of the program's
research until Ahrent Wisdom transferred from Fayetteville to Stuttgart in
2009.
"There was a lot of interest
in aromatic rice," Moldenhauer said. "The Arkansas Rice Research and
Promotion Board and a number of producers in Arkansas thought it would be good
if we could have an aromatic that we could potentially sell to some of these
same people; people that were more interested in different types of rices, so
they could have something from the United States to choose from."
Moldenhauer said that since the
Division of Agriculture's rice breeding program was established in 1931, it has
released about 45 lines of rice, only one of which has been an aromatic.
Glen Bathke, assistant director
of the RREC, said that the specialty rice program's pursuit of unusual lines
provides an avenue for growers to find new markets in which to pursue revenues.
"Just having a new rice
variety released periodically lets growers and business owners know that we can
grow specialty rice here, not just medium- and long-grain," Bathke said.
"We have aromatic markets right here in Arkansas. If growers would like to
participate in that market, we have products that will allow them to do so, and
diversify a little bit. But developing those markets is key."
Ryan McGeeney is with the U of A
System Division of Agriculture
http://www.pbcommercial.com/news/20170116/specialty-rice-program-nears-release-of-2-aromatic-lines
Việt Nam extends rice trade deal
with Philippines
Update: January,
17/2017 - 15:50
HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam will continue to supply up to 1.5 million
tonnes of rice per year to the Philippines following the extension of the rice
trade agreement between the two countries.The agreement has been
extended to December 31, 2018, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
It is a solid legal foundation that will allow Việt Nam to maintain its share
in the Philippines rice market as the product is mostly imported to the country
via governmental auctions.
The extension of the deal will help stabilise Việt Nam’s rice
export market. The country has been competing with both traditional rice
exporters, such as Thailand and India, and emerging ones, such as Pakistan,
Cambodia and Myanmar.
The Philippines is a key rice importer of Việt Nam, buying
500,000-1,500,000 tonnes of rice from Viet Nam every year and accounting for
17-20 percent of the country’s total overseas rice shipments during 2011-2015.
— VNS
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/349843/viet-nam-extends-rice-trade-deal-with-philippines.html#vh9pZtISM1XbZKdG.97
