15th may,2017 daily global,regional local rice e-newsletter by ricpeplus magazine

TF teams prevent leakage of commodities worth ₹ 3.17 crore in three months

The enforcement task force teams of the Civil Supplies Department have prevented leakage of public distribution system and other commodities worth about ₹ 3.17 crore in three months, from February to April, by conducting raids at 179 places, registering nine criminal cases and 56 cases (6A) under the Essential Commodities Act.

According to the Civil Supplies officials, the five task force teams have seized 3,507 quintals of PDS rice, 937 quintals of custom milled rice (fine quality rice), both worth about ₹ 1 crore and sugar, LPG cylinders and kerosene worth over ₹ 2.15 crore during the raids. Besides, the department was also able to recover maximum quantity of CMR from millers with the help of frequent checks.

Against the due of 4,525.701 tonnes of CMR from millers for the 2015-16 kharif season, the due in 2016-17 kharif was only 1,192 tonnes as the recovery rate went up to 99.91%.

Commissioner of Civil Supplies C.V. Anand reviewed the performance of the enforcement wing on Sunday. He stated that the task force teams were formed with retired police, revenue, civil supplies and commercial taxes officers to check malpractices and corruption in the distribution of essential commodities was yielding good results.

The teams were conducting frequent raids on the mandal-level stock (MLS) points and fair price shops to check irregularities/misuse in PDS and at State borders to prevent illegal transportation of PDS rice to other States, Mr. Anand said. Besides, raids were also being conducted on rice mills, government hostels and schools getting fine quality rice (sanna biyyam) from rice millers under the Mid-Day-Meal Scheme, LPG godowns and illegal transportation of rice to other States through rail and road transport, he noted.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/civil-supplies-task-force-gets-cracking/article18453017.ece

Govt goes for rice-fix

Production hit hard by climate fallouts; allows import for first time in 5 years

Boro paddy affected by rice blast (a fungal disease), Photo: Collected/File

Reaz Ahmad

Amidst a major Boro crop loss, Bangladesh for the first time in five years is going to the international market to buy rice with the aim of reining in the soaring prices of the staple.

Hard on the heels of 10 lakh tonnes of flash flood-induced projected Boro loss in north-eastern Bangladesh and further crop loss due to widespread fungi attack (rice blast), the government floated first of a series of international import tenders on Tuesday amounting to 50,000 tonnes.

Food Ministry sources said the government would allow up to six lakh tonnes of rice import this year with the Directorate General of Food getting ready to float the second tender in the series (for 50,000 tonnes) this week.

After a sustained growth in farm output for the last several years, the government took the import decision when the prices of the staple showed an upward trend with allegations that a section of millers and middlemen were deliberately supplying the market less rice to put pressure on the government to lift the 25 percent import duty.

A farmer collecting paddy from his submerged field, to use the plant as fodder in Moulvibazar last month. Photo: Collected/File

According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), over the last two weeks, the upper band of coarse rice price rose to Tk 45 a kg from Tk 42.

Earlier, a food ministry monitoring report also showed that the retail prices of rice rose by 3.7 percent in Dhaka.

Since the unusually early floods struck the vast haor areas of Sunamganj, Habiganj, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, and Netrakona districts in late March, rice traders had a series of meetings with the government's food officials asking for the waiver of import duty.

The duty was imposed two years ago to stop private importers' flooding the country's market with cheaper rice from India when Bangladesh had already attained self-sustenance in rice and even exported some to Sri Lanka.

Talking to The Daily Star on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said, "We've decided to import some rice -- initially one lakh tonnes may be -- and if needed, more later.

"We lost crops this year because of climate change-induced early rainfall. There were incessant rainfall for six and half hours one day and for five hours another day. We experienced too much rainfall too early -- early by three weeks. Humid conditions and high temperatures all helped otherwise dormant fungi to become active causing crop loss."

Matia said, "It's not that we'll not get grains from blast-affected rice fields. May be we'll reap 40 maunds of rice instead of 70 maunds per acre from the affected fields."

She, however, offered no estimate of how much of a 19.1 million projected Boro would be lost due to the blast.

The import decision also came when rice stock in public granaries dropped to a six-year low, less than three lakh tonnes.

Director General of the food directorate Badrul Hasan told the media that the state agency also planned to import rice through government-to-government deals from producers such as Thailand, Vietnam and India as importing via tenders was a lengthy process.

The country's prominent plant pathologist, M Bahadur Meah, who teaches at Bangladesh Agricultural University, feared that the fungi attacks have already caused a huge crop loss in southern, central and lately in northern districts.

Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University's plant pathology professor Abu Noman Faruq Ahmmed had seen firsthand the damage caused by rice blast in several districts in recent weeks.

Both Bahadur and Noman told The Daily Star that early rainfall, fluctuations in day and night time temperatures and humid conditions helped blast-causing fungi to become active. They found BRRI-28, one of the country's best-bred Boro rice variety, vulnerable to blast.  

Immediate past director general of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Jiban Krishna Biswas said, "Resurgence of rice blast in the form of neck blast is dominant this year. There was rain during the flowering stage of BRRI-28, BRRI-50, BRRI-61 and BRRI-63. None of these varieties are tolerant to the blast. It may be mentioned that BRRI-28 was recorded as moderately tolerant during the time of its release. But the rice blast has the ability to adapt. A blast-resistant variety may not be able to fight back infection from adapted fungi.”

After the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) report that rice blasts have been identified in as many as 19 districts this year, the government held a blast consultation workshop on Thursday involving national and international stakeholders.

Addressing the workshop, Matia Chowdhury thanked the media for spreading awareness about the fungi this year.

She said the Awami League assumed power in 1996 amidst a 4 million tonne food deficit but turned the country into rice self-sufficient in 1999. Despite inheriting a food-deficit country again in 2009, "we succeeded in achieving self sufficiency".

The minister asked all relevant to try and develop varieties resistant to blast.

BRRI Plant Pathology Division chief MA Latif said work was underway to develop blast-resistant rice varieties. He said crop loss due to blast was under control as BRRI had warned a month ago about possible blast attack.

http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/govt-goes-rice-fix-1404796

Increasing price of rice and bank loans

PRICES of different varieties of rice have gone up by 20 to 25 per cent in retail markets which are beyond the capacity of common consumers. This is happening when the harvesting season of summer paddy is on. Only seven hundred thousand metric tons of rice was affected by flash floods in the hour areas which is less than 2.0 per cent of our annual yields and the government decided to import six hundred thousand metric tons of rice to retain a healthy stock. Usually at this time of the year price of rice comes down to its lowest level which is not happening this time.

The secret behind the fact is that large rice millers received huge short-term loans from banks. They used the money for hoarding rice creating crisis in markets. The same thing happened eight years ago. At that time Bangladesh Bank (BB) instructed all banks to realise agricultural loans within a month and the price of rice started coming down within a week. This time also the central bank BB should repeat the same measure to protect the interest of the common consumers.

Md. Ashraf Hossain

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/05/13/70226/Increasing-price-of-rice-and-bank-loans

International efforts to develop rice varieties to combat China’s diabetes epidemic

International efforts to develop rice varieties to combat China’s diabetes epidemic

By Samantha Cheh | 15th May 2017 | @sam_sicilipadi

Li is experimenting with a strain of black rice which has larger than average germs, thus supplying more protein than carbohydrates. Source: Shutterstock/MaraZe

THE number of diabetes patients is rising all across China and groups of scientists all over the world are working to develop new rice strains to prevent more people from succumbing to the disease.

China registered the highest number of cases in the world in 2016 – 109.6 million adults were recorded to suffer from diabetes, and by 2040, another 40 million could join their ranks. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 90 percent of that number comprises sufferers of type-2 diabetes, which is largely a result of lifestyle choices.

It’s a shocking number when you consider as many as half of China’s adult population is already pre-diabetic and are at high-risk of developing the preventable type-2 diabetes, as well as other cardiovascular diseases.

Chinese companies have been at the forefront of a series of inventions aimed at helping patients with diabetes or those seeking to prevent the disease in the first place. Chinese companies have overtaken German ones for the first time as the leader of diabetes innovations sector.

A researcher from East China Normal University, HYe Haifeng , has produced a device that marries telecommunications technology with cell-based therapy and optogenetics. It can work through a smartphone to control engineered cells to produce insulin when needed.

But some scientists are taking a more preventive approach to help with China’s diabetes epidemic. Bloomberg reported several initiatives across Asia Pacific aimed at changing the nutritional content of rice as a preventive measure against the spread of the disease.

In China – where the highest number of adults living with diabetes is – scientists at Shanghai Normal University (SNU) are looking to breed a kind of black rice with larger germs than normal rice. Li Jianyue, a professor of life and environmental sciences, has developed the larger germs so the rice will have a higher protein percentage, cutting down the amount of carbohydrates consumed.

Li’s work is currently focused on creating hybrids rice types that have the nutritional value of black rice without sacrificing the taste and texture of varieties favored by the populations on the east coast. Two companies have bought rice from Li to commercialize.

“The number of people with diabetes is surging,” Li told Bloomberg, though she admitted if the rice did not taste good, few people would buy into it. “So, we’re also trying to improve the texture.”

Other international efforts include the Chinese Academy of Science that wants to develop rice with larger amounts of vitamin B, E, iron and zinc while Shanghai Microwells Biotechnology Co. experiments with a blend of unpolished rice and white rice. It’s a strategy with its own risks, says general manager He Jianhui, as many consumers consider unpolished rice to be rough and inferior.

“But, now that more Chinese are seeking a healthy diet, we hope the unpolished rice can help people with the potential to develop diabetes. By improving their diet, we hope they can avoid turning to doctors for medicine,” he said.

Over in Bangladesh and the Philippines, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working with local rice researchers to enrich rice with vitamin A to tackle diabetes-affiliated blindness. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) is experimenting with rice types that contain more fiber, so that the staple will contribute positively to gut health rather than produce a glucose-surge that depresses insulin responses.

Risky rice

Rice is by far the most popular staple food in mainland China, so it’s unsurprising the grain, which many studies have concluded is an important contributor to diabetes contraction, has become the focal point of many local nutritional scientists.

A joint initiative between Harvard University and National University of Singapore (NUS) produced a study that explored the correlation between Asian physiologies and contraction of diabetes. Asians generally have bodies with higher fat percentages, which makes them more susceptible to contracting diabetes.

Refined white rice is particularly damaging, as it lacks many of the nutritional components of unmilled rice. With the advent of modern milling technology that removes the outer jacket of rice grains – known as the bran – many people have been socialized to eating polished rice, which lacks nutrients such as vitamin B and thiamine, keys to preventing beriberi. Those same nutrients are optimal preventive measures against diabetes which cannot be replaced, even by white rice varieties bred to reduce blood sugar impact, according to Sun Qi, an assistant professor at the TH Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University.

Source: Shutterstock/SOMMAI

In comparison, whole grains, which retain the bran, are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, proven to be useful deterrents against diabetes.

Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have identified the genetic markers of starch, which control the glycemic impact (the effect on blood sugar levels) of any grain. According to IRRI, rice has some of the highest glycemic indexes of any food, ranging from 48 to 92. If a grain has a low-GI count, it’s less likely to cause an immediate and overwhelming spike in blood sugar, thus reducing the dependency on insulin surges.

“As of today, more than 430 million cases of type-2 diabetes occur worldwide and the problem is severe in developing countries like China and India,” said Nese Sreenivasulu from the IRRI.

“Many modern varieties have a high to intermediate glycemic index, hence breeding for low-GI is an important trait.”

Should researchers and the various institutes be able to develop rice hybrids that are vigorous, disease-resistant and are able to produce large yields, it could prove to be revolutionary for the population. China has managed to remain largely self-sufficient in its rice production over the last decade, despite consumption rising by 13 percent. However, nutritional varieties have been scarce.

“Middle-class Chinese are now very focused on nutrition,” Phil Larkin, a chief research scientist with the CSIRO in Canberra told Bloomberg. By catering to China’s rising health consciousness, companies and scientists could overturn falling consumption levels.

http://techwireasia.com/2017/05/international-efforts-develop-nutritional-rice-varieties-help-chinas-diabetes-epidemic/#PgLrUbqmG4HL6jqf.99

Scientists shocked by what they found in sushi

MAY 13, 2017 BY DAN TAYLOR

Scientists are warning the public about something that's on the rise thanks to the prevalence and popularity of sushi.

If you’re a sushi lover, there’s some bad news for you. Despite its glowing reputation as both a delicious and ultra healthy food that is both low in fat and high in protein, a new report claims that something very alarming may be within: it carries a dangerous parasite in many circumstances.

BMJ Case Reports, a medical journal, published the report this week, pointing to the case of a 32-year-old man from Portugal who suffered from some stomach pain for more than a week, and then started vomiting and had a high fever. After doctors questioned him, they realized he had recently eaten sushi.

After an endoscopy, they found a parasite larvae that had attached itself to the lining of his stomach. Anisakiasis is the name of the parasitic worms, and scientists are seeing it on the rise thanks to the popularity of sushi.

“An unseen hazard of eating raw or undercooked fish/seafood is on the rise in Western countries, where dishes, such as sushi, are becoming increasingly popular, warn doctors today,” the BMJ statement reads. “The warning comes after they treated a 32 year old previously well man who had had severe upper gut (epigastric) pain, vomiting, and fever for a week. A blood test indicated mild inflammation, and the area below his ribs was tender. But it was only when the man revealed that he had recently eaten sushi that the doctors suspected that he might have anisakiasis. Anisakiasis is caused by eating raw or undercooked fish/seafood infected with nematode parasites of the species Anisakis.”

http://www.babwnews.com/2017/05/scientists-shocked-by-what-they-found-in-sushi/

House asked to probe PHL’s rice inventory

By BusinessMirror

MAY 14, 2017

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

The House of Representatives should look into the true state of the country’s rice inventory to ensure ample and affordable supply of the staple, a vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation said.Nacionalista Party Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of Camarines Sur made the statement after officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA) fretted over a possible supply shortfall during the July-to-September lean months.

“[An] inquiry should be conducted by the House Committee on Agriculture and Food following fears that the country’s current buffer stock might not be enough to last during the lean months after this summer harvest season,”
Villafuerte said.

He said Congress should help Malacañang determine the real supply situation, and then draw up proactive measures to avert a possible supply shortfall later this year. These could include importing rice either by the government or by private traders under the minimum access volume scheme of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Villafuerte said Congress could back immediate imports to enable the government to proactively maintain the ideal buffer-stock level, or equivalent to a 30-day supply of the national daily rice requirement, by the time domestic stocks dwindle during the lean months.

“Considering the time needed for shipments to arrive in the country from Day One of such negotiations, now would be the best time for the government to green-light such imports—but if, and only if, such action would be deemed warranted in the course of the proposed public hearings on the supply situation,” he said.

“Otherwise, there is absolutely no need for the government to entertain rice imports if the rice inventory will be found adequate for the remainder of the year [in the public hearings], as any unnecessary importation would unduly distort domestic supply and depress farm-gate prices of palay that would only hurt local farmers,” Villafuerte added.

Other than the three-month lean season, the Legislative-Executive Department Advisory Council (Ledac) has required the NFA to maintain a 15-day buffer stock at any given time.  In Camarines Sur, Villafuerte
said he received information from NFA Provincial Manager Yolanda Navarro that the province’s buffer stock only totaled 42,293 cavans or 50-kilogram bags as of April 30. This is equivalent to three days’ consumption at Camarines Sur’s daily rice requirement of 13,840 cavans.

“NFA CamSur’s rice supply for three days’ consumption is but a tenth of the 30-day buffer stock level that the Ledac has prescribed for the NFA at the onset of the July-to-September lean months,” said the lawmaker, quoting Navarro’s letter to Villafuerte.

Navarro said exacerbating the supply problem for Camarines Sur’s NFA is that the food agency has struggled to compete with private grains traders in beefing up its inventory this summer harvest season. Traders have been buying palay from farmers at P20 per kg, higher than the government support price of P17.

The NFA said its palay purchases in the first four months of the year declined by nearly 82 percent to 10,092.65 metric tons (MT), from 54,750 MT recorded a year ago.

NFA Spokesman Marietta Ablaza said the food agency was only able to buy 201,853 50-kg bags of palay from local farmers  during the January-to-April period. “That is 17 percent of our target of 1.2 million cavans”, Ablaza told the BusinessMirror in a recent interview. She attributed the NFA’s low procurement volume to the high farm-gate price of palay during the four month-period.

Ablaza said the NFA spent some P171 million to purchase the 201,853 bags of palay from local farmers.

The food agency is targeting to buy 4.6 million 50-kg bags of palay, or about 230,675.5 MT, this year, which is more than double the 107,877 MT bought by the agency in 2016. The NFA buys clean and dry palay at P17/kg. The food agency gives an additional incentive of P0.20 to 0.50/kg for delivery, P0.20/kg for drying and P0.30 for cooperative-development incentive fund for farmers’ organizations.

Agriculture Secretary Emmmanuel F. Piñol said the NFA should increase its buying price by P2 per kg, so it could compete with local rice traders and do away with importing rice to increase its rice stockpile. “The NFA should increase its support price. In the long run it will be cheaper for the NFA to buy local palay, because they will no longer have to pay taxes or tariffs for imports,” Piñol said in a recent interview with reporters.

The DA chief said he urged President Duterte to allow the NFA to have a buffer stock that would last for six months.

“[I suggested they] follow the Indian model. In India, when they are stocking up, they buy about six months’ worth of their rice requirements from farmers. This was the same suggestion that I made to the President,” Piñol said

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/house-asked-to-probe-phls-rice-inventory/

PHL rice imports seen hitting 1.8 MMT

By Jasper Y. Arcalas

MAY 14, 2017

In Photo: A worker at the National Food Authority (NFA) in Bicutan arranges sacks of NFA rice. File Photo

The Philippines’s rice imports this year could reach 1.8 million metric tons (MMT) after the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice expires next month, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In its latest report titled, “Grain: World Markets and Trade”, the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) said the figure was 28.57 percent higher than its earlier estimate of 1.4 MMT.

“The Philippines is up 400,000 metric tons [MT] to 1.8 MMT on strong demand for lower-priced imports following the anticipated expiration of the QRs,” the report read.

The hike in the country’s rice imports would contribute to the spike in global grains trade next year. Total rice exports next year is poised to reach 42.249 MMT, 2 percent higher than the 41.319 MMT estimated for 2017, according to FAS.

“Import demand from China, the European Union, Africa and the Philippines remains robust. The majority of rice is still consumed within the country where it is produced, with less than 10 percent of rice production traded on the global market,” the report read.

The FAS report also forecasted that Philippine milled rice production in 2018 would decline to 11.2 MMT, from the estimated 11.5 MMT production this year, due to the contraction in areas planted with rice.

Next year the report noted that the country’s rice would decline to 4.5 million hectares, from 4.6 million has this year. Also, average rice yield is expected to go down to 3.95 MT per hectare from 3.97 MT per hectare, according to the report.

According to a separate report of the USDA FAS agency in Manila published in March, the decline in output of the staple could also be attributed to the shift of Filipino rice farmers to other crops, such as corn, following the lifting of the QR on rice.

In its May report, the FAS maintained its earlier forecast that the Philippines will be importing some 1.4 MMT of rice this year.

The Department of Agriculture is targeting to produce 18.57 MMT of paddy rice this year, 5.33 percent higher than last year’s output of 17.63 MMT.

The Philippines’s waiver on the special treatment for rice, which allowed the country to keep its QR on the staple, is set to expire on June 30.

However, Republic Act 8178, or the Agricultural Tariffication Act, must also be amended before Manila could allow more rice imports

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/phl-rice-imports-seen-hitting-1-8-mmt/

Display centre of Pakistani products to be established in Uzbekistan

Faisalabad

Pakistan Ambassador Designate to Uzbekistan Dr. Irfan Yusuf Shami said that Display Centre of Pakistani Products is likely to be established in Uzbekistan which is agro-based strong economy and has three times more yields of cotton than Pakistan.
He was addressing a meeting with office-bearers, executive committee and members of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) On Saturday.
He said that during E.C.O Summit, the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan visited Pakistan and held meetings with Pakistani counterpart and emphasized on joint ventures and investment in Uzbekistan.
In order to promote bilateral trade between the two countries, the flights from Lahore to Tashkent on weekly basis are restored which is more adequate trade route than Afghanistan whereas flights are also available at Tashkent for 52 countries of the world, he added. Dr Shami said that Uzbekistan has shown keen interest in CPEC project too.
About export opportunities, he said that there is a great scope of export of citrus, mangoes and potatoes from Pakistan to Uzbekistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan Ambassador Designate to Mexico Tasawar Khan said that Mexico has one trillion dollars economy and 125 million population had 700 billion dollars trade volume wherein the imports worth 372 billion dollars.
He said that there is a lot of potential of textile products to be exported to Mexico that is also gaining more importance in the world for becoming member of Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG).
He said that Mexican Embassy had been closed in 2007 and 2009. In this regard he will make all-out efforts that the embassy may be reopened in Pakistan.
He said that during 1995 and 2013 the Pakistani rice had been banned due to quality issue. He also assured to establish Pakistani products display centre in Mexico. The main object of visiting FCCI is to interact with the Faisalabad business community and to take feedback.
Earlier during his welcome address President FCCI Engineer Muhammad Saeed Sheikh congratulated both the ambassadors on their appointment and expressed hope that the bilateral trade between the two countries will witness enhancement manifolds.
He announced trade delegations to Uzbekistan during the month of September. He suggested the Pakistani Designated Ambassador to Mexico to organize exhibitions in order to promote Pakistani products.
Later, FCCI shields and CPEC books compiled by FCCI were also presented to both designated ambassadors.—APP

http://pakobserver.net/display-centre-pakistani-products-established-uzbekistan/

Rice farmers’ group benefits from DA’s rice hybrid techno-demo project

 May 15, 2017

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato May15 (PIA) - The implementation of the rice hybrid techno-demo project of the agriculture department has provided local farmers avenues to learn new technologies using different kinds of hybrid rice seeds, an official said.

The project jointly undertaken by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the local government unit of Makilala primarily aims to offer different packages of technologies using different kinds of hybrid rice seeds.

Agricultural technologist  Jenepher Bade said Makilala rice farmers who are beneficiaries of the rice technology demonstration project continue to obtain hybrid rice seeds for free for their irrigated rice farmlands.

Recently 31 more rice farmers from Barangay Malabuan and Libertad received 34 bags of rice seeds with 8 bags of assorted fertilizers, and 2 liters of foliar fertilizer for each beneficiary, Bade disclosed. 

Rice seeds with the assorted fertilizers were provided by DA XII in collaboration with the participating hybrid rice seed companies like Syngenta Philippines, SL Agritech Corporation, Pioneer Hi-Bred Philippines, Seedworks Philippines, Bayer Philippines and Philippine Rice Research Institute.

Bade said that they will sustain the support to DA’s programs, projects and activities aimed to improve rice productivity of farmers as well as augment and alleviate the economic welfare of the rice farming communities in the locality.

The Rice Hybrid Techno-Demo project  is the realization of DA’s role in the pursuit of food staples and self-sufficiency, the official further said.

Said project also intend to increase average yield performance of low yielding rice areas from 3.6 MT/ha to 7.5 MT/ha through the adoption of hybrid seeds in order to attain and sustain rice sufficiency through improved and adaptable technologies.

The rice farmer beneficiaries in Makilala town are members of the Small Water Impounding project of Malabuan and the Communal Irrigators Association of Libertad.

Makilala Municipal Agricultural Services Office Agriculturist Rosario Paguican also said that with DA’s new technology,  coupled with the efforts and thrust of Mayor Rudy Caoagdan on Agriculture, local farmers are gaining headway  in the agricultural development of the locality.

This he said, enabled the farmers to increase their production, whereby  helping sustainability in agricultural farming.  (OCDeseo-LGU Makilala/ACAgad PIA12

http://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1621494817784

Volatility in rice prices projected to continue

By: Ronnel W. Domingo - @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 01:02 AM May 15, 2017

Politicians tinkering with rice policies in Asian governments amid shrinking stocks among exporters and rising demand could again drive global prices up, according to an economist at the International Rice Research Institute.

Samerandu Mohanty, head of IRRI’s social sciences division, said in a commentary on the global rice market that efforts among importing countries such as the Philippines to wean themselves away from foreign supplies

 would not stop the upward trend in the volume of grains traded worldwide.

“The overall upward trend of the volume of the global rice trade that was set in motion in the early 1990s continues to stay on track even after a change in sentiment of the importing countries during the post-2008 crisis to pursue self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on foreign rice,” Mohanty said.

 “The current trade volume now accounts for nearly 9 percent of global production as compared with less than 7 percent during the 2008 rice crisis and 3.5 percent in 1990,” he said.

Mohanty, a principal scientist at IRRI, noted that major Asian importers such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia continue to import a combined three million to five million tons of milled rice, depending on their domestic output.

He added that record global output in the past several years has kept prices stable but, at the same time, stocks of the top five exporters —India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States —have steadily declined.

He said strong growth in demand has pushed down the five countries’ combined inventories from 41 million tons in the crop year 2012-2013 to 28 million tons in 2016-2017.

Meanwhile, rice consumption has increased by nearly 14 percent from 418.5 million tons in 2006-2007 to 475.5 million tons in 2016-2017.

Mohanty said that as demand was expected to continue to rise in the coming years, the active participation of India and China in global rice trade—respectively as exporter and importer—“may bring a degree of uncertainty to the market because of their sheer size and their focus on domestic food security.”

“Politicians will continue to fiddle with domestic and trade policies to support farmers and achieve greater domestic price stability and in the process may bring greater volatility to the international market,” he said.

In the Philippines, the Duterte administration has sent signals that—now that the peak of the dry-season harvest is over—it would again allow importation to shore up domestic stocks as the lean production months start next month.

http://business.inquirer.net/229515/volatility-rice-prices-projected-continue#ixzz4h9IG67ZE