Poor pace of paddy purchases hurting farmers
Published at 10:58 pm June 16th, 2019
File photo of farmers reaping paddy in a
field in Moulvibazar Mehedi
Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
A paltry 7.5%
of targeted paddy volume has been purchased from farmers so far, but millers
managed to sell 35% of the rice that the government plans to buy this Boro
season
If the government wants to provide farmers
with price support, the last thing it should allow is to have a situation where
farmers end up selling their paddy to middlemen at lower prices.
But thanks to systemic apathy in the
government’s paddy purchases from farmers, there is no spirited drive in the
ongoing foodgrain procurement program.
Market sources fear that by the time the drive
gains momentum, if at all, farmers in dire need of cash would already be
compelled to sell paddy at much cheaper rates to middlemen and millers. Paddy
farmers would eventually not get the price benefit meant for them.
The government’s food purchase centres across
the country might likely buy less than 30,000 tons paddy from farmers in the
first one and a half months of a four-month long procurement drive.
This purchase
would only be 7.5% of the procurement target of 400,000 tons.
Thanks to a rice glut, courtesy of high
domestic production and unregulated cheaper rice imports from across the
border, farmers this Boro season are distressed and are being offered Tk500 for
each maund of paddy as against the government declared support price of Tk1,040
per maund.
When it comes to providing price support to
farmers, it’s the pace of the government’s procurement drive that matters most,
not the volume.
Though the government last week revised its
procurement volume from an initially planned 150,000 tons to 400,000 tons, the
desired pace in procurement is completely missing, as evidenced by Food
Ministry statistics.
Market sources say that given the reality of
the government buying only a small portion of rice and paddy from farmers and
millers, it needs to do it at a much better pace. Otherwise, farmers miss out
on the true benefits of the government price support intended to help them, and
middlemen and millers end up cashing in on the benefits instead.
Interestingly, when it comes to rice but not
paddy, the procurement drive appears to be a good success. Out of a targeted
purchase of 1.1 million tons of rice, the Food Directorate has already procured
over 380,000 tons in the first one and a half months of the four-month long
drive, accomplishing a third of the task at a fast clip.
The price benefit of the government’s rice
procurement program largely goes to rice millers, who buy paddy from farmers at
cheaper rates, converting that into rice and selling the same to the government
at higher rates.
Reached over the phone, Agriculture Minister
Dr Abdur Razzaque told this correspondent that after revising the paddy
procurement target from 150,000 tons to 400,000 tons, the government has
instructed purchase officials to buy paddy directly from farmers and convert
the same into rice.
Food officials acknowledge that the government
does not have the capacity to hold paddy in public granaries which have
expressly been built to store rice.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder recently
said a process was underway to build several new food depots across the country
where one million tons paddy could be stored.
Top-end rice prices on the boil
Prices of preferred
non-basmati rice varieties such as Sona Masuri and Kolam have risen by up to a
fifth over the past few weeks on supply squeeze. This is mainly on account of
reduced output in the previous cropping season in the drought-affected regions
of eastern Karnataka and Vidarbha, where these varieties are mostly grown.
Also
the tardy progress of southwest monsoon and concerns over projection of
rainfall this year has aided the upward price trend with farmers and millers
holding back their stocks, sources said.
Water crisis
Scanty
rainfall last year coupled with lack of canal water for irrigation had impacted
the paddy cultivation in districts such as Bellary, Koppal, Raichur and Yadgir
in Eastern Karnataka. “While the kharif transplantation was hit by the delay in
release of water last year, farmers could not take up paddy cultivation during
the rabi season as there was hardly any water in the canals,” said Chamras
Malipatil, President of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha - Hasiru Sene. However,
there’s no dearth of paddy stocks, he said. “Large farmers, stockists and
millers are holding the stocks from previous crops,” Malipatil said, adding
that newer storage techniques, including improved fumigation, are helping them hold
the stocks. Traditionally, the prices of the preferred varieties go up during
this time of the year by about ₹2
per kg as the supply slows down. However, the extent of increase has more than
doubled to around ₹5 per kg this year, says RC Lahoti,
President, Bengaluru Wholesale Food Grain & Pulses Merchants’ Association. Interestingly, the
prices of other varieties such as Salem Idly has also gone up this year.
“Prices may come down when the farmers start releasing the stocks in
October-November,” Lahoti said. Srikar Nag of Raichur Rice Mills Association,
blamed the unplanned release of water for irrigation from the dams on the
Tungabhadra and the Krishna rivers in the region for the shortfall in the crop.
“Though the Tungabhadra dam got filled up, farmers could hardly take advantage
of it due to the unplanned release of waters by the government,” said Nag.
Abysmal water levels
Water
levels have reached the dead storage levels in Tungabhadra reservoir, where
accumulation of silt has reduced the storage capacity. While the shortfall in
last year’s kharif crop was estimated at 30-40 per cent, farmers could hardly
harvest a tenth of the rabi crop, he said. As a result, the supplies to the
rice mills in Raichur have drastically reduced, forcing some mills to fetch
paddy from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Nag said. Consecutive droughts in
Nagpur region, where the Kolam variety is grown, has also hit the supplies of
the premium variety, he added. Vikram Shreeram of Shriya Rice Mills in Raichur
said the price correction ranged between ₹2-6
per kg at the mill, depending on the varieties. The shortage of paddy has hit
the processing of 70-odd rice mills in Raichur, which have reduced their
production by half. “The 70-odd mills used to load about 400-500 tonnes of
processed rice every day. Presently, we are not even loading 150-200 tonnes a
day,” he added. Srinivas Jayanthi, a trader in Bengaluru said the price
fluctuation continues on a daily basis. The steamed variety of sona masuri has
seen the highest increase from around ₹33
a kg a month ago to aound ₹41-42 per kg now. “Prices could ease depending on the
progress of monsoon,” he added. India’s rice production for 2018-19 is
seen at a record 115.63 million tonnes. Bulk of the paddy produced in India is
that of common variety, which is used for supply of rice through the public
distribution system. Trade sources estimate that about a fourth of rice
produced in India is of premium variety including basmati. However, the
production figures for preferred varieties like sona masuri and kolam were not
readily available.
Climate change affects grain
production in India; rice crop significantly declines,
Climate change affects grain
production in India; rice crop significantly declines, says study
India's grain production is
vulnerable to climate change, say scientist who have found that the yield of
the country's rice crop can significantly decline during extreme weather
conditions.
India?s grain production is
vulnerable to climate change. (Reuters)
India’s
grain production is vulnerable to climate change, say scientist who have found
that the yield of the country’s rice crop can significantly decline during
extreme weather conditions. Researchers from Columbia University in the US
studied the effects of climate on five major crops in India: finger millet,
maize, pearl millet, sorghum and rice. These crops make up the vast majority of
grain production during the June-to-September monsoon season — India’s main
grain production period — with rice contributing three-quarters of the supply
for the season. Taken together, the five grains are essential for meeting
India’s nutritional needs, researchers said. The study, published in the
journal Environmental Research Letters, found that the yields from grains such
as millet, sorghum, and maize are more resilient to extreme weather. Their
yields vary significantly less due to year-to-year changes in climate and
generally experience smaller declines during droughts. However, yields from
rice, India’s main crop, experience larger declines during extreme weather
conditions. “By relying more and more on a single crop — rice — India’s food
supply is potentially vulnerable to the effects of varying climate,” said Kyle
Davis, an environmental data scientist. “Expanding the area planted with these
four alternative grains can reduce variations in Indian grain production caused
by extreme climate, especially in the many places where their yields are
comparable to rice,” Davis said. “Doing so will mean that the food supply for
the country’s massive and growing population is less in jeopardy during times
of drought or extreme weather,” Davis. Temperatures and rainfall amounts in
India vary from year to year and influence the amount of crops that farmers can
produce. With episodes of extreme climate such as droughts and storms becoming
more frequent, it is essential to find ways to protect India’s crop production
from these shocks, Davis said.
The
team combined historical data on crop yields, temperature, and rainfall.
Data on the yields of each crop came from state agricultural ministries across
India and covered 46 years (1966-2011) and 593 of India’s 707 districts.
The researchers also used modelled data on temperature and precipitation. Using
these climate variables as predictors of yield, they then employed a modelling
approach to estimate whether there was a significant relationship between
year-to-year variations in climate and crop yields. “This study shows that
diversifying the crops that a country grows can be an effective way to adapt its
food-production systems to the growing influence of climate change,” said
Davis. “And it adds to the evidence that increasing the production of
alternative grains in India can offer benefits for improving nutrition, for
saving water, and for reducing energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions from
agriculture,” he said.
Dispelling falsehoods about
GM crops
Updated: June 17, 2019 11:20:19 AM
What India can learn from the Philippines,
which set up a Biotech Program Office in 2000 to promote the responsible use of
agri-biotechnology to sustain food security
Dispelling falsehoods about GM crops
With Prakash Javadekar taking charge of the environment ministry
from the inert Harsh Vardhan, and hopes kindling of genetically-engineered
brinjal and mustard being approved for cultivation, one wishes the government
had a specialised communication agency for advocacy and outreach to create
public opinion favourable for agri-biotechnology.
Although India approved Bt cotton, genetically-engineered to be
toxic to the American bollworm, in 2002, and permitted another variant in 2006
(both of which farmers have embraced enthusiastically), those opposing these
have been so successful in demonising the technology that no other crop—Bt
brinjal, herbicide-tolerant (HT) cotton, or GM mustard—have got the nod for
cultivation.
Javadekar is known to be in favour of the science. In December
2015, he told me that he was “determined” to approve GM mustard. But before he
could take a decision, he was shifted to the ministry of human resource
development. Any positive moves he makes now will be met with strong opposition
from anti-GM activists, including the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, one of the 36
organisations affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the mentor of the
ruling party.
Over the past 15 years, both the UPA and NDA governments stalled;
they did not approve new GM crops. Only a few political leaders support the
technology. But farmers are restive. They’ve planted large tracts with illegal
HT cotton. In May, a farmer in Haryana was forced to destroy his illegal Bt
brinjal crop, which he found profitable because it required very few sprays
against the fruit and shoot borer. On June 10, the Shetkari Sanghatana, founded
by the pro-market and pro-technology Sharad Joshi, defied the law and planted
illegal HT cotton and Bt brinjal near Akola in Maharashtra, demanding
time-bound approvals and certainty in access to agri-biotechnology.
The government could learn from the Philippines, which set up a
Biotech Program Office in 2000 to promote the responsible use of
agri-biotechnology to sustain food security. It was educative to meet its
director-coordinator Annalyn Lopez during a visit to Manila in April at the
invitation and expense of CropLife Asia, which represents the
agri-biotechnology industry in this part of the world.
Apart from overseeing research and development in biotech,
developing skills in officials to regulate GM crops, and promoting policy
research and advocacy, the Biotech Program Office strives for public
understanding and acceptance of agri-biotechnology. “Communicating health and
safety to laypeople is difficult as biotech is sophisticated,” says Lopez. “We
are communicating to people who may not have a background in science.”
Both India and the Philippines are democracies, although the
latter has a history of military dictatorships. India was first off on GM
crops. It approved Bt cotton in 2002. The Philippines permitted GM corn
resistant to the Asiatic corn borer in 2003. About 70% of yellow corn (there is
a white variety, too) grown in the Philippines is GM corn, says Lopez. From
50,000 hectares in 2004, it now covers 642,000 hectares, with 470,000 farmers
planting it. That’s 46% of the Philippines’ corn area. In India, 93% of the
cotton planted in 2017 was of the GM kind.
Both India and the Philippines have strong anti-GM groups. In the
Philippines, they have vandalised Golden Rice trials. Greenpeace moved its
Supreme Court against Bt brinjal trials, which, in 2013, halted the trials,
nullified the 2002 biosafety regulations, and temporarily halted all
applications for authorisation of GM crop trials, commercialisation and
imports. In 2016, it lifted its injunctions and recognised the newly-issued
biosafety regulations. India’s Supreme Court is also quite adversarial.
Lopez says partnerships are important. Her office has enlisted TV
broadcasters and print media journalists. It gives awards for biotech
journalism since 2006. It publishes a biotech magazine with uplifting
testimonials. In 2011, it teamed up with the network of rural radio
broadcasters. Many towns have declared their support for biotechnology. Lopez says
her office has developed courses to educate their chief executives. In
association with the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines, it pushes for
regulation based on science and evidence. The International Rice Research
Institute and the Philippine Rice Research Institute are partners for Golden
Rice bio-fortified with pro-Vitamin A beta carotene.
The Biotech Program Office encourages high school and college
students to opt for biotechnology courses. It has developed curricula for them.
It holds short films, jingle-making and public-speaking contests on biotech for
them. A computer game—biotech crops vs zombies—has been developed. Students
participated in a fashion show with clothes made of GM corn kernels and cobs.
Lopez says her office reaches out to politicians who are neutral
or don’t have a stand on GM crops. They may be the chairperson of a committee
in Philippines’ Congress or
influential in their political party. Once an appointment is secured, she makes
sure that good communicators are fielded. These need not be scientists. They
may be farmers who have a good story to tell about how GM corn has benefited
them. Politicians are taken to farms so they can see for themselves that GM
corn is no different from the non-GM variety. Regulators are also invited to
engage with politicians; they explain the regulatory process and but don’t do
advocacy so their integrity is not doubted.
Since the Philippines is strongly religious, Lopez says her office
engages with religious leaders, too. Because of its outreach, a Catholic priest
has become a member of a technical advisory committee on biosafety. A
representative was also sent to an international halal conference, which said
GM food is kosher because it does not contain pork.
In fact, through a presidential proclamation back in 2005, the
National Biotechnology Week is also being regularly celebrated.
But well-funded NGOs pose a challenge, says Lopez. There are legislative proposals to disallow GM crops. Resolutions against them have been passed by local bodies. There is fake news in the social media. Consumers have low exposure to factual information. “We have our own voice, make our own choice, and assert the right to technology. That is what we are driven by,” says Lopez.
But well-funded NGOs pose a challenge, says Lopez. There are legislative proposals to disallow GM crops. Resolutions against them have been passed by local bodies. There is fake news in the social media. Consumers have low exposure to factual information. “We have our own voice, make our own choice, and assert the right to technology. That is what we are driven by,” says Lopez.
In India, there is strong support for GM crops in scientific
circles. The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) has passed a
resolution in favour of the technology. It has supported GM mustard and even
written to the Prime Minister not to withhold approval.
The apex regulator, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), has recommended release of Bt brinjal and GM mustard for commercial cultivation. It has asked the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) in Bengaluru to study and report Bangladesh’s experience with Bt brinjal, so it can revisit the moratorium on release imposed in 2010.
The apex regulator, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), has recommended release of Bt brinjal and GM mustard for commercial cultivation. It has asked the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) in Bengaluru to study and report Bangladesh’s experience with Bt brinjal, so it can revisit the moratorium on release imposed in 2010.
The English national dailies have favoured GM crop technology
through their editorials, though their reporters tend to support the activists.
But support for agri-biotechnology is diffused. The Department of Biotechnology
has not invested in advocacy and outreach, though it funnels money to
agricultural universities, almost all of which have departments of agri-biotechnology.
At last year’s National Eligibility Test (NET), which is a gateway for
assistant professorships in state agricultural universities, the most number of
candidates were from the discipline of agri-biotechnology. But the choke on
regulatory approvals makes all that teaching and research a humongous waste.
In 2015, Karnataka’s expert committee on agricultural
biotechnology had advised the state government to set aside Rs 10 crore to
support NGOs with acceptable proposals on public outreach so that correct
information about the safety and benefits of GM crops could be communicated to
the public and misinformation spread by anti-GM activists could be countered.
The committee was headed by M Mahadevappa, a well-known rice scientist and
former vice-chancellor of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. It
also wanted public outreach cells in agricultural universities for creation of
awareness about biotechnology. The BJP’s recent Lok Sabha
election campaign is a case study in marketing. Javadekar could take some cues
from it.
India's food supply being altered
by Climate Change: Study
Updated Jun 18, 2019 | 11:40 IST | PTI
Temperatures and rainfall amounts in India vary from year to year
and influence the amount of crops that farmers can produce.
Climate change affects major crops in India: Study (Pixabay)
New York: India's grain production is
vulnerable to climate change, say scientists who have found that the yield of
the country's rice crop can significantly decline during extreme weather
conditions. Researchers from Columbia University in the US studied the effects
of climate on five major crops in India: finger millet, maize, pearl millet,
sorghum and rice.
These crops make up the vast majority of grain production during
the June-to-September monsoon season -- India's main grain production period --
with rice contributing three-quarters of the supply for the season.
Volume 0%
Taken together, the five grains are essential for meeting India's
nutritional needs, researchers said. The study, published in the journal
Environmental Research Letters, found that the yields from grains such as
millet, sorghum, and maize are more resilient to extreme weather. Their yields
vary significantly less due to year-to-year changes in climate and generally
experience smaller declines during droughts. However, yields from rice,
India's main crop, experience larger declines during extreme weather
conditions.
"By relying more and more on a single crop -- rice -- India's
food supply is potentially vulnerable to the effects of varying climate,"
said Kyle Davis, an environmental data scientist.
"Expanding the area planted with these four alternative
grains can reduce variations in Indian grain production caused by extreme
climate, especially in the many places where their yields are comparable to
rice," Davis said.
"Doing so will mean that the food supply for the country's
massive and growing population is less in jeopardy during times of drought or
extreme weather," Davis.
Temperatures and rainfall amounts in India vary from year to year
and influence the amount of crops that farmers can produce. With episodes
of extreme climate such as droughts and storms becoming more frequent, it is
essential to find ways to protect India's crop production from these shocks,
Davis said.
The team combined historical data on crop yields, temperature, and
rainfall. Data on the yields of each crop came from state agricultural
ministries across India and covered 46 years (1966-2011) and 593 of India's 707
districts.
The researchers also used modelled data on temperature and
precipitation. Using these climate variables as predictors of yield, they then
employed a modelling approach to estimate whether there was a significant
relationship between year-to-year variations in climate and crop yields.
"This study shows that diversifying the crops that a country
grows can be an effective way to adapt its food-production systems to the
growing influence of climate change," said Davis.
"And it adds to the evidence that increasing the production
of alternative grains in India can offer benefits for improving nutrition, for
saving water, and for reducing energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions from
agriculture," he said.
Rice
production in Kashmir has risen despite loss of farm land
SRINAGAR:
Rice production in Kashmir Valley has been going up despite more than ten lakh
kanals of farm land being lost in the past 70 years, according to data of the
state agriculture department.
The data, accessed by Kashmir Reader, shows that food deficit was 32 percent in 1950-51 when there was production of mere 206.30 metric tonnes of rice on available land of 1.6 lakh hectares. This dropped to 24.47 percent in 2017-18 even when Kashmir’s agri-land shrunk to 1.4 lakh hectares, but which produced 1,138.95 metric tonnes of rice.
The interpretation of the data, according to a scientist at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST), is that a growth of seven percent in food grain production against a loss of about 13 percent of agricultural land over the past seventy years has taken place.
“It can be put this way as well: if the farm land had not shrunk, and had only been used for paddy, our deficit could have been far less than 24 percent,” he said.
A senior official in the agriculture department said that land reforms in the early 1950s, replacement of low-yielding varieties by high-yielding varieties, and development of surface irrigation, better soil and pest management, and integrated disease management were reasons why the growth in rice production had taken place.
He said the department was working hand-in-hand with scientists of SKUAST and farmers to further develop the process of rice production.
So far, more than half-a-dozen rice varieties have been replaced in the past seven decades which include low-yielding Chinese imported varieties, k39, Jehlum, Chenab and others. Some of them, though they had given good yields, had to be given up due to less immunity to diseases.
The Government of India (GoI) and the JK Government both spend a sizeable amount to supply rice to people in Kashmir. The rice is ferried from different Indian states to the Valley and the purchase cost is borne by the GoI while its transportation cost from different Indian states to JK is borne by the state government.
The data, accessed by Kashmir Reader, shows that food deficit was 32 percent in 1950-51 when there was production of mere 206.30 metric tonnes of rice on available land of 1.6 lakh hectares. This dropped to 24.47 percent in 2017-18 even when Kashmir’s agri-land shrunk to 1.4 lakh hectares, but which produced 1,138.95 metric tonnes of rice.
The interpretation of the data, according to a scientist at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST), is that a growth of seven percent in food grain production against a loss of about 13 percent of agricultural land over the past seventy years has taken place.
“It can be put this way as well: if the farm land had not shrunk, and had only been used for paddy, our deficit could have been far less than 24 percent,” he said.
A senior official in the agriculture department said that land reforms in the early 1950s, replacement of low-yielding varieties by high-yielding varieties, and development of surface irrigation, better soil and pest management, and integrated disease management were reasons why the growth in rice production had taken place.
He said the department was working hand-in-hand with scientists of SKUAST and farmers to further develop the process of rice production.
So far, more than half-a-dozen rice varieties have been replaced in the past seven decades which include low-yielding Chinese imported varieties, k39, Jehlum, Chenab and others. Some of them, though they had given good yields, had to be given up due to less immunity to diseases.
The Government of India (GoI) and the JK Government both spend a sizeable amount to supply rice to people in Kashmir. The rice is ferried from different Indian states to the Valley and the purchase cost is borne by the GoI while its transportation cost from different Indian states to JK is borne by the state government.
https://kashmirreader.com/2019/06/17/rice-production-in-kashmir-has-risen-despite-loss-of-farm-land/
Armed bandits
take over valley that was long Haiti's breadbasket
Rice
at a street market in Saint-Marc.
In Haiti's historic breadbasket, a dozen farmers worked in
ankle-deep water, stooped under a piercing blue sky in a lush region dominated
for generations by rice fields, and more recently by roving bands of armed men.
The gunmen, linked to an infamous gang leader named Arnel Joseph,
have been waylaying travelers in the Artibonite Valley, driving out police and
even holding press conferences proudly displaying their firepower.
"Gang activities are increasing - and they can move freely
from one place to another with no fear," said Mario Andresol, a former
presidential candidate and one-time head of Haiti's national police force.
"The police seem weaker than before, and it seems almost impossible for
them to take action."
Drivers fear to traverse the region's main north-south highway,
where motorists have been shot at and some wounded, and venturing east into the
heart of the farming region is a desperate endeavor given gang-controlled lanes
and villages. And rural anarchy is accompanied by urban unrest: In
Port-au-Prince, residents over the weekend flooded the streets in deadly
protests intended to topple Haiti's President Jovenel Moise.
The turbulence wracking the valley - and even the capital - is in
large part the outgrowth of tariff decisions made three decades ago that
destroyed the local agricultural economy. They ravaged a relatively thriving
part of a nation whose per-capita gross domestic product was only $760 in 2017,
less than half that of Nicaragua, the hemisphere's second-lowest. They drove thousands
of rural residents to cities in search of nonexistent jobs.
As President Donald Trump unsettles the world's trade regimen -
raising tariffs rather than lowering them - the struggles are an extreme
example of how peremptory changes to trade rules can have unforeseen
consequences. Many here see a link between unrest across the country and
policies foisted upon it by some of the world's most powerful governments and
financial bodies.
Areas like the Artibonite Valley, home to as much as 88% of total
land under rice cultivation, were once an integral part of Haiti's economic
engine. During the early 1980s, the country produced more than 80% of its food.
In 1995, as part of an International Monetary Fund and World
Bank-sponsored structural adjustment made with the support of President Bill
Clinton, Haiti lowered tariffs on imported rice to 3% from 50%. Prices for the
staple dropped slightly, but the country quickly became the world's
fifth-largest importer of U.S. rice and the backbone of its economy disappeared.
Last year, Haiti was importing 80% of its rice as well, according the U.S.
Agency for International Development.
"We don't have a lot of materials to work with, and it gets
harder every year," said 63-year-old Wilner Jean, one of the cultivators
working the fields in this community just outside the city of Saint-Marc, a
little over 50 miles north of Port-au-Prince.
At Saint-Marc's sprawling market, bags of rice bearing the logos
of U.S. companies such as Arkansas's Riceland Foods Inc. predominate, as they
do throughout the nation.
Trade policies "have driven thousands of agricultural
entrepreneurs and industries to bankruptcy because they couldn't be price
competitive and stay alive in front of cheaper goods from foreign
markets," said Etzer Emile, an economist and professor at the Universite
Quisqueya in Port-au-Prince. "They pushed thousands of people to leave the
rural area and migrate to urban areas."
Those who fled to cities found themselves in a double bind. An
early 1990s U.S. embargo that helped drive an oppressive military regime from
power also wrecked the manufacturing industry, reducing the 100,000 factory
jobs in the Port-au-Prince area to about 20,000 a little over a decade later.
Haiti had experienced "premature urbanization," a state
in which the agricultural sector was not productive and yet urban areas - where
about half of Haiti's population now lives - were not generating economic
growth, according to a 2007 USAID study.
The lack of gainful employment either in the countryside or the cities
led to an almost inexhaustible supply of young men whom the nation's
politicians use as muscle and to deliver votes at election time. With virtually
every election of the past two decades denounced as illegitimate by the losing
side and politics seen as an avenue to wealth, power and impunity, the
so-called baz has never been short of work.
Only a few miles away from where Wilner Jean and his cadre were
toiling in the fields, Joseph, the gang leader, has installed himself in power,
driving security forces from at least two towns and robbing and kidnapping
travelers on the nation's main north-south road. Joseph until recently
maintained regular phone contact with the region's member of parliament,
according to a legislative investigation. The connection is a stark
illustration of the intimate links between the country's brutal realpolitik and
its economic devastation.
In a recorded video interview released Friday, Joseph spoke to a
Haitian journalist, surrounded by heavily armed supporters, attempting to portray
himself as a Robin Hood-like figure defending Haiti's poor. "They say I am
a gang leader who goes looking for trouble," Joseph said. "They just
want to kill me."
Haiti hosted a United Nations peacekeeping mission from 2004 to
2017. Though the mission tried to professionalize Haiti's police force and
oversaw several elections, it did little to change the underlying culture of
impunity that informs Haiti's body politic, and its most lasting legacy is
likely a virulent strain of cholera introduced to the island by Nepalese troops
in its service.
The administration of Moise appears increasingly feeble, worn down
by scandals.
A recent report by judges documented irregularities over several
administrations in the spending of billions saved thanks to Venezuela's
PetroCaribe program, which sold poor countries crude oil but deferred payments.
Moise, an agricultural entrepreneur from the country's north, is mentioned in
connection with a contract his business won to fix a road in a process that the
report said was tainted by "collusion, favoritism and embezzlement."
Moise has called for an international body to investigate the spending of the
funds.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets
in towns across Haiti to call for Moise's ouster. At least two were killed and
four injured, according to Radio Metropole.
The president's opponents, many of whom have been accused of
grievous crimes themselves, have vowed to drive him from power, but even some
of those calling for him to step down acknowledge that his departure alone
won't solve Haiti's ills.
"There needs to be a real dialogue," said Jerry Tardieu,
an opposition member of parliament for the city of Petionville. He said there
must be "political agreement in order for the country to overcome the
current impasse."
Failed economic policies have perpetuated a dynamic that continues
to destabilize the country and undercut its economic growth. Haitians hope that
the current intense political ferment will open a window for change.
"The international community has their foot on our
neck," said Gilbert Mirambeau, a 35-year-old filmmaker whose social-media
activism helped spur a movement demanding a full accounting of the Petrocaribe
funds. "This is a system that's been there replicating itself for years,
but now it's on the verge of collapse, you can feel it, you can sense it."
Why CBN is
leading onslaught against smugglers of rice, other imports
By Sunday Michael Ogwu, Lagos | Published Date
Jun 17, 2019 4:16 AM TwitterFacebookWhatsAppTelegram CBN is leading onslaught
against smugglers of rice, other imports The Federal Government has announced
several interventions in recent
years to help stimulate productive activities
around the cultivation of rice, cotton/textile and automobile production but
with not much to show as result. A simple look at the 15 countries that
imported the highest dollar value worth of rice during 2018 by the World Top
Export (WTex) reveals that Benin Republic ranks sixth on the scale with a total
import valued at $930.5 million which translate to N335 billion. ADVERTISEMENT
The first five countries are China, US$1.6bn (6.5% of total rice imports);
Iran, $1.21bn (4.9%); Saudi Arabia, $1.2bn (4.9%); Indonesia, $1bn (4.2%); and
United States: $959.5m (3.9%). China has a population of 1.4bn people, Iran
81m, Saudi Arabia 32m, Indonesia 264m and the United States has 325m people,
while Benin Republic has just 11.2m people. ADVERTISEMENT Nigeria with a
population of 200m was ranked 148 out of the 218 countries evaluated on the
index with $5.4m translating into
N1.9bn. Interestingly, Niger Republic which is also shares border with
Nigeria but is a landlocked country with a population of 21.4m, twice the
population of Benin Republic, is ranked 84 on the import chart with a total
import of $43.8m translating into N15.7bn. Similarly, Cameroon, another
neighbour to Nigeria with a population of 24 million people, also more than
twice that of Benin Republic, sits at 39 on the chart with an import value of
$179m which translates to N64.6bn. Another industry that has played a dominant
role in the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy but has also been
plagued by this sabotage is textile. Nigeria loses a staggering $325m every
year due to evasion of customs duty and Value Added Tax by smugglers of textile
materials, the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA) has disclosed.
Chairman NTMA, Mr. Abiodun Ogunkoya, who gave the hint at a news conference in
Lagos, stressed that around 85 per cent of the $1.4bn worth of textile
materials that flood the nation annually are smuggled in. The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) had in a wholesome move to curtail dumping, implemented an access
to foreign exchange on the official window on 41 items, later 43, which it
feels the country has the capacity to produce sufficiently. Following the
earlier restriction of official forex supply to textile importers to boost
local cotton/textile production, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) set up a
committee for the revival of the country’s cotton, textile and garment
industry. While setting up the Textile Revival and Implementation Committee
(TRIC) in Abuja, the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, said the target is
to revive and set up at least 50 textile companies by 2023. “Nigeria remains a
big market for the textile industry. We need to reclaim this industry from
smugglers. We need the support of customs and other authorities,” Emefiele
said. The Federal Government, Wednesday, resolved to deal decisively with rice
smugglers whose activities, according to a World Bank disclosure, cost Nigeria
a whopping $5 billion annually. The NCS said it had reinvigorated
anti-smuggling operations, adding that in 2018, a total of 5,235 seizures with
duty paid value of N61.54bn were recorded. The seizures include arms,
ammunition, over 59 containers of Tramadol and other controlled drugs and
320,709 bags of foreign rice amounting to N4 billion worth of rice seizures.
Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, succinctly captured the frustration at a recent roundtable when
he said: “What is killing us the most is smuggling. Smuggling is what has
actually killed most of our policies. There is no country that is surviving
with a neighbour like Republic of Benin. Because their main job is to
facilitate smuggling.” A recent World Bank report on smuggling showed that
about N1.45 trillion worth of goods are smuggled into Nigeria annually through
Benin Republic. Emefiele said: “We are investigating those accounts and as
information becomes clearer and as we can clearly say they have committed the
offence, we will go to the next round which is to forbid any Nigerian bank from
opening any account with them.” He said smuggling and dumping have sabotaged
economic policies in Nigeria. Emefiele said, “Nigeria is very good at making
brilliant economic policies, but we have identified smugglers and dumpers as
those who sabotage these policies and we will deal with them. In our strategy,
we will not bother ourselves because there is an agency of government
responsible for border control. “But If these people pass through the border
control, we will use the instrumentality of being the regulator and head of the
banking system, to get the banks to provide all the details of these smugglers
and dumpers, we will investigate the accounts, and if they are found culpable
in economic sabotage bordering on dumping and smuggling in Nigeria, we will not
only block their accounts, we will close their accounts in all the banks in
Nigeria. “We will close the accounts of the owners of such companies, and we
will close the accounts of top management members of those companies because
they know that their companies are involved in smuggling and they should not be
supporting such.”
years to help stimulate productive activities
around the cultivation of rice, cotton/textile and automobile production but
with not much to show as result. A simple look at the 15 countries that
imported the highest dollar value worth of rice during 2018 by the World Top
Export (WTex) reveals that Benin Republic ranks sixth on the scale with a total
import valued at $930.5 million which translate to N335 billion. ADVERTISEMENT
The first five countries are China, US$1.6bn (6.5% of total rice imports);
Iran, $1.21bn (4.9%); Saudi Arabia, $1.2bn (4.9%); Indonesia, $1bn (4.2%); and
United States: $959.5m (3.9%). China has a population of 1.4bn people, Iran
81m, Saudi Arabia 32m, Indonesia 264m and the United States has 325m people,
while Benin Republic has just 11.2m people. ADVERTISEMENT Nigeria with a
population of 200m was ranked 148 out of the 218 countries evaluated on the
index with $5.4m translating into
N1.9bn. Interestingly, Niger Republic which is also shares border with
Nigeria but is a landlocked country with a population of 21.4m, twice the
population of Benin Republic, is ranked 84 on the import chart with a total
import of $43.8m translating into N15.7bn. Similarly, Cameroon, another
neighbour to Nigeria with a population of 24 million people, also more than
twice that of Benin Republic, sits at 39 on the chart with an import value of
$179m which translates to N64.6bn. Another industry that has played a dominant
role in the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy but has also been
plagued by this sabotage is textile. Nigeria loses a staggering $325m every
year due to evasion of customs duty and Value Added Tax by smugglers of textile
materials, the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA) has disclosed.
Chairman NTMA, Mr. Abiodun Ogunkoya, who gave the hint at a news conference in
Lagos, stressed that around 85 per cent of the $1.4bn worth of textile
materials that flood the nation annually are smuggled in. The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) had in a wholesome move to curtail dumping, implemented an access
to foreign exchange on the official window on 41 items, later 43, which it
feels the country has the capacity to produce sufficiently. Following the
earlier restriction of official forex supply to textile importers to boost
local cotton/textile production, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) set up a
committee for the revival of the country’s cotton, textile and garment
industry. While setting up the Textile Revival and Implementation Committee
(TRIC) in Abuja, the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, said the target is
to revive and set up at least 50 textile companies by 2023. “Nigeria remains a
big market for the textile industry. We need to reclaim this industry from
smugglers. We need the support of customs and other authorities,” Emefiele
said. The Federal Government, Wednesday, resolved to deal decisively with rice
smugglers whose activities, according to a World Bank disclosure, cost Nigeria
a whopping $5 billion annually. The NCS said it had reinvigorated
anti-smuggling operations, adding that in 2018, a total of 5,235 seizures with
duty paid value of N61.54bn were recorded. The seizures include arms,
ammunition, over 59 containers of Tramadol and other controlled drugs and
320,709 bags of foreign rice amounting to N4 billion worth of rice seizures.
Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, succinctly captured the frustration at a recent roundtable when
he said: “What is killing us the most is smuggling. Smuggling is what has
actually killed most of our policies. There is no country that is surviving
with a neighbour like Republic of Benin. Because their main job is to
facilitate smuggling.” A recent World Bank report on smuggling showed that
about N1.45 trillion worth of goods are smuggled into Nigeria annually through
Benin Republic. Emefiele said: “We are investigating those accounts and as
information becomes clearer and as we can clearly say they have committed the
offence, we will go to the next round which is to forbid any Nigerian bank from
opening any account with them.” He said smuggling and dumping have sabotaged
economic policies in Nigeria. Emefiele said, “Nigeria is very good at making
brilliant economic policies, but we have identified smugglers and dumpers as
those who sabotage these policies and we will deal with them. In our strategy,
we will not bother ourselves because there is an agency of government
responsible for border control. “But If these people pass through the border
control, we will use the instrumentality of being the regulator and head of the
banking system, to get the banks to provide all the details of these smugglers
and dumpers, we will investigate the accounts, and if they are found culpable
in economic sabotage bordering on dumping and smuggling in Nigeria, we will not
only block their accounts, we will close their accounts in all the banks in
Nigeria. “We will close the accounts of the owners of such companies, and we
will close the accounts of top management members of those companies because
they know that their companies are involved in smuggling and they should not be
supporting such.”
EO retains 5% tariff on deboned poultry meat to keep prices low
June 17, 2019 | 10:39 pm
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has
signed an executive order retaining the 5% import tariff on mechanically
deboned meat (MDM) from poultry until 2020 to mitigate the possible impact on
prices.
The President signed on June 13
Executive Order no. 82: “Modifying the Nomenclature and Rates of Import Duty on
Certain Agricultural Products Under Section 1611 of Republic Act No. 10863,
Otherwise Known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.” The Palace
released copies of the EO on Monday morning.
The EO states that the “present
economic condition warrants the continued application of the reduced rate of
duties on certain agricultural products to mitigate the impact of high prices
of goods.”
The issuance of the EO was on the
recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board,
which backed the “maintenance of the tariff rates under EO No. 23 for
mechanically deboned meat of chicken and turkey, and turkey meat and offal.”
Meat processors have been
awaiting the EO to reverse the recent imposition of a 40% MDM tariff at the
borders, which is a return to the 2012 rate. The industry has been operating
under the 5% rate for nearly a decade.
The 40% duty was the rate for MDM
before the Philippines offered concessions in connection with a second
extension on quantitative restrictions on rice imports.
Under the concession, the MDM of
trading partners will enjoy entry into the country at a 5% tariff but will
revert to the 2012 rate once a law lifting import limits on rice is in place.
The rice tariffication law took
effect on March 5.
The EO was in response to the
decision of the interagency Committee on Tariff and Related Matters which, on
the request for an evaluation by meat processors, decided to retain the 5%
tariff on MDM chicken, seeing no direct competition with the domestic poultry
industry.
The Philippine Association of
Meat Processors, Inc. (PAMPI) said in a statement emailed to reporters on
Monday afternoon that the President’s signing of the EO reflects his administration’s
“determined efforts to spur the growth of the local manufacturing industry.”
The group added that Mr.
Duterte’s action “sends a strong signal to local and foreign investors that the
investment climate in the Philippines is fair, attractive and competitive.”
PAMPI Spokesperson Rex E.
Agarrado told BusinessWorld via phone that this EO will have
no impact on the price of poultry MDM.
“When [they] raised the duty from
5% to 40%, we did not raise our prices. Therefore, because we did not raise our
prices from 5% to 40%, sana (I hope) you would understand (if
prices do not move)… kasi noong tinaas ‘yon ‘di nga kami nag-adjust
(because when the tariffs rose we did not adjust prices)…”
“I think what you should focus on
is why the price of chicken and the price of pork today are so high?,” he
added. “‘Yun ang question eh (that is the
question)… Alam mo ba ang (do you know the price of) pork and
chicken today? They are so high. Highest ever,” he said.
He added: “Please don’t expect us
to drop prices because when you asked us to pay P400,000 per container,
additional, we did not raise our prices, so tama lang siguro na i-stay namin (so
it’s only fair to hold prices steady).”
Also asked to comment, Meat
Importers and Traders Association, Inc. (MITA) President Jesus C. Cham said in
by phone: “It’s a welcome albeit much delayed order which will help keep food
inflation in check. However, we would have preferred that reduction be made
permanent.”
He also said, “Should the
processors now petition TC (Tariff Commission) to maintain 5% duty for
2021-2025? Or should producers petition otherwise? I hear that NEDA will review
next year (on a) trajectory to bring (the tariff) back to 40% gradually unless
there are new petitions. So it is a short-lived victory for processors and
consumers. That’s not good.”
“We still have an outstanding
problem about the Bureau of Customs (BoC) collecting 35% retroactively from
March 5 until June 13. We hope NEDA will grant our appeal for BoC not to do
so,” he continued. — Arjay L. Balinbin with Vincent
Mariel P. Galang
Rules for distributing RCEF farm mechanization funds due soon
June 17, 2019 | 12:06 am
Farmers
harvest rice in Pulilan Bulacan. -- PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
THE Philippine Center for
Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) said it will finalize
after a key meeting this week the guidelines for funding the farm mechanization
component of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
“Magmi-meeting pa
sa (There will be a meeting on) June 18. We’re just waiting for that
then afterwards firmed up na ‘yung gagawin namin base doon sa (what
we plan to do will be firmed up based on the) suggestions ng (of
the) Program Streering Committee sa (at the) Department of
Agriculture,” Rodolfo P. Estigoy, head of the applied communications division
of PhilMech, told reporters.
“Ine-expect namin
‘yung pondo (We are expecting the fund) by end of June,” he said.
RCEF is funded by rice import
tariffs that will be imposed on private-sector importers, who will be allowed
to import the grain from selected Southeast Asian countries more freely. The
importers also have the option to source grain from selected other countries
but at a higher tariff.
The RCEF, worth about P10 billion
a year, is authorized to allocate P5 billion for the mechanization of rice
farms, P3 billion for high-yield rice seed, P1 billion to expand farm credit,
and P1 billion to support agricultural extension and upgrade rice farmers’
planting knowhow.
The guidelines cover the
identification of 1,200 beneficiary municipalities in 16 regions, which were
further grouped into six clusters to facilitate the deployment of farm
equipment over the next six years. Each of these municipalities are required to
have farmer organizations with at least 100 hectares of irrigated rice land.
Major rice producing areas will
be prioritized, including Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Central Visayas, and
Soccsksargen.
He said the first phase of
distribution involves land preparation equipment with harvesters to come later.
A full package for beneficiaries
includes machinery for land preparation, crop establishment, harvesting and
threshing, drying, and milling.
Initial distributions are
expected by December.
Some P100 million has also been
set aside for training on the use of the equipment and upgrading farmers’
skills.
At the end of six years, the cost
of rice production is expected to drop because of the upgrades been reduced.
The cost of producing a kilo of
palay, or unmilled rice is estimated at P12.72 per kilo, against the cost in
Vietnam of about P6.22 and in Thailand of P8.86.
Meanwhile, Mr. Estigoy said that
the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) also approved of an additional 59
staff in the PhilMech headcount, in the hope that new hires can be deployed to
the regions by July. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
Duterte retains 5 percent import duty
on mechanically deboned poultry meat till 2020
Updated June 17, 2019, 4:44 PM
By Genalyn Kabiling and Madelaine
Miraflor
In a bid to cushion the impact of
high prices of goods, President Duterte has decided to retain the 5 percent
import tariff on mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of poultry until 2020.
The President has issued
Executive Order No. 82 maintaining the reduced import duty on certain
agricultural products upon the recommendation of the National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA).
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (JOEY DALUMPINES / PRESIDENTIAL
PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“The present economic condition
warrants the continued application of the reduced rate of duties on certain
agricultural products to mitigate the impact of high prices of goods,” the
order read.
Under EO 82, the rate of import
duty on mechanically deboned meat of chicken and turkey and turkey meat and
offals will stay at 5 percent for 2019 and 2020. MDM is a raw material
used to manufacture chicken hotdogs, chicken nuggets and other processed meat
products.
“The NEDA Board recommends the
maintenance of the tariff rates under EO No. 23 for mechanically deboned meat
of chicken and turkey, and turkey meat and its offals,” the order read.
In 2017, the President reduced
the tariff of chicken MDM to 5 percent as a concession to trade partners for
letting the country extend the quota on rice imports to protect local farmers.
The reduced rates, contained in
EO 23, are supposed to lapse on June 30, 2020 or until such time the rice trade
liberalization takes effect, whichever comes first. Republic Act No. 11203
lifting rice import quotas and imposing tariffs was signed by the President
last February.
Meat processors cheered the
President’s move. They earlier appealed to the government to retain the
lower tariff rate on MDM to keep prices of canned goods and processed meat
products affordable.
Local poultry growers, on the
other hand, have reportedly asked the government to revert the tariffs on MDM
imports to its 2012 level of 40 percent tariff as a protection to the industry.
“[This decision] reflects the
government’s determined efforts to spur the growth of the local manufacturing
industry,” Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) said in a
statement.
“The President’s action sends a
strong signal to local and foreign investors that the investment climate in the
Philippines is fair, attractive and competitive,” PAMPI further said.
PAMPI earlier argued that raising
tariffs on imported raw materials for meat industry will result in increase in
the price of meat products such as luncheon meat and sausages.
It was in 2012 when the
government slashed the tariff on MDM to 5 percent as a concession to the
country’s trade partners for allowing Manila to extend its special treatment
for rice.
The tariff rate would eventually
revert back to 40 percent as stipulated in World Trade Organization (WTO)
rules, but that wouldn’t happen till January 1, 2021.
Poor pace of paddy purchases hurting farmers
Published at 10:58 pm June 16th, 2019
File photo of farmers reaping paddy in a
field in Moulvibazar Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
A paltry 7.5% of targeted paddy volume has
been purchased from farmers so far, but millers managed to sell 35% of the rice
that the government plans to buy this Boro season
If the
government wants to provide farmers with price support, the last thing it
should allow is to have a situation where farmers end up selling their paddy to
middlemen at lower prices.
But thanks to
systemic apathy in the government’s paddy purchases from farmers, there is no
spirited drive in the ongoing foodgrain procurement program.
Market sources
fear that by the time the drive gains momentum, if at all, farmers in dire need
of cash would already be compelled to sell paddy at much cheaper rates to
middlemen and millers. Paddy farmers would eventually not get the price benefit
meant for them.
The
government’s food purchase centres across the country might likely buy less
than 30,000 tons paddy from farmers in the first one and a half months of a
four-month long procurement drive.
This purchase
would only be 7.5% of the procurement target of 400,000 tons.
Thanks to a
rice glut, courtesy of high domestic production and unregulated cheaper rice
imports from across the border, farmers this Boro season are distressed and are
being offered Tk500 for each maund of paddy as against the government declared
support price of Tk1,040 per maund.
When it comes
to providing price support to farmers, it’s the pace of the government’s
procurement drive that matters most, not the volume.
Though the
government last week revised its procurement volume from an initially planned
150,000 tons to 400,000 tons, the desired pace in procurement is completely
missing, as evidenced by Food Ministry statistics.
Market sources
say that given the reality of the government buying only a small portion of
rice and paddy from farmers and millers, it needs to do it at a much better
pace. Otherwise, farmers miss out on the true benefits of the government price
support intended to help them, and middlemen and millers end up cashing in on
the benefits instead.
Interestingly,
when it comes to rice but not paddy, the procurement drive appears to be a good
success. Out of a targeted purchase of 1.1 million tons of rice, the Food
Directorate has already procured over 380,000 tons in the first one and a half
months of the four-month long drive, accomplishing a third of the task at a
fast clip.
The price
benefit of the government’s rice procurement program largely goes to rice
millers, who buy paddy from farmers at cheaper rates, converting that into rice
and selling the same to the government at higher rates.
Reached over
the phone, Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque told this correspondent that
after revising the paddy procurement target from 150,000 tons to 400,000 tons,
the government has instructed purchase officials to buy paddy directly from
farmers and convert the same into rice.
Food officials
acknowledge that the government does not have the capacity to hold paddy in
public granaries which have expressly been built to store rice.
Food Minister
Sadhan Chandra Majumder recently said a process was underway to build several
new food depots across the country where one million tons paddy could be
stored.
CBN to close
bank accounts of firms importing forex restricted goods
Any firm found smuggling into the country goods for which access
to foreign exchange (forex) has been restricted will have its bank accounts
closed, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warned yesterday.
The apex bank curbed access to dollars in 2015 for firms
importing 42 items, ranging from rice and soap, to private jets and Indian incense
in a bid to conserve foreign reserves and diversify the economy.
It added one item to the list last year.
“Once we discover that people are using illicit foreign exchange
to import those items into Nigeria and smuggle them through the borders … we
have every right to close their accounts,” the apex bank told Reuters.
President Muhammadu Buhari has made boosting the agricultural
sector a key priority to cutting import bill. In April, the government
announced plans to double manufacturing output to 20 per cent of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) within six years.
The President was inaugurated for second term on May 29, weeks
after re-appointing CBN Godwin Emefiele for a second term.
Emefiele’s reappointment signalled policy stability and broke a
trend of Nigerian central bankers serving a single term.
After introducing currency restrictions in 2015, the apex bank
introduced a multiple exchange rate regime which has masked pressure on the
currency and helped to keep it stable.
Emefiele said the bank had been developing home-grown policies
to surmount challenges that confronted the economy lately.
He said: “As I have always emphasised, it is our collective duty
to ensure that the potential and prospects of the economy are optimally
realised.
“The ongoing economic recovery requires the joint efforts and
wise counsel of everyone, if we must take giant strides forward. The CBN is
more determined now than ever to remain at the forefront of efforts to ensure
that the rebound is not overturned.”
Speaking at a meeting with bankers in Lagos on the theme:
“Strengthening the economic recovery process in Nigeria”, the CBN boss said:
“With regards to over-dependence in imports, the economic recession triggered
mainly by the drop in crude oil prices, only strengthened the case for moving
from a nation wholly dependent on consumption, to a nation that produces a
large proportion of what it needs, particularly in areas where the resources
needed for production are widely available across the country.
“This thought process, he said, shaped decision to impose the
restriction on access to forex for 43 items that can be produced in Nigeria.
“There has been considerable discourse particularly on whether
the restriction on access to foreign exchange for 43 items is driving local
production, with some nay-sayers stating that it has constrained productivity and
growth in the economy.
“Based on our internal research conducted at the Central Bank of
Nigeria, there is strong support that the recovery of our economy from the
recession may have been much weaker or even negative, without the
implementation of the restriction on 43 items.
“Our research supports the conclusion that the combination of
the restriction on 43 items along with other measures imposed by the fiscal and
monetary authorities has helped to promote the recovery.
“Any attempt to reverse the course of this action may have
untold consequences on the growth trajectory of our economy particularly in our
push to diversify and restructure our economy. In fact, recommendations are
being made to the CBN that the list of 43 items be expanded to include other
additional items that can be locally produced.”
Emefiele said many entrepreneurs were taking advantage of this
policy to venture into the domestic production of the restricted items with
remarkable success and great positive impact on employment.
He said: “The dramatic decline in our import bill and the
increase in domestic production of these items attest to the efficacy of this
policy. Noticeable declines were steadily recorded in our monthly food import
bill from $665.4 million in January 2015 to $160.4 million as at October 2018;
a cumulative fall of 75.9 per cent and an implied savings of over $21 billion
on food imports alone over that period.
“Most evident were the 97.3 per cent cumulative reduction in
monthly rice import bills, 99.6 per cent in fish, 81.3 per cent in milk, 63.7
per cent in sugar, and 60.5 per cent in wheat.”
Firm invests
N15.2 billion in mill, boosts rice production
By Joke
Falaju, Abuja
18 June 2019 |
2:11 am
To
further bridge the rice consumption demand and supply gap in Nigeria, Darma
Rice Mill Limited has set up a 600,000 metric tonnes rice mill in Katsina State.Executive
Director of the company, Fahad Mangal, disclosed this, explaining that the aim
was to support the Federal Government’s move to make Nigeria self-sufficient in
rice production.
The mill
is designed to process 600,000 metric tonnes per annum, when operational.
Mangal added that the production plan is divided into two phases. The first
phase has 300,000 metric tonnes per annum capacity of two lines of 16 tonnes
per hour rice mill
According to him, the first phase will be ready for processing before the second quarter of 2020 and after that, we will immediately start the phase two of additional 300,000 metric tonnes making a total of 600,000 metric tonnes per annum.
The investor explained that the choice of location was borne out of the fact that Katsina has vast agricultural land.He said they had already engaged farmers in their growers’ scheme, providing them with loans to produce paddy rice.He added that they would also source for paddy from neighbouring States like Kano, Zamfara, Jigawa, and Kastina, as the target market is the northwest, down to the north central markets where there is a huge demand for rice.
Mangal mentioned that the country was yet to meet up with the demand for rice as it still imports rice, adding that the establishment of the plant in Katsina would support government in achieving self-sufficiency in rice production, meet local demand and also export to neighbouring countries in the future.
When fully operational, he said, about 5000 direct and indirect jobs would be created as the company also plans to commence production of about one million metric of fertilizer yearly.
According to him, the first phase will be ready for processing before the second quarter of 2020 and after that, we will immediately start the phase two of additional 300,000 metric tonnes making a total of 600,000 metric tonnes per annum.
The investor explained that the choice of location was borne out of the fact that Katsina has vast agricultural land.He said they had already engaged farmers in their growers’ scheme, providing them with loans to produce paddy rice.He added that they would also source for paddy from neighbouring States like Kano, Zamfara, Jigawa, and Kastina, as the target market is the northwest, down to the north central markets where there is a huge demand for rice.
Mangal mentioned that the country was yet to meet up with the demand for rice as it still imports rice, adding that the establishment of the plant in Katsina would support government in achieving self-sufficiency in rice production, meet local demand and also export to neighbouring countries in the future.
When fully operational, he said, about 5000 direct and indirect jobs would be created as the company also plans to commence production of about one million metric of fertilizer yearly.
Researchers Take Two Steps Toward Green Fuel
An international collaboration led by scientists at Tokyo
University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) , Japan, has developed a
two-step method to more efficiently break down carbohydrates into their single
sugar components, a critical process in producing green fuel.
The researchers published their
results on April 10th in the American Chemical Society journal, Industrial
& Engineering Chemical Research.
The breakdown process is called saccharification. The single
sugar components produced, called monosaccharides, can be fermented into
bioethanol or biobutanol, alcohols that can be used as fuel.
“For a long time, considerable attention has been focused on the
utilization of homogenous acids and enzymes for saccharification,” said Eika W.
Qian, paper author and professor in the Graduate School of Bio-Applications and
Systems Engineering at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in
Japan. “Enzymatic saccharification is seen to be a reasonable prospect since it
offers the potential for higher yields, lower energy costs, and it’s more
environmentally friendly.”
The use of enzymes to break down the carbohydrates could
actually be hindered, especially in the practical biomass such as rice straw. A
byproduct of rice harvest, rice straw consists of three complicated
carbohydrates: starch, hemicellulose and cellulose. Enzymes cannot approach
hemicellulose or cellulose, due to their cell wall structure and surface area,
among other characteristics. They must be pre-treated to become receptive to
the enzymatic activity, which can be costly.
One answer to the cost and inefficiency of enzymes is the use of
solid acid catalysts, which are acids that cause chemical reactions without
dissolving and becoming a permanent part of the reaction. They’re particularly
appealing because they can be recovered after saccharification and reused.
Still, it’s not as easy as swapping the enzymes for the acids,
according to Qian, as the carbohydrates are non-uniform. Hemicellulose and
starch degrade at 180 degrees Celsius and below, and if the resulting
components are heated further, the sugars produced discompose and are converted
to other byproducts. On the other hand, degradation of cellulose only happens
at temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius and above.
That’s why, in order to maximize the resulting yield of sugar
from rice straw, the researchers developed a two-step process – one step for
the hemicellulose and another for the cellulose. The first step requires a
gentle solid acid at low temperatures (150 degrees Celsius and below), while
the second step consists of harsher conditions, with a stronger solid acid and
higher temperatures (210 degrees Celsius and above).
Overall, the two-step process not only proved effective, it
produced about 30 percent more sugars than traditional one-step processes.
“We are now looking for a partner to evaluate the feasibility of
our two-step saccharification process in rice straw and other various materials
such as wheat straw and corn stoke etc. in a pilot unit,” Qian said. “Our
ultimate goal is to commercialize our process to manufacture monosaccharides
from this type of material in the future.”
Researchers
study how climate change affects crops in India
JUNE 17, 2019
Credit: Columbia University
Kyle Davis is an environmental
data scientist whose research seeks to increase food supplies in developing
countries. He combines techniques from environmental science and data science
to understand patterns in the global food system and develop strategies that
make food-supply chains more nutritious and sustainable.
Since joining the Data Science
Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in September 2018, Davis has co-authored
four papers, all of which detail how developing countries can sustainably
improve their crop production. For his latest study, he
focuses on India, home to 1.3 billion people, where he led a team that studied
the effects of climate on five major crops: finger millet, maize, pearl millet,
sorghum and rice. These crops make up the vast majority of grain production
during the June-to-September monsoon season—India's main growing period—with
rice contributing three-quarters of the grain supply for the season. Taken
together, the five grains are essential for meeting India's
nutritional needs.
And in a paper published in Environmental
Research Letters, Davis found that the yields from grains such as millet,
sorghum, and maize are more resilient to extreme
weather; their yields vary significantly less due to year-to-year
changes in climate and generally experience smaller declines during droughts.
But yields from rice, India's main crop, experience larger declines
during extreme weather conditions. "By relying
more and more on a single crop—rice—India's food supply is potentially
vulnerable to the effects of varying climate," said Davis, the lead author
on the paper, "Sensitivity of Grain Yields to Historical Climate
Sensitivity in India," which has four co-authors, all of whom collaborated
on the research.
"Expanding the area planted
with these four alternative grains can reduce variations in Indian grain
production caused by extreme climate, especially in the many places where their
yields are comparable to rice," Davis added. "Doing so will mean that
the food supply for the country's massive and growing population is less in
jeopardy during times of drought or extreme weather."
Temperatures and rainfall amounts
in India vary from year to year and influence the amount of crops that farmers
can produce. And with episodes of extreme climate such as droughts and storms
becoming more frequent, it's essential to find ways to protect India's crop
production from these shocks, according to Davis.
The authors combined historical
data on crop yields, temperature, and rainfall. Data on the yields of each crop
came from state agricultural ministries across India and covered 46 years
(1966-2011) and 593 of India's 707 districts. The authors also used modelled
data on temperature (from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research
Unit) and precipitation (derived from a network of rain gauges maintained by
the Indian Meteorological Department). Using these climate variables as
predictors of yield, they then employed a linear mixed effects modelling
approach—similar to a multiple regression ? to estimate whether there was a
significant relationship between year-to-year variations in climate and crop
yields.
"This study shows that
diversifying the crops that a country grows can be an effective way to adapt
its food-production systems to the growing influence of climate change,"
said Davis. "And it adds to the evidence that increasing the production of
alternative grains in India can offer benefits for improving nutrition, for saving
water, and for reducing energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions from
agriculture."
Here’s how you eat a credit card’s worth of plastic each week
By Justin
RohrlichJune 15, 2019
People across the world unwittingly
consume roughly 5 grams of plastic each week in the course of daily life, or
about the weight of a credit card, according to Australian researchers. That’s
about 250 grams per year—more than a half-pound of plastic every 12 months.
A new study (pdf)
commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature—formerly known as the World
Wildlife Fund—suggests that over the course of seven days, the average person
consumes 2,000 tiny plastic particles and fibers, 1,769 of which come from
drinking water alone.
How plastics get into humans
Microplastics come from larger discarded objects that break down
over time into smaller pieces. They get into waterways and enter the food chain
when eaten by fish and other marine life. The issue has thus far received “an
inadequate global response by governments,” the researchers said in
a statement.
An appendix to
the report notes that many factors have an impact on the exact amount of
microplastics you will ingest, such as age and lifestyle. Specific effects on
human health are not yet fully understood. High levels of exposure to
microplastics can effect the lungs, liver, and brain cells, as well as sexual
function, fertility. They are believed to lead to an increased occurrence of
certain cancers.
The different ways plastics enter your system
Microplastics can
get into your system via, among other things, honey, sugar, rice,
pasta, bread, milk, utensils, cutlery, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and chicken gizzards.
The number of microparticles the average person ingests depends on
what they eat:
|
Food
|
Number
of plastic particles per week
|
|
Water
|
1,769
|
|
Shellfish
|
182
|
|
Salt
|
11
|
|
Beer
|
10
|
Where you live matters
The amount of microplastics one takes in varies by geographical
region—water in the US contains about twice as much plastic as in Europe, the
study says:
For an American, that comes out to nearly five plastic fibers in
every half-liter of water they drink:
Researchers take two steps toward green fuel
Two-Step Saccharification of Rice Straw Using Solid Acid
Catalysts
18-Jun-2019
·
Figure adapted from Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2019 58 (14),
5686-5697. Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society
Researchers designed two-step process to break down rice straws
into sugars for fuel.
An international collaboration
led by scientists at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) ,
Japan, has developed a two-step method to more efficiently break down
carbohydrates into their single sugar components, a critical process in
producing green fuel.
The breakdown process is called
saccharification. The single sugar components produced, called monosaccharides,
can be fermented into bioethanol or biobutanol, alcohols that can be used as
fuel.
"For a long time,
considerable attention has been focused on the utilization of homogenous acids
and enzymes for saccharification," said Eika W. Qian, paper author and
professor in the Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering at
the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan. "Enzymatic
saccharification is seen to be a reasonable prospect since it offers the
potential for higher yields, lower energy costs, and it's more environmentally
friendly."
The use of enzymes to break down
the carbohydrates could actually be hindered, especially in the practical
biomass such as rice straw. A byproduct of rice harvest, rice straw consists of
three complicated carbohydrates: starch, hemicellulose and cellulose. Enzymes
cannot approach hemicellulose or cellulose, due to their cell wall structure
and surface area, among other characteristics. They must be pre-treated to
become receptive to the enzymatic activity, which can be costly.
One answer to the cost and
inefficiency of enzymes is the use of solid acid catalysts, which are acids
that cause chemical reactions without dissolving and becoming a permanent part
of the reaction. They're particularly appealing because they can be recovered
after saccharification and reused.
Still, it's not as easy as
swapping the enzymes for the acids, according to Qian, as the carbohydrates are
non-uniform. Hemicellulose and starch degrade at 180 degrees Celsius and below,
and if the resulting components are heated further, the sugars produced
discompose and are converted to other byproducts. On the other hand,
degradation of cellulose only happens at temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius
and above.
That's why, in order to maximize
the resulting yield of sugar from rice straw, the researchers developed a
two-step process - one step for the hemicellulose and another for the
cellulose. The first step requires a gentle solid acid at low temperatures (150
degrees Celsius and below), while the second step consists of harsher conditions,
with a stronger solid acid and higher temperatures (210 degrees Celsius and
above).
Overall, the two-step process not
only proved effective, it produced about 30 percent more sugars than
traditional one-step processes.
"We are now looking for a
partner to evaluate the feasibility of our two-step saccharification process in
rice straw and other various materials such as wheat straw and corn stoke etc.
in a pilot unit," Qian said. "Our ultimate goal is to commercialize
our process to manufacture monosaccharides from this type of material in the
future."
DOST 7 awards inventors,
innovators
This led him to win the Sibol
Award for Outstanding Student Creative Research for high school.
German, the lone researcher for
his brainchild “Project MeTus (Medical Tumor Scanner): Mask CT-CNN as
AI-Powered Low-Cost Pre-Diagnostic Virtual Assist Machine Module for Skin
Cancer Screening Technology” will represent Central Visayas in the National
Invention Contest.
“It is an initiative and
basically my life advocacy because people with personal relationships with me
died of the disease. And according to a recent study, statistics from the World
Health Organization in 2018, cancer ranks second in the world’s deadliest
disease so it’s a prevailing problem not just in our country but also in the
world,” he told SunStar Cebu.
German created an algorithm that
will allow medical devices to detect cancer cells at its most vulnerable state.
“To address this problem, why not
use modern advancement in technology to actually detect the disease at its
weakest state. Early detection is a potential solution to cancer,” he said.
“Being an algorithm, the deep
learning model could be integrated within the X-ray and magnetic resonance
imaging machines as a virtual-assist module. It can help cancer screening
facilities and hospitals of the country to detect and pre-diagnose the disease
at great accuracy. Hence, saving more lives in the process by promoting early
detection and cheapening it,” the award-winning research stated.
German was one of the champions
hailed during the 2019 Regional Invention Contest and Exhibits (Rice) initiated
by the Department of Science and Technology (Dost) 7.
Other winners
For 2019, Dost 7 received 90
entries for five out of the six categories of the contest, which were later
trimmed to 82 regional finalists.
Award-winning sustainable
manufacturers Pedro and Cathy Delantar, founders of Nature’s Legacy Eximport
Inc., emerged as winners in two categories as Outstanding Utility Model for
their colored simulated stonecast and earthenware product and under the
Industrial Design for their creation, armchair.
A research entitled “The
development of Ecobangku from Upcycled Plastic Sheets” by researchers Angeline
Baldapan and Jefferson Elegio from Bohol Island State University in Tagbilaran
City bagged the Likha Award for Outstanding Creative Research for high school.
The Sibol Award for Student
Creative Research for college was given to researchers Samantha Reyes, Cristina
Malicay, Agnes Sabijon from the Velez College for their research entitled
“Eco-based Fiberglass from Alternative Materials: Implications to Solid Waste
Management in Cebu City.”
Rice is a nationwide biennial
activity conducted in different regions to highlight the creative innovations
of inventors, researchers and students in the country. (JOB)
Top-end rice
prices on the boil
Prices of preferred non-basmati rice varieties such as Sona
Masuri and Kolam have risen by up to a fifth over the past few weeks on supply
squeeze. This is mainly on account of reduced output in the previous cropping
season in the drought-affected regions of eastern Karnataka and Vidarbha, where
these varieties are mostly grown.
Also the tardy progress of southwest monsoon and concerns over
projection of rainfall this year has aided the upward price trend with farmers
and millers holding back their stocks, sources said.
Water crisis
Scanty rainfall last year coupled with lack of canal water for
irrigation had impacted the paddy cultivation in districts such as Bellary,
Koppal, Raichur and Yadgir in Eastern Karnataka.
“While the kharif transplantation was hit by the delay in
release of water last year, farmers could not take up paddy cultivation during
the rabi season as there was hardly any water in the canals,” said Chamras
Malipatil, President of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha - Hasiru Sene.
However, there’s no dearth of paddy stocks, he said. “Large
farmers, stockists and millers are holding the stocks from previous crops,”
Malipatil said, adding that newer storage techniques, including improved
fumigation, are helping them hold the stocks.
Traditionally, the prices of the preferred varieties go up
during this time of the year by about ₹2 per kg as the supply slows down. However, the extent of
increase has more than doubled to around ₹5 per kg this year, says RC Lahoti, President, Bengaluru
Wholesale Food Grain & Pulses Merchants’ Association.
Interestingly, the prices of other varieties such as Salem Idly
has also gone up this year. “Prices may come down when the farmers start
releasing the stocks in October-November,” Lahoti said.
Srikar Nag of Raichur Rice Mills Association, blamed the
unplanned release of water for irrigation from the dams on the Tungabhadra and
the Krishna rivers in the region for the shortfall in the crop. “Though the
Tungabhadra dam got filled up, farmers could hardly take advantage of it due to
the unplanned release of waters by the government,” said Nag.
Abysmal water
levels
Water levels have reached the dead storage levels in Tungabhadra
reservoir, where accumulation of silt has reduced the storage capacity. While
the shortfall in last year’s kharif crop was estimated at 30-40 per cent,
farmers could hardly harvest a tenth of the rabi crop, he said.
As a result, the supplies to the rice mills in Raichur have
drastically reduced, forcing some mills to fetch paddy from neighbouring Andhra
Pradesh, Nag said. Consecutive droughts in Nagpur region, where the Kolam
variety is grown, has also hit the supplies of the premium variety, he added.
Vikram Shreeram of Shriya Rice Mills in Raichur said the price
correction ranged between ₹2-6 per kg at the mill, depending on the varieties. The shortage
of paddy has hit the processing of 70-odd rice mills in Raichur, which have
reduced their production by half. “The 70-odd mills used to load about 400-500
tonnes of processed rice every day. Presently, we are not even loading 150-200
tonnes a day,” he added.
Srinivas Jayanthi, a trader in Bengaluru said the price
fluctuation continues on a daily basis.
The steamed variety of sona masuri has seen the highest increase
from around ₹33 a kg a month ago to aound ₹41-42 per kg now. “Prices could ease depending on the progress
of monsoon,” he added.
India’s rice production for 2018-19 is seen at a record 115.63
million tonnes. Bulk of the paddy produced in India is that of common variety,
which is used for supply of rice through the public distribution system. Trade
sources estimate that about a fourth of rice produced in India is of premium
variety including basmati. However, the production figures for preferred
varieties like sona masuri and kolam were not readily available.
Farmers
stage road blockade over delay in crop procurement
Post New Network
Updated: June 18th, 2019, 11:13 IST
Nuapada: Normal life in several parts of
Nuapada district came to a standstill after hundreds of farmers resorted to
road blockade over delay in procurement of rabi paddy here Monday.
Vehicular movement was affected
for several hours following the dawn to dusk road blockade. The road blockade
was lifted with the intervention of the administration. The agitating farmers
relented after assurance of immediate procurement by the millers.
With the onset of monsoon,
farmers may face unwanted problems, thanks to the indifferent attitude of the
paddy millers. Tonnes of paddy stacked at the mandis are yet to be collected.
Leaving their work, farmers have
been spending sleepless nights at the mandis, guarding their produce. With no
procurement, the paddy has started sprouting after getting wet in the rain.
This will only add to the miseries of the farmers who are reeling under severe
crop loss and debt burden.
Despite repeated complaints, no
one bothers to lift paddy from the farmers. Fed up with the official apathy,
the farmers have resorted to road blockade Monday.
The aggrieved farmers were
spotted picketing on Khariar Road, Tarbod, Jadamunda and Beltukuri National
Highway.
“It has been two months since we
harvested our Rabi crop and brought our produce to the mandis by spending huge
costs on transportation. But, now the millers have been demanding additional
paddy. When we express our inability, they are rejecting our paddy. Our produce
has been dumped at the mandis and we are waiting here, abandoning all our
work,” a farmer expressed his anguish.
A total of 6,000 rice packets are
stacked at Tarbod mandi, 4,000 at Beltukuri and another 5,000 at Jadamunda
mandi. The angry farmers have placed their paddy on National Highway and staged
a sit-in in protest. 
On the direction of the District
Collector, additional district supply officer Khanduram Naik reached the spot
and pacified the farmers. The farmers relented after the officials assured to
lift their crop at the earliest.
Learning
from the Mistakes of Others at the USA Rice Outlook Conference
By Lydia Holmes
ARLINGTON, VA -- Farming is not an easy line of work and
things don't always go as planned, but as Henry Ford famously said,
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more
intelligently." The question, as always, is what can we learn from
those attempts that didn't work the first time?
USA Rice will examine the bumpy road to success during the 2019 Outlook Conference with a session titled "Lessons from the Field: Farmer Tales and Fails." A panel of growers will share experiences of times when they tried something, didn't achieve the expected result, but turned what looked like a failure into a new cutting edge practice with the potential to save time and resources.
"This session celebrating 'the good, the bad, and the ugly,' along with the eventual success of new practices promises to be both humbling and enlightening," said Betsy Ward, president & CEO of USA Rice. "Hear from fellow farmers who have tried, and often failed, and are willing to share the details of how they worked through challenges to do something great."
The USA Rice Outlook Conference is the largest rice specific event in North America. The 2019 Conference will take place from December 8-10 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Check www.usarice.com/outlook for updates.
USA Rice will examine the bumpy road to success during the 2019 Outlook Conference with a session titled "Lessons from the Field: Farmer Tales and Fails." A panel of growers will share experiences of times when they tried something, didn't achieve the expected result, but turned what looked like a failure into a new cutting edge practice with the potential to save time and resources.
"This session celebrating 'the good, the bad, and the ugly,' along with the eventual success of new practices promises to be both humbling and enlightening," said Betsy Ward, president & CEO of USA Rice. "Hear from fellow farmers who have tried, and often failed, and are willing to share the details of how they worked through challenges to do something great."
The USA Rice Outlook Conference is the largest rice specific event in North America. The 2019 Conference will take place from December 8-10 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Check www.usarice.com/outlook for updates.
Summer crop sowing lags in India
on slow monsoon progress
Rajendra Jadhav
JUNE 17, 2019 / 3:40 PM
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Planting of
summer-sown crops in India such as soybean, cotton, rice and corn has been
delayed by at least two weeks because of the slow progress of monsoon rains in
central and western parts of the country, raising concerns over lower
production.
FILE PHOTO: A farmer removes
dried plants from his parched paddy field at Narimanpura village, on the
outskirts of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Amit
Dave
Lower production of soybeans
could force India to raise imports of edible oils such as palm oil and soyoil,
while a drop in cotton output could limit the world’s biggest fiber producer’s
exports. Lower rice output could hit shipments from the world’s biggest
exporter.
“Monsoon rainfall is delayed.
Farmers could not start sowing on the time,” said Atul Ganatra, president of
the Cotton Association of India.
Farmers have so far planted
summer-sown crops on 8.22 million hectares (20.3 million acres), down 9%
compared with the same period a year ago, according to provisional data from
the Ministry of Agriculture. Cotton sowing is down 9.4%, while soybean planting
has lagged by 51% during the period.
Monsoon rains hit the southern
Indian state of Kerala nearly a week later than normal earlier this month.
Progress was slowed further last week because of Cyclone Vayu that drew
moisture from the Arabian Sea.
Monsoon rainfall was 43% lower
than normal so far in June, but in some states, such as Maharashtra, the
rainfall deficit was as high as 68%, data compiled by the state-run India
Meteorological Department (IMD) showed.
In Maharashtra and the central
state of Madhya Pradesh, key producers of soybean, cotton, sugar and pulses,
rainfall will remain below average this week but could pick up from the week
after, said a senior IMD official, who declined to be named.
“From the next week, the monsoon
could gain momentum,” the official said.
Typically, the monsoon covers
most parts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh by mid-June, but so far this year
monsoon has not even fully covered the southern state of Karnataka, a producer
of sugar and corn, IMD data showed.
Monsoons deliver about 70% of
India’s annual rainfall and are the lifeblood of its $2.5 trillion economy,
spurring farm output and boosting rural spending on items ranging from gold to
cars, motorcycles and refrigerators.
“Rainfall delay is a cause of
concern for oilseed farmers. If rainfall delays further, it could change sowing
patterns and could hurt crop yields as well,” said B.V. Mehta, executive
director of the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA).
Farmers cannot use water from
reservoirs as many have dried up in western India after the region received
lower rainfall than normal in 2018, he said.
For the June to September monsoon
season, India is likely to receive 96% of the average of rainfall received during
the past 50 years, the IMD forecast last month.
‘PH rice
discoveries not reaching farmers’
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:32 AM June 17, 2019
FILE PHOTO
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — The
Philippines had planned to be self-sufficient in rice by 2017 and be at par
with rice exporting countries like Vietnam and Thailand.
But scientific breakthroughs and technology
had not been transmitted to farmers by the country’s food research community as
had been intended, Sen. Cynthia Villar said during a North Luzon business forum
of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.
Villar, chair of the Senate committee on
agriculture, said rice farmers needed to be immersed in the latest discoveries
of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the Philippine Center
for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) now that rice
importation had been liberalized.
Technology transfer
“PhilRice and PhilMech (which are overseen
by the Department of Agriculture) were created but there appeared to be some
misconception that these institutions’ primary task was research when they
needed to bring their findings to the farm level,” she said.
Villar blamed the failure to transfer
knowledge and technology on budget constraints.
Farmers have been upset by the rice
tariffication law (Republic Act No. 11203), which lifted restrictions on rice
importation but imposed import taxes of as high as 35 percent on imports.
Villar said the agriculture industry could
be “steered in the right direction” using the six-year Rice Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund, amounting to P10 billion a year, which is provided for under
the tariffication law.
The law allocates P5 billion for
mechanizing rice farms and P3 billion for developing and promoting high-value
rice.
Also, P1 billion will be opened as credit
support, and another P1 billion will be spent on extension support and the
education of rice farmers.
Key to self-sufficiency
Villar said the key to self-sufficiency was
mechanization because it would cut down expenses on labor and reduce the
influence of middlemen.
Postharvest technologies will also enable
farmers to sell directly to the market, she said.
In Vietnam, mechanization reduced
production labor cost to the equivalent of P120, compared to the average P460
labor expense of a rice farmer in the Philippines, Villar said.
Vietnam, she said, spends P6 to produce a
kilo of palay, which is half the production cost of P12 in the Philippines.
PhilRice has developed an inbred grain
variety that can increase the yield of rice farmers to 6 metric tons a hectare
from the present 4 MT.
Should this happen, the country can solve
its 7-percent rice shortage, which ranges from 600,000 MT to 1 million MT,
Villar said.
The next six years will define the impact
of PhilMech and PhilRice on food production as well as farmers’ reception to
new technology, she said.
Of the 8 million crop farmers in the
country, 3.5 million are coconut farmers, while 3.5 million are rice growers.
Price of imported rice drops in May
By
The average price of one kilogramme (kg) of rice (imported high
quality sold loose) decreased month-on-month in May, Sunday Telegraph market
survey team have learned.
It was revealed that the price of rice decreased year-on-year by
-0.40 per cent and decreased month-on-month by -0.70 per cent to N3590.90 in
May from N361.38 in April.
Similarly, Sunday Telegraph learnt that the average price of one kg
of yam tuber increased year-on-year by -2.07 per cent and month-on month by
-30.71 per cent to N300.88 in May from N206.48 in April.
Also, it was learnt that the average price of one dozen of Agric
eggs medium decreased year-on-year by -12.80 per cent and remained stable
month-on-month at N459.80 in May.
In addition, it was learnt that the average price of piece of
Agric eggs medium size (price of one) increased year-on-year by 1.73 per cent
and decrease month-on-month by -0.74 per cent to N42.91 in May from N42.23 in
April.
Sunday Telegraph further learnt that the average price of one kg
of tomato decreased year-on-year by -10.03 per cent and increased
month-on-month by 50.11 per cent to N400.29 in March from N250.50 in April.
600,000 Tonnes Rice Mill Underway In Katsina
By
Executive director, Darma Rice Mill Ltd, Mr Fahad Mangal has said
the company would set up a 600,000 tonnes capacity rice mill in Katsina to
bridge the gap in rice consumption demand in Nigeria.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in
Abuja, Mangal said the mill would support the Federal Government’s effort at
making Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production.
He added that the production plan was divided into two phases,
saying that the first phase would be 300,000 tonnes per annum capacity of two
lines of 16 tonnes per hour rice mill.
According to him, the first phase of the project will take off
before the second quarter of 2020 while the second phase of another 300,000
will come on stream immediately after.
“In total, we are talking about 50 million US Dollars volume of
investment which is about N15.2 billion. If you look at it, Katsina is a
strategic location and has vast land for farming.
“Already we have engaged farmers with some sort of loan who would
be farming the paddy rice that we will buy. Apart from that, there are
available paddy rice all over the country especially the neighbouring states
like Kano, Zamfara, and Jigawa.
“Our target market will be basically the North West down to the
North Central where we have big market for rice. In Kano, Kaduna and Abuja for
instance, we have a population of over 10 million people and we all know that
our major food is rice.”
“If you look at rice demand in Nigeria also, we are still not
meeting the local demand because we are still importing rice and by putting up
a plant in Katsina, we hope that in the next two to three years we will be
self-sufficient and meet our local demand,’’ Mangal said.
He said that the firm would also explore exporting to neighbouring
countries in future, adding that the major focus of the company was to produce
quality rice for local consumption.
“When we meet our domestic demand for rice, our next target is to
start exporting it across the West African countries. Government has also shown
commitment to supporting this investment in rice by supporting manufacturing
and agricultural businesses.
“I can assure you that we will create not less than 5,000 direct
and indirect jobs when the mill is completed and operational,’’ he said.
Mangal also disclosed that the firm would set up a fertilizer
plant in the same location in order to support farming in the state.
He said that the company would produce a minimum of one million
tonnes of fertilizer per annum by the first quarter of 2020.
More
municipalities to benefit from rice liberalization
Louise
Maureen Simeon (The Philippine Star) - June 17, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines — Approximately 1,200 municipalities in the country are expected to
reap the benefits of rice liberalization as the government finalizes the
guidelines for the farm mechanization component under the rice competitiveness
enhancement Fund (RCEF).
The
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) said
the 1,200 municipalities that would facilitate the deployment of farm equipment
and machines in the next six years is set to be identified under the
guidelines.
PhilMech
is set to receive half of the P10-billion RCEF as part of the opening up of the
rice market to cheap imported rice.
“Registered
irrigators associations and farmers cooperative will be the beneficiaries of
the equipment. The government cannot just give to every individual,” PhilMech
chief science research specialist Rod Estigoy said.
“Our
distribution will be in pacing because the real challenge is really to purchase
and utilize that big of an amount. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we will
be able to distribute initial units,” he added.
Each
of the municipality should have a viable farmers organization with at least 100
hectares of irrigated rice lands. The 1,200 municipalities are located in 16
the country’s regions that host farming activities.
PhilMech
targets to distribute a complete set of machines in every municipality, from
land preparation to milling, which would normally cost around P15 million to
P20 million per set.
Before
the actual deployment and distribution of farm machines in the 1,200
municipalities start, PhilMech would conduct “mind-setting” activities like
information drive and technical briefings to prepare farmers to adopt to
mechanization.
However,
Estigoy said a “one-size-fits-all” approach would not be used by PhilMech in
increasing the farm mechanization level of the 1,200 municipalities.
He
said there are municipalities that already have a certain degree of farm
mechanization while there are those that still rely largely on human or animal
power in the various phases of rice production.
Hence,
PhilMech will have to study what type of farm equipment and machines would be
deployed over a cluster of municipalities.
Of
the P10 billion RCEF, half will be allocated for mechanization of rice farms,
P3 billion for provision of high-yielding inbred rice seeds, P1 billion for
credit support, and P1 billion for extension support and education of rice
farmers.
The
Philippine Rice Research Institute will take the lead in providing
high-yielding inbred rice seeds to farmers while the Agricultural Training
Institute and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority will
undertake the training of farmers and extension workers.
PhilMech
will also develop and provide the modules for the training of rice farmers.
Meanwhile,
Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines will
support the credit component of the RCEF.
Studies
showed that the cost of producing a kilogram of palay in the Philippines is
P12.72 compared to P6.22 in Vietnam and P8.86 in Thailand.
The
components under RCEF can reduce the cost of producing palay in the country by
P1 to P3 per kilo.
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