Friday, November 29, 2019

29th November,2019 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter


Year later, mystery surrounds China's gene-edited babies

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Kin Cheung/AP file photo/He Jiankui, a Chinese researcher, speaks during the Human Genome Editing Conference in Hong Kong in 2018. The scientist shocked the world by claiming he had helped make the first gene-edited babies. One year later, mystery surrounds his fate as well as theirs. He has not been seen publicly since January, his work has not been published and nothing is known about the health of the babies. 
Chinese scientist He Jiankui shocked the world by claiming he had helped make the first gene-edited babies. One year later, mystery surrounds his fate as well as theirs.
He has not been seen publicly since January, his work has not been published and nothing is known about the health of the babies.
"That's the story — it's all cloaked in secrecy, which is not productive for the advance of understanding," said Stanford bioethicist Dr. William Hurlbut.
He talked with Hurlbut many times before He revealed at a Hong Kong science conference that he had used a tool called CRISPR to alter a gene in embryos to try to help them resist infection with the AIDS virus. The work, which He discussed in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press, was denounced as medically unnecessary and unethical because of possible harm to other genes and because the DNA changes can pass to future generations.
Since then, many people have called for regulations or a moratorium on similar work, but committees have bogged down over who should set standards and how to enforce them.
"Nothing has changed," said Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a University of Pennsylvania geneticist who just published a book about gene editing and the CRISPR babies case.
"I think we're farther from governing this" now than a year ago, said Hurlbut, who disapproves of what He did. However, so much effort has focused on demonizing He that it has distracted from how to move forward, he said.
Here's what's known about the situation:
HE JIANKUI
He was last seen in early January in Shenzhen, on the balcony of an apartment at his university, which fired him from its faculty after his work became known. Armed guards were in the hall, leading to speculation he was under house arrest.
A few weeks later, China's official news agency said an investigation had determined that He acted alone out of a desire for fame and would be punished for any violations of law.
Since then, AP's efforts to reach him have been unsuccessful. Ryan Ferrell, a media relations person He hired, declined to comment. Ferrell previously said He's wife had started paying him, which might mean that He is no longer in a position to do that himself.
Hurlbut, who had been in touch with He early this year, declined to say when he last heard from him.
THE BABIES
The Chinese investigation seemed to confirm the existence of twin girls whose DNA He said he altered. The report said the twins and people involved in a second pregnancy using a gene-edited embryo would be monitored by government health departments. Nothing has been revealed about the third baby, which should have been born from that second pregnancy in late summer.
Chinese officials have seized the remaining edited embryos and He's lab records.
"He caused unintended consequences in these twins," Musunuru said of the gene editing. "We don't know if it's harming the kids."
OTHERS WHO WERE INVOLVED
Rice University in Houston said it is still investigating the role of Michael Deem, whose name was on a paper He sent to a journal and who spoke with the AP about He’s work. Deem was He's adviser when He attended Rice years ago.
The AP and others have reported on additional scientists in the U.S. and China who knew or strongly suspected what He was doing.
"Many people knew, many people encouraged him. He did not do this in a corner," Hurlbut said.
THE SCIENCE
Scientists recently have found new ways to alter genes that may be safer than CRISPR. Gene editing also is being tested against diseases in children and adults, which is not controversial because those changes don't pass to future generations. Some scientists think gene editing will become more widely accepted if it's proved to work in those situations.
"It's moving forward slowly because it's being done responsibly," Musunuru said.
PUBLIC OPINION
A forum was held in Berkeley, California, last month to get public views on gene editing — everything from modifying mosquitoes and crops to altering embryos.
The National Academy of Sciences recently pulled a video it made after concern arose about how it portrayed the ethically dicey science and its possible use to make designer babies. The academy has been leading some efforts to set standards for gene editing, and it gets most of its funding from the government, although a private grant paid for the video, a spokeswoman said.
An AP/NORC poll last year found that most Americans say it would be OK to use gene-editing to protect babies against disease, but not to change DNA so children are born smarter, faster or taller.
REGULATION
A moratorium is no longer strong enough, and regulation is needed, CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley recently wrote in a commentary in the journal Science.
She noted that the World Health Organization has asked regulators in all countries not to allow such experiments, and that a Russian scientist recently proposed one.
"The temptation to tinker” with the DNA of embryos, eggs or sperm “is not going away," she wrote.
Marilynn Marchione can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. https://www.gloucestertimes.com/news/national_world_news/year-later-mystery-surrounds-china-s-gene-edited-babies/article_1f4ca60e-a206-5f9c-b4bf-756a45fe2c26.html

Experts deliberate on rice, maize improvement programmes

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Nov 29, 2019, 7:17 AM; last updated: Nov 29, 2019, 7:17 AM (IST)
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, November 28
A special meeting was held at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to review and re-orient rice and maize improvement programmes in light of paddy straw management, crop diversification and water saving.
The meeting, held under the chairmanship of Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice Chancellor, PAU, was attended by Navtej Bains, director of research; JS Mahal, director of extension education; KS Thind, additional director of research (crop improvement); GS Mangat, head, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics; and faculty of rice and maize sections of the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics.
It was decided during the meeting that the rice breeding programme would stop working on the varieties of long duration and would rather focus on medium maturity duration (110 days) (post-transplanting duration). Also, the seed production of PR 122 (which takes 117 days to mature) would be stopped from 2020. More emphasis would be laid on breeding varieties suitable for direct seeding (DSR).
In view of spread of basmati cultivation from the traditional zone to new areas, where manual harvesting is not practiced, it was decided to promote cultivation of shorter duration Pusa basmati 1509 rather than long duration Pusa basmati 1121. PAU is in the process of developing new strains of basmati which matures a week earlier than Pusa basmati 1121. These are at the final stage of testing and if found suitable, multiplication and release will be accelerated. PAU will also actively pursue the deregisteration of Pusa 44, the longest duration variety of rice (130 days, post transplanting).
Diversification away from rice is urgently required in the present situation, for which important steps that need to be taken for strengthening maize were discussed during the meeting. The maize breeding work at PAU was sought to be strengthened by provision of two additional posts (Maize Breeding) for strengthening research on long duration hybrids and speciality (pop, sweet, baby, waxy, high oil) maize each, and one post for research on precision agronomy at main campus at Ludhiana by diverting positions from other crops.
The maize research team will also associate scientists from Farm Engineering departments to provide improved farm mechanisation and processing technologies. Likewise, one scientist each at Regional Research Stations at Gurdaspur and Ballowal Saunkhri will be associated with maize as their priority area of research.
During the meeting, it was also decided to work with farmers for implementation of improved package of maize cultivation practices aimed at narrowing the gap in economic returns vis-à-vis rice. Interventions will include quality seeds and precise sowing with pneumatic planters) to ensure optimal plant followed by effective pest management to ensure higher yield.

Supplement-protector tackles malnutrition

28 November 2019

Credit: CC0, via Pixabay
Using a new micropolymer called BMC, US scientists have figured out how to stabilise nutrients added to food...
Rickets, scurvy, beriberi… we’ve learnt the hard way that keeping our vitamin levels in check is essential for good health. But while these conditions are associated with bygone eras and now seem manageable, the developing world continues to struggle with the consequences of malnutrition.
Around 2 billion people suffer from vitamin deficiencies, with micronutrient deficiency known as “hidden hunger”. This can cause birth defects, anaemia, impaired growth and blindness and leads to 50% of deaths of children under 5 according to the WHO. This physical weakness can contribute to “the cycle of poverty” and severely impact the prospects of low-income families.
While a balanced diet is ideal, in countries with limited access to a wide variety of foods this isn’t possible. The solution: fortify cupboard staples, like rice, maize, even salt, and ensure people can get what their body needs. Although strides have been made to fortify foodstuffs, there are still technical challenges to be resolved. Though an effective way to introduce these nutrients into the diet, certain additions like iron can also make the food taste unpalatable. Furthermore, as senior author Ana Jacklenec explains, in countries with prevalent malnutrition, foods rich in micronutrients are often simmered in stews, and this heat can destroy their nutritional content.
In this new paper, researchers at MIT used a polymer to coat a combination of micronutrients. After testing 50 different polymers they settled on BMC, a microparticle already approved by the FDA that is only slightly larger in diameter than a single human hair. It was able to make the nutrients stable at different levels of heat, moisture and light. Eleven micronutrients were encapsulated in this particular experiment, including iron, niacin, zinc, folic acid, and an array of those all-important lettered vitamins.
They tested the intestinal absorption of these coated micronutrients in rodents, finding that the capsule acted as protection from various factors but still dissolved appropriately in gastric acid as intended. These results were also found in mini-organs, grown to replicate human intestines, which showed, for example, a 30-fold increase in iron absorption.
These effects were tested within a human trial of 44 people. The team also compared the taste of their new ‘super-bread’ with one unsupplemented, with little difference to the experience. Even Bill Gates, whose foundation funded the research, was unable to distinguish between the two.
By shielding key micronutrients with this polymer, scientists have found a way to preserve nutritional content and tackle the scourge of deficiencies in developing countries. Though it may cost more and be tricky to implement, helping a third of the world would prove more than worthwhile in the future, “not just on health, but on the economy, on education” alongside other indirect benefits.

Senate bill on DSWD’s rice subsidy awaits approval

November 28, 2019, 5:22 PM
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola 
The Senate is expected to approve soon a bill seeking to allow the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to use its 2019 rice subsidy fund to buy palay from Filipino farmers affected by the surge in rice imports in the country.
Description: Senate of the Philippines (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Senate of the Philippines (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Thursday that the chamber will fast track the approval of a bill formalizing the authority to be given to the DSWD to use its remaining P6.97-billion rice subsidy budget under the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to directly buy unmilled rice to local farmers and distribute actual rice to beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
This, following the approval in both houses of Congress of a joint resolution this month to authorize concerned government agencies to use their rice subsidy programs to help farmers cope with the unimpeded importation of rice under the Rice Tariffication Law.
The Supreme Court (SC) recently ruled that a joint resolution cannot be equated to a bill and hence cannot be enacted into a law, saying that “neither the Rules of the Senate nor the Rules of the House of Representatives can amend the Constitution which recognizes that only a bill can become a law.”
Due to the High Court’s ruling, Zubiri on Wednesday, November 27, filed Senate Bill No. 1199 as a substitute to the Senate Joint Resolution No. 8 they approved on final reading last November 4.
Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate agriculture committee, also filed a similar bill Tuesday.
“We decided to pass a law so there will be no hiccup in our efforts to help the farmers. Joint Resolutions, according to the Supreme Court, are not valid as a law,” Zubiri said told Manila Bulletin in a text message Thursday.
The Senate leader said that like the joint resolution, the bill on the rice subsidy program will be prioritized by the Upper Chamber. He said they expect its approval on final reading before December 11.
Under the Zubiri’s proposal, the DSWD, in coordination with the National Food Authority (NFA), would be mandated to purchase palay from local farmers in the rice producing provinces of Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Tarlac, Nueva Edja, Zamboanga del Sur, and Iloilo and distribute rice, instead of cash, to its beneficiaries.
The bills seek to allow the department to use the rice subsidy as provided under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4PS) in the 2019 GAA.
Villar, for her part, said the DSWD, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the NFA shall set up the procedure, guidelines, and distribution system.
The DSWD shall submit to Congress a year-end report on the implementation of the program “to determine its performance and effectiveness”, she proposed.
Aside from the DSWD, Zubiri also proposed to encourage local government units having jurisdiction over the covered provinces to purchase the rice requirement of their local hospitals, jails, and other institutions from local farmers.
Under the 2019 GAA, the total allocation for rice subsidies was P33.9 billion, with the DSWD receiving the bulk of it for the 4Ps.
The DSWD said P6.97 billion of its rice subsidy fund this year remains undisbursed.
The 4Ps, which currently has about 4.1 million beneficiaries, grants the rice subsidy in the form of financial assistance amounting to P600 per month, which is equivalent to 20 kilos of rice.
This is on top of the cash assistance given to the same beneficiaries of P300 per month or P3,600 per year.
Local farmers have complained of the declining farm gate prices of palay due to the implementation of Republic Act No. 11203, which allowed the unimpeded entry of rice imports into the country in exchange of tariffs.
Despite calls for its repeal, the administration is bent on implementing the rice tariffication law.

Pangilinan, Belmonte seek P6 billion in 2019 budget to cover rice farmers’ losses


Description: https://businessmirror.com.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/agri01-120718-696x462.jpgFarmers in  -
Palawan are preparing to plant rice in this file photo.
SEN. Francis Pangilinan has filed a bill seeking to augment the 2019 budget with P6 billion to immediately provide unconditional cash transfer to rice farmers.
Senate Bill 1191 proposes a P6-billion supplemental budget for direct cash transfers to vulnerable rice farmers who are planting 1 hectare or less, “as compensation for the reduction or loss of farm income arising from the influx of imported rice.”
At the House of Representatives, Quezon City Rep. Christopher “Kit” Belmonte, also on Tuesday afternoon, filed House Bill 5629 as a counterpart measure, saying that the cash assistance will encourage rice farmers to continue farming.
Pangilinan is Liberal Party president while Belmonte is the party’s secretary-general.
“Ang buhay at kabuhayan ng ating mga magpapalay ay nasa panganib, at dapat nating tratuhin ito bilang isang emergency situation na nangangailangan ng agarang atensyon [The life and livelihood of our farmers are in peril, and we should treat this as an emergency situation that needed immediate attention]” Pangilinan said.
“The cash transfer will give them a lifeline to continue farming while we try our best to fix the law,” Pangilinan added, referring to Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Act.
The law imposes a minimum 35-percent tariff on rice imports in lieu of quantitative restrictions (QRs).
The liberalization of rice imports, while intended to give the country a steady supply, has led to declining palay farm-gate prices in many rice-producing areas.
Eight months since the passage of the law, farm-gate prices of palay have plunged to as low as P7 to P10 per kilo in some provinces, while the price of rice dropped by 2.9 percent, and the price of palay by 17.48 percent.
The drop in farm-gate price of palay has resulted in huge income losses for rice farmers and the industry, now estimated around P60 billion, and projected to double by year-end.
Pangilinan said releases from the proposed supplemental fund will be made by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) directly to the Department of Agriculture (DA), which shall make available the fund to the farmers.
The fund will be effective until December 31, 2020.
Earlier, both the Senate and the House approved on third and final reading their respective bills extending the validity of the 2019 budget until December 31, 2020.
This would allow agencies to spend funds for capital outlays and maintenance, and other operating expenses in the 2019 budget until next year.
According to Pangilinan’s bill, the DBM will submit to Congress and the Commission on Audit quarterly report on the utilization of funds.

Hearing the farmers plea

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM November 29, 2019
If we do not hear the farmers’, not only will they be in peril.  Our poverty will increase, food security threatened, and our peace and order disrupted. At the recent November 25-26 National Rice Industry Stakeholders Conference in Iloilo organized by the Department of Agriculture, a farmer leader in his twenties said: “Kung hindi ayusin ang kapatagan, ang mga tao ay pupunta sa kagubatan (If the lowlands are not fixed, the people will go to the mountains).”
He was referring to rice farmers losing more than half their income during the past year because of the newly imposed 35 percent import rice tariff. This forced the domestic price of palay to decrease in order to compete with the very cheap rice imports.
How bad is the rice farmer’s situation? Using the average of 4 tons a hectare, the production cost of P12 a kilo (though the official DA presentation at the conference showed it is now P12.45), and the officially recorded dry palay price of P15.43, the net income was P12,040.  This is only 40 percent of last year’s P31,760.  This is using Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) information as of the fourth week of October. Since PSA data was not updated for November, we instead used DA data updated as of Nov. 25.
The average farmgate price for the month of November was recorded at even lower than last month at P4.40, with income correspondingly decreasing to only P9,600 a hectare.
The critical question that few have raised and no one has officially answered is :  “At what price can the farmer’s produce compete  with imported rice?”
A few weeks earlier, I showed that two data sources (are from the private sector and the other from DA)  independently and unofficially estimated that price to be P12.00.  Two days ago, we collected the newest DA data available. Assuming the landed cost of imported rice at P16.00, a 35 percent tariff of P5.60, and the cost to the warehouse at P5.20, the equivalent total cost at wholesale would be P26.80. Though the wholesale to palay price ratio has deteriorated from 2.2:1 in 2018, 2.4:1 in 2019, we will use the conservative 2018 ratio. The resulting palay price (P26.80 /2.2) is P12.18, similar the P12.00 price estimated a few weeks ago. At the P12 production cost per kilo, the average farmer cannot survive. However, the more productive farmers can, but they are in the minority.
At the Rice Conference, the farmers were told to wait one or two more years to give the 35 percent tariff a chance.
The farmers’ plea, heard loud and clear with many expressing much anger, was that this was unfair and cruel.  The government imposed the 35 percent tariff. But following the law using Republic Act 8800, the government can remedy this mistake by using the safeguard of increasing the tariff to the correct level.
They can then implement an adjustment plan, which other countries and our own industry sectors do, to decrease this rate to 35 percent or lower. But this should be accompanied with the competitive enhancement measures and government support services that our government has not been giving our agriculture for the last 22 years, when we fist committed to rice liberalization. The farmers’ plea has been ignored during all this time.
Their plea, and their justifiable demand, must now be heard and acted upon. Given the very low P12 per kilo the farmers must sell their palay to compete with the cheap imports made possible by the 35 percent tariff, many in the recently held National Rice Industry Stakeholders Conference specified that increasing the 35 percent tariff is a top priority. They ask: “What is the government waiting for?”

Ban on rice imports by 2022 possible – FABAG

General News of Friday, 29 November 2019

 


The Food and Beverages Association of Ghana

Description: The Food and Beverages Association of GhanaThe Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG), the national trade association of the food and beverage industry in Ghana, representing manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and retailers believes Ghana can successfully ban the importation of rice products by 2022 however it needs to make some critical interventions in the sector.

The General Secretary of the Association, Samuel Aggrey in a Citi News interview said one of the critical areas that government must focus its attention on is the provision of silos to promote mass storage of harvested rice.

He said without such a measure, Ghana may still need to depend on imported rice in the next 10 years since it will not be rice sufficient.

“[A ban] is possible but we need to put in place so many interventions. The issue of silos is most critical. If we don’t have those once in place, I beg to say that even in 10 years we will not be rice sufficient. What we do is that, we produce to consume so in between the period that we consume the rice, and we are exhausted do we have to wait for the next harvest? We are supposed to have about three or four harvests stored. Once that is done, we will be releasing it as and when we need it. When we do it, then we know that we have intervened with the situation that we used to have in solving the problem,” he said.

He added that other support programmes must be started to support local rice producers.

The government earlier this week announced that, it plans to ban the importation of rice by 2022 to boost local rice production.

Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Osei Nyarko who gave the hint said, the move is to reverse the significant amount of the foreign rice consumed by Ghanaians.

President of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Asaki Awingobit warned that although the ban on the importation may be helpful to the country in the near future, measures should adequately be put in place to ground its implementation in the long run.

“Government cannot use a short or medium-term to solve this issue in the country looking at the amount of money that we are spending to bring rice in this country. The country can be looking at a long term solution. But from now, giving ourselves 2022 is not a solution if government bans the importation.”

The struggles of rice farmers have been relayed by Citi News reports and a subsequent campaign started by Citi FM’s CEO, Samuel Attah-Mensah, urging Ghanaians to consume locally grown rice.

The development has seen huge quantities of rice at the risk of going waste at the Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi rice valleys in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region.

As part of more immediate measures to tackle the problem, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been meeting with 20 major rice importers to solicit commitments to support rice production in the country.

In line with this, the Ghana National Buffer Stock Company also said it will make its licensed buying companies to purchase all rice produce going bad.

Importers Warn Gov't Against Banning Rice Imports In 2022

By News Desk


President of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Asaki Awingobit is warning government’s plan of banning the importation of rice could cause more harm than good in the short to medium term.
He said, the solution to boost production and consumption of lDescription: Importers Warn Gov't Against Banning Rice Imports In 2022ocal rice lies in holistic support to local farmers in terms of cultivation and marketing of the produce.
Making his claims on Eyewitness News, Mr. Awingobit expressed fears that the country risk facing severe food insecurity if government overlooks the needed logistical and production assistance.
He advised government to critically examine the entire rice value chain before it goes ahead with its intended import ban.
“It is not feasible in the sense that, we don’t want a situation where government will create food insecurity in this country. With what they are bringing, if there is no demand, there will be no supply. If we say that in 2022, we will ban entirely, can we can sustain what we are currently producing let alone looking for surplus for export? So we should not just rush and say, we are banning. The fears I am having is that, the government just can’t be making pronouncements. Government should be interested in the produce on the farm lands from cultivation to harvesting to packaging to marketing. Government should look at the supply chain and support the farmer adequately. At the end of the day, if they ban and the importers go to buy it, it will even cost more than the one that is brought from outside.”
Government has announced that, it plans to ban the importation of rice by 2022 to boost local rice production.
Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Osei Nyarko who gave the hint said, the move is to reverse the significant amount of the foreign rice consumed by Ghanaians.
But Mr. Awingobit maintained that, although the ban on the importation may be helpful to the country in the near future, measures should adequately be put in place to ground its implementation in the long run.
“Government cannot use a short or medium term to solve this issue in the country looking at the amount of money that we are spending to bring rice in this country. The country can be looking at a long term solution. But from now, giving ourselves 2022 is not a solution if government bans the importation.”
The struggles of rice farmers have been relayed by Citi News reports and a subsequent campaign started by Citi FM's CEO, Samuel Attah-Mensah, urging Ghanaians to consume locally grown rice.
The struggles of rice farmers and millers have left huge quantities of rice at the risk of going waste at the Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi rice valleys in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region.
As part of more immediate measures to tackle the problem, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been meeting with 20 major rice importers to solicit commitments to support rice production in the country.
In line with this, the Ghana National Buffer Stock Company also said it will make its licensed buying companies to purchase all rice produce going bad. 10 rice millers agree to purchase locally grown rice
Meanwhile, ten major rice millers have agreed to buy locally grown rice for processing at 60 percent capacity which translates to 300,000 metric tonnes annually, representing over 23 million bags of home-grown rice.
This emerged at a meeting spearheaded by Ghana’s lead campaigner for local rice consumption, Samuel Attah-Mensah with the John Agyekum Kufuor (JAK) Foundation and some 15 local rice millers.
Speaking to Citi News, the Head of Policy at the JAK Foundation, Nana Ama Oppong Dua, said the next phase of the discussions is a meeting with financial institutions to support this course.
“What we realized is that for the 300,000 metric tonnes that can be done by these 10 [millers] we need just about 125,000 hectares of land to be able to do that. From the statistics we have from the Ministry, we have 300,000 hectares of land under cultivation. So it means that even what we've planted is much more than the capacity of these 10 mills here.”
“So we are hoping that the other mills will even come on board to be able to do that. What we have also done is that we've even used very conservative estimates. What we are using for this 300,000 metric tonnes is 60 percent capacity of production so if we scale up to 100%, then we will be able to produce much more,” she noted.

Banning rice imports in 2022 not feasible – Importers & Exporters Association

 

Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Asaki Awingobit
Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Asaki Awingobit, is warning that government’s plan to ban the importation of rice could cause more harm than good in the short to medium term.He said boosting production and consumption of local rice lies in a holistic support to local farmers in terms of cultivation and marketing of the produce.

Making his claims on Eyewitness News, Mr. Awingobit expressed fears that there could be shortage of rice if government fails to boost local production and goes ahead with the ban.He advised government to critically examine the entire rice value chain before it goes ahead with its intended ban.

“It is not feasible in the sense that, we don’t want a situation where government will create food insecurity in this country. With what they are bringing, if there is no demand, there will be no supply. If we say that in 2022, we will ban entirely, can we can sustain what we are currently producing let alone looking for surplus for export? So we should not just rush and say, we are banning. The fears I am having is that, the government just can’t be making pronouncements. Government should be interested in the produce on the farm lands from cultivation to harvesting to packaging to marketing. Government should look at the supply chain and support the farmer adequately. At the end of the day, if they ban and the importers go to buy it, it will even cost more than the one that is brought from outside.”

Government has announced that it plans to ban the importation of rice by 2022 to boost local rice production.

Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Osei Nyarko who gave the hint, sai the move is to reverse the significant amount of foreign rice consumed by Ghanaians.

But Mr. Awingobit maintains that although the ban on the importation may be helpful to the country in the near future, measures should adequately be put in place to ground its implementation in the long run.

“Government cannot use a short or medium term to solve this issue looking at the amount of money that we are spending to bring rice into this country. The country can be looking at a long-term solution. But for now, giving ourselves 2022 is not a solution if government bans the importation.”

The struggles of rice farmers have been relayed by Citi News reports after a campaign started by Citi FM and Citi TV CEO, Samuel Attah-Mensah, urging Ghanaians to consume locally grown rice.

The struggles of rice farmers and millers have left huge quantities of rice at the risk of going waste at the Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi rice valleys in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region.

As part of more immediate measures to tackle the problem, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been meeting with 20 major rice importers to solicit commitments to support rice production in the country.

In line with this, the Ghana National Buffer Stock Company also said it will make its licensed buying companies to purchase all rice produce going bad.

10 rice millers agree to purchase locally grown rice

Meanwhile, ten major rice millers have agreed to buy locally grown rice for processing at 60 percent capacity which translates to 350,000 metric tonnes annually, representing some 7 million bags of home-grown rice.

This emerged at a meeting spearheaded by Ghana’s lead campaigner for local rice consumption, Samuel Attah-Mensah and the John Agyekum Kufuor (JAK) Foundation with some 15 local rice millers.

Speaking to Citi News, the Head of Policy at the JAK Foundation, Nana Ama Oppong Dua, said the next phase of the discussions is a meeting with financial institutions to support this course.

“What we realized is that for the 300,000 metric tonnes that can be done by these 10 [millers] we need just about 125,000 hectares of land to be able to do that. From the statistics we have from the Ministry, we have 300,000 hectares of land under cultivation. So it means that even what we’ve planted is much more than the capacity of these 10 mills here.”

“So we are hoping that the other mills will even come on board to be able to do that. What we have also done is that we’ve even used very conservative estimates. What we are using for this 300,000 metric tonnes is 60 percent capacity of production so if we scale up to 100%, then we will be able to produce much more,” she noted.

Senate bill on DSWD’s rice subsidy awaits approval

 November 28, 2019, 5:22 PM
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola 
The Senate is expected to approve soon a bill seeking to allow the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to use its 2019 rice subsidy fund to buy palay from Filipino farmers affected by the surge in rice imports in the country.
Description: Senate of the Philippines (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Senate of the Philippines
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Thursday that the chamber will fast track the approval of a bill formalizing the authority to be given to the DSWD to use its remaining P6.97-billion rice subsidy budget under the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to directly buy unmilled rice to local farmers and distribute actual rice to beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
This, following the approval in both houses of Congress of a joint resolution this month to authorize concerned government agencies to use their rice subsidy programs to help farmers cope with the unimpeded importation of rice under the Rice Tariffication Law.
The Supreme Court (SC) recently ruled that a joint resolution cannot be equated to a bill and hence cannot be enacted into a law, saying that “neither the Rules of the Senate nor the Rules of the House of Representatives can amend the Constitution which recognizes that only a bill can become a law.”
Due to the High Court’s ruling, Zubiri on Wednesday, November 27, filed Senate Bill No. 1199 as a substitute to the Senate Joint Resolution No. 8 they approved on final reading last November 4.
Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate agriculture committee, also filed a similar bill Tuesday.
“We decided to pass a law so there will be no hiccup in our efforts to help the farmers. Joint Resolutions, according to the Supreme Court, are not valid as a law,” Zubiri said told Manila Bulletin in a text message Thursday.
The Senate leader said that like the joint resolution, the bill on the rice subsidy program will be prioritized by the Upper Chamber. He said they expect its approval on final reading before December 11.
Under the Zubiri’s proposal, the DSWD, in coordination with the National Food Authority (NFA), would be mandated to purchase palay from local farmers in the rice producing provinces of Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Tarlac, Nueva Edja, Zamboanga del Sur, and Iloilo and distribute rice, instead of cash, to its beneficiaries.
The bills seek to allow the department to use the rice subsidy as provided under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4PS) in the 2019 GAA.
Villar, for her part, said the DSWD, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the NFA shall set up the procedure, guidelines, and distribution system.
The DSWD shall submit to Congress a year-end report on the implementation of the program “to determine its performance and effectiveness”, she proposed.
Aside from the DSWD, Zubiri also proposed to encourage local government units having jurisdiction over the covered provinces to purchase the rice requirement of their local hospitals, jails, and other institutions from local farmers.
Under the 2019 GAA, the total allocation for rice subsidies was P33.9 billion, with the DSWD receiving the bulk of it for the 4Ps.
The DSWD said P6.97 billion of its rice subsidy fund this year remains undisbursed.
The 4Ps, which currently has about 4.1 million beneficiaries, grants the rice subsidy in the form of financial assistance amounting to P600 per month, which is equivalent to 20 kilos of rice.
This is on top of the cash assistance given to the same beneficiaries of P300 per month or P3,600 per year.
Local farmers have complained of the declining farm gate prices of palay due to the implementation of Republic Act No. 11203, which allowed the unimpeded entry of rice imports into the country in exchange of tariffs.
Despite calls for its repeal, the administration is bent on implementing the rice tariffication law.

Inventors to showcase creations in GenSan exhibit

By  MINDANEWS
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GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 29 Nov) – Top inventions and innovations from parts of Region 12 will take centerstage anew in the 2019 Regional Invention Contest and Exhibits (RICE) slated here next week.
Engr. Mahmud Kingking, acting director of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Region 12, said Friday at least 50 inventors and researchers will be showcasing their projects in the RICE 2019 on Dec. 3 to 5 at the SM Mall here.
He said the annual event mainly aims to bring together and feature the works of “the best minds” in the region.
“It is a venue to recognize and extend encouragement to local inventors and researchers for their hard work and ingenuity,” he said.
Kingking said the participants, which include college and high school students, will compete for the top awards in six categories.
These are the Outstanding Invention or Tuklas Award, Outstanding Utility Model, Outstanding Industrial Design, Outstanding Creative Research or Likha Award, Outstanding Student Creative Research or Sibol Award for high School and the Sibol Award college students.
The official said the exhibits and other related activities, which will be held at the SM Mall events center, are all open to the public.
He said the winners will receive cash incentives and certificates of recognition as well as qualify for the national competition.
Kingking said RICE intends to highlight the vital contributions of their science and technology development partners from all walks of life in the region.
He cited those from government, academe, industry as well as private individuals.
“It showcases the products of their creativity, inventiveness and innovative ideas that could help answer the complex and never-ending societal problems that are taking place now and in the future,” he said.
Kingking said the event seeks to encourage more “young minds and inventors” to come up with solutions that could be applied to the “day-to-day challenges in today’s high competitive and fast changing global environment.”
He added that RICE can be a driving force for inventors and researchers to achieve self-confidence in marketing their inventions and eventually transform them into science-based enterprises.
RICE 2019 was organized by DOST-12 in collaboration with the agency’s Technology Application and Promotion Institute.This year theme is “Science for the People: Enabling Technologies for Sustainable Development.” (MindaNews)

U.S. researchers find underwater telecom cables make superb seismic network

Source: Xinhua| 2019-11-29 10:13:22|Editor: xuxin
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A new research shows fiber-optic cables that constitute a global undersea telecommunications network could one day help scientists study offshore earthquakes and the geologic structures hidden deep beneath the ocean surface, according to a release of the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) on Thursday.
UC Berkeley said researchers from UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Rice University, have turned 20 km of undersea fiber-optic cable into the equivalent of 10,000 seismic stations along the ocean floor and recorded a 3.5 magnitude quake and seismic scattering from underwater fault zones in a four-day experiment in Monterey Bay.
Their technique, which they had previously tested with fiber-optic cables on land, could provide much-needed data on quakes that occur under the sea, where few seismic stations exist, leaving 70 percent of Earth's surface without earthquake detectors.
"There is a huge need for seafloor seismology. Any instrumentation you get out into the ocean, even if it is only for the first 50 kilometers from shore, will be very useful," said Nate Lindsey, a UC Berkeley graduate and lead author of the paper appeared this week in Science journal.
The experiment cable stretches 52 km offshore to the first seismic station ever placed on the floor of the Pacific Ocean 17 years ago.
"This is really a study on the frontier of seismology, the first time anyone has used offshore fiber-optic cables for looking at these types of oceanographic signals or for imaging fault structures," said Jonathan Ajo-Franklin, a geophysics professor at Rice University in Houston. "One of the blank spots in the seismographic network worldwide is in the oceans."
The ultimate goal of the researchers' efforts is to use the dense fiber-optic networks -- probably more than 10 million km in all both on land and under the sea around the world -- as sensitive measures to help monitor earthquakes in regions without expensive ground stations, Ajo-Franklin said.

Local rice to be listed on Ghana Commodity Exchange

Dr. Kadri Alfah, CEO, Ghana Commodity Exchange
Description: Dr. Kadri Alfah, CEO, Ghana Commodity ExchangeLocal rice production and consumption is expected to receive further boost as Ghana Rice will be listed on the Ghana Commodity Exchange, GCX.

This is expected to be finalized in December this year, after clearance and certification from the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC.

The Ghana Commodity Exchange is a private company limited by shares, structured as a Public Private Partnership, with the government of Ghana currently the sole shareholder.

The aim of the exchange is to establish linkages between agricultural and commodity producers and buyers, to secure competitive prices for their products, assuring the market quantity and quality as well as timely settlement of their trade.

After the clearance, the Ghana Commodity Exchange will be listing One million metric tonnes of Ghana Rice which translates into 20 million 50 kg of Ghana rice.

This comes after a meeting between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Rice Millers, the Food and Beverages Association of Ghana, and some financial institutions.

As an import substitution, local Rice millers agreed on Tuesday November 26, 2019, to process 350,000 tonnes of local rice annually.

The agreement comes on the back of a meeting with local rice production advocacy groups, JAK Foundation, and HopeLine institute.

Financial support has been one of the challenges facing the local rice sector. It was thus a relief to have financial and trading institutions like the Ghana Commodity Exchange, come together to meet the millers.

The CEO of the Exchange, Dr. Kadri Alfah, announced that his outfit will by the end of the year list Ghana Rice as one of their commodities.

“So by the end of this year, Ghana Commodity Exchange will be trading rice. So we’re going to be listing Paddy rice and Mill rice. We’re just asking SEC to give us permission to trade rice, so it’s not really SEC’s problem. Before we applied to trade it, we had to undertake an extensive feasibility studies, and we also had to consult the industry, and then we had to do others things, so we started doing them, and hopefully by the end of the year, we should have rice listed.”

But what does it mean to list Ghana Rice on the Exchange, and what are the benefits?

“What it means is that, those who’re producing rice, either in the form of paddy or mill rice can actually bring their products and trade them on the Ghana Commodity Exchange, and those who want to buy paddy or Mill rice can come and by it on the Exchange. We have a system that is able trade over one million tonnes of different products a day, so the volume is not a problem. What we need is that we need to ensure that we are able to work with our partners to mobilize the farmers and also get warehouses where these commodities will be served.”

“It’s going to give a huge boost to the sector. Some of the problems the sector is facing currently include quality. Whatever is traded on the Exchange, the quality is defined with the industry and they’re accepted, and then they’re part of the products that will be listed on the Exchange”.

Some rice farmers who were elated about the Ghana Commodity Exchange’s commitment indicated that they have the capacity to produce for the needed demand.

“I think its fantastic news; when Commodity Exchange always comes in; it comes in with some sort of liquidity, putting markets and buyers together so that the person who has and the person who has the money, putting them together on a common front, that eliminates geographical challenges, so it’s welcoming addition to the coalition that we’re trying to build” CEO of Strongmen Food and Farms, Kwadwo Ofori Ampomah said.

Convener of the Rice Millers Association, Yaw Adu-Poku, also said “This is the right direction; something we’ve been yearning for and it’s happening live. We have the GCX; we have some of the banks and Ghana Standards Board and the FDA; and a number of the biggest importers are also here on the tables with us and farmers are also here. So it is a very good durbar that we’re having” another excited miller said.

Government has announced that it plans to ban the importation of rice by 2022 to boost local rice production.

A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, who gave the hint, said the move is to reverse the significant amount of foreign rice consumed by Ghanaians.

The struggles of rice farmers have been relayed by Citi News reports after a campaign started by Citi FM and Citi TV CEO, Samuel Attah-Mensah, urging Ghanaians to consume locally grown rice.

The struggles of rice farmers and millers have left huge quantities of rice at the risk of going waste at the Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi rice valleys in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region.

As part of more immediate measures to tackle the problem, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been meeting with 20 major rice importers to solicit commitments to support rice production in the country.

In line with this, the Ghana National Buffer Stock Company also said it will make its licensed buying companies to purchase all rice produce going bad.

Haryana: No ‘major irregularity’ in paddy procurement, say probe teams

Officials tasked with physical verification of rice mills say reports will be submitted to government

CITIES Updated: Nov 28, 2019 23:33 IST
Description: Neeraj Mohan
Neeraj Mohan
Hindustan Times, Karnal

The inspection teams deputed by the state government for physical verification of rice mills did not find any ‘major irregularity’ in paddy procurement by the shellers.
Officials said physical verification revealed that the stock of most of the rice mills in Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Yamunanagar and Panipat districts was as per the records.
The physical verification was ordered by the chief secretary on November 20 after ministers in the first cabinet meeting of BJP-JJP government raised the issue of bogus paddy purchase in the state.
Even police personnel were deployed at the rice mills the same day and the movement of paddy from mandis was stopped.
Officials of the food and supply department said of 316 rice mills that procured about 17 lakh metric tonne (MT) paddy in Panipat district, physical verification of about 290 rice mills was complete
They, however, found some differences in the stock and records of a few rice mills. But this difference was due to higher moisture content at the time of procurement, they added.
Karnal deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap said, “The reports on physical verification of rice mills will be sent to the government. Once the reports are examined, appropriate action will be taken against defaulters.”
Kurukshetra food and supply controller Narender Kumar said physical verification was done at all 238 rice mills in the district and no irregularity was reported.
If there were some gaps in the stock and records of the rice mills they have to give clarification, he added.
Verification was done at 135 rice mills in Panipat, 159 in Yamunanagar and 5 rice mills in Panipat districts. Panipat deputy commissioner Sumedha Kataria said no irregularity was detected.
The leaders of opposition parties termed the inspection “eyewash”, alleging that officials of state agriculture marketing board and ahrtiyas were also involved in the scam. They also demanded the investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation for stringent action against the erring rice millers and government officials.

María Ylagan Orosa: Google Doodle celebrates Filipino food scientist and war heroine’s 126th birthday

María Ylagan Orosa, Filipino food scientist, war heroine, and humanitarian, is highlighted by Google Doodle on Friday at her 126th birthday celebration.
María Orosa e Ylagan was born on November 29, 1893, in the district of Taal within the Batangas region. She was the fourth kid among eight of Simplicio An Orosa and Juliana Ylagan-Orosa.
María Ylagan Orosa proceeded to become an extraordinary student, winning a partial government scholarship in 1916 to go to the University of Seattle. While living in a YMCA and maintaining odd jobs, Orosa finished her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry, as well as an extra degree in food chemistry.
María Ylagan Orosa, prominently called María Orosa is credited with more than 700 recipes—including the famous local condiment banana ketchup.
Description: http://www.timebulletin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Mar%C3%ADa-Ylagan-Orosa.jpgMaría Ylagan Orosa
María Ylagan Orosa explored different avenues regarding foods local to the Philippines, and during World War II created Soyalac (from soybeans) and Darak (from rice bran), which she likewise carried into Japanese-run internment camps and which helped spare the lives of thousands of Filipinos, Americans, and different nationals.
María Ylagan Orosa is known to have utilized local vegetables and fruits to encourage purchasers to patronize local agricultural products, as well as to have created the Palayok Oven, which significantly helped local remote towns without access to electricity in cooking their food.
María Ylagan Orosa was then offered a position as an assistant chemist for the State of Washington before coming back to the Philippines in 1922 to concentrate on addressing the issue of hunger in her country.
María Ylagan Orosa’s knowledge of chemistry prompted various culinary innovations. For example, by fitting a conventional earthenware pot with two sheets of metal, she concocted the Palayok Oven, giving remote towns lacking access to electricity with more successful methods for cooking over an open fire.
During World War II, María Orosa utilized her food science background to concoct Soyalac (a protein-rich powdered soybean product) and Darak (a rice bran powder rich in thiamine and different vitamins which could likewise treat beriberi).
María Ylagan Orosa likewise became a captain in Marking’s Guerillas, local Filipino forces organized by Marcos V. Augustin Marking[5] which helped U.S. forces battle the involving Japanese soldiers, including by utilizing carpenters who had embedded Soyalac and Darak into hollowed bamboo sticks which they took to the civilians detained at the University of Santo Tomas in the capital as well as Japanese-run wartime captive camps in Capas and Corregigor. The powders spared the lives of many starving detained guerillas and U.S. warriors. Her “Tiki-Tiki” cookies (made utilizing Darak) likewise spared numerous civilian lives during wartime food deficiencies.
In spite of the fact that adobo and lumpia are similar to Filipino cooking, María Ylagan Orosa’s banana ketchup isn’t a long way behind. Utilizing mashed bananas as a base rather than tomatoes, María Ylagan Orosa created the sauce a long-lasting hit. Two different developments created her a war heroine: Soyalac (a nutrient-rich beverage got from soya beans) and Darak (rice cookies stuffed with vitamin B-1, that might likewise avoid beriberi disease) spared innumerable lives throughout World War II.
The Philippines have formally perceived María Ylagan Orosa’s contributions. A road in Ermita, Manila (where the Philippine Court of Appeals is found), is named after her, the same as a building in the Bureau of Plants and Industry. During the 65th anniversary of the Institute of Science and Technology, she got one of 19 researchers obtaining special acknowledgment.
María Ylagan Orosa passed on February 13, 1945, at 51 years old after a shrapnel shard pierced her heart during an American bombing raid.
The American Red Cross gave María Ylagan Orosa a humanitarian award for her food-smuggling endeavors. Her niece Helen Orosa del Rosario in 1970 published Maria Orosa: her life and work, which likewise enclosed 700 of Orosa’s recipes.
On November 29, 1983, in acknowledgment of María Ylagan Orosa’s contributions to Filipino society, the National Historical Institute installed a marker in her respect at the Bureau of Plant Industry in San Andrés, Manila. In recognition of her centennial anniversary, the Philippine Postal Corporation gave a postage stamp in her honor. Her hometown of Taal, Batangas likewise celebrated the 125th anniversary of her birth on November 29, 2018.
Google celebrates ‘María Ylagan Orosa’s 126th Birthday’ on November 29, 2019, with a stunning doodle.

All nanotubes are fit to print

Read all about this, carbon nanotube fans. Researchers at Rice and Swansea universities have developed a technique to use inexpensive newsprint harvested from newspapers to grow nanotubes for industry.
A study initiated by late Rice researcher Robert Hauge and continued by research scientists Bruce Brinson and Varun Shenoy Gangoli and chemist Andrew Barron showed a particular kind of newsprint can be treated to serve as a three-dimensional substrate for single-walled carbon nanotube growth.
Description: Transmission electron microscope images of raw carbon soot grown on kaolin-sized newsprint shows (a) roped single-walled carbon nanotubes, and (b) collapsed, (c) folded and (d) twisted nanotubes. (Credit: Bruce Brinson/Rice University)
Transmission electron microscope images of raw carbon soot grown on kaolin-sized newsprint shows (a) roped single-walled carbon nanotubes, and (b) collapsed, (c) folded and (d) twisted nanotubes. Courtesy of Bruce Brinson
“Stacked newsprint that incorporates kaolin clay and used as the catalyst-bearing substrate is a low- cost, very high surface-area growth medium compatible with continuous-flow production methods,” Brinson said.
Not all newsprint is created equal, since only that produced with kaolin (china clay) sizing allowed for carbon nanotube growth. Sizing is a filler incorporated into paper to change its absorption, color and wear characteristics. The researchers found that kaolin facilitates the reduction of iron to nanoscale catalyst particles that minimize the aggregation of nanotubes in the final product.
“Our observation that kaolin sizing, and not calcium carbonate sizing, offers insight into how the growth catalyst — in our case, iron — is affected by the chemical nature of the substrate,” said Barron, director of the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea.
One newspaper tested for nanotube growth, the Rice Thresher, was unsuitable, the researchers found. For those that worked, only the parts without ink served the purpose, limiting lab studies to sections trimmed from the papers’ edges.
Description: Rice University research scientist Bruce Brinson led a study that turned the unprinted parts of old newspapers into a substrate for carbon nanotube growth.
Rice University research scientist Bruce Brinson led a study that turned the unprinted parts of old newspapers into a substrate for carbon nanotube growth.
Brinson estimated kaolin is part of 60% of the world’s paper products. “It’s whiter and brighter than most,” he said. “A key to newsprint is that it is thin, cheap and light. We only need the surface; the bulk between the front and back surfaces doesn’t count for much.”
The opportunity to prepare the substrate in bulk differentiates newsprint from traditional chemical vapor deposition substrates, Brinson said. He said the process promises to reduce the use of toxic materials and greenhouse gases in the bulk nanotube growth.
Brinson is the lead author on this work. Co-authors of the paper are Rice research manager Anjli Kumar and adjunct faculty member Wade Adams, former director of Rice’s Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. Barron is the Sêr Cymru Chair of Low Carbon Energy and Environment and professor emeritus of chemistry and materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.
The Office of Naval Research supported the research.
/Public Release. View in full here.

ANALYSIS-As climate change hits crops, debate heats up over use of plant gene data

REPORT
Published on 08 Nov 2019 View Original
Governments spar over how to share out benefits fairly from new high-tech methods to develop climate-resilient crops
By Thin Lei Win
ROME, Nov 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Rich and poor countries are at loggerheads over how to share benefits from genetic plant data that could help breed crops better able to withstand climate change, as negotiations to revise a global treaty are set to resume in Rome on Monday.
The little-known agreement is seen as crucial for agricultural research and development on a planet suffering rising hunger, malnutrition and the impacts of climate change.
"We need all the 'genetics' around the world to be able to breed crops that will adapt to global warming," said Sylvain Aubry, a plant biologist who advises the Swiss government.
Rising temperatures, water shortages and creeping deserts could reduce both the quantity and quality of food production, including staple crops such as wheat and rice, scientists have warned.
The debate over "digital sequence information" (DSI) has erupted as the cost of sequencing genomes falls, boosting the availability of genetic plant data, Aubry said.
"A lot of modern crop breeding relies on these data today," he added.
At the same time, the capability of machines to process vast amounts of that data to identify special crop traits such as disease resistance or heat tolerance has grown.
Pierre du Plessis, an African technical advisor on treaty issues, said companies and breeders can use DSI to identify the genetic sequence of a desired plant trait and send it by e-mail to a gene foundry that prints and mails back a strand of DNA.
"Then you use gene-editing technology to incorporate that strand into a plant. So you have created a new variety without accessing the trait in biological form," he said.
That process could enable businesses to circumvent the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture which stipulates that the benefits derived from using material from species it covers - including money and new technology - must be shared.
Developing states, which are home to many plant species such as maize and legumes used in breeding, hope to add digital sequence information to the treaty's scope.
This would force companies and breeders that develop new commercial crops from that data to pay a percentage of their sales or profits into a fund now managed by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The fund's resources are used to conserve and develop plant genetic resources - the basis of the foods humans eat - so that farmers, particularly in the developing world, can cope better with a warming climate.
Most wealthy nations, which are generally more active in seed production, argue digital information on plant genetics should be available to use without an obligation to share benefits.
"There's almost no one still doing the old-fashioned, 'let's try it and see' breeding. It's all based on the understanding of genome and a lot of CRISPR gene editing creeping in," said du Plessis.
CRISPR is a technology that allows genome editing in plant and animal cells. Scientists say it could lead to cures for diseases driven by genetic mutations or abnormalities, and help create crops resilient to climate extremes.
But developing nations and civil society groups such as the Malaysia-based Third World Network say companies that develop new crop varieties using this information could lock access to their critical traits using intellectual property rights.
SCIENCE FICTION?
The treaty row emerged in late October when representatives of governments, the seed industry, research organisations and civil society attended a meeting at FAO headquarters in Rome.
Negotiations have been going on for more than six years to update the treaty, which came into force in 2004 and governs access to 64 crops and forage plants judged as key to feeding the world.
Last month, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Germany rejected a proposal from the co-chairs of the talks to include "information, including genetic sequence data" in the treaty's provisions on benefit-sharing.
Africa, India, Latin America and the Caribbean pushed back but the meeting ended without a compromise, which negotiators now hope to secure before the treaty's governing body meets on Nov. 11.
The International Seed Federation, a body representing the $42-billion seed industry, says plant breeding still requires the use of physical material and it is too early to set the rules on genetic data.
"Developing policy based on speculation and on things that are bordering on scientific fiction doesn't seem wise," said Thomas Nickson, who attended the Rome talks for the federation.
"It is critical to have the information publicly available, especially for small companies in developing countries," he added.
But Edward Hammond, an advisor to Third World Network, said small farmers needed support, and open access to plant data should not mean a "no-strings-attached free-for-all".
"Resilience to climate change is being grown in the fields," he said. "Interesting and new varieties are appearing in the fields as they adapt. This is not coming from companies using new seeds."
'UNFAIR' SYSTEM
Kent Nnadozie, secretary of the treaty, said if it were agreed the genetic data should be freely available, it would be mostly developed countries that had the capacity, resources and technology to put it to use.
"The fear is that (this) perpetuates and reinforces an unfair system or... amplifies it," he said.
Concerns over increasing privatisation and monopolisation of food crops - which experts say threaten agricultural biodiversity - played a role in the treaty's origins.
Its aim was to build a multilateral approach to access and exchange plant resources, with "fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from their use" as a means to address historical imbalances between farmers and seed companies.
While breeders and seed firms rarely pay for the knowledge and genetic resources they source from farmers and indigenous peoples, farmers usually have to buy the seeds of the improved crop varieties businesses produce and sell.
So far, more than 5.4 million samples of plant genetic resources have been transferred under the treaty between governments, research institutes and the private sector in 181 countries, its secretariat said.
A large majority of those transfers are improved materials from CGIAR, the global agricultural research network, to public-sector research organisations in developing countries tackling food security issues, said Michael Halewood, head of policy at Bioversity International, a CGIAR centre.
"Countries around the world have always been interdependent on crop genetic resources. Climate change is making us all more interdependent than ever on those resources," he said.
(Reporting by Thin Lei Win @thinink; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, and property rights. Visit www.trust.org)

MSMEs play vital role in mechanisation of agriculture, says Nitin Gadkari
   Date :29-Nov-2019
Description: https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2019/11/29/2_11_11_56_MSMEs-Nitin-Gadkari_1_H@@IGHT_450_W@@IDTH_900.jpg

Business Bureau :

PM Parlewar, Director, MSME-DI, Nagpur was felicitated in Agrovision organiser in presence of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for prominent role played by MSME-DI, Nagpur in Agrovision this year. It is established fact that mechanisation of farming increases the yield of farming and its productivity many fold with consistency in quality. In this 21st century mechanisation of farming is must for sustainable development of agriculture sector in the country. The country like Israel has proved that mechanisation of farming sector can make the country global leader in farming sector. It is pertinent to mentioned here that the agriculture implements and tools are manufactured mainly by MSME sector in our country. In view of the importance of mechanisation MSME-DI, Nagpur, the Ministry of MSME played prominent role in 11th Agrovision this year. About 100 MSME stalls where set up in the separate MSME dome with Ministry of MSME theme pavilion.

The officers of MSME-DI, Nagpur provided information about various schemes of Ministry of MSME applicable to agriculture sector to the visitors visited in large number in MSME pavilion. The innovation carried out by MSME in agriculture sector was showcased in theme pavilion. The theme pavilion of Ministry of MSME set up in Agrovision has received overwhelming response during the four-day of exhibition. The innovation carried out by various technology centre of the ministry where also demonstrated in separate stall. The work done by MSME-DI, Nagpur in agriculture and Food Processing sector was the point of attraction for the visitor under Cluster Development Scheme.

MSME-DI, Nagpur set up common facility centre in Rice Mill Cluster at Ramtek in Nagpur district which was inaugurated by Nitin Gadkari. Two more Common Facility Centres for rice millers are coming up one at Pawani in Bhandara and another at Armori in Gadchiroli. These CFC will help in increasing export of rice from Vidarbha and also help in increasing the earning of the farmers. Dal Mill CFC set up in Nagpur has boosted export of dal processed in CFC. MSME-DI, Nagpur has planned to set up pack houses for orange grover’s in Nagpur and nearby to increase export of orange from Nagpur. Number of other programme is planned by MSME-DI, Nagpur to boost the income of farmers in Vidarbha.

Golden Rice awaiting food safety clearance: BRRI

 daily industryon: November 27, 2019In: BangladeshCorporateNo Comments
Staff Correspondent: Genetically modified (GM) Golden Rice is now waiting for food safety clearance certificate to be released as a new variety as the vitamin-A fortified rice will fight childhood blindness that affects country’s 21 percent children.
“The vitamin A enriched rice variety, popularly known as Golden Rice, would finally require the environment ministry’s permission … and then maximum two years will be needed for it to be released as the new GM rice variety for the growers,” said Dr Partho Sarothi Biswas, Principal Scientific Officer (PSO) of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).
After final approval within this year, the national seed certification agency under the Ministry of Agriculture will take steps to release the variety after two season trial production at the field level by some assigned growers at some particular locations, said the BRRI scientist.
In November 2017, BRRI submitted the proposal to the Bangladeshi Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. The Bio safety Core Committee, a group of eight officials and scientists, has since been reviewing environmental risks, such as the plant’s potential to become a weed, as well as food safety, said the BRRI scientist.
Bangladesh could be the first to cultivate Golden Rice, genetically altered to fight blindness ever since the variety first made headlines nearly 20 years ago, according to a recent article published by Science (Journal), an academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in its recent publication.
After the environment ministry signs off, Golden Rice must be registered by a seed certification agency within the Ministry of Agriculture, which requires field trials in multiple places to test for seed quality.
If all goes smoothly, farmers might have Golden Rice seed to plant by 2021, said the Science Magazine, one of the world’s topmost weekly circulated journals with an estimated readership is 5,70,400.
Now, Bangladesh appears about to become the first country to approve Golden Rice for planting. “It is really important to say we got this over the line,” says Johnathan Napier, a plant biotechnologist at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, U.K., who was not involved in the crop’s development.
He says approval would show that agricultural biotechnology can be successfully developed by publicly funded research centers for the public good. Still, environmental groups haven’t dropped their opposition-and the first harvest isn’t expected until at least 2021. And more research will be needed to show the extent of real-world benefits from Golden Rice.
But for now, all eyes are on dhan 29. “It would be great to see it approved,” Napier says. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Proponents are optimistic, however. The scientific evidence is strong, the committee previously approved another transgenic crop, and Golden Rice enjoys high-level political support in Bangladesh, they say. “We are hopeful that Golden Rice might get the green light soon,” says Arif Hossain, director of Farming Future Bangladesh in Dhaka, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to inform policymakers and others about biotechnology.
How popular it will be is uncertain. Farmers in Bangladesh quickly adopted an eggplant variety engineered to kill certain insect pests after its 2014 introduction, but that crop offered an immediate benefit: Farmers need fewer insecticides. Golden Rice’s health benefits will emerge more slowly, says agricultural economist Justus Wesseler of Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, so adoption may be slower as well. The government may need to promote Golden Rice and, Hossain says, even subsidize farmers to grow it.
Consumer acceptance may be another challenge, given the golden hue, says Sherry Tanumihardjo, who studies vitamin A and global health at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “People have a difficult time changing the color of food they eat,” and many people in Bangladesh prefer to eat white rice.
On the other hand, cooked Golden Rice resembles khichuri, a popular dish of rice and lentils cooked with turmeric, which may increase its appeal. With Gates Foundation support, IRRI and BRRI are developing a strategy for directing farmers’ harvest to rural regions and cities with high poverty and malnutrition rates.
Golden Rice was developed in the late 1990s by German plant scientists Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer to combat vitamin A deficiency, the leading cause of childhood blindness.
Low levels of vitamin A also contribute to deaths from infectious diseases such as measles. Spinach, sweet potato, and other vegetables supply ample amounts of the vitamin, but in some countries, particularly those where rice is a major part of the diet, vitamin A deficiency is still widespread; in Bangladesh it affects about 21% of children.
Over the past 2 years, regulators in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia approved Golden Rice for consumption. There are no plans to grow the crop in these countries, but approval will prevent problems if Golden Rice somehow accidentally turns up in food supplies, the journal said.

For Haryana’s farmers, MSP is only an illusion

Rajalakshmi Nirmal  BL Research Bureau | Updated on November 28, 2019  Published on November 28, 2019
Description: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/static/img/placeholder/LANDSCAPE.gif
At Haryana’s Taraori mandi where paddy is weighed on manual scales and packed

Commission agents, who procure paddy, pay less than the MSP. There is no moisture testing or correct weighment. Is there a nexus all round?

It is widely perceived that MSP operations in Haryana are quite effective and farmers there are a happy lot. But the reality is quite different. In the last paddy season, many farmers in Karnal’s Taraori, the largest grain mandi in Haryana, got only 1,750/quintal against the Minimum Support Price of 1,815/quintal.
BusinessLine’s investigation into the issue revealed a few shocking facts. One, across mandis in Karnal (indeed, entire Haryana), the FCI does not procure directly from farmers but through commission agents. Two, the commission agents, arhatiyas, usually do not give a proper bill to farmers; they give only a kachi parchi. Three, there is no moisture-testing of the paddy.

Farmers get lower than MSP

Also, there is no ‘open-bidding’ for basmati (where there is no government procurement and private millers buy from farmers) in any mandi, including Taraori. Interestingly, Taraori is one of 585 eNAM mandis that promise pricing transparency. For Kharif 2019, the Centre-set MSP for paddy is 1,815/quintal. But farmers of Taraori whom BusinessLine spoke to received 1,730-1,750, and some times even less.
In Haryana, paddy procurement happens via State agencies, including the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Hafed, Haryana Agro Industries, Haryana Warehousing Corporation; none of them does it directly, but through the commission agents. The little the FCI procures is also through commission agents.
“The Arhatiya says moisture is higher than the desired level, and that is why he is paying a lower price. But when I ask him how much it is, he doesn’t have an answer. He just says take it or leave it…”, laments a farmer. The Taraori mandi does have moisture meters, but are used only when some farmers sell basmati rice through the eNAM platform. Not, as a rule. So, it is only by touch and feel or by biting the grain do commission agents set the price for a farmer’s paddy.
Nor are there electronic weighing scales. “We see the weight only at the arhatiya’s shop where there is a traditional weighing scale. We know this scale is not precise... we lose 1-2 kg on every bag, but we don’t have an option,” says another farmer.
Not many farmers can raise their voice as they take an advance from the agents against the crop.
Sources tell BusinessLine that commission agents pay farmers less than the MSP, but they take the full price from the procurement agencies.

No open bidding

There is no open bidding in Taraori for basmati rice. Krishan Sharma from Nadana village, Karnal, who is a farmer and also a teacher at the government school, says: “Once I leave my paddy at the shop of the arhatiya, I have to go. He contacts me after a few hours and tells me the rate. There is no information on who purchases my paddy. If there is an open auction, a farmer can get a better rate as there will be competition among millers, but in the current system, there is no room for this…”

Tiny Intel EMIB Helps Chips ‘Talk’ with Each Other

Most chips in today’s smartphones, computers and servers are comprised of multiple smaller chips invisibly sealed inside one rectangular package.
How do these multiple chips — often including CPU, graphics, memory, IO and more — communicate? An Intel innovation called EMIB (embedded multi-die interconnect bridge) is a complex multi-layered sliver of silicon no bigger than a grain of rice. It lets chips fling enormous quantities of data back and forth among adjoining chips at blinding speeds: several gigabytes per second.
Today, Intel EMIBs speed the flow of data inside nearly 1 million laptops and field programmable gate array devices worldwide. That number will soon soar and include more products as EMIB technology enters the mainstream. For example, Intel’s Ponte Vecchio processor, a general-purpose GPU the company unveiled Nov. 17, contains EMIB silicon.
To meet customers’ unique needs, this innovative technology allows chip architects to cobble together specialized chips faster than ever. And compared with an older, competing design — in which chips inside a package sit atop what is essentially a single electronic baseboard, with each chip plugged into it — tiny, flexible, cost-effective EMIB silicon offers an 85% increase in bandwidth. That can make your tech — laptop, server, 5G processor, graphics card— run dramatically faster. And next-generation EMIB could double or even triple that bandwidth.
Intel’s embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB) technology helps multiple chips – CPU, graphics, memory, IO and more — communicate. EMIB is a complex multi-layered sliver of silicon no bigger than a grain of Basmati rice that moves large quantities of data among adjoining chips. (Credit: Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation)
» Click for full image

Rice exports increases 43.76pc in four months

 27 November,2019 09:18 am
Description: https://img.dunyanews.tv/news/2019/November/11-27-19/news_big_images/520574_91859104.jpg
During the period from July-October, rice worth $633.739 million was exported.
(APP) – Rice exports from the country during first four months of current financial year grew by 43.76 per cent as compared to the exports of the corresponding period of the previous year.
During the period from July-October, rice worth $633.739 million was exported as compared to the exports of $440.828 million of same period of last year, according the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The rice exports during the period under review, witness significant increase as it went up from 800,078 metric tons in first four months of last financial year to 1,141,334 metric tons in same period of current financial year.
The exports of basmati rice also increased by 55.32% as about 279,257 metric tons of basmati rice worth $256.817 million were exported as against the exports of 161,812 metric tons valuing $165.351 million of same period of last year, it added.
Meanwhile, country earned $376.922 million by exporting about 862,087 metric tons of others rice, which stood at 638,266 metric tons valuing $275.477 million in the period under review.
In first four months of current financial year, about 54,177 metric tons of fish and fish products valuing $129.655 million also exported as compared to the exports of 44,513 metric tons worth $109.776 million of same period of the last year.
The exports of meat and meat products witnessed 53.57% increase in four months of financial year 2019-20, as 27,554 metric tons of the above mentioned commodities worth $97.885 million exported which was recorded at 17,566 metric tons valuing $63.722 million in same period of last year, the data added.
It may be recalled here that food group exports from the country during first four months of current financial year increased by 16.21%, where as imports of the food commodities into the country decreased by 20.34% as compared to the corresponding period of the last year.
The imports of the food group came down to $1.583 billion during the period from July-October, 2019-20 from $1.987 billion of the same period of the last year.

Rice exports to China still under last year’s quota: CRF

Sok Chan / Khmer Times  

China has not yet purchased milled rice from Cambodia for the period 2019-2020, with the country still trying to fulfill its quota for the year 2018.
For in depth analysis of Cambodian Business, visit Capital Cambodia
.
Kao Thach, CEO of Rural Development Bank (RDB), told Khmer Times that Cofco – China’s largest food processor, manufacturer and trader – has not placed any orders yet for Cambodian milled rice for the year 2019. The quota for 2019 is 400,000 tonnes.
“We don’t know whether they will purchase our rice or not. It seems like they don’t want to buy, so we are pushing,” he said.
Mr Thach noted that some local rice exporters are shipping rice to China based on the quota for 2018 – 300,000 tonnes.
“We are afraid that when the quota for 2018 is complete, we won’t receive new orders. It is difficult to sell,” Mr Thach said.
China has pledged to purchase 400,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia this year. The pledge was made in January during a meeting in Beijing between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese president Xi Jinping.
From January to October this year, Cambodia shipped 184,844 tonnes of milled rice to China, according to the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export Formality (SOWS-REF).
Exports to China accounted for 40 percent of Cambodia’s total exports of 457,940 tonnes, a 5 percent hike over the corresponding period last year.
In 2018, the Kingdom was unable to meet its rice export quota in the Chinese market, shipping only 170,000 tonnes out of the 300,000 allowed.
Lun Yeng, secretary-general of the Cambodian Rice Association, said that until this month, Cambodia is shipping rice to China based on the quota of 300,000 tonnes set for 2018. He said the old quota must be fulfilled before the new quota of 400,000 tonnes for 2019 can begin.
“Now we have almost completed the old quota of 300,000 tonnes since we had a very small amount left. Next month we will complete the old quota, and we will continue with the new one,” he added.
“We already have a quota for 2019, but China has not implemented it yet because first it has to complete the old quota for 2018,” Mr Yeng added.  “We do not have a fix contract with China, so when they want to purchase, they will discuss the price and request a quote from us. No price is set in advance,” he added.
“For the new export quota of 400,000 tonnes for 2019, we already signed an initial agreement on November 5 in Shanghai for 125,000 tonnes. This means that for the period 2019-2020 they will buy at least 125,000 tonnes as per this agreement,” Mr Yeng said.
In principle, the new quota should be implemented this November, but they start with a lower amount, Mr Yeng noted.
“Now, China’s Cofco is not purchasing, so our rice millers are considering whether they should buy more rice to store in their warehouses or not,” he added.
Mr Yeng said rice millers have already purchased paddy from farmers and now all warehouses are full because China has not placed new orders yet.
“If China starts ordering, rice millers can start purchasing paddy from farmers. They can clear the old stock and purchase new one,” he added.
According to the figure from SOWS-REF, the European Union is the second-biggest buyer of Cambodian rice, purchasing a total of 155,950 tonnes of milled rice from January to October – an increase of 34 percent when compared with the same period last year.
The report showed that 83 companies exported Cambodian rice to the international market, including Baitang (Kampuchea) Plc, the biggest rice exporter, who shipped 60,358 tonnes. Amru Rice (Cambodia), the next biggest exporter, shipped 41,068 tonnes.

Rice Prices

as on : 29-11-2019 12:23:21 PM

Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
Arrivals
Price
Current
%
change
Season
cumulative
Modal
Prev.
Modal
Prev.Yr
%change
Rice
Gadarpur(Utr)
1353.00
-63.21
120761.00
2412
2365
-
Sultanpur(UP)
280.00
-20
5900.00
2350
2385
-1.05
Muzzafarnagar(UP)
80.00
14.29
4660.00
2660
2655
2.31
Kasimbazar(WB)
75.50
4.14
1122.50
2630
2650
-7.07
Azamgarh(UP)
70.00
16.67
3582.50
2460
2470
8.85
Jorhat(ASM)
65.00
NC
2700.50
3400
3400
6.25
Sahiyapur(UP)
60.00
50
1621.50
2470
2470
9.53
Bankura Sadar(WB)
42.00
-12.5
1189.00
2500
2500
-3.85
Cachar(ASM)
40.00
100
3540.00
2400
2400
NC
Beldanga(WB)
40.00
-11.11
2195.00
2650
2700
6.00
Fatehpur(UP)
32.50
-15.14
1309.90
2365
2370
8.49
Indus(Bankura Sadar)(WB)
26.00
8.33
2127.00
2800
2800
NC
Mohamadabad(UP)
25.00
150
323.00
2715
2710
-
Wansi(UP)
20.00
NC
1058.00
2110
2110
NC
Naanpara(UP)
18.40
-28.12
1003.80
2230
2230
37.23
Jayas(UP)
16.00
-50.16
1256.00
1950
1950
0.78
Badayoun(UP)
11.00
-26.67
840.50
2600
2590
14.54
Panchpedwa(UP)
10.80
-1.82
453.50
1990
1990
-7.44
Sehjanwa(UP)
8.00
60
322.00
2430
2440
12.50
Dibrugarh(ASM)
7.80
36.84
487.40
3100
3100
6.16
Bishnupur(Bankura)(WB)
7.00
16.67
531.00
2600
2600
-1.89
Mirzapur(UP)
6.50
-13.33
389.50
2450
2420
8.17
Tamkuhi Road(UP)
6.50
18.18
670.40
2250
2250
4.65
Jhansi(UP)
6.00
-14.29
171.10
2290
2285
0.88
Kasganj(UP)
6.00
-25
302.00
2580
2570
1.98
Tundla(UP)
5.00
11.11
258.70
2575
1700
2.39
Khatra(WB)
3.00
36.36
597.60
2650
2650
NC
Anandnagar(UP)
2.00
-9.09
248.80
2485
2460
5.74
Gadaura(UP)
1.50
-25
606.70
2300
2300
15.00
Ujhani(UP)
1.50
-6.25
32.40
2530
2520
11.45
Nandyal(AP)
1.00
NC
56.00
4250
4250
-
Jambusar(Kaavi)(Guj)
1.00
NC
113.00
3200
3300
18.52
Alibagh(Mah)
1.00
NC
126.00
4200
4200
-16.00
Murud(Mah)
1.00
NC
127.00
4200
4200
5.00
Achnera(UP)
0.60
-14.29
40.50
2560
2540
0.39
Published on November 29, 2019

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Pakistan to hold Trade Conference in Nairobi in January next year

By Mati
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Prime Minister’s Adviser on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razaq Dawood has said that under the ambit of the “Look Africa Policy Initiative”, the Ministry of Commerce has planned to hold a Trade Conference in Nairobi on January 30-31 next year which will bring stakeholders from both sides to explore trade enhancement opportunities.
While addressing the Envoys’ Conference titled Engage Africa in Islamabad on Thursday, Abdul Razaq Dawood said that the “Look Africa Policy Initiative” has the potential to double Pakistan’s trade volume with Africa in the next five years which currently stands at $4.28 billion.
The adviser said that under the initiative, the Ministry of Commerce is opening up six new commercial sections in Africa which include Algeria Egypt, Ethiopia, Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania.
Razaq Dawood said that reaping the benefits of Belt Road Initiative (BRI), Pakistan has the potential to export rice, engineering foods, electrical appliances, pharmaceuticals, sports goods, surgical instruments, cutlery and furniture to Africa.
In his address at the Envoy’s Conference, the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed the commitment to develop a strong relationship with the African Countries.
The foreign minister said that the Foreign Office will fully facilitate and cooperate with the Commerce Ministry to achieve this objective

Coordination needed to develop agenda of agri research: PARC

By  admin


Staff Reporter
Islamabad
There is dire need of greater research coordination among the federal & provincial research partners and academic institutions to avoid duplication, overlapping and to develop a concrete agenda of agriculture research at national level.
This was stated by the 11th meeting of IPARCC was held at PARC HQs. Dr. M. Azeem Khan, Chairman PARC presided over the meeting. Dr. Shahid Hameed, Director (Coordination) PARC, welcomed the distinguished members of the meeting.
Chairman PARC apprised the house that PARC, has a broad mandate to coordinate research among federal, provincial and higher education agencies on one side and with international agencies (CGIAR) on another. PARC operates 12 satellite institutes across the country.
He briefed the house regarding the new initiatives in agriculture and described that present government has launched mega projects with worth of Rs. 310 Billion focused on wheat, rice & sugarcane inclusive enhancing command area of small and mini dams in barani areas, water conservation in barani areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These initiatives will play key role in promoting agriculture, economic development, job growth, infrastructure improvements, technological innovation, and quality of life in rural area of Pakistan.
He further elaborated that on overcoming the emerging issues, challenges and realizing the opportunities for prosperity in rural area required action on multiple fronts, including promoting economic development, advancing Innovation and Technology, ensuring a well trained and productive work force and improving the quality of life in rural communities.
He said that the success depends, in large part on promoting two key drivers of long term growth and prosperity; broad-based productivity growth in the rural economy and connectivity of rural people to each other, to urban areas and to rest of the world.

Amid 'air apocalypse', mask-clad Lahore looks for answers


NOVEMBER 29, 2019 / 2:08
LAHORE, Pakistan (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When black smoke from burning rice stubble in nearby India swept into Lahore - one of Pakistan’s largest and wealthiest cities - earlier this month, outraged residents declared an “air apocalypse” and the provincial government shut down schools.
FILE PHOTO: Men wearing protective masks wait for a bus in Lahore, Pakistan November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza
But even the city’s own thick autumn smog - driven in large part by emissions from polluting vehicles - is becoming a significant threat to health and basic rights, residents and human rights groups warn.
“Air pollution ... claims tens of thousands of lives, devastates the health of millions, and denies other rights, like the right to education, when children cannot go to school,” said Omar Waraich, South Asia campaigns director for Amnesty International.
“This is a human rights crisis,” he said.
This autumn, Lahore’s worsening air quality has led it to overtaking New Delhi on some days as the most polluted city in the world, according to the community-led Pakistan Air Quality Initiative.
“Both Lahore and Delhi now have a similar number of days of very unhealthy or hazardous air pollution” said Abid Omar, a founder of the non-profit initiative.
Since October, the city of more than 10 million has been engulfed most days by a smoky, chemical haze that is relieved only briefly when it rains.
Warmer air layers above the cooler air at ground level act like a lid that keeps the pollutants close to the ground, according to Pakistan’s Meteorological Department.
Across the city, many residents now wear disposable anti-pollution masks - but they are a poor fit for the faces of vulnerable young children, residents say.
Air quality is so bad that it exceeds even the worst ratings of the World Health Organization, said Attiya Noon, an air quality activist in Lahore and the mother of three young children.
Pollution “is now beyond the index” - which means serious consequences for the city’s health, said Noon, a member of the Punjab government’s newly set up Smog Committee.
The committee was hurriedly established earlier this month when air quality levels became so hazardous in Punjab’s capital that schools had to be shut down three times, and social media channels erupted with outrage.
The smog group now aims to find both immediate and longer-term ways to reduce pollution.
Mahbina Waheed, a Lahore entrepreneur and another member of the committee, said the creation of the group was one sign the provincial government was taking the problem seriously.
“With the last government we felt we were helpless and were spiraling into this abyss with all the focus on building new roads. Now with this new government we can raise our voices and they are heard,” she said.
MORE MONITORING
One of the quick fixes the activists are proposing is to require students to ride buses to school, rather than arriving in many more individual cars.
Countries such as China and Iran have used school closures as a way of curbing smog emergencies, Noon noted.
Malik Amin Aslam, an advisor to the country’s prime minister on climate change, attended early meetings of the Smog Committee and said Lahore needed “more high-quality air monitoring stations and actionable data.”
New Delhi, he said, has 37 official air monitoring stations, while Lahore has just four.
The World Bank plans to provide 30 new monitors in Pakistan, including 10 in Lahore, with the aim of having them in place within six months, he said.
The biggest driver of the city’s pollution, Aslam said, is vehicles, which contribute 43% of the smog. Burning of crop stubble, steel manufacturing furnaces and brick kilns are other major sources, he said.
Omar, of the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, said mandating the use of cleaner fuels should be a top priority.
“While closing schools or low weekend traffic have a marginal impact, our transportation and industrial sectors never sleep,” he said.
Aslam said he would take up fuel standards with the country’s oil ministry and urge them to import higher quality diesel.
He said he also planned to introduce vehicle inspection systems in Punjab province in coming months to keep a check on polluting vehicles.
As well, Pakistan’s cabinet recently passed a new electric transport policy, which aims to shift 30% of vehicles on the country’s roads to electric power by 2030.
Aslam said the World Bank also plans to provide $55 million to help Punjab steel and brick plants shift to cleaner technologies, and to help farmers find alternatives to burning crop residues by next year.
‘UNLIVEABLE’ CITIES?
Effectively cutting emissions, however, will also require better city planning, said Mome Saleem, executive director of the new Islamabad-based Institute of Urbanism.
The most densely populated and least well-planned cities are the ones with the most serious smog problems, she said - and as people flock to already congested cities Pakistan will see more of air pollution threats.
“We need a proper urban policy or else our cities will become unliveable,” she warned.
Waraich, of Amnesty International, said governments in too many smog-hit South Asian cities “seem content to ride out of the months of the smog season” rather than “enforce clear limits on pollutants and punish those responsible for poisoning the air”.
“The failure to take these steps is a human rights violation,” he said.
Waheed, the Smog Committee member, said she had installed an air quality monitor in her home, connected to the Air Visual mobile phone app.
The app gives residents an indication of air quality around the city - and has helped back the campaign to clean up Lahore’s air.
“Clean air was something we took for granted and now it has become the most cherished commodity,” she said.

Reporting by Rina Saeed Khan ; editing by Laurie Goering : Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit news.trust.org/climate




Pakistan Has Worst Water Management :says Expert

  
Description: Pakistan has worst water management :says expert

Pakistan is the worst at its water governance and management

Karachi (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / Online - 28th November, 2019) Pakistan is the worst at its water governance and management. Capacities of institutions dealing with water are exhausted and need to be enhanced".This was said by Sardar Muhammad Tariq, a water expert, CEO Pakistan Water Partnership (PWP), former member (waterWAPDA and former regional chair GWP - South Asia while addressing an informative session on "Water Security in Pakistan: Present Situation & The Way Forward" organized by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) Editors Club here at its secretariat."We developed national water policy after 72 years but this also needs to be effective.
Water saving and water conservation has to be strictly followed in all sub-sectors as water use efficiency is at its poorest" he added .Sardar Muhammad Tariq told that Pakistan is one of the world's most arid countries with over 75 percent of it receives rainfall less than 250 mm (millimeter) annually and 20 percent of it less than 125 mm.
"The population and economy are heavily dependent on an annual influx into Indus River System of about 191 BCM (billion cubic meters) of water mostly derived from snow and glacier melt. Since 2002, 12 BCM of water has disappeared, while surplus water is only available during 30 days and for remaining 335 days, water availability is less than demand," he added.He said that Pakistan uses more than 90 percent of water in agriculture sector against world average of 67 percent, while developed countries use even less than 50 percent.
As per data India has reduced its use from 93 percent to 87 percent, China from 87 to 65 percent, whereas Pakistan is using 90 percent of water in this sector and irony is that no effort is being taken to reduce it.
Our three major crops rice, cotton and wheat use 90 percent of agriculture water. Data shows USA is using 42 percent, Germany 20 percent and France 15 percent of water in agriculture sector," Sardar Muhammad Tariq told.He lamented that Pakistan is also worst on productivity per unit of water.
"Productivity per unit of water in Canada is 8.72 kg/one cubic meter, USA 1.56 kg, China 0.82 kg, India 0.39 kg as compared to 0.13 kg per one cubic meter of Pakistan. Productivity per unit of land is also the least 2.24 T/ha among France 7.60 T/ha, Egypt 5.99 T/ha, Saudi Arabia 5.36 T/ha and India Punjab 4.80 T/ha.
Gross Developed Product (GDP) contribution per one cubic meter water is 8.
60 US$ average in the world whereas it is 30-40 US$ in developed countries, 10 US$ in Malaysia and 0.34 US$ in developing countries.
Per capita storage in Pakistan is 52 cubic meters per person as compared to 6150 in USA and 5000 cubic meter in Australia. It is very alarming situation for Pakistan. No country can develop without two resources water and energy.
For arid country like Pakistan, storages are vitally important for water security, flood mitigation and drought proofing," he shared."Carry over capacity (one season to another; one year to another) of Pakistan is less than 30 days as compared to 120 to 220 days of India, 500 days (Orange River) of South Africa, 600 days of Australia, 900 days (Colorado) of America and 1,000 days (Niles) of Egypt (Aswan).
World countries secure 90 percent of drain water but unfortunately we have made no effort in this regard", he added.He further said that water has strong linkages with food security, energy security, health and wellbeing, development and employment - industries - exports, foreign exchange earnings - environment & biodiversity, forestry - life and national security.
"On the other hand, water scarcity results in impediments to development like unemployment, hunger, water-borne diseases, environmental degradation, water thefts, water refugeeswater terrorism and water wars," he warned.Discussing way forward, Sardar Muhammad Tariq stressed that Pakistan has to improve its water governance and management, enhance capacities of institutions dealing with water, effective national water policy, follow water saving and water conservation strictly in all sub-sectors, introduce water use efficiency in the agriculture sector with enunciated objective of reducing water by 20 percent in it, introduce dry and salt tolerant variety of crops."Pakistan should introduce principles of three R's i.e.
reduce, recycle, reuse. Rain water harvesting and facilities for ground water recharge have to be introduced. Fresh water bodies and ground water have to be protected from pollution - principle of user pays and polluter pays ore has to be adopted.
Cheap solar technologies have to be introduced for desalinization of saline water. Storages need to be added to mitigate floods and droughts and to combat climate change impacts. Ground water governance has to be improved to balance extraction against recharge," he suggested.

Plating Memory

When I moved from country to country, I kept friends and relatives close through recipes, each morsel an ode to remembrance.
Credit...Lucy Jones
By Soniah Kamal
·       Nov. 29, 2019, 5:00 a.m. ET
I grew up an immigrant child, spending my formative years in three countries, England, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. In a time before keeping in touch was an internet call away, I’d have to say goodbye forever to bedrooms, to classrooms, to friends. I learned to rely for continuity on two constant companions: books and food.
On nights when I’d cry for the homes we’d left behind, my mother consoled me by preparing meals I’d eaten with friends — chicken tikkas dyed so red they rivaled the fiery lipsticks of girls playing with makeup, drumsticks coated with grains of pepper so large they shone like stick-on black diamonds on homemade tiaras — and so while those friends weren’t there, they were there.
When I moved from Pakistan to America for college and got married straight after graduation, I carried my mother’s recipes with me. Except they were more than recipes, they were memories forever bursting on my tongue. Now friends from back home graced my table though cardamom-infused chais and cheese-toast, each morsel an ode to remembrance.
When my grandfather died and I was unable to fly to Pakistan for his funeral, I conjured him up by eating my keema-chawal the way he’d eat his, by dousing the red minced meat spiced with hot peppers and white rice in warm whole milk. When I missed my father, I made a masoor ki dal and, as he did, I finger-shredded chapatis into the yellow lentils garnished with deep fried onions. As for my mother, she is always the Kashmiri staple of batha-haak, in her case mustard greens glistening atop a hill of steaming white rice. When I moved to a suburb of Atlanta, the mustard greens were replaced by collard greens, which is how my mother’s Kashmiri cooking became Southern or a Southern staple became Kashmiri.

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“Food is the connective tissue between space, time, cultures and death,” my mother said.
She would know. As a child, her parents fled India for Pakistan in the 1947 Partition, and, once she got married, she’d move again from Pakistan to England and from there to Saudi Arabia. She was an immigrant hungry for connections who gradually settled upon cooking as her way out of homesickness. Even though my mother is an anesthesiologist and I’ve seen her plenty of times in her scrubs, for me she is also the person in our kitchen preparing relationships from scratch over and over again.
When my husband, our young children and I moved to the Atlanta suburbs in 2005, we didn’t know anyone. In between feeding our children their beloved store-bought dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, we feasted on my memories of tables full of laughter. While I did not cook back home in Pakistan, my American kitchens taught me to cook and I wanted to nourish my kids with the cuisine I’d grown up on, as well as the new foods they were eating at school and demanding at home.
“Do not be scared to experiment,” my mother urged. “Sprinkle the macaroni and cheese with sautéed onions. Serve the tater tots with date-tamarind chutney. Prepare the batter for the popcorn shrimp with spicy chickpea flour so it becomes a popcorn shrimp pakora.”
As most immigrants can attest, distance plus a yearning for home cooking grows a newfound umbilical cord between parent and the adult child. Daily I called my mother for precise ingredients and meticulous instructions.
“What do you mean salt to taste?”
“Are you sure green coriander and ground coriander are not the same thing?”

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“Can you repeat the steps all over again?”
Gradually I learned that like my mother, I too am a whatever-is-in-the-fridge-throw-in-the-pot-kind-of-cook and I too would eventually learn to cook for a multitude of guests at even a moment’s notice. I too rely on a sixth sense for spices to know which ingredients will go together and a certain aroma to know when a dish is done. I am my mother’s daughter: Some turn to yoga and music to relax; I chop onions, julienne carrots and cube bell peppers. A kitchen to me is the comfort and care of a mother’s arms.
Two years after moving to Georgia, I had a miscarriage at 16 weeks. I could not even stand to be in the kitchen. Knives reminded me of breakage, tomatoes of blood and smells of all the meals my baby would not eat. Food stopped being about the abundance of past memories and turned into a reminder of future memories that would never be.
My mother counseled me to prepare rich foods cooked in ghee to mend my body and drink doodh pati chai, in which tea leaves are simmered in whole milk, cardamom, cloves and sugar to heal my heart, but grief had left me incapable of entering the kitchen. Instead, we lived on delivery pizzas.
A few weeks after the miscarriage, my doorbell rang one afternoon. It was the mother of my 5-year-old daughter’s best friend. She hugged me and told me my daughter had told her daughter and she was so sorry. Through a blur of tears, I took the aluminum dish she handed me. She instructed me to bake it for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
“Enchiladas,” she said. “I hope you like chicken.”
I had not yet acquired a taste for Mexican food and I was not a fan of chicken, but I thanked her. After she left, I told myself that all I had to do in the kitchen was turn on the oven to 350 degrees. I put the dish on a rack. I switched on the timer. When the timer pinged, I placed the dish on the table and held my hands over it. The fragrant steam warmed my cold fingers. I inhaled the smell of a food I’d never eaten in my life. I lifted a forkful to my mouth. I chewed and chewed and finally I managed to swallow. I did not like it and yet I chewed and swallowed and chewed and swallowed because the fact is it was not enchiladas I was eating.
I was eating the kindness in the thought to make me, a veritable stranger, a meal. I was eating the effort involved in shopping for the ingredients. I was eating the money spent. I was eating the time that had gone into preparing the dish and delivering it into my hands. For the first time in a long time I was eating maternal care.
I did not finish the enchiladas. In fact, I made sure to leave a little in the container and I let it take up as much space as it needed in the fridge for as long as possible. It would take me years to develop a taste for Mexican food and a few more years before I’d try a recipe at home. I made enchiladas with chicken in red sauce and with each bite I thought of the woman whose kitchen-kindness rescued me from aloneness and brought me back, forkful by forkful, into the world of the living where people cooked and ate and drank and made memory.
These days when I make a memory meal, there is my grandfather in fiery milk and keema, my father in yellow lentils, my mother in glistening collard greens and among them are enchiladas in red sauce; the child I lost and the person who found him.
Soniah Kamal is the author, most recently, of “Unmarriageable: Pride & Prejudice in Pakistan.”

Stakeholders Seek Collaboration for Realisation of Nigeria’s Agricultural Fortunes

Description: https://storage.googleapis.com/thisday-846548948316-wp-data/wp-media/2018/10/13549dc8-agricultural-696x522.jpeg
Ejiofor Alike
Stakeholders in the agricultural value chain who gathered in Lagos recently at the 3rd edition of the Daily Trust Agricultural Conference and Exhibition have called for a systematic collaboration between agriculture and agriculture finance for the realisation of what they called the agricultural fortunes of Nigeria.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the two-day conference organised by Media Trust Limited, the participants noted that such collaboration should involve deepening interventions like the Anchor Borrower Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the efforts led by the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NISRAL).
The theme of the conference was: ‘Repositioning Rice, Sugar and Dairy Production for Optimal Yield’.
The event, which was chaired by a renowned Chartered Accountant and Co-Chair of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere, noted that the rice economy estimated at $5.2 billion, is projected to hit $6.3 billion by 2025.
The communiqué, however, identified some impediments militating against the realisation of this target.
According to the communiqué, the combined improved seed production capacity of 100,000 tonnes, could only satisfy less than eight per cent of national demand.
It also noted lack of enough extension agents to cover Small Holder Farmers (SHFs) as recommended by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO); challenges in accessing finance; and low access to irrigation schemes, among others.
The communiqué also stated that Nigeria has the potential of becoming a net exporter of sugar as consumption in the country has been on the increase since Independence with an annual average growth rate of eight per cent.
It however, pointed out that only about five per cent of the national demand for the commodity is produced locally, while the balance is imported with a huge foreign exchange on an annual basis.
“Smuggling of granulated sugar and faking of local brands, particularly in the North-West Zone, has been a major menace. In spite of engagements with relevant agencies and measures put in place to address the issue, smuggling of packaged sugar persists,” the communiqué added.
On the issue of dairy farming, the communiqué stated that even though the Nigerian cattle population has been put at about 20 million heads, domestic milk production is not commensurate with this large cattle population as only about 2.2million are used for milk production.
“Nigeria completely relies on huge import of dairy products to bridge the gap between demand and supply,” it added.
The participants at the conference recommended that Nigeria should invest in competitiveness by bringing knowledge and innovation into the rice value chain; standardising practices in the sector; and developing protocols for rice farming.
They also urged the federal government to check the unprecedented dependence on importation of sugar;
Too boost dairy farming, they recommended that the country should develop resettlement programmes for nomadic Fulani herdsmen
“Nigeria should invest in aggregation of milk from clusters in various states and make it available to the big buyers. Formation of cooperatives should be at two levels, including producers’ cooperatives and processing cooperatives,” they recommended

 

Supply position of rice, LPG reviewed

  IST

Srinagar, Nov 28: Director Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Bashir Ahmad Khan, today visited FCI godowns at Lethpora and Hindustan Petroleum LPG bottling plant Pampore for on spot assessment of the stock and supply position of essential commodities.
He was accompanied by Joint Director and Deputy Director Supplies Kashmir.
During the inspection of the FCI Godown at Lethpora, the Director was informed that 3021 MTs of Rice is available at the Godowns. He directed the FCI Officers to ensure timely dispatch of food grains so that people do not face any shortage.

He also visited LPG Bottling plant at Pampore and directed the company representatives of gas agencies to keep sufficient stocks of LPG cylinders available for the consumers. He was informed that about 2.5 Lakh cylinders are available while 1 Lakh more are in transit. He directed HPCL Plant Manger to ensure smooth supply of stock to all the Districts in time besides maintaining the stock for at least two months

https://www.thekashmirmonitor.net/supply-position-of-rice-lpg-reviewed/

Uganda signs two agreements with China to boost agriculture, trade



Description: https://www.pmldaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ict.jpgThe new agreement with China will foster increased private sector engagement and investment in the agricultural sector, ICT integration, and Climate-SmarT Agriculture, among other areas of focus (PHOTO/Javira Ssebwami)
KAMPALA – President Yoweri Museveni this week discouraged the growing of rice in swamps saying the practice endangers the environment.
The President made the remarks as he opened the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Conference at Speke Resort Munyonyo. The 3-day conference has coincided with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – China South-South Cooperation Programme. The conference is being attended by delegations from 10 countries from Africa and overseas.
The Munyonyo meeting offers an opportunity to celebrate achievements registered by the program whose crucial role is to improve nutrition and food security in Africa, showcase the key results and address challenges as well as define a new approach for the future.
President Museveni pointed out that it was acceptable for water to be pulled from the swamp for rice growing in the upland areas or apply irrigation but not growing rice directly in the swamps. He told conference participants, who included a high powered delegation from China, that Uganda was the right place to promote cooperation in the agricultural sector as the weather is very conducive being on high elevation right on the Equator.
“When it comes to agriculture and you come to Uganda you are in the right place where crops grow easily. Combining latitude and altitude with water, Uganda is an ideal place for crops,” he said.
The President asked delegates to promote and propagate to the whole world the growth of indigenous crops that are more nutritious like millet that has all the three ingredients of proteins, carbohydrates, and iron. He also cited other areas with the potential for cooperation such as the fisheries industry, livestock, and poultry. He, however, underscored the need for value addition to products for the longevity of their life and removal of impurities.
Solving Market challenges 
Mr. Museveni informed the conference that the challenge of markets is being resolved through economic integration. He cited the formation of the Continental Free Trade Area on the African continent as a measure geared addressing the challenge of the market. He called for the diversification of some products that appear to be in a glut on the markets like sugar that could be used in industries for the production of beverages and the making of syrups in pharmaceuticals.
Museveni praises Chinese 
The President used the occasion to praise the Government of China for the support to African countries right from the days of anti-colonialism up to now in the development of the continent in several sectors including infrastructure.
Description: https://www.pmldaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Museven-chinese.jpgMR. Museveni witnessed the signing of a Tripartite Agreement between Uganda,
FAO and China (PHOTO/PPU)
“We are very grateful to the Government of China for those friendly actions,” he said.
The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Hon. Vincent Ssempijja thanked the Government of China for implementing the South-South Cooperation program in Uganda.
“Through the programme, Uganda has benefited from those projects that include, among others, agronomy, improved rice, and fish culture,” he said.
The Director-General of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in China who is the leader of the Chinese Government High Powered delegation, Mr. Yi Yang, thanked President Museveni for supporting Uganda-China Cooperation. He also commended FAO for helping SSC adding that the project aims at helping African countries, especially Uganda, to improve its agricultural practices for improved nutrition and food security.
The Director and Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation, Mr. Jorge Chediek, praised President Museveni for his good leadership that, he said, has been recognized by being selected to host an international conference in April 2020 of the group of 77 countries including China. Delegations from over 135 countries worldwide are expected to attend the conference.
Signing pacts 
Later, President Museveni witnessed the signing of 2 Memoranda of Understanding: the first being for the Tripartite Agreement for the Third Phase of the FAO-China SSC Programme in Uganda whose signatories included the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Hon. Vincent Ssempijja signed on behalf of the Government of Uganda and Mr. Yi Yang, the Director of Foreign Economic Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs who signed on behalf of the Government of China. Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director-General of the Regional Office for Africa signed the MOU on behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
The second MOU on Agricultural Cooperation between Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China and the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. Mr. Yang Xiu Bin, member of the Chinese delegation signed on behalf of his Government and Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Permanent Secretary, Mr. Pius Wakabi Kasajja, on behalf of the Government of Uganda

Subsidies spark cheaper energy

Thou Vireak | Publication date 28 November 2019 | 22:41 ICT

Description: Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Cambodia plans to spend more than $100 million on subsidies by 2021 to reduce electricity tariffs in a move to spur economic growth and relieve the financial burden on businesses and households. Heng Chivoan
Cambodia plans to spend more than $100 million on subsidies by 2021 to reduce electricity tariffs in a move to spur economic growth and relieve the financial burden on businesses and households, a senior government official said.
Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) director-general Keo Ratanak told The Post that the government had already spent some $95 million to reduce tariffs this year.
According to Ratanak, EdC drew in some $50 million in revenue last year through the sale of electricity.
“This year’s earnings could be even higher because of the growing number of consumers so the government will also have to increase their subsidies,” he said.
The tariff subsidies will be introduced at the start of the General Assembly’s next legislature.
Currently, Cambodian households that consume less than 50kW per month pay on average 610 riel per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while commercial consumers pay between 600 and 800 riel per kWh on average.
Rice Federation of Cambodia secretary-general Lon Yeng told The Post that EdC currently sold electricity to the rice processing industry for 600 riel per kWh.
“Electricite du Cambodge may reduce the rate to 592 riel next year, but businessmen want it to be lowered even further to increase manufacturing productivity for the export market,” Yeng said.
He said he feared Cambodia’s electricity supply was not enough to meet the rice industry’s demands, adding that rice mill owners often complained of power cuts during this year’s dry season.
“We have a lot of problems regarding the lack of energy being supplied. It’s not good. Rice mills need constant power to dry grain during the harvest season,” Yeng said.
The Kingdom consumed a total of 2,650MW of electricity in 2018, an increase of around 15 per cent compared to 2017, according to official figures from the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Hearing the farmers plea

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM November 29, 2019
If we do not hear the farmers’, not only will they be in peril.  Our poverty will increase, food security threatened, and our peace and order disrupted. At the recent November 25-26 National Rice Industry Stakeholders Conference in Iloilo organized by the Department of Agriculture, a farmer leader in his twenties said: “Kung hindi ayusin ang kapatagan, ang mga tao ay pupunta sa kagubatan (If the lowlands are not fixed, the people will go to the mountains).”
He was referring to rice farmers losing more than half their income during the past year because of the newly imposed 35 percent import rice tariff. This forced the domestic price of palay to decrease in order to compete with the very cheap rice imports.
How bad is the rice farmer’s situation? Using the average of 4 tons a hectare, the production cost of P12 a kilo (though the official DA presentation at the conference showed it is now P12.45), and the officially recorded dry palay price of P15.43, the net income was P12,040.  This is only 40 percent of last year’s P31,760.  This is using Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) information as of the fourth week of October. Since PSA data was not updated for November, we instead used DA data updated as of Nov. 25.
The average farmgate price for the month of November was recorded at even lower than last month at P4.40, with income correspondingly decreasing to only P9,600 a hectare.
The critical question that few have raised and no one has officially answered is :  “At what price can the farmer’s produce compete  with imported rice?”
A few weeks earlier, I showed that two data sources (are from the private sector and the other from DA)  independently and unofficially estimated that price to be P12.00.  Two days ago, we collected the newest DA data available. Assuming the landed cost of imported rice at P16.00, a 35 percent tariff of P5.60, and the cost to the warehouse at P5.20, the equivalent total cost at wholesale would be P26.80. Though the wholesale to palay price ratio has deteriorated from 2.2:1 in 2018, 2.4:1 in 2019, we will use the conservative 2018 ratio. The resulting palay price (P26.80 /2.2) is P12.18, similar the P12.00 price estimated a few weeks ago. At the P12 production cost per kilo, the average farmer cannot survive. However, the more productive farmers can, but they are in the minority.
At the Rice Conference, the farmers were told to wait one or two more years to give the 35 percent tariff a chance.
The farmers’ plea, heard loud and clear with many expressing much anger, was that this was unfair and cruel.  The government imposed the 35 percent tariff. But following the law using Republic Act 8800, the government can remedy this mistake by using the safeguard of increasing the tariff to the correct level.
They can then implement an adjustment plan, which other countries and our own industry sectors do, to decrease this rate to 35 percent or lower. But this should be accompanied with the competitive enhancement measures and government support services that our government has not been giving our agriculture for the last 22 years, when we fist committed to rice liberalization. The farmers’ plea has been ignored during all this time.
Their plea, and their justifiable demand, must now be heard and acted upon. Given the very low P12 per kilo the farmers must sell their palay to compete with the cheap imports made possible by the 35 percent tariff, many in the recently held National Rice Industry Stakeholders Conference specified that increasing the 35 percent tariff is a top priority. They ask: “What is the government waiting for?”

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