Friday, February 15, 2019

15th February,2019 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter

Nearly six in 10 Pakistanis normally eat roti at lunchtime: survey
ISLAMABAD: According to a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, nearly 6 in 10 Pakistanis report that they normally eat roti at lunch time exclusively.
According to a press release, a nationally representative sample of men and women from across the four provinces was asked, “What is eaten in your household for lunch as a matter of routine?” In response to this question, 58 percent said roti, 14 percent said rice, 22 percent said both roti and rice, while 6 percent did not know or did not wish to respond.
The study was released by Gilani Research Foundation and carried out by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. The recent survey was carried out among a sample of 1,142 men and women in urban areas of all four provinces of the country, during 24–28 January, 2019. The error margin is estimated to be approximately ± 2-3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

Should You Eat Dal Rice? Here's Why Research Now Backs This Protein Mix That Aids Weight Loss And Gut Health

  
Dal rice is a dish with a complete amino acid profie
HIGHLIGHTS
1.     Dal rice is a fibre rich meal that can help in weight loss
2.     Dal rice is rich in protein
3.     Spices used in its preparation can aid digestion
In numerous of our previous articles, we have talked about how dal rice or a combination of both in the form of khichdi, is one of the healthiest meals that exists today. The combination of cereals and legumes for preparation of dal rice or khichdi is in proportions that complement the amino acid profile of each other. Nutritionist Pooja Malhotra advocates dal rice as a great healthy meal. People who are on a weight loss diet, people with diabetesheart disease or high blood pressure... everyone can have dal rice.
What's more is that this humble dish has stood the test of time, and even got validation from The Lancet. A study done previously mentioned how it is going to be difficult to serve 3 billion people on Earth because of food crisis. However, it said that resorting to staple Indian diet of dal rice can save us from starvation.
So, all those people who have been believing the myth that rice causes diabetes or dal rice can make them gain weight, it's time you start trusting facts more than the myths.

Here are some health benefits of dal rice by Pooja Malhotra (as shared on her social media)
1. While dal and rice individually lack a few essential amino acids, the combination of the two make for a complete amino acid profile. Pooja informs that rice contains cysteine and methionine, both of which are lacking in lentils. Similarly, lentils contain lysine, the amino acid which grains lack.
2. The joy of eating dal rice is best with a lip-smacking tadka of ghee on it. Not only will ghee make the dish more delicious, it will also help you absorb all nutrients from dal rice and from spices like turmeric and cumin. However, you need to watch for the amount of ghee you use. Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar says that you should add as much ghee to your food that enhances (and not kills) the original taste of it.
Description: 9jj7fkn8
Dal rice or khichdi is a dish rich in fibre and antioxidants
Photo Credit: iStock
3. The beauty of dal rice and khichdi is that this simple dish can be prepared in unique ways. To make it more wholesome and nutritious, you can add a variety of lentils and grains (in your khichdi). And for the tadka, numerous spices can be added. Hing and jeera, for instance, are commonly added to dal and even khichdi. The two ingredients impart an earthy flavour to the dish and are excellent for digestion at the same time.
4. Turmeric is another essential ingredient in both dal rice and khichdi. This golden spice has numerous health benefits. Read here to know all about them.
5. Dal rice is high in fibre and antioxidants. You are likely to get Vitamin A, D, E and K all at once by eating this very easy-to-prepare staple Indian dish. It is one dish which can aid digestion, improve your metabolism, reduce inflammation in the body, promote weight loss and build immunity.
(Pooja Malhotra is a nutritionist based in Delhi)
DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetescancerpregnancy,HIV and AIDSweight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.
https://doctor.ndtv.com/living-healthy/should-you-eat-rice-heres-why-research-now-backs-this-protein-mix-that-aids-weight-loss-and-gut-heal-1993575

PARC gauge 12 hybrid rice varieties in Pakistan

Hina Baloch  PARC gauge 12 hybrid rice varieties in Pakistan2019-02-15T08:57:45+00:00
Pakistan Agriculture Council (PARC) setting new gauge for testing of rice varieties in Pakistan. New hybrid rice ­varieties will be available to farmers for cultivation of next Kharif crop season starting in July.Twelve hybrid varieties are chosen after reviewing twenty-six proposals and can be imported from china. Research on these varieties was carried out at the rice research laboratory of National Agriculture Research Centre.
Parc chairman explained the committee about the forthcoming projects on rice under the Prime Minister’s ‘National Agriculture Emergency Programme’.
Member Plant Sciences Division of PARC, Dr Abdul Ghafoor emphasized the significance of quality seed for productivity and profitability of farmers. Farmers can keep seeds of pollinated rice variety, and the hybrid has to be changed after every crop.

Bangladesh's Crop Scientists Find an Ally to Better Cope with Climate Change

14 Feb 2019
Description: https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/styles/width_555px_6_units_16_9/public/mymensingh-1140x640.jpg?itok=DiGpbxe8
Climate change is expected to take a strong toll in Bangladesh. Above, climate-resilient varieties are planted for testing at the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture in Mymensingh (Photo: L. Gil/IAEA)
Mymensingh, Bangladesh — Bangladesh, whose populous and low-level delta region is expected to be severely affected by rising sea levels, is using nuclear technology to adapt to this threat. Scientists are looking for ways to protect the country’s agriculture against flood and salinity, as well as drought and changing temperatures. With support from the IAEA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), they are developing climate change resilient crop varieties that will help feed the country’s growing population.
“We are in constant fight. We fight salinity in our soil, extreme temperatures, drought and floods,” said Mirza Mofazzal Islam, chief scientific officer and head of the Plant Breeding Division at the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA). “But, for all these problems, we have a solution — at least as far as crops are concerned.”
 Seeing that crops can thrive here gives us hope, especially because we are expecting rising sea levels and higher salinity in soil to be one of the biggest threats to our agriculture. Mirza Mofazzal Islam, Chief Scientific Officer & Head, Plant Breeding Division, BINA
Scientists at BINA have been developing radiation-induced plant varieties that can resist diverse climatic conditions. In the last decades, these plant varieties have helped farmers increase rice production three-fold, ensuring food security and giving this predominantly agricultural country an important economic push.
The more than 60 plant varieties the scientists can offer to farmers today have been developed through a process called plant mutation breeding (see Plant mutation breeding). These varieties of rice, lentils, chickpeas, peanuts, mustard, sesame, soybean, jute, tomato and wheat have now become popular across Bangladesh, accounting for about 8% of its crops, helping farmers produce a steady supply of these crops and improving livelihoods.
“Irradiation can be used to induce mutations in plants to produce varieties that display improved product quality, have higher yields and yield stability, greater resilience to climate change and tolerance to environmental stresses,” said Ljupcho Jankuloski, plant breeder and geneticist at the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. “The rice mutant varieties developed at BINA have helped Bangladesh increase its rice production in the last few decades.”

Salt, water, air

The Joint FAO/IAEA Division, through the IAEA technical cooperation programme, has been training scientists at BINA since the 1970s, establishing expertise and setting the stage for the development of improved varieties with climate-resilient traits. With the threat of putting 27 million people at risk by 2050, climate change is expected to take a strong toll in this part of the world. Sitting on low land and relying heavily on agriculture, the country is especially vulnerable to climate change.
“It is especially now in the face of increasingly extreme weather conditions and the need for more yields that nuclear science and technology in agriculture has become indispensable,” said Syahril Syahril, project manager at the IAEA responsible for technical cooperation with Bangladesh.
One new mutant rice variety, for example, needs less time to grow while producing more rice, in comparison to local conventional varieties. Another, resistant to salinity, is being deployed near the Bengal Bay, a one-million hectare spread of saline soil. “Before, this area could grow no crops,” Mofazzal Islam said. “Seeing that crops can thrive here gives us hope, especially because we are expecting rising sea levels and higher salinity in soil to be one of the biggest threats to our agriculture.”
Scientists have also developed rice varieties that can do better in flood-prone areas. “In general, crops can survive even when completely submerged, but only for three to four days,” Mirza Mofazzal Islam added. “But with modern breeding, the new rice varieties can live underwater for more than three weeks.” At the same time, a new rice variety developed by New Rice for Africa, or NERICA, in Uganda can thrive under drought conditions.
“We have gone from worrying about hunger to focusing on nutrition,” Mirza Mofazzal Islam said. “From food security to nutritional security. This means we are not only interested in ensuring access to food, but to healthy, nutritious food. Our aim is to be self-sufficient by 2021 with the help of these new varieties.”

THE SCIENCE

Plant mutation breeding

Applied since the 1930s to accelerate the process of developing and selecting new valuable agronomic traits, mutation breeding uses a plant’s own genetic make-up, mimicking the natural process of spontaneous mutation. The mutation process generates random genetic variations, resulting in mutant plants with new and useful traits.
The process consists on exposing plant seeds or plant explants to radiation, such as gamma rays or x-rays, and then planting the seeds or cultivating the plant explants in a sterile medium, which generates a plantlet. The individual plants are then screened (or phenotyped) for their traits. Individual plants with improved agronomic traits are selected and multiplied. Molecular marker-assisted breeding, often referred to as marker-assisted selection, is used to accelerate the selection of plants with desired traits, carried by genes of interest.
Plant mutation breeding does not involve gene modification, but rather uses a plant’s own genetic resources and mimics the natural process of spontaneous mutation, the motor of evolution. By using radiation, scientists can significantly shorten the time it takes to breed new and improved plant varieties.

Arkansas Sate turns up the heat on rice crops

·        
·       Feb 11, 2019 Updated Feb 11, 2019Top of Form
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — A group of Arkansas State University educators and students are studying effects of heat on rice crops in a three-university project aimed at discovering plants that can withstand global warming.
Scientists at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Kansas State University are also looking at creating a heat-resilient variety of wheat. The five-year, $6 million project is funded by the National Science Foundation through its Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research program.
Argelia Lorence, director of ASU's phenomics facility and a Vaughn Endowed Professorship of metabolic engineering, is heading the ASU study with Wency Larazo, a rice agronomist.
She said climate data has shown that during the past 40 years, the average night time temperature in areas that produce rice have increased by 5 degrees. That's indicative, she said, of continued rising temperatures that are putting stress on important crops.
"This isn't a political issue," she said to The Jonesboro Sun. "It's a food issue."
Lorence and seven ASU students will construct six greenhouse tents at a newly opened University of Arkansas rice research center at Harrisburg in March. The team will plant 400 various breeds of rice in each of the tents and raise temperatures in three of the tents to see how resilient they are. Each plant is photographed daily to see how the increased climate may affect it.
The plants will also be taken back to the Arkansas Biosciences Institute on the ASU campus in Jonesboro where they will be further tested for size, color, the amount of chlorophyll they contain and their leaf temperatures.
When Lorence and her team find the most resilient brands of rice, they will present their findings to rice breeders who can then attempt to crossbreed brands for a more heat-resilient form of rice seed.
Lorence, who has been at ASU for 14 years, was raised in Mexico City, Mexico. She earned her doctorate in biotechnology at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
She worked on projects in Mexico until a change in the country's government took science funding decisions from the National Council on Science and Technology and gave it to politicians instead.
"Instead of the (council) deciding what was best, they let the politicians decide," she said. "It was about who you knew. I knew no politicians."
She decided to move to the United States and began working at labs at Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.
While at Virginia Tech, she was part of a team that published the discovery of a new biosynthetic pathway for vitamin C in plants.
She sent 25 applicants to research institutes across the country and was offered three jobs, including one at ASU.

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The Arkansas Biosciences Institute attracted Lorence, and she accepted the position. In addition to the rice study, she is also leading a team in understanding how vitamin C delays aging and contributes to plant tolerance to stresses.
Lorence's rice-studying team is an international group of students. Along with Larazo, who is from the Philippines, the team is made up of doctoral students Kharla Mendez and Cherryl Quinones, both of the Philippines; master's student Shannon Cunningham of the Bahamas; post-doctorate student Karina Medina-Jimenez of Mexico; and undergraduate student Lilian Aniemena of Nigeria.
She is also working with Arlene Adviento-Borbe, a representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Delta Water Management Unit.
A team at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln that is conducting similar greenhouse tests with wheat is led by Harkamal Walia, an associate professor of agronomy and horticulture.
"We are excited about this project," Lorence said. "The amount of land for crops is decreasing, but there are more people. We need to eat. The only way to do this is to make the crops more productive. I love coming to work," she said. "This is my passion. We're working as hard as we can."
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Information from: The Jonesboro Sun, http://www.jonesborosun.com

DA’s Piñol warns against heavy dependence on rice imports

Description: NFA rice importsA worker looks up at the batch of imported Vietnamese rice being unloaded at a port in Manila on August 18, 2014. -- REUTERS
AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol warned against heavy reliance on imported rice amid plans to liberalize imports and doubled down on his earlier support for rice self-sufficiency.
“It is as certain that 10 years from now, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India will no longer be able to export the same volume of rice that they ship out today. They have to feed their growing population as well,” Mr. Piñol said in a social media post on Thursday.
“The point I am raising here, which I have raised in many occasions in the past, is: Yes, let us allow imported rice to come in to fill up the supply shortfall. But the policy to just rely on imported rice and ask our rice farmers to diversify to other crops is a death trap. This is a shortsighted view which will kill the rice industry and drive away farmers from the rice fields,” Mr. Piñol added.
Mr. Piñol said El Niño can hit any country without warning, and every country needs to be prepared.
“What if Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia suffer from harvest losses because of climatic disruptions including El Niño?” Mr. Piñol said.
“Even if we have the money to buy, there will be no available rice supply on the world market and assuming the availability of supply, can we outbid China?” Mr. Piñol added.
He called proposals to rely on imported rice as a “Short-sighted view which will kill the rice industry… The next generation of Filipinos will surely curse us for this misjudgment prompted by a myopic view which focuses on fleeting and changing economic numbers,” Mr. Piñol said.
University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Center for Food and Agribusiness Executive Director Rolando T. Dy said that even with the removal of quantitative restrictions (QR) in the country in line with the implementation of the upcoming rice tariffication law, farmers will continue to plant rice.
“Most rice farmers will continue to plant rice under with income support. Some will eventually diversify,” Mr. Dy said in a mobile message.
“Rice farmers comprise 30% of the total rural folk. We have coconut, fisherfolk, upland farmers. They too need poverty alleviation attention. Coconut farmers and fisherfolk have been neglected for decades,” Mr. Dy added. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

In the Philippines, where 'rice is life,' a move to allow more imports signals change

FEB 14, 2019 | 10:00 AM
| BULACAN, PHILIPPINES
  
Description: In the Philippines, where 'rice is life,' a move to allow more imports signals change
Jaquelin Marsan feeds her son rice outside their home in a Manilla neighborhood called Del Pan Binondo, a slum of scavenged wood and corrugated sheet metal homes. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
The Philippines has long touted the idea of self-sufficiency in rice, an essential staple here at the heart of every breakfast, lunch and dinner.
But rice growers like Efraen Serrano know that dream is falling further out of reach. The country’s geography doesn’t provide enough suitable land for the crop as the population swells. Urbanization and the pull to work in cities has reduced the number of farmers.
“More farms are being converted to factories and homes,” said Serrano, who farms a five-acre family plot in Bulacan, a quickly urbanizing province north of Manila. “Nobody wants to buy land and use it to farm.”
The 66-year-old says he’s now resigned to the fact that less and less of the rice Filipinos eat will be grown by farmers like him.
“Imports are a necessity,” he said.
In the clearest sign yet that he is right, the country is on the verge of ending a two-decades-old cap on private-sector imports of the grain. The move marks a radical change for a nation whose obsession with rice is ordinarily matched by its protection of domestic producers.
“Importation is always sensitive because rice is the No. 1 agricultural sector,” said Ramon Clarete, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
But resistance to buying more of it abroad has lifted over the last several months following a bout of severe inflation that sparked long lines in the streets for government-subsidized rice.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of rice in the Philippines.
The country of 105 million is the world’s sixth-largest consumer of rice on a per capita basis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Rice is life in the Philippines,” said Nicholas Mapa, a senior economist in Manila for ING. “Almost everything comes from rice. Even our delicacies are based on the grain.”
When politicians want to curry favor in poor neighborhoods, they come bearing sacks of rice. Gas stations offer free bags of it with any purchases of about $10. And one of the nation’s most popular restaurant chains, Mang Inasal, is famed for its “unlimited rice” — a menu option better known as “unli” (Filipinos have a penchant for shortening words. McDonald’s, for example, is simply called McDo).
One of the most legendary varieties of rice, IR8, was developed at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. Dubbed “magic rice,” the high-yield strain is credited with fending off famine across Southeast Asia and India starting in the 1960s.
Description: Jacquelin Marsan and her family of eight children eat dinner outside their home in a Manilla in a neighborhood called Del Pan Binondo.
Jacquelin Marsan and her family of eight children eat dinner outside their home in a Manilla in a neighborhood called Del Pan Binondo. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
“Even if you have no ulam,” said 36-year-old Jaquelin Marsan, using the Tagalog word for a dish of meat or vegetable, “you have to have rice. It’s a priority.”
She lives with her husband and their eight children — aged 7 months to 19 years — in a ramshackle Manila slum of scavenged wood and corrugated sheet metal homes called Del Pan Binondo.
Two-fifths of their meager income is spent on rice. During the surge in rice prices last year, she had to cut back the family’s consumption by a quarter.
“The children complained,” Marsan said. “So my husband and I ate less.”
Description: Sacks of rice being carried to a truck for delivery.
Sacks of rice being carried to a truck for delivery. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
Description: Sacks of rice for sale in Manila.
Sacks of rice for sale in Manila. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
Economists blamed the crisis on new taxes, costlier fuel and a failure on the government’s part to restock rice reserves in time.
As criticism mounted about his administration’s handling of the shortage, President Rodrigo Duterte deflected blame and trained his scorn on other players such as rice traders.
“I now ask all the rice hoarders, cartels and their protectors,” the president said with a menacing glare during his State of the Nation address last year. “Stop messing with the people.”
The crisis harked back to a more severe shortage in 2008 in which President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo deployed armed soldiers to watch over rice distribution and ordered fast-food chains to reduce their rice portions by half.
Prices today have since tapered. But fearing a repeat, the Philippine Senate passed a bill in November lifting the import cap and providing funds to cushion the blow on the shrinking domestic rice farming industry. Unless Duterte vetoes it, which is not expected, the bill is set to become law Friday.
Economic reformers and the country’s central bank have long championed lifting the import quota, which was supposed to protect farmers but instead led to rampant smuggling and left the country vulnerable to price manipulation by domestic rice traders.
Under World Trade Organization rules, the Philippines was obligated to eventually eliminate the cap — which stands at about 888,000 tons, or about 6% of the nation’s annual consumption. But the country had been winning waivers to keep it by arguing for more time to reach self-sufficiency.
Resistance to the change came from vested interests in the agricultural sector and parts of the powerful National Food Authority, an agency charged with importing and maintaining the country’s rice reserves for the poor — a mandate that put officials there in an ideal position to accept kickbacks.
The agency did not respond to an interview request. A spokesman for the president’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.
Even with the cap still in place, the Philippines is the world’s second largest importer of rice after China, giving it the power to move global grain markets.
Now major rice-producing nations such as Vietnam and Thailand stand to benefit immediately from the lifting of the quota, even with the Philippines’ 35% tariff on Southeast Asian rice imports.
The move to increase imports could also bolster Duterte’s PDP-Laban political party heading into midterm election in May. Rice prices disproportionately affect the poorest Filipinos, a crucial voting bloc. Nearly half their food expenditures go toward the staple, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“You can raise the price of gasoline, water and electricity, but not rice,” said Jorge Tigno, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman. “It’s the only commodity politicians are not allowed to sacrifice.”
The crisis last year tested the political power of the nation’s 3 million farmers. They lost.
“The president’s political strength will not be based on rice farmers, but more on workers and the urban poor,” said Clarete, the economics professor.
Back in Bulacan, Serrano said his crop has dwindled since a shopping center started siphoning water away from his land a few years ago. And even when rice prices soared last year, he saw none of the extra profits returned to him.
“There’s so many middlemen who make the money,” said Serrano, who earns about $3,800 a year.
Unless one of his grandchildren chooses to takeover his rice fields, Serrano may be the last generation in his family to farm. His four children have all left Bulacan to work in factories closer to the city.
“I have no one to take over,” he said.
Description: Efraen Serrano farms a five-acre family plot in Bulacan, a quickly urbanizing province north of Manila.
Efraen Serrano farms a five-acre family plot in Bulacan, a quickly urbanizing province north of Manila. (David Pierson / Los Angeles Times)

Focus on Nigeria

02.14.2019
Nigeria imports large quantities of grain to feed its big population. Wheat is important to the diet of many Nigerians, but the country is dependent on imports to produce the wheat flour, pasta and other products consumers require.
The International Grains Council (IGC) puts Nigeria’s total grains production in 2018-19 at 19.1 million tonnes, up from 18.9 million the year before. The figure includes an unchanged 11 million tonnes of corn and 6.5 million of sorghum, up from the previous year’s 6.3-million-tonne crop.
Total imports of grains in Nigeria (which comprises wheat and coarse grains) are forecast at 5.6 million tonnes in 2018-19, up from 5.5 million the year before. Most of the country’s imports are wheat, with imports forecast unchanged at 5.2 million tonnes. Nigeria is also forecast to import 110,000 tonnes of durum wheat, up from 100,000 in 2017-18. The IGC puts Nigeria’s rice crop in 2018 unchanged at 3.8 million tonnes, with rice imports also at 3 million tonnes, up from 2.4 million the previous year.
In an update issued on Dec. 18, the USDA’s attaché in Nigeria forecast the country’s 2018-19 wheat imports at 5.4 million tonnes, up from a figure of 5.2 million the year before, attributing the increase to “millers’ greater access to foreign exchange.”
“Food import bans are the cornerstone of the Nigerian government’s agricultural development and food security agenda,” the update noted. “Nigeria imposes a 10% tariff and a 60% levy (totaling 70%) on imported rice (arriving by sea), when it authorizes the import.
The attaché also said there is a ban on rice imports through land borders, but that it is difficult to control. The attaché’s forecast for Nigerian rice imports in 2018-19 is 2.5 million tonnes, up from 2 million in 2017-18.
The official ban on rice imports through land borders remains but is reportedly difficult to control. Post forecasts Nigeria’s rice imports in MY 2018-19 at 2.5 million tonnes, up 25% compared with the MY 2017-18 figure of 2 million tonnes.
In an annual report on the Nigerian grains sector, published in April, the USDA said Nigeria’s animal feed sector has attracted local and foreign investment over the previous five years and is expected to remain the country’s leading grain user.
“Analysts project Nigeria’s poultry meat consumption will increase 10 times by 2040, assuming moderate feed costs, while domestic poultry production is expected to increase by 8 billion eggs and 100 million kilograms of poultry meat per annum,” the report said.
The report also points out that Nigeria’s annual consumption of fish is estimated at 2 million tonnes, with more than 20% coming from land-based aquaculture.
The attaché did not expect grain production in Nigeria to expand significantly.
“Nigeria grain producers are predominantly subsistence farmers with very limited financial resources and access to inputs and storage facilities,” the report said. “Moreover, increasing production costs for farming inputs such as fertilizers, labor and agro-chemicals have continued to limit the size and scope of the farms.
“Nigeria continues to employ trade restrictive measures, including high tariffs, forex control, levies and import bans, and other measures to protect its domestic agricultural production, despite the country’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Levies imposed on essential grains (rice, corn and wheat), as well as restrictive import permits limit grain imports.”
The country also has problems with conflict affecting grain supplies.
“The Boko Haram (BH) insurgencies and the pastoralist-farmers conflicts in the northeast and north-central regions of Nigeria have continued to escalate,” the attaché said. “Consequently, population displacement, trade restrictions, limited market access, and an influx of refugees, especially in the northeast region, have continued to cause severe acute food insecurity in the areas.”
Over 2 million people in the region are now depending on food assistance, the report said.
“Although FAO and other humanitarian agents are supporting the farmer-dominated population, mainly with fertilizer and seeds for vegetable and rice production, fears of attacks have continued to constrain access to farms in the regions,” the attaché said.
Flour milling
In a report on supply chain management in the food and beverage industry in Nigeria, Dr. M.E. Njoku of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, and Kalu Alexanda of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, point out that “only four companies (Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc and Lafarage Dangote Flour Mills Plc) control 50% of the entire flour milling market. The 22 mills in the country are owned by 11 companies. They recommend that “Production firms, most especially the flour millers, should integrate their supply chain management operations efficiently in such a way that it enhances their sales and profitability.”
The attaché puts Nigeria’s domestic wheat production at around 60,000 tonnes.
“Locally produced wheat is not economically suitable for milling wheat flour for producing bread, spaghetti, etc., consumed in Nigeria’s urban areas,” the report said. “Traditionally, Nigeria’s wheat is mostly utilized for specialized local meals consumed mostly in northern Nigeria and the neighboring Sahel countries.”
The highly urbanized nature of Nigeria’s population, with more than half the country’s residents living in urban areas, contributes to demand for wheat products.
“Bread, semolina, pasta and other wheat products remain major staples in Nigeria,” the report said. “Generally, consumers’ incomes have remained low and wheat products such as bread, doughs, noodles and spaghetti, are also expected to remain readily available and affordable in the more populated urban areas.”
The report also explains that compared to major domestic staples such as “garri” (a local cassava product), millet, yam, plantain and others, bread and pasta are more convenient and less expensive staples in Nigeria.”
Rice consumption
Consumers prefer imported rice from Thailand and India to the Nigerian product, according to the attaché.
“Nigeria’s increasing rice consumption is mostly driven by population growth, increasing urbanization as well as substitution away from traditional coarse grains,” the report said. “The consumption of traditional cereals, mainly sorghum and millet, has dropped significantly, and their share in cereals used as food also decreased, while the share of rice consumed has grown over the last four decades.”
A report published by Food Business Africa on Jan. 9 bemoaned the amount spent by Nigeria on imports of grains in 2018.
“The country spent $1.1 billion to import 5.5 million tonnes of wheat in the period as production remained static at 60,000 tonnes, which constituted 99% of wheat consumed,” Food Business Africa said. “Rice imports amounted to 3 million tonnes, equivalent to 44% of rice consumed in the country valued at $1.2 billion, while domestic production rose to 4.78 million tonnes in 2018.”
The 400,000 tonnes of corn imported cost $146.8 million, Food Business Africa said.
The report also said there were 21 large integrated rice mills running, with a total capacity of 1.22 million tonnes yearly. Owners of rice mills include Dangote, Stallion Group, Olam, Milan, Golden Penny Rice and Wicklow Group.
“Nigeria seems to have become a massive market for wheat, serving some flour milling companies such as Flour Mills of Nigeria, Honeywell Flour Mills and Dangote Flour Mills as they prefer to import the grain where they can obtain higher returns,” the report said.
According to a summary published by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, an annual report by the attaché in Nigeria on biotechnology told readers that “recent campaigns/activities of some anti-biotech groups are beginning to negate earlier positive perceptions of Nigerian consumers about genetically engineered (GE) products.”
“GE promoters in Nigeria will need to engage Nigerians through sustained promotional outreaches espousing the benefits of biotechnology to negate anti-GE campaigns,” the FAS said. “Bt Cowpea, Bt Cotton, Africa Bio-fortified Sorghum and Nitrogen Use Efficient, Water Use Efficient and Salt Tolerant (NEWEST) Rice are already at different stages of field and confined field trials in Nigeria.”

ASIA RICE-PRICES LANGUISH AS TOP EXPORTERS HARVEST, DEMAND STALLS

2/14/2019
* New supplies from winter crop hit Indian prices
* Vietnamese harvest likely to peak at month-end
* Philippines buys about 20,000 tonnes from Vietnam
By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri and Swati Verma
Feb 14 (Reuters) - Rice export prices fell in top Asian hubs this week on slow demand and rising supply following a quiet start to the year, while limited interest from the Philippines failed to spur a Vietnamese market reeling from Chinese import restrictions.
In top exporter India, 5 percent broken parboiled variety <RI-INBKN5-P1> eased to $380-$385 per tonne from $383-$388 last week as supply from the winter crop poured in.
Demand from Asian and African buyers was subdued, an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh said.
India's rice exports between April and December dropped 10.2 percent from a year earlier to 8.46 million tonnes, a government body said last week.
In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice <RI-THBKN5-P1> prices fell to $382-$398 a tonne, free on board Bangkok, from $390–$402 previously.
"The market has been really quiet and new supply of rice is coming out now," a Bangkok-based trader said.
A weaker domestic currency was adding further pressure to prices, traders said.
"More supply will lower prices further but exporters are still looking for buyers because it has really been quiet since the start of the year," another trader said.
Thailand is the world's second biggest rice exporter followed by Vietnam, where rates for benchmark 5 percent broken rice <RI-VNBKN5-P1> fell to $340 a tonne from $350 two weeks ago before the markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
"Trade has resumed and we have seen more buyers from the Philippines placing orders," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said, adding that private buyers from rice-scarce Philippines purchased about 20,000 tonnes this week.
However, China has been imposing stricter conditions for rice imports from Vietnam, traders said.
China will likely cut rice shipments from Vietnam to 500,000-600,000 tonnes this year from around 1.5-2 million tonnes a year in the past, another trader said.
"We think the government will likely buy rice this year for stockpiling, giving a support for domestic prices."
Export prices, however, will be under pressure as the major winter-spring harvest peaks by month-end, traders said.
Elsewhere, Bangladesh, which saw imports surge in 2017 after floods wreaked havoc on local crops, will procure more rice locally as output has revived, a food ministry official from the country said.
"We are getting good response in our local procurement drive and will continue it," the official said.
Bangladesh has procured nearly 1.4 million tonnes of rice locally so far in the current season to build state reserves. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Arpan Varghese and David Evans)

PHL braces for shift to open rice market

Description: https://39byfk2z09ab1y1bzj1l5r82-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/top01-011018-696x464.jpgPrices of assorted varieties of rice are seen at the San Andres public market in Manila in this file photo.
Bernadette D. Nicolas & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
A DAY before a bill that will open up the country’s rice market lapses into law, Malacañang said the proposed Rice Tariffication Act is still on the desk of President Duterte.
The measure, which seeks to convert the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice into tariffs is set to lapse into law on February 15 if it is not acted upon by the President.
Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a radio interview that he also got word from Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea on Wednesday that the bill was “for signing.”
As of press time, the Malacañang Records Office and the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office also told the BusinessMirror that they had yet to receive a signed rice tariffication bill.
However, the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs told the BusinessMirror that it has already recommended the bill for the President’s approval on February 12 and that it has forwarded the bill to the Executive Secretary’s office.
Rice, considered the staple food of Filipinos, is the remaining crop that is protected by import caps allowed by the World Trade Organization given its importance to the Philippines. Manila converted most of the QRs and other non-tariff measures into tariffs after the country joined the WTO in 1995.
Malacañang earlier said that the President will not veto the bill even if the President acknowledged that it will be detrimental to farmers.

Bracing for change

Ahead of the possible enactment of the rice tariffication bill, the National Food Authority (NFA) on Thursday pronounced that it is already prepared for the necessary adjustments that must be made under the measure that will liberalize the industry.
NFA OIC-Administrator Tomas Escarez said the food agency has a marching order from Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol to ready the necessary facilities and manpower to fulfill its presumed role under the rice tariffication bill, which is currently awaiting the signature of President Duterte to become a law.
“We are already ready for our buffer-stocking role [under the rice tariffication bill]. We have already instructed all NFA warehouses nationwide to be open daily for seven days a week,” Escarez told reporters in an interview.
“We have also prepared our post-harvest facilities to assist farmers and formed teams for procurement. We have an instruction from the DA [Department of Agriculture] to prepare [for rice tariffication],” Escarez added.
He said the future of the NFA’s role to sell rice in the market remains unclear until the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the rice tariffication bill are finalized. The rice tariffication bill has no clear language or provision on what will happen to the NFA’s market power.
The rice tariffication bill, which industry stakeholders described instead as a “rice liberalization” measure, will convert the country’s two-decade long quantitative restriction into tariffs and will also remove from NFA’s regulatory and trading powers.
“It is still possible for us to continue to sell rice if it would be included in the IRR. It is really up to the IRR,” Escarez said.
Nonetheless, Escarez said the NFA would abide by the provisions of the rice tariffication bill once it is enacted, either through Duterte’s signature or it lapses into law on February 15.

Provisions

A day after the rice tariffication bill was transmitted to Malacañang on January 15, rice industry stakeholders and even a top official of the agriculture department urged President Duterte to veto the measure, particularly because of the provisions that seek to deregulate the NFA.
This means that the measure will strip the NFA of its power to control the volume of rice imports entering the Philippine market, as well as of its capacity to license importers.
Under the proposed law, interested importers will only need to secure a sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance from the Bureau of Plant Industry as proof of the rice they will bring in is safe for consumption.
They will also have to pay a tariff of 35 percent if the imports are coming from a member-state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while 50 percent if they are from outside the region.
The proposed law will also create the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), also called the rice fund, which will consist of an initial P10 billion and all duties collected from the importation of rice. As a safety net, the rice fund will be used to finance programs —whether through direct support or research—for farmers.
Under the bill, 50 percent of the RCEF is to be used for the purchase of rice farm equipment, such as tillers, tractors, seeders, threshers, rice planters, harvesters, among others, for purposes of improving farm mechanization.
Also, 30 percent of the rice fund will be allocated for the development, propagation and promotion of inbred seeds to rice farmers. The bill sets aside 10 percent for credit with minimal interest to farmers and cooperatives.
The remaining 10 percent is for research and education on rice crop production, modern rice farming techniques, seed production, farm mechanization, as well as technology transfer through farm schools nationwide.

Asking farmers to abandon planting rice a ‘death trap’

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:26 AM February 15, 2019
Description: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/files/2019/02/25Pinol-e1550168598378.jpg
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Thursday rejected as a “death trap” Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno’s opinion that local farmers should abandon planting rice and instead focus on high-value crops.
In a post on his Facebook page, Piñol said Diokno’s position was flawed because, among other things, rice-importing countries focused on securing their rice requirements first.
“It is as certain as the sun will rise tomorrow that 10 years from now, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India will no longer be able to export the same volume of rice that they ship out today. They have to feed their growing population as well,” he said.
“The policy to just rely on imported rice and ask our rice farmers to diversify to other crops is a death trap. It is a shortsighted view which will kill the rice industry and drive away farmers from the rice fields,” he added.
Agriculture’s potential
Diokno, along with other economists, have said that the shift to planting “remunerative crops” will unleash the agriculture sector’s potential since these crops, when exported, can be more profitable than rice.
High-value crops include abaca, cacao, cassava, coffee, oil palm and rubber.
While Piñol is not against importing rice, he said that imports should only be allowed to fill the supply shortfall, not the country’s entire rice needs.
He said that with the worsening effects of climate change, rice-exporting countries, especially Vietnam and Thailand, where the Philippines source most of its imported rice, may suffer from harvest losses and cut their export volume to the detriment of nations that rely heavily on imported rice.
“Even if we have the money to buy, there would be no available rice supply in the world market. And assuming that there would be available supply, could we outbid China in buying all the remaining rice stocks?” Piñol said.
The Duterte administration originally intended to achieve self-sufficiency in rice within the first two years of the President’s six-year term.
But Duterte already admitted that the country could not achieve that in the near term, and would need to import rice.
The Department of Agriculture is projecting a record harvest of 20 million metric tons of rice this year after posting 19.28 million MT in 2017.
Last year, the country’s rice production reached 19.06 million MT despite a series of typhoons that hit many of the country’s rice granaries.
Diokno has been pushing for the liberalization of certain agricultural commodities like sugar and rice to make the industry more competitive.
In an interview on Wednesday, he said that since the agriculture sector had “zero contribution” to the country’s economic growth, there was a need to put pressure on the sector to improve its productivity.


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Description: File photo
File photo

New law will restrict traditional ways: farmers

national February 15, 2019 01:00
By THE NATION

Concern over ban on uncertified rice varieties and conflicts.


FARMERS are getting increasingly worried about the Rice Bill, which drafters claim would improve their lives, but is now causing huge controversy.
Researchers and senior government officials have now joined farmers’ calls for the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to address their concerns and avoid triggering future problems.
Two major controversial points of the Rice Bill, proposed by 25 NLA members, are the ban on uncertified paddy seeds and the requirement that rice mills issue paddy-purchase papers clearly specifying rice varieties, weight, quality and moisture content.
Offenders face a fine of up to Bt100,000 and/or one year in jail, under the draft law.
Description: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/img/photos/2019/February/14/c3beb99e93c6e9edd15ff8ab5c99054b.jpeg
While the controversial legal clauses aim to boost rice quality and farmer incomes, they are viewed by critics as threatening farmers’ way of life and hurting their ties to rice mills. Farmers worry that the bill will force them to buy commercial varieties of paddy rather than developing their own varieties.
“We are worried that the draft law will practically bar farmers from selecting their own rice varieties or force them into seeking certification. 
“That’ll be too much for farmers,” |said Daoruang Puechpol, the chair of a community agricultural enterprise.
Even though his enterprise is not likely to be impacted, Daoruang said he opposes certain sections of the bill.
“Farmers should not be forced to change their way of life,” he said.
Ubon Yuwa, coordinator for the Network of Northeast Alternative Agriculture, said the Rice Bill would place power in the hands of the Rice Department as the certifying agency.
“In fact, the government should create opportunities for farmers to manage their own affairs, such as improving their own rice varieties,” he said.
Separately, Assoc Professor Nipon Poapong-sakorn, a researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute, said that farmers have in the past successfully developed several high-quality rice varieties and have a history of preparing their paddy seeds.
“But their development activities are different from the methods used by private companies. If the current Rice Bill becomes law, farmers will become discouraged. They will be too worried about legal punishments to continue developing varieties,” he said.
Change will increase costs
Rice mills should also not be treated as suspected criminals, said Nipon, pointing to a section of the Bill that would allow officials to check paddy-purchase records at the mills without prior notice.
Description: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/img/photos/2019/February/14/1621cb4332a31347819ae8e77316924d.jpeg
Critics have said the purchase-paper requirement, which is likely to raise operating costs for the mills, could prompt them to offer farmers lower prices for crops and so incite future conflicts between mills and farmers.
Jintana Chaiyawonnagal, vice minister attached to the prime minister, said many farmers were also worried that it would become tougher to get paddy seeds for their fields.
“Concerns are growing among rice-seed distributors as well,” she said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a rice farmer in Prachin Buri province complained that he and other farmers should have been informed of the drafting of the bill and asked to comment prior to the NLA introducing it.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach said he had expressed opposition to any restriction on farmers developing rice varieties.
“We have already informed the NLA of this in writing,” he said.
Grisada is hopeful the NLA will heed his ministry’s concerns. 
“But we will also make sure that government representatives talk to the NLA’s ad-hoc committee on the Rice Bill before it goes to the NLA for second and third readings,” he said.
BOX 
Rice Bill controversy
  Background 
The National Legislative Assembly is set to hold the second and third readings of the Rice Bill, sparking grave concerns among farmers and academics. 
Controversial points 
- The draft bans the distribution of uncertified paddy seeds.
- Offenders face up to Bt100,000 in fine and/or one year in jail.
Drafters’ stated intention
To boost quality, yield and farmers’ income.
Concerns
- It will discourage the development of paddy based on local wisdom and affect farmers’ way of life. 
- The draft law requires rice mills to issue purchase papers, specifying the variety of rice, weight, quality and moisture content. Random checks will be conducted and offenders will face up to Bt100,000 in fines and/or a year in jail.
Drafters’ stated intention 
-To prevent rice mills from buying rice at unfair prices.
Concerns
- Requirement for documentation can mean extra cost and trigger conflicts between mills and farmers. 
Source:The Nation

Thai Farmers Raise Concerns Over Junta Rice Bill That Would Ban Non-Certified Paddy Seeds

The draft law requires rice mills to issue purchase papers, specifying the variety of rice, weight, quality and moisture content. Random checks will be conducted and offenders will face up to Bt100,000 in fines and/or a year in jail.
Rice farmers in Thailand are getting increasingly worried about the Rice Bill, which drafters claim would improve their lives, but is now causing huge controversy.
Researchers and senior government officials have now joined farmers’ calls for Thailand’s Junta the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to address their concerns and avoid triggering future problems.
Two major controversial points of the Rice Bill, proposed by 25 NLA members, are the ban on non-certified paddy seeds and the requirement that rice mills issue paddy-purchase papers clearly specifying rice varieties, weight, quality and moisture content.

Offenders face a fine of up to Bt100,000 and or one year in jail, under the draft law.
While the controversial legal clauses aim to boost rice quality and farmer incomes, they are viewed by critics as threatening farmers’ way of life and hurting their ties to rice mills. Farmers worry that the bill will force them to buy commercial varieties of paddy rather than developing their own varieties.
“We are worried that the draft law will practically bar farmers from selecting their own rice varieties or force them into seeking certification.
“That’ll be too much for farmers,” said Daoruang Puechpol, the chair of a community agricultural enterprise.
Even though his enterprise is not likely to be impacted, Daoruang said he opposes certain sections of the bill.

“Farmers should not be forced to change their way of life,” he said.
Ubon Yuwa, coordinator for the Network of Northeast Alternative Agriculture, said the Rice Bill would place power in the hands of the Rice Department as the certifying agency.
“In fact, the government should create opportunities for farmers to manage their own affairs, such as improving their own rice varieties,” he said.
Separately, Assoc Professor Nipon Poapong-sakorn, a researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute, said that farmers have in the past successfully developed several high-quality rice varieties and have a history of preparing their paddy seeds.
“But their development activities are different from the methods used by private companies. If the current Rice Bill becomes law, farmers will become discouraged. They will be too worried about legal punishments to continue developing varieties,” he said.

Change will Increase Costs
Rice mills should also not be treated as suspected criminals, said Nipon, pointing to a section of the Bill that would allow officials to check paddy-purchase records at the mills without prior notice.
Critics have said the purchase-paper requirement, which is likely to raise operating costs for the mills, could prompt them to offer farmers lower prices for crops and so incite future conflicts between mills and farmers.
Jintana Chaiyawonnagal, vice minister attached to the prime minister, said many farmers were also worried that it would become tougher to get paddy seeds for their fields.
“Concerns are growing among rice-seed distributors as well,” she said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a rice farmer in Prachin Buri province complained that he and other farmers should have been informed of the drafting of the bill and asked to comment prior to the NLA introducing it.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach said he had expressed opposition to any restriction on farmers developing rice varieties.
“We have already informed the NLA of this in writing,” he said.
Grisada is hopeful the NLA will heed his ministry’s concerns.
“But we will also make sure that government representatives talk to the NLA’s ad-hoc committee on the Rice Bill before it goes to the NLA for second and third readings,” he said.

Waste-To-Treasure: Porous Carbon Sorbents From Sustainable Rice Husk Synthesized By A Direct Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Activation

Description: Image by lyndonsmeyor via Pixabay is licensed under CC0

CO2-looping in Biomass Thermochemical Process

Thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis and gasification have been recognized as the most promising fuel processing technique that can utilize biomass for energy recovery. Pyrolysis of biomass can produce biochar, bio-oil, and syngas. Moreover, the by-product of biochar can be fabricated into various carbon materials (e.g., adsorbents, catalysts) for sustainable applications. It was found that CO2, acting as an agent, can participate in each stage (e.g., pyrolysis, gasification) through the integrated thermochemical process, mainly including biomass pyrolysis, biochar gasification, tar cracking/reforming, and gas upgrading (Shen et al., 2017).
Description: https://sciencetrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Fig-1-5-700x387.pngCO2-looping in Biomass Pyrolysis or Gasification (Shen et al., 2017). Image republished with permission from DOI: 10.1039/C7SE00279C.

Biochar By-product Utilization

Biochar by-product with large specific surface area, porous structure, enriched surface functional groups, and minerals make it possible to be utilized as a sorbent to remove pollutants. The conversion of biomass wastes to biochar is a ‘‘win-win’’ strategy for both improving waste management and protecting the environment. Because of its economic and environmental benefits, biochar has become a promising resource for the treatment of pollutants (e.g., heavy metals, organic pollutants) from aqueous solutions.
The properties of biochar mainly depend on biomass types and pyrolysis conditions (e.g., residence time, temperature, heating rate). Conventional carbonization (i.e. slow pyrolysis), fast pyrolysis, and gasification are the main thermochemical processes that are widely used for biochar production. In general, biochar produced at relatively high temperatures (e.g., 600-700 oC) shows highly aromatic with well-organized C layers, but has fewer H and O groups due to dehydration and deoxygenation of the biomass, potentially with lower ion exchange capacities. On the other hand, biochar produced at lower temperatures (e.g., 300-400 oC) has more diversified organic characters (e.g., aliphatic and cellulose type structures) and more C=O and C-H functional groups. The complex and heterogeneous physicochemical composition of biochar can provide an excellent platform for pollutants removal by sorption. In spite of considerable scientific work on the utilize of biochar for environmental uses, extensive attention has recently been concentrated on the modification of biochar with novel structures and surface properties to enhance its remediation efficacy and environmental benefits

Biochar to Activated Carbons

The effectiveness of biochar as an adsorbent has been limited by its low surface area. The production of activated carbons from biomass or biochar has used two activation methods of physical and chemical activation. Physical activation uses oxidizing gases such as air, CO2, and steam, while chemical activation uses chemical activators such as alkali hydroxides (e.g., NaOH, KOH), inorganic acids (e.g., H3PO4, HCl and H2SO4), or metal salts (e.g., ZnCl2). Physical activation is considered to be more environmentally friendly. The carbon precursor is subjected to partial gasification using steam and CO2 as the activating agents. However, physical activation conducted at high temperatures (normally above 900 oC) requires more energy consumption.
Some key points on activated carbons derived from biomass or biochar are concluded: (1) Chemical activation under the inert environment (e.g., N2) is widely used because of its efficient at relatively lower temperatures; (2) Chemical activation contributes to a relatively high specific surface area; (3) KOH is widely used as an activating agent due to its excellent catalytic effect on carbon gasification; and (4) Activation of biochar (i.e. two-step) is considered, since the initial pyrolysis of biomass at a lower temperature causes a high yield of char. Subsequently, the char with poor porosity can be gasified to form many new pores. However, the low-temperature pyrolysis can also yield a high yield of tar. Thus, one-step catalytic pyrolysis with KOH at relatively high temperatures may avoid this problem.

Activated Bio-carbon for Sorption

Researchers from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology(NUIST) comparatively studied the synthesis of activated biochars from rice husk (an abundant agricultural bio-waste in China) via KOH-catalyzed pyrolysis under the CO2 atmosphere. One-step pyrolysis can produce a higher yield of activated carbon compared with two-step pyrolysis. Pore development in the biochar was significantly improved by the de-ashing process integrated with the KOH activation. Additionally, more pores with deep channels were formed on the surface of activated carbon via one-step pyrolysis due to the K-catalyzed oxidation of carbon structure under the CO2 atmosphere. Therefore, one-step pyrolysis can produce a relatively higher specific surface area (SBET=1836 m2/g) of activated biochar, which showed better performance on the phenol adsorption. As the phenol concentration was 10 mg/L (low), the adsorption capacity of AB1 can reach 75% much higher than that of AB2 (11%). It suggests that the AB1 is more benefit for the removal of phenol with a relatively lower concentration compared with the AB2. However, as the phenol concentration was 50 mg/L (high), the adsorption capacity of AB1 was close to that of AB2.
The potential mechanisms have been proposed by researchers. Biochar obtained at a high temperature is effective in adsorption of organic pollutants by increasing specific surface area, microporosity, and hydrophobicity, while biochar obtained at a low temperature is favored for removing inorganic/polar organic pollutants by the oxygen-containing functional groups, electrostatic attraction, precipitation, and pore-filling. As an organic adsorbate, the phenol molecules are pass into the internal surface via the liquid-film controlled diffusion, so the behavior of phenol adsorption onto activated biochars was mainly controlled via the chemisorption. Biochars normally contain many functional groups with N or O such as -NH2/-OH, C-O, C=O, etc.
Also, the functional groups (e.g., carbonyl, pyrrolic-N groups) on the outer surfaces of activated biochars can attract the phenol molecules onto their internal surfaces via the “π-π dispersion interaction” and “donor-acceptor effect” Hence, the aromatic rings of different phenol molecules are easy to form the π-π stacking interactions. Accordingly, a multi-layer adsorption system is formed. Compared with the Van der Waals force regarded as the primary driving force in the adsorption of activated biochars, the chemical interactions between the functional groups of biochar and phenol molecules are more effective to enhance the adsorption capacity. In addition, the micropores in the internal surface of activated biochar with high specific surface areas host the adsorbed phenol molecules.
Description: https://sciencetrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Fig-2-5-700x392.pngMechanism of phenol sorption with the activated biochars (AB1: one-step, AB2: two-step) (Shen and Fu, 2018). Image republished with permission from doi.org/10.1016/j.mtener.2018.07.005.
These findings are described in the article entitled KOH-activated rice husk char via CO2 pyrolysis for phenol adsorption, recently published in the journal Materials Today Energy. This work was conducted by Yafei Shen, Yuhong Fu from NUIST.
References:
           
                                   
                       
In Memory:  Billy Long               
February 14, 2019                  
                                   
                                   
                                                           
USA Rice extends condolences to the family and friends of Billy Murl Long, of Tichnor, Arkansas, who passed away February 12, at the age of 82.                   
Billy graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1958 and returned to Tichnor to work on his family's farming operation.  He served on the board of directors of Tichnor Drier, Grand Prairie Regional Water Distribution District, and Farm Bureau.  He also was one of the founding members of the Tichnor Volunteer Fire Department. "Mr. Long was an innovator in the industry and was willing to try new things before they were widely accepted," said Robb Dedman, an independent rice consultant.  "But most importantly he passed on that legacy to his sons, Heath and Wes, and they are as passionate about the rice industry as he was."                        
                                   
Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m., February 15, at Gillett Methodist Church with burial in Gillett Cemetery by Essex Funeral Home.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the funeral at 9:00 a.m. Memorials may be made to the Gillett Methodist Church, P.O. Box 88, Gillett, AR 72055, or Gillett Cemetery, c/o Jennifer Lowe, P.O. Box 124, Gillett, AR 72055.                
                                               
Out of Trade Conflicts Hafemeister Sees Opportunity               
By Michael Klein                  
                       
WASHINGTON, DC -- One would be hard-pressed to find a bigger supporter of U.S. agriculture than USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue.  His Trade Counsel, Jason Hafemeister, is probably the biggest booster for ag trade, and last week in remarks to USA Rice's Government Affairs Conference here he explained why.                      
                                   
Hafemesister said the importance of trade cannot be understated; every sector exports, and most have a trade surplus.  He said the current climate of trade conflicts is hurting the ag sector, but that as always, these conflicts also present great opportunities.               
                                   
"The positive potential for this whole trade situation is that we are bringing people to the table in a way that we haven't in the past, and we have a chance for them to consider making reforms that will make it easier for us to export there," Hafemeister said. "We've driven countries to the table in a serious way."             
                                   
But there is no question that the trip itself, hurts.  A growing and important market for U.S. ag products since 2007, China had been the top destination for U.S. ag products since 2010, but trade dropped precipitously in 2017 and is now behind Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the EU.  Of course U.S. rice is not exported to China at all, however, that is something that could change at any moment given the legal and technical hurdles that continue to be cleared by the Chinese and U.S. governments.                     
                                   
Hafemeister shared his thoughts on trade with the EU and Japan, both important markets for U.S. agriculture, but spent most of his time discussing the importance of trade with our two closest neighbors, and the number one and number four markets for U.S. rice - Mexico and Canada, respectively.                       
                                   
He explained that while the replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), will be a boon to U.S. agriculture, the current retaliatory tariffs in place as a result of U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum are a drag on trade that will offset any gains made under USMCA.               
                                   
            Hafemeister presented analysis that showed USMCA has the potential to grow U.S. ag export revenue by more than $450 million, but if the retaliatory tariffs remain in place even with USMCA, ag revenue would drop by more than $1.7 billion.  And depending on the level of tariffs imposed by Mexico and Canada, those losses could approach $8 billion.               
                                   
            He also stressed that NAFTA should remain in place until USMCA is ratified, less ag export revenue decline more than $9.3 billion.                  
                                   
"Counselor Hafemeister's analysis confirms our own and we appreciate him not only coming to share that with us, but also being a strong voice for agriculture trade in this Administration and around the world in existing and potential markets for U.S. rice," said Betsy Ward, president & CEO of USA Rice.               

Rice millers threaten stir over pending demands

Tribune News Service
Moga, February 14
Up in arms against the Centre, the Punjab Rice Millers’ Association has threatened to launch an agitation if its long-pending demands are not met.
The association has been demanding a suitable milling policy for the rice industry.
Association president Tarsem Saini said the milling charges fixed about 15 years ago should be reviewed and hiked to Rs 80 per quintal, keeping in view the huge escalation in cost of inputs such as electricity, minimum wages and machinery, etc.
Saini alleged that the field staff of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was exploiting the millers on quality issues in the absence of any scientific technical standards for the acceptance of custom milled rice. Most of the millers were giving hefty bribe to the FCI staff, which needs to be stopped by setting up specialised laboratories at the district headquarters, he added.
Besides this, Saini has also urged the state to clear the pending paddy milling bills, gunny bag charges and refund of securities lying with various government agencies for many years.
On February 23, the association will be holding a meeting of the state executive and all district bodies in Patiala to press for these demands.

2018 Arkansas rice production marks recovery from 2017 flooding

2018 Arkansas rice production was up 30 percent over previous year. Soybean production was down slightly.
Ryan McGeeney | Feb 12, 2019
Even if the fall of 2018 marked the “harvest that never ended,” Arkansas growers managed to pull enough rice from the land to mark a 30 percent increase over 2017’s disastrous numbers, which reflected the severe flooding of that year’s spring.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released state-by-state crop and stock reports Feb. 8, the first new data available from the department since the 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government.
Not only was 2018 a strong year for Arkansas rice growers, with a total production of 107 million cwt, but U.S. rice as a whole, said Jarrod Hardke, Extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
“Arkansas rice yield and acres came right in line with expectation,” Hardke said. “However, it was surprising to see a substantial increase in overall U.S. yields, which marks the second highest on record. Some individual state yields increased more than 800 pounds per acre over previous estimates.”

Modest increases

Some Arkansas crops saw modest year-over-year increases, including corn, which rose 7 percent to 117 million bushels, and upland cotton, which also rose 7 percent to an estimated 1.15 million bales, results that several Extension agronomists described as unsurprising, and generally in line with annual averages.
The state’s No. 1 crop, soybeans, saw a 7 percent decline in production from 2017, falling to about 165.2 million bushels. The dip was overshadowed by the increasing supply on hand, accumulated in part due to the ongoing trade dispute with China.
Nationwide, total stocks of stored soybeans rose 18 percent over 2017 numbers more than 3.7 billion bushels, stored both on farms and off. Soybean stocks stored on farms, specifically, totaled 1.94 billion bushels, up 30 percent from a year ago.
While the report didn’t make numbers for Arkansas available, the national situation reflected what Arkansas growers are dealing with, said Scott Stiles, Extension economist for the Division of Agriculture.
“Normally, we use the bulk of on-farm storage for corn and rice,” Stiles said. “Given the quality issues, drop in soybean prices and weakness in the basis at harvest, my feeling was that our growers would allocate a lot more bin space to soybeans following the 2018 crop.”
Peanut production in Arkansas dropped about 25 percent in 2018 to about 2.2 million pounds. Travis Faske, extension pathologist and peanut agronomist with the Division of Agriculture, said poor harvesting conditions and the abandonment of several thousand acres in peanut production led to the lower number, although the average yield “was positive, and among the best, compared to other peanut producing states.”
The Feb. 8 report also referenced winter wheat in the state, which is forecast to have the lowest acreage since 1955, at about 120,000 acres. Jason Kelley, Extension wheat and feed grains agronomist with the Division of Agriculture, said the numbers were not surprising, “given the very wet fall that prevented most acres from being planted.”
Finally, sorghum, which occupies relatively few acres in the state, nevertheless saw a substantial increase in 2018 of 41 percent, with Arkansas growers producing about 770,000 bushels throughout the year.
TAGS: SOYBEAN WHEAT

Japan's rice finds fertile ground in China after 75% growth

Expanded shipments to mainland drove record exports in 2018
HISAO KODACHI, Nikkei staff writerFEBRUARY 14, 2019 06:15 JST
China decided to allow rice imports from Japan's Niigata Prefecture, a major growing area, in November.
TOKYO -- After growing tenfold in a decade, Japan's rice exports are set for further growth, with an especially keen eye on the world's largest consuming market, mainland China.
Japanese government data shows that exports to China grew 76% year on year to 524 tons in 2018. The growth rate towers over Japan's total outbound rice shipments, which grew 17% to a record 13,794 tons.
China still accounts for only 4% of Japan's exports, due to Beijing's strict rules of allowing rice processed only at certain authorized facilities. Until last year, the only Japanese port with China's green light was Yokohama.
But after a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last May, Beijing approved milling facilities in Hyogo and Hokkaido prefectures.
China consumes 20 times more rice than Japan and is a crucial market for Japan's rice growers, as they hope to sell more overseas this year.
JA Minaho, an agricultural cooperative in the town of Nyuzen, Toyama -- a prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan -- targets an 18% increase on the year to 1,000 tons, reaching 31 countries through a partnership with leading rice wholesaler Shinmei.
The coop's rice exports soared from just 21 tons in 2009 -- the first year of overseas shipments -- to 850 tons in 2018.
"If we want to earn income using our rice fields at a time when Japan's population is declining, we are going to focus on exports, even if prices are a bit cheaper," said the president of the organization.
JA Minaho is looking to take advantage of the newly relaxed Chinese rules on ports, taking its rice to the nearer port of Kobe, in Hyogo Prefecture, for quicker shipping than from Yokohama, an official said.
For nearly half a century until 2017, Japan intentionally cut back rice production and slashed acreage under a government program to prop up prices. Exports remained less than 2,000 tons a year in the 2000s. Today, farmers are eager to grow the staple food for foreign markets.
The top two markets are Hong Kong and Singapore, which absorbed a combined 60% of rice from Japan. The value of rice exports rose 18% to an all-time high of 3.7 billion yen ($33.4 million) in 2018, representing a 10-fold surge over the preceding decade.
In October, rice wholesaler Kitoku Shinryo and the Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives sent the first Shanghai-bound shipments of the Yumepirika variety from a port in Hokkaido, the northernmost main island.
Exports are expected to keep growing. China in November said it will give the go-ahead to rice from Niigata, a major rice producer, partially lifting the suspension it placed on foods from a wide zone around Fukushima following the 2011 nuclear disaster.
"We want to start with Shanghai and market our rice to other cities as well," said Genichi Jinde, the president and CEO of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations.
The growing international markets for Japanese rice include Mongolia, which took in 336 tons last year, up 66%. Shipments to Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates doubled to 49 tons and 37 tons, respectively.
Rice is still a minor export item for Japan compared with such foods as scallops and beef, for which shipments came to 47.6 billion yen and 24.7 billion yen last year. But under its optimistic target, Tokyo aims to more than triple exports of rice and rice-based products -- like rice crackers and sake rice wine -- from 31,000 tons last year to 100,000 tons in 2019.
Rice Exports to gather steam on US, West Asia demand boost
Rice exports from India are set to swing in the last quarter of this year on a spate in orders after shipments slumped 14% in the last three quarters over high input costs and tepid demand from Bangladesh.  Chandigarh: Rice exports from India are set to swing in the last quarter of this year on a spate in orders after shipments slumped 14% in the last three quarters over high input costs and tepid demand from Bangladesh.  “Consignments in January are better than the previous year and the trade is likely to attain levels close to the previous year,” a senior commerce and industry ministry official told ET. 

In the Philippines, where 'rice is life,' a move to allow more imports signals change

FEB 14, 2019 | 10:00 AM
| BULACAN, PHILIPPINES
  
Description: In the Philippines, where 'rice is life,' a move to allow more imports signals change
Jaquelin Marsan feeds her son rice outside their home in a Manilla neighborhood called Del Pan Binondo, a slum of scavenged wood and corrugated sheet metal homes. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
The Philippines has long touted the idea of self-sufficiency in rice, an essential staple here at the heart of every breakfast, lunch and dinner.
But rice growers like Efraen Serrano know that dream is falling further out of reach. The country’s geography doesn’t provide enough suitable land for the crop as the population swells. Urbanization and the pull to work in cities has reduced the number of farmers.
“More farms are being converted to factories and homes,” said Serrano, who farms a five-acre family plot in Bulacan, a quickly urbanizing province north of Manila. “Nobody wants to buy land and use it to farm.”
The 66-year-old says he’s now resigned to the fact that less and less of the rice Filipinos eat will be grown by farmers like him.
“Imports are a necessity,” he said.
In the clearest sign yet that he is right, the country is on the verge of ending a two-decades-old cap on private-sector imports of the grain. The move marks a radical change for a nation whose obsession with rice is ordinarily matched by its protection of domestic producers.
“Importation is always sensitive because rice is the No. 1 agricultural sector,” said Ramon Clarete, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
But resistance to buying more of it abroad has lifted over the last several months following a bout of severe inflation that sparked long lines in the streets for government-subsidized rice.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of rice in the Philippines.
The country of 105 million is the world’s sixth-largest consumer of rice on a per capita basis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Rice is life in the Philippines,” said Nicholas Mapa, a senior economist in Manila for ING. “Almost everything comes from rice. Even our delicacies are based on the grain.”
When politicians want to curry favor in poor neighborhoods, they come bearing sacks of rice. Gas stations offer free bags of it with any purchases of about $10. And one of the nation’s most popular restaurant chains, Mang Inasal, is famed for its “unlimited rice” — a menu option better known as “unli” (Filipinos have a penchant for shortening words. McDonald’s, for example, is simply called McDo).
One of the most legendary varieties of rice, IR8, was developed at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. Dubbed “magic rice,” the high-yield strain is credited with fending off famine across Southeast Asia and India starting in the 1960s.
Description: Jacquelin Marsan and her family of eight children eat dinner outside their home in a Manilla in a neighborhood called Del Pan Binondo.
Jacquelin Marsan and her family of eight children eat dinner outside their home in a Manilla in a neighborhood called Del Pan Binondo. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
“Even if you have no ulam,” said 36-year-old Jaquelin Marsan, using the Tagalog word for a dish of meat or vegetable, “you have to have rice. It’s a priority.”
She lives with her husband and their eight children — aged 7 months to 19 years — in a ramshackle Manila slum of scavenged wood and corrugated sheet metal homes called Del Pan Binondo.
Two-fifths of their meager income is spent on rice. During the surge in rice prices last year, she had to cut back the family’s consumption by a quarter.
“The children complained,” Marsan said. “So my husband and I ate less.”
Description: Sacks of rice being carried to a truck for delivery.
Sacks of rice being carried to a truck for delivery. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
Description: Sacks of rice for sale in Manila.
Sacks of rice for sale in Manila. (Paul Benzi Florendo / For The Times)
Economists blamed the crisis on new taxes, costlier fuel and a failure on the government’s part to restock rice reserves in time.
As criticism mounted about his administration’s handling of the shortage, President Rodrigo Duterte deflected blame and trained his scorn on other players such as rice traders.
“I now ask all the rice hoarders, cartels and their protectors,” the president said with a menacing glare during his State of the Nation address last year. “Stop messing with the people.”
The crisis harked back to a more severe shortage in 2008 in which President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo deployed armed soldiers to watch over rice distribution and ordered fast-food chains to reduce their rice portions by half.
Prices today have since tapered. But fearing a repeat, the Philippine Senate passed a bill in November lifting the import cap and providing funds to cushion the blow on the shrinking domestic rice farming industry. Unless Duterte vetoes it, which is not expected, the bill is set to become law Friday.
Economic reformers and the country’s central bank have long championed lifting the import quota, which was supposed to protect farmers but instead led to rampant smuggling and left the country vulnerable to price manipulation by domestic rice traders.
Under World Trade Organization rules, the Philippines was obligated to eventually eliminate the cap — which stands at about 888,000 tons, or about 6% of the nation’s annual consumption. But the country had been winning waivers to keep it by arguing for more time to reach self-sufficiency.
Resistance to the change came from vested interests in the agricultural sector and parts of the powerful National Food Authority, an agency charged with importing and maintaining the country’s rice reserves for the poor — a mandate that put officials there in an ideal position to accept kickbacks.
The agency did not respond to an interview request. A spokesman for the president’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.
Even with the cap still in place, the Philippines is the world’s second largest importer of rice after China, giving it the power to move global grain markets.
Now major rice-producing nations such as Vietnam and Thailand stand to benefit immediately from the lifting of the quota, even with the Philippines’ 35% tariff on Southeast Asian rice imports.
The move to increase imports could also bolster Duterte’s PDP-Laban political party heading into midterm election in May. Rice prices disproportionately affect the poorest Filipinos, a crucial voting bloc. Nearly half their food expenditures go toward the staple, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“You can raise the price of gasoline, water and electricity, but not rice,” said Jorge Tigno, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman. “It’s the only commodity politicians are not allowed to sacrifice.”
The crisis last year tested the political power of the nation’s 3 million farmers. They lost.
“The president’s political strength will not be based on rice farmers, but more on workers and the urban poor,” said Clarete, the economics professor.
Back in Bulacan, Serrano said his crop has dwindled since a shopping center started siphoning water away from his land a few years ago. And even when rice prices soared last year, he saw none of the extra profits returned to him.
“There’s so many middlemen who make the money,” said Serrano, who earns about $3,800 a year.
Unless one of his grandchildren chooses to takeover his rice fields, Serrano may be the last generation in his family to farm. His four children have all left Bulacan to work in factories closer to the city.
“I have no one to take over,” he said.
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Efraen Serrano farms a five-acre family plot in Bulacan, a quickly urbanizing province north of Manila. (David Pierson / Los Angeles Times)

Rice import proposal a ‘death trap’

FEBRUARY 15, 2019
·       RICE IMPORT PROPOSAL A ‘DEATH TRAP’
A proposal calling for a shift to high-value crop production could lead to the death of the domestic rice industry, a Cabinet official said on Thursday.
“[A proposed] policy to just rely on imported rice and ask our rice farmers to diversify to other crops is a death trap.” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a statement.
Description: https://s14255.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/rice.jpgA man smells rice grains before buying from a dealer at the Commonwealth Market. PHOTO BY RUY MARTINEZ
“This is a shortsighted view which will kill the rice industry and drive away farmers from the rice fields,” he added.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday said the shift would be “the most efficient economic arrangement” and also pressure the agriculture sector to be more competitive.
Earnings from high-value produce are much higher than traditional crops such as rice, which the Philippines is unable to produce in sufficient quantities to meet domestic needs.
Piñol, however, said that relying purely on purchases from neighboring rice produces such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia also carried risks given weather challenges and rising demand elsewhere.
“Even if we have the money to buy, there would be no available rice supply in the world market and assuming that there would be available supply, could we outbid China in buying all the remaining rice stocks?,” he asked.
“The sad truth is that we are not the only country with a growing population. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India, which are all rice exporting countries now, also have growing population. Just like us, their farming areas are not expanding and will in fact shrink because of the sprouting of human settlements,” Piñol added.
“It is as certain as the sun will rise tomorrow that 10 years from now, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India will no longer be able to export the same volume of rice that they ship out today.”
At current production levels, the Philippines still needs to import about 600,000 to 800,000 metric tons of rice to satisfy domestic consumption and Piñol believes that the government should only allow the importation of rice for the purpose of “fill[ing] up the supply shortfall.”

Persian-inspired stuffed peppers provide a cozy meal for any day or Shabbat

 
Persian-inspired stuffed peppers (Leanne Shor)
This article originally appeared on The Nosher.
I love finding the commonalities among different global cuisines, and it seems that every culture has its own version of stuffed vegetables. Each tradition has variations of spices and stuffings, but the idea is always the same: They are the kind of cozy, home-cooked recipes that remind me of the grandmas and aunts who have big tables, open doors and warm hearts.
Although I am not Persian, I’ve always felt connected to Persian food and find comfort and familiarity in the spice blends that are so closely related to my own Yemenite roots.
Israel has somewhat of an obsession with stuffed vegetables, and they are often served at big Shabbat dinners. I was introduced to these dishes from friends and family when I visited, and I was struck by how each family took so much pride in their dishes and the balance of flavors — it really seemed like every vegetable could be stuffed. And while some stuffed vegetables take a little longer to prepare, stuffed peppers are easy enough for a weeknight dinner.
These Persian-style stuffed peppers are both seriously comforting and wholesome. It’s also a one-pot-meal that’s perfect to bring people together on a weeknight or for a Friday night Shabbat dinner. Filled with fresh herbs like mint and cilantro and aromatic spices such as saffron, cinnamon, and cumin, they are flavorful and hearty, but not heavy.
Ingredients:
6 large bell peppers (a combination of colors looks great)
For the filling:
3/4 cups basmati rice
1 1/4 cups water
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
1/4 chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped scallions
For the spice mix:
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon sumac
For the sauce:
2 cups water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons saffron
juice of 1 lemon
Directions:
1. Rinse basmati rice well until water runs clear. In a small saucepan, combine the rice, 1 1/4 cups of water and 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Cook per package directions, fluff with a fork and set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and ground beef and a teaspoon of kosher salt. Using a flat wooden spatula to break up the ground beef, cook for about 10 minutes, until the meat is cooked through and just starting to brown, but some juices are still left in the pan. Add the tomato paste, mix well to incorporate and set aside off the heat.
3. Combine all of the ground spices in a small bowl, whisk, set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, combine the cooked rice, chopped cilantro, parsley, mint and scallions. Add the beef and onions mixture, and the spice blend. Using a large spoon, combine all filling ingredients thoroughly.
5. Carefully cut off the tops of the peppers, trying to keep the stem intact. Using a spoon or small pairing knife, scoop out the membranes and the seeds. If the peppers are wobbly, you can carefully slice off a tiny bit of the bottom to level it, careful not to cut a hole in the skin. Arrange the peppers tightly together in a baking dish or cast iron skillet.
6. Generously spoon the filling mixture in each pepper all the way to the top, packing it down slightly. Top each pepper with its stem top.
7. In a small saucepan, combine the 2 cups water, saffron, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Whisk to dissolve the tomato paste, then pour the sauce mixture between the peppers to fill the bottom of the baking dish.
8. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the peppers are fragrant and slightly wilted. Spoon some pan sauce into each pepper, and serve with slices of fresh lemon and a big green salad if desired. Serves 4-6.
/ UPDATED A DAY AGO

Asia Rice: Prices languish as top exporters harvest, demand stalls

 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 / 6:51 PM
·        
·        
(Reuters) - Rice export prices fell in top Asian hubs this week on slow demand and rising supply following a quiet start to the year, while limited interest from the Philippines failed to spur a Vietnamese market reeling from Chinese import restrictions.
Farmers remove weeds growing alongside with ride stalks at a ricefield in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro in Philippines, August 27, 2018. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
In top exporter India, 5 percent broken parboiled variety eased to $380-$385 per tonne from $383-$388 last week as supply from the winter crop poured in.
Demand from Asian and African buyers was subdued, an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh said.
India’s rice exports between April and December dropped 10.2 percent from a year earlier to 8.46 million tonnes, a government body said last week.
In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice prices fell to $382-$398 a tonne, free on board Bangkok, from $390–$402 previously.
“The market has been really quiet and new supply of rice is coming out now,” a Bangkok-based trader said.
A weaker domestic currency was adding further pressure to prices, traders said.
“More supply will lower prices further but exporters are still looking for buyers because it has really been quiet since the start of the year,” another trader said.Thailand is the world’s second biggest rice exporter followed by Vietnam, where rates for benchmark 5 percent broken rice fell to $340 a tonne from $350 two weeks ago before the markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
“Trade has resumed and we have seen more buyers from the Philippines placing orders,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said, adding that private buyers from rice-scarce Philippines purchased about 20,000 tonnes this week.
However, China has been imposing stricter conditions for rice imports from Vietnam, traders said.
China will likely cut rice shipments from Vietnam to 500,000-600,000 tonnes this year from around 1.5-2 million tonnes a year in the past, another trader said.
“We think the government will likely buy rice this year for stockpiling, giving a support for domestic prices.”
Export prices, however, will be under pressure as the major winter-spring harvest peaks by month-end, traders said.
Elsewhere, Bangladesh, which saw imports surge in 2017 after floods wreaked havoc on local crops, will procure more rice locally as output has revived, a food ministry official from the country said.
“We are getting good response in our local procurement drive and will continue it,” the official said.
Bangladesh has procured nearly 1.4 million tonnes of rice locally so far in the current season to build state reserves.
Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Arpan Varghese and David Evans


Clock winds down on rice tariff bill signing with no announcement of veto

Description: NFA rice warehouse import A worker at the NFA Quezon City warehouse. -- PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
By Arjay L. Balinbin
Reporter
PALACE OFFICIALS said Thursday that the rice tariffication bill remains “for signing” right up to today’s deadline for President Rodrigo R. Duterte to veto the measure, but did not comment on the reason for the delay, adding an element of uncertainty to its enactment.
Failure to sign or veto the measure by today, Feb. 15 means the measure lapses into law. No definitive Presidential action was announced at deadline time in the early evening Thursday.
“Yes. Feb. 15,” Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea said in a phone message on Thursday when asked to confirm if the measure is expected to lapse into law today unless vetoed by the President.
Mr. Medialdea, however, did not elaborate on why the President has apparently not acted on the measure, leaving open the possibility of a veto.
Farmers’ groups have been urging the President to veto the bill. The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) has said the government will not be able to respond if the international price of rice turns volatile with the National Food Authority (NFA) restricted to a role of maintaining a minimum rice inventory.
However, Mr. Duterte’s spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said the President will not veto the measure and assured the public that the bill is now “for signing.”
“I texted (Mr. Medialdea) and he answered that it was for signing. So, it has not yet been signed, but it is for signing,” the spokesman said in an interview with DZMM on Thursday morning.
On the opposition of the farmers’ groups, Mr. Panelo said: “When the farmers went to the President to complain, he told them it was for the greater good. I know where you are coming from, the President said, but the interests of everyone need to be considered.”
The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF), business groups, and the administration’s economic team have been asking the President to sign the bill. They all contend that the measure, once signed into law, will help resolve several issues afflicting the rice industry, including smuggling, uncompetitive production costs, and corruption.
University of Asia and the Pacific Center for Food and Agribusiness Executive Director Rolando T. Dy said in a chat exchange that the rice tariffication bill is a “monumental reform, and it “will remove NFAs (National Food Authority’s) control over the rice industry.” He also noted that “there are players on both sides: the cabinet members [who are] for [it] and the NFA allies.”
“A major decision requires long discernment,” he said when asked why he thought it was taking too long for the President to sign the bill.
He added that “consumers, especially the 22 million poor [Filipinos], will benefit from lower rice prices” if the bill becomes law.
“The poor spend up to 30% of their budget on rice, The government must fast-track funds for affected farmers for income transfer to compensate for potential losses,” he also said.
Ateneo Policy Center research fellow Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco said in an e-mail that the political side of the President’s decision-making process must also be considered.
“There is a political aspect in the sense that the decision-making process of President Duterte is like that of a local chief executive, like a city mayor which he was for many years. He relies more on his political instincts, honed by decades of experience in the realm of public service, than on experts’ opinion or research-based recommendations.”
He said the President “may appreciate the studies presented to him by his economic managers, but as the past three years have shown, he will still rely on his gut-feel and street-smarts on this rice tariffication issue, on any issue for that matter.”
“In this regard, it will always be very difficult to anticipate the President’s next move or to even speculate as to his leanings on issues waiting for his decision. Clearly, even his closest allies are burdened with this challenge,” Mr. Yusingco said further.
In a phone interview, University of Santo Tomas (UST) political science professor Marlon M. Villarin said: “If you ask me, I think the President will not sign it. The last time I heard from the Palace is that for as long as he is not satisfied that we are capable of really providing a mechanism that will provide a safety net to the local industry, he will not support it and just let Congress approve it. Because whatever happens, the political accountability lies with Congress. Maybe that is one way of how the President wants to define the political, the administrative, and the economic accountability should a problem arise in the near future because of this rice tariffication law.”
He added: “The President is trying to weigh the interests of the demand (side) and at the same time he is looking at the interests of the supply (side) of the industry. If the rice tariffication bill is signed into law, it will only mean one thing, that the NFA will no longer have a full control over the importation of rice, because the purpose of the rice tariffication program is to liberalize the importation of rice to address food security issues.”
“The concern of the President here is whether it will be detrimental or beneficial to the local rice suppliers. Just like what we are experiencing in the vegetable industry in Mountain Province. The vegetable growers there are having difficulty in competing with imported vegetables. That is one of the crucial things that the President is trying to consider.”
He noted that “the midterm elections is about to happen and you know very well that most of the rice cartels in the Philippines are protected by the local government leaders. And they are one of the underground sources of political funding, but the concern of the President, the last time I heard, (is to avoid) repeating the same mistakes, just like what is happening to our vegetable growers.”
Rice firms short of capital to buy rice
The Saigon Times Daily
Thursday,  Feb 14, 2019,14:48 (GMT+7)
v
Farmers harvest rice in the Mekong Delta region – PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH
HCMC – Rice exporters in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho are short of capital for rice purchases from local farmers despite the low prices on the market, heard attendees at a meeting between local authorities and representatives of trading firms and banking branches on Wednesday.
Nguyen Ngoc He, director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City, was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency as saying that local farmers are harvesting rice across a total area of over 81,000 hectares for the current winter-spring crop. Each hectare yields some seven tons of rice, taking the total to an estimated 570,000 tons.
Local rice firms have already signed contracts to purchase rice from a combined area of some 15,000 hectares, roughly 5,000 hectares less than last year. The rice prices are lower by some VND1,000 per kilogram compared with a year earlier, and farmers are facing a glut.
Nguyen Minh Toai, director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, pointed out that many local rice firms have yet to secure new rice export contracts and have high rice inventories, resulting in the shortfall of capital needed to buy fresh rice from farmers.
Many traders at the meeting stated that the purchase of rice as production materials for export processing would be highly profitable since rice products from the current crop are of high quality, and their prices are at low levels. However, businesses lack sufficient working capital to invest, as they have already made heavy investments in facilities.
The only solution to rice consumption for farmers is to pour capital for businesses, according to Pham Thai Binh, general director of Trung An Hi-tech Farming JSC. He noted that his company had injected over VND1 trillion (US$43 million) into infrastructure facilities, leading to a shortage of capital for rice purchases.
Tran Quoc Ha, director of the Can Tho branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, urged the representatives of local bank branches to work with these firms to assign loans, giving them sufficient money to build up their stocks of rice.
He suggested the government of Can Tho and other neighboring provinces work with banks to introduce a common capital support policy for the entire Mekong Delta region.
Currently, the total outstanding loans among rice-exporting firms in the city amount to some VND7 trillion (US$301 million). If each bank branch raises the loan limits by 10% of the total outstanding loans, equivalent to VND700 billion (US$30.1 million), the issue of capital sources for these firms will be resolved.
The city’s vice chairman, Truong Quang Hoai Nam, urged rice exporters and banks to help farmers tackle the problem. He asked bank branches to report on the issue to their headquarters to provide additional loans in a timely manner.
Also, the Can Tho branch of the central bank should urgently instruct credit funds to provide credit guarantees for small and medium-sized enterprises so that local banks can make disbursements to local rice firms.

Vietnamese firm makes edible rice-flour straws to help protect environment

Thursday, February 14, 2019, 16:36 GMT+7
Description: Vietnamese firm makes edible rice-flour straws to help protect environmentUncut rice-flour straws are placed on the production line at a company in Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Photo: Ngoc Tai / Tuoi Tre
A Vietnamese firm has succeeded in producing straws made of rice flour, which can be eaten, to replace plastic ones at a time when environmental protection is a topical issue in Vietnam.
HungHau Foods, a company based in Ho Chi Minh City, currently makes 100,000 rice-flour straws a day at its plant in Sa Dec, which is a city in Dong Thap Province, Vo Minh Khang, its general director, said.
The firm will expand the capacity by five times this month, Khang added.
These eco-friendly straws have been introduced to such markets as South Korea, Japan, European countries and purchase deals have been signed, the executive revealed.
In Vietnam, many distributors have approached HungHau for an exclusive deal while high-end restaurants and hotels are the target segment, Khang said.
Description: <em>Workers handle rice-flour straws at a plant in Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Photo:</em> Ngoc Tai / Tuoi Tre Workers handle rice-flour straws at a plant in Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Photo: Ngoc Tai / Tuoi Tre
“I have been to many countries where environment-friendly products are favoured,” he said.
“My company are good at making rice-flour products so we have researched and started production.
“It amazes me that consumers have responded so well to our straws.”
HungHau explored ways to make the rice-flour straws for one year before rolling them out four months ago.
“We faced such difficulties as finding the formula and machinery to ensure the straws are hard to be broken, stiff enough, and evenly made,” the executive confided.
These straws can be kept at room temperature for 18 months whereas the duration will be shortened to 30-120 minutes when they are put in normal or cold water.
The straws come in white taken from rice, green from amaranth spinach, purple from beetroot, and black from sesame seeds.
They are eatable but the producer warns against consuming too many straws a day.
Description: <em>Vo Minh Khang, general director of HungHau Foods, introduces the products at its factory in Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Photo</em>: Ngoc Tai / Tuoi Tre Vo Minh Khang, general director of HungHau Foods, introduces the products at its factory in Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Photo: Ngoc Tai / Tuoi Tre
 Environmental protection has gained significant attention from both the people and the government in recent times.
Many initiatives and campaign have been launched to raise public awareness of the issue.
Vietnam was amongst the five countries that dumped the most plastic into the ocean, according to a 2017 report by Ocean Conservancy.
Two metropolises of the Southeast Asian nation, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, alone get rid of about 80 metric tons of plastic a day, according to data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Cambodia’s rice exports continue to decline

VNA THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019 - 14:57:00 
Description: https://cdnimgen.vietnamplus.vn/t660/Uploaded/wbxx/2019_02_14/Cambodias_rice_exports_continue_to_decline.jpgIllustrative image (Source: bangkokpost.com)

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia’s rice exports in January 2019 dropped 5 percent compared to the same period last year, after a full year of decline in 2018.

Hun Lak, Vice President of the Cambodian Rice Federation, said the decrease is not a worrying problem because it is only a month-long figure, and the drop was not severe.

However, he noted it also showed that the country’s rice sector is likely to face disadvantages, especially when the European Commission (EC) re-imposed duties on rice imports from Cambodia on January 18.

The sector may face more problems exporting to the EU market if the Everything But Arms (EBA) preferential trade agreement is suspended, he added.

“We cannot evaluate anything now. We need to wait and see in two or three more months,” he said. “I think those who like the taste of Cambodian rice will continue to eat it because prices have increased only a few cents per kilogramme”.

Last month, Chan Sophal, Director of the Policy Research Centre under the Cambodian Economic Association (CEA), said that rice farmers in Cambodia must cut down production costs and even completely transfer their crops in order to deal with this situation.

Other experts said that Cambodian rice producers should seek new markets besides the EU. However, at present, Europe remains the indispensable market for the Southeast Asian nation.

The latest statistics showed that Cambodia exported 59.625 tonnes of rice in January, down from 62,623 tonnes recorded in the same period last year. Of the total, 23,899 tonnes or 40.7 percent were shipped to EU markets.

China imported 18,671 tonnes of rice from Cambodia, ASEAN member states got 9,226 tonnes, while other destinations received 7,839 tonnes.

Last year, Cambodia exported 626,225 tonnes of rice – down slightly from 635,679 tonnes in 2017.-VNA
Myanmar expects to export up to 4 million tons of rice by 2020
Description: A farm land in Ayeyawady Region (Photo-Min Thu Win Htut)
A farm land in Ayeyawady Region (Photo-Min Thu Win Htut)
PUBLISHED 14 FEBRUARY 2019

NILAR
Myanmar is targeting to export up to 4 million tons of rice worth US$1.5 billion by 2020, according to Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF).
It exported about 590,000 tons of rice and broken rice from October 1 to early January in 2018-19 FY, according to Ministry of Commerce.
However, the rice sector in Myanmar faces many challenges due to instability in the border market with China and EU.
Over one million ton of rice will be reduced from rice export in this year, according to rice traders.
Myanmar exported about 3.6 million tons of rice in 2017-18 FY as it found new markets for rice export and it broke the record in over 50 years time.
Although Myanmar earned about US$580 million from 1.7 million tons of rice export from April to at the end of December in 2018, it earned over US$210 million less in compared with the same period in last year export, according to the MRF.
Myanmar earned US$578 million from 1.717 million tons of rice and broken rice export from April 1 to December 29 and it earned US$789 million from 2.542 million tons of rice and broken rice export in the same period in last year.
“We are sure that the amount of rice export in this year will not be reached last year amount as demand is declined in the world market,” said Aung Than Oo, Vice Chair of the MRF.
The European Union (EU) has imposed tax for three year starting from January 8 for long-grain rice from Myanmar and the amount of rice export to the EU will be reduced commensurately.
The rice export will also be reduced in this year due to a decline in China and EU markets.
Myanmar is expected to earn US$15.3 billion from export sector in 2018-19 FY, said Khin Maung Lwin, Assistant Secretary from the ministry.
It earned US$3.7 billion from export sector from October 1 to January 4 in 2018-19 FY. Myanmar earned US$3.5 billion from export sector in the same period in last fiscal year.

Sri Lanka to revive small scale rice millers to boost competition

Feb 14, 2019 06:36 AM GMT+0530 |

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka will be providing one billion rupees in financing for the farmers' guaranteed price paddy purchase program through small and medium scale rice millers in order to boost competition and correct government failure, a minister said.
"What we want to make sure is we put in place a set of policies where we try to reactivate competition in the milling market to solve the problem of market failure without causing a government failure," Economic Reforms and Public Distribution Minister Harsha de Silva said.
"What happens sometimes is government failure happens. That is worse than market failure," he said.
Responding to a question from a journalist on why he is resorting to interventions in a protected market to create competition, de Silva said there is now an oligopoly in rice milling due to poor government policy in the past.
"So why there is an oligopolistic structure in the rice milling market is because the structure has sort of got killed over a period of years," he said.
"The small and medium rice miller is sort of non-existent and we're trying to resuscitate them."
"By doing that, we will create competition which will help both the farmer and the consumer."
He said the Paddy Marketing Board which carried out the guaranteed price paddy purchase in the past, had collected 19 billion rupees in debt.
"Audits are done two or three years later, and sometimes there's no rice and no money," he said.
"Here we're using only one billion rupees."
"Using ICT, government officials and the District Secretary will monitor the progress daily and upload to a central IT platform," he said.
"After suffering five harvest failures, rice farmers can get a guaranteed price on a bumper harvest this season to repay any of their past loans and get a good return."
Farmers will be paid 35 rupees per kilo of naadu paddy, and 41 rupees for samba.
Under the new program, 300 small and medium scale rice mill owners who are members of the Sri Lanka Rice Producers' Association will be able to offer farmers the state guaranteed price to buy 1,000 tonnes of paddy per day.
Sri Lanka Rice Producers' Association Chairman Mudith Perera said around 50-60 percent of small and medium scale rice millers had closed their businesses over the past 10-15 years.
Currently, rice milling is dominated by a handful of large millers, including the President's brother Dudley Sirisena.
De Silva said his ministry held around 18-20 rounds of talks with Sirisena to explain the scheme in detail.
"Our aim is to help the millers become competitive and then they can use their normal credit lines with banks to continue business," de Silva said.
Talks have already been held with banks, he said.
The one billion rupees for the program have already been allocated, the minister said.
Perera blamed past governments for trying to remove import restrictions on rice.
However, a key problem in the Sri Lanka rice sector is that farmers do not produce export quality rice at competitive prices and bumper harvests. The industry does not bring extra foreign exchange. Instead, it produces large stocks of unsold rice in the domstic market, partly helped by guaranteed prices.
Sri Lanka Rice Producers' Association Director Nishantha Attanayake said with the new program, any past criticism of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and de Silva would be written off.
He said helping paddy farmers would create political dividends. (Colombo/Feb14/2019-SB)


Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda region to export rice to Iran

14 February 2019 10:55 (UTC+04:00)
Description: https://www.azernews.az/media/2019/02/14/rice_140219.jpg
By  Trend
Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda region will start exporting rice to Iran this year, Trend reports via the press service of the region’s administration.
"Last year, along with traditional varieties, production of Iranian varieties was launched in the region for further export to Iran. Currently, negotiations are underway to send the first batch of 500 tons of Iranian rice varieties," the administration said.
It was also noted that despite the lack of water, Kyzylorda rice farmers reaped a good harvest of 473,000 tons in 2018.
Last year, rice sown area in the Kyzylorda region was reduced by 3,000 hectares, and oilseeds, in particular safflower sown area was increased from 1,659 hectares in 2013 to 8,404 hectares in 2018. This made it possible to organize the production of safflower oil and for the first time to enter the Chinese market with this product in 2018.
Since last year, the region has also begun work on the introduction of high-yielding crops such as soybeans, and forage crops such as Sudan grass and sweet sorghum.
This year, it is planned to reduce rice sown area by 2,171 hectares and increase forage sown area by 4,068 hectares and acreage of potatoes, vegetables and melons by 1,293 hectares.
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Introduced Chinese hybrid rice varieties to foster rice production in Namibia

Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:22:59|Editor: yan
WINDHOEK, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's flagship Kalimbeza Green Scheme Irrigation Project's research department has identified four top Chinese rice varieties that have performed well and are able to produce between 5.5 to 6.4 tons per hectare (ha), according to an official.
The Kalimbeza project located in the northeastern part of the country last year ran trials of 15 Chinese rice varieties to test adaptability, of which the top four varieties were deemed suitable, Kalimbeza project manager Patrick Kompeli told Xinhua Thursday.
Since the varieties are hybrid, the seeds have to be sourced from China every year for planting, he added.
"The target for this year cropping season was to plant 150 ha but due to other technical issues they were only able to plant 90 ha," Kompeli said.
In terms of cultivation and training, through South-South Cooperation, some rice experts from China were deployed at Kalimbeza to exchange knowledge and for Namibians to acquire experience. The last deployed group left in December 2017.
Kompeli said impact of a predicted drought on the project will be limited since it draws water for irrigation from the permanent river source.

Tanzania: Zanzibar Faces Shortage of Rice

Tagged:
By Abdallah Msuya in Zanzibar
THE government has been advised to take appropriate measures to improve farming that will yield good results so that the country has sustainable foodstuffs to feed its people.
Mr Omar Seif Abeid (Konde) appealed to the government to improve a farming environment so that farmers with support from development partners could produce enough rice.
"Z anzibar requi res about 99,577 tonnes of rice annually for its people, but the current production is just 25,794 tonnes (equi valent to 25.93 per cent only). We have land and experts, we must produce enough to narrow the gap," said Mr Abeid.
In response to the call from the legislator, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Natural resources, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr Makame Ali Ussi, said the government in collaboration with development partners planned to increase rice production. He said the Expanding Rice Production Project (ERPP) was among the programmes aimed at increasing rice production.
"A similar programme is also being implemented in Morogoro (Mainland Tanzania). This also leads to improved rural incomes and food security."
The deputy minister said improved crop production through better irrigation, crop management and innovative marketing strategies would make the life of farmers better.
He also said the project contributed to climate change adaptation by supporting improved irrigation and water management systems.
He also said that Exim Bank of Korea was supporting improvement of irrigation infrastructure to increase land from irrigation farming from 810 hectares to 2,399 hectares by 2021.

Rice import proposal a ‘death trap’

FEBRUARY 15, 2019
RICE IMPORT PROPOSAL A ‘DEATH TRAP’
A proposal calling for a shift to high-value crop production could lead to the death of the domestic rice industry, a Cabinet official said on Thursday.
“[A proposed] policy to just rely on imported rice and ask our rice farmers to diversify to other crops is a death trap.” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a statement.
Description: https://s14255.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/rice.jpgA man smells rice grains before buying from a dealer at the Commonwealth Market. PHOTO BY RUY MARTINEZ
“This is a shortsighted view which will kill the rice industry and drive away farmers from the rice fields,” he added.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday said the shift would be “the most efficient economic arrangement” and also pressure the agriculture sector to be more competitive.
Earnings from high-value produce are much higher than traditional crops such as rice, which the Philippines is unable to produce in sufficient quantities to meet domestic needs.
Piñol, however, said that relying purely on purchases from neighboring rice produces such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia also carried risks given weather challenges and rising demand elsewhere.
“Even if we have the money to buy, there would be no available rice supply in the world market and assuming that there would be available supply, could we outbid China in buying all the remaining rice stocks?,” he asked.
“The sad truth is that we are not the only country with a growing population. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India, which are all rice exporting countries now, also have growing population. Just like us, their farming areas are not expanding and will in fact shrink because of the sprouting of human settlements,” Piñol added.
“It is as certain as the sun will rise tomorrow that 10 years from now, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India will no longer be able to export the same volume of rice that they ship out today.”
At current production levels, the Philippines still needs to import about 600,000 to 800,000 metric tons of rice to satisfy domestic consumption and Piñol believes that the government should only allow the importation of rice for the purpose of “fill[ing] up the supply shortfall.”

Pakistan to seek preferential trade agreement with Saudi Arabia

Description: Pakistan to seek preferential trade agreement with Saudi Arabia
Srinagar: Pakistan will formally propose to Saudi Arabia for initiation of a dialogue on preferential trade agreement (PTA) to promote bilateral trade and investment.
The proposal will be raised among other issues during the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s two-day visit to Pakistan, Dawn news reported
The crown prince will reach the country on February 16, accompanied by a high-powered business delegation.
Official sources told Dawn that the preferential treaty will cover tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) which will help diversify Pakistan’s export basket to the kingdom.
Since 2006, there is a complete deadlock in negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council. So far only two rounds of negotiations have been held on it.
Officials believe that this issue will be raised during the crown prince’s visit.
Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia has posted a consistent decline, dropping by a half to $2.5 billion in 2016-17 from $5.08bn in 2013-14. One reason behind this is the falling value of petroleum products which constitute 50pc of total imports.
The country’s exports to the kingdom are decreasing as well mainly due to a drop in proceeds of rice, fruits, vegetable preparations, apparel and clothing and made-up articles of textile material.
Rice is one of the major export items to Saudi Arabia but now the commodity’s market is being captured by other countries, particularly India.
If an agreement is reached on PTA, Saudi Arabia will become the second country after Iran with which Pakistan will have a bilateral preferential arrangement.
Other issues that will be discussed include easing of procedures for business visa which currently involves multiple departments and takes at least six weeks. Saudi Arabia has also increased the business visa fee to Rs74,000 per person for attending any business activity in the kingdom and Pakistan will be looking for a fee waiver .
The Pak-Saudi Joint Business Council was formulated in 2000 to enhance interaction between top chambers of the two countries. The body has met thrice in the last 18 years, which shows its seriousness in promoting trade.
Pakistan is likely to raise the issue of removing ban on its shrimp exports to Saudi Arabia as well as seeking licence for State Life Insurance to do business in the kingdom, besides holding single-country exhibitions to promote market access for its products.
Possible areas for investment with Saudi Arabia include the halal food sector, cattle farming, milk, fisheries and other agro industry projects.
For resolving NTB, two important issues will be discussed; mutual recognition agreement to avoid delay in customs and clearance of Pakistan’s export shipments at the kingdom’s ports and quality assurance certificates to be recognised by Saudi Food and Drug Authority.


osted at: Feb 15, 2019, 7:18 AM; last updated: Feb 15, 2019, 7:18 AM (IST)

India’s rice exports set to gather steam

Consignments in January are better than the previous year .

By Prashant Krar, ET Bureau|
Feb 15, 2019, 08.50 AM IST
Description: GettyImages-888408372A bumper yield in Bangladesh also took a toll on Indian exports.Chandigarh: Rice exports from India are set to swing in the last quarter of this year on a rise in orders after shipments slumped 14 per cent in the last three quarters over high input costs and tepid demand from Bangladesh. “Consignments in January are better than the previous year and the trade is likely to attain levels close to the previous year,” a senior commerce and industry ministry official told ET. Exporters have seen a surge in demand from the UAE, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US this quarter. The official said the supply for exports has picked up after being affected for the last few months of 2018 because of assembly polls in some states. A bumper yield in Bangladesh also took a toll on Indian exports, he said.