Tuesday, December 03, 2019

3rd December,2019 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter


RESEARCH TO TURBOCHARGE RICE GIVEN MAJOR FUNDING BOOST

Professors Robert Furbank & Susanne von Caemmerer
Research that could transform global rice production by increasing yields from the world’s number one food crop has been boosted by five more years of funding.  Description: https://science.anu.edu.au/files/styles/science_16x9_1200/public/Robert%20Furbank%20and%20Susanne%20von%20Caemmerer%20JW%20ANU.jpg?itok=TKEJe5Ph
The Australian National University (ANU) is part of an international collaboration between seven research partners, the C4 Rice Project, funded by a grant to the University of Oxford from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation worth A$22 million.
The ANU research, led by Professor Robert Furbank, will contribute to the project by assembling the genes needed in rice to make it more efficient at using sunlight to produce food. The ANU team will receive A$4 million for their work.
“Other plants like maize and sorghum – known as C4 crops – have a ‘turbocharged’ photosynthesis process. We’re trying to recreate this process in rice – taking it from a C3 crop to a C4," Professor Furbank said.
“It’s like transforming the photosynthesis process from a VW Beetle into a Porsche.
“And if we are able to build this process into rice, it could theoretically see up to a 50 per cent increase in yields.”
Professors Robert Furbank, Susanne von Caemmerer and their team of ANU researchers, who played a key role in this project over the last three phases of investment, are now tasked with assembling the “genetic parts” of C4 rice.
Professor Susanne von Caemmerer said: “Now it’s about working out the right combination of genes needed to achieve the switch between Cand C4 rice.”
“We’ll be working on putting all the parts together in rice, then with our consortium collaborators, testing them to make sure they work well. In other words, seeing how fast the car can go.
“This project is mimicking a natural evolutionary process – where the C4 pathway has evolved independently many times in nature.”
By the end of the next phase of research in 2024, scientists hope to have experimental plots up and running in Taiwan.
“This really is about a long term international effort to improve rice production for all of humanity,” Professor Furbank said.
“This would be a game-changer for food production in Asia – where billions of people depend on rice for survival."
Access to CRice technology for the developing world is ensured by a condition of the funding for the project called the Global Access Commitment.
The CRice Project consortium is made up of researchers from the University of Oxford, Academia Sinica, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Leibniz Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and Washington State University, and ANU.
Professor Jane Langdale from the University of Oxford, who leads the consortium, said: “This is an extremely challenging long-term project and we are grateful to the foundation for backing the team for a further five years.
“This new award will get us closer to delivering rice lines that will have real impact for farmers.”
Professor Robert Furbank is based at the ANU Research School of Biology and also leads the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis.


DA allots addl P1.5B for planters’ fertilizers


The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it allotted P1.5 billion from its national rice program budget to help Filipino rice farmers affected by the implementation of a law that removed the quantitative restriction on the staple.
The DA said the supplemental budget will be used for the fertilizer program that will be carried out simultaneously with the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
The RCEF, which was created by Republic Act (RA) 11203, allots P5 billion for rice farm equipment, P3 billion for seed development, P1 billion for credit and another P1 billion for extension service.
Under the fertilizer program, the DA said in a statement that the government will implement the “buy 2 take 2” scheme which will allow planters to get two bags of urea for free if they purchase two bags.
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar announced the availability of the supplemental budget during a Farmers’ Forum held in San Fernando, Pampanga, on November 30.
“The Department has also created new credit programs for farmers and fishers to help hem increase productivity and income,” said Dar. 
Under the Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance Program for Rice Farmers (SURE Aid Propgram), farmers tilling 1 hectare or less farm land may avail of a P15,000 zero-interest rate loan. “Rice farmers just have to pay P1,850 per year for eight years, that is just a small amount,” Dar said.
He added that a new credit window has been opened for farmers tilling more than 1 hectare. “This one-time financial assistance worth P5,000  is another cash outright-no condition SURE Aid loan to help our rice farmers.”
According to a policy brief prepared by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), rice farmers have lost at least P61.77 billion due to the decline in the farm-gate price of rice. However, a separate study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), using a different method for computations, estimated the losses at only a little over P8.22 billion from April to September.
The PhilRice paper noted that the drop in farm-gate prices was hastened by the implementation of RA 11203, which made it easier for traders to purchase imports. 
Government data indicated that some 2.99 million metric tons of rice have arrived in the Philippines in October. The DA said it expects arrivals to go up as there are still a number of sanitary phytosanitary import clearances issued by the government that have not been used.
The United States Department of Agriculture had earlier projected that the Philippines’s rice imports this year will reach 3 MMT. The anticipated volume is bigger than the 2.5 MMT projected for China this year.
Planters have been urging the government to roll out safeguard measures that will cushion the impact of the surge in imports, which has pulled down the farm-gate price of the staple in recent months.

Villar says P3 billion realignment in 2020 national budget to assist local rice farmers

Published December 3, 2019, 12:09 AM
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Senator Cynthia Villar clarified on Monday that the transfer of the P3-billion fund from the National Food Authority’s (NFA) proposed 2020 budget to the Land Bank of the Philippines will also be used to assist local rice farmers affected by the Rice Tariffication Law (Republic Act 11203).
Description: Sen. Cynthia Villar (Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
Sen. Cynthia Villar
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
Villar defended her suggested amendment to the P4.1-trillion proposed 2020 national budget after Albay Representative Joey Salceda questioned it as among the Senate’s supposed “dagdag-bawas” or realignments in the government’s spending plan.
In a phone interview with the Manila Bulletin, the senator said her proposed P3 billion fund transfer was adopted by the Upper Chamber to make sure that local rice farmers will benefit from the funds appropriated for them.
“That P3 billion was given from the DA (Department of Agriculture) to the Land Bank as cash assistance to farmers because we don’t want the funds to be with the NFA because it might end up not being used to buy palay from farmers,” Villar explained in mixed English and Filipino.
“At least there is a provision [in] the budget that they will give something to the farmers to cover for the low price of unmilled rice,” she added.
If approved by the President, the P3 billion, she said, would be distributed to farmers owning at least one hectare of land at a rate of P5,000 each.
This would be on top of the assistance offered to farmers in the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) under RA 11203.
Villar said she already discussed her proposed amendment with House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and members of the bicameral conference committee tackling the 2020 budget, who agreed to the realignment.
“Cong. Salceda is just not aware,” she said.
Salceda is a member of the House bicameral panel.
Despite this, Villar said she would wait for Congress’ final copy of the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
Aside from the P3-billion realignment, Villar said she also proposed the inclusion of a provision in the Senate’s version of the 202 GAB mandating the Department of Social Welfare and Development to use its rice subsidy fund under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to buy from local farmers and give beneficiaries actual rice instead of cash.
Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture and is an author of the Rice Tariffication Law, has repeatedly chided the NFA for failing in its mandate to purchase palay from Filipino farmers for its buffer stocking, which was blamed for the shortage in the supply of affordable rice last year.
Because of this, lawmakers stripped NFA of its authority to regulate rice importation in the country, allowing the unimpeded entry of rice imports in exchange of tariffs.
Under RA 11203, “The NFA shall, in accordance with the rules, regulations and procedures to be promulgated, maintain sufficient rice buffer stock to be sourced solely from local farmers.”

It’s not government’s job to promote local rice – Dep. Agric Minister

at 11:44 AM
A Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, has urged local processing companies to up their game in the promotion of local rice.
Description: It’s not government’s job to promote local rice – Dep. Agric Minister It’s not government’s job to promote local rice – Dep. Agric Minister
According to him, the government can only create awareness but is not responsible for the marketing and promotion of local rice brands.
He said processing companies must intensify the campaign to make Ghanaians know the various local rice brands.
“If you don’t give details then it means you are not helping the consumer. So the consumer goes to the market, he is faced with what he can see around,” Mr. Osei Nyarko told Accra-based Starr FM.
“The marketing and the promotion aspect of Ghana rice is not the responsibility of the government to go and start running radio or TV adverts promoting this kind of rice for the producers. It is their own responsibility. Government can only come in and create awareness.”
Advocacy for the consumption of local rice has been high in recent weeks, with Accra-based Citi FM leading the charge.
A campaign has been launched to get Ghanaians to patronise local rice as against the ones imported from other countries.
The Deputy Agric Minister also revealed that rice is the highest commodity on Ghana’s import bill.
He said $1.35 billion out the about $2.2 billion Ghana spends on food import goes into rice.
Mr. Osei Nyarko added that government will continue to create the enabling environment in order to get more people to go into rice production.

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Genetically modified rice project nets $15m to engineer climate change-resistant strain

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Lucy is the editor of Verdict. You can reach her at lucy.ingham@pmgoperations.com
Agenetically modified rice research project that is currently underway at Oxford University has attracted $15m funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The C4 Rice Project is focused on genetically modifying rice to create a strain that produces higher yields and is more resistant to harsher environmental conditions than current versions.
It is hoped that it will help combat future food shortages brought about by climate change and urbanisation, particularly given how essential rice is to almost half the world’s population.
It is estimated that an area of land that as of 2010 produces enough rice to feed 27 people will need to feed 53 by 2050 if serious food shortages are to be avoided.
It is hoped that this genetically modified rice could play a vital role in solving the issue, by changing the way the rice photosynthesises.

The C4 rice project: creating a genetically modified crop

The focus of the project is on changing the pathway rice uses to photosynthesise.
Currently rice uses the C3 pathway, which is far more inefficient in hot and dry conditions than the alternative C4 pathway.
While the C4 pathway is not found in rice, it is common in a host of other plants, including maize and sorghum – in fact, it has evolved entirely independently over 60 times.
And while only 3% of plant species that grow above ground use the C4 pathway, they account for a quarter of all terrestrial primary productivity –the energy produced by photosynthesis in above-ground plants – showing how effective this form of photosynthesis is.
But making rice use this superior pathway isn’t simply a matter of switching a single gene – C4 plants have entirely different leaf structures, with a more complex arrangement of cells. And it is this that the researchers are working to change in rice.
This is a complicated process that involves working out which combination of genes need to be changed, which builds on efforts so far but will likely take another five years.
However, if this is successful, the eventual results will be a new genetically modified rice strain that makes a powerful difference to the world’s food supplies – and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation funding it vital to achieving this.

Thailand’s fragrant rice falls behind peers’

By
 
Failure to win the World’s Best Rice award for two consecutive years has jolted Thailand – the home of the Hom Mali (jasmine) rice – to overhaul its research and development to catch up with the changing global demand for fragrant rice.
Having previously won the World’s Best Rice Contest for five years, Thailand’s signature Hom Mali rice was beaten last year by Cambodia’s fragrant rice and this year by Vietnam’s ST24 variety.
“It’s about time that both the government and the private sector joined hands in a more serious effort to improve the quality of Thai rice to meet the global market’s expectations,” said Charoen Laothamatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
“The country’s reputation for producing quality rice is suffering due to a lack of effective research and development to create better varieties of Thai Hom Mali rice,” he added.
The strong baht has also worsened the rice export situation, pushing the price of Thai rice to US$1,100 higher per tonne than its competitors.
The yield of Thai rice is about 400 kilograms per 0.16 hectares, which is fairly low when compared with Vietnam’s rice yield at 1,000 kg per 0.16 hectares or China’s at 2,000 kg per 0.16 hectares.
Despite new softer varieties, the promotion of these among growers leaves much to be desired. Thus, exporters have been unable to meet the demand for rice with a soft texture.
Nipon Poapongsakorn, a distinguished fellow at the Thailand Development Research Institute, proposed to slash production costs by increasing the yield, albeit with a less fragrant rice variety.
Meanwhile, Charoen blamed Thailand’s lack of rice variety development on politicians vying for farmers’ support only through price interventions.
“These policies have failed to give any incentive for research and development into new varieties. As farmers are satisfied with these price intervention policies, they are no longer interested in improving the quality or yield.”
Further, Nipon said that the current 200-300 million baht (US$6.61-9.91 million) annual budget for research is insufficient to attract capable researchers.
“Thailand’s competitors are spending far more money on their rice research,” he added.
Now, Thai Hom Mali rice’s popularity in the global rice market remains high despite its losses in the rice contest.
And, as of August 2019, Thailand was the second-largest exporter of rice in the world, ranked only behind India, but far ahead of all of its Southeast Asian competitors.
This couple of facts translate into some time for Thailand if it intends to speed up its research and development on rice.

Protecting Baby From Toxic Chemicals: Tips for a Toxin-Free First Year

Description: father sleeping with newborn baby on his chest
Preparing for a new baby is overwhelming at the best of times. Feelings of excitement and anxiety mix with the universal urge to protect a person you haven’t even met yet.
Unfortunately, protecting babies from toxic chemicals is more complicated than ever before. Today, the link between environmental chemical exposure and many diseases is well established. And many parents wonder what this means for their families. How do the products we buy contribute to our children’s chemical burden? Do our day-to-day routines contribute to household toxicity and harm our children?
The answer isn’t pretty. And while it’s impossible to cut the toxins in our lives to zero, it is possible to limit our children’s exposure.

Protecting Baby From Household Toxins

You can make small changes that greatly reduce your baby’s exposure to toxins. The following tips can help you protect your baby from harmful chemicals.

#1 Get To Know the Worst Offenders

Without knowing what to look for, it’s hard to keep your baby safe. These are some of the most common and harmful chemicals in everyday products.
·       Fire retardants: Research correlates fire retardant exposure with a range of health issues. You’ll find fire retardants in some polyurethane foam, car seats, baby carriers, changing pads, crib mattresses, bath toys, nursing pillows, strollers, and toys. With research, you can find fire-retardant-free versions.
·       Phthalates and alternatives: You’ll find phthalates in many everyday products and some foods. Manufacturers add them to PVC (vinyl) to make it flexible, and to many fragrance blends. Americans have widespread phthalate exposure and studies on children’s exposure are concerning.
·       Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): VOCs are carbon-containing chemicals used in many day-to-day products. Some VOCs are naturally occurring. In other cases, manufacturers add them to products. Formaldehyde and benzene are common VOCs responsible for indoor air pollution.
·       Heavy metals: These days, most parents know about lead in old pipes, paints, and even bathtubs. Less known is the risk of heavy metals in common baby foods — rice products in particular.
·       Chlorine and dioxins: Chlorine bleached disposable diapers can expose your baby to trace amounts of dioxins. Research links dioxin exposure to neurodevelopmental and reproductive problems, among others. Choose chlorine-free diapers to reduce dioxin exposure.
·       Bisphenol A (BPA) and alternatives: While most consumers know about BPA, many of us don’t know about alternative chemicals. BPS, BPF, BPAF, BPZ, BPP, and BHPF are almost identical to BPA. Avoid them by skipping plastics numbered with a three, six, or seven.

#2 Choose Nontoxic Toys

Babies are tactile beings. They learn by touching, throwing, stacking, and — you guessed it — tasting. Give a baby a toy, and chances are it will end up in her mouth before too long.
Skip plastic toys, especially for anything that could end up in your baby’s mouth. Instead, choose silicone or wood products.
Likewise, skip bath books. They are often made with polyurethane foam and a soft, flexible plastic cover, indicating phthalates. There are plenty of safe bath toys made of natural latex rubber.

#3 Limit Lotions & Other Baby Care Products

Using baby lotions and powders correlates with an increase in some phthalate metabolites in a baby’s urine.
Limit these products to those that are medically necessary. Even better, use safe, green ingredients like coconut oil to make your own baby skin care products.

#4 Focus on Where Baby Spends the Most Time

When it comes to buying a crib mattress, conventional wisdom is to buy the best you can afford.
That’s especially true when it comes to creating an eco-friendly and healthy nursery. Studies have found a baby’s crib mattress can be a significant source of VOC exposure.
Given how much time babies spend sleeping, it’s worth choosing a nontoxic crib and crib mattress. Look for Greenguard Gold certification for low emissions.

#5 Become a Cleaning Machine

Babies spend a lot of time on the floor. Because of this, they also end up ingesting a fair amount of household dust, which commonly contains fire retardants.
Fire retardants aren’t chemically bound to products during manufacturing. They come loose over time, settling in dust. As babies pick up toys or suck on their hands, they end up eating these harmful chemicals.
Hunt down dust bunnies with a damp mop. If you can afford it, invest in an air purifier and vacuum with a HEPA filter.

#6 Skip the Rice Cereal

Researchers recently found 95 percent of baby foods contain levels of one or more heavy metals.
The researchers classified rice products in particular as high risk for babies. Puffed rice snacks and rice cereal have long been a solid food staple. But some doctors now recommend skipping rice products altogether.

#7 Go Fragrance-Free

Manufacturers often use phthalates in fragrance blends. Since the FDA doesn’t make companies disclose fragrance components, it’s impossible to know what’s actually in these products.
Buy products labeled fragrance free and/or phthalate-free, especially when choosing baby care products.

Small Changes for a Healthier Baby

When it comes to protecting your baby from environmental pollutants, small changes go a long way.
Get to know the most common pollutants in your home, and make small changes to reduce your baby’s exposure.
If you have other tips that have worked for your family, tell us about them in the Earthling Forum.

About the Author

Born and raised on Canada’s west coast, Katie Matthews became acutely aware of the toxins and chemicals allowed in baby products when she was pregnant with her daughter. Long an enthusiastic researcher and writer, she realized she could help other families make more informed, nontoxic purchases for their own families by sharing what she found on Green Active Family. Prior to this, Katie spent close to a decade as a travel blogger. She has written for National Geographic and been featured in the Washington Post, Business Insider, and more.
Feature image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay 
Editor’s note: This article contains affiliate links that help fund our Recycling Directory, the most comprehensive in North America.

Scientists hunt wild relatives of food crops to bolster defences

DECEMBER 3, 2019

 

Description: Humans have domesticated wild plants for some 10,000 years to provide food but in doing so they have bred out many of their natuHumans have domesticated wild plants for some 10,000 years to provide food but in doing so they have bred out many of their natural defences, leaving them—and us—potentially exposed
Scientists have been on a global search for the wild relatives of our food crops, hoping to bolster their defences against disease and climate change, a study showed Tuesday.
Humans have domesticated wild plants for some 10,000 years to provide food but in doing so they have bred out many of their natural defences, leaving them—and us—potentially exposed.
"We live in an interdependent world. No single country or region harbors all of the diversity that we need," said Chris Cockel, coordinator of the Crop Wild Relatives project at the Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank.
"A wild relative of one of these crops, in the Americas, Africa or Asia, cold be the source of say, pest resistance, which can benefit all of us in the future," Cockel said in the report.
The high yields sought by humans have come at the cost of less genetic diversity which typically makes plants more susceptible to pests, diseases and the sort of extreme climatic conditions brought about by global warming and development.
By going back to the original source plants of some 28 foods —for example, of rice, potatos, oats, groundnuts—researchers collected as wide a variety of seeds as possible in 25 countries to fill in the gaps in existing gene banks.
"We are looking to capture as much diversity as possible... populations separated by even a few kilometres (miles) may be genetically quite different," said Luigi Guarino, Director of Science with the Crop Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting crop diversity.
The MSB at Kew Gardens, home to the Royal Botanic Society, has so far distributed nearly 3,300 samples of 165 species as a result of the project.
"Many countries have now realised how important crop wild relatives are—and what an invaluable source they are for breeders," Cockel said.
The most well known seed storage project is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault where nearly a million samples are now stored deep within the ice some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the North Pole.
It aims to house a collection of as many seeds as possible as an insurance against the loss of other seed banks around the world.

Deep-rooted dishonesty among Nigerians warranted border closure – Buhari


Muhammadu Buhari
John Ameh and Friday Olokor
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday defended the temporary closure of the country’s land borders, saying that it had reduced domestic fuel consumption by 30 per cent.
Buhari, who  said there had yet to be any decision on when the borders would be reopened, said deep rooted dishonesty made the Federal Government to close the borders.
He, however, said farmers were among the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s decision to close the borders, which had led to a remarkable drop in the smuggling of goods, especially rice.
Acknowledging the efforts of farmers, Buhari said, “Farmers must be protected. Dishonesty is deep-rooted in the country. Otherwise the border closure would not have been warranted.”
Buhari was speaking in Daura, Katsina State, when a delegation of Katsina State Elders Forum visited him at his country home.
“The President said the country’s domestic fuel consumption had dropped by more than 30 per cent, following closure of land borders”, a State House statement by his media aide, Mr Garba Shehu, quoted the President as saying.
The statement added, “The President commended the actions taken by the President of Niger Republic, Muhammadou Youssoufou, including the dismissal of officials and a ban on use of the country as a dumping ground for Nigeria-bound smuggled goods.
“President Buhari noted that the measures taken by the President of Niger were helpful and supportive.
“President Buhari acknowledged the hardship of border communities following the ban on sale of fuel at stations 20 kilometres to the border, a restriction that also saw to the closure of all fuel stations in his native home, Daura.”
He stated that the Nigeria Customs Service was reviewing all border outlets in a bid to identify the illegal routes used for smuggling and those officially recognised for genuine transactions.
“President Buhari told the delegation that he intends forging ahead with poverty alleviation schemes and the agricultural and livestock reforms started by the administration in the first term, since the election was behind him and a government now in place.
“He explained that the reforms, especially those relating to the settlement of livestock herders would take time to accomplish, assuring that his deliberate choice of tested farmers as his past and current ministers of agriculture was informed by the need to carry his vision through”, the Presidency added.
The Chairman of the Elders Forum, Alhaji Aliyu Saulawa, earlier thanked Buhari and Governor Aminu Masari for combating banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling.
The group urged the President to come to the aid of victims through intervention funds and the creation of a North-West Development Commission.
It also sought the establishment of Ruga settlements for victims and the completion of the 10 megawatts wind power project in Katsina State.
 FG uncovers illegal petrol stations at Katsina border towns
Meanwhile, The Federal Government on Monday said it had uncovered “hundreds of filling stations” along Nigeria’s Magama Jibia border with the Republic of Niger purposely set up for the smuggling of petroleum products.
The government identified fuel smuggling, illegal migration, importation of arms and ammunition and smuggling of rice from the Republic of Benin to Nigeria through Niger Republic as some of the challenges on the border communities.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who led a high-powered delegation of the Federal Government to Magama Jibia, Nigeria’s border with the Republic of  Niger, said with the border closure, Nigeria had recorded 30 per cent drop in domestic fuel consumption.
Among those in the delegation were the Minister of State (Budget and National Planing), Clement Agba; Minister of State (Industry, Trade and Investment), Mariam Katagum, and top echelons of the Nigeria Immigration Service and Nigeria Customs Service.
The government’s delegation last week visited the Seme border in Lagos State to commence the on-the-spot assessment of the ongoing border drill in the South-South (Sector 1), South-West (Sector 2), North-Central (Sector 3) and North-West (Sector 4).
The border drill, code-named ‘Exercise Swift Response’, was inaugurated on August 20, 2019 as part of the measures to secure Nigeria’s land and maritime borders.
Mohammed said, “We have just assessed the border drill in sector 4 (North-West). Please note that the challenges in Sector 4 are different from what we witnessed in Sector 2, especially Seme. Whereas rice smuggling is the main issue in Sector 2, the challenges here in Sector 4 include fuel smuggling, illegal migration and importation of arms and ammunition. Of course rice from Benin is also smuggled to Nigeria through Niger.
“Smuggling of petroleum products out of Nigeria has been greatly reduced. The closure of filling stations along the borders is a huge success. There are hundreds of filling stations along the borders. We counted many as we drove to the border this (Monday) morning.
“They were set up purposely for smuggling. They don’t sell the fuel consignment they receive to the public. No! over 50 per cent of them are owned by foreigners. Now that they are closed, we have recorded over 30 per cent drop in domestic fuel consumption.
“The drill has drastically curtailed the inflow of arms and ammunition. Bandits and terrorists are finding it hard to procure arms and ammunition, hence we have recorded a reduction in cases of cattle rustling, kidnapping and banditry, which were predominant in the North-West region.
“These acts have now been significantly reduced. The arms and ammunition being used by violent extremists and criminal elements no longer make their way into the country through the land borders. Of course, this will also have a negative effect on the insurgency.
“We have recorded over 30 per cent increase in revenue since the drill. Gentlemen, before the drill, the borders contributed nothing to the revenue.  Customs were recording about N4.5billion daily. Since the closure, the figure has increased to between N5 and N8billion daily.
“The North-West sector, of the four sectors affected by the drill, has recorded the highest success in terms of reduction of illegal migration, thanks to the drill.”
According to him, the main reason for embarking on the drill was to protect Nigeria against transnational security concerns such as smuggling, proliferation of small arms and light weapons; irregular migration as well as terrorism and banditry.
While maintaining that the exercise was not targeted at any region in the country, neither was it designed to cripple businesses in any part of Nigeria, “as some conspiracy theorists have been insinuating”, the minister said that since the exercise commenced over three months ago, “local businesses across the country have continued to thrive, as farmers and rice millers in particular are now having turnover on investments.”
“We said the exercise wouldn’t have been contemplated if our neighbours had complied with the various ECOWAS transit protocols including  ECOWAS Trade Liberalisa
tion Scheme.
“We traced discussions on doing legitimate trade between Nigeria on the one hand and Benin and Niger on the other to 2005, and noted that the discussions led to MoUs in 2005, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, none of which – unfortunately – led to any legitimate transit trade between Nigeria and Benin and Niger”, he stated.

Border closure will revive agric, says Buhari

Description: Buhari

Vincent Ikuomola, Jibia border, Katsina

Nigeria’s border closure will rekindle interest in agriculture and revive the sector, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
The President spoke on Monday against the backdrop of the reduction in smuggling, especially rice, following the border closure for two months.
A statement on Monday in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said President Buhari expressed confidence that the border closure will save the country billions of naira on import bills.
Receiving a delegation of Katsina State Elders Forum at his home in Daura, the President said the country’s domestic fuel consumption had dropped by more than 30 per cent, following the land border closure.
President Buhari said he had not given any date for the reopening of the border until the situation improves.
He lauded the actions taken by Niger Republic President Muhammadou Youssoufou, including the dismissal of officials and a ban on use of the country as a dumping ground for Nigeria-bound smuggled goods.
Also, over 50 per cent of petrol stations on Nigeria’s land borders belong to foreigners, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said on Monday.
Mohammed spoke when he led a Federal Government’s high-powered delegation to Jibia border in Katsina State.
The minister said the decision to close the country’s land borders has yielded positive result for the country’s security.
Other ministers on his entourage included the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagum, and the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba.
The minister, who spoke at Magama-Jibia, on the Nigeria/Niger border post in Katsina State, said the border closure had reduced insecurity in the Northwest.
Mohammed also said the ongoing border drill is neither targeted at any region nor designed to cripple businesses in any part of the country, as insinuated by some conspiracy theorists.
The minister said the border closure also helped to cut off the supply of bandits and other armed groups in the region.
Mohammed said Nigeria had experienced a drastic reduction in arm importation, cattle rustling and petroleum products smuggling, among others.
The minister noted that the country had also recorded about 30 per cent reduction in local consumption of petroleum products, following the banning of supply to border areas.
He said: “Smuggling of petroleum products out of Nigeria has been greatly reduced. The closure of filling stations on the border is a huge success. There are hundreds of filling stations along the border. We counted many as we drove to the border this morning (yesterday).
“They were set up purposely for smuggling. They don’t sell the fuel consignment; they deceive the public. Over 50 per cent of them are owned by foreigners. Now, they are closed. We have recorded over 30 per cent reduction in domestic fuel consumption.”
Reviewing the peculiarities in each of the borders across the country, the minister said the challenges in Sector 4 included fuel smuggling, illegal migration and importation of arms.
He added that rice from Benin Republic was also smuggled into the country through Niger Republic.
Mohammed recalled that after relevant officials at the Jibis border post with Niger were briefed, Nigeria had a lot of good news to report.
The minister also said the drill at the Jibia post had “drastically curtailed the inflow of arms and ammunition”.
He added: “Bandits and terrorists are finding it hard to procure arms and ammunition; hence, we have recorded a reduction in cases of cattle rustling, kidnapping and armed banditry, which were predominant in the Northwest. These acts have now been significantly reduced.
“The arms and ammunition being used by violent extremists and criminal elements no longer make their way into the country through the land borders. Of course, this will also have a negative effect on insurgency.”
Nigeria, he also said, had recorded “over 30 per cent increase in revenue since the drill started”.
Mohammed said: “…Before the drill, the borders contributed nothing to the revenue. Nothing. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) was recording about N4.5 billion daily. Since the closure, the figure has increased to between N5 billion to N8 billion daily.
“As a matter of fact, since the exercise commenced over three months ago, local businesses across the country have continued to thrive. Farmers and rice millers in particular are now having good turnover on investments.”
The Northwest sector, he said, recorded the highest success in reducing illegal migration, following the drill.
Mohammed assured stakeholders that Nigeria will continue to engage with neighbouring countries to ensure that all the issues that led to the Exercise Swift Response are fully addressed.
The minister said the borders were closed to protect the country against transnational security concerns.
These, he said, include smuggling, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, illegal migration as well as terrorism and armed banditry.

Rice to feed the world given a funding boost

DECEMBER 2ND, 2019

The next phase of what is known as the C4 Rice Project has been given the green light for a further five years during which time scientists believe they will develop a prototype for a strain of rice which would give higher yields and endure harsher environmental conditions.

Put simply, it could help to feed a world which is already struggling to provide for its expanding population, particularly in South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently over 3 billion people in Asia depend on rice for survival, and, owing to predicted population increases and a general trend towards urbanisation, the same area of land that provided enough rice to feed 27 people in 2010 will need to support 43 by 2050.

Professor Jane Langdale, from the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, who leads the consortium, said: 'This is an extremely challenging long-term project and we are grateful to the foundation for backing the team for a further five years. This new award will get us closer to delivering rice lines that will have real impact for smallholder farmers'.

Rice uses the C3 photosynthetic pathway, which in hot dry environments is much less efficient than the C4 pathway used in other plants such as maize and sorghum. The C4 Rice project aims to 'switch' rice to use C4 photosynthesis, with transformational potential.

The C4 photosynthetic pathway, which has evolved over 60 times independently, accounts for around a quarter of terrestrial primary productivity on the planet despite being used by only 3% of species. In most C4 plants, photosynthetic reactions happen in two types of cell arranged in 'wreaths' around closely spaced veins—an arrangement referred to as Kranz anatomy. One of the major challenges of the C4 Rice Project is to convert rice leaf anatomy to this form. Working out which genes need to be modified to achieve this switch will be a major focus of the team's research over the next five years.

The most recent phase of the project has seen a leap in progress by harnessing a synthetic approach towards engineering the photosynthetic pathway. The highly promising direction of this research is confirmed in today's announcement, and this funding boost now makes the C4 Rice project one of the longest running projects in the foundation's agriculture portfolio.

Professor Julian Hibberd from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, who is a member of the C4 consortium, said: 'We are excited to be able to build on the significant progress to date, and move closer to our ultimate goal of generating a higher yielding rice'.

Professor Steve Long, who runs the Gates Foundation-funded RIPE Project from the University of Illinois, and was a Visiting Professor at Oxford's Department of Plant Sciences, said: 'This is wonderful news. The C4 rice team have made outstanding progress toward cracking the code as to how to make a C4 crop. This will bring the world one step closer to obtaining C4 rice, and to gaining extra productivity without needing more water or nitrogen."

By the end of the next phase of research in 2024 scientists hope to have experimental field plots up and running in Taiwan.

The scale and reach of the project means that this is a trans-generational project.

Professor Langdale said: 'This is about being custodians of something that's bigger than our individual scientific interests'

A condition of Gates Foundation funding for the project is a Global Access Commitment to ensure that the knowledge and advancements made will be made available and accessible at an affordable price to people most in need in developing countries.

The C4 Rice Project consortium comprises the University of Oxford (lead), Academia Sinica, Australian National University, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Leibniz Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and Washington State University.

Provided by University of Oxford

HKU Plant Scientists Identify New Strategy to Enhance Rice Grain Yield

Rice provides a daily subsistence for about three billion people worldwide and its output must keep pace with a growing global population. In light of this, the identification of genes that enhance grain yield and composition is much desired. Findings from a research project led by Professor Mee-Len Chye, Wilson and Amelia Wong Professor in Plant Biotechnology from the School of Biological Sciences of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), with postdoctoral fellows Dr Guo Zehua and Dr Shiu-Cheung Lung, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Calgary and Rothamsted Research (UK), have provided a new strategy to enhance grain yield in rice by increasing grain size and weight. The research results have been published in The Plant Journal and an international patent has been filed (Patent Application No. WO 2019/104509).
In this technology, the research group led by Professor Chye has identified a protein, ACYL-COA-BINDING PROTEIN2 (OsACBP2) from rice (Oryza sativa), that when overexpressed in transgenic rice, will enhance grain size and weight by 10% and elevate grain yield (Image 1). The biomass of the OsACBP2-overexpressing transgenic rice grains exceeded the control by over 10%. OsACBP2 is a lipid-binding protein that binds lipids such as acyl-CoA esters, the major precursors in seed oil production. Oil was observed to accumulate in the transgenic rice grains (Image 2). OsACBP2 is promising not only in enhancing grain size and weight, but also in improving nutritional value with a 10% increase in lipid content of rice bran and whole seeds (Image 3).
As OsACBP2 contributes to boosting oil content as well as size and weight in transgenic rice grains, an application of this technology in rice is expected to benefit agriculture by increasing grain yield and composition to satisfy the need for more food. Professor Chye said: “Increasing grain size and yield, besides rice bran and seed lipid content, in crops such as rice is an important research area that aligns with the aspirations of Dr Wilson and Mrs Amelia Wong on the use of plant biotechnology for a sustainable future. Furthermore, as rice bran oil is considered highly valuable because it contains bioactive components that have been reported to lower serum cholesterol and possess anti-oxidation, anti-carcinogenic and anti-allergic inflammation activities, this technology, if applied to other food crops, would not only help address food security but also elevate nutritional properties in grains.”
This research project was funded by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong and the Wilson and Amelia Wong Endowment Fund.

Government must adopt proactive measures for rice sector - PFAG


Monday 2nd December, 2019


Description: Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG)001By Mildred Siabi-Mensah, GNA
Fijai, Dec. 2, GNA - The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has called on government to adopt proactive measures to secure the Ghana rice industry and ensure a complete ban on the importation of rice to boost sales.
It said there was enough Ghanaian rice to meet the demands of the country and called on all government institutions to patronise it.
While commending the Government for the move to secure the Ghanaian  rice industry, the Association recommended low interest on loans for agricultural businesses to curtail the challenges confronting the sector.
Other recommendations included increased budget allocation and subsidies for combined harvesters, rice millers and packaging materials, new technology to address aflatoxins and other post-harvest challenge, storages facilities and increased budget on mitigating problems in the rice value chain.
Mr Abdul Rahman Mohammed, the Board Chairman of the PFAG, during the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the Association, said the directive by the Government to the National Buffer Stock Company to mop-up the excess rice and importers to buy local rice had come in handy.
"We hope the directive will be enforced immediately without any further delay to bring hope to our farmers," he added.
Meanwhile, a Research on; "Assessment of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme: Perspectives from beneficiary farmers,” revealed that farmers had received improved certified variety of seeds.
Professor Awetori Yaro from the University of Ghana, who presented the Findings, said the research was commissioned to analyse access to certified seeds, fertilizer, extension services, marketing and post-harvest handling.
It established that much progress had been made with the PFJ and that the project could stimulate the commercialisation of small scale agriculture in Ghana.
The study, however, recommended increased surveillance, extension services, and early delivery of seeds and fertilizers.
Other recommendations included a deliberate government policy to direct banks to lower their interest rates on agricultural businesses.
Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minister, urged farmers to work effectively towards improving household nutrition of women and children.
He called for the development of a comprehensive value-chain approach to agriculture and focus on market oriented extension services to build the capacity of farmers through training.
GNA

Cambodian farmer wins volunteer award for community work

Niem Chheng | Publication date 02 December 2019 | 23:09 ICT

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Description: Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Roeum Socheat won the Livelihood Volunteer Award for his contribution to the IMA4P project. VSO
Roeum Socheat, a Cambodian farmer who volunteered with the Voluntary Service Overseas won the “Volunteer Impact Award 2019” in London, UK, last week for his work with around 200 farmers as a community volunteer in Battambang.
The award was presented to him at a ceremony held last Tuesday by international NGO Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO) in London. He was one of the five winners out of 20 finalists chosen from over 100 nominations across 25 developing countries. He won in “The Livelihood Volunteer Award” category.
VSO said Socheat was involved in the Improving Market Access for the Poor (IMA4P) project, where he worked directly with around 200 farmers in his Raing Kesei commune, in Battambang’s Sangke district.
VSO Cambodia staff member Sovanvatey Khuon said Socheat was the voice of VSO in the community to support logistical project arrangements and he also delivered the “train the trainer” session.
He started his volunteer work with VSO in mid-2017 and had become instrumental in enabling the two cornerstone initiatives of IMA4P project success which included the sustainable rice platform contract farming.
In the awards announcement, VSO said Socheat had built trust and forged relationships between farmers, agricultural cooperatives and millers, and had ensured each party understands the others’ priorities and challenges.
“As a farmer himself, he helped demonstrate the value of sustainable rice platform by applying his technical understanding to his land, helping to build the community’s confidence around its adoption,” VSO said.
VSO CEO Dr Philip Goodwin said at the awards ceremony that the Volunteer Impact Awards served as a yearly reminder of the power of putting people at the centre.
“I hope, as we come together tonight to celebrate these volunteers’ incredible achievements, you find their stories as inspiring as I have done. It truly shows what we can achieve when we work together,” he said.
Socheat told The Post on Monday that with the support of VSO, he had gained knowledge of rice production with the focus on safety and sustainability, and selling products between farmers and rice millers.
“I am happy to receive this international award in London. It encourages me to continue my work and proves that I have helped to improve the community,” he said.
Contact author: Niem Chheng

  Chinese researcher claims first gene-edited babies
Independent Online/ UNB
2 December, 2019 02:00:52 PM / LAST MODIFIED: 2 December, 2019 07:49:49 PM

Description: Chinese researcher claims first gene-edited babies
Chinese researcher He Jiankui of Shenzhen claims that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies. Photo: UNB
A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies — twin girls born this month whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.
If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics.
A U.S. scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes.
Many mainstream scientists think it’s too unsafe to try, and some denounced the Chinese report as hman experimentation.
The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have — an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV, the AIDS virus.
He said the parents involved declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done.
There is no independent confirmation of He’s claim, and it has not been published in a journal, where it would be vetted by other experts. He revealed it Monday in Hong Kong to one of the organizers of an international conference on gene editing that is set to begin Tuesday, and earlier in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press.
“I feel a strong responsibility that it’s not just to make a first, but also make it an example,” He told the AP. “Society will decide what to do next” in terms of allowing or forbidding such science.
Some scientists were astounded to hear of the claim and strongly condemned it.
It’s “unconscionable ... an experiment on human beings that is not morally or ethically defensible,” said Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a University of Pennsylvania gene editing expert and editor of a genetics journal.
“This is far too premature,” said Dr. Eric Topol, who heads the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California. “We’re dealing with the operating instructions of a human being. It’s a big deal.”
However, one famed geneticist, Harvard University’s George Church, defended attempting gene editing for HIV, which he called “a major and growing public health threat.”
“I think this is justifiable,” Church said of that goal.
In recent years scientists have discovered a relatively easy way to edit genes, the strands of DNA that govern the body. The tool, called CRISPR-cas9, makes it possible to operate on DNA to supply a needed gene or disable one that’s causing problems.
It’s only recently been tried in adults to treat deadly diseases, and the changes are confined to that person. Editing sperm, eggs or embryos is different — the changes can be inherited. In the U.S., it’s not allowed except for lab research. China outlaws human cloning but not specifically gene editing.
He Jiankui (HEH JEE’-an-qway), who goes by “JK,” studied at Rice and Stanford universities in the U.S. before returning to his homeland to open a lab at Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen, where he also has two genetics companies. The university said He’s work “seriously violated academic ethics and standards” and planned to investigate. A spokesman for He confirmed that he has been on leave from teaching since early this year, but he remains on the faculty and has a lab at the school.
The U.S. scientist who worked with him on this project after He returned to China was physics and bioengineering professor Michael Deem, who was his adviser at Rice in Houston. Deem also holds what he called “a small stake” in — and is on the scientific advisory boards of — He’s two companies.
The Chinese researcher said he practiced editing mice, monkey and human embryos in the lab for several years and has applied for patents on his methods.
He said he chose embryo gene editing for HIV because these infections are a big problem in China. He sought to disable a gene called CCR5 that forms a protein doorway that allows HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to enter a cell.
All of the men in the project had HIV and all of the women did not, but the gene editing was not aimed at preventing the small risk of transmission, He said. The fathers had their infections deeply suppressed by standard HIV medicines and there are simple ways to keep them from infecting offspring that do not involve altering genes.
Instead, the appeal was to offer couples affected by HIV a chance to have a child that might be protected from a similar fate.
He recruited couples through a Beijing-based AIDS advocacy group called Baihualin. Its leader, known by the pseudonym “Bai Hua,” told the AP that it’s not uncommon for people with HIV to lose jobs or have trouble getting medical care if their infections are revealed.
Here is how He described the work:
The gene editing occurred during IVF, or lab dish fertilization. First, sperm was “washed” to separate it from semen, the fluid where HIV can lurk. A single sperm was placed into a single egg to create an embryo. Then the gene editing tool was added.
When the embryos were 3 to 5 days old, a few cells were removed and checked for editing. Couples could choose whether to use edited or unedited embryos for pregnancy attempts. In all, 16 of 22 embryos were edited, and 11 embryos were used in six implant attempts before the twin pregnancy was achieved, He said.
Tests suggest that one twin had both copies of the intended gene altered and the other twin had just one altered, with no evidence of harm to other genes, He said. People with one copy of the gene can still get HIV, although some very limited research suggests their health might decline more slowly once they do.
Embryologist Qin Jinzhou looks through a microscope at a laboratory in Shenzhen. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Several scientists reviewed materials that He provided to the AP and said tests so far are insufficient to say the editing worked or to rule out harm.
They also noted evidence that the editing was incomplete and that at least one twin appears to be a patchwork of cells with various changes.
“It’s almost like not editing at all” if only some of certain cells were altered, because HIV infection can still occur, Church said.
Church and Musunuru questioned the decision to allow one of the embryos to be used in a pregnancy attempt, because the Chinese researchers said they knew in advance that both copies of the intended gene had not been altered.
“In that child, there really was almost nothing to be gained in terms of protection against HIV and yet you’re exposing that child to all the unknown safety risks,” Musunuru said.
The use of that embryo suggests that the researchers’ “main emphasis was on testing editing rather than avoiding this disease,” Church said.
Even if editing worked perfectly, people without normal CCR5 genes face higher risks of getting certain other viruses, such as West Nile, and of dying from the flu. Since there are many ways to prevent HIV infection and it’s very treatable if it occurs, those other medical risks are a concern, Musunuru said.
There also are questions about the way He said he proceeded. He gave official notice of his work long after he said he started it — on Nov. 8, on a Chinese registry of clinical trials.
It’s unclear whether participants fully understood the purpose and potential risks and benefits. For example, consent forms called the project an “AIDS vaccine development” program.
Zhou Xiaoqin places an embryo in a storage tube at a laboratory in Shenzhen. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The Rice scientist, Deem, said he was present in China when potential participants gave their consent and that he “absolutely” thinks they were able to understand the risks.
Deem said he worked with He on vaccine research at Rice and considers the gene editing similar to a vaccine.
“That might be a layman’s way of describing it,” he said.
Both men are physics experts with no experience running human clinical trials.
The Chinese scientist, He, said he personally made the goals clear and told participants that embryo gene editing has never been tried before and carries risks. He said he also would provide insurance coverage for any children conceived through the project and plans medical follow-up until the children are 18 and longer if they agree once they’re adults.
Further pregnancy attempts are on hold until the safety of this one is analyzed and experts in the field weigh in, but participants were not told in advance that they might not have a chance to try what they signed up for once a “first” was achieved, He acknowledged. Free fertility treatment was part of the deal they were offered.
He sought and received approval for his project from Shenzhen Harmonicare Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which is not one of the four hospitals that He said provided embryos for his research or the pregnancy attempts.
Some staff at some of the other hospitals were kept in the dark about the nature of the research, which He and Deem said was done to keep some participants’ HIV infection from being disclosed.
Lin Zhitong speaks during an interview in Shenzhen. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
“We think this is ethical,” said Lin Zhitong, a Harmonicare administrator who heads the ethics panel.
Any medical staff who handled samples that might contain HIV were aware, He said. An embryologist in He’s lab, Qin Jinzhou, confirmed to the AP that he did sperm washing and injected the gene editing tool in some of the pregnancy attempts.
The study participants are not ethicists, He said, but “are as much authorities on what is correct and what is wrong because it’s their life on the line.”
“I believe this is going to help the families and their children,” He said. If it causes unwanted side effects or harm, “I would feel the same pain as they do and it’s going to be my own responsibility.”


Staples, nutrition and bureaucratic red-tape

12:00 AM, December 02, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, December 02, 2019

 

Description: https://assetsds.cdnedge.bluemix.net/sites/default/files/styles/very_big_1/public/feature/images/ed_2_207.jpg?itok=msHrSGpL
Regular rice next to Golden Rice. PHOTO: IRRI
Bangladesh is on the verge of making one of the most important decisions in the history of GM crops: it may become the first country to commercialise and grow golden rice.
This miracle crop promises to save lives and prevent blindness in children. Packed with beta carotene in the yellow grains that inspire its name, golden rice holds the potential to wipe out the Vitamin-A deficiencies that have caused so much suffering in the developing world.
The toll is enormous: an estimated one million people die each year because they don’t have enough Vitamin A in their food. Most of them are children. An additional half million people go blind.
I have observed poverty, malnutrition and disease up close here in the Philippines, where I am a farmer who grows corn and rice. More than one in five of my fellow Filipinos live in dire poverty. The situation is even worse in Bangladesh. Its per-capita GDP is about half of what we enjoy in the Philippines.
Poverty is a root cause of malnutrition and malnutrition gives rise to any number of severe problems with long-term consequences. It can stunt growth in every nightmarish way, from physical stature to mental capacity. In the worst cases, it kills.
The good news is that golden rice would fuel the consumption of Vitamin A in poor countries where rice is a staple food. Its regulatory approval would keep people alive and their vision intact. All they would have to do is keep eating the rice-based meals just like they do today.
Science shows that golden rice is safe. We have studied it for two decades. Regulators in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States have accepted it—but hardly anybody in those countries needs golden rice. They get enough Vitamin A in their diet so there is no commercial market.
The situation is different in Asia. Here, golden rice would help hundreds of millions of people in countries such as India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Bangladesh and the Philippines would also benefit, which is why scientists in our two countries have studied golden rice and pushed for its commercialisation.
Several weeks ago, word got out that Bangladesh would make an important announcement about golden rice on November 15. Anticipating its regulatory approval, media around the world prepared for its coverage. Would Bangladesh indeed become the first developing nation to accept this GMO? Would other countries then follow its example, approving the crop for their own farmers to grow and consumers to eat?
Yet November 15 came and went without an announcement. Perhaps a decision will arrive next week, or maybe next month. We just don’t know. We remain right where we have been, stuck in the maddening limbo of recognising a bad problem, knowing a specific solution, and doing nothing.
The reasons behind Bangladesh’s delay are unclear, but it’s easy to speculate about the political pressures its policymakers face. Here in the Philippines, poorly informed environmental activists destroyed a golden rice testing site in 2013. Beholden to an ideology that refuses to tolerate scientific inquiry, they launched a violent attack on a tool that can fight malnutrition—and their extreme tactics unfortunately have succeeded in delaying the approval of golden rice.
I have planted GM corn on my farm for years. I prefer these crops because they have protected my crops from pests that would have destroyed it, allowing me to grow more food on less land. It is good for the environment, as well as the food security situation of my country. It is also good for me as a farmer. The extra income has helped me pay for the education of my children.
I would love to have the opportunity to plant golden rice—and I am hoping that an approval in Bangladesh would lead to an approval in the Philippines.
A new book by Ed Regis—a science writer with a doctorate in philosophy—makes a persuasive case for this innovative crop. “The effects of withholding, delaying, or retarding golden rice development through overcautious regulation has imposed unconscionable costs in terms of sight and lives lost,” he writes in “Golden Rice: The Imperilled Birth of a GMO Superfood,” published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
It’s time to stop the suffering of our peoples and grow golden rice. I am hopeful that Bangladesh would do the right thing and show us the way.


Sustainability Webinar Series Continues Tomorrow 

MEMPHIS, TN -- A new webinar series focused on the impressive sustainability record of the U.S. rice industry continues tomorrow at 12:00 noon EST.  The webinars are an extension of the work done around the U.S. Rice Industry Sustainability Report, and are open to anyone interested in learning about rice sustainability efforts and practices.  

The second in the four-part series, hosted by the American Society of Agronomy and sponsored by The Rice Foundation and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, is titled, "Water Use in Rice: The Efficiency Win-Win."  

Tomorrow's webinar speakers include Dr. Michele Reba, research hydrologist and lead scientist with the Delta Water Management Research Unit, USDA-ARS; Scott Matthews, a rice farmer from Wiener, Arkansas; and Christian Richard, a rice farmer from Kaplan, Louisiana.

"These webinars are a good opportunity to go more in depth on a topic like new irrigation practices than we were able to in the Sustainability Report," said Dr. Steve Linscombe, director of The Rice Foundation.  "Since these are recorded, anyone who registers online can watch the webinar on their own schedule."

Continuing education units (CEUs) are available for this webinar although you do not have to be a certified crop advisor or professional agronomist to sign up.

Go 
here to register.

CPFTA second phase implementation comes into effect from today


BEIJING, Dec 01 (APP):The second phase of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) has come into the effect from today (Sunday) allowing the Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313new products on zero duty to the Chinese market.
The two countries have completed all the legal procedures and formalities to start the implementation of the agreement from today,” well-informed sources confirmed here on Sunday.
Both Pakistan and China signed a protocol for the implementation of the agreement during the last visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China, under which, Pakistan has got the export concession on 313 new items.
Pakistan is already enjoying zero duty on export of 724 products to China under the first FTA signed between the two countries in 2006. After the implementation of the second FTA, Pakistan has been allowed to export a total of 1047 products to China on zero duty.
The new facility will particularly benefit the textile sector to enhance its export to China as textile exports to China will virtually be duty-free.
There are a number of other items particularly leather and agriculture products as well as confectionery and biscuits etc which Pakistani manufacturers can export to China.
While commenting on the positive impacts of implementation of the second phase of the trade agreement, the sources informed that after the implementation, Pakistan can now increase its export around US$ 1 billion in the short term while the export of these items are likely to touch US$ 4-5 billion in the medium term after setting up a new industry in the special economic zones being constructed in Pakistan under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) flagship project.
After this agreement, Pakistan can enhance its exports to China up to US$ 10 billion in the next few years as the volume of the Chinese import market is around US$ 64 billion.
The per capita income in China is around US$ 10,000 while buying capacity of the people is increasing gradually.
China has organized import expos as it wants to import quality products from different countries including Pakistan. If our traders actively participate in different trade fairs in China to market their goods, they can get import orders with good price.
Regarding further benefits, sources said, now not only Pakistani manufacturers can enhance exports of different goods to China but the Chinese manufacturers who are interested to shift industry to Pakistan owing to cheaper labour and other resources, can export goods to China and other countries in the world.
Pakistan has already signed FTA with Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Indonesia under its trade liberalization policy to enhance its exports.
There are active discussions to sign FTA with South Korea in a bid to provide more and more access to Pakistani manufacturers to the new markets. China has already become the second-largest export destination of Pakistani traders after the US.
The present government has resolved export rebate issue and started the disbursement to traders for which the finance ministry is allocating funds while it is giving subsidy to exporters on electricity and gas.
The State Bank of Pakistan has also increased funds limits for the traders and manufacturers under export refinance scheme which will help increase the exports.
Regarding the impact of cooperation in the agriculture sector between the two countries, sources said that China has imposed a strict quality control system on food-related items.
Chinese experts inspect and qualify the manufacturing facility before allowing imports. China also imposed quota and Pakistani traders can benefit from it if they achieve all the standards.
A quota of 350k tons yarn, 300k tons sugar and 200 tons rice respectively was given by China under US$ 1 billion zero percent import tariff facility and exporters are actively availing this opportunity.
“We want to complete the quarantine procedures of wheat and tobacco to be able to export these products to China.”
Currently, cotton yarn, copper, rice, chromites nephrite, seafood, and ethylene alcohol are main products being exported to China.

CBN, rice farmers meet to curb scarcity, price stability


 
By

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has entered into an agreement with stakeholders in rice production value chain.The parley is aimed at increasing rice supply and maintaining price stability this December and beyond in the face of Christmas and New Year celebrations.
New Telegraph findings over the weekend revealed that the meeting between CBN top officials, representatives of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) and Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) was held at CBN headquarters in Abuja at the instance of CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

“You know Yuletide is here. Christmas and New Year are weeks away. You do know exploitative tendency associated with this season, commodities, especially foodstuffs, going up in prices.
“The CBN as driver of Anchor Borrower Program, a scheme that supports rice production in this country, wants to ensure there is sufficient supply in December and beyond at a reasonable price,” a source told this reporter.
National President, RIFAN, Alhaji Aminu Muhammad Goronyo, also confirmed his group’s meeting with CBN to New Telegraph in an interview.

He said his association and others in rice production chain signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CBN to increase supply and maintain price stability.
“The festive season is already here. Christmas is a few days away. For your information, the CBN invited all rice producers and critical stakeholders in rice production business to a meeting at CBN.


“They converged in their office (CBN). We took a decision and we are on the same page. We have agreed that there is going to be enough rice that would be sufficient for Christmas and New Year and beyond the festive season.


“The producers, who are rice farmers as represented by RIFAN, the processors, who are millers, represented by RIPAN, and rice dealers also attended the meeting. The CBN drafted a MoU for three stakeholders to make sure rice is sufficiently available during the festive season and beyond. I’m just coming from that meeting with CBN. No doubt about it, rice will be sufficiently enough,” he said.

Though a staple food in most Nigerian homes, foreign countries, Thailand and India were major suppliers of the commodity to over 200 million Nigerians until Federal Government, through CBN’s Anchor Borrower Programme, a scheme designed to support local rice farmers to up the scale of local production of rice, was invented four years ago.
To further curb smuggling of foreign rice through land borders, Federal Government, in August, enforced border closure with Benin Republic and Niger with routes notorious for smuggling of foreign rice into Nigeria.
RIFAN president lauded the border closure policy, describing it as the best policy ever taken in support of agriculture and Nigerian farmers.

According to him, “The border closure is a hard decision, but I think it has to be made. It’s a hard decision, but a necessary one for any rational leader to take.
“We thank the type of person we have as a president, gifted with a capacity to take this decision. It will augur well 100 per cent in favour of Nigeria and Nigerians. The border closure isn’t only in favour of small holder farmers; it’s about Nigeria and Nigerians. It’s a welcome idea by Nigerians that want Nigerians to progress, that want to see Nigeria amongst top nations that develop.
“This is one of the steps that will position Nigeria. So we thank Mr. President for taking this very hard, but economically good benefitting decision. It’s very pleasing and okay for Nigeria, particularly at this material time.”
Reflecting on gains, benefits of border closure, Goronyo said it had opened more economic doors for Nigerians, not only in rice, but across other value chains.

“The situation is that Nigerians are now getting it better than before. Nigerians are now eating fresh, sweet Nigerian rice instead of what they were previously eating as rice. The diseases that were being imported into the country in guise of eating foreign rice have been cured.


“First good thing that happened to Nigerians is: If you look at the activities that have emanated from border closure, you will know it’s a decision that was supposed to have been taken long time ago.
“Today, the value chain activities in farming alone, from cultivation, processing, packaging and bio-products processing, is enormous. Nigerians are gainfully engaged doing so many activities that give them income.
“With the border closure, manufacturers of bags have sprung up everywhere. If you go to Lagos today, manufacturers of bags for rice are busy; go to Onitsha, manufacturers of thread are busy. If you go to Kano, the millers are busy; go to Calabar where you find Ayade’s seedling factory busy. These alone will tell you the border closure is God’s approved decision. It is not about the President. This is a God-sent decision.
“We thank God for giving us a President with this kind of quality to take this kind of decision,” he said.
The Federal Government, in August, closed land borders to all movement of goods with a recent promise to reopen them by end of January 2020.

Nigeria meets 100% OPEC target on agreement – Sylva


 
By

Nigeria has met the 100 per cent target agreement entered into by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) and 10 non-OPEC member states.
The agreement is on the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) voluntarily entered into September this year. 
OPEC and 10 Non-OPEC Member States are also known as the OPEC plus or the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) Countries.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva, made this known during a tele-conference with the Chairman of the OPEC-Non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and some other DoC Ministers over the weekend.

Sylva, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Alhaji Garba Muhammad, in Abuja yesterday, recalled that the minister had, in September when entering into the agreement, said Nigeria would be 100 per cent compliant to the agreement in three months.

The minister said that in fulfillment of that pledge, Nigeria’s compliance level had witnessed tremendous progress month-by-month since August, resulting in 100 per cent compliance in November.He commended member countries of the DoC that had consistently met and even exceeded their targets of production cuts.

He attributed the successes achieved in bringing stability to the oil market to the whole group, but especially due to the extra efforts of these countries.
Sylva commended the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the extra burden it had taken on its own volition to help stabilise the global oil market.

He thanked Prince Abdulaziz and the Government of the Kingdom for the exemplary leadership role they had been playing in the DoC.
On his part, Prince Abdulaziz commended Nigeria for the efforts it had made since August to ensure compliance, noting that the agreement came into effect at the same time when Nigeria’s Egina was coming on-stream.
OPEC ministers are expected to meet in Vienna next week to review developments in the global oil market for the first half of 2020 and take some critical decisions affecting the oil industry and, by implication, the global economy.
The first decision is on the fate of the current agreement which expires on March 31, 2020.

The Organisation will decide whether to renew it or not, if it is to be retained, decision has to be taken on the need for modification or allow it to stand as it is.
Garba said: “OPEC ministers are expected to meet in Vienna next week to review developments in the global oil market for the first half of 2020 and take some critical decisions affecting the oil industry and, by implication, the global economy.
“The first decision would be on the fate of the current Agreement which expires on 31st March 2020. The Organisation has to decide whether to renew it or not; if it is to be retained, decision has to be taken on the need for modification or allow it to stand as it is.

“The second decision is: Given the outlook for the oil market in the first and second quarters of 2020, where demand is forecast to dampen while production from non-DoC members is forecast to rise, experts believe that the DoC Countries need to make deeper cuts to sustain the stability that they have been able to bring to the market.”

The JMMC is expected to meet in Vienna on December 5 and the OPEC Ministerial Conference same day, while the OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting is expected to take place on December 6 in Vienna.

Mandviwalla lauds progress in lifting of ban on export of rice to Mexico

By admin

Islamabad
On the sidelines of the Seminar in Mexico, the Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla had a meeting with Ms. Lourdes Cruz Trinidad, Vice Minister for Agriculture and Dr. Javier Trujillo, Director General, National Service of Health, Safety and Agri-food Quality (SENASICA) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The two sides agreed that Pakistan and Mexico could benefit from their respective expertise in agriculture. They discussed the possible avenues of collaboration in agriculture such as avocado cultivation in Pakistan.
The Deputy Chairman Senate also took up the matter of lifting of the ban on the export of rice from Pakistan by Mexican authorities. After detailed discussion the Mexican side conveyed its general agreement for lifting of ban after completion of some procedural formalities. It is hoped that the import of rice from Pak will resume in near future. The Deputy Chairman also proposed the signing of an MoU on Agricultural Cooperation which was welcomed by the Mexican side.
Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, Deputy Chairman Senate is leading a Parliamentary delegation to Mexico to attend the Executive Education Parliamentary Leadership Programme organized under the auspices of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Besides attending the seminar, the Deputy Chairman had an extensive programme to strengthen Parliamentary Cooperation between Pakistan and Mexico. Ms. Monica Fernandez Balboa, President of the Senate of Mexico received the Deputy Chairman and members of delegation in the Senate of Mexico.
Referring to the long history of cordial relations between Pakistan and Mexico, the Deputy Chairman stressed upon the need of further strengthening of these ties through parliamentary diplomacy. He urged upon setting up of a Pakistan-Mexico Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Senate of Mexico. He also extended invitation to the President of Senate to visit Pakistan to deepen parliamentary cooperation. Ms. Munoz warmly welcomed the delegation and agreed with the Deputy Chairman to strengthen parliament cooperation. She identified a number of areas such as climate change.—INP

https://pakobserver.net/mandviwalla-lauds-progress-in-lifting-of-ban-on-export-of-rice-to-mexico/

Pakistan Foreign Minister arrives in Sri Lanka



Description: https://i0.wp.com/colombogazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_6782.jpg?resize=262%2C203Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrived in Sri Lanka today on an official visit.
While in Sri Lanka, the Foreign Minister will call on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and felicitate the new leadership.
The Foreign Minister will have separate meeting with his newly-appointed Sri Lankan counterpart, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.
The two sides will exchange views on the entire gamut of bilateral relations and matters pertaining to regional and international issues.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka enjoy close, cordial ties based on mutual trust and understanding. The bilateral relationship is broad-based and multifaceted, covering diverse fields including political, trade, commercial, defence, people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges. High-level visits are a regular feature of Pakistan-Sri Lanka relations.

2 COMMENTS

1.      
Let’s not forget for the sake of political expediency, that it was Pakistan who proved to be a loyal ally in our time of need.
3.      
A wonderfull move to balance the involvement of India in the affairs of Sri Lanka.
Though the Indian move to invite HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa to Delhi and the offer of USD. 400 million credit facilities loan and USD. 50 million for enhancing anti-terror inteligence in Sri Lanka should be commended in terms of bilateral relations, In terms of International Relations, was India trying to influence Sri Lanka their way in matters concerning the geo-politics of the Pacific ring and the South East Asia region of the Indian Ocean. Or was India trying to enhance the trading capacity of Indian exports to Sri Lanka, especially that of consumer goods and cereals. Pakistan exported “Rice and textile” to Sri Lanka in a big way. The Pakistan-Sri Lanka Business Forum Chairman Aslam Pakhali has stated to the media that the export of “Rice and Textile” have stopped and Potato exports has also reduced drastically. So is India trying to fill this gap for India’s benefit? Can the socio-ecomonic political climate in Sri Lanka that has been created in the aftermath of the April 21st., bombing be blamed for this, or the failure of the Muslim political party leaders, ministers and the 21 Muslim parliamentarians to maintain good liaison with the political and religious hierarchy of the country be a cause, because Muslim politicians were accused of having knowlwdge of the bombings (adied and abetted).
Pakistan has to make sure what it wants to do with Sri Lanka Pakistan relations which has been at a very high and cordial level always. Pakistan should not “invest politically” in Sri Lankan Muslim politicians for lobbying power with the new government of HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, PM Mahinda Rajapaka and the National Organizer of the SLPP, Basil Rajapaksa. Pakistan should speak directly and franking to the Rajapaksas.
The Sinhalese and the nationalist who love their “Maathrooboomiya” will never forget the helping hand Pakistan gave to Sri Lanka to defeat the world’s most ruthless terrorist outfit – the LTTE, when other neighbours were contemplating whether to do so or not. The Sinhalese nation is a nation of gratitude. Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahmood Qureshi who has arrived Sri Lanka on an official visit should iorn out the misconcepts created about Pakistan by foreign powers and lay a concrete foundation to play its role to support the new governments plans to revive the socio-economic situation, reconcialiation efforts and bilaterial relations and help Sri Lanka maintain it’s policy of neutrality in the region. This way, Sri Lanka will also listen to Pakitan. 
Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart and Convener – “The Muslim Voice”.

Pak-China FTA second phase comes into effect

Pakistan is already enjoying zero duty on export of 724 products to China Two countries complete legal procedures, formalities to start execution of agreement

Description: Pak-China FTA second phase comes into effect

APP

December 02, 2019
BEIJING      -         The second phase of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) has come into the effect from Sunday, allowing the Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313 new products on zero duty to the Chinese market.

The two countries have completed all the legal procedures and formalities to start the implementation of the agreement from today,” well-informed sources confirmed here on Sunday.
Both Pakistan and China signed a protocol for the implementation of the agreement during the last visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China, under which, Pakistan has got the export concession on 313 new items.
Pakistan is already enjoying zero duty on export of 724 products to China under the first FTA signed between the two countries in 2006. After the implementation of the second FTA, Pakistan has been allowed to export a total of 1047 products to China on zero duty. The new facility will particularly benefit the textile sector to enhance its export to China as textile exports to China will virtually be duty-free.
There are a number of other items particularly leather and agriculture products as well as confectionery and biscuits etc which Pakistani manufacturers can export to China.
While commenting on the positive impacts of implementation of the second phase of the trade agreement, the sources informed that after the implementation, Pakistan can now increase its export around $1 billion in the short term while the export of these items are likely to touch $4-5 billion in the medium term after setting up a new industry in the special economic zones being constructed in Pakistan under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) flagship project. After this agreement, Pakistan can enhance its exports to China up to $10 billion in the next few years as the volume of the Chinese import market is around $64 billion.
The per capita income in China is around $10,000 while buying capacity of the people is increasing gradually. China has organized import expos as it wants to import quality products from different countries including Pakistan. If our traders actively participate in different trade fairs in China to market their goods, they can get import orders with good price.
Regarding further benefits, sources said, now not only Pakistani manufacturers can enhance exports of different goods to China but the Chinese manufacturers who are interested to shift industry to Pakistan owing to cheaper labour and other resources, can export goods to China and other countries in the world.
Pakistan has already signed FTA with Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Indonesia under its trade liberalization policy to enhance its exports.
There are active discussions to sign FTA with South Korea in a bid to provide more and more access to Pakistani manufacturers to the new markets. China has already become the second-largest export destination of Pakistani traders after the US.
The present government has resolved export rebate issue and started the disbursement to traders for which the finance ministry is allocating funds while it is giving subsidy to exporters on electricity and gas.
The State Bank of Pakistan has also increased funds limits for the traders and manufacturers under export refinance scheme which will help increase the exports.
Regarding the impact of cooperation in the agriculture sector between the two countries, sources said that China has imposed a strict quality control system on food-related items.
Chinese experts inspect and qualify the manufacturing facility before allowing imports. China also imposed quota and Pakistani traders can benefit from it if they achieve all the standards.
A quota of 350k tons yarn, 300k tons sugar and 200 tons rice respectively was given by China under $1 billion zero percent import tariff facility and exporters are actively availing this opportunity.
“We want to complete the quarantine procedures of wheat and tobacco to be able to export these products to China.”
Currently, cotton yarn, copper, rice, chromites nephrite, seafood, and ethylene alcohol are main products being exported to China.

CPFTA second phase implementation comes into effect Pakistani traders to export 313 new products on zero duty to Chinese market

By admin
Beijing
The second phase of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) has come into the effect from Sunday (December 1, 2019) allowing the Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313new products on zero duty to the Chinese market.
The two countries have completed all the legal procedures and formalities to start the implementation of the agreement from today,” well-informed sources confirmed here on Sunday.
Both Pakistan and China signed a protocol for the implementation of the agreement during the last visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China, under which, Pakistan has got the export concession on 313 new items.
Pakistan is already enjoying zero duty on export of 724 products to China under the first FTA signed between the two countries in 2006. After the implementation of the second FTA, Pakistan has been allowed to export a total of 1047 products to China on zero duty.
The new facility will particularly benefit the textile sector to enhance its export to China as textile exports to China will virtually be duty-free.
There are a number of other items particularly leather and agriculture products as well as confectionery and biscuits etc which Pakistani manufacturers can export to China.
While commenting on the positive impacts of implementation of the second phase of the trade agreement, the sources informed that after the implementation, Pakistan can now increase its export around US$ 1 billion in the short term while the export of these items are likely to touch US$ 4-5 billion in the medium term after setting up a new industry in the special economic zones being constructed in Pakistan under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) flagship project.
After this agreement, Pakistan can enhance its exports to China up to US$ 10 billion in the next few years as the volume of the Chinese import market is around US$ 64 billion.
The per capita income in China is around US$ 10,000 while buying capacity of the people is increasing gradually.
China has organized import expos as it wants to import quality products from different countries including Pakistan. If our traders actively participate in different trade fairs in China to market their goods, they can get import orders with good price.
Regarding further benefits, sources said, now not only Pakistani manufacturers can enhance exports of different goods to China but the Chinese manufacturers who are interested to shift industry to Pakistan owing to cheaper labour and other resources, can export goods to China and other countries in the world.
Pakistan has already signed FTA with Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Indonesia under its trade liberalization policy to enhance its exports.
There are active discussions to sign FTA with South Korea in a bid to provide more and more access to Pakistani manufacturers to the new markets. China has already become the second-largest export destination of Pakistani traders after the US.
The present government has resolved export rebate issue and started the disbursement to traders for which the finance ministry is allocating funds while it is giving subsidy to exporters on electricity and gas.
The State Bank of Pakistan has also increased funds limits for the traders and manufacturers under export refinance scheme which will help increase the exports. Regarding the impact of cooperation in the agriculture sector between the two countries, sources said that China has imposed a strict quality control system on food-related items.
Chinese experts inspect and qualify the manufacturing facility before allowing imports. China also imposed quota and Pakistani traders can benefit from it if they achieve all the standards.
A quota of 350k tons yarn, 300k tons sugar and 200 tons rice respectively was given by China under US$ 1 billion zero percent import tariff facility and exporters are actively availing this opportunity.
“We want to complete the quarantine procedures of wheat and tobacco to be able to export these products to China.” Currently, cotton yarn, copper, rice, chromites nephrite, seafood, and ethylene alcohol are main products being exported to China.—APP

Our farmers deserve a ‘Merry Christmas’ too

December has come—my favorite month. By this time, we would have started hearing the songs of Christmas and feeling that excitement of buying gifts whose prices were put on a huge discount. I am unsure about the other countries, but in the Philippines, you would expect the so-called certified titas, or aunties in English, storming the supermarkets and department stores as early as now to take advantage of the huge sale on groceries before they go skyrocketing as Christmas looms.
Christmas is the most important holiday in my country. It is by far our most-celebrated holiday as it speaks of unity and reunion. It is the day where most faces gleam and hearts sing happiness and peace.
For the Filipino millennials, Christmas starts as early as September 1, but the formal celebration begins on the 16th of December when people flock to Catholic churches to complete the nine-day series of masses. For them, failure to complete the novena would rob them of a one-time chance for their wish to be granted—which is, of course, untrue and baseless.
What a happy month for most, but I could not help but ache for the people living on the streets, for those who have no one, and for our farmers whose this year is not for them.
What happened exactly?
In September 2018, the Philippines saw its inflation figure shot up to a nine-year high of 6.7 percent, with the figure blamed on increased prices in food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; as well as transport.
As for the food sector, the shortage of rice staple—a primary food in the Philippines—was a loud alarm to the nation, leading to rice prices soaring. Add to this that the Philippine peso was weaker as against the greenback, global crude oil prices went volatile, and that consumer demand further grew.
Thanks to the government’s efforts, inflation figure was tamed to 6 percent in November 2019, and cooled further in the proceeding months. As of October 2019, inflation figure settled at 0.8 percent.
What were the government’s efforts?
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas performed several rounds of interest rate hikes to tame inflation, but rice staple remained low at that time. This prompted for calls to repeal the two-decade-old Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996, and replaced the quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariffs. The measure was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2019.
The long-regime QR would have protected rice farmers but the newly-amended law liberalized the entry of imported rice from neighboring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam. This was the start of our farmers’ crying for help amid the continued decline in local rice prices to as much as P7 per kilogram, whereas rice production costs around P12 per kilogram.
As of October this year, the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law, resulted in as much as 2.5 million metric tons of rice imports, nearly double the country’s 1.3 million annual rice supply gap, and is nearing the 3 million metric tons as projected import by the United States Department of Agriculture.
The new law allowed for the disbursement of cash assistance to our ailing farmers, and the government has promised already P3 billion in cash assistance to the affected farmers by year-end. This is on top of the P10 billion as provided under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) of the law.
To date, there are 10 million Filipino rice farmers, and they constitute a huge portion of the 100 million Filipinos. Such help may do so little to satisfy the hungry stomachs and the needs to survive every day.
Our farmers needed more help than delayed or broken promises. They deserve to see more actions than words from our installed officials who have showered their vows during election campaigns.
Make good on a promise. Release and increase their cash assistance, and purchase the rice staple at a higher price so as to cripple the greedy traders who have been clouded by the power of money. It is high time we show our farmers the respect that they deserve.
It’s not just ‘us’ who deserve a Merry Christmas. They do, too

PSA set to conduct survey of commercial rice stocks


Description: https://businessmirror.com.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/agri01-102119-696x490.jpgThis file photo shows different varieties of rice being sold at a local market in Manila.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the law that created it will be put to the test once it takes over the collection of information on rice stocks, according to a senior research fellow of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (Pids).
Under the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law, the conduct of the Commercial Rice Stocks Survey (CSS) will be turned over by the National Food Authority (NFA) to the PSA by July 2020.
Pids Senior Research Fellow Roehlano M. Briones told the BusinessMirror this will test the resolve of the PSA to apply the provisions of the law, which allows the agency to initiate legal action against those who will not disclose correct information to the government.
“The question here is how are they [PIDS] going to secure the cooperation of the commercial [warehouses] because before, [the NFA is a] regulator. So of course they will respond, otherwise they won’t get a permit, or they will be closed,” said Briones. 
“The PSA has the power of compulsion because of its charter. It can initiate legal action if you don’t want to disclose [information]. Although I have never heard it happen before,” he added.
Nonetheless, Briones said the PSA has procedures for these kinds of surveys. One of the surveys being conducted by the PSA is the Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI), which collects income and expense information from businesses.
However, the information regarding the specifics of these businesses, such as the names of the companies, cannot be disclosed and may not even be used in court.  
National Statistician Dennis S. Mapa told the BusinessMirror over the weekend that the PSA is ready to conduct the CSS by July 2020. 
Mapa said the PSA’s Sectoral Statistics and Statistical Methodology Units are already preparing the procedures for conducting the survey.
“[Our team is] preparing a sampling design to capture the data for the commercial stock. The PSA is ready to do this in 2020,” Mapa said.
“Our timetable here is the second semester of 2020.”
Based on the RTL law, the CSS will be conducted by the NFA until the end of 2019. It will be jointly conducted by the NFA and PSA until it is fully turned over to the PSA in July next year.
Rule 29 of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of RA 10625, or the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, orders respondents in surveys to provide “truthful and complete answers” to PSA and other statistical offices of the Philippine Statistical System (PSS).
It also provides that the PSA should not divulge “the name, address and telephone numbers; the business and products that they are engaged in; and the specific ranges of number of employees.”
Under Rule 30 of the IRR, individuals who violate Rule 29 face one-year imprisonment and a fine of P100,000. Companies that will violate the IRR will be fined anywhere from P100,000 to P500,000.
Any person caught divulging confidential information from the PSA will be fined P5,000 to P10,000 and face jail time of three to 12 months. Further, failure to complete with survey clearance provision will also be fined P50,000 to P100,000, depending on the gravity of noncompliance

No syndicate in rice market: BIDS study

12:00 AM, December 02, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, December 02, 2019

 

50 large mills can influence the market, it says

Description: https://assetsds.cdnedge.bluemix.net/sites/default/files/styles/very_big_1/public/feature/images/bids_study.jpg?itok=yc4gNaN-
Former finance minister AMA Muhith speaks at the inaugural session of “Research Almanac 2019” organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies at the Lakeshore hotel in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: Collected
Star Business Report
There is no syndicate in the rice market but 50 large mills have the capacity to influence the supply and prices of the staple food, finds a study of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
“We have to really think about the big auto rice millers,” said BIDS Senior Research Fellow Nazneen Ahmed.
“There are very big auto rice mills and some of them have 400-500 tonnes of daily processing capacity,” she said while presenting the findings of the study on the rice market in Bangladesh and the role of key intermediaries at the Research Almanac 2019.
The BIDS organised the two-day event to present the findings of various researches at the Lakeshore Hotel in Dhaka. Former finance minister AMA Muhith inaugurated the event in the morning.
Description: https://assetsds.cdnedge.bluemix.net/sites/default/files/styles/very_big_2/public/news/images/bids_study_22.jpg?itok=i7EW0Fv1
Nazneen, citing food ministry data, said the top 50 rice mills out of 949 auto rice mills have around 20 percent of the total fortnightly rice milling capacity in the country.
“We don’t know whether they are engaged in any syndication but what we are trying to say is that they are very big and they can store high quantity of rice legally,” she said, suggesting monitoring of the activities of the large mills.
“It is not that they are doing syndication but if they retain  rice for two more days or up to 20 days instead of 15 days during any  crisis, they can naturally influence the price,” said Nazneen.
She said rice and paddy could be retained by auto rice millers who are part of large corporates. “They are the ones who have natural capacity to have some influence over the market.”
The study was carried out among 88 traders in four major rice districts -- Dinajpur, Bogura, Kushtia and Naogaon. In addition, wholesalers in four major rice markets -- Badamtoli Babubazar, Karwan Bazar, Mohammadpur Krishi Market, and Cantonment Kochukhet Bazar in Dhaka city -- were interviewed. Secondary data were also used for the study.
Co-authored by BIDS Research Fellow Mainul Haque and Research Associate Nahian Azad Shashi, the paper said traders known as middlemen play a major role in moving paddy from farmers to millers or stockists or commission agents.
It found the dominance of millers who procure paddy mostly during the harvesting season when prices remain low and store the grains to continue milling for several months until the next harvest takes place.
Mills, as per laws, can store paddy five times their milling capacity for 30 days and rice twice their fortnightly milling capacity.
So, if a mill stores grains as per law, the person can’t be called hoarder legally, Nazneen said. She, however, added that they found during their field visits to 16 mills that 12.5 percent mills had higher storage capacity compared to their milling capacity.
“We have also found that very big millers have grain in the hands of aratdars (stockists or commission agents) and other actors in their chains. Very big mills can afford this, small and medium-sized millers can’t.”
The researchers analysed the trend of wholesale and retail prices of fine, medium and coarse rice since 2006 and found seasonality as one of the major factors for variation in rice prices.
The researchers found that the gap between wholesale and retail prices widens during the slack season, meaning prices go up prior to harvesting of paddy.
“At that time, it is natural that prices would go up because of low supply. So, if prices increase at that time, apparently it would not be right to think there is anti-competitive behaviour or collusion in the market,” said Nazneen.
There is competitive behaviour among the actors in the market. “Apparently there is no syndicate. We can’t say strongly that there is anti-competitive behaviour,” she said.
The study found the link of the price hike with the low stock of grains at public warehouses and suggested the government monitor food stocks in public godowns.
Prof Shamsul Alam, a senior secretary and member of the General Economics Division under the planning ministry, said the study findings show there is no market concentration. No certain group can influence the market alone.
“In broader sense, what I can say is that the rice market works competitively,” said Alam. He recommended taking timely measures to provide objective data on demand, production and import.
He said the market would function properly if price, supply and demand are forecast timely. A price commission can be formed, said Alam, who was also critical about production and demand estimates of rice and onion.
At the opening session, Prof Alam said Bangladesh should have 50-60 lakh tonnes surplus rice if the production estimates were accurate.
He said production and demand estimates of onions are done by government agencies. If production is 22 lakh tonnes and demand is 24 lakh tonnes, why aren’t prices falling even after large imports?
“We need to do some soul-searching before blaming businesses,” he said.
In his speech, Muhith said the current pace of economic growth of Bangladesh would continue for two-three years.
“But we have to be careful about international developments,” he said, suggesting following the economic situation in India as developments in the neighbouring country can influence Bangladesh economy.
Muhith stressed maintaining the achievements in the social sector and increasing national savings. “Our savings are very low, one of the lowest in the world.”
Former Finance Minister M Syeduzzaman and Planning Division Secretary Md Nurul Amin also spoke in the opening session, which was chaired by BIDS Director General KAS Murshid. 

Scent of Thailand's famous fragrant rice is fading

Description: https://assets.nst.com.my/images/articles/TINJAUAN_SAWAH_PADI_BERIKUTAN_NEGARA_PERLU_TIGA_JUTA_TAqqqqqN_METRIK_1575198039.jpg
(file pic) Failure to win the honour of the world's best fragrant rice for two consecutive years has jolted Thailand – home of the Hom Mali (jasmine) rice – into overhauling its rese. NSTP/SHARUL HAFIZ ZAM
By New Straits Times - 
FAILURE to win the honour of the world's best fragrant rice for two consecutive years has jolted Thailand – home of the Hom Mali (jasmine) rice – into overhauling its research and development to catch up with changing global demand for fragrant rice.
It is now focusing on improving its Hom Mali varieties, which had previously won the contest for five consecutive years.
Thailand's Hom Mali rice was beaten last year by Cambodia's fragrant rice and this year by Vietnam's ST25 variety.
Thai Rice Exporters Association president Charoen Laothamatas said that it's about time that both the government and the private sector join hands in a more serious effort to improve the quality of Thai rice to meet the global market's expectations.
He said the situation now is different from two decades ago, when Thailand was the world's major rice exporter and could sell whatever rice it produced.
"The country's reputation for producing quality rice is suffering due to a lack of effective research and development to create better varieties of Thai Hom Mali rice," he said.
According to the Bangkok Post, he said the strong baht has also exacerbated the rice export situation, pushing the price of Thai rice to US$1,100 (RM4,600) higher per tonne than its competitors.
As a result, Vietnam, for instance, is gaining a larger market share in the global rice trade, as it can sell its rice for half the price that Thailand can.
Vietnam won this year's competition because it has continued developing its rice varieties to improve both quality and crop yield.
Charoen said Thailand had stuck to its old varieties such as Thai Hom Mali and Pathum Thani 1 and has not created any new strain for a long time.
The yield of Thai rice is about 400 kilogrammes per 0.16 hectare, which is fairly low when compared with the 1,000 kg per 0.16 hectare yielded in Vietnam.
Buyers in the world market are now looking for rice with a soft texture, but Thai rice remains as hard as it was many years ago.
He said that despite the development of some new softer varieties, the work of promoting them among rice growers has been slow and far from successful.
This has left exporters unable to respond to demand for rice with a soft texture.
"If nothing is done to improve this problem, Thai Hom Mali rice will soon become a thing of the past," Charoen said, adding that when consumers get used to the taste of cheaper rice from other rice exporting countries, it will become highly difficult for Thailand to regain a foothold.
Thailand Development Research Institute distinguished fellow Nipon Poapongsakorn said one way to help bring the price down is to slash production costs by increasing the yield.
"Thailand may consider developing a rice variety that is less fragrant, yet gives a higher yield for the sake of cost cutting," he said.
He added that the yield of the off-season crop needs to rise to at least 1,000 kg per 0.16 hectare as China's hybrid rice variety now yields up to 2,000 kg per 0.16 hectare.
Charoen also blamed Thailand's lack of rice variety development on politicians competing to win farmers' support only through price guarantees or other types of price intervention.
"These policies have failed to give any incentive for research and development into new varieties. As farmers are satisfied with these price intervention policies, they are no longer interested in improving the quality or yield.”
Nipon said that the current 200-300 million baht (RM27.6-RM41.5 million) yearly budget for research is far from sufficient to attract capable and talented researchers.
"Thailand's competitors are spending far more money on their rice research," he said.
As of August this year, Thailand was the second-largest exporter of rice in the world, ranked only behind India, but far ahead of all of its Southeast Asian competitors.
Description: https://assets.nst.com.my/images/articles/196rice_field_image_listing_featured.var_1473907477.jpg
Description: https://assets.nst.com.my/images/articles/rice_field_image_listing_featured.var_1459659127.jpg

Border Closure: NIDO trains rice farmers in Lagos, Abuja


Description: Border Closure: NIDO trains rice farmers in Lagos, Abuja

Felix Ikem, Nsukka
Prof. Emenike Ejiogu, President Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), Asia, says the organisation has concluded arrangements for a free training workshop for rice farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs and the general public.
The aim of the workshop is to boost local rice production and processing, Ejiogu told Daily Sun in Nsukka at the weekend.
He said that experts from Japan in agriculture would teach and practically demonstrate the use of machines in de-husking, de-hulling, de-stoning and polishing of rice during the workshop.
“NIDO Asia is the umbrella organisation of Nigerians living in Asia, the aim of the workshop is to train Nigeria farmers on the use of modular rice processing machinery in order to boost local rice production,” he said.
“Over the years, NIDO Asia has identified and intervened in several areas of Nigeria economy so as to move the country forward.”
According to him, the workshop on the use of modular rice processing machinery is free of charge for farmers and general public.
“This is part of NIDO contributions to ensure that rice produced locally meets demands of Nigerians at affordable price as well as have enough to export.
“We are bringing five technical experts from Japan as well as partnering with Kanryu industry Ltd Japan, Ino Inc Japan and Mirai Denchi Nigeria Ltd a subsidiary of Mirai Denchi lnc, Japan.”
Ejiogu said the event would hold in Lagos and in Abuja on December 4th and 6th, respectively.
“We commend President Muhammadu Buhari on the border closure and urge all hands to be on deck to ensure that the era of foreign rice is over in Nigeria.
“If all Nigerians buy and eat local rice, it will not only boost the economy of the country but also generate more employment for jobless youths,” Ejiogu said.
355 individuals graduate from skills dev't program in AgNor
By 29IB Philippine ArmyPublished on December 2, 2019
Description: https://files.pia.gov.ph/source/2019/12/02/355-1.jpgCABADBARAN CITY, Agusan del Norte, Dec. 2 --  A total of 355 individuals successfully graduated from the skills development program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) conducted in partnership with the 29th Infantry "Matatag" Battalion and local government unit (LGU) of Remedios Trinidad Romualdez (RTR) on November 22, 2019.
Of the 355 graduates, 130 were students of the Mobile Computer Literacy Training, 25 were students of the Electrical Installation NCII, 50 were students of the Wellness Hilot massage NCII, 25 were students of Cookery NCII, 50 were students of Driving NCII, 25 were students of Rice Machinery Operation NCII, and 50 were students of Shielded Metal Arc Welding NCI.
Mayor Richard P. Daquipil of the Municipality of RTR thanked the 29IB troopers for bringing the Army’s Mobile Computer Literacy program to the Agusanons. He emphasized the importance of computer literacy - that this would open the doors to better opportunities for the Indigenous people and out of school youth in particular. He also thanked the TESDA for their tireless support in providing livelihood skills development training to the Agusanons.
In his message, Gov. Dale B. Corvera of Agusan del Norte lauded the organizers and other stakeholders who have supported the said training. "Your efforts to support this kind of endeavor proved that you value the future of the Agusanons. To the graduates, this effort of the government will enable you to acquire better job opportunities for your future,” he said.
Description: https://files.pia.gov.ph/source/2019/12/02/355-3.jpgMeanwhile, Agusan del Norte Rep. Maria Angelica Rosedell M. Amante-Matba said that the main objective of the government is to uplift the lives of every Agusanon through the skills acquired from the training, "and for them not to be deceptively recruited by the NPA terrorists just like what happened to alias Kent, a young NPA combatant who was saved by the 29IB troopers last November 4, 2019.”
In his statement, Lt. Col. Isagani O. Criste, Commanding Officer of 29IB applauded the graduates for investing time and effort in the skills training. "The skill and lessons that they've gained in this training will open their minds to the possibilities and opportunities that are there waiting for them," he said.
"However, their success will depend not just on having the skill but their determination and perseverance to continue on the path of success despite challenges that may come their way as they seek for better opportunities in their life," Criste added. (1Lt. Nonette B. Banggad, CMO Officer, 29IB, PA/PIA Agusan del Norte)

PH, Korea sign deal on farm mechanization

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 03:35 AM December 02, 2019
The Philippines and South Korea have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at bolstering the two countries’ partnership in agricultural mechanization.
The deal was signed during President Duterte’s second visit to South Korea last week, where he also forged agreements related to social security, tourism cooperation and education.
In a statement, the Department of Agriculture said the MOU sought to promote agricultural development of both countries by investing in mechanization and modernization.
These included technical collaboration on research and development, capacity enhancement and the establishment of agri-machinery manufacturing complex in the country.The Korea Agricultural Machinery (Kamico) has proposed to bring in about 30 agri-machinery companies to invest in farm equipment and manufacturing in the Philippines through DA.Manufacturing equipment such as tractors, rice transplanters, rice mills, tillers and plows, cultivators, greenhouses, agricultural product dryers and balers were some of the equipment that were discussed. INQ


Eastern Naval Command seizes 16,773 bags of smuggled rice

 December 2, 2019
Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas
Ada Wodu, Calabar
The Eastern Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy has seized 16,320 bags of smuggled rice following the closure of the nation’s land borders.
It also arrested 320 suspects and seized 19,989 metric tonnes of petroleum products as well as 30,843.8 metric tonnes of crude oil between January and November this year.
This was disclosed by the Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral David Adeniran, in Calabar.
Adeniran said following the closure of the land borders by the Federal Government to forestall smuggling, the command witnessed an upsurge in the activities of smugglers trying to breach the sea borders on the eastern flank.
He stated, “Nevertheless, security patrols were intensified, especially on the eastern border, by officers and men of our units operating within the area in support of Mr President’s policy on border closure.
“This yielded tremendous results as evident in the arrest of several boats attempting to smuggle 16,773 bags of foreign rice worth hundreds of millions of naira.”
Adeniran, who appraised the achievements of the command in the past 11 months, attributed the successes recorded to the cooperation of the personnel.
He added, “The command improved her patrol efforts to reduce the activities of illegal refinery operations as well as pipeline vandalism/crude oil theft.
“Other areas are smuggling and piracy/sea robbery. Our efforts have led to the arrest of eight vessels, 145 large wooden boats, 320 persons and the seizure of 19,989 metric tonnes of petroleum products as well as 30,843.8 metric tonnes of crude oil.
“Furthermore, the command destroyed 128 illegal refineries between January and November 2019.”
He commended the naval personnel for the successful conduct of various operations, which he said resulted in the recent promotion of officers in the command as an adequate reward for their efforts.
Adeniran said with the support of the Chief of Naval Staff, the command launched the Eastern Naval Command Maritime Control Management System, which he noted ha improved its ability to monitor criminals as well as share information.
Bids Research: Top 50 millers influence rice market
 Published at 06:55 pm December 1st, 2019
Description: BIDS_Rajib-Dhar
Guests attend the inaugural session of a two-day Research Almanac 2019 organized by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies at a Dhaka hotel on Sunday, December 1, 2019 Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune

The government should strength monitoring over the top rice millers so that none can stockpile rice beyond the government-set time period and amount
Supply chain of rice market is mainly dominated by the millers, particularly 50 top millers are influencing the rice market, according to a research paper placed on the first day of a two-day seminar that began on Sunday. 
The government should strength monitoring over the top rice millers so that none can stockpile rice beyond the government-set time period and amount. 
The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) organized the event titled Research Almanac 2019 to publish the findings of 15 researches done this year at a Dhaka city hotel. 
The research paper “Rice Market in Bangladesh: Role of Key intermediaries” was presented by BIDS senior research fellow Nazneen Ahmed. 
According to it, 50 top millers are controlling 19% rice market while there are 20,000 registered millers across the country. 
“According to data from Food and Agriculture Organization, 2017, Bangladesh is the fifth rice producing country in the world. Our productivity is better than India. Now the total supply of rice in our country is at 36 lakh tons including import,” she said while presenting the paper. 
"We do not know if there is any syndicate or not in the market but faria, aratdar, millers and commission agent play an important role in the rice market," she added. 
“The aratdars are really the central actors in the market playing the all important role of enabling stranger-transactions, creating trust, and in general, supporting credible contracts to be entered into and leading to repeat transactions. Millers are bridging between downstream of paddy and upstream of rice,” says the paper. 
Nazneen Ahmed suggested strengthening monitoring over the top rice millers, saying: “There are 20,000 rice millers in the country, of them 950 are auto rice millers. They are the big auto rice millers. Their daily production capacity is around at 200 tons. As per government stock law, the millers can stock the rice twice their production capacity and they can stock their rice for 15 days in the store.” 
She said there were many rice millers who had a larger store than their mills and it should not be allowed. 
As per the paper, top four millers' milling capacity is 11,648 tons and they are controlling three percent of the market; top eight millers' milling capacity is at 18,552 tons and they are controlling four percent the market; top 16 millers' milling capacity is at 32,465 tons and they are controlling eight percent of the market; top 32 millers' milling capacity is at 54,100 tons and they are controlling 13% of the rice market and top 50 millers' milling capacity is at 78,686 tons and they are controlling 19% of the rice market. 
Although there is strong belief among the market participants that millers influence the market price, the evidence is not absolutely concrete, it says, adding millers’ risk is higher and so is their expected return from the business. 
Since millers have a strong network and evidently long trading relationship with aratdars in the upstream and wholesalers in the downstream, they may temporarily slowdown the production process which may exert a spike in rice price, the paper points out. 
Boro and Aman varieties constitute 91% of rice production. The country’s share of rice import is less than 1-2% of the total supply. Rice is mainly imported from India, Myanmar and Thailand. 
Shamsul Alam, member of the General Economic Division (GED) under the Planning Commission, said: “There is a huge competition in the country’s rice market. Yearly rice production of our country is at 36 million tons including imports. The demand for rice is about 30 million tons. There is a surplus of 60 lakh tons. So I do not understand why there is a crisis.”
He claimed the same thing happened in the case of onion. "Who is responsible for this failure, businessmen or government? Data analysis is very important. We need to have the right information on our production and demand," Shamsul Alam said. 
As the chief guest, former finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the economy of Bangladesh had similarities with India in several aspects, including dependence on neighboring countries.
"The government should analyze the situation of India and has to think why their (India) economy is experiencing a four percent growth," he said. 
"China's growth is also falling. Our economy might face the same situation," Muhith warned.
He put emphasis on taking proper measures instead of releasing data that show huge growth.
The former minister said the size of budget in Bangladesh was small compared to other countries. "The budget-GDP ratio and the revenue-GDP ratio are the lowest in the world, and the ratios are not rising despite several initiatives," he noted.
He lauded the government for spending more than two percent of the GDP for social safety net, which played a significant role in maintaining higher purchasing power, boosting aggregate demand and reducing poverty rate.
"Based on expenditure on social security, Bangladesh improved in many socio-economic indicators and became a role model for Pakistan, India and other neighboring countries," he said. 
Former finance minister M Syeduzzaman said lack of good governance and inefficiency in the banking sector would be a major challenge for the economic development in the near future.
He expressed annoyance over the low quality of education at all levels and emphasized more research in public and private universities.
Planning Secretary Nurul Amin recommended finding a way to meet the challenges of the economy after graduating from least developed country (LDCs).
KAS Murshid, Director General of the BIDS, chaired the inaugural session.
PFAG calls on gov't to adopt proactive measures for the rice sector
Description: File photoThe Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), has recommended a complete ban on the importation of rice into the country to secure the local rice industry.

According them there was enough local capacity to meet the rice demand of the country and asked all government institutions to patronise local rice.

While praising the government for the move to secure the local rice industry, they recommended low interest on loans for agricultural businesses to curtail the challenges confronting the sector.

Other recommendations included increased budget allocation and subsidies for combine harvesters, rice millers and rice packaging materials, new technology to address aflatoxins and other post-harvest challenge, storage facilities and increase budget on mitigating problems in the rice value chain.

Mr Abdul Rahman Mohammed, the Board Chairman of the PFAG during the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the Association said the directive by the government to the National Buffer Stock Company to mop up the excess rice had come in handy.

We hope the directive will be enforced immediately without any further delay to bring hope to our farmers", he added.

Professor Awetori Yaro from the University of Ghana, who presented the findings said the research was commissioned to analyze access to certified seeds, fertilizer, extension services marketing and post-harvest handling.

The research established that much progress had been made with the PFJ and that the project could stimulate the commercialization of small scale agriculture in Ghana.

The study however, recommended increased surveillance, adequate extension services and early delivery of seeds and fertilizers.

Other recommendations included a deliberate government policy on low interest rate for agricultural businesses.

Mr. Kobena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minster urged farmers to work effectively towards improving nutrition especially for women and children.
Punjab: Produce per acre up, but total paddy yield down by almost 3% thanks to diversification
Apart from the decrease in area, around 52,000 hectares area under paddy was damaged so effectively in floods. So the effective decrease in area under paddy in the state has been over 3.53 lakh hectares.
Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba |Jalandhar |Updated: December 2, 2019 7:25:51 am
Around 52,000 hectares area under paddy was damaged in floods. (File)
Despite more per acre paddy yield in Punjab this year, the state has produced around 8 lakh metric tonnes (LMTs) less paddy (non-basmati) this year, thanks to three lakh hectares under paddy being diversified to other crops including basmati, cotton, maize and sugarcane.
According to data sourced from Punjab Mandi Board (PMB) till November 28, total arrival of rice in Punjab’s grain markets was recorded at 179.51 LMTs including 162.50 LMTs paddy and 17.01 LMTs of basmati rice, while on the same date last year Punjab’s mandis got 184.34 LMTs rice which included 170.20 LMTs paddy and 14.14 LMTs basmati. Last year, total rice procurement was 193.68 LMTs, including 21.03 LMTs basmati.
So far, Punjab has received 7.70 LMTs less paddy this year till November 28 which is 2.62 per cent less compared to corresponding period last year. This year, however, nine districts including Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Nawanshahr, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar, Mohali and Ludhiana have recorded more paddy production comparing to last year till date.
However, the state has received 2.87 LMTs more basmati till date in this season compared to last year. But total basmati procurement might go up from last year as area under basmati is more this year. The arrival of basmati will continue in the mandis till the end of this year.
This year there was total 29.20 lakh hectares area was under basmati (6.29) and paddy (22.91 lakh hectares) rice. Last year, there was 31.03 lakh hectares under rice cultivation which included 25.92 lakh hectares under paddy and 5.11 lakh hectares under basmati.
Apart from the decrease in area, around 52,000 hectares area under paddy was damaged so effectively in floods. So the effective decrease in area under paddy in the state has been over 3.53 lakh hectares. This year the MSP of Paddy is Rs1835 per quintal and basmati’s rate is Rs 2000 per quintal for PUSA 1509 varieties and Rs 3260 for other fine varieties, including 1121 and others. Though the rate of 1509 varieties is at par with last year’s rate, but rate of 1121 variety is less as it was Rs 4300 per quintal last year.
Punjab Mandi Board officials said that the procurement of basmati will continue for some more weeks while procurement of paddy is about to end in coming few days and currently only 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes of both paddy and basmati is arriving daily across state.
While paddy is being procured by the government, basmati is always procured by the private players. Also farmers use to stock basmati crop at home sometime in the wait of good price, so the crop keeps arriving in mandis even in December and early January. Director Punjab Agriculture Department Sutantra Kumar Airy said that their main focus was on decreasing area under paddy and this year they were successful to some extent, but there was a need to achieve further diversification.
So far, Punjab has procured 17. 51 million tonnes including 1.7 million tonnes of basmati which comes to 15 per cent of total rice production target of the country from a state which has only 1.5 per cent of the total geographical area of the country.
The Overlooked Illegal Immigrants: From India, China, Brazil
President Trump has focused on blocking unauthorized crossings on the Southern border. But nearly half of those who are in the country unlawfully actually entered with permission
·       Dec. 1, 2019
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Eddie Oh, an industrial engineer, lost his job during the financial crisis that gripped South Korea in 1998. With no prospects, he scrounged together his savings to pay his family’s airfare to California. They were going on vacation, he told the United States embassy, which issued six-month visitor visas for the family.
The Ohs headed to Sunnyvale, a middle-class community in California’s Silicon Valley where a relative already had rented a small apartment. The Ohs moved in, nine people crammed into two rooms. Mr. Oh got to work painting houses. His wife found a job as a waitress. And their children, Eli, 11, and Sue, 9, started school.
“We were constantly in debt. We struggled to pay the rent,” said Eli Oh, who grew up to be a critical-care response nurse at Stanford University. “Nobody ever thought we were illegally here because we didn’t fit the stereotype.”
They are hardly alone. Though President Trump has staked much of his presidency on halting the movement of undocumented immigrants across the southern border, the Oh family’s roundabout route to residence in the United States is part of one of America’s least widely known immigration stories.
Some 350,000 travelers arrive by air in the United States each day. From Asia, South America and Africa, they come mostly with visas allowing them to tour, study, do business or attend a conference for an authorized period of time. But when they stay beyond when their visas expire, some of them fall into the same illegal status often associated with migrants showing up at the border.
Nearly half of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants now in the country did not trek through the desert or wade across the Rio Grande to enter the country; they flew in with a visa, passed inspection at the airport — and stayed.
Of the roughly 3.5 million undocumented immigrants who entered the country between 2010 and 2017, 65 percent arrived with full permission stamped into their passports, according to new figures compiled by the Center for Migration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank. During that period, more overstayers arrived from India than from any other country.
“A big overlooked immigration story is that twice as many people came in with a visa than came across the border illegally in recent years,” said Robert Warren, the demographer who calculated overstay estimates by using the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey and shared those figures with The New York Times.
As Mr. Trump has called for hiring thousands of new Border Patrol agents and erecting miles of new fencing, federal immigration authorities have devoted relatively few resources toward the much larger numbers of undocumented immigrants who have overstayed their visas.
authorities are only beginning to gain access to better data on who has and has not flown out of the country.
“Once they are in the country, they are home free because there is so little interior enforcement,” said Jessica Vaughan, a former federal visa officer who is now policy director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which lobbies for restricting immigration.

Nearly half of the undocumented population overstayed a visa.

Overstayers represent about 46 percent of the 10.7 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, according to the migration center’s data. This is not necessarily because of a huge jump in the number of people overstaying their visas; rather, their proportion of the undocumented population has soared amid a huge decline in border crossings since 2000.
The largest number of overstayers — about 1 million — hail from Mexico, a neighboring country with a long history of commercial and family ties and substantial flows of people across the border. But the picture is changing. Between 2010 and 2017, 330,000 Indians overstayed their visas, more than from any other country. Large numbers of people from China, Venezuela, the Philippines, Brazil and Colombia also overstayed.
Many undocumented Asians — including a large number from India — have settled like the Ohs in and around Sunnyvale, about 50 miles southeast of San Francisco, according to the Center for Migration Studies analysis.
Apple, LinkedIn and other tech titans in the area employ many whom the companies have sponsored for legal work visas or permanent residency in the United States.
Some of them stay on as independent programming contractors after their visas have expired or after leaving a company that sponsored them for a visa.
But they are only part of the story. Many undocumented Indians here in Sunnyvale have low-skilled service jobs, catering to their well-heeled brethren who frequent the Indian supermarkets, eateries and clothing shops that line El Camino Real, the main commercial corridor.
Sarika Johari shopped for jewelry at Sagar Exclusive, a store specializing in Indian clothing and jewelry, in Sunnyvale, Calif.Credit...Talia Herman for The New York Times
They are people like S. Singh, 24, who works at a diner where the Indian lunch crowd on a recent afternoon dined on spicy lentils and spinach with flatbread and sipped masala chai. Mr. Singh, who like most others interviewed for this story declined to share his full name, said that he had arrived as a tourist two years ago.
At Indian grocery stores nearby, Indian workers arranged shelves stocked with Taj Mahal tea, basmati rice and canned Kesar mangoes. They hesitated to answer questions, beyond saying that they had entered as tourists. One of them said that he had come on a student visa that had expired.
Inside a closed restaurant on a recent afternoon, two Indian men and two Indian women workers slept before dinner service, their bodies draped over a long bench where patrons would later be seated. Ankit, an Indian engineer on a work visa who had hoped to grab a bite, only to realize it was too early, surmised that they were undocumented — just like the Indian Uber driver who had brought him there.
“There are no legal pathways for people working in restaurants and grocery stores,” he said. “These workers are coming for a better life.”

Tracking visa overstayers is difficult.

The government reported that nearly 670,000 travelers who arrived by air or sea and were supposed to depart in the 2018 fiscal year had not left by Sept. 30, 2018. That number had dropped to nearly 415,700 by March 2019, because many people overstay by just a few months.
But developing policies to curb overstays requires accurate data, experts say, and Homeland Security officials still lack a reliable system to track them.
Most travelers are photographed and fingerprinted at American consulates abroad when they receive a visa and then again on arrival in the United States. But Customs and Border Protection still depends overwhelmingly on biographical information from the manifests of departing travelers, provided by airlines, to tally who did not leave in time, or at all.
In 2016, federal officials began working with airlines and airport authorities to install a biometric facial-comparison system at departure gates. A digital picture taken of those boarding a plane to leave the country is compared to the one taken on their arrival.
Thus far, the program covers 4 to 5 percent of those departing by air each day, said John F. Wagner, a deputy assistant executive commissioner for Customs and Border Protection. He said in an interview that his agency hopes to cover 90 percent of departing travelers within three years.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which enforces immigration rules in the interior of the country, said that it puts a priority on identifying those who pose potential national security or public-safety threats. In fiscal 2018, its Homeland Security Investigations unit made 1,808 arrests in connection with visa-violation leads.

Many do not mean to lose their legal status.

Many of those who overstay their visas do not intend to stay illegally, said Kalpana Peddibhotla, an immigration lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“They entered with a specific purpose and fell out of status for a variety of reasons, only to realize there is no easy mechanism to correct their status violations,” she said.
Graduates of American universities, allowed to remain in the United States for a period of time to work, run afoul of deadlines or commit errors on immigration forms that automatically render them deportable. Sometimes employers transfer foreign workers to a new site and fail to amend their paperwork, as required, which also cancels their legal status.
“They stay because they built their lives here, bought homes here, had children here,” said Ms. Peddibhotla, who became familiar with Indian overstay cases while on the board of the South Asian Bar Association of North America.
Marilyn Omatang left Manila in 2004 with her eldest child, Dean, then 12, to join her husband, who had arrived in California two years earlier.Credit...Talia Herman for The New York Times
Among Asians, in particular, being undocumented brings shame to the family. Like several others, the senior Mr. Oh, his wife and daughter, declined to be interviewed for this article even though the daughter was able to help her parents obtain green cards after she married an American.
“My parents are not proud of breaking the law,” said Mr. Oh, who also now has a green card. “To this day, most of their church friends do not know they were undocumented.”
In places like Sunnyvale, it is not hard for people to disguise their immigration status.
“Especially if they’re not from Mexico or Latin America, no one suspects them of being undocumented,” said Kathy Gin, executive director of Immigrants Rising, a San Francisco-based advocacy organization that works with undocumented youth.
“Their parents encourage them to keep their heads low, not share their stories, not speak out about immigration issues,” said Ms. Gin.
Marilyn Omatang left Manila in 2004 with her eldest child, Dean, then 12, to join her husband, who had arrived in California two years earlier. “She told me we are going to Disneyland,” recalled Dean, which they did.
But they had to remain in the United States to earn the money to provide for a special-needs child who required pricey medical care and for the schooling of three others, all living in the Philippines with relatives.
“With just a job at a 7-Eleven, I could pay for the medical treatment and their education,” said Ms. Omatang, 56, who rose to the position of manager, only to be let go after a co-worker reported to their boss that she was undocumented.
For more than a decade since then, she has been a caretaker to wealthy seniors in Silicon Valley, never revealing her status, and using a different name to report her income to the federal tax authorities.
One of her employers, Ms. Omatang said, is a Trump supporter who favors a tough approach to undocumented immigration.
“I heard her say, ‘just send all those illegal people back home,’” she said. “And I thought, ‘Oh, oh. If you only knew.’”
Miriam Jordan is a national immigration correspondent. She reports from a grassroots perspective on the impact of immigration policy. She has been a reporter in Mexico, Israel, Hong Kong, India and Brazil. @mirjordan
Thai rice feels the strain
For second year running, flagship export misses out on top taste prize Description: Farmers has stuck to its old varieties such as Thai Hom Mali and Pathum Thani 1 and has not created any new strains for a long time. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Farmers has stuck to its old varieties such as Thai Hom Mali and Pathum Thani 1 and has not created any new strains for a long time. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Failing to win the prize as the world's best fragrant rice for two consecutive years has come as a wake-up call for Thailand to overhaul its research and development into Hom Mali rice varieties to catch up with the changing global demand for fragrant rice. After winning the contest for five consecutive years, Thailand's Hom Mali (jasmine) rice was beaten last year by Cambodia's fragrant rice and this year by Vietnam's ST25 variety. "It's about time that both the government and the private sector joined hands in a more serious effort to improve the quality of Thai rice to meet the global market's expectations," said Charoen Laothamatas, president of Thai Rice Exporters Association.

Unlike two decades ago when Thailand was the world's major rice exporter and could sell well whatever rice it produced, the number of competitors is growing, he said. "The country's reputation for producing quality rice is suffering due to a lack of effective research and development to create better varieties of Thai Hom Mali rice," he said.
Higher costs, lower yield
 The strong baht also has exacerbated the rice export situation, he said, adding that it has pushed the price of Thai rice more than US$1,100 higher per tonne than its competitors, he said.
As a result, Vietnam, for instance, is gaining a larger market share in the global rice trade, as it can sell its rice for half the price that Thailand can, he said. Vietnam won this year's competition because it has continued developing its rice varieties to improve both quality and crop yield, he said, adding the country has been continually upgrading its fragrant rice and is now up to a 25th iteration. Thailand, on the other hand, has stuck to its old varieties such as Thai Hom Mali and Pathum Thani 1 and has not created any new strains for a long time, he said. The yield of Thai rice is about 400 kilogrammes per rai, which is fairly low when compared with the 1,000kg-per-rai yield of Vietnam's rice, he said. And while buyers in the world market are now looking for rice with a soft texture, the Thai rice remains as hard as it was many years ago, he said. Despite the development of some new softer varieties, the work of promoting these among rice growers has been slow and far from successful, he said. This has left exporters unable to respond to demand for rice with a soft texture, he said. Worse still, he said, the stronger baht has crippled exporters' ability to compete with their counterparts in other rice-growing countries. "If nothing is done to improve this problem, Thai Hom Mali rice will soon become a thing of the past," Mr Charoen said. When consumers in those countries get used to the taste of cheaper rice from other rice exporting countries, it will become highly difficult for Thailand to regain a foothold, he said.
Seeking a solution
Nipon Poapongsakorn, a distinguished fellow with Thailand Development Research Institute, said one way to help bring the price down is to slash production costs by increasing the yield, he said.
"Thailand may consider developing a rice variety that is less fragrant yet gives a higher yield for the sake of cost-cutting," he said. The yield of the off-season crop needs to rise to at least 1,000kg per rai, he said, adding that China's hybrid rice variety now yields up to 2,000kg per rai. The government should also consider giving more incentives for people to study to become researchers, he said. China, for instance, offers researchers a handsome share of income earned through intellectual property fees, on top of high salaries for researchers in the civil service, he said. Instead of boasting that Thai rice is better than products from other countries, Thailand should pay more attention to meeting the changing expectations of rice buyers in the world market, he said.
Low incentives
Mr Charoen blamed Thailand's lack of rice variety development on politicians competing to win farmers' support only through price guarantees or other types of price intervention.
"These policies have failed to give any incentive for research and development into new varieties. "As farmers are satisfied with these price intervention policies, they are no longer interested in improving the quality or yield. "The priority here is to speed up development a Hom Mali rice variety with a yield of at least 800kg per rai, which will help to lower production costs," he said. "The problem is that Thailand's rice research centres are using outdated tools and full of old researchers. So, to cope with this problem the government should make rice research a national agenda," he said.
Little support for R&D
The current 200-300 million baht yearly budget for research is far from sufficient to attract capable and talented researchers, according to Mr Nipon.
"Thailand's competitors are spending far more money on their rice research," he said. "The research budget was only 238.6 million baht last year [2018], yet the gross domestic product generated through rice trade was as much as 140 billion baht," he said. The director-general of the Rice Department declined to comment on issues surrounding the Thai rice production.
Not just the strains
Tanee Sreewongchai, associate dean for Research and Innovation in the Department of Agronomy at Kasetsart University's Faculty of Agriculture, said Thai Jasmine rice was developed from "Khao Dok Mali 105" and "Kor Khor 15", and resulted in intense fragrance, soft texture and long grains.
But this was in 1959, he said, and since then there has been no effort to improve on it, despite the ever more desirable strains being produced by Thailand's competitors. However, the Department of Rice is now attempting to develop it further to increase its yield and make it more disease and weather resistant. This is because, he added, Thai jasmine rice was developed from native rice with an average yield of only 350kg per rai. Another challenging issue is that Thai farmers have high costs of production compared with competitors like Vietnam and Cambodia. "The problem is not related to the Thai rice strain, but it might be related to harvesting and packing procedures that destroy the quality and fragrance, a report by our department has shown," he said. He said exporters are aware of the problem and try to keep stored harvested rice at optimal temperatures to maintain the fragrance. However, he admitted that Vietnam is now a real rival as it can produce better rice at lower prices.
Silver lining
Mr Charoen said that at the moment, Thai Hom Mali rice's popularity in the global market remains high despite its losses in the rice contest in the past two years, which means Thailand still has some time if it intends to accelerate its research and development.
Meanwhile, Boonrue Chantarangsri, coordinator of the Knowledge Management and Farmer School Network Foundation in Nakhon Sawan, prefers to ignore the annual contest, saying that it is down to a subjective judgement in flavour. He said that his department has collected domestic rice strains, which can be further developed for higher quality in terms of texture and nutrients for consumers who are concerned about health. He prefers the metric of market share in order to determine the success, or otherwise, of Thai jasmine rice. And as of August 2019, Thailand was the second-largest exporter of rice in the world, ranked only behind India, but far ahead of all of its Southeast Asian competitors.


SunRice job cuts hit hard in Riverina's rice bowl

DECEMBER 2 2019 - 3:00PM
Talia Pattison

Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from Australian Community Media, which has journalists in every state and territory. Sign up here to get it by email, or here to forward it to a friend. Today's newsletter is written by The Irrigator journalist Talia Pattison.
Description: A rice crop growing in Leeton.
 A rice crop growing in Leeton.
In Leeton, they say once you've had a taste of the channel water, you'll never leave.
I came to Leeton, in the Riverina area of NSW, at the beginning of 2009, and I've worked at the town's newspaper - The Irrigator ever since.
The name of the newspaper itself is an ode to the irrigation farmer, and tells how reliant this area is on irrigators and water.
Description: PRODUCTION: Busier times at Leeton's SunRice factory.
 PRODUCTION: Busier times at Leeton's SunRice factory.
Leeton is a town known for its rich agricultural diversity right in the heart of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.
The MIA includes other regional centres such as Griffith, Yanco, Whitton and Yenda. From above one will see the land criss-crossed with channels that deliver water from the river system to farmers for their irrigated crops of all varieties. But it's rice that Leeton is best known for.
In good times it is thought the region contributes around $5 billion to the country's economy. We are vibrant and diverse in so many ways, but agriculture and our people are the biggest feathers in our cap.
I myself was not born and bred in Leeton, but I do come from another small town just down the road - Temora. When I arrived, my plan was to be here for one or two years, but then as they say, fate intervened.
Description: https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/YDjJCtHjCfhDzeZ8BEPbEH/10b979ba-bf68-4531-a300-7673190fd4c8.jpg/r0_0_2148_1208_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
I met my now husband, who is a born and bred local Leeton resident. So far, there's been no reason to leave. We both have stable employment and we love living here.
Description: https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/YDjJCtHjCfhDzeZ8BEPbEH/f61836f8-5daf-47ae-b2fc-68f18ad8db35.jpg/r0_270_5184_3186_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
This brings me to the crux of what is happening now in regional areas like ours. This week in Leeton the town was shocked to learn the news 55 of its own would lose their jobs at the town's SunRice mill by April next year.
It's the third round of job cuts announced by the company within the last 12 months.
SunRice blames a low rice crop due to the ongoing grip of drought, low water allocations, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the water market.
Description: HARD TIMES: The cracks in the earth are the real life scars of regional communities. Photo: The Irrigator
 HARD TIMES: The cracks in the earth are the real life scars of regional communities. Photo: The Irrigator
There's no doubt the reasons are all relevant, but there's also no doubt that each time a job is lost in regional Australia, the spark of a community is a little less brighter than it was before.
We feel it here in Leeton. This community is known for its resilience and ability to get on with the job, but how many blows, such as the one delivered this week, can we take?
Description: CUTS: The Leeton SunRice mill is continuing to reduce its operations. Photo: Talia Pattison
 CUTS: The Leeton SunRice mill is continuing to reduce its operations. Photo: Talia Pattison
This should not be seen as a jab at SunRice. The company says it will maintain its presence in Leeton, their home and headquarters. People know when the good years come around, SunRice will be employing once again.
But what happens in the meantime? Fifty-five people will soon be out of a job and there's not much else out there. Likely they will be forced to leave the town they love to search for employment elsewhere.
Description: HOME: Leeton has a reputation for being a strong and resilient community. Photo: Talia Pattison
 HOME: Leeton has a reputation for being a strong and resilient community. Photo: Talia Pattison
This then flows on to many others in town - the retail stores, the property market and the many and varied other small businesses.
Regional communities are what built this great country. They shouldn't be left to hang out to dry. Now more than ever we need great people to stay on in places like Leeton so it can thrive and rise again.

Cambodia plans to spend over US$100mil on subsidies by 2021

Description: https://assets.nst.com.my/images/articles/strommast-4346790_1920_1575263071.jpg
Cambodia plans to spend more than US$100 million (RM417 million) on subsidies by 2021 to reduce electricity tariffs and spur economic growth. (File pic)
By New Straits Times - 
CAMBODIA plans to spend more than US$100 million (RM417 million) on subsidies by 2021 to reduce electricity tariffs and spur economic growth.
The move is also to relieve the financial burden of businesses and households.
Cambodian utility company Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) director general Keo Ratanak told The Phnom Penh Post that the government had already spent some US$95 million (RM396 million) to reduce tariffs this year.
According to Ratanak, EdC generated about US$50 million (RM208 million) in revenue last year through the sale of electricity.
“This year’s earnings could be even higher because of the growing number of consumers, so the government will also have to increase their subsidies,” he said.
The tariff subsidies will be introduced during the next sitting of the General Assembly.
Currently, Cambodian households that consume less than 50kW per month pay on average 610 riel (63 sen) per kilowatt hour (kWh), while commercial consumers pay between 600 (62 sen) and 800 riel (82 sen) per kWh on average.
Rice Federation of Cambodia secretary-general Lon Yeng said the EdC currently sold electricity to the rice processing industry for 600 riel (62 sen) per kWh.
“Electricite du Cambodge may reduce the rate to 592 riel (61 sen) next year, but businessmen want it to be lowered even further to increase manufacturing productivity for the export market,” Yeng said.
He also feared Cambodia’s electricity supply may not be enough to meet the rice industry’s demands, adding that rice mill owners often complained of power cuts during this year’s dry season.
“We have a lot of problems regarding the lack of energy being supplied. It’s not good. Rice mills need constant power to dry grain during the harvest season,” Yeng said.
According to official figures from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Cambodia consumed a total of 2,650 MW of electricity last year, an increase of around 15 per cent compared to 2017

Three bodies formed to monitor rice market

Prothom Alo English Desk | Update: 18:21, Dec 01, 2019
Amid the uptrend in rice prices, the food ministry on Sunday formed three committees and set up a control room to monitor the retail markets of rice in the capital, reports UNB.
Sumon Mehedi, information officer of the ministry, said the ministry has taken various initiatives, including holding meetings with rice traders and mill owners, as the rice prices kept steadily rising.
Apart from setting up a control room at the ministry, three monitoring committees have been formed to keep the prices stable through strong monitoring.
"The control room has been set up in order to control the rising trend in rice prices, assist the people of low-income groups and keep the prices stable in the market," said a handout.
People can provide information or lodge any rice market-related complaint to the control room over phone (029540027, 01642967727), Mehedi added.
The first committee consists of Mahbubur Rahman, senior assistant secretary (external procurement) of the food ministry, Utpal Kumar Saha, additional director (movement) and Saiful Kabir Khan, deputy director (procurement) of Directorate General of Food.
Faruk Hossain, additional director (admin section), Nazim Uddin, deputy director (silo) and Nurul Islam Sheikh, assistant secretary of Directorate General of Food, are members of the second committee.
Members of the third committee are Sheikh Nurul Alam, deputy secretary of the food ministry, Amjad Hossain, additional director (internal audit) and Rakibul Hasan, deputy director (development) of the Directorate General of Food.
Nurul Islam, assistant secretary of the food ministry will be in charge of the control room.

Kharif output of rice, pulses, oilseeds will be down due to floods: Skymet

Our Bureau  New Delhi | Updated on December 02, 2019  Published on December 02, 2019
Description: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/portfolio/commodity-analysis/o5k6z1/article29125690.ece/alternates/WIDE_435/PO19RICE

Cotton to buck trend, production set to go up 23%, says weather monitoring firm

Most kharif crops, barring cotton, are expected to witness 12 to 4.5 per cent drop in production due heavy rains and floods in many parts of the country during the just-gone by monsoon season, said a report released by Skymet, India's leading private weather monitoring firm on Monday.
While rice and main kharif oilseed crop soybean produced is expected to fall by 12 per cent to 90 million tonnes (mt) and 12.15 mt respectively, the pulses output is estimated to be nearly 8.2 mt,4.5 lower than the previous year's production estimates of 8.59 mt.
Cotton production in the country, on the other hand, would increase by 23 per cent to 35.37 million bales in 2019-20 from 28.70 million bales previous year due to improved yields and increased acreages, Skymet kharif outlook for 2019 said.
This is despite the crop being adversely impacted in three major cotton growing States -- Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka -- firstly by late sowing and secondly by excess rains during the boll opening stage.
As far as soyabean was concerned, the crop suffered mainly in Madhya Pradesh, the State where the crop is grown widely. Heavy rainfall occurred in the State at a time the crop was at flowering to pod formation stage and excess rainfall led to failure in pod formation and poor seed setting. Districts like Indore, Ujjain, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Jhabua, and Ratlam have recorded yield losses to the tune of 50-70 per cent, while districts such as Sehore, Dewas, Ashok Nagar, Guna, Dhar, Vidisha and Rajgarh have experienced yield losses to the tune of 30-50 per cent. Other soyabean growing districts have yield losses in the range of 10-20 per cent. Some pockets of Maharashtra too, reported huge losses in soyabean crop due to heavy rains. Last year's soyabean production was estimated to be 13.78 mt.

3.2 million hectares of agricultural land inundated

According to Skymet, a 12 per cent drop in rice production from previous year's 102.13 mt is expected this year. This is because heavy rainfall in a few pockets of Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, north and west Madhya Pradesh and eastern Gujarat is feared to affect the productivity.
This monsoon season, an initial prolonged dry spell in June and early July coupled with excess rain in second fortnight of August and throughout September was detrimental to both life and property. Even the withdrawal was delayed, and rains continued till the first week of October.
A total of 137 districts in 12 States (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh) were affected by excess rains that led to floods in many regions and 4.5 million hectares of land was inundated out of which 3.2 million hectares was agricultural land. Apart from the above 137 districts, there are several other districts that experienced high soil moisture for the entire month of September which caused heavy losses to the crop. On the other hand, there are a few pockets that remained rain deficient and losses to crops are witnessed here due to low soil moisture (than average), the report said.

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Egypt studies JICA's proposal to use surface irrigation

Labourers transplant rice seedlings in a paddy field in Qalyub, in the El-Kalubia governorate, northeast of Cairo, Egypt June 1, 2016. Picture taken June 1, 2016. To match Interview EGYPT-WHEAT/ REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

 Description: Labourers transplant rice seedlings in a paddy field in Qalyub, in the El-Kalubia governorate, northeast of Cairo, Egypt June 1, 2016. Picture taken June 1, 2016. To match Interview EGYPT-WHEAT/ REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Sun, Dec. 1, 2019

CAIRO –1 December 2019: The Egyptian Government is studying a proposal from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)to use the surface irrigation system in cultivating rice, said the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in a statement on Saturday.

A meeting held by the state-owned National Water Research Center discussed the Japanese proposal; it has been agreed that this irrigation systemwillbe applied in two areas. The first place is Wadi el-Natroun, Beheria governorate (Delta) where the cultivation would depend on underground water, while the second place is in Sharqia's Enshas city where other crops besides Rice could be cultivated by the surface irrigation system, the statement added.

On the sidelines of the Seventh Summit of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) in August 2019, Egypt Today interviewed TICAD's Ambassador Kiya Masahiko.

He talked about the Japanese experience in doubling the production of rice as one of the solutions to rice cultivation problems in countries that suffer water shortage.

Masahiko affirmed that one of the summit's outcomes is the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) going from 14 million tons to 28 million tons, and the goal was achieved last year.
Interview: TICAD ambassador hopes Egypt's AU chairmanship advances Japan's contribution to Africa

TOKYO - 27 August 2019: Before the TICAD7 summit, the largest international business forum in Japan, kick off, Egypt Today spoke with Ambassador for TICAD Kiya Masahiko on Egypt's co-chairing of the summit, and how it can enhance Japan's contribution to Africa.




Despite decisions of reducing the rice-planted areas nationwide due to the water shortage crisis that Egypt faces, the government has increased the areas of lands to be used in rice cultivation in 2019.Head of the Rice Division in the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) Rajab Shehata told the state-owned news agency MENA in September that the rice-cultivated area has been increased from 1.2 million acres to 724,000 acres to meet people’s needs.

In April 2018, Egypt's Parliament passed a law banning the cultivation of some crops that require a large amount of water amid fears that building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) would cut the country's share of the Nile. The Parliament also approved the government's request to amend some provisions in Agriculture Law No. 53 of 1966.

It is worth mentioning that one feddan of rice consumes 7,000 cubic meters of water.

Egypt needs at least 105 billion cubic meters of water annually to cover the needs of more than 90 million citizens. However, it currently has only 60 billion cubic meters, 55.5 billion cubic meters of which come from the Nile and less than 5 billion cubic meters come from non-renewable subterranean water in the desert. The remaining 80 billion cubic meters are covered by the reuse of wastewater.

The average per capita consumption of fresh water declined by 1.5 percent in 2015/2016 and it reached 103.4 cubic meters, compared to 105 cubic meters in 2015/2014, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) data.

Additional reporting by Nourhan Magdy



Government to ban rice imports by 2022

    Source: graphic.com.gh

Mr Kennedy Osei Nyarko
A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kennedy Osei Nyarko, says rice importers have welcomed the government’s intention to ban rice importation by 2022.
“When we communicated plans to ban the rice importation by 2022, the importers were happy. Their main challenge however is whether our current production capacity can meet demand to avoid going back,” he said.

Tour
Mr Nyarko made this known during a working visit to the rice processing unit of the Global Agricultural Development Company (GADCO), producers of Aduahene and Copa Jasmine brands of rice at Fievie, near Sogakope in the Volta Region.

The deputy minister visited last Tuesday to acquaint himself with the operations of the company.
The visit also took him to Wheta in the Anlo District in the Volta Region where he assured rice farmers of the government’s commitment to promote the production and marketing of Ghana rice.   
Ban on importation of rice
After inspecting the facilities of GADCO, Mr Nyarko said the intention of the government to ban rice importation was to support local rice farmers to gain access to a market for their produce.

He said it would become a mirage if efforts were not made to scale up the production capacity of rice farmers in the country to meet the high demand for the commodity.

According to him, the country consumed about 940,000 tonnes of rice every month as against the country’s production capacity of about 400,000 tonnes.

Increase in paddy production

Mr Nyarko said the country had witnessed an increase in the production of paddy rice over the past two years.

“In 2018, we recorded a total rice production level of about 769,400 tonnes. We are inching this year to about 900,000 tonnes and we have given ourselves up to about 2022 to meet the average per capita consumption rate of rice in the country to about 1,135 tonnes,” he said.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture added that the rice consumption rate kept going high so “we should be able to produce enough to meet consumption before we can say we want to ban rice importation.”

Rice mill cottages
He disclosed that as part of efforts to increase rice production in the country, the government intended setting up rice mill cottages in rice growing areas where the farmers would mill their rice.

“When this is done, the farmer would not be worried about his paddy rice getting rotten,” he said.

Subsidy

After the deputy minister’s address to the Copa Connect Farmers in Wheta, the Chairman of the Ghana Rice Interprofessional Body (GRIB), Mr Anthony Yaw Anyidoho, appealed to the government to further lower subsidies on farming inputs.

According to him, the cost of production of rice in the country was higher than the cost of importing rice.

“It is a challenge to sell our produce at a competitive price compared to the price of imported rice. If we want to eat rice that we grow in our country, then we need subsidy that is lower than the normal farming subsidy,” he said.

Sustainability of agricultural ventures

For his part, the Commodities and Procurement Manager of Wienco and fertiliser dealer, Mr Abdul Razak Sania, reiterated the company’s commitment to ensure that agricultural ventures in the country were sustainable.

Rice to feed the world given a funding boost

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
  The next phase of what is known as the C4 Rice Project has been given the green light for a further five years during which time scientists believe they will develop a prototype for a strain of rice which would give higher yields and endure harsher environmental conditions.
Put simply, it could help to feed a world which is already struggling to provide for its expanding population, particularly in South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently over 3 billion people in Asia depend on rice for survival, and, owing to predicted population increases and a general trend towards urbanisation, the same area of land that provided enough rice to feed 27 people in 2010 will need to support 43 by 2050.
Professor Jane Langdale, from the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, who leads the consortium, said: 'This is an extremely challenging long-term project and we are grateful to the foundation for backing the team for a further five years. This new award will get us closer to delivering rice lines that will have real impact for smallholder farmers'.
Rice uses the C3 photosynthetic pathway, which in hot dry environments is much less efficient than the C4 pathway used in other plants such as maize and sorghum. The C4 Rice project aims to 'switch' rice to use C4 photosynthesis, with transformational potential.
The C4 photosynthetic pathway, which has evolved over 60 times independently, accounts for around a quarter of terrestrial primary productivity on the planet despite being used by only 3% of species. In most C4 plants, photosynthetic reactions happen in two types of cell arranged in 'wreaths' around closely spaced veins - an arrangement referred to as Kranz anatomy. One of the major challenges of the C4 Rice Project is to convert rice leaf anatomy to this form. Working out which genes need to be modified to achieve this switch will be a major focus of the team's research over the next five years.
The most recent phase of the project has seen a leap in progress by harnessing a synthetic approach towards engineering the photosynthetic pathway. The highly promising direction of this research is confirmed in today's announcement, and this funding boost now makes the C4 Rice project one of the longest running projects in the foundation's agriculture portfolio.
Professor Julian Hibberd from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, who is a member of the C4 consortium, said: 'We are excited to be able to build on the significant progress to date, and move closer to our ultimate goal of generating a higher yielding rice'.
Professor Steve Long, who runs the Gates Foundation-funded RIPE Project from the University of Illinois, and was a Visiting Professor at Oxford's Department of Plant Sciences, said: 'This is wonderful news. The C4 rice team have made outstanding progress toward cracking the code as to how to make a C4 crop. This will bring the world one step closer to obtaining C4 rice, and to gaining extra productivity without needing more water or nitrogen."
By the end of the next phase of research in 2024 scientists hope to have experimental field plots up and running in Taiwan.
The scale and reach of the project means that this is a trans-generational project.
Professor Langdale said: 'This is about being custodians of something that's bigger than our individual scientific interests'
A condition of Gates Foundation funding for the project is a Global Access Commitment to ensure that the knowledge and advancements made will be made available and accessible at an affordable price to people most in need in developing countries.
The C4 Rice Project consortium comprises the University of Oxford (lead), Academia Sinica, Australian National University, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Leibniz Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and Washington State University.
###
For more information or to request interviews and images, please contact the University of Oxford press office at chris.mcintyre@admin.ox.ac.uk / 01865 270 046.
Notes to editors
About the University of Oxford
Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the third year running, and at the heart of this success is our ground-breaking research and innovation.
Oxford is world-famous for research excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

Thailand’s fragrant rice falls behind peers’

 -
Failure to win the World’s Best Rice award for two consecutive years has jolted Thailand – the home of the Hom Mali (jasmine) rice – to overhaul its research and development to catch up with the changing global demand for fragrant rice.
Having previously won the World’s Best Rice Contest for five years, Thailand’s signature Hom Mali rice was beaten last year by Cambodia’s fragrant rice and this year by Vietnam’s ST24 variety.
“It’s about time that both the government and the private sector joined hands in a more serious effort to improve the quality of Thai rice to meet the global market’s expectations,” said Charoen Laothamatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
“The country’s reputation for producing quality rice is suffering due to a lack of effective research and development to create better varieties of Thai Hom Mali rice,” he added.
The strong baht has also worsened the rice export situation, pushing the price of Thai rice to US$1,100 higher per tonne than its competitors.
The yield of Thai rice is about 400 kilograms per 0.16 hectares, which is fairly low when compared with Vietnam’s rice yield at 1,000 kg per 0.16 hectares or China’s at 2,000 kg per 0.16 hectares.
Despite new softer varieties, the promotion of these among growers leaves much to be desired. Thus, exporters have been unable to meet the demand for rice with a soft texture.
Nipon Poapongsakorn, a distinguished fellow at the Thailand Development Research Institute, proposed to slash production costs by increasing the yield, albeit with a less fragrant rice variety.
Meanwhile, Charoen blamed Thailand’s lack of rice variety development on politicians vying for farmers’ support only through price interventions.
“These policies have failed to give any incentive for research and development into new varieties. As farmers are satisfied with these price intervention policies, they are no longer interested in improving the quality or yield.”
Further, Nipon said that the current 200-300 million baht (US$6.61-9.91 million) annual budget for research is insufficient to attract capable researchers.
“Thailand’s competitors are spending far more money on their rice research,” he added.
Now, Thai Hom Mali rice’s popularity in the global rice market remains high despite its losses in the rice contest.
And, as of August 2019, Thailand was the second-largest exporter of rice in the world, ranked only behind India, but far ahead of all of its Southeast Asian competitors.
This couple of facts translate into some time for Thailand if it intends to speed up its research and development on rice.

Plentex approves issuance of shares to ANI

LISTED AgriNurture Inc. (ANI) took one step closer in expanding its business in Australia after Australian firm Plentex Ltd. approved the issuance of shares to the fruit and vegetable grower.
In a disclosure on Monday, ANI said Plentex shareholders granted the issuance, which paved the way for both companies to enter into definitive agreements to make the acquisition effective.
The move comes after the ANI board of directors gave on Oct. 25, 2018 the go-signal for
its acquisition of Plentex, which owns a subsidiary in the Philippines and is into agricultural development.
That subsidiary, Plentex Philippines Inc., is currently working on an integrated manufacturing plant for local crops and for the production of feedstock for a proposed aquafeed plant.
ANI said it would expand its business operations in Australia by acquiring existing companies.

Plentex’s Australian operations involve a large-scale feed manufacturing plant in Victoria for the supply of premium aquatic and pet foods for both the local and international market.
Incorporated in 1997, ANI began as an importer, trader and fabricator of postharvest agricultural machinery aimed at improving the productivity and income of Filipino farmers.
It was the first to bring into the Philippine market the Mega-Sun brand of grain dryers and established itself as a supplier and manufacturer of conveyor systems and other rice mill equipment.
ANI currently supplies homegrown fruits such as mango, banana and pineapple to customers in Hong Kong, China, the Middle East and Europe.
ANI shares slipped by 6 centavos or 0.43 percent to close at P13.90 each on Monday.