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Illustration - Workers pack rice at the
National Logistics Board (Bulog) warehouse in Lebak, Banten province. (ANTARA
FOTO/Muhamamd Bagus Khoirunas/agr/aww)
Rice consumption can be reduced in case the government intervenes.
Without the intervention, the per capita rice consumption will reach 91.2
kilograms per year.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Agriculture Ministry has set
itself the target of lowering national per capita rice consumption by 7 percent
to 85 kilograms by 2024.
Rice consumption will be reduced by 1.77 million tons, worth Rp17.78 trillion,
secretary of the Food Security Board of the Agriculture Ministry, Riwantoro,
said here on Wednesday.
“Rice consumption can be reduced in case the government intervenes. Without the
intervention, the per capita rice consumption will reach 91.2 kilograms per
year," he said during a discussion with the Agriculture Journalists Forum
(Forwatan) here.
The per capita rice consumption is projected to reach an average of 92.9
kilograms in 2020 compared to 94.9 kilogram a year earlier, he said.
“We are targeting to lower rice consumption. In contract, the consumption of
other local foods will increase. The opportunity for (food) diversification is
wide open, since the public wants to lead a healthy life, and that is a
business opportunity for small and medium businesses,” he added.
He said the Food Security Board has medium- and long-term strategies to realize
food diversification.
The food diversification is aimed at anticipating the food crisis, providing
alternative food, encouraging local economy, and creating healthy human
resources to reduce dependence on rice consumption, he elaborated.
Currently, each province is focusing on producing local food other than rice,
he said adding, there are six food commodities which can serve as substitutes
for rice, namely, cassava, corn, sago, banana, potato, and sorghum.
Meanwhile, chief of the Economics Department of IPB University, Dr. Sahara,
said the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the right momentum to accelerate the
food diversification program.
“Therefore, the food pattern must be changed, and rice is not the only
carbohydrate source. So far, the government has been focusing more on
developing rice (farming). In fact, Indonesia is endowed with abundant food
varieties,” he said.
Indonesia now has 77 kinds of carbohydrate-rich foods, 75 kinds of protein-rich
foods, 110 kinds of spices and seasoning, 389 kinds of fruits, 226 kinds of
vegetables, 26 kinds of legumes, and 40 kinds of beverage materials, he
added.
Next to production improvement, planting of rice varieties preferred by consumers should be the next focus of farmers.
“We need to adapt to the changes brought about by the Rice Tariffication Law, one of which is consumers’ preference for quality rice. This is now an integral part of the overall transformation of the country’s rice industry… That is why for the succeeding cropping seasons, we are not just after attaining production targets but also producing quality rice for Filipino consumers that will provide higher income for farmers,” said William Dar, secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), in a virtual meeting with rice stakeholders.
The DA said rice millers and traders do not buy local palay due to the low quality of the grain. Some stocks being sold to millers are composed mostly of assorted varieties that produce chalky and broken grains after milling.
Changing taste. Better tasting, better smelling yet affordable rice varieties are preferred by consumers.
According to the DA, consumers now prefer rice varieties that are long-grain with better taste and smell when cooked but are still affordable.
Dar said seed producers should discuss preferred rice varieties of onsumers while farmers, traders, and millers should determine trends in the demand of the domestic market.
“We have to make seed producers, farmers and other stakeholders understand that our overall strategy now is inclusive market-oriented development… Our farmers must produce whatever is the market’s demand and the consuming public’s needs. We need to adapt to changes brought about by the new regime,” Dar said.
The country’s palay harvest during the first half of 2020 totaled 8.387 million metric tons (MT), 1.4 percent more than the 8.269 million MT for the similar period last year.
The DA projects palay output for the second half of the year will reach as high as 11.954 million MT, a 13.4 percent growth from last year’s 10.545 million MT.
Regulators Classify Gene-Edited Rice Varieties with
Disease Resistance as Equivalent to Conventional Varieties
Crops resist bacterial leaf blight; ruling clears path to
provide smallholder farmers with a safe, affordable option for preventing
destructive disease
Newswise — Columbia and St.
Louis, MO, October 14, 2020 – The Healthy Crops team, with support from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, have used gene editing tools to develop new varieties
of disease-resistant rice that regulators in the United States and Colombia
have determined are equivalent to what could be accomplished with conventional
breeding. Bacterial blight can reduce rice yields by up to 70 percent, with the
heaviest losses typically experienced by smallholder rice growers in low and
middle-income countries. This has a profound impact on farmer productivity and
economic mobility. The Healthy Crops team turned to gene editing to develop
disease-resistant varieties as a way to provide farmers with a safe,
affordable, effective solution.
“We first set about to understand
the gene the bacteria use to make the plant vulnerable to its disease,” said
Bing Yang, PhD, a researcher with the University of Missouri Bond Life Sciences
Center professor, Division of Plant Sciences and member, Donald Danforth Plant
Science Center in St. Louis. “We then used our CRISPR technology precisely to
remove the element in the gene to avoid the pathway the pathogen takes that
makes the plants susceptible to blight.”
The team used gene editing to
create rice lines in elite varieties that are comparable to naturally occurring
variants. These lines can resist infection by bacterial leaf blight, which
leads to major losses for one of the world’s most important food crops. The
rulings from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the
corresponding authority in Colombia, the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario
(ICA), clear the way for field tests to select the best material for
distribution to breeders in the U.S. and Colombia.
The improvements were
accomplished via gene editing, which did not introduce any DNA into the plants
and focused on “promoter regions” in three genes that are targeted by the
causative agent of rice blight, the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae.
The research was described in an article in Nature
Biotechnology in 2019.
In the wake of the ruling from
U.S. and Colombian officials, the new blight-resistant varieties can now be
used to introduce the resistance trait into many different types of rice via
standard breeding strategies. Additional testing and breeding work is expected
to take place in multiple locations that are favorable for growing tropical
rice varieties.
“It’s exciting to use science and
technology to do to help farmers protect and improve their rice production,”
Yang said. “We hope to work closely with the local institutions in the next
phase to introduce these into the varieties of rice small farmers use.”
The Healthy Crops Team has no
commercial interest in its work. Its goal is to ensure disease- resistant rice
varieties are accessible and affordable, especially for smallholder farmers who
depend on rice production to support their families.
About The Donald Danforth Plant
Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is
a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human
condition through plant science. Research, education and outreach aim to have
impact at the nexus of food security and the environment, and position the St.
Louis region as a world center for plant science. The Center’s work is funded
through competitive grants from many sources, including the National Institutes
of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation. Follow us on Twitter at @DanforthCenter.
About Bond Life Sciences Center
Founded in 2004, the Christopher
S. Bond Life Sciences Center was designed with teamwork in mind, fostering
collaborations between scientists of diverse disciplines and backgrounds. From
cancer and HIV to plant science and informatics, our researchers work together
to move basic science forward and lay the groundwork for a better world. Learn
more at bondlsc.missouri.edu.
As
part of National Rice Month programming, USA Rice partnered with premium
appliance and rice cooker manufacturer Zojirushi to celebrate the 30th
anniversary of National Rice Month (NRM) through a diverse collection of
promotional giveaways. The giveaway prizes varied per promotion, but always
included a Zojirushi rice cooker and sampling of U.S.-grown rice varieties.
These promotional activations took place throughout the month of September and
featured both Zojirushi and USA Rice talking points, along with National Rice
Month information.
Youtube
influencer Emmymade produced a video that highlighted multiple U.S.-grown varieties,
garnered 2.5 million impressions, and included a giveaway to her 2.1 million
channel subscribers. Winners of this giveaway received a 5.5 cup Zojirushi NS-WTC10 rice cooker and a selection of
U.S.-grown rice that included organic long grain, sprouted medium grain,
arborio, jasmine, brown long grain, and brown rice grits. Instagram influencer
June Quan of @Stirandstyle posted a giveaway to her 317,000 followers
celebrating NRM as well, with a similar prize for the winner.
JustOneCookBook,
an online guide to Japanese cuisine and culture, hosted an editorial giveaway where they discussed the nutrition
benefits of GABA, why to choose U.S.-grown rice, and the importance of National
Rice Month. The JustOneCookBook promotion received more than 8,300 consumer
entries. Winners of this giveaway received a NS-WTC10 rice cooker and 12 pounds
of U.S.-grown sprouted medium grain rice.
Three
of USA Rice's Registered Dietitian influencers created additional standalone
posts specific to the joint National Rice Month giveaway. In each of the posts,
past rice recipes were highlighted, National Rice Month information was
presented, and rice nutritional benefits were featured. These giveaways had
attendees follow USA Rice and tag a friend for a chance to win a Zojirushi rice
cooker and 30th NRM prize pack.
"Teaming
up with Zojirushi to celebrate the 30th anniversary of National Rice Month has
been tremendous. We were able to build upon the strong foundation of our
traditional NRM programming and explore new and unique avenues to reach more
consumers and spread the reach of U.S.-grown rice," said Cameron Jacobs,
director of domestic promotion. "We thank Zojirushi for the promotional
partnership and look forward to working with them in the future."
The Rice Cooker I Use Five Days a Week Is 45 Percent Off
We sifted through the
deals to find the products actually worth shopping this Prime Day.
Illustration: Pedro Nekoi
I love rice the way some love bread or pasta. The dependable and cheappantry staple is my comfort carb, the foundation for so many of my meals. And for as
long as I can remember, that rice, whether prepared by me or my mom, was cooked
in a Zojirushi rice cooker. Seriously: Growing up, whenever we went on family
vacations to a rented home, my mom always brought three
things — extra beach towels, Costco-size packs of sunscreen, and her Zojirushi
rice cooker (a vacation is no time for subpar rice). After I moved into my own
place, I used a basic Zojirushi model with just an on-off switch for more than
a decade before upgrading to the newer Zojirushi Micom this year. It truly
prepares flawless rice with just the push of a button. I mostly make Japanese-style
Calrose rice, but the Zojirushi has perfectly cooked every other variety I’ve
thrown into it: short grain, long grain, Vietnamese broken rice, brown rice,
basmati rice, jasmine rice, even a mixed-grain blend including millet and
quinoa (I really love rice). The Micom has successfully whipped up coconut
rice, something my older Zojirushi could never seem to handle. With the ability
to make up to 10 cups of cooked rice, it’s ideal for a small family or one or
two people who don’t mind leftovers (two words: fried rice). The machine doesn’t cook rice any faster —
the basic white-rice setting takes an hour, and the “quick” function takes 45
minutes — but it makes up for this lack of speed with an impressive stamina.
It’ll keep cooked rice warm (piping hot, really) for a whole day; I’ve prepared
pots in the morning that I then dug into for lunch and dinner.
ISLAMABAD-Considering
trade policy an important aspect in the promotion of trade activities at local
and global level, the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce has sought a
detailed briefing from the ministry of commerce on Trade Policy besides the
E-Commerce policy.
The Committee is going to meet on 16th October,
2020 at the Parliament House. Chairman of the Committee Senator Mirza Muhammad
Afridi observed that the committee is focused on formulating recommendations to
promote trade and commerce local, regional and globally.
The government has delayed the announcement of
much-delayed Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF), which was supposed to be
unveiled in 2018 when previous policy had expired. The incumbent government
wanted to increase the country’s exports in next five years by giving
incentives to exporters. Under the proposed STPF, the government has estimated
to enhance the exports to $26 billion in next fiscal year from estimated $23
billion of the ongoing fiscal year. It has been planned that exports would be
further increased to $31 billion in 2021-22, $35 billion in 2022-23, $40
billion in 2023-24 and $46 billion in 2024-25.
The Committee, Senator Afridi said, has also decided
to seek briefing on the application to the European Commission by India for
registration of GI tag of Basmati Rice and the steps taken by the government of
Pakistan in this regard. Pakistan has already decided to give a befitting reply
to India’s claim of Geographical Indication (GI) tag to Basmati Rice in the
European Union (EU) and it will file its opposition in the EU. India has
recently applied for an exclusive GI tag to Basmati rice in the EU. As per the
Indian application, basmati is special long grain aromatic rice grown and
produced in a particular geographical region of the Indian sub-continent. In
India, this region is a part of northern India, below the foothills of the
Himalayas forming part of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). The special characteristics
of basmati are its long slender kernels with a high length to breadth ratio, an
exquisite aroma, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature, intermediate
amylase content, high integrity of grain on cooking, and linear kernel
elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking. Further, India has
claimed that basmati is grown and produced in all districts of the states of
Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, as well as in specific
districts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. India has also
referred other reports to show that the basmati rice is of Indian origin
without mentioning that the same is produced in Pakistan.
Other items on the agenda pertain to the import
of Iranian apples and the import of onions and tomatoes from neighbouring
countries. Senator Mirza Afridi said that the committee is making sincere efforts
to protect the local farmers and producers. “An effective mechanism would be
evolved to boost economy and promote healthy trade environment”, Mirza Afridi
hoped
Rice Exporters Association Of
Pakistan Calls For Reducing Shipping Charges
Wed 14th October
2020 | 07:16 PM
Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan (REAP) has shown their concern over the sudden increase
in charges by shipping companies and called for reducing these charges
KARACHI, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Oct, 2020 )
:Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) has shown their concern over the
sudden increase in charges by shipping companies and called for reducing these
charges.
According to a press release, the increase in shipping charges had
become difficult for rice exporters to compete in the international market.
The association urged the government to intervene and provide relief to the
rice export sector --which is second largest foreign exchange earner.
Webinar by TDAP on issues being faced by rice
exporters in Kenya
October
15, 2020
KARACHI
-Trade Development Authority of Pakistan in collaboration with High Commission
of Pakistan at Kenya organised a webinar on issues being faced by rice
exporters in Kenya. Leading exporters of rice to Kenya attended the webinar
from all over Pakistan.
Kenya is the third largest export market of
Pakistan after China and UAE however our exports are declining from US$ 229.4
million in 2017 to US$ 188 million in 2019.The objective of the webinar was to
discuss issues exporters are facing in exports of rice to Kenya with our High
Commission at Kenya so that they will take up the same with Kenyan authorities
for its resolution.
During the webinar, Convener of REAP committee
on Rice informed that there is a substantial decrease in exports of rice from
Pakistan to Kenya due to the increase in the imports of rice by Kenya from
Tanzania at zero duty as both the countries are member of East Africa Community
club. Pakistani exporters are facing tough competition as the tariff rate on
Pakistan’s rice is 35% or US$ 200 per metric ton (whichever is higher) due to
which our rice become expensive. He requested our High Commissioner to take up
this matter from Kenyan government.
Chairman REAP in his remarks appreciated TDAP
efforts of organizing such interactive sessions/webinar.
COLOMBO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri
Lanka's cabinet of ministers has agreed to import 6,000 metric tonnes of
basmati rice annually from Pakistan, under the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade
Agreement, local media reported here Thursday.
Cabinet Spokesperson Ramesh
Pathirana was quoted by media reports as saying that following a proposal made
by Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardena, the cabinet had approved the State
Trading Corporation (STC) and Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) to
import the rice annually.
Pathirana said complaints had
been received regarding various irregularities in the importation of rice and
the idea was to import basmati rice for those who seek it, thereby reducing the
competition for local rice variants.
Imports of rice in Sri Lanka are
usually limited to small quantities, especially rice such as Basmati, officials
have said. Enditem
Farmers, LSU AgCenter agents assessing crops in Hurricane
Delta’s aftermath
Brothers Philip and Paul Zaunbrecher, left to right,
examine damage to a mature rice field near Rayne. Rice ready to be harvested
was stripped from the heads by Hurricane Delta, and rice in the grain-filling
stage was damaged by the winds. (Source: Bruce Schultz/LSU AgCenter)
By Bruce Schultz|October 14, 2020 at
11:40 AM CDT - Updated October 14 at 11:40 AM
LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) -
Hurricane Delta cut a similar path through Louisiana as Hurricane Laura, with
many crops still in the field affected by the second major storm to hit the
state in six weeks.
Jeremy Hebert, LSU AgCenter agent
in Acadia Parish, said a few farmers had damaged bins. He said some rice fields
ready for second-crop harvest are flooded, and some fields have lodged rice.
Many farmers are reporting rice being knocked off the panicles.
Farmer Paul Johnson, of Bell
City, said Hurricane Delta’s winds shredded his 1,700 acres of second-crop
rice.
“It stripped a lot of rice off
the heads,” Johnson said.
He estimates his yields have been
reduced by half, and he said the remaining rice could be flooded.
“The water is still rising down
here,” Johnson said. “It’s getting deep, and I’m sure some rice is going
underwater.”
Johnson said he didn’t have
electricity for his rice in storage, but he said the rice kept in bins is in
good shape. He still has repair work in progress from damage caused by
Hurricane Laura. “We’re in reasonably good shape.”
Johnson said he has talked with
other farmers in his area who are worse off than him.
“Some say they have a total
loss,” Johnson said. “A lot of people were counting on that second crop.”
Rice farmer Paul Zaunbrecher, of
Rayne, said rice in the grain-filling stage was beaten badly by the rain, and
that is likely to affect yields.
“Rice that was getting ripe got
shredded badly,” he said. “Probably 25% of it came off.”
Rice knocked off the plants could
be found sprouting on the moist soil.
St. Landry Parish farmer Jeffrey
Sylvester said he has 200 acres of first-crop rice. The wind knocked about half
of that rice off the plants, and those fields were flooded.
He also has 250 acres of soybeans
to harvest, but heavy rains flooded his fields. The bean pods were underwater
for about a day, but he plans to harvest the crop in a few days.
“I’ve got all the water off the
beans,” he said Tuesday.
He said he was planning to cut a
second crop of rice on earlier harvested fields, but now that’s not going to
happen. “That wind just destroyed the rice.”
Sylvester was upbeat about his
situation, recalling how much of his crops were ruined by flooding in previous
years.
“I’m not going to complain,” he
said. “I’ve still got a crop.”
A horse is surrounded by water Saturday near Lecompte
in Rapides Parish, where floodwaters inundated fields. Most of the crops had
already been harvested, but much of the sugarcane crop remains to be cut. The
mosquito population in the area was high after the pests were brought north by
Hurricane Laura. (Source: Bruce Schultz/LSU AgCenter)
In north Louisiana, farmers were
in the middle of harvesting their first crop. Delta brought 10 inches of rain
on rice that didn’t need more water, said Keith Collins, AgCenter agent in
Richland Parish.
“This rice has been through a
hurricane and two tropical storms,” Collins said. “Most of the rice was already
laying down.”
He said floods covered much of
the downed rice.
The effects won’t be known until
harvest, he said, but the adverse weather will have an effect, Collins said. “I
feel certain it’s going to cause quality problems and a hit to the yield.”
He said some cotton fields had
flooded, and the water could cause quality problems, especially if the seed
rots in the lint.
Almost all of the soybeans in the
area were harvested before Delta, he said, but any remaining beans are likely
to have quality problems too.
Blair Hebert, an AgCenter agent
based in Iberia Parish, said sugarcane appears to have some damage, and he
wondered if the cumulative effect of stress from Laura and now Delta will
affect the harvest results.
Hebert said the tops of the cane
plants don’t appear to be broken, and the plants have had time to grow more
erect after being knocked down by Laura.
Kenneth Gravois, AgCenter
sugarcane specialist, said the largest effect of hurricane season for Louisiana
farmers and millers will be the factory delays due to weather and issues with
newly planted cane.
“Many of the same areas affected
by Laura were affected by Delta,” Gravois said. “Newly planted fields had
already suffered stand loss from Hurricane Laura and were flooded again.
Standing mature cane for harvest in these areas is more resilient.”
Howard Blanchard checks on sugarcane in a field near
the coast in St. Mary Parish. Hurricane Delta’s surge flooded the field, but it
had drained by Monday, allowing the Blanchards to resume harvest. (Source:
Bruce Schultz/LSU AgCenter)
Sugarcane farmer Harvey Blanchard
said his crop in the Louisa area in St. Mary Parish was flooded with saltwater,
but by Monday, the water had drained, and harvest resumed after combines and
tractors were back in the low-lying fields.
His brother, Howard, said the
harvest was off to a good start before Delta hit. “The yields were good, and
the sugar was good.”
Howard said the fields have been
flooded several times, but yields don’t seem to be affected.
Vince Deshotel, AgCenter regional
livestock specialist, said much of the hay had already been baled, but some
probably was damaged by flooding. He said the storm interrupted fall pasture
planting, and it’s likely that some replanting will be needed.
Feels like home: This slow-cooked chicken
humba transports you to the Philippines
·
This slow-cooked dish has
hallmark Filipino flavours while paying tribute to Will Mahusay’s Chinese
roots. (
Will Mahusay, the owner of Sydney's Cebu Lechon, is
reminded of his Filipino grandmother every time he makes this dish.
By
Pilar
Mitchell
7 OCT 2020 - 10:09 PM
UPDATED 7 OCT 2020 - 10:09 PM
What motivated four-year-old Will Mahusay to visit the Carbon wet markets in
the Philippines' Cebu City with his paternal grandma, Amah? It wasn’t the
colourful stalls selling fresh meat, seafood and greens, nor was it the chance
to spend time one-on-one with Amah.
“I knew when I went she would buy me lollies. I’ve always had a
sweet tooth,” says Mahusay, who currently runs Sydney Cebu Lechon in Sydney's Newtown.
But if lollies were the impetus, it didn’t stay that way. Soon,
Mahusay began looking forward to the daily outings.
“I got really close to my grandma, and years of going to the
markets with her helped developed my love for food. She would buy everything
fresh from the markets every day, and then put out a huge spread at home.”
Mahusay’s Amah and Angkong (grandpa) arrived in Cebu during
the Second Sino-Japanese War,
having escaped the Japanese occupation of their province of Fujian in southern
China. They came with two sons, and left behind two daughters.
Amah and Angkong surrounded by their
children.
Source: Will Mahusay
“They fled their home town and a boat took them to the
Philippines. When they were established, they had my dad. He was born in Cebu.”
Amah mastered Filipino cooking, but her repertoire still
included ingredients and recipes from her native China. For example, humba, a
slow-cooked pork or chicken adobo dish, has the hallmark Filipino flavours of
garlic and vinegar alongside star anise and fermented black beans.
“I remember the aroma of five-spice [powder] all around the
house. It was very strong because the humba was slow-cooked, so this punchy
aroma would be channelled all through the house,” he says.
Will Mahusay prepping food for Sydney
Cebu Lechon.
“Eating at our house it was like at yum cha: there was a lazy
Susan in the middle of a round table and we would have multiple dishes like
fried rice with lap cheong (Chinese sausage), and broths with herbal roots that
had medicinal properties.”
For the first 10 years of his life, Mahusay didn’t have much
exposure to his mum’s Filipino family as most of them had migrated to
Australia. Then in 1987, Will joined them when he moved to Sydney with his
siblings and parents. Ironically, it was the act of leaving the Philippines
that connected him with his Filipino heritage and family.
“Eating at our house it was like at yum cha: there was a lazy
Susan in the middle of a round table and we would have multiple dishes."
“My mum’s family is huge. Between my first cousins, aunties and
uncles, there are 190 of us here in Sydney. I remember my Lola (maternal
grandma) would cook up a storm for gatherings on Saturdays or Sundays. She was
like a one-woman machine, cutting veggies and preparing meat. She would make
her famous biko (caramelised sticky rice), adobo, dinuguan (offal stew), paksiw
na baboy (pork stew with vinegar). I don’t know how she did it all.”
Although they lived surrounded by family in a Filipino community
in Sydney’s west, Mahusay’s parents often missed the life they led in Cebu.
“My mum spent 30 years living in Cebu. She was bound to get
homesick. And my dad was in a tougher situation – he had no family here,” he
says.
“To ease their homesickness, they began cooking Cebu lechon, a
Cebu-style whole roast suckling pig for family gatherings. The roast became so
well known in the community, people began to request it for their events.”
The resulting business, Sydney Cebu Lechon, became a weekend
project for Mahusay’s parents. As an adult, he took it on full time and opened
an eatery. He could have opened Cebu Lechon in a “safe” suburb like Blacktown,
where the Filipino community is large and the customer base would be familiar
with the cuisine, but instead, he chose Newtown.
“If I opened in Blacktown, my restaurant could have been a dime
a dozen. I thought why not take a risk? I knew I would stand out if I was the
only Filipino eatery in Newtown, and that would help me promote Filipino
cuisine in non-Filipino communities.”
The restaurant menu is deliberately limited to a handful of
delicious dishes, among them Amah’s humba as a way to pay homage to his
formative years growing up in Cebu. Amah passed away in 1990, but every time he
goes back to Cebu, Mahusay visits the same market he and Amah frequented 40
years ago.
“When I walk through there, I have so many memories. The
environment hasn’t changed. There are new stallholders, but the smell, the
layout, it’s what I recall every time I cook humba. It sends me back to my
childhood years and I think of my grandma bringing home the ingredients to cook
the dish.”
Love the story? Follow the author here: Instagram @cultofclothes.
Will Mahusay’s chicken humba (braised soy
chicken)
Serves 2-3
This is the restaurateur's interpretation of his grandma's
recipe and omits the five-spice powder and fermented black beans.
Ingredients
·2 tbsp canola oil
·1 red or brown onion, cut into wedges
·150 g crushed
garlic
·5 star anise pieces
·3 bay leaves
·200 ml hot
water
·125 ml cane vinegar
(you can substitute with white vinegar if not available)
·80 ml dark soy sauce
·10 chicken drumette pieces (free-range chicken is
recommended)
LAHORE: Rice exporters on Wednesday urged the government to
operate low-cost shipping service en-route to China, a major consumer of
Pakistani rice, as high fright charges by private companies made it challenging
and costly for them to meet export orders this year.
Rice exporters have made deals with Chinese buyers on good rates,
which need to be completed during October to December.
“However, shipping companies suddenly increased container charges
by almost three times,” said a spokesman of the Rice Exporters Association of
Pakistan (Reap).
Exporters demanded of the government to operate ships of Pakistan
National Shipping Corporation on China route as they face abnormally high
freight rates and shortage of containers.
Amid some progress in rice export, traders said high cost of
shipping consignments and non-availability of containers are posing a serious
challenge to the outbound shipments.
“Abrupt and steep rise in freight cost and non-availability of
containers create an uncertain and risky environment, which will make it hard
for exporters to meet delivery commitments of foreign buyers,” said the
spokesman.
Rice exports grew 5.1 percent during the last fiscal year of
2019/20. About 4.2 million tons of rice worth $2.2 billion was exported during
the year, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The country earned $791 million by exporting about 890,207 tons of
basmati rice as against exports of 659,571 tons valuing $635 million a year
earlier. Besides, 3.3 million tons of non-basmati rice worth $1.4 billion was
also exported during the last fiscal year as against the exports of 3.5 tons
valuing $1.4 billion.
“Exporters will not be able to compete in international markets
and as they are afraid of cancellation of export orders, which ultimately
result in loss of huge foreign exchange to our country,” said the Reap spokesman.
The association asked the minister for maritime affairs in
particular and government in general to take notice and intervene in the matter
and play their vital role for the relief of rice export sector, which is the
second largest source of foreign exchange earner.
The spokesperson said the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation
should operate ships on Chinese route to enable “us to finalise shipments on
time”.
An upswing in rice exports have been seen in recent years due to
multiple factors. And most importantly, this trend is likely to continue in
near future at least. Demand of Pakistani coarse and fine rice varieties have
particularly sown upward trend from regional countries like China, Iran and Sri
Lanka lately.
Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers recently approved a proposal to
import 6,000 tons of basmati rice annually under the provision of the
Pakistan-Sri Lanka free trade agreement.
Reap said the government should also explore other opportunities,
including growth in demand in Iran.
Depleting
balance in rupee-rial account chokes export of basmati rice, tea to Iran
Shobha Roy Kolkata | Updated
on October 14, 2020 Published
on October 14, 2020
Payments
worth ₹2,000 cr to
basmati rice exporters stuck, say industry insiders
Export of basmati rice and tea is likely to be severely impacted
this year due to issues with Iran which is one of the major importers of the
two commodities. Delayed payments from Iran on the back of the “depleting
balance” in the rupee-rial trade account is the problem.
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Bacterial blight can reduce rice yields by up to 70 percent,
with the heaviest losses typically experienced by smallholder rice growers in
low and middle-income countries. The Healthy Crops team, with support from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have used gene tools to develop new
varieties of disease-resistant rice that regulators in the United States and
Colombia have determined are equivalent to what could be accomplished with
conventional breeding. This has a profound impact on farmer productivity and
economic mobility. The Healthy Crops team turned to gene editing to develop
disease-resistant rice varieties as a way to provide farmers with a safe, affordable,
and effective solution.
“We first set about to understand the gene the bacteria use to
make the plant vulnerable to its disease,” said Bing Yang, PhD, a researcher
with the University of Missouri Bond Life Sciences Center professor, Division
of Plant Sciences and member, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St.
Louis. “We then used our CRISPR technology precisely
to remove the element in the gene to avoid the pathway the pathogen takes that
makes the plants susceptible to blight.”
The team used gene editing to create rice lines in elite
varieties that are comparable to naturally occurring variants. These lines can
resist infection by bacterial leaf blight, which leads to major losses for one
of the world’s most important food crops. The rulings from the United States
Department of Agriculture and the corresponding authority in Colombia, the
Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA), clear the way for field tests to
select the best material for distribution to breeders in the U.S. and Colombia.
The improvements were accomplished via gene editing, which did
not introduce any DNA into the plants and focused on “promoter regions” in
three genes that are targeted by the causative agent of rice blight, the
bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae.
The research was described in an article in Nature
Biotechnology in 2019.
In the wake of the ruling from U.S. and Colombian officials, the
new blight-resistant varieties can now be used to introduce the resistance
trait into many different types of rice via standard breeding strategies.
Additional testing and breeding work is expected to take place in multiple
locations that are favorable for growing tropical rice varieties.
“It’s exciting to use science and technology to do to help
farmers protect and improve their rice production,” Yang said. “We hope to work
closely with the local institutions in the next phase to introduce these into
the varieties of rice small farmers use.”
The Healthy Crops Team’s goal is to ensure disease-resistant
rice varieties are accessible and affordable, especially for smallholder
farmers who depend on rice production to support their families.
Nigeria Now Africa’s Largest Rice Producer – Fed Govt
Nigeria is now the largest
producer of rice in Africa, the Federal Government said on Tuesday.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Sabo Nanono, said this in Abuja at an event to mark the 2020 World
Food Day, celebrated annually on October 16.
Nanono said, “Significant
progress has been made to improve agricultural productivity since the inception
of the present administration.
“To boost food security, Nigeria
has curbed imports and has established a robust rice production programme to
encourage more rice production at home.
“Efforts in this direction are
starting to show results as Nigeria is now Africa’s largest producer of rice.
The country is also the largest producer of cassava in the world.”
The minister said a range of
policies and initiatives to strengthen the rice and cassava value chains had
been put in place.
According to him, the economic
potential of both livestock and fisheries are also being harnessed.
Nanono stated that in an attempt
to diversify the economy, the Federal Government had continued with its focus
on the agricultural sector.
“The government has deepened the
culture with the Anchor Borrowers Programme initiative and ban on the importation
of some agro-commodities,” he said.
The minister further stated that
the Federal Government through the Agro Processing Productivity Enhancement and
Livelihood Improvement Support project had set aside N600bn as loan support to
farmers across the country.
He said no fewer than 2.4 million
farmers were expected to benefit from the loan which had zero interest.
ISLAMABAD-Considering
trade policy an important aspect in the promotion of trade activities at local
and global level, the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce has sought a
detailed briefing from the ministry of commerce on Trade Policy besides the
E-Commerce policy.
The Committee is going to meet on 16th October,
2020 at the Parliament House. Chairman of the Committee Senator Mirza Muhammad
Afridi observed that the committee is focused on formulating recommendations to
promote trade and commerce local, regional and globally.
The government has delayed the announcement of
much-delayed Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF), which was supposed to be
unveiled in 2018 when previous policy had expired. The incumbent government
wanted to increase the country’s exports in next five years by giving
incentives to exporters. Under the proposed STPF, the government has estimated
to enhance the exports to $26 billion in next fiscal year from estimated $23
billion of the ongoing fiscal year. It has been planned that exports would be
further increased to $31 billion in 2021-22, $35 billion in 2022-23, $40
billion in 2023-24 and $46 billion in 2024-25.
The Committee, Senator Afridi said, has also
decided to seek briefing on the application to the European Commission by India
for registration of GI tag of Basmati Rice and the steps taken by the
government of Pakistan in this regard. Pakistan has already decided to give a
befitting reply to India’s claim of Geographical Indication (GI) tag to Basmati
Rice in the European Union (EU) and it will file its opposition in the EU.
India has recently applied for an exclusive GI tag to Basmati rice in the EU.
As per the Indian application, basmati is special long grain aromatic rice
grown and produced in a particular geographical region of the Indian
sub-continent. In India, this region is a part of northern India, below the foothills
of the Himalayas forming part of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). The special
characteristics of basmati are its long slender kernels with a high length to
breadth ratio, an exquisite aroma, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate
curvature, intermediate amylase content, high integrity of grain on cooking,
and linear kernel elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking.
Further, India has claimed that basmati is grown and produced in all districts
of the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, as well
as in specific districts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
India has also referred other reports to show that the basmati rice is of
Indian origin without mentioning that the same is produced in Pakistan.
Rice to be imported if needed: agriculture minister
03:22 PM, October 15, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:37 PM, October 15,
2020
Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque. File
photo
UNB, Dhaka
Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad
Abdur Razzaque today said rice might be imported from neighbouring countries,
if required, to tackle any possible food crisis.
"I think there'll be no
shortage of food in the country but if needed, 5-6 metric tons of rice might be
imported from neighbouring countries," he said while speaking at a press
briefing held at the Secretariat.
Besides, he said, the government
has approved the import of rice in principle.
"We're waiting for Aman paddy.
Hope, there'll be no crisis. If we see that the rice price is increasing, then
we'll import it but no decision has been taken yet in this regard," he said.
Replying to a question about the
ministry's step to control the rice and potato markets, Razzaque said the
production of Boro paddy was good last season and the farmers also got fair
prices.
"We had set a target to bring
two lakh hectares of land under Aush cultivation and we've achieved it, though
paddy fields have been damaged due to the recent flood situation. But
uncertainty looms over Aman paddy as it couldn't be cultivated in low-lying
areas due to stagnant water while a vast tract of Aman paddy field was damaged
by flashfloods," he said.
Rice production rises to 38.70mmt in FY 2020-21: Minister
File photo used for representational purpose.
FE ONLINE REPORT |
Published: October 15, 2020 15:30:28|
Updated: October 15, 2020 20:17:33
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque on
Thursday said the production of rice has increased to about 38.70 million
metric tonnes in this financial year 2020-21.
As a result of the government’s initiatives, Bangladesh has
continued its food production despite the extreme adverse conditions of the
Covid-19 pandemic and natural disasters such as cyclones and floods.
The minister came up with the remarks at a press conference,
organised on occasion of the World Food Day 2020, at the Bangladesh secretariat
in Dhaka.
The World Food Day 2020 will be observed on Friday in the country
and elsewhere in the world.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations (UN) jointly will organise different programmes on
occasion of the World Food Day 2020 across the country.
The theme of this year is “Grow, Nourish, Sustain, Together. Our
actions are our future”.
He also said that boro paddy seeds will be subsidised at the rate
of Tk 10 per kg to increase production in the coming boro season.
The Agriculture Minister said nutrition gardens have been set up
in 140,387 families in 4,397 unions of the country at a cost of Tk 363.70
million (36.37 crore) to ensure family nutrition security by bringing every
inch of land under cultivation.
Besides, 100 new family gardens are being set up in each union to
mark Mujib Borsho (Mujib Year), he mentioned.
Thou Vireak | Publication date 14 October 2020 |
22:09 ICT
Share A farmer harvests paddy rice in Kampot’s Kampong Trach district
in 2019. The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has called on its member rice
millers to buy paddy from farmers in flood-affected areas at sensible prices
following the recent deluges. Hong Menea
The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has called on its member rice
millers to buy paddy from farmers in flood-affected areas at sensible prices
following the recent deluges.
The plea comes after a series of flash floods inundated several
hectares of paddy fields across the Kingdom over the past week, with
Battambang, Pursat and Banteay Meanchey provinces being particularly badly hit.
The CRF noted in a press release that the dramatic increase in
floods in the Kingdom’s central lowlands region has led to significant damages
to paddy fields and disruptions of logistics and transportation chains.
It said: “The CRF would like to ask member rice millers based
near [affected] fields to help buy as much flooded paddy from farmers as
possible at reasonable prices.”
Eang Heang, the owner of Eang Heang Rice Mill in Battambang
province’s eastern Sangke district, told The Post that he has purchased more
than 10,000 tonnes of paddy from farmers at an average price of between 950 and
1,000 riel ($0.23 and $0.24) per kg and will continue to do so for the
foreseeable future.
He said: “I’ve been buying their paddy every day from even
before the floods hit. I constantly recommended them to harvest their crop and
sell it immediately, and not store it for a couple of days as that could quite
well harm its quality.”
The Thorn Chea Rice Mill in Tbong Khmum province’s southwestern
O’Reang-ou district also vowed to buy the affected paddy for the time being, in
a move that its owner claimed would help stabilise the crop’s price.
Pann Chantrea said she has bought 200 tonnes of the flooded
paddy daily for more than a week, noting that most of it was shipped by
Pursat-based farmers.
She said: “I’m buying up all of the flooded paddy as long as it
is available at a base price of 950 riel per kg. I’ve got to do this so that
the price of their paddy does not fall.”
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng told The Post on Tuesday that
although the flood situation had eased, the federation continues to call on its
members to purchase affected paddy.
He said: “Bearing in mind that we are nearing the end of the
harvest season for early-maturing rice varieties, paddy remains at some level
of risk. We call on our members to buy paddy to avoid panic among farmers.”
According to the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology,
the Kingdom will continue to experience scattered rains resulting from Saudel –
the 17th typhoon of the year – and Tropical Storm Nangka, which are forecast to
make landfall in the Kingdom at the weekend.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Floods brought
by heavy rains and overflowing rivers across large swathes of western and
southern India have killed at least 60 people since Wednesday and damaged rice,
cotton and other crops worth billions of rupees, officials said.
The worst affected state was
Telangana, where excessive unseasonal rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday
flooded its capital Hyderabad, home to major companies and startups such as
Microsoft, Accenture, Amazon and TCS
The rains damaged crops worth at
least 20 billion Indian rupees ($272.16 million), the state Chief Minister’s
office said in a statement late on Thursday.
In Telangana 50 people died,
while in the neighbouring western state of Maharashtra 10 people were killed
because of wall collapses, electrocution and drowning in overflowing streams,
officials from the two states said on Thursday.
Authorities in Hyderabad declared
a holiday on Thursday and asked residents to stay indoors.
Daily life has been disrupted in
Hyderabad as many parts of the city lost power in the flooding.
Residents posted pictures on
Twitter of floating cars, waterlogged homes, offices and streets.
A few districts in Maharashtra
state received more than 100 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours and the state,
including its capital Mumbai, is likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall
on Thursday and Friday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its
daily forecast.
The rains have damaged rice
paddies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, while cotton, soybean and pulses were
damaged in Maharashtra and Karnataka, traders said.
“Soybean, pigeon peas and black
matpe crops have been damaged just before harvesting. The quality of the
harvested crop has also deteriorated,” said Nitin Kalantri, a trader from
Latur, in Maharashtra.
Telangana and Maharashtra have so
far in October received 143% and 78% more rainfall than normal respectively,
according to data compiled by IMD.
($1 = 73.4850 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by
Sanjeev Miglani, Susan Fenton and Alexandra Hudson
10000 evacuated in Cambodia due to flooding rice crop
Buddhist monks
walk through a flooded pagoda following recent rains on the outskirts of Phnom
Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. A Cambodian disaster official said
Wednesday that more than 10,000 people have been evacuated to safety places
after a tropical storm hit the country, causing the flash flood. Photo: Heng
Sinith, AP / Copyright 2020 The Associated Press.
10,000 evacuated in Cambodia due to flooding; rice
crop hit
More
than 10,000 people have been evacuated in Cambodia after a tropical storm
triggered flash floods, an official said Wednesday.
Seasonal
rains made worse by the storm caused flooding in 19 of the country’s 25 provinces,
affecting 140,000 people in all, said Khun Sokha, a spokesman for the National
Committee for Disaster Management.
The
flooding also destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of rice, he said. The
capital, Phnom Penh, was not badly hit, though police moved more than 500
families in a southern part of the city to safer ground.
(Repeats story first published on Thursday
with no changes to text)
* Thai rice quoted at
$445-$480/tonne vs $470-$475 last week
* Philippines to buy 300,000
tonne of Vietnamese rice- trader
* Rains to delay harvesting,
lower output in India- exporter
* Heavy rains damage ripening
rice paddy in Bangladesh
Oct 15 (Reuters) - Vietnamese
rice export prices rose this week on prospects of a new order from the
Philippines, while weaker demand pushed down rates of the Thai variety for a
seventh straight week.
Vietnam's 5% broken
rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 prices rose to $485-$490 per tonne versus last
week's $470.
“Domestic rice prices have risen
recently as traders are buying in anticipation of a move by the Philippines
government to buy 300,000 tonnes soon,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City
said.
However, weaker demand kept
trading relatively muted this week, another trader said.
The country’s rice exports in
September fell 36.4% from the previous month to 385,429 tonnes, government data
showed. For the January-September period, it fell 1.4% year-on-year to 4.99
million tonnes.
Thailand's benchmark 5% broken
rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices fell for a seventh straight week to
$445-$480 a tonne from $470-$475 last week.
Traders in Bangkok attributed the
decline mainly to a sustained period of low demand, while they expected new
supply towards the end of the month to further weigh on the market.
Top exporter India's 5% broken
parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1 rates remained unchanged at $376-$382
per tonne, even as heavy rainfall in southern states hit the paddy crop primed
for harvest.
“In many coastal districts, paddy
crop has been damaged. This is set to delay harvesting by a few weeks and could
lower production as well,” said an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern
state of Andhra Pradesh.
Heavy rains also damaged paddy in
neighboring Bangladesh, agriculture officials said, adding it was a little
early to know the exact extent of crop losses in the country, where prices of
the staple grain keep rising.
While market insiders have said
the government needs to start importing rice without any delay, a decision on
that was still pending, according to food ministry officials.
Reporting by Sumita Layek in Bengaluru, Khanh Vu in Hanoi,
Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, and Patpicha Tanakasempipat in
Bangkok; Editing by Arpan Varghese and Amy Caren Daniel
INDONESIA'S 2020 UNHUSKED RICE OUTPUT
ESTIMATED AT 55.16 MLN T -STATS BUREAU
10/14/2020
JAKARTA, Oct 15 (Reuters) -
Indonesia's unhusked rice output in 2020 was estimated at 55.16 million tonnes,
the country's statistics bureau (BPS) said on Thursday, up slightly from 2019
output of 54.6 million tonnes.
Over January-September, Indonesia
produced 45.45 million tonnes, and 9.71 million tonnes are expected in
October-December, although BPS warned there could be risks to the harvest from
heavier rains due to the La Nina weather pattern.
The Southeast Asian country's total
area planted in rice is expected to be around 10.79 million hectares (26.66
million acres) in 2020, compared to 10.68 million hectares last year.
(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy and Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Tom Hogue)
Illustration - Workers pack rice
at the National Logistics Board (Bulog) warehouse in Lebak, Banten province.
(ANTARA FOTO/Muhamamd Bagus Khoirunas/agr/aww)
Rice consumption can be reduced in case the government intervenes.
Without the intervention, the per capita rice consumption will reach 91.2
kilograms per year.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Agriculture Ministry has set
itself the target of lowering national per capita rice consumption by 7 percent
to 85 kilograms by 2024.
Rice consumption will be reduced by 1.77 million tons, worth Rp17.78 trillion,
secretary of the Food Security Board of the Agriculture Ministry, Riwantoro,
said here on Wednesday.
“Rice consumption can be reduced in case the government intervenes. Without the
intervention, the per capita rice consumption will reach 91.2 kilograms per
year," he said during a discussion with the Agriculture Journalists Forum
(Forwatan) here.
The per capita rice consumption is projected to reach an average of 92.9
kilograms in 2020 compared to 94.9 kilogram a year earlier, he said.
“We are targeting to lower rice consumption. In contract, the consumption of
other local foods will increase. The opportunity for (food) diversification is
wide open, since the public wants to lead a healthy life, and that is a
business opportunity for small and medium businesses,” he added.
He said the Food Security Board has medium- and long-term strategies to realize
food diversification.
The food diversification is aimed at anticipating the food crisis, providing
alternative food, encouraging local economy, and creating healthy human resources
to reduce dependence on rice consumption, he elaborated.
Currently, each province is focusing on producing local food other than rice,
he said adding, there are six food commodities which can serve as substitutes
for rice, namely, cassava, corn, sago, banana, potato, and sorghum.
Meanwhile, chief of the Economics Department of IPB University, Dr. Sahara,
said the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the right momentum to accelerate the
food diversification program.
“Therefore, the food pattern must be changed, and rice is not the only
carbohydrate source. So far, the government has been focusing more on
developing rice (farming). In fact, Indonesia is endowed with abundant food
varieties,” he said.
Indonesia now has 77 kinds of carbohydrate-rich foods, 75 kinds of protein-rich
foods, 110 kinds of spices and seasoning, 389 kinds of fruits, 226 kinds of
vegetables, 26 kinds of legumes, and 40 kinds of beverage materials, he
added.
Imports fall 19.6%; trade deficit shrinks to
$2.72 billion
Sectors such as readymade garments, drugs and
pharmaceuticals, iron ore, rice, cereals, carpets and engineering goods pulled
up the country’s total goods exports in September by 5.99 per cent
(year-on-year) to $27.58 billion following a six-month continuous decline in
shipments due to Covid-19 disruptions, as per quick estimates released by the
Commerce & Industry Ministry on Thursday.
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Imports during the month, however, declined
19.6 per cent to $30.31 billion shrinking the trade deficit by 76.66 per cent
to $2.72 billion compared to $11.67 billion in September 2019.
The numbers announced by the Commerce &
Industry Ministry are in line with the September trade data shared by Commerce
& Industry Minister Piyush Goyal earlier this month based on preliminary
data compiled by the government.
Some relief
Some exporters point out that while the
reversal in trend for exports in September is a matter of relief, the
challenges in external trade would continue given the present state of global
health emergency and its economic impact on the major economies. “Engineering
exports too have shown a positive trend of 5.44 per cent for September,
although the major turnaround has come about thanks to a sharp increase in
pharma exports, for understandable reasons,” said Mahesh Desai, Chairman, EEPC.
Exporters body FIEO said the export growth in
September reflected the improved world trade projection of the World Trade
Organization and provided hope, but reduced imports was a concern. “Reduction
in import of precious metals including gold, silver, pearls, precious and
semi-precious stones along with leather used as raw material for gems and
jewellery and leather & leather product exports during the month does not
augur well for these major labour-intensive sectors of exports,” FIEO stated.
Imports of transport equipment, machinery,
petroleum products, pearls and precious and semi-precious stones and chemicals
posted a steep decline in September.
Major commodities that registered a fall in
exports during the month include cashew, gems & jewellery, man-made yarn,
mica, coal& other ores, minerals including processed minerals, marine
products, leather, tea and fruits & vegetables, as per the data.
Total exports down in H1
Total exports for April-September 2020-21 were
21.31 per cent lower at $125.25 billion compared to the same period last
fiscal. Imports in April-September 2020-21 were 40.06 per cent lower at $148.69
billion compared to April-September 2019-20.
Trade deficit in April-September 2020-21 was
$23.44 billion which was almost a fourth of $88.92 billion in the comparable
period last year.
NFA-Western Visayas buys palay at higher price from
rice farmers
October
15, 2020
TO
ADDRESS the drop in farmgate price of palay in some areas in Western Visayas,
the National Food Authority (NFA) in Western Visayas has pegged its buying
price at a higher price.
NFA-Western Visayas has ramped up the purchase of palay (paddy rice) from
farmers at P19 per kilogram of dry palay with 14 percent moisture as the buying
price of rice dropped to P10 per kilo in some areas in Western Visayas.
To provide easier access to the rice farmers, NFA-Western Visayas has
established 27 palay buying stations and warehouses. This move would help boost
the government’s purchase of the staple grain from the farmers in the region.
“Our farmers can count on the Duterte administration’s all-out support to the
rice sector and its crucial role in our local food production,” said Secretary
Michael Lloyd Dino, presidential assistant for the Visayas.
According to Secretary Dino, NFA’s procurement of the palay also aims to
provide rice farmers the right compensation for their labor and high production
costs
The
government, through the NFA, is on an aggressive procurement drive to help
stabilize the price of palay during this peak harvest season, he added.
Dino also called on local farmers to sell their produce to the agency to help
build up adequate buffer stocks amid the Covid-19 crisis.
“We can no longer downplay the importance of producing our own food, that’s why
the government is making sure that our local farmers are being compensated well
for their produce,” he said.
During the Laging Handa Network Briefing News, Assistant Secretary Anthony
Gerard "Jonji" Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant
for the Visayas also reported that local government units (LGUs) in the region
are also providing support to the rice farmers.
“They are offering transport vehicles to farmers so the latter could bring
their harvested palay to NFA warehouses,” he said.
LGUs also initiated programs to help facilitate continuous and smooth
procurement transactions with the NFA
.
“The agency has purchased one million bags of palay in 2019, which helped the
relief operations of the government agencies when the lockdown was implemented
due to the pandemic,” Gonzales said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development is buying NFA rice for only
P1,250 per bag, which is lower than the commercial rice.
With enough rice buffer stock from the 2019 procurement, Gonzales said the
NFA-Western Visayas was able to supplement the rice shortage in the Central and
Eastern Visayas regions.
NFA-Western Visayas will also be sending rice supplies next month to Tawi-Tawi,
Basilan and Jolo in Mindanao to augment their rice supply.
The Guimaras provincial government had spent P500,000 for the provision of P1
per kilogram price support to NFA procurement this harvest season. Guimaras
will be allocating another P1.5-million to reinforce palay purchases starting
January 2021.
Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental rice farmers can dry their fresh palay for
free at the government Rice Processing Center in Bago City.
Also, since October 2019, the Mangunguma Sapnayon: Palay Price Support Program
of the Iloilo provincial government had released P56-million in agriculture
loans to 11 farmers’ cooperatives engaged in palay trading.
“Western Visayas has ranked second to Cagayan Valley Region in terms of NFA
palay procurement in September,” Gonzales noted.
NFA-Western Visayas bought a total of 369,478 bags of palay, which is more than
180 percent of their target for the month of September.
When the harvest season started in September, farmers in Aklan were able to
sell 23,376 bags to NFA; 20,987 bags in Antique; 63,268 bags in Capiz; 241,815
bags in Iloilo and Guimaras; and 20,041 bags in Negros Occidental. (PR)
The
Department of Agriculture (DA) is eager to get rid of its pro-importation
stance, but admitted that there’s still a need to import food because local
production is still not enough.
“We need to take care of our local
commodity industry. Local production is the priority, and importation is a
policy of last resort,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said during the
opening program of the week-long World Food Day Celebration.
According to the agri chief, the country’s
current food adequacy level is just at 80 percent overall.
For rice, in particular, the present rice
adequacy level is at 86 percent, and the DA wants to grow this to 93 percent.
“Sustainability is key to producing enough.
Although presently we know that in the Philippines, we can only afford to
produce enough of the food we need. The rest have to be brought from other
shores,” Dar said.
Based on the Philippine Statistics
Authority data, from 2016 to 2019, the country’s local food production did not
keep up with the growing population.
Thus, the need to import additional food to
close the gap.
Right now, the DA is implementing a shift
in its food systems policy, which is based on its New Food Security Framework.
The framework aims to increase the
country’s food sufficiency levels; focus on production-to-consumption value
chain; harmonize the food systems with related sectors; address hunger and all
forms of malnutrition; and adopt context-specific policies.
In August, Samahang Industriya ng
Agrikultura (SINAG) Executive Director Jayson Cainglet said that in contrast
with DA’s ‘Plant, Plant, Plant’ program, which was a special mention during
President Rodrigo Duterte’s fifth State of the Nation Address, all the agency
does right now is “plan, plan, plan” and “import, import, import”.
For rice alone, the Philippines is still currently the world’s top
rice importer.
The Government has decided to hand
over the importation of Basmati rice to ‘Sathosa’ and ‘Lak Sathosa’,
Environment Minister Mahinda Amarawera said.
Responding to a question by a
journalist at a press conference at his Ministry yesterday, he said this
decision was taken as there were irregularities in the previous method of
importing Basmati rice.
“The decision to import over 5,000
metric tons of Basmati rice was not new, as it has been done every year. We
don’t produce Basmati rice variety in the country, except for a small quantity
cultivated by a few farmers. However, this rice variety is being used by
tourist hotels and other food processing institutes. To meet this demand,
several importers were assigned to import the necessary stocks previously, but
irregularities such as obtaining commissions had been reported by way of that
process. Accordingly, Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena presented a Cabinet
paper to hand over the importation of Basmati rice to ‘Sathosa’ and ‘Lak
Sathosa’. It is a good move. However, this message was not properly
communicated to the public,” he explained.
He added that certain groups were
criticising the progressive decisions of the incumbent Government led by
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa also giving
false interpretations to them.
Not wishing to use former US President
Clinton’s presidential campaign statement, “It’s the economy, stupid,” an
equally frustrated farmer leader said the solution to our rice crisis is: “It’s
the safeguard, sir!” When President Duterte heard about the farmers suffering
from the low prices due to the 35-percent price tariff, he publicly said twice
that he would stop rice importation. His advisers said this was wrong. The
President then backtracked, and the farmers continued to suffer.
The President should have been told that a
temporary safeguard duty would have lessened the adverse impact on the farmers’
income of subsidized imported rice. This safeguard used by many countries could
have given farmers a chance to compete in a level playing field. This safeguard
is recommended by our own law (Republic Act No. 8800) and the World Trade
Organization.
I am familiar with this measure. For
disclosure, I helped get the cement safeguard as former president of both
Cement Manufacturers’ Association of the Philippines and Asean Federation of
Cement Manufacturers. Getting the rice safeguard is far easier than getting the
cement safeguard, especially since rice impacts our farmers adversely.
As early as Aug. 13, 2019, Alyansa
Agrikultura (AA) filed a formal request asking the Department of Agriculture
(DA) to institute a rice safeguard. The DA then called for inputs for a study
on this. Consequently, AA and Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) submitted
documented evidence to support their safeguard petition. But on Oct. 19, the DA
prematurely terminated this study. It since refused to give AA, FFF, and other
interested parties even the interim study results.
The rice safeguard means adding to the
35-percent rice tariff a duty of between 35 percent and 50 percent, resulting
in an effective tariff rate of 70 percent to 85 percent. This will equalize the
prices of imported and domestic products. This practice is used by other
countries to motivate local producers to compete more effectively against
imports. This tariff should be decreased within a given time frame to allow the
producers to adjust, or face extinction.
This chance was not given to our rice
farmers. Consider the table above:
From the 2018 farm-gate price of dry palay
of P20.36 per kilo, the 35-percent tariff forced rice farmers to drop their
prices to compete with the cheaper subsidized imports. Their net incomes fell
from P31,760 to P12,040 per hectare. Today, palay prices have increased
slightly, but their incomes are still very low at P16,280.
Worse, for the majority of our rice farmers
who sell wet palay as they don’t have access to drying facilities, their palay
is sold at P3.16 less than dry palay. At the same production cost of P12.45 a
kilo but with a much lower selling price, their income is only P3,640 a
hectare. This is way below the monthly poverty threshold of P10,481 for a
family of five.
Was rice tariffication a mistake? No,
because tariffication stopped the practice of the government unilaterally
deciding the price, quantity and timing of imports, which resulted in massive
government losses from bad judgment and corruption. The private sector is more
capable of doing this function. But the government must provide the correct
tariff structure to ensure a level playing field. By not implementing a
safeguard, more than 3 million tons of rice imports significantly exceeded the
1.3-million ton rice supply gap. This resulted in the farmers’ disastrous
income losses.
International trade experts said the
correct tariff is one that equalizes the price of the landed import and that of
the domestic product. For rice, it is between 70 percent and 85 percent,
depending on the import source.
As we celebrate World Food Day today, our
rice farmers who provide us our main food staple continue to suffer. The
services provided by the rice tariffication law should have been given before
the 35-percent tariff was implemented, not after. Government must now provide
the necessary adjusted effective tariff level that will challenge our farmers
to become more productive, but give a limited time and the necessary support
services for this adjustment. The answer to this crisis is not a ban on or
opposing tariffication. As the farmer leader said: “It’s the safeguard, sir.”
The author is Agriwatch chair, former
secretary of presidential programs and projects, and former undersecretary of
the DA and the DTI. Contact is agriwatch_phil@yahoo.com.
A
worker, wearing a protective mask, carries sacks of rice at Muñoz Market in
Quezon City.
more from
author
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said some erring rice importers have
availed themselves of legal remedies to avert paying charges for their
“undervalued” shipments last year, as farmers pressed authorities to move more
quickly against violators to plug the huge revenue drain of the government.
Customs Assistant Commissioner and spokesman Vincent Philip
Maronilla told the BusinessMirror on
Thursday they have yet to collect the total P1.4 billion charged to over 40
erring rice importers, majority of which are farmers’ cooperatives. However,
Maronilla has yet to disclose exactly how many of the rice importers resorted
to the legal remedies and how many of those who availed themselves of legal
remedies are farmers’ cooperatives.
“Wala pa. Some exhausted their legal
remedy to file for [Motion for] Reconsideration,” said Maronilla, who also
heads the BOC Post-Clearance Audit Group.
The development comes a few days after Sen. Cynthia Villar, head
of the agriculture committee, urged Agriculture Secretary William Dar to closely
monitor the farmer cooperatives amid reports that many of them are being used
by rice traders and importers to buy from abroad. Besides paying the farmer
groups a measly amount in exchange for using their permits, these unscrupulous
businessmen also cheat the government by undervaluing their imports, an earlier
investigative story by the BusinessMirror had
showed.
In grilling DA officials, Villar recalled her own experience in
helping post bail for small farmer groups who were manipulated by big traders,
and were left holding the bag when investigations began.
While Maronilla earlier told the BusinessMirror that
audited importers found to have violations would need to “pay under protest”
even if they appealed, he clarified on Thursday that “a motion for
reconsideration is not yet technically an appeal.”
For those who did not appeal and whose obligation is due and
demandable, Maronilla said they “will endorse the same to the legal service for
institution of a collection suit and possible issuance of a levy and distraint
order.”
He said authorities “can also hold subsequent shipment and make
them answer for any deficiency.”
Asked when they are targeting to endorse this to the legal
service, Maronilla said: “We are just consolidating and will refer to legal
service as soon as a consolidated report is done.”
Last month, Maronilla said 47 of the 55 auditees were “found to
have committed violations of customs laws and regulations” for the audit period
of March 5 to June 20 last year.
The deficiency assessment stemmed from several issues, including
customs value, tariff classification, insurance, freight and surcharge.
Maronilla said earlier they are also conducting an audit of rice
shipments covering January to June this year, and expect to finish this by
yearend.
The BusinessMirror had
also previously reported that “a percentage” of the P1.4-billion combined
charges to be collected from the erring audited rice importers will go to the
government’s rice competitiveness enhancement fund (RCEF).
The Rice Trade Liberalization law mandates that rice tariffs
collected by the government since its enactment in March 2019 until 2024 should
be earmarked for the government’s RCEF.
The Federation of Free Farmers has also urged the BOC to
fast-track the resolution of the audit cases and “finally end the practice of
undervaluation” so that farmers would receive the correct amount of benefits
that they should get from rice tariff collections.
COLOMBO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri
Lanka's cabinet of ministers has agreed to import 6,000 metric tonnes of
basmati rice annually from Pakistan, under the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade
Agreement, local media reported here Thursday.
Cabinet Spokesperson Ramesh
Pathirana was quoted by media reports as saying that following a proposal made
by Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardena, the cabinet had approved the State
Trading Corporation (STC) and Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) to
import the rice annually.
Pathirana said complaints had
been received regarding various irregularities in the importation of rice and
the idea was to import basmati rice for those who seek it, thereby reducing the
competition for local rice variants.
Imports of rice in Sri Lanka are
usually limited to small quantities, especially rice such as Basmati, officials
have said. Enditem
CHIANG
MAI (The Nation/ANN): Chiang Mai University’s Institute of Scientific and
Technological Research has been successful in using ion beam to induce mutation
in existing rice breeds to create new ones that provide better yield and are
resilient against diseases and pests, researcher Dr Boonyarak Panchaisri said.
“Our
research team has been working for more than 10 years with Dr Thirapat
Wilaithong from the university’s Physics Excellence Centre who developed a
particle accelerator to create ion beam to induce rice mutation, ” Boonyarak
said.
“We
were able to create three new rice breeds, namely FRK-1 fragrant rice for
consumption, MYS-4 rice for the starch industry and OSSY-23 rice for animal
feed. These breeds give better yield and can withstand several diseases as well
as pests.”
Buoyed
by this success, the university has recently signed an MoU with the Ratchaburi
Farmer Council, which will test the new breeds out in the province’s Huai Phai
subdistrict.
If
the crop is successful, then they will begin distributing seeds as well as
instructions to farmers in the provinces of Kanchanaburi, Kamphaeng Phet, Chai
Nat, Pathum Thani, Prachinburi, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Phrae, Lopburi, Saraburi,
Singburi, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, Ang Thong and Uttaradit.
“We
hope these new rice breeds will help boost output and revenue for rice farmers,
reduce disparity as well as attract new graduates to pursue careers in
agriculture, ” he added. - The Nation/Asia News Network
As palay prices continue to go down and the
alleged entry of tons of smuggled corn began eating up a portion of the
domestic demand, Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) asked
the Philippine government to immediately implement safeguard measures for the
producers of the country’s two main staple foods.
In a statement, PCAFI President Danilo V.
Fausto said he has been seeking an audience from the Department of Agriculture
(DA) regarding the plight of farmers.
He said the DA should at least consider
implementing a tariff increase on imported farm commodities, mainly rice, so as
to support local farmers.
For corn, DA should “at least” prohibit
imported corn to coincide with the harvest, he added.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that palay prices
fell to as low as P12 per kilogram (/kg) in some areas in the country during
the third week of September, which means some farmers barely made money during
this harvest season.
This, since in order to produce a kilo of
rice in the Philippines, Filipino rice farmers have to spend P12.72, which is
higher compared to the production cost of farmers in Vietnam and Thailand at
P6.22/kg and P8.86/kg, respectively.
Under the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL),
which allowed unlimited rice importation in the country, in order to protect
the Philippine rice industry from sudden or extreme price fluctuations, a
special safeguard duty on rice shall be imposed in accordance with Safeguard
Measures Act.
This means that when the prices of local
palay are low, the government could increase the tariff imposed on imported
rice to discourage traders from purchasing more cheaper imported rice.
Meanwhile, for corn, there has been an
alleged smuggling issue involving thousands of metric tons of the staple that
are scheduled to enter the Philippines, which Philippine Maize Federation Inc.
(PMFI) already raised to the DA.
PMFI President Roger Navarro, who is also a
PCAFI member, said corn shipments are expected to arrive in the country soon
but Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Director George Y. Culaste has denied this
claim, saying that no permit has been issued for incoming corn importations.
“This leads us to assume that this coming
corn is smuggled,” Navarro said.
Expected to arrive soon are the following
corn shipments: 6,000 metric tons (MT) for General Santos arrival; 20,000 MT,
Cagayan de Oro; 50,000 MT, Bicol; and 30,000 MT, Iloilo.
“We reported this to DA Secretary [William]
Dar, and we are awaiting his action. These corn shipments will strike the
fatal blow to the corn farmers who painstakingly harvested a huge 3.5 million
tons, wet season crop,” Navarro said.
Navarro said he fears that DA’s inaction on
the plummeting corn price forebodes a collapse of the
sector.
Worst, he said, the DA appears to be
attempting to hide the problem of farmers experiencing low corn price.
“To my mind, this is not a good indication.
[DA’s trying to cover up the truth] tries to tell the people to keep quiet as
it intentionally tries to hide the problem and the reality,” said Navarro.
“We cannot hide the truth that we have a
problem in agriculture. In effect, DA is building a high wall. But the
crack on the wall runs down that it may suddenly collapse—shattered and badly
broken. I don’t want to see that happen,” he added.
On Thursday, Rodolfo Pancrudo, a corn
farmer, asked the government to help poorer corn farmers who are being “killed”
by illegal smugglers and importers.
Pancrudo owns Pancrudo Farm in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon and is a former vice
president of banana-exporting multinational Unifrutti.
Smuggling, according to him, may be the
ultimate plight of farmers since they do not enjoy corn support price anymore,
something that National Food Authority (NFA) implements prior to the implementation
of RTL, which stripped the state-run grains agency’s regulatory power.
Pancrudo also asked the government to
provide farmers with mechanical dryers and storage facilities because this
should enable them to hold their sale of corn and wait until prices become more
profitable.
“Traders haggle for the lowest price and tell farmers, ‘Your corn is of low
quality’. That’s why farmers are forced to sell their corn even at only P9 per
kilo because they need money. Otherwise, the harvest will just go to waste
since there are no post-harvest facilities,” he added.
Dong thap inaugurates first advanced rice farming project
A drone is used to spray pesticides on a rice
field under the province’s first advanced rice farming project
in Thap Muoi district. (Photo: VNA)
Dong Thap (VNA) - The Dong Thap province People’s
Committee has held a ceremony to celebrate the Mekong Delta province’s
first advanced rice farming project that uses modern techniques in all
production stages and uses irrigation water efficiently.
The project is being implemented on 170ha by the My Dong 2 Commune Co-operative
in Thap Muoi district.
Under the project, participating farmers use machines and smart devices for all
production stages such as sowing seeds, fertilising, harvesting and
post-harvest handling.
Participating farmers use slow-release fertiliser buried in soil as well as
smart devices that use alternate wet and dry irrigation methods to save water.
They are also using smart devices to monitor brown plant hoppers, which are the
main pests on rice fields.
The use of drones to spray pesticides helps farmers reduce the quantity of
pesticide by 10 – 20 percent compared to traditional spraying methods.
Rice produced under the project has traceable origin and is guaranteed sales
outlets under farming contracts.
The production cost of rice planted under the project is about 4,266 VND a
kilogramme, nearly 400 VND lower than the production cost under traditional
methods.
The project is estimated to offer a profit of 15.8 million VND (680 USD) per
hectare a crop, up nearly 10 million VND (430 USD) compared to rice planted
under traditional methods.
The project also creates conditions for farmers to exchange farming techniques,
which reduces pollution and pesticide residue in rice fields.
Nguyen Thanh Hung, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said
that advanced techniques, modern machines and information technology, as well
as linkages among farmers, scientists and rice companies are also being applied.
The project has reduced production costs, improved production efficiency, and
protected the environment and farmers' health.
He said the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and
local authorities should expand the project to other localities.
The Mekong Delta province, one of the delta’s largest rice producers, has more
than 200,000ha of land devoted to growing rice.
The province’s farmers grow a total of more than 520,000ha of rice in three
rice crops a year with an annual paddy output of more than 3.3 million
tonnes./.
DA to promote rice varieties preferred by consumers
By
DAPublished on October 15, 2020
QUEZON
CITY, Oct. 15 -- After attaining increased palay production during the
2019-2020 dry season and the current main season, the Department of Agriculture
(DA) is now aiming to promote rice varieties preferred by consumers.
“We
need to adapt to the changes brought about by the rice tariffication law, one
of which is consumers’ preference for quality rice. This is now an integral
part of the overall transformation of the country’s rice industry,” said
Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
“That
is why for the succeeding cropping seasons, we are not just after attaining
production targets, but also producing quality rice for Filipino consumers that
will provide higher income for farmers,” he added.
The
DA chief made the pitch during a virtual meeting with leaders of farmers’
groups, millers and traders, from major rice-producing provinces.
For
their part, rice millers and traders said they were having difficulty buying
palay because of low quality, composed mostly of assorted or ‘rumble’ varieties
that when milled produce chalky and broken grains.
“The
Covid-19 pandemic has made it hard for us to sell our rice stocks because of
lack in demand, which was made even harder by the low quality of palay harvest
this season,” a Bulacan rice miller said.
“If
farmers want to command good prices, they should plant better quality rice
seeds and what the consumers want,” a miller from Nueva Ecija said.
A
trader from Isabela, on the other hand, said that consumers now prefer rice
varieties that are long-grain, and taste and smell better when cooked. Simply,
they should possess the so-called “4M for maganda, mura, mabango at malambot.”
An
informal survey done by the rice industry groups showed that 40 percent of
consumers prefer rice with said attributes.
Millers
and traders are thus one in saying that farmers should now plant varieties that
have good milling and eating qualities and preferred by consumers.
They
offered to help the DA, through the Philippine Rice Research Institute
(PhilRice), promote recommended rice varieties that farmers should plant in
succeeding seasons.
In
reply, Secretary Dar said they will also meet with seed producers to discuss
the preferred rice varieties of consumers, and the desired levels of
productivity that will provide farmers more income.
“We
have to make seed producers, farmers and other stakeholders understand that our
overall strategy now is inclusive market-oriented development,” Secretary Dar
said.
“Kung
ano demand ng market, kung ano ang pangangailangan ng consuming public iyon ang
dapat i-produce ng ating mga magsasaka. We need to adapt to changes brought
about by the new regime,” he added.
He
said the DA will hold consultations with farmers, seed producers, traders,
millers, and other stakeholders to determine current industry trends, demand of
the domestic retail market and institutional buyers, customers’ needs and
wants, and needed policy shifts or reforms and government interventions.
Palay
harvest during the first semester of 2020 totaled 8.387 million metric tons
(MMT), 1.4 percent (%) more than the 8.269 MMT for the same six-month period
last year. Second semester palay output this year is forecast at 11.954 MMT,
13.4% more than last year’s 10.545 MMT. (DA)
Faridkot: The Department of School
Education has exempted over 8,000 education volunteers and education providers
in government schools from qualifying Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). As per a
notification issued by the department on Tuesday, the education providers and
volunteers, who were appointed before August 23, 2010, and had acquired the
requisite qualification (BEd or ETT) are not required to pass the TET. TNS
Fazilka Tender cancelled over tardy lifting of paddy
The
state government has cancelled the tender of loading contractor Nishant Gumber
on account of tardy lifting of paddy. Gurpreet Singh Kang, District Food and
Supplied Controller (DFSC), said, "It would take 3 to 4 days to complete
the re-tendering process and in the meanwhile, the commission agents and rice
millers could lift the paddy of their own resources.” OC
A
group of farmers today gheraoed four trucks laden with paddy near Rupana
village here, claiming the produce was being brought from Uttar Pradesh. The
farmers said some private traders were doing this just to make profit.
“The
paddy crop is fetching a low price in UP, thus some rice millers are buying the
crop from there and in doing so, evading the local market committee fee. We
will not release the trucks until strict action is taken in this regard,” said
the farmers.
They
alleged UP’s paddy would be shown in records as Punjab’s crop, thereby changing
the per-acre yield of the crop.
The
Rice Millers’ Association has assured farmers of taking action against erring
millers. Sarabjit Singh, secretary, Market Committee, Muktsar, said he was yet
to receive a complaint in this regard.
Notice to 12 rice millersPosted:Oct 16, 2020 07:59 AM (IST)
Karnal,
October 15
The
Food and Civil Supplies Department has issued notices to 12 rice millers for
auctioning their property in a week as they had failed to deliver custom milled
rice worth Rs 60 crore in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2017-18.
The
property of the millers has already been attached. “If the amount is not
deposited in a week, their properties will be auctioned,” said DC Nishant Kumar
Yadav. — TNS
Overuse of fertilizer has led
to phosphorus shortages and water pollution. But farms might not need so much
to grow healthy crops.
ON AN OVERCAST day, Roger
Sylvester-Bradley walks along a hawthorn hedge, collecting a thick rind of mud
on his leather boots, before stepping into a gently sloping field of barley.
He stoops to pluck an ankle-high
seedling from the ground and examines its healthy mop of fine white roots.
Turning them in his hands, he says, “when you see a plant that’s deficient in
phosphorus, it doesn’t look like this.”
That’s something of a surprise to
Sylvester-Bradley, a crop scientist at ADAS, an agricultural consulting
company in Cambridge,
England. Phosphorus occurs naturally in soil and is a critical nutrient for
plant growth.
For centuries, farmers have added
extra to their fields to boost harvests, but Sylvester-Bradley and his
colleagues are studying ways to produce food using less of it.
The reasons are twofold: First,
phosphorus runoff from farms contributes to widespread water pollution. Second,
we don’t have phosphorus to waste.
Nearly all of the phosphorus that
farmers use today—and that we consume in the food we eat—is mined from a few
sources of phosphate rock, mainly in the United States, China, and Morocco.
By some estimates, those could run
out in as little as 50 to 100 years. Geologists know of other deposits,
but they are harder to access and contain less phosphorus. Thus, the price will
likely rise, making it harder for growers to afford fertilizer and for people
to afford food.
Here and at other experimental
sites in England, Sylvester-Bradley and his colleagues have taken a first
commonsense step toward addressing the problem: They stopped adding phosphorus
fertilizer to half the barley field to see how the plants would fare. Eight
years later, they have only just started to observe the first effects on crop
size and yield.
The plants have survived on the
excess nutrients in the soil—so-called legacy phosphorus—which some say
represents a key piece of the phosphorus puzzle.
Researchers have calculated that,
in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, there is already
billions of dollars’ worth of fertilizer in the ground that could help offset
demand for mined phosphorus. Using it up would also curb phosphorus runoff.
To Paul Withers, a soil scientist
at Lancaster University and one of Sylvester-Bradley’s collaborators, tapping
into legacy phosphorus is a no-brainer and continuing with the status quo is a
recipe for both ecological and humanitarian disaster.
“We can’t have agriculture
polluting the environment and using resources the way we are,” Withers says.
“It’s just going to cause a meltdown in the end.”
A devious nutrient
Phosphorus is a non-negotiable
requirement for life. It’s the backbone of DNA and the P in ATP—the molecule
that carries energy around cells. Plants need phosphorus to grow, which is why
farmers have been feeding it to their crops for millennia.
At first, and without understanding
the chemistry, people used manure and human waste as fertilizer. Then in the
1800s farmers recognized that phosphorus-rich bones and rocks worked too.
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In 1842 an Oxford University
dropout named John Bennet Lawes patented a process for treating these new
mineral forms of phosphorus with acid, making the nutrient more accessible to
plants, and soon began selling the world’s first human-made fertilizer.
Lawes plowed his considerable
profits back into research at his family’s country estate, which later became
the Rothamsted Research center. And there, scientists discovered that
phosphorus was a somewhat devious nutrient.
The fertilizer Lawes manufactured
contained a soluble, inorganic form of phosphorus that plants can readily use.
But as soon as the phosphorus hit the soil, a large fraction of it reacted with
soil minerals, forming compounds that crops can’t access. Some also got locked
away in equally unavailable organic forms.
From those observations, scientists
concluded that farmers shouldn’t scrimp on phosphorus. They should heap it on,
especially as they raced to feed the world’s growing populations during the 20th century.
In fact, it was once Withers’ job
to spread the word. As a government farm advisor in the 1980s, he drove a red
Volvo station wagon around the winding roads of rural England telling farmers
to make sure their crops got plenty of key nutrients.
This method, which Withers calls
“insurance-based farming,” still prevails in many parts of the world. In
Europe, farmers apply roughly 4 kilograms of phosphorus for each
kilogram that we consume in food. For U.S. diets, that ratio is about 9 to
1, and in China, it may be as high as 13 to 1. (There are crucial
exceptions in places where farmers have never had adequate access to phosphorus
fertilizer, like many parts of Africa and South America.)
Phosphorus is lost at many stages
of food production and processing. But these inefficiencies pose a problem as
looming changes in phosphorus availability and price threaten to destabilize
the world’s food system, Withers says. “We’ve sort of gone over the top and
we’ve come back to vulnerability.”
To make matters worse, some unused
fertilizer builds up in the soil, which causes environmental problems long
after it’s applied, says Helen Jarvie, a hydrochemist at the Centre for Ecology
and Hydrology in Wallingford, U.K.
Her research shows that it slowly
leaks into the environment for decades, confounding well-intentioned efforts by
landowners to reduce nutrient pollution.
Even small amounts of phosphorus
runoff from farms and sewage are enough to fuel algal blooms that fill
waterways with festering green scum. Sometimes, like in Lake Erie, they
produce toxins that can foul drinking water and use up dissolved oxygen,
killing fish and other aquatic life.
According to one study,
phosphorus pollution affects nearly 40 percent of Earth’s land areas. And the
damage adds up. By one estimate, the impacts of excess phosphorus and
nitrogen—another key nutrient—on water quality and ecosystems cost $2.2 billion
per year in the U.S. alone.
A slam dunk for plants?
If legacy phosphorus is an
environmental liability, it is also a tremendous opportunity, according to
Withers and other scientists. He and his colleagues calculated in a 2015
study that fields in the United Kingdom contain more than $10 billion
worth of phosphorus, enough to meet the country’s fertilizer demand for up
to 54 years.
Many other nations possess similar
reserves. A 2012 analysis found that global soils contain enough
legacy phosphorus to cut the projected demand for new fertilizer in half by
2050.
“The plants can use our mistakes
from the past,” says Sheida Sattari, lead author of the study.
By the numbers, legacy phosphorus
looks like a slam dunk. But can plants actually live on it? Studies suggest
that, in places with long histories of phosphorus overuse, like the U.K., crops
can thrive for 10 years or more on the stores built up in the ground.
The most extreme example comes from
Saskatchewan, where researchers haven’t added phosphorus to plots of wheat
since 1995. Twenty-five years later they still haven’t seen problems.
Conventional measures of soil
chemistry suggest they should apply more fertilizer, says Barbara Cade-Menun,
who oversees the experiments at the Swift Current Research and Development
Center in Canada. “But our yields aren’t changing.”
Scientists think that as plants use
up the readily available phosphorus in the fields, soil minerals and organic
matter release more of the nutrient.
Cade-Menun doesn’t yet know whether
changes in soil chemistry, soil microbes, or plants themselves can explain
what’s happening in her plots. Regardless, the results suggest that those
inaccessible forms of phosphorus that the Rothamsted researchers fretted about
aren’t quite as off-limits as scientists once thought.
And that means just cutting back on
fertilizer could go a long way to meeting phosphorus demand and reducing runoff
without jeopardizing harvests.
Smarter crops
At some point, however, soil
phosphorus drops low enough that crops become stressed. That’s partly because
some of it really is out of reach for plants, but also because many modern
crops cannot get ahold of what is there.
The scarcity of phosphorus in
nature forced wild plants to develop strategies for securing an adequate
supply. Many evolved extensive root systems that search out phosphorus. Some
can also excrete chemicals to liberate the nutrient from the soil.
But most commercial crops don’t
have those abilities. Scientists cultivated them in well-fertilized soils that
didn’t require plants to spend energy deploying such tools. And, in a world of
plentiful resources, breeders didn’t select for varieties with strong
phosphorus-harvesting traits. The result, says Phil Haygarth, a soil scientist
at Lancaster University, is “a load of fast-growing, dumb plants” that struggle
to extract phosphorus from the soil.
Researchers now want to create
smarter crops. In 2012, scientists identified a gene in an ancient
variety of Japanese rice that enhanced the plant’s ability to find phosphorus
by growing fine roots. Researchers then bred the trait into modern rice plants,
and in 2019 farmers in Madagascar—which has naturally nutrient-poor
soils—started testing some of the most promising varieties.
Sigrid Heuer, a researcher at
Rothamsted who helped with the rice study, is searching for a similar gene in
wheat as part of the International Wheat Yield Partnership. Other
scientists are developing crop varieties that don’t need as much phosphorus in
the first place.
Besides breeding, no-till farming
could help by preventing soil compaction and encouraging good root development
to help plants access more legacy phosphorus.
Adding symbiotic fungi that spread
through the soil may extend a plant’s underground reach, and growing crops
alongside legumes and other plants that secrete phosphorus-releasing compounds
can free up more of the nutrient.
Withers and Sylvester-Bradley have
been running down the phosphorus levels in their test fields for the exact
purpose of exploring these kinds of approaches.
The researchers had to abandon the
barley field in Cambridge because of changes in farm ownership. But at the
remaining sites, phosporus levels have finally dipped low enough for them to
start conducting experiments on how to help plants access as much legacy
phosphorus as possible. The first will compare the performance of existing
commercial wheat varieties.
The researchers had to wait longer
than expected—nearly a decade—for phosphorus levels to drop back to natural
levels. But that fact alone should reassure growers that they can safely cut
back on the nutrient, Sylvester-Bradley says.
“The take-home for farmers, as far
as I’m concerned, is they can relax.”
LAHORE: Rice exporters on Wednesday urged the government to
operate low-cost shipping service en-route to China, a major consumer of
Pakistani rice, as high fright charges by private companies made it challenging
and costly for them to meet export orders this year.
Rice exporters have made deals with Chinese buyers on good rates,
which need to be completed during October to December.
“However, shipping companies suddenly increased container charges
by almost three times,” said a spokesman of the Rice Exporters Association of
Pakistan (Reap).
Exporters demanded of the government to operate ships of Pakistan
National Shipping Corporation on China route as they face abnormally high freight
rates and shortage of containers.
Amid some progress in rice export, traders said high cost of
shipping consignments and non-availability of containers are posing a serious
challenge to the outbound shipments.
“Abrupt and steep rise in freight cost and non-availability of
containers create an uncertain and risky environment, which will make it hard
for exporters to meet delivery commitments of foreign buyers,” said the
spokesman.
Rice exports grew 5.1 percent during the last fiscal year of
2019/20. About 4.2 million tons of rice worth $2.2 billion was exported during
the year, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The country earned $791 million by exporting about 890,207 tons of
basmati rice as against exports of 659,571 tons valuing $635 million a year
earlier. Besides, 3.3 million tons of non-basmati rice worth $1.4 billion was
also exported during the last fiscal year as against the exports of 3.5 tons
valuing $1.4 billion.
“Exporters will not be able to compete in international markets
and as they are afraid of cancellation of export orders, which ultimately
result in loss of huge foreign exchange to our country,” said the Reap
spokesman.
The association asked the minister for maritime affairs in
particular and government in general to take notice and intervene in the matter
and play their vital role for the relief of rice export sector, which is the
second largest source of foreign exchange earner.
The spokesperson said the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation
should operate ships on Chinese route to enable “us to finalise shipments on
time”.
An upswing in rice exports have been seen in recent years due to
multiple factors. And most importantly, this trend is likely to continue in
near future at least. Demand of Pakistani coarse and fine rice varieties have
particularly sown upward trend from regional countries like China, Iran and Sri
Lanka lately.
Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers recently approved a proposal to
import 6,000 tons of basmati rice annually under the provision of the
Pakistan-Sri Lanka free trade agreement.
Reap said the government should also explore other opportunities,
including growth in demand in Iran.
ISLAMABAD,
PAKISTAN — Pakistan’s wheat and rice sectors were challenged by the coronavirus
(COVID-19), pests and rising domestic prices, according to a Global
Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report from the US Department of
Agriculture (USDA).
Pakistan’s planting for
the upcoming wheat crop is expected to begin mid-October and the country plans
to import 1 million tonnes of wheat during the current marketing year. The USDA
attributes the uptick in wheat imports to Pakistan working to build its wheat
reserves to recover from COVID-19 and locust attacks. Production for the
2020-21 market year is anticipated to total 25.7 million tonnes.
The USDA’s forecast for
Pakistan’s rice production for the 2020-21 market year remains at 7.4 million
tonnes. It did lower the country’s 2020-21 market year rice exports to 4
million tonnes due to an increase in domestic prices and the COVID-19 lockdown
impact in certain export markets.
Bedi is
giving false information to the public, says Narayanasamy
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy has
accused Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi of ‘hiding’ certain facts while issuing
statements on medical admission controversy and rice distribution issue.
Addressing a press conference here on
Tuesday, the Chief Minister said Ms. Bedi had failed to openly acknowledge the
fact that the Central Bureau of Investigation had cleared all charges she had
levelled against senior officials involved in the admission process.
Recently, the Madras High Court while
imposing fine on private medical colleges for committing irregularities, did
not find any wrong-doing by the officials. The government had always maintained
its stand that the admission procedure followed by the Centralised Admission
Committee (Centac) was proper and as per rules.
The government was in favour of taking
action against the private colleges if they were found guilty of wrong-doing in
admission process by not admitting the students recommended by Centac.
The government’s views on the issue was
communicated to the Medical Council of India. However, it was the Lt. Governor
who recommended a CBI probe against government officials overseeing the
admission process. The agency closed the case as it found that the officials
were not guilty, the Chief Minister said.
“The court recently gave its judgement
imposing fine on the colleges for irregularities in the admission process. Ms.
Bedi was quick to say the court judgment was a Diwali gift to the people of the
Union Territory,” he said.
The Chief Minister sought to know from
the Lt. Governor whether making false complaints against the officials and
harassing them was any sort of Diwali gift.
“It is Ms. Bedi who is giving false
information to the public. She has never acknowledged the closure of a case
recommended by her,” Mr. Narayanasamy said.
Responding to the Lt. Governor’s
statement that the judiciary and the Centre had approved her stand on direct
benefit transfer (DBT) mode for implementing welfare schemes, the Chief
Minister said the court has not given any final judgement on DBT for free rice
scheme.
“I have appealed against the single
Bench order on transfer of money instead of providing free rice. And the case
is likely to come up next month. How can someone say that the judiciary has
upheld her decision when the appeal is still pending,” the Chief Minister said.
Stating that free rice was one of the
commitments given by the party during elections and it was a policy matter of
the government, the Chief Minister said “the Lt. Governor has no right to
interfere in policy matters.”
The Chief Minister said it was also
wrong on her part to state that the Centre had concurred with her stand. The
former Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution, late
Ram Vilas Paswan, was in favour of distributing rice, he said. “He clearly said
if the government wanted to distribute rice it was free to do so. We even asked
the Minister to supply rice through the FCI,” he said.
On Lt. Governor’s statement that
distribution of rice would lead to corruption, the Chief Minister said majority
of the States, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, were
distributing rice through public distribution outlets. “So does it mean the
distribution process in these States is corrupt,” he added.
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque on
Thursday said the production of rice has increased to about 38.70 million
metric tonnes in this financial year 2020-21.
