LA Rice Meetings: Get the Latest on Cuba, Iraq, China, Mexico,
and Much More
Rep. Charles Boustany speaks before a standing room only crowd in
Louisiana last year
JENNINGS, LA --
Louisiana rice industry stakeholders will receive the latest information on
opportunities and challenges in major markets at one of three meetings
scheduled next week. The Annual Joint Membership meeting of the Louisiana Rice
Council and the Louisiana Rice Growers Association will be held on Tuesday,
February 10, at the Grand Marais Center, 919 North Lake Arthur Avenue,
Jennings, LA 70546.
A trade show and reception
will begin at 4 p.m., program presentations begin at 5:45p.m, followed by
dinner. In addition to reports on major Louisiana rice export markets, USA Rice
Federation staff will highlight activities in the international and domestic
markets and government affairs issues impacting the industry. Kevin Norton, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service state conservationist,
will be the keynote speaker and Dr. Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana
Department of Agriculture and Forestry, will also be on hand to address issues
of concern for the Louisiana rice industry.
On Wednesday, February 11, the Central Louisiana Rice Growers
Association will hold their annual membership meeting at 11 a.m. at the Dean
Lee Research and Extension Center in Alexandria. USA Rice staff will repeat their reports and
lunch will be served. For more
information, contact Phillip Lamartiniere, (318) 201-1132.Then on Thursday,
February 12, USA Rice staff reports will be delivered at the Northeast
Louisiana Rice Growers Association Rice Forum, which begins at 8:30 a.m. at the
Delhi Civic Center in Delhi, LA. For
more information,
contact Keith Collins, kcollins@agctr.lsu.edu.
Contact: Randy Jemison (337) 738-7009
USA Rice Joins 70 Agricultural Groups Urging Passage of TPA
A piece of the trade puzzle
WASHINGTON,
DC -- In a letter to all members of Congress today, the USA Rice Federation and
dozens of other agriculture groups made the case for congressional approval of
trade promotion authority or TPA. TPA
defines trade objectives and priorities for trade negotiations 
as well as puts consultation and notification requirements on the
administration. "TPA is absolutely critical if the U.S. negotiators are to
reach trade agreements that improve market access for U.S. rice,"
according to Bob Cummings, USA Rice's COO.
"Right now, the administration is focused on finishing up the Trans
Pacific Partnership negotiations. For
us, that means securing a deal with Japan for more imports of U.S. rice and
less intervention in the import market by the Japanese government. A TPA with a clear priority on agricultural
market access will keep the focus on a comprehensive and meaningful agreement
with Japan."
as well as puts consultation and notification requirements on the
administration. "TPA is absolutely critical if the U.S. negotiators are to
reach trade agreements that improve market access for U.S. rice,"
according to Bob Cummings, USA Rice's COO.
"Right now, the administration is focused on finishing up the Trans
Pacific Partnership negotiations. For
us, that means securing a deal with Japan for more imports of U.S. rice and
less intervention in the import market by the Japanese government. A TPA with a clear priority on agricultural
market access will keep the focus on a comprehensive and meaningful agreement
with Japan."
Congress
will assess individual trade agreements, like TPP, against the provisions of
TPA and vote up or down on implementing legislation. TPA provides assurance to foreign countries
that agreements reached with U.S. negotiators cannot be amended by Congress
and, more importantly, provides clear negotiating direction to the President
against which the deals his negotiators bring home will be measured.
Contact: Kristen Dayton (703) 236-1464
Weekly
Rice Sales, Exports Reported
|
WASHINGTON,
DC -- Net rice sales of 60,600 MT for 2014/2015 were up 86 percent from
the previous week and 3 percent from the prior four-week average, according
to today's Export
Sales Highlights. Increases were reported for Colombia (31,500 MT), Honduras
(8,800 MT, including 8,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Saudi
Arabia (6,000 MT), Jordan (5,000 MT), and Mexico (3,800 MT). Decreases were
reported for unknown destinations (3,000 MT), Costa Rica (700 MT), and
Guatemala (300 MT).
Exports of 60,600 MT were down 19 percent from the previous week and 24 percent from the prior four-week average. The primary destinations were Costa Rica (17,800 MT), Haiti (16,700 MT), Honduras (8,800 MT), Mexico (4,700 MT), and Guatemala (4,700 MT). This summary is based on reports from exporters from the period January 23-29. |
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CME
Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures
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How many
acres of rice in 2015?
Establishing
base acres, Cuba, and a look back at 2014
The Arkansas rice crop in 2014 was one for the record books,
although not always in a good way. “Growers I’ve spoken with that have grown
rice for 30 or 40 years all say they never experienced a year like 2014,” says
Jarrod Hardke, Arkansas Extension rice agronomist. “That was really bolstered
when you look at the month of July — the coldest average temperature on record
for that month. The whole season really trended towards being the coolest
ever.”Besides the cool weather, 2014 was tough on rice growers because of the
timing of the wind and rain events. It meant a lot of workarounds.Even so,
“when it came to season’s end, most people were pretty happy with their crops.
There were plenty of growers who said it was their best crop even though they
had to work a lot harder for it.
“A lot of our rice yield is set
by pre-flood nitrogen. With the wind and rain, that was out of sync in many
fields. It was hard to get those applications out at the proper time on dry
ground. Those delays probably hurt our yields a bit so it’s surprising our end
result turned out so well.”There was a benefit of all those early, light rains,
though: they kept herbicides activated. “So, even with the delays the weeds
were being suppressed. A lot of fields got almost unbelievable residual control
from products that typically don’t last that long. Bob Scott (Arkansas
Extension weed scientist) has commented on the extremely clean crop — a few
escapes not withstanding — that we headed into the heart of the summer
with.”Rice producers did have to fight a lot of disease pressure. “It was a
terrible year for blast — probably the worst since 2004.
However, most producers did a
good job of fighting that battle. There were a few situations where fields were
left without management and that proved to be a mistake. I never saw any of
them but have gotten reports that some of those fields were later walkaways.
Blast can really take a field out.”Sheath blight also showed up in some fields.
“It doesn’t have the potential for loss like blast but does need to be watched
especially in cool, mild conditions. Milder daytime temperatures, heavy dew-set
every day and routine rain showers set you up for disease in rice.”There were
also a lot of small diseases that popped up here and there.
Rick Cartwright, former
University of Arkansas plant pathologist, “refers to those as ‘nibblers.’ Those
are the diseases that aren’t the big ones that will jump up and knock a crop
out. You know, a field might have a complex of little things that don’t appear
to be much at first — things you might not think need to be treated — but they
just take little bites out of the grain yield until they turn into something
very damaging.”
IRRI to build new
biotech facility to study climate change impacts on agriculture
IRRI in Los Banos, Laguna. FILE PHOTO
The online news portal of TV5
LOS BAŇOS, Laguna - The
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has announced plans to build a new
research facility that will help scientists study the impacts of climate change
on agriculture, and consequently on the food supply of future generations. The Lloyd T. Evans Plant Growth Facility is a
biotech hub that aims to tap more young researchers to study how rising
concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
will impact on the production of crops and grains, especially rice, said
Matthew Morell, deputy director general for research at Laguna-based IRRI.
“We expect researchers to flock to
the facility and collaborate with each other. We especially aim to attract
young researchers because it is absolutely critical that we have people who
will take the battle for sustainable food supply forward,” said Morell in an
interview.The biotech facility will be one of the advanced worldwide when it
opens by end of 2015, he added.With the new facility, IRRI also seeks to have
more national and cross-country collaborations with other research
institutes.Agriculture is highly vulnerable to the impacts of severe changes in
the weather as it is dependent on highly specific climate conditions. In late
2013, the Philippine agricultural sector suffered major losses after Haiyan
(local name: Yolanda), the strongest typhoon to make landfall to date, hit the
Visayas.
Moreover, half of the world’s
population or about 3.5 billion people consider rice their staple food.
Filipinos eat 119 kilos of rice a year, according to an IRRI study.In the new
facility, prolonged dry spells and flooding induced by climate change will be
simulated, and plants will be attached with sensors to enable accurate,
real-time monitoring of the impacts of various weather elements like light
intensity, night temperature, and humidity.The Australian government through
the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research will fund the
facility’s construction worth US$15 million.
More agriculture students
In a separate interview, Dr.
Fernando Sanchez Jr., of the University of the Philippine Los Baños, welcomed
the construction of the new facility, which will provide young university
researchers with the best tools. The crop scientist noted that this would
encourage more students to take up agriculture as a career or to conduct
related studies.In 2012, UPLB reported a sharp decline in agriculture enrollment
of only 4.7 percent of the total 9,500 enrollees in 2012, down from 43 percent
in 1995 and 51 percent in 1980.A vibrant agricultural research environment is
needed to ensure sustainable food supply in the face of climate change, Morell
noted.
For this, IRRI has a two-pronged
approach that seeks to provide young researchers tools and facilities to
conduct their studies and to host regular conventions such as the Global Rice
Research Science Partnership (GRISP), where young scientists have the chance to
present their studies to senior research fellows.“It is absolutely critical
that we have the people in the future to take the battle forward,” stressed
Morell.In her doctorate study, Filipina GRISP presenter Rica Joy Flor mentioned
the benefits of tapping overlooked informal networks and key players in farming
communities to ensure the sustainable adoption of technologies. She says that
these informal groups usually identified by their tasks in the field can help
the communities get better bargain when dealing with middlemen in acquiring
plant materials or in selling their goods as a group instead of simply as an
individual.
She mentions a huge opportunity for
Filipino students to apply their expertise in agricultural research.Initially,
Flor wanted to specialize in medical anthropology and later found her way into
community networks in farming communities.“We always view agriculture to be a
separate field of discipline but it is interrelated to other studies. I think
young researchers will find good problems to study and make an impact to help
people via agricultural research,” she says.Pieter Rutsaert, a European
post-doctoral fellow at IRRI, noted in his research that gender dynamics is
also a challenge, especially in bringing women’s voice in community decision-making.
Rice research adopts drone
technology in Riverina
Updated Wed 4 Feb 2015, 8:08pm
The Australian rice industry
can't get enough of remote-controlled technology.
It is trialling robotic tractors
to sow crops, while using drones to watch them grow. Industry group Rice
Research Australia, based near Jerilderie in south-west New South Wales, has
been looking at the benefits of drones for the last three years.This season it
is incorporating them across its trial sites.The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV),
which cost around $2,700, has a GPS system installed inside it, with a camera
attached on the outside.It flies above the rice fields to record video footage
of crop establishment and density, weeds and in some cases nitrogen uptake.
Rice Research Australia manager Russell Ford said with further
research the UAV's could save growers time and money."We do a panicle
initiation test and it's very manual-orientated," he said."We're
looking for an opportunity to make that easy for farmers."If we're going
to do that, we need something that correlates very closely to nitrogen uptake
and that's some of the research that's happening at the moment."Mr Ford
said he expected more farmers would incorporate drones into their production
system in the coming years.
"The technology, for some reason, interests people in
Australia," he said.We tend to go out there and try it, whether we know
how to use it or not."That's an attribute Australian farmers and researchers
are very good at."Let's hope we continue to develop that because a lot of
this technology will be useful in making us more efficient in the future."
Rice producer signs MoU with
machinery firm
Thu, 5 February 2015
Local rice miller and exporter, QC Rice Company, signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday with Chinese agricultural firm,
Rizhao Rui Energy Trading Company, a partnership that will see the two
businesses trade in rice and agricultural machinery.The deal sees Rizhao Rui
Energy Trading Company agree to import 250,000 tonnes of Cambodian rice from QC
Rice, while the Cambodian rice producer has agreed to import $4 million worth
of farm machinery from its Chinese partner.
The agricultural equipment includes plough tractors, rice
transplanting machines and harvesting machinery, according to Taro Ichiro,
executive director of QC Rice Co.The machineries, he said, will be used to help
farmers contracted to QC Rice across six provinces where the lack of labour and
farming equipment is hindering production.“We want to speed up paddy rice
production and increase farmers’ revenues,” he said. “Using machinery is an
efficient tool to help them, also we want to guarantee on-time delivery and
quality rice for buyers,” he added.While QC Rice exported only 120 tonnes of
rice last year, Ichiro, said the MoU will help boost its exports.Rizhao Rui
Energy Trading Company is part of Wuzheng Agriculture Machinery, and along with
producing a wide range of agricultural machines, the company also has more than
100 distribution channels for rice in China, said Jun Kong, CEO of Rui Energy
International.
“The MoU will help us to introduce Wuzheng machineries to
Cambodia’s market and with the existing channels for rice and cassava in China,
it is good for the two companies to work together,” he said.The first rice
export will occur by the middle of the year, he added.China’s import quota of
100,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia is something Kong said the company would
be seeking to lift in order to allow the 250,000 tonnes anticipated in the
deal.David Van, senior adviser to the Cambodia Rice Federation, said that the
federation is always “hopeful and supportive to any of our rice exporters to be
able to increase exports to the huge market right next door, which is China”.
Van said the Chinese quota of 100,000 tonnes was due to end in
the first quarter of this year, and it was up to the Ministry of Commerce to
negotiate an increase with the Chinese government. Rizhao Rui Energy Trading
Company, being private company, would also need to engage the Chinese
authorities, Van added.The Ministry of Commerce could not be reached for
comment yesterday, however, in August, the commerce minister said he had
requested an increase in Cambodia’s rice quota to 500,000 tonnes.
How many acres of rice in 2015?
Establishing base acres, Cuba, and a look back at 2014
The Arkansas rice crop in 2014 was one for the record books,
although not always in a good way. “Growers I’ve spoken with that have grown
rice for 30 or 40 years all say they never experienced a year like 2014,” says
Jarrod Hardke, Arkansas Extension rice agronomist. “That was really bolstered
when you look at the month of July — the coldest average temperature on record
for that month. The whole season really trended towards being the coolest ever.
”Besides the cool weather, 2014
was tough on rice growers because of the timing of the wind and rain events. It
meant a lot of workarounds.Even so, “when it came to season’s end, most people
were pretty happy with their crops. There were plenty of growers who said it
was their best crop even though they had to work a lot harder for it.“A lot of
our rice yield is set by pre-flood nitrogen.
With the wind and rain,
that was out of sync in many fields. It was hard to get those applications out
at the proper time on dry ground. Those delays probably hurt our yields a bit
so it’s surprising our end result turned out so well.”There was a benefit of all
those early, light rains, though: they kept herbicides activated. “So, even
with the delays the weeds were being suppressed. A lot of fields got almost
unbelievable residual control from products that typically don’t last that
long. Bob Scott (Arkansas Extension weed scientist) has commented on the
extremely clean crop — a few escapes not withstanding — that we headed into the
heart of the summer with.”Rice producers did have to fight a lot of disease
pressure.
“It was a terrible year for blast — probably the worst since
2004. However, most producers did a good job of fighting that battle. There
were a few situations where fields were left without management and that proved
to be a mistake. I never saw any of them but have gotten reports that some of
those fields were later walkaways. Blast can really take a field out.”Sheath
blight also showed up in some fields. “It doesn’t have the potential for loss
like blast but does need to be watched especially in cool, mild conditions.
Milder daytime temperatures, heavy dew-set every day and routine rain showers
set you up for disease in rice.”There were also a lot of small diseases that
popped up here and there.
Rick Cartwright, former University of Arkansas plant
pathologist, “refers to those as ‘nibblers.’ Those are the diseases that aren’t
the big ones that will jump up and knock a crop out. You know, a field might
have a complex of little things that don’t appear to be much at first — things
you might not think need to be treated — but they just take little bites out of
the grain yield until they turn into something very damaging.”
Japanese rice: the
new, safe luxury food in China
SHANGHAI/TOKYO
(Reuters) - First it was European infant
formula, then New Zealand milk. Now Chinese consumers are adding Japanese rice
to the list of everyday foods they will bring in from abroad at luxury-good
prices because they fear the local alternatives aren't safe.The volume of rice
imported from China remains small - 160 tonnes last year, according
to Japan's National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations.
But that is more
than triple the total in 2013, a trend that illustrates Chinese consumers'
dwindling confidence in the safety of the country's own agricultural
produce."Chinese rice farmers use pesticides," said a seller
identified as Ying Ying, who started offering Japanese rice on the Taobao
online marketplace last August. "Japanese rice isn't polluted by heavy
metals."Pollution from industrialization has exacted a heavy toll
onChina's soil and water.
In May 2013, officials in Guangdong province
in southern China said 44 percent of rice samples
contained excessive levels of the metal cadmium.A study by the Ministry of
Environmental Protection last April estimated that 16.1 percent of China's soil
was contaminated. In parts of the country, soil pollution is so bad that some
rice farmers refuse to eat what they grow.After the cadmium revelations, some
Chinese consumers began to see rice from Thailand as an affordable and safe substitute.
In contrast,
Japanese rice is neither cheap nor easy to find in China. Japanese rice imported by
Chinese grain trader COFCO sells for 74 Chinese yuan ($12)
a kg on PinStore, an online supermarket run by Japanese trading house Sumitomo
Corp. Domestic rice sells there for as little as 7.5 yuan per
kg.
As demand grows,
Chinese consumers are increasingly turning to online platforms such as Taobao,
run by Alibaba, to buy rice directly from individuals in Japan.One person seems to have paid as
much as 1,499 yuan ($241) for five kg, according to
Taobao.Steep prices, though, are no deterrent for some."Much tastier than
Chinese rice. Worth every cent - great texture and taste," one delighted
buyer wrote on Taobao.To meet demand, some Chinese producers now say they use
Japanese seeds and promote their rice as a safer alternative to purely domestic
strains.Zhejiang Xinxie Yueguang Agricultural Science and Technology says its
Echizen brand rice is safe and grown with "water from pure sources and
strict quality control". The packaging says the rice is a Japanese
variety.
But Echizen rice
is grown in Changxing county, a hub of lead-acid battery production in eastern
Zhejiang province. Battery production can be highly polluting.Li Jun, general
manager at Zhejiang Xinxie Yueguang, insisted the company's rice had passed
tests for lead, cadmium, mercury, pesticides and other chemicals by state
inspectors.The company had also found other areas to grow rice where there was
less concern about pollution, Li said.The Chinese eat around 120 million tonnes
of rice a year and the country imported more than 2.2 million in the first 11
months of 2014, including 1.2 million tonnes from Vietnam and 626,000 tonnes
from Thailand, customs data shows.
Japan is a small rice exporter - just 3,777
tonnes in January to November 2014, according to agriculture ministry data -
but it is looking to boost shipments to Asian countries as part of a wider push
to export more agricultural products.However, if the trend to China looks encouraging, any further
increase through normal export channels may be slow: the Chinese authorities
have given just one Japanese rice mill clearance to send polished rice.Others
have begun an application process but that has stalled. Some would-be suppliers
have been waiting for three years, a Japanese government official
said.(Additional reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Alan Raybould)
Vinafood 2 ridiculed for its plan to buy paddy from farmers
VietNamNet Bridge – Experts have
expressed doubts about Southern Food Corporation’s (Vinafood 2) plan to
“restructure rice production and export”.Vinafood 2, the major Vietnamese
rice exporter, has announced it will “make a breakthrough” in rice exports by
buying unhusked rice from farmers to process rice for export instead of buying
rice for export, as it did in the past.Huynh The Nang, general director of
Vinafood 2, said this is a part of the corporation’s plan to develop its
large-scale paddy field model, which would help it secure enough rice stocks
for export.
Meanwhile, this would allow farmers to sell
rice at good prices.It is expected that the large-scale fields would account
for 20 percent of the rice growing area in the Mekong River Delta by
2020.Vinafood 2 has completed working sessions with its subsidiaries and
commercial banks on the cooperation in implementing the restricting process.The
rice exporter has signed cooperation contracts with four banks, namely MHB,
LienViet Post Bank, VietBank and HD Bank, under which the banks would provide
loans to rice merchants, cooperatives, rice suppliers and Vinafood 2’s
subsidiaries.Nguyen Van Nam, a renowned trade expert, noted that for many
years, Vinafood 2 has been acting as the “rice exporters’ foreman”, not buying
rice directly from farmers, but from merchants and via intermediaries.
Nam said he still could not imagine
how Vinafood 2 can do this.“Farmers sell fresh paddy right at the fields. If
Vinafood 2 wants to buy paddy from farmers, it will have to develop a
collection network nationwide,” he noted.Commenting about Vinafood 2, the
expert said this was the best choice for Vinafood 2 for now.In the past,
Vinafood 2 was the only authorized exporter. But things are different now: many
other companies also have the right to export rice if they can satisfy the
requirements set by the government.“As Vinafood 2 is losing its monopoly, it
will have to buy paddy from farmers to process finished rice products for
export, or it will have nothing to do,” he said.
Analysts warned that it would be
very costly and complicated for Vinafood 2 to reorganize its business chain,
i.e., it would carry out all phases of the production, processing and export.An
analyst noted that it would be better for Vinafood 2 to sign rice-supply
contracts with local enterprises. If so, it would be able to create a rice
production and business chain which would allow it to save costs and work
effectively.
Kim Chi
Costly rice seen limiting Thai
exports
Thai rice exporters are projecting shipments of
just 10 million tonnes this year, mainly due to high prices for Thai
grains. The amount is much lower than the previous forecasts of the
Commerce Ministry and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Charoen
Laothammatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said
yesterday.The association expects shipments to fetch US$5.95 billion or 161
billion baht in 2015.The 10-million-tonne amount includes 5 million tonnes of
white rice, 2 million tonnes of Hom Mali fragrant rice, 2.7 million tonnes of
parboiled rice, 100,000 tonnes of glutinous rice and 200,000 tonnes of
Pathumthani fragrant rice.The USDA earlier forecast Thai rice exports of 11.3
million tonnes, and the Commerce Ministry announced recently that it was upbeat
on Thailand returning to global dominance with as much as 11 million tonnes
shipped this year.
Thailand exported 10.96 million tonnes of rice
last year, up 66% from 2013. Export value rose by 23% to $5.43 billion.Mr
Charoen said 2015 would be challenging for rice exports, with Thai rice now
quoted at the highest price in the region.For instance, key rival Vietnam's
free-on-board price for 5% white rice is $350-360 a tonne, compared with Thai
grains quoted at $405-410.Last year, Thai rice prices were $20-30 cheaper than
those of Vietnam."This year, Thailand is expected to see stiffer
competition, while the government's massive rice stocks and volatile foreign
exchange due to quantitative easing (QE) in Europe and Japan are likely to
exert further pressure on the price of Thai rice," Mr Charoen said.
"Falling oil prices are also expected to
lead potential rice buyers in Africa such as Nigeria to buy less."Moreover,
drought conditions are seen lowering domestic production, particularly for the
second crop.Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the
Thai Rice Exporters Association, said lower exports would apply
especially to white and parboiled rice, as potential buyers are expected to
shift to cheaper grains from other rice producers because of falling oil prices
and the strong baht.Vichai Sriprasert, another honorary president of the
association, said foreign exchange would play a key role in how Thai rice
exports perform, with foreign QE measures of particular importance. He urged
the central bank to help manage the baht and move it in line with the
currencies of other regional competitors."The Thai baht is now relatively
strong compared with other currencies in the region, and even Singapore
announced a surprise easing of its currency policy to dampen inflationary
expectations and support growth," Mr Vichai said.
Finance Ministry
to take rice pledging debt from BAAC
The Finance Ministry is about to issue laws to
take over debt incurred from the Yingluck Shinawatra government's rice-pledging
schemes to make the balance sheet of the state-owned Bank for Agriculture and
Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) more flexible for business
expansion. Taking debt from the rice-pledging scheme off the BAAC's
balance sheet will allow the farm bank to run without worries over the massive
debt, a Finance Ministry source said yesterday.
The subcommittee overseeing accounting of all
rice-subsidy schemes earlier estimated losses from buying 84 million tonnes of
milled rice in the 15 schemes from 2004-14 amounted to 682 billion baht, with
the Yingluck Shinawatra government alone accounting for 518 billion. The
combined loss will be higher if depreciation, missing milled rice from
warehouses, interest costs and warehouse rental fees are included.Rent to store
the rice in warehouses amounts to 2 billion baht a year, and the interest
from borrowing 500 billion baht to fund the scheme is charged at 3% annually,
while the depreciation rate of the rice stands at 10% per
year.An inspection of the 17 million tonnes of milled rice bought under
the previous government's scheme found only 2.19 million tonnes were standard
quality and classified as Grade A rice.
Some 14.4 million tonnes were judged to be
substandard or Grade B, while the rest was classified as Grade C because it was
either rotten or had been registered incorrectly. The inspection was done
by a team working for PM's Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul. The source said
the debt takeover would be similar to the Financial Institutions
Development Fund debt takeover of 1.4 trillion baht from the 1997 financial
meltdown.The government is legally required to use proceeds from pledged rice
sales to pay the principal and interest in addition to the government budget
set each fiscal year, the source said.The debt takeover will also help to lower
interest costs, as the Finance Ministry has a better credit rating than the
BAAC, the source said.
It will be impossible for the government to pay
off the debt within a short time period, as this would constrain public
investment, meaning it is obliged to structure the debt as a long-term
loan to match revenue from the rice sales and the
budget.The ministry may also take over other state enterprise debt
from previous government policies, the source said.
APL families to get subsidised rice,
wheat
Unit system to
be re-introduced to check diversion
Keeping an eye on the forthcoming
polls to local bodies, the government proposes to supply subsidised rice and
wheat to 19.6 crore Above Poverty Line (APL) families under the public
distribution system. But there’s a rider: APL families have to give in writing
that they will lift their monthly quota without fail.The Congress Legislature
Party (CLP) meeting on Wednesday unanimously endorsed the proposal on providing
subsidised ration to APL families.
The CLP welcomed the proposal and
appealed to Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao to
implement it at the earliest. The proposal would be placed before the Cabinet
soon, and it would be executed in the next two months, sources in the Food and
Civil Supplies Department told The
Hindu .To check diversion of
foodgrains, it was decided to re-introduce the unit system for rations for BPL
families, and food items would be distributed based on the size of the family.
For instance, a single-member
family will get 5 kg of rice, while an eight-member family will get 40 kg of
rice per month.“In the unit system, the larger the size of the family, the
larger will be the quota,” sources said.At present, single-member, two-member
and three- and more members in a family are receiving 10 kg, 20 kg and 30 kg,
respectively, under the Anna Bhagya scheme.A sum of Rs. 4,000 crore had been
earmarked for the department in 2014-15, and it is expected to spend Rs. 2,800
crore.
Thai crops to suffer worst drought in
15 years
BANGKOK
(Reuters)
- Thailand will experience its worst drought in more than a
decade this year, the irrigation department said on Thursday, damaging crops in
one of the world's biggest rice-exporting nations.Thailand was currently battling drought in
eight of 76 provinces, but 31 other provinces remained at risk, the Interior
Ministry said, adding that it had allocated around 6.8 billion baht ($208.65
million) to alleviate drought, up from 430 million baht ($13.19 million) last
year.The funds would be used to install water pumps and provide mobile water
tanks in affected areas, it said.
"This
year's water levels are the worst in 15 years but we have managed our water
supply so people can be confident that there will be no problems regarding
water shortages," said Lertwiroj Kowattana, director-general of the Royal
Irrigation Department.Drought will cut major rice exporter Thailand's 2015
off-season crop by over 30 percent, according to the latest report from the
Office of Agricultural Economics.Thailand's off-season rice is grown between
November and April after the main crop is harvested. The second crop needs
irrigation as there is little rain during that period.
The government had announced that it would not
provide water for second-crop rice farming. On Thursday, it said it had
persuaded farmers to halve second-crop production in 2015.Around 160,000
hectares, or around 1.3 percent of Thailand's total rice farm land, will be
affected by drought, the Agriculture Ministry estimates.Palm oil production has
also been hit by ongoing drought prompting the government to import around
50,000 tonnes of crude palm oil due to a domestic shortage.Thailand's military
government has said it plans to invest $7.5 billion in urgent water management
projects over the next two years.
The projects are part of a 10-year water
management plan across the country after the military government scrapped a
350-billion baht water plan initiated by the previous administration.(Reporting
By Kaweewit Kaewjinda, Pracha Hariraksapitak and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing
by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Nick Macfie)
