·
Today Rice News Headlines...
·
Time to rethink India’s
rice policy
·
2016 USA Rice Outlook
Conference
·
Loan for Silos in Limbo
·
Rachol women taught to use
farming machinery
·
Indian Scientists Develop A
Healthy Ice Cream – Nutrice Cream
·
Massaman curry of beef
cheeks with pumpkin, cashew nuts and snake beans
·
Farmers save rainwater for
dry seasons
·
PhilRice highlights green
veggies, brown rice in Nutrition Month
·
Beverley Postma joins
HarvestPlus as CEO
News Detail...
Time to rethink India’s rice policy
Prerna Sharma
late,
with growing income and awareness about nutritious food, there has been a
noticeable decrease in the consumption of rice (a high-carb food) in Indian
households. This change in consumption pattern, however, is not reflected in
India’s agriculture policy which continues to revolve around rice and wheat. Moreover,
current policies related to production, procurement, storage and distribution
of rice are creating a number of internal and external problems.
The
Centre is promoting rice production through a combination of support prices,
assured procurement and subsidies on key inputs like irrigation, chemical
fertilisers and electricity — the major proportion of input subsidies is
consumed by rice.
Thus,
paddy’s MSP has risen from ₹580 per quintal in 2006-07 to ₹1,470
per quintal of 2016-17 at a CAGR of 10 per cent. Then, there are State-specific
bonuses over and above the MSPs.
Govt’s production and distribution processes are out of sync with consumption
patterns
Of Domestically,
the over-promotion of rice (and wheat) creates a mismatch between demand and
supply. That leads to food inflation fuelled by price surges of specific
commodities, such as pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables. The ongoing
pulses crisis (40 per cent production shortfall) is one of its ill-effects.
Many a time, India struggles with inflation in rice despite surplus production
and excess stocks with the government, which calls for a rethink on existing
policy. Also, the current policy of promoting a water-intensive crop like paddy
is aiding faster depletion of the water table, i.e. 17.7 cubic km/year in
Punjab and Haryana.
Stocking and distribution
The FCI is
carrying a rice stock of 19.4 million tonnes (MT) as on July 1, 2016, as
against the buffer norm of 13.5 MT. Additional procurement to implement the
National Food Security Act is further putting pressure on the existing
inadequate storage infrastructure. Out of 81 MT of FCI’s grain storage
capacity, only 50 MT is covered.
Overstocking
inflates the government’s cost and lack of proper storage system leads to
deterioration in rice quality. After procurement and stocks withheld by
farmers, only one-third of the rice remains free for open market trade. Thus,
the market gets nervous about any small cues.
India’s
MSP-based procurement always faces global criticism that it distorts the price
of the world market by exporting subsidised rice. India is the largest rice
exporter, contributing 25 per cent to the global rice trade (42 MT) but, is
considered an unreliable supplier due to its flip-flops
on the trade policy front. Hardening of rice prices in 2007-08
prompted India to ban export of non-basmati rice (revoked in 2011) that caused
international rice prices to soar.
This
knee-jerk reaction from India prompted rice-importing countries to respond with
policy measures (hikes in support prices and raising tariff/non-tariff barriers
to check imports) to augment indigenous rice production. Indonesia and the
Philippines fix rice import quota every year. Japan has banned rice imports
except milled rice at an import tariff of 778 per cent. China doesn’t import
rice from India. The world’s rice market is shallow, with only 8 per cent of
the total produce being traded. So, any market-distorting action by major
players leads to a dramatic change in prices and constrains India’s export.
India exported 10.4 MT of rice worth $5.79 billion in FY2015-16, down 13 per
cent (quantity) and 26 per cent (value) in FY2014-15.
The way forward
The
shift in food consumption pattern calls for incentivising non-cereal crops. The
government has increased MSP and declared bonus in pulses to boost production.
But, these market distorting measures are not sustainable in the long term and
will add to the subsidy burden.
There is
a need to replace price-support measures with income-support ones, such as
direct payment to farmers, and let market forces guide what to produce and how
much. The government should focus on increasing public spending to improve
irrigation and develop high-yielding varieties of seeds to raise productivity.
This will increase farmers’ return in a sustainable way. A nutrient-based
subsidy regime will promote a balanced use of fertilisers and improve per unit
return on subsidies.
The writer is VP and Head, Agriculture, Food
and Retail, at Biznomics Consulting
- http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/portfolio/real-assets/rethink-on-rice-policy/article8955806.ece
2016 USA Rice Outlook Conference
- Dates: 07 – 09
Dec, 2016
- Location: Memphis,
TN
- Address: Sheraton
Memphis Downtown
2101 Wilson Boulevard,
Suite 610
Arlington, VA 22201
Loan for Silos in Limbo
There seems to be no definite period of when a
$300 million loan from the Chinese government, to build large silos to store
rice for milling, will be disbursed to the Cambodian government.According to a
report last December, Cambodia’s Ministry of Economy and Finance sent a draft
memorandum of understanding to the Chinese government seeking a loan of about
$300 million to build 10 large silos, which could store a total of 1.2 million
tons of paddy rice to ensure both millers and exporters could have a continuous
supply of the commodity.
Mey Kalyan, advisor to the Supreme National
Economic Council said the process to get the loan from China was going ahead
and negotiations were continuous. But Mr. Kalyan agreed that there were
certain hurdles in getting the loan.“The issue of the loan collateral is
complicated. We can use the paddy rice stored in the silos as collateral, but
will that work?” he asked.Mr. Kalyan pointed out that paddy rice is a
perishable item and lenders are reluctant to loan money using it as a security.
The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) has been
urging the government to build silos for storing paddy rice in order to boost
rice exports. It has also asked for help from the government to provide
emergency loans to millers and exporters who are currently in financial
doldrums due to cheaper rice flooding the market from neighboring
countries. Hun Lak, vice president of CRF, told Khmer Times that the
project to build silos was under the Ministry of Commerce and the Chongqing
Grain Group was responsible for the project study.
“Chongqing sent their representatives to do a joint study with us for the
loan application from the Chinese government. However, till today, we have yet
to hear anything from them,” said Mr. Hun Lak.Mr. Hun Lak said that since this
project was on a government-to-government basis, the private sector was
by-passed.China plans to increase its rice import quota from Cambodia next year
and China will import another 200,000 metric tons of milled rice in 2017 on top
of their current rice imports from Cambodia. Cambodia’s rice export in the
first six months reached about 268,190 tons, according to a report released by
the General Department of Agriculture on Thursday
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28139/loan-for-silos-in-limbo/
Rachol women taught to use farming machinery
Around
25 women from Rachol village have been provided training in farming machinery
use by the union ministry of agriculture through Southern Region Farm Machinery
Training and Testing Institution, Hyderabad in association with zonal
agriculture office (ZAO) of department of agriculture, Goa.
Besides
women, several men have also been trained on handling the machinery. The
training to the women farmers, mostly from tribal community, was provided by a
resource person from the Hyderabad institution. The village has been adopted
under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.
The women were trained on handling small machinery and other equipment like
power tillers, pesticide sprayers, maize sheller, besides coconut climbing,
branch cutting tasks etc.Further, those interested can also obtain a week-long
training at Hyderabad. While the first training session will be free of cost,
the second session, which mostly comprises training on equipment functioning
and its maintenance, will be a paid one. “I am glad that many women are showing
interest in agricultural activities,” said resource person Moly.He said that
machinery use will reduce cultivation cost and also help farmers in overcoming
labour shortage. He applauded the efforts of the local sarpanch Joseph Vaz in
this regard.
ZAO of Salcete, Dattatrai Pandit said that the women were shown how de-weeding
is to be done with machine and spraying of manure. He said the government took the
initiative after considering the difficulties faced by farmers in getting the
labour. He thanked the sarpanch Vaz for organising the programme.
Chandra
Desai, deputy project director of Agriculture Technology Management Authorities
(ATMA) said that since the villagers are cultivating organic rice (without
application of manure) the government should assign a certificate to this rice
so as to identify it by certain name and increase its popularity and sale.
Sarpanch Vaz thanked the officers and villagers for their cooperation.
http://www.navhindtimes.in/rachol-women-taught-to-use-farming-machinery/
Indian Scientists Develop A Healthy Ice Cream – Nutrice Cream
Very
recently, someone
created organic gastronaut ice cream modeled after the ice
cream that astronauts are said to be eating in space. It’s less
messy, it tastes the same and it comes in slabs instead of scoops. But what’s
more interesting is that Indian scientists have now developed a healthy ice
cream!
The
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) constituent laboratory,
CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR-CFTRI)
Mysuru, in association with Oleome Biosolutions, Bengaluru and Dairy Classic
Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd has developed Nutrice.
SKIM
Made from a vegetarian source, Nutrice Cream is
an Omega-3 and Vitamin-E enriched frozen nutritional dessert. Dietary
supplementation of Omega-3 have been reported to have beneficial health
functions including brain development in children and good health in elderly
population.
CSIR-CFTRI
have also developed a diverse array of food products like Nutri-chikki which is
incorporated with spirulina, rice mix, high protin rusk, energy food, and
others to fit nutritional requirements of different people
https://www.hungryforever.com/indian-scientists-develop-healthy-ice-cream-nutrice-cream/
Massaman curry of beef cheeks with pumpkin, cashew nuts and snake
beans
SAM MANNERING
Last
updated 05:00, August 7 2016
Jason Creaghan
Spice up
your life with this home-made curry.
2-130tph Mineral Mill & pulveriser for
grinding ore,mineral,stone.Ask!
The
Germans are rather good at coming up with single words that mean a lot of
things all at once. I'm surprised they haven't invented one that means
meltingly tender, rich, warming and delicious.
The Thais have, though. Massaman.
Despite being a Thai dish, the flavours of clove, coriander,
cinnamon, cardamom and cumin are distinctly Middle Eastern. The word massaman
is the archaic equivalent of Muslim, a reference perhaps to the traders who
introduced Southeast Asia to such flavours.
Traditionally this is made with chicken, but I associate it much more with beef
cheeks. It is the perfect cut of meat for a dish like this, as the slow cooking
time gently coerces the meat into something quite glorious. Instead of beef
cheeks, chicken thighs and lamb shoulders are perfectly good alternatives.
Don't be daunted by this list of ingredients. Making your own spice paste will
always be infinitely more gratifying than anything out of a jar and, despite
the array of ingredients, it is very straightforward to make.
MASSAMAN
CURRY OF BEEF CHEEKS WITH PUMPKIN, CASHEW NUTS AND SNAKE BEANS
SPICE
PASTE
4 cardamom pods
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 star anise
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¹/₂ tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp roasted cashew nuts
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
4 red chillies, de-seeded
50g fresh ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
¹
/₂ stalk
lemongrass, chopped
zest and juice of 1 lime
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
CURRY
1kg beef cheeks
3 tbsp flour, for dusting
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
2 x 400ml tins coconut milk
500g pumpkin, peeled and chopped
generous handful of snake beans, washed and trimmed
TO SERVE
¹/₂ cup roasted cashews, roughly chopped
1 cup mung beans
handful of coriander, roughly chopped
steamed basmati rice
To make
the paste, combine the cardamom, coriander, star anise, cumin, cinnamon,
peppercorns and turmeric in a dry pan and toast everything gently, until it is
lovely and fragrant. Take off the heat, let it cool and transfer to food
processor. Blitz the spices together into a powder. Add the remaining
ingredients to the food processor and continue to blend until you end up with a
fine paste. This mixture will keep for up to a month in the fridge.
Preheat
the oven to 180°C.
Cut the
beef cheeks into 2-3cm chunks, season with salt and pepper and dust lightly
with flour. Get a large lidded casserole or similar going over a high heat, add
a little oil, and follow with the beef cheeks and the sliced onion. Fry
everything quickly, adding more oil if necessary, until the meat is well
browned.
Bring
the heat down a bit and add about 3 tbsp of the curry paste. Continue to cook
for another minute, then add the coconut milk and pumpkin and stir well. Ensure
everything is well covered, put a lid on and place in the oven. Leave to simmer
for 2 hours, until the beef cheeks are tender. Taste and season. You may want
to add a little more of the spice paste to give it a bit more kick.
About 10
minutes before serving, add the beans and let it cook for another five minutes
so the beans are just cooked and still have a bit of crunch.
Serve
with the cashews, mung beans and the coriander sprinkled over the top,
alongside some steamed rice and perhaps some roti to mop up the sauce.
Sam
Mannering is the author of Food Worth Making. poshgiraffepublishing.co.nz
Farmers save rainwater for dry
seasons
Farmers
in Brgy. Biclat, San Miguel, Bulacan are taking advantage of the rainy season
by saving rainwater for their rice farms’ use during dry months. Small farm
reservoirs (SFR) help them do so.SFR, according to Bureau of Soils and Water
Management (BSWM), is a water impounding structure with a maximum height of
embankment of 4 meter and average pond area of 1,500 square meters. Farmers
with areas no more than 2 ha of rainfed farms find the tool convenient to use.
“Almost
every farm here has SFR since we have limited water resources and irrigation
can’t reach us,” said Rodelio B. Viola, chairman of Biclat Farmers Field School
Marketing Cooperative.Farmers use SFRs as fishponds to give them extra income
during the first cropping season. They
use the water from SFR for rice production in the second cropping season,
particularly before or during summer. For farmers who want to start their own
SFR, they would have to spend more than P10,000.“We rent digging equipment such
as bulldozer or backhoe. In our area, the rent costs P2,000/hour,” said
Florentino B. Salvador, a farmer and owner of three SFRs.
“Diggings
are made every five years to maintain the depth of the structure as it becomes
shallow with soil erosion. If the farmer has resources, he can dig it every
year,” he added. Experts at the Rice Engineering and Mechanization Division of
the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said that SFR is just one of
the water harvesting techniques farmers can use during the rainy season.Other
technologies include small water impounding project (SWIP), diversion dam,
dug-out pond, open ditch, and rain interceptor ponds and ditches.
According
to Engr. Kristine S. Pascual, water harvesting techniques such as SFR, are
important as there is a negative effect when rice is submerged in the water for
a long time.“Aeration will be an issue, resulting in poor tillering of the rice
plant,” she said.
Pascual
also gave tips on managing water in the rice field during the rainy season.“Dikes
and irrigation canals must be fixed to make sure that the water flows to the
drainage or any impounding structure,” she explained.She added that farmers can
avoid the onslaught of typhoons and floods by following a cropping calendar to
guide them on the proper timing of planting rice. PhilRice breeders also
suggest that farmers can plant flood-tolerant varieties such as NSIC Rc194
(Submarino 1) which has an average yield of 3.5 t/ha and matures in 112
days.
For more information on water
harvesting techniques, farmers may contact the PhilRice Text Center at 0920 911
1398.
PhilRice highlights green veggies, brown rice
in Nutrition Month
PhilRice celebrated this year’s
Nutrition Month through awareness campaigns on brown rice and rice-based food
products. In the cooking contest, Going Greens: A cook-off showdown, ten pairs of culinary enthusiasts
showed their prowess in preparing brown rice and local green leafy vegetables,
July 26.
Each participating team was tasked
to prepare Filipino dishes from a mystery basket filled with leafy vegetables
such as pechay, spinach, camote tops, bitter gourd leaves, string bean leaves,
chili pepper leaves, and upland water spinach.
To support the Institute's campaign
on brown rice awareness, contestants were required to prepare a green leafy
dish-brown rice pairing in the main dish category.Students from the Central
Luzon State University won three awards. Incoming second year Food Technology
students Camilla Patrice Villar and Jamm Joseph Aquino were declared grand
winners and received the Best in Appetizer award for their Banana Veggie dish.
“Just cook with your heart, use your
imagination, and take risks when necessary. The result will be the best
Filipino dishes,” Villar advised to her fellow culinary enthusiasts. Robert Cauilan and Thea Diamzon from the same
university received the Best in Main Dish award for their Squash Surprise. Adrian Banasihan and Kevin Cayanga of La Fortuna
College took home the Best Dessert award for their Kangkong Jam.Each dish was assessed based on taste and nutritional
value (40%), visual appeal (30%), originality and creativity (20%), and overall
presentation (10%).
The
cooking contest was led by the Rice Chemistry and Food Science Division (RCFSD)
and conducted through the Intensified
Rice-Based Agri-Bio Systems (IRBAS) program of PhilRice.Rosaly Manaois,
head of RCFSD, said that the activity is part of the IRBAS’s study on the
development and marketing of rice-based food products, which she also leads.“Green
leafy vegetables grown in rice-based farms are packed with vitamins, minerals,
and phytonutrients. However, they are unpopular and intake of Filipinos is low.
Hence, preparation of more palatable and low-cost green leafy dishes would help
us promote them,” Manois said.The RCFSD team is also planning to prepare a techno-bulletin
of the vegetable recipes for distribution to the stakeholders in various Palayamanan sites of PhilRice.
To
cap off the month-long celebration, the RCFSD organized an outreach and feeding
program, July 28. Around 270 students of Mangandingay Elementary School in
Muñoz, Nueva Ecija participated in the said event.The RCFSD staff served brown
rice arroz caldo to the students and
donated Be Riceponsible campaign materials, and some vegetable seeds and fruit
seedlings that students can cultivate at home.
“We
aim to create greater awareness among the students on the importance of
nutrition, encourage them to be riceponsible,
and help the school establish a fruit and vegetable garden,” said Henry
Mamucod, outreach and feeding activity coordinator.The said activity was
sponsored by the PhilRice Health and Wellness Program, Gender Awareness
Development Initiative Program, Be Riceponsible campaign, and PhilRice Employees’
Multipurpose Cooperative (PEMCO).
Beverley Postma joins HarvestPlus as CEO
Beverley Postma
HarvestPlus has announced the appointment of Beverley Postma as its new CEO.
She succeeds Dr. Howarth Bouis, the founder of HarvestPlus and a 2016 World
Food Prize laureate, the company said in a press release issued
yesterday.
HarvestPlus, a joint venture created by International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI) and International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in
2003, improves nutrition and public health by developing and promoting
biofortified food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals.
HarvestPlus helped Bangladeshi breeders develop world's first biofortified
zinc-enriched rice in 2013.
Since then under the support of HarvestPlus, five zinc biofortified rice
varieties have been nationally released in Bangladesh with high yield and
beneficial agronomic traits desired by farmers.
Out of which, four inbred varieties were released by Bangladesh Rice
Research Institute (BRRI) and one hybrid variety by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU).Beverley Postma has 25 years of
experience as a policy expert in international food systems, nutrition and food
security.
She comes to HarvestPlus after six years as founder and executive director of
Singapore-based Food Industry Asia (FIA), a non-profit regional platform
tackling food security, nutrition and regulatory harmonisation.
On her joining HarvestPlus, Postma said: “I am honoured to join the team at
HarvestPlus as it scales up its work to achieve the essential goal of reaching
1 billion people with biofortified food by 2030.”Originally from the UK, Postma
is an avid underwater photographer, who holds a PhD and BSc (Hons) in marine
biology from the University of Liverpool.
“We are extremely fortunate to have recruited Beverley Postma as the new CEO
of HarvestPlus,” said Dr Shenggen Fan, director general of IFPRI.Dr. Ruben
EcheverrÃa, director general of CIAT, said: “Beverley's international
experience and her familiarity with food issues, innovation and
multi-stakeholder partnerships are important assets for HarvestPlus and the
global biofortification movement.”
Approximately 20 million people in low-income farming households in 30
countries around the world are now growing and eating these nutritious staple
foods, including cassava, maize and sweet potato enriched with vitamin A; beans
and pearl millet enriched with iron; and rice and wheat enriched with zinc.
Testing of biofortified varieties is underway in
an additional 25 countries.
“To
save our atmosphere and improve our air quality we must stop the
practice of burning residues,” said H.S. Sidhu, Punjab hub manager from
CSISA, adding that to increase rice-wheat system yields, at least 50% of
straw should be left on the field. With the added biomass, rice yields
increase in three to four years, and with only one tractor pass needed,
the cost of maintaining wheat fields is reduced USD 100 per hectare.
Additionally, the straw maintains soil moisture; suppresses growth of
the grass Phalaris minor; minimizes the negative aff ect on yield that
high temperatures during wheat maturity cause; and allows a rotation of
the short-duration crop saathi moong between the rice and wheat crops.
