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Rice growers positive Extreme weather bears down on rice Confident agriculture minister to hold off rice imports VFA acts against rice export deal cancellations Minister says cost of rice scheme will not exceed Bt500 billion Commerce & Finance Ministries to ponder how to keep lid on rice mortgage budget Paddy sowing in Bengal set to gather pace in 2 weeks Scientists Engineer Rice To Fight Rotavirus Rice technology, research to be showcased at upcoming Field Day Cooler weather slowing Arkansas rice development When information technology meets rice science Two millers under scanner for 'missing' paddy worth Rs. 3 cr Kirinyaga trader feted for helping with jiko research
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Rice growers positive Fiona Myers | August 14, 2013 RICE growers are the most optimistic they have been for years about the coming season. And they have good reason to be proud of the product they grow and the way they grow it, according to speakers at the peak body's annual talk fest.About 200 growers and industry representatives were in Griffith last week for the Ricegrowers Association of Australia annual conference.Speakers included former National Farmers Federation president David Crombie and SunRice board member Peter Margin.RGA executive director Ruth Wade said the conference was overwhelmingly positive and it was important for growers to hear the good news together.
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"We need to take pride in our role as growers, and that has been hard when you are facing droughts and low allocations," she said.But Ms Wade said rain forecast for this week, particularly in the Murray Valley, would augur well for a big rice crop this year.And rain across rice growing areas meant farmers who may have been forced to use some of their irrigation water finishing winter crops could reserve this for rice.Ms Wade said growers were told the Australian rice industry had much to be proud of."What we do, we do extremely well without subsidies," she said."We are producing safe, high quality food and the speakers challenged us to champion the industry."They wanted us to give out the message that we are dynamic, progressive people and we can do this."Ms Wade said a large contingent of younger growers attended the conference."It was great for a younger generation to hear about the opportunities and to share in the positivity," she said
Extreme weather bears down on rice Updated: 2013-08-14 07:38 By Zhong Nan (China Daily)
A shopper buys rice in a supermarket in Yichang, Hubei province. The bad weather that hit China's major ricegrowing regions is likely to drive up imports in the world's biggest rice buyer. Liu Junfeng / For China Daily 2013-14 import quota set at 5.3 million tons .Drought, heat, heavy rain and floods in China's major rice-growing regions are likely to cut the country's harvest and increase reliance on imports, industry experts have forecast. An ongoing drought has harmed rice crops in Central and East China's major rice-growing regions such as Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. Meanwhile, heavy rain and floods have hit Heilongjiang province in Northeast China. In addition, a heat wave has scorched 13 provincial-level areas and left about 6 million people and 1.72 million head of livestock short of drinking water, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. According to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, more than 1.87 million hectares of farmland have been affected by the drought in Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces. About 70 percent of the land involved is planted with rice. Rain of medium to heavy intensity has continued battering Heilongjiang province, where it has flooded 5,300 ha of rice farmland. Ding Lixin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, said the central government had set a rice import quota of 5.32 million tons for 2013-14. Ding said the rough weather
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may boost actual rice imports to between 2.8 and 3 million tons this year alone. China imported 2.36 million tons of rice from international markets such as Thailand and Vietnam in 2012. "August is an important month for paddy rice to develop, when it needs more water and nutrients to grow. The drought will certainly cut yields and disrupt plans for late planting in South China," Ding said. Sun Hongrong, who operates a family farm in the suburban Shanghai district of Songjiang, said high temperatures have been a headache since July. Although his rice-planting area doubled this year to about 13 ha, Sun estimated that output will shrink 15 to 20 percent this year. Harvesting is due to start in about 20 days. "For good-quality rice, the best temperature for pollination is about 32 degrees Celsius. But the reality in Shanghai is a temperature above 38 degrees Celsius for more than a week," said Sun. The heat has also pushed up his costs for irrigation and labor. Rice is different from corn or wheat, in that several countries such as the United States, Canada and Argentina are big producers of the latter grains. The world's other major rice-growing nations are mainly in Asia, such as Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Indonesia. "The problem that China must contend with is that these countries have limited land and production capacity in comparison with China. "China might confront a severe situation if the rice output in these Asian countries was cut by natural disasters" or other developments, said Zheng Dawei, a professor at the China Agricultural University in Beijing. China is the world's biggest rice importer. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has forecast that the country's rice imports will reach 3 million tons, about 8 percent of the total global rice trade, in the 2013-14 crop year. The country already imported about 1.32 million tons of rice in the first half of 2013, up about 12 percent from a year earlier. China's National Meteorological Center has said that the heat wave will last only until the middle of August. But the drought may persist until the end of the month, because rain forecast for the final 10 days of the month may prove insufficient. To tackle the drought, the government has allocated 1.65 billion yuan ($269.5 million) for the exploration of ground water sources, artificial rainmaking, building new water conservation facilities and other relief efforts. "The impact of the drought on rice output in South China may be limited because the northeastern regions, rather than the south, have become the top contributor to the nation's grain harvest in recent years," said Li Guoxiang, a rural development researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "However, if the floods in the northeast continue, it will have a worse impact on this year's rice output," Li said. The adverse weather conditions have triggered concerns that the grain market will be the target of domestic and international speculators. Li said domestic rice prices won't show a broad-based rise, even if China fails to achieve a second harvest this year, because the global supply-demand equation is balanced. China can adjust by resorting to the international grain markets. "Grain stocks in China are at a high level, which also weakens the possibility of capital speculation on rice," Li said. zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn
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(China Daily USA 08/14/2013 page13)
Confident agriculture minister to hold off rice imports Anggi M. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Wed, August 14 2013, 10:07 AM The government has yet to decide whether or not it will import rice to secure stock for the year-end, hoping that the prolonged wet season will boost rice production in the country.Agriculture Minister Suswono said his ministry had called on farmers to take advantage of the frequent precipitation by planting paddy. This will add more rice reserves and avoid importing the staple food. The climate is deemed suitable to boost rice production with rain that is quite regular and, thankfully, not excessive — something that can reduce possibility of harvest failures due to drought and floods.―Whether or not we will import more rice depends on how much Bulog [the State Logistic Agency] can absorb domestic production. The amount of imports will be decided on how much
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Bulog needs to fulfill its minimum year-end stock of two million tons of rice,‖ Suswono told reporters on Monday. ―We, however, are still studying how much we can produce until the end of this year as the prolonged wet season has big potential to boost production that we might not need to import rice at all.‖Bulog president director Sutarto Alimoeso previously said that the country might have to import at least 600,000 tons of rice later this year due to low production caused by weather anomalies and poor irrigation systems.Sutarto said rice imports were unavoidable because Bulog’s inventory had declined sharply after being used to provide the poor with 700,000 tons of rice as a government compensation scheme following the increase of the subsidized fuel price.He said rice imports were also necessary because of the lower-than-expected unhusked rice production this year, which was expected to increase only 0.31 percent to 69.27 million tons, according to a forecast made by the State Logistic Agency (Bulog). Bulog has to keep the year-end stock of 2 million tons to supply needs and stabilize the price during the January-March planting period, when stocks are low.
According to Central Statistic Agency (BPS) data, last year Indonesia produced 69.06 million tons of unhusked rice or equal to around 40 million tons of rice. Suswono said that BPS data was just a forecast that the government should study thoroughly before making any decision.―Rather than importing rice, most of which are old stocks that are needed to be distributed quickly to avoid degrading quality, Bulog should better rely on fresh domestic production. If we import rice and harvests turn out to be abundant, it will only lead to significant price falls,‖ he explained.In July last year, the government told Bulog to import up to 1 million tons of rice, but only 670,000 tons were brought in — 600,000 tons from Vietnam and 70,000 tons from India.State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan previously said that with the positive trend in production, Indonesia would not need to import more rice this year.Indonesia was self-sufficient on rice in 2008 and 2009, but imported rice in 2010 to maintain reserves after failed harvests, before seeing a gradual increase in production in subsequentyears Indonesia signed a deal with Myanmar last year, which agreed to sell the country up to 200,000 tons of the commodity per year if necessary.
VFA acts against rice export deal cancellations Wednesday, August 14,2013,20:15 (GMT+7) By Pham Thai and Ngoc Hung - The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) said it would introduce a new form of contract to prevent cancellation of rice export contracts, which has been rampant in recent months.Buyers cancel more contracts
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than sellers VFA Vice Chairman Pham Van Bay remarked both sellers (local companies) and buyers (foreign partners) had cancelled a large number of rice export contracts, but buyers so far had outnumbered sellers in contract cancellation. Therefore, VFA will soon introduce a sample contract for rice export.―Applying the contract offered by VFA will give sellers the upper hand and the legal basis for going to economic courts if the other party unilaterally broke the contract,‖ said Bay. In addition to the sudden increase in rice prices, another reason for contract cancellation is that the two parties do not open a letter of credit. Most of the contracts that have been cancelled are commercial contracts, which are signed between two companies, different from government-to-government contracts, said Bay.―Of the total annual rice exports of Vietnam, the volume exported under government-to-government deals makes up just a small portion, while the majority is rice exported under commercial contracts. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce a sample contract so that businesses can avoid rampant contract cancellations just as what has happened recently,‖ he said.Nguyen Tho Tri, deputy general director of Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood2), said rice export contract cancellation often took place at private companies, which were not assigned to purchase rice for temporary storage or were assigned to do so but unable to access bank loans due to poor business performance and losses. However, most of the cases of contract cancellation are a result of contract signing when prices stayed low, with a heavy delivery schedule, creating a great demand in just a short time, pushing up domestic prices. Now, if companies continue to buy rice to fulfill their contracts, they will suffer losses.In the first seven months, multiple rice export contracts were cancelled, according to VFA. The volume of rice that would have been exported under such contracts is nearly one million tons, a source told the Daily, whereas as of end-July, over four million tons of rice had been exported, bringing in US$1.8 billion.In July alone, local firms cancelled contracts for export of 180,000 tons of rice. Businesses lukewarm to rice stockpiling program :The Prime Minister has asked food companies to buy one million tons of summer-autumn rice for temporary storage. In a recent decision, the Prime Minister extended the time for rice purchase for stockpiling to Thursday, or half a month longer than the original schedule.The inspection team and VFA have reported that purchase of summer-autumn rice for temporary storage would not finish by the original deadline of July 31. The rice stockpiling program has yet to produce any effect as businesses do not have enough rice in stock for delivery to their partners. Tri ascribed the slow pace of rice purchase to the lukewarm attitude of businesses. In addition, the program is affected by the fierce competition with Thai rice, which is subsidized by the government.Experts said temporary rice storage would only be effective when a large quantity was kept in stock for a long enough period to prevent oversupply and sharp price falls. The fact that businesses quickly sell the rice they have bought for temporary storage impairs the effectiveness of this program.However, Mai Thi Anh Tuyet, director of the An Giang Department of Industry and Trade, deemed it impossible to require businesses to keep rice in stock for a certain number of days as they had the discretion over when rice should be sold
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Minister says cost of rice scheme will not exceed Bt500 billion Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation August 14, 2013 1:00 am
The commerce minister yesterday insisted that the cumulative cost to the country of the government's ricepledging scheme over its first two years had not exceeded Bt650 billion, and said the government would be able to bring the figure down to Bt500 billion this year through stepped-up selling of rice stocks.Data released by the Finance Ministry earlier showed the cumulative cost of the rice-pledging scheme had reached Bt760 billion well above the Bt500-billion limit called for in the government's policy. Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwatthumrong Boonsong-paisan said the ministry would try to accelerate its sales of rice stocks to earn money to offset the huge amount spent on rice pledging since the scheme kicked off in 2011. Niwatthumrong said the total cost of the rice-pledging scheme would eventually be brought down to Bt500 billion. The government would try to release rice from stockpiles through many methods, such as open bidding and selling under government-to-government contracts to countries such as Iraq, Iran, Indonesia and China. Under the plan, the Commerce Ministry has committed to remit Bt200 billion to the Finance Ministry.However, the Finance Ministry said the Commerce Ministry has remitted only Bt114 billion to date. This sum came from the release of rice stockpiles accumulated under the rice-pledging scheme.Niwatthumrong said spending on rice pledging should in the latest 2012-13 harvest season total about Bt300 billion for 22 million tonnes of paddy. The ministry will calculate total spending for 2011-2013 by the end of this month.The ministry will also finalise the new pledging price for the 2013-14 harvest season within the next two weeks.The Foreign Trade Department under the Commerce Ministry will open bidding for 201,000 tonnes of paddy white rice, and 100,000 tonnes of provincial fragrant rice and sticky rice.he auction will be held on August 19 at the Foreign Trade Department from 9am to 4.30pm
Commerce & Finance Ministries to ponder how to keep lid on rice mortgage budget Wednesday, 14 August 2013 By NNT
BANGKOK, 14 August 2013 (NNT) – The Ministry of Commerce will discuss how to manage the budget allocated for the rice pledging program with the Ministry of Finance, as the cost has already exceeded the budget. Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan has admitted that 650 billion baht has already been spent in the rice pledging scheme since the launch of the rice pledging program for the 2012/2013 production season, which exceeds the 500 billion baht budget framework. Therefore, the Commerce Ministry
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needs to quickly release the rice stock it has so that it can repay the Ministry of Finance and eventually tone down the scheme budget to be within the 500 billion limit. Mr. Niwatthamrong indicates that the sale of rice will be done by means of government-to-government negotiations with countries such as Iraq, Iran, and Indonesia as well as the holding of domestic auctions for the rice in its stock.Meanwhile, Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Warathep Rattanakorn said it was possible that the rice pledging program would be terminated in 3 years, after the government achieved its objective in the program aimed at raising farmers' income.
Paddy sowing in Bengal set to gather pace in 2 weeks Ayan Pramanik:Abhishek Law Kolkata, Aug. 13:
Inadequate rainfall notwithstanding, the West Bengal Government does not expect any decline in area under paddy cultivation this season. Last year, paddy was sown on 42 lakh hectares during the kharif season. According to State Agriculture Minister Moloy Ghatak, sowing has been delayed by nearly a month this year due to deficient rains. However, considering the recent showers, he expects sowing to gather momentum in the next two weeks. Deficient rainfall
―Sowing for this season will continue for another seven to 10 days. With rain lashing growing areas in the last two weeks, we expect sowing to reach last year’s level,‖ Ghatak told Business Line. Reports from Regional Met Centre (RMC), Kolkata, said that the four south Bengal districts – Birbhum, Burdwan, Nadia, Hooghly – saw an average 28 per cent deficit in rainfall between June 1 and August 7. These four districts account for 27 per cent rice acreage and nearly a third (32 per cent) of the total rice production in the State. West Bengal had produced around 14.6 million tonnes (mt) to rice across the three seasons of Aus, Aman and Boro. According to G.C. Debnath, Director, RMC, the only time the four districts reported an increase in rainfall was in the last week of July this year. Murshidabad and Malda – two other rice producing districts – witnessed a 51 and 26 per cent less rainfall, respectively. Govt measures
In the early part of the season (June and July) – when transplantation of saplings take place – the State Government, according to Ghatak, had taken measures such as alternative water resources and usage of submersible pumps to help increase the acreage. For example, in the eastern part of Burdwan, Bengal’s rice bowl, major portions of sowing area in the district were fed by release of water from DVC. Following the late monsoon and signs of better sowing, the State might not go ahead with its plan for sowing of alternative crops such as hybrid maize, sesame, black gram (urad), etc, the minister added.
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ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in,abhishek.l@thehindu.co.in (This article was published on August 13, 2013)
Keywords: Inadequate rainfall, West Bengal, decline, paddy cultivation, Moloy Ghatak
Scientists Engineer Rice To Fight Rotavirus Featured Research:August 15, 2013
Scientists have engineered a strain of rice that produces an anti-rotavirus antibody for preventing rotavirus infections.Asian Scientist (Aug. 15, 2013) – An international team of scientists has engineered a strain of rice that produces an anti-rotavirus antibody for preventing rotavirus infections. For children and immune compromised adults in developing countries, diarrheal disease induced by rotavirus can be life threatening. Current rotaviral vaccines are highly effective in the Western world, but are not as effective in developing countries. Additionally, these vaccines are not appropriate for use outside of a very narrow age window or in immune compromised individuals.n research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the team led by Yoshikazu Yuki at the University of Tokyo report the development of a strain of rice that produces a rotavirusspecific antibody. Both normal and immune deficient mice fed the engineered rice were protected against rotavirus. The researchers also report that the rice maintains its efficacy even after long-term storage and heat exposure.The engineered rice strain provides a low cost, efficient strategy for prevention of rotavirus infection especially in developing countries where rice is a staple food. The article can be found at: Takahashi et al. (2013) Rice-Based Oral Antibody Fragment Prophylaxis And Therapy Against Rotavirus Infection.
Rice technology, research to be showcased at upcoming Field Day Wednesday, August 14, 2013:Staff Reports
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GLENNONVILLE, MO -- Rice producer-oriented emerging technologies and new developments in rice research will be presented on Rice Field Day, hosted by The Missouri Rice Council and Southeast Missouri State University, Aug. 22 at the Missouri Rice Research Farm. he Farm is located on Highway J in northern Dunklin County in Missouri. The event is free and open to rice producers of Missouri. Registration begins at 8 a.m. Speakers are scheduled through noon, after which lunch will be served. The day will provide rice growers the opportunity to learn about participatory new technologies to assess soil; arsenic uptake in rice; rice varieties; market updates; electromagnetic induction surveys; sprayer calibration; precision land grading with Terra Cutta; air seeded precision planting; irrigation well maintenance and furrow irrigated rice, among other topics. "Rice Field Day is designed to showcase to rice producers of Missouri the new technologies researchers in southeast Missouri are developing so they can improve farm profitability," said Dr. Mike Aide, professor of agriculture and chair of the Department of Agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University. With Stoddard, Butler and Dunklin Counties representing the largest rice-producing counties in Southeast Missouri, the Field Day will offer a full slate of activities and speakers for the farming community. "We'd like to see area rice producers and individuals from local ag business to come out and see what's new in the world of ag technology and rice production," said Aide. Speakers at the event will include Aide; Dr. Donn Beighley, Southeast rice research fellow; Dr. Indi Braden, Southeast assistant professor of agriculture; John Anderson, vice president of Farmers Storage; Greg Yielding, Missouri representative, U.S. Rice Producers Association; Sam Atwater, University of Missouri Extension; David Dunn, soil laboratory supervisor, Delta Research Center; John Hestor, USDA; and representatives of Deere and Co., Holt Agribusiness, and Irrigation Central.For more information, contact the Southeast Department of Agriculture at (573) 651-2106.
Cooler weather slowing Arkansas rice development By CHUCK BARTELS:Associated Press:Published Wednesday, August 14, 2013, at 4:54 p.m.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A year ago, Arkansas rice farmers were bringing in a record harvest after planting early and then weathering a costly drought. This year, growers got a late start and temperatures have been so cool that rice plants are taking longer to mature.University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Rice Research Center Director Chuck Wilson said Wednesday that the harvest won't likely begin until September."The harvest will be just starting Labor Day weekend," Wilson said. "At least I think there's going to be some rice ready by then." Wilson said yields will be a bit less than last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday projected rice yields to average 160 bushels per acre."I don't think I'm that optimistic," Wilson said.Arkansas rice grows in the fertile soil in the eastern half of the state. Weather conditions have varied widely between the northern and southern regions."Some north Arkansas fields never got planted because they never got dry enough to plant," Wilson said.In south Arkansas, growers have been beset by drought and have watched their input costs
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rise while running their pumps for much of the summer. Much of southeast Arkansas got a welcome downpour on Tuesday, taking a little pressure off growers. "I've got soybean guys that told me they've watered (with irrigation) five to six times," Wilson said.In the northeast, flooding has been a problem in places, with the National Weather Service warning on Wednesday about stretches of the Cache and White rivers leaving their banks.Los were forecast in the upper 50s for much of the state, with highs in the mid-80s. Wilson said low temperatures aren't a major problem, though the longer a crop stays in the ground, the greater the risk that something else will go wrong, such as a damaging storm moving through."I don't get too nervous until it gets in the 30s. We have before in August but we're not going to (this year), based on what I'm seeing. I'm not too worried," he said.Rice is a $1 billion crop in Arkansas, with about 1.12 million acres planted this year.
When information technology meets rice science Category: Agri-Commodities :Published on Wednesday, 14 August 2013 19:24
THEY call themselves PhilRobotics. The group was officially formed in 2010 by a mix of programmers, electronics enthusiasts, engineers and technicians brought together by the love for anything related to technology, be it hardware or software.―We don’t discriminate. Everybody is here because they love solving technical problems,‖ member Noli Belen Rafallo said.―Turning our passion into a hobby is our primary raison dêtre. It’s why PhilRobotics was formed in the first place,‖ said group leader Franklin Binos II. ―We’re like any ordinary group, except that, when we can, we like to put together bots and anything that involves hardware, software, or both. Every Saturday, we meet at a friend’s place who, fortunately, is a supplier of hardware parts, and work on our projects there. Sometimes we put together a minibot, and then discuss ideas among ourselves,‖ said Binos.He revealed that he and his friends had enjoyed Bigas Hackathon. Bigas Hackathon was a focused innovation competition held in November 2012 that brought together software developers, hardware developers, interface designers and other information-technology enthusiasts who wanted to use their skills to help improve rice farming, awareness and research. The event allowed participants to use their highly specialized skills to find solutions to technological challenges that extension officers, agricultural scientists, rice farmers and consumers face.It was organized by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Smart Communications, Inc., through its developer community Smart Developer Network.
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The Hackathon was held in time for Rice Awareness Month and saw PhilRobotics’s brainchild Envilog (Environmental Logging System) winning the Most Innovative App award. Envilog is a portable device that can take readings of temperature, humidity, rainfall, amount of sunlight, wind speed, wind direction, atmospheric pressure and water height in rice fields. Other winners were Araro, a text-based simulation game; Binhi, a rice variety picker; and ISWater, which gathers data on soil water level through sensors and notifies farmers or researchers via a mobile app.Rice researchers and other parties who want environmental data at their fingertips anytime, wherever they are, will find Envilog useful. It can send stored data via GSM—a standard way of sharing data on mobile networks. GPS and SD card options can be used to save or back up data. Envilog is battery-operated but can also be solarpowered.The PhilRobotics team continued to improve the device after the hackathon. ―We worked on making last year’s Envilog more versatile so that researchers can opt only for the sensors they need, such as for temperature, humidity, wind speed and not others. We’re also currently trying to develop an interface that allows rice researchers to export data into MS [Microsfot] Excel when they need to,‖ said Binos. ―Plus, I think this upgraded version basically now works pretty much like an automated weather station,‖ he added.The project got the attention of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which asked whether or not Envilog could feed data to the DOST’s Project Noah (Nationwide Operational Assessments of Hazards), a disaster prevention and mitigation program.Binos said the Bigas Hackathon opened a lot of doors for them and expanded their knowledge about rice science.He encouraged other tech enthusiasts to join the sequel to the Hackathon, called Bigas2 Hack, which is again being organized to be held this year, the National Year of Rice, by IRRI and Smart.Bigas2Hack will be held on August 31 and September 1 at the IRRI Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna. Interested developers only need to register at http://bigas2hack.eventbrite.com/.
In Photo: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Smart officials with the winning team, PhilRobotics, in last year’s Bigas Hackathon. (From left) Marco van den Berg, IRRI chief information officer; Ramon Isberto, Smart public affairs head; Robert Zeigler, IRRI director general; PhilRobotics members Richard Myrick Arellaga, Franklin Binos II, Johnaray Dimaunahan and Wayne Dell Manuel; Bruce Tolentino, IRRI deputy director general for Communications and partnerships; and Paul Pajo, Smart developer evangelist.
Two millers under scanner for 'missing' paddy worth Rs. 3 cr HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times Moga, August 15, 2013 First Published: 00:20 IST(15/8/2013) | Last Updated: 00:30 IST(15/8/2013)
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Six months after three cases of paddy fraud were registered in the district, two more rice millers have come under the scanner for allegedly misappropriating paddy worth more than Rs. 3 crore, while some employees of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC) are also facing legal action.Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Surjit Singh Grewal said the millers had allegedly embezzled paddy worth Rs. 3.66 crore, which was stored in their mills at Chuhar Chak village, 19 km from here."PSWC's district manager Akshar Kumar lodged two complaints with the police alleging that senior officials of the department had found that Gill Rice and General Mill and Joga Agro Industry at Killi Chalahan road in Chuhar Chak, had allegedly failed to account for government paddy, provided for custom milling," the SSP added. He said that PSWC officials, during checking on July 19 and 21, found that 11380.25 quintal was missing from Gill Rice and General Mill, while 8241.45-quintal paddy was missing from Joga Agro Industry, amounting to more than Rs. 2.1 crore and Rs. 1.56 crore, respectively.PSWC assistant general manager Sukhjit Singh said that the department had submitted a complaint to the SSP and had demanded that a case of fraud be immediately registered against Gill Rice and General Mill owners Charanjeet Singh, Amanpreet Singh, and his wife Malkeet Kaur, and against Jagjeet Singh, Gurbhej Kumar, Jaswinder Singh and Lovelesh Kumar, who hold power of attorney of Joga Agro Industry. "We have constituted a special investigation team led by deputy superintendent of police (H) Gurmeet Singh, which may complete the investigation within the next seven days," the SSP claimed.Sources disclosed that the PSWC had allotted 1,52,304 bags and 99,575.8 quintal of paddy to the two mills for custom milling on behalf of the Food Corporation of India.
Kirinyaga trader feted for helping with jiko research Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY JANE MUGAMBI
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A businessman from Kirinyaga county has been awarded a certificate by an Italian university after helping in the research of an environmental-friendly jiko.Nice Rice Millers director Charles Njiru was given the certificate by Luigi Polonini, a student doing a research on a modern jiko that uses rice husks.―I am presenting a recognition certificate to Charles for allowing me to use my skills and develop a modern cooker that uses rice husks,‖ Luigi said.Hesaid the award recognises Njiru's effort to recycle rice husks in the Mwea rice irrigation scheme which are an environmental hazard. Luigi said Nice Rice Millers has become a research and learning centre for many foreigners researching on various technology for environmental management in developing African countries.Nice Rice Millers management has helped farmers in Mwea to recycle the husks which will be a source of fuel.―We came up with such cookers to show people that rice husk is an alternative source of fuel like firewood and gas,‖ Luigi said.Speaking to press in Mwea after receiving the award yesterday, Njiru said rice waste management has been a problem in Mwea in the past but will now be used as fuel.He said he has also received other awards such as a government commendation on food and agriculture organisation from the United Nation world food day in 2012, Head of State commendation in line with Vision 2030. The director said the new technology will conserve the environmental because many people will not use firewood thus reducing the felling of trees.He said the jiko does not cause pollution.Njiru said the jiko is available to farmers at Sh1,500.
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