12th november,2014 daily global rice e newsletter by riceplus magazine

Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine www.ricepluss.com

Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter

12th November 2014

Today’s News Headlines…                                

Kisan Board seeks reasonable price for paddy FPCCI deplores slow pace of privatisation process Bilateral trade: Uganda invites Pakistan to invest Year of reckoning: paddy prices fall as Iran goes slow on imports Sensational seafood at Zafran Geographical location could market your product Germany eyes energy investments in Pakistan, says Merkel German Chancellor Angela Merkel shakes hands with PM Nawaz Sharif after their joint press conference in Berlin. (AFP) Recipe: Prawn malai-curry (Bengali) At last, I'm cooking with ghee With five recipes Cultivation of basmati rice in Visakha Agency mooted Short course on rice planting to boost production Ministry plans 2m-tonne rice deal with China Rice federation seeking loan Kuban farmers hope for record rice harvest Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- Nov 12 Buriram rice growers scale up precaution by camping out next to rice piles Massive damages reported from the rice pledging scheme Rice quality control workshop held Will Gambia achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2016?

Drought forces rice farmers to sell their crops early Year of reckoning: paddy prices fall as Iran goes slow on imports Vietnam Eyes Water-Saving Tech For Rice Farms Vietnam's Mekong delta sees sharp rise in rice exports Thai govt urged to help ease rice glut Punjab procures over 111 lakh tonnes paddy Whenever there's a need Turkey Announces November 18, 2014 Tender Japan Announces 6th Ordinary Import Tender in FY 2014 WASDE Report Released Monday Celebrating Old North State Agriculture Rice growers turn to USDA for help with Iraq — Plenish: The GE health trait test case — Talk of a TPP secretariat grows

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Kisan Board seeks reasonable price for paddy November 12, 2014

HAFIZABAD The growers belonging to the district have expressed grave concern over the low prices of different varieties of paddy and have

cops despite registration of a case against them. They called upon the DPO and RPO to ensure arrest of the accused policemen to provide justice. Meanwhile, the District and Sessions Judge was assigned to hold a judicial inquiry to ascertain the real fact regarding the death of Zulifqar Ali alias Bhutto.

called upon the government to direct Passco to purchase paddy from them at reasonable prices. Addressing a press conference, Kisan Board District President Aman Ullah Chattha disclosed that Super Karnal Basmati paddy was being purchased by the middlemen (Arhties) at Rs1400 per 40 kgs against Rs2200 per 40 kgs last year which, he said, causing colossal loss to the growers.

He said that other varieties of paddy were being purchased by the middlemen (Arhties) at nominal rates which was tantamount fleecing by the middlemen. He called upon the government to take prompt steps to stop the exploitation of the growers at the hands of middlemen. He further said that prices of electricity, seed and fertilizers have been increased during the year but the low prices of paddy were not understandable. NONARREST OF SHO, COPS BEMOANED: The parents of Zulifqar Ali alias Bhutto of Mangat Uncha who was allegedly torture to death while in police custody have expressed resentment against non-arrest of accused SHO Ali Akbar Chattha and six

FPCCI deplores slow pace of privatisation process INP November 12, 2014 LAHORE: Businessmen have deplored the stalled privatisation process in the country as there has been no meaningful privatisation during the last seven years while the public sector companies continue to bleed the national exchequer profusely.

Addressing a meeting of business leaders and senior office bearers of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Mian Anjum Nisar said that despite conceding that government has no business in doing business, instead the economic planners are moving painfully slow in the privatisation process.He said that the government owned power sector companies remain an unbearable liability of the government.

He said that no public sector distribution or power producing company has been privatised since 2005 when Karachi Electric

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Company (K-Electric) was handed over to the private sector.The FPCCI president said that the K-Electric did face some teething problems initially but has now emerged as a better managed company.He said that the cost of power produced by the company managed power plants is much less than the power generated by public sector power units.He said at the time of privatization the power units operated by K-Electric were more inefficient than other public sector power companies.

He said business chambers particularly FPCCI should exert pressure on government to accelerate the privatisation process.Former Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) president Sohail Lashari said that the leading cement sector companies listed at stock market were in red when they were under government control.

He said after privatisation these companies are among the top performers in the capital market. ―They have upgraded their technologies and expanded their capacities by 400 percent,‖ he added.He said that since privatisation there has been no shortage of cement in the country, adding that in fact Pakistan is a regular exporter of cement to India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and some African countries.

LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Nauman Kabir said that Pakistan excelled in rice export after all the rice plants were handed over to private sector in 1993-1996.He said that currently private sector through better rice milling technology is exporting over $2 billion worth of rice to numerous countries.

Bilateral trade: Uganda invites Pakistan to invest

By PPI Published: November 12, 2014

ISLAMABAD: Uganda offers unlimited business opportunities to Pakistani investors in many fields, which can be exploited, said Republic of Uganda Ambassador to Iran Dr Mohamed Ahmed Kisuule in a meeting at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). ―Foreign investors are earning 300400% margins in Uganda, especially in the steel sector.

Pakistani businessmen and traders must enhance their presence there to earn lucrative returns,‖ he said.

He identified sectors such as pharmaceutical, steel, marble, food processing and many others as potential for investment in Uganda.He said Uganda was also a gateway for Pakistan to access East African countries and it was the right time for investors to establish themselves there to tap the available business potential and penetrate the Eastern African market.―Uganda offers cheap land and full protection to foreign investors and Pakistan should take maximum benefit of these attractive incentives,‖ he said.

Speaking at the occasion, ICCI Senior Vice President Muhammad Shakeel Munir said Uganda was still an unexplored market for local entrepreneurs due to which presence of Pakistani products there was minimal.He said both countries should encourage frequent exchange of business delegations and organise exhibitions. Measures should also be taken to remove all bottlenecks that

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine hamper the promotion of bilateral trade between the two countries.He said Pakistani products like rice, textile, pharmaceutical, surgical, sports and leather goods, marble products, home appliances and food products have great potential to meet the needs of Uganda and East African markets.He assured that ICCI would like to work closely with the Embassy of Uganda in Iran and Pakistan to bring private sectors of both countries closer.

Envoy identified sectors such as pharmaceutical, steel, marble, food processing and many others as potential for investment in Uganda. STOCK IMAGE Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2014.

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Year of reckoning: paddy prices fall as Iran goes slow on imports Khanna/ Panipath | Posted: November 11, 2014 1:07 amBy: Sandip Das & Harish Damodaran

Despondency is writ large on Kuldeep Singh‘s face, as the boli (auction) for the paddy that was unloaded from his tractor trolley at an open platform in Khanna‘s grain mandi is concluded.This five-acre farmer from Behlolpur, a village in Sirhind tehsil of Punjab‘s Fatehpur Sahib district, has managed to realise Rs 3,200 per quintal for his Pusa-1121 basmati crop, as against Rs 4,100 last year. ―The artiyas (commission agents) and even other farmers tell me I am lucky. The price I have received is the highest for this season,‖

he says, half sarcastically.Kuldeep‘s information isn‘t wrong. ―Till a couple of weeks back, Pusa-1121 was selling for Rs 2,400-2,500 per quintal. It has since recovered to Rs 3,100, but we are still way below last year‘s prices which were Rs 3,000-3,100 around October 10, and reached Rs 4,400-4,500 by the month-end,‖ says Pritam Singh, who farms 107 acres, including 77 acres taken on lease, at Urlana Khurd in Madlauda tehsil of Panipat.

―Prices this time have generally ranged between Rs 2,400 and Rs 3,200 per quintal,‖ confirms Kuljinder Singh Sidhu, secretary of the APMC at Rajpura, Punjab‘s biggest mandi after Khanna.According to Wazir Singh Kohar, a 60-acre farmer from Theri village in Fatehabad district of Haryana, traders were blaming the price crash on low export demand: ―Jo bhi ho, thaggi ho rahi hai (Whatever be the reason, this is open loot).‖ For many farmers, compounding the disappointment is the fact that last year‘s record prices had led them to significantly expand basmati acreage, including by leasing in land.

Pargat Singh owns four acres at Kaddon village in Ludhiana‘s Doraha tehsil. This year, he rented two acres at Rs 15,000 per acre to plant more area under Pusa-1121.

But the returns on that extra investment haven‘t matched his expectations.These stories capture the remarkable phenomenon of a crop that allowed farmers to ride on a wave of high export-driven prices, and simultaneously benefit from new varietal technology.Pusa-1121, an improved highyielding basmati developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), was released for commercial cultivation in the 2003 kharif season.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Between 2003-04 and 2013-14, India‘s basmati rice exports zoomed from 7.71 lakh tonnes (lt) to 37.54 lt. The increase was even more in value terms, from $ 433.73 million (Rs 1,993.05 crore) to $4.86 billion (Rs 29,291.82 crore). Pusa-1121‘s share in total shipments last year was reckoned at over 70 per cent.This year, the situation is different.To start with, export prices have dropped. Parboiled Pusa-1121 rice is currently said to be fetching about $ 1,100 per tonne (landed cost, West Asia), compared to $ 1,400-plus at this time last year and $ 1,700 levels in March.

The main reason for this is Iran, which bought 14.41 lt or over 38 per cent of India‘s basmati shipments in 2013-14.―This year, their own Domsiah crop (a long-grain Iranian aromatic rice similar to basmati) is very good. Also, they have huge stocks from last year‘s basmati purchases, prompting the government there to clamp a 40 per cent duty on imports. Lower demand from Iran, plus our farmers growing more basmati this time, is what is depressing prices,‖ Anil Kumar Mittal, chairman of KRBL, India‘s largest rice miller and exporter, told The Indian Express.

India‘s basmati paddy production this year is seen at 12 million tonnes (mt), up from the 8.5 mt-9 mt of 2013-14. The 12 mt includes 5 mt of Pusa-1121 and 2.5 mt of Pusa-1509, a newly bred IARI variety. ―12 mt paddy works out to 8 mt of rice. If you take 4 mt exports and another 1.8 mt-2 mt domestic consumption, there will still be a surplus of 2 mt,‖ observed a trade source. ―The bull run in basmati is clearly over.

The price correction that is happening now is only a reflection of that,‖ points out Ashok Gulati, former chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. R S Seshadri, general secretary of the All India Rice Exporters‘ Association,

believes farmers in Punjab and Haryana will continue to plant basmati even next year. ―With Pusa-1121, a farmer can harvest 1820 quintals of paddy per acre, which goes up to 23-24 quintals for Pusa-1509. On the other hand, yields in non-basmati parmal varieties, which are procured for the public distribution system and attract a minimum support price of Rs 1,400 per quintal, are only 30 quintals. Even if basmati prices drop to Rs 2,000/quintal, farm economics will still favour it over parmal paddy,‖ he adds.

The shift to basmati is perceptible from paddy acreage data. Basmati varieties are estimated to have accounted for 8.2 lakh hectares or 72 per cent of Haryana‘s total paddy area this year. The corresponding coverage was 8.66 lakh hectares or 31 per cent for Punjab. ―No farmer here grows parmal. The only paddy that comes to our mandi is basmati, especially Pusa-1121 and now increasingly Pusa-1509‖, says Vijay Arora, a leading artiya at Madlauda‘s new grain market. Seshadri projects basmati‘s share even in Punjab to cross 50 per cent in the next 3-4 years. ―It is a good thing, as basmati needs less water, and the government should focus on rice procurement more from Chhattisgarh and eastern India.‖ –

Sensational seafood at Zafran Shrimps to lobsters, cooked Indian style in a monthlong promotion

By Abhishek Sengupta, Staff Reporter Published: 17:41 November 12, 2014

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Image Credit: Abhishek Sengupta/XPRESSDubai: After an authentic Thai seafood outing last week it was time for me to cross boundaries this time for a seafood night of the Indian variety at Zafran, located on level one at the Central Gallery, City Centre Mirdif.So sipping on a Kashmir‘s Dew (Dh22) - a refreshing drink made with strawberries and mint in a lemonade base – and a Water Melon Mint Smash (Dh22) - thick blend of watermelon, ginger mint and rose syrup – I curiously awaited the first item of their ‗Sensational Seafood‘ promotion - a Mixed Seafood Soup (Dh70).

With skewers of prawn, mussel and calamari, the broth – made of tomato and seafood stock – looked the part, ready to woo any seafood lover. As for me, the skewers – nicely grilled - tasted fresh and the soup – thick and buttery – tangy and nice.The star item of the night though was their Seafood Platter (Dh179). Good for three, the dish had half a lobster in a yoghurt and turmeric marinade - chargrilled tandoori style, fleshy ‗tikka‘ chunks of a Nile perch and masala fried prawns - garnished with mayonnaise and soya ketchup.

The visual spectacle comes to your table, hot and sizzling. That done, follow it up with their signature jumbo prawns biryani (Dh139) made of finely spiced saffron basmati rice cooked ―dum‖ style (steamed over coal in a sealed vessel). The best thing about it though is their premium jumbo prawns, quite deliciously stir fried.The seafood offerings form part of a special fiesta, on till the end of this month.

You can also try some of their regular attractions such as Kali Mirch ka Murgh (Dh59) (a spicy preparation of boneless chicken in black pepper and curry leaves) or Dal Bukhari (Dh31), a winning concoction of kaali daal (black lentil), white butter and tomatoes in town.

Don‘t forget though to end your meal with their dessert platter (Dh36) comprising Zafrani kulfi, ras malai, a gulab jamun, and gajar ka halwa.

Details: Meal for Two: Dh400 (approx) Timings: Noon to 11.30pm Location: Central Gallery, Level 1, Mirdiff City Centre Booking: 04-284 0987 We recommend: Kashmir‘s Dew, Seafood Platter, Jumbo prawns biryani, Dal Bukhari

Geographical location could market your product

By Dorothy M. Tuma Posted Tuesday, November 11 2014 at 02:00 ―These pineapples are from Bugerere, this coffee is from the slopes of Mt Elgon and these oranges are from Soroti!‖ A market vendor successfully gets you to shop at her stall by announcing that every item she carries is from the part of the country where it is believed to grow best.

Does anyone outside Uganda make the same associations between Ugandan produce and Ugandan locations? Linking unique products to the geographic area where they grow and /or are manufactured is a strategy that may be used to successfully position a product and differentiate it from competitors.

Adding value Product names linked to geographic locations are a form of valuable intellectual property known as a geographical indication (GI). Do you and/or the farmers in your area grow high quality products that show truly unique features owing to the soil and climate in the area? If yes, all of you could be missing out on the additional value that a GI adds to a product.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Basmati Rice, Darjeeling Tea, Rooibos Tea and Scotch Whiskey are examples of how other countries have successfully used geographical indications to create successful products that are sold all over the world.

Basmati Rice for instance, only grows in a specific geographic area of India and Pakistan in the Himalayan Mountain foothills.

It is described as a top quality, slender, aromatic, long grained, nutty tasting and delicately textured rice. Those unique product features are a result of the soils and climate on the Himalayan foothills. Rice grown anywhere else does not fit the description and can never be called basmati rice. This puts basmati rice in an enviable position.Could Bugerere pineapples, Mt. Elgon coffee and Soroti oranges be examples of Ugandan items with unique features, not found anywhere else in the world? Could the pineapples be for instance, the juiciest in the world and have the highest concentrations of Vitamin C and Potassium ever recorded anywhere?

Geographical location If yes, Uganda is ignoring the opportunity to use geographic location to both promote and protect its unique items. Pineapple growers are letting the opportunity that GI represents pass them by.Suppose it was established that Bugerere pineapples – or any other items were indeed of the highest quality and were like no other product in that category anywhere in the world due to soil and climate conditions in that part of Uganda; what should be done to secure a GI? Pineapple farmers in Bugerere would need to: 1. Organise themselves into a society, cooperative or association.

2. Determine the association rules, regulations and standards.

3. Develop long and short term strategies and plans for the management of Bugerere pineapples.

4. Approach the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (http://www.ursb.go.ug/) for further guidance.

If you farm in an area that is known for growing the best of a particular crop contact URSB for more detailed information on GIs. You could be missing out on an opportunity to help increase farmer competitiveness.

E-mail: dorothy_tuma@dmtconsultants.net

Germany eyes energy investments in Pakistan, says Merkel German Chaellor Angela Merkel shakes hands with PM Nawaz Sharif after their joint press conference in Berlin. (AFP)

REUTERS Published — Wednesday 12 November 2014 Last update 11 November 2014 11:28 pm BERLIN: Germany is looking to increase its investment in Pakistan‘s energy sector, provided companies are reassured about the security situation, Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a visit by Pakistan‘s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.Merkel said Germany‘s KfW state development bank was already involved in projects in Pakistan including hydro power plants, but added that the security situation was sometimes a deterrent. ―We can look at intensifying these (investments), as long as the conditions are right,‖ Merkel told a joint news conference with Sharif.―It is important that the prime minister is successful in improving the security situation and the legal system so that investors feel safe,‖ said Merkel, adding that the agricultural sector also offered

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine opportunities.Sharif urged German firms to invest in his country.―Pakistan is facing an acute shortage of energy,‖ he said. ―We believe in the next three years we should be able to have at least additional capacity of about 4-5,000 megawatts of electricity,‖ he said adding that would increase further in the longer term.Sharif said German firms, some of them world leaders in renewable energy technology thanks to the country‘s shift to green energy and away from nuclear power, were keen to invest.

Germany is Pakistan‘s fourth-biggest trading partner, and the largest within the European Union, Sharif said.Bilateral trade totalled about 1.9 billion euros last year with Pakistan selling mainly textiles, leather goods and basmati rice to Germany while Germany exports predominantly chemical products, machines and vehicles to Pakistan

Recipe: Prawn malai-curry (Bengali) Zinia Sen,TNN | Nov 12, 2014, 12.00 AM IST

Debajyoti Mishra says bhog is the best

pointer to a good Puja Idol, pandal and ambience are the markers -separat ing wheat from the chaff -when it comes to Puja.

But when Debajyoti Mishra was young, the sole pointer to a good Puja was its bhog.

"We even knew where the even knew where the begun or the kumro bhaja tasted better and would invariably land up in a group,"

recalls the composer. Rolls, at that time, were not an option and all one could gorge on were oil-soaked Moglai parotas. "But it was home food that ruled the roost," he says.

Mahalaya onwards, it was a celebration of Bengali food at the Mishra household. "On Ashtami, mutton would be cooked at my grandmother's house. It was cooked without onions and would be sent, in moderate portions, to all the neighbours. Even if we fell short of meat, the jhol was enough for a meal."

Debajyoti would accompany his uncle to the meat shop, which was no less than a ritual.

"There would also be luchi, sada bhaat and aloor dom," he says. With brass vessels spread all around, his grandmother would sit to cut thor into tiniest of pieces. "Thakuma would put oil on her fingers before starting the task, but she always ended up with a blackened thumb. From daler bora, neem pata bhaja, mocha -she would prepare a lot of delicacies. And before Laxmi Puja, naru, moa and takti would be made. We youngsters would swarm around Thakuma like flies."

If ever Debajyoti managed to save money from grocery shopping, he would go out with friends to have kachuri from a Bhowanipur shop. "At that time, crossing Rashbehari was a big thing." Debajyoti says he picked up cooking from his grandmother.

"My mom was an assistant to her. If ever I complimented my mother, she would say, `Tor thakumar moto hoyni'.

On Thursdays, she would have veg food and Gondhoraaj rice was one of the many variations that would be cooked".Debajyoti was also influenced by his guru Salil

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Chowdhury . "He was benevolent when it came to teaching notations but miserly about sharing recipes. But I'd quietly see him cook from a distance; watch him add rum to spice up a chicken dish." The composer still tries cooking in the evenings during Pujas. "I make pulao, kash miri chicken, radha ballabhi, aloor dom and chingrir cut let.

After all, Puja is all about eat ing to your heart's con tent," he adds.

them aside in a bowl. Add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves to the oil.

Add the paste of onion and ginger and fry it on medium flame for 4-5 minutes.

Add remaining turmeric powder, kashmiri chilli powder, salt and garam masala. Add coconut milk and 12 cup of water and bring it to boil. Cut the green chillies and add them to the gravy along with the fried prawns.

INGREDIENTS Prawns: 1 White oil: 150 Onion: Cinnamon stick: Cloves: Cardamom: Whole cumin: 12 Ginger paste: 2 Cumin paste: 2 Cumin powder: 2 Kashmiri chilli powder: 1 Turmeric powder: 12 Sugar: 1 Garam masala: 1 Coconut milk: 2 Ghee: 2 Coriander leaves (for garnishing): Basmati rice: 500 Gondhoraaj lebu: 1 with leaves Salt to PREPARATION FOR

THE

CHINGRIR

kg gm 4 2 4 6 tbsp tbsp tbsp tsp tsp tsp tsp tsp cups tsp 5-6 gm taste

MALAIKARI

Clean the prawns with warm salted water and marinate with 14 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 14 teaspoon of salt along with a pinch of onion, ginger and cumin flakes.

Prepare a paste of onion and ginger in a mixer. Heat ghee in a kadai or pan and fry the prawns till they turn golden brown. Keep

Allow it to cook for 5-6 minutes. You can garnish it with coriander leaves and add some coconut flakes. The chingrir malaikari is ready to be served.

FOR

THE

GONDHORAAJ

RICE

Soak the basmati rice for half an hour in water and keep aside. Put water in a pan as per requirement and bring it to boil. Add a pinch of salt, one spoon of gondhoraaj juice, one small piece of gondhoraaj rind, two gondhoraaj leaves and one spoon of ghee to the boiling water and add the soaked rice.

Serve the cooked gondhoraaj rice with malaikari.

Image:Music composer Debajyoti Mishra in his kitchen

At last, I'm cooking with ghee With five recipes

BY LAVANYA RAMANATHAN, THE WASHINGTON POST NOVEMBER 12, 2014 9:13 AM

Dosas. The secret to the crepelike dosa: It’s in the wrist.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Photograph by: Deb Lindsey , The Washington Post A decade ago, after just a few ill-fated and highly self-esteem-damaging attempts to learn my native South Indian cuisine, I threw in the rice cooker.Really.

I chucked my tiny four-cup nemesis into a dumpster, and with it any illusions that I‘d ever make dosa, please my parents and become some sort of hipster Madhur Jaffrey.―It‘s too complicated! There are too many spices,‖ I‘d fume as I toasted mustard seed, lentils and turmeric into a blackened, bitter mess.South Indian food is also fairly unfamiliar stateside, its tamarind, coconut, tiny-but-potent chilies and fresh herbs more reminiscent of Southeast Asian flavours than the vindaloo Americans know.Unlike the northern regions of India, where wheat flourishes and is milled into an array of naans, rotis and ghee-soaked parathas, southern India is tropical, shaded by coconut and banana trees and filled with forests of black pepper as juicy as berries on the vine.

And just beyond the 24-hour clatter of cities such as Chennai (population: 8 million), the southern plains are covered in a lush, green carpet of rice paddies.For the large number of vegetarians from the coastal state of Tamil Nadu, where my family is from, rice is everything. It is boiled for a pantheon of rice dishes. For crisp dosas and spongy idlis, it‘s ground into a batter. It‘s even pounded flat and fried for crunchy hot mixes that serve as a midday snack.Rice is in my blood.

But I‘ve never been able to cook it.Oh, sure, I have charred it. I have pulled it from that

rice cooker so waterlogged that, as my friends arrived for the Indian feast I had promised, I sobbed large, panicked tears.Among children of immigrants, cooking is often fraught: It‘s a way of carrying on cultural traditions, of fighting off the anxious feeling that you are a generation away from blurring into everyone else. Each narrowly avoided grease fire was evidence that my very Indian-ness was tenuous. ―You were not interested,‖ my mother, Lakshmi, tells me in her lilting, faintly accented English when I ask her why I never embedded myself in her spacious suburban kitchen, where a zillion pungent spices hide in as many burnt-orange Tupperware containers.

A few years ago, Mom optimistically presented me with my own stainless-steel spice box. The boxes are staples of Indian households, offering quick access to frequently used spices. Perhaps because she knew I was a lost cause, mine is so small it‘s almost dainty, about the right size for a 5year-old‘s Easy Bake kitchen. I left its seven tiny little cups empty for years.It has not been all my fault.

There are no cookbooks in most South Indian households, no binders full of casserole recipes from which to pull dinner plans. There are no measuring cups or spoons in our home. Ask my mother how to make rice and she suggests that one can ―take two fingers water, and one finger rice,‖ or something to that effect.These are not recipes, I often chide her. They are riddles

Cultivation of basmati rice in Visakha Agency mooted SUMIT BHATTACHARJEE

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Basmati rice sown by Regional Agriculture Research Station at Chintapalli on experimental basis in Visakha agency area.Photo: By Arrangement Girijans who are into paddy cultivation in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam district, might have a reason to smile in the next two years. Plans are afoot by the government to

cultivate basmati rice in the 11 mandals of the Agency area.The Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS), at RV Nagar in Chintapalli mandal, has sowed 30 varieties of basmati on a few acres, on experimental basis.

According to Senior Scientist of RARS, D. Sekhar, they had been toying with the idea since last two years. In 2013, the scientists of RARS sowed two varieties – Sumathi and Sugandhi - both failed due to pests and other problems.―This year, we sowed 30 export quality varieties, and are hopeful that a few would click,‖ he said.

Basmati rice is mostly cultivated in states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and in some parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.According to Mr. Sekhar, this variety of flavoured rice needs a cooler climate and the climatic condition of the Agency area suits it. ―The normal temperature in the Agency area between October and January is about 8 to 13 degree Celsius and this suits the basmati variety,‖ he said.According to him the yield per acre could be between 20 to 22

quintals and the pricing could vary between Rs. 80 to 110 per kg.In the Agency area, about 40,000 acres are under paddy cultivation by the Girijans, which includes terrace farming. ―If we are successful with our experiment, then at least 20,000 acres can be converted to basmati cultivation. The rate per kg is twice more than what is being presently cultivated and if packaging and marketing is taken up by some government agency such as GCC, it will hugely benefit the Girijans,‖ said Mr. Sekhar.According to him, the demand for the Indian varieties is high from countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran and if the Girijans can contribute a small percentage to the total export, which was around 37 lakh tonnes, valued at over Rs. 29,000 crore in the last year, good days are ahead for the paddy cultivators in the Agency areas.

Keywords: Basmati Rice, Visakhapatnam Agency area, yield per acre could be between 20 to 22 quintals

Short course on rice planting to boost production November 12, 2014

By Ma. Nila Argel Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, Nov. 12 (PIA) – At least 24 farmers have completed a short course on rice planting technology at the Season-Long Farmers Field School here.Nereo Somera Daproza, Agriculture Technician and Municipal Rice Program Coordinator, said the course on Sustainable Rice Production for farmers was sponsored by the Department of Agriculture- regional foeld office, the provincial government and Cabugao government.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Town council member Benedicto M. Savellano, Committee Chair on Agriculture, said new planting technology will increase rice productivity noting that Cabugao was identified as suitable for rice crop based on a soil fertility mapping.According to Constante B. Botacion, Jr., Provincial Agriculturist, the field school aims to increase rice production and mitigate the effects of climate change in the agriculture sector.The technology also involves ecofriendly and lesser expense for farmers, he said. (MCA/MNOA /PIA1 Ilocos Sur)

value. China is one of the largest import markets for Thai rice, with jasmine rice picking up interest among consumers.

Ministry plans 2m-tonne rice deal with China

To promote Thai rice in China, the Commerce Ministry will launch a series of activities including a cooking pavilion at a Chinese supermarket to raise awareness of Thai products. With closer cooperation between Thai and China agencies, it is hoped that Chinese consumers will develop a preference for Thai rice. Moreover, Thailand will work closely with Chinese importers to tackle the problem of lowerquality grains being mixed with Thai rice.

PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI THE NATION,BEIJING November 13, 2014 1:00 am THAILAND PLANS to sell a further 2 million tonnes of rice to China under a government-to-government contract after the delivery of an existing order for 1 million tonnes to that country is completed next year.Commerce Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya said his ministry would discuss the new G2G rice contract with the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), a state agency for oil, rice and foodstuff imports, with a view to further sales.

"The country will accelerate shipments of the existing order for 1 million tonnes. We will sell another 2 million tonnes to China after completion of the 1-million-tonne shipment," he said.Thailand so far has shipped 300,000 of the 1 million tonnes under the existing contract, and is scheduled to ship the rest by next July. Chatchai said that for the remaining 700,000 tonnes, the government would encourage China to import jasmine rice, as it has more added

During a trip to Thailand by COFCO officials this week, the delegation will be taken on a tour of rice and jasmine-rice fields and witness the production process from milling to packaging, in order to gain confidence in Thai products. Also, the ministry's Foreign Trade Department will demonstrate the DNA inspection process to the visitors.

The ministry will insist on the display of the Thai rice-certification logo to ensure that all Thai rice sold in China is pure. Any rice trader found mixing Thai rice with other products will be subject to punishment for breaching Thai intellectual-property rights.

The ministry will encourage Thai rice exporters to use the certification logo for jasmine rice to boost the confidence of buyers. China imports about 4 million tonnes of rice each year, mainly from Vietnam and Thailand.

Rice federation seeking loan 12 Nov 2014 , The Phnom Penh Post

The Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF) is seeking financing from China‘s Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) to

build

much-needed

infrastructure

such

as

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine warehouses and drying facilities to hopefully increase milled rice export capacities.Sok Puthyvuth, president of the CRF told the Post yesterday that the CRF had set up a working group charged with studying Cambodia‘s rice industry and preparing a proposal for the Chinese bank‘s funds. …

In May, during the CRF‘s presidential appointment, Puthyvuth said Cambodia‘s rice industry needed more than $500 million in financial assistance for industrial development. …Managing director of milled rice exporter Mekong Oryza Trading, Hun Lak said the industry was in urgent need of ―hundreds of millions of dollars‖ to build the warehouses and silos needed to house Cambodia‘s rice. …

the Minister of Agriculture Sergey Garkusha declared during a round-table discussion with landowners and scientists.He also said that in the coming days he will negotiate with the Ministry of Agriculture on the allocation of support for the industry to the amount of 500 million rubles, the press service of the governor of Krasnodar Territory reports.

Landowners of Krasnodar Territory plan to increase rice production to 1 million tons, the Minister of Agriculture Sergey Garkusha declared during a round-table discussion with landowners and scientists.He also said that in the coming days he will negotiate with the Ministry of Agriculture on the allocation of support for the industry to the amount of 500 million rubles, the press service of the governor of Krasnodar Territory reports.

May Kunmakara http://phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-federationseeking-loan

Kuban farmers hope for record rice harvest 12 November 2014 - 6:21pm

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- Nov 12 Wed Nov 12, 2014 3:13pm IST Nagpur, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Gram prices in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) moved down on poor demand from local millers amid poor quality arrival. Easy condition on NCDEX, downward trend in Madhya Pradesh gram prices and increased supply from producing regions also pulled down prices, according to sources. *

Landowners of Krasnodar Territory plan to increase rice production to 1 million tons,

*

*

*

FOODGRAINS & PULSES GRAM * Desi gram raw firmed up again in open market on increased buying support from local

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine traders amid tight supply from millers.

TUAR * Tuar varieties ruled steady here but demand was poor. * Masoor varieties zoomed up in open market on good seasonal demand from local traders amid thin arrival from producing belts. * Udid varieties reported down in open market on lack of demand from local traders amid profit-taking selling by stockists at higher level. * In Akola, Tuar - 5,000-5,200, Tuar dal 7,300-7,700, Udid at 7,000-7,200, Udid Mogar (clean) - 7,800-8,100, Moong - 7,500-7,800, Moong Mogar (clean) 9,500-10,000, Gram - 2,8003,000, Gram Super best bold - 3,800-4,100 for 100 kg. * Wheat, rice and other commodities remained steady in open market in thin trading activity, according to sources.

Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/openmarket prices in rupees for 100 kg FOODGRAINS prices Previous close Gram Auction 2,400-2,960 Gram Pink Auction 2,100-2,600 Tuar Auction 3,950-4,200 Moong Auction 5,200-5,500 Udid Auction 4,500 Masoor Auction 2,600-2,800

Available 2,400-2,850 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

4,300-

Gram Super Best Bold 4,1004,300 4,100-4,300 Gram Super Best n.a.

Gram Medium Best 3,900-4,000 3,900-4,000 Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a.

Gram Mill Quality 3,700-3,800 3,700-3,800 Desi gram Raw 3,150-3,200 3,100-3,150 Gram Filter new 3,300-3,700 3,300-3,700 Gram Kabuli 8,500-9,800 8,500-9,800 Gram Pink 7,200-7,400 7,200-7,400 Tuar Fataka Best 7,800-8,000 7,800-7,800 Tuar Fataka Medium 7,500-7,700 7,500-7,700 Tuar Dal Best Phod 7,150-7,250 7,150-7,250 Tuar Dal Medium phod 6,8507,050 6,850-7,050 Tuar Gavarani 5,300-5,500 5,300-5,500 Tuar Karnataka 5,700-5,800 5,700-5,800 Tuar Black 8,400-8,700 8,400-8,700 Masoor dal best 6,900-7,200 6,700-6,800 Masoor dal medium 6,700-6,900 6,500-6,600 Masoor n.a. n.a.

Moong Mogar bold 10,20010,500 10,200-10,500 Moong Mogar Medium best 9,4009,800 9,400-9,800 Moong dal super best 8,800-9,000 8,800-9,000 Moong dal Chilka 8,300-8,500 8,300-8,500 Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Moong Chamki best 8,000-9,300 8,000-9,300 Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) 8,200-8,400 8,300-8,500 Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 7,600-7,800 7,600-8,000 Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 6,300-6,800 6,600-7,100 Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 4,200-5,000 4,200-5,000 Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 3,0503,200 3,050-3,200 Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 3,2503,400 3,250-3,400 Watana White (100 INR/KG) 3,1503,300 3,150-3,300 Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,800 4,200-4,800 Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,2001,500 1,200-1,500 Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) 1,650-1,700 1,650-1,700 Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 1,2001,400 1,200-1,400 Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,350 2,100-2,350 Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,800-2,000 1,800-2,000 Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.

MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 2,8003,200 2,800-3,200 MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 1,950-2,350 1,950-2,350 Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG) 1,2001,300 1,200-1,300 Wheat Best (100 INR/KG) 1,5001,800 1,500-1,800 Rice BPT new (100 INR/KG) 3,2003,500 3,200-3,500 Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 1,8001,950 1,800-1,900 Rice Swarna new (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,800 2,500-2,800 Rice HMT new (100 INR/KG) 4,100-4,500 4,100-4,500

Rice HMT Shriram (100 INR/KG) 5,200-5,800 5,200-5,800 Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 10,200-13,300 10,200-13,300 Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 7,200-9,800 7,200-9,800 Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG) 5,4005,800 5,400-5,800 Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 1,300-1,500 1,400-1,600 Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,7001,800 1,700-1,800 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 33.1 degree Celsius (91.6 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp.

20.4 degree Celsius (68.7 degree Fahrenheit) Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a.

Rainfall : n.a.

FORECAST: Generally cloudy sky. Rains or thunder-showers likely towards evening or night.

Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 34 and 20 degree Celsius respectively.

Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices.)

Buriram rice growers scale up precaution by camping out next to rice piles Wednesday, 12 November 2014

By NNT BANGKOK, 11 November 2014 - Rice growers in Buriram are taking precautions against rice theft to the next level, by

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine camping out next to the piles of unhusked rice they have set out to dry so their produce can be kept under 24-hour watch.Members of almost every household in Ban Sai Yong village in Krasang sub-district, Mueang district, Buriram have brought out tents and set up other amenities in open fields and on the sides of the road where the rice piles have been set out.

The locals told reporters they have scaled up precautions because of frequent rice thefts experienced in previous years.The harvested rice needs to be set out to dry for 2-3 days before selling, otherwise the price will fall to just 10 baht 50 satang per kilogram due to the undesirable moisture content; locals said dried unhusked rice fetches at least 15 baht per kilogram. Locals are expecting that they will fetch at least 16 baht per kilogram for their rice, although they will get by if they can sell it for 15 baht per kilogram.

Massive damages reported from the rice pledging scheme BANGKOK, 12 Nov 2014, (NNT) According to a finding by Kasetsart University's Faculty of Economy, farmers participating in the rice pledging scheme did not make substantial increase in their income compared to others who did not take part in the program.

The report shows that participating farmers were able to make less than 1,000 baht higher than those who did not take part in the scheme, while indicating that the rice pledging scheme had cost the previous Government 985 billion baht. The damage incurred by the program is expected to be in the range of 540 - 750 billion baht.The

finding indicated that the pledging scheme was extremely not worth the budget spent, and farmers who participated in the scheme did not use additional income for improving their production capacity as originally intended.

The report thus strongly suggested the next administration to take the long term effects into consideration when issuing policies pertaining to agricultural development.It pointed out that a better approach to farm assistance is to increase farmers' competitiveness by reducing operation costs, and increasing the quality of their crops.

Rice quality control workshop held Published on Wednesday, 12 November 2014 18:40 A workshop took place in Yangon yesterday, aiming to boost rice quality ahead of the start of legall rice exports to China some time next year.The workshop was organised by Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) and Myanmar Paddy Federation and Rice Traders Association.―Rice exports to China should meet the requirements and procedures set by the World Trade Organisation,‖ said Ye Min Aung, the general secretary of the MRF.―As such, sanitising procedures would be applied with paddy fields and rice output will be tested for harmful chemical fertilisers.‖ The workshop organisers also alerted businesses or associations which are involved with rice milling and warehousing that in exporting rice to China, they need official licenses. Meanwhile, China‘s approval is necessary for such activity.According to the MRF, the list of licenced exporters will be released on an

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine annual basis.Myanmar‘s rice price has been plummeting as authorities of both countries reign in illegal border trade. In the 20122013 fiscal year, rice exports to China amounted to 752,000 tonnes, entirely through border trade. ―If they (China) still don‘t want to buy Myanmar rice, the price will keep falling,‖ said Aung Than Oo, the vice president for the MRF.There are attempts to legalise the rice exports. In September, a memorandum of understanding on agricultural standards was signed by China‘s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) with Asean member states. Myanmar still needs a government-to-government agreement to legalise the exports to China.

Will Gambia achieve rice selfsufficiency by 2016?

Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:13AM GMT Africa Today Rice is a staple consumed all over Africa, the perfect addition to meat, fish or stew.

And at 20 million tons a year and rising, Africans just can't get enough of it.But the continent, which has 60% of the world‘s uncultivated arable land, imports nearly half the rice it needs, costing governments billions of dollars.The Gambia‘s President Yahya Jammeh has launched an ambitious plan to grow enough rice for the country to become self-sufficient within two years.Yet, to overcome their rice deficit, countries like the Gambia will have to invest not only in the capacity of their farmers, but also in technology.

Drought forces rice farmers to sell their crops early Date : 12 พฤศจิกายน 2557 KALASIN, 12 November 2014 (NNT) – According to officials in Kalasin, the province's Lam Pao Dam would continue to distribute water for irrigation. Meanwhile, rice farmers in Suphanburi who ignored the government's warning and engaged in offseason farming are now forced to sell off their crops early.

Farmers in Suphanburi told the media that their crops will be used to feed cattle, as drought has damaged their paddy fields, effectively ruining the crops for human consumption. Ten rai worth of the damaged crops can only be sold for a thousand baht.

Earlier, the local Irrigation Office had urged agricultural operators to refrain from engaging in off-season farming, warning them that this particular predicament would likely happen due to the intensity of this year's drought.

In Kalasin, Lam Pao Dam would continue to release water for irrigation within the province as well as in Roi Et, Yasothon, and Ubon Ratchathani. Currently, the Chi River‘s water level falls below the normal level, making it difficult for agricultural operations. Officials have, therefore, encouraged the local farmers to farm lowwater demanding crops such as sugar cane and sprouts.

Year of reckoning: paddy prices fall as Iran goes slow on imports Khanna/ Panipath | Posted: November 11, 2014 1:07 am

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine imports. Lower demand from Iran, plus our farmers growing more basmati this time, is what is depressing prices,‖ Anil Kumar Mittal, chairman of KRBL, India‘s largest rice miller and exporter, told The Indian Express.India‘s basmati paddy production this year is seen at 12 million tonnes (mt), up from the 8.5 mt-9 mt of 2013-14.

The 12 mt includes 5 mt of Pusa-1121 and 2.5 mt of Pusa-1509, a newly bred IARI variety. ―12 mt paddy works out to 8 mt of rice. If you take 4 mt exports and another 1.8 mt-2 mt domestic consumption, there will still be a surplus of 2 mt,‖ observed a trade source.―The bull run in basmati is clearly over. The price correction that is happening now is only a reflection of that,‖ points out Ashok Gulati, former chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

R S Seshadri, general secretary of the All India Rice Exporters‘ Association, believes farmers in Punjab and Haryana will continue to plant basmati even next year. ―With Pusa1121, a farmer can harvest 18-20 quintals of paddy per acre, which goes up to 23-24 quintals for Pusa-1509. On the other hand, yields in non-basmati parmal varieties, which are procured for the public distribution system and attract a minimum support price of Rs 1,400 per quintal, are only 30 quintals.

Even if basmati prices drop to Rs 2,000/quintal, farm economics will still favour it over parmal paddy,‖ he adds.The shift to basmati is perceptible from paddy acreage data. Basmati varieties are estimated to have accounted for 8.2 lakh hectares or 72 per cent of Haryana‘s total paddy area this year. The corresponding coverage was 8.66 lakh hectares or 31 per cent for Punjab.

―No farmer here grows parmal. The only paddy that comes to our mandi is basmati, especially Pusa-1121 and now increasingly Pusa-1509‖, says Vijay Arora, a leading artiya at Madlauda‘s new grain market.Seshadri projects basmati‘s share even in Punjab to cross 50 per cent in the next 3-4 years. ―It is a good thing, as basmati needs less water, and the government should focus on rice procurement more from Chhattisgarh and eastern India.‖

Vietnam Eyes Water-Saving Tech For Rice Farms

By Science and Network |Editorials

Development

November 11, 2014 Although alternate wetting and drying technology can reduce water usage and greenhouse gas emissions, getting rice farmers to adopt this practice could be difficult.

AsianScientist (Nov. 11, 2014) – Agriculture experts say application of alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technology in Vietnam‘s rice farms, one of South-East Asia‘s largest rice-producing countries, holds great promise in cutting water use and greenhouse gas emissions from rice cultivation without sacrificing yield output.

Vietnam along with Bangladesh and Colombia recently partnered with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine introduce the large-scale application of AWD, also known as controlled irrigation in which farmers periodically drain rice paddies rather than keeping them perpetually flooded.

The number of non-flooded days can range from one to ten days. The technology can reduce water use by 25 percent and estimated to cut methane from flooded rice field by 50 percent.But getting farmers to adopt it will be a struggle, Nguyen Hong Son, vice-president of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, tells SciDev.Net during an interview at the Fourth International Rice Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, held from October 27 to November 1, 2014. ―It‘s something that will give the farmers complications in application,‖ he notes. ―It‘s really hard for them to understand the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We will try to convince them of the benefits of AWD since it can also help them save money in irrigation.‖Aside from economic savings through lower water consumption and pumping costs, there is also evidence that AWD can help crops perform better and improve soil conditions so that machines can operate more efficiently in the fields, says Björn Ole Sander, who is coordinating the effort.

But AWD is not without controversy.

Adopting the irrigation method will increase nitrous oxide emissions, which Sander himself acknowledges will be anywhere from 20 to 100 percent. Still, given that paddy rice does not produce much nitrous oxide to begin with, the decrease in methane, which the crop produces in heaps,

will more than offset any increase in nitrous oxide, says Sander.―We still have a huge overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,‖ he adds.

The planned wide-scale adoption of AWD is in line with the Vietnamese government‘s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions especially in the agricultural sector, which is predicted to account for almost 73 percent of emissions in the country by 2030, according to a UN fact sheet produced in 2013.The first phase to expand AWD in Vietnam as well as in Bangladesh and Colombia will run for the next 18 months and will involve preliminary research in each of the participating countries to identify the best areas where AWD can be applied, possible barriers and the needs for investment.

Representatives from the CCAC will soon hold roundtable working groups with various national stakeholders, including scientists.A central information kiosk containing extensive information on rice management and greenhouse gas emissions will be hosted by the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute, which along with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia, will provide technical advice and services.

Vietnam's Mekong delta sees sharp rise in rice exports Vietnam's Mekong delta sees sharp rise in rice exports

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine HO CHI MINH CITY, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -High-quality rice exports from Vietnam's southern Mekong delta sharply increased in the first 10 months of this year, up 44 percent year on year, according to the local Southwest Steering Committee.Local VietnamNet news portal reported on Tuesday, quoting data from the steering committee as saying that the region exported over 2.7 million tons of high-quality rice, worth 2.32 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 52 percent of the total rice export volume during the reviewed period.

According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), the average prices of Vietnamese rice exports in the first 10 months has declined, however, thanks to the increasing output of high-quality paddy harvested from the region, the export revenues have been maintained.The average export price reached 455.26 U.S. dollars per ton in the first nine months, up 3.6 percent year on year.Rice supplies for exports from the Mekong delta are abundant.

Total paddy output from the recent winterspring, summer-autumn and autumn-winter crops reached 24.3 million tons, of which, over 70 percent are high-quality, fragrant paddy that meet criteria for exports.In addition, the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute in recent years has produced dozens of cross-bred rice strains with high quality and output, supporting the farmers in their intensive rice farming in specific locations.

Vietnam's Mekong delta comprises 12 provinces and Can Tho City.Currently, about four million hectares of land in the region are used for rice cultivation during three crops per year.Generally, more than 50 percent of the country's paddy and 90 percent of the nation's rice exports come from the delta.

Thai govt urged to help ease rice glut Farmers harvest rice in a field in Thailand's southern Narathiwat province. (Photo: AFP/File)

BANGKOK: The Thai rice industry is still dealing with the impact of the now-defunct state rice subsidy scheme. That policy has left Thailand with tonnes of rice, and experts are calling on the government to formulate a long-term policy to help ease the glut in the sector.

As a result of the previous government's rice subsidy scheme, Prayuth Chan-ocha's administration is now sitting on some 18 million tonnes of milled rice. Thai exporters say the stockpile is hurting the Thai rice trade in both the short- and longterm.Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of Thai Rice Exporters Association, said: "In the eyes of the buying countries, they will look at Thai stock and say, 'wow, there are still plenty of rice in Thailand'. We are the exporting country, so psychologically, they (import countries) won't see the price going up."

Global rice prices have dropped 18 percent this year to its lowest in four years. The price of Thai rice has dropped even more down by 30 percent from before the implementation of the rice subsidy scheme.

That means lower returns from the government's attempts to accelerate rice sale from its stock.Dr Nipon Poapongsakorn, Distinguished Fellow at Thailand Development Research Institute, said: "We cannot get enough revenue from the selling of our stockpile of rice.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine And if we want to sell it now, the price will drop even further, because the world market knows that we have a large amount of stockpile of rice on hand."At the end of the day, that means lower returns for farmers, prompting Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha to introduce a one-time cash handout.

His administration is doling out more than US$1.2b to about 4 million farming households.Professor Medhi Krongkaew from the National Institute of Development Administration's School of Development Economics, said: "This policy is only for short term, aimed at helping farmers cope with the drop in the price of rice.

The government is still in the process of finding a long-term approach, which is not apparent yet."But there is yet another problem. The government claims that 90 percent of the rice in state stockpiles has deteriorated. The full audit will be released in coming days. But one thing that is sure is that less rice sold means a large dent to farmers' rice bowls.

Punjab procures over 111 lakh tonnes paddy Published: November 11, 2014 Chandigarh, Nov 11 (IANS) — Over 111 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured in Punjab this season, food and supplies department officials said Tuesday.Ludhiana district was leading in paddy procurement with over 14.13 lakh tonnes being procured there. Sangrur and Moga followed with 13.66 and 11.07 lakh tonnes.The Punjab government has set up 1,806 purchase centres across the state. Procurement started Oct 1.Over 98.4 percent of the paddy has been procured by government agencies.

IANS 2014-11-11 18:02:13

USA Rice Talks New Food Security Challenges and Opportunities with USDA, USAID, Others

Whenever there's a need WASHINGTON, DC -- Last week, the USA Rice Federation joined members of the food aid community to participate in the Food Aid Consultative Group (FACG) to discuss the latest developments and responses in the U.S. government's food security programs.

In addition to an overview of U.S. crop production, including a large rice crop, the meeting focused on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development's food assistance programming for the coming year, particularly on the recent announcement of a new round of funding for USDA's McGovern Dole (MGD) and Food For Progress Programs (FFpr).

Both programs have used significant quantities of rice in the past.

This year's programmin g will only fund three new initiatives under FFpr in Benin, Ghana, and the Dominican Republic, and five under MGD in Rwanda, Mozambique, Honduras, Sierra Leone, and Cote d'Ivoire. It is likely that Private Volunteer Organizations (PVOs) will look to program fortified rice in MGD programs which have a strong focus on addressing micronutrient deficiencies in school age children to increase their health and productivity.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine "A significant portion of last week's meeting was dedicated to the U.S. government and the World Food Programme's (WFP) response to the Ebola epidemic in the hardest hit countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea," said Sarah Moran, USA Rice's director of International Promotion.

"Agencies are planning for a severe food and nutritional emergency based on the projections of USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network.

They are focused on potential problems including disruption of food availability, reduced household income, below average rice harvests, the staple food for west Africa, and a reduction in overall household food consumption."

WFP is already prepositioning rice to utilize in emergency relief programs and USAID will be looking to ramp up emergency feeding interventions utilizing ready to eat supplements and fortified foods.

USA Rice will be meeting with key contacts in the next month to identify ways to assist in emergency relief efforts utilizing milled and fortified rice.

Contact: 1444

Deborah Willenborg (703) 236-

Turkey Announces November 18, 2014 Tender Announcement: Up to 40,000 tons (-5%) paddy Tender:

18 November 2014

Shipment Period: 1 December 2014 to 10 January 2015 Delivery Period:

1 December 2014 to 31 January 2015

Place of Delivery: Mersin, Turkey Discharge Ports:

Mersin, Tekirdag (TDI port), Bandirma

Note: Tender documents (draft contract, technical and administrative specifications) must be taken from TMO General Directorate

SPECIFICATIONS OF PADDY RICE FOR IMPORTATION Year of Production

2013 or 2014

Moisture (ISO 712)

(% max)

14.5

Foreign material

(% max)

2.0

Cargo rice

(% max)

10.0

Other types

-

None of whole or broken

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Milling yield

(% min)

55.0

Broken kernel

(% max)

10.0

Damaged kernel

(% max)

2.0

Red kernel and kernel with red

(% max)

2.0

Raw kernel

(% max)

3.0

Chalky kernel

(% max)

3.0

streaks

Paddy rice kernel length (mm)

above 7.5 mm 7.5<

Rice kernel length (mm)

above 5.2 mm 5.2<

Ratio of rice kernel length (mm)/rice kernel width

2.5 and below â&#x2030;¤2.5

(mm) Contact: Eszter Somogyi, 011-49-40-4503-8667

Japan Announces 6th Ordinary Import Tender in FY 2014 Announcement: Tender: Offer details:

10 November 2014 14 November 2014 33,000 mt

Country Specified or Global

Global Tender Shipping period:

Non-glutinous milled rice (medium grain)

Non-glutinous milled rice (long grain)

TOTAL

13,000

20,000

33,000

Medium Grain: From 25 December 2014 to 25 January 2015 Long Grain: From 20 December 2014 to 31 January 2015

WASDE Report Released Monday WASHINGTON, DC -- All rice supplies for 2014/15 are increased slightly from last month due to an increase in production.

U.S. all rice production is forecast at 221.1 million cwt, up 0.2 percent from last month

due to an increase in yield. Average all rice yield is estimated at 7,597 pounds per acre, up 13 pounds per acre from a month ago.

Harvested area is unchanged at 2.91 million acres. Long-grain rice production is up 200,000 cwt to 160.3 million, and combined medium- and short-grain rice production is raised 100,000 cwt to 60.8 million cwt.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine On the 2014/15 use side, forecast all rice domestic and residual use and exports are unchanged from a month ago at 131 million cwt and 102 million, respectively.

However, the rough rice export component is raised 1 million cwt to 35 million, up 22 percent from the prior year, and the largest since 2009/10.

Conversely, exports of milled rice are lowered 1 million (rough-rice basis) to 67 million. Exports of combined medium- and short-grain rice are raised 2 million to 34 million, up 10 percent from 2013/14.

Exports of medium-grain rice are expected to be larger because of forecast tighter supplies in Australia, and a change in the export policy in Egypt that likely will constrain exports. Australia and Egypt are two principal medium-grain rice competitors of the United States. Conversely, long-grain rice exports are lowered 2 million cwt to 68 million, still up 10 percent from the prior year.

Long-grain milled rice markets in the Middle East and Africa are expected to be very competitive and likely will favor lowerpriced rice sourced from Asia. U.S. longgrain exports will be strong to markets in the Western Hemisphere. All rice ending stocks are forecast at 40.9 million cwt, up nearly 1 percent from last month, and an increase of nearly 29 percent from 2013/14.

The 2014/15 long-grain rice season-average farm price range is projected at $12.20 to $13.20 per cwt, unchanged from last month.

The combined medium- and short-grain farm price range is projected at $19.00 to

$20.00 per cwt, up $1.30 per cwt on each end of the range. The all rice seasonaverage farm price is forecast at $14.20 to $15.20 per cwt, up 40 cents per cwt on each end of the range. Tight supplies of combined medium- and short-grain rice in California along with reduced supplies among the major competitors including Australia and Egypt are expected to support prices. Conversely, a larger supply of lower priced Southern medium-grain rice will limit the increase in the total medium- and shortgrain farm price.

Global 2014/15 ending stocks are lowered 5.7 million tons or nearly 5.5 percent due to a decrease in total supplies and an increase in consumption.

Total supplies for 2014/15 are lowered 4.4 million tons due mostly to a reduction in beginning stocks of 4 million. India's 2013/14 ending stocks are lowered nearly 3 million tons due mostly to an increase in consumption. Lower procurement of rice by the government of India coupled with higher disbursement of rice through the public distribution system drew down government rice stocks in 2013/14.

Additionally, 2013/14 rice ending stocks in Thailand and Vietnam are lowered 800,000 tons and 500,000, respectively. World 2014/15 rice production is lowered 400,000 tons to 475 million tons due mostly to smaller crops forecast for Australia and Egypt, which are partially offset by an increase for South Korea.

Global 2014/15 rice consumption is raised 1.3 million tons to a record 482.9 million due mostly to increases for India and Vietnam, partially offset by reductions for

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Egypt and South Korea. Global rice trade is up 400,000 tons from a month ago with an 800,000-ton increase for Thailand, partially offset by reductions for Australia and Egypt.

Imports are increased for EU and China.

The decline in global ending stocks is due mostly to reductions for India, Thailand, and Vietnam, partially offset by increases for China, Egypt, EU, and South Korea.

Global 2014/15 ending stocks at 98.6 million tons are down nearly 8 million tons from 2013/14 and the lowest stocks since 2009/10. Stocks among the major foreign exporters are down 18 percent from 2013/14.

Read the full report here.

Celebrating Old North State Agriculture The Census of Agriculture is the most complete account of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Every Thursday USDA‘s National Agricultural Statistics Service will highlight new Census data and the power of the information to shape the future of American agriculture.

Thanks to the fertile lands along the Missouri river, farming has always had a major presence in the Show Me State. As of 2012, only Texas has more farms than Missouri. The latest Census of Agriculture counted more than 99,000 farms in our state, which produced more than $9 billion in agricultural products, nearly equally divided between crop and livestock products.

Missouri farmers are always looking for innovative ways to connect our state‘s

residents with local agriculture and to find new markets.

That‘s why, in 2012, there were nearly 4,000 farms selling value-added products, such as cheese, preserves, or locally-produced wine.

That year, 844 farms in Missouri also offered agritourism and other recreational services, such as hay rides. And for those residents who want to receive fresh local products, Missouri also had 291 farms participating in the local communitysupported agriculture programs.

While Missouri agriculture has a nice mixture of locally-produced commodities, it is our soybean growers who really stand out.

In 2012, soybeans were the largest single commodity grown in Missouri. That year our growers sold nearly $2 billion worth of this crop. The 2012 Census of Agriculture counted nearly 20,000 Missouri farms that produced soybeans.

Two major local crops found in southeast Missouri are rice and cotton. In 2012, our farmers produced more than 1.2 billion pounds of rice valued at more than $150 million, putting Missouri in fourth place in the nation when it comes to this important commodity.

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine And all of this was achieved by only 386 farms on 175,000 acres. Likewise, just 409 cotton farms produced 722,000 bales of cotton. Cotton sales were $249 million, ninth highest among states.

The livestock industry also has a very strong presence in Missouri. In 2012, the ag census counted more than 53,000 farms with more than 3.7 million head of cattle or calves.

Missouri also ranked number one in the nation when it came to farms that raised or sold veal in 2012.

The best thing is that with all of these numbers you don‘t have to simply take my word for it. You can easily check out these Census of Agriculture numbers online. Or, feel free to visit our grand state to see our farms and ranches firsthand. After all, there‘s a reason Missouri is known as the Show Me State.

Show me farms!! Missouri has lots and lots of farming – almost 100,000 according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture. Check back next week for a focus on another state and the Census of Agriculture.

Rice growers turn to USDA for help with Iraq — Plenish: The GE health trait test case — Talk of a TPP secretariat grows

By BILL TOMSON | 11/12/14 10:00 AM EDT With help from Chase Purdy, Jenny Hopkinson and Jason Huffman

RICE GROWERS TURN TO USDA FOR HELP WITH IRAQ: The U.S. rice industry has turned to the Agriculture Department for help in sorting out why Iraq recently ignored its lower bid for rice. Bob Cummings, the USA Rice Federation‘s chief operating officer, tells POLITICO Pro that he and Alexis Taylor, USDA‘s deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services, met Monday to discuss what the group calls an ―alarming situation with Iraqi rice tenders."

The Iraqi grain board chose to purchase Brazilian and Uruguayan rice over rice from the U.S. in a 170,000-ton tender last week despite the fact that the U.S. producer — Archer Daniel Midland — offered to sell at a lower price. An ADM spokesperson declined to comment, but Cummings said, in a statement, that the U.S. rice industry hopes USDA will help it ―get to the bottom of the issue before the next tender."

U.S.-origin rice was offered to the Iraqis at $646 per ton, but Iraq bought rice instead from Brazil at $663 per ton and Uruguay at $661 per ton, according to a copy of a bid summary. Another tender is now open and results are expected in this weekend, USA Rice said. See the group‘s latest report on Iraq here: http://bit.ly/1o6P0L9 HAPPY WEDNESDAY, NOV. 12! Welcome to Morning Ag, where your host is happy to have Congress back in town, lame duck or not. You know the deal:

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine Thoughts, news, tips? Send them to btomson@politico.com and @billtomson4. Follow the whole team @Morning_Ag. PLENISH: THE GE HEALTH TRAIT TEST CASE: The future for foods genetically modified to promote nutrition and better health likely rests on the success of DuPont Pioneer‘s high oleic Plenish soybean, says Susan Knowlton, a DuPont senior research manager and creator of the product.

can‘t make it with [a trans fat-free soybean oil], you can‘t make it at all.‖ Plenish is used in at least one packaged food on the market, though Knowlton could not say which products or even how many due to confidentiality agreements. So if you happen to notice ―high oleic soybean oil‖ on a nutrition label, please let MA know. We are pretty curious to try Plenish in a commercial product.

While GE crops largely focus on herbicide and pest resistance, the Plenish soybean, which gained regulatory approval in 2012, produces trans fat-free oil that has a similar

GMO FIELD TRIP: DuPont opened the doors of its Wilmington, Del., facility to journalists, including MA, Tuesday as part of an effort by the biotech industry and GMO Answers to engage in the discussion on biotechnology. Among the stops on the tour, DuPont showed of its gene gun — a

nutritional profile as olive oil and does not spoil as conventional soybean oil does.

Nutritional traits represent a challenge for biotech companies as their success depends on acceptance and use by food companies and consumers, instead of farmers, who have largely embraced the technology, Knowlton says. Biotech companies are reluctant to take the risk on health traits because of concerns on the return on the

helium blaster that is used to shoot DNA on a gold plate into plant embryos. While it does not look like a gun — MA wasn‘t allowed to take pictures, but this is it:http://bit.ly/1EyzFMS . Note: Gene guns were fueled by gunpowder until about 1990.

Also part of the tour: how a 3D microscope is used in trait development; a look into corn modified for drought tolerance and nitrogen use efficiency; and soybean cultivation for

investment in research, says Knowlton, who adds, as a result ―people are looking at this.‖

testing new traits.

―You really need these early successes in order for [companies] to put their money down next time,‖ Knowlton says. ―If you

GMO TAG TEAM FIGHT: Beware of chairs or elbows flying from the ropes on Wednesday, Dec. 3, when two esteemed advocates for genetically engineered food take on two equally respected skeptics of the

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine science in a nearly two-hour debate in New York City.

The event, hosted by Intelligence Squared U.S. at the Kaufman Center, in Manhattan, will feature: Robert Fraley, Monsanto‘s executive VP and chief technology officer; Alison Van Eenennaam, a genomics and biotechnology researcher at UC Davis; Charles Benbrook, research professor for the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and

tariff rate quotas and a lack of imports due to the country‘s crackdown on unapproved biotech traits in U.S. shipments, FAS notes.

As a result, China bought 80 percent of the 212 million bushels of sorghum the U.S. exported in the 2013-14 marketing year and is thus far responsible for 100 percent of U.S. sorghum purchase commitments in 2014-15. But don‘t count on the trend to continue. A recent government agreement

Natural Resources; and Margaret Mellon, science policy consultant and former senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

between China and Argentina to facilitate sorghum exports could bring competition and pressure prices lower, FAS observes.

However, the United States will remain China‘s dominant supplier for the next few months, as new-crop Australian and Argentine supplies will not be available until March.

See FAS‘ full analysis here:http://1.usa.gov/1eKNiuT

Tickets, which are $40 each, can be purchased here: http://www.intelligencesquaredus.or g/ But the debate, which starts at 6:45 p.m., also can be viewed live online at http://bit.ly/1tEDtYb or via IQ2's new app http://shorefi.re/VTwKwx It will air soon after as part of the syndicated NPR show "Intelligence Squared U.S," the organizers say.

FROM BOOZE TO LIVESTOCK FEED: China has become the largest market for U.S. sorghum and also a big buyer of U.S. barley as the country seeks new commodities to replace corn in its ―rapidly developing industrial animal feed sector,‖ finds a new report by the USDA‘s Foreign Agriculture Services.

Corn prices have risen too high for Chinese feed makers because of domestic subsidies,

TALK OF A TPP SECRETARIAT GROWS: BEIJING — A final TransPacific Partnership may be months from conclusion, and it may take even longer to go into force. But supporters of the agreement are already fretting about how the monstrous trade deal will be administered and talking about the creation of a TPP secretariat, reports Pro Trade‘s Adam Behsudi.

The Asia-Pacific trade deal has always been envisioned as a ―living agreement,‖ or one where rules evolve with future developments, and new members may join as long as they can sign on to the standards

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Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine of the deal. But in Beijing this week, amid the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, conversations were underway about how the TPP could be maintained this way.

Deborah Elms, executive director of the Singapore-based Asian Trade Centre, expressed concerns about comments from TPP trade ministers that suggested the use of committees to address issues. She and others are recommending the creation of an administrative office similar to the one used to manage the World Trade Organization. ―You need at a minimum to have a TPP secretariat to handle issues and revisions to the agreement,‖ said Elms, who discussed the topic in a presentation last week to members of the APEC Business Advisory Council. Pros can click here to read the rest

program, which it says was designed, in part, by a team of scientists hired by the company following an outbreak linked to it that caused more than 600 illnesses.

POLITICO Pro‘s earlier story can be found here:http://politico.pro/1yvruNg Read the company‘s statement here: http://bit.ly/1Eq3qNL. U.S., BRAZIL BUSINESS GROUPS LAUNCH FTA STUDIES: A free trade agreement between the United States and Brazil? A coalition of business groups in the United States and Brazil say they‘ve agreed to launch studies to examine the possibility and plan to report the results to their governments, Pro Trade‘s Victoria Guida reports. The cooperation agreement was signed by the Brazil-U.S. Business Council

FOSTER FARMS UNVEILS SALMONELLA REDUCTION PLAN: ?After struggling with a 17-month Salmonella outbreak and investing about $75 million to overhaul its processing procedures, Foster Farms has publicly

and the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry during a trip by the council to Brasilia, according to a statement released today by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

But don‘t get too excited just yet. A bilateral free trade agreement could prove complicated because of Brazil‘s deep ties to the South American trade bloc Mercosur.

Some countries involved in that bloc, such

outlined the plan it used to reduce Salmonella in its raw products from 25 percent to 5 percent. The California poultry company, in a statement, describes an

as Venezuela, would likely object to U.S.Brazil negotiations. Read the Chamber‘s statement here: http://uscham.com/11eDk4s

of Behsudi‘s article:http://politico.pro/1szYUH3

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