16th november,2017 daily global regional local rice e newsletter

Daily Rice E-Newsletter

Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter November 16, 2017 Volume 9 | Issuu XI

 Farm machinery can help reduce smog from crop burning in India  UK sex trafficking survivor calls for more action to protect slaves from US to India  Pakistan seeks share of Saudi food market at Foodex 2017  Traditional Cuisines: What We Love to Eat. 4th And 5th Are Your Special Winter Treats  Thinking About Freelancing? Meet These Top-Rated Pakistani Sellers on Fiverr  REAP demands extended financial relief for rice exporters  Arkansas Rice Farmer Jennifer James Named 2017 Farmer of the Year  New Mid-South RCPP Deadlines Approaching  INDIAN PRIME MINISTER DISCUSSES AGRI INNOVATIONS WITH IRRI RICE SCIENTISTS  Cameroon imports rice worth F CFA 100 Billion yearly  Food assistance for poor declines  VOX POPULI: Tough market of today makes rice a truly complex carbohydrate  Sifting through clues about rice  Rice Milling Machinery Market Size, Share, Trends Analysis and Growth Forecast by Product Type and Application By 2018  Waive GST on all brands of rice: millers  Waive GST on all brands of rice: millers  5 rice mills debarred from procuring paddy  Phnom Penh Post - Rice sector optimistic as harvest wraps on Rumduol  Paddy procurement begins in Sambalpur  India's LT Foods buys facility in Texas for rice product processing  Weedy Rice Update 2017  Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- November 16, 2017  Global Red Rice Red industry forecast to 2022 scrutinized in new research  How Delhi’s air pollution crisis may have origins in the Green Revolution  Biotech crops reduce use of pesticides–experts  The Asean fiesta  Private sector can help S Asia to meet its SDG target of ending malnutrition by 2030  Bangladesh Scraps Rice Deal With Cambodia Over Shipment Delay  Paddy production in Punjab highest since 2014

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Rice News Detail…

Farm machinery can help reduce smog from crop burning in India

by Julie Mollins | @jmollins | CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) Wednesday, 15 November 2017 02:55 GMT * Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In conjunction with recent state regulations outlawing the use of fire to destroy field crop waste in northwest India, some farmers are benefitting from technological innovations that can help prevent damaging smog levels in the capital Delhi and other areas, according to scientists.

Currently, the majority of farmers in northwest India burn leftover vegetation residue to prepare fields for planting in cyclical rice-wheat crop rotations, leading to negative consequences for soil quality, the environment, animal and human health. Rice-wheat crop rotations make up 84 percent of burned crops, a key source of atmospheric pollution.

“Farmers need access to appropriate machinery and training to implement change to discourage burning,” said Mangi Lal Jat, a systems agronomist who works in New Delhi with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “Using crop residue in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner could benefit all stakeholders.”

Many farmers keep costs low by burning residue on the farm, rather than paying for its removal for other uses, which could include animal feed, biofuel, incorporating it into the soil or retaining it in the field as mulch, according to a research paper titled “Burning issues of paddy residue

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter management in northwest fields of India.� After harvest, weeds, pests, disease and remaining plant stubble are also often burned.

Ash left on the fields after residue burning increases the availability of some nutrients, while depleting others and negatively affecting soil health in the long term. During burning, soil temperature increases, bacteria and fungi are killed off, regenerating in a matter of days. Residue burning can damage plants and trees on field edges with negative implications for the overall ecosystem.

Residues can be used as a renewable energy source to improve air, soil quality, climate change and reduce global warming, provided these are economically viable options for farmers.

Incentives could also help encourage farmers to leave residues on their fields for use as fertilizer.

If residue is mulched into the soil, nutrient levels improve and carbon sequestration capacity increases, lowering the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. Additionally, residue retention reduces evaporation and increases soil moisture by as much as 10 percent during the wheat-growing season.

Farmers can benefit from the Happy Seeder, a machine that can plant wheat seed directly into the soil by boring through crop residue. The Straw Management System (SMS) machine spreads straw residue thinly on the soil surface allowing seeding. “Residues are also of great economic value as livestock feed, fuel and industrial raw materials, but of the total rice residues produced in northwestern India, only around 15 percent can potentially be used for these purposes and the rest must be managed with in-situ (on site) management technologies,� said Jat, who conducted the research in collaboration with the

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter CGIAR research programs on maize (CRP Maize), wheat (CRP Wheat) and climate change, agriculture and food security (CCAFS).

“Although farmers are aware of the adverse affects of crop burning, they rely on it due to the lack of economically viable and acceptable machinery and alternatives to dispose of residue.”

However, deploying advanced technology, including the concurrent use of straw management systems, fitted combine harvesters and Happy Seeders for direct drilling is a viable solution to eliminate burning, Jat added.

With these advancements and aggressive campaigns, within a period of a couple of months in Punjab state alone, over 1,000 combine owners have launched a “Super SMS.” Additionally, nearly 2,000 happy seeders are being manufactured, which will lead to large-scale adoption of conservation agriculture techniques in the upcoming wheat season, Jat said.

UK sex trafficking survivor calls for more action to protect slaves from US to India

by Belinda Goldsmith | @BeeGoldsmith | Thomson Reuters Foundation Wednesday, 15 November 2017 12:31 GMT An estimated 40 million people were enslaved globally last year

By Belinda Goldsmith

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter LONDON, Nov 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A British survivor of sex trafficking made an impassioned plea on Wednesday for more action to be taken against those responsible for enslaving people across the globe, from upmarket British and U.S. neighbourhoods to slums in India.

An estimated 40 million people were enslaved globally last year, in both rich and poor countries, with modern slavery becoming a catch-all term to describe human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, sex trafficking, and forced marriage.

Sarah said she was aged 12 and in foster care when she was trafficked by a gang in England who were initially kind to her, giving her cigarettes then drugs.

They quickly changed, saying she owed then 75,000 pounds ($100,000) and threatening her, her family and loved ones.

"They got violent and held me at gunpoint and said they would sell my body every day until that debt was paid," Sarah, using a false name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation's annual twoday Trust Conference where one day focuses on slavery.

"For the next seven years I was sold every day to many different men," she said, adding that her school, social services, and other authorities failed to see her plight.Four years ago Sarah was rescued by a police officer who realised she was being exploited and moved her to a safe house while the gang involved was pursued.

But the gang leader died and the case was closed."Because of the continual system failures it took me seven years to be free," said Sarah who has received help from the UK-based non-profit

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Snowdrop Project that provides long-term, community support to survivors of human trafficking."All those years of people not caring ... do that now. Now you know my story, do your job now and protect me and everybody else who needs protecting," she said to applause.

The British government estimates there are 13,000 victims of slavery in the country but the UK's Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland said he feared the number was much higher.

"Behind every number is a name," said Hyland. "We still need to gain the attention of world leaders."

Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, whose charity Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) has rescued over 80,000 enslaved children, told the conference in a video message that the world must no longer tolerate people living in slavery.

SLAVES AT LOWEST EVER PRICE With the U.N.'s latest global goals calling for the end of forced labour, slavery and human trafficking by 2030, campaigners said it was time to end this escalating crime worth an estimated $150 billion a year.

Professor of Contemporary Slavery at Britain's University of Nottingham, Kevin Bales, said the price of a slave was the lowest ever with an average price of just $90-100.

Jessica Graham, victim services director at U.S.-based non-profit Survivor's Ink - that helps women branded by sex traffickers get decorative tattoos to cover their marks - said people were too often choosing not to see what was before them.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter "There is this common misconception that this is only happening in poor countries and poor neighbourhoods ... But many of these girls come from wealthy backgrounds," Graham told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Up to 60,000 people are believed to be living as slaves in the United States, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.

Graham said she knew nothing of trafficking until four years ago when she discovered her estranged husband trafficked women for sex including Jennifer Kempton, who founded Survivor's Ink after six years in sex slavery in Ohio.

Kempton died of a drug overdose earlier this year."Sadly I've seen too many survivors unable to have a normal life because they have a past that haunts them every day. They need help," said Graham, calling for more assistance for victims to find jobs, housing and rebuild their lives.

India is home to the greatest number of slaves in the world with estimates varying from 14 million to 18 million.

Ajeet Singh founded the Indian non-profit Guria in 1993, to fight child prostitution and sex trafficking, and has rescued more than 2,500 people so far and run awareness campaigns."The attitude when I started was so different and no one wanted to know," he said.

"But now, from the United States to Britain to India, everyone is talking about human trafficking and sex trafficking ... This is a major step because when you start talking about a subject that is the start of a solution." ($1 = 0.7599 pounds) (Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith @BeeGoldsmith, Editing by Ros Russell and Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org) http://news.trust.org/item/20171114230510-8263l/

Pakistan seeks share of Saudi food market at Foodex 2017 ARAB NEWS | Published — Wednesday 15 November 2017

Prince Abdullah bin Saud, head of the tourism and entertainment committee at the JCCI, and Consul General of Pakistan Shehryar Akbar Khan at Foodex Saudi 2017.

The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) in collaboration with the commercial section of the Consulate General of Pakistan in Jeddah is participating in the ongoing Foodex Saudi 2017, Saudi Arabia’s leading international trade exhibition dedicated to the food and drink industry.

The event started on Sunday and ends on Wednesday at the Jeddah Center for Events & Forums.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Prince Abdullah bin Saud, head of the tourism and entertainment committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Consul General of Pakistan Shehryar Akbar Khan said promoting bilateral trade between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is one of the foremost responsibilities of the Pakistani consulate.

He said 11 Pakistani companies are participating in the exhibition and include the country’s top exporters dealing in rice, beverages, spices, bakery and confectionaries.He said that while Saudi Arabia is the region’s largest food producer with 74.1 percent of the total products in the GCC, it imports more than $25 billion worth of food and beverage products each year to meet its rising consumption demands.”With growing demand at an annual rate of 18.5 percent due to an expanding domestic market on account of the growing population and increasing annual pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia’s food and drink imports are likely to reach around $70 billion per annum in the next four to five years. Reliance on imports is also likely to increase as the Saudi government has decided to reduce wheat production to conserve water,” Khan said.

These developments, he said, offer a huge opportunity to Pakistani companies to further penetrate into the Saudi market and increase their market share. “Given the fact that Pakistan is an agricultural country, and more than 50 percent of its exports are agro- and textile-based, it has enormous potential to increase its exports by tapping into the halal food market of Saudi Arabia, which currently imports more that 80 percent of its total food and beverage requirements,” Khan added.

Commercial Consular Shehzad Ahmad Khan said the Pakistani consulate is extending its full cooperation to Pakistani businessmen to showcase their products in Saudi Arabia and benefit from the opportunities emerging out of the Saudi Vision 2030 to promote bilateral ties and investment.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1193431/corporate-newsPakistan’s

Traditional Cuisines: What We Love to Eat. 4th And 5th Are Your Special Winter Treats ByMariam Humayun Posted on 15/11/2017

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Pakistan is a country of foodies, and much of our lives revolve around food (run a search for online food groups and you won’t have any second thoughts). Be it the grandest of festivities or a simple breakfast at home, the focus always remains on food.

To that end, we have experimented far and wide with our delicacies and spices, making for the most tantalizing of tastes and nicest of combinations. Having perfected our traditional cuisines, we spare no opportunity in celebrating it wherever we can. And to that end, I present to you the best of the best: here is a list of the top traditional Pakistani cuisines, with a little about their origins and popularity.

I would not recommend reading it on an empty stomach!

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter 1. CHAPLI KABAB

The Chapli Kabab is renowned and appreciated around the country, and considered almost synonymous to Peshawari cuisine, as it finds its origins in the northwest of Pakistan. It owes its existence to Mughal culinary influences but has found new taste since then. The kabab itself gets its name from the Pashto word chaprikh, meaning “flat”, referring to the kebab’s light, round and flattened shape, in the form of a patty. It is fried in either oil or fat, and consists of ground beef or mutton, cooked with various spices. The kebabs are often served and garnished with parsley, chopped onions and tomatoes, along with other accompaniments such as various chutney sauces, salad, yoghurt or pickles, and often with a healthy smarting of lemon juice. While consumed on a daily basis, it achieves the greatest significance during wedding feasts, and visits to the northwest.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter 2. NIHARI

Nihari is a stew consisting of slow-cooked meat, either beef or lamb along with bone marrow.

Most recently, chicken varieties of it have also found fame with those who avoid beef or lamb.

The name originates from the Arabic word “Nahar“, which means “day” as it was served right after the morning prayers. To this day, it is a favorite breakfast food, especially in Lahore, and many would go as far as to declare it a national dish. The actual origins remain unclear, with some sources pointing to Old Delhi and some to Lucknow, in the late 18th century; it is nontheless another present from the Mughals. Spicy and succulent, Nihari can be considered a staple in our diets.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter 3. BIRYANI

Biryani is an amalgamation of Basmati rice, vegetables various types of spices, and a choice of meat. The exact origins of this gift to mankind are unknown, with the likely creators residing in either the Muslim centers of Delhi or Lucknow, with both having come up with some variant of the modern-day dish. Biryani is a favorite lunch item especially on Fridays, after the afternoon prayers. The food item is an arsenal of choice employed in Karachi-Lahore banter wars.

Weddings also feature biryani heavily, but the quarrels over potato or no potato are perhaps more grave than those over pineapple and pizza. However, Sindhi biryani remains especially popular due to its spicier taste, fragrant rice and delicate meat.

4. SAAG

While meat tends to dominate when it comes to the Pakistani palate, certain vegetable dishes do make the cut. Saag is one such food. It is often confused with palak, and both are leaf-based, but palak is made from spinach, while saag consists of mustard leaves. There are plenty of extra spices thrown in there in abundance; and additions such as paneer. A particular favorite of

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Punjab is Sarson ka saag, which is usually eaten with a Makai ki roti, which is bread of maize flour, yellow in color. The saag is also often topped off with either butter or oil, and makes for a very hearty meal. Potatoes or meat can also be added to the mix, and this dish features on the dinner tables quite often, especially when the hosts are Punjabi.

5. SAJJI Sajji is a native dish of the desert province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Sajji consists of whole lamb, and is cooked on skewers, with all the fat and meat still intact while cooking. What sets it apart from other barbequed meat across the country is unique preparation; it is marinated only in salt, and occasionally covered with green papaya paste, keeping the taste of the succulent meat intact and untainted. The lamb itself is first stuffed with rice, herbs and other ingredients, and then slowly roasted over the coals, cooking the rice inside as well. Sajji is the native dish of

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Balochistan, and is considered fully cooked when it is at the rare stage. In the province, it is served with special bread called Kaak, which is baked in an oven, wrapped around a stone. In other parts of Pakistan, chicken may be substituted for lamb, and a much spicier version may be consumed. The meat is also roasted until it is medium or well-done in most other regions.

6. HALWA PURI Puri’s are the puffy, deep-fried and much lighter version of bread; they are cooked both at home and ordered in. The delicacies are eaten with Halwa, which is a sweet dish commonly made of either carrots or semolina and garnished with nuts and all kinds of dried fruits. The combination is so celebrated around the country that the meal is altogether called Halwa puri. The food originated in Uttar Pradesh and has kept its place in our hearts ever since. The puri’s are also eaten with channas, which is a fare made with chickpeas. Along with the Halwa, these three together comprise the breakfast of champions, while traditional mango onion pickles, served along with fresh yogurt, are a common accompaniment.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

7. CHAAT Although not a main course item, Chaat is arguably one of the most popular street foods in Pakistan and a favorite every day snack. The variants of chaat are all somewhat based on fried dough, with a couple of other ingredients thrown in. The original was a mixture of potato pieces, crisp fried bread, gram or chickpeas and a number of spices. It is often topped off with sour home-made chili and yogurt, and garnished with fresh green coriander leaves. This food originated in parts of the subcontinent as well, but has enough modern day variations to bare no resemble to its origins!

These are some of the top Pakistani traditional cuisines. What are your favorites? Share with us, after all, there is no sincere love than the love of food!

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Thinking About Freelancing? Meet These Top-Rated Pakistani Sellers on Fiverr

ByHira Saeed

We all heard the news when OOI published its recent report named ‘Online Labour Index’ showing the online gig economy stats. In the report, Pakistan was placed at the 4th position overall in the ‘Software Development and Technology’ category making freelancing a whooping $1 Billion market for us. The report also highlights that Pakistan has 8.5-9% of the overall freelance workers, as compared to India which is the Top country with 24% freelancers.

Four biggest platforms that were taken into consideration include Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Freelancer and Fiverr.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

While for most people in the world, freelancing is just some extra money, people in Pakistan are heavily adopting it over a full-time career job. Talking particularly about Fiverr, there are many success stories that emerged time to time where freelancers from Pakistan earned a top-rated badge from Fiverr and have also managed to turn Fiverr gigs into a profitable skill-set.

For those who never tried exploring Fiverr, it is a gig-based freelancing platform where freelancers offer their services in areas as diverse as graphics and design, writing, music and audio, video and animation, programming and much more just in 5$. 5$ is an initial price of the gig and it increases as the task requirement expands.

Here are a few top-rated Fiverr sellers from Pakistan who are doing what they do best on World’s largest freelancing platform.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter AALIYAAN CHAUDHRY Aaliyan is a WordPress Professional, Social Media Marketer, Youtuber and SEO Expert at Fiverr. He offers his services mostly in the WordPress category and providing Skype consultation on the same. With whopping 20434 reviews, Aaliyaan is making his clients dazzling daily.

ANEELA SYED Aneela is a web design and development expert who also offers Graphic designing services as her Fiverr gigs. She is also one of the top-rated sellers on Fiverr who designs professional website starting from as low as 125$. Aneela has more than 964 reviews and her clients have left some great reviews to appreciate her work.

RASHID RUPANI Rashid is more like a trouble shooter who is helping Fiverr buyers with the issues like fixing WordPress CSS and creating the manual backup of the site. All services of Rashid have been rated 5 stars by the client and he has 2820 reviews in his bucket. And yes, Rashid also has the top-rated badge in his achievements.

MAZAHIR Mazahir is one of the top-rated graphic designers on Fiverr and that’s evident from the portfolio and gigs he has shown on his profile. His services include Infographic design, Logo design, Brochure/flyers designing and Banner designing as well. Mazahir has 2760 reviews with 4.8 rating that makes him one of the top-rated sellers on the platform.

UMAR NAWAZ Umar is an expert data entry operator who is another top-rated seller. He also provides his services as a virtual assistant and a graphic designer. He has been using Fiverr since 2012 and has 5744 reviews on his profile. Umar’s expertise and gigs show that you can start earning money from tasks as simple as copy/paste or data entry.

BOBBY Bobby is from Faisalabad Pakistan and has been a freelance graphic designer on Fiverr for six years. He works Full-time as a freelancer on Fiverr and was featured as the top-rated super seller on Fiver community after his best-selling gig got featured. Bobby is a living inspiration for people who still hesitate in starting small and yes, bobby’s clients can purchase him a cup of coffee too as a gig. That’s sweet!

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter FOX SQUARE Fox square is not an individual rather a team or group of professionals who claim to have satisfied more than 2700 customers around the globe. Their major offerings revolve around Mobile applications and their gigs are as small as designing app icon to as detailed as designing an app’s UI. Fox Square has 2413 positive reviews and is one of the top-rated sellers as well.

Also Read: Top 10 Websites to Kickstart Your Freelancing Career These freelancers are only a few from hundreds of freelancers who are doing an amazing job on Fiverr. Fiverr is one of the biggest freelancing platforms which has so far grown to 150 employees having its physical presence in Tel Aviv, New York, and Miami. In August 2017, the company announced a $30 Series C funding round bringing its total external financing to $50 million. Isn’t it amazing?

BONUS: AIMING TO BECOME A TOP-RATED SELLER ON FIVER? NOTE THESE This may look hard, but, with persistence and hard work, you can be a top-rated seller on Fiver too. So don’t let initial hindrances discourage you to get that badge on your profile. To become a top-rated seller, the level requires you to maintain a reputation, some of the major requirements are identified below: 

Maintain a high star rating of 4.8 – 5



Very little or No cancellation rate

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Over-deliver to make your clients happy



Give feedback to clients and do not violate any rule.

For more detailed answer, you can view Fiverr’s official website that states requirement list along with the perks that come with the title here.

RELATED ITEMS:FIVERR, FIVERR IN PAKISTAN, FREELANCING, FREELANCING CAREER

https://pakwired.com/meet-these-top-rated-pakistani-sellers-fiverr/

REAP demands extended financial relief for rice exporters ZAHID BAIG

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter NOV 14TH, 2017 LAHORE Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Chairman, Samee Ullah Naeem has urged the government to extend financial relief to rice exporting sector like other export-oriented industries enabling them to be price competitive in the international market and also assured that they will help to achieve a growth of 20 percent per annum.

"We anticipate 20 percent growth if the government patronizes rice exporting sector like other export-oriented sectors. He said rice is the second biggest exporting sector after textile but it is always ignored by the government. Given the required rebate on export, we can add another $200 million per annum in the already $2 billion rice exports," Samee said while talking to a group of journalists here on Monday.

He feared that the sector could face closure if no package is announced for it in near future. He said they are working on a proposal under which exporters showing 10 percent plus growth than the previous year should be offered financial support. Under the proposed formula, the branded exports should get 7 percent, white rice 5 percent and brown rice should get 3 percent rebate, he added.

He said the government will not have to allocate extra revenue for the proposed rebate rather it would issue vouchers against the export consignments which would be adjustable against withholding tax and the banks' mark-up. The financial institutions would charge on the credit facility for the rice exports. The proposal would not cost the government more than Rs 10 billion per year but it would yield Rs 25 billion more export revenue, he claimed.

Samee Ullah Naeem also announced that the Association is going to hold its export trophy in Lahore on November 25, 2017, to honour its members who have excelled in rice export. He said Federal Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik will be the chief guest on this occasion.

Answering a question, he said that paddy prices for the current season had opened on higher end and there was no backlog of rice stock. He said we have orders in hand and hopefully this would prove good for the farmers. He also called for adopting direct subsidy mechanism to bring down the input cost of the growers. REAP's Mentor Pir Nazim Hussain Shah, Executive Committee

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Member Ali Hussam and Secretary General Kashif-ur-Rehman were also present on this occasion. https://fp.brecorder.com/2017/11/20171114234769/

Arkansas Rice Farmer Jennifer James Named 2017 Farmer of the Year

By Deborah Willenborg

KANSAS CITY, MO -- Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture last night announced the recipients of its inaugural 2017 Sustainability Leadership Awards and Arkansas rice farmer Jennifer James was named 2017 Farmer of the Year.

James, a fourth-generation rice farmer from Newport, Arkansas, was recognized for her extraordinary commitment to advancing sustainable agriculture through outstanding conservation and stewardship efforts on her farm, and for sharing best practices with her peers.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter "Jennifer manages her family's 6,000-acre farm with sustainability at the center of her decision making and an eye toward future generations," said Rod Snyder, president of Field to Market. "Her leadership and commitment to sustainable agriculture is marked by her steadfast dedication to conserving natural resources and instituting practices that provide wildlife habitat while benefiting soil, water, and air quality."

"It is well-known within the industry that farmers are good stewards of the land, but the recognition coming here to Jennifer - and by extension our industry - is exciting," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. "As chair of the USA Rice Sustainability Committee, Jennifer has taken the lead for our industry in this area, and through her example and leadership, she is helping to tell our great story to consumers and end-users who want to know and need to know everything we are doing. We appreciate the recognition and congratulate Jennifer and her family on this high honor."

The Alliance also honored Kellogg Company, Syngenta, and The Nature Conservancy with the 2017 Collaboration of the Year Award for their collective efforts to deliver sustainable outcomes for agriculture in Michigan's Saginaw Bay. Award winners were selected by Field to Market's Board of Directors and the Alliance's Awards and Recognition Committee. Field to Market is comprised of more than 130 members representing all facets of the U.S. agricultural supply chain, with members employing more than 5 million people and representing combined revenues totaling over $1.5 trillion.

New Mid-South RCPP Deadlines Approaching

By Josh Hankins

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Over the past month, USA Rice hosted outreach meetings across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri to spread the word about the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), Mid-South Graduated Water Stewardship, that will bring financial assistance to rice producers implementing working lands conservation programs throughout the four states.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

This project was made possible by the Rice Stewardship Partnership, a partnership between USA Rice, Ducks Unlimited, and other organizations, willing to invest money, labor, and materials on initiatives to expand voluntary, private lands conservation.

Representatives from USA Rice, Ducks Unlimited, USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and participating partner Delta Plastics, were on hand to talk to rice producers and answer questions about the new RCPP program.

"The Rice Stewardship Partnership's efforts have made a tremendous impact on working lands conservation programs in Arkansas," said Arkansas rice farmer Mark Isbell. "It is great to see another rice targeted program being rolled out."

In Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi, producers in participating counties have untilFriday, November 17, to sign up for this RCPP's Environmental Qualities Incentive Program (EQIP). Louisiana producers' sign-up period ends on December 15.

For more information and to sign-up, visit your local (NRCS) office.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter INDIAN PRIME MINISTER DISCUSSES AGRI INNOVATIONS WITH IRRI RICE SCIENTISTS Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed agricultural innovations with rice scientists at the International Rice Research Institute during his visit to the IRRI Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines on November 13, 2017.

PM Modi also inaugurated the Resilient Rice Field Laboratory at IRRI, where the primary scientific research conducted is the development of high-yielding, stress-tolerant rice varieties for the region. Some of the varieties are being tested locally at the IRRI South Asia Regional Centre in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

"India's demonstrated leadership in agriculture and agricultural science in the region is a real benefit to farmers not only in India but also across SAARC, ASEAN and Sub-Saharan Africa in mitigating the risk of climate change for rice farmers," said Dr. Matthew Morell, IRRI Director General.PM Modi is in the Philippines for the ASEAN Summit meetings.Read the news release from IRRI. http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=15968

Cameroon imports rice worth F CFA 100 Billion yearly Published on 15.11.2017 à 12h25 by Journal du Cameroun

According to statistics from the Ministry of the economy, planning and regional development, the country imports rice worth F CFA 100 Billion yearly to meet up with the population rice needs.

A trend which economic experts have described as a significant loss of revenue for a public treasury that wants to up it’s game.With an estimated domestic production of less than 150 000 tonnes and an annual demand of more than 300 000 tonnes, the country rice needs is estimated as very high.

It is against this backdrop that Cameroon government officials have embarked on process aimed at boosting local rice production to close the gap. Reports say, MINEPAT officials are currently on the field conducting operations, “with the aim of identifying a development and extension

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

program for rice production�.The objectives, the experts say, is to reduce imports and boost local rice production activities which will eventually cover the entire Cameroonian market and make prices fall. https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-imports-rice-worth-f-cfa-100-billion-yearly/

Food assistance for poor declines

12:00 AM, November 16, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:05 PM, November 16, 201 Stock not enough to help flood-hit people; 4.53 lakh tonnes distributed in July-Oct against 7.28 lakh tonnes during same period last year

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Reaz Ahmad

This has been a bad crop year so far with back-to-back floods inflicting losses on the agrarian economy and seriously affecting livelihood in half the country.More than eight

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter million people in the north, northeast and central regions took the brunt of the floods -first in the form of flashfloods in March and then rain-fed floods in August-September, according to government data.

The country's poor and the vulnerable ones must have been in need of aid more than they usually do.

But statistics show they got less.As against 7.28 lakh tonnes of food distributed among the poor in July-October last year, the government could provide just 4.53 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period this year under the public food distribution system (PFDS).And the food minister acknowledged that this has happened largely because of low food stock in public granaries during the two crucial flooding periods."Yes, we couldn't provide the hardcore poor with the subsidised rice [Tk 10 a kg] so far this year. We're now trying hard to build up stock [through rice imports]," Food Minister Qamrul Islam told The Daily Star yesterday.The food ministry will hold an inter-ministerial meeting soon to take stock of the situation and finalise a plan to buy rice from Aman growers to raise the stock in public granaries.

In September-November last year, the country's five million ultra-poor families had received 30 kg of rice each a month under the Tk 10-a-kg rice programme. The government could not start the programme this year even after rescheduling it twice since September.Due to low stock in public granaries, the government is now providing rice for Tk 30 a kg to only 3.8 lakh beneficiaries in six flood-ravaged Haor districts and has pledged

to continue it till January next year.But a large number of flood-hit people in the 34 affected districts are getting PFDS benefits far less than they get even in usual times.

Many areas in Rangpur's Taraganj were hit by flood twice this year.Maleka Begum, a widow who works at a local hotel in Taraganj, doesn't have any land.Talking to this correspondent over the phone, the 50-year-old woman said food aid from the government would have been helpful in supporting her family of four at this difficult time.In Chapainawabganj, another flood-hit district, Rajkumar Das works as a night guard.

"Last year we got rice at a subsidised price. But this year when flood caused damages and rice prices rose in the open market, we received nothing." Lending him a hand to run the family of four, his wife supplements his poor earnings by sewing clothes at home. The night guard, however, added that the government is providing rice under the open market sale (OMS) programme, but its price has been doubled to Tk 30 a kg from Tk 15 last year.

At the beginning of fiscal 2017-18, the government's rice stock dipped to a historic low of just 1.5 lakh tonnes, which has now gone up to a little more than four lakh tonnes.The food minister said his ministry was trying hard to increase the food stock to 10 lakh tonnes by January.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Officials told The Daily Star that with this low food stock, the government has to support the food needs of over six lakh Rohingyas, who have crossed over to Bangladesh from Myanmar since August. UN aid agencies are taking the host country's food support for the Rohingyas on the understanding that these would be reimbursed upon receipt of sufficient international aid. Dr Khan Ahmed Syed Murshid, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), finds it only natural that the government's food assistance has been "very tight" given its “not-so-good stock�.

He said this is a lesson the government learnt the hard way. Because of a poor stock, it couldn't intervene in the market when rice prices continued to show upward trend.

Besides, food support for the Rohingyas is also putting pressure on the public food stock, he added."You can't always foresee floods, droughts or price fluctuations on the international market. So what you have to do is keep arrangements for absorptions of such shock," Murshid noted.

SEEDS FOR FARMERS Under the agriculture ministry's rehabilitation initiatives, more than seven lakh farmers got incentives, including seeds and other agro-inputs, to recoup flood-induced crop loss.

Aman crop in over six lakh hectares of land was severely damaged in the last flood. However, many farmers could replant the monsoon rice as the government provided them with seeds.

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury told this newspaper that it's still too early to predict the yield of Aman that farmers have just started harvesting.

A recent field report of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected 1.3 million tonnes of Aman production this year, down by 3.5 lakh tonnes from last year's output.Boro yield in May this year was less than last year's, as some 20 lakh tonnes of rice were lost to Haor flashfloods and fungal attack in different areas of the country.Since July 1 this year, the government and private traders have imported 17 lakh tonnes of rice. http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/food-assistance-poor-declines-1491832

VOX POPULI: Tough market of today makes rice a truly complex carbohydrate Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of The Asahi Shimbun.

November 16, 2017 at 13:10 JST

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Children sample "Ichihomare" as the new rice strain developed in Fukui Prefecture goes on sale in Fukui in September. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The last few years have seen a slew of new strains of rice with innovative brand names hitting the market. Among them are "Shinnosuke" from Niigata Prefecture, "Tsuya-hime" from Yamagata Prefecture, "Seiten no Hekireki" from Aomori Prefecture and "Yume Pirika" from Hokkaido.

What is behind this phenomenon?

"It has become absolutely necessary to produce new varieties that can outperform Koshihikari, 'the king of rice,' " explained Toyohiro Shimizu, 60, head of the Fukui agricultural experimental station.

Since its birth about 60 years ago, Koshihikari has overwhelmed other varieties in crop acreage.

But along with Japan's steadily declining rice consumption, rice farmers around the nation began scrambling to develop money-making rice.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Six years ago, Shimizu's lab set up a department to develop "post-Koshihikari" strains. Called the "Posu-Koshi department" for short, it raised 200,000 strains of different genetic makeup and selected 10,000 varieties based on their growth height and disease tolerance. This was followed by examinations of their ears and unmilled grains, which resulted in the selection being pared down to 100 cultivars.

In the meantime, the researchers enlisted 1,500 consumers and culinary experts to participate in tasting, which found "sweetness, stickiness and smoothness" are the three key requirements.

The researchers evaluated what could be physically measured, such as the rice's hardness and composition. As for qualities that are less easy to measure, such as texture, about 30 staffers at the lab acted as tasters and judges.

The variety that ultimately earned their highest approval was named "Ichihomare," which went on sale on an experimental basis this autumn.

Tasting sessions are still being held for qualitative improvement, and I visited its lab's tasting room recently.

There were partition panels around the tasting tables, reminding me of polling booths. Tasters sample one mouthful each of five types of rice and rate them on flavor, stickiness and so forth.

Even to the untrained eyes such as mine, it was obvious that if the color of Koshihikari is to be called "white," Ichihomare's should be described as "pure white."

Unlike in the days when hunger and malnutrition were serious national issues, rice today is judged on its shine when freshly boiled and even on how its brand name sounds.

In this new age of rice, only the strains that satisfy all five senses will survive the competition.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 16 *** Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201711160022.html

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter  

By Pam Eastlick Nov 16, 2017

It’s time to dip into the plant file, and I found a couple of items about what could be just the most important plant in the world. At least to us humans. And what is it? Rice.

One of the problems that global warming brings is extended periods of drought all over the planet. And unfortunately, rice takes an incredible amount of water to grow which makes it very susceptible to drought. Now, scientists at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in collaboration with researchers from other countries have developed strains of rice that are resistant to drought in real-world situations. They tackled this issue by developing transgenic strains of rice.

Normally, plants adapt to drought-related stress by producing molecules like soluble sugars that help prevent water from leaving cells. So the researchers took the genes that produce galactinol, one of these sugars, from a plant called Arabidopsis and grafted it into a rice plant.

Drought-related stress The genomic addition improved the rice’s resistance to drought-related stress, and increased its grain yield in dry field conditions. The researchers say it’s one of the best examples where basic research knowledge has been successfully applied toward a resolution to a food-related problem.

For this study, they created several lines of transgenic Brazilian and African rice that overexpress this gene, and with their collaborators, tested how well the rice grew in different conditions in different years.

First, they grew different rice lines in greenhouse conditions and showed that the modified Brazilian and African rice did indeed show higher production levels of galactinol than the unmodified control rice. Next, they tested tolerance to drought during the seedling growth period

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter because this period often overlaps with seasonal drought. In order to precisely control this part of the experiment, it was conducted in a shelter that allowed them to artificially create drought-like conditions. After three weeks, the modified strains had grown taller and showed less leaf-rolling, a common response to drought stress.

After several other trials, they tested the transgenic rice over a three-year period in different natural environments and several of the transgenic strains showed higher grain yield under mild and severe natural drought.

Although the researchers say that it may take five to 10 years before the drought-resistant rice reaches the marketplace, our rapidly changing climate sure makes it a good idea.

Weedy rice Climate change isn’t the only threat to the rice crop. A new study in Nature Genetics describes an ancestry.com-type adventure that reveals the deep history of a family, including some disreputable relatives. The family is Asian rice (Oryza sativa), and the disreputable relatives are the weedy cousins of domesticated rice.

Weedy rice is neither wild rice nor crop rice but rather formerly domesticated rice that’s "gone rogue" and shed some traits that are important to people. Although it grows only in rice paddies, it’s not easily harvested and produces inedible seeds.

In some places, these weeds can cause a 90 percent reduction in rice crops and even in the U.S., weedy rice is estimated to be present in 30 percent of rice fields and causes crop losses of more than $50 million annually.

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There are two major strains of weedy rice in the U.S.: strawhull and blackhull awned. Analysis shows that the two weeds evolved from two different crop varieties. They evolved at different

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter stages in the domestication process, and the genetic basis for weediness differs between the strains. It also revealed that relatively few changes were needed to turn the crop plant into a weed. Unfortunately, rice seems to tend toward weediness.

When rice is planted by hand, each seedling is looked at and the weedy ones are thrown away.

But the adoption of mechanized farming has changed the equation. The weedy relatives look so much like the crop, they blend in and farmers don't realize they have a problem until they have a real infestation.

The weeds have shattering seeds which helps them disperse at a higher rate but makes them impossible to harvest. They also have a higher rate of dormancy which means that there’s a reservoir of weed seeds in crop fields that come up year after year and out-compete the crop.

What the researchers found fascinating is the way the weeds have co-opted the agricultural system. They take advantage of this wonderful environment we create by tilling and providing nutrients, and way out-compete the plants that have desirable traits.

Of course, desirability is subjective. What’s desirable for us may not be desirable for the rice! https://www.postguam.com/forum/featured_columnists/sifting-through-clues-about-rice/article_58c8c452c9ba-11e7-9a31-b3d8d88e67d5.html

Rice Milling Machinery Market Size, Share, Trends Analysis and Growth Forecast by Product Type and Application By 2018 Rice Milling Machinery market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022. A strong trend of R&D investments in Rice Milling Machinery Industry will majorly drive the Rice Milling Machinery market. Other growth drivers include the need to curtail costs, growth and increased use of shifting commodity prices, strength of private label brands and increased competition from players in Rice Milling Machinery industries.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Brows Full Report, TOC and Description @: http://www.360marketupdates.com/10945183 The Report provides a basic overview of the Rice Milling Machinery Market including definitions, classifications, applications and chain structure. The Rice Milling Machinery Industry analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regional development status. The Rice Milling Machinery market report elaborates Rice Milling Machinery industry overview with various definitions and classification, Product types & its applications and chain structure. Rice Milling Machinery market report displays the production, revenue, price, and market share and growth rate of each type as following.

A competitive landscape of following Rice Milling Machinery manufacturers: Satake Manufacturing, Buhler, Hunan Chenzhou, Hubei Yongxiang, Zhejiang Qili Machinery, Hunan Xiangliang, Wufeng, Jiangsu Hexi Machinery, Yamamoto, Rice Milling Machinery Market Segmentation by Product Types:Type I, Type II, Market Segmentation by Applications:Personal, Commercial Ask for Sample Report @ http://www.360marketupdates.com/enquiry/requestsample/10945183 Next part of the Rice Milling Machinery Market analysis report speaks about the manufacturing process. The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process. Rice Milling Machinery market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, and revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer as per following; Rice Milling Machinery Market Report by Key Region: “North America, Europe, United States, Southeast Asia, India�

Have any query? Ask our expert @ http://www.360marketupdates.com/enquiry/preorder-enquiry/10945183 Further in the report, Rice Milling Machinery Market is examined for price, cost and gross revenue. These three points are analysed for types, companies and regions. In prolongation with this data sale price for various types, applications and region is also included. The Rice Milling Machinery Industry consumption for major regions is given. Additionally, type wise and

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter application wise consumption figures are also given. To provide information on competitive landscape, this report includes detailed profiles of Rice Milling Machinery Market key players.

For each player, product details, capacity, price, cost, gross and revenue numbers are given.

Their contact information is provided for better understanding.

Other Major Topics Covered in Rice Milling Machinery market research report are as follows: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders included in Rice Milling Machinery Industry: Market Effect Factors Analysis, Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers in Rice Milling Machinery Market, Manufacturing Expenses, Market Drivers and Opportunities, Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion, Key Suppliers of Raw Materials, Research Findings and Conclusion, Market Size (Value and Volume) analysis of Rice Milling Machinery Industry And another component …. http://www.satprnews.com/2017/11/15/rice-milling-machinery-market-size-share-trends-analysis-and-growthforecast-by-product-type-and-application-by-2018/

Waive GST on all brands of rice: millers SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHENNAI , NOVEMBER 16, 2017 07:34 IST UPDATED: NOVEMBER 16, 2017 07:34 IST

The Federation of Tamil Nadu Rice Mill Owners and Paddy-Rice Dealers Associations has urged the Central government to not impose any Goods and Service Tax (GST) on rice.At present, GST is being imposed even on unregistered rice brands that comes in packs from millers. “Since most customers are used to rice from a particular mill, they recognise them by the images on the bags. They wouldn’t even know the name of the mill or from where the rice comes. In most cases, these are local brands and the rice is sold in a particular area.

These people would have been selling rice for several generations now under the same name,” said Association president D. Thulasingam. Association Secretary A.C. Mohan said that if GST for unregistered brands was to be waived, the government had directed them to print an undertaking on the bags that they will forgo any actionable claim over the brand/image on their bags. He said this was unfair and was like giving up their hard earned name among customers.

“These unregistered brands should not be treated on a par with Basmati rice,” he said. Mr. Thulasingam also added that non-Basmati rice was the staple of 60% of the population. “We have written to the Central government urging them to waive GST for rice regardless of brands,” he said. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/waive-gst-on-all-brands-of-ricemillers/article20463911.ece

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter 5 rice mills debarred from procuring paddy 15 NOVEMBER 2017 Last Updated at 11:12 PM Sambalpur (Odisha), Nov 15 The Odisha government today debarred five rice mills of Sambalpur from procuring paddy since these mills were found hoarding paddy even the procurement process started in the district.

Though Kharif paddy procurement process began in the district from today, the five rice mills were found stocking paddy, officials said.

The officials of Revenue Department and Civil Supply Department had conducted raids in 10 rice mills here on November 13 and found around 20,000 bags of paddy stacked in five of them.

The owners of the rice mills had also failed to explain from where they got the paddy before the beginning of procurement.

Civil Supply Officer Pitambar Acharya said, the five rice mills would be issued show cause notices after verification and they would not be involved in the paddy procurement process until they come up with proper explanations about the paddy stock.

Altogether 51 millers in the district were supposed to take part in the paddy procurement process in the district.

While the minimum support price is Rs 1,550 per quintal for common paddy, for Grade A paddy it is is Rs 1,590 per quintal.

The state government has set a tentative target to procure 2,55,882 ton of paddy in the district during the current crop season.

At least 34,285 farmers have registered for selling paddy. https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/5-rice-mills-debarred-from-procuring-paddy/1189352

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Phnom Penh Post - Rice sector optimistic as harvest wraps on Rumduol

A rice farmer gathers rice grains for sale after harvest season in Battambang province.Heng Chivoan

Rice sector optimistic as harvest wraps on Rumduol Thu, 16 November 2017 Cheng Sokhorng Rice farmers and millers are confident that the price for premium fragrant paddy will continue to increase over the next two weeks as the annual harvest season for Phka Rumduol wraps up.

However, farmers complain that they are still facing long-standing problems that could see profits squeezed.

Hun Lak, vice president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), said that after the first week of the Phka Rumduol rice harvest, the cost of paddy rice would be expected to increase from 1,150 riel to 1,200 riel per kilo.

“The price of paddy rice will continue to increase over the next two weeks, and it’s more stable this year than last because of high demand,” he said, adding that the price of paddy rice suffered

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter last year in September when Thailand flooded the rice market and prices in Cambodia fell to 700 riel per kilo.

According to Lak, the current price of paddy rice is profitable for farmers, and the most successful farmers this harvest season will be those who followed the government’s instructions on ensuring seed quality, fertiliser and pesticide control.

According to CRF, the price for paddy rice purchased from the field was valued at 1,070 riel per kilo while the price millers are paying is at 1,150 riel per kilo.

Den Srey Lim, deputy director of Agricultural Development for Battambang province’s agricultural cooperative Chamroeurn Phal, who represents 220 family farmers on 1,152 hectares of rice fields, said that she anticipated the harvest this year would be a good one.

“We are happy with the paddy rice price this year, unlike last year,” she said, referencing the protests which erupted among farmers last year when the price of rice plummeted and profits disappeared.

Chray Son, deputy director of Capital Food, said that despite heightened profits this harvest season, claims from the government that they have propped up the sector are over-exaggerated.

The state-run Rural Development Bank has allocated $50 million in emergency funding for rice millers, with only $9 million utilised by the private sector as of the end of last month.

“The price of paddy rice is better than last year because farmers haven’t been harvesting all at once, leading to large stockpiles of rice without storage or drying facilities to process them,” he said. “The stable price is not due to the government’s intervention at all, but is thanks to the industry itself, which has increased the number of drying and storage facilities this year.”

He added that farmers are still facing challenges, including lack of water irrigation, which have yet to be addressed.

Va Saroeurn, president of Mongkol Agricultural Development Cooperative in Battambang province’s Sangke district, who represents 500 farming families on about 1,000 hectares of rice fields, said that farmers are still not seeing significant profits because of damage caused by unaddressed challenges including drought and rampant pests. He added that only 40 percent of his members can properly access the water system.

“Despite the high price of rice, we’re still not making much profit because we cannot access water for our fields,” he said. “Most farmers in my cooperative have lost profits this year due to low production and lack of irrigation.” http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-sector-optimistic-harvest-wraps-rumduol

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Paddy procurement begins in Sambalpur

By Express News Service | Published: 16th November 2017 02:39 AM | Last Updated: 16th November 2017 07:22 AM |

Paddy bags being carried on tractors to Baraipali market yard for procurement in Sambalpur on Wednesday | Express SAMBALPUR: The paddy procurement for kharif marketing season (KMS) began in the district on Wednesday. The procurement will start in Kuchinda and Rairakhol sub -divisions from November 23 and November 27 respectively.

Food and Civil Supplies Officer, Sambalpur, Pitambar Acharya said the State Government has set a tentative target to procure 2,55,882 tonnes of paddy during the KMS. Of the total 2,55,882 tonnes of paddy, Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation, MARKFED and Tribal Development Co-operative Corporation will procure 2,30,882 tonnes, 22,059 tonnes and 2,941 tonnes respectively. On the first day, about 44,894 bags of paddy have been procured, he informed.

Acharya said there is no restriction for procurement of paddy, which will come to market yards from registered farmers, even after achieving the set target. The minimum support price (MSP) of paddy declared by the Centre for KMS 2017-18 is `1,550 per quintal for common paddy and `1,590 per quintal for Grade-A, he added.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter So far, about 37,000 farmers have registered themselves to take part in the KMS against participation of 36,405 in the last year. The paddy will be procured through 77 market yards and paddy purchase centres spread across nine blocks of the district.

Meanwhile, the Food and Civil Supplies department has debarred five rice mills of the district from the procurement process after huge stock of unaccounted paddy was found from their mills. The officials of Revenue and Civil Supplies departments had conducted raids on rice mills in Sambalpur and found about 20,000 bags of paddy hoarded in five rice mills on November 13.

Acharya said the verification of paddy stock is yet to be over, while the five rice mills will be issued show cause notices soon. Altogether, 51 rice millers in the district were supposed to take part in the procurement. At present, paddy will be procured through 46 millers after exclusion of five millers from the procurement process, he added. http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/2017/nov/16/paddy-procurement-begins-in-sambalpur1702507.html

India's LT Foods buys facility in Texas for rice product processing

By Andy Coyne | 14 November 2017

LT Foods - rice specialist is expanding production in the US

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter LT Foods, the Indian company behind the Daawat and Royal brands of basmati rice, has purchased a building in the Houston suburb of Missouri City.The company will use the new facility to manufacture ready-to-eat products.

It was revealed last month in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange LT announced its intention to expand its operations in Houston for this purpose. The "rationale for setting the facility is to diversify and take [the] lead in this growing segment", the filing said.

To this end it has acquired a 49,778 sq ft, Class A industrial building in Lakeview Business Park in Missouri City. It is adjacent to a facility which LT Foods already owns.Jarret Venghaus of property agent JLL, which did the deal on the new building, said: "This offering presented a great opportunity for LT Foods to expand their business without interrupting their operations.

"This location continues to serve them well and now they have the space they need to grow."

The firm mills, processes and markets branded and non-branded basmati rice, as well as manufactures rice-based products, in its domestic market and for overseas.

Its US subsidiary, LT Foods Americas, located in Cypress, California, was established in 1992 and imports basmati rice along with Thai Hom Mali Jasmine rice from Thailand, grape seed oil from Spain, and tea from Sri Lanka. https://www.just-food.com/news/indias-lt-foods-buys-facility-in-texas-for-rice-product-processing_id138164.aspx

Weedy Rice Update 2017    

Author: Whitney Brim-DeForest Author: Luis Espino Author: Timothy Blank Author: Teresa DeLeon November 14, 2017 The 2017 season kicked off with much fanfare regarding weedy rice. Thanks to the vigilance of the entire rice industry, the UCCE Rice Advisors received many calls regarding weedy rice, starting in late June, as growers finished their herbicide applications. Calls continued to come in through July and August. The California Crop Improvement Association (CCIA) began inspecting fields as the rice headed, and suspected plants were pulled and sent to the UCCE Weedy Rice Team for genetic testing.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter By the end of the season, we had a total of:  

53 samples submitted for testing Out of the 53, 15 have been confirmed to be weedy rice  7 are still pending genetic testing Eight seed fields were found to be infested with weedy rice and rejected as seed fields:   

3 were new medium grain seed fields 1 was an established medium grain seed field 4 were specialty variety seed fields

Commonly Confused with Weedy Rice There were many calls throughout the season, which indicated that everyone was out inspecting their fields.

Thankfully, many of the calls were not weedy rice!

Some commonly things that can be mistaken for weedy rice: 1) Sprangletop: like rice, it has a ligule, so early in the season, before heading, it may be easy to confuse it with weedy rice. However, sprangletop has a white stripe down the middle of the leaf (mid-vein).

2) Elongated Upper Internode (EUI): this is a genetic abnormality of common medium grain rice varieties that causes the part of the stem attached to the rice panicle to elongate. The panicles stick up above the canopy, just like weedy rice. However, the rest of the plant will look just like the variety planted in the field.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter 3) Bakanae: this disease of rice causes the plants to elongate and appear taller than the surrounding plants, and they also appear lighter in color. However, any panicles produced by the infected plants will be blanks.

4) Fertility Differences: if the field has more or less nitrogen in certain areas, some of the rice plants may appear lighter in color than others.

Elongated upper internode (left) and sprangletop (right) can be confused with weedy rice plants.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter New Information for Management We have been working on characterizing some of the biological characteristics of the weedy rice populations. We made considerable progress over the summer, and are happy to report that the dormancy and shattering status of each of the five populations is now known.

Characteristics High dormancy, high shattering

Populations Type 1, Type 3, Type 4

Low dormancy, high shattering

Type 2, Type 5

Duration of time in soil Long-term (may be 10 or more years) Shorter (likely to be a few years, but only if more seed is not being put into the soil seedbank)

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For images of all the weedy rice types found in California, go to www.caweedyrice.com

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Implications for Management All weedy rice types found in California so far are high shattering, which means that many of the seeds will fall off the panicle before harvest. Therefore, it is critical to remove plants from the field before they can shatter completely. Any seeds shattering on the soil surface will have the potential to be deposited into the soil seedbank, lengthening the amount of time weedy rice will be infesting the field.

Three of the types found in California have high dormancy: Type 1, Type 3, and Type 4. High dormancy means that once the seeds are in the soil, they will remain there for a long period of time without germinating, even if the grower is doing everything possible to get the plants to germinate so that they can be killed. Two of the types have low dormancy: Type 2 and Type 5.

These types will readily germinate the following spring if they are close to the soil surface, so they can be more easily eradicated from a field, if a grower follows all best management practices.

Summary: We Are Working Together!

Overall, grower and PCA participation in scouting for weedy rice was really high in 2017. Since we can only get rid of it if we know that it is there, this is very encouraging, and we hope that the participation continues into the future. Likewise, those growers that already know they have weedy rice infestations are working hard to eradicate it, following the Best Management Practices. Again, this is very encouraging, as the only way that we can eradicate this pest is as a group, working togetherhttp://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=25650

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- November 16, 2017 NOVEMBER 16, 2017 / 1:38 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-November 16

Nagpur, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Gram prices recovered further in Nagpur Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) on increased demand from local traders amid thin supply from producing belts.

Fresh rise on NCDEX, upward trend in Madhya Pradesh pulses and reported demand from South-based

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter millers also helped to push up prices, according to sources.

FOODGRAINS & PULSES

GRAM * Desi gram reported higher in open market on renewed buying support from local traders.

TUAR

* Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market here but demand was poor.

* Lakhodi dal moved down in open market in absence of buyers amid profit-taking selling by stockists at higher level.

* In Akola, Tuar New – 4,000-4,100, Tuar dal (clean) – 5,700-5,800, Udid Mogar (clean) – 8,000-8,500, Moong Mogar (clean) 7,000-7,300, Gram – 4,500-4,650, Gram Super best – 7,300-7,500

* Wheat, rice and other foodgrain items moved in a narrow range in scattered deals and settled at last levels in thin trading activity.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg

FOODGRAINS

Available prices

Gram Auction

3,800-4,650

Gram Pink Auction Tuar Auction

n.a. n.a.

Moong Auction Udid Auction

2,100-2,600 3,500-4,000

n.a.

3,900-4,200 4,300-4,500

n.a.

Wheat Mill quality Auction

2,600-2,800 1,600-1,695

Gram Super Best Bold Gram Super Best

3,600-4,600

n.a.

Masoor Auction

Previous close

1,600-1,670

7,500-8,000 n.a.

Gram Medium Best

7,500-8,000

n.a.

6,600-7,000

6,600-7,000

Gram Dal Medium

n.a.

Gram Mill Quality

3,800-3,900

3,800-3,900

Desi gram Raw

4,800-4,900

4,750-4,850

Gram Kabuli

12,400-13,000

Tuar Fataka Best-New

12,400-13,000

6,200-6,400

Tuar Fataka Medium-New

6,200-6,400

5,800-6,100

Tuar Dal Best Phod-New

5,800-6,100

5,700-5,900

Tuar Dal Medium phod-New Tuar Gavarani New

n.a

5,700-5,900

5,200-5,600

4,050-4,150

5,200-5,600

4,050-4,150

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Tuar Karnataka

4,400-4,700

4,400-4,700

Masoor dal best

5,200-5,400

5,200-5,400

Masoor dal medium Masoor

4,800-5,000 n.a.

4,800-5,000

n.a.

Moong Mogar bold (New)

7,100-7,500

Moong Mogar Medium

6,300-6,700

Moong dal Chilka

5,800-6,200

7,100-7,500 6,300-6,700

5,800-6,200

Moong Mill quality

n.a.

n.a.

Moong Chamki best

7,100-7,500

7,100-7,500

Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 8,000-9,000

8,000-8,800

Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,700-7,000

5,500-7,000

Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) Batri dal (100 INR/KG) Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) Watana Dal (100 INR/KG)

5,200-6,300

5,000-5,500

5,100-6,300

5,000-5,400

2,750-2,850

2,800-3,000

2,900-3,000

2,900-3,000

Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 3,400-3,800 Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG)

1,900-2,000

3,400-3,800

1,900-2,000

Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 1,750-1,900 Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG)

2,100-2,300

1,750-1,90 2,100-2,300

Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,450 Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,900-2,150 Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a.

2,200-2,400 1,900-2,100

n.a.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,100-3,600

3,100-3,600

MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,300-2,700 Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG)

3,000-3,500

Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG) Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG)

Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG) Rice Shriram best(100 INR/KG)

2,300-2,400

3,600-4,000 3,250-3,600 4,800-5,100

2,800-2,900

2,200-2,400

2,500-2,600

Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG) Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG)

3,000-3,500

2,800-2,900

2,200-2,400

Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG)

2,300-2,700

2,500-2,600 2,300-2,400 3,600-4,000 3,250-3,600 4,800-5,100

Rice Shriram med (100 INR/KG) 4,400-4,600 4,400-4,600 Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 10,000-14,000 10,000-14,000 Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,500 5,000-7,500 Rice Chinnor best 100 INR/KG) 5,000-5,500 5,000-5,500 Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG) 4,700-5,000 4,700-5,000 Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,200 2,000-2,100 Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,800-2,000 1,700-2,000 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 31.7 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 18.8 degree Celsius Rainfall : Nil FORECAST: Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 32 and 19 degree Celsius respectively.

Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices) https://in.reuters.com/article/zimbabwe-politics/corrected-zimbabwes-mugabe-resisting-army-pressure-toquit-senior-source-idINKBN1DG0AO

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Global Red Rice Red industry forecast to 2022 scrutinized in new research "Industrial Overview of Red Rice Red Market" This report studies Red Rice Red in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, India with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions and forecast to 2022.

Industrial Overview of Red Rice Red Market The Red Rice Red Market report introduces the competitive scenario of the significant market players in light of the business revenue, client requests, organization profile; the business strategies utilized as a part of Red Rice Red Market advertise which will help the developing business sector portions in settling on fundamental business choices.

This report studies Red Rice Red in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, India with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions and forecast to 2022.

Ask for Sample Copy of Red Rice Red Market Report @ https://www.reportsmonitor.com/request-sample/?post=472975 The presence of numerous applications likely to act as the key driving force behind the growth of this market in the near future. Developed regions are anticipated to witness progress in the global Red Rice Red market. This market reports also offers dynamic key features of the opportunities that can gear up the demand in the market.

A competitive analysis of this global market has also been presented, wherein key market players have been thoroughly reviewed to determine the market’s grading. The major players upgrading the global Red Rice Red market for the growth of consumers is mentioned in this study. This

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter research report gives a clear image of the global Red Rice Red market to the customers so that it can help them understand this market.

Red Rice Red Market Report focuses on top manufacturers in global market: Jiacheng Biotechnology, Shandong Zhonghui, Jiangr Bio-Technology, Gutian Diyuan, Fuzhou LLX, Hangzhou Twin-Horse, Nanping Senfa, BNP, Hubei Zixin, Sylvan Bio, Zhejiang Sanhe, Hangzhou Boda, Ningbo HEP, Gee Lawson, 3W Botanical Red Rice Red Market Report On the basis of product: Industrial Grade, Food Grade Red Rice Red Market Report by Application: Health Products, Food Additive The examination research overall Red Rice Red grandstand covers key cash related viewpoints, thing portfolios, association graph, SWOT examination, key headways and improvements, frameworks of key players drew in with the market. The information on the level associations is mined with the help of a strong research process took after at Reports Monitor Market Research which covers the entire demand and supply condition identifying with the assorted areas analyzed already.

Table of Contents 1 Global Red Rice Red Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application 2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Red Rice Red 2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers 2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Red Rice Red 3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Red Rice Red 3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Red Rice Red Major Manufacturers in 2016 4 Global Red Rice Red Overall Market Overview 4.1 2012-2017E Overall Market Analysis 4.2 Capacity Analysis 4.2.1 2012-2017E Global Red Rice Red Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis Continued‌

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Browse Full Report of Red Rice Red with Table of Contents @https://www.reportsmonitor.com/global-red-rice-red-market-professional-survey-report2017/ Media Contact Company Name: Reports Monitor Contact Person: Jay Matthews Email: sales@reportsmonitor.com Phone: +1 513 549-5911 Country: India Website: www.reportsmonitor.com Farmer suicide cause 'not known' Subhashish Mohanty

Bhubaneswar: Odisha agriculture minister Damodar Rout on Wednesday said the reason behind Bargarh far-mer Brunda Sahu's suicide was still unclear as the inquiry report submitted to him by the district collector has cited no specific reasons for it.

"Sahu had not taken loan from any banks. He had not even discussed the condition of his crops with his family members and did not tell any one that he was under pressure following crop loss. His family members came to know that Sahu had set his crops on fire from television only," said Rout, adding that the death of a farmer always pained him.

Rout said: "Out of his 16 acres, six acres were hit by pest attacks. However, he set fire to crops on 16 decimals."

Another suicide Another farmer, who allegedly taken poison over crop loss due to pest attack at Simulia in Balangir on November 12, died in hospital on Wednesday. Radhakant Suna was allegedly under pressure following crop loss on four acres.

Aide sought Over the loss of paddy across the state due to pest attack, the state government has sought Rs 1,714 crore interim assistance from the Centre. "We have given a memorandum to the central government. We hope they will release the money," said agriculture secretary Saurabh Garg.

Odisha also refuted the allegations that it did not listen to the advisory issued by the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack. It began the process of disbursement of agriculture input subsidy to farmers whose crops have been affected by pest attack.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday reviewed the situation arising out of sudden rainfall and its impact on crops. He asked officials to send teams to places that have reported hea-vy rain. Weatherman has forecast more rain in the next 48 hours.

The government has also banned sale of pesticides of 11 companies in Odisha following reports that they had failed to adhere to quality norms.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/odisha/farmer-suicide-cause-not-known-186258

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter How Delhi’s air pollution crisis may have origins in the Green Revolution Kapil Subramanian NOVEMBER 15, 2017, 18:38IST Punjab's early groundwater tubewell revolution enabled (read, entrenched) double-cropping in a big way as it fought to grow rice amid a harsh paddy-wheat cycle. Here's how it all happened.

There is not much of a gap between the best time to sow wheat and harvest rice. Farmers, therefore, resort to simply burning residual stubble. | PTI For the past two years, the burning of paddy stubble in Punjab has occupied centre space in the discourse on Delhi’s toxic autumn smog. But barely four decades ago, Punjab was known neither as a producer nor as a consumer of rice.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter During the period identified with the Green Revolution in the late 1960s and 1970s, irrigation transformed the agricultural landscape of Punjab as it had nearly a century ago when the Raj first set up the canal colonies. Undivided Indian Punjab (which included Haryana before 1966) went from irrigating half its wheat land in 1961 to irrigating 86% in 1972, a feat all the more spectacular considering that the area planted with wheat also increased by two-thirds, fuelled by the support prices that were key to the Green Revolution. Much of this increased irrigation came from small privately-owned tubewells, rather than the large canal systems built by the Mughals, the Raj, and Nehruvian India. This transformation of irrigation led to remarkable growth in wheat production; indeed, some have called the Green Revolution a “tubewell revolution”.

But planted on barely a tenth of India’s foodgrain acreage, wheat was a relatively minor part of India’s breadbasket, ranking after rice and jowar in importance. Unlike wheat, there were no spectacular gains in the production of rice, which was India’s major food crop in the late 1960s as it continues to be today. Even as some had proclaimed a Green Revolution in the late 1960s, as late as 1978, the Economic Survey merely noted that it appeared that rice production was tending to stabilise at a (disappointingly marginally) higher level, though it was “too early to make a firm assertion”. That caution was well founded, for soon, the 1979-80 drought led rice production to decline by a catastrophic fifth.

Attempts at improving rice cultivation made painfully slow progress, for the special conditions which enabled the wheat boom in Punjab were simply not replicable elsewhere. Chief amongst these were conditions of tenure: a significant proportion of cultivators in Punjab were peasant proprietors with moderate-sized holdings (what the political scientists Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph called “bullock capitalists”) who had benefited from an aggressive policy of land consolidation and reform in the 1950s; this made for a significant number of holdings of size optimal for technological investment. Indeed, the former Prime Minister Charan Singh retrospectively took credit for the Green Revolution, quoting World Bank expert Wolf Ladejinsky who commented that in western UP and Punjab, the process had resulted in farm sizes optimal for tubewell investment. In addition, having been at the centre of official efforts to improve agriculture in India for at least a century, Punjab had a better-developed system of agricultural extension services. Further, northwestern India was blessed with plentiful groundwater at a depth relatively inexpensive to pump from, below soft strata that were cheap to drill through.

While it is hard to pin down precisely when paddy stubble-burning became widespread, it is likely that in the days of booming agricultural prices, low labour costs as well as a larger market for paddy straw for draught animals, at least some of the crop residue was manually collected.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Irrigation reform was key to the transformation of rice production. Unlike the dry (winter) growing season for wheat in India, rice cultivation engaged closely with the monsoon. Being long-duration and sensitive to the length of the day (a feature called photoperiod sensitivity), varieties local to areas such as the Thanjavur delta flowered when the length of the day reached a critical number of minutes; thenceforth maturity arrived after an interval sufficient for the retreat of the monsoon so the rice could be harvested under sunny skies.

The much-heralded technical breakthroughs achieved by the IR-8 rice straindeveloped as a one-size-fits-all solution for Asia at the Rockefeller Foundation-supported International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines were precisely the opposite: they were short-duration and insensitive to photoperiod; enabling more crops a year as well as making for greater seasonal flexibility. However, there was a grave mismatch between the needs and nature of the HighYielding Varieties (HYV) of seeds on the one hand and, on the other, monsoon and rigid bureaucratic irrigation schedules.

For example, as the young political scientist Francine Frankel, who had been sent to study the Green Revolution in the 1960s by a World Bank concerned about reports of rising inequality, noted for example that in the West Godavary district of Andhra Pradesh over half the land was irrigated from canals since the middle of the 19th Century. Normally, cultivators planted paddy in June with the arrival of the south-west monsoon, transplanted in mid-July and harvested in December after the retreat of the north-east monsoon. However if planted in June, the HYVs would mature in a rainy October with heavy crop losses. It was the dry early summer, from the end of January to late April or May that was most suited for these varieties. One option was growing the 1R-8 as a second crop during this period; but this was constrained by unpredictable irrigation.

While the canal system had itself been built with a vision to protect agriculture from the vagaries of the monsoon, even as designed, the canal system was not suited for a complete break from monsoon patterns, and they did not work well as designed; while cultivators were supposed to receive the first watering by June 1, they were fortunate if it came in by June 15. Those at the tail end of the supply channel had to wait an additional month. This prolonged the period of the first crop well into December, reducing the possibilities of a second crop. In any case, irrigation was insufficient during the period of the second crop; the systems supplied water only with the onset of the monsoon and the supply, inadequate as it was even when available, lasted only until midMarch. Efforts to change cultivation cycles resulted in little more than devastating pest attacks.

Installation of tubewells could have enabled rice cultivation to break free from the cycle of monsoons and surface-irrigation systems, but in the rice-growing areas (including not just the poor districts of Eastern India but also rice bowls such as Thanjavur) the special conditions which enabled tubewell irrigation in Punjab simple did not exist in the 1960s; the prices fetched by rice were also lower than could justify tubewell investment for the farmer.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter But even as policymakers pondered the problems of the traditional rice-growing areas in the 1970s, a breakthrough in rice production was being achieved elsewhere. The northwestern plains, comprising Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh had never been known for rice cultivation. Unlike in Eastern India, the rainfall (and canal supplies) was inadequate; and rice was hardly consumed, unlike in southern India where it was an important (and well-paying) cereal justifying irrigation. Punjab’s farmers had installed tubewells in response to aggressive promotion of wheat, including price incentives, and of tubewells, including cheap loans. They consolidated their gains by using those tubewells to irrigate rice during the inadequate monsoon.

With limited rainfall and the controlled application of water enabled by tubewells, Punjab’s farmers were free of the constraints that prevented high yields of monsoon rice in traditional rice-growing areas.

The State of Punjab went from producing barely 0.7% of India’s rice in 1960-61 to 1.7% in 1970-71 and 7.18% in 1979-80. The wheat-paddy cycle became the dominant cropping pattern in Punjab over the next couple of decades and the State contributed nearly 10% of India’s rice production in 1999-2000, even though production in traditional rice areas had begun to pick up.

In the space of a decade in the 1980s, rice had gone from “zero to hero” in Punjab as a 2002 article in the Economic and Political Weekly put it. Of the 50-million-tonne increase in rice production in the quarter Century after 1974, a fifth has come with the expansion of monsoon cultivation in Punjab and Haryana. In this period, the production of monsoon rice in Punjab increased by over six times and in Haryana by five times; in none of the traditional areas did monsoon rice production even double.

The Punjab rice boom was fuelled by a substantial stimulus from the State. Having no home market, Punjab’s farmers produced rice largely for a monopoly buyer, the Food Corporation of India, who had already set up the logistical infrastructure for procuring grain from the wheat boom. With the proportion of its rice production procured by the government varying between 75% and 84% in the 1980s, Punjab has been the top-ranking State in contributing rice to government stocks since at least the early 1970s. Thus, the boom in Punjabi rice cultivation had a disproportionately significant impact on India’s food economy.

With stagnating farm incomes, falling groundwater levels to feed the thirsty paddy, and massive Electricity Board and State government deficits owing to subsidies for pumping power (which some have called the Energy-Irrigation nexus), the paddy-wheat cycle has been at the centre of the rising official and unofficial concern about the agro-ecological crisis in Punjab. But as the Delhi air pollution crisis illustrates, the Green Revolution made not just for a rural environmental crisis but an urban one as well.

Double-cropping reduced the time between the paddy harvest and the wheat sowing, while the increased use of mechanised harvesters has meant a taller stubble residue, making for a labourintensive cleanup. While it is hard to pin down precisely when paddy stubble-burning became

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter widespread, it is likely that in the days of booming agricultural prices, low labour costs as well as a larger market for paddy straw (for draught animals) at least some of the crop residue was manually collected. Since at least as early as 2005, stubble burning has been being blamed for pollution in Punjab’s cities such as Ludhiana and some form of ban (however infrequently implemented) on the practice has been in force for at least a decade.

In an effort to mitigate that other environmental crisis of groundwater, the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009, banned the nursery sowing and transplantation of paddy before May 15 and June 15 respectively. As an Indian Express report has it, “Given the small turnaround window of hardly 20 days between rice-harvesting and the optimal sowing of wheat, the flexibility to clear the field of leftover straw, whether by manual removal or in situ incorporation, is limited. The least costly and most time-saving option is to simply burn.”

The sociologists Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash coined the term reflexive modernisation to describe the state of affairs where societies were increasingly making efforts (in large part through science) not just to enhance material well-being but to solve the problems and mitigate the risks of caused by previous generations of science, technology and modernisation.

The groundwater-fuelled Punjab agro-ecological crisis presents a case of seemingly endless cycle of reflexive science (and scientifically guided governance). Efforts to protect groundwater thus exacerbated the air-pollution crisis, which we are told is in turn to be mitigated by new technologies such as the Turbo Happy Seeder.

As many have noted, the real solution to Punjab’s groundwater woes, Delhi’s air pollution woes (to the extent that it is due to crop-burning) and India’s imbalanced agricultural economy is to diversify cropping to decisively break the paddy-wheat cycle. A groundwater-enabled revolution in cultivation of rice during the summer in Eastern India — starting with West Bengal (and later, even Bihar) as well as spectacular improvements in paddy cultivated in traditional seasons in southern India, starting with Tamil Nadu — has reduced India’s reliance on Punjab as its rice bowl. While crop diversification is a hard and complex problem, we may take heart in the fact that cropping patterns and food habits have been transformed before through public policy, as seen in the spectacular rise in paddy cultivation in Punjab four decades ago. http://www.thehindu.com/thread/science-health-environment/how-delhis-air-pollution-crisis

Biotech crops reduce use of pesticides–experts

By BusinessMirror November 15, 2017

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that up to 35 percent of the losses in the annual crop production worldwide are due to pests—insects, weeds, plant diseases, rodents and birds. Of the estimated 1 million insects in the world, between 150 and 200 species frequently cause serious damage to crops.

When losses due to pests are combined with postharvest losses, worldwide food losses would amount to 45 percent. “This is almost one half of the world’s potential food supply,” the FAO pointed out.

This is the reason most farmers around the world use pesticide to control these pests. For a long time, no one seemed to question the safety of pesticides. Not until 1962, when marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson wrote the now classic Silent Spring. In her book, she described how pesticides cause long-term hazards to birds, fish, other wildlife and humans, but provides only short-term gains to controlling the pests.

Despite her findings, pesticide use continues to soar. “Farmers now apply abut one pound of pesticides per year for every person on the planet, 75 percent of it in industrial countries,” Peter Weber, a researcher with the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute reported some years back.

In the Philippines most farmers are using chemicals to control pests that attack rice. “Pesticides are like bombs being dropped in the food web creating enormous destruction,” said entomologist Dr. K.L. Heong, who once worked with the International Rice Research Institute.

Pesticides are killing more than just the pests. “Some pesticides harm the living organisms other than the targeted pest,” the Davao-based Technical Assistance Center for the Development of Rural and Urban Poor observed. “Some travel to the food chain to bioaccumulate in higher organisms.”

Health experts claim pesticides can enter the human body through the lungs, digestive system or skin. Depending on the pesticide, health effects can be immediate (acute) or they can occur after years of lower-level exposure.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Long-term effects of pesticides include skin disorders, damage to internal organs (liver, kidneys, lungs), increased sensitivity to pesticides and effects on the progeny.

Now, if Filipino farmers want to stop using pesticides to control those attacking their agricultural crops, all they need to do is plant biotech crops.

A report from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said farmers who planted biotech crops have reduced pesticide spraying.

There was a “decreased environment impact from herbicide and insecticide use by 19 percent,” the report read. From 1996 to 2015 there was a reduction of pesticide applications by 8.1 percent. In 2015 alone, a reduction by 6.1 percent was noted, it added.

The reduction was made possible through the use of biopesticides. For years, many organic farmers have used a bacterial pesticide called Bt to control a variety of pests that attack agricultural crops.

Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, a common soil bacterium so called because it was first isolated in the Thuringia region of Germany. It produces a protein that paralyzes the larvae of some harmful insects.

Scientists, through genetic engineering, have taken the Bt gene responsible for the production of the insecticidal protein from the bacterium and incorporated it into the genome of plants. As such, the plants have a built-in mechanism of protection against targeted pests.

Aside from corn, Bt is also introduced in cotton, poplar, potato, rice, soybean, tomato and, more recently, eggplant. “The protein produced by the plants does not get washed away, nor is it destroyed by sunlight,” a briefing paper published by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology said. “The plants are protected from the insects round the clock regardless of the situation.”

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Since Bt crops are able to defend themselves against pests, the use of chemical insecticides is significantly reduced. A study conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture showed that 8.2 million pounds of pesticide active ingredients were eliminated by the farmers who planted Bt crops in 1998.

Currently, there are more than 200 types of Bt proteins identified with varying degrees of toxicity to some insects. https://businessmirror.com.ph/biotech-crops-reduce-use-of-pesticides-experts/

The Asean fiesta

By John Mangun November 15, 2017 vents like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit are always exciting and filled with significance of some sort or another. It is just difficult trying to figure out if there is any importance to the event. Manila 2017 was not an exception.

The highlight of this summit was obviously the “Asean Handshake.� This is when a group of the most powerful leaders in the region, if not on Earth, stands in line on stage and cross their arms to hold hands with the person on each side. Realize that, when done properly, it looks as if all these great people are wearing straightjackets, ready to be led off to the nearest mental hospital.

Actually, that would probably make at least some of their citizens extremely happy to see their leader carted away.

Each year, there is one leader who cannot figure out how to do it properly. In 2015 Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III may have been the winner, as he was standing on one end and appeared to be holding the hand of an invisible leader. This year the winner was US President Donald J. Trump, who fumbled the whole exercise.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter However, the real winner was Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev who ignored the crossgrip handshake thing and simply held hands like any normal person would. Tell the truth. Have you ever seen any ordinary person do the Asean Handshake…at least when sober?

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, may have won the “killjoy” award of 2017 with her comment that the Filipino barong she was presented with was “scratchy and quite starched.” Each barong—from fashion designer Albert Andrada—was individualized for each leader. Believing that climate change is “the greatest challenge facing this generation,” you would think she would be pleased with natural-fiber clothing, scratchy or not.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made special trips while in the Philippines. Both leaders appeared to be making a personal statement about global hunger and nutrition. Modi visited the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños; Trudeau went to the Jollibee restaurant in Tondo, Manila.

The best part—for some of us —was the exploding heads on both sides of the Pacific Ocean every time President Duterte and Trump were pictured together. Of course, it is completely acceptable for people to take their political views and hold them close. But the emotional turmoil that these two men take on some people is astounding; transcending any intellectual thought process is amazing.

While these sorts of get-togethers by national leaders happen all the time, the Asean is special because it is Asian. Other leaders are invited, particularly from the West, but they are here as guests and observers. While they may have their own particular interactions with the members of the Asean, they are not Asian in form or context, and that is an important difference.

Unlike in the West, personal relationships are still important in Asia. In 1984 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together.” That statement is based on a personal face-to-face relationship that developed over time and cannot be achieved with today’s electronic communication.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Asians know that a personal relationship can smooth problems and also create friction if that relationship is not respected. Business people —even in the West—understand that idea and Trump is a business person.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Private sector can help S Asia to meet its SDG target of ending malnutrition by 2030 Governments, civil society organisations, and donors are making significant effort to improve nutrition outcomes through school meals, distribution of micronutrient supplements, mass media campaigns for behaviour change, and other social programmes. But these efforts are likely to fall short. opinion Updated: Nov 16, 2017 12:52 IST

Nutrition outcomes in South Asia are among the worst in the world: 38% of children under five years of age are stunted, as compared with 26% globally. Wasting prevalence at 15% is also high. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO) Nutrition outcomes in South Asia are among the worst in the world: 38% of children (below five years) are stunted, as compared with 26% globally. Wasting prevalence at 15% is also high. Women are especially affected, with nearly half of those in the reproductive age suffering from anemia. South Asia not only suffers from undernutrition related issues, but is also experiencing a growing epidemic of obesity, with nearly 29% of adults now overweight.

In addition to poor water, lack of access to sanitation, poor healthcare, and low education, we found that poor quantity, quality, and mix of food available, also lead to poor nutrition. This results in gross deficit of essential macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, etc.) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Some population

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segments are food insecure, driven by inadequate production, and lack of availability and affordability of certain food groups (eg fruits, dairy and meat).

Where food is available for consumption, it is often of poor quality in terms of nutritional value, safety and hygiene. This results from excessive use of chemicals in farming, export of better quality food, unhygienic food production/processing practices, and poor cooking practices (excessive use of oil and overcooking). Further, the consumption baskets tend to be skewed towards certain carbohydrates (rice in Bangladesh and Myanmar), driven often by low consumer awareness and entrenched food preferences and beliefs.

Governments, civil society organisations and donors are making significant effort to improve nutrition outcomes through school meals, distribution of micronutrient supplements, campaigns for behaviour change and other social programmes. But these efforts are likely to fall short.

If we are to meet South Asia’s SDG target of ending malnutrition by 2030, we must engage the private sector to accelerate progress. Business can play on key strengths such as large-scale production capacity, product and business model innovation, marketing expertise and scale, and extensive distribution networks and supply chains, to complement government and social sector efforts.

In a recent engagement, we worked with an international organisation that is trying to catalyse private sector efforts in driving nutrition outcomes in Asia and Africa. We worked with them to

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter develop country strategies for two countries in Asia and looked at understanding current activity and identify tangible opportunities for the private sector to improve nutrition outcomes in those countries.

We found that existing private sector interventions tend to be focused on fortification and supplements. Businesses leverage their product development expertise and production capacity to manufacture supplements and fortified food products (zinc-fortified rice, vitamin A-fortified edible oil, iodised salt) — and partner with governments and CSOs for distribution through social programmes.

In Bangladesh, for example, edible oil millers mandatorily fortify their oil, and fortified rice is distributed to BoP women by the government through the Vulnerable Group Development Programme.

In Myanmar, CSOs and government support rice fortification by private players by subsidizing capex and distributing through social programmes.

THERE MUST BE ECOSYSTEM-LEVEL CHANGES In addition to supplements, there are five tangible opportunities to engage the private sector in driving up nutrition outcomes in South Asia: •Nudging customers to purchase nutrition products: Consumers tend to buy food out of habit and can be “nudged” into more nutritious food shopping. Large and progressive retailers/retail chains can proactively carry nutritious products, display them prominently, and educate consumers on their benefits. They can be a key channel of influence as consumers often rely on retailers for information and point-of-purchase decision-making.

•Tech-enabled nutrition awareness and service delivery: Technology and telecom businesses can build platforms to deliver nutrition-related information, track diets and key nutrition indicators, help in early identification of deficiencies, and connect consumers to relevant health services. For instance, Ooredoo, a major telecom operator in Myanmar, launched a mobile app (May May) to help expectant mothers access information and medical care.

•Influencing cooking practices: Media and food companies can help spread awareness on the nutritional value of different foods and improve cooking practices, through interventions such as health food TV shows. Celebrity chefs can be key influencers.

•Workplace nutrition programmes: Companies can be effective channels for distributing nutritious food and building awareness among employees and their communities. This is aligned to business interest, as improvement in health and nutrition of the workforce will likely reduce

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter sick-days and improve productivity. Local governments in Canada and Australia have explicit guidelines for workplace nutrition – and South Asian governments can take inspiration from them.

•CSR support for nutrition: Businesses that are not directly related to nutrition can also become “nutrition champions” by backing the cause as part of their social responsibility efforts.

Large corporate foundations can leverage their extensive networks to generate awareness and deliver nutritious food through their social programmes.

Catalysing private sector engagement will also require ecosystem level changes such as an enabling policy environment. This could include reduced import duties on fortification machinery, tax holidays/incentives, introduction of “fat tax”, input subsidies, among others.

WE NEED A CONCERTED EFFORT Funding support in the form of grants and other sub-commercial debt options can also crowd-in private sector investment in nutrition. For businesses lacking knowhow to produce nutritious/fortified food items, CSOs could provide the necessary technical expertise. For example, PATH, a CSO, is leading the Ultra Rice programme for rice fortification in Myanmar where it supports rice manufacturers by subsidizing machinery cost, providing training, and setting up distribution channels. Businesses could also benefit from consumer awareness and demand generation drives that educate consumers on associated benefits for products.

Addressing the nutrition crisis in the subcontinent requires concerted effort and the private sector can play an important complementary role. It is time that governments recognise this and formulate favourable policies and encourage the setup of multi-stakeholder networks that can catalyse private participation. Platforms for collaboration could play an important role going forward. Nutrition-focused platforms like the SBN can act as a bridge between the government and private sector and play a pivotal role in soliciting nutrition commitments, facilitating fundraising and collaboration, and disseminating global evidence and best practices.

Nirat Bhatnagar, Keshav Kanoria and Kapil Kanungo work at Dalberg Advisors, a social impact focused global advisory firm.

Bangladesh Scraps Rice Deal With Cambodia Over Shipment Delay 66

Dhaka. Bangladesh has cancelled its first-ever deal with Cambodia to import 250,000 tonnes of white rice over a delay in shipments, officials at the state grains buyer said on Tuesday (14/11).

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The deal was signed in August at $453.00 a tonne as the Bangladesh government raced to shore up depleted stocks and combat record domestic prices of the staple grain after floods hit its crop.

"We had to terminate the deal as they failed to supply the rice on time," Badrul Hasan, the head of Bangladesh's state grain buyer, told Reuters.

Despite deals with several rice exporting countries including Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, Bangladesh is still battling to build its reserves, with rice imports are set to hit their highest levels in a decade.

"We don't think this will have an impact on our efforts to build stocks," he said, adding the state grains buyer was in talks with an Indian agency.

"Tomorrow we are holding talks with India's National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED). We hope we will succeed to finalize a deal with them."

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Traditionally the world's fourth-biggest rice producer, Bangladesh has emerged as a major importer of the grain this year and helped pushed Asian rice prices to multi-year highs in June.

Rice is a staple food for Bangladesh's 160 million people and high prices pose a problem for the government, which faces a national election next year.

Bangladesh has also issued a series of tenders as it looks to import a total of 1.5 million tonnes of rice in the year to June.

Rice at government warehouses stood at 411,000 tonnes, well below the normal level of around 1 million tonnes.

In August, Bangladesh cut a duty on rice imports for the second time in two months. The lower import duty has prompted purchases by private dealers, with most of the deals being struck with neighboring India.

Bangladesh produces around 34 million tonnes of rice annually but uses almost all its production to feed its population. It often requires imports to cope with shortages caused by floods or droughts

http://jakartaglobe.id/international/bangladesh-scraps-rice-deal-cambodia-shipment-delay/

Paddy production in Punjab highest since 2014 The higher procurement of paddy this year is being attributed to favourable weather during the harvesting season and also good varieties of paddy.

Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba | Jalandhar | Published:November 16, 2017 1:32 am

Farmers in the state prefer paddy, which has assured market, over Basmati rice, which has been seeing a poor market for the past few years.

Punjab has procured around 17.8 million tonnes of paddy (Parmal rice) this year, up around 6.84 % against last year’s 16.8 MT despite the fact that the area under paddy cultivation this year was less compared to the last year. This is the highest paddy production in Punjab since 2014 and the

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figure could go even higher since the paddy procurement is still going on. Records show Punjab procured 11.9 MT of paddy in 2014 and 13.9 MT in 2015.

The higher procurement of paddy this year is being attributed to favourable weather during the harvesting season and also good varieties of paddy. Farmers in the state prefer paddy, which has assured market, over Basmati rice, which has been seeing a poor market for the past few years.

According to the state’s agriculture department, 29.26 lakh hectares was under rice cultivation this year, of which 24.50 lakh hectares was under paddy and the rest under Basmati rice (fine quality rice). Last year, 30.10 lakh hectares was under rice cultivation, of which 25.10 lakh hectares was under paddy and the rest under Basmati.

Dr J S Bains, director at the state’s Agriculture Department, said per hectare yield of paddy was also reported to have increased at several places this year compared to last year. This year, the procurement price of paddy was Rs 1,590 per quintal. Around 95 per cent procurement has already taken place. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/paddy-production-in-punjab-highest-since-2014-4939326/

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