29th march,2018 daily global regional local rice e newsletter

Rice News Headlines…        

MPCA challenges judge's ruling on sulfate limit Rice Radio PARC scientists develop new machine for wheat sowing Phnom Penh Post - UN data show nearly half of Kingdom’s rice exports undocumented JC conducts training camp on paddy procurement Murphy: GMO — OMG! What protections for haor crops?

MINNESO MPCA urges judge to drop objection to wild rice rule changeTA NEWS Nigeria Customs Intercepts Petrol Tanker Laden With Smuggled Rice

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Rice News Headlines‌ MPCA challenges judge's ruling on sulfate limit

By John Myers on Mar 28, 2018 at 5:56 p.m.

Wild rice harvested on Perch Lake on the Fond du Lac Reservation gleams in the sunlight.

(News Tribune file photo) The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on Wednesday said it has filed a response defending its proposed wild rice sulfate standard that in January was panned by a state administrative law judge.PCA officials say their proposed sulfate pollution standard is a good compromise that protects wild rice in places where sulfate pollution might damage it, but also allows more sulfate pollution in lakes and rivers where it may not harm the plant.

The new, lake-by-lake standard would replace a long-standing but mostly unenforced statewide sulfate limit for wild rice waters that industry officials say is too restrictive and could cripple the state's taconite iron ore industry, as well as cost millions of dollars for municipal sewage plants to comply with.

Scientists say excess sulfate in some waters can spur the development of sulfides, which can starve wild rice of needed nutrients, damaging or even killing the plants.The PCA response this week, filed with the state's chief administrative law judge, addresses concerns raised in the January decision by Judge LauraSue Schlatter, who said the PCA's proposed new sulfate rule failed to meet the definition of a state rule and failed to meet the federal Clean Water Act. Schlatter also said the PCA also didn't properly consider concerns raised by tribal groups.

Schlatter ruled against repealing the existing, statewide 10 parts-per-million limit due to the PCA's "failure to establish the reasonableness of the repeal, and because the repeal conflicts" with the federal Clean Water Act.The judge said the PCA plan to develop "equation-based" limits for specific lakes and rivers that hold wild rice "fails to meet the definition of a rule" under state law "and is unconstitutionally void for vagueness."

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Schlatter even rejected the PCA's preliminary list of 1,300 lakes and rivers where the agency believes viable wild rice stands exist, places where the new rules would have applied, because the list itself violated federal law.

PCA officials on Wednesday said the judge simply erred in applying the Clean Water Act, noting that using equations to determine limits is a common practice in rulemaking for pollution standards."We think the law judge misread the Clean Water Act," said John Linc Stine, PCA commissioner, in a conference call with reporters.PCA officials say their response addresses most of the concerns raised by Schlatter in her January decision, and they are hopeful the chief administrative law judge will reconsider the decision and support the new sulfate rule with the changes made.

A decision is expected in the coming weeks.But even if the chief judge reverses the January decision, the future of the proposed sulfate rule is in question. Several state lawmakers, pushed by the state's mining industry, are advancing legislation that would prohibit the PCA from enforcing the new or old sulfate pollution limits, saying their impact on industry, jobs and commerce would be devastating. One bill also calls for a wild rice task force that would address multiple issues that threaten wild rice, not just sulfate pollution.

Meanwhile, tribal and environmental interests have panned the PCA's effort as too lax on industry, saying there's no scientific basis for a lake-by-lake standard that would be confusing, hard to enforce and not as protective as the existing statewide standard for wild rice. They are calling for enforcement of the existing statewide sulfate limit.

Tribal entities could ask the federal Environmental Protection Agency to step in and decide the issue if they believe it's not protective of tribal pollution limits where they have regulatory authority, such as where rivers flow through reservations.Scientists have found that sulfate — which can come from sewage effluent, mine discharges and other industrial processes — is converted to sulfides in the sediment of many wild rice lakes and rivers. The rate of that conversion changes depending on the amount of carbon and iron in the water (generally, more sulfides with high carbon, fewer sulfides with high iron). It's those sulfides that prevent wild rice from thriving in some areas; the proposed new rule would study the water chemistry of each wild

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rice lake and river to determine what sulfate pollution level they could handle and still grow wild rice.The PCA says about 135 facilities are within 25 miles upstream of wild rice waters and would be the most likely ones affected by any sulfate rule enforcement. https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/science-and-nature/4424101-mpca-challenges-judges-rulingsulfate-limit

Rice Radio

By Kurt Richter To listen to an audio podcast, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to download and subscribe to podcasts.

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Name 1 Episode 8: Preparing For Planting, Chinese GMO & The Road To New Storage

2 Episode 7: Sites Reservoir, Snowpack & The Farm Show

3 Saving Salmon in the Sacramento Valley

4 The USA Rice Outlook Conference: Growing Rice, Selling Rice, and Telling That Story.

5 Episode 4: The Oroville Dam: Past, Present, and Future

6 Episode 3: Harvest ’17, Waterfowl & Water Storage Outlook

7 Episode 2: Harvest, Shorebirds, and Roxy

8 Episode 1: Welcome to Rice Radio!

Description

It's March in the Sacramento Valley, which mea the bit to start working ground.

In this episode of Rice Radio, we check in at the shop as the countdown to planting season draws to a close.

We also debunk a meme...

The ongoing saga of Sites Reservoir and Proposition 1 made news this month, but not for good reasons.

In this episode, I sat down with Jim Watson, General Manager for Sites Project Authority, to break down the hysteria around Sites. Rice...

Sacramento River salmon runs have been on the decline for years, with almost no glimmers of hope or upticks in fish counts for more than a decade. Several years ago, the farmer and water agencies who pump off the river decided to take matters...

The USA Rice Federation held its annual Outloo happening in...

In February of 2017, the residents of Oroville, California, along with other downstream communities of the Feather River, had their lives turned upside down by the threat of flooding from failed structures at the Oroville Dam site. It was a...

Lodged rice, equipment breakdowns, parts shortages, crazy geese!

In this episode of Rice Radio, we recap a California Rice Harvest that has been called one of the most difficult of the last 40 years. I also talk to Fish and Wildlife about...

It's autumn in California, which means rice harvest is in full swing. In this episode of Rice Radio, we check in at harvest and see how things are coming along.

I'll also introduce you to a new development in California Rice, which could change how...

The premiere episode of the new podcast, Rice R Topics covered include a recap of the 2017 rice season, including wild weather and flooding. Also covered, army worms, weedy red rice, and the Chinese market finally opening up to U.S.

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Rice.

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Description Rice Radio is an inside look at all things related to the California Rice Industry and the Sacramento Valley. Produced and Hosted by California Rice Grower, Kurt Richter, Rice Radio covers the crop, the market, water, water and property rights, conservation, regulations, and much more. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/riceradio/id1298082371?mt=2#episodeGuid=3af24518ef4f69e7eae78d72db24ee2a

PARC scientists develop new machine for wheat sowing Islamabad Handling of the combine harvested paddy residue has been becoming a great concern to the farmers in rice-wheat cropping system. The residue is either removed or spread in the field manually. In general, farmers prefer to burn it as an easy and cost-effective method of disposal.

However, burning of residue not only results in loss of precious crop nutrients but also poses a great threat to the environment, human health and economy. The smog restricts road and air traffic and causes respiratory problems for human/ animal health. Agricultural Engineering Institute organized a Farmer’s Field Day to show wheat crop performance sown with PAK Seeder in heavy rice residue at Ch. Shahbaz, Khokhar farm near Siakhum, on MuridkaySheihkhupura Road. Dr Yusuf Zafar (T.I) Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Islamabad was the Chief Guest at the occasion. Dr Nadeem Amjad Member Coordination/DG Agricultural Engineering Division (AED), Dr Anjum Ali Buttar Member Crop Sciences division, Dr Abdul Majeed, country representative of ICARDA country head and other dignitaries from Government of Punjab participated in the event. On arrival of Chairman and other guests a pictorial presentation was given by Engr. Shabbir Ahmed Kalwar Project Incharge of ICARDA-USDA funded project about PARC efforts and different approaches since last 12 years to reach PAK Seeder. https://pakobserver.net/parc-scientists-develop-new-machine-for-wheat-sowing/

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Phnom Penh Post - UN data show nearly half of Kingdom’s rice exports undocumented Thu Mar 29 2018 15:07:33 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time) UN data show nearly half of Kingdom’s rice exports undocumented

Cheng Sokhorng | Publication date 29 March 2018 | 05:48 ICT

An employee points out a stack of rice for an order at a rice warehouse in Phnom Penh. Eli Meixler The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is forecasting that 44 percent of Cambodia’s total rice exports will be smuggled out of the country through informal channels this year, a persistent problem that weighs down profits and threatens to cripple the industry.

The FAO’s forecast, released earlier this month, predicted that Cambodia’s rice exports in 2018 would reach 1.35 million tonnes, a 5 percent increase over last year. But only 750,000 tonnes of that would be formal exports, according to Shirley Mustafa, an economist at the FAO. The other 600,000 tonnes would be ―unrecorded cross-border deliveries‖ – rice that is bought directly from farmers by so-called brokers and then smuggled into neighbouring countries, usually Vietnam or Thailand.

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Smuggling has long plagued Cambodia’s rice sector. While the Kingdom recorded 635,700 tonnes of exports last year, Mustafa said the FAO estimated an additional 650,000 tonnes went unrecorded.

But any government crackdown on the illegal rice trade would cripple the country’s rice farmers, said Hean Vanhan, director-general at the General Directorate of Agriculture, which is under the Agriculture Ministry. ―During harvesting season, the capacity of rice millers cannot handle all the rice from farmers, so our rice and paddy rice must be sold to brokers along the border,‖ he said, blaming the problem on limited financing and storage for the paddy rice.

The government has taken steps to improve the country’s storage capacity in the past year, distributing $30 million in loans to construct three new storage and processing facilities. But the total storage capacity at those three facilities is just 300,000 tonnes of rice, far below the required space to meet the government’s target of 1 million tonnes of officially exported rice. ―In order to reach 1 million tonnes of rice exports, we need to store approximately 2 million tonnes of paddy rice,‖ said Hun Lak, vice president of the Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF), the sector’s industry body. That would be a more than sixfold increase over current storage capacity.

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Ngeth Chou, a senior consultant at Emerging Markets Consulting, said the government should begin cracking down on the unofficial border checkpoints to stem the flow of smuggled rice.

A farmer harvests his rice crop at a paddy in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district in 2015. Vireak Mai ―Cambodia will lose a lot of profits and revenue from [rice] exports,‖ he said, adding Cambodian rice’s international reputation was also being harmed.Despite widespread smuggling, it hasn’t been all bad news for the rice sector. China agreed to increase its Cambodian rice import quota to 300,000 tonnes this year, up from 200,000 tonnes last year and 100,000 tonnes the year before.

And Mustafa from the FAO noted that the 2017-18 rice harvest season had unfolded positively so far, which should ensure adequate supply for export.

But the smuggling issue is compounded with internal struggles within the CRF, which is headed

by Sok Puthyvuth, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Puthyvuth was narrowly re-elected as CRF president in 2016 with 113 out of 215 votes.The CRF released a scathing assessment of its own capabilities in a report in January this year, noting ―there are many challenges facing the CRF‖, including board members with ―commitment discipline issues‖ who only show up ―when the meeting is about their interests‖.

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It also notes that farmers often suffer in favour of millers and traders, complaints from members often go unaddressed, decisions by board members often go unimplemented and the entire operation is hampered by a lack of financing.When it came to the topic of smuggling, the CRF report said that porous borders posed an existential threat to the entire rice industry.

Over 40 percent of Cambodia’s rice exports went to the EU last year, which has stringent requirements to verify the origin of the rice. But the porous border means Vietnamese rice could be brought into Cambodia, labelled as Cambodian rice and then exported, which would be a violation of trade rules. That would jeopardise Cambodia’s preferential access to the EU market, the report says.In a separate case, Italy and six other EU countries filed a complaint with the European Commission in December regarding Cambodian rice. The countries urged the commission to invoke a so-called ―safeguard clause‖ to limit the import of Cambodian rice, which the complaint claims is causing a trade imbalance. The commission has not yet publicly responded to the complaint.Te Taing Por, who ran against Puthyvuth in the 2016 CRF election, said yesterday he agreed smuggling was a big issue for the sector and called for the government to curb unrecorded trade. ―The government should know their duty to stop the unofficial exports,‖ he said. ―They should work more transparently in order to reach 1 million tonnes of rice exports.‖ Contact author: Cheng Sokhor

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/un-data-show-nearly-half-kingdoms-rice-exportsundocumented

JC conducts training camp on paddy procurement THE HANS INDIA | Mar 29,2018 , 12:28 AM IST

JC conducts training camp on paddy procurement Siddipet: Siddipet Joint Collector Padmakar conducted training classes for Indira Kranthi Pathakam (IKP) groups and Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) - a basic unit and smallest co-operative credit institutions working on gram panchayat and village level, at Rice Millers Associations building in Siddipet on Wednesday for the procurement and Minimum Support Price( MSP) for paddy crop for Rabi season for the year 2017-18.

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The Joint Collector issued guidelines to the management of procurement centres such as the MSP Rs 1590 for Grade-A and Rs 1550 for common type paddy crop with the target of 2,00,000 metric tons at total 154 procurement centres of 103 IKP centres and 54 PACS with the usage of gunny bags in the ratio of 54:46.

All centres should have proper infrastructure with paddy cleaner, Tarpaulins and weighing scales and moisture meter including drinking water, toilets and shelter facilities failing which the centres will not be permitted for the business. Centres should maintain daily records on the basis of entry day in the tab making sure that no double payments are made. The district level agricultural and revenue officials participated in the meeting http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Telangana/2018-03-29/JC-conducts-training-camp-on-paddyprocurement-/370094

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Murphy: GMO — OMG! Dan Murphy March 28, 2018 01:00 PM Genetically modified organisms have been given a bad rap. It is too late to change their image? ( Farm Journal )Without much of a coordinated marketing plan, without a whole lot of media fanfare and without much resistance from industry, the demonization of genetically engineered food ingredients appears to be nearly compete.In fact, ―Non-GMO‖ has acquired all the cachet of ―organic‖ as a marker of (alleged) quality and purity. That is amazing, for two reasons.

First, the organic industry and its mouthpiece organizations, such as the Organic Trade Association, have labored tirelessly for decades to convince consumers that anything not labeled organic is guilty until proven innocent: guilty of being contaminated with a roster of chemicals, pesticides, and God knows what other lethal residues with which evil farmers have tainted the produce and grains they grow and market to us witless dupes.At least there is some evidence that toxic pesticides, if applied improperly on a farm, could result in the presence of residues on foods that would trigger health problems.

Likewise, it’s understandable that consumer activists can attack Big Meat, because food-safety issues, such as microbial contamination, have been documented to cause illnesses and deaths.

Obviously, those outcomes can easily be leveraged to promote anti-industry messaging.

GMOs have no such track record.Second, opposition to GMOs is unique in that, unlike the Meatless Mondays movement, avoidance of genetically modified food ingredients isn’t being promoted as an eco-positive initiative, the way that cutting back on beef is positioned as a way to save the planet, environmentally speaking.

The reality is that nobody has gotten sick or died from eating the millions of tons of food products made with GM corn and soy. Of all the issues one would reasonably expect to see leveraged on the basis of factual evidence, GMOs ought to be at the top of that short list.

A Nobel Protest Falls Flat For example: Back in 2016, more than 100 Nobel laureates — the most accomplished scientists on Earth — signed a letter urging Greenpeace, the early leader and eventually chief cheerleader of the ―Frankenfoods‖ movement, to end its opposition to GMOs. Greenpeace had not been heavily involved with agricultural or nutritional issues previously; GMOs were a gift-wrapped cause that landed in their laps, thanks to the public’s ignorance of biotechnology.

Specifically, the Nobel scientists singled out genetically engineered ―golden rice,‖ which could reduce Vitamin A deficiencies that can cause blindness and death among some 250 million children in the developing world subsisting on vitamin-deficient diets.

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―We urge Greenpeace and its supporters to re-examine the experience of farmers and consumers worldwide with crops and foods improved through biotechnology,‖ the scientists stated at the time, ―and abandon their campaign against GMOs in general and Golden Rice in particular. ―Scientific and regulatory agencies around the world have repeatedly and consistently found crops and foods improved through biotechnology to be as safe as, if not safer than, those derived from any other method of production. There has never been a single confirmed case of a negative health outcome for humans or animals from their consumption. Their environmental impacts have been shown repeatedly to be less damaging to the environment, and a boon to global biodiversity.‖ In the face of such a clear-cut rationale, the question becomes: Why the backlash?

Partly because GMOs are tangled up in the backdrop of corporate control (think Monsanto), which is a red flag for many people and provides anti-GM activists with a ready-made villain to demonize.

But the truth is that ―the industry,‖ broadly defined, did it to themselves. The anti-GMO campaigns would never have gotten the traction they’ve enjoyed if the application of this understandably intimidating new biotechnology hadn’t been deployed almost exclusively to benefit agricultural interests, rather than consumers.

GMOs wouldn’t have become a hot-button issue if the research hadn’t been focused almost exclusively at first on developing ―square tomatoes and steel-skinned strawberries‖ (my words), improvements aimed at benefitting growers and processors, not the people eating those foods.

Golden rice and other consumer-friendly GM projects came along way too late to alter the damage done by the narrative that genetic engineering is the scourge of the modern world. And by ―damage,‖ I mean listening to college instructors who hold PhDs (in subjects other than the life sciences, of course) tell me point blank, ―GMOs are terrible. I would never buy foods that contain them!‖ As if ―GMO‖ referred to some physical contaminant, like E. coli or antibiotic residues.

As one activist admitted to me in an email exchange, ―We don’t need people to understand GMOs; we just need them to understand that they’re bad.‖ ―GMO-OMG!‖ is definitely the operative phrase — just not in the sense that activists use it.

Editor’s Note: The opinions in his commentary are those of Dan Murphy, a veteran journalist and commentator. https://www.porkbusiness.com/article/murphy-gmo-omg

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What protections for haor crops?

March 29, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, March 29, 2018

Shykh Seraj at a green paddy field in a haor area of Mohanganj. Photo: Hridoye Mati O Manush

Shykh Seraj

At the moment, there is green vibrancy in rice fields of haor region. Lands after lands across the wide area, rice fields have turned picturesquely green. The only crop of the year, Boro rice is being grown. After one and a half months, the fields will turn golden with ripened rice and the crop will be ready for harvesting. The green colour of paddy this season tells the tale of yet another great production for the nation. However, farmers dreaming of getting this golden crop have doubts on whether they will be able to take it home. Will it submerge again due to a flash flood?

Ali Nur, farmer from Khaliajuri, Netrakona says that his two and a half acres of paddy land went under floodwater last year. He couldn't harvest anything from his golden fields. This is the situation of every haor farmer. Back in 2016, farmers couldn't take their entire crops home.

Thousands of hectares of ripe crops submerged. Farmers of Khaliajuri, Shalla, Shamarchar, Mithamoin, Itna, Tahirpur and many other haor areas had to face Nayanbhaga. Even though the word Nayanbhaga sounds nice, only the haor people know how much pain and nature's cruelty are dealt with it.

Talking to haor area people, I learned that two kinds of field workers work in the two seasons of paddy planting and harvesting. The ones who work during paddy planting are called Jirati. On the other hand, the ones who do the harvest works, are called Dawali or Bhagali. These field workers are available during the planting and harvesting seasons. When the crops go under water due to untimely floods, these people along with farmers try to save yields as much as possible.

They dive in the water to cut paddies. This whole process is called Nayanbhaga.

This flash flood is not a new problem for the haor people. Every year, farmers have a fear that their crops will submerge. Farmers of this area cultivate BRRI 28 or 29. Their lifetime is 140 days and 160 days respectively. Farmers are keen to cultivate BRRI 29 more than the others as it gives more yield. However, it takes half of the month of May for BRRI 29 to be harvested and taken home.

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Recently, Director General of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Matthew Morell visited Bangladesh and we met for a discussion. I raised the issue of submergence-tolerant rice variety. He said IRRI is experimenting on bringing in a rice variety for haor areas. If everything goes alright, within one or two years, they will be successful in introducing a short-term and high yielding paddy variety. IRRI researcher Dr Md Rafiqul Islam says in many plots of Sunamganj, Kishoreganj and Habiganj, research for a new variety is going on but they couldn't still get an appropriate variety. IRRI, BRRI and many varieties from Nepal are being crossed. If it becomes successful, then they will be able to get a short-term and high-yielding variety with 2-3 years, said Dr Islam. There was a time when Aus used to be the most popular paddy. The word Aus came from Ashu, which means quick or within a short time.

Aus became so popular because of its short-term production feature. I heard that we even had varieties that could be reaped in 60 days. However, those varieties were not high-yielding.

My experience tells that farmers need a variety which is both short-term as well as high-yielding.

It is only a matter of time now to make one for the haor people. Technology and modern science can join hands to bring this as soon as possible.

It is evident that haor farmers are becoming victims of climate change. We need to take effective measures to save the farming in haor areas. I wanted to know from Dr Md Rafiqul Islam what more is there to do for the haor farmers. He said that until a new variety is brought in, farmers will need to carry on cultivating BRRI 29 on higher grounds and BRRI 28 on low lands.

Researchers need to conduct multidimensional research.

There is another question of adding any alternatives. I talked to globally renowned geneticist Abed Chowdhury. He talked about aquatic paddy which grows with the increase of water and it can be cultivated in waterlogged regions. In China, there is such a variety called Zizania. He also talked about green blue agriculture. Many countries cultivate 'sea-weed' in seaside areas.

Besides, water chestnut, wasabi, many kinds of herbs: sage, parsi and different kinds of hydrophytes are also possible to cultivate in haor areas.

An alarming scene is that the construction works of the embankments to protect the haor area is not completed yet. The ones which are being completed in a hurry are more worrying for farmers. Haor people doubt if these embankments of soft soil can actually stop the wild water.

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Tahirpur's Boyalmara embankment was supposed to be finished by February. Sadly, the construction work started in March. The contractor, Water Development Board, administration -all blamed each other. Farmers complain that every year construction works for embankments start right before the water comes. In Sunamganj, Tk 122 crore was allocated for 964 projects to make a total of 1,400 km embankments. However, the project wasn't completed in time. The picture remains the same in other haor areas too. After visiting different haor areas, I felt like their farming method is moving far behind technology. They don't use any technology to plant or harvest crops even though they use tractors for ploughing. They could use drum seeder to get planting done in a short time. Similarly, they could use reaper machines to harvest more crops in a little time. Thus technology can curb the loss.

Dear readers, for the protection of farmers' crops and the living of farmers, not only in haor areas but all over Bangladesh, the government should think seriously about crop insurance. There will be more investment in agriculture sector if crop insurance is ensured to provide financial security for the growers. We need to take the haor people along in the road to sustainable development.

Public and private research institutions and agriculture extension department have to come forward together not only with a specific plan but with a project with deadline.

Lat the dream that the green crops of haor is showing turn into gold. http://www.thedailystar.net/country/what-protections-haor-crops-1554760

MINNESO MPCA urges judge to drop objection to wild rice rule changeTA NEWS MAR 29, 2018 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota regulators asked the state’s chief administrative law judge Wednesday to reverse her rejection of their attempts to change the state’s water quality standard for protecting wild rice.The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said in a 286-page filing that it has made technical changes to its proposal that should address the judge’s concerns.

The MPCA has been working for several years to replace the current 10 milligram-perliter flat limit for sulfate discharges into lakes and streams that produce wild rice with a complex mathematical formula tailored to the chemistry of specific waters. As part of that effort, the agency also developed a list of around 1,300 water bodies where the new standard would apply.But Chief Administrative Law Judge Tammy Pust rejected the

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equation-based approach and the list in January, saying the proposal would violate federal and state law and put an unfair burden on Native Americans who harvest wild rice for food. http://www.marshallindependent.com/news/minnesota-news-apwire/2018/03/mpca-urges-judge-to-dropobjection-to-wild-rice-rule-change/

Nigeria Customs Intercepts Petrol Tanker Laden With Smuggled Rice The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Sokoto Command – which comprises of Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi States – has intercepted 585 bags of foreign rice hidden in a petrol tanker with a duty paid value of N11 million.

It also arrested four suspects who allegedly smuggled the 589 bags of imported rice and concealed in the petrol tanker before they were apprehended along Koko-Yawuri road in Kebbi State.

It is understood that the vehicle was heading to Suleja in Niger State when it was intercepted by Customs officers following a tip-off in Kebbi State.These disclosures were made by the Comptroller of NCS in the 3 States, Mr. Nasir Ahmad, when he spoke to newsmen on Tuesday in Sokoto.According to him, as at the time the bags of rice were removed from the petrol tank, they were contaminated by black oil, which is dangerous to human health.

The comptroller advised smugglers to find alternative legal means of livelihood and stop undermining the nation’s economy.“We have already arrested four suspects and they are currently in our custody while we are on the trail of the major owner of the contraband. We will soon get him to face justice,” he said.

According to him, it was the third time the command would be intercepting such illegal goods in a tanker.https://www.360nobs.com/2018/03/nigeria-customs-intercepts-petrol-tankerladen-with-smuggled-rice/

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