30 november 2017 rice news daily global regional local

30 November 2017 daily rice news Undedited version www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com Mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Demand of Pakistani rice increased across world 30.11.2017 | UkrAgroConsult

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Demand of Pakistani rice has quality across the world.

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A spokesman of Agriculture Department talking to Radio Pakistan said the Agriculture Department launched a special campaign about poison free paddy crops this year.

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Pakistan produces world class rice and has a well developed rice processing industry as proved by its exports to high-end and the most sensitive markets around the world. “We want to move towards value added products to increase exports,� he added. http://www.blackseagrain.net/novosti/demand-of-pakistani-rice-increased-across-world

Reap team to explore Sri Lankan markets 

R EC O R D ER R E PO R T

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N O V 3 0 T H, 2 0 1 7

 K A R AC H I A delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan will visit Sri Lanka next month to explore new opportunities. A delegation of rice exporters led by Rafique Suleman, Acting Chairman, Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) had a meeting with G L Gnanatheva, Consul General of Sri Lanka, at Sri Lankan Consulate, Karachi. Abdul Rahim Janoo Ex-Chairman REAP, Asif Polani Member Managing Committee & Convener REAP's delegation committee, Altaf Hussain Shaikh Secretary REAP and Arif Ali Khan Assistant Secretary REAP were also a part of the delegation.

During the meeting, Rafique Suleman apprised Sri Lankan CG regarding a communication received from Pakistani High Commission in Colombo, wherein it was recommended to send a REAP delegation on an urgent basis, as Sri Lanka is facing shortage of rice. He said Pakistan has a good quality crop of Basmati and Irri-6 rice and can export good quantity of rice at competitive prices. Therefore, it has decided to send a 15-member delegation to Sri Lanka in December 2017 for the promotion and marketing of Pakistani rice, he added.

During the visit, the delegation will have meetings with President of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ministers for Trade, Commerce, Transport, etc, as well as officials of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce & National Chamber of Commerce, Colombo and leading rice importers. "We will also discuss increase in the Basmati rice quota which is stagnant at 6,000 MT for many years," Suleman said.

Abdul Rahim Janoo said during the visit, REAP will also organize a Biryani Festival in Colombo and the diplomatic officials of various countries deputed at Colombo as well as officials of concerned ministries and chambers of commerce and leading rice buyers will be invited to this festival. He said that previously REAP has already organized such Festivals in many countries.

He also invited the Consul General of Sri Lanka to accompany REAP delegation which he accepted. The Consul General assured his full support to make this visit a great success. He was ready to send letters to Sri Lankan authorities to fix meetings with REAP delegation. Rafique Suleman also extended his gratitude to the Sri Lankan CG and hoped that after the successful visit of this delegation, export of Pakistani Basmati and Irri-6 rice will get a significant boost and fetch foreign exchange for the country.

Innovation on Display at USA Rice Outlook Conference

By Deborah Willenborg

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that goes for the 2017 USA Rice Outlook Conference too! Valuable programming has been packed into each day with exciting speakers, educational sessions, and a bustling exhibit hall featuring The Rice Foundation Innovation Stage.

The Rice Foundation fosters innovation for the industry, so it is fitting that this year's Innovation Stage was named for the organization. Programming at The Rice Foundation Innovation Stage will start each day at 7:45 a.m. The full schedule will be posted in the Outlook Conference Exhibit Hall, but attendees won't want to miss presentations on Monday, December 10, from BASF Corporation, CMC Industrial Electronics, FrigorTec, Applied Digital, Inc. - Aquarius Farm Controls, Horizon Ag, CASEIH, Gowan USA, and Real McCoy Enterprises.

Tuesday's schedule includes presenters from John Deere Company, Ray-Mont Logistics, Creed Rice, Central Life Sciences, Mike Harper, and IntelliFarms.

There will also be special short film screenings and a cooking demonstration from the USA Rice Mexico team.

"Our conference sponsors and exhibitors make this, the largest annual conference in North America dedicated to rice, possible, but I especially appreciate the exhibitors who share the latest innovations, technology, and services at The Rice Foundation Innovation Stage," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. "These presentations really make a difference to the bottom line for our members."

Rice Importation Drops By 95% – Ogbeh

By Gistmaster On December 1, 2017 In Business, Latest, News, News Tagged Latest News Leave a comment

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By Suzan Nwachukwu, Abuja The minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, yesterday disclosed that rice importation into the country has dropped by 95 per cent in the last two years due to consistency in the federal government’s efforts at drastically reducing importation of the food product into the country.

Ogbeh also said the federal government has achieved this feat despite the fact that some elements in the polity are bent on sabotaging the efforts at drastically reducing importation.

The minister disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the second day of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing system for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Agribusiness and Policy Linkage Conference, that hopes to see the implementation of the Agriculture component of the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP).

He decried heavy dependence on foreign products by the country irrespective of the dangers they pose.

“This country by and large have been taken hostage, some persons have refused to believe it but why are there no jobs, why so much poverty, nobody want to buy local thing because the importers have connections. They have ships, they have banking facilities and they persuade opinion makers that it is better and cheaper to import.

“We pass through so much struggle to have a foothold in our own market including rice and people think there is nothing wrong. They will tell you they prefer foreign rice even though what we produce is better and safer for them. The rice from Thailand has many challenges which they don’t care to know, because if you grow rice for too long in a mashed land, there will be high content of acid in it. There’s too much dependency on foreign goods just because it is foreign,” he said.

However, he disclosed that despite the challenges, the country has made a lot of success in terms of eradicating rice importation and this is a plus to the country’s economy.

“One example of success is in rice. As at September, 2015, this country was importing 644,131 tons of rice. Exactly two years later, that is September 2017, rice importation drops to 20, 000 tons; that’s a 95 per cent drop.

“There are 12.2 million people growing rice in the country, producing paddy for the rice mills.

“In Kano alone, we have 1,421 rice mills. We have large fields in Anambra, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Jigawa, kebbi and more are coming up, “he said.

Ogbeh also enumerated the challenges currently faced in agribusiness exporting to include funding which is access to credit, high interest rate agricultural mechanization, packaging, and quality. Other include seed development, research development and marketing. He called for more private partnership as according to him, ‘government is only steering the wheel’.

The Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed in an interview with LEADERSHIP said as events are unfolding, the government is laying down policy to ensure that the private sector succeed in Agribusiness.

“What you see today represent what the government is looking at, how the private sector can lead and how the policies affect that leadership. The good thing about investment is that ones you can be able to proof a risk return profile and you can de-risk it, then investment will “What you observed today is the mandate of NIRSAL as handed to us by the CBN. How do you get actors from the value chain from primary production all the way through processes, retailing, and domestic markets to export?

Mrs Alaba Lawson, President, NACCIMA said all hands must be on deck to achieve success and called on all to come on board.

https://niyitabiti.net/2017/12/riceimportation-drops-by-95-ogbeh/ $1.7 Million for Climate-Resilient Agricultural ResearchFunds Support

Drought-Resistant Rice and EnergyEfficient Food-Drying Research

By Amy Quinton on November 30, 2017 in Food & Agriculture Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and her team will identify genes that alter root growth in rice. (Photo / Deanne Fitzmaurice) The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research has awarded more than $1.7 million to University of California, Davis, researchers to identify genes responsible for drought tolerance in rice and test a new energyefficient food-drying process.

Drought-resistant rice A $1 million Seeding Solutions grant will go to a project to study the genetics of rice plants. The research is being led by principal investigator Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Genome Center at UC Davis.

She and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and collaborators, will develop and implement a chemistry-driven gene discovery approach to identify rice genes that influence root growth. The project targets protein kinases, enzymes that control diverse biological process in plants, such as root architecture and drought response.

“Our aim is to identify genes that alter root growth in rice, a staple food for half the world’s people. Because root systems play an essential role in yield and drought tolerance, results of these studies are relevant to agriculture,” said Ronald.

The FFAR grant has been matched with funding from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Structural Genomics Consortium, AgBiome and Promega for a total $2.3 million investment.

“This project is a prime example of how public-private partnerships can advance our understanding of plant genetics to develop crops resistant to drought and other climate extremes,” said Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.

Researchers on this project also include David Drewry, co-principal investigator and professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Aled Edwards, collaborator, professor at the University of Toronto, and director of the Structural Genomics Consortium; and Rafael Najmanovich, collaborator, professor at the University of Montreal.

See full release.

Energy-efficient food processing FFAR has also awarded $790,000 to UC Davis to test a new technology to improve the drying methods used in food production. Moisture must be removed from harvested agricultural products to safely preserve them prior to processing into food products.

Principal investigator Irwin Donis-Gonzalez (left) and assistant adjunct professor Kurt Kornbluth (right) in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering will research new advanced food-drying technology.

Researchers will test an innovative moisture-absorbing technology called drying beads, instead of relying on heated air to dehydrate foods such as grains, nuts, rice and seeds. The beads absorb water without using heat, reducing the use of energy by up to 50 percent during the drying process. The beads are reusable and can be reactivated, which would reduce drying costs over time.

The research is being led by principal investigator Irwin R. DonisGonzalez, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“Drying agricultural produce is an energy-intensive process, and it is imperative to find alternative means of drying for the enhancement of food quality, safety, and economical operations, while reducing food losses and waste,” said Donis-Gonzalez.

According to researchers, this technology could save more than 1.06 quadrillion kilojoules of energy annually in the U.S. This is about the same amount of energy it takes to provide electricity to residents of New York, California and Florida for one year.

The $790,000 FFAR grant has also been matched with funding from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for a total $1.5 million investment.

“This project exemplifies how new innovations can help us produce a safe, reliable food supply that uses resources more efficiently,” Rockey said.

Researchers on this project include Kent J. Bradford, co-principal investigator, distinguished professor at UC Davis; Kurt Kornbluth, coprincipal investigator, assistant adjunct professor at UC Davis; Edward Spang, co-principal investigator, assistant professor at UC Davis; and Johan Van Asbrouck, collaborator, CEO of Rhino Research, Bangkok, Thailand.

See full release for more information. https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/17-million-climate-resilient-agricultural-research/ https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/17-million-climate-resilient-agricultural-research/ U.S. rice prices soar amid sharply lower production Nov. 30, 2017 - by Ron Sterk Share This: Search for similar articles by keyword: [Rice]

U.S. rice production is estimated down 20% from 2016.

KANSAS CITY — U.S. rice production is estimated down 20% from 2016 while nearby rough rice futures traded in Chicago were up nearly 30% from a year ago in late November.

The drastic reduction largely was the result of reduced planted and harvested area as rice (as well as corn and sorghum) lost acreage mainly to soybeans and cotton due to relative prices when planting decisions were made earlier in the year. Slightly better national average rice yield provided some offset to lower acreage.

Rice prices were declining in March while soybean prices were rising, Nathan Childs, Ph.D., an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said earlier in the year, and U.S. rice carryout for 2017 at the time was forecast at more than a 30-year high.

The U.S.D.A. in its November Crop Production report estimated 2017 U.S. rice production at 178,382,000 cwts, down 5% from its initial forecast in August, down 20% from 224,145,000 cwts in 2016, down 13% from the recent five-year average and the lowest since 1996. A record crop of 243,104,000 cwts was harvested in 2010. Harvested area was estimated at 2,391,000 acres, down 706,000 acres, or 23%, from 2016 and the lowest since 1987. Average yield

based on Nov. 1 conditions was estimated at 7,461 lbs per acre, up 3% from last year.

Harvested area for rice, corn and sorghum declined a combined 2,103,000 acres in the six rice states of Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas, while harvested area for soybeans and cotton increased a combined 2,015,000 acres, according to U.S.D.A. data.

Some rice acreage losses also resulted from heavy rains and flooding related to Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. Although much of the crop was harvested when the hurricane hit, there were significant losses to the second harvest, known as the ratoon crop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its November Rice Outlook. Additional acreage was lost to flooding earlier in the year in top-producing Arkansas, which accounted for about 60% of the total reduced harvested area.

The nearby January rough rice future closed at $12.42 a cwt on Nov. 24, up 29% from a year ago and up 20% from the first of the year but below September highs above $13 a cwt. Rice futures last week neared $13 a cwt in the July 2018 contract and didn’t drop below $12 until the new 2018 crop November contract.

In its November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, the U.S.D.A. forecast the average farm price of all rice in 2017-18 (August-July) at $12.50 to $13.50 a cwt, with the midpoint up $2.60 a cwt, or 25%, from $10.40 a cwt a year earlier and compared with $12.20 a cwt in 2015-16.

The U.S.D.A. in its WASDE forecast carryover of rice on Aug. 1, 2018, at 29.9 million cwts, down 35% from 46 million cwts in 2017 and the lowest since 2007-08.

Unlike wheat, corn and soybeans, the United States is not a major producer of rice on the global stage, missing the top 10 by a couple of slots. Still, the United States exports about 55% of its rice production (similar to wheat and soybean export percentages). But the United States also imports a substantially larger share of its rice supply (about 10% of total supply and about 20% of domestic consumption) than the other commodities mainly due to the classes of rice produced and the varieties desired by consumers. The U.S.D.A. forecast U.S. rice imports in 2017-18 at a record 24.5 million cwts.

Despite the sharp decline in U.S. rice production, global supplies are ample after record outturn of 486.57 million tonnes in 2016-17. Though forecast production for the current year is down 1% from last year at 481.20 million tonnes, 2017-18 ending stocks at 141.51 million tonnes are the highest since a record 146.7 million tonnes in 2000-01.

Looking ahead, the U.S.D.A. in its preliminary long-range projections released last week, forecast 2018 U.S. rice planted area at 2,900,000 acres, up 17% from 2017, and harvested area at 2,878,000 acres, up 20%, though both still are below 2016 acreage.

Production next year was forecast at 220,200,000 cwts, up 23% from 2017. The average farm price was forecast to decline 5% to $12.30 a cwt in 2018-19.

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Customs seizes truck with 300 bags of foreign rice in Niger ON NOVEMBER 30, 20179:48 PMIN BUSINESSCOMMENTS Minna – The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Niger Area Command, has intercepted a truck loaded with 300 bags of foreign rice worth N5.1 million along Kontagora road in Niger. Customs officers impounding smuggled rice. Mr Benjamin Binga, Comptroller of Customs for Niger, Kwara and Kogi disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Thursday. He said that the officers on patrol intercepted the Volvo truck with registration number SUL 616 XA loaded with the prohibited items. The controller called on smugglers to desist from their activities and embrace the agricultural policies of the Federal Government aimed at revamping the economy. “The Federal Government is trying to encourage local production of rice so that we can be selfsufficient and conserve foreign exchange. “The command will continue to protect the borders and thwart the illegal activities of smugglers. No hiding place for smugglers in this command as all identified illegal routes have been blocked,’’ he said. The controller appealed to traditional and community leaders especially in border communities to assist government in its efforts to curb smuggling. “I am appealing to the citizens, especially residents of border communities to assist us with require information on movement of smugglers,’’ he pleaded. (NAN)

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/11/customs-seizes-truck-300-bagsforeign-rice-niger/ vanguardngr

Angola depends on imports to meet rice consumption needs 30 November 2017 | Angola

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Current Angolan rice production, of approximately 25,00o tons per year, falls far short of the quantity that the country imports, or more than 400,000 tons to meet the demands of domestic consumption, said on Wednesday in Luanda the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Alberto Pinto.

The Secretary of State also said that in the 2015/2016 agricultural campaign the country had produced little more than 24,500 tons, of which half was provided by the family-based agricultural enterprises and the remaining half by agricultural businesses, according to Angolan state news agency Angop.

“This means that Angola is largely dependent on imports to meet national consumption of this product,” said the Secretary of State, who added that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests was working toward producing seed adapted to the conditions of the country, so that rice will again be produced in the traditional regions of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, Moxico, Malanje and Bié.

Pinto was speaking on Wednesday at the opening of the 4th meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee of the project to develop rice cultivation in Angola, which is funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.

The meeting, organised by the Institute of Agrarian Development is to assess, among other issues, the 2016/2017 Progress Report , Presentation of the Work Plan for the 2017/2018 agricultural campaign and the National Strategy for the Development of Rice, centred on rural families.

Rice has been a major staple food of the Angolan population in recent years, and is the most consumed product after cassava and maize. (macauhub)

Grain council calls for policy review to promote intra-regional rice trade 30.11.2017

| UkrAgroConsult There is need for policies that will support cross-border trade in grains and cereals and also eradicate barriers affecting the sector, the regional grain council has said.

Gerald Makau Masila, the Eastern African Grain Council (EAGC) executive director, said a supportive legal regime will spur cross-border trade of commodities like rice and help reduce food imports into the Eastern Africa region.

“Governments in the region should recognise the need to protect rice producers and strengthen efforts aimed at making the region self-reliant in rice production and consumption. This will also promote intra- regional trade in the commodity,” he said.

“Rice should be classified as a ‘sensitive’ product whose imports from outside the region should attract an advalomen common external tariff (CET) rate of 75 per cent,” Masila said.

Ad-valomen is a levy that should be in proportion to the value of products or concerned transaction.

He was speaking during the regional grain trade business-to-business (B2B) forum in Kigali on Tuesday. The meeting brought together over 100 grain traders and farmers from Eastern Africa and Zambia to discuss policies affecting the region’s grain sector.

The forum was organised by the EAGC in partnership with the East Africa Exchange and the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project.

Meanwhile, Masila said that cross-border trade in grains and cereals continues to face a number of tariff and non-tariff barriers, saying they contravene the spirit of the regional integration. Other challenges include informal trade, poor quality, high rate imports from mainly Asian countries where over 500,000 tonnes are imported annually, and low output and insufficient trade volumes resulting from small-scale and informal farming practices.

Masila also said the commodity is mainly traded at national level, noting that minimal volumes of rice are traded between EAC and other regional countries.

Speaking at the event, Melanie Bittle, the chief of party of the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project, called for adoption of improved and modern rice growing methods by smallholder farmers to boost output.

She also said promotion of large-scale farming and increased access to quality inputs by farmers are critical to ensure high production. This will help reduce rice imports and spur exports within the region and meet the growing rice demand, the official said. Africa is expected to account for 40 per cent of the additional 112 million tonnes of the global rice needs by 2040.

Rice

processors

speak

out

Venuste Bakundukize, the executive director of Kinazi Rice Mill in Southern Province, called on government to scrap value added tax (VAT) on milled rice, saying other EAC countries have already removed the levy. He added that the low production capacity in the province was affecting the miller.

“We have the capacity to process 5,000 tonnes annually, but due to low supply we are producing 2,000 tonnes.

“Therefore, there is a need to support farmers and to promote large scale rice growing to increase production to meet market needs,” he said.

He added that the firm is most time forced to source for rice from outside the province due to low supply from area farmers. newtimes

Related Items

Grain council calls for policy review to promote intra-regional rice trade 30.11.2017

| UkrAgroConsult

There is need for policies that will support cross-border trade in grains and cereals and also eradicate barriers affecting the sector, the regional grain council has said.

Gerald Makau Masila, the Eastern African Grain Council (EAGC) executive director, said a supportive legal regime will spur cross-border trade of commodities like rice and help reduce food imports into the Eastern Africa region.

“Governments in the region should recognise the need to protect rice producers and strengthen efforts aimed at making the region self-reliant in rice production and consumption. This will also promote intra- regional trade in the commodity,” he said.

“Rice should be classified as a ‘sensitive’ product whose imports from outside the region should attract an advalomen common external tariff (CET) rate of 75 per cent,” Masila said.

Ad-valomen is a levy that should be in proportion to the value of products or concerned transaction.

He was speaking during the regional grain trade business-to-business (B2B) forum in Kigali on Tuesday. The meeting brought together over 100 grain traders and farmers from Eastern Africa and Zambia to discuss policies affecting the region’s grain sector.

The forum was organised by the EAGC in partnership with the East Africa Exchange and the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project.

Meanwhile, Masila said that cross-border trade in grains and cereals continues to face a number of tariff and non-tariff barriers, saying they contravene the spirit of the regional integration. Other challenges include informal trade, poor quality, high rate imports from mainly Asian countries where over 500,000 tonnes are imported annually, and low output and insufficient trade volumes resulting from small-scale and informal farming practices.

Masila also said the commodity is mainly traded at national level, noting that minimal volumes of rice are traded between EAC and other regional countries.

Speaking at the event, Melanie Bittle, the chief of party of the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project, called for adoption of improved and modern rice growing methods by smallholder farmers to boost output.

She also said promotion of large-scale farming and increased access to quality inputs by farmers are critical to ensure high production. This will help reduce rice imports and spur exports within the region and meet the growing rice demand, the official said. Africa is expected to account for 40 per cent of the additional 112 million tonnes of the global rice needs by 2040.

Rice

processors

speak

out

Venuste Bakundukize, the executive director of Kinazi Rice Mill in Southern Province, called on government to scrap value added tax (VAT) on milled rice, saying other EAC countries have already removed the levy. He added that the low production capacity in the province was affecting the miller.

“We have the capacity to process 5,000 tonnes annually, but due to low supply we are producing 2,000 tonnes.

“Therefore, there is a need to support farmers and to promote large scale rice growing to increase production to meet market needs,” he said.

He added that the firm is most time forced to source for rice from outside the province due to low supply from area farmers. newtimes

Related Items

Grain council calls for policy review to promote intra-regional rice trade 30.11.2017

| UkrAgroConsult There is need for policies that will support cross-border trade in grains and cereals and also eradicate barriers affecting the sector, the regional grain council has said.

Gerald Makau Masila, the Eastern African Grain Council (EAGC) executive director, said a supportive legal regime will spur cross-border trade of commodities like rice and help reduce food imports into the Eastern Africa region.

“Governments in the region should recognise the need to protect rice producers and strengthen efforts aimed at making the region self-reliant in rice production and consumption. This will also promote intra- regional trade in the commodity,” he said.

“Rice should be classified as a ‘sensitive’ product whose imports from outside the region should attract an advalomen common external tariff (CET) rate of 75 per cent,” Masila said.

Ad-valomen is a levy that should be in proportion to the value of products or concerned transaction.

He was speaking during the regional grain trade business-to-business (B2B) forum in Kigali on Tuesday. The meeting brought together over 100 grain traders and farmers from Eastern Africa and Zambia to discuss policies affecting the region’s grain sector.

The forum was organised by the EAGC in partnership with the East Africa Exchange and the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project.

Meanwhile, Masila said that cross-border trade in grains and cereals continues to face a number of tariff and non-tariff barriers, saying they contravene the spirit of the regional integration. Other challenges include informal trade, poor quality, high rate imports from mainly Asian countries where over 500,000 tonnes are imported annually, and low output and insufficient trade volumes resulting from small-scale and informal farming practices.

Masila also said the commodity is mainly traded at national level, noting that minimal volumes of rice are traded between EAC and other regional countries.

Speaking at the event, Melanie Bittle, the chief of party of the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project, called for adoption of improved and modern rice growing methods by smallholder farmers to boost output.

She also said promotion of large-scale farming and increased access to quality inputs by farmers are critical to

ensure high production. This will help reduce rice imports and spur exports within the region and meet the growing rice demand, the official said. Africa is expected to account for 40 per cent of the additional 112 million tonnes of the global rice needs by 2040.

Rice

processors

speak

out

Venuste Bakundukize, the executive director of Kinazi Rice Mill in Southern Province, called on government to scrap value added tax (VAT) on milled rice, saying other EAC countries have already removed the levy. He added that the low production capacity in the province was affecting the miller.

“We have the capacity to process 5,000 tonnes annually, but due to low supply we are producing 2,000 tonnes.

“Therefore, there is a need to support farmers and to promote large scale rice growing to increase production to meet market needs,” he said.

He added that the firm is most time forced to source for rice from outside the province due to low supply from area farmers. newtimes

Related Items

http://www.blackseagrain.net/novosti/graincouncil-calls-for-policy-review-to-promoteintra-regional-rice-trade Rice prices to

go down soon–NFA By Jasper Y. Arcalas November 30, 2017

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Photo from http://irri.org The retail and wholesale prices of rice would decline starting this month with the arrival of imports bought by the private sector via the so-called minimum access volume (MAV) scheme, according to the National Food Authority (NFA).

“The NFA believes that rice prices will eventually settle down to its previous levels when private-sector imports via MAV start arriving in December,” the food agency said in statement released on November 29.

The NFA said the increases in rice prices are not due to a supply shortfall but because of the high farm-gate price of paddy.

“We have adequate volume of industry-wide rice inventories at this time. The country’s rice stocks, at 1.944 million metric tons, would last for 61 days based on the average national daily requirement of 31,462 metric tons,” the NFA said.

“The rice varieties, whose prices were observed to have increased by P1 to P2 per kilogram (kg), were of premium, special and aromatic rice, or those with 5-percent to 15-

percent brokens, and not the regular- and well-milled varieties traditionally consumed by the majority of consumers,” it added.

The food agency said traders and retailers have started to mill and sell the low-priced stocks they have accumulated.

“Traders are now milling and starting to sell their newly harvested stocks bought at higher ex-farm prices. This harvest season, for example, traders were buying palay from P18 to P24 per kg. Thus, when processed into rice, the higher wholesale and retail prices will be passed on to retailers and consumers,” the NFA said.

Also, the food agency said rice prices usually go up once the main harvest starts to peak.

“A review of the past three years showed that rice prices, indeed, tend to register a slight increase at this period, although this year’s increase is lower compared to those observed in previous years.”

“In November 2014 the prices of regular-milled and well-milled rice were at P40.74 per kg and P43.63 per kg; in 2015 P38 per kg and P42 per kg; in 2016 P35.97 per kg and P41.80 per kg. This month the average retail prices for regular and well-milled varieties are at P37 per kg and P40 per kg,” it added.

In its weekly monitoring report published on November 28, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the average farm-gate price of palay in the third week of November inched up to P18.56 per kg, from the previous week’s quotation of P18.47 per kg.

Increases were also noted both in the prices of well-milled rice and regular-milled rice.

The wholesale price of regular-milled rice rose to P35.71 per kg, from the previous week’s P35.64 per kg, while retail price went up to P38.02 per kg, from last week’s P37.97 per kg.

“Quoted at P39.21 per kg, the average wholesale price of well-milled rice inched up from a-week-ago level by 0.15 percent. Compared to the previous year’s quotation of P38.08 per kg, it was, likewise, expensive by 2.96 percent,” the PSA report read.

“Similarly, the average retail price of well-milled rice recorded growth of 0.02 percent from previous week’s level. This week’s average retail price of P42.19 per kg was also higher by 1.89 percent compared with the previous year’s level of P41.41 per kg,” it added.

Rice prices to go down soon–NFA By Jasper Y. Arcalas November 30, 2017

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The retail and wholesale prices of rice would decline starting this month with the arrival of imports bought by the private sector via the so-called minimum access volume (MAV) scheme, according to the National Food Authority (NFA).

“The NFA believes that rice prices will eventually settle down to its previous levels when private-sector imports via MAV start arriving in December,” the food agency said in statement released on November 29.

The NFA said the increases in rice prices are not due to a supply shortfall but because of the high farm-gate price of paddy.

“We have adequate volume of industry-wide rice inventories at this time. The country’s rice stocks, at 1.944 million metric tons, would last for 61 days based on the average national daily requirement of 31,462 metric tons,” the NFA said.

“The rice varieties, whose prices were observed to have increased by P1 to P2 per kilogram (kg), were of premium, special and aromatic rice, or those with 5-percent to 15percent brokens, and not the regular- and well-milled varieties traditionally consumed by the majority of consumers,” it added.

The food agency said traders and retailers have started to mill and sell the low-priced stocks they have accumulated.

“Traders are now milling and starting to sell their newly harvested stocks bought at higher ex-farm prices. This harvest season, for example, traders were buying palay from P18 to P24 per kg. Thus, when processed into rice, the higher wholesale and retail prices will be passed on to retailers and consumers,” the NFA said.

Also, the food agency said rice prices usually go up once the main harvest starts to peak.

“A review of the past three years showed that rice prices, indeed, tend to register a slight increase at this period, although this year’s increase is lower compared to those observed in previous years.”

“In November 2014 the prices of regular-milled and well-milled rice were at P40.74 per kg and P43.63 per kg; in 2015 P38 per kg and P42 per kg; in 2016 P35.97 per kg and

P41.80 per kg. This month the average retail prices for regular and well-milled varieties are at P37 per kg and P40 per kg,” it added.

In its weekly monitoring report published on November 28, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the average farm-gate price of palay in the third week of November inched up to P18.56 per kg, from the previous week’s quotation of P18.47 per kg.

Increases were also noted both in the prices of well-milled rice and regular-milled rice.

The wholesale price of regular-milled rice rose to P35.71 per kg, from the previous week’s P35.64 per kg, while retail price went up to P38.02 per kg, from last week’s P37.97 per kg.

“Quoted at P39.21 per kg, the average wholesale price of well-milled rice inched up from a-week-ago level by 0.15 percent. Compared to the previous year’s quotation of P38.08 per kg, it was, likewise, expensive by 2.96 percent,” the PSA report read.

“Similarly, the average retail price of well-milled rice recorded growth of 0.02 percent from previous week’s level. This week’s average retail price of P42.19 per kg was also higher by 1.89 percent compared with the previous year’s level of P41.41 per kg,” it added

https://businessmirror.com.ph/rice-prices-togo-down-soon-nfa/ Bangladesh facing food crisis for first time in 20 years, says finance minister Staff Correspondent, bdnews24.com Published: 2017-11-30 21:26:39.0 BdST Updated: 2017-11-30 21:58:33.0 BdST

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Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said for the first time in nearly two decades, Bangladesh is facing a 'food crisis', but the efforts are on to bring down the rice prices.

“This is for the first time in the last 15/20 years that we are facing this food crisis. Flash floods have damaged crops, and thus prices of rice have gone up.

"But, we are trying to bring it down to Tk 40 per kg,” said the minister.

He made the statement while speaking as chief guest at a discussion on food security at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on Thursday.

“We took a policy to keep the supply of goods flowing into local markets in 2009 when the recession walloped the world economy. This policy brought us huge success,” he went on.

However, rice prices started soaring in April this year followed by the flash floods in backswamps and other parts of the country. The deluge hit hard the people in the days that followed Eid-ul-Azha celebrations in September.

The retail price of fine rice rose to Tk 70 per kg. Similar price hikes for coarse rice jerked the market.

On Sept 19, ministers held a meeting with rice mill owners, importers, and wholesalers to bring a solution to the crisis. Mill owners agreed to reduce rice prices by Tk 2 to 3 per kg in exchange for the assurances from the government that their demands would be met.

Import of rice from India, Thailand, and Cambodia started after the government relaxed import duties and other conditions. The initiatives curbed prices of coarse rice, but the prices of fine variety of rice remained unchanged.

"The government is handling the crisis with all seriousness," said Muhith, “Our measures to import rice are helping bring down the prices.”

The minister addressed the policy dialogue titled, ‘Achieving SDGs: Agriculture and Food Security in Bangladesh,’ organised by the International Fund for Agricultural Development or IFAD. “Our GDP growth had been six percent for a decade, but we could have achieved 7 percent GDP growth in the last three years.”

He hoped that by 2030, no-one in Bangladesh would live below the poverty line.

IFAD has invested $717 million since 1978 in 32 projects in Bangladesh, according to the Economic Relations Division of the ministry. The donations have served 10.7 million families across the country.

IFAD is currently funding six projects aimed at elevating income of poverty-hit population and create sources of income for those coping with effects of climate change.

https://bdnews24.com/economy/2017/11/30/ba ngladesh-facing-food-crisis-for-first-time-in20-years-says-finance-minister https://bdnews24.com/economy/2017/11/30/ba ngladesh-facing-food-crisis-for-first-time-in20-years-says-finance-minister $1.7 Million for Climate-Resilient Agricultural ResearchFunds Support DroughtResistant Rice and Energy-Efficient Food-Drying Research

By Amy Quinton on November 30, 2017 in Food & Agriculture

Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and her team will identify genes that alter root growth in rice. (Photo / Deanne Fitzmaurice) The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research has awarded more than $1.7 million to University of California, Davis, researchers to identify genes responsible for drought tolerance in rice and test a new energyefficient food-drying process.

Drought-resistant rice A $1 million Seeding Solutions grant will go to a project to study the genetics of rice plants. The research is being led by principal investigator Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Genome Center at UC Davis.

She and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and collaborators, will develop and implement a chemistry-driven gene discovery approach to identify rice genes that influence root growth. The project targets protein kinases, enzymes that control diverse biological process in plants, such as root architecture and drought response.

“Our aim is to identify genes that alter root growth in rice, a staple food for half the world’s people. Because root systems play an essential role in yield and drought tolerance, results of these studies are relevant to agriculture,” said Ronald.

The FFAR grant has been matched with funding from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Structural Genomics Consortium, AgBiome and Promega for a total $2.3 million investment.

“This project is a prime example of how public-private partnerships can advance our understanding of plant genetics to develop crops resistant to drought and other climate extremes,” said Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.

Researchers on this project also include David Drewry, co-principal investigator and professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Aled Edwards, collaborator, professor at the University of Toronto, and director of the Structural Genomics Consortium; and Rafael Najmanovich, collaborator, professor at the University of Montreal.

See full release.

Energy-efficient food processing FFAR has also awarded $790,000 to UC Davis to test a new technology to improve the drying methods used in food production. Moisture must be removed from harvested agricultural products to safely preserve them prior to processing into food products.

Principal investigator Irwin Donis-Gonzalez (left) and assistant adjunct professor Kurt Kornbluth (right) in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering will research new advanced food-drying technology.

Researchers will test an innovative moisture-absorbing technology called drying beads, instead of relying on heated air to dehydrate foods such as grains, nuts, rice and seeds. The beads absorb water without using heat, reducing the use of energy by up to 50 percent during the drying process. The beads are reusable and can be reactivated, which would reduce drying costs over time.

The research is being led by principal investigator Irwin R. DonisGonzalez, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Drying agricultural produce is an energy-intensive process, and it is imperative to find alternative means of drying for the enhancement of

food quality, safety, and economical operations, while reducing food losses and waste,” said Donis-Gonzalez.

According to researchers, this technology could save more than 1.06 quadrillion kilojoules of energy annually in the U.S. This is about the same amount of energy it takes to provide electricity to residents of New York, California and Florida for one year.

The $790,000 FFAR grant has also been matched with funding from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for a total $1.5 million investment.

“This project exemplifies how new innovations can help us produce a safe, reliable food supply that uses resources more efficiently,” Rockey said.

Researchers on this project include Kent J. Bradford, co-principal investigator, distinguished professor at UC Davis; Kurt Kornbluth, coprincipal investigator, assistant adjunct professor at UC Davis; Edward Spang, co-principal investigator, assistant professor at UC Davis; and Johan Van Asbrouck, collaborator, CEO of Rhino Research, Bangkok, Thailand.

See full release for more information.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/17-millionclimate-resilient-agricultural-research https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/17-millionclimate-resilient-agricultural-research

Rice

importation has dropped by 95%- Ogbeh Published November 30, 2017

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Seized bags of rice

Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Thursday said that the importation of rice into the country has dropped by 95 per cent in the last two years.

Ogbeh disclosed this in Abuja at the first Annual NACCIMA-NIRSAL Agribusiness and Policy Linkage Conference, which has “Implementing the Agriculture Component of the Economic Recovery Growth Plan ’ as its theme.

The conference was organised by the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture in collaboration with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing system for Agricultural Lending.

The minister said the country has made a lot of success in terms of stopping rice importation adding that this had led to creation of more jobs for the people.

He said, “One example of success is in rice. By September 2015, this country was importing 644,131 tons of rice. Exactly two years later that is September 2017, rice importation drops to 20, 000 tons.

“That is drop for 95 per cent. However, smugglers have been busy trying to sabotage and compromise the country’s effort to stop importation.

“There are 12.2 million people growing rice in the country, producing paddy for the rice mills.

“In Kano alone, we have 1,421 rice mills. We have large fields in Anambra, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Jigawa, kebbi and more are coming up.”

He said that this was achieved because of the federal government’s policy to stop importation.

(Visited 1,833 times, 1 visits today) Receive Alerts on: Whatsapp: +2349090060943, Twitter: @MobilePunch, BBM: C003D3DC0

Rice importation has dropped by 95%- Ogbeh Published November 30, 2017

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Seized bags of rice

Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Thursday said that the importation of rice into the country has dropped by 95 per cent in the last two years.

Ogbeh disclosed this in Abuja at the first Annual NACCIMA-NIRSAL Agribusiness and Policy Linkage Conference, which has “Implementing the Agriculture Component of the Economic Recovery Growth Plan ’ as its theme.

The conference was organised by the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture in collaboration with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing system for Agricultural Lending.

The minister said the country has made a lot of success in terms of stopping rice importation adding that this had led to creation of more jobs for the people.

He said, “One example of success is in rice. By September 2015, this country was importing 644,131 tons of rice. Exactly two years later that is September 2017, rice importation drops to 20, 000 tons.

“That is drop for 95 per cent. However, smugglers have been busy trying to sabotage and compromise the country’s effort to stop importation.

“There are 12.2 million people growing rice in the country, producing paddy for the rice mills.

“In Kano alone, we have 1,421 rice mills. We have large fields in Anambra, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Jigawa, kebbi and more are coming up.”

He said that this was achieved because of the federal government’s policy to stop importation.

(Visited 1,833 times, 1 visits today) Receive Alerts on: Whatsapp: +2349090060943, Twitter: @MobilePunch, BBM: C003D3DC0

Rice importation has dropped by 95%- Ogbeh Published November 30, 2017

Share Tweet Share Pin it +1

Seized bags of rice

Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Thursday said that the importation of rice into the country has dropped by 95 per cent in the last two years.

Ogbeh disclosed this in Abuja at the first Annual NACCIMA-NIRSAL Agribusiness and Policy Linkage Conference, which has “Implementing the Agriculture Component of the Economic Recovery Growth Plan ’ as its theme.

The conference was organised by the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture in collaboration with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing system for Agricultural Lending.

The minister said the country has made a lot of success in terms of stopping rice importation adding that this had led to creation of more jobs for the people.

He said, “One example of success is in rice. By September 2015, this country was importing 644,131 tons of rice. Exactly two years later that is September 2017, rice importation drops to 20, 000 tons.

“That is drop for 95 per cent. However, smugglers have been busy trying to sabotage and compromise the country’s effort to stop importation.

“There are 12.2 million people growing rice in the country, producing paddy for the rice mills.

“In Kano alone, we have 1,421 rice mills. We have large fields in Anambra, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Jigawa, kebbi and more are coming up.”

He said that this was achieved because of the federal government’s policy to stop importation.

(Visited 1,833 times, 1 visits today) Receive Alerts on: Whatsapp: +2349090060943, Twitter: @MobilePunch, BBM: C003D3DC0

http://punchng.com/rice-importation-has-dropped-by-95-ogbeh/

Farmer Wages May Offer Clues as Weak Demand Baffles Indonesian Officials Nov. 30, 2017, at 6:14 p.m.    

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Farmer Wages May Offer Clues as Weak Demand Baffles Indonesian Officials       

A woman worker stands at rice fields at Cikawao village in Majalaya, Indonesia, October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Beawiharta Reuters

By Gayatri Suroyo and Bernadette Christina Munthe JAKARTA (Reuters) - In trying to solve a major economic headache, large fluctuations in food prices, Indonesia may have unintentionally exacerbated another: domestic demand, the archipelago's main economic engine, which remains stubbornly sluggish.

Consumer sentiment has been hitting record highs this year in the country of 250 million, which economists and retail experts have long touted as a future Mecca for consumer goods.

Yet growth in domestic demand has lingered at rates below 5 percent, underperforming headline growth this year. Officials in the government and at the central bank, which has surprised markets by cutting interest rates twice in recent months, have said they were "baffled" by how weak domestic demand was.

Economists and agricultural experts, however, point to a steady, three-year drop in the average real incomes of Indonesia's 40 million farmers, who account for a third of the labor force. In an interview with Reuters in November, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government needed to take a closer look at farmers' incomes, which are 3 percent lower in real terms than they were three years ago.

"We really need to watch what's behind these statistics," the minister said.

Farming experts say falling rural incomes are partly a side effect of recent government policies to stabilize food prices, which account for 35 percent of the inflation basket.

RICE FLOOR PRICE In 2015, the government set its floor price for unhusked rice of 3,700 rupiah per kg and has not changed it since, while consumer prices have risen 15 percent.

That helped stabilize food inflation below 1 percent. But production costs, which include machinery maintenance, pesticides and fertilizers, have risen to 4,400 per kg of rice this year from 4,199 per kg in 2016, according to Dwi Andreas Santosa, a professor at Bogor Agricultural University.

In theory, the floor price should protect farmers from sharp falls, while allowing them freedom to negotiate upwards.

In practice, however, most rice is sold at or close to the floor price, because farmers rely on short-term loans to cover their production costs. The loans usually need to be repaid shortly after the harvest, leaving them little leeway.

That means at harvest time, a large supply of rice hits the market over a short period of time, weighing down prices.

"Farming machinery from the government doesn't work, fertilizer is expensive and we're being played around during harvest, too," said Wignyo Sunarno, a 62-year-old farmer in Karanganyar, Central Java, referring to having to quickly repay loans often taken from rice traders rather than banks.

Finance Minister Indrawati said incomes will only improve if productivity picks up and the government is trying to help by investing in irrigation systems. Data from Indonesia's Planning Ministry shows that Widodo's administration aims to build 1 million hectares of new irrigation networks in 2015-2019.

That could solve some of the problems that face farmers like 57-year-old Bibit in Klaten, in central Java province. Because he depends on rain, he cannot grow rice in the dry season, when prices are higher.

"I haven't planted rice because rain is still rare," said Bibit, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. "If my income came only from farming, it would not be enough," he said, adding that his pension as an air force retiree fills the gap.

NO SMARTPHONES Things might get even worse.

In August, the government introduced a cap on retail prices for some types of rice, aiming to trim the margins traders and middlemen get from rice trading.

But farming experts warn traders are exacting lower prices from farmers, because living from one crop to another puts them in a poor bargaining position.

"You shouldn't reduce farmers income to provide good prices for consumers. This will only lead to an increase in the poverty rate," said Santosa at the Bogor Agricultural University.

Lower farming incomes are a significant drag on consumption as farmers, unlike urban workers, are more likely to spend than save as they aspire to catch up with city lifestyles.

Entin, a farmer in Majalaya, in the province of West Java, said the profit from her plot of land was falling, forcing her husband to leave the area to find work. She also had to fend off requests from her three children to buy smartphones she could not afford.

"Being a farmer is giving me headaches," she said, sitting in the living room of the house she shares with her husband's parents and siblings.

(Additional reporting by Hidayat Setiaji, Ed Davies and Fransiska Nangoy; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Bill Tarrant) https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2017-11-30/farmer-wages-may-offer-clues-asweak-demand-baffles-indonesian-officials

Angola relies on imports to meet the demand for rice November 30, 2017 Angola

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On Wednesday, Carlos Alberto Pinto, director of the Farm Animal Husbandry Bureau, said in Luanda that the current Angolan rice production is currently around 25,000 tons, much lower than the country's imports or an increase of 400,000 tons for domestic demand.

According to AITO, the director also said that in the agricultural campaign 2015/16, the country's production slightly exceeded 24,500 tons, half of which was provided by family-style farming and the other half by agricultural enterprises.

The Director said: "This means that Angola relies heavily on imports to meet the domestic demand for rice." He added that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is working to produce seeds suitable for the country so that it can be re-opened in North Ronda and South Lunda ďš‘ Moxico ďš‘ Malay heat and other traditional areas of Belgium planted rice.

Wednesday Pinto delivered a speech at the opening of the 4th meeting of the Co-Coordinating Committee on Rice Cultivation in Angola, which is funded by the Japan Agency for International Cooperation.

The meeting was hosted by the Rural Development Research Institute to assess, inter alia, the progress report for 2016/17 on the work plan for the agricultural campaign for 2017/18 and the national rice development strategy, centered on rural families.

Rice has been the staple food of the Angolan population in recent years, the most consumed food after cassava and maize. (macauhub)

https://macauhub.com.mo/zh/2017/11/30/ptangola-depende-da-importacao-parasatisfazer-consumo-de-arroz/ Grain council

calls for policy review to promote intraregional rice trade By: DIANE MUSHIMIYIMANA

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PUBLISHED: November 30, 2017

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There is need for policies that will support cross-border trade in grains and cereals and also eradicate barriers affecting the sector, the regional grain council has said.

Gerald Makau Masila, the Eastern African Grain Council (EAGC) executive director, said a supportive legal regime will spur cross-border trade of commodities like rice and help reduce food imports into the Eastern Africa region.

“Governments in the region should recognise the need to protect rice producers and strengthen efforts aimed at making the region self-reliant in rice production and consumption. This will also promote intra- regional trade in the commodity,” he said.

“Rice should be classified as a ‘sensitive’ product whose imports from outside the region should attract an ad-valomen common external tariff (CET) rate of 75 per cent,” Masila said.

Ad-valomen is a levy that should be in proportion to the value of products or concerned transaction.

He was speaking during the regional grain trade business-to-business (B2B) forum in Kigali on Tuesday. The meeting brought together over 100 grain traders and farmers from Eastern Africa and Zambia to discuss policies affecting the region’s grain sector.

The forum was organised by the EAGC in partnership with the East Africa Exchange and the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project.

Meanwhile, Masila said that cross-border trade in grains and cereals continues to face a number of tariff and non-tariff barriers, saying they contravene the spirit of the regional integration.

Other challenges include informal trade, poor quality, high rate imports from mainly Asian countries where over 500,000 tonnes are imported annually, and low output and insufficient trade volumes resulting from small-scale and informal farming practices.

Masila also said the commodity is mainly traded at national level, noting that minimal volumes of rice are traded between EAC and other regional countries.

Speaking at the event, Melanie Bittle, the chief of party of the USAID private sector driven agricultural growth project, called for adoption of improved and modern rice growing methods by smallholder farmers to boost output.

She also said promotion of large-scale farming and increased access to quality inputs by farmers are critical to ensure high production. This will help reduce rice imports and spur exports within the region and meet the growing rice demand, the official said. Africa is expected to account for 40 per cent of the additional 112 million tonnes of the global rice needs by 2040.

Rice processors speak out Venuste Bakundukize, the executive director of Kinazi Rice Mill in Southern Province, called on government to scrap value added tax (VAT) on milled rice, saying other EAC countries have already removed the levy. He added that the low production capacity in the province was affecting the miller.

“We have the capacity to process 5,000 tonnes annually, but due to low supply we are producing 2,000 tonnes.

“Therefore, there is a need to support farmers and to promote large scale rice growing to increase production to meet market needs,” he said.

He added that the firm is most time forced to source for rice from outside the province due to low supply from area farmers.

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/224 563/ Rice exporters to visit Sri Lanka November 30, 2017 SHARE :

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ISLAMABAD - A delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), will undertake a visit to Sri Lanka next month to explore the possibility of expanding export of Pakistan’s rice to that country.

REAP said a three-member delegation of REAP, led by its acting chairman Rafique Suleman, held a meeting with Consul General of Sri Lanka in Karachi G L Gnanatheva to discuss the forthcoming visit of the REAP delegation to Sri Lanka .

The acting chairman REAP Rafique Suleman, while discussing the details of the visit of the association to Sri Lank, told the Sri Lankan Consul General that the visit has been arranged on the invitation from Pakistani High Commission in Colombo, who had asked the REAP to send a delegation to Sri Lanka to further promote trade ties between the two countries.

He said presently Sri Lanka is facing shortage of rice and interested to import rice from Pakistan due to its high standard and international quality.

“This year we are having a good quality crop of Basmati and Irri-6 rice and we can export good quantity of rice with competitive prices to many countries including Sri Lanka , “ said Rafique Suleman.

He said a 15-members REAP’s trade delegation will visit to Sri Lanka in next month.

During the visit , this delegation will have meetings with President of Sri Lanka , Prime Minister of Sri Lanka , Ministers for Trade, Commerce, Transport as well as officials of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce & National Chamber of Commerce, Colombo and leading rice importers. “We will also discuss to increase the Basmati rice quota which is stagnant to 6,000 metric tons since many years,” he added.

http://nation.com.pk/30-Nov-2017/rice-exporters-to-visit-sri-lanka Harmonising the rice sector Sok Chan / Khmer Times Share:

A Cambodian rice farmer working in the field. KT/Chor Sokunthea

After almost two years in the making, the Ministry of Agriculture has unveiled a new fragrant rice seedling that it plans to distribute among farmers across the nation, according to the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) Purified seedlings of the Sen Kro Ob variety, a type of fragrant rice, will be available to farmers by the end of 2018, said Ouk Makara, director of CARDI, the government agency that produced the seeds.

He said that CARDI, the Cambodia Agricultural Value Chain Programme (CAVAC) and the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) were working with 30 agricultural communities across the country to test the new seedling in a pilot programme designed to assess the quality and grain yield of the new seeds and weigh them against other popular fragrant rice seedlings used by Cambodian farmers.

The programme will start next month, with a second round scheduled for April in which 20 additional agricultural communities will participate.

“We have produced three samples of purified fragrant rice seedlings which are expected to yield up to 8 tonnes of rice per hectare,” Mr Makara explained.

He said there was a need to produce a new Sen Kro Ob seedling because existing ones were not “pure” and their original source cannot be traced back easily. Under current conditions, he explained, it was difficult for the government to determine exactly what seedlings each farmer needs.

“By end of 2018 we will collect results from farmers. If feedback is positive, we will establish it as the new official rice seedling and distribute it to all farmers across the country,” Mr Makara said.

Seu Rany, CRF’s vice-president, said the new purified rice seedling can help obtain higher quality produce as well as higher yields, eventually helping the sector meet rising demand for Cambodian rice.

“International demand for fragrant rice is growing.

“The Sen Kro Ob rice variety has high quality and good yields. It will boost living standards for farmers,” Mr Rany explained.

Than Leng, deputy director of Romdul Tean Kam, a community in Banteay Meanchey participating in the pilot programme, said he was hopeful about the new rice because it would improve farmers’ livelihoods.

He said the seedling can be harvested twice per year, with a quality and grain yields comparable to those of other popular varieties.

“We grow Sen Kro Ob rice alongside our premium rice varieties – Romdul, Romeat and Romdeng.

“We grow it twice a year. The rest of the year we harvest our premium varieties,” Mr Leng said, adding that Sen Kro Ob could be harvested within 120 days.

Yon Sovann, director of Bayon Cereal, one of the leading rice exporting companies in Cambodia, said there is a huge international market for Sen Kro Ob rice, but added that current production levels are insufficient to meet that demand.

“I am very happy that the Ministry of Agriculture produced a purified Sen Kro Ob rice seedling. It is a positive step to increase exports,” Mr Sovann said. “Buyers from Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau and other countries are always asking for our fragrant rice.”

Phka Rumduol, Phka Romeat and Phka Rumdeng are popular fragrant rice varieties harvested during the wet season, while Sen Kro Ob and Sen Pidao are grown during dry months.

From January to September 2017, Cambodia exported nearly 422,000 tonnes of milled rice, an increase of more than 16.5 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the latest report from the secretariat of the One Window Service for Rice Export Formality.

The report finds that nearly 70 countries have been importing Cambodian rice, with China being the largest buyer, importing more than 120,000 tonnes of Cambodian rice, followed by France, with over 50,000 tonnes, and Poland, who buys around 35,000 tonnes.

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NFA expects price of rice to go down upon arrival of imported rice 7

National Food Authority (NFA) assured consumers that once additional imported rice arrives in the country starting next month, the price of rice will soon go down.

“The NFA believes that rice prices will eventually settle down to its previous levels when private sector imports via the minimum access volume (MAV) quota start arriving in December,” NFA said in a statement.

Under the the private sector-led importation or MAV Program, the delivery period of private sector led importation will arrive in tranches and at least 30 percent of the volume of import quotas should arrive between August and September.

The balance must arrive between December 2017 and February 2018.

NFA said that a review of the past three-year period showed that rice prices indeed tend to register slight increase at this period, although this year’s increase is observed to be even lower than during the same period in previous years.

In November 2014, the price of regular-milled and well-milled rice were at P40.74 and P43.63/kg.; in 2015 – P38 and P42/kg; in 2016 – P35.97 and P41.80. This month, the average retail prices for regular and well-milled varieties are at P37 and P40/kg.

Nevertheless, NFA assures that the agency is doing its best to arrest any abrupt increase in rice prices.

“We continue to sell low-priced NFA rice at P27 and P32/kilogram through our accredited retailers so that consumers will have an option to buy good quality but lower-priced rice”, NFA said.

http://www.foodevolution.com.ph/2017/11/nfa-expects-price-rice-go-upon-arrival-imported-rice/