30th november,2017 daily global regional local rice e newsletter

30 November, 2017 Daily Global Regional Local Rice ENewseltter www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com Unedited Version

Pakistan in talks with China, Iran for crosslisting of commodities

By Kashif Hussain Published: November 30, 2017

Cotton waiting to be picked sits in a field. PHOTO: REUTERS

KARACHI: Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) – the first and only trading

platform for commodities including agricultural products and precious metals – has initiated dialogue with China and Iran for cross-listing of commodities in a bid to expand scope of the exchange, a top official disclosed.

Under the arrangement, Chinese and Iranian commodities will be bought and sold through PMEX while Pakistan’s commodities could be traded at Chinese and Iranian exchanges.

In an interview with The Express Tribune, PMEX Managing Director Ejaz Ali Shah voiced hope that the cross-listing of commodities would encourage investors to trade in Pakistan’s products that had high demand in the global market.

The new global trading platform is expected to start running in the next one year. Initially, Pakistan’s rice and cotton may be listed in China and Iran and later other agricultural products will be added.

Shah insisted that the agricultural industry would greatly benefit from the global platform as Pakistan would be able to sell its products to regional countries in a short span of time. “This way, Pakistan will tap a bigger market and its barren lands will come under plantations,” he said.

Iran has expressed interest in getting its petroleum products listed on PMEX whereas Pakistan’s basmati rice may be sold through the Iranian exchange.

China, on the other hand, is a big importer of food products and it can also purchase Pakistan’s commodities through the cross-listing programme.

Shah emphasised that the selection of commodities for cross-listing would be done through mutual consultation.

“We will give priority to those Pakistani products that have a significant demand in Chinese and Iranian markets whereas PMEX will encourage listing of those commodities that are cheap alternatives of products which Pakistan imports,” he said.

The greatest benefit of the cross-listing was savings in foreign exchange because Pakistan’s traders would be able to import goods in regional currencies, he revealed.

More than 28,000 accounts had been opened at PMEX, but inactive accounts were later blocked. At present, 8,000 active accounts are registered with the exchange.

Apart from this, 105 brokers are associated with the exchange, but only 65 are active. The number of brokers is expected to increase after the cross-listing of commodities.

Shah pointed out that the interest of traders and businessmen was increasing in PMEX following the introduction of new products.

“The next two years are very important for the exchange; its offices have been opened in Lahore and Islamabad as well in an attempt to facilitate the traders,” he said.

PMEX’s turnover, which was valued at Rs5 billion per day last year, has now increased to an average of Rs6 billion.

Shah said many agricultural goods could be traded through PMEX, but to achieve that new warehouse construction and capital investment in logistics were necessary.

Owing to a lack of goods storages and a poor logistics mechanism, Pakistan suffers heavy losses every year.

“Government and banks need to collectively pay attention to bringing improvement in warehousing facilities in the country. The government has the required land whereas banks can provide vital financing,� he suggested.

He also disclosed that preparations for commodity trading according to Islamic principles had been completed. Now, investors will be able to trade in crude oil in line with Shariah principles.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2017 https://tribune.com.pk/story/1572218/2-pakistan-talks-china-iran-cross-listing-commodities/

Pakistan to send a delegation of rice exporters to Sri Lanka Thu, Nov 30, 2017, 09:01 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Nov 30, Karachi: A 15-member delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) will visit Sri Lanka in December to increase rice exports, a statement said on Wednesday.

Acting chairman of REAP Rafique Suleman along with former chairman Abdul Rahim Janoo and Asif Polani met with Consul General of Sri Lanka in Karachi G L Gnanatheva to discuss their visit.

Suleman apprised Gnanatheva regarding a communication received from the Pakistani High Commission in Colombo recommending to send a REAP delegation on urgent basis as Sri Lanka is facing shortage of rice.

Suleman said they are having a good quality crop of Pakistani Basmati and Irri-6 rice and they can export good quantity of rice with competitive prices.

"It is therefore decided to send a (15) members high profile REAP�s trade delegation to Sri Lanka in the month of December 2017 for the promotion and marketing of Pakistani rice."

He said the delegation will also discuss to increase the Basmati rice quota which is remaining at 6,000 tons for many years.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_17B/Nov30_1512012712CH.php

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

Demand for Pak rice increases Demand for Pak rice increases November 30, 2017

APP inShare

ISLAMABAD - Demand of Pakistani rice has increased across the world due to its special fragrance, colour and quality. A spokesman of Agriculture Department said the Agriculture Department has launched a special campaign about poison-free paddy crops this year. He said

international rice companies have lauded the initiative of the agriculture department. 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 valueadded products to increase exports,” he said.

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http://nation.com.pk/30-Nov-2017/demand-for-pak-rice-increases

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BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Demand for Pakistani rice increased across world 

P AR V E Z J A B R I

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N O V 2 9 T H, 2 0 1 7

ISLAMABAD: Demand for Pakistani rice has increased due to its special fragrance, colour and quality across the world.

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

He said international rice export companies have lauded the initiative of the agriculture department.

Pakistan produces world class rice and has a well developed rice processing industry as proven 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.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2017

Related News https://www.brecorder.com/2017/11/29/384059/demand-of-pakistani-rice-increased-across-world/

Palaniswami releases new rice variety, MGR 100 TNN | Updated: Nov 30, 2017, 00:35 IST

Thanjavur: Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami released a new rice variety 'MGR 100', developed by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) - in memory of the late AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran on his birth centenary celebrations held here on Wednesday. The new variety which is the rechristened nomenclature of CO 52, would give high yield, superior grain quality and pest and disease resistance, officials said.

This new variety was on the sequel of TNAU's first hybrid rice, MGR (COR H1) released in 1994. This new variety would be a good alternate for BPT 5204. Over a

period of six years, trials were conducted and cultivated in 158 locations in 21 districts. Yields crossed 7,000 kg per hectare in 24 locations, a senior official from Aduthurai Rice Research Institute said. The trials were conducted again till the year 2016 in 36 locations across the state.

The rice would mature in 130 to 135 days. Having medium tall in stature, the variety would be long droopy panicles with highly acceptable plant characters. The variety was recommended for large-scale demonstration based on its high yield, by the university. Now, the university awaits the gazetting of the variety by the Central seed subcommittee for variety release and notification.

Earlier too TNAU had released rice varieties named after chief ministers. In 1970, it brought out Karuna (CO 33) by crossing IR 8 and ADT 27 which was a short duration paddy variety, while in 1993 it had come out with JJ 92 (ADT 41) that is a white aromatic rice and a mutant of Basmati.

Korea Crop production research boosted by LemnaTec's Greenhouse Scanalyzer 

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

Email Wednesday, 29 November 2017 06:49

This year, Korea's crop production has been severely damaged by prolonged dry weather conditions, threatening food security for a large part of its population. It is said that the country has experienced its most severe drought since 2001 and will soon experience major flooding as a result of the severe droughts

(Image source: Pxhere/558545)

The Food and Agriculture Organisation has recommended the promotion of drought-tolerant crops and varieties to increase the resilience of farmers and households to natural disasters and climate change.

Lemnatec’s Greenhouse Scanalyzer will be in the new Crop Phenomics Center, which will investigate Korea's key crops such as rice and soybean for improved productivity and climate resilience. Which, in turn, will help to develop resource-efficient varieties that deliver adequate phenotypes for improved future agriculture.

The scanalyzer enables non-invasive day-by-day phenotyping of crop plants such as rice or soybean and is a powerful tool for phenotyping research. Plants can be characterized by their phenotypic performance according to their genetic background and imposed environmental factors. It also compromises 1012 plant carriers on conveyors that move plants to imaging cabinets containing visible, near-infrared, and infrared cameras.

http://www.fareasternagriculture.com/crops/processing-a-storage/korea-cropproduction-research-boosted-by-lemnatec-s-greenhouse-scanalyzer2 9 N O V E M B E R 2017 BY MANGESH KANASE

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http://www.military-technologies.net/2017/11/29/rice-snack-pellets-market-outlookopportunities-and-forecasts-report-2017-2022/

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RELATED https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/palaniswami-releases-new-rice-variety-mgr100/articleshow/61856178.cms USA Rice Outlook Conference Peers Into the Futures Market

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Have you thought about getting involved in the futures market but aren't sure if it's for you? Or perhaps you've already dabbled in the futures market and need more information to make it work for you and your operation.

The upcoming USA Rice Outlook Conference offers two separate sessions featuring Jason Wheeler, a risk management expert with White Commercial Corporation. At the first session, Futures Market 101, Jason will explain how the futures market can be used by rice farmers to create a diversified portfolio. In session two, Jason takes a deeper dive into the material and imparts some "rules of the road," pitfalls, and strategic guidance.

Check your program guide for session times and locations, and if you haven't registered yet, there's still a little time to secure your...future

TV Chef Sara Moulton's Weeknight Meals Goes to Arkansas

By Michael Klein

HUMPHREY, AR -- TV celebrity chef Sara Moulton visited rice country for a second time last spring to film an episode for the latest season of her series, Sara's Weeknight Meals. Her New York-based production team joined up with technical and culinary crews out of Little Rock to take over 5 Oaks Lodge here for the episode called "Arkansas Eats."

Moulton enlisted the help, and family recipes, of Hickory Ridge, Arkansas, rice farmer Eric Vaught, his wife Kelly, and their three children, Baxley, Sawyer, and Sam.

"On the show, we showcase quick, tasty home cooked meals, eaten with family and cooked with love," Moulton said. "Eric shared his recipe for fried catfish and something they call 'Rice Puppies,' his take on hushpuppies. They were delicious - but I am a sucker for fried food."

Vaught took Moulton out into some flooded rice fields and talked with her about the unique relationship between rice and waterfowl, and the common link that is water.

"Sara knew rice grew in water but was surprised to learn it was only a few inches," Vaught said. "Without an explanation, it is understandable that someone would see a 'flooded' rice field and not realize how little water we actually use."

Vaught also explained how U.S. rice farmers use technology to require less water today than they did just 15 or 20 years ago.

"Sara enjoyed hearing about how we use water to create wildlife habitat that is obviously good for the ecosystem, but also helps us prepare the fields for the next year in a way that reduces our environmental footprint," he added. "And why wouldn't she? The conservation record of U.S.-grown rice is a great one."

Vaught gave her some pointers for using duck calls, but the pair agreed her cooking was better than her calling.

Check local listings for air times in your area and read about the episode on Sara's website at www.saramoulton.com. 

P A K I S T AN

Government to review FTAs with different countries: minister 

R EC O R D ER R E PO R T

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N O V 2 8 T H, 2 0 1 7

 LA H O R E Federal Minister for Commerce Pervaiz Malik has assured the rice exporters for their interests, saying that the government is reviewing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with different countries and rice exporters' issues will be considered also while revising these agreements. The Minister was speaking at the 9th Export Trophy function arranged by the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) here the other day.

REAP Chairman Sami Ullah Naeem, Pir Nazim Hussain Shah, Shahzad Ali Malik and a large number of rice exporters from across the country were present on this occasion. He told that the government has also constituted a committee to review the cost of doing business for different industrial sectors so as to develop some mechanism for bringing it down enabling our export oriented industry to be competitive in the international market. He said that the input cost of rice exporters will also be reviewed and facilitated so as it can compete with other rice exporting countries.

The Minister said that the committee reviewing cost of doing business will present a formula to bring it down for Pakistani industry by either proposing rebate, bringing down utility charges or any other concession. He assured that

the government was committed to address this issue properly and come up with a workable formula.

He said that we had given sufficient time to cotton and textile sectors and would also like to sit with rice exporters to boost this second biggest export sector of the country. He said that the government was ready to help the rice exporters in branding and assist them in participating in international exhibitions.

Responding to a demand of declaring rice export sector as Industry, he showed his willingness but asked the exporters to give him solid references and proposal in this regard. He admitted that the business community had always supported the PML-N and it has a right on the government. He said that it is the time that government also support the businessmen and industrialists. He said that the government would come up their expectations.

He said that though export sector had shown a 10 percent increase during last four months as compared and rice sector alone showed 16 percent increase. However, he said that we have to do more. Earlier REAP Chairman Sami Ullah Naeem in his address asked the government for giving a support package to the rice exporting sector and claimed that if given a chance and their proposal is expected it can jump to from US $ 2 billion dollars to $2.5 billion dollar within a year.

He asked for including rice sector in PM's 300 billion package announced for different five exporting sectors. He asked for giving rice sector status of industry, matching grants for listing fee of Pakistani brands at international stores, special export rebate to different segments such as basmati, non-basmati and brown rice exporters and for launching a campaign to create awareness about Pakistani rice which meet the international phytosanitary and sanitary standards.

https://fp.brecorder.com/2017/11/20171128238751/

Louisiana Ratoon Rice Not Enough to Make Up From First Crop Yields NOVEMBER 28, 2017 12:00 PM

By Ashley Davenport Farm Journal Broadcast Multimedia Editor

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Louisiana rice farmers are nearly finished with ratoon rice, or the second crop. Yields have been strong, but it might not be enough to offset the lackluster first crop harvest.

Craig Gautreaux of the Louisiana State University’s AgCenter reports on AgDay above.

RELATED CONTENT 

Harvey Takes Big Bite at Ratoon Rice in Texas, Louisiana 8/29/2017 5:52:00 PM Back to news

Harness the power of AgTech Farm Journal's AgTech Expo Dec. 11 to 13 in Indianapolis, IN Keynotes from: Google's Geospacial Technologist, Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie, and an expert in the Internet of Things. Plus 19 breakouts presented by independent industry experts. To learn more, click here.

Basmati Billionaires: 'We are born in rice' November 29, 2017 09:04 IST

The promoter family of KRBL reaps gains from high demand for the rice variety in India and overseas.

The promoters of KRBL, which makes the popular India Gate basmati rice, raised Rs 15 crores through an initial public offering in 1995.

Twenty-two years later, the country’s most profitable basmati rice company has a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 15,000 crores.

The KRBL stock has made handsome gains since last November, rising 194 per cent from a 52-week-low of Rs 228.90 to hit a new high of Rs 672.90 early this month. It closed at Rs 624.35 on the BSE on Tuesday.

The rally has turned the promoter family, Anil Mittal and brothers, into the country’s first basmati billionaire. With their 59 per cent stake in the company, the family’s wealth is now estimated at Rs 8,700 crores ($1 billion is equal to Rs 6,517 crores at the current exchange rate).

IMAGE: Anil Mittal (in a blue vest), chairman and managing director, KRBL, that produces and markets India Gate rice, receiving the Agriculture Leadership Award 2017 at the 10th Global Agriculture Leadership Awards Committee 2017 for dominant position in agro exports. Courtesy: India Gate Rice MENA/Facebook.

KRBL, named after Mittal’s forefathers Khushi Ram and Behari Lal, the two brothers who founded this company in Pakistan’s Lyallpur in 1989 and the family shifted to India in 1947, earned a record profit of Rs 400 crores on revenues of Rs 3,148 crore last year.

During the first half of FY18, its profit surged 35 per cent to Rs 242 crores.

Two of KRBL’s listed peers -- LT Foods and Kohinoor Foods -- were nowhere close to its profitability. LT Foods, which clocked revenues similar to KRBL, made a profit of Rs 71 crores in the first half of 2017-2018, while Kohinoor’s profit was just Rs 5 crores.

“We feel proud about this growth in valuations. The main driver is our brand and its demand in India and overseas. Our rice commands a premium in the domestic market and export realisation is higher than industry average,� said Mittal, chairman and managing director, KRBL.

Export brings little over one-third of the revenues, and the company claims a 33 per cent share in the domestic branded basmati market.

Being a diabetic, Mittal avoids rice, but he enjoys the aroma of his success. He counts the names of top domestic and global food companies that struggled to carve success in the basmati rice market. Multinationals like Cargill, Olam, Unilever, and PepsiCo tried their hands years ago and decided to quit.

Mittal recalls how a meeting was set between him and Cargill’s management in Gurgaon to discuss business. “They wanted the same quality of rice like India Gate. They wanted me to create my own competition. I was told that there is a queue of people waiting to sell to Cargill. But I told them that I am not desperate. I told them that they have touched a wrong business. They went out of basmati in two years.”

But Mittal has had his learning from these MNCs. “You get to learn excellent systems and transparency from these big multinationals.”

Domestic FMCG major ITC also falls in the list of companies that experimented with basmati. Patanjali is among the new entrants. “Patanjali is doing fantastic in many products but I am yet to see their success in rice,” said Mittal, whose company is nearly debt free, except a loan of Rs 95 crores in the wind power business.

“We are born in rice. We have worked day and night. Rice is not a business where you stop working after 6 pm. You have to be into it,” says the 66-year-old businessman, who started his career with rice trading in early 1970s and went on to set up the company’s first rice plant in 1990 by investing Rs 25 lakhs. From a milling capacity of six tonnes an hour and a single plant, KRBL today has four plants with a total capacity of 195 tonnes an hour.

Mittal says the Indian market is very difficult. “Outside, if you need paddy for rice production, you just need to call a broker and you will get clean, dry paddy to your specifications. Here, you have to buy 25 to 30 bags from every mandi (wholesale market).

When paddy is harvested, we end up procuring from 300 to 400 mandis in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,” he says.

From the stage of procurement till the paddy enters a plant, he says, there are several challenges, such as gaps in weighing and loss in transportation. “There is connivance at various levels of this chain. You have to keep your eyes open. So many rice varieties look like basmati, and if you don’t have the expertise, you could land in trouble. We have a system that enables us to sustain competition and maintain quality.”

Another thing that can kill you is high interest burden, explains Mittal. “If the interest outgo is under control and you are able to command a good price in the market, you can taste success.” He says losing money is not advisable in any business even if you have deep pockets.

KRBL, backed by its financial strengths, builds large quantities of rice stocks in years when the paddy price is low. The company had a stock of 300,000 tonnes of rice as of September 30. This stock alone is worth over Rs 1,500 crores. The cost of this rice is just Rs 36 a kg against the current paddy price of Rs 32 (which translates into a rice cost of Rs 50 to Rs 55 a kg).

IMAGE: India Gate basmati rice brings the family together is the message of an advertisement from the company.

Courtesy: India Gate.

“I am sitting in a very comfortable position. My export realisation is Rs 80 a kg, and in domestic, it is around Rs 50-60 a kg,” he says.

Of the 100 million tonnes rice annually produced in India, Mittal says only 6 per cent is basmati. “But, of this 6 million, only two million tonnes is domestic consumption, and the rest is exported. This two million can more than double in the next few years.

We are ready. We have to take this company from Rs 15,000 crores to Rs 30,000 crores,” he says.

Mittal is certain that the family will never trade in company’s shares. “Our position will remain unchanged even if the share goes up to Rs 900 tomorrow or comes down for any reason. Our business is to make money from rice,” he says.

Ajay Modihttp://www.rediff.com/business/report/basmati-billionaires-we-are-born-in-rice/20171129.htm

Group to be established to prevent oversupply of rice      

inShare

8:02 pm, November 29, 2017

Jiji PressTOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party adopted a proposal on Tuesday for establishing a private sector-led national organization that will collect supply-demand information on rice to prevent an oversupply.

The decision reflects worries about an excessive supply of rice after the abolition of the government’s decades-old “gentan” rice production adjustment system in fiscal 2018, which starts next April.

The new organization is expected to be set up by the end of the year, at the earliest, LDP sources said.

With no binding power, however, the organization may have difficulty playing an effective role in coordinating supply and demand, some experts said.

Under the proposal, the envisaged organization will be joined mainly by the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, or JA-Zenchu, rice wholesalers and associations of restaurant operators and exporters, the sources said.

Regarding low-priced rice sought by restaurant operators, the new organization is expected to encourage such businesses to conclude purchase deals with farmers before harvesting or multiyear agreements.

The government plans to provide the organization with information held by local governments on rice planting. The new organization is also expected to gather

information on production benchmarks to be indicated to farmers by prefecture-based groups.

Launched on a full scale in 1971, the gentan policy has set targets by prefecture of the acreage under cultivation for rice as staple food in order to prevent rice prices from falling due to overproduction.

The JA group has called for nationwide supply-demand adjustment after the targets are abolished in fiscal 2018, along with subsidies of ÂĽ7,500 per 10 ares of rice fields paid to farmers who work in line with the targets.

In 2013, the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to end the state output control system as early as fiscal 2018.

Since fiscal 2014, the government has urged farmers to make rice for animal feed, instead of rice for human consumption as staple food, offering massive subsidies.

The initiative has successfully reduced the acreage of fields for rice as staple food, preventing excessive planting of such rice for three years in a row from fiscal 2015.

But there are concerns that Japan may see a surplus of rice again in fiscal 2018 and beyond due to the planned scrapping of the state-set production targets, people familiar with the matter said.

In the Oct. 22 election for the House of Representatives, the LDP pledged to help create a national organization to promote rice production in line with demand after the abolition of the gentan policy.

At an agriculture-related meeting of the LDP on Tuesday, participants pointed to strong concern in rural areas over the reversal of the policy that has been in place for more than 40 years. They agreed to do all they can to secure a budget for policy steps to dispel worries among farmers.Speech vhttp://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004095036

Iran, Kazakhstan keen to boost agricultural ties: minister Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-29 01:01:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan

TEHRAN, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Kazakhstan are eager to expand their ties in the field of agricultural production and activities, Iran's Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati was quoted as saying by Financial Tribune daily on Tuesday.

"We are an importer of barley, oilseeds, red meat and light and heavy livestock, and Kazakhstan can supply our demand in these areas," the Iranian minister said in a meeting with the visiting Kazakh Minister of Agriculture Askar Myrzakhmetov.

"Also, Iran is among the biggest producers of dairy, milk powder, eggs and poultry, for which there is a demand in Kazakhstan and can be supplied by Iran," Hojjati said.

Besides, "Iran is the biggest producer of coldwater fish and trout in the world. We are ready to export these products and cooperate in producing these types of fish in Kazakhstan," he said.

For his turn, Myrzakhmetov said his country is ready to meet part of Iran's demand for rice by cultivating the seeds of Iranian rice in Kazakh farmlands.

In the meantime, "we are not able to produce oranges and tangerines in Kazakhstan and are willing to import them from Iran as part of long-term contracts," he was quoted as saying.

KEY WORDS:Iran http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-11/29/c_136785967.htm

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Minister Calls for Reinstating Rice Import Ban

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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Minister Calls for Reinstating Rice Import Ban

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n a letter to the Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari,

Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati has called for reinstating the ban on rice imports until further notice due to excessive imports.

More than 1.06 million tons of rice worth over $1 billion were imported during the seven months to Oct. 22, indicating a 40% rise in weight compared with last year’s similar

period, which exceed domestic demand when added to the annual local production, Mehr News Agency reported on Monday.

Every year, during the rice harvest season, the government bans rice imports to support local farmers and production. Import tariffs have increased from 22% four years ago to 40% at present for the same reason.

The temporary ban was lifted last Tuesday as per a directive by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade and was supposed to last until July 22, 2018.

“We need imports, but imports that are limited and controlled,” Hojjati said earlier.

Iranians consume 3 million tons of rice a year while domestic production stands at 2.2 million tons. Therefore, there is a need for around 800,000 tons of imports every year.

According to the Central and West Asia Rice Center, with around 54% of Central and West Asia’s paddy fields located in Iran, the country accounts for 61% of the regions’ combined rice production.

The two northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran are home to a majority of Iran’s paddy fields. https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-domestic-economy/76995/minister-calls-for-reinstatingrice-import-ban

Soon-to-be partnership to expand rice exports Sok Chan / Khmer Times Share:

Workers from a company in Phnom Penh carry sacks of rice to a client. KT/Chor Sokunthea

Australia-based rice exporter SunRice is negotiating an agreement with local conglomerate Soma Group to export Cambodian rice to Australia, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further negotiations between the companies was already signed last week in Australia, presided by Cambodian Minister of Agriculture Veng Sakhon.

Hean Vanhan, director-general of agriculture at MAFF, told Khmer Times yesterday that the ministry is acting as facilitator during the talks. “The result of the meeting between SunRice and Soma is positive. Sun Rice is interested in Soma, and they will do further discussion,� Mr Vanhan said.

Talks are now focused on whether Soma Group will sell its produce directly to the Australian agricultural giant, or whether SunRice will partner up with the Cambodian company to invest in the local agriculture sector and export Cambodian rice under its own brand, Mr Vanhan revealed.

“If Soma and SunRice bring milled rice from Cambodia to process it in Australia their market will be much bigger,” Mr Vanhan said. “Soma will send a sample of rice to Australia for analysis to check whether or not this is possible,” he said.

SunRice supplies about 720,000 tonnes of milled rice per year to 50 different countries. However, the company is only capable of producing 600,000 tonnes, so they are seeking new partnerships to meet demand for their products, Mr Vanhan explained.

He said that SunRise is looking for partners that have quality products and are able to maintain a stable supply, adding that it is a great opportunity as Cambodia had a 5million ton rice surplus last year.

Mr Vanhan pointed out that SunRice is Australia’s biggest rice exporting company and has one of the most recognisable brands of the Oceanian nation.

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.

KHMER TIMES

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Vietnam Donates Rice to Cuba

Hanoi, Nov 28 (Prensa Latina) The Vietnamese Party, State and people had a new gesture of solidarity towards Cuba today when they donated 1,000 tons of rice to help compensate damages caused by Hurricane Irma.

The symbolic delivery took place in the northern port city of Haiphong, the same place where in times of the liberation war, Vietnam received sugar and other inputs from the island in a gesture of solidarity that never expected anything in return.

But this is a town of grateful memory and now that Cuba suffered the ravages of a terrible hurricane, it once again reached out its hand.

The donation has the additional merit of being carried out when the Vienamese nation is recovering from recent and successive typhoons and floods that cause great human and material losses.

Cuban First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Antonio Carricarte; the island's ambassador here, Lianys Torres; Deputy Director General of the Vietnamese State Reserve, Le Van Thoi; and authorities of the Haiphong People's Committee, attended the event. sgl/iff/lma/asg/gdc http://plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=21618&SEO=vietnam-donates-rice-to-cuba

Negros rice pest destroys P8.4-M crops Share it!

Published November 29, 2017, 10:00 PM

By Mark L. Garcia Bacolod City — P8.4 million worth of rice crops have been destroyed by an emerging pest in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) said.

For rice farmers in Sipalay, the losses from the Rice Grain Bug (RGB) could be bigger: The Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation does not consider losses from RGB insurable.

OPA reported that as of November 22, the damage and production losses from the bug was P8,376,856.10.

RGB has infested 221.24 hectares, affecting 208 farmers.

Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said Wednesday Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. has requested the state insurance agency through its president Jovy Bernabe to include the damages from RGB as insurable.

“It was not included in the PCIC as it is an emerging pest,” Masculino said. The bug was detected only last August.

PCIC Provincial Office Manager Jose Maria Torres said Marañon’s request is being considered by the PCIC board, and hopefully RGB will make the list next year.

To prevent the spread of the bug, OPA has distributed 25 packs of Metarhizium anisopliae, a kind of biocontrolling fungus supplied by the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office Regional Crop Protection Center.

The OPA continues to monitor the situation together with the City Agriculturist Office Crop Protection.

The Rice Grain Bug looks like a black ant and it sucks the liquid in developing grains.

The pest is half the size of Rice Black Bug (RBB), with bigger front legs.

Masculino said the RGB is commonly found in leguminous plants but eventually feeds on rice that is ripening and ready for harvest.

The Sipalay government has been conducting pest control operations since November 20.

Masculino and OPA staff visited the affected areas last Monday to brief farmers on RGB and how to protect their crops from further damage.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/11/29/negros-rice-pest-destroys-p8-4-m-crops/

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 / 7:59 AM / A DAY AGO Vietnam's Jan-Nov coffee exports down, rice up Reuters Staff 2 MIN READ HANOI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Vietnam’s coffee exports are expected to have fallen an estimated 22.4 percent in the first 11 months of this year from a year earlier, while rice shipments are seen to have risen 24.1 percent, the General Statistics Office said in a report on Wednesday.

COFFEE

Coffee exports from Vietnam will drop an estimated 22.4 percent in January-Nov from the same time last year to 1.27 million tonnes (21.2 million 60-kg bags).

Export revenue was estimated to edge down 3.6 percent on year to $2.9 billion, the report said.

November shipments of beans in Vietnam, the world’s largest robusta producer, are estimated at 85,000 tonnes, higher than October, the report said.

RICE

Eleven-month rice exports from the world’s third-largest shipper of the grain were forecast to rise 24.1 percent to 5.51 million tonnes. Revenue from the January-November rice exports was seen rising 24.9 percent year-on-year to $2.5 billion.

Vietnam would ship an estimated 420,000 tonnes of rice in November, compared to 483,000 tonnes in October, the report said.

ENERGY

Vietnam’s January-November crude oil exports were seen unchanged from last year at an estimated 6.34 million tonnes, or 138,600 barrels per day (bpd).

Crude oil export revenue in the eleven-month period rose 22.1 percent to $2.62 billion.

Oil product imports increased 9.9 percent to an estimated 11.7 million tonnes, while the value of imports jumped 39.3 percent to $6.26 billion.

Vietnam’s liquefied petroleum gas imports during the period increased 11.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.26 million tonnes. (Reporting by Mi Nguyen; Editing by Sunil Nair)

https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL3N1NX1U9

Public-Private Sector Collaboration Will Boost Food Production – Mrs Osinbajo

Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo The Wife of the Vice-President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, has called for more publicprivate sector collaboration in efforts to boost food production in the country.

Osinbajo made the call Wednesday 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 (ERGP)’’ as its theme.

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

Osinbajo stressed the need for increased collaboration between the organised private sector and the public sector, including the financial institutions, to boost food production.

“I have been reliably informed that Nigeria has made giant strides in agriculture, especially in rice which is one of our favourite foods in Nigeria.

“The president of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) said that Nigeria’s rice production has increased and he attributed the increase to the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

“The achievement recorded was as a result of the collective efforts of all the relevant stakeholders in the agricultural sector and the hard work of our farmers,” she said.

Osinbajo, however, emphasised the need for a stronger desire among stakeholders to team up to answer the call of Nigerians “who are daily asking for means to feed themselves and get meaningful employment opportunities’’.

She urged conference to come up with pragmatic decisions that would benefit all Nigerians, adding that the outcome of the conference would partly determine the future of the younger generation of the citizens through agriculture.

She commended the decision of NACCIMA to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and financial institutions to fund agricultural businesses while employing unique skills and capacities of the information technology industry to drive information and accelerate the value chain.

Mrs Alaba Lawson, President, NACCIMA said the conference was as a result of the collective efforts of the organised private sector to promote an enabling environment for agriculture to strive.

She said there was an urgent need for the country to drive a structural economic transformation with emphasis on improving both public and private sector efficiency.

“We organised this conference which is aimed at maximising agricultural productivity by increasing public awareness of the potential of agriculture.

“This is also by generating new commercial agricultural technologies that meet local market needs while advocating improved data collection and evidence-based reporting and monitoring to evaluate the progress of the agriculture promotion policy.

“This conference provides an opportunity to attain sustainable economic growth by bringing together relevant stakeholders within the agricultural sector with the possibility of obtaining success,’’ she said.

Lawson said that the opportunities existing in the agricultural sector were vast, adding that Nigeria, with a population of 180 million people, had a very huge market for agricultural services.

“Within its agricultural programme, the government is set to open a minimum of 100,000 hectares of irrigable land by 2020 and this will develop the youth for commercial farming and aquaculture,’’ she said.

Lawson called on the ministries, departments and agencies of government that were involved in the implementation of key activities in the economy to swiftly and efficiently implement the programme.

She said that this would provide an avenue through which the assessment of the programme by the private sector and other stakeholders could be carried out in order to achieve the desired goals.

The Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, said that ERGP was aimed at increasing annual agricultural growth from the 2011 to 2015 output of 4.1 percent to 8.3 percent by December 2020.

He said that this would represent an average growth rate of 6.9 percent across the three-year plan period.

“We are naturally endowed with land, water, climate and the market, at very competitive levels, but we lack the full capacity to actualise these opportunities.

“In order to leapfrog the development, as desired by the agricultural sector, fully identified actors have to be attracted into Nigeria,’’ he said.

He said that although Nigeria lacked the funds for infrastructure logistics, storage and processing, NIRSAL was established to share all the risks associated with funding across the value chain.

“At the heart of the functions of NIRSAL is its role in facilitating and increasing the flow of commercial revenue and investment in agriculture as well as fixing the broken value chains which are impediments to achieving increased financial investments.

“The objective is to raise commercial bank lending and other investments from three percent, as it is today, to about 10 percent by the year 2026, “We want to see how we can mobilise up to six billion dollars annually into the Nigerian business sector,’’ he added.

He said that NIRSAL was in partnership with NACCIMA to promote strategic approaches in solving endemic challenges that appeared in the process of increasing agricultural financing.

Mr Pascal Dozie, the Chairman of Kunoch Ltd. and one of the conference ambassadors, said that agriculture and agribusiness spanned all sectors of the economy, adding that life was basically incomplete without agriculture.

He said it was important to glamorise agriculture and agribusiness because it would spur all spheres of development.

The two-day conference, which would end on Thursday, is aimed at creating a networking platform for private sector practitioners within the agricultural space to

interact and come up with recommendations on how to implement the agriculture component of the ERGP https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2017/11/29/public-private-sector-collaboration-will-boost-foodproduction-mrs-osinbajo/

Grain council calls for policy review to promote intra-regional rice trade By: DIANE MUSHIMIYIMANA 

PUBLISHED: November 30, 2017

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 :

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-lankaHarmonising 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. http://www.khmertimeskh.com/93193/

Smuggling: NCS intercepts 506 bags of foreign rice ON NOVEMBER 29, 201712:38 PMIN NEWSCOMMENTS Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said its command in Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara zone had intercepted 506 bags of foreign rice concealed in bags of beans smuggled into the country. The command’s Controller, Mr Nasir Ahmad, made this known to newsmen on Wednesday in Sokoto, and said that the seized consignment had payable duty value of N12.5 million. Ahmad said that the items were intercepted on Friday officers of the command on patrol along Sokoto-Illela road. He said that the command had competent intelligent officers, investigating specialised activities. The controller explained that smugglers deployed different tactics in perpetrating their illegal businesses and reassured the public of the command’s readiness to confront smuggling and enforce government regulations. He called on people residing in border communities to assist Customs authorities with useful information to combat smuggling of goods into the country. “The present case is different as smugglers packaged two bags of rice in bigger beans bag disguising that they were conveying beans in the truck,” Ahmad said. According to him, smugglers are using various structures, including residential buildings, to store smuggled items in peace-meal before uploading to a truck. Ahmad said smuggling was crippling the nation’s economy as it deprived it of revenue, crippled industrial growth, endangered population and employment. He commended Comptroller-General and

officers of the Service for supporting anti-smuggling and revenue generation drive of the present administration.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/11/smuggling-ncs-intercepts-506-bagsforeign-rice/

Al-Makura donates rice processing plant to millers

By Hassan Ibrahim, Lafia | Publish Date: Nov 30 2017 2:00AM

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has constructed and handed over a modern rice processing plant to rice millers in Lafia to boost rice production in the state.

Speaking during the handover Governor Al-Makura said the plant was established in partnership with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the Rice Post-Harvest Processing and Marketing Pilot Project (RIPMAPP).

The governor said the partnership under the five-year project entailed JICA providing the machines and technical expertise, while the state government provided the structures and other facilities at the plant.

Al-Makura said the commencement of the project was delayed because of the efforts of the state government to ensure that the initiative was not misused, thereby frustrating its goals.

Al-Makura revealed that the delay was to ensure proper registration and monitoring of the beneficiaries of the project so as to check abuse, “We do not want to go the way of previous administrations where very expensive facilities and government assets were just thrown to the dogs and people would feast on them. “The recent experience of `Badakoshi’ Agricultural Loan Scheme by the previous administration in the state, where farm inputs were given to farmers without concrete repayment plans, is a good lesson.

“As we speak, Nasarawa State is indebted to the tune of about N1 billion for tractors and other inputs, which the previous administration procured and gave out free to people in the name of ‘Badakoshi’ loan scheme,” Al-Makura said.

He explained that the government would closely monitor the rice plant to ensure its maximum utilisation by rice millers and marketers, who were given a six-month grace period to meet certain conditions.

He noted that the government would not hesitate to take back the plant at the expiration of the grace period if the rice millers and marketers failed to satisfy the conditions.

“The state government is committed to ensuring that our rice millers grow to the point of participating in the value chain and creating wealth for themselves and by extension the state,” he said.

Al-Makura pledged to provide more land and other social amenities for the plant to facilitate the relocation of rice millers from their current site in Lafia to the new site.

“The current rice mill in the Kilema area of Lafia is so choked up and the activities of millers are polluting the major water source to the Lafia waterworks, hence the need to relocate the mill to a bigger place with better facilities,’’ he said.

The governor also promised to provide the necessary support to the millers, adding that his administration would regularly give financial assistance to the rice millers to enable them to enhance their production.

On his part, the Chairman of Nasarawa State Rice Millers and Dealers Association, Alhaji Adamu Ibrahim, thanked the state government and JICA for the project and promised that the plant would be used to boost rice production in the state.

He appealed to the government to provide access roads, electricity and water supply facilities at the plant site to facilitate hitch free relocation of the millers.

https://dailytrust.com.ng/al-makura-donatesrice-processing-plant-to-millers.html Slow lifting of paddy piles up stock in grain markets 

Labourers protest against slow lifting of paddy from grain markets by rice millers and district administration. tribune photo

Our Correspondent Jagraon, November 29 The slow pace of paddy lifting has led to piling up of huge stock of the crop in grain markets of the Jagraon area.

Though the procurement season ended a few days ago, the Jagraon Grain Market, which is the second largest market in Asia after the Khanna Grain Market, is bulging at its seams with the paddy stock.

Slow lifting of the crop is being cited as the main reason behind the issue.

Similar is the situation at the other grain markets located in the rural areas of the town where huge stocks of paddy are still to be lifted. Meanwhile, hundreds of tonnes of procured paddy is lying in the open at various grain markets.

According to sources, the stock could not be lifted from grain markets till the day because private rice millers had been demanding more bags of paddy per truck on the pretext of high moisture in the crop.

Meanwhile, a large number of labourers led by Pendu Mazdoor Union, staged a protest at Sidhwan Bet Grain Market against slow lifting of paddy from grain markets. Labourers raised slogans against rice millers, procurement agencies and the district administration during the protest.

While addressing protesters, the district president of the union, Avtar Singh Rasoolpur, alleged that, “Rice millers have been blackmailing the administration by demanding more bags of paddy per truck on the pretext of high moisture content in the crop.”

“If rice millers have any problem regarding moisture in the paddy, they should take up the matter with procurement agencies and the district administration instead of halting the lifting and blackmailing them by demanding more bags of the crop per truck citing high moisture content,” said Rasoolpur.

The Jagraon Market Committee secretary, Jasmit Singh Brar, said, “Paddy lifting has been going on smoothly and the whole stock will be cleared from grain markets soon.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ludhiana/slow-lifting-of-paddy-piles-up-stock-ingrain-markets/505709.html

Bangladesh ag minister hopes for 'new era of collaboration' for rice sector November 29, 2017 - by Holly Demaree Share This:

In partnership with IRRI, both will work to cope with the effects of climate change and degradation of natural resources.

Photo courtesy of IRRI.

... [read more] Read the Full Article

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