1st June,2015 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

8/9/2019 1st June,2015 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter

www.ricepluss.com & http://www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com

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June 1 ,2015Vol 5,Issue VI

VASWANIS GET BILLIONS ON JONATHAN’S LAST DAY

IN OFFICECategory: Lead stories

Published on Tuesday, 02 June 2015 04:01Written by Nuruddeen M. Abdallah

A new import quota for rice millers under the National Rice Development Policy was approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday last week, his last full day in office in orderto help the Stallion Group to evade paying billions of naira in import duty, Daily Trust learntfrom informed sources in Abuja yesterday.

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The Stallion Group, which is owned by thecontroversial businessmen Vaswani Brothers,have been fighting since late last year to evade paying N17 billion in import duty slapped onthem by the Nigeria Customs Service [NCS] for

exceeding their 2014 rice import quota.FormerMinister of State for Finance Ambassador BashirYuguda conveyed Jonathan‘s approval of the

new 2015 quotas to NCS in a letter withreference F.4569\Vol V\295 dated May 28, 2015.Yuguda said the approval ―was based on the

recommendation of the inter-ministerial committee set up to review the policy.

‖ The inter -ministerial committee itself was hastily set up by former Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo in mid-May following strong lobby by the Vaswanis to evade payment of thehigher duty rate slapped on them by the Customs for exceeding their rice import quota under the

dual tariff regime.The committee met under Sambo‘s chairmanship on May 14. Those whoattended included then Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, then Minister of Industry,Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga, then Minister of National Planning Dr. AbubakarSulaiman, Bureau for Public Enterprises‘ director general Benjamin Dikki and permanentsecretary in the Agriculture Ministry Arch. S. T. Echono. Within a matter of days this committeeadopted a new ―national rice supply gap‖ of 782,000 metric tonnes. It then proceeded to allocate

new quotas to 16 ―existing millers with expanding operations‖ and four ―new investors‖ in rice

milling.The former group included Mascot Agro, a new company said to have been hurriedly registered by Stallion Group as a new rice importer since their main company Popular Foods was alreadyenmeshed in a struggle with the Customs. NCS even shut the company‘s warehouses over non - payment of the excess duty but were ordered by the presidency to reopen them pending theresolution of the case. Mascot Agro got a new quota of 100,000 tonnes under the preferentialtariff regime.Trouble had started for Stallion Group late last year when NCS calculated that itimported 475,000 metric tonnes of rice over and above its 2014 quota of 89,939 MT. NCSdetermined that this excess rice import is not covered by the preferential rate of 10 percent dutyand 20 percent levy.Since the national rice policy approved by Jonathan in May last year prescribed 20 percent dutyand 60 percent levy for any excess imports, Customs calculated Stallion‘s indebtedness at N15

billion. This increased to N17 billion when the group imported another 54,000 tonnes of ricethrough its Mascot Agro, which was not a recognised rice miller and had no quota allocations in2014. Since then, Daily Trust learnt that the Vaswani Brothers pulled all available strings in theFederal Government to dodge paying the duty. Incidentally, three companies that also exceededtheir import quotas, Kereksuk Farms, Atafi Rice Industries and Arewa Rice Mill quietly paid thehigher charge slapped on them by NCS. The new, hurriedly done 2015 quota allocations wereconveyed by then Vice President Sambo to Jonathan in a letter SH/VP/FMARD/01 dated May26, this year. Jonathan approved it the next day and his approval was conveyed to Sambo in aletter PRES/143/VP/748 dated May 27, 2015.


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It was signed by Matt Aikhionbare, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Admin. Sambothen sent it to Yuguda who ordered the Customs Service to comply in a letter dated May 28, theadministration‘s last full day in office.With this last minute ―parting gift‖, an authoritative National Assembly source told Daily Trust that Stallion Group will now use the additionalquotas granted to Mascot Agro to evade payment of billions of naira in Customs duty even

though the imports were illegally made in the first place.The source also said this massive import by Stallion Group far above its quota has alreadycreated a glut of parboiled rice in the local market and has totally defeated the aims of the National Rice Development Policy which is to encourage the import of husky brown rice thatrequires local milling.The source said the relevant National Assembly committee will drawPresident Muhammadu Buhari‘s attention to the hurriedly done quotas which merely helpedStallion Group to dodge paying duties.

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/daily/index.php/top-stories/56181-vaswanis-get-billions-on- jonathan-s-last-day-in-office

Senator Wicker Addresses 80th Annual Delta CouncilMeeting

Senator Roger Wicker

CLEVELAND, MS -- Roger Wicker, U.S. Senator for Mississippi delivered the keynote addressat the 80th Annual Delta Council meeting here on May 29. Wicker praised the Delta Council forthe broad scope of their activities and the impact the organization has had in the region, andreaffirmed his commitment to Mississippi's agriculture industry which is deeply rooted in the

Delta. The annual event is widely attended and sponsored by a variety of agriculturalorganizations including the Mississippi Rice Promotion Board.Members of Delta 1000 alsoheard from Jere Nash and Andy Taggart, co-authors of Mississippi Politics: The Struggle forPower, 1976-2006, who offered a "Red-Blue Review" of the 2015 campaign for state positions inMississippi as a possible harbinger for the national elections in 2016.

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USA Rice Federation Chairman Dow Brantley attended along with USA Rice staff and wasimpressed with the large crowd and high level of participation from key Mississippileaders.Brantley said, "This was my first Delta Council meeting and it was great to see all therice grower leadership, and learn about the good work Delta Council does each and every yearserving farmers and the community."

Contact: Ben Mosely (703) 236-1471

Procurement Gathers Pace in Kalahandi By Express News ServicePublished: 30th May 2015 06:00 AMLast Updated: 30th May 2015 07:36 AM

BHAWANIPATNA:Paddy procurement is on in full swing in Kalahandi district. While procurement started on May 20, the Kalahandi administration has so far procured 79,925 quintalsof paddy through mandis.The district administration has decided to procure 1,05,304 tonnes of paddy through 55 Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS). Of these, 46 are located in

Indravati area.Sources said 33 rice millers have been engaged to lift the paddy and squadsformed to ensure hassle-free procurement. Nodal Officer for Paddy Procurement, MahendraBehera said of the 55 paddy procurement centres, 17 do not have permanent sheds to store paddy.Meanwhile, rice millers have already delivered 75 per cent of the costumed milled rice ofKharif crop to the district administration.


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http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/Procurement-Gathers-Pace-in-

Kalahandi/2015/05/30/article2840354.ece

Crop Progress: 2015 Crop 96 Percent Planted

WASHINGTON, DC -- Ninety-six percent of the nation's 2015 rice acreage is planted, according to today's U.S.Department of Agriculture's Crop Progress Report .

Rice Planted, Selected States

Week Ending

StateMay

31, 2014May 24,2015

May 31,2015

2010-2014average

Percent

Arkansas 98 92 96 97

California 94 98 99 94

Louisiana 100 99 100 100

Mississippi 92 94 95 95

Missouri 98 78 87 97

Texas 99 84 85 99

Six States 99 93 96 98

CME Group/Closing Rough Rice FuturesCME Group (Preliminary): Closing Rough Rice Futures for June 1

Month Price Net Change

July 2015 $9.650 + $0.140

September 2015 $9.925 + $0.140

November 2015 $10.200 + $0.135

January 2016 $10.455 + $0.135

March 2016 $10.635 + $0.130

May 2016 $10.635 + $0.130

July 2016 $10.635 + $0.130

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Usa rice federation

Satellite imagery to enable large-scale monitoring of Asia’s

rice areas By International Rice Research Institute May 29, 2015 | 3:20 pm EDT

Information derived from satellite images can soon be made available to governments to helpguide policy related to food security and sustainable development, particularly in rice-growingareas.The European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, Sentinel-1A, launched in 2014 can provideregular ‛snapshots‘ of Asia as often as every 12 days. The imagery is derived from synthetic

aperture radar (SAR) systems that can monitor the earth‘s surface day and night, even through

rain or cloud cover — hence, images even during the monsoon season — making the tool perfectfor rice crop monitoring.As a demonstration of the potential of the Sentinel program, sarmap andheInternational Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have generated mosaics, composed from severalSentinel-1A images that cover 7 million square kilometers of South and Southeast Asia.

These cloud-free mosaics show detailed SAR imagery for accurate monitoring of agriculturalactivity and of the state of natural resources across Asia.SAR-based monitoring has never before been possible at such large scale, mainly due to the cost and challenge of processing so muchimagery automatically. Fortunately, Sentinel-1A imagery is available for free and sarmap hasdeveloped automated processing chains, hosted on cloud computing facilities provided byAmazon Web Services to handle this vast amount of data. The rice crop can then be monitoredon a regular basis through the season.This kind of monitoring can support a data revolution,leading to better and more timely information on crop production.Rice is one of the mostimportant crops for global food security, and 90% — or about 140 million hectares — of theworld‘s rice-growing area is in Asia. The crop is regularly exposed to the risk of damage fromdrought, flooding, and tropical storms. Timely and accurate information on rice, i.e., crop area,crop growth, and losses due to calamities) is thus very important to rice-growing and -consumingnations.

http://www.agprofessional.com/users/internationalriceresearchinstitutehttp://www.agprofessional.com/users/internationalriceresearchinstitutehttp://www.agprofessional.com/users/internationalriceresearchinstitutehttp://irri.org/http://irri.org/http://irri.org/http://www.agprofessional.com/users/internationalriceresearchinstitute


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The lower Mekong River Delta, viewed with as a SAR imagery. (SAR imagery from ESA:Sentinel-1A. Background from Google Earth, Google Inc.)

IRRI and sarmap are working, with many other partners, on two major projects that use SARimagery: One is the Remote Sensing-based Information and Insurance for Crops in Emergingeconomies (RIICE) project, which has already used SAR images to monitor rice-growing areas

in 13 test sites in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Thesecond phase of the RIICE project starts in May 2015 and aims to develop in-country capacity tohelp partner governments fully benefit from the technology.The other is the Philippine RiceInformation System (PRiSM) project, the development of which was funded by the PhilippineDepartment of Agriculture.The PRiSM project has identified SAR-based rice monitoring as one of the technologies to beused for delivering better rice crop information."Our aim is to work with partners in Asia toensure that this technology is incorporated into national systems," said Andrew Nelson, projectlead at IRRI and head of IRRI‘s Geographic Information Systems laboratory. "Such informationcan better support decision-making, targeting of resources, crop insurance, and disastermitigation and response systems in both public and private sectors.

"What do the images show? SAR imagery must be interpreted differently from imagerycommonly available through Google Maps and other mapping services. In the SAR mosaics, wehave processed images taken between 21 February and 10 March 2015 such that dark bluerepresents water or other flat surfaces such as airport runways, orange and white represent builtup areas and human settlements, light blue represents bare soil, while brown and green show

http://www.sarmap.ch/index.phphttp://www.sarmap.ch/index.phphttp://www.sarmap.ch/index.phphttp://www.riice.org/http://www.riice.org/http://www.riice.org/http://www.riice.org/http://irri.org/resources/publications/brochures/prismhttp://irri.org/resources/publications/brochures/prismhttp://irri.org/resources/publications/brochures/prismhttp://irri.org/resources/publications/brochures/prismhttp://irri.org/resources/publications/brochures/prismhttp://irri.org/resources/publications/brochures/prismhttp://www.riice.org/http://www.riice.org/http://www.sarmap.ch/index.php


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vegetation at different stages of growth. SAR imagery from Sentinel-1A enables tracking ofchanges in vegetation and water through the seasons, which changes the way crops aremonitored from space in monsoon conditions.The following image, for example, of the lowerMekong Delta — one of the most important rice-growing regions in the world — clearly showshow SAR imagery can capture differences in vegetation and water.

The irrigation network and the various stages of the rice crop across the delta are visible as wellas other features such as cities (e.g., Ho Chi Minh at top right of the image) and aquaculture incoastal areas. The image is a snapshot of the earth‘s surface, but Sentinel-1A will continue tocapture images as often as every 12 days over the region, and these images will becomeincreasingly useful as they reveal the progress of the rice crop over time, season afterseason.This work has been conducted for the RIICE project funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation (SDC) and for the PRiSM project funded by the Bureau ofAgricultural Research of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA-BAR). It is alsosupported by the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRISP).http://www.agprofessional.com/news/satellite-imagery-enable-large-scale-monitoring-asia%E2%80%99s-rice-areas

Thai rice stocks could help market keep El Niño in check By RJ Whitehead , 29-May-2015

Current weather patterns in Southeast Asia reinforce meteorologists’ belief that a strong El Niño is

already taking place, but still the rice market is indifferent, says a leading rice researcher.

https://www.eda.admin.ch/sdchttps://www.eda.admin.ch/sdchttps://www.eda.admin.ch/sdchttps://www.eda.admin.ch/sdchttp://www.bar.gov.ph/http://www.bar.gov.ph/http://www.bar.gov.ph/http://www.bar.gov.ph/http://irri.org/our-work/research/#research-2http://irri.org/our-work/research/#research-2http://irri.org/our-work/research/#research-2http://irri.org/our-work/research/#research-2http://www.bar.gov.ph/http://www.bar.gov.ph/https://www.eda.admin.ch/sdchttps://www.eda.admin.ch/sdc


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The severe and ongoing drought the weather event has brought has become evident in the dry-season rice crop in the Philippines and Thailand where, according to the Office of AgriculturalEconomics, it is expected to decline by 30%, or 2m tonnes of milled rice compared to last year‘syield.Similarly, drought in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, including Bohol province, has had some effect on the dry-season crop but, if the drought continues, the main

cropping season that starts in May will also be affected.

Less supply but still prices remain weak ―So far, the market has been quite indifferent to the possibility of a strong El Niño this year, in

which India is predicted to be hardest hit along with Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines ,‖writes Dr Sam Mohanty, head of the social sciences of the International Rice Research Institute(Irri) in the Philippines, on his blog.Despite such possibilities, rice prices continue to remain weak on the back of surplus Thai andIndian rice in the market. Last year‘s forecast of a strong El Niño, which did not materialise, has been playing on the minds of many in the rice market.

―The comfortable level of nearly 100m tonnes in global rice stocks, including 9m tonnes of Thai stocks (based on USDA data), has been acting as a buffer against any irrational market

sentiment and speculation.―This does not mean that market sentiment will not change in the coming weeks as we draw

closer to the advent of the monsoon and main cropping season in many rice-growing countries.‖

India wields a mighty influence on rest of world Of the various factors that can influence the market, writes Mohanty, India‘s monsoon situationwill be the key in the coming weeks, Mohanty adds. India‘s influence on the rice market has

never been greater than what it is now, with 7m tonnes of non-basmati and 3-4m tonnes of basmati exports. In case of a drought, non-basmati exports will be the target of policymakers toensure domestic food security. Indian public-sector rice procurement stocks through the FoodCorporation of India and state agencies are at a level much higher than the strategic stockrequirement, but the level of current procurement stocks is much lower than what it was duringthe same time last year. Based on the data available on the FCI website, total rice stocks at thestart of May stood at 22.35m tonnes, compared to 28.6m tonnes at the same time last year, and34.7m tonnes the year before.Mohanty says the market is poised to remain rational and driven bymarket fundamentals as long as exporting countries remain open for business and refrain frommaking unilateral decisions to restrict rice trade flows and importing countries refrain from panic buying for domestic stockpiles.

―The major worry for the market is the countries in the El Niño watch, which include the second-largest exporter, India, and three large importers, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.― If these countries are affected by drought in the coming season, this could spell trouble for the

market. On the one hand, India will be pulling out of the non-basmati market to meet the local

shortfall and, on the other hand, demand from importing countries will be rising.― If this happens, the 9m tonnes of Thai rice stocks could come in very handy in keeping the

market in check and ensuring that importers not resort to panic buying .‖


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Rice Rocks Riverfest

Riverfest rice swag

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- The

Arkansas Rice Councilrepresented the rice industry as asponsor of the annual Riverfestcelebration held here overMemorial Day Weekend.Riverfest, the largest familyfestival held in Little Rock,served as an ideal platform toencourage the public to get riceon their minds -- and on their plates. More than 250,000

people attended the festival, andthe Arkansas Rice Council boothwas a popular destination. As anevent sponsor, the ArkansasRice Council was able to

communicate how important the rice industry is to the state of Arkansas. They shared Arkansasrice facts and hosted interactive games that allowed participants to win freebies like koozies,sunscreen, bumper stickers, and sunglasses holders.

"People know we grow a lot of rice in Arkansas, but they're usually surprised to learn it's morethan half of all the rice grown in the U.S." said Tisha Gribble who represented the Arkansas Rice

Council at the event. "And when I tell them that it's around 1.3 million acres, provides 25,000 jobs to Arkansans in rural areas of our state, and generates around six billion dollars for our stateeach year...their minds are blown!"

Contact: Colleen Klemczewski (703) 236-1446

Rice Quality Concerns Create Hurdles For Industry by Rick Fahr on Monday, Jun. 1, 2015 12:00 am

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/105193/rice-quality-concerns-create-hurdles-for-industrymailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/105193/rice-quality-concerns-create-hurdles-for-industry


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A rice field near Stuttgart ( Jason Burt )

Jim Mead, owner of Delta Grains, a seed and grain brokerage business near Jonesboro, was partof the vanguard in seed technology. In the 1980s, he was an integral part of Eagle Seed Co. inWeiner, a small but innovative company that developed new rice and soybean varieties. Now, he

views the seed business from both sides.He doesn‘t like some of what he sees.―Back in the day,120-bushel [to the acre] rice was good. Today, we are 160-bushel farmers, but we also hit a plateau here,‖ he said. Starting in 2006 with Bayer [Crop Science], that was the downfall of U.S.rice.The quality was starting to decrease.‖In 2006, it became known that Bayer, one of the major seed

players, had allowed genetically modified (GMO) rice to get into the state‘s rice seed stock .GMO crops are not welcome in many markets, and the ripple effects from the Bayer incidentreached far beyond the state‘s borders, ultimately leading to lawsuits settled for hundreds of

millions of dollars.But beyond the Bayer situation, Mead said the state‘s rice industry faces largehurdles, many of them self-inflicted.He recounted how seed varieties have forfeited millingquality for short-growing season traits.For many years, Weiner has hosted the Arkansas Rice

Festival on the second weekend in October. A generation ago, many farmers could not attend because they were still harvesting their crop. That‘s not true today.―Breeders started focusing on

early, early high-yield, and now, if you are not finished cutting by the Rice Festival, you are nota very good farmer,‖ Mead said.―Breeders have gotten the yield up. They have gotten theearliness in there, but now we have a quality issue.


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We used to be known as the No. 1 quality rice in the world. Now, we can‘t hardly give it away.

We just don‘t have the quality anymore that we used to have. We are not known as the quality- producing country anymore.‖That‘s not a sentiment likely to find its way into rice marketingmaterials, but increasingly industry trade groups are acknowledging the issue.―U.S. Long-GrainR ice Industry: At a Crucial Crossroads‖ by Karen Ott Mayer delves in depth into the quality

issues facing the nation‘s rice industry and the international competitors filling thatvoid.Underlining the importance of the subject, the piece is found on www.usriceproducers.com,not exactly an outfit that benefits from U.S. rice defects. Dating to 2013, Delta Farm Press,arguably agriculture‘s most prominent voice, has raised alarms regarding quality issues, too http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/105193/rice-quality-concerns-create-hurdles-for-industry

At World's Fair In Italy, The Future Of Food Is On The

Table MAY 31, 2015 7:34 AM ET

SYLVIA POGGIOLI

Carlo Ratti of MIT designed this "supermarket of the future" exhibit. If you move a handclose to a product, a digital display lights up, providing information on origin, nutritionalvalue and carbon footprint.Courtesy of COOP Italia

For the next six months, Italy ishosting a dinner party — and theentire world is invited toattend.The event, called ExpoMilano 2015, is the latest World'sFair. This year's theme is

"feeding the planet, energy forlife." The global population is projected to pass 9 billion by2050, and Expo organizers wantto start a global conversation nowabout sustainability, biodiversityand food security.With exhibitsfrom 145 countries over a 12-million-square-foot area, the expo

is a showcase for the many cultures of food and environmental technology. Some pavilions havevertical farms. Brazil has transplanted a tropical forest. And some countries are exhibiting jointly

their staple products — such as rice, coffee and cocoa.World-famous architects have designedmany of the pavilions — most of which will be dismantled when the Expo shuts down.One ofthe more low-key pavilions belongs to the Italian-born Slow Food movement. Since it wasfounded in the mid-1980s, Slow Food has contributed to a growing worldwide appreciation ofartisanal food products and local food production.

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This vertical farm is part of the American pavilion.Sylvia Poggioli/NPR

Slow Food is also a strong voice against big agro-industries, whose low prices it blames for pushing small farmers out of the market. Lorenzo Berlandis, vice president of Slow Food Italy,

says the world must change its mindset about food production and the culture of waste."We hopethat at the end of this event, we can reach a new vision and new perspective in food production — how can human beings feed the planet, feed humanity respecting biodiversity. [It's] the onlychance we have for the future," Berlandis says.One pavilion challenging visitors on consumerresponsibility is Switzerland's. It features four silo-like towers filled with Swiss food products.

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Pavilion director Manuel Salchli says the towers will not be re-filled."People are invited to takeas much as they want to take, but they are also reminded of the fact that after them, we expectanother 2 million visitors," he explains. "So think of what you take and what you leave for othersto come."So far, Salsli says, visitors are not stuffing their pockets with freebies.Near the USAPavilion is Food Truck Nation, serving a variety of American dishes.

Mario Lobbia, supplier of food appliances to the Expo, is sampling an American classic: adouble hamburger.

A man serves hamburgers at the USA Pavilion's food truck at Expo 2015 in Rho, near Milan,

Italy. The Food Truck Nation exhibit highlights America's urban food truck trend. Luca Bruno/AP "Umm, very good, really," he says after a bite. Lobbia says Italians need to be a little moreadventurous in their food tastes. "Always pasta, vegetables, and so on. We start getting boring.Sometimes, you need these kind of things."That's what Mitchell Davis, chief creative officer of

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the American pavilion, likes to hear."Whether it's food trucks on the street, whether it's artisans baking bread, making wine, making cheese, or chefs at the finest level, the idea was to presentAmerica as diversity," Davis says.Expo Milano is filled with eco-friendly architecture. One ofthe most striking pavilions is that of the United Arab Emirates. Designed by British architecturefirm Foster + Partners, the pavilion features nearly 40-foot-high walls that ripple like waves of

sand and weave from big to small walkways, symbolizing a canyon.Peter Higgins, who designedthe exhibit inside, says without a lake or a river, the Emirates have virtually no agriculture."So we just introduce you to stories about sustainability, about desalination, about the legacyand the history of the Emirates, where they have learned to live with very little," he says.Visitorsget more practical experience at the high-tech supermarket of the future — where they canalready do their shopping.Carlo Ratti, who teaches urban innovation at MIT, joined forces withan Italian supermarket company and put the consumer at the heart of the food chain.

If you move a hand close to a product, a digital display lights up, providing information onorigin, nutritional value and carbon footprint.Ratti was inspired by the novel Palomar , by Italianwriter Italo Calvino. In it, Mr. Palomar visits a cheese shop in Paris. As Ratti recounts the scene:

"He thinks he is at the Louvre, that every product, every piece of cheese, tells him a story, abouta different pasture, under a different sun. We wanted to take inspiration from Calvino and makesure the products can tell us their story."And when they're not shopping, visitors can choseamong some 150 restaurants and sample a cornucopia of food cultures from across the planet.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/31/410074678/at-worlds-fair-in-italy-the-future-of-food-is-on-the-table

APEDA NEWS (INDIA)

Market Watch Commodity-wise, Market-wise Daily Price on 29-05-2015Domestic Prices Unit Price : Rs per Qty

Product Market Center Variety Min Price Max Price

Rice

1 Cachar (Assam) Other 2000 2500

2 Chala (Kerala) Other 2450 3000

3 Bargarh (Orissa) Other 2100 2300

Wheat

1 Dhing (Assam) Other 1450 1700

2 Amirgadh (Gujarat) Other 1250 1750

3 Bonai(Orissa) Other 1450 1600

Mango

1 Bonai (Orissa) Other 1000 2000

2 Zira(Punjab) Other 2800 3200

3 Mechua(West Bengal) Other 1400 1700

Cauliflower

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/uae-pavilion-milan-expo/http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/uae-pavilion-milan-expo/http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/uae-pavilion-milan-expo/http://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/carlo-rattihttp://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/carlo-rattihttp://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/carlo-rattihttp://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/carlo-rattihttp://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/uae-pavilion-milan-expo/


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1 Bonai (Orissa) Other 2000 2000

2 Aroor (Kerala) Other 3200 3400

3 Gumla(Jharkhand) Other 1300 2000

Source:agra-net For more info

Egg Rs per 100 NoPrice on 30-05-2015

Product Market Center Price

1 Pune 285

2 Nagapur 241

3 Namakkal 280

Source: e2necc.com

Other International Prices Unit Price : US$ per packagePrice on 29-05-2015

Product Market Center Origin Variety Low High

Onions Dry Package: 50 lb sacks

1 Baltimore Arizona Yellow 21 22

2 Dallas Mexico Yellow 16.75 18.50

3 Detroit California Yellow 15.50 17

Carrots Package: 30 1-lb film bags

1 Baltimore California Baby Peeled 24 25

2 Chicago California Baby Peeled 22 23.50

3 New York Arizona Baby Peeled 22 22

Grapefruit Package: 7/10 bushel cartons

1 Baltimore California Red 28 28

2 New York Texas Red 16 16

3 Philadelphia California Red 17.50 18

Source:USDA

India reaches the pinnacle in rice exports Written by Samarendu Mohanty.

India has come a long way in the past 5 decades from a country with a severe food deficit to being a major grain exporter. The frequent food shortages in the 1950s and 60s and large-scaleU.S. food grain assistance, especially wheat through the PL-480 program, seem to be a distantmemory now. Growing up in the eastern state of Odisha, I vividly remember women andchildren lining up in front of my grandfather‘s house with a bowl in their hands to receive PL -

480 wheat porridge for breakfast and lunch.The Bihar famine in the mid-60s is regarded as aturning point for India‘s food production. As described in The famine that India did not waste, anarticle published in Business & Economy, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi realized the link between food sovereignty and independence in foreign affairs as the U.S. used its PL-480 foodaid release to influence India‘s stance on American policy toward Vietnam.

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Lester Brown, cofounder and president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., has adifferent take of the event. In U.S.-India: Dealing with monsoon failure, he says the U.S. usedthe release of food aid during the Bihar famine to force the country to reform its food policy thatserved the urban population through a price ceiling to guarantee a floor price for farmers toencourage food production. The U.S. President at that time, Lyndon Johnson, was worried that

India was neglecting its agriculture and becoming too dependent on U.S. food aid to overcomeits deficit.Whatever the motive was, the end result has been more than satisfactory. Indian riceand wheat production in the past 5 decades rose by more than three- and eightfold, respectively.During this period, per capita availability increased by more than 10 kilograms for rice and 50kilograms for wheat. The rise in grain production eventually transformed India from a grainimporter to an exporter in the mid-90s (Fig. 1).

Since then, grain exports (rice, wheat, and maize) have steadily increased, reaching 24 milliontons by 2012-13. The transformation of the rice sector was even more startling, with Indiadethroning Thailand to become the largest exporter of rice in 2012. The Thai rice pledgingscheme implemented in late 2011 definitely boosted India‘s rise to the top of the export chart,

but India has continued to export in excess of 10 million tons even after the pledging scheme wasremoved in early 2014. Thailand edged past India in 2014 by exporting 10.97 million tons of riceafter stopping the pledging scheme in 2014 as compared to 10.9 million tons for India (source:PSD, USDA).

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meter per year. If this trend continues, India‘s food security will be seriously affected in the

future. Given the growing water problem in the country, Indian exports of 40 trillion liters of precious water annually — in the form of 10 to 11 million tons of rice — raises an importantquestion of overproduction of rice in the country. On top of that, the 7 million tons ofnonbasmati rice are normally exported at a price that hardly covers the true cost of production if

you take into account the input subsidies (for fertilizer, electricity, seed, machinery, etc.) provided to the farmers.What needs to be done?

The reform of these subsidies, particularly for fertilizer and food, is long overdue. The currentgovernment clearly intends to tackle this ―800- pound gorilla‖ that is so deeply rooted in thesystem. The government is seriously considering the recommendations of the Shanta KumarPanel to deregulate the fertilizer sector and provide a cash subsidy of INR7,000 (aroundUSD110) per hectare to farmers. Similarly, the government is also looking into the panelrecommendation to reform the grain subsidy program by implementing cash transfers in citieswith a population of more than 1 million in grain-surplus states and an option for cash or physical grains in grain-deficit states.In an attempt to reverse the increasing ground water depletion in major rice-surplus states suchas Punjab and Haryana, and reduce pressure on these states to meet the country‘s food need, thegovernment rolled out programs such as the National Food Security Mission and Bringing GreenRevolution to Eastern India to improve the productivity of rice in eastern India. These effortshave resulted in some sizable increases in rice production in the eastern states in the past decade.The average yield of seven eastern states increased by more than 40% between 2004-05 and2012-13 and production increased by 16 million tons (Fig. 2). During that same period, the ricearea in Punjab and Haryana also increased slightly from 3.68 million hectares in 2004-05 to 3.87million hectares in 2012-13, with production increasing by one million tons.

The recent trend suggests that the paddy yields in the eastern states will continue to rise in thefuture with greater use of quality seeds, flood- and drought-tolerant varieties, and improved production practices. There are no indications of shifting from rice in Punjab and Haryana intoless water-intensive crops. The shift will not happen unless the government removes theminimum support price for rice or provides an assured price for alternate crops that will beequally or more profitable than rice in the region.No one can deny India‘s success in food grain production and its transformation from a food-deficit country to a major grain exporter in theworld. What India did to achieve this milestone was to meet the need of the hour to sparemillions from starvation and poverty. But, the time has come to think beyond just the quantity ofgrain production and more along the line of sustainability of the production system, including thecost of subsidies. Reforms of food and input subsidies will not be easy but this needs to be doneat the earliest. As eastern India expands its rice production to take care of the country‘s food

needs, the state governments in Punjab and Haryana, with the help of the central government,should devise a strategy to reduce their area under rice, particularly nonbasmati rice, to relievethe pressure on groundwater.

_________________________________________

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-02/news/59683948_1_direct-cash-subsidy-lpg-subsidy-grain-distributionhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-02/news/59683948_1_direct-cash-subsidy-lpg-subsidy-grain-distributionhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-02/news/59683948_1_direct-cash-subsidy-lpg-subsidy-grain-distributionhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-02/news/59683948_1_direct-cash-subsidy-lpg-subsidy-grain-distributionhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-02/news/59683948_1_direct-cash-subsidy-lpg-subsidy-grain-distributionhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-02/news/59683948_1_direct-cash-subsidy-lpg-subsidy-grain-distribution


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Dr. Mohanty is the head of the Social Sciences Division and program leader (Targetting and policy) at the

International Rice Research Institute.

http://irri.org/rice-today/india-reaches-the-pinnacle-in-rice-exports?utm_source=IRRI+email+subscriptions&utm_campaign=c05e452278-RiceToday_Weekly6_01_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c803adc7cf-c05e452278-40925885

Averting hunger in Ebola-hit countries Written by Savitri Mohapatra.

April is the cruelest month,‖ wrote T.S. Eliot in The Waste Land . It was as if he were voicing thesentiments of the farming communities in Ebola affected countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone, andGuinea. Though the time for planting has come, there is a desperate lack of labor and inputs, particularly seed, as hungry rice farmers ate the seeds they would have normally stored for planting in April.Although there are signs that the Ebola epidemic is being contained in the threecountries, a major food crisis is looming unless urgent steps are taken to tackle food securityconcerns, according to 2014 reports by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).According to their estimates, the Ebola virusout break left slightly more than half a million people in the three countries ―severely food

insecure‖— 120,000 in Sierra Leone, 170,000 in Liberia, and 230,000 in Guinea.

The total number of affected people could double to one million in a few months unless urgentmeasures are taken to significantly enhance access to food and safeguard crop and livestock production in these countries, they warned.The crisis has been further aggravated because

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Liberia and Sierra Leone were still recovering from prolonged civil wars while Guinea was stilltransitioning from military rule when Ebola struck.In December 2014, the government of SierraLeone banned all public celebrations, including Christmas and New Year, to prevent Ebola fromspreading further. Similarly, Guinea, where the latest Ebola outbreak started recently, declared a45-day ―health emergency‖ in five regions in the western and southwestern parts of the country.

Shock to food and agricultural sectors

FAO and WFP stated that the Ebola epidemic had caused a significant shock to the food andagricultural sectors in the affected countries, where two-thirds of the people depend onagriculture for their livelihood. A number of interrelated factors, including quarantines,disruptions in transportation and trade, and rising food prices were triggering the foodcrisis.Experts participating in the Global Rice Market and Trade Summit organized by theInternational Rice Research Institute in Thailand in October 2014 remarked that there was anoticeable rise in local rice prices in the affected countries, although the Ebola crisis was notexpected to have a major impact on the global rice market.The virus killed many productive

farmers and many others abandoned their fields and harvests out of fear. In Sierra Leone, forinstance, up to 40% of the farms in the worst affected areas were reported abandoned.Impacts on the rice sectorRice is the most important staple in the three countries and its price and accessibility directlyinfluence social stability. Annual per capita consumption of rice (about 100 kg) is among the

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highest in sub-Saharan Africa. However, all three countries are net importers of rice as demandis much higher than local production.Promoting domestic rice production is therefore important in the national rice developmentstrategy developed by each of these countries under the Coalition for African RiceDevelopmentf ramework.The national programs of these countries are involved in many joint

projects with the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and have identified Rice Sector DevelopmentHubs. A rice hub is a mechanism introduced by AfricaRice across sub-Saharan Africa toconcentrate R&D efforts and connect partners along the rice value chain to achieve greaterimpact.

In the past few years, AfricaRice has been providing targeted support to Liberia and Sierra Leoneat their request to revive their respective rice sectors, under the World Bank-fundedWest AfricaAgricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP). The main focus of this support is to makeimproved seed and technologies available to farmers, enhance rice quality, and develop a criticalmass of scientists, technicians, extension workers, and seed producers.Unfortunately, the Ebolacrisis threatens to undo the progress made in all these areas.

According to FAO, 2014 rice production was expected to decline by 12% in Liberia, 8% in

Sierra Leone, and 4% in Guinea. But, there are big disparities within the region: production isdown by 20% in Liberia‘s Lofa District, which is the main rice-producing region and isconsidered as Liberia‘s breadbasket, and by 17% in the hardest hit parts of Sierra Leone.―The

Ebola outbreak in Liberia is a complete setback to our achievements,‖ said AfricaRice scientistInoussa Akintayo, who is coordinating a World Bank-supported emergency rice project in Lofa

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and Bong districts in Liberia.In August 2014, for reasons of safety, senior management ofAfricaRice decided to pull out its regional and international researchers from Liberia and SierraLeone. ―This has affected the implementation of the planned activities,‖ said AfricaRice scientistBert Meertens, who is assisting the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute in WAAPPactivities.

A call for urgent actionAside from controlling Ebola, FAO and WFP called for urgent action to re-establish farmingsystems in the three countries. Measures should enable the most vulnerable people to accessagricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers, and adopt improved technology to overcomelabor shortages.AfricaRice has been actively involved in discussing and planning strategies tomake improved rice seed available to farmers with strong support from donors as well asthe Economic Community of West African States.In December 2014, the Center participated inSeeds for Agriculture in Ebola-affected Countries, a workshop organized by the AfricanDevelopment Bank in Abidjan, Côte d‘Ivoire.

The Center has been invited by the World Bank to join its efforts in providing rice seed to

farmers in Ebola-hit countries in time for the 2015 planting season.A USAID-AfricaRiceinitiative aims to provide technical support to the seed sector in selected countries, includingLiberia. With support from the Government of Japan, AfricaRice is launching an emergency project to tackle the problem of insufficiency of rice seed in Guinea because of the Ebolacrisis.Meanwhile, remembering the quiet heroism of scientists in these countries, AfricaRiceeconomist Ali Toure, who was working in Sierra Leone, remarked, ―We are praying for thesafety of our brave colleagues, who are continuing their work under very difficult and evendangerous situations.‖As of 15 March 2015, 24,700 cases and 10,195 deaths had been reportedworldwide, most of them in these three countries. The World Bank estimates that the regionaleconomic toll could reach USD32 billion by the end of 2015.

_________________________________________ Ms. Mohapatra is the head of Marketing and Communications at AfricaRice.

http://irri.org/rice-today/averting-hunger-in-ebola-hit-countries?utm_source=IRRI+email+subscriptions&utm_campaign=c05e452278-RiceToday_Weekly6_01_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c803adc7cf-c05e452278-40925885

Rice scientists from India helping Africa Written by Savitri Mohapatra.

Venuprasad Ramaiah: A passion for rice genetics and breedingLike many of his classmates, Venuprasad Ramaiah was planning to become an engineer. But,during his first year of bachelor‘s degree studies at the University of Agricultural Sciences inBangalore, India, a course in plant genetics taught by an inspiring teacher, Ms. Savithri Amma,marked a turning point in his life.―For me, that was a ‗wow‘ moment,‖ said Dr . Ramaiah, ascientist at the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice).

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―It sparked a passion in me for research in this field. There has been no looking back sincethen.‖After completing his PhD in genetics of grain yield and root length under drought stress inrice, which he pursued at the same university and at the International Rice Research Institute(IRRI) in the Philippines, Dr. Ramaiah obtained a postdoctoral fellowship at IRRI and, later,at The World Vegetable Center in Taiwan. He then took up the position of a project scientist inthe groundnut breeding unit of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- AridTropics, in Hyderabad, India, in 2009.However, since he was keen to return to rice research, he decided to join AfricaRice as alowland-rice breeder in 2010.―My family friends and colleagues thought I was crazy for leavingan attractive position in India, but I am passionate about rice research,‖ Dr. Ramaiah remarked.―I also strongly believe that the real need is in Africa, where even small contributions can have

more impact on the livelihoods of farmers than in Asia.‖At AfricaRice, Dr. Ramaiah works onrice breeding for the rainfed lowland ecosystem with national programs under the Africa-widerice breeding task force, which covers about 30 countries, and with international organizations, particularly IRRI. He is also closely involved in training research staff and students.

His team has successfully transferred the SUB1 submergence-tolerance gene – identified by IRRI

scientist David Mackill and U.C. Davis researcher Pamela Ronald – into two important ricevarieties in West Africa (WITA4 and NERICA L-19) that are susceptible to flooding. TheseSub1 varieties will be disseminated to rice farmers in flood-prone areas in Africa.Building on hissuccessful work on drought tolerance at IRRI, Dr. Ramaiah is coordinating an important projectat AfricaRice to identify genes for drought tolerance, anaerobic germination, and iron toxicity.

http://irri.org/avrdc.orghttp://irri.org/avrdc.orghttp://irri.org/avrdc.orghttp://www.icrisat.org/http://www.icrisat.org/http://www.icrisat.org/http://irri.org/images/rice_today/RT14_2scientist2.jpghttp://www.icrisat.org/http://www.icrisat.org/http://irri.org/avrdc.org


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The project is done in partnership with Cornell University, IRRI, and the National Institute ofAgrobiological Sciences in Japan and with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Ramaiah's pioneering work has already led to the identification of extremely promisingmaterial among the more than 2,000 accessions in AfricaRice's genebank .These efforts areexpected to deliver better stress-tolerant varieties to small and poor African rice farmers in

rainfed areas. These varieties will help make the farmers‘ yield and income stable as well as protect them from the threats of climate change.―Despite all the challenges in Africa, it is mostrewarding for me and my team to see the results to products and feel that we are a part of it,‖ saidDr. Ramaiah. ―We feel immensely proud that, with proper resources, we can do research on a par

with the best organizations in the world.‖

Senthilkumar Kalimuthu: A stargazer with feet firmly planted on the groundSenthilkumar Kalimuthu loves astronomy and space science and named his son Majoris, afterone of the largest stars known to mankind. Yet, as a systems agronomist at the Africa RiceCenter (AfricaRice), he has his feet firmly planted on the ground.Born to a farming family inRamanathapuram District in Tamil Nadu in southern India, Dr. Kalimuthu vividly remembers hisschool holidays, which he spent helping his mother on their farm. He recollects the anxiety offarmers in his village as they prayed for rain.―When rain didn‘t come, our rice plants failed to

flower and often we had to harvest feed for cattle instead of food for us,‖ he said.This experienceled him to take up agriculture during his undergraduate studies and focus on water-saving ricecultivation technologies as the topic for his MSc and PhD research so that he could help suchfarmers.Dr. Kalimuthu is justifiably proud that not only did he receive the Thirumathi K.Rangammal Award for his MSc research from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, but also

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because his findings were later disseminated to more than a million farmers in Tamil Naduthrough the Department of Agriculture.His work was so much appreciated that he was able toreceive initial funding from the Dutch government for his doctoral research at WageningenUniversity in The Netherlands. On completion, he became a postdoctoral researcher atWageningen University and later in theFrench National Institute of Agricultural Research in

France.Since he was keen to help rice farmers and make an impact on the ground, Dr. Kalimuthu joined AfricaRice in 2012 as a systems agronomist at the Center‘s regional station in Tanzania.Explaining the potential impact of research in Africa, he said, ―Through agronomy, it is possible

to double the national average rice yield in Tanzania to 4 tons per hectare. Th is ‗potential‘ iswhat drives me to work in and for Africa.‖

Senthilkumar is coordinating the activities of the Agronomy and Mechanization TaskForcesconvened by AfricaRice in Eastern and Southern Africa. He is also monitoring rice R&Dactivities in 12 rice sector development hubs across Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar, Rwanda,and Ethiopia, where he has trained more than 200 rice researchers and 350 rice farmers in riceagronomy, of which 40% are women. He is also supervising students, research assistants, and

some researchers.His studies and experience are helping him to realize his dream of becoming aneminent agronomist. Importantly, the lessons that he learned during his childhood from hismother on their farm are continuing to guide his footsteps.Recounting one such lesson, he saidthat, when he was walking on their farm with his mother, his feet would press on roots of rice plants. He was worried that he was damaging the plants. But his mother assured him thatdestroying rice roots a little would produce more tillers and more yield. ―I didn‘t understand at

that time. But now, through my experiments, I see how the roots get pruned by mechanicalweeding. This helps increase rice tillering and yield. _________________________________________ Ms. Mohapatra is the head of Marketing and Communications at AfricaRice. http://irri.org/rice-today/rice-scientists-from-india-helping-africa?utm_source=IRRI+email+subscriptions&utm_campaign=c05e452278-

RiceToday_Weekly6_01_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c803adc7cf-c05e452278-40925885

Delta needs clear zoning, rice brandCAN THO (VNS) — Growing areas should be clearlyzoned and a national brand should be developed to promoterice from the Mekong Delta, a conference heard in Can Thoon Wednesday.Pham Van Du, deputy chief of the agricultureministry's Cultivation Department, told the conference onlarge-scale field production in the delta that improving theincomes of farmers and rice-trading businesses was among

important measures to promote rice production.NguyenQuoc Viet, deputy head of the Steering Board for theMekong Delta, said the new large-scale field rice productionmodel was first introduced in the Mekong Delta in 2011, andthe area under it had risen from 7,800 hectares in the beginning to 290,000ha by the end of 2014. It had also

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helped improve the quality of the grains and value addition to make them more competitive inthe domestic and overseas markets, he said.The impact of the new model should be assessed andits likely challenges identified in the era of integration, he said.The Government issued adecision in 2013 to encourage a switch to it.

During last year's summer-autumn rice crop, 101 rice trading companies from 13 Mekong provinces signed deals with 88 co-operatives to buy rice grown on 42,605ha under the newmodel.The deputy head of the department, Pham Van Du, said: "The co-operatives establishedfor the large-scale field production model are of great importance. They supply farmers withseeds, fertilisers and agricultural chemicals."Nguyen Tri Ngoc, secretary of the Association ofAgricultural Production and Rural Development, said despite a trade surplus in 2014, thecountry's agriculture had showed weaknesses."Its growth rates went down and the prices of its produce plunged, with the prices of some Vietnamese produce ranking seventh or ninth behindthose from other countries.To make the large-scale model more profitable, farmers must use ricevarieties confirmed by trading businesses, he said. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vn/society/271058/delta-needs-clear-zoning-rice-brand.html

Rice scope expands for jute

Pinak Ghosh

Calcutta, May 31: The Bengal jute mill industry, sufferingfrom a lack of demand, expects orders to improve once thestate government starts procuring paddy directly from

farmers from October and use jute bags to pack the rice.Theoptimism follows the Centre's move to shelve over a decade-old practice of "levy rice". Under this mechanism, ricemillers had to compulsorily supply up to 25 per cent of theirannual produce for public distribution at a rate set by thegovernment.The system was flawed as there was nomechanism to check whether the millers were paying theminimum support price (MSP) to the farmers and notdiverting the better quality grain to the open market.Amongthe major rice producing states, Punjab and Haryana have

already abolished the levy rice system, but it is still prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, AndhraPradesh, Telangana and Bengal.

The Bengal government is sourcing levy rice from about 1,200 millers for sale through ration shops. TheCentre now wants the state government agencies to purchase the paddy directly from farmers by payingMSP, to plug the leakages.Jute bags are the key source of packing rice. Hence, mill owners are hopefulthat the direct purchase will translate into greater demand for bags and discourage packaging in used andillegally imported jute bags from Bangladesh.In a meeting with the members of Indian Jute MillsAssociation (Ijma) earlier this month, the state government had decided to pack 70 per cent of the rice

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produced in the state in new jute bags.Another meeting is scheduled for June 1 to discuss themodalities of sourcing the new bags.Under the new system, the jute mills will be given arequisition from the jute commissioner and, accordingly, bags for packing rice will be suppliedto the millers.However, mill owners are in favour of procurement either through the directorate-general of supplies and disposal or through state government agencies rather than directly

supplying to the millers.Ijma members said the mills in Bengal were suffering on account of ashortage of orders and around 15 units have suspended production."The average capacityutilisation level of the mills still in operation is around 50 per cent. This, however, can go up byat least 5-6 per cent once the government orders start coming in," said a jute mill owner.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150601/jsp/business/story_23205.jsp#.VW2KDM9Viko

Roi Et rice traders convince Singaporean importers of high

quality Thai riceDate : 30 พฤษภาคม 2558

ROI ET, 30 May 2015 (NNT) - Jasmine rice suppliers in Roi Et, led by provincial governorSomsak Changtragul, had a meeting with the manager of Yijia Import And Export Co., Ltd., aSingaporean rice importer as the latter visited the province on Saturday. Mr.Somsak said thatThai entrepreneurs had convinced Singaporean importers of the quality of Roi Et Jasmine rice.The visit followed a roadshow to Singapore that the Thai government conducted on 16-17 May2015. "I believe that business matching between Roi Et rice traders and Singapore importers willhappen very soon, possibly in November this year," said Mr.Somsak. Roi Et Province has so far been successful in growing Jasmine rice particularly at the once-barren zone known as ThungKula Rong Hai. The area currently becomes the best zone for growing Jasmine rice.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/CenterWeb/NewsEN/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNECO5805310010001#sthash.UU5gM30u.dpuf

Revolutionary instant rice from Sri Lankan entrepreneur By Qui ntus Perera

View(s): 547

Hey presto – ‗Instant Rice‘.Giving meaning to the adage ‗failures are the pillars of success‘, a SriLankan entrepreneur is aiming to headline the world with a revolutionary ‗instant rice‘ product.

Waffle cone in the makingHow is it produced? Just boil it for five minutes and a plate of delicious fried rice is ready be itwith prawns, cuttlefish, vegetable or fish. It comes in a pack branded as ‗CanMo‘.Young

entrepreneur Chathuranga Kariawasam from Pelawatte Road, Nugegoda spoke to the BusinessTimes (BT) seated on one of their ‗Roots‘ fresh fruit juice parlours at Nawala Road, Nugegodaand explained the invention and the approach to the world market of ‗CanMo‘


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In 1993, though successful at the GCE A‘ Level

the marks were not enough to enter theuniversity, he said. In response to anadvertisement by Sri JayawardenapuraUniversity for external degress, he became an

external student, is already a graduate inentrepreneurship and hopes to qualify with aMasters Diploma in another two months.Ineligible for university straight after A‘ Levels,he joined Richard Pieris Ltd as a ManagementTrainee and started researching on preserving

fruit salad for six months for export with technical assistance from ITI researchers with Rs. 2.6million granted by the Sri Lanka Agribusiness Council. When the ITI researchers migrated toAustralia half-way through his product development, Mr. Kariawasam struggled for eight yearsusing his own funds but the product failed miserably.

Instant rice being packedHis father, Asoka Kariawasam along with a friend, Rienzie Fernando in 1997 pioneered makingfresh fruit juice with the establishment of ‗Roots‘. They made juice from the fresh fruit rather

than keeping the prepared juice in the refrigerator, a pioneering effort, now with 20 fresh juiceoutlets and a market leader in this trade segment.

He said that the failed fruitsalad preservation projectdiscouraged him but due tothe lecturers‘ persistence in

urging students to innovate,he thought of giving itanother try.Since the familyis in the ice cream businesstoo, he got an idea to makewaffle ice cream cones thatwould be cheap and durable.After eight months ofresearch, he developed anovel waffle ice cream cone

that has a 6-month shelf life and is cheap.Branded as ‗Waffle Boy‘, he manufactures 200,000 permonth and the product is available in all supermarkets, star-class hotels and reputed outlets. Lastweek his company began exporting the cones to Maldives and hopes to export to other countriesas well.The instant rice idea came to him in 2007. When he saw on TV in 2009, soldiers eatingnoodles in the battlefield on the run he was determined to make it a reality as he thought thesoldiers would have preferred rice, if available.

Chathuranga Kariawasam


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Research was carried out with technical assistance by Janitha Liyanage,a lecturer in the Sabaragamuwa University and joined by anotherundergraduate, Ms. H. F. Risna, now a BSc graduate specialised inFood Science and Technology. The trio succeeded with this world classinvention.‗CanMo‘ Instant Fried Rice with prawns, fish, vegetable and

fish in three different packs targets different consumer segments – onewith a bowl that could be used in the microwave oven aimed at the highend consumer and priced at Rs 220; the sachet pack priced at Rs. 100and another pack aimed at low income segment at Rs. 80. All what one

has to do is to open the sachet, put the contents into a pan, either add two cups of boiling wateror boil for five minutes and a sumptuous plate of fried rice of ‗your‘ choice is on the table to eatThe factory is in production at Mirihana .

The product would be available in supermarkets and other reputed outlets.Some 10,000 packswith bowls are produced per month, and around 100,000 sachet packs are produced per day.Theyhave tested the market and hope to reach the entire country. His main target however is exports,

he said, adding that they need large quantities for export.The latest fried rice product should be protected by the concerned state agencies and financial backing should also be provided, hesaid.Mr. Kariawasam has a dream: ―I want to present my case to the government and to the

world, I want to be financially stable and recognised. If I am not well protected and backed byfinance, it would take a long time to fully realise my dream.‖ Mr. Kariawasam could be contacted on [email protected].

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150531/business-times/revolutionary-instant-rice-from-sri-lankan-entrepreneur-150964.html

Midsayap irrigators laud DA for increased rice production

June 01, 2015

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, June 1 (PIA) -- In the past, rice growers in Midsayap, North Cotabato would be satisfied if they harvested 80 sacks from each hectare.But this,changed lately, according these farmers, after the Department of Agriculture poured inseveral interventions to the town‘s irrigators‘ associations. Dante Cudal, president of theMidsayap – Pigcawayan – Libungan – Kabuntalan Federation of Irrigators‘ Association(MPLKIA), said since 2013 when DA 12 started implementing projects , they have beenenjoying harvest of up to 140 sacks per hectare ―MPLKIA received P17.4-M worth of projects from DA 12 from 2011 to 2014.The biggest project given to us was the P16-M Rice Processing Center (RPC( II,‖ Cudaldisclosed. Besides the state-of-the-art rice processing facility, the IA federation also receivedfour-wheel drive tractor (P1.3-M);, flatbed dryer (P506, 000), and hand tractor (P106, 000).Another farmer-leader Danilo Tacan, president of Libris 5 Chrislam Irrigators‘ Association ofBarangay San Isidro also lauded DA‘s farm mechanization program, which he added hasresulted in 110-140 cavans per hectare being enjoyed by their members. Each cavan weighs55 kilograms.―We received hand tractor with trailer (P106, 000) and one floating tiller (P88,

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000) from DA 12,‖ Tacan said.Similar increase in rice production was also recorded by ricegrower-members of Settlers IA (SIA) of Barangay Lower Katingawan after being granted withalmost P1-M worth of farm machines and postharvest facility from the Department.

Meanwhile, Wilson Macoy, president of SIA, acknowledged DA 12 for giving them flatbed

dryer (P625, 000), rice thresher (P 95, 000), and power tiller (P93, 000) which they have beenutilizing in bolstering their farms‘ productivity.―These farm machines such as floating tillershortened the time spent for land preparation‖ Tacan remarked.These farmer associatons also

attributed the increase in rice production in the improvement of their farm-to-market road for amore convenient and faster transportation of products to the town‘s market.Better and qualityroad also reduced our transportation costs and improved our mobility and even motivated us toincrease our palay production which gives us bigger incomes,‖ Cudal commented.

Apart from the aforementioned, members of these farmer associations have also beenrecipients of certified seeds from DA 12, which they agreed has also boosted their production capacity that they added could greatly contribute to the achievement of the rice

self-sufficiency goal of the national government.With these bountiful harvests, farmer-members of the associations are more confident they could send their children to college and provide for the basic needs of their respective families.In their words, these farmer-leadershave expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the Department of Agriculture led by SecretaryProceso Alcala, and Regional Executive Director Amalia Jayag-Datukan for addressing theneeds of the farmers engaged in rice farming.―I hope the DA will continue its undying service tothe rice farmers,‖ Cudal said challenging his fellow farmers to be proactive in submitting

proposals for their desired projects to the DA.Cudal also added that ―Department of Agriculturewill always be our number one partner towards community development.‖(CRMatullano/LMSalvo-DA-RAFIS/DEDoguiles-PIA 12)

http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1611433138045/midsayap-irrigators-laud-da-for-increased-rice-

production#sthash.aBMmbmtt.dpuf

Synthetic rice issue aimed at hampering development

of analog rice: Economic expert The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Sun, May 31 2015, 2:02 PM

National News

Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) economist Enny Sri Hartati hassaid the synthetic rice issue is just part of an effort to impede the development of analogrice."Currently, a number of research institutes and universities are developing analog rice in aneffort to increase food diversity in Indonesia,‖ said Enny as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on

Sunday.The expert said analog rice was a fo

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