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#11, #7

Editorial Board

Basmati Exports and Expectations

Rice in 2011-12- Market Insights

SRI: Colossal Hope for Threatening Paddy Demand

Rice Scientist Interview

Editorial Note

Country Specific Information

What You Must Know About Rice

Direct Seeding-A New Revolution for Rice Sector

Water Scarcity and Rice Production

Current News

Rice Trade with India-An opportunity or Threat

Contents

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Rice plus Magazine is owned, managed and published by Induss Pak Corporation, Lahore represented by Hamid Malik, which is outsourced to Institute of Research Promotion (IRP). All the rights of ownership, reprinting, editing and copyrights are reserved with Induss Pak Corporation. No responsibility is assumed by Induss Pak Corporation for any kind of contribution/published material by authors.

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Global rice industry is passing through a very difficult time and same is true for rice industry in subcontinent.

There is a flood of supplies and rice exporting countries are lowering their prices in competition. The India

has entered in global markets with plenty of supplies and lowest prices, as compared to Thailand, Vietnam

and Pakistan. India started export of Non Basmati rice with a difference of US$150 per ton than Thailand. In

India, President of All India Rice Exporters Association (body of private sector millers) criticised the

decision of low Minimum Export Price (MEP) set by Indian Government for Non Basmati export. In

retaliation Pakistan gradually started lowering its prices and then Vietnam did the same thing.

Thailand initially resisted losing African market and Indonesian orders due to high prices. After that Thailand

started lowering their offers. Good crop and eventually low prices from Cambodia and entry of Brazil as a

major exporter of rice made the situation more difficult for Thailand, due to relatively high priced rice

exports. Basmati sector situation in India is quite different from Pakistan. Production of Basmati in India is

higher than last year (arrival in mundies of Haryana state till mid of Decembers 11 is 4.64 million tons as

compared to last year 4.16 M.T during same period. Enhanced arrival of Basmati in India resulted in less price

for farmers this year (Ave.1625 Indian Rupee/100 kg as compared to last year (I.R 2200/100 kg). In Pakistan

it is quite different, as main basmati variety Super Basmati is less by 20-25% as compared to last year and

paddy price is 10-15% more. This has put Pakistani Basmati exporters in a very difficult situation and

Pakistan Basmati export quantitatively is less by 4.8 %. Parboiling sector is even in more difficult situation

especially in Pakistan.

Less demand in Nigeria and Iran is the main reason. Lately India and Pakistan has been able to sell to Iraq by

beating the prices of Vietnam, USA and Thailand.

It seems that global rice prices will remain under pressure, at least till First quarter of New Year. Thai and

Philippine flood has not impacted price recession so far.

Hamlik

Chief Editor

riceplus@irp.edu.pk

Editorial Note

Form the Desk of Chief Editor

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!!!!

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Hamid Malhi, President Basmati Growers Association

Basmati rice export during 2010-11 was 975, 588

million ton (MT) worth $823.16 million as per details

available from the Quality Review Committee report.

Iran is the second biggest importer with 155,903 MT

of Basmati imports at an average unit price of $580

per ton which is $264 /MT less than the $844 /MT

average price of total Basmati exports during this

year. The average unit price of $581 per MT in the

case of Iran is astonishingly low (at $20.32 per 40 kg,

at Rs 86 per , it works out to be Rs.1998 per 40 kg.)

This is much below even the domestic market rates of

Basmati in the country which have remained above

Rs.2200/per 40 kg even at the lowest rates during the

year. Now the question is, whether it is under

invoicing or exports of blended rice being labeled as

Basmati, and making Pakistan suffer a lot? In case if

it is under invoicing, it can only be checked by

imposition of Minimum Export Price (MEP) for all

Basmati exports. India has adopted this regulatory

procedure and has not abandoned it, and still retains it

at $900 a ton for Basmati exports. If it is blending of

Basmati with Non Basmati long grain rice to sell at a

low price, it surely will affect the quality of pure

Basmati as a premium rice variety, fetching more than

double the price of other rices varieties sold in the

world.Quality Review Committee (QRC) needs to

standardize accepted Basmati varieties which do not

allow admixture of Non Basmati varieties above

10%. Even Thai rice, a low quality rice is selling

around $560 per ton is strangely low by $338 per ton

a l s o , i n compar i s on t o $918 pe r M T

at which Basmati rice was sold to the Gulf States.

This is a sheer wastage of this precious commodity at

such low rates and

loss of foreign

e a r n i n g s a l s o .

Secondly, out of the

108 countries to

which Basmati rice

was exported last year, it was below 100 tons to 38

countries, below 1000 tons and above 100 tons to 29

countries, below 10,000 tons and above 1000 tons to

26 countries, below 100,000 tons and above 10,000

tons to 13 countries. Above 100,000 tons there were

only two countries, UAE being the first with 264,596

tons and Iran being the second with 155,903 tons.

Conclusively above 10,000 tons of Basmati exports

were restricted to just 15 countries. Basmati exports

to USA were 16,229 tons while 46,710 tons Basmati

was exported to EU, 21,902 tons to Australia and a

mere 158 tons to 4 countries of South America.

There is a dire need to increase and expand exports

in the presence of surplus stocks of pure Basmati rice

available. S

ourc

e: :

Ric

e E

xpor

tAss

ocia

tion

of

P

akis

tan,

2011

Quantity of Basmati & Non Basmati Rice Exported From July to June (Year Wise)

Quantity in the export of Basmati rice form Pakistan indicates an increasing demand of Pakistani rice in other parts of the world.

Year QTY(MT)AVG Unit

Price($)FOB Price

2007-08 850,638 971 828,156,429

2008-09 924,358 1102 1,018,780,261

2009-10 1,050,052 825 866,659,973

2010-11 1,137,943 837 952,694,304

Total 3,962,991 3735 3,666,290,967

200720072007---080808 200820082008---090909 200920092009---101010 201020102010---111111

QTY(MT)QTY(MT)QTY(MT) 850,638850,638850,638 924,358924,358924,358 1,050,0521,050,0521,050,052 1,137,9431,137,9431,137,943

AVG Unit Price($)AVG Unit Price($)AVG Unit Price($) 971971971 110211021102 825825825 837837837

000200,000200,000200,000400,000400,000400,000600,000600,000600,000800,000800,000800,000

1,000,0001,000,0001,000,0001,200,0001,200,0001,200,000

Basmati Basmati Basmati (Quantity Basis)(Quantity Basis)(Quantity Basis)

Non Basmati rice has experienced bit slowdown as compared to last year but better than 2008.

May-June 2008

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

QTY(MT) 264,223 2,005,703 3,557,501 2,553,664

AVG Unit Price($) 885 511 393 444

01,000,0002,000,0003,000,0004,000,000

Non Basmati (Quantity Basis)Year QTY(MT)

AVG Unit

Price($)FOB Price

May-June 2008 264,223 885 233,740,085

2008-09 2,005,703 511 1,025,745,670

2009-10 3,557,501 393 1,399,147,769

2010-11 2,553,664 444 1,138,453,132

Total 8,381,091 2233 3,797,086,656

Basmati Exports and Expectations

If India can double their

Basmati rice exports in just

a span of 3 years, why

Pakistan not?

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Mohammad Asif , Atlas Foods (Pvt.Ltd), Pakistan

Total world production of rice (forecast 2011-12). World rice production (milled basis) in 2011/12 is projected to be 3 MT higher than previously, at a record 461m. Due to increased forecasts for several leading Asian producers; notably India, where prospects for this year's main (kharif) outturn remained excellent. Larger supplies will boost consumption of Asian countries, especially China and India, resulting in a 10 MT increase in global use with production set to exceed consumption for the seventh consecutive year, the 2011/12 carryover is projected to rise to a nine-year high of 101.2m. tons (97.8m.). Inventories in the major exporters are forecasted to rise from 14% to 33.2 MT.

Floods lost in different countries. Thailand is reported to be most worse affected country by the flood, with expected loss of 7 million tons of the Paddy (If flooding remains persist with same momentum). There are confirmed reports regarding floods loss in Burma which has reached to 02 million tons of the paddy rice. In the Philippine, the flood damage has climbed from initial projection of 350,000 to 1 million tons. Reports are also received from Local Traders which indicate the loss of 0.60 million tons of the paddy loss there. The total from these three countries would touch the loss of 10 million tons of the paddy. Some parts of Vietnam are also affected, constituting the loss of 0.10 million tons. Southern areas of Pakistan are also affected by the natural climate but its impact will not hurt exports or domestic needs.

Price trend in rice exporting countries. The trend of price in various countries is quite inconsistent where the price gap of 50 to 150% exists in the same grade of rice. Thai Government has started purchases at US$ 480 PMT (Paddy Price) from the farmers as announced where the exports price will become indigestible by the overseas importers. Though the floods have damaged extensive areas of the Thailand but it is not the reason for increment in the price but it is totally appended with the Government intervention in purchases. Floods cannot be claimed for high prices because it is the government owned policies of exporting countries. It can also be caused due to shift of world demand from one country to another and logistics etc. The price escalation in Vietnam is actually owing to biggest deals of exports with Indonesia (400,000-700,000 tons) in September, 2011 only.

The contracts sealed before waving off ban on export of rice by the Indian Government. Vietnam still have huge orders pending to furnish but increase in prices has caused some of middle or lower ranking exporters to default or near to bankruptcy. This market is also affected by the increased prices in Thailand, resulting the same for local market in Vietnam.The markets which has fetched the interest of rice buyer is India. Wave off ban from Long Grain Rice has relaxed the market after three years and provides excellent opportunity for India to liquidate huge stocks of this production and pressure of carryover stocks. India has allowed export of 2 million tons but they have firm plan to export more than 5 million tons of the long grain rice with pleasure. It is very excellent crop this year which would help India to feed the world rice with at least 7.0 million tons. It is also the most competitive market in long grain segment where most of the offers are in range of US$ 465 to 475 PMT (05% Broken) while Vietnam is standing at US$ 570-580 PMT and Thailand is at 610-620 PMT on FOB basis. Pakistani market is now at US$ 480 to US$ 485 PMT FOB Karachi which is reduced from US$ 510 PMT within 10 days as the demand was shifted towards India. Now it all depends upon the policy of Indian Government to keep its ban opened to feed the world with rice production of 5.0 million tons or not. As far as Thai Government is concerned, it has to be stick at announced prices in purchases. It also depends on the demand of Philippine, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh. This year the prices are associated with the nerves of Indain and Thailand Governments where market can be changed to any side.

Rice in 2011-12- Market Insights

Continued

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In case,

Basmati production in India. It is expected to increase by 1 MT in 2011-12 due to good weather

conditions in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pardesh. The nation produced 6.5 MT of Basmati rice in

2010-11 which is expected to record 15.3 % growth to 7.5 MT in 2011-12 harvest. Punjab accounts for 70-

75% of India's Basmati rice output. According to the Vijay Setia, President of All India Rice Exporter

Association, the quality of the paddy and good weather condition is likely to push up Basmati production this

year upto 10%.

Thailand surrenders, the price will come down but if India surrenders it will remain at higher node.

Pakistani rice market

Secondly the Basmati rice exports are 10% more as

compared to last year wherein Super Basmati brown

rice has also contributed around 180,000 tons and

still under heavy exports. Pakistan has exported

nearly 4.20 million tons of the rice till the end of

September, 2011 which consequently reduced the

pressure of carryover stocks of the last year. The

expected prices of Super Basmati Paddy would be at

Rs. 1300 to 1350/40 kg. A good competition among

millers can be seen as they are well prepared with

complete logistics to procure paddy of Super Basmati

rice. Basmati crop is quite healthy and there is no

lodging observed in any part of Pakistan till now.

The total Basmati production is around 2.0 million

tons with consumption only 0.5 million tons locally

while rest is subjected for exports. The carryover

stocks condition in Pakistan is less satisfactory.

Pakistani market had not carryover stocks more than

800,000 tons including Basmati and Non Basmati of

all types till end of FY-2011 after which around

600,000 tons has been exported already and rest will

be around 200,000

tons.

Pakistan always stands among top five exporting

countries in the world and has a very remarkable

impact on the price trend. The expected rice

production for the year 2011-12 would be 6.8 million

tons where the export target is set to be 4.5 million

tons. The target cannot be achieved easily because

Pakistan has exported 3.6 million tons in the year

2010-11 even faced the loss of 1.5 million tons due

to floods. Pakistani market is surviving only on the

basis of their carryover stocks of year 2009-10 when

huge production was received.

The rice crop is quite healthy and affected by the

floods to very least level. The harvesting of long grain

crops (KS-282, IRRI-06 and PK-386) is at its peak

now. Though the prices are very competitive than the

last year but due to wave off ban by the Indian

Government from long grain varieties, there is shift

of demand from Pakistan to India. Due to this,

Pakistan has reduced its prices to the level of Indian

long grains so importers fully adhere with them.

The cultivated area for Basmati segment is reducing

due as major focus is being on PK-386-KS-282 and

1121 Extra Long Grain Rice as compared to last year.

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onventionally it is believed that the rice was domesticated in China. Rice provides 20 % of the

world's food supply energy. It is a good source of thiamin, riboflavin and niacin. Unmilled rice Ccontains significant dietary fiber. Amino acid profile of rice shows that it is high in glutamic acid and

aspartic acid, while lysine is limiting amino acid. Rice is rich in genetic diversity, with thousands of varieties

grown around the world. The colorful varieties like brown, red, purple and even black of rice are often valued

for their healing properties. Unmilled rice has a high nutrient content of milled white rice or polished. There

are also lots of sweets and candy based rice. There are enough differences between the various types of rice in

terms of cooking time and texture of cooked rice. Short- grain of rice is very starchy and cooks soft and sticky.

Long-grain rice contains less starch. Basmati are long-grain varieties that have been cultivated to bring out

the distinctive flavor profiles. Brown rice is a whole grain, in the sense that it is the germ of the wheat bran and

parts have been preserved. In white rice, these have been polished away. As a result, brown rice is higher in

magnesium and other minerals. It also has more fiber. For example, a cup of white long-grain rice contains

only one gram of fiber, while a cup of brown rice contains four. One of the things that fiber does for you is to

slow the rate at which carbohydrates are converted into sugar in the blood.

1. More than 90 %of the world's rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where people basically eat rice two

or three times a day. Rice is the staple food of half of the world population.

2. Rice cultivation has been traced back to about 5,000 BC.

3. Hundreds of millions of poor people spend half to three quarters of their income on rice and rice alone.

4. To plow 1 hectare of land in the traditional way, a farmer and his water buffalo has to travel 80 km.

5. It takes 5,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of rice irrigated. An average Asian consumer eats 150 kg of

Asian rice per year as compare to the average of a European who eats 5 kg.

6. In several Asian languages the word for 'food' and 'rice' are identical.

7. Rice is thrown on the newlyweds as a symbol of fertility, luck and wealth.

8. 65 kg of rice are milled annually for every person on earth.

Rice (Oryza sativa)

Nutritional

value g (3.5oz)per 100

Rice (Oryza sativa) Nutritional

100 value per g (3.5) Energy 1,527 kJ (365 kcal) Thiamine (Vit. B 1) 0.0701 mg (6%)

Carbohydrate 80 g Riboflavin (Vit. B 2) 0.0149 mg (1%)

Sugar 0.12 g Niacin (Vit. B 3) 1.62 mg (11%)

Dietary fiber 1.3 g Pantothenic acid (B5) 1.014 mg (20%)

Fat 0.66 g Vitamin B 6 0.164 mg (13%)

Protein 7.13 g Calcium 28 mg (3%)

Water 11.61 g Iron 0.80 mg (6%) Magnesium 25 mg (7%) Potassium 115 mg (2%)

Manganese 1.088 mg (52%) Zinc 1.09 mg (11%) Phosphorus 115 mg (16%) Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Dr .Muhammad Tahir , Assistant Professor (Agronomy) University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.

Facts You Must Know

Nutritional Facts: It is a nutritious staple food for most of the world population.

The following table gives an idea about its nutritional value.

What You Must Know About Rice

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Further, this system has been promoted by many scientists, the most famous Professor Dr. Norman Uphoff,who contributed well through his research activities for the uplift of the SRI. Recently, there is enough literature on strong scientific basis that can reflect the effectiveness of this system to mitigate the food security problems of rice worldwide. This system is getting importance among research sector and institutions because of its attractive results and now it is being practiced in many Asian countries. In several recent publications, it has been suggested that SRI represents an integrated and agro-ecologically sound approach to irrigated rice cultivation, which may offer new opportunities for location-specific production systems of small farmers. SRI is basically a management system that includes certain key elements viz. Transfer of younger seedlings of 8 to 15 days before

ththe initiation of 4 phyllochron Widely spaced transplanting single seedling per hill in a square pattern of 25cm x 25 cm and even more up to 30cm x 30cm depending upon the soil fertility status of the soil Intermittent irrigation (muddy condition during vegetative growth stage) before panicle initiation (PI) rather flood irrigation or submerged conditions and shallow water management from PI to maturity Addition of nutrients to the soil preferably in organic forms like compost or other organic amendments instead of chemical fertilizers Intensive manual or mechanical weed control without herbicide use starting 10 days after transplanting and continuing until the canopy closes. SRI advocates have claimed that this approach would permit resource-poor farmers to attain very high yields with infertile soil, without mineral fertilizer input and with reduced irrigation and fewer seeds. The key physiological principle behind the principal SRI measures is the acceleration of growth rate by providing optimal growing conditions which are responsible for enhanced tillering and shortened phyllochrons. Furthermore, intermittent irrigation is believed to improve oxygen supply to rice roots, thereby decreasing aerenchyma formation and causing a stronger, healthier root system with potential advantages for nutrient uptake. SRI promises to overcome the current food security issues due to increasing population and increasing food demand. There is dire need of research work on SRI under climatic conditions of Pakistan whereas a lot of research work is being worked out in many countries worldwide and fruitful results have been reported by many renowned scientists and research workers.

1 2

3

4

5

ndRice is the 2 most important cereal cash crop and one of the main export items of Pakistan. Its cultivation is

provisionally estimated on an area of 2883 thousand hectares with annual production of 6883 thousand tons in 2009-10 i.e. 1% less than the last year 2008-09. It accounts for 6.4 % of value added in agriculture and 1.4 % in GDP.Rice production worldwide doubled in reverence to advanced technologies with the advent of green revolution from 1960s to 1980s. As the population is continuously increasing day by day, this increase in rice production has slackened and needs management practices that can enhance its yield to cope with the increasing demand for paddy to feed the mammoth population. Scientists have to develop certain techniques or methodologies to cope with the food security challenges and to omit the hunger for increased livelihood.

For this purpose an effective system had been introduced since 1980s that is promising for momentous increase in the yield of rice. This system is known as “System of Rice Intensification (SRI)” a crop and resource management system which requires minimum use of inputs but surprisingly promises robust growth of plants with almost doubled the yield obtained under normal or conventional practices. SRI was developed by Henri de Laulaini in 1980s at the Uplands of Madagascar. Farmers obtained reliable yields ranging from 7

-1to 15 t ha in the succeeding years on low inherent fertile soils, reduced application of irrigation, and without the use of chemical fertilizer or other agricultural chemicals.

Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Assistant Research Officer, Sugarcane Section, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad

SRI: Colossal Hope for Threatening Paddy Demand

Farhan Khalid, Dr. Azraf-Ul-Haq Ahmad and NaeemFiaz1 1 2

Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Assistant Research Officer, Sugarcane Section, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad.

1

2

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Rice plus: How Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kaku (RRI-KSK) works for research innovation and commercialization?

Dr. Akhtar: Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku is responsible for research and development of rice varieties in the country, particularly for Punjab province. The institute has developed 18 varieties so far. Our main mandate is to develop high yield, long and soft grain varieties having micro and macro nutrients with excellent cooking qualities. We care for standards to ensure the physiochemical properties of rice varieties. Rice plus: What are milestone achievements in rice research, so far?

Dr. Akhtar: Luckily a number of rice varieties are appreciated by international consumers due to its aroma and long grain qualities. We had developed first Basmati 370, known as the father of basmati varieties in INDO-PAK continent. Other varieties include Basmati Pak, IR6, Basmati 198, KS282, Basmati 385, Super Basmati, Basmati 2000, KSK 133 and Basmati515. We use to arrange training programmes for the capacity building of our team in collaboration with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and offer international organizations on regular basis. The core power of agriculture are farmers who are also involved in dissemination of knowledge and information. Rice plus: What is the situation of Rice related research in the country and inherent problems?

Dr. Akhtar: I believe that we are facing lack of R&D and losing opportunities. At the same time Industry is more powerful and looking for quality results. They are well informed that development process of new varieties takes at least 10-15 years to give mature results. On the other hand our framer is becoming more vigilant, having business attitude and interested to get consultancy from his/her colleagues and other expertise. I must mention the major constraint in utilization of funds as only 20% is available to spend on R&D while 80% is consumed in the projects on other operational activities. We have to work on the consistent basis to get efficient and timely outputs.Rice plus: Pakistan is struggling to export long grain rice Basmati like “SHARBATI” to India .Is RRI-KSK trying to develop new non-basmati variety suitable for parboiling?

Dr. Akhtar: Yes, RRI-KSK is working to develop non Basmati rice variety Pk434. This high yielding variety, having traits of effective legalization is suitable for Parboiling.Rice plus: Recently new Indian Variety C1121 is giving very tough time to Pakistan in international rice market due to its extra length (8.25 MM). Is RRI-KSK planning to produce compatible variety for Pakistani rice exporters? Dr. Akhtar: RRI has already developed a new Basmati variety, which has been approved by concerned authority in Pakistan. You will be aware that C1121 is primarily Non Basmati variety (having both parents of Non Basmati origin).Initially it was launched in India and being exported as Non-Basmati. Later on due to manipulation of Indian Agriculture Ministry and Farmers Lobby, it got approved as Basmati. Interestingly, EU has yet not approved it as a Basmati yet. Our new variety PK515 has following characteristics as; - Fulfills the criteria of Basmati definition - Crop maturity is 10 days than Super Basmati - AGL is 8mm plus with Basmati aroma.

Dr. M. Akhtar

Director

Rice Research Institute

Kala Shah Kaku, Pakistan

Dr. Muhammad Akhtar is a well known personality in rice research sector of Pakistan. He did his M.sc honors in “Plant Building and Genetics”. In 1995, he was awarded P.hD degree in “Gene and Environmental Effects” from USA. He started his career in Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku in 1995 as senior research officer with the responsibility to develop new varieties and revise breeding strategies. Now he is working here as Director RRI-KSK. He has shared interesting features regarding rice research with Rice plus team for the information of readers.

Rice Scientist Interview

Continued

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Rice plus: What steps you have taken to make our rice

export more competitive and stable?(In terms of technology,

quality, workforce/human resource, and customer services)

Dr. Akhtar: Make value addition, build trust and keep

an eye for future demands. For example extraction of rice

bran oil and its export can earn huge profit, more than 2.l

billion annually. So there are many areas where we can grow

and give results of high yielding varieties that will be

appreciated at both national and international level.

Rice plus: How India is affecting the trade of Pakistani rice

particularly in respect to Pakistan interest? (In terms of rice

branding, marketing, pricing, scenarios)

Dr. Akhtar: Indian companies purchase Pakistani Basmati Rice from Bombay market and supply to

the International market by their own brand names. India is enjoying monopoly in international market

through its media hegemony. India is taking edge by its batter market orientation policy. While rice

exporters of Pakistan mix the unapproved varieties with approved varieties that spoil the quality of

Basmati rice. Moreover, Indian Govt. is subsidizing rice farmer community which results in low cost

production of rice commodity as compared to Pakistan.

Rice plus: Do you see opportunities for new investors/entrepreneurs in rice sector?

Dr. Akhtar: Yes, there are number of opportunities for new investors. New comers can identify new

varieties, collect basic data, and develop linkages with organizations as REAP and TDAP etc. I would

advise entrepreneurs to work out on problems with positive energy for an appropriate solution. They can

also work to propose organic rice varieties as well.

Rice plus: What are your future plans?

Dr. Akhtar: Our future plans are

- To develop high yielding, early maturing and short stature rice varieties having better

grain quality and resistance against insect pests and diseases

- To develop genetic resources by import of novel genetic material from China & IRRI to

run breeding programme successfully

- To train the Rice Breeders especially in the field of hybrid seed production technology

- To establish new rice grain quality laboratory

- To develop technologies regarding Parboiled rice and Bran Oil Production

Rice plus: In your opinion, what steps should be taken to enhance economy& to increase R&D

innovations?

Dr. Akhtar: Subsidy may be provided on fertilizers, seed and electricity to the farmers. Availability

of drying and storing facilities of paddy must be ensured for the farmers. Paddy should be purchased from

the farmers at reasonable price. The millers have to be facilitated for the establishment of well equipped

labs for rice quality and purity analysis. The exporters should be facilitated for DNA and aflatoxin analysis

by establishing the well equipped labs. Mixing of unapproved varieties should be checked and

discouraged. The Government must ensure supply of fertilizer during the rice crop season at reasonable

prices. The government should provide the facility of dryers to farmers because mechanized harvesting is

being done on high moisture level that causes the aflatoxin disease and ultimately affects the export of the

good quality rice. The research department should develop high yielding and extra long Basmati rice

varieties. Extra long grain Non-Basmati varieties should be developed for parboiling.

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Saudi Arabia does not produce rice as it requires a lot of water which is a scarce resource domestically.

Saudi rice import in 2010 is forecasted to increase by 4 percent to about 1.1 million metric tons. Saudi

rice import for 2011 is forecasted to reach about 1.1 MMT which is an increase of 4 percent compared

to 2010 import level. With an estimated 56 percent market share in 2010, India has continued to dominate the

Saudi rice market, followed by Pakistan (17%), Thailand (12%) and U.S. (11%) of Saudi rice imports in 2010.

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Consumption 950 975 1025 1075 1150 1193 1157 1100 1085 1100 1150

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Saudi Arabia Milled Rice Consumption by Year

MT

in

Tho

usan

d

Sou

rce:http://ww

w.indexm

undi.com

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Imports 1053 938 1150 1500 1357 958 1166 1072 1069 1100 1150

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Saudi Arabia Milled Rice Imports by Year

MT

in

Tho

usan

dSaudi Arabia

Country Specific Information

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Dr. Mubarik Ali, Chief Executive Punjab Agricultural Research Board, Lahore

Delay in rice transplanting

Low plant population (approximately 60,000 plants compared to 80,000 plants/acres recommended) causing 15-20% reduction in yield

Reduction not only in rice yield but also wheat yield due to delay in transplanting

Social tension among rural communities to grab the transplanting labor first

Drudgery for workers while performing the job under difficult environment.

Prepare the land and bring it in water condition just like for wheat until June 1st

Soak 15 kg/acre good quality seed for two hours

Dry the seed by spreading it on a piece of cloth

Sow the seed by giving cross-chatta in two different cross directions

Level the field (i.e., give sohagha) so soil cover the seed not more than 3 inch of depth

Give light irrigation immediate after sowing

Repeat light irrigation after every 5 days until the booting stage when two heavy irrigations are needed. After that stage, again use the light irrigation after every 7 days.

Direct Seeding-A New Revolution for Rice Sector

In order to overcome these problems, Punjab Agricultural Research

Board (PARB) funded a research project on “Standardization and

popularization of direct seeding to increase rice productivity and

resource conservation” to Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kaku

(RRI-KSK), at a cost of Rs. 13.908 million. The main objective of the

project was to develop an alternative to transplanting so that the crop

can be grown in a field condition similar to wheat crop. This will not

eliminate all the ill consequence of transplanting operation but also

reduce water requirements for the crop and increase its productivity

per unit area. While briefing about current status of the project, Chief

Executive PARB Dr. Mubarik Ali announced that standardization of

the technology in terms of seed soaking & drying, seed rate, number and intensity of irrigation, weedicide

control, and variety for DS technology have already been completed during the last two years

experimentation at RRI-KSK who has declared the following standard practices for DS:

anual transplanting of rice is the most arduous job being performed since decades

in Pakistan. About one million workers, mostly women, enter into the standing Mwater under the scorching heat to complete rice transplanting in Punjab. To remain

on time, the operation must be completed within first half of July, thus creating an immense

demand pressure for the available transplanting workers. Increasingly the rural labor willing to perform this

job is getting short with the following consequences:

PARB's Output Oriented

Research has Started Generating Impact: DS Technology will Bring Prosperity in the Rice

Sector

It is expected that heavy infestation of weeds will emerge. For this farmers have to use two post- emergence

weedicide sprays within 15 days after sowing. If some weed patched persist, use selective spray to completely

eliminate the weeds from the field. All the process must be completed within first 30 days of the crop

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The Chief Executive PARB, Dr. Mubarik Ali, while briefing the benefit of DS indicated that it can decrease the cost of rice cultivation on account of saving in puddling and transplanting operations. In addition, it will reduce the drudgery involved in cultivating rice, save water, and increase yield. The quality of Basmati sown under DS has already been tested by the RRI-KSK seed lab, and result indicates that the practice does not alter its quality.

After standardization of DS technology, the RRI-KSK put the DS experiments on twenty farmers' field throughout Punjab under the direct supervision of project staff. The plot size of such experimental plot was kept around 2 acres. The farmers were provided with free seed, fertilizer, weedicide and technical guidance, while all the operations are conducted by the farmers themselves. Some farmers tested the technology on their own at larger fields.

The Chief Executive PARB, Dr. Mubarik Ali along with Dr. Muhammad Akhtar, Director RRI-KSK visited several farmers' sites where DS experiment is being tested, and had a detailed discussion with the farmers. They noted the following comments of farmers about DS:

All farmers confirmed Rs. 4000-5000/acre net saving in cost and 50% saving in water, but increase in yield could not be confirmed as the crop was in booting stage.

We will practice DS even though it provides equal yield to the transplanted field.

You have saved us from a hell. It is “manna” from heaven for farmers.

We will increase DS area significantly next year. Some says it can go up to 100%.

The DS will replace whatever little area is transplanted mechanically.

Tremendous saving in water will completely change the environment of Punjab.

The practice will lead to increase the cropping intensity of the rice-wheat system, as it removes two major constraints on the expansion of rice area: labor and water.

Looking at the response of farmers, Dr. Muhammad Akhtar Director RRI-KSK believes that the technology will spread over 1 million acre within next 3-4 years. Dr. Akhtar cautioned that the success of DS technology highly depends upon the quality of weedicide and its precise use to control weeds that emerge immediate after DS of rice seed in the water fields. Therefore, government should monitor the quality of weedicide in the market.

Dr. Akhtar further noted the adoption of DS technology can be zoomed if the RRI-KSK remains in touch with farmers and guide them on the intricacies of the technologies. For this the support of PARB and Extension Wing of Agriculture Department will be required. Dr. Ali assured the support of PARB and suggested to work together in collaboration with Extension Wing and

private sector to chalk out a commercialization strategy for the spread of DS technology at large scale. He pointed out that the adoption of DS on one million will save Rs 4.5 billion of the Punjabi farmers with research project cost of just Rs. 14 million. The Chief Executive PARB, Dr. Mubarik Ali believes that well focused and coordinated research with clear eyes on research output, like the one on DS, can bring revolution in rural areas. He emphasized that the farming community and Punjab Government should support the efforts of PARB to bring the fruits of science and technology to stakeholders, especially for farmers. He asserted that PARB holds the key for not only reinvigorating the agriculture sector, but also to reduce food cost, generate employment in rural areas, and improve international competitiveness of the Punjab's agriculture.

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t is well known fact that rice is water loving crop and undoubtedly one of the most precious resources. About50% out of 150 million hectares irrigated land of the world become a victim of floods for most of the crop season. Rice is usually grown as a monoculture with two crops per year. Irrigated rice field I

needs about 24-30% freshwater resources, now facing severe water shortage. The main reasons are; decreasing physical availability through falling groundwater tables and silting of reservoirs; chemical pollution and salinization; malfunctioning of irrigation systems and increased competition from other sectors like urban and industrial users. It is estimated that by 2025, 15-20 million hectares of irrigated rice will suffer from some degree of water scarcity. Efficiency in the use of water is critical to reduce poverty and safeguard food security in water-scarce areas in Asia.

Water saving techniques in rice in the past 15-20 years, has made considerable progress for promoting guidelines to reduce irrigation input in puddled transplanted rice. This includes: 1) Constructing field channels to process water into individual fields (or small groups of fields) in canal irrigated areas instead of field to field irrigation, good bund preparation and maintenance, good leveling, tillage before land soaking to help close cracks rapidly, and maintaining a shallow flood water depth (minimum of about 5 cm.). 2) Safe alternate wetting and drying( AWD) is 'intermittent irrigation' or 'controlled irrigation' which allows the soil to dry for a few days between irrigations, has tremendously helped farmers in some areas with limited water to continue rice farming. In AWD, irrigated water is applied to maintain flood conditions after a certain number of days. The number of days of non flooded soil in AWD before irrigation can be from 1 day up to 10 days. Around flowering, (from first week before to one week after the peak of flowering), ponded water should be kept at 5 cm in depth to avoid any water stress that would result in severe yield loss. The threshold of 15 cm is called 'Safe AWD” as this will not cause any yield decline since the roots of the rice plants will still be able to take up water from the saturated soil and the perched water in the rootzone. In Safe AWD, water savings may be relatively small, in the order of 15%, but there is no yield penalty. Safe AWD does not reduce yield to a great extent and farmers may experiment by lowering the threshold level for irrigation to 20, 25, 30 cm, or even deeper. Some yield penalty may be acceptable when the price of water is high or when it is very scarce. In some cases, farmers were also able to expand areas where irrigated rice can be grown. 3) Dry-seeding is the sowing of dry seeds into dry or moist, non-puddled soil. This can allow for quicker land preparation and reduces the irrigation water required for crop establishment as “soil puddling” is not required. With dry seeding, the crop can be established and start growing from the onset of water availability. Dry seeding can increase the effective use of rainfall and reduce irrigation needs. However, dry seeding with subsequent flooding is only possible in clayey soils with low permeability and poor internal drainage. Dry seeded rice with Safe AWD is also cultivated in areas having mild water scarcity, with the goal of getting the same yields as that of continuously flooded and puddled transplanted rice. Water requirements can be lowered by reducing water losses due to seepage, percolation, and evaporation. Promising technologies like saturated soil culture and intermittent irrigation during the growing period can give good results. However, these technologies still use prolonged periods of flooding, so water losses remain high. A fundamentally different approach is to grow rice like an upland crop, such as wheat, on non-flooded aerobic soils, thereby eliminating continuous seepage percolation and greatly reducing evaporation. Traditional upland rice has been breed for the unfavorable uplands to give a stable, though low, yield with minimal external inputs. A new type of rice is needed to achieve high yields under high-input aerobic conditions. A shift from continuously flooded to aerobic conditions may have profound effects on soil health, long-term sustainability, and environmental parameters. Aerobic rice production is another technology, like dry seeding but can be applied in water scarcity areas. In these areas it is no longer possible to grow puddled transplanted rice or frequently irrigated direct-seeded rice because of physical or economic water scarcity.

Dr. Muhammad Ather Nadeem , Department of Agronomy University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.

Water Scarcity and Rice Production

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Samee Ullah Naeem, Director Atlas Foods (Pvt.Ltd), Pakistan

Pakistan has reached the decision to declare India as Most Favorite Nation (MFN) where both the markets will be opened for the sake of mutual trade. Though new market always bring with it many opportunities but also carry some indigestible threats too, which should be addressed well before the time.

1. The India has a big population of around 1200 million people having rice as staple food. The population is bifurcated with 800 million people depending on Long Grain Rice (Equivalent to IRRI-6 Quality) and rest 400 Million are depending on Wheat and Basmati rice. Long grain being the most staple and basic food of Indian people, I believe taking IRRI-6 into Positive list would open a new & huge market for our product and would inturn fetch a better price for our Long Grain Rice. Opening such a huge market next door is an idealistic opportunity, a business man can think of. This opportunity will result in effective transits, better pricing due to higher demands in Indian market and swift trade will help in fast cashflows. The opportunity is humungous and I believe there is no point if we could have IRRI-6 into positive list due to justified demands of consumption in the new markets. Even for the Bi-Product, India is considered to be a good market with better pricing and payment structure to offer.

2. Regarding Basmati rice, the condition is quite different. Basmati is premium quality rice which fetches higher pricing and therefore remains out of the reach of masses. If we analyze Indian production of Basmati trade comparison, the Indians are producing 7 million tons of Basmati rice while the local consumption remains 2.5 million tons and rest 4.5 million tons is readily available to export. So in Basmati rice, Indians already have trade surplus. The demand of Indian Basmati Rice in the world is huge relative to the excessive Basmati they possess to export. So they require further Basmati to pump into world to make profits and increase their trade surplus. Indian, definitely, would love to import our Basmati too but highly unfortunate that they would replace their local consumption of tons with our Basmati and will in turn save the same volume of their premium quality Basmati to export. This would result reducing our Shelf Space Globally with replacement of Local Shelf Space in Indian market on short term basis.

3. Even if they brand our rice under our produce name, still I believe that exporting our produced Basmati through our competitors' traders will not serve any purpose to our trade. Giving our most premium quality product into the hands of competitors for market may cause serious consequences in future. (They may blend, reduce quality, can play around with our name). I believe we have the capacity to market our own products under our own name and then we have quality controlling mechanism in shape of QRC who controls the quality while having Indian using our Basmati, we have no check or control points to install on.

4. Further, you are aware that in Pakistan we have lot of parboiling units under construction. Undoubtedly, Indians own better technology in parboiling due to higher skills and much prolonged parboiling industry. When the mutual trade of Basmati is allowed, lot of parboiled rice will move from India to Pakistan and will utilize our land space to ship Afghanistan and Iran. So we ultimately will end up loosing a big trade volume of our Basmati with our neighboring countries (Iran and Afghanistan). The Pathans in local market will rely more on Indian Basmati than Pakistan and we will lose a big chunk of our trade with Iran and Afghanistan. To my utmost fear, the

Rice Trade with India-An opportunity or Threat

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parboiling industry which owns the better future due to higher demands in the world will spontaneously die in Pakistan. The decrease in demand will push ourselves in the past. We need to safeguard the technological development in parboiling industry by installation of new units as future lies with parboiled rice.

5. and safeguard the benefits of exporters. The mutual

trade of Basmati between India and Pakistan would serve the purpose for our local Sheller Based Industry as our short vision industry-men would prefer to prepare Sheller Quality Rice and export it to Indian counterparts due to effective transits and fast cash flows. Indians undoubtedly have stronger financial muscles than Pakistani Exporters and our local industry would rely more on Indians than Pakistanis due to fast cash flows. I fear that even our exporters will be greedy with the emerging situation and would prefer to develop links to work on behalf of Indian millers to procure paddy, producing rice and sending it to India and will lose their interest in the foreign markets. India will use our rice to cater their local demands in Basmati and will save their premium quality to serve more to the world. We will end up gaining the Indian shelf space while India will benefit itself with regaining of global shelf space. Now it's upto us to decide whether we require Indian Shelf Space or Global Shelf Space.

6. You are also aware that there remained a

significant difference between the pricing of our

Basmati and Indian Basmati. With opening of

borders with India, there is a strong chance of

prices to surge due to opening of new next door

market. Such upsurge in pricing would kill our

significant advantage in pricing to brand our

products against competitors. Also the Price

upsurge would encourage our businessmen to

export our Basmati to India resulting in reduced

capacity to export to other world and hence losing

shelf space of our rice all across the world and

India may get benefit to regain that space through

their brands.

As being Rice Exporters Association, we must serve

This upsurge would also disturb our already

committed export orders and would encourage

our exporters to withdraw from our contracts and

develop links with Indian counterparts to buy. So

ultimately, we open one new market in short term

but would lose many years of efforts to develop

new markets all across the globe.

7. After all, you know that trade between India

and Pakistan trade is not long lasting keeping in

view our worst historic relationships where just a

small incidence may jeopardize our trade to halt

at any point. Any global scenario or mutual

distrust may result in immediate halt to such

trades. While our businessmen with the greed of

short term benefits may tilt towards India due to

effective transits, fast cash flows and effective

pricing and hence may lose their generations

long efforts to develop relationship around the

globe.

In the end, I believe that having Basmati rice into

positive list would serve the purpose on short

term basis with higher profit taking in the local

market hence losing our shelf space around the

globe due to ineffective pricing. We will realize

in the long run that we demolished our future

trade as the mutual trade comes to halt.

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1. Global rice production in 2012 is going to be 482.4 million tons

as compared to 466.6 million tons in 2011.

2. Global rice trade is going to be 33.5 million tons and ending

stocks will increase to 149 million tons as compared to 133.6

million tons.

3. Global rice market is segmented in two groups. One group

having South America, Thailand and USA which sells rice at

$545-570/M.Tons. Other group includes India, Pakistan and

Vietnam which sells rice at $435-460/MTons.

4. After the entry of India, in global rice export, Thai and Vietnam

prices would lose US$ 50-100 respectively till the end of 2012.

5. Iraq bought 150,000 metric ton in a tender (from India 90,000 tons at US$ 420/ton and 60,000 tons from

Pakistan at $429 /ton).

6. Egypt bought 234,000 tons rice in a tender from local traders, imported from international market. Egypt

might go for international rice tender shortly.

7. Indonesia bought 200,000 million tons of rice from India in a G to G trade.

8. Nigeria, the largest rice importer in the world last year (mainly from Thailand) is switching to India due to less

prices.

9. China is going to build $120 million rice plant in Mozambique, which is equipped with all necessary

infrastructures.

10. India is expected to export 7 million tons of rice in 2012 (two million tons Basmati and five million tons Non

Basmati), mainly due to low-domestic Paddy prices (C1121, 18-20%, DB 12% less and depreciating Indian

currency 16%).

1. PARB approved Rs. 3.074 million for 13 scientists to participate in international conferences and present their research papers.

2. PARB funded seven projects have successfully completed their research phase and now moving towards commercialization.

3. PARB's new software for tracking and monitoring of research projects is going to be launched soon.

4. Dr. Mubarik Ali, Chief Executive, PARB met Australian scientists to explore collaborative opportunities on workable ideas.

1. Rice Research Institute has developed coarse variety KSK 434 which is high yielded resistant to pest and disease.

Spot Examination of this variety will be held in next couple of days.

Current News

International Partners

Punjab Agriculture Research Board (PARB)

Rice Research Institute- Kala Shah Kaku (RRI-KSK)

Rice pl

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