RIce plus Magazine by IRP Publishing

A Quarterly Magazine

Rice plus Editorial Board Chief Editor Hamlik

Contents

Managing Editor Rahmat Ullah Editorial Associate Rozeen Shaukat English Editor Marriyum Naseer Business Development Manager Mujahid Ali Graphic Designer Mohammad Zakriya Marketing Executives Sarfraz Ahmed Khalid Shabbir (UAE)

Editorial Note

Basmati Exports and Expectations

Rice in 2011-12- Market Insights

What You Must Know About Rice

SRI: Colossal Hope for Threatening Paddy Demand

Rice Scientist Interview

Country Specific Information

Direct Seeding-A New Revolution for Rice Sector

Water Scarcity and Rice Production

Rice Trade with India-An opportunity or Threat

Current News

Shamsahd Ahmad (Saudi Arabia) Legal Advisor Advocate Zaheer Minhas Editorial Advisory Board 1. Admiral (R) Hamid Khalid 2. Javed Islam Agha 3. Ch. Hamid Malhi 4. Dr. Akhtar Husain 5. Dr. Fayyaz Ahmed Siddique 6. Dr.Abdul Rashid (UAF) 7. Islam Akhtar Khan

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Disclaimer: 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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A Quarterly Magazine

Rice plus Editorial Note Form the Desk of Chief Editor Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!!!! 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

A Quarterly Magazine

Rice plus Basmati Exports and Expectations Hamid Malhi, President Basmati Growers Association 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 also, in comparison to $918 per MT 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 If India can double their e a r n i n g s a l s o . Basmati rice exports in just Secondly, out of the a span of 3 years, why 108 countries to Pakistan not? 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.

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

2007-08

850,638

AVG Unit Price($) 971

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

Year

QTY(MT)

Basmati (Quantity Basis)

FOB Price 828,156,429

1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 QTY(MT) AVG Unit Price($)

2007 -08

2008 -09

2009--10 2009

2010--11 2010

850,638

924,358

1,050,052

1,137,943

971

1102

825

837

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($)

Non Basmati (Quantity Basis)

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

4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0 QTY(MT)

Total

8,381,091

2233

3,797,086,656

AVG Unit Price($)

May-June 2008

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

264,223

2,005,703

3,557,501

2,553,664

885

511

393

444

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

Source: : Rice Export Association of Pakistan,2011

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

A Quarterly Magazine

Rice plus Rice in 2011-12- Market Insights Mohammad Asif , Atlas Foods (Pvt.Ltd), Pakistan Total world production of rice (forecast 201112). 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 (400,000700,000 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. Continued

A Quarterly Magazine

Rice plus In case, Thailand surrenders, the price will come down but if India surrenders it will remain at higher node. 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 7075% 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%.

Pakistani rice market 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.

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.

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Rice plus What You Must Know About Rice Dr .Muhammad Tahir , Assistant Professor (Agronomy) University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.

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 contains 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. Nutritional Facts: It is a nutritious staple food for most of the world population. The following table gives an idea about its nutritional value. Rice (Oryza sativa)

Nutritional

Rice (Oryza sativa)

value per 100 g (3.5oz) Energy Carbohydrate Sugar Dietary fiber Fat Protein Water Magnesium Manganese Phosphorus

1,527 kJ (365 kcal) 80 g 0.12 g 1.3 g 0.66 g 7.13 g 11.61 g 25 mg (7%) 1.088 mg (52%) 115 mg (16%)

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5)

0.0701 mg (6%) Thiamine (Vit. B 1 ) Riboflavin (Vit. B 2) 0.0149 mg (1%) 1.62 mg (11%) Niacin (Vit. B 3 ) Pantothenic acid (B 5) 1.014 mg (20%) 0.164 mg (13%) Vitamin B 6 Calcium 28 mg (3%) Iron 0.80 mg (6%) Potassium 115 mg (2%) Zinc 1.09 mg (11%) Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Facts You Must Know 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.

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Rice plus SRI: Colossal Hope for Threatening Paddy Demand Farhan Khalid,1 Dr. Azraf-Ul-Haq Ahmad1and NaeemFiaz2 Rice is the 2nd 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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;System of Rice Intensification (SRI)â&#x20AC;? 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 -1 to 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. 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 agroecologically 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. 1 Transfer of younger seedlings of 8 to 15 days before the initiation of 4thphyllochron 2 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 3 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 4 Addition of nutrients to the soil preferably in organic forms like compost or other organic amendments instead of chemical fertilizers 5 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

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

2Assistant

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

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Rice plus Rice Scientist Interview

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 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 RRIKSK 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 NonBasmati. 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. Continued

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Rice plus 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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Rice plus Country Specific Information

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Milled Rice Consumption by Year 1400 1200 MT in Thousand

1000 800 600 400 200 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Consumption

950

975 1025 1075 1150 1193 1157 1100 1085 1100 1150

audi 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.

Saudi Arabia Milled Rice Imports by Year 1600 1400

1000 800 600 400 200 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Imports 1053

938 1150 1500 1357

958 1166 1072 1069 1100 1150

Source:http://www.indexmundi.com

MT in Thousand

1200

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Rice plus Direct Seeding-A New Revolution for Rice Sector Dr. Mubarik Ali, Chief Executive Punjab Agricultural Research Board, Lahore

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 water 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: 1 Delay in rice transplanting 2

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.

In order to overcome these problems, Punjab Agricultural Research PARB's Output Board (PARB) funded a research project on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Standardization and Oriented popularization of direct seeding to increase rice productivity and resource conservationâ&#x20AC;? to Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kaku Research has Started (RRI-KSK), at a cost of Rs. 13.908 million. The main objective of the Generating Impact: DS project was to develop an alternative to transplanting so that the crop Technology will Bring can be grown in a field condition similar to wheat crop. This will not Prosperity in the Rice eliminate all the ill consequence of transplanting operation but also Sector 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: 1

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.

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 Continued

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Rice plus 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: 1

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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;mannaâ&#x20AC;? 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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Rice plus Water Scarcity and Rice Production Dr. Muhammad Ather Nadeem , Department of Agronomy University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. 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 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.

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Rice plus Rice Trade with India-An opportunity or Threat 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 Even if they brand our rice under our produce can think of. This opportunity will result in 3. name, still I believe that exporting our produced effective transits, better pricing due to higher Basmati through our competitors' traders will not demands in Indian market and swift trade will serve any purpose to our trade. Giving our most help in fast cashflows. The opportunity is humungous and I believe there is no point if we premium quality product into the hands of could have IRRI-6 into positive list due to competitors for market may cause serious justified demands of consumption in the new consequences in future. (They may blend, reduce markets. Even for the Bi-Product, India is quality, can play around with our name). I believe considered to be a good market with better pricing we have the capacity to market our own products and payment structure to offer. under our own name and then we have quality 2. Regarding Basmati rice, the condition is quite controlling mechanism in shape of QRC who different. Basmati is premium quality rice which controls the quality while having Indian using our fetches higher pricing and therefore remains out Basmati, we have no check or control points to of the reach of masses. If we analyze Indian install on. production of Basmati trade comparison, the Indians are producing 7 million tons of Basmati 4. Further, you are aware that in Pakistan we rice while the local consumption remains 2.5 have lot of parboiling units under construction. million tons and rest 4.5 million tons is readily Undoubtedly, Indians own better technology in available to export. So in Basmati rice, Indians parboiling due to higher skills and much already have trade surplus. The demand of Indian prolonged parboiling industry. When the mutual Basmati Rice in the world is huge relative to the trade of Basmati is allowed, lot of parboiled rice excessive Basmati they possess to export. So they will move from India to Pakistan and will utilize require further Basmati to pump into world to our land space to ship Afghanistan and Iran. So we make profits and increase their trade surplus. ultimately will end up loosing a big trade volume Indian, definitely, would love to import our of our Basmati with our neighboring countries Basmati too but highly unfortunate that they (Iran and Afghanistan). The Pathans in local would replace their local consumption of tons with our Basmati and will in turn save the same market will rely more on Indian Basmati than volume of their premium quality Basmati to Pakistan and we will lose a big chunk of our trade export. This would result reducing our Shelf with Iran and Afghanistan. To my utmost fear, the Space Globally with replacement of Local Shelf Space in Indian market on short term basis. Continued

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Rice plus 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.

As being Rice Exporters Association, we must serve 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.

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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Rice plus Current News International Partners 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%). R M ice p ag lu azi s ne

Punjab Agriculture Research Board (PARB) 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.

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

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