14th December ,2018 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newlsetter by DAILY RICE NEWS LETTER

December 14,2018 Vol 9 ,Issue 12

1|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

N. Korea food production down in 2018: UN body Food production has fallen this year in isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea, according to the UN‘s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Rice output is expected to come in below average because of erratic rains, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization warned, adding that food insecurity 'continues to remain a key concern' | © WFP/AFP | GERALD BOURKE

Seoul (AFP) | Rice and maize are the North‘s main staples, but rice output was expected to be below average because of erratic rains and low irrigation supplies, the FAO said in its quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report. Unfavourable weather conditions also diminished maize yields, it added.

2|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

As a result the country would need to import 641,000 tonnes of food in the coming year, up from 456,000 tonnes this year, when it bought 390,000 tonnes and received 66,000 tonnes in food aid. There was a widespread lack of access to food in the North, it said in the document. ―Food insecurity continues to remain a key concern, with conditions aggravated by the belowaverage 2018 main season output,‖ it said. Agricultural production is chronically poor in the North, which only has a limited supply of arable land. The country has periodically been hit by famine, and hundreds of thousands of people died — estimates range into the millions — in the mid-1990s. North Korea was one of 40 countries — 31 of them in Africa — listed as in need of external assistance for food in the report. UN agencies estimate that 10.3 million people in the North need humanitarian assistance. But donor funding has dried up in the face of political tensions over its weapons programmes, with critics saying that the provision of aid encourages Pyongyang to prioritise its military ambitions over adequately providing for its people. David Beasley, the head of the UN‘s World Food Programme, said in May that there was undoubtedly a hunger problem in North Korea but it was not on the scale of the 1990s famine. https://albertonrecord.co.za/afp/519420/n-korea-food-production-down-in-2018-un-body/

Iraq signs wheat, rice imports with the United States December 13, 2018, 04:11:00 AM EDT By Reuters

BAGHDAD, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Iraq has signed an agreement with the United States to import U.S. wheat and rice, the Iraqi trade minister said on Thursday.The agreement covers the first half of 2019, Mohammed Hashim said at a signing ceremony in Baghdad."The agreement signals a wider cooperation with the American companies to supply Iraq with wheat and rice for 2019.

3|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

The cabinet has approved it," Iraqi trade minister Mohammed Hashim said during ceremonies held in Baghdad and attended by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. The trade minister said this deal was signed because Iraq prefers the high quality of the U.S. rice and wheat. Iraq needs an annual wheat supply of between 4.5 million and five million tonnes, and has an import gap of around two million tonnes a year. The country spends billions of dollars annually on a Saddam Hussein-era programme for food rationing, the Public Distribution System, which distributes subsidised bread and other essential food. https://www.nasdaq.com/article/iraq-signs-wheat-rice-imports-with-the-united-states-20181213-00156

Rice Prices as on : 13-12-2018 12:37:02 PM Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market. Arrivals Current

Price % change

Season cumulative

Modal

Prev. Modal

Prev.Yr %change

Rice Bahraich(UP)

275.60

49.38

8989.30

2400

7.62

Bazpur(Utr)

130.70

-51.32

3792.20

2350

2395

-4.08

Barhaj(UP)

90.00

-10

5474.00

2290

2280

Lakhimpur(UP)

42.50

-1.16

1555.00

2270

2260

4.61

Kaliaganj(WB)

40.00

100

530.00

3150

3450

18.87

4|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Balrampur(UP)

11.00

-54.17

258.00

2250

Anandnagar(UP)

10.00

-50

202.80

2250

Chitwadagaon(UP)

9.00

477.70

2100

-1.41

Mirzapur(UP)

6.00

33.33

1047.00

2300

2290

Ruperdeeha(UP)

6.00

542.00

1600

Nautnava(UP)

5.00

400

80.50

2250

10.29

Kalyanpur(Tri)

4.00

-4.76

93.30

2700

2750

-1.82

Jahangirabad(UP)

3.00

245.00

2580

2575

9.79

Sehjanwa(UP)

3.00

268.70

2160

Amroha(UP)

2.00

5.26

115.82

2600

5.26

Alibagh(Mah)

1.00

33.00

2250

-43.75

Murud(Mah)

1.00

32.00

2250

-25.00

Published on December 13, 2018 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/rice-prices/article25732313.ece

Scientists clone hybrid rice seeds in breakthrough that could cut costs for farmers Hybrid seeds created by crossing two varieties have superior qualities including high yield, pest resistance and climate tolerance and have been used by farmers for decades Last Published: Thu, Dec 13 2018. 11 54 PM IST

5|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Srishti Choudhary

Scientists in the US and France have successfully tweaked a hybrid variety of Rice Japonica‘ (Asian variety) so that some of the plants produce cloned seeds. New Delhi: In a breakthrough for farmers across the world, especially those from developing countries, scientists have discovered a way to clone hybrid seeds of rice. Hybrid seeds created by crossing two varieties have superior qualities including high yield, pest resistance and climate tolerance and have been used by farmers for decades. However, a major challenge with such crops so far has been that unlike other crops, their seeds do not produce plants with same qualities. So, farmers have had no option but to buy expensive hybrid seeds every year. ―These seeds are not only expensive, but have to be purchased every year, which puts a lot of burden on poor farmers,‖ said Jagmohan Singh, farmer union leader from Patiala, Punjab. Now, scientists in the US and France have successfully tweaked a hybrid variety of Rice Japonica (Asian variety) so that some of the plants produce cloned seeds, according to research published in the latest edition of journal Nature. This, experts said, would enable farmers to re-

6|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

plant seeds from their own hybrid plants and derive the benefits of high yields year after year, instead of having to purchase expensive new seeds every year. Japonica and Indica are the two major varieties of rice grown around the world. While Japonica is grown in countries with cooler climates, Indica is usually cultivated in countries with hot temperatures such as India. ―It‘s a very desirable goal that could change agriculture. The approach should work in other cereal crops, which have equivalent genes,‖ said Prof Venkatesan Sundaresan of the University of California, Davis, who was among the researchers. Wheat, corn, barley and millets are among other cereal crops which have equivalent genes. Asexual reproduction through seeds, called Apomixis, is known to occur naturally in more than 400 species of wild plants, but not in crops. This mechanism of seed production allows a plant to clone itself through a seed, without fertilization and, thus prevents any loss of hybrid characters in plants. However, recreating these pathways in crop plants has been a challenge to science. ―Ensuring that crops pass on hybrid qualities to seeds has been a major challenge, but the current research fills gaps in previous studies,‖ said Imran Siddiqui, plant geneticist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. ―The team has shown a proof of principle in an important crop like rice, which is very significant. The target now is to improve the efficiency of this clonal propagation to reap maximum benefit.‖ Researchers discovered that a rice gene called ―Baby Boom 1‖ (BBM1) is expressed in sperm cells, but not in eggs. After fertilization, BBM1 is expressed in the fertilized cell. Scientists reasoned that this expression initially comes from the male contribution to the genome, and that BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilized egg to form an embryo. The team then used geneediting techniques to remove the ability of plants to undergo sexual reproduction. The egg cells are thus formed asexually. ―We are currently using over 40 hybrid varieties of rice in this country and the research would be very useful for farmers who would be able to save these seeds for future use,‖ said V.P. Singh, former programme leader (rice) at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, whose team had once led a breakthrough in hybridization of Basmati rice following the development of PUSA-1121.

7|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

The current research was conducted by postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday and Prof Venkatesan Sundaresan at University of California, Davis and researchers from the Iowa State University and INRA, France. https://www.livemint.com/Politics/UTXR9mKB0RqzFSVzxdyYWP/Scientists-clone-hybridrice-seeds-in-breakthrough-that-coul.html

NSF awards $2M for researchers on trail of peak productivity By Melanie Lefkowitz | December 13, 2018 Work schedules that disrupt our natural circadian rhythms come with consequences. Around 20 percent of employees perform shift work – rotating or nontraditional work hours – and these schedules have been linked to health problems including heart disease, diabetes and depression. Tired workers are more likely to be distracted, inefficient and prone to error. For workers such as medical clinicians or truck drivers, minor mistakes can be deadly. Tanzeem Choudhury, associate professor of information science, and colleagues at Rice University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, were recently awarded a four-year, $2 million National Science Foundation grant to explore how measuring people‘s biological clocks can help improve their performance or lower their stress. Tanzeem Choudhury ―We want to look at how we can augment and enhance people‘s alertness and ability to perform tasks,‖ Choudhury said. ―Are there peak periods when they can focus on things that are more cognitively demanding than others, and can we align people‘s task performance with their biological rhythm?‖ Choudhury and her team are developing tools that can monitor biological clocks unobtrusively, through devices such as smartphones and smartwatches. That information could be put to use to make people healthier, less anxious and more productive. The project builds on previous work in Choudhury‘s People-Aware Computing Lab, including smartphone based tools that calculate alertness by photographing the size of your pupils, or measure your sleep and behavior to determine whether your sleep aligns with your biological clock.

8|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

â&#x20AC;&#x2022;There are rhythms during the day, there are ebbs and flows that we are trying to track using

9|www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

these kinds of sensing devices,‖ she said. ―And then once you‘re able to understand a person‘s rhythm, there are different ways to intervene.‖ Possibilities for interventions range widely, depending on the type of work someone is performing. In the trucking industry, scheduling drivers who are naturally morning people to drive early shifts, and those who tend to stay up late to drive at night, could both improve truckers‘ health and reduce accidents. Office workers might take steps to limit distractions during periods of peak alertness, such as reducing email notifications. They could schedule rote tasks requiring less focus during the periods when they‘re less cognitively alert. Members of the team are also exploring ways to offer subtle interventions when people are feeling anxious or distracted. Exposing them to light when they are less alert, for instance, or using a smartwatch to deliver relaxing vibrations when it senses stress, could potentially help people feel or perform better, Choudhury said. ―If people have a lot of tasks they need to complete and they‘re not really aligned with their rhythms, they‘re not functioning at their optimal level,‖ she said. The NSF awarded a total of $25 million for 26 projects as part of its Future of Work – Human Technology Frontier initiative, which aims to respond to the challenges and opportunities of a changing workforce. Choudhury will receive $590,000 for her portion of the project. Choudhury said that to address privacy issues, all the tools she and her students are developing have been made available only to individuals through their own devices. More widespread use would need to be implemented thoughtfully and carefully to protect an employee‘s privacy and autonomy. ―It would have to be used in specific contexts that are beneficial both to employer and employee,‖ she said. Biological rhythm ―disruptions are causing problems at an individual and societal level, and interventions can be structured in a way that is beneficial to everyone.‖ http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/12/nsf-awards-2m-researchers-trail-peak-productivity

Using CRISPR gene editing, researchers develop self-cloning hybrid rice West Side Story Dec 13, 2018

Innovation, Science After decades of efforts, scientists have managed to modify a hybrid rice strain so that it passes on its favorable traits in its own seeds, according to ScienceDaily. By producing clones from its

10 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

seeds, instead of requiring fertilization, the hybrids would allow farmers to replant seeds from their own plants instead of having to buy expensive new seeds each growing season. Some wild plants, such as blackberries, have evolved the ability to self-replicate in a process called apomixis. But scientists have struggled to reproduce that process in commercial hybrids, which offer benefits like higher yields or resistance to pests and disease. ―It‘s a very desirable goal that could change agriculture,‖ said Venkatesan Sundaresan, a University of California, Davis professor of plant biology who made the discovery, along with postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday. The researchers have now made a breakthrough toward that goal, with a hybrid strain of rice. The researchers discovered that in fertilized plant eggs, the male version of genes called BBM1 or ―Baby Boom 1,‖ spark the process of embryo formation in a seed. They used a genetic switch called a promoter that would allow a female version of the gene perform the same function on its own. But since a normal egg that had formed through the normal cell division process, meiosis, would have contained only half the necessary chromosomes, more changes were still necessary. Using an approach developed by French National Institute for Agricultural Research plant geneticist and study coauthor Raphael Mercier, the team disabled genes necessary for meiosis, leading the rice to reproduce asexually through mitosis instead. Sundaresan and Khanday updated Mercier‘s procedure, using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing to disable the genes. In a type of japonica rice called Kitaake, the process succeeded in allowing about 30 percent of plants to produce viable seed clones with all the desirable hybrid genetic traits passed on. In turn,

11 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

those seeds grew into plants that successfully produced clones, which themselves produced yet another generation of hybrid clones. Sundaresan says the researchers will now work to make the process more efficient. The development could help farmers, especially in developing countries, produce enough food for the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s growing population. Hybrid plants can even offer properties that make them more resistant to climate change, which means the new process could play a crucial role in adapting food production to the extreme weather and higher temperatures that come with climate change. The study was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

http://thewestsidestory.net/using-crispr-gene-editing-researchers-develop-self-cloning-hybridrice/

Hybrid Rice Contrived By CRISPR Can Clone Its Seeds Celine Machando December 13, 2018 comments off

Succeeding more than 20 years of conjecturing about it, scientists have modified a hybrid diversification of rice so that some of the plants generate cloned seeds. Intersecting two fine varieties of grain can render one prodigious one, merging the principal variety of genes to yield crops advisable attributes such as greater produce.

12 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

However, such hybrid grain miracles usually do not progress along those desired genetic aspect to all seeds in the course of reproduction. Therefore farmers who persistently want excessive produce have to disburse for the contemporary hybrid seeds every year. This contemporary lab genre of hybrid rice would protect those constitution through self-cloning says study coauthor Venkatesan Sundaresan, a plant geneticist at the University of California, Davis. Albeit 400 types of plants encompassing some blackberries and citruses have engendered selfcloning seeds inherently overhauling those routes in crop plants has been difficult than anybody anticipated Sundaresan says. He and his teammates envisioned the idea for the contemporary research while scrutinizing how a fertilized egg becomes a zygote, this mystical cell that restores a whole organism. The researchers found that recasting two sets of genes engendered the Japonica rice hybrid called Kitaake to clone its own seeds. Initially the team discovered that in an impregnated plant egg only the male variety of a gene called BABY BOOM1 discovered in sperm propelled the evolvement of seed embryo. Therefore the scientists thrust a genetic starter switch, called a promoter that allows the female variety of the same gene do similar work http://coastlineledger.com/2018/12/13/hybrid-rice-contrived-by-crispr-can-clone-its-seeds/

Scientists discover novel way to grow rice plant clones from seeds BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilised egg to form an embryo, according to the study published in the journal Nature.

Devdiscourse News Desk Losangeles Last Updated at 13-12-2018 14:04:20 IST United States Scientists, including those of Indian origin, have discovered a way to grow rice plant clones from seeds, an advance that could lead to high-yielding and disease-resistant crops.

13 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

The ability to produce a clone, an exact replica, of a plant from its seeds would be a major breakthrough for world agriculture, said researchers at the University of California, Davis in the US. Instead of purchasing expensive hybrid seeds each year, which is often beyond the means of farmers in developing countries, farmers could replant seeds from their own hybrid plants and derive the benefits of high yields year after year. "It's a very desirable goal that could change agriculture," said Venkatesan Sundaresan, a professor at UC Davis. Sundaresan and postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday discovered that the rice gene BBM1, belonging to a family of plant genes called "Baby Boom" or BBM, is expressed in sperm cells but not in eggs. After fertilisation, BBM1 is expressed in the fertilised cell but -- at least initially -- this expression comes from the male contribution to the genome. BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilised egg to form an embryo, according to the study published in the journal Nature. Researchers first used gene editing to remove the ability of the plants to go through meiosis (cell division), so that the egg cells formed instead by mitosis, inheriting a full set of chromosomes from the mother. Then they caused these egg cells to express BBM1, which they would not normally do without fertilisation. "So we have a diploid egg cell with the ability to make an embryo, and that grows into a clonal seed," Sundaresan said. So far the process has an efficiency of about 30 per cent, but the researchers hope that can be increased with more research. The approach should work in other cereal crops, which have equivalent BBM1 genes, and in other crop plants as well, Sundaresan said. https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/headlines/287362-scientists-discover-novel-way-to-growrice-plant-clones-from-seeds\

Video Contest Winner Tells Positive Story of Environmental Impact of Louisiana Rice By Doreen Muzzi

14 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

SAN DIEGO, CA -- The Cajun combination of rice and crawfish production not only drives southern Louisiana economically but also positively impacts the region's environment. This story of rice production's environmental benefits, told in video form, won one Louisiana high school senior this year's National Rice Month scholarship. Caroline Benoit, winner of the 2018 scholarship sponsored by Corteva Agriscienceâ&#x201E;˘, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, received a $4,000 scholarship and a trip for two to the awards ceremony at last week's 2018 USA Rice Outlook Conference in San Diego. Benoit attends Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans. Her winning video, titled "Rice in Louisiana," was chosen from a field of 86 entries and is a comprehensive overview of rice production in her home state. "I think when most people think of rice, they think of the most obvious -- food," Benoit said. "But I learned there's so much more to rice and its importance to my home state and the nation as a whole." Benoit admitted to some hesitance about working on a project like this that was outside her comfort zone. "By winning, I mostly learned that if I just put myself out there and try something new, the outcome could be really good." See all the winning videos here.

2019/21 Leadership Development Program Class Announced By Deborah Willenborg

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Members of the 2019/21 Rice Leadership Development Program class were announced last week during the annual Rice Awards Luncheon at the 2018 USA Rice Outlook Conference. The class is comprised of seven rice industry professionals selected by a committee of agribusiness leaders. "This is a very outstanding and diverse group of young men and I think they will mesh well together in their upcoming sessions," said Rice Foundation Director Steve Linscombe. New class members are Jason Bond, Stoneville, MS; Austin Davis, Cleveland MS; Michael Durand, St.

15 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Martinsville, LA; Bobby Golden, Leland, MS; Austin Littleton, Parma, MO; Matthew Morris, Carlisle, AR; and Justin Nix, Maurice, LA. The Rice Leadership Development Program gives young men and women a comprehensive understanding of the U.S. rice industry, with an emphasis on personal development and communication training. During a two-year period, class members attend four one-week sessions that are designed to strengthen their leadership skills. John Deere Company, RiceTec, Inc., and American Commodity Company are sponsors of the Rice Leadership Development Program through a grant to The Rice Foundation, and USA Rice manages the program.

Revised Definition of Waters of the U.S. Announced By Lydia Holmes

WASHINGTON, DC -- At a public event held Tuesday at EPA headquarters, EPA's Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the imminent publication of a new definition for Water of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act to replace the 2015 WOTUS rule.

16 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

During the briefing, the agency reiterated the importance of predictability and indicated that one of the main goals is that a landowner should be able to determine what is and isn't a WOTUS on their land without needing to hire several lawyers and hydrology experts. "Many of us live on the land we work, and not only do we want clean water to produce our crops, we also want clean water for our families. We also need rules that are clear so it's straightforward how to comply with them," said Arkansas farmer David Gairhan. "I applaud the work the EPA is doing to try and provide us with certainty of what is and is not defined and regulated as a WOTUS so we can get back to doing what we do best, farming." "USA Rice appreciates the efforts of EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to solicit feedback prior to drafting this new proposal and applauds the agencies' commitment to continued engagement with stakeholders," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. "We look forward to implementation of a commonsense new water rule that provides clarity for our members." Once published, the rule will have a 60-day comment period. USA Rice will provide substantive comments for the industry and encourages our members to provide individual comments of their own.

17 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Rice plants that grow as clones from seed UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

IMAGE: POSTDOC IMTIYAZ KHANDAY AND PROFESSOR VENKATESAN SUNDARESAN WITH CLONED RICE PLANTS IN A UC DAVIS GREEN HOUSE, DECEMBER 2018. KHANDAY, SUNDARESAN AND COLLEAGUES HAVE SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF PROPAGATING... view more CREDIT: UC REGENTS Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones. The discovery, long sought by plant breeders and geneticists, could make it easier to propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant or climate-tolerant crops and make them available to the world's farmers. The work is published Dec. 12 in the journal Nature.

18 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Since the 1920s, many crops have been grown from hybrid seeds created by crossing two varieties. These hybrids can have superior qualities in areas such as yield or pest resistance. But the seeds of hybrid crops do not produce plants with the same qualities. The ability to produce a clone, an exact replica, of a plant from its seeds would be a major breakthrough for world agriculture. Instead of purchasing expensive hybrid seeds each year, which is often beyond the means of farmers in developing countries, farmers could replant seeds from their own hybrid plants and derive the benefits of high yields year after year. About 400 species of wild plants can produce viable seeds without fertilization. Called apomixis, this process seems to have evolved many times in plants - but not in commercial crop species. The discovery by postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday and Venkatesan Sundaresan, professor of plant biology at UC Davis and colleagues at UC Davis, the Iowa State University and INRA, France is a major step forward. "It's a very desirable goal that could change agriculture," Sundaresan said. "Baby boom" gene is key Khanday and Sundaresan discovered that the rice gene BBM1, belonging to a family of plant genes called "Baby Boom" or BBM, is expressed in sperm cells but not in eggs. After fertilization, BBM1 is expressed in the fertilized cell but -- at least initially--this expression comes from the male contribution to the genome. BBM1, they reasoned, switches on the ability of a fertilized egg to form an embryo. The researchers first used gene editing to remove the ability of the plants to go through meiosis, so that the egg cells formed instead by mitosis, inheriting a full set of chromosomes from the mother. Then they caused these egg cells to express BBM1, which they would not normally do without fertilization. "So we have a diploid egg cell with the ability to make an embryo, and that grows into a clonal seed," Sundaresan said. So far the process has an efficiency of about 30 percent, but the researchers hope that can be increased with more research. The approach should work in other cereal crops, which have equivalent BBM1 genes, and in other crop plants as well, Sundaresan said.

19 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

### Other authors on the paper are Debra Skinner at UC Davis, Bing Yang at Iowa State University and Raphael Mercier, INRA, Versailles, France. The work has been funded by the Innovative Genome Institute, a joint venture between UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco that focuses on applying genome editing to solve global problems, and by the National Science Foundation. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-12/uoc--rpt121018.php

Central American rice millers want changes to US trade pact 12/12/18 6:35 AM By Bill Tomson KEYWORDS CAFTA-DR COSTA RICA EXPORTS FECARROZ GUATEMALA RICE USA RICE FEDERATION Rice millers and farmers from Central America and the Dominican Republic are making an urgent plea to their U.S. counterparts: Help stop the reduction in tariffs on U.S. rice https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/11736-central-american-rice-millers-want-changes-to-us-trade-pact

ASIA RICE-VIETNAM RATES DIP FOR 4TH WEEK AS CHINESE NORMS BITE 12/13/2018 * India prices unchanged at $364-$368 * Thai rates little changed as demand remains flat By K. Sathya Narayanan BENGALURU, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Rice export prices fell for the fourth consecutive week in Vietnam on concerns of lower intake from China due to stricter norms in Beijing, while subdued demand weighed on the Indian and Thai markets. In Vietnam, the third biggest exporter of the staple, prices of the benchmark 5 percent broken variety <RI-VNBKN5-P1> fell to $395 a tonne from last week's $400 level. "We are still concerned about China's move to impose stricter conditions on shipments from Vietnam as China is the largest export market," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.

20 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

"This will have an adverse impact on Vietnam's rice exports for the coming years." Vietnam's rice shipments to China fell 39.1 percent in the first 10 months of 2018 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice <RI-THBKN5-P1> prices were quoted at $385$393, free on board Bangkok, versus $390-$393 last week on flat demand, traders said, adding the market was likely to remain quiet going into the new year period. "There are talks that some of our neighbours like the Philippines still want more rice, but there are no indications at this stage whether there will be fresh deals," a Bangkok-based rice trader said. A gradual increase in supply due to seasonal harvesting during the December and January period could further dampen prices, another trader said. Meanwhile, rates for top exporter India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety <RI-INBKN5-P1> were unchanged from the previous week at $364-$368 per tonne. "We have slashed prices in the last few weeks after a subsidy was announced, but demand is still weak," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh adding it was not possible to cut prices further, while local paddy prices are firm. The Indian government will give a subsidy of 5 percent for non-basmati rice exports for the four months to March 25, 2019, the trade ministry said last month. Meanwhile, neighbouring Bangladesh's rain-fed rice, or 'Aman' crop, is likely to rise to 14 million tonnes from 13.5 million tonnes the previous year, helped by favourable weather, Mohammad Mohsin, director general of Department of Agriculture Extension, told Reuters. Aman, the second biggest crop after the summer variety Boro, makes up about 38 percent of Bangladesh's total production of around 35 million tonnes. The south Asian country, which emerged as a major importer in 2017 after floods damaged its crops, imposed 28 percent duty to support its farmers after local production revived this year. (Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by Arpan Varghese/David Evans) https://www.agriculture.com/markets/newswire/asia-rice-vietnam-rates-dip-for-4th-week-as-chinesenorms-bite

India rice rates slip; tough Chinese rules dent Vietnam exports 21 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Rice export prices fell a the second consecutive week in India on a weakening rupee and slow demand, while strict inspections from top consumer China muted exports from Vietnam. By : Reuters Dec 6, 2018 19:33 IST Labourers remove dried grass from a rice field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, August 30, 2016. Picture taken August 30, 2016 (representational image).Reuters file Rice export prices fell a the second consecutive week in India on a weakening rupee and slow demand, while strict inspections from top consumer China muted exports from Vietnam. India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $364-$368 per tonne this week, from $366-$370 the last week. "Prices are down as traders are adjusting to the drop in the rupee. Demand is still weak," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The Indian rupee fell nearly 1 percent on Thursday to the lowest level in two weeks, increasing exporters margin from the overseas sales. In an attempt to accelerate exports, the Indian government last month said it will give a 5 percent subsidy for non-basmati rice shipments for the four months to March 25, 2019. In neighbouring Bangladesh, rice imports in July-November stood at 106,640 tonnes, the country's food ministry data showed, after the government imposed a 28 percent tax on shipments to support its farmers after local production revived. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, rates for 5 percent broken rice dipped to $400 a tonne from $408 last week as exports to China fell on stricter inspections and conditions on Vietnamese rice, traders said."Exports to China are almost frozen, no one dares to buy or sell. Some people who had their rice ready at the port now have to take them back because they fear the Chinese side will not take them," a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.

22 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

However, the fall in prices was limited due to tight supply at the end of a small crop season in Vietnam and orders from rice-scarce Philippines. The next major crop harvest in the southeast-Asian nation, the winter-spring crop, is due next March. In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice prices narrowed to $390-$393, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, from $380-$397 last week. "Apart from the recent order from the Philippines, Thai rice exporters are not expecting any large order until early 2019,"â&#x20AC;˘ a Bangkok-based rice trader said. Traders attributed this week's fluctuation in rice prices to the exchange rate. The Thai baht shed more than a quarter of a percent on Thursday, after rising for four previous sessions.

"Some exporters are still talking about a possible deal to markets like Japan and Indonesia, but so far things are quiet and will likely remain this way until January," said another Bangkok-based trader. https://www.ibtimes.co.in/india-rice-rates-slip-tough-chinese-rules-dent-vietnam-exports-787320

Govt extends duty benefits to non-basmati rice exporters to boost shipment The duty benefit is provided under the commerce ministry's Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) Press Trust of India | New Delhi Last Updated at November 26, 2018 15:06 IST The government has extended duty benefits to non-basmati rice exporters under a scheme to boost the shipment of the agri commodity.The duty benefit is provided under the commerce ministry's Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).

23 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

"Non-basmati rice items have been made eligible for MEIS benefits at the rate of 5 per cent for exports made with effect from November 26 and up to March 25, 2019," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said in a public notice. DGFT, under the commerce ministry deals with export and import related policies. Under MEIS, government provides duty credit scrip or certificate depending on product and country. Those scrips can be transferred or used for payment of a number of duties including the basic customs duty. India is one of the largest exporters of non-basmati rice and in 2017-18, the country exported 8.63 million tonnes of the rice, which was more than double the quantity of basmati rice exports of 4.05 million tonnes. Non-basmati rice exports during April-February 2018 stood at $3.26 billion as against $2.53 billion in 2016-17.

24 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Rice is the country's main kharif crop. As per the first advance estimates of foodgrains production for kharif (summer-sown) season for 2018-19 crop year, rice output is estimated at record 99.24 million tonnes as against 97.5 million tonnes of production in last year's kharif season. The sowing operation of kharif crops begins with onset of monsoon and harvesting starts from mid-September. Paddy, maize and soyabean are major kharif crops.

Iraq signs wheat, rice imports with the United States Iraq has signed an agreement with the United States to import U.S. wheat and rice, the Iraqi trade minister said on Thursday. The agreement covers the first half of 2019, Mohammed Hashim said at a signing ceremony in Baghdad. ―The agreement signals a wider cooperation with the American companies to supply Iraq with wheat and rice for 2019. The cabinet has approved it,‖ Iraqi trade minister Mohammed Hashim said during ceremonies held in Baghdad and attended by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. The trade minister said this deal was signed because Iraq prefers the high quality of the U.S. rice and wheat. Iraq needs an annual wheat supply of between 4.5 million and five million tonnes, and has an import gap of around two million tonnes a year. The country spends billions of dollars annually on a Saddam Hussein-era programme for food rationing, the Public Distribution System, which distributes subsidised bread and other essential food. https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/iraq-signs-wheat-rice-imports-with-the-united-states/

Bangladeshi farmer has a collection of 200 rare, almost extinct varieties of paddy By Editor on December 14, 2018 Dhaka, December 14 (The Daily Star): Seeing Yusuf Molla‘s collection of paddies, one is likely to reminisce about the famous verses of Jogindranath‘s poem ―Kajer Chhele‖: ―Dadkhani chal, mosurir dal, chini-pata doi…‖ Yusuf, a farmer in Rajshahi‘s Tanore, has at least 200 rare and almost extinct varieties of paddy in his collection that he has developed over the years out of love for the crop. During a visit last month, this correspondent found 77 sections in Yusuf‘s land. Each section had a signboard carrying the name of the variety cultivated there. Each variety has a distinct texture, colour, smell, and taste.

25 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Yusuf said ―Dadkhani‖ rice was rich in zinc. In the past, Bangalees used to serve it as a wholesome meal to the ailing. ―Raida‖ is slightly thin rice and the ―mother of all paddies,‖ according to Yusuf. The ―Black Pankhiraj‖ has white parts on both sides and looks like a bird. Two grains grow from one seed of ―Boiram Shundori‖, also known as ―Dui Shotin‖. ―Randhuni Pagol‖ has an enchanting scent. ―Kajaldigha‖, ―Laxmidigha‖, and ―Kalarai‖ can survive floods, while ―Bhadoi‖, ―Kaloshoni‖, ―Kumri‖, and ―Shankhaboti‖ are resistant to droughts. Yusuf and the farmers employed by him cultivated at least 150 varieties in 15 districts of Rajshahi division this year. With yields from 82 varieties, Yusuf celebrated Nabanna Utsav (the festival of new crop) on December 9. On the occasion, around 200 guests including farmers were served with traditional recipes made of the rare varieties. ―I love the varieties. So, I feel the need to preserve them before they are lost,‖ Yusuf said. He collected the seeds from different corners of the country. The 74-year-old farmer has one bigha of land in Duboil village where he has been cultivating the paddies for the last 50 years.

26 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Shahidul Islam, regional coordinator of Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (Barcik) lauded Yusuf for his passion. ―Preserving the varieties is important as paddy cultivation is losing momentum due to climate change. Yusuf did what the government ought to have done,‖ he said. Yusuf inherited his passion for paddies from his father Abdur Rahman Malakar who produced different varieties every year and entertained villagers with the yields during Nabanna. In 1968, the year Yusuf got married, he noticed that farmers were leaning towards IRRI-8 variety instead of local varieties. ―I feared that one day the local varieties might just vanish.‖ He started his search for the nearly extinct varieties in 2000. He travelled to Chattogram, Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur, and different districts in Rajshahi division in this endeavour. ―I went to every place where I could find a rare variety,‖ he told this correspondent. Yusuf‘s contributions were recognised in 2013 when he received the National Environment Award. This accolade motivated him to delve more into his passion. He founded the ―Barind Seed Bank‖ with assistance from Barcik officials in 2015. Bangladesh Rice Research Institute collected 110 varieties from the bank last year. Officials from different research institutes and farmers visit his bank regularly, said Yusuf. The bank provides seeds to farmers for free and realises a portion of their harvest in return. Those grains are again distributed among another set of farmers. In this way, the bank helps keep the production flowing. Yusuf has one worry. ―I am growing old. What would happen to my collection after my death?‖ (The featured photo shows Yusuf Molla the Bangladeshi who is cultivating 200 rare varieties of paddy, some almost extinct) https://newsin.asia/bangladeshi-farmer-has-a-collection-of-200-rare-almost-extinct-varieties-of-paddy/ https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/13/researchers-turning-bumblebees-into-live-drones-calling-it-livingiot.html

Yielding is the new director of the National Onion Association National Onion Association December 13, 2018 Arkansas- and Missouri-based rice front man Greg Yielding has officially assumed the executive vice president role at the National Onion Association.

27 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Based in Greeley, Colo., the National Onion Association represents roughly 500 onion growers, shippers, and suppliers across the country. Yielding will take over for retiring executive vice president Wayne Mininger, who has held the position for 33 years. Yielding will officially start on Jan. 2, after spending the last 14 years advocating and marketing rice all over the world. Yielding hails from Jackson, Mo., where he has been serving simultaneously as the director of emerging markets and special projects for the U.S. Rice Producers Association, as the executive director of the Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council, and as the executive director for the Arkansas Rice Growers Association. "We are very excited to have Greg on board and look forward to him representing our industry through whatever challenges come our way, and as all of us know will come," said NOA President Doug Stanley. "Greg's background with association work and his extensive legislative background should serve our association well." Though he came up the political route, Yielding has grown to know farmers and agriculture in the past 14 years advocating for rice. "I like representing the farmers and growers," he said. "I believe that everyone needs to be represented, and representing farmers is important for the country."He welcomes the opportunity to lobby and market on behalf of onions in Washington. Prior to serving on the rice councils, he was the executive director for the Arkansas Cable Telecommunications Association for 10 years.Yielding is used to wearing many hats. While serving as constable in North Little Rock from 1994-2004, he also served on the North Little Rock City Council, from 2000-2004. He's been serving as the chairman of the Jackson Historic District Commission since last year. Yielding is married to Caroline; he has a 7-year-old son named Elisha and a 23-year-old son, Zachary, who is in the U.S. Marines.

https://www.thefencepost.com/news/yielding-is-the-new-director-of-the-national-onionassociation/

The impact of climate inaction on food security By Lisa Cornish // 13 December 2018 A farmer watering plants at an organic farm in Boung Phao Village, Laos. Photo by: Asian Development Bank / CC BY-NC-ND

28 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

CANBERRA — The global food system needs to be transformed to respond to the health and nutrition needs of the future. To achieve this, however, there needs to be a strong global program to prevent greater threats from climate change. In Canberra on Nov. 30, leaders of three CGIAR centers gathered to talk about global food systems as part of a forum on transforming global food systems hosted by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. The message on climate was consistent: Food security is critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. But climate change is creating a risk that is growing rapidly. “One of the biggest issues in the use of averages is that it hides the real story of climate change. The real story is around the variability and unpredictability of weather.” — Matthew Morell, director general, International Rice Research Institute Martin Kropff, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and Matthew Morell, director general of the International Rice Research Institute, spent their time visiting Australian research institutes and presenting at a range of forums. As part of their visit, they spoke to Devex about the limits of agricultural research, and why we may be fast hitting barriers of how science can solve food crises in a fast-changing environment. ―Whether it is rice, maize, and livestock, we are looking at similar questions: the livelihood of smallholder farmers, nutrition, empowerment of women, and impact of climate change,‖ Morell said. ―We need to do this to come up with an overall comprehensive solution to solve some of these challenges.‖

Food security requires climate action ―In 1993, I was a scientist at IRRI and our crop models [were] incorporating early climate change projections,‖ Kropff said. ―We made a prediction based on the available models and in those days we wanted to be careful and not alarmist. And I was skeptical. But 25 years later what

29 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

the models projected is happening. These predictions are real — and I am convinced we have to get out act together. It is not going to be simple.‖ Though the impact of climate change on the environment and food security has been known for decades, the response has been limited. ―We have individuals in the world — it is pretty clear who they are — that really want to put their head in the sand about this issue,‖ Morell said. ―They will say that if it‘s cold, that is proof that global warming doesn‘t really exist. But there are also those who point to averages. ―One of the biggest issues in the use of averages is that it hides the real story of climate change. The real story is around the variability and unpredictability of weather. What I see on the ground is that a monsoon is delayed. I see that there is rain in the dry season when farmers really need it to be dry because they have planted crops that can‘t cope with excess water,‖ Morell said. Among the solutions are to build in biological insurances within plants, giving them the ability to withstand these stresses — whichever way the production season turns out. There is also crop insurance for smallholder farmers so they have the confidence to invest in inputs, maximizing their potential income without fear of being financially destroyed because of the weather. But it is crucial, both Morell and Kropff said, that such solutions are coupled with action to prevent global warming to levels currently being forecast.

Responses remain reactive rather than proactive ―I‘m afraid on food security I would place us as globally complacent,‖ Morell said. Scientific modeling, Morell said, shows that drought, new diseases, and extreme weather events such as cyclones or typhoons will happen — even if it is impossible to pinpoint place or time.

30 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

―But if we are rational human beings, we understand that we should invest to future-proof our food systems to deal better with these eventualities,‖ Morell said. ―Yet our political systems and current thinking is responsive — and by then it is less cost-effective and simply less effective in general to deliver food aid rather than build a more resilient system in the first place.‖ The actions of governments today are still as responsive as the past. And this means that funding for research is just not adequate. ―In 2008 we had the price of major staples increase and there was an injection of funding because of that,‖ Morell said. ―But now we have slipped back into our old ways. What appalls me is that we still have 800 million people who go to be hungry every night. We still have 151 million children suffering from stunting and hundreds of millions of people suffering from iron and nutrition deficiencies. This is right in front of us every day and it‘s a global disgrace that we haven‘t eliminated that. ―Around the world, there has been a trend, and the populist movement is less generous. And this means the prevention of issues down the track — and the research funding needed — are being overlooked.‖

Limits of what science can achieve ―We continually have new diseases coming in,‖ Kropff said. Since taking on the role of director general in 2015, he has seen more than one new disease a year that has dramatically impacted crops — including a new disease in Africa that is growing fast across the continent, wiping out maize. It is one of the effects of changing environmental conditions. In 2011 an emerging disease wiped out 20 percent of maize crop in Kenya, and it took four years to produce a resistant variety.

31 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

―Four years is too long,‖ Kropff said. ―But 10 years ago it would have been 14. We are fast, but not fast enough. We need to deal better with predicting new diseases and have technology that is faster.‖ The concern for Kropff is that with the rate of emerging diseases, there may be a time when they cannot be fast enough. ―When you start innovating, at the beginning it is easy. But there starts to get to a stage where it requires a lot more science to go to the next stage,‖ he said. ―It‘s bigger than people think.‖ Reducing the impact of climate change is the better solution.

Working together for collective action Responding to the issue of climate change in food security requires global action. Among the 15 CGIAR centers — including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and International Rice Research Institute — there is collective action with it impacting all aspects of their work. ―It‘s so important to work globally together,‖ Kopf said. ―I‘m still convinced we can do something about this. The Sustainable Development Goals are the same for all of us and there is a lot of ideas and things we do. And we have programs that go across the centers with our scientists working together. And we need to continue doing this to influence research, funding, and global policies.‖

We need more than magic beans to help us offset the effects of climate change 

Elwyn Grainger-Jones

32 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

13 December 2018 • 4:56pm

Blocks of melting ice outside the Tate Modern in London, an installation by the artist Olafur Eliasson highlighting the effects of climate change Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

You may think magic beans belong in fairy tales. But when scientist Daniel Debouck went in search of a mysterious bean variety that was first recorded over 100 years ago, he found just that on the island of Bermuda.He realised that the ―Bermuda bean‖ had developed a unique root system that makes it more likely to survive tropical storms.The roots act like a colony. If the mother plant dies off, younger plants around it will survive. The strong winds of Bermuda are likely to have caused the bean to evolve in this way. As climate change drives more severe and frequent extreme weather, this bean and many similar discoveries could be game changers in the fight for food security. Negotiators gathered in Poland to debate action on climate change have once again faced the conundrum of how to sustainably feed more people in an era of more extreme weather patterns. Food – the way we grow, catch, transport, process, trade and consume it – is central to climate change. Show more

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, changes in climates over the last 30 years have already reduced global agricultural production in the range of one to five per cent per decade globally.

33 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Furthermore, agriculture and food systems account for up to 29 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. In light of this, we need to rapidly transform food systems to make them more resilient and sustainable. The task is momentous – and increasingly more complex. Most of the world‘s population eats too little, too much, or the wrong type or combination of food – at an unsustainable cost to the environment, human health and political stability. There is no one silver bullet for a challenge this big – it needs changes in policies, farming practices, awareness and behaviour. One key action offers a promising way forward: the search for new cropping systems that are better adapted to climate conditions. This could involve shifting which crops are grown in which area, but also accelerating the development and wide-scale adoption of new varieties of resilient crops. In Asia, more than five million farmers now grow a rice variety that can withstand being submerged under water for two weeks. Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute searched for a gene for flood-tolerance. Using traditional breeding approaches, this ―Scuba gene‖ was infused into popularly grown rice varieties in rice-growing countries in Asia and Africa. In addition, scientists also developed rice varieties that can withstand conditions forecast to become more frequent and intense with climate change such as drought, heat, cold, and soil problems like high salt and iron toxicity. But where can we find this legacy of plant species which will be the raw material to fuel these advances? Over the last 40 years the world has built up a network of ―genebanks‖ hosted by CGIAR, a global research partnership looking at food security, which already store 768,576 samples of seeds and tree species from all over the world, and we distribute these to scientists worldwide. In 2017, CGIAR genebanks alone distributed 61,376 seed samples to 95 countries for the research required to bolster production in mostly low-income countries, where undernutrition is a major problem. These seed samples are now being used to develop ―climate-smart‖ crop varieties that have characteristics that help them better cope with floods, heat, drought and disease. Late last year, the Bermuda bean was put to an unexpected test. A violent storm swept through the research station and decimated most trials. Only the Bermuda bean was left standing. Let‘s learn from that. Elwyn Grainger-Jones is the executive director of the CGIAR System Organization. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/13/need-magic-beans-help-us-offset-effects-climate-change/

34 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Climate-resilient rice spells brighter future for farmers Manabesh Mohanty | TNN | Updated: Dec 13, 2018, 12:41 IST

CUTTACK: In what can ideally come as a solution when it comes to the disastrous drought and flood cycles in the state, the National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) has invented flood and drought-tolerant rice varieties for cultivation in disaster prone areas. The rice is called ‗Climate Resilient‘ rice or CR. The two varieties are called CR Dhan 801 and CR Dhan 802. In areas prone to floods, the rice can re-grow once the waters recede. In land that sees drought, the rice can go without water for days. ―We have tested these varieties of rice over three years in several paddy fields of the country. The climate of Assam, Tripura, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand is favourable for its growth. A Central identification team under the Union ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare approved the rice varieties of 801 and 802 a year ago,‖ said NRRI director Himanshu Pathak. The institute has selected several districts of the state like Bargarh, Balangir, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur for farmers to receive training in cultivating the rice. ―We are providing awareness training to village-level workers and educating them about the need and benefits of cultivation of these varieties,‖ said Pathak. The institute‘s senior scientist A K Nayak said the NRRI will provide ‗breeder seeds‘ to the Union ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare. ―State governments will collect these breeder

35 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

seeds and multiply them in their seed farms. These farms will provide rice seeds to farmers by certifying them,‖ said Nayak. Recommended By Colombia The NRRI has also developed a protein rich rice variety, the CR Dhan 310. This rice contains 10.03 per cent protein. Traditional rice varieties contain mostly carbohydrates and less than three per cent of protein. ―The CR Dhan 310 is a very good quality of rice. It is tolerant to diseases like leaf blast, brown spot and bacterial leaf blight,‖ said Nayak. ―As malnutrition is a major problem in our society, this rice can combat this alarming issue. We are in conversation with the government for inclusion of this rice in the midday meal scheme where lakhs of schoolchildren can get proper nutrition,‖ he added.

NRRI has developed 132 varieties of rice including three hybrid rice varieties since its inception in 1946. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67065732.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&ut m_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Vietnam rice prices dip as Chinese norms bite Thai rates little changed as demand remains flat 

13 Dec 2018 at 19:39 WRITER: REUTERS

36 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Rice export prices fell in Vietnam due to concerns of lower intake from China. (Reuters photo) BENGALURU, India: Rice export prices fell for the fourth consecutive week in Vietnam on concerns of lower intake from China due to stricter norms in Beijing, while subdued demand weighed on the Indian and Thai markets. In Vietnam, the third biggest exporter of the staple, prices of the benchmark 5% broken variety fell to $395 (12,900 baht) a tonne from last week's $400 level. "We are still concerned about China's move to impose stricter conditions on shipments from Vietnam as China is the largest export market," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. "This will have an adverse impact on Vietnam's rice exports for the coming years." Vietnam's rice shipments to China fell 39.1% in the first 10 months of 2018 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In Thailand, benchmark 5% broken rice prices were quoted at $385-$393, free on board Bangkok, versus $390-$393 last week on flat demand, traders said, adding the market was likely to remain quiet going into the new year period. "There are talks that some of our neighbours like the Philippines still want more rice, but there are no indications at this stage whether there will be fresh deals," a Bangkok-based rice trader said. A gradual increase in supply due to seasonal harvesting during the December and January period could further dampen prices, another trader said. Meanwhile, rates for top exporter India's 5% broken parboiled variety were unchanged from the previous week at $364-$368 per tonne. "We have slashed prices in the last few weeks after a subsidy was announced, but demand is still weak," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh adding it was not possible to cut prices further, while local paddy prices are firm. The Indian government will give a subsidy of 5% for non-basmati rice exports for the four months to March 25, 2019, the Trade Ministry said last month. Meanwhile, neighbouring Bangladesh's rain-fed rice, or 'Aman' crop, is likely to rise to 14 million tonnes from 13.5 million tonnes the previous year, helped by favourable weather, Mohammad Mohsin, director general of Department of Agriculture Extension, told Reuters. Aman, the second biggest crop after the summer variety Boro, makes up about 38% of Bangladesh's total production of around 35 million tonnes.

37 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

The south Asian country, which emerged as a major importer in 2017 after floods damaged its crops, imposed 28% duty to support its farmers after local production revived this year. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1593382/vietnam-rice-prices-dip-as-chinese-norms-bite

Researchers are turning bumblebees into live drones

University of Washington researchers attach sensors to bumblebees

18 Hours Ago | 01:02

Barbara Booth | @bjbooth2 Published 19 Hours Ago Updated 16 Hours Ago CNBC.com The smaller the drone, the shorter the flight time â&#x20AC;&#x201D; unless your drone is a real live bumblebee. Average hobby drones typically have a flight time of around 20 minutes because rotary aircraft require a great deal of energy to stay airborne â&#x20AC;&#x201D; more energy means heavier batteries. So what do you do if your drone is the size of an insect? On Tuesday, engineers at the University of Washington announced they have come up with a power source both strong and light enough to keep their "drone" in flight for a continuous stretch of about seven hours. Their solution? Leveraging nature's flying machines.

38 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Vikram Iyer, Rajalakshmi Nandakumar, Anran Wang, Sawyer B. Fuller and Shyamnath Gollakota refer to it as Living IoT â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a flying wireless platform, which includes sensors, wireless communication and location trackers, that ride aboard live insects. In this case, a bumblebee that will soar over huge fields and monitor temperature, humidity or crop health. Because insects can fly on their own, the package requires only a tiny rechargeable battery that can last for seven hours of flight. The whole sensor package costs just a few dollars and weighs only 102 mg, or about the weight of seven grains of uncooked rice. (Bumblebees can carry payloads close to their body weight. A single bee weighs .00025 lbs, or 113 mg.)

Photo: Mark Stone | University of Washington. The UW team designed a sensor "backpack" that weighs 102 mg, about the weight of seven grains of rice. "We decided to use bumblebees because they're large enough to carry a tiny battery that can power our system," said Iyer, a doctoral student in the UW Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Unlike man-made drones, bees can fly for hours and can also sense things that electronic objects cannot, Gollakota said. "With a drone, you're just flying around randomly," he said, "while a bee is going to be drawn to specific things, like the plants it prefers to pollinate. And on top of learning about the environment, you can also learn a lot about how the bees behave."

39 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

In September the UW research team plans to present their findings at ACM MobiCom 2019, an international forum dedicated to addressing the challenges in the areas of mobile computing and wireless and mobile networking. This isn't the first time the team has unveiled a method for insects in flight. Relying on funding from UW, last May they unveiled RoboFly, a robo-insect powered by an invisible laser beam that is pointed at a photovoltaic cell, which is attached above the robot and converts the laser light into enough electricity to operate its wings. But with its tiny battery the most it can do thus far is take off and land. Nevertheless, the engineers don't plan to abandon RoboFly, as there are many promising applications a robo-insect can handle that living IoT simply can't. For one, RoboFly's flight patterns can be controlled, meaning that someday, among other things, they will be able to sniff out gas leaks, swoop beneath plants to detect pests and disease and slip into tiny spaces to find disaster survivors. Following the buzz For living IoT, though, the reality is here. To track the bees, the UW researchers set up multiple antennas that broadcasted signals from a base station across a specific area. A receiver in a bee's backpack used the strength of the signal and the angle difference between the bee and the base station to triangulate the insect's position. "To test the localization system, we did an experiment on a soccer field," said Wang, a doctoral student in the Allen School. "We set up our base station with four antennas on one side of the field, and then we had a bee with a backpack flying around in a jar that we moved away from the antennas. We were able to detect the bee's position as long as it was within 80 m, about threequarters the length of a football field, of the antennas." And since bees almost always fly within 100 m of their hive, that wasn't a concern. The team then added a series of small sensors to the backpack to monitor temperature, humidity and light intensity so the bees could collect data and log that information along with their location.

40 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

"The rechargeable battery powering the backpack weighs about 70 mg, so we had a little over 30 mg left for everything else, like the sensors and the localization system to track the insect's position," said Nandakumar, a doctoral student in the Allen School.

Photo: Mark Stone | University of Washington Unlike man-made drones, bees can fly for hours and can sense things that electronic objects can't. When the bees return to the hive for the night, the battery recharges and the data is uploaded. Eventually, the bees will be able to compile information about an entire farm. Saving the declining bee population Bees are essential. They are major pollinators for the crops we depend on, and without them onethird of our foods would disappear, according to the BBC. But according to the Environmental Protection Agency, bee populations have been disappearing globally at an alarming rate since the late '90s. Some of the reasons: climate change, pesticides, parasites, disease, habitat loss and harmful mite infestations. The UW engineers believe their sensors will help. "With the sensors, now we can understand bees' behavior in the wild," said Gollakota. "We can potentially understand why these bees are going extinct. Now we have a bird's-eye view of what the bee is feeling or sensing."

41 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

More from Tech Drivers: Popular apps are tracking your location with incredible detail 5G reality check: You won't need a 5G phone next year The instant updates on temperature and humidity, he said, can indicate bee activity and health. In time, the engineers plan to add a camera to the sensor. "We need to address security and privacy concerns before that, because once you put cameras on insects, there are other implications," Gollakota said. "With a drone, you're just flying around randomly, while a bee is going to be drawn to specific things, like the plants it prefers to pollinate. And on top of learning about the environment, you can also learn a lot about how the bees behave." -Shyamnath Gollakota, associate professor, University of Washington's Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering This isn't the first time bumblebees have been outfitted with tech to collect flight data. Other research groups are fitting bumblebees with simple "backpacks" by supergluing small trackers, like radio-frequency identification tags, to them to follow their movement. These prior studies, however, involved backpacks that track bees' locations over very short distances â&#x20AC;&#x201D; around 10 in. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; without anything that could survey the environment. The UW engineers claim the sensors do not harm the bee in any way. "The whole process is very simple. All we are doing is just putting on a tiny backpack, and it is very easy for these bees to carry. They go and fly around and are completely fine." To get the sensors on the bees, Gollakota said the researchers put a jar at the entrance of the hive. "The bees come out and you cool down the bee in the fridge for two to three minutes, and that reduces the motion of the bee. Then you stick the sensor on the back in less than a minute. A minute after that they are out flying around foraging for food. It's basically a hibernation process. During hibernation, when it becomes cooler, they become inactive and go silent," he said.

THESE PRODUCTS WILL HELP TO REDUCE THE LEVEL OF GLUCOSE IN THE BLOOD Jan Hartman | December 12, 2018 | News |

Minimize the consumption of potatoes and rice

42 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Scientists from Canada have concluded that replacing starchy side dishes lentils effectively reduces the level of glucose in the blood. Thus, according to the experts, it is possible to achieve a 20 percent

reduction in blood sugar levels.

So experts recommend to replace the potato and rice in their dishes that is on legumes. With such an appeal addressed to people with diabetes and peredam employees of the Department of health and the science of nutrition and the Department of agriculture and agriculture Canada Allison Duncan and Dan Ramdath. According to them, regular consumption of potatoes and rice in modern humans is significant in order that this food can be considered healthy. In half of the cases starchy side dishes needs to be replaced by others, because in large numbers they contribute to the development of tolerance to insulin, what is the reason for the high content of glucose in the blood. All of this is a prerequisite to the development of metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes.

43 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Add to your diet legumes As a side dish experts recommend to prefer legumes, and particularly lentils. Replacing half portion of rice with lentils help to reduce the level of glucose in the blood by 20 percent, instead of the potatoes – by 30, experts say. ―Legumes can reduce chronic diseases associated with improper glucose levels,‖ added the scientists. https://sivtelegram.media/these-products-will-help-to-reduce-the-level-of-glucose-in-theblood/72779/

44 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

45 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

46 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

47 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

The concern for Kropff is that with the rate of emerging diseases, there may be a time when they cannot be fast enough. ―When you start innovating, at the beginning it is easy. But there starts to get to a stage where it requires a lot more science to go to the next stage,‖ he said. ―It‘s bigger than people think.‖ Reducing the impact of climate change is the better solution.

Hybrid Rice Contrived By CRISPR Can Clone Its Seeds Celine Machando December 13, 2018

48 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

However, such hybrid grain miracles usually do not progress along those desired genetic aspect to all seeds in the course of reproduction. Therefore farmers who persistently want excessive produce have to disburse for the contemporary hybrid seeds every year.This contemporary lab genre of hybrid rice would protect those constitution through self-cloning says study coauthor Venkatesan Sundaresan, a plant geneticist at the University of California, Davis. Albeit 400 types of plants encompassing some blackberries and citruses have engendered selfcloning seeds inherently overhauling those routes in crop plants has been difficult than anybody anticipated Sundaresan says. He and his teammates envisioned the idea for the contemporary research while scrutinizing how a fertilized egg becomes a zygote, this mystical cell that restores a whole organism. The researchers found that recasting two sets of genes engendered the Japonica rice hybrid called Kitaake to clone its own seeds. Initially the team discovered that in an impregnated plant egg only the male variety of a gene called BABY BOOM1 discovered in sperm propelled the evolvement of seed embryo. Therefore the scientists thrust a genetic starter switch, called a promoter that allows the female variety of the same gene do similar work. http://coastlineledger.com/2018/12/13/hybrid-rice-contrived-by-crispr-can-clone-its-seeds/

49 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Biologists have created is able to ―clone‖ yourself figure By paradox 13.12.2018

The rice had not lost the ability to have sexual reproduction. Molecular biologists from the United States created a new variety of rice, able to produce seeds without the participation of the second plant is actually copying itself. Prospects for application of such ―clones‖ have been described in the journal Nature. Today, among scholars there is no clear idea about when and where was the domestication of rice. Genetic studies show that rice was ―tamed‖ by the ancient inhabitants of Southeast Asia or southern China approximately from 9 to 13 thousand years ago, however, the first unequivocal archaeological evidence of its existence have to a much later era, 4.5 to 4 thousand years ago. All this time the farmers and the breeders, dreamed about the breeding of such rice, for reproduction which would not need plants, male and female. At the same time it would make him independent of pollinators, and would create a ―stable‖ varieties of this grain, the properties of whose seed does not depend on the qualities of an unknown ―partner‖ for reproduction.

50 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Interestingly, many of the plants in the wild have this property, which scientists call apolognia. On the other hand, no cultivated plant has similar qualities that makes breeders each season to actually re-create hybrid varieties of wheat, tomato, rice and other plants. Sundaresan and his colleagues were able for the first time to realize this dream by studying how different genes in the ―male‖ pollen and ―female‖ semjazachatki. They were interested in those stretches of DNA that were active in only one of the types of plant germ cells and what functions they performed. Including turning off these genes, scientists discovered that one of these sites, ―male‖ gene BBM1, played the role of a ―trigger‖ that launches the development programme semjazachatki in full Bud of rice. Following this idea, scientists have modified the DNA of one of the popular varieties of rice so that BBM1 is included not only in male but also in female germ cells. Additionally, scientists have changed their genome in such a way that the formation of pollen and semjazachatki not led to the fact that the number of chromosomes they have halved. This allowed these cells alone become a full-fledged embryo without fertilization by another gamete type. In this case, interestingly, the rice had not lost the ability to have sexual reproduction. He gave healthy offspring, if the pollen could fertilize semjazachatki before it turned into another ―clone‖. As shown by comparison of DNA from different generations of plants, their genomes were completely identical to each other in 30% of cases. In the near future, biologists plan to increase this figure to 100%, and find a way to make ―clones‖ to form the endosperm, pulp grain, without pollen. http://micetimes.asia/biologists-have-created-is-able-to-clone-yourself-figure/

Science To Make Farmers Self-Sufficient: Cloned Hybrid Seeds To Enable Re-Planting by Swarajya Staff - Dec 14 2018, 12:03 pm,

51 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com

Farmers manually threshing rice. (Nitin Kanotra/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Americans and French have successfully hybrid

variety

Japonica and

tweaked of

Rice

(Asian

variety)

produced

cloned

seeds, Mint has reported. Prof

Venkatesan

Sundaresan at University of California (Davis), postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday, researchers from the Iowa State University and INRA, France were part of the study.The research conducted by scientists was published in the latest edition of the journal Nature. This would enable farmers to re-plant seeds from their own hybrid plants and derive the benefits of high yields year after year. They will not have to purchase expensive new seeds every year.Rice gene named ―Baby Boom 1‖ (BBM1) is expressed in sperm cells. After fertilization, the gene is expressed in the fertilized cell. Researchers found that this expression initially comes from the male contribution to the genome. The team used gene-editing techniques to remove the ability of plants to undergo sexual reproduction, enabling egg cells to be formed asexually.―Ensuring that crops pass on hybrid qualities to seeds has been a major challenge, but the current research fills gaps in previous studies,‖ Plant Geneticist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad Imran Siddiqui remarked on the new research.

Indica and Japonica are the two major varieties of rice grown around the world. Japonica is grown in countries with cooler climates. Indica is cultivated in countries with hot temperatures such as India https://swarajyamag.com/insta/former-cea-arvind-subramanian-asks-the-rbi-to-use-its-reserves-to-fix-thefinancial-system

52 | w w w . r i c e p l u s m a g a z i n e . b l o g s p o t . c o m mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com