4th & 5th January ,2018 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newlsetter by DAILY RICE NEWS LETTER

January 04-05 ,2019 Vol 10 ,Issue 1

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Soggy cereal gives clues to how rock dams collapse Cereal ‘ricequakes’ could help scientists predict when bigger structures will fall BETHANY BROOKSHIRE JAN 4, 2019 — 6:45 AM EST

What does your breakfast have to do with a giant dam or a river of ice? Quite a bit, a new study finds. I. EINAV AND F. GUILLARD

A bowl of rice cereal might seem like it has nothing in common with a huge rock dam or an Antarctic ice sheet. But look a little closer. When puffed rice is poured into milk and pressed down, liquid creeps into the cereal. The rice then sinks into the liquid with a large crash. At this point, a slow creep begins again. Those crashes — called ricequakes — happen at regular, predictable times, a new study finds. And the snap, crackle and pop of Rice Krispies soaking in milk can help scientists understand how larger things fall apart, such as huge ice sheets or heaps of rocks. Itai Einav works in Australia at the University of Sydney. Technically, he is an engineer who studies granular materials. And those can be anything from rocks and sand to flour. But these days, you might call him a cereal scientist. ―I worked for several years on dry Rice Krispies with a colleague,‖ he explains.

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They did a series of studies, just looking at how it crushes. And then, they realized, ―There was a connection to rocks.‖ The patterns that emerge when you crush the cereal, he says, ―are strikingly similar.‖ Science with cereal alone will soon run dry, however. So he and Francois Guillard poured puffed rice cereal into a tube filled with water or milk. (Puffed rice cereal is called Rice Krispies in the United States but Rice Bubbles in Australia.) The pair then added a weight on top. At 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds), that weight was about as heavy as a very thick book. ―We know what happens when you add milk without pressure; everyone‘s done it at home,‖ Einav says. Pressing down on the cereal would better imitate a heavy rockfill dam, he and Guillard suspected. Those dams are large hills of rocks and dirt. They‘re cheap to make because they don‘t need concrete or other expensive materials. Dirt and rocks can be found anywhere. What‘s more, these dams won‘t crack — as concrete might — when an earthquake hits. Rockfill dams are important structures. They hold back water to create big reservoirs. Controlled spills of water from some of them provide electrical power. Other dams might keep chemical wastes from mines or other operations from spilling into the environment. But unlike dams made of concrete (like the Hoover Dam), those made from rocks and earth have holes. Even the most solid rocks have tiny, tiny holes in them, Einav explains. ―Rocks without holes don‘t exist.‖ There are also air pockets between the rocks and dirt clumps.

This is the inside of a piece of puffed rice. It‘s full of holes that soak up liquid. They will eventually allow the cereal to sink into milk.

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I. Einav and F. Guillard

Over time, water can creep into such air spaces. It soaks upward from the bottom of the dam toward the top through a process known as capillary action. The soaked material begins to sink. It can even collapse. In 1998, a rockfill dam collapsed in Aznalcóllar, Spain. This spilled tons of dangerous mine wastes into a local river. Einav and Guillard decided to build a puffed-rice model that might help them predict when a large rockfill dam might come crumbling down. They watched their weighted, wet cereal carefully. They also took video and recorded sounds this cereal produced. Creep and crash Rice cereal collapses into liquid in two distinct, repeating phases, the researchers found. In the ―creep‖ phase, milk or water soaked upward. It entered into the air holes inside the rice and between the cereal grains. Meanwhile, the weight that the scientists had placed on top pressed the dry cereal down from above. This made small crackling noises as the rice got crushed. When the downward pressure became too great, the soaking cereal underwent a ricequake. All at once, the cereal shifted downward with an audible snapping sound. It was far louder than the previous crackles.

Hear the snap and crackle, and the louder pops? This is the two-stage collapse of puffed rice under pressure. Audio: I. Einav and F. Guillard

This cycle repeated over and over. By observing the puffed rice, the scientists were able to predict a steady pattern. As cereal sinks into bowl of milk, those ricequakes occur at longer and longer intervals. The cereal might appear to smoothly sink into the milk. In fact, the process was really a series of creeps and crashes, the scientists found. The same thing happens when a rockfill dam fails, Einay notes. The disaster may seem to happen all at once, but actually ―it‘s made of small collapse events.‖ And those control how quickly a dam fails, he says. The new results might apply to more than rockfill dams. After modeling ricequakes, Einav heard about ―icequakes.‖ These are masses of ice that shift and slide as melted water soaks up from below. ―They happen twice daily in Antarctica,‖ Einay says.

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He and Guillard compared their model to a moving stream of ice in Antarctica called the Whillans Ice Stream. The ice streams, they found, move in very similar ways to their puffed rice and milk. ―Once we have the model and equations, we can play with it and imagine what happens‖ as ice streams shift, Einav says. The team published its results October 12 in the journal Science Advances. Kerstin Nordstrom really likes their team‘s ―idea of making a scaled-down model‖ and tracking the collapses with sound. She is a physicist at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. It‘s ―a neat way to understand the mechanics going on inside a material when you can‘t see inside it,‖ she says. Scientists use sound to track earthquakes, for example. The math that Einav used to model sinking cereal could definitely apply to rockfill dams, adds Yida Zhang. He‘s an engineer at the University of Colorado in Boulder who studies such dams. It‘s relatively easy to know if a dam will collapse, he says. When it will collapse is harder to predict. The humble breakfast cereal might help people predict such disasters before they happen, he says. ―I‘m not trying to save the world with Rice Krispies,‖ Einav notes. He‘s just passionate about watching material collapse — whether that‘s an ice sheet or a bowl of cereal. He knew some collapse would happen in his experiment, he says. But finding a regular, organized series of ricequakes? ―It was so glorious and beautiful.‖ https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/soggy-cereal-gives-clues-how-rock-dams-collapse

TEXAS HAS ENOUGH SUN AND WIND TO QUIT COAL, RICE RESEARCHERS SAY Texas might have the perfect environment to quit coal for good. WRITTEN BY EDITORIAL STAFF ON JANUARY 3, 2019 | Solar installations powered as much as 28.5pc of the nation‘s electricity on Sunday May 6th 2018, for 30 minutes

Texas is one of the only places—potentially in the world—where the natural patterns of wind and sun could produce power around the clock, according to new research from Rice University. Scientists found that between wind energy from West Texas and the Gulf Coast, and solar energy across the state, Texas could meet a significant portion of its electricity demand from renewable power without extensive battery storage. The reason: These sources generate power at different times of day, meaning that coordinating them could replace production from coal-fired plants.

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―There is nowhere else in the world better positioned to operate without coal than Texas is,‖ said Dan Cohan an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University who co-authored the report with a student, Joanna Slusarewicz. ―Wind and solar are easily capable of picking up the slack.‖

This is a short briefing of the original article. If you would like to read the full story, click the link in the title to access the source article. You may also follow us on social media: https://www.pvbuzz.com/story/texas-has-enough-sun-and-wind-to-quit-coal-rice-researchers-say/

IRRI opens new center in India 01.04.2019 By Holly Demaree-Saddler

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VARANASI, INDIA — The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) opened the IRRI South Asia Regional Center (IRRI SARC) with Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi inaugurating the event. The research facility will work to strengthen the national research capacity of rice growing countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. ―This is a landmark moment for India and IRRI,‖ said Matthew Morell, director general of the IRRI. ―This state-of-the-art rice research center will catalyze South-South collaboration, strengthen the research expertise and capacity of rice growing countries in the region, and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. It is only through the support of our network of global partners, such as the government of India, that knowledge and innovations gained at this center can be speedily tailored to meet needs of farmers in India, across South Asia and across Africa.‖ Prime Minister Modi took a tour of the laboratories of the IRRI SARC, interacting with the scientists of the institute. IRRI SARC facilities include the Center of Excellence in Rice Value Addition (CERVA), a suite of modern laboratories where rice grains are assessed for quality and nutritional value and sensory evaluations for grain taste, texture, and aroma are conducted; on-site facilities. The education and training arm of IRRI SARC, IRRI Education, will teach scientists and agriculture leaders about the latest technologies and innovations for sustainable farming; and laboratories for digital crop monitoring and assessment, and demonstration fields where variety testing is conducted. Other inauguration attendees were Hon‘ble Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Ram Naik; Chief Minister for Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath; Minister of Communications and Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha; Agriculture Minister for Uttar Pradesh Shri Surya Pratap Shahi, Member of Parliament (Chandauli) Shri Mahendra Nath Pandey; Secretary for Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare Shri Sanjay Agarwal; Principal Secretary Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh Shri Amit Mohan Prasad and Joint Secretary (Seeds), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Ashwani Kumar. Representatives from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and other key donors and partner organizations were also in attendance. https://www.world-grain.com/articles/11451-irri-opens-new-center-in-india

Scientists Fix a Crucial Photosynthesis 'Glitch', Boosting Crop Growth by 40% MIKE MCRAE 4 JAN 2019

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Scientists have fixed a natural flaw in photosynthesis, and as a result have boosted plant productivity by an incredible 40 percent compared to wild relatives. Photosynthesis is the chemical reaction that lets plants turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into food, and this new hack could result in enough calories to help feed another 200 million people on our planet, from the same volume of crops. As of now, the fix has only been applied to tobacco plants, so we're a long way off using this to boost our food supply. But it's an incredibly promising first step. So what is this 'glitch' that needed fixing? It's a little-known step in photosynthesis known as photorespiration. "We could feed up to 200 million additional people with the calories lost to photorespiration in the Midwestern US each year," says principal investigator Donald Ort from the University of Illinois Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. "Reclaiming even a portion of these calories across the world would go a long way to meeting the 21st century's rapidly expanding food demands." To understand what goes wrong, you need to understand a little about the haphazard process of evolution. In the immortal words of Dr Ian Malcolm in the sci-fi classic Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way". What he didn't say is sometimes that way is an inefficient hot mess. To be fair, evolution does what it can under the circumstances. Like a grad student keeping one eye on summer break, it does just enough to pass. Anything more is a wasted effort, after all. For many plants, including rice and soybeans, when it comes to photosynthesis, it's a bare pass. We're talking a begrudging C-.

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One of the most clumsy parts is a key step involving the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO), which wedges a carbon dioxide onto the compound ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP). Roughly 20 percent of the time, RuBisCO mistakes oxygen for the all-important carbon dioxide molecule.(Fun fact: RuBisCO is widely regarded as the most abundant protein on the planet) Not only is this a wasted opportunity, the result of this glitch reaction is glycolate and ammonia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; two toxic compounds that need to be swiftly dealt with before they cause too much damage. Fortunately plants have evolved a way to rid themselves of this poison, called photorespiration. They don't mind spending a portion of their energy on this vital recycling process if it helps them survive. But when it comes to growing them as a food source, we certainly do. "It costs the plant precious energy and resources that it could have invested in photosynthesis to produce more growth and yield," says lead author and molecular biologist Paul South with the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Rice, wheat, and soybeans all suffer from this need to clear out toxic buildup. Not only do they happen to be three of the four crops our world's population relies on for most our calories, we can expect their yield to drop in the future thanks to global warming. "RuBisCO has even more trouble picking out carbon dioxide from oxygen as it gets hotter, causing more photorespiration," says co-author Amanda Cavanagh from the University of Illinois. There have been numerous efforts over the years to find ways to force crop plants into avoiding the need to detox. Many have involved finding the most efficient photorespiration approaches taken by other organisms, including various algae and bacteria. This latest effort is called Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), and its approach was to select genes from elsewhere and test them out. A handful came from the bacterium E. coli's glycolate oxidation pathway. A second version used a gene for catalase also from E. coli, and some for a glycolate oxidase and malate synthase from plants.

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Subject number three used a plant malate synthase gene and a green algal gene for glycolate dehydrogenase. These were used in conjunction with other genetic tweaks to find the most energy efficient pathway among 17 different constructs. The third photorespiration pathway was the one that stood out from the rest in final results, with metabolic activity surging more than 40 percent compared with controls. This gained energy translates into bigger yields. It remains to be seen whether these same efficiency boosts will be translated to other crops, but the researchers are working on it. Life doesn't always find a way. But if we're to get food to where it's needed in the future, science will have to. This research was published in Science.

Genetically modified 'shortcut' boosts plant growth by 40% By Matt McGrathEnvironment correspondent ď&#x201A;ˇ

3 January 2019

Scientists in the US have engineered tobacco plants that can grow up to 40% larger than normal in field trials.

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The researchers say they have found a way of overcoming natural restrictions in the process of photosynthesis that limit crop productivity. They believe the method could be used to significantly boost yields from important crops including rice and wheat. The study has been published in the journal Science. ď&#x201A;§ US wildlife refuges end 'bee-killer' ban ď&#x201A;§ GM crops have benefits - Princess Anne Researchers are growing increasingly concerned about the ability of the world to feed a growing population in a time of serious climate change. It's expected that agricultural demand will increase globally by 60-120% by the middle of this century compared to 2005. Increases in crop yields however are rising by less that 2% per annum, so there's likely to be a significant shortfall by 2050. While the use of fertilisers, pesticides and mechanisation have boosted yields over the past few decades, their potential for future growth is limited. Instead, scientists are increasingly looking to improving the process of photosynthesis as a way of increasing food productivity.

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While plants use the energy from sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugars that fuel the plant's growth, the chemical steps involved produce some toxic compounds that actually limit the potential of the crop. These toxins are then recycled by the plant in a process called photorespiration - but this costs the plant precious energy that could have been used to increase yield. In this study, researchers set out to developed a way around the photosynthesis glitch. "We've tried three different biochemical designs with the aim of shortcutting this very energy expensive process," said lead author Dr Paul South with the US Agricultural Research Service. "It's been estimated that in plants like soybeans, rice and fruit and vegetables, it can be a significant drag on yield by as much as 36%. We've tried to engineer this shortcut to make them more energy efficient - and in field trials this translated into a 40% increase in plant biomass." One important aspect of the problem is that it becomes more prevalent at higher temperatures and under drought conditions. "Our goal is to build better plants that can take the heat today and in the future, to help equip

farmers with the technology they need to feed the world," said co-author Amanda Cavanagh, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois.

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The researchers chose tobacco plants because they are easy and quick to modify. They also form a fully closed canopy in the field similar to many food crops. The team is now hoping to use these findings to boost the yields of soybean, rice, potato and tomato plants.

Image copyrightL. BRIAN STAUFFERImage captionThe experiment is significant say researchers because it involved two years of of field trials

"This process is very similar among all the crops that we are looking to grow," said Dr South. "We are are really hoping that this is a technology that provides a tool that further optimises agriculture so that we are not using outside inputs as much and we are growing more food on less land." However, the authors recognise that using genetic modification is controversial in many parts of the world. They argue that a lengthy review process will ensure that if food crops are developed using this technology, they will be accepted by farmers and consumers alike. "The research that's necessary to prove that it has low environmental impact and is safe for consumption takes a minimum of ten years and many more dollars in research funds to make sure that this is a good and safe food product," said Dr South. The technology is being developed for royalty-free distribution to smallholder farmers in subSaharan Africa and in Southeast Asia.

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It is being funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and the UK's Department for International Development. Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46750092

Scientists Tout New Way to Boost Photosynthesis January 3, 2019NATHAN SOLIS

(CN) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A study released Thursday offers a glimmer of hope for more efficient crops that can better fill up on warm sunlight and grow bigger and healthier.Plant photosynthesis is at the center of the study, published in the journal Science, helmed by researchers from the University of Illinois and U.S. Department of Agriculture who say they have engineered a bio-shortcut for plants to become 40 percent more efficient in gathering sunlight and converting that into energy. An unmodified plant (right) grows beside a modified plant (left) engineered with an alternate route to shortcut photorespirationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a circuitous and energy-expensive process that costs yield potential. The modified plants are able to reinvest their energy and resources to significantly boost productivity. (Photo credit: Claire Benjamin/RIPE Project)

Researchers say this could potentially feed up to 200 million more people from the amount of energy that is otherwise lost when plants are taxed and use energy-expensive means to gather nutrients from the sun. This anti-photosynthesis process can be engineered out of plants by introducing new pathways to help plants better turn carbon dioxide and water into sugars that make them grow. Over a two-year period, researchers stress-tested this process on 1,700 tobacco plants, which grew faster, taller and produced about 40 percent more biomass.

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―Reclaiming even a portion of these calories across the world would go a long way to meeting the 21st Century‘s rapidly expanding food demands – driven by population growth and more affluent high-calorie diets,‖ said Donald Ort, the Robert Emerson professor of plant science and crop sciences at the University of Illinois. The team will next apply the process to soybean, cowpea, rice, potato, tomato, and eggplant crops, but don‘t expect to see any of these results in the produce aisle anytime soon as it will take at least a decade for the technology to become common practice. Meanwhile, in another study on light and heat published Thursday in the journal Science, physicists from Rice University in Texas have created the world‘s first laser-cooled neutral plasma. It‘s no small feat, as the team used laser cooling on clouds of rapidly expanding ions to temperatures about 50 times colder than deep space. Plasmas tend to naturally occur in very hot places, like the surface of the sun or in a lightning bolt, but in order to study the matter, scientists had to cool, slow and trap particles with intersecting laser beams. This allows physicists to study coupled plasmas outside of where they naturally occur, like at the center of Jupiter or in white dwarf stars due to their intense gravity-squeezing of ions.Lead scientist Tom Killian, professor of physics and astronomy at Rice, said his team is not aware of the practical payoff at this point, but the work allows for the study of exotic states of matter. ―Nobody predicted that laser cooling atoms and ions would lead to the world‘s most accurate clocks or breakthroughs in quantum computing. We do this because it‘s a frontier,‖ said Killian. The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Department of Energy‘s Office of Science. https://www.courthousenews.com/scientists-tout-new-way-to-boost-photosynthesis/

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Science for Society PM Modi‘s vision is to promote ‗ease of living‘ through ‗ease of doing science‘ Written by Vijay Chauthaiwale |Updated: January 4, 2019 12:05:18 am The address was a clarion call to the scientific community and provided a new whiff of inspiration to the millions of Indians interested in science. (Source: PTI/File) At the 102nd Indian Science Congress held in Mumbai in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, ―To me, the arms of science, technology and innovation must reach the poorest, the remotest and the most vulnerable person.‖ It was an address that clearly articulated Modi‘s vision of charting a path for the pragmatic use of science and technology to aid growth and development in India. The address was a clarion call to the scientific community and provided a new whiff of inspiration to the millions of Indians interested in science. This vision of the prime minister has improving ―Ease of Living‖ for ordinary citizens at its core. It was an attempt at motivating scientists and researchers to direct their focus towards resolving the issues that disrupt the life of the common man. The transformation in the last four-and-half years has been remarkable. From engaging with Nobel laureates to brainstorming with India‘s scientific community, from interacting with young minds engaged in Hackathons to posing questions for innovators and startup founders, the PM has made science the fulcrum of New India. This, of course, was no simple task, especially in a country where institutions work in silos, where there are no connecting links between scientists and common citizens, and where research institutes are not qualitatively geared to deal with the requirements of 125 crore Indians. The issues faced by common citizens are complex and the solutions to them require an interdisciplinary approach. In the last four years, the government has tried to enhance collaboration between various scientific streams to enhance the productivity of our research and development. Government procedures and approvals for scientists and researchers have been placed online and made transparent, thereby assuring ―Ease of Doing Science‖. Our young scientists now spend more time dealing with the mysteries of science, than on government procedures. Various schemes have been introduced to improve the quality of research institutes, for the promotion of technology business incubators (Atal Incubation Centres) and research parks that promote innovative ideas until they become commercial ventures. This has opened up new opportunities for tech start-ups, propelling India to become the world‘s third-largest technology start-up hub with the incorporation of 1,000 new companies in 2017.

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The popularisation of science has been given a strong impetus. Platforms like ―Innovate India‖ promote and recognise innovations happening across the nation by enabling citizens to share their innovation. Atal Tinkering Labs ensure that dedicated workspaces are created for students to innovate and develop ideas that will go on to transform India. LATEST VIDEOS 04:31 Explained: What has been the BJP‘s stand over the years on Ram temple Scholarship schemes have been revamped and new schemes introduced to inspire young researchers and students to become active members of India‘s growth story. The Nobel Prize Series is now being hosted in India. This event is seen as a celebration of science and education. It consists of an exhibition from the Nobel Museum and Nobel dialogues in which Nobel laureates interact with school children and teachers. Prime Minister Modi also intelligently used his international visits to explore collaborations in various fields like clean energy, agriculture, fintech, biotechnology, medicine, healthcare and futuristic technologies, such as AI and Blockchain. India‘s partnership with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines was strengthened further with IRRI opening a regional centre in Varanasi. India‘s collaboration with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the US improved with our scientists participating in LIGO experiments. Similarly, India‘s quest for clean energy was cemented with our instrumental role in forging the International Solar Alliance. The quantum leap of 21 places in the Global Innovation Index in two years, has also been noticed by the international community. Science is a continuous journey. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, comprising of artificial intelligence, machine learning and smart robotics will create multiple opportunities for Indian scientists to create new tools that are relevant to India and are environmentally sustainable. Ease of Doing Science will indeed be the cornerstone of Ease of Living. As more bright youngsters take to science, they shall endeavour to find solutions in areas such as nutrition, agriculture, clean energy and the environment. The results shall certainly augur well for India. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/science-in-india-indian-science-congress-pm-narendramodi-5522423/

Tunde Bakare Knocked For Saying Nigeria Not Importing Rice Under BuhariNIGERIA POLITICS By Abimbola Johnson On Jan 3, 2019

Pastor Tunde Bakare

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General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has been criticized for stating that Nigeria has not imported rice for the past three years. Bakare, in a recent interview, had also claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari did not appoint ministers for six months because there was no money from previous administration to pay them. ―We are no longer importing rice for three years that is an incredible achievement by Buhari‘s government, seventeen local government occupied by Boko Haram no longer an issue,‖ Bakare had said.

But reacting, former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri on his Twitter page described the claims as lies. He wrote: ―Pastor Tunde Bakare should stop LYING that Nigeria under Buhari no longer imports rice. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), rice imports have increased 60% under Buhari and we will be the world‘s 2nd largest importer in 2019. ―Pastor Tunde Bakare should stop LYING that Buhari met an ―empty treasury‖. Jonathan handed over $2.07 billion in the Excess Crude Account, $29. 6 billion Foreign Reserve and $5.2 billion in NLNG dividends for the Buhari govt. Is that ‗empty treasury‘?

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―Pastor Tunde Bakare should stop LYING that Buhari has cleared Boko Haram from ―seventeen local governments‖ in Borno. As Bakare was granting that interview, Baga, Doron-Baga, Kross Kawwa, Bunduran, Kekeno and Kukawa towns are under Boko Haram/ISWAP control.‖ https://thewhistler.ng/tunde-bakare-knocked-for-saying-nigeria-not-importing-rice-under-buhari/

Agriculture trade deficit widens amid rice, fish imports January 4, 2019 | 12:01 am

A fish stall vendor prepares a receipt in Farmers Market in Quezon City on Sept. 5, 2018. -- REUTERS

By Lourdes O. Pilar Researcher THE trade deficit in agriculture commodities widened in the third quarter as agriculture exports fell while imports grew sharply, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said. The PSA said the Philippines shipped out $1.687 billion worth of agricultural goods in the three months to September, down 4.34% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, imports of farm products rose 15.48% to $3.536 billion.

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As a result, the third-quarter deficit in agricultural commodities was $1.850 billion, up 42.38% from a year earlier.

The agriculture sector accounted for 10.79% or $5.223 billion of total trade worth $48.397 billion in the third quarter. â&#x20AC;&#x2022;The latest increase in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s foreign trade in agriculture may be partly attributed to increased imports of rice and other agricultural commodities (after experiencing some local supply shortages in cheaper NFA rice, sugar), as part of the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s non-monetary measures to improve the local supply of rice, fish, sugar, and other food/agricultural products, in an effort by the government to lower rice/food prices in the local market and better manage the

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country‘s overall inflation,‖ said Michael L. Ricafort, economist from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC). ―A bigger agriculture trade deficit for the country, especially due to increased importation of rice/cereals, sugar, fish, other food/agricultural products, is primarily meant to augment local supply to address some shortages of cheaper varieties of rice and other food items and lower prices/inflation, as part of the government‘s non-monetary measures to better manage inflation,‖ Mr. Ricafort added. Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), said: ―This increase [in total agricultural trade] can be attributed to the uptick in imports to address supply issues particularly rice and other basic food products, and, consequently, address heightened price levels in the last 10 months of 2018.‖ https://www.bworldonline.com/agriculture-trade-deficit-widens-amid-rice-fish-imports/

Dhaka consumers greeted with rice price shock, farmers with good news in New Year Faysal Atik, bdnews24.com Published: 05 Jan 2019 05:01 BdST Updated: 05 Jan 2019 05:01 BdST

Wholesale prices of all varieties of rice have gone up by at least Tk 2 per kg, making the staple costlier in

the retail market as well in Dhaka in the beginning of the new year. The traders see a good sign for the farmers in the price spike as the price of paddy increased by over Tk 100 per maund (1 maund = 37.3242 kg) by the end of last year. Wholesalers in the capital say the millers halted supply citing a ban on transport during the parliamentary elections held on Dec 30 which they also blame for the price hike. One of them, Md Mohiuddin in Mirpur told bdnews24.com on Friday that the prices of all varieties of rice increased by Tk 2 to Tk 3 per kg in past five days. The price of low grade Paijam, Lata and BR Atash rose to Tk 1,750 from Tk 1,650 per sack of 50 kg on an average, medium grade Miniket to Tk 2,350 from Tk 2,250 and high quality Miniket rice to Tk 2,550 from Tk 2,450 per sack, according to the wholesaler. Retailer Md Palash at Pirerbagh said he was selling Miniket at Tk 54 per kg, BR Atash at Tk 40 and Paijam at Tk 39 a kg.

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The fine variety of flavoured rice can be had for Tk 3,950 per sack of 50 kg, up Tk 150 from the price before the vote.

Traders at North Badda rice market gave a similar account. ―But the farmers are making profits as paddy prices have also increased,‖ said Tarique Anam, a sales manager at Rashid Rice Agency. He said the millers produce Miniket rice generally from the Boro harvest. The price of paddy used for Miniket rose to Tk 1,120 per maund from Tk 1,000. The government procurement of rice at Tk 36 per kg from the farmers drove the paddy market up as well, Naogaon Rice Mill Owners Association President Rafiqul Islam told bdnews24.com. ―It has pushed the prices a little at the mills,‖ he added. He believes the prices will remain the same for some days.Rice prices skyrocketed for the last time for months from mid-2017 after devastating floods at the low-lying backswamps. Government data often lower than market prices, showed a 47 percent rise in the price of coarse rice while a fine variety saw around 20 percent increase in a year at the time. Coarse rice consumed by people with low income was then being sold at a minimum of Tk 46 per kg. https://bdnews24.com/business/2019/01/05/dhaka-consumers-greeted-with-rice-price-shock-farmers-withgood-news-in-new-year

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Turning Bio-Waste to a Bio-Economy in the Ayeyarwady Delta By GGGIReprint

GGGIs Principle Investment Officer Tero Raassina presenting on rice husk energy opportunities. Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar, Jan 4 2019 (GGGI) - In November 2018, a team of GGGI investment and bio-economy specialists have been travelling around the Ayeyarwady Delta and meeting members from national and regional government, NGOs, farming associations, businesses and communities to scope potential bio-economy commodities and investments that will enable socially inclusive green growth, and support national goals of climate change mitigation and adaptation in coastal areas. In a series of workshops and site visits, GGGI facilitated discussions on the range of current value chain activities in the region to assess what key stakeholders see as the barriers to developing or scaling up these activities. One such value chain that was consistently identified was the bi-products of rice grain processing. Participants from regional government, rice mills and NGOs discuss the barriers to expanding rice husk bio-economies.

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According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Myanmar produced over 25 million metric tonnes of rice in 2016, of which the Delta region harvests almost half of. There are hundreds of small to medium sized rice mills in the region. Consultation participants described that during the harvesting and milling process, a considerable volume of less valuable biproducts are produced. These include the rice bran, rice straw which is often burnt, and rice husk which is often dumped directly (illegally) in waterways, causing widespread impacts to river and drinking water quality, and navigational safety. Alternatively, there are a number of existing rice husk bio-gasification plants that use outdated technologies resulting in heavily polluted waterways. Similarly, there are existing rice husk fuel pellet facilities but participants frequently said these plants emit a foul smell. Visualisation of rice bi-products Initial value chain analysis shows these low-value bi-products can be used to make higher value products that can increase the income of rice farmers and millers and provide affordable energy to the wider region. The Delta has a low level of electrification at approximately 10% and suffers from chronic power shortages. This power shortage not only limits business development but also contributes to widespread deforestation of the mangroves for fuel wood. The governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s General Administration Department stated â&#x20AC;&#x2022;rice husk to energy should be the first priority. If we can use this waste then everyone will benefitâ&#x20AC;&#x2013;. The potential economic, social and environmental benefits of this value chain are timely for the Delta, with high proportions of landless rural households and reportedly the highest rates of

mangrove deforestation in Asia. The potential investments in this value chain could significantly

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contribute to achievement of Myanmarâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s Nationally Determined Contribution greenhouse gas mitigation targets and REDD+, climate change adaptation (including the NAPA), the Agricultural Development Strategy, and Myanmarâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s Sustainable Development Plan. Potential outcomes of rice husk energy for climate change. GGGI visited an existing rice husk bio-gasification plant in the Delta and the operators discussed barriers to its development such as high startup costs and lack of affordable finance with up to 13% loan interest being reported. The financing shortfalls also limits access to modern clean technologies that are causing other environmental impacts. GGGIs Myanmar Programme Officer Thiha Aung discuss issues at the Kyaiklat rice husk power plant.

This early analysis will feed into further in-depth value chain assessment by GGGI to design tailored financing solutions and social interventions that are pro-poor and lead to socially inclusive improvements. http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/01/turning-bio-waste-bio-economy-ayeyarwady-delta/

Ag Feels the Effects of Government Shutdown By Jamison Cruce

WASHINGTON, DC -- Two weeks into the partial government shutdown and it seems there is still no clear road ahead as to when the affected seven departments and various agencies may

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reopen, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is due to an ongoing funding dispute between President Donald Trump and House Democrats over a border wall along the United States' southern boundary with Mexico as a condition to his signing appropriations bills. Democrats oppose inclusion of funding for this purpose. Trump met with both Democratic and Republican Congressional Leadership at the White House on Wednesday to try and resolve differences of opinion to no avail. Yesterday, as the 116th Congress was seated and Democrats took control of the House for the first time since 2010, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pushed a vote on a funding bill that would restart funding for all affected departments and agencies, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through September 30, 2019. A separate bill was passed to fund DHS through February 8 as Congress debates the best path toward border security. The Senate is not likely to take up either of the bills for a vote given the Administration's stated unwillingness to sign either into law. The President and Congressional Leadership met today to discuss possible ways to end the impasse. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached. As uncertainty looms, the closure of departments the rice industry relies on for information such as trade data, promotional funding, and the ability to sign up for safety net and other critical programs is concerning. Up until this week, many of those entities were able to continue some operations utilizing carryover funds, but those have been extinguished swiftly now leading to a true shutdown. Implicated in the shutdown are USDA mission areas directly impacting farmers, including a complete shutdown of the Farm Service Agency (FSA). According to Undersecretary Bill Northey, farmers will be unable to pay off marketing assistance loans taken out at harvest, meaning farmers will be unable to receive clearance to move the crop they intended to sell in January until that loan is repaid. Also, farmers who have FSA direct farm operating loans with payments due in the near future will be unable to make payments until FSA reopens; however, FSA says they will take into account the shutdown as a real disruption and farmers should not be at a disadvantage. Despite reports that Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments and other payments may still be disbursed from FSA, USA Rice understands that no FSA-derived payments, including MFP payments, are being disbursed. Northey has indicated that Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue will consider whether extending the January 15 deadline for sign up makes sense. We interpret this to mean that the deadline for sign up will be extended if the shutdown goes beyond the deadline. It is also important to note that during the shutdown, no funding awards through the Agricultural Trade Promotion program, one of the three legs of USDA's trade mitigation plan,

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will be made. Other known USDA functions that have been disrupted are many, including the suspended publication of the monthly World Agricultural Outlook Board's supply and demand estimates report (WASDE), anticipated on January 11. During the last shutdown in 2013, scheduled USDA reports, including the WASDE, were canceled. Further, USDA has restricted access to any Foreign Agricultural Services' Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS) data and suspended updates to almost all USDA websites and data sources. "USA Rice activities through the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program are severely curtailed due to no allocation of funds for this fiscal year," said USA Rice Vice President International Sarah Moran. "Additionally, awards for the new Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program were expected in early January but that too will be delayed while the government is shutdown. There are limited tenders for food aid and nutrition assistance programs." "As we approach another projected year of poor economic forecasts and a decline in net farm income, we urge Congress and President Trump to resolve these differences and fund the government so USDA will begin functioning again and the new farm bill can be implemented," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. "This shutdown has very real implications for an industry already in distress."

Govt to implement Geographical Indication Law after 18 years By Ghulam Abbas January 2, 2019

‘Int’l brands are unabatedly selling Pakistan-origin goods due to non-finalisation of GI Law’ ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan is yet to implement Geographical Indication Law ever since it was drafted in the year 2000, the Ministry of Commerce is set to submit the draft law to the cabinet for approval before presenting it to the parliament for the same. The GI Law, which is pending for a long time, was needed to protect commercial heritage of the country‘s products, including basmati rice, Peshawari chappal, Multani halwa, Sindhi ajrak,

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Sargodha‘s kinnow, Kasuri methi, Sindhri mango, Dir knives, Swati wild mushrooms, Nili-Ravi buffalo, Chaman grapes, Pashmina shawls, Gilgit Baltistan‘s apricot etc. Taking notice of the long pending draft law, Commerce Secretary Mohammad Younus Dagha has asked the relevant department and staff to submit the draft GI Law to Ministry of Law within two days so that it could be approved by the cabinet and subsequently by the parliament. The commerce secretary was briefed about the importance of the GI Law by Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed Khan during a meeting on Wednesday. According to sources, the meeting was informed that international brands were unabatedly selling Pakistan-origin goods due to non-finalisation of the GI Law, causing huge losses to the local producers/manufactures. It is pertinent to mention that the Commerce Division has been working on the GI Law since 2000, but the law remained pending for the last 18 years due to ―differences between influential lobbies‖, leading to failure of marketplace regulation. Former prime minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi had also directed the ministry to speed up the process in finalising the draft law.

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Member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) need to give protection to GIs under Article 22-24 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement. Unless Pakistan provides GI protection, it cannot obtain the same for its own goods in other countries that have the GI Law. The GI Law covers a wide variety of products that include industrial, agricultural, and horticultural and others. In the absence of the said law, Pakistan cannot claim exclusive GI of basmati rice. The Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan has long been demanding the government to approve GI Law as Indian basmati rice was fetching more prices in the European market as compared to the same products of Pakistan. Pakistanis had put up a strong argument with EU as to how it was possible that a farmer only 40km away from an Indian rice grower could get a lower price for the same product. Later, India had agreed to enter into talks on GI for basmati rice in Geneva. According to official sources, the commerce secretary has assured unflinching support of the ministry to IPO-Pakistan on all issues including the enactment of GI Law and Industrial Design Rules. Younus Dagha appreciated IPO-Pakistan for successfully implementing â&#x20AC;&#x2014;first come first serve registration systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; in trademark registry. He maintained that this would go a long way in bringing transparency and timely disposal of work for IP applicants. During the meeting held at IPO office, Mujeeb Ahmed Khan presented a 3-year roadmap of the organization and apprised the secretary of numerous initiatives taken by his organization to facilitate and dispose of IP applications. Giving details about the international treaties, the chairman stated that IPO has started working on the accession process on treaties related to international registration of trademarks and patents.

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Meanwhile, he added, the copyright office has been connected through a virtual network with all other offices of the organization. https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/01/02/govt-to-implement-geographical-indication-law-after-18years/

Texas has enough sun and wind to quit coal, Rice researchers say Erin Douglas Jan. 2, 2019 Updated: Jan. 2, 2019 9:20 p.m. 2of 2A West Texas solar farm. By coordinating wind energy with solar production, Texas could replace coal, a new study finds.

Texas might have the perfect environment to quit coal for good.Texas is one of the only places where the natural patterns of wind and sun could produce power around the clock, according to new research from Rice University. Scientists found that between wind energy from West Texas and the Gulf Coast, and solar energy across the state, Texas could meet a significant portion of its electricity demand from renewable power without extensive battery storage. The reason: These sources generate power at different times of day, meaning that coordinating them could replace production from coal-fired plants. ―There is no where else in the world better positioned to operate without coal than Texas is,‖ said Dan Cohan, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University who co-authored the report with a student, Joanna Slusarewicz. ―Wind and solar are easily capable of picking up the slack.‖ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Texas-has-enough-sun-and-wind-to-quit-coalRice-13501700.php

Resolving the winter ordeal India could work with IRRI & ASEAN nations to collectively develop sustainable alternatives to deal with the persistent issue of straw burning Anish Tore2

Jan 2019 6:51 PM Nobody can ignore the winter smog in Delhi, probably because the smog is the only thing that one can see with bare eyes in the capital's now infamous winters! Though a report by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR), under the aegis of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, shows that vehicles and industries contribute the most to the

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pollution in National Capital Region (NCR), pollution arising from farmers burning crop residue in the regions adjoining NCR has taken the centre stage recently. Despite states blaming each other for the problem, it is now well established that 'stubble burning' by farmers of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi itself is a major contributor to the deadly smog-soaked winters. The government responded to this problem by doing something it loves to do â&#x20AC;&#x201C; banning crop residue burning. The government seems to have a problem of memory loss, otherwise, it would have remembered that almost all of its previous attempts to ban such practices failed disastrously. India could have learned from the international experience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; where similar bans imposed by Communist China and the semi-authoritarian Philippines failed to persuade or coerce rice farmers. Another initiative of granting subsidies to farmers to buy machines that help in 'rice straw management', has also failed to take off in an expected manner. Both the ban and the subsidy-grant initiatives have the classical markings of being 'top-down' interventions, which, on most occasions, are bound to fail. However, India could take lessons from the Philippines in this regard. The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PRRI), in association with some farmer groups, NGOs and university students, organises an annual 'Dayami Festival' to spread awareness about the harmful effects of rice straw burning and the available alternatives to sustainably manage the straw. In Filipino, the word 'Dayami' refers to 'hay' or 'grass straw'. Almost everyone has a role in this festival, for example, the 2017 Dayami festival saw university students making artistic representations of insects (using leftover rice straw) that are killed due to stubble burning. On the sidelines of the festival, activists and scientists affiliated to PRRI & various NGOs provide tips to farmers on utilising leftover rice straw. The suggestions include ploughing the rice straw back into the field as a natural fertiliser (paddy cultivation is particularly nutrient intensive), supplying paddy straw for generation of bio-energy, and using the paddy straw as a substrate for mushroom cultivation. At the festival, the emphasis was not on preventing rice stubble burning (as in the Indian case) but to minimise the costs for farmers who opt for alternative methods of paddy straw disposal and supplementing the farmers' source of income. This approach, involving different sections of society in the pursuit of a solution, is expected to be much more effective compared to the 'carrot-and-stick approach' of the Indian State, where it offers subsidies for rice stubble management on the one hand and aims to take penal action against farmers who continue to burn rice stubble on the other. There is already an element of distrust between farmers' groups and the state over long-standing issues, including crop prices and insurance. Recently, farmers from across the country gathered on the streets of the national capital on November 29 and 30, 2018, with a long list of grievances. In this backdrop, paddy cultivators are less likely to respond to the government only initiatives due to the high levels of animosity.

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The problem of crop residue burning can't be solved by technical or legal interventions alone. We need teams of doctors, scientists, activists and students to engage with farmers and farmer organisations and look for solutions together. The People's Science Movement (PSM) is one such platform to achieve the target, wherein health, pollution and environmental degradation form the basis of most of its programmes. A full-fledged intervention by the PSM in the problem of stubble burning may also provide a convenient entry point for the PSM in the northern agrarian belt. By helping the paddy farmers transition to a better, more sustainable style of farming, the PSM might be able to develop a constituency for itself in the region. Since we live in an increasingly globalised world, we must make an attempt to seek global solutions to our local problem of paddy straw burning. Rice is one of the top three food crops in the world and the staple food of an overwhelming majority of Asians. Media reports and research papers have highlighted how the problem of paddy straw burning raised concerns in the Philippines, China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. We might be able to develop additional methods to sustainably dispose of paddy straw via collaborative research efforts and co-operation with other rice-producing countries in the ASEAN bloc. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while attending the ASEAN summit in the Philippines in 2017, paid a visit to both the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) as well as PRRI. During the visit, the PM donated two varieties of rice to IRRI to bolster their rice-gene bank, when he was also informed about IRRI's work to develop flood-resistant rice varieties, which would help a world threatened by extreme events and Climate Change. During this visit, steps were also taken to operationalise the newly inaugurated South Asian centre of IRRI, located in Varanasi. Thus, a well laid out infrastructure for future co-operation in development and dissemination of better rice varieties was put in place during Modi's visit. Though PRRI & IRRI are already conducting research to find ways to sustainably manage paddy straw; this issue, curiously, did not figure in the list of priorities of the Indian delegation during PM Modi's visit. There already exists an infrastructure for agricultural co-operation between India and IRRI. It would be wise to see if there exists a possibility to collaborate and find common solutions to the vexed problem of paddy straw burning. Further, India could explore the possibility of collaborating with countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar who similarly witness large-scale paddy straw burning. Co-operation between India and ASEAN countries, in their common pursuit towards finding sustainable solutions to the problem of straw burning, will add another layer to the scientific & people-to-people (P2P) diplomatic cooperation between the two. (The views expressed are strictly personal) http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/resolving-the-winter-ordeal-334513

Make Nice With Rice to Boost Your Diet 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

En EspaĂąol By Len Canter HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Dec. 4, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- If you love rice, you might be wondering how you can make it part of healthy meals. Whether you're trying to drop pounds or stay at a healthy weight, some adjustments will let you keep it on the menu. Rice belongs to the grain family. While grains are an important part of your overall diet, standard white rice isn't a nutritious choice -- it's not a whole grain. What's more, it's a food that has 200 calories per cup, so you want to make sure that you maximize nutrients as well as flavor. First, opt for brown rice, the whole-grain form, as often as possible. White rice has gone through a process that removes its fiber and many of its nutrients, including protein, iron and some B vitamins. There are many types -- and colors -- of whole grain rice to sample, including brown basmati, red rice, purple Thai and Chinese black rice. Popular Wehani rice is a whole grain, reddish-

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brown American hybrid of basmati and brown rices. Note that wild rice is another tasty choice, though technically it's not a rice, but rather a semi-aquatic grass. It makes a great medley when mixed with brown rice. Also experiment with different ways to turn rice into a meal rather than a side dish. For lunch or a cold supper, load a whole-wheat pita pocket with cooked and cooled rice and chopped vegetables and top with a light vinaigrette. Or try a cold rice salad for a to-go meal. For your protein, add in chunks of turkey, chicken, tofu or nuts, then blend in a handful of dried raisins or cranberries and a sprinkling of seasonings. You can even get creative and make homemade sushi rolls at home. Use avocado and cucumber if you're not a fan of raw fish. Baked with milk, eggs, vanilla, a small amount of sweetener and cinnamon, brown rice can even make a healthy version of rice pudding for dessert or even breakfast. More information The Whole Grains Council has more on all types of rice to help you enjoy the healthiest varieties. https://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/food-and-nutrition-news316/make-nice-with-rice-to-boost-your-diet-738889.html

Tonight's dinner: Spicy egg fried mushroom rice

Serve with extra hot sauce, soy and black sesame seeds CREDIT: ELEANOR STEAFEL Eleanor Steafel

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3 JANUARY 2019 • 6:00AM

Sometimes what you really need is student food. Quick, satisfying bowlfuls to be shovelled down with glee. Beans on toast with an unholy amount of budget supermarket cheddar (and extra Worcestershire sauce, obviously) will do it, mac and cheese can hit the spot, or even a bowl of mashed potatoes, served as Nora Ephron does in Heartburn: in bed, with a thin slice of cold butter added to each forkful. Sometimes, however, it's heat and salt you want. Egg fried rice with plenty of spring onions, chilli, and extra soy and hot sauce is the perfect fuel for your comfort food craving. You could use basmati or any other long grain rice - I just like the nutty flavour of brown rice.

To continue reading this article https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/recipes/tonights-dinner-spicy-egg-fried-mushroom-rice/

IRRI opens new center in India 01.04.2019 By Holly Demaree-Saddler

laboratories for digital crop monitoring and assessment, and demonstration fields where variety testing is conducted. Other inauguration attendees were Honâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ble Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Ram Naik; Chief Minister for Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath; Minister of Communications and Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha; Agriculture Minister for Uttar Pradesh Shri Surya Pratap Shahi, Member of Parliament (Chandauli) Shri Mahendra Nath Pandey; Secretary for Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare Shri Sanjay Agarwal; Principal Secretary Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh Shri Amit Mohan Prasad and Joint Secretary (Seeds), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Ashwani Kumar. Representatives from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and other key donors and partner organizations were also in attendance. https://www.world-grain.com/articles/11451-irri-opens-new-center-in-india

Wild rice task force calls for new stewardship council By John Myers on Jan 4, 2019 at 5:42 p.m.

A governor's task force on wild rice reached no consensus on major changes to protect the plants in Minnesota but instead suggests creating a permanent stewardship council to develop wild rice protections and plants for the future. (file / News Tribune)-

A task force appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton last May aimed at finding ways to protect, preserve and promote wild rice across Minnesota has ended with several recommendations but no new consensus on state regulations.

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The task force's final report, made public Friday, said the issue of protecting wild rice is too complex for the members to solve over a few months. "Given the extraordinary complexity of the subject matter and the short timeline for the task force, task force members felt they would be remiss to make final recommendations on some complex areas of the topic without additional efforts and voices,'' the final report notes. Instead, task force members said their primary recommendation is to create a new, apparently permanent state Wild Rice Stewardship Council to develop long-term solutions to wild rice problems and long term protections for wild rice lakes and rivers. The proposed stewardship council members "would represent a wide range of interests and perspectives, and be charged with making interdisciplinary recommendations on the management, monitoring, outreach research, and regulation regarding wild rice,'' the final report notes, adding that the new council would be tasked by the state to recommend a statewide standardized monitoring program, recommend a comprehensive, statewide management plan for wild rice; encourage more research on wild rice; and develop a "roadmap" for protecting wild rice from sulfate. Dayton formed the task force by executive order in May 2018. The 14 members met nine times over three months to find ways to address the "regulatory, economic, and scientific challenges associated with protecting wild rice." The final report outlines several recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature and to incoming Gov. Tim Walz to both protect wild rice and support continued economic development and job creation across the state, including developing better relations between state and tribal interests; instructing the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to improve its variance process; and declaring the first week of September "Wild Rice Week" to build awareness of the value of wild rice in Minnesota. The task force â&#x20AC;&#x201D; comprised of representatives from Red Lake Nation, Dakota Tribes, iron mining and copper mining corporate officials, environmental advocacy groups, scientists, state and local government agencies and others â&#x20AC;&#x201D; agreed on basic tenets of protecting wild rice and clean water; ensuring the viability of Minnesota communities; respecting tribal sovereignty; the 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

need to address biological, chemical, and hydrological threats to wild rice; and sharing the burdens and benefits of any solutions the state develops. Kathryn Hoffman, who heads the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and was a member of the task force, said effort "made significant progress toward finding common ground on solutions to protect wild rice'' despite the limited timeframe. "The recommendation to form a Wild Rice Stewardship Council with full representation from all 11 federally-recognized Native American tribes, bands, and communities in the State of Minnesota is critical for continued momentum forward,'' Hoffman said Friday in a statement. "We hope that Gov.-elect Tim Walz and the Minnesota Legislature adopt its recommendations so that we can continue to work together toward science-based solutions that protect wild rice." An industry representative on the task force did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the report Friday afternoon.The task force didn't answer the question of potential sulfate pollution of wild rice beds from industrial pollution, especially mining, and from sewage treatment plants. Scientists who have studied the issue say sulfates can convert to sulfides in some waters and harm development of wild rice. But there is disagreement between industry scientists and others on how much impact those sulfides have, especially in waters with different iron contents and chemistry. The final report offered a vague statement on sulfate saying that, while most researchers agree the sulfate/sulfide process harms wild rice "there are wild rice waters that do not fit this relationship where wild rice thrives. The rate at which sulfate is converted to sulfide, and how wild rice plants are affected, is an active area of scientific discussion."The report also notes that while the Pollution Control Agency has forwarded an equation to determine the sulfate/sulfide/wild rice relationship for individual lakes and rivers "other researchers have disagreed with this approach and think the equation does not sufficiently capture the dynamic biological, chemical, and hydrological relationships related to the effects of sulfate on wild rice. Some researchers believe the equation-based approach proposed by MPCA was over-protective of wild rice, and others believe it was underprotective."https://duluthnewstribune.com/news/government-and-politics/4552478-wild-ricetask-force-calls-new-stewardship-council

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Police arrest 2 for alleged robbery, beheading rice dealer in Osogbo Last Thursday at 6:09 PM

The police command in Osun says it has arrested two suspects over alleged robbery and killing of a rice dealer by beheading him.

Nigerian Police The State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fimihan Adeoye, made this known while parading the suspects and other crime suspects at the Police Headquarters on Thursday in Osogbo. Adeoye said the arrested suspects were contracted to kill one Isiaka Sanusi, a 43-year-old businessman, on May 14, 2018, at about 9 pm, along Iwo Road, Osogbo. He said one Yekini Ayinde, also known as â&#x20AC;&#x2014;Abijaâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;, (a principal suspect still at large) had contacted the deceased to supply him 500 bags of rice. He said the deceased was lured into making the supply in Osogbo, from Saki in Oyo State, lodged in an hotel after the goods were supplied and later taken out to be killed. He said Ayinde contracted the arrested suspects, Dauda Amusat, known as Adasi and Pariola Kabiru, with five others, to kill the businessman after collecting the money initially paid to him for the supply.

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He said Amusat and his gang killed the victim by cutting off his head, and later confessed how four members of the gang took away the head for ritual purpose. Adeoye said three of the seven-man gang had earlier been arrested and charged to court, and that the newly arrested suspects would equally be charged after completion of investigation. He said the principal suspect in the case, Ayinde, was however still at large, but promised that the command would do the needful to ensure his arrest. The police boss also announced the arrest of two suspected cultists of the Eye Confraternity over their involvement in secret cult activities and killings at Osun State Polytechnic, Iree. Adeoye said all the suspects would be charged to court after the police had concluded their investigations. The commissioners appealed to residents of the state to report and shun all acts and forms of criminality, advising the youths to embrace hard work as there was no short cut to getting rich. Author: News Agency Of Nigeria Source: Pulse Nigeria

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or: WhatsApp: +2349055172167 Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng https://www.pulse.ng/news/metro/police-arrest-2-for-alleged-robbery-beheading-rice-dealer-inosogbo/03k511d

New Year, New Congress, New Leadership By Frank Leach January 3, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today at noon marked the start of the 116th Congress as Members of the House and Senate were sworn-in on the floor of their respective chambers by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence. Prior to the swearing-in ceremony, the House formally elected Pelosi to serve as the new Speaker of the House.

The 116th Congress includes 100 new members - 91 new members of the House and nine new members of the Senate. New members of Congress representing rice states/districts include Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO); Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA-10); Rep. TJ Cox (D-CA-21); Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-02); and Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS-03). There are an additional ten members who won special elections during the 115th Congress, and were re-elected during the November

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elections, including Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) who was elected to finish the term of retired Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), who was re-elected in November after finishing the term of former Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX). In the House, Democrats now hold 235 seats, while the Republicans hold 199 seats. One House race, North Carolina's ninth district, remains outstanding. In the Senate, the Republicans gained three seats, and now hold a 53 to 47 majority. Over the next few weeks, the House and Senate are expected to announce updated Committee rosters. It already has been announced that Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) will serve as the chair of the House Agriculture Committee and Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) will serve as the Ranking Member. In the Senate, it is expected that there will not be any leadership changes atop the Senate Agriculture Committee, and that Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (DMI) will continue as Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively.

"USA Rice looks forward to meeting the new members of the 116th Congress and welcoming back our friends who were re-elected in November," said Charley Mathews, Jr., California rice farmer and USA Rice Chairman. "There is a lot of work to be done over the next two years, and USA Rice looks forward to educating elected officials on our issues and advocating for the priorities of the U.S. rice industry to ensure our members' voices and concerns are heard and heeded."

USA Rice Daily

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When Her Family Left Vietnam, She Carried A Backpack Full Of Rice During The Journey LISTE January 2, 20195:05 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered When Loan Pham left Vietnam with her family for asylum in the U.S., she brought a backpack of rice with her. She shares the story of her journey for the series What They Took With Them.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: In 1939, a 14-year-old Jewish boy escaped Nazi Germany, leaving his parents behind. He brought with him a single toy, a stuffed monkey. And years later, that monkey helped reunite him with family he didn't know he had. We told his story last year, got a huge response. And after it aired, we asked if you had any similar stories. Loan Pham did. Pham was born in Vietnam 34 years ago. She came to the U.S. for asylum. Her father was branded a war criminal because he had fought alongside American troops during the Vietnam War. Her whole family was punished for that. LOAN PHAM: Our family didn't have any assets, as in a boat or a home or even a cooking pot. And we just sat out there in the rain, starving, hungry all the time. I kept on stealing bananas from the village market. And one time, I did get caught. The vendor was obviously very unhappy because bananas were her livelihood. She decided to tie me up. And she spread hay all around me, and she said, I'm going to burn you. I think her emotions got to her. And she started shrieking when the fire got too great, and it was going to get to me. That was when a farmer walked on by, and he saw what was going on. He snatched me and saved me. When word got to my mom, my mom began to cry. And she broke off a branch of bamboo, and she started whipping me with it. She was ashamed that her child resorted to stealing because she couldn't tolerate the hunger. In 1991, we went from our village of Quy Lai outside of Hue in central Vietnam to a refugee camp in Thailand and then onto a housing project in Oakland, Calif. I was so excited, was on a train. It was just unbelievable. You might as well take me to Mars. The whole time, I was in charge of a red backpack filled with loose rice. We were afraid of starving in the United States. We were afraid that there would be no rice. I had never seen this much rice my whole life. It was a really happy backpack.

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I grew up without a backpack. I had no idea how to put it on. I had no idea how the buckles snapped or the zippers zipped, but I insisted on taking charge of it. And I never allowed it to escape from my view. And I nibbled at the rice kernels just to make sure they were real. And that's how we sustained ourselves for the first few weeks. And I used that backpack to go to school at Fruitvale Elementary here in Oakland. Since coming to the United States, my dad is a janitor. My mom paints nails. They don't earn a lot of money, but they're pretty content people. My mom's wish when we were growing up was that she would eventually own a nail salon, and my sister and I would work at the nail salon with her. That was her dream. That was never my dream. And as of last weekend, all five kids have graduated from the UCs. KELLY: Loan Pham - she's now finishing a PhD in military history. As for the backpack that she carried from Vietnam to the U.S., it was only used for a little while. It was flimsy. And worse, it was red, and the color reminded her father of the communist government. When a charity gave her a new American-made backpack, she threw the Vietnamese one away. Over the years, her parents sent money back to their village to help pave roads and build an elementary school. And Pham has since returned there for both professional and personal reasons. She says people recognize her and welcome her. PHAM: Actually, during the last business trip I took, I was walking through the village market. Then this woman said, child, do you want to buy some bananas? And I was like, oh, no thank you, ma'am. And she said, you don't remember me, do you? And I said, I really don't. I'm sorry. And she said, I was the one who tried to burn you. And then I laughed. It was such a small world. It was funny to see that she can laugh about it, and I can laugh about it as well. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/681752298/when-her-family-left-vietnam-she-carried-a-backpack-fullof-rice-during-the-jour

NFA-NegOcc: Additional 160,000 bags of rice from Vietnam up for unloading January 4, 2019

NEGROS. National Food Authority- Negros Occidental personnel inspect MV Tan BINH 79 docked at Bacolod Real Estate Development Corporation Port in Bacolod City on Tuesday, January 1. The vessel carries 160,000 bags of rice from Vietnam, the third import allocation for Negros Occidental for 2018. (Contributed photo)

THE additional eight metric tons, or 160,000 bags, of imported rice from Vietnam is up for unloading, an official of the National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Occidental said. Marianita Gellecanao, assistant provincial manager of NFA- Negros Occidental, said on Thursday, January 3, the additional buffer stocks for the province arrived at Bacolod Real Estate Development Corporation (Bredco) Port in Bacolod City on December 29.

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Gellecanao said the third import allocation for the province for 2018 was shipped via MV Tan BINH 79. The first import allocation of 80,000 bags arrived in July 2018 followed by 100,000 bags in November. Both stocks were imported from Thailand. ―The additional importation was actually approved by the NFA Council last year and is supposed to be shipped by November. It, however, arrived latter part of December,‖ she added. Gellecanao, along with other NFA-Negros Occidental, inspected the vessel on Tuesday. The stocks were subjected to 24-hour aeration before the unloading can be started most probably on Friday, January 4. Gellecanao said under normal circumstance, meaning without disturbance like bad weather, the unloading may be completed in at least two weeks. As of Thursday, the existing buffer stocks stored among warehouses in the province is about 50,000 bags, which are still up for distribution among local retailers. Thus, the total inventory of government rice in Negros Occidental is currently pegged at 210,000 bags. These stocks have a selling price of P25 per kilogram for accredited rice retailers. It will still be sold in the market at P27 per kilogram. Gellecanao said given the province's average daily consumption requirement of 20,600 bags, the existing buffer may last up to 80 days. NFA rice's participation in the total consumption requirement is only 10 percent, she added. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol earlier assured that there will be enough supply of rice this year. Piñol, also the NFA Council chairman, said the NFA has established a stock inventory of 750,000-metric tons of imported rice in preparation for the lean months. The volume, he said, will ensure an eight-month supply of government-subsidized rice at 10 percent market participation. ―In addition to the P7 billion worth of palay which will be procured by the NFA from local farmers, the NFA has given the assurance that there will be enough supply of governmentsubsidized rice in the market next year,‖ the agriculture chief added. (EPN) https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1781148/Bacolod/Business/NFA-NegOcc-Additional-160000-bagsofrice-from-Vietnam-up-for-unloading

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Vietnamese rice makes name in world market VNA FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019 - 7:05:00

In 2018, Vietnam’s total rice exports reached 6.15 million tonnes, with export turnover of 3.15 billion USD. The industry saw a 5.7% increase in volume and 19.6% increase in value compared to 2017. Lộc Trời 28 is a short term rice variety and the final product between the hybrid of Loc Troi 1 and Basmati rice variety of India. High-yielding, fragrant and nutritious compared to other varieties, Loc Troi 28 was well received at an international rice convention held in China. Vietnamese rice producers now focus on production value, not just increasing volume. Furthermore, Vietnam has become a member of the global sustainable rice production programme, and for the first time in years, Vietnam rice price is higher than Thailand‘s. In recent years, Vietnam‘s rice industry has paid more attention to promotional activities. The launch of Vietnam‘s national rice logo has reiterated the efforts to bring more rice to the world market. However, in the context of global warming and unpredictable weather patterns, as well as limitation in value chains and farmers‘ struggle to make a living from growing rice, there is much needed to be done. The global market is changing at a rapid pace and it requires Vietnam‘s rice industry to heighten the production volume, improve the quality and deliver more diverse rice products.-VNA https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnamese-rice-makes-name-in-world-market/144574.vnp

China Finally Okays U.S. Rice Imports BEIJING, CHINA -- USA Rice's office in China reports that China Customs announced today on its official website that the China market is opened for the import of U.S. milled rice effective from December 27, 2018, in accordance with the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Protocol signed between the United States and China from July of 2017

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"This is a tremendous milestone that has taken more than a decade to reach and is a result of the insistence from USA Rice in including rice as a step in resolving the trade dispute between China and the U.S.," said USA Rice Chair Charley Mathews, Jr., a California rice farmer. "As with all our dealings with China, the devil is in the details, and we have many questions, including when the first sales will be made, but this is definitely good news for our producers and millers as we enter the New Year." Recently China made large purchases of U.S. soybeans that received widespread media coverage, however, imports of U.S. rice were illegal in China and several administrative steps, such as today's action by China Customs, were necessary before actual sales could take place. China will now need to post the list of approved U.S. export mills and facilities of milled rice developed in consultation between the U.S. rice industry, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and China's Agricultural Inspection Service. In 2017, USA Rice worked with U.S. and Chinese government officials to facilitate Chinese inspections of some 10 U.S. mills and facilities interested in exporting rice to China to demonstrate their compliance with the complex U.S.-China phytosanitary protocol. "What is still not 100 percent clear is whether China has published the complete list of all the U.S. facilities approved to ship to China," said Bobby Hanks, Chair of USA Rice's International Trade Policy Committee and a Louisiana miller. "We will be looking in the days ahead to USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative for clarification to make sure that all approved U.S. facilities are eligible. We of course are looking for the first confirmed rice sale to China. This important day for the U.S. rice industry is the result of the trade policy leadership of the Trump administration and the commitment of Secretary Perdue to open new markets for U.S. agriculture," concluded Hanks. BEIJING, CHINA -- USA Rice's office in China reports that China Customs announced today on its official website that the China market is opened for the import of U.S. milled rice effective from December 27, 2018, in accordance with the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Protocol signed between the United States and China from July of 2017 "This is a tremendous milestone that has taken more than a decade to reach and is a result of the insistence from USA Rice in including rice as a step in resolving the trade dispute between China and the U.S.," said USA Rice Chair Charley Mathews, Jr., a California rice farmer. "As with all our dealings with China, the devil is in the details, and we have many questions, including when the first sales will be made, but this is definitely good news for our producers and millers as we enter the New Year." Recently China made large purchases of U.S. soybeans that received widespread media coverage, however, imports of U.S. rice were illegal in China and several administrative steps, such as today's action by China Customs, were necessary before actual sales could take place.

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China will now need to post the list of approved U.S. export mills and facilities of milled rice developed in consultation between the U.S. rice industry, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and China's Agricultural Inspection Service. In 2017, USA Rice worked with U.S. and Chinese government officials to facilitate Chinese inspections of some 10 U.S. mills and facilities interested in exporting rice to China to demonstrate their compliance with the complex U.S.-China phytosanitary protocol.

"What is still not 100 percent clear is whether China has published the complete list of all the U.S. facilities approved to ship to China," said Bobby Hanks, Chair of USA Rice's International Trade Policy Committee and a Louisiana miller. "We will be looking in the days ahead to USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative for clarification to make sure that all approved U.S. facilities are eligible. We of course are looking for the first confirmed rice sale to China. This important day for the U.S. rice industry is the result of the trade policy leadership of the Trump administration and the commitment of Secretary Perdue to open new markets for U.S. agriculture," concluded Hanks. https://www.usarice.com/detail/post/usa-rice-daily/2018/12/28/china-finally-okays-u.s.-riceimports

S.Korea seeks to buy 45,258 T of rice for May arrival, buys 3,000 T JANUARY 3, 2019 / 12:18 PM ď&#x201A;ˇ ď&#x201A;ˇ

SEOUL, Jan 3 (Reuters) - South Korea is seeking to buy 45,258 tonnes of non-glutinous brown rice for arrival in May via tenders, and bought 3,000 tonnes of short glutinous rice on Dec. 27 from China, state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp said on its website. www.at.or.kr Registration for the tenders will close at 3 pm (0600 GMT) on Jan. 4 and electronic bidding will be held from 10 am (0100 GMT) to 11 am on Jan. 7. Details of rice tenders are as follows: TONNES(M/T) GRAIN TYPE ARRIVAL/PORT 24,147 Brown medium May 31/Mokpo 11,111 Brown medium May 31/Gwangyang 10,000 Brown medium May 31/Busan

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* Note: The agency is seeking U.S. No.3 standard for all tendered products. Details of purchased short glutinous rice tenders are as follows: TONNES(M/T) PRICE($/T) ORIGIN/SUPPLIER ARRIVAL/PORT 1,000 921.30 China/Posco Daewoo Corp Mar 31/Busan 1,000 930.00 China/Sing Song Co. Apr 1-30/Busan 1,000 923.10 China/Posco Daewoo Corp Apr 1-30/Busan (Reporting by Jeongmin Kim; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shutdown/trump-threatens-years-long-governmentshutdown-emergency-powers-to-build-wall-idUSKCN1OY0D3

JANUARY 3, 2019 / 8:03 AM / 2 DAYS AGO Rice stock at 2.1 mln tonnes at end-2018 - Indonesia Bulog KARTA, Jan 3 (Reuters) * Indonesia state food procurement agency Bulog said on Thursday it had 2.1 million tonnes of rice stock at the end of 2018, after procuring 3.2 million tonnes of rice equivalent domestically during the year. * The agency procured rice and unhulled rice from local suppliers and imports. On top of the 3.2 million tonnes domestic procurement, Bulogâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s 2018 import were estimated at 1.84 million tonnes. * At the end of the year, Bulog said it also has stocks of about 477,000 tonnes of white sugar * Bulog also had 5,800 tonnes of buffalo meat stock at 2018-end (Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe Writing by Fransiska Nangoy) https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN1OZ0A0-OZATP

India rice rates ease on falling rupee, demand; Thai harvest to augment supply Sethuraman N R JANUARY 3, 2019 / 3:31 PM :BENGALURU (Reuters) - Rice export prices in India eased from a four-month high this week due to a depreciation of the rupee and sluggish demand, while

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Thai traders expect prices to drop over the coming weeks as supplies start to arrive from the new season crop amid flat demand. A farmer spreads fertilizer in his rice field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, August 30, 2016. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files India‘s 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $376-$383 per tonne this week, compared with $378-$384 last week. ―Prices are moderating due to a weak rupee but still demand from African countries is weak,‖ said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The rupee fell to a two-week low on Thursday, increasing exporters‘ margin from overseas sales. Export prices in India shot up in the second half of last month after the central state of Chhattisgarh, a leading rice producer, raised the minimum paddy buying price. In neighbouring Bangladesh, rice imports slowed to 106,000 tonnes in July-December due to the imposition of a tax in June, data from the food ministry showed. The country imported a record 3.9 million tonnes of rice in the last financial year that ended in June 2018. The south Asian country, which emerged as a major importer of the grain in 2017 after floods damaged crops, imposed a 28 percent duty to support its farmers after local production revived. In Thailand, benchmark 5-percent broken rice was quoted at $380-$400 per tonne, free on board Bangkok, slightly widening from $380-$390 last week as the baht strengthened against the dollar. Traders said demand for Thai rice had been flat this new year and that supplies from the new harvest would likely bring down prices over the next few weeks. December to January is usually the rice harvest season in Thailand, but this time there has been some delay in harvesting in some parts of the country. ―We are now expecting supply from the new harvest to enter the market in early February, so that could affect rice prices this month,‖ a Bangkok-based trader said.

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In Vietnam, rates for 5 percent broken rice fell to $370-$375 a tonne from $385 a week earlier due to weak demand. ―This year is forecast to be a difficult year for Vietnamese rice exporters due to weaker demand, along with China‘s move to impose technical barriers on shipments from Vietnam,‖ a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. China has put a cap on the number of Vietnamese companies eligible to export rice to China at 21, and Vietnam is asking China to add more firms to the list, reported the Nong Nghiep Vietnam newspaper. Government data released last week showed Vietnam‘s rice exports in 2018 rose 4.6 percent to 6.09 million tonnes. Rice export revenue in the year rose 16 percent to $3.05 billion. ―I think it‘s time for Vietnamese farmers to reduce their rice growing area and turn parts of their rice fields into fishing farms,‖ said another trader.

Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. https://in.reuters.com/article/global-markets/global-markets-u-s-jobs-data-dovish-fed-comments-boostequities-idINKCN1OY00J

India rice rates ease on falling rupee, demand 12:00 AM, January 04, 2019

A farmer sprinkles fertiliser in a rice field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Photo: Reuters/File Reuters, Bengaluru Rice export prices in India eased from a four-month high this week due to a depreciation of the rupee and sluggish demand, while Thai traders expect prices to drop over the coming weeks as supplies start to arrive from the new season crop amid flat demand.

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India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $376-$383 per tonne this week, compared with $378-$384 last week.

â&#x20AC;&#x2022;Prices are moderating due to a weak rupee but still demand from African countries is weak,â&#x20AC;&#x2013; said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The rupee fell to a two-week low on Thursday, increasing exporters' margin from overseas sales. Export prices in India shot up in the second half of last month after the central state of Chhattisgarh, a leading rice producer, raised the minimum paddy buying price. In neighbouring Bangladesh, rice imports slowed to 106,000 tonnes in July-December due to the imposition of a tax in June, data from the food ministry showed. The country imported a record 3.9 million tonnes of rice in the last financial year that ended in June 2018. The south Asian country, which emerged as a major importer of the grain in 2017 after floods damaged crops, imposed a 28 percent duty to support its farmers after local production revived. In Thailand, benchmark 5-percent broken rice was quoted at $380-$400 per tonne, free on board Bangkok, slightly widening from $380-$390 last week as the baht strengthened against the dollar.

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Traders said demand for Thai rice had been flat this new year and that supplies from the new harvest would likely bring down prices over the next few weeks. December to January is usually the rice harvest season in Thailand, but this time there has been some delay in harvesting in some parts of the country. ―We are now expecting supply from the new harvest to enter the market in early February, so that could affect rice prices this month,‖ a Bangkok-based trader said. In Vietnam, rates for 5 percent broken rice fell to $370-$375 a tonne from $385 a week earlier due to weak demand. ―This year is forecast to be a difficult year for Vietnamese rice exporters due to weaker demand, along with China's move to impose technical barriers on shipments from Vietnam,‖ a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. China has put a cap on the number of Vietnamese companies eligible to export rice to China at 21, and Vietnam is asking China to add more firms to the list, reported the Nong Nghiep Vietnam newspaper. Government data released last week showed Vietnam's rice exports in 2018 rose 4.6 percent to 6.09 million tonnes. Rice export revenue in the year rose 16 percent to $3.05 billion. ―I think it's time for Vietnamese farmers to reduce their rice growing area and turn parts of their rice fields into fishing farms,‖ said another trader. https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/india-rice-rates-ease-falling-rupee-demand-1682602 Scientists aim to fix a genetic "glitch" in soybeans so that they photosynthesize more efficiently. | REUTERS

Researchers say breakthrough in plant engineering could boost productivity and feed millions more people THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION 

JAN 4, 2019

ROME - A new process that adjusts the way plants turn sunlight into energy could boost the yields of many staple crops by 40 percent, potentially feeding hundreds of millions more people, American researchers said Thursday.Crops such as rice, wheat and soybeans, as well as fruits

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and vegetables, have a natural ―glitch‖ in the way they photosynthesize that causes them to use up energy and resources. ―The annual loss in production from wheat and soybean in Midwestern United States … is enough to feed roughly 200 million more people from this area alone,‖ said Paul South, a molecular biologist and lead author of a report in the journal Science. Scientists from the University of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Agriculture‘s Agriculture Research Service inserted genes from bacteria, green algae and other plants into tobacco plants, changing how they process sunlight. They tested and compared three genetic variations and found that the most successful one saved enough energy and resources to increase productivity by 40 percent in real-world conditions. In more than two years of field studies, the genetically engineered tobacco plants developed faster and put out more leaves and stems than plants that weren‘t modified, researchers said. The photosynthesis process is ―nearly identical in plants, so we expect that benefits observed in tobacco will result in changes to food crops,‖ said South. Efforts are now underway to transplant these findings to boost yields of potatoes, cowpeas, soybeans and rice, he added. ―It takes 10 to 15 years for technologies like this to undergo rigorous regulatory approval process, which examines engineered crops for health and environmental impacts. Thus, it is all the more urgent to invest in these types of technologies today,‖ said South. The study is part of an international project to boost global food production sustainably. Funders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the British government. Experts, however, say increased production of nutrient-rich foods, not just staple crops, is crucial to tackle the global malnutrition crisis, which has left 1 in 8 adults obese while 1 in 9 people are hungry. ―Well, we need more of everything. The population alone is almost inevitably going up to 10 billion and people are eating richer (diets),‖ said Timothy Searchinger, lecturer at Princeton University and senior fellow at the World Resources Institute. So the latest findings provide ―important, promising work as it may open up new ways to expand crop yields,‖ said Searchinger, who authored a recent report on sustainable food systems. ―Lots more work to be done … but glad the researchers have started focusing on some important C3 crops,‖ he added. The term ―C3 crops‖ refer to most major food crops that uses the C3 photosynthesis process. Crops that use a different form of photosynthesis are maize, sugarcane and sorghum.Unlike many technological innovations in agriculture, which come with costly intellectual property rights, researchers say smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia would have royalty-free access to these breakthroughs.

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Smallholder farmers managing between 1 to 10 hectares (2.5 to 25 acres) of land provide up to 80 percent of the food supply in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa but many are also extremely poor, according to the United Nationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; Food and Agriculture Organization. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/04/world/science-health-world/researchers-saybreakthrough-plant-engineering-boost-productivity-feed-millions-people/#.XDCaRVUzbm5

Agriculture contribution and problems in Pakistan Jaffar Iqbal January 4, 2019 Agriculture contribution and problems in Pakistan2019-01-04T10:51:30+00:00

Jaffar Iqbal Welcome! I am passionate about Agriculture and food security, Graduated in Agriculture. I love to work in the field of Agronomy and sustainable farming. The Agriculture sector uninterrupted engages in recreation of Pakistanis economy since independence. In the early time, it considered a dominant sector but due to the declining its performance due to the political, social, environmental and climate conditions its production yield goes down gradually and now it is the second largest sector in Pakistan.

It accounting for over 21 percent of GDP, 45 percent of total labor force engaged with this sector. Around 63 percent of country population live in rural areas is indirectly or directly linked with this sector for their livelihood. Agriculture sector have Strong linkage with the rest of the economy that is unnoticed in statistics.While on the Other hand, it is the primary supplier of raw materials to downstream industry, that contributing significantly to Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s export; it is the

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largest market for industrial manufactured goods such as pesticides, fertilizers, tractors and agriculture equipmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s. Predictor variable comprises five sub-sectors include Major, Minor crops, livestockâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s, fisheries and forestry. Major crops consist of cotton, rice, wheat and sugarcane etc. and contribute 6.5% solely to the GDP. Cotton is the main non-food crop that is used as a raw material for the textile industry. Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of cotton. Rice and Wheat are the major food crop out of which rice is also one of the main export items of the country. Sugarcane is another important crop grown for sugar and sugar related products. Minor crops consist of oil seeds, vegetables, pulses, chilies and other small crops. Oil seed crops include cottonseeds, rapeseed/mustard, sunflower and canola etc. Role of Agriculture in Economic Development Agriculture have great role in economic development and prosperity. Following are some important contributions of agriculture as; 1. Contribution to National Income 2. Source of Food Supply 3. Pre-Requisite for Raw Material 4. Provision of Surplus 5. Shift of Manpower: 6. Creation of Infrastructure: 7. Relief from Shortage of Capital: 8. Helpful to Reduce Inequality 9. Based on Democratic Notions 10. Create Effective Demand 11. Helpful in Phasing out Economic Depression: 12. Source of Foreign Exchange for the Country 13. Contribution to Capital Formation: 14. Employment Opportunities for Rural People: 15. Extension of Market for Industrial Output Role of Agriculture in GDP of Pakistan Current GDP of Pakistan is 305 billion. Contribution of major crops in agriculture sector is about to be 25.6 % and contribution of major crops in GDP is almost 5.4% according to the economic survey of Pakistan. Wheat contributes approximately 10.3% in agriculture. Sugarcane is also a cash crop and food crop.Agriculture accounts for 18.9 % of GDP and employed bulk of the total work force. Agriculture sector recorded a growth of 3.46 percent in FY 2017 as compared to the growth of 0.27 percent last year. The crops sub sector comprises of 37.22 percent of agriculture sector and is the basic driver of growth of the agriculture sector as well as GDP.

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Problems in Agriculture of Pakistan Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan‘s economic and facing a cyclones of problems in Pakistan as;  Lack of Modern Agriculture technology  Poor Financial Position of Farmer  Limited Cultivable Area  Waterlogging and salinity  Slow Growth of Allied Product  Low per Hectare Yield  Inadequate Infrastructure  Uneconomic Land holdings  Old method of Production  Inadequate supply of Agriculture Inputs  Lack of irrigation Facilities  Inadequate Agriculture Research Center  Problem of Land Reforms  Defective Land Reforms  Subsistence Farming  Low Cropping intensity  Improper Crop Rotation  Various Plant diseases and Natural Calamities Adaptive Research Farm, Rahim yar Khan https://www.technologytimes.pk/agriculture-contribution-problems/

Basmati rice export witnesses 19pc growth APP July 30, 2018 ISLAMABAD - About 520,759 metric tons of basmati rice worth US$ 540.231 million were exported during the period from July-June, 2017-18 as against the exports of 496,263 metric tons valuing US$ 453.441 million of Corresponding period of last year. During the period under review, the exports of basmati rice witnessed 19.14 percent growth when the quantity was compared with the same period of last year, according the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.Meanwhile about 4.106 million tons of rice worth US$ 2.073 billion had been exported during 12 months of last financial year as compared the exports of 3.523 million tons valuing US$ 1.606 billion of the corresponding period of last years,

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registering

26.78

percent

growth

during

the

period

under

review.

During the period from July-June, the country earned US$ 1.496 billion by exporting rice other then basmati as about 3.585 million tons of other rice exported as against the exports of 3.053 million tons worth US$ 1.153 billion of same period last year. It may be recalled that food group exports from the country recorded about 29.28 percent growth as country earned US$ 4.797 billion exporting different food commodities, which were recorded at US$ 3.711 billion in the same period of last year. The other commodities which recorded positive growth in their exports during the period under review included fish and fish products by 14.57 percent, fruits and vegetables by 5.8 percent and 30.56 percent respectively.During the period under review fish and fish products worth US$ 451.026 million, fruit and vegetables US$ 400.237 million and 241.426 million respectively were exported. On the other hand country spent US$ 6.185 billion on the import of food during last financial year, which was recorded at US$ 6.143 billion during the same period of last year, showing an increase of 0.68 percent, the data added.During last year country consumed about 183,321 metric tons of tea costing US$ 551.881 million as compared the 194.833 metric tons and US$ 523.790 million of same period of last year. https://nation.com.pk/30-Jul-2018/basmati-rice-exportwitnesses-19pc-growth

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Unlimited rice imports to bring in over 1 million tons Louise Maureen Simeon (The Philippine Star) - January 5, 2019 - 12:00am 166 private traders apply for out-quota shipments MANILA, Philippines — As the Philippines moves toward the unlimited importation of rice, 166 firms have applied to bring in one million metric tons of the commodity under the out-quota scheme, based on the updated list released by the National Food Authority.The rice will be sourced from Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Taiwan.The interagency National Food Authority Council (NFAC) allowed the unlimited importation of rice to further stabilize market prices. Out-quota allocation means that traders can apply for any volume of imported rice they want to bring into the country.Of the initial volume, the imports will be discharged in Manila, Subic, Cebu, Zamboanga City, Davao, La Union, Tacloban and Cagayan de Oro.The NFA will continuously process and approve applications of private traders. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said importers could only bring in 25 percent brokens but the latest terms of reference for the out-quota scheme allows traders to import 25 percent brokens or better. All rice to be imported will be levied with a 35 percent tariff for ASEAN countries and 50 percent for non-ASEAN. Rice import allocation of eligible importers must be loaded upon the approval of the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance by the Bureau of Plant Industry and payment of the required tentative advance Customs duty. The out-quota imports will add to the recently bid out 500,000 MT via open tender and the 203,000 MT government-to-government scheme.The agri chief had allayed possible fears of flooding of imported rice in the market.―I don‘t think that‘s going to happen because when the importers feel there is so much rice stocks in the market and prices go down to a level where they cannot make money anymore then they will not import,‖ Piñol earlier said. ―It will be the absorptive capacity of the market that will set the cap. And no businessman in his right mind will import rice if there is no market,‖ he added.

https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/01/05/1882337/unlimited-rice-imports-bring-over-1million-tons

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