Food Briefs National and International

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that with the introduction of better mechanization tools and ICTenabled extension services, agriculture sector in Pakistan will be revolutionized. He directed the authorities concerned to establish centers of excellence in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for research in major crops like cotton, wheat and rice.

Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque has said signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) on export of onion from Pakistan to China was a very important step in promoting bilateral trade between the two countries.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government is focused on enhancing per acre yield of crops by adopting better farming techniques. Earlier, the prime minister was told that cotton, rice, maize and sugarcane are the major Khareef crops being cultivated in the country. Customs data showed that China imported RMB 1.95 billion worth of paddy and rice from Pakistan in the first 10 months of this year, 3.9 times that of the same period last year. Pakistan is the third largest rice supplier to China. A 14-day online training course on water-saving agriculture for Pakistan kicked off recently. The training course has been sponsored by Chinese Ministry of Commerce and organised by the international exchange centre of Yangling Demonstration Zone, Shaanxi province, China. A research conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) revealed that the Total Factor Productivity, one of the most informative measures of agricultural productivity, has been negative over the past two decades. Special Assistant to PM on Poverty Alleviation Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar has inaugurated the first ever ginger cultivation in Balkasar area of Chakwal. The harvest celebration was organized by Agrionics Farms.

Shaukat Tarin has said that various economic indicators clearly show that the country’s progress by all accounts was on rise. He said, the country was now sugar surplus besides producing huge surplus in rice, maize and cotton.

Pakistan is aiming to reduce its soybean import bill by 50% in next five years by using intercropping technology, promoting soybean cultivation and improving its processing and value addition.

Importers have substantially slowed down placing pulse orders as global prices have surged by US$ 100 to US$ 600 per tonne over the past two months, pushing up the wholesale rates in the local market.

Food Briefs International

The government of Bangladesh has released ten new rice varieties, developed by public and private entities, to boost output further in the rice cropping Boro season. The varieties were certified and released at the 106th meeting of the National Seed Board (NSB).

China’s grain output rose two per cent in 2021 from a year earlier, hitting a record, despite natural disasters wreaking havoc on plantations, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said recently. Grain production totalled 682.9 million tonnes, up from 650 million tonnes last year, the bureau said. Green Party Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir wants to see more organic and less convenience food in Germany. He says food should no longer be sold at bargain prices. But this could place a greater burden on poor people. India surpassed Brazil in food exports to the League of Arab States for the first time in 15 years as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade flows in 2020, according to data provided by the Arab-Brazil Chamber of Commerce to media.

A senior official at Indonesia's biggest palm oil group said that the government was currently drafting a plan aimed at limiting shipments of the edible oil to tame domestic cooking oil prices, remarks the Trade Ministry swiftly denied. The annual value of Japan's food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries exports exceeded ¥1 trillion ($8.7 billion) for the first time in 2021, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said recently. Malaysia's palm oil council (MPOC) will focus on expanding into developing markets, cultivating downstream manufacturing demand and promoting regional acceptance of its homegrown sustainability certification in 2022. The Turkish government has decided to switch to vegetarianism and raise awareness against food waste to face the collapse of the Turkish lira and uncontrollable food prices hikes. If the rule of law was also respected, even Greenpeace would be jealous of the Turkish regime’s green push.

Britain's health service has launched a NHS Food Scanner App that offers healthier alternatives as part of the government's multimedia antiobesity Better Health Campaign. This feature allows families to scan product barcodes that suggest healthier alternatives to help them make an easy swap during their next shopping trip.

Demand for American dry beans is exceptionally strong despite the small crop, says an industry official. Growers in the United States harvested 1.03 million tonnes of beans last year, down 30 percent from the previous year.

Vietnam's coffee exports in 2021 are expected to show a drop of 2.7% to 1.5 million tonnes, while rice exports will likely fall 0.5%, government data released recently showed.