13th May, 2014
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Latest News Headlines…
Chemical fertilisers: 'shortage will increase prices of rice TDAP to focus on agro-food products’ exports Vietnam's Mekong Delta may toss out rice for corn, soybeans Warm weather helping late Louisiana rice crop Govt to auction 670,000 tonnes of rice Louisiana Legends Series Features Rice Farmer Elton Kennedy CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures Genetically modified foods confuse consumers Concern in Vietnam Over Drop in Rice Exports Louisiana rice planting off to good start Tip of the Day: The Secret of Whole Grains
News Detail.. Chemical fertilisers: 'shortage will increase prices of rice' May 13, 2014 RECORDER REPORT
Former Memormer Member, FBR and Jamaat-e-Islami's think-tank on economic affairs Sarfraz Ahmed Khan has said that the shortage of chemical fertilizer for rice crop would bring down cultivation of rice and raise its price, adding to the problems of the masses. In a statement on Monday he said that the government's ad-hoc policy to run power plants by gas after suspending gas supply to fertilizer plants would create serious shortage of chemical fertilisers, especially Urea for the next Kharif crop and cause huge loss to the farmers. Sarfraz Ahmed said that the government had stopped gas supply to fertiliser factories at a time when it was most essential for the Kharif crop. He said even if the government decided to import fertilizer, it would taken from four to five months in reaching the input to the growers through distributors whereas there was hardly one a half month time in the start of the rice cultivation. Such ad-hoc policies of the rulers had pushed the countries agriculture and industry to the brink of ruin, he added.
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TDAP to focus on agro-food products’ exports May 13, 2014
ISLAMABAD: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TDAP), Agro Food Division has geared up by the SM Muneer, Chief Executive TDAP and Rabiya Javeri Agha, Secretary, in order to give great focus on the export of Agro Food sectors including kinno, mango, rice, meat and seafood products. "These products are being promoted by the Agro Food Division by arranging participation of exporters in the world exhibitions and sending them abroad and inviting trade delegations. TDAP this year had sent rice to China and Chinese delegation also visited Pakistan in the last month for promotion of rice from Pakistan", says a statement issued by the organization here. The TDAP statement said that two special delegations visited Pakistan last month, one from Thailand for meeting rice exports and other from Malaysia with interest procurement of a number of items. Pakistan being an agricultural country which is backbone of Economy of the country and constitutes 22% of National GDP and employees 44% of the labour foods of the country. This is to be noted that Pakistan has a rich and vast natural resource base, covering various ecological and climatic zones; hence the country has great potential for producing all types of food commodities. Agriculture has an important direct and indirect role in generating economic growth. It is considered opinion of experts that Pakistan has a huge untapped potential for grabbing a significant share of the world agro-food exports. The Agro Food Division at TDAP is focused on helping stimulate the export of agro-food products from Pakistan in order to achieve this potential.Participation in nearly 10 international exhibitions annually is undertaken for this sector by the Agro-Food Division. Some significant exhibitions attended by our exporters include Gulf Food, World Food Moscow, Sial Food Fair, Anuga Food Fair. Some local exhibitions are also organized by the Division to showcase potential of our Agro Food Products.The Division organizes exporters' Delegation to potential importer countries of Pakistan agro-food products. In recent years, some of the countries were visited by such delegations including Maldives, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Oman.Similarly delegations of buyers are invited to visit Pakistan in order to see the potential and range of Pakistani Agro Food products. In the last year, we had delegations from South Africa Yemen. There is a dire need in the country for improving the quality of our agro-food products by transfer of technology, improving the hygienic conditions at production and packaging stage, as well as value addition. The need is being met by various projects under taken by the Agro Food Division, like initiating the process of setting up of VHT Plant and calling inspection teams from potential market for the slaughterhouse. Beside these major activities, the Division is continually engaged in preparing commodity, country reports pertaining to the Agro food sector, as well as organizing informational and training seminars and workshops for current and potential entrepreneurs in this sector. Such activities are of course undertaken with full consultation- and sometimes in collaboration with the various stakeholders of the Agro Food Sector.
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Vietnam's Mekong Delta may toss out rice for corn, soybeans Tuesday, May 13, 2014 14:13 A farmer tends his corn field in the Mekong Delta‘s Kien Giang Province. The delta is slated to shift toward animal feed crops to help farmers earn better income. PHOTO COURTESY OF TUOI TRE Pham Van Beo's 15-hectare rice field cost him some VND100 million (US$4,744) during the last summer-fall crop, but the Delta farmer is expecting a different outcome this year.Beo has reserved six hectares exclusively for corn cultivation.―I‘m experimenting with hybrid corn, hopefully the price will be high, the yield will be high and I will have a profit,‖ Beo said.Neighboring farmers in Kien Giang Province's Giang Thanh District plan to follow suit the minute his crop proves a success, he said.
Beo believes that planting rice is only slightly wiser, these days, than leaving a field vacant, as it costs a lot of money to prepare the soil for each crop.He's among the few farmers who remain resolved to tough things out in their fields; many have left for city jobs, disillusioned with endless losses as analysts push for new and different reforms at every agricultural conference.In the most recent example, agriculture ministry officials gathered Tuesday to discuss the possibility of switching fields in the delta, the country‘s rice basket, from rice to other plants like corn and soy.A ministry report released earlier this year said the world‘s leading rice exporter imported more than US$4 billion in corn, wheat and soybean feed last year to raise its livestock. Pham Van Du, deputy head of the ministry‘s cultivation department, said many models of using rice fields for other plants have proved highly effective.―The products can compete with imports,‖ he said.The soybean model in Dong Thap Province costs less than VND1 million a hectare but has earned farmers nearly VND9 million a hectare -- far more than rice paddies, Du said.He added that many farmers in the area have earned an extra VND5-16 million a year by reserving their fields for a single sesame crop rather than planting all three rice crops.Rice-turned-corn fields in Long An Province have earned farmers there an average profit of VND22-25
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million a hectare.Officials at the conference said around 600,000 hectares of rice fields in the delta have proven ineffective. More than 87,300 hectares were converted last year for planting corn, soybeans, sweet potato and sesame.The ministry hopes to convert a total of 112,000 hectares by 2015 by offering farmers VND2 million per hectare for new seeds. A link missing Officials at the conference expressed concerns that farmers may find few customers and face price pressures when their new crops begin to multiply.Pham Van Quynh, director of the agriculture department in Can Tho, said the market for the new plants has not received much attention.―If the program doesn‘t work out well, the farmers can scold the government and give it all up,‖ he told Tuoi Tre.His counterpart Cao Van Hoa from Tien Giang Province, also said the market for corn, soybean, sesame and watermelon isn't stable in the area. ―The connections have not been tight. ‖The province converted 1,483 hectares of fields for watermelon, corn, red chili and vegetables during the last winter-spring crop. All told, the crops brought farmers a profit up to 2.6 times higher than rice.The officials also pointed to other problems like farmers‘ lack of experience with the new plants, and called for more mechanization.Minister Cao Duc Phat said local governments need to advise farmers on cultivating plants that have a secure market.Phat said the authorities need an accurate assessment of the market, even for plants that see initial success.―They may see good returns when planting on a small scale, but we have to be careful [about expanding.]―We need to know who the customers are going to be. ‖The minister said corn looks like the best choice and can bring sustainable gains.Vietnam imports 2.5-3.5 million tons of corn every year for animal feed, even though the delta is suited to growing high-yield corn varieties.―The market for corn is right here, stable and growing as feed demands for cattle, poultry and aquaculture keeps rising,‖ Phat said.Businesses attending Tuesday's conference, including the New York-based global agribusiness and food production company Bunge, made commitments to cover corn cultivation in Vietnam.Le Tan Tai, an agriculture service company director, promised to buy every part of corn plants to ensure farmers see more than a 30 percent profit.Wai Cheng Chan, general director of Bunge Vietnam, said the company is working with prestigious animal feed producers to secure a stable demand for upcoming corn crops in the country.He said the company also plans to build warehouses and drying systems for future Vietnamese corn crops.
Warm weather helping late Louisiana rice crop Published: May 13, 2014 9:04AM
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The state acreage may increase by 10,000 to 15,000 acres this year, compared with last year‘s total of 412,000 acres. Considerably more medium-grain rice is being grown in Louisiana, especially the northern part of the state.BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Warm weather is helping the 2014 Louisiana rice crop after a cold, wet spring that delayed planting for many farmers.―In general, the crop is off to a pretty good start,‖ said Steve Linscombe, rice breeder and director of the Louisiana State University AgCenter Rice Research Station. ―It‘s probably a little bit later than average but not as late as last year, and last year we had the best crop we ever had,‖ he said.Linscombe told The Advocate the state acreage may increase by 10,000 to 15,000 acres this year, compared with last year‘s total of 412,000 acres. Considerably more medium-grain rice is being grown in Louisiana, especially in north Louisiana, he said. ―I‘ve had several calls from producers planting medium-grain for the first time — or the first time in a long time.‖Water allocation reductions in California where a large amount of medium-grain rice is grown had increased medium-grain acreage in other rice-growing states, Linscombe said.LSU AgCenter rice specialist Johnny Saichuk estimates the crop is about a month behind normal because of the delays in planting. ―They‘re still planting in north Louisiana,‖ Saichuk said. Water-seeded fields are doing well.The lateness in planting could be a problem if this summer turns out to be seasonably hot when the plants are flowering. If temperatures are normal or hotter-than-normal, ―we‘ll see a big hit in the yields,‖ he said.Last year, Saichuk said, temperatures were mild when the crop was flowering. ―If that happens again, we‘ll be OK.‖
N. Korea expected to produce 1.9 mln tons of rice in 2014: U.N. food agency SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is expected to produce 1.9 million tons of rice in 2014, the same amount that the country is estimated to have produced last year, the U.N. food agency said Tuesday.The figure represents an increase from 2010, 2011 and 2012 when North Korea's average rice production reached 1.7 million tons, the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a biannual global food report posted on its website.The report said per capita rice consumption in North Korea is forecast to reach 67.8 kilograms this year, compared with 65.4 kg from a year earlier.It also said North Korea is forecast to produce 2.3 million tons of maize this year, compared with 2.2 million tons in 2013.Rice is a key staple food for both South and North Koreans, though North Koreans also rely on maize due to chronic food shortages.The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a widespread famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people. <All rights reserved by Yonhap News Agency> Copyright Yonhap News Agency, 2014. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Govt to auction 670,000 tonnes of rice Two auctions planned on futures exchange Published: 13 May 2014 at 13.02 | Viewed: 4,695 | Comments: 16 Online news: Writer: Online Reporters
The Foreign Trade Department will auction off 450,000 tonnes of rice on Wednesday and about 220,000 tonnes on Thursday on the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET). The government plans to release up to one million tonnes of rice each month, so after the auction of 450,000 tonnes on Wednesday, auctions will beheld for stocks in provinces such as Chiang Rai and Nakhon Sawan, FTD director-general Surasak Riangkrul said.On Thursday, the AFET auction will comprise 139,000 tonnes of 5% white rice pledged during the 2012/2013 crop year, and around 80,300 tonnes of second grade fragrant rice from the same season.Mr Surasak said nine or 10 countries had approached the department about buying rice, so 4-5 million tonnes could be off loaded from the government‘s stockpile.Thailand exported some 2.2 million tonnes of rice in the first three months of 2014, up 43% from the same period last year, based on data from the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
Louisiana Legends Series Features Rice Farmer Elton Kennedy Legendary!
BATON ROUGE, LA -- Louisiana Public Broadcasting's Louisiana Legends series profiles outstanding Louisianans who have distinguished themselves in a variety of disciplines and have brought honor to the state. Recently, our own Elton Kennedy was a subject. William Elton Kennedy was raised in West Carroll Parish, LA and began rice farming with his father after finishing high school in 1963. Today, Kennedy's family, tenants, and employees directly farm over 25,000 acres of rice.In addition to production, Kennedy is actively involved in rice research and the innovation of the rice business. For years, he has provided acreage for the LSU Rice Research Variety Development program and was one of the first in the industry to implement new varieties, precision GPS land leveling, and fertility management.Kennedy is known throughout the industry for engineering creative water management systems to achieve higher field yields and increase efficiency by transforming marginal land into
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productive rice fields. He was also actively involved, and held a seat on, the first exchange for trading rice in New Orleans, which later moved to Chicago and is now used by many as a marketing tool at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.Last December Kennedy was recognized for his many contributions to the U.S. rice industry when he received a Rice Lifetime Achievement Award at the USA Rice Outlook Conference in St. Louis. The Louisiana Legends Gala took place on May 8 and the series episode featuring Kennedy can be viewed online.
Contact: Randy Jemison, (337) 738-7009
CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures CME Group (Preliminary): Closing Rough Rice Futures for May 13
Month
Price
Net Change
May 2014
$15.230
- $0.050
July 2014
$15.325
+ $0.005
September 2014
$14.415
+ $0.015
November 2014
$14.540
- $0.005
January 2015
$14.720
- $0.005
March 2015
$14.835
- $0.055
May 2015
$14.835
- $0.055
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Genetically modified foods confuse consumers By Associated Press,
WASHINGTON — Genetically modified foods have been around for years, but most Americans have no idea if they are eating them.
The Food and Drug Administration says they don‘t need to be labeled, so the state of Vermont has moved forward on its own. On Thursday, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed legislation making his state the first to require labeling of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.What about the rest of the country? And does labeling matter?.There‘s a lot of confusion about genetically modified foods and their safety. Some people feel very strongly about GMOs. Opponents, who at times have protested in the streets, say consumers have the right to know whether their food contains GMOs. The Vermont law is their first major victory.The food industry and companies that genetically engineer seeds have pushed back against the labeling laws, saying GMOs are safe and labels would be misleading.―It‘s really polarizing,‖ says New York University‘s Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies. ―There‘s no middle ground.‖.A look at the debate and some of the facts about genetically modified foods: ___ WHAT THEY ARE GMOs are not really a ―thing,‖ Nestle says, and that‘s hard for the average consumer to grasp. You can‘t touch or feel a GMO.Genetically modified foods are plants or animals that have had genes copied from other plants or
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animals inserted into their DNA. It‘s not a new idea — humans have been tinkering with genes for centuries through selective breeding. Think dogs bred to be more docile pets, cattle bred to be beefier or tomatoes bred to be sweeter. Turkeys were bred to have bigger breasts — better for Thanksgiving dinner. What‘s different about genetically modified or engineered foods is that the manipulation is done in a lab. Engineers don‘t need to wait for nature to produce a desired gene; they speed up the process by transferring a gene from one plant or animal to another.What are the desired traits? Most of the nation‘s corn and soybeans are genetically engineered to resist pests and herbicides. A papaya in Hawaii is modified to resist a virus. The FDA is considering an application from a Massachusetts company to approve a genetically engineered salmon that would grow faster than traditional salmon. ___ IN YOUR GROCERY CART Most of the genetically modified corn and soybeans are used in cattle feed, or are made into ingredients like corn oil, corn starch, high fructose corn syrup or soybean oil.Even in some of those products, the manufacturing process itself may eventually remove some of the modified genes.A few fruits and vegetables are engineered — the Hawaiian papaya and some squash and zucchini, for example. Only a small amount of sweet corn, the corn we eat, is genetically modified.But there‘s no genetically modified meat or fish, like the fast-growing salmon, currently in the market for human consumption; the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve any. ___ THE RISKS The vast majority of scientific research has found genetically engineered foods to be generally safe.An Italian scientist‘s review of 10 years of research, published in 2013, concluded that the scientific research conducted so far has not detected ―any significant hazard directly connected with the use of GM crops.‖One French research team raised safety questions, but their much-criticized 2012 study linking genetically modified corn to rat tumors was retracted in 2013 by the scientific publisher, who cited weak evidence supporting the conclusions.Even the food police say they are safe:
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The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a well-known critic of food companies and artificial and unhealthy ingredients in foods, has not opposed genetically modified foods, on the basis that there‘s no evidence they are harmful.Though what we are eating now appears safe, the main concerns for the future would be new genetically engineered foods — from the United States or abroad — that somehow become allergenic or toxic through the engineering process. The FDA says the foods they have evaluated to this point have not been any more likely to cause an allergic or toxic reaction than foods from traditionally bred plants.Unlike animals, the FDA is not required to approve genetically engineered crops for consumption. However, most companies will go through a voluntary safety review process with FDA before they put them on the market. THE BENEFITS There are clear benefits for the agricultural industry — the crops that are engineered to ward off pests or to tolerate herbicides, for example. And companies like Monsanto that produce modified seeds say their technologies will be needed to feed a rising world population as they engineer crops to adapt to certain climates and terrains. While most modified foods have so far been grown to resist chemicals, pests or disease, advocates envision engineering crops to make them more nutritious as well. Food animals have been engineered to be bred to be free of diseases, be cleaner in their environments or grow more efficiently, though none has yet been approved in the United States. THE POLITICS There is an escalating political fight between the labeling advocates and the food industry, which has dug in against labeling. In the absence of a federal labeling standard, GMO opponents have gone to the states to try to get a patchwork of labeling laws approved — a move that could eventually force a national standard.Ballot measures in California and Washington state failed, but the legislative effort prevailed in Vermont. Maine and Connecticut also have passed laws requiring labels, but they don‘t take effect unless other states follow suit. The food industry is widely expected to challenge the Vermont law in court.The state efforts aren‘t slowing down. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there are 85 pending GMO labeling bills in 29 states.
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In Congress, the food industry is pushing a House bill that would head off efforts to enact mandatory labeling of genetically modified ingredients by proposing new voluntary labels nationwide — an attempted end run around the state-by-state laws.Currently, the FDA says labeling of genetically modified foods isn‘t needed because the nutritional content is the same as non-GMO varieties. THE FUTURE Safe or not, consumers are increasingly interested in what is in their food, including GMOs.―There‘s so much confusing speech on food packaging and food advertising that consumers are often buying things they think are GMO free when they are not,‖ says Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group, which is pushing for the labels.Faber and other labeling proponents say it‘s about transparency, not technology. They say there is precedent, like orange juice labels that say whether the juice is from concentrate.David Ropeik, the author of the book ―How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don‘t Always Match the Facts,‖ says he thinks the food industry should endorse labeling so it can move past the debate.―By supporting labeling, companies would say, ‗There‘s no risk, we have nothing to hide,‘‖ he says.He says people rightly or wrongly fear GMOs because they are more concerned about man-made risks than natural ones and the food industry‘s control over what we eat.―It‘s a surrogate for a values war they have against big companies,‖ he says.AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein and AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report. Image: Wilson Ring, File/Associated Press - FILE - In this April 24, 2014, file photo,, Katie Spring rolls up plastic that was used to cover certain plants during the winter in a field at the Good Heart Farmstead in Worcester, Vt. Spring and her husband Edge Fuentes, who both own the farm, back the GMO labeling bill passed by the Vermont legislature. Genetically modified foods have been around for years, but most Americans have no idea
Concern in Vietnam Over Drop in Rice Exports Hanoi, May 13 (Prensa Latina) The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) is viewing today with some discomfort, the downward curve in rice exports due to a takeover by Thailand of its traditional markets, the Tuo Tre newspaper reports.The daily warns that sales fell 19 percent in the first four months of 2014, while revenues of $765 million USD were seven percent
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lower than those from the same period last year.The entity accused Thailand specifically for the fall in Vietnamese rice exports to its African customers, due to it having sold to Africa a part of its stored rice inventory, at clearance prices.
Modificado el ( martes, 13 de mayo de 2014 )
Louisiana rice planting off to good start Posted: May 12, 2014 8:58 PM PSTUpdated: May 12, 2014 8:58 PM PST Posted By Brandon Rodgers, Digital Content Producer - email Posted: May 12, 2014 8:58 PM PSTUpdated: May 12, 2014 8:58 PM PST Posted By Brandon Rodgers, Digital Content Producer - email
CROWLEY, La.(KNOE 8 News) – Warm weather has perked up the 2014 Louisiana rice crop after a cold, wet spring that delayed planting for many farmers.―In general, the crop is off to a pretty good start,‖ said Steve Linscombe, rice breeder and director of the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station. Linscombe said rice is progressing well from the warm weather, combined with nitrogen fertilizer and permanent flood. ―It‘s probably a little bit later than average but not as late as last year, and last year we had the best crop we ever had,‖ he said.Linscombe said the state acreage may increase by 10,000 to 15,000 acres this year, compared with last year‘s total of 412,000 acres. Considerably more medium-grain rice is being grown in Louisiana, especially in north Louisiana, he said. ―I‘ve had several calls from producers planting medium-grain for the first time – or the first time in a long time. ‖Water allocation reductions in California where a large amount of medium-grain rice is grown had increased medium-grain acreage in other rice-growing states, Linscombe said.LSU AgCenter rice specialist Johnny Saichuk estimates the crop is about a month behind normal because of the delays in planting.―They‘re still planting in north Louisiana,‖ Saichuk said. Water-seeded fields are doing well.The lateness in planting could be a problem if this summer turns out to be seasonably hot when the plants are flowering. If temperatures are normal or hotter-than-normal, ―we‘ll see a big hit in the yields,‖ he saidLast year, Saichuk said, temperatures were mild when the crop was flowering. ―If that happens again, we‘ll be OK.
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‖Most rice fields in Vermilion Parish have a permanent flood, and warmer days have given the crop a boost, according to LSU AgCenter agent Andrew Granger.―Some of it is approaching green ring,‖ he said, referring to the critical growth stage. ―It‘s tillered very well for the most part.‖Some fields still producing crawfish will be planted late, Granger said, but he estimated 95 percent of the rice acreage has been planted. He said planting was delayed slightly because of cool, wet weather, and more fields were water-seeded because of the wet conditions.Barrett Courville, LSU AgCenter agent in Jefferson Davis and Acadia parishes, said the crop is progressing well in his area. ―We‘re off to a pretty good start.‖Permanent flooding is starting on many fields. Planting was stretched out longer than usual, Courville said. ―But it‘s all growing now.‖Bird problems after planting were minor this year, and that probably was the result of many farmers using the bird repellent AV1011, he said.Vince Deshotel, LSU AgCenter agent in St. Landry Parish, said early-planted rice was set back by cold temperatures and high winds, and some fields had to be replanted.Dry conditions have also been difficult for fields not yet flooded, he said.Rainfall predicted late this week for southwest Louisiana was spotty. ―Any rain at this point will be beneficial for all crops,‖ said Keith Fontenot, LSU AgCenter agent in Evangeline Parish. The young rice struggled until warm weather arrived. ―It‘s finally starting to move pretty good,‖ he said.Seedlings had difficulty because of a lack of moisture that caused leaves to dry, but flushing fields helped the plants, Fontenot said.Wet, cold weather interfered with farmers who planted with seed drills, he said. ―Others just decided to water plant.‖
Tip of the Day: The Secret of Whole Grains ChooseMyPlate.gov sent this bulletin at 05/13/2014 07:45 AM EDT What do whole grains do for you? Whole grains provide many nutrients that are vital for the health and maintenance of our bodies.
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