News Head Lines

Farmers need better machines

KCR asks PM to retain rice levy
Mekong Delta Meets 64.2 Pct Of Annual Rice
Export Target
New blood needed in rice science, IRRI urges
ASEAN
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- Sep 26
Big Nigerian Rice Importer Switches to Large
Scale Local Production and Processing
Rice farmers seek B10,000 a tonne
Prayut tells agencies to prime the pump

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27
th
September, 2014
News Detail.

Farmers need better
machines

VietNamNet Bridge The support industry
for building agricultural machines is
lacking, head of CIEM's Research
Department for Rural Development Luu Duc
Khai told Countryside Today newspaper.

What are the realities of agricultural
machine production in Viet Nam?

Viet Nam manufactures 30-40 per cent of
the agricultural machines used in the
country. The rest are imported, mostly from
China and Japan. We have not developed
agricultural machinery production largely
because the country's support industry is at
zero. Our support industry meets about 20
per cent of the country's demand, leading to
difficulties in attracting investment.We
mainly import ploughs, pesticide sprayers,
and harvesting machines.

Can Viet Nam develop a support industry
for agriculture machine manufacturing?
One of the weaknesses in the support
industry for agricultural machines was that
demand was low, so the support industry
could not attract investment.

Preferential policies have been developed
for support of certain industries - such as
computer electronics, and garment and
automotive manufacturing - but not to
agricultural machine production.In addition,
state management of the support industry
was weak; the state was neither gathering
statistics for nor standardising that area of
agriculture.Viet Nam also has had
insufficient policies for the industry
development, and has been especially
lacking in policies to encourage small and
medium-sized support industry enterprises
(SMEs).Those businesses, mainly SMEs,
have had a hard time accessing capital a
problem made even greater because support
industry development required a capital
amount 4-10 times greater than that of the
assembly industry.

Experts estimate that the Cuu Long Delta
region has suffered an average loss of tens
of billions of dong yearly due to the lack of
rice harvest and preservation machines.

What are your thoughts on the country's
policies to support agricultural machine
building?

In localities, support industry policies
haven't "reached" enterprises in that field.
The Government's Decision 12 on
developing certain support industries in
2011 failed to attract certain support
industry enterprises because those
enterprises, under the new decision, would
be treated like many other SMEs. And as
such, those companies would have a
difficult time accessing the loans they
needed.
Therefore, it is necessary to have concrete
and practical policies for support industry
enterprises, such as land policy and tax
incentives. Farmers also needed direct
support, including loans with preferential
interest rates or policies for farmers to
borrow loans at banks.

The government recently adopted an
action plan for development of the
agriculture machine industry. How will
that plan improve the current situation?

We plan to increase the country's
mechanisation rate in agriculture fields. We
have implemented programmes building and
maintaining agriculture machines, and we
have encouraged farmers to use those
machines.
With the current internal weaknesses, Viet
Nam needs foreign support for the field,
especially from Japan, in an effort to
improve research and production
capabilities.
As far as I know, the government will draft a
decision to promote agricultural
mechanisation, in which a necessary fund
from the state budget would be used to
support localities towards implementing
their mechanisation plans.
The government will also set up criteria and
technical regulations for farming and
production machines, and better tax policies
for manufacturers. However, we still needed
more basic measures.

What are those specific measures?

The most urgent measure now is to rapidly
modernise technology and to train skilled
workers in an efforts to provide as soon as
possible products that meet required
standards.The Ministry of Finance and the
State Bank should develop a financial
mechanism that provides favourable
conditions for enterprises to access long-
term loans with preferential interest rates.I
think that it is necessary to encourage all
economic sectors to invest in agriculture
machine manufacturing. All of those
individuals and organisations field should be
treated equally as enterprises investing in
rural area.The government should also
create favourable conditions for local
enterprises to form joint ventures with
foreign firms in order to manufacture and
assemble highly specialised tractors, as well
as machines for harvesting rice and
sugarcane. The government also should
encourage the importation of equipment that
hasn't been produced in the country.

VNS/VNN
Tags:Farmers,agricultural machines,attract
investment,modernise technology,
Image: The government will draft a decision to
promote agricultural mechanisation --
Illustrative image. (Source: VNS)
KCR asks PM to retain rice
levy
OUR BUREAU


The levy mandates the rice millers to sell a
fixed quantity to the Food Corporation of
India (FCI) or to State agencies at the
minimum support price (MSP)
HYDERABAD, SEPTEMBER 25:
The Telangana Government has appealed to
the Union Government not to reduce the rice
mill levy from 75 per cent to 25 per cent.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has
written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, requesting him to take up the issue
with the Department of Food and Public
Distribution.The levy mandates the rice
millers to sell a fixed quantity of the rice
they process to the Food Corporation of
India (FCI) or to State agencies at the
minimum support price (MSP). They can
sell the remaining commodity in the open
market. The idea is to protect the farmers
from the market vagaries.We have been
told that the department has decided to
reduce the levy from the 2014-14 kharif
marketing season itself. If it is not to retain
the earlier levels, please ensure that the levy
is put at 50 per cent, the Chief Minister
pointed out.
(This article was published on September
25, 2014)

Mekong Delta Meets 64.2
Pct Of Annual Rice Export
Target
HANOI, Sept 26 (Bernama) -- Over four
million tonnes of rice were exported from
the Mekong Delta by Sept 20, representing
64.2 percent of the region's annual rice
export target, reports Vietnam News Agency
(VNA).Rice exports generated US$1.84
billion in revenue for regional localities, the
Steering Committee for the Southwestern
region said.Between now and the end of the
year, localities plan to export an additional
2.3 million tonnes of rice, bringing the
annual total to 6.3 million tonnes.
Nguyen Phong Quang, deputy head of the
committee's standing board, said the region's
trade sector implemented a number of
measures to help businesses survey markets
and promote their products in Asia, the
European Union and North America.He
attributed the outcome to the procurement of
modern processing lines that improved
output and quality, as well as the bumper
harvest of 20.6 million tonnes of paddy
during the winter-spring and summer-
autumn crops this year.

-- BERNAMA
New blood needed in rice
science, IRRI urges ASEAN
Saturday 27th of September 2014


NAYPYITAW, Mayanmar, Sept 27 -- IRRI
calls on ASEAN to build a new generation
of rice scientists and extension
professionals. According to V. Bruce J.
Tolentino, deputy director general for
communication and partnerships, these
efforts will help ensure secure and stable
rice supplies across ASEAN and the world.
The proposal calling for more support for
science education and extension was
presented during a series of high-level
meetings with the ministers and senior
officials of the ASEAN Ministries of
Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) on 20-26
September in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.

Through science education, the aim is to: (1)
produce at least 80 ASEAN PhDs, (2) 45
resident scientists, (3) 50 ASEAN
participants in a Rice Breeding Academy,
and (4) launch the ASEAN food security
forum for senior-level policy- and decision-
makers.Development of extension
professionals would be through (1)
advanced extension courses for at least
3,000 extension professionals, (2)
development of country-specific rice
information platforms, and (3) development
of an online rice crop forecasting system for
ASEAN.

Why do we need a new generation of rice
scientists and extension professionals? Our
farmers are getting old, Dr. Tolentino said.
In agricultural universities, only a few
young people are taking agriculture
courses.We need modern blood to get into
rice science for a sustainable future. We
need to promote focus on agricultural
science education to meet the current and
future challenges that threaten our long-term
food security goals, he added.



IRRI was one of a select group of
international agencies invited to address the
meetings and set up an exhibit that featured
the Institutes work and impact in each
ASEAN country. ASEAN cooperation in the
agriculture sector dated back as early as
1968, with cooperation in food production
and supply. The partnership between IRRI
and the ASEAN member-states has been
very productive over the past decades and
the region has benefited greatly from the
research conducted by IRRI.

The 2014 AMAF meetings were hosted by
the government of Myanmar. (Rona Nia
Mae Rojas-Azucena/http://irri-
news.blogspot.com)

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices
Open- Sep 26

Fri Sep 26, 2014 3:15pm IST

Nagpur, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Gram prices in
Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing
Committee (APMC) reported down on lack of
demand from local traders amid good supply
from producing regions. Easy condition on
NCDEX, weak trend in Madhya Pradesh gram
prices and high moisture content arrival also
pushed down prices, according to sources.

FOODGRAINS & PULSES
GRAM
* Desi gram raw declined in open market in
absence of buyers amid ample stock in ready
position.

TUAR
* Tuar black showed weak tendency in open
market on lack of demand from local traders
amid profit-taking selling by stockists at
higher level.

* Masoor varieties reported strong in open
market on increased demand from local
traders amid thin arrival from producing
belts. Weak production in this season
reports also activated stockists.

* In Akola, Tuar - 4,900-5,000, Tuar dal -
7,100-7,300, Udid at 7,000-7,200,
Udid Mogar (clean) - 8,000-8,300, Moong -
6,900-7,300, Moong Mogar
(clean) 8,300-9,000, Gram - 2,600-2,800,
Gram Super best bold - 3,800-4,000
for 100 kg.

* Wheat, rice and other commodities remained
steady in open market
in thin trading activity, according to sources.

Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market
prices in rupees for 100 kg

FOODGRAINS Available prices
Previous close
Gram Auction 2,250-2,940
2,320-3,000
Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-
2,600
Tuar Auction n.a. 3,930-
4,950
Moong Auction n.a.
5,200-5,500
Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-
4,500
Masoor Auction n.a. 2,600-
2,800
Gram Super Best Bold 3,900-4,200
3,900-4,200
Gram Super Best n.a.
Gram Medium Best 3,700-3,800
3,700-3,800
Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a.
Gram Mill Quality 3,450-3,550
3,450-3,550
Desi gram Raw 2,850-2,900
2,900-2,950
Gram Filter new 3,600-3,700
3,600-3,700
Gram Kabuli 8,400-9,700
8,400-9,700
Gram Pink 7,200-7,400 7,200-
7,400
Tuar Fataka Best 7,400-7,500
7,400-7,500
Tuar Fataka Medium 7,100-7,300
7,100-7,300
Tuar Dal Best Phod 6,700-6,900
6,700-6,900
Tuar Dal Medium phod 6,400-6,600
6,400-6,600
Tuar Gavarani 4,950-5,050
4,950-5,050
Tuar Karnataka 5,400-5,500
5,400-5,500
Tuar Black 8,200-8,500
8,300-8,600
Masoor dal best 6,900-7,100
6,800-7,000
Masoor dal medium 6,600-6,800
6,500-6,700
Masoor n.a. n.a.
Moong Mogar bold 9,000-9,500
9,000-9,500
Moong Mogar Medium best 8,500-8,800
8,500-8,800
Moong dal super best 7,800-7,900
7,800-7,900
Moong dal Chilka 7,700-7,900
7,700-7,900
Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki best 7,500-8,800
7,500-8,800
Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG)
8,200-8,600 8,200-8,600
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 7,100-
7,800 7,100-7,800
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 6,700-
7,000 6,700-7,100
Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 4,000-5,000
4,000-5,000
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 2,800-3,100
2,800-3,100
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 3,250-3,450
3,250-3,450
Watana White (100 INR/KG) 3,250-
3,350 3,250-3,350
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 4,400-
5,200 4,400-5,200
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,200-1,500
1,200-1,500
Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) 1,650-
1,725 1,650-1,725
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 1,300-1,500
1,300-1,500
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,100-
2,450 2,100-2,450
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG)
1,850-2,000 1,850-2,000
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a.
n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 2,800-
3,200 2,800-3,200
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 1,950-
2,350 1,950-2,350
Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG) 1,200-1,300
1,200-1,300
Wheat Best (100 INR/KG) 1,500-1,800
1,500-1,800
Rice BPT (100 INR/KG) 3,200-
3,800 3,200-3,800
Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 1,800-2,000
1,800-2,000
Rice Swarna old (100 INR/KG) 2,350-
2,650 2,350-2,650
Rice HMT (100 INR/KG) 4,000-
4,400 4,000-4,400
Rice HMT Shriram (100 INR/KG) 5,200-
6,000 5,200-6,000
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 10,500-
13,500 10,500-13,500
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG)
7,300-10,000 7,300-10,000
Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG) 5,200-5,800
5,200-5,800
Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 1,400-
1,600 1,400-1,600
Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,700-1,800
1,700-1,800

WEATHER (NAGPUR)
Maximum temp. 35.4 degree Celsius (95.7
degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp.
21.2 degree Celsius (70.2 degree Fahrenheit)
Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a.
Rainfall : nil
FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and
Minimum temperature likely to be around 35
and 21 degree Celsius respectively.
Note: n.a.--not available
(For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant
delivery prices, but included in market prices.)


Big Nigerian Rice Importer
Switches to Large Scale Local
Production and Processing

Discussion in 'Business News' started by Lequte,
Yesterday at 8:07 AM.

A major rice importer and Managing Director
of Elephant Group, Mr Tunji Owoeye, during
a visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has
said his company is ready to do large scale
commercial production and processing of rice
in Nigeria.Owoeye said his company has
embarked on $50 million equity injection, and
that his company has already done about 1,000
hectares in Moniya, Ibadan, for two
seasons.He said his company has also
acquired 9, 5000 in Guza and has got approval
of another 5,000 ha in Baro, both in Niger
State for fully mechanised rice farming,
NATIONAL MIRROR reported.
Because of our position in rice industry, we
dont want to lose that. We take this very
seriously. We also want to take over Veetee in
Ewekoro, Ogun State.Describing his company
as one of the major Growth Enhancement
Scheme, GES, supporters of the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, he noted that his company and
association want to support local producers to
continue to produce rice, adding he has
already requested for one of the 10 new rice
mills the Federal Government has just
approved."Whoever does not have short term
plan of backward integration will not be
allowed in our association. We will not
welcome traders from outside, except they are
going to invest in production, Owoeye
warned.Approving Owoeyes request, the
minister said our ports should not be for just
letting goods in. Our ports should be for
export too. Nigeria should be a net exporter of
rice. He also expressed delight at First City
Monument Banks ,FCMBs support for
Elephant Groups rice project.
Rice farmers seek B10,000 a
tonne
Published: 26 Sep 2014 at 14.17
Rice farmers will ask for 10,000 baht for a
tonne for paddy, a level they find profitable,
while a survey shows the farm sector is facing
an acute labour shortage.Thailand's farm sector
is facing a critical labour shortage. A survey
found 85% of the subjects did not want their
children to work in the sector. (Photo by
Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
They also want 11,000 baht a tonne for Pathum
Thani paddy and 15,000 baht for the hom mali
variety.Representatives of five farmers' groups
will meet with a Commerce Ministry panel on
Friday to discuss rice problems."These prices
are appropriate as they allow us to earn some
profits," Rawee Rungruang, chairman of the
Thai Farmers Network, told Thairath Online
early on Friday.Since the government's farm
policy involving zoning, farm-essentials cost
reduction and productivity upgrade takes time to
materialise, the farmers are looking for a short-
term relief for the current crop season.
The farming cost is now 5,000 baht on average
for one rai, which yields 750kg, so they need to
farm on three rai to get two tonnes.Since paddy
now fetches 8,000 baht a tonne, the farmers get
16,000 baht for three rai, or a little over 300 baht
a rai, which is inadequate, Mr Rawee said.And if
the grain has too much moisture, the prices will
be even lower, he added.For the upcoming
season, the Commerce Ministry plans to help by
organising paddy markets, asking millers to pay
100-200 baht above market prices to build
stocks while giving them a special interest rate
as compensation and encouraging farmers to
build their own stocks to avoid concurrent post-
harvest sales which put pressure on the prices.
Kampanat Pensupar, a deputy dean of Kasetsart
University's Economic Faculty, said Thailand's
farm sector was facing a critical labour
shortage.A survey found 85% of the subjects did
not want their children to work in the sector.This
is in line with the average 5-10% decline in the
number of students in the agriculture field, he
said."The results are the high average age of
farmers and a labour shortage, which together
have caused the sector to lag far behind the
manufacturing sector in terms of
productivity."The farm sector's productivity
index is a mere 0.8 compared to 6.6 in the
services sector," he said.But before the sector's
productivity can be improved, the prevailing
labour shortage needs to be addressed first, most
likely by legitimising more migrant workers, he
said.
"In the longer term, the government needs to
determine how much more labour the sector
needs. Too much will affect
productivity,"Poomsak Rasri, director of the
Agricultural Economic Operation Centre under
the Office of Agricultural Economics, said there
were 16 million farm workers in Thailand.He
estimated a 3% annual increase in the sector's
labour pool, or half a million a year, was
reasonable.Migrant workers alone could not
meet the shortfall as they prefer the industrial
sector.He proposed solutions such as
streamlining labour laws to accommodate
migrant workers, opening more one-stop service
centres for migrant workers' registration,
providing more welfare and incentives and
bringing in migrant workers from other
countries.Keep up-to-date with the latest on
coup d'etat with Bangkok Post SMS News. Call
*451391000 to subscribe 39 baht/month (7
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Prayut tells agencies to
prime the pump

Published: 26 Sep 2014 at 06.58
Newspaper section: Business
Writer: Chatrudee Theparat
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has
vowed to stimulate Thailand's economy in
the first quarter of fiscal 2015 with a budget
of 1.2 trillion baht. Gen Prayut yesterday
said after meeting with high-ranking
officials that all state agencies must speed
up disbursement of the outstanding budget
for fiscal 2014, worth roughly 160 billion
baht, within the first quarter of fiscal 2015,
which begins next Wednesday.The premier
told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the
government would accelerate spending,
especially on small-scale projects, in a bid to
boost the economy during the last quarter of
this calendar year.
The fiscal-2015 budget amounts to 1.26
trillion baht 160 billion in leftover budget
from fiscal 2014 and 1.1 trillion to be
allocated in the fiscal year to come.Gen
Prayut said the government was also
committed to boosting exports, improving
the quality of life for all people and
promoting meetings, incentives, conferences
and exhibitions (Mice) activity.Other
policies of the new government include
improving and amending laws to ease trade
and investment as well as restructuring the
tax code to enhance Thailand's
competitiveness.Some existing taxes remain
relatively high compared with those of other
countries."I do hope once we've solved our
internal problems and improved what are
deemed as obstacles, foreign investors will
come to invest in Thailand and Asean," Gen
Prayut said.
He reiterated that exports remained the key
driver of the economy and pledged to
recover Thailand's leadership in the global
rice market.With rice prices trending lower,
the prime minister said the government
needed prudent and appropriate management
to carry out the sale of existing state rice
stocks.After halting rice sales to carry out
nationwide stock inspections, the military
regime on Aug 7 resumed sales of 167,000
tonnes of rice that the Yingluck Shinawatra
government had stockpiled under the failed
rice-pledging scheme.The junta in July
vowed to sell an average of 500,000 tonnes
a month from state stocks and dispose of the
existing 18-million-tonne surplus within
three years through four channels general
auctions, government-to-government sales,
direct sales and the Agricultural Futures
Exchange of Thailand.
Thailand regained its position as the world's top
rice exporter in July with shipments of 940,691
tonnes, up by nearly 40% year-on-year, on
strong demand for white rice from African
countries that usually imported parboiled
rice.Thailand in the first seven months of this
year exported 5.62 million tonnes of rice, up by
55% year-on-year, fetching 90.9 billion baht, up
20.6%.Benin ranked as the top importer of Thai
rice with the purchase of 689,329 tonnes, up by
55.7% year-on-year, followed by China
(338,170 tonnes, up 227%), Ivory Coast
(325,558 tonnes, up 68.2%), Nigeria (321,955
tonnes, up 467%) and Cameroon (281,905
tonnes, up 190%).Last month's export figure is
estimated at 900,000 tonnes.Thai rice prices
have decreased to a highly competitive rate, and
the government is negotiating with major export
markets to purchase more rice.Full-year rice
exports are forecast at 10 million tonnes.