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Vol 7 , Issue 9
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News Detail...
Greenpeace founder pushes hard for Golden
Rice
Editorial Board
Chief Editor
Hamlik
Managing Editor
English Editor
Maryam Editor
Legal Advisor
Advocate Zaheer Minhas
Editorial Associates
Dr.Hasina Gul
Dr.Hidayat Ullah
Assistant Professor, University of
Swabi
Dr.Abdul Basir
Assistant Professor, University of
Swabi
Zahid Mehmood
PSO,NIFA Peshawar
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.During the Agricultural Bioscience International Conference being held in Fargo this week,
Moore took on the notion of anti-GMO activists; but his core cause is Golden Rice.
Farmers will remember Golden Rice. News of the idea of engineering rice so that it produced
beta carotene, which the human body turns to valuable Vitamin A was greeted with optimism
and excitement more than a decade ago. But like one of those documentaries that asks "whatever
happened to golden rice" the product sort of fell off the radar.
Not in rice-centric countries where the crop if cultivated could save as many as 2 million
children a year, Moore says. However, Greenpeace and other like groups have taking on the
Golden Rice fight as a standard bearer in their war on GMO crops and Moore is none too happy.
In fact, he's created a movement Allow Golden Rice Now - in opposition to the efforts to stop
the crop.
"They're linking Golden Rice with death, which scares parents into not wanting the technology
developed, and they're still doing this today," Moore says. It was those efforts, and the fact that
no one was actively campaigning in favor of the technology that led Moore to create the group
supporting development of the crop.
Background on plant breeding
From a technology standpoint, Moore talks about the fear-mongering against GMOs that goes
against the actual science of what's happening in the world and has happened for more than
10,000 years. He points to directed genetic modification, which farmers have been doing for
centuries. Then points to the mutation breeding that has been going on for the past 100 years.
"We've used chemicals and radiation to scramble the genetics of an organism, then we plant
them and see if anything interesting comes up," he says.
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Around the world they call them pulses, here in the U.S. we call them beans. Either way Irvin
Widders is enthused about the potential for this nutrition-rich crop.
A benefit of this job is the ability to connect with a wide range of people on any number of
topics. This week I'm attending the global Agricultural Bioscience International Conference in
Fargo, N.D., where I'm catching up on a range of topics from Golden Rice to anti-GMO
sentiment. Earlier this week I had the chance to listen to a speaker who spoke passionately about
a topic we talk little about pulses.
Irvin Widders is professor and director of the Feed the Future Legume Innovation Lab at
Michigan State University, and he was on hand to discuss the International Year of the Pulse. For
Widders, the pulse or grain legume crop includes about 60 species of crops for personal
consumption. This list does not, however, include soybeans or peanuts, which while valuable
crops are considered oil legumes.
5
Irvin Widders, director, Feed the Future Legume Innovation Lab, has a passion for pulses. His enthusiasm
for the crop is driven by its potential for both human nutrition and the environment.
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The volume of importation of virtually everything into this country is too much. The
demand for dollars in this country as at today is 2.5 billion a week; this is the quantum of dollars
Nigerians are asking for to import things. Since 1986, we began this habit of importing everything
and doing virtually nothing at home to sustain ourselves; now, we do not have the dollars and people are
very hungry. This day was coming anyway, no matter who was in power; we have the most ridiculous
method of devaluing our currency; every week, we auction the dollar and naira goes up. We sat and
were hoping that by devaluation, we are going to arrive at Eldorado; if we continue like this, it will be a
thousand naira to a dollar, he said.Lets think through the basics here.
Nigeria is going through a forex crisis, that much is clear. Anything imported, like rice, is
bound to get more expensive as a result. And indeed, the rice that was N9k in December 2015 is now
approaching N30k today. We can all agree that in a poor country such as Nigeria, there is absolutely no
way on earth people are eating the same amount of rice they were eating at N9k last year at almost N30k
today. The price of so many other things like fuel has gone up so there is real pressure on peoples
incomes. But theres more. Last year when CBN released its infamous list of 41 banned items, rice
was number one on the list. Surely, this could have achieved nothing other than to increase the price of
rice as it pushed rice importers to the black market for forex.
On top of all that, importation of rice into Nigeria is heavily tariffed. Bringing in brown rice, for
example, attracts up to 70% tariffs. Again, this only serves to raise the price of rice imported into Nigeria.
A 50kg bag of rice is 100 Yuan in China (N5,000). In Thailand, 1 metric tonne of parboiled rice is
currently $403. If we use an exchange rate of N400 to $1, this works out at around N8,000 per 50kg bag.
Even if you fly it by business class to Nigeria, the price should not be the current N26,000 or more that it
is. We also know that Nigerian Customs have been cracking down on rice smugglers who try to bring
rice into the country through Benin Republic. A few weeks ago, they boasted that they had 25,000 bags of
rice they had seized in their warehouses.
***
We can be generous and say that half of the cause of rice prices skyrocketing was caused by the
devaluation of the naira and the other half by government policies. The reason for this, allegedly, is that
Nigeria should be growing its own rice and save forex in the process. Fine, you can say thats a
reasonable goal for any country, at least on paper.
But at this point, there is only one thing the government can dohelp Nigerians by finding any
means it can to bring down the cost of rice to ease some suffering. Clearly, local rice production cant
meet up to demand and is nowhere near competitive in price yet.
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Basmati exports are likely to be affected temporarily by a ban on their shipment on credit. The
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) under the
commerce ministry has restricted exporters from shipping basmati on credit, known as document
against acceptance in trade parlance.However, exports covered either by bank guarantee or
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation can be executed.
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As the government scrambles to buoy a rice sector suffering from crashing paddy prices and fierce
international competition, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday lauded the government officials and
generous businesspeople who heeded calls for emergency funds.
Falling from about $250 per ton in mid-August to $193 last week, the prices that millers were offering
farmers for paddy briefly plunged the sector into disarray. But a potential financial calamity has been
prevented, the premier announced on Thursday.
Farmers transplant rice next to a sugar cane field in July (John Vink)
With a $27 million grant approved by Mr. Hun Sen to subsidize millers, allowing them to stabilize the
price they pay for paddy, additional rice purchases this week by government officials and wealthy friends
helped the sector stay operational, he said.
Im truly thankful to the ministers, secretaries of state, civil servants and armed forces, as well as the
generous business people who have helped purchase paddy, Mr. Hun Sen said at a graduation ceremony
in Phnom Penh on Thursday.
Some have bought 10 tons, 20 tons or five tons, he added. Now its not a matter of having no money
to buy paddy, but a matter of having a place to dry it.
Mr. Hun Sen made his point by turning to Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana, who admitted that he had
purchased 10 tons of paddy, but left it at the mill. The prime minister lamented the situation, saying the
ministers financial contribution was not enough.
We have only resolved the issue of money, but we have not yet settled the basic issue, he said. Every
rice buyer, please transport the rice to be dried at your residence and then have it milled in Phnom Penh.
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But even these efforts will not be enough to fix the festering and fundamental issues plaguing the rice
sector, according to agricultural experts and economists.
Annual financial interventionalthough particularly severe this yearhas been required to keep the
sector going for years, said Chan Sophal, director of the Center for Policy Studies for Cambodian
Development.
Rice mills lack the capital to pay farmers for their paddy, while farmers feel the constant threat of
mounting debt and land insecurity, Mr. Sophal said.
The government has done this in the past toosometimes $15 million, $18 million, he said of the
capital influx. Rice millers are usually short of cash.
Every year, the government has provided some credit, which is not much compared to the need of the
sector. The sector needs hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Sophal said. More needs to be done.
Due to the relatively high cost of fertilizer, transportation and electricity in Cambodiawell above that in
Vietnam and Thailandthe countrys standard varieties of rice have no chance of competing
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A farmer ploughs after the first heavy downpour from the rainy season flooded his rice field in May (John
Vink)
Additionally, farmers need quality fertilizer, planting materials and training to produce high-yield
harvests, all of which the government should be doing by deploying experts into the field, he said.
Cambodia has unrealized potential to rise above competitors due to its vast arable land, according to
Theng Savoeun, secretary-general of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community. However,
farmers are using fertilizers and pesticides in an inappropriate way, for example below the recommended
rate, or overusing them, or at the wrong time, he said.
The result is high production costs, environment pollution and eventually it affects the sustainability of
the industry, Mr. Savoeun said. And although the majority of Cambodians rely on rice farming, the
country seriously lacks irrigation systems, research and development.
While the governments emergency financial intervention is appreciated by farmers facing imminent
bankruptcy, it also seems to be an attempt to gain or maintain political support, said Yaing Sang Koma,
program director for the Grassroots Democracy Party and former director of the agricultural NGO Cedac.
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With the government scrambling to protect farmers from rapidly falling rice prices, Agriculture Minister
Veng Sakhon on Wednesday poured blame on the private sector for boosting competing countries at the
expense of Cambodia by importing products that could be sourced locally.
As rice farmers across the country have seen drastic dips in the value of their paddyfrom about $250
per ton in mid-August to $193 last weekthe government stepped in with $27 million in grants for rice
millers in order to temporarily stabilize the market.
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Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon points to statistics on rice during a news conference in Phnom Penh on
Wednesday. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)
During a news conference at the Agriculture Ministrys headquarters in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, Mr.
Sakhon said Cambodias general failure to compete with its neighbors in rice sales was due to a lack of
innovation and research by local businesspeople.
Regarding the private sector, they are careless and not smart about competing in business, he said.
They are not smart enough to compete regionally.
Both Vietnam and Thailand have gradually lowered the price of their exported rice since 2012 in order to
compete internationally, Mr. Sakhon said.
Cambodian businesspeople should study the market prices and what our friends around us are doing
what they are able to do and what we are not able to do. Because it is very unfortunate that although we
have customers, we make a loss, he said.
In Cambodia, there are factories established that produce food for fishes and food for other animals,
which require rice grains for production, he added. But businesses overlook the possibility of using
domestic riceor corn, or branto create these foods, and millers do not advertise them properly.
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The recent surge in food prices is causing acute hardship and social unrest around the world. The
poor, who spend large shares of their income on food, are most adversely affected. Since rising
food ...
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