24th June, 2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

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TOP Contents - Tailored for YOU
Latest News Headlines
Rice likely to become expensive, cautions minister
WTO okays extension of Phl rice quantitative restriction
Growing pains of China's agricultural water needs
Philippines May Loosen Rice-Import Curbs as Prices Soar
Palay, corn production sharply higher in 1st half
Indonesia Says Bulog Must Be Ready to Import 500,000 Tons of Rice
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- June 24
The New Fall Crop for Rice Farmers: Carbon Offsets
Nigeria: The Continuous Rise in Rice Production in Nigeria
Agriculture experts say government misled farmer community
These Chopsticks Made From Rice Will Separate Perfectly Every Time, Plus Help Save
The World
News Detail
Rice likely to become expensive, cautions minister
TNN | Jun 24, 2014, 01.51AM IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hike in railway freight charges would see a spike in price of essential commodities,
including rice, in the state.Anoop Jacob, minister for food and civil supplies, on Monday said in the assembly that more
than 90% of food products from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are transported through rail network and this would lead
to price rise. "Freight rate hike will make rice expensive," said the minister.He said only 15% of the state's requirements
are produced in Kerala. The minister said the government would crack down on those who try to hike price of essential
commodities citing freight charge increase. "We will tackle price rise through pubic distribution system," he said.


Chief minister Oommen Chandy said in the assembly that he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting
the state's concerns in the wake of hike in railway passenger fare and freight rate. Chandy said the state is highly
dependent on other states for consumer goods that are transported mainly by rail network.The opposition called for a joint
resolution to address price hike of essential commodities.

WTO okays extension of Phl rice quantitative restriction
By Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 24, 2014 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines - The World Trade Organization
Committee on Trade in Goods (WTO-CTG) has approved the
Philippines petition to keep high duties on imported rice,
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said yesterday.In a press
briefing, he said the WTO-CTG is set to endorse to the WTO
General Council in July its approval for the countrys bid to
extend the implementation of the countrys quantitative (QR)
restriction on rice.Our negotiators have succeeded, said Alcala.
This means between now and 2017,we will still have control over rice that will enter the country.Upon
expiration of the QR in June 2012, the Agriculture department sought a five-year extension of its
implementation to buy Filipino farmers time to build their production capability to enable them to cope with
increased pressure that comes with the enforcement of free trade within Southeast Asia in 2015.Alcala said the
approval of the special restriction on rice entails increasing the current minimum access volume (MAV) and the
continued imposition of a 40-percent tariff on imports made within the MAV and tariff of 50 percent outside of
MAV.In keeping with the ASEAN free trade regime that would be enforced in 2015, all imports that would
come from ASEAN member-states would be levied a duty of 35 percent
Growing pains of China's agricultural water needs
By Mark KinverEnvironment reporter, BBC News
Northern areas of China have an abundance of arable land, but groundwater resources are scarceChina's scarce
water supply is being wasted as crops grown in water-stressed provinces are exported to wet, rainfall-rich
areas, a study reports.Farming accounts for about 65% of water use in China and the limited resource is
coming under pressure from rapid urbanisation and industrialisation.Officials have called the nation's water
shortage a "grave situation" and called for strict water controls.The findings appear in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.


Water worries
"China faces most of the major challenges to sustainable agriculture," wrote an international team of
researchers.
Dried riverbeds are becoming an increasingly frequent sight in China
"Fast socioeconomic development, rapid urbanisation and climate change, along with very limited water
resources and arable land per capita," they added."Because arable land is available mainly in the water-scarce
north, irrigation has become widespread, covering 45% of the country's agricultural land and accounting for
65% of national water withdrawal.The study focused on four major food crops - soya, wheat, rice and corn
(maize) - and three livestock groups: ruminant, pork and poultry.
Together, these products accounted for 93% of China's domestic food supply in 2005, according to figures from
the United Nations.The team - involving scientists from the US, Japan and China - assessed the volume of water
used by different provinces to produce these crops and livestock, including the volume from rainwater and
irrigation systems.They concluded: "China's domestic food trade is efficient in terms of rainwater but inefficient
regarding irrigation, meaning that dry, irrigation-intensive provinces tend to export to wetter, less irrigation-
intensive ones."We (also) identify specific provinces (for example, Inner Mongolia) and products (for example,
corn) that show high potential for irrigation productivity improvements.The team added that the paper's findings
had important policy implications."They constitute an essential input for designing policies and provide a
framework for analysing how these policies might change China's irrigation use in the near future."
'Grave situation'
The issue of water scarcity is one that the nation's officials know could undermine efforts to achieve sustainable
development.In 2012, China's vice minister of water resources, Hu Siyi, warned: "Because of the grave
situation, we must put in place the strictest water resources management system."He said that about two-thirds
of Chinese cities were "water-needy", nearly 300 million rural residents lacked access to safe drinking water,
and 40% of rivers were seriously polluted.Although China has one of the world's largest annual internal
renewable water resources (water in rivers and groundwater from rainfall), its population of 1.3bn people means


that, per capita, the national average of renewable water supplies is just one third of the global average.Within
the country, there is a vast difference. People in northern provinces only have a tiny fraction of water resources
available to them compared with residents of southern parts of China.While the north only has about one-fifth
of China's water supplies, it accounts for two thirds of the nation's cropland.
A report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the intensive use of groundwater
resources had resulted in the lowering of water tables by up to 300m and the rapid depletion of groundwater
reservoirs.It added that groundwater extraction in northern provinces was unsustainable as water was being
consumed faster than it could be replenished.However, in contrast - it added - less than 30% of the known
groundwater resources in southern China were being used as a result of having a more plentiful supply of
surface water sources.
Philippines May Loosen Rice-Import Curbs as Prices Soar
Photographer: Edwin Tuyay/Bloomberg
Workers unload sacks of rice from a truck at the National Food Authority warehouse in Manila.
By Karl Lester M. Yap Jun 24, 2014 8:03 AM GMT+0500
Photographer: Edwin Tuyay/Bloomberg
Workers unload sacks of rice from a truck at the National Food Authority warehouse in Manila.

The Philippines is considering easing rice-import curbs as Asias second-biggest buyer battles record-high
domestic prices and seeks to limit losses at a state agency, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan
said.
Policy makers will consider a proposal next month to
adopt a free market and allow private traders to import
as much rice as they want, Balisacan, 56, said in an
interview in his office in Manila yesterday. The
government would instead collect tariffs on the imports,
he said.We need to get our trade policy right to address
rising rice prices, Balisacan said. Our approach in
restricting rice imports without an adequate assurance
that local rice production would be sufficient to meet
demand was the main factor that led to higher prices,
he said.President Benigno Aquino is seeking to
curb inflation running at the fastest pace since
November 2011, boosted by the higher cost of rice, a staple in the Southeast Asian nation. Debt at the National
Food Authority, which subsidizes farmers by buying their rice at higher prices, will probably climb to 180
billion pesos ($4.1 billion) by end-2016 without any changes to the program, Aquino said, or twice the nations
defense budget this year, according to Bloomberg calculations.Moving to a free market allows the government
to plug its cash leaks stemming from rice subsidies, said Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at BDO
Unibank Inc. in Manila. It also provides more market access for people to buy rice.


Record Prices
The government had planned to import 1 million metric tons of rice this year, including 200,000 tons secured
last year after Super Typhoon Haiyan struck in November. Separately, it allowed private traders in February to
buy 163,000 tons of rice from overseas.Consumer prices climbed 4.5 percent in May from a year earlier. Retail
prices of well-milled ricerose 20 percent from a year earlier to a record as of the second week of June,
according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Thats in contrast to prices of Thai 5-percent broken white rice, an Asian benchmark, which have tumbled 26
percent in the past year as the Thai government accelerated sales of stockpiles to make payments to farmers.
Thai reserves have more than doubled to almost 14 million tons from 5.6 million tons in the 2010-2011 crop
year prior to the start of the governments rice purchase program, according to data from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.

Better Access

While we want to provide sufficient protection for our rice farmers, we also want to ensure that consumers,
particularly the poor, would have access to inexpensive rice, said Balisacan. Instead of the government
deciding, let the private traders and players decide that.To help farmers who may be hurt by cheaper imports,
the government could take steps to boost irrigation, develop higher-yielding rice varieties, provide better access
to credit and improve the supply chain, said Balisacan. The former World Bank economist oversees agencies
including the Public-Private Partnership Center and the Philippine Statistics Authority, and is also in charge of
approving infrastructure projects.

Restrictions on rice imports had encouraged smuggling, and the countrys Bureau of Customs has stepped up
efforts to clamp down on the release of illegal rice shipments since Commissioner Sunny Sevilla took office in
December.The Philippines, the largest importer of rice in Southeast Asia and the biggest buyer in Asia
afterChina, may import 2 million tons this year and 1.8 million tons in 2015, according to USDA
estimates. India, the top shipper, exported 10.48 million tons in 2013, with Thailand at 6.72 million tons
and Vietnam at 6.7 million tons, according to USDA data.
Living Costs
Officials around the region have come under pressure to control rising food prices and curb the cost of living.
India will offload 5 million tons of rice, about a quarter of its state stockpiles, at subsidized rates to check price
gains, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said last week.Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is the first central bank this
year among Southeast Asias biggest economies to move toward tightening monetary policy as inflation
quickens.


Last week it increased the rate on special deposit accounts a quarter of a percentage point after raising the
reserve ratio twice earlier.The monetary authority last week also raised its inflation forecasts for 2014 and 2015,
citing risks including El Nino and food costs. Food prices surged 6.7 percent in May from a year earlier, the
fastest pace since April 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Food and non-alcoholic beverages
have a weightage of about 40 percent in the consumer price basket.
To contact the reporter on this story: Karl Lester M. Yap in Manila at kyap5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.netRina Chandran,
Thomas Kutty Abraham
Palay, corn production sharply higher in 1st half

By Anna Leah G. Estrada | Jun. 24, 2014 at 12:01am
Palay and corn production likely increased 6.8 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, in the first six months of the year on
good weather conditions, the Department of Agriculture said Monday.Assistant Agriculture Secretary and National Rice
Program coordinator Edilberto de Luna said unmilled rice production likely reached 8.541 million metric tons from 7.997
million MT year-on-year. Palay output in the second quarter was expected to reach 4.015 million metric tons, up 4.9
percent from 3.827 million metric tons last year, he said.
The probable increases in production is due to improvement in yield, particularly in major rice production areas of Nueva
Ecija, Davao del Norte and Kalinga as a result of sufficient water supply during the period, De Luna said.The more
robust rice and corn production in the second quarter is expected to lift agricultural output in the six-month period, after
an anemic growth in the first quarter.Agriculture, which accounts for a fifth of the gross domestic product, slowed to a
0.7-percent growth in the first three months from 3.1 percent a year ago, after three strong typhoons destroyed farms and
fish ponds in the last quarter of 2013, the Philippine Statistics Authority said earlier.
The damage caused by typhoons Santi, Vinta and Yolanda that visited the country in the last quarter of last year
translated to a decelerated growth in crop production, the government said earlier.Palay production grew 3.3 percent to
4.3 million MT in the first quarter from 4.2 million MT a year earlier, while corn harvest increased 1.3 percent to 2.3
million MT from 2.2 million MT.De Luna said corn output in the first half likely reached 3.482 million MT from 3.323
million MT on year.He said second-quarter output might have risen 12 percent to 1.203 million MT from 1.075 million
MT on year due to an expanded harvest area.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said a recent report by the US Department of Agriculture-Foreign
Agricultural Service showed the Philippines had the highest percentage increase in milled rice production.The report
showed Philippine milled rice production grew by an average of 5.05 percent from 2009 to 2014.The countrys milled rice


production growth is followed by Egypt at 4.85 percent; India, 4.29 percent; Cambodia, 3.94 percent; and Bangladesh at
2.80 percent.We may not achieved the rice sufficiency status last year but we will make sure that we will achieve this
before the end of the Aquino administration, Alcala said.
Indonesia Says Bulog Must Be Ready to Import 500,000 Tons of Rice
By Reuters on 04:43 pm Jun 24, 2014
Category Business, Commodities
Tags: Bulog, rice

Farmers hold bundles of paddy at a rice paddy field near
Subang, in West Java province on May 27, 2014. Indonesias
state rice buyer must purchase more rice to accommodate a
pick-up in demand. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta).Jakarta.
Indonesias state buyer Bulog must prepare to import 500,000
metric tons of rice, deputy agriculture minister Rusman
Heriawan said on Tuesday, to accommodate a surge in demand
linked to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and a likely El
Nino weather pattern.The Southeast Asian nation could more
than double rice imports to up to 1.5 million tons this year,
industry officials and analysts have said, and Bulog says the
government may decide by early July.To anticipate El Nino
and increasing demand during Ramadan and Lebaran, the government has ordered Bulog to prepare itself for
rice import, Rusman Heriawan told reporters, in a reference to the Eid holiday at the end of the fasting month,
adding that no rice import permit had been issued as yet.It does not mean that Bulog has to execute the import
contracts if domestic rice supply and output is good.Indonesia, which typically buys rice from Thailand and
Vietnam, and the Philippines are among the Asian countries facing the gravest threat from El Nino, analysts
say.
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- June 24
Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:33pm IST
Nagpur, June 24 (Reuters) - Gram and tuar prices in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and
Marketing Committee (APMC) showed weak tendency on poor demand from local traders amid poor
quality arrival. Fresh fall on NCDEX, easy condition in Madhya Pradesh pulses and release of
stock from stockists also pushed down prices, according to sources.
* * * *

FOODGRAINS & PULSES
GRAM


* Gram varieties ruled steady in open market here matching the demand and supply
position.

TUAR
* Tuar black recovered in open market on good demand from local traders amid weak
supply from producing belts.

* Wheat mill quality showed upward trend in open market on good seasonal demand from
local traders amid weak supply from producing belts like Punjab and Haryana.

* In Akola, Tuar - 3,800-4,100, Tuar dal - 5,700-6,000, Udid at 6,500-6,800,
Udid Mogar (clean) - 7,600-8,100, Moong - 7,200-7,600, Moong Mogar
(clean) 8,600-9,300, Gram - 2,000-2,200, Gram Super best bold - 3,000-3,300
for 100 kg.

* Other varieties of 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 2,000-2,480 2,040-2,520
Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction 3,800-4,100 3,800-4,200
Moong Auction n.a. 4,400-4,700
Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500
Masoor Auction n.a. 2,600-2,800
Gram Super Best Bold 3,600-3,700 3,600-3,700
Gram Super Best n.a.
Gram Medium Best 3,200-3,400 3,200-3,400
Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a.
Gram Mill Quality 2,850-2,950 2,850-2,950
Desi gram Raw 2,300-2,800 2,300-2,800
Gram Filter new 3,000-3,200 3,000-3,200
Gram Kabuli 8,000-9,700 8,000-9,700
Gram Pink 7,300-7,500 7,300-7,500
Tuar Fataka Best 6,200-6,500 6,200-6,500
Tuar Fataka Medium 6,000-6,200 6,000-6,200
Tuar Dal Best Phod 5,600-5,850 5,600-5,850
Tuar Dal Medium phod 5,300-5,600 5,300-5,600
Tuar Gavarani 4,300-4,400 4,300-4,400
Tuar Karnataka 4,100-4,200 4,100-4,200


Tuar Black 7,500-7,800 7,400-7,700
Masoor dal best 6,000-6,200 6,000-6,200
Masoor dal medium 5,800-6,000 5,800-6,000
Masoor n.a. n.a.
Moong Mogar bold 8,800-9,500 8,800-9,500
Moong Mogar Medium best 8,200-8,600 8,200-8,600
Moong dal super best 7,600-8,000 7,600-8,000
Moong dal Chilka 7,700-8,300 7,700-8,300
Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki best 7,800-9,000 7,800-9,000
Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) 8,200-8,500 8,200-8,500
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 6,800-7,600 6,800-7,600
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 5,700-6,000 5,700-6,000
Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 3,800-4,800 3,800-4,800
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 2,900-3,000 2,900-3,000
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 2,900-3,200 2,900-3,200
Watana White (100 INR/KG) 3,700-3,800 3,700-3,800
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 5,100-5,700 5,100-5,700
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,200-1,500 1,200-1,500
Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) 1,500-1,750 1,500-1,600
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 1,200-1,400 1,200-1,400
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 1,900-2,200 1,900-2,200
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,800 1,600-1,800
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 2,500-3,200 2,500-3,200
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,400 2,000-2,400
Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG) 1,100-1,300 1,100-1,300
Wheat Best (100 INR/KG) 1,500-1,800 1,500-1,800
Rice BPT (100 INR/KG) 2,900-3,200 2,900-3,200
Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,800 1,600-1,800
Rice Swarna old (100 INR/KG) 2,700-2,900 2,600-2,800
Rice HMT (100 INR/KG) 3,800-4,200 3,800-4,200
Rice HMT Shriram (100 INR/KG) 4,400-5,200 4,400-5,200
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 10,400-13,900 10,400-13,900
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 7,300-10,000 7,300-10,500
Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,400 4,800-5,400
Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 1,300-1,500 1,300-1,500
Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,700 1,600-1,700

WEATHER (NAGPUR)
Maximum temp. 38.8 degree Celsius (101.8 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp.
28.3 degree Celsius (82.9 degree Fahrenheit)


Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a.
Rainfall : nil
FORECAST: Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and Minimum temperature likely to be around 39 and 28 degree
Celsius respectively.

Note: n.a.--not available

(For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices.)

The New Fall Crop for Rice Farmers: Carbon Offsets
By ROBERT PARKHURST | BIO | Published: JUNE 23, 2014

This September, a new crop will be made available to rice producers: carbon
offsets.The California Air Resources Board (ARB) took another important step
forward last week when it published the latest draft standard for the
development of carbon offsets. The standard lays out the steps a producer
needs to take in order to sell his new crop. Once it is approved, producers will
be able grow and sell it as a new revenue stream.

So how does this work?
Rice fields are flooded as a part of growing this worldwide staple. Its
necessary for its growth. However, when water comes in contact with organic
matter, the organic matter decomposes, generating methane a strong
greenhouse gas. By reducing the amount of methane generated through rice
cultivation, a farmer can generate a carbon credit that can be sold to companies
to offset their carbon emissions.

What are the practices that produce credits?
The carbon offset standard includes three practices: dry
seeding, alternate wetting and drying, and early drainage.
Drill seeding or dry seeding refers to the practice of
sowing dry seeds rather than sowing pre-germinated seed onto
puddled soil. Alternate wetting and drying is the practice of
periodically flooding and then drying down a field throughout
the growing season. Finally early drainage refers to drying the
field seven to 10 days early. All three of these practices
reduce the generation of methane at specific times during the


growing season. A producer who implements one or more of these practices can hire a company to calculate
and audit the reductions in methane generated by the practice. The exact yield of carbon offsets is highly
influenced by the soil type and weather from the growing season, much the same way that soil type and weather
influences the yield of rice.

What can farmers do to prepare for this new crop?

Contact your local farm advisor and ask them about carbon offsets from rice cultivation. You may be able to
participate in one of the existing pilot projects taking place in California and Arkansas.So when rice producers
take to the field this fall, they could be harvesting two crops rice and carbon.

Nigeria: The Continuous Rise in Rice Production in Nigeria

BY OLUKAYODE OYELEYE, 24 JUNE 2014
OPINION

Nigeria is beginning to break the jinx of decades of dependence on imported food. Compatriots should therefore
arise and resist those who want to give false impression that no change is happening.It is time to shake off the
disappointment of many years of unfulfilled promises from past governments and embrace the prospects of one
which has made significant impacts within two years, changing the outlook of food production in such a short
time.In the past one week, I have been confronted with barrage of questions from the media on rice importation,
insinuations that rice transformation agenda may have been dropped and unfounded anxieties over a possibility
that Nigeria may experience supply shortage in rice.
I saw reasons to believe that those business people involved in rice importation were at work, and might be up
to a spin, trying to use falsehood and scaremongering to rally Nigerians behind them. Their timing was clearly
wrong and it appears they are insensitive to the silent revolution going on in the fields of rice cultivation.Under
the on-going agricultural transformation agenda (ATA), the tremendous achievement in rice production goes
beyond what can be wished away as millions of additional metric tons of food are added to local supplies and
rice plays big in this increase.The blessing in disguise was the flood disaster of 2012 that expedited federal
government's intervention in local production of food when the panicky, populist and ephemeral macho style of
responding to emergencies was avoided.The political will of President Goodluck Jonathan and his support for
the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, led the way for the successful dry season rice production
that is fast becoming a norm in Nigeria's agricultural calendar and rapidly improving the nation's food balance
sheet.
The year 2012 marked a watershed and proved Nigeria's capability to produce two crops of rice per year as
demonstrated in ten northern states of Niger, Kebbi, Kogi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Jigawa, Katsina, Bauchi, Kano and
Gombe.For the 2012 wet season and 2012/2013 dry season, a total of 20,161MT of improved seeds, 40,322 MT
of NPK fertiliser and 20,161 MT of urea fertiliser given to 403, 222 farmers became increased six times in 2013
wet season and 2013/2014 dry season to 2,598,113 as inputs redeemed doubled to 40,105MT of improved


seeds, 160,422 MT of NPK, and 129,906MT of urea, with added benefits of 358,993 rural jobs in the 2012 wet
season and 2012/2013 dry season.
Agriculture experts say government misled farmer community

Bushra Baseerat,TNN | Jun 24, 2014, 07.25 PM IST
HYDERABAD: With rains continuing to stay away, scientists and agriculture experts say governments in the two
states misled the farmer community by assuring a timely monsoon, while in reality, there has been an enormous
delay that is likely to hit crop production severely. Such is the crisis that scientists fear that if the states do not
receive good rainfall within the next one week, agricultural production will fall by a massive 30%. And if the dry
spell further extends to a fortnight, production is likely to drop by a staggering 50 %, scientists rue.
The Met department, under pressure from the government, declared the onset of southwest monsoon across Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana last week, despite there being no rains in sight. Thanks to such predictions, farmers who
were told that the skies would open up in two to three days, in the first week of June, have not stopped looking at the
sky ever since. So much so that many have even invoked the Gods by praying at temples. "Any delay beyond the
third week of June will lead to decline in the yield. Sowing cannot be done if there is just one spell of rain. There
must be six centimeters of rainfall to sow any crop and the rainfall should continue for two to three days. As of now,
the soil profile is completely dry and it has to be saturated," said L Jalapathi Rao, a retired agricultural scientist.

According to Rao, if sowing of rain-fed crops such as maize and soya bean extends beyond July 2, the decline in the
yield will be a substantial 40 kg per day. Sowing of cotton, which is grown in most of the districts, cannot be
delayed, he added. Experts said farmers working in areas where there is abundant groundwater, could have relied on
that water source, but with the grim power situation, there are several villages without power, leaving them with no
choice but to wait for the rains. Promises made to waive off farm loans has not happened either, compounding
problems further. "Banks are not willing to give fresh loans leaving the farmers to depend on private loans at high
interest rates. Farmers are in a dire situation. Weather prediction system today is as unpredictable as it was four
decades ago," said D Narasimha Reddy, an agriculture policy expert.
Sounding a word of caution, he further added: "Timing is important for certain crops. If within the fortnight, there is
no improvement in the situation, there could be a 50% reduction in the agricultural production." Jalapathi Rao who is
closely working with farmers too confessed that if the respective state governments did not show any concern in a
week's time, the situation is likely to flare up into a major issue. "Rice is one crop which has got more time to sow
but officials are concentrating on paddy only but 50% of area is rain fed and rain fed contingency plan is not there,"
said Rao.


These Chopsticks Made From Rice Will Separate Perfectly Every
Time, Plus Help Save The World
17 hours ago by Dina Hashem
Meet the chopsticks to which the phrase you are what you eat applies
perfectly. The Solit Riceit Kickstarter project aims to raise money for an
innovative new material used to make environmentally friendly
chopsticks. The material? A bio-composite made of polymer, and rice
husks! Thats right, you could be eating your rice with rice. Sorry, pencil
chopsticks andsauce-dispensing chopsticks, youve met your match.You
probably didnt know there was a need for an environmentally friendly
chopstick recipe, but if youre an avid sushi eater like me, youve probably thrown out some odd hundred pairs of
chopsticks already.

And thats just you! Multiply that by the amount of people who enjoy indulging Asian cuisine (everybody), and
thats a lot of wasted wood. In fact, the Solit Riceit team reports that 200 football fields of aspen and bamboo trees
are harvested every day to make 136 million chopsticks, which end up being tossed in the trash anyway. ubstitutes
made from materials like plastic and ceramic pose their own problems, as plastic isnt very eco-friendly, and ceramic
is more expensive to produce. So whats a sushi lover to do? Cue Solit Riceit!

The project was born when two engineers from Barcelona were researching new ways of using biodegradable
materials in industrial processes. After working with rice husks, a by-product of rice production, they realized they
could combine it with polymers to create a wood-like material, and decided to use it for an environmentally-friendly
twist on an age-old utensil. The process of manufacturing them also has less environmental impact, reducing CO2
emissions by 80%.As a further improvement on the wooden chopstick, the Solit Riceits are completely reusable and
dishwasher safe. Perhaps best of all, they include an auto-click base which allows for perfect chopstick separation
every time, and provides a clean resting surface for your sticks when your tummy needs a break from shoveling pad
thai into it. Plus they come in a bunch of fun neon colors!Solit Riceit made their prototypes using handmade molds,
which only allowed them to make a small number of products. And thats where you and Kickstarter come in. The
team needs funding to buy a new aluminum mold to allow for increased production, so if youve been looking to
save the environment one sushi roll at a time, this could be your big break. (Image: Rissy Story/Shutterstock)

24th June, 2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

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24th June, 2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

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