Turkmenistan's 2004 Rice Harvest Seen 170,000 MT - Ag Ministry

Turkmenistan is lanning to harvest 170,000 metric tons of rice in 2004, an increase of 55.25% on 2003, an
agriculture ministry official said in Ashgabad Tuesday.

According to the ministry's final figures, the 2003 harvest was 109,500 tons, an increase of over 35% on the previous year.

Turkmenistan Expects 170000 MT of Rice in 2004

Turkmen Grain Association (Turkmengallaonumleri) and provincial governors would coordinate efforts to produce 170000 MT of rice in Turkmenistan in 2004.

Doshoguz province, the traditional rice region of Turkmenistan, would produce 105000 MT, and Lebap province would raise 65000 MT.

Government would supply 9700 MT of quality seed for the crop 2004.

State authorities would invite farmers to join in a voluntary programme that offers a number of support facilities and also the guarantee that the government would purchase the harvest at official rates.

Thos farmers who decline to join the voluntary programme would be free to offer their produce in the open market.

Ministry of agriculture, together with city and provincial administrations, would make available 44000 hectares of land for rice crop. Doshoguz province would provide 27000 hectares and Lebap province would offer 17000 hectares. The land would be parceled out to leaseholders and independent farmers.

DaikanBank (Farmers’ Bank) would offer low interest credit to farmers for purchase of fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and technical services including leasing/renting of agricultural machinery.

Iran Buys 4 Cargoes Of Thai Rice

Iran has bought four cargoes of Thai rice, 100% B grade, from two Thai exporters and may buy Thai sugar, rice and sugar industry participants said Thursday.

The rice deal was concluded in the past two weeks, when Iranian officials were in Bangkok, a senior official at a rice exporting company said.

Iran was believed to have paid $205, $211 and $215 a metric ton for the rice, the official said. Under the purchase, Iran bought three cargoes of rice from President Agri Trading Co. and a cargo from Chaiyaporn International Co., a rice trader in Bangkok said, adding each cargo contains around 20,000-30,000 tons of rice.

Iran also sought to buy rice from the Commerce Ministry, but prices offered were too low for the ministry, a ministry official said.

Iran is also in the market for a "huge" amount of sugar, the ministry official said. A sugar broker in Bangkok said Iran may be in the process of buying sugar from Chaiyaporn International.

Iraq Tenders For 70,000 MT Of Rice; US Mill Expected To Bid

Iraq is now tendering for 70,000 metric tons of rice, and at least one U.S. mill is expected to enter a bid, U.S. government and industry officials said Tuesday.

The World Food Program, conducting the tender for Iraq, opened the tender Monday, said Betsy Ward, a vice president of the USA Rice Federation.

Ward said that even though a U.S. producer will be bidding to sell rice to Iraq, success will be difficult because "the specifications were clearly designed for Asian rice, which would be tough for us to meet."

Cambodia Harvests Bumper Rice Crop In 2003

Cambodian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Chan Sarun said that Cambodia harvested a bumper rice crop with 4.3 million tonnes from two million hectares of cultivated land last year.

The rice output was 600,000 tonnes bigger than planned, making up 40 percent of Cambodia's GDP in 2003.

He noted that Cambodia is an agricultural country with 85 percent of the population being farmers and the number of people involved in agriculture accounting for up to 70 percent of the country's total workforce.

The Cambodian Government is carrying out an irrigation system upgrade project in key areas and a food safety assistance project financed by the Italian government through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Turkmenistan Targets Rice Harvest Of 500,000 MT By 2020

Turkmenistan is carrying out a national program targeting an annual rice harvest of 250,000 metric tons by 2010 and 500,000 tons by 2020, the agriculture ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

According to the ministry's final figures, the 2003 harvest was 109,500 tons, an increase of over 35% on the previous year.

At present all the rice is harvested in two regions, Dashoguzsky in the north of the country and Lebapsky in the south-east.

The national program includes the creation of a modern irrigation system in the southern Akhalsky region, which will enable the country to increase its rice harvest in the next few years, the agriculture ministry's statement said.

Kazakhstan's 2003 Rice Harvest 309,700 MT

Kazakhstan's rice producing region of Kyzylorda has completed this y
ear's harvest with 309,700 metric tons, up 45.6% on 2002 levels,
an agriculture ministry official said in Astana Friday.

The average yield was 4.45 tons a hectare.

The official said the increase was due to a large investment after
Kazakhstan's Industry and Trade Ministry raised the rice import duty to 25%
from 20% in early 2003 in order to protect domestic producers from cheap
imports from China.

Iranian Ministry Plans 400,000 MT Rice Imports

Iran`s Commerce Ministry plan to purchase 400,000 MT of rice from other countries, 90,000 MT of which has already been imported, said Deputy Commerce Minister Mojtaba Ansari.

Ansari told a group of experts and officials in charge of rice imports that the imported rice would be supplied to universities and charity foundations or would be distributed among citizens as a subsidized commodity.

He said basic commodities are imported for regulating the market, meeting domestic shortage and for storage.

The Israeli technique of precision use of agricultural inputs has benefited scores of Indian farmers under a bilateral cooperation agreement of 1998.

A model farm spread over 7.5 ha was set up in the Pusa campus of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) under a jointly-funded INR99.5 million (US$2,176,671) project resulting from the agreement.

The farm has two green houses, nursery and net houses for transfer and training in Israeli technique of precision farming and protected horticulture.

A scheduled visit of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Pusa campus, however, failed to materialize because he cut short his visit India visit Wednesday to return home in the wake of terrorist attacks in his country.

But Israeli Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz spent considerable time in the farm.

India is working out a system by which Israeli resource persons would visit periodically for short durations to impart training and further consultancy on newer technology in precision farming.

The two countries have entered an agreement to establish a framework of cooperation for signing a memorandum of understanding for bilateral sharing of expertise in farming on arid land.

Israel, a largely arid country, has been upgrading its techniques continually on protected cultivation and is a major exporter of farm produce to the US and Europe.

"The awareness and adoption of low-cost greenhouses, net houses, insect proof nets, off-season cultivation using plastic tunnels is growing among farmers. Even the high-intensity growing technique under green house condition is being well received," said N P S Sirohi, principal scientist with IARI.

Today farmers from India’s south Gujarat, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and around Delhi, who have received training under the project, are growing off-season vegetable crops with good returns.

A combination of techniques of plastic tunnels and greenhouse is being used very effectively. Farmers, who harvest muskmelon and summer squash (also known as chhapan kaddu in India or Zukuni in the West) ahead of the season, get remunerative prices.

"In times to come, this technique will have great relevance for our country as with greater globalization there will be demand for better quality produce. Our training program will help young graduates to get practical training on how to enhance yield from smaller area, using inputs more efficiently," says Sirohi.

India is second only to China in horticultural output and has been striving to enhance exports through quality fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Apart from the Pusa project, Israel has helped the country with demonstration projects in precision farming and computer-aided drip irrigation in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in cotton.

July 3, 03

The European Parliament passed two laws on Thursday to replace a ban on new biotech foods with rules that would allow genetically modified products in Europe if they are clearly labelled.

The 626-member EU assembly voted the two proposals through without major changes, officials said, paving the way for quick adoption by EU governments before the end of the year.

That should see the early lifting a seven-year freeze on the introduction of new biotech foods.
The rules would force producers trace all genetically modified organisms at all stages of production and oblige supermarkets to label their products clearly using the words: "This product is produced from GMOs."
"This is a huge step forward in giving choice to citizens," said EU Health Commissioner David Byrne. "All foods whether pre-packaged, or not, will have to be labelled."Products containing more than 0.9 per cent of biotech material will have to be labelled.

The new laws, backed by EU governments, will also allow the 15 EU nations to set their own rules to prevent seeds from farms growing GM crops blowing on to fields of conventional or organic produce.
The United States has long pushed the EU to drop its biotech ban, but the new rules are unlikely to satisfy Washington, which says mandatory labelling of biotech products will be too costly for exporters.