Sri Lanka – Rice Gift
Source: LBO.lk23/10/2011 – Sri Lanka has gifted 250 metric tonnes of rice to Somalia as domestic production increased, economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa said.
Demand for Indian rice up on higher Thailand price
Source: Market Watch23/10/2011 – As rice prices rise and supply tightens in Thailand, the world’s largest exporter, buyers are increasingly turning to India to meet their needs though infrastructure bottlenecks may slowdown shipments, trading executives said.
Singapore – Rice importers have ‘healthy’ stockpile
Source: Today Online21/10/2011 – The price of Thai fragrant rice may have risen by 9 per cent since January, but Singapore’s stockpile and its strategy of diversifying its rice supply sources have mitigated the effects of price spikes and supply disruptions, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan told Parliament on Friday.
Bridgng knowledge gaps for increased rice harvests
Source: CGIAR20/10/2011 – Indonesia is one of the biggest consumers of rice in Asia, making the availability of affordable rice of prime importance to the well being of the nation’s 235 million people. In a bid to avoid a recurrence of the rice crisis that took place in the country in 2008, the Indonesian government initiated…
US – Uncovering the reasons behind rice blast resistance
Source: Wester Farm Press20/10/2011 – USDA scientists have characterized the molecular mechanism behind some plants’ ability to resist rice blast. The fungus has been found in 85 countries worldwide, including the United States.
Ghana – Pilot project on commercial rice production underway
Source: GBN17/10/2011 – A pilot project on the suitability of large-scale rice and beans cultivation in the Wegbe-Kpalime area of the Volta Region is underway.
Nigeria – Rice importation ends in 2014-Aganga
Source: Leadership16/10/2011 – Ekiti State indigenes have been urged to go into rice farming in order to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the state and equally boost food production in the country.
Japan – Rice farmers in Japan set tougher radiation limits for crops
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek13/10/2011 – Rice farmers near Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will impose radiation safety limits that will only clear grains with levels so low as to be virtually undetectable after government-set standards were viewed as too lenient, curbing sales.
US – Water – starved texas rice eroding U.S. harvest as prices gain
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek13/10/2011 – Ronald Gertson’s family has grown rice for five generations in east Texas, where the Colorado River makes the soil ideal for the grain and little else. Now, the state’s worst drought ever may keep Gertson from planting next year, eroding U.S. output that is the lowest in 13 years.
US – WASDE: Rice production down 4.0 million from last month
Source: AG WEB12/10/2011 – U.S. rice production in 2011/12 is forecast at 186.9 million cwt, down 4.0 million from last month and the smallest crop since 1998/99. The decline is entirely due to a decrease in yield. Average yield is estimated at 7,123 pounds per acre, down 150 pounds from last month. Harvested area is unchanged at…