Uganda: Rice planting over schooling
Source: All Africa20/02/2012 – Authorities in the eastern Ugandan district of Butaleja are grappling with the high rate of school children who drop out to work in rice plantations.
India – Basmati rice export to restart this week after a year’s gap
Source: Times of India20/02/2012 – Export of Basmati rice from India is likely to re-start in couple of days as the government is learnt to have agreed to lower the minimum export price (MEP) from 940 dollars per tonne to 700 dollars per tonne.
India – Rice disease management cum specialist support held
Source: The Morung Express19/02/2012 – Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) Kohima district conducted district level training on rice disease management cum specialist support in collaboration with NU: SASRD Medziphema at Teichuma village on February 17, 2012.
Thailand – Govt presses ahead with rice pledging
Source: The Nation20/02/2012 – Despite warnings on the huge stockpiles it will have to handle and severe export competition this year, the government has insisted on going ahead with its rice-pledging scheme, as it believes the strategy will drive up prices both domestically and in the international market.
Nigeria – Dominion agree to build Africa’s biggest rice farm
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek19/02/2012 – Dominion Farms Ltd., an Oklahoma- based farming company that produces rice in Kenya, agreed to start a rice farm with the government in Nigeria that would be Africa’s biggest with production at 300,000 metric tons a year.
Philippines – Save rice terraces bid starts
Source: Inquirer News15/02/2012 – A technical engineering team sent to Ifugao last week by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has finalized a work plan for restoring the province’s rice terraces and for reviving its watershed, the agency’s Cordillera director said.
Brasil – Epagri e Basf lançam cultivar de arroz irrigado
Source: Agrosoft14/02/2012 – A Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária e Extensão Rural de Santa Catarina (Epagri) e a Basf fazem o lançamento da nova variedade de arroz irrigado – cultivar SCS117CL – na Estação Experimental de Itajaí para agricultores, produtores de sementes e de grãos, técnicos e lideranças rurais.
Rice consumption linked to higher arsenic levels in pregnant women
Source: Environmental Health News14/02/2012 – U.S. women who reported eating average-sized portions of rice had higher levels of arsenic exposure compared to women who didn’t eat rice, indicating that food may provide potentially harmful levels of arsenic.
Thailand – Rice farmers unhappy with weir projects
Source: Bangkok Post15/02/2012 – Farmers in flood-prone Bang Rakam district of Phitsanulok have demanded fairer compensation if their land is to be used to retain floodwater.