Regoverningmarkets South Asia Newsletter (Vol. 18, No. 33 July 28- August 03, 2007)

Orange prices skyrocket Friday, July 27,2007 HAVEERU

 

MALE: Maldives is currently facing a shortage of oranges in the local market. While importers said that they will import oranges this week, there are no signs that they can deliver on their promise. In the few stores where oranges are now available, a price of orange is now offered at Rf8 (about US$0.62). Hence, this is the first time that orange prices have skyrocketed in recent history. Earlier, it was sold for Rf2.50.

 

Wholesalers now sell oranges only to special clients. Oranges, which are a source of vital vitamins, are not grown in Maldives and has to be imported.

Drive on to raise vegetable farming Saturday, July 28,2007 NEW AGE

 

DHAKA: The government has been urging both farmers and people in general to grow vegetables in large quantities to check their price spiral, particularly during the upcoming Ramadan.The Department of Agricultural Extension in collaboration with the joint forces and local administrations has been working in this regard since early June following an order of the higher authorities.The joint forces are strictly monitoring the initiative, particularly emphasising production of aubergine,  green chilli and cucumber, prices of which usually soar in Ramadan every year. But the drive faced a setback due to the recent heavy rainfall. Joint forces and DAE officials fear 25 to 30 percent vegetables in fields have been damaged by the rains.

 

 'We were instructed by the agricultural ministry, the joint forces and Bangladesh Rifles to ensure production of green chilli, cucumber and aubergine in large quantities ahead of Ramadan,' Motiar Rahman, DAE deputy director in Brahmanbaria, told New Age on Friday. He said the same instruction to grow surplus vegetables was issued across the country and accordingly  a large number of people planted vegetables in their land and homesteads in Brahmanbaria district. Cultivation of vegetables  at homesteads was once a norm in rural Bangladesh. The authorities are now trying to motivate everyone to revive the practice.

 

During a recent visit to different places in the district, it was seen that, following the ever-increasing vegetable prices and the government pressure, many people in the district had planted vegetables in the open spaces around their homes and other unused plots. 'The authorities were stressing domestic production of the three items to prevent any increase in their prices in Ramadan,' said an official of the joint forces. One can grow vegetables in his land, but there are also some unused spaces at most homesteads, he said, adding, 'You can easily grow various types of vegetables there throughout the year to meet your family needs. 'People can also save the money they spend for buying vegetables from the market, the official said.

 

 It will reduce the pressure on the market and thus bring down the prices. Some villagers of Shyampur and Anandapur of the district told New Age that the joint forces and officials of the local administration had been paying sudden visits to the villages to inspect vegetable cultivation. 'The idea has been a successful one as we got positive respond from the people,' said Motiar Rahman.

 

Apart from that, the joint forces are meeting with both wholesalers and retailers of greens on a regular basis and asking them to abstain from profiteering. They are also asking the retailers to set fixed prices of items and not to demand different prices of an item from different buyers.

 

75,000 coconut saplings to be planted Sunday, July 29,2007  SUNDAY OBSERVER

 

JAFFNA: Nearly 75,000 coconut saplings will be planted in the liberated areas in Jaffna this year. This decision was taken recently at the plantation progress meeting presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Plantation Industries Minister D. M. Jayarathne said the decision was taken in a bid to increase the yield in coconut production in the country. They have found some nurseries which could be used for cultivation in Nuwara Eliya.

 

"There are good farmers in Jaffna. The Ministry is also planning to launch a farmers' education programme. Under this programme the Ministry is planning to cultivate 1,200 coconut saplings in the Ampara District, the Minister said. The Minister said steps would be taken to cultivate TRI-98 Coconut saplings and palmayra trees at the Galle Face Green. The coconut saplings are of a very rare variety imported from India and Papua New Guinea.

 

Farmers gear up for T-aman farming Monday, July 30,2007 NEW AGE

 

RANGPUR: Farmers are gearing up for cultivation of transplant-aman paddy in Rangpur region during the last couple of weeks with the onset of full monsoon.

 

Suitable climatic condition and enough rainfall have made the farmers busy with transplanting paddy saplings in their fields after a bumper boro crop. They are also expecting a good aman crop this year.

 

The Department of Agriculture Extension has set the target of bringing more than 10 lakh hectares of land under T-aman cultivation with a production target of around 2. 43 crore tonnes of rice in the greater Rangpur districts.

Over 1.44 lakh hectares will be brought under T-aman farming in Rangpur district, 1.17 lakh hectares in Gaibanda, 1.14 lakh hectares in Kurigram, 83,100 hectares in Lalmonirhat, 1.10 lakh in Nilphamari, 2.46 lakh in Dinajpur, 1.07 lakh in Thakurgaon and 79,500 hectares in Panchagarh districts.

Additional director of DAE, Kazi Nazimuddin, said the targeted land area was bigger than the past year's total. Farmers in Kaunia and Piragachha upazilas said they are worried about the price hike of agricultural inputs, erratic supply of urea fertiliser and growing cost of farm labourers, which would ultimately raise the production cost.

 

Afzal Hossain, a farmer in Emadpur union under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur, said, ‘Crisis of urea during the season caused great worries to me. I need 10 sacks of urea for cultivating three acres of lands, while dealers gave me only three sacks.'

 

He urged the government to make fertilisers available on time and at fair price to the farmers. Rokon Miah, resident of Nabiganj, made similar complaint that the price hike of agriculture inputs and rising labour wages raised the production cost of the farming, making farming costlier than before and eating into profits of the growers.

 

‘I cultivated two acres of land. I had to spend more on labourers in the paddy field this year. Many of the farmers booked advance labourer to cultivate paddy. The labour cost is higher than the past years,' he said.

DAE officer Dilbar Hossain said the government allotted 16,756 tonnes more fertiliser this year to ensure smooth supply of urea in the northern districts.

 

Agribusiness firms reach out to farmers Tuesday, July 31,2007
Lanka Business

 

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's agribusiness companies have started a programme to get corporate executives to volunteer their services help farmers improve productivity, reduce waste and get better access to markets. The aim of the programme, launched under the aegis of the National Agribusiness Council (NAC), is to get member firms to provide two executives who will visit rural farmers during their leave period and help solve problems, said Mario de Alwis, former president of NAC.

 

"We want to create an opportunity for talented executives from private enterprise to help rural entrepreneurs become stronger. "We're looking at asking companies to join as member firms where they can have a minimum of two volunteers who personally must be interested in the scheme."

 

The idea is that the executives will volunteer their 14 days of annual leave and the company is supposed to give an extra 14 days leave so they have about one month during the year in which they are supposed to do at least one project.

 

To support the programme, the NAC is setting up offices in the newly established farmer councils and will support them with the initial capital after which they are expected to become self-sustained, de Alwis said.

 

Executives will help for instance by helping farmers who have difficulty in getting credit. "We will look to our member firms and see if we have a banker member and ask them to release a member and visit farmers with credit problems," de Alwis explained. "He will go and do a spot analysis and see what the problem is and help farmers to set up project reports and get loans. We hope he will continue to nurture them with advice in marketing."

 

De Alwis said the agribusiness sector is trying to bring connectivity between the weaker and stronger sections of society, to change attitudes and get people to be more sympathetic to the rural poor.

 

Sri Lanka Food processors Associations (SLFPA) president Nanda Kohona said there was a lot of potential in processed food exports - fruits and vegetables - with the business now worth around 18 billion rupees.

 

"This growth has come about because of value addition. It means we have been able to create more employment." Kohona said the new programme would help rural entrepreneurs to work with executives in agricultural firms in the formal corporate sector such as Hayleys, Baurs, Browns and with the processed food firms.

 

"We also want to work on a buy-back system like what Cargills has," referring to the Cargills supermarket chain which buys produce direct from farmers. Kohona said corporate agro-based firms have certain valuable scientific information which rural entrepreneurs do not have. "By giving them access to such inputs, the corporate sector can help rural farmers increase productivity and reduce waste. "We want to raise the awareness of the private sector - encourage them to go to villages and educate the farmer, and get involved in better communications.

 

Indo-Pak row over Super Basmati Wednesday, August 01,2007
TIMES OF INDIA

 

NEW DELHI: The Indian and Pakistani commerce ministers might come out on Wednesday with a positive statement on  the long-pending joint Geographical Indications(GI) on Basmati but a notice from Islamabad to New Delhi on registering

 Super Basmati has already spiked the mood against such a move.

 

The notice sent to the Indian government, confirmed by sources in the commerce ministry, comes in the wake of India  registering Super Basmati variety in 2006 for export.

 

Pakistan believes India's registration of the variety could hit its international market. Pakistan exports close to 800,000 tonnes  of the variety annually.

 

But Indian groups contend that the registration of Super Basmati came as a retaliatory move when Pakistan in negotiations with EU registered the right in 2004 to export Pusa Basmati - a variety known to be widespread in India.

 

The Indian government's reciprocal action came within two weeks of the Pakistani move. Sources said that the Indian right over Super was bound to stand any legal challenge that Pakistan might put up in pursuance of the notice.

 

"We registered Super as a Indian variety only after research done by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) confirmed that the Super variety was the same as a Indian variety rated traditionally in the country as Shabnam or Sikandar generic names. This study had been confirmed in 2003," sources told TOI.

 

They emphasised that despite the PAU study being available with India, the government did not move on the issue till Pakistan went ahead and registered the Pusa variety as theirs. Officially though, sources said, the issue came up for discussion during the commerce secretary level talks on Tuesday and the two countries seemed to have agreed to work together. A joint statement is expected on Wednesday sources said.

 

Sources in the commerce ministry raise doubt about how India would progress on the GI issue in the wake of the legal notice even though Pakistan is keen to move on both fronts - attack the Super Basmati registration and look at the possibility of a joint GI.

 

"It's a rather contradictory move on Pakistan's part. It will be difficult to move on the GI issue without resolving the legal conundrum on Super Basmati," sources in commerce ministry told.

 

The joint GI has been lying on the backburner for long with trading lobbies in India and Pakistan at loggerheads over basmati  trade issues, as TOI had reported earlier. Within India, the agriculture and commerce ministries too have too been playing different tunes on the basmati issue.

 

Sources say that the key trouble with defining a GI for Basmati is the way Basmati is defined. Tweaking the Basmati definition one way or the other could end up with gains or losses not only for traders but also farmers across the country growing different traditional or evolved varieties of the aromatic rice.

 

Body to formulate new jute policy Wednesday, August 01,2007
DAILY STAR

 

DHAKA: The government has formed a high-powered committee to formulate a new jute policy to revive the jute industry, sources in the jute and textiles ministry said. Director of the Department of Jute heads the committee, Abdur Rashid Sarker, secretary of the ministry, told The Daily Star yesterday.

 

A number of experts from the private sector have been included in the committee that has already started its work.

 

The committee will formulate the policy taking into consideration how the jute products can be made more diversified so that it could be more export oriented.

 

The secretary said, "We hope to get full account of the workers' dues by tomorrow [today] and after that we'll start paying the workers within a day or two."

 

The rest 18 state-owned mills will also be brought under reforms measure soon, Abdur Rashid added.

 

The two mills have already gone under public-private partnership, the secretary said adding that two more mills would also  go under such partnership.

 

Around 8,000 workers and officials of the 14 jute mills will be terminated within this year under golden handshake programme, ministry sources said.

 

Terminated workers however will be allowed to work on daily basis and the government will arrange training programmes to enhance the workers' skills, sources added.

 

Govt. to raise local food production Wednesday, August 01,2007
Daily News

 

COLOMBO: The Government under the auspices of President Mahinda Rajapaksa will shortly launch a massive "Food Production drive " to increase the country's indigenous food production. Under this food development drive, the Agricultural Development Ministry intends to cultivate 15 different crop varieties unique to each area islandwide, Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services Development Ministry Secretary T. M. Abeywickrema told farmers at a discussion Tuesday.

 

According to Abeywickrema, the Government through the promotion of these 15 crop varieties locally intends to reduce the import of such crop varieties by 10 per cent each year.

 

Through this move, the Government will increase the income earned by local farmers. The programme will set targets for each area by identifying the crops which can be successfully cultivated in such areas, he said.

 

Under the Mahinda Chintana, the Government has planned to implement a series of activities within the agriculture sector. " One of the key objectives of the Government is to promote local food production by restricting food imported from foreign countries." The Ministry has stressed on the promotion of organic fertiliser among farmers. It will increase the production of organic fertiliser by formulating rules and regulations in this regard. A separate institution will also be established for this purpose, he said.

 

The Government has decided to re-establish the Paddy Marketing Board. This will provide the opportunity to purchase paddy, fruits, vegetables and other crop varieties from farmers in a more systematic manner. 

 

Rains hamper potato transportation Wednesday, August 01,2007
BBS

 

THIMPHU: Potato production in eastern Bhutan has dropped by almost half this year. Agriculture officials in Tashigang attribute the fall to lack of rain earlier during the season and poor quality of seeds. The potato harvest is also being prevented from being brought to the auction yard in Samdrupjongkhar by the Monsoon rain. The Manager of the Food Corporation of Bhutan in Samdrupjongkhar said usually by this time all the three warehouses would be filled with potatoes. However this season except for one warehouse, the other two are empty. Our reporter Tenzin Namgyel says it's very likely that the two stock rooms will continue to remain empty if the downpour continues. On the brighter side, potatoes prices have soared. A kilogram of potato fetches around Nu. 13 compared to Nu. 9 last years.

 

The Monsoon rain has also left Thrimshing and Kangpara Gewogs in Tashigang cut off after landslides blocked the feeder road leading to the two gewogs.

 

Villagers have not been able to take their produce to the market. Potatoes and chilies are the two main cash crops of the people there.

 

With the monsoon showing no sign of receding, the people are now getting worried that their agricultural produce will rot.

 

Farmers welcome the monsoon Wednesday, August 01,2007 BBS

 

THIMPHU: The Monsoon rain has triggered landslides and disrupted road communication and power supply. It has also damaged crops, washed away bridges and threatened homes. However for the farmers in Tsirang, Dagana and Trongsa, it was a blessing in disguise. Rain is what the farmers of Dangdung under Langthel geog in Trongsa have been praying for.

 

That's because farmers in these villages have not been able to transplant their paddy so far due to acute shortage of water.

 

The farmers said they have suffered from water scarcity every paddy transplantation season for over a decade now.

 

The intensity differed from season to season. In some season the transplantation was delayed, at other times, they had to leave some of their field fallow.

 

Villagers halt farm road construction Wednesday, August 01,2007
KUENSEL ONLINE

 

THIMPHU: Sixty three year old Karchung, a potato farmer in Mongar, knows the three hour walking trail from his village, Khalong, to Drametse like the back of his hand. He uses the path almost everyday from May to November to ferry his potato crop to Drametse, which has a road that links to the national highway. But getting the cash crop to Drametse is a lot of backbreaking work.

 

"It takes almost a month to get a truckload of the crop to Drametse from Khalong," said Karchung.

 

Several years ago Karchung's spirits lifted when he heard that a farm road would connect his village to Drametse. Karchung imagined the day when he would be able to load potato from his doorstep into waiting trucks.

 

According to Mongar dzongkhag officials, the new farm road alignment was drawn considering the advantage to the people of the gewog.

 

Mongar dzongda Lhab Dorji told Kuensel that during a familiarisation tour, a detailed study showed that the old alignment to Narang did not benefit much people. "It went straight to Narang," he said.

 

He said as per the guidelines of the funding agency, International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), a farm road should benefit as many households as possible. "It was found that more than sixty households would benefit on the way if the road was taken from below. The old alignment would have been a total waste," he said, adding that the old alignment also went through a thick stretch of sokshing.

 

Subsequently a technical team from Mongar dzongkhag and programme facilitation office in Khangma, Trashigang, wasasked to conduct a survey. The new alignment was found feasible.

 

However, the dzongda said there were some reservations from the people of Zhangkhar because of the community forest that fell along the alignment. But it was resolved that for every 100 trees damaged 200 would be planted.

 

He said a detailed report was also submitted to the National Environment Commission for approval and a tender floated.

 

He said the dzongkhag had included proper earth dumping as a criteria in the tender but had been overlooked during the process of paperwork. He said the technical sanction had been revised and extra budget included for earth dumping.

 

"It's a government programme and dzongkhag has no vested interest," he said. "Instead, our work is being stalled because of some local politics and villagers are being instigated by people at the centre."

 

While the new alignment was also a kilometre and a half longer than the previous one (10 kilometres), he said it wouldbenefit more households.

 

The programme facilitation officer, Sangay, said every kilometre of farm road should benefit ten households and benefit productive areas.

 

"Considering the guidelines and looking at the environment aspects, the present alignment suits best," he said, adding that the old alignment passed not more than seven households whereas the new one would benefit 69 households.

 

A team consisting of officials from Agriculture ministry and NEC have begun investigating the damage on the environment. "We are waiting for their directives," said the dzongda. The farm road was being constructed with a fund support of Nu. 15.6million.

 

That dream never materialised for Khalong villagers. A farm road construction had begun but from the lower region of Drametse gewog it would not pass through Khalong village.

 

The Drametse-Narang farm road to be built from the existing Basic Health Unit (BHU) to Narang gewog is now being built from Zhangkhar, about five kilometres before reaching Drametse through Kholom and Shaphangma villages.

 

Since 2001 three teams from the Mongar dzongkhag and representatives from different agencies had visited and surveyed the route and declared that Khalong would get a farm road, according to Narang villagers.

 

"We proposed for a farm road during the Plan meetings in the gewog and worked very hard for it to get through," said Pema Jigme, 44, a villager from Narang.

 

The new alignment also does not connect directly to Drametse, it joins the existing Drametse road at the three kilometre point to Drametse.

 

According to Narang Tshogpa, Kencho Wangdi, they had given all the necessary clearances and agreed for labour contributionbut said that they were never intimidated about the new alignment.

 

"When we approached the higher authorities about the change, they did not pay heed and at several occasions we were insulted and harassed," he said, adding that they were also threatened that the fund for the farm road to Narang would be cancelled and diverted to Sakten in Trashigang instead.

 

According to former gup Tshewang Penjor, request had been made initially when the plan was laid to link their village from Rolong, settlement on Mongar-Trashigang highway, but were told that it was important for them to remain connected to Drametse. "Now the new alignment does not connect us to Drametse at all," he said.

 

Meanwhile, the work on the construction of the new farm road was stalled on July 8, a few weeks after it began. Zhangkhar village had strongly objected that the construction was damaging the community forest nurtured by the villagers for more than a decade.

 

Penjor, a community forest member, said they had refused to give consent initially when the proposal came thinking it would damage about 300 hectare of community forest. "We were promised that the earth from the digging would be dumped separately and only few trees would be damaged. But very soon there was a major damage done and we had to stopthe work immediately," he said.

 

Penjor said the construction also posed a threat to the villages situated below. "Our community forest was set as an example for rest of the districts but now it is being destroyed."

The National Environment Commission (NEC) issued a letter to the dzongkhag administration on February 26, 2007 to consider taking the proposed road from the existing BHU area rather than from Kholom as the area was observed to be very steep and even fragile.

It also stated that the area already bore a scar of a BHU road from the top of the hill. "Considering to cut another road in the same hillock of a steep topography poses a risk to the stability of the area and will also compromise on the aesthetic aspects of the Drametse gewog," it stated.

NEC also said that the area between Kholom and Shangphangma was nurtured and if the road was constructed in the area, the community forest and the seedlings would be destroyed. It had also suggested that as the existing road went up to the BHU, taking the new road from BHU would reduce the total length of the road by about one kilometre and thereby reduce the impact on the environment.