Post-harvest technologies needed to increase farm produce competitiveness
Using post-harvest technologies is crucial to increase the competitive edge of farm produce, heard a recent workshop in Ho Chi Minh City.
The event was held by the Tropical Agricultural Research and Consultancy Centre in HCM City and the Biotechnology Centre of HCM City on July 15.
Director of the Protective Packaging Solutions company SancoPack Pham Quoc Bao said developing preservation technologies is important to help farmers reduce losses in quantity and to maintain the quality of farm produce.
In Vietnam, post-harvest losses for seed plants were estimated at 10 percent, tubers at 10-20 percent and vegetables and fruits 10-30 percent, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisations (FAO).
This is mainly due to incorrect harvesting, packaging, transporting and preserving techniques, the FAO said, adding that packaging technologies in Vietnam are underdeveloped.
To increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese farm produce, post-harvest preservation will receive special attention from farmers and businesses.
Notably, the Chemistry Institute under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has studied a technology called “GreenMAP” which keeps vegetables and fruits fresh three times as long as traditional methods without chemical impacts.
This new technology is simple, cheap and reduces post-harvest losses by 5 percent.
Experts suggested attracting young human resources to the agricultural sector and providing training courses for them.
Source: VNA.
Agricultural imports in 2017 rise rapidly
China’s imports of major agricultural products continued to increase fast in the first five months of the year, driven by price gaps between domestically produced products and imported products, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Wheat imports between January and May reached 2.2 million metric tons, an increase of 67.3 percent year-on-year, while import of soybeans increased by nearly 20 percent to 37 million tons, and imports of beef rose by 14 percent during the period, compared with the same period last year, Wang Ping, deputy chief of the ministry’s Department of Market and Economic Information, said at a news conference on Monday.
China imported 1.68 million tons of wheat and associated products between January and April, an increase of 94 percent over the same period last year, Wang said, citing figures from the General Administration of Customs.
Imports of some major agricultural products kept increasing quickly between 2011 and 2016, with grain imports increasing at an average annual rate of 32.2 percent, meat at an average annual rate of 24.9 percent, and dairy at 16.6 percent during the five-year period, according to the ministry.
“A rapid increase in imports has also had a great impact on China’s domestic market for agricultural products,” Wang said.
“Due to a sustained increase in imports, it is predicted that beef and mutton prices in the domestic market may fall slightly this year.”
The prices of many agricultural products produced in China are higher than the international level due to higher production costs, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. An exception is corn, whose average wholesale price was 1.58 yuan (23 cents) per kilogram in the first part of the year, similar to the international level, a decrease of 14.4 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry.
Dairy industry analyst Song Liang said the average cost of dairy products in China was at least 20 percent higher than in the European Union, largely due to higher production costs resulting from limited resources such as water and grazing land. This has caused a rapid increase in dairy imports, he said.
Due to causes such as increasing supply, prices of agricultural products in China in general have kept falling since the beginning of this year, with prices of fresh and perishable products, such as vegetables, pork, chicken and eggs seeing the biggest decline, Wang, from the Ministry of Agriculture, said.
For example, the price of eggs decreased to their lowest in the last 10 years in the first half of the year before rebounding recently, and the price of poultry also declined in the first half of the year, Wang said.
The major causes were increased production, as a result of higher poultry and egg prices two years ago and the falling prices of feed such as corn, and an increase in H7N9 bird flu cases during the first half of the year in China, he said.
The price of eggs started to rise in June due to reduced supply following sustained lower prices since late last year, Wang said.
Egg prices may continue to rise in the second half of the year, but at a slow rate due to adequate supply, he said.
The prices of some other major agricultural products, such as pork and vegetables, may also rebound in the second half of the year, Wang said.
Source: China Daily.
ADB: Climate Change Threatens Asia’s Development Gains
Asia’s hard-won development gains are at risk of being reversed by the effects of climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, the news is not all bad for the region, with new energy investments expected to cement its leadership in the “clean industrial revolution.”
The warning on climate change follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the world’s second-biggest emitter from the Paris Agreement, even while the rest of the Group of 20, including the world’s largest emitter, China, have vowed to press ahead with emissions reductions.
Released Friday at the bank’s headquarters in Manila, the report produced by the ADB and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) makes for grim reading, should the predictions eventuate. Under a “business as usual” scenario, a 6 degree Celsius temperature rise is projected over the Asian landmass by the end of the century, with an increase as high as 8 degrees C forecasted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and northwest China.
“These increases in temperature would lead to drastic changes in the region’s weather system, agriculture and fisheries sectors, land and marine biodiversity, domestic and regional security, trade, urban development, migration, and health. Such a scenario may even pose an existential threat to some countries in the region and crush any hope of achieving sustainable and inclusive development,” the report said.
Among the predicted effects are more intense tropical cyclones and typhoons, with coastal and low-lying areas at increased risk of flooding. Global flood losses are expected to reach $52 billion a year by 2050 compared to $6 billion in 2005.
Thirteen of the top 20 cities seen suffering the largest growth in flood losses are located in the Asia-Pacific, comprising Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Zhanjiang, and Xiamen in China; Chennai-Madras, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Surat in India; Jakarta, Indonesia; Nagoya, Japan; Bangkok, Thailand; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Yet while annual precipitation is expected to increase by up to 50 percent over most land areas in Asia, countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan could see a decline in rainfall by 20 to 50 percent, the ADB said.
Food production will suffer as a result, with production costs also rising. In some Southeast Asian nations, rice yields could decline by up to 50 percent by 2100 “if no adaptation efforts are made,” while almost all crops in Uzbekistan could see a 20 to 50 percent decline even under a 2 degree Celsius temperature rise.
Food shortages could increase the number of malnourished children in South Asia by 7 million, as food import costs surge to $15 billion a year by 2050 compared to $2 billion.
Major disruptions to current farming communities could prompt mass migration to the cities, fueling overcrowding and overwhelming social services.
Energy security could also be threatened, due to the reduced capacities of thermal power plants from a scarcity of cooling water and the potentially intermittent performance of hydropower. This could fuel conflicts as countries compete for limited energy supply, the report warned.
Meanwhile, marine ecosystems such as coral reefs will be in serious danger. In the Western Pacific, all coral reef systems will suffer mass coral bleaching if global warming increases by 4 degree Celsius, yet even a 1.5 degree C temperature rise would cause serious bleaching to 89 percent of coral reefs, damaging reef-related fisheries and tourism.
These losses could amount to billions of dollars, judging by a recent estimate that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is worth A$56 billion ($44 billion) in tourism and other economic benefits, or the equivalent of 12 Sydney Opera Houses.
Climate change would also cause damaging health effects, with heat-related deaths among the elderly expected to increase by 52,000 by 2050, according to World Health Organization data. Deaths related to diseases such as malaria and dengue could also rise, adding to the death toll from outdoor air pollution, which is already causing 3.3 million deaths each year globally, led by China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Asia is already experiencing the effects of climate change, accounting for nearly 30 percent of total global economic losses caused by extreme weather between 2000 and 2008, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has also suggested that Cambodia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh are the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change, based on factors including agricultural output and adaptive capacity.
Economic Opportunity
However, Asia’s response to climate change provides it with an economic opportunity too, as noted by PIK director Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber.
“On the one hand, Asian greenhouse-gas emissions have to be reduced in a way that the global community can limit planetary warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in Paris 2015. Yet even adapting to 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise is a major task,” he said.
“So, on the other hand, Asian countries have to find strategies for ensuring prosperity and security under unavoidable climate change within a healthy global development. But note that leading the clean industrial revolution will provide Asia with unprecedented economic opportunities. And exploring the best strategies to absorb the shocks of environmental change will make Asia a crucial actor in 21st-century multilateralism.”
Asia has already become a world leader in clean energy investment, led by China, which plans to spend 2.5 trillion yuan ($369 billion) on renewable power generation by 2020. Both China and India are seen attracting $4 trillion worth of clean energy investment by 2040, helping to decouple economic growth from emissions, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The ADB has backed such efforts with a record $3.7 billion in climate financing in 2016, which it has committed to reaching $6 billion by 2020. Rival Beijing-led lender, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, has also pledged to support investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency as part of the Paris Agreement, noting that more than 1 billion people in Asia still lack access to secure and clean electricity.
The ADB considers the coming decade as crucial in implementing mitigation measures, since the “business as usual” scenario projected under the Paris accord would render any adaptation efforts ineffective.
Despite a 10-fold rise in per capita incomes over the past 25 years, Asia still remains home to two-thirds of the world’s poor, risking even deeper poverty and disaster should mitigation and adaptation efforts fail.
Fortunately for the world’s most economically dynamic region, Asia still has “both the capacity and weight of influence to move toward sustainable development pathways, curb global emissions, and promote adaptation,” the report concluded.
The message could not be any clearer for Asia’s policymakers, should they wish to sustain the region’s stunning economic success.
Source: The Diplomat.
China approves two more GMO crops for import, DuPont disappointed
China has approved two more genetically modified (GMO) crops for import, the Ministry of Agriculture said, the second such move in the past month to expand access to biotech seeds as part of Beijing’s 100-day trade talks with Washington.
The two new crops, approved from July 16 for a period of three years, are Syngenta’s 5307 insect-resistant corn sold under the Agrisure Duracade brand and Monsanto’s 87427 glyphosate-resistant corn, sold under the Roundup Ready brand, the ministry said on its website on Monday.
The move brings total approvals to four after the government last month gave the go-ahead to Dow Chemical Co’s Enlist corn and Monsanto’s Vistive Gold soybeans.
But it leaves four other products owned by Monsanto, DuPont and Dow still on a waiting list pending approval from Beijing.
DuPont was “disappointed” its Pioneer insect-resistant corn was not included, a spokeswoman said in an email. The other three are Dow’s Enlist soybeans and two alfalfa products developed by Monsanto.
Dow’s Asia Pacific media relations representative Eileen Zeng could not be immediately reached nor could Monsanto’s China corporate affairs manager Lian Meng for comment.
Hopes that all six would get the go ahead in the second round mounted after the National Biosafety Committee (NBC), a group of experts who advise the government on GMO safety, met late last month to review the six remaining products, company executives and experts said.
The first batch of approvals also followed an NBC meeting. The government has not confirmed the meeting took place or commented any further on the issue.
The approvals come after China promised to speed up a review of pending import applications as part of the 100-day trade talks with the United States. China is the top export market for U.S. agricultural products.
While the country does not permit planting of GMO food crops, it does allow GMO imports such as soybeans and corn for use in its animal feed industry.
Getting new varieties approved for import takes years, forcing leading agrichemical players to restrict sales during China’s review process.
Earlier this year, DuPont Pioneer began a limited commercial introduction of its next-generation Qrome corn products under stewardship in the Western United States, allowing it to make the new technology available to some growers ahead of Chinese approval.
DuPont continues to cooperate with Chinese regulators, the spokeswoman said, but added that “global markets should conduct predictable, transparent regulatory reviews based on sound science and be free from political influence”.
The U.S. industry has repeatedly complained about the lack of transparency in China’s biotech review process.
Beijing has in the past held back approvals of imported GMO products amid concerns about anti-GMO sentiment in the country.
Source: Reuters.
Canadian pork industry acting quickly on ractopamine finding in China
Pork groups and the Canadian Meat Council are working together to avoid any disruption to exports to China in the wake of a residue complaint from that country.
China says it has found traces of the growth promoter ractopamine in a shipment of pigs’ feet.
“Canadian Pork International, Canadian Pork Council and the Canadian Meat Council are working with the establishment involved as well as with Canadian government officials to clarify this incident and to take corrective actions,” said Pork Council spokesman Gary Stordy. “We are taking this detection very seriously and want to assure Chinese customers that our industry is dedicated to providing consumers a healthy, safe and nutritious product.”
The industry is confident in the integrity of the Canadian Ractopamine-Free Pork Certification Program, which sets the standards for meeting China’s requirements that meat be free of ractopamine, he said.
China was the third-biggest export customer for Canadian pork in 2016, buying 587,100 tonnes of product, behind the United States and Japan.
After being advised about the incident by the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued an advisory to the industry that “China is looking at this violation as a systemic failure in implementation of the Canadian Ractopamine-Free Pork Certification Program which could affect future pork exports to China. Furthermore, the Chinese authorities are testing Canadian pork for ractopamine at a wider level.”
The agency has suspended exports of pork to China from the establishment, which has not been identified, said Ron Davidson, vice-president of the Canadian Meat Council. “Product en route to the Chinese market from this specific establishment is also being recalled and the plant involved will not ship until further notice.
“At present, the establishment is liaising with its suppliers and the CFIA in the conduct of a comprehensive review of all the factors associated with the shipment,” he said. “As soon as the preliminary investigation is complete, a report containing the analysis and findings will be submitted to the CFIA for onward transmission to China.”
“We look forward to receiving more information and reviewing the compliance with the program at all levels of the supply chain,” Stordy said. “The Canadian pork industry values its relationship with China and looks forward to continuing a strong trading relationship.”
Ractopamine as a feed additive is allowed for beef and pork in Canada, the United States and Mexico but banned in about 160 countries including the European Union, Russia, China and Taiwan even though the Codex Alimentarius says it’s safe to use with appropriate withdrawal periods. Canada also allows it to be used in finishing heavy turkeys.
Source: GlacierFarmMedia
Troubles for top beef exporters feed higher global meat prices
Fatter prices for all types of meat may be on the cards as religious and health concerns threaten to curtail supply from the world’s top beef exporting countries and leading importer China seeks to satisfy its appetite with other sources.
India exported the most beef in 2016, sending 1.76 million tons abroad, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a figure that equates to 19% globally. The bulk of India’s total comes from buffalo meat, which sells for around half the price of ordinary beef. And though roughly half of these Indian exports go to Vietnam, much of that meat is forwarded to China, the top beef consumer worldwide.
But that all stands to change after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government ordered a ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter in late May. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party triumphed in key state elections in March, giving Modi the political muscle to enact the ban. The country’s Supreme Court suspended the law on Tuesday. But the party is backed by a Hindu nationalist group that is particularly opposed to the slaughter of cows — a sacred animal in Hindu tradition — casting uncertainty over whether India will remain a stable beef supplier.
Beef buyers also are preparing for a lean period from Brazil, based not on politics or religion but rather over questions of safety. The country exported 1.69 million tons of beef last year, or 18% of the world total. But the U.S. on June 22 halted imports of fresh Brazilian beef, citing food safety concerns. Brazilian media report abscesses were found on beef carcasses. This incident comes after Brazilian meat processors were discovered in March to be selling chicken and other products that fell short of sanitary standards.
These quality concerns could give China further reason to take its business elsewhere. The Asian nation imported 812,000 tons of beef in 2016, according to the USDA, beating No. 2 importer Japan by nearly 100,000 tons. Though Japan obtains no beef from India or Brazil, the country still may face rising prices for various meats as China substitutes products from those leading markets with others, according to a major meat wholesaler.
Meat from Australian milk and breeding cattle, sold here in ground form, fetched around 705 yen ($6.18) per kilogram on the wholesale market in early July, up 19% from a year prior. Fewer cattle have been raised due to a drought in the country, eating into supply. Prices on Thai chicken have fattened 5% on the year as buyers shift away from the meat’s Brazilian counterpart.
Japan is entering a season of heavy demand for meat. But passing on any rising wholesale prices to the public could blunt sales, said a representative for Tokyo-centric supermarket chain Inageya, if the country’s sluggish personal consumption figures are a reliable indicator.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review.
More cases of H7N9 reported in Beijing
Twenty-seven cases of human H7N9 have been reported to authorities in Beijing so far this year, the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control said on Tuesday.
Of the 13 cases contracted in the city of Beijing itself, six people have died, six were cured and one is undergoing medical treatment, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the center, said at a news conference.
Most of the other cases were contracted in areas neighboring Beijing. Of those, 11 were cured and three are undergoing treatment, he said.
The center said no apparent mutation has been detected in the virus and no human-to-human transmission of the disease has been reported in Beijing, so the public need not panic.
“The number of H7N9 cases in China is higher than usual, and Beijing is no exception,” Pang said. “The people were infected through poultry, but there have been no concentrated outbreaks in Beijing.”
China saw its biggest H7N9 outbreak over the past winter since the virus was first reported in China in 2013. A total of 352 human cases of H7N9 were reported in the first two months of this year, with 140 deaths, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. By comparison, 57 cases were reported in the first two months of 2016, the commission said.
Twelve H7N9 cases were reported between June 2 and 8 in nine provincial regions in China, and the number of new cases remained low for three consecutive weeks, the commission said last month. There is no evidence that the virus is becoming more infectious to humans, it said.
The Ministry of Agriculture announced in June that South China’s Guangdong province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region – two major centers for the poultry trade in China – had been chosen as pilot regions where all chickens, ducks and geese will receive vaccines against the H7N9 virus. Veterinary authorities of the two regions may start administering vaccinations in July, monitor the side effects and report the findings to the ministry, it said.
The Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control said residents should continue to take precautionary measures to prevent infection, such as avoiding contact with live poultry and cooking eggs and meat thoroughly, even though the disease is less likely to show up in summer.
Source: China Daily. Date: 2017-07-13
Permanent Representative of China to UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture attends 40th Session of FAO Conference
A Chinese delegation headed by H.E. Niu Dun, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, attended the 40th Session of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference in Rome on 3-8 July 2017.
With the theme of Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, the 40th Session covered important topics on global food and agriculture governance. Over 1100 delegates from 180 plus countries attended the Session.
In his speech at the Session, Mr. Niu Dun stated that China always attaches great importance to addressing climate change in agriculture, commits itself to a joint endeavor with the international community in the implementation of the Paris Agreement to further agricultural development, rural prosperity and farmer’s well-being. He stressed that China highly values international agricultural cooperation and dedicates to promoting global food security through South-South and Triangular Cooperation. He called on all parties to firm up resolve on the fight against poverty and hunger, build new types of partnership, and shape inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth against mounting global challenges including climate change.
The 40th Session reviewed and endorsed the FAO Programme of Work and Budget 2018-19 and the Proposed Scale of Contributions. China’s share is expected to increase significantly, making China the 3rd largest contributor.
China was successfully re-elected as an FAO Council member at the 40th Session of the Conference and elected as a member of the Finance Committee at the subsequent 157th Session of the Council.
A side event of China-FAO South-South Cooperation: Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Development was held on 6 July. The event highlighted China’s contribution to SSC and is attended by Mr. Niu Dun, FAO Director-General and ministerial-level officials and ambassadors from nearly 30 countries.
Source: MOA China. Date: 2017-07-13
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China’s CITIC Agri Fund buys Dow corn seed assets for $1.1 billion
A Chinese fund part-owned by congolomerate CITIC Ltd has paid $1.1 billion for some of Dow Chemical Co’s corn seed business in Brazil, in a further sign of China’s fast-expanding role in the global seed sector.
The deal includes seed processing plants and seed research centers, a copy of Dow AgroSciences’ Brazilian corn germplasm bank, the Morgan seed brand and a license for the use of the Dow Sementes brand for a certain period of time, Dow said on Tuesday.
The assets, which generated revenue of about $287 million in 2016, are being sold by Dow to meet conditions set by U.S. antitrust regulators for its $130 billion merger with DuPont.
The deal will boost China’s share of the global seed business, which is being remade by a series of huge mergers.
These include the $43 billion takeover of Swiss firm Syngenta by state-owned Chemchina in China’s largest foreign takeover.
Chemchina said recently it is looking to snap up seed assets that rival Bayer must sell to gain regulatory approval for its takeover of Monsanto.
CITIC Agri Fund was founded in 2016 by CITIC Agriculture, a division of state-backed CITIC Ltd, along with Chinese seed firm Yuan Longping High-Tech Co Ltd and two other listed agricultural companies, according to CITIC Ltd’s 2016 annual report.
CITIC Ltd, China’s largest conglomerate with interests in financial services to real estate and heavy industry, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The company made its first foray into the seed business in 2014, buying a majority stake in Yuan Longping High-Tech, one of China’s leading breeders of hybrid rice.
Yuan Longping High-Tech said that year that it wanted to become one of the world’s top five seed companies.
Dow and DuPont announced the all-stock merger in December 2015.
The two companies won U.S. antitrust approval last month to merge on condition that they sell certain crop protection products and other assets. The European Union also cleared their merger in March.
Dow reaffirmed that the merger deal was expected to close next month, with the intended spin-offs to occur within 18 months of closing.
The companies have said that they would split into three separate companies specializing in material sciences, specialty products, and seeds and agrochemicals upon completion of the merger.
Source: Reuters. Date 2017-07-13
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China: How will fruit & veg prices develop after torrential rains?
In the past month, the whole of China has experienced disastrous rain. Many fruits and vegetables have been destroyed by water, and the produce that is left is of terrible quality. The rain has been falling continuously for a long time now and is expected to continue until August. Up until now, there have not been many hurricanes. The upcoming weather will depend on many uncertain factors.
Drowned cucumbers
Based on the damage in the south, there is no need for worries about the price in the short term for both leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables. Because of the lesser damage in the north, the few products that are mainly produced in this area, such as carrots, potatoes and onions, will not be affected much either. There is a difference in price with other breeds, and this will not change. Overall, products with a good current price will have the opportunity to maintain this price in the short term. Products with a bad price will also stay that way.
Vegetable greenhouses destroyed by heavy rain
When it comes to fruit, between April and June, the low temperatures and heavy rain have severely damaged fruits, such as cherries and waxberries. Especially because of the continuous rain at the end of April, large quantities of cherries have cracked, leaving them tasteless. Over 80% of the produce is damaged. Also, because of the rain at the end of June, waxberries have fallen off and rotted, leaving no harvest.
Banana plantations after heavy rain
Fruits such as plums and peaches are now in their most important growth phase. Looking at the weather, if there is no improvement in management, many plums and peaches will be infected by bacteria. What deserves attention is that Chinese plums will be ready for harvest by the end of June. Any rain could cause the fruit to fall, crack and rot.
Source: Fresh Place. Date 2017-07-13
