Tag: Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

THIRTEEN international companies participated in the pre-bid conference of the National Food Authority (NFA) on Wednesday for an import order covering 500,000 metric tons (MT) of long-grain white rice of the 25% broken grade.

THE AUCTION Tuesday for the 203,000 metric tons (MT) of rice by the National Food Authority (NFA) under a government-to-government (G2G) agreement failed to attract offers from Thailand and Vietnam.

THE DAMAGE to agriculture inflicted by typhoon Rosita (international name: Yutu) hit P2.60 billion, affecting 103,605 hectares of land in the Cordillera Administrative region and Regions 1 to 3, based on estimates issued by the Department of Agriculture (DA) Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center (DRRMC).

THE CONFEDERATION of Sugar Producers (CONFED) in Negros and Panay said it is lobbying Congress to reverse the budget cuts which reduced the funding for the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) to P500 million next year from P2 billion in 2018.

THE BUREAU of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) warned that shellfish collected at Matarino Bay in Eastern Samar, Lianga Bay in Surigao del Sur, coastal waters of Dauis and Tagbilaran City in Bohol, and the coastal waters of Milagros in Masbate are still positive for paralytic shellfish poison beyond the regulatory limit.

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL will become the first provincial government to invest in a seed production program focused on at most three rice varieties, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Sunday.

THE National Food Authority (NFA) should not have regulatory powers and be reduced to a logistics agency instead, its former administrator said.

RESCUERS worked with bare hands and shovels to try to free 23 people trapped under earth and rubble on Wednesday, after Typhoon Rosita (international name Yutu) dumped heavy rains on the northern mountainous region, triggering floods and deadly landslides, Reuters reported.

THE 47,000 metric tons (MT) of rice awarded to bidders in the latest import auction will arrive by Dec. 1, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said.

MANILA ranked 95^th out of 100 global cities in the 2018 Sustainable Cities Index (SCI) compiled by design and consultancy firm Arcadis, beating out only Hanoi and Kolkata among the Asian metropolises evaluated.

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY Emmanuel F. Piñol said he supports the granting of emergency powers to President Rodrigo R. Duterte by Congress that will allow him to act more decisively in response to calamities like typhoons.

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the Philippines does not expect to ease its meat-handling standards as part of any trade deal with the United States, amid pressure for Washington to align Manila’s rules with international practice.

THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the average farmgate price for palay, or unmilled rice, fell 3.16% week-on-week in the second week of October to P21.17 per kilogram (kg).

THE National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI) said it opposes free trade in pork products between the Philippines and the US after the US hog industry expressed interest in expanding its footprint in the Philippines.

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said on Monday that 219 business establishments in Boracay have been fined a total of P43 million for violating environmental laws after the tourist island was reopened last Friday, Oct. 26, following a six-month rehabilitation.

HENRY & SONS, a coffee trader, said that it expects self-sufficiency to be possible in the Philippine coffee market as the industry strives to improve both volume and quality.

THE Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) is seeking to adopt mapping technology to improve its estimates of coconut production per region.

THE Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) said that it is aiming to boost the soybean crop for human consumption by developing new processing equipment for farmers.

THE US National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) said that it hopes Washington will conclude a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Philippines, which it views as a priority market.

GRAB Philippines said on Friday that it will file a motion for reconsideration after it was fined P12 million by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) for alleged compliance failures in connection with its acquisition of the Southeast Asian business of Uber.

PHILEX Mining Corp. said on Friday that it signed and executed an agreement in relation to its subscription for 260 million common shares of PXP Energy Corp. at P11.85 each or a total of P3.081 billion.

THE Confederation of Sugar Producers’ Associations (CONFED) of Negros and Panay urged the government to extend the suspension of excise tax for fuel in order not to increase the production cost of sugar.

THE PARAÑAQUE Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), awarded to Megawide-Waltermart (MWM) Terminals Inc., is set to open on Nov. 5, the Department of Transportation announced on Thursday.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) hopes to conduct a pilot text next year of chip-embedded import certificates to deter falsification of the documents.

THE United States has allocated an initial volume of 142,160 metric tons raw value (MTRV) or 136,201 metric tons commercial weight (MTCW) of sugar for the Philippines as its quota for 2018-2019, according to Sugar Order No. 3 of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

DEPARTMENT OF Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has directed the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) in Benguet to fast-track the declaration of a minahang bayan for small-scale miners.

AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said that the rebidding for unawarded lots in the first batch of rice imports will be conducted “right away” alongside the subsequent batches amounting to 500,000 metric tons.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will promote sorghum planting next year to supplement the supply of animal feed, which is currently dependent on yellow corn, Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Monday.

ADJUSTMENTS to the planting calendar require detailed consultation with farmers to account for local differences in crop growth, a University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) academic said.

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Monday that his department is pushing for the wider adoption of solar-powered irrigation systems (SPIS) as a means of attaining rice self-sufficiency.

THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DOTr) announced yesterday that its attached agencies are all prepared for the Oplan Biyaheng Ayos: Undas 2018, which will be implemented from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5 for the observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day next week.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will implement a unilateral minimum access volume (MAV) on chipping potatoes at 25,000 metric tons (MT) starting Oct. 25 which would bring down tariff rates to 3% from 40% within that volume.

THE National Food Authority (NFA) awarded only three rice import contracts on Thursday accounting for 47,000 metric tons (MT), a small fraction of the 250,000 MT it was authorized to order, as most of the 14 bidders made offers far above the agency’s reference price.

SCIENTIFIC proficiency at the local government unit (LGU) level is required to help them deal with climate change, an academic said.

GERMAN INTERNATIONAL development cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has called for immediate cooperation among the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia to save endangered species in the Sulu-Sulawesi waters from overfishing and habitat degradation.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) ordered a temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds, including game fowl, from California due to a reported outbreak of virulent Newcastle Disease.

PHILIPPINE imports of dairy products are estimated at 2.7 metric tons of liquid milk equivalent (MT LME), up from 2.5 million in 2017 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) said.

THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said it cut its estimate for output of palay, or unmilled rice, in the three months to September to 3.25 million metric tons (MMT), from the previous estimate of 3.32 MMT.

AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said Tuesday that grain retailers should start participating in the import market to make sales of the grain more direct, bringing down prices.

ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY Roy A. Cimatu reported that the coliform level in Boracay is now at 18.1 most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliter (ml), significantly down from the “thousands or even millions” level prior to the closing of the island in April.

THE suspension of excise tax hikes on fuel for 2019 will have a marked impact on food prices, particularly fish, because of the sector’s sensitivity to fuel prices, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told reporters.

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY Emmanuel F. Piñol said that the department is in talks with the irrigation agency to facilitate adjustments to the planting calendar in order to minimize typhoon damage to farms in northern Luzon in September and October.

THE National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) said it will seek to boost cold storage facilities in wet markets in cooperation with local government units (LGUs) to prevent meat from being rejected on inspection.

THE National Food Authority (NFA) said President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s order to freely import rice will not disadvantage farmers as the government will remain responsible for keeping the overall rice supply in equilibrium.

BOUNTY FRESH Food Inc. has started building poultry feed and growing facilities in Indonesia, a company official said.