The two sides reached accord only minutes before midnight on April 1, Eastern Standard Time, the deadline for President Bush to submit a deal for a mandatory 90-day congressional review, which must be completed before his fast-track authority in negotiating trade deals expires July 1. Its negotiators have hammered out a landmark free-trade agreement with South Korea, overriding strong public opposition there that has exploded into violent protests in the course of negotiations over the...

Cotonou, Benin March 28, 2007 At its just-concluded meeting, the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) Board of Trustees strongly endorsed the process of harmonization of specific activities of the Center with those of the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Cotonou, Benin March 28, 2007 At its just-concluded meeting, the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) Board of Trustees...

Some farmers are delaying planting water-sensitive crops in the Mississippi Delta as dry conditions rapidly drain moisture from the soil. With the traditional rainy season a bust so far, drought appears to be taking hold across many areas of the country, including the Southeast. Department of Agriculture monitors rainfall, 0.67 inches had fallen in March going into the final day. Drought Monitor shows extreme drought conditions already have taken hold in five points around the country -...

The Philippines and Japan recently signed an agreement providing a 300-million yen aid grant that aims to benefit Filipino palay farmers living below the poverty line. Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap on Sunday said the Japan Grant Assistance for Underprivileged Farmers, previously known as the 2KR (Kennedy Round) grant, was approved by Japan last December to help small palay farmers nationwide purchase around 20,000 metric tons (MT) of ammonium sulphate fertilizer....

A WESTERN newspaper recently made a rather cryptic observation that while some countries stockpile oil, rice and wheat, Singapore has to do the same with sand. While we may not be the only country to stockpile these materials, few may have known that our Government actually keeps them in storage - that is, until Indonesia banned sand exports to Singapore last month and disrupted our supply of granite by detaining Singapore-bound barges suspected of smuggling sand. While we may not be the...