The urgency of the problem requires collective action on the part of rice farmers and other concerned sectors in order to preserve Asian farmers traditional rice culture. MANILA The Philippines is now Asia s largest rice importer as a result of agricultural trade liberalization coupled with state neglect, and this threatens the country s food security and sufficiency, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation. Rice farmers continue to be saddled with problems such as high...

Melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizer, has already been found in wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China for use in some pet foods, triggering a recall of more than 100 brands. FDA officials said they would inspect imports of six grain products used in foods ranging from bread to baby formula for traces of melamine, a chemical thought to have killed and sickened cats and dogs. The FDA named the six grain products to be inspected as wheat gluten, corn gluten, corn...

For unidentified reasons, production of Boro rice this year suffered badly in seven out of 10 agricultural divisions of the country because of 'cheeta' (a grain of paddy, having no substance inside) problem. According to surveys carried out by the Department of Agricultural Extension, the problem of 'cheeta' has affected Boro crops in an area of about 54,000 hectares, causing an estimated loss of 0.204 million tonnes of paddy. Who does not know that Boro rice is a dry season crop and...

Senior officials and scientists of the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD), and other agencies of the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture, signed the three-year agreement with the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on March 23 in Jakarta. Efforts by Indonesia to avoid food shortages by increasing its rice production have received an important boost with the signing of a new agreement to help the nation's millions of poor rice...

The Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint statement that officials learned of the link between the chicken feed and tainted pet food as part of the investigation into rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten that have been found to contain the industrial chemical melamine and related compounds. Worldandnation: Tainted feed went to chicken farms. The Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint statement that officials...