LAHORE: Rice researchers and scientists will focus on developing long grain disease-resistant and drought-tolerant high yield varieties of rice, which could survive water shortage. The agriculture minister said the initiatives taken by the government for uplift of agricultural sector and the initiatives taken during past four years prove that it is a farmer-friendly government. The agriculture minister told the workshop that rice exports have increased to $1. Participants of the workshop...

Farmers in clash as dam floods paddies Two groups of farmers from separate provinces almost came to blows yesterday after a dam built by one group to prevent rice paddies from being submerged flooded paddies belonging to the other. When about 100 farmers from Dong Doei tried to destroy the dam yesterday, they were confronted by the farmers who built it. The dam, however, caused the canal to overflow and flood more than 1,000 rai of rice fields in Sukhothai's Dong Doei sub-district. Farmers...

Moreover, some officials from the Ministry of Agriculture recently forecast that if a target of intensive farming 1.3 hectares of high-quality rice is achieved, Vietnam will beat Thailand to the top spot in global rice production. It is irrational to hold on to millions of tonnes of rice at a time when high prices rule the market, then sell when the bottom falls out of the market. In recent years, Vietnam can be proud of its great achievements in exporting rice. But, it would be a mistake...

Chookiat says that in the past, the company was among the country's top three rice exporters, but today's companies with this ranking ship more than 1 million tonnes of rice per year. Then it became one of Thailand's foremost rice exporters, a role it maintained for decades. Now, Huay Chuan Rice has reached another turning point and will become a property developer, in order to escape the hardships of commodity trading and, basically, to make some money. It has done business for more than...

In Thailand, exporters were confident of closing a deal with the Philippines, which plans to buy 300,000 metric tons of rice in a tender June 6. A second exporter said the onset of the rainy season in Thailand is also providing bullish support for the market, as such weather isn't favorable for drying and transporting rice. In Vietnam, prices also rose slightly Thursday on strong demand in the market amid dwindling supplies. We're very competitive at this point," one exporter said....