21.03.2016

India - Punjab agri corp suffered huge losses on onions

The state-owned Punjab Agri Export Corporation Limited (PAECL) purchased onions in June and July 2014 after the onion crop in Maharashtra was damaged by poor weather. This purchase decision has been criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for not considering the ''commercial and safety angle'' and it resulted in losses of  Rs 27.9 million. The Centre had advised the Punjab government to consider the desirability of procuring and storing onions at current price and releasing them to the market during a lean period when prices showed an upward trend. The Corporation purchased 1,500.413 MT of onions at a cost of Rs 36.3 million through a handling and forwarding agent during June and July 2014. "The whole operation, exploration of the market at Nasik in Maharashtra and appointment of handling and forwarding agent, was done on the recommendations of only one officer i.e. General Manager of the Company in contravention of the Purchase Procedure42 of the Company," CAG observed in its report. The committees constituted for inspection of the quality, quantity and storage condition of the onions reported that due to lack of experience and adequate manpower for mandatory restacking of stocks after every two/three weeks and non sorting of rotten onions from the healthy bulbs, unavailability of special stores for onions and poor storage conditions etc., the stocks were being damaged, report said. The committee recommended that action be taken for liquidation of the stock regularly in order to avoid further damage as fresh onion has a shelf life of 2-3 weeks. The Company sold 716.787 MT onions for Rs 8.4 million incurring a loss of Rs 8.9 million. The balance quantity of 783.623 MT (52 per cent of the total purchase) valuing Rs 19 million was damaged. "We observed that the Company before starting procurement did not consider its lack of experience and infrastructure for storing this commodity," the report said. "While appreciating the need for the State agencies to make market interventions to regulate prices of key commodities, we find that purchase was made without adequate experience and preparation," CAG said. Further, the Company was also not able to release the stock of onions in the market during the period the prices were expected to peak as more than 50 per cent of the procured onions were damaged due to improper storage, it further noted. "Thus, the decision to purchase onions without considering the commercial and safety angle of the operation caused a loss of Rs 27.9 million to the company," CAG said. (1 Indian Rupee= 0.015USD) Source - freshplaza.com

18.03.2016

Kenya - World Bank backs index insurance scheme to assist farmers

Farmers in Kenya are set to benefit from the launch of a new innovative, index insurance scheme which utilises advanced technology and satellite data to assist agricultural workers in the face of flooding and drought conditions. Collaboration between public and private sector entities, with the assistance of the World Bank has resulted in the launch of an important Government-backed insurance scheme in Kenya, the Kenya National Agricultural Insurance Program and Kenya Livestock Insurance Program (KLIP), helping to protect the livelihoods of some of the region’s poorest against the negative impacts of natural disasters and severe weather. “This partnership between government and the private sector for the benefit of vulnerable farmers builds on international good practice and is innovative,” said Olivier Mahul, Program Manager of the Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Program at the World Bank. One aspect of the new scheme will focus on livestock insurance, while another will be dedicated on protecting maize and wheat production, explains the World Bank, noting that the programme has been designed and built on experiences of comparable programmes in Mexico, India, and China. Interestingly, both programmes utilises advanced technology to establish an index that will be used to determine when a policy is triggered, essentially using satellite data to assess the impact adverse weather events have had on livestock and crop conditions. Mahul expands on this point, “The program introduces a state-of-the-art method of collecting crop yield data, using statistical sampling methods, GPS-tracking devices, and mobile phones. This offers the promise of greater accuracy and transparency.” “This program could pave the way for other large scale agricultural insurance programs in Africa,” said Mahul. Beyond Africa, should the initiative be successful in assisting governments and farmers cope with the financial burden of losing agricultural revenue owing to catastrophe events, it’s possible the scheme could be replicated and launched in other countries and regions that are susceptible to natural disaster events and have a strong reliance on the agricultural sector. At scale programs like this could also require reinsurance protection, which given the parametric nature of the underlying insurance may result in opportunities for insurance-linked securities (ILS) players as well as traditional reinsurance firms. Drought and flooding events can be extremely detrimental to food production and cattle in numerous regions across the globe, places that often have little or no insurance penetration but regularly feel the force of adverse weather events. The innovative use of satellites, mobile phones, and other advanced technology underlines the potential for this type of scheme to be replicated and put to good use in other emerging, underserved and underinsured regions. “The large majority of the poor in Kenya are farmers, so this program has the potential to have a significant impact on Kenya’s economic development. This program aims at improving farmers’ financial resilience to these shocks and will enable them to adopt improved production processes to help break the poverty cycle of low investment and low returns,” explained Diarietou Gaye, the World Bank’s Country Director for Kenya. KLIP will obtain data from satellites to estimate the availability of pasture on the ground and will trigger a payout to participating farmers when pasture availability falls below a predetermined threshold. It’s a smart and innovative approach, as while the two schemes don’t payout based on the actual flood or drought event, the data received from satellites, GPS and so on, takes into account the weather event and determines if a payout will be triggered from the resulting impact on pasture, crop production, and so on. The World Bank cites that the KLIP initiative was first introduced in October of last year for 5,000 farmers throughout Turkana and Wajir, with plans to significantly broaden its reach by 2017. During the six-year period of 2005 to 2011, the Kenya Government estimates that it spent more than $69 million a year on disaster relief. Schemes such as KLIP will alleviate some of the financial burden the government is faced with after a catastrophe strikes, meaning greater economic and financial stability post-event, and also faster recovery. The work of the World Bank in initiatives such as this demonstrates how index insurance technology and structures can be utilised to provide insurance to the very poorest, while as they grow over time creating parameterised pools of risk which can provide opportunity to reinsurance and ILS capital. These initiatives demonstrate the future of insurance for weather and certain catastrophe risks, in regions where indemnity coverage remains impossible. They may also demonstrate that their efficiency suggests that the coverage should always remain index or parametric based, while technology provides the trigger data. Source - artemis.bm

18.03.2016

Russia - Winter crops in some regions have replanted

According to the regional agriculture Ministry, in good and satisfactory condition of 86.1% (14.2 million hectares) of crops in a poor and 13.9% (2.3 million ha) The Director of the Department of crop production Ministry of agriculture of Russia Peter chekmaryov said that due to the early onset of spring and possible frosts in several regions of Russia will probably have to reseed winter crops. According to the official, today to assess the situation, the Ministry monitors the condition of winter crops in farms of the country. "We are waiting another week or two, the data to be. We feel what the weather. Early spring 2-3 weeks earlier than occurred. Still ahead the return of frost", — quotes Agency Chekmareva. So, in Stavropol have begun to appear, the sprouts, and when the expected frosts "can you imagine what that means," added the official. Chekmaryov said that "we must be prepared for the re-planting", and "take this seriously". He called on the regions to prepare the seeds for resowing of winter crops. According to the agriculture Ministry, the harvest of the current year in Russia sown 16.4 million hectares of winter grain crops. According to the regional agriculture Ministry, in good and satisfactory condition of 86.1% (14.2 million hectares) of crops in a poor and 13.9% (2.3 million ha). Source - agro2b.ru

18.03.2016

South Africa - Drought relief for 42,000 farmers

Farmers in South Africa who have been impacted by water shortages are being helped with drought relief measures. According to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries just over 42 000 farmers have been assisted. 246,631 small, medium and large scale farmers have been affected by the drought. To date, of the total number of farmers that have been assisted, 12,945 are from the North West, 10,670 from Mpumalanga, while 6,689 are from the Eastern Cape. Approximately 89 boreholes have been drilled in some of the provinces, while 29 of those are still dry. The government recently announced a R1 billion package that has been set aside to assist with drought relief effort. Collectively, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sector contributes over R70 billion to the South African economy. Maphaka Tau, the Deputy Director General of Forestry and Natural Resources Management, said the department was issuing monthly advisories to the farming communities and advocacy of early warning information in addressing risk reduction within the sector is very important. Source - freshplaza.com

18.03.2016

Mexico - New modality to combat HLB

Quintana Roo's State Plant Health Committee (Cesaveqroo) established a new way to fight the HLB virus in citrus, better known as the yellow dragon, through simultaneous fumigations performed and coordinated with health committees of the neighboring states of Yucatan and Campeche. Evaristo Gomez Dias, president of Cesaveqroo, said that in previous years they would fumigate commercial and backyard crops to halt the spread of the plague obtaining good results. Starting 2015, they started performing coordinated applications in 1,800 hectares of selected business areas. "We worked this surface internally to suppress the insect and reduce the disease's progression. Our approach now is that we coordinate with the states of Yucatan and Campeche so that these entities simultaneously work on the periphery, close to their demarcations, to prevent the psyllid from migrating," he said. He said this campaign had been successful at the national level and that there was a considerable reduction in bugs at the local level. As a result,the Cesaveqroo will continue to work to control the plague so it won't affect the entity's commercial lime crops, and other species of citrus. Gomez Dias said that, unfortunately,  State Government authorities hadn't deposited this year's more than five million pesos budget funds yet, so the committee was currently facing operational problems. They will demand resources According to comments in social networks, the workers from Cesaveqroo plan to carry out a demonstration at the government palace to demand the authorities release resources. In the past four years the budget has always been delayed, which in turn generates a delay in payroll. Source - freshplaza.com

18.03.2016

India - Punjab keen to implement new crop insurance scheme

With crops been affected due to recent unseasonal rains, Punjab government is considering adopting the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Initially, Punjab government was not too keen to adopt PMFBY and Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) as the state's production variability was very low due to assured irrigation. Farmers were also not encouraged to take crop insurance as they could save their crops during drought through additional irrigation. Even the state government has been providing electricity subsidy to farmers for this purpose. "After seeing the damage due to recent unseasonal rains and hailstorm, Punjab has expressed its desire to implement PMFBY and WBCIS for crops which have very high production variability, particularly cotton and major crops, in the areas bordering Rajasthan," a senior Agriculture Ministry official told PTI. The state government will meet on March 23 at Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana to explore the possibilities of implementing PMFBY and WBCIS. Even senior officials from the Union Agriculture Ministry would be present in the meeting, the official added. Unseasonal rains and hailstorm in the last few days in some parts of Punjab have affected wheat and other rabi crops. It is estimated that 5-7 per cent wheat crop has been affected and the government is still assessing the extent of loss. To protect farmers from vagaries of monsoon, the central government came out with the new crop insurance scheme, which will come into force from April 1 for kharif crops. Under the scheme, farmers premium has been kept lower between 1.5 and 2 per cent for foodgrains and oilseeds crops, and up to 5 per cent for horticultural and cotton crops. The government is targeting to increase the insurance coverage to 50 per cent of the total crop area of 194.40 million hectares from the existing level of about 25-27 per cent crop area. The expenditure is expected to be around Rs 9,500 crore. In PMFBY, there will not be a cap on the premium and reduction of the sum insured. Besides, 25 per cent of the likely claim will be settled directly on farmers account and there will be one insurance company for the entire state as well as farm level assessment of loss for localised risks and post harvest loss. Source - business-standard.com

18.03.2016

Canada - Alberta crop insurance changes include winterkill for alfalfa

Alberta has introduced several major changes to crop insurance coverage and made changes to premium rates. The annual insurance program has been changed to include winterkill as a designated peril for pedigreed alfalfa seed production. Coverage will be available for the year in which winterkill occurs. Winterkill has caused alfalfa seed producers serious economic loss. Bee overwintering Insurance was introduced in 2009 when the industry suffered two years of abnormal overwintering losses. Producers will now have individual coverage and will receive a premium discount or surcharge based on their loss experience. For the first time, certified organic producers will no longer be assessed for uninsured causes of loss, provided the producer follows organic standards. Organic insurance prices will be higher than commercial insurance prices depending on the crop. For the first time in Canada, farmers can carry malt barley insurance coverage. It comes at a premium price compared to commercial barley, but will provide more coverage for growers with malt contracts. The ratio of edible peas to field peas has grown steadily over the years and the insurance price will reflect the changes in edible peas grown. Changes will shift from a 70:30 edible-to-feed price ratio to a 100 percent edible pea end-use price. The change will include an increase in the guaranteed quality from a 3 Canada to a 2 Canada level. Yellow dry beans are currently insured under the “black/other” dry bean category. A distinct, separate insurance category will be created for yellow dry beans. AFSC clients will pay about six percent less in multi-peril annual crop insurance premium rates compared to 2015. Clients will also see a 14 percent increase in dollar coverage per acre in 2016. The increase is due to a combination of increasing spring insurance prices and yields. Source - producer.com

18.03.2016

Philippines - Drought losses reach P1B in North Cotabato

The province of North Cotabato has now suffered losses of over P1 billion from the El Niño phenomenon and the rat infestation that the dry spell has triggered. Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said the provincial government is distributing more animals to provide communities with alternative sources of income as farming has become impossible without rains and rivers drying up. Eliseo Mangliwan, North Cotabato agriculturist, said severely hit by the drought are the towns of Alamada, Pigcawayan, Kabacan, Matalam, Aleosan, Mlang, Magpet, Pikit, Tulunan, Carmen and this city. Roel Villanueva, of the provincial agriculture office’s information division, said crop loss from the dry spell has already hit P989 million while rats destroyed P84.5 million worth of crops. Mangliwan said at least 50,000 hectares of rice and corn farms had been wasted by rising temperatures with more than 25,000 farmers losing their only source of income. He said even banana plantations, which draw water from the ground, and cacao and vegetable gardens have not been spared by the dry spell. Mangliwan said the documentation of losses continues as the extent of the damage has not fully unraveled itself. He said unless rains come, the devastation would continue. The cloud seeding operation has not been successful so far, Mangliwan admitted. The cloud seeding 21 sorties, costing P4 million, have produced little rain, he added. Mendoza said goats, swine and ducks are being distributed province-wide. Mendoza also said the provincial government has been distributing rat poison to communities suffering from rodent attacks. She said the provincial government has also bought rice and corn seeds for distribution after the dry spell. In South Cotabato, local government units have also been declaring states of calamity as the dry spell also ravaged rice and corn farms in the region. The latest areas, where states of calamities were declared, are Surallah town and General Santos City. Surallah Mayor Antonio Bendeta said more than 2,000 ha of corn farms in the town, known as the province’s corn capital, had been laid to waste by the drought. General Santos City administrator Arnel Zapatos said the state of calamity covers 14 villages, which are producers of agricultural crops. Even if it is categorized as a highly-urbanized city, many villages of General Santos City are still agricultural areas. General Santos Mayor Ronnel Rivera said the city government will use the 30 percent calamity fund of the city to help farmers who suffered income loss. In Davao del Sur, a state of calamity has also been declared in at least four major rice and corn-producing towns. Joseph Penonia, acting municipal disaster and risk reduction officer of Magsaysay town, said at least 8,768 ha of rice and corn farms had wilted and that 6,588 families are losing income. Magsaysay Mayor Arthur Davin said they are now preparing food aid to communities suffering from the drought. The other Davao del Sur towns, where states of calamities have been declared, are Hagonoy, Matanao and Bansalan. Davao del Sur Gov. Claude Bautista said the provincial government has prepared P10,000 for each farmer hurt by the dry spell. The assistance, he said, would be released in time for the next cropping season. Source - newsinfo.inquirer.net

17.03.2016

USA - USDA offers flood impacted Louisiana farmers, ranchers immediate disaster assistance

U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) Louisiana Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director, Craig A. McCain, reminds farmers and ranchers across the State of federal farm program benefits that may be available to help eligible producers recover from recent heavy rains and flooding. “These significant rain and flood events which are ongoing across Louisiana have left extensive damage in their wake,’” said McCain. “As such, many farmers and ranchers are experiencing prevented planting, failed acres, displaced and deceased livestock and property damage.” FSA offers disaster assistance and low-interest loan programs to assist agricultural producers in their recovery efforts following floods or similar qualifying natural disasters. Available programs and loans include: •Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) - provides financial assistance to producers of non-insurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory, or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters (includes native grass for grazing). Eligible producers must have purchased NAP coverage for 2015 crops. •Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) - offers payments to eligible producers for livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather. Eligible losses may include those determined by FSA to have been caused by hurricanes, floods, blizzards, wildfires, tropical storms, tornadoes, lightening, extreme heat, and extreme cold. Producers will be required to provide verifiable documentation of death losses resulting from an eligible adverse weather event and must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss of livestock is apparent. •Tree Assistance Program (TAP) – provides assistance to eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers for qualifying tree, shrub and vine losses due to natural disaster. •Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) - provides emergency relief for losses due to feed or water shortages, disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, which are not adequately addressed by other disaster programs. ELAP covers physically damaged or destroyed livestock feed that was purchased or mechanically harvested forage or feedstuffs intended for use as feed for the producer’s eligible livestock. In order to be considered eligible, harvested forage must be baled; forage that is only cut, raked or windrowed is not eligible. Producers must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent. For beekeepers, ELAP covers beehive losses (the physical structure) in instances where the hive has been destroyed by a natural disaster including flooding, high winds and tornadoes. •Emergency Loan Program – Available to producers with agriculture operations located in a county under a primary or contiguous Secretarial Disaster designation.These low interest loans help producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding. •Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) – if damages warrant, this program provides emergency cost-share funding for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate land severely damaged by natural disasters; includes fence loss. •HayNet - is an Internet-based Hay and Grazing Net Ad Service allowing farmers and ranchers to share ‘Need Hay’ ads and ‘Have Hay’ ads online. Farmers also can use another feature to post advertisements for grazing land, specifically ads announcing the availability of grazing land or ads requesting a need for land to graze. To establish or retain FSA program eligibility, farmers and ranchers must report prevented planting and failed acres (crops and grasses). Prevented planting acreage must be reported on Form FSA-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date as established by FSA and Risk Management Agency (RMA). Reporting crop losses to FSA does not negate the need for producers suffering losses to report such losses to their crop insurance provider. “Thankfully, the 2014 Farm Bill reinstated these safety-net programs for farmers and ranchers suffering the devastating impacts of natural disasters such as this epic flood,” said McCain. “Because of the Farm Bill, we, as an Agency, can quickly respond to the recovery needs of our producers.” Source - thenewsstar.com

17.03.2016

Bali farmers insure rice fields in defense against El Nino

Tourist taxi driver Nur-ul Aslam watches in hopeful silence as drops of rain begin to cloud his windscreen. Last year at this time he was farming rice on his two-hectare farm 40 kilometres northeast of Bali’s airport. But a long spell of dry weather, which has lasted since last July, dried up irrigation channels in his village of Tegal Mengkeb. To survive, the 33-year-old walked away from his farm last December and began driving a taxi in Nusa Dua, a tourist hub with dozens of luxury resorts. He dreams of returning home. “We need regular good showers, but there is mostly drizzle. Unless the subaks (water channels) are full again, I can’t plant any crop,” he said. Aslam may have found a way to stay on the farm next year, however. He recently signed up for new government-backed crop insurance, one of 100 farmers to do so in Bali, where rice is grown on about 80,000 hectares of land. The Bali insurance program, launched last October, promises to pay farmers up to six million rupiah ($480) for a crop failure caused by disasters such as drought, flooding or pest attacks. The premium is 180,000 rupiah ($13) per hectare, but the state has agreed to pay 80 percent of the cost. That means a farmer like Aslam only has to come up with 36,000 rupiah, or about $2, per hectare. The programme is part of a larger Indonesian crop insurance scheme introduced in 2012-2013 with financial support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). In the first season of the programme, 470 hectares of rice fields were insured in East Java and Sumatra. This year, the government has moved to include Bali and a few other provinces, though delays in the expansion have limited the number of farmers signed up. “Our previous target this year was 11,000 hectares of rice fields (insured), but only 4,000 hectares can be insured due to limited time,” said Ida Bagus Wisnuardhana, head of the Bali provincial Agriculture and Foodstuffs Affairs office. Currently, the scheme targets only small-scale farmers growing rice, but the federal government hopes to bring in all 27 million farmers in Indonesia’s 33 provinces by 2019, according to a paper published by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. El Nino and drought In Indonesia, the dry season runs from May to August. But Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BKMG) - the local official weather mapping organisation - says the island of Bali has seen “extreme” weather since the end of August. The agency attributes the unusually hot weather to the El Nino phenomenon. In November, the temperature in the area around Denpasar, Bali’s provincial capital, rose as high as 37 degrees Celsius above the average daily temperature of 31.4 degrees Celsius, said Nyoman Gede Wiryajaya of BKMG. Bali’s provincial agricultural department says nearly a thousand hectares of farmland are suffering some degree of drought, which threatens the coming harvest. With crops drying, local media have already reported food shortages in several villages. Buleleng, a north Bali district which has recorded crop failure on 160 hectares, has been declared under “severe drought”. With no rice available, “we have been living off dried cassava for several weeks,” said Palembang Kaka, a small-scale farmer from Buleleng who now works as a porter in Pasar Badung, Denpasar’s largest community market. Although globally El Nino is expected to start weakening soon, meteorological service officials in Bali are advising farmers to brace for more dry weather. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, of the National Disaster Management Agency, predicted that “rainfall will be extremely low until the end of this year”. For Aslam, the prediction could mean another missed crop and another season at the wheel - unless his new insurance policy works. “We will see how the insurance (money) is paid. I hope it is enough to recover my losses,” he said. Source - eco-business.com

17.03.2016

USA - USAID supports farmers to reduce post-harvest losses

Farmers in the Northern and Upper East Regions have taken delivery of maize shellers and multicrop threshers to boost their farming operation and reduce post-harvest losses. These were supplied by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under its Agriculture Technology Transfer Project (ATTP). Beneficiary farmers pay 30 per cent of the cost of the machines with USAID taking care of the remaining 70 per cent. Madam Blessing Kamakolam, Grants Manager of Feed the Future – USAID-ATTP, who handed them over at a ceremony in Tamale, said the goal was to significantly increase maize production to enhance food security. The sheller machine has the capacity to shell 50 bags of maize within a space of an hour and she said they should take advantage of that to expand their farms. She spoke of plans to properly train the farmers to use and maintain the machines for optimal benefit. Madam Kamakolam re-affirmed the determination of the US government to continue to give support to farmers and other vulnerable communities to help transform their livelihood. She advised the beneficiaries to handle the equipment to with care to prolong their life span. Source - ghanabusinessnews.com

17.03.2016

USA - Without soil data, crop insurance pricing is a bust

Farmers depend on insurance to cope with the enormous risk and cost it takes to coax crops from the ground. Unpredictable weather and rampaging pests all figure into the insurance rates farmers pay for economic protection, but there's one crucial aspect that insurance doesn't account for: the quality of the soil farmers depend on for almost everything they do. First authorized by Congress in the 1930s to protect farmers ravaged by the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, Federal Crop Insurance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is today the cornerstone program to combat agricultural risk, says Joshua Woodard, assistant professor in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and founder of Ag-Analytics.Org. But, Woodard says, by not integrating soil data into the calculations that determine insurance premium costs, the federal agency's rates are rife with errors that lead to inefficiencies. Farm-level insurance analyses conducted by Woodard determined that soil type has a significant impact on crop yield risk not reflected in the ratings the USDA uses to determine premiums. By not capturing soil quality, the government's actuarial models are imprecise and inefficient, he argues in a series of papers facilitated under the AGree Initiative. "We developed the needed models to integrate this information and found that the pricing differentials caused by the government's failure to handle soil information leads to large errors," he says. "This is quite a glaring gap for the U.S. government agency charged with administering an otherwise very useful and critical policy. The soil data we used could easily and feasibly be scaled nationally." Priced, regulated and administered by the USDA, the program is of utmost importance to domestic agricultural policy, Woodard says. But he argues the USDA's lumbering rating system has not kept pace with technological innovations. The effective deployment of big data could make crop insurance more efficient if the government used extant soil information in pricing, Woodard argues. Since 2009, the USDA's Risk Management Agency has collected field boundaries associated with each policy. By matching that insurance information with precise soil data, he says actuaries could develop precise soil-specific rates associated with the land under each policy. The agency has demurred in sharing that information with researchers partly out of privacy concerns, he says. But researchers cannot put forward operational program modification proposals without having access to those data. "The big data revolution has led to an increased interest in exploring opportunities to employ high-resolution data in large-scale policy applications to improve sustainability of the agricultural system, which previously were impractical or impossible," he says. The ability to condition rates on soil information potentially would lead to greater program efficiencies, predictable underwriting returns, taxpayer savings and better environmental outcomes, according to Woodard. "Federal Crop Insurance as a policy has made many inroads into helping farmers manage risk, and it is well-accepted that such markets would likely not exist in the absence of government support due to systemic risk; however, the government arguably should not be in charge of actually setting premiums for the program," he says. Source - phys.org

17.03.2016

Philippines - NegOcc farmers get P14.8 million in farm facilities, crop insurance

THE Provincial Government of Negros Occidental is allocating anew P1.5 million as additional fund for the insurance coverage of all its agri-fishery projects and programs in partnership with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC). This is on top of the almost P13.3 million worth of on-farm mechanization program in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Field Office Western Visayas to help farmers lessen farm damage and production losses brought by the persisting heat. The Provincial Board (PB) during its regular session yesterday approved and provided authority to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. to enter into agreements with partner-agencies for the implementation of these programs. Fourth District Board Member Victor Javellana, chairman of the committee on agriculture, said the P1.5 million will come from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) fund. Javellana said it is intended as additional fund to cover the province’s counterpart of P500 each to enroll about 3,000 farmers under the Negros First Universal Crop Insurance Program (NFUCIP). “With the persisting El Niño phenomenon, this crop insurance program is really a big help to the farmers to somehow lessen the damage and production losses,” Javellana said, stressing that it is also advantageous for the farmers to be insured since aside from El Niño, their farms are also vulnerable to other calamities, including pest infestation. Under the NFUCIP, enrolled farmers may avail of P17,000 in claims per hectare of damaged farm, and are automatically covered by health and life insurance under the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Program (NOCHP). The enrollment premium per cropping season is P840. Of which, only P340 is the counterpart of farmer-enrollees while the remaining P500 is shouldered by the provincial government as loan. The P13.3 million worth of on-farm mechanization program mainly includes the provision of farm mechanization facilities and equipment to identified farmer associations in the province. Under this project, the Provincial Government has a counterpart of almost P1.995 million, or only 15 percent of the total project cost. The remaining 85 percent or P11.305 million is shouldered by the DA Western Visayas. Javellana added that part of these farm facilities were already given to recipient-farmers recently during the Farmers Congress held in Bago City recently. “Even with this assistance initiated by the provincial government, we are still urging farmers to also prepare and implement mitigation measures in their level to further allay possible adverse effects of the existing calamity,” Javellana said. Aside from El Niño, the province is also bracing for other weather changes such La Niña thus, the fund should be utilized efficiently, he added. Source - sunstar.com.ph

17.03.2016

USA - Flooding could significantly damage strawberry crop in Tangipahoa Parish

Strawberry farmers in Ponchatoula, Amite and other areas trying to recover from torrential rains and floodwaters over the past week have taken inventory of their fields, and for many, it doesn’t look good. Heavy rains could not have come at a worse time, because berries were ripening, and farmers were gearing up for the first major harvest when anywhere from 4 to more than 16 inches of rain fell on parts of southeast Louisiana over a two-day period. “Well, we lost a lot,” said Mark Liuzza, of Jack Liuzza and Sons farm in Amite, who estimated less than a third of his 30 acres went underwater, but the 20 remaining acres still needed work because plants were damaged by the rain. “Today, we’re picking good berries.” In Ponchatoula, considered the heart of the strawberry farms and home of the annual strawberry festival, more than 13 inches of rain fell last week. LSU’s 2015 Louisiana Ag Summary says there were 81 strawberry growers in the state who work 367 acres. The leading producer of strawberries is Tangipahoa Parish, where 285 of those acres lie. The parish experienced widespread flooding in the storms. Some farmers report their fields were turned into lakes, essentially ruining an entire field of strawberries, while others reported no flooding but heavy losses from the rains, which will delay and reduce their productivity this year. Liuzza said this was the worst flooding he’s seen on the farm he’s been on all of his 48 years. “I never had a whole field go under,” he said. Heather Robertson, of Johndales Farm in Ponchatoula, has about 15 acres in strawberries that were just getting ready to be picked, but the flood put 8 to 10 of those acres under water. On the other fields, the plants looked good, but the riper strawberries were damaged by rain and have to be cleaned off to let the new berries grow. She and her husband have worked the family farm for the past 25 years and may have seen flooding come up to the edge of the field before, but nothing close to what they saw last week. Eric Morrow, of Morrow Farm in Ponchatoula, had 10 acres in strawberries, and the loss means tens of thousands of dollars in investment gone. “Everyone took a beating,” he said. “We’re not going to get any help.” He explained that the farm aid goes to commodity crops. As a specialty crop, the strawberry farmers end up being on their own when a disaster strikes. As someone who sells at the Red Stick Farmers Market in Baton Rouge, he said it will take time, but he expects to be back in Baton Rouge three times a week this summer. “I have a lot of good people who come out every week and support us,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be back pretty quick.” Source - sunherald.com

16.03.2016

Software helping agricultural companies improve their results

VISUAL 3.0 is the technology that has most frequently been introduced by agricultural companies over the past three years, since it manages to solve problems and improve their performance. "We can guarantee this because the needs of hundreds of leading companies have been taken into account for the development of this agricultural software, with more than 60,000 hours of work devoted to one goal: changing agriculture by improving access to information for people, technicians, producers and agro-food industry managers," affirms Lucía Iborra, CEO and founder of VisualNACert. The VisualNACert team has over 20 years' experience in the agricultural sector. They are specialists in agriculture, geographic information systems and data analysis with Big Data. The company VisualNACert and its technological solution VISUAL 3.0 seek to increase the profitability of the world's agricultural firms and allow producers and owners of agricultural businesses to achieve better results more easily. The way to achieve this is through innovative software that can be used by anyone, thanks to its ease of use. "Everyone in a company will be able to connect with one another in the same system simultaneously and share data in real time. We use easy to use technology, with large buttons and maps with clear and intuitive colour-coded information," points out Lucía Iborra. VISUAL 3.0 is considered the most powerful software for the management of agricultural farms. It is currently being used to manage more than 600,000 hectares of various crops in 5 countries. Companies like Anecoop, Trops or García Ballester make use of this agricultural software. "VISUAL 3.0 is used to share information of great interest, including the location of plots, pest identification, the development of the harvest, phytosanitary treatments, application of fertilisers and task management or monitoring costs associated with farming units," states Lucía Iborra. "The biggest competitive advantage for agricultural companies today is having technology on their side, and VISUAL 3.0 has been developed to this end, being the only software for agricultural management with maps available online and offline, and for use with computers, tablets and mobile phones." According to its creator, this technology works with modules that help you easily manage all activities of an agricultural company working with farming plots, from planning field visits to task management; from the planting to the harvest, among others, and also gives you information on agroclimatic data, such as the number of cold hours per plot, or allows you to easily do the CAP declaration without errors, preventing you from having to fill in the same data twice or consult different information sources, as it connects with any ERP, sensors and other sources of information to have all data grouped and prevent rework or outdated data. "It meets all the requirements for the registration of key information under the main regulations, including Globalgap v.5. or Integrated Production." Having all your information in one place allows you to view reports and executive summaries of your organization, analysing which plots are liable to cause economic losses due to pest attacks, which plots are ready for the harvest or the stock that you have available, among others. "A unique aspect of our technology is the compilation of all information regarding the work of people that will be crucial in improving the productivity and competitiveness of agro-food companies," concludes Mercedes Iborra, CMO and founder of VisualNACert. VisualNACert is very aware of the changes necessary for the introduction of technology in agricultural companies, so a specialist is assigned for ongoing support at no additional cost who will strive to ensure the success of the investment. The goal of VISUAL 3.0: to allow agricultural companies to increase their profits. Don't wait for somebody else to tell you about it and test it for free for 7 days. Source - freshplaza.com

16.03.2016

Fiji - More than $200m loss in Fiji’s agriculture sector

A total of $208.3 million (US$100 million) is the final damage assessment to the agriculture sector in Fiji. Cyclone Winston has affected 44,522 farmers and recovery is expected to take years. This does not include the sugar industry. The final damage assessment covers crop, live stock and infrastructure damage which will affect 220,000 people. The Northern division is the worst affected with a damage bill of $93.8 million (US$44.9 million). Cyclone Winston devastated high value crop areas from the coastline areas of Bua, Cakaudrove and Tavueni. The Western division comes in second with a cost of $52.8m (US$25.2 million). Damage to the dalo sector amounts to $17.9 million (US$8.5 million). 90% of these damages are from Taveuni, Bua, Koro, Cakaudrove, Ovalau and Ra. “For Taveuni, Koro and part of Ra which were the major suppliers of Tausala into the overseas market for that particular variety. But we are fortunate that the central was spared and also the lower part of Naitasiri and Tailevu. This is where we can be sourcing from the other varieties apart from Tailevu,” said Uraia Waibuta, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry. The total cost of damage to yaqona stands at $116.1million (US$55.5 million). “Huge loss to the farmers and also to Fiji as a whole because bulk of this is also consumed locally. So we should definitely see an increase in the price of yaqona to our consumers after all the yaqona has been bought from the buyers that are still existing,” added Waibuta. Coconut production recorded around $10 million (US$5 million) in damage. “Especially for our rural copra industry in the rural and maritime islands. So for the next one and a half years we should not be seeing any coconut coming out from these areas. Even some people in the outer islands may have to import coconuts from other areas if they want to use it  for their home consumption purpose,” the permanent secretary said. For vegetable supply, Waibuta says they are expecting the supply to stabilize within two months. This is partly due to the fact that the Sigatoka Valley was not severely affected. The livestock sector has a $9.78 million (US$4.6 million) loss. Major loss was to the dairy, poultry and piggery. For relief assistance the Ministry has distributed over 500,000 kumala cuttings to the affected farmers. “We will try and bear with what we have because we also have other suppliers. There will be inconsistency about storage we have to bare with that until things normalise,” he added. More than 500,000 seedling packets have also been distributed. Source - http://www.solomonstarnews.com