Farmer loses over $30 000 in crops

BARBADOS Oct. 9, 2008. Nation News - Bridgetown, St. Michael, Barbados by Carlos Atwell Farmer Patrick Bethell knows this all too well as he is counting the loss of his entire one-acre field of four-month-old cassava plants. ...

While the farmers's away, the thieves will play. Farmer Patrick Bethell knows this all too well as he is counting the loss of his entire one-acre field of four-month-old cassava plants.

The story began when Bethell, who manages Friendship Estate in St Michael, reported thieves had made off with 58 plants over the course of four days. The situation worsened yesterday when he called the media to highlight another 56 plants uprooted.

"In one and a half weeks, I have lost around $1 800. They stole 19 plants last night [Monday] and 37 this morning [Tuesday]," he said. When the first cassava plants were stolen, Bethell said he would destroy them if the larceny continued and he carried out his threat yesterday – he dug up the rest of the field, which he said was worth more than $30 000.

"It hurts me to have to destroy a crop just to make a point but I feel raped and violated and I have decided the time for talk is over. "The gloves have to come off or you can forget about agriculture in Barbados. I think it is misleading to tell the 4-H clubs to grow food just so they can be stolen and I have met many people who no longer farm because of thieves," he said.

Bethell, 62, said he was now forced to cut his staff working hours to four days instead of five and was even contemplating giving up farming altogether. "We are planting cassava freely and willingly as citizens of Barbados and this is what is happening. Well, I am done with that!" he said.

Independent senators John Hutson and Dr Frances Chandler were present and offered support. Hutson said he too had to give up farming certain crops due to praedial larceny. "This is a very serious situation and I would like to see stiffer penalties imposed. If you were to go and steal ink, you would have a hefty fine or time in jail but if you steal crops, you get a holiday," he said.

Chandler, an agronomist, said the authorities were treating agriculture as a "bottom of the barrel" activity. "It is ironic that there is now a global food shortage and as such we are being asked to plant food but yet agriculture is considered the bottom of the heap," she said, adding the authorities would react faster if a hotel was burglarised. Chandler also chastised international organisations which she said were good at hosting workshops but would not give funds to monitor the market or assist the police. "What are their tangible effects? If they can't offer help with this issue, they are a waste of time," she said. (CA)

Arico’s Gluten Free Snacks Now Available at Fred Meyer Stores

dBusinessNews Portland (press release) - Portland,OR,USA oct. 6, 2008
Arico’s all-natural Cassava Chips and Cookie Bars are being sold in the Nutrition Centers of Fred Meyer stores in Alaska , Washington , Oregon and Idaho

Increasing distribution is evidence of growing demand for gluten-free foods

BEAVERTON, OR – October 6, 2008 – Arico Natural Foods, maker of high quality gluten- and dairy-free snacks, today announced that its products are available in Fred Meyer stores in the Pacific Northwest.

Arico’s all-natural Cassava Chips and Cookie Bars are being sold in the Nutrition Centers of Fred Meyer stores in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

The growing natural foods company now distributes its products to more than 1,500 stores in North America, including Fred Meyer, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Raley’s and many natural foods stores.

“We are so pleased that Arico’s ‘mindful snacks’ will be more widely available to shoppers throughout the Pacific Northwest,” said Arico co-founder and CEO Angela Ichwan.

About Arico Natural Foods
Arico Natural Foods was co-founded by husband-and-wife team Hermanto Hidajat and Angela Ichwan in Beaverton, Oregon in 2004. Inspired by Angela’s young niece, Ella, who follows a diet free of gluten and dair as an alternative treatment for autism, the pair set out to create a line of snacks that would be safe for those with restricted dietary needs, yet delicious enough to share. With an aim to promote “mindful snacking,” the company launched its first line of organic, whole grain, gluten- and dairy-free cookie bars in 2005. It has since followed with a line of cookie pouches and two more cookie flavors, as well as a line of all-natural cassava chips. A socially and environmentally aware company, Arico partners with Women for Women International to support women survivors of war and invests in wind energy projects through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) to offset the carbon emissions of its business operations. The company plants a tree for every new store that carries its cassava chips and participates in community events and fundraising walks nationwide to support those who live gluten free. For more information, visit Arico’s website at www.aricofoods.com

For more information, contact:
Lorraine Burke
Arico Natural Foods
Mobile: (503) 547-5691
Office: (617) 418-5268
lorraine@aricofoods.com

Gov’t to get tough with polluting firms

Viet Nam News - Hanoi,Vietnam 6 10 2008

The factory bought cassava from local farmers to use in its operations, so threats of its closure scare cassava growers. Thieu said that the blame for Phuoc Long no longer buying cassava rests on Phuoc Long farmers’shoulders. Thus, penalties against the factory could not be adjusted to cater to cassava growers’ concerns.


BINH PHUOC — The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) will make no concessions to polluting companies for any economic considerations,deputy minister Tran Hong Ha said last Friday.

The announcement comes in the wake of Vedan Viet Nam, a monosodium glutamate (MSG) producer, being fined for dumping untreated waste water into rivers in Dong Nai Province.

Fines levied against Vedan Viet Nam Limited Company and the Vedan starch factory in Binh Phuoc Province for dumping untreated effluents into rivers are in accordance with the law, said Ha.

The Phuoc Long Starch Factory, Vedan Viet Nam’s affiliate, was ordered to suspend operations for 10 days due to accusations of violating the same regulations as Vedan Viet Nam.

Truong Tan Thieu, chairman of the Binh Phuoc Province People’s Committee, said no official decisions have been made yet about permanantly shutting the starch factory down.

The factory bought cassava from local farmers to use in its operations, so threats of its closure scare cassava growers.

Thieu said that the blame for Phuoc Long no longer buying cassava rests on Phuoc Long farmers’shoulders. Thus, penalties against the factory could not be adjusted to cater to cassava growers’ concerns.

He urged farmers not to worry because the province still has four other factories to sell cassava to.

"If residents still cannot sell their cassava crops, the administration will help them find customers," he said.

According to Nguyen Tri Ngoc, director of MoNRE’s Department of Cultivation, many businesses are in need of cassava.

For example, demand for the root is still high at several food and animal feed processing lines.

Trinh Xuan Tuong, a cassava farmer in Long Ha Commune, Binh Phuoc Province, said his family had not been drastically affected by the ten-day suspension as harvest is not until November.

If Phuoc Long Factory is unable to buy his crops, he will still be able to sell to other factories in the nearby provinces or in neighbouring ones or dry the cassava for sale or personal use. — VNS

Suka works on dream

Fiji Times - Suva,Fiji Oct.6, 2008

In the last four months, Mr Solisoli, with the help of his two brothers Ravakalou Moceituba and Pita Vesikuru planted 7000 cassava plots, 200 yaqona plants, 1000 pineapples, 3000 dalo and 160 water melons.


RA lad Suka Solisoli hopes to save enough money in the next three years to build a house and buy a carrier to transport his crops to the market.

Mr Solisoli, whose family leases a 12-acre block of land at Lomaivuna in Naitasiri, realised after attending a leadership and entrepreneurship program at the Centre for Appropriate Technology and Development that land was his biggest asset.

Mr Solisoli, 24, feels you don't have to be well schooled or a learned scholar to succeed in commerce. You just need to have the right attitude and a passion for business.

In the last four months, Mr Solisoli, with the help of his two brothers Ravakalou Moceituba and Pita Vesikuru planted 7000 cassava plots, 200 yaqona plants, 1000 pineapples, 3000 dalo and 160 water melons.

Last month Mr Solisoli earned $200 from the sale of cabbage, which he planted after completing his studies at Nadave and will harvest 1000 pineapples in December.

And this is just a part of the vast bush land that they have leased.

Mr Solisoli, who dropped out of school at Form 4, added that the the only difficult he faced was acquiring yaqona and cassava cuttings, manure and chemicals.

Grenade Found in Raiwaqa Compound

Fijivillage.com - Suva,Fiji. Publish: 05/10/2008
Police have confirmed a 55 year old man was planting cassava in his Milverton Road backyard when he spotted something strange in the soil looking like a grenade.

Police and the Fiji Military Force are investigating a case whereby a grenade was found in Raiwaqa yesterday afternoon.

Police have confirmed a 55 year old man was planting cassava in his Milverton Road backyard when he spotted something strange in the soil looking like a grenade.

Police accompanied by Military officers then removed the grenade from the soil and took it Queen Elizabeth Barracks for analysis.

Police and the Military are expected to release more information regarding the grenade soon.

PGMA vows to fund all-weather road in Tamlang Valley

Balita.org - Minsterley,England,UK, Oct. 3, 2008. At present, the Bio-Green company is leasing a portion of Tamlang Valley for cassava and jatropha plantations. According to Teves, fund available with the DOE is around P9 to 12 million, which shall be used for infrastructure development.

DUMAGUETE CITY, Oct. 3 — Economic development is expected to get a boost in the lush Tamlang Valley in southern Negros Oriental once the road network leading to the area is rehabilitated and made an all-weather road. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, during her visit to Bacolod City recently, promised the three House Representatives of Negros Oriental that she will allocate a budget for the road network in Tamlang Valley through the Department of Energy, according to 3rd district Rep. Henry Teves.

Teves said the President has learned about the recent burning of three tractors of a foreign firm engaged in the production of alternative bio-fuels in Tamlang Valley. He said she believes that a good road network would allow people to start appreciating the development being brought into their area and they will be more encouraged to plant cassava and jatropha.

At present, the Bio-Green company is leasing a portion of Tamlang Valley for cassava and jatropha plantations.

According to Teves, fund available with the DOE is around P9 to 12 million, which shall be used for infrastructure development. The road project will cost some P2.5 to P3 million per kilometer of road, to include construction of a drainage system. The road network of Tamlang Valley has an estimated total of 13 kilometers. Rep. Teves said he is planning to request Gen. Alexander Yano, chief of the staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to deploy an Army engineering battalion in the province to undertake construction of the road to Tamlang Valley.

Meanwhile, President Arroyo has also instructed the Department of Energy to give Tamlang Valley some 5.2 kilometers of power lines for the electrification program in the area, according to Teves. Rep. George Arnaiz of the 2nd district was also instructed by the President to get the funding from DOE for the electrical lines.

Tamlang Valley straddles the boundary of the municipalities of Siaton, Sta. Catalina, Valencia and Pamplona. It used to be a no-man’s land in the late '80s and early '90s during the height of the insurgency in Negros Oriental. (PNA)

Ex-gov faults policy shift

HOANG LONG to follow up Daily Champion - Lagos, Nigeria http://www.champion-newspapers.com/news/article19_021008.htm Citing the Presidential Initiative on Cassava as an example, Adamu said: ``As a farmer in this country, I know that there had been talks about cassava cultivation. ’’.

Former Gov. Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa State has criticised the tendency to abandon policies of previous administrations as a ``national malaise. Adamu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said: " The problem is that we do not appear to build on our efforts over the years; there is no doubt about that. "The rate of progress, when measured, will not give you the required impression on how much ground we have covered. This is a national malaise at both the local, state and federal levels. ``If you go through the archives, you will see position papers that have been written and researches made overtime. ``On everything we are talking about today, something has been done about it in the past but unfortunately, the follow-up has not been effective,’’ he said.

Citing the Presidential Initiative on Cassava as an example, Adamu said: ``As a farmer in this country, I know that there had been talks about cassava cultivation. ``Somehow at the end of the harvest, there was no post-harvest policy on the ground to ensure that the cassava farmer had a market or a means for processing his products. ``A lot of farmers were left with cassava on their fields; they couldn’t harvest them and they couldn’t make use of the land and that had dampened their spirit to some extent,’’ Adamu said.

According to him, the response to the cotton initiative is ``very poor’’ due to the poor experiences the farmers had with cassava.``We will not relent; we will not say because it hasn’t happened we will stop; we will continue until a time when we can say hallelujah!’’, he said. Adamu also stressed the importance of policy consistency, saying: ``I think there has to be consistency in policy. Once we have a policy and programme on the ground, we must implement them to a logical conclusion and build on past experiences as we go along.’’ On the issue of finance, he expressed regrets that most farmers had no access to credit facilities, adding, however, that banks’ annual accounts ironically indicated that substantial amounts had been channelled to funding the agricultural sector. ``Every year, there is a budget provision that requires financial institutions to use a percentage of their profits before or after tax or turnovers for promoting agriculture. "Every year, when the CBN or whoever goes there to monitor or inspect compliance, every bank comes with a return; but who are these farmers that they are financing; what are the projects that they have financed?``If you ask these questions, you hardly get answers,’’ he said.

Adamu underscored the importance of infrastructural development and government support to agriculture, saying: ``If you are a good farmer, you need roads, electricity and water to enhance your production. "If you have to finance these by yourself, how many farmers can do that ?’’ he asked."I was amazed when I went to the Royal Agricultural Show in London to discover that if a farmer had a land that was just lying fallow, undeveloped, he still get money for keeping the farm.