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The major markets are North America and Europe and South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Exports from developing countries, including the Philippines, are increasing.

The attraction is that organics are priced higher, up to 150 percent more expensive than conventional products in Europe and 20 percent to 50 percent higher over non-organic products in Philippine supermarkets.

The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement says that organic rice and vegetables are grown by nearly 35,000 Filipino farmers in 14,134 has. of land, with an average size of about half a hectare per farm.

While this was a significant increase over the 500 farms and 3,500 has. reported in 2004, it does not even represent 1 percent (0.12 percent) of total agricultural land.

The Philippines lags in hectares devoted to organic produce, behind China (2.3 million has.), India (528,171 has.) and Indonesia (41,431 has.).

The major issues include insufficient supply of quality organic inputs, says Dr. Fe L. Porciuncula, director of the Ramon Magsaysay Center for Agricultural Resources and Environment Studies (RM-CARES) at the Central Luzon State University (CLSU).

Technology know-how is also inadequate; farmers often do not know how to convert to organic mode; knowledge of the market is limited; and organic and conventional products mingle in the market, says Porciuncula, citing a study made by CLSU.

Organic farming is growing at 10 to 20 percent annually and is expected to hit 30 percent in a decade, according to the Organic Producers and Traders Association.

The products include rice, vegetables, herbs, muscovado sugar, banana, coconut, fruits, livestock and poultry, dairy products and fertilizers.

Growing in tandem with organic farming is the organic fertilizer industry which is expanding at 10 to 20 percent yearly, according to an estimate made by the US Department of Agriculture.

There are two types of organic fertilizers. Microbial fertilizers are made of organisms capable of increasing and fixing nutrients for plant use. Organic fertilizers are made of decomposed plants or animals with at least 20 percent organic matter.

According to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, 4,884 tons of organic fertilizers were produced and 4,689 tons were sold in 2006 by over 120 companies, most of them in Metro Manila and Luzon.

Sales are slower than production, with a big surplus recorded in 2002, usually during extensive government subsidies to chemical fertilizers to boost rice production, according to Dr. Clarita P. Aganon, former director of RM-CARES.

For sales, manufacturers and traders depend on government demand, basically from the Department of Agriculture. But government subsidies are limited to rice and corn, the farming areas of which are not expected to expand soon.

While production increased when organic fertilizer was included in a production package for rice and corn, demand did not materialize and a surplus of 9,000 tons out of 40,000 tons produced was recorded in 2005.

This confirms a study by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) that concludes farming communities are still inadequately informed of its proper application and use despite the rising popularity of organic fertilizers.

PCARRD also noted that the organic fertilizer industry is in its infancy. Major constraints are the low quality and the laborious preparation and application of compost.

Organic fertilizer remains attractive because the cost of chemical fertilizers has increased over 100 percent from 2003 to 2008, according to Aganon. A rice farmer, by using organic fertilizer and rapid composting technology, could save up to P8,000 from about P20,000 spent for chemical fertilizer per hectare per season.

Rice and vegetable farmers are the main buyers, combining organic with chemical fertilizers. Sales of organic fertilizer for rice production peak during the planting season from November to January and from May to August, with prices ranging from P140 to P280 per 50-kilogram bag.

Farmers shy away from organic fertilizer when the price is high and when they perceive a slow effect and laborious application. With low sales, many traders in turn shun the product.

Aganon also reported some cases of farmer complaints of the non-effective use of organic fertilizer. As such, it is recommended that a combination of application of microbial fertilizer and organic fertilizer is used.

“Standardization in quality and uniform pricing will benefit key players and make them more competitive,” says Aganon. “The reported cases of low quality and non-effectiveness of the use of organic fertilizer, even of reduced yield and income, needs to be addressed.” By Paul Icamina, Malaya

In 2009, the BRICI countries had some 610 million Internet users. “Internet penetration rates in the BRICI countries will experience compound annual growth of nine to 20 per cent from 2009-2015, driven predominantly by young users who will form the digital-market eco-systems that will be in place for generations to come,” the management consulting firm said.

With BRICI countries constituting many of the world’s most populous nations, “it may come as little surprise that their digital-consumer ranks will swell so quickly,” the report added.

Describing India as a “low-maturity and high growth market”, BCG said Internet penetration rate in India is expected to reach 19 per cent by 2015, up from the current 7 per cent.

“There are currently about 81 million Internet users in India — a number that will nearly triple by around 2015 to 237 million,” the report said. India’s Internet use is concentrated mainly in the larger cities, where many users are migrants from smaller towns.

This group tends to have had limited exposure to the Internet and therefore typically has a narrower range of online needs than more experienced users. “Offsetting this situation is the prevalence of younger Indian users,” the report said. Indian Internet users spend only half an hour online each day, on average — the lowest rate among all the BRICI countries.

This average will increase to only 0.7 hour per day by 2015, leaving India still bringing up the rear among BRICI users in terms of daily time spent online. “However, this is a conservative projection and that there could be some major surprises depending on how quickly pricing comes down and availability increases,” it added.

Among the most prominent trends is that BRICI digital consumers are far more likely to be meeting their digital needs through mobile phones than through personal computers.

With PC penetration still quite low, mobile phones are cheaper and more convenient tools for both communicating and seeking out entertainment. For India, the next big growth opportunity should emerge from the rural market where penetration of mobile phones is far less than in urban markets, which have already begun to show signs of saturation.

“The biggest gap in rural areas has been network coverage and distribution channels — a divide that most companies are currently trying to bridge. There is an untapped opportunity for improving data usage in all of India’s consumer segments,” it added.

Indians’ mobile-phone activity is limited almost exclusively to phone calls and SMS, although only about half of India’s 507 million mobile-phone owners use the latter.

Just 5 per cent use mobile video. “This could change when 3G and other forms of wireless broadband are launched in earnest.”

The BRICI countries currently have about 1.8 billion mobile-phone SIM card subscriptions, compared with a combined total of 394 million in the United States and Japan.

China, India and Indonesia have SIM penetration rates ranging between 41 per cent and 66 per cent.

By comparison, the United States and Japan are both at around 90 per cent. By 2015, SIM penetration in China and India is expected to reach 84 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively owing, among other factors, to users taking advantage of prepaid plans from different operators.

Currently 60 per cent of BRICI Internet users are under the age of 35. As they earn even higher incomes and develop more complex online needs, there will be a colossal opportunity for digital companies to monetise services and products.

Given how rapidly the BRICI markets are developing, companies planning entry strategies will have to act quickly—or risk missing the opportunity to connect with consumers now and grow with them throughout the coming decades, BCG said.

“The Internet is already having a fundamental impact on consumption patterns, and the patterns we’re seeing are significantly different from those in the United States and Japan,” says report coauthor David Michael, who heads BCG’s Global Advantage practice.

“Companies relying solely on traditional means for reaching consumers in the emerging markets need to understand the impact that the shift to digital media is going to have,” the report added. Deccan Chronicle

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The number of lives claimed by damaged, diseased and worn-out livers has soared by 60 per cent in only a decade.

Liver disease, including cancer, claimed 9,719 lives in England in 2008 – up from 6,058 ten years earlier, a report by MPs says today.

The fifth biggest killer, it is the only one that is claiming more lives year after year.

Soaring rates of binge drinking, obesity and the viral disease hepatitis C mean the number of deaths is predicted to double in only 20 years.

Alcohol is 75 per cent cheaper now in real terms than in 1980. Heavy drinking can inflame the liver, causing jaundice, and leading to comas and even death.

Long-term, excessive drinking can also cause cirrhosis, in which the normal liver tissue is destroyed and replaced by scar tissue. The number of cases has increased ten-fold in recent decades.

Doctors have warned that the alcohol-induced problem, usually found in older adults, is now being diagnosed in teenagers.

Liver cancer is also on the rise. Although it is relatively common for cancers to spread to the liver, few cancers started there until recently. The figures will raise fresh concern over Labour’s liberalisation of the licensing laws to allow 24-hour drinking.

Don Shenker, of the charity Alcohol Concern, which is calling for high-strength beers and ciders to be taxed more heavily, said the combination of cheap alcohol and round-the-clock drinking, had fuelled a surge in drink-related deaths.

He added: ‘The 24-hour drinking laws have changed the pattern of going out. Many young people take advantage of cheap supermarket alcohol, then go out later and stay out later. So their overall alcohol consumption has gone up.’

Obesity can also fuel cirrhosis, leading to fears that many of today’s overweight adults will die in their 60s and 70s of liver failure.

Hepatitis C is also contributing to the surge in liver deaths. Many of today’s deaths are from infections caught in the 70s and 80s, before blood transfusions were screened for the virus.

The condition can also be spread through dirty needles and tattoo, ear piercing and acupuncture equipment that hasn’t been sterilised.

Those who have had the condition include the late Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick, who caught the virus from a blood transfusion she received during the birth of her daughter, actress Pamela Anderson, guitarist Keith Richards and singer Marianne Faithfull.

Today’s report, by the All-Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group, highlights huge variations in the care and treatment given to hepatitis patients in British hospitals.

Tory MP David Amess, who chairs the group, said: ‘There is effective treatment available for hepatitis C so there is absolutely no excuse for the death toll to continue rising. The staggering increase in deaths from liver disease and liver cancer show just how vital it is that the national liver strategy is developed as a matter of urgency.’

Charles Gore, chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust, said: ‘Hepatitis C is a soluble problem in contrast to many areas of healthcare.

‘It could be all but eradicated in this country in the next 30 or so years if the Government commits to a strategy for diagnosing all patients, preventing further transmissions and ensuring high-quality care and treatment for all.’

Labour’s liberalisation of the licensing laws in 2005 was supposed to introduce a ‘Continental-style cafe culture’. Instead it saw an explosion in late-night binge drinking.

A recent BMA conference heard how one in four adults are drinking at levels that are hazardous to their health and 36,000 11 to 15-year-olds get drunk every week.

The Coalition Government has pledged to dismantle the 24-hour drinking laws and ban the sale of cheap alcohol. By Fiona Macrae, The Daily Mail

Nevertheless, it is important to take plenty of food such as a variety of meats, cheeses, breads, snacks and sweets. And of course, do not forget to bring with you water to remain nourished. These items are easy to carry when out on the trail and easy to keep fresh. Yet, vango tents are the most important camping equipment you should not dare forget to bring with you. After all, it is vital to the success of your camping experience. So the next time you want to go on camping experience, better yet, have with you the above right equipment to make your holiday a total success.

The scientists, whose work was published on Wednesday in the Science Translational Medicine journal, said their findings offered hope for the millions of people who go blind each year because of a worldwide shortage of corneas for donation.

“This study … is the first to show that an artificially fabricated cornea can integrate with the human eye and stimulate regeneration,” said May Griffith of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, who led the study.

“With further research, this approach could help restore sight to millions of people who are waiting for a donated human cornea for transplantation.”

The cornea is a tiny piece of transparent, film-like tissue that covers the surface of our eyes. Made from parallel strands of the protein collagen, it refracts light to focus images on the retina.

Although the fragile film is easily destroyed by trauma or infection, replacement human corneas can be used to restore vision, although this depends on a steady supply of donors.

A team led by Griffith and Per Fagerholm, an ophthalmology professor and eye surgeon at Linkoping University in Sweden, conducted the study by removing diseased tissue from the corneas of 10 patients and replacing them with biosynthetic implants designed to mimic a normal human cornea.

For the process they used recombinant human collagen, a substance synthesised in the laboratory to mimic human tissue and supplied by the San Francisco biotech firm FibroGen Inc.

The patients were monitored for two years after surgery. The researchers found that, eventually, the cells and nerves from nine of the 10 patients regrew completely and packed themselves into the implant, resulting in a kind of “regenerated” cornea that looked and functioned like normal, healthy eye tissue.

The biosynthetic corneas also became sensitive to touch and the treated eyes began producing normal tears, the researchers said. Vision improved in six of the 10 patients.

After the patients were also fitted with contact lenses, which is common after corneal transplants, their vision was comparable with that of patients who undergo regular human corneal tissue transplants.

“The results were pretty encouraging and there is great potential here,” Fagerholm said in a telephone interview.

Loss of vision due to corneal disease or trauma affects over 10 million people a year, but lack of access to donor tissue limits the number of transplants, particularly in poorer countries.

In the United States, an estimated 42,000 corneal grafts a year are performed using tissue from posthumous donors, but there are sometimes problems with rejection and experts say failure rates are significant.

Fagerholm said the patients in this trial had no problems with rejection and did not need long-term immune suppression drugs to help their bodies accept the corneas. By Kate Kelland, The Star

Why do we need it?

Without vitamin K, the blood loss from a paper cut could be on par with a knife wound. Vitamin K also plays a part in bone mineralization and stopping osteoporosis – basically, calcium is only part of the picture for strong bones. A Belgian study, first published in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, even showed vitamin K to help destroy cancer cells.

Where can we find it?

If it’s green, there’s a good chance it’s packed with vitamin K. Leafy green vegetables such as spinach and chard, cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower, and herbs such as parley and basil all have high levels of vitamin K, according to the USDA. You can also find it in certain vegetable oils, such as olive and canola. Soybeans and soy products, especially miso and natto, are also very high in vitamin K. Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning that it is better absorbed with fat – so drizzle your broccoli with a little olive oil and you’ll be a vitamin K powerhouse.

How much do we need?

The USDA recommends at least 120 micrograms of vitamin K per day for men, 90 micrograms for women, and 60 micrograms for children. However, the National Institutes of Health warns that people taking blood-thinners like Warfarin might need to monitor their vitamin K intake and consult their doctors. By Mimi Honeycutt Houston Chronicle