Covid-19: What govt's partial lifting of restrictions may mean for economy

With the Rabi harvest to reach its peak this month, allowing the free flow of labour and transport to enable sale of produce is a big step that has been taken.

The much-expected guidelines for the partial lifting of limited economic activity announced by the government are pragmatic and would be in force post April 20. It is good that the government has opened the doors towards working on an exit route and has included the most essential activity, agriculture to operate freely. With the Rabi harvest to reach its peak this month, allowing the free flow of labour and transport to enable sale of produce is a big step that has been taken.

While agriculture can be justified, allowing other activity like construction in rural areas or IT related activity along with certain conditions being imposed can be interpreted as an experiment to see how it plays out. The spread of the virus is still quite prodigious in our country and one can still not be sure if the number of new cases has peaked out or whether it is going to be higher. This being the case, any relaxation has to be calibrated, which is the approach taken. Given the data on the spread of the pandemic it does appear that the higher cases have emanated in states and districts where there have been more testing which can also mean that regions with nil cases could be because of the absence of testing. Therefore, it needs to be seen how this works out.

But the message for India Inc is clear. Companies need to be prepared for the lockdown to end and should have their internal strategies in place. The services such as aviation, hotels, malls, etc. would have to wait for a much longer time as they involve direct interaction of people which will be the last set of activities to be relaxed. All these come under public spaces which will be the lowest priority in any phased withdrawal plan of the government. The others need to plan on how to go about their business as the new normal comes in maybe after a gap of three months. The pressing issues will be to plan their production levels which will determine the requirement of labour. This will necessarily mean that those industries which are B2B would have to evaluate how other businesses are placed to come up with their strategies. Next, the challenge is to re-assemble the workforce especially if it includes causal labour which had moved back to their home towns. This will have issues relating to restoration of transport especially buses and trains as it would be difficult otherwise for any reverse migration to take place.

Future of food: Feeding 10 bn by 2050 requires genetically modified crops

Not only must crops be more productive, but the agricultural challenges of climate change-including disease, pests and periods of both drought and flooding-mean they must be more resilient as well.

Business Standard : Like it or not, genetic modification is going to be an important tool to feed the planet’s growing population.

If we want to feed 10 billion people by 2050, in a world beset by rising temperatures and scarcer water supplies, we will need to dramatically change the way we produce food. Increased public investment in technologies like genetic engineering is a vital piece of that, according to a report published Wednesday by the World Resources Institute.

Not only must crops be more productive, but the agricultural challenges of climate change—including disease, pests and periods of both drought and flooding—mean they must be more resilient as well.

“We have to increase yields dramatically, at an even higher rate than we’ve done historically,” said Tim Searchinger, lead author of the report. “It’s got to be done by growing smarter.”

The Green Revolution of the 20th century boosted food production using many tools, some of which are no longer available to most of today’s farmers. Fertilizer use has largely been maxed out, Searchinger said, and available water is running dry. Now, researchers need to find new ways to “grow smarter,” including through the use of genetic modification.

While public debate has centered on its two primary uses—in soybeans and corn for resistance to the pesticide glyphosate and production of a natural insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), in corn and cotton—the WRI implores us to look further. “We do not believe that debate over these particular GM traits should dictate policy about the entire technology of genetic engineering,” the report says.

Instead, the report points out that genetic modification saved the Hawaiian papaya population from a deadly virus, and says it may be able to do the same for potatoes in Uganda, soybeans in Brazil and tomatoes in Florida.

“Everyone exaggerates the benefits and costs of these two traits of GMOs,” Searchinger said. “There are so many other things we can do, it’s hard to imagine why we’d be against it.”

The report also emphasizes the need for better breeding, laying out a four-pronged approach for increasing yields, each of which will require more public funding. First, breeding cycles need to be sped up, focusing not just on major improvements but also smaller, incremental ones.

Walmart to invest Rs 1.8 bn to improve farmers' livelihood in next 5 years

The new funding from the Walmart Foundation expands its ongoing efforts to develop and scale strong farmer producer organisations to help raise rural incomes.

Business Standard : As part of its initiative to support sustainable livelihood for farmers in India, the Walmart Foundation Thursday announced investment of Rs 1.8 billion over the next five years in the country.

"The Walmart Foundation, working beyond the Walmart India supply chain, will invest approximately Rs 1.8 billion ($25 million) to improve farmers' livelihood over the next five years," Walmart International CEO Judith McKenna said.

She was speaking at a meeting with local farmers in Kasimpur village on the outskirts of the state capital.

Walmart India CEO Krish Iyer, Walmart India Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar and Flipkart Group CEO Binny Bansal accompanied McKenna when she toured a vegetable farm and evinced keen interest in the cultivation going on there. Walmart Vice President of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs Paul Dyck was also present.

The high-level delegation Wednesday discussed with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath various matters related to investment by Walmart in the state.

At the meeting, the chief minister spoke about focussing on agriculture sourcing, food processing industry and One District One Product (ODOP) to support local traditional art forms.

McKenna Thursday said Walmart India will grow its direct sourcing from farmers to 25 per cent of produce sold in its 'Cash & Carry' stores over the same period to ensure more income to them and to cut down the role of middlemen.

Besides, it will lead to accelerated market access and reduction in transportation costs for producers, she said.

Walmart will also seek to source from a local farmer producer organisation in every state where it has stores.

Deepening its commitment to smallholder farmers in the country, she said these farmers are the backbone of the Indian economy, with more than 50 per cent of the total workforce employed in the sector.

This, she said, is aimed at bolstering the efforts of the NDA government at the Centre to improve food security in the country and boost the overall economy and to meet the ambitious goal to double farmers' income by 2022...Read More