Monthly Archives: May 2020

By Anthonie Cilliers

Over the last 140 years, burning coal for electricity generation has provided the backbone of economic development, supporting industrialisation and becoming the backbone of an exponential improvement in the quality of life.

Just more than a 100 years ago, the discovery of oil in the Middle East has resulted in similar advances in the quality of life as well as accumulation of wealth, and supports now the world economy to such an extent that seems virtually impossible to break our dependence on it.

Read more about:Energy accessEconomic transformation

Of course, this fossil-fuel-based economic growth was made possible by the 2 to 3.5-fold increase in energy density compared to burning wood for our energy needs. Subsequent economic development has enabled people in developed countries to afford to be more environmentally conscious and that is a good thing.

However, large parts of the world have been left out of this massive development: wealth gaps have grown to such an extent that countries in Africa and many in Asia will remain dependent on support from developed countries. In fact, energy poverty is the largest limiting factor to economic growth facing the developing world today.

If that was the only challenge facing the developing world today, it would have been relatively simple to overcome. But with all the advances that came from the use of fossil fuels came hefty impacts on the environment, including ocean acidification and changes in climate that have resulted in more arid regions, especially in Africa.

The world needs to break its reliance on fossil fuels at the expense of the developing world no doubt a tough pill to swallow.

Luckily, several solutions to these problems have been developed over the last few decades. Renewable energy, spearheaded by wind and solar, have shown some promise.

A drawback is that these represent a major step back in energy density, and even if harvesting the energy from wind and solar has developed into an exact science, they remain the most resource-intensive sources of energy per unit.

Add to this the issue of intermittency, and were left with a climate conundrum the availability of clean dispatchable energy sources to support intermittent energy sources are limited to only two: large-scale hydro, and nuclear power, neither without its own challenges.

While the use of hydropower is limited geographically to countries with large river systems that flow year-round, nuclear power is the only all-round viable low carbon dispatchable energy solution but its struggling to get real momentum behind it in the drive to carbon neutrality.

One of the main reasons for this is economic, given that conventional nuclear power plants (NPPs) are large in size and therefore require lots of capital to plan and construct. The significant price tag is often limiting the appetite of private capital to invest in these plants. NPP also take long to build, costing money and accumulating interest during construction.

These factors are undeniable, but a singular focus on them distorts how these costs level out in the long-run, which make nuclear in fact a viable option. For example, pressurised water reactors are big, but also produce output between 1,000MW to 1,650MW electrical, per reactor.

Important to note here is that they can sustain this output for decades, as reactor design life is typically 60 years, with an option to extend to 80 years.

As a result, the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) over the NPPs life is in actuality quite low and very competitive. For this reason, nuclear power has been more successful within long term government programmes to support economic growth.

The long plant life also means that once a large build programme, such as what happened in the US and France, is complete, new installations become few and far between.

Because of the large capital investment, and the low variable cost of operations, nuclear plants are most cost-effective when they can run all the time to provide a return on the investment. Hence, plant operators now consistently achieve 92% capacity factor (average power produced of maximum capacity). The higher the capacity factor, the lower the cost per unit of electricity.

Unfortunately, with electricity grids utilising more intermittent solar and wind, maintaining a high capacity factor becomes a challenge. Intermittent sources displace power produced by other sources when they come online, forcing NPPs to ramp down. The cost of that unserved energy often makes nuclear power artificially uneconomical on high penetration intermittent grids.

Considering the generally positive long-term cost calculation, a number of countries in the Middle East, North Africa region (MENA), including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan, have expressed strong interest in nuclear power.

These countries have been willing to (partially) support the large capital outlay required for NPPS, and either already possesses or have the ability to set up the grid infrastructure to support them.

That leaves the planning for a cost-effective realisation of the technology. Here, the correct and accurate cost assumptions are key: consistent operation at around 92% needs to be ensured, that is, their capacity should not be changed by adding intermittent power to the grid. Only then can long-term reliable electricity that reduces in cost over time in nominal terms be realised.

Finally, the cost of capital needs to be reflective of the real world. A good discount rate to assume for funding nuclear power plants is around 3%.

This rate rewards longer plant lives and does not penalise longer construction delays. If the overnight cost of $6,000/kW can be secured, over 60 years at a discount rate of 3%, no low carbon dispatchable energy source will match the cost-effectiveness of nuclear power.

Considering the massive challenges ahead of us, nuclear power deserves a seat at the clean energy table. Now that the UAE, Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh, China and India are in the process of building and commissioning new NPPs, we can expect to see massive drops in CO2-emissions for each unit coming online not to mention the benefits of the socio-economic injection coming from embarking on these mega-projects. It is now time to up the game if we hope to reduce global reliance on fossil fuels.

Article originally published on http://www.sustainability-times.com and republished with minor edits under Creative Commons license.

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Op-Ed: Energy poverty is the largest limiting factor to economic growth - ESI Africa

In February 2020, the Tungsten Explorer drilling ship launched operations to explore potential gas and oil deposits in part of the Lebanese seabed. In theory, during the first year of production, these hydrocarbons could generate US$8 billion some 7.25 billion according to a study by Lebanese bank Credit Libanais. Lebanon, caught in the throes of a banking, monetary and financial crisis, is looking for a ray of light at the bottom of the sea.

The Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, referred to the launch of the drilling operations conducted by a consortium of energy giants comprising Total (French), ENI (Italian) and Novatek (Russian) as an opportunity to rise from the abyss. But not everyone shares his optimism.

Its irresponsible to make people believe that this sector will save the country. No reliable forecast can be made until an actual discovery is made, explains Sibylle Rizk, board member of the NGO Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative (LOGI) and representative of the Kulluna Irada NGO, which focuses on political reform. The likelihood of finding a marketable deposit is 25 per cent and it is estimated that the resources would take seven years to be accessible.

Exploration, particularly offshore exploration, is a long process, with lots of challenges and uncertainties. So, expectations should be kept in check, says Mona Sukkarieh, risk analyst and co-founder of the Middle East Strategic Perspectives think tank.

In March 2020, the Lebanese government declared itself in suspension of payments, strangled by a public debt equal to 170 per cent of its GDP, according to official figures. The economic crisis stemming from COVID-19 was the last straw in a country with forty per cent of the population living under the poverty line. The scale of the damage is now such that no deposit, other than one of the size they have in Saudi Arabia or Qatar, will be enough to cover our losses, says Rizk, adding that she does not agree with allocating resources belonging to this and future generations to cover losses caused by three decades of bad governance.

The high levels of corruption in the country also create misgivings about the future distribution of the resources. Lebanon is totally bankrupt, and not just the state but the entire economy. Lebanons system of governance is totally bankrupt and, so, entrusting a potentially wealthy sector to such a governance system is very dangerous, warns Rizk, who also, as a representative of the LOGI, advocates for good governance to ensure that the resources be used in the public interest rather that to serve private interests.

The Italo-Franco-Russian consortium is expected to start operations in another part of Lebanons maritime space this year, but the jurisdiction of a strip of this area is disputed by Israel. Lebanon is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), but Israel is not, so the guidelines for demarcating their maritime boundaries are not the same. And because the economic interest is not clear, no one is willing to budge, says Rizk. The negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are blocked.

Lebanon is a decade behind in the race to exploit offshore oil and gas resources. In 2009, when it was discovered that the eastern Mediterranean basin may, according to estimates of the US Geological Survey, house a mean of 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, expectations were raised that the countries of the east Mediterranean basin would leave behind their dependence on foreign energy and become exporters to the European market. But the complex web of geopolitical interests has dampened the initial optimism.

Egypt and Israel are the only gas exporters in the Mediterranean for now; Cyprus, Turkey and Lebanon have launched exploration; Greece plans to start drilling this year, and the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip has prevented Palestinians from accessing the deposit discovered in their waters in 1999.

For many years Ive been hearing how the discovery of gas in the East Med was going to bring everybody wealth and peace, because they would have too much to lose. But it hasnt worked out that way, says Steven Cook, a senior analyst for the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank.

Territorial disputes such as those between Cyprus and Turkey or Lebanon and Israel, coupled with the deterioration of Ankaras relations with its neighbours, have increased regional tensions. I dont really see how they are going to avoid the resource curse, says Cook.

Given the exploitation and transportation costs, regional coordination is essential to making hydrocarbon extraction viable. In 2019, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority founded the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF). Turkey was excluded. Sukkarieh points out that although the EMGF is a platform to facilitate discussions among the regional players, the poor relationship between these countries and Turkey is also probably a factor that has encouraged the rapprochement among the members of the forum. Turkey, meanwhile, is feeling suspicious, says Cook. It feels that it has been cast out of its own neighbourhood, which is why the Turks have concluded their provocative agreement with the Libyans.

Last November, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, and Libyas Government of National Accord redrew their exclusive economic zones (under international law, this zone extends from the baseline to a maximum distance of 200 nautical miles 370.4 km or 230.2 miles), overlapping with Greek, Egyptian and Cypriot waters. After months of escalating tension, in February 2020, the Council of the EU took restrictive measures in response to Turkeys illegal drilling activities in Cyprus exclusive economic zone.

The historical conflict between Turkey and Cyprus is at the root of these territorial disputes: Ankara does not recognise the exclusive sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the island, and, in addition, is not a signatory to the UNCLOS Convention on the Law of the Sea, and therefore considers that it has maritime jurisdiction over waters laid claim to by the Republic of Cyprus.

If Turkey were to be left out of the distribution of resources in the eastern Mediterranean, it would lose its strategic position as a transit country for Russian gas to Europe. But Erdogans aggressive tactics, such as sending a warship in 2018 to prevent an Italian ship from drilling off the coast of Cyprus, do not seem to be helping ease its regional isolation. In the meantime, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and Greece are weaving new networks. I dont think the Israelis, Egyptians or the Greeks are willing to pay the price for their relationship with Turkey, given how provocative its moves have been, says Cook.

The distance between Ankara and Brussels increased after the recent opening of Turkish borders to allow refugees into the European Union. I dont see any major global power coming in and playing a kind of referee between all these groups, says Cook, who does not rule out the accidental outbreak of a conflict in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, Greece, Israel and Cyprus agreed, in January 2020, to build the EastMed pipeline: 1,900 km of underwater pipes connecting Israeli deposits with southern Europe, at an estimated cost of 6 billion (about US$6.6 billion).

Sukkarieh has her doubts about the competitiveness of the proposed pipeline, for two reasons: Russian gas is cheaper and Egypt already has LNG terminals in place to liquefy and export gas. Added to that, Turkey is laying claim to an area that the pipeline would pass through.

For Cook, the insistence on pushing ahead with the pipeline project, regardless of the serious commercial and geopolitical challenges, is down to geostrategic interests. From an Israeli perspective, the influence gained by being a supplier of gas to Europe may help to blunt European public criticism and policies towards Israel over issues like the Palestinians, the analyst explains.

The European Union, for its part, wants to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, which accounts for 40 per cent of its supplies. Russia, as a major gas supplier, is obviously going to lose out if the East Med pipeline comes to fruition, explains Cook. But Moscow has already positioned itself by obtaining the exploitation concession on the Syrian coast and taking part in the exploration of Lebanese waters.

Seismic airguns are used in the perforation of the seafloor, which can produce lethal acoustic injury to whales, dolphins, turtles and sharks, according to Ziad Samaha and Maria del Mar Otero, marine experts from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They caution that many of the species that make up the seafloor ecosystem would be affected by the sediments and debris generated by the drilling. Drilling uses certain oil-based fluids and produces muds that can introduce heavy metals and other toxic materials into the marine ecosystem, warn Samaha and Otero.

The risk of accidental oil spills would also put birds and marine mammals at risk. And the backdrop to this is the European Green Deal adopted by the European Commission, which calls for a move away from fossil fuels, such as oil, to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

Gas is often presented as a clean fossil fuel because it emits up to 50 per cent less CO2 when combusted than coal or oil. The IUCN, however, warns that drilling and extraction of natural gas from wells and its transportation through pipelines can also result in the leakage of methane. Methane gas is responsible for 25 per cent of global warming, according to the Global Energy Monitor.

Gas is not a bridge fuel or transitional fuel from dirty energy to a cleaner one, if we really want to reach a sustainable liveable future we have to decrease our dependency on any kind of fossil fuels, insists Efe Baysal, an environmental rights activist from the 350.org platform.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the expansion of the gas industry is incompatible with the goal set by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

In the Lebanese context, however, gas could, in fact, be considered a comparatively cleaner energy. The countrys power plants are unable to produce electricity 24 hours a day, so the Lebanese use highly-polluting electricity generators during the daily power cuts. Rizk explains that, given the situation in Lebanon, securing 30 to 40 per cent renewable energy within a few years would already constitute a success. As for the remaining 60 per cent, if rather than importing it we can benefit from our own resources, it would make sense for us to use them, she argues.

All will depend on what the Tungsten Explorer finds at the bottom of the sea.

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Lebanon enters the eastern Mediterranean's oil and gas fray - Equal Times

The ways in which the media has covered the plastics debate have sometimes clouded consumer perceptions, to put it mildly. Victoria Hattersley spoke to Libby Peake, head of resource policy at the independent Green Alliance think tank, about its study on the grocery sectors response to the packaging waste problem, published earlier this year, and the response it has generated.

As part of its work for the Circular Economy Task Force, in early January this year the Green Alliance published a report, Plastic promises: what the grocery sector is really doing about packaging, which suggested that we are seeing a disjointed and potentially counterproductive approach to solving plastic pollution, with brand owners on the verge of swapping to other materials that may have even more serious environmental consequences such as higher carbon emissions.

This is no surprise to us any regular readers of Packaging Europe will be aware that we have long argued the need for nuance in the plastics debate. That our approach to sustainability should encompass wider issues of climate change, and that tackling plastic waste means viewing the material as a valuable commodity that should be re-used and recycled accordingly, rather than demonizing it. And while shows like Blue Planet II have been fantastic for drawing our attention to the huge global climate challenges we face, they have also unwittingly contributed to the narrative that plastics are the cause of our environmental ills.

On this subject, the reaction to the Green Alliance report edges a wider issue into the frame: the role the media has to play in covering such stories and the partial responsibility it should take when consumers reach inaccurate conclusions. Headlines such as Break the plastic habit!, while no doubt eye-grabbing, are too simplistic. Unfortunately, its usually the case that simple narratives have more impact, and its almost impossible to convey such a complex issue in a few words.

We cant just replace plastics

One of the central quotes from the report was this: We are aware that [by switching from plastic to other materials] we may, in some cases, be increasing our carbon footprint.

But some of the press coverage [to the report] was not accurate and some headlines while not being wrong werent what we would have chosen and might have led a reader to assume we were saying we should keep using plastic exactly as we had been that it was an either / or which doesnt come close to conveying the nuance of our argument, says Libby Peake.

According to Libby, one of the biggest frustrations is the assumption, since the emergence of the plastics backlash, that its better to replace plastics with alternative materials. One of the most important points we included in the report is that almost everyone now thinks its equally important to tackle climate change and plastics. People hadnt necessarily connected the two before and were looking to separate one from the other. Were trying to promote that you need to address both in conjunction.

[Following the plastics backlash] there has been an automatic assumption that plastic should be replaced with other items. But bear in mind that for every tonne of aluminium that is on the market, 12 tonnes of waste is produced and that includes toxic waste. Glass has a really high carbon impact, especially single-use, and if youre shipping it from far away there are higher carbon emissions. If youre looking at cartons, theyre often multilayer which makes them difficult to recycle and its not a closed loop system. Our report is trying to show not that we should continue using plastics as we have been, but that we cant just replace plastics in this inefficient recycling system we have. After all, if its an inefficient system for plastics it will be inefficient for other materials, too.

It doesnt help, of course, that there is an inevitable pushback from those who advocate for these alternative materials. For example, in response to the Green Alliance report, Jenni Richards, federation manager of British Glass, was reported as saying: While we cant disagree that glass is heavier [during transportation], the bigger picture is that glass has the perfect qualities for a truly circular economy and our industry is taking great steps to achieve NetZero carbon emissions.

And yes, glass has its place too, as does aluminium and cartonboard. No one material should be scapegoated if we are to find an approach to packaging that works across the board and develop more efficient recycling infrastructure.

A lot more emphasis on reduction

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of packaging waste (and that goes for alternative materials as much as for plastics), but one thing Libby Peake is clear about is that there needs to be more of a focus on reduce as opposed to replace. Again, were all familiar with the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra but its gaining ever more traction.

Take some of the examples weve been seeing recently of big brands responding to the plastics outcry by substituting single-use plastic items with other materials which can use up more resources to produce, dont work as efficiently and are not getting to the root of the problem in any case (the McDonalds paper straw, to give a particularly well-known instance).

If you think about it, most adults dont need to use straws at all, she says. We should be encouraging a system where there is a lot more emphasis on cutting out unnecessary items. Then you get similar situations where single-use plastic bags for bakery items are being replaced by single-use paper where there could instead be reusable items or no bags whatsoever.

And hand-in-hand with reduction, she says, should come a greater simplification of the entire plastics production infrastructure granted, this will take some time, but the benefits when it comes to recycling and the supply of high-quality recyclate would be considerable. Theres a tension with plastics in particular; an awareness that we need to rationalize polymers so that we are only using, say, HDPE, PP or PET while phasing out the more niche materials like PVC or polystyrene.

Other countries throughout Europe might also follow the model of places like Norway, which has a notably high quality of recycled plastics because items are collected completely separately so there is less contamination of the supply chain.

Re-use: Great potential

One positive development, as far as Libby Peake is concerned, is the steady rise of re-use and refill packaging models. There is certainly an increased interest on the part of the industry and consumers, but in order for this to really take off she feels there needs to be more of a focus on incentivization.

In the UK, for example, the single-use carrier bag charge is meant to reduce littering which it has done but we have found that people are still using multi-use carrier bags as single-use. We definitely need more of a cultural shift so we get people using these systems in the right places. Some of the obvious places to start introducing such models include carrier bags, home delivery refill models, the Terracycle Loop model operating on the milkman model, and so on. These offer great potential and wed like to see them introduced in a systemic way thats not increasing overall environmental impact and material use.

What does she have in mind when she talks about incentivization? Lets take bags for life: they currently cost 10 pence in the UK, but if you made them much more expensive, they would be more inclined to embed the right behaviours. Or if you make it harder to do single-use for example charging for plastic coffee cups that are single-use then its more incentivizing for consumers to switch to multi-use. Academic research says people would be more inclined to use reusable coffee cups if there is a charge attached to them. (In case youre interested, a report released last year by Zero Waste Scotland is a case in point.) The key here is to factor environmental cost into the value of a package not just the money it takes to produce.

Unhelpful and misleading claims

One part of the equation we have not discussed so far is compostable and biodegradable packaging. This is a perfect example of how press reports and also the industry itself can further muddy the waters of consumer understanding. According to the Green Alliance report, Consumers are hugely confused about what bio-based, compostable and biodegradable mean.

Why is this such a problem? Theres too much greenwashing across the board and very little to stop companies making unhelpful and misleading claims to consumers, says Libby Peake. Compostable or biodegradable plastics are a particular concern, though, because they are viewed very favourably by the public, but theres little understanding about what the terms mean, nowhere near enough control over material standards and a lack of the right infrastructure to deal with them in many instances. The UN has suggested that using the term biodegradable could actually encourage people to litter. So, we should stop using that term, and make sure that compostables clearly look different from conventional plastic, to make it as simple as possible for people to know what to do with material.

Thats not to say we should be avoiding compostables altogether they have great potential its just that they need to be used in the right context.

Novel materials like compostable plastics have the potential to improve environmental performance in some instances, but only if theyre used in the correct situations and dont wind up in the wrong place, so its important to factor in systems thinking from the start. We think compostable plastic liners for food collection are an obvious place to start.

There are a couple of major hurdles that need to be addressed for them to succeed generally, though. The first relates to standards and infrastructure. At the moment, material is allowed on the market that isnt certified compostable, which shouldnt be allowed. Weve also heard from several industrial composters that even certified compostable material particularly rigid plastics dont degrade in the UKs current industrial composting infrastructure, so those existing standards should be adjusted to reflect real life conditions.

Joined-up action

Of course, the average consumer cannot be expected to be an expert in the labyrinthine ramifications of every packaging material. (Even as someone who writes for the packaging industry I cant hope to be an inviolable authority on all the myriad technical issues, nuances, debates and counter-debates that encompass the vast packaging industry and all the other industries that feed into it.) But while companies must clearly play their part by remaining transparent about the challenges they face and the environmental costs of the materials they use, it cannot be solely down to the industry to educate them. What is sorely needed, says Libby Peake, is more top-down leadership. (Another quote from the report is worth throwing in here: If I could have a magic wand, Id like to see more joined up, top-down government intervention We would like to see government be braver.)

While the Green Alliance is a UK-based organization and any recommendations it gives as a result of its report are for this market, the conclusions it draws could apply to any countrys recycling system. Businesses are all competing and developing strategies that go in different directions; at some point there needs to be a homogenous approach. There has been some leadership in the grocery sector with the big players autonomously mandating what should be used, but the body that has the most potential to influence the supply chain is of course the government. We need to level the playing field.

Cautious optimism

All well and good. But at the risk of labouring a gloomy point, the UK is not nor perhaps will be for the foreseeable in a position to give lessons to the rest of Europe on how such things should be done. At a time when what we need is a recognition of our shared responsibilities, the UK is wilfully pulling in the opposite direction. But enough of that subject (for now). Time will tell, they say only time isnt necessarily a commodity any of us has in abundance.

So finally, to bring us back to my original question whats in a headline? Quite a lot, in fact. At Packaging Europe, as with all other members of the press and all sectors of the packaging value chain, we are not without responsibility to ensure that we discuss environmental issues in as accurate and transparent a way as possible. And no doubt we have fallen short here in the past just like everyone else. We can always strive to do better.

But youre a writer, you say (well I claim to be), so of course you think language is important. But in such contexts, its important for everyone. After all, were not talking about the pros and cons of a new kitchen gadget; its far more important than that. And were firmly in an age of clickbait headlines (like the one for this article, some might of course suggest) and where anybody can post whatever they like online and others can take it as gospel. Where there is no requirement to back up what you say on a social media site with fact.

But Libby Peake does voice a note of cautious optimism for the future. There are more instances now of people thinking about the long-term consequences of knee-jerk reactions to plastic waste, and that you cant just shift the environmental burden. Its been a bit of a journey but I believe were getting there and I hope things are slowly being pushed in the right direction.

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Whats in a headline? The challenge of reporting on packaging waste - Packaging Europe

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a massive reverse migration from the destination to source in large parts of the country. We witness hundreds of thousands of labourers marching back to their villages in order to find some warmth and empathy more than anything else, as the rest is going to be too hard to come by. This article is about that migration.

The available data indicates a widely differing reality about migrants in India. While, as per Census 2011, the total number of internal migrants would be 450 millionmore than 30% higher than 2001the actual numbers perhaps are higher than what is captured by the census. Field realities do indicate that Uttar Pradesh (uP) and Bihar are the biggest source states of migrants, followed closely by Madhya Pradesh (MP), Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal; the major destination states are Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Another marked change in the migration pattern in the last decade has been the interstate movement to new growth centres, especially in small and medium sized towns and million plus cities. However, the defining feature of who is a migrant is rather flexible, even in official records. Usually the migrants do get defined on the basis of place of birth or last place of residence and a deviation from it. Hence, such a characterisation puts severe constraint to understand the issue of migrants in this form of definitional context.

Compounding the issue is another limitation in the analysis as the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) as well as the census fail to capture the short-term seasonal movements, which form a large component of the migration process. Apart from the above, there are other issues too that relate to the problems of data. These are the inadequacies in capturing the extent of tabulating the migration of children of a particular age group as well as women who would accompany the household heads to the destination points. The data is also inadequate in terms of understanding the very large-scale migrations that occur from tribal areas and of tribal and Scheduled Caste people. We, however, do know that in the last two and a half decades, India has urbanised at a rapid rate, and this urbanisation is built on the labour of the migrant population as well as the services to a rapidly urbanising India. Hence, a very rough estimate would put Indias migrant labour, which would include daily wage labour, local migrants, seasonal migrants and long-distance migrants, at a fairly large numbers than what is computed.

Source and Destination Points

So what are the major streams as well as the sources and destination points of this vast mass of migrant population? First, the major area of work they are engaged in would be agriculture labour, brick kilns, construction sites, services (maids to watchmen to drivers) industrial non-skilled workers, small and tiny road side businesses (tea shops, dhabas, small eateries, hotels, restaurants, etc).1 This entire workforce falls under the informal sector, which, of course, constitutes 93% of Indias total workforce. The total Indian informal sector workforce is calculated at around upward of 450 million as per varying estimates.

Where were the migrant labour deployed in the peri urban and urban locales of the economy? Certain studies on this issue do come up with some major areas. It does appear that the major concentration of the migrant labour in the urban economy was on the construction sites, and brick kilns located at the edge of the peri-urban areas followed by the concentration of unskilled ones who are on daily wages (employed from the daily wage labour markets or the naka, which is ubiquitous these days in all our cities). The other major area of migrant labour employment is, of course, the green revolution states of Punjab, etc, and related areas as well as the sugar cane growing areas and the three-crop areas. These were seasonal migrants. Apart from these, there were of course the other service sector areas that accounted for migrant labour employment.

There have been issues raised in terms of whether this kind of migration is due to distress or is opportunity-oriented. Given the nature as well as the shared experiences, the so-called source regions are inscribed by low social and economic developmental indices. Large-scale migration induced by greater and greener pastures of economic growth is largely a myth, as most of the migration is for subsistence and survival and falls under the citatory of distress migration.

Given the diverse realities of expanding of urban settlements in which lives of migrants are embedded, it is important to note that the coping strategy of the migrants constantly vacillates between the inhuman work conditions of urban and peri-urban India on the one hand and the impoverished and destitute landscape of the rural on the other. The significance of the source village in the coping strategy of the migrants differs with the varying stages of the work cycle of migrants. Invariably, the outer limits of these individual or group adaptive strategies are determined by the work opportunities and survival conditions at source and destination. It is here that region specificity and the possibilities of different contexts assume significance. Such contexts create a characteristic heterogeneity that is fully understood in terms of a sliding scale, a continuum on which only the extremes on both sides are in sharp contrast to each other (Breman 2013a: 8081).

Failed Development

The so-called source regions that see a large influx of migrants to the destination regions are Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, MP, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, largely eastern Up, parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat (especially the tribal areas). Invariably, these regions internally also experience chronic drought, have deforested landscapes and devastated agro-ecologies that bear the imprints of tardy implementation of welfare schemes as well as schemes in the arena of agriculture services of soil and water conservation. This failed development contributes to the continuation of poor resource bases and assets of marginal and small farmers, which is accentuated by the persistence of a context of subjugation that perpetuates severe economic deprivation and thrives on entrenched social discriminationthe exploitation of the poor, the landless, and the castes at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

Due to the young male population out-migrating, the source econiches are also getting increasingly characterised by the feminisation of agriculture that has meant the largely distress-induced participation of women. Thus, migration is not a reflection of failed agricultural policy alone. It can be viewed as a risk diversification strategy, and the remittances do contribute a share in household incomes. The issue, however, is the low threshold of such incomes that perpetually keeps families at subsistence levels. Thus, the world of migrants is shaping urban transformations as a captive construction force where each seasonal brick kiln worker, semi-permanent to permanent casual construction worker, loader, carter and carrier, and domestic worker occupies a different niche and provides cheap and often unaccounted human labour that shapes our peri-urban and urban landscape. The Table (p 29) below presents a representative example of movements between source and destination regions in some selected parts of India.

Seasonal migration is circulatory in character, and even for semi-permanent and permanent migrants, source continues to be the only social reality they could draw upon. In the narratives of most of the migrants, source is equally important as destination. In fact, the cash remittances from seasonal migration often complement the meagre agricultural produce from which food security of the household is somehow met. As so many of the migrants testify, cash earned from the destination helps them negotiate the rural economy that is increasingly monetised.

Old and New Forms of Subjugation

Thus, in the overall context of the ongoing urbanisation and rural industrialisation, what needs to be understood is the manner in which the subordination, exploitation and control of labour takes new forms that are a combination and an ingenuous adaptation of the older forms of control and bondage contextualised to new conditions of capitalism. It is necessary to comprehend the reproduction of vestiges of older forms to better understand processes internal to the new conditions of capitalism. The core of labour servitude draws upon older forms of subjugation, thus offsetting the belief propagated by capitalism that it is based on free labour. Instead, it would be worthwhile to develop a perspective that offers useful insights into the realities of the institutionalisation of labour vulnerabilities through an adaptive system of labour exploitation. In proposing the term industrial serfs, there is an effort to delineate the contours of the age old contrast between freedom and servitude, to see what it received from the past, as if passing it through a prism, and transmitted it to succeeding ages (Bloch 1962: 279). Mapping the world of the unorganised poor in India clearly shows that capitalism is not dissolving this matrix of social institutions but reconfiguring them slowly, unevenly and in a great diversity of ways (White and Gooptu 2001: 89119, 90).

It is in this context that the term neo-bondage suggested by Jan Breman is more appropriate as it captures the experience and fate of footloose labour tied to a cycle of production that is seasonal and operates in different ways like a combination of advanced payments and postponed payments (Breman 2013b: 34345) Arguing that labour bondage is not likely to disappear when economic growth is sustained at its current rate of increase, Breman locates the continuation of this practice in the on-going restructuring of capital and suggests that

the emergence of neo-bondage is strongly connected to the reinforcement of the casualisation , informalisation of employment and reflects the increased monetisation of commodity exchanges and of social relationships. (Breman 2008: 8390, 86)

In labour studies, the aim is to understand and envisage a crude and primitive world with its moments of tragedy (Bloch 1962: 264). Being tied to the land and master is the defining attribute of classical (mostly pre-industrial) versions of serfdom. The associated attribute that, by default, grips the serf is the lack of any new opportunities to learn new skills. In modern times, especially after liberalisation, there is a transition to a bondage that is more rooted in the immobility of the structures of capital.

It is in this context that we need to understand the world of farmers, the agriculture labourers and the nomads who, today, inscribe the world of the migrants. The pauperisation of the habitats of that world has led to the creation of conditions in which labour is being harnessed in a most iniquitous manner by the emerging capitalist system today. The nature of such a process should then, inevitably, lead to a major political and societal crisis, where the edifice of urbanisation, driven by an economy riding on debt, may totter. Perhaps, this is why we see a reverse migration today as the destination is soulless and devoid of any other meaning other than deriving profits and cheap labour. However, what is the situation in the destination?

Effects of the Lockdown

The imposition of the lockdown as a measure to contain the exponential progression of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the unskilled and semi-skilled migrant labourers the most. In the last few weeks, we have all been witness to harrowing, nerve-wrenching and bone-chilling images of the exodus of these marginal and invisible drivers of the informal economy of urban India. Indian highways emptied of most vehicles were lined with bedraggled, poor pedestrians, many carrying all their worldly belongings in bundles on top of their heads walking to their home villages, hundreds or thousands of miles away across states. Add to that equally desperate attempts by small distance migrants to somehow reach their destination from medium-sized towns and cities and we have a scenario of crowding back villages that constitute the famished and dried up source. Even as this is being written, there are field reports emerging about scarcity of food and water compounding the dried source. The issue of crop harvest for rabi and the sowing of kharif will create some relief in the short run but the source regions cannot be relied upon to take the additional load of the returning sons and daughters of the region. Rough estimates indicate that roughly more than 120 to 140 million are, at the moment, either walking back or are stranded in various camps. This number does not take into account the vast majority of slums that characterise our cities and house the migrants. The actual numbers wanting to return home would be fairly large. The post-coronavirus recovery of the shattered world of migrants would witness diverse and multiple realities. International Labour Organization estimates are that around about 400 million workers in the informal economy are at the risk of falling deeper into poverty during the crisis. What is the nature of this dried up source? What awaits the returning people at the source?

Agrarian Crisis and Migration

The so-called source over the last two and a half decades and more has witnessed an unprecedented crisis in the arena of agriculture. The source villages where these migrants have managed to return somehow are passing through an agrarian crisis that gets firmly inscribed in these diverse ecoscapes of India with each passing agricultural season. The majority of them are smallholder subsistence economies reeling under the crisis of falling productivity, water scarcity, crisis of other livelihood options, and competing claims by private capital on natural resource endowments. The lands are now fragmented to such an extent that the bottom 50% are cultivating 0.4% of the total cultivable lands. This is, of course, compounded by low investments in agriculture, negligible capital formation, debt-ridden farming and improper price mechanisms that farmers have to deal with. A combination of these elements over the last two and a half decades has resulted in lakhs of farmers committing suicides and turning the agrarian rural landscape into a barren one. Moreover, the average holdings have drastically reduced to almost 1.13 hectare, and it was this agrarian crisis which, in the first place, induced the migration from the agrarian areas to the rapidly urbanising areas. We must also take into account the fact that Indian agriculture for the last two decades and more is in a terminal crisis, and it cannot hope to sustain this pressure on land and resources in an instant manner. For Indian agriculture to sustain, the new post-coronavirus rural would be the last straw.

Hence, the process of recovery is going to be long-drawn-out and painful for those who would opt for meager options available at source and equally for those who would be looking for opportunities in urban spaces. Due to the diffused nature of Indias urbanisation and the phased-out partial manner in which the lockdown is going to be lifted, the contractor-driven labour supply chains are going to take time to get regrouped. Some sectors, especially construction that accounts for a large proportion out of the streams of migrant workers, are not going to recover soon. There is going to be an increased pressure on interstate migration to nearby towns and cities that may not be able to offer much. Overcrowding and cheap supply of labour would have disastrous consequences for collective bargaining, security and entitlements of the labouring classes.

Need for a Charter of Rights

In such a context where the capability of the source is already severely compromised, social kinship ties with their embedded hierarchies are going to compound the crisis of human survival in these regions as they would be stretched out to their fullest limits. The pressure of this reverse migration is going to be felt in the fields of agriculture and allied activity and will put immense pressure on a system that is already broken. We need a complete transformation of economic and administrative processes, practices and policies to enable the rural to face up to the issues that the coronavirus-induced reverse migration has thrown up. We need a charter of the rights of the working population across the board that ensures the right to livelihood, food, security and above all dignity of labour. Such a charter should become the guiding principle in the post-coronavirus phase of Indias polity and economy. A failure to consider the above will result in a calamity.

Note

1 This observation is based on fieldwork on the issues of migrant workers in five states: Odisha, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. This fieldwork was funded by Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts.

References

Bloch, Marc (1962): Feudal Society, Volume I, The Growth of Ties of Dependence, UK: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Breman, Jan (2008): On Labour Bondage, Old and New, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol 51, No 1.

(2013a): Circulation and Immobilisation of Labour at Work in the Informal Economy of India: A Perspective from Bottom Up, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

(2013b): Neo-bondage: A Field Work Based Account, At Work in the Informal Economy of India: A Perspective from Bottom Up, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Denis, E and K Marius-Gnanou (2011): Toward a Better Appraisal of Urbanisation in India, Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography 569.

White, Barbara Harris S and Nandini Gooptu (2001): Mapping Indias World of Unorganised Labour, Socialist Register, Vol 37.

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Migration and Reverse Migration in the Age of COVID-19 - Economic and Political Weekly

May 11, 2020 @ 15:37 by Steven Hugill

A North East business membership organisation has launched a programme to instil fresh confidence across the regions commercial environment.

The Entrepreneurs Forum has unveiled the Forward initiative.

Shaped by the views of members and partners, the scheme revolves around a programme of events that combine expertise and experience to focus on a successful future.

Jonathan Lamb, the Forums chief executive, says the resource together with access to additional mentoring and professional advice will allow members to prepare for opportunities that will arise as the country and the world begins to emerge from COVID-19 lockdown.

The programme will initially continue with online events which will evolve into physical events as restrictions are eased and focus on a range of subjects to help members lay foundations for sustained growth.

For the past six weeks, many businesses have been focused on dealing with the immediate challenges created by the lockdown, such as changing working practices, staffing and finance, said Jonathan [pictured].

However, now is the time to look to the future and the opportunities it will bring.

While supporting our members to overcome the current challenges of COVID-19 is still our priority, our Forward programme shines a light on the optimism and positivity of our regions business owners who are already making long-term plans for business growth and prosperity.

Many entrepreneurs have had to revaluate how their business works and we must now all work together, proactively, to develop successful long-term strategies and ensure entrepreneurs continue to drive the North East economy forward.

Reacting to the Forums announcement, Colin Hewitt, head of the company commercial team at Newcastle-based law firm Ward Hadaway, said: Moving forward means understanding our clients needs and objectives and making sure we are in the best position and have the right skills to help them to succeed.

Our priority is to support our clients through these challenging times and being ready and able to help them take advantage of the opportunities that arise as the economy recovers.

Russell Croisdale, managing director of Encore Envelopes, which operates sites in Washington and Peterlee, east Durham, said it will continue investing in additional equipment during the second half of the year to meet a growing demand from existing clients and potential new sales.

He added: For our envelope business, after six months of significant research and development, we have two new lines, which were launching onto the marketplace to generate additional volumes into the market.

Dean Benson, founder and chief executive of Stockton-based e-commerce specialists Visualsoft, added: In general, the future is about innovation, buying online and supporting the business community.

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Entrepreneurs' Forum launches Forward initiative to boost business confidence - North East Times

Any trader who took the prime minister's advice and schlepped into the dealing room today is probably wondering why they bothered

The Bank of Englands chief economist, Andy Haldane has warned that the coronavirus pandemic could cause companies and households to curtail spending for some time.

All crises leave scars and this crisis assuredly will be no exception, said Haldane on a Royal Economic Society webcast.

On the plus side there have been indications of stabilisation in some spending measures recently, Haldane said, albeit at very low levels; the employment market remains a train wreck, however.

Talking of stabilising at low levels, the Footsie has apparently parked the bus at around the 5,927 level, down 9 points (0.2%).

US indices opened lower without even bothering to throw investors a dummy like the Footsie did this morning.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 181 points (0.8%) at 24,151 and the S&P 500 was odd 15 points (0.5%) at 2,915.

The Footsie has at least pared its losses and is now down 12 points (0.2%) at 5,924.

As has been the case in Europe, US shares are set to take a step back today.

Spread betting quotes point to the Dow Jones opening around 245 points lower at 24,086 and the S&P 500 30 points lower at 2,900.

On the earnings front, the first-quarter reporting season is now drawing to a close in the US and last week did see estimates revised up marginally. The consensus is now looking for a mere 12% year on year drop; however, this good news did not extend to projections for the rest of the year which continue to be revised lower, with a 40% fall now expected in the second quarter, said Rupert Thompson, the chief investment officer at asset manager, Kingswood.

In London, the FTSE 100s losses lengthened over the lunchtime session with the index drifting to 5,905, down 31 points (0.5%).

British Gas owner (), down 7.4% at 36.38p is jostling with budget airline easyJet PLC () for the Footsies wooden spoon ahead of the formers trading statement due out this week.

At the moment, easyJet is still holding the wooden spoon; the shares, which have lost two-thirds of their value this year, are down 8.1% at 488.48p after analysts at Citibanks said the Prime Ministers message on Sunday about the lockdown vague as it was does not bode well for the airline industry.

Johnson confirmed that travellers into the UK will be required to self-isolate on arrival in the UK.

Fears of a second wave of infections have soured equity investors initially optimistic mood today.

The FTSE 100 was down 9 points (0.2%) at 5,927.

Noting some worrying trends in Korea and Germany regarding the coronavirus, Saxo Banks Peter Garnry said"[The]number ofCOVID-19 cases have recently surgedand today saw 34 new cases the highest since 9 April as new chains of the virus has started at nightclubs in Seoul. This comes afterGermany just announced that its R0 (virus reproduction value) increased to 1.1as it opened up society. These stories tell us that reopening the economies may not be that easy and LesEchos has in collaboration with Kayrros-EY Consulting made a new real-time economic activity index based on satellite images. This shows thatChinese activity despite reopening is still down 25%from levels before the COVID-19 outbreak."

This obviously does not bode well for the tourism industry.

British Airways owner IAG PLC () remains under the cosh, as its boss, Willie Walsh, addressed parliaments transport committee.

The shares shed 3.6% at 183.6p after Walsh admitted the company was burning through cash.

Weve probably exhausted every avenue that I can think of at this stage to shore up our liquidity. The cash has been reducing significantly and that will be the case as we go through May, June and July. Were not taking in any revenue, Walsh told MPs.

Meanwhile, package tours operator and hotels owner (), up 1.4% at 268.6p, has unveiled a 10-point plan for the reopening of its hotels.

It means the end for the time being of the all you can eat self-service buffet, which is probably not a bad thing.

The 10 points can be accessed via the tweet below if you fancy practising your German, although curiously point one is online check-in, which suggests there is no 74-letter-long word for it in the German language.

Londons blue-chips are lower on balance after a bright start fizzled out.

The FTSE 100 was down 14 points (0.2%) at 5,922, with the heavily-weighted oil majors partly responsible for the decline as the oil price heads south.

() was down 1.8% at 310.25p and PLC () was off 0.7% at 1,254.6p as Brent crude for July delivery slipped 83 cents to US$30.14 a barrel.

Away from the big guns, Georgia Healthcare Group PLC (LON:GHG) was in rude health, up 14% at 92p after it signed a US$ 25mln two-year loan agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to fund potential working capital and operational expenditure requirements for the group's role in fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Sticking with eastern Europe, up for sale PLC (LON:VGA) shot up for the second day in succession after a consultant to the company was hoodwinked into revealing confidential information about the formal sales process.

A case of WhatsApp, doc?

London investors were bathing in sunny optimism on Monday morning in the hope of an imminent end to cabin fever.

The FTSE 100 was up 49 points (0.8%) at 5,984, although travel stocks were conspicuous by their absence from the list of risers.

Despite the first rumblings of a lifting of lockdown restrictions in the UK it seems fairly obvious that social distancing is likely to be with us for quite some time which means people will be travelling a lot less, as well as going out a lot less, according to CMCs Michael Hewson.

Small wonder then that low-cost airline easyJet PLC () was the Footsies biggest faller, with a 6.7% fall to 495.7p.

British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines () was down 3.2% at 184.45p while aerospace-focused engineers () and () were off 5.4% at 243.9p and 3.8% at 276.2p respectively.

Cruises operator (), down 1.7% at 921.2p, was also friendless as market pundits questioned how long it would take for international travel to become as prevalent as it was before the pandemic.

Away from the FTSE 100, Tissue Regenix PLC () was the star performer in early trading after it announced a new product line that should add materially to revenue over the next couple of years.

The shares shot up 30% to 0.875p after the company announced a collaboration with an unnamed top 10 global healthcare company.

() jumped 26% to 1.825p after it hooked up with telecoms giant BT to co-produce a new competitive gaming series, The BT Sport FIFA Challenge.

The FTSE 100 made a better than anticipated start to proceedings on Monday morning as the potential incremental easing of lockdown restrictions here in the UK outweighed worries over a second wave of coronavirus (COVID-19).

The index of UK blue-chips opened 57 points higher at 5,988.77.

That said, it was a confusing message from the UK prime minister, who has been panned by the opposition, the leaders of Scotland and Wales, and in the media. Adding to the mounting sense of chaos was cabinet member Dominic Raabs intervention, urging workers to stay at home until Wednesday this as commuter trains in London were already full to capacity.

Boris Johnsons plan to begin the phased and conditional re-opening of the UK economy has come under significant fire from many for being unclear and risking a second spike in the virus in the UK, said James Hughes at Scope Markets.

Intercontinental Hotel Group (), up 3.5%, led the blue-chip index with optimistic bargain hunters buoyed by a repeated buy recommendation from .

BT Group () enjoyed a 3.1% bounce after the recent sell-off, prompted by the cancellation of the dividend. The cash will be diverted into a 12bn scheme to roll fibre broadband out across the country, according to the Telegraph.

On the FTSE 250, there was some hope for investors in Cineworld () as the phased end to lockdown suggested that places such as multiplexes could start opening in July if all goes to plan. The stock was marked 6.4% higher.

Among the tiddlers, Open Orphan, the healthcare group, opened 22% higher after inking a COVID-19 testing deal.

Software group KRM22 surged 19% following a City fundraiser that brought in 1mln and was done at a premium to the prevailing share price.

() shares jumped in early deals on Monday followingnews of a farm-out deal for exploration permit (EP) 155 in the Amadeus Basin, in Australias Northern Territory. Westmarket Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of , has inked a deal to earn a 70% stake by investing in work programmes at the project. Mosman will retain 30% and the transaction allows for the AIM-quoted firm to be carried in an exploration well in return for a further 15% interest in the project.

() has partnered with BT Sport to co-produce a new competitive gaming series, The BT Sport FIFA Challenge. The esports firm said the six-episode series, which will encompass a four-team tournament featuring members of BT Sports football and rugby talent, will be produced remotely using BTs newly developed remote technology, while both firms will work together to oversee gaming content and competition elements. The series will use the FIFA20 video game developed by game developer EA Sports and will feature sports stars such as Robbie Savage, Joe Cole and Ugo Monye while Chelcee Grimes, singer, songwriter and Fulham Ladies player, will captain a women's team.

Bidstack Group PLC() has confirmed to investors that it will deliver in-game advertising forCodemasters Group Holdings PLCs () new DIRT 5 game. DIRT 5 is due for release in October 2020 on the new generation consoles Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 along with the current Xbox One and Playstation 4 systems and PC (via Steam). It will also be available via Google Stadia by early 2021. "It's great to be working with Codemasters, using our technology to deliver native in-game advertising for DIRT 5, which is the first racing game to be confirmed for the all-new Xbox Series x, James Draper, Bidstack chief executive said in a statement.

() has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Taipei-based nutraceuticals firm MAXCARE to commercialise its SlimBiome product in Taiwan. The AIM-listed group said MAXCARE was well placed to educate customers on the benefits and functionality SlimBiome can provide and had a team of registered dieticians to support commercialisation, with market exclusivity to be linked to minimum sales targets being achieved.

() has received a further loan of US$417,000 under the US government-backed coronavirus (COVID-19) business support scheme. This funding is in addition to the receipt of a similar loan, for US$629,000, announced in mid-April. Following receipt of the loan, the board now expects that the group's current cash runway will extend at least until after the first week of August.

() said its subsidiary hVIVO has agreed a coronavirus (COVID-19) antibody testing partnership with NASDAQ-listed medical devices firm . hVIVO will use s recently-certified MosaiQ system to screen for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The technology is 100% effective in detecting the tell-tale antibodies and was able to rule out a person having them in 98.8% of cases.

Open Orphan also announced the appointment of finnCap Ltd as its joint broker with immediate effect.

() has raised 4.75mln through a conditional share placing, with the funds earmarked for an accelerated drill programmeat the Zaranou gold projectin Cte d'Ivoire. The group is issuing some 67.85mln new shares priced at 7p each. The funding comprises two tranches, due to the companys existing allowances, with just over 50mln new shares issued in the first tranche and a further 17.8mln to be issued conditionally with the passing of resolutions at a general meeting in June.

PLC () () has said it will showcase data via four submissions at the virtual replacement for the worlds leading cancer conference. Leading the way aretwo poster sessions on StemPrintER atthe American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) summit. The technology is being developed to predict the potential recurrence of breast cancer. In one of those posters, there is a direct comparison of Tiziana's product with the current market leader, Oncotype DX. A further two e-abstracts assess the potential of the firms Milciclib drug candidate in treating hepatocellular carcinoma.

BlueRock Diamonds PLC () has said mining and processing operations have restarted at its Kareevlei diamond mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa. The company added that it expects to be operating at capacity by the end of this month but said that its expansion plans for the mine remain on hold.

() has acquired twenty purpose-built medical centres in England and Wales and conditionally signed contracts for a further two. The consideration is 47.1mln for the acquired centres with a further 6.9mln payable for the additional two. PHP said that the acquired properties are leased to GPs, NHS operators or pharmacies with 91% of their rental income backed by the UK government. The deal will increase the size of FTSE250- group's portfolio to 510 properties worth just under 2.5bn and with annual rents of 131mln.

() has updated investors on the Baita Plai polymetallic mine project, in Romania, where it has placed new hire Adrian Badita as general manager. In a statement, the firm said Badita, who will report into chief operating officer Craig Harvey, will be responsible for the overall management of Baita Plai including, but not limited, to ensuring the safety and health of all the team at the mine as well as implementing and monitoring the companys development plan.Badita is due to start his position on May 18. He brings over 20 years mining experience including progressive supervisory experience in all phases of the mining industry, with specific experience including drill & blast, haulage, waste management, risk management strategy and environmental site rehabilitation.

s (LON:AYP) has revealed that its business performance exceeded expectations in the first quarter of 2020. The commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, which is focused on life-threatening rare diseases, said its revenues in the first quarter of this year rose by 30% to US$44.6mln from US$34.3mln in the corresponding period of 2019. Revenues were 10% higher quarter-on-quarter. The group made an adjusted operating profit of US$4.6mln before finance expenses versus a loss of US$2.8mln in the same quarter of last year.

() has boosted the resource estimate at its Kizilcukur project in Turkey. The new resource stands at 21,100 ounces of gold and 620,000 ounces of silver, with contained metal on three main veins, the group said, with 85% of the tonnagein the measured and indicated categories. Higher grade ore has been found on the Zeki Main Vein, and trial mining has commenced, it added. "This is a significant improvement over the previous resource estimate, which integrates the latest drilling data and geological modelling, Arianas managing director Dr Kerim Sener said in a statement.

(), the exploration company-focused on West Africa, said it plans to commence its maiden drilling programme later this year on its Bibemi gold project in Cameroon, subject to the easing of coronavirus (COVID-19) related travel restrictions. The AIM-listed firm noted that results from its exploration programme in the fourth quarter of 2019 have enabled the company to expand its planned 2020 drilling campaign at the Bakassi Zone to almost 2,000 metres (m).

() has announced itis to acquire 21 prospecting licences inside the Kalahari Copper and Limpopo Mobile Belts in Botswana from Crocus-Serv (Pty) Ltd.covering 14,875 square kilometres. The consideration for the acquisition comprises 38.8mln shares and 10,082 in cash.Galileo will conduct due diligence during a 30-day exclusivity period. "We are very pleased with this proposed acquisition, Galileo chief executive Colin Bird said in a statement posted after the market close on Thursday.

s () has confirmed the onshore UK firm is fully funded for all its current drilling and well testing commitments in its full-year 2019 results statement. The AIM-quoted company told investors it had a 5.5mln cash balance at the start of May 2019 and it remains debt-free. "My confidence in respect of Union Jack's future remains highly positive, executive chairman David Bramhill said in the statement.

() said it has received initial test results from abulk sample of pegmatite-hosted lithium mineralisation taken from the Bougouni lithium project in southern Mali. The group said the recoveries from the Bougouni bulk sample rang in at up to 83%, to give a 5.5%-to-6% Li2O spodumene product. Thatis significantly higher than the 71% recovery used in Kodal Minerals' initial feasibility study and indicates upside on the project. It also said the spodumene concentrate is low in impurities with iron content reported at below 0.5%

() said it has raised around US$1.72mln through a new subscription to its US dollar-denominated corporate bond from high net worth individuals and family offices in the Middle East. The AIM-listed company said the result represented the second close of its corporate bond issuance programme of up to a combined total of US$10mln, through which it has raised around US$3.6mln to date.

has completed its US$290,000 investment agreement with D-Beta One EQ, YA II PN and Riverfort Global Opportunities PCC at anannual interest rate of 10%. "This agreement provides a further cash buffer as we approach finality in regard to both our EPO application at Zulu Lithium Pvt Limited and the ongoing negotiations at RHA Tungsten Private Limited ("RHA") in Zimbabwe, Premier Africans chief executive George Roach said in a statement. He added that he was also deeply grateful for the provision of US$106,000 in funding from Zimbabwes Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

() confirmed it has received a firm commitment to undertakea 1mln equity investment at 30p per share, a 27.7% premium toits closing price last Thursday, exceeding its initial fundraising target. The software firm said it remains in dialogue with other existing and new potential investors regarding addition investment to add to the total, with a further announcement to be made once the investor roadshow and fundraising is completed aroundMay 14. KRM22 said the proceeds will help strengthen its working capital facilities and accelerate growth, adding that it has also reached an agreement with its debt provider that it may draw down a further 500,000, conditional on completion of the fundraise.

KRM22 also unveiled a brief trading update for the year endedDecember 31, 2019, ahead of its final results, due to be announced next week, reporting that its adjusted (EBITDA) loss had narrowed to 3.07mln from 3.32mln in 2018 while revenues climbed to 4.1mln from 1.29mln.

() (), the Aquis Exchange-listed base and precious metals producer from its Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania Australia, announced that it has raised 150,694 gross from an issue of 2,620,766 new ordinary shares at 5.75p per share to a UK based institutional investor and a group of private investors for general working capital purposes.

() has placed its South African subsidiaries Afarak South Africa and Afarak Mogale into voluntary business rescue, following financial distress caused by coronavirus-related lock-downs. In a statement, Afaraks board of directors said there is a reasonable prospect of rescuing both. They added that Afarak Mogale Ltd and Afarak South Africa Ltdbeing placed into business rescue does not and will not affect the remaining mining assets and businesses held by the Afarak Group.

(() said late last Thursday that it has raised 850,000 from the sale of its interests in Partnering Health and Infracare LIFT to its main lender Invescare. The disposals reduce Ashley Houses outstanding loan with Invescare to 320,000. Ashley House said it is continuing to look for funding for its ongoing affordable housing strategy, without which it will not be able to trade.

CentralNic Group PLC (), the global internet platform that derives revenue from the subscription sales of domain names and web services, announced late on Thursday that Mike Turner has resigned as a non-executive director of the company with immediate effect having recently accepted a new full-time role as a partner with an international law firm. A stipulation of Turner's engagement is that he resign any non-executive director roles he currently holds and, as such, he is stepping down from his position at CentralNic. Ben Crawford, CentralNic CEO, commented: "Mike's experience and guidance has proven invaluable to CentralNic since he joined our board in 2015. We are sorry to see him leave, and we wish him every success in his new role."

(), a multi-divisional new media and technology business, said after the market close on Thursday that it has received a notice of exercise from the European High Growth Opportunities Securitization Fund in respect of conversion rights under the Convertible Bonds issued in respect of the first tranche drawn down under the Financing and Settlement Agreement entered into by the company on February 7, 2020, for the aggregate principal amount of 100,000 resulting in the issue to the investor of 500,000,000 new ordinary shares in the company.

The FTSE 100 is expected to nudge tentatively higher Monday amid preparations to restart the world economy after the coronavirus (COVID-19) shutdown.

Exerting a pull in the opposite direction was the niggling worry we could be in for a second wave of infections with South Korea and Germany reporting spikes in COVID-19 deaths.

This is something that traders should be mindful of as it might curtail the reopening of other economies for fear of a second wave of cases, said David Madden of CMC Markets.

In the US on Friday, the monthly non-farm payroll numbers were dire just not as dire as predicted, which left Wall Street in positive territory.

Looking ahead, it is expected to be a reasonably busy week for economic and corporate news.

On Wednesday Jerome Powells set-piece address is likely to be heavily scrutinised. Thechair of the US Federal Reserve expected to rule out pushing interest rates into negative territory for now.

Closer to home, the leaders of the Eurozone are being urged to quickly agree ona financial bail-out deal.

A big point of contention is how many grants will be dished out versus how many loans will be issued, said CMCs Madden. Broadly speaking, southern economies like Italy would prefer a higher portion of grants, while northern countries like The Netherlands would favour the issuance of loans. While the internal divisions remain, the bloc and the euro are likely to remain under strain.

Here in the UK, it looks set to be a busy week for corporate news with Vodafone () and Morrisons () leading the charge. TUI () will lay bare the scars of the corona outbreak on the travel sector when it reports on Wednesday.

Finals: ()

Interims: (), (), RDI REIT PLC (LON:RDI)

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Agriculture is on the verge of a glorious revolution and has the potential to put economy back on track. The ongoing crisis has encouraged the agriculture sector to reflect, reveal and reorient its strategies. Just as government has redirected its priorities, sector needs to take strategic, practical, bold and informed decisions.

It is encouraging and reassuring to witness efforts being made to bring back the fallow land to cultivation. These days, individual and groups tilling vacant plots in and around Thimphu city is a common sight. This shows we all can together unlock the potential and there is an opportunity for us to drive agriculture-led development pathway.

The prevailing belief is that Bhutan cannot stop imports altogether but we also know that we should focus on our comparative advantage and differentiation. We must also be mindful of challenges associated with achieving food self-sufficiency. However, we can certainly capitalise on our resources to meet our demands for selected commodities such as cereals, vegetables, meats, dairy, etc. Self-sufficiency in these areas is going to be a strategic leap towards achieving national food security.

The overarching vision of 12th Plan for agriculture sector is inclusive and sustainable development to ensure food self-sufficiency and economic self-reliance, which is underpinned by the principles of leaving no one behind, narrowing the gap between the rich and poor. A growing emphasis is given to accelerate agribusiness and commercialisation without compromising inclusiveness and sustainability aspects.

The governments policy of reaching out to young people seems to be succeeding as evidenced by increasing number of youth taking interest in agriculture. Production-driven agricultural plans are failing to create jobs for young people. This is largely because farming is entrenched with negative perception resulting from the prevailing realities and challenges. That is why key entry point for transition is to transformagriculture into a modern, smart and professionally managed business occupation.

Such transformations should be fuelled by an increased investment in science, technology, and innovation. It may require deploying institutional mechanism and necessary support to our farmers such as market access, storage, logistics, etc. The government has already ventured into these and is fast tracking. Making farming sector attractive is going to be successful only with the parallel attention and promotion of agri-processing, manufacturing, efficient supply chain, enterprises and services, among others.

The reform to transform farming sector has to be leveraged by clear resource mobilisation and investment strategy with special attention to implementation based on area based approach, incentivising farming, infrastructure, inputs supplies, water management, logistics, and organised marketsall as a package. Likewise, investment in agriculture should be given an increased impetus accompanied by dynamic policies, supportive environment and fast tracking of diversification and agribusiness results.

Royal Monetary Authoritys new loan policy and targeted micro-finance for farmers and youth is going to reinforce access to finance. Introduction of CSI Banks with much lesser interest rates has given fresh hopes to our farmers and agriculture enthusiasts.

Agriculture sector in Bhutan largely characterised by fragile mountain ecosystem is bound to face multifaceted challenges due to factors such as physical, social, economic and environmental. The fallout from Covid-19 has pushed other economic sectors spiraling down for which the government and sectors are ardently working hard to reshape it to normalcy.

Challenges besides, we have an opportunity to propel agricultural transformation by revitalising rural agricultural landscape with befitting modification and readjustment. It is easier said than done but with better coordination among agencies, centre and local governments agriculture sector can transcend beyond expectation in times to come. Partnership, commitment and collaborative working will be required to deliver the expected outcomes.

Contributed by Sangay Chophel

Thimphu

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are authors own.

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What is needed to propel agriculture transformation KuenselOnline - Kuensel, Buhutan's National Newspaper