Agriculture and technology

New report demands moratorium on gene drives

Enabled by new genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9, so-called gene drives have been developed in recent years that enable humans to spread new genes throughout the genomes of wild animal populations. Gene drives force the inheritance of newly introduced genes to be inherited by all offspring. In the most extreme cases, gene drive technology could drive an entire species to extinction – for example, grey squirrels are a target in the UK – or replace wild populations with genetically modified organisms. To help the public understand what's at stake, the Germany-based NGO Save Our Seeds (SOS) has published a report, which can be downloaded as a pdf document. The report provides a scientifically founded overview of how gene drive systems work, their possible areas of application, and the scientific discussion about their risks. GMWatch

Japan's gene-edited tomato another GMO white elephant

A gene-edited tomato engineered to contain high levels of a sedative substance called GABA has been approved for commercialisation in Japan without any safety checks and amid opposition from consumer rights campaigners. But the tomato, developed by Sanatech Seed, doesn't come cheap. According to a Twitter post by a Japanese scientist who bought some for research purposes: "Just ordered a box of 3kg for the lab (approx 70 USD, though)", followed by an emoji of a face screaming in shock. Seventy USD converts to around 51 GBP. But you can buy 3kg of organic tomatoes for only 20 GBP – and there are easier and cheaper ways of boosting your GABA levels. GMWatch

Bayer pays $10BN to settle thousands of Monsanto glyphosate lawsuits

After decades of widespread use as company scientists played down research showing a definitive link between the product and growing rates of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Monsanto parent company Bayer has agreed to pay up to $10 billion to settle claims that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, causes cancer.

Citing people familiar with the matter, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the company has agreed to settle tens of thousands of glyphosate-related lawsuits in the US for between $8 billion to $10 billion.

The rest will be used to settle all of the lawsuits pending in the United States from users of the controversial weed killer, the number of active lawsuits against the Roundup purveyor recently numbered more than 50k.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bayer-pays-10bn-settle-thousands-monsanto-glyphosate-lawsuits

•SARS-CoV-2: The spike and the furin cleavage

Where did SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, come from? Most governments and scientists are sticking with the official story put out by the Chinese Communist Party and most of the international mass media that SARS-CoV-2, has a natural origin, even though after months of searching, no natural host has been found. But an increasing body of evidence, as summarised by André Leu, is showing that the most likely scenario is that SARS-CoV-2 was made in a lab and escaped. The key is in the virus's spike protein and furin cleavage site. Organic Consumers Association

•Mexico announces phase-out and ban on glyphosate herbicides

The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), Mexico’s Environment Ministry, has announced that glyphosate-based herbicides will be phased out of use in the country by 2024 to protect human health and the environment. SEMARNAT announced late Thursday that it has created a roadmap for the gradual reduction of the use of glyphosate in Mexico until it reaches a total ban in 2024. SEMARNAT, with Victor M. Toledo at the helm, is taking determined steps towards the transformation of the country’s agri-food system in order to make it “safer, healthier and more environmentally friendly”.

COVID Crisis

Dealing with Covid Crisis:-
• Provide adequate storage facilities for farmers to store their non-perishable commodities and
provide negotiable warehouse receipts.
• Support FPOs / PACS and other farmers organizations to use all the channels – APMC, retail
chains, wholesale markets & Processers – to market their perishable commodities.
•Develop a contingency plan to ensure that the farmers and SHG members bounce back after
the economic crisis.
• NABARD should also be involved in providing relief to the affected farmers and SHG members
through their NGO partners by providing necessary grants to NGOs.
• NABARD to fund the transportation of the perishable commodities, particularly vegetables and
fruits, to markets – retail chains, wholesale, processing industries and APMCs.
• FPOs be instantly give equity grant of Rs.10,00,000 to each FPO for the purposes of working
capital for the FPO to buy the product of the farmers and supply to distant markets.
Source- APMAS

Dealing with Covid crisis:-
• Ensure that all regulated markets are fully functional with new norms due to the Pandemic.
• Increased procurement of agriculture commodities under Price Support Scheme (PSS) /
Minimum support Price (MSP)
• Mobile procurement of agriculture commodities at village level can be managed by the PACS,
FPOs/ FPCs & SHG federations.
• Supply of free rations for agriculture workers and farmers.
• Special package for small poultry farmers & small ruminant farmers.
• Use banking system, electronic payment systems & PDS effectively
• All the pensioners in India can be paid their 3 months pension in one go through the DBT
system.
• For a period of at least 3 months the entire loan interest burden of farmers, SHG members and
MSME borrowers is borne by Centre Govt.
Source-APMAS

Problems faced by SHGs & Federations:
• No meetings at all levels – SHGs, VOs & Cluster Level Federations.
• No savings & credit activities which may affect the financial discipline.
• Many of the SHG members engaged in economic activities, non-form & off-farm, are deeply
affected by the lockdown, particularly eateries.
• Cash-flow management problems for SHG members are transactions stopped.
• There is no specific counseling or support available for addressing the situation.
• SHG members dependent on wages are not able to get NREGS works and other informal
labor work, which is not available.
• Not able to conduct trainings for farmers, organize FFS, field days, etc.
• Not able to conduct trainings for farmers, organize FFS, field days, etc.
• FPOs don’t have any contingency plans to deal with the crisis.
Source-APMAS

Challenges Faced by Livestock Keeper:-
• Cattle feed storage for milch animals.
• Milk procurement almost stopped and prices fallen as of the hotels and restaurants are closed.
• Fodder shortage and not able to access.
• Small ruminants-fodder shortage and drinking water problems.
• Weekly mandis closed- sale of small ruminants is a problem-fear of vrius of eating chicken/meat.
Source-APMAS

Challenges Faced by Farmers:-
• Traders started black marketing of agriculture inputs – Prices up.
• Labor not available – Timely
Harvesting etc are done by family members only.
• Most of the markets / APMC are not open / open for few hours with reduced demand.
• Problems in interstate transport of produce
• Prices of certain commodities like Tomato are low – prices of Potato up.
• Perishable commodities – Prices down.
• Trading of nonperishables stopped – storage is a problem.
• Farmers canceling pre orders to nurseries.
• Farmer not procuring Seedlings-over aged seedlings-Losses.
• Cash flows are almost zero for farmers.
• Unable to go to work as advised by police and healthy workers- no wage income.
Source- APMAS

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Gene Campaign competed successfully to get the award of a grant from the FAO-International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources Fund to work on the ‘Use of Genetic Diversity for Climate Change Adaptation’. The project is being implemented in four locations: Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.