Impact of COVID-19 (2020-2022) on cotton and garments market of Bangladesh: a small country case. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

Bangladesh imports roughly 98% of cotton from abroad to produce fabric or yarn (USDA 2020. Cotton and Products Update. Bangladesh. Also available at https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Cotton%20and%20Products%20Update_Dhaka_Bangladesh_11-30-2020). The production of textiles in Bangladesh depends on the price of raw material, the demand for garment products in the importing countries, smooth supply chain management, and the domestic supply of cheap garment laborers. The global pandemic of COVID-19 disrupted the supply chain of almost all physical goods and services, including textiles. It caused the price of textiles to fall due to a drop in worldwide demand, and increased the marginal cost of textile production due to supply chain interruptions. This paper shows how the decline in the demand for garments, coupled with an increase in cost, shrinks the producer welfare of textile manufacturing and garment exports of the small producing country, Bangladesh.

Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

This special issue consists of seven articles examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the markets of selected commodities, including: seafood, lumber, crawfish, cattle/beef, fruits and vegetables in the USA, cotton and garments in Bangladesh, and fuel oil globally.

Study in-silico oleanane triterpenoids in Aquilaria spp. as a COVID-19 antiviral

Covid-19, a disease characterized by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, is caused by Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). This virus causes tissue damage and a decrease in the respiratory system. Agarwood (Aquilaria spp) is a plant that has various pharmacological activities, including relieving respiratory diseases. One of the several secondary metabolites reported in Aquilaria spp. is oleanane triterpenoids, suspected of having antiviral activity. This research was aimed to determine the potential of oleanane triterpenoids from Agarwood as a covid-19 antiviral by in silico study. The research methods were molecular docking, prediction of Lipinski rules of five, and prediction of ADME. As a receptor, main protease (Mpro) Covid-19 was used. The four oleanane triterpenoid compounds in Agarwood demonstrated a higher affinity for the main protease covid-19 (G 11-oxo-beta-amyrin = -9.8 kcal/mol, G hederagenin-an = -9.6 kcal/mol, G 3beta-acetoxyfriedelane = -9.4 kcal/mol, G ursolic acid = -9.5 kcal/mol) than Lopinavir (G = -6.2 kcal/mol) and Remdesivir (G = -7.2 kcal/mol). The major amino acids involved in ligand and receptor interactions are methionine 49 and 165, proline 168, glutamine 189, arginine 188, and threonine 25. According to the prediction of Lipinski's rule of five and ADME, hederageninan is potential for development as oral medicine.

COVID-19 pandemic: impact of agricultural labour migration on income levels of farmers in Telangana

The present study was undertaken during 25th March 2019 to 25th March 2021 to examine the impact of agricultural labour migration due to COVID-19 pandemic on the income levels of farmers. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study, multistage sampling technique was used in selection of district, mandals and villages. Tools and techniques like tabular analysis, gross returns and net returns were used. Economic impact on farmers in the study area was studied by selecting three major crops viz., Paddy, Cotton and Maize. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in the kharif and rabi season, in all the three major crops, the labour availability was increased when compared with the period of before the pandemic. This situation was appeared due to reverse migration during pandemic. The average wage rates received by the agricultural labourers for almost all farm operations in case of paddy, maize and cotton crops were decreased due to increase in labour supply due to reverse migration. The available man days also clearly got increased for almost all the operations except harvesting of paddy and cotton crops. In case of paddy and cotton crops, net returns were found to increase. In case of Maize crop, the gross and net returns were decreased due to increase in total operation costs and decrease in price per quintal during rabi season of the pandemic period respectively.

COVID-19, living income differential and decline in income of cocoa producers in C..te d'Ivoire. (Agriculture et syst..mes alimentaires face .. la Covid-19.) [French]

Cocoa farmers in C..te d'Ivoire are mostly below the poverty line. In September 2019, the Ivorian and Ghanaian governments imposed the Living Income Differential (LID) on private companies, an additional $ 400 per ton compared to the international market price, passed on to the producer price (farm gate price). At the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 arose. In this dual context, how did prices change? Has the hope of increased income been achieved? Three approaches are used: (a) monitoring of the selling price of cocoa beans and monitoring of the price of purchased cocoa farming inputs and basic necessities for households;(b) monthly monitoring of farm gate cocoa price in 2020-2021;(c) an analysis of national production data from C..te d'Ivoire and Ghana, the world price, variations in the demand for beans by the grinding industry, and the price paid to producers, over 20 years. The first result is a very temporary and limited rise in the farm gate price of cocoa at the end of 2020, then its fall in 2021 as the price of inputs and basic necessities soar. The 2021-2022 campaign is even more harmful with a tightening of the price scissor. It is therefore the failure of the LID, but the role of Covid-19 in this failure is very nuanced with regard to the declarations of the State and the multinationals. The drop in prices and the loss of income for cocoa farmers in 2020-2022 rather fits into the economic theory of games. Without control of their supply, an agreement between two companies or countries cannot work. The failure is part of a largely endogenous structural change: demographic growth, policies to encourage migration and deforestation, opacity of the sector and finally continued growth of the supply of cocoa from C..te d'Ivoire on the international market.

Lagerstroemia, Euphorbia hirta, and Kleinhovia hospita as inhibitors of heptad repeat (HR) SARS-CoV-2 spike protein based on an in silico study

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), has become a global health issue. Spike proteins from the virus have a vital role in infection. Herbal medicines such as Lagerstroemia, Euphorbia hirta, and Kleinhovia hospita have several pharmacological functions such as anticancer, antiviral, and antioxidant because of their bioactive compound content. Based on an in silico study, this research was conducted on the possibility of phytochemicals from herbal Lagerstroemia, E. hirta, and K. hospita to inhibit spike protein SARS-CoV-2. A three-dimensional (3D) compound structure of each herbal medicine was docked with HR protein using AutoDock Vina software. The docking result, which has the best binding energy value, is continued with the analysis of molecular dynamics simulation. Lagerine, rutin, and nicotiflorin compounds might bind to proteins with lower binding energy. Protein was unstable when complexed with compounds compared with control, as seen from the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) value. Therefore, this research is pre-experimental to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins by herbal medicines.

Impact assessment of COVID 19 on cotton economy of India

The impact of COVID 19 on the economy in general is no doubt ravaging and its impact on agriculture is complex and varied across diverse segments that form the agricultural value chain. Cotton has a complex supply chain that stretch from input suppliers, farmers, traders, ginning factories, spinning mills, textile companies and oil processors. The study was designed to capture the panoramic view of world and national cotton economy during the pandemic period and its impact on cotton fanning in India. Cotton prices declined in the initial months for January to April, 2020 and later recouped once the lock down restrictions were phased out. As such from the study during the year 2020-2021, it was noticed in general, as per CAB estimates, cotton fanning in India was not Effected in its area and production excepting in north zone which was not due to lock down but for the pest attack and lack of irrigation facilities. Districtwise analysis confirmed that labour availability for loading and unloading and its transport was the major impediment especially in the southern zone while it was market uncertainty in the other zones. During the COVID 19 pandemic year, the cotton value chain, like others, had faced unprecedented disruptions. Cotton farmers and supply chain actors should work together to make sure that the farmers have secured acquaintance to sell their cotton. Farmers' protection should be considered a priority in getting the minimal requirements regarding the input supply, logistics and remuneration for their produce.

Cocoa company's financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: an economic value added (EVA) approach

The Covid-19 pandemic brings around a multidimensional crisis that sway the world's economy and believed to affect the performance of any industry. Cocoa processing industry, which is well known greatly contributes to Indonesia's economy, is one of industry that is suspected has a significant effect to the performance of Indonesia's economy. As one of export commodity, during the pandemic (2019-2020) the cocoa processing industry contributed for about USD 548 million to total Indonesia's foreign exchange. This lead to a question: does the increase implies that the cocoa processing industry has a good financial performance? Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the financial performance of two cocoa processing company before and during Covid-19 pandemic by occupying the financial report of PT Bumi Teknokultura Unggul TBK and PT Wahana Interfood Nusantara from 2018 till 2020. The Economic Value Added approach was used to evaluate the financial performance of both company. The result of Economic Value Added (EVA) Analysis confirmed that this pandemic seem affecting the financial performance of the two company, which is both company's performance tend to decrease. Yet, a different performance between the two was depicted as well by EVA, in which the EVA of PT Wahana Interfood Nusantara is positive while the PT Bumi Teknokultura Unggul Tbk's is negative. This implies that PT Wahana Interfood Nusantara has a better financial performance than PT Bumi Teknokultura Unggul Tbk.

Pandemic response: 4-H'ers learn about agriculture through seed-of-the-month club

The COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges for the LSU AgCenter 4-H program. To meet social distancing guidelines and ensure the safety of youth and agents, many of programming efforts transitioned to a virtual format. However, the need remained for hands-on learning opportunities. 4-H programming is driven by the motto "learn by doing", and it was paramount that agents provide purposeful and engaging activities. The 4-H Seed-of-the-Month Club is a project club that emerged to meet that need. Agents created a nine-month seed subscription made available to youth across the region beginning in August 2020. With this project, participating youth were provided seeds of various plants, including pine seedlings, rainbow carrots, easter egg radishes, lettuce, green beans, okra, squash and coneflowers. Agents used the LSU AgCenter Louisiana planting guide to select the seeds to offer each month. In the future, agents and youth alike have expressed an interest in continuing to provide horticulture opportunities through the delivery mode of the Seed-of-the-Month Club. Participants were asked to provide top choices for their gardens by receiving carrots, lettuce and green bean seeds for the future.

Agri-food trade in 2020

The year 2020 marked one of the biggest recessions in global economic activity and world trade. During this period, the EU economy contracted by 6% and its international trade followed a similar downward trend - EU exports of goods decreased by 9% and imports by 12%, compared to 2019. By contrast, EU international trade in agri-food reported a slight growth. Over the course of 2020, the value of EU agri-food exports increased to 184.3 billion (a growth of 1.4% compared to 2019), while the value of imports rose to 122.2 billion (a growth of 0.5%). As a result, the EU further reinforced its leading position among the world's biggest exporters. On the import side, the EU has become the third largest importer after the US and China. The contraction in global trade was accompanied by increasing prices of food, including commodities as evidenced by the increases reflected in the FAO Global Price Index. The EU exports a wide range of products from all parts of the value chain which demonstrates the competitiveness of the EU agri-food sector in a variety of product classes ranging from commodities to highly processed food industry products. EU imports, on the other hand, are clearly dominated by basic agricultural food and feed products, which represent about 75% of all imports. Looking at product categories, exports of pig meat and wheat strongly contributed to the increase in EU overall agri-food exports. Conversely, spirits and liqueurs as well as wine are among the sectors that experienced a difficult period for a number of reasons (e.g. the COVID pandemic, US retaliatory tariffs). The growth in EU agri-food imports was mainly driven by increases in import values for oilseeds, other than soya beans;fatty acids and waxes, palm oil, fruit including tropical fruit, and soya beans. China, Switzerland and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region were the major growth destinations for EU agri-food exports in 2020. The value of EU exports fell most to the United States, Turkey, Singapore and Japan. In terms of imports, Canada grew significantly as a source for the EU imports. By contrast, EU imports declined most in value from the United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States. In 2020, the UK has become the EU's most important partner in agri-food trade, with a share of 23% in total EU agri-food exports and 13% in total imports. With EU exports and imports both decreasing, its trade surplus with the US increased by 2% when compared to 2019, as falls on the imports side were stronger. China became the top destination for US agri-food exports. EU agri-food exports to China were primarily driven by continued record high sales of pig meat which increased by 74%. Pig meat and meat offal - the latter mainly comprised of products originating from pigs - accounted for over 40% of EU exports to China in 2020, demonstrating the importance of this market for the pig meat sector. Brazil's exports to China continued to increase in 2020, absorbing 35% of its total agri-food exports. Combined agri-food exports from Brazil to the EU and the US now account for half of Brazilian exports to China. In 2020, Brazil supplied 50% of extra-EU demand for soya beans and 40% for oilcakes. Wheat continued to be the leading EU export product to Africa with a 23% share of the EU's total export basket, whereas cocoa beans dominate in the EU imports from Africa, with the same share of 23%. Most African countries benefit from duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market under the "Everything But Arms" scheme and for many of them Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) or other trade agreements with the EU are applied, encouraging regional cooperation and trade. In 2020, the EU applied 45 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 77 partners. The share of agri-food trade under preferential agreements is also expanding and in 2021, it accounted for 31% and 41% of total EU agri-food exports and imports, respectively. The value of EU agri-food trade under preferential agreements expanded more in relative terms compared to total EU agri-food trade. EU agri-food ex

A cross-sectional survey of herbal remedy taking to prevent COVID-19 in Turkey. (COVID-19 dedicated issue.)

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to unprecedented challenges for human life. During this pandemic, Turkish people have used various herbal remedies for both the prevention of Covid-19 and the alleviate of its symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the herbal remedies used to prevent Covid-19 in Turkey and to determine whether the usage of herbal remedies was associated with sociodemographic properties. A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was conducted between November and December 2020. A total of 871 individuals (15 years of age or older) who lived in various provinces of Turkey participated in this study. Analysis was made in SPSS version 26.0 software using the descriptive statistics and appropriate tests of statistical significance for the comparisons. About 54.4% (n=474) of the participants reported that they have used herbal remedies during the pandemic period. We identified a total of 45 plant species, the most frequently cited were ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), linden (Tilia spp.), elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.), sage (Salvia spp.), and rosehip (Rosa canina L.), respectively. It has been found that the usage of herbal remedies was associated with several demographic variables. A considerable proportion of the participants reported the use of herbal remedies in order to prevent disease. This paper demonstrated the potential herbal remedies that can be used against Covid-19. Further research should be carried out to evaluate the efficacy of these medicinal plants and should control the flow of misleading information.

Antiviral properties of Cistus .. incanus L. Pandalis proven in SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

Due to lack of reliable therapy and insufficient available vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, researchers are looking for promising and effective therapy in substances that are already available. The objective of the current study is to investigate whether the herbal preparation Cystus Pandalis.. (CPE) has in vitro antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2. CPE has already proved to be effective against several other viruses. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI), cell cultures treated with Cystus Pandalis.. extract were infected with SARS-CoV-2, and the reduction in the infection rate was evaluated by comparing focus-forming units. An almost complete reduction in the CPE infection rate was observed at concentrations of greater than 15.6 ..g/ml with a calculated EC50 (mean effective concentration) of 1.94 ..g/ml. The mechanism of action of this extract may be based on the highly polymeric polyphenols that envelop certain viral epitopes, whereby CPE acts as an entry inhibitor. The high in vitro activity of CPE seems to make it a reasonable candidate for prophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2.

Burkina Faso agriculture facing the COVID-19 crisis: the case of the Yatenga and Hauts-Bassins regions. (Agriculture et syst..mes alimentaires face .. la Covid-19.) [French]

At the beginning of the health crisis due to COVID-19 some observers alerted the decision makers of a possible food crisis in the coming months in West Africa. In order to feed this debate, the researchers conducted a study by interviewing 75 actors of the agricultural sector in two regions of Burkina Faso - the Yatenga and the High Basins. In both situations, farmers and pastoralists were able to continue their activities, but some experienced marketing difficulties. Market gardeners and tree growers have been the most affected by this crisis because of difficulties in selling their perishable products on West African markets. Livestock farmers were less affected by the drop in prices, but traders of live livestock also encountered difficulties exporting to coastal countries. Finally, cotton companies have had to face a drop in the international price of cotton fiber and cotton producers will have to face a drop in the purchase price of seed cotton at the end of 2020. Despite this crisis, Burkina Faso's agriculture has continued to fully play its nurturing role thanks to the mobilization of farmers, traders and transporters, even though it is showing weaknesses due to its heavy dependence on external markets for, among other things, vegetables, livestock, cotton, mangoes, cashew nuts and agricultural and livestock inputs. This crisis is an opportunity to consider areas for intervention to make Burkina Faso's agriculture less dependent on external markets and imported factors of production. This implies the substitution of imported food products by local products and an agro-ecological transition to reduce the importation of synthetic inputs.

Retroactive therapy monitoring in the context of the pandemic with Covid-19

Coronavirus diseases, especially infections in the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic, currently make up most of the medical work in the private practice area of internal medicine and general medicine. There is a therapeutic dilemma as to which strategies are successful in prevention and treatment. Regardless of this, therapies for prophylaxis and treatment of infections using strategies from phytotherapy are hardly considered in the general hectic pace. Protective but still experimental strategies suggest that a blockade of specific viral adhesion factors by natural substances can change the viral entry point. This could significantly change both the docking behavior of the virus particles and the disposition to disease. From the field of natural substances, there are many plants that contain a large amount of tannins. These secondary phytonutrients contain so-called proanthocyanidins, hydrolyzable tannins and lamiacene tannins. In particular, proanthocyanidins (green tea, sorrel herb, rockrose herb, etc.) occur frequently in medicinal plants and can be used for prophylaxis and, if necessary, therapy, so that the use of highly concentrated tannin extracts in local therapy can significantly inhibit the docking behavior of viruses. With this knowledge, 125 patients have been in a family doctor's practice (male=68, female=57, average age 54.6 years;diseases: hypertension, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, etc.) since February 2020 for a period of at least 6 weeks treated (Cystus 052 organic throat lozenges 3 x 2, Nisita nasal ointment 2 x daily). Patients were regularly checked clinically using laboratory tests. This collective could be subdivided into a prophylactic group (n=81) of fewer and into a group of highly endangered (n=44) patients (medical staff, nursing staff, fire fighters, rescue services, etc.). In addition to regular temperature measurements by the patients themselves, but also by means of laboratory parameters (blood count, CRP, procalcitonin, etc.), the mode of infection (if infection occurred: yes-no) was checked regularly.

Medicinal and aromatic plants consumption habits of consumers in the Coronavirus pandemic

Living conditions in Turkey has been changed considerably during Covid-19 pandemic. This phase has changed people's normal lives, habits such as eating, resting, and shopping and pushed them to different pursuits. This study aimed to obtain data on the consumption preferences of medicinal and aromatic plants. The survey was conducted in the autumn of 2020. Choices and health services that are effective in the consumption of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant (MAP) of consumers are estimated by statistics and logit regression model to the data obtained from the surveys. It was determined that the coronavirus pandemic increased the consumption of medicinal and aromatic plants by 76%. The plants with the highest consumption during the pandemic were recorded as rosehip, linden, mint, and ginger. Green tea and udihindi were the most consumed medicinal and aromatic plants per month. According to logit regression analysis results;age, duration of use, price, benefit, side effect, access to the chemical, additive, and hope variables increased the consumption of medicinal and aromatic plants and the likelihood of purchasing during the pandemic. It is thought that consumption of MAPs will become widespread and increase during the pandemic.