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The middle years of this decade will go down in economic history as a period when primary products hit rock bottom, whatever method is used to illustrate their real value or purchasing power. There have been hardly any exceptions to this general decline. Petroleum (by far the most important primary product), foodstuffs, agricultural industrial materials, minerals and metals all shared the same fate, though the extent of their losses differed. The only exception has been coffee, owing to unusually adverse weather conditions.

Two subjects of high importance have recently claimed general attention. Thirty years ago everyone would have said they were settled. Now they are again in the melting-pot. And both concern that all-important matter the freedom of the sea. Both are in dire confusion because assertion has been mistaken for proof.

"Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have liberalized markets to improve efficiency and enhance market linkages for smallholder farmers. The expected positive response by the private sector in areas with limited market infrastructure has however been disappointing. The functioning of markets is constrained by high transaction costs and coordination problems along the production-to-consumption value chain. New kinds of institutional arrangements are needed to reduce these costs and fill the vacuum left when governments withdrew from markets in the era of structural adjustments. One of these institutional innovations has been the strengthening of producer organizations and formation of collective marketing groups as instruments to remedy pervasive market failures in rural economies. The analysis presented here with a case study from eastern Kenya has shown that while collective action – embodied in Producer Marketing Groups (PMGs) – is feasible and useful, external shocks and structural constraints that limit the volume of trade and access to capital and information require investments in complementary institutions and coordination mechanisms to exploit scale economies. The effectiveness of PMGs was determined by the level of collective action in the form of increased participatory decision making, member contributions and initial start-up capital. Failure to pay on delivery, resulting from lack of capital credit, is a major constraint that stifles PMG competitiveness relative to other buyers. These findings call for interventions that improve governance and participation; mechanisms for improving access to operating capital; and effective strategies for risk management and enhancing the business skills of the PMGs." -- Author's Abstract ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; CAPRi; DCA ; EPTD

With reference to India

I will try to answer the question of whether Machine Translation (MT) can be considered a full translation process. I argue that, instead, it should be seen as part of a process performed by translators, in which MT plays a fundamental support role. The roles of translators and MT in the translation process is presented in an analysis that get its elements from Translation Studies and Translation Process Research. ; This Project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the EDGE COFUND Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement no. 713567. This publication has emanated from research supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Number 13/RC/2077.