so that is afflicted by conflicts, political upheaval. some of those we talk to elsewhere is saying that they sled up to a hearing that other villages had been a talk. what we do in all just sarah, is try to balance the stories, the good, the bad, the i'd be tell it as it was. and he's the people who allow us into their lives, dignity into minus. he asked me to tell this story is the hello. i'm stymied, say then this is counting the cost analysis era. you know, we do look at the world of business and economics this week from funds to assign to raise. india is 5 minutes. so wants to transform this country's economy. what do his plans needful?

frustrated the agricultural workers. also this week, japanese consumers are coming back on spending that japan slipped into recession, lost its ranking, as well as the largest economy plus a high, a price to pay if you have a sweet tooth coke. our prices of soaring chocolate make is feeding the hungry call to employees close to half of india's workforce, but generates less than 20 percent of g d. p. millions of small hold. the farmers who have seen the yields and incomes full, demanding support from the government, prime minister and run the movie, needs the vote soon as he seeks to extend this decade in office. but keeping them happy. well, that's been a challenge. actual time of age reports engulfed into your gas. these farmers have been marching to new delhi, demanding guaranteed across the prices are requests the government to refuse this

demand. but it is the duty of the government that they should give us minimum support price. we are demanding minimum support price for $23.00 krupps. if they agree to it, entire nation will be prosperous. our entire families will be employed for weeks, farmers across india had been taken to the streets. they are unhappy with the conditions provided by the government. despite their peaceful protests they've been met with resistance. farming is the backbone to feed these economy employees more than half the nation's workforce. be for like junk deb are seeking to guarantee the minimum price at least 50 percent above production costs to make enough for living safety the but all the cut, the problem in farming is high input costs and sometimes not from calamities. also lead to low yields. we don't get the proper price for our crops, which leads to major losses because we have to then take

a learn. farming is no longer profitable, said out of the dispute began in 2020, with a law in that the modernizing farming by removing middleman and fixed prices, which farmers say benefits and large corporations to a year long stand off like to prime minister and then into the movie for appealing the law, despite promises to double their salaries, their financial conditions have worse and after the laws will be drawn in 2021, the demands would not match. so the on back those 2 months, they are demanding something as simple as a simply getting the features and the speed which is minimum support price at which the government buys the cops, which means they are off or just in the short info for them. so those are kind of a safety net. unions are also the magic law and favors for small farmers and a minimum wage for agricultural workers. the government says it's open to

negotiations. your thoughts on that? no, because all the efforts will continue to speak to the farmers union, a constructive and positive manner, we are ready to hold dialogue with them. these protests are taking place as india is preparing for national elections by the end of the month. some say they could potentially affect prime minister bodies, re election access. i'm gonna reach out to 0 for accounting, the cost. well, joining us now from new data in india is jay and chris. now he's a senior fellow and us in the a policy studies at the center for strategic and international studies. good to have you with us. all farmers right to demand high, a guaranteed crop prices. see from farmers perspective uh you know, their, their, their lights in demanding that like but let's understand, you know, too much. busy of the one is that they're talking about all the crops to come under the minimum support price. they're design misspeak and which is uh, they're talking about

a 50 percent profit on the bus stop production. and which is also in line. but you know that the note is noted scientist and that's why we're not the ones that are coming to you. but accommodations based on the old $1.00 times of the cost of production should be the minimum support price board for dogs before the key drops . you know, i don't think uh, you know, uh, it might be wise to do that. let's understand india on the, on almost in india or most, 86 percent of them are small and marginal farmers, you know, and they do not tend to get been impacted by. it must be as much as the lodge bob motor skills. well, i think uh, a lot of protection on the m s. b extending to on crops, which is already there for we didn't buy the but to extended to all of the crops, to my mind for the start of, you know, market forces. and also what we're dis, disregard the demand and supply situation. you don't do much of prediction and what it must be would lead to some crops like, you know, having a trace route or production. and that would be a shortage off of, you know, other of green. so, you know, what i, what i'm trying to say is, diane,

will it lead to price increases and inflation and food prices for consumers? it may lead to that kind of a challenge. you know, because if you extend that must be the one crops and we put a huge amount of bucket play button on domino for india on the federal government. and also it will lead to inexplicable distribution. and uh, you know, if there is a good, you know, lack of balance between demand and supply, it may lead to forwarding infliction as well. you know, so i personally do not think that as why is to, uh, you know, extend, it must be to on crops and, and ultimately look at, right, you know, the deductible, but some 12 and 20 of the pharmacy you know, which would have brought in all onto pots, but the bottom line, but the, the bids but it would be to my mind that mcdonough zoom was more market lake. and all i, although i'm glad you mentioned the 2020 to 2021 era. but hold on, hold for a 2nd because we need to just remind ourselves that

a little bit of background to what's going on in the big picture. moody of coles wants to ton india into a develop nation that will, the economy is expected to grow 7.3 percent this year. it's also on trying to become the world's largest economy by 2030 overtaking japan and in germany. a major driver of that growth is infrastructure. more than a $130000000000.00 has been allocated to build assets like roads and poets. they see it. india is also trying to boost its manufacturing thanks. so which accounts in any 17 percent of g d. p. it aims to replace china as a global production hub. bought factories are struggling to fill vacancies despite modi's pledge to create higher paying jobs. or critics say in the quality is rising, and growth is viewed by sexes that don't help poor people. in rural areas, the average per capita income in the south asian nation is nearly 2 and

a half $1000.00 a year. and that's less than a quarter of china's so talking about the poor people being left out of this. why is it taking so long john to address the challenges of farming conditions because as we were talking of minutes ago and it's been going on since 2020 with the process at least, right. see, you know, logistics, understand agriculture, bundle boots, only 15 percent. uh, you know, off i'll send you an offer and you can be, you know, and if you look at where you don't have exact data, but you know, the range anywhere between, you know, 35 percent to 45 percent off the workforce. depends. uh, you know, the, the likelihood is, depends on agriculture, you know, it's, it's a, it's, it's a, it's a very long sighted situation. and it's, it's happening in all the countries that above. but, you know, low cost of moving, i mean, from my big go to. so the challenge is how do you create more jobs? so india and, and deal to the same thing is happening. people are moving away from the go to because uh, you know, uh, you know, so, you know, the, just for people sort of judy be, cannot feed the, you know, a was

a 40 percent off of the workforce. so they're moving away. but the challenges will create more jobs going on. so, so far on the government's track record of you know, has, has not been as good as it has been on other friends. so i think the big, biggest, challenging, the a is amazing today is to create more and more jobs. so i think, and if that happens, you know, the shifting of the need before i move on, i'd be glad to get all of what we'll get. comes up in the use that goes up and for that as you right. you said, i think the government has to the skill in the admissions department to start having bought the phone. i think it needs to needs to be given a facility to fly and somehow i have to get a feeling it, as i don't know what i've seen, but skill us up. very, very, very important between the as the lead, but it's the most effective and you know, we have to do it on scale out people appropriately, which is very, very important because governments uh, friday. uh, but some that i get a feeling a little up with what all things it does taking a bit of a back seat. all right, dan. they may be moving away from agriculture, but it's still

a big employer. when you look at the numbers, you know, people in india and how many people are engaged in agricultural right. is there also a challenge and improving efficiency of the agricultural sector and productivity? yeah, so that's a, that's a big challenge. generally, if you look at the body device and leads these 2 crops, you know, and uh, you know, the productivity, the, to the address productivity that you get in india is pretty hot of what you get in buckets in the us and even pockets of china. you know, kind of looking, so i think, i think the productivity has to go about getting more and more modern science and technology. more equipment needs to be used in farming. i think that's like the right thing on the one. but the problem is, how does it happen if 86 percent of the 5 most are small in modern and, you know, and, and, and they have of a 100 miles got it opened up the existence. so do they have the, do they have the most important kind of them to adopt and embrace more technology,

more equipment and well? and then let me ask, sometimes your mindset is the government's interim. 2024 budget, providing that support, is it doing enough to some extent yes, the us, i'm been getting the programs that are also some form of loans which have been agreed upon. but again, you know, this is a kind of sense. it made a thought of most, well, the probably still not happy though, that protesting how do you think the stand off is going to. and i think the purpose is also partly politically because they know little somebody election. so bottom and collections that are on the corner. so the final thoughts or feelings that the government would be more than one variable, speed to to, to, to belong any cases. and so they, it's, it's a split it to anybody by the time i'm not saying farmers don't have a problem that you had challenges. but, but the timing of the test as has got something to do with the what's coming collections. and i find them include believe last payment that the funds hopper and they will, the building full big. it will be with a lot of dialogue between the government and the farmers. they want us to be more dine all and all the please,

all be brought from the table for the rise destruction in the notes, but it was bought and actually been in and obviously been kind of on the hold. all right, i'll tell you what i thought of thanks so much. jan. so your analysis on that the off the is of deflation. japan is now seeing inflation with the fastest price growth in more than 30 years. but wages are failing to keep up with the rising cost of living and the japanese. well, they're not spending as much as they were. last slowed economic activity, the end value to the dollar has gone south. japan's economy is now slipped into a recession, is dropped to rank below germany to become the world's full while just the economy . will get into that with all gas shortly. but 1st, let's talk about what is the recession? well, it's when the economy shrinks for 2 consecutive quotes is measured by a decrease in gross domestic products. well, that's known as a technical recession because only one part of the economy suffers. whereas

a full recession. well, that effects multiple sectors for a sustained period. us and it affects people who faced job losses and reduced income leading to difficulties and paying bills, securing loans and maintaining savings. businesses. on the other hand, while they struggle with decrease sales and potential bankruptcy, let's have a closer look at what happened in japan. the. the

shaw phone is and consume is say, that feeling the pinch, how much it'll cost me. so of course we feel that i feel that the way customers

shop is changing. they would bring shopping lists, but now to protect that way of living, they are coming to see what the bog themselves, and then deciding what to buy. i think i've done all of you all that i've had to pay cuts. so i stopped buying clothes and reaching out in order to save money. well, joining us from tokyo is jessica called director of the investment advisory firm monex group, japan. he's a former chief economist at jp morgan and merrill lynch good to have you with us us . so we go this unusual situation, i guess where we're seeing corporate profit searching. the stock market is rising unemployment rate so low and yet, japan's economy unexpectedly fell into recession. why? it's very straightforward. you'll remember that in this country, one in 4 is now living off of pension. it's a very, a society average age is 50 years old, one and 4 people is actually over 70 now. and as a result of that, you know,

you're living of your pension, which means that the same price is going up, energy price is going up, all of this is into your purchasing power. so the gap between corporate japan doing extremely well and therefore the stock market searching and the average people that in depth is widely. well, we see then wages increase if the price is going up. yes, and you're doing that, you're seeing that way just for the people in the twenty's and thirty's are actually growing by 456 percent. so you know, for the young generation everything is fine. but as i said, you know, you've got this sort of barbell where, you know, 25 percent of the people are over 70 and they don't feel, you know, the surgeon incomes. and quite frankly, you know, they're not going to feed it because they live on pensions. not of wages. so what is the solution that for like very tricky situation with people on pensions?

i don't think it's a very tricky situation. it's just par for the course. you know, in the sense of bad, you know, as a society ages, you know, the increase in asset prices. the increase in competitiveness of corporations does not necessarily translate into g d p or national income. so, you know, it's a great country to be in. it's a wonderful country to invest in with plenty of opportunities and look forward to your life is still absolutely 2nd to none, particularly for the younger generation. a lot of eyes that are on the bank of japan right now. do you think it's going to move ahead with the country's 1st rate increases since 2007? so i think the answer is yes, i do expect a normalization of interest rates. remember, we had basically 0 emergency interest rates for almost one generation for almost uh, you know, 25 years. and normalizing interest rates by giving

a little bit of a price of money for the term interest rates going to 2025 basis points. that's in the cards, but it does not mean that there is a type to mingled monetary policy. it's a normalization of liquidity conditions, not the central bank stepping on the brake, hold on. what impact then might have on the end? because that's an important question, isn't it? for exports is to you're absolutely right. you know, um, and i've learned the hard way um that what matters is not so much japanese interest rates, but it is us interest rates. in other words, you know, if indeed the federal reserve, what to stop to increase interest rates one or 2 more times, that obviously would give a further boost to the dollar being comp trust. you find that the moves by the bank of japan, if at all, are going to be very deep for mental and not dramatic. so i do think that the dollar is points to increase further. all right,

and let's talk about the bottom line here. shrinking population comes upon them every cover it's number 3 spot or no, absolutely not about the japan corporations will continue to gain competitiveness. you've got a new generation of c o, swat aggressive making new acquisitions. just look at nip on steel, buying us steel. i mean, that's a very aggressive move. so the gap between g d, p, japan, and corporate competitive japan, inc. bed gap is going to widen and don't worry, you know, the quality of life stays very high because public infrastructure remains excellent here in japan. so a more competitive corporate sector and still a very high quality of life here in tokyo. or why should the japanese government do to spell my mall growth and perhaps try and look at that gap. so you know, this is where it gets very interesting. in the end there is one primary answer

which is to allow more immigration and the or thirty's here in japan are doing this . the visa regulations for workers or digital nomads for university students. the tetra, all of these visa regulations are being used. so you know, if you really want to return to a 2 or 3 percent growth economy, you're going to have to reduce it up further on immigration bills. all right, jessica call with thanks so much good to talk to the position economy also fell into a technical recession of the end of last year for the bank of things inside the u. k. showing signs of recovery. many economists have oh to the bank of england to low a borrowing cost to help revise the economy, john, so the jeremy hunt says that could happen soon. of the underlying picture. here is an economy that is more resilient than most people predicted inflation is

coming down. real wages have been going out now for 6 months. and if we stick to our guns, independent full cost is say that viability some of we could start to see interest rates pulling. and that will be a very important relief for families with mortgages. and now let's have from some brothers fateful about how they feel about the contraction of the economy. i say things are selling, picking up. it's still quite hard. and i think 2nd off of the account, the things we pay for the bank to the company to general election just as are best above and below. it allows us to move on get a sense of direction since we invested for business and so on. the ultimate on part, i'm pretty up some mistake, but i appreciate other people's stuff. i think the jobs, it's hard, but it will get better. i think it's a symptom of what we've been for of the last. how many years now, hosting use for the government? that seems intent on the internet of your stronger customers. oh truck, a holics may have to full account more to satisfy the cravings. the main ingredient,

of course, is co co, which mostly comes from west africa. the price of the beans hit a rec, hold hi, of $95900.00 a ton more than a week ago. manufacturer is a wire at the increase could damage the business. that's because the price of co co, a search by 99 percent since last year major produces, including the maker of cadbury and tobler robin reported a slump in sales. chocolate la. those are starting to feel the impact. some prices of almost doubled, making the one sweets escape come at to base a cost of all joining us for ma'am. so them in the netherlands is anthony fountain . he's the managing director of the voice network and kohls. busy of the co cobra on the to a good to have you with us. so let's start with the obvious one that ends in a why all coco price is rising. coca prices are rising because supply is low and supply is low because of a combination of bad weather and that's, that's

a result also of climate change and the nino weather pattern that we're seeing at the moment. but also because of an outbreak of several crop diseases in west africa because of the spread of gold mining to go production in west africa. and because farmers are basically, they've been underpaid for so long that there's not really a future for them in cocoa. and so they're, they're not really doing their best to grow a lot of don't go at the moment because it's not worth it. is there something that west africa can do to take care of some of the structural issues at least obviously . um and i think that the government policies make a huge difference in what it is and what is in able to be done there. so invest in infrastructure, invest in better education and invest in diversified production. and i go forestry versus just cutting down on the forests to grow. go go, right. so those are things that the governments can do um, but most of those will have a best and medium to long term effect on what's going on. what about the prices of

all the commodities of a contributing to the challenge? chocolate produces a facing the cocoa price peak is quite unique to cocoa at the moment because it's really a coco specific problem. um, but we're, we're dealing with a problem across all crops and across many decades now. and it's not just in tropical commodities where farmers are simply not being paid the price, they need to have a good livelihood. this is also why we're seeing a lot of farmer protests in europe at the moment as well. um, our global food system is not aimed at paying doing a fair price to farmers is aimed at driving the price down as low as you possibly can get. because we, as consumers, want the cheapest possible products and so a market sold is a sufficient to deal with that at the end of the day. do you see any hope? i don't think that market forces are sufficient to help the farmer market forces work very well further down the supply chain. but we've known for decades that the

market actually doesn't work well in paying the farmers properly. and in fact, the, the architect of the common agriculture will policy a dutch politician. many years ago after he invented the european calling, agricultural policy said, actually supply and demand works very badly for farmers. and that's why we think farming needs to be paid remunerative. lee and not based on supply and demand. well, what about chocolate makes? is that how they dealing with this challenge? simply passing the everyone, they like to say everyone is quite concerned about these high prices. and when i say everyone, i mean everyone in the cocoa sector, the buyers, etc. not so much for the price is, although that is a challenge, but they're concerned because the prices are high because there's low supply. and if there's low supply at some point, that means if there's not going to be enough cocoa to make all of the chocolate

that we're used to consume the, i think going down, always seen the model for chocolate decrease not yet, but that's also because the big price hike hasn't actually reached the stores yet because co go gets sold a year, a year and a half in advance. and so the prices that we're seeing now are translated to the shop. the price is quite yes that will take quite a while before it officially gets there. or i do think we're going to see the price is rise any time soon, given all the facts as you've mentioned. go go down with me so i so i wouldn't be surprised if chocolate prices went down. i think they will go up because companies are quite good at kind of translating their increased costs to consumers. so that will definitely happen at 1st. people thought this high price was going to be a short term, temporary thing because of a, whether anomaly at the moment. more and more analysts are thinking this will take quite some time still at least a year, if not longer. so i don't think chuck, the prices are going to be coming down anytime soon. we're gonna see shrink

deflation with a shrink the size of the product instead. well, that's what we've seen every time so far, when coke of prices are high, they either indeed shrink the size of the bar. i think total around did that quite spectacularly in a problem attic way a few years ago when it happened the last time. but you see companies making their packages smaller, but sometimes also putting a whole bunch of extra ingredients in that art, cocoa, but that are cheaper. so right expect see more kinds of chocolate with lots of other ingredients in it. all right, thanks so much for joining us. on this sweet topic. thank you very much. and that's all show for this week. but remember you can get in touch with us, my sweet to use the hash tag dang, c t c. and you do owe us an e mail to the cost of delta care a don't. net is our address as more for you online at al serra,

don't. com slash these. you see like constraints on page which has individual reports, links and the power of success catch up on the sense of this edition of counting the cost. i'm signed these i that from the whole team here. thanks for joining us. use. and i'll just say era is next. the african narrative from african perspectives, the competitive vehicle. this timber should i do show the documentaries, by african filmmakers from rwanda and democratic republic of congo. andrew c r e z on. if i need to go i'm, i'm on the drive on and reinventing cassava for a new series of africa. direct on how to sierra vito, he's really military bands. the shogun, legalese,

randy settlements. and the okey point west bank, the red lines, bulk the borders of the only discovery, just new security. so we're now in the area, i think you're just saw on those maps. there are illegal is riley settlers living just a few 100 meters from hay in caravans. in that direction, and the army says that it's a necessity in order to expand a so called securities are around illegal is right. the settlements suddenly is ready. soldiers appear on the opposite bank. they approach forcing us to stop filming. it contained us for more than 2 hours on these confiscation of land, around in the galleries rate, the settlements charlotte standing and say it's full proof of israel breaking international power defines how wow, we live here. we make the rule,

not the people empower investigate exposure and question the youth and the business of our around the go on out just there. the is innocent and and things of several children die in the north garza hospital because we didn't have enough food. no. on was the know about this, and this is all to 0 life from don't. i'm also coming up for the children still alive. and guys, every day is a struggle for you and one's one and for palestinians. and the strip is on the brink. assignments turned 80 to last week. the

end of my contributions are closer and i prefer changing up the guard. mitch mcconnell says he will step down in the afternoon.