It's good to go back to basics

Going back to basics is always a good strategy, in economics as in other things in life. As the world grapples with the economic gloom, a silver lining seems to be on the horizon on two fronts. The focus - particularly in China, but in other parts of the world as well - is back on agriculture and jobs.

For far too long, agriculture has got the short shrift. In the mad rush for maximizing profits, farming and farmers were pushed to the periphery of economic growth models.

In many countries, especially developing ones, the story of agriculture presented the same despairing pictures. There never was enough capital invested in farming to make it a modern economic activity.