While the coronavirus outbreak in China has hit many industries hard, some technology start-ups in agriculture are seeing demand rise.
Large farms, local governments and agricultural products distributors are buying high-tech equipment as the spread of the coronavirus puts an impetus on reducing human contact. That's a key challenge in putting millions of Chinese back to work since most still labor by hand on small family farms. Since emerging in late December, the highly contagious coronavirus has killed more than 3,000 people in the country and infected tens of thousands nationwide.
in early February in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The number of new cases outside the disease's epicenter of Hubei province has slowed dramatically in the last few weeks, but Chinese authorities have been anxious to ensure farms are back up and running in time for the spring planting season.
With this kind of support, "agriculture might be the least impacted industry by this outbreak," said Gong Huaze, CEO of Mcfly, which is backed by Baidu Ventures and develops technology for precision pesticide and fungicide spraying. The start-up said it recently nailed a contract with the Zhejiang provincial government, and expects more deals with Hubei, the center of the virus' outbreak.
"China has enough grain reserves to weather even a longer-than-expected virus outbreak," Gong said, "but any reduction in production would hurt China, a major food importer, in its bargaining position with the U.S." "Government policies in China serve as more than just guidelines," Qiu Shuang, a cross-border agriculture investor at Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play Tech Center, said in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
Melania Trump Issues a Rare Statement to Her Critics About the White House Tennis Court ControversyMelania Trump responds to criticism over the White House's tennis court construction:
Consulte Mais informação »
Tesla shares plummet as cheap oil and coronavirus challenge electric car and solar salesUncertainty amid the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, and oil price battles between Saudi Arabia and Russia weighed on shares of Tesla and other electric car makers on Monday.
Consulte Mais informação »
Chinese driverless delivery van firm thrives amid coronavirus: Bloomberg - Business InsiderThe founder of the Beijing-based Neolix, whose customers include Alibaba and JD.com, told Bloomberg demand for the firm soared in the past two months.
Consulte Mais informação »
Cruz to remain in Texas after brief interaction at CPAC with person who tested positiveSen. Cruz will remain home in Texas this week 'out of an abundance of caution' after being informed he had brief conversation and handshake 10 days ago at CPAC with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Consulte Mais informação »
Indian Wells tennis tournament canceledNEW: BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in California says the tournament 'will not take place at this time' due to coronavirus concerns.
Consulte Mais informação »
WHO chief: 100 countries report COVID19 cases for the first time100 countries are now reporting COVID-19 cases, World Health Organization says.
Consulte Mais informação »