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Agrotech, E-commerce

Solutions includes farm mechanization, agri technology, crop monitoring, etc.

 

 FICCI Task Force on Agri start-ups is supporting and scaling Agri innovations by Agri start-ups, which can transform agriculture landscape and improve farm economics. The Agri and food supply chain is broken and disrupted due to Covid- 19 pandemic and need some immediate solutions. As of now the priority for the nation is to keep the Agri supply chain rolling during and post lockdown phase. This becomes even more critical when a huge Rabi crop will have to be procured and stored as well as the sowing for Kharif will begin in a few weeks. Agritech ecosystem can play an important role in many ways to keep the food and Agri supply chain rolling. Many Agri start-ups are already working to solve the problems at hand. Some of the possible solutions by them are as follows: 

1 Agritech Solutions for Rabi produce 

 Aggregation and distribution of farm produce from point of collection to consumption centres. Aggregation of farm produce is a key missing link in the supply chain. Mandi infrastructure (including loading, unloading, grading, sorting, packing, quality assaying, trading) is not working as much as it should to handle the Rabi harvest at hand. In addition, there are many pockets in the country, where the density of mandis is low and not easily accessible to farmers. Many start-ups are trying to connect farmers with buyers including retailers, e-commerce, processors, cloud kitchens and even direct to consumer.

Start-ups working in this area include Ninjacart, Jumbotail, Bigbasket, ShopKirana, SuperZop, WayCool, MeraKisan, Kamatan, DeHaat, KrishiHub, Agrowave, Loop, Crofarm, FreshoKartz, Agribolo, Himkara, Kisan Network.

 Quality assaying of agricultural commodities

Grading and sorting methods used in India are often manual, subjective, instrument driven, expensive or time-consuming.  The Indian agricultural supply chain has always faced a problem of lack of standardisation of grade of commodities. This makes it difficult to develop a pan India market platform like ENAM for trading and online / remote transactions of commodities. Such a platform needs to be operationalised urgently for enabling remote transactions for farmers and traders.

Many Agritech start-ups are attempting to solve problem of standardisation through mobile imagery and digitisation (such as transactional data, discovery and traceability). The start-ups in this category include Intellolabs, Agricxlab, Zense, Raav Tech, Occipital, Amvicube, Nanopix etc. 

 Building near-farm storage, warehouse and processing units

We may lose significant proportion of food products after harvest due to disruption and poor infrastructure. Lack of bulk storage and transportation for cereal crops and lack of end-to-end cold chain facilities for perishable items (including animal protein, milk, and horticulture) is another major challenge causing post-harvest wastages.

A majority of losses can happen immediately after the harvest at the farm level itself because of lack of labour on the farm. Some start-ups have begun work on near-farm, modular and affordable storage and processing solutions. These storage facilities are intended to give farmers an option to sell the produce at the right price at the right time instead of immediate or distressed liquidation of their produce after harvest. The start-ups in this category include Our Foods, Agri Bazaar, Star Agri, Arya Collateral, Ecozen, Origo.

 Agritech Solutions for Kharif sowing

Optimise the use of agricultural inputs and enable delivery to farmers

The solutions include farm and crop diagnostics for mapping soil nutrition requirements through scanners and detection of pest attack through mobile imagery. This, in turn, helps in precise and timely application of agricultural inputs including seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.

These solutions improve farm economics by reducing the use of inputs and improving farm productivity. ‘Direct to farmer’ models for agriculture also enhance timely availability of necessary inputs, which conventional supply chains fail to deliver in many cases. Agri start-ups are trying to build business models to reach out to farmers directly with both online as well as through offline presence in the villages. Such start-ups can play pivotal role in making sure that farmers get desired inputs in timely manner. Some of the start-ups in this category are Agrostar, BigHaat, Behtar Zindagi, Unnati, Gramophone, Freshokartz, AgriBolo, DeHaat, Bharat Rohan, Bharat Agri.

 Reduce labour cost through mechanisation

Farm labour is in scarcity both for harvesting and sowing at this point of time. Mechanisation solutions include innovations in both hardware and farm services. Remote irrigation controllers, machines for urea deep placement, rain guns, and machines for grading and sorting, equipment for solar dehydration are some examples of innovations around hardware development to improve mechanisation in Indian farms.

Innovations around farm services typically include business models operating on the pay-per-use models (also known as FaaS – Farming as a Service) through custom hiring services. Such innovations have a huge role to play in improving farmers’ access of mechanisation.  Some of the start-ups in this category are Sickle innovations, Distinct Horizon, Tractor Junction, Khetibadi, J Farm service.

In addition, some of the start-ups have focused on accurate and timely assessment of soil moisture and developing data-driven controlled irrigation model. The start-ups in this category include Satyukt Analytics, Flybird, Kritsnam, Agrirain, and Manna Irrigation. 

 Farmer advisory for crop monitoring

Agritech start-ups can also help in sowing as well as crop monitoring solutions. This include capturing and analysing multiple data points including weather, farm, soil and crop data, all of which can facilitate decision making as well as enabling farmers’ access to institutional credit and crop insurance.

Many of these start-ups are using satellite images to geotag farms, assess crop health and estimate output.  They are also building algorithms for farm monitoring and models for artificial intelligence to automate and improve predictably of yield and farmers’ incomes. Some of these start-ups include CropIn, SatSure, Farmguide, Niruthi, AgRisk, Skymet.  Start-ups like Samunnati, FarMart, Jai-Kisan, PayAgri, Bijak are specifically working in value chain financing.

 

 

Solutions includes farm mechanization, agri technology, crop

AgroPolicy, Finance

The gross value added (GVA) in the sector was assumed to have grown 3.7% in FY20. 

 Agriculture would come to the rescue of Indian economy and it will grow by 3 per cent this year despite all adverse conditions and thus would add at least 0.5 per cent to India’s GDP growth in 2020-21, said Ramesh Chand, Member Niti Aayog in Delhi. The gross value added (GVA) in the sector was assumed to have grown 3.7% in FY20, according to the second advance estimate of the economic growth announced by the government. 

Chand, who along with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, addressed the media here said an expected normal monsoon and nearly 40 to 60 per cent more water in reservoirs as compared to last year, would ensure a good crop output this year. On top of it, mandi prices of most agricultural commodities, including potatoes and onions, are better than last year and this would increase the farmers’ income, which would lead them to invest more in farming this year, he said. 

To buttress the point, Chand hinted at increasing sales of fertilisers and seeds in April. As compared to April last year, the sale of fertiliser in the country is 5 per cent more so far. If the sale of total fertiliser last April was 12.86 lakh tonnes, that was around 13.5 lakh tonnes till April 28 this year. “There are two more days left. If one includes the fertiliser sales today and tomorrow, it would be at least 8 per cent more than the same period of last year despite all adverse conditions due to the lockdown,” the Niti Aayog Member said.

 Similarly, the sale of seeds sold through Krishi Vigyan Kendras during the first four months of the year was 20 per cent more than the corresponding period last year, Chand said. Earlier addressing the media, Tomar said the area under zaid (summer) crop this year was more than 57 lakh hectares, which is 38 per cent more than that in the previous year.

 The Minister said the government is taking all measures to ensure that farming activities are not affected by the lockdown. While rabi pulses and oilseed crops are already harvested by the farmers, 88 per cent of wheat harvest is already completed. The rest would be done by next one week. Till Wednesday, the total wheat procurement by Central agencies has gone up to 117 lakh tonnes.

 He said to make it easy for farmers to sell the commodities, 100 more mandis would join eNAM platform by May 1, taking the total number of mandis engaged in online trading of agricultural produce to 685. During the month of May, the attempt would be to take the total number of mandis on eNAM to 1,000, Tomar said.

 He also said that 11 lakh big and small vehicles registered on Kisan Rath app recently launched by the Agriculture Ministry to help ferry farm produce from farm gate to mandi and between mandis and warehouses.

The gross value added (GVA) in the

E-commerce

The challenge will identify two companies with novel solutions to support the future of protein

Radicle Growth and Syngenta announced the launch of The Radicle Protein Challenge by Syngenta. Together, Radicle and Syngenta will identify two companies with novel solutions to support the future of protein (which could include new or experimental protein sources, or protein conversion technologies) that are solving challenges spanning from plant-based ag to the regenerative side of agriculture, to invest $1.25m in.

Radicle and Syngenta are seeking entrepreneurs representing companies of all stages from around the world to apply for the $1.25 million in investment — $1 million for the Challenge winner and the $250k for the second-place winner — to accelerate the growth of their technologies. Applications are open through May 29, 2020. The winners will not only receive a significant investment and custom accelerator program from Radicle Growth but will have access to Radicle and Syngenta’s broad agriculture expertise and global agtech networks to advance and promote their technology. 

“Innovative protein sources are increasingly important for a growing population. We are excited to be collaborating with Radicle and entrepreneurs from around the world to accelerate innovation and I am looking forward to seeing lots of creative ideas,” says Erik Fyrwald, CEO, Syngenta. “Our mission at Syngenta of helping farmers to make the best use of available resources and grow the crops we need in an environmentally friendly and healthy way, includes providing them with the best products, technologies and agronomic advice.” 

After entries close, several months of due diligence work will begin and 4-6 finalists will be identified from the pool of applicants. The finalists will participate in a Pitch Day competition . Each company will have the opportunity to present in front of a leading panel of judges, including Erik Fyrwald, who will deliberate and select the two winners. 

“Recent Gallup data confirms that nearly a quarter of Americans are eating less meat than ever before. This has increased the demand for plant-based and cellular agriculture alternatives to traditional protein sources,” says Kirk Haney, managing partner of Radicle Growth. “Many companies focused on this space have been hard at work with plans to launch in the near-term. Getting the product right to meet consumer demand is only half the battle, the pricing also needs to be right. We look forward to seeing the companies emerging in, and looking to grow, in this space and providing them the capital they need to overcome the challenges of growing this segment and staying ahead of consumer demands.”

The challenge will identify two companies with

E-commerce

The relief efforts will impact 150,000 families across 16 cities in India  

Amid the global lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19, there is a growing need to feed the most vulnerable communities in our society.  In line with its purpose of nourishing Indian quarantined population, world’ leading Agro manufacturing Industry Cargill has pledged 16 million meals to feed families through dry ration kits and cooked meals. The relief efforts will impact 150,000 families across 16 cities in India; including Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Kurkumbh, Kandla, Surat, Bengaluru, Davangere, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Bhatinda, Noida, Nagpur, Varanasi and Jaipur, say reports. 

Cargill Distributes Dry Ration Kit as well as Cooked Meals amid Lockdown.Moreover, Cargill is working with three NGO partners to implement this; namely, Akshaya Patra Foundation, Feeding India and India Food Banking Network (IFBN), reaching out to communities pan India. The dry ration kits include food items like pulses, rice, oil, wheat flour, spices etc. depending on local requirements. And cooked meals are also being served daily across these states.

Cargill’s efforts also include a monetary contribution to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM Cares Fund). Cargill is also leveraging its own distribution network and working with local state authorities to meet hyper-local needs with in-kind donations across the country.

 Simon George, the president of Cargill India said, “This global crisis requires a fully concerted approach to be adopted. Given the critical nature of our business, we are cognizant of our role in the relief and recovery efforts. We are doing everything needed to ensure supply of essential food and feed products continues. On the other hand, we are supporting local authorities and reaching out through NGO partners to provide food items and meals to nourish those impacted. We will continue helping communities during this time of need.”

 Sundeep Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, Akshay Patra Foundation, said, “Our partnership with Cargill has strengthened our resolve to serve the ones most affected in this hour of crisis. Support from Cargill shall enable provision of cooked meals and dry ration kits for thousands of marginalized families who have lost their livelihood. We hope our collaborative efforts will alleviate the burden for these families.” 

On the other hand, Cargill India employees are also making voluntary contributions to support the cause. Cargill India will be matching the amount collected through this drive, thus doubling employees’ contribution to help communities. The corpus collected will be donated to the PM Cares Fund, set up by PM Modi for those affected by the coronavirus. 

 Cargill’s 160,000 employees across 70 countries work relentlessly to achieve the purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. 

 

The relief efforts will impact 150,000 families

Agro chems – Chemicals, E-commerce

As Govt asked fertilizer and chemical PSUs to convert the current Covid-19 adversity into an opportunity. 

 

 

State-run HIL India is looking for joint venture investments from agro-chemical makers in China, South Korea and Japan after the government asked fertiliser and chemical PSUs to convert the current COVID-19 adversity into an opportunity.

Fertiliser and Chemicals Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has advised that “Indian corporates especially PSUs under his ministry should try to convert COVID-19 adversity into an opportunity of attracting investments from abroad.”

“Following on the advice, HIL, a CPSU under the department, is looking for expanding its business area and has sent proposals to Indian Embassies/Missions in China, Japan and South Korea for inviting interested agro-chemical manufacturers in respective countries for investment in India,” an official statement said.

HIL is looking for business tie up in areas of contract manufacturing or plan-on-lease arrangement, it said.

For smooth running of its Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals has taken initiatives to overcome the hurdles posed by Covid-19 pandemic and has suggested them to strengthen their performance by exploring joint ventures with global enterprises looking for investments.

Despite facing a lot of hurdles due to  COVID crisis, the ministry said HIL is ensuring supply of essential chemicals such as DDT in health segments, while seeds and pesticides in agriculture segments in various parts of the country.

The ministry said that production in HIL units has been affected during the lockdown period. However, the company has shown good sales during the last week ended April 24.

 

HIL sold 37.99 tonnes of agro-chemicals, dispatched 97 tonnes of DDT, executed an export order of 10 tonnes of Mancozeb  to Peru, it said.

HIL has also drafted an agreement, which has been shared with the Ministry of Agriculture, for supply of Malathion Technical for Locust Control Programme, it added.

As Govt asked fertilizer and chemical PSUs

AgroPolicy, E-commerce

The association has urged, in its letter, to increase export incentive on the soyameal from 5 per cent to 10 per cent 

 

The Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA), an apex body of soyabean processors in the country, has sought stimulus package from the government of India to lift the soya processing industry, which has been impacted by the prolonged shut down and collapse of poultry sector. 

In separate letters to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Prime Minister and other Union Ministers concerned, the SOPA chairman Davish Jain said the prolonged shutdown, which has caused a serious damage to the overall economy of the country, has also impacted the soyabean processing industry. With the collapse of the poultry sector, which consumes 60 per cent of the soyameal, there are no takers for it leading to most of the processing units being shut.

The SOPA chairman said with no operations, no sale and no access to funds, there is no cash flow and the industry is cash-starved.

Added to this the Labour Department’s missive to the units to ensure continued payment of double wages to the workers who work for more than 8 hours, has further added to the industry’s woes. The association has urged, in its letter, to increase export incentive on the soyameal from 5 per cent to 10 per cent so as to revive export in the current depressed global markets. In addition to this, SOPA has urged the Centre to exempt the meal and the bean from GST.

Jain said they have also urged the Centre to advise State governments to remove APMC or mandi fee.

The association has urged, in its letter,

Agro chems – Fertilizers, E-commerce

The company has partially commenced operations at its Visakhapatnam fertilizer unit and Kakinada plant.

Coromandel International Ltd (CIL) announced that it has partially commenced operations at its Visakhapatnam fertilizer unit and that its Kakinada facility is still running, according to a stock exchange filing on 25 April.

The firm is one of the largest domestic suppliers of phosphate-based fertilizers in India, having produced 2.94mn t in 2018-19, according to its annual report. It produced 561,000t of SSP in the same period from eight production locations. 

It has a total annual capacity of 3.5mn t of phosphate fertilizer, which includes DAP, SSP and NPKs, the report says. Its major phosphate plants are in southeast India, in Kakinada and Visakhapatnam, both located in Andhra Pradhesh, and two at Ennore and Ranipet in Tamil Nadu.

CIL reduced manpower at its NPK facilities on 23 March in light of the Indian government’s initial plan for a 15-day lockdown on 24 March to curb the spread of coronavirus. CIL then suspended operations at its NPK plants at Indore and Visakhapatnam on 26 March. The government has since extended the lockdown until 3 May. 

CIL’s shutdown came amid a slew of closures announced by Indian fertilizer producers at the end of March, with fellow suppliers IFFCO, Deepak, PPL, Fact, GSFC, RCF, Smartchem and Greenstar announcing plant closures or reduced operating rates.

 

Raw materials imports return

The announcement of CIL’s resumption follows an uptick in raw materials purchases earlier this month. CIL has been active in securing prompt sulphuric acid at negative cfr prices. The producer was coming out of planned maintenance when lockdowns were imposed and, despite the various disruptions, discharge of sulphuric acid at Vizag and Kakinada has not been affected. 

CIL is still receiving its contracted ammonia shipments from suppliers, with a further 5,000t scheduled for early-May delivery.

CIL sources phosphoric acid as a raw material for production from a wide array of origins, most notably Morocco’s OCP. CIL received 983,000t of phosphoric acid last year, of which OCP shipped 454,000t.

But OCP reports that April-loading phosphoric acid shipments to India have largely ground to a halt following the drop in phosphates production and has accordingly sought to granulate more DAP for Indian consumption. CIL bought 50,000t of Moroccan DAP for May arrival to offset its lowered output.

The company has partially commenced operations at

E-commerce, Packaging & Labelling, Supply Chain

The boxes will begin appearing in grocery stores in mid-May. 

Tanimura & Antle, Salinas, Calif., is introducing HarvestSelect, a box of fresh produce, to retailers for their consumer pickup and delivery programs. Each box contains at least eight fruit and vegetable products and a recipe card, and has its own Universal Product Code for quick scanning, according to a news release. A Produce Traceability Initiative-compliant sticker includes packing dates and where the items were grown. 

Tanimura & Antle first made the boxes for its employees and donations to community groups and plans to sell to foodservice operators and wholesalers participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Buy Fresh program, known as the Farmers to Families food box program.

Tanimura & Antle packs similar boxes during the holidays each year. The company continues to donate to local food banks, according to the release.

“After packing over a thousand boxes locally, e-mails and phone calls started coming in,” Scott Grabau, president and CEO, said in the release. “Our retail partners began requesting the option to carry these convenient packs in stores to help provide additional lift to the produce category and offer consumers a convenient and valuable produce option.” 

The boxes will begin appearing in grocery stores in mid-May. “Our HarvestSelect box promotes healthy home-cooking for families, with the convenience of being pre-selected and packaged,” Grabau said in the release.

 

The boxes will begin appearing in grocery

Acts & Schemes – Centre

Out of this Punjab has shared major contribution 48.27 LMT followed by Hariyana with 19.07 LMT.

Procurement of wheat is progressing at a very fast pace in all major procuring states of the country. A quantity of 88.61 Lakh Metric Tonne (LMT) wheat has already been procured for the Central pool till April 26, 2020. Out of this, major contribution has been from Punjab with 48.27 LMT followed by Haryana with 19.07 LMT.

 Going by the present pace of procurement, the target of 400 LMT kept for the season is likely to be achieved. Considering the looming threat of spread of Covid-19 virus, procurement is being undertaken after taking enough precautions and ensuring social distancing in the mandis. Every effort is being made to ensure that the farmers are not put to any kind of distress. Continuing the healthy pace of dispatch of food grains from surplus to consuming regions, Food Corporation of India (FCI) crossed the 2,000 number in terms of train loads dispatched during lockdown period.

 Till April 27, 20, a total number of 2,087 of train loads carrying about 58.44 Lakh MT were dispatched to meet the requirements of food grains under various schemes of Government of India. Unloading of 1,909 rakes carrying 53.47 LMT stocks was also done during this period, despite severe constraints posed due to declaration of hotspots and containment zones in many of the key unloading centres in consuming states.

 

It is expected that with gradual easing of restrictions by Central and state governments, the pace of unloading will be enhanced further in the coming days. Lifting of free food grains to be distributed @ 5 Kg/person for 3 months (April to May 2020) under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) is progressing well with UTs of Ladakh and Lakshadweep already completing lifting of full quota for three months.

 

Another seven states are lifting June month quota whereas 20 states are currently lifting May month quota. Eight states are lifting April month quota, which is expected to be completed by month end. FCI has made arrangements to position adequate stocks in all states to meet the requirements. In the case of West Bengal, where additional allocation for three months is about 9 Lakh MT, plans have already been drawn to move about 227 train loads of rice to various parts of the state concurrently from four states i.e., Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha to West Bengal to ensure availability of sufficient food grains in a short span of time.

Out of this Punjab has shared major contribution

AgroPolicy, Oilseeds, Pulses

About 1.20 lakh tonnes of tur dal has been procured from seven states

 Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, the Centre has procured 1.92 lakh tonnes of gram and tur dal and 1.83 lakh tonnes of mustard seeds, totalling 3.75 lakh tonnes under the Price Support Scheme (PSS), according to the Agriculture Ministry.

 The PSS is put into operation on state governments’ request when prices fall below the minimum support price (MSP). 

The procurement is undertaken by nodal agencies like Nafed at minimum support price (MSP). Only fair average quality commodity is purchased. However in view of COVID-19 pandemic, the daily procurement limit has been increased from 25 quintals to 40 quintals per day under the PSS for rabi crops. 

In a statement, the ministry said PSS has been operationalised for procurement of pulses and oilseeds growing in the rabi season of 2019-20 crop year (July-June) in seven states — Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. 

Among pulses, about 72,415 tonnes of gram (chana) have been procured from five states — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. 

About 1.20 lakh tonnes of tur dal has been procured from seven states — Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Odisha. 

In case of oilseeds, the Centre has purchased 1.83 lakh tonnes of mustard seed from three states — Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, the ministry said. 

Pulses, Oilseeds output

As per the second estimate of the ministry, pulses and oilseeds output during 2019 rabi season has been pegged at 15.11 million tonnes and 10.75 million tonnes, respectively. 

According to the ministry, standard operating protocol (SOP) related to crop harvesting and threshing is being adhered to by farmers and workers.States have been asked to ensure compliance of SOP in order to protect the health of farmers and farm workers and contain the spread of coronavirus. 

Meanwhile, wheat harvesting across the country is continuing at a brisk pace amidst the Covid-19 lockdown. As reported by the states, nearly 99 per cent of wheat crop has been harvested in Madhya Pradesh, 92-95 per cent in Rajasthan, 85-88 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 55-60 per cent in Haryana, 60-65 per cent in Punjab and 87-88 per cent in other states so far.

The ministry also said that the National Horticulture Board (NHB) has uploaded on its website the availability of planting material from its 618 accredited nurseries to help farmers buy good planting material for the ensuing sowing season of kharif crops.

About 1.20 lakh tonnes of tur dal

Acquaculture, AgroPolicy

The facility of cargo for aqua production and sale will be launched soon. 

Andhra Pradesh government will soon set up an Aquaculture Authority to monitor the hatcheries from seed to marketing. It will also assure Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers and asked the farmers not to sell aqua products in distress. 

The State has the largest number of hatcheries in the country. But with 80 percent of brooders (mother prawns) imported from the US, production has been hit due to the lockdown. In this regard, the State government has already written to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Fisheries to permit the cargo for aqua production and sale.

“The State government will stand by the aqua farmers and make sure that they need not resort to distress sales. As of now, exports of the aqua produce have begun in various ports across the State, soon the cargo services will be made fully functional,’’ Mopidevi Venkataramana Ramana, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said in a release.

The facility of cargo for aqua production

E-commerce, Pulses

IPGA is supporting the front line fighters and the migrant families stuck in containment zones. 

 

 

India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), the nodal body for India’s pulses trade and industry today announced its decision to join the nation’s efforts in providing relief during the COVID-19 lockdown.

IPGA, as a part of its activities, has decided to contribute a sum of Rs. 21 lakhs to the PM-CARES Fund which is in addition to the various amounts contributed by their members. The overall contribution from the Pulses Trade to PM-CARES Fund is close to Rs. 5 crores. This is over and above the contribution made by IPGA Members in the form of food grains, sanitizers, masks, gloves and similar essential commodities and products.

IPGA, apart from the contribution to PM-CARES Fund, is also supporting the frontline fighters as well as the migrant families and needy families stuck in containment zones. IPGA will be providing a total of 6,000 food grain ration bags for this cause. Each bag of ration will contain 5 kgs of rice, 5 kgs of atta, 2 kgs of dal, 1 litre of cooking oil, 1 kg of sugar and 1 kg of salt.

 IPGA handed over the first batch of 500 ration bags to Bellale, Assistant Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for distribution in the containment zone in F WARD NORTH. IPGA will be providing 3,500 more bags for F Ward North and another 1,000 bags in the Worli Koliwada area. 

IPGA also handed over the first batch of 500 ration bags out of 1000 bags to Suresh Mengade, DCP – SB at the office of the Commissioner of Police at Belapur in Navi Mumbai.

Jitu Bheda, Chairman – IPGA speaking about the initiative said, “Supporting the police personnel of Navi Mumbai is our way of expressing our gratitude to them for the tireless efforts taken by them to ensure that the APMC continues to function every day. APMC is the hub for distribution of food grains, vegetable, fruits and other essential commodities to Mumbai City and everyday a high number of trucks carrying essential commodities arrive at APMC and the number of people in the area is extremely high making it a high-risk area. It is the crucial responsibility of Navi Mumbai police personnel that proper social distancing, sanitization and controlled movement of citizens is maintained which they have been managing admirably. 

 Bimal Kothari, Vice Chairman – IPGA speaking about the initiative said, “As the nodal body of the pulses trade, we are proud to be a part of this affair and to be the first association to do this. We hope that our effort encourages other similar Associations to come forward and contribute. The migrant population in Mumbai is in a way a huge support system to our society. Many of them work in various infrastructure projects, as daily workers in mandis or wholesale markets, in our houses and many other areas. This is the time, that we as a city need to come together to take care of them and support them.”

 

 

IPGA is supporting the front line fighters

E-commerce, North America, R&D

 Expands use of pollination-on-demand technology for U.S. corn seed production 

Corteva Agriscience, (NYSE: CTVA), and PowerPollen®, an Iowa-based ag tech company that developed the first and only scalable pollination technology for commodity crops, recently announced a commercial agreement expanding the use of pollination-on-demand technology, enabling increased flexibility and productivity for Corteva’s commercial corn seed production. 

As part of the agreement, Corteva will license the on-demand pollination technology and gain access to PowerPollen’s prescriptive pollination expertise and algorithms that inform producers of the optimal pollination timing to increase seed yield, purity and quality. 

“Over several decades, scientific advancements have improved agricultural productivity, but the challenges associated with pollination have remained largely unsolved. Based on in-field testing, we believe PowerPollen’s technology will further enable us to produce high-quality seed for our farmers and improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of modern farming practices” said Neal Gutterson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Corteva Agriscience. 

PowerPollen will be responsible for collecting, preserving and applying pollen leveraging its patented technology, which uses custom designed tools and preservation methods built to scale for commercial operations.

 “Preserving and applying pollen at the optimal time to enable the production of a hybrid provides flexibility and efficiencies never before achieved in production agriculture. Corteva is the ideal collaborator to help us accelerate our commercialization strategy,” said Dr. Todd Krone, co-founder and CEO of PowerPollen. “Since launching PowerPollen five years ago, we’ve refined our preservation technology to extend the window of pollination from a few hours to more than six months.” 

The ability to preserve pollen enables product innovation across a wider variety of hybrids, increasing genetic diversity and in-season decision making.The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

 Expands use of pollination-on-demand technology for U.S.

E-commerce, Logistics

More than 15,000 farmers have benefited from this service   

Agri major Bayer on Monday said it has tied up with Pune-based e-commerce firm AgroStar to deliver its products like seeds and pesticides to farmers in view of the nationwide lockdown.

“Under the partnership, farmers can order Bayer’s seeds and crop protection products for their entire crop lifecycle and receive agronomic advisory through Agro Star’s digital agri-tech platform,” the company said in a statement.

Home delivery of agri-inputs can currently be availed by farmers in north, west and central India, with plans to extend the scope to other geographies in the future, said the Company.

In the current COVID-19 lockdown situation, Bayer said that the partnership has enabled last mile delivery of seeds and crop protection products for multiple crops directly to farmer’s doorsteps.

With agri-input shops remaining partly shut, AgroStar is fulfilling farmers’ orders through its 500+ strong network of last mile delivery partners, who are doing doorstep delivery of agri-inputs, while following hygiene and social distancing norms.

With agri-input shops remaining partly shut, AgroStar is fulfilling farmers’ orders through it’s over 500 strong network of last-mile delivery partners, who are doing doorstep delivery of agri-inputs. More than 15,000 farmers have benefitted from this service and have avoided stepping out to buy agri-inputs ahead of the kharif season, Bayer said.

Shardul Sheth, CEO and Co-Founder of AgroStar, said the good quality agri-inputs, coupled with our digital agronomy solutions, have the potential to significantly increase farm productivity and farmer incomes.

More than 15,000 farmers have benefited from this service, the statement said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More than 15,000 farmers have benefited from