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China

The release of the indices could guide agricultural production through price and information transmission

A series of indices, designed to objectively and accurately reflect the price trend of tropical agricultural products and prospects of related industries, was officially released at a seminar on building the price index publishing center for international tropical agricultural products held recently in Haikou, capital city of south China’s Hainan Province.

The indices, jointly compiled by China Economic Information Service (CEIS) of Xinhua News Agency, People’s Government of Chengmai County of Hainan Province and Haiken Group (HSF), consists of China banana industry development index, China natural rubber market confidence index, areca nut industry climate index, and global banana industry technological competitiveness index.

Taking prices as the core, the release of the indices could guide agricultural production through price and information transmission and help industry entities gain market voice, said Wang Weijian, analyst with Xinhua Indices of CEIS.

According to Wang, these indexes are effective tools for market analysis, monitoring and early warning, as well as industrial investment.

Since 2016, CEIS, together with People’s Government of Chengmai County of Hainan Province and HSF, have compiled a total of 12 tropical agricultural products price indexes, covering five major tropical agricultural products, namely natural rubber, bananas, pepper, betel nut, and agarwood.

The construction of the price index publishing center for international tropical agricultural products is a significant milestone in boosting the high-quality development of Hainan’s characteristic tropical agriculture, said Yang Mu, president assistant of CEIS, adding that price indexes are playing a more important role in serving the Hainan freetrade port to integrate itself into the global economic system.

The release of the indices could guide

Acquaculture, India, Japan, Trade

India exports 40% of these shrimps to the island nation

Japan has completely lifted inspection of Indian ‘Black Tiger’ shrimps after export consignments of this delectable prawn variety were found totally free from any residue of synthetic antibacterial drug furazolidone, state-run Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) said on Wednesday. Black Tiger shrimp, commonly known as the giant tiger prawn or Asian Tiger shrimp, is a popular seafood the world over, and forms an important segment of India’s marine products export basket.

Japan consumes nearly 40 per cent of India’s Black Tiger shrimp exports, while it enjoys niche markets in the EU and the US. MPEDA chairman K S Srinivas said Japan’s decision would boost the morale of Indian seafood exporters who are battling various trade and logistic issues in the wake of the pandemic that adversely affected the seafood markets abroad.

“MPEDA has been raising the request to exempt Black Tiger from import inspection for antibiotic residue at various platforms. The decision by Japanese authorities will further enhance farming and export of the Black Tiger variety, especially from West Bengal and Kerala,” he added.

Srinivas pointed out that MPEDA’s new Multispecies Aquaculture Complex at Vallarpadam in Kochi has been making sustained efforts to revive production of Black Tiger shrimps by supplying healthy seeds to farmers.

 

India exports 40% of these shrimps to

North America

Stand with U.S. Farmers website launched to raise awareness

OCP North America, a subsidiary of global fertilizer leader OCP S.A., of Morocco, has announced the launch of www.Standwithusfarmers.com. The new website aims to promote awareness and action in response to the threat to US farmers posed by substantial import duties recently imposed by the US Department of Commerce on imports of the phosphate fertilizers on which American farmers depend.

The new duties are the direct result of a trade petition by American fertilizer giant The Mosaic Company. Already controlling more than 70 percent of the U.S. phosphate fertilizer market, Mosaic petitioned the US Department of Commerce and US International Trade Commission in June to impose substantial duties of over 70% on Moroccan and Russian imports, alleging that its own poor business performance in the US was caused by imports from two countries who are Mosaic’s main competitors in the US Mosaic seeks to reap the benefits of dramatically reduced competition while US farmers suffer.

As is fairly routine in such cases, Commerce agreed to impose duties on a preliminary basis in advance of the final phase of the Commerce process undertaken in response to the Mosaic petition. Specifically, Commerce imposed a preliminary duty of 23.46 percent on US imports from the OCP Group in Morocco, and preliminary duties of 20 to 72.5 percent on certain Russian imports, effective December 1.

The preliminary duty announcement is already impacting fertilizer availability in US markets. It’s also substantially affecting costs for U.S. farmers at a time when they are struggling to recover from a multi-year downturn in farm economics, made only worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry analysts have noted that import supplies have plummeted, creating a “supply shock” that has driven phosphate fertilizer costs to rise more than 25% at the farm gate.

 

Stand with U.S. Farmers website launched to

Agro chems – Fertilizers, World

Potato peelings leftover from making crisps will be transformed into low-carbon fertilizer

Walkers crisps, one of the largest buyers of British potatoes, is partnering with British clean-tech firm CCm Technologies to reduce its carbon footprint by turning its potato waste into fertilizer. Using innovative carbon-capture technology, potato peelings leftover from making crisps will be transformed into low-carbon fertiliser and returned to farms where potatoes for Walkers crisps are grown across the UK.

Following a promising trial of the fertiliser, which was applied to potato seed beds this year, Walkers is planning to install CCm’s specialist equipment at its Leicester factory next year to begin wider production in preparation for its 2022 crop. Once supplied at scale, the fertiliser is expected to reduce Walkers’ potato-based carbon emissions by 70%. The technology is designed to connect to the factory’s anaerobic digestor, which uses food waste to generate nearly 75% of the electricity used at the plant.

The newly installed equipment will use the by-product waste from the anaerobic digestion process to create the fertiliser. By turning potato waste into a reusable resource, Walkers is driving more circularity in the potato growing process,helping farmers reduce their impact on the environment. This initiative forms part of a broader award-winning agriculture programme from Walkers, which has previously helped UK growers achieve a 50% cut in their water use and carbon emissions. The new initiative could set Walkers on a path to becoming carbon-negative in its potato production over the next decade. In addition to the low carbon status of the fertiliser itself, research projects that its long-term use will improve soil health, aiding a natural carbon sequestration process.

Walkers brand owner, PepsiCo, is also looking to bring the benefits of the new, circular fertiliser to further European markets and other crops, such as oats and corn. David Wilkinson, PepsiCo’s Senior Director of European Agriculture commented “From circular potatoes to circular crops, this innovation with CCm Technologies could provide learnings for the whole of the food system, enabling the agriculture sector to play its part in combating climate change. This is just the beginning of an ambitious journey, we’re incredibly excited to trial the fertiliser on a bigger scale and discover its full potential.

Potato peelings leftover from making crisps will

Agrotech, Seeds

S&W has made significant progress toward its evolution into a completely integrated agricultural seed company

S&W Seed Company, a global agricultural technology company based in the US, has provided an update on its seed trait technology development and commercialization activities.

“Over the past few years, S&W has made significant progress toward its evolution into a completely integrated agricultural seed company. Key to that transformation has been the development, and now the commercial launch, of proprietary seed trait technology products,” commented Mark Wong, CEO of S&W Seed Company. “The commercialization of these products is anticipated to transform the operating profile of S&W into a high growth, high margin business, with more than 50% of our gross profit contribution within the next decade expected to come from these new tech products. With a highly accomplished management team that has successfully developed, marketed, licensed, and sold similar trait technologies over the years, I am highly optimistic that S&W is entering a new era.”

Lead Trait Technology Products

Double Team Sorghum (DT):

  • Non-GMO tolerance to broad-spectrum grass herbicide.
  • Commercial launch expected in spring 2021.
  • Potential to revolutionize the sorghum market in the same way other weed control technologies have enhanced yields for crops such as corn, soybeans and cotton.
  • DT trait is expected to have the highest value of any commercial sorghum trait currently in the market.

Improved Quality Alfalfa (IQ):

  • Designed to provide farmers a new way to produce alfalfa forage with improved ruminant digestibility.
  • Commercial launch expected in fall 2021.
  • Improved digestibility increases efficiency of dairy operations, resulting in more milk per ton of feed, higher income for alfalfa producers, and reduced dietary wastage.
  • Initially developed for non-dormant alfalfa varieties, to be followed by dormant alfalfa variety options in 2022 and beyond.

Dhurrin-Free Sorghum (DF):

  • Dhurrin is a natural toxin that sorghum produces to protect itself from grazing animals when the plant is under stress from drought, temperature fluctuation or other conditions. In some circumstances, the biproduct of dhurrin metabolism, prussic acid, can kill livestock.
  • Genetically removing dhurrin can eliminate the risks associated with grazing on or producing hay from stressed sorghum fields.
  • Developed in partnership with and licensed from Purdue University.

S&W has made significant progress toward its

Foodgrains, North America, Trade, World

Critical response during COVID-19 to give relief and hope to households in crises

On December 8, 2020, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said, “Timely and robust actions can reduce hunger and human suffering as a result of crises, and that’s truer than ever in the wake of the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Dongyu was speaking to participants in the High-Level pledging event for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the second-largest donor to FAO’s humanitarian programme. “The shocks of 2020 will reverberate long into 2021,” said the Director-General. Noting the extraordinary challenges faced this year, from the pan-continental desert locust upsurge to the global pandemic, Qu said the number of people facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity may rise further “unless we act now and act at scale.”

FAO is strongly advocating investment in emergency agriculture interventions, as four out of five people living in food crisis contexts rely on some form of agriculture for their survival, the Director-General said. “Rescuing those livelihoods not only saves their lives today but gives them hope for tomorrow,” Qu added.

“In the chaos of an emergency it makes an enormous difference to act quickly and at scale,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in opening remarks. He emphasized that the CERF is only half-way to reaching its target of $1 billion for 2020. But “momentum is building for this anticipatory approach,” he added. The Secretary General highlighted early action to combat the Desert Locust in the Horn of Africa, led by FAO with a grant and loan from the Fund, as one of CERF’s outstanding impacts during a record-setting year of work.

 

Image caption- Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.

Critical response during COVID-19 to give relief

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Agro chems – Fertilizers, India, Start ups

Set up jointly with Horti Research Centre LLP, a dealer with 4000 farmers’ network

Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation Limited (SPIC), one of India’s pioneers and leading agri-nutrient and fertiliser companies also a part of AM International, recently inaugurated a model fertiliser retail shop (MFRS) in Chettukuzhy, Idukki district, Kerala.

SPIC is the first private fertiliser company to set-up an MFRS in the state. The shop is set up in association with Horti Research Centre LLP, a dealer with a network of over 4000 farmers. Idukki district has a potential retail market for plantation crops such as cardamom, tea, coffee, pepper, and vegetables.

Also known as Kisan Suvidha Kendra, the Indian government introduced the concept of MFRS in the 2016-17 budget. Besides selling quality fertilisers at a genuine price, MFRS will provide a range of consulting and agriculture-related services for enhanced farm productivity. These include advice on organic and chemical fertiliser usage, soil and seed testing services among others. The samples collected by the MFRS will be sent to SAS Tuticorin for testing.

Congratulating the team on the launch, Ashwin Muthiah, Chairman, SPIC, and AM International, said, “SPIC has been a pioneer in partnering with Indian farmers in their agri-journey. The retail initiative is a way to get closer to our end customer – the farmer and to understand their needs better. MFRS will provide tailor-made scientific advisory solutions which will help local farmers increase their yield and maintain better soil health and nutrition. The availability of quality agri-nutrients at genuine prices will empower the Indian farmer ensuring better productivity, income, and prosperity.”

Set up jointly with Horti Research Centre

India, Start ups

To onboard around 50,000 farmers in 2021

Founded in 2020 by Hiren Kachariya, the Gujarat based ‘Virtual Mandi’ HirenBhai.com has collaborated with more than 1500 farmers within two months of its launch and has been able to help the farmers by providing them an online platform to sell their produce to agri-business firms, international exporters or large retailers on pre-agreed prices of their produce, at the click of a button, without the involvement of any middlemen.

The pandemic is fast tracking digital transformation for agri-businesses across the world to stay competitive and equipped for the future. HirenBhai.com, has thus been pivotal in uniting the entire agricultural community at Gujarat under one roof to support the local farmers.

“Farmers have been true heroes during the pandemic and we must do everything to support the people who produce our food. Our focus is to onboard at least 50,000 farmers in the coming year and partner with global companies who can provide a competitive process to the farmers,” said Hiren Kachariya, Co-founder and CEO of HirenBhai.com.

The company has now secured a Rs 1.1 million Series A round, which is led by 3EA Limited. HirenBhai.com will use the funding to accelerate its ability to build up essential value-add processing infrastructure in Gujarat, to accelerate the growth of its full-farm extension services for small farm holders, and connect these farmers to large-scale agribusinesses and food processors seeking hassle-free sourcing, as well as to further their seed breeding programme.

“With this investment, we are entering a new phase of rapid growth driven by global value chains and superior service to our suppliers and customers,” said Dr Vibhor Misra, CEO of 3EA Limited.

To onboard around 50,000 farmers in 2021

Acquaculture, Agro Universities

Calls for raising awareness about the nutritional benefits of fish

The Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu has remarked that COVID-19 might prove to be a game-changer for India’s fisheries sector as the pandemic has made people conscious of adopting healthy dietary habits. 

Addressing the scientists and staff at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Visakhapatnam, the Vice President said that the fish is a great source of protein and holds the key for reducing malnutrition in the country, especially in children.

In this regard, he asked the health experts and nutritionists to bring awareness among the common people about the many benefits of having fish in our diet. “Fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are necessary for our body and good for cardiovascular health. This aspect needs to be popularized and conveyed to the common man”, he added.

Naidu said that from the pristine waters of the Himalayas to a long coastline of over 8000 kms, India is blessed with vast aquatic resources. “These waters are endowed with a diversity of fish fauna that has been supporting the livelihoods of millions of people for many generations”, he added.

Calls for raising awareness about the nutritional

Acquaculture, Acts & Schemes – Centre

Focus on post-harvest losses equally crucial

Recognizing that for many years, the lack of availability of quality fish seed has been a major concern, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, recently observed that efforts by the research institutes mitigated this problem to an appreciable extent, but there is still huge scope for innovation in this area. Similarly, he called for the need to improve our value-addition to our fish, by maintaining the highest quality, consistency and reliability by bettergrading, quality assurance, and packaging of our product. The Vice President wanted the Indian mariculture to be diversified by investing in innovative products such as nutraceuticals and ornamental fish. Finally, we need to focus on reducing post-harvest losses by creating the required infrastructure like cold storage, he added. The Vice President also wanted municipal bodies to take special interest in creating clean and attractive fish markets.

Expressing concerns over the increasing frequency of extreme weather events caused by climate change, Naidu said that unfortunately its effect is mostly felt by the seas and oceans through sea-level rise, ocean warming, and ocean acidification. “All this is having an adverse impact on marine life and the human lives that depend on it”, he added.

Expressing concerns over the pollution of marine and freshwater, the Vice President said that discarded plastics, other residual waste and industrial chemicals eventually find their way into our water bodies with devastating consequences for aquatic life and the habitats they depend on.

Focus on post-harvest losses equally crucialRecognizing that

Acquaculture, Acts & Schemes – Centre, Agro Universities

Highlights glaring gap in demand and supply of annual fish production

Noting that India ranks second in the world in total fish production, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu recently remarked that there still is a lot of potential to be harnessed in both inland and marine fisheries. He further said that with a modest start from being a small scale industry, fisheries have grown to become a very important socio-economic force for our country over the past few decades and currently provides employment to nearly 15 million people on the Indian coast. “India is the 4th largest exporter of fish in the world and the sector has been one of the major contributors of foreign exchange earnings”, he said and added that India should aspire to become number one in export of fish.

Observing that with the growing population and the increasing demand for animal protein, the domestic requirement of fish is estimated to increase significantly, Naidu called for bridging the gap in demand and supply of the annual fish production in India.

He opined that capture fisheries and deep-sea fishing alone cannot meet the demand and thriving marine fish culture is the way forward. Stating that over 8000 km of coastline offers immense potential for the development of mariculture, the Vice President said that cage farming is widely recognized as the most important technology in mariculture for increasing fish production. 

Highlights glaring gap in demand and supply

Acquaculture, Acts & Schemes – Centre, Agro Universities

Exhorts scientists of CMFRI and CIFT to help improve fishermen’s lives

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has emphasized the need for enhancing access to credit, developing cold chains and good upcountry market linkages, and providing better infrastructure for post-harvest storage, handling and value addition. Speaking at an event at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Visakhapatnam, he added “Ultimately, government efforts should be complemented by greater R&D support from the research institutes, increased private investment in fish and shrimp hatcheries, and establishment of aquaculture estates, feed mills and ancillary industries”, he added.

P”lease remember that the research conducted by you should translate into improving the lives of fishermen and benefit them, he told the scientists of CMFRI and CIFT. Appreciating the farmers for the record food grain output during the pandemic, Naidu said “I salute the farmers including the fish farmers.” The Vice President asked the research institutes to encourage the small fishermen to adopt modern sustainable practices through innovative marine fish cultures and better extension programmes.

Opining that with growing awareness about the health benefits of fish, and with the right inputs and technologies, he said that fish farming can become more lucrative in the coming years and lift the millions dependent on it out of poverty. That is the real objective of the ’Blue Revolution’ initiative, he underlined. Stating that our long coastline should be our strength and not our weakness, Naidu called for exploring the waters once again, confidently, to feed our own people and as a leader and net security provider in the region.

Exhorts scientists of CMFRI and CIFT to

Agrotech, Nature

The LUNA system surpassed one billion square feet of greenhouse analysis in 2019

US-based iUNU, an industrial computer vision company providing precision agriculture solutions to indoor growers, has raised $7 million in an oversubscribed Series A financing led by S2G Ventures and Ceres Partners.

iUNU is transforming the way indoor growers do business by harnessing the power of computer vision through its product offering, LUNA.  The LUNA platform delivers a system of mobile and fixed cameras with high-definition imaging and environmental sensors that measure and record everything down to the real-time growth rate of each plant.  The software combines computer vision and machine learning technologies to continuously build detailed models of individual plants, unique among millions, throughout the day.  LUNA detects even the most minute changes in health of individual plants, giving growers the precise knowledge, they need for proactive management. LUNA uses this insight to drive margin for growers through crop monitoring/forecasting, space utilization, and labor planning – while giving increased pricing leverage to the sales team.

The LUNA system surpassed one billion square feet of greenhouse analysis in 2019.  As a result, achieving and desired outcomes for customers has become both more precise and faster.  The LUNA system has the most extensive knowledge from imaging on the market.  While each grower using the LUNA platform owns their own imagery, the constant growth of the volume of imaging drives the machine learning and value the system provides.  LUNA learns from reading imagery, just as people do from reading a book, providing an immeasurable depth of experience and knowledge to LUNA’s customers.

 

The LUNA system surpassed one billion square

Agrotech

The pilot project is being implemented in 100 locations in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra

Nokia and Vodafone India Foundation, the CSR arm of Vi, have recently announced that they have deployed a Smart Agriculture solution that aims to improve the productivity of farmers in India. The pilot project is being implemented in 100 locations in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and will benefit over 50,000 farmers in the region by enhancing their productivity and income.

The smart agriculture-as-a-service solution, which utilizes Nokia’s Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) solution, will ensure that precise and practical data is sent to farmers enabling them to enhance productivity. The unique CSR initiative will be showcased at Vi booth (Hall #3) at India Mobile Congress 2020 from 8-10 December.

Over 400 sensors have been deployed over 100,000 hectares of farmland to collect various data points which are then analyzed by a cloud-based and localized Smart Agriculture app. The app provides local language support as well as weather forecast and irrigation management information. The sensors generate insights that helps to improve soy and cotton crop yields. Crop management through WING can include smart irrigation, smart pesticide control, proactive information sharing frameworks on crops and weather, as well as a platform for commodity exchange. The use case can also employ Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) technology or drones instead of traditional sensors for crop management.

Smart Agriculture is a leading use case that India is exploring in the 5G era. The complete end-to-end solution from Nokia WING is supported by deep domain expertise and an agriculture partner eco-system. Combined, it will help Vi CSR improve agricultural practices by introducing IoT-based solutions.

The pilot project is being implemented in