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Home2020 (Page 29)
Acts & Schemes – Centre, Dairy, India

To improve livelihood and economy of mountainous border areas

To promote dairying and rural livelihoods in the Union Territory of Ladakh, the National Dairy Development Board’s (NDDB)  and Union Territory Administration of Ladakh signed an MoU on October 6, 2020, for conducting a benchmark survey in the newly formed UT. NDDB’s dairy potential survey will help prepare a road map to boost dairying in the UT and will help in enhancing income of the rural population in the mountainous border areas.

Dilip Rath, Chairman, NDDB said that NDDB is happy to support the efforts of the UT Administration who have taken initiative for dairy development in the interest of milk producers in particular and the cooperative movement in general in Ladakh region. He further said that the Dairy Board has also offered managerial and technical support to promote producer-owned institutions that remain true to cooperative values.

NDDB proposes to enumerate all the households present in the identified villages irrespective of their dairy animal holding status. NDDB officials would train the nominated coordinators in the Leh and Kargil districts. These coordinators in turn will identify village investigators to be involved in survey, monitoring & supervision of fieldwork.

After completion of the field work over next two months, NDDB will prepare a roadmap for dairy development in the UT region taking into consideration crucial aspects like climatic conditions, suitability of breeds, animal health & AI support, feed & fodder availability,

To improve livelihood and economy of mountainous

Agro chems – Chemicals

Government & agrochemical industry leaders deliberate on agrochemicals

CropLife India a leading association of 15 R&D driven crop science companies recently organized its 40th Annual General Meeting, which witnessed the congregation of Minister of State for Agriculture, senior Government officials, experts and industry experts on the cause of supporting the farmer.

The Open House- Virtual Conference, included an Inaugural Session, “Policy level changes required to make Agrochemicals, a Champion sector”; a Panel Discussion on “Policy & Regulatory Roadmap for Agrochemicals Sector” and a Valedictory Session.

Parshottambhai Rupala, Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, shared that “India considers agro-chemical as a champion sector and is all set and open to align this sector with best international practices and regulatory reforms; by reducing registration timelines of crop protection products”.

CropLife India members elected the new office bearers: Dr K C Ravi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Syngenta India Ltd. as Chairman and Sanjiv Lal, MD & CEO, Rallis India and Anil Kakkar, Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Sumitomo Chemical India Ltd. as Vice-Chairmen of the Board of Directors for CropLife India; during the Annual General Meeting.

 

 

Government & agrochemical industry leaders deliberate on

Agrotech, E-commerce

It will facilitate direct and indirect employments in UP

 PepsiCo is planning to setting up a potato chips production unit in Uttar Pradesh with an investment of Rs 814 crore, said company in statement.

The greenfield (new) unit is being set up in Kosi, Mathura, on 35 acres of land provided by the UP State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA), said an official statement .

It also added that the unit, is expected to start commercial production by middle of the FY 2021. It will facilitate direct and indirect employments

PepsiCo India Chairman Ahmed El Sheikh said the initial investment in this project was pegged at Rs 500 crore which has been revised to Rs 814 crore.

The raw material (potato) needed for production will be procured through local sources, the statement said.

Infrastructure and Industrial Developmental Commissioner Alok Tandon said, ’An MoU (memorandum of understanding) was signed by PepsiCo to set up this project with a proposed investment of Rs 500 crore at UP Investors Summit 2018.’ He further said that as a result of the MoU tracking, land allocation and labour-related reforms, a transparent investment system is being established in the state to suit the industries. As a result of this, PepsiCo has increased its investment from Rs 500 crore to Rs 814 crore.”

 

It will facilitate direct and indirect employments

Acquaculture, Agro Universities, R&D

The technology is the first ever in India

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CMFRI), has successfully developed seed production technology of John’s snapper (Lutjanus johnii) first ever in India. Success in captive spawning and seed production of the fish, which was carried out at the Visakhapatnam Regional Centre of ICAR-CMFRI, has set a stage for farming of John’s snapper using hatchery produced seeds. This is expected to open up enormous scope for the country’s aquaculture ventures in near future through species diversification.

The research work was initiated with wild-caught adult fishes during 2018-19 as a component of a DBT-funded project entitled ‘Developing a New Candidate Species for Mariculture: Marine Finfish John’s Snapper, Lutjanus johnii’. This is the first report of successful broodstock development, induced breeding and seed production of this snapper under confinement in the country. The price of this fish is Rs 450 per kilogram in domestic market.

The technology is the first ever in

Agro chems – Fertilizers, AgroPolicy

Gowda stressed on the need for PSUs to become self-sustainable, and said that in future, PSUs should not depend upon budgetary support from Government of India

Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, held a review  meeting with CMDs of fertilizers PSUs to take stock of performance of their PSUs as well as their preparedness for future. 

The meeting was attended by Chhabilendra Roul, Secretary (Fertilizers) and Virendra Nath Datt, CMD, National Fertilizers Limited, SC Mudgerikar, CMD, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited, Kishor Rungta, CMD, The Fertilisers And Chemicals Travancore Limited, U Saravanan, CMD, Madras Fertilizers Limited, AK Ghosh, CMD Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited and Amar Singh Rathore, CMD, FCI Aravali Gypsum and Minerals India Limited.

In his opening remarks, Gowda congratulated fertilizer PSUs for their strong contribution in making fertilizers available to farmers by keeping their manufacturing units in operation, and ensuring distribution of urea and other fertilizers across the country, despite facing various hurdles during the lockdown period. Because of efforts of domestic companies and proactiveness of officers of Department of Fertilizers, there was no shortage of urea in the country, even when demand for urea shot up due to better than expected rainfall and substantial increase in area under farming  Kharif season. 

He asked CMDs of Fertilizer PSUs to gear up for upcoming Rabi season, and ensure that farmers get fertilizers in adequate quantity in time. He directed CMDs to chalk out a common strategy to encourage cashless transaction for sale of fertilizers to reduce diversion and leakages of subsidies in line.

Gowda stressed on the need for PSUs to become self-sustainable, and said that in future, PSUs should not depend upon budgetary support from Government of India. The need of the hour is to go for diversification of product basket, development of new products such as nano-fertilizers and customised fertilizers, technology up-gradation and if necessary, through revamping of existing plants if they have to sustain in future, and compete with private sector and imported fertilizers. He added that fertilizer PSUs should also be sensitive towards environmental concerns as introduction of any environment related policies in future may disrupt their viability. 

Roul added that fertilizer PSUs should also continuously make efforts to strengthen their disaster management plan. 

Source: PIB

Gowda stressed on the need for PSUs

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Transportation

Kisan Rail Scheme gets transportation subsidy as well

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Panchayati Raj and Food Processing Industries, on October 14, 2020, said that under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Operation Greens Scheme from Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) to all fruits & vegetables (TOTAL), provides 50 per cent subsidy on transport and storage of notified fruits and vegetables if prices of such fruits or vegetables are below the trigger price.

In addition to direct submission of online claim to MoFPI, the transportation subsidy would also be available under Kisan Rail Scheme under a very simplified way. Any person, including farmers can transport any notified fruits and vegetable crops through Kisan Rails. Railways would charge only 50 per cent of freight charges on these fruits and vegetables. Remaining 50 per cent of the freight charges will be provided as subsidy under Operation Greens Scheme by MoFPI to the Indian Railways. The revised Scheme Guidelines has been uploaded on the Ministry’s website on October 12, 2020.

At present Railways is operating three Kisan Rails between Devlali (Maharashtra) and Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh to Delhi, Bangalore to Delhi and plans to start fourth Kisan Rail from Nagpur and Warud Orange City in Maharashtra to Delhi.

Kisan Rail Scheme gets transportation subsidy as

AgroPolicy, Finance, Schemes - Govt

Farm credit exposures of all lending institutions, including NBFCs, are excluded from the scope of the resolution framework

Reserve Bank of India has recently released a set of frequently asked questions (FAQ) on the one-time loan restructuring scheme announced on August 6. The RBI clarified that the farm credit exposures of all lending institutions, including NBFCs, are excluded from the scope of the resolution framework. However, the loans to allied activities, such as dairy, fishery, animal husbandry, poultry, bee-keeping, and sericulture would be eligible for the resolution scheme.

FAQs on the resolution framework for Covid-19 related stress, released by RBI:

“Are all the farm credit as listed in Paragraph 6.1 of Master Direction FIDD.CO.PLan 1/04.09.01/2016-17 dated July 7, 2016 (as updated) ineligible under the Resolution Framework? Are the JLG loans provided to farmer households by MFIs are eligible for resolution plan under the Resolution Framework?

All the farm credit exposures of all lending institutions, including NBFCs, of the nature listed in Paragraph 6.1 of Master Direction FIDD.CO.PLan 1/04.09.01/2016-17 dated July 7, 2016 (as updated), except for loans to allied activities, viz., dairy, fishery, animal husbandry, poultry, bee-keeping and sericulture are excluded from the scope of the Resolution Framework. Subject to the above, loans given to farmer households would be eligible for resolution under the Resolution Framework if they do not meet any other conditions for exclusions listed in the Resolution Framework.”

The loan restructuring scheme announced by the RBI is aimed at giving some relief to the borrowers after the end of the moratorium. It is also expected to provide some relief to the rising NPAs in India’s banking industry.

 

Farm credit exposures of all lending institutions,

Foodgrains, R&D

The variety helps farmers in Maharashtra to double their yield

Farmers now have a wheat variety ’Aestivum’, developed by Indian scientists with significantly high yield. The chapati from the flour of this wheat also scores high on quality. This wheat variety called MACS 6478 and developed by Scientists from Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has doubled the crop yield for farmers in Karanjkhop, a village in Maharashtra.

The farmers of the village in Koregaon tehsil of Satara district in Maharashtra are now getting a yield of 45-60 quintal per hectare with the new variety as against earlier average yield ranging 25-30 quintal per hectare when they cultivated Lok 1, HD 2189 and other old varieties.

The newly developed common wheat or bread wheat, matures in 110 days and is resistant to most races of leaf and stem rust. The amber colored medium sized grain contains 14 per cent protein, 44.1 ppm zinc and 42.8 ppm iron which is higher than other cultivated varieties. A research paper on this variety has been published in ‘International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences’.

The chapati quality of flour of this wheat is excellent, having score of 8.05 with good bread quality scoring 6.93. Maharashtra State seed agency for seed multiplication, ‘Mahabeej’ is carrying out certified seed production of MACS 6478 for use by farmers.

 

The variety helps farmers in Maharashtra to

E-commerce, North America

The program transforms biological product research by providing unprecedented scale, data gathering and analysis

US-based Farmer’s Business Network, Inc. (FBN), the leading direct-to-farm ag tech platform and farmer network, has announced the launch of the FBN Biological On-Farm R&D Network, which connects developers of agricultural biological solutions directly with farmers and full-scale testing environments. This program creates a direct line to commercialization that benefits farmers, manufacturers and the environment.

Biological products look to maximize soil and plant potential, prevent disease, optimize chemical and fertilizer inputs, and drive long-term, sustainable and profitable farming practices.

FBN will connect biological developers directly with farmers through the FBN Biological R&D Network so that large-scale trials can optimize biological input programs to deliver the best return on investment for the farmer. With the aid of FBN’s data science, participating biological manufacturers will also be able to collect valuable insights on product efficacy and performance by environment.

The FBN farmer network contributes anonymous, detailed agronomic data at scale with over 260 million acre-events of real-world farm data aggregated from over 15,000 member farms in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

The FBN Biological On-Farm R&D Network will deliver a path to commercialization by providing developers with:

  • Large-scale testing on working farms across diverse geographies and production environments in the U.S. market
  • High-quality, unbiased, real-world data anonymously contributed by FBN member farms and customized analyses
  • Access to the FBN industry-leading e-commerce platform, which directly links manufacturers with farmers

The Biological On-Farm R&D Network will connect manufacturers with a large and ever-growing pool of farmers to test, refine, and demonstrate the efficacy of their products.

The program transforms biological product research by

Agro Universities

To also release commemorative coin of Rs 75 denomination to mark the 75th Anniversary of FAO

On the occasion of 75th Anniversary of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on October, 16, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release a commemorative coin of Rs 75 denomination to mark the long-standing relation of India with FAO. Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation, 17 recently developed biofortified varieties of 8 crops.

These varieties, along with other food ingredients, will transform the normal Indian thali into nutri-thali. These varieties have been developed by utilizing the local landraces and farmer’s varieties. The high zinc rice has been developed from landraces of Assam rice collected from Garo hills and those of finger millets from Gujarat collections of Dang district.

ICAR has started Nutri-Sensitive Agricultural Resources and Innovations (NARI) programme for promoting family farming linking agriculture to nutrition, nutri-smart villages for enhancing nutritional security and location specific nutrition garden models are being developed and promoted by KVKs to ensure access to locally available, healthy and diversified diet with adequate macro and micronutrients.

To also release commemorative coin of Rs

Agrotech, E-commerce

It aims to help energy traders, risk managers, data scientists, business analysts who rely on weather-prediction methods 

ZE PowerGroup Inc., (ZE) a global leader in end-to-end data management and analytics, and AccuWeather, the most trusted source of weather forecasts and warnings in the world, have announced an expanded partnership aimed at equipping data-driven organizations with weather intelligence. A partnership between ZE and AccuWeather will enable ZE to deliver a wider range of highly customized weather forecasts and other valuable updates to its customers globally. By working together, ZE and AccuWeather will provide clients with an expanded and comprehensive weather-related data reports that enable better decision making. 

ZE expects this collaboration to provide its customers with real-time weather-driven business opportunities based on the data available for current and past weather events. Organizations will also have the ability to map historical weather records and compare them to current weather conditions and trends. This can enable them to predict the potential impact of these events on business operations, create revenue projections with greater accuracy, engage in trade, and mitigate risks. The combination of weather forecasts and other market data essentially allows ZE’s clients to plan, protect, and prepare in a better way. It can be the next game-changer for organizations that rely on predictive analytics.

Energy traders, risk managers, data scientists, business analysts as well as other professionals rely on weather-prediction methods to judge the probabilities of weather events and their impact on demand forecasting and hedging. Investors in the gas and power sector also utilize these insights to predict, plan, and initiate new projects.

Derek Smith, the Director of Data Engineering at ZE PowerGroup spoke about the relationship and stated, “Thanks to this expanded partnership with AccuWeather, ZE has been able to create newly designed report offerings that provide unique insights for over 60 variables including temperature, UV index, relative humidity, visibility, precipitation levels, rain probability, hours of sun, snow, rain, and more. The reports will provide an overview of these variables based on current weather conditions, as well as 3-day hourly forecasts and 15-day daily forecasts.”

The new reports made available by ZE and AccuWeather can help businesses by providing easier access to in-depth data and critical weather insights. Introducing these variables into their planning and risk assessment can allow data-oriented organizations to pave the way for improved strategy formulation and grow their revenues.

 

“We are delighted to partner with ZE Power to bring our award-winning weather data to their dashboards for various business verticals,” said AccuWeather Senior Vice President of Business Development, Paul Lentz.

It aims to help energy traders, risk

E-commerce, R&D, Seeds

It aims to protect from early-season insects and diseases, along with nitrogen fixation to help maximize the seed investment. 

 

 

BASF is strengthening its soybean seed treatment portfolio with the introduction of three new products such as  Vault IP Plus seed treatment, Poncho XC seed treatment and Relenya seed treatment.  All the three products are recently registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

“Our enhanced soybean seed treatment portfolio offers growers a strong start to their growing season Now with a complete line-up of seed treatment solutions BASF provides premium protection from early-season insects and diseases, along with nitrogen fixation to help maximize their seed investment”, said Melissa Chu, product manager, Seed Treatment.

 

Vault IP Plus seed treatment is the new standard to inoculate and protect soybean seed. To maximize yield potential, soybean crops require a lot of nitrogen and up to 60 percent comes from beneficial rhizobia bacteria

Plus, the seed treatment’s dual biofungicide component provides effective protection against soil borne diseases including Fusarium and Rhizoctonia – two major fungal pathogens causing root rot. This added protection works alongside base fungicides to give soybeans an extended period of protection from fungal diseases, right from the start.

Poncho XC delivers immediate efficacy against damaging early season insects such as aphids, bean leaf beetles, thrips and white grubs. Its systemic mode of action protects the entire plant, supporting healthier plant establishment. It also provides a consistent yield benefit across a wide range of geographies and environments.

Relenya seed treatment offers soybean growers a powerful new seed-applied tool for disease management. Powered by Revysol fungicide, Relenya can be added to a base fungicide foundation to boost disease protection under Fusarium and Rhizoctonia pressure. When partnered with a base package, Relenya will also boost yield potential under varied levels of disease pressure.

Vault IP Plus, Poncho XC and Relenya join ILEVO and Obvius Plus seed treatments to create a comprehensive portfolio of early-season soybean solutions. Together these products will offer soybean growers superior protection against insects and disease as well as a performance boost from Relenya seed treatment.

Inputs- seed world

 

It aims to protect from early-season insects

R&D

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s screening nurseries in Bolivia and Bangladesh evaluated

Wheat blast caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT) is an emerging threat to wheat production. To identify genomic regions associated with blast resistance against MoT isolates in Bolivia and Bangladesh, scientists performed a large genome-wide association mapping study using 8607 observations on 1106 lines from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre’s International Bread Wheat Screening Nurseries (IBWSNs) and Semi-Arid Wheat Screening Nurseries (SAWSNs).

They were able to identify 36 significant markers on chromosomes 2AS, 3BL, 4AL and 7BL with consistent effects across panels or site-years, including 20 markers that were significant in all the 49 datasets and tagged the 2NS translocation from Aegilops ventricosa. This study reinforces the effectiveness of the 2NS translocation for blast resistance and emphasizes the urgent need to identify novel non-2NS sources of blast resistance.

While wheat imported from Brazil was considered to be the likely source of the disease, a combination of warm and humid conditions during the heading stage triggered the epidemic, that is generally favored by high temperatures between 25 and 30 °C and an increased wetting period. The blast outbreak in Bangladesh escalated concerns of spread into the neighboring South Asian regions with similar environmental conditions5, and about seven million hectares in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were estimated to be vulnerable to the disease.

Management of wheat blast using fungicides is possible, but has been reported to be elusive, because of the inefficiency of fungicides in offering complete control under high disease pressure, the resistance in MoT populations to some classes of fungicides, and the high cost of the fungicides that cannot be afforded by resource-poor farmers.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s

E-commerce, Seeds

It offers high yield, excellent standability and strong performance during drought and excess moisture environments 

 

Alta Seeds, the premium seed brand of Advanta US and a leading provider of premium genetics and technology specific to sorghum has introduced EMPYR Premier Forages, a complete line of forage sorghum, sudangrass and sorghum-sudan hybrids. EMPYR forages are best in field and feed and combine the industry’s top forage characteristics into one convenient package, delivering more profit to growers and livestock producers.

“The one thing we hear over and over from livestock producers is they need high-tonnage forages. But nutrition quality is equally important. With EMPYR Premier Forages, producers get a complete forage product with the industry’s top characteristics,” says Mark Kirk, Eastern/Western Regional Account Manager, Alta Seeds.

Livestock producers, feeders and nutritionists can rely on EMPYR Premier Forages to provide high-volume, consistent forage through tough weather conditions. EMPYR hybrids feature genetics that offer high yield, excellent standability and strong performance during drought and excess moisture environments. When conditions move from flood to drought in the span of one season, or water restrictions force a change in production, forage sorghums offer a water-efficient, sustainable solution.

“In side-by-side comparisons, our EMPYR forage sorghum silage is equal to or better than corn silage, in many cases with fewer input costs,” Kirk adds. “Livestock producers need all of the economic edge they can get, and EMPYR helps them accomplish their production goals.”

 

Inputs- Seed World

It offers high yield, excellent standability and