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Finance, Machinery – Post-harvesting

Sales of agricultural machinery increased by 3.7 % in FY 2020. 

 

 

 CLAAS, one of the leading international manufacturers of agricultural machinery, increased its sales in the 2020 financial year by 3.7 percent to 4.042 billion euros (previous year: 3.898 billion euros). Pre-tax earnings rose to 158 million euros (previous year: 136 million euros); the free cash flow achieved a substantial turnaround into the profit zone with 308 million euros (previous year: -138 million euros).

“CLAAS managed to achieve growth in sales and to improve profitability despite the pandemic and shutdowns in production. In the process, our widespread international presence has paid off,” said Thomas Böck, Chairman of the CLAAS Group Executive Board.

Whilst sales in Germany, France and the other Western European countries remained stable on the whole, they grew significantly in Eastern Europe and especially Russia. At around 20%, CLAAS achieved its strongest growth in sales outside of Europe, with North America proving to be the most important growth driver.

Implementation of major investment projects

Despite the adverse effects of Covid-19, CLAAS succeeded in implementing its important investment projects as planned. At the Le Mans tractor plant, state-of-the-art production technologies have greatly increased flexibility and efficiency. At Harsewinkel, the first phase of the major modernisation project in the sphere of combine harvester assembly was completed. The new sales centres in France and the UK were launched, offering additional options in terms of service and after-sales business. They receive optimum support from the new high-bay warehouse in Hamm. On top of increased capital investments in fixed assets totalling 131 million euros (previous year: 125 million euros), expenditure on research and development, totalling 237 million euros, once again remained at a very high level (previous year: 244 million euros).

Crisis-resistant production and sales processes

At first, this positive business development was not to be expected. Due to its short decision-making processes, CLAAS quickly adapted to the new challenges in the initial phase of the corona crisis. During production shutdowns of several weeks at nearly all of the production sites, extensive preparations were made to ensure that production could be restarted as soon as possible. Thanks to the high dedication of staff and a close-knit logistics network, the supply to customers was maintained as best it could be.

In the wake of Agritechnica and numerous hybrid events, it was still possible to effectively communicate the latest product innovations. At the world’s largest agricultural engineering trade fair in November 2019, CLAAS received the “Machine of the Year 2020” award for the LEXION 8000/7000, the JAGUAR 900 and DataConnect, a cross-manufacturer cloud-to-cloud solution. The AXION TERRA TRAC, the first fully suspended semi-crawler tractor, also met with a very positive response from experts.

 

Sales of agricultural machinery increased by 3.7

Agro Universities, IT

A multi-lingual smartphone AI-based application for farmers to smartly manage their crops and farms 

 AgSpert, an agri-tech startup, co-founded by the students of IIT Guwahati, and alumni of NIT Silchar and Dibrugarh University, Assam, has developed AgSpeak, a multi-lingual smartphone application for farmers to smartly manage their farms and remotely monitor distress activities. Developed with a goal of optimising the in-farm productivity through Artificial Intelligence (AI), this application will help the farmers in making decisions and managing farm activities by the click of a single button on their smartphone or computer. AgSpeak was launched by Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati.

Co-founded by Siddhartha Bora (NIT Silchar alumnus), CEO, Manik Mittal (IIT Guwahati student), COO, Akash Sharma (IIT Guwahati student), SDE, Nitin Chauhan (IIT Guwahati student), Cloud Systems Architect,  Dhritiman Talukdar (NIT Silchar alumnus), SDE and Mr. Kookil Pran Goswami (Dibrugarh University alumnus), Hardware Developer, AgSpert is leading this initiative in the North-Eastern India which has untapped potential, with diverse ecosystems having agriculture as the major economic activity. The developed application is multi-lingual and has an option of Assamese as well. This feature is a first among all the agri-tech applications available in the market.

 Driven by hyper local crop data coming from satellite and smart IoT devices, AgSpeak considers up to 20 local crop parameters which are key indicators of their health like temperature, rainfall, sunlight hours, soil health status, among others, to alert farmers about probable crop threats in advance and suggest best practices to tackle the incoming threat, hence optimising the resources used and maximising productivity.

The app along with the IOT hardware has been tested for the past 3 months with 500 farmers and 2 tea estates. Nearly 250 farmers have already been provided hands on training in utilizing the full potential of the app. However, the user friendliness and multilingual features of the app make it extremely easy for farmers to use and seldom require training. 

The mobile app is completely free for general small farmers. There are in-app purchases like soil testing and agri-doctor consultation. Besides this, the IOT devices can be rented on monthly /yearly purposes by commercial farms to further enhance precision farm management.  It has been tested with many farmers and its practical utility established.

 Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director IIT Guwahati, said, “It is a matter of immense pride that our students are working to bring out state-of-the-art technology for India’s farmers. India is a leading agricultural country with immense potential, yet 2 billion people globally did not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food in 2019 alone. To end this global starvation, we need to double agricultural productivity in the next 15 years.”

 

 

A multi-lingual smartphone AI-based application for farmers

Start ups, Water

Encourages farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices

Precision farming agritech start up- Fasal has launched FASAL WATER CREDIT ™ to encourage its farmers to save water and money with sustainable farming practices. Fasal is the pioneer of precision farming and is an IoT based AI-powered intelligence platform for horticulture crops. It captures real-time data on conditions from on-farm sensors to deliver farm-specific, crop-specific and crop-stage specific actionable recommendations to farmers.

Right now, the irrigation is dependent upon the guesswork of the farmers. Soil may look dry on the top level but retains water at the root zone causing farmers to over irrigate. Fasal brings “optimal irrigation” in action by eliminating guesswork and using a “Data-Driven” approach, in result, leading to better quality and an increase in crop yield by upto 40%. Fasal device provides numerous field-level parameters right in the palms 24x7x365. FASAL IoT device keeps an hourly track of the water tension at the primary rootzone, If the water level exceeds the system triggers action for farmers through Fasal app. Every farmer who maintains water below this level for a maximum hours in a month, Fasal will refund his/her entire monthly subscription that is charged for the advisory. In essence every time a farmer saves water for India he makes money for himself.

“We noticed that farmers definitely over irrigate and this behaviour is common across regions and across crops in India. In horticulture, we have documented numerous cases where the farmer irrigated 30–40% less than the previous season with the help of Fasal’s plot specific irrigation recommendations and had more yield and better quality as compared to previous seasons. So ‘more’ is definitely possible with ‘less”, said Shailendra Tiwari, the founder of Fasal. 

He further added, “We are continuously working on FASAL WATER CREDIT™ and plan to introduce more and more intrinsic motivations within the Fasal system to make sure that Fasal becomes a powerful force for sustainable and progressive farming in India. Agriculture organisations and farmers working in ensuring sustainable water usage in their production practises, Fasal can flawlessly help them do so.” 

Ananda Verma, the founder of Fasal said, “Our approach to innovation has always been incremental and outcome-driven and we believe in bringing visible and sustainable change to the ecosystem we operate in. We have saved about 3 billion litres of freshwater that is used in agriculture and we brought the concept of FASAL WATER CREDIT ™, one of its kind, to reward farmers who save fresh water and practice sustainability. ”

 

 

 

 

Encourages farmers to adopt sustainable farming practicesPrecision

Agro chems – Chemicals

APH1 is the first chemical compound addressing a novel MoA from this program to reach the ’Lead’ stage

AgPlenus Ltd., an innovative company designing effective, sustainable crop protection products by leveraging computational biology and chemistry headquartered in Israel, and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. has announced that it has reached the ’Lead’ stage in its novel Mode-of-Action (MoA) herbicide program. The achievement of this milestone follows the conclusion of field tests that demonstrated that product candidate APH1, at commercial dose rates, effectively controlled a broad panel of weeds, including weeds that are known to have resistance to existing herbicides. These results were confirmed in independent field tests conducted by SynTech Research, an agricultural R&D contract research organization located in California.

Over the last several decades, the increasing use of existing MoA herbicides along with the extremely limited introduction of new MoA herbicides have resulted in weeds that are highly resistant to currently available commercial products. AgPlenus herbicide program focuses on the discovery and targeting of new MoAs to overcome herbicide resistance issues.  Herbicide candidate APH1 is the first chemical compound addressing a novel MoA from this program to reach the ’Lead’ stage.

The positive results announced, achieved in field tests in Israel and confirmed in independent field tests in California by SynTech Research, were conducted with commercial-level application rates on a broad panel of weeds in the post-emergence application. Weed control was statistically significant (compared to untreated controls) and in the range of 70%-100% in 6 out of 9 commercially important weed species. Additionally, in greenhouse tests conducted in post-emergence applications, APH1 demonstrated efficacy against several key resistant weeds, including glyphosate4 resistant weed strains. In addition to efficacy against a broad panel of weed species, APH1 also exhibited crop selectivity; corn and cereals showed inherent tolerance to APH1.

These field tests followed a series of lab and greenhouse experiments. Lab experiments validated that the biological pathway that APH1 impacts in plants is a new MoA, not present in higher organisms such as mammals, which may impact its potential safety profile. Greenhouse experiments, conducted in varying pre-and post-emergence applications, demonstrated strong efficacy against weeds that are notorious for developing resistance.

APH1 is the first chemical compound addressing

Animal Health, Live Stock

Breakthrough trial by leading Canadian research Consortium and DSM already generated close to 1500 tonnes reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 

 

 

 A 2-year large-scale trial in beef cattle in Alberta, Canada has successfully demonstrated that a novel feed ingredient, developed by Royal DSM, can be included in commercial feedlot diets to reduce methane emissions by up to 80%, without negative effects on animal health and performance parameters and carcass characteristics. This was the largest and longest trial for methane reduction in beef to date. The trial alone already reduced Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 1473 tonnes CO2e. This is comparable to taking 500 cars off the road for a year.

The trial was conducted by a Canadian Research Consortium consisting of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Feedlot Health Management Services, Viresco Solutions, and DSM Nutritional Products, and with support from the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association.  Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) committed $1.5 million to this $3 million project through its Methane Challenge. The project was recognized for having positive implications for the province due to the fact that 70 per cent of Canada’s cattle production happens in Alberta. With 15,000 cattles included in the trial, it represents the largest single trial conducted on methane reduction technologies for ruminants.

Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and sustainable living, has developed a feed ingredient to reduce enteric methane formation in ruminants by over 30% on average. The ingredient is scientifically called 3-NOP and is considered a breakthrough technology that inhibits methane formation in the rumen of cattle.

The trial demonstrated the commercial viability of feeding 3-NOP in backgrounding and finishing operations in Alberta’s beef cattle industry in a large-scale field trial. 

Steve MacDonald, CEO Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), comments: “Alberta’s agricultural sector is a world leader in sustainable practices. The results of this trial highlight that further opportunities are on the horizon for beef and dairy producers to better manage methane from cattle. ERA’s investments are accelerating the solutions that will deliver the improved economic and environmental outcomes Alberta and the world need.”

As Project Leader Karen Haugen-Kozyra of Viresco Solutions states: “This trial is significant for two reasons: it demonstrates that compared to conventional feed mixes, the inclusion of 3-NOP in the diet mix for cattle has resulted in real, permanent and quantifiable reductions of methane emissions (ranging from 31-80% in finishing diets). It therefore has broad application potential across Alberta’s beef and dairy sector – and further afield. We are particularly happy also that the trial in itself generated CO2e greenhouse gas reductions (GHG) of close to 1,500 tonnes clearly showing the impact this solution by DSM can have – especially when it is on the market and scaled up”.

Mark van Nieuwland, Program Director at DSM said, “We see the demand for low carbon beef and dairy products increasing globally. We are therefore very proud that our methane reduction solution has proven to be highly effective at scale and with this level of impact. This is the largest cattle trial DSM has ever contributed to with over 15,000 cattle tested. Our solution showcases well DSM’s purpose-led, performance driven strategy. We are very grateful also to ERA and the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association for their generous financial support to make this trial a reality and to deliver true impact for the planet’s future”.

 

 

Breakthrough trial by leading Canadian research Consortium

AgroPolicy

Currently, there are close to five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents in India

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister  Narendra Modi has recently approved assistance of about Rs 3,500 crore for sugarcane farmers (Ganna Kisan).

Currently, there are close to five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents in India. In addition to this, there are about five lakh workers employed in the sugar mills and ancillary activities; and their livelihood depends on the sugar industry.

Farmers sell their sugarcane to the sugar mills; however, the farmers are not getting their dues from the sugar mill owners as they have surplus sugar stock. To address this concern, the Government is facilitating the evacuation of surplus sugar stock. This will enable payment of dues of the sugarcane farmers. The government will incur about Rs 3,500 crore for this purpose, and this assistance would be directly credited into farmers’ accounts on behalf of sugar mills against cane price dues, and subsequent balance, if any, would be credited to the mill’s account.

This subsidy aims at covering expenses on marketing costs including handling, upgrading and other processing costs and costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on the export of up to 60 LMT of sugar limited to Maximum Admissible Export Quota (MAEQ) allocated to sugar mills for sugar season 2020-21

This decision will benefit the five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents, as well as the five lakh workers employed in the sugar mills and related ancillary activities.  

Currently, there are close to five crore

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agro chems – Pesticides, E-commerce

The facility will support the production of clethodim, one of the largest selective post-emergence herbicides in the world

 UPL Ltd. has announced the opening of a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Jhagadia, located in the state of Gujarat, India. The facility will support the production of clethodim, one of the largest selective post-emergence herbicides in the world used to control annual and perennial grasses in a wide variety of crops. 

Clethodim was brought into the UPL product portfolio through the acquisition of Arysta LifeScience; after only 20 months post-integration, the company’s vision of expanding its in-house production capabilities has become a reality. 

 The facility is fully automated and DCS controlled, including the latest process technologies in the chemical industry. Through in-house production, UPL will leverage its manufacturing capabilities and cost leadership, making Clethodim more widely available to farmers across multiple geographies and crops. With more than 150 new jobs created, the facility is fully operational and will continue to ramp up production efforts in the coming weeks and months.

The facility will support the production of

Live Stock, North America

Alteration intended to eliminate alpha-gal sugar on the surface of pigs’ cells

The US Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a first-of-its-kind intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs, referred to as GalSafe pigs, which may be used for food or human therapeutics. This is the first IGA in an animal that the FDA has approved for both human food consumption and as a source for potential therapeutic uses. The IGA in GalSafe pigs is intended to eliminate alpha-gal sugar on the surface of the pigs’ cells. People with Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) may have mild to severe allergic reactions to alpha-gal sugar found in red meat (e.g., beef, pork, and lamb).

GalSafe pigs may potentially provide a source of porcine-based materials to produce human medical products that are free of detectable alpha-gal sugar. For example, GalSafe pigs could potentially be used as a source of medical products, such as the blood-thinning drug heparin, free of detectable alpha-gal sugar. Tissues and organs from GalSafe pigs could potentially address the issue of immune rejection in patients receiving xenotransplants, as alpha-gal sugar is believed to be a cause of rejection in patients.

As part of its review, the FDA analyzed the potential impact that the approval of the IGA in GalSafe pigs would have on the US environment and determined it is no greater than from conventional pigs. The conditions under which GalSafe pigs will be kept are far more stringent than those for conventionally farmed pigs. Additionally, no animal safety concerns were noted for GalSafe pigs beyond those that would be expected in well-managed, commercial swine operations.

Alteration intended to eliminate alpha-gal sugar on

Agrotech, India

BizVibe’s fruit and tree nut farming industry group is categorized into 70+ related products

BizVibe, based out of Toronto, Bangalore, and London is continuing to expand the number of companies that can be discovered and tracked within their fruit and tree nut farming category offering. It wil further help users to browse company profiles, allowing them to discover 800+ fruit and tree nut farming companies, spanning across 50+ countries.

Companies listed under fruit and tree nut farming are defined as being primarily engaged in growing fruit and/or tree nut crops. BizVibe’s detailed company profile insights help users to discover, track, evaluate, and connect with fruit and tree nut farming companies from all over the world.

BizVibe’s fruit and tree nut farming industry group is categorized into 70+ related products including:

  • Citrus Production
  • Grape Cultivation
  • Fresh Berries
  • Strawberry Production
  • Banana Farming
  • Orange Farming
  • Cherry Farming
  • Peach Farming
  • Pecan Farming
  • Mango Farming

BizVibe lists fruit and tree nut farming as a part of their agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry. This industry contains 19 total industry groups which all contain thousands of company profiles that can be viewed for free. There are 50,000+ agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting company profiles on BizVibe which are segmented into the following categories:

  • Vegetable and Melon Farming
  • Oilseed and Grain Farming
  • Cattle Ranching and Farming
  • Hog and Pig Farming
  • Poultry and Egg Production
  • Sheep and Goat Farming
  • Aquaculture
  • Logging
  • Fishing
  • Hunting and Trapping

 

BizVibe’s fruit and tree nut farming industry

E-commerce, Water

Investment in irrigation water management platform enhances company offerings 

 

Wilbur-Ellis Company LLC announced its acquisition of the assets of Probe Schedule, LLC to provide its customers with one of the most technologically innovative irrigation water management systems in the world.

 Probe Schedule is a leading irrigation management company backed by 24 years of continual research and development efforts. Its irrigation water management (IWM) software receives and collects data from in-field hardware devices and weather stations to calculate accurate crop water usage and soil moisture, providing growers with specialized irrigation schedules. With Probe Schedule now part of its customer offer, Wilbur-Ellis brings quality IWM field data directly to growers, adding value to their operation, helping to improve productivity and positively benefiting their business.

 “Over the last two decades, Probe Schedule has evolved into the robust, integrated water management platform it is today,” said Jacob le Roux, Probe Schedule founder and CEO, who will join Wilbur-Ellis and take on a new role as the company’s national irrigation water advisor. “With the support of Wilbur-Ellis, new functionality, improved and enhanced technology and future updates will continue for the benefit of the ag industry.”

 The Probe Schedule software is accessed by growers via any smart device to accurately track soil moisture status and calculate irrigation schedules by incorporating real-time weather station data, forecasts, spray conditions, soil classification, crop specific information, flow meter data and other irrigation data. With Probe Schedule, customers have access to user-friendly, valuable graphs, maps and reports that help interpret that information and make recommendations. Variable speed irrigation plans, remote valve controls and sensor alarms can also be utilized. 

“We are committed to sustainable practices when it comes to water management, and this acquisition will help us support customers with more accurate water monitoring for optimal use of such an important resource,” said Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness President Mark Ripato. “This tool helps ensure efficient use of crop management and nutrition products to improve not just the quality of the crop, but also a grower’s time management, costs and profitability.”

 

Investment in irrigation water management platform enhances

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains

To discuss and deliberate on the promotion of Basmati Rice, Organic Basmati rice, product diversification and value addition in Basmati Rice.

Considering the potential and prospects of export of Basmati rice, APEDA  has organized a Workshop on Opportunities in Export of Organic Basmati Rice, Value Addition and Product Diversification’ in New Delhi to discuss and deliberate on the promotion of Basmati Rice, Organic Basmati rice, product diversification and value addition in Basmati Rice.

 APEDA has been continuously making efforts to ensure that the reputation attached to the name Basmati is maintained throughout the supply chain right up to the retail level in the domestic market as well as at a global level.

 

Followings are the key areas for possible expansion of rice exports from India:

Development of innovative products from rice to provide nutritional and health benefits which can have a good share in the global market as well in the domestic market.

The products to be developed in a diversified and nutritionally enhanced manner to cater for the preferences

Basmati rice continues to be one of the major agro-products of export from the country. The quantity of export has gone up by about 17.5 % during the period April-October 2020 compared to same period last year. The export prices of Basmati rice and accordingly of the paddy for farmers are influenced by overall global food price trends and increase or decrease in supply.

 In the last one decade, the volume of Basmati Rice Exports has more than doubled. 

During 2019-20, India exported 4.45 million tonne (MT) of Basmati Rice with value of US $ 4331 Million.  During 2009-10, the export of Basmati Rice was of the order of 2.17 Million MT. The major destinations for India’s basmati rice exports include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, European Union and the United States.

 Overall exports of Basmati rice from the country continue to do well.  APEDA proposes to undertake a campaign in major markets to promote the export of Basmati rice in Indian Brands in retail pack, aiming at higher unit value realisation and it was decided to prepare a Strategy for product diversification and value addition in Basmati Rice.

In the workshop, Dr. M. Angamuthu Chairman APEDA,  Diwakar NathMisra, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ms Shubra, Trade Advisor, MOA&FW and Dr. A.K. Singh, Director, IARI   addressed the participants during the inaugural session.  Presentations were made by the technical experts from Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF) on importance of judicious use of Pesticide and PhytoSanitary Issues in Export of Basmati Rice,Export Scenario of Basmati Rice byAll India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA), Industry perspective on Product Diversification. Scientist, IARI made the presentation on Potential of Value Addition in Basmati Rice and an expert from Association of Indian Organic Industry made the presentation on Export Potential of Organic Basmati Rice and detailed discussions were held thereafter.

 

To discuss and deliberate on the promotion

Agrotech

GoI and industry discuss ways to make Indian food processing robust

The first day of the Agro Food Processing Virtual Summit 2020, organised by Agrovision Foundation and AgroSpectrum India, marked the esteemed presence of Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport Highways and MSME, GoI and Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, GoI, who voiced their views on the many shortcomings that India particularly is faced with, in a bid to remain competitive in the global food processing market.

Gadkari urged Tomar to look at making farming more viable for the farmers by engaging in incentivising electricity for them as required for that of Cold storage needs and other farming-related purposes. As the food processing industry is a massive-employment-creating one and also holds great demand from the consumer side, to bridge the supply-demand gap, Gadkari notes that India needs 500 food parks and not 37.

Tomar noted the points raised by Gadkari and assured that the same will be discussed through a joint conference to be arranged which will have key decision-makers from MoFPI to try and address the electricity-related and other apprehensions faced by the farmers. He adds, “Our country has small and marginalised farmers in the higher number who fail to seek benefits of the government schemes. However, FPO will bring some relief to them. If the warehouse, cold storage, etc., are placed closer to the farmers, it will help in their benefit. Our country is dependent on agriculture largely for which the village industry and agricultural sector need to be promoted more.”

The day-long event saw three power discussions on the topics Opportunities in Food Processing, Food Safety and Quality Issues in Food Processing, and Issues of Marketing & Exports of Processed Foods, which saw the presence of who’s who of the food processing industry.

The first discussion moderated by Dr C D Mayee, Chairman – Advisory Council, Agrovision saw the panelists – Manoj Joshi, Additional Secretary, MOFPI; Dr S.K. Malhotra, Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture; Tarun Bajaj, Director APEDA, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA); Sanjay Singal, Chief Operating Officer -Dairy & Beverages, ITC; Dr Prabodh Halde, Head-Technical Regulatory Affairs, Marico; Prasad P, Vice President -FASAR – Food and Agribusiness Strategic Advisory and Research, Yes Bank; Dr M. R. Dinesh, Director, ICAR- IIHR Indian Institute of Horticulture Research. The speakers discussed how increasing the quality of raw food commodities can add value to the products as it increases the shelf life of processed foods. The major challenge remains the poor infrastructure in the country’s food supply chain resulting in major food wastage and hence losses.

 

On the heels of the recent honey adulteration report coming to the fore, the second panel discussion had the panelists discuss the role of food regulators and its dependence on more State and private food testing labs, given the fact that it is difficult for the watchdog as a single entity to keep a track of deliberate perpetrators in food adulteration and also to ride out contaminants from the food chain for the size of the country. Dr Rubeena Shaheen, Director, Science & Standards, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI); Dr Raghaw Rao KSMS, Ex-Director, CFTRI; Shashikant Kekare, Joint Commissioner, Food & Drug Administration and Harinder Singh Oberoi, Head, Division of Post Harvest Technology and Agricultural Engineering, ICAR- IIHR Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, were a part of the discussion.

 

Dr M Angamuthu, IAS, Chairman, APEDA; Piruz Khambatta CMD, Rasna Group (Pioma Industries); Dr Rupinder Singh Sodhi Managing Director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, (AMUL); Vinod Kumar Kaul, Executive Director, All India Rice Exporter Association; Khushwant Jain Chairman, Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC); Sumana Sarkar, Assistant General Manager, Exim Bank, shed light on how India lacks to compete even with other developing countries despite being a key global exporter of raw food commodities, on the back of inconsistent quality standards, failing to create an internationally acclaimed brand and also falling prey to price competitiveness.   






GoI and industry discuss ways to make

Agro Universities, Webinar

Focus on promoting entrepreneurship among women

The ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar, ODISHA, on December 14, 2020, organized a National Webinar on “Evolving livelihoods for Women in post-harvest Fisheries: Approaches, Policies and Institutional support” today. The webinar was aimed at apprising the participants about the status and scope for Women in fisheries, emphasizing the importance of building self-reliance among women in fisheries through entrepreneurial ventures and creating awareness on the policies, programmes and recommendations for promoting entrepreneurship among women.

In his inaugural address, Dr. R.C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR complimented the Institute’s efforts in organizing the important Webinar. He also stressed on the importance of completeness of technology in terms of its widespread adoption and up-scaling. Dr. Agrawal highlighted the Government of India’s New Educational Policy that promotes entrepreneurship.

In his keynote address on “Impact of COVID 19 Pandemic on the Economies and Livelihoods Dependent on Fisheries”, Dr. C.N. Ravishankar, Director, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Kochi, Kerala apprised the participants about the impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on the lives of fishers and, especially, the fisherwomen. He also highlighted the ICAR-CIFT’s technologies. Dr. Ravishankar underlined about the ways the technologies should be utilized for developing women entrepreneurship. The webinar registered a total participation by over 70 participants.

Focus on promoting entrepreneurship among women The

Cold Storage, R&D, Start ups

Helps boost farmers income by 30 per cent

In the recent past many start ups have sprung up in India in the agriculture sector, and more so during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centre has been keen to recognize such firms that are helping farmers realize full potential of their land and produce. Agrotech startup, RuKart Technologies by IIT, Bombay alumnus Vikash Jha, is one such company that has been recognized by the government via the @MyGovIndia Twitter handle, for their role of ’transforming India’ and helping marginal farmers earn 30 per cent more with its innovation of a cost-effective and easy to operate cold storage unit called ‘Subjee Cooler’.

The innovative Subjee Cooler works on the principle of evaporative cooling and does not require any utilities, except once a day of watering. The on-farm structure temperature is lower than the ambient temperature by a margin of 5-20°C (depends on ambient relative humidity) and maintains the high relative humidity of above 90 – 95 per cent inside the structure.

The low temperature and high relative humidity inside the chamber preserve vegetable crops for short-time of about 4 to 6 days. More than 110 such units have been installed across different states in India; Bihar, Odisha, and Maharashtra.

Helps boost farmers income by 30 per