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Country, E-commerce, Europe, Seeds, Trade

The acquisition allow Graines Voltz to continue moving up the value chain by acquiring a portfolio of high-quality seed varieties.

Graines Voltz, a leading French floral and vegetable seeds distributor has signed a pact with BASF to buy its HILD Samen business in Marbach, Germany. Presently, it is part of the vegetable seeds business of BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division. The HILD portfolio divestiture includes its seeds business and also intangible assets, particularly customer lists, intellectual property, breeding activities, and the HILD brand. The local infrastructure, however, will remain with BASF. The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. 

Serge Voltz, CEO of Graines Voltzs said, “We are very pleased to make this acquisition which is fully in line with Graines Voltz’s strategic plan to develop our market share in the distribution of vegetable seeds throughout Europe”. He added that “It is so far the largest acquisition carried out by our company. This allows us to continue moving up the value chain by acquiring a portfolio of high-quality seed varieties.”

 The acquisition, accretive for Graines Voltz, will be financed by the Group’s available cash and by a bank loan.

“The divestment of the HILD Samen business allows us to focus on the establishment of a European competence center for organic seeds at the site facilities in Marbach and to increase the existing processing capacity in corn salad,” said Vicente Navarro, Senior Vice President of BASF’s vegetable seeds business.

Vicente Navarro, Senior Vice President of BASF’s vegetable seeds business said, “The divestment of the HILD Samen business allows us to focus on the establishment of a European competence center for organic seeds at the site facilities in Marbach and to increase the existing processing capacity in corn salad”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The acquisition allow Graines Voltz to

Dairy, E-commerce, Trade

Mother Dairy will sell four milk variants through 1,500 retail outlets spread across Indore.

 

Leading milk supplier Mother Dairy recently announced that it has started its operations in Indore, Madhya Pradesh as part of its expansion plan.

Vinod Chopra, Business Head (Milk), Mother Dairy, said: “Our entry into the market of Indore is in line with our vision of having a national footprint, complementing our presence in over 100 cities of India. The newly launched milk range in Indore market is sourced from the regions of in & around Madhya Pradesh and is being processed and hygienically packed in an associated plant in Dewas.” 

Mother Dairy was commissioned in 1974 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). It sells milk and milk products under the ‘Mother Dairy’ brand and edible oils under the ’’Dhara’’ brand. Fresh fruits & vegetables, frozen vegetables, unpolished pulses, honey, organic range of products, are marketed under the ‘Safal’ brand.

Mother Dairy will sell four milk variants

Finance, Schemes - NABARD

A tri-partite agreement involves NABARD, EWOK and IIT, Mandi for developing farmer-friendly equipment. Opportunities will be explored for collaboration in areas like Internet of Things in Agriculture, Watershed, and Rural Mart etc. 

Indian Institute of Technology Mandi along with the Enabling Women of Kamand (EWOK) Society of IIT Mandi, have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in recent for collaboration on setting up Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.

The MoA was signed by Dr. Venkata Krishnan, Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Mandi, Sandhya Menon, Secretary, EWOK Society; and Nilay Kapoor, Chief General Manager, NABARD.

Speaking about the collaboration, Dr. Venkata Krishnan, Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Mandi, said, “IIT Mandi is pleased to have this collaboration with NABARD. With the recent MoA signed, IIT Mandi and EWOK society will be able to connect and help the community at large in Himachal Pradesh”.

Expressing his views on this collaboration, Nilay Kapoor, Chief General Manager, NABARD, said, “NABARD, Himachal Pradesh Regional Office is delighted to sanction three Farmer Producer Organizations to EWOK and IIT, Mandi. This marks a new beginning for collaboration with prestigious institutes like IIT, Mandi. The Regional Office proposes to sign a tri-partite agreement involving NABARD, EWOK and IIT, Mandi for developing farmer-friendly equipment. In addition, opportunities will be explored for collaboration in areas like Internet of Things in Agriculture, Watershed, and Rural Mart etc. I am sure, our collaboration will go a long way in solving the problems of farmers of the State and achieving the dream of Doubling of Farmers’ Income”. 

The MoA signed by the 3 organizations is a result of the brainstorming meetings held between December 2019 and February 2020 to identify the key areas related to farm and non-farm sectors in Himachal Pradesh. As a result, NABARD has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 35 lakhs to IIT Mandi and EWOK Society to promote and setup 3 Farmer Producer Organizations in a period of next 3 years.

 The Institute and the Society will be involved in the activities like identifying clusters for setting up the FPOs, creating awareness among farmers, establishing and registering the FPOs, training for Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors of the FPOs, preparing the business development plan and assisting FPOs in raising credit/ bank loans. 

IIT Mandi and EWOK Society share a common vision of helping the society at large by exchanging knowledge and expertise. Apart from setting up the FPOs, other potential areas of collaboration in which the Institute will provide its expertise includes tourism, rural marts run by Self-Help Groups (SHGs), engineering solutions for farm-friendly equipment, research on the impact of climate change on agri incomes, among others.

 Speaking about the role of EWOK Society, Sandhya Menon, Secretary, EWOK Society, said, “EWOK has been working with the women and family in the greater Kamand area in both farm and non-farm sectors to encourage women entrepreneurs at grass root level. In the farm related activities, along with IIT Mandi Medicinal Plant lab, some successful pilot programmes have been run for the past 2 years. The support from NABARD has come at the right time in order to scale up these programmes to ensure a sustainable model in income generation for farmers in the long run in this area. In the coming years, EWOK will play its role to form FPOs and guide in building out the FPO business activity and market linkages. Additionally, EWOK will continue to focus on skills development and increasing incomes of the women & families in the surrounding rural areas, especially through entrepreneurship”.

 

A tri-partite agreement involves NABARD, EWOK and

Agro chems – Pesticides, Country, North America, R&D

Farmers will be able to use WideARmatch for controlling 66 broadleaf weeds, including kochia, marestail, lambsquarters and pigweed.

Corteva Agriscience submitted a new herbicide to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for extended control of broadleaf weeds in wheat. Pending EPA registration, WideARmatch herbicide with Arylex active will amplify the proven performance of WideMatch herbicide in one convenient premix formulation. 

With the addition of Arylex active and a higher load of fluroxypyr than WideMatch, farmers will be able to use WideARmatch for controlling 66 broadleaf weeds, including kochia, marestail, lambsquarters and pigweed.

 WideARmatch will offer farmers an important tool in their fight against resistance given the two unique sites of action. The new herbicide will be tank-mix-compatible with many common herbicides for additional broadleaf and grass control. The flexible application window of WideARmatch will provide farmers the flexibility to apply from the two-leaf stage through flag leaf emergence. 

“Growers know effective weed control is a critical component of maximizing yield,” says Brooklynne Dalton, Cereals Herbicide Product Manager, Corteva Agriscience. “As an extension of our WideMatch herbicide — one of the most trusted cereals herbicides on the market — WideARmatch will give wheat growers a new option, extending the spectrum of broadleaf control in an all-in-one low-use-rate premix formulation. This low use rate equates to less trips across the field, saving farmers time and money.”

Farmers will be able to use WideARmatch

Acquaculture, Agro Universities, Live Stock, R&D

The indicator strip developed is to be attached inside the pack without coming in direct contact with the fish and shell fish. 

Smart paper based Freshness Indicator which shows the freshness of packed fish and shellfish was released by Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Govt. of India at 91st Annual General Meeting of the ICAR held at NASC Complex at New Delhi.

Fish production as well as fish consumption is on rise both in domestic and international market. Understanding the ever increasing demand for fish, retail marketing and online marketing is flourishing across India and the price of fish is also increasing. Consumers are always at doubt regarding the freshness / quality of fish and shellfish while purchasing. Fish being highly perishable, undergoes spoilage leading to formation of various chemicals (oxidation products and amines) which may affect the health of the consumers. The fish quality is either ensured by sensory attributes or by analytical methods.

However, the analytical methods are time consuming, costly and are not real time in nature. This has resulted in relying on sensory quality assessment to judge the quality of fish being marketed. However, sensory quality analysis is qualitative and it can be biased and hence, quality control requires rapid methods for measuring fish freshness in real time. Smart packaging technology will be beneficial for this purpose.  ICAR-CIFT has developed simple dye based paper disc to indicate the freshness of packed fish and shell fishes. 

Salient Features of Easy to Use Freshness Indicator developed by ICAR-CIFT – The indicator strip developed is to be attached inside the pack without coming in direct contact with the fish and shell fish.

  The paper based indicator disc will react with the volatile compounds produced by the fish and shell fish and gives a colour change, which can be read by the consumers to confirm the freshness of the fish and shell-fish. These indicators are also useful for the manufacturers, fish processing industry and for retail markets as they can use these freshness indicators to monitor the extent of quality loss and can adopt good practices to provide quality fish products to the consumers there by reducing post-harvest losses.

 Benefits- Indicates quality of packed fish by simple colour change; Inform freshness of the product to supply chain and consumer; Cheap (Only 40 Paisa per pack);Simple and Easy to use; Ensures quality and healthy fish to consumers; Increases customer satisfaction and trust; Expensive and time consuming tests are not needed; Better management control to reduce Post-harvest loss. 

Financial Implications- Freshness indicator strips / discs are developed using locally available indigenous materials like filter paper and dyes and cost will be approximately 40 paise per pack. Considering the advantages for both the consumer and manufacturers, the financial implications will be very negligible. 

 

The indicator strip developed is to be

Agrotech, R&D

 RapidGen can reduce the breeding cycle by an estimated 40 percent for most crops.

 ICRISAT has unveiled new facility that modernize crop breeding. The new facility is projected to significantly lower time and cost of crop varietal development. The state-of-the-art facility is a first for any public sector agricultural research institution.

 Called RapidGen, a moniker for Rapid Generation Advancement, the facility will accelerate plant lifecycle in light, temperature and humidity-controlled conditions. Presently, breeding a new crop variety takes about a decade or more, with six or seven years spent in seasonal generational advancements to arrive at the elite lines that go for testing and release as varieties. RapidGen will shorten the six-seven year window significantly. When used with the full suite of breeding acceleration techniques, RapidGen can reduce the breeding cycle by an estimated 40 percent for most crops.

 “Climate and exponential population growth have to be considered for rapid development of improved food crops is essential. But we also need to look at what has been achieved to sustain food security and achieve nutrition security,” said Dr Peter Carberry, Director General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

“With facilities like RapidGen, crop breeders can overcome the limitations of seasons and photoperiod to develop the elite generations in fraction of the time and cost it would take if done in fields,” Carberry added.

Three Installations

RapidGen, is comprised of three installations—testbed optimization chambers, lighting controlled greenhouse bays, and a temperature-regulated light deprivation polyhouse. Depending on the crop and the requirements of breeding programmes, researchers can scale-up their activities in either controlled greenhouse bays or in the polyhouse facility after using the testbeds for protocol development. Largest of the three installations, the polyhouse can be used for over 30,000 crosses in one go. Each of the installations are equipped to finely regulate temperature, light and humidity. 

“Every crop is unique in the way it responds to a set of environmental parameters. We have to mimic the right set of conditions within these closed installations to convince a plant to grow faster at high density and to reproduce quickly. These set of conditions, which we call ‘recipes’, are crop specific-protocols to hasten the crop cycle while producing healthy, viable seeds,” said, Dr Pooja Bhatnagar-Mathur, Theme Leader at ICRISAT. 

Dr Kiran K Sharma, Deputy Director General-Research, ICRISAT, informed that protocols for chickpea, groundnut, pearl millet and sorghum are already in place. “Protocol development is the first step before a breeding programme can take advantage of facilities like RapidGen. With their development, our partners and collaborators, both public and private, can integrate these modern techniques into their breeding programmes.”

 

ICRISAT is collaborating with several agricultural research institutes under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), state agriculture universities (SAUs) and industry partners to mainstream rapid cycling of the crops for which protocols have already been standardized. 

“Through RapidGen, we are attempting to herald a new era of breeding in agriculture research systems across the world. Moving forward, rapid cycling will be integrated with early generation testing using advanced technologies to take further advantages of modern methods to increase genetic gains,” said Dr Jan Debaene, Global Head-Breeding, ICRISAT. 

 

“RapidGen is a case of many firsts, including a first for CGIAR, the group of research institutions of which ICRISAT is a part of, and which is the world’s largest agriculture research system striving to ensure a resilient, food and nutrition secure future,” he further said.

 

RapidGen’s infrastructure took almost a year to build and is supported by major donors through the CGIAR initiatives— Excellence in Breeding (EiB) Platform, Crops to End Hunger (CtEH), and Grain Legumes and Dryland cereals (GLDC)—and the Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA). Industry partner Corteva Agriscience provided the technical and engineering support for setting up these facilities required for scaling up crop breeding pipelines.

 RapidGen can reduce the breeding cycle by

Agrotech, Dairy, Trade

Its parent company is Parag Milk Food, which was founded by Devendra Shah in 1992, and has now become India’s leading private FMCG dairy player.

 Pride of Cows, India’s first farm-to-home milk concept, delivers milk to patrons’ homes in refrigerated conditions instantly post-milking. Untouched by the human hand throughout the supply chain, the brand is the first of its kind to use temperature-controlled logistics in order to deliver a unique taste and experience.   

The brand, whose tagline is Milk Full of Love, brings forth the human element and emotional connect with consumers and their love for milk, thereby remaining unavailable on shelves, ensuring there is no adulteration in the bottle of milk that reaches the customer’s doorstep.

 It is processed in a controlled environment and delivered within 8-10 hours of the milking process. With no additives or preservatives and a low bacterial count, the milk is homogenized and pasteurized, and then bottled with tamper-proof PET technology, as opposed to ordinary milk collection techniques, where companies have no control over the milking practices. 

Defining the edge of purity and high quality, the milk is sourced from Bhagyalaxmi Dairy, a state-of-the-art dairy farm which has over 2,000 cows, and is equipped with the finest international technology for feeding, milking and processing of fresh milk.

 With a belief that happy cows give the best milk, the animals are loved and pampered, given utmost comfort technology, including rubber mats to lie on, fans and foggers to get cooled under it, brushes to groom their body, clean RO-treated water, calm soothing music and insulated roof of cow sheds to reduce heat stress. 

In addition to these facilities, a panel of expert nutritionists plan a wholesome meal according to the cows’ age and stage of lactation to ensure the right balance of minerals and vitamins to keep them in good health.

The farm is also the first dairy farm in the country to have implemented naturopathy by using homeopathy and Ayurveda to treat their cows. This therapy does not keep any residue behind in the milk, taking a step forward towards safe milk. Their strict pre-milking procedure ensures that the milk is hygienically produced, and every cow undergoes thorough health check-ups thrice a day. 

A zero-wastage farm, it gives back to society by reducing, reusing and recycling. Running on the electricity generated from biogas and supporting green gas emissions, the farm has produced a range of organic fertilizers for farmers, taking a step forward towards the good cause.

Its parent company is Parag Milk Food, which was founded by Devendra Shah in 1992, and has now become India’s leading private FMCG dairy player.

With India being the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk, hygiene and purity have consistently been a matter of concern for consumers. With 65-70 per cent of milk being adulterated, Pride of Cows seeks to curb this by measures, such as constant health checks and providing scientific knowledge regarding feeding, breeding, milking and processing, whilst providing global standards in milk.

The milk is instantly pasteurized, chilled and packaged in bottles and sent on its way to consumers, in a process that is mechanized, maintaining absolute purity and keeping the taste, structure and nutrients of the milk intact.

Currently, the company is catering to over 35,000 households in Mumbai, Pune, Surat and Delhi. The brand aims to reach out to more households across the country by planning to increase the production at the farm.

In the coming months, the company is planning to expand the product portfolio by introducing value-added products under Pride of Cows.

Its parent company is Parag Milk Food,

Agrotech, R&D, Trade

The collaboration will provide farmers with agronomic expertise to help promote best practices for on-farm eradication of pigweed.

BASF and AGCO, a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural equipment, have recently announced that they will join forces for BASF’s Operation Weed Eradication initiative

Herbicide-resistant pigweed is a major economic issue for U.S. farmers. It has the ability to grow rapidly and produce large amounts of seed, out-competing crops and causing significant yield loss. Operation Weed Eradication calls on the industry to take action against pigweed through a balanced approach of cultural and mechanical practices, chemical control and diligence.

 “Collaboration within our industry is an important factor for making Operation Weed Eradication a success,” said Scott Kay, Vice President, U.S. Crop, and BASF Agricultural Solutions. “We are proud to work with AGCO to give farmers the best cultural and mechanical recommendations to make on-farm eradication of pigweed a priority.” Beyond chemistry, implementing sound cultural and mechanical practices is key to help eliminate seed production of pigweed on the top agronomic challenges faced by farmers,” said Darren Goebel, AGCO Director of Global Agronomy and Farm Solutions.

“In some cases that means developing new sensors, systems, or machines; but in others it means collaborating with industry partners like BASF, to solve problems together. We’re excited to join forces with BASF to focus on herbicide-resistant pigweed species and the threat they pose to our food supply and the farmers we serve.”

 BASF will continue to collaborate with industry leaders, while also providing educational resources to farmers around the chemical control, cultural and mechanical practices and diligence needed to support its efforts with Operation Weed Eradication.

 

The collaboration will provide farmers with agronomic

Agro Universities, R&D

The MoU aims to foster close interaction in research, seed production, capacity building, entrepreneurship & skill development. 

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has recently signed an agreement with Patanjali Bio Research Institute (PBRI), Haridwar to undertake research work and training & education.

ICAR Director General, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra and CEO of PBRI, Acharya Balkrishna signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the presence of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, according to an official statement. 

Union Agriculture Ministers Kailash Choudhary and Parshottam Rupala were also present during the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Narendra Singh Tomar underlined that the deal will provide a new opportunity to incorporate a new arena to work for both the organizations. Tomar also urged to promote organic farming practices across the nation.

The Memorandum of Understanding aims to foster close interaction in research, seed production, capacity building, entrepreneurship & skill development, the statement said.

According to the MoU, the specific plans would be developed to work on mutual research programmes in areas of national interest related to sustainable agriculture development, which will be suitable to different agro-ecologies of India. 

PBRI and ICAR will work together in mutually identified areas of training & education where the postgraduate students of deemed universities & research institutes of Indian Council of Agricultural Research may undertake internships in different areas of specialization with Patanjali Bio Research Institute.

 ICAR said that it will help PBRI in technology display, capacity building, & seed production for scaling up well known varieties developed by ICAR & then transfer them among the farming community of the country.

The MoU aims to foster close interaction

Country, Foodgrains, North America, R&D

This innovation, which represents the latest patent was developed through ArcaTech, the company’s proprietary technology platform. 

Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company a patent for a yield-improving allele for high fiber, resistant starch wheat. This innovation, which represents the latest patent in Arcadia’s U.S. Patentnon-genetically modified (non-GM) wheat varieties, was developed through ArcaTech, the company’s proprietary technology platform.

 “The invention of this higher-yielding high fiber wheat allele further demonstrates our commitment to enhancing the strength of our improved wheat platform,” says Matthew Plavan, president and CEO of Arcadia Biosciences. “We continue to bring valuable and nutritional innovation to wheat – and ultimately consumers – through our partnership with Bay State Milling and Arista Cereal Technologies, which brings our high fiber resistant starch bread wheat to market in North America under Bay State’s HealthSense™ brand portfolio.” 

Multi-year field studies conducted by Arcadia found that wheat breeding lines carrying the higher-yielding allele produced an average of 6% to 9% higher yields, with some resulting in as much as 30% higher yields. Field trials further indicated there may be other benefits to this innovation, including reduction in sensitivity to the damaging effects of cold at specific growth stages. As example, wheat carrying the allele produced 25% higher yield than wheat without the allele when plots were damaged by frost at the very sensitive heading stage. 

The higher-yielding allele is the output of Arcadia’s ArcaTech technology platform and is the latest among a suite of patents Arcadia has licensed to Arista Cereal Technologies and Bay State Milling in North America. These improvements to the crop yield and production efficiency are an example of the companies’ continuing plans to expand the adoption and market footprint of high fiber, resistant starch wheat.

This innovation, which represents the latest patent

E-commerce, R&D, Trade

This technology-based alliance will make use of data analytics from both Truterra Insights Engine and the Syngenta AgriEdge platform 

 

 

Truterra (formerly Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN) and Syngenta announced that they are collaborating to create a step-change in stewardship and conservation best practices for U.S. growers while helping them focus on maximizing acre-by-acre productivity and profitability. 

This technology-based alliance will make use of data analytics from both Truterra Insights Engine and the Syngenta AgriEdge platform. The combined power of insights and expertise will help assess and improve soil health, carbon sequestration, GHG emissions, livestock lifecycle assessment and water management on American farms. 

“We believe this long-term effort will enhance retailers’ experience when servicing growers that use the Truterra and AgriEdge systems,” says Jason Weller, vice president, Truterra, LLC. “In addition, Consumer Package Goods companies will have far greater visibility into their sourcing sustainability when working with both Syngenta and Truterra customers.” 

“Teaming up our systems will reduce data entry for growers and retailers and enable seamless data flow,” says Aaron Deardorff, Syngenta head of Digital Solutions in North America. “This capability will enable growers to establish a baseline stewardship level on each agricultural field, benchmark against other fields they farm, or those in their geography, with the appropriate level of grower data privacy.” 

Through this collaboration, growers will receive insights on what practices would be beneficial in advancing their stewardship efforts and understand the implications on each field’s profitability potential. The greater geographic footprint of the Truterra and Syngenta alliance will help support sustainability goals of food companies with multi-geography sourcing.

 Tommy Jackson, Syngenta Sustainable Solutions lead for Digital Solutions adds, “Ultimately, we are partnering to make stewardship more streamlined and consistent for U.S. growers to help them and food companies better quantify sustainability progress in the food and Ag supply chain.”

 “In time, we aim to be the leader in conservation and sustainability within the agricultural value chain and related non-government organizations (NGOs),” says Weller.

This technology-based alliance will make use of

Agro Universities, R&D

A total of 180 banana varieties were displayed in the conference which saw participation over 500 delegates including banana researchers from 12 countries 

The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli; Society for Promotion of Horticulture, Bangalore and Alliance Bioversity International-CIAT jointly organized the International Conference on Banana 2020 – “Innovations in Sustainable Production and Value Chain Management in Banana” at Trichy from 22nd  to 25th  February, 2020. 

The Chief Guest, Dr A.K. Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticultural Science), ICAR highlighted the significant contribution of horticultural sector in general and banana in particular to the national GDP. He stressed on addressing the emerging problems like TR 4 on priority basis as these have a potential to wreak havoc on Indian banana farmers. He emphasized on the need to introduce polyclonal cultivation rather growing only one banana variety that is highly susceptible to TR 4 wilt disease. 

Dr Alagusundaram, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Engineering), ICAR stressed on the need to reduce the post-harvest loss by adopting the better harvesting, handling, transport, packaging and cold chain management. He also emphasized on the value-addition and use of IoT in the value chain of banana.

Sivarasu, Collector, Tiruchirappalli District inaugurated a Banana Expo showcasing the vast diversity of bananas in the country and other banana related enterprises. Sumathi Ramachandran, Post Master General, Trichy released a special postage cover marking the Silver Jubilee Year of establishment of the ICAR-NRCB during the occasion.

Earlier, Dr. S. Uma, Director, ICAR-NRCB briefed about the conference.  The senior officials of ICAR and State Agricultural Universities were also present during the occasion.

The dignitaries also released the various publications including the “Souvenir on ICB – 2020”, a Book on “Banana and Plantains” and Mobile Apps on “Banana information, its cultivation, export and value-addition, and pest and disease management”. An ELISA Kit developed under the ICAR-CRP on Vaccine and Diagnostic and a liquid formulation of banana Sakthi (a micro-nutrients mix) was also released during the occasion.

Over 500 delegates including banana researchers from 12 countries participated in the event.  Around 45 people including 20 plant quarantine officials, scientists and students participated in the “Training on Foc TR 4” conducted by the ICAR-NRCB in collaboration with the Alliance Bioversity during the occasion.

 A total of 180 banana varieties and 60 stalls related to banana industry were visited by more than 15,000 farmers, students and visitors during the event.

 

 

 

 

A total of 180 banana varieties were

Agro Universities, Foodgrains, R&D

The MoU aims at carrying out joint research and development projects, where HHU will learn from the vast experience of ICAR. In return, HHU will make its knowledge and technology available to ICAR.

Each year, bacterial and fungal diseases in rice lead to devastating losses for Asia’s agricultural sector. Researchers working with Prof. Dr. Wolf B. Frommer at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in New Delhi plan to work together closely in this area. They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of protecting in particular smallholder farmers in India from rice diseases and their consequences. 

A large proportion of India’s farmers live from growing rice, and 70% of them have farms that average smaller than 0.4 hectares – that’s roughly half the size of a football field. Even a single infection can directly endanger their livelihood. Also, in many parts of Asia diseases like bacterial blight in rice are countered by spraying antibiotics and extremely dangerous pesticides that are not approved here in Europe. This means that we urgently need efficient solutions to safeguard the livelihood and the health of the farmers in India.

 Prof. Dr. Wolf B. Frommer’s working group at HHU has been researching for years on strategies and measures to combat such plant diseases. Together with researchers from the Philippines, Colombia, France and the US, they have found ways to overcome at least one of the diseases, bacterial blight in rice, efficiently and without the use of pesticides.

 Now these researchers want to make their tools accessible to researchers in Asia and Africa in particular. They also want to help countries dependent on rice-growing by making their resistant rice varieties available to smallholder farmers.

 The Memorandum of Understanding that has now been signed opens up new avenues for applying these findings in India too, a country where huge swathes of land are affected by the disease. Researchers in India are world leaders in resistance research and in developing resistant rice varieties. The methods and materials developed in India complement the findings from HHU’s research to date. The new partner, ICAR, pools India’s research and development competency in relation to rice. It is an independent organization within the Indian Ministry for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, headquartered in New Delhi. The organization encompasses 101 research institutes and 71 agricultural universities. 

HHU and ICAR have agreed to carry out joint research and development projects, where HHU will learn from the vast experience of ICAR. In return, HHU will make its knowledge and technology available to ICAR. 

The collaboration includes an exchange programme for students and scientists that is already in operation. Research findings will be published jointly, and agreement has also been reached on how the research findings will be marketed to benefit smallholder farmers in India. Prof. Frommer had this to say: “For me and my colleagues, this collaboration is a significant step that will hopefully allow us to attempt – together with the scientists and growers at ICAR – to use fundamental discoveries to help smallholder farmers in India.”

 HHU President Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck, who signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of HHU on 26 February 2020, said: “This collaboration is a significant milestone for our university. It opens the door to a close working relationship. It will see us merge competencies in order to tackle essential challenges. I am happy to know that HHU researchers can make an important contribution to providing practical help to India’s population.”

The MoU aims at carrying

Agro chems – Fertilizers, E-commerce, R&D, Trade

The project, estimated to gulp $2 billion, is the largest granulated urea fertilizer complex in the world, with its three million tonnes per annum capacity.  

Dangote Fertilizer Limited has begun countdown to the inauguration of its $2 billion Granulated Urea Fertilizer complex, with several critical sections of the plant going through various stages of pre-commissioning and test-run.

 With a capacity of three million tonnes per annum, the plant complex located in the Dangote Free Zone, has been classified as the biggest project in the entire fertilizer industry history in the world. Saipem of Italy is the Engineering, Procurement and Supervision (EP) Contractor for the project, while Tata Consulting Engineers, India, is the Project Management Consultants (PMC). 

According to a recent statement by the company, virtually all the section of the plant such as Central Control Room, Ammonia and Urea Bulk Storage, Cooling Tower, Power Generator Plant, Granulation Plant, have been completed and are going through pre-testing.

Already, Dangote Fertilizer has started receiving gas supply from the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) under the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement to supply 70 million standard cubic feet per day (Scf/d) of natural gas to Dangote Fertilizer Limited.

The statement added that the project, which will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in construction and related fields, will provide a major boost to the agricultural sector by significantly reducing the importation of fertilizer in Nigeria and ultimately removing the need for imports when the plant is in full production. 

The Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development and Capital Projects, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, said Nigeria would be able to save $500 million from import substitution and provide $400 million from exports of products from the fertilizer plant. 

“The supply of fertilizer from the plant will be enough for the Nigerian market and neighboring countries.I am happy that by the time our plant is fully commissioned, the country will become self-sufficient in fertilizer production and even have the capacity to export the products to other African countries. Right now, farmers are forced to utilize whatever fertilizer that is available as they have no choice; but we need to know that the fertilizer that will work in one state may not be suitable in another state, as they may not have the same soil type and composition. The same fertilizer you use for sorghum may not be the fertilizer you will use for sugar cane,” Edwin explained.

 

He stated that the project, which is estimated to gulp $2 billion, is the largest granulated urea fertilizer complex in the world, with its three million tonnes per annum capacity.

 

According to him, the fertilizer complex, which is sited on 500 hectares of land, has the capacity to expand as it is only occupying a small fraction of the allotted portion of land.

 

Edwin added: “The management of the complex is confident that the fertilizer business will deliver reasonable profit to the company and its shareholders as it is projected that population growth and the need for food production will jack up the consumption of urea fertilizer beginning from 2020 when production of the production would have commenced in earnest.

 

“The current consumption of urea estimated at a dismal 700,000 tonnes per annum by Nigerian farmers is said to be due to very poor usage and is believed to be the cause of poor product yield, which threatens food security in the country.

 

“By 2020, Nigerian population is projected to increase to about 207 million, which would lead to increased food production. Estimates points out that around five million tonnes of fertilizers are required per year in Nigeria in the next five to seven years bifurcated into 3.5 million tonnes of urea and 1.5 million tonnes of NPK while current production levels in Nigeria are at 1.6 million tonnes by 2019.

The project, estimated to gulp $2 billion,