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IT, Warehousing

The one-stop solution in the post-harvest agri value chain will offer seamless user experience and reduced operational inconveniencies in trade execution

National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) has announced the launch of its electronic application ‘Krishi Setu’, a one-stop solution in the post-harvest agri value chain offering seamless user experience and reduced operational inconveniencies in trade execution, through end-to-end digitised processes. NBHC has developed this advanced e-marketplace for agri commodities, which is a result of our commitment towards taking ahead the legacy of technology-led innovation to provide all variants of digitally enabled auctions and trades.

With a mission to empower the Farmer Community & Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Krishi Setu is committed to providing knowledge-driven services for building efficiency in Auctioning/Trading of commodities, even with remote access. It directly links buyers and sellers electronically across the country and facilitates hassle-free transactions, purely through disintermediation.

Ramesh Doraiswami, MD and CEO, NBHC, said, “As a company is focussed on innovation, NBHC aspires to make Krishi Setu an Amazon-like e-market platform for agri-commodities and further improve the lives of Farmers & FPOs, enabling them to make informed decisions on marketing their products by providing them market access, transparency and post-harvest value-added services.”

Deepak Kumar Singh, Senior VP and Business Head, NBHC, said, “Krishi Setu is all set to make a difference to the agri value chain through its progressive amenities which combines farming, automation and digitalisation. The platform offers tailor-made solutions for effective process-driven risk assessment & mitigation, coupled with a digital financing option. Through Krishi Setu, we are enlarging our farm gate procurement services from farmers to clientele through disintermediation, by leveraging our tech-enabled operational capabilities.”

Through NBHC’s pan-India reach, deep industry knowledge and tech-enabled operational capabilities, Krishi Setu provides services for an extensive range of commodities including grains, pulses, cereals, oilseeds and spices across various locations.

The one-stop solution in the post-harvest agri

Agro Universities, Water, Webinar

The webinar will be held on August 6 at 3 pm

The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) will organise a webinar on ’Climate Smart Agricultural Water Management Best Practices, Policy FrameWork and Way Forward.’ The webinar will be held on August 6 at 3 pm. Participants can register at  https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zbgpku7-Sm6jqMyTDe5dNA. 

 

The webinar will have Dr Kaluvai Yella Reddy, Vice President Hon. ICID & Dean (Faculty of Agril. & Engg & Technology), Acharya NG Ranga (ANGR) Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh as the speaker. The panellists for the webinar are Dr Marco Arcieri (Italy), Vice President, ICID and Secretary General, Comitato Nazionale Italiano ICID (ITAL-ICID)@ICID, Dr K Palanisami (Emeritus Scientist @IWMI), and Er Anshuman (Associate Director, Water Resources Division @TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute).

The webinar will be held on August

Agro chems – Pesticides, Interaction, Trade

Discussions were held on pesticide management and identification of various pests

FASC Amritsar recently organised an interaction with basmati growers in the village Madhu Chhanga to minimise the pesticide residues and for enhancing its export. 63 basmati growers participated. 

 

Dr Rajiv Siwach, Chief GM, NABARD Regional Office, Punjab and Chandigarh UT was the chief guest of the occasion. He interacted with the basmati growers and listened to the problems being faced by the farmers. S Jaskirat Singh, DDM, NABARD also accompanied him on the occasion. 

 

Dr Kamaljeet Singh Suri, Principal Scientist, Department of Entomology, PAU, Ludhiana and also PI of the project emphasised the use of non-chemical methods and biological methods for the management of insect pests. He put stress on not to use banned insecticides which cause residue problems and hence put a hurdle in basmati export. He demonstrated how to use pheromone traps for catching adults of stem borer.

 

Dr Gurmeet Singh, DES (Entomology), FASC, Amritsar and Co-PI of the project welcomed the participants and said that pesticides cause health hazards and hence their use should be minimised. He also gave a lecture on identification, nature of damage, symptoms and management of various insect pests in basmati crop. 

 

Dr Narinderpal Singh DES (SM) advocated that the use of banned pesticides should be stopped immediately and also shared tips on the marketing of basmati. Dr Bikramjit Singh, DD(T), KVK, Amritsar was also present and made the farmers aware of the various facilities present and training run by the KVK. A field visit was also organised for the participants to make them familiar with various types of symptoms caused by insect pests and diseases. The camp ended with the vote of thanks by Dr Narinderpal Singh, DES (SM), FASC, Amritsar.

Discussions were held on pesticide management and

Agro Universities, Floriculture

The event was organised in collaboration with Punjab Skill Development Mission

The Skill Development Centre, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), conducted Punjab Skills Competition 2021 in the skill categories of florist and landscape gardening. The event was organised in collaboration with Punjab Skill Development Mission.

Dr Kuldip Singh, Associate Director (Skill Development), informed that the state-level competition included 10 participants, five in each skill which was screened after preliminary testing. The winners of the event will get the opportunity to participate in World Skills Competition 2022, he said.

Dr Kiran Grover, Principal Extension Scientist (Food and Nutrition) and Kanwaljit Brar, Demonstrator, coordinated the event. They shared that this type of competition was conducted for the first time at Skill Development Centre and from now onwards it will be an annual feature. The participants of the competition were tested both through theoretical knowledge and practical skills, they added.

Dr Ranjit Singh, Assistant Professor (Floriculture) and Technical Coordinator, said that the florist must have the knowledge of post-harvest care and conditioning of the materials that they work with. The florists must apply principles and elements of design to composition and colour, additionally demonstrating ideas by the expert use of appropriate techniques, he added.

Dr Simrat Singh, Scientist (Floriculture and Landscaping), highlighted that a key role of a gardener is to design, install and maintain gardens and landscaped areas with a variety of plants, natural resources and other materials. Gardeners must be aware of the impact of such materials on the environment, he observed.

 Dr Rupinder Kaur, Professor, Skill Development Centre; Dr Ranjit Singh and Dr Simrat Singh, PAU experts; and Dr Gagandeep Kaur, a scientist from the Department of Fruit Science were the judges for the competition.

Gazal Rani and Harkirat Kaur won the first and second prize in florist skill. Navjeet Kaur, Jagjit Singh and Arshdeep Singh secured the first, second and third positions in landscape gardening skills, respectively.

The event was organised in collaboration with

Agrotech, Environment, IT

The partnership will further explore the blueprint for a health-forward and regenerative food system while accelerating Danone’s development of category-leading plant-based products

Leading global food & beverage company Danone and biosciences company Brightseed, creator of Forager artificial intelligence (AI) that maps and predicts the health impact of plant-based compounds, have announced a partnership to advance Danone’s plant-based expertise. Through a multi-year strategic collaboration, Danone and Brightseed will co-build an unparalleled understanding of the world’s most common crops and will explore lesser-known plant sources.

The partnership is to establish the blueprint for a health-forward and regenerative food system while accelerating Danone’s development of category-leading plant-based products. It builds from the success of last year’s partnership between Danone North America and Brightseed, demonstrating the value of this first proof of concept study. The partnership comes after Brightseed uncovered groundbreaking information with Danone North America, one of the world’s largest B Corp and maker of leading plant-based brands like Silk, So Delicious and Follow Your Heart.

Since last year, the two companies have focussed on identifying new biological connections between bioactives present in Danone’s raw plant sources to human health. In one single plant, in a matter of months, Forager uncovered 10 times more bioactives than previously known and 7 new health areas.

Bioactives in plants provide significant health benefits for humans, yet currently, less than 1 per cent of these compounds are known to science. Only 12 plants — crops such as corn, rice, wheat, soy, oats and others — account for 75 per cent of the global food system. With Brightseed’s capabilities using Forager, there is a wealth of untapped potential to more deeply understand how these plants maintain their health integrity as the cornerstone of the world’s food supply and explore new territories for plant-based innovations.

The partnership will further explore the blueprint

AgroPolicy, Trade

The move will give boost agricultural and processed food products exports, especially from Karnataka

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Agricultural Science (UAS) Bangalore. The move will give boost agricultural and processed food products exports, especially from Karnataka.

 

According to the MoU, the key areas of cooperation include developing technologies jointly with APEDA for advanced alertness, efficient and precision farming for enhancing quality exports; diversifying the export basket, destinations and boost high-value agri exports by establishing Brand India globally by increasing agri-exports from Karnataka under Agri Export Policy (AEP) announced by Government of India in 2018.

 

The collaborations between APEDA, which functions under the Ministry of Commerce & UAS, will also help in strengthening forward and backward linkages, participation in international exhibitions and fairs, branding and marketing, the establishment of market intelligence cell, developing traceability systems.

 

The APEDA and UAS, Bangalore will also facilitate the participation of farmers, entrepreneurs, exporters and other stakeholders to promote agri-businesses & exports, including B2B & B2C fairs to be organised in India and abroad and also mutually cooperate in market development and traceability in millets and millet products, fresh fruits like Mango, vegetables, jaggery, processed fruits and vegetables. Promotion and hand-holding of Farmer Producer Organizations / Farmer Producer Companies and linking them with international markets will also be part of the agreement between APEDA and UAS.

 

The MoU will also help in the development of agri entrepreneurs, technopreneurs capacity building, robust skill development and focus on building a collaborative approach for promoting export by the creation of product-specific clusters. 

 

APEDA and UAS, Bangalore have also agreed to work in close coordination to establish a centre of capacity building at UAS, Bangalore for farmers and motivate university students to promote agri-businesses for exports. A Post Graduate Certification course with the support of APEDA will also be started.

 

The MoU will also help in the development of an end-to-end sustainable value chain of horticulture/livestock produce with APEDA to promote better consignment commitment to importing countries and developing standard operating procedures of potential products of the state for exports.

 

The UAS, Bangalore will also contribute to the development of real-time solutions for pests and diseases (spongy tissue fruits flag, stone weevil, ralstonia aflatoxin etc.) and facilitate the zoning of animals and compartmentalization of poultry products. The university in association with APEDA will also develop a curriculum on organic exports as per NPOP guidelines for the students of Karnataka.

 

The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman APEDA and Dr S Rajendra Prasad, Vice-Chancellor UAS, Bangalore. The MoU aimed at utilising both the organisations’ expertise by mutually working together to synergise the activities in the interest of agriculture and allied sectors for bringing better value to the stakeholders.

 

 

 

The move will give boost agricultural and

Finance

The second-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $347 million

FMC Corporation in the second quarter of 2021 has posted a revenue of $1.2 billion, an increase of 8 per cent versus second quarter 2020. Excluding a tailwind from foreign currencies, the revenue increased 4 per cent organically. On a GAAP basis, the company reported earnings of $1.56 per diluted share in the second quarter, an increase of 11 per cent versus second quarter 2020. The second-quarter adjusted earnings were $1.81 per diluted share, an increase of 5 per cent versus second quarter 2020.

“FMC’s second-quarter financial results were driven by robust volume growth in all regions outside of EMEA, reflecting the strength of our underlying business, especially the significant contribution of new product launches,” said Mark Douglas, President and CEO, FMC.
 
The second-quarter revenue growth was driven by a 4 per cent volume increase and a 4 per cent FX tailwind. In Latin America, revenue increased 15 per cent (up 12 per cent organically), driven by strong insecticide and fungicide demand buoyed by favourable commodity prices and a slight benefit from FX. Asia grew revenue 20 per cent (up 13 per cent organically) driven by the strength of our insecticide portfolio, particularly for India and Australia, and FX tailwinds.

Sales in EMEA grew 3 per cent (down 3 per cent organically) driven by demand for our diamides and herbicides and FX tailwinds, offset largely by unfavourable weather early in the quarter and discontinued registrations. In North America, sales decreased 7 per cent (down 8 per cent organically), reflecting the year-over-year impact of a shift in volume demand by geography from our global diamide partnerships. Excluding revenue from the global partnerships, the region grew more than 20 per cent.

The second-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $347 million, an increase of 2 per cent from the prior-year period. This increase was driven primarily by volume gains, largely offset by accelerating increases in costs of goods sold.

The company continues to forecast full-year 2021 revenue to be in the range of $4.9 billion to $5.1 billion, driven by growth in Asia, Latin America and North America, representing an 8 per cent increase at the midpoint versus 2020. The revenue growth will be driven primarily by volume, as well as price increases and a modest FX tailwind. Full-year adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $1.29 billion to $1.35 billion, representing a 6 per cent year-over-year growth at the midpoint.
 
 

The second-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $347 millionFMC

Finance, Start ups

Several early investors and employees who sold their stocks realised nearly 70X returns on their investment

In the recently concluded Series C funding, agritech startup CropIn has raised $20 million of primary capital, taking the overall investment into the company to $33 million. This was followed by a secondary sale of $4.3 million and was open to the company’s employees and investors holding stocks. Several early investors and employees who sold their stocks realised nearly 70X returns on their investment.

In the first of its kind move in the agtech space, this is huge value creation for the employees and depicts the healthy growth that the company has been witnessing. A Secondary Sale or ESOP buyback ensures that employees receive benefits for the impact that they are creating with their work and contributes significantly to the growth of the company.

Vishal Kuchanur, one of the early employees at CropIn and one of the beneficiaries of the Secondary Sale, shared his perspective on working with CropIn, “My experience at CropIn as a technologist has been truly enriching and gratifying. Being in a then-unknown sector of Agritech and pioneering the space, CropIn is transforming organisations’ perception of digital technology in the Ag space. I wanted to work in an organisation which had a real impact in the lives of people and CropIn allowed me to ideate, experiment, and grow while building products that streamline agri value chains globally.”

CropIn was established with the vision of improving farmer livelihoods by harnessing the power of AI and Machine Learning through predictive analytics and modelling into agriculture. CropIn is determined to progressively achieve its goal of building a path for the employees’ overall growth and pursue opportunities to create wealth for the employees through the company’s stocks.

“It is both humbling and satisfying to enable tremendous return on investment and value for our early employees and investors who believed in us. Nearly 60 per cent of our employees hold stock options in the company. As a growing company we will be looking for other opportunities to expand our stock programs to provide this as an additional benefit for our employees and enable them to participate more actively in the growth journey of the organisation,” said Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO, CropIn.

So far, CropIn has digitised over 16 million acres of farmland and enriched the lives of nearly seven million farmers, across 52+ countries covering 400 crops and over 10,000 crop varieties.

Several early investors and employees who sold

AgroPolicy, Transportation

The transporter has achieved the highest ever incremental freight loading of 17.54 MT in July 2021 compared to 95.18 MT in July 2020

Continuing the momentum, Indian Railways has registered stupendous freight loading performance in July 2021 by achieving yet again the highest ever freight loading in the month which has continued for the last 11 months since September 2020. Indian Railways has transported food grains of 0.43 million tonnes (7.89 per cent). 

 

 Indian Railways has achieved the highest ever incremental freight loading of 17.54 million tonnes in July 2021 (an increase of 18.43 per cent over July 2020), with total freight loading of 112.72 million tonnes as against the earlier best of 99.74 million tonnes in July 2019 and as against 95.18 million tonnes in July 2020.

 

With freight loading of 451.97 million tonnes in current fiscal 2021-22 as against 336.74 up to July 2020, Indian Railways has also achieved the highest ever cumulative incremental freight loading of 115.23 million tonnes i.e 34.22 per cent over the same period last year 2020-21.

 

In cumulative performance major growth has been registered over the same period last year in Coal 55.83 MT (37.11 per cent), Iron-ore 18.07 MT (43.88 per cent), Cement 15.01 MT (52.91 per cent) and Balance other goods 10.45 MT (38.42 per cent).

 

 

The transporter has achieved the highest ever

AgroPolicy

OMCs are regularly floating EoI to encourage the production of biodiesel

The government has taken various steps towards achieving 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol which includes allowing the use of sugarcane and food grains (maize and surplus stocks of rice with Food Corporation of India) for conversion to ethanol; administered price mechanism for procurement of ethanol under EBP Programme including the enhanced ex-mill price of ethanol year on year from ethanol supply year 2017. GST has been lowered to 5 per cent on ethanol for EBP Programme besides an amendment in Industries (Development & Regulation) Act for free movement of ethanol; interest subvention scheme for enhancement and augmentation of ethanol production capacity in the country. At present average ethanol blending percentage in petrol for the ongoing Ethanol Supply Year 2020-21 is 8 per cent, as of 26.07.2021. The information was shared by the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameswar Teli in Lok Sabha. 

 

The present percentage of blending of biodiesel in diesel is less than 0.1 per cent. The National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 prescribes the indicative target of 5 per cent blending of biodiesel in a diesel by 2030.

 

Availability of biodiesel has been low in the last few years due to the increase of price and non-availability of feedstock for biodiesel. Some biodiesel is also being marketed by agencies other than oil marketing companies (OMCs).

 

Further, to increase the supply of biodiesel in the country, OMCs are regularly floating Expression of Interest (EoI) to encourage the production of biodiesel from used cooking oil.

 

 

 

OMCs are regularly floating EoI to encourage

Agro Universities, Agrotech

According to experts, a shift from puddle transplanting to DSR saves 15-20 per cent of irrigation water

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have initiated a collaborative project to promote tar-wattar Direct Seeded Rice (tar-wattar DSR) in the state. The two-year NABARD sponsored project focuses on capacity building of farmers on tar-wattar DSR technique through training and demonstrating tar-wattar DSR technique at farmers’ fields in 12 districts of the state for creating awareness. The move in a way will help to up-scaling the shift toward water-saving techniques for saving precious natural resources of the state.

 

Giving details, Dr MS Bhullar, Head, Department of Agronomy, said that under the project, six training webinars on tar-wattar DSR were conducted in which more than 300 farmers participated. Farmers’ field demonstrations on ‘tar wattar DSR’ were laid on more than 200 acres in six districts viz. Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, Ferozpur and Faridkot during the current season, he informed. 

 

Dr Bhullar said, “Tar-wattar DSR is a novel technique developed and recommended by PAU in 2020 to reduce water footprints in rice cultivation. In this technique, pre-sowing irrigation is applied and primed seed is sown in a tar-wattar field preferably using Lucky Seed Drill. A major departure from the conventional dry-DSR is delayed first irrigation which is applied at three weeks after sowing (21 days), which offers higher saving in irrigation water, lesser incidence of iron deficiency as roots go deeper, lesser weed germination, wider soil adaptability and yield/profit similar to puddle transplanted rice.” 

 

A shift from puddle transplanting to DSR saves 15-20 per cent of irrigation water, offers 10-15 per cent of higher ground-water recharge, saves labour and provides 250 kg/ha higher wheat grain yield, he said.

According to experts, a shift from puddle

Agro Universities, Packaging & Labelling

Discussions were held on packaging of pears

The Food Industry Business Incubation Centre (FIBIC), Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), recently provided training and incubation facilities for processing and packaging of pear into preserve (murabba). The training was held at Algon Kalan village in Tarn Taran district.

 

Dr Poonam A Sachdev, Principal Food Technologist (Vegetable)-cum-Head, Department of Food Science and Technology, PAU, highlighted the importance of value addition of pear, which is a perishable crop and processing is required to reduce its wastage and fetch remunerative prices to the growers.

 

“Pear is largely grown in Punjab and considered to be a good source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. Because of its low flavour profile, the fruit is not utilised for processing except for blending of juices,” she observed.

 

Keeping in view the importance of processing, specialised training was organised where the processing of pear into preserve was conducted, she informed.

 

Discussions were held on packaging of pears

AgroPolicy, Pulses

Creates awareness among farmers for millets

The government, under the Sub Mission on National Food Security Mission (NFSM)- Nutri Cereals is creating awareness among farmers for nutri cereals (millets) such as ragi, sorghum, bajra and small millets through demonstration and training. This information was given by Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha. 

 

Under NFSM–Nutri Cereals, incentives are provided to the farmers, through the state governments, on crop production and protection technologies, cropping system based demonstrations, production & distribution of seeds of newly released varieties/ hybrids, Integrated nutrient and pest Management techniques, improved farm implements/tools/ resource conservation machinery, water-saving devices, capacity building of farmers through training during the cropping season, organising events/workshops, distribution of seed mini kits, publicity through print and electronic media etc. The interventions such as the formation of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) for Nutri Cereals, setting up Centers of Excellence (CoE) and seed hubs for Nutri Cereals have also been supported under NFSM.

 

The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare also provides support to the states under a centrally sponsored scheme ’Support to State Extension Programme for Extension Reforms,’ different extension activities like farmers’ training, exposure visits, demonstrations, kisan meals, Kisan Ghostie, farmers – scientists – interaction, mobilisation of farmers interest groups and setting up of farm schools in the field of awardee / progressive farmers are implementation to promote modern agriculture technologies including millets cultivation. 

 

Further, the states can promote nutri cereals (millets) under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER).

 

Under All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on small millets, sorghum and pearl millet, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) provide support to 45 collaborating centres located in different State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and ICAR Institutes for the development of new varieties/hybrids of nutri cereals (millets).

Creates awareness among farmers for millets The

Acquaculture, AgroPolicy

An analytical report on the fluctuation of the price of fish products will be uploaded to the NFDB website every week

The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying through the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) is implementing a Fish Market Price Information System (FMPIS) for collecting price details of different commercially important fish species from different fish markets. Based on these details, an analytical report is uploaded to the NFDB website every week. 

 

The information was given by the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala in the Loksabha.

 

The move will aim to promote the trading of commercially important fish species. FMPIS facilitates better marketability (fisher/seller) and accessibility (consumer/buyer). 

 

Fish is a perishable item and the price of fish products is market-driven and dependent on several factors like demand, the arrival of fish in the market, fish size, species, type, season, accessibility, consumption pattern and region etc. 

 

An analytical report on the fluctuation of