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Panellists emphasised the institute’s mandate for developing and promoting the various sustainable AET Models for the East and West coastal regions of the country

The ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (CCARI), Old Goa recently organised a webinar series on ’Agro Eco-Tourism (AET).

 

In his address, Dr Parveen Kumar, Director, ICAR-CCARI, Goa emphasised the institute’s mandate for developing and promoting the various sustainable AET Models for the East and West coastal regions of the country. This will encourage the agri-entrepreneurs and farmers to bring value-addition and glamour to the agriculture and allied activities for enhancing their income besides, attracting the youths in agriculture.

 

Mahesh Patil, Chairman (Agriculture & Food Processing Committee), Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry delivered a Talk on ’Sustainable development planning for farms with Agro-ecotourism model in Goa: experiences and future strategies.’ It emphasised particularly the development of AET Models with diversified activities for the mine-affected areas in the coastal region.

 

The webinar series organised as a part of the ’Bharat Ka Amrut Mahotsav’ to commemorate 75 Years of India’s Independence registered participation by 30 participants including scientists and stakeholders.

Panellists emphasised the institute’s mandate for developing

Discussions were held on the importance of residue management with environment conservation

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ropar organised a one-day awareness programme on regional agricultural issues with special emphasis on crop residue management under NAAS, Series Lecture, Ludhiana. The programme, held under the guidance of Dr JS Mahal, Director of Extension Education, PAU, Ludhiana.

Dr GS Makkar, Deputy Director (Trg.), KVK Ropar apprised that the programme was organised at Government High School, Phool Khurd in which 50 students and school faculty participated.

Dr Makkar elaborated on the success of the crop residue management project of the KVK. He also discussed the importance of residue management with environment conservation. Dr Makkar added that CRM machinery like happy seeder, rotavator, MB Plough are available at KVK and farmers are welcome to use this facility for managing crop residue in their fields.

Dr Ankurdeep Preety, Assistant Professor (Agroforestry) elaborated on the role of trees in the conservation of the environment. She encouraged the participants to develop kitchen gardens for chemical-free vegetables and better nutrition.

Discussions were held on the importance of

Sanjay Borkar, Co-Founder and CEO, FarmERP gives insight on how digital mandis can revolutionise a sector in dire need of advancement

Agriculture forms the backbone of any society – it is upon the benefits we reap from its harvests, that we can move toward secondary pursuits. Often devoid of appreciation, acknowledgement, and real monetary benefits, our farmers toil over the land in much the same way they did years ago for lack of better options.

 

The current Indian infrastructure revolves around producers travelling to their nearest pulse point, i.e., their local mandis which fall under the governance of the APMC. To the detriment of farmers, their journey begins with a long commute lugging along perishable items, resulting in certain wastage of the crop. Upon their arrival at the local marketplace, farmers must initiate their primary sale, offering their produce for sorting, grading, and packaging; armed only with reluctant good faith in the agents upon whom they depend so heavily on.  

 

The most inefficient system consists of an overly complicated network of local agents, retailers and wholesalers who take part in the process of settling upon prices and making offers. 

 

The farmer, having been left out of the opaque mechanisms of the secondary sale, and forced to trust the words of the middleman, is pressured into selling his produce at a lower price. The larger injustice, however, is that he sees barely any of the payment after the agent has carved off a fat commission, and equally due to unreliable and delayed cash payments.

 

Mandis in this manner, create little monopolies with agents stockpiling inventory to hold control over prices, aware that primary producers have nowhere else to turn, nor any point of reference for a fair price. These markets function in quite an autonomous way, devoid of links to others across the country, which not only allows carte blanche for fluctuating prices but also staggers the movement of goods.

 

With its fallacies having been unveiled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased clamour for end-to-end streamlining of the industry. All parties with vested interests rely upon an efficient supply chain and require sustained yields and high-quality processes. The need for an equitable pan-India infrastructure has become glaringly obvious. 

 

Technological innovations, as always, seem to be the best solution to modern-day problems. Having already advocated for AI aided climate-resistant farming, agritech firms are now making a push for digital mandis, which they hope can revolutionise a sector in dire need of advancement.

 

Digital mandis propose a comparatively simpler national, warehouse-based trading module, which puts the power back in the farmer’s hands. A local producer can upload his inventory to a digital portal, which can be accessed by interested buyers all over the country. This B2C format eliminates farmer exploitation by facilitating real-time displays of market prices and offers seamless and secured online payments, thereby maintaining his bargaining power.

 

This new ‘e-mandi’ system not only alleviates the pressure on farmers but greatly increases their productivity and yield. By eliminating long-drawn travels and auctions, food wastage is greatly reduced, and this has a positive impact on pricing, allowing for greater profits. A digital solution simplifies the sale process, and empowers farmers at the grass-root level, paving the way for future agricultural frameworks to be built towards the overall uberisation of agriculture. Additionally, it highlights the factor of ‘traceability’ which is essential in today’s COVID-struck world. 

 

Along with bringing much-needed transparency to the sector, digital mandis offer the exciting prospect of quickening the farm-to-fork journey while promoting fair trade and price discovery based solely upon real-time supply and demand and produce quality.

 

Of course, e-mandis come with their own set of challenges, for instance, mobilising a population of professionals who may not be tech-savvy. Education in regional languages at the most basic level is the first step toward aggregating farmers on such a large platform, a basic need for the bolstering of their self-sufficiency. Additionally, the kinks of logistical factors of storage and transportation while maintaining sustainability and proper social distancing, need to be worked out.

 

While still being rolled out, the digital mandi concept fits perfectly into the government’s Digital India movement and is a step toward the future of agriculture where it is inextricably linked to technology for its betterment and growth in the face of climate change and other challenges.

 

Sanjay Borkar, Co-Founder and CEO, FarmERP gives

TartanSense is helping smallholder farmers who struggle with low yields, primarily driven by two reasons – poor chemical spraying techniques and unreliable farm labour

Bengaluru-based Agritech robotics startup TartanSense has raised $5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by FMC Ventures and Omnivore, with participation from existing investor Blume Ventures. This brings the total funds raised by the company to $7 million, after raising a $2million Seed round in March 2019. TartanSense builds small agricultural robots, equipped with AI-assisted computer vision, to help small farms reduce expenditures and improve their incomes.

 

Jaisimha Rao, Founder, TartanSense, said, “Our mission is to make smallholder farmers wealthier by shipping monetizable robots. TartanSense will have the world’s largest fleet of agriculture robots in the next 18 months. We are grateful to have amazing investors like FMC Ventures, Omnivore, and Blume Ventures backing us in our passion to empower farmers.”

 

 

TartanSense is helping smallholder farmers who struggle

Unveils 10 Billion Agriculture Initiative to address critical needs in the agricultural sector and rural areas

Pinduoduo, China’s largest agricultural platform, posted 89 per cent gain in second-quarter revenue as more consumers shopped through the platform. Revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2021, rose to 23.0 billion yuan ($3.6 billion), the company said in a filing. The number of users who placed orders through Pinduoduo in the trailing 12-month period rose to 849.9 million.

 

Pinduoduo at the same time announced that it would launch a dedicated ’10 Billion Agriculture Initiative’ to face and address critical needs in the agricultural sector and rural areas.

 

Profits from the second quarter and any potential profits in future quarters would be allocated to the Initiative. The Initiative would not be driven by profit or commercial goals, but strive to facilitate the advancement of agritech, promote digital inclusion, and provide agritech talents and workers with greater motivation and a sense of achievement.

 

Although the ’10 Billion Agriculture Initiative’ will clearly impact the short-term earnings per share for shareholders, the Initiative has already received the support and approval of the Board of Directors, and will be personally overseen by Chairman and CEO Chen Lei. The company will subsequently convene a shareholders’ meeting to seek the support of majority shareholders.

 

“We believe that investing in agriculture will reap outsized social benefits because agriculture is the nexus of food security and quality, public health and environmental sustainability,” said Chen Lei. 

 

Unveils 10 Billion Agriculture Initiative to address

Over 25,000 farmers in Punjab and Haryana, covering more than 5,00,000 acres, have enrolled for the programme

nurture.farm, an integrated technology-led solutions provider for sustainable agriculture globally and a part of the OpenAg network of UPL, announced the programme to end stubble burning practices in the states of Punjab and Haryana by replacing the matchstick with a spray service for the PUSA decomposer, a bioenzyme developed by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI). It decomposes the stubble within 20-25 days after spraying and turns it into manure, further improving the soil quality. The company has signed up over 5,00,000 acres in this programme and onboarded more than 25,000 farmers who will be availing of this sustainable agriculture practice free of cost.

 

Jai Shroff, Global CEO, UPL, said, “We are excited about the initiative, and we believe this will go a long way in benefiting both the farmers and society-at-large. Our commitment to sustainability remains unparalleled. Through OpenAg, UPL is creating a network that changes the way a whole industry thinks and works and will help make the agricultural process more sustainable.” 

 

Dhruv Sawhney, COO and Business Head, nurture.farm said, “Partnering with IIM Rohtak, we have developed an entire ecosystem where the farmers can register for the service via our nurture.farm app and avail our large spraying machines to decompose their stubble. Offering the service free of cost incentivises the farmers to adopt practices that ensure sustainable outcomes, which is the core of all our services at nurture.farm.”

 

The protocol verification and oversight of the project have been developed in collaboration with IIM-Rohtak. Prof Dheeraj Sharma, Director, IIM Rohtak said, “By devising a framework to produce, procure, and make the PUSA spray available at the grassroots level, we are confident about putting an end to this unhealthy practice. We are excited to embark on this journey of sustainability and to track its impact on the environment, health, and the farm.” 

 

When practised for a while, it considerably increases the soil’s nutrient health and microbial activity, ensuring better yield at reduced input costs for the farmers and organic produce for the consumers. nurture.farm plans to scale up the operations to end stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana in the next three years. 

 

 

Over 25,000 farmers in Punjab and Haryana,

About 3,088 lakh tonnes of sugarcane is likely to be purchased by sugar mills

Keeping in view the interest of sugarcane farmers (GannaKisan), the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for sugar season 2021-22 (October – September) at Rs 290 per quintal for a basic recovery rate of 10 per cent, providing a premium of Rs 2.90/quintal for each 0.1 per cent increase in recovery over and above 10 per cent, and reduction in FRP by Rs 2.90/quintal for every 0.1 per cent decrease in recovery.

The government’s proactive approach to protecting the interest of farmers is also seen in the decision of no deduction in the case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5 per cent. Such farmers will get Rs 275.50 per quintal for sugarcane in ensuing sugar season 2021-22 in place of Rs 270.75/quintal in current sugar season 2020-21.

The cost of production of sugarcane for the sugar season 2021-22 is Rs 155 per quintal. This FRP of Rs 290 per quintal at a recovery rate of 10 per cent is higher by 87.1 per cent over production cost, thereby giving the farmers a return of much more than 50 per cent over their cost.

Keeping the expected increase in the production of sugarcane in the ensuing sugar season 2021-22, about 3,088 lakh tonnes of sugarcane is likely to be purchased by sugar mills. The total remittance to the sugarcane farmers will be about Rs 1,00,000 crore. The government through its pro-farmer measures will ensure that sugarcane farmers get their dues in time.

The FRP approved shall be applicable for the purchase of sugarcane from the farmers in the sugar season 2021-22 (starting w.e.f. October 1, 2021) by sugar mills.
 

About 3,088 lakh tonnes of sugarcane is

The awards won are UPL wins National IP Award -2020 and WIPO IP Enterprises Trophy

UPL, the global provider of sustainable agriculture products and solutions, has received National Intellectual Property Award for the year 2020 in the category ’Top Public /Private Limited Company for Patents & Commercialization in India: Manufacturing Sector.’ There were 11 categories of National IP Awards and the Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal presented the award at a virtual event recently.

 

Additionally, the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) along with Intellectual Property Office, India have also conferred the ’WIPO IP Enterprises Trophy’ to UPL. 

 

National Intellectual Property (IP) Awards are conferred by the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, to outstanding innovators, organisations and companies in the field of patents, designs, trademarks and geographical indications.

 

Rajnikant Shroff, CMD, UPL India said, “At UPL, we are proud to put farmers’ needs first and create products and services around their requirements. Our relentless focus on innovation has helped us to launch new products every year. UPL holds over 1,400 granted patents and has about 2,900 pending applications for inventions that satisfy farmers’ 

needs across geographies.”

 

 

 

The awards won are UPL wins National

Conkesta E3 soybeans incorporate broad lepidopteran insect protection in strong genetics as part of the Enlist weed control system

Corteva has launched Conkesta E3 soybeans in the Brazilian market. The leading technology is part of the Enlist weed control system that also includes Enlist E3 soybeans, which was recently launched in the country. Conkesta E3 soybeans will be available to Brazilian farmers in the remaining 2021-2022 season.

An important innovation for farmers in Latin America, Conkesta E3 soybeans incorporate broad lepidopteran insect protection in strong genetics as part of the Enlist weed control system, which offers maximum flexibility and superior control of broadleaf weeds and grasses. Through the introduction of this proprietary technology, Corteva expects to expand its position in the attractive Latin America soybean market. Corteva expects this technology to drive steady, incremental growth looking further ahead.

Conkesta E3 soybeans recently received authorisation by the European Union Commission, which enables grain produced from Conkesta E3 soybeans grown in Brazil to be exported to the European market for food and feed use. The technology has been previously authorised in several other export markets, including China.

Conkesta E3 soybeans are tolerant to Enlist Colex-D and Enlist Duo Colex-D herbicides — both contain 2,4-D choline with Colex-D technology that provides near-zero volatility and reduced drift potential — and also are tolerant to glyphosate and glufosinate herbicides. Conkesta E3 soybeans additionally incorporate two Bt proteins (Cry1F and Cry1Ac) for the management of the main caterpillar pests in soybean crops, a tailored option for farmers in Latin America.

Conkesta E3 soybeans will be available for the remaining 2021-2022 season through two of Corteva’s global brands: Brevant seeds, which provides premium seed to retail customers, and the regional genetic licensing business brand in Brazil, Cordius, Licensing Division of Corteva Agriscience.

The Enlist weed control system is a solid proof point of the company’s integrated portfolio. It delivers innovation in seed, chemistry formulations and stewardship, while providing much-needed solutions that address complex challenges such as insect resistance.

Conkesta E3 soybeans incorporate broad lepidopteran insect

The partnership will help farmers by providing them advance warnings on crop health, weather, and pest and disease activity to help them prevent losses

Spire Global, a leading provider of space-based data, analytics, and space services, and Mantle Labs, a pioneering, satellite-based remote-sensing company, have jointly announced a new strategic partnership to provide complete risk assessment solutions to banks, crop input, insurance, and agri-commodity companies for managing their agriculture portfolios. The partnership will help farmers by providing them advance warnings on crop health, weather, and pest and disease activity to help them prevent losses. Powered by Spire’s space-based data and Mantle Labs’ AI-driven agriculture risk analytics suite, this partnership provides a clearer world view of global agriculture in previously unobserved regions.

Informed by Spire’s advanced data insights, Mantle Labs will have access to critical weather data in South East Asia, India, South America, and Africa, all of which currently lack adequate weather infrastructure. Radio occultation data collected by Spire’s satellites and analysed by its advanced weather algorithm will complement crop health data by Mantle Labs. The partnership will unlock a comprehensive and reliable weather forecast to empower the agriculture industry.

John Lusk, VP and GM Global Data Services, Spire, said, “We are proud to be partnering with Mantle Labs to help farmers, banks, crop input, insurance, and agri-commodity companies access previously difficult weather data in under-observed areas around the world in one of our most complementary partnerships to date. It is critical that technology reach these locations to empower farmers on the ground, maximise their profit, and properly anticipate risk assessment, especially in the face of rapidly accelerating climate change.”

Swapnil Baokar, Co-Founder of Mantle Labs, said, “We operate in many countries where there is a lack of reliable weather monitoring. This leads to issues for industries like agriculture where weather data and forecasting are vital for risk mitigation. Our Geobotanics platform, powered by AI, is used by leading customers in food and agriculture. Adding Spire’s revolutionary technology will offer unprecedented access to high-quality weather forecasts at a global scale and offer greater visibility into weather-related risks, helping the world’s farmers build climate resilience.”
 

The partnership will help farmers by providing

True Digital Solutions aims to impact 9,880 acres (25,000 rai) and six million farmers in Thailand

CropIn, a leading AI and Data-led Agtech organisation, and True Digital Solutions have partnered to enable digital transformation in the agricultural ecosystem in Southeast Asia and strengthen farmers’ position as a backbone of the region’s economic development.

 

In tandem with the vision of True Digital Solutions, to build a unique ecosystem of digital solutions to offer a portfolio of innovative services to farmers, and enterprise markets, CropIn offers comprehensive solutions for the entire ecosystem aiming at the complete digitisation of farmers’ data to ensure transparency, financial self-sufficiency and manage cultivation efficiently. Through this partnership, True Digital Solutions aims to impact 9,880 acres (25,000 rai) and six million farmers in Thailand.

 

Speaking about the partnership, Jitesh Shah, CRO, CropIn, said, We are delighted to partner with True Digital Solutions. Through CropIn’s solutions, we aim to support True Digital Solutions to bring inclusive innovation for sustainable growth to impact farmers in the Southeast Asia region. In the new world of digitisation, our constant aim has been to provide unique and technological solutions to the agriculture space. Through this partnership, the industry will open avenues for a sustainable ecosystem and the multi-solution offering.”

 

The initiative aims to empower farmers of the Southeast Asia region by digitising farm and farmer level data to offer intelligent insights on weather and PoP advisory, disease prediction and advisory, crop health, and yield estimation. True Digital Solutions aims to utilise remote sensing data for crop production forecasts by using prescriptive and in-season analysis. 

 

The partnership also streamlines the supply chain management to bring in traceability, ensure effective farmer monitoring and evaluation, and even buy back produce from the farmers. To enhance farmer experience, True Digital Solutions also aims to provide drones services to farmers and offers financial and irrigation services by using remote sensing.

 

True Digital Solutions aims to impact 9,880

IIL plans to reach out to more than 25 lakh farmers pan India

Insecticides (India) Ltd (IIL) has deployed more than 600 crop advisors across India. In the FY 2021-22, the crop advisors will help more than 10 lakh farmers to understand every aspect related to crop protection ranging from seed treatment to pest, weed and disease management. The service to promote the judicious use of agrochemical products is available to the farmers and will reduce their input cost and increase output as well as protect soil health.

 

IIL has plans to reach out to more than 25 lakh farmers pan India. This year, the company aims to bring 10 lakh more farmers across India under its crop advisory coverage.

 

IIL has done this initiate as a part of their Mega Extension Activities Program (MEAP). Roping in crop advisors at a large scale also comes close on the heels of integrated pest management (IPM) research project, rolled out jointly in parts of Uttar Pradesh by IIL Foundation, the CSR wing of Insecticides (India) Limited (IIL), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) before the pandemic. Participant farmers were trained on IPM and the right use of agrochemicals that reduced the number of sprays. The crop advisor also scouts the fields of the farmers to solve the issue that may arise during the growing season. 

 

Rajesh Aggarwal, MD, IIL says, “IIL’s mission is to help farmers to understand the judicious use of agrochemical and good farming practices to minimise the cost of inputs and maximise the outputs with good productivity that will help them to increase their farm income. We aim to bring in world-class technology and provide the agricultural sector with quality agrochemicals as well as guide and educate the farmers through our crop advisors.”

 

Sanjay Singh, GM – Market Development, IIL says, “With the pandemic forcing lockdowns, we formulated the idea of crop advisors to reach to farmers through physical and digital meetings, using tele calling and WhatsApp to prevent them from committing mistakes that can be detrimental to their and the crop’s health. Our crop advisors created awareness and guided farmers to generate better output with minimal waste. We are receiving an overwhelming response from the market as well.”

 

IIL plans to reach out to more

Around 129.03 lakh farmers are likely to be benefitted from Kharif marketing season procurement

Paddy procurement has reached an all-time high level, surpassing the previous high of 773.45 LMT in KMS 2019-20. About 129.03 lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) procurement Operations with an MSP value of Rs 1,64,951.77 crore.

 

Paddy procurement in the ongoing season Kharif 2020-21 is continuing smoothly in the procuring states with the purchase of 873.68 LMTs of paddy (includes Kharif Crop 707.69 LMT and Rabi Crop 165.99 LMT) upto 23.08.2021 against last year corresponding purchase of 763.01 LMT. 

 

Marketing Season RMS 2021-22 has concluded in wheat procuring states and till now (upto18.08.2021) a quantity of 433.44 LMT of wheat has been procured (which is an all-time high, as it has exceeded the previous high 389.93 LMT of RMS 2020-21) against the last year corresponding purchase of 389.93 LMT.

 

About 49.20 Lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with an MSP value of Rs. 85603.57 crore.

 

Further, based on the proposal from the states, approval was accorded for procurement of 109.58 LMT of pulse and oilseeds of KMS 2020-21 and Rabi Marketing Season 2021 and Summer season 2021 for the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh under Price Support Scheme (PSS). 

 

The sanction for procurement of 1.74 LMT of copra (the perennial crop) for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala was also given. For other States/UTs, approval will also be accorded on receipt of proposals for the procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra under PSS so that procurement of FAQ grade of these crops can be made at notified MSP for the year 2020-21 directly from the registered farmers if the market rate goes below MSP during the notified harvesting period in the respective states/UTs by the central nodal agencies through state nominated procuring agencies.

 

Up to 23.08.2021, the government through its nodal agencies has procured 11,91,926.47 MT of moong, urad, tur, gram, masoor, groundnut pods, sunflower seed, mustard seed and soybean having an MSP value of Rs 6,686.59 Crores benefitting 6,96,803 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Odisha and Rajasthan under Kharif 2020-21 and Rabi 2021 and Summer 2021.

 

Similarly, 5089 MT of copra (the perennial crop) having an MSP value of Rs.52.40 crore has been procured benefitting 3961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the crops season 2020-21. For the season 2021-22, sanction for procurement of 51000 MT of copra from Tamil Nadu has been given, against which 8.30 MT having an MSP value of Rs. 0.09 crores have been procured benefitting 36 farmers in Tamil Nadu, up to 23.08.2021.

 

 

Around 129.03 lakh farmers are likely to

The deal will help to build Suumaya Agro as a holistic agribusiness and drive the sector significantly

Suumaya Industries, an emerging diversified conglomerate group having recently ventured into agri-commodity business, has acquired 51 per cent stake in payAgri Innovations, a tech-driven agri and food business company for an undisclosed valuation.

The company through our wholly-owned subsidiary Suumaya Agro is acquiring payAgri, a fast-growing ‘Seed 2 fork’ start-up poised to become a global leader in agri and food business. This will enable Suumaya Agro to gain a strong foothold in the agri value chain business in India. Agri business is witnessing strong traction. We would be differentiating our approach in the entire Agri Value Chain and endeavour to be a dominant player in the segment.”

Ushik Gala, CMD, Suumaya Industries said, “Suumaya Industries has embarked onto an ambitious journey with Suumaya 2.0 Strategy. Diversifying into the agri business is a new pathway for the company which is unfolding new opportunities and markets for us. Agri business has been instrumental in the robust financial performance of the company. In line with this vision, the company is also exploring various inorganic opportunities to be recognised as a significant player driving the sector in unchartered frontiers.”

Gala added, “The capital infusion by Suumaya Industries will help drive the growth and expansion of payAgri as a farmer-centric value chain focussed hybrid bulk and retail supply chain, model. We are excited to partner with Rajkumar KVM and Rajeev Kaimal, both first-generation entrepreneurs, who have created a strong business through their market acumen and perseverance. There is a great synergy as it will give access to Suumaya in the Southern markets, entry into higher value agri commodities as well as a wider range of customers and a vast access to the farmer’s network which are the key strengths of payAgri.”
 
KVM Rajkumar, Co-Founder & MD (Bulk Value Chain Business), payAgri Innovations said, “We are building a unique and workable ‘seed to fork model’ with a focus on spices and grain value chains. We are excited to see the acceptance and appreciation from our B2B customers, especially Food Processing MSME customers for our quality and supply reliability. We plan to scale up our bulk value chain business by on-boarding 100+ MSME & Overseas buyers and increase our wallet share to min. 50 per cent of their procurement requirements in the coming 12 months.”
 
The investment will help in critical farm-gate and supply chain infrastructure, expand the FarmConnect Hubs within and outside India and also strengthen tech platforms.
 
Rajeev G Kaimal, Co-Founder & MD (Products & FinTech Business), payAgri Innovations said, “With this investment support from Suumaya, we aimed to take this model across geographies in the coming months and establish ourselves as a prominent player in the Agri Value Chain space providing unique tailor-made market and financial solutions to the various value chain players.”

The deal will help to build Suumaya