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AgroPolicy, Trade

The scheme has been extended till 31.03.2022

Centre has revised ’Transport and Marketing Assistance’ (TMA) scheme for Specified Agriculture Products’. In February 2019, the Department of Commerce had introduced ‘Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products Scheme’ to assist with the international component of freight, to mitigate disadvantage of higher freight costs faced by the Indian exporters of agriculture products. The scheme was initially applicable for exports effected during the period from 01.03.2019 to 31.03.2020 and was later extended for exports effected up to 31.03.2021.

 

Now the department has notified ‘Revised Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products Scheme’ for exports effected on or after 01.04.2021 up to 31.03.2022. The existing scheme will remain in operation for exports effected up to 31.03.2021. 

 

Following major changes have been made in the revised scheme:

• Dairy products, which were not covered under the earlier scheme, will be eligible for assistance under the revised scheme.

• Rates of assistance have been increased, by 50 per cent for exports by sea and by 100 per cent for exports by air. 

 

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will shortly notify the procedure for availing assistance under the revised scheme. Enhanced assistance under the revised scheme is expected to help Indian exporters of agricultural products to meet rising freight and logistics costs.

The scheme has been extended till 31.03.2022Centre

Agro Universities, Floriculture

Cotton fields are prone to ball worm attacks

An entomology expert from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have advised farmers to keep monitoring cotton fields regularly for pink bollworm infestation. Referring to the history of pink bollworm, Dr Amandeep Kaur, Entomologist, said that the pest was earlier observed on Bt cotton hybrids in Southern India.

 

“In 2018, it was first noticed in North India in Jind district of Haryana and 2019 and 2020, it attacked cotton bolls in different villages of Bathinda,” she revealed. As per the recent survey conducted by PAU experts in Mansa district, the attack of pink bollworm has resulted in damage of the crops at some places, she warned. Dr Kaur urged cotton growers to remain vigilant and contact PAU experts, if any incidence of pink bollworm on Bt cotton is observed. She also explained the life cycle, symptoms and control measures of pink bollworm during the PAU live programme on September 10, 2021.

 

Dr Madhu Bala, Floriculturist, said that flower growers are cultivating marigold, chrysanthemum, gladiolus, rose, desi rose, etc. for commercial purpose and household garden decoration. The demand for flowers was escalating due to their traditional uses, she added, while explaining the cultivation practices and marketing of different flower crops.

 

Gurpreet Virk and Dr Inderpreet Kaur Boparai, PAU experts, advised the farmers to provide irrigation to paddy and basmati as per need. In maize, irrigation should be given in time as lack of irrigation may affect its yield, they added.

Cotton fields are prone to ball worm

Environment, Finance

Carbon by Indigo is the first carbon farming programme to provide outcomes-based, direct payments to growers at scale

Indigo, a company leveraging nature and technology to unlock economic and environmental progress in agriculture, announced the disbursement of initial payments to the inaugural cohort of Carbon by Indigo participants. The 267 paid growers are the first to implement on-farm practice changes and provide the data required to ensure the rigorous measurement and validation of resulting emissions reduction and removals according to registry protocols. In doing so, they have helped pave a path for the scaled production of carbon credits as a new income stream for farmers, demonstrating the emerging market’s potential as a real and meaningful instrument for mitigating the drivers of climate change.

Carbon by Indigo is the first carbon farming programme to provide outcomes-based, direct payments to growers at scale – a milestone enabled by the successful filing of a monitoring plan detailing the data and methods used to generate the program’s inaugural crop. Final credit calculations, generated and made public upon completion of a rigorous third-party verification process currently underway according to the Climate Action Reserve’s ’Soil Enrichment Protocol,’ will result in the world’s first crop of high-quality, registry-issued agricultural carbon credits generated at scale this Spring 2022.

The cohort’s carbon farming efforts represent a wide range of experience adopting beneficial practice changes in the 2019 and 2020 crop years. Overall participation spanned 19 states, included 15 unique crop types and over 50 unique practice change combinations, and varied from implementation on just one field to practice change on 85. The initial payments represent an advance on the program’s expected first-year vesting (50 per cent). Farmers will receive the remainder of these payments in subsequent years, in addition to further income generated as a result of their ongoing beneficial farming efforts including through continuation of practices, additional practice adoption, or expanded enrolled acreage in future crop years.

Carbon by Indigo is the first carbon

AgroPolicy, Trade, Webinar

APEDA chairman was speaking at FICCI-YES Bank Report ‘Enhancing Competitiveness of Indian Agri Exports’

APEDA has identified several countries that have the potential of being excellent markets for the promotion of Indian agri-products. This information was provided by Dr Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India during the virtual release ceremony of the ‘FICCI-YES Bank Knowledge Report on Enhancing Competitiveness of Indian Agri Exports.

 

Dr Angamuthu opined that the actionable points and challenges mentioned in the FICCI-YES Bank Knowledge Report on Enhancing Competitiveness of Indian Agri Exports will aid in a better understanding and working with all stakeholders of the agricultural ecosystem. “APEDA will facilitate and promote several capacity building programmes in association with FICCI and YES Bank so that the report is percolated at all levels,” he said.

 

Dr Ashok Dalwai, CEO, NRAA, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India, said that to increase the income of the farmers, we need to connect our farm-gates with distant markets including the global markets. Hence, agri exports must be facilitated through an ecosystem approach. 

 

Dr Sudhanshu, Secretary, APEDA, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India highlighted various initiatives of APEDA. He mentioned that such initiatives will certainly play a vital role in enhancing the competitiveness of Indian Agri exports and help Indian farmers get the benefit of several export opportunities in agriculture.

 

Sanjay Sacheti, Co-Chair, FICCI National Agriculture Committee Country Head & Executive Director, Olam Agro India said, “India needs to very aggressively grow its agri-exports, not only in quantitative terms but also qualitative aspects. We have historically been a commodity exporter but there is a huge opportunity to move up the value chain, enrich the profile of our exports and hence capture value at the higher end of goods and services that we are capable of exporting from here.”

 

Vivek Chandra, CEO-Global Branded Business, LT Foods highlighted the importance of branding the products and ensuring quality at every step of the Agri value chain to propel our country’s agricultural exports. 

 

Sivakumar, COO, ITC said that the post-Covid world offers a similar inflection point to the agri sector to step up exports of value-added products aligned with the preference of global consumers for food that’s healthy and natural. 

 

Elaborating on the report, YES Bank representative said that commodity focussed value chain transformation approach is essential to enhance export competitiveness. 

 

TR Kesavan, Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee & Group President, TAFE said that we need to create knowledge sharing at the ground level to prepare our farmers well and enable them to get the benefit of several export opportunities in agriculture. He also mentioned the importance of traceability and blockchain solutions to enhance the value proposition of Indian agri produce. 

APEDA chairman was speaking at FICCI-YES Bank

Agrotech

The agreement represents the third major development to Ingredion’s stevia business in the last 14 months

Ingredion Incorporated and S&W Seed Company have entered into an exclusive US stevia pilot production supply agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, S&W will leverage its proprietary stevia plant portfolio and production techniques to supply Ingredion and its PureCircle by Ingredion group of companies, with high-quality, US-sourced stevia plants.

Mark Wong, CEO, S&W Seed Company, commented, “S&W has developed unique, non-GMO, all-natural stevia varieties over the past ten years utilising our proprietary plant breeding programme. Recently, we have made what we believe is a significant leap forward by validating the efficacy of stevia production in the South-Eastern US. By leveraging a unique seed-to-plant process and mechanical harvesting system, we expect to dramatically reduce overall production costs. Importantly, this method is intended to allow the stevia to function as a green cover crop, helping to sequester carbon.”

“This agreement strengthens our ability to provide sugar reduction solutions for our customers by diversifying our supply of sustainably sourced stevia in the US,” stated Jeremy Xu, Ingredion’s Senior VP and CIO. “This agreement with S&W will allow us to evaluate the long-term opportunity to effectively produce large quantities of stevia in the US.”

The agreement represents the third major development to Ingredion’s stevia business in the last 14 months. Last July, Ingredion acquired a controlling stake in PureCircle (now PureCircle by Ingredion), and earlier this year the company announced a joint venture with Amyris to exclusively offer Fermented Sugarcane Reb M as part of its expanded stevia portfolio.

The agreement represents the third major development

AgroPolicy, Trade

Merchandise exporters in chemicals, fisheries, agriculture can claim benefits for exports

The Government of India has decided to budget Rs 56,027 crore in this Financial Year FY 21-22 itself to disburse all pending export incentives due to exporters. This amount includes claims relating to MEIS, SEIS, RoSL, RoSCTL, other scrip-based schemes relating to earlier policies and the remission support for RoDTEP and RoSCTL for exports made in the 4th quarter of FY 20-21. Benefits would be disbursed to more than 45,000 exporters, out of which about 98 per cent are small exporters in the MSME category.

The amount of Rs 56,027 crores of arrears is for different export promotion and remission schemes: MEIS (Rs 33,010 crore), SEIS (Rs 10,002 crore), RoSCTL (Rs 5,286 crore), RoSL (Rs 330 crore), RoDTEP (Rs 2,568 crore), other legacy Schemes like Target Plus etc (Rs 4,831 crore). This amount is over and above the duty remission amount of Rs 12,454 crore for the RoDTEP scheme and Rs 6,946 crore for the RoSCTL scheme already announced for exports made in this year i.e. FY 2021-22.

Exports in India have seen robust growth in recent months. Merchandise exports for April-August, 2021 was nearly $164 billion, which is an increase of 67 per cent over 2020-21 and 23 per cent over 2019-20. This decision to clear all pending export incentives within this financial year will lead to even more rapid export growth in the coming months.

For merchandise exports, all sectors covered under MEIS, such as pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, engineering, chemicals, fisheries, agriculture and allied sectors, auto and auto components would be able to claim benefits for exports made in earlier years. Benefits would help such sectors to maintain cash flows and meet export demand in the international market, which is recovering fast this financial year.

Export claims relating to earlier years will need to be filed by the exporters by December 31, 2021, beyond which they will become time-barred. The Online IT portal will be enabled shortly to accept MEIS and other scrip based applications and would be integrated with a robust mechanism set up by the Ministry of Finance to monitor provisioning and disbursement of the export incentives under a budgetary framework.

Merchandise exporters in chemicals, fisheries, agriculture can

Agro Universities, Live Stock

The protocol will help in producing hydroponic fodder as a nutritive feed supplement to milch animals from grains like maize, wheat, cowpea and horse gram

The ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bengaluru, Karnataka signed an agreement for Licensing for Hydroponic Fodder Production with Hydro Greens Agri Solutions, Bengaluru.

 

Dr Raghavendra Bhatta, Director, ICAR-NIANP, Bengaluru and Vasanth Madhav Kamath, Director, Hydro Greens Agri Solutions, Bengaluru signed the agreement on the behalf of their respective organisations.

 

The protocol will help in producing hydroponic fodder as a nutritive feed supplement to milch animals from grains like maize, wheat, cowpea and horse gram, etc. It will also be an effective contingency measure for overcoming the problems of green fodder deficit during scarce periods or under adverse weather conditions like drought or floods.

The protocol will help in producing hydroponic

Agrotech, Interaction, Water

Grundfos’ solar solutions are cost-effective and reliable for agricultural activities in India, considering the extent of remote monitoring and automation that is provided. These plug-and-go pumps are easy to install and are compatible with any of India’s varying climatic conditions. Rangarajan Ramaswamy, Senior Area Sales Manager, Water Utility, Grundfos India reveals more about how the pumps can bring in a revolution in the irrigation/agri sector

How can Grundfos Pumps India bring in a revolution in the irrigation/agri sector?

 

With year-round production, India’s agricultural sector is one of the most energy-consuming industries. In terms of energy, about 18 per cent of India’s total electricity consumption goes into powering irrigation. Pumps consume a dominant share of this energy given that water is a primary requirement in all agricultural activities, such as irrigation, livestock management and maintenance work. A significant amount of irrigation activities in India are fuel-run, with over 2,000 million litres of diesel used annually by irrigation pumps alone. 

 

A sustainable alternative for subsidised grid electricity or diesel is solar energy, which can change the way energy is utilised for irrigation and pumps are operated. As a tropical country, India also has access to an abundance of solar power, which when captured for energy can reduce the burden on fossil fuels and the electricity grid. Furthermore, pumps that can function on solar power would be ideal solutions for isolated locations that do not have access to electricity. With Grundfos’ solar-powered pumps that can operate in remote locations, India’s agriculture sector can transform to become more accessible to isolated areas while conserving diesel and electric powers that can be used elsewhere. Since 2019, Grundfos has provided 8032 solar-powered pump sets in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu supporting over 8000 farms make use of solar energy.

 

Grundfos’ solar solutions are cost-effective and reliable for agricultural activities in India, considering the extent of remote monitoring and automation that is provided. These plug-and-go pumps are easy to install and are compatible with any of India’s varying climatic conditions. The built-in protective features of Grundfos’ pumps reduce downtime drastically, leaving the user with virtually no maintenance issues. Coupled with Grundfos’ years of expertise in the pump industry and the principles of sustainability, the solar pumps are extremely energy efficient. Grundfos also customises the products to best suit individual needs, presenting the customer with a holistic solution for their water needs, thereby reducing the servicing and installation costs along with the operation and energy costs. Also, automation has made Grundfos solar pumps operate smartly without human intervention. With solutions like the Grundfos Remote Management (GRM), customers can get a complete overview of a pump’s performance and operation. GRM also provides customers with regular updates on energy consumption.

 

What are the innovations for the Indian market in the irrigation/agri sector?

With the advancement of technology, the agricultural sector is also transforming. Through digitalisation, the agriculture sector is adopting new methods of operations for faster, more accurate and reliable practices. This expanded into the solar pump industry as pumps are being designed to function automatically. Farmers are now able to install self-running solar pumps that can be operated remotely, completely redefining the way water is being supplied for irrigation and other agrarian activities. As a global leader in advanced pump solutions and a trendsetter in water technologies, Grundfos has developed intelligent solar pumps that can be controlled to enable remote monitoring, therefore helping farmers in bringing water to every corner of the country. 

 

Solar pumps are economically efficient as compared to their diesel counterparts. For instance, the SQFlex is a solar water pumping submersible pump with a built-in drive, that is an intelligent system. Being solar-powered, SQFlex is a one-time investment that does not require additional cost for energy, therefore making it way more economically viable than a diesel pump. 

 

How sustainable and environmentally friendly are these water pumps?

As a renewable source of energy, solar power can also lead to energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions. Solar pumps cut down the prospect of pumps that run on fuel emitting high amounts of hazardous substances. For example, with Grundfos’ supply of the 8032 solar-powered pump sets the CO2 emission was reduced by 41,500 tonnes per year. Over the next five years, we aim to supply solar pumps for the supply of irrigation water to one million farmers and avoid an annual CO2 emission of 6.6 million tonnes.

 

Furthermore, advanced processes such as the aeroponics system reduce water usage by 98 per cent, fertiliser usage by 60 per cent and completely avoids pesticide usage, in comparison with conventional soil-based harvest methods.

 

How cost-effective are these pumps? 

When investing in a product, usually the focus is on the initial cost and customers overlook the lifecycle cost. The lifecycle cost of pumps should be taken into consideration before making an informed purchase. When the cost is split, the realisation is that only five to ten per cent makes up for the initial cost. For instance, consider a 10-year life period product, five per cent is the initial cost, 10 per cent is the maintenance cost and 85 per cent is the energy cost. When we entered the Indian pump market, it started promoting the concept of lifecycle cost or cost of ownership among its customers. Grundfos advocates for the need to invest in efficient products that provide reliability as well as energy and water efficiency without compromising on productivity. This ensures long term, optimal performance, as compared to the lesser efficient counterparts available in the market. 

 

Additionally, owing to the energy conservation that can be achieved with Grundfos’ pumps, our customers can reduce their power consumption and costs. We also offer pumps that are embedded with IoT and data analytics, enabling predictive maintenance. This allows the system to study the pattern of a pump’s behaviour and avoid any foreseen errors, ultimately reducing human intervention and the cost of repair.

For example, in 2013, a farmer from Bijapur, Karnataka, installed a Grundfos solar pump of 5.5 kW for Rs 10 lakh. While the payback was estimated to happen over 3+ years, the entire cost of purchase was received within one and a half years of installation through energy conservation. Going by this, it is possible to achieve faster paybacks and save energy with solar water pumps, while ensuring consistent performance in the long run. 

 

How effective are these pumps in drought-prone areas?

Grundfos’s SQFlex and CRFlex pumps have proven their excellence in supplying water to drought-affected areas. When a reliable waterhole dried up in a remote location in Africa, a farmer installed the SQFlex solar-powered borehole unit with six solar modules to bring back water supply to the region. Through pumps that operate on renewable energy, remote communities from water-scare areas have benefited from activities such as livestock watering and irrigation. In India, remote rural areas do not have access to electricity 24 hours a day, restricting them to flexibly operate their pumps. With solar pumps, farmers can irrigate their fields as per the requirement within suitable timings during the day, not having to worry about the availability of power. 

 

How technologically efficient are these pumps?

With agriculture adopting digital technologies for faster and efficient operations, irrigation pumps are also advancing to contribute to this change. A major advantage of smart pumps in irrigation is the ability to operate them remotely. Through products that are easy to install and require low maintenance, we are empowering farmers in India to achieve highly efficient solar irrigation with minimal operational cost. 

Grundfos banks on its years of expertise in the pump industry and consistent research and development over the years to design the best of pumps for irrigation. This resulted in the development of such energy-efficient pumps to offer easy installation, low maintenance and low operation cost. Our pumps are also user-friendly, taking flexibility up a notch. For instance, The Renewable Solar Inverter (RSI) by Grundfos can be configured with a Grundfos pump in under five minutes, which goes to show the simplicity of the product. RSI has also been developed to be able to fit existing pump systems.    

           

As a self-operating pump, SQFlex comes with an inbuilt Frequency convertor and inverter, Dry Run Sensor and integrated Motor Protection, which makes the operation automatic and convenient for the user, that can be customised basis the volume of water required, location and depth of water. 

 

Similarly, the CRFlex pump with the MGFlex motor can be used for livestock watering among other water needs and is built to run in remote areas where access to electricity is difficult. MGFlex’s Integrated Variable Frequency Drive can be used to run at a range of speeds, making it flexible too. 

 

For solar-powered pumps with higher motor capacities (3 to 7.5HP), Grundfos has a high-efficiency pump coupled with a Permanent Magnet Synchronous motor and an external control with all motor protections. Remote monitoring is an integral part of this system.  

 

Where are the manufacturing units located? 

Grundfos currently has two manufacturing units in India. We are headquartered in Chennai, with the facility catering to our supply chains to the South and East of India. To support manufacturing and supply chains in West and North India, we set up our second manufacturing unit in India in Ahmedabad. 

 

Both the facilities are responsible for the sales of Grundfos products in India’s neighbouring countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives.

 

What will be your plans for the Indian market?

Solar-powered pumps in agriculture are bound to see increasing growth in the coming years, as acceptance of these pumps by farmers is gaining momentum. There is also a sustained push from Central and state governments for the deployment of solar-powered pumps through the KUSUM schemes and state-level programme.

 

The need for the higher quantum of water in some states is getting pronounced and this calls for higher motor capacities ie up to 15HP.

Grundfos will train its focus on:

  • Constantly improving overall system efficiencies in solar pumping solutions to deliver higher litres of water / Wp of solar power used 
  • Expanding the product portfolio to meet the market demands
  • Cost optimisation keeping its hallmarks quality, superior performance and reliability intact
  • Developing smart and innovative controller solutions to support farmers in complete utilisation of generated Solar power for multiple uses of farm equipment apart from pumps. 

Sanjiv Das

sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com

Grundfos’ solar solutions are cost-effective and reliable

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agrotech

The fertiliser has been manufactured with ’EnPhos Technology’

Telangana-based Coromandel International, known for its Gromor and Godavari Brand of fertilisers has recently launched GroShakti Plus. Present at the launch were Arun Alagappan, Executive Vice Chairman, Coromandel International, Sameer Goel, MD, Coromandel International, farmers and fertiliser dealers from the state of Telangana among other dignitaries.

Alagappan announced the benefits that Groshakti Plus and said that the product will support the farmers in enhancing the yield and quality.

The superior complex fertiliser, with ’EnPhos Technology’ enables higher phosphorous availability to crop, and ‘Fortified Zinc’ induces greenness in plants through better nitrogen utilisation and enzymatic activation, plays a pivotal function in the flowering process while imparting resistance to pests and diseases thus, contributing to higher yield and earnings.

EnPhos technology makes more phosphorous available to the crop and ensures better root development and Zinc enables vigorous plant growth and improves disease resistance, leading to faster growth and superior quality yield.

Besides this, GroShakti Plus has all the three major nutrients (NPK) and has the highest nutrient content among complex fertilisers, highest phosphorous content among NPK fertilisers (35 units) and nutrient content is in the ratio of 1: 2.5: 1, that is considered ideal for basal application.
 

The fertiliser has been manufactured with ’EnPhos

Supply Chain

State-of-the-art plant prioritises sustainable production with advanced CO2 emission reductions, biomass reuse

Cargill has announced the opening of its new, cutting-edge pectin production facility, located in Bebedouro, Brazil. The plant, which represents a $150 million investment, significantly expands the company’s ability to meet growing global demand for the label-friendly texturizing ingredient.

Built-in the heart of Brazil’s citrus-growing region, the new plant’s proximity to citrus fields ensures an abundant supply of fresh fruit peels, the raw material required for premium pectin production. It will produce a full range of Cargill’s HM pectins, significantly increasing the company’s pectin supply and expanding production presence to two continents – South America and Europe.

“Demand for pectin is at an all-time high, fueled by global trends around sugar reduction and label-friendly formulation, as well as the popularity of fruit-flavoured dairy drinks,” said Laerte Moraes, MD, Cargill’s starches, sweeteners and texturizers business in South America.

The Brazil plant opening culminates a three-year plan to expand Cargill’s global pectin production, which also included improvements to its existing pectin facilities in France, Germany and Italy. With the combined added capacity, Cargill is now the world’s second-largest pectin producer.

A versatile texturiser, the HM pectin produced at Cargill’s new plant will be used to make jams, fruit-flavoured beverages, acidic dairy drinks, yoghurts, fruit preparations and confectionery, as well as personal care products. In these applications, HM pectin fulfils a myriad of roles, serving as an excellent thickener and gelling agent, stabilizing proteins in acidic environments, and aiding in the production of sugar-reduced beverages.

In keeping with Cargill’s commitment to reduced Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions across its operations, the new plant leverages advanced technology to reduce its environmental footprint and includes sustainability certification of raw materials. This starts with the plant’s proximity to its citrus suppliers and their Rainforest Alliance certified farms, which helps minimise CO2 emissions from raw material transport, promotes regenerative agriculture practices and extends to its state-of-the-art design. Built according to Cargill’s stringent guidelines, the Bebedouro plant is powered by thermal energy generated from biomass and biogas, using sustainability practices already proven at other company facilities.

When fully operational, the new plant will supply HM pectin to customers in South America and throughout the world. Initial shipments are expected to begin by year-end.

State-of-the-art plant prioritises sustainable production with advanced

Agro Universities, Live Stock

Around 50 farmers along with scientists from of ICAR-NIANP, KVK and veterinary officers participated

The ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bengaluru, Karnataka recently organised a technical workshop for livestock farmers on ’Livestock Feeding Management and Production’ at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ramanagara, Karnataka.

In his address, Dr Raghavendra Bhatta, Director, ICAR-NIANP, Bengaluru and Dr Savitha SM, Head, KVK, Ramanagara graced the function.

The workshop organised as a part of the “Bharat Ka Amrut Mahotsav” to commemorate 75 Years of India’s Independence registered participation by scientists of ICAR-NIANP, KVK and veterinary officers along with more than 50 farmers.

Around 50 farmers along with scientists from

Webinar

Experts commends govt’s role in horticulture to double income of farmers

Agrovision Foundation recently organised a webinar titled ‘Horticulture Development for Farmers’ prosperity’. Experts deliberated on how horticulture crops play a unique role in the Indian economy and most importantly in generating employment, enhancing farmer’s income and creating the surplus for exports. The Government of India’s role in horticulture was commendable on the strategies undertaken to double the income of farmers.

 

Experts like Dr Kumble Vinod Prabhu, PPV & FRA, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Dr Tarun Bajaj, Director, APEDA, Pushpendra Arya, Joint Director, National Horticulture Board (NHB), Dr PK Gupta, Director, NHRDF, Prashant Nandargikar, Director, Isha Agro Foundation, Dr Sandeep Mann, ICAR-CIPHET, PO PAU Ludhiana and Sunil Dutt, Branch Manager, ITC, discussed the crucial points on innovative technologies, schemes, government policies, better quality management for the development of horticulture sector in India.

 

Dr CD Mayee, Chairman, Advisory Council Agrovision, in his opening remarks welcomed all the panellists on behalf of Agrovision Foundation and said, “We are targeting to doubling the income of farmers and exports, as we are strong in horticulture. We have a slow processing system for our products and the time has come for surplus management.”

 

Dr Prabhu in his keynote address talked about profitability through improved productivity and assessed return through farmer’s rights.

He said, “Horticulture needs to be recognised largely as it will enable doubling of farmer’s income.”

 

Doubling the exports

Dr Bajaj emphasised export, national market and value addition processing. He said, “If we want to double the income of farmers, exports should be doubled. We exported $41M agri products last year. We are among the top ten countries in the world as far as export is concerned.”

 

Starting with his presentation, Dr Bajaj highlighted the importance of the food processing industry and the challenges in the agri export sector. He said, “During the last five years ending 2019-2020, the food processing sector has been growing at an average annual growth rate of around 10 per cent as compared to around 3.11 per cent in agriculture at 2011-12.”

 

He added, “We have to now look to new markets, new products and also strengthen existing markets.”

 

Government initiatives

Arya focussed on NHB schemes and government policies for horticulture promotion. He said that the primary motive of NHB is to develop horticulture and then integrate post-harvest management. Speaking about the recently launched scheme, Horticulture Cluster Development Program, Arya mentioned that the main objective of the programme is to address the concerns of the horticulture value chain, to reduce harvest and post-harvest losses, facilitate the introduction of innovative technologies and capacity building of stakeholders.

 

Game-changing technologies

Nandargikar highlighted the technologies used for small farmers. Briefing about PSAP (Potassium Salt and Active Phosphorous) technology he said, “PSAP is a revolutionary technology which increases bio-ethanol and oil-seeds production.”

 

He further said, “As tested by Premier Sugarcane, Sugar Research Institutes, SAU’s and ICAR-IISR, PSAP has been able to increase oilseeds and sugarcane production by 30 per cent. Technology that can impact on almost everything, reduces pesticide use by 50 per cent.”

 

Growth of horticulture

Gupta shared insights about technologies for enhancing horticulture development. He said, “Horticulture constitutes an important segment in agriculture occupying about 18 per cent (27.23 MH) of the net cultivated area of 142 MH. The horticulture production is 329.86 million tonnes in the year 2020-21. The production estimates are highest so far and it reflects an increase of 9.39 million tonnes in comparison to 2019-20.”

 

Dr Mann spoke about post-harvest practices, awareness and cold chain infrastructure. He suggested that public and private sectors should come forward for infrastructure development/FPO’s. “We must enhance small farm productivity and stability of production so that net income of farmers can be doubled by reducing the large gap between potential and actual yield per hectare and income. Further, low-cost infrastructures should be developed for farmers at the field level,” he added.

 

Fruit and vegetable value chain

Talking about fruit and vegetable space, Dutt said, “The fruit and vegetable market is dominated by the domestic trade of fresh fruit and vegetables and hence there is a good scope of complementing pulse and the frozen market as well as export of all the categories. We see various challenges in the value chain of the fruit and vegetable segment. One of the major issues is the availability of the processed foods.”

 

Ravi Boratkar, President, Agrovision concluded the session by thanking the panellists and said, “I think every speaker has further stressed that horticulture development can indeed bring prosperity to farmers and the more we concentrate on the horticulture development it will help accelerate the economy.”

Experts commends govt’s role in horticulture to

AgroPolicy, Environment

UAE seeks support from India for the UAE Initiative on Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM-C) along with US and UK to be launched at COP26 to be held in Glasgow

Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav held a meeting with Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Climate Envoy and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology virtually and discussed issues relating to COP 26, renewable energy and other related matters.

 

Stating that renewable energy and energy efficiency are among the key pillars of Indian climate change strategies, Yadav mentioned that India has worked to make sure that renewable energy, particularly solar, becomes cheaper than energy from fossil fuels. 

 

The minister further mentioned that India has already installed about 151GW of non-fossil fuel installed capacity with 39 per cent of the total capacity installed and going ahead, India has declared an aspirational target of installing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. 

 

The environment minister also mentioned about India’s Hydrogen Energy Mission, global initiatives such as International Solar Alliance (ISA), Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and leadership group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) and underlined the need for prioritising the concerns of developing countries, particularly in areas of implementation support including finance and technology.

 

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Climate Envoy and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology sought support of India for the UAE Initiative on Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM-C) along with the US and the UK to be launched at COP26 to be held in Glasgow later this year.

UAE seeks support from India for the

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, Supply Chain

Increased MSP aims to encourage crop diversification

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for all mandated Rabi crops for Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23.

 

The government has increased the MSP of rabi crops for RMS 2022-23, to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce. The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year has been recommended for lentil (masur) and rapeseeds and mustard (Rs 400 per quintal each) followed by gram (Rs 130 per quintal). In case of safflower, there has been an increase of Rs 114 per quintal, in comparison to last year. The differential remuneration is aimed at encouraging crop diversification.

 

The increase in MSP for rabi crops for RMS 2022-23 is in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing the MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production, aiming a reasonably fair remuneration for the fanners. The expected returns to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in case of wheat and rapeseed and mustard (100 per cent each), followed by lentil (79 per cent); gram (74 per cent); barley (60 per cent); safflower (50 per cent).

 

Concerted efforts were made over the last few years to realign the MSPs in favour of oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals to encourage farmers shift to larger area under these crops and adopt best technologies and farm practices, to correct demand — supply imbalance.

 

Additionally, National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), Centrally Sponsored Scheme recently announced by the government, will help in increasing the domestic production of edible oils and reduce imports dependency. With the total outlay of Rs 11,040 crore, the scheme will not only aid in expanding area and productivity of the sector, but also benefit the farmers by increasing their income and generation of additional employment.

 

The Umbrella Scheme “Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA) announced by the government in 2018 will aid in providing remunerative return to farmers for their produce. The Umbrella Scheme consists of three sub-schemes i.e. Price Support Scheme (PSS), Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) and Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme (PPSS) on a pilot basis.

Increased MSP aims to encourage crop diversificationThe