Connect with:
Wednesday / February 5. 2025

logo
mobile-logo
Home2021November (Page 7)
Finance, Start ups

As mobile and internet penetration increases further in rural areas, the adoption of newer technologies will rise, making it easier to adopt agri-tech solutions. Agri-tech startups are offering solutions that make it easier for the farmers to obtain credit without the involvement of extensive paperwork and swift approvals, greatly benefiting the farmers.

Obtaining credit for farming has always been a challenge for Indian farmers. Farmers heavily depend on credit facilities by banks for all stages of agricultural activities. Loan/credit disbursement on time is crucial for farmers, as it facilitates buying seeds, equipment, fertilisers, pesticides and building of storage units. There is assistance from the Indian government in obtaining loans and yet the farmers face challenges in obtaining credit to sustain their livelihood from financial institutions. The adoption of technology in the agriculture sector is transforming farming into a more efficient and profitable profession. Lenders are usually faced with challenges in providing loans to small farmers due to the lack of real-time information, availability of collateral and efforts involved in the recovery of the loan.  

Traditionally farmers have lacked the know-how of modern farming methods and techniques, which paved a path for agri-tech startups offering effective, scientific and profitable farming solutions. The Indian Agri-fintech sector has approximately   600-700 odd startups, servicing the fast-growing sector. These  startups usually offer credit, insurance, warehouse receipt financing, trade financing, among other services/products. 

Modernisation of Indian agriculture

India is embarking on a journey of modernisation in the agriculture sector, wherein digital technologies will play a crucial role in creating value across the  sector. As the Indian economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic the agriculture sector is expected to undergo a radical transformation in the coming years backed by technology and regulatory approvals. 

As per ‘India Agritech Market Outlook to FY’2025: Ken Research’, the Indian Agritech Market is in the early growth stage with increasing awareness among farmers due to growth in internet penetration and mobile connectivity. Many agri-tech startups have entered the industry, especially in the last five years, foreseeing the potential of the industry. The sector is witnessing a high level of investment activity, with increasing interest from venture capitalist firms and international investors. In 2020 alone, the investment in the sector crossed $300 million. The overall agri-tech industry witnessed revenue growth of ~85 per cent during FY’2019-FY’2020. The industry is expected to witness a CAGR of ~32.0 per cent based on revenue, by FY’2025.

As mobile and internet penetration increases further in rural areas, the adoption of newer technologies will rise, making it easier to adopt agri-tech solutions. Agri-tech start-ups are offering solutions that make it easier for the farmers to obtain credit without the involvement of extensive paperwork and approvals on time benefiting the farmers. 

Commenting on the criticality of financial credit to farmers at the right time, Anand Chandra, Co-founder & Executive Director, Arya Collateral Warehousing Services, Central Delhi, commented, “Agricultural credit offers farmers with the cash flows necessary for seasonal inputs, investments in assets and technology and to refinance high-cost debts. The availability of credit on time and at the time of sowing helps farmers to buy inputs required for producing the crop and timely finance at the time harvest ensure that farmers can aggregate their produce effectively, ensure better value for their produce and meet their consumption needs. It prevents farmers from selling their produce in distress immediately after harvest and enables wealth creation while maximising the returns on their produce.”

The Indian agritech sector has seen expansive growth from a mere 43 startups in 2013 to more than 1000 startups in 2020. This has been possible with the increase in internet penetration in rural regions. According to the Inc42 report titled India’s Agritech Market Landscape Report, 2021, India’s agritech market is estimated to reach $24.1 billion by 2025. A total of $467 million has been raised by agritech startups from 2014 to H1 2020. 

Addressing the challenges 

The agriculture sector has largely remained resilient to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic even with restrictions, shortage of labour and supplies due to the fast adoption of technology. The government’s support in setting up incubators, grants and entry into public-private partnerships has opened doors for more players in the sector. The root cause of stunted agricultural growth over the years has been inadequate creditability. For the sector to become more profitable and sustainable the issues with finances need to be immediately addressed keeping the farmers at the forefront.

Sharing his views on the challenges faced in providing credit to farmers, Chandra added, “Managing rural credit risk is extremely challenging due to access, fragmentation and prohibitive costs for most financial institutions. Another critical limitation affecting many innovative tools and technologies is the problem of scale. Digital transactions are still not the norm. Even with the surge of agri-fintech players, the penetration of agritech solutions is under 10 per cent with about 14 million farmers adopting available agritech solutions.”

The measures involved in catering to the agriculture sector need to be robust and inclusive as the Indian farming community is quite diverse. The Indian farming community mostly consists of micro land holdings that limits the scope of scale and extensive adoption of technology, solutions to address the pain points of the farmers need to be tailor-made. The limitations aren’t just limited to the financial sector, which percolate into the associated sectors with far-reaching impact. 

Dhyanesh Bhatt, CEO, Gramcover, Mumbai, shared how they are working towards improving the scope of agriculture in the country by providing insurance. Bhatt said, “We work extensively in implementing certain government programmes on the crop insurance side where there is a premium subsidy paid by the government to the insurance company. However, our interaction is primarily with the insurance company rather than directly with the state and central governments.”

About challenges that have dogged the sector he said “Some of the current challenges that insure-tech faces include limited innovations on the product design front, challenge of last-mile connectivity, only a small per cent of the population has become comfortable in buying insurance online, a cumbersome and time-consuming claims process, lack of enough skilled manpower with significant experience in evolving business scenarios.”

FPOs accelerating technology adoption 

Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been established under the statute of companies Act/State Co-operative Act, with unique operating models that help farmers collectively in a region or grow common crops. FPOs have had a positive impact on all players and practices of the farming value chain. As FPOs expand their reach further and more farmers start associating with FPOs, the penetration of technology will increase further. The Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) will have a bigger role to play in providing credits/ loans to the farmers. 

Lokendra Kumar, Product Manager, AgriFI, Bengaluru, stated, “We have never partnered with any FPOs as of now as none of our services is directly in tandem with them. But we have had some connections made through FPOs which helped us in gaining customers. But we did have some talks with them to roll out our products at a big scale through them.  The nitty-gritty is  still being worked upon but  FPOs too, in general, are very supportive for an agri-fintech start-up like us.”

FPOs can become a medium where agriculture completely merges with technology elevating the agricultural sector. Kumar added, “As of now, we have some products in the pipeline that are targeted towards small scale farmers which we are planning to execute in the next six months. The major challenge with small scale farmers is that they don’t have proper financial data which in turn affects our capability to work with them.”

Increasing credit access with tech 

Digital resources at the disposal of farmers will help bolster the future of farming and add more value to its allied industries. Farming involves high risks, identifying the gaps and collective efforts can minimise the risks involved. Important factors for growth in any sector is the ease of accessing credit and the associated policies that drive the entire value chain. 

“India’s Agri-fintech revolution is still in a nascent stage. With tech integration and catalytic funding for agri-fintech startups can enable a competitive environment with higher risk mitigation, lower NPA and transaction costs. Digitisation, access to alternate data and transactions, transparency in the Agri supply chain will improve the integration of financing solutions and offer farmers with quicker and viable alternatives,” concluded Chandra.

Talking on the same lines, Kumar voiced, “As of now agri-fintech is still very new but it is booming at such a high speed because of all the digitisation. Three years down the agri-fintech overall volume transaction of the goods/services are going to increase 20 times. Startups in this space shall be able to reach every nook and corner of very small villages of India thereby tapping into the Agri population needs.”

Accessing credit loans from non-institutional sources is on the rise with a positive impact on the entire lending outreach and further interventions will improve the access even more. Agri-fintech has been disruptive in changing the landscape of the farmers’ ecosystem. Deployment of advanced technologies and solutions tailored for the agriculture sector will help resolve major pain points of the farmers, boosting output and making it profitable and sustainable for startups and the entire value chain. 

Prabhat Prakash
prabhat.prakash@mmactiv.com

 

As mobile and internet penetration increases further

Dairy, Finance, Start ups, Warehousing

Despite being a very productive sector, capital flow into the agri sector has been a sticky wicket. Outdated warehousing and distribution systems, lack of financing options and minimal presence of commodity exchanges have been major stumbling blocks in the growth potential of the ‘evergreen’ sector. Here’s where the synergy between the agro industry, banks, private lending institutions and young entrepreneurs promises to help the industry take off in a big way. New schemes and financial service have cropped up notably, playing a pivotal role in agri and allied sectors. We shall examine the new shoots of development in the Indian agro finance space.

India’s agriculture sector is one industry that generates maximum employment for the country. According to the Government of India, in 2021, 56.6 per cent of the workforce in India were employed in agriculture and allied activities, while the other half was almost evenly distributed between industry and services. The Economic Survey of India 2020-21 report reveals that in FY20, the total food grain production in the country was recorded at 296.65 million tonnes, up by 11.44 million tonnes compared with 285.21 million tonnes in FY19. The government has set a target to buy 42.74 million tonnes from the central pool in FY21; this is 10 per cent more than the quantity purchased in FY20. For FY22, the government has set a record target for farmers to raise food grain production by 2 per cent with 307.31 million tonnes of food grains. In FY21, production was recorded at 303.34 million tonnes against a target of 301 million tonnes.

Despite being a very productive sector, capital flow into this industry has been a major problem owing to outdated warehousing and distribution systems, lack of financing options and minimal presence of commodity exchanges. However, in order to ease up the financial inflow cycle of the agro industry, many banks, institutions and young entrepreneurs have joined hands and floated many new schemes and ideas to financially back the agriculture and allied sector. 

Regular flow of capital plays a very vital role in any sector. Likewise, in the agriculture sector finance acts as a catalyst to nurture and cultivate this industry. Finance and capital inflow have been a prolonged issue of India’s agriculture sector and many companies, financial institutions, banks and financing firms have been working closely to draw modules which can actively address the financial needs of the people associated with this industry. Earlier, the situation was calamitous for farmers as most of the money lenders and financing institutions dominated this industry by dictating their own terms and conditions hence exploiting agriculture and allied sector to the fullest. But now, with a lot of interventions by the government and introduction of new policies and norms, the situation is easing out slowly and steadily. 

Elaborating on the subject, Sandeep Sabharwal, CEO, SLCM Group, said, “We have a subsidiary called Kissandhan Agri Financial Services that provides financial aids to farmers, traders and agri processors. In this financial year, we are all locked to provide monetary assistance to diversified basket of agricultural commodities and products such as lending to farmer producer organisations (FPOs), non-banking financial companies and microfinance institutions, invoice discounting facilities”.

Banks step up  

To address the financial needs of agriculture and allied sectors, many banks have tied up with small and large companies to economically strengthen this industry. Recently, Stellapps, a leading dairy-tech startup, has joined hands with Airtel Payments Bank to enable cashless payment transfers to small dairy farmers and contribute to digital financial inclusion in the country.  Stellapps has been closely working with dairies and their milk collection centers to enable direct payments to the bank account of the dairy farmers. However, a significant challenge for farmers has been the long travel to reach the nearest ATM or bank branch for withdrawing the payments. 

Airtel Payments Bank will now onboard the new partner milk collection centres of Stellapps as banking points. With milk collection centres operating as a banking point, farmers and other residents in the neighbourhood will no longer have to travel long distances. Through these banking points, they will be able to open a bank account, withdraw and deposit cash, earn interest on savings, access Aadhaar Enabled Payments, get government pension schemes, and make bill payments.

Similarly, the aquaculture tech company ‘Aquaconnect’ recently partnered with Bank of Baroda, India’s leading public sector bank to pave the way for access to formal credit for 1.6 million aquaculture farmers. This partnership will provide credit access under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme at an annualised rate of as low as 10 per cent. The fish and shrimp farmers can also avail the advisory services and quality farm inputs from Aquaconnect platform. Under this partnership, Bank of Baroda has extended loan for up to Rs 10 lakh under KCC scheme and fisheries loan. Higher credit limits can also be availed under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) schemes on a case to case basis.

The partnership aims to make the loan application system hassle-free for aquaculture farmers along with access to Aquaconnect’s expertise through farm advisories and ease of buying farm inputs through Aquaconnect App. The company aims to target Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Orissa and later extend it to other states of India. The partnership will benefit more than 15,00,000 fish farmers and 150,000 shrimp farmers across India.

Rajamanohar Somasundaram, CEO, Aquaconnect, said “Due to the lack of formal credit access, Indian fish and shrimp farmers depend heavily on informal lending that pushes them to pay annualised interest as high as 40 per cent to finance their farming operations. We are happy to partner with Bank of Baroda to enable low-interest farm loans for the farmers.”

“Our AquaCRED system is not only going to help aqua farmers but it will also assist banks in managing the entire aquaculture lending portfolio throughout the loan lifecycle. The newly crafted system uses machine learning algorithms and satellite remote sensing analytics, to provide a near-real time view of the portfolio,” he added. 

In another move to provide a healthy market linkage to the farmers, Arya, India’s post-harvest Agritech Company entered into a strategic partnership with Canara Bank for collateral management and warehousing services. With this step, the contracted partnership will support and extend finance to farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), processors, and various depositors stocking their agri-produce in warehouses managed by Arya Pan India. Through this corporation, both the authorities are not only trying to focus on getting profit for farmers based on the quantity but also on the quality of grains they produce. Its focus has always been to create an integrated platform that offers everything in an agriculture supply chain. However, rural lending has been one big obstacle for agriculture as an industry and through this agreement, the new collaboration will translate to zero paperwork, instant credits, robust solutions, and much more to country’s farmers, FPOs, processors, and depositors.

The partnership will have a huge impact on the current financing situation of agriculture businesses. While all banks are required to follow the Priority Sector Lending guidelines of the Reserve of Bank of India, they look for efficient mechanisms to reach farmers, especially smallholders. Many banks fall short in meeting these targets in the absence of these mechanisms. Through this strategic association with Arya, Canara Bank will be able to leverage the extensive reach of Arya to over 350,000 farmers through the 450 FPOs it works with. As a collateral manager, Arya shall facilitate post-harvest credit for the bank through its digital platform across its network of 4000 warehouses covering more than 3.0 million tonnes of agriculture commodities, especially in primary and secondary near-farm markets.

Similarly, to provide a financial bridging to the seafood sector and to maintain healthy capital circulation into the trade system, Aquaconnect partners with Alliance Insurance Brokers for an insurance programme for shrimp farmers. After loan benefits, this is the next step towards the company’s vision to strengthen the financial inclusion of shrimp farmers. This partnership will benefit 1.5 lakh shrimp farmers across India. As a part of this partnership, Aquaconnect is all set to provide risk management services to the insurance partners which include farm data collection, ground validation by Aquaculture officers and AquaCRED dashboard support. The partnership aims at making comprehensive insurance available for shrimp farmers to mitigate weather and disease-related challenges. In addition to this, farmers will also get an Aquaconnect farm advisory app and options to buy high-quality inputs (feed, healthcare products & farm equipment) from the Aquaconnect platform.

 

Despite being a very productive sector, capital

Agrotech, Finance, Warehousing

India’s agriculture sector, inarguably, can be termed as the main driving force of the Indian economy. Apart from churning the financial wheels of the country, this sector plays a vital role in steering the trade cycles of allied sectors of the rural economy and the manufacturing and services segments of the national economy. Like Agriculture, the Agri Warehousing and Agri Financing sectors are also the key growth enablers of India’s agri-economy and the development and growth of these two sectors will ultimately benefit farmers. Despite being one of the mainspring of Indian frugality, currently the Indian agriculture sector is characterised by instability owing to the effect of the number of risks involved. There are multiple factors that are influencing Indian agriculture, including over-dependence on agriculture, ever-growing population, changing climatic conditions, predominance of small and marginal land holdings, among others. But the one issue that commands immediate attention is the lack of investment and finance where it is needed the most in agriculture. Lack of storage facilities for the produce has been a major issue faced by the agriculture sector for years. We shall analyse the challenges, currently, holding down agriculture progress in India

Every year 10 per cent of crops, valued at a staggering Rs one lakh crore, are being wasted in India due to non-availability of storage, as per government figures. This clearly suggests that there is a major requirement of beefing up storage and warehousing facilities in the country and this where investment and financing play a vital role. Lack of adequate investment in building new storage facilities and developing the existing ones has resulted in loss of huge quantities of agriculture produce in India. However, the challenges in accessing finance are hampering the growth of this sector.  

Inadequate financial infrastructure 

The current financial infrastructure of the country’s agro sector has not been able to match up with the key financial needs that arise along agricultural value chains. Many agri intermediaries, as well as farmers, are either left unserved or underserved due to the lack of timely access to institutional finance via agri loans.

Elaborating further on the subject, Sandeep Sabharwal, CEO, SLCM Group stated, “The farm sector is fraught with inherent challenges which make it unattractive for formal financial institutions. Farming is a cyclical business which follows cropping seasons and the farmers are always exposed to the vagaries of nature such as droughts, floods or crop diseases which are beyond their control. Though land is the most preferred form of collateral asset, often problems like the title and property rights and smaller loan amount makes the liquidation process of land, an extremely expensive and arduous task.  Liquidation of other movable assets like livestock and equipment is also fraught with risk, as it is usually without a proof of ownership and insurance cover.”

“The smaller ticket size of farm loans makes its servicing an expensive affair for the financial institutions. This is further complicated by the fact that farmers and especially women and young ones do not have formal ownership of their lands and have little to offer in terms of collateral. This makes them vulnerable to money lenders which can be extremely risky for a resource-poor farmer since the loans are charged at very high rates of interest contributing to increasing challenges of indebtedness,” he added. 

Technology to fill the gap

 After the pandemic brought the entire world to a standstill, it was technology that keeps the world moving. Similarly, in the agri finance sector as well the evolving technological landscape is opening up new possibilities to target and price credit, share risk, and harness information technology to expand agricultural productivity.

According to CropIn Technology Solutions, an intuitive, intelligent, self-evolving system that delivers future-ready farming solutions to the entire agricultural sector, the emergence of smart technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in agriculture has led to the rise of a number of Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) that use technology for risk assessment and mitigation to offer credit to farmers. It enables financial institutions to understand more about growth and yield potential in different regions. Especially in agriculturally-driven economies like India, gaining reliable data-driven insights on such a large sector helps banks and financial institutions make informed expansion decisions. Real-time tracking through satellite imagery along with historical and weather performance data can help determine major agriculture zones so banks can effectively gauge their potential and tailor their products accordingly.

Using AI in agriculture, particularly in finance, banks evaluate the credit and farming history of the farmers before offering loans. Smart farming technology benefits farmers and financial institutions as it improves transparency in the pre-disbursal process. With intelligence regarding the historical performance of the farms, along with real-time information about the yield potential for the current period, banks can determine the expected harvest from any plot and offer loans with reduced risk.

Apart from aforementioned elements, there is another issue that can be resolved through technological assistance. Most of the people associated with the farming business don’t have a credit score plus they don’t even have the documented credit history. Hence, they don’t directly fall in the ambit of a lot of money lending institutions of the country. 

To address the issue, Arjun Ahluwalia along with Adriel Maniego floated a startup called Jai Kisan in 2017 at Mumbai. The company claimed to be committed to breaking the current informal credit culture that stunts the economic and social growth of farmers. To begin with, it treats farmers as businesses rather than as consumers while facilitating formal credit efficiently. Jai Kisan’s FinTech platform analyses farmers better, monitors the end use of capital, mitigates production risk, and facilitates repayment.

Amplifying further on the model, Adriel Maniego, Co-Founder and COO, Jai Kisan stated, “Financial services play a very crucial role in each and every sector. In farming as well, these services are of utmost importance as the entire production line depends on it. Particularly in India, where the entire country follows a trade module of ‘Buy Now and Pay Later’, the credit line has to be firm as a rock. We need to understand the concept that if the formal financing is made available to the customer, it is not just the customer who gets benefited with that but the entire ecosystem that revolves around that customer benefits.”

Jai Kisan claims to have financed over 15 per cent of the transactions, which portrays the monetisability and quality of commerce being captured. The ability to have visibility and virality of high-quality transactions has enabled Jai Kisan to scale business by over 50 per cent in a few months. The unprecedented growth trajectory stands testament to Jai Kisan’s capabilities to deploy capital efficiently by focusing on core customer credit needs. 

Walking on the similar path, Amilkumar SG founded a startup called ‘Samunnati’ in 2014. Based in Chennai, the company aims to provide smallholder farmers and agri enterprises access to markets through financial intermediation, market linkages and advisory services so that the enterprises and value chains that they are engaged in, operate at a higher equilibrium thereby creating value for all stakeholders in the agri value chain.

“There is a big problem with the agri lenders in India; they don’t have a prescribed definition of farmers. Most of the farmers that are working on small portions of land are actually tenants and not owners of the land. But, they are made accountable for the entire loan amount whether crop cultivation happens or not. As a result, farmers in India are not only perennially in debt, but also left with limited access to formal credit. Studies suggest that only 11 per cent of the farming population has access to organised lenders and farm loans,” said Amilkumar SG, Founder & CEO, Samunnati.

Sammunati customers can avail working capital for one to 100 days, with the average loan size at about Rs 70 lakh, and individual transactions pegged at Rs 5-10 lakh. “Our goal is to make the throughput more, and remove working capital constraints for everyone in the value chain”, stated Amilkumar.

 

India’s agriculture sector, inarguably, can be termed

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agrotech, Environment

The startup has researched herbal-based plant protectors and bio-stimulants in nano form

Aditya Bioinnovation was awarded the ‘Best Innovative Agri Start-Up’ at Agri-Food Empowering India Awards 2021 for its research in herbal-based plant protector and bio-stimulants in nano form which reduces the dependency on chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
 
The award recognises excellence and innovative concepts in the production of eco-friendly,  human-friendly herbal-based plant protectors and biostimulants in nano form. The award scheme has been conceptualised in association with various Government of India agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
 
The award was presented by Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti of India in New Delhi.

Dr Surjyoti Bagchi, Co-founder & Technical Advisor and Vikas Gupta Director of Aditya Bioinnovation said, “The award is an acknowledgement of our efforts towards innovative eco-friendly Agri inputs in India and has given us immense joy and motivation to do further work in organic farming in India. We are further looking forward to doing plant protection solutions in tea and coffee which is suffering a lot due to pest attacks. We aim to contribute to the agriculture growth in India and the empowerment of smallholder Indian farmers through our innovative solutions.”

The startup has researched herbal-based plant protectors

Agro Universities, Webinar

Experts deliberate on the internationalisation of agricultural education, aligning to the national educational policy

The international webinar on Fostering Global Collaboration among Agricultural Higher Educational Institutions organised by the ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad.

The webinar was organised in collaboration with the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project.

 

In his address, Dr RC Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR & National Director, NAHEP emphasised on the internationalisation of agricultural education, aligning to the national educational policy, human resource development and multi-global practices, etc.

 

Bekzod Shamsiev, Task Team Leader, World Bank suggested for utilising the World Bank’s Network across the different countries to foster the global collaborations.

 

Dr Srinivasa Rao, Director, ICAR-NAARM, Hyderabad and Dr Rajender Parsad, Director, ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi were also present during the occasion.

 

The webinar registered the participation by more than 200 participants from the state agricultural universities, National Coordinators, NAHEP Component – 2 Team Members and other ICAR institutes.

Experts deliberate on the internationalisation of agricultural

Agro Universities, R&D, Supply Chain

Discussions were held on to enhance the processing and value-addition activities for the resins / gums under the project

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Natural Resins & Gums, Ranchi, Jharkhand recently organised the 13th Annual Workshop of Network Project on Harvesting, Processing and Value Addition of Natural Resins and Gums (NP-HPVA of NRGS).

 

In his inaugural address, Dr Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management & Agricultural Engineering), ICAR highlighted the importance of the natural resins and gums. The DDG emphasised on connecting the stakeholders, consumers and entrepreneurs of the Natural resins and gums sector to the Project through the sensitisation programmes and workshops, etc. He also stressed on developing an Action Plan for the Project with realistic targets and a timeline including a commercialisation plan for the developed technologies / products.

 

Dr KK Singh, ADG (Farm Engineering), ICAR emphasised on prioritising the project’s research activities to get results in the form of products, technologies and quality publications.

 

Dr KK Sharma, Director, ICAR-IINRG, Ranchi encouraged the cooperating centres to have a complete value-chain for the assigned resins or gums commodities to their centre. He also emphasised on enhancing the processing and value-addition activities for the resins / gums under the project.

 

In his welcome address, Dr N Prasad, Project Coordinator briefed about the main objective of the workshop. The workshop was aimed at reviewing the annual progress of the Network Project Centres and discussing the technical programmes for the Year – 2022-23.

Discussions were held on to enhance the

Agrotech, R&D, Sustainable Energy

Farmers from Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan spoke about increased crop productivity and seek approval of more biotech crops

The recently held virtual 15th Pan-Asia Farmers Exchange Programme was co-organised by CropLife Asia, CropLife Philippines and the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines. The event discussed issues related to the importance of agricultural biotechnology to build resilience to climate change and enhance crop production to achieve food and nutritional security. Scientists, researchers, farmers and other experts from the seed industry expressed their views about the benefits of genome editing technology, Genetically Modified (GM) crops, new plant breeding innovations, and speedy regulatory approvals for new technologies in different countries.

Farmers from Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan explained how the use of biotechnological solutions led to an increase in their profits through higher and better-quality yield and reduction in crop inputs.

Dr Rhodora Romero- Aldemita, Director, Southeast Asia Center; Director, Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (ISAAA) said that the use of biotech crops has been increasing quite fast, with coverage of 190.4 million hectares by 2019.

Dr Aldemita said “Biotech crops contributed to food security, sustainability and climate change. It has helped us to increase production, conserve biodiversity, provide a better environment, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and alleviate poverty and hunger in more than 17 million farmers and 65 million people. The Philippines is the leading GM crop adopter in the Southeast Asia region and non-adopting countries need to adopt it to meet the global food demand. There is evidence that this technology works and hence it is unreasonable to delay and not letting beneficiaries enjoy it.”

Dr Rusell Reinke, team leader, Improving Health Through Safe and Nutritionally Enhanced Rice, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said, “It is important that sustainable production of sufficient nutrient-rich and staple foods should be accessible, affordable and desirable to all. Golden rice can meet our goals of 30-50 per cent of EAR for women and children and the farmer management is the same as for existing varieties. Farmer and consumer studies is also underway to guide development.”

Dr Szalbolcs Ruthner, regulatory Affairs Manager, International Seed Federation (ISF) said that gene editing is a continuum of all knowledge, plant scientists and breeders have accumulated in the past. He added, “This is a part of plant breeding activity, and a part of toolbox plant breeders are using. The main aim is to increase and create genetic variability when they can use it to develop a new variety.”

Experts were of the view that communicating science is as important as implementing science in laboratories. If research is not rightly communicated, then the work is half done. Studies have shown that when research is understood and consumers are reassured, they are more willing to accept new technologies.

Farmers from Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Dairy, Start ups

The award was presented by Prahlad Singh Patel at Agri-Food Empowering India awards 2021

 

Stellapps Technologies was awarded the ‘Best agri start-up in digital innovations’ at Agri-Food Empowering India Awards for its effort in digitising the dairy sector in India. The award was presented by Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti of India at New Delhi.

The award recognises engineering excellence and innovative concepts in food processing technology, manufacturing, hygiene, food safety and technology research. The award scheme has been conceptualised in association with various Government of India agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare & The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India. 

Stellapps has been recognised for its innovative tech solutions in digitising and strengthening the dairy farming processes.

Ranjith Mukandan, CEO and Co-founder, Stellapps said, “We are honoured to receive the ‘Best Agri Start-Up in Digital Innovation’ at Agri-Food Empowering India awards 2021. The award is an acknowledgement of our efforts towards digitising the dairy ecosystem in India and has given us immense joy and motivation. We aim to contribute to the agriculture growth in India and empowerment of smallholder Indian farmers through our innovative solutions.” 

 

The award was presented by Prahlad Singh

Agro chems – Chemicals, Finance

Registers total income of Rs 2648.10 crore in Sept quarter

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) has reported a net profit of Rs 117.92 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, against Rs 103.88 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and Rs 207.48 crore in the previous quarter (QoQ).

The company posted a total income of Rs 2648.10 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, against Rs 2349.03 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year (YoY) and Rs 2417.26 crore in the previous quarter (QoQ).

For the half-year ended September 30, 2021, RCF has reported a total income of Rs 5065.36 crore, against Rs 3998.67 crore during the half-year ended September 30, 2020.

The net profit was at Rs 325.40 crore for the six months ended September 30, 2021, compared to Rs 123.08 crore for the half-year ended FY 2021.

 

Registers total income of Rs 2648.10 crore

Agro Universities, R&D

Both the institutes will be able to explore new opportunities and conduct advanced research in the interest of smallholder farmers

The ICAR-National Institute for Plant Biotechnology (NIPB) and ICRISAT recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance their research efforts in the area of agriculture development with a focus on molecular biology, genetic engineering and capacity building. 

Dr Rajeev K Varshney, Research Program Director, Accelerated Crop Improvement, ICRISAT, and Dr Ajit Kumar Shasany, Director, ICAR-NIPB, shared the signed MoU during the Research Advisory Committee Meeting of ICAR-NIPB held recently in New Delhi. 

Dr Shasany, while appreciating ICRISAT’s advanced research activities, particularly on genomics-assisted breeding and other areas, said, “This partnership will empower and enable both the institutes to explore new opportunities and conduct advanced research in the interest of smallholder farmers across the country and also help in building the capacities of our next-generation scientists from the national system.”

Dr Varshney said, “We work very closely with several national partners in India and this new collaboration will further our ongoing efforts and also provide new avenues for faster deployment and delivery of advanced biotech tools and approaches to accelerate crop improvement programmes.”

“ICRISAT and NIPB have been conducting impressive agricultural research for many decades. I am hopeful of this very positive collaboration and partnerships between these premier institutes to develop research products that will significantly help farmers, especially smallholders, to increase their crop yields and incomes,” said Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Director Country Relations, ICRISAT.

Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General-Research, ICRISAT, congratulated both the institutes and said that this MoU would benefit and complement both the institutes to leverage their capabilities towards enhancing the genetic gains in smallholder farmers’ fields and towards improving the agricultural landscape by jointly working on the common interest of profitable agriculture.

Both the institutes will be able to

Agrotech, Singapore, Sustainable Energy

Neville will be responsible for the company’s overall sustainability and communications strategy for the whole of the business

Singapore-based Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), leading integrated palm-based agribusiness, has appointed Anita Neville to join its executive leadership team in the new role of Chief Sustainability and Communications Officer (CSCO).  

 

As GAR’s Senior Vice President for Group Corporate Communications, she has overseen the company’s corporate communications across all communications channels and to all audiences. As CSCO, Neville will be responsible for the company’s overall sustainability and communications strategy for the whole of the business.

 

Neville joined GAR six years ago, after two decades working in the environmental not-for-profit sector with various international NGOs and sustainability standards systems. She has worked in sustainability and communications with roles in non-governmental roles, including WWF-UK and Rainforest Alliance. She is based in Singapore, where she lives with her husband and two sons. 

 

Neville said, “I am honoured to be entrusted with this new role and to continue the work established by Pak Pungki. I think it speaks to GAR’s strength in sustainability that we are able to make this transition from within the existing GAR team. I am excited to work even more closely with our sustainability staff, and to look at how GAR’s sustainability journey can expand to incorporate our whole business.” 

 

Neville will be responsible for the company’s

AgroPolicy, Supply Chain, Trade

Manufacturers of Darjeeling tea have been directed not to purchase green leaf from the outside GI area

The Centre has taken a strict step to ensure that sub-standard teas are not imported and distributed in India. A notification in this regard has been issued today. As per the directions of the Minister of Commerce and Industries, four circulars have been issued by the Tea Board on 11.11.2021 under the Tea Marketing Control Order, 2003, Tea (Distribution and Export) Control Order, 2005 for protection of Darjeeling GI as detailed below:

 

All importers have been directed to ensure that origin of imported tea is mentioned in all their sale invoices and not to pass off imported tea as teas of Indian origin. All distributors of tea have been directed not to blend cheap and inferior quality imported teas with Indian Origin teas for domestic consumption. Manufacturers of Darjeeling tea have been directed not to purchase green leaf from the outside GI area.

 

The tea buyers have been directed not to blend imported tea with teas of Darjeeling/Kangra/Assam (Orthodox)/Nilgiri (Orthodox). In order to ensure compliance with the above directions, Tea Board has started surprise checks on distributors/importers, especially of Nepal Tea. A surprise check of three units in Siliguri was conducted on 11.11.2021 and samples were drawn for testing. 

 

Manufacturers of Darjeeling tea have been directed

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Environment, Supply Chain

An exhibition of farmers’ products was organised in the programme

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar virtually inaugurated the Kisan Bhawan and Beekeeper Conference at the Central Institute of Horticulture, Nagaland. Tomar said, “Honey-producing farmers should move forward in collaboration with the state government, the Central Government has stood with them shoulder to shoulder and step by step.”

 

In the programme organised under the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi, Tomar said that the climate of the North-East region is favourable for agriculture. The area is ideal for the cultivation of horticultural crops especially fruits and vegetables, flowers and spices. Keeping in view the interests of the small and marginal farmers of the North Eastern Region in horticulture, the Central Institute of Horticulture, Nagaland was established under the Central Sector Scheme of the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and this institute was established for the development of horticulture and upliftment of the farmers. The state is working well with the government, FPOs and other stakeholders. 

 

An exhibition of farmers’ products was organised in the programme. Mini kits were provided to the farmers for new experiments in farming. Products made by the trainee farmers were launched. Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shobha Karandlaje was the special guest at the function. Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal, Additional Secretary Abhilaksh Likhi and Vivek Agarwal, Agriculture and Horticulture Commissioner Dr SK Malhotra, Chairman of Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Protection Authority, Dr KV Prabhu, Secretary to Governor T Mhabemo Yanthan, Commissioner and Horticulture Secretary of Nagaland Annanla T Sato, Government, Horticulture Director Dr E Lotha, Board of Management (BOM) members Shiv Anjan Dalmiya and Diwakar Chachari and hundreds of bees parents and other farmers were present. Dr NK Patle, Director, Central Institute of Horticulture delivered the welcome address. 

An exhibition of farmers’ products was organised

Agrotech, Nature, Seeds

Women farmers from Betul district of Madhya Pradesh were recognised for their contribution towards shaping the farming methods

Corteva Agriscience, the global agriculture company, organised a virtual ceremony to celebrate the contribution of women farmers of the Farmers-Producer Organisation (FPOs) and the company’s Pravakta programme. Three women farmers were felicitated for their contribution towards sustainable agricultural practices and for creating a positive impact in the lives of fellow farmers through active knowledge sharing. 

 

Saraswati Bai, Lakshmi Bai and Sukhiya Bai from Betul district of Madhya Pradesh were felicitated for leading the momentum of change and supporting hundreds of other women farmers in their respective regions. 

 

The awarded women farmers shared their inspiring stories during the ceremony. They also spoke about the support given by Corteva under varied interventions. Corteva is leading several programmes to empower women smallholder farmers to realise higher yields and increased profits. 

 

Under the flagship programme ‘Pravakta program’, various women farmers have been trained to become the local ambassadors, ‘Pravakta’, who guide fellow farmers on preferred agricultural practices, enabling them to implement good agronomic practices and establishing market linkages of the crop. Through the FPO programme, Corteva has established an ecosystem to promote agri-entrepreneurship amongst rural women across India, primarily in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. They have been helping FPOs by providing financial literacy, leadership training and technical grooming for agriculture entrepreneurship for women farmers/agri entrepreneurs. With the introduction of AcreNext next generation of rice farming programme for women farmers in India, Corteva is spearheading the movement of using direct-seeded rice farming methods in the water-scarce region of Nawada, Bihar. 

 

Women farmers from Betul district of Madhya