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Packaging & Labelling, Supply Chain

Nanoparticle-based materials offer a greater advantage over conventional and non-biodegradable packing materials

Researchers at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Andhra Pradesh, collaborating with other institutes, have demonstrated how the concept of nanotechnology can be used to develop food packaging materials that enhance the shelf-life, maintain quality, retain the flavour and colour of packed food materials. 

Nanoparticle-based materials offer a greater advantage over conventional and non-biodegradable packing materials by enhancing the functional properties of foods such as bio-availability, taste, texture, flavour, and shelf-life. Additionally, nanomaterials in the form of sensors can be employed to maintain the temperature, detect pathogens, pesticides, toxins, and other chemicals in packed foods.

The research also discusses the role of various government agencies in addressing the safety issues, bringing the legislation and regulations on the use and application of nanomaterials. It highlights how bio-based polymers can be blended with nanoparticles to make more efficient and effective packing materials.

Researchers have also emphasised how confidence can be built among the consumers by maintaining transparency in evaluating the effects of nanoparticles on humans and the surrounding environment and accentuated how researchers and industries should develop products that can easily get public acceptance. If the safety and security issues get addressed, nanotechnology will revolutionise the food processing and packaging industry to a great extent and minimise food wastage.

Nanoparticle-based materials offer a greater advantage over

AgroPolicy

The plant will produce 12.7 lakh metric tonnes of indigenous neem coated urea every year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated a fertiliser plant in Gorakhpur. The plant will produce 12.7 lakh metric tonnes of indigenous neem coated urea every year and daily about 3850 metric tonnes and has been set up at a cost of around Rs 8,600 crore. The Prime Minister said, in a three-pronged approach, the government stopped the misuse of urea by introducing a 100 per cent neem coating of urea. He said soil health cards are given to crores of farmers so that they can decide what kind of fertiliser is needed for their farm. He said the government emphasised increasing the production of urea. Closed fertiliser plants were also forced to reopen to increase production. The PM informed that with the completion of five fertiliser plants in a different part of the country, 60 lakh tonnes of urea will be available in the country.

According to the PMO release, the project has been set up under Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL), a joint venture of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Coal India, Indian Oil Corporation, Fertilizer Corporation of India and Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation.

The Prime Minister appreciated the Government of Uttar Pradesh for the unprecedented work done for the sugarcane farmers in recent years. He lauded the government for increasing the remunerative price for sugarcane farmers, recently up to Rs 300 and for paying almost as much as the previous governments paid to sugarcane farmers in the past 10 years.

The Prime Minister said everyone knew the importance of the fertiliser plant in Gorakhpur for the farmers of this region and also for providing employment.

The plant will produce 12.7 lakh metric

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Inputs

Results published in the CRM program impact report indicate 92 per cent overall stubble burn avoidance across the enrolled farms, with close to 420,000 acres of the land saved from being burnt

nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, has published the results of the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Program: the largest ever project to eliminate stubble burning in India. The CRM program impact report has evidenced benefits across reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improvements in soil health and farmer livelihoods, as well as reduced usage of fertilisers.

Results published in the CRM program impact report indicate 92 per cent overall stubble burn avoidance across the enrolled farms, with close to 420,000 acres of the land saved from being burnt, resulting in the prevention of 1,038,965 tonne of carbon dioxide emissions from being released.

Through the CRM program, nurture.farm supported over 25,000 farmers across 23 districts in Punjab and Haryana with access to farm mechanisation, and a bio-enzyme to decompose their crop stubble. Throughout the project, over 1000 field personnel from nurture.farm led a fleet of more than 700 boom sprayers serviced over 420,000 acres of paddy fields with the bio-enzyme, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), free of cost to the farmers. When sprayed onto the stubble, the PUSA bio-decomposer enzyme decomposes the stubble in 20-25 days, increasing organic carbon in the soil and maintaining overall soil health.

Satellite monitoring of the paddy fields – in partnership with the European Space Agency – was used to identify farms that had been burnt at least once between 2018-2020 and were also used to help analyse farmers adherence to the program. For ensuring the program’s efficiency and scale, nurture.farm developed three mobile applications to improve farmer connectivity and educate farmers on regenerative practices, conduct area mapping, arrange spraying schedules, and monitor machine and equipment use.

Results published in the CRM program impact

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Supply Chain, Sustainable Energy

The move will contribute to the overall economic development

The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region in a recent initiative has announced a project to increase agricultural production for the contribution of overall economic development. The project farm mechanisation has been implemented by the Food Security & Agriculture Development Department, Government of Sikkim in Gangtok.

 

The North Eastern Council’s share is Rs 453.65 lakhs and the state’s share is Rs 50.40 lakhs, where the project’s approved cost is Rs 504.05 lakhs.

 

The objective of the project is to increase the output per man and animal, thereby ensuring timeless operation, minimising the cost of different unit of operations involved in agricultural production, raising farm incomes and contributing to overall economic development.

 

The comparative higher output of operation by the power tillers as compared to bullock reduces the operational time and achieves timeliness in operation. This significantly reduces the seasonal fallows and thereby substantially increases their cropping intensity, employment and income.

The move will contribute to the overall

Agrotech, Finance

The fund will be used to strengthen tech platform, hire senior talent, expand into new categories, geographies and scale to over 5,000 AgroStar branded retail stores

AgroStar has raised $70 million in its Series D funding round from Evolvence, global asset manager Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprise, and UK’s development finance institution CDC. The round also saw participation from existing investors Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures. The Raine Group was the exclusive advisor for this transaction.

 

Shardul Sheth, Co-Founder, and CEO, AgroStar said, “We are now doubling down on our omnichannel strategy to provide a seamless experience to our farmers across various touchpoints both digital and physical. We plan to utilise the funding to strengthen our tech platform, hire senior talent, expand into new categories, geographies and scale to over 5,000 AgroStar branded retail stores to fuel our omnichannel strategy. We will also expand our services to provide meaningful market linkage value additions for our large and growing farmer base and we will look at acquisition opportunities in this area.”

 

The fund will be used to strengthen

R&D, Supply Chain, World

Sets a target by end of 2023

Cargill is committed to removing industrially-produced trans-fatty acids (iTFAs) from its entire global edible oils portfolio. This will help both Cargill and its customers comply with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended standard of a maximum two grams of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids (iTFA) per 100 grams fats/oils by the end of 2023.

The WHO’s REPLACE initiative provides a guide for governments and industry to implement a best practice on iTFA in the global food supply chain to address related health concerns. Cargill is the first edible oils supplier to make this commitment, joining many of the world’s largest food companies and members of the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) who have committed to the WHO goal.

With this commitment, the company will now achieve 100 per cent compliance, including in countries where there currently is no legislative mandate. To achieve this final 11 per cent, the company is significantly investing in upgrades at several facilities to reduce the amount of iTFAs produced during the oil manufacturing process and leveraging decades of innovation expertise to provide food customers alternative formulations that will help them meet the WHO best practice.

Sets a target by end of 2023Cargill

Agro Universities, R&D

Ranks second position among the country’s top agricultural universities

According to the latest rankings released by the ICAR, the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana has been ranked at the second position among the country’s top agricultural universities, taking into account research, extension and teaching excellence. Giving further details, Additional Director Communication, Dr Tejinder Singh Riar informed that the ranking has been prepared on the basis of the functioning of 67 agricultural institutions across the country that not only covers agricultural universities in the states but ICAR institutions are also a part of the testing process; accordingly PAU ranks at the fifth position. 

 

The top three slots have been bagged by ICAR National Dairy Research Institute Karnal, ICAR Institute New Delhi and ICAR Veterinary Research Institute of ICAR Nagar respectively. Among agricultural universities, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Pant Nagar has been ranked overall fourth followed by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. 

 

The Vice-Chancellor of PAU, DK Tiwari, Chief Secretary (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), IAS, congratulated the faculty, staff and students for the achievement and exhorted them to continue the hard work for the welfare of the farming community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ranks second position among the country’s top

Agrotech, Sustainable Energy

Since 2011, Omnivore has been funding entrepreneurs building the future of agriculture and food systems

Omnivore announced the publication of its FY2020-21 Impact Reports, highlighting the progress made by Omnivore’s portfolio companies in driving agricultural prosperity, transforming food systems, and promoting climate sustainability across India. Since 2011, Omnivore has been funding entrepreneurs building the future of agriculture and food systems. Omnivore’s investment portfolio features over 30 agritech startups, including DeHaat, Arya, Stellapps, Reshamandi, Bijak, AgNext, Intello Labs, GramCover, Aquaconnect, Animall, BharatAgri, DGV, Pixxel, and Fasal.   

 

Omnivore tracks the impact of its portfolio companies across four key themes: increasing farmer profitability, enhancing farmer resilience, improving agricultural sustainability, and catalysing climate action.

 

 From the FY2020-21 Impact Reports, some of the highlights include:

  • Omnivore portfolio companies have reached a total of 6.4 million Indian farmers
  • Omnivore portfolio companies have provided Indian farmers with access to financial services (credit disbursed and insurance coverage) of over INR 8,000 crore
  • Omnivore portfolio companies have created economic value of over Rs 6,000 crore for Indian farmers by increasing their farm incomes and reducing their cost of cultivation
  • Omnivore portfolio companies have helped save 7.4 billion litres of water, reduce 1.2 million tonne of GHG emissions, and shift 1.3 million hectares of farmland to sustainable cultivation 

 

Sandeep Mukherjee was recently hired as VP – Impact & ESG. In this role, Mukherjee will lead impact measurement and reporting processes, in addition to overseeing Omnivore’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and procedures. Sandeep was most recently a Vice President at RBL Bank, where over the past six years he was instrumental in setting up environmental and social risk management systems as well as sustainability reporting. Prior to that, Mukherjee served as an Assistant Vice President at the Environmental Management Center (EMC). He is a postgraduate in Environmental Management from IISW&BM and holds a BA from Asutosh College, Kolkata.

Since 2011, Omnivore has been funding entrepreneurs

Dairy, Live Stock

A livestock expo will be organised during the event

The 12th AGROVISION, India’s Premier Agri Summit, to be held in Reshimbagh Ground, Nagpur from December 24 to 27, 2021, will have a pavilion on animal husbandry. A livestock expo will be organised during the event. The section will showcase various breeds of cattle, poultry, goats and sheep. Experts will discuss the breeds and the latest developments in the dairy sector.

Farmers from in and around Vidarbha and adjoining states will be participating in the event. Apart from this, there will be free interactive workshops for farmers. Conferences on current issues in agriculture and allied agri sectors will be held. Around 400 exhibitors are likely to participate in the event.

The exclusive media partner is Agro Spectrum India along with BioSpectrum India and Nufoods Spectrum India. MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications is the organiser of the event.

AGROVISION will be organised under the able guidance of its Chief Patron, Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, GoI and Dr CD Mayee, Chairman – Advisory Council, Agrovision. Agrovision is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, GoI, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, GoI, Govt. of Maharashtra, Skill India, GoI, Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), Croplife India, National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and National Seeds Associations of India (NSAI).

A livestock expo will be organised during

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Interaction, Supply Chain

The premier agri summit will be held in Nagpur from Dec 24-27, 2021

The 12th AGROVISION, India’s Premier Agri Summit will be held in Reshimbagh Ground, Nagpur from December 24-27, 2021. The focus of the event will bring the latest technologies and products to the farmers.

Farmers from in and around Vidarbha and adjoining states will be participating in the event. Companies will showcase the best of innovations, technologies, new products and services. Apart from this, there will be free interactive workshops for farmers. Conferences on current issues in agriculture and allied agri sectors will be held. Around 400 exhibitors are likely to participate in the event.

Exhibitors will showcase products on agri biotechnology, agricultural machinery and equipment | fertilisers and pesticides, irrigation and water technologies, post-harvest technology, solar products (pumps/lighting/panels), dairy equipment manufacturers, grading and sorting machinery, packaging technology and services, bar/ink coding technology, digital temperature controller and data logger, agricultural products traders/wholesalers, electricals, agriculture drones, elevator/conveyors/rotary separators, animal operated implements etc.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI said “AGROVISION has been meticulously working to bring the latest practices, technologies, products and services to a common place. I congratulate Agrovision for organising the event to discuss vital issues related to agriculture and acting as a guiding force for the farmers on new avenues.”

The exclusive media partner is Agro Spectrum India along with BioSpectrum India and Nufoods Spectrum India. MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications is the organiser of the event.

The premier agri summit will be held

Agrotech, World

The market is likely to register a CAGR of 8.53 per cent during the forecast period (2022 to 2030)

According to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future (MRFR), the Agriculture equipment market research report has announced that the Agriculture Equipment Market is projected to be worth $189.42 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 8.53 per cent during the forecast period (2022 to 2030), the market was valued at $103.61 billion in 2021.

Eminent industry players profiled in the global agriculture equipment market report include AGCO Corp (US), JC Bamford Excavators (UK), Deere & Company (US), CNH Industrial NV (UK), Kubota Corporation (Japan), Iseki & Co (Japan), Daedong Industrial Co (US), Mahindra & Mahindra (India), Escorts (India).

As per the regulations laid down via the government, the manufactured industries had been closed down for preventing the virus to spread, thus the agriculture machinery market was slowed down. The pandemic not only impacted the agriculture machinery, yet also impacted different business sectors such as construction, semiconductor and electronics, healthcare, automobiles, and others.
 

The market is likely to register a

Agrotech, Finance, Machinery - Pre-harvesting, Machinery – Post-harvesting, Trade

The company has clocked YTD tractor exports 22,268 tractors and surpassed entire FY’21 sales in just eight months

Sonalika Tractors has continued to stay ahead of industry performance to register the highest ever November market share of 16 per cent and has been among the leading market share gainers with 1.4 per cent. Overall, the company has clocked 11,909 overall tractors sales in November 2021.
During the month, Sonalika further increased its lead in exports and strengthened its position as the No 1 exports brand.

The company has clocked YTD tractor exports 22,268 tractors and surpassed entire FY’21 sales in just eight months. This includes a whopping 72.2 per cent YTD growth over 12,937 tractors sold in the corresponding period last year. Overall, Sonalika has sold 3,225 tractors in the month of November against 1607 tractors exported in the same month last year and registered a growth of 100.7 per cent.

Raman Mittal, Executive Director, Sonalika Tractors, said, “Timely introduction of new models driven by global quality standards, ideal product mix, flexible plant capacities as per growth plans, and commitment-based execution/dispatch of orders continues to be key for success in Sonalika’s growth. Building customised tractors as per region-centric requirements of farmers are the core strength that allows us to partner with farmers for progressive agri-activities. I am delighted to announce that such key factors collectively steered us to bag our highest ever November market share of 16 per cent with significant 1.4 per cent market share growth during the month.”

The company has clocked YTD tractor exports

Agrotech, Animal Health

To provide healthcare devices for animals, extended to five centres in India by March 2022

Fujifilm India has joined hands with A’alda Vet India to boost healthcare facilities for animals. As part of the partnership, Fujifilm India will provide innovative medical and screening devices to DCC (Dogs, Cats & Companions) Animal Hospital, an initiative by A’alda Vet to increase the standards of veterinary care in India. 

 

Speaking on the partnership, Koji Wada, MD, Fujifilm India said, At the core of our business ideology are innovations that drive value for making a better society. Veterinary care had taken a step back during the pandemic but as we emerge out of it, it is our responsibility to improve the state of animal healthcare of infrastructure in India. We are delighted to be a part of this collaboration with A’alda Vet India through their DCC Animal Hospital which is on the path of providing a human-like medical care experience for pets with world-class technologies. With this partnership, Fujifilm reaffirms its commitment to give back to society.” 

 

Fujifilm India will be providing its innovative products like digital radiography, IVD solutions, endoscopy system, and MEDICAL IT to the DCC Animal Hospital. 

 

Fujifilm India is looking at further expanding its association with DCC Animal Hospital and opening five centres by March 2022 in India.

To provide healthcare devices for animals, extended

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Agrotech

NMPB will work through its implementing agencies i.e. state medicinal plant boards, state horticulture departments, regional-cum-facilitation centres across India

The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow signed an MoU for extending joint collaborative efforts to promote the production of quality planting material (QPM) of medicinal plants.

 

The MoU will facilitate the development of QPM of medicinal plants and herbs identified by NMPB and help in the establishment of the nurseries for QPM development, promotion, conservation and cultivation of the appropriate medicinal plants in different agro-climatic zones. CSIR-CIMAP Lucknow can also research mass multiplication, agro-technology development, quality planting material generation of selected medicinal plants and herbs.

 

During the tenure of MoU, NMPB will work through its implementing agencies i.e. state medicinal plant boards, state horticulture departments, regional-cum-facilitation centres across India in conjunction and collaboration with CSIR-CIMAP Lucknow and support projects related to QPM Development of Medicinal Plants Species.

 

Working under the Ministry of Ayush, NMPB is mandated to coordinate all matters relating to medicinal plants and support policies and programmes for the growth of trade, export, conservation and cultivation of medicinal plants.

NMPB will work through its implementing agencies