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AgroPolicy, Sustainable Energy

The move will encourage sugar mills to divert excess sugar cane/sugar to ethanol and to achieve targets of blending ethanol with petrol

Incentive on sugar sacrificed for producing ethanol from B-heavy molasses/sugarcane juice/sugar syrup/sugar has been doubled from October 2021, onwards in their monthly release quota. This initiative was taken in view to encourage sugar mills to divert excess sugar cane/sugar to ethanol and to achieve targets of blending ethanol with petrol in line with Ethanol Blended with Petrol programme. 

 

Due to excess availability of sugar in the country, the ex-mill prices of sugar remain subdued resulting in cash loss to sugar mills. This excess stock of 60 LMT also leads to blockage of funds and affects the liquidity of sugar mills resulting in accumulation of cane price arrears. To liquidate excess stocks, the Centre has also been extending assistance to sugar mills to facilitate export of sugar.

 

The Centre is taking several steps for diversion of sugar to ethanol. Government is encouraging sugar mills to divert excess sugarcane to ethanol to find a permanent solution to address the problem of excess sugar. 

 

The government is encouraging sugar mills and distilleries to enhance their distillation capacities for which the government is facilitating them to avail loans from banks for which interest subvention @ 6 per cent or 50 per cent of the interest charged by the banks whichever is lower is being borne by the government. 

 

As a result of these measures, ethanol distillation capacities in the country would likely be more than doubled by 2025, which would ensure achievement of 20 per cent blending target.

 

The move will encourage sugar mills to

Agrotech, Environment, Finance

Expands its products to various nations

FarmERP, the brainchild of Shivrai Technologies, has expanded its products to a wide range of nations, making a difference locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. The brand is engaging with several national and international leading agriculture enterprises, as well as policy-making organisations, to achieve their core goal of making the business more profitable and technology efficient.

In five years, FarmERP aims to have 10 million stakeholders on board. FarmERP works continuously towards expansion. Further to the first round of external funding, the company is committed to improving the product with a variety of comprehensive and innovative features, such as mapping all farm operations, QR code-based access control across business processes, implementation of an agriculture-focused accounting and costing module, hydroponics pack, IoT device integrations, climate-smart advisory using AI, etc.

FarmERP is well recognised for its ‘Uberisation of Agriculture for Smallholder Vegetable Growers’ initiative, which has helped the entire agri-value chain to become more consistent, enhancing their everyday routines. The expedition has received several honours such as Asia Agritech or Maxell Award for Excellence in Innovation 2017 along with enjoying worldwide attention.

FarmERP recently developed specialised and customised ‘packs’ for its consumers, based on their sub-verticals and company processes. These SaaS-based packs are tailored for various stakeholders in the agriculture business and may be customised to meet the needs of the clients.

Expands its products to various nations FarmERP, the

Agro chems – Chemicals, AgroPolicy

Spraying nano urea through drones is more effective on crops and will also have a positive effect on productivity

A practical field trial of drone spraying of nano liquid urea was conducted in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, in the presence of Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Health & Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya. The trial was attended by a large number of farmers. This demonstration of spraying liquid nano urea by drone was undertaken by IFFCO, a company involved in developing nano urea.

 

IFFCO in its study has found that spraying nano urea through drones is more effective on crops and will also have a positive effect on productivity. A large number of farmers participated in today’s trial and eagerly inquired about nano urea and the technique of drone spraying. IFFCO experts answered the queries of the farmers. 

 

On this occasion, along with Union Minister Shri Mandaviya, Chairman of National Cooperative Union of India and Vice President of IFFCO Dilip Bhai Sanghani was also present.

 

Spraying nano urea through drones is more

Agrotech, Machinery – Post-harvesting

Exports for the month stood at 1278 units

Mahindra & Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES), part of the Mahindra Group, announced its tractor sales numbers for September 2021. Domestic sales in September 2021 were at 39053 units, as against 42361 units during September 2020. Total tractor sales (Domestic + Exports) during September  2021 were at 40331  units, as against 43386  units for the same period last year. Exports for the month stood at 1278 units.

Commenting on the performance, Hemant Sikka, President – Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “We have sold 39053 tractors in the domestic market during September 2021. Strong revival in rainfall during September brought cheers to the farming community, with the entire rainfall deficit wiped off by end of September and monsoon achieving normal levels. This is a back-to-back normal or above-normal monsoon for the third year. Reservoir levels have improved and excess rainfall in September will lead to the high moisture content in the soil, leading to strong Rabi sowing. With initial crop production estimates indicating the highest ever Kharif Crop, coupled with the upcoming festive season, we are optimistic of strong demand in the coming months. In the exports market, we have sold 1278 tractors with a growth of 25 per cent over last year.”

Exports for the month stood at 1278

Finance, Live Stock

Under the scheme, a yak farmer can avail of a loan of up to Rs 5.65 lakh

Yak farmers in the mountainous Arunachal Pradesh can now afford a smile, thanks to a novel initiative of the ICAR-National Research Centre.
Convinced by the proposal, banks have come forward, showing interest in giving loans to yak farmers as well as others willing to earn a livelihood through the farming of the bovine species.

The ICAR centre, based in Arunachal’s Dirang, described the approval of its proposal by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), as ’historic’.

India has around 58,000 yaks, found on the heights of Arunachal, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. In Arunachal, their population is estimated to be around 24,000. They are found in Tawang, West Kameng and Shi Yomi districts. Under the scheme, a yak farmer can avail of a loan of up to Rs 5.65 lakh.

“The credit plan vetted by NABARD was found to be feasible for credit support by the lead banks and has been included in the Potential Linked Credit Plans of Tawang, West Kameng and Shi Yomi districts of Arunachal,” the ICAR Centre Director, Dr Mihir Sarkar said.

Dr Sarkar said anyone could avail the loan, to be given for anything related to yak farming, such as housing for the animal, its feed, treatment, procurement etc. He said an effort would be made to put in place this scheme in Ladakh where a regional centre on yak research had been approved.

“We are calling a meeting with banks in our region in November where we will discuss everything. There should be a low interest rate, a period of the moratorium as well as subsidy,” Dr Sarkar said.

Under the scheme, a yak farmer can

Interaction

Insecticides (India) has been vocal about the judicious use of agrochemicals and has the vision to bring the latest technology within the reach of even small and marginal farmers. Rajesh Aggarwal, MD, Insecticides (India) reveals more

What role is IIL playing when it comes to judiciously using pesticides?

  

Insecticides (India) has been a vocal advocate for judicious use of agrochemicals. Before the pandemic hit us, IIL was working aggressively to educate the farmers in all parts of the country. In these meetings, they are being made aware of the four important points of Right Time, Right Dosage, Right Method and Right Product. IIL Foundation, the CSR wing of Insecticides (India) also collaborated with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR-IARI) to conduct a project based on the on-ground experiment which showed the farmers how they can get more yield despite using agrochemicals prudently. IIL has also deployed a team of about 600 crop advisors in this kharif season who will work with farmers in the fields and help them to get the right solution for their crop protection requirements. 

 

How is IIL going to make an impact on India’s agri system and help farmers in the long run?

 

IIL strives hard to play an important role in improving the farmers’ access to safe agrochemicals that are made using the latest chemistry and are eco-friendly. IIL has the vision to bring the latest technology within the reach of even small and marginal farmers. Our network of about 60,000 retailers and our team helps in doing that. The latest products launched by IIL are required to be used in less dosage with increased efficiency, thereby helping in safety for farmers and the environment with very low or no residue. Many of the new products also provide rain fastness. 

 

 

Recently you have deployed 600+ crop advisors. How will farmers be benefitted from this initiative?

 

IIL every year deploys several crop advisors and this year as well have done the same. They generally go and meet the farmers and help them in their various crop protection requirements and make them aware of the latest technology and other important points that can help the farmers to reduce their cost of inputs. 

 

What will be your plans for IIL five years down the line?

 

Looking at the industry trends, we are expecting reasonable growth in the coming years with our pipeline of new products. We wish to continue to expand our R&D capabilities to bring more products based on safe chemistry and within the reach of all farmers. 

 

What are the new launches in the pipeline?

In FY 2021-22, we have a pipeline of five to six products. Out of these, two products — Hachiman and Oxim — are already available in the market. 

 

How does IIL contribute to sustainability in agrochemicals?

 

We need to seek approval from the Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for all our products before they are made available to farmers as per their regulations and guidelines. The CIB has stringent criteria in place that ensures that only products qualifying on all parameters are approved. 

 

 

How did IIL perform in the last quarter and what are your expectations from future quarters?

 

In Q1 FY22, IIL’s net profit was at Rs 35 crores with margins of 7.4 per cent that is improving and moving closer to the pre-COVID levels. We also received three (3) category registrations for technicals that will further strengthen and improve our product portfolio. We are optimistic about the long-term growth of the agri sector due to its strong fundamentals and being the backbone of the Indian economy. In the short term, we have to be cautious as the recovery of both the economy and agriculture will depend on the impact of sequential waves of health pandemic COVID-19 and our nation’s ability to contain it.

 

Sanjiv Das

sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com

Insecticides (India) has been vocal about the

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy

Lauds the institute’s initiatives

Vice-President (VP) of India M Venkaiah Naidu recently visited the ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The Vice-President was accompanied by Kalraj Mishra, Governor, Rajasthan; Dr BD Kalla, Minister for Energy, Government of Rajasthan etc.

 

Naidu said, “There is a need to test the technologies developed in laboratories on the farmer’s field and demonstrate their benefits to the community.”

 

Reviewing the institute’s various research activities, Naidu applauded the ICAR-CAZRI’s efforts for developing the working models of smart agriculture, cheaper poly houses, systems of integrated farming, agri-voltaic, silvi-pasture, round-the-year fodder production through water harvesting and use of solar energy for agricultural operations. The institute’s initiatives for developing and deploying the improved and high yielding, drought-tolerant and disease-resistant varieties of pearl millet, green gram, moth bean, cluster bean, grasses, pomegranate, etc using the conventional and molecular breeding tools were also lauded by the VP.

 

Naidu stated that the alternate feed resources developed by the institute are helping in economising the cost of livestock production. He also stressed the efforts that are needed for integrating the traditional wisdom available to farmers with the modern technologies developed by the scientists to ensure the sustainability of farming. 

 

The VP emphasised the need for practising integrated farming with the diversification of agriculture and allied activities like dairying, backyard poultry and horticulture to ensure economic cushioning in the event of failure of one or the other components of farming.

 

The urgent need for strengthening the farming community, rather than making them dependent was also emphasized in the Vice-President’s address. Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr OP Yadav, Director, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur briefed about the Institute’s history, mandate and significant achievements.

 

Lauds the institute’s initiatives Vice-President (VP) of

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy

Distributes coconut climbing machines and vegetable seeds of improved varieties, etc., to women farmers

Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare recently visited the ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa.

 

The minister visited the institute and came across Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s innovative technologies. During the exhibition, the minister distributed the agricultural inputs – coconut climbing machines and vegetable seeds of improved varieties, etc., to the women farmers. Karandlaje applauded the institute’s achievements and innovations and complimented the team of ICAR-CCARI and KVK for addressing the challenges of the operating environment spread over nine coastal states and two union territories covering 75 districts.

 

Dr Parveen Kumar, Director, ICAR-CCARI, Goa briefed about the institute’s achievements. He also stressed the need to establish an office of the National Seed Corporation in the State of Goa for developing a seed chain to provide timely quality seeds to the farmers in required quantity. Dr Kumar stated that this would help in achieving the goal of doubling the farmers’ income.

 

Kuldeep Singh Gangar, Secretary (Agriculture), Government of Goa; Dr Pratibha, OSD to Chief Minister, Government of Goa; KN Verma, Director, MIDH; Nevil Alphonso, Director, Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Goa along with the representatives of the state line departments were also present during the occasion.

Distributes coconut climbing machines and vegetable seeds

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agrotech, Organic, Sustainable Energy

A two-stage process eliminates the pretreatment of biomass, thus making the process economical and environment friendly

Indian researchers have developed a unique technology for the direct generation of hydrogen from agricultural residue. The innovation by Indian researchers can promote eco-friendly hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles by overcoming the challenge of hydrogen availability. India has set a target of 60 per cent renewable energy of about 450 GW by 2030. 

 

A team of researchers from Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), GOI, in collaboration with Sentient labs of KPIT Technologies, have developed this technology at lab-scale to extract hydrogen from agricultural residues.

 

“Our technology is 25 per cent more efficient as compared to conventional anaerobic digestion processes used today. The two-stage process eliminates the pretreatment of biomass, thus making the process economical and environment friendly. The process generates a digestate that is rich in nutrients which can be used as an organic fertiliser,” said Dr Prashant Dhakephalkar, Director, ARI.

 

A team of scientists, Dr SS Dagar and Pranav Kshirsagar from MACS-ARI and Kaustubh Pathak from KPIT-Sentient, contributed significantly towards the development of the process. The developers of the technology explained that the hydrogen fuel generation process comprises the use of a specially developed microbial consortium that facilitates biodegradation of cellulose- and hemicellulose-rich agricultural residues, such as biomass of paddy, wheat, or maize, without thermo-chemical or enzymatic pretreatment. The process generates hydrogen in the first stage and methane in the second. The methane generated in the process can also be used to generate additional hydrogen, they added.

 

“This breakthrough of generating hydrogen from unutilised agricultural residue will help us to become self-reliant on energy resources. It will also add a major stream of revenue to the farmer community,” said Ravi Pandit, Chairman, Sentient Labs. An Indian patent application has been filed to protect the IPR. 

A two-stage process eliminates the pretreatment of

Agrotech, Dairy, R&D

The bioreactor system will enable anaerobic digestion of complex fat-rich sludge

Indian scientists have developed a novel high-performance bioreactor system integrated with a sustainable pre-treatment process for enabling anaerobic digestion of complex fat-rich sludge from the dairy industry. It has been further integrated with membrane bioreactor based-wastewater treatment to enable zero liquid discharge in the dairy industry.

 

The technology has been developed by Dr Sandeep N Mudliar at CSIR-CFTRI Mysore with support from the Waste Management Technology program of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, with support from Sun Enviro Technologies for the pilot-scale trials at a model dairy plant. A bench-scale system, which has been tested on a pilot scale has been developed. A patent will be filed soon. 

 

The technology can be applied for the anaerobic digestion of complex solid waste containing fats and oils and can be coupled with wastewater treatment to enable zero liquid discharge. Further, the technology can be used for solid and liquid waste management in food and allied industries. The sustainable pre-treatment technique is applicable to all types of complex solid wastes to enhance biogas production as well as the robustness of the anaerobic digestion process.

 

Dairy and food industries are the likely industries that can take up the technology. The technology will also be applicable for any biodegradable solid waste sludge and food waste from any food industry as well as food industry wastewaters.

 

 

The bioreactor system will enable anaerobic digestion

Agrotech, Sustainable Energy

15 panels were put up displaying various initiatives and technological advancements in the field of biofuels

HPCL recently organised a biofuel exhibition at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi. The event was inaugurated by Executive Director IOCL, Shri Shyam Bora in the presence of Executive Director-DCO-HPCL, Alok Kumar Gupta, Executive Director-GAIL, State Head-Delhi, BPCL Pankaj Motiramani and other senior dignitaries. 

 

The exhibition displayed models of 1G ethanol plant, biodiesel plant, 2G ethanol plant and CBG plant. 15 panels were put up displaying various initiatives and technological advancements in the field of biofuels. Apart from the industry stall, One stall by Stark Projects and Consultancy and one more stall by Green home Biogas dealing with portable CBG plants were put up in the exhibition. 

 

After the exhibition, ED-IOCL, Shyam Bora addressed the gathering. Dr Nivedita Sharma made a presentation on biofuel and their research on the conversion of pine needles into ethanol. Around 800 students participated in the drawing competition which was organised in schools before the event. 

15 panels were put up displaying various

AgroPolicy, IT, Pulses

Department of Consumer Affairs has put in place a portal to encourage various stockholders like stockists, millers, importers and dealers to enter the stocks

At least 11635 stockholders have registered to declare 3097694.42 MT of stock of pulses on the official portal of the Department of Consumer Affairs as of September 20, 2021.

 

The Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is monitoring the retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities. This is being achieved through various effective policy measures by the department such as curbing black marketing, increasing the availability by restricting the export and encouraging imports, building buffer stocks and ensuring timely release to ease abnormal price escalations. 

 

In this connection, it was essential to tap the data of pulses available in the open market. Therefore, with the approval of the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal, the department put in place a portal to encourage various stockholders like stockists, millers, importers and dealers to enter the stocks they are holding on any given date.

 

Stock declaration through traders, millers, importers and warehouses which are both public and privately owned will create a data bank. This will enable the government to understand which are the states that produce and stock for milling purposes. It will also help to keep a check on undesirable practices of hoarding and artificial scarcity creation through stock declaration and real-time verification of the same.

 

The portal – https://fcainfoweb.nic.in/psp – can also be accessed by any citizen. Stakeholders can register in the portal and create a user id and password after verification of email and mobile through OTPs. After the creation of user id and password, they share information in their profile by adding their details and geographic information and submit the variety of pulses they are having in their stock on any given date. It is the responsibility of the stakeholders to keep updating the data whenever there is an addition or subtraction in the stock. Privacy of data is maintained. The state governments can monitor the registrations done and stocks declared by various stakeholders pertaining to their own states. 

 

 

 

Department of Consumer Affairs has put in

AgroPolicy, Machinery – Post-harvesting, Supply Chain

Paddy procurement in Punjab & Haryana to commence from October 11, 2021

Due to the recent heavy downpour in the states of Punjab and Haryana, the maturity of paddy has been delayed

 

Keeping in view the interest of farmers and to avoid any inconvenience to them, the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has decided that the procurement of Paddy under MSP would commence from October 11, 2021, in states of Punjab and Haryana.

 

The procurement and milling period for KMS 2021-22 for Punjab was October 1, 2021, and Haryana was September 25, 2021.

 

All the agencies have been directed to take necessary action to undertake procurement of paddy w.e.f. October 11, 2021, in the states of Punjab and Haryana.

 

Paddy procurement in Punjab & Haryana to

Acquaculture, AgroPolicy

Contribution of freshwater aquaculture towards fish production of the country was highlighted

Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, recently organised a webinar on ’Fisheries and Aquaculture Extension for Sustainable Techno-organizational Transformation of Fishers and Fish Farmers,’ under the chairmanship of Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Government of India. 

 

The webinar focussed on the fisheries and aquaculture extension for the sustainable techno-organisational transformation of fishers and fish farmers. Swain, Secretary, DoF, GOI highlighted the contribution of freshwater aquaculture towards fish production of the country. He briefly explained PMMSY and the sub-component supported under PMMSY for Fisheries and Aquaculture Extension for Sustainable Techno-organizational transformation of Fisheries and Fish Farmers in the country.

 

Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries (DoF), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary (Inland Fisheries) and Dr J Balaji, Joint Secretary (Marine Fisheries) addressed the webinar. Other officials of the Department of Fisheries, GoI and fisheries officials of States/UTs, Faculty from state agriculture universities, state animal and fisheries universities, entrepreneurs, farmers and hatchery owners across the country, a representative from the aquaculture industry participated in the webinar.

Contribution of freshwater aquaculture towards fish production