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Agro Universities, Poultry

Scientific knowledge on various aspects of poultry farming was imparted for the skill development of farmers for their economic upliftment

Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Fatehgarh Sahib recently conducted a vocational training course on poultry farming at KVK premises for farmers, farm women and rural youth. Eight farmers belonging to different villages of districts Fatehgarh Sahib participated in the training course. In this training programme, scientific knowledge on various aspects of poultry farming was imparted for the skill development of farmers for their economic upliftment. Dr Jaswinder Singh, Associate Director (Training) interacted with the trainees and enlightened them about the importance of poultry farming. He encouraged the participants for adopting poultry farming as an allied business on the scientific lines.

On the first day, a pre-knowledge test was administered to check the knowledge level of trainees about poultry farming. Dr Ajay Singh, Assistant Professor (Animal Science) provided information on various aspects of poultry farming including the breeds of poultry, selection of hatchery and chicks, care and management of day-old chicks, broiler and layer birds, selection of site, housing management, water management, feed preparation, vaccination schedule and record-keeping etc.

The vocational training programme concluded with a post-knowledge test to know the gain in the knowledge level of trainees about poultry farming. A Whatsapp group was also formed to share the latest knowledge regarding poultry and animal husbandry. Overall the participants expressed good interest and share useful information regarding poultry farming.

Scientific knowledge on various aspects of poultry

AgroPolicy, China, Sustainable Energy

The BRICS Working Group meeting will endorse the Action Plan of 2021-24 for adoption in the BRICS meeting

The Ministers of Agriculture of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa recently deliberated on the theme ’BRICS Partnership for Strengthening Agro Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Security.’

 

The implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development noted that BRICS countries are well-positioned to take a leading role in helping to achieve the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate hunger and poverty. The strong agricultural research base in BRICS countries and the need to harness and share knowledge, facilitate the transfer of technologies from lab to land to provide improved solutions for enhanced productivity, especially in the face of climate change, maintaining agrobiodiversity and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources was acknowledged. 

 

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Agriculture Research Platform has been developed by India to promote cooperation in the areas of agricultural research, extension, technology transfer, training and capacity building. The intention to make the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform functional and encourage research cooperation to improve the use and application of agricultural technologies for meeting the needs of producers and processors were also expressed. 

 

The Joint declaration of the eleventh meeting of BRICS and Action Plan for 2021-24 for agricultural cooperation of BRICS countries and BRICS Agriculture Research Platform were discussed in depth. This BRICS Working Group meeting will endorse the Action Plan of 2021-24 for adoption in the BRICS meeting. 

 

Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Abhilaskha Likhi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Alaknanda Dayal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare attended the virtual meeting of the BRICS working group held on August 12-13, 2021 at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi.

 

 

The BRICS Working Group meeting will endorse

AgroPolicy, Trade

Apples will be showcased as part commencement of India’s 75th independence day celebration

APEDA in collaboration with Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC) exported the first consignment consisting of five unique varieties of apples – Royal Delicious, Dark Baron Gala, Scarlet Spur, Red Velox & Golden Delicious to Bahrain.

 

The apples are sourced from the farmers of Himachal Pradesh and exported by APEDA registered DM Enterprises. The apples will be showcased at the apple promotion programme organised by leading retailer – Al Jajira group commencing from August 15, 2021.

 

The apple promotion programme is also being organised to familiarise consumers in Bahrain about varieties of apples in India. 

Apples will be showcased as part commencement

AgroPolicy, Dairy

IndiGau has 11,496 markers (SNPs) of more than that placed on 777K Illumina chip of the US and the UK breeds

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh released ’IndiGau’, India’s first Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) based chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like, Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc. 

The indigenous chip was developed by the concerted efforts of scientists of the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NAIB), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology. On this occasion, Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT, Senior scientists of NIAB and senior officials of DBT were present. 

 

Dr Jitendra Singh said that IndiGau is purely indigenous and the largest cattle chip in the world. It has 11,496 markers (SNPs) of more than that placed on 777K Illumina chip of the US and the UK breeds. 

 

Dr Swarup informed that DBT is looking forward to implementing this technology in the field with the help of other agencies like National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHDF), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) etc. To further the use of this chip in generating phenotypic and genotypic correlations, NIAB has entered into a collaborative agreement with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

 

NDDB has a well-organised presence in the field for the collection of phenotypic records, NIAB and NDDB complement each other to undertake this research for generating information for low-density SNP chip for any important trait detection, like high milk yield or heat tolerance etc. This will eventually help in the elite bull selection and improvement of productivity characters of Indian cattle.

 

NIAB has also entered into an MoU with private industry to generate capability within India for designing and making our SNP chips. These may be very low-density SNP chips in the beginning and slowly this technology can be further strengthened for bigger chips, making India self-reliant in this field. 

 

IndiGau has 11,496 markers (SNPs) of more

Agrotech, Sustainable Energy

The process can avoid the burning of bio-mass generated in large measure in the Indian countryside

Sentient Labs, an R&D innovation lab (incubated by KPIT Technologies with initial technical inputs) and MACS-Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), have developed the world’s first technology that generates hydrogen directly from agricultural residue for use in fuel cell-powered vehicles.
 
The hydrogen generation technology uses agricultural residue rich in cellulose and hemicellulose content – in likes of paddy, wheat, or maize residue. The process uses microbial culture for the direct generation of hydrogen from agricultural residues. It further generates methane, which is utilised for producing additional hydrogen by steam methane reformation. The process can avoid the burning of bio-mass generated in large measure in the Indian countryside and generate organic manure and CO2, which finds applications in various industries.

The process can avoid the burning of

Environment, Interaction, Sustainable Energy

The meet will aim to build an India-centric and action-oriented approach for building self-reliance in the hydrogen ecosystem and solutions

The ’International Climate Summit 2021’ (ICS 2021), an initiative by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Environment Committee, has partnered with Invest India. It is one of the world’s most awarded investment promotion agencies and a co-organiser for the hybrid event scheduled for September 3, 2021. This global summit will build a dialogue for India’s transition to clean energy with a special focus on ’Powering India’s Hydrogen Ecosystem’.

 

The summit will bring together Nobel laureates, policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, experts and scientists from across the global clean energy industry, to reach an agreement on climate change and sustainability issues. The meet will aim to build an India-centric and action-oriented approach for building self-reliance in the hydrogen ecosystem and solutions.

 

In addition, a National Hydrogen Portal www.greenhydrogen-india.com will also be launched at the International Climate Summit 2021. Envisioned to be a one-stop information source for research, production, storage, transportation and application of hydrogen, the portal will be a repository of all academic and research work, and other significant developments in the field of hydrogen; with a focus on green hydrogen.

 

The summit will position India as a leader in the field of renewable energy, specifically green hydrogen. In addition, the event will offer a platform for deliberating on India’s issues with hydrogen introduction and adoption as a preferred alternative energy source.

The meet will aim to build an

Agro Universities, Organic

A total of 1,776 participants took part in the campaign

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming System Research, Modipuram, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh through its All India Network Programme on Organic Farming recently organised a Mass Awareness Campaign on ’Organic Farming.’

 

A total of 1,776 participants including farmers, students, entrepreneurs, input and output dealers, extension agents, certified farm advisors and other stakeholders involved in organic farming participated in the campaign.

 

The campaign aimed at sharing the production and protection technologies, certification and marketing aspects of organic farming to the different stakeholders was organised as a part of the ’Bharat Ka Amrut Mahotsav’ to commemorate 75 Years of India’s Independence.

A total of 1,776 participants took part

AgroPolicy, Agrotech

Union agri minister addresses 6th meeting of the Agriculture Ministers of SCO Member States

The 6th meeting of Agriculture Ministers of the member countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held recently. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said that the Government of India has been taking several steps to develop innovative technologies and their dissemination from lab to land to empower rural youth, farmers and farm women. 

 

The Minister in the meeting organised virtually in Dushanbe, Tajikstan stated that the agriculture sector in India performed well even during the severe COVID-19 pandemic. Along with food production, exports have also registered significant growth, contributing to global food security.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Tomar mentioned that the government is determined to attain sustainable development goals to end hunger, achieve food security and nutrition. He further emphasised that the bio-fortified varieties are a source of staple diets, rich in micronutrients and are being promoted to address the aspects of malnutrition in the country. Further, he expressed that the government with the goal to double farmer’s income by 2022 has launched several programmes to enhance optimal utilisation of water resources, create new infrastructure for irrigation, conserves soil fertility with balanced use of fertilisers, provide connectivity from farm to market, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) linkage besides building infrastructure, organic farming etc. 

 

Tomar mentioned that India has achieved several milestones towards success in the agriculture sector. Besides the Green Revolution, the White Revolution, Blue Revolution, the Public Distribution System and the price support system for farmers are unparallel in the world. It was the result of the vision of policymakers, ingenuity of our agricultural scientists and the hard work of our farmers that India became not only self-sufficient but a surplus in food grains. 

 

The Minister of Agriculture of Tajikistan, Ziyozoda Sulaymon Rizoi, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Tang Renjian, Secretary-General, SCO, Norov Vladimir Imamovich, Director-General, FAO, Qu Dongyu and Chairman of the Food Security Committee under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, Fayzullozoda Muhammadsaid Ubaydullo and others respective members attended the meeting. The Indian delegation led by Tomar included the Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shobha Karandlaje and senior officials.

Union agri minister addresses 6th meeting of

Agro chems – Chemicals, Finance

Posts a revenue of Rs 344.56 crore in the same quarter

Best Agrolife, an India-based agrochemical company, has announced its financial results for the quarter ending on June 30, 2021. The company has registered a revenue of Rs 344.56 crore for the quarter with an EBITDA of Rs 36.06 crore (+316 per cent YOY). The PAT for Q1 FY22 was Rs 25.78 crore, a growth of 256 per cent YOY. EBITDA and PAT margins improved with a YOY increase of 338 per cent and 276 per cent respectively. The EBITDA margin was 10.47 per cent and the PAT margin was 7.46 per cent.

“We are pleased to announce our quarterly results, which showcase the progress the company is making in creating a robust and fast-growing business. Our company is now starting to see the benefits of its tremendous efforts in innovation, research, backward integration and good execution. We are excited about the growth and innovation coming through by way of market-leading products in the upcoming quarters, thus creating a strong business pipeline. We expect to create significant value for all our stakeholders. Our continuous efforts to understand the needs of our biggest stakeholders, the farmers, is showing us the path to create innovative products for their benefit and aid in sustainable farming,” said Vimal Alawadhi, MD, Best Agrolife.

Posts a revenue of Rs 344.56 crore

Agro chems – Pesticides, Agrotech

Corteva’s preventive care solutions control the damage, increase rice yield and contribute to a healthier, more nutritious food supply

Corteva Agriscience to help farmers mitigate the risk from BPH has been directing efforts to study the trajectory of the pest over many years and across thousands of acres. The global agriculture company uses science-based solutions to proactively manage the brown plant hoppers (BPH) menace in paddy farming. 

 

Corteva has carried out hundreds of demos on preventive care, in the last five years across the country and found consistent results even under abnormally high pest pressure like last year. The company is leveraging results from these studies to educate farmers on preventive solutions for plant protection from direct pest damage and hopper transmitted virus diseases. Corteva in the last three years has protected over 2 million acres of land in southern India, with nearly 1 million-acre land in Karnataka alone.

 

Aruna Rachakonda, Director, Marketing – South Asia, Corteva Agriscience said, “We at Corteva Agriscience are committed to keeping farmers at the centre of innovation. We strive to address longstanding issues like pest menace through integrated and targeted solutions, not just enhancing agricultural productivity but also supporting conservation practices. India’s rice yields have been significantly lower than the global average owing to the menace of aggressive planthoppers. By educating the farmers on preventive measures, we aim to control the damage, increase yield and safeguard their incomes.”

 

The longstanding issue of damaging BPH can be effectively dealt with through the early application of the solution – Pexalon on the crops for better outcomes. Pexalon is powered by the groundbreaking technology of Pyraxalt which provides up to 25 days of consistent hopper control for a cleaner, greener harvest. 

 

Pexalon controls all damaging life stages of hoppers and has a relatively large margin of safety to non-target organisms, thus it helps to conserve natural enemies of rice and improves overall pest control. 

With the protective shield of the solution, the crop can absorb nutrients from the soil and become healthy. 

 

 

Corteva’s preventive care solutions control the damage,

Trade

Holds dragon fruit promotion programme for the Saudi Arabia market

APEDA in association with the Indian embassy organised a Virtual Buyer Seller Meet (VBSM) with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic where key officials and stakeholders from food industries for both the countries participated.

 

The virtual meet with Laos was the 37th in the series of VBSM organised by APEDA with various countries for boosting exports of agricultural and processed food from India. India mostly exports buffalo meat, marine products, groundnut, cotton, oil meals, animal casing and spices to Laos.

 

In a major boost to exports of exotic fruits, APEDA in association with the Indian embassy today organised a dragon fruit promotion programme for the Saudi Arabia market in association with a leading retailer group. Dragon Fruit is also referred to as Kamalam in India. 

 

APEDA recently facilitated dragon fruit exports from Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal to the UK, King of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The cultivation of dragon fruit requires less water and can be grown in various kinds of soils. At present, dragon fruit is grown mostly in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. West Bengal is new to taking up cultivation of this exotic fruit.

 

Holds dragon fruit promotion programme for the

China, IT

The competition aims to promote the development of cost-effective technology that can help farmers to increase productivity and improve livelihoods in an environmentally sustainable manner

China Agricultural University will join Pinduoduo as a co-organiser of the Smart Agriculture Competition, a unique contest that aims to foster interdisciplinary innovation by marrying algorithms and agronomy.

 

The Smart Agriculture Competition, which is being held for a second year, aims to promote the development of cost-effective technology that can help farmers to increase their productivity and improve their livelihoods in an environmentally sustainable manner. This year, the contest will draw teams from around the world to cultivate tomatoes using a combination of agronomic knowledge, algorithmic modelling, and precision automation.

 

“The Smart Agriculture Competition plays a unique role in that it aims to foster innovation that is usable by smallholder farmers, who produce around 80 per cent of the food in China,” said Wang Hongqing, Professor of the School of Horticulture, China Agricultural University, who will be a member of the competition’s judging panel. “It is an important platform for the different stakeholders in the agri-food ecosystem to come together to develop practical, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable solutions for working farms.”

 

As China’s largest agriculture platform, Pinduoduo spearheaded the creation of the Smart Agriculture Competition as a way to gather the top minds in agronomy and computer science to develop technology that can improve agriculture and build a more resilient food system. The competition is advised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and Wageningen University & Research. Leading institutes including the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the National Plateau Yunguo Industrial Park are also lending their support.

 

Last year, in the inaugural Smart Agriculture Competition, teams of data scientists were pitted against traditional farmers to grow strawberries. The technology teams produced 196 per cent more strawberries by weight on average compared with traditional farmers and outperformed in terms of the profitability of the investment.

 

In this year’s competition, judges will be evaluating the teams not only on yield and cost-effectiveness but also on the nutritional profile of the tomatoes and the environmental sustainability of their approach. This is in recognition of the important role that agriculture plays in the health of the population and its impact on the environment.

 

“Through the Smart Agriculture Competition, we hope to interest more young scientific talent in agriculture so that they can apply their talents to helping farmers,” said Andre Zhu, Senior Vice President of Global Affairs at Pinduoduo. “Helping farmers to grow better ensures not just the people to eat better but also has a direct positive impact on the environment.”

The competition aims to promote the development

AgroPolicy, Trade

Exports Himalayan goat meat from Uttarakhand to Dubai

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) recently facilitated exports of dehydrated Mohua flower from Chhattisgarh and Himalayan goat meat from Uttarakhand to France and UAE respectively.

APEDA also organised a promotional event at the Saudi Arabia market to promote exotic fruit like dragon fruit exports. For the first time, a consignment of dehydrated Mohua flowers were exported via sea to France from Chhattisgarh. The produce was sourced from a forest in Korba district, Chhattisgarh and processed by APEDA registered Enterprise.

Mahua flowers exported to France were collected mostly by the tribal population from the forest of Korba, Kathghora, Surguja, Pasan, Pali, Churri in Chhattisgarh. Dehydrated Mahua flowers are used for making liquor, medicine and syrup.

For boosting the income of small ruminant farmers, a consignment of processed Himalayan goat meat sourced from villages of Uttarakhand hills was exported to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The export of meat from Uttarakhand will boost the livelihood of farmers and enhance their economic status. This initiative of APEDA and other organisations will also lead to an increase in the income of farmers of Uttarakhand.

Exports Himalayan goat meat from Uttarakhand to

Agrotech, Sustainable Energy

The new technology captures methane emissions and converts them into carbon-negative renewable natural gas (RNG) to power homes, vehicles and businesses

Monarch Bioenergy, a joint venture between Smithfield Foods and Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE), has finished installing manure-to-energy technology on nearly all of Smithfield’s Northern Missouri hog finishing farms.

The new technology captures methane emissions and converts them into carbon-negative renewable natural gas (RNG) to power homes, vehicles and businesses.

Kraig Westerbeek, VP, Smithfield Renewables for Smithfield Foods, said “Our Monarch Bioenergy manure-to-energy projects are making a significant environmental impact and remove 25 times more emissions from the atmosphere than are emitted during the clean energy’s end-use. Because of this, they are key projects in our Smithfield Renewables portfolio of innovative renewable energy and carbon reduction efforts across our operations.”

Construction of the approximately $150 million project officially began in 2014, three years after RAE and Smithfield first had the idea to embark on the joint venture. The proprietary processes that emerged from the project create carbon-negative RNG at a rate of approximately 800,000 dekatherms annually.
 
In addition to generating renewable energy, the partnership has planted hundreds of acres of prairie grass, providing ecological services and wildlife habitat for monarch butterflies across the state. The companies are also exploring harvesting prairie plants to create biomass for RNG production.

The Monarch Bioenergy joint venture supports the companies’ respective sustainability goals, including RAE’s goal to restore 30 million acres of land to native prairie plants strategically located around waterways, streams, rivers and highly erodible lands and Smithfield’s industry-leading goals to become carbon negative in the US company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30 per cent across its entire US value chain by 2030.
 
 


The new technology captures methane emissions and