Connect with:
Thursday / April 25. 2024

logo
mobile-logo
Home2022March (Page 12)
Acquaculture, AgroPolicy, Sustainability

The programme will start in Mandvi on Feb 5 and end in Porbandar on Feb 6

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala will inaugurate the ‘Sagar Parikrama’, organised by The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India and National Fisheries Development Board along with Department of Fisheries, Government of Gujarat, Indian Coast Guard, Fishery Survey of India, Gujarat Maritime Board and fishermen representatives on February 5, 2022.

The Parikrama, starting from Mandvi at Shyamiji Krishna Varma Memorial, Gujarat, as a part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsava’, is an endeavour to know the problems of Coastal fisher folk. It will be organised in other districts of Gujarat and other State/UTs in subsequent phases.

Raghavjibhai Patel, Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cow-breeding, Government of Gujarat; Jitubhai Chaudhari, State Minister of Kalpsar and Fisheries; Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary (Fisheries), Government of India; Nalin Upadhyay, Secretary (Fisheries), Govt of Gujarat and senior officials of Department of Fisheries, Govt of India, National Fisheries Development Board, Govt of Gujarat, Fishery Survey of India, Gujarat Maritime Board, and Indian Coast Guard are likely to grace the occasion.

The Parikrama shall be accompanied by the state fisheries officials, fishermen representatives, fish-farmers entrepreneurs, stakeholders, professionals, officials and scientists from across the nation.

During the event, certificates /sanctions related to the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampadha scheme (PMMSY), KCC & State Scheme shall be awarded to the progressive fishermen, especially coastal fishermen, fishers and fish farmers, young fishery entrepreneurs etc. Literature on PMMSY scheme, state schemes, FIDF, KCC etc. shall be popularised among fishers through print media, electronic media, videos and digital campaigns with jingles. A song on Sagar Parikrama shall also be launched in the contest of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsava’.

The journey of ‘Sagar Parikrama’ shall focus on the sustainable balance between the utilization of marine fisheries resources for food security of nation and livelihoods of coastal fisher communities and protection of marine ecosystems.

The Sagar Parikrama is proposed to be conducted in all coastal states/UTs through a pre-decided sea route down right from Gujarat, Diu, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands to have interaction programme with fishermen, fisher communities and stakeholders in these locations and districts to know the problems of coastal fisher folk.

The first leg of ‘Sagar Parikrama’ shall start on February 5, 2022, from Mandvi and end at Porbandar on February 6, 2022. The entire distance will be covered from the coastline of Mandvi on the coast of the Arabian Sea in the Kutch district of Gujarat, situated at the estuary where the river Rukmavati meets the Gulf of Kutch.

The programme will start in Mandvi on

Finance, R&D

Syngenta will also utilise this investment to secure long-term R&D investments in strategic crops

Syngenta Vegetable Seeds will invest an additional €2,4 million ($2.7 M) to research and development centres in Spain. The investment in its El Ejido R&D Centre will allow Syngenta to further develop and deploy new technologies, aiming to enhance product performance using digital tools, analytics, and data science.

Syngenta will also utilise this investment to secure long-term R&D investments in strategic crops and fast-track the development process required to sustain the launch of commercial products that serve customers in over 100 countries.

As a part of this investment, a new farm in the Torre Pacheco area will offer greater automation and digitization, enabling quicker adoption of new technologies to pioneer and set novel benchmarks for plant breeding.

Syngenta will also utilise this investment to

Live Stock, Start ups

The applications for the National Startup Awards 2022 are open till March 15, 2022

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched the third edition of the National Startup Awards. The National Startup Awards 2022 will acknowledge startups and enablers who have been instrumental in revolutionising the development story of India.

The awards for startups will be given in 17 sectors classified into 50 sub-sectors. The 17 sectors are health and wellness, agriculture, animal husbandry, construction, drinking water, education and skill development, energy, enterprise technology, environment, FinTech, food processing, Industry 4.0, Media & Entertainment, Security, Space, transport and Travel. 

In addition, there are seven special categories of awards for startups: 

  • Women-led startups
  • Impact in rural areas
  • Campus startups
  • Manufacturing excellence
  • Innovation tackling the pandemic (preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, monitoring, digital connect, work from home solutions, etc.)
  • Solution delivery or business operations in Indic languages
  • Startups from North-East (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura) and Hilly States/ Union Territories (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh)

The National Startup Awards 2022 will also reward exceptional incubators and accelerators as key building blocks of a robust startup ecosystem.

A cash prize of Rs 5 lakh will be awarded to each winning startup. The winners and runners-up will also be given opportunities to present their solutions to relevant public authorities and corporates for potential pilot projects and work orders and pitching opportunities with investors. They will also be given priority for participation in various national and international startup events.

A cash prize of Rs 15 lakh each will be awarded to one winning incubator and one winning accelerator.

The applications for the National Startup Awards 2022 are open till March 15, 2022. 

The applications for the National Startup Awards

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Japan, Sustainability

The facility is equipped with a 450-kW cogeneration power plant

A biogas plant of WELTEC BIOPOWER recently went live in Saitama Prefecture, 40 km north of Tokyo. The facility, which is equipped with a 450-kW cogeneration power plant, is the fourth project to be rolled out by the German manufacturer in Japan. In terms of substrates, the operator makes use of organic leftovers from the vicinity. Since the raw material mix varies, WELTEC ensures a steady biogas output with its biological service. This special service of the biogas specialist also comprises another plant of the same customer.

Even after the reactor accident in Fukushima back in 2011, Japan continues to use nuclear power. However, renewable energies are consistently expanded and already account for a fifth of the power generated. Above all, leftovers are the preferred substrates in Japan.

The biogas plant in Saitama, too, digests some 12,000 tonne of organic waste into energy. The substrate mix consists of organic waste and cattle manure from a nearby farm that belongs to the operator. The largely liquid organics are introduced to the digester using a central ump. Solid feedstocks are transported by a dosing feeder with a capacity of 27 m³.

To ensure efficient digestion of this mixture, WELTEC BIOPOWER has set up a stainless-steel digester with a capacity of 2,823 m³. Its diameter measures 25.34 m, and its height is 6.3 m. The upstream substrate storage tank, which is made of stainless steel, has a capacity of 336 m³, a diameter of 9.31 m and a height of 5.03 m. The 525-m³ digestate storage tank (diameter 11.64 m, height 5.03 m), too, is made of high-quality stainless steel.

Finally, the digestate is separated and the solid phase is dried with special technology to further reduce the volume. Most of this residue is used as compost and some of it as fertiliser.

As this plant‘s yield was above average, the biology experts of WELTEC had the substrate mix of the old plant carefully analysed by a Japanese lab. Based on the results, the raw material mix and the retention time have been optimised. Due to the constantly changing composition of the waste, WELTEC will continue to supervise the two plants biologically to maximise the gas yield.

The facility is equipped with a 450-kW

Agrotech, Sustainability

A one-of-its-kind tool that places farm sustainability insights into the hands of growers

Syngenta, a Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform) member, announces the release of the Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture (SOA) standard enabled through its Cropwise Sustainability app, a one-of-its-kind tool that places farm sustainability insights into the hands of growers. The platform, available for free download for US farmers empowers farmers and the broader agriculture value chain to demonstrate sustainability and identify opportunities for continuous improvement, ensuring alignment with the objectives of the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA).

By incorporating Syngenta’s SOA standard – known as the Standard – the Cropwise Sustainability app provides an actionable approach to measure and deliver continuous improvements for regenerative agriculture at scale. The Standard has achieved Gold-level equivalency against SAI Platform’s FSA 3.0, the highest level of equivalency.

“By accelerating innovation in the digital ag space, Syngenta is the first agriculture input provider to launch a standard and to receive FSA 3.0 gold-equivalency,” said Joe Iveson, FSA Manager at SAI Platform. “Through this benchmark, Cropwise Sustainability helps farmers — and by extension retailers and consumer packaged goods companies — better understand and take incremental steps forward on their sustainability journey.”

The Standard is an easy-to-use and accurate programme that allows growers and value chain stakeholders to measure, track progress and implement initiatives, supported by the Cropwise Sustainability app. Users are prompted to answer questions about their farm production practices and decisions, and receive a leadership score and performance report based on sustainable outcomes. Opportunities for improvement are identified, alongside actionable sustainability insights that can be considered in the planning process and from season to season.

Through Syngenta’s data privacy pledge, growers maintain ownership of their data. Growers can choose to share their assessment results with value chain partners. Partners are then able to anonymize aggregated data based off of assessments, providing a view of their sourcing area and where opportunities for sustainability improvements exist.

“Sustainability assessments do not have to be a time-intensive process – users who leverage Cropwise Sustainability typically complete a 20-30-minute farm assessment and receive immediate results,” said Liz Hunt, sustainable and responsible business head at Syngenta.

A one-of-its-kind tool that places farm sustainability

Agrotech, Australia, Sustainability

The partnership brings together InterGrain’s well-adapted Australian wheat genetics with Inari’s predictive design and multiplex gene editing capabilities

Inari, the SEEDesign company, and InterGrain, a leading cereal breeding company in Australia, announced a strategic collaboration to dramatically improve the yield potential of wheat, enhancing the crop’s long-term viability in the face of an increasingly variable climate.

The partnership brings together InterGrain’s well-adapted Australian wheat genetics with Inari’s predictive design and multiplex gene editing capabilities, promising a future of unique and competitive products that represent a step-change in yield potential.

InterGrain prioritises the sustainability and competitive advantage of Australia’s agriculture sector. Says CEO, Tress Walmsley, “Inari’s team brings a wealth of experience and knowledge, and InterGrain values the collaboration capability to bring our shared vision for a more sustainable future for agriculture to life.”

Inari applies data science and software engineering to create nature-positive outcomes, addressing the complex systems within plants that impact factors such as productivity and resource use efficiency.

“This collaboration with InterGrain is a critical next step in Inari’s mission to transform the crops most responsible for global food security,” says Ponsi Trivisvavet, chief executive officer at Inari. “Our SEEDesign platform can transform any crop in any geography. Expanding not only into wheat but also into a new continent presents an exciting opportunity to broaden the reach and impact of our cutting-edge technology.”

Together, InterGrain and Inari are targeting a 10-15 per cent increase in wheat yield potential, in addition to more efficient use of inputs.

“This is an exciting opportunity for both Australian growers and InterGrain with the technology having the capacity to dramatically improve grower on-farm profitability through the delivery of significantly higher-yielding varieties across a range of grain growing environments,” adds Walmsley. 

The integration of this new breeding technology will meet Australian regulatory requirements.

The partnership brings together InterGrain's well-adapted Australian

Agro Universities

Bayer will fund the university education of sixteen AUW students through the Bayer Scholarship Programme

Asian University for Women (AUW) and Bayer AG have announced that Bayer will fund the university education of sixteen AUW students through the Bayer Scholarship Programme. Bayer is pledging $675,000 to the programme. The scholarships will cover two years of precollegiate study and the first year of AUW’s three-year undergraduate degree programme and will run from August 2022 – to July 2025. Bayer will also provide internships to sixteen AUW students who hold an interest in agribusiness. 

Nine of the sixteen Bayer Scholars will be selected by AUW from the rural farming communities of Bangladesh, and seven will be selected from other smallholder farming communities in South and Southeast Asia. Bayer will amplify the scholarship programme and actively promote this education opportunity through its field force network in South Asia, which serves as a trusted partner to many rural farming families. Recipients of this scholarship are selected from rural farming communities based on their academic excellence, demonstrated leadership, outrage at injustice, and drive to create change in their communities and beyond. 

Monika Lessl, Senior Vice President Corporate R&D and Social Innovation and Executive Director of Bayer Foundation: “At Bayer, we are constantly working towards creating a world where everyone has access to essential services – be it health, nutrition or education. A key step in achieving this goal, is to bridge the gender gap in education. Hence, we are delighted to support women students pursuing higher education at the Asian University for women through our scholarship program and hope that these women students will not only transform their lives through education but also serve as a beacon of hope to other women students in their communities.” 

With limited social networks and other services, as well as an absence of economic empowerment opportunities, the cycle of entrapment in traditional mores becomes inescapable. It is this cycle that Bayer and AUW would like to break through their ground breaking partnership. The Bayer Scholarship Programme will foster women’s empowerment among marginalised, rural agricultural communities in Bangladesh and across Asia.  

Bayer will fund the university education of

Agro Universities, Dairy

The institute and Ankusham Engineering Group signed an MoU to expand camel-based entrepreneurship in South India

The ICAR-National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, Rajasthan in collaboration with the Ankusham organised a seminar on ‘Extended Utility of Camel, particularly its milk as a therapeutic adjuvant in treatment against diabetes and autism to Southern India’ in Coimbatore.

In his address, Dr Artabandhu Sahoo, Director, ICAR-NRC on camel stated that the centre’s efforts have inspired and helped in promoting the camel as a milch animal. He also highlighted the coming-up of the camel dairies in the different parts of India.

Manikandan, MD, Ankusham Engineering Group outlined the benefits of camel milk for diabetic and autistic patients. He also mentioned rural/peri-urban youths venturing into camel eco-tourism and helping to pave a new way in expanding the utility of the Camel species in Southern India.

Both the organisations also signed an MoU for the collaboration to expand camel-based entrepreneurship in Southern India during the occasion. The seminar registered participation by 165 delegates.

The institute and Ankusham Engineering Group signed

Agro Universities, R&D, Start ups

The main objective of the MoA was to support the start-ups by organising joint events, extending lab facilities and co-networking

The a-IDEA, agri-business incubator of ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the five incubation units.
Dr Ch Srinivasa Rao, Director, ICAR-NAARM, Hyderabad and Dr RM Sundaram, Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad; Dr M Parvez Alam, CEO & Director, Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council, Chennai; Dr Debashis Dutta, Director, RR Animal Health Care, Hyderabad; Paritosh Tripathi, CEO, Atal Innovation Centre – Mahamana Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – IM-BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and Shri Puneet Rai, Incubation Manager, Atal Innovation Centre, NITTE Incubation Centre, Karnataka signed the MoA on the behalf of their respective organisations.

Dr Rao, Director, ICAR-NAARM highlighted the a-IDEA activities and its support to more than 100 Start-Ups in the agriculture and allied sectors.

Dr G Venkateshwarlu, Joint Director, ICAR-NAARM, Hyderabad stated that the MoA provides the overarching framework for collaboration in the various project activities like capacity building, workshops, lab facilities and technical support for the Incubates on mutual interests.
The main objective of the MoA was to support the start-ups by organising joint events, extending lab facilities and co-networking, etc.

The main objective of the MoA was