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Home2022March (Page 5)
Agro chems – Fertilizers, AgroPolicy

Supply of Muriate of Potash (MOP) will be for the period 2022 to 2027 with a yearly quantity of 6 to 6.5 LMT

Indian Potash limited (IPL), under Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers signed an MoU with Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) for the supply of Muriate of Potash (MOP) for the period 2022 to 2027 with a yearly quantity of 6 to 6.5 LMT in the presence of Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers today in Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mansukh Madaviya said, “India and Israel share an extensive economic, defence, and strategic relationship based on mutual trust and cooperation. Agriculture sector in India has huge potential and provides ample opportunities to collaborate and innovate. India and Israel should work together in the field of Research in Fertilizer sector so that it benefits the farming community”.

The Union Minister added that it is an important step towards increasing the availability of MOP in the country. This will further propel the agriculture production in the country thereby improving the lives of the farming community. It has been a matter of great satisfaction that M/s. Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) is also working with Indian Potash Limited (IPL) in operating a project titled “Potash for Life focused on achieving higher fertilizer use efficiency” with an aim to increase the income of farmers.

 Elad Aharonson, Global President, M/s. Israel Chemicals Limited, applauded the association of his company with India through Indian Potash Limited and stated that M/s. Israel Chemicals Limited will be glad to be associated with the efforts being made in India and willingness to develop a deep association for improved technologies, logistics and application in the area of downstream fertilizers.

Supply of Muriate of Potash (MOP) will

Acquaculture

This partnership is an important signal of the companies’ long-term commitment and confidence in Chile and the future of the salmon industry in the country

Multiexport Foods SA, a pioneer and leader of salmon farming in Chile, has announced that Cargill, the global food and agriculture company, has agreed to purchase 24.5 per cent of the shares of Salmones Multiexport SA (Multi X), the subsidiary of Multiexport Foods SA. In turn, Mitsui, a shareholder of Multi X since 2015, will increase its shareholding by 1.13 per cent, to 24.5 per cent.

Multiexport Foods SA maintains control of Multi X with 51 per cent of the total shares. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and the fulfillment of conditions agreed by the parties.

This partnership is also an important signal of the companies’ long-term commitment and confidence in Chile and the future of the salmon industry in the country.

“Adding Cargill as a new partner of Multi X will be a strategic and decisive step in the next stage of development of the company and its purpose to win over the world’s consumers with high-quality, value-added, sustainable products sold under our brands ‘Multi X’, ‘Arka’ and ‘Latitude 45’,” said José Ramón Gutiérrez, Chairman of Multiexport Foods SA.

Tim Noonan, managing director for Cargill’s seafood business commented, “This partnership is an important next step in the development of our seafood strategy and will leverage our capabilities across the value chain, including consumer insights, culinary innovation, value-added processing know-how, risk management, and fish nutrition and health solutions. As a result, we hope to provide more customers and consumers with access to Multi X’s high-quality portfolio of private label and branded salmon products.”

This partnership is an important signal of

Agrotech, Company News, Sustainability

Effective April 1 2022, Agoro Carbon will become an independent business, and full legal entity separate from parent company, Yara.

Agoro Carbon Alliance has announced that it will become an independent business, effective April 1 2022. This planned move makes Agoro Carbon Alliance a full legal entity separate from Yara and is part of the business’s long-term strategy to decarbonize agriculture.

Agoro Carbon Alliance will remain 100 per cent owned and backed by Yara and will continue to have a close working relationship. Following the separation, all Agoro Carbon Alliance’s existing contracts with growers, partners and vendors will be transferred unchanged to the new company.

After legally formalizing this independence, Agoro Carbon Alliance is taking the next step on its journey to becoming a high-impact global business. By ensuring strategic control and flexibility, Agoro Carbon Alliance is even better able to help its farmer partners succeed in their decarbonization journeys, unlocking increased profitability and environmental benefits for farms around the world. Additionally, this independent status opens longer-term possibilities for new investors to join the alliance of farmers, ranchers, agronomists, co-ops, retailers, and other businesses.

Alex Bell, CEO of Agoro Carbon Alliance, said: “Our independent status gives us the best of both worlds: enabling Yara’s full strategic backing of Agoro Carbon, while giving us even more operational flexibility. Agoro Carbon will continue to focus on practical agronomic excellence and be input and practice agnostic. The separation underscores our intent and confirms our ability to be entirely focused on providing best in class and unbiased farmer enablement to generate premium environmental assets for responsible buyers and investors.”

Effective April 1 2022, Agoro Carbon will

Agrotech

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal has recently organised national webinar on “Agritech innovations to leap forward sustainable management of soil and environment”

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has recently organised national webinar on “Agritech innovations to leap forward sustainable management of soil and environment”.

Delivering the inaugural address, the Chief Guest, Dr Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management), ICAR highlighted the importance of the scientific management of soil and water using the agri-innovations like Sensors, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud-based Solutions. The nature-based solutions for reducing the reliance on the high input agriculture were also stressed by the DDG.

Dr Ashok K Patra, Director, ICAR-IISS, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh underlined about the ICT based Agritech innovations in doubling the farmers’ income.

Dr Praveen Pankajakshan, VP Data Science & AI, Cropin (India) delivered the Keynote Address on “Crop Mapping using AI & Remote-Sensing for Eco-Agriculture and Sustainability (CARES)”. The ways in which the Cropin is dealing with the issues like crop diversity, soil restoration, climate smart agriculture, carbon storage using prediction models and identification of crop pests & diseases were stated by Dr Praveen.

Dr Sara Malvar, Senior Research Software Development Engineer, Microsoft, Brazil and Tusher Chakraborty, Software Engineer – II, Microsoft, India also delivered the keynote address on “FarmBeats and Terra Vibes: Empowering farmers with affordable digital agriculture and earth observation solutions”.

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal

Agrotech, Company News, Europe, Packaging & Labelling

Innovative liquid packing, underlining Syngenta’s commitment to meet growers’ needs and make on-farm operations safer and easier.

Syngenta Crop Protection has announced EvoPacTM, an innovative liquid packaging range designed in close collaboration with growers, which alongside the easyconnect cap can significantly reduce operator exposure and potential risk of spills when filling.

EvoPacTM comes with a variety of new features making it a modern, ergonomic design for easier handling, pouring, rinsing and disposal. Mark Hall, Head of Sustainable and Responsible Business EAME, explains: “First, the rotating and flexible handle of the new bottle enables farmers to safely pour the product into the induction hopper when used in the traditional way. When using the easyconnect system, the handle design supports the upside-down rotation and precise positioning of the bottle on the coupler. Second, the bottle is translucent and allows the user to see the remaining product in the bottle. Third, there are no areas where product can remain due to the pack’s round angles and its central neck.”

With the introduction of EvoPacTM, Syngenta is stepping up efforts to make on-farm operations safer, easier, and more environmentally friendly.The development of EvoPacTM was strongly driven by the practical challenges and needs of growers.

With the launch of EvoPacTM, Syngenta supports CropLife Europe’s commitment to make Closed Transfer Systems (CTS) available to European farmers and operators by 2030. The new packaging is compatible with the easyconnect CTS that has been developed in a cross-industry effort by leading ag-industry players. The joint implementation by various industry leaders provides farmers with the freedom to choose from a wide range of products.

Innovative liquid packing, underlining Syngenta’s commitment to

Agro chems – Fertilizers, North America

USDA will make available $250 million through a new grant programme this summer to support independent, innovative and sustainable American fertiliser production to supply American farmers

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing it will support additional fertiliser production for American farmers to address rising costs, including the impact of Putin’s price hike on farmers, and spur competition.

USDA will make available $250 million through a new grant programme this summer to support independent, innovative and sustainable American fertiliser production to supply American farmers. Additionally, to address growing competition concerns in the agricultural supply chain, USDA will launch a public inquiry seeking information regarding seeds and agricultural inputs, fertiliser, and retail markets.

“Recent supply chain disruptions from the global pandemic to Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine have shown just how important it is to invest in this crucial link in the agricultural supply chain here at home,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Fertiliser prices have more than doubled since last year due to many factors including Putin’s price hike, a limited supply of the relevant minerals and high energy costs, high global demand and agricultural commodity prices, reliance on fertiliser imports, and lack of competition in the fertiliser industry.

The new programme will support fertiliser production that is:

  • Independent;
  • Made in America;
  • Innovative;
  • Sustainable;
  • Farmer-focused

Secretary Vilsack said, “As I talk to farmers, ranchers and agriculture and food companies about the recent market challenges, I hear significant concerns about whether large companies along the supply chain are taking advantage of the situation by increasing profits—not just responding to supply and demand or passing along the costs.”

USDA will make available $250 million through

AgroPolicy, Biofuel industry, Sugar industry

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Road Transport and Highways was addressing the Sugar & Ethanol India Conference (SEIC) 2022 held in Mumbai.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has given a clarion call to the sugar factories to make a shift to conversion of sugar into ethanol, in line with the realities of changing times and the needs of the nation. The Minister issued a warning to leaders of sugar and allied industries that if sugar production goes ahead as it does now, it will be harmful for the industry in times to come. Reminding them that as a country, we are rice-surplus, corn-surplus and sugar-surplus, Gadkari said that what is good for our future is to reduce production of sugar and increase production of ethanol.

The Minister was addressing the Sugar & Ethanol India Conference (SEIC) 2022 held in Mumbai. The conclave, organized by ChiniMandi, news and information portal for the sugar and allied industries, sought to bring together leading domestic & global industry experts to discuss the top challenges and risk response strategies in domestic and global sugar trade and the way forward to building a more innovative and sustainable Sugar & Ethanol sector in India.

The Minister explained how the economics of ethanol is superior to that of vehicles run by diesel or petrol. “We have issued advisory on flex engines; Toyota, Hundai and Suzuki have assured me that they will bring flex engines within six months. Recently, we launched pilot car run by green hydrogen. Toyota Chairman informed me that their car is flex – either 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent ethanol and that Toyota cars of coming days will be run on hybrid electricity, which will generate 40 per cent electricity and run 60 per cent of the distance using 100 per cent ethanol. This economics will be highly advantageous in comparison to petrol.”

The Minister informed that Govt. of India has decided to open biofuel outlets for citizens to fill ethanol and that cars, scooters, motor cycles and rickshaws can be available on flex engine. “Prime Minister has inaugurated three ethanol pumps in Pune; however, no one has come so far to fill ethanol. However, Bajaj, TVS and Hero have launched motor cycles driven by flex engine; scooters and motor cycles are available on flex engines. They are ready to come up with auto rickshaws as well.”

The Minister exhorted all sugar factories who manufacture ethanol to open ethanol pumps in their factories and other areas. “This can bring in 100 per cent ethanol-run scooters, auto rickshaws and cars and thus increase ethanol consumption, reduce pollution, bring down imports and also provide jobs to people in villages.”

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Road Transport and

AgroPolicy, Agrotech

 Choudhary, was speaking at a FICCI seminar on Consumer Awareness “Jaago Kisan Jaago” on World Consumer Rights Day.

Speaking on occasion, Kailash Choudhary, Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, emphasised the need to connect farming with new technology. He added that farmers need ‘better seeds, lower cost of production, storage and market access’. Alluding to the efforts taken by the government for the farm sector, the minister pointed to the increase in the agriculture budget to around 132,000 crores now, neem coated urea, nano fertiliser, the launch of the eNAM portal, among others. The minister also said that 10,000 FPOs are being formed countrywide to aid farmer groups jointly undertake several post-production activities. “4000 FPOs are already set up,” he said and added, “Every block will have one FPO.”

R.G. Agarwal, Chair of the FICCI Committee on Crop Protection and Chairman, Dhanuka Group, pointed to the need for sensitising farmers to new technology and innovation. “Farmers need knowledge more than subsidy today.” he added.

Agarwal also spoke about the increasing importance of pesticides and other plant protection equipment in farming and the need for genuine bio-stimulants. He alluded to several spurious bio-stimulants in the country harming the farmers.

Talking about the need for plant protection, Dr. P.K. Chakrabarty, Member, ASRB, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India and Former ADG (PP), ICAR, said that 20-40 per cent of production is lost due to improper or no plant protection. He said that this amounts to 90,000 to 100,000 crores in value terms. “If we avoid this loss, we will save an amount almost equal to our agriculture budget,” he said.

Dr. Chakrabarty also stated that India is the fifth largest seed market globally on the back of 49 crop research institutes of ICAR, 45 all-India coordinated projects, 77 State agriculture universities and a robust partnership with the private sector.

Speaking on the need for creating awareness among farmers, Dr. A.K. Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticultural Science), DARE – Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, underscored various tech-led initiatives that the government has taken in reaching out to farmers. He said that more than five crore farmers are registered on the mKisan portal and receive regular updates and Kisan call centres address 20,000 calls every day.

 Choudhary, was speaking at a FICCI seminar

Agro chems – Pesticides, Company News

Vesnit Complete delivers effective and broad-spectrum control of post-emergent grasses & broadleaf weeds in Sugarcane

BASF India has launched new herbicide, “Vesnit Complete” for Sugarcane & Corn which empowers farmers with a whole new level of post-emergent weed control ensuring better yield for their crop.

BASF’s, Vesnit Complete herbicide will be of great help to Farmers. Sugarcane farmers in India now have a new option for grasses & broadleaf weed control with an innovative herbicide, Vesnit Complete by BASF. The new solution empowers farmers with a whole new level of post-emergent weed control ensuring better yield for their crop.

Vesnit Complete delivers effective and broad-spectrum control of post-emergent grasses & broadleaf weeds in Sugarcane. It has a convenient formulation for long-duration control & excellent crop safety.

“Keeping Sugarcane & Cornfields weed-free early in the season can have a major impact on crop yield. Using Vesnit® Complete as a post-emergent herbicide will help Indian farmers keep their fields weed-free during that critical period,” said Rajendra Velagala, Business Director, Agricultural Solutions, South Asia, BASF.

“Farming is the biggest job on earth. At BASF, we are dedicated to listening and working with farmers to understand their needs. In addition to our innovations, our Agricultural Solutions team offer professional and technical support to farmers to help them increase yields.” said Narayan Krishnamohan, Managing Director, BASF India Limited.

Vesnit Complete delivers effective and broad-spectrum control

Company News, Sustainability

Company plans to generate 1 million carbon credits in India by 2023

nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, has become the first company to successfully generate and forward sell agricultural-related carbon credits in India.

nurture.farm’s Alternate Wetting and Drying & Dry Seeded Rice (AWD-DSR) project covered 22,000 acres of rice paddy fields and involved over 2,500 smallholder farmers. This initiative forms a crucial part of nurture.farm’s mission to transition farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices, and reduce the environmental impact of rice cultivation. 20,000 carbon credits were derived from this AWD-DSR project. Its benefits included 15 per cent to 30 per cent of water savings.

Another 120,000 credits are under process from the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Program. The CRM Program empowered over 25,000 farmers to prevent 420,000 acres of farmland being burnt, thereby preventing the generation of 2,135 tonnes of particulate matter, including PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matter.

nurture.farm’s AWD-DSR program is now being submitted to a global validation agency, and in two quarters’ time to the Verified Carbon Standard (Verra) for final verification and credit generation. The CRM Program will follow suit, with submission to the validation agency in the next quarter.

During the last cropping season (Rabi), nurture.farm expanded the AWD-DSR program across an additional 120,000 acres. The company plans to create more carbon credits by further extending its projects. In 2022, nurture.farm’s CRM Program will cover at least one million acres, while it will scale up its AWD-DSR project to 180,000 acres. nurture.farm has set a target to help Indian farmers generate one million carbon credits by 2023, thereby being the leading supplier of nature-based carbon credits in India.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO of nurture.farm, said, “India is well-placed to pioneer agriculture-related carbon credit trading. India is the world’s second-largest producer of key staples including rice, wheat, fruit and vegetables, and agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for over 50 per cent of the population. And yet, India is also the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Since its launch in 2020, more than 1.5 million farmers – who are collectively responsible for over five million acres – use the nurture.farm platform to access the mechanisation services, technology, training, services, market linkages, finance agri-inputs and farm equipment they need to perform sustainable  agricultural practices.

nurture.farm is currently developing protocols for verifying traceable carbon credits through its online platform and will use blockchain technology to trade credits on carbon markets. During the course of 2022, nurture.farm will also establish a common carbon credits registry and trading platform, which utilizes a standardised methodology to simplify traceability and make verification easier.

Company plans to generate 1 million carbon

AgroPolicy

The meeting followed directions from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to scale up shipments in order to alleviate any global supply chain disruptions in view of the geopolitical situation

Amidst a record surge in wheat exports in the current fiscal, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) recently organised a meeting of key stakeholders in the value chain for promoting exports to those countries which have a huge shipment potential.

The meeting, held on March 17, 2022, followed directions from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to scale up shipments in order to alleviate any global supply chain disruptions in view of the geopolitical situation.

The meeting was chaired by APEDA chairman Dr M Angamuthu and had participation of key stakeholders such as traders, exporters, port officials, policy influencers from the Ministries of Food & Consumer Affairs, Railways and officials from various State Governments.

The export of wheat recorded a huge surge at $1742 million during April-January 2021-22, growing 387 per cent over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched $340.17 million.

India has reported a wheat export worth of $2352.22 million in the last three years, including the first ten months of current fiscal 2021-22. In 2019-20, the wheat export was worth $61.84 million which rose to $549.67 million in 2020-21.

India is in final talks to start wheat export to Egypt, while discussions are going on with countries like Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran, etc to start wheat export.

The meeting followed directions from the Ministry

AgroPolicy, Trade

The export of maize increased nearly six-fold, taking the total value of shipment to $1593.73 million in the last three years despite logistical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak

The export of maize has touched $816.31 million in the first ten months of current fiscal 2021-22 (April-January), already exceeding the $634.85 million achieved during the last financial year.

From an exports realisation of $142.8 million in 2019-20, the export of maize increased nearly six-fold, taking the total value of shipment to $1593.73 million in the last three years despite logistical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

“The significant rise in agri-exports is seen as a testimony of the government’s commitment to increase farmers’ income through creating requisite infrastructure and improving value chains on boosting exports of agricultural and processed food products,” Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA said.

Neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal are the major importers of maize from India. Bangladesh has imported maize worth $345.5 million in the current fiscal (April-January), while Nepal has imported maize worth $132.16 million during this period.

With initiatives of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to explore and diversify new markets, Vietnam has emerged as a major destination for export of maize. India exported maize worth $244.24 million to Vietnam in the first ten months of current fiscal (April-January 2021-22). Other prominent importing countries are Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Taiwan, Oman, etc.

The export of maize increased nearly six-fold,

Company News

The alliance is supported by the global partner Bayer, and the local partners AMSA (Agroindustrias Unidas de México) and Yara

Founded in 2018 by Bayer, IFC and Netafim, the Better Life Farming (BLF) Alliance has been launched in Latin America starting with the opening of the first BLF Centre in Córdoba, Mexico in February 2022. The Alliance is supported by the global partner Bayer, and the local partners AMSA (Agroindustrias Unidas de México) and Yara. It brings together global as well as local private and public organisations to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and their communities in low- and middle-income countries. Assessment studies are underway for further expansion plans of BLF in Latin America, Africa and Asia in 2022 to help unlock full potential of smallholder farmers.

“The concept of Better Life Farming is to build partnership ecosystems that are able to address farmers needs by providing advanced agronomic solutions, good agricultural practices, on-farm training, market access to help farmers grow their farms into commercially viable and sustainable farming businesses, rather than just a means to thrive”, said Dr Lino Dias, Vice President of Smallholder Farming at Bayer’s Crop Science division.

The initiative seeks to facilitate agricultural capacity building in rural areas across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It acts as a last-mile delivery solution to provide smallholder farmers access to high-quality agricultural inputs, services, and training needed to enable local farmers’ capacity building and connection to the food value chain.

Today, BLF already reaches more than 600.000 smallholders in India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The alliance has successfully operated more than 1.600 BLF Centres in 2021, thanks to the vast number of motivated local agri-entrepreneurs including many women, committed to making a difference in their communities.

The alliance is supported by the global

AgroPolicy

Plant Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA) delegation meets Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel to enable the plant-based food ecosystem in India.

The delegation, led by the Association’s Executive Director, Sanjay Sethi, briefed the Union Minister on the state of the nascent but rapidly expanding plant – based food sector in India. Noting that the sector was poised for explosive growth, Sethi sought the Union Minister’s guidance and support to turn it into a major industry catering to both domestic and global markets through policy changes, capacity building, enabling ease of business and other interventions. The global plant-based food market is expected to reach 77.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2025.

The Minister of State for M/o Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel asked PBFIA to have a special meeting with the Ministry to discuss Cold Chain logistics and explore what can be done to smoothen daily parcel operations between major cities for the industry. Patel asked Gaurav Sishodia, AVP, and Invest India, who was also present at the meeting, to collaborate with PBFIA for its various initiatives.

Sethi said that he is delighted that the Minister has sought the PBFIA’s assistance to organise two major events, one involving all the Indian stakeholders in the plant based ecosystem, and another where international players would be invited as well, in order to understand and address all the challenges faced by the industry. The Minister also appreciated the youthful energy and enthusiasm of the PBFIA delegation.

Plant Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA) delegation