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Company News, Finance

The company plans to go in for a brownfield project in the coming years

Agri-sciences company PI Industries plans Capex of around Rs 500 crore for the coiming year. This was stated by Manikantan Viswanathan, Chief Financial Officer, PI Industries.

According to Rajnish Sarna, Joint MD, PI Industries the Capex is likely to be used for maintenance, R&D etc. The company plans to go in for a brownfield project in the coming years.

The total Capex for PI Industries Ltd. for FY22 stood at Rs 320.4 crore.

The company plans to go in for

Company News, Finance

The company posted a 116 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 152 crore for fiscal 2021-22

Surat-based Anupam Rasayan India will raise funds for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 800 crore through the issue of equity shares by way of a qualified institution’s placement (QIP), under the relevant provisions of applicable laws and subject to the approval of the company’s shareholders and receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.

The company has posted a 116 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 152 crore for fiscal 2021-22. The company’s revenues grew 31 per cent during the fiscal year at Rs 1,066 crore against Rs 810 crore in FY 2021. Net profit in the fourth quarter more than doubled and reached Rs 46.102 crores as against Rs 22.144 crores last year.

The company posted a 116 per cent

Agrotech, Middle East countries, Start ups

AgNext is uniquely positioned to provide pioneering technologies that can be instrumental in fostering a digitized ecosystem for quality-based food trade in the MENA region.

Gurugram based Agritech start up AgNext Technologies, a leading agritech start-up, has opened its first international office in the Middle East, as a part of its global expansion strategy. Located in Abu Dhabi, the office will serve as the company’s international headquarters to facilitate overseas operations in MENA markets. With the aim to bring deep-tech enabled solutions for improved, quality-driven food trade, the company will be forging a high-impact leadership team that will be based in Abu Dhabi.

Speaking about the expansion, Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, Founder & CEO, AgNext Technologies said, “After establishing market leadership in India, we are excited to enter the UAE, which is a recognized world leader in food trade and agriculture 4.0. AgNext is uniquely positioned to provide pioneering technologies that can be instrumental in fostering a digitized ecosystem for quality-based food trade in the MENA region. By connecting buyers and sellers on the axis of quality through AgNext Global Network (AGN), we can deliver superior market linkages, end-to-end traceability and export fulfillment. This ultimately culminates into an improved food trade experience with better price realization for our customers. The country’s food trade potential is immense and it offers us fertile grounds to facilitate our global expansion plans for MENA and other markets.”

It is estimated that lack of quality assessment solutions lead to approximately $90 billion in losses globally in agricultural trade. AgNext has innovated deep-tech enabled solutions that address this issue and provides blockchain-enabled traceability across the supply chain. The company has the largest commodity portfolio across grains, oilseeds and pulses, spices, animal feed and beverages segment, with comprehensive physical and chemical analysis solutions. AgNext has collected over 3 million+ food samples to build unique and massive datasets across diverse food categories.

By opening their first international office in Abu Dhabi, AgNext will work to deepen their reach into the MENA markets by diversifying its commodities portfolio and accelerating innovation to drive quality-based food trade.

AgNext is uniquely positioned to provide pioneering

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, India

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs & Food and Public Distribution, Commerce & Industry, and Textiles was speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.

India will continue to allow wheat export for countries which are in serious need, are friendly and have the letter of credit, said Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs & Food and Public Distribution, Commerce & Industry, and Textiles while speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.

 Goyal highlighted that while 7 per cent to 8 per cent rise in wheat production was expected this year, severe heat waves led to early harvest and loss of production. “Given this situation, what we are producing is about enough for domestic consumption,” Goyal added.

India was never a traditional player in the international wheat market and export of wheat only began about 2 years ago. Speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs & Food and Public Distribution, Commerce & Industry, and Textiles said that last year 7 LMT wheat was exported and majority was done within the last two months when the war between Russia-Ukraine developed.

 “India wheat exports are less than 1 per cent of world trade and our export regulation should not affect global markets. We continue to allow exports to vulnerable countries and neighbors,” the Minister said.

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs

Agrotech, North America, Packaging & Labelling

It eradicates causes of premature moulding, wilting and spoilage of peel-less and packaged produce like berries, leafy greens, grapes, mini cucumbers

SAVRpak, a US-based food technology innovation company, has announced the launch of SAVRpak Drop-In, the first-ever moisture control technology that extends the shelf-life and freshness of produce up to three times.

It creates the perfect atmosphere inside the package for a longer period by eradicating a number of causes of premature moulding, wilting and spoilage of peel-less and packaged produce including berries, leafy greens, grapes, mini cucumbers and others. Successful trials have been completed with Divine Flavor, Ocati, RCG Fruits, and Agrovision.

The SAVRpak Drop-In is a thermodynamic, biodegradable, chemical-free pouch that is placed in produce packaging before being sealed. Within minutes, SAVRpak’s Atmospheric Control and Transmission (ACT) technology begins purifying the atmosphere within the package to slow the aging process by targeting conditions that affect shelf-life, such as excess moisture and condensation, as well as external contaminants like bacteria. As a result, this extends the marketable shelf-life of produce by up to three times – ultimately giving consumers a longer window to enjoy produce at home while reducing waste.

It eradicates causes of premature moulding, wilting

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Start ups

The five-day RIBC 2.0 will be held in association with the Kasaragod-based Central Plantation Crops Research Institute

The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the nodal agency of the Government of Kerala, to promote innovative technical solutions in agriculture, will conduct a ‘Rural-AgriTech Hackathon’ on the sidelines of the Rural India Business Conclave 2.0 (RIBC 2.0). The hackathon will commence on June 9.

The five-day RIBC 2.0 will be held in association with the Kasaragod-based Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI). The hackathon will be held at Wintouch Palm Meadows, Kasaragod, while the CPCRI will be the venue for RIBC 2.0.

Students from the technology sector, researchers, start-ups, and professionals can participate in the hackathon for which there is no registration fee. Participants with the best solutions relating to agriculture, including food production, will get an opportunity to take forward their research in association with CPCRI.

The five-day RIBC 2.0 will be held

Finance, Schemes - NABARD, Water

The Saurashtra-Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana or SAUNI Yojana has been launched to divert one million acre-feet of flood waters from Narmada to the Saurashtra region

Under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs 3,245 crore for irrigation and rural drinking water supply projects in Gujarat for 2021-22.

“This is the highest allocation for loan assistance to projects in the state,” said a senior NABARD official. Compared to the Rs 2,989 crore sanctioned in 2020’21, the sanctioned amount under RIDF for 2021-22 was 8.5 per cent more.

The irrigation projects to receive sanction for 2021-22 are two packages of SAUNT Link 3 projects worth Rs 336 crore. The Saurashtra-Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana or SAUNI Yojana has been launched to divert one million acre-feet of flood waters from Narmada to the Saurashtra region.

The Link 3 of SAUNI will connect 28 reservoirs of Rajkot, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Morbi and Surendranagar with a 66-kilometre water project.

The other irrigation projects to receive sanction include a Rs 194-crore lift irrigation project in the tribal district of Dahod, Rs 273 crore Panam reservoir based lift irrigation scheme, Rs 114 crore Panam high-level canal-based lift irrigation scheme and Rs 231 crore Vaghrech recharge project. These irrigation projects will increase the irrigation facilities by 75,112 hectares.

The Saurashtra-Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana or SAUNI

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agro chems – Pesticides, Company News

Three insecticides, one herbicide and one fungicide were added to the portfolio

Coromandel International has introduced five new products in its crop protection range: three insecticides, one herbicide and one fungicide into their portfolio. The meeting was attended by 200 dealers along with 50 employees. 

OFFICER is a new generation selective herbicide. It is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide that controls almost all categories of weeds in paddy. ORTAIN SUPER is a combination insecticide for paddy, has a dual mode of action for resistance management and provides effective control over both lepidopteran and sucking pests. PHENDAL PLUS insecticide for paddy prevent resistance development with its dual mode of action and has a knockdown effect causing faster kill of target pests. CANISTER is a broad-spectrum insecticide for chilli having effective control on mites, whiteflies and thrips, has control in all stages of mite’s lifecycle and has a long residual action that results in long-duration control. PROP – PLUS is a combination of two highly systemic triazole fungicides resulting in two different modes of action that help in resistance management for paddy, offer effective disease control, has less foam formation and have good rain fastness.

Sameer Goel, MD, Coromandel International said, “Coromandel will continue to develop innovative products in Nutrition and Crop Protection segments to serve the farming community.”

Three insecticides, one herbicide and one fungicide

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agro chems – Pesticides, Agrotech, Nature, Sustainability

The purpose of the awards is to address the pressing need to develop alternatives to chemical crop protection in sustainable food production

The World BioProtection Forum (WBF) hosted the 2nd Annual World BioProtection Summit and Awards 2022 at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham (UK), to address the pressing need to develop alternatives to chemical crop protection in sustainable food production.

The winners are:

  • Best Bioinsecticide Product – Cearitis for PIRA, an autonomous device that diffuses a natural attractant to trap fruit flies outside of olive orchards.
  • Best Biofungicide Product – Biotalys for Evoca, and Oro Agri for PREV-AM®.
  • Best Biochemical Product – STK Bio-Ag Technologies for REGEV, the first ‘hybrid’ foliar fungicide.
  • Best Biostimulant Product – FMC Corporation for Accudo, a versatile microbial biostimulant, and Sri Bio for IndiRoots, a unique granular formulation of multi-microbial plant stimulants.
  • Best Biofertiliser Product – Tradecorp, for Phós’UP, a new biofertiliser coming to the market this year.
  • Best Innovative Research Project of the Year –International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for Aflasafe, a solution to the problem of aflatoxin contamination in agricultural produce.
  • Industry Collaboration of the Year – UPL and Zespri Kiwifruit who worked together on a new product called Aureo Gold.
  • Biotech Start-up Business of The Year – Botanical Solutions Inc (BSI).
  • Best Young Entrepreneur Award – Dr Fatma Kaplan, Founder and CEO of Pheronym.
  • Outstanding Achievement Award – Dr Willem Ravensberg, Corporate Sr Regulatory and Governmental Affairs Manager, Koppert Biological Systems.

The purpose of the awards is to

Agro Universities, Live Stock

The researchers found that combined and coordinated use of Forest Rangers and drones were a good way to protect wildlife from poaching

Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Harvard University researchers have developed a novel Machine Learning algorithm named ‘CombSGPO’ (Combined Security Game Policy Optimisation) that can help in saving wildlife from poaching.

The researchers found that combined and coordinated use of Forest Rangers and drones were a good way to protect wildlife from poaching. As the resources (Rangers and drones) are limited, the researchers developed this algorithm which provides a good strategy to protect wildlife with the resources available. This new algorithm provides highly efficient strategies that are more scalable than the earlier ones created for the same purpose.

The algorithm works by handling resource allocation and strategising patrolling after the extent of resources available had been identified. For this task, it utilises data on the animal population in the conserved area and assumes that poachers are aware about the patrolling being done at various sites.

Prof Balaraman Ravindran, Mindtree Faculty Fellow and Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, and the Head of Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras, collaborated with Prof Milind Tambe’s Research Group – Teamcore – at Harvard University, US, to carry out this study.

The work has been peer-reviewed and was well received at the 20th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems. 

Prof Balaraman Ravindran, Head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras, said, “The work was motivated by the need to perform strategic resource allocation and patrolling in green security domains to prevent illegal activities such as wildlife poaching, illegal logging and illegal fishing. The resources we consider are human patrollers (forest rangers) and surveillance drones, which have object detectors mounted on them for animals and poachers and can perform strategic signalling and communicate with each other as well as the human patrollers.”

To extend this research for application in domains such as security, search and rescue and aerial mapping for agriculture among others, the team is trying to perform sample-efficient multi-agent reinforcement learning to learn with the least amount of data since data collection is costly in a real-world scenario.

The researchers found that combined and coordinated

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Start ups, Sustainability

Guwahati Declaration encourages advancement in discoveries through sustainable routes

Guwahati Declaration was recently unveiled by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education, Entrepreneurship and Skill Development and Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam during the recently held North East Research Conclave (NERC) 2022 at IIT Guwahati.

The Guwahati Declaration launched at the valedictory function of the conclave by Lok Ranjan, Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), in the presence of Kailash Karthik, Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup is intended to create a set of guidelines, through which individual, as well as a collective responsibility to promote and encourage innovation at the grass-root level and strive to stimulate and execute indigenisation and entrepreneurship, can be taken up. It also encourages advancement in discoveries through sustainable routes.

At least 100 start-ups are expected to be incubated with around 100 doctoral students to be added within the next three years. The ecosystem support necessary for these developments will be provided for achieving their success. 

Under this declaration, a framework to achieve holistic and converging objectives and build targeted mission-mode collaborative efforts will be initiated. Progress on ten broad thrust areas will be initiated that would lead to sustainable socio-economic development, efficient bio-resources utilisation, automation of indigenous tools and technology, disaster management, and climate change aspects. 

These broad working areas include: 

1. Biomedical and environmental devices development and testing

2. Food processing technology

3. Advanced functional materials and biomaterials

4. Drug discovery from natural resources

5. Drone technology development and application

6. High altitude waste management

7. Fossil fuel and alternative energy utilisation and devices

8. Geo-spatial technology

9. Livelihood projects

10. Automation in agriculture, sericulture, pisciculture

The declaration requires individuals and institutions to build upon their strengths and expertise for promoting and nurturing innovation at the grass-root level, engaging individuals from an early level to inculcate the values of innovative thinking and collective growth. 

Institutes and universities across the northeast region and nation will have to be intertwined with various state and central government ministries, PSUs and industries and create a knowledge centre, facilitating the declaration objectives. 

Guwahati Declaration encourages advancement in discoveries through

Agro chems – Chemicals, Finance

Profit After Tax also registered a robust growth of 51 % YoY at ₹ 38.16 Crores in comparison to ₹ 25.28 Crores reported in Q4 FY21

Best Agrolife Ltd has announced its financial results for Q4 FY22 in its Board of Directors meeting. The fastest-growing agrochemical company in India has reported robust financial results for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2022 and for the full financial year 2021-22.

Commenting on the results, Managing Director of Best Agrolife Ltd (BAL), Vimal Alawadhi said, “Other than grabbing the registration for the indigenous manufacturing of a number of crucial technicals and pesticides we also bagged two major patents namely Ronfen and Shot Down. We registered remarkable income growth this year, and we closed it with good business momentum. We also started operations in our subsidiary Seedlings India Pvt Ltd plant and our acquired J&K-based unit Agrico which will definitely push the formulation segment and increase the brand business significantly. Overall, the company is in a strong position to utilize the future opportunities and is looking forward to explore the markets outside India in order to expand our global footprints. ”

“The company expects this trend to continue in FY2023. Our R&D team is coming up with a number of innovative and niche chemistry-led products in the coming year thus creating an extremely strong pipeline of business. Our newly launched high-precision products namely Ronfen, Warden, Reveal, Tombo, and Axeman will not only act as real differentiators from conventional crop solutions for farmers but create value for all our stakeholders by increasing the revenue significantly. With our focus on niche products, we are targeting a growth of around 30 per cent and an EBITA of more than 20 per cent in the coming year,”Vimal Alawadhi added further.

Consolidated Key Highlights-Q4 FY 22

The company recorded revenue of ₹ 309.35 Crores for the quarter ended 31 March 2022, a growth of 48.6 per cent YoY as against ₹ 208.13 Crores in Q4 FY21

EBITDA at ₹ 62.1 Crores grew significantly by 68.1% YoY as against ₹ 36.95 Crores in Q4 FY21; EBITDA margin for the quarter was at 20.07 per cent.

PBT was at ₹ 49.33 Crores, a growth of 42.4 % YoY over ₹34.65 Crores reported in the corresponding quarter previous year

PBT also registered a robust growth of 51 % YoY at ₹ 38.16 Crores in comparison to ₹ 25.28 Crores reported in Q4 FY21

Consolidated Key Highlights- FY 22

The company recorded revenue of ₹ 1210.79 Crores in FY22, a growth of 33.7 per cent as against ₹ 905.45 Crores in  FY21

EBITDA at ₹ 165.81 Crores grew significantly by 224 per cent as against ₹ 51.18 Crores in FY21; EBITDA margin for FY22 was at 13.69 per cent with respect to 5.65 per cent in FY21.

Profit After Tax also registered a robust

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, Seeds, Vegetables

Bayer will work toward increasing the sustainable productivity for 100 million smallholder farmers through empowerment and access to agricultural products and expertise by 2030.

Joining like-minded companies in the private sector, Bayer has signed the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge with a 160 million U.S. dollar commitment dedicated to help end global hunger. The Pledge recognizes the need for governments and the private sector to work together to end food scarcity. Companies taking the pledge commit to investing money, resources and expertise in areas of concern within regions where they do business. Bayer’s commitment will go toward communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“At Bayer, where we work every day toward realizing our vision of Health for all, Hunger for none, it’s agonizing to know that one in every 10 people worldwide goes to bed hungry,” said Rodrigo Santos, Member of the Board of Bayer AG and President of the company’s Crop Science Division who will outline Bayer’s commitment during a panel discussion in the Sustainable Development Goals tent at The World Economic Forum in Davos. “This crisis affects us all and needs the support of everyone to solve it. Our pledge further puts into practice Bayer’s commitment to help end hunger through alignment of our investments and business operations to achieve this goal.”

As a global leader in agriculture dedicated to advancing sustainable farming for the benefit of growers, consumers, and the planet, Bayer drives its Zero Hunger Pledge commitments on multiple levels. This includes helping smallholder farmer’s access seeds which contain the latest technology, educating communities on sustainable agricultural practices, providing growers with farming solutions, and introducing smallholder farmers to new income-generating opportunities.

More than half of Bayer’s investment to be in vegetable seeds and R&D to support smallholder farmers.Through Bayer’s Vegetable Seeds business, these farmers will receive improved varieties of quality seeds critical to local diets like okra and bitter gourd. They will also gain access to innovative farming solutions, designed to reduce field and post-harvest losses, such as in the Ansal tomato. This variety provides longer shelf life and fruit firmness which is already helping to decrease losses in India from about 30 percent to less than 10 percent. Donating vegetable seeds to nonprofit organizations is also part of the commitment, to help combat hunger and promote the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Bayer will work toward increasing the sustainable

Agro Universities, Sustainability, Water

Various schemes and subsidiaries of the department of soil conservation related to drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation were discussed

Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Ludhiana under the aegis of the Directorate of Extension Education, PAU & ICAR ATARI Zone-1 recently organised a seminar on water conservation through adoption of various resource conservation technologies on May 24, 2022.

The programme was organised under the guidance of Dr Ashok Kumar, Director of Extension Education, PAU, Ludhiana to sensitise farmers for saving water. “Little effort goes a long way and we as a progressive community must learn from other communities in world already facing severe water scarcity,” he added.

Dr GS Makkar, Deputy Director (Trg), KVK Ludhiana apprised that about 40 farmers, officers from Department of Soil Conservation and representatives of Jain Irrigation participated in the seminar for deliberations on micro irrigation technology and direct seeded rice. Dr Makkar added that KVK Samrala is organising a series of programmes on water conservation to give a clear and loud message to all stakeholder on saving water. He informed that KVK has drip irrigation system installed on 3.5 acres and recently sprinkler irrigation system is installed on two acres.

Er Lovepreet Singh, SCO, Samrala discussed various schemes and subsidiaries of the department of soil conservation related to drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation. He stressed on active adoption of drip irrigation technology to save the vital natural resource.

Rajat Chowdary and Jagdish Kumar from Jain irrigation system discussed the concept, design and installation of micro irrigation system i.e. drip irrigation and micro sprinkler system at farmer’s field.

Dr Harshneet Singh, Assistant Professor (Soil Sci.) emphasised the need of soil testing before going for DSR in their field. He also discussed the detailed agronomic practices for DSR with special emphasis on the management of weeds and iron deficiency.

Er Karun Sharma, Assistant Professor, FM&PE discussed the scope of modification of zero till drill/ happy seeder for direct seeding of rice where the farmers don’t have access to the lucky seed drill.

Field demonstration on working of sprinkler irrigation, maintenance of its assembly, distribution of literature on micro irrigation system, direct seeded rice and soil testing were the main attractions of the programme. 

Dr Devinder Tiwari, Assistant Professor (Ext. Edu.) motivated farmers to come up for this noble cause and proposed a vote of thank to activate participation of all participants.

Various schemes and subsidiaries of the department