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AgroPolicy, Agrotech

Various famers across the country stated their experiences and benefits on using drones as a tool for agriculture

Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia interacted with various farmers across the country on the benefits and challenges of Kisan Drones. The interaction took place under ‘Samvaad with Scindia, an interactive programme in which minister interacted with the farmers and drone users directly.

He shared the various government policies related to drones and how farmers can benefit from them. These includes:

  1. Liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 has been notified on August 25, 2021
  2. Drone Airspace Map has been published on September 24, 2021, opening up nearly 90 per cent of Indian airspace as a green zone for drone flying up to 400 feet
  3. Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones has been notified on September 30, 2021
  4. UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Policy Framework has been published on October 24, 2021
  5. Monetary grant program for purchase of agricultural drones was announced by the Union Agriculture Ministry on January 22, 2022. 
  6. All five application forms under Drone Rules, 2021 have been made online on the DigitalSky Platform on January 26, 2022
  7. Drone certification scheme has been notified on January 6, 2022, making it easier to obtain type certificate by drone manufacturers.
  8. Drone import policy has been notified on February 9, 2022, banning import of foreign drones and freeing up import of drone components
  9. Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2022 has been notified on 11th February 2022, abolishing the requirement of a drone pilot licence. The remote pilot certificate issued by a DGCA-authorised drone school is adequate for operating drones. 
  10. Applications from drone and drone component manufacturers for PLI scheme for drones and drone components were invited between March 10 to 31, 2022. 

Various farmers across the country stated their experiences and benefits on using drones as a tool for agriculture. Farmers also asked various questions to minister related to drones. The discussion was moderated by Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary who heads the drone division at Ministry of Civil Aviation.

On the question of high fee for drone pilot training, the minister said, “The fees of a drone pilot course are currently quite high but you should not worry at all as when the number of drone schools keep increasing, the cost of training drone pilots will keep on decreasing and you will see revolution within the next three to four months as we keep increasing the number of such schools. The country definitely needs more drone pilots and it is for this reason that their certification process has been completely decentralised. So, now, the DGCA will only certify drone schools, and it is the drone school concerned which will grant certificates to pilots which will completely remove bureaucracy from this process.” In the last six months, DGCA has certified 23 schools for training drone pilots, he further added.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation had earlier this month invited second round of applications for the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme that was announced last year to boost drone manufacturing in India. The deadline for submitting the application form is 2359 hours on May 20, 2022.The final list of PLI beneficiaries is expected to be released by June 30, 2022 after detailed scrutiny of their financial results and other specified documents. 

Various famers across the country stated their

Agrotech, Dairy, Finance, Start ups

The total investment capital is to the tune of $28 M

FoodTech startup Imagindairy, developer of animal-free milk proteins, secured an additional $15 million in its extended seed-round. The initial round in November 2021 brought in $13 million. This brings the total investment capital to $28 million, making it one of the highest-earning seed rounds in the alternative protein space.

The funding was led by Target Global and joined by the company’s existing investors Strauss Group, Emerald Technology Ventures, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures, Collaborative Fund, New Climate Ventures, and FoodSparks by PeakBridge, demonstrating a robust commitment to the company’s future progress.

“This extremely successful seed round reflects a strong vote of confidence in Imagindairy and its vision to lead the animal-free dairy industry,” enthuses Eyal Afergan, Co-Founder and CEO, Imagindairy. “This substantial injection of capital will serve to advance our ability to make true dairy alternative products a day-to-day reality.”

The funds raised in this seed round will be used to accelerate the company’s R&D efforts to launch a range of real dairy products without using animals. It also will help attract additional talent to its expanding workforce. Imagindairy is currently in dialogue with major dairy food producers seeking to diversify their product portfolios.

The total investment capital is to the

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Environment, Sustainability

The seminar registered participation by more than 500 participants

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad in collaboration with the Karnataka Agri-Professionals Association (KAPA) recently organised a National Seminar-cum-Webinar on ‘Climate Change Concerns: Challenges for Agriculture Sector and Food & Nutrition Security.’

Dr Jaqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT, Patancheru, Telangana delivered the Keynote Address and Dr CL Laxmipathi Gowda, Former Deputy Director General, ICRISAT chaired the inauguration session.
Dr Ramesh Kalghatagi, President, KAPA outlined the functioning of the KAPA.

Dr Himanshu Pathak, Director, ICAR-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati, Maharashtra delivered the valedictory address on “Emerging Technologies and Innovations for Addressing Climate Change in Agriculture”.

Earlier, delivering the welcome address, Dr Vilas A. Tonapi, Director, ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad underlined the main objective of the National Seminar-cum-Webinar.
The seminar registered participation by more than 500 participants from ICAR Institutes, ICRISAT, state agricultural universities and private sector companies from all over the country.

The seminar registered participation by more than

Agro Universities, Agrotech

Naidu stressed, the sectors need innovations and use of frontier technologies which can be disseminated through the agri-business professionals

The 4th Graduation Ceremony of Post-Graduate Diploma in Management-Agri Business Management (PGDM-ABM) Programme of ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad was recently held.

M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice-President of India warded the degrees to 144 students from four batches of the Institute. One student from each batch was also awarded with the Director’s Medal for their Outstanding Overall Performances and Gold Medal for their Best Academic Performances by the Vice-President of India. He also accentuated the country could become Aatma Nirbhar only when the agriculture sector continues to grow in the future as well. Naidu stressed, the sectors need innovations and use of frontier technologies which can be disseminated through the agri-business professionals.

The Guest of Honour, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) commended the PGDM-ABM Programme of the Academy which not only achieved 100 per cent placement; but, also provided the quality manpower to the agri-business industry and start-ups. The academy’s contributions of capacity building of the NARS and Think-Tank Research Policy Development in Agriculture and Food Systems for the country were applauded by the Director General.

Earlier, welcoming the dignitaries, Dr Ch Srinivasa Rao, Director, ICAR-NAARM, Hyderabad underlined the institute’s overall achievements of skill development, education programmes, placement activities, international training and policy development covering all the sub-sectors of agriculture.

Naidu stressed, the sectors need innovations and

Acquaculture, Environment, Sustainability

Discussions were held on the importance of conservation and ranching and its impacts on the socio-economic development of the fishers of the Ganga River

G Ashok Kumar, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India inaugurated the National Ranching Programme launched by the ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata.

The ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore launched the Programme by releasing 2 Lakhs Wild Fish Germplasm of IMC (Labeo rohita, Labeo catla and Cirrhinus mrigala) in the Ganga River at Gandhi Ghat, Barrackpore, West Bengal.

In his inaugural address, Kumar stated that through the Arth-Ganga Initiative, the National Mission for Clean Ganga is not only trying to save the endangered species of fishes; but, also increasing the population of the native fishes to ensure sustained livelihood for the fishermen community. The importance of conservation and ranching and its impacts on the socio-economic development of the fishers of the Ganga River was highlighted by Kumar.

Dr BK Das, Director, ICAR- CIFRI, Barrackpore underlined the releasing of 20 Lakhs Wild Fish Germplasm of IMC under the Programme at 10 locations all along the Ganga River in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. During the Mass Awareness Campaign on ‘Hilsa and Dolphin Conservation’ organised as a part of the Programme, Dr Das sensitised the fishermen and made them aware about the significance of conserving the Gangetic fishes including prised Hilsa.

Discussions were held on the importance of

AgroPolicy, Allied Industry

The council will be formed under the Chairmanship of Suresh Bhai Kotak

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has announced formation of Cotton Council of India, under Chairmanship of Suresh Bhai Kotak, a renowned veteran cotton man, with representation from Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Industry, Cotton Corporation of India and Cotton Research Institute. The first meeting of proposed council has been scheduled on May 28, 2022. The council will discuss, deliberate and prepare a robust action plan for bringing out a tangible improvement in this field.

The announcement came during a meeting with stakeholders from cotton value chain, held under the Chairmanship of Goyal wherein Minister of State for Textiles Darshna Jardosh, Secretary Textiles and Secretary Agriculture were also present.

In the meeting, a cross-section of views and suggestions were deliberated for softening cotton and yard prices on urgent basis, to address unprecedented price rise witnessed in the current season. It was pointed out that cotton productivity is the biggest challenge in the country, resulting thereby less cotton production despite largest area under cotton cultivation. The minister emphasised upon the need for making available better quality of seeds to improve productivity of cotton farmers.

Addressing the meeting, Goyal gave a clear and loud message to all stakeholders to resolve cotton and yarn price issue, in the spirit of collaboration rather than competition and super profiteering, without pushing government to intervene as it may have long term impact on cotton value chain.

He also emphasised the need of holding hands of cotton farmers who is the weakest part of cotton value chain, besides extending all possible support to stakeholders engaged in the backward and forward integration through out of box thinking at this critical juncture.

Pointing out that government is committed to protect the interests of cotton farmers, spinners and weavers, the minister assured to actively consider the demand of the spinning sector for exemption from import duty on those import contracts in which bills of lading is issued upto September 30, 2022 to overcome current cotton shortage and logistic issues.

Goyal also appealed to the spinning and trading community to ensure hassle free supply of cotton and yarn first to the domestic industry and only surplus cotton and yarn should be diverted for exports. He cautioned that export should not be at the cost of domestic industry which is the largest generator of employment in the country.

The council will be formed under the

Trade

The government also allowed a wheat consignment headed for Egypt, which was already under loading at the Kandla port

The government of India has announced some relaxation to its order dated May 13, 2022, issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of Commerce on restricting wheat exports. It has been decided that wherever wheat consignments have been handed over to Customs for examination and have been registered into their systems on or prior to May 13, 2022, such consignments would be allowed to be exported.

The government also allowed a wheat consignment headed for Egypt, which was already under loading at the Kandla port. This followed a request by the Egyptian government to permit the wheat cargo being loaded at the Kandla port. M/s Mera International India, the company engaged for export of the wheat to Egypt, had also given a representation for completion of loading of 61,500 MT of wheat of which 44,340 MT of wheat had already been loaded and only 17,160 MT was left to be loaded. The government decided to permit the full consignment of 61,500 MT and allowed it to sail from Kandla to Egypt.

According to this order, this restriction would not apply in cases where prior commitments have been made by private trade through Letter of Credit as well as in situations where permission is granted by the Government of India to other countries to meet their food security needs and on the requests of their governments.

The government also allowed a wheat consignment

Company News

Corteva, Inc has announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Chuck Magro, will speak at the BMO Global Farm to Market Conference at 11:00 am Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. BMO Capital Markets hosts a variety of conferences each year that bring together institutional investors with corporate or government entities that need capital. 

Remarks will be webcast live. Registration for the webcast can be accessed through the Corteva Investor Relations website. A replay of the presentation will be available after the presentation ends and will be accessible for 90 days.

Corteva is a publicly traded, global pure-play agriculture company that combines industry-leading innovation, high-touch customer engagement and operational execution to profitably deliver solutions for the world’s most pressing agriculture challenges.

Corteva, Inc has announced that its Chief

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Sustainability

The facility will transform rural Maharashtra through Disruptive Agricultural Technologies (DATs) 

The Government of Maharashtra and World Bank, in a joint endeavour, have launched the ‘SMART Agtech Integration Facility 2022’ to transform rural Maharashtra through Disruptive Agricultural Technologies (DATs). This facility is presently seeking applications from DAT solution providers, with a presence in India, to bring in digital and technical innovations in the agriculture sector. The facility will enable selected DAT solution providers to work directly with the Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in Maharashtra to implement transformative solutions.

The project aims to enable collectives of smallholder farmers to participate in competitive agriculture value chains, facilitate agri-business investments, increase market access and productivity, and build the resilience of crops to recurrent floods or droughts in the state. A key sub-component of the project is to facilitate the adoption of DATs among CBOs in the state. The SMART Agtech Integration Facility 2022 will identify relevant DAT solution providers and facilitate interactions between the technology providers and CBOs to enable customisation and adoption of appropriate solutions. 

The SMART Agtech Integration Facility 2022 is supported by a grant from the Korea World Bank Partnership Facility (KWPF), a collaboration between Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) and the World Bank. The grant marks the first KWPF initiative in India. Intellecap, a pioneer in enabling ecosystems and channelling capital to nurture a sustainable and equitable society, is supporting the execution of the grant.

The SMART AgTech Integration Facility is seeking support from DAT solution providers specifically for (1) implementing digitisation solutions for farmer collectives, (2) building value chain actor aggregation platforms, (3) enabling precision agriculture and automation services, (4) working with urban food systems and logistics solutions, (5) developing market linkage and traceability solutions, and (6) facilitating access to financial services.

The facility will transform rural Maharashtra through

Agrotech, Bee keeping, North America, R&D

The trial is being conducted to achieve a proof of concept for greater yield with BVT’s natural precision agriculture system

Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. has announced the Company’s first US demonstration trial on stone fruit, with a conventional cherry grower in Washington. The trial began during the mid-April bloom period and will continue through summer harvest.

The United States is the world’s second-largest cherry producer, second only to Turkey, (1) with cherries representing the most acreage of all stone fruits. There are an estimated 85,000 acres of sweet cherries in the US, (2) with Washington, California and Oregon growing almost 90 per cent of the country’s total yield. There are an additional 32,000 acres of tart cherries grown in the US, of which 75 per cent are in Michigan. (3) 

“This initial stone fruit trial marks BVT’s entry into the important US stone fruit market,” said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. “In addition to cherries, stone fruits include peaches, nectarines, plums, prunes, and apricots, all grown on more than 270,000 acres(4) of farmland in the US. This is a very attractive crop grouping for BVT because of their high use of paid pollination hives, with over 75% of cherry acres (5) using pollination services.”

The trial is being conducted to achieve a proof of concept for greater yield with BVT’s natural precision agriculture system. It uses BVT’s proprietary Vectorite™ with CR-7 (Clonostachys rosea CR-7) biological fungicide, applied through the process of bee vectoring directly onto cherry blooms.

 “Pollination is a vital element of stone fruit production,” said Ian Collinson, Sales Manager at BVT “When a cherry grows, it’s because a bee pollinated a flower. So why not have those bees do double duty and carry biological products for disease control and plant health to those flowers at the same time?”

Now that the bloom period is over, the crop is developing on the trees. Yield data will be available once crops are harvested in late spring and into summer.

The trial is being conducted to achieve

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains

FICCI-YES Bank report ‘Indian Maize Sector – Securing Supply Sustainably’ was released during the 8th edition of ‘India Maize Summit.

Addressing the 8th edition of ‘India Maize Summit 2022’, organized by FICCI, Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, released FICCI-YES Bank report ‘Indian Maize Sector – Securing Supply Sustainably’.

Key highlights of the report:

India’s maize consumption is projected to increase to 33.8 Mn MT in 2030 with major contribution of industrial usage. To meet the ever-increasing domestic demand of maize while addressing the environmental concerns, interventions need to be done at various levels of the value chain with cumulative efforts made by all the stakeholders involved. Five key action areas which have been identified post discussion with industry to ensure sustainable supply of maize for all end users are

1. Enhancing maize production ecosystem

2. Making post-harvest interventions more robust

3. Transformation of storage and logistics infrastructure

4. Facilitation of domestic supply and international trade of maize

5.  Upgradation of processing infrastructure

These actions steps if implemented in a co-creation mode with strong inter institutional partnership as well as public-private partnership will ensure sustainable supply of maize to meet the future demand.

 Tomar also assured the industry of government’s support to boost the maize sector. “Agriculture is the backbone of India and it has helped the country during every crisis including COVID-19. During this time, the increase in export of agriculture products is also very encouraging,” he added.

FICCI-YES Bank report ‘Indian Maize Sector –

Agro chems – Chemicals, Finance

The company has reported a total income of Rs 1437.15 crores during the period ended March 31, 2022

Mumbai-based Sharda Cropchem posted a net profit of Rs 176.97 crores for the period ended March 31, 2022, as against a net profit of Rs 102.19 crores for the period ended December 31, 2021. It posted a net profit of Rs 133.91 crores for the period ended March 31, 2021.

The company has reported a total income of Rs 1437.15 crores during the period ended March 31, 2022, as compared to Rs 886.71 crores during the period ended December 31, 2021. It reported a total income of Rs 1104.89 crores during the period ended March 31, 2021.

For the year ending FY2022, the company has reported a total income of Rs 3608.64 crores as compared to Rs 2441.54 crores in the previous year. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 349.25 crores for the March 31, 2022 quarter as against a net profit of Rs 229.17 crores for the same quarter.

The company has reported a total income

Agrotech, R&D, Seeds

VICTRATO® targets nematodes and key soil borne fungal diseases, increasing the quality and yield of crops such as soybeans, corn, cereals, cotton, and rice

Syngenta Crop Protection’s Seedcare business is proud to unveil VICTRATO®, a novel technology with a powerful combination of nematode and disease control for growers looking to increase the quality and yield of their crops and support the long-term health of their soil.

VICTRATO® will be launched this week at the ISF World Seed Congress in Barcelona. It is registered in El Salvador, with registration expected in Argentina in 2022 and additional registrations across a broad range of crops expected globally over the next five years.

VICTRATO® contains TYMIRIUM® technology, which provides long-lasting protection against all plant parasitic nematodes and key fungal diseases across major crops, including soybeans, corn, cereals, cotton, and rice. Nematodes – a parasitic species that feeds from the root or the plant, to deplete it of nutrients – are present in almost all agricultural soils, attacking crops and opening a path to further fungal infection. They can have a devastating impact, with yield losses of up to 12 per cent globally per year, equating to an estimated loss of $150 billion every year for farmers.

VICTRATO® enables plants to optimize water and nutrient uptake while increasing stress tolerance and yield, delivering a greater return on investment for the farmer. By protecting the roots, VICTRATO® plays a critical part in enabling no-tillage and conservation-tillage practices and helps preserve biodiversity by not harming beneficial insects, pollinators and microflora. This favourable sustainability profile provides farmers with the option to replace older technologies.

Jonathan Brown, Global Head of Syngenta Seedcare, said, “We are excited to be adding VICTRATO® to our broad portfolio. Syngenta Seedcare was the first to develop a modern nematode seed treatment, with AVICTA®, and now with this new product we are taking our efforts to combat nematodes to the next level.”

Camilla Corsi, Global Head of Syngenta Crop Protection Research, said, “We are investing significantly in soil health at Syngenta Crop Protection and the development of VICTRATO® is a major step forward in this space and the result of our focused seed treatment research program. Our unique capability to design and screen pipeline leads for nematode control, enables us to develop products that address key crop issues while delivering safe and convenient solutions for farmers.”

VICTRATO® targets nematodes and key soil borne

Acquaculture, Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Environment

Around one lakh fingerlings of Pengba were released in the Loktak Lake from two sites – Sendra and Karang Island in Bishnupur District, Manipur

N Biren Singh, Chief Minister, Government of Manipur recently inaugurated the Mega Ranching Programme of Pengba, the State Fish of Manipur in the largest Freshwater Lake, Loktak Lake – A Ramsar Site organised by the ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata.

Singh urged the citizens of the State to save Loktak Lake by stopping the encroachment, electric fishing and use of small meshed nets for fishing. He released one Poster on the List of Fishes in the Loktak Lake, three leaflets providing information on the management of the open water bodies and Pengba Ranching for Sustainable Fisheries in Loktak Lake with Manipuri translation. The Chief Minister also distributed the inputs like 10 Tonnes CIFRI CageGrow Floating Feeds to 4 Cooperative Societies, 10 Cage Nets and 10 CIFRI HDPE pens among 150 beneficiaries during the occasion.

H Dingo Singh, Minister (Fisheries), Government of Manipur suggested the fishers carry out responsible fishing for the sustainable use of the lake.

M Asnikumar Singh, Chairman, Loktak Development Authority, Loktak, Manipur underlined the role of LDA in conserving the ecology of the Loktak Lake.

Earlier welcoming the dignitaries, Dr BK Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore, Kolkata highlighted the importance of Pengba Ranching in the Lake. He also apprised the participants about the ICAR-CIFRI’s intervention in the State.

Around one lakh fingerlings of Pengba were released in the Loktak Lake from two sites – Sendra and Karang Island in Bishnupur District, Manipur.

The programme registered participation by the Representatives from LDA, Manipur; ICAR, Research Complex for North-Eastern Hill Region, Imphal Centre; Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Imphal West; fisheries students; fisheries entrepreneurs; stakeholders and 150 fishers.

Around one lakh fingerlings of Pengba were