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AgroPolicy, India

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Family Welfare, has launched a Project Management Unit (PMU) on Public Private Partnership (PPP) in agriculture, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). During the announcement, Tomar said that PPP model can be ideal for growth in the agriculture sector and the projects must focus on benefitting the farmers through enhancement of their income.

The primary objective of this PPP initiative is to enhance the income of small farmers by creating additional value, from provisioning of quality inputs, technology extension to market linkages, and value addition. PPP initiatives are also expected to lead to modernising agriculture practices, building climate resilience among farmers, developing agriculture and rural infrastructure, and increasing agricultural exports. A particular objective is to assist the states to unlock the full potential of their respective agro-climatic regions, and wide variety of agri produce and help producers to integrate better with domestic and export markets.

Commenting on the development, Manoj Ahuja, secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare stated that the government should play a catalytic role in facilitating investments in the agriculture sector. The private sector and NGOs should come together and partner with the government on such projects which will have a multiplier effect, he added. The announcement was made in the presence of Shubrakant Panda, senior vice president, FICCI who expressed confidence in the PMU initiative accelerating large scale PPP projects in agriculture by leveraging the private sector investments and bringing convergence of government schemes and subsidies. Abhilaksh Likhi, additional secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and other senior ministry officers a were present on the occasion.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and

India, Machinery - Pre-harvesting, Seeds

According to a new market research report titled, Seed Treatment Machine market, the seed treatment machinery market (coating and drying) is expected to reach $1.53 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 7.2 per cent from 2022 to 2029. In terms of volume, the seed treatment machinery market (coating and drying) is expected to reach 331,357 units by 2029, at a CAGR of 3.6 per cent from 2022 to 2029.

The seed treatment machinery (coating and drying) market is segmented based on type (drum coaters, rotary drum dryers, fluidized bed dryers, rotostat coaters, other seed treatment machinery), crop type (cereals & grains, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, pulses, and other crops), and geography. The study also evaluates industry competitors and analyses the market at the regional and country levels.

Based on type, in 2022, the drum coaters segment is expected to account for the largest share of the seed treatment machinery (coating and drying) market. Furthermore, in terms of volume, in 2022, the drum coaters segment is expected to account for the largest share of the seed treatment machinery market (coating and drying). The growth of this segment is attributed to the benefits provided by fluidized bed dryers, such as automated processing, low process time, and stipulated control on temperature based on the seed type, size, chemical formulation, and capacity.

According to a new market research report

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Company News

Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR-IIRR) in association with Coromandel International Limited hosted a day-long conclave on ‘Effective use of Nano Fertilisers in Agriculture’ in Hyderabad. The focus of the conclave was to enable and understand the mechanism and use of nano materials/fertilisers for sustainable production in the agriculture.

Dignitaries present at the conclave included Dr. K. S. Subramanian, head – Department of Nano Science & Technology, TNAU, Coimbatore; Sameer Goel, managing director, Coromandel International Limited; Shankar Subramanian, president – Fertilisers, Coromandel International Limited; Dr A Subbarao, former director, ICAR-IISS, Bhopal; Kalidas Pramanik, EVP – Marketing, Coromandel International Limited and Dr. M. B. B. Prasad Babu, principal scientist – IIRR, Hyderabad.

The inaugural address was delivered by Subramanian wherein he emphasised the importance and use of nano fertilisers along with the role of private industries to take up this innovation to the farmers for better reach and appreciated the work carried out by the ICAR institutes on nano technology. It was followed by his inputs on the involvement of public private partnership in the nano fertiliser development and their inclusive growth in the agricultural input management. Subject matter specialists from other institutes, Dr Manoj Srivastava (IARI); Dr. S.S. Mukopadhyay (PAU); Dr TNVKV Prasad (ANGRAU); Dr Rahul Kumar (UoH); and Dr Elanchezhian (ICAR-IISS) presented their work and opened up new avenues in applications of nano technology for sustainable agriculture. The event also included a panel discussion on “Current relevance and scope of nano fertilisers in agriculture which was chaired by Dr A Subbarao. The meeting ended with a formal vote of thanks by Dr. Brajendra Parmar.

Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR-IIRR) in

Agrotech, Company News, IT

Agritech pioneer Cropin has announced the launch of Cropin Cloud, the world’s first purpose-built industry cloud for agriculture. Cropin Cloud enables agri-businesses, development agencies, governments, and allied industries to accelerate digital transformation across their business value chain. It is an integrated platform of applications for digitisation, clean and contextual data pipelines for enhanced decision-making based on data analytics, and globally proven crop-specific, crop and geography-agnostic machine learning models. It aims to advance technology adoption to solve real-world agricultural problems and deliver value to every stakeholder in the food value chain, from the farmer and agribusinesses to the consumer.

With this launch, Cropin will help agri-food and allied businesses to manage the complexity of converging multiple-point technology solutions while enjoying the flexibility of choosing the right solutions based on where they are in their digital transformation journey.

Commenting on the launch, Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO, Cropin, said, “Cropin Cloud leverages the advancements in cloud computing, earth observation, remote sensing, data and machine learning algorithms to help the agriculture sector unlock new possibilities. For Cropin, this is an important milestone as we double down on our core purpose to maximise per acre value for every stakeholder in the global agriculture ecosystem.”

Sharing his views on the announcement, Vijay Nelson, chief product officer, Cropin, said, “Cropin Cloud is the world’s very first intelligent cloud platform for agriculture. Agriculture technology is complex and needs specialised expertise in multiple areas like GIS, agri-science, AI/ML models, weather data, and IoT, among others. Crops are copiously diversified, and the digital solutions required to monitor them need hyper-tuning.” Cropin Cloud delivers a scalable agri-stack that comprises a triad of abilities and platform layers, including Cropin Apps, Cropin Data Hub, and Cropin Intelligence.

Agritech pioneer Cropin has announced the launch

Foodgrains, India, Interaction, Oilseeds, People, Pulses

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister, inaugurated the National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2022-23 on September 7 at National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Pusa, New Delhi. Addressing the Conference, he said that as per the 4th Advance Estimates (2021-22), production of food grains in the country is estimated at 3157 lakh tonne which is higher by 50 lakh tonne than the production of food grain during 2020-21, and the total pulses and oilseeds production during 2021-22 is estimated at record 277 and 377 lakh tonne respectively.

Tomar said that all the farmers will be brought under the ambit of this scheme which will make them feel secure. He said that the productivity of the soil is decreasing due to the use of chemical fertilisers, hence organic and natural farming is being promoted.

Tomar also said that the Central Government has started working on Digital Agriculture to bridge the gap between the farmers and the Government so that the farmers get the benefits of the government schemes transparently. 

The objective of this Conference is to review and assess the crop performance during the preceding crop seasons and to ensure supply of critical inputs and facilitate adoption of innovative technologies with a view to enhance production and productivity of the crops.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister, inaugurated

Award, R&D

The World Food Prize Foundation has announced that Dr Mahalingam Govindaraj, senior scientist for crop development at Harvest Plus and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, will receive the 2022 Norman E Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by The Rockefeller Foundation.

Dr Govindaraj is recognised for his outstanding leadership in mainstreaming biofortified crops, particularly pearl millet, in India and Africa. For more than a decade, he has directed the development and dissemination of high-yielding, high-iron and high-zinc pearl millet varieties that have contributed to better nutrition for thousands of farmers and their communities.

In 2014, while working at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Dr Govindaraj released the world’s first biofortified pearl millet, called Dhanashakti. Independent clinical studies showed that 200 grams of Dhanashakti provided women with more than 80 per cent of their recommended daily allowance of iron, compared to only 20 per cent in regular pearl millet varieties.

Barbara Stinson, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, said, “Dr Govindaraj has shown a tireless commitment to making biofortified pearl millet widespread, improving nutrition for people in India and Sub-Saharan Africa.” Ronnie Coffman, professor emeritus at Cornell University and chair of the Borlaug Field Award Jury, said, “Dr Govindaraj truly follows in the footsteps of Norman Borlaug in his quest to ensure nutritious food for all throughout India and Africa.”

The World Food Prize Foundation has announced

Agri Genomics, Agrotech

The Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CIARI), Port Blair has establish a Pandanus Gene Bank at its Garacharma Research Farm under the project funded by National Medicinal Plants Board, New Delhi, to conserve, evaluate and utilise different species of the Pandanus collected from different parts of Andaman and Nicobar. 

A total of 175 seedlings of various species are planted in 2.0 acre of terraced land at ICAR-CIARI campus, and as part of World Coconut Day 2022 celebrations, thirty seedlings of five released coconut varieties are also planted in the field gene bank. 

The Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CIARI),

Agrotech, India

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad and IFFCO Kisan have virtually signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) to promote Bio-fortified Pearl Millet cultivars through FPOs in Koppal district of Karnataka. 

Through this collaborative effort, the FPOs in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh will receive seeds, technology orientation, advice dissemination, and capacity building on packaging of biofortified seeds in terms of nutritional content and its benefits.

C V Ratnavathi, Director, ICAR-IIMR laid emphasis on creating awareness of bio-fortified seeds and nutritional values of Millets and said that the Institute will connect farmers and FPOs with knowledge partner IFFCO Kisan and Praveer Srivastava, COO, IFFCO Kisan, highlights that IFFCO Kisan will distribute seeds and also assures the buyback of Pearl Millet at farm gate from FPOs at a competitive price by replicating its pilot project in districts of Karnataka, Telangana & Andhra Pradesh.

Siddharth Bhattacharya, Lead – Partner Relationships, IFFCO Kisan further adds that with the help of ICAR-IIMR, IFFCO Kisan will work towards on-boarding of farmers & FPOs, trainings, capacity building on better package practices, technology orientation & seed distribution to shareholders of FPOs and better market linkages to farmers.

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad

Agro Universities, India, Institutions, IT

The Government of Telangana and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have announced the signing of an agreement to jointly create India’s first Agricultural Data Exchange (ADEx). ADEx will be built upon India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX), a pioneer in enabling the use of data for public good. IUDX was also created in IISc in partnership with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and has launched a variety of platforms, tools, and applications that have benefitted urban citizens.

The partnership with the Government of Telangana will bring these same concepts to the agriculture sector, enabling a variety of new services for the farmers ranging from more credit options, better insurance products, improved seed tracking, more targeted farming advisory and so on.

ADEx will be piloted in Telangana with a select set of partners and use-cases by early 2023, followed by a production rollout within the same state during that year. Both public and private sector data will be made available through ADEx and a variety of start-ups and more established companies will be encouraged to build these new farmer services. It is expected that the ADEx will then be made available to other states and broadly deployed across the nation.

Commenting on the agreement, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary IT, Government of Telangana, said, “Data is the key to enabling new services for our farmers and improving the agriculture sector. With ADEx, we hope to enable a new ecosystem of application developers who will now have access to a best-of-breed data platform to create applications targeted at bringing technology-driven change to the sector. We are thrilled to collaborate with IISc in this endeavor.”

Sharing his views on the partnership, Professor G Rangarajan, Director, IISc, said, “A nation, where the majority of people make their livelihood from agriculture, needs to apply its considerable technical firepower to this sector. With the ADEx initiative, IISc is pleased to be a part of that effort and we have high hopes that this will help the farmers of Telangana and eventually the nation.”

The Government of Telangana and the Indian

Acts & Schemes – Centre, AgroPolicy, India, Pulses, Uncategorized

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has raised the existing limit of 25 quintals for purchase of Moong and Urad under Price Support Scheme (PSS) to 40 quintals per farmer per day during the summer season 2021-22 for farmers in Madhya Pradesh. The exemption limit has been approved for Madhya Pradesh farmers. 

Earlier, during a meeting with Tomar, Patel said that while selling their Moong and Urad produce under PSS, if farmers have more quantity of summer moong available with them, according to PSS registration guidelines, they faced problem due to purchase limit of 25 quintal per day per farmer.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers

India, Schemes - Govt

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, recently inaugurated the sixth State Centre of Coconut Development Board at Junagadh in Gujarat. Tomar also inaugurated the 24th World Coconut Day celebrations. 

During his address, Tomar said that along with coconut cultivation, processing and marketing is also growing in our country and India is becoming a leading player in coconut exports. Through the board, the farmers cultivating coconut are getting benefits of the government’s schemes and along with increasing their income, they are also contributing to the country’s economy.

On the occasion of the World Coconut Day this year, Tomar congratulated the National Award and Export Excellence Award winners of Coconut Development Board and also addressed the farmers gathered in Kochi, Kerala through video conference.

Tomar elaborated that the central government is working continuously with the states to increase the cultivation and processing of coconut. The schemes are being implemented meticulously through the Coconut Development Board. He said that the cultivation of coconut is a very good farming practice and its growth will increase the benefits drawn by farmers and the country as a whole.

The function was organised by Junagadh Administration and Coconut Development Board wherein Dr. Vijayalakshmi Nadendla, joint secretary and board president, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare delivered the welcome address.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, India, Start ups

Company plans to develop the “Suite42 Standard” in the food processing ecosystem and pilot cross border trade exports

Suite42, a B2B food processing platform, announced today that it has raised USD 4.3 million in Seed funding. The round was co-led by Omnivore and Orios Venture Partners, with participation from Titan Capital, All in Capital, Pointone Capital, and prominent angel investors including Sujeet Kumar (Udaan).

Suite42 provides contract manufacturing solutions for food processing, serving diverse B2B clients across the FMCG, agribusiness, and grocery industries. Despite the rapid increase in demand for branded food products, most food brands in India struggle with reliable manufacturing. At the same time, India has more than 40,000 food processing units that suffer from multiple inefficiencies including low-capacity utilisation, lack of quality standardization, high wastage, and limited access to working capital financing.

Suite42 plans to use the Seed funding for talent acquisition, developing the “Suite42 Standard” in the food processing ecosystem, launching raw material financing, and piloting cross border trade (exports). In the next 18 months, the startup plans to work with various B2B clients including e-commerce, D2Cs, and FMCG brands, as well as 2000 modern trade outlets across multiple cities.

Based in Bangalore, Suite42 was founded in 2022 by Rahul Ratan, Ramakrishna Cheruku, Chethan S, and Shriram S. Rahul and Ramakrishna are IIT graduates who were previously working with Udaan and Microsoft, respectively.

Rahul Ratan, Co-Founder and CEO of Suite42, commented, “We are excited to start our journey of potentially redefining the food processing industry in India. Our mission is to empower food manufacturers in India by leveraging technology and building efficient and standardized processes. Consequently, brands and consumers will have access to premium products and ingredients at affordable prices.”

Jinesh Shah, the Managing Partner of Omnivore, said, “The sector is highly unorganized with deep inefficiencies. Less than 5 per cent of India’s agricultural output is processed, preventing realization of profits across the value chains.”

Vinit Bhansali, Senior Vice President at Orios Venture Partners, said, “Suite42 is building a platform to digitize the back end of a food brand from procurement to packaging. The team is targeting a massive TAM and manages the entire supply chain for the brand.”

Company plans to develop the “Suite42 Standard”

Agro chems – Chemicals, Company News, India

The program has registered more than 4000 Sahbhaagis across India and is now focusing on empowering more women and youth Agri-entrepreneurs

Bayer, a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of healthcare and agriculture, announced its plan to scale up its Sahbhaagi program to empower rural women and youth with an aim to develop a comprehensive agricultural ecosystem. The ‘Bayer Sahbhaagi Program’ was launched in 2019 and today the program has more than 4000 Sahbhaagis across India. This initiative creates unique opportunities for rural entrepreneurs to partner with Bayer, explore alternate demand generation routes and enhance Bayer’s reach to farmers.

Sahbhaagi is a rural micro-entrepreneurship development model which empowers farmers, women and rural youth to become an advisor and recommend right solutions to smallholder growers. The scale-up of the Sahbhaagi program will include adding more Sahbhaagi partners to create a strong network of outreach and engagement with farmers across India, and anyone above the age of 18 with knowledge of agriculture and access to a smartphone is eligible to become a Sahbhaagi. In addition to enrolling young Agri-entrepreneurs, Bayer understands the major role women play in shaping their families and the agriculture value chain. Their role as influencers in buying decisions makes them the perfect partners to scale up the program.

The program will be further fueled by the adoption of smartphones and evolving digital technologies that have created new touchpoints with farmers. The Sahbhaagis have been trained and equipped to recommend the right solutions to smallholder farmers as per local farm conditions. The smallholder growers get access to Bayer products digitally with the assistance of the Sahbhaagi This program is currently active in 24 states, across more than 470 districts and 1980 sub-districts.

Speaking about the program, Simon-Thorsten Wiebusch, Country Divisional Head – Crop Science Division of Bayer for India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka said, “In our broad effort to transform agricultural practices for the benefit of local communities, we aim to provide opportunities to micro-entrepreneurs to encourage sustainable and responsible farming and support rural productivity. Bayer will continue to work closely with these Sahbhaagis to create a sustainable ecosystem in their villages, adopting the latest agricultural and farming practices, learning the technical know-how of Bayer products and offering customized crop and product advisory to farmers.”

Bayer has also set up a toll-free number 18001204049 to provide more details to the rural population and facilitate enrollment in the Sahbhaagi program.

The program has registered more than 4000

Agro chems – Chemicals, Company News, India, Inputs

It aims to fight white grub, thrips and aphids in groundnut; grey weevil, mealy bug, jassids, whitefly, thrips and aphids in cotton; and termite and early shoot borer in sugarcane crop. 

Hyderabad based FMC India, an agricultural sciences company has announced its portfolio expansion with three new products in support of Indian farmers to achieve better yields through good quality produce and an improved soil profile.

Commenting at the launch event, Ravi Annavarapu, President, FMC India, said, “FMC India has served Indian farmers for more than three decades, and we are committed to enabling their prosperity, while contributing to the sustainability of Indian agriculture.”

Talstar® Plus insecticide is a novel broad-spectrum premix that provides protection against sucking and chewing pests which are a big pain point for Indian farmers of groundnut, cotton and sugarcane crops. The product gives farmers a superior tool to fight white grub, thrips and aphids in groundnut; grey weevil, mealy bug, jassids, whitefly, thrips and aphids in cotton; and termite and early shoot borer in sugarcane crop. 

Petra® Biosolution is a new generation customized solution powered by reactive carbon technology to improve the physical and biological properties of soil. It provides crops with the much-needed head start by mobilizing the applied phosphorus in the soil. Fortified with organic matter, Petra® Biosolution acts as a source of food for soil microbes, while facilitating nutrient uptake, improving soil texture and enhancing soil fertility. It is easy to use, suitable for majority of crops, and creates a solid foundation for healthy soil, root and plants.

Cazbo® crop nutrition, a specialty micronutrient solution, effectively nourishes crops by supplementing essential elements like calcium, zinc and boron, and working to correct multiple deficiencies and related disorders in most crops. It provides better efficiency compared to traditional calcium solutions when utilized in appropriate dosage and at the right stage of the crop growth cycle. Cazbo® crop nutrition promises to contribute significantly to improved fruit quality and storage potential of the crop.

FMC India has also partnered with Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (Hyderabad) on a Model Village Program to promote sustainable agricultural practices.

It aims to fight white grub, thrips