Connect with:
Wednesday / March 12. 2025

logo
mobile-logo
Home2022 (Page 116)
AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Supply Chain

Discussions were held on horticulture, medicinal crops and natural farming

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), G Kishan Reddy recently hosted a virtual meeting to take stock of various schemes of the Government of India in the sector of the North Eastern Region (NER). Agriculture ministers of the North-Eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura discussed the issues and challenges they were facing in detail.

Union Minister of State for DoNER, BL Verma,. Ministers for Agriculture of all the eight North Eastern States accompanied by the Secretary, DoNER, Agriculture Secretaries from the NER states with senior officials also marked their presence.

Tomar in his speech quoted, “Our door is always open. I request all the state governments to come up with a proposal if you find any difficulty in any schemes related to the agriculture sector.” He said that about 9 lakh hectare land in the North East is well suited for oil palm production as it has the potential to benefit farmers at large. 

He also talked about horticulture and medicinal crops which are grown only in North-Eastern State. He said that Agriculture and Commerce Ministry are working together to tap such opportunities and to solve the logistic problems faced by the North Eastern States.

The minister urged the state governments to pay attention to natural farming.

Officials from Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Regions (MOVCDNER); National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP); Bamboo in North East Region and the mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) made presentations regarding various schemes.

Discussions were held on horticulture, medicinal crops

Cold Storage

Decco’s new Decco DMN Aerosol is the latest product to be added to its Fresh Defense portfolio for stored potatoes

Decco US Post-Harvest, the post-harvest affiliate of UPL, has announced the launch of Decco DMN Aerosol at the 2022 Potato Expo in Anaheim. Decco adds the new EPA-registered product to its growing potato storage portfolio available across North America.

Decco DMN Aerosol, as part of an overall potato storage programme, will greatly reduce sprouting and disease issues while also enhancing flesh strength, colour, and reducing bruising or soft spots while in storage. The active ingredient in Decco DMN Aerosol, 1,4-Dimethylnaphthalene, is a conventional solution used in potato storage programmes throughout the industry.

Decco DMN Aerosol helps reduce load rejection by working in conjunction with an overall potato storage programme. Decco’s new Decco DMN Aerosol is the latest product to be added to its Fresh Defense portfolio for stored potatoes.

The overall portfolio of Fresh Defense products, including Decco DMN Aerosol, creates many opportunities for Decco and parent company UPL to provide a better customer experience for the potato grower, storage applicator and processor. This week, Decco is partnering with UPL at the 2022 Potato Expo in Anaheim to showcase both Fresh Defense and Decco DMN Aerosol.

“The aim for Decco is to collaborate closely with our crop colleagues at UPL,” said Boomer Cardinale, US Marketing Director for Decco. “Under our OpenAg mission, we can truly offer farm to fork solutions across the value chain. The addition of Decco DMN Aerosol and our other Fresh Defense storage products will greatly complement the UPL potato programs offered in pre-harvest.”

Decco, in conjunction with UPL, will be exhibiting at the 2022 Potato Expo at booth #745 from January 5 to 6, 2022 at the Anaheim Convention Centre in California.

Decco's new Decco DMN Aerosol is the

People

Ozkan has had a 30-year career in agri-business leadership roles

ADAMA, a leading crop protection company, has announced the appointment of Sahin Ozkan as the new General Manager of ADAMA India.

Yossi Goldshmidt, VP India, Africa & Middle East said, “We are pleased to have someone as experienced as Ozkan, with a thorough understanding of ADAMA’s values as well as significant experience in our industry, coming to lead the team. His appointment is testimony to ADAMA’s commitment to growing people from within the company and providing global career advancement opportunities.”

“I am honoured and excited to take on the role of leading ADAMA India,” Ozkan said. “I look forward to working closely with the highly professional India team, who are committed to listening to the farmer, and delivering products and services that provide solutions to their needs.”

Ozkan joined ADAMA in 2017 as Head of Sales in Turkey and was promoted to be General Manager of Turkey in 2018. Under his leadership, ADAMA Turkey doubled its sales and significantly improved its profitability, in a challenging and volatile market. Further, Ozkan has had a 30-year career in agri-business leadership roles.

Ozkan has had a 30-year career in

Agrotech, Machinery - Pre-harvesting, Machinery – Post-harvesting

The market reached Rs 954.3 bn in 2020

Market research firm IMARC Group report titled, “Indian Agricultural Equipment Market Manufacturers: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026,” informed that the Indian agricultural equipment market reached a value of Rs 954.3 billion in 2020. Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the market to exhibit moderate growth during 2021-2026.

The Government of India (GoI) has been promoting agricultural equipment by undertaking various initiatives, including providing subsidies and incentives and establishing financial institutions. Furthermore, leading players are increasingly introducing advanced equipment integrated with Big Data and Internet-of-Things (IoT), such as self-driving autonomous tractors, which is contributing to the market growth.

The market reached Rs 954.3 bn in

AgroPolicy, Trade

Facilitating honey producers in accessing export markets besides availing government assistance under different schemes, quality certification and lab testing

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been giving thrust on boosting exports through ensuring quality production and market expansion to newer countries. India at present is wholly dependent on the US to export its natural honey which accounts for more than 80 per cent of the exports.

APEDA is also facilitating honey producers in accessing export markets besides availing government assistance under different schemes, quality certification and lab testing. The body is also working to mitigate the exporters’ challenges which can be higher freight cost, limited availability of containers in peak honey export season, higher nuclear magnetic resonance test costs and inadequate export incentives.

“We are in a close collaboration with the state government, farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain to boost exports to other countries and regions such as the UK, European Union and South East Asia,” Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA said.

As per the record, India so far has exported 59,999 metric tonnes (MT) of natural honey worth Rs 716 crore during 2020-21, with the US taking a major share at 44,881 MT. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bangladesh and Canada were the other top destinations for Indian honey. India started its first organised exports in the year 1996-97.

In India, North East Region and Maharashtra are the major players in honey production. Around 50per cent of the honey produced in India is consumed domestically and the rest is exported across the globe. Honey exports have huge potential and especially in the COVID19 pandemic as its consumption has gone up globally as an effective immunity booster and a healthier alternative to sugar.

The Government of India approved the allocation of Rs 500 crore for the National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) for three years (2020-21 to 2022-23).

Facilitating honey producers in accessing export markets

AgroPolicy, Sugar industry

Guidelines have provision for two years moratorium and then five years of repayment expected to provide relief to financially weak sugar mills which have availed SDF loans

In order to facilitate rehabilitation of financially weak but economically viable sugar mills that have availed loans under the Sugar Development Fund Act, 1982, the Department of Food and Public Distribution issued guidelines for restructuring of SDF Loans under Rule 26 of the SDF Rules 1983 on 03.01.2022. The complete Guidelines are available at https://dfpd.gov.in/sdfguidelines-sdf.htm and at https://sdfportal.in.

The outstanding amount of default of SDF loans is Rs. 3068.31 crores (as on 30.11.2021) which include Rs. 1249.21 crores as Principal amount, Rs. 1071.30 crores as interest and Rs. 747.80 crores as additional interest due to default.

These guidelines are uniformly applicable for SDF loans availed by all types of concerns, including co-operative societies, private limited companies and public limited companies.

The guidelines have provision for two years moratorium and then five years of repayment which is expected to provide big relief to financially weak sugar mills which have availed SDF loans. Waiver of additional interest in full will be given to the eligible sugar factories. The rate of interest will be changed to the interest rate as per the prevailing bank rate on the date of approval of the rehabilitation package as per SDF Rule 26 (9) (a). These points will facilitate the reduction of the debt burden over these defaulting sugar mills.

A sugar factory that has been incurring cash losses continuously for the last three financial years or sugar factory’s net worth is negative, and the sugar factory is not closed/has not ceased to crush cane for more than two sugar seasons, excluding the current sugar season is eligible to apply for re-structuring.

Guidelines have provision for two years moratorium

Company News, Inputs, Machinery - Pre-harvesting, Machinery – Post-harvesting

The autonomous tractor will be available to farmers later this year.

John Deere, an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, has revealed a fully autonomous tractor at CES 2022, that’s ready for large-scale production. The machine combines Deere’s 8R tractor, TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance system, and new advanced technologies. The autonomous tractor will be available to farmers later this year.

The autonomous tractor serves a specific purpose: feeding the world. The global population is expected to grow from about 8 billion to nearly 10 billion people by 2050, increasing the global food demand by 50 per cent. All of these factors impact a farmer’s ability to farm during the most critical times of the year.

  • The autonomous tractor has six pairs of stereo cameras, which enables 360-degree obstacle detection and the calculation of distance.
  • The autonomous tractor is also continuously checking its position relative to a geofence, ensuring it is operating where it is supposed to, and is within less than an inch of accuracy.

To use the autonomous tractor, farmers only need to transport the machine to a field and configure it for autonomous operation. Using John Deere Operations Centre Mobile, they can swipe from left to right to start the machine.

John Deere Operations Centre Mobile provides access to live video, images, data and metrics, and allows a farmer to adjust speed, depth and more.

The fully autonomous tractor will be on display from January 5-8, 2022 at John Deere’s CES booth, located in Central Plaza at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.

The autonomous tractor will be available to

Agrotech, Dairy, Supply Chain

The collaboration is aimed at helping organisations across the large, in-country supply chain leverage innovative technologies designed to meet regulatory and consumer demands.

PerkinElmer Inc, a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world, has announced a collaboration with Everest Instrument as its head dairy solutions distributor in India. Everest Instruments is a leading, advanced automation, digital solution, and device provider for the Indian dairy industry. The collaboration is aimed at helping organisations across the large, in-country supply chain leverage innovative technologies designed to meet regulatory and consumer demands, like the recently announced PerkinElmer IndiScope FT-IR raw milk analyser.

Commenting on the value that the collaboration will bring to customers, Shripad Joshi, president, PerkinElmer India & South Asia, said, “India is the world’s leading producer of milk and the Indian government is promoting quality production through intensive infrastructure development and dairy development programmes. Our exciting connection with Everest Instruments will help us further assist India’s dairy industry as it looks to meet growing regulations and ever-evolving consumer demands more effectively and efficiently. Our new IndiScope analyser, for example, developed in India and available globally, establishes key quality indicators and detects adulterants right at milk collection points in just 30 seconds.”

PerkinElmer’s dairy and milk testing portfolio covers composition testing, as well as detection of veterinary residues, adulterants and pathogens in liquid and solid forms, spanning from collection points through processing and food production plants.

The collaboration is aimed at helping organisations

Agrotech

According to the report, the fastest-growing market is North America and the largest market is Asia Pacific

The global agriculture equipment market size was estimated at $112.84 billion in 2021. The agriculture equipment includes various mechanised equipment such as tractors, harvesters, plant protection equipment, and irrigation equipment that helps in agricultural activities. This modern and technologically advanced equipment helps in producing higher yields with fewer efforts. Further, it saves time by boosting the activities, reduces the use of labour, and saves labour cost.

Agriculture is the primary source of food across the globe. And with the rapid increase in the global population, the demand for food has increased rapidly, creating pressure on the food supply chain. Therefore, the demand for modern agriculture equipment has increased in order to obtain higher yields in less time, thereby propelling the growth of the global agriculture equipment market.

The growth rate from 2021 to 2030 has been projected at a CAGR of 4.6 per cent. According to the report, the fastest-growing market is North America and the largest market is Asia Pacific. The companies covered are CNH Industrial NV, EXEL Industries, Mahindra and Mahindra, Deere & Company, Kubota Corporation, Tractor and Farm Equipment, AGCO Corporation, SDF S.p.a., Bucher Industries AG, CLAAS, ISEKI & Co.

According to the report, the fastest-growing market

Agro Universities

The handbook covers statistics of Punjab, soil testing laboratories in Punjab, the minimum support price of different crops

The agricultural handbook and desk calendar of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) were released by DK Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor and Financial Commissioner, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. Both the handbook and calendar have been published by the Communication Centre, PAU. Tiwari lauded PAU’s efforts in bringing out the calendar and handbook which covers statistics of Punjab, soil testing laboratories in Punjab, the minimum support price of different crops, improved crop varieties recommended in Punjab, planting of orchards, list of fruit nurseries, ornamental trees for Punjab, etc.

Dr Jaskarn Singh Mahal, Director of Extension Education, said the handbook also highlights a summary of a package of practices for vegetable crops, recommendations of fruit trees according to zones, important plant diseases and their management, etc.

Dr Tejinder Singh Riar, Additional Director Communication, said the Handbook aims at promoting crop diversification in Punjab.

Present on the occasion were Dilraj Singh, Secretary, Agriculture, Punjab; Dr Gurvinder Singh, Director of Agriculture, Punjab; and Krunesh Garg, Member, Punjab Pollution Control Board.

PAU also released a brochure of the Communication Centre of PAU. Speaking on the ocassion, Dr Jaskarn Singh Mahal, Director of Extension Education, said the centre plays a significant role in disseminating and updating the scientific knowledge of farmers through, print, electronic and social media. The centre has given a new direction to its programmes keeping in view the challenging times of pandemic, he added. Since its inception, it started with farm publications and presently, it is spreading its wings across Punjab and other states through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools.

The handbook covers statistics of Punjab, soil

Agro chems – Pesticides, Company News

The company is the leading manufacturer of pesticides

Ahmedabad-based Meghmani Organics has acquired Kilburn Chemicals for Rs 132 crores. The company is the leading manufacturer of pesticides present across the entire value chain with a strong pool of product baskets and a global presence in almost all continents. The company is also into the manufacturing of Phthalocyanine-based pigments with 14 per cent global market share and amongst top three (capacity wise) global pigments players.

The company is the leading manufacturer of

Company News

The company has been advised by expert non-profit Good Food Institute India (GFI India) on product and positioning strategy

ITC will launch plant-based burger patties and nuggets providing the taste of chicken to consumers through retail, e-commerce and foodservice establishments in the country’s top eight cities. The company has been advised by expert non-profit Good Food Institute India (GFI India) on product and positioning strategy.

Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive – Foods, ITC said “There is no large pan-Indian brand in the plant-based protein segment in India. We have worked with some global partners to ensure there is no compromise either on the product texture, quality and taste. We want to
enjoy the early mover advantage in India. The meat market is huge with 72 per cent of Indians being non-vegetarians and [the market] is estimated today at $45 billion. Given the growing concerns around wellness and sustainability, India has the potential to emerge as a large market for plant-based alternatives.”

The company has been advised by expert

Agro Universities, Live Stock, Nature

The MoU will ensure the widespread availability of anti-methanogenic supplements across different parts of the country and seasons

ICAR-NIANP and Radiant Chem Industries, Chennai have entered a functional-industry linkage through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for undertaking collaborative research to develop the anti-methanogenic product (s) using industrially available tannins. The MoU was signed by Dr Raghavendra Director, ICAR-NIANP and Bharat Jain from Radiant Chem Industries, Chennai. To ensure the widespread availability of anti-methanogenic supplements across different parts of the country and seasons the MoU will play a key role.

The contribution of global cattle and buffaloes to the annual enteric methane emission is 77 and 13 per cent, respectively. India has about 13 per cent of the global population of cattle and 53 per cent of the global population of buffaloes and these account for 4.92 and 2.91 Tg of annual global enteric methane emission from the respective species.

ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology has carried out systematic and comprehensive research and developed phyto-sources based anti-methanogenic products such as Harit Dhara and Tamarin Plus.

The MoU will ensure the widespread availability

AgroPolicy, Trade

APEDA basket rose to $20,674 million during 2020-21 from $17,321 million in 2011-12.

According to data by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), exports of agricultural and processed food products under Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) basket rose to $20,674 million (Rs 15,30,50 crore) during 2020-21, from $17,321 million (Rs 83,484 crore) in 2011-12.

Non-Basmati Rice has emerged as India’s top export item among the many agricultural and processed food product exports under APEDA basket, contributing close to one fourth of the total exports in 2020-21.

Top three products in the APEDA export basket in 2020-21 were Non-Basmati Rice (23.22 per cent share), Basmati Rice (19.44 per cent) and Buffalo Meat (15.34 per cent) and these products together account for 58 per cent of total shipments.

India’s Non-Basmati rice exports was valued at $4799.91 million (Rs 35,477 crore) in 2020-21, with Basmati Rice exports a close second at $4018.71 million (Rs 29,850 crore), followed by Buffalo Meat exports at $3171.19 million (Rs23,460 crore).

Benin, Nepal, Bangladesh, Senegal and Togo were the top importers of Non-Basmati Rice from India in 2020-21. Major export destinations for Basmati Rice in 2020-21 were Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen and United Arab Emirates. For Buffalo Meat exports, the top importing nations were Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt and Indonesia.

“We continue to focus on creating infrastructure for boosting exports by focusing on clusters in collaboration with state governments while taking into consideration aim of Agriculture Export Policy, 2018,” Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, said. 

The rise in export of agricultural and processed food products has been largely due to the various initiatives taken by APEDA such as organising B2B exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product specific and general marketing campaigns by active involvement of Indian Embassies.

APEDA basket rose to $20,674 million during