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Horticulture, Interaction, Organic, Vegetables

According to a report by DataM Intelligence, though still nascent, Indian hydroponic market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.53 per cent between 2020-2027. In comparison, the growth in the global market is estimated at just half of it at 6.8 per cent

India Hydroponics Market Size Share Growth Opportunities and Forecast 2022 (datamintelligence.com)

AgroSpectrum India’s Sanjiv Das gets to the bottom of the hydroponic market in India in this exclusive interaction with Nutrifreshs founders Sanket Mehta and Ganesh Nikam. The duo started off their entrepreneurial journey in agriculture with water-guzzling crop sugar cane, then ventured into floriculture and now are growing veggies in Pune region using hydroponics system (reduces water usage)

Nutrifresh, a brand that symbolizes hydroponically grown fresh, clean, green residue free & chemical free produce, has brought freshly grown vegetables from state of the art facility to 5000 homes in one year. Further Nutrifresh has adopted & patronized a unique women centric mothers community called Tigressmoms in Mumbai and Pune even during the pandemic.

Nutrifresh was launched with the idea to provide Healthy, Pesticide Free and Residue Free Food to various consumers at large. The best thing available in the market was Organic Produce. At Nutrifresh Hydroponic Farm, fresh vegetables are grown in a controlled atmosphere with the help of Polyhouses & Insect Net along with RO purified Water and most importantly SOILLESS FARMING. Entire Supply chain from Farm to Fork is less than 24 Hours and Minimal or NO Hand Touch. The entire Post Harvest Practices is done by Nutrifresh Team and it is not outsourced. Due to these reasons, Nutrifresh has been able to achieve superior Quality and Freshness.

Edited excerpts:

How has been the journey of Nutrifresh’s since its inception?

Nutrifresh was launched with the idea to provide Healthy, Pesticide Free and Residue Free Food to various consumers at large. The best thing available in the market was Organic Produce. The deeper knowledge in Organic Produce leads us to believe that, “is the Produce Really Organic?” and that’s when we came across Hydroponic Farming. It is more Controlled, Précised and Traceable. Not to mention, unsolicited Consultants make the Project seem far than viable. However, with Economics of Scale, Healthy, Fresh and Nutrient Rich Exotic Fruits and Vegetables will be in everybody’s reach. At Nutrifresh Hydroponic Farm, we use Controlled Atmosphere with the help of Polyhouses & Insect Net. We use RO purified Water and most importantly SOILLESS FARMING. Entire Supply chain from Farm to Fork is less than 24 Hours and Minimal or NO Hand Touch. The entire Post Harvest Practices is done by Nutrifresh Team and it is not outsourced. Due to these reasons, Nutrifresh has been able to achieve superior Quality and Freshness. Besides, Hydroponic Farming will also help in establishing regular and steady income for Farmers. These types of Cultivations help in up scaling per unit production up to 10 times, utilizes 90% less water and entire produce is Pesticide Free.

What are the benefits and challenges faced while going in for hydroponic form growing vegetables?

Every household in Tier I, II & III cities will utilize Fresh and Hygienic Produce at one point of time. Due to its Controlled Environment and Precision Farming, dependency on monsoon is substantially reduced. Due to Staggered and Controlled Production, demand and supply of the produce can be controlled and regulated. Prices and Availability of the Vegetables will be consistent throughout. Therefore, Hydroponics Farming has dual benefit from Customers as well as Farmers side. As far as Potential of Hydroponic Fruits and Vegetables is concerned, we are still ahead of the time. However, it is not far when people will understand importance of Fresh & Nutritious Food in their daily lives. Due to the high Set up Cost in Hydroponic Farming, the cost of Produce is still high. At Nutrifresh, there is minimum or no hand touching of the vegetables and once packed at the farm, these veggies are opened at consumer’s place only.

Our operation is highly dependent upon the quality and production volume. This technique in a controlled environment is called Hydroponics. Hydroponics has many associated problems. Open field cultivation has to deal with many abiotic stresses such as varying climatic conditions followed by risks of pests and diseases from the nearby poorly maintained farms. Seed, Nutrients, Labour, and Climatic condition are the four major components that support the yield for any type of crop. A balanced proportion and quantity of these components help in producing a good yield. Out of the above-mentioned components the least we could control was the climatic condition. This is where the tech integration helped us achieve scalable growth.

What kind of techniques (tech innovations) have been implemented at your farm?

In hydroponics, an outgrowth of laboratory techniques long used by scientists, plants are grown with their roots immersed in a water solution containing necessary minerals or rooted in a sand medium kept moistened by such a solution. Soilless culture of plants is similar in principle but larger in scale. Automation Fertigation Unit details is the technique of supplying dissolved fertiliser to crops through an irrigation system. When combined with an efficient irrigation system both nutrients and water can be manipulated and managed to obtain the maximum possible yield of marketable production from a given quantity of these inputs. Technology advancements like making the entire system run on IoT, therefore, human intervention is reduced, and thus we get optimum output. Instead of using artificial lights instead of sunlight is going to be a costly affair, and the final product will not be sold at a higher price since it is made from artificial sun light.

What is your business model for the domestic market?

Our major revenue is form B2B model that is 85% and B2C is growing side, its 15%, and as a founder, is to grow the company to a financially viable business, simple. For that, initially, you might not draw a salary, or draw a minor salary depending on your cash flow. Your point of “any” amount of money is a question you have to ask yourself. If you take x amount every month, will the remaining be enough to sustain the company, after all expenses? If yes, then by all means. If no, then do the math and reiterate the salary structure.

You drawing an amount that does not sustain the company is detrimental in the long run. I speak out of experience. A founder should always look at the bigger picture and not immediate profit. Immediate profit seldom assures long term success.

What will be your investment plans for the next five years? Do you plan to venture into other states?

We are planning to capture at least 40% market share in the coming 5 years. After this, we might look upon expanding to other geographies such as Surat and Ahmedabad. Nutrifresh wants to overcome the price war and benefit from the 100% dependency after a few years. We will gradually use skimmed pricing policy for our high-quality products. We are planning to expand our model by firstly building a knowledge platform for the 42 crops we are well versed with and secondly, owning and developing agricultural lands and growing and selling the produces across.

Recently we have raised funding of USD $5 million from global investors for expanding India’s largest iconic hi-tech Hydroponic farm also, to scale up farm operations, implement complete traceability and transparency of produce, marketing and creation of an integrated Farm-tech platform.

sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com

According to a report by DataM Intelligence,

Agrotech, World

Salient Predictions, a Boston-based technology company that creates the world’s most accurate subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) weather forecasts and analytics, has announced the launch of a new suite of weather metrics which will provide agribusiness and food producers with data to make faster, smarter decisions.

The company’s new agriculture metrics incorporate hyper-localised forecast data which is relevant to the agriculture sector. This data is based on Salient’s industry-leading ocean and land-surface forecasting technologies developed from decades of research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and MIT.

“Agriculture businesses are experiencing first-hand effects of our changing climate, having more accurate, long-term weather metrics that go far beyond what’s possible today gives a critical advantage for resource planning and preparedness in the face of increasing climate disruptions.” said Matt Stein, CEO of Salient.

“These new and enhanced metrics enable agribusinesses to better anticipate the impacts of weather on their operations,” said Janet Lee, Chief Product Officer at Salient.

The Metrics helps agribusinesses better anticipate the needs of their customers and proactively place the right products at the right time to maximize the benefits realized.

Salient Predictions, a Boston-based technology company that creates

Agrotech, India, Singapore, Start ups

Cargill has partnered with Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and launched its first digital business studio in Asia. The studio is designed to support local founders with investments that bring Cargill solutions to the market and accelerate innovation for the food and agriculture industry in Asia-Pacific.

Through this three-year partnership, Cargill plans to develop a portfolio of at least five new start-ups in Singapore. The start-ups will focus on pressing industry challenges—from increasing access to market data for smallholder farmers to creating more efficient, transparent and cost-effective food supply solutions.

This partnership builds on EDB’s efforts to grow Singapore’s corporate venturing movement, encouraging companies to build new businesses with start-up like agility. This includes investing in growth areas beyond their core businesses to keep ahead of the fast-changing pace of disruption.  

The digital business studio will be a space for Cargill to incubate and scale transformative start-ups, in close partnership with customers. It allows for expanded reach into digital innovation, bringing new solutions to meet the changing needs of the food and agriculture industries.

Cargill has four innovation centres across Asia: Singapore, Gurgaon, Beijing and Shanghai.

Cargill has partnered with Singapore Economic Development

Acts & Schemes – Centre, AgroPolicy

The government has banned the export of broken rice and imposed a 20 per cent export duty on non-basmati rice, according to a government notification. The imposition does not include parboiled rice amid a fall in area under the paddy crop in the current kharif season.

According to the notification, certain consignments of broken rice will be allowed to be exported during the period September 9-15. It has been allowed keeping in view the consignments commenced before this notification, where the shipping bill is filed and vessels have already berthed or arrived and anchored on Indian ports and their rotation number has been allocated before this order.

‘Export Policy of broken rice …is amended from ‘Free’ to ‘Prohibited’,’ the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification dated September 8, 2022. The notification comes into effect from September 9, 2022. Provisions under the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 regarding the transitional arrangement shall not be applicable to this notification, it added.

The government has banned the export of

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