Connect with:
Friday / March 14. 2025

logo
mobile-logo
Home2022 (Page 80)
Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Agrotech, R&D

Discussions were held on the implementation of the New Education Policy – 2022 in the agricultural education arena

“Our concerted efforts should be to make the self-dependent agricultural sector along with Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. This will help to strengthen the country’s economy,” said Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare. Tomar was addressing the inaugural session of the ‘Annual Conference of Vice-Chancellors of State Agricultural Universities & Directors of ICAR Institutes – 2022’ organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi at the National Agricultural Science Centre Complex, New Delhi.

He also underlined the implementation of the New Education Policy – 2022 in the agricultural education arena.

Tomar stressed providing the farmers with quality education to help them withstand the recent competitive world. The need for linking and attracting the youths to the agricultural sector was also emphasised in the Union Minister’s address. He asserted the Central Government’s aim and vision to reduce the farmers’ expenditure and provide them with prompt results. The Union Minister advised the council to have quality interactions with the retired/former staff members of the council that will benefit the young task force in their research. The importance of organic products in agricultural exports was underlined by him.

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying emphasised attracting and linking the youths with the agricultural sector. The Union Minister applauded the ICAR’s pivotal role in enhancing the agricultural and allied sciences production of the country.

Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare stressed the need for promoting precision farming to a large extent. He urged the Council for enhancing the research in the arena of horticultural sciences. ‘Utilising the new Education Policy – 2020, the agricultural students can become a role model for the others,” said Choudhary. The minister accentuated providing vocational education to the farmers’ children on a priority basis.

Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare also marked her presence as the Guest of Honor during the occasion.

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) asserted the Council’s commitment to providing quality agricultural and allied sciences services to the nation. The DG stated that the Council has enabled the unique management of Universities to decide the pathways for a brighter future. The effective implementation of the New Education Policy – 2020 by the ICAR was underlined by Dr Mohapatra. The need for developing such digital platforms that can enable the farmers to get in touch with the ICAR Institutes effectively was highlighted in the Director General’s address. 

Sanjay Garg, Additional Secretary (DARE) & Secretary (ICAR) delivered the welcome address.

Proposing the vote of thanks, Dr RC Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR highlighted the various achievements made by the Agricultural Education Division of the Council. The dignitaries also released the various ICAR Publications and Products on the occasion.

The Vice-Chancellors of State Agricultural Universities; Deputy Directors General of ICAR; Senior Officials of ICAR and NAHEP along with the Heads of Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Agricultural Scientists participated in the conference.

Discussions were held on the implementation of

Agro Universities, Agrotech

The MoU is aimed at promoting Inter-Institutional Collaborative Research and academic engagements in the areas of common causes

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil & Water Conservation, Dehradun, Uttarakhand signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

The MoU is aimed at promoting Inter-Institutional Collaborative Research and academic engagements in the areas of common causes. Dr M Madhu, Director, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun and Prof (Dr) Sangeeta Shukla, Vice-Chancellor, CCSU, Meerut signed the MoU on the behalf of their respective organisations.

Dr Madhu outlined the main objective of the MoU to stimulate and facilitate collaboration and promote the mutually interested common programmes that help advance the interests of scientific studies and societal development. He stressed that the national and international level collaborative programmes and engagements for enhanced outreach and awareness of technological outcomes and success stories would be aimed through the MoU.

Dr Sangeeta Shukla urged for active collaborations in the diverse fields of science and technologies, especially, between the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Agriculture of the CCSU, Meerut and ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun.

The MoU is aimed at promoting Inter-Institutional

Organic

The endeavour was to raise consciousness about the value of food grains, organic food

Pacific Mall DDN has organised a 7-day Organic Farmers Fest to celebrate the Baisakhi and the spring harvest season.

Many dignitaries like Akshay Konde, IPS, Superintendent of Police, Uttarakhand Police; Anil Kumar Sahni, General Manager, Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board; M S Yadav, Deputy Director, Uttarakhand Gramya Vikas Samiti (IFAD-REAP) were present at the event.

Through this fest, the endeavour was to raise consciousness about the value of food grains, organic food and why people should prioritise their health and adopt healthy food habits.

Abhishek Bansal, Executive Director, Pacific Group, said, “Watching people’s enthusiasm and excitement at the Organic Farmers Fest was an amazing feeling for all of us. The event saw a footfall of more than 1500 people. Everyone connected with the noble idea of the event, which was to celebrate the backbone of our country- farmers and collectively commemorate the Baisakhi festival.  I thank the organising team that had put a lot of hard work into organising the event and the people who attended, making the fest a spectacular success.”

The endeavour was to raise consciousness about

Nature, Sustainability

The agriculture carbon trading market in India is relatively at a nascent stage. With Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI)’s proposed collaborations with GrowIndigo India Ltd, to build a marketplace for trading in carbon credits for farmers, will give fillip to the carbon trading segment. Private players such as Agoro Carbon Alliance and nurture.farm have forayed into the carbon trading segment to enable Indian farmers to generate a sustainable income from carbon cropping and to create direct market linkages in India. Industry is hoping that with the government’s direct intervention in policy making for carbon trading and increasing awareness about the advantages of carbon farming farmers will pave a way for future growth of the carbon trading sector.

After the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about disastrous consequences of environmental factors on Indian agriculture, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) will join hands with GrowIndigo India Ltd for the first time to build a marketplace for trading in carbon credits for farmers in the country. “GrowIndigo India Ltd”, which is a collaborative effort between leading agriculture firm Mahyco and Indigo Ag, is executing a project with the IARI and International Wheat and Maize Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). Both IARI and CIMMYT will provide research and science based support to this initiative.

Agri carbon trading market in India

The agriculture carbon trading market in India is relatively at nascent stage but it exhibits a fast pace of growth with forays of private players in the last two years. As per recent reports, India’s carbon trading market ranked as second-highest transacted volumes globally by generating 30 million carbon credits. India is the third-largest carbon emitter accounting for 2.46 billion metric tonnes. The agriculture sector contributes to 25 per cent of carbon emissions due to chemical fertiliser and pesticides, stubble burning, crop nitrogen and methane emission in livestock, etc. According to NITI Aayog India can benefit from carbon trading worth $50-60 billion by adopting sustainable farming and agro-ecological approaches. India has established the first exchange in Asia known as Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) to trade carbon credits. At present, companies that meet the UNFCCC norms will be entitled to sell carbon credits at this exchange platform.

Presently Grow Indigo (a subsidiary of Mahyco, India) and Indigo Ag are working in partnership with farmers of Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra to enable farmers earn carbon credits by assisting in sequestering carbon, covering nearly 1,000 acres. The farms are being geo-tagged and monitored using remote sensing throughout the crop cycle, and soil tests are being conducted at regular intervals to measure carbon credits. 

In India, with commercial operations across four continents, Agoro Carbon Alliance aims to decarbonise farming and restore carbon to the world’s soil by implementing technologically advanced carbon cropping practices. Agoro Carbon Alliance will enable Indian farmers to generate an additional, sustainable income from carbon cropping while maintaining or even increasing crop yields. Agoro Carbon puts Indian farmers at the centre of the solution by incentivising and enabling them to change practices and connecting them to the growing number of businesses that are looking to achieve their climate pledges. 

Agoro aims to foray into the next major planetary-scale agricultural revolution with farmers spearheading the approach locally. It will provide state-of-the-art digital connectivity to millions of Indian farmers, enabling hyperlocal and granular decision support mechanisms. The platform will further create direct market linkages and enable the discovery of the local grower globally.

While commenting on inputs required for the growth of the agriculture carbon trading sector in India, Prithviraj Sen Sharma, Managing Director, Agoro Carbon Alliance India, said, “Indian growers have great potential for carbon farming. In the current scenario, demonstration of carbon farming and regenerative farming practices has become a crucial area to work for the companies. To be able to convince and sensitise the small scale farmers about the advantages of carbon farming and its monetary benefits needs to be addressed. Sensitising the market about the importance of agriculture carbon credit trading is one of the steps required for the growth of the carbon trading sector. Industry needs more direct intervention from the Government in mobilising the change in the carbon trading sector.”

nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, has become the first company to successfully generate and forward sell agricultural-related carbon credits in India. nurture.farm’s Alternate Wetting and Drying & Dry Seeded Rice (AWD-DSR) project covered 22,000 acres of rice paddy fields and involved over 2,500 smallholder farmers. 20,000 carbon credits were derived from this AWD-DSR project. Its benefits included 15 per cent to 30 per cent of water savings.

Another 120,000 credits are under process from the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Programme. The CRM Programme empowered over 25,000 farmers to prevent 420,000 acres of farmland being burnt, thereby preventing the generation of 2,135 tonnes of particulate matter, including PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matter.

nurture.farm’s AWD-DSR programme is now being submitted to a global validation agency, and in two quarters’ time to the Verified Carbon Standard (Verra) for final verification and credit generation. The CRM Programme will follow suit, with submission to the validation agency in the next quarter. nurture.farm has set a target to help Indian farmers generate one million carbon credits by 2023, thereby being the leading supplier of nature-based carbon credits in India.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO of nurture.farm, said, “India is well-placed to pioneer agriculture-related carbon credit trading. As the first agriculture company to successfully generate and forward-sell carbon credits in India, we are unlocking new opportunities and outcomes for farming communities and setting the bar for our industry as a whole. Demand for credible carbon credits from the voluntary carbon markets can drive massive shifts to sustainable agricultural practices across India and the rest of the world. We look forward to working with more farming communities this year as we scale up our CRM and AWD-DSR programmes – making farmers more resilient by securing better yields, improved soil health, and enhanced livelihoods.”

nurture.farm is currently developing protocols for verifying traceable carbon credits through its online platform and will use block chain technology to trade credits on carbon markets. During the course of 2022, nurture.farm will also establish a common carbon credits registry and trading platform, which utilises a standardised methodology to simplify traceability and make verification easier.

During the last cropping season (Rabi), nurture.farm expanded the AWD-DSR programme across an additional 120,000 acres. The company plans to create more carbon credits by further extending its projects. In 2022, nurture.farm’s CRM Programme will cover at least one million acres, while it will scale up its AWD-DSR project to 180,000 acres.

Bayer has established a pilot project in 2021 across 10 states in India to help rice farmers adopt sustainable practices and get paid for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions they avoided through carbon credits. Importantly, this initiative supports the expansion of regenerative agriculture, improves natural resource management and supports farmer productivity and livelihoods. The pilot has targeted around 3000 hectares across diverse states across the country. 

Bayer has started rewarding farmers in Brazil and the U.S. for generating carbon credits by adopting climate-smart practices – such as no-till farming and the use of cover crops – designed to help agriculture reduce its carbon footprint and GHG emissions. Bayer’s industry-leading carbon Initiative is the result of years of work validating a science-based approach and methodology to make this happen. It recognises the pivotal role growers and their land can play in helping to create lasting, positive environmental impacts. The initiative makes Bayer the first company to develop a transparent, science-based and collaborative approach to a carbon market in agriculture.

Long way to go 

The agriculture carbon trading market in India is relatively at a nascent stage. With IARI’s proposed collaborations with GrowIndigo India Ltd, to build a marketplace for trading in carbon credits for farmers will give fillip Carbon trading segment. Private players such as Agoro Carbon Alliance and nurture.farm have forayed into the Carbon trading segment to enable Indian farmers to generate a sustainable income from carbon cropping and to create direct market linkages in India. Industry is hoping that with the government’s direct intervention in policy making for carbon trading and increasing awareness about the advantages of carbon farming farmers will pave a way for future growth of the carbon trading sector.

Dipti Barve

dipti.barve@mmactiv.com

The agriculture carbon trading market in India

Interaction, Sustainability

Smallholder farmers in India can be a significant contributor in our sustainability journey.  Technology and innovation have always been important for sustainable farming,  from the high yielding varieties of green revolution to more recent adoption of Bt cotton.  With these and other technologies like agronomic practices, combined with synthetic inputs, we saw a steady increase in crop productivity over the last decades.  In recent years, this increase in crop productivity has plateaued and some of these practices have also left a large environmental footprint.  Coupled with the water crisis and the climate crisis we find ourselves in, our smallholder farmers will be disproportionately affected by adverse climate events with respect to productivity and their livelihood at large.  By Usha Barwale Zehr, Vikas Chandak and Umang Agrawal, Grow Indigo

Sustainable Agriculture is actually a cost effective and scalable solution to some of these challenges and additionally can offer a new source of income, and more resilience to adverse climate events.  

At Grow Indigo (a partnership between Mahyco and Indigo Ag), we are focused on bringing technologies that are sustainable in these smallholder agri systems.  The policies  of Government of India further supports some of these initiatives like the inclusion of bio-stimulants with synthetic fertilisers or other chemicals to ensure low chemical residue harvest.  Recent advances in the microbial input space are providing a promising alternative to the synthetic solutions which have been historically available.  Some examples include,use of biofertiliser that are specially formulated to provide maximum benefit for a given crop (Prerak soya, cotton, pulses, wheat and other seed treatments), Soil application formulations like Oorjit Granule and Growrrhizae, biopesticides like Colossal and Bhujbal, foliar nitrogen fixers, plant growth promoting microbes and endophytes which provide enhanced Nutrient Use Efficiency, Water Use Efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance to various crops.  Our partner, Indigo Ag has focused on endophytes, with a library of more than 40,000 endophytes and seeds treated with this class of treatments, providing stress tolerance be it drought, water use and other stresses.  The smallholder farmers have become more and more aware about the benefits of the consortia treatments that Grow Indigo offers to address various challenges faced by them.  With increasing use of these innovative inputs, the impact on soils, water quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission will be improved leading to an overall positive impact on agriculture while not impacting the productivity of the crop negatively.

Climate change has posed a significant threat to agri-food systems, especially in highly vulnerable smallholder farming regions like India. While agriculture contributes about 16 per cent of gross GHG emissions in India, it is also a substantial sink for mitigating climate change through regenerative farming practices. Practices like direct dry seeding of rice, reduced tillage, nutrient management and more have the potential to reduce the GHG emissions in addition to improving soil organic carbon, thus making agriculture the most efficient and scalable solution in addressing climate change. In smallholder farming systems, the beneficial effects of coupling these practices with voluntary carbon markets also provides an opportunity for farmer income enhancement.

Much work has been done on conservation agricultural practices in different agro ecosystems.  However, the regenerative agricultural practices today are implemented only by a small percentage of farmers.  These practices include, minimal tillage, cover cropping, crop diversification, use of biofertilisers, and perennial cropping, among others, which increase soil’s carbon content, water permeability, and water retention, which also increase a crop’s ability to withstand drought, flooding and temperature stresses.  As per expert estimates, regenerative farming practices, combined with increased penetration of new technologies, have the potential to return the carbon levels in agricultural soils from an average of ~0.5 per cent back to ~1.5 per cent.

To catalyse the adoption of regenerative agriculture, Grow Indigo has launched a project in Punjab and Haryana which enrolls farmers in a carbon farming programme, ultimately allowing them to participate in a voluntary carbon marketplace. The monetary incentive from this programme will motivate the farmers to implement regenerative farming practices. Use of digital agronomy tools and satellite imagery analysis to measure and verify soil carbon sequestration and on-farm GHG emission levels will be essential for scaling such projects.

The objective is to pay farmers for increasing the carbon content of their soil and reducing overall GHG emissions. We are working with our partners to identify and implement regenerative practice changes, and measure the impact of those practices in terms of tonnes of carbon sequestered or GHG emission reductions. Once the impact has been verified, farmers are paid based on the amount of Carbon sequestration/GHG reduction after the carbon credits are issued and traded. Carbon credit, which is one tonne CO2 equivalent of GHG emission reduced or carbon stored in the soil, can be thought of as a data product, where the veracity, transparency, and traceability of the data has a direct implication on the quality of the carbon credit. Quality of the carbon credit is critical to get the right price for the carbon credit generated, and monitoring and verification at scale is important to make the system work in smallholder systems. Once the farmers register in the programme and continue to implement the regenerative agri practices, they will be eligible to receive payment for carbon credits generated for 20 years, conditional upon following these climate-smart practices in future.

Grow Indigo has already registered with Verra (a global leader in Carbon credit verification) and has initiated a project to start the carbon credit generation activities.  With the project, Grow Indigo is enrolling farmers in the programme in partnership with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to promote practices which enhance sustainability and regenerative agriculture.  

This programme creates an additional income avenue for the farmers, and contributes positively in our efforts for sustainability in the long run.  

Agriculture digitisation is also paving the way for knowledge dissemination and sharing.  Farmer advisories which are on mobile platforms are changing how farmers access information and such information is becoming available almost in real time.  These digital technologies are also strengthening data which is being deployed to better design and implement timely and actionable advisories related to agronomy and agriculture marketing.  

These are just a handful of examples of how technologies will shape the future of agriculture in the near term and get us closer to our sustainability goals.  What we do today determines what the future will look like, and agriculture will be a positive contributor if we strengthen the above sustainability practices.

Smallholder farmers in India can be a

Interaction, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy

Bayer has started rewarding farmers in Brazil and the United States for generating carbon credits by adopting climate-smart practices – such as no-till farming and the use of cover crops – designed to help reduce agricultural  carbon footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Bayer’s industry-leading Carbon Initiative is the result of years of work validating a science-based approach and methodology to make this happen. It recognises the pivotal role growers and their land can play in helping to create lasting, positive environmental impacts. Bayer rewards growers to generate carbon credits by adopting climate-smart practices and creating a new revenue stream on-farm. The initiative makes Bayer the first company to develop a transparent, science-based and collaborative approach to a carbon market in agriculture. Suhas Joshi, Head, Sustainability & Business Stewardship, South Asia, Bayer Group interacts with AgroSpectrum about the status of the carbon farming trading sector in India. Edited experts; 

How do farmers benefit from their carbon credits? What systems currently exist and what robust certification processes will be needed for farmers to play in carbon trading platforms in India?

While carbon credits generated from agriculture and subsequently sold can add to farmers’ income, the significant benefit to the farmer can accrue from the adoption of the more climate friendly cultivation practices as a part of the carbon programme. Under Bayer India’s Sustainable Rice Programme, farmers are encouraged to switch from the ‘transplanted’ rice cultivation to either ‘Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) or Alternate Wetting & Drying (AWD). In case of DSR, the farmer substantially reduces the cost of cultivation as the transplanting operation gets eliminated. Water saving is considerable in both DSR and AWD practices, also positively impacting the consumption of fuel and electricity as less water is pumped. The change in practice also improves soil health as the puddling operation responsible for the soil damage in rice farms gets abolished.

Bayer’s Sustainable Rice Programme prepares farmers for climate adaptation in addition to generating the carbon offsets.

Currently the carbon programmes have the possibility of registering with the International standards like the Gold Standard or Verra VCS. A strong process of verification and validation exists under these standards. As a strong proponent of sustainable agriculture practices, Bayer is committed to playing a key role in raising awareness and providing training to farmers and handholding them through the entire process and ultimately creating a unified framework of getting them registered with carbon standards to receive credits in due course. 

How do you foresee the future of the carbon farming trading sector in India?

As a result of the Paris Agreement, companies are increasingly pledging to help stop climate change by reducing their own greenhouse-gas emissions with a clear roadmap of targeted reductions year-on-year. Yet, many businesses find that they cannot fully eliminate their emissions, or even lessen them as quickly as they might like, from their operations. For the companies committing to achieve carbon neutrality, use of carbon credits will be very important to offset emissions they can’t get rid of by other means. A recent report published by The McKinsey & Company, estimates that demand for carbon credits could increase by a factor of 15 or more by 2030 and by a factor of up to 100 by 2050. Overall, the market for carbon credits could be worth upward of $50 billion in 2030.

Carbon farming in Indian agriculture is still in its nascent stage but has the potential to generate a large number of carbon credits and supply to the global markets; however, this would require significant upfront investments and focused efforts on the ground.

What are the plans of Bayer for launching the Carbon farming programme for the farmers in India? 

India grows paddy rice on around 44 million hectares with transplanting being the predominant cultivation practice. Methane emissions from rice paddies, where the land remains in a foot-high standing water throughout the season, are the highest from cropland and the second highest source in agriculture, surpassed only by emissions from enteric fermentation in livestock. The amount of methane emitted from the rice paddies are strongly linked to the practices (flooding and fertilising) applied by the rice farmers.

To this end, we established a pilot project in 2021 across 10 states in India to help rice farmers adopt sustainable practices and get paid for the greenhouse gas emissions they avoided through carbon credits. Importantly, this initiative supports the expansion of regenerative agriculture, improves natural resource management and supports farmer productivity and livelihoods. 

The pilot has targeted around 3000 hectares across diverse states across the country. It is early days, but we are seeing encouraging signs that farmers in our pilot project were able to reduce water usage, lower methane emissions, protect their yields and soils, and improve their margins.

What are the challenges in the carbon farming trading sector in India?

Promoting climate mitigation activities in Indian agriculture is a very tedious effort that involves identifying and enrolling smallholder farmers in large numbers, training them, handholding them on climate-smart agricultural practices, managing the MRV (Monitoring, Review & Verification mechanism) on each small farm, generate carbon credits and timely incentivise each participating farmer. A strong public-private partnership model is the need of the hour to ensure a strong outreach and focus on such resource-intensive micro level-farming units and meticulously follow all necessary processes needed for earning carbon credits.

A conducive policy environment and enabling mechanism from the government’s side will go a long way in helping the Indian smallholder farmers by leveraging the opportunity in the global voluntary carbon markets.

What inputs are required for the growth of the carbon credit trade sector in India?

A conducive policy environment is a must for the growth of carbon farming in India that could enhance farming incomes and also make Indian agriculture more climate resilient. The policy framework should encourage private sector investments for making carbon farming economically viable and globally competitive for smallholder agriculture projects. The policy should assure the investors that the carbon credits generated from smallholder agriculture will not be nationalised or included in the NDC. 

It is also important to remove policy impediments, if any, from international transactions of the voluntary carbon credits generated from Indian smallholder agriculture.

                                                                                                               

Dipti Barve

dipti.barve@mmactiv.com   

Bayer has started rewarding farmers in Brazil

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Dairy

Kedar was speaking at India International Dairy Expo in Mumbai

Sunil Chhatrapal Kedar, Cabinet minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Sports & Youth Welfare, Maharashtra recently inaugurated the Koelnmesse India organised special edition of India International Dairy Expo (IIDE). IIDE was a trade fair on dairy and dairy technology, for dairy farming, processing, packaging, distribution and products.

Kedar said, “The significance of the dairy sector to the Indian economy cannot be underestimated. It is a subtle indicator of a healthy economy. Looking at the perishability of dairy products, the dairy industry must always embrace change and constantly adapt itself to the changing technologies as well because it’s only then that we’ll be able to achieve the desired result. I too come from the industry, and I know that we all were faced with a series of challenges during the last two years of the pandemic including that of labour, another critical resource. Therefore, the industry needs to nurture its talent by facilitating their access to the right opportunities for development.”

With a total of 160 exhibitors from 12 countries, IIDE became a single window of information for the latest industry trends. It provided a platform for all stakeholders of the dairy chain – the milk producers, the milk processors, the milk marketing professionals, the service providers, dairy equipment manufacturers, the technocrats and the policy-makers to create a better future and all-around growth of the dairy industry.

The minister exhorted the dairy industry in general and in Maharashtra particularly to adopt new ideas and the latest technologies and march on the path of grand success. He also asked the industry to hire the best professionals and if needed take the guidance and help from the organisations like NDDB and IDA.

Milind Dixit, MD, Koelnmesse YA Tradefair said, “Despite the COVID-19 challenges, the dairy sector in India continues to be positive on the back of government support, increasing population and per capita consumption. India is self-sufficient in milk production and the world’s top milk producer as well as consumers.”

Other dignitaries present included milk producers, scientists and industry representatives included Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB, Dr GS Rajorhia, President, IDA, Arun Patil, Chairman, IDA (WZ), Ranjeetsingh Deshmukh, Chairman, Dudh Mahasangh, Vishwas Patil, Chairman, Gokul Dairy, Rajesh Lele, Secretary, IDA (West Zone) and Board of directors of Ajmer Dairy, Rajasthan, Board of Directors of Gokul Dairy among other.

Kedar was speaking at India International Dairy

Agrotech, Europe, R&D, Seeds

The centre will focus on service development to help farmers meet the challenges of a changing agricultural sector

Corteva Agriscience has opened a new Center for Seed Applied Technologies (CSAT) in southwest France, to help Europe’s farmers get their crops off to the best start and achieve a successful harvest.

The centre in Aussonne is the first for Corteva in Europe and its third worldwide. The CSAT will focus on service development, with a strong scientific investment that will be part of new seed treatment solutions to help farmers meet the challenges of a changing agricultural sector. Seed treatments can protect young plants from pests and disease and help tender seedlings get off to a vigorous start that improves productivity.

CSATs act as a laboratory, testing centre and seed treatment plant, with rigorous processes in place for the discovery, formulation and real-world testing of seed-applied technologies. This process enables seed treatments to protect and perform to solve on-farm challenges, delivering value for growers.

As a result, more farmers can benefit from innovations in seed treatment ensuring application dose accuracy, improved field performance and increased productivity for farmers, as well as enhancing sustainability in line with Corteva Agriscience’s sustainability commitment.

The CSAT will also work with business collaborators to provide services and tests to help improve the quality of seed treatments.

The centre will focus on service development

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, E-commerce

Chairman, NDDB hands over cheque of Rs.16.32 crore to KOF as working capital loan

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying recently launched NDDB’s Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP) at NDDB, New Delhi. In his presence, Meenesh Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) handed over a cheque of Rs.16.32 crore to KOF as a short-term working capital loan at a concessional interest rate of 6.25 per cent per year for sourcing oilseeds and edible oil at reasonable prices during the harvest season.

Rupala also launched custom packing of Dhara sunflower edible oil at Karnataka Cooperative Oilseeds Growers’ Federation (KOF), Bengaluru.

Chairman, NDDB hands over cheque of Rs.16.32

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Organic, R&D

Also signs MoU with Sresta Natural Bioproducts and Wevio Global

Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) has recently entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad. G Narendra Kumar, Director General, NIRDPR, and Dr S Sudheer Kumar, Registrar, PJTSAU have executed the MoU papers in the presence of the PJTSAU, Vice Chancellor, Dr V Praveen Rao, at the programme organised at Agrihub, in the university campus. Several officers from the NIRDPR and University officers of the PJTSAU were present in the programme.

In another development, another MoU was signed with Sresta Natural Bioproducts and Wevio Global by the registrar of the university S Sudheer Kumar and Managing Director of Sresta Natural Bioproducts S Rajasekhar Reddy and Director of Wevio Global Y Madhusudhana Rao in the presence of Vice-Chancellor V Praveen Rao.

The university and Sresta Natural would work together on research, training, innovation and training of students in organic and natural agricultural products. Similarly, the pact with Wevio Global would help the university to work on awareness about farm mechanisation for small and marginal farmers.

Also signs MoU with Sresta Natural Bioproducts

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Biofuel industry, Sustainability

Discussions were held on to commercialise the technologies in a better way

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has inked a pact with Preet Energies, Amloh, Fatehgarh Sahib and ZAK Venture, Noida, Uttar Pradesh for the commercialisation of ‘Modified PAU fixed Dome Type Janta Model Biogas Plant’ having capacity from 25 m3/day to 500 m3/day” technology. Another MoA with ZAK Venture for ‘Paddy straw-based biogas plant made of mild steel sheet (above the ground)’ was also signed on the same day. Dr AS Dhatt, Director of Research, PAU and Proprietor of Preet Energies and Executive Director of ZAK Venture signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on behalf of their organisations.

Dr GS Manes, Additional Director of Research (Farm Mechanization and Bioenergy), PAU congratulated Dr Rajan Aggarwal, Head, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering and Dr Sarbjit Singh Sooch, Principal Scientist in the department, for the commercialisation of these technologies.

Dr Aggarwal and Dr Sooch explained the functions and usefulness of the technologies at the time of signing of the MoA.

Dr Usha Nara, Plant Breeder, TMIPRC, informed PAU has signed a total of 288 MoAs. She also told that 10 MoAs of Modified PAU fixed Dome Type Janta Model Biogas Plant having capacity from 25 m3/day to 500 m3/day and 7 MoAs of Paddy straw-based biogas plant made of mild steel sheet (above the ground) have been signed with different companies and firms.

Discussions were held on to commercialise the

Agro Universities, Start ups

The MoA will help to excel in agribusiness in collaboration with co-agri-startups

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoAs) with 13 agri start-ups of Punjab Agri Business Incubator (PABI), Directorate of Extension Education (six under Udaan and seven under Uddam). These start-ups are selected by Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sectors Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India for grant-in-aid.

Dr Ashok Kumar, Director of Extension Education, PAU signed MoAs on behalf of PAU and congratulated the start-ups.

Dr TS Riar, Additional Director Communication, PAU and Principal Investigator, PABI, said that agri start-ups should work with full dedication to excel in agribusiness in collaboration with their co-agri-startups under all three cohorts of PABI.

Dr Poonam A Sachdev, Head, Department of Food Science and Technology, PAU and Co-Principal Investigator, PABI, urged the representatives of start-ups to utilise the grant-in-aid efficiently to generate employment in Punjab.

The MoA will help to excel in

AgroPolicy, Trade

The exemption will benefit the textile chain- yarn, fabric, garments and made-ups and provide relief to the textile industry and consumers

The Government of India has decided to exempt all customs duty on the import of cotton to lower the price of cotton in the public interest. This exemption would benefit the textile chain- yarn, fabric, garments and made-ups and provide relief to the textile industry and consumers.

The industry has been demanding the removal of 5 per cent of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) and 5 per cent of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on raw cotton.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified the exemption from Customs duty and Agriculture Infrastructure development Cess for import of cotton.

This notification has come into effect from April 14, 2022, and will remain in force up to and inclusive of September 30, 2022. Removal of import duty on raw cotton should have a salutary effect on cotton prices in India.

The exemption will benefit the textile chain-

People

Kothari takes over as the third chairman of the association

India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) announced the appointment of Bimal Kothari as the new Chairman with immediate effect while Jitu Bheda steps down as the current chairman. Bheda was appointed the Chairman of IPGA on 25th April 2018. Kothari takes over as the third chairman of the association after Pravin Dongre and Bheda. Kothari, one of the key founding members of the association, has been the Vice-Chairman of IPGA since 2011 when it was formed.

Kothari said, “At the helm of affairs, I will ensure that we deal with these changes in thoughtful and innovative ways to achieve larger goals which will benefit all stakeholders for years to come. I look forward to the continued guidance and support of all the committee members. A lot has been done and there is still a lot to do under IPGA. There are programmes to be conducted, issues to be addressed, and challenges to overcome.”

Kothari takes over as the third chairman