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Agrotech, Sustainability, Water

River Bank Filtration (RBF) technology operates by extracting water from wells located near rivers or lakes

A sensor-based irrigation system using bank filtration technology and controlled via web/mobile app installed at Sal River near Navelim and Nauta lake at Cortalim, Goa, has prevented wastage of water in the area and also made it easy for farmers to monitor the irrigation remotely.

The moisture values are provided by the sensors starting the water motor only when there is an actual need for water and turning it off when the moisture level reaches the maximum value. This process prevents water erosion and maintains the soil quality throughout the field. The system has saved time, especially for the daily wage farmers giving them freedom and flexibility to sell their harvest in the market. It has reduced their labour work and helped the farmers financially as well.

The irrigation system was implemented by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), in collaboration with the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Goa, and supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, under the umbrella of Demand Driven Mission – Water Technology Initiative.

It provides clean water to farmers for irrigation through River Bank Filtration (RBF) technology coupled with a sensor-controlled irrigation system, which is the first of its kind in the region. RBF operates by extracting water from wells located near rivers or lakes. As the river water infiltrates into and passes through the riverbed sediments, contaminants like bacteria and toxic metals are removed by overlapping biological, physical, and chemical processes. Affordable RBF wells have been installed for the treatment of polluted water from the Sal River near Navelim and Nauta lake at Cortalim, Goa, powered by renewable energy resources (solar-powered pumps) to provide clean water to farmers in off-the-grid areas. Water, with improved quality parameters such as reduced turbidity and bacterial load supplied through a systematic pipeline system, helped farmers to obtain better crop production.

The project presents a model of sustainability for educating farming communities with small landholdings which are unique to Goa. The technology of RBF offers an inexpensive means to remove large amounts of contaminants, including suspended particles and attenuation of microbes, and essentially provide improved water quality to the farmer’s community to fulfil their irrigation requirements.

A dissemination workshop was also organised in which relevant stakeholders, researchers, policymakers, and farmers were handed over the information and technology to the local ownership, and the initiative has opened up new collaborations for future developments.

River Bank Filtration (RBF) technology operates by

Supply Chain

GIV will connect at least one million farmers to the digital ecosystem of GKC by leveraging the network of digitally connected grassroots women entrepreneurs called ‘Grameen Mittras’

Grameen Impact Ventures (GIV), in collaboration with MasterCard Technologies, recently announced the launch of Grameen Kisan Connect (GKC), a significant initiative toward the digitalisation of agriculture value chains in India. Agriculture and allied services account for 18 per cent of India’s GDP and over half of all the employment in the country. Yet, the smallholder farmers, accounting for three-fourths of all the farmers, suffer due to inefficiencies in the agricultural supply chain, resulting in lack of market access, barriers in access to quality inputs at competitive prices and low return on investment on them.

The Grameen Kisan Connect (GKC) platform is a complete digital ecosystem powered by MasterCard Technologies. It brings together primary producers of agricultural commodities, input suppliers, commodity buyers, agro-processors, logistics providers, agricultural credit providers, farmer producer organizations and digital agricultural advisory service providers.

GIV will connect at least one million farmers to the digital ecosystem of GKC by leveraging the network of digitally connected grassroots women entrepreneurs called ‘Grameen Mittras’. This network of over 1,600 women entrepreneurs is spread across 16 districts in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Central Bihar.

Speaking on the occasion of launch of this platform, Prabhat Labh, Founder and CEO of Grameen Impact Ventures said, “Launch of the GKC platform in collaboration with MasterCard Technologies will help in fulfilling an important goal of GIV, which is, to make farming more profitable for the smallholder farmers. By leveraging this digital ecosystem, the farmers will reduce their input costs by benefiting from transparency in input supply, fetch a better price for their produce by having access to a much larger range of buyers on the digital platform and access high-quality crop advisory services.”

GIV will connect at least one million

Acquaculture, AgroPolicy

The workshop was attended by eight EAS member countries, four knowledge partners, officials of the Department of Fisheries

Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India and the Government of Singapore organised a virtual East Asia Summit (EAS) Workshop on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing yesterday co-chaired by India and Singapore Food Agency (SFA). Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries (DoF), Government of India gave the keynote address. The workshop was attended by eight EAS member countries, four knowledge partners, officials of the Department of Fisheries, the Government of India, Fisheries officials of different States/UTs and other invitees.

In his inaugural address, Swain highlighted the urgent call for combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Swain shared some of India’s efforts and initiatives to combat IUU fishing especially through working with coastal fishing communities.

The workshop began with the opening session led by India and chaired by Joint Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Government of India, Dr J Balaji. During the welcome address, Dr J Balaji introduced the theme of the workshop and welcomed all the esteemed delegates, panellists and participants in the Workshop from the countries of Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea along with India and Singapore. In his opening remarks to the EAS IUU Workshop, the CEO of the Singapore Food Agency highlighted the importance of combating IUU fishing which has negatively impacted the livelihood and food security of the coastal fishing communities.

Technical Session 1 focussed on regional collaborations in combating IUU fishing and was Chaired by Singapore Food Agency. The knowledge partners, namely, the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organization (BOBPIGO), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shared the regional efforts and the groundbreaking and continuous efforts being taken to combat IUU fishing. During Technical Session 2, representatives from each participating country shared their national success stories, experience gained and measures being taken up by the respective country to curb IUU fishing.

After sessions and discussions, the webinar concluded with closing remarks by Geetika Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, GoI.

The workshop was attended by eight EAS

R&D

The areas of research will include Applied Natural Sciences, Specialty Chemicals, Agri-Chemicals, New Materials, and Sustainability.

BASF Chemicals India Private Limited (BCIPL) has signed an agreement with the Pune Knowledge Cluster (PKC), an initiative facilitated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), to launch WEnyan, a research scholarship programme for women in Maharashtra.

WEnyan is a holistic scholarship programme where women in leadership positions from scientific fields will play an active and important role in selecting, mentoring, and monitoring other women candidates in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility commitments, BCIPL will provide financial support for research projects, to women candidates from marginalised backgrounds in the state of Maharashtra.

These women will be selected by PKC. The areas of research will include Applied Natural Sciences, Specialty Chemicals, Agri-Chemicals, New Materials, and Sustainability. Through this initiative, PKC aims to increase enrollment and retention of women in scientific streams creating a more gender-equal workforce. Key beneficiaries of the programme would be women from marginalised communities and low-income groups in Maharashtra, who are either pursuing or have completed undergraduate degree or Master’s degree and want to explore entrepreneurship.

The areas of research will include Applied

Environment, Supply Chain, Trade

The joint venture will furnish the best-of-breed apples in as many as five different varieties in the next three years for apple aficionados in India

IG International has entered into a joint venture with Engin Tarim, the largest one-piece apple manufacturer in Europe. This accord will establish the new joint venture, IG-EnginTarim, as one of the prime planters of apple varieties in India. The partnership hopes to nurture and cultivate 50,000 tonne of the best-of-breed apples in five varieties over the next three years. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be the home for the production of these apples. Since these locations would provide a suitable incubator for cultivating superior varieties as they furnish compatible climatic conditions.

Engin Tarim has entrenched its reputation in Europe as the stewards of the apple business. The inherent ethos of the Turkish apple producer is to be environmentally friendly, technologically capacitated, and carry a modern outlook. A production capability of 55,000 tonnes of first-rate apples and a depot that can stock 17,800 tonnes of apples coupled with novel protective cultivation methods has earned the brand a Global GAP and Good Agriculture Certification.

Acclaimed as the leading fresh fruit importer in India, IG International is entrenched with a renowned reputation for more than 50 years in this market segment. The company’s organised and strategic sourcing system, augmented by a seamless supply chain with a well-connected overseas procurement network, enables them to import best-of-breed fruits from 22 different countries.

The joint venture will furnish the best-of-breed

Company News, Trade

The company currently exports a range of fresh vegetables to Western Europe, Australia and the Middle East

Namdhari’s Group, one of India’s leading agri-production companies is expecting to increase its exports business from around 2500 MT in FY 22 to 3500 MT in FY 23. Namdhari’s has established its presence as a significant player in quality seeds for international and domestic markets and fresh fruits and vegetables for exports. The company currently exports a range of fresh vegetables to Western Europe, Australia and the Middle East and will be adding new products as well.

Namdhari Seeds has also expanded its research and sales activity in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia in South East Asia and the Middle East countries. They are one of the very few seed companies in India which have grown locally and expanded internationally.

Namdhari’s grow strawberries, blueberries, personalised sized and seedless watermelons, a variety of melons, speciality vegetables like lettuce, baby vegetables, micro-greens, orange-flesh sweet potato, butternut squash, a variety of tomatoes, gourds, cucumber, chilli and okra among others. The company has a 200-acre farm in Bidadi, near Bengaluru houses Namdhari’s R&D centre. The R&D department in Namdharis houses molecular biology, tissue culture, and plant pathology labs. Additionally, the company has research and trial stations in different parts of the country. More than 30 scientists are employed in this department.

The company currently exports a range of

Live Stock

The product is formulated with a unique combination of active ingredients, including an insect growth regulator

NEOGEN Corporation announced recently that it has added a new product to the trusted Prozap insect control line.

Prozap Protectus Pour-On Insecticide – IGR is a ready-to-use triple-active formula for use on beef cattle and calves that kills chewing and sucking lice, horn flies, stable flies, horse and deer flies. The product is formulated with a unique combination of active ingredients, including an insect growth regulator (IGR), adulticide, and a synergist, which provides cattle with relief from infestations and kills louse eggs before they hatch, providing season-long control of lice in one application.

The formula, which contains 3 per cent diflubenzuron, 2.5 per cent piperonyl butoxide, and 0.5 per cent lambda-cyhalothrin, is applied along the back of the animal being treated utilising a graduated applicator gun.

“We are incredibly excited to offer this new, premium insect control product to producers,” said Elizabeth Wonsowski, NEOGEN’s Ruminant Product Marketing Manager. “The formulation of the new Prozap Protectus Pour-On product provides beef cattle producers with a unique option compared to existing products currently on the market and will help minimise cattle handling, time, and labor costs associated with treatment.”

NEOGEN offers a complete insecticide product portfolio for farm, home, and ranch settings, including products for horses and livestock within barns, stables, kennels, and more.

The product is formulated with a unique

Agrotech, Finance, Start ups

The agritech startup works with farmers from across the state, ensuring fair prices and supplying pure, traditional and wholesome farm produce to the world

Dehradun-based agritech startup Valley Culture has raised funds worth Rs 2 crores from TMRW Network. The agritech startup works with farmers from across the state, ensuring fair prices and supplying pure, traditional and wholesome farm produce to the world. Valley Culture works with over 4000 farmers across the state of Uttarakhand of which the majority are women giving hope and a lifeline to more than 600 widows.

Founders Shikha Prakash and Robin Nagar plan to build a complete Farm to fork ecosystem, to help Himalayan farmers get better prices, build market linkages & direct access to customers. Also, they are steadfast and determined to promote a healthy lifestyle by reviving the traditional foods of Uttarakhand. The startup targets Rs 100-crore turnover in the next 18 months.

The agritech startup works with farmers from

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agro chems – Pesticides

Shinwa is an insecticide and Izuki a combination fungicide

Insecticides (India) in collaboration with Nissan Chemical Corporation launched two new crop protection products Shinwa and Izuki for Indian farmers. Shinwa is an insecticide by Nissan Chemical Corporation, Japan and Izuki, a combination fungicide developed in technical collaboration with Japan’s Nissan Chemical Corporation.

Shinwa (Technical: Fluxametamide 10 per cent w/w EC) effectively controls the lepidopteran pests and thrips in a variety of crops. The product provides better control of pests with a quick knockdown effect and a better duration of control than other available insecticides on the market.

Izuki (Technical: Kasugamycin 6 per cent + Thifluzamide 26 per cent SC) is a unique broad-spectrum fungicide combination of two molecules with excellent prophylactic and curative properties. It protects paddy against diseases such as sheath blight and blast.

Shinwa is an insecticide and Izuki a

Agro Universities, R&D

The first instalment of Rs 40 lakh has been given for the procurement of equipment

The Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), has been granted an amount of Rs 58 lakh, under the scheme ‘Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (FIST)’ funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, to strengthen the research facilities in the Department of Food Science and Technology, PAU.

Dr Poonam A Sachdev, Principal Food Technologist (Vegetable) informed that they have received the first instalment of Rs 40 lakh for the procurement of equipment.

The first instalment of Rs 40 lakh

Acquaculture, Agrotech, R&D

The peptide-based diagnostic tool has been developed by scientists of Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST)

Scientists have developed a handy diagnostic tool that detects an aquaculture pathogen known as the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV). The peptide-based diagnostic tool by scientists of Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has been granted a patent on March 31, 2022, as an alternative biorecognition element.

Infection caused by the WSSV to the shrimp Penaeus vannamei results in a huge loss of crop. This high-value super-food is susceptible to a wide range of viral and bacterial pathogens and the probability of occurrence of infections is rather high. Improved nutrition, probiotics, disease resistance, quality control of water, seed and feed, immuno-stimulants and affordable vaccines play an important role in enhancing the production. Technologies for early and rapid detection of pathogens on the field will help fish and shell-fish farming which provides significant export revenue to the country which is a leading supplier of shrimp to the US. 

Dr Prabir Kulabhusan, Dr Jyutika Rajwade and Dr Kishore Paknikar developed a lateral flow assay using gold nanoparticles for easy visualisation of the results. Instead of using poly-/mono-clonal antibodies in assay development, the ARI scientists selected twelve amino acid-containing peptides from a phage display library by biopanning. This was a time- and cost-saving approach, eliminating the need for immunization of laboratory animals to obtain the antisera. With the use of peptides, cold-chain requirements for storage are reduced and the assay becomes production-friendly. 

The inventors have published this research in Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology and the Journal of Molecular Modelling. ARI PhD student Snehal Jamalpure-Lakka presented this idea at the National Bio-Entrepreneurship Conclave (NBEC)-2021 and was awarded. 

The peptide-based diagnostic tool has been developed

AgroPolicy, Australia, Middle East countries, Textile industry, Trade

Goyal was speaking on the sidelines of the news trade agreements in the textile sector between India, Australia and the UAE

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal said that new Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreements with Australia and the UAE would open infinite opportunities for the textile industry. He said that Indian textile exports to Australia and the UAE will now face zero duty and expressed confidence that soon Europe, Canada, the UK and GCC countries would also welcome Indian textile exports at zero duty.

Goyal was delivering the Keynote address at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the ‘Confederation of Indian Textile Industry- Cotton Development and Research Association’ (CITI- CDRA) in New Delhi today. The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu was the chief guest at the celebration.

The minister mentioned that trade agreements would help in increasing exports from labour-intensive industries. He added that India must also be open to receiving new technology, rare minerals, raw materials which are in short supply in India etc. from the world at reasonable costs. This will only increase our production, productivity and quality, which in turn will increase demand for our products all over the world, he said.

Goyal also said that the Indian textile industry has the potential to achieve $100 billion in exports by 2030.

He applauded CITI-CDRA for working towards developing a robust cotton ecosystem by directly engaging about 90,000 cotton farmers. The minister observed that more than just fibre, cotton has been an integral part of Indian culture, lifestyle and tradition.

Goyal called upon Indian cultivators to adopt new technologies and global best farm practices. He spoke of the AI technology that is enabling farmers in Australia to control spraying operations, as the cotton crop is sensitive to spraying through data-driven decision making.

Goyal was speaking on the sidelines of

AgroPolicy, Seeds

Hoarding of seeds have pushed up the prices of soybean oil

Inspections have revealed very large hoardings of soybean and mustard seeds in the Dewas, Shajapur and Guna districts of Madhya Pradesh. These seeds were much above the stock limit prescribed by the government. Hoarding of seeds have pushed up the prices of soybean oil. The State Government has been asked to step in to take necessary action under the EC Act, 1955.

In Maharashtra and Rajasthan, large quantities of edible oils were found more than the prescribed quantities of the control order. Wholesalers and big chain retail outlets were the main violators. The state governments have been requested to take corrective measures as per the relevant sections of the EC Act.

Inspection is ongoing in the remaining five states. The state governments of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have also been requested to ensure that the supply chain is not affected while taking action under EC Act.

Hoarding of seeds have pushed up the

AgroPolicy, R&D, Textile industry

Urges for steps to be taken to guide the farmers through better research and by adopting best practices

The Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu called upon all stakeholders to make concerted efforts to improve cotton yield and productivity in India to enhance farmers’ incomes. Expressing his concern over the low yield of Indian cotton compared to other major cotton growers in the world, Naidu said that steps must be taken to guide the farmers through better research and by adopting best practices.

Naidu called for increasing the global competitiveness of Indian cotton textiles and “capitalise on our traditional strengths, shift to modern agronomic practices and consolidate our position as a global leader in the cotton industry.”

Noting the importance of the textiles sector as the second-largest employer in the country after agriculture, Naidu emphasised improving farm productivity, increasing mechanisation, upskilling textile workers, and hand-holding small firms to give a boost to the sector. Naidu also suggested diversifying into speciality cotton such as the extra-long staple (ELS) cotton and organic cotton.

The Vice President was inaugurating the CITI-CDRA Golden Jubilee Celebrations from Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) is a leading industry chamber of the textile sector in India and the Cotton Development and Research Association (CDRA) is the extension arm of CITI, undertaking various seed development and extension activities in the cotton sector.

Shri Naidu expressed his concern that despite being the largest cotton producer (23 per cent) in the world and having the highest area under cotton cultivation (39 per cent of world area), the yield per hectare in India remained at a low of 460 kg lint per hectare when compared to the world average of 800 kg lint per hectare. To address this, he called for improving the planting density, taking up mechanisation of cotton harvest and giving a thrust to agronomy research.

He said, “We need to improve our seed technology, increase yield, adopt global best practices, produce clean and high-quality cotton and brand it better to improve the farmers’ income.”

The Vice President noted that while India has a strong global footprint in cotton yarn, it has to improve its competitiveness in fabrics and apparel. He called for hand-holding small firms and upskilling textile workers to give a fillip to the sector. He said government schemes such as the Amended – Technology Up-gradation Fund Scheme (A-TUFS) and SAMARTH (Scheme for Capacity Building in the Textile Sector) are aimed at achieving these objectives.

On this occasion, Shri Naidu conferred awards to excelling cotton scientists and farmers in CITI-CDRA Project Areas. He also released a Coffee Table Book – ‘Millennial Shades of Cotton’ at the event.
Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, T Rajkumar, Chairman, CITI, PD Patodia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Cotton of CITI-CDRA, Shri Rakesh Mehra, Deputy Chairman, CITI, Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Prem Malik, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Cotton of CITI CDRA and other dignitaries were present during the event.

Urges for steps to be taken to