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Nouryon will bring its expertise in crop protection and crop nutrition to the collaboration and enhance AGEYE’s precision farming technology to optimise indoor growing at scale for growers

Nouryon has announced that it has invested in Bangalore-based AGEYE Technologies, a technology company developing an automation platform for indoor farming. The platform uses artificial intelligence to turn visual inputs into crop growth development insights and autonomous actions that improve the predictability and profitability of harvests for growers. Nouryon will bring its expertise in crop protection and crop nutrition to the collaboration and further enhance AGEYE’s precision farming technology to optimise indoor growing at scale for growers.

“At Nouryon, we are constantly assessing investment opportunities in emerging and sustainable technologies that have the potential to become a disruptive force in our key end-markets including Agriculture and Food, Home and Personal Care, and Paints and Coatings,” said Rajeev Rao, Nouryon Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. “AGEYE’s next-generation digital platform has the potential to transform indoor farming.” 

AGEYE’s digital technology combines the principles of plant eco-physiology and precision farming to create an intelligent indoor farming platform that maximises plant growth rate, development, morphology, physiology, and ultimately improvement of crop yield, phytochemical content, and flavour. 

“The AGEYE platform’s ability to rapidly identify localised growth irregularities and implement corrective actions is an excellent complement to Nouryon’s crop nutrition and crop protection product portfolio,” said Ignacio Garin, Vice President, Agriculture and Food at Nouryon. “We look forward to collaborating closely with AGEYE to accelerate the development of this revolutionary technology and offer our customers the next generation of solutions in the indoor farming sector.”

“We are very pleased to partner with Nouryon – they have an extensive global reach in serving fertigation and hydroponics applications with micronutrients and specialty fertilizers and we share a vision of advancing the sustainability of indoor farming,” said Nick Genty, Co-Founder and CEO of AGEYE.

AGEYE has been recognised as the “AI-based AgTech Company of the Year” by the 2022 AgTech Breakthrough Awards and “Overall Sensor Solution of the Year” by the 2021 AgTech Breakthrough Awards. Founded in 2018, AGEYE has offices in Raleigh, North Carolina (USA) and Bangalore, Karnataka.

Nouryon will bring its expertise in crop

The global workshop sought to translate APAPCAR into concrete on-ground actions through knowledge and expertise, from state, national and global level experts

Professionals around the world gathered at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh to discuss and plan the implementation of Andhra Pradesh Action Plan for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (AP-APCAR). Andhra Pradesh is the 4th state in India after Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi for developing State Action Plan for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance.

The two day “Global Workshop on Implementation of State Action Plans for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance, focus state-Andhra Pradesh” was organised on November 25 and 26, to translate APAPCAR into concrete on-ground actions through knowledge and expertise, from state, national and global level experts. The consultative workshop was co-organised by Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA), Infection Control Academy of India (IFCAI), and World Animal Protection, with support from ReAct Asia Pacific. The workshop invited experts from across the globe and country representatives from various organisations, institutes, the state governments and ministry representatives from animal, human health, environment and Agriculture departments. 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the top 10 threats to global health, and one of the urgent health challenges for the next decade. As per the first comprehensive analysis of the global impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) estimates published by the leading medical journal The Lancet, resistance caused 1.27 million deaths in 2019, and antimicrobial-resistant infections played a role in 4.95 million deaths.

Estimates for 204 countries and territories confirm AMR as a global health threat, with the worst impacts in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) like India. However, higher-income countries also face alarmingly high levels of AMR.

Overuse and misuse of anti-microbial medicines are major factors that have contributed to the development of drug-resistant microbes. In many places, antibiotics are overused and misused in people and animals, and often given without professional oversight. 

The workshop led engaging group discussions leading to on ground plans and Key Performance Indicators (KPI). We are hopeful this will help Andhra Pradesh turn into a role model for all other 24 states, not only drafting the policy but in impeccable implementation with laudable outcomes.

“Andhra Pradesh has shifted focus on strengthening laboratories, medical education and creating awareness among the public to counter Anti-microbial resistance (AMR). The state government has piloted the Indo-Dutch project in Krishna district as a pilot project under the auspices of National Centre of Disease Control (NSDC),” said MT Krishan Babu, Principal Secretary, Health Medical and Family Welfare who participated virtually for this event. “There is an urgent need to bring focus on animals which are part of our food system especially the poultry sector which contributes to the challenges faced to combat superbugs and needs to be monitored”, added MT Krishan Babu, Principal Secretary, Health Medical and Family Welfare who participated virtually for this event. 

“Since resistance anywhere is everywhere, one health approach is the only solution for containment of AMR for human health, animal health & welfare and environment health,” saidP Anand Kumar, Member, AMR Cell, AP State.

“Since AMR is not restricted to one sector but a critical global problem affecting humans, environment, and animals. The key to combat AMR is understanding its multi stakeholder and multidimensional nature and work on the different aspects of same. Each sector should play its role in prevention, making people aware about the issue and the impact of AMR. About 75 percent of total antibiotics globally, are used in animal farming systems. India is the 4th largest sales in the use of antibiotics in animals. The poultry and cattle industry are one of the largest farming industries in India and hence the need to tackle AMR arising from Animal Farming and improved animal welfare is a solution,” said Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection, India.

“FABA will play a key role in knowledge dissemination and awareness programs across academic institutions. which will help in bringing industry closer to the implementation goals. FABA with its partners globally, will help in all awareness and knowledge programs on one health,” said Redanna, Executive President, FABA.

“Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) being a multidimensional problem requires a multisectoral approaches to tackle the issue from lens of technical, political, social, economic, and enthusiastic public support,” Said Dr Ranga Reddy Burri, President, IFCAI.

“Altogether, we cannot avoid Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and our own ageing, however, we can use antibiotics judiciously and use every possible antibiotic alternative approach to minimise or slow down the emergence of resistance to last resort antibiotics. We should act towards healthy aging without many infections that are difficult to treat and create a better future,” said Jayaseelan Murugaiyan, Head of the department of Biological Sciences, SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh. 

The key findings as the outcome of this workshop will be incorporated to help shape the on-ground action plan for the state.

The global workshop sought to translate APAPCAR

ICRISAT to engage with seed corporations, farmer seed entrepreneurs and FPOs to ensure access to quality Girnar 4 and 5 seeds. ​

To boost valuable groundnut production across Telangana, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) have joined forces to conduct eighty demonstration trials across the State.

The initiative funded by the Government of Telangana aims to expand groundnut production which is presently only cultivated on 0.3 million hectares of land in Telangana. There are plans to engage with seed corporations, farmer seed entrepreneurs and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to ensure access to quality Girnar 4 and 5 seeds. ​

PJTSAU, with support from ICRISAT, is conducting location-specific research, identification of genotypes, and multi-location trials of varieties developed by ICRISAT to deliver suitable varieties to Telangana and improve groundnut seed systems in the State.

Seed production of India’s first high oleic acid groundnut varieties ‘Girnar 4’ developed by ICRISAT in partnership with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research – Directorate of Groundnut Research (ICAR-DGR), was undertaken on four acres of land at RARS-Palem during this year’s rainy season.

Director General ICRISAT Dr Jacqueline Hughes said she was delighted with the collaboration with the Government of Telangana and PJTSAU, that would likely see much needed improvements to groundnut cultivation across the State, leading to improved farmer incomes.

“We look forward to drawing upon the Institute’s experience and expertise in developing inclusive and sustainable seed systems and value chains to deliver to farmers across Telangana, high quality, accessible, and lower cost seed.

Deputy Director General – Research at ICRISAT Dr Arvind Kumar congratulated all parties for the initiative aimed at not only boosting incomes but incentivizing new farmers to enter into groundnut production.

Inaugural Capacity Building Program

About three hundred farmers attended the inaugural capacity building program to accelerate the adoption of the new groundnut varieties held at the ​ Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) in Palem, Nagarkurnool district, Telengana.

During the capacity building program, participants were exposed to quality seed production techniques and potential innovations to promote groundnut production and value chains.Leaflets in local language detailing good agricultural practices in groundnut were distributed to farmers at the event for on-going reference material.

She emphasized that farmer adoption of new groundnut varieties such as high oleic acid varieties would help them achieve higher yields, profit and potential new export opportunities while promoting best agricultural practices.

ICRISAT to engage with seed corporations, farmer

The award is in recognition of ‘AgriReach,’ SLCM’s proprietary centralised real-time process management system’s contribution towards Innovation under large enterprise.

New Delhi based Sohan Lal Commodity Management (SLCM), India’s leading comprehensive service provider in the global post-harvest space for agricultural commodities has received the prestigious “Sustainable Agriculture Awards” 2022 from FICCI, India’s oldest and largest industry association catering to diverse business domains. This is the 2nd edition of the awards and SLCM has retained this prominent award for the second consecutive year under the “Innovative Product/Technology/Services Promoting Sustainable Agriculture” category.

The award was received by Sandeep Sabharwal, CEO, SLCM from Narendra Singh Tomar Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India in the presence of dignitaries from the entire agriculture value chain and distinguished members of FICCI Agriculture Committee present on the occasion. List of awardees this year includes global FMCG giants like Coca Cola, Yes Bank and Nestle, among others.

Commenting on being a recipient of this honour for the second consecutive year, Sandeep Sabharwal, Chief Executive Officer, SLCM Group said, “We are delighted to win this prestigious award for the second year in a row. This award from India’s oldest and largest apex business association FICCI, is a clear endorsement of the impact we have delivered through our proprietary AgriReach process management system that leverages the latest developments in technology to enhance the Preservation, Management and Security (PMS) of food grain stock. This award is a huge morale booster for our team who are constantly working to integrate the latest technology-based systems and solutions into warehousing so that the advantage of a safe and modern storage system can benefit maximum stakeholders in the agriculture food chain.”

The prestigious award was conferred on SLCM for its contribution towards innovation under large enterprise through its proprietary ‘AgriReach’ process management system. The ‘AgriReach’ framework of services deployed in warehouses has helped reduce post-harvest losses to 0.5%. This is achieved through a series of processes, audits and real-time tracking to boost efficiency and minimize damage in storage. The system also leverages technologies like geo-fencing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), internet of things (IoT)-based surveillance, real-time tracking and bar-coded storage receipts to ensure safe storage.

The award is in recognition of ‘AgriReach,’

The findings could be used in both agriculture and forestry to select plants with a lignin chemistry that better resist future climate challenges.

A new study shows how plants ‘encode’ specific chemistries of their lignin to grow tall and sustain climate changes: each plant cell uses different combinations of the enzymes LACCASEs to create specific lignin chemistries. These results can be used both in agriculture and in forestry for selecting plants with the best chemistry to resist climate challenges.

Lignin is an important carbon sink for the environment as it stores about 30 per cent of the total carbon on the planet. It allows plants to hydrate and reach tremendous heights up to 100 metres; without lignin, plants could not grow nor survive climate changes. At the cell level, specific lignin chemistries adjust the mechanical strength and waterproofing to support plant growth and survival.

Scientists at Stockholm University recently demonstrated that lignin has a chemical “code” that is adapted at the cell level to fulfill different roles in plants. How each cell “encodes” specific lignin chemistry however remained unknown. Researchers at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Botany (DEEP) at Stockholm University led by Edouard Pesquet, Associate-Professor in molecular plant physiology and senior author of the study, just showed that different enzymes called LACCASEs are used by each cell to adjust their lignin “chemical code” in order to resist stresses such as drought or wind. The study finally shows how lignin is spatially controlled at the nanometer level in each plant cell. The findings could be used in both agriculture and forestry to select plants with a lignin chemistry that better resist future climate challenges.

“The control of lignin chemistry at the cell level is ultimately the mechanism enabling plants to grow, hydrate and resist climate change stresses. These results finally demonstrate how lignin chemistry is controlled and open great possibilities to select plants upon their lignin code to improve crops and trees resistance to water availability problems,” says Edouard Pesquet.

The findings could be used in both

Initial pilot projects include converting a 15,000-square foot retail space and a 50,000-square foot building in Los Angeles

Nature’s Miracle Holdings  has announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Urban Farm Organisation (UFO) to open indoor farms with stores in urban areas of America that serve farm-to-fork fresh vegetables to local populations.  Under the MOU, Nature’s Miracle will provide technical expertise to design and build vertical farms as well as offer hardware and software to complete the construction within an urban setting. The UFO organisation is identifying urban locations suitable for indoor farms and advising on obtaining private and public financing to build such facilities. Initial pilot projects include converting a 15,000-square foot retail space and a 50,000-square foot building in Los Angeles into UFO branded vertical farms and stores. In addition, both sides are working on a pilot project with USC/Keck Hospital at Verdugo Hills as the first vertical farm at a hospital.

“We are excited to partner with UFO in introducing vertical farming solutions to urban America.” said Tie “James” Li, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nature’s Miracle. “A vertical farm located in America’s cities and population centres will bring fresh and affordable and vegetables to local markets. These facilities are intended to reduce transportation costs for America’s food supplies to urban areas and reduce carbon emissions.”

“By partnering with Nature’s Miracle, a leading Controlled Environment Agriculture company, we feel we will be better able to turn our vision into reality.” said George Goldstein, CEO and founder of UFO Urban Farm Organisation. “By bringing the vertical farm to under-utilised commercial real estate, we hope to increase the value of the commercial properties in addition to offering sustainable food supplies to urban populations.” 

SOURCE Nature’s Miracle, Inc.

Initial pilot projects include converting a 15,000-square

Seed distribution event was held at the Coastal Marine Biodiversity Centre of the Mangrove Foundation, Airoli

The ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow has established a hatchery facility for marine ornamental fishes at Airoli, Thane, Navi Mumbai in collaboration with the Mangrove foundation, Government of Maharashtra. Ten different species of clownfishes from Indian waters were stocked, broodstock has been developed and captive propagation achieved for seven species, adopting indigenous Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS).

The production of three species, Amphiprion percula, A. ocellaris and A. frenatus were up scaled and continuous supply of juveniles / seeds to the beneficiaries for further rearing and marketing was undertaken. 320 people from five coastal districts of Maharashtra underwent training on various aspects of ‘Clownfish Aquaculture’, 93 beneficiaries from 12 coastal villages of two districts (Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri) were adopted the technology and 13 cluster mode clownfish rearing units are under operational and getting consistent income.

A seed distribution event was arranged at the Coastal Marine Biodiversity Centre of the Mangrove Foundation, Airoli.

Dr Uttam Kumar Sarkar, Director, ICAR – NBFGR handed over 500 nos. of 1.5cm size A. percula and A. ocellaris to the beneficiaries of Sindhudurg district for further rearing.

Dr Sarkar exhorted that the Institute will continue the support and more rearing units will be established in the coastal districts of Maharashtra with the collaboration of Mangrove foundation.

Seed distribution event was held at

The novel platform in the plant world will help boost global accessibility to high-value nutraceuticals

Nutri-tech startup Novella Ltd, is opening a new chapter in climate-resilient environments through nutrient cultivation. The company leveraged proprietary technology to grow nutritious botanical ingredients while leaving the whole plant out of the equation. This novel platform in the plant world will help boost global accessibility to high-value nutraceuticals.

Addressing the growing demand for botanical micronutrients, the new technology overcomes supply chain disruptions, circumvents climate change, and expands plant life cycles.

“We don’t need the whole plant to get access to specific bioactive compounds,” explains Kobi Avidan, CEO and co-founder of Novella. “It also isn’t necessary to discard up to 99 per cent of a plant and incur tonnes of agricultural waste just to derive specific nutrients. We have the technology where we can narrow the harvest of an entire field for its plant essence in a single bioreactor.”

Field-to-bottle fails

The traditional “field to bottle” protocol for producing nutraceuticals involves a long, complex, and often vexing process of lengthy cultivation and labour-intensive harvesting of sensitive botanicals, and the use of vast stretches of agricultural land. Then, the raw materials must be transferred—often overseas—to a factory for extraction before transfer to another factory, often in yet another country, for formulation into a final supplement. This can also lead to difficulties in achieving standardised doses of the natural substances.

The novel platform in the plant world

Additional field tests of these transgenic soyabean plants are being conducted this year, with results expected in early 2023

For the first time, Realising Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) researchers have proven that multi-gene bioengineering of photosynthesis increases the yield of a major food crop in field trials. After more than a decade of working toward this goal, a collaborative team led by the University of Illinois has transgenically altered soyabean plants to increase the efficiency of photosynthesis, resulting in greater yields without loss of quality.

Results of this magnitude couldn’t come at a more crucial time. The most recent UN report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022, found that in 2021 nearly 10 per cent of the world population was hungry, a situation that has been steadily worsening over the last few years and eclipsing all other threats to global health in scale. According to UNICEF, by 2030, more than 660 million people are expected to face food scarcity and malnutrition. Two of the major causes of this are inefficient food supply chains (access to food) and harsher growing conditions for crops due to climate change. Improving access to food and improving the sustainability of food crops in impoverished areas are the key goals of this study and the RIPE project.

RIPE, is an international research project that aims to increase global food production by improving photosynthetic efficiency in food crops for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, and U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

“The number of people affected by food insufficiency continues to grow, and projections clearly show that there needs to be a change at the food supply level to change the trajectory,” said Amanda De Souza, RIPE project research scientist, and lead author. “Our research shows an effective way to contribute to food security for the people who need it most while avoiding more land being put into production. Improving photosynthesis is a major opportunity to gain the needed jump in yield potential.”

Additional field tests of these transgenic soyabean plants are being conducted this year, with results expected in early 2023.

Additional field tests of these transgenic soyabean

Controlled environment farms offer a sustainable solution to grow clean and healthy food where it is needed

Thanks to advances in farming technology, non-profit organisations, schools, places of worship, and civic groups can now grow food in an automated, controlled system, right within the communities they serve.

Controlled Environment Farms such as GrowPods, can provide a sustainable, consistent, predictable supply of certain fresh fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens virtually anywhere.

Farming is generally not commonplace among food banks. Feeding America reports that only 29 of its 200 members operate farms and distribute that produce to food insecure families. This is mostly because land is expensive to acquire or lease; growing food is time- and labor-intensive and requires specialised knowledge; and many food banks choose instead to focus their efforts on the logistics of getting food to people in need.

But Controlled Environment Farms like GrowPods could bring about a shift in food banks’ willingness to grow their own food. Unlike greenhouses, which can lack light and temperature control, thereby limiting the growing season, Controlled Environment Farms offer food banks the ability to grow food year-round.

“GrowPods provide a simple yet effective method to grow healthy food, year-round,” said Doug Heldoorn, CEO of ACTX.  “These systems are affordable and easy to operate, so that a variety of fresh leafy greens, vegetables and fruits can be available on a consistent basis to those who need it most.”

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Controlled environment farms offer a sustainable solution

Sir Richard John Roberts, British Biochemist and Molecular Biologist & Winner of 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared his views on the future of GM crops and the prevailing challenges in its cultivation. Edited excerpts:

Nobel laureate Sir Richard John Roberts, a British biochemist and molecular biologist, who was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is one among those who welcome the recently announced GM Mustard commercialisation in India. Roberts, who currently works at New England Biolabs, opines that the Centre’s decision on GM Mustard will go a long way in improving the crop yield and nutritional quality, considering that today India meets nearly 55-60 per cent of its edible oil demand through imports.

In 2016, Roberts and other Nobelists had composed and signed a ‘Laureates Letter Supporting Precision Agriculture (GMOs)’  addressed to the leaders of Greenpeace, the United Nations and global governments. Roberts has advocated for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in general and Golden Rice in particular to advance health in developing countries, noting the high safety record of GM foods. 

Based on the recommendation of the regulator Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC ), on October 25, 2022, the Ministry of Environment & Forest and Climate Change allowed the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 along with parental lines bn 3.6 and modbs 2.99 containing barnase, barstar and bar genes for developing new parental lines and hybrids. This decision has been viewed by some as a major positive for the country, while a few citizens, farmers associations, political organisations and activists have opposed it tooth and nail citing adverse impacts on the soil, environment and human/animal health. 

Roberts was in Mumbai recently to deliver a keynote address at the Academic launch of Maharashtra State Skills University. In an interaction with AgroSpecrum he shared his views on the future of GM crops and the prevailing challenges in its cultivation. Edited excerpts;

Will the GM Mustard commercialisation in India prove beneficial to farmers and the agriculture industry? 

One just needs to look at the history of Bt-cotton to see the impact of the modification in terms of improved yield and greatly decreased use of pesticides. One can expect similar improvements in other GM crops. The preliminary data for mustard appears to show significant yield improvements (almost 40 per cent). This kind of improvement will be very important for farmers.

The challenges are likely to come from anti-GMO activists, who have destroyed GM crops in other countries out of ignorance of their value or have made it very difficult to have the crops reach the market. This is an area where the government needs to play a key role in counteracting the lies that are told by the anti-GMO folks and if necessary, finding them or locking them up. The purveying of demonstrably false information is becoming a serious social disruptor and must be counteracted not just on the GMO front, but in all spheres of life.

What are your views on the current application and future perspectives of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology for developing new varieties of crops? How will CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology address the current challenges in agriculture?

It is already clear that CRISPR/Cas9 technology can be enormously helpful in developing novel genetically-modified crops – and examples abound. However, older methods also work well and the most sophisticated modern plant breeders use every tool at their disposal. The idea that one can get around the anti-GMO resistance by using CRISPR/Cas9 as a replacement is very concerning to me. The genetic modifications possible when using CRISPR/Cas9 just for editing are quite limited and should not be viewed by regulators as not being a GMO method. They clearly are and should be embraced as such. Then they can be combined with other methods to really speed the precision breeding of new crops. I find it disingenuous when scientists try to distinguish gene editing and GMO. They are both part and parcel of the very best technologies we have for improving crops and feeding the world.

How can GM crops solve global food security issues? 

Traditional breeding methods carried out over hundreds of years have led to significant improvements in yield, taste and pest resilience for the major crops we eat in the west and where the companies can make profits. Few companies have focused their attention on the crops that are widely consumed in the developing world, because companies always felt the potential profit margins were too small to make it worth their while. This has led to an enormous disparity in crop productivity between the developed world and the developing world. The use of GM approaches to increase yields, nutritional qualities, pest resistance, drought resistance, etc., in the indigenous crops in the developing world can be extraordinarily effective in raising those crops to the same levels as are found in the developed world. The advantage of using GM methods is that the improved crops can be brought to market much faster as the development time is much shorter. However, we need to make sure that the European anti-GMO activists do not stop these developments as they are still trying to do today. The purveyors of false information about GMOs need to be stopped by all means possible. They are actively killing people in the developing world.

It is being vocalised by some that GM mustard could cause cancer since GM mustard is herbicide-tolerant (HT) and HT technology is mostly carcinogenic. Is there any truth to this? 

I have not seen any scientific evidence for these assertions. Are they backed by science, or merely speculations by activists who want to scare people into abandoning the nutritious foods that can keep them alive? I suspect the evidence is non-existent and these arguments are the stuff of Hollywood scary movies.

         Dipti Barve 

        dipti.barve@mmactiv.com 

 

- Sir Richard John Roberts, British Biochemist

By Devleena Bhattacharjee, Chair, FICCI Committee on Fishtech and Founder & CEO, Numer8 Analytics

The COVID pandemic significantly slowed down India’s seafood export in the last two years. The country exported 11,49,341 metric tonnes (MT) of marine products worth Rs 43,717.26 crore ($5.96 billion) during FY 2020-21, which is  10.88 per cent less as  compared to a year earlier. In 2019-20, India exported 12,89,651 MT of seafood worth Rs 46,662.85 crore ($6.68 billion). Frozen shrimp contributed to 51.36 per cent of the total quantity. 

The aquaculture export sector is particularly significant to India, not only from its economic contribution but also from its nutritional value and food security as it creates employment for 25 million people in the country and contributes around 1.27 per cent to India’s GDP. Fish and fishery products from India constitute 10 per cent of total global exports. 

However, the sector is struggling on various fronts including market access, sustainable growth, quality production and policy issues. The problems need to be addressed at the grassroots and also at policy making levels. Let’s look at the top few issues plaguing the sector

  1. We export only 10 per cent of our total fish production which inherently makes our export basket tiny. The fish production in India reached an all-time high of 14.16 million metric tonnes during 2019-20 while the export of marine products stood at 1.29 million metric tonnes.
  2. Quality of both of our marine and inland produce needs to be significantly improved with basic hygiene and traceability metrics in place, on ground. The lack of quality metrics at fish production site or our marine harbours is the biggest hurdle in meeting export standards
  3. The export market is not attractive to fisherfolks since they do not get a profitable margin and payments are largely delayed in export. National policy with insurance cover for exporters and fisherfolks is needed to encourage contribution to this sector
  4. Export also means a certain level of quality of packaging with certification of vendors. This means we need certification agents and agencies who can not only certify a firm but also train them to achieve certification standard
  5. Both road and flight connectivity is a  big challenge to the sector’s performance. Cost of transporting fish is high since it is highly perishable. Also delicate handling needs experts and there is a large skill gap in this industry.
  6. A network of low cost cold storages needs to be made available to fisherfolks which will allow them to reduce wastage and also control costs and supply chain consistency 

From 2010-11, there has been a continuous increase in the production of Vannamei shrimps. Vannamei is the only shrimp variety that is creating revenue opportunities for our farmers but we are mainly depending on the US and China. So, we need to broaden our export market including export baskets.

The above needs broad thinking into exploring the vast potential of our aqua market. We should not only move away from just depending on shrimps but even just fish as our aquaculture exports commodities. With the world getting more and more worried about climate change and seaweed being a catalyst to not only reducing the adverse effects of climate change but also holding large business opportunities, I believe, it’s time we consider seaweed seriously. 

The Prime Minister has set the target of national seaweed production to 1.12 million tonnes by 2025 and this would need immediate action. South East Asian countries like China and Indonesia produced close to 13.9 and 11.2 million tonnes respectively. In 2020, the top exporters of seaweeds and other algae were China ($3.74 million), Ireland ($2.62 million), South Korea ($2.3 million), France ($1.12 million), and Brazil ($579k).

The global marine ecosystem is fighting a lot of challenges. The key need of the hour is to find a sustainable blue economy while alleviating the food security needs of our small scale fisherfolks. In the people, planet and profit model of sustainability, it is important to safeguard the interest of producers while building climate friendly solutions and creating sustainable profitable business opportunities for all. 

Our discussion on improving India’s aquaculture export quantity and quality will need to be looked at through the same lens since the world is increasingly becoming very sensitive about climate resilient and climate friendly agriculture. 

To read more click on: https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

By Devleena Bhattacharjee, Chair, FICCI Committee on

By Dr R A Marathe, Director, ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate (NRCP), Solapur, Maharashtra

Pomegranate is one of the most remunerative fruit crops of semi-arid tropics and India is the global leader in pomegranate cultivation with over 2.88 lakh hectare land producing about 32.71 lakh tonnes of fruits annually. The nutraceutically rich and dollar earning crop is one of the choicest fruit crops for growers and consumers all across the world. The consumer awareness of innumerable health benefits has increased market demand for pomegranate, resulting in handsome monetary returns from this horticulture crop especially in India. 

Pomegranate supports livelihood security of an estimated 2.5 lakh farm families mostly in climatically and edaphically challenged regions. This ‘Superfood’ is registering a steep upward trend in export from India 99,000 metric tonnes (216  per cent growth as compared to 2013-14) earning a foreign revenue equivalent to Rs 688.8 crore in 2020-21. Despite being such a valuable and remunerative fruit crop for all the stakeholders including growers and consumers, very limited genomic resources and molecular information are available to support the accelerated pomegranate improvement programme. The narrow genetic base of this crop also poses a serious challenge for researchers involved in the pomegranate improvement programme. So, with the aim of creating useful molecular information, generating genomic wealth and accelerating pomegranate improvement programmes, the genome sequencing programme was initiated by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Research Centre on Pomegranate (NRCP), in 2015-16.

Even as India has ramped up production in recent years and has been a world leader in pomegranate production with a 50 per cent contribution to global production, India’s domestic capacity as well as export potential has still remained largely unrealised. This has been due to an assortment of reasons including the limited availability of genomic resources and molecular information about this highly remunerative crop. Being a high value crop, until now, due to lack of resistant pomegranate varieties against major pests and diseases, there has been very high dependence on chemical pesticides for managing biotic stresses. However, now that we have managed to sequence the whole genome of this fruit, this will open up incredible avenues for vastly improving yield, growing much better and safer varieties for human nutritional needs, and all this at a much faster rate. The reference-quality genome assembly of pomegranate variety Bhagawa is a publicly accessible genomic resource for pomegranate researchers across the globe and will provide a great impetus to the pomegranate improvement programme across the globe.

ICAR-NRCP has come up with the assembly of a reference-quality genome (346.08 Mb) of pomegranate variety Bhagawa consisting of only 342 scaffolds with an average N50 value of 16.12 Mb. To accomplish this genome sequence, we deployed four advanced Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms such as Illumina, 10X Genomics Chromium, PacBio Sequel followed by BioNano Genomics. This assembly covered more than 98 per cent of the estimated size of Bhagawa genome, 352.54 Mb. The assessment of assembly quality through LTR Assembly Index (LAI =10) and BUSCO completeness score (93.68 per cent) over the 1440 ortholog genes revealed this genome is of reference quality standards with high continuity. Genome annotation revealed a total 29,435 gene models with a mean transcript length of 2954 bp and a mean coding sequence length of 1090 bp. We discovered a total of 1,573 disease resistance protein coding genes, and 1,533 transcription factor (TF) coding genes and 314 MIR ncRNA genes that code for 26 different families of microRNAs, which regulate various genes for growth and development in pomegranate. The ICAR-NRCP scientists have also carried out the chromosome level assembly using HiC- chromosome conformation capture sequencing for the var. Bhagawa genome to assemble the entire genome into eight chromosomes covering about 345 Mb genome and the final curation and integration led to the validated presence of 33003 genes with 41682 mRNAs.

To read more click on: https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

By Dr R A Marathe, Director, ICAR-National

By Ankit Alok Bagaria, Co-Founder, Loopworm 

The conversion of agri-waste and by-products to new valuable commodities undoubtedly requires novel technologies, also including biological technologies, which must be at the same time economically, socially, and environmentally viable and sustainable. To that end, insects have been gaining a lot of momentum as a promising biotechnological solution for upcycling leftover biomasses from agri and food production systems. However, the variety of these by-products constitutes a major technological problem for processing. Let’s explore the feasibility of this interesting development in value creation in the agriculture sector.

Till now, insects have been largely considered a pest or nuisance as they attack our crops and also infest in our granaries. But if we change the perspective and look at it from a different angle, insects are natural feeders on the crop leaves and stems, which are by-products of our agriculture production system, often getting burnt as stubble post harvesting, or being mulched into the same lands, or the most problematic of all, being dumped into landfills. 

Thus, these little creatures can be farmed on these by-products. Now, it appears a little less obvious on the use of these insects if they are mass produced in an industrial farming system. Several insect species naturally develop on organic wastes and via the incorporation of nutrients into their bodies, can be used to reduce the amount of waste material, while at the same time generating a more homogeneous and more valuable biomass. As a matter of fact, insects are a good source of useful compounds, being rich in protein, fat, chitin, and micronutrients. These biomolecules can be used for different purposes, namely for feed/food ingredients, cosmetics, pharma, bioplastics, and others, actually upgrading the value of the starting waste. 

A Historic Serendipity 

Had we found no use of Mulberry silkworms, they would have been considered as a pest for mulberry crops. But interestingly, a sudden discovery around 2000 years ago in China, with a silkworm cocoon falling in the tea of a person sipping it, led to the discovery of silk – one of the most priced commodities for the textile industry. To make it more efficient, people started looking into other applications of silkworm and its by-products, as a result of which silkworm proteins are now being explored as a natural source of bio-active peptides, and have witnessed biopharma applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering and wound healing, as well as bio-materials application in textile coating, food processing applications and much more. Ultimately, genetics for strain improvement, more productive farming systems, preservation technologies for silkworm eggs, led to the further growth of the sericulture industry. Similarly, honey production and its applications in food, ayurveda, and biopharma industry led to the massive growth of bee-farming or apiculture. 

Thus, instead of looking at cockroaches and other insects as a nuisance, we can look at them as an efficient and profitable mechanism to treat waste. For instance, the palm industry suffers from Palm Weevil larvae infestation, but we still have no proper technology to deal with the crop residues of the highest edible oil producing plant. Maybe, Palm Weevil larvae, cultivated in a controlled industrial system, is the answer. Similarly, there are multiple insects which selectively feed on different crop residues, and luckily in our attempts to optimise pest management, we have already identified these insects, and studied them in great depths to understand their morphology and physiology. It’s now important to use our engineering skills to transform the science into a technology for mass producing these insects on agri and food by-products. 

Insects Turn Food Source 

As per the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the United Nations (UN), ‘Insects are the future of Food & Feed’. Notably, they are a dense source of nutrition, with 30-70 per cent protein and 20-40 per cent fats on a dry matter basis. Insects form part of the natural diet of birds and fish within their natural habitats. Poultry and aquaculture forms an integral part of the modern agriculture systems, primarily for the protein it provides. Alternative ingredients to produce formulated feeds at affordable prices and higher volumes are the need of the hour, due to the rising demand of animal-based food and feed worldwide of late. 

Global fishmeal (Fish Protein concentrate) production is today estimated to be at 4.5 million tonnes, whereas the projected demand is 6.5 million tonnes by 2030. 97 per cent soya is used in animal nutrition, which is limited in its production by arable land and portable water availability, along with other climatic and abiotic factors. Similarly, feed oil or fats are over-dependent on plant-based sources like Palm, Rapeseed, Cottonseed, etc. Thus, to sustain the growing poultry, aquaculture and pet food demand across India and the world, it is imperative that alternative ingredients are used along with traditional ingredients to bridge the volume gap, and also bring functional benefits for farmed animals. And this is exactly where farmed insects can be processed into high-quality proteins and fats for the animal nutrition industry in particular, among other sectors. 

To read more click on: HTTPs://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

By Ankit Alok Bagaria, Co-Founder, Loopworm The conversion