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Agrotech, Interaction, Sustainability, Water

Dr Sangita Ladha has been spearheading operations with leading organisations in Irrigation and Water Management and is currently associated with Rivulis Irrigation India as a Business Director.  She has completed her MTech, Agricultural Engineering, from IIT-Kharagpur and has earned a Doctorate in Agricultural Development. Her domain expertise is Precision Farming, Automated Irrigation and Water Management, Protected cultivation – Green-house Technology, Agri-Value Chain Management and Digital informatics based agro advisory services. She has nearly 30 years of experience in the area  of Design, Marketing and Business Development of Micro Irrigation Systems and in Development and Management of Practical and Innovative Indo-Dutch Training Centres for horticulture and in particular for promotion of Green-house Technology in the country. In an interaction with  AgroSpectrum Dr Sangita shared her views on women agripreneurship in India. Edited excerpts;

How can the percentage of women’s contribution in agribusiness be increased in India?

Incidentally, I was heading the Indo- German collaboration centre for horticulture. This kind of centre provides handholding support to farmers for the total agri value chain. It imparts training to farmers for upscaling their skills. In India, the percentage of women farmers is 80 per cent but only 20 per cent have land holding. In such a scenario, we need institutes across the country  which can provide complete information about finance schemes by the government, project report making process, input and output resources and most importantly handholding support to women entrepreneurs if anything goes wrong. It will motivate women farmers to transform them into agripreneur.

Under the scheme ‘Raftar’ for agritech startups, the government provides funding up to Rs 25 lakh.  Information of such kinds of schemes needs to be widely circulated and published through agriculture colleges and universities at grass root level. Government has started many incubation centres especially for budding entrepreneurs in the agri industry. As 50 per cent of the students in agriculture colleges are girls, the information of government schemes for women entrepreneurs and incubation centres needs to be circulated which is lacking in the current scenario. Incubation centres will play a vital role in increasing the contribution of women in agribusiness.

Which agri sector should  women entrepreneurs focus on? 

Today, almost all women are well-versed with the utility of smartphones. Women can explore more technology-based supply chain management or logistic management. By using the tools of AI and IoT women farmers can manage their business with limited investment from the backyard of their farm.

Women entrepreneurs work efficiently in e-commerce, logistics and can play an important role in the agriculture value chain. Remote sensing, block chain technology, and AI are some of the important areas where agriculture students can explore more.

Agri-food processing is traditionally taken up by women in rural areas but it is not scaled up as per the expectations, especially quality packaging, knowledge about Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) norms for food processing, and marketing skills. Women entrepreneurs can explore more in bringing new technologies in agri-food processing and business models which will help in growth of women entrepreneurs and women farmers as well.

How can FPOs contribute to the growth of women entrepreneurs?

The government is trying to promote the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to double farmer’s income. Institutions like Maharashtra State Development Corporation are developing 100 FPOs since they have aggregation of produce. All these FPOs have growers who are holding lands, so startups can connect with FPOs to drive their innovations at ground level. Every FPO is an entrepreneur. They just need knowledge about quality inputs, best farming practices, market linkages and technical knowledge about agribusiness. If women farmers come together under the roof of FPO then it will be a win-win situation for both farmers and entrepreneurs as information about necessary aspects of agribusiness will be available at the same platform.   

What could be the state of women agripreneurship in the coming years? 

I think the next decade will be the decade of women in the agri industry in India. Women are exploring and driving their innovation through agritech startups. If you look at agriculture university students, out of 100 per cent 50 per cent students are women. This shows that women are more enthusiastic and keen to learn new technologies in agriculture. The daughters of farmers who are students of agriculture universities have become ready to move out solo for marketing and drive their innovations using the latest technologies. Even women from other faculties are exploring something different in agritech than going for regular jobs.

With the right flow of information, grass root level study of agribusiness and accurate use of latest technology, women entrepreneurs will definitely achieve success in every sector of the agri industry in the next five years. 

What needs to be done to improve the growth of women entrepreneurs?

Finding out the gaps between women entrepreneurs and government schemes is the first step that needs to be taken for the growth of women entrepreneurs. For any budding woman entrepreneur, finding out the necessary information about government schemes, updated information about the agritech sector, financial support, and connecting with the right department of government for approvals are the major hurdles. The missing links between entrepreneurs and government can be connected through incubation centres. The guidance about converting an idea into a prototype and connecting with proper channels for further development is very important for every entrepreneur.

Private sector is also actively contributing to the growth of women entrepreneurs. Private sector is on board with good ideas from entrepreneurs by providing them handholding support and upscaling their ideas into prototypes. It is also supporting women entrepreneurs for conducting pilot projects and including their technology in the company services as an addition in their services or products.

What inspired you to enter agribusiness?

Choosing agribusiness as a career was not planned. I completed my M Tech in Agricultural Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and in the 90’s, the irrigation industry was kind of a low hanging fruit and had a lot of opportunities, especially in the agriculture sector. Since I did not wish to go for a traditional desk job I selected the irrigation industry which was emerging as a growing sector of the agri industry. I preferred to move around the field, connecting with people from different sectors for marketing and just went with the flow.

How is Rivulis Irrigation  contributing to the growth of the agriculture irrigation industry in India?

Rivulis Irrigation India is the subsidiary of Rivulis Israel. Rivulis India has its registered office in Pune and factory at Vadodara, Gujarat. Currently Rivulis India operates in 15 states with an employee base of over 400 and a distribution and services network of more than 1200 growth partners. In the last three years Rivulis India has doubled its production capacity and tripled the sales revenue.

In the last 5 years Rivulis has brought drip irrigation technology in the fields of more than 2 lakh growers.  Company runs audio-visual van campaigns for creating door to door awareness about drip irrigation in rural India. To create awareness about water management, periodic technical training programs are being conducted for government officials as well as channel partners.

With innovation as its core values for growth, Rivulis has brought precision irrigation technology through its subsidiary Manna Irrigation in India. By merging remote sensing, data science and agronomy, we enable growers to deliver the right amount of water at the right time to all yield-producing land. Growers everywhere will be able to improve crop outcomes and reduce water usage, supporting sustainable farming. The company is putting in efforts to help farmers in adopting smart irrigation techniques by making satellite technology accessible at farmer’s doorstep across India.

Dipti Barve

dipti.barve@mmactiv.com

Dr Sangita Ladha has been spearheading operations

Interaction, Sustainability, Uncategorized

Dr Sangeeta Chopra, Principal Scientist, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and her team, in collaboration with researchers from Michigan State University (MSU), USA have recently developed the ‘Pusa Farm SunFridge’ (FSF), an on-farm green energy refrigeration system. It is the result of more than five years of work. The battery-less, stand-alone, solar-refrigerated cold structure innovation is a joint effort by scientists from ICAR-IARI, New Delhi and Dr Randolph Beaudry and Dr Norbert Mueller from MSU. In year 2019, Dr Sangeeta was granted a project titled ‘Off-grid, clean energy cooling for affordable storage of perishables for BOP farmers’ by Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) cycle 7 which entailed setting up walk-in Farm SunFridges in three villages in hot and dry states of India to test them on field conditions. She is also the recipient of a grant for an IARI-MSU collaborative project ‘Low-Carbon Footprint Cool Storage Structures to Empower Farmers: Improving Storage and Enabling Processing of Perishable Produce’, from the USAID Global Centre for Food Systems Innovation (GCFSI), USA in an international competition of ‘2014/2015 Food Systems Innovations Grant’. Dr Sangeeta Chopra shares her views on Indian agribusiness and the growing role of women entrepreneurs with AgroSpectrum . Edited excerpts;

How do agri universities help increase the contribution of women in agribusiness?

Agri universities have a role in teaching, where many of our women students are opting for startups, opening their businesses and being entrepreneurs. The agri universities are imparting education and teaching to the students. The exposure to agribusiness is very important and agri universities might come up with some schemes to encourage people to get into this business.

What challenges do women entrepreneurs face in the agri industry?

In a country like India, the majority of women are sometimes not decision makers and have less power. For example, if we look at some of the villages of Haryana, women are the ones working on fields and have the knowhow and skills, but they cannot make decisions. In agriculture, women face limitations and at times have to put in a lot of effort to overcome the challenges. Being a woman, I have myself faced many challenges.

Many times the social structure doesn’t empower women in the patriarchal society leading often to a fixed mindset and at times pay-scale disparity. There is a need to change people’s mindset, which restricts women from doing a good job or excelling in their work. Entrepreneurs and students should look up to their role models and successful women to overcome these challenges.

You have recently designed SunFridge that was showcased at the Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela 2021. Could you elaborate on the plans of this innovation? 

Pusa Farm Sunfridge (FSF) is an innovative farm cold storage facility that runs entirely on solar energy. It is for the farmers’ field, and can also be used on the retail side like at mandis, etc. The temperature inside the Farm SunFridge can be maintained around 3-4°C during daytime just as in any cold store. The innovation is a battery-less off-grid cold store, with a capacity of 2 tonnes of fruits and vegetables storage. Night-time temperature is maintained at 5-8°C. The walls are made of a wet fabric to enhance cooling using evaporation as well.

The price of Pusa-FSF, depends on location, price of raw material, skilled labour etc. A good figure would be around Rs 8-10 lakh including the cost of solar panels, inverter, control system and refrigeration system. The project has received funding from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, USAID.

Furthermore, there is a scheme called Revolving Fund Scheme (RFS) in which IARI enables people to build Pusa Farm SunFridge. 

How are you planning to promote SunFridge?

The plan is to make this innovation as popular as possible; Pusa Farm SunFridge is the result of a research project with USAID funding from USA as well as from IARI and has been installed in the villages of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi. 

We have been improving the design of SunFridge, and the latest Farm SunFridge parts have been made portable. It is prefabricated and can be assembled using nuts and bolts; so that one can ship the whole SunFridge in a truck and to install it at a remote place. 

The government has launched many new schemes and policies for the growth of women agripreneurs. What is your take on this? 

I think policies of a country are important and the right kind of policies can take the country forward. Thought-out policies are very worthwhile, like ‘Mahila Kisan Sashaskht Yojana’ as the name suggests is for strengthening the women farmers, so if implemented efficiently, it can have a huge impact on the women agripreneurs/farmers. 

In addition, vocational training for women and Self-Help Groups (SHG) can also make a lot of difference. For example, in Ludhiana, many SHG consisted of women making candles or pickles and their business flourished reasonably well.

In fact, we had a project, in which we trained women jail inmates in Ludhiana to enable them to have skills so they could earn their livelihoods, when they got out of jail.

SHG’s, has enabled women to build confidence and get social support to set up their own enterprises.

How can women entrepreneurs bring in a revolution in the agri community? 

Women entrepreneurs can bring about a revolution in the agri community as they may prove to be better (more compassionate and sensitive) managers and might get better output from their business.

Pooja Yadav

pooja.yadav@mmactiv.com

Dr Sangeeta Chopra, Principal Scientist, Department of

Cold Storage, Interaction, R&D

The landscape of India’s agriculture industry has recently shifted especially when it comes to the contribution of women in this sector. They play a pivotal role in agriculture and their contribution to agriculture in terms of the number of tasks performed and time spent is greater than their male counterparts and they are responsible for most of the agricultural activities, they are still considered as helping hand and not recognised as farmers, preventing them from accessing specific loan and benefit programmes to expand production. However, this scenery is now changing its colour with women agro entrepreneurs such as Gubba Deepthi, Chief Growth Officer, Gubba Cold Storage setting up a benchmark for others to follow in this domain. Deepthi Gubba is a strong, assertive woman who has been balancing with aplomb, being a homemaker and an entrepreneur. Her journey in the industry goes back 10 years when she started as a content developer for Gubba Seed News. Her knowledge, zeal and passion grew limitlessly and as time passed she took over the HR, Branding and Communications of the company. At present, she is the Chief Growth Officer of Gubba Cold Storage. She has also been head of ERP, Quality Assurance, Seed R&D, Customer care, which involves high technical knowledge. Apart from her professional profession, she also runs a trust for underprivileged girls of the society. In an exclusive interview with AgroSpectrum, Gubba Deepthi shared her overall journey in this sector. Edited excerpts;

How do you envisage the future of women entrepreneurs in the country’s agriculture sector?

Women, at every stage have been involved in the most prime occupation of our country – agriculture. In 2021, 75 per cent of full-time workers in the fields were found to be women. In the past decade, we witnessed the entire ecosystem of Indian agriculture revolutionise. Women’s participation and contribution has been so positively aggressive, from creating sensors to assess farming conditions to designing wearable tech that helps detect disease in cattle, we saw women’s contribution to innovation elevating. Agriculture has, is and  will always be the paramount of our country. The need for it cannot be diminished irrespective of any advancement. However, there is no denial in the fact that moving forward we will have a reasonable balance between manpower and  automation. The literacy rate of women in India (as per December 2021) is 64.64 per cent, 10 years ago we were at 53 per cent. Standing in 2022, we see this growth is going to get aggressive and the pace is going to be faster. 

So, I am confident that the future of modern agriculture has begun to be astounding with the contribution of women. 

Compared to the western world, where do Indian women stand in the field of agro entrepreneur?

India is a developing country. Our GDP, exports, CAGR, literacy and every other factor of growth, in my opinion, is on a different journey altogether as the opportunities, foreign direct investments that the western world and we receive, are not similar, rather, incomparable. However, it’s now time that we trust this gender and  encourage to have their ratio go higher in decision making roles. Government has welcomed this change by making it mandatory to have at least one female in the board. India probably needs more such initiations. 

Various schemes floated by the central and state government recently to allure more women into the agri sector. Do you feel that such schemes are moving in the right direction to attract women into the agri sector of the country?

An individual’s growth and prosperity is claimed to elevate when the skill, efforts and  opportunities are from both ends – the government and the individual. We see government doing their bit year on year, however, it is a request to the government to design and  execute schemes like the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) – government’s flagship scheme to empower women engaged in agriculture activities which had over 36.06 lakh females benefit.

What are the bottlenecks that are limiting the involvement of women entrepreneurs in this sector? 

The biggest bottleneck limiting the involvement of women entrepreneurs is the preset mindset that women are grown up with. We are told and made to believe that certain jobs are not meant for women. On top of that, the lack of opportunities, right guidance, and the hunger to search for what else can be the need to develop and what could be done from one’s end to contribute is somewhere missing. I believe there is a gap, women are getting educated but the output would be different if women were educated for self and  country’s development rather than obliging the government to compulsory girl education rule. We teach the women to play safe and opt for roles that are followed with comfort. Probably that’s why we hardly see any women in pest management, for example. Such stereotypes are yet to be broken.  To choose, without the fear of already-always existing so called society rules. This will increase the risk taking capacity of women and  when this happens, wonders will happen. 

Entrepreneurs will provide a solution when they see a problem. We must continue to encourage more science exhibitions, from the elementary level itself. Youth is the future of our country. It’s our rightful duty to fuel their innovation. Private players and government collaborations in terms of education subsidiary, training programs, awareness creation, designing new skill development…basically to explore more is the need of the hour.  

There are many sectors in the field of agriculture such as crop cultivation, poultry, livestock, dairy, food crop cultivation etc. according to you, which sector attracts the women agro entrepreneur most?

In this era of revolution, we are going to upgrade in every field of agriculture. There is a need for innovation in all. When we talk of upgrading, it is going to be on field, in the R&D, on the backend, in the corporates that deal with cultivation, livestock, dairy etc. As a woman, I love challenges and  believe this is the case for all my fellow-women. Hence, every sector is equally challenging and attractive. 

This domain is heavily dominated by men. How can this change, so more women may participate without hesitation? 

Yes, this domain has been dominated by men. However, the contributions made by women on the field and the back end is noteworthy. My roadmap to have more women’s participation would be to educate them about their potentials from the scratch. When they are shown the right path from the scratch, they know what, where and  how to follow. I also strongly believe that women must be invested in the R&D of our country’s agri-development. I am working on building a cold chain facility that is entirely run by women, in terms of operations, sales, decision making, business analysis etc. It will be my bit to empower the women of India. 

Gubba Cold Storage has come a very long way. What are the challenges faced by the company during its initial stages of operations?

Being the pioneer in the cold chain industry, when we initially began, we truly saw stars in the daylight. When your vision is that of like no one else, it gets really hard for you to have people believe in you. You feel humiliated and the series of rejection that follows…reaches to that one saturating point where you have self-doubts. This is a story of every entrepreneur I believe, however, how you grow and  learn out of these circumstances shapes you. The case with our MD, Gubba Nagender Rao was similar, except for, he had the key. He always believed in himself and his vision. He knocked 100’s of doors to have 1 person listen to him. One thing was for sure, he was not to give up until he saw his dream come real. Having to align the first loan sanction, our first engineer and everything that happened for the first time in the cold chain facility in 1987, which we now call the Gubba M1 situated @ Medchal Hyderabad, was a challenge. Our MD was not fulfilling just his dream, he upgraded the skill, trust and vision of the entire team. 

What are the key features of your storages that make them the most preferred storing destination?

Gubba Group is a 34+ year old organisation, having its operations run through all over Telangana and Aurangabad. In 1987, Gubba became the pioneer by altering the view of India’s vision with respect to preservation by establishing the first and back then, the only cold storage in Andhra Pradesh. Initially, Gubba started with 500 tonnes. With expanding further till date we have 18 facilities, one Seed Quality Testing lab, one Biotech lab and the only private company that has ventured into multi-location trials (MLT) operating all throughout India. As on date, we have invested 150 crore into serving the Seed, Pharma and Food industry. Today, we stand at 1,15,000 tonnes and 1.35 crore cubic feet capacity. 

We are proud of many 1st in our cap: 

  • 1st Seed Cold Storage in India. 
  • 1st Jumbo Cold Storage in India 
  • 1st Private Germ Plasm Bank in India. 

The only NABL-accredited private seed quality testing lab in India. 

2nd largest pharma complaint cold storage facility in India. 

Gubba Biotech lab – Precision and excellence in testing at molecular level 

Gubba multi-location trials – The only one in India undertaking MLT for public and private entities to produce unbiased results. 

At Gubba, we are committed to have our time and resources invested in providing world class services and apex technology, having said that – we have inculcated 21 CRF Data loggers, upcoming barcoding system for smooth inventory, ERP enabled systems, MHE operations, and our team is experienced, efficient and trained. 

We also have our patent Gubba App – by which we deliver online access to our clients, each with unique credentials to have live updates and reports of the stock with a single click on the smartphone.                                                                                                                                              

Nitin Konde

The landscape of India’s agriculture industry has

Agrotech, Interaction, R&D

Dr Renuka Diwan, a first-generation entrepreneur, having a doctorate and post-doctorate in plant sciences with 17 years of research experience, patents, and technology transfer. As  Co-Founder and  CEO of BioPrime Solutions, she focuses on developing sustainable strategies for achieving the long-term goals of the company by developing key partnerships and collaborations for rapid penetration in the market. Dr Renuka is also In charge of finance and fund-raising, focusing on building profitability with long-term growth and manages the company’s IP strategies. Renuka Diwan interacted with AgroSpectrum on the status of women entrepreneurs in the agri industry and the way forward. Edited excerpts;

How can women’s contribution in agribusiness be increased in India?

Agriculture is a notoriously male-dominated industry. From the manufacturing side – seed, feed, agri equipment, inputs to the actual growers, FOPS and lastly to the procurement side – Aggregators, Arhtiyas (middlemen) , exporters – the entire value chain has a poor representation of women. However, the sector is undergoing massive reorganisation and transformation- mostly through the integration of technology in each and every aspect in the value chain. This opens up a huge area where women can contribute in a more meaningful way and establish themselves in more leadership positions. Though corporates have traditionally engaged women in management positions in small numbers , they are making conscious efforts to change that. Startups have given women more opportunities and we see more and more women in leadership positions.

According to you, which sector of the agri industry will be more remunerative for women entrepreneurs in the next five years?

If decided, women can achieve success in every sector of the agri industry. Since women are good at science and technology, they can play an important role in integrating technology in the agri value chain. Starting from seed industry to agri supply chain, women can explore more in e-commerce, animal breeding technology, and sustainable agriculture practices.

With the use of latest technologies such as AI and IoT women can work in research and innovation in irrigation, modern farm mechanisation systems, dairy, fisheries and logistics. 

What inputs are needed for the growth of women entrepreneurs in India?

While there are various factors needed for the growth of women entrepreneurs, here are some of them:  Women should be given equal opportunity employment in companies, startups so that more women will be attracted towards the agri industry.

  • Government and private sector should promote women in leadership positions in the organisations and companies
  • In order to increase women’s contribution in agribusiness, the government should announce more benefits for women-led companies/ startups.

The government has announced various schemes to attract more women into the agri industry. Besides this, how can the private sector contribute to increasing women participation in agribusiness?

Policy level backing is required for any change to be consistent and sustainable. Government intent and backing will definitely be helpful. Government is supporting women entrepreneurs through funding, approving new agritech projects. Actual success can only be defined when the technology or product becomes commercial success. There is a huge gap between the government and entrepreneurs in the process of introducing any particular product or technology in the market. At this stage, the private sector can play an important role in commercialising the technology or product. Private sector can provide handhold support to startups to understand market needs and promote the technology or product in the market.

Government and private sector partnership will definitely pave the way for the growth of women led startups and budding women entrepreneurs. This partnership should include policy support from the government in the form of finance and incubation centres at agriculture universities for women students. Private sector can support in the process of promotion and commercialisation of technology or product in the market

How BioPrime’s biological crop inputs are helping to enhance yields without increasing carbon footprint?

Bioprime SNIPR Biologicals are making crops climate-resilient using targeted physiology modulating biomolecules. SNIPR biologicals give farmers assurance of yields despite the adverse conditions. They reduce climate- change related crop losses by 25-30 per cent, reduce the requirement of fertilisers, especially urea by 25 per cent. In the last year alone we have reduced urea consumption of 30 L kgs reducing carbon footprint by 2.88 L kg Co2 in rice.  Indian rice alone needs 45 million tonnes of urea every year and adoption of such technologies could potentially lead to the reduction of carbon footprint by 89,400 tonnes of Co2 each year.

How will OmniX Bio support Indian entrepreneurs who work in the fields of agricultural biotechnology, novel farming systems, bioenergy and biomaterials?

OmniX Bio will provide venture funding, mentorship from global agrifood life sciences leaders, institutional partnerships, and business development support to access domestic and export sales channels. While all members of the Omnivore team will support OmniX Bio, a PhD life scientist will join the investment team in 2022 to oversee the initiative and help develop the agrifood life sciences ecosystem across India.

At BioPrime we are focusing on discovering fundamental aspects of plant communication, identifying new biomolecules and new modes of modulating plant responses. SNIPR and BIONEXUS enable BioPrime to develop new biologicals and radically improve existing products at a fraction of cost and time. With Omnivore joining us in this journey we are confident of building BioPrime to be a global player in Ag biotech and achieve our goal of a world where good yield is not a gamble but an assurance.

What are growth strategies and plans of the company for FY 22-23?

Bioprime is building India’s largest plant-associated microbe library. Scientists have studied the past 35 years of data and identified 60 locations for microbe collection in the first phase. Registrations of 8 products under the newly formed Biostimulants policy. Initiating studies for International Validation on the new molecules and technology. Securing Pan India distribution for the current product portfolio. Currently, we are evaluating 4 pan- India distribution agreements for 3 products with MNCs. 2 multi-product Co-development projects are underway with MNCs. We have a very strong product pipeline with products on shelf life enhancement, photosynthesis modulation, and in-plant protection – fungicides. We aim to advance these to the multi-location field testing stage.

How do you envisage the future of women entrepreneurs in the agri industry?

Women will increasingly play an important part in transforming the industry. Agriculture is ripe of disruption and this opportune time will see more and more women take leadership positions in corporates and start-ups bringing technology. Women are trying to disrupt traditional trends in agribusiness starting from seed industry to last mile delivery of agri-produce to the consumers with the help of technology.

Even the corporate sector is waking up towards providing equal opportunities to women in agribusiness. The future belongs to women in agriculture who have set out to break the glass ceiling and transform this space from the ground up. Be it as growers, SHGs/FPOs or as inventors or as entrepreneurs- leading the change from the front. In the next five years, women will emerge as leaders of the agri industry and drive the revolution in agriculture.

                                                                                                             Dipti Barve

dipti.barve@mmactiv.com

Dr Renuka Diwan, a first-generation entrepreneur, having

Acquaculture, Agrotech, Interaction, Start ups

Devleena Bhattacharjee, Founder, Numer8 Analytics interacted with AgroSpectrum about the contribution of women in agribusiness and her work in the fisheries sector. Edited excerpts;

Devleena Bhattacharjee, founder, Numer8 Analytics is the winner of ‘Best Women Agtech Entrepreneur Award 2021’ at the  4th Edition of Summit & Awards for Innovations by Agri Startups organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). She is also the Chairperson of FICCI Fishtech subcommittee  and is working with the FICCI team in bringing a holistic change to the fisheries sector.

Devleena is a data scientist with over 15 years of experience in using data to solve real-world business problems across different domains. Her first data science startup ‘Woocation’ was a risk intelligence platform for the insurance industry. Her second data science startup Numer8 is currently using satellite data along with other sensor data to build profitable, traceable, and sustainable fisheries. Numer8’s product Ofish was  selected by the European Space Agency and the UN World Food Programme for helping address SDG 2, 12, and 14. She started Numer8 as a solo founder in 2017 and now works with a team of data scientists, data architects, and GIS analysts. Devleena interacted with AgroSpectrum about the contribution of women in agribusiness and her work in the fisheries sector. Edited excerpts;

How can we increase participation of  women entrepreneurs in India?

The problem is that as of today though 77 per cent of women aged more than 15 years have a bank account, 53 per cent of that population has not made a single deposit. On the digital ecosystem side, the numbers are even bleaker, only 22 per cent of women have used digital payment in India. This also stems from the fact that across 22 states in India, only 54.8 per cent of women own a personal phone. 

So we are looking at grass root level changes when you speak pan India. The situation is a little better when you look at urban folks, however, growing adoption at scale is still lost in societal, technological, and gender issues. 

So, on a broad level, considering both urban and rural women entrepreneurs, we need to have a couple of primary kinds of inputs as follows:

1. Building financial literacy and increasing access to financial products and services. The product and solutions should be built in a way it is easily accessible across regions, across the economical section, across various languages, ages and demography.

2. Support for increased adoption and incentivisation so that the entire family can participate and be benefitted from having a women entrepreneur at home.

 3. Targeted approach to focus areas that need different interventions like women tech start-up entrepreneurs or women farmers. These will be industry-specific solutions and programs which address micro issues.

Although women are actively heading in different sectors of the agri industry, it is primarily dominated by men in India. How, then, can women’s contribution in agribusiness be increased? 

Rural, Semi-urban, and Urban India are very different geographies to deal with when it comes to fighting gender and societal biases. The problem mutates even further given the economic section the business owners belong to. But on a broad level, I think the problem with women entrepreneurs in agri is not very different from women entrepreneurs in any other business. 

If even I, coming from a somewhat privileged background with some degree of education, could be asked by a bank to submit a male family member’s PAN or Aadhar to authenticate my request for a business loan, imagine what a less privileged woman faces. Financial inclusion, financial and digital literacy education, awareness, and self-help groups go a long way to build sustainable women business owners 

Just speaking of agri urban and rural, I think the following can be done to boost the sector ground up: 

1. All agribusinesses need to report the number of women blue-collared workers they employ and a mandate to have at least a percentage of a board being women to represent women’s set of issues. 

2. Self Help Groups (SHGs) have a brilliant model for improving women’s participation. Financial discipline is generally a women’s thing so SHGs saving first- credit later model can be extended further with goals given to rural women to open their self-owned businesses along with financial and digital literacy  

3. Have a Social P2P lending model like RangDe where an urban women investor in agri can support a rural women entrepreneur 

4. For all urban women entrepreneurs in agribusiness, a grant to involve rural women in their value chain and even a team should be provided 

5. Formal financial products across all banks that provide easy business loans to women with less interest should be provided – this is still something that is not done, even though on papers it says different.  

6. Apart from this, a gender-neutral work environment especially for rural women  entrepreneurs, proper child support packages and an active grievances cell to attend  to any personal and work related complaints should be set up in every village.

How is Numer8 Analytics helping fish farmers leverage data science to make  fishing profitable? 

We are helping fisher folks to reduce their cost of operations by up to 40 per cent and increasing their sales margin by up to 10 per cent. We do this by a combination of fishing advisory, forward and backward market linkages, and finance connect.  

The advisories are provided by analysing satellite data on an hourly basis. Market linkages are offered with traceability to enable supply chain monitoring in place. And our finance connect model is where we are connecting the fishing community with recommended low interest loan providers suited to their credit profile.  

What challenges did your company face initially? 

We are pioneering the application of data science in fisheries. We are the first movers in this which gives us a virgin market to tap into but also a lot of challenges and learnings.

The main challenges we faced initially:  

1) Tough Demography: Reaching out to a group of fisher folks in an area as a captive audience. This community is highly unavailable and does not have the habit of showing up for a scheduled meeting. So, in the initial days, when nobody knew us, it was very few audiences for us to play with 

2) Linguistic Challenges: Overcoming the regional vocabulary challenge. Every state in India is a country by itself. So even though our app supports all regional languages, as a team we had to have folks from across the country to be able to communicate to our users effectively. This was difficult to hire and recruit time wise and cost-wise 

3) Remote Customers: All our customer outreach was extensive in nature in the initial days when we did not have a local presence. In two of the instances, it required me to drive up and down the west coast from Mumbai to Cochin since no local transport enabled us to travel back and forth coastal fishing communities 

4) Industry Biases: We are still struggling with various industry biases against the fishing industry. In addition to that, the application of data science and especially space data analysis to fisheries is a niche area for many to follow and understand, so we are seen with a mixed lens of admiration and doubt. 

Could you take us through your growth strategies and plans for FY 22-23? 

The plan for Numer8 this year is to expand to all states in India for all our business lines that are advisories and market linkages. And especially focus on supply chain efficiency in the export sector for fisheries  

What acclamations have Numer8 Analytics received at the international and national level to date? 

We have received various awards for our work in the fisheries sector, including: o Sep 2018, ESA Copernicus Masters 

o Feb 2019, United Nations World Food Programme

o Dec 2019, ESRI, 1st prize, Geo Innovation 

o July 2020, WIT Tech for Good 

o Nov 2020, Tech Emerge, ADPC – World Bank 

o Feb 2021, ISRO Niti Aayog, ANIC-ARISE 

o Dec 2021, Meity Scale Up 

o Jan 2022, FICCI Best Women Agtech Entrepreneur Award 2021

What do you foresee for women entrepreneurs in the Agri industry? 

The agriculture sector has a lot of participation of women. It employs around 80 per cent of all economically active women in India. This is spread across 33 per cent of the labour force and 48 per cent of the self-employed women farmers. 85 per cent of our rural women are engaged in agriculture, yet, only about 13 per cent own land. In the fisheries supply chain, 72 per cent consists of women. 

So, clearly, the future of women entrepreneurs in the Agri Industry need better acknowledgment and support. They should be given an opportunity to own businesses instead of just being brute labour.

Forbes had published an article in 2020 which read – The Invisible Women of Small Scale Fisheries Contribute 11 per cent of Global Catch. And this is not very much different in other parts of the agri industry. This needs to change.

Dipti Barve

dipti.barve@mmactiv.com

Devleena Bhattacharjee, Founder, Numer8 Analytics interacted with

Agro Universities, Agrotech, R&D, Trade, Water

The laboratory carries out tests for heavy metals and other trace metals in water complying with BIS and a variety of fresh and processed food products for compliance

The Punjab Horticultural Post-Harvest Technology Centre (PHPTC) at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has recently been granted NABL Accreditation in accordance with ISO17025:2017 for analysis of trace metals (including heavy metals) in water wide accreditation certificate number TC- 10329. The quality control laboratory of PHPTC is equipped with sophisticated equipment such as an inductive coupled plasma mass spectrophotometer (ICP-MS) and microwave digestion system (MDS) for heavy metal analysis.

Dr BVC Mahajan, Director, PHPTC, emphasised that the authentication of a testing report is a major challenge faced by the farmers, exporters, entrepreneurs and various food industries all over India. Owing to this, FSSAI is emphasising the food testing laboratories all over India to get NABL accreditation. NABL’s accreditated report from a laboratory signifies authentication of quality and its technical competence, he added. The reports issued by NABL accredited laboratories are acceptable internationally, catering to the export requirements of industries and exporters. This laboratory is funded by Punjab State Mandi Board to provide testing services to farmers, entrepreneurs, government and private institutions, he informed. The laboratory carries out tests for heavy metals and other trace metals in water complying with BIS and a variety of fresh and processed food products for compliance with the requirements laid down by FSSAI under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, he told.

The other testing services such as estimation of quality attributes in fresh and processed food products, portability of water including biochemical and microbiological parameters are also provided by the laboratory. The centre is also creating awareness among the farmers and new entrepreneurs regarding accreditated testing of water and food in its training programmes, he said.

Dr Ritu Tandon, Quality Manager of the laboratory, told that with the increasing pace of industrialization, heavy metals (Arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and chromium) are getting accumulated and have started becoming an integral component of the food chain through drinking and irrigation water. She informed that heavy metals monitoring in drinking and irrigation waters is the need of the hour as these metals have a deteriorating effect on human and animal health. The ICP-MS is a highly sensitive and accurate instrument for analysing all heavy metals and other nutritional elements in water and food, she added.

Dr Swati Kapoor, Technical Manager and Dr Pooja, Deputy Technical Manager of the laboratory, highlighted the criticality of analytical operations of the equipment to generate the authenticated results. The detailed list of test parameters and their charges can be accessed on the website of PHPTC.

The laboratory carries out tests for heavy

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Textile industry

Discussions were held on the future of jute sector

The ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata in association with the National Jute Board and Jute Corporation of India recently organised the Stakeholders’ Meet on “Modern Agronomic Practices for Jute Cultivation.”

Delivering the inaugural address, the Chief Guest, MC Chakrabortty, Jute Commissioner, National Jute Board, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India stressed the greater contribution involvement and coordination in the future for better performance in the jute sector.

The Guest of Honour, Kamlesh Kumar, General Manager, NABARD underlined the important role that the NABARD can play by mobilising the Farmers’ Producers’ Organizations, Farmers’ Club to a single platform for subsidised input and profitable marketing of jute fibres.

The Guest of Honour, AK Jolly, MD, Jute Corporation of India accentuated the exchange of ideas and strategies for filling up the gap existing in the Jute-ICARE Project.

The Guest of Honour, Esther Kathar, Additional Secretary, P&RD, Government of Assam highlighted the scope of developing the Jute Clusters in Assam.

The Guest of Honour, Dr Gouranga Kar, Director, ICAR-CRIJAF, ICAR-CRIJAF, Barrackpore, Kolkata emphasised the adoption of the technology-centric strategies for filling up the yield gap. Dr Kar emphasised disseminating four to five good quality varieties to the farmers for sustaining and maintaining the growth in fibre productivity. The technologies like inter-specific jute hybrid, endospore-based liquid retting consortium and jute ribboner that are useful in jute farming were also highlighted by Dr Kar.

The Guest of Honor, Dr DB Shakyawar, Director, ICAR-National Institute of Natural Fibre Engineering and Technology, Kolkata regarded the Jute-ICARE as one of the most successful promotional Projects that has reached a larger section of the jute farmers.

More than 100 delegates from the various ICAR Institutes; Directorate of Jute Development, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare; Jute Corporation of India; National Jute Board, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India; representatives from state governments and Indian Space Research Organization, etc., attended the meet.

Discussions were held on the future of

Supply Chain

102.29 lakh farmers were benefitted with an MSP value of Rs 1,42,282.68 crore

A quantity of 725.93 LMT of Paddy has been procured in KMS 2021-22 up to 06.03.2022 in the procuring States/UTs of Chandigarh, Gujarat, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Telangana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, NEF (Tripura), Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Till now about 102.29 Lakh farmers have been benefitted with an MSP value of Rs. 1,42,282.68 crore.

102.29 lakh farmers were benefitted with an

Agrotech, Interaction, Sustainability

Agriculture, not unlike other sectors, continues to be male dominated in India. However,  due to various agricultural policies introduced by the government, this picture is changing and  more women agro entrepreneurs are actively entering  this  sector. But, is that enough? What steps can be taken by, not just the government, but also by the new crop of enterprising women agripreneurs? We shall unearth just that, and more.

The census of 2018-19, conducted by the Government of India, has revealed that 71 per cent female workers are employed in agriculture, followed by manufacturing (9 per cent), construction (6 per cent) and hospitality (4 per cent). These figures clearly indicate that participation of women in this domain has been scaling continuously. In order to further support this increased participation, the Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development launched a specific scheme called ‘Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP)’, as a subcomponent of DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana — National Rural Livelihoods Mission). This scheme has been implemented since 2011 with the objective to empower women by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and productivity, as well as create sustainable livelihoods for rural women. Despite all these efforts, there are various challenges such as product awareness, limited access to credit, lack of infrastructure, disproportionately larger levels of deprivation in terms of rights to land, to inputs, etc. that needed to be addressed to attract  more women entrepreneurs to the agriculture sector. 

Participation of women entrepreneurs in  every sector of the country has been scaling up constantly. Agriculture sector is also one of those sectors that is witnessing massive involvement of women in its various operations. With the infusion of technology and rise of startup culture in the country, this trend of more women agro entrepreneurs joining this domain is going to increase further.

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

Agriculture, not unlike other sectors, continues to

Agrotech, World

VT4PRO with RNAi Technology to launch in the US as early as 2024

Bayer announced the commercial registrations from the EPA for the traits that will enable the commercialisation of its newest corn product, VT4PRO with RNAi Technology, in the US. VT4PRO Technology will provide US farmers with an additional option within the already-strong Bayer corn product portfolio to help control troublesome above-ground and below-ground pests.

VT4PRO Technology will mark the first product that combines the power of the three modes of built-in action in Trecepta Technology, an elite above-ground pest package for corn that controls insects such as corn earworm and western bean cutworm, along with an RNAi-based mode of action, the latest defence to help manage corn rootworm.

A complement to Bayer’s existing portfolio, VT4PRO Technology will complement other products like SmartStax PRO Technology and offer an additional option for growers looking for products that will perform well in low-to-moderate corn rootworm pressure conditions, along with potentially higher risk for corn earworm or western bean cutworm.

Bayer plans to conduct large scale field testing of VT4PRO Technology during the 2022 and 2023 growing seasons with the potential to launch commercial volumes as early as 2024, pending state registrations.

VT4PRO with RNAi Technology to launch in

R&D

The move will strengthen the company’s market position for many years

Breeder of ornamental crops Royal Van Zanten and plant research company KeyGene have agreed upon a multi-year partnership in research and development. The partnership will enable Royal Van Zanten, a leading company in pot plants, cut flowers and flower bulbs, to accelerate the development of market-focussed varieties in its ornamental crops and strengthen its team of passionate breeders and scientists. Thanks to the new collaboration, KeyGene, which develops and applies innovative technologies for crop improvement, can importantly broaden the use of its proprietary technologies in ornamental crops.

Innovative technologies for plant breeding developed at KeyGene will boost Royal Van Zanten’s breeding of ornamental crops, which will allow for strengthening the company’s market position for many years.

The move will strengthen the company’s market

People

Kumar hails from Haryana and has been in the company for the last 12 years

Syngenta India has appointed Susheel Kumar as the new country head and managing director of the company. Kumar takes over from Rafael Del Rio, who served as managing director for the past four years.

Del Rio has been appointed as non-executive chairman of Syngenta India, one of the biggest agricultural companies in the world, selling seeds and crop protection chemicals. Kumar hails from Haryana and has been in the company for the last 12 years.

Kumar completed an international assignment in Basel, Switzerland, where he worked on global strategy as well as projects for Commercial Excellence.

Kumar hails from Haryana and has been

Agrotech, Finance, Start ups

The fund will be used to strengthen supply chain, invest in cutting-edge tech, add product categories

Agri-tech startup, Otipy (operated by Crofarm Agriproducts), India’s first community group buying platform for fresh produce, raised Rs 235 crores ($32 million) in its Series B round led by Westbridge Capital. Existing investors SIG and Omidyar Network India also participated in the round. These fresh funds have come in six months for Otipy, after its series A funding of Rs 76 crores ($10.2 million).

Varun Khurana, Founder & CEO, Otipy said, “The series B round of funding will support us as we expand to new pin codes, strengthen our supply chain, invest in cutting-edge tech, add product categories and accelerate our mission of making fresh, nutritious food accessible to all.”

The fund will be used to strengthen

Agro chems – Chemicals, Inputs

Corprima will provide tomato and okra farmers across the country with superior crop protection against fruit borers

FMC India, an agricultural sciences company, has announced that it has launched a new insecticide Corprima.

Powered by FMC’s world’s leading Rynaxypyr insect control technology, Corprima will provide tomato and okra farmers across the country with superior crop protection against fruit borers.

The innovative insecticide Corprima has been proven to deliver better returns on investment to farmers by having a longer duration pest control as well as enhanced flower and fruit retention leading to larger harvests of better quality.

According to the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, tomato farmers across the country lose up to 65 per cent of their yields to fruit borers every year. The infestation of this pest leads to flower dropping and poor plant health resulting in poor quality fruiting, thus adversely impacting crop yields.

Corprima, powered by Rynaxypyr active, promises to provide a superior and long-lasting protection from fruit borer pests which saves farmers’ time, costs and effort to protect their crops.

FMC India President, Ravi Annavarapu said, “The past year saw a record horticultural crop production in the country. However, every year, tomato and okra farmers incur heavy losses due to fruit borer pests, diseases and post-harvest losses amongst other factors. At FMC, we use innovation to solve the challenges faced by farmers by introducing sustainable products and solutions. The introduction of Corprima is a testimony to FMC’s commitment to bring novel solutions to meet farmers’ crop protection needs. I’m confident that Corprim will help tomato and okra farmers improve their incomes through higher yields of better quality.”

Introduced in 6gm, 17gm and 34gm packs, Corprima will meet the crop protection needs of small, marginal and big farmers.

Corprima will provide tomato and okra farmers