Connect with:
Saturday / May 31. 2025

logo
mobile-logo
Home2023February (Page 2)
Agro chems – Chemicals, Award, Company News, India

The 4th PMFAI SML Annual Agchem Awards ceremony followed the exhibition

Best Agrolife, the leading agrochemical manufacturer in India, bagged the award for Outstanding Innovation in Crop Solution at PMFAI-SML Annual Agchem Awards 2023. The Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) hosted the 17th International Crop-Science Conference & Expo in Dubai, UAE. The Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals supported the event.

Upon receiving this recognition, Vimal Alawadhi, MD, Best Agrolife Ltd. said, “It is a matter of great honour to be recognised on such a prestigious global platform. I congratulate my entire team for this tremendous feat. I would also like to thank the jury members for recognising BAL for our revolutionary innovations like ‘Ronfen’ which has proven extremely successful among farmers and has advanced the transition to more sustainable agriculture.”

The 4th PMFAI SML Annual Agchem Awards ceremony followed the exhibition. Leading agrochemical companies from 46 countries participated in the expo and showcased their product portfolios during the event. The event was a resounding success seeing a high footfall this year.

“It is a significant occasion for individuals directly or indirectly associated with the agrochemical industry which not only provides us with a great platform to meet and interact with our fellow agrochemical industrialists from around the world but we also get to know about the new product launches and the development of the agrochemical sector. However, the attention that BAL received during this whole event was the highlight for us this year. Our fellow delegates and participants were hugely impressed by the successful journey of our company and they expressed their keen interest in our recently launched products.” 

The 4th PMFAI SML Annual Agchem Awards

Company News, Interaction, World

Remarks will be webcast live

Corteva, Inc announces that Chuck Magro, Chief Executive Officer, will speak at the Bank of America Securities 2023 Global Agriculture & Materials Conference at 8:50 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

Remarks will be webcast live. Registration for the webcast can be accessed through the Corteva Investor Relations website. A replay of the presentation will be available 24 hours after the presentation ends and will be accessible until June 2, 2023.

Remarks will be webcast liveCorteva, Inc announces

Agrotech, Company News, India, R&D, Sustainability

MoU aims at setting up Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO) for agri drones

Leading agri-drone manufacturer IoTechWorld Avigation announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbani, Maharashtra to promote the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to boost farm productivity in the country.

This agreement by the Gurugram-based company with a leading academic institution for creating awareness among farmers about the use of technology for increasing farm output, besides furthering research in drone technology.  

Last month the agri drone manufacturing company has announced a similar tie-up with Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (an Agriculture University), Rahuri, Maharashtra.

The latest MoU was signed by Dr Indra Mani, Vice Chancellor of VNMKV on behalf of the University, while Anoop Kumar Upadhyay, Co-Founder & Director signed on the behalf of IoTechWorld Avigation.

Upadhyay said IoTechWorld Avigation is at the forefront of promoting drone technology and partnerships with universities are aimed at furthering research activities. 

Giving details about the MoU with VNMKV, he said both parties will work in cooperation in science and technology and promote the use of drones in agriculture. 

“Both the signatories to the agreement will work together to develop an agricultural training centre and Remote Pilot Training Organization (RPTO) at VNMKV university,” he added.

Deepak Bhardwaj, Co-founder IoTechWorld said tie-ups with universities will help the company to further research in drone technology, besides creating awareness among farmer groups.

“The use of agri-drone is catching up among farmers and several farmers’ organisations have joined the campaign. These unmanned aerial robots are of great use as they not only help in saving cost, but time also,” he said. 

Another major objective of the tie-up is to the farmer with a friendly training module and create drone pilots at the proposed RPTO at the university.

IoTechWorld will be the technical partner in setting up of Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO) for Agricultural Drones with VNMKV, which in turn will help reduce drone pilot shortage in the country, he added.

MoU aims at setting up Remote Pilot

Agro chems – Pesticides, Company News, Horticulture, North America, R&D

This action by the EPA gives growers two new tools to use in their fruit orchards to battle fungal and bacterial disease

US based Summit Agro announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved expansion of the use of Regev and Timorex ACT fungicides to both stone and pome fruit production.

This action by the EPA gives growers two new tools to use in their fruit orchards to battle fungal and bacterial disease. Both these fungicides benefit from the activity of Tea Tree Extract (FRAC BM 01).

Regev is the first hybrid fungicide in that it unites the disease fighting power of botanical and conventional chemistries. The product combines Tea Tree Extract with difenoconazole (FRAC 3).

Timorex ACT is an OMRI-listed fungicide that only contains Tea Tree Extract making it a purely organic formulation. It also can be used as an ideal tank-mix partner for growers looking to boost the performance of their organic or conventional fungicide program.

“Stone and pome fruit growers will find Regev delivers remarkable control of scab,” said Eric Tedford, Summit Agro R&D manager. “This control extends to both the leaf and the fruit even at low rates.”

Tedford added that Timorex ACT is an ideal organic solution for growers looking for powdery mildew control.

Tedford explained, “Both Regev and Timorex ACT provide the trifecta of disease protection – preventative, curative and anti-sporulant control – through eight mechanisms of activity. These are unique aspects that fruit growers will benefit from.”

This action by the EPA gives growers

AgroPolicy, Animal Health, India, Poultry, Sustainability

The Department has deputed a two-member central team to assist the State in the control and containment operations.

Avian Influenza (H5N1) was detected by the ICAR-National Institute of High-Security Animal Disease, Bhopal from the samples received from the Government Poultry Farm at Bokaro, Jharkhand. The Department issued a notification.  The last occurrence of Avian Influenza was reported in the Godda district of Jharkhand in January 2019. 

The State is advised to carry out the control and containment operations as per the Action Plan for Prevention, Control and Containment of Avian Influenza (2021). The Department has deputed a two-member central team to assist the State in the control and containment operations. Also, the Ministry of Health has deputed its central team for an overview of the surveillance in the human sector. Animal Husbandry Commissioner took a virtual meeting with the concerned officials of the State Animal Husbandry Department of Jharkhand to sensitise all before initiation of control and containment measures as per the Action Plan.

Compensation is paid to the farmers whose poultry birds, eggs and poultry feed are culled or disposed of by the State as per the action plan.

The state is advised to maintain sufficient stock of PPE kits and other accessories required for culling operations. The State is requested to coordinate with the departments of Health and Forest and sensitise them about Avian Influenza. The state is also requested to submit a daily report to this Department on the control measures taken by them.

The Department has deputed a two-member central

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, India, People, Supply Chain, Sustainability

Besides, the flour mills were advised to bring down the prices of atta and other products in line with the reduction in market prices of wheat.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) may offload an additional quantity of 20 LMT of wheat in the open market under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) 2023 for sale through e-auction to flour mills, private traders, bulk buyers and manufacturers of wheat products like previous years. So far 50 LMT of wheat have been decided to offload under OMSS 

The reduction in reserve price along with the additional offloading of 20 LMT of wheat will collectively help in reducing the market price of wheat and wheat products for consumers.

Secretary, DFPD held a Video Conference meeting with the FCI and the representatives of flour millers, associations, federations, atta and suji product manufacturers to review the lifting of stocks in the second auction conducted under OMSS 2023.

Besides, the flour mills were advised to bring down the prices of atta and other products in line with the reduction in market prices of wheat.

Besides, the flour mills were advised to

Agrotech, Biostimulants, Company News, Finance, Japan

Mitsui and CB-Agri will jointly enhance and boost the overall growth strategy of its biostimulant products.

Mitsui & Co. Ltd. announced that it has reached agreement to acquire a share of C&B AGRI Enterprises Limited, a leading Irish biostimulants manufacturing company. Through this partnership, Mitsui and CB-Agri will jointly enhance and boost the overall growth strategy of its biostimulant products.

CB-Agri is an Irish-based producer and distributor of biostimulant products made from natural seaweed and marine-derived amino-acid material. These products are highly competitive, organic and make an important contribution to farmers seeking to improve their crops in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Its C-Bio CPS product, made from 100 per cent pure Ascophyllum Nodosum and manufactured using a unique cold extraction process, has demonstrated excellent efficacy under all climates on a wide range of crops.

Mitsui’s Nutrition & Agriculture Business Unit aims to provide comprehensive and sustainable solutions to farmers, including the provision of agricultural inputs and related services, that contribute to a safe and sufficient food supply. To accomplish this vision Mitsui has established a global network of businesses including Anagra; Equlibra; Adelnor; Certis Belchim; Certis Biologicals; Bharat Certis and Cosaco, who all provide solutions for sustainable crop management. Now the Business Unit seeks to implement a development strategy for the biostimulants sector, and this is the first investment to secure a procurement source that will enable us to offer competitive products, as well as comprehensive service, to valued customers.

Leveraging the extensive global network owned by Mitsui, including key distribution platforms and regional partners in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, we can pursue our vision of bringing value to our customers.

Mitsui and CB-Agri will jointly enhance and

Agrotech, India, Industry Reports / Analysis, Machinery - Pre-harvesting

Demand-side challenges need to be addressed by consistent subsidy policy formulation and implementation, long-term credit to small & marginal farmers.

 National Council of Applied Economic Research’s (NCAER) latest report on the “Making India a Global Powerhouse in Farm Machinery Industry” was released by Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare at Krishi Bhawan. The NCAER is one of India’s premier economic policy- research think tanks.  

NCAER has analysed the non-tractor farm machinery industry from both demand and supply side perspectives, brings out the challenges in the sector, and recommends measures & reforms by benchmarking global practices in their Report.

This is an industry with myriad stakeholders. On the one hand, we have manufacturing firms, with a small number of large firms dominating the market.  On the other hand, we have small and marginal farmers who consume the products.  The problem is that there is a mismatch between the aspirations of small and marginal farmers who rent out equipment, if at all, and producers who want to expand the market. While India has done well in the production and export of tractors, the market for non-tractor farm machinery is fairly limited, both on the supply and demand sides.  The challenge is how to expand the market.

India needs a vision for the next 15 years to convert itself into a production and export hub for non-tractor farm machinery. Policies should address current challenges and act as accelerators to convert India’s dual farm machinery market into an advantage by producing a range of equipment that caters to all types of farmers around the world.

Demand-side challenges need to be addressed by consistent subsidy policy formulation and implementation, long-term credit to small & marginal farmers and strengthening of extension programmes.

India should have a 15-year vision plan to turn India into a farm machinery production hub for the world.  The supply-side challenges can be addressed by promoting R&D in non-tractor farm machinery, improving ease of doing business, encouraging exports and FDI, reducing reliance on imported farm machinery, improving & maintaining quality and addressing skilled worker shortages.

The All-India Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (AMMA-India) was established in the year 2010 on January 17 at the behest of Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. Of India represents the machinery manufacturers of agriculture and allied sectors.

Mitul Panchal, Chairperson, AMMA – India said, “We welcome the findings of the report. Some of the recommendations have been a long-standing requirement of the Farm Machinery Industry. The industry today faces huge challenges in competing with cheap imported goods, skilled manpower, inefficient subsidy mechanisms and academia – industry collaboration. The recommendations in this report would go a long way in much needed policy reforms in Farm Machinery space.”  

Dr. Bornali Bhandari, Professor, NCAER and the lead co-author of the report said that “The Indian farm machinery sector is dominated by tractors. The non-tractors farm machinery sector is rendered uncompetitive in terms of scale, innovation and prices.  There is a mismatch between what the organized farm machinery sector produces and the needs of small and marginal Indian farmers.   That mismatch needs to be addressed by a range of interventions on both the demand and supply sides for the non-tractor farm machinery to grow into a global hub.”

Demand-side challenges need to be addressed by

Agrotech, India, IT, Start ups

 WRMS displayed a variety of farm IoTs like AWS, APS, AIS and enlightened the attendees about the WRMS flagship income guaranteeing solution – SecuFarm.

 Haryana – based z a pioneer in smart and sustainable farming in India, recently participated at the 11th Krishi Darshan Expo, India’s one of the largest Agriculture events held at Hisar, Haryana. As a leading provider of precision farming solutions, WRMS showcased a wide array of farm IoTs that help farmers optimize their crop yields, reduce costs and improve sustainability. WRMS displayed functional IoTs like Automatic Weather Station (AWS), Automatic Pest Traps (APS), Automatic Irrigation Switch (AIS) and enlightened the attendees about the WRMS flagship SecuFarm App and SecuTrak solution.  

The gala event brought together the major players of industry via interaction of farmers, agribusiness, industry entrepreneurs, researchers, technocrats, extension workers and students under one roof. It facilitated a productive environment for constructive discussions amongst industry leaders and decision makers.

Anuj Kumbhat, Founder and CEO, WRMS, said “Krishi Darshan Expo gave us an opportunity to have enriching conversations with farmers, understand their challenges, and offer them the SecuFarm– our income guaranteeing flagship product.  With every conversation we realized that it is extremely crucial for these farmers to overcome the barriers of traditional farming practices & medieval mindset. They are living a life of uncertainty where they are always worried about their crop health and farm income, forcing them to use excess pesticides & water. That’s why SecuFarm remains a holistic solution which provides them with complete downside risk protection and higher yield.  This gives them the confidence to invest in the latest technology & drives them towards sustainable farming.”

WRMS flagship SecuFarm app bridges farmers across the country with the latest digital technology in agriculture and handholds them right from the seed selection stage to make sure that they get a better yield by following the package of practices shared with them in their own language. WRMS is currently affiliated with over 10 million farmers; 1 million acres of land have been geo-tagged; 1.5 lakh SecuFarms have been created; and over 15,000 farm IoT devices have been deployed.

 WRMS displayed a variety of farm IoTs

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, India, People, Sustainability

The project focuses on the existing and forthcoming technological advances associated with successful agricultural improvements

Kerala Department of Agriculture to train aspiring agri entrepreneurs as part of the Value Chain Development in Agriculture, VAIGA 2023 programme. Training includes how to create comprehensive project reports (DPR).

The project DPR clinic was launched by Agricultural Minister P Prasad. In 2016, VAIGA, an exposition programme for agribusiness owners and industries, was introduced. The project focuses on the existing and forthcoming technological advances associated with successful agricultural improvements, such as product diversification, processing, value addition, and marketing. Additionally, it links entrepreneurs, professionals in agri-value addition and processing, and local and national organizations. The program’s highlights include the exhibition and B2B meetings.

During the sixth annual VAIGA agricultural exhibition, which will take place from 25th Feb to 2nd March in Thiruvananthapuram. During the exhibition, the State Agricultural Department will conduct an Agri Hackathon. The goal of the hackathon is to find solutions to agricultural problems, particularly those of a technological and administrative nature.

The project focuses on the existing and

AgroPolicy, Horticulture, India

By Mallika Verma, Director, Government Affairs, Federation of Seed Industry of India

The Horticulture Cluster Development Programme is going to have a big positive impact on Indian agriculture as it would address the long-pending issues of small-land holdings. The government of India’s latest move would help the large fruit-vegetable farming community and other people dependent on agricultural activities for their livelihood. This programme would increase on-farm productivity and production, and, more importantly, enhance the sale of the marketable volumes of agricultural commodities in the specific geographical regions. All this assumes a great significance in the wake of over 86 percent of farmers being small-land holders.

The government of India has been taking a slew of measures to remove the obstacles that marred the growth of the farm sector for years. The cluster development programme will give impetus to the efforts to improve the farm sector, especially, one that seeks to enhance agricultural income. And it sets to become successful as the government has given serious thought to it. It has taken care of proper monitoring of activities under this programme. And the key point of this programme is developing last-mile connectivity, which will ensure horticulture produce is picked up and transported in time. The use of multi-modal transport will optimise the entire process and boost the chances of exports.

This programme will not be restricted to novel experiments. Rather it would touch upon farmers in hilly, remote areas, where access to resources is limited and market forces are not strong enough. Horticulture crops are often regarded as cash crops and have the potential to enhance farm income substantially in a short period of time. What all needed is awareness, dissemination of correct information to farmers, access to good seeds and other crop inputs, and development of required infrastructure. The government of India appears to have taken care of most of the things. However, small-land holdings turned out to be a big hurdle. 

Now the horticulture cluster development programme will bring small farmers together and allow cultivation on a large scale. This will allow higher production of fruit and vegetable crops that are better and uniform in quality. This will certainly attract new buyers, who are ready to pay the higher price. The eNAM can help sell horticulture produce from such horticulture clusters to over 1,200 markets spread across the country. The use of technical solutions including geo-tagging of farm-related infrastructure will help track farm operations and other related activities, allowing the researchers and government officials to carry out effective monitoring under the cluster development programme on a real-time basis.

The setting up of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure, use of high-tech tools for monitoring and evaluation, and multimodal transport to ensure last-mile connectivity, will ensure timely harvest and crop collection and its transportation to the destination markets while it is still fresh, allowing farmers to get the best remuneration. At the same time, it will boost the possibility of exports and demand, as well as maintain the potential value of horticulture produce for food processing.

India is the second largest producer of horticulture in the world, with 12 percent share in global production. However, India’s share in the global horticulture export is less than 2 percent. There is a scope for India to increase exports as the diverse climatic conditions facilitate production of a variety of horticulture crops. There are successful examples of horticulture clusters in India. In Uttar Pradesh, such clusters are formed for mango while Tamil Nadu has clusters for bananas, mango and chilli.

The cluster development programme can also use the wisdom generated by the Agriculture Export Zone scheme of central Government implemented through APEDA and help farmers in saving money as well as resolve conflicts. They can have a good irrigation system built by pooling funds. The conflicts over water resource sharing or land boundary or grazing can be resolved as they come together and consider all land parcels in the cluster as one farm. Economies of scale for production and quality improvement can be easily implemented. The government machinery too can work effectively and ensure the best possible help with its entire focus on one entity rather than several small farms. There is a scope for innovations in the field. Overall, the cluster development project has tremendous potential to transform Indian horticulture and the lives of farmers.

By Mallika Verma, Director, Government Affairs, Federation

Acquaculture, Animal Health, Company News, Environment, Live Stock, Sustainability, World

Nutreco’s investment in BiomEdit underscores strategic partnership and a shared mission to create novel animal health solutions through the untapped potential of the microbiome

Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed, announces that it has taken a minority stake in animal health’s most advanced microbiome biotech company, BiomEdit. The two companies recently entered into a ground-breaking, long-term strategic research and commercial partnership – the first since BiomEdit was founded – to bring livestock and aquaculture producers innovative and truly novel feed additives developed through microbiome technology. 

“Through this investment, we are reinforcing the unique collaboration that brings together BiomEdit’s state-of-the-art microbiome discovery platform and Nutreco’s customer access and distribution capabilities,” said Fulco van Lede, CEO Nutreco. “We’re excited about its potential to help us super-charge our supply of proprietary ultra-speciality ingredients, speed up progress on our purpose of Feeding the Future and create a more sustainable future for our industry.”

“Nutreco’s investment in BiomEdit underscores our strategic partnership and a shared mission to create novel animal health solutions through the untapped potential of the microbiome,” said Aaron Schacht, CEO of BiomEdit. “We are pleased that Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed, is joining our roster of world-class Series A investors to help fuel innovation in feed additive products.”

Nutreco's investment in BiomEdit underscores strategic partnership

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, India, IT, People, Sustainability

It provides personalised help to farmers based on their recorded data

Odisha government has launched an AI-powered ChatBot, to help farmers access, government schemes, and loan products from more than 40 commercial and cooperative banks. Governor of Odisha, Prof. Ganeshi Lal, launched Ama KrushAI ChatBot service in Bhubaneshwar.

Ama KrushAI’s algorithm has a feature on this knowledge set to effectively resolve farmers’ queries on a wide range. It provides personalised help to farmers based on their recorded data in the Krushak Odisha state farmers’ database as well as their historic digital activity recorded on different agri-gov-tech systems.

The state government is planning to launch Ama KrushAI at scale for all farmers in the state after successful pilots. The department also plans to introduce text-to-speech translation to allow farmers to listen to the answers to their queries in Odia, instead of reading them on the app.

ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, is capable of generating human-like replies, allowing natural conversation between the user and the virtual assistant. It reached an estimated 100 million monthly active users in January, becoming the fastest-growing consumer application, and has clocked over 590 million visits.

It provides personalised help to farmers based

Agrotech, Company News, India, R&D, Sustainability

Adoption of IPM & Kisan Drones in the year of Millets were the focal points FPOs targeted for effective knowledge transfer and wider outreach

CropLife India, an association of both Indian and Global R&D-driven crop science organisations, and the leading voice of the plant science industry in India pioneered a workshop on ‘Innovative Technologies in Crop Protection’ in Telangana. The workshop was organised jointly with Foundation for Agriculture Sustainability and Transformation (FAST) and CropLife India. A demonstration of Kisan Drones and its advantages in agriculture along with a discussion on the Importance of Millets for products & Consumers were integral parts of the workshop.

The workshop was held in Warangal Usha Dayal, District Agriculture Officer, Warangal; being the Chief Guest. Dr Damodhar, Principal Scientist, RARS, Warangal; Ramchander Rao Jojula, Asst. Director of Agri (R), FAST Associate; P. Sarangam, Asst. Director of Agriculture (R), Consultant-NFSC and Jaypal Reddy, Farmer Leader, Warangal, addressed the gathering. Apart from them, present on the occasion were national awardee farmers, officials of FAST, Scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra and Extension Officers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), CropLife India member companies and other officials. 

Usha Dayal, District Agriculture Officer, Warangal said, “With the introduction of Kisan Drones, they are becoming the Indian farmer’s new best friend which would help in saving time and cost and increasing yield and productivity. The Centre and State Governments are taking all the necessary steps to facilitate the usage of drones.”

Dayal added, “The outreach effort being done by CropLife India towards Integrated Pest Management techniques like the role of beneficial insects including pollinators; judicious and responsible use of crop protection products; secure storage of crop protection products; impacts of counterfeit and illegal products; use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment); correct spraying techniques and triple rinsing of used containers; are highly beneficial for farmers.”

 Durgesh Chandra, Secretary General, CropLife India shared, “We believe that with all the favourable policy support coming in from the Government, the conducive ecosystem needs to be nurtured in order to ensure faster adoption of drones in Indian Agriculture. All the ecosystem stakeholders- Government, Agricultural Universities, Research Institutions, Corporates, Industry Associations, Drone Training Institutes, Drones manufacturers, Drone service providers, FPOs, farmers, Agri & Rural Entrepreneurs, etc. will have to work in tandem towards achieving this.”

Adoption of IPM & Kisan Drones in