2023 - Page 84 of 109 - Agro Spectrum India

By Ananda Verma, Founder, FasalThe Indian agriculture

Agrotech, Finance, Foodgrains, India, Interaction, Supply Chain, Warehousing

“We need incentives like cheaper credit for the agri-financing intermediaries like Agri NBFCs”

Sandeep Sabharwal, Group CEO of SLCM, spoke with AgroSpectrum about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the agri supply chain industry in India. Edited excerpts;

Founded in 2009, Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd. (SLCM) Group is one of India’s leading comprehensive service providers in the global post-harvest space for agricultural commodities. It currently operates a network of over 10,255 warehouses and has disbursed loans worth more than Rs 2600 crore over the last three years through its wholly-owned subsidiary Kissandhan business unit. It recently received the accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for its ground-breaking AI ML QC application, which falls under its patented process management system, “Agri Reach”. This marks the first time in NABL’s history that a mobile app has received certification. Sandeep Sabharwal, Group CEO of SLCM, spoke with AgroSpectrum about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the agri supply chain industry in India. Edited excerpts;

How do you perceive the transformation of the agriculture value chain with the adoption of new technology solutions?

We have come a long way in the agriculture sector since independence. Over the past two decades the agriculture sector has experienced major disruptions with the introduction of innovative products and solutions that utilise new-age technology applications. Embracing new-age technology platforms or a combination of them like AI, Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, RFIDs, Edge, Drones, etc., is the key to improving efficiencies and optimising operations while reducing costs. The deployment of these new-age technology applications has paved the way for new service models such as ‘Farm-To-Fork’, ‘Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS)’, etc.

How is SLCM’s AI-based Quality Check mobile App ‘Agri Reach’ helping farmers and traders get better prices for their products?

Using this AI ML QC module smartphone application to conduct a quality check of agricultural products is as simple as taking a picture. A simple click and submission through the app will analyse the image for a variety of quality metrics. The user will then receive a detailed quality report based on evidence in the photograph, that covers specifications such as damaged, shrunken, shrivelled or immature grains, foreign matter and a host of other physical parameters like height, length, grid, colour and pattern of the commodity. The results are compared with pre-fed data in the back-end system, which updates itself regularly using a combination of technologies including AI and ML with Python programming language.

The quality check mobile app currently covers wheat, guar, soya beans, chana, rice and maize. It enables farmers, agri traders, and arhtiyas to get an ‘on-the-spot assessment’ of the commodity’s sample within minutes, without having to use any equipment or lab tests. In just two months since its launch, the mobile app has been used to inspect 21.59 lakh metric tonnes of crops at 303 locations in 17 states. The app helps farmers and traders get better prices for their products by providing objective quality reports, which helps them negotiate a fair price in the market.

Recently, the company has received NABL accreditation for the QC App, how will this help in the adoption of ‘Agri Reach’ by farmers and traders, etc.?

We had the vision for ‘phygitalising’ (physical + digital infrastructure) the warehouse management system over a decade ago. With a dedicated team of professionals, SLCM created ‘Agri Reach’ – a system that enables effective warehousing solutions agnostic of infrastructure, geography, and crops. We are the only company in the Indian agriculture sector that has registered a technology patent in the Agri-Logistics (warehousing) segment spanning 75 years post-Independence. And now I am proud to state that the company has reinforced its leadership status by being the first and only company in this space to receive the coveted NABL accreditation for an app that will transform the way the agri industry assesses the quality of its commodities. It is a matter of credibility which will reinforce the trust among end-users.

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

Sandeep Sabharwal, Group CEO of SLCM, spoke

Agri Genomics, India, R&D

Planting the Seeds of Progress: India’s Evolving Agri Biotech Scene

Prof. K C Bansal, Secretary, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, and Former Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR), New Delhi

For a country like India, ensuring sustainable food security in a rapidly changing climate is a significant concern today. With the slow pace of yield increase, it is crucial to accelerate the genetic improvement of crops for enhancing food production and achieving self-sufficiency. The rapid adoption of science-based technologies for crop improvement, such as GM crops and gene-edited crops are likely to play major roles.

Science-based advancements of breeding technologies continue to dominate global agriculture, playing a crucial role in increasing food production. While conventional plant breeding has historically made significant contributions and continues to do so, plant genetic engineering has emerged as a powerful modern tool for crop improvement. Since 1996, several genetically modified (GM) crops with improved traits have been developed, and they have been widely adopted globally. Currently, they are grown in over 190 million hectares across 30 countries, including India. This makes plant genetic engineering the fastest-adopted technology in the history of modern agriculture. Furthermore, GM crops and their derived products have been used as food or feed in more than 70 countries over the last 25 years, demonstrating their safety to humans, animals and the environment.

In India, Bt cotton was the first GM crop to be commercialised in 2002, and its impact has been viewed as a great success story globally. Two decades later, in 2022, GM mustard hybrid DMH-11 and its parental lines were environmentally released in India, and genome editing was exempted in plants from biosafety assessment for crop improvement. These two modern science-based developments occurred in the interest of farmers and the national economy.

GM Mustard

In the mid-1960s, India experienced a Green Revolution that resulted in a significant increase in food production, from 50 million tonnes in 1950-51 to over 300 million tonnes in 2020-21. However, this progress was not replicated with any oilseed crop, which is urgently needed to meet our growing demands. Due to a serious deficit in domestic edible oil production, we heavily rely on imported edible oils. In 2020-21, India imported 13.35 million tonnes of edible oils at a cost of around Rs 117,000 crore. Nevertheless, the approval for the environmental release of GM mustard hybrid DMH 11, developed by a public sector institution in India, with approximately 28-30 per cent higher yield, is a significant step towards reducing our dependence on imports.

Mustard is predominantly a self-pollinating crop, making it difficult to develop high-yielding hybrids by crossing two diverse parental lines. To facilitate cross-pollination, a robust system has been developed in India using two transgenes: the barnase gene for male sterility (MS) and the barstar gene for the restoration of male fertility (RF). Hybrid seeds are produced by crossing the MS and RF lines. This two-gene system is also used worldwide in rapeseed, a sister crop of mustard, to develop GM hybrids that farmers grow on a large scale for higher yields.

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

Prof. K C Bansal, Secretary, National Academy

Agrotech, Award, Company News, North America, R&D

Cargill features on Fortune’s most innovative companies 2023 list

This prestigious award is presented by Fortune and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider

Cargill has been recognised on the Fortune list of America’s Most Innovative Companies 2023. This prestigious award is presented by Fortune and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

Cargill is uniquely positioned to lead the transformation of the food and agriculture system, addressing many of the world’s most pressing needs – from supply chain continuity to climate action to nutrition and food security. The company’s teams around the world are driving this transformation, innovating with purpose and empowering its customers and communities.

“Our teams around the world are excited to receive this recognition. Cargill continues to prioritise investing in innovation and our people. We attract the best global talent to collaborate on innovative, purpose-driven work that helps our customers and partners overcome their biggest challenges and seize their greatest opportunities,” said Florian Schattenmann, Cargill’s chief technology officer and vice president of Research & Development and Innovation.

This prestigious award is presented by Fortune

Agri Genomics, Agrotech, India, R&D

Next Gen Plant Breeding Tool for Breeders

By Dr Ratna Kumria, Director, Biotechnology Alliance for Agri Innovation (AAI)

Gene editing offers an accurate, predictable, quick, and economical method for crop improvement. Due to its precision, it offers the opportunity to increase nutrient levels, decrease anti-nutrients, and improve the shelf life of food to preserve quality and nutrition. This technology cannot provide solutions for all farming challenges or plant breeding bottlenecks, but it can certainly streamline the process towards greater efficiency. It provides an opportunity to address hunger and malnutrition regionally using traditional, local crops. It can also enable local solutions to conserve biodiversity and resources, moving towards better agriculture.

Gene editing refers to making changes in the genome of an organism using various nucleases with distinct specificities and modes of action. The nucleases are programmed to target particular sequences for cutting, although the repair mechanisms can either be random or designed with external templates. While traditional nucleases cut both strands of DNA, some have been adapted to cut a single strand and utilise RNA as a template for making alterations. The selection of the appropriate gene editing tool is based on the target’s cost and feasibility. As new nucleases are being discovered and editing tools developed, gene editing is finding diverse applications. Although currently used in therapeutics, it is expected to have far-reaching effects on crop improvement and agriculture.

Humans have been selectively breeding plants and animals for centuries, long before the field of genetics was established. Today’s cultivated crops, whether ornamental or used for food, as well as domesticated animals are very different from their wild counterparts. For example, maize was selected and bred from its ancestor teosinte and likewise the fibrous, blander version of ancient watermelon fruits, as also other food crops were bred for a better flavour and texture that is more palatable to humans. Domesticating plants and animals are a painstaking and repetitive process that has been ongoing for hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years.

Advancements in genetics have accelerated plant breeding and crop improvement over the past century. With the knowledge of genetics, breeders were able to identify variations and select for new genetic combinations that were better suited for cultivation and consumption. In addition to identifying variations, breeders have also been using chemicals or radiation to induce random mutations that result in beneficial genetic modifications. This mutation breeding has led to the creation of over 3000 new varieties of crops across the globe, during the last few decades. As a result of these plant breeding efforts, cereal crop production has tripled during this period, with only a 30 per cent increase in land under cultivation. India’s green revolution, which transformed it from a food-deficient nation to a food-surplus one, owes much of its success to plant breeding efforts.

However, the haphazard nature of mutation-generation makes selecting the relevant modifications an expensive, time-consuming, and laborious process. Conventional breeding is a lengthy process that depends on the number and duration of growing seasons per year, as well as the time it takes for plants to mature. This process can be even more prolonged when dealing with trees, perennials or assembling multiple traits through multi-stage crossing, selection, and testing. Additionally, the randomness of induced mutagenesis adds another dimension to the selection and testing required for large-scale screening. To make the breeding process more efficient over time, various technological interventions have been introduced, including molecular markers, double haploids, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and other prediction tools.

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

By Dr Ratna Kumria, Director, Biotechnology Alliance

Agrotech, India, Start ups, Supply Chain

3 Ps of Agriculture – Patience, Perseverance & Persistence

By Sandeep Sabharwal, is Group CEO, Sohanlal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd.

The biggest challenge in India with regard to agriculture is actually knowledge. A lot of people are not looking at the agriculture system with a holistic view. Mostly people are looking at the agriculture value chain in a fragmented manner. Some are looking from the trade perspective, some are looking from the warehousing activities, some are looking at the financing part and so on and so forth. Of late, few startups have started to deliver what we call ‘farm to fork’, but sustainability of such a business model has to be looked at from a ‘triple bottom-line’ perspective.

In agriculture particularly if one doesn’t address the entire value chain in a single platform, then it does not make any sense financially. Agri is actually a game of sum of parts. So, if someone usually takes one part out and says that this is going to denote enough return on capital employed or enough return on equity then it would be a misleading statement.

So, for tangible results one has to look from an entire agriculture value chain and say that he or she is going to address all parts and each part is going to denote a bigger progressive value to the entire value chain. The most important thing is that agriculture is a game of patience. Agriculture is not for the faint hearted. It’s for people who have patience.

As in case of 3 Ps of marketing needs, the 3 Ps of agriculture is patience, perseverance and persistence. If one doesn’t have these three qualities, he or she will not be able to survive on the agriculture value chain even if in parts. It will not be possible to make it happen because it’s a very difficult terrain to manoeuvre.

There are many dependency factors in the agriculture value chain as it is mostly weather dependent. A good or a bad crop season can make or mar the crop output. Two or three continuous bad crop seasons due to weather conditions like flood, drought, etc. is the real test of patience for a farmer. If one has to stay in the business, he or she should continue to rise up to the challenges while working hard. Hence perseverance and persistence as a quality are very much important for a farmer to remain stable in the entire agriculture value chain.

Let us take the severe impact of Covid-19 pandemic as an example here. The effect has been witnessed by businesses across sectors globally and India is no less behind as a country in terms of the overall socioeconomic factors.

Dip in economic activity coupled with rising unemployment primarily in the core sectors has negatively impacted GDP growth, thereby raising alarm bells for policy makers, think-tanks and the government machinery. Businesses of late have been forced to relook at their boardroom strategies and realigning accordingly with the prevailing circumstances while focusing on reviving the growth momentum.

Nevertheless, it is noteworthy to review the contribution of the agriculture sector in particular during the overall economic downturn. As necessity remains to be the mother of inventions, new business models have emerged that are primarily driven by new age technology applications. Agri Tech startups backed up by PE and VC funding have taken center stage over the last decade and have already disrupted the agribusiness space in a significant manner. Businesses in the agriculture value chain that have survived the downturn have been able to make it all possible due to the 3 Ps – patience, perseverance and persistence.

By Sandeep Sabharwal, is Group CEO, Sohanlal

Agrotech, Company News, India, IT, Machinery – Post-harvesting

Mahindra’s AgTech business Krish-e launches IoT based Smart Kit for farm equipment

With the Krish-e Smart Kit, Mahindra aims to track & digitise every acre & kilometer of rental activity carried out in the country.

Krish-e Mahindra’s AgTech business launched the Krish-e Smart Kit (KSK). An after-market device, the Krish-e Smart Kit is the first-of-its-kind smart device that provides equipment owners with detailed insights of their tractors and farm equipment, through GPS enabled time tracking and remote monitoring of various parameters from the comfort of a smart phone.

A cutting-edge offering, the Krish-e Smart Kit is developed by Carnot Technologies, an Ag-Tech start-up, founded in 2015 by four alumni from IIT Bombay in their mid-20s, who as part of the IITB racing team, developed solutions to monitor the performance of race vehicles from the pit. Today Carnot Technologies is engaged in manufacturing and retailing products and services related to internet-connected devices for monitoring performance of vehicles and equipment, with M&M Ltd. having acquired a significant stake in the company.

The Krish-e Smart Kit enables equipment owners and rental entrepreneurs to sustainably improve fleet performance, improve incomes and manage maintenance costs, while reducing tractor downtime and preventing unauthorised usage of their tractors. The Smart Kit also includes an advanced trip replay feature for tracking commercial transportation and trolley activity.

The kit is brand agnostic and can be installed on any new or old brand of tractor or farm equipment, such as harvesters, rice transplanters and self-propelled sprayers. The kit is paired with an app called the Krish-e Rental Partner App and is available on the Google Play Store. In addition to tracking and monitoring, the app also offers users access to an inventory of high-end farm machinery on a pay per use basis.

Ramesh Ramachandran – Senior Vice President and Head Krish-e – Farm Equipment Sector, M&M Ltd. said, “An industry first aftermarket IoT solution, the Krish-e Smart Kit presents the smartest, most affordable and sustainable way for farmers and businesses to connect and monitor their farm equipment on the go. In its scale-up phase, with over 25,000 active users we will officially launch the Krish-e Smart Kit. Besides farmers, we invite institutions, FPO’s, government bodies and start-ups in the state to partner with us on this connected journey as we aim to digitise every acre and kilometre of rental activity. Going forward we aim to become the leading provider of connectivity for farm equipment in India.”

Pushkar Limaye – CTO, Carnot Technologies commented, “With a vision of building world-class products out of India, we came up with a small plug-and-play device for tractors to help improve their productivity using IoT, with real-time updates on smartphones. And today we are glad to see over 25,000 kits having already helped farmers digitise their businesses and adding real value on ground. And today with the official launch of the Krish-e Smart Kit, together with Mahindra, we aim to digitise Indian farming with an India-based solution, while reaching a larger audience of tractor owners and rental business owners.

With the Krish-e Smart Kit, Mahindra aims

Agrotech, Company News, Horticulture, R&D, Sustainability, World

ADDIUM launches POMETA crop load management system

3D vision helps apple producers take control of crop load management

ADDIUM, a leading provider of innovative solutions for agriculture, introduced POMETA, its new intelligent crop load management system.

At a time when margins are thin, apple producers need to take control of crop load management, optimise chemical thinning, get the most value out of every labourer and consistently hit crop load targets. Getting crop load right means packing out more bins per acre, hitting size targets, packing more high-quality fruit, and realising good return bloom.

“Fruit producers are squeezed on both sides,” said Dave Brown POMETA Director, “Consumers and grocery stores demand high-quality fruit, but the labour needed to produce the best fruit only gets more expensive. It is getting hard to make money growing apples.”

With POMETA technology, growers can quickly count clusters, fruits, and fruit per tree, and estimate singles, doubles, and triples. From 5 mm diameter, growers can determine individual size and growth rates for thousands of fruit in a matter of minutes. And using fruitlet counts and growth rates, POMETA helps growers dial in chemical fruitlet thinning by automatically forecasting fruitlet drop. And all this is possible without requiring routine calibration manual counts.

According to Patrick Plonski, POMETA Computer Vision Director, “We use iPhone video to construct a 3D model of an orchard canopy, locate and size the fruit, and estimate hidden (occluded) fruit. We see every tree from 100 or more perspectives, which allows us to detect more fruit than any photo-based technology. And the 3D technology allows us to track the persistence of individual fruitless, and measure individual growth rates to the nearest mm.”

POMETA offers the most sophisticated computer vision technology, made simple and easy for growers to use. The POMETA data acquisition app (POMViz) is as easy to use as taking a phone video. The POMETA web app has simple navigation and clear data displays to provide growers with rapid insights.

3D vision helps apple producers take control

Company News, Foodgrains, Sustainability, World

UPL and GLOBAL LEADERS collaborate on new Food Security Programme

A dedicated food security programme for producing and importing countries in Africa, India, and Latin America

UPL Ltd. a global provider of sustainable agricultural solutions will support a renewed commitment to strengthening developing world food production, storage, and supply chains with a ‘food security’ programme.

The agreement was reached at the inaugural Earthna Summit in Doha, Qatar, with the governments of Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia alongside the Commonwealth Secretariat. The sessions were also attended by representatives from Qatar Foundation’s (QF’s) Earthna Centre for a Sustainable Future, AGRA, United Nations Development Programme, CGIAR, Chatham House, EMBRAPA, and the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak.

The Summit aimed to build new sustainability pathways for hot and arid environments as part of global efforts to address the moderate or severe food insecurity faced by one-in-four people globally. The summit sought to align South-South efforts and create a dedicated food security programme for producing and importing countries in Africa, India, and Latin America.

UPL contributed to the creation of this ‘food security’ programme through the open plenary session and closed-door technical discussions, in which experts agreed to explore a new working methodology for food security. This included ensuring the development of farmer resilience, capacity building and creating demonstration plots for climate-resilient crops.

Jai Shroff, Group CEO of UPL Ltd., said, “Our contention is clear: no one has food security until everyone has food security. And the key to security is farmer resilience. The results of our discussions in Doha show that there is a new urgency to address food security and new energy among developing world nations to agree on approaches that will deliver real results. We look forward to announcing our roadmap with Earthna and to developing initial projects across Africa as part of our Reimagining Sustainability mission and OpenAg commitment to collaboration.”

Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, Executive Director of Earth, said, “It is essential that the global community works together to encourage and enable self-sufficiency at national and international levels. I am delighted that at the Earthna Summit 2023, heads of state, QF’s Earthna and other partners have come together and committed to a new collaborative approach to enhance food security. I am confident that this programme will lead to lasting and impactful action, and make a significant contribution to these countries’ fight against climate change.”

A technical white paper will be prepared for the launch of pilot programmes in Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia.

A dedicated food security programme for producing

Company News, People, R&D, Sustainability, World

FarmTogether releases a new study illustrates farmland’s historical resilience

The study found that while many sectors across the global economy continue to experience negative pandemic-induced challenges, farmland remained a reliable asset

Farmland investment manager FarmTogether released a new study that illustrates farmland’s historical resilience in the face of financial turbulence over the last three decades, demonstrated by the asset’s stable performance since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent market turbulence. The study, titled ‘Farmland: A Historically Stable Asset During Uncertain Times,’ examines farmland’s performance in the context of several major asset classes, including equities, bonds, commercial real estate, and REITs.

“The last few years, even weeks, have been challenging to navigate from a portfolio management perspective,” said David Chan, Chief Client Officer and Head of Business Development at FarmTogether. “This study comes at a critical moment for those searching for uncorrelated, defensible alternatives for real capital preservation.”

The study found that while many sectors across the global economy continue to experience negative pandemic-induced challenges, farmland remained a reliable asset throughout this tumultuous period. Despite early headwinds led by supply chain disruptions and reduced demand for certain products, farmland investments experienced net positive growth each year over the last three years, outpacing the performance of each asset analysed in the study.

The study attributes farmland’s performance throughout this period, and several decades prior, to the asset’s historically low volatility, low correlation with traditional assets, and rising cropland values, which are sitting at a record $5,050 per acre in the US. The study additionally reverberates farmland’s historical role as a hedge against rising prices during inflationary environments; since the onset of the pandemic, farmland returns have had a 0.97 correlation with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The study found that while many sectors

AgroPolicy, Environment, India, Sustainability

Second Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting concludes in Gandhinagar

The G20 member countries reaffirmed their commitment towards combatting the environment and climate crisis, but with a renewed sense of urgency

The Second G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting concluded in Gandhinagar with shared views and accordance on outcomes of the priority areas. Building on the discussions from the first ESCWG, constructive deliberations among the G20 countries took place on Arresting Land Degradation, Accelerating Ecosystem Restoration Enriching Biodiversity; Promoting a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Blue Economy and Encouraging Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy. The G20 member countries reaffirmed their commitment towards combatting the environment and climate crisis, but with a renewed sense of urgency. All the G20 countries agreed on the pressing need for concerted global efforts and the immediate action required, given the current scenario. After technical sessions delving deep into the outcomes of the three priority areas identified by ECSWG under the India Presidency, the countries highlighted several action points on how to bring about a meaningful change.

The key inputs collated from deliberations over the 1st ECSWG, focused group discussions and the written inputs shared by the member countries were the highlight of the session on Biodiversity, Land degradation and ecosystem restoration during the pre-lunch session of the second day. The session witnessed engaging deliberations among the delegates on the two priority landscapes identified under India’s Presidency and presentations on the proposed Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and draft publications on a compendium of best practices by experts from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE).

The G20 member countries reaffirmed their commitment

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, India, R&D, Sustainability

ICAR and World Bank issue Delhi declaration on Modernisation of Agricultural Education System

The declaration highlights the need to strengthen digital Infrastructure including digital e-learning content and deployment of emerging immersive technologies across Agricultural Higher Education Institutions

There is a need to strengthen digital Infrastructure including digital e-learning content and deployment of emerging immersive technologies across Agricultural Higher Education Institutions in India. Institutionalising a system-wide Digital Capacity Building Program across stakeholders to improve systemic digital competence, knowledge and skills is also a necessity.

The Delhi Declaration on Modernisation of Agricultural Education System in alignment with the National Education Policy issued jointly by The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the World Bank highlights the need to incorporate digital resources and tools for effective and accessible teaching and learning in Agriculture. It lays emphasis towards creating a renewed and resilient system for gender-inclusive and sustainable education that will pave the way for India’s agriculture education sector. Multidisciplinary technology-facilitated education should be promoted and the policies on Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Mathematics (STEAM) in agricultural higher education need to be transformed.

The Delhi Declaration was unveiled on the concluding day of the successful three-day International Conference on Blended Learning Ecosystem for Higher Education in Agriculture 2023 hosted jointly by the ICAR and the World Bank. The Conference was held as part of the National Agricultural Higher Education Project’s (NAHEP) Resilient Agricultural Education System (RAES) development initiative.

Undertaken to strengthen the National Agricultural Education System in the country, NAHEP is a five-year project initiated in 2018 with an equal contribution of $82.5 million (about Rs. 600 crores) each from the World Bank and the central government. The World Bank loan is to be repaid over 19 years after a grace period of five years, the purpose of NAHEP is to transform agricultural higher education. The Blended Learning Platform is part of the project.

Speaking at the valedictory session, Dr R B Singh, Former President of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and Chairman, of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) said, “By promoting sustainable development goals through the dissemination of knowledge and skills, we empower the next generation of agricultural leaders to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Let us continue to collaborate across borders and disciplines, to ensure that agriculture remains a force for positive change in the world.”

According to Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Former Secretary Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, ICAR, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, “Education is the backbone of a thriving agricultural sector. Blended learning offers a powerful tool to bridge the gap between traditional classroom teaching and the demands of a rapidly changing world. I urge all stakeholders to embrace it and integrate it into our education systems. It is important for us to embrace new methods and technologies to strengthen the agriculture education system and develop a skilled workforce that can contribute to the growth of the agriculture sector.”

“India’s agricultural sector pays a massive significance on the country’s economy. Every year, more than 5000 Indian students receive PhDs, which is more than the rest of the globe. I believe NAHEP is the perfect example of how opportunities can be provided for vocational education as it has given the platform to another initiative called the Resilient Agricultural Education System (RAES). We will continue working with the ICAR and the Government of India to disseminate new technologies so that all states of the country can benefit equally from them,” said Dr Auguste Tano Kouame, Country Director, of the World Bank.

The declaration highlights the need to strengthen

AgroPolicy, India, Trade

India registers 6.04% growth in agri exports during April 22 to January 23

During the current financial year (April 2022 – January 2023), the agricultural exports have amounted to USD 43.37 billion.

The Government has been monitoring export performance including that of agricultural and processed food products in the current financial year i.e., 2022-23 vis a vis 2021-22. No targets have been fixed yet for export for the year 2023-24. During the current financial year (April 2022 – January 2023), the agricultural exports have amounted to USD 43.37 billion, registering an increase of 6.04% over the exports of USD 40.90 billion during the corresponding period of the previous financial year i.e., April 2021 to January 2022. During the financial year 2021-22, India’s agricultural export touched the highest ever level of USD 50.21 billion.

Rise in agricultural exports improves realisations for farmers and has a positive impact on their income. In order to ensure that the farmers benefit from exports, the Government has launched a Farmer Connect Portal for providing a platform for Farmer Producer Organisations/Companies (FPOs/FPCs) and cooperatives to directly interact with exporters.

The Government has taken several steps at State and District level to promote agriculture exports. State specific Action Plans have been prepared and State Level Monitoring Committees (SLMCs), Nodal Agencies for agricultural exports and Cluster Level Committees have been formed in a number of States. The Government is utilising the District as Export Hub (DEH) initiative to achieve the objectives of Agriculture Export Policy (AEP). Under the DEH initiative, products including agricultural and processed food products with export potential have been identified in all 733 districts across the country. State Export Strategy has been prepared in 28 States/UTs.

This information has been given by the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

During the current financial year (April 2022

AgroPolicy, India, Pulses, Supply Chain

Centre steps up its efforts to monitor stock disclosures of pulses

Centre directs pulses importers to declare stocks availability in a routine transparent manner.

Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh directed major pulses importers to ensure that all stocks available with them are declared in a transparent manner regularly. They were advised not to hold back any stock which may disrupt availability of pulses in the domestic market. The Government has stepped up its efforts to monitor stock disclosures of pulses by millers, stockists, traders, importers, etc. to ensure that prices of Tur are normalised and the availability and affordability of Tur is ensured in the domestic market.

Meanwhile, the Committee under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary Nidhi Khare took a meeting with all the States/UTs today wherein they were requested to explore all the sources to increase the number of registered entities in Stock Declaration Portal including FSSAI licensees, APMC registered traders, GST Registered traders of pulses etc. To cross validate the stocks declared, States were also requested to get information from warehouse service providers, both public and private. The need to monitor stocks of imported pulses at custom bonded warehouses was also emphasized, to ensure their timely release from Ports.

The Department is also planning to hold interaction with all stakeholders across value chain to ensure availability and affordability of pulses for consumers. The Pulses Associations and Importers have assured wholehearted cooperation in disclosing the stocks in a transparent manner.