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Agrotech, Company News, India, Oilseeds

Under this MoU, GAVL’s Oil Palm business will be making an estimated investment of Rs 100 Crores to set up a manufacturing facility for Edible Oil Refinery & Solvent Extraction Plant.

Godrej Agrovet Limited. (GAVL), one of India’s largest diversified agribusiness companies, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) on the side lines of Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit (APGIS) 2023. As a part of MoU, GAVL’s Oil Palm business will be making an estimated investment of Rs 100 Crores to set up a manufacturing facility for Edible Oil Refinery & Solvent Extraction Plant.

GAVL is the largest oil palm processor in India and works directly with the farmers for the entire lifecycle of their crop. With company already having 45,000 h.a of oil palm plantation area in AP, the proposed new plant will have a projected refining capacity of 400 tonnes per day and will be set up in Seethanagaram, Eluru District in AP. This is GAVL’s first downstream project for value-added products in oil and fats.

Balram Singh Yadav, Managing Director, GAVL said, “The MoU is in line with Godrej Agrovet’s long-term strategy to be the catalyst in India’s oil mission through sustainable growth of oil palm production. This new investment is built up on the Rs 1000 Crores investment in the state by the Oil Palm, Aqua Feed and Dairy businesses.”

Present on the occasion of signing of MoU were Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Kakani Goverdhan Reddy, Secretary – Food Processing, AP, Sri Chiranjiv Choudhary, I.F.S., Sri L. Sridhar Reddy – CEO, AP Food Processing Society, Sougata Niyogi, CEO – Oil Palm, GAVL and Rakesh Swami, Group President Corporate Affairs, Godrej Industries Ltd.

Commenting on signing off MoU, Sougata Niyogi, CEO – Oil Palm, GAVL said, “Having pioneered innovation in developing oil palm sector under irrigated conditions, the state of AP continues to lead country’s fresh fruit bunch volume and oil production. With bulk of GAVL’s oil palm plantation in the state, the facility near to our Crude Palm Oil Mills will help cater captive need originating from oil palm work in the southern states along with demand from other crude palm oil players in the region. This in sync with National Mission on Edible Oil – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) will aid reduce nation’s dependence on imports.”

“AP has a unique geographic and climatic advantage which will propel businesses to partake in the growth story of the state. As a Group, we are keen to explore the business-friendly policies, emerging cities, and aspiring demographic dividend for the growth of our consumer products, real estate, and finance businesses. With impeccable support from the state government and our strong legacy of people and planet first business ethics, we are committed to expanding the business footprint in the state,” added Rakesh Swami, Group President Corporate Affairs, Godrej Industries Ltd.

Under this MoU, GAVL’s Oil Palm business

AgroPolicy, Floriculture, India, Oilseeds, People, Sustainability

If the state can grow poppies, people will get them at Rs 100 (per kg), instead of Rs 1,000.

Mamata Banerjee Chief Minister of West Bengal has urged the Centre government to allow poppy cultivation in the state. She insists that delicacies prepared with its seeds are integral to Bengali cuisine. Mamata was speaking on budget discussions relating to the food and supplies department.

According to Banerjee, poppy seeds are costly as it is cultivated only in a few states. Why should it be cultivated in only four states? Why not in West Bengal, despite it being on the Bengali menu every day? People are purchasing posto or poppy from other states at high prices. West Bengal should get permission for its cultivation. The state has been trying to get permission for the cultivation of the highly-regulated crop.

Banerjee said the state will cultivate it in agricultural farms. If the state can grow poppies, people will get them at Rs 100 (per kg), instead of Rs 1,000. The decisions have to take unanimously.

If the state can grow poppies, people

AgroPolicy, India, People, Sustainability, Vegetables

The Mushroom Institute, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh had provided blocks of mushrooms grown under different conditions.

Jammu and Kashmir will start commercial cultivation of shiitake mushrooms in September.  Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes), native to Japan, are a type of edible fungus and contain a chemical called lentinan, which is used by some medical professionals to enhance the immune system. Field trials and standardisation of mushrooms are successful.  

This initiative will provide an opportunity for the farmers to take up mushroom cultivation throughout the year with better returns. The Mushroom Institute, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh had provided blocks of mushrooms grown under different conditions.

The cultivation of this mushroom will be considered a step towards economic growth in the agriculture sector. Fresh mushroom is sold at Rs 1,500 per kg in the market. If we dry it, it sells for Rs 15,000 per kg in the market. More than 2,500 mushroom farmers would be directly benefited from the cultivation of shiitake mushrooms.

The Mushroom Institute, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh had

Agro Universities, Agrotech, India, Oilseeds

The collaboration will focus on expanding cultivated areas, deploying scientific technologies, and collaborating at all levels.

Hyderabad based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Indian Oilseeds & Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance the production of quality oilseeds in India.

The MoU was signed by ICRISAT’s Director General, Dr Jacqueline Hughes, and IOPEPC’s Chairman, Nilesh Vira, with the aim of strengthening long-term cooperation to increase the quantum and quality of oilseeds grown in India.

The collaboration will focus on expanding cultivated areas, deploying scientific technologies, and collaborating at all levels, including providing farmers with better quality certified seed and strengthening the supply chain of oilseeds. In addition, the partnership will promote food safety principles, recommend policies and programs to the Government of India and to support the growth of the Indian oilseed sector.

During the discussions, Vira stressed the importance of developing climate-resilient oilseed crops, given the unpredictable weather patterns affecting India’s agriculture. He cited the challenge faced by farmers in growing aflatoxin-free groundnuts, a crop that is increasingly in demand in the export market.

“Farmers want oilseed crops that can withstand climate vagaries. Changing monsoon patterns are affecting oilseed crops that usually take 110-120 days to mature. Farmers do not want to grow oilseeds due to unpredictable weather and we need to find solutions,” said Vira.

Kishore Tanna, Director-Groundnut Panel Convenor, IOPEPC said that India is importing 15 million tons of edible oil and that’s because farmers do not want to grow oilseeds, especially groundnuts.

Tanna also drew attention to the fact that groundnut exports to the European Union had dropped to around 6000-7500 tons due to stringent import rules on aflatoxin that call for levels of not more than 2 – 4 PPB for various grades of groundnut.

ICRISAT’s Director General, Dr Hughes, highlighted the need to eliminate intermediaries in the export value chain, thereby increasing the profits for smallholder farmers. She also emphasized ICRISAT’s commitment to finding solutions to eliminate aflatoxin in groundnuts, which has detrimental effects on all consumers.

“Aflatoxin elimination is a doable challenge for ICRISAT, and partnership with IOPEPC will help ICRISAT focus on key areas of intervention applicable for the peanut sector in India,” said Dr Hughes.

The visiting team shared several avenues to shorten the export value chain and establish direct connections between farmers and exporters. One successful example they cited was the short value chain for soybeans in Rajasthan and Gujarat, which has potential for replication in other crops. They also mentioned the growing popularity of e-markets as another potential avenue for connecting farmers and exporters.

The collaboration will focus on expanding cultivated

Agrotech, Company News, E-commerce, India, Start ups, Sustainability

Garuda and Ninjacart will also provide training and business opportunities to rural entrepreneurs in India’s villages.

Garuda Aerospace has partnered with Flipkart-backed agri-commerce start-up Ninjacart to bring disruptive tech innovation to the Indian agriculture sector. 

Through a strategic tie-up, both companies will offer short-term financing options to farmers, allowing them to access the latest drone technology at affordable prices. The use of drones in farmlands can not only help improve crop yields for farmers but also bring down input costs and increase farm-level efficiency. 

In addition to the technology, Garuda and Ninjacart will also provide training and business opportunities to rural entrepreneurs in India’s villages. The individuals will be trained on how to operate drones and made a part of pilots. Both start-ups claim that the rural youth can earn anywhere between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 per month through these opportunities.

Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace, said, “This partnership will not only help farmers improve their yields and reduce costs, but it will also provide young entrepreneurs with skills and business opportunities. We believe that this collaboration will help in developing an ever-lasting impact on the agricultural sector in India.”

Kartheeswaran KK, Co-founder and CEO, of Ninjacart, said, “We believe in leveraging technology to make agriculture more efficient and profitable for farmers. The use of drones in agriculture will also help in soil analysis, water management, and precision agriculture.” 

Garuda Aerospace currently has a fleet of 400 ‘made-in-India’ drones and a team of over 500 pilots across 84 cities in India. Ninjacart, meanwhile, works with over one lakh farmers across 150 villages and helps them improve their yield and income. Since 2020, Flipkart and Walmart have pumped $175 million into Ninjacart even as it pivoted from B2C to a B2B model.

Garuda and Ninjacart will also provide training

AgroPolicy, Bamboo industry, India, Sustainability

The National Workshop of Bamboo Sector Development and Bamboo Exhibition aims to bring together key stakeholders from the bamboo industry, including policymakers, researchers, industry experts

Dr Abhilaksh Likhi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, inaugurated the Bamboo Exhibition at the National Workshop on Bamboo Sector Development in New Delhi. The Additional Secretary, along with Joint Secretary (Horticulture), Priya Ranjan and Horticulture Commissioner, Dr Prabhat Kumar, visited all 58 stalls at the event, interacting with State Bamboo Mission officials, State Department officials, artisans, bamboo experts and entrepreneurs.

The exhibition saw participation from State Bamboo Missions including Tripura, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Institutes like Bamboo and Cane Development Institute, Phoenix Foundation, Northeast Cane and Bamboo Development Council, Foundation of MSME Clusters along with startups and new age companies like Epitome (Mutha Industries), BioCraftBiomize, Bamboo India, ESES Biowealth Pvt Limited, Corner Art Store and organisations like Maharashtra Bamboo Board, Handicraft Sectorial Council and Bamboo FPOs under NAFED also participated in the event.

The National Workshop of Bamboo Sector Development and Bamboo Exhibition aims to bring together key stakeholders from the bamboo industry, including policymakers, researchers, industry experts, institutes and organisations to discuss the current state of the bamboo sector in India and identify ways to promote its growth and development.

The event is being organised by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Invest India and the Kerala State Bamboo Mission in New Delhi.

The National Workshop of Bamboo Sector Development

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, India, Schemes - Banks

 This partnership will enable Axis Bank to reach out to the unserved and under-served farmers based across rural regions.

 Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank today, announced its collaboration with ITC Limited to offer the Bank’s lending products and services to farmers who are a part of ITC’s agriculture eco-system. This partnership will enable Axis Bank to cater to the financial requirements of the unserved and under-served farmers based in the remote regions of the country. The Bank will offer a wide range of assets and liability products such as farmer loans, gold loans etc.

Axis Bank will leverage ITCMAARS (Meta Market for Advanced Agricultural Rural Services), a full-stack Agri-tech application for reaching out to the farmers and addressing their financial requirements. Additionally, it will also offer an extensive range of products and services to the farmers through its rural-urban and semi-urban (RUSU) branches located across 656 districts of India.

Through this initiative, Axis Bank aims to further scale up its Bharat Banking strategy by increasing the new-to-bank accounts in FY22-23. The Bank has delivered strong growth across key metrics. As on December 31st, 2022, its rural advances grew by 27 per cent YOY, disbursement increased by 12 per cent YOY and deposit grew by 16 per cent YOY. 

Speaking about the partnership, Munish Sharda – Group Executive & Head – Bharat Banking, Axis Bank said, ‘’At Axis Bank, we have been consistently working towards ensuring that all segment of customers based across the RUSU markets are provided with easy access to credit facility and banking solutions. This partnership is in alignment with our Bank’s Bharat Banking mission of extending our reach in the remote regions and providing them with seamless customer experience. With the help of ITCMAARS strong and enduring relationship with over millions of farmers, we believe that we can make a significant contribution in uplifting financial situation of the community thereby unlocking the true potential of Bharat.’’

Rajnikant Rai, Divisional Chief Executive, Agri Business Division, ITC Ltd said, “ITC has over the years spearheaded multi-dimensional interventions to transform the lives of farmers, powered by the ITC e-Choupal eco-system that connects with over 4 million farmers. Taking a step forward, to bring the power of digital revolution to farmers, we have now implemented ITC MAARS a phygital eco-system that provides a range of solutions through Hyperlocal and personalised advisory, Agri- Inputs, Financial services and Market linkages.”

 This partnership will enable Axis Bank to

Agrotech, Company News, North America, R&D

Year 2 trial data established that adding CR-7 over base seed treatment results in soybean plants producing higher yields as measured over 16 replicated plots across four locations.

Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. is pleased to announce positive second year trial results demonstrating the efficacy of BVT’s proprietary biological control agent Clonostachys rosea strain CR-7 (CR-7) as a seed treatment on soybeans.

Compared to the first-year trials, the second year included measuring CR-7’s effect on soybean yields. Year 2 trial data established that adding CR-7 over base seed treatment results in soybean plants producing higher yields as measured over 16 replicated plots across four locations when compared to the biological standard, and that CR-7 was equivalent to the chemical standard in terms of effectiveness. Other measures on plant health, vigor and plant biomass showed the same positive outcomes as in the first year, indicating the scalability of BVT’s proprietary CR-7 in the soybean seed treatment market.

“Wherever CR-7 was applied, the results outperformed the base seed treatment 81 per cent of the time. We observed, on average, a three-bushel yield per acre increase with CR-7 added, which is about 4 per cent higher than the base seed treatment. Although that may not sound dramatic, that is a meaningful improvement for a treatment that was applied at the very early stages of the planting season. Most seed treatments are designed to protect the seed from pests, but to see a positive increase in the yield at the end of the season is impressive,” said Dr Mason Newark, Field Technical Manager at BVT.

Year 1 and 2 trials were conducted in partnership with well-established soybean researchers in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, with a fourth location in Nebraska added in 2022 and resulted in consistently positive results year over year across all the states that have had trials so far. The 2022 trials continued assessing the efficacy of CR-7 added over base seed treatment on plant biomass and vigor, and demonstrated its effectiveness as a treatment against disease and soybean crop yields.

“Our corporate market strategy is to initially focus on soybeans as it’s a major row crop where major multinationals are heavily invested in,” said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. There are 320 million acres grown globally, with 86 million acres in the US, 98 million in Brazil and 40 million in Argentina. (1) 80 per cent of American soybeans receive seed treatment before planting, and approximately 50 per cent undergo a biological inoculant treatment.

The seed treatment market is specialized, with different and distinct channels in the major growing regions. A deep understanding of the genetics of seed varieties, and access to the distinct channels, including relationships with seed companies, are important to successfully penetrate the market. BVT intends to partner with seed treatment companies who have the expertise and channel access to accelerate our reach into this soybean acreage. BVT believes future licensing agreements hold potential for significant annual royalties from this application.

Year 2 trial data established that adding

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agrotech, Company News, India

Grant to support research on environmentally sustainable, cost-effective alternatives to nitrogenous fertilizers.

Ignite Life Science Foundation (ILSF), a Bengaluru-based not-for-profit enterprise that aims to leverage scientific discoveries for social benefit, received a grant from industry veteran Nadir Godrej and Mahyco Pvt. Ltd. to expand into plant and agricultural research. ILSF is looking to expand its science funding portfolio with the help of donors.

The need of the hour is to address an increase in crop productivity in natural and sustainable ways. It is also important to address the problem of depletion of organic carbon and identify measures to restore soil health and, possibly, develop new inoculants to remedy the nutrient depletion problem.

Nadir Godrej, Chairman of Godrej Agrovet, and Managing Director of Godrej Industries, said, “Protein shortage is a major problem and producing plant-based proteins at a lower cost is essential. With high energy prices, the cost of producing nitrogenous fertiliser has risen. I support this research because it would be ideal if agriculture could reduce its dependence on nitrogenous fertilizers.”

Though nitrogen is an abundant atmospheric gas, it must be ‘fixed’ in a form that plants can use. Synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers are used as such a source to increase agricultural yields. However, they are expensive and bad for the environment.

Dr K K Narayanan, Scientific Advisor to the Ignite Life Science Foundation, noted, “Modern agriculture is faced with an ever-growing demand for nitrogenous fertilizers. Given that these are unsustainable, especially in the face of climate change, the Ignite grants for agriculture research are designed to promote the development of climate-friendly alternatives.”

Dr Bharat Char, Chief Science Officer, Mahyco Pvt. Ltd., said, “Nitrogen fertilisers are essential for agriculture, but their use degrades the environment. Finding sustainable replacements for synthetic fertilisers would be of great utility for the future of farming. Basic research is the bedrock of innovation. Through this initiative, Ignite Life Science Foundation, with our support, is playing a critical role in allowing the best minds in the field to invent real-world solutions for this problem.

Professor Ramaswamy Subramanian, Co-founder of Ignite Life Science Foundation concurred, “Betting on good science is the best investment one can make for a healthier and better future. Ignite Life Science Foundation is expanding its science funding portfolio with the help of our donors. The commitment from donors, like Mr Nadir Godrej and Mahyco, has helped us expand into plant and agricultural research. I thank them and look forward to continued support from them and hope more donors will join in this important mission.”

Grant to support research on environmentally sustainable,

Foodgrains, Institutions, Sustainability, World

The programme aims to improve food security and nutrition in the least Developed Countries

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) have jointly launched the Agrifood Systems Transformation Accelerator (ASTA), a global programme designed to help Least Developed Countries make their agrifood systems more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable by fostering partnerships and generating public-private investments. 

The launch took place during a bilateral meeting between FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and his UNIDO counterpart, Gerd Mueller, on the sidelines of the Fifth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Doha, Qatar.

ASTA is the first centrepiece of a new collaboration between FAO and UNIDO and helps generate investment in the agrifood system of some of the world’s poorest countries, including through the development of value chains, market systems, business models and inclusive finance, in order to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Addressing the future of agrifood systems requires a holistic view covering many topics, such as the climate crisis, agricultural production, value chain efficiency, inclusion, nutrition, land use and biodiversity, among others. ASTA offers a concrete tool to help countries realize the objective of agrifood systems transformation,” Qu said.

“ASTA identifies investment opportunities and helps channel those investments into food value chains. With such efforts, FAO and UNIDO are natural partners. Our expertise and efforts complement each other. I am very proud of our cooperation with FAO,” Mueller said.

The programme aims to improve food security

AgroPolicy, India, R&D, Sustainability

Important outcomes included identifying the critical need for aligning the centres’ research activities with the country’s priorities and planning for a similar meeting every year

At the invitation of the Government of India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, 16 International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs), including 10 CGIAR centres attended a meeting at ICRISAT Headquarters in Hyderabad, to update on their research activities in India and innovations in the pipeline.

Important outcomes included identifying the critical need for aligning the centres’ research activities with the country’s priorities and planning for a similar meeting every year in January/ February to synergise the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the IARCs’ research activities.

Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Government of India, who participated virtually, set the context of the meeting. In his concluding remarks, he expressed the need to ‘institutionalise’ the annual meeting to integrate knowledge from all the centres and plan effectively both for the short, medium and long-term research goals.

“Any knowledge, idea or practice useful to the farmer in India, should reach them as quickly as possible before the opportunity is lost. We need a sandbox environment to test new ideas/ knowledge and then quickly roll it out and find out how much it can be scaled out,” Manoj Ahuja.

Shubha Thakur, Joint Secretary (Crops, Oil Seeds & Administration, CVO), DA&FW, who participated actively in the discussions, emphasised the need to build strong seed systems and facilitate easy accessibility of improved varieties to farmers. She said she was happy to be part of the ‘first common meeting’ of all the IARCs.

Temina Lalani-Shariff, Regional Director, South Asia, CGIAR, presented case studies on technologies developed by the One CGIAR for regions across India, which were appreciated by officials from DA&FW.

Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General-Research ICRISAT, highlighted the many achievements of ICRISAT and its work across disciplines and across agriculture for the development value chain. He cited the example of soil and water conservation in Bundelkhand which caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and spoke of plans to out-scale to other regions.

Important outcomes included identifying the critical need

Agrotech, Company News, India, IT, Latin America, R&D, Sustainability, World

The collaboration will promote resilient agriculture beginning with smallholder farms in India and commercial farms in Brazil

Agmatix, a start-up AgTech business specialising in turning agronomic big data into powerful models and insights, announced a partnership with NASA Harvest – NASA’s global Food Security and Agriculture Consortium – to support crop production in a sustainable way at the field level and mitigate the impact of climate change.

A combination of ground sampling and remote sensing data will be used to support farmers in their transition toward sustainable agriculture. The methodology developed within this partnership will track farmer efforts to improve conservation management and guide them to improve their sustainability levels.

“According to the World Economic Forum, sustainable agriculture practices must triple in order to prevent climate change. Currently, adoption is hindered by a lack of consistent and acceptable measurements at scale. Our collaboration will promote resilient agriculture beginning with smallholder farms in India and commercial farms in Brazil, and lead to further expansion worldwide,” comments Ron Baruchi, CEO of Agmatix.

“NASA Harvest is excited to partner with Agmatix to advance the use of satellite-based information to help inform on-farm decisions which can ultimately result in increased resilience while reducing waste,” comments Inbal Becker-Reshef, NASA Harvest Director.

NASA Harvest will provide its expertise on agricultural remote sensing and leverage tools developed by the consortium, which will then be combined with field data from Agmatix and processed using a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm. These data-driven insights can help farmers make field-level decisions that impact sustainability most effectively, such as cover crop selection and fertiliser application.

The collaboration will promote resilient agriculture beginning

Agrotech, Award, Company News, India

 Projects supported by NABARD include agro & skill-based livelihood, women empowerment, water resource management and education.

Ambuja Cements, the cement and building material company of Adani Cement and part of Adani Group, has promoted Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) from Bhatinda, Punjab was felicitated with the ‘Best FPO Award’ and Guru Tegh Bahadur Self-Help Group (SHG) was felicitated with the ‘Best SHG Award’ by NABARD during the State Credit Seminar 2023-24 held in Chandigarh.

Through the Company’s CSR interventions, the farmers are encouraged to form FPOs and market their produce collectively which helps them to avoid intermediaries and earn more profit. The Company extensively invests in training farmers on the latest technologies, environment-friendly methods and providing farming equipment & machines. The success of these initiatives has helped many FPOs to operate as registered businesses to market their products.

Furthermore, the Company encourages women to join Self-Help Groups (SHG) enabling them to support themselves and their families. The Guru Tegh Bahadur SHG is crafting and selling traditional handicrafts in local markets and exhibitions. The Company also offers training in business plans, regular recovery and record keeping to supports groups willing to start their own business.

 Ajay Kapur, CEO, Cement Business, said, “It is a moment of pride to witness the growth of our community initiatives and such recognitions encourage us to form people’s institutions for the development and prosperity of the community. The SHGs and FPOs enable people to be responsible and self-determining and cater to our goal of society’s progress.”

The Company believes in forming people’s institutions and has enabled Women Federations, Water Users Associations, Village Health Functionaries, Watershed Development Committees and School Management Committees. Projects supported by NABARD include agro & skill-based livelihood, women empowerment, water resource management and education.

 Projects supported by NABARD include agro &

Agri Genomics, India, IT, People, R&D, Sustainability

Internationally renowned science-based organisation and pioneering TechBio platform expected to deliver innovative nature-based solutions through exciting public-private relationship

A new cooperation framework was signed between the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Eagle Genomics at the International Conference on Innovations to Transform Drylands.

Dr Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT, and Anthony Finbow, Eagle Genomics CEO, signed the agreement overseen by an international gathering of some of the world’s foremost dryland agrifood system experts. 

The MOU will see leading organisations – Eagle Genomics, the pioneering UK-based TechBio platform business applying network science to biology and ICRISAT, an India-headquartered international non-profit organisation that undertakes scientific research for development – collaborate at the intersection of life science and data science to help solve urgent global challenges in food security, nutrition, and agriculture. 

Anthony Finbow, Eagle Genomics CEO, said the collaboration with ICRISAT was a natural fit given the innovative and purpose-driven nature of both organisations, to improve the lives of those suffering from hunger and malnutrition. 

There is a growing awareness that malnutrition cannot be solved without a robust understanding of the role of the microbiome both in enhancing resilience to climate change but also in enhancing nutrient absorption. This includes ensuring access to safe and healthy food and targeting novel microbial-based solutions to improve nutrition, enhance wellness and reduce disease. ​

The e[datascientist] is a platform powered by network science1 and multilayer hypergraphs2, applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide a data-driven insight journey into solving complex problems and delivering greater impact in climate resilience, improving plant nutrient density, and increasing data-driven wellness and human health outcomes.

The platform integrates active learning at every step of the microbiome innovation journey, from characterising and describing microbiomes to a better understanding of complex causal mechanisms to elucidating host-microbiome interactions. Eagle Genomics is reinventing life sciences research and development by bridging the ‘translation gap,’ enabling scientific knowledge from a range of disparate sources and data sets to be integrated and analyzed through the e[datascientist] platform to create novel hypotheses and deliver robust, scientifically underpinned practical solutions.

Dr Jacqueline Hughes, Director General ICRISAT, said the MOU would see ICRISAT share datasets with Eagle Genomics, drawing upon extensive on-the-ground experience in Asia and Africa that had led to several agricultural world firsts. These include developing early maturing groundnut as well as high iron biofortified pearl millet, innovations that have directly responded to the challenges posed by climate change. This new partnership offers an opportunity to address, and even leapfrog beyond, the Sustainable Development Goals to drive science-based targets for regenerative agriculture.

Internationally renowned science-based organisation and pioneering TechBio