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HomePosts Tagged "bioscience"
Agrotech, Company News, India, Sustainability

The partnership will promote innovation and digitalisation of PMFBY and strengthen risk financing for a resilient farm sector in India

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Absolute Foods, a leading bioscience company specialising in agri-tech, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the government of India’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and enhance the resilience of the farmers.

The partnership between UNDP India and Absolute Foods aims to enhance the implementation of the PMFBY and the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme by building technical capabilities of the scheme and digitalising service delivery of crop insurance and agricultural credit processes to increase the reach and uptake of the schemes. It will also promote credit profiling of farmers, agri-entrepreneurs, and Farmer Producers Organisations (FPOs), for accurate crop loss assessment and risk evaluation to mobilise agriculture financing.

UNDP and Absolute Foods will also use advanced technology and data-driven solutions to facilitate farmland identification and enhance farm monitoring, R&D, and analytical capabilities to facilitate data-driven policymaking and fraud analytics, ensuring efficient and transparent delivery of government support to vulnerable farmers.

Speaking on the partnership, Agam Khare, Founder & CEO, of Absolute Foods, says, “There are around 150 million farmers in India. We feel privileged to partner with UNDP India to enhance the risk resilience and protection of the farming community in India. With this collaboration, we are moving one step closer to achieving our goal of empowering farmer communities & making agriculture climate resilient in India.”

UNDP has been working with the Ministry of Agriculture & Family Welfare since 2018. In 2022, UNDP’s technical support unit at the Ministry helped reach out to 1.71 crore farmers through various information, education, and communication (IEC) campaigns such as Crop

Insurance Week and organised more than 2.39 lakh Fasal Bima Pathshalas or crop insurance classroom sessions.

“Risk is an inherent part of agriculture and is one of the biggest roadblocks in improving the lives of farmer communities in India. This collaboration is an important step towards strengthening the risk and credit ecosystem for agriculture in India. UNDP India is committed to working with the government and partners to help farmers in India rise with resilience”, says Amit Kumar, Head, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, at UNDP India.

The partnership will promote innovation and digitalisation

Agrotech, Environment, Institutions, R&D, Sustainability, World

WWF report details how stakeholders are putting research into action and ramping up environment-friendly indoor farming.

The St. Louis region is positioned to become the global centre for innovation in indoor soilless agriculture thanks to a cooperative effort from dozens of experts over the past two years. This work, which aims to realise the full potential of a burgeoning industry while benefiting the local community, is detailed in a new report released today from World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Markets Institute.

Indoor soilless farming has great potential to supplement the US food system and help alleviate supply chain instability, food deserts, and the massive environmental impact of traditional farming. But to fulfil this potential and grow at an accelerated pace, the industry must address several challenges including high energy footprints, affordability, and expanding beyond leafy greens. To that end, a St. Louis-based coalition of more than 70 professionals from varying industries has worked to establish a centralised base of knowledge and best practices and lay the groundwork for a new indoor farm where innovative ideas can be put to the test.

“These past few years we’re seen in the US just how fragile our current food system really is,” said Julia Kurnik, director of innovation startups at WWF’s Markets Institute. “We need new food solutions that don’t put additional pressure on nature and climate, and indoor agriculture is one with enormous potential. We’ve dedicated a lot of effort into figuring out how to accelerate the indoor farming industry in a sustainable way, and it’s so gratifying to see that research come to life in the St. Louis region.”

The St. Louis region was identified as the ideal base for these endeavours in a 2020 WWF analysis due to its unrivalled relevant science expertise in plant science, agtech, and bioscience, along with strong potential partners including universities, foundations, and grocery chains. There is plenty of unused or under-utilised infrastructure and capital assets that could be repurposed for or integrated with indoor farms to lower the environmental impact of the facilities. There is also an opportunity to benefit local communities by producing healthy food year-round in urban settings while also creating job opportunities requiring little or no previous experience.

WWF report details how stakeholders are putting

Animal Health, Environment

The resource now holds over 1.1 million geographic records of living organisms which are important to agriculture and the environment.

The Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) Distribution Database has reached a historic milestone with over 300,000 distribution records added in 2021 – meaning the resource now holds over 1.1 million geographic records of living organisms which are important to agriculture and the environment.

The database covers over 55,000 species, across key areas such as crop pests and hosts, crop and animal diseases, invasive species and natural enemies. The data has been sourced from peer reviewed published literature, CABI project work and other authoritative third-party sources such as EPPO and OIE.

Throughout 2021, CABI has been working hard to use new Distribution Database tools to import more geographic records. This includes over 12,000 new species to the database and information that has filled thousands of gaps in existing species distributions.

The CABI Distribution Database serves data to five different Compendia (Animal Health & Production, Aquaculture, Crop Protection, Forestry and Invasive Species), distribution maps for plant pests and plant diseases, the Horizon Scanning Tool, Pest Risk Analysis Tool, Plantwise Knowledge Bank Species Pages (Datasheets) and the Plantwise Knowledge Bank Diagnostic Tool.

Tim Beale, Senior Data Analyst at CABI, said, “CABI is regularly updating its distribution data so that when users go to our knowledge products, they can be more confident that they are getting the latest information about where their species of interest is present or absent. Furthermore, when they use our tools they can have greater trust in the results of their horizon scan, or pest risk assessment.”

The resource now holds over 1.1 million