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HomePosts Tagged "Director" (Page 3)
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

Agro chems – Chemicals, India, Opinions

 By Raju Kapoor, Director, Public & Industry Affairs, FMC India

India’s agrochemical industry has consistently clocked a double-digit CAGR of 16 per cent over the last five years against the global CAGR of 3 per cent. 2022 was a fruitful year too, clipping a 23 per cent growth, despite the hot summer and delayed monsoons. Factors such as increased crop production, healthy reservoir levels and an improvement in farm income all contributed to industry growth. With farmers learning more about improving their yields exponentially through agrochemicals, the market is set to continue its double-digit growth into 2023. Research firm Crisil predicts a growth rate of 15-17 per cent this year, as the sector is poised to solve two behemoth challenges – food and nutritional security to alleviate hunger and restoration of ecological balance in our lands. Let’s look at some of the factors sustaining the momentum.

Supply chain disruptions

The import/export game is changing tides in the sector. The Chinese government’s environmental clampdown has led to the closure of approximately 35 per cent small agrochemical manufacturing industries. When coupled with the US-China trade war, countries are adopting a ‘de-risk China’ strategy where India emerges as an   alternate and viable global sourcing point for agrochemicals. We can expect exports to remain one of the key contributors with a share of over 50 per cent in the industry’s total revenue in 2023.

Roll out of new crops 

While we are one of the largest producers of agrochemicals in the world, our farmlands use only 340 gms of pesticide per hectare, resulting in a crop loss of Rs 2 lakh crore per annum because of pest attacks. For example, Phalaris minor (gehunsa), a dangerous rabi weed that attacks wheat crops, can lead to 15-40 per cent crop loss if left unattended. With weeds consistently building better resistance against crop solutions, farmers will find it increasingly harder to produce good yields. Often, it’s the financial constraints that restrain our farmers from using pesticides. However, as food prices peak globally, farmers are expected to benefit from the surplus and spend on this heretofore low priority area.

Another aspect that will augur good growth of the sector is the government’s thrust for crop diversification. According to the Economic Survey 2022, our existing cropping pattern is skewed towards growing sugarcane, paddy, or wheat, which has resulted in the depletion of groundwater resources at an alarming rate in many parts of the country. Today, the regions that grow these crops face high to extremely high-water stress levels. With agriculture using 90 per cent of the groundwater table, the water crisis that we face is ushering in the cultivation of new crops. To promote sustainable agriculture, replenish the diminishing groundwater table, reduce import dependency, and help farmers get higher incomes, the government has increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of pulses, oilseeds, horticulture crops, and millets.

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

 By Raju Kapoor, Director, Public & Industry

AgroPolicy, India, Interaction

Dr Das, Director, Central Fisheries Research Institute was speaking in the inaugural function of Farmers Science Congress, organised in Nagpur as a part of 108th Indian Science Congress

“The nation has made tremendous progress in food grain production and our farmers’ meticulous efforts have made the biggest contribution to it; However, it is seen that the economic condition of the farmers has not improved much. Hence effective use of modern science and technology is important for the progress of agriculture,” said, Basant Kumar Das, Director, Central Fisheries Research Institute, Kolkata, Indian Agricultural Research Institute. He asserted that farmers need to be aware of market techniques.

He was speaking in the inaugural function of Farmers Science Congress, organised in Nagpur as a part of 108th Indian Science Congress. Dr Vijayalakshmi Saxena, Chairperson of the Indian Science Congress presided over the function and Padmashree Rahibai Popere, Beej Mata (Mother of seeds), Dr Subhash Chaudhary, Chancellor of Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj University, Dr Ashish Paturkar, Vice Chancellor of Animal and Fisheries Science University were present on this occasion.

Addressing the event, Dr Vijayalakshmi Saxena said that, the condition of farmers is still critical, they are not getting enough income as compared to their hard work. Farm sector is the worst affected due to changing climatic conditions. She informed that, this is for the first time, Farmers’ Science Congress has been organised in ISC to discuss the problems and plights of farmers, and expressed hope that Agri-scientists around the world will thoroughly discuss the issues related to farmers on this platform and it will ultimately be helpful for farmers.

Dr Prakash Kadu gave information regarding the work of Agricultural University (PKV) in Akola. The university has so far developed 176 different crop varieties. Modern agricultural technology has reached up to 11 thousand villages in Vidarbha. Dr Kadu said that the university is continuously working on organic farming.

Chairperson, Dr Vijayalakshmi Saxena on behalf of Indian Science Congress felicitated Padmashri Rahibai Popere, who is known throughout the country as Beej Mata, who was present as the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the Farmers’ Science Congress.

Dr Das, Director, Central Fisheries Research Institute

Agri Genomics, Horticulture, India, Opinions, R&D

By Dr R A Marathe, Director, ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate (NRCP), Solapur, Maharashtra

Pomegranate is one of the most remunerative fruit crops of semi-arid tropics and India is the global leader in pomegranate cultivation with over 2.88 lakh hectare land producing about 32.71 lakh tonnes of fruits annually. The nutraceutically rich and dollar earning crop is one of the choicest fruit crops for growers and consumers all across the world. The consumer awareness of innumerable health benefits has increased market demand for pomegranate, resulting in handsome monetary returns from this horticulture crop especially in India. 

Pomegranate supports livelihood security of an estimated 2.5 lakh farm families mostly in climatically and edaphically challenged regions. This ‘Superfood’ is registering a steep upward trend in export from India 99,000 metric tonnes (216  per cent growth as compared to 2013-14) earning a foreign revenue equivalent to Rs 688.8 crore in 2020-21. Despite being such a valuable and remunerative fruit crop for all the stakeholders including growers and consumers, very limited genomic resources and molecular information are available to support the accelerated pomegranate improvement programme. The narrow genetic base of this crop also poses a serious challenge for researchers involved in the pomegranate improvement programme. So, with the aim of creating useful molecular information, generating genomic wealth and accelerating pomegranate improvement programmes, the genome sequencing programme was initiated by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Research Centre on Pomegranate (NRCP), in 2015-16.

Even as India has ramped up production in recent years and has been a world leader in pomegranate production with a 50 per cent contribution to global production, India’s domestic capacity as well as export potential has still remained largely unrealised. This has been due to an assortment of reasons including the limited availability of genomic resources and molecular information about this highly remunerative crop. Being a high value crop, until now, due to lack of resistant pomegranate varieties against major pests and diseases, there has been very high dependence on chemical pesticides for managing biotic stresses. However, now that we have managed to sequence the whole genome of this fruit, this will open up incredible avenues for vastly improving yield, growing much better and safer varieties for human nutritional needs, and all this at a much faster rate. The reference-quality genome assembly of pomegranate variety Bhagawa is a publicly accessible genomic resource for pomegranate researchers across the globe and will provide a great impetus to the pomegranate improvement programme across the globe.

ICAR-NRCP has come up with the assembly of a reference-quality genome (346.08 Mb) of pomegranate variety Bhagawa consisting of only 342 scaffolds with an average N50 value of 16.12 Mb. To accomplish this genome sequence, we deployed four advanced Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms such as Illumina, 10X Genomics Chromium, PacBio Sequel followed by BioNano Genomics. This assembly covered more than 98 per cent of the estimated size of Bhagawa genome, 352.54 Mb. The assessment of assembly quality through LTR Assembly Index (LAI =10) and BUSCO completeness score (93.68 per cent) over the 1440 ortholog genes revealed this genome is of reference quality standards with high continuity. Genome annotation revealed a total 29,435 gene models with a mean transcript length of 2954 bp and a mean coding sequence length of 1090 bp. We discovered a total of 1,573 disease resistance protein coding genes, and 1,533 transcription factor (TF) coding genes and 314 MIR ncRNA genes that code for 26 different families of microRNAs, which regulate various genes for growth and development in pomegranate. The ICAR-NRCP scientists have also carried out the chromosome level assembly using HiC- chromosome conformation capture sequencing for the var. Bhagawa genome to assemble the entire genome into eight chromosomes covering about 345 Mb genome and the final curation and integration led to the validated presence of 33003 genes with 41682 mRNAs.

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

By Dr R A Marathe, Director, ICAR-National

Agrotech, E-commerce, India, Opinions

By Tarun Arora, Director, Single Family Office, IG International

Business-to-Business (B2B) is a business model in which the agritech sector obtains goods and/or services from another company. More than any other sector, agribusiness has the most to gain from a B2B business strategy. From the production of agricultural products to their marketing, B2B has revolutionised the industry’s customary internal processes. It has brought technology to the farm, thereby increasing output; it has opened up new markets by going directly to consumers; it has eliminated middlemen, thereby increasing the growers’ profit margin; and it has vastly improved logistics, which was a major concern and a source of loss for the producer.

The B2B model has fit in like a glove, ushering in many advantages into the inner workings of the agritech sector. Using technology, agritech businesses are establishing market connections, including B2B markets and digital agricultural platforms. In recent decades, a substantial portion of the conventional supply chain across several industries has experienced a major setback.

B2B marketplaces have emerged as a solution to this problem  by providing excellent items at affordable pricing and dependable delivery schedules, along with regular credit terms. They are immediately capable of addressing India’s agricultural input concerns.

Due to the multitude of connections on these digital platforms, agricultural enterprises are able to locate new prospects, clients, and suppliers, as well as manage the daily challenges encountered by farmers. Farmers may get the necessary data, procedures, and efficiencies from them for both pre-harvest and post-harvest applications. In addition, B2B marketplaces provide a variety of buying and selling channels.

Precision is power

Precision agriculture is one of the most often used B2B services in the agricultural business. It enables you to maximise the productivity of each work shift by maximising your workforce. The data you get is current, making it more actionable and less static. Additionally, superior GPS technology enables your employees to operate in low-visibility conditions. You need not worry about blind areas since you can follow your agricultural equipment in real time using GPS data.

In addition, it lets the producer enhance and improve the soil, reduce the use of natural resources such as land, and water, and improve productivity by implementing a series of focused key interventions, a feat that may be accomplished with the application of sophisticated technology. In fact, it makes agribusiness a profitable and prosperous profession irrespective of climate change and other catastrophic occurrences.

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

By Tarun Arora, Director, Single Family Office,

Allied Industry, Bee keeping, India, Interaction

In an interaction with AgroSpectrum India Namrata Khanna, Director, India Honey Alliance (IHA) shared her vision for a ‘Sweet Revolution’ along with the infrastructural and regulatory challenges plaguing the Indian honey market at large. Edited excerpts.

What are the factors driving the Indian honey market given that its size is expected to reach Rs 38 billion by 2027, according to a report by the  International Market Analysis Research and Consulting Group (IMARC)?

Demand for honey has been growing with consumers becoming more health conscious and including honey in their daily diet. This demand witnessed a sizeable jump during the COVID pandemic as honey is known for its immunity boosting properties. In fact, the market touched a high in 2020, with a total valuation of Rs 19.2 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent to reach Rs 30.6 billion by 2026.  All this can be attributed to the therapeutic properties that honey carries.

The pandemic ensured people made a beeline for wellness products. Today, the industry is propelled by the Food & Beverage segment, personal care and cosmetic industry due to its proven use in reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, as a natural humectant, and as a healthy alternative to sugar. Many leading FMCG players are launching not just different flavours of honey, such as tulsi, ajwain, ashwagandha, eucalyptus and jamun, but also newer formats like honey-based syrups, which have been driving market growth. The rising applications of honey in home remedies due to its antibacterial and antiseptic qualities that help in healing wounds and burns, also influence the growth of the honey market.

Moreover, the recommendation by the Ministry of AYUSH for honey as a home remedy for preventive care only helped in propelling the overall demand.

Further, scientific endorsement of the medicinal properties of honey and its growing usage as a premium ingredient in nutraceuticals are also creating a favourable market outlook. The demand is also getting escalated owing to the easy product availability through e-commerce platforms and extensive R&D activities to improve its uses and quality. Besides, the Government of India is introducing various training programmes and mentoring services to create awareness amongst farmers about the latest beekeeping practices.

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

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In an interaction with AgroSpectrum India Namrata

Acquaculture, Agro Universities, People, R&D

The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 1.51 lakh and citation, is in recognition of his significant contribution towards the research works related to fish genetics

Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Director of the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has won the prestigious VASVIK (Vividhlaxi Audyogik Samshodhan Vikas Kendra) Industrial Research Award for the year 2020 in the category of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. The award, which carries a cash prize of Rs. 1.51 lakh and citation, is in recognition of his significant contribution towards the research works related to fish genetics which is relevant for conserving many commercially important and endangered species. The VASVIK research award is presented to scientists and researchers who have excelled in various fields including agricultural sciences.

His research works include the Genetic Stock Identification (GSI), species inventory, taxonomy, breeding and seed production of threatened and commercially important species for mariculture which has helped in improving scientific knowledge on Indian fishery and the conservative measures. The award committee observed that Dr Gopalakrishnan’s genetic studies conducted and the technologies developed have served to produce molecular markers for many endangered fishes which is crucial for biodiversity conservation. Broodstock development techniques and mariculture technologies formulated and standardised by him have helped in the economic upliftment of the society by providing alternate livelihoods. Apart from Agricultural Sciences and Technology, The VASVIK research award is given in eight categories every year.

The award carries a cash prize of