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Agribusiness, Agro chems – Pesticides, India, Sustainability

 The industry is increasingly incorporating sustainability in their operations, product offerings and adopting sustainable methods like integrated pest management.

today emphasized on the need of sustainability in agriculture sector, especially in the area of crop protection. “Sustainability is the need of the hour, and our Indian system of agriculture is based on sustainability,” he added.

Addressing the 12th edition of ‘FICCI Crop Protection Summit’, on the theme – ‘Diversity & Inclusion in Sustainability & Crop Protection’, Dr Singh said that the starting of green revolution saw the advent of fertilizers and agro-chemicals use. “It is now going to be the new seed varieties which will help in reduction of chemical and fertilizers use. Varieties are the key to the success of sustainability in future,” he added.

FICCI-PwC knowledge report – ‘The role of crop protection industry in driving sustainability in the agriculture sector’, was released during the session.

Key highlights of the report:

The agriculture sector has been a driving force of the Indian economy since the country’s independence accounting for over 18 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and sustaining the livelihoods of around 42.3 per cent of the population.

As the world’s fourth-largest crop-protection chemicals producer, the Indian crop-protection industry plays a significant role in the country’s economy by boosting agricultural production for both domestic markets as well as for export

The Indian crop-protection industry is the second largest exporter of crop-protection chemicals with USD 5.5 billion worth of exports in 2022

Crop-protection chemicals are often perceived in a negative light attributed to the non-judicious use of majority of crop protection products. However, the industry is increasingly incorporating sustainability in their operations, product offerings and adopting sustainable methods like integrated pest management and the development of biopesticides.

India’s crop-protection sector is incorporating sustainability in its manufacturing, supply chain operations and product development processes

As the crop-protection industry continues to grow, the government needs to implement measures to provide education and training to farmers on safe and sustainable agriculture practices to promote the use of crop-protection chemicals

A collaborative approach is required by both the Government and the Private Sector to solve the challenges of the crop protection industry to work together to develop a safe, high-yielding and sustainable agriculture sector for the country.

Simon T Wiebusch, Chairman, FICCI Crop Protection Committee & Executive Director, Bayer Crop Science Ltd & Country Division Head – Crop Science Division- India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka said, “Sustainability in the crop protection industry starts at the manufacturing unit and stretches through the entire supply chain, including working with farmers to promote and help them adopt best practices. I laud the Indian crop protection sector for taking the lead adopting sustainable practices, including laying emphasis on including a more diverse workforce, water conservation and renewable energy. It also stretches to responsible packaging and working with farmers on best crop protection practices to ensure global compliance and realize yield, contributing towards our nation’s mission of being Viksit Bharat by 2047.”

Shashi K Singh, Partner, PwC India said that sustainability holds the key to bring balance between food security and environmental security.

N K Rajavelu, Co-Chair, FICCI Crop Protection Committee & CEO – Crop Protection Business, Godrej Agrovet Ltd said crop protection sector plays an important role in food security along with sustainable agriculture practices. The crop protection chemicals industry has the potential to implement sustainable practices and developing eco-friendly solutions.

 The industry is increasingly incorporating sustainability in

Agrotech, Farm Mechanisation, Interaction, Machinery - Pre-harvesting, Machinery – Post-harvesting

A four-day event to provide platform for B2B, B2Gand B2C meeting, facilitating valuable networking opportunities for business and consumers, fostering partnerships and knowledge exchange.

The eighth edition of EIMA Agrimach India 2024, the international agricultural machinery exhibition organised by FICCI in collaboration with FederUnacoma, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, opened in Bangalore at the GKVK University of Agricultural Sciences.

EIMA Agrimach India 2024 will showcase live demonstrations of innovative equipment, demonstrating their efficiency and effectiveness. The event will provide platform for B2B, B2Gand B2C meeting, facilitating valuable networking opportunities for business and consumers, fostering partnerships and knowledge exchange. The event will also host Kisan Training lectures to empower farmers with the knowledge and skills to adopt new technologies and practices.

The exhibition – which held its first five editions in New Delhi and from 2022 has been moved to Bangalore in Karnataka, to meet the technological needs of a region of the Subcontinent whose agriculture is largely centred on fruit and vegetable production – will be on stage until Sunday 3 March with the display of models in the covered halls and demonstration trials in the outdoor areas of the exhibition centre. An important event, that of EIMA Agrimach, which was underlined by the solemnity of the inaugural ceremony that saw, in front of the large audience of the congress hall of the exhibition centre, the presence of the highest representatives of the organising bodies and the industries of the sector.

In his greeting to the audience, the FICCI Karnataka State Council Chairman Ullas Kamath recalled the vigorous economic growth of Indian economy and underlined the significant improvements of India’s primary sector. The exhibition – this emerged from the speeches by representatives of FICCI Manish Singhal, of SBI V. N. Sarma and of PWC Guna Nand Shukla – confirms itself not only as a promotional and commercial event aimed at economic operators, farmers and agri-mechanics technicians, but also as an opportunity to analyse trends in agriculture and to highlight the great challenges facing the primary sector in India and in all major regions of the world. In this regard, the Italian consulate in Bangalore Alfonso Tagliaferri underlined the importance of the commercial and technical partnership between Italy and India, especially in the field of agricultural mechanics and in that of high technology agricultural machines.

Mariateresa Maschio, President of FederUnacoma, the Federation of Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers, which has been an organising partner with FICCI of the Indian exhibition since the first edition in 2009, focused on the main topics of EIMA Agrimach 2024.

“The issues that will be covered during the four-day event, which concern the sustainability of agricultural production, new technological and digital frontiers, training of technicians, but also the use of water resources, soil fertility and all the salient issues for the agricultural sector. With its companies, its institutions, and its university and research system. India presents itself as an immense laboratory for a new model of agriculture, one that meets the needs of the present, and guarantees the right resources for the future”, said Mariateresa Maschio.

A four-day event to provide platform for

Award, Company News, India

The flagship Agri Entrepreneurship program, operating in 14 states, has empowered 16,131 Agri Entrepreneurs across 19,000+ villages, benefitting 1.4 million farmers

Syngenta Foundation India (SFI) has been awarded the first prize in the Sustainable Farmer Income Enhancement category at the FICCI awards, for the second time in a row. The award, a testament to the SFI’s unwavering commitment to uplift smallholder farmers, recognises SFI’s impactful Agri Entrepreneurship model, fostering sustainable practices in agriculture and enhancing farmers’ livelihoods.

The flagship Agri Entrepreneurship program, operating in 14 states, has empowered 16,131 Agri Entrepreneurs across 19,000+ villages, benefitting 1.4 million farmers. Notably, 42 per cent of these entrepreneurs are women, contributing significantly to gender equity.

The program’s success is amplified by collaboration with philanthropic institutes and corporates, including CiNi by Tata Trusts, IDH, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DCM Shriram Foundation, Environment Defense Fund, GAIN, Harvest Plus, Swiss Re Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, GiZ, NABARD, IFC, Unilever, IFDC, Marico, Syngenta India Pvt. Ltd. and State Rural Livelihood Missions like Jeevika, MPSRLM etc. It has garnered support from various governmental initiatives, making it the largest Agri-Entrepreneurship program in India with a robust ecosystem.

Affiliation with esteemed institutes such as CCS National Institute of Agriculture Marketing, Jaipur (CCS NIAM) and National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad (MANAGE) reflects the program’s commitment to quality and excellence. The certification of the Agri Entrepreneurship program and curriculum development, in collaboration with these institutes, ensures a comprehensive and well-structured approach.

The flagship Agri Entrepreneurship program, operating in

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, India, Interaction

Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (Extension), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare was addressing the knowledge sharing session ‘Harnessing Agriculture’s Potential- 2035’, organised by FICCI.

Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (Extension), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of India said that it is imperative to adopt technology and create infrastructure to build a resilient agriculture sector in India.

Addressing the knowledge sharing session ‘Harnessing Agriculture’s Potential- 2035’, organised by FICCI, Kumar stated that earlier the government had a production centric approach in the agriculture sector but now we focus on the entire value chain. Every country across the world is embracing newer technology, following innovative ways to build a strong agriculture value chain. “By adopting these measures along with the collective efforts of all stakeholders, we can make Indian agriculture sector more robust, resilient, climate smart to match the global standards,” he added.

To promote infrastructure in the agriculture sector, Kumar said that the government introduced agriculture infrastructure fund scheme. “Till date, close to Rs 30,000 crore has been disbursed for these projects and this in turn has brought in investments around Rs 50,500 crore. This is going to change the landscape of the agriculture sector in the country as it is through infrastructure only that we can address the other inefficiencies in the supply chain,” he added.

Sanjiv Kanwar, Managing Director, YARA South Asia said, “The agri-channels who have been in this space for over 50 years are the original start-ups of Indian agriculture- they believed in the future of Indian agriculture and committed themselves to making India self-sufficient by serving farmers with right agri inputs and technology support. Channel partners must be recognized for providing the last-mile connectivity from lab to land.”

Siraj Hussain, Advisor, FICCI and Former Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt of India said, “FICCI is thrilled to have partnered with Yara India for this knowledge-sharing event, ‘Harnessing Agriculture’s Potential – 2035’. This partnership opens doors to explore needs of input dealers and channel partners.”

Ajai Rana, CEO, Savannah Seeds Pvt Ltd said that we can improve our farm production by utilizing high-quality seeds, proper crop nutrition, and efficient mechanization in the farming process.

Kaushal Jaiswal, Co-Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee and MD, Rivulis Irrigation India Pvt Ltd said with so much potential in the agriculture sector, it becomes imperative that the Agri channel partners are suitably identified, supported and handheld so as to mainstream them for the long run. 

Deepak Verma, Domain Lead- Agriculture, ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) said that ONDC brings all technology providers on one platform to provide unified solutions to the end user.

Arvind Chaudhary, Director General, Fertilizer Association of India said that there is a need to create awareness about balance use of fertilizers in farming.

Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (Extension), Ministry

AgroPolicy, India, Sustainability

National Conclave aims to discuss and identify comprehensive support systems for Agri Startups in India that will foster innovation, sustainability, and profitability and make their solutions accessible to farmers

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in partnership with FICCI, CII & PHDCCI organised a National Conclave ‘Unleashing the Potential of AgriTech Startups for the Benefit of Farmers.’ Secretary, Manoj Ahuja, Additional Secretary, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Joint Secretary (RKVY), Ashish Kumar Srivastav and Joint Secretary (Extn.), Samuel Praveen Kumar along with other senior officers from Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and representatives of FICCI, CII and PHDCII attended the conclave.

The conclave aimed to discuss and identify comprehensive support systems for Agri Startups in India that will foster innovation, sustainability, and profitability and make their solutions accessible to farmers. The conclave also explored strategies to overcome challenges, leverage technology, and capitalize on market opportunities to empower Agri Startups and drive positive impact in the agriculture sector.

FICCI organised two breakout sessions. The theme for session 1 was “The State Government’s Vital Role in Building Enabling Ecosystem for AgriTech in partnership with state governments”. Session 1 brought out the challenges faced by start-ups at the state level and recommendations on how the state governments can help in building an enabling ecosystem to overcome these. The major recommendations include- creating an AgHub: An inclusive agri innovation ecosystem, Agri Data Management Framework (2023), Creating a nodal agency for start-ups within the state governments, developing a start-up portal with a repository of information, knowledge and schemes with a chatbot facility, Start-up India can include an exclusive website with information on agriculture start-ups.

National Conclave aims to discuss and identify

Agrotech, Company News, Foodgrains, India, Seeds

To foster a meaningful dialogue amongst diverse stakeholders to create a future roadmap to establish Rajasthan as a prominent hub for millets.

FICCI in partnership with Corteva Agriscience, organised a millet conclave – ‘Leveraging Rajasthan’s Millet Heritage’, in Jaipur.   The event aimed to showcase the strengths of Rajasthan in millets production and foster a meaningful dialogue amongst diverse stakeholders to create a future roadmap to establish Rajasthan as a prominent hub for millets. As the Chair of the task force, Corteva Agriscience will spearhead the Millet Roadmap initiative by the Rajasthan Government to accelerate the growth of the millet sector.

Delegates representing agribusiness, hospitality & tourism, policymakers, eminent scientists from renowned research institutions, progressive farmers and academia participated in the conclave. The panelists deliberated to take a holistic and multidimensional approach to address critical challenges in the millet value chain and catalyse an impactful partnership. The discussion also considered establishing a comprehensive understanding of the benefits and possibilities that millets can offer to both sustainable tourism and the livelihoods of local communities.

“Rajasthan with its diverse range of millet offerings in every region, should be promoted as a culinary destination. There is a tremendous opportunity to leverage millets in the tourism industry.” said Shreya Guha, Principal Secretary, Government of Rajasthan

Commenting on the event Jitendra Joshi, Chairman, FICCI Task Force on Millets & Director Seeds, Corteva Agriscience – South Asia said, “Rajasthan, as the largest contributor to India’s millet production, holds the key to the success of millet initiatives in the International Year of Millets 2023. Today’s Millet Conclave served as a platform for multiple stakeholders to discuss the roadmap for advancing Rajasthan’s millet value chain. This comprehensive approach will create excellent opportunities for the state’s millet industry, not just locally but nationwide. Millets have proven to be a climate-resilient crop for rainfed areas, enhancing farmers’ income and supporting sustainable agriculture while providing nutritious food for the entire nation. Furthermore, millets open doors to new economic prospects for agribusinesses. Corteva is deeply committed to this cause, and through our extensive research and on-ground efforts in Rajasthan, we continue to add value to farmers and will persist in our dedication to their success”.

Corteva’s efforts in the millet value chain encompass by offering hybrid millet seeds that enhance their existing stress resistance and produce 15-20 per cent higher yield, provide disease resistance ultimately increase farmer productivity and profitability. Corteva’s India Research Centre in Jaipur runs rainy millets, summer millets and mustard breeding program. With partner programme such as “Pravakta” Corteva aims to engages with farmers to train and educate them in all crop management strategies, new hybrids, and empowers them as ambassadors to help train other farmers paving the way for a better tomorrow. In addition, the Antrashtriya Bajra Mahotsav held across the state aim to spotlight ecological benefits and nutritional value of millets to producers and consumers.

The company continues to focus on educating millet farmers about the use of technology-driven solutions that enable them to increase yield productivity and sustainable farming practices.

To foster a meaningful dialogue amongst diverse

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Foodgrains, India

Agriculture sector is growing at a fast pace, and we need to have frameworks to strengthen the eco-system in the agriculture sector.

“The government is devising a model for development of the agriculture sector under the PPP mode. It will allow the private sector to work with the government for the benefit of the farmers. Due to the increasing demand coming in the maize sector in coming years, we would require a quantum jump in our production to the level of 40-45 million tons in the next 4-5 years. We also need to systematically understand the wastage and losses in the entire value chain and solve it,” said Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of India. Ahuja was addressing the 9th edition of ‘India Maize Summit 2023’, organized by FICCI in New Delhi.

 Ahuja also emphasized that agriculture sector is growing at a fast pace, and we need to have frameworks to strengthen the eco-system in the agriculture sector. We need to have workable frameworks in which we can work together in a collaborative and easy manner. It will bring more ease of doing business, certainty, clarity and transparency while working with the government,” he added.

 Abdul Sattar, Minister of Agriculture, Govt of Maharashtra said that Maharashtra government is committed to support the industry coming forward to support the welfare of farmers and agricultural sector. “The state government will provide all necessary support to the industry along with providing financial support and connecting with the farmers. Through this process we can also increase farmers income by increasing the maize production,” he stated.

The Minister further added that Maize is a safe and secure crop since it is less perishable as compared to other crops. “We must work to motivate farmers to move towards maize production,” he emphasized.  Sattar also highlighted the need to work together to create a system for maize storage and stocking. The role of industry, government and other agencies will be key in this, he noted.

Mr TR Kesavan, Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee & Group President, TAFE said that we must look at establishing Centre of Excellence for mechanization in agriculture sector which will be crucial for India.

 Anuja Kadian, Government & Industry Affairs Director, Asia Pacific, Corteva Agriscience said that a sustainable roadmap to strengthen maize value chain needs a holistic approach and is need of the hour. Adoption of new seed technologies by farmers will take Indian maize to next level. She also highlighted that multi-stakeholder approach with the coming together of policymakers, research institutions and the private sector to develop strong foundation to meet future demand of maize is imperative.

 Sunjay Vuppuluri, Head-Food & Agribusiness Strategic Advisory & Research segment, YES BANK shared the insights on FICCI- YES BANK knowledge report. He highlighted that for India to meet the growing demand for maize and remain competitive in the global market, it is essential to promote innovative technologies and practices across the maize ecosystem.

Agriculture sector is growing at a fast

Agrotech, Company News, Environment, India

The summit panelists deliberated upon various strategies on innovative products and soil management practices that farmers should adopt

FICCI, in partnership with Corteva Agriscience, held a panel discussion on Sustainable Soil Health Management to commemorate World Soil Day 2022 on December 5 at Federation House, New Delhi. The event highlighted innovative solutions to conserve soil health and delved into various challenges that impact crop productivity with a focus on nematode management.

Delegates representing agribusiness industries, policymakers, eminent scientists from renowned research institutions, progressive farmer, and academia participated in the summit. Other speakers at the event included Dr M S Rao, Former Head & Principal Scientist, ICAR, Dr Naved Sabir, Principal Scientist, Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology, I.A.R.I, Dr Vishal Somvanshi, Division of Nematology, ICAR and Nayeem Pasha, Chief of Marketing, Krishi Tantra. The panellists deliberated upon various strategies on innovative products and soil management practices that farmers should adopt for saving soil productivity. They also examined the major soil constraints which can severely impact crop productivity and how these challenges can be addressed.

Commenting on the event a Corteva Agriscience spokesperson said, “Through this event, we successfully drove insightful discussions around soil management. The key is to take these learnings and ensure that they are percolated to farmers across the country.”

He further added, “The importance of soil is hard to overstate. Healthy soil equals an ecosystem that drives plant growth, farmers productivity and ultimately yield and profitability. A shift from managing the soil to proactively advancing soil health has created long-term value. It also recognizes the greater role it plays in benefiting farmland and the environment.”

Corteva firmly believes that a healthy soil is the foundation of crop productivity and sustainability. Soil is a living and active part of our lands, and by proactively implementing informed farming practices farmers can elevate harvests promoting good crop yields and long-term soil sustainability.

The summit panelists deliberated upon various strategies

Agrotech, Award, Supply Chain, Warehousing

The award is in recognition of ‘AgriReach,’ SLCM’s proprietary centralised real-time process management system’s contribution towards Innovation under large enterprise.

New Delhi based Sohan Lal Commodity Management (SLCM), India’s leading comprehensive service provider in the global post-harvest space for agricultural commodities has received the prestigious “Sustainable Agriculture Awards” 2022 from FICCI, India’s oldest and largest industry association catering to diverse business domains. This is the 2nd edition of the awards and SLCM has retained this prominent award for the second consecutive year under the “Innovative Product/Technology/Services Promoting Sustainable Agriculture” category.

The award was received by Sandeep Sabharwal, CEO, SLCM from Narendra Singh Tomar Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India in the presence of dignitaries from the entire agriculture value chain and distinguished members of FICCI Agriculture Committee present on the occasion. List of awardees this year includes global FMCG giants like Coca Cola, Yes Bank and Nestle, among others.

Commenting on being a recipient of this honour for the second consecutive year, Sandeep Sabharwal, Chief Executive Officer, SLCM Group said, “We are delighted to win this prestigious award for the second year in a row. This award from India’s oldest and largest apex business association FICCI, is a clear endorsement of the impact we have delivered through our proprietary AgriReach process management system that leverages the latest developments in technology to enhance the Preservation, Management and Security (PMS) of food grain stock. This award is a huge morale booster for our team who are constantly working to integrate the latest technology-based systems and solutions into warehousing so that the advantage of a safe and modern storage system can benefit maximum stakeholders in the agriculture food chain.”

The prestigious award was conferred on SLCM for its contribution towards innovation under large enterprise through its proprietary ‘AgriReach’ process management system. The ‘AgriReach’ framework of services deployed in warehouses has helped reduce post-harvest losses to 0.5%. This is achieved through a series of processes, audits and real-time tracking to boost efficiency and minimize damage in storage. The system also leverages technologies like geo-fencing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), internet of things (IoT)-based surveillance, real-time tracking and bar-coded storage receipts to ensure safe storage.

The award is in recognition of ‘AgriReach,’

India

Emphasises on adopting a holistic approach in the Indian agriculture sector

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister while addressing the recently held Sustainable Agriculture Summit and Awards function said that the educated youth are getting attracted towards Agriculture sector and the government is continuously encouraging them through various schemes and programmes to join the Agriculture sector. He said this as the chief guest at the 2nd Sustainable Agriculture Summit & Awards organised by FICCI in New Delhi. 

Emphasising on adopting a holistic approach in the Indian agriculture sector, Tomar said that there is a need to have a balanced-holistic approach in the agriculture sector, which will lead to more rapid development of agriculture. Tomar also said that in the agriculture sector, instead of focusing on only a few crops, we should have a diversified vision for all crops, including increasing production and productivity.

Explaining the importance of millets (nutritious cereals) in the Indian tradition, Tomar said that the demand and consumption of millets is increasing globally. On the initiative of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United Nations has declared 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’, for which preparations are being made by the government. Prime Minister Modi wants that nutri-cereals get respect again in the food platter, as it used to get earlier.

Emphasises on adopting a holistic approach in

Agro chems – Chemicals, Company News, Environment, India, Sustainability

The award compliments Rallis India’s model approach toward promoting sustainable and green practices

Rallis India was conferred with the FICCI Chemicals and Petrochemicals Award for ‘Sustainability- Best Green Process’ at India Chemical 2022 jointly organised by FICCI and Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India.

Out of the 14 distinctive award categories, Rallis India was presented with “Sustainability- Best Green Process” for its WOW! Wealth Out of Waste; Metribuzin Project. The award compliments Rallis India’s model approach toward promoting sustainable and green practices.

“Sustainability has been the nucleus of our strategy and the successful initiation of WOW! Wealth Out of Waste’ Metribuzin Project has further strengthened our vision of creating a sustainable commercial ecosystem. Recognitions like these motivate us to continuously improve our environmental profile to help create a better world.” said Sanjiv Lal, Managing Director, Rallis India.

The award compliments Rallis India’s model approach

AgroPolicy, India

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Family Welfare, has launched a Project Management Unit (PMU) on Public Private Partnership (PPP) in agriculture, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). During the announcement, Tomar said that PPP model can be ideal for growth in the agriculture sector and the projects must focus on benefitting the farmers through enhancement of their income.

The primary objective of this PPP initiative is to enhance the income of small farmers by creating additional value, from provisioning of quality inputs, technology extension to market linkages, and value addition. PPP initiatives are also expected to lead to modernising agriculture practices, building climate resilience among farmers, developing agriculture and rural infrastructure, and increasing agricultural exports. A particular objective is to assist the states to unlock the full potential of their respective agro-climatic regions, and wide variety of agri produce and help producers to integrate better with domestic and export markets.

Commenting on the development, Manoj Ahuja, secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare stated that the government should play a catalytic role in facilitating investments in the agriculture sector. The private sector and NGOs should come together and partner with the government on such projects which will have a multiplier effect, he added. The announcement was made in the presence of Shubrakant Panda, senior vice president, FICCI who expressed confidence in the PMU initiative accelerating large scale PPP projects in agriculture by leveraging the private sector investments and bringing convergence of government schemes and subsidies. Abhilaksh Likhi, additional secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and other senior ministry officers a were present on the occasion.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and

Agrotech, Horticulture, Vegetables

Addressing the seventh International Exhibition and Conference EIMA Agrimach India 2022 in Bengaluru, Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said that with India becoming a food surplus country, the Indian farmer needs affordable machinery and technologies to expand production and come up with value-added products with export potential,

The three-day conference cum exhibition was inaugurated by Karandlaje, Murugesh R Nirani, minister of large and medium industries, and Muniratna Naidu, minister for horticulture and planning & statistics, Government of Karnataka.

Speaking on the occasion, Karandlije noted that the country’s robust cereals, fruits and vegetable production are at 314 and 334 million metric ton respectively. However, she said, “What the country needs now is affordable and quality food processing, agri-marketing and agri-export avenues.”

Karandlaje encouraged equipment manufacturers and technology developers to manufacture food processing machinery to check the rampant wastage of agriculture and horticulture produce in the absence of value addition. She said that instead of wasting, the food could be exported to nations with limited food production avenues.

During the event, Nirani highlighted that increased efforts were needed for technology improvement, adoption, and exports. In addition, the minister encouraged foreign industry participants to introduce affordable mechanised farming, given the small land holdings in the state. 

The other dignitaries who spoke during the conference included K Ullas Kamath, chairman, FICCI Karnataka State Council; TR Kesavan, chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee; Alessandro Malavolti, president, FederUnacoma; Shivayogi C Kalasad, secretary to government, agriculture department, Government of Karnataka; Dr S Rajendra Prasad, vice-chancellor, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, and Ravindra Agrawal, chairman, Agriculture Sub-Committee, FICCI Karnataka State Council.

EIMA Agrimach India 2022 has registered participants from more than 40 countries and is expected to witness the presence of over 10000 farmers, industry and foreign delegates, investors, agriculture researchers, and students.

Addressing the seventh International Exhibition and Conference

Acquaculture, AgroPolicy

NN Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development was addressing, the first conference on Fishtech, organised by the industry chamber FICCI.  

It is crucial to have an integrated chain of activities when organising fish farmers, especially those who are poor, said NN Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, at the First Conference on Fishtech, organised by the industry chamber FICCI.  

Delivering the Special address, Sinha alluded to the need to develop an integrated structure akin to the dairy sector. “There is a lot of scope for developing such a value chain”, he said. The secretary also referred to growing seaweed, ornamental fishing, and cage culture as viable livelihood activities. “We think aquaculture is an important livelihood option for a large number of people”, he said, adding, “we will work with everyone in the sector”.

A FICCI PwC report, “Championing the blue economy: Promoting sustainable growth of fisheries sector in India”, was released on occasion. The report showcases the potential of India’s fisheries sector, trends, opportunities, challenges, and strategic interventions needed to support the blue economy in India and build a sustainable and profitable future for the industry.

Speaking on occasion, Hemendra Mathur, Chairman, FICCI- Taskforce on Agri-Startups, said, “we need a dedicated fund for fishery start-ups, which can put in early-stage funding for start-ups trying to build interesting models and features”.

 Further, Mathur said, “We should at least have 500 fishtech start-ups in the country, given the sector’s potential. All start-ups put together account for less than 2-3 per cent of the market potential”. He said that fishery is an important sector with more than 1.5 crore fishermen engaged in the activity and its contribution to GDP being more than USD30 billion.

 Noting the considerable headroom for growth, Mathur alluded to the need to develop an innovation ecosystem in fishtech on the lines of agriculture and said, over the last five to seven years; we saw 1500-plus agri-tech startups in the country due to ecosystem development.

Shashi Kant Singh, Executive Director, Agri & Natural Resources, PWC, also noted the potential of increasing the use of technology and, further, the headroom available to increase the production, exports and domestic consumption in the fishery sector. He added that a lot of “policy support”, “ecosystem support”, and “well-designed schemes” were introduced by the government during the last four to five years.

 Devleena Bhattacharjee, Chair, FICCI Committee on Fishtech and Founder & CEO, Numer8 Analytics, said, “India is the second largest fish producing country in the world and contributes to about 7.56% of the global fish production. She noted that the fishery sector is a sunrise sector owing to tremendous scope in domestic consumption and expansion, strong export potential and greater economic returns with strong policy support.

NN Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development