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HomePosts Tagged "Oman"
Horticulture, Supply Chain, Trade

The container was flagged off by Rajesh Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Abhishek Dev, Chairman APEDA at MSAMB’s Irradiation Facility Center in Vashi

INI Farms, India’s leading F&V exporter flagged off the first container of ‘Kimaye’ pomegranates to the USA. This is a groundbreaking development for Indian F&V exports as it marks the start of fruit exports to the USA via the sea route. Travelling nearly 20,000 km, this is the longest distance travelled by any Indian fruit in the world!

The outcome is the result of more than year-long joint efforts of APEDA, Ministry of Commerce and Industry – GOI, Ministry of Agriculture Govt of Maharashtra, Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB), United States Department of Agriculture APHIS (USDA APHIS), NPPO, Pomegranate National Research Center and INI Farms. This encompassed various initiatives from farm registrations, training & monitoring, air shipment trials, development of sea protocol, static trials for shelf life extension and post-harvest treatment.    

The container was flagged off by Rajesh Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Abhishek Dev, Chairman APEDA at MSAMB’s Irradiation Facility Center in Vashi (Navi Mumbai). The event was graced by dignitaries from MSAMB, Regional Plant Quarantine Station (RPQS – MoA&FW), US Consulate and US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), APEDA and NRC Solapur. The consignment of 4200 boxes (12.6 tons) of ‘Kimaye’ pomegranates is set to sail to delight customers in the US

Today, India is the world’s largest producer of pomegranates, with over 2,75,500 hectares of land under cultivation. During the fiscal year 2022-23, the country exported over 60,000 metric tonnes of pomegranates to countries like UAE, the Netherlands, Oman, Bahrain and others. The successful export of pomegranates to the USA opens up a new opportunity for Indian pomegranate farmers and exporters and will open doors to other long-distance markets like Australia.

The container was flagged off by Rajesh

Logistics, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Transportation

Thai shipping line Regional Container Lines (RCL) has decided to enhance its service and connect major ports in Southeast Asia, India and Gulf countries

India’s maritime connectivity is set to receive a significant boost, as the Thai shipping line Regional Container Lines (RCL) has decided to enhance its service and connect major ports in Southeast Asia, India, and Gulf countries. The RCL route will now include Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Port, starting from Cai Mep Port in Vietnam with stops at Laem Chabang in Thailand, Port Klang in Malaysia, Nhava Sheva in Mumbai, Jebel Ali near Dubai, and Sohar in Oman, in addition to the Saudi port.

The service will be extended from the current 35-day period to a 42-day period.

Although RCL currently deploys one vessel in this cargo service, it is possible that more vessels could be added to this route in the future, according to an analyst.

The new shipping route will greatly benefit India as it seeks to strengthen its ties with Southeast Asian and Gulf nations. This route will connect India with both regions and help boost trade in the post-Covid era.

Towards the end of this year, the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) plans to launch a liner service that will connect Mundra and Nhava Sheva in India with Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Islamic Port. This move is likely to result in a significant increase in economic transactions between India and the Gulf nations.

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the UAE, New Delhi is now eager to proceed with the proposed free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as soon as possible. Additionally, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are set to become members of the BRICS bloc next year. India is already working to enhance trade with these nations using its own currency, the rupee.

India has maritime borders with several countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. As a result, it is important for New Delhi to improve its maritime transport capabilities. Increasing cargo handling capacity by 300 per cent at ports by 2047 is a goal for India, and connecting with important hubs will help achieve this.

Thai shipping line Regional Container Lines (RCL)

Agrotech, Company News, India, R&D

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) plans to procure 2,500 drones for spraying its products, nano urea and nano DAP (Diammonium Phosphate).

IoTechWorld Avigation Pvt Ltd announced that it has emerged as a leader in the IFFCO drone project and secured a large contract from major cooperative IFFCO to supply 500 drones, which will be primarily used to spray nano liquid urea and DAP.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) plans to procure 2,500 drones for spraying its products, nano urea and nano DAP (Diammonium Phosphate). IFFCO also plans to create 5,000 rural entrepreneurs, who would be trained for spraying via drones.

Gurugram-headquartered IoTechWorld, the manufacturer of India’s first DGCA-type certified drone ‘AGRIBOT’, has been Co-Founded by Deepak Bhardwaj and Anoop Upadhyay. IoTechWorld Avigation is also backed by leading agritech company Dhanuka Agritech Ltd.

“We are indeed privileged to receive the single biggest order for the purchase of Krishi-drones from IFFCO. The company will deliver 500 drones to IFFCO by December 2023,” said Upadhyay.

He further said that since IoTechWorld’s inception, the endeavour has been to promote technological innovation in the field of agriculture, and the company is the pioneer of Krishi-drones in the country.

Elaborating on the large supply order from IFFCO, Co-founder Bhardwaj said the drone market is rapidly growing, and there has been tremendous demand from various companies, including fertiliser and pesticides companies as well as from rural entrepreneurs, including farmers.

“Our AGRIBOT (Krishi drone) has been specially designed and programmed for fertilisers. The order from IFFCO is a testament to our strength in the agri-drone segment. We aim to help farmers and Agri Entrepreneurs in the Implementation of made-in-India Nano Urea and Nano DAP newly launched by IFFCO,” he said.

Besides IFFCO, IoTechWorld Avigation has partnered with agrochemical company Syngenta and has undertaken 17,000 KM of drone yatra in various parts of the country.

“We are expecting 5-6 times more demand in the current fiscal compared to last year, with a target of selling more than 3,000 drones in this fiscal year. We are also exploring opportunities for exports. The Government’s recent decision to liberalise the export policy for drones opens up a gamut of opportunity, and there is a huge demand in overseas markets,” Upadhyay added.

The company is also in discussion for exporting drones in regions like SAARC, South East Asia, Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Oman, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, Nepal, and Africa, which are the focus countries of IoTech export sales.

The company is also extensively focusing on creating awareness about the benefits of using drones in agriculture. IoTech has also set up several small pilot training organisations where people are trained to fly drones.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) plans

Company News, Organic, Supply Chain, Transportation, World

This agreement with MGX is evidence of ONIT’s commitment to providing natural, organic agriculture inputs that perform as well or better than traditional chemical products to farmers around the world

ONIT Sciences announced that MGX will serve as the exclusive authorised distributor for ONIT’s innovative organic products across three major agricultural regions.

“This agreement with MGX is evidence of ONIT’s commitment to providing natural, organic agriculture inputs that perform as well or better than traditional chemical products to farmers around the world,” stated Jeff Moses, president of ONIT Sciences. “MGX is a proven performer, with a world-class team and deep connections to major crop producers in each region they serve. We are extremely excited to open these new markets and help support organic initiatives in countries that have been harmed by chemical farming protocols.”

MGX will carry all ONIT Science products, including its flagship ONIT Grow, a powerful bio-stimulant, surfactant and soil amendment that uses all-natural, organic ingredients to penetrate even the toughest plant surface to stimulate plant vigour and yield. Increases in yield have been documented as high as 40 per cent in some crops. Also available through MGX are the company’s ONIT Input Plus and ONIT Input products, which help farmers significantly reduce costs by enhancing the uptake and absorption of any nutrient, fertiliser or other input that it is mixed with.

“At MGX, we are excited about this new opportunity that will be a great extension to our existing lineup of quality products.  From our initial research, we can see that ONIT’s organic products will be well received within the agricultural communities and within the governments,” stated Moe Negin, Founder of MGX Global Trade Canada Corp. “Our mission is to give back to local communities in rural areas by supplying environmentally sustainable products to help our planet and for healthier future generations.”

Territories covered by this exclusive Authorized Distributor agreement include:

South America

Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Chile

Middle East/North Africa
Algeria, Turkey, Dubai, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, Libya, Saudia Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen

Philippines

This agreement with MGX is evidence of

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, India, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Trade, World

MoU to help promote millets and value-added millet products in international markets

In a move to harness the export potential of millets to the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCCs), the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) which works under the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lulu Hypermarket LLC.

APEDA aims to promote millet products and value-added products around the world in association with Lulu Group, which is an international retail hypermarket chain that operates stores and shopping malls across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, India and the Far East.

As per the agreement, the Lulu Group will facilitate promotional activities for millet products and enable the country to display millets and its value-added products, ready to eat products in international retail chains by sourcing it from Farmer Producer Organisations, Farmer Producer Companies, women entrepreneurs and startups.

APEDA will facilitate manufacturers to send various samples of millet products to Lulu Hypermarkets, which will be showcased at its various stores. APEDA, in association with Lulu Group, will also provide assistance in the labelling of the products in accordance with the requirement of different importing countries.

As a part of its series of events for the promotion of the International Year of Millets (IYoM) 2023, APEDA is organising export promotion activities for millets in 16 International Trade Fairs, including Gulfood 2023.

India has exported millets worth $ 46.05 million from April-November 2022-23 and the UAE is the major importing country of Indian millets. The signing of the MoU will facilitate APEDA’s strategy to promote the export of millets and its value-added products in West Asian countries to achieve the overall set target of USD 100 million for the export of millets and its value-added products by 2025.

The MoU was signed between Dr Tarun Bajaj, Director of APEDA and Salim VI, the Chief Operating Officer of LuLu Group in presence of APEDA Chairman Dr M Angamuthu, Consul General of India Dr Aman Puri and M.A. Yusuff Ali, the Chairman & Managing Director of Luu Group.

Speaking on the occasion, APEDA Chairman M Angamuthu said, “It’s a good opportunity to boost our exports as India has very distinctive traditional varieties of millets which are loved by health-conscious people. The export of millets will help in increasing the income of farmers.”

APEDA has also planned to organise millet promotional activities in South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Sydney, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America by facilitating the participation of different stakeholders from India in some of the significant food shows, Buyer Seller Meets and Road Shows.

MoU to help promote millets and value-added

AgroPolicy, R&D, Sustainability

The areas of interest include bio fuel, bio diesel, medicinal plants etc

India and Oman will work together in certain areas like sustainability scientific harnessing of resources under a Programme of Cooperation (POC) in the fields of science and technology.

The areas of cooperation identified based on the POC for the period 2022 – 2025 are medicinal plants and processing, real-time air quality monitoring, development of an electronic platform for knowledge sharing in the field of genetic resources, technical expertise for SMEs in the field of sustainability (Eco-Innovate) Accelerator, plastic bio-fuel, and bio-diesel research, software development for graduate programmes – linking industry with academia, blockchain and FinTech solutions, training programmes – Big-data, coding and testing, STEM teaching and other areas of S&T cooperation added by mutual consent.

The POC document was signed by the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), and Omani Foreign Secretary, on behalf of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman during the bilateral meeting between Dr S Jaishankar, Union Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India and Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, Foreign Minister of Oman.

The Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, on behalf of Government of the Republic of India and the Office of Science, Knowledge & Technology Transfer, Foreign Ministry, on behalf of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, will supervise, coordinate and implement the POC for India and Oman, respectively.

Under the agreement, both countries will support joint scientific projects based on mutual interest, developed jointly by the Indian and Omani institutions. They will encourage the exchange of scientists, researchers, experts, and specialists for the implementation of selected joint projects aimed at developing applicable technology. This will lead to the dissemination of research results and establishing contacts with the industry for the follow-up of research and development work. The countries will also hold at least one workshop each year – alternatively in India and Oman during the 2022 – 2025 period in mutually acceptable areas.

The areas of interest include bio fuel,