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HomePosts Tagged "Value Chain"
Agribusiness, Sustainability, World

The project will enhance the resilience of farmers, including women, against market volatility, natural hazards, and climate change, and increase household and national food security

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a $20 million loan and a $20 million grant to the Kyrgyz Republic to help small and medium-sized agribusinesses improve their processing and storage capacity and reduce post-harvest handling losses, through inclusive, resilient, and climate-adaptive horticultural value chains.   

“The project will enhance the resilience of farmers, including women, against market volatility, natural hazards, and climate change, and increase household and national food security,” said Yevgeniy Zhukov, ADB Director General for Central and West Asia. “By equipping them with climate-smart agricultural technologies and strengthening value chains, farmers and all stakeholders along the value chains will be able to minimise resource cost and increase profitability.”  

The Climate-Resilient Agricultural Value Chain Development Project will provide long-term funds to qualified participating financial institutions to extend better-structured loans for horticulture value chain investments, including fruit and vegetables. Aiyl Bank, the most prominent bank financing the country’s agriculture sector, has been selected as the first financial institution to participate in this project. 

“About 80 per cent of small businesses in the Kyrgyz Republic are currently funded by family, friends, and informal sources,” said Giap Minh Bui, ADB Principal Natural Resources and Agriculture Specialist. “To stimulate private investment in modernizing agricultural value chains, local banks must have access to stable long-term funding sources and offer a range of term-lending products that are appropriate for and affordable to horticulture entrepreneurs, including women.” 

Aside from establishing modern processing, storage, and refrigerated facilities, the project will also help establish contract farming arrangements between farmers and processors and/or exporters; train women business owners; and implement measures to facilitate cross-border trade and branding for products that are unique to the Kyrgyz Republic. 

These measures aim to increase profitability for horticultural producers and agribusiness enterprises and strengthen market linkages to increase national food security.  

The project will enhance the resilience of

Company News, Environment, Sustainability

First-of-its-kind agreement on sustainability data for farmers, processors, food manufacturers and retail brand owners

dsm-firmenich, the leading innovator in health, nutrition, and beauty and Sustained, a SaaS sustainability company announced the partnership to enable customers to report the farm-to-fork environmental footprint of food products containing animal proteins including eggs, meat, milk and fish.

This agreement, the first of its kind, allows farmers, processors, food manufacturers and retail brand owners to manage and communicate the sustainability of food production by leveraging dsm-firmenich’s Suste service for capturing farm-level specific emissions data and Sustained’s platform to deliver product-level environmental life cycle assessments of consumer food products at scale.

One-third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food production. Companies along the food value chain are increasingly called upon to measure, report and reduce their environmental footprints because of their sustainability commitments, regulatory requirements and consumer preferences.

Over 70 per cent of consumers now consider sustainability as a primary driver in purchasing decisions creating a pressing need for transparent and reliable data on sustainability across the entire value chain.

First-of-its-kind agreement on sustainability data for farmers,

AgroPolicy, India, Live Stock

The MoU aims to increase goat productivity, providing advanced training in breeding and healthcare practices and fostering sustainability throughout the goat value chain

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research — Central Institute for Research on Goats (ICAR-CIRG) signed a memorandum of understanding with Heifer India, according to a press release. The MoU aims to increase goat productivity, providing advanced training in breeding and healthcare practices and fostering sustainability throughout the goat value chain.

According to the press release, the collective mission is not only to increase productivity but also to create jobs and combat poverty in India’s rural areas. Both organisations pledged to provide specialised training, unwavering support, and essential resources to smallholder farmers and community agro-veterinary entrepreneurs.

“We are dedicated to co-creating lasting impact in smallholder farmer communities by offering capacity strengthening to bolster autonomous action. Moreover, we actively facilitate linkages with private sector value chain partners to ensure the long-term sustainability of community farming enterprises,” Rina Soni, country director, of Heifer India said in the statement. 

The institute and the organisation share a common purpose — to enhance the lives of smallholder farmers and advance the goat farming sector in India, said Manish Kumar Chatli, director, of ICAR-CIRG. “Together, we will forge a brighter future for all, transforming not only the goat value chain but also the destiny of our dedicated farmers, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of Indian agriculture,” he said.

Both organisations pledged to provide specialised training, unwavering support and essential resources to smallholder farmers and Community Agro-Veterinary Entrepreneurs (CAVEs). Their focus areas include elevating goat productivity, imparting advanced training in breeding and healthcare practices, and fostering sustainability within the goat value chain.

The MoU aims to increase goat productivity,

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Horticulture, Supply Chain, Sustainability

Students, Research Scholars, Faculty Members, Industry, Start-ups, MSMEs, LLPs, and Professionals urged to participate in the hackathon

Rohit Kumar Singh Secretary, of the Department of Consumer Affairs, announced a Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC) hackathon to invite innovative ideas at various levels of the tomato value chain to ensure the availability of tomatoes to consumers at affordable prices and help tomato farmers get value for the produce. TGC has been formulated by the Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with M/o Education (Innovation Cell).

The Grand Challenge invites ideas on comprehensive and focused area interventions in the tomato value chain – from cropping and market insights for the farmers, appropriate cultivars (OP varieties or hybrids) with higher shelf-life of the fruits for the fresh marker, cultivars specifically suitable for processing, value-addition through interventions that can increase shelf-life, improve transportation of fresh and processing products, innovative packaging and storage.

The entry of participants for the TGC are invited under two tracks, namely,  Students, Research Scholars and Faculty Members and Industry individuals, Indian start-ups, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and Professionals. The winning ideas will be evaluated by Experts followed by prototype development and field implementation for ensuring usability/scalability on a large scale and price of the product. Interested participants can apply on the portal: https://doca.gov.in/gtc/index.php

Tomato is produced almost in all the states in India, though in varying quantities. Maximum production is in southern and western regions of India, contributing 56 per cent -58 per cent of all India production. Southern and Western regions being surplus states feed to other markets depending on production seasons.

The production seasons are also different across regions. The peak harvesting season occurred from December to February. The periods from July-August and October-November are the lean production months of tomatoes. July coinciding with the monsoon season adds to further challenges related to distribution and increased transit losses adding to price rise.

The cycle of planting and harvesting seasons and variation across regions are primarily responsible for price seasonality in Tomato. Apart from the normal price seasonality, temporary supply chain disruptions and crop damage due to adverse weather conditions etc. often led to sudden spikes in prices. Conversely, glut in the production at local levels have also led to a dip in prices causing huge loss to the farmers.

Students, Research Scholars, Faculty Members, Industry, Start-ups,

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, India, Pulses

India needs a dynamic trade policy to promote agricultural exports, issues related to agri-export infrastructure, agri-value chains, Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures

Binod Anand the Secrertary General of Confederation of NGOs for Rural India (CNRI), a member of the Committee on MSP and Agri Reforms appreciated the recent announcement government to hike the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Kharif crops.    

Anand, who hails from cooperative sector, strongly advocated utilising PACS (Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society) for structural changes in procurement directly from farmers and democratisation of the value chain.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the increase in MSP on June 7, 2023, for all mandated Kharif crops for the marketing season 2023-24. As per the list released by PIB, GoI announced an increase in MSP rates for the crops of Paddy-Common, Paddy-Grade A, Jowar-Hybrid, Jowar-Maldandi, Bajra, Ragi, Maize, Tur/Arhar, Moong, Urad, Moongfali (Groundnut), Sunflower seed, Soybean (yellow), Sesamum, Nigerseed, Cotton (Medium staple) and Cotton (Long Staple).  The expected margin to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be highest in the case of Bajra (82 per cent) followed by Tur (58 per cent), Soybean (52 per cent) and Urad (51 per cent). For the rest of the crops, the margin to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be at least 50 per cent.

Welcoming the announcement, Binod Anand said, “The MSP of many crops like Jowar, Bajra, Ragi, Nigerseed in comparison to MSP declared for 2014-15, whereas the other crops have witnessed the increase in the rage of 70 to 90 per cent, which is significant if you look at the global scenario.”

Anand also underlined the progress on the front of agricultural exports, wherein India’s agricultural exports increased by about 22.7 per cent in 2020-21, from ₹2.6 lakh crore in 2019-20 to ₹3.2 lakh crore in 2020-21, which further increased to ₹3.9 lakh crore in 2021-22, an increase of 21.6 per cent.

He said that India needs a dynamic trade policy to promote agricultural exports, issues related to agri-export infrastructure, agri-value chains, Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and traceability, export procedures and documentation, etc. need to be addressed apart from giving special thrust on the export of value-added processed products and organic produce.

India needs a dynamic trade policy to

Company News, Environment, North America, Sustainability

Bayer has recently launched ‘ForGround’, a farmer-first digital platform in the United States which promises to transform the way farms of all sizes can more easily make the transition to sustainable agricultural practices. ForGround offers tools, resources, and discounts to advance the adoption of climate smart practices that can transform value chains.
Potential benefits from transitioning to regenerative agriculture includes: 

  • Improved soil health
  • Reduced water uses
  • Fewer inputs 
  • Increased weather resiliency
  • Less soil erosion

The platform is built on Bayer’s years of experience and knowledge in this area to leverage digital infrastructure which allows companies to create, manage and track progress, taking advantage of Bayer’s Climate FieldView™ Platform footprint and data capabilities. It enables farmers to participate in this increasingly transparent supply chain where consumers are interested in knowing how their food is produced.
“As a global leader in agriculture, Bayer is uniquely positioned to help drive lasting change by working directly with farmers and businesses through leveraging our global scale to reduce our impact on the planet and support farms for generations to come”, said Leo Bastos, Head of Global Commercial Ecosystems, Bayer CropScience.

Bayer has recently launched ‘ForGround’, a farmer-first

People

Sunil Arora is a retired civil servant (IAS) with a rich leadership experience spanning over 36 years

Gram Unnati, India’s 1st full stack agricultural value chain services, has announced the appointment of Sunil Arora, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, as its board’s new Chairman (Non-Executive).

Sunil Arora is a retired civil servant (IAS) with a rich leadership experience spanning over 36 years. He has headed strategic departments while driving governance and policy reform initiatives both at the central and state government levels. He has served as Secretary to two key ministries – The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) and the then newly set up Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

Aneesh Jain, CEO and Founder, Gram Unnati said “We are delighted to have Sunil Arora joined us. It is an honour to work under his esteemed guidance and supervision. His rich experience, insights and direction will enable Gram Unnati to further improve its market-linked solution for farmers and sustainably enhance their incomes.”

Arora has served as Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to the Government of Rajasthan and aside from being a key proponent for the Rajasthan State Industrial Policy, he has been on the board of various corporate entities, such as Barmer Mining and Lignite Company, Mahindra SEZ, and Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited.

Arora has led administrative and policy reforms to revitalise the then Indian Airlines as its Chairman & Managing Director from 2000-2005. Under his leadership, the airline turned profitable after years of incurring losses. He also served as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation during 2000-2002 wherein he played a key role in operationalising the deployment of CISF for security purposes at airports.

Sunil Arora is a retired civil servant

Supply Chain

GIV will connect at least one million farmers to the digital ecosystem of GKC by leveraging the network of digitally connected grassroots women entrepreneurs called ‘Grameen Mittras’

Grameen Impact Ventures (GIV), in collaboration with MasterCard Technologies, recently announced the launch of Grameen Kisan Connect (GKC), a significant initiative toward the digitalisation of agriculture value chains in India. Agriculture and allied services account for 18 per cent of India’s GDP and over half of all the employment in the country. Yet, the smallholder farmers, accounting for three-fourths of all the farmers, suffer due to inefficiencies in the agricultural supply chain, resulting in lack of market access, barriers in access to quality inputs at competitive prices and low return on investment on them.

The Grameen Kisan Connect (GKC) platform is a complete digital ecosystem powered by MasterCard Technologies. It brings together primary producers of agricultural commodities, input suppliers, commodity buyers, agro-processors, logistics providers, agricultural credit providers, farmer producer organizations and digital agricultural advisory service providers.

GIV will connect at least one million farmers to the digital ecosystem of GKC by leveraging the network of digitally connected grassroots women entrepreneurs called ‘Grameen Mittras’. This network of over 1,600 women entrepreneurs is spread across 16 districts in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Central Bihar.

Speaking on the occasion of launch of this platform, Prabhat Labh, Founder and CEO of Grameen Impact Ventures said, “Launch of the GKC platform in collaboration with MasterCard Technologies will help in fulfilling an important goal of GIV, which is, to make farming more profitable for the smallholder farmers. By leveraging this digital ecosystem, the farmers will reduce their input costs by benefiting from transparency in input supply, fetch a better price for their produce by having access to a much larger range of buyers on the digital platform and access high-quality crop advisory services.”

GIV will connect at least one million

AgroPolicy

The meeting followed directions from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to scale up shipments in order to alleviate any global supply chain disruptions in view of the geopolitical situation

Amidst a record surge in wheat exports in the current fiscal, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) recently organised a meeting of key stakeholders in the value chain for promoting exports to those countries which have a huge shipment potential.

The meeting, held on March 17, 2022, followed directions from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to scale up shipments in order to alleviate any global supply chain disruptions in view of the geopolitical situation.

The meeting was chaired by APEDA chairman Dr M Angamuthu and had participation of key stakeholders such as traders, exporters, port officials, policy influencers from the Ministries of Food & Consumer Affairs, Railways and officials from various State Governments.

The export of wheat recorded a huge surge at $1742 million during April-January 2021-22, growing 387 per cent over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched $340.17 million.

India has reported a wheat export worth of $2352.22 million in the last three years, including the first ten months of current fiscal 2021-22. In 2019-20, the wheat export was worth $61.84 million which rose to $549.67 million in 2020-21.

India is in final talks to start wheat export to Egypt, while discussions are going on with countries like Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran, etc to start wheat export.

The meeting followed directions from the Ministry

Agrotech, Supply Chain

60 women were initiated as Community Value Chain Resource Persons from 10 FPOs of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh

Arya.Ag in partnership with Bayer Foundation India organised an initiation programme for women community Value Chain Resource Persons (CVRP). Through this programme, 60 women were initiated as Community Value Chain Resource Persons from 10 FPOs of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

The virtual event was attended by Sarita Bahl, Director, Bayer Foundation India, Chattanathan D & Prasanna Rao, Co-founders, Arya.ag and representatives of FPCs who encouraged women from the farm communities to #breakthebias, speak up and empower themselves through farm practices that can benefit their communities economically and socially.

This initiative is part of, ‘Strengthening and Nurturing FPO’s (Farmer Producer Organizations) and providing holistic solutions and is supported by #BayerFoundationIndia and implemented by Arya to support 10 farmer producer organisations and 6000 agricultural households in Araria and Katihar districts of Bihar and Khandwa and Barwani districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The project envisions support for FPCs through capacity building of local cadres and farmers, strategic business planning and piloting business operations, and enabling linkages with other market factors and financial institutions. The project also aims to leverage various government schemes to strengthen the FPCs. The programme will also skill 100 local women and 40 youth in post-harvest management and provide them with job training during the project period.

Arya.ag aims to promote the rightful place for women in agricultural value chain activities and the projects in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh supported by Bayer Foundation India is yet another opportunity for us to assure women’s important role in community-based organisations.

60 women were initiated as Community Value