AgroSpectrum August 2022

4 agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Volume 03  |  Issue 6  |  August 2022

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agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com Agro Edit 5

Dithering
Export Policy

India has sought World Trade Organisation’s Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary, Department of Food
(WTO) approval to export food grains from and Public Distribution (F&PD) had reassured that
its stocks to the countries that are facing food the government was not curbing wheat exports as the
shortage. India can help reduce food insecurity. country had sufficient stocks.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman put forward
this demand while speaking at a seminar on By mid-May the government changed its stance
‘Strengthening global collaboration for tackling food and imposed an export ban on wheat. ‘From
insecurity’ on the sidelines of the third G20 nations’ feeding the world’ the government changed its
finance ministers and Central Bank Governors’ position in just a few days to ban. At the annual
meeting at Bali, Indonesia last month. meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in
Davos, Switzerland, Piyush Goyal, the Minister of
In the case of wheat export, the government Commerce and Industry, defended the government,
seems to be dilly-dallying. First it showed interest stating that officials were worried about price
in wheat export. PM Narendra Modi even declared stability of wheat in the country and 22 European
in Germany how India can feed the world. Then, countries have export regulations in place to protect
suddenly, the government banned the wheat export their food security. It was not clear that even if
creating several hurdles for the exporters who European countries have export regulations why
were already in the process of exporting the staple. India too should have them, particularly just a few
Now, again, the government has shown interest in days after boasting about feeding the world. Still,
food grain exports and sought WTO approval for one could understand that decision considering the
bypassing its norm. The WTO norm is one major decline in the estimates of wheat production, caused
hurdle in food grain exports. It restricts grain by severe heat waves. By mid-May, the government
procured at subsidised prices into the market for lowered its estimate by 5.7 per cent to 105 million
export. This restriction exists from the Uruguay tonnes, from the earlier projection of 111.32 tonnes.
round days. In short, countries are not allowed to Low production is estimated to result in lower
export food grains from their public stocks. As is procurement by government agencies by almost half.
known, the reason for this WTO norm is that the food This year’s stock (till June 1) was merely 311 tonnes,
grains in the public stocks are many times procured the lowest since 2008.
by the government at subsidised prices.
When in such a situation the government banned
Hence, if export from the public stock is allowed wheat export and just in the next two months’ time
there won’t be a fair competition in the market the finance minister seeks to export food grains, the
between food grains made available for sale from question is 'what exactly changed in just two months
the procurement done with subsidised prices and that the government once again shifted its decision?'
procurement done with open market price. Hence, As far as exports of all types of food grains, including
the Indian government is seeking WTO approval wheat, is concerned, the question is when the
for bypassing this norm. However, the finance government is so keen to boost export of food grains,
minister’s recent statement in Bali raises several and naturally so, why is it not interested in allowing
questions over the government’s changing stand direct exports by farmers and traders? Moreover,
about wheat exports within a short period. it is insisting on exporting from public stocks by
seeking waiver of WTO’s restriction norm, thus
In the first week of May, the government was having obligations of WTO members. Such waivers, if
willing to export wheat. While in Germany, PM received, might come with some strings attached.
Modi had said, “At a time when the world is facing a
shortage of wheat, the farmers of India have stepped Dr. Milind Kokje,
forward to feed the world. Whenever humanity is Chief Editor
faced with a crisis, India comes up with a solution.”
[email protected]

6 Content agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Content

Cover 16

HAgorwi VTaelcuhenCohloaginy is Driving

The agriculture value chain consists of the entire gamut of activities from seeds
to last mile delivery of agri produce and includes men and machines engaged in
agricultural activities. Therefore, an agricultural value chain would incorporate
developing seeds, sowing, pest control, agricultural production, harvesting and
handling, transportation, storage, processing, packaging, finance and market
linkages. Technology is playing a vital role in agri value chains by providing end-
to-end solutions and leveraging AI to bring the power of predictive intelligence to
enhance productivity and profitability.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com Content 7

Content

24 ICT: The Silver Bullet Event report
to Deliver an ‘Income
Revolution’ in the Agri 36 APEDA & Agrovision -
Value Chain Outreach Programme
Great potential to boost
29 How AgriTech Startups exports of fruits and
are Making the Agri Value vegetables from Vidarbha:
Chain Future Ready Nitin Gadkari

32 38 Harnessing the PPP model
to boost agriculture
Debottlenecking
Agri Value Chains 40 Awards
MM Activ bags recognition
Anil Kumar SG, for exhibition excellence

Founder and CEO, Samunnati

s p ea k i n g wi t h

“Lack of digital literacy 34
among stakeholders
may bring reluctance

to adopt new practices''

Srivatsa Sreenivasarao,

CEO and Co-Founder, TraceX
Technologies

Re g u l ar s

Editorial............................................................. 05
Your Views....................................................... 08
Policy News..................................................... 09
Finance News.................................................. 11
Livestock news............................................... 13
Startups News................................................ 14
People News.................................................... 41
Academic News.............................................. 42
Technology News........................................... 44
Agri-Inputs news............................................. 46
Supply chain news......................................... 48
Let's Talk Agri.................................................. 50

8 your views agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

TOP VIDEO

Minesh Shah,
Chairman, NDDB
talks about the
status of milk
procurement
India and the way
forward.

Scan the QR Dr Bhupesh Feedback
Code  Vaid, Evolution
Scan the QR Zone Lead- Millet Informative issue on agri
Code  & Mustard Corteva export
Scan the QR Agriscience
Code  informs about The July 22 edition of AgroSpectrum
scope for millet has covered all segments of agri
export in the exports. Articles and interviews related
international to different segments of agri export are
market. very informative and useful for small
scale exporters in agri industry.
Amarendra Pani,
Joint Director, Sagar Raiturkar, Nagpur
Association of
Indian Universities Interesting article on
highlights on- horticulture export
ground realities
about doubling the “Horticulture Exports: The Next Big
farmers income. Thing” article by Pankaj Khandelwal,
Chairman and MD INI Farms published
in July 22 is very interesting and useful.
It will help horticulture exporters for
expanding their business.

Kinjal Jamnerkar, Pune

Issue on career in
agribusiness

AgroSpectrum should publish special
issue on career options in agri business.
It will help agriculture students to
explore more career options besides
traditional farming and conventional
jobs in agriculture.

Hardik Upadhay, Mumbai

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com pPoolliiccyy nneewwss 9

Union Agri Minister launches Platform of
Platforms (POP) under e-NAM

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers providers as a ‘platform of platforms. The POP will
Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, launched the open avenues for farmers to digitally access multiple
Platform of Platforms (POP) under the National markets, buyers and service providers and bring
Agriculture Market (e-NAM) on the sidelines of transparency in business transactions with the aim
the State Agriculture and Horticulture Ministers’ of improving price search mechanism and quality
Conference in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The commensurate price realisation. 41 service providers
introduction of POP, will help farmers to sell their from different platforms are covered under POP
produce outside their state borders. The eNAM is an facilitating various value chain services like trading,
electronic trading portal set up by the government to quality checks, warehousing, fintech, market
create a national network of physical mandis that is information, transportation etc. The PoP will create
available online. This portal integrates a platform of a digital ecosystem, which will benefit from the
service providers such as composite service providers, expertise of different platforms in different segments
logistics service providers, quality assurance service of the agricultural value chain.

India’s North-East Agri Ministry releases
region gets push to equity grant of Rs 37 Cr
become agri export hub to 1,018 FPOs

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products The Union Minister of Agriculture and
Export Development Authority (APEDA), has Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar
signed an MoU with Assam Agriculture University, released an equity grant of more than
Jorhat to conduct various training programmes Rs 37 crore to 1,018 farmer producer
on pre-harvest and post-harvest management organisations (FPOs) under the Central
and other research activities to promote exports Sector Scheme (CSS), which will benefit
of horticulture products grown in North-Eastern about 3.5 lakh farmers. This will lead to
(NE) states. This is part of the government's the goal of setting up 10,000 FPOs. The
strategy to promote locally produced agricultural Producer Members’ equity, supplemented
products to international markets. The NE region by a similar equity grant from the Central
is geopolitically important as it shares international Government, would strengthen the financial
boundaries with China and Bhutan, Myanmar, base of the FPOs and help them to avail
Nepal and Bangladesh, making it the potential loans from financial institutions for their
hub for the export of agricultural produce to projects and working capital requirements
neighbouring countries, as well as other foreign for business development. Under the
destinations. APEDA aims at creating a platform in scheme, up to Rs 18 lakh financial aid per
Assam for the exporters to get the products directly FPO will be provided for a period of three
from the producer group and the processors . The years. In addition, a loan of Rs 2,000 for
platform will link the producers and processors each farmer member of the FPO within a
of Assam and exporters from other parts of the limit of Rs 15 lakh per FPO will be available.
country that would expand the base of the export There is also a provision of project loan or
pockets in the North-Eastern states. Agri exports equivalent grant from any eligible lending
from the NE region rose by 85.34 per cent to $17.72 institution of up to Rs 2 crore per FPO.
million in 2021-22 from $2.52 million in 2016-17.

10 Pyo luirc yv ineewwss agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Centre directs edible oil associations to
reduce MRP by Rs 15

The Department of Food and Public Distribution, consumers by the industry and the administration
has directed leading edible oil associations to must be kept informed. Some companies which
ensure reduction in the MRP of edible oils by Rs 15 have not reduced their prices and their MRP is
with immediate effect. The Centre also advised that higher than other brands have also been advised
the price to distributors by the manufacturers and to reduce their prices. As international prices of
refiners also needs to be reduced immediately
so that the price drop is not diluted in any imported edible oils are on a downward
way. The government said that whenever trend, the domestic edible oil industry
a reduction in price to distributors is
made by the manufacturers /refiners, has been instructed to reflect the
the benefit should be passed on to the change by lowering retail prices.
Consumers can look forward to some
extra savings in their kitchen budget.

Fishery sector needs an States to increase
integrated structure like production and area
dairy: NN Sinha under millets

At the first conference on Fishtech, organised by The two-day National Conference of
the industry chamber FICCI, NN Sinha, Secretary, Agriculture and Horticulture Ministers of
Ministry of Rural Development said, “it is crucial states, organised by the Union Ministry
to have an integrated chain of activities when of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in
organising fish farmers, especially those who coordination with the Government of
are poor.” Sinha said “the fishery sector in India Karnataka, concluded in Bengaluru.
would benefit enormously from developing an After extensive deliberations in various
integrated structure akin to the dairy sector. There sessions during the conference, the states
is a lot of scope for developing such a value chain.” agreed to increase their contribution in
He also referred to growing seaweed, ornamental areas such as Natural Farming, Digital
fishing, and cage culture as viable livelihood Agriculture, Crop Insurance, promotion
activities. A FICCI PwC report, “Championing of Farmer Producer Organisations
the blue economy: Promoting sustainable growth (FPOs) and Agricultural Infrastructure
of the fisheries sector in India”, was released on Fund towards achieving the Central
the occasion. The report showcases the potential Government’s efforts for Sustainable
of India’s fisheries sector, trends, opportunities, Agriculture Development. The conference
challenges, and strategic interventions needed to also deliberated upon the International
support the blue economy in India and build a Year of Millets – 2023 to be observed in
sustainable and profitable future for the industry. the next year. In light of the importance
of nutritious cereals, the states agreed to
increase their production and area, as well
as promote the processing, value addition
and marketing of such grains, in step with
the central government.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com Fpi noalni ccye nneewwss 11

Sonalika clocks highest ever WRMS secures
Q1 overall sales of 39,274
tractors in FY’23 €2.1M from

India’s leading tractor export brand, Sonalika Tractors has InsuResilience
reported its best-ever Q1 sales performance by selling 39,274
tractors for the first quarter of FY ‘23, a growth of 18 per cent Solutions Fund
above 33,219 overall tractor sales recorded in the corresponding
period in FY’22. With this performance, the company has InsuResilience Solutions
further accelerated its journey in the ongoing financial year and Fund (ISF), managed by the
Frankfurt School of Finance
cemented its position for upcoming seasons. & Management (FS), and
Despite an unprecedented heat wave affecting financed by KfW Development
crop production across the country, the MSP Bank, has signed a grant
uptick from the government has facilitated agreement with Weather
Risk Management Services
healthy rural cash flow, thereby (WRMS), an agriculture
driving overall tractor demand risk management company,
in Q1 FY ’23. As the monsoons and INGEN Technologies,
continue across the country, a data provider of weather
Sonalika Tractors hope to stations. This is to co-fund
remain at the forefront the project development
to support farmers, win and implementation of the
their everyday farming yield guarantee solution.
challenges. The project aims to improve
the resilience of 100,000
Mahindra’s FES sells 39,825 smallholder farmers in India
units tractors in India during against climate risks and to
June 2022 incentivise smart agricultural
risk management practices,
Mahindra & Mahindra Limited’s Farm Equipment Sector as well as to scale up the
yield guarantee solution for
(FES), part of the Mahindra Group, has recently announced crops such as cotton, chilli,
paddy, wheat and potato. The
its tractor sales numbers for June 2022. Domestic sales stood solution guarantees farmers
a benchmark yield, provided
at 39,825 units, as against 46,875 units last year. Total tractor they follow the Package of
Practice (PoP) shared with
sales (Domestic + Exports) during June 2022 were at 41,848 them on the SecuFarm app. If
the actual yield is still below
units, as against 48,222 units for the same period last year. the benchmark yield due to
any extreme weather attack
The company ascribed its tractor sales to the financial health or crop disease, the farmer is
compensated by WRMS, in
of farmers. It said, “with good prices for Rabi output, cash flow proportion to the shortfall.

with farmers is good. Government’s approval to increase MSP

for all Kharif crops and forecast of a normal monsoon is very

positive for a bumper Kharif crop. Though Kharif sowing is

lagging in the first fortnight of the season than last year

due to deficient rainfall in key Kharif states, further

advancement of southwest monsoons across the

country brings in positive sentiments

and is likely to boost the tractor

demands in the coming months.

In the exports market, we have

sold 2023 tractors with a

growth of 50 per cent over

last year.”

12 Fpyionluairnccyveineenwwesws s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Wingsure, AICIL to provide
digital management
services to farmers

Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited (AICIL), a

nationalised insurance company under the Ministry of Finance,

Government of India, has signed a three-year agreement with

Wingsure, an insurtech company that leverages artificial

intelligence and deep

Slash GST on technology to protect

agrochemicals farmers worldwide. As

from 18% to 5%: part of the agreement,

FICCI Wingsure will use its

The Federation of Indian advanced technology
Chambers of Commerce &
Industry (FICCI) has said capabilities to
that the GST Council should
consider the agrochemical significantly strengthen
industry’s request favourably
seeking reduction of the the accessibility of insurance products and services to farmers
tax rate on agrochemical
inputs for the farm sector in India; curate and promote AICIL’s comprehensive portfolio
from current 18 per cent to
5 per cent at the maximum. of agriculture insurance products and enable its channels,
R G Agarwal, Chair, FICCI
Committee on Crop Protection including groups and partner brokers, to distribute on its
and Chairman, Dhanuka
Group stated that high Goods mobile app. Launched to support economic empowerment
and Service Tax (GST) on crop
protection chemicals especially with transparency and promote sustainability through
hurts small and marginal
farmers by increasing their modern agricultural practices, Wingsure’s application
input cost and prompting
them to use these essential leverages advanced computer vision, augmented reality, and
ingredients in sub-optimal
quantities to the detriment voice capabilities to provide intelligence and facilitate the
of farm output and their own
financial health. A GST of 18 underwriting and insurance claims processes for smallholder
per cent on agrochemicals is
highly unjustified since they farmers.
act as insurance to not only
crop health but also increase Israel’s Rivulis announces
the quality, yield and income $250M debt financing
of farmers. This high rate of 18 package led by HSBC
per cent is not justified and it
should be brought down to a Rivulis Pte. Ltd. has announced that it has signed definitive
maximum of 5 per cent at par
with fertilisers. agreements with five banks for the financing of its current

and future debt for an amount of up to $250,000,000. The

syndication was led by HSBC, with the participation of the State

Bank of India, Rabobank

(Netherlands), Leumi

Bank (Israel) and First

International Bank of

Israel. The financing

package will allow Rivulis

to refinance its own debt

and also the debt of the

International Irrigation Business (IIB) of Jain Irrigation (India),

which, according to prior announcements made on June 22,

2022, will merge with Rivulis, pending regulatory approvals.

Whilst not in place yet, Rivulis has the option to approach all the

lenders to incorporate sustainability features based on KPIs (to

be agreed) in order to track the company’s ESG performance.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com l i vfeipnsoatlnoicceyk nneewwss 13

Govt launches ‘Animal Japan’s ISE Foods
Husbandry Infrastructure launches high-quality
Development Fund’ projects egg sales in India

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Japan’s largest and world’s fifth largest egg
Animal Husbandry and Dairying launched Animal producer, ISE Foods Inc, has launched the
Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund production and sales of its quality eggs, ISE
(AHIDF) projects and felicitated entrepreneurs Egg Premium, in India through ISE-Suzuki Egg
in the AHIDF conclave held in New Delhi. Rupala India Private Limited, its Indian subsidiary.
in his address highlighted the importance of the ISE Foods, is bringing “ISE Integration
dairy and fisheries sector and congratulated System” to produce Japanese standard hygienic
the entrepreneurs for their contribution in the and nutritious eggs indigenously in Punjab
development of the sector and for generating for Indian people. As eggs are normally laid
employment for farmers and people in rural areas.
He highlighted the need to focus on livestock with manure, and tend
health, including sustainable food systems for to become contaminated
farm animals. The conclave aimed at providing a with salmonella and
platform for knowledge sharing about the AHIDF bacteria, ISE Foods Inc
Scheme and facilitation of various stakeholders. has established “ISE
The conclave saw the participation of over 600 Integration System” for
entrepreneurs, stakeholders, lenders/SLBC’s, over six decades which is a complete ecosystem
government officials ( state and central ), common to produce hygienic, nutritious, and fresh eggs
service centers, industry associations/ farmers in Japan. It boasts strict hygienic standards
associations and government organisations. and operation in a temperature-controlled
environment. ISE Foods now has transferred
its technology and know-how to India. Fresh
ISE Egg Premium will be sold at chilled
shelves of selected stores in Chandigarh and
Delhi, NCR for the first time in India. Ise
Egg Premium has full traceability via its ERP
system.

Fisheries Dept launches new lab
project on National Fish Farmers Day

The National Fisheries Development Board production. Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary (Inland
(NFDB), Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Fisheries) said, “the contribution of fisheries in the
Husbandry and Dairying, celebrated the 22nd country’s GDP is steadily rising. About 2.8 crore
National Fish Farmers Day in a hybrid mode people are dependent on fisheries in the country.”
at NFDB Hyderabad. Jatindra Nath Swain, Fish farmers availing quality seeds from the
Secretary Department of Fisheries launched the National Freshwater Fish Brood Bank (NFFBB)
NFDB Lab project on “Assessment of pathogenic gave feedback on growth performance of improved
microorganisms along with nutrient and residual seed varieties. North Eastern fish farmers also
contaminant profiling in fish and aqua feeds”. On shared their prospects in the fisheries sector.
this occasion NFDB and State Bank of India signed
an MoU to facilitate the Fisheries and Aquaculture
Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) &
Entrepreneur Models scheme. This caters to
creation of fisheries infrastructure facilities both in
marine and inland fisheries sectors to augment fish

14 sfyitonauarrntcvueipenwneeswwss agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

nurture.farm ties up Vegrow secures $25M in
with SBI GI and FGII Series B funding from
to expand insurance Prosus Ventures
solutions for farmers
B2B marketplace for fruits Vegrow has received
Bengaluru-based nurture.farm, India’s $25 million in a Series B round led by Prosus
leading agriTech startup has announced its Ventures. Existing investors including Matrix
partnership with SBI, General Insurance and Partners India, Elevation Capital, Lightspeed,
Future Generali India Insurance Company, Ankur Capital and angel investor Sanjiv Rangrass
to further expand its insurance solutions for also participated in the round. The new round has
the 1.9 million farmers who use its nurture. come after a gap of 12 months for the Bengaluru-
farm app. The company had recently received based startup which picked up $13 million in
the corporate agency licence from India’s Series A in July last year. “The funds will primarily
Insurance Regulatory and Development be used for expansion into more demand centres,
Authority (IRDA). This licence enables establishing dominance across supply micro-
nurture.farm to help farmers access innovative pockets and hirings,” said VeGrow in a statement.
insurance solutions at cost-effective price Vegrow says it has grown 15-fold in the last 12
points. With these partnerships, nurture.farm months with industry leading gross margins of 20
aims to offer its insurance solutions to 2 million per cent. The company, however, did not disclose
farmers in 2022-23, and will continuously its revenue numbers for FY22. During FY21,
innovate to offer risk mitigation solutions to Vegrow remained a pre-revenue stage company
farmers. The startup intends to offer remote with Rs 11.8 crore in revenue and
sensing-based farm level insurance to farmers, a loss of Rs 4.8 crore. Vegrow
which is one of the missing links in increasing claims that it engages with
farmer resilience in India. farmers across more than
400 production areas and
helps them align with
market expectations
while getting a better
yield. According to the
company, it processes
more than 200 tonnes of fruits
daily.

BiofuelCircle raises $0.75M in seed funding
led by Spectrum Impact & Better Capital

Pune-based BiofuelCircle, India’s first and one-of-its-kind online
marketplace designed for biomass and biofuels has announced $0.75 million
in their second round of seed funding. The funding was co-led by Spectrum
Impact, Better Capital, Dr Shridhar Shukla and others. BiofuelCircle started
as a bootstrapped company and has raised $1.75 million since inception.
Launched in July 2021, BiofuelCircle is a digital platform for green fuels,
creating a farm-to-fuel ecosystem that currently operates in Maharashtra,
Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The company aims to address the challenges
around the bioenergy supply chain. It also aims to make a positive impact
on the environment by reducing greenhouse emissions while helping the
rural community by providing economic value, clean energy and increased
job opportunities. The company aims to widen its digital toolkit and launch
operations in Northern India by the end of 2022.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com l i vsetpsaotrloticukyp nneewwss 15

SVG VENTURES THRIVE Gram Unnati
launches ‘Global Impact launches knowledge
Challenge’ with ICL Planet awareness
workshop with KVK
SVG Ventures | THRIVE, a global AgriFood
investment and innovation platform Delhi-based Gram Unnati, India’s first
headquartered in Silicon Valley has launched the integrated agriTech solutions company,
Global Impact Challenge. The contest is dubbed as recently conducted the first of a series
the hunt for the most innovative global companies, of knowledge workshops along with
creating the biggest impact in driving towards a Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Bareilly,
net-zero future for agriculture. The challenge, for paddy farmers in Uttar Pradesh.
held in partnership with ICL Group, a global The first camp was held at Mangadpur
specialty minerals company, was announced in village, Riccha Block in Bareilly, attended
Tel Aviv, Israel, with additional premium partners by nearly 100 paddy farmers. The
for the competition including Bayer, BASF, purpose of the knowledge workshop
Driscoll’s, Kubota and Valmont. The challenge was to provide guidance to farmers
themes, which align with the UN’s Sustainable about the appropriate and scientifically
Development Goals, are focused on soil health and recommended practices to be followed
biodiversity, increasing food security as well as in the crop after transplantation has
reducing and offsetting GHG emissions. Stressing taken place. Similar workshops have
on the urgency for disruptive innovations in been lined up with KVKs across western
creating a more sustainable, prosperous, inclusive, Uttar Pradesh. Gram Unnati also plans
healthy and equitable future, the venture says it to extend its awareness programmes
is “passionate about playing a significant role in to Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya
spurring the collective change needed to tackle Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana, and
this crisis, which led to the creation of the Global Maharashtra. The general focus of the
Impact Challenge.” workshops revolves around imparting
best practices for paddy with an emphasis
on the agronomical practices to be
followed after sowing as well as looking
into opportunities for market linkages.

Ecozen raises first tranche of Series C
funding led by Dare Ventures

Climate-smart deep tech startup Ecozen debt funding. Early investors in Ecozen include
announced that it has raised Rs 54 crore of IFA and Omnivore. Ecozen sees a significant
additional funding as the first tranche of a planned opportunity in applying its technology stacks
Rs 200 crore Series C round. The new funding
round was led by Dare Ventures, the venture and introducing climate-smart solutions for
capital arm of Coromandel International, sectors beyond agriculture, notably electric
with participation from existing vehicles. The company expects the market
investors Caspian and Hivos-Triodos
Fonds (managed by Triodos Investment size for its innovative technology stacks
Management) through equity. Northern in India to grow to $25 billion by 2025.
Arc, UC Inclusive Credit, Maanaveeya, In the coming years, Ecozen will launch
and Samunnati also participated with multiple products which build on its deep
tech expertise in thermal energy storage,
motor controls, IoT, and analytics.

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HDroiwvinTgecAhgnroi lVoaglyueisChain

The agriculture value chain consists of the entire gamut of activities from seeds
to last mile delivery of agri produce and includes men and machines engaged in
agricultural activities. Therefore, an agricultural value chain would incorporate
developing seeds, sowing, pest control, agricultural production, harvesting and
handling, transportation, storage, processing, packaging, finance and market
linkages. Technology is playing a vital role in agri value chains by providing end-
to-end solutions and leveraging AI to bring the power of predictive intelligence to
enhance productivity and profitability.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com s tpaorlti cu ypCnoevwesr 17

Despite being the backbone of the Indian Chief Technology Officer, CropIn said, “While
economy, the agriculture sector still agriculture is a critical national priority sector,
requires significant technological it is still largely unorganised, and has seen
transformation, particularly when relatively low adoption of technology. At CropIn,
it comes to maintaining a healthy and smooth we believe end-to-end digitisation of agriculture
agri value chain. Farm to fork is not a new and leveraging AI to bring the power of predictive
concept in India, but it requires a great deal intelligence is critical to enhance productivity and
of technological assistance to be implemented profitability.”
widely. The agricultural sector has seen a shift in
how agri traders interact with technology over He further said, “Our intelligent,
the last few years. Artificial intelligence (AI) and interconnected deep tech platform uses satellite
machine learning (ML), remote sensing, big imagery, remote sensing, data science, and AI/
data, blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) ML to derive real-time actionable insights and
are transforming agricultural value chains and help build a more efficient and sustainable agri-
modernising operations. ecosystem. It benefits all stakeholders including
farmers, farming companies, agri-input providers,
To explain this phenomenon, there are food processing companies, retailers, agri lenders
numerous factors at play, including increasing and insurers, governments, and development
internet access in rural areas, the rise of usage agencies.”
of smartphones, affordable data plans, and the
widespread use of platforms like WhatsApp and Sharing similar thoughts, Kartheeswaran
YouTube. This has helped agri-traders seek out Kandasamy, COO & Co-Founder, Ninjacart
new trading opportunities, whether it's trading said, “We use technology to organise the
in new regions or exploring the import/export agricultural ecosystem. Our company sources
market, an unexpected upside of the COVID-19 fruits and vegetables directly from farmers and
impact. AgriTech has also received attention transports the produce in less than 12 hours
from the government. As a result, Indian agri- across 50 cities. This is done with the help of AI
businessmen are well-versed in the most recent algorithm capabilities that have been deployed
changes in the industry and are better prepared across a variety of supply chain functions,
to meet the challenges and opportunities that lie including predictive demand forecasting and
ahead. planning, pricing decisions, and logistics route
optimisation.”
Agriculture in India is in a transformative
phase and with the rise of AgriTech, the sector is He added further that while planning each
going through a dual transformation. The global route, a company considers the distance between
population is estimated to increase by 35 per Collection Centres (CC) as well as the distance
cent, come 2050, which means the agricultural between Fulfilment Centres (FC) and Distribution
production needs to double to meet the Centres (DC) to ensure maximum capacity at
consumption needs. the lowest possible cost. This is done using
sophisticated software that understands the city's
On one hand, agri ecosystem players are geography, the maximum capacity of the vehicles
trying to solve the age-old problems associated in use, and the required cost. All of this adds up
with productivity and farmers’ income and on to enough information to execute and create a
the other, new-age AgriTechs are also enabling distribution route for the day.
India’s agricultural practices to match up to the
global standards on critical aspects like climate The implementation of technology-led
change, challenges to food security and the solutions especially in the post-harvest stages
adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. of agriculture has proven to be sustainable
Thus, with an aim to be globally competitive, and instrumental in reimagining the Indian
viable and sustainable, India is spearheading agricultural ecosystem. In India, the true success
its way towards adopting new-age technologies of digital technologies would be their adoption in
and innovation to help farmers, lower the costs small and micro-farms.
of production, achieve better quality grades and
avoid distress sales. Addressing productivity loss

Sharing his perspective, Rajesh Jalan, Food loss or productivity loss in agriculture
can take many forms, including those caused by

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“While agriculture is a critical pests and diseases, inefficient farming practices,
national priority sector, it extreme weather events, and other factors. If
is still largely unorganised, cultivators have the right information, they can
and has seen relatively low address these issues with technology.
adoption of technology.
We believe end-to-end “Food loss happens at every stage. It can
digitisation of agriculture be due to the use of damaged seeds before
and leveraging AI to bring cultivation, due to pests and weeds during
the power of predictive cultivation, or losses incurred at the time of
intelligence is critical to storage and transportation. All of these are
enhance productivity and profitability.” currently being addressed by various AgriTech
-Rajesh Jalan, Chief Technology Officer, CropIn companies that specialise in these areas. We also
need to consider the food wastage that occurs
“The government has because the farmer or supplier was not able to
become more interested find the right buyer on time. Or situations where
in AgriTech, thanks to they sold their commodities, but at a loss. These
the success of over 600 last two situations can be avoided by using apps
AgriTech startups operating like Bijak which focus on connecting agri traders
in this space. Over the last with trustworthy counterparties from across
two years, AgriTech has India,” said Nikhil Tripathi, Co-Founder, Bijak.
attracted investments worth
$600 million, and forecasts Talking about the tech innovations in
show that it can attract agriculture, Dr Shyam Gunnamreddy, Founder
$500 million to $1 billion annually, in the coming & CEO, Samhitha Crop Care Clinics opined,
years. And most of these investments have been “Current innovations have enabled agriculture
driven by the positive results generated by these value chain consumers to use their digital
startups. facilities to gain positive input data, involvement,
-Nikhil Tripathi, Co-Founder, Bijak and perhaps even market places. Crop selection
and production scheduling also are moving more
“With technology, we towards enhanced mechanisation and precision
can control agricultural farming.”
production. With CEA, we can
practice protected agriculture, He further said, “ Modern agriculture
thereby minimising crop remedies include inclusive picture, spectroscopic,
failure arising out of climate and detector data analysis for on-field
change and extreme weather performance assaying, as well as tech-enabled
conditions. With technology- margin calls and debt payment procedures.
censored irrigation, we can Incorporating tech services, particularly in the
grow crops with minimum post-harvest phases of farming, has proven to
water, making us free from rain-dependence, be long-term and useful in rethinking the Indian
drought and other natural water shortages that agricultural ecosystem.”
may again result in crop failure.”
-Tarun Arora, Director, IG international Another area is related to plant health. In the
case of paddy cultivation, Indian farmers lose an
“We have seen numerous average of 37 per cent of their rice produce every
companies integrate AI year to pests and diseases, leading to substantial
and ML in their business yield and income loss.
strategies where data
accuracy becomes Addressing this issue, Jalan said, “We
paramount for their carried out a pilot project in partnership with
success. Without it, modern Space4Good in several districts of Andhra
technology doesn’t mean a Pradesh recently. The platform - CropLens uses
single thing, as the results Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information
you get, depend on the Systems (GIS), and AI applications, to undertake
quality of data you provide.” a pest and disease forecast that could deliver a 20
- Saurabh S, President, Praman.Ai per cent boost in yield.”

Commenting further on the subject of

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reducing food loss through technology, Tarun “Though the government
Arora, Director, IG international said, “With spends a lot on R&D, its
technology, we can control production. With share in technological
CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) advancement is negligible.
we can practice protected agriculture, thereby Established private players
minimising crop failure arising out of climate are not showing much
change and extreme weather conditions. With interest in such R&Ds as the
technology-censored irrigation, we can grow pay-off is not clear and also,
crops with minimum water, making us free from agriculture has so many
rain-dependence, drought and other natural water policy-level restrictions that brings uncertainty
shortages that may again result in crop failure. for businesses of private players.”
With data analysis, we can predict consumption -Varun Khurana, Founder & CEO, Otipy
patterns and control production, thereby reducing
excess production that may result in waste. With “Significant percentage of
advancement in warehousing and logistics and post-harvest losses can be
cold chain etc, we can avert loss in transportation, controlled through improving
storage and distribution. Overall, we can bring pre-harvest factors which
down food loss by infusing technology in our are causing losses. We can
operations.” improve post-harvest losses
through intervention in the
The magnitude of food losses in the food field production to a large
supply chain vary greatly among different crops, extent. One such intervention
areas, and economies. A significant amount of to improve pre-harvest is supplying balanced
produce is lost in post-harvest operations due nutrition, which significantly improves quality,
to a lack of agriculture nutrition knowledge, yield and shelf-life.”
inefficient use of fertilisers, inadequate harvesting - Mahesh Girdhar, President, Crop Nutrition
technology and poor storage infrastructure. Business, Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals

Mahesh Girdhar, President, Crop Nutrition Corporation
Business at Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals
Corporation Limited, emphasising the role of “From visiting mandis to
balanced nutrition in the agri value chain said, persuading the retailers,
“Significant percentage of post-harvest losses we've come a long way and
can be controlled through improving pre- encountered numerous
harvest factors which are causing losses. We can difficulties in operating the
improve post-harvest losses through intervention advanced version because all
in the field production to a large extent. It of its roles were data-driven. It
needs improvised intervention during in-field was also more difficult to gain
operations. One such intervention to improve pre- the farmers' support because
harvest is supplying balanced nutrition, which they would rather deal with middlemen than
significantly improves quality, yield and shelf-life, trust an unknown tech startup.”
which will help to reduce losses in the agri value -Kartheeswaran Kandasamy, COO & Co-
chain”.
Founder, Ninjacart
Challenges to imbedding technology
“Once the financial concerns
What matters most is how the grower thinks have been resolved,
about the process. The grower focuses primarily farmers will be able to
on the upfront costs. In addition, the cost of make technology-based
installing new technology is enormous. This investments. It will also help
presents a significant challenge for farmers who them make environmentally-
don't have financial resources. Here primarily, friendly decisions. Overall,
financial institutions and agricultural boards, the AgriTech industry will not
as well as governments and banks, need to step only increase the overall value
in and give farmers a hand. Secondly, access chain of the Indian agricultural space, it will
also increase farmers' income and improve the
farmland quality.”
- Saurabh Agarwal, Founder, GROWiT India

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FPOs- Enhancing agri
productivity value chain
Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have emerged as the
Aneesha Bali, most preferred institutional mechanism for farmer prosperity
by policy makers and development agencies. There are over
Project Lead, National 30,000 FPOs in the country as on date and the government’s push
Association for Farmer Producer via the Central Sector Scheme titled ‘Formation and Promotion of
Organisations (NAFPO) 10,000 FPOs’ has further accelerated the momentum. In recent
years, FPOs have moved beyond providing farmers with inputs
and have started to add value through aggregation and primary
processing, before sale of commodities.

Several FPOs have already gone beyond the traditional
aggregation and marketing business to carry out processing,
sorting and grading, warehousing and export. These FPOs are also
working towards the introduction of technology in the agri sector
for streamlining FPO's aggregation, processing, transportation and

to the latest technology can be difficult. As and integrated supply chains for storage and
each of these methods is protected by a patent, transportation are critical for the agricultural
farmers may be discouraged from employing sector. With only 40 per cent of the rural
them if they entail licences or other obligations. population being active users as of now, a
Thirdly, technological intervention harms small significant challenge becomes a weak internet
landholders because they are unable to access infrastructure, largely in remote agriculture areas.
financing, inputs, and the market due to their lack This holds true when technologies are driven by
of resources. quality mapping of data in real-time at every stage
of the supply chain, largely hindering the speed at
According to Varun Khurana, Founder & which data is transmitted and while the transfer
CEO, Otipy, “The lack of investment in R&D is of data is still possible, it is still an area that
a problem. Though the government spends a lot requires significant growth.
on R&D, its share in technological advancement
is negligible. Established private players are not Saurabh S, President Praman.Ai said, “We
showing much interest in such R&Ds as the pay- have seen numerous companies integrate AI
off is not clear and also, agriculture has so many and ML in their business strategies where data
policy-level restrictions that brings uncertainty accuracy becomes paramount for their success.
for businesses of private players. There are a few Without it, modern technology doesn’t mean
startups taking up these initiatives but they have a single thing, as the results you get, depend
very limited access to capital and hence, limited on the quality of data you provide. At Praman,
time to prove and build profitable businesses.” when training the AI model, we had to ensure
a database and create a standardised quality
He said the fact that a majority of India’s index. We had spent months manually collating
farmers are smallholders with low purchasing data such as defects, colours, litre weights etc.,
power, limits their scope of adopting or using new in coordination with some of the largest global
technologies. Besides, “Government schemes retailers - their warehouse and collection centres
too are available for a limited technology (mainly and our internal quality control teams along
cold chain facilities) thus, the market for these with measurable refraction samples-based tests
technologies becomes very small,” he pointed out. conducted in laboratory-controlled settings.”

Technological interventions such as AI and Adding more information Kandasamy
ML for quality assessment, market linkages,

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sale. Thereby, increasing the participation of FPOs Retail. Such arrangements benefit both farmers and
in exercises higher up the value chain and hence agri businesses.
ensuring greater participation for FPOs in the
agri supply chain. The penetration of technology While, at present, there are some challenges to
in the agri value chain will be a game changer in FPOs, playing a larger role in the agri value chain
increasing production in India and FPOs are best such as lack of immediate access to primary and
placed to absorb it. There are numerous examples of secondary processing centres, cold storage etc. The
success stories where FPOs are participating in the government's recent policy push via initiatives like
agri-value chain. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), and Credit
Guarantee Scheme, have given FPOs a booster shot
One example to highlight the role/contribution to play a larger role in the agri value chain.
of FPOs in the agriculture value chain is -
participation of FPOs in direct selling of produce NAFPO is a multi-stakeholder owned
to agri businesses such as ITC, Adani Wilmar, organisation that works on creating an enabling
Britannia and Reliance Retail among others. FPOs ecosystem to support FPOs such as capacity
have provided farmers and the farm markets building initiatives, solving human resource
with adaptability which would be very difficult in challenges, policy advocacy etc. It coordinates
procurement under normal circumstances. An FPO and integrates efforts at the level of meso action
in Karnataka has signed an agreement to sell 500 in mainstreaming farmer institutions and offers
metric tonnes of special variety rice to Reliance support in strengthening individual FPOs for farmer
welfare by augmenting their incomes.

said, “From visiting mandis to persuading the the AgriTech industry will not only increase the
retailers, we've come a long way and encountered overall value chain of the Indian agricultural
numerous difficulties in operating the advanced space, it will also increase farmers' income and
version because all of its roles were data-driven. improve the farmland quality.”
It was also more difficult to gain the farmers'
support because they would rather deal with Are policies favourable?
middlemen than trust an unknown tech startup.
For the farmers, it was easier to believe the faces It is important that the current government
they'd known for so long. Ninjacart, however, was policies should have the future of agriculture
able to gain the trust of both farmers and retailers in mind so as to carve a smooth pathway for
in order to convert their traditional methods to a technological transformation. In that direction,
modernised supply chain, ensuring transparency, the government agencies have undertaken policy
credibility, and safety for all stakeholders.” measures to stimulate the industry landscape by
improving access to credit and widening scope of
Investment issues crop insurance.

As with technology, finances also remain Other steps taken include, setting up and
an important consideration, particularly for enabling institutions to mobilise essential agri
small and marginal farmers. As per the World services and new age technology production
Bank, global food demand will rise by 70 per inputs, empowering individual farmers through
cent by 2050, and the world will need an annual incentives like subsidies on input resources across
expenditure of at least $80 billion to meet this the farming value chain and enhancing their
need. Hence, it is essential to fulfil farmers’ fiscal social security conditions.
needs. Franchisers, who offer protective farming
supplies, also need to be financed. Measures or interventions to cater to
the larger farming community is of utmost
Saurabh Agarwal, Founder, GROWiT India importance, given the diverse needs of the
said, “Once the financial concerns have been farming sector in India. As one positive
resolved, farmers will be able to make technology- amendment of the existing policy or introduction
based investments. It will also help them make of fresh clauses to benefit the growing aspirations
environmentally-friendly decisions. Overall, or expectations of any farmer, may hamper farm’s
productivity in the longer run.

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“Current innovations have Apart from central government agencies, the
enabled agriculture value state governments are also giving a major push
chain consumers to use to the agriculture sector by developing irrigation
their digital facilities to infrastructure and providing input subsidies
gain positive input data, to farmers. State governments also intend to
involvement, and perhaps promote and encourage digital agriculture
even market places. through extensive use of technologies like AI,
Incorporating tech services, ML, drones and satellite imagery, to increase the
particularly in the post- production and profitability of farmers.
harvest phases of farming,
has proven to be long-term and useful in Recently, the Telangana government has
rethinking the Indian agricultural ecosystem.” released the draft of the Agriculture Data
-Dr Shyam Gunnamreddy, Founder & Management Policy (ADMP)-2022, which aims to
CEO, Samhitha Crop Care Clinics ensure efficient management of agricultural data
for development of the agriculture sector, besides
“Government has initiated protecting farmers’ rights.
numerous measures towards
farm mechanisation that has To support the farming community, the
led to certain improvements private players are joining hands with the
in outputs and welfare government agencies in implementing the
conditions. UMANG (Unified schemes. For the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima
Mobile Application for Yojana, CropIn helped empower the Government
New-Age Governance) and of India in achieving the goal of rolling out a
mKisan applications have nationwide crop insurance scheme. The project
also accelerated the reach of required the states to assess the Crop Cutting
critical information to the farming communities.” Experiment (CCE) in every gram panchayat. It
-Gubba Deepthi, Chief Growth Officer, was a herculean task for the government to carry
out a reliable CCE assessment in 2.5 lakh gram
Gubba Cold Storage panchayats, that too within a short harvesting
window. CropIn’s AI/ML-powered predictive
“Government has initiated numerous intelligence platform enabled the government to
measures towards farm mechanisation that has conduct this mammoth exercise which includes
led to certain improvements in outputs and regional-level crop detection and growth stages,
welfare conditions. UMANG (Unified Mobile health and growth analysis, crop yield forecasts
Application for New-Age Governance) and and real-time insights into on-ground CCE
mKisan applications have also accelerated the progress, across 2.5 lakhs gram panchayats. This
reach of critical information to the farming flagship project helped government agencies
communities. Platforms like these have also to carry out insurance underwriting and risk
assisted farmers in availing government provided monitoring, introducing custom-made crop
benefits, subscription to seed-fertiliser-credit insurance products and schemes, and yield index
subsidies and other important information,” said monitoring at the national level.
Gubba Deepthi, Chief Growth Officer, Gubba Cold
Storage Ltd. “The Indian government has become more
interested in AgriTech, thanks to the success
Supporting Deepthi’s view, Jalan said, “The of over 600 AgriTech startups operating in this
government has unveiled various schemes space. Over the last two years, AgriTech has
and policies to transform agriculture in India. attracted investments worth $600 million, and
This year’s budget focused on steps to increase forecasts show that it can attract $500 million
farmers’ incomes, reduce farming cost and to $1 billion annually, in the coming years. And
connect farmers to the markets. The Kisan most of these investments have been driven by
Samman Nidhi scheme has made credit available the positive results generated by these startups.
to small farmers which will aid more widespread With these numbers, it’s hard to ignore AgriTech
adoption of technology. The government has now. Right now, supply chain digitisation is
also been promoting the use of drones and other one of the dominant categories in the Indian
modern technology in agriculture.” AgriTech arena, but Union Budget 2022 focused

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on bringing tech to the farmers. We can expect to irrigation schedules, resulting in higher yield and
see more favourable policies that affect different quality, while reducing costs.
AgriTech categories in the coming years,” said
Tripathi. “We have seen a wave of modern technologies
being leveraged by AgriTech players to drive
In September 2021, the Union Minister of efficiencies. However, on a closer look, you begin
Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh to realise how the lack of technology usage in
Tomar, announced the initiation of the Digital the agri sector has resulted in the undeserved
Agriculture Mission 2021–2025, which aims to fragmentation of the supply chain, really. This
support and accelerate projects based on new holds especially true for the horticulture sector
technologies, like AI, blockchain, remote sensing where fresh agri produce like fruits, vegetables
and GIS technology and use of drones and robots. and spices are ridden with information
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare asymmetry and food loss,” said Saurabh.
has developed major digital applications in order
to boost technology adoption among farmers In order to revolutionise the way the
like the National Agriculture Market (eNAM), a agricultural supply chain functions, and reduce
pan-India electronic trading portal that links the food loss in the process, one needs to understand
existing Agricultural Produce Market Committee the complex value chain to establish trade in
(APMC) mandis, to create a unified national these commodities. This comes when automation
market for agricultural commodities. is linked with objective quality assessment at
every stage, integrated with services including
The ministry signed an MoU with Microsoft, warehousing, logistics, and credit facilitation
in June 2021, to create a ‘Unified Farmer Services for its users. “With the launch of the Praman
Interface’ through its cloud computing services. Exchange which makes quality of the commodity
This is a major part of the ministry’s future accessible to buyers in a purely digital manner,
plan to create ‘AgriStack’ - a unified platform to we have been able to streamline and automate
provide end-to-end services across the agriculture quality assessment and sorting-grading processes
food value chain to farmers. With these steps and and create an equitable and symmetric trading
initiatives, the government is rolling up its sleeves market between buyers and sellers,” added
to embed tech-driven solutions into India’s agri Saurabh.
value chain.
“Right now, it’s fair to say that technological
Transferring the tech benefits intervention is required at all levels - pre-harvest,
cultivation and post-harvest. However, if we
Today the agriculture ecosystem is optimise agri trade, it can work as an incentive
fighting complexity and unpredictability at to agri traders. Optimised agri trade requires
an unprecedented scale. Bringing the entire the creation of a network of trustworthy trading
ecosystem together is essential to enable partners in different states and a process for
innovation at scale. A critical agri sector pain ensuring timely payments - two main components
point is the lack of visibility across the food value of the Bijak app,” said Nikhil.
chain from cultivation to harvesting to supply-
chain until the product reaches the end consumer. Bright future

So, digitisation and technology enablement is The current ground realities indicate that
needed at every stage in the value chain. The farm integrating technology into India's agri value
management and predictive intelligence solutions chain will undoubtedly improve its performance.
can help optimise every stage in the agri value A more vibrant picture will emerge in the future
chain starting with crop and seed selection, to when the government steps up to connect the agri
choosing the right time for sowing and harvesting, value chain in a digital manner. Only a deeper
managing water scarcity, and adopting the right penetration of these systems into rural and
farming practices, to helping farmers to choose remote areas would be a problem. Such obstacles
climate-resilient crops during extreme weather are more likely to be eliminated as Internet access
conditions. Using real-time data from satellite spreads further across the country in the coming
imagery and on-field IoT devices, farmers can years.
identify over-irrigated or under-irrigated regions
and take effective measures to manage optimal Nitin Konde

Inputs by Dipti Barve & Manishika Miglani

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ICT: The Silver Bullet to
Deliver an ‘Income Revolution’
in the Agri Value Chain

Digital technologies such as AI, Data Analytics, ML and blockchain, play a huge
role to take Indian agriculture to newer heights. But integration of technology alone
won't help. The government has to forge more PPPs in the coming days. While
at one end technology development is taking place, it has to be ensured that the
technology is imbibed by the farmer, especially the small farm holders.

As agriculture is the mainstay of the Another significant government initiative
Indian economy, a facelift is necessary is the launch of Platform of Platforms (POP).
to reach the next level. The country The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers
is rapidly working on digitising the Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, launched the
sector by roping in as many innovative AgriTech POP under the National Agriculture Market
startups, so that all the stakeholders can benefit. (e-NAM). During FY 2020-21, a total of 37.73
India’s agricultural production has increased lakh farmers and during FY 2021-22 (till June 30,
over the years, helping to meet the food security 2021) a total of 8.78 lakh farmers are reported
needs of its population. The government to have used the e-NAM platform, to sell their
intends to turbo-charge the sector by infusing agricultural produce.
Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) and digital technologies wherever possible, With the introduction of POP, farmers will be
more so right at the farm level so as to help the facilitated to sell their produce outside their state
smallholders reap the gains. The high priority borders. This move intends to increase farmers'
accorded by the government to using ICT to digital access to multiple markets, buyers
augment agri production is often reflected in and service providers and bring transparency
the government's constant roll-out of schemes, in business transactions with the aim of
policies, benefits, and initiatives aimed at improving price-search mechanism and quality
supporting the farmers in varied ways. commensurate price realisation. It is believed
that 41 service providers from different platforms
In the first week of July 2022, the Minister are covered under POP, facilitating various
of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & value chain services like trading, quality checks,
Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush warehousing, fintech, market information,
Goyal, at an event, emphasised the importance transportation, etc. The main purpose of POP
of the Open Network for Digital Commerce is to create a digital ecosystem that will benefit
(ONDC) – considered to be a revolutionary from the expertise of different platforms in
framework initiated by the Government of different segments of the agricultural value chain.
India. While enumerating the benefits of ONDC, POP enables farmers, FPOs, traders and other
Minister Goyal said, “The network would be stakeholders to access a wide variety of goods
crucial in democratising the agri value chain and and services across the agricultural value chain
in ensuring digital transformation of the agri through a single window, giving more options to
sector. ONDC is a network of a number of small the stakeholders.
and large-scale e-commerce players that aims to
break the dominance of companies like Amazon e-NAM integrates the platform of Service
and Flipkart, in India.” Providers as "Platform of Platforms", which
includes Composite Service Providers (Service

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com p o l iDciygni Teewcsh 25

Preparatory stage
• Example of information challenges: Require wide range of

information, including seed cost, crop prices, yield potential, crop
resistance to disease and pest, soil profile, weather, and duration of
the growing season to make decisions 0n agncultural inputs
• Examples of technological solutions: drones, multispectral sensors,
Al driven seed selection platforms, satellites
Production stage
• Examples of informational challenges: Inadequate knowledge
of appropriate fertilizer and irrigation methods and planting
techniques, inaccurate weather forecast for informing harvest time
• Examples of technological solutions: Wireless sensor networks,
satellites, AI-driven crop advisory application for diagnosing pest
damage and plant diseases
Processing and sale stage
• Examples of infomational challenges: Inadequate information
on traders and consumers to secure best selling prices and to
maximize earnings, Difficulty in tracing agricultural products
in transit.
• Examples of technological solutions: digital platforms,
fintech, cell phones

Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), Economic Analysis

Providers who provide holistic services for ICT tools in the agri sector, by initiating the
trading of agricultural produce, including quality Digital Agriculture Mission for 2021-2025.
analysis, trading, payment systems and logistics), This policy framework covers projects based on
Logistics Service Provider, Quality Assurance new technologies such as artificial intelligence,
Service Provider, Cleaning, Grading, Sorting blockchain, remote sensing & Geographic
& Packaging Service Provider, Warehousing Information System (GIS) technology, use of
Facility Service Provider, Agricultural Input drones, and robots. As the agriculture value chain
Service Provider, Technology Enabled Finance extends from crop selection to crop management
& Insurance Service Provider, Information and the market, involving public and private
Dissemination Portal (Advisory Services, players in agricultural inputs and services and
crop forecasting, weather updates, capacity also logistics, the government is attempting to
building for farmers etc.) and other platforms put in place, an efficient digital ecosystem for
(e-commerce, international agri-business agriculture, that can take a long-term view of
platforms, barter, private market platforms etc.). aspects like interoperability, data governance,
It is said that more than 17.6 million registered data quality, data standards, security and privacy,
farmers, farmer producer organisations besides promoting innovation.
(FPOs), traders, commission agents and other
stakeholders registered with the e-NAM platform The government is also inclined towards
can avail the services provided by these private enabling a decentralised, federated architecture
enterprises. (FA) that assures autonomy to the service
providers as well as to all other actors and
Digital Agri Mission ensures interoperability at the same time.
Recognising the importance of digitisation
The farm to fork life-cycle of any agri product in agriculture, the government is creating a
is beset with challenges at each stage, where Federated Farmers Database and is also building
technology has become indispensable. For different services around this database so as
smallholder farmers, every step in the process, to build the country’s Digital Ecosystem for
from crop planning to purchase of inputs, to Agriculture, or Agristack. The Federated Farmers
harvesting, processing, and sale of products, Database will be linked by the land records of
every phase presents challenges. farmers from across the country and a unique
Farmer ID will be created. Under this unified
In accordance, the government of India database for all farmers, the information of all
has acknowledged the significant role for

26 Dy oi gui Trevcihe w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

“Internet penetration in rural India is a major
challenge for any digital technology to grow.”

Aruneswar field. And climate change is already ruining
MGB, Founder everyone. Conventional cultivation practices
need to be changed immediately; productivity
& CEO, Grow Your needs to be increased multifold, and farmers
Farms have to get a better price for his/her produce
without being exploited by the middlemen. For
What are the challenges before these challenges, digital technologies can offer
AgriTechs in improving access to solutions.
digital technologies?
What solutions will work to improve
Although digital technologies can improve farm efficiency and productivity?
access for farmers to better cultivation practices,
agri inputs, crop solutions, pest management, Many policy decisions fail, irrespective of
weather and market information, the Internet following the bottom to top approach, because
penetration in rural India is just 41 per cent, in 90 per cent cases the agriculture department
which is a major challenge for any digital officials do paperwork in office rather than
technology to grow. knowing what exactly the farmer wants. So,
the key is to either develop the technology or
Mere availability of mobile apps in regional the process that can work together with the
languages will not help, because literacy rate in farmer and help to improve farm efficiency
rural India is still very low. Many farmers are and productivity. Grow Your Farms is one such
ignorant about using smartphones. It's highly AgriTech startup, developing both technology
futuristic that a small farm can be entirely and process, that work together with the farmers
controlled by a farmer through his mobile phone and works better for the farmers, and works for
while he/she is somewhere far away from the the betterment of the farmers.

benefits and supports of various schemes of the from research, up to the stage where the farmers
central and state government can be kept and are able to realise money in their pockets. Ashok
this can be the source for accessing information Dalwai chairs the committee that submitted
for providing benefits to farmers in the future. the report on doubling farmers’ incomes to the
So far, the database includes information of government and is working on implementation of
approximately 5.5 crore farmers. For now, the the recommendations.
database will include the farmers registered
under the PM-Kisan Scheme. Dalwai emphasises on the role of ICT, in
transforming India’s manpower-based system.
Ashok Dalwai, Additional “We’re also improving our market-led crop
Secretary, Ministry insurance scheme with digital innovations.
We’re using geo tagging, satellite data, and drone
of Agriculture, technology to verify crop-cutting experiments
Cooperation, and and to improve intelligence on the area insured.
Farmers’ Welfare; and Crop-cutting experiments used to be manual. We
CEO of the National are now using geo tagging and geo imagery to
Rainfed Area Authority build these data sets, and hence the credibility
points out that a leap towards of data for the insurance agency has gone
talking about an ‘Income up substantially. Similarly, area disputes are
Revolution’ is overdue, by moving beyond the being settled using satellite images and drone
traditional focus on the ‘Green Revolution’ or technology. Digital tools are increasing the
the ‘White Revolution’. This transition should reliability of the data and making the settlement
be able to capture the entire value chain right

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com p o l iDciygni Teewcsh 27

Fintech to evolve as an integrated part of new
business models

Rajiv ● Harvesting and Processing: Imagery
Sharma, data will increase efficiency of harvesting,
aggregation and processing will be other areas
Founder CEO, where digi-tech will play a major role.
AgVysor Innovations
● Traceability and Certification: Consumers
Digital technology will play a major role will be interested in knowing what went into
in building a resilient agri value chain. The the food item while it was grown. To ensure
following areas where digital tech will be the sustainability of the food produced, and
game changer: to build their trust, blockchain will ensure
● Predictive: Tonnes of data related to disease, traceability and certification of the food value
chain.
pest, microclimate will be required to forecast AR and VR will help in reaching out to
any biotic and abiotic stress on the crop.
ML and AI-based models will be doing this farmers and training them on new crop
humongous job. techniques with the help of virtual demo fields
● Preventive: Focus will shift to managing and the world’s best agri experts will be available
the biotic and abiotic stress with preventive virtually to teach. All the above opportunities
interventions with a combination of precision will create new business models that will be
applications of plant protection chemicals, successful with collaboration and partnerships
nutrients and stress tolerant varieties. between startups and corporate companies. From
a farmer’s perspective fintech will evolve as an
integrated part of new business models instead of
a standalone service.

of crop insurance faster and easier,” said Dalwai of spaces, commodities,
at an agri conclave. financing and processes
across the value chain has
Agri researchers have found that farmers enabled transparency,
need support at soil level. As soil is the most efficiency and productivity
important factor for crop production, soil in an otherwise fragmented
analysis calls for technology interventions. A
team of scientists from IIT Kharagpur and their market.
collaborators have created a digital soil map for The adoption of fintech at the
India. This map provides information about the grassroots has made it possible to tackle agri-
pH level, texture, and amount of organic carbon finance complexities and the risks aligned with
in the soils of India. Such data will help use it for decades. Rai also said that the digitisation
the soil optimally and sustainably. Being cost- of commerce, enables assurances of quality,
efficient with a host of other advantages over payment and delivery, providing for cheaper and
conventional soil maps, they add overall value to faster supply chain financing. He assures that the
the agriculture chain at the very beginning of the farmers can now choose when to sell, whom to
cultivation process. sell to and at what price, through agri commerce
apps and personalised dashboards.
It is not only the agri production process
that requires digitisation but also the financial Towards a prosperous agrarian
aspects of agriculture. In a country like India, economy
that has a high farmer suicide rate owing to debt,
it becomes absolutely necessary for a transparent ICT is the key for Indian agriculture to
transaction system, especially for the small and prosper. Digital technologies such as AI, Data
marginal farm holders. Navneet Rai, Chief Analytics, ML and blockchain, play a huge role
Digital officer, Arya.ag., said that digitisation to take Indian agriculture to newer heights.

28 Dy oi gui Trevcihe w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

ICT FOR SMART AGRICULTURE

Mobile Devices For communication and real-time updates on farming. Apps are used for accessing
and Apps and dissemination of information and knowledge, which will reduce the cost of
production and transaction, facilitating trade, outsourcing business support, etc.
Apps are developed for supporting everything from planting decisions to selling
farmer’s produce at the wholesale market. Farmers can also use rich user interface
smartphone apps to automate farming equipment.

Internet of For monitoring and automation of farming activities. IoT allows to connect different
Things (IoT) digital and physical devices into an information network. On the farm, IoT helps to
monitor location of animals, humans, and the production processes.

Big Data For an efficient decision-making process. Big Data is formed by a large quantity of
information collected from sensors, agricultural equipment, agricultural machinery
and by monitoring daily activities on the farm. It includes a wide range of data-based
information such as soil health, history of incidence of pests, crop management,
production results, information on agricultural commodities, prices, etc.

Blockchain For building a transparent, fair, and tamper-proof value chain. Blockchain meets the
challenge of tracking products in the wide-reaching farm to fork supply chain and
can speed up the insurance payout. It can also secure other financial services, such
as credit concession, without use of intermediaries.

Geographic GIS provides spatial information regarding roads, rivers or buildings to the farmers.
Information It works by imposing layers of data in digitised maps with information about
Systems (GIS) administrative, socio-economic, and physical set-up. Satellite image processing
can help detect unproductive farming practices, track the progress of insect attacks
across states, get crop estimates or update maps.

Geo Tagging Mainly helps agribusinesses and enterprises to track all types of assets along with
the agricultural land. It plays an important role in providing farmers with a variety of
location-specific information, related to their farms.

Artificial AI and ML have a huge role in precision agriculture. AI analyses the data, which
Intelligence is leveraged in real-time for obtaining useful insights like choosing the right time
(AI) and to sow seeds, determining the crop choices and pesticide spraying. Also used in
Machine monitoring and forecasting of agricultural commodity prices and global trends in
Learning (ML) agricultural trade.

Robots and Robots can substitute heavy agricultural machinery. Drones or unmanned aerial
Drones vehicles (UAV) support the application of precision agriculture techniques like
pesticide spraying, crop and soil monitoring. UAV allows to obtain images of large
agricultural areas and to gather information about soil quality and plant diseases.

But integration of technology alone won't help. the rural farm sector to adopt new practices at
The government has to forge more PPPs in scale. Some farmers are habituated in traditional
the coming days. While at one end technology farming techniques with low-risk appetite
development is taking place, it has to be ensured and show resistance to change. Hence, it is
that the technology is imbibed by the farmer, imperative to ensure that farmers receive clear
especially the small farm holders. The digital communication about the value and risk profile
transformation in the sector is evident. We are of new initiatives and have trust in the expertise
seeing the agri value chain benefit from ICT and intent of new players. The government also
interventions. has the responsibility to rope in large numbers
of educated youth into the agri sector to witness a
Despite increased digital awareness in the true income-led transformation.
rural ecosystem, many players still struggle to
build trust with farmers, which is needed for Anusha Ashwin

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com p o l i c yCnoevwesr 29

How AgriTech Startups are
Making the Agri Value Chain
Future Ready

Agricultural value chains in India have often been fragmented and difficult to organise
owing to the existence of small holdings, multiple middlemen, and absence of
information about other links in the chain. Limited access to technology, credit and
marketplaces are some of the major hurdles to creating a robust agricultural value
chain in India. Changes are sweeping over this landscape, thanks to the more than 700
AgriTech startups that are providing innovative and customised solutions to make the
agricultural value chain more profitable and remunerative at each stage. Some promising
AgriTech developments in the agriculture and allied value chain include future-ready farm
mechanisation, tech-based cold chain and logistics in agriculture, plant-based proteins,
fortification in the food value chain and using technology in the dairy sector.

Across all stages of the value chain, business proposition turns out to be ‘ordinary’
AgriTech players are able to transform than ‘unique’ as 80 per cent of the responses
the way agriculture is traditionally offer similar recommendations/solutions like
being done mainly owing to the major other 5–10 startups in the market. AgriTechs
injection of investments in the sector. According say they expect enabling government initiatives
to a joint report by Federation of Indian and collaboration for commercialisation of
Chambers of Commerce & Industry FICCI) and technologies. To scale up AgriTechs in a more
PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited (PwC), sustainable way, domestic startups would
India is next only to the US and China in terms need better access to people, processes and
of AgriTech funding and has secured cumulative technology. Collaboration and learnings from
investments worth over $1.5 billion in the last 10 other AgriTechs, including global ones, could be
years, exhibiting a growth of 14x starting from very useful to domestic startups.
$45 million in 2011.
Sharing his views Amit
The report noted that the country has more Mundawala, MD and
than 700 AgriTech startups that are providing
customised solutions and products to make Co-Founder, Star
the agricultural value chain more profitable Agribazaar Technology
and remunerative. Interestingly, every ninth highlighted that AgriTech
agri startup in the world is from India, wherein companies can play an
less than five global AgriTech companies have important role in enhancing
ventured in India compared to over 25 Indian farmers’ income. This can be
AgriTech companies with a global presence. achieved if we have a proper
Currently, the market size of AgriTech startups database of all the parameters needed in remote
in India is valued at $204 million, which sensing, resulting in accurate farmer advisory
is estimated to be 1 per cent of the current services which will, in turn, increase the yield,
addressable market opportunity of $24 billion. reduce the input cost, and make the proposition
win-win for all stakeholders.
The survey findings of the report reveal
that AgriTechs will see considerable traction Transforming agri sector
in the area of technology adoption in the next
five to ten years. With regard to process, the AgriTech startups have been playing a vital
role in harnessing the potential of disruptive

30 Cy o uv errv i e w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

technologies to support farmers. Multiple in agriculture has facilitated three crucial
startups are working in this space to make benefits. Firstly, it has brought in efficiencies
the agricultural value chain more robust and and transparency both pre and post harvest
the lives of farmers more comfortable and for increased productivity and food security.
easier by offering them various solutions and Secondly, it has bridged the trust, a missing
strengthening the Indian agriculture ecosystem. link in this sector. Technology has increased
networks, enabled better assurances and
Some startups like Samunnati, Arya.ag, Gram improved trust across every link of the value
Unnati, Jai Kisan are working towards improving chain to ensure remunerative returns. Thirdly,
market linkages for India’s smallholder farmers, technology has played the role of a leveller,
making credit more accessible at every step of the creating equitable value chains in agriculture.
agri-value chain. It has provided opportunities for smallholders,
women, and those excluded in the power
Chennai based Samunnati is an agri-fintech equations previously. It has enabled the
startup that works towards improving market transition of these communities from the role
linkages for India’s smallholder farmers. of labour to leadership, ensuring financial and
Founded by Anilkumar SG in 2014, the startup technological inclusion in the remotest villages of
specialises in value chain finance, financial our country.”
services, agricultural finance, agri-value chains,
and market linkages, to name a few. Hiccups facing AgriTech

Another startup Gram Unnati which is based There have been many challenges across the
out of Delhi is India's first full-stack agricultural agri value chains in India, such as lack of knowledge
value chain service provider. The company is and information about high value/growth products,
limited exposure to high productivity practices,
bridging major gaps between weak market linkages, and inefficient supply chains
institutional buyers and with high levels of food wastage.
marginal farmers. Aneesh
Jain, Founder, Gram More than 40 critical farming activities need
Unnati, says, “The startups attention and informed decision making to ensure
serve as an example of how good yield and appropriate return on investment.
many small things working Farmers are challenged by the insufficient quality
together may accomplish huge of agri inputs, poor decision making during
critical crop-growth stages, produce marketing,
things. Startups in the AgriTech weather unpredictability, role of different
sector are working towards this goal by taking intermediaries such as commission agents, and
little steps at a time, going from one issue to shortage of labour, loans, or insurance facilities.
another and using disruptive innovation to solve Easier and quicker access to real-time data
the problems.” related to weather forecasts, crop characteristics,
soil health, diseases or pests, and telemetry is a
He added, “A dynamic movement in significant development. The Indian government
agricultural operations from legacy structures and private sector are both in favour of building
to technology-driven futuristic and sustainable an enabling policy environment, supporting the
solutions is urgently needed in light of a growing integration of scientific data and technology in the
population, climate change, and impending food farming system and fostering cooperation globally
security crisis. Technology can help to offset between governments, multilaterals and financial
productivity and profitability losses in food institutions.
value chains, and minimise agrarian stresses by
reducing manual errors and providing a deeply- Some of the potential solutions offered by
integrated digital framework for operational AgriTech startups are the use of mobile app
management.” based crop advisory, crop and livestock sensors,
rental services in farm machinery, drones and
Further, talking about the Agri-Fintech. Apart from these services, the
contribution of startups growth of AgriTech startups directly impacts
in the AgriTech value the socioeconomic conditions of India’s rural
chain, Anand Chandra,
Executive Director
& Co-Founder, Arya.
ag said, “Technology

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com p o l i c yCnoevwesr 31

population through employment generation and problems emerge from the sons and daughters
bringing farm prosperity. of farmers themselves. Interventions need to
be focussed on the twin aspects of reducing
India’s AgriTech ecosystem is expected to production costs for farmers and decreasing
benefit from forming global partnerships. The losses in the agri and food supply chain.
collaborations can be in the form of thematic Educating farmers about the benefits of adopting
or institutional partnerships to augment technological innovations, understanding
innovations, scalability and value chain and improving their confidence in making the
profitability, corporate-AgriTech collaborations transition from subsistence to market-oriented
or geographical collaboration to exchange best farming, could lead to a paradigm shift.
practices, among others. Understanding the
capabilities and areas of expertise of agri startups “With the help of integrated Artificial
and how the solutions developed can be made Intelligence (AI) technology and smart data
affordable and scalable can pave the way for analytics, the issues and losses throughout the
applying these solutions at scale to address the value chain can be reduced,” said Jain, adding
unique challenges faced by Indian farmers. “Currently, some AgriTech startups are aiming
to develop integrated solutions by giving farmers
Challenges before startups access to storage facilities close to the farm gate,
digitising agri-commodities, spurring innovation
Aneesh Jain from Gram Unnati offers in storage infrastructure, facilitating easy access
anecdotal insights into the struggles faced by to finance, and utilising price differences between
startups like his own. He finds that selling off and in-season produce, to increase rural farm
goods and technologies to farmers in India is incomes. Additionally, they are facilitating access
particularly difficult. He points out that this is to a network of traders, retailers and exporters
one sector where many entrepreneurs are still willing to buy farmers’ produce at higher prices.”
struggling to develop an effective and sustainable
model. He finds it hard to reconcile increasing According to Hemendra Mathur, Chairman,
productivity with meeting the requirements of FICCI Task Force on Agriculture Startups and
farmers. An important factor why the farm-to- Technology, “The intersection of agribusinesses
market supply chain is ineffective is because and AgriTech will further drive the scale and
farmers only receive half of what consumers innovation agenda in the sector. As we enter
pay for their produce. Despite the enormous into the next phase of AgriTech, I see two big
potential, massive challenges prevail. opportunities ahead – innovations for solving
climate risk issues and integration of unique
For startups, having access to capital is financing models for farmers and value chain
essential, but getting enough is never easy. The members, including processors, warehouses,
expansion of a business demands timely cash distributors and retailers. Both these themes
infusions. Financial backing is not always easy to are likely to reach inflection points in 2022–23.
obtain for AgriTech enterprises due to the high We need to create an enabling ecosystem for
levels of risk in the industry. these two themes to foster participation from
governments, multilaterals and financial
“Overall, the AgriTech industry in India institutions.”
faces some significant challenges, such as rigid
business models that can be hard to scale up, New and emerging technologies such as
a lack of knowledge and experience in the field Internet of Things (IoT), drones, mobility, cloud
that is crucial for network development, resistant computing, big data, remote sensing, AI, Machine
farmers who are reluctant to adopt technology, Learning (ML), image analytics and processing,
glaring gaps in supply chain management, poor blockchain, and agri bots are transforming
last-mile connectivity, especially at the grass- traditional agriculture into data-driven precision
roots level, and a lack of funding to support the farming for generating sustainable profits.
businesses,” he added. The COVID-19 pandemic is reported to have
further accelerated the adoption of such relevant
Filling the gap technological interventions to manage multiple
aspects across the agricultural value chain.
To create a sustainable and profitable value
chain, it is crucial to make the ecosystem of Pooja Yadav
innovative solutions inclusive, where answers to

32 Cy o uv errv i e w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Debottlenecking Agri Value Chains

Anil Kumar SG, Indian agriculture is cruising on the IT
superhighway fueled by increasing digitisation,
Founder and CEO, Samunnati leading to low cost of acquiring data on
everything from land records, topography, soil
conditions, to crop development, weather-
related data collected by drones and satellites.
Application of technologies has also introduced
new funding opportunities for investors, and
startups, which are now striving to tackle the
major challenges that farmers face.

India’s agriculture and animal husbandry for farmers, especially, the use of digital tools.
sector demonstrated remarkable resilience The COVID-19 pandemic in fact, contributed
even during the COVID-19 pandemic. towards pushing farmers towards the ‘digital
Valued at $370 billion, the sector continues advisory’ model. Many Indian AgTech
to be the principal source of income for over 40 companies currently providing innovative
per cent of the population and contributes a fifth products for enhancing traceability, cutting
of the country's GDP (FY 2021). But the sector wastage in supply chain, real time weather
has been plagued for long by chronic structural monitoring or pests and disease alerts, are
issues and inefficient commodity value chains, helping the farmers, mainly smallholders, get
since 86 pe cent of India’s farmers belong to the connected to the wider ecosystem and vice
small and marginal category. versa. Several AgTech players support farmer
collectives (Farmer Producer Organizations/
India still loses close to 40 per cent of Farmer Producer Companies) through
its horticulture production mainly due to digitisation. Recently, the Indian government
fragmented and disconnected supply chains, poor also launched an initiative to establish
post-harvest management, lack of processing 10,000 farmer-owned cooperatives by 2024.
facilities, lack of connectivity via roads, absence When FPOs are coupled with e-commerce
of scientific storage during distribution, and B2B and B2C platforms at the front end,
so on. Farmers neither have access to timely commodity supply chains transform into
information nor actionable advice and price demand-driven and market-oriented value
signals do not reach them in time. Hence, overall, chains by eliminating inefficient processes
the agri commodities supply chains are operating and intermediaries. FPOs can facilitate faster
at sub-optimal capacities. adoption of productivity-boosting technologies
by leveraging economies of scale and building
Role of innovations and technology the necessary infrastructure. All these are slowly
but steadily helping the commodity value chains
Despite chronic issues such as low literacy become lean, and efficient.
levels, poor digital literacy, inadequate
infrastructure and lack of access to formal Innovation-led growth
financial systems, India has made huge progress
on all these fronts in the last few decades. Among all the issues, credit remains the
Farmers adopt those technologies or innovations most important for a farmer. Equally important
that are simple to understand, easy to use, and is for farmers to have access to formal financial
give demonstrable results on the field. sources to avoid exploitation by indiscriminate
agents or money lenders. Easing access to
Scale-neutrality is another important factor
that is vital to ease the technology transition

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com p o l i c yCnoevwesr 33

finance will help risk-averse farmers invest and Policies. For example, many AgriTech
in better quality inputs, and technologies, startups are working on issues including
which will ultimately enhance their incomes. extension of shelf life of the fresh produce, solar
Tech-driven fintech companies are creating cooling, processing, and value addition such as
innovative products and services to suit those solar drying, and enhancing traceability.
who traditionally remained ‘unbankable’
for long in the agri value chains, mainly the Indian agriculture is cruising on the IT
smallholder farmers. Synergistic partnerships superhighway fueled by increasing digitisation,
are critical and evolution of newer concepts like leading to low cost of acquiring data on
Co-lending arrangements wherein traditional everything from land records, topography, soil
banks are partnering with the new-age, conditions, to crop development, weather-
digitally driven fintech NBFCs, which can lead related data collected by drones and satellites.
to enhanced financial inclusion to help the The ‘Agristack’ initiative by the government
underserved and the unserved like MSMEs, and is a right step in this direction and is set to
tier 3, 4 cities. foster a complete digital transformation of
India’s agricultural sector. If implemented
The World Bank's Global Financial Inclusion appropriately and with active engagement of
Database says that about 80 per cent of Indian various public and commercial partners, this
adults (age 15+) have a bank account. India initiative would not only help improve overall
has a staggering 600 million+ smartphones productivity but also provide an enabling
with good data speeds at affordable rates with environment for the agri value chains to operate
better connectivity even in remote rural areas. at a higher equilibrium, more efficiently.
It is only going to get better with the expanding
communication infrastructure and with Application of technologies has also
futuristic technologies like 5G. On the policy introduced new funding opportunities for
front, for example, the government is strongly investors, and startups, which are now striving
encouraging use of the UPI (United Payment to tackle the major challenges that farmers face.
Interface) to move towards a digital economy. The policy environment too is conducive and
is evolving in tandem to cater to the emerging
Way forward needs. Government initiatives like e-NAM
are gaining momentum steadily. All these
The Indian agri-food sector has undergone are placing India at a unique place where its
tremendous transformation in the last six economy will not only touch the $5 trillion
decades fueled by extensive technology-assisted mark, but also be self-reliant, and resilient in
modernisation, supported by significant reforms ensuring food and nutritional security for its 1.3
in three key dimensions: Technology, People billion population, sustainably.

34 Sypoeuarkvi ni egwwsi t h agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

“Lack of digital literacy among
stakeholders may bring reluctance
to adopt new practices''

Srivatsa TraceX Technologies is a blockchain powered agritech
Sreenivasarao, platform that enhances supply chain traceability and
transparency. It was founded in 2019 by Srivatsa
CEO and Co-Founder, Sreenivasarao and Anil Nadig, with an aim to build
TraceX Technologies clean, transparent, and traceable supply chains across
the food and agriculture ecosystem. Its blockchain-
enabled proprietary platform digitises the supply chain
from start to end. All the stakeholders in the supply
chain can add, view, and exchange data in real time.
The data collected acts as a single source of truth that
cannot be altered or tampered with. TraceX currently
has a B2B SaaS subscription model where it works
with companies across livestock, poultry, seafood,
and agri supply chains. Srivatsa Sreenivasarao, CEO
and Co-Founder TraceX Technologies interacted
with AgroSpectrum about the status of block chain
technology usage in agriculture in India. Edited excerpts;

How is TraceX providing end to end Builds trust among consumers: TraceX
digital traceability solutions in the provides credibility to claims, offers complete
coffee value chain? provenance of the product through a quick scan
of the QR code, and makes the brand stand out
TraceX has been working very closely with by providing verifiable and authentic information
many D2C coffee brands offering ‘bean to cup’ to the customers.
traceability. One of the projects that we are
working on is providing traceability for coffee Maintain regulatory compliance: The
produced by the farmers across coffee growing farmers/ FPOs must upload authentic data to
regions in India. Through our solution, we can meet regulatory compliances. The data recorded
offer brands and their customers the ability to at each step of the supply chain helps satisfy all
track and record the journey of coffee through regulatory requirements.
every stage of the production process, from bean
to cup. Ability to incentivise farmers: TraceX
creates a digital identity for the coffee product
TraceX’s digital traceability solution and allows the consumer to know the entire story
including the farmers and plantation area in
offers the following advantages: which the coffee was grown.
Ensure consistent quality in produce:
Single source of information: Prior to
TraceX’s platform offers a way to track the TraceX, all the information was available at silos
predefined package of practices to achieve across all the stakeholders in the supply chain.
consistency in the yield quality There was no way to comply for food safety.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com S ppeoalki ci nygnwe wi tsh 35

Through TraceX, all the stakeholders come to be shared transparently across the supply
onto one unified blockchain network to transact chain. Agriculture is one of the least digitised
information and thus ensure a single source of sectors. Most of the farm level data generated
truth from farm to fork. is not consistent and accurate. If there are
untrustworthy data providers, then blockchain
What is the potential of blockchain stands to lose. Food traceability solutions on
technology in agriculture supply chain blockchain are expensive and industrial sectors
management? such as export houses, contract farming units,
food brands work on thin margins. Lack of digital
Over the last few decades, food and literacy among stakeholders may bring reluctance
agriculture supply chains have been disrupted to adopt new practices, unless RoI is assessed.
due to growing population, globalisation,
urbanisation, and increasing health What are the opportunities in agri
consciousness among consumers. The food value chains in India?
produced by our farmers travels miles before it
reaches consumer’s plates. The food supply chain TraceX Blockchain based SaaS platform
is vulnerable to several risks, including climate is a digital traceability solution that builds
changes and biodiversity losses. transparency and sustainability into the food and
agriculture supply chains. The ability to provide
In order to feed the growing population, we digitisation, automation and food tracking helps
need technological innovations in agricultural to increase productivity and profitability, thereby
processes to make it productive and profitable saving time and reducing costs.
for the smallholder farmers. The Sustainable
Development Goals provide a vision for global The end-to-end traceability ensures food
development, and technology can accelerate safety and reduces costs due to product
this process. Blockchain-powered traceability recalls and food losses. The adherence to good
solutions are a game changer in the field of agriculture practices nurtures sustainability and
agriculture. helps to counter impacts due to climate stress,
building resilience in the food ecosystem. With
Blockchain addresses some challenges the awareness of climate change, the primary
in supply chains in the following ways: produce markets are responding to carbon
● Blockchain bridges the gap between footprints, food miles and a low carbon economy.

stakeholders by providing unified data with What are your expansion and growth
end-to-end visibility. This in turn increases the strategies for FY 22-23?
operational efficiency of the supply chain.
● Blockchain-based supply chain systems We have received an overwhelming response
provide tracking, tracing, and provenance, from our customers for the kind of positive
aiding easy product recall and reduced food impact our product has created. We are working
losses towards further enhancing our product by
● The real-time data capture enables quicker leveraging Asset Tokenisation (NFTs), Artificial
decision-making thereby reducing supply Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML),
chain inefficiencies Internet of Things (IoT) to provide digital
● Streamlining of activities like production empowerment to all the participants in the
planning and inventory management boosts supply chain. Our aim is to harness the power of
productivity and profitability. Web3 technologies to build a large distributed
● The digital identity given to a product ensures autonomous supply chain network for food and
transparency and helps to deliver a safe and agriculture businesses. Over the next few months,
sustainable product to the consumer. we plan to extend our offerings to encompass
carbon offsets and climate action goals of
Are you facing any challenges in companies. We also plan to aggressively scale up
the implementation of blockchain operations in international geographies – Europe
technology in agriculture in India? and North America.

Technology in agriculture is focussed on the Dipti Barve
farm and its productivity. The data generated at
all points adds value to the product and needs [email protected]

36 Eyvoeunrtvri eewp os rt agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

A P E D A & A g r o v i s i o n - O u t r ea c h P r o g r a m m e

Great potential to boost exports of fruits
and vegetables from Vidarbha: Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Road Transport and Highways addressing the Outreach
Programme ‘Agriculture Produce and Vegetable Export Opportunities in Vidarbha’, organised
by APEDA and Agrovision Foundation in Amravati after inaugurating the Programme.
The Agricultural and Processed Food
Products Export Development Authority areas of Nashik in Maharashtra”.
(APEDA), and Agrovision Foundation, Gadkari emphasised that there is a huge scope
jointly hosted the 2nd edition of the
to increase the export of agricultural produce such
as fruits, flowers and vegetables from Vidarbha,

Outreach Programme, ‘Agriculture Produce and but there is also a need to adopt new technology

Vegetable Export Opportunities in Vidarbha’ on July and experimentation. “Improving the quality of

17, 2022, in Amravati. The programme’s objectives agricultural produce, fulfilling all safety criteria,

were to encourage agricultural exports, adherence and good packaging is also essential. We have set

to international standards, and initiatives aimed an export target of oranges from Rs 500 crore to

at developing the technical skills of Vidarbha's Rs 5,000 crore in upcoming years with the help of

exporters, traders, and FPOs, as well as potentially organic farming of oranges and quality hybrids of

adding value to products by improving their quality oranges,” he said. He further said that all-out efforts

(value) and positioning them for future export will be made through ‘APEDA’ and ‘Agrovision’ to

opportunities. increase exports from Vidarbha.

Ravindra Boratkar, President, Agrovision Stating that GI tagged Nagpur Oranges are

Foundation & Publisher AgroSpectrum in his grown in more than 70,000 hectare in Amravati

opening remarks said, “Agrovision Foundation has region, Gadkari said “There is huge potential for

been striving to empower farmers via agricultural export of Nagpur oranges and other citrus fruits

education and training for the past 13 years and from the region. Since Nagpur Orange is a GI

also attempting to improve the production with the product, it can also be sold at a premium.” However,

use of advanced technologies and in depth practical he also urged the scientists that R&D needs to be

knowledge and enhancing crop productivity through done for this sector in terms of increasing the yield,

modern techniques.” varietal improvement and value addition.

The Union Road Transport and Highways Gadkari said that while exports of Indian

Minister Nitin Gadkari, in his keynote address mandarins have doubled in the last two years,

said, “There is a significant potential for boosting manifold increase in the exports can be achieved

exports of fruits and vegetables from Vidarbha only through required R&D and value addition. The

region of Maharashtra. In order to achieve higher minister appreciated the efforts of APEDA in terms

exports, farmers have to adopt the latest technology of capacity building of the stakeholders, required

in agriculture, and they have to be open to new infrastructure development, quality upgradation

research findings and adopt innovative farming and promotions abroad. He urged APEDA to

practices as has been done in the grape-growing organise more capacity building programmes

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com Epvoe nl itcry enpeowrst 37

for the stakeholders, to disseminate the required There is a significant potential
information and knowledge. for boosting exports of fruits
and vegetables from Vidarbha
Gadkari emphasised on the right selection of region of Maharashtra. In order
planting material for GI tagged Nagpur orange when to achieve higher exports,
targeting the export market, and called for concerted farmers have to adopt the latest
focus to grow organic produce. The minister also technology in agriculture, and
exhorted farmers and exporters to comply with the they have to be open to new
norms of importing countries in packaging and to research findings and adopt
increase farm productivity without compromising innovative farming practices as has been
on the quality parameters in food safety aspects, done in the grape-growing areas of Nashik in
so as to ensure better realisation for their produce. Maharashtra.
He also mentioned that use of drone technology
for spraying of agrochemicals can reduce farm Nitin Gadkari,
losses up to 70 per cent when compared to current Union Minister Road Transport and Highways
agronomical practices. Similarly, use of good
packaging material also helps to minimise the post- Orange exports from Vidarbha
export handling issues, he noted. Gadkari said that are on the rise with Bangladesh
all-out efforts will be made through ‘APEDA’ and now they are also exported
‘Agrovision’ to increase exports from Vidarbha. to the United Arab Emirates.
The country’s total export of
Gadkari added that good orange nurseries have agricultural products is Rs 4 lakh
been developed in Vidarbha and asserted the need crore. He also proposed that the
to develop more such nurseries. “An experiment is next outreach programme be
being done by bringing the best orange seedlings held in Nagpur and Akola district.
from countries like Spain and planting them.
Branding is also taking place for the tasty tur dal, a Dr Tarun Bajaj, Director, APEDA
speciality of saline belt,” Gadkari said.
Agrovision Foundation has been
Dr Tarun Bajaj, Director, APEDA said, “Orange striving to empower farmers
exports from Vidarbha are on the rise with via agricultural education and
Bangladesh being the leading importer. Now, they training for the past 13 years
are also exported to the United Arab Emirates. The and also attempting to improve
country’s total export of agricultural products is Rs 4 the production with the use of
lakh crore.” He also proposed that the next outreach advanced technologies and in
programme be held in Nagpur and Akola districts. depth practical knowledge and
enhancing crop productivity
The programme was attended by a large number through modern techniques.
of FPOs, FPCs, entrepreneurs, startups, young Ravindra Boratkar, President, Agrovision
buddy entrepreneurs, state government officials, Foundation & Publisher, AgroSpectrum
NGOs, cooperatives and technical scientists. In
the technical session, information was shared on Anandrao Raut, member, APEDA; Dinesh
norms for quality improvement, importing country Suryavanshi, Member of Agrovision Organising
protocols and new technical development. Committee; Praveen Pote Patil, former MLA; Vibha
Bhatia, President, MM ACTIV; Nagpal Lohkare,
APEDA & Agrovision APEDA Assistant General Manager, K.S. Mule,
Foundation sign MoU Joint Director of Agriculture Department; MS
Gawle, DGM, MSAMB Nagpur; Dr Dilip Ghosh,
APEDA signed an MoU with Agrovision Director, CCRI Nagpur; Dr Prashant Nandergikar,
Foundation, which will facilitate and CEO Isha Agro; Dr Rajeev Naik, Assistant
become an extended arm of APEDA in Director (PP) Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers
conducting capacity building programmes Welfare; Sridhar Thackeray, Executive Director,
for the entrepreneurs, FPCs, FPOs and other MahaOrange; Dr Manish Mondhe and Ramesh
stakeholders. The MoU was signed by Dr Jichkar, successful orange exporters from Amravati;
Tarun Bajaj, Director APEDA and Ravindra R.B. Rahate from NABARD and other prominent
Boratkar, President of Agrovision Foundation. dignitaries were present on this occasion.

Dipti Barve
[email protected]

38 Eyvoeunrtvri eewp os rt agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Harnessing the PPP model

to boost agriculture
With agriculture being the primary
source of income for a majority of framework. Government can intervene to bridge
India’s population, it is imperative the infrastructure gap in the sector,” he said,
to monitor the challenges faced by adding, “There is also a need for an improvement
the sector and make it a more viable livelihood in the entire agriculture value chain to bring down
for the peasants of our country. In this context, the losses and create a win-win situation both for
the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce farmers and the industry.”
& Industry (FICCI) organised a thought-
provoking conference assessing the scope of Since augmentation of agricultural
partnerships between the public and private productivity has always been a top priority of
players and to identify various sectors and value the government, the conference put special
chains to facilitate the PPP projects. The event emphasis on sustainable agriculture as a huge
was attended by more than 100 participants, area of immediate concern. In this light, Ahuja
comprising diverse stakeholders including state deliberated on the steps taken by the government
government representatives, private sector, to promote ‘Good Agriculture Practice’, to benefit
AgriTech startups, FPO members, experts from the farmers and the agri sector as whole. “There
the agriculture industry and investors. is a concern at the international level on having a
sustainable agriculture, good agriculture practices
The FICCI conference on the ‘Scope of Public- along with environmental concerns. This is an
Private Partnerships (PPP) in Agriculture’ aimed area where the government has not yet come
at securing more investments and expertise from out with a policy, but we want to come up with a
the private players in the agri sector, extended a policy on ‘Good Agriculture Practice’. We would
platform for dignitaries to share their vision for have a policy on this, and we would work together
this collaborative approach. with the industry on this,” he added.

Highlighting the role of better synergy In line with the necessary mandate, the
between the government and private players, agriculture secretary further highlighted
micro-irrigation as a pressing matter for the
as a robust step for harnessing government, wherein it is working out a model
this partnership model, keynote to provide easy financing and subsidies, so as to
speaker Manoj Ahuja, create a simple system for the farmers.
Secretary, Ministry of
Agriculture & Farmers “It is imperative for the farmers to get easy
Welfare, Government of and simple solutions to their problems through
digital platforms. We believe in the ability of the
India said, “Several players are farmers and supporting them via non-financial
working in silos. Being in the government, we intervention, by providing IT solutions. It would
can play the role of a conductor in a symphony be beneficial for the farmers if we can provide
orchestra. Can we bring about the synergy and these technology interventions through a common
work together?” He continued, “There is a lot open source,” said Ahuja.
of information available, but it is disparate.
Something is with the government and something The conference witnessed concerns raised by
is with the private sector. Can we bring that
together to help everybody? A lot of people
are doing crop estimates, can we share this
information so that we have stronger results?”

He also shared his views on the execution of
the aforesaid plans and a possible implementation
strategy. “If we really need to scale-up our
interventions, then we need to have a proper

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com Epvoe nl itcry enpeowrst 39

the industry in terms of quality agri-inputs and Sharing her outlook on pushing the policy
urged the government for a possible plan of action framework for the agriculture
to improve the dire scenario. “We can create sector, Dr Vijaya Lakshmi
NABL accredited labs under PPP or under viable Nadendla, Joint Secretary
gap funding along with robust IT systems for (Policy & Marketing),
sampling and testing of various seeds, fertilisers Ministry of Agriculture
and pesticides for supporting the farmers,” & Farmers Welfare,
elaborated Ahuja, in his response. Government of India and

The conference also engaged in discussions Managing Director, Small
about eliminating uncertainties around farming Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium
and making it a more viable source of income for (SFAC), a society promoted by Department of
the peasants of our country. This was pointedly Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, highlighted
addressed by Samuel Praveen “Inputs, infrastructure, institution and
Kumar, Joint Secretary investment’ as the crucial four ‘Is’ in agri PPP.
(Extension, AIF and I&PS), “We lack the fourth one, i.e. the investment which
Ministry of Agriculture can be taken care of by the private sector, which
& Farmers Welfare, who can pitch in and provide the necessary requisites.
highlighted that there are These four are definitely doable within the scope
of the PPP framework in agriculture,” she said.
emerging technologies like ICT,
AI, IoT etc, which are very disruptive and can Talking about the interlinkage of the
make farming more predictive. “We need to public and private sector in
de-risk the agriculture sector. Also, currently, boosting agriculture in the
investment in agriculture is lower than in other long run, Pravesh Sharma,
sectors and the government is looking at creating Chairman, FICCI Task
a better environment for harnessing PPP,” he Force on FPOs said that the
said. policy framework which the
government designs, has a great
He stated that the investments will not only
help in the agri sector, to propel the entire growth impact on the flow of investments,
cycle of our economy, but also help in value market delivery and how technology tends to get
realisation for the farmers. “The merits of the routed. He separately mentioned that if there is
PPP model include the managerial and financial one sector in India, which is almost 100 per cent
expertise of the private sector combined with the privately owned, it is agriculture.
administrative expertise of the government which
is unmatched. Hence, the investors will be more The thought was echoed by TR Kesavan,
confident to invest in agricultural projects. We Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee
need to create an ambience where we have a win- & Group President, TAFE Ltd, who said, “India
win situation for the government and the private is capable of doing much more in the agriculture
sector, participating in various infrastructure sector, provided the government and the private
related works,” he added. sector come together.”

Kumar chaired the session on ‘States The conference also witnessed participation
perspective on PPP in Agriculture’ which was of many industry players including Sanjay Gupta,
moderated by Hemendra Mathur, Chairman, MD & CEO, NCML; Prashant Shukla, Head of
FICCI Task Force on startups. The states Supply Chain, Roquette India; Ruchira Saini,
particularly pointed out the need for farm Corteva Agriscience; R G Agrawal, Chairman,
gate infrastructure for grading, sorting and Dhanuka Agritech Group; Amrendra Mishra,
primary processing of produce, to reduce post- Managing Director, ADM Agro Industries
harvest losses. The stakeholders also mentioned India; Kaushal Jaiswal, Managing Director,
the working of the logistics services in sync Rivulis Irrigation India; and Vaishali Chopra,
with the producers, infrastructure to meet Cropscience Policy and Stakeholders engagement
export requirements, open network to collect lead, Bayer.
data directly for the farmers and knowledge
distribution as some of the key takeaways. Manishika Miglani

[email protected]

40 Aywo uar dvsi e w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com
BIOSPECTRUM | AUGUST 20221 | www.biospectrumindia.com
44 AWCAADREDMSICS NEWS

2

1 3

1. Ravindra Boratkar, Managing Director, MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications
Private Limited receiving the Runner-up award in the category “The
Knowledge Hub” for organising the Bengaluru Tech Summit.

2. Ravindra Boratkar, Managing Director, MM Activ Sci-Tech
Communications Private Limited receiving winner’s award in the ‘The Big
Show’ category for organising Agrovision India.

3. MM Activ Group company Asian Convention & Exposition Private
Limited’s team receiving Runner-up award in Merit- Corporate Category
for ‘CIDCO Exhibition & Convention Centre’.

MM Activ bags recognition for exhibition excellence

MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications Private a common platform for the farmers, industry, and
Limited received 3 outstanding awards at the 6th government and bring together every important
edition of Exhibition Excellence Awards (EEA) entity in agriculture to create a better future for the
ceremony held on July 8, 2022 at the India Expo farmers. The vision of Agrovision is to create a more
Mart, Greater Noida. After a gap of two years, the knowledgeable, practical and a smart famer.
EEA came back in physical format in 2022. Over
500 exhibition organisers, trade & professional Another Runner-up award was bagged by MM
associations, trade bodies, corporate heads, venues Activ Group company Asian Convention & Exposition
and meeting, incentive, convention, and exhibition Private Limited in Merit- Corporate Category for
(MICE) stakeholders attend the event. ‘CIDCO Exhibition & Convention Centre’ during
the ceremony. Built on a sprawling 2,00,000 sq.ft.
MM Activ won a Runner-up award in the area, the centre has two large halls for exhibition and
category “The Knowledge Hub” for organising the 1,50,000 sq.ft. convention centre. Both the exhibition
Bengaluru Tech Summit, on the basis of a number and business centres are connected by a bridge.
of conference sessions held at the exhibition Innovatively designed at par with international
between January 2020 and March 2022. Bengaluru standards, the centre sports an aesthetic and
Tech Summit is an initiative by the Department of attractive view.
Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science
& Technology, Government of Karnataka, Software The award was accepted by Ravindra
Technology Parks of India (STPI) Bengaluru. Boratkar, Managing Director, MM Activ Sci-Tech
Jagdish Patankar, Executive Chairman, MM Activ Communications Private Limited. He said, “These
Sci-Tech Communications has been playing a key awards serve as a recognition for hard work that goes
role in curating this event along with the Karnataka into organising and planning large-scale events. Our
government. Currently, in its 25th year, Bengaluru commitment to continue producing high-caliber work
Tech Summit has emerged as Asia’s most prestigious has increased as a result of receiving three awards.”
and sought-after technology event.
In the last 20 years, since its inception, MM
Adding more feathers to its cap, MM Activ Activ has curated over 100 national & international
emerged as a winner in the ‘The Big Show’ category technology conventions with special focus on agri-
for organising Agrovision India, a physical exhibition food and biotechnology. MM Activ is the publisher of
with the greatest number of participating exhibitors. leading B2B digital and print media- BioSpectrum,
Agrovision was conceived in the year 2007 to create nuFFooDS Spectrum and AgroSpectrum from India
and Singapore catering to the APAC region.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com ppeoolpi clye nneewwss 41

Centre nominates Rajiv Syngenta Group
Gandhi to National Advisory announces leadership
Committee for AHD transition

Rajiv Gandhi,

Founder, CEO &

Managing Director

of Hester Biosciences

has been nominated

as a member of the

National Advisory

Committee for Jeff Rowe Justin Wolfe Jon Parr

Animal Husbandry

and Dairying (AHD) Syngenta Group has announced succession plans
for its leadership team. Jeff Rowe, currently
Sector, constituted President, Global Seeds, took over the leadership
of Syngenta Crop Protection, from July 1, 2022.
by the Government of India. The committee, His former role has been assumed by Justin Wolfe,
currently Regional Director North America Seeds.
chaired by Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister Jeff Rowe was instrumental for the successful
turnaround of the Seeds business, with outstanding
of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying growth and return to profitability. Most recently,
he has spearheaded Syngenta Group’s efforts
has been constituted to recommend, prescribe into regenerative agriculture and soil health.
With increasing ambitions for Syngenta Group’s
and advise policies relating to cattle & dairy Vegetable Seeds and Flowers business, Matthew
Johnston will continue in his current global role as
development, feed and fodder, poultry, piggery, Head of Vegetable Seeds and Flowers.

sheep, goat and animal health. This initiative by

the Government to involve the private sector in

policy framing could spur the growth of the animal

husbandry sector in India. Hester Biosciences

is an animal healthcare company engaged in

manufacturing and marketing of animal vaccines

and other healthcare products.

BigHaat strengthens core by adding
3 new executives

Hyderabad-based BigHaat, India’s largest Vishaal Richa Indronil
Digital Agri Platform, has announced the
addition of three senior leaders to further scientist at DRDO, the country’s premier
strengthen the company’s operations and align defense research organisation, and a seasoned
the organisation best for the next phase of technology professional with more than 14
growth. Joining BigHaat’s C-Suite are Vishaal years of experience will head the Data Science
S. Wadhwani as Chief Finance Officer, Richa and Analytics wing. The supply chain being the
Hukumchand as Head of Data Sciences and most challenging vertical, Indronil Ghosh has
Analytics, and Indronil Ghosh as Head of been roped in to disrupt conventional practices
Supply Chain Management. Vishaal Wadhwani in the Agri domain. With more than 12 years of
joins BigHaat after a seven year stint as Senior experience, Ghosh has been driving excellence
Manager (Tax and Regulatory) at Ernst & in his former roles at Reliance and ITC.
Young. As a qualified CA and law graduate,
he is one of the most recognised financial
executives in the business with over 15 years
of experience. Richa Hukumchand, a former

42 Aycoaudrevmi ei awnse w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Govt inks pact ICRISAT-AGRA partner for
drought tolerant crops value
with IRRI for chain development

food & nutrition The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in
security in South Africa (AGRA) have announced a new partnership that synergises
their strengths. ICRISAT’s improved crop varieties and value
Asian region chain development technology will be leveraged alongside
AGRA’s extensive seed systems networks to bridge gaps in market
A Memorandum of Agreement access to early maturing, high yielding and nutritious varieties of
(MoA) was signed between drought tolerant crops in Africa.Dr George Bigirwa, Deputy Vice
the Department of Agriculture President for Programme Development and Innovations, AGRA,
& Farmer Welfare (DA&FW) noted that the partnership will focus on four areas such as, Climate
and International Rice change: ICRISAT works on Drought Tolerant Crops (DTCs) like
Research Institute (IRRI) on sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, and pigeonpea which are
commencement of Phase -2 important crops to address climate change; Diversification:
activities of IRRI South Asia AGRA is considering incorporating DTCs in their value chains;
Regional Centre (ISARC) Nutrition: This is a big challenge in most countries given ongoing
to scale up the existing civil wars, conflicts and the global economic recession caused by
partnership for food and the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation calls for incorporation of
nutrition security in the South hardy DTCs. Lastly, gender inclusivity is a focus area, as: Some
Asian region. In the second of ICRISAT’s mandate crops play an important role in achieving
present phase of the agreement, gender inclusivity especially for women who consider DTCs as
ISARC proposes to extend its their main source of income and nutrition.
research and development
with the aim to accelerate APEDA organises farming
the equitable development demonstrations and farm
of sustainable and inclusive training for students
rice-based systems across
India and South Asia to meet More than 150 students from Class IV to Class XII participated
the producers’ and consumers’ and learnt the basic elements of paddy cultivation at the training
demand. ISARC also plans to farm of the Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF),
facilitate further improvement promoted by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products
of system productivity and Export Development Authority (APEDA)
farmers’ income through digital situated at Modipuram in Meerut district
agriculture, agro-advisory of Uttar Pradesh. Students visited the
services, knowledge sharing training farm on three different days and
and capacity development learnt the basics of paddy cultivation such
that will promote sustainable as puddling, transplanting, processing,
and eco-friendly agriculture production and export process. The
through business models that students also learnt activities like the
attract the youth back into agri- process of making rice from paddy, de-husking, making steamed
entrepreneurship. rice, production of rice meant for export and extraction of oil
from rice and fodder for animals. Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman,
APEDA said that the objective of this initiative is to impart
practical knowledge to students as per the National Education
Policy (NEP), as well as to enhance their understanding of the
entire value-chain of rice production and exports. BEDF scientists
also explained to the students, the process of Basmati production,
processing, storage, the volume of business and export activities.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com A cap odleimciya nneewwss 43

ADAMA Center hosts “The FMC India
Chemistry of Formulation”
conference at Tel Aviv University collaborates

Introducing the next generation of scientists to the rapidly with PAU for
evolving field of formulations, The ADAMA Center for Novel
Delivery Systems in Crop Protection in Tel Aviv University Science Leaders
(The ADAMA Center) hosted its first “The Chemistry of
Formulation” conference at The Peres Center for Peace and Scholarship
Innovation in Tel Aviv, Israel. During the conference, leading
experts from ADAMA, HP Indigo, Hava Zingboim SkinTech, Programme
SolarEdge, Kornit Digital, Redefine Meat, Liposphere and
CannaSoul spoke about the key role of formulations in a wide FMC India, an agricultural
variety of industries ranging from crop protection and high- sciences company, has
tech, to cosmetics, nutrition and others. Formulation science signed a Memorandum of
is a foundation pillar for R&D in nearly all fields of applied Understanding (MoU) with
sciences and industries, ranging from crop protection to the one of the country’s premier
development of novel vaccines or novel smart materials. Despite agriculture universities – Punjab
the key role that formulation science holds, many students are Agricultural University (PAU)
not aware of its significance, or the skills and processes involved. in Ludhiana. The collaboration
Over 200 students studying for advanced degrees from leading is part of FMC’s multi-year
academic institutes in Israel as well as representatives from scholarship programme for
different companies, attended the conference to learn about renowned agricultural schools
the importance of formulation science and what a career in this across eight states in India
exciting and growing field looks like across different industries. aimed at promoting talent in
the field of agriculture. Under
Ag minister inaugurates 2 COE the agreement with PAU, FMC
at IIHR, Bengaluru will award four scholarships
annually to students from the
Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and university pursuing doctorate
Farmers Welfare inaugurated two state-of-the-art facilities: and master’s degrees in
Centre of Excellence (COE) for Protected Cultivation on agricultural sciences. FMC will
Horticultural Crops and Business Entrepreneurship and work with the university to
Startup Support through Technology in Horticulture (BESST- identify its brightest students
HORT) at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research in and develop their passion for
Bengaluru. The COE will facilitate the production of quality science and research. Fifty per
planting material, training and demonstrations to the farmers cent of the scholarships have
and the other stakeholders using automated sowing machines, been earmarked for female
assembly lines and hi-tech greenhouses demonstrations in candidates to encourage more
protected cultivation and the BESST-HORT would provide women to pursue careers
technical hand-holding, mentoring and other support to the in agricultural sciences and
Agri-startups and onsite, virtual training. research. The FMC Science
Leaders Scholarship Programme
is designed with an aim to
create greater opportunities for
aspiring scientists to develop
their aptitude in agricultural
research. Scholarships awardees
will be provided opportunities
for internships and industry
mentorship for their overall
development.

44 tyeocuhrnvoi el owgsy n e w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Canada’s Clean Seed, Chandigarh University
team up for tech-solutions to stubble burning

Canadian agriTech pioneer Clean Seed Agricultural Technologies is bringing its advanced planting
and seeding technologies to India, which could have a far-reaching impact on
the agricultural practices, gains and replenishment. Stubble burning and soil
depletion due to intensive cultivation and over-mining of nutrients by crops
are amongst the most serious issues being faced by India’s Agriculture
sector, today. Developed over the past 10 years and patented by Clean Seed
worldwide as well as in India, their globally proven seeding and planting
technology is aimed at addressing key production and sustainability issues
rampant in Indian agriculture. The innovative, modular, row by row technology
originally developed in Canada including a true single pass- no tillage row
unit is designed to eliminate stubble burning and tillage, advanced metering

technologies for precision application of seed and fertiliser, as well as planter singulation
options. However, to optimise their technology and machines to suit the Indian weather conditions, and
agricultural, soil and crops patterns, Clean Seed has teamed up with Chandigarh University, Gharuan.

IIT Madras identifies ICAR-NRC transfers
eco-friendly process banana wine making tech
to turn agri waste into to boost wine industry
industrial enzymes
The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (NRCB) Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu has licensed
researchers have identified a bacterium that can and transferred the technology to make banana
turn agricultural waste into industrial enzymes wine and vinegar to the Surachita Agro Producer
through a cost-effective and environment-friendly Company Ltd. in Solapur, Maharashtra. The
process. Industrial enzymes such as alpha-amylase technology transfer will widen the market
and cellulase are in high demand in various for domestic wine producers, and also offer
industries that deal with textiles, paper, detergents, consumers new choices beyond grape wine or
and pharmaceuticals. The IIT Madras researchers apple cider vinegar. This is aimed at providing a
studied how a bacteria called ‘Bacillus sp PM06’ can larger market for domestic wine producers. The
aid in producing industrial enzymes and value-added state governments of Kerala and Maharashtra are
products from agricultural waste. The organism accordingly revising their policies to utilise the
isolated by researchers has a fermentation capacity native grown crops. NRCB Director Dr S Uma,
to hydrolyse very low-cost lignocellulosic wastes said, “Converting ripe bananas into alcoholic
without pre-treatment, thus reducing the cost of beverages will not only help to reduce fruit wastage
bioprocess for production of enzymes and industrial in the supply chain, but also enable the doubling
metabolites. Every year nearly 100 to 150 tonnes of farmers’ income by tertiary processing, creating
of biomass are produced. There is a high interest jobs and enhancing investment opportunities.”
worldwide to make use of agricultural waste to
produce industrial enzymes and second-generation
ethanol as an alternative fuel source.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com t ec h npoolloi cgyy nneewwss 45

SMART research reveals uses of non-
destructive sensors to study plant health

Researchers from the Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP),
Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology

(SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and their local
collaborators from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering
(IMRE), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) as
well as the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
(ChBE), National University of Singapore (NUS) have published a
review. The review discusses the recent advances in non-destructive
plant health monitoring, ranging from electrochemical-based arrays
to nano-sensors and electronic noses, and why tracking plant health
is an attractive and sustainable strategy that can be used to optimise
crop growth practices. The review aims to inspire future developments
of non-destructive technologies for plant health diagnosis. Non-destructive plant health monitoring
stands as one of the key strategies for improving crop growth practices, complementing current
agricultural techniques such as crop rotation, intercropping and genetic modification.

IFFCO receives patent for
Nano Urea & Nano DAP

Agrochemical major IFFCO has secured the

patent on its revolutionary Nanotechnology-based Certis Biologicals,
Novozymes offer
fertilisers IFFCO Nano Urea and IFFCO Nano biofungicide tech for
Corn & Soybeans
DAP for 20 years from the Patent Office of the
Leading BioAg companies Certis Biologicals and
Government of India. Iffco's nano urea and nano Novozymes are jointly developing their technologies
as solutions for highly effective control of fungal
DAP next-generation fertilisers are benefiting disease. Field trials are currently underway
that will test combinations of Certis Biologicals’
farmers and the environment. These products innovative biofungicide active ingredient with new
Novozymes actives recently registered for use in
will be instrumental in the marketplace.The biopesticide expertise and
leadership of Certis, together with the innovation of
reducing soil, air, and Novozymes, is a powerful partnership that will bring
new solutions to row crop growers at a time when
water pollution, the effective crop protection is more crucial than ever.
Both companies expect that trials, which are taking
fertiliser cooperative place in the Midwestern US, will begin to yield data
in November 2022, ahead of the 2023 growing
major said in a statement. season. As the pressure on synthetic crop protection
products continues to grow, Certis believes people
The state-of-the-art Nano- will be forced to pick up and use biologicals in a new
way. With Novozymes, the partnership is positioning
Urea plant of IFFCO at itself to take advantage of the transition.

Kalol can produce 1.5 lakh

bottles of urea per day and

they are planning eight

more such plants. This

will truly revolutionise the

sector making agriculture

in India Atmanirbhar,

thus reducing dependence on urea imports. Dr

US Awasthi, MD, IFFCO said “This intellectual

property of IFFCO Nano Urea and Nano DAP will

strengthen the Indian economy by reducing input

cost to agriculture, double the income of farmers

in line with the dream and inspiration of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi.”

46 aygoruiri nvpi euwtsn e w s agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Syngenta gets approval Rallis India launches
to spray fungicide via 2 fungicides for
drones in India paddy growth

The Central Insecticide Board, under the agriculture A TATA Enterprise, Rallis India
ministry, has given its approval to Syngenta India, Limited, has introduced two
to use drones to spray its fungicide Amistar Top new fungicides, CAPSTONE and
on paddy crops. This fungicide is used to protect ZAAFU, which are intended to
the crop against infections such as Blast & Sheath combat different types of neck
Blight. Syngenta has stated that it is the first blast and sheath blight, common
private entity to get such an approval for spraying paddy diseases. The fungicide
agrochemicals, after submitting safety and bio portfolio of Rallis India, is well
efficacy data. The approval was granted after known in the market, and the
trials were replicated in institutes accredited by company expects CAPSTONE and
the government. Standard Operating Procedures ZAAFU to make up more than 10
were followed to obtain essential data from the per cent of its crop protection
state government notified agricultural universities portfolio’s fungicide category. As paddy is one of
and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, the most significant food crops that feeds more
on crop safety. The government has also accorded than 60 per cent of the population of India, Rallis
ad-hoc but conditional approval for 477 registered India is confident CAPSTONE and ZAAFU will
pesticides that can be used in agriculture via drone be another step towards the prosperity of paddy
spray, which includes insecticides, fungicides, and farmers. Fenoxanil and Isoprothiolane are the
plant growth regulators, out of which around 40 main ingredients in CAPSTONE. Isoprothiolane
formulations are of Syngenta, the company said in is an inhibitor of lipid biosynthesis, whereas
a statement. Fenoxanil is an inhibitor of melanin biosynthesis.
For the first time in India, farmers will now have
access to a mixture containing Fenoxanil. In
collaboration with Nihon Nohyaku, a Japanese
company that develops agrochemicals, this
product was created in India.

ICL signs long-term supply
agreement with India Potash

ICL, a leading global specialty minerals company, has signed a long-term agreement with India
Potash Limited (IPL) to supply Polysulphate through 2026, with a renewal option. The five-year
term is for an aggregate amount of 1 million metric tonnes, with quantities increasing for each

year of the agreement. Each shipment will be a minimum of 25,000
tonnes and equally distributed across the calendar year, with prices
and payment terms to be fixed between IPL and ICL from time to
time. The availability of Polysulphate is expected to help boost the
Government of India’s organic agriculture programme. Polysulphate
is available in its natural state and is mined, crushed, screened and
bagged, with no additional chemical separation or other industrial
processes. Unlike blended or compound fertilisers, it has the lowest
carbon footprint available globally. Polysulphate is a cost-effective
answer to crop nutrition, as it contains four key plant nutrients: sulfur, potassium, magnesium
and calcium, which are steadily available to plants along the crop cycle.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com a g rpi oi nlpi cuyt nneewwss 47

Milestone for Coromandel
Mahindra: 300,000th International launches
tractor rolls-out of its 3 insecticides,
Zaheerabad plant fungicide in AP

Mahindra Tractors, part of Mahindra’s Farm Agrochemical and fertiliser major Coromandel
Equipment Sector, the world’s largest tractor International has launched three insecticides
manufacturer by volume, rolled-out its 300,000th and a fungicide in India. The company said all
Telangana-made tractor from the company’s the four products were developed in-house by
tractor manufacturing facility in Zaheerabad. the company, following after a lot of research
The company described the feat as a significant and development work. The three insecticides
milestone for team Mahindra as well as for the developed for rice, cotton and vegetable crops,
state of Telangana. Besides being a hub for a wide comprise a combination effective chemical, while
range of products for the Indian market, the plant fungicide Prop-Plus will protect paddy crops
also caters to over 60 markets, including advanced from sheath blight and rice blast infections.
markets like the US, Japan and Brazil. Hemant The company also said it is working towards
Sikka, President, Farm Equipment Sector, strengthening its product portfolio for all major
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd said, “In line with the crops.
agri agenda of Telangana we thank our colleagues
in Telangana and the state government in helping
us achieve this feat. Going forward we will roll-
out our new light-weight K2 tractor series from
this facility.” Having rolled-out its first tractor
from its Zaheerabad facility in 2013, Mahindra’s
Zaheerabad facility crossed its 100,000th unit
production mark in 2017, inclusive of exports.
This was followed by crossing its 200,000th unit
in 2019.

UPL & Shreenath Mhaskoba Sugar Mill inks
MoU for sustainable sugarcane production

Agrochemical major, United Phosphorus Limited (UPL), has signed an MoU with Shreenath
Mhaskoba Sugar Mill in Pune for sustainable sugarcane production in Maharashtra. The
collaboration will impact more than 4,000 farmers in over 70 villages across the state. The venture

will address farmers’ concerns and create the category of sustainable
sugar by ensuring optimised usage of natural resources, UPL said in a
statement.Globally, biosolutions are a Rs 4,000 crore business while
in India, it is valued at Rs 400 crore. The MoU is part of the shift in the
company’s business model towards sustainable agriculture, as it plans
to launch 30 new products in the next 24 months. UPL says its Zeba
technology would lead to a 20 per cent savings in water and reduce the
use of fertilisers which would reduce the overall costs for the farmer
and improve their production and income. The sugarcane crop is
highly resource intensive, consuming large amounts of water, inputs,
electricity, labour, and fuel. Despite high consumption, the return on
investment to each stakeholder is low with a poor yield. With Zeba technology, UPL is eyeing to
save 600 crore litres of water and 500 tonnes of urea.

48 syuopuprlvyi ecwh asi n agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Verdant receives EPA label expansion for
its post-harvest solution

Denver-based Verdant Technologies kiwi, lime, mango, mushrooms, okra,
announced approval from the U.S. papaya, pineapple, spinach, strawberry,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and sweet corn. The 18 added crops are
of an expanded label of HarvestHold in addition to apricot, broccoli, grapes,
Fresh, including the addition of 18 crops. melons, nectarine, peach, persimmon,
Verdant has received U.S. state approvals plum, and tomato, which were approved
for HarvestHold Fresh in 49 states, with by the EPA in September 2021. The
anticipation of approval in California expanded label also includes flexibility
by late 2022. HarvestHold Fresh is an for recycling HarvestHold Fresh sheets
innovative shelf-life extension solution provider after application. Through its breakthrough delivery
that uses patent technology plug wastage. The latest method of industry-standard 1- methylcyclopropene
addition of crops for use with HarvestHold Fresh (1‑MCP), HarvestHold Fresh significantly reduces
includes asparagus, avocado, banana, bell pepper, waste in the perishable produce supply chain and
blueberry, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cucumber, offers unmatched storability and portability.

SpiceXpress flies Doraiswami urges
100 tonnes of Centre to reconsider
Lychee during GST on fumigation
May- June, 2022 services in warehouses

Gurugram based SpiceXpress, the Ramesh Doraiswami, Managing Director & CEO,
logistics platform of SpiceJet, has carried National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC), a
100 tonnes of lychee from Darbhanga warehousing service provider has voiced his concern
in Bihar to various parts of the country on the recent GST levy on fumigation services and
this season, which is about four times said, “it should remain exempt”. Fumigation is an
the quantity carried last year. Timely integral part of the scientific storage of agri produce
transport of fresh produce is essential to of mass consumption such as wheat, maize, pulses
minimise post-harvest loss and ensure etc. The GST Council recently announced the
availability in markets across the country. withdrawal of the exemption on fumigation of
SpiceXpress says it is continuously agri produce in warehouses from July 18, 2022.
expanding and strengthening its NBHC has appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture,
cargo network on both domestic and Warehousing Development and Regulatory
international routes. It offers a real-time Authority (WDRA), the GST Council, and the Central
24x7 end-to-end track and trace feature Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs to reconsider
for domestic cargo. Last year, SpiceXpress the decision by rolling back the proposed withdrawal
transported 26 tonnes of lychee to various of exemption of GST on fumigation services of agri
destinations within the country. The air- produce in warehouses. “Fumigation, being a key
service has been transporting farm and scientific component of the storage of agri produce,
agro products such as shrimps, fish seeds, has been singled out for levy of GST, which will
fresh fruits and vegetables to various result in ‘cost burden on the agri value chain’,” said
domestic and international destinations Doraiswami. It can also lead to losses in farmers’
to help farmers with timely access to income or an increase in consumer prices.
markets and boost the export of agro
products from India.

agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com spuoplpi cly cnhe wa isn 49

Guwahati scientists create ultra thin heteroprote
in film to transform food packaging

A research group from the physical sciences globular proteins: bovine serum albumin (BSA)
division of the Institute of Advanced Study in and lysozyme (Lys). They used the technique
Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, called Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) which gives the
has developed ultra-thin heteroprotein films films thickness in the order of nanometer. Films
that could revolutionise the food packaging and of such protein complexes of BSA and Lys can be
biomedical industries. These films have excellent useful for fabricating highly stable biodegradable
thermal, mechanical and pH stability and are thin films of different protein complexes for
much thinner as compared to other protein or expanding its applications in the area of thin-film
plastic films. They are also softer and have the technology. Diverse physicochemical methods
advantage of being more flexible. The
group comprising Dr Sarathi Kundu, such as parameter alteration or incorporation
Associate Professor, and Raktim of different fatty acids or polyol
J. Sarmah, SRF, a Ph.D. student moieties (glycerol, starch, gelatin,
developed ultrathin monolayer etc.) into this protein complex can
protein films consisting of two make the film free standing for
diverse applications.

Centre procures Centre announces
2.50 lakh tonnes of grand challenge
onions for buffer for development of
stock in FY 22-23 ‘Technologies for
storage of onions’
Beating past records, the Centre has
procured 2.50 lakh tonnes of onion for the To address the post-harvest losses of onions
buffer in 2022-23. The onion buffer size in including loss on account of sub-optimal storage
current year is 0.50 lakh tonnes higher than and processing, the Department of Consumer
the 2.0 lakh tonnes created during 2021-22. Affairs (DoCA) has announced a Grand Challenge
The onions were procured from the current for development of “Technologies for Primary
rabi harvest for the price stabilisation buffer. Processing, Storage and Valorisation of Onions”.
The stocks have been procured by National The DoCA is engaging with students, researchers
Agricultural Cooperative Marketing and startups to develop a strategy for minimising
Federation of India (NAFED) from farmers post-harvest losses in onions. The Grand
through the Farmer Producer Organisations Challenge on Onions invites efficient and cost-
(FPOs) in rabi onion growing states of effective solutions for reducing the wastage of
Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. onions from students (UG/PG/Diploma), research
The stocks will be released through targeted scholars, faculty members, startups and other
open market sales and also offered to states/ individuals, having interest in this area. There
UTs and government agencies for supplies are four verticals of challenge: Improvements in
through retail outlets during the lean
months (August - December) to the designs of storage structures, Pre-
moderate price rise. Open market harvesting stage, Primary processing
releases will be targeted towards and valorization: Value addition
states/cities where prices are and utilisation of onion waste.
increasing over the previous All the Agriculture Universities
month and also in key mandis to and Central Universities have
augment the overall availability. been informed by DoCA about
the challenge with the request to
enrol in the challenge for ensuring

maximum participation.

50 Lyeotu’ sr tvai elwk sA g r i agroSpectrum | august 2022 | www.agrospectrumindia.com

Bolstering Blue Economy
Ensuring food security has been a
challenge across the world. The fisheries improve the lives of coastal residents, protect
sector is expected to play a significant marine biodiversity, and ensure the national
role in meeting the growing food security of maritime areas and resources. The
requirement of the rising global population. By proposed policy framework emphasises policies in
2050, about 50 per cent more food needs to be a number of critical areas, including fisheries, to
produced globally. Fish consumption helps in achieve holistic growth.
attaining nutritional security, while fishing is a
resilient economic activity across the globe. Although the Indian fisheries sector is
flourishing steadily, there are several challenges
In India, according to the FICCI and PwC – such as limited access to services, inputs and
report,'Championing the blue economy: technologies, insufficient infrastructure, inefficient
Promoting sustainable growth of the fisheries market channels, poor price discovery mechanism,
sector in India', the fisheries sector has been post-harvest losses, and depleting fish stocks –
growing at a rate of about 5 per cent in the last which need to be addressed in a timely manner for
20 years and contributes to above 7 per cent of the sector to expand sustainably.
global fish production.
Addressing these issues, the government
According to IBEF, the Indian coastal has been focusing on fisheries infrastructure
economy sustains over 4 million fishermen and development and welfare of fishers in enabling
coastal towns. With a fleet of 2,50,000 fishing the growth and sustainability of the sector.
boats, India has a remarkable marine position Simultaneously, new-age production technologies
with 7,517 km of coastline. Nine of India’s states are creating opportunities to enhance the yield
have access to the coastline. using fewer resources. At this crucial juncture,
there is a need for fast adoption and greater use
In recent years, the Indian government of new production techniques, introduction of
has taken a number of steps to realise the efficient end-to-end supply chain methods and
full potential of the country’s blue economy. easy access to extension services for fish farmers.
There have been efforts to boost the fisheries Private entities can also play an effective role with
sector of India to harness its full capacity. The the help of data-driven technologies, innovation,
Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and efficient equipment, processing and export,
Management of Fisheries Centrally Sponsored domestic retail market chain, and digital and
Scheme (CSS) was established in 2015-16 with physical outreach.
a five-year budget of Rs 3,000 crore ($384.3
million). The 'Fisheries and Aquaculture The FICCI-PwC report noted that the need for
Infrastructure Development Fund' (FIDF) technologies like radio frequency identification
was established in 2018-19 with a fund size of (RFID), internet of things (IoT) and blockchain
Rs 7,522.48 crore ($963.5 million) to provide for traceability or efficient production systems
concessional credit to state/UT governments, like recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), and
their entities, and the private sector to fill mariculture is indisputable. However, successful
significant gaps in the fisheries infrastructure. adoption of these technologies will only be possible
The Government of India launched the Pradhan through awareness building among fishers and
Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), in aqua farmers, coupled with the active participation
May 2020, with the highest investment of Rs of private and government players.
20,050 crore ($2.5 billion) to bring about a Blue
Revolution through sustainable and responsible India is already among the global leaders in
development of the country's fisheries sector. fish production and export. Now it is time to move
further ahead towards production diversification,
The Ministry of Earth Sciences, which is the expansion of export volumes and nutrition and
nodal ministry, has released the draft of the economic support to all the stakeholders of the fish
National Policy for India's Blue Economy-2021. value chain.
The goal of the policy document is to increase
the blue economy's contribution to India's GDP, Narayan Kulkarni,
Editor

[email protected]