Government of India is promoting agro textiles sector by providing subsidy to boost the usage of agro textiles.

Technical Textiles are being promoted to enhance the productivity of agricultural sector in India.

Dr S Raman, a soil and water management specialist who has 32 years of experience in the agricultural sector in the State of Gujarata, told recently at the SASMIRA campus in Worli that in India awareness on the use of agro mulch is picking up.

Government of India is promoting the agro textiles sector by providing subsidy to boost the usage of agro textiles.
According to Dr. Raman, mulching helps to conserve moisture, prevent weeds and better manage the salinity. The use of agro mulch will reduce the negative impact of salinity and enhances the nutrient availability.

Dr. Raman stated that agro mulch goes well with drip irrigation. He further added that companies that provide imported seeds come with technology packages that include mulch and other best productivity improving practices.

Source : Commodity Online

The real value of agrifood demand in India is set to rise by 136 per cent between 2009 and 2050, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) in 2014.

ABARES executive director Karen Schneider said the report - What India wants: Analysis of India’s food demand to 2050 - reflected strong income and population growth across the continent.

“This report assesses future trends in Indian food consumption, production and trade in one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” Ms Schneider said. “Increasing income levels in India have led to a diversification of diets, with rising per person consumption of dairy products, fruit and vegetables. Combined with a population growth rate that is one of the highest in Asia, which means food demand will increase significantly.” Federal member for Wannon Dan Tehan recently wrote an opinion article for The Australian Financial Review noting that Australia could not be better placed to offer the goods and services needed to meet India's growing demand. "India is a land of untapped potential for Australian business and exporters," he wrote. "This near neighbor has long been overlooked. We currently only have $15 billion in two-way trade with India. This is compared to $150 billion with China, $70 billion with Japan, and $32 billion with South Korea."

Under current agricultural policies in India, consumption growth between 2009 and 2050 is strongest for fruit (246pc), vegetables (183pc) and dairy products (137pc), which together account for 77pc of the total projected rise in food consumption by 2050. “While the demand for food has largely been met by domestically produced products to date, food imports have also risen,” Ms Schneider said. "For many commodities imports will continue to rise over the coming decades.

“India's growth in agrifood imports toward 2050 is predominantly driven by vegetables, which are projected to reach US$47 billion by 2050, in 2009 US dollars. “Fruit imports are projected to reach US$58 billion by 2050, with dairy products at US$13 billion and wheat US$15 billion also expected to rise significantly.” Mr Tehan pointed to dairy as a major trade opportunity for local farmers. "In agriculture we export only $600 million worth of goods, largely in pulses or beans. This is despite India being the largest consumer of dairy produce in the world," he said. "Each year the country produces over 140 million tones of milk, 17pc of the global production and the world's largest single source. Then it consumes it all domestically. "To put that in perspective, Australia produces roughly 10 million tones of milk, a large proportion going overseas. "Such is India's demand for dairy the country placed a ban on exports when stocks became low in 2011. Domestic consumption is increasing, particularly of processed products such as cheese and cream, as the average income rises."

Mr Tehan said Australia conducts more trade with New Zealand, with a population the size of Melbourne, than with India. "Yet the world's largest democracy will soon be more populous than China and more lucrative than Japan. When people talk of untapped potential, India is a wealth of opportunity waiting to be seized."

Source : theland

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, a group of impact investors and alumni of IIM and IIT have come together to invest an undisclosed amount in Aakar Innovations; a portfolio company of IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) working in the domain of affordable sanitary napkins for rural Indian women.

The investment round was led by CIIE with further participation from Artha Platform, a leading philanthropy community in India. The investment was carried out under the ACT for Impact Programme at CIIE, focusing on using alumni connections to bring more angel capital into the ecosystem. The program was supported by eminent philanthropic foundations including the Rockefeller Foundation, Omidyar Network and Dasra. Vipul Patel, senior manager, CIIE Initiatives said, “CIIE is excited to be partnering with IIMA alums driven by a strong desire to create social impact along with generating financial returns. These angels bring a diverse set of expertise and shall bring enormous non-monetary value to the company.”

Aakar is a hybrid social enterprise that manufactures high-quality, compostable and hygienic sanitary pads, which are priced below other branded, competitive products. These pads are produced and sold by women entrepreneurs in their own villages. Their not-for-profit arm trains rural women to run manufacturing units and create awareness about menstrual hygiene. As a part of this arm, Aakar has started a crowdfunding campaign called “Freedom from Shame” to raise donations. “Over 100 donors have already given their support and we are looking to raise additional donations to support more women entrepreneurs,” said Sombodhi Ghosh, co-founder of Aakar Innovations.

They have so far sold 22 machines across India of which 15 units are operational and the rest seven will be functional by mid-December. These machines, which are usually set up in rural villages and urban-slum areas, has led to the direct employment of over 200 women.

On investing in Aakar, Geeta Goel, Director, Mission Investing at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation said, “Both at a personal and professional level, I have been amazed at the power of the market in trying to bridge inequalities in access, quality and income levels. If delivered in a responsible manner, such products and services can have tremendous social impact that can both scale and sustain itself. In that respect, Aakar is a great example of a responsible, customer centric, cost effective solution to the issue of women’s hygiene in rural and low income areas, a problem that has plagued us for several generations and is at the core of poor health of millions of women. Investing alongside incubators such as CIIE gives significant comfort on the basic due diligence and governance of such ventures.”

Sombodhi was earlier associated with CIIE as an ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ (EiR). Talking about raising the first-round of investment and expanding to Africa, he said, “Raising impact investment is a difficult and laborious process in India. As an impact first company, our need was to get investors who are willing to contribute to the impact that we are striving to generate. CIIE’s ACT for Impact programme helped us find such investors. We are seeing significant interest from partners internationally, and are already working with several African organizations. We are planning to commence these operations in partnership with local organizations in Kenya and Uganda in the next few months.”

Source : Aakar Innovations

NEW DELHI: Various Agricultural companies such as Cargill, John Deere, New Holland as well as MNC’s involved in food and FMCG sector are looking for growth opportunities in India. Companies are also expecting government to step in to impediments in governmental procedures such as taxes.

Siraj Chaudhary, mission co-lead for the food and agriculture mission to India under the US India Business Council said that, "The decision to invest in India is taken by teams here. The proposal is accepted from abroad based on the success of operation already. Therefore, making existing operations successful is the best motivator for getting more investment."

The business environment in the country is very conducive and supportive, said by Mukul Varshney, vice president of corporate affairs at John Deere.

Not only US and Canadian food agribusiness but Austrelian MNC’s are also looking for rising business opportunities in Indian dairy and nutrition industry. There is another trend of collaborating with Indian agribusiness for initial start-up. Belgian company, Univeg recently collaborated with Mahindra & Mahindra to develop a fresh fruit supply chain.

Cargill India chairman said that, "We are keen for GST (goods and services tax) implementation which will solve a lot of problems."

Source : www.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center: Precision agriculture emphasized in Ag Innovation Showcase or conference at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Main focus of conference was on big data management. “Looking at how to use technology and information and data that’s acquired at the farm, to better deliver seeds, nutrients, water, to get more output in agriculture” said by Fiorello.

In all, 20 emerging agricultural companies from countries including the U.S., Canada, Netherland and New Zealand are getting to present their products ― or ideas for products ― to potential investors and partners.

Many participating companies are working with "big data," and how to make it easier for farmers to use agricultural information and others are working in a field called biologics. In this case, they're using naturally-occurring microbes that make crops more efficient at nutrient and water use, or protect crops from disease, and producing microbes commercially for increase in crop yields.

Another area of interest pinpointed in this year conference is tracking possibility of wastage in different stages of food in order to minimize spoilage. Many agribusiness and food processing companies are now focusing in this area.

Some companies are working on next generation biofuels. Arvegenix is working to commercialize a non-food crop called Field Pennycress, an oil seed plant in the mustard family that could be used to produce biodiesel and jet fuel.

Field Pennycress is a winter crop that could be planted after corn and soybeans when fields would otherwise unproductive.

Source : http://news.stlpublicradio.org/

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha will soon get its second agriculture university in the poverty stricken KBK (Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput) region of the state. "The state is planning to establish its second agriculture university in an area under KBK districts and the government has already made budgetary allocation for the purpose," agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy said on Friday. The existing Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) could accommodate only 1,808 students in an academic year, he said. OUAT, established on August 24, 1962, is the second oldest Agriculture University in the country. It has been discharging its triple functions of education, research and extension education programme in an integrated manner in the field of agriculture and allied sciences. The minister said OUAT had been largely successful in fulfilling its major thrust of improving quality of academic standards in agricultural education by producing quality professionals in the field of agriculture and allied sciences. It has been generating and refining agricultural technologies by conducting demand driven as well as basic research in agriculture. While felicitating 37 meritorious students of OUAT who have got junior research fellowship of ICAR, Maharathy also said that a Veterinary University was also on the anvil. Another college of agriculture was being established under Xavier University, he said. Amongst 66 universities, OUAT is the first university in the country to achieve the rare record of 37 students getting JR fellowship in an academic year.

Courtesy & Source : www.times.indiatimes.com