Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
India’s path out of rural distressedit
Financial Express – Online
The stand-off between the farmers and the government, and rising rural protest, is not just a reflection of conflicting views on agricultural reforms or an expression of institutional discontent that farmers were not consulted on the reforms. It reflects a deeper concern on rural distress. People in the rural areas have raised their aspirations, and are now demanding more jobs, and a better quality of life. Although agricultural pricing reforms may be viewed by some as a way of dealing with the rural distress, this is not a substitute for unleashing a rural structural transformation. Solving India’s rural distress now may just unleash the next stage of India’s structural transformation that will enable it to become ...
Rajasthan governor asks agriculture universities to work for development, prosperity of farmersedit
Outlook – Online
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra on Thursday called upon agriculture universities to work for the development and prosperity of farmers in the country.
Addressing a virtual convocation ceremony of the Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Mishra said along with strengthening the economy, everyone needs to work together for the prosperity and development of farmers.
Calling upon the agriculture universities to work towards the development of farmers, the governor said endeavours should be made so that farmers can get maximum benefits from agriculture.
He also stressed on the need to make optimum use of technology to increase the efficiency of agricultural teaching and research activities.
Agriculture Minister Lalchand Kataria also attended the virtual ceremony
Technology in Agriculture
The Farming 3.0 Opportunity: Inside India’s $24.1 Bn Agritech Marketedit
Inc42 – Online
With 58% of the population dependent on agriculture, India is a largely agrarian economy, and the growth potential of agritech is immense in the country, given this quality.
India’s agritech sector has come a long way with 43 startups in 2013 to more than 1000 startups in 2020, driven by rise in rural internet penetration, rise in post-harvest and supply chain losses, growing investors’ interest in the sector, lack of finance and high-quality inputs for farmers.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has disrupted many industries with several SMBs and startups bearing the brunt. The restrictions imposed on logistics, the shutting down of traditional retail channels, and the sharp drop in demand, led to an unprecedented slowdown for many ...
Huge Scope for collaboration in agri between Bangladesh, India: Goyaledit
SMETimes – Online
There is huge scope of collaboration between India and Bangladesh in the Agriculture sector, said Piyush Goyal, Minister for Commerce & Industry and Railways, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.
Addressing the Inaugural Session of the India Bangladesh Digital Conference on Agriculture Sector, he said, there is a need to improve the agricultural productivity in both countries from the current level of 4.5 tonnes per hectare to 10 tonnes per hectare. As both countries face similar challenges and conditions, the solutions are also common to both countries.
The Minister stressed on the need to work together in areas such as farm mechanization, food processing and fisheries.
Venture Catalysts, Manish Modi and Ness Wadia invest in AgriGatoredit
YourStory – Online
Venture Catalysts, India’s first and largest integrated incubator and accelerator, has recently led an undisclosed round of investment in AgriGator, a B2B digital supply chain platform. The funding round was led by Manish Modi on behalf of Venture Catalysts with industrialist and entrepreneur Ness Wadia as a co-investor. AgriGator is a 100X.VC Nov 2019-funded portfolio company. Founded in 2019 by Udit Sangwan and Charu Chaturvedi, AgriGator aims to provide a one-stop solution to the inefficiencies in the agricultural supply chain market by facilitating trade and logistics service between buyers, sellers, and carrier providers, in return for a small commission on every transaction. After buying from farmers, traders have traditionally depended on distributors or brokers to transport their ...
Drones in farm sector a reality by next Kharif in Andhra Pradeshedit
The New Indian Express – Online
Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU) is planning to use drones in the agriculture sector by next Kharif in Andhra Pradesh. Seen as an important step towards modernisation of the agriculture sector to make it more cost-effective and a solution for manpower shortage, drone technology, which is being tested in the labs of the varsity, will be tested in fields soon with help of the Andhra Pradesh Drones Corporation, before releasing it for commercial use, once the university gets permission from the Government of India, said ANGRAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Adala Vishnuvardhan Reddy.
Speaking to TNIE, he said the new technology has the potential to be a game changer, like the tractor in the past, ...
Top Agri Tech Startups to look out in 2021edit
Krishi Jagran – Online
According to DataLabs by Inc42, the agritech sector recorded a total funding of $244.59 Mn in 2019, an increase of over 350% in the amount of funding in the agritech sector from the previous year. Speaking to Inc42, agritech stakeholders said that while startups have expanded rapidly in the past couple of years, the growth of the sector has been held back by lack of government support, lack of structured data, fewer large investments, poor infrastructure, and policy lag.
Precision technology will definitely in the coming days help agriculture get strengthened in India. Various Start Ups have been formed and we are sure IoT could efficiently increase their incomes by guiding them on better practices. Here we are listing some Agritech Start ups which are helping solve farmer challenges in ...
Stubble Burning
The Burning Issueedit
Outlook – Online
Winters have become synonymous with high pollution levels in the national capital being made worse by crop stubble burning in neighbouring Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Thousands of farmers set their fields on fire. Law enforcement agencies attempt to control this by enforcing penalties. Yet, fields continue to be set on fire. There were 73,883 incidents of stubble burning in Punjab alone between September 21 and November 14, 2020 (Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, 2020). This is the highest number of incidents since 2016.
The government has rolled out a slew of subsidies and incentives. These have also failed to bring about a change. Farmers complain of problems with the efficiency of machines, their availability and high ...
Tractor industry
With Bharat shining, tractors plough on robust recovery, sustained momentumedit
The Hindu Business Line – Online
The year 2020 proved to be one of unimaginable challenges the world had to endure. Every country and industry came to standstill due to the Covid-19