Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Harisharan Devgan – A Farmer who thought of Ferrariedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
Harisharan Devgan, also known as Karan Devgan, has been undisputedly India’s most enterprising agripreneur. He rose from humble beginnings to begin his journey with organic farming.
Working as a Pomegranate farmer focusing on sustainable agriculture, Harisharan Devgan had promoted organic cultivation to create India’s largest Organic farming company, Niche Agriculture Limited. Niche Agriculture was established in the year 2001 with a goal of achieving revolution in the area of agriculture by increasing quality and improvements in the field of agriculture. He had won many awards and accolades during his lifetime. A perfect amalgamation of grit and determination, Harisharan Devgan believed in his dreams and have lived for it.
Harisharan Devgan had always conducted the business with “Ethics and Integrity”. He was born in Mumbai, India and has been brought up in a Sikh Family with an army background.
Contract Farming: A Boon or Bane?edit
Punekar news – Online
Pune, December 28, 2020: Agriculture is the age-old occupation of India due to it being an Agrarian economy, it is a large contributor (16%) to the Gross Domestic Product of our country. Not just the Agrarian workforce, but similar to a ‘Domino Effect’, multiple other industries like retail, chemicals, e-commerce, widely rely on the output from the Agricultural Sector.
This article talks about the topical ‘Contract Farming’ debate ongoing due to recent reforms initiated by the Indian Government. It aims to provide a holistic outlook on what contract farming is and how it may be beneficial for providing a structure to the Indian Agricultural Landscape. The article also interlinks the structure required with various inputs that ...
Agriculture Export: How Can India Excel?edit
Businessworld – Online
India has the benefit of tropical and sub-tropical climate range, making it conducive for a variety of crops. With the economy recovering from the pandemic slowdown, it is a golden opportunity for India to make its mark as a global crop producer and exporter. As per WTO’s (World Trade Organisation) Trade Statistics, the agricultural exports as a percentage of India’s agricultural GDP has increased from 9.4 % in 2017-18 to 9.9 % in 2018-19. While progress is positive, it must accelerate at a faster pace.
In India, the export of agriculture is delegated to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). The body is responsible for the export promotion and development of listed products ...
India’s agriculture sector needs much more than these new laws to help farmersedit
Financial Express – Online
The three farm Bills and the subsequent protests have grabbed headlines over the past few weeks. Experts, analysts and commentators have spilt much ink and devoted much screen prime time to discussion around the Bills—whether they should stay or should be repealed? This article will not pick a side. Many are touting the Bills to be the 1991 moment for the agricultural sector—liberalisation. Powers of agricultural produce market committee (APMCs) have been reduced, amendments to the Essential Commodities Act have been made to ease stock limits, and corporate farming and direct procurement have been made easy.
However, why are reforms/amendments needed, and what is the ultimate objective? Time and again governments have had a mandate to ...
Dairy Farming
Meghalaya’s milk mission, welfare of dairy farmers improvededit
The Sentinel – Online
As per Meghalaya’s Bovine Breeding Policy 2018- the per capita availability of milk in Meghalaya is 77.00g per person per day only which is far below the national average and the Indian Council of Medical Research recommended requirement of 300g per day per person. Traditionally, dairy farming in Meghalaya has been commonly made for meat purposes and the animals are not milked. However, considering changing habits and an increase in the purchase of people in the state, it is expected that the demand for milk is going to rise in the state with the coming year.
Technology in Agriculture
These entrepreneurs decided to explore the new trend in farming – Hydroponics – to grow chemical-free greensedit
YourStory – Online
With a family business in bio-pesticides, organic farming and indoor horticulture, Anisha Goel was no stranger to the toll excessive chemicals have on the body, the loopholes in organic certification, lack of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and the extent of food wastage. Anisha was visiting India from Paris in 2015, where she worked with AXA, when she realised that it was difficult to find healthy salad greens in India, the tomatoes tasted different, and berries were near-rotten by the time it reached consumers. At the same time, indoor farms were becoming profitable and attracting serious venture capital.
Aqgromalin Raises INR 2 Cr Seed Funding From Angel Investorsedit
Entrepreneur – Online
Agritech startup Aqgromalin on Monday said to have raised a funding of INR 2 crore from angel investors participating from the Middle East.
It aims to utilize the capital in setting up 500 micro-farms in the states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
“We are delighted that the investors have seen huge growth potential in our startup. Our company plans to utilize these funds in improving and accelerating the implementation of micro-farms that is going to uplift the living of the farmers. Additionally, our plans to strengthen the technology backed platform will drive the business forward in the domain of agritech,” said Prasanna Manogaran and Bharani CL, co-founders, Aqgromalin, in a joint statement while commenting on the ...
Agritech startup Aqgromalin raises Rs 2 Cr from angel investorsedit
YourStory – Online
Agritech startup Aqgromalin on Monday said it has raised Rs 2 crore from angel investors participating from the Middle East. The company aims to utilise the capital in setting up 500 micro-farms in the states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, it said in a statement. Aqgromalin supplements the income of small landholding farmers through ready to implement micro-farms mainly in the areas of Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture.
Aqgromalin, which was founded in 2019, has presence in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. It aims to supplement the income of small landholding farmers through ready to implement micro-farms. It makes access easier for various agricultural implements and technology.
Stubble Burning
IISc researchers turn stubble into ethanoledit
Deccan Herald – Online
At a time when pollution from stubble burning has become a concern, researchers from IISc have devised a way to extract ethanol from it which is a valuable fuel.
Professor T V Ramachandra and his doctoral student Deepthi Hebbale presented the result of their experiments at Lake 2020, the 12th biennial symposium of the Energy Wetlands Research Group of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Deepthi said 100 …
Tractor industry
Pune-based firm makes a mark in refurbished tractor segmentedit
The Times of India – Online
Sajith Abraham used to work in the tractor and farm equipment financing division of a large private sector. He used that expertise to start ‘Mera Tractor’, a firm specializing in selling refurbished tractors. The outfit, which Abraham started in 2018 with a couple of other partners, now has 30 outlets in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
“Up to 85% of Indian farmers have landholdings of five acres or smaller. It is not viable for them to buy new tractors, so they often buy old ones, often in a poor condition and for a high price, as the brokers arranging the sale take a large commission. Our firm aims to assure such farmers of good quality, ...
Why tractors are witnessing a spike in sales amid slowdown in auto industryedit
The Print – Online
Tractor sales in India saw a 28.7 per cent year-on-year growth this year from April to November, recording a jump at a time when the auto industry is witnessing a pandemic-induced slowdown. In November alone, tractor sales recorded a y-o-y growth of 51.2 per cent
According to Tractor and Mechanization Association (TMA) data, 82,330 tractors were sold in November as compared to 54,432 in the year-ago period.
This rise in tractor sales came on the back of growth even during the January through September period, which included months of lockdown. During these months, 5,43,936 tractors were sold across the country, a nearly 4.72 per cent rise from 5,19,395 in the comparable year-ago period, according to ...