Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Explained: Why farmers are not suspending stir despite weekend lockdownedit
The Indian Express – Online
Despite the surge in Covid-19 cases and imposition of weekend lockdown in nine districts of Haryana, farmer outfits have announced continuing their agitation like it is going on for the past five months. The Indian Express explains why farmers don’t want to postpone their agitation despite appeal by top BJP leaders.
Department Committed To Safeguard Farmers’ Interests: Director Agricultureedit
India Education Diary – Online
In order to ensure the availability of different agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc.) and to take on field assessment of different agricultural activities, Director Agriculture Kashmir Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal today visited different areas of Srinagar district.
During the visit Director Agriculture said special times need special approach.
He asked the officers and field functionaries to work in more professional and coordinated manner during these testing times. He impressed upon the concerned officers and functionaries while following COVID protocol in letter and spirit to reach out to the farmers and address their issues so that their interests could be safeguarded in the best possible manner.
He said that chasing the target of doubling the farmers ...
It’s the turn of consumers to support farmersedit
The Tribune – Online
PROMOTING a free market economy in agriculture in India has been a topic of debate since 1991 when reforms in the industrial and financial sectors were introduced. Then came the WTO agreement in 1995 to which India was one of the first signatories. Under this agreement, quantitative restrictions on agriculture trade were dismantled, bound tariff rates were negotiated for various crops and maximum level of agriculture subsidies were defined for developed and developing countries. It was argued that wide-scale reforms were required to unshackle growth in agriculture. Last year, the Union Government enacted three laws with the avowed aim of making agriculture markets more competitive for better harvest prices to farmers as they would be able ...
Agritech to Help Conserve Wateredit
Financial Tribune – Online
Although large tracts of Iranian landmass are semi-arid, its key agricultural sector continues to pile pressure on surface and groundwater supplies.
To lift the pressure off water supplies, a local knowledge-based company has offered agricultural technology (agritech) solutions.
Avisa Hydroculture has launched a plan to educate farmers about hydroponics, which is a form of greenhouse agriculture that involves growing crops without soil and with less water, IRNA reported.
Rasoul Rahnamaei, the company’s CEO who is a university professor in pedology, said, “Our experts prepare an analytical report regarding the use of light, type of plants, the greenhouse’s quality and other parameters. Farmers are then taught how to feed their crops as suggested by the hydroponic analyses.”
Technology in Agriculture
Blockchain in Agriculture and Food Securityedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
With global-scale food systems such as seafood, nearly 40 per cent of which is traded globally, data transparency and traceability through technologies like blockchain are important for socially and environmentally conscious decision making and to facilitate trust among stakeholders.
Gathering information
Blockchain technologies can be used to consolidate information on the quality of the seed, track how crops grow and record the journey once it leaves the farm. In Canada, for example, Grain Discovery – an online blockchain marketplace – is an example of data being leveraged by those involved in the food system to grow and market globally competitive crops.
Agri-tech start-up Reshamandi going ahead with expansion despite COVID worriesedit
Outlook – Online
Agri-tech start-up Reshamandi is going ahead with its planned expansion despite the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, targeting to onboard around 2 lakh silk farmers on its platform in two years, according to a top company official.
The company, which works in the silk supply chain offering farmers to sell their produce by linking up with reelers and weavers, is also looking to raise its Series A capital this year to fund its footprint expansion, including in Africa.
“From a two-year perspective, we are assuming that we will have at least 2 lakh farmers working on our platform across different states (in India),” Reshamandi Co-Founder & CEO Mayank Tiwari told PTI.
Asked if the plans would ...
[The Turning Point] This techie started an agritech startup to help farmers earn a fair price for their produceedit
YourStory – Online
India’s agriculture sector has been facing a crisis on many fronts. One of the many difficulties faced by the agriculture community is selling the produce at reasonable prices. Pradeep PS, a software engineer, saw it all very closely and decided to solve it with his startup Farmers Fresh Zone or FarmersFZ. Started in 2016, the Kerala-based agritech startup is an online marketplace that sells vegetables, fruits, spices, and other farm products directly to consumers from farmers. The startup also helps farmers in production planning and to follow good agriculture practices.