Agriculture Technologies on offer from ICAR labs

Processes for formulation of donkey-milk based cosmetic products – bathing soap, body butter, lip balm

In view of the promotion of donkey milk along with generating awareness among equine farmers and donkey keepers for benefits of donkey milk and getting economic gain from it, ICAR-NRCE has standardized the formulations and technology for production of Donkey milk-based soaps, body butter and lip balms. The soaps were made by HP and CP methods utilizing the benefits of olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil and essential oils along with other key ingredients. Fresh frozen donkey milk and freeze-dried donkey milk was used for making the formulations and soaps have been tested for organoleptic properties, cleansing, and lathering properties. The body butter was made by using freeze-dried donkey milk, beeswax, coconut oil, clarified butteroil, Shea butter, vitamin E and aloe vera gel along with essential oils and lip balms were made by using freeze-dried donkey milk, coconut oil, clarified butteroil, shea butter, vitamin E and sweet almond oil along with essential oils.

This is one among the many technologies on offer from ICAR labs.

Check technologies http://www.agrinnovateindia.co.in/technologies

 

Agri-Startups India

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (FICCI)-PwC Knowledge Report on Agri-Start-ups: Innovations for boosting the Future of Agriculture in India, was launched by Suresh Prabhu, minister of commerce and industry, Government of India, at the International Conference and Awards for Innovations by Agri Start-ups organised by FICCI in New Delhi. High lights:

• India houses a total of 366 agri based start-ups, of which over 50 per cent came into existence in 2015 and 2016. The combined revenue of all agritech start-ups in India is estimated to be less than $100 million whereas global market is worth $350 billion. Geographically, Karnataka and Maharashtra together account for almost 50 per cent of the total number of agri start-ups opened in the last five years.
• Big data based agri start-ups:Development of farm-specific, data-driven diagnostics to determine soil and crop health has come up as a big opportunity area. Start-ups are leveraging drones or tractor-based solutions to get data (both on weather and agricultural) on field to determine risk. Growing smartphone penetration will enable precise decision making in farming activity, helping farmers to drive increased productivity and revenue while reducing unit costs.
• Start-ups developed around the market linkage model: Innovations must be included to help farmers with timely and accurate estimation of sowing and harvesting in sync with consumer demand patterns. Such linkages operate at the two critical ends of the supply chain: input and output models. These models aim to link producers to remunerative sourcing agencies for procurement and to profitable buyers for output sales.
• Start-ups developed around Farming as a Service (FAAS): Specific farm practices are being identified for provision of technological breakthrough services. Activities such as equipment renting and crop care practices are areas likely to see market traction. FAAS seeks to provide affordable technology solutions for efficient farming. It converts fixed costs into variable costs for farmers, thus making the techniques more affordable for a majority of small farmers. Its services are available on a subscription or payper-use basis in three broad categories, which are crucial across the agriculture value chain.
• IoT enabled technology based agri start-ups: Smart farming, including high-precision crop control, data collection, and automated farming techniques, will remove inefficiencies and bolster productivity. Information on crop yields, rainfall patterns, pest infestation and soil nutrition can be used to improve farming techniques over time. Low capex for predominantly software based solutions is the key feature for such solutions.

Download the report.

Agriinnovate India Ltd launched.

Agrinnovate India Ltd. (AgIn) was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 (No. 1 of 1956) on 19th October, 2011. It is a “for profit” Company owned by Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. It is to act as an effective interface between Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR- an autonomous organization under DARE) on one side and the Stakeholders of agricultural sector (Farmers; Public & Private Sector firms; R&D organizations; Educational Institutions- all of these at National and International level) on the other side, for a significant purpose of securing, sustaining and promoting global agricultural development.

The Company has been set up with an authorized share capital of Rs. 100 crore, with an initial paid up capital of Rs. 50 crores from DARE/ICAR.

Close

RELATED ARTICLES

Technologies and Products developed under BIRAC

Several technologies in Healthcare and Agriculture are developed under BIRAC.

• A rapid cost-effective point-of-care diagnostic device with microPCR to diagnose multiple diseases presently Malaria, Dengue & Typhoid developed -Bigtec Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore is ready for market.
• Device for execution procedure for tumor ablation using Maxico (The Integrated planning navigation and Training Platform for Tumor Ablation) launched in the market - Perfint Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.
• Immunodiagnostic kit for detection of autoimmune diseases developed - Amar Immunodiagnostics Pvt.Ltd.
• Affordable fluorescence reader for point-of-care diagnostics being developed - Design Innova, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi.
• DX Phone - Software platform for using mobile phone to analyse blood glucose test strips - Janacare Solutions Pvt. Ltd., All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital.
• Insect pest and virus resistance tomato -Advanta India Ltd., Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi (IARI).
• Insect pest resistant Brinjal - Sri Biotech Laboratories India Ltd., University of Delhi South Campus.
• Virus resistant Okra - Nirmal Seeds Pvt. Ltd., University of Delhi South Campus.

Innovations and Research by private agribusiness in India: Carl E Pray and Latha Nagarrajan

There has been lot of discussion on need for second green revolution and very little on who will drive it and deliver the results. This paper can lead to informed discussion on this subject. Abstract from the report:

  Agricultural innovations in India have rapidly increased since the 1980s. Government data and surveys of seed firms show that from about 1990 to 2010 the number of new seed cultivars available to farmers in maize, wheat, and rice roughly doubled, while the number of cotton cultivars at least tripled. Biotechnology innovations went from zero in the 1990s to 5 genetically modified (GM) traits in hundreds of GM cotton cultivars by 2008. Pesticide registrations went from 104 in the period 1980–1989 to 228 during the period 2000–2010. Similar growth in innovations also occurred in the agricultural machinery, veterinary medicine, and agricultural processing industries.
These innovations have come from foreign technology transferred into India as well as from in-country public and—increasingly—private research. Based on interviews with firms and data from annual reports, we find that private investment in agricultural research grew from US$54 million in 1994/95 to US$250 million in 2008/09 (in 2005 dollars). Growth in private research and development (R&D) expenditure was particularly rapid in the seed and plant biotechnology industry, which grew by more than 10 times between the mid-1990s and 2009.
Private innovations have contributed to agricultural productivity and incomes. Research and innovation by private industry led to the boom in cotton exports and to rapid increases in exports of generic pesticides and agricultural machinery. Private hybrids of cotton, rice, maize, pearl millet, and sorghum increased yields over public hybrids, varieties, and landraces. Small farmers in some of the poorest regions of India—the semiarid tropics of central India and the rainfed rice regions of eastern India—get higher productivity with private hybrids.


One of  the suggestion for policy reform:
Invest in public research and higher education, and make scientists available to private research. The number of state agricultural universities (SAUs) and the students they produce have increased; however, the number of scientists at SAUs has declined, along with research funding per scientist (Jha and Kumar 2006; Ramaswamy and Selvaraj 2007). Drastic reforms and more resources are needed in graduate education and research at SAUs to train the young scientists that private firms are asking for. These reforms could include expanding government support for graduate education and research beyond Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes and SAUs to nonagricultural institutes that have strong basic science programs. ICARs and SAUs should also re-examine research priorities to avoid duplicating research now conducted in the private sector and to concentrate on research for public goods. Where applied private research is strong, public research centers should shift their research focus to basic research that supports private applied research. At the same time, the private sector should contribute more financial and political support to public strategic research.


Any comments?

Commercialization of major agro innovations-Slow-Release Micronutrient Fertilizer and Liquid Feriliser

Attended NIABI 2012 and made a brief presentation on Design for Diffusion. While I talked about diffusion theory, my co-speakers Ms Gupta (FICCI) and Dr Vyas (AAU) gave practical examples of diffusion by way of  licensing to LARGE Indian firms. 

First is on Slow Release Micronutrient Fertiliser , result of 2 decades of passion & effort by Scientist Dr Chandrika Varadachari, one of the few Young Scientists whose potential was recognized early by DST and the scientist delivered. Great work by FICCI, Nirankar & his team connecting innovators to Indian firms. Second is Liquid Fertiliser  ( Anubhav Liquid Bio-fertilizers) developed by Anand Agricultural University and technology licensed to GSFC. Again a great achievement by Dr RV Vyas and his team.

Many more opportunities for in-licensing by Indian firms: Agribusiness Knowledge Centre (AKC), NAARM campus, Hyderabad has prepared report `Technology Assessment and Commercialisation Evaluation' of selected agribusiness innovations as a follow of Technology Commercialisation workshop held at NAARM (Sept 29th to 1st october 2011). For copies contact: DSK Rao, Director, Agribusiness Knowledge Centre, NAARM Campus, Rajendra Nagar,Hyderabad - 500 407, Tel:   +91-40-24581380, Cell:  +91-9440051847

Projects supported under NAIP

Several interesting projects are supported under NAIP ( National Agricultural Innovation Project) funded by World Bank and Government of India. See the list under components 2 & 4  

Farm Innovators 2010

Apart from innovations and scientific package of practices developed and transferred from R&D institutes, innovations in the form of grassroot level technologies and methodologies developed by some of the innovative farmers and rural youth are benefiting widely to farmers and have also been accepted across the system. Such innovative technologies and methodologies are largely confined to some locations. Benefits accrued from such innovative ideas need to be widely shared across the country. And the scientific talents behind such grassroot level innovations need to be encouraged and recognized. Valuable ideas and techniques generated by them largely go unnoticed owing to lack of proper documentation and opportunities for wider dissemination. An initial and pioneering attempt in this direction has been made by the Division of Agricultural Extension, ICAR, to document such innovations developed across the country in the form of this publication “Farm Innovators – 2010” for the benefit of various stakeholders.139 innovations were finalized under eight thematic areas—Crop improvement (13); Crop production (16); Crop diversification (8); Crop protection (14); Farm machinery (61); Water Management (8); Live stock and fisheries management (10) and Post harvest technology and value-addition (9)

Down load report from : http://www.icar.org.in/node/2248

Agro Tech 2010 Chandigarh

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising the 9th edition of Agro Tech - India’s Premier Biennial Agro Technology & Business Fair from Friday, 3 – Monday, 6 December 2010 at the Chandigarh. Sustainable Agriculture’ is the theme of Agro Tech 2010 and aims at integrating technological advancements, environmental & ecological stewardship & technical knowledge for the farming community & other consumers under one roof. contact:
Vivek Gupta , Confederation of Indian Industry (Northern Region Headquarters), Block No. 3, Dakshin Marg, Sector 31-A, Chandigarh 160030 (INDIA), : +91-172-2607228 +91-9646648390

Omnivore Capital

Omnivore Capital backed by Godrej invests in agro tech start-ups at early stage.The team includes Atish Babu of Nexus Venture partners, Mark Kahn of Gogrej Agrovet. Focus areas:  

   Agricultural Financial Services,  Agriculture Services, Animal Science, Aquaculture & Mariculture, Biofuel Biotechnology, Farm Equipment, Plant Science, Water management etc .

Investment will be $1M to $3M in Series A/B rounds.

Details: http://www.omnivorecap.com/Omnivore_Capital/Investments.html

Stevia Global Summit, India 2010

The Stevia Technology, Innovation and Safety Summit 2010 brings together leading R&D, innovation, new product development (NPD), marketing and food safety, Quality assurance. Professionals to discuss, innovate, knowledge share and shape the future of stevia industry into the new decade. Date: 11th July 2010, New Delhi.
URL: http://www.steviaglobalforum.com/schedule.html

bio-release micronutrients

Economic Times carried out this article on work of Dr Chadrika Varadachari. She is pioneer in development of bio release nutrients and decades of effort paid off with technology commercialisation by several agro firms like Sowbhagya Amino Inputs, Godrej Agrovet.