Seed sector wants early decision on Bt cottonseed pricing

The Hindu Businessline -Hyderabad, Sept. 22: 

The Rs 8,000-crore seed industry has asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to finalise prices of Bt cotton seeds by February-end every year. “It is important for us to have the price tags by that time in order to prepare the packets and send them to dealers well before the season starts in mid-May,” Dr P Sateesh Kumar, President of Seedsmen Association of Andhra Pradesh, said.

Addressing the 16{+t}{+h} annual general meeting of the association here on Thursday, he pointed out how hard it was for the industry because of the inordinate delay in finalising the Bt cottonseed price. “We need enough time to print maximum retail price before despatching seed packets to different parts of the country,” he said.

Industry woes

Meanwhile, the industry expressed serious concern over shortage of labour.

“This could impact the industry adversely. We need farm mechanisation to face this problem,” Dr Sateesh said, talking to reporters later.

The industry, which was growing at an annual rate of 10-12 per cent, expected a normal production this year. “There was a let up of 10 days from incessant rains. Barring Prakasam, all other districts reported normal season for all seed farmers,” he said.

He also asked the State Government to clear subsidy dues for 2009 and 2010.

“We request the Government to rationalise testing fee for evaluating findings of trials,” he said.

Responding to the industry's plea, Mr C. Damodar Raja Narasimha, Deputy Chief Minister, asked the industry to come forward with proposals early so that it could begin talks in February-March to finalise pricing.

He said the university (Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University) should be more vibrant.

Amul mulls foray into frozen vegetable market

Madhvi Sally, ET Bureau Sep 21, 2011, 04.02am IST

AHMEDABAD: The emerging frozen vegetable business is drawing the attention of FMCG majors. Cooperative giant Amul responsible for White Revolution in the country is assessing commercial viability to venture into frozen green vegetable business.
National Dairy Development Board-controlled Mother Dairy is the market leader in frozen peas with its Safal brand. After their fierce fight on the dairy front, Amul and Mother Dairy will now lock horns in the vegetable market.
Amul Dairy, the flagship of the Rs 9,774-crore Anand-based Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, has launched bakery products in the last couple of years and is aiming at strengthening its presence beyond traditional dairying in the processed food business.

A senior official told ET, "Amul Dairy is technically equipped to freeze and pack vegetables at its paneer unit. It is capable of launching frozen peas, corn and mixed vegetables anytime it decides to go ahead. Amul is assessing commercial viability of its project for vegetables besides expanding its bakery business." Amul Dairy markets liquid milk in Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal and clocked a turnover of Rs 2,111 crore during the fiscal year 2010-11, up by 25% over the previous fiscal.

The total processed annual capacity of green peas in India is at 1.5 lakh tonne. Major players in the sector include Mother Dairy, McCann, Godrej Tyson Foods, Sumeru Food, Allana, Welga, Vadilal and Pagro Foods.
Mother Dairy business head (horticulture) Pradipta K Sahoo said the peas market was annually growing by 20-25% over the last three years. "Steady demand from consumers, year-around availability and considered to be closer to fresh product with nourishment value are expected to give a boost to the frozen vegetable market," he said while adding that Safal had a market share of 50% in organised retail.
Thanks to a growing demand from the hospitality sector, many small players are operating in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. "With the processing of peas taking only two months (from December to February) a year, the units can be used to process vegetables like cauliflower, baby corn, carrots and other product development in frozen snacks," said Sahoo.
Ahmedabad-based Vadilal, one of the leading ice-creams manufacturers in the country, invested Rs 15 crore on food processing units in 2010 with a 10,000-tonne capacity. The company sells its products across northern and western India with demand coming from tier-1 and -2 cities. "Demand for frozen vegetables is increasing in the country and we may even cater to tier-3 cities provided there is a 24-hour power backup," said Vadilal Industries MD Rajesh Gandhi.
However, the biggest challenge that the companies face is reaching new regions due to lack of cold chains and erratic electricity supply.

DuPont India to focus on pro-biotics, formulations

Hindu Business Line - Hyderabad, Sept. 20:  

DuPont, the agri and chemicals giant, plans to launch at least three new products in the crop protection area in the next three years in India, which includes an insecticide and a couple of fungicides.

The Delaware, US-based company, which invests about $11 billion of its turnover of $32 billion in agri-nutrition, sees huge opportunity in the Indian market and to also play a significant role in India's quest to increase productivity of various crops.

Mr Jim Borel, Executive Vice-President, told newspersons today that at least 6 crop protection products were launched in the last two years, including Coragen (insect control) which was a global launch.

With a local formulation in granular form developed in India, the product now is used in more than 6 million acres of rice and sugarcane crop.

The DuPont Knowledge Centre (DKC) at Hyderabad will see lot of rice-centric research, especially hybrid rice as well as development of molecular markers using biotechnology methods. The Centre will have a strength of 500 by year-end and is already playing a big role in the company's global research strategy, he said. On Genetic Engineering, he said the focus was on improving traits and developing molecular markers that can facilitate dramatic improvements.

Recently, the company launched a drought-tolerant corn in the US market. Soyabean modified to contain high percentage of olieac acid has also been introduced.

Referring to the food and nutrition area, Mr Borel said after the acquisition of Danisco, the Danish pro-biotics and sweetener company, DuPont is on the way to expanding into the food business, especially in health and wellness foods.

Danisco has a presence in India. Interestingly, DuPont India is working with a few food companies and nutrition institutes to make ‘healthy, guilt-free snacks', said Mr Ram Mudholkar, Business Director, South Asia and Asean, DuPont Crop Protection.

Bharti Walmart opens first store in South

Hindu Business Line - Vijayawada, Sept. 15: 

Bharti Walmart launched its operations in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday by inaugurating its first wholesale store in the State and also in South India here on Thursday. The second one would be opened soon at Guntur, according to Mr Raj Jain, CEO and Managing Director.

He inaugurated the store, Best Price, at Nidamanuru on the National Highway no. 5 on the outskirts of the town. He said the store here, spread over 53,000-sq. ft area, would be a one-stop shop for vendors, restaurants, institutions and offices, providing over 500 products including a wide range of fresh, frozen and chilled foods and vegetables, dry groceries, personal and home care items, hotel and restaurant supplies, apparel, and general merchandise.

Training centres

Mr Jain said the company would shortly open a training centre for the youth in the State in Hyderabad to teach them sales and consumer care. It had already set up three such training institutes in the country and the one in AP would be the fourth. 

He said Bharti Walmart would have direct contact with farmers to procure fresh produce and the company would also encourage farmers to form co-operative societies and be part of the Walmart trade. All efforts would be made to pay a remunerative price to the farmers and the growth of retail sector would definitely help farmers, he remarked.

Mr Jain also said the company would procure products from the self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh, especially handicrafts and other such products, and make them available to consumers through its stores.

Empowered panel to decide on PPP for foodgrain storage soon

The Hindu Business Line - New Delhi, Sept. 8:  

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) will soon take a call on establishing modern storage capacity through public-private partnership (PPP). The plan is to immediately build a capacity of 2 million tonnes (mt) and 13 mt during the 12 {+t} {+h} Plan.

A senior government official told Business Line that, “Initial discussions are over. After the EGoM's decision, the process will begin.” Various estimates suggest that up to one-third of total foodgrain produce is wasted because of inadequate storage facilities.

The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has already approved inclusion of modern storage capacity under viability gap funding (VGF). Accordingly, the Government will provide VGF grant up to 20 per cent of the total project cost for setting up silos.

The private entity will be selected through competitive bidding. The Food Corporation of India may provide additional VGF up to 20 per cent in North Eastern region, the sources said.

There will be a two-stage selection process for the private entity. For 50,000 mt silo, the company should have experience of working in the infrastructure sector and net worth of Rs 25 crore. Additional weightage will be given for working in agro-based industry. The second stage will involve quoting lowest VGF.

Initially, the proposed facility will be used for wheat. According to latest Government estimates, wheat production is likely to touch 85.9 mt during 2010-11, over 5 mt more than last year.

According to the proposed framework, the FCI or State governments would procure wheat. It will be stored in surplus area initially (up to 6 months). It will then be transported to deficit or consuming states.

The private entity will be responsible for storing wheat in silos in consuming states. These entities will receive a recurring service charge from the authority. The framework said that the private entity would be responsible for development and maintenance of modern and temperature-controlled silos. They will also be required to arrange unloading, weighing, de-bagging, testing, drying, storing, re-bagging and dispatching wheat.

Shishir.s@thehindu.co.in

Raising paddy yield, the unconventional way

The Hindu Business Line - Chennai, Sept. 15: 

Until last year, Mr V. Shankar, a farmer of Vandavasi taluk in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvannamalai district was growing paddy through the conventional method on the 10 acres of land that he owned. That yielded him about 2.4 tonnes of paddy an acre.

Driven by curiosity on seeing the model farm of Syngenta, the Swiss crop protection major, next to his farm, he opted to go in for the company's Tegra seedling technology. That helped him to record a yield of 3.3 tonnes of paddy.

“The new seedling technology has helped me reap a higher yield,” says Mr Shankar.

“There are about 500 farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu who have adopted this new Tegra technology,” says Mr R. Suresh Babu, head of rice research in India for Syngenta.

Under the Tegra technology, paddy seedlings are grown in a special media comprising straw, soil, nutrients, chemicals and other such things in a tray.

The seedlings are developed in a nursery and then replanted after 15 days with a special transplant machinery. The media is a Syngenta finding and it enjoys a patent for it.

Once transplanted, the seedlings take root and begin to grow.

Syngenta offers the technology at Rs 75 a tray and an acre requires 70 trays. “If farmers from a particular village approach us and opt for this as a group, the cost could come down,” says Mr Suresh Babu.

“The cost came to Rs 67 a tray for me,” says Mr Shankar.

Syngenta, at this cost, grows the paddy seedlings that is chosen by the farmer or considered apt for the agro-climatic conditions, transplants them in the farmer's field with its special machinery and offers counsel until harvest.

“It is an end-to-end solution that we offer to farmers through the Tegra technology,” says Mr Suresh Babu. “Farmers will first have to prepare their field as specified by us,” he said.

“It is about Rs 1,000 more than what we do conventionally. But that extra cost is more than compensated by the higher yield,” says Mr Shankar.

Syngenta sees playing a major role in offering Tegra as finding farm labour is becoming difficult and labour costs are shooting up.

What Syngenta is doing now is seen as pilot projects. “We have potential to adopt this technology in Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana.

This will happen in 3-5 years time,” says Dr K.C. Ravi, Syngenta's Head of Corporate Affairs in South Asia.

Japan is the leading exponent of this method of cultivation, helping it to increase its productivity tremendously. South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and China, too, have adopted this technology.

This system is not comparable with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) that has become popular in Tami Nadu, say Syngenta officials.

“SRI is done manually while ours is mechanical,” said Mr Suresh Babu.

Syngenta is also looking into aspects of how much water could be saved through the Tegra technology since paddy is a water-intensive crop