Ashok Gulati, ICRIER, India(with Kavery Ganguly and Nandini Jayakumar)

ABARES Conference: Outlook 2017Canberra, March 7-8, 2017

Innovations Reshaping Indian Agri-Landscape: Outlook 2017 and beyond

India’s agri-challenges and need to innovate

• Feeding 1.3 billion mouths; by 2022 India’s population will surpass China

• Rising incomes: GDP likely to grow by 7-8 percent per annum for next 10 years or so

• High expenditure on food (40-45 percent)

• Shrinking holding size (avg holding size is 1.15 ha); • Shrinking water supplies on per capita basis (<1700 litres)

• Innovations all along the agri-value chain is the only answer

Innovation Matrix – Reshaping Indian Agriculture

• Biotechnology – crops & Inputs

• Crop & Farm Management

• Farm Mechanization

• Price policy to Income

policy- Direct Benefit

Transfer (DBT) – 84

schemes shifted to

DBT by Feb17, saving

more than Rs 50,000

crores;

• Transportation & Storage

• Marketing

• Value addition in fruits and vegetables to extend shelf life and value addition

Agri-food POLICIES

PRODUCTION PROCESS

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

PROCESSING & VALUE ADDED

PRODUCTS

From Green to white, and Gene to Brown Revolutions

• Historically, Green Revolution technology was disruptive Innovation in Indian Agri (Today India one of the top exporters of rice).

• Institutional Innovations led to white Revolution by small holders, making India largest producer of milk today (154 mt)

• Gene Revolution in Bt Cotton made India second largest exporter of cotton

• Brown revolution is unfolding, albeit gradually….

Innovations in Genetic Technology –(Gene Revolution-India in Top 5)

20 Developing 8 Industrial

Leading Biotech Crop growing countries

Since 1996• 18 million Farmers • 28 countries • 179.7 million hectares

Fastest adopted crop technology in recent times

USA 70.9

Brazil 44.2

Argentina 24.5

India 11.6

Canada 11

Million hectares

Gene Revolution made India 2nd largest exporter of Cotton

India’s only Bt crop: Bt Cotton

Drought tolerant Maize in US in 2013, and by now almost a million ha area covered

• 95 per cent of cotton acreage (11 m ha) under Bt Cotton; Yields increased from 186 kg/ha in 2001-02 to 532kg/ha in 2013-14

• pesticides use declined by >50 per cent

• Net gain 2002-14, USD 55 billion compared to BAU scenario

Global Trends

Innovations in Bio fortification…rolling outImproving nutritional quality of plants during plant growth, through conventional breeding or advanced biotechnology

Non GM Crops

Iron rich Pearl Millet, Bean

Vitamin A rich Cassava, Orange Sweet Potato,

Zinc rich Rice, wheat and Maize

Vitamin A rich

Golden Rice(Contains Beta Carotene)

GM Crop2016 World Food Prize Laureates

For pioneering work in Bio fortification using selective breeding

Globally, Harvest Plus hasreached 15 million people, introduced over 100 varieties of 10 crops in 30 countries

Bio fortified crops: Present Status in India

Two Variants: Dhanashakti and Shakti

1201

Dhanashakti released all over India in 2013. Adopted by 65000

farmers in 2015

Shakti 1201 adopted by 35000 farmers in 2015

Iron rich Pearl millet

Undergoing disease trials

BHU- 35 variant ready to be released in Uttar

Pradesh pending regulatory clearances

Still in R&D stage in partner countries

India is NOT a partner country

Zinc rich Wheat Golden Rice

Innovation in Fertilisers (Neem Coated Urea, Mycorrhiza) – toward Sustainable Agricultural

Neem Oil spray on Urea slows therelease of nitrogen by about 10 to15%, hence reducing consumptionof fertiliser.

Research claims: neem coated ureaincreased rice yields by 9.6 per centand wheat by 6.9 per cent.

Checks diversion of cheap urea fornon-agri purposes.

100% urea to be neem coated.

Potential gains from savings in urea subsidy and yield improvement about USD 1-2 billion.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/govt-allows-100-production-of-neem-coated-urea-115010700613_1.html

Innovation in Biofertilizers – Mycorrhiza

Mycorrhiza –fungal microorganisms feeding host plant withimproved water and nutrients fromthe soil;

Can reduce chemical fertiliser useup to 50% in certain cases improveyields by 5-25%.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has set up the world's biggest facility for producing mycorrhizae

More than 60 companies selling it as part of bio-fertilizer package

Innovations in Irrigation water use efficiency (80-90%): Sprinklers and Drip (9 m ha) (India largest player in Drip Irr)

Innovations in protected and precision agriculture:Hydroponics and Aeroponics

Innovations in Harvesting solar power (solar as third crop; solar pump-sets, cold storages, milk chillers, pushcarts)

Innovation in use of Farm Machinery – UBERISATION (to serve Small holdings efficiently; Rajasthan making strides)

Mahindra and Mahindra

EM3 Agri services Pvt Ltd

FarMart

Tractor and Farm Equipments (TAFE)

Key

Play

ers i

n In

dia

Innovations in Agro-services on Farmers’ mobiles

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)- mKrishi• Mahindra and Mahindra- MyAgri-Guru• ITC- e-chaupal• Government of India- Krishidoot• And several others…

Innovations in cold storages (Onions), solar powered..(wastage drops from 25% in traditional storage to <5%)

Sensors (Yield, Nitrogen, Moisture)

Facilitate variable rate application of inputs

Surveillance, imagery, spraying pesticides

Global Positioning System (GPS)(guidance systems)

Unmaned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s)/Drones

Robotics

Big Data, Internet of Things

Weeding, fruit harvesting, pruning vines

Analysis of data collected on field, facilitates planning

Efficient field coverage, reduce fuel and other input costs

Precision Technologies What they do

What is coming…Innovations in Advanced technologies

Drones, Doves and Satellites in Indian Agriculture

Initiatives by Public Sector Private Sector Participation

SENSAGRI: SENsor based Smart AGRIculture

• Collaborative project of ICAR through IARI and 6 other partners

• Develop indigenous prototype for drone based crop and soil health monitoring system using HRS

sensors

Under New Crop Insurance Scheme, feedback from drones used along with satellite imaging

will be used to assess damage. Will help in settlement of compensation

We Do Sky

Use of drones for crop health, crop detection, seed distribution, soil detection

Innovations in Agri Marketing and Processing

Farmers can procure agri-inputs needed for their farms by simply giving a missed call on their platform and eventually accessing their mobile app.Based in Pune, AgroStar currently operates in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan

‘Direct-to-farmer’ m-commerce platform – AgroStar

One Village One World Network -ekgaon

Platform for leveraging mobile communication technology for encouraging sustainable development of women-self-help-groups (SHGs) and small farmers across India. The platform has over 9,00,000 women and 3,00,000 farmers spread across villages of India.

Ekutir - for-profit social enterprise group

One Acre Venture (OAV) is an ecosystem integrator for fostering social impact across the agriculture-nutrition-health value chain. It acts as a platform connecting farmers to consumers. VeggieKart create a multi-pronged approach to ensure fair and equitable procurement from farmers and convert unorganized vegetable vendors into branded vegetable entrepreneurs selling vegetables in the city and urban slums of Bhubaneshwar.

Outlook 2017 and beyond…

• India has bumper harvest in 2016-17, after two years of successive droughts;

• Prices of fresh produce tumbling down as processing and cold storages limited…opportunities for agri-business!!

• A long way to go toward ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture, but hope is positive and mood upbeat!