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Pune:
Bombay Chamber recently organised its 15th AgriCorp Conference themed ‘Enriching FPOs’ in Pune. The event was held over two days and was held in partnership with KISAN and was supported by State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Rallis India, MTS S.r.l, IDBI Bank, Nichem Solutions, Union Bank of India, KETO Pharma, AGRIBAZAAR and NABARD.
Dr. P K Chakrabarty, PhD, FNAAS, Chief Scientific Advisor, Dhanuka Agritech and former Member – ASRB, DARE, MoA & FW, ADG (PP&B), ICAR and Krishi Bhawan was the guest of honor. In his presentation, Dr Chakrabarty said that Agricultural prosperity was a game changer to national prosperity. While comparing India and China, he said that India’s inherent rich geographical advantages support its potential to become the global food and manufacturing hub. However, he pointed out that despite having 30% more arable land and 67% more rainfall, India’s agricultural GDP is only about 1/3rd of that of China. Nonetheless, there is a considerable disparity between the two countries in the usage of fertilisers and pesticides, two crucial components for optimum production and protection.
He listed some of the challenges that India faces and which need intervention both form government and the private sector. The challenges include less expenditure on research in India vs developed nations; crop losses which threaten our food and nutritional security; illicit/counterfeit fertiliser products; regulatory challenges; Pesticide Management Bill; lack of awareness regarding spread of technology. Dr Chakrabarty also questioned whether the Indian cropping system is ready to embrace organic cultivation without compromising on food security.
The first day saw several knowledge sessions including a panel discussion on Current & Upcoming Govt Schemes for FPOs moderated by Dr. Sudhir Kumar Goel, IAS, Former Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture and Marketing), Government of Maharashtra & Mentor, Agriculture & Food Processing Committee, Bombay Chamber. Speakers included Shri Uday Deshmukh, Additional Project Director, SMART – Government of Maharashtra; Dr Amol M. Yadav, Additional Project Director, MAGNET and Dr Prashant Waghmare, Deputy General Manager & Regional Head Mumbai, APEDA.
The second panel discussion on the same day was on FPO Start-Ups (Success Stories). The session was moderated by Prasad More, Product Head Organic And Lead Auditor, Cert ID India and the panelists were Vikram Deshmukh, Director, Rui Farmer Produce Company; Jaysing P. Hulawle, Production Head, Pawna Sanskruti Farmers Producer Company and Mithilesh Desai, Managing Director, Jackfruitking Agro Producer Company.
The second day started with a session on Digitalisation in Agriculture (Climate Stack, Agri Stack, Mandi Stack). The moderator was Rajesh Urkude, Digital Food Initiative – Operations, Tata Consultancy Services and the speakers were Dr Rahul Mirchandani, Managing Director, Aries Agro; Sachin Nandwana, Co-Founder and Director, BigHaat Agro and Saurabh Khanna, MD & CEO, NeRL.
Another session on Export Success Stories was moderated by Azhar Tambuwala, Executive Director Sahyadri Farmers Post Harvest Care (Sahyadri Farms) & Expert Committee Member, Agriculture & Food Processing Committee, Bombay Chamber. The speakers included Anant More, President, Fratelli Fruits Farmer Producer Company; Narendra Patil, Vice-President, Soex Flora and Kapil Sawant, Senior Manager, Farmonaut.
This was followed by a presentation on MTS Sandei, Tomato Harvesters for Industrial Tomatoes by Matteo Migliorini, Export Manager, MTS S.r.l., Italy.
The session on Understanding Quality Control under Fresh Produce was moderated by Rajesh Sinha, Angel Investor, Consultant & Expert Committee Member, Agriculture & Food Processing Committee, Bombay Chamber. The speakers included Smita Murty, India Representative for FSSC; Anupama Patil, Assistant Commissioner of Food, Food and Drug’s Administration (FDA) Maharashtra and Dr Chun Mei Chang, COO, Envirocare Labs.
The final session of AgriCorp was on Finance (PSU, Banks, NBFCs). The moderator was Dr Sudhir Kumar Goel, IAS, Former Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture and Marketing), Government of Maharashtra & Mentor, Agriculture & Food Processing Committee, Bombay Chamber and the speakers included Yogendra Shelkey, DGM – Agri Business Unit, SBI; Saleem Kamaal, Head, Bharat Enterprises, Axis Bank; Ghazi Islam, GM, IDBI Bank and Dr Pradeep Parate, GM, NABARD, Pune.
