Global Agro Chemical Focus on Biotech, India Setup AWS to Improve Agriculture Prodcution

Global agro-chemical sector will focus more on biotech seeds due to strict environmental regulation, better return on investment from proprietary seeds and rising costs of new agrochemicals, according to Rabo bank report.



These factors have shifted the research and development (R&D) focus of agrochemical companies towards seed technology, which has resulted in a reduced share of patented products in the agrochemical market.

In 2010, R&D investments in biotech seeds surpassed investments in agrochemicals for the first time and this trend is expected to continue.

The main reasons for the increasing global acceptance of genetically modified (GM) crops are the positive effect on farmers’ margins, increasing government support and better returns.

This has squeezed the margin of the agrochemical producers and also with the low-cost agrochemicals flowing from India and China

India government is setting up Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) at 100 identified Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) across the country to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate vulnerability to improve productivity.

This service will come into effect by fiscal 2012-13.

The stations will measure parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, rainfall, radiation and rate of evaporation and it will be stored in the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) in Hyderabad.
And the data will be made available for the farmers through print, television, radio etc.

Major aim of the introduction of such system is to provide accurate weather information to the farmers to improve the agriculture practices to enhance the agricultural production to meet the growing population of the country.

India is likely to produce around 250.75 million tons of food grains for 2011-12.

Category: Agriculture, agriculture productivity india, agro chemical, agro technology, aws india, biotechnology, Info Commodity