Amity Institute of Organic Agriculture, AUUP organized Industry-Academia meet 2019 with a theme “Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Zero Hunger: Driving Agricultural Renovation”. Dr. Naleeni Ramawat, Director, AIOA, welcomed the panel members and Sponsors of the Event and briefed about the purpose of the Meet. On behalf of AIOA, she imparted the views and ideologies of Dr Ashok K. Chauhan, Founder, Amity University. Further, she notified the motive, vision and strength of AIOA and Academic Programs Offered along with its structure, extension activities, research publications and journals, National and International Collaborations.
Objectives:
1. Dynamic participation from Industry Professionals in the Following context: End Hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
2. By 2030, we should end hunger and all forms of malnutrition.
3. To align curriculum with industry requirement and implementation of industry 4.0.
Mr. Satish Tiwari, General Manager, Coromandel International Ltd. was the sponsor for the event. He told about his Company Offerings and focused on availability of resources in India to feed the global population. He mentioned about the schemes of Govt. for food security and unfolded the challenges in Global Agriculture and the bright opportunities in Food and Agriculture sector in India. Further, he talked about the top Indian Agri Tech Start Ups that are revolutionarising in India and setting scope for future generation. At last, he showed through presentations that how Coromandel is contributing to revolution in Agriculture.
Mr. Ram Gopal Yadav, Deputy Manager, NCDEX talked about the fluctuation of prices and uncertainties in market and focused on moving from production security to nutritional security. He also briefed about his Company Profile and its contribution to post harvest goals along with the certifications provided by the company.
Mr. Sohail Saleem, Head of Operations, Nature’s Miracle addressed the audience about the global scenario and delivered about the potential of farmers in providing food to the economy which is sufficient enough to feed but wastage is the cause of insufficiencies. He gave an alternative approach to this problem i.e. Hydroponics on which his industry is working upon. He Focused on growing more in limited space through hydroponics and the contribution of Nature’s Miracle.
Mr. VR Rajesh, Regional Head -North and East India, Cropin Technology, started with a small video on Cropin Technology that explains the activities evolving in the firm. He initiated with the sustainability of Agriculture followed by the marketing and price of the commodities. He gave some inputs about the project JIVIKA funded by the World Bank. He also added the importance of empowerment of women in farming.
Mr. Neeraj Maheswary, Dayal Fertilizers, said that company started in 1979 with production of micronutrients, seeds, bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers. Furthermore, he stated that the company works to provide rural farmers with different pest control methods like pheromones, or sticky traps so that the small-scale farmers are benefited. This session ended with the felicitation of the Panel I guests by Dr. Naleeni Ramawat, Director, AIOA.
The event continued with following panelist in Panel II:
Mr. Shasikhanth N. Bhinde, Mosaic India Pvt Ltd, started with the responsibilities he share as an Agricultural Graduate and initiated with the Sustainable development goals to transform our world. He strongly said “We don’t need more Food”, “We need sufficient nutritional food”. He explained the Indian scenario in Malnutrition and shared some of the World risk factors causing deaths. He insisted about 4R stewardship – Right place, Right Time, Right Source, Right Rate. He concluded with the statement, “There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together”.
Ms. Shippy Sharma, Earthling groups, shared her educational journey and her entrepreneurial experience. She mentioned business as a Sunrise Sector and discussed about the statistics on Malnutrition and Food waste and focused on Entrepreneurship. She described her experience working as a second generation of the Holyland Company that import and export canned products.
Dr. Bijoy Kumar Singh, Founder chairman and Managing Director at BKC Weather Sys Pvt Ltd., shared his experience in trading and International Business and mentioned the importance of Crop Modeling and the applications of FASAL SALAH App that is specialized in yield determination with the one time input by Farmer. He thanked “To those that work in acres, not in hours”. He expressed his gratitude to AIOA students who contributed towards achieving Global Award to the company. He finally shared a video regarding the benefits of the Fasal Salah App.
Mr. Tanmaye Seth, Marketing Manager, Aqua Agri Processing Ltd. addressed the audience with the importance of agriculture in Indian Economy. He focused on the integration of chemicals with organics. He threw light upon value of resources which have been exploited since Independence. He also emphasized on the concept of Drip irrigation system, water management, soil analysis and nutrition as per needs by growing optimum food with optimum nutrition. He talked about his company and their offerings and how to achieve the goal of zero hunger. He briefed that Aqua Agri Processing is the only sustainable seaweed company in India based on naturally harvested seaweeds. Furthermore, he quoted Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s quote “Sea Weed Cultivation does not require land, or irrigation, or any fertilizer input” and Closed the session with presenting the data that 50% of India’s GDP comes from unorganized sector and 90% of India workforce is employed in this sector.
C.S SHUKLA, Senior Vice President, Marketing Crystal Crop Protection Ltd., briefed about his company which is thirty year old and deals in crop protection, seed, and agri equipment. He discussed the agenda of the meeting with young minds and gave the summary of academia meet. Further, he mentioned that agri enterprise has to go much further and still lot of work has to be done. He talked about the doubling of farmer income by 2020 and the reality and opportunity and gave his views on zero hunger. Also, stated challenges which farmers are facing and suggested that we and farmers have to work sustainably and intelligently with agri inputs and each sector should come together to enhance the agriculture scenario.
The meet concluded with the Questions asked by the students and was followed by discussions between students and professionals. At the end of meet, Dr. Naleeni Ramawat (Director, AIOA) thanked all the Panel members for making excellent contribution and making this industry Academia meet interesting and meaningful.
Mr. Aditya Kumar Verma, Assistant Professor, AIOA extended a big thank you to all the designated speakers from various companies for giving there valuable time for the event. He thanked the sponsor i.e. Coromandel. Next, he expressesd his gratitude towards the Institution AIOA and towards Dr. Naleeni Ramawat, HOI, AIOA and all the faculty members for their constant support. He also thanked the students in the Organizing Team and all the volunteers for making this event successful. The awesome audience was also thanked for maintaining the decorum and for the questions they asked.