Thursday, 25 June 2020

Agriculture: Dwindling bee pollination serious concern for sustainable agriculture and food production


A large proportion of agricultural yield in crop farming, gardening and fruit production depends on pollination by bees. The crop yield is significantly higher with pollination by bees. This applies to all kinds of fruit such as apples, strawberries and cherries, almost all oilseeds such as rapeseed, linseed and safflower, and all kinds of vegetables such as beans, peas and cucumbers. The seed production of fodder crops and vegetables also benefits from bee pollination.

The flowers that are pollinated by bees form fruit that is much larger, heavier and better shaped. They are also much better quality.

The increase in yield in some of the crops due to bee pollination:-

1. Mustard - 43%
2. Sunflower - 32-48%
3. Cotton - 17-19%
4. Onion - 93%
5. Apple - 44%

With increased use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, bee population has been declining effecting our food production. So, natural organic farming combined with placing bee hives in proper place in the agricultural fields improves yield drastically.

Read on

TNAU Agritech Portal :: Sustainable Agriculture

Bee visits plants for its food, nectar and pollen. This floral fidelity of bees is due to their preference for nectars having sugar contents and pollens with higher nutritive values. Besides getting food for the bees as a result of their visit pollinate a number of crops.

Agricultural Tech: This MeitY-backed deeptech startup AIGROEDGE uses IoT sensors to monitor farms and improve crops


Delhi-based deeptech startup AIGROEDGE Technologies, co-founderd by Mayank Rajput, ABHAI TIWARI, and Akshay Taneja, has built a proprietary #IoT sensor that monitors agricultural lands in real-time and improves crop visibility for farmers.

AIGROEDGE has built a proprietary intelligent farming kit, which includes an Internet of Things (IoT) based sensory device known as ‘KRAASHAK’ and a #SaaS-based analytics platform called AgriVitals.

The Delhi-based startup measures soil parameters (temperature, moisture, conductivity, pH level, moisture absorbance rate); environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, light intensity, CO2 level, and weather data from external stations); and geographic parameters in real-time by deploying multiple sensor nodes across agricultural fields. Typically, one acre of land requires five sensors to capture adequate data.

AIGROEDGE operates on a B2B model; its customers include farms and agritech firms, genetic and plant breeding companies, and government and farm finance providers.

Read on

This MeitY-backed deeptech startup uses IoT sensors to monitor farms and improve crops

Serial entrepreneur and innovator Mayank Rajput has dabbled in sensory systems, electronics, and material design for almost seven years. This is the electronics engineer's second entrepreneurship stint after StretchSkin Technologies, which he founded in 2018. The Singapore-based startupbuilds stretchable and wearable sensory systems for physical rehab, gaming, and training.

Neobanking Space: Credit Sesame's banking service uses i2c payments platform


Credit Sesame, the California-based credit and loan finder, has chosen payments solution provider i2c Inc. to power its digital banking service, Sesame Cash.

Sesame Cash, launched in March this year, uses the insights it has gathered on users’ banking habits to promote healthy credit behaviours and good cash management.

Silicon Valley-headquartered i2c Inc. offers payment solutions based around credit, debit, prepaid and lending. Sesame Cash will use i2c’s platform to set and control all its card, banking and payments programmes.

The fintech wants to offer a smart bill pay service, savings round-up of transactions to save or pay down debt, reward programmes and credit-building features.

Other features will include early paydays, direct deposits, the ability to freeze or unfreeze the debit card in-app, and virtual card integration with “most major mobile wallets”, the fintech has said.

Founded in 2010, Credit Sesame claims to monitor more than $35 billion in loans. Its business model gives its members free access to credit score monitoring, credit reports, and identity protection tools, as well as recommendations regarding a variety of loan types.

Read on

Credit Sesame's banking service uses i2c payments platform - FinTech Futures

Credit Sesame, the California-based credit and loan finder, has chosen payments solution provider i2c to power its digital banking service, Sesame Cash.

Startup Success Stories: Only the adaptable survive (and thrive) - Dailyhunt


The startups betting on consumption by vernacular customers will benefit a lot, as the language is only the barrier for outsiders to garner this huge market. Today 64% of India’s 510 million internet users speak primarily in their local language, while 36% are English users; by 2025, the number of internet users is expected to hit 906 million, 77% of those will be vernacular-first, according to a report by Google and KPMG.

Please read the success story of Dailyhunt harping on vernacular content.

Only the Adaptable survive (and thrive)

By Mohit Bhatnagar As the Covid-led recession sets in, I've started to reflect on a company metric that I had never spent much time thinking through before: Adaptability. How does one even measure that in a company? What makes one company more adaptable than the other? Speed of execution? Intellect