Crop Protection Programme: Fill & Download for Free

Quora Team - Thanks for giving me the opportunity to answer this question.First of all, I apologize for the long and detailed answer.Also, I won't be giving you a simple answer of "Yes" or "No" - I will leave that on you to decide.*** By the way- Personally, I think this is one of the best stocks for a long term ***Being said that - please read on to build your own judgement...- GAL incorporated in 1991 as an Agro based company focussing on Research and Development. Company operates in five verticals namely animal feed, crop protection, oil palm, dairy and poultry & processed food.- Company started its journey with three key verticals initially – animal feed to improve yield of Indian livestock, crop protection to address low productivity of Indian agriculture and oil palm business to benefit from PPP model to reduce dependence on vegetable oil imports.- Later on company ventured into poultry business under “Real Good Chicken” brand and processed food under “Yummiez” brand and in 2008 entered into JV with Tyson India Holding Ltd., a subsidiary of Processed food giant- Tyson Inc., USA to grow its poultry and processed food business.- To venture into emerging dairy business, company acquired 52% holding in Creamline Dairy in 2015 and spread its presence across value chain from feed to food- Basically GAL is into 5 business:o Animal Feedo Crop Protectiono Oil Palmo Dairy businesso Processing foodBusiness reviews:1. Animal Business:- In animal feed business, its portfolio of products comprises cattle feed, poultry feed (broiler and layer), aqua feed (fish and shrimp) and specialty feed.- Company’s animal feed products are manufactured at 35 facilities, of which 10 facilities are owned by the company, and seven are operated by the company. These facilities are located near major consumption centers across India, with an aggregate production capacity of 2.36 million MT per annum, as of June 30, 2017.- Company’s pan-India distribution network for animal feed products includes approximately 4000 distributors, as of June 30, 2017. Its 50:50 joint venture, ACI Godrej, was incorporated in 2004 and produces cattle, poultry and fish feed in Bangladesh. ACI Godrej operates two manufacturing facilities with an aggregate production capacity of 0.57 million MT per annum, as of June 30, 2017- Installed capacity and Utilization:2015 2016 2017 Q1 FY 2018Installed capacity 35,280 35,280 47,880 47,880Utilization 40.28% 46.69% 36.46% 42.27%- Company will be focusing on achieving cost leadership by improving the operational efficiency of animal feed business through R&D as well as cost rationalization.- Company’s R&D efforts are also focused on developing innovative livestock nutrition products that gives the product differentiation, which will help in improving profit margins and market share.Industry Outlook: (Analyst Meet)- Feed industry has been valued at 26 lakh crores as of 2015 globally and China is the largest producer of animal feed contributing 19% of total sales volume, followed by US and EU.- Poultry Feed accounts for the largest share at 45% followed by pig segment at 20% and cattle and other at 20%, aquaculture which includes shrimps and fish feed accounts for 4%, others at 5%.- Animal compound Feed industry in India is valued at 72,000 crores in FY17 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13% to reach 106000 crores by FY20.- Among the 3 segments aqua Feed is expected to grow the fastest at a CAGR between 15% to 16% followed by poultry feed at a CAGR of 14% and cattle feed at a CAGR of 10% by FY202. Crop Protection:- In crop protection business, company manufactures a wide range of products that cater to the entire crop lifecycle including plant growth regulators, organic manures, generic agrochemicals and specialized herbicides.- In October 2015, Godrej Agrovet acquired a majority equity capital in Astec LifeSciences and currently owns 56.82 percent of the outstanding equity shares of Astec LifeSciences.- Astec LifeSciences manufactures agrochemical active ingredients (technical), bulk and formulations as well as intermediate products and sells its products in India as well as exports them to approximately 24 countries, including the United States and countries across Europe, West Asia, South East Asia and Latin America. Astec LifeSciences also undertakes contract development and manufacturing services for other agro chemical companies. Astec LifeSciences sells all its products to institutional customers, while the Godrej Agrovet sells its products primarily to retail consumers- The distribution network of Company’s crop protection business in India includes approximately 6000 distributors, as of June 30, 2017.- Company’s R&D initiatives have increasingly focused on off patented chemistry synthesis and also plan to focus on increasing the market share of our existing core products by developing products for additional crops and increasing our geographic presence3. Oil Palm:- In oil palm business, Godrej Agrovet produces a range of products including crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake.- Company purchase fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from palm oil farmers and work closely with them by providing planting material, agricultural inputs and technical guidance.- Company has entered into memoranda of understanding with nine state governments, which provides us with access to approximately 61,700 hectares under oil palm plantation, which is equivalent to approximately one-fifth of India’s area suitable for oil palm cultivation, as of March 31, 2017.- It has set up five palm oil mills in India with an aggregate FFB processing capacity of 125 MT per hour and a palm kernel processing capacity of seven MT per hour, as of June 30, 2017.- Company wants to grow its presence in certain regions, create additional revenue streams from oil palm, biomass and continue to focus on R&D to improve FFB yield. The Government of India regulates the oil palm business in India and they participate in the Oil Palm Development Programme (“OPDP”) for accessing the FFB produce from farmers in areas designated to them. They will opportunistically evaluate tenders issued under the OPDP and apply for additional areas to increase the area under oil palm cultivation that is accessible to them.- They intend to diversify oil palm business and create additional revenue streams and lower operational costs, including through the use of oil palm biomass in our animal feed business, which they believe will reduce dependence on the prices of crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil. They intend to grow their presence in certain districts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, both organically and inorganically, and increase the area under oil palm, which is accessible to them.- Dairy business:In dairy business, which it operates through a Subsidiary, Cream line Dairy, it sells a majority of milk and milk based products under the ‘Jersey’ brand across the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.As of June 30, 2017, it owned and operated nine milk processing units. For its dairy business, company’s supply chain network includes procurement from six states through a network of 120 chilling centers, as of June 30, 2017.As of June 30, 2017, Company’s dairy distribution network included approximately 4,000 milk distributors, approximately 3,000 milk product distributors and 50 retail parlours, as well as direct sales to institutional customers.Company’s focus:Increase market share by growing in southern states of IndiaIncrease value-added product portfolioAutomate a majority of operationsIncrease procurement baseProcessing food:Apart from this, the manufactures and market processed poultry and vegetarian products through brands Real Good Chicken and Yummiez. After starting in 1994, in 2008, with an objective to grow its poultry and processed foods business, it entered into a joint venture with Tyson India Holding, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc., U.S.A. The management believes that the joint venture with Tyson India Holding provides it with the technical and operational expertise to compete successfully in India.Company’s FocusCompany intends to introduce new products and increase product reach. They sell poultry and processed foods products and have a diverse customer base comprising retail customers, QSRs, fine dining restaurants, food service companies and hotels. They intend to continue to provide variants of existing, and new, value-added poultry products.They believe that value-added products will continue to be one of the fastest growing and most profitable segments of the processed foods industry in India. They expect considerable growth in demand from QSRs and modern retail stores. They believe the QSR market has been growing rapidly and provides a market for processed and value-added ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products. Modern retail stores, which include super markets and hyper markets, are expected to increase demand for hygienically processed food products.Competitive strengths:• Strong Presence with Widespread Supply and Distribution NetworkCompany has a pan- India presence with operations across 5 business verticals: Animal Feed, Crop Protection, Oil Palm, Dairy and Poultry and Processed Foods. Since several of its facilities are located near major consumption centres, it is able to ensure product freshness by reducing delivery time to customers and transportation costs. Its nationwide footprint allows it to leverage the competitive advantages of each location to enhance its competitiveness and reduce geographic and political risks.As of June 2017, it had ~4,000 distributors for the animal feed business and the products are produced at 35 facilities, of which 10 facilities are owned and 7 are operated with an aggregate production capacity of 2.36mn MT p.a. It has ~6000 distributors in crop protection business.In Oil Palm business, it has entered into MOU with 9 state govt. which provides an access to 61,700 hectares under oil palm plantation, i.e. 1/5 of India’s area suitable for oil palm cultivation as of FY17.In dairy business, its supply chain network includes procurement from 6 states through a network of 120 chilling centres, 4,000 milk distributors, ~3,000 milk product distributors and 50 retail parlors, as well as direct sales to institutional customers as of June 2017.• Diversified Businesses with Synergies in Operations:- Company has presence across 5 business verticals that have enabled it to grow its revenues over the last 5 years. A well-diversified business along with the geographic diversification provides a hedge against the risks associated with any particular industry segment or geography. This synergy provides the ability to drive growth, optimize capital efficiency and maintain competitive advantage. For example, the animal feed team frequently collaborates with dairy and poultry and processed foods businesses for sale of compound feed to the farmers. Further some of the biomass produced from the oil palm business is used as an animal feed ingredient, which provides additional source of revenue to the oil palm business as well as strengthens the cost competitiveness of the animal feed business.• Strong R&D Capabilities:- Company undertakes R&D in the existing products primarily with a focus to improve yields and process efficiencies.- For example, its acquisition of ALS provided an access to strong R&D capabilities in the agrochemical active ingredients category, which it leveraged to introduce new fungicide products such as “Kemplar” and “Casper”. It developed layer concentrate for egg laying hens in crumb form which is an important input in automated feeding systems. For oil palm business, it has set up an R&D facility at Chintampalli, Andhra Pradesh, which is focused on improving FFB yields. It spent INR 3.22mn in Q1FY18, INR 18.25mn in FY17, INR 16.88mn in FY16 and INR 29.35mn in FY15 towards its research activities.Hope - after reading above points; you have made your mind?

1. Barrix Ago SciencesThe Bangalore-based startup offers eco-friendly crop protection methods after much research on products that support organic farming to increase crop produce and quality with minimal expenditure.Products:Barrix Catch Fruit and Fly Lure + trap: Toxic pesticides contaminate water, soil and leave behind harmful residue, besides being expensive. Barrix’s pheromone-based pest control traps have artificially synthesised smelling agents that attracts and traps pests. Instead of eating the crops, the pests are attracted to the pheromones in the traps.Fly pest sticky sheet: Barrix uses bright yellow and blue coloured recyclable sheets of wavelengths between 500 nm to 600 nm, proven to effectively attract and trap at least 19 high-risk pests from a long distance.2. Anulek AgrotechSet up by Mumbai-based entrepreneurs, Anulekh focuses on increasing soil fertility to achieve higher agricultural productivity and crop yield with lower resource use.Product:BIOSAT: BIOSAT (Biochar based organic Soil Amendment Technology), a soil additive, is made of biochar mixed with different organic nutrients. The product preserves soil fertility, traps carbon emissions, maintains the topsoil strength and increases crop production, thus reducing dependency on chemical fertilizers.3. MitraA Nashik-based startup, MITRA (Machines, Information, Technology, Resources for Agriculture) aims to improve mechanization at horticulture farms with the use of R&D and high quality farm equipment.Products:Air blast sprayers: Developed for fruits and vegetables in general, and grapes and pomegranates in particular, the sprayers, used to add hormones that help the growth of crops, reduce the expenditure on manual labour and are less time-consuming.4. CropIn Technology SolutionsA farming technology solutions startup founded by a Bangalore software engineer, it provides agri businesses the technology and expertise to create a smarter and safer food supply for consumers around the world.Product:CropIn offers information on a cloud-based platform, integrated with a mobile app for Android. Called Smart Farms, it allows large food companies to track the growth of crops on farms around the country with details about what the crop is and the conditions it is grown in to help companies remotely monitor farms, interact with farmers and make every crop transparents and traceable. It also aids farmers in adopting global agricultural practices and improves productivity by offering productivity insights and harvest forecasts5. Eruvaka TechnologiesAn organisation based in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, its mission is to accelerate the use of technology in aquaculture, an area where farmers face problems due to unavailability of adequate technology to measure and control water health.Product:Eruvaka Technologies, to help farmers monitor aquaculture ponds, develops solar-powered flouting buoys that measure different water parameters, such as oxygen levels, temperature and pH range, crucial for the growth and survival of fish and shrimp. The collected information is uploaded on the cloud and transmitted to individual customers through an Android app, SMS, voice call or the internet. Farmers can also remotely control automated equipment such as aerators and feeders.6. SkymetSkymet is India’s largest weather monitoring and agri-risk solutions company. According to their website, they are the experts in measuring, predicting, and limiting climate risk to agriculture, thus reducing losses incurred due to bad weather conditions.Product:Launched to aid farmers, Skymet’s weather website offers services such as weather forecast, crop insurance and agri-risk management. Prediction of weather conditions can help prepare a farmers for a drought or heavy unseasonal rainfall and help them take appropriate preventive measures, they say and claim to accurately measure and predict yield at the village level for any crop.7. EkgaonA Gujarat-based venture started in 2001, Ekgaon Technologies is an IT based network integrator that provides a technology platform and offers a range of services to farmers in rural areas including financial, agricultural inputs and government assistance.Products:Financial: A mobile phone enabled financial services delivery platform, it provides information on microfinance institutions and banks for delivery of door-step services such as credit, savings, remittance, insurance, investment and mortgage.Agricultural: Offered in Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil languages, the system uses mobile, voice recognition, interactive voice response system (IVRS) and web technologies to provide information on weather, commodity market prices, soil nutrient management and crop management.Citizen: The web and mobile applications help citizens monitor the delivery of government programmes and services entitled to them.8. Digital GreenDigital Green is a not-for-profit international development organisation that focuses on training farmers to make and show short videos where they record their problems, share solutions and highlight success stories as community engagement to improve lives of rural communities across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.Products:It uses technology-enabled behaviour change communication that is cost-effective, scalable and brings together researchers, development practitioners, and rural communities to produce and share locally relevant information through videos.Two social online games Wonder Village and Farmer Book: In the games, players simulate a village economy and relate with actual farmers that Digital Green works with, on the field. The players are placed in a resource-constrained setting in which they have to complete quests such as set up paddy and maize farms and supply raw materials to the farmers’ markets.9. FrontalRain TechnologiesThe Bangalore-based agri-tech startup seeks to deliver affordable advanced technology solutions for emerging companies and take technology to remote corners of the country.Product:The company’s offering Rain+, according to their website, is a comprehensive suite of products on the cloud for food and agribusinesses. Rain+ can help companies at every stage of the value chain starting from growing, processing, logistics, wholesale trade, retail trade and exports. This technology, accessible through desktop, tablet and mobile devices, is used by companies dealing with commodities like spices, herbs, basmati rice, seeds, animal feed, sea food, dairy and edible oil.10. AgrostarA Pune-based ‘direct to farmer’ m-commerce platform, Agrostar strives to provide quality agro inputs at the farmers’ doorstep.Product:AgroStar enables farmers to procure a range of agricultural goods such as seeds, crop nutrition, crop protection and agri-hardware products by simply giving a missed call on the company’s 1800 number or through their mobile app to eliminate unavailability of products, substandard products, duplication and adulteration.source :thealternative.in

In agriculture degree course, students do learn different aspects in crop growth like land preparation, seed treatment, sowing, crop nourishment, crop protection, harvesting, post harvesting, maketing.Above all aspects in different branches like agronomy, agriculture microbiology, soil science and agricultural chemistry, genetics and plant breeding, seed science and technology, crop physiology, entomology, plant pathology, post harvesting technology, agricultural engineering and agricultural marketing.Students do learn about agricultural extension, phychology, statistics, computer program like c+, rural agriculture development programme and other information in horticulture, forestry also.