| |MAY 202293- CONSUMERS' CONCERN ON FOOD SAFETY & TRACEABILITY: For the urban consumers the food safety was hitting hard on their mind. Not only they started to look out for safe Fruits & Vegetable but also they looked out for a reliable channel. Hence, there was the shift from local pushcart vendors to organized MRFs (Modern Retail Format) or online shop-ping.The consumers, who were largely price sensitive, also became conscious of quality & safety of the farm produce. Food safety, traceability and low MRLs (Maximum Residue Limit) are some the emerging priorities.4- CONVENIENCE & HOME DELIVERY ARE EXPANDING: With the pan-demic on, the urban consumer buying habits started to change. They preferred to order fruits & vegetables online than to move to crowded marketplace in fear of COVID. Re-liability and trust of a channel is adequately being weighed while making a choice of purchase. Last mile delivery therefore is getting formalized faster with Home delivery; App based self-servicing Kiosks, Mobile shopping vans and the farmers' Supermarket. Sensing the potential strength of the future online markets, many large players looked at these as investment opportunities, thus Reliance launched its Jio-online platform and joined hands with it were Face book & Google. 5- AGRI-STARTUPS ARE DOING WELL DURING THE PANDEMIC: India has over 1,000+ startups in the Agritech domain. Agritech startups, which for years had co-existed with the tradition-al ecosystem, suddenly discovered that they were essen-tial. Ultimately, the pandemic helped catalyze a shift across the agricultural economy, away from traditional, informal, and analog markets towards a more innovative, formal, and digital one. A report published by Accel and Omnivore indicates that most Agri-start ups have grown- 0.5X to 3X plus during the pandemic. The startups got prominence on App based distribution and delivery, e-Commerce plat-forms for Agri-inputs & outputs, Farm management (crop management, micro-climate & traceability) and Labor re-placement through automation & mechanization.6- GOVERNMENT LEAD AGRICULTURE REFORMS: The Government brought in a slew of decisions which were unheard of in Ag-riculture sector. DBT (Direct Bank Transfer) was at its best in its effectiveness. The next best decision was to declare 'One Nation, One Market'. It intends to integrate the physi-cal & virtual markets across India. It removed the APMC tax outside of Mandi premises, and allowed transactions from any location. Similarly, EC (Essential Commodity) Act amendments & Contract farming acts were supportive of a open & the transparent market system. As the e-Commerce demand were growing fast, government rapidly added up APMC markets to e-NAM network which crossed 1000+. The PMs call for `self-sufficiency (aatmanirbhar)' and `Vo-cal for Local' are building up positive sentiments for farm-ers.7- KISAN RAIL EXPECTED TO REVOLUTIONIZE AGRI-COMMODITY MOVE-MENTS: Kisan rail is a positive development. It saves transit time by 40-60 percent, improved arrival quality & fresh-ness by 15 percent & freight cost less the half. Kisan rails have the potential to become the single largest carrier of F&V. It can integrate the production & the consumption centers and support in achieving 'One Nation, One Market' goal. In India, the logistics cost as a percent of GDP stands at 14 percent. This cost is high compared to US-9.5 percent, Germany-8 percent & Japan-11 percent. Similarly, it can help to optimize the current modal mix (road-60 percent, rail-31 percent, water-9 percent) to global benchmarks (road-25-30 percent, rail- 50-55 percent, water- 20-25 per-cent). Kisan rail could be a game changer in transformation of India's Fruits and Vegetable supply system.2020 as a year was not so good for the citizens in gen-eral and the economy, yet it has been an eventful year for the farmers and agriculture. Many cancer patients have permanently shifted to organic foods. Organic vegetable wash-Neem wash (ITC), Veggie Clean (Merico), Saafoo (Cevinkare) were launched during the pandemic to improve Fruits and Vegetables hygiene
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