New Ventures Podcast

What is the problem ? Fertiliser application needs to be balanced according to the needs of the soil but often nitrogenous fertilisers tend to be overused. What is the solution ? Bring on-line potash deposits in various parts of the world. This will reduce geo-political risks and stabilise prices What is the evidence? The team behind Millennial Potash is advancing a large scale potash development...

What is the problem ? China is the largest market for meat and seafood and in places like Hong Kong per capita consumption of meat is close to US levels. What is the solution ? Chinese food entrepreneurs must come up with new products and this has to be supplemented by local governments pushing on multiple fronts: ecological farming, traditional food, reducing food waste. What is the evidence? The...

What is the problem ? The funding crisis will exacerbate at the exact time when the impacts of climate change will aggravate. What is the solution ? Improved practices, irrigation, seeds and preservation of nature. What is the evidence? Seeds resilient to climate change which show no yield loss are being developed and being adopted by farmers. What is the caveat? Emissions in sectors such as energ...

What is the problem ? How should India’s agritech companies providing advisory services become profitable. What is the solution ? They need to partner with each other, they need to partner with FPOs. Ideally large companies must partner with them. What is the evidence? There is enough evidence that companies and organisations can grow to significant levels even without significant equity funding....

What is the problem ? Climate change will bring opportunities for UK farmers in the UK but farmers need support to take advantage of potential opportunities. What is the solution ? Farming has to be more profitable and farming organisations must help farmers to adopt innovations. What is the evidence? Regenerative farming practices have been spreading among British farmers. What is the caveat? Far...

What is the problem ? The El Nino has affected pineapple production in Thailand. What is the solution ? Some companies are quitting the industry altogether. Our guest – who has literally grown up in the pineapple industry- is “doubling down”but diversifying What is the evidence? Pineapple leaves which would have wasted can be used to make sustainable textiles. What is the caveat? Demand for these...

What is the problem ? Business models to deploy AI solutions for small holder farmers do not exist. What is the solution ? Bring down costs and develop use cases in partnership. What is the evidence? Several cost reduction technologies and several real life applications are being developed. What is the caveat? We are just scratching the surface. What should organisations do? Companies should partn...

What is the problem ? Coffee production and exports have boomed in Vietnam . The issue is to keep the boom going. What is the solution ? Doing much the same things that contributed to the boom in the first place. Organising farmers, supporting them with information and working with buyers What is the evidence? In Vietnam farmers have options to hold on to their crops What is the caveat? The future...

What is the problem ? Coffee production in Peru has improved significantly. It is now being affected by climate change. What is the solution ? A cooperative with research and training focus to help farmers improve quality and adopt appropriate seeds. What is the evidence? Peru coffee which used to sell at a discount is now sold as a premium What is the caveat? Would cooperatives have the ability t...

What is the problem? Nigeria is importing meat even as its potential to produce domestically is untapped. What is the solution ? Create linkages between small holder farmers and meat companies. What is the evidence? Farmers in Nigeria are already benefiting.. What is the caveat? Farmers need training and services (inputs, purchase agreements, insurance) What should organisations do? Non-profits an...

What is the problem ? Markets need to be found: for imperfect and traditional vegetables, for cellular agriculture outputs. What is the solution ? Products that meet needs: nutritious and tasty snacks, substitutes for in-demand products. What is the evidence? Customers are accepting new products. What is the caveat? It takes time to build products and markets. What should organisations do ? Scale...

What is the problem ? In poor counties farmers are producing too little food. Productivity levels are very low. What is the solution ? Help companies sell inputs to farmers, help farmers sell and save money What is the evidence? In Mozambique the seed market has expanded by 6 times and now there are local entrepreneurs working with small holder farmers. What is the caveat? It takes time. Public se...

What is the problem?  Animal protein contributes to disproportionately large amount of emissions.    What is the solution? Insect feed can be solution. They can be a nutritional additive for the food we eat. They can also be a substitute for animal feed.    What is the evidence? Insect feed has got to the point where it has moved to commercial production. Insect feed can be produced using waste fr...

What is the problem ? We have to increase food production in the face of climate change , we have to make vulnerable communities resilient and we have to do all this without increasing emissions. What is the solution ? There are numerous climate smart technologies and practices. What is the evidence? There are several examples in the ASEAN region where food production is increasing in the face of...

What is the problem ? The amount of water available for irrigation and livestock is reducing. Safe drinking water is also not available in many parts of the world. What is the solution ? Getting to the root of the problem, identifying the causes, adopting locally specific interventions and involving the community. What is the evidence ? Even in the areas of Bangladesh where saline water from the s...

What is the problem ? Agricultural practices is depleting the soil fertility and making farming unproductive. What is the solution ? Regenerative farming , integrating trees and livestock in farming operations. Integrating trees is called agro forestry. What is the evidence? Agroforestry has worked in Africa (Niger, Zambia), Asia (China and India), South America (Argentina) and Western nations as...

Diageo is reducing its emissions by innovating in its packaging. It is trying to introduce circular economy in the traditional glass bottles. The company is also trying to use new types of material: aluminum and paper. At the same time, Diageo faces climate risks. Agricultural commodities and water are the inputs to manufacturing your favour beverages. In response, Diageo is supporting regenerativ...

Digital innovation in agriculture is already bringing solutions to farmers that helps them use their mobile phones to obtain a range of useful services. They can get information about product prices and advice on pest control. They can also buy farm inputs as well sell their products. Almost always underbanked, they can also get credit. Is AI adding an extra fizz to these solutions? We discussed w...

Too much food is wasted by consumers. Reducing this wastage is important. It is good for the climate and for one’s own wallet, not to mention the conscience. Everybody agrees that it is important and yet reducing food waste is hard. People waste food not because they don’t care but often they do not know better ways to buy, store, cook and eat. Luckily, there are a whole set of tools from the disc...

The World Fair Trade Organisation certifies small and medium enterprises which practice fair trade principles. Chief among them is that 50% of their profits are contributed towards a cause. The objective of WFTO is to prove that innovation and entrepreneurship is consistent with stakeholder capitalism. Innovation – the process of increasing productivity – is not just restricted to a shareholder ca...

Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 was also a leading thinker on education.  The central tenets of his thoughts on education were learning among nature, striking a balance of the arts and science in the curriculum and internalising  a spirit of internationalism. Tagore was also a practical man and he put his ideas in action by setting up a school for children and an...

In Kenya there has been droughts for the last four out of 5 seasons. Most farmers depend only rains and are very vulnerable to changing weather. SunCulture provides irrigation solution to small holder farmers. The challenge is to make the product affordable to farmers. This means right sizing the pumps, working with suppliers to reduce costs and providing financing solutions. It also means using s...

Financial institutions have to take into both short term and long term horizons in assessing climate risks. This is not easy for banks in the emerging world. It requires expertise, access to data and new management processes. In this podcast, Rutang and myself explain the types of climate risks and we demystify climate risk scenarios which help financial institutions straddle these time horizons....

With climate change El Nino droughts will become more frequent and more intense. To be fore warned is to be fore armed. Warnings will have to be taken seriously and farmers should not plant their seeds hoping that rains will come only to face a total crop failure. Kvuno, a social enterprise spun out of Solidaridad, the international NGO, is developing a digital database of farmers in Southern Afri...

A child substantially shorter than their age in the first three years often fails to reach their full potential. It is often caused by poor nutrition. Save the Children, an international NGO with roots in the UK, has been implementing a three year project in Bangladesh with support from the European Union and UK AID to reduce stunting. Reducing stunting involves household members changing their be...