Guntur: Nabard set up ABICs to promote agri start-ups

Guntur: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) Chairman Dr G R Chintala said that digital technology enables farmers and other people to connect with institutions and information that provides eventually help in decreasing risk and uncertainty. Addressing at Vignan's University 9th convocation held on varsity premises at Vadlamudi in Guntur district on Saturday, he appealed to young scientists to embrace technology in agriculture and the allied sectors and think out of the box in order to take advantage of changing dynamics in consumption behaviour.

He said agri start-ups have become the missing link between the farmers, input dealers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers and they provide strong marketing network.

To promote and nurture agri-entrepreneurs and start-ups, he said NABARD has set up and supported up scaling of Agri Business Incubation Centres (ABICs) at various Agriculture Universities across the country.

He said the nearest of ABIC set at the National Academy of Agriculture Management in Hyderabad. He said that the ABICs would facilitate the start-ups with necessary resources and business support services, marketing arrangements as well as finance to transform them into viable commercial entities. He said that agriculture has once again proved to be a saviour and has successfully overcome the Covid-19 pandemic in the last month July and our country witnessed an additional 16 million jobs mainly, of which about 11.2 million were employed in the agriculture sector.

Founder and CEO of Laurus Labs Ltd Dr Satyanarayana Chava, MP Dr Achyuta Samanta were conferred with honorary doctorate degrees. They gave degree certificates to 1,821 students and gold medals to 52 students. University Chancellor Prof K Ramamurthy Naidu, VC Dr M Y S Prasad, Chairman Dr Lavu Rathaiah, Vice-Chairman Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayulu were among those present.