Government to spend nearly Rs 12 crore for funding 112 startups to promote agri firms

The Central Government will spend nearly twelve crore rupees for funding 112 start-ups to promote Agri firms in the current financial year.

Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said the funds will be given to the start-ups selected by different knowledge partners and agribusiness incubators in the area of agro-processing, food technology and value addition.

The minister in a statement said, "In the first phase, 112 start-ups in the area of agro-processing, food technology and value addition will be funded for a sum of Rs 11.85 crore."

He said, the funds will be provided under the Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development Programme launched under the revamped Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). These start-ups were trained for two months at 29 agri-business incubation centres spread across the country.

These start-ups will lead to employment opportunities for the youth. Besides, they, directly and indirectly, will contribute to enhancing the income of farmers by providing opportunities to them, he added.

The government has identified five knowledge partners as centres of excellence and 24 RKVY-RAFTAAR agribusiness incubators (R-ABIs) from across the country after a nationwide advertisement and a rigorous selection process.

Emphasising on increasing private investment in agriculture, Tomar said his vision is to attract the youth to agriculture and rejuvenate the sector. He also stressed the need to make agriculture competitive, provide handholding to agriculture-based activities and adopt new technology at the earliest.

The Minister said that the government is promoting start-ups in the field of agriculture for enhancing the income of farmers and providing employment opportunities to youth. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that start-ups and agri-entrepreneurs need to be promoted to ensure innovation and use of technology in agriculture and allied sectors.