Telangana: 'AgHub' to bring start-ups, farmers on single platform

Rajendranagar: In order to accelerate the crop revolution in the state, Telangana government has rolled out a more vibrant idea of 'AgHub' (Agricultural Innovation Hub) to bring technology enable start-ups and the farmers together at a platform where they can perform the agrarian activities more precisely. This is something to help build an entrepreneurship ecosystem in the state and around the country.

"AgHub is something like IT-Hub, a moniker earned by Hyderabad city for having world class and branded IT giants in the city. The program was already launched for which a separate facility has also been set up at Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU). The concept squarely promotes a data driven way of agriculture and explicitly based on three components that include Research Ecosystem, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, and Rural Innovation & Entrepreneurial Ecosystem," informed Dr V Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor, PJTSAU.

He further said Research Ecosystem, would turn the students and Research Scholars into entrepreneurs while Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem would help nurturing technology enabled startups through incubation, acceleration, innovation challenges involving our startups, technologies and IP enabled ventures. Similarly, the Rural Innovation & Entrepreneurial Ecosystem teaches the rural youth and FPOs (Farmers Producer Organisations) the method to form rural enterprises or integrate with the existing FPOs. "Initially, we have shortlisted around 11 start-ups with different themes to begin with that include Thanos for drone spraying theme, X-machines for robotic weed management, Transity for supply chain management, Marut drones with drone based diagnostics, E-fresh with FPOs based supply chain management, Satyukt with irrigation management, Krishi Tantra and Soil Sens with nutrient management, Amvicube with post-harvest, Trace X with Traceability and Super GRT with Marketplace theme. The targeted crops focused under AgHub initiative include Rice, Cotton, Chilli and Maize, Rabi Maize, Groundnut, Pigeonpea and Chickpea at different locations of the state," he added.

"The main objective of the AgHub is to nurture early stage agri-startups across the state and the country thereby develop a prudent technology and amplify the markets. This is also to bring a paradigm shift in the area of research through translational research approach. This would bring research scholars to the mainstream startup ecosystem. AgHub is mainly driven by ideation, grants and incubation of Agri-tech startups. With this idea we are trying to use technology to make better decisions for the farmers in terms of understanding soil mix, water requirement and inputs besides getting better prices and bringing efficiency in the process," explained AgHub Managing Director Dr Kalpana Sastry.

While the hub is here at the university, the spokes are in Tier-I and Tier-II areas, where specific agricultural fields are located, such as Jagtial and Palem known for groundnuts and Nizamabad for turmeric cultivation. Therefore, the spokes are region-specific, but the hub is catalysing everything they require."