Agriculture Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has revealed that the government will be fueling in over Rs 11.85 crores in the first phase of the current financial year, as a way to promote agritech firms and startups.
He added that the funds would be given to the startups selected by different knowledge partners and agriculture business incubators in the sector of agro-processing, food tech, and value addition.
According to PTI (1), Narendra Singh Tomar stated that the funds would be released in installments, and the selected startups would be trained for two months at 29 agri-business incubation centers spread across India.
The fresh capital will be provided to the selected startups under the Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development Programme that was launched under the rebranded Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).
Rising unemployment is a big issue in our country, accelerated further due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With the growth in the agritech sector, startups will help in generating employment for all, and thereby help in the overall GDP growth of the nation.
Moreover, this will also help in enhancing the income of farmers by providing them with the right business opportunities, directly or indirectly.
Attracting younger population towards agritech
The government has identified over five knowledge partner centers of excellence and twenty-four RKVY-RAFTAAR agribusiness incubators (R-ABIs) from across India after the advertisement & rigorous selection process.
The main vision of the plan is to attract the younger population to work towards the agri-tech sector and rejuvenate them with their enthusiasm while emphasizing increasing private investment in agriculture.
Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar further stated that there was a need to make agriculture competitive, provide guidance to agriculture-based activities, and adopt new technology at the earliest.
