Agriculture Startups: Promoting agripreneurship! Modi government takes this big step

In order to promote entrepreneurship in agriculture sector the Narendra Modi Government has taken a new step. The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DACFW) has launched a new component called ‘Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development’ to promote innovation and agripreneurship in the sector.

This component has been launched under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY-RAFTAAR).

In this connection, five Knowledge Partners (KPs) and twenty four Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) have been appointed by DACFW to advice on smooth and efficient execution of this programme in various States.

Under this programme, for idea/pre-seed stage, a selected start-up shall be eligible for a maximum financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh.  For seed stage, a selected start-up shall be eligible for a maximum financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh.

This information was given by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha in a written reply according to a government release.

 RKVY-RAFTAAR was launched in 2018-19 to providing financial support and nurturing the incubation ecosystem. Start-ups are being encouraged in order to contribute directly and indirectly to enhancing the income of farmers by providing opportunities to them and to provide employment to youth.

Under the RKVY-RAFTAAR initiative, 346 start-ups in the agriculture and allied sectors are selected for funding   for a sum of Rs 36.72 cr in instalments. The department has already released Rs 16.01 cr as first instalment, the release said. These start-ups were trained for two months at various agribusiness incubation centres spread across the country.

The KPs are National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management Hyderabad, National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) Jaipur, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) New Delhi, University of Agriculture Science Dharwad and Assam Agriculture University at Jorhat.

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Among the RKVY-RAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators, Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Hisar, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh and IIT BHU at Varanasi are included.