Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar has said that a high-level steering committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Agriculture Minister for overall guidance of the agriculture start-up ecosystem. A Rs 500-crore accelerator programme for taking forward and popularizing the successful initiatives of agri start-ups will be started. Tomar was speaking at the Agri Start-up Conference organized on the second day of PM Kisan Samman Sammelan at Pusa Mela Ground, Delhi, today.
Amidst a large gathering of agri start-up delegates, Tomar announced that an Executive Committee would be constituted under the chairmanship of Secretary, Agriculture, comprising concerned agencies like DARE, DPIIT, agricultural incubators and knowledge partners, agricultural universities, research institutes, top investors and other stakeholders. Also, a separate Division will be created for Agriculture Start-ups in the Ministry of Agriculture under the chairmanship of the Joint Secretary. A cell will also be created to work as a single window agency for agri start-ups to facilitate all linkages required with certification agencies, financial institutions, agricultural universities, etc.
Tomar informed that a marketing linkage would be created with organizations like e-NAM and NAFED to meet the market needs of the products developed by the agri start-ups. A portal will also be developed to create a database for all agriculture start-ups and monitor their development. Tomar said that efforts would be made to organize Agri Startup Conclaves at the national and regional levels to promote these start-ups.
Eight years ago, there were only 80-100 agri start-ups, whereas today their number is more than 2,000, informed Tomar. Hundreds of them have been provided training and financial assistance under the scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture. The target of the Central Government is to take this number to 10,000.
Union Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kailash Choudhary and Shobha Karandlaje were also present on the occasion. Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja and Director General of ICAR Dr Himanshu Pathak also addressed the conclave. Initially, representatives of hundreds of start-ups from across the country put forward their key suggestions to the ministers.