A high-level steering committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of Agriculture Minister for overall guidance of the Agriculture Startup ecosystem, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said at the Agri Startup Conference in New Delhi Wednesday.
"A Rs 500 crore accelerator programme for taking forward and popularizing the successful initiatives of Agri Startups will be started," Tomar said at the conference was organised on the second day of the PM Kisan Samman Sammelan at Pusa Mela Ground, Delhi.
Tomar announced that an Executive Committee would be set up under the chairmanship of Secretary Agriculture, comprising of 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 under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary for Agriculture Startups in the Ministry of Agriculture, he said.
The minister also said a cell will also be created to work as a single window agency for Agri Startups to facilitate all linkages required with certification agencies, financial institutions, agricultural universities etc.
Tomar informed that a marketing linkage will be created with organizations like e-NAM and NAFED to meet the market needs of the products developed by the Agri Startups.
A portal will also be developed to create a database for all Agriculture Startups and monitor their development.
Tomar said that efforts will be made to organize Agri Startup Conclave at national and regional level to promote Startups in the agriculture sector.
Eight years ago, there were only 80-100 Agricultural Startups, today their number is more than 2,000, out of which hundreds of them have been provided training and financial assistance under the scheme of Agriculture Ministry. The target of the Central Government is to take this number to 10,000, Tomar said in a release.
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