Higher educational institutes to create agri consortium

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Higher educational institutes (HEIs) in the country have agreed, in essence, to create an ‘Agri Consortium’ – a move initiated by IIM Kashipur.

An in-principle framework in this regard was adopted by participating HEIs during the ‘Agri-Entrepreneurship in South Asia Consortium-2023’ organized by the Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (FIED), an incubation centre of IIM Kashipur, in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare recently.

A media statement said the ‘Agri Consortium 2023’ aims to provide a common platform for academicians, researchers, students, and industry professionals to interact and deliberate on the latest trends and advancements in technology, research, funding avenues, and industry requirements in the agriculture industry.

HEIs agreed upon a principled agreement with three steps: sharing of start-up databases among consortium members; dissemination of incubation or start-up support programmes; and networking and sharing best practices on the platform.

Avenue of collaboration

Kulbhushan Balooni, Director of IIM-Kashipur, said the ‘Agri Consortium’ will serve as a platform for sharing information on agri-startups supported by member HEIs from different parts of the country. This opens the avenues of collaboration between start-ups from different geographies, helping each other take their innovative solutions to a large number of farmers, Balooni said.

Safal Batra, Associate Professor, IIM-Kashipur and Director of FIED, said: “Through this consortium, we are building a knowledge pool for the start-up ecosystem so that we can extend our support to various industries in developing significant startups within the agriculture sector. Additionally, we are going to establish a knowledge bank for failed start-ups in the agricultural industry to provide insights into their failures. These insights will be shared with policymakers and the government to assist in crafting policies for their benefit.”

HEIs such as IGKV-Raipur; CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar; Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University; IVRI Bareilly; Pusa Krishi, New Delhi; GB Pant University; VCSJ Uttarakhand University of Forestry and Horticulture, Bharsar, Uttarakhand; and CCS NIAM, Jaipur; and IIM Kashipur, have agreed to collaborate, it said.

In another development, 10 start-ups got funding to the tune of ₹1.60 crore under the RKVY RAFTAAR (Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation) scheme. These start-ups operate in the fields of drone technology, agri supply chain, food processing, hydroponics, waste to wealth, and agri biotechnology.