Govt mulls setting up dedicated cell to promote agri startups

The Centre is planning to set up a dedicated cell for agriculture startups and small entrepreneurs, an official said on Tuesday. Addressing an event organised by Ficci here, National Rainfed Area Authority (NRRA) CEO Ashok Dalwai said there are numerous areas where startups can help farmers reduce cost and increase income.

He also stressed upon the need to create a platform for standardized and structured data that can be accessed free of cost. "Biggest problem in getting data is that there is no data standardisation and no structure that can be uniformly interpreted. We need to start looking at building up of database related to all aspects of agriculture and how it can be digitally translated," he said in a statement.

A platform should be created where different technologies are uploaded and made available to everybody, he added. Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium Managing Director Neelkamal Darbari said the role of agri startups comes at the pre-harvest stage.

Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) are still struggling to do business in traditional ways. The country has around 5,000 FPOs and they can act as a vehicle for innovation, she said. "The interface of technology through FPO mechanism is yet to see some kind of traction," she added.

A FICCI compendium on agriculture startups representing 103 case studies was also released during the event.

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