The Government of India is committed to promote Agri-startups by providing financial and technical support to agri-startups in agriculture and allied sectors. Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare (DA&FW) is implementing “Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development” programme under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) from 2018-19 with an objective to promote innovation and agri-entrepreneurship by providing financial and technical support for nurturing startups ecosystem in the country. So far, 5 Knowledge Partners (KPs) and 24 RKVY Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) have been appointed for training & incubation of agri-startups and implementation of this programme. The list of these 5 KPs and 24 R-ABIs is given below:

List of Knowledge Partners (KPs) and RKVY- Agribusiness Incubators (R- ABIs)

Knowledge Partners (KPs):

1. National      Institute   of   Agricultural   Extension    Management     (MANAGE), Hyderabad.
2. National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) Jaipur, Rajasthan.
3. Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Pusa, New Delhi.
4. University of Agriculture Science, Dharwad, Karnataka.
5. Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat, Assam.

RKVY-RAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs):

1. Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Hisar, Haryana
2. CSK   Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
3. IIT-BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
4. Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
5. ICAR-Indian   Veterinary    Research     Institute,   Izatnagar,    Bareilly,    Uttar Pradesh
6. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab
7. Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, Chhattisgarh
8. Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu & Kashmir
9. IIM, Kashipur, Uttarakhand
10. Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala
11. ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, Telangana
12. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
13. Agri innovation and entrepreneurship cell, ANGRAU, Andhra Pradesh 14) National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha

15. S K N Agriculture University, Jobner, Rajasthan
16. Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal
17. Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur, Bihar
18. Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat
19. ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra
20. Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Maharashtra
21. National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), Bengaluru, Karnataka
22. College of Fisheries, Lembucherra, Tripura
23. Department of Veterinary Medicine College of Veterinary Sciences &Animal Husbandry, Aizawl, Mizoram
24. College of Horticulture & Forestry, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh

Under the programme, the financial support upto Rs. 5.00 lakh is provided at the idea/pre seed stage and upto Rs. 25 lakh at the seed stage to entrepreneurs/ startups in the field of agriculture & allied sector to launch their products, services, business platforms, etc into the market and facilitate them to scale up their products and operations. Each KP and R-ABI can select a maximum 20 start-ups in each category of pre seed and seed stage in a particular year for financial assistance under Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship programme. The fund is released in installments to the selected startups based on the recommendation given by the Committee constituted for this purpose.

Start-ups are trained and incubated by these Knowledge Partners (KPs) and RKVY Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) appointed under the programme. Technical support and mentorship is provided on financial, technical, IP issues etc. Besides, Government of India organize various national level programmes including agri-startup conclave, agri fair and exhibitions, webinars, workshops to provide a platform for the promotion of agri startups by linking them with various stakeholders.

Under this programme, funds are released to KPs and R-ABIs situated in different States. The financial assistance of Rs. 111.57 crores have been released in installments to a total of 1554 agri startups through various KPs and R-ABIs from 2019-20 to 2023-24.

 This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Arjun Munda in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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