Minister for Agriculture B.C. Patil on Thursday said that the State Government will soon start implementing an agri startup policy in Karnataka.
Speaking at the inauguration session of TechBharat 2022, a three-day conclave and exhibition that seeks to bring together stakeholders from the food technology and agriculture sectors at CFTRI in Mysuru, Mr. Patil said that the State Government has appointed a committee of experts to prepare a policy framework for agri startup in the State.
The Government will start implementing the policy after receiving the report from expert Committee, he said.
Former CEO of Infosys Kris Gopalakrishnan, who is presently Chairman of Axilor Ventures, suggested that farming activity can become more economically productive if farmers come together to form Farmer Producer Organisation and increase the scale of production. “With scale, the cost of inputs can be brought down and the cost of machinery can be shared,” he said.
He also felt that introduction of technology was very important at different stages of agriculture like surveying of land, satellite imaging for crops, market linkages etc.
To bring in value addition, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that capital should be brought into the field of agriculture through sources like risk capital and philanthropy. Risk capital, he said was akin to investments made in start-ups, where the investors write off the debts of failed startup ventures.
He also emphasised the need for agriculture to focus on exports. “The produce should be world class so that it can be exported across the world and the farmers can earn more on their produce,” he said.
Chairman of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Department of Commerce, M. Angamuthu said India did not only have a large arable area in comparison to the total land mass in the country, it was also among the top agricultural exporters in the world, particularly in cereal sector.
Rice, wheat, millets, maize and processed cereal products exported from India contributed to around 50 per cent of the global exports, he said adding that India accounted for almost 35 million metric tonne of trade in the cereal sector out of the total global trade of 50 to 55 million metric tonne.
He said that there was scope for increasing exports in the field of agriculture and emphasised the need for tech-driven platforms to bridge the gap between institutions and startups.
TechBharat 2022, a flagship programme of IMS Foundation and Laghu Bharat Udyog Bharati that seeks to bring stakeholders from food technology and agriculture sector, was inaugurated by Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Kailash Chaudhary. CFTRI Director Sridevi Singh was also present on the occasion
