Mr Arvind Bhadoriya, Minister for Cooperatives and Public Service Management, Govt of Madhya Pradesh today said that the state government is committed to the sustainable agriculture for prosperous future of its farmers. “We believe, India now needs to move from Green revolution to the Cyan Revolution, that represents the fusion of agriculture and innovations for future-fit growth,” he added.
Addressing the virtual session ‘FICCI Summit and Awards for Agri Start-ups’, Mr Bhadoriya said that to build the foundation for the Cyan Revolution, the Madhya Pradesh government has launched the NAVAAS initiative. This initiative will focus on developing self-help technologies that support small and marginal farmers. “The tools and techniques developed under NAVAAS will ensure livelihood security, reduce input costs, improve productive value of yield, generate value from crop residue, reduce weather change vulnerability and conserve natural capital. We want our community and stakeholders to become innovators and researchers rather than being consumers of technology and knowledge that is developed in the western world,” he added.
Highlighting the importance of argi start-ups in the sector, Mr Bhadoriya said that an enabling AgriTech ecosystem equipped with emerging technologies and innovations have the capabilities to develop new and more efficient business models, and make food systems more productive, sustainable, efficient, transparent and resilient. “Towards this initiative of boosting innovation and introducing technologies in agriculture and allied sector, Madhya Pradesh government is promoting MP Incubation and Start-up Policy,” he emphasized.
He further stated that considering conducive environment in the state, we welcome all Start-ups and innovators to participate in NAVAAS initiative and develop an ecosystem for transformative change in rural India. We are committed to provide a platform for working jointly and demonstrating solutions at scale, he noted.
Mr Bhadoriya said that Madhya Pradesh is leveraging the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund under the Atmanirbhar Bharat program to build post-harvest infrastructure in the rural areas. This infrastructure will support farmers as well give opportunities for entrepreneurs too.
The state, he said has robust food processing infrastructure with 2 mega food parks, 6 food parks, 5 agri export zones, 45 Industrial areas, 6 inland container depots, 226 large scale industries, 206 medium scale industries.
Complementing FICCI for working on the development of the agriculture sector, Mr Bhadoriya said that FICCI Agri Start up Summit and Awards will help to develop a strong agri Start-up ecosystem at national as well as state level.
Mr Hemendra Mathur, Chairman, FICCI Task Force on Agri Startups and Venture Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund said that the growth which Madhya Pradesh has seen is an example for other states also. He further said that India has around 600 start-ups working in the agriculture sector and many of them working in the state. Start-ups will play an important role in increasing the income of small and medium farmers, he added.
Mr Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI said that the state government’s Incubation and Start-up policy will take Indian agriculture start-ups to next level. He further emphasized on the need to create a dedicated cell for agri-tech start-ups at the state level for facilitating continuous dialogue between the states and the start-ups.
Mr Suryakumar P V S, Deputy Managing Director, NABARD; Mr Vijayasekar Kalavakonda, Senior Financial Sector Specialist-IFC, World Bank; Ms Michiko Katagami, Principal Natural Resources and Agriculture Economist Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, Asian Development Bank; Mr Samir Shah, Executive Vice-Chair & Group President, Dvara Trust (Formerly IFMR Trust); Mr Pramod Prasad, COO, Creamline Dairy (Godrej Agrovet); Mr Munish Soni, Head – Business Strategy, Bayer CropScience Limited also shared the perspective on the Indian agri start-ups.
