AIM, NITI Aayog, and UNCDF released a whitepaper which presents doable solutions to problems faced by agri-tech start-ups
Today, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) unveiled a whitepaper with the goal of elevating India to the top of the agri-tech innovation world and bringing these technologies to the developing nations of Asia and Africa.
The whitepaper, which was painstakingly drafted by specialists from AIM, NITI Aayog, and UNCDF, presents doable solutions to problems faced by agri-tech start-ups and supports their expansion on a national and worldwide scale.
The whitepaper summarises the key findings and suggestions needed to address agriculture sector difficulties and advance sustainable practices that aid smallholder farmers in developing nations. Agri-tech developments will aid in addressing issues with food security, inefficient supply chains, and climate change.
Addressing the audience, Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare stated, “Agri-tech startups in India have emerged as a game-changer in the agriculture sector, offering innovative solutions to the emerging challenges in agriculture like climate change, improving productivity, etc. The AIM-UNCDF agri-tech challenge has uncovered the immense promise and potential of this market, and we are excited to see what the future holds.”
Speaking during the launch, Mission Director Atal Innovation Mission, Chintan Vaishnav said “The agriculture sector is critical to food security, supply chain efficiency, and climate change mitigation, and the agri-tech start-ups in India have provided significant solutions to these challenges. Through this partnership with UNCDF, we aim to facilitate cross-border engagement, knowledge exchange, and investments to support high-impact agri-tech innovations and make agriculture practices efficient, resilient, and sustainable for smallholder farmers across developing economies. We look forward to working with our partners to realize this vision.”
At the launch, Jaspreet Singh, Global lead, Financial health and Innovation, UNCDF, said, “The learnings from the agri-tech challenge have been immense and revealed that the market is enormous and has immense potential for global south-south collaboration. Moving forward, we are working towards creating a community platform for smallholder farmers which can be helpful for agri-tech startups to exchange ideas, explore collaboration, and share knowledge”
Agri-tech start-ups have become the answer to the problems encountered by farmers because smallholder farmers make up over 70% of the agricultural workforce in India. AIM seeks to establish a south-south collaboration environment where start-ups from Asia and Africa may share ideas and develop possibilities in their own nations in collaboration with UNCDF.
AIM engages with partner nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Zambia. AIM is an anchor partner in the south-south collaboration projects. Three major issues facing the agricultural industry are the focus of the collaboration: low productivity, inadequate risk resilience, and ineffective supply chain management. The partners have expressed interest in 25 potential Agri-Tech start-ups that aim to address pressing issues with production, supply chain, risk, and climate change.
Agri-tech start-ups in developing nations have effectively offered digital solutions to a number of the sector's previous problems. AIM is dedicated to fostering the growth of start-ups and international knowledge exchange while partnering with UNCDF to fund high-impact agri-tech technologies. In less developed start-up economies around the world, the Indian start-up sector has the ability to serve as a knowledge hub and foster market growth.
An important step towards making India a leader in agri-tech innovation and bringing these technologies to the world's least developed nations in Asia and Africa has been reached with the release of the whitepaper. Together, AIM, NITI Aayog, and UNCDF are dedicated to pursuing this objective and achieving sustainable and inclusive growth in the agriculture sector.