Startups to bridge technology gap for farmer collectives
Eight startups incubated at the Agri-Business Incubator (ABI) and the iHub at ICRISAT have demonstrated technology-backed solutions for Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) management systems.
It includes last-mile digital learning and extension services, personalized crop advisories and management, agribusiness convergence platforms, on-demand farm machinery and service management, optimized fertilizer application units to reduce input costs and impact on the environment.
Deep learning solutions for quality check at farm-gate and low-cost community-owned post-harvest processing units for value addition are also being implemented. 68 participants including Chief Executive Officers of FPOs, agencies promoting FPOs, civil society organizations, banking institutions and corporate from 17 states of India were part of an online event where the technologies and business ideas were presented.
Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi) has been working diligently for bringing FPOs and technology startups together and providing institutional support.
Jonathan Philroy, Manager at ABI-ICRISAT said that FPOs and startups have gained a lot of attention, especially in the past few months for their potential to address smallholder farm challenges and spur rural economic growth. Another event with a second set of incubated startups is expected to be held later this year.
