Agri start-ups have demanded access to farmer communities and self-help groups to broad base their areas of operation and insisted on the need for building backward linkages. Agri start-ups put forth this demand in an online event organised by NABFOUNDATION, a not for profit company, promoted and wholly-owned by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to execute development projects.

The meeting was chaired by G R Chintala, Chairman, NABARD, while Anil Agrawal, Additional Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, delivered the inaugural speech.

The meat industry aggregator present for the meeting demanded more organized goat rearing among more rural communities.

Agrawal informed the agri start-up community about the set of products and services designed to encourage agri enterprises. He remarked that it was an opportune moment for the government and NABARD to come together to make a lasting difference in the start-up sector.

Chintala said that leveraging the power of convergence was the need of the hour with some 1,500 agri start-ups on the one hand and some 4,500 Farmer Producer Organizations set up by NABARD on the other.

Convergence between NABARD, NABFOUNDATION, NABVENTURES and agri-start-ups can bring in the much-needed youthful dynamism and technological expertise which rural India needs so desperately, he said. Chintala said that NABARD would work along with the government of India to establish a Fund of Funds specifically for rural agri start-ups.

NABARD, through NABVENTURES, has provided venture capital assistance to agri startups and today is the largest supporter in the agri sector.

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