Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has asked the ministry officials to ensure that the infrastructure under the flagship Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) is created as per requirement and will undertake a mapping so that not only warehouses, but other facilities are also created.
Addressing an event in New Delhi to award best performing banks and State governments under the AIF scheme, Chouhan pointed out that there is saturation in demand for warehouses in some areas of Madhya Pradesh, as a result, the owners keep approaching him for solution. He suggested that where there is requirement of warehouses, those can be created, but there are also cold storage, pack houses, grading facilities needed which should be identified through a mapping.
Private investment
He also launched Agriculture Investment Portal and AgriSURE Fund, with a corpus of ₹750 crore by Nabard, to fund start-ups in the farm sector. The minister said that developed India cannot be built without developed farming, prosperity cannot happen without farmers for which private investment is highly essential as only government investment is not enough.
The minister directed officials to ensure that investors who wish to invest in the farm sector should have all the information on the Agriculture Investment Portal. He assured start-ups that the government will keep increasing funding as per demand and there will be no constraints.
“With a focus on technology-driven, high-risk, high-impact ventures, AgriSURE is designed to fuel growth and foster innovation in the agricultural and rural start-up ecosystem. A blended capital fund of ₹250 crore with SEBI-registered Category II, alternative investment fund (AIF), contributions from the Government of India is ₹250 crore, Nabard is ₹250 crore and ₹250 crore is being mobilised from banks, insurance companies and private investors,” an official statement said.
Farmers’ prosperity
Chouhan highlighted the transformative potential of the newly launched initiatives and said it is a continuation of previous efforts of the government to ensure that every farmer in India has the technological support needed to thrive. He further said that farmers’ prosperity will lead to a prosperous economy.
“The government will relentlessly strive towards ensuring increased production, reduced cost of production for farmers, remunerative prices for farmers, crop diversification, preventing post-harvest loss and safe guard during crop loss through crop insurance,” he said.
The minister conferred the AgriSURE Greenathon awards to the most innovative start-ups developing tech-centric solutions to address challenges faced by farmers across various stages of the agri-value chain. The top three start-ups who received the awards are Greensapio, Krushikanti and Ambronics.