Leveraging the technology prowess in the State, Karnataka is giving an impetus to start-ups in the agriculture technology (AgTech) space — a move that could help evolve innovative solutions to address the challenges in the agrarian landscape.

The State has extended seed funding of ₹3 crore to 21 start-ups and expects to scale up the initiative going ahead, said Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, IT & BT, Karnataka. He was speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on “Technology in Agriculture,” organised under the aegis of “Bengaluru Tech Summit” that emphasised on how new and emerging technologies such as the IOT, drones, smartphones, GIS among others are impacting the agriculture sector.

The deployment of emerging technology in agriculture sector is in nascent stages, but holds immense potential, Gupta said.

Besides extending the seed funding for the start-ups, Karnataka is also financially supporting the ventures to take their solutions to the market and also patent their products by reimbursing the charges, Gupta said. “There’s a growing interest among entrepreneurs and we see an increase in enquiries,” he said. One of the main reasons for this growing interest has to do with better net connectivity, higher smart phone penetration and commoditisation of sensor technology among others.

Green Robot Machinery and Yuktix Sensing Solutions are among the start-ups that have received seed funding from the Karnataka government. Green Robot Machinery Private Limited aims to bring in advanced robotic technology for cotton picking, while Yuktix Sensing Solutions provides real-time weather data over cloud and mobile. Happy Farmer Labs provides a software-based solution for organisations that are associated with milk procurement and extension services.

Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, C-CAMP, said the Karnataka government’s push to allow experiments on the ground is what sets the initiative apart from other States.

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