The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) announced the launch of a ₹750-crore agri fund — ‘Agri-SURE’ for start-ups and rural enterprises on Friday.

At a stakeholder meet in Mumbai, the fund was announced by Nabventures, a subsidiary of Nabard with an initial corpus of ₹750 crore. The fund is structured to support approximately 85 agri start-ups with investment sizes of up to ₹25 crore each by the end of its term. It will provide support through investments in sector-specific, sector-agnostic and debt alternative investment funds (AIFs), as well as direct equity support to start-ups.

Nabard and the Ministry of Agriculture will be contributing ₹250 crore each for the fund and the rest will be raised from other institutions. The launch of the fund is aimed at promoting investment in innovative, technology-driven, high-risk and high-impact activities in agriculture and allied areas.

The stakeholder event in Mumbai was attended by AK Sahu, Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shaji KV, Chairman, Nabard, Goverdhan Singh Rawat, DMD, Nabard and Ajay Kumar Sood, DMD, Nabard.

Focus areas

Agri-SURE’s focus areas include promoting innovative, technology-driven initiatives in agriculture, enhancing the farm produce value chain, creating new rural ecosystem linkages and infrastructure, generating employment and supporting farmers producer organizations (FPOs). Additionally, the fund aims to encourage entrepreneurship through IT-based solutions and machinery rental services for farmers, driving sustainable growth and development in the agricultural sector, Nabard said in a statement.

AK Sahu, Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said, “The broader objective of this initiative is to address the flailing issues for agri and rural sector. We need innovation and technology to ensure the last-mile delivery of resources. Most of our farmers hold small pieces of land, in this ecosystem we need to focus on enhancing the productivity, this is where technology can play a crucial role. We need to foster an ecosystem for the systematic mechanisation in order to achieve our objectives. Agri-SURE is a big leap in that direction. With the help of this fund we aim to support start-ups to provide us innovative and sustainable solutions”

Shaji KV, Chairman of Nabard said, “Digitalisation of agriculture is the call of the hour in order to enhance the agri value chain as the next wave of growth will come from innovation. Fintech innovation in agriculture is one of the important aspects for the last-mile connectivity with minimum expenses. Farmers are the foundation of the agri value and they need to be handled very closely and provided with solutions. Credit alone will not solve the problem in the agriculture sector. Next level of growth will come from innovations that need to be co-partnered by public and private institutions. With this fund we aim to support early-stage innovators and help farmers with viable, sustainable and durable tech solutions.”

Underscoring its commitment to fostering innovation, Nabard also launched the AgriSURE Greenathon 2024. The hackathon aims to address three key problems: “Smart Agriculture on a Budget,” which tackles the high cost of advanced agriculture technologies that hinder small and marginal farmers; “Turning Agri-Waste into Profitable Business Opportunities,” focusing on transforming agricultural waste into profitable ventures; and “Tech Solutions Making Regenerative Agriculture Remunerative,” which aims to overcome economic hurdles in adopting regenerative agriculture practices. Nabard called upon participation from young innovative minds to contribute in the journey of our country towards ‘Vikasit Bharat’ with their innovative solutions to alleviate the flailing issues of the agriculture.