In order to boost rural innovation and entrepreneurship in the agri-businesses, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on Thursday launched Rural Business Incubation Centre (RBIC) in Gujarat.

The seventh in the country and first for Gujarat, the RBIC is set up at Sardar Krushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, in Banaskantha district.

The centre is being set up with a total project outlay of ₹10.31 crore of which, the NABARD grant assistance is ₹7.81 crore over five years, during which it looks to support 140 new start-ups, of which 125 will be graduated and 102 new products/technologies commercialised.

The start-ups incubated at RBIC will be in the areas of agriculture and allied activities, off-farm sector activities among others specifically aimed at benefitting the rural communities.

Besides, Gujarat, the RBICs are also functional in States of Tamil Nadu, Haryana, West Bengal, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh.

State Credit Plan

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday, unveiled Nabard Gujarat’s State Credit Plan estimated a potential of ₹2.25-lakh crore for the year 2021-22 in the Priority Sector which is 20 per cent higher over previous year’s ₹1.87-lakh crore. Of the total credit potential for the priority sector, agriculture and allied sectors account for ₹1.04-lakh crore, MSME sector ₹97,091 crore and other priority sectors at ₹23,542 crore.

Unveiling the ‘State Focus Paper’ for fiscal 2021-22 Rupani welcomed Nabard’s efforts for doubling of farmers’ income by 2022 and called for setting up 1,000 Farmers’ Producer Organisations (FPOs) in the State.

Nabard Gujarat Region’s Chief General Manager, DK Mishra, emphasised the role of collectivisation of farming activities through the medium of FPOs for the upliftment of small and marginal farmers who constitute 85 per cent of the farming community in the country and 68 per cent in Gujarat.

So far, NABARD has promoted 204 FPOs with 40,000 farmers as members in Gujarat.