Agri-Udaan Scheme – Complete Review

Agri-Udaan Scheme – Complete Review

Introduction-

India is a country where a huge percentage of people earn their livelihood from agriculture and farming. To develop the Agri-based industries and markets in India, the Central Government has taken up an initiative. A new scheme named “Agri-Udaan” is launched by the Govt. to promote the Agriculture based Entrepreneurship in India. Under this scheme, the innovation and start-ups in the field of Agriculture must be encouraged by the Government. The program will mentor the new start-ups and can help the organizations to connect with investors. The scheme is launched by the National Academy of Agricultural Research and Management(NAARM). 

Objective of the Scheme-

• To increase the number of investors in the agriculture and food sector.
• To implement the innovative ideas by the rural youth into the Agri-business.

Eligibility Criteria for the Scheme-

• Any person who can provide innovative and powerful ideas is eligible to be the Agri-Based Entrepreneur.
• Farmers having the minimum educational qualification are eligible to apply the scheme with an innovative idea to the agricultural products.

Features of the Scheme-

• This scheme will be managed by the Premier Agricultural Institute Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• Under the “Agri-Udaan” scheme, the “Foods and Agri-business accelerator program” would be launched. It would also help to convert the innovative ideas from rural energetic youth of India into the viable business plans.
• According to the Deputy Director General of Agricultural Education of ICAR Narendra Singh Rathore, these youths would be provided adequate training so that they can make proper utilization and value of the agricultural products and benefit the farmers.
• The intensive training will be for 6 months. The start-ups will be connected to the investors to get the fund.
• The AGRI UDAAN scheme is funded through the “Department of Science and Technology”.
• Under this scheme, the entrepreneurs would get the chance to attain the 6 months training at the Hyderabad campus of ICAR-NAARM. 
• In that campus, they must be trained in several aspects of technology commercialization, preparation of business plan, product validation and fund raising among the other things.
• The new Start-ups must get adequate incubation space for running their businesses without any hassle. They also can access to the various research laboratories and libraries.
• The scheme must also help some selected start-ups with the various regulatory services i.e. environmental compliance and company registration.
• This scheme is expected to be reached out to the Agri-Start-ups in various cities like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.
• The programs will shortlist the 40 start-ups in first phase who will implement their idea to the panel of the elevators. Apart from that, approximately 12 start-ups must be selected for the final building workshop.
• ICAR-NAARM combined "Technology Business Incubator" (TBI), which is an incubator "Center for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship "(CIIE) made by the IDEA and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) , has announced the  “AGRI UDAAN”- Food and Agri-business Accelerator 2.0.
• The Accelerator would mentor the startups and provide them help to connect with the potential investors.
• The program mainly focuses on catalyzing of the scale-up staged foods and the Agri-business startups through continuous mentoring, investor pitching and industry networking.

Conclusion-

Through the scheme, the youth can nurture their entrepreneurial skills. They can be aware about the opportunities and learn the procedure to avail them. It also helps to increase the income of the farmers.