AIM, NITI Aayog, and UNCDF Team Up to Make India a Leader in Agritech Globally

The whitepaper seeks to expand these innovations to the underdeveloped regions of Asia and Africa by offering practical solutions to the challenges faced by Agritech startups and facilitating their growth at national and international levels.

On Thursday, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) collaborated to launch a whitepaper to position India as a leading global player in Agritech innovation.

The whitepaper, which was carefully prepared by experts from AIM, NITI Aayog, and UNCDF, provides valuable insights and recommendations to address the obstacles encountered in the agricultural sector and promote sustainable practices that support smallholder farmers in developing economies. The implementation of Agritech innovations is expected to contribute to solving issues of food security, supply chain inefficiencies, and climate change concerns.

During his speech, Samuel Praveen Kumar, who serves as the Joint Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, stated, "Agritech startups in India have emerged as a game-changer in the agriculture sector, offering innovative solutions to the emerging challenges in agriculture like climate change and improving productivity. The AIM-UNCDF Agritech challenge has uncovered the immense promise and potential of this market, and we are excited to see what the future holds.”

During the launch event, Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, the Mission Director of Atal Innovation Mission, emphasized the importance of the agriculture sector in ensuring food security, enhancing supply chain efficiency, and mitigating the impact of climate change. He also acknowledged the valuable contributions made by agritech startups in India towards addressing these challenges. To further support high-impact agritech innovations and promote efficient, resilient, and sustainable agriculture practices for smallholder farmers in developing economies, Dr. Vaishnav expressed his organization's commitment to collaborating with UNCDF. This partnership aims to facilitate cross-border engagement, knowledge exchange, and investments. The ultimate goal is to realize their shared vision, and they are looking forward to working closely with their partners to achieve this objective.

Jaspreet Singh, who serves as the Global Lead for Financial Health and Innovation at UNCDF stated, “The learnings from the agritech challenge have been immense and revealed that the market is enormous and has immense potential for global south-south collaboration. Moving forward, we are working towards creating a community platform for smallholder farmers which can be helpful for agriculture and agritech startups to exchange ideas, explore collaboration, and share knowledge.”

Agritech startups have become a viable solution to the difficulties faced by smallholder farmers, who make up more than 70 percent of India's agricultural workforce. To foster collaboration between startups in Asia and Africa and generate opportunities in their respective countries, AIM and UNCDF are working together to establish a south-south collaboration platform.

AIM is an anchor partner of south-south collaboration initiatives and collaborates with countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Zambia to address challenges in the agriculture sector. These challenges include low productivity, poor risk resilience, and inefficient supply chain management. Out of 25 potential Agri-Tech start-ups aiming to tackle issues related to production, supply chain, risk, and climate change, AIM and its partners have shown interest in several and are engaging with them at different stages.

Agri-Tech start-ups in emerging economies have successfully provided digital solutions to long-standing agricultural challenges. To support high-impact Agri-Tech innovations, AIM has partnered with UNCDF to create an enabling environment that fosters start-up growth and knowledge sharing across borders. India's start-up sector has the potential to be a knowledge hub and support market development in less-developed start-up economies globally.

The whitepaper launch is a significant milestone in the journey towards making India a global leader in Agri-Tech innovation and expanding these innovations to the least developed countries in Asia and Africa. AIM, NITI Aayog, and UNCDF are committed to working together toward achieving sustainable and inclusive growth in the agriculture sector.

-PIB

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