Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh Says Agri-tech Start-ups critical to India’s future economy

Dr Jitendra Singh, Science and Technology Minister said that Agri-tech startups are critical to India’s future economy.

Dr. Singh was addressing the third edition of TechIndia on the topic Transforming India’s Foodtech, Agritech and Agronomic Landscape at the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore.

He mentioned that the enabling policy environment provided by the Narendra Modi government to address the problems of Indian agriculture has created a new wave of agritech start-ups in the last few years.

During his speech, he also said that Kisan drones are being promoted in the country for crop evaluation, digitization of land records, spraying pesticides and nutrients.

He also said that startups providing solutions like biogas plants, solar powered cold storage, fencing, water pumping, weather forecasting, sprinkler machines, seed drills and vertical farming will help in increasing the income of the farmers.

He noted with satisfaction that young entrepreneurs are now leaving their jobs to set up their startups in IT sectors and MNCs and these young entrepreneurs are now realizing the fact that investing in agriculture is a very safe and profitable business.

The Minister strongly advocated the use of modern technology in the agriculture sector and pointed out that countries like Israel, China and the US have changed many farming practices in their country with the use of technology.

He informed that in February this year, PM Narendra Modi launched 100 Made in India agricultural drones across the country, which simultaneously carried out agricultural operations in unique flights.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that the Indian agriculture sector has tremendous potential for adoption of technology given the sheer size of the population involved. 

Several senior officials, delegates and invitees attended the event at CSIR-CFTRI Campus, Mysore including Dr. G.R. Chintala, Chairman, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD); Dr. Sridevi Annapurna Singh, Director, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru; Shri Mahesh Shenoy (President, Laghu Udyog Bharati- Mysuru Vibhag); Shri Rajappa  (Secretary, Laghu Udyog Bharati- Mysuru Vibhag).