As many as 14 beneficiaries have been selected for agri business orientation / incubation at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) here under the Central Government’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sectors Rejuvenation scheme.
According to S.D. Sivakumar, Director (Agri Business Development), the scheme has two components: Agripreneurship Orientation Programme (AOP) and Startup Agribusiness Incubation Programme (SAIP). It aims at strengthening infrastructure in agriculture and allied sectors to promote agripreneurship and agribusiness . The TNAU, which has a technology business incubator, was identified for the scheme last financial year.
The orientation programme is open to anyone who has an idea and wants to develop it into a prototype in the agriculture sector. The incubation programme is for companies that are in the seed funding stage. About 20 applicants were selected for each from across the State in 2019-20 and they underwent two month training separately. They also received ₹10,000 as monthly stipend during the training period. They prepared proposals and made presentations to a committee in March. As many as six were selected for the orientation programme and eight for the incubation programme. They will be incubated at the incubation facility at the TNAU for one year.
Those selected for AOP will get ₹ 2 lakh to ₹ 2.5 lakh each as grant in two tranches. Those selected for SAIP will get ₹10 lakh to ₹23 lakh each as grant amount in three tranches.
The selected ventures are in different areas, including agricultural inputs, food processing and value addition, banana fibre extraction, leaf propagation methods, information technology, organic farming and products, farm mechanisation and innovations and waste to wealth.
The selected candidates had an interaction session with N. Kumar, Vice – Chancellor of TNAU, recently and the first instalment of the grant was released to them.
For the 2020-21, those short-listed for the AOP are undergoing online training and applications will be received for SAIP till the end of this month, he said.
