GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (GMRVF), the corporate social responsibility arm of GMR Group, has been recognised as a Nodal Training Institution (NTI) under the Agri Clinic and Agri Business Centre (AC & ABC) scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare on Monday.
The scheme is managed by National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) here, and graduates of the agri and allied streams will be trained in entrepreneurship through a course conducted by the NTI.
The GMRVF centres at Shamshabad (airport campus) and Rajam (Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh) have been selected as NTIs for conducting the course under AC & ABC scheme, said an official spokesperson.
For the course, the intake per batch will be 35. Unemployed agricultural graduates, agricultural diploma holders, students who have completed their intermediate in agriculture and biological science, graduates with PG in agri-related courses with at least one-year gap after education can apply.
Selected trainees will undergo a 45-day training at the NTIs that would include specific technical skills, entrepreneurial and management skills, and extension strategies for agri-entrepreneurship. Training will focus on agriculture and agri-allied activities like horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries, beekeeping, mushroom cultivation, sericulture, forestry, poultry and farming, to name a few.
The NTIs will also work with MANAGE and other nodal technical/financial institutions for setting up business units by trained candidates. GMRVF will provide free training as well as boarding and lodging to all selected candidates during the training period. A separate hostel facility will be available for women candidates. It will also guide trainees in preparing detailed project reports for obtaining bank loans and government subsidy.
The first batch of this course is scheduled to start from January 1, 2022.
“Skill development and entrepreneurship will ensure employment growth among the youth as entrepreneurship in agriculture is limited in our country,” said GMRVF CSR director Avanish Kumar, the release added.
