The Union Agriculture Minister set up a Rs 750 crore ‘AgriSure’ fund that will provide financial support to agritech startups. The government has approved seven agriculture schemes with Rs 14,000 crore. The minister has called for increasing private and public investment.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday launched ‘Agrisure’, a fund of Rs 750 crore to provide financial assistance to agricultural technology (agritech) startup units. Along with this, he underlined the need to increase public and private investment in the agriculture sector. The Union Cabinet has approved seven schemes with an outlay of about Rs 14,000 crore for the agriculture sector. The minister was addressing a program organized here on the occasion of the launch of an integrated agricultural investment portal called Krishi Nivesh and ‘Agrisure’ fund.
The Rs 750 crore ‘AgriSure’ fund will provide equity and debt capital to startups and ‘agripreneurs’. Chouhan asked startups to use this fund and assured that there will be no shortage of funds for agritech startups. Agriculture needs investment, not only from the government but also private investment. Investment is needed to boost production and value addition in this sector. New experiments are needed in the agriculture sector.
Emphasis on forming groups of small farmers
The Agriculture Minister stressed on forming groups of small farmers to take up large-scale farming. The minister also talked about the excessive use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and stressed the need to protect soil health. Chauhan also highlighted the importance of the Agriculture Investment Portal, which is expected to transform the agriculture landscape by centralizing investment opportunities and information.
These banks received awards
Among the public sector banks, State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank and Punjab National Bank received awards. HDFC Bank was awarded as the best performing private sector bank. Baroda Rajasthan Regional Rural Bank, Punjab Gramin Bank, Baroda UP Gramin Bank, Maharashtra Gramin Bank and Sarva Haryana Gramin Bank received awards for best performance. Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Telangana received awards for their performance under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
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