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

@DrJitendraSingh

Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said Agri-tech startups are critical to India’s future economy. Dr Singh mentioned a new wave of Agritech Start-ups has come up in the last few years due to enabling policy environment provided by Narendra Modi government to address the problems of Indian agriculture.

He was addressing the third edition of TechBharat on the theme of Transforming India’s FoodTech, AgriTech, and Agronomic Landscape at Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysuru.

During his speech, Dr Singh said Kisan Drones are being promoted for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides, and nutrients in the country.

He highlighted that Startups providing solutions such as biogas plants, solar-powered cold storage, fencing, water pumping, weather prediction, spraying machines, seed drills, and vertical farming will help in increasing farmer's income.

The Minister noted with satisfaction that young entrepreneurs are now quitting their jobs in IT sectors and MNCs to establish their own startups and these young entrepreneurs are now beginning to realize the fact that investing in agriculture is one of the very few safe and profitable businesses.

Dr Singh strongly advocated the use of modern technology in the Agricultural sector and pointed out that countries like Israel, China, and the US have transformed several agriculture practices in their country with the use of technology.

The minister informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 100 Made in India agricultural drones across the country in February this year, which carried out farm operations in unique simultaneous flights.

Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that Indian agriculture space holds tremendous potential for technology adoption considering the sheer size of the population involved in it.