TLI Staff
New Delhi: A total of 25 agri-tech startups out of 844 entries have made the cut as semi-finalists of the Cisco Agri Challenge.
The challenge with a prize purse of Rs 2 crores is being co-hosted by The/Nudge Foundation in partnership with the office of Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India.
Cisco Agri Challenge is an initiative aimed at mobilizing agri-tech startups to innovate solutions that have the potential to positively impact at least 10 million lives. It seeks to support start-ups in developing, testing, and scaling solutions that will help boost farmers’ income.
“The startups selected promise to bring much required innovation and solutions that can increase productivity and profitability of the agriculture sector. There has never been a more exciting time in agri-tech, and we look forward to partnering with these startups to bring the benefits of digitization to the farming sector,” said Harish Krishnan, Managing Director, Public Affairs and Strategic Engagements, Cisco India and SAARC.
As per an official statement, Cisco Agri Challenge is a platform that draws talent, technology, capital, and attention to the most pressing land, crop, infrastructure, market fulfillment, and social protection issues of small farmers, spurred by the pandemic.
“It solves an urgent need to bring together resources and action to address population-scale challenges for the agriculture sector, which is the backbone of India,” said a joint press release by Cisco and Nudge Foundation.
Since starting up in 2017, the Foundation claimed to have supported 80 non-profits through its incubator and accelerator programs.
Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has promised to double farmers’ income by 2022 and has laid emphasis on food processing at local level to ensure value addition and hence better profitability for all those in the farm-to-fork value chain. Many entrepreneurs have got attracted to the food processing sector in the past few years hoping to tap the emerging opportunity.