The International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) kick-started the Krishi Parivartan Yatra on Sunday, hosting the first of five Agro-tech and Business Opportunities Expos scheduled to take place in the country.
The Krishi Parivartan Yatra takes 50 farmers and entrepreneurs – beneficiaries of the World Bank-funded National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – on a five-city tour to share new technologies and agri-ventures with fellow farmers.
The activity is being organised by NAIP to promote cross-learning and sharing of success stories among farmers across the country so as to strengthen agribusiness and boost the transformation of Indian agriculture. It will conclude and culminate in the Agri-Innovation Conclave in New Delhi on May 18.
The first expo held at ICRISAT showcased the best of enterprises developed through NAIP initiatives. The activity included parallel sessions and discussions where NAIP farmer beneficiaries shared their success stories with about 200 farmers and entrepreneurs promoted the tremendous potential in agribusiness. The train journey was then flagged off from ICRISAT’s global headquarters in Patancheru for the five-city tour after the day-long activity.
Innovation in agriculture is widely considered key to achieving food security, said NAIP National Director D. Rama Rao. The Krishi Parivartan Yatra was being organised to actualise this vast untapped potential of Indian agriculture, he said.
ICRISAT’s director (Strategic Marketing and Communication) Joanna Kane-Potaka said the institute’s mission was to make smallholder farmers in the drylands prosperous, not just self-sufficient. “And that is why we are engaged in promoting an inclusive and technology-based entrepreneurship and agribusiness programme,” she said.
ICRISAT Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) Program has supported more than 200 agribusiness ventures and benefited over 5,00,000 farmers in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring States, its Chief Operating Officer S.M. Karuppanchetty said.
“We have identified and supported some very good innovative products and technologies and taken them to the market,” he said, adding that the Krishi Parivartan Yatra supported the institute’s goal of bringing together the best of agri-ventures and enterprises to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
