Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Government of India, on Project VISTAAR, which seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the agricultural extension system through Digitalization.
The Pilot Project VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources) seeks to further strengthen the agricultural extension system.
Start-ups are known for their innovation and capabilities to use technology to bring new products and services to market. The context of agriculture sector presents unique opportunities for start-ups, both from the supply side and demand side. The technologies and innovations can benefit the farmers in agriculture and allied sectors to improve efficiencies and productivity while also helping on market information.
The Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing at IIT Madras along with its incubated start-up YNOS Venture Engine have developed the most comprehensive information on the Indian start-up landscape.
The MoU signed recently between the Agriculture Ministry and IIT Madras enables them to enrich the VISTAAR platform with information about start-ups in the agriculture and allied sectors. This would enable farmers and other stakeholders in agriculture and allied sectors to be aware of the capabilities and offerings that start-ups have and easily access them.
Highlighting the importance of this collaboration, Prof. Thillai Rajan A., Head, Centre for Research on Start-up, IIT Madras, said, “Agriculture forms the backbone of India’s social and economic rubric. Ensuring a strong agriculture sector therefore becomes a major policy imperative. Start-ups have an important role to play in bringing innovation across the value chain in the agriculture and allied sectors.”
Prof. Thillai Rajan A., also a faculty in the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, added, “The Start-up information platform developed by the Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing at IIT Madras along with its incubatee start-up YNOS Venture Engine has information about 12,000 start-ups that are connected to the agriculture and farming sectors. This collaboration would bring this rich information within the easy reach of the farmer and contribute to the effectiveness of extension services of the Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare significantly.”
Further, Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (Extension), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said, “Innovative technologies of Agri Start-ups contribute towards making Agriculture sustainable and climate resilient and therefore connecting the technology of Agri startups with farmers through Extension is critical from an access and adoption perspective and the collaboration with IITM would surely pave way for achieving this objective through VISTAAR DPI for Agriculture Extension.”
Digitalization of the existing extension system will expand its outreach substantially and enable every farmer to access high-quality advisory services on crop production, marketing, value and supply chain management. The advisory services will also provide information about all Government schemes related to agriculture and allied sectors including rural development from which the farmers can be benefited.
The process of digitalization augments the current agricultural extension system by providing timely, contextual and accurate information and advisories to the farmers on agriculture and allied sectors.
