Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Agri Start-up Conclave and Exhibition on 17th October and other initiatives. 

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar informed that Modi would address crores of farmers, agri start-ups, researchers, policymakers, bankers and other stakeholders. This would be through ‘PM Kisan Samman Sammelan 2022’ organised by the Ministry and Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. 

The event will bring farmers and agri start-ups on the same platform. More than one crore farmers will virtually join this event. 

About 300 start-ups will showcase their innovation related to precision farming, post-harvest and value add solutions, allied agriculture, waste to wealth, mechanisation for small farmers, supply chain management and agri-logistic on the first day. 

Around 1500 start-ups will participate in the Sammelan. This platform would facilitate start-ups interacting with farmers, farmer producer organisation (FPO), agri-expert and corporates etc. 

On 18th October, start-ups will share their experience and interact with other stakeholders in the technical sessions. Further, policymakers will explain the role of start-ups in the 5 trillion economy as well as the existing government schemes for promoting start-up ecosystem.

To promote agri start-ups in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) initiated Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation” (RKVY-RAFTAAR). Funding support of up to Rs 5 Lakh will be given for pre-seed stage start-ups and up to Rs 25 lakhs for seed stage start-ups. 

Under RKVY RAFTAAR, more than 2500 agri- start-ups have been trained to address problems in the agriculture sector like small farm size, poor infrastructure, low use of farm technologies and best farming techniques, decrease of soil fertility due to over-fertilisation and sustained pesticide use.

PM Modi will also inaugurate a two-day event titled ‘PM Kisan Samman Sammelan 2022’ on 17th October 2022 at Mela Ground in New Delhi. On this occasion, he will also release Rs 16,000 crores under the PM-KISAN flagship scheme as the 12th instalment through Direct Benefit Transfer. 

The PM will also inaugurate 600 PM Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PM-KSK) of Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and launch Bharat Urea Bags, India’s biggest move in fertilisers-One Nation One Fertilizer Scheme for Farmers.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, eligible farmer families are provided a benefit of Rs 6000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2000 each, every four months. The benefit is transferred directly to the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries through the Direct Benefit Transfer mode, using modern digital technology. 

So far, eligible farmer families have received the benefit of more than Rs. 2 lakh crore under PM-KISAN through 11 instalments. Of this, Rs 1.6 lakh crore has been transferred during the COVID pandemic period. With the 12th instalment to be released by Prime Minister tomorrow, the total amount transferred to the beneficiaries is expected to cross well over Rs 2 16 lakh crore, according to a release by the Press Information Bureau.