Launching the CSIR Prima ET11, the first indigenous e-Tractor developed by the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today underlined the role of Agri StartUps in India’s economy and called for the adoption of new and AI driven technologies in Agriculture.
The Minister said, an increasing number of new Startups are venturing into the Agriculture sector, focussing on niche technologies including e-Tractor, recycling garbage, drip irrigation, Genome sequenced farming such as Mango and Lotus, he said.
“This is one sector in which India has rather not taken up the pace that was required,” said Dr Jitendra Singh, adding, “This is a huge unexplored resource, which is only exclusive to India. Those countries which had been promoting IT, have been promoting from their point of view because they have their assets; they don’t have the agri asset that we have. So we don’t have to ape them. If I have plenty of agriculture resource, why not I make use of it… Therefore, this route would be a very important component in India’s future economy in the next 25 years.”
Dr Jitendra Singh gave the mantra of 5 S’s, – Showcasing, Stakeholders, Startups, Synergizing and Strategizing Industry linkage, for the success of R&D conducted at Government run scientific laboratories.
“Unless we are able to engage all these five components, we will not be able to achieve the optimum results,” he said.
Calling for an integrated approach, Dr Jitendra Singh advocated close interaction with all stakeholders including the concerned Ministries and wider linkages between the CSIR labs and the Industry. The S&T Minister proposed the creation of a separate cell for encouraging investment.
“In order to sustain yourself, you have to have the involvement of Industry right from Day One,” he said. “We have an Industry which is ready to invest, but they don’t know where and how to invest,” he added.