IAS Gyan

Daily News Analysis

AgriTech COHORT  

22nd December, 2021 Agriculture

 

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Context

  • Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) rolled out their first AgriTech Challenge cohort for its ambitious innovative Agri-tech program.
  • Agri-tech program aims to help smallholder farmers across Asia and Africa to address their challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic.

 

Details

  • AIM, NITI Aayog in partnership with UNCDF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Rabo Foundation launched a South-South innovation platform to enable cross-border exchange of innovations, insights and investments in July this year 2021.
  • Through this platform, cross-border collaborations among emerging markets across India, Indonesia, Malawi, Malaysia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia would be enabled.
  • For its first platform AgriTech Challenge Cohort and Agri-Fintech innovators, applications were invited to facilitate their expansion to the international markets through two tracks- Main track and AIM track.
  • The key objective of the main track applications was ‘Expansion – Support solution pilot in the chosen international market.’
  • The Cohort represents a diverse range of solutions across the value chain of the smallholder farmer, including
  • soil analysis,
  • farm management & intelligence,
  • dairy ecosystem,
  • carbon credits,
  • solar-based cold storage,
  • digital marketplace,
  • fintech,
  • livestock insurance, among others.

 

Created by the General Assembly in 1966 to promote economic development, UNCDF officially was established as an "autonomous organization within the United Nations" with the purpose to "assist developing countries in the development of their economies by supplementing existing sources of capital assistance by means of grants and loans".

The UN Capital Development Fund makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world's 46 least developed countries (LDCs).

With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

 

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1783776