Agribusiness Incubation Centre (ABI)
Genesis as Business Planning & Development Unit
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the National Agricultural Innovation Project(NAIP) has setup a Business Planning & Development (BPD) unit at National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) Cuttack. BPD is considered as an effective way for fostering the growth of sustainable business endeavor and is expected to provide an array of services ranging from incubation facilities such as office space, access to information and communication technologies, advice on management, marketing, technical, legal, IPR and financial issues. The BPD Unit is also expected to promote entrepreneurial attitude and raise awareness about the opportunities that the entrepreneurship can bring into the local business environment. The unit is intended to develop an institutional system to organize and promote the sharing of information among various stakeholders. The objectives of the project were:
- Promote agripreneurs in rice based ecosystems
- Facilitate technology commercialization related to rice ecosystem
- Conduct training and capacity building in agribusiness management
- To create an interface between farmers, agripreneurs, banks, university, venture capitalists, institutions, companies, input supplier, distributors, public authorities and society as whole.
Transformation into Agribusiness Incubation Center
Eventually, twenty-seven Agribusiness Incubation (ABI) Centers have been established in different ICAR-Institutes for technology commercialization and also to train the youth in their respective fields of interest. Entrepreneurship development remains the major objective of the ABIs to support the youth for their agribusiness start-ups. In this sequence, Agribusiness Incubation Centre of ICAR-NRRI was started in the year 2016 as a part of component II under the scheme “NAIF” to replace BPD unit and is functioning with the following objectives.
Objectives
- To create an environment to foster integration of rice farmer’s/farm women (potential agripreneurs), agricultural researchers, financial institutions, state extension officers and marketing forces in agrepreneurship development mode to harness knowledge, technologies and information from multiple sources for promoting remunerative rice based farming and improving livelihoods of rice farmers and farmwomen.
- Promote agripreneurs in rice based ecosystems through Farmers Producers organizations and Value Chains for last mile scale-up of technologies.
- Facilitate technology commercialization related to rice ecosystem.
- Conduct training and capacity building in agribusiness management.
PROGRAMS
Agribusiness Incubation Centre conducts various skill-based agripreneurship training programs to develop the potential farmers, entrepreneurs, ex-servicemen, educated and unemployed rural and urban youths as agripreneurs. Three different programs were designed to suit the need of the clientele. These trainings are oriented to inculcate managerial and entrepreneur skills to the aspiring candidates. They are of three types
1. Comprehensive Agribusiness Incubation Program (3 weeks)
CAIP is a three-week program oriented to provide comprehensive understanding on agriprenurship comprising of
1st week: Entrepreneur motivation.
2nd week: Agri-technologies (as per candidate’s area of interest) and
3rd week: Enterprise management.
This program is designed for those who have no exposure to either entrepreneurship or business.
2. Technology based Entrepreneurship Development Program (1 week)
TEDP is a one-week program comprising of the thrust areas as per the choice of the participants. This is designed for those who have been exposed to nuances of business but want to just know about technologies.
3. Skill based Entrepreneurship Development Program (1 week)
The SEDP is also a one-week program oriented to provide hands on experience for manufacturing small agriculture farm implements.
4. Training on Demand (1 week)
This program is designed to meet the requirements of the aspirants to transform themselves into budding agripreneurs so as to start their agribusiness. Guidance will be given to them in whatever areas they desire to initiate their startups/agribusiness.
These trainings are not exhaustive and vary as per the requirements of aspirants to suit their agricultural interests with nominal prices. Faculty are the eminent scientists and professors who have excelled in their relevant fields.
Nodal agency
ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) is the nodal institute under Odisha start up policy, 2016 for the purpose of evaluation of start-up applications relating to the agriculture and allied sectors.
Technologies
- Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi as a potential biofertilizer
- Azotobacter a potential biofertilizer to enhance rice yield
- Azolla a potential nitrogen source for enhanced rice yield
- Blue green algae a potential biofertilizer to enhance rice yield
- Phosphate solubilizing bacteria a potential biofertilizer to enhance rice yield
- Rice-Fish Integrated Farming System for Small Farmers
- Commercial Rice-Fish Integrated Farming System
- Manufacturing of selected NRRI developed Implements
- Custom hiring of agricultural implements
- Rice Bran Oil
- Quality Seed production of High yielding varieties and High Protein Rice
- Potential bio agents for insect pests of rice
- Paddy straw mushroom cultivation
- Vermicomposting
- Food processing
INCUBATION
ABI centre offers an interface/platform for aspirants to seek guidance from the experts in their relevant fields regarding entrepreneurship development and to make farming remunerative. There are two modes of incubation
(i) On Campus incubation: Incubation space is provided to the budding entrepreneur in all aspects related to rice based ecosystem.
(ii) Off Campus incubation: In situations where incubation space is limited, we provide support in off-campus mode. Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and all other non-rice related agri startups are supported in this mode. The following Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) were the off campus incubates of ABI Centre. They were involved in quality rice seed production and were able to market their seeds in their own brand name, thus fetching them profits.
- Cuttack 4S4R Seed Farmer Producer Company Limited-Mahanga
- Athagarh 4S4R Seed Farmer Producer Company Limited- Athagarh
- Niali 4S4R Seed Farmer Producer Company Limited- Niali
- Badamba 4S4R Farmer Producer Company Limited- Badamba
- Bankadurg 4S4R Farmer Producer Company Limited- Banki
Services offered by NRRI-ABI
A. Capacity building
- Management development & Entrepreneurship development programs
- Skill Based trainings
- Customized review meetings, seminars & conferences
B. Incubation services
- Infrastructure, office, on farm testing
- Linkages for technology & upscaling
- Mentoring, guidance & support for startups
C. Business services
- Business plan formulation
- Product promotion & branding
- Business analytics
D. Technology portfolio services
- Intellectual property portfolio
- Product life cycle analytics
- Licensing & Validation of technology
E. Regulatory services
- Protocols for company registration & related issues
- Advisory services on agro bio-diversity, environmental & other compliances
Impact created so far
- Number of Comprehensive Agribusiness Entrepreneurs:63
- Number of Technology based Entrepreneurs:219
- Number of Skilled Entrepreneurs:10
- Number of Incubates in agri & allied sectors:9
ABI Team
| Dr. G.A.K.Kumar | Head, SSD & P.I | 9437484576 | gak.kumar26@gmail.com |
| Mrs. Shruti Snata Panda | Business Executive | 8249962699 | nitu21july@gmail.com |
| Mrs. Sujata Mohanty | Office Assistant | 73819 22518 | mohantysujata61@gmail.com |
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