Agricultural start-ups - New Horizon for Youth

What are start-ups ?

A Startup is a young company that is just beginning to develop. Startups are usually small and initially financed and operated by a handful of founders or one individual. These companies offer a product or service that is not currently being offered elsewhere in the market, or that the founders believe offered in an inferior manner.

According to Government Of India, Startup is an business organisation which is not started prior to five years and it should have less than 25 crores of annual trading. Startups are focused and working towards innovation, commercialisation and development. And the entity should not be the separate entity from the other existing company.

Picture source: dqindia.com

How startups are different from other business models ?

Startups are different from traditional businesses primarily because they are grow fast.  They will face unique challenges like financing and marketing.  Startups tend to rely on capital that comes from angel investors and venture capital firms. So due to its inherent weakness,  They need good policy ecosystem from government and Startup India scheme intends to do that.

Government  initiatives supporting Agri startup's:

• ASPIRE
• Start up India scheme
• Support from SIDBI
• Loans through MUDRA banks
• Tax exemption for first 3 three years.
• Creation of Fund of Funds, which means that government will not directly invest into, but  shall participate in SEBI (Securities Exchange Board of India) registered venture funds.

Picture credits : narendramodi.in

Why in Agriculture ?

Agricultural sector in India employs 54.6 percent of Indian population. It shares 17.4% of our GDP. As per the census of 2011 number of cultivators are 118.7 million. But the application of technology is much lower in Indian agriculture.  Leading to  poor profitability of agricultural products.

In a country where more than half of the population survives on agriculture, still fruits and vegetables worth 2 billion rupees are wasted because a lack of supply chain management and cold storage. Which necessitates the way for more startups in India.

Status of Agricultural startups in India:

Startups which focus in the agricultural sectors such as farm technologies, farming methods, seed production, pesticides, marketing, value added products are classified under Agricultural startups.
            
Funding for agricultural startups are declined to $56 million in 2015 from $123 million the year before, according to a data from Tracxn, a startup activity tracking platform. In total amount of $ 6 billion invested in all tech startups less than 1% had attracted by Agri startups.

Some of the agricultural startups in India,
   * Farms n Farmers
   * Stellapps
   * MITRA
   * FlyBird Farm innovation      
   * Agro Star        
   * VillFarm   
   * SV Agri

Farms n Farmers:

It is founded by alumnus of IIT and commonly known as FnF.  Their goal is to revive the present agricultural system by latest technologies and improving Research and Development.  FnF targets to improve land use profitability thereby increases the revenue of landowners, farmers and farm labourers.  They have also stepped outside India, by starting their operations in Nepal.

Stellapps:

Stellapps is an end-to-end dairy technology solutions company – the first of its kind in India. It is an IIT-Madras incubated company founded by a group of IITians and technologists. They produce and procure comprehensive farm optimization and monitoring support, which helps dairy farmers and cooperatives maximise profits.

FlyBird Farm Innovation:

It is an social Impact agriculture enterprise and has been incorporated with a vision to solve key problems of agricultural sector through production of farm technologies.

Tea Box:

Tea Box is a tea brand that sells tea and tea products online.  This startup is known for its packaging methods and faster delivery of quality products.  This tea has greater demand in Russia and most of the European countries.

Startup India is a flagship initiative scheme of Government of India, intended to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country. This will drive sustainable economic growth, generate large scale employment opportunities and the farm income.  Agriculture graduates and unemployed rural graduates should make use of this supportive ecosystem and become a “job creators” rather than “job seekers”.

(Pavithran is a graduate in Agriculture. He is interested and passionate towards Politics.  sripaviips5@gmail.com)

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Microplastics and Macro Threat

Microplastics and Macro Threat

Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life.  As per  the estimate in 2014, around 2,70,000 tonnes of Microplastics were floating over ocean surface and the number is slowly increasing.The impact of microplastics is increasing over the years, It first affected Water ecosystem and now it had entered into human environment and food stuffs.

When Microplastics dissolve in seawater through pollution and poor waste disposal mechanisms, it absorb the harmful toxins. Sometimes it become bead like form, called as microbeads. These Microplastics and microbeads are consumed accidentally by zooplankton, which in turn is consumed by larger fishes, prawns and other marine organisms. It affects the life of marine organisms by damaging digestive tract, body parts and reproduction. Humans upon consuming those marine food stuffs can also get affected by these Microplastics.

Source : Askhrgreen.org

More than a quarter of all fish now contain plastic, according to a recent study which analysed the guts of fish sold at markets in Indonesia and California.

Sources of Microplastics :

• Cosmetics
• Synthetic cloth material
• Throwing of plastics
• Other solid waste

Microbeads are very small pieces of plastic in products such as facial scrubs. Some are visible to the naked eye, but others are as tiny as one micrometre.  Sphericity and particle size uniformity create a ball-bearing effect in creams and lotions, resulting in a silky texture and spreadability. Smoothness and roundness can provide lubrication. Colored microspheres add visual appeal to cosmetic products.

Source: indiegogo.com

Microplastics and India :

The US ban covers cosmetic products with plastic microbeads, including toothpaste, soap and body washes. The UK also plans to ban microbeads from cosmetics by end of 2017.

It is estimated that the per capita consumption of microplastic in America is approximately 2.4 mg per person causing 263 tonnes of microbeads waste emission per year.  The said consumption in India would be much higher owing to larger population.  Which necessitates the Government intervention in this matter.

In India, In an application seeking a ban of these pollutants the National Green Tribunal on March 2016 issued notices to the Union health, environment and water resources ministries seeking their comments on what has been done to identify and curb this growing threat.

Also in the Plastic waste management rules, 2016 the Government put forward New new measures to manage Plastic waste by including Producer responsibility and delegating more role to local government bodies.

   Thus, there should be more awareness to consumers about usage of Microplastics in their daily products.  Producers should be made accountable for the scientific disposal and find good alternative eco friendly natural products. Government across borders should join hand to ban such products to achieve the Sustainable development Goals 2016-2030 particularly to conserve life below water (Goal 14), to ensure responsible consumption and production (Goal 12).

-Ram Sundar.M

(Ram Sundar.M is a Horticultural graduate, interested in reading books. He is also the admin of IMoT forum. sundar.ram94@gmail.com)

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