IIT Madras & Govt Launch VISTAAR to Empower Farmers
Thursday, 02 January 2025, 17:16 IST
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras(IIT Madras) has partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, to launch Project VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources). This pilot project is aimed at enhancing the efficiency of India's agricultural extension system through digital integration, thereby providing greater support to farmers across the country.
Start-ups are innovative and use cutting-edge technology to come up with novel products and services. In agriculture, they have an advantage on both the supply chain and the demand side. They can bring new technologies into farming that increase productivity and efficiency while giving the farmer key insights into the market. Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing at IIT Madras, in partnership with its incubated start-up YNOS Venture Engine, has gathered detailed information on India's start-up ecosystem and is working to push further innovation in the agriculture sector.
The recent MoU between the Agriculture Ministry and IIT Madras aims to enhance the VISTAAR platform by integrating information about start-ups in agriculture and allied sectors. This will enable farmers and other stakeholders to better understand start-ups' capabilities and offerings, making them more accessible and impactful.
Highlighting the importance of this collaboration, Prof. Thillai Rajan A., Head, Centre for Research on Start-up, IIT Madras, said, “Agriculture forms the backbone of India’s social and economic rubric. Ensuring a strong agriculture sector therefore becomes a major policy imperative. Start-ups have an important role to play in bringing innovation across the value chain in the agriculture and allied sectors”.
Further, Prof. Thillai Rajan A., also a faculty in the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, added, “The Start-up information platform developed by the Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing at IIT Madras along with its incubatee start-up YNOS Venture Engine has information about 12,000 start-ups that are connected to the agriculture and farming sectors. This collaboration would bring this rich information within the easy reach of the farmer and contribute to the effectiveness of extension services of the Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare significantly”.
Further, Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (Extension), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said, “Innovative technologies of Agri Start-ups contribute towards making Agriculture sustainable and climate resilient and therefore connecting the technology of Agri startups with farmers through Extension is critical from an access and adoption perspective and the collaboration with IITM would surely pave way for achieving this objective through VISTAAR DPI for Agriculture Extension”.
Start-ups are innovative and use cutting-edge technology to come up with novel products and services. In agriculture, they have an advantage on both the supply chain and the demand side. They can bring new technologies into farming that increase productivity and efficiency while giving the farmer key insights into the market. Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing at IIT Madras, in partnership with its incubated start-up YNOS Venture Engine, has gathered detailed information on India's start-up ecosystem and is working to push further innovation in the agriculture sector.
The recent MoU between the Agriculture Ministry and IIT Madras aims to enhance the VISTAAR platform by integrating information about start-ups in agriculture and allied sectors. This will enable farmers and other stakeholders to better understand start-ups' capabilities and offerings, making them more accessible and impactful.
Highlighting the importance of this collaboration, Prof. Thillai Rajan A., Head, Centre for Research on Start-up, IIT Madras, said, “Agriculture forms the backbone of India’s social and economic rubric. Ensuring a strong agriculture sector therefore becomes a major policy imperative. Start-ups have an important role to play in bringing innovation across the value chain in the agriculture and allied sectors”.
Further, Prof. Thillai Rajan A., also a faculty in the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, added, “The Start-up information platform developed by the Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing at IIT Madras along with its incubatee start-up YNOS Venture Engine has information about 12,000 start-ups that are connected to the agriculture and farming sectors. This collaboration would bring this rich information within the easy reach of the farmer and contribute to the effectiveness of extension services of the Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare significantly”.
Further, Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (Extension), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said, “Innovative technologies of Agri Start-ups contribute towards making Agriculture sustainable and climate resilient and therefore connecting the technology of Agri startups with farmers through Extension is critical from an access and adoption perspective and the collaboration with IITM would surely pave way for achieving this objective through VISTAAR DPI for Agriculture Extension”.
