Uttar Pradesh govt looking to invest about Rs 3,800 cr in agri start-ups

The Uttar Pradesh government is looking to boost the state’s agricultural value by investing about Rs 3,800 crore in agri start-ups during the financial year 2023-24 (FY24).

The new ventures under the blueprint focus on seeds, fertilisers, warehousing, soil nutrients, harvest/post-harvest crop management, and food processing units, etc. The scheme, which covers agricultural and horticultural crops apart from allied farm activities, aims to target pisciculture, sericulture, and food processing as well.

According to a senior agriculture department official, the state plans to approve at least five agri ventures and start-ups every month in each of the 75 districts. The state believes that an eased loan process will help the scheme benefit more than 3,000 agri entrepreneurs and young farmers. 

The funding would be sourced from the Centre’s Agriculture Infrastructure Fu­nd (AIF) scheme, which aims at ramping up basic farm infra by investing in medium- and long-term community agricultural assets at the local level.

The beneficiary project should be worth more than Rs 1 crore to be eligible for a credit line by designated commercial banks. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries get an interest subsidy of 6 per cent to be shared equally by the AIF and the state government.

Besides, the prospective ventures do not entail, during the loaning process, any collateral or guarantee for projects of up to Rs 2 crore.

“The core objective is to facilitate a profitable post-harvest value chain and ensure lucrative prices to farmers and agri entrepreneurs,” he said.

The Centre has signed a memorandum of understanding with nearly a dozen public sector banks to provide loans under the scheme. Agriculture is the mainstay of the state economy. In 2022-23, the state’s farm exports grew 5.5 per cent to about Rs 19,000 crore from roughly Rs 18,000 crore a year ago.

The farm exports comprised agricultural and horticultural crops, including fruits, vegetables, food grains, oilseeds, etc., especially those promoted by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Auth­ority. The Adityanath government is targeting to double the rural income by taking a multipronged approach of augmenting farm productivity, yield and acreage, apart from providing a profitable marketing chain.