1: Unveiling NABARD's Ambitious plan for Agri-startups

- The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is all set to roll out a Rs. 1,000-crore initiative designed to help agri-startups.

- This initiative goes hand-in-hand with an additional allocation of Rs. 750 crore, targeted for pre-seed investments in new, unproven ideas.

- The objective behind this move is to shift agricultural funding from traditional agriculture to innovative and technology-driven urban and rural enterprises.

- The scheme is part of a broader initiative to transition from production credit to investment credit in the agricultural sector.

2: Decoding Agri-startups and the Challenges They Face

- Agri-startups are emerging businesses that aim to revolutionise the agricultural sector by creating innovative solutions, technologies, or business models.

- The startup services as part of this initiative range from providing information on crop yields and pest infestations to offering farming as a service.

- Despite the potential in agri-startups, they face challenges such as a lack of seed funding, limited knowledge of available technology, and issues with the maturity of agribusiness incubators.

3: Government's Endeavour to Aid Agri-Startups

- The government has previously launched several other programmes to support this growing sector.

- These include the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), 2021, Innovation, and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development Programme under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

- The government aids agri-startups via priority sector lending and offering support through the NIDHI Seed Support Program (NIDHI-SSP) under the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

 4: NABARD's Nabventures— A Boon for Rural Agriculture Startups

- Nabventures, a subsidiary of NABARD, is slated to manage the proposed Rs 750 crore Blended Capital fund to help agricultural start-ups and rural enterprises.

- The aim of this Blended Capital fund is to help pre-seed startups with unproven ideas or uncertain growth potential, specifically those with insufficient equity for scaling.

- This funding will encompass startups in agri-tech, animal husbandry, fisheries, food processing, and biotechnology sectors.

- This capital support scheme launched by NABARD is modelled after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) blended finance strategy to bolster sustainable development in developing nations.