REPORT ON WEBINAR-24-06-2021
With the approval of Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Management and their constant encouragement, one day WEBINAR was conducted on 24-06-2021 by the department of Agriculture Extension and Communication from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM in order to enrich knowledge of our faculty and students on “Startup Ecosystem in Agriculture” with thematic areas like:
- Agri-tech startups with smart farming technology
- Startup formation process
- Supportive mechanisms available in India
Keynote Address
About the first speaker: Dr. Sagar Surendra Deshmukh, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management-MANAGE, Hyderabad since 2017.
He is performing job responsibility in development and strengthening of Agri Clinics &Agri Business Center and also he is organizing and improving programmes mainly to support Agri Entrepreneurship at incubation center by facilitating business support services like infrastructure facility, funding, capacity building, technical and business monitoring.
Description about first thematic area: During this webinar, our first speaker shared the experience on Agri tech startups with smart farming technology and under this thematic area he covered the concept like scope of Agri startups in India, examples for startups has been supported by MANAGE, Hyderabad, different startups in Agriculture, initiatives of MANAGE-CIA has taken up, many relevant resources to know more about startups and seven ongoing programmes like RKVY-RAFTAAR, Krishi Vikas, AC & ADP, Incubation program, Impulse, Membership program, Agri Tech startup Accelerator.
About the second speaker: Dr.PurnabhaDasgupta, Director-Action-Research, PRASARI, He is currently experiencing with resource poor farmers, centric-state in art innovations farm managing, water resource and business strategies. He has worked with the growth network of academic institutions, Govt. departments and private entities and also monitoring Farmers Producers Organizations’ (FPO) in Sunderban areas. He also serves as an advisor to the board of Women Co-operatives with the Govt. of West Bengal and worked as a resource person in NABARD funded sustainable agricultural promotional project.
Description about second thematic area: Second speaker Dr.Purnabha Dasgupta shared his valuable experience on supportive mechanisms available for Agri startups in India. In this thematic area he covered India’s global position in Agri-business both demand and supply side, comparison of agri produce and allied sector export in USD, growth drives for agri startups, programmes and policy support mechanisms in India, financial support available from Govt. and private sources, focus areas in Agri startups and steps for Agri startups funding.
About the third speaker: Dr.Sushanta Kishore Khuntia, Managing Director, Dependable Agri Services Pvt. Ltd. He worked in Corporation strategy and production management as well as in front line business development. He has extensively worked with Farmers’ Producer Organization (FPO) and NGO’s and also worked in Reliance industries and agri business and banking sectors. His area of expertise like business analysis, strategy, planning, monitoring, business development, entrepreneurship management, teaching, banking, and financial service.
Description about third thematic area: Dr.Sushanta Kishore Khuntia shared a very practical experience on Startup formation process in this thematic area he covered various entrepreneurship startups oriented programmes in Odisha, importance of startups, product development support, incubation support, and commercialization support, difficulties in understanding the process to start a Agri startups and how startups are going to benefited to the society.
Program: For this Webinar, registration link using Zoom ID and password was created. The link was circulated among students and faculties of Agriculture. More than 400 participants registered for the webinar and 164 participants attended for the webinar both Teaching Faculty Members and Students have participated.
From the WEBINAR, the participants had the opportunity to know about the Agri-tech startups with smart farming technology, startup formation process and supportive mechanisms available in India.
Valedictory Session – Prof. Chitrasena Padhy proposed vote of thanks to CUTM management committee and all the participants and gave concluding remarks about webinar and also he expressed his overall views about webinar and congratulated all for successful completion of webinar.
