Cisco and Social Alpha Launch Krishi Mangal’s Second Cohort, Speeding Up Innovations for Small-Scale Farmers
- ByStartupStory | June 17, 2023
Cisco and Social Alpha have announced the selection of start-up cohorts for the second edition of Krishi Mangal, a scale-up accelerator program aimed at supporting Agritech enterprises focused on solutions for smallholder farmers. Launched in 2021, the first edition of Krishi Mangal had a significant impact, benefiting over 17,000 farmers and contributing to the creation of more than 200 jobs. Additionally, it facilitated the growth of over 500 micro-entrepreneurs and onboarded nearly 25 Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs). The program was successfully implemented across several states including Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
In the second edition of the program in FY23, a comprehensive 18-month market access and scale-up accelerator program will be provided to seven revenue-generating start-ups that have a significant impact on agriculture and related livelihoods. These selected start-ups will concentrate on expanding technologies for soil rejuvenation, efficient water and crop management, and effective post-harvest management. Each start-up will receive financial grants, pilot opportunities, assistance in entering the market, guidance in fundraising, technology refinement, and mentorship from industry experts. By combining Social Alpha’s expertise in innovation curation with Cisco’s technological prowess, these start-ups will implement scalable climate-resilient technologies that improve income opportunities.
“More than 80% of farmers in India are small and marginal and undergo various challenges, including intergenerational poverty, poor soil quality, lack of water resources, credit access, high cost of inputs, post-harvest losses and broken value chain and market access. Added to that are the additional risks of extreme & chronic climate changes regionally,” said Himanshu Mishra, Director – Livelihoods & Prosperity, Social Alpha.
“New technology solutions are helpful, but farmers can only adopt tech solutions if we demonstrate value to them. Our initiative Krishi Mangal will help these farmers access technology that can reduce their risk and costs and help realise market value for their produce. We are happy to enter the next phase of the initiative and aim to make more progress and generate greater impact by making agriculture and allied value chains efficient, sustainable, and climate-resilient,” he added.
Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India, said, “It’s heartening to see how Agri-tech start-ups are positively transforming agricultural practices by empowering small and marginal farmers. Krishi Mangal truly resonates with Cisco’s purpose of powering an inclusive future for all by leveraging the power of technology. The program identifies and provides a platform for some of the most promising Agri-tech start-ups to develop their products, sharpen their value proposition, enhance their capabilities, localize their solutions, and build the organisation at scale.
And Cisco employee champions are committed to extending their expertise to coach and mentor these start-ups across diverse areas. Through Krishi Mangal 2.0, we pledge to invest in technology-led innovations to build Climate-resilient agricultural practices that will revolutionise the lives of marginal farmers.”
Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director at Atal Innovation Mission, said, “We should promote innovations that make the world more inclusive and meet the sustainable development goals, that includes women, small and marginal farmers, grassroot innovators, etc. With programs like Krishi Mangal that promote such innovations, the impact for small and marginal farmers at scale can be created through sustainable businesses. To achieve this, we need to create mechanisms for alliances between different parts of ecosystem like incubators, governments, investors, etc. and the government will need be a catalyst in this process.’’
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