Monthly Archives: December 2014

Providing a platform for promoting agribusiness entrepreneurship will lead to sustainable agricultural development in Africa. The African Agribusiness Incubator Network (AAIN) aims to bring together agribusiness incubators, incubator leaders, managers, and partner with both state and non-state actors at continental levels. It aims to provide Africa a strong policy platform that can engage globally with other incubators and organizations for mutual benefit.

“AAIN aims to be a world-class networking and advocacy platform that encourages entrepreneurship, innovations in agriculture through the establishment of incubators, leading to sustainable agricultural development in Africa. It aims to make agribusinesses global, sustainable and flourish in Africa in the future,” said Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) at the recently held AAIN conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

AAIN was formed recently by the Universities, Business & Research in Agricultural Innovation (UniBRAIN), interest group which aims to work together as a pan-African community of agribusiness incubators. ICRISAT is a key partner in the UniBRAIN project which supports the establishment of value chain incubators in African countries to commercialize agricultural technologies and produce graduates with entrepreneurial and business skills.

An AAIN workshop was held on the sidelines of FARA@15. FARA brought together key industry players including its program partners to review the progress made at country, sub-regional and continental levels and decide on milestones for Africa’s future over the next decade through science-led agricultural transformation.

Mr SM Karuppanchetty, COO, Agri-Business Incubator (ABI)-ICRISAT, shared his experiences and lessons on handholding the 22 Business Planning and Development (BPD) units of the Network of Indian Agribusiness Incubators (NIABI) in India as a possible approach in expanding the UniBRAIN and the AAIN network in Africa.

The annual conference of the AAIN was also held on the sidelines of FARA@15. Dr Kiran Sharma, CEO, Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP)-ICRISAT, presented a special address on behalf of Dr William Dar, Director General ICRISAT, on Inclusive Market Oriented Development (IMOD) through Agribusiness in Africa.

“Through the IMOD approach in Africa, ABI-ICRISAT, through UniBRAIN has handheld six Agribusiness Innovation Incubator Consortia (AIICs). These AIICs have supported 188 incubatees, commercialized 35 agro-technologies, created 831 jobs and benefitted 240 interns. Further, 138 universities have adopted the new agribusiness education curriculum framework of UniBRAIN and 24 new countries have expressed interest to start new AIICs.

We look forward to working closely with different partners in Africa to further strengthen the agri- and food-processing sector through strategic interventions to strengthen value chains, promote food safety and development of innovative products and technologies, facilitate entrepreneurship and ultimately help the smallholder farmers,” said Dr Sharma. Operational guidelines and membership facilitation into AAIN were among the key areas that were discussed. The conference resulted in the submission of 46 new membership applications on the same day.

The annual conference was preceded by the UniBRAIN steering committee meet where lessons were drawn from milestones reached and discussions were held to come up with solutions that set the strategy for delivering sustainable solutions for the progress of UniBRAIN incubators. The steering committee members also visited the Timbali Business Incubator, Nelspruit, South Africa on a study tour.

In February 2015 ABI proposes to organize a training program for the managerial staff of AIICs at the Timbali Business Incubator, Nelspruit, South Africa.

ICRISAT recently organized a capacity building program for Farmer producer organizations (FPOs) to provide better understanding of the gaps and opportunities for FPOs in agribusiness, best practices on running an FPO, seed production and effective business plan development initiatives for FPO developers and funding agencies.

“The FPO capacity building program is quite useful for emerging FPOs, and participants have benefitted greatly as the program provided them with inputs on converting their agri-business ideas into reality,” said Mr AV Poomurugesan, Executive Director, Kazhi Kadaimadai Farmers Federation from Tamilnadu and a speaker at the workshop.

The participants visited the Mulkanoor Cooperative Rural Bank and Marketing Society (MCRBMS) Ltd, a self-sustainable cooperative run by farmers of 14 villages in Karimnagar district of Telangana, India. The operations of MCRBMS range from dairy to a modern rice mill and seed production. Mulkanoor also has one of the largest paddy seed growing and selling operations in the country, with three seed-processing plants with a capacity to process 64 tons of seeds per day.

“Three units of paddy seed processing plants; a milk collection, packing & distribution center run by the local women farmers; a cotton ginning mill, all under one cooperative of over 7,500 farmers! This is one of the best examples of a cooperative group, and is a role model in several ways,” said Mr Sanjeev Prabha, Director of Jaikishan Multi foundation, Bidar, Karnataka.

“The exposure visit to a food processing unit particularly was interesting where we got an opportunity to see how food processing has been mechanised and I have gained knowledge on various food marketing related aspects,” Mr Shivaram, State-Coordinator from Chetna Organics, Hyderabad, India, a group which works with small and marginal farmers towards improving their livelihood.

Five FPOs expressed interest in receiving business incubation support from ICRISAT’s Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) program. Participants interested in seed business have also placed orders for foundation seeds of chickpea (39
tons), pigeonpea (1.6 tons), millet (0.1 ton) and groundnut (13.4 tons).

“The participants were exposed to extensive knowledge and information, as well as managerial inputs on effective FPO management. They were given detailed sessions on marketing and branding, food quality control, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) policies and regulatory compliances, best practices in establishing and governance for FPOs, seed processing, packaging and certification, and field visits to seed and food processing units for better understanding,” said Mr SM Karuppanchetty, Chief Operating Officer, ABI-ICRISAT.

FPOs bring farmers, especially smallholder farmers, on a common platform to foster technology penetration, improve productivity, enable improved access to inputs and services, and increase farmer incomes. This helps create and strengthen sustainable agriculture based livelihoods. Turning these collective ventures into sustainable and profitable models would help smallholder farmers actively participate in emerging high-value markets.

Mr A Praveen Reddy, President of MCRBMS, advised the farmers to start with small-scale operations with a concentrated and a long-term plan approach.

Training on seed production was given by Drs P Janila, Senior Scientist, Groundnut Breeding; A Ashok Kumar, Senior Scientist, Sorghum Breeding, S K Gupta, Senior Scientist, Pearl Millet Breeding, and Pooran Gaur, Asst Research Program Director, Grain Legumes.

The five-day training, held from 28 October to 1 November, was attended by 50 farmer producers from the Indian states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan. Participants explored areas of FPO management, financial management, seed business, agro and food processing management.

The activity was undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Programs on Dryland Cereals and on Grain Legumes.

Farmer producer organizations (FPOs) from six states of India are benefiting from the agribusiness facilitation of ICRISAT that will enable them to operate as businesses and make their farm operations sustainable and profitable.

At a recent Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) Summit, smallholder producers convened to explore agribusiness opportunities in the areas of technology penetration, improving productivity and access to inputs and services, and increasing incomes for a sustainable agriculture-based livelihood.

Organized by the Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) Program of ICRISAT, on 27 October the one-day summit was attended by over 100 smallholder producers from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Of the 100 participants, 12 have shown interest in Seed Business Incubation and Seed Production of Cereals (sorghum, millet) and Legumes (groundnut, pigeonpea, chickpea), five for Business Incubation Support, 14 for Food Business Incubation support and six for Seed and Food Processing incubation.

At the summit, ABI-ICRISAT provided the participants with extensive knowledge and information, as well as networking support in setting-up and promoting FPOs. The participants were composed of aspiring entrepreneurs, progressive farmers, members of self-help groups, and representatives from farmers’ welfare and rural livelihood development organizations.

“The FPO approach is an intervention owned, managed and executed by smallholder farmers themselves. We need to scale up and increase the number of FPOs through agribusiness incubators so that we can bring in more stakeholders in making agriculture more sustainable and profitable,” Dr William Dar, Director General, ICRISAT, said.

“In India, 35% of farmers do not have access to organized credit. With significant movement of rural labor from farm to non-farm activities, labor scarcity has emerged as one of the biggest constraints to agricultural production in the country. Mechanization of agriculture is the only solution to improve farming,” said Mr CVR Rajendran, Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank.

According to Mr Ramakrishnaiah Duvvuri, Team Leader, Management Support Group – Farmer Producer Organizations (MSG-FPO), Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), “FPOs are essential for the empowerment, poverty alleviation and advancement of farmers and the rural poor. The Ministry of Agriculture has declared the year 2014 as the Year of the Farmer Producer Organizations. Through better marketing of agricultural products and bargaining for lower interest rates from the banks, smallholder farmers will be able to expand their employment opportunities and increase their rural incomes.”

“We have made progress in promoting and organizing farmers to become FPOs, but much work is still needed to make these organizations scalable and sustainable. Today’s summit aims to provide the participants with information on how to access markets and secure finance, and to identify the role of agribusiness incubators in taking the FPO initiative forward,” said Mr SM Karuppanchetty, COO, ABI-ICRISAT.

At the summit, participants gained a better understanding of the gaps and opportunities for FPOs in agribusiness, initiatives by the government through various schemes, capital and funding schemes, and networking opportunities for FPO developers and funding agencies. Mr Poomurugesan, Executive Director of the Kazhi Kadmadai Farmers Federation, an ABI-ICRISAT supported FPO in Tamil Nadu, presented his success story.

The agribusiness incubation concept has been successfully demonstrated in setting up a farmer-managed seed enterprise. A farmers’ organisation in Tamil Nadu, India, has set up a professionally managed seed enterprise with mentoring and handholding by ICRISAT’s Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) Program. Apart from investing in the venture, ABI also provided support across the entire value chain from introducing seed varieties to help with branding, marketing and promotion activities.

The Kazhi Kadaimadai Farmers Federation (KKFF) ventured into seed production in 2008 with funding assistance of Rs 0.75 million (US$12,283) under the ABI program. This support was for procuring seed processing machinery. ABI also assisted KKFF in obtaining a corpus fund of Rs 0.2 million (US$ 3,275) for operations under the Technology Development Board’s (TDB) funding scheme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

Under ABI’s guidance and training KKFF operates like a company governed by farmers and managed by professionals like executive director, technical officer, accountant, etc., who are engaged and employed by the federation. Every farmer member of this federation now earns an additional income of Rs 12,500 to Rs 17,500 (US$ 201 to 283) per hectare while KKFF generates a net profit of Rs 0.6 million (US$ 9,826) from an annual turnover of over Rs 12 million (approx. US$ 200,000).

“The lack of good quality seeds required us to start a seed business program. We collaborated with ICRISAT in 2008, and they helped us with business plan development, assistance in establishing our seed-processing unit, branding, and seed promotion activities. They also assisted us with selection of seed entrepreneurs and facilitated new seed varieties through the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), provided technical assistance and field exposure visits for our farmers,” said Mr AV Poomurugesan, Executive Director, KKFF.

In 2009, KKFF established its seed processing plant and registered its own brand of seeds ‘Pudhan’. Seed production was initiated in 15 hectares of land, which has now increased to about 100 hectares, resulting in the production and sales of over 300 tons of seed annually.

“This initiative has the potential to create a system which can be replicated among more farmers. It is a business proposition for the farmers and by the farmers to promote agricultural development with market linkages and to tackle the challenges faced by farmers, besides providing a model for others to emulate,” said Dr Kiran Sharma, CEO, Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP), ICRISAT.

KKFF had also promoted the cultivation of ICRISAT’s groundnut variety, ICGV9114 early this year as a summer crop. This was well accepted and certified groundnut seed was supplied to the local farmers and to the government agricultural extension center (Krishi Vigyan Kendra) in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.

Humble beginnings

KKFF started in 2006 as a post-tsunami response program to facilitate rehabilitation of the affected communities in Nagapattinam area. With 25 members, KKFF initially started paddy seed production by sourcing breeder and foundation seeds from TNAU, Coimbatore, India. The quantum of seed produced has grown substantially since 2006 and they are now able to meet more than 10% of the seed demand in Nagapattinam district.

KKFF now has over 900 farmer members, including more than a hundred seed entrepreneurs. This has spurred many more local farmers to turn into seed entrepreneurs, paving the way to Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD).

Commenting on the growth of KKFF, Mr SM Karuppanchetty, COO, ABI program says, “ICRISAT aims to enhance the capacity of farmers through promoting FPOs in agribusiness. The number of farmers involved by KKFF; area brought under seed production; quantity of seed produced; and revenue has increased tremendously ever since our intervention in 2008. Farmers have realized more revenue from seed production compared to normal grain production, thereby creating interest among fellow farmers to take up seed production.”

To ensure additional financial support and cater to the welfare of its members, KKFF also promotes crop insurance and the cultivation of crops like black gram as rice fallow, besides vegetables such as cluster beans, eggplant, and tomato.

Further steps must be taken towards implementing appropriate biosafety and food quality standards by enhancing the technical skills of laboratory personnel from the developing countries of Asia and Africa. The ultimate goal is to ensure Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) by leveraging on the potential of the agribusiness and food processing sectors in Asia and Africa, ICRISAT Director General Dr William D Dar said.

Dr Dar was speaking at the training program on “Analytical Techniques in Nutrition, Food Safety and Biosafety” organized by ICRISAT in association with the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutes (APAARI). The Director General, in his address, highlighted that such capacity building activities are part of ICRISAT’s efforts to help develop mechanisms to link the smallholder farmers to markets, and make them resilient and sustainable in the long run.

During the two-week training program, the participants were provided hands-on training in understanding Genetically Engineered Food safety assessment; risk analysis for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) – concepts, methods, and issues; use of GMOs under containment, confined, and limited field trials; post-release monitoring of GMOs; and allergenicity and toxicity assessment in GM crops.

The participants were also exposed to nutritional analysis, sessions on laboratory accreditation (ISO/IEC 17025:2005), rules and regulations in the food industry and their implications on international trade. Hands-on training on different analytical aspects of food testing was arranged at the National Collateral Management Services Ltd (NCML), Hyderabad.

Addressing the participants, Dr RS Paroda, Executive Secretary, APAARI, stressed on the importance of establishing accredited laboratories, especially in the public sector, and their need in the current global scenario. Dr JL Karihaloo, Coordinator, Biotechnology Program (APCoAB), APAARI also spoke on APAARI’s activities in biosafety, with special emphasis on the role of GMOs in addressing food and nutritional security.

Dr Kiran Sharma, Director – Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC) said, “Food safety starts from post-harvest handling through storage, processing, distribution and consumption. Appropriate interventions across the food value chain can prevent contamination and outbreak of food-borne diseases. Nutritional security is not possible without food safety and biosafety,” he emphasized.

Giving feedback on the training program, Dr Miladis Mabutol Afidchao from Philippines said: “The training program covered the most recent and important aspects of nutrition, food and biosafety. We look forward to greater exposure to specific areas of analytical testing.”

Another participant, Mr Sydney Phiri of Zambia said: “We learnt a lot on better scientific practices and new technologies for food and biosafety. The technical part of the process and analysis as well as the principles behind the analysis were explained to us well.”

The training program was supported by the Research Programs on Dryland Cereals and Grain Legumes and was coordinated by PTTC and the NutriPlus Knowledge Program of the ICRISAT Agribusiness Innovation Platform. Eighteen participants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Thailand, Syria, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe attended the training at the ICRISAT headquarters.

ICRISAT participated in the celebrations of Dr Norman Borlaug’s birth centenary organized by the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII). This ceremony was held on 26 August along with the 13th Iranian Crop Science Congress and 3rd Iranian Seed Science and Technology Conference.

Dr. Pooran Gaur, Assistant Research Program Director – Grain Legumes represented ICRISAT. Several dignitaries including Mr Mahmoud Hojjati, Minister of Agriculture, Islamic Republic of Iran and Dr Kenneth M Quinn, President of World Food Prize were present. The CGIAR institutes represented included ICRISAT, ICARDA, IRRI and CIMMYT.

At the sixth edition of ‘Agri Tech India 2014’, Mr Aravazhi Selvaraj, Chief Operating Officer, ICRISAT Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP), emphasized the crucial role of entrepreneurship and innovations in agriculture. He elaborated on the role of ICRISAT in bringing different stakeholders together to accelerate the development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources, services and technology commercialization through public-private partnership. The event showcased the use of latest technologies in post-harvest management, value addition in food processing, and packaging. It also provided an opportunity for growers, wholesalers, importers, exporters and other stakeholders from various segments of agriculture and allied sectors, to expand and diversify their activities.

In partnership with the Ready-To-Eat (RTE) food industry ICRISAT will initiate pilot projects involving smallholder farmers, towards understanding the traits required by the food processing industry for facilitating the rapid adoption of ICRISAT mandate crops in the industry. The projects will also help the private RTE entrepreneurs appreciate the untapped opportunities of ICRISAT mandate crops.

With focus on leveraging the growth potential of the RTE food processing sector, the NutriPlus Knowledge Program of the ICRISAT Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) along with ASSOCOM- India organized the “6th Symposium on Ready-to-Eat (RTE) Foods: Creating flourishing opportunities and promoting consumption among masses”.

The event provided a platform for stakeholders from various sectors of the food and allied industries to discuss and share latest opportunities for research and development, entrepreneurship and market potential of the RTE foods segment. It also helped them strategize ways to promote affordable, safe and nutritional RTE foods among the masses.

Dr Saikat Datta Mazumdar, Chief Operating Officer (COO), NutriPlus Knowledge Program, urged the RTE food industry to work towards products and technologies based on the health benefits of ICRISAT mandate crops. He also stressed on the need to foster Inclusive Market Oriented Development (IMOD) as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of the food processing industries.

“Implementation of an overall food safety program for the masses, through development and promotion of affordable, hygienically packed, long shelf-life, nutritionally rich RTE foods is the need of the hour,” he highlighted.

Other topics of discussion included regulatory aspects, policies, role of RTE foods in nutritional security and food safety.
The event was inaugurated on 4 August in Mumbai, India, by Mr Jagdish Prasad Meena, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India. Well-known RTE manufacturers, retailers and technology providers including MTR Foods, Marico Industries, Future Consumer Enterprise, Buhler, and Clextral took part in this event.

The ‘Boot Camp on Business Development and Capital Raising’ conducted by ICRISAT’s Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) helped 24 prospects secure business incubation support and three prospects secured funding from participating banks.

The camp was to help start-ups explore opportunities in agri-business, farm opportunities and food processing ventures, and provide a platform for sharing and exchange of ideas and innovations in availing incubation services, funding assistance and marketing support.

“This boot camp gave me a deep insight on the tools necessary to analyze my idea and feel confident about it. This camp has helped build my network, work on new opportunities available in the agricultural sector and learn from my peers,” said, Mr Manjunath from Gulbarga, a participant.

Mr SM Karuppanchetty, COO, Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) Program, ICRISAT-AIP, discussed the role of ICRISAT-AIP in promoting start-ups, agribusiness ventures and nurturing innovations.

Dr Saikat Datta Mazumdar, COO, NutriPlus Knowledge (NPK) Program of ICRISAT-AIP presented the various opportunities that small and medium entrepreneurs can avail in various sectors of the rapidly growing food industry. He also highlighted on the schemes available under Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India.

Mr Aravazhi Selvaraj, COO, Innovation & Partnership (INP) Program of ICRISAT-AIP discussed the funding opportunities available from the Technopreneur Promotion Program of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, banks and venture capitalists.

The camp was held on 5 August at ICRISAT-India. More than 40 agribusiness innovators and entrepreneurs from the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka, explored new opportunities in farm opportunities, food processing ventures, funding assistance and marketing support.

At Seed Tech Asia 2014 conference organized by ICRISAT’s Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) stakeholders focused on how technological interventions and proper management at the post-harvest stage can help reduce losses and thus improve yields for the smallholder farmers.

As part of the conference, an Indo-Israel session on ‘Post-Harvest and Food Security’ was organized. This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Technologies on Post-Harvest Handling of Crop Produce – Way towards self-sufficiency’. The sessions focused on how to improve the post-harvest scenario for the Indian smallholder farmer drawing on experiences from Israel.

Dr Saikat Datta Mazumdar, COO, NPK-AIP, ICRISAT, presented a case study discussion on ‘Food Technology and Food Processing’. Mr Aravazhi Selvaraj, COO, INP-AIP, ICRISAT, presented on ‘Post-harvest Scenario and Need for its Management’.

During the conference, ICRISAT team interacted with Mr Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Agriculture Minister of the newly formed state of Telangana, India. The minister discussed with ICRISAT the agricultural and horticultural development plans for Telangana.

The Seed Tech Asia 2014 conference held on 8-9 July 2014, was hosted as part of AGRITEX 2014, an agricultural trade fair, bringing together the farming community, agri-specialists and agri-service providers under one roof. This is the biggest platform for promoting start-ups and agripreneurs in India.

Coffee smallholder farmers in Uganda can now look forward to better entrepreneurship and agribusiness opportunities and become stronger players in the coffee value chain with the launch of the Consortium for Enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development (CURAD). CURAD also aims to work towards becoming the leading generator of young agribusiness entrepreneurs to create jobs and wealth in East Africa.

ICRISAT’s Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) program has facilitated the establishment of CURAD, an agribusiness incubator that will work along the coffee value chain, at the Makerere University Agricultural Research Station, Kabanyolo in Kampala, Uganda.

CURAD is one of the six agribusiness incubators being established under the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa’s initiative on Universities, Business and Research in Agricultural Innovation (FARA-UniBRAIN) project with mentoring support from ICRISAT-ABI of the institute’s Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP).

“FARA is committed to help the African farming community through initiatives like CURAD. We will work towards promoting agro-entrepreneurs in Uganda and elevate the position of Ugandan coffee in the international market,” said Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director, FARA and chief guest during the launch.

In his keynote address, Dr Kiran K Sharma, CEO, ICRISAT-AIP, highlighted ABI’s efforts in mentoring 22 agribusiness incubators in India and in establishing five Food Processing Business Incubation Centers in Africa under the India-Africa Forum Summit-II. He also spoke of extending support to all Agribusiness Innovation Incubator Consortia (AIIC) established under FARA-UniBRAIN and in exploring opportunities to scale-up this unique initiative across different African nations and work towards their sustainability.

“The Danish Government contributes about US$ 2 billion every year for various development activities across the globe and it will continue to support initiatives like UniBRAIN in the African continent,” said Mr Henrik Vistisen, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark.

“The AIIC established under the UniBRAIN initiative is committed to carry out extensive entrepreneurship activities in Africa and contribute immensely to the overall development of different nations,” said Mr Alex Ariho, UniBRAIN facility coordinator.

Others who spoke during the launch were: Mr Joseph Nkandu, Executive Director, National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE); and Dr Samuel Kyamanywa, Principal Investigator of CURAD. Hon Gerald Ssendaula, CURAD Board Chairperson; Prof Bernard Bashasha, Principal, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University; Ms Irene Frempong, Director, FARA; and many other dignitaries were present during the program.

Officially launched on 9 May, CURAD is primarily promoted by the Makerere University, NUCAFE, the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), the University of Copenhagen, and NIRAS International.

FARA also organized a UniBRAIN steering committee meeting on 8 May, where Mr Ariho presented the progress and scaling-up strategy of UniBRAIN.

Mr S Aravazhi, COO, ICRISAT-ABI, presented the institute’s experiences in successfully running the Network of Indian Agribusiness Incubators (NIABI) and the way forward for the African Agribusiness Incubation Network (AAIN) leading to the formation of the Global Agribusiness Incubation (GABI) network.