Agri minister inaugurates online agri-hackathon

The winning innovations will get a preference for incubation support, pre-seed and seed-stage funding of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, respectively, along with the opportunity of field trial and access to technology validation, the ministry said in a statement.Tomar said the virtual hackathon is being organised in the light of prime ministers vision to introduce new-age technology and innovations in agriculture.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday inaugurated an online hackathon to gather ideas from thousands of innovators and researchers in the farm sector. According to the Agriculture Ministry, the applications for 'Agri-India Hackathon' will close on January 20. The two-month long hackathon will have three elimination rounds and the final 24 winners will get a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. The winning innovations will get a preference for incubation support, pre-seed and seed-stage funding of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, respectively, along with the opportunity of field trial and access to technology validation, the ministry said in a statement.

Tomar said the virtual hackathon is being organised in the light of prime minister's vision to introduce new-age technology and innovations in agriculture. ''It is a proud moment for all of us where young minds will discuss, collaborate, and create some of the best ideas and solutions, which will guide us for years to come,'' he said in the statement. The minister also said that ''agriculture is the backbone of our country and plans are afoot to strengthen this backbone with youth engagement, employment generation, technology & digitization.'' The hackathon, organised in association with Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), is ''the first of its kind and the largest virtual event'' in the history of Indian agriculture, the ministry said.