ICAR Central Rice Research Institute

Choosing the right route

• Working in rice or a rice-based business: ask for on-campus incubation at the ABI Centre.
• A Farmer Producer Company, or an agri startup that is not about rice: the centre supports these off campus.
• No business exposure yet: the three-week CAIP training is the entry point.
• Some business exposure, want the technology side: TEDP.
• Want to make small farm implements: SEDP.
• A specific idea in a field of your choice: Training on Demand.
• A prototype and a business plan: watch the homepage notice for VIKAS R-ABI grant-in-aid calls.

How applications work

The ABI page of the institute's website has two downloadable forms: one for the training programmes and one for incubation membership. Fill in the one that matches what you want. The page does not state an intake window, a fee for incubation, or an equity term, so ask the centre before you commit.

How selection works

The ABI page does not describe a selection process. For VIKAS R-ABI, grant-in-aid for graduating incubates follows an appraisal of the business plan by the RKVY Committee in New Delhi. The 2019 batch was open to innovators with a prototype.

Before you apply

• Check that the institute still runs the programme you want: the website mixes the old and new institute names, and the VIKAS R-ABI notice is undated.
• Training is charged at nominal prices; confirm the current rate when you apply.
• Reach the institute through the director's office address on its contact page. Do not rely on individual staff addresses.

ICAR Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) is a rice research institute in Cuttack, Odisha, and part of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The institute was renamed ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) in 2015, and its own website still uses both names. Its Agribusiness Incubation (ABI) Centre, which sits in the Division of Social Sciences, trains aspiring agripreneurs and incubates agri startups and Farmer Producer Companies.

How the ABI Centre works

The ABI Centre was started in 2016 under ICAR's National Agricultural Innovation Fund (NAIF) scheme, where it replaced the earlier business planning and development unit. It offers incubation in two modes. On-campus incubation gives incubation space to budding entrepreneurs working on anything connected to the rice-based ecosystem. Off-campus incubation is used when campus space runs short, and it is the route for Farmer Producer Companies and for agri startups that have nothing to do with rice.

The services the centre lists are infrastructure, office space and on-farm testing; technology linkages and upscaling; mentoring and guidance; business plan formulation, branding and analytics; help with an IP portfolio, technology licensing and validation; and advice on company registration and compliance. The ABI page does not state eligibility criteria, a selection process, an intake window, or whether the centre takes equity.

The institute is also the nodal institute under the Odisha Start-up Policy 2016 for evaluating start-up applications in agriculture and allied sectors.

Agripreneurship training

Alongside incubation, the centre runs skill-based agripreneurship training for farmers, entrepreneurs, ex-servicemen, and educated and unemployed rural and urban youth. The ABI page says three programmes were designed and then lists four.

CAIP runs for three weeks. It covers entrepreneur motivation, agri-technologies and enterprise management, and it is meant for people with no exposure to entrepreneurship or business. TEDP runs for one week on technology thrust areas that participants choose, and it suits people who already have some business exposure and want to learn the technologies. SEDP runs for one week and is hands-on, covering the manufacture of small agricultural farm implements. Training on Demand also runs for one week, and guidance is given in whatever area the aspirant wants to start a startup or agribusiness. The centre says training varies with what aspirants need and is offered at nominal prices.

VIKAS R-ABI

VIKAS R-ABI (Vyapar Initiative in Krishi and Agri-Startups RKVY Agribusiness Incubator) is an RKVY-RAFTAAR agribusiness incubator hosted under the institute. In September 2019 it started a two-month Startup Agri-Business Incubation Program for innovators who had a working prototype, and 24 candidates joined that first batch. Incubates who graduate successfully can receive grant-in-aid, based on an appraisal of their business plan by the RKVY Committee in New Delhi.

The institute's homepage currently carries a notice inviting potential startups, farm women and youths to apply for grant-in-aid under VIKAS R-ABI, with an application link. The notice has no date, and the criteria for the current call are not published on the page, so check with the institute before relying on it.

Who can apply

On-campus incubation is open to entrepreneurs in the rice-based ecosystem. Off-campus incubation is open to Farmer Producer Companies and to agri startups in any other crop or area. The training programmes are open to farmers, entrepreneurs, ex-servicemen and unemployed youth in rural and urban areas. The only stated limit on incubation is space: on-campus capacity is limited, which is why off-campus mode exists.

Track record

The ABI page reports its own counts, with no date: 63 comprehensive agribusiness entrepreneurs, 219 technology-based entrepreneurs and 10 skilled entrepreneurs trained, and 9 incubates in agri and allied sectors. The off-campus incubates it names are five Farmer Producer Companies with 4S4R in their names, from these places: Mahanga, Athagarh, Niali, Badamba and Banki.

Who runs it

The institute is one of the ICAR institutes under the Crop Science Division. It was established in 1946, and the ABI Centre works under its Division of Social Sciences.

Where it is

The institute is at Bidyadharpur, Cuttack, Odisha 753006. Applications for training and for incubation membership are made through the application forms on the ABI page of the institute's website; the director's office also has a public contact address for general enquiries.