Agriculture accounts for 16.2% of the total GHG emissions in India

Climate risks can reduce agricultural income by
15-25%

4.5-9% negative impact on production implies cost of climate change at ~1.5% of the GDP annually

Krishi Mangal aims at making farm & allied livelihoods efficient, sustainable and climate resilient for the wellbeing of small & marginal farmers by bringing together the power of innovation, entrepreneurship, and communities.

Krishi Mangal is an 18-month Market Access and Scale-up Accelerator for 10 in-revenue start-ups working in agriculture & rural livelihoods with a focus on sustainably empowering the agricultural ecosystem to increase farm incomes under climate variabilities.

CALLING FOR INNOVATIONS

We invite start-ups focusing on sustainable agricultural systems that have a positive climate impact to apply. They must have solutions that demonstrate scalability, have established product-market fit, and create a tangible impact on small and marginal farmers.

10 start-ups will receive a grant for field implementation and venture acceleration support such as marketing, go-to-market support, fundraising, technology refinement, and mentorship from Cisco experts.

WHO SHOULD APPLY?

The program is looking for in-revenue start-ups with innovative solutions fitting the following criteria:

  • Start-ups should demonstrate innovation in their product/service, business model, or operating model and must align to the focus areas outlined in the program. Applicants using digital technology solutions to create value can also apply, given they can demonstrate tangible and direct impact of their intervention for small and marginal farmers.
  • Start-ups applying should demonstrate market validation, have early traction/paying customers for their solution, and be ready to scale.
  • Ideal applications are solutions that are at TRL 7 to the fully commercialised stage.

PROGRAM OFFERINGS

Market Access/Field Implementation – INR 42 Lakhs per start-up

Access to 12-month field implementation to scale the solution

Venture Acceleration Support – Up to INR 5 Lakhs per start-up

  • Market Access – Access to Social Alpha’s strong implementation/grassroots partner and program network
  • Dedicated Portfolio Management – Assistance with developing go-to-market strategy and overall business advisory for 1 year
  • Fundraising support – Assistance with fundraising collaterals and other requirements; Access to Social Alpha’s large and diverse
    investor and donor network
  • Marketing and Branding – Assistance with marketing collaterals, designing and other requirements
  • Product Support – Assistance with product development, refinement, and design
  • Networking Opportunity – Access to Cisco’s wide range of global and local partners

Cisco Mentorship

1-1 Mentor sessions with Cisco experts on Product refinement, HR strategy, Sales and GTM, Supply chain management, etc.

PROBLEM AREAS

Water – Soil – Crop Nexus for Climate Resilience

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Allied Livelihoods for
Resilience

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Post-harvest Management for Climate Mitigation

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Water - Soil - Crop Nexus for Climate Resilience

Degraded soil conditions due to a combination of intensive monocropping, overuse of chemical inputs, and polluted and exploited water resources are further increasing the vulnerability to climate risk.

Focus Areas

Allied Livelihoods for Resilience

With crop-based incomes at the mercy of climate events, the allied sector can play an increased role in stabilising the farm incomes. However, lack of productivity, and high risks in allied activities need innovations to make them profitable and thriving.

Focus Areas

Post-harvest Management for Climate Mitigation

The effect of heat, humidity, early ripening, decay, pest attacks, physical damage lead to decrease in nutrient value, quality and shelf-life of the produce leading to food loss. Food loss caused due to absence of appropriate post-harvest solutions at farmgate leads to significant loss in income for farmers.

Inability to find markets leads to further economic loss for farmers and causes food waste adversely impacting the climate with increased GHG emissions.

Focus Areas

Shelf-life Enhancement and Value Addition

  • Decentralised, affordable, multi-commodity infrastructure for storage of Agri-produce at the farmgate.
  • Solutions to prevent early ripening and extend the shelf life of Agri produce at the farmgate and during transit.
  • Affordable, modular, low-capacity, energy efficient processing machinery and value addition technologies for perishable produce at the farmgate for small farmer groups.
  • Efficient and affordable pre-processing technologies including combined harvesters and threshers for non-perishable produce at the farmgate.

TIMELINE

  • Applications open for Krishi Mangal

    16th November 2022
  • Deadline for applications

    18th December 2022
  • Initial evaluation

    20th December 2022 –
    4th January 2023
  • Virtual jury round

    23rd – 25th January 2023
  • Final cohort selection

    3rd February 2023
  • Field implementation and venture acceleration support

    1st March 2023

ECOSYSTEM PARTNER

frequently asked questions
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For any assistance required, please reach out to us at

krishimangal@socialalpha.org