Incubation helps startups overcome 'valley of death': Pusa Krishi CEO

Incubation provides critical ecosystem support for startups to overcome the 'valley of death' until their products reach the market, said Pusa Krishi CEO Akriti Sharma, highlighting the challenge of technical validation and the role of women in tech.

Incubation helps startups overcome the "valley of death" by providing ecosystem support until their products reach the market, said Akriti Sharma, CEO of Pusa Krishi, ICAR-IARI. Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the CII-FACE - Women in Agri & Food - Leadership Forum, Sharma emphasised the critical role of structured ecosystem support during the vulnerable initial phases of innovation. "So incubation is the buzzword nowadays and we understand that every plant that is being grown that needs a wholesome support from the ecosystem right otherwise it would be really very difficult and innovation ecosystem we call it as "Valley of Death" so when a startup or when a particular person has an idea or a product but they don't have that much money or that much kind of a support you know to reach to a level where the actual deployment starts from where actually it is gonna generate the revenue and roll over there in the market that is something where the incubation ecosystem plays a very critical role," she said.

The role of women in agricultural technology

Addressing the central focus of the event, Sharma highlighted the vital role women play in adopting and deploying technologies at the ground level. "So the theme is women in agriculture, and I understand that is something which is a really important theme with respect to the farm scale level where the actual deployments of the technology work and at the same time where the rural community has to grow to such a level where the technical adoption should be in a better way," she noted. "So there women play a very important role and is what has actually been discussed during the conference, and I understand that of course whatever the deliberations were they would definitely bring something very concrete in this dimension."

Technical validation a major bottleneck for startups

Beyond funding and ecosystem backing, Sharma identified technical validation as a prominent bottleneck currently faced by emerging agricultural startups. "Challenges are majorly related to the technical validation. This is something which is like when the startup is claiming that 'This is something which is gonna be there from my product. So my product is going to improve this much yield, my product is going to reduce these many irrigation cycles or something like that.' Who's actually in the market who's going to validate that?" she pointed out.

She noted that startups often speak from their enthusiasm, making independent verification essential. "Because startups are gonna say whatever, you know, as per their, you know, their love for their technology and their own kind of, you know, validation and all, but there should be a very good ecosystem, very good connecting actors in the whole scenario who can actually help them out in validating that in a real situation," Sharma explained.

She emphasised that institutions like Pusa Krishi, State Agricultural Universities, and state governments have a broader role to play to bridge this critical gap through structured mechanisms.

Emerging AI in agriculture

Turning to emerging technology, Sharma observed that artificial intelligence is moving beyond soft tools to physical, gender-agnostic agricultural devices. She stated that multilingual AI instruments are delivering accurate, grassroot advisories in local languages, directly aiding women-centric agricultural groups and fostering cooperative technology integration across the sector. (ANI)

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