Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) at Pookode, Wayanad, is implementing a comprehensive entrepreneurship development programme in animal-based agriculture and has established the Directorate of Entrepreneurship to strengthen activities on this front.
Entrepreneurship development, extension, knowledge dissemination, distance learning, and awareness programmes are among the focus areas of the directorate.
The academic council meeting of the KVASU held on December 20 gave the green signal for the initiatives.
Farmer centric
The university had contributed substantially to animal-based agriculture with special focus on farmer entrepreneurship for food security. Farmers, being the primary producers, were key to driving local economic growth, sustainable agri-food systems, and food security, said B. Ashok, Vice Chancellor (VC) of the university.
Promoting the entrepreneurial initiatives of students to create opportunities for multi-stakeholder action would contribute to availability of qualitatively good food and nutrition and improve market efficiency with sustainable food chains, said the VC.
With the Government of India giving more thrust on food security and food safety issues, entrepreneurship and innovation management in agriculture and food sectors are emerging as some of the specialisation areas in entrepreneurship.
Major objectives of the KVASU’s student entrepreneurship project are — to establish student entrepreneurship projects in the areas of technology, diagnostics, delivery models related to animal agriculture, and livestock development sector, and to start technology incubation centres, focussing on and capable of handling animal-product and process innovations. Moreover, it envisages developing appropriate business models in livestock-product marketing and licensing.
“Start-up village in livestock production is a new concept in the State. In order to popularise this model a pilot project will be established,” said Dr. Ashok.
This needed further validation and market feasibility studies. Start-up village in livestock production in the areas of dairying, egg and broiler production, with marketing network, would help meet the increasing demand of animal protein in the State, he added.
Branding
Major deliverables would be to help establish a start-up village in livestock production and help develop sustainable development models and identify the market potential of livestock products as separate brands, T.P. Sethumadhavan, Director of Entrepreneurship, KVASU, said.
Innovation in the areas of diagnostics, new product development, and delivery models for providing services with the use of Information and Communication Technology would be other focus areas, Dr. Sethumadhavan said.
Taking a cue from the global trend in student entrepreneurship, the State government has announced the Student Entrepreneurship Scheme to encourage entrepreneurship among students in the State.