A group of enthusiastic and forward-looking rural youths and agripreneurs visited the Agri Business lab at the School of Business Studies (SBS), Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). A rural agrarian group of 15-20 farmers approximately, with a vision to register as a Farmer-Producers’ Organization (FPO), came to SBS at PAU as a team of seven representatives, to learn about the registration process and operational aspects of collective bargaining.

The team of NIDHI-TBI channelized them for the registration process and enlightened them about the benefits of collective bargaining, good agricultural practices and agri business practices. The team also encouraged their participation and engagement in food processing and marketing related to cereals, vegetables, fruits, turmeric and pulses under NIDHI-TBI, Government of India domain. The farmer group representatives were also introduced to value addition concept including processing, packaging, labelling and branding of their own produce, by showcasing the samples of PAU-trained agripreneurs, displayed at the agribusiness lab at SBS.

Dr Ramandeep Singh, PI, NIDHI-TBI and Director, SBS, PAU extended his support by providing relevant information about agri business practices and motivated them to opt for virtual classroom learning and practical trainings as per the mandate of the project. He further suggested them to work on common/collective sales point model for creating a homogeneous processed food market in rural areas.

Mr Gurinder Singh, CEO and Mr Sameer Gautam, BM, took the initiative ahead by providing the relevant platform for registration through google forms and explained them the process to enroll in virtual learning through social media channels.

After satisfactory interaction, farmers enthusiastically promised to give wings to their vision and transform fragmented agricultural practices to collective agribusiness model under the expert guidance of PAU and Team NIDHI-TBI. Such interactions reflect SBS and NIDHI-TBI's commitment to fostering innovation and empowering emerging rural entrepreneurs to build impactful agri-businesses.