Agricultural Competition is now open for applications Last date for submission of preliminary application is 30 April 2025 deadline extended to 10 May 2025.

Grant title: Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Research Grants 2025: Grants for translational agriculture research

Grant amount: Up to Rs 50 lakh (for each grant)

Last date for preliminary application submission: 30th April, 2025, deadline extended to 10 May 2025.

Preliminary application format:

The form is available to download from here

Focus area:

The proposed projects for Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Research Grants in Agriculture shall focus on the following major criteria:

• Science-based innovative solutions in any branch of Agricultural Sciences through translational research with the scope of immediate deployment.
• Curated towards the needs of small and marginal farmers.

The objective of these grants is to support translational research, based on excellent science, in the agriculture sector to achieve last-mile accomplishment. The research outcome shall support the generation of a better livelihood and enable the empowerment of the rural farming community in India with an emphasis on small and marginal farmers.
Wherever applicable, all grantees will also be provided, free of cost at a location in Andhra Pradesh, access to agricultural land with workshop facilities to validate their ideas and demonstrate the same to farmers.

Ambit of the grant:

Applications for grants are invited from interested individuals and teams from recognized universities, Government research institutes and not-for-profit research organizations based in India. The research fund shall be up to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh for a maximum period of two years.
The grant is envisaged as an enabler to deliver ready-to-deploy solutions for small and marginal farming communities. The outcome of the research, while based on advanced scientific knowledge, shall be readily translatable into fully sustainable solutions featuring innovation, relevant to the farming community, cost-effective and easily accessible. The applicant shall emphasize on the immediate deployment of the technology or research solution to the benefit of farmers.

Possible research areas, although not limited to, of the grant are listed below:

Climate resilient cropping/agriculture systems, Post-harvest technologies, Agri wastes to wealth for farmers, Safety of workers during farm operations, Crop management, Agronomy, Plant protection, Crop improvement, Novel variety/hybrid field trial, Food compositional analysis, Food safety study, Soil management, Water management, Organic farming, Sustainable agriculture, Precision farming, Seed processing and storage, Agriculture biotechnology, Artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture, Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture, Big data analytics in Agriculture, Farm machinery, Agro forestry, etc.

Eligibility:

Interested individuals and teams from recognized universities, R&D institutions and recognized non-profit research organizations in India are eligible to apply.
The proposals can be from a single institution or multi-institutional. International collaborations are also eligible; however, the lead organization must be based in India and the funds are provided to only the Indian side of the expenditure. In case of international collaborations, a strong justification must be provided as to why this collaboration is essential for the execution of the project, what value the collaboration will add to the proposal and why this work cannot be carried out in India. Any regulatory approvals needed from the Indian Government for the collaboration as well as material transfer, etc need to be highlighted.
Since grants cannot be used for the salary of the investigators, the applicants should already have a secured salaried job and space and support from the host Institution before applying.
The Principal Investigator should be up to 50 years of age as on 30th April, 2025.
The upper age limit for a woman PI can be up to 55 years as on 30th April, 2025.
Sree PVF grants are not intended to duplicate support available from Indian Government/other sources. Where applicants already received substantial funding for their core activities/similar work, they will only be eligible if they can demonstrate that the activity for which funding is sought, is additional to the work for which they had already received funding from other sources.

All successful awards are contingent upon acceptance of our non-negotiable Terms and Conditions. To avoid delays in accepting the award and initiating the projects, we advise applicants to consult and review these terms with the appropriate departments in their institution early on in the process.

Budget:

The maximum budget for each grant is Rs 50 lakh. Grant will be disbursed in two tranches with each tranche no more than Rs. 25 lakh per year.
Eligible costs for funding are capital expenditure (equipment); manpower; consumables; travel (no international travel) and local hospitality; contingency; overheads; field trials; safety studies; outsourcing; others, such as training & awareness; workshops; publications; review meetings, etc. based on the requirement of the project.
Sree PVF offers flexibility to the applicant in how they wish to utilize the budget as long as the requested costs are commensurate with the proposed research and are strongly justified.

However, salary for Investigators is not included in the grants. The host Institution is expected to provide salary and basic research support for the duration of the grants period.

Application procedure:

Click here to download the application form.

Applicants are requested to do due diligence in filling up the form and provide necessary information as required.
Short-listed candidates would be required to submit full proposal and present the research proposal before a selection committee through an online presentation.

Duly filled-in applications should be submitted only through online mode by emailing to sreepvf.agriculture@gmail.com on or before 30th April, 2025 deadline extended to 10 May 2025.

We do not receive any hard copy of the project proposal at the application stage.

Selection of the proposals for the award of grants is expected to be completed and announced by 15th August, 2025. Successful applicant(s) will be intimated by email as well as will be declared in the Sree PVF website.

For any query, please send email to sreepvf.agriculture@gmail.com.

Additional information/proof of document may be requested, if required.

Important Timeline:

For further information on the grant call, selection process, and previous awardees, please visit this link.