Business and farming need to go together so that the farmer can be given his due,” said the experts as curtains came down on the 13th CII Agro Tech India 2018, on Tuesday here.
Over the four days, around 30,000 farmers visited the event and saw 195 stalls (37 of these were international), 10 concurrent shows and a number of Kisan Goshthees and conferences to enhance their s practical knowledge.
Stalls like tyres, small agri-equipment and the special Innovators’ pavilion were a huge hit. The stall for products made by Burail jail inmates was also successful.
At the valedictory session, chief guest, Himachal Governor Acharya Devvrat emphasised the importance of going natural for farmers.
Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat, and Housing and Urban Development, Punjab said, “We need to ensure that affordable machines are available for a farmer with 2.5-acre land holding like in my area of Gurdaspur. Marketing also needs attention. The farmer cannot wait for his produce to be sold.”
Speaking on the occasion, Navraj Sandhu, Additional Chief Secretary, Agri and Farmers Welfare, Haryana, said, “Agriculture and business are not antithetical. We need to reduce the proportion of people who take to agriculture. Technology needs to be cost effective. Farmers can only get a better price if they have volume and access to better markets. Better post-harvest management is the key.”
In addition to the Kisan Ghosthees, there were concurrent conferences on crucially relevant topics for times of today like post harvesting management, stubble burning, and enhancing shelf-life of commodities. In these, 112 experts from many countries like Canada, Belgium, the UK shared their experience with around 1,300 participants.
Punjab and Haryana were partner states and over the four days, around 3,800 B2B meetings were held.
Around Rs 100 crore business leads were generated at the CII Agro Tech India 2018.