Agro fair generates $140 million worth of business

Wednesday, 04 December 2002, 20:30 IST
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CHANDIGARH: An agrotech fair here generated direct business worth $140 million and fetched business enquiries worth another $500 million, organisers said. Anand G. Mahindra, the chairman of Agrotech 2002 and vice-president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said the four-day fair that closed Tuesday also received about 175,000 visitors, of them 35,000 business visitors and 60,000 farmers. New technology demonstrated at Agrotech included rain gun irrigation, sorter machines, state-of-the-art silos and grain driers, new concepts in greenhouses, vertical deep freezers, roof-maintained refrigeration units, high-speed compressors and coffee machines, among others. Various new models of tractors were also unveiled at the fair. Uttar Pradesh also launched a toll-free helpline for farmers at the fair. The first such service in the country, the helpline would update farmers on new technologies and crop-specific pesticides. While five international food and agribusiness conferences saw a host of industry experts, policymakers and academicians discuss issues ranging from food retail to poultry and dairy technologies to agri-credit, technical workshops for farmers saw them articulate their concerns. Some 220 companies from India, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Poland and Turkey participated in the fair.
Source: IANS