Access Agriculture participated in the Agrowon Agri Expo held in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, 13-16 January 2023, received very positive response from all the visitors, in particular farmers.
“Many farmers visited our stall, seeking various types of information from us. We distributed flyers on Access Agriculture in Marathi language to about 3,500 visitors,” said Atul Pagar, a key partner, who kindly managed the stall on behalf of Access Agriculture.
He also shared some amazing comments from farmers who visited the stall:
- After visiting our stall, a farmer commented that every stall in the whole exhibition is selling something, only your stall is giving information. Just spreading information without selling anything to all people. And this is the most important thing in today's time. This is what farmers want and this information should reach the maximum number of farmers.
- Another farmer wanted to know how to make a vermicompost bed, and I showed him the Access Agriculture video. He was delighted and said, “It is very easy for me to make such a vermicompost bed. I couldn’t find this information anywhere so far. I asked many people, they all told me to buy something or the other. However, after watching the video, I'll make one out of the material I already have.” He said he would ask his son to go to the Access Agriculture website and watch this video. Then they would prepare a vermibed.
- A third experience was that of a farmer couple - a man and a woman. They told me that they have milch animals and they run out of fodder in summer. They were looking for information about hydroponic fodder and I played the related Access Agriculture video for them. As they watched the video, the couple looked as if they had discovered a treasure trove of rare information and told me that they would follow the video to produce fodder.
Some farmers wanted to have videos in Marathi language related to custard apple, mango plantation management and processing, fodder, shade net, polyhouse and organic formulations, among others.
Atul added that many government officials and representatives from farmers' groups (FPO), including one NGO, which is working with FPOs in India and Kenya, also visited the Access Agriculture stall. They showed interest in disseminating the videos and using them in their training programmes.
Teachers from the Art of Living (AOL) Natural Farming project, which is promoting natural farming techniques across India, appreciated the videos and expressed their wish to include the videos in their teaching.
