Attracting over 3,000 visitors, the Access Agriculture booth was one of the most happening places at the International Pavilion of Millets & Organics – International Trade Fair, which was held, 20-22 January 2023, in Bengaluru, India.
Access Agriculture’s booth was graced by agricultural ministers of various states, farmers, extension agents, university professors and students, scientists, representatives from civil society organisations and private companies involved in the organic sector, financial institutions, media professionals, schoolchildren and general public.
“Access Agriculture’s digital advisory tool combined with its last-mile delivery model is among the best innovations I have seen in this Trade Fair. This is the only way we can reach out to a large number of farmers and help them transition to organic farming,” said Dorairaj Kuppurangam, President of the International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA) Board. The Trade Fair was organised by the Government of Karnataka, with ICCOA as knowledge partner.
The visitors admired Access Agriculture’s mission and the range and quality of its farmer-training knowledge resources, such as local language videos. They appreciated the smart projector and the EcoAgtube platform and showed keen interest in finding out about Access Agriculture’s programme in India and its plans for activities in Karnataka and other states of India that do not have Access Agriculture’s presence.
Some of them enquired how the organisation could support them in empowering vulnerable rural communities, particularly women farming associations, as well as in the marketing of organic products.
Access Agriculture was specially invited to the Trade Fair as an international expert by ICCOA Executive Director, Manoj Kumar Menon. The Access Agriculture team which took part in the Trade Fair was led by its Executive Director, Josephine Rodgers, who was accompanied by Phil Malone, Co-founder, and three members of its India-based team.
Josephine made a presentation at the Trade Fair’s international conference on ‘Scaling Organic and Ecological Farming through Entrepreneurs,’ which was well appreciated by the audience. In addition to active interactions, promotional material on Access Agriculture and the Entrepreneurs for Rural Access (ERA) model was distributed.
India is making a strong push for recognition of the importance of millets and the United Nations General Assembly has declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets. A major focus of the three-day event was to celebrate the importance of millets as a super food.
Some of the key highlights at the Trade Fair included more than 250 booths displaying millet and organic products, millet processing machinery, eco-friendly packaging technology, millet and organic food court, an international conference, farmers’ workshops, demonstration of millet recipes, among others.
Scenes from the Access Agriculture show at the Millets & Organics 2023, India
Josephine Rodgers speaking at the Millets & Organics International Trade Fair 2023
EcoAgtube : https://www.ecoagtube.org/content/josephine-rodgers-speaking-millets-organics-international-trade-fair-2023-0
Podcast : https://accessagriculture.podbean.com/e/josephine-rodgers-speaking-at-the-millets-organics-international-trade-fair-2023/
