Food & Beverage News: F&B Specials - Agri Business and FoodTech Kerala 2009 get traders to explore the southern coast of India

India has finally awakened to realise its potential in the food sector domestically and worldwide. The emphasis on establishing mega food parks across the country, formulation of the National Wine Board, National Meat & Poultry Processing Board, Cashew Board, preparation of draft for the formulation of livestock policy, demonstrate the country's resolution to tackle food related issues head on. Be it the processed food segment, poultry & livestock or milk and milk products, or the non food crops, horticulture and new plant varieties, the Indian agri scenario is ripe with attractive promises.

The wheel of revolution has set rolling for the country's agriculture industry which is geared for recognition globally. But agricultural renewal is possible only when affordable and practical technologies, services and products permeate to marginal farmers, leading to substantial increase in rural incomes.

Here is exactly where Agri-Business 2009, Kerala's premier agri & food technology fair, claims to intervenes as an agent to close in the gap between agri technology and its end user.

Agri-Business 2009 will be held in Kochi on 16-18 January 2009. Organised by the Department of Industries, Government of Kerala, jointly with Indian Exhibition and Conference Services Pvt. Ltd (IECS), this mega event also features FoodTech Kerala, concurrently for the food processing and packaging sector.

The FoodTech series is going to take the third edition pedaling on the success of the previous two. The positive response from both exhibitors & trade visitors prompted the Department of Industries step in the organisation of the event. "The event will showcase technology developments in these sectors and will bring together technology and suppliers, entrepreneurs and support services on a single platform. The presence of food processors & suppliers, retailers, wholesalers and agents, supermarkets & retail chain stores, export houses, international buyers and importers, and plantation owners would give a new dimension to the entire sector bringing the global spice chest and national food factory on a single platform," says Joseph Kuriakose, project director, Food Tech Kerala 2009, and director IECS.

India holds a competitive exports market and internationally comparable agri products have further buoyed up the agro and allied industry. The opportunities of profitable investment in the world's second largest producer of food are numerous.

Food Tech Kerala will feature issue-based discussions and round table conferences, covering different sectors of agriculture and related economy, which are likely to spur agri-sector growth in the state.

The conference to be held along with the expo will see eminent personalities speaking on issues like Importance of regulations and participation in standards, International regulations, Domestic regulations, Packaged commodities rules & Standard Weights and Measures and International Trade based standards.

The expo will showcase the agri expertise that will be brought to a single venue by players from all over the country.
Says Kuriakose, "This year, we will have 60 exhibitors from outside Kerala and 50 exhibitors that the Department of Industries will be bringing from within the state." Over 10,000 trade visitors are expected to visit Agri Business 2009, Kerala. The visitors will include farmers from organised farmer associations and state administrations, CEOs/decision-makers, buyers & sourcing personnel, technical experts, contractors & consultants, ministerial & trade delegations, governments/PSU officials as well as trade publications.

The number of farmers depending on agriculture as primary source of income may not exceed 10 lakh in Kerala, but if we count the coconut growers in the state who grow 1 or 2 coconut trees, the entire state population will turn out to be farmers.

In Kerala there has been a massive shift from sustenance farming to capitalist farming, whereby more and more land has been brought under cultivation, and farmers are responding to opportunities in the national and international market.

The main objective of the 3-day mega event is to increase knowledge dissemination, technology adoption and awareness creation among the farmers of Kerala. It will help in identifying the areas of potential and induce investment in agriculture and allied sectors in the region by way of the two concurrent shows. Investors, input manufacturers and agricultural traders can look at the event as an excellent forum for promoting their activities and products in the state including agro chemicals, agro fertilizers, horticulture, and floriculture.

An exposition on Agri Input Technology and Management, the fair would feature the best of domestic and international firms engaged in horticulture, floriculture, sericulture, seeds, agro chemicals, dairy equipment & technology, genetic engineering, animal health, nutrition, products and processing amidst a host of other fields, farming equipment, forestry machinery, farm water supply equipment, crop processing & irrigation equipment, poultry equipment & technology, poultry , management techniques, poultry products and services, fishery management and breeding and livestock management and breeding techniques and equipment etc.

FoodTech 2009 would present the latest technologies in food processing, grading and packaging of fruits, vegetables, beverages, fresh produce, prepared food and processed & packaged foods.

India Exhibition & Conference Services Pvt. Ltd, the co-organiser of the event, is a member of South Asia Exhibition Network, a multinational organisation focusing on upgrading the Trade Fair business in South Asia with an objective of promoting the region as a venue for international trade fairs and events. It currently operates in India, Sri Lanka & Maldives.