A five-day national-level farmers' meet and exhibition titled 'Krishi Vasant' has been organised in Nagpur between February 9 and 13, which is likely to be attended by five lakh farmers from across the country.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told this to reporters here today.
The farm exhibition-cum-meet is dubbed as the 'Mahakumbh' of agriculture. It will be jointly organised by the Union Agriculture Ministry, the Maharashtra government and the industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
"Indian agriculture sector has experienced a turnaround. It has seen 3.64 per cent growth rate and we now have 260 million tonnes of food grain that is enough to feed the country and export some as well," Pawar said.
According to him, last year, India was the largest exporter of rice and second largest exporter of wheat, sugar and cotton in the world.
"Hence, this is the perfect time for 'Krishi Vasant', the largest ever gathering of farmers and everything involved with farming in the country. This event was a long-felt need," Pawar added.
The Railways has agreed to subsidise the ticket rates for farmers going to attend the event, by fifty per cent.
"Farmers travelling to attend the event from across the country will get 50 percent railway subsidy," the minister said.
The event will have over half a million visitors and over five million more farmers will benefit from the dedicated webcasting of the event across the nooks and corners of the country, down to the block level.
Calling it the "most ambitious" agricultural exposition and demonstration ever in India, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said in our agro-based economy, this is the beginning of putting the farmers and farming in the centre-stage.
"Farmers need the knowledge, the interaction and the networking to take agriculture to the next level. One of the main purposes is to allow farmers to see success stories, to see and understand technology, see live demonstrations of various crops and know about agricultural practises," he said.
