Press Release 7/2011
EIMA Agrimach: Machinery and services for Indian agriculture
On the second day of the international exhibition of agricultural machinery in New Delhi, which attracted huge numbers of the general public, discussions covered the requirements of Indian agriculture and instruments for supporting enterprises aiming to acquire new generation machinery and equipment.
The second day of EIMA Agrimach, the international exhibition of agricultural mechanization underway in IARI quarters in Pusa, on the Delhi outskirts, featured stands packed with visitors and great turnouts of the public in the area dedicated to trials of tractors and other agricultural machinery. The review, which opened yesterday and comes to an end tomorrow, is thus being confirmed as a point of reference for farmers, workers in mechanization and businesspeople intent on learning about the finest solutions on offer for all types of farming. Of special importance were meetings with official delegations, set up Unacoma Service and the Italian Trade Commission, ICE, arriving here from all the Indian states andof following foreign countries Iran, Korea, Thailandia and Vietnam.
The schedule of conferences unfolded alongside promotional initiatives and the demonstration trials of machinery. The first, Challenges Faced by Farm Machinery Manufacturers in India, was chaired by Indian Ministry of Agriculture Undersecretary Shri S.K.G. Rahat and moderated by the president of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineering, Gajendra Singh, for an analysis of the mechanization requirements on the sub-continent.
Among the points made was that agriculture is evolving quickly and aside from traditional food products it will be necessary to develop new agricultural commodities. In this connection special attention will have to be trained, other than on tractors and combines, also on equipment and machines for plant treatment and on irrigation components and systems, a sector of great importance in the nation which will be forced to optimize the use of water resources as never before in this current phase of the growth of agriculture.
Attention was also focused on the issue of machinery leasing in a meeting given the title, Institutionalizing Custom Hiring of Farm Equipment, led by Director of SFAC, the Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium, in which information was provided on formulas alternative to the purchase of machinery and equipment, a matter of great importance in the setting of production in which prospects for investments are limited.
These issues were given further coverage in a conclusive Wrap-Up Session which included the participation of the secretary of the India Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Shri P.K. Basu, and the head of the committee which organized the conference, Rohtash Mal. Among the conclusions reached was that alongside the need to prepare a system of services in support of agriculture, an efficient credit system must be set up and investments in research will have to increase as must the capability to forge cooperation between the Indian manufacturing industries and those abroad to speed up the development of specific technologies for the various agricultural areas on the sub-continent.