Over 70,000 people from 22 States visited the three-day National Horticulture Fair (NHF) 2024 organised at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) between March 5 and 7.
Crediting various government schemes and the hard work of farmers for the advancement of agriculture in the country, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, who attended the valedictory function, lauded the efforts of scientists in various agriculture universities and institutions. “In the last 10 years, scientists at ICAR have given more than 2,250 varieties of new crops to farmers and this includes climate resilient, high yielding, and high-density crops,” she said.
She also said that to double farm income, the produce should be marketed internationally. She urged farmers to focus on value addition to capture international demand. Speaking about the rejection of commodities exported from here due to pesticide residues, she stressed the need for creating awareness among farmers.
Two publications, ‘Quick response (QR) codes for ICAR-IIHR Developed Technologies’, a compilation of 248 cutting edge technologies, and ‘Cocoponics: A futuristic soilless vegetable production system’ were released on the final day of the fair.
Most of the visitors to NHF were farmers. While 71% of them were from Karnataka, 13% were from Tamil Nadu, 6% from Andhra Pradesh, 5% from Telangana, and 16% from other states. There were around 250 stalls at the fair where various horticultural products and technological advancements were exhibited over three days. There were over 230 live demonstrations of IIHR’s products too.
