FOOD 360
Brochure Release & Press Briefing on International Conference
on Agribusiness & Food Processing ?
November 5-6, 2012, Taj Krishna, Hyderabad
Hyderabad, October 3rd, 2012: Agribusiness and Food Processing in India is set to receive a major fillip as the curtains go up on the second edition of FICCI’s FOOD 360 on November 5-6, 2012 at Hyderabad.
Speaking on the occasion, MR. I Y R KRISHNA RAO, IAS, Special Chief Secretary – Agri Marketing & Cooperation, Government of AP, appreciated this initiative of FICCI in highlighting the needs of Agriculture and food processing industries through the conference. He said FICCI’s FOOD 360 will become an international event in the years to come and will benefit both the industry and the common agriculturist. Commenting on this year’s theme being ‘Innovation and Technology’, introducing technology to a sector like agriculture in a country like ours where the size of farms is small and the number of farmers is large, is in itself a challenge. He said the government will sponsor some farmers for the conference, to expose them to latest practices. He also appreciated FICCI for introducing a separate award for the best performing Government department, as Government is fully involved in agriculture in our country with various departments working from seed distribution to produce marketing.
The Two-day Conference will be inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Minister Shri Sharad Pawar and Mr. N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Mr. Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture. The conference-cum-exhibition will showcase the huge potential for developing the Agribusiness / food processing industry in India in general, and Andhra Pradesh in particular, with a view to forging global linkages. The effort would be to expose delegates to the global developments with regard to trends and opportunities in the food processing industries.
The Conclave will bring together over 500 professionals in the business of agriculture / food processing, as well as academics, in India and overseas. In the second edition, special focus has been given to the theme of Innovation and Technology within the domain of Agriculture, Agribusiness and Food processing. Special attention is being given to Horticulture and Dairy products through parallel sessions.
The plenary sessions will be held on the themes 'Technology for Raising Farm Productivity', 'Mechanizing farm Operations', 'Technology in Supply Chain Management', and 'Technology in Food Processing, Packaging and Marketing'. Along with the parallel tracks in Horticulture and Dairy, 'IT in agriculture' will receive special coverage.
In addition to the conference, the second edition of the event will also include Exhibition, FOOD 360 Awards, Business Plan Competition etc.
ICRISAT is the knowledge partner, and their inputs and report will primarily focus on the theme of the conference (Innovation and Technology). This is also in line with their strategic plan – vision 2020 which encompasses Inclusive Market Oriented Development (iMOD).
Briefing media persons here today, Mr. S. Sivakumar, the Programme Chair said that FOOD 360 would identify the challenges across the food & agriculture value chain, and explore innovative solutions leveraging technology. He strongly emphasized that technology should be applied to ensure higher income for farmers and lower prices for consumers at the same time. “One way is to raise productivity through Innovative Technologies and reduce production cost through efficient use of inputs and better supply chain management.”
The various sessions, spread over two days will review, analyze and make predictions for the future for the Indian Agriculture / Food processing sector in general, followed by an exhaustive micro-view of Andhra Pradesh.
The session on 'Technology for Raising Farm productivity' gives an overview of how farmer can enhance his yields through Soil and water conservation; bio-farming, remote sensing and weather forecasting etc.
Session on mechanizing farm operations gives a picture on how small farmer can get benefit by using technologies in Micro Irrigation. Mechanizing solutions for small farms will be discussed, in view of rising costs and lack of availability of farm labour.
The session on “Technology and Innovation in Supply Chain Management” will cover Climate Control technologies, role of mobile phones and ERP in Agri/Food space, demand planning, Inclusive and Participative supply chains. Role of Packaging in supply chain efficiencies, Infrastructure requirements for building optimum supply chain, low cost storage systems and training manpower etc are some of the other issues that will be deliberated at the conference.
Special focus has been given to parallel sessions, especially on IT in Agriculture, Dairy and Metro Ag (Urban Agriculture). The aim of the MetroAg concept is to bring together a wide and culturally diverse range of stakeholders involved in urban agriculture (in and around cities) in India to share knowledge and best practices, foster linkages externally, and give voice to its advocates and recognition and legitimacy to its activities. Michigan State University is the International University Partner who would give more inputs on MetroAg during FOOD 360 Conference.
The Exhibition will showcase various products, technologies, services pertaining to Agriculture and Food Processing Industries during the two days of the event.
Addressing the august gathering, Mr. J A Chowdary, Co-Chairman of FICCI AP & Conference General Chair, said “The second edition of FOOD 360 conference will truly become a wonderful interaction space for most prominent industry representatives of agribusiness and food processing sector. Technology and Innovation will be key aspects in the conference. Efforts will be made to ensure that these technologies are useful to agriculture practitioners and food processors.
We take this opportunity to thank the Andhra Pradesh Government, especially Agricultural Marketing department for their encouragement & support. We would also thank all our Industry representatives, committee members for their valuable inputs and looking forward to have their support in making this event a grand success."
FOOD 360 Highlights
· Focused Sessions / Renowned Speakers
· Opportunity to interact with crème de la crème of the Agribusiness / Food processing industry representatives
· Partnership & Branding opportunities
· Master-class by Industry and Government experts
· Networking lunches & dinners
· Dedicated exhibition space to showcase various products / services of Food Industry
For further information, please contact Mr. Ravi Kiran, [email protected], 040-23395275 or
log on to www.ficcifood360.in
For more information, please contact: 9848042170
