ICAR-IIHR to organise 5-day horticultural fair from Feb 8

New Delhi: ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) on Friday announced a five day national fair from February 8, through online and offline mode, in order to reach out to maximum farmers across the country with new technologies and innovations.

In a virtual press conference, Bengaluru-based IIHR Director MR Dinesh said the annual fair will be held in both offline and online platform, making it a hybrid event, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the fourth annual fair and is expected to see a footfall of 25 lakh farmers across the country, of which 30,000 farmers will be from Karnataka and neighbouring southern States, he said.

Last year, the footfall was about 70,000.

The theme of the fair is ‘Horticulture: for start-up and stand-up India.’

IIHR will showcase more than 200 demo fields of horticultural crops, new farm mechanisation systems, among other farm technologies.

IIHR will reach out to farmers through virtual mode via 721 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) as well as Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) spread across the country.

Farmers of Karnataka and neighbouring States will have to register themselves on the IIHR website for physical participation in the fair, which will be organised following the safety protocols of COVID-19, he added.

The IIHR, set up in 1967, conducts research on horticultural crops.