Krishi Mela - 2007

Krishi Mela, is an annual farmer fest organized at the sprawling 1400 acer GKVK campus on Bellary road. It is organized by GKVK itself. They showcase all the latest developments in agriculture field in this 4 day mela. Buses to his mela is arranged by the government from all over the state.



The students and faculty of GKVK did an excellent job explaining the new technologies to all the visitors. Expecting this fair to be like most dull government events, i was in for a pleasant surprise. The students at the stall were very warm and outreaching to everyone. I was happy to see them explain everything to the farmers with same intensity with which they talked to well dressed city people.

There were also private companies exhibiting their latest agriculture products - machinery, seeds, pesticides, etc. This years mela had special focus to organic farming. Looking at the numbers farmers who attended the mela, it was big success. They are expecting close to 200 thousand people to visit this year.



There are (i think) 7 agriculture colleges spread through out the state. Very few young people have the knowledge of these colleges or about the graduate programs they offer. With the advent of organized retailing (read contract farming) in this country, career opportunities are bound to grow for graduates of these colleges.



For a country like India to prosper, the real growth should come from the agriculture sector. Depending on the monsoons, the growth in this sector has been a dismal 2-4% (sometimes even -ve growth). The 9% growth in GDP that we have now is mainly because of the services sector (the contribution from the manufacturing sector is also not significant). No doubt that this is doing wonders, but this affects less than 15% of the population. For India to really grow,

the growth should come from sectors like agriculture (and manufacturing) on which more than 50% of our population depends. For this government should spend more on agriculture research rather than giving out power and fertilizer subsidies.

One aspect i hope the organizers realize, is that they should localize such melas. Instead of having a mela for the full state at Bangalore, they should organize them in different regions. By doing so they can also concentrate on the crops and techniques that are suite for that particular region. Like for example South-East Karnataka (Bangalore, Kolar, Chikballapur, Tumkur) is predominantly dry region, will less than adequate rainfall. Telling them how to grow rise is certainly of know use to them. Providing people with what they need specifically, will help the achieve better results.




You can find more pictures here.