India,New Zealand to share agrotech knowlege

Two major industry associations from India and New Zealand have signed an MoU to share knowledge and other resources.

A delegation from  New Zealand National Fieldays Society is in India to sign the MoU with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays will be held 12-15 June 2013 at New Zealand’s Mystery Creek Events Centre, 10 minutes south of Hamilton.

Before arriving in India, the delegation from Fieldays visited China as guests of the 19th China Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair in Yangling, Shaanxi Province, West China.

The China visit was part of a reciprocal agreement between the two organisations, with the aim of forging strong ties between the NZ agriculture sector and the agritechnology industry in China.

Jon Calder, CEO of Fieldays and Tony Begbie, Fieldays Society Board Member and recently-appointment President of the Waikato Chamber of Commerce, formed part of a business mission visiting India.

Led by Minister for Primary Industries, David Carter, the delegation spent time in Delhi and Chandigarh, with the intention of forging closer economic relationships through the primary sector. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the NZ National Fieldays Society and the Confederation of Indian Industry, which organises the Agro Technology & Business Fair; an Indian agribusiness and technology ‘mega event’.

The delegation visited  Khalsa Dairy Farm Mohali with the delegation. “They have about 300 cows and they milk 2000 litres of milk everyday,” said Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, a New Zealand MP, sharing details of the visit on his Facebook page.

“Our trips to China and India reinforce the importance of the NZ National Fieldays to New Zealand’s agribusiness sector,” says Calder.

“We take pride in our ability to provide a platform for New Zealand agribusinesses to launch their companies internationally.”

The Fieldays 2013 theme, Getting Down to Business in the Global Economy, highlights New Zealand’s unique position as an innovative agribusiness driven economy to capitalise on the growing international demand for food, protein, and agricultural expertise.

(Image courtesy: Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi)