Agri-marketing graduates must seek to be “job providers” rather than “job-seekers” and wished all the students very good luck for their futures.
Agri-Business Innovation Day (ABID) 2022 was a student-organized event held at the Department of Agricultural Marketing, Co-operation and Business Management, UAS (B), GKVK, on the 14th of May. The main aim of the ABID 2022 was “Call To Action- Addressing Sustainable Development Goals”.
ABID 2022 was organized mainly in order to raise awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) given by the United Nations (UN) that are ought to be achieved by 2030.
The students accomplished this by coming up with start-up innovations that targeted fulfilling these SDGs. The innovations were as follows:
Evolution, Green Hydrogen, Shobhanjana, Industrial hemp, AgVenture, Terraponics, and Beegle Fly.
Farmers’ market
The Farmers’ market consisted of several farmers who were involved in direct marketing, along with the branding, packaging, and labeling of produce by the students. This way they illustrated the importance that these marketing functions play in the sale and in fetching good prices for the farmers.
Honey, mangoes, cucumbers, green leafy vegetables, grapes, dry fruits, ginger, dried seeds, snake gourd, and pumpkin, were some of the produce sold. The public poured at the venue and purchased these goods in good numbers.
Job Providers
Karnataka agriculture minister BC Patil, along with all the chief guests visited all the SDG stalls and the Farmers’ Market and appreciated all the innovations. He laid emphasis on the importance of marketing and how the Agri-marketing graduates must seek to be “job providers” rather than “job-seekers” and wished all the students very good luck for their futures.
The Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, addressed the gathering appreciating the innovations and the initiation by the students in coming together for the event.
Our chief guest, Dr. SVR Shetty, is an International scientist, who has about forty years of International agricultural research and development experience in a large number of countries in Asia and Africa including India, Philippines, Yemen, Syria, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cote, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Ethiopia, had also graced the event with his presence. Being an alumnus of our university, Dr. Shetty spoke about the importance of sustainability in the present world, and how we can strive to achieve it.
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Dr. Chandrakantha Patil, Chief General Manager, Karnataka State Agriculture Marketing Board (KSAMB), enlightened the crowd of students on how his experiences in UG years changed his life over the years. He also highlighted the importance of hard work and determination in a student’s life. Dr. NB Prakash, the respected Dean Agri, also addressed the gathering and expressed his views.
Panel Discussion
The Panel Discussion kicked off after the lunch session. Abhishek Chandrashekar, CEO, Royal Brothers, Ravi Kumar, Founder, Agro India Magazine, and, Srivatsa, Chief Executive Officer at TraceX Technologies were the three speakers who discussed the topic “Future of Agritech in the shared economy” and also on various aspects of entrepreneurship.
The speakers gave insightful messages on the topic as well as on sustainability, and the challenges they face in their respective industries, and also advised students. They also had an interactive session with the students present there.
The fireside chat was an informal program where the students freely interacted with the guest speaker- Siddharth Hegde, a budding farmer, who runs a Hydroponic farm in Bangalore, who shared his challenges and experiences in agriculture and encouraged the students to take up entrepreneurship.
Eco-friendly food and entertainment
Besides the stalls set up for the innovations, there were many other food and game stalls, run by the UG students, who kept the audience well entertained throughout the event, while also learning how to run a stall at minimum cost and earn profits, all the while, focusing on the customers’ satisfaction as well.
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The musical evening which commenced at 7:30 PM had three young, talented singers, – Shreenidhi G Shastry, Asha Bhat, and Anvitha, whom the audience cherished dearly. The artists rendered popular Kannada film songs and entertained the crowd. They even offered a tribute to Late Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar, by performing his songs too.
It is noteworthy that all the beautification for the event was made out of sustainable materials; all the guests who graced the occasion with their presence were gifted terracotta pots (made of clay) and tree saplings; lunch was served in areca sheath plates; water was served to the guests in clay pots (not in the conventional plastic bottles).
The students strived hard to make this event holistically sustainable and eco-friendly, thus raising awareness of sustainability and climate change.
Article by:
Ananya C G (B.Sc (Agmaco) 3rd year)
Coordinator, ABID 2.0
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