5-day farm fair opens today

Patna: A five-day national farming fair will begin here at the Veterinary college ground on Friday. CM Nitish Kumar is likely to inaugurate the event.

“The fair has been organised to provide farmers exposure to state-of-the-art machines. It is expected to provide a market to agricultural equipment manufacturers,” said Bihar’s agriculture production commissioner Ashok Kumar Sinha here on Thursday.

As many as 16,000 farmers from across the state are expected to attend it. It will witness the presence of 86 agriculture machinery producing companies. These companies are reaching here from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, UP and other states, Sinha told reporters here.

A “simulated farm” has been created at the fair site to demonstrate to farmers how sophisticated agriculture equipments work. The fair is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

“A ‘Kisan Pathshala (farmer school)’ will also run at the fair to teach modern farming techniques to farmers,” Sinha said.

Through a stall, the industry department will provide information to farmers about the subsidy given by the state government on agriculture equipment. “Currently there is no agriculture equipment production unit in Bihar. Through the fair, we will invite such companies to set up their units in the state,” Sinha said.

Read more: 5-day farm fair opens today – The Times of India