The ICRISAT Agribusiness Fair

17 January 2014. ICRISAT headquarters at Patancheru, India. The Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) Program of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) organised a one-day Agribusiness Fair for agribusiness innovators and entrepreneurs. The one-day Agribusiness Fair organized by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) proved to be a major success, with more than 300 agribusiness innovators and entrepreneurs attending the event.

The fair was an opportunity for start-up entrepreneurs to explore various opportunities in the agri-business sector. It also acted as a platform for participants to present their agro-technology or business ideas for incubation support. Under the ABI program, selected entrepreneurs and innovative ideas will be provided incubation support.

"ICRISAT nurtures a research for development paradigm, now guided by a strategic framework called Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD). We have been reinventing ourselves for the past 41 years to efficiently and effectively serve the interests of smallholder farmers in 55 semi-arid countries across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa," said Dr William Dar, ICRISAT Director General, in his address during the inaugural program.

Highlighting the importance of the event, Dr Kiran Sharma, CEO of ICRISAT's Agribusiness and Innovation Platform ( AIP) said, "Programs such as these contribute to the sustainable transformation of Indian agricultural sector from an orientation of primarily food self-sufficiency to one in which market orientation is equally important for poverty alleviation and income generation."

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