Agritechnika 2011: 'Pakistani tractor vendors doing good business'

17 Pakistani tractor parts vendors are attending Agritechnika 2011, world largest agricultural machinery and technology fair in progress at Hannover, Germany, a spokesman of Engineering Development Board told Business Recorder on Monday. "In addition, two Pakistani vendors are displaying their products at the stand of the Dutch Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI). The exhibition will last for a week, he added.
The spokesman said that at the heart of Agritechnica is the tradition of giving the event's visitors an opportunity to benefit from global knowledge and perspectives on a wide range of topics related to agriculture and related industries. An important part of this mission is the special shows and forums that are carefully selected to reflect trends taking place in the agri-machinery market throughout the world.
He said that to make the forums accessible to a global audience, a number of the sessions provide simultaneous translation from German into English to open them up to international participation. Featuring experts from DLG, the organiser of Agritechnika, and a broad range of other organisations, the one-hour forums are designed to bring participants fully up-to-date on specific topics and to promote a dialogue that increases overall understanding of the subject.
He said this year, forum subjects are Smart Farming; Machinery and Farm Management, and Forest Machinery and Energy Crop Cultivation. In all, 18 forums will be held. The smart farming forums, which all take place in Hall 16, alongside the special smart farming show, will explore topics as diverse as controlled-traffic farming; what N-sensors can do; the use of EGNOS and Galileo for precision farming; and social media's role in the agriculture sector.
The machinery and farm management forum topics include market trends in the fertiliser market; how to find and keep good staff; using the money markets to tackle exchange rate volatility; and successful direct drilling in Argentina and Russia - a session that is hosted jointly by DLG and the Club of European Arable Farmers.
Forums on Forest Machinery and Energy Crop Cultivation address a range of topics relevant to these sectors including Organising logistic chains the use of bio digester residues as fertiliser. Other sessions include how woodland visitors should protect themselves from health hazards and the importance of compacting and storing bio-mass silage properly.
Pakistani participants at the Agritechnika recommended that Pakistani agriculturists, agricultural professionals, universities as well as machinery manufacturers should attend the event in large number and benefit from the knowledge and experience to be gained. They should explore the growth opportunities it provides for Pakistan's agriculture machinery exports as well as the insights which can be gained for value added agriculture.