Organics Millets International Trade Fair 2019 – OMITF 2019 – Day 3

The Organics and Millets International Trade Fair 2019 (OMITF2019) scheduled for Jan 18th-20th, 2019, was held at the Tripuravasini Gate, at the Bangalore Palace grounds.

This post gives you glimpses of the grand finale on Day 3, Jan 20th, 9.30am – 8pm.

You can also find the Highlights of Day 1 and Day 2 here.

Last year I had described the OMITF2018  as Stupendous, Colossal, Outstanding, Phenomenal, Extraordinary !!! A fair with great SCOPE for greater things to come.

Well true to my words, its successor the OMITF 2019 was an equally successful if not even more successful event !!!

And this was due to the exemplary leadership of Shri. N. H. Shivashankara Reddy – Hon Minister for Agriculture, Government of Karnataka, Shri Maheshwar Rao – Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka, Dr K G Jagadeesha – Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka, Shri Manoj Menon – Executive Director, ICCOA and every single person in the ITF committee who worked very very hard and cohesively to make this a great success !!!

And of course full credit for setting this into motion in 2017 by Shri Krishna Byre Gowda, Hon Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, who was the earlier Minister of Agriculture.

Highlights from Day 3 of the OMITF2019 –

As on Day 2, the various programs took place as scheduled in the various halls.

For the benefit of the farmers and general public, there were informative sessions by prominent personalities like Dr Khader, etc in main hall.

The B2B hall saw business as usual with several scheduled appointments and meetings between buyers and sellers.

The International Halls for both Organics and Millets also had their share of activity with scheduled events.

The culinary sessions had cookery demonstrations by Chef Shazia Khan who made some interesting items with millets for children. Granola bars, millet upma squares topped with mushroom etc.

The second session saw Sudarshan Sampath of South Ruchis Square with millet Pani puri.

Millet based Cooked food contests for the public conducted by Mount Carmel College – Savory items in the morning session and baked goods in the noon session. These were judged by eminent chefs from the industry, who were very impressed with what the contestants had created. 3 prizes were announced in each category and the prize distribution took place a the valedictory ceremony.

And of course the Non stop eating at Khanavali, the food court, where there was an unprecedented number of people who thronged the various food stalls and just did not seem to want it to end !!!

People of all ages were seeing enjoying the fare and trying out different items.

A noteworthy point was this trade fair aimed to reduce waste and plastic to a great extent. Only steel and biodegradable serving ware was used and no plastic water bottles. Garbage segregation was continually done. This resulted in a huge reduction in waste generation.

The stalls of course were the main attraction for the public and the sheer numbers of people visiting every stall was a true sight to behold !!!

The VIP catering on all 3 days was done by the Taj West End, Bangalore and they served a good variety of millet based dishes including soups, salads, mains and dessert. The fare was well appreciated by both the national and international diners.

Press conference –

There was also a press meet held by Big Basket, India’s first comprehensive online store. The Minister for Agriculture and the Big Basket’s National head Buying and Merchandising, Shri Seshu Kumar Tirumala, unveiled the new ‘bb Good Diet’ range of healthy food products that included gluten free crackers, gluten free millet granola bars in various flavors, quinoa muesli, millet flakes etc.

Valedictory ceremony –

The very well crafted Valedictory ceremony was a fitting end to the 3 days of hectic activity and hard work. Shri Jagadeesha delivered the summary of the entire fair with a speech that was an excellent coverage of all the events leading up to the fair and during the fair.

Awards were given to the best stalls in the various categories.

Brands and farmer federations who had signed MOUs (memorandum of understanding) and LOIs (letter of intent) with potential to generate crores of business, were also felicitated.

The commissioner also personally thanked the various teams and members who were involved in making the OMITF2019 a huge success and the minister presented them with beautiful Bidriware mementos and millet hampers.

Of course the event was interspersed with colorful cultural performances by various troupes, for the entertainment of the dignitaries and visitors.

Outcome of the OMITF2019 –

The success of an event of this scale can be seen in the numbers that it generated.

7 countries and 10 Indian states participated in the fair.

Around 2 lakh visitors have been estimated to have visited the event.

The fair saw a total of 512 registrations for B2B meetings which included 174 domestic buyers, 142 private sellers, 18 international buyers, 15 Farmer Federation and 33 FPOs (farmer producer organizations).

Over the last three days the total business generated amounted to Rs. 240.25 crores (with 59,511 metric tonnes of products).

67 MOUs were signed which amounted to Rs. 153.94 crores (24, 081 metric tonnes).

The total business generated from the B2B meetings amounted to Rs 224 crores (40136 metric tonnes).

Stall sales amounted to Rs. 66.33 lakhs (6875 metric tonnes) while business dealing at stalls amounted to Rs. 15.59 crores (12, 500 metric tonnes).

Business generated by international buyers amounted to Rs. 32 crores (3329 metric tonnes). Millets alone accounted for Rs. 49 crores.