January 2, 2013

World Agricultural Forum (WAF) Chairman Kenneth Baker and WAF Advisory Board Chairman, James Bolger was welcomed by N. KiranKumar Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to a public meeting in Parliament's Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad and launched preparations for the WAF Congress & Trade Fair.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the three-day conference on November 7, 2013. The Chief Minister said "the Andhra Pradesh Government is hosting the World Agricultural Forum 2013 mainly with a view to project the interests of the small agriculturists of India and other such developing countries in the context of globalising agricultural trade. Hence, the theme chosen for WAF Congress 2013 'Re-shaping agriculture for a sustainable future: focus on small farm-holders', was extremely important".

He went on to say "we have already initiated steps for making all arrangements to make the WAF 2013 Congress a landmark event. We have constituted a Ministerial Committee and Secretaries Committee and The Chief Secretary is monitoring the progress of the preparations".

"The particular focus in 2013 will be small farm-holders and women in agriculture. There will be much discussion on re-shaping and re-positioning small farm holder agriculture to make farming economically viable," says Ken Baker, chairman of the World Agricultural Forum.

Agriculture Ministers and Senior Officials from other States attended the meeting. The Chief Minister in his remarks said "with the rapid spread of commercialisation and globalisation in agriculture, the livelihoods of 138 million farmers of India are being threatened like never before. The extremely small size of holdings of just 1.16 hectares per head makes them vulnerable for even small changes in the prices of inputs and outputs.

India is the largest importer of Edible Oils in the world. Annually 12 million tonnes of edible oil costing about US$10 billion or INR55,000 crores is imported from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, etc. Similarly, India also depends on the countries of Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Myanmar, and Cambodia for its pulse imports". He continued "agriculture still remains the most important occupation of Indians providing livelihood to 60% of its population and contributing only 15% of the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP)".

In welcoming the WAF 2013 Congress to India and officially launching the Congress brochure the Chief Minister said the World Agricultural Forum (WAF) is the foremost global agricultural platform that initiates dialogue between those who can impact agriculture. The WAF is focused on sustaining the lives and livelihood of the world's population by meeting the growing needs for food, fuel and fibre. On a global stage, the WAF produces one of the largest biennial gatherings of leaders ready to implement innovation and positive changes addressing the world's growing population and respective agriculture shortages in both developed and developing nations.