Livestock Exhibition kicks off in Pragati Maidan

New Delhi, Nov 1 (UNI) Over 150 exhibitors from India and other overseas countries are showcasing their innovations in the 3-day livestock exhibition -- VIV India 2007 -- which kicked off at Pragati Maidan here today.

(VIV is a Dutch abbreviation for ''Trade fair for innovative animal production and processing.

VIV India is a Feed to Meat event for the Indian market, enabling Indian and International exhibitors to get in contact with farmers and buyers of the livestock sector.

VIV covers the whole range from Feed to Meat within the poultry, pigs, cattle and aqua industries. Food to Meat brings together supply and demand within the complete animal protein chain.

Besides India, exhibitors from Italy, France, US, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Singapore and country pavilions by China and France has also put on display the best of their innovations in the livestock sector.

The trade show has a strong focus on education and aims to showcase all parts of the production chains for poultry, eggs, fish and dairy.

With the support of VIV's permanent partners like International Poultry Council (IPC), Rabobank, FAO and the American Soybean Association visitors to VIV show will have the information on new trends at first hand.

Exhibitors plan to meet about 10,000 farmers and buyers mainly from India and also from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

International exhibitors are bringing world-wide experience to India to provide practical solutions and expertise to Indian counterparts.

Companies like Ayurvet Ltd (India), Big Dutchman International Gmbh (Germany), Fort Dodge Animal Health (India), IMV India Pvt, Ltd (France), Novus International (Thailand), Stork Food System (Netherlands) and Vetcare and many more are part of the exhibition.

Planning Commission Member V L Chopra who inaugurated the exhibition said the key issue concerning the poultry industry were shortage of maize which could be tackled through encouraging contract farming, and high costs of logistics. Besides, Industry needs to have control measures implemented.

Dr S K Bandyopadhyay, Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture, in his key note address said India is producing 44 billion eggs and 6 million of meat and quality of these products would be improved as the government planned to provide quality genetics infrastructure.

The livestock sector contributes 27 per cent of GDP and source of family imcome in the arid and semi-arid areas of the country. India possesses the largest livestock population in the world after Brazil.

UNI