Agro machinery draw huge crowd at IBAM

A wide range of agricultural machines, being displayed at the ongoing agriculture mechanisation summit in the capital, drew a huge number of visitors on Saturday.

Over 100 types of new and old agricultural machines including tractors, harvesters, combine harvesters, reapers, power trailers, brush cutters, multi-crop reapers, threshers, bed planters, seeders, and rice trans-planters are being exhibited at the summit.

Machine manufacturers and marketers from India and Bangladesh are taking part in the three-day summit, titled Indo-Bangladesh Agri Mechanisation Summit (IBAM) that started on Friday at the International Convention City Bashundhara.

Visiting the fair on Saturday, it was seen that representatives from various financing and technology organisations as well as general farmers are visiting the summit.

A jute fibre extracting machine ‘Ashkal’, being displayed at RK Metal’s stall from Faridpur, drew the attention of a good number of visitors. They were trying to get a detailed idea about the machines in various ways.

Two types of ‘Ashkal’ machines were on display: one for extracting jute fibre from jute sticks‍ and the other for jute husks. The marketing of the first one has not started yet. It will be marketed soon, said officials of the stall.

At the fair, small and new machinery stalls showcasing reapers, trailers, and harvesters saw the highest number of visitors.

Md Ikhtiar Sobhan, head of new business opportunities of iFarmer, told The Business Post, “We basically introduce the technology to the farmers and help them buy it. So, I came to see what new technologies are being displayed at the fair. All the machinery required from the beginning to the end of farming can be found under the same roof at the fair.”

“Some Indian machines are being displayed which are suitable for farming in our country. Users can also compare them with the machines used in the country. Apart from this, the domestic producers also have many new innovations, which hopefully will improve the future agriculture sector,” he added.

The stalls of Indian manufacturers VST and Mahindra and local companies ACI, Bangla Mark, Metal, and Janata were seen relatively crowded.

Mustafizur Rahman, the coordinator of Bangla Mark Agro, said, “Demand for agricultural machinery is increasing day by day. We are getting a good response from the visitors. During the last aman season, we sold more than 500 agro machinery including 150 tractors. Our tractor is in high demand due to having an air condition system.”

VST Tillers Tractors Ltd is participating in the fair from Bangalore in India. Syed Humayun Kabir Ahmed, sales manager of the company, said, “We are India’s leading agricultural machinery manufacturer. We believe that our tillers are equipped with more advanced technology than the tillers currently in use. We hope to get a good market for it in Bangladesh. We are looking for distributors to sell our products in Bangladesh.”

The expo jointly organised by FBCCI, Confederation of Indian Industries, Tractor and Mechanisation Association, and the Indian High Commission, will continue till today.