It was a bounty for ‘Bounteous Karnataka’ on Thursday as the state lapped up nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in investments in 31 projects on the first day of the Global Agribusiness and Food Processing Summit 2011 even as Central and state political biggies stayed away from the event and some 10,000 farmers staged a protest outside the venue near Tumkur.

The meet, a first in India, has attracted nearly 1,000 participants, including potential investors from Netherlands, Israel and France.

The State Bank of India said it would fund Rs 40,000 crore of agribusiness projects, while several private entities proposed investments ranging from Rs 500 crore to Rs 15,000 crore, mostly in post-harvest infrastructure and agri-industrial clusters.

MoUs signed for 31 projects worth Rs 93,724.5 crore

Karnataka lapped up as many as 31 projects worth Rs 93,724 crore on Day One of the country’s first-ever Global Agribusiness and Food Processing Summit 2011, held on Thursday.

Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who delivered the inaugural address at the two-day Summit, did not forget to compliment his predecessor B.S. Yeddyurappa saying it was his unique Agriculture Budget 2011-12, tabled with an outlay of Rs 17,857 crore, which had set the ground for the ambitious initiative. The summit has attracted nearly 1,000 participants including potential inv-estors from Netherlands, Israel and France.

“We intend to attract both domestic and overseas investors to upgrade agriculture and allied sectors in the state. The investments are estimated to generate around 3 lakh direct jobs and 7 lakh indirect job opportunities,” said Mr Gowda.

Despite the growing protests against the summit by farmers groups—which disrupted the proceedings several times— the CM reiterated the government’s stand on land acquisition stating, “Conc-erns over land availability for the projects are unfou-nded. We have identified 4,000 hectares from our existing land bank. There will be no fresh or forcible land acquisition.”

“Only serious players are welcome to invest and no speculator or real estate agent will be encouraged,” assured Gowda, adding that the government’s Integrated Agri-business Development Policy 2011 was a precursor to the Summit as it is based on ‘sustainable and inclusive development’ to encourage meaningful partnerships between farmers, traders and the corporate sector.

Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and MD, Mahindra and Mahindra Group who was the guest of honour said, “Growth should be robust and inclusive. Agribusiness should generate better income for farmers.”

Rakesh Kacker, secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industry said, “The state’s policies are conducive to implement schemes under the 11the Five Year Plan with three focus areas - food parks, cold chains and abattoirs.”

The summit comes at a time when the country is celebrating agricultural growth by recording the highest foodgrain production of 240 million tonnes in 2010, noted Dr S. Ayyappan, secretary, department of Agriculture Research, adding, “We urge Karnataka to take up two new approaches in skill development in the sector (proposed in 12th Plan) – Student Ready, an intervention at varsity level, and Farmers First initiative of engaging young agri students in the field with farmers.”

10,000 farmers join protest outside summit venue

The Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on Tumkur Road— the venue for the country’s first-ever Global Agribusiness and Food Processing Summit 2011— witnessed a massive farmers’ protest, forcing the police to cordon off the place and remove thousands of farmers who had congregated outside the venue.

Some farmers, who managed to gain entry into the convention centre were arrested after they raised slogans against the government. As the day progressed, more than 10,000 farmers gathered close to the BIEC and held an ‘alternative summit’ to protest against the Summit and to condemn the government’s ‘ill-conceived’ agriculture policies.

Farmers’ groups like Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, led by its president K.S. Puttanniah and Hasiru Sene pointed out that the Summit was an effort to render debt-trapped farmers landless as an investment of Rs 50,000 crore would necessitate the acquisition of thousands of acres of land.

Mr Puttannaiah alleged that the Integrated Agribusiness Development Policy 2011 was anti-farmer as it would roll out a red carpet to investors, who will get land, power, water and connectivity almost free of cost and also a tax holiday. As for the APMC Act, it would encourage contract farming and bonded labour of poor farmers, he said.

The police allowed the farmers to continue their protest on a vacant plot nearly a km away from BIEC. The farmers however, tried to hoodwink the police and sneak into the venue in the guise of participants. A few of those who tried to disrupt the session, were evicted.