MUMBAI: Weeks after CM Eknath Shinde and industries minister Uday Samant visited Switzerland for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, state agriculture minister Abdul Sattar and officials from the agriculture department will be travelling to Germany to attend the Trade Fair for Organic Food and to Switzerland for a visit to the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), reports Chaitanya Marpakwar.
A Government Resolution issued on Tuesday approved Sattar's and agriculture commissioner Sunil Chavan's tour to Germany and Switzerland between February 15 and 21. Officials said the delegation will try to increase foreign investment in the agriculture sector in Maharashtra.
Organised by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement, Sattar will participate in the Trade Fair for Organic Food in Nuremberg. "They will study how this method will be adopted by visiting the organic farming projects. The trip will have a special emphasis on how to bring foreign investment to Maharashtra and how organic farming can flourish. The delegation will visit international exhibitions, B2B meetings and attend seminars at the trade fair; and since international buyers and processors will participate too, it will help in developing the organic agricultural value chain in the state," officials said.
Last month, Shiv Sena (UBT) politician Aaditya Thackeray had said the Eknath Shinde government had spent Rs 35-Rs 40 crore on the four-day WEF, but the CM had spent only 28 hours in Davos.