Kulbir Kalsi,,
INVC,,
Chandigarh,,
Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board (PSAMB), Chandigarh is organizing a International Conference on “Wholesale Markets – Global Opportunities and Innovation” on 20-21 November, 2012 at Chandigarh in collaboration with World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM), The Hague, Netherland, National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), Jaipur and National Council of State Agricultural Marketing Board (COSAMB), New Delhi.
This conference will be ingurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab.
Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board an organization of Government of Punjab, Chandigarh controlling the marketing of agricultural produce network in the State of Punjab.
The World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUMW) is global non-profit member association, established in 1955, that aims to promote the international exchange of information on wholesale and retail markets, with a view to improving their construction, organization and management.
COSAMB is a National level organization of all State Agricultural Marketing Boards / Department of Agricultural Marketing in various States of India, a non political and non-profit member organization, established in 1988 with objective to bring uniformity in agricultural marketing in India and to provide latest information about Agriculture Marketing Systems and Infrastructure to State Agricultural Marketing Boards, established and constituted by State Governments which is controlling authority of agricultural marketing systems in respective States, for betterment of agricultural marketing.
National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), Jaipur is the pioneer institution dealing of marketing of agricultural produce established by Government of India. Its role in the field of research, education and education extension and advisory is playing effectively in the Indian economy.
This event is being organized to exchange international opinion and ideas between agricultural marketing professionals, market operators, market functionaries and decision markers, so that agricultural commodities of Asian countries, especially of India which is a second largest producer of Fruits and Vegetables in the World, can compete in the World market and a strong trade network is established. This conference is being conducted in Punjab, so that the Punjab be benefited.
In this conference, the speakers are arranged by the WUWM from the Holland, France, German, Denmark, UK, Korea and China which are heads of various markets related to Fruit and Vegetables and authorities on the subject. In this conference Indian speakers will also participated and present their views.
The objective of this conference is to create a platform for knowledge sharing and exploring new business avenues and networking. The conference will provide an opportunity to discuss emerging wholesale market trends, technologies, industry needs, innovations, quality management and will help to gain an insight into potentials in different global wholesale markets and how to access them for strong ties. Some of the envisaged opportunities which can be explored by the participants are establishing cardinal links by determining interdependency among world wholesale markets, business interlocking through need assessment of business partners, joining hands to develop global standard for systems, methods and procedures in the markets along with latest technologies deployed. The conference will seek to fulfill the following objectives:-
To provide an interactive platform and discuss world’s best practices of wholesale market management.
To provide networking opportunities to professionals while also examining contemporary issues in the field of wholesale markets and explore continuous improvement opportunities.
To understand and learn various models of wholesale markets in the world suiting to local conditions.
To formulate a common consensus group of wholesale market investors, developers, managers, operators and administrators to extend mutual cooperation.
However, the century has been full of innovations, the call for innovation in infrastructure investment has always been intense to provide that extra competitive edge. New technologies, materials, services, revenues models in the field of wholesale markets are the only solution for handling the increased supply throughout the year efficiently, conveniently and safely. Some of the innovations that need to be discussed at this platform are discussed below:
1. Planning and Designing Innovations: Market infrastructure is important not only for the performance of various marketing functions and expansion of the size of the wholesale market but also for its improved efficiency. High investment with entrepreneurial skills is required for planning and designing this infrastructure. The recent innovations and sound planning of infrastructure has lead to improving the efficiency of marketing operations/functions and ultimately reduction in marketing costs losses and improving shelf life of produce.
2. Infrastructure and Equipments: Recently, markets have witnessed a large number of innovations relating to handling equipments in the market, cashless payment settlement systems, online quality check equipments, handy pesticide residue testing machine, use of RFID at multiple points and for multiple functions, electronic auction system, grading and sorting machines, packaging material and equipments, etc. The use of such equipments has helped to provide end to end solutions to the business needs of the stakeholders involved.
3. Retail-Wholesale Linkages: An integration of these two independent activities can create a win-win situation giving impetus to the agri supply chain as a whole through improvements in the relationships amongst the different segments of the chain and therefore create competitiveness and long term sustainability. In this context, it becomes extremely important to know the innovative models linking the wholesale-retail in various countries.
4. IT Application: The use of information technology in wholesale markets has become indispensable. Therefore, innovations in this field pertaining to generate and host useful portals, online auctions, payment settlement solution through plastic cards, information packages with application software, online quality check, paperless office, farmers information kiosks, demand and supply information, price revelation and display, etc need to be discussed at a global platform.
5. Waste Management: A review of the waste management
6. Disaster Management Development: Any disaster can interrupt the smooth functioning of wholesale market and also the well being of its stakeholders. Hence, a well chalked out disaster management plan dealing with risk reduction, preparing resources to respond to the hazard, responding to the actual damage caused by the hazard and limiting further damage can help evade loss and damage to asset and life. An innovative approach linking disaster management with sustainable development needs to be developed.
7. Insurance and development credit: It is a known fact that non availability of specific products of insurance to market infrastructure and poor credit flows has an adverse effect on the development of wholesale markets. Exploring innovative models can lead to improve credit delivery, better loan recovery and convenience in asset management.
