VAIGA turns into an umbrella agri-event for all stakeholders

Thiruvananthapuram: The sixth edition of the Value Addition for Income Generation in Agriculture (VAIGA) expo is a crowd-puller for all the right reasons. With more than 240 stalls aimed at improving the growth of the agricultural product industry, the expo at Putharikandam Maithanam is currently a hot spot for every kind of stakeholder from industry experts, product sellers, manufacturers, distributors, consumers, and to even organic-lifestyle enthusiasts.
The exhibition proves to be a major platform for small-scale food product startups to closely interact with potential distributors. Sunil Chandran (45) is one such startup owner who has travelled from Malappuram in spite of his condition of being confined to a wheelchair. He is at the expo with dreams to scale up his brand ‘Mom’s Tesori’ which he started eight months ago.
“I tried doing business with other partners but it never worked as people often took advantage of my limitations. Currently, my home is the place where we make products along with my 65-year-old mother and another assistant. We basically sell five ready-to-cook curry pastes made from all-natural ingredients with no added preservatives or colours,” he said.
“Apart from GI-tagged Kashmiri saffron, lavender and red chilli, we are here to raise awareness about the value-added products made from these ingredients. We are extremely happy to have received such a positive response for most of our products, especially our chillies and Kashmiri aromatic rice called Mushk Buji,” said Shamsul Hassan Mir, a marketing officer for the department of agriculture, Kashmir. Assamese tea and black rice, tamarillos and cherry pepper from Sikkim, millet-based products from Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu are all part of a long list of products in demand at the expo.