Krishi Mela attracts a record 17.35 lakh visitors

Large number of urbanites visiting the mela is being seen as a trend of urbanites showing interest in farming

The four-day Krishi Mela of the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru which came to an end on Sunday, has attracted a total of 17.35 lakh visitors, which is the highest in the last five years. According to the university authorities, the mela drew a crowd of 6.14 lakh persons on Sunday.

The mela saw participation of 13.1 lakh people in 2018-19, 14.5 lakh in 2019-20, and 8.1 lakh in 2021-22. During 2020-21, only 200 visitors a day were allowed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

University’s Director of Extension K. Narayana Gowda attributes the huge crowd to the interest being shown by urban people in agriculture. “This time, a large number of urbanites especially youth also visited the mela along with farmers. This is mainly because of the fact that urbanites, especially those who have roots in villages, were able to re-establish their contacts with their native areas during the pandemic period,” he told The Hindu.

“In fact there are instances of some urban dwellers selling their property in cities to buy agricultural land,” he says.

At the same time, he acknowledges that such a trend has increased the responsibility of the university as there is a dire need to provide timely scientific advise to such people and also handhold them.

Mr. Gowda feels that the number of visitors would have further increased if there were no rains during the mela.

Meanwhile the sales by various stalls put up too have seen a sharp increase with the mela recording a total business volume of ₹9.01 crore over four days.