Celebrating the Year of Cooperatives: HARVEST Asia Pacific Summit begins at IIT Ropar

Celebrating the Year of Cooperatives: HARVEST Asia Pacific Summit begins at IIT Ropar

Bahadurjeet Singh/Rupnagar,April 22,2025   

The HARVEST (Holistic Agri-tech Initiative for Rural Value-chain Enhancement & Sustainable Transformation) Asia Pacific Summit on Smart & Sustainable Agriculture officially began on April 21, 2025, with Day 1 hosted at IIT Ropar, Punjab. This marks the start of a transformative week dedicated to empowering Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and agricultural cooperatives through curated sessions focused on innovation, best practices, and collaboration. With participation from FPOs and cooperatives across 10 Indian states and 7 Asia-Pacific countries, the summit fosters a global dialogue on sustainable agriculture.

Jointly organized by NEDAC (Network for the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific), PI-RAHI (Panjab University–IIT Ropar Regional Accelerator for Holistic Innovation Foundation), and the Northern Region Science & Technology Cluster under the O/o PSA, Government of India, the summit is held in collaboration with Unati Co-op. Marketing-cum-Processing Society Ltd. The goal is to enhance rural value chains and drive grassroots transformation through technology.

Dr. Jatinder Kaur Arora, Advisor to the Northern Region S&T Cluster, delivered the opening address, spotlighting Unati Cooperative as a successful model of cooperative-led entrepreneurship. Dr. Radhika Trikha, CEO of iHub-AWaDH, highlighted agritech innovations developed under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems and ANNAM.AI (AI- CoE in Agriculture) in data driven agriculture.

Neha Arora, COO of the Northern Region S&T Cluster, discussed the impact of collaborative consortia in accelerating agricultural entrepreneurship.  Shailender Kaur (IFS), Director of Horticulture, Government of Punjab, appreciated the summit’s farmer-first approach.

The session also featured addresses by Dr. Manmohanjit Singh from PAU and Virgilio Rodriguez Lazaga, Vice Chairman of NEDAC. A key highlight was the MoU signed between NEDAC and PI-RAHI for joint capacity-building and tech deployment.

The inaugural session concluded with a heartfelt Vote of Thanks by Jyoti Saroop, Founder & Director, Unnati Cooperative, whose grassroots leadership has created inclusive economic opportunities for farmers.Delegates later participated in interactive sessions at iHub-AWaDH, featuring agri-tech talks by Dr. Prabir Sarkar and Dr. Neelkanth Nirmalkar, and lab tours across IIT Ropar.

In alignment with the United Nations’ 2025 International Year of Cooperatives, HARVEST celebrates the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better World.” The summit will continue with a week of field visits and thematic sessions at CSIR–IHBT Palampur, Unnati Cooperative, and NABI Mohali, furthering its mission to scale tech-powered cooperative solutions.