The international agri-business show in France, SIMA Paris 2019, which saw notable delegates attend from Nigeria, including the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, ended with expert proffering solutions to the issues around innovation and challenges in agriculture globally.
In this year’s edition of the bi-annual conference, 230,000 professionals from all over the world – an attendance stable compared with 2017 – converged at Paris Nord Villepinte to dialogue and take a critical assessment of developments in agriculture.
The event, held February 24 to 28, noted an increase in the number of exhibitors from abroad (up 12.5% with 42 countries represented), 25% of its visitors coming from 140 countries and its 400 international delegations.
“We are very happy with the attendance at SIMA this year. Being here has enabled us to make many quality contacts with manufacturers and also other Village start-ups. This has enabled us to create synergies and forge strong links for the future,” explains Oscar Lauby, director of development of HKTC Technologies, one of the conference participants.
The event this year featured round-table discussions on the major challenges facing agriculture today – such as organic farming, cropping systems of the future, agriculture in the digital age, livestock rearing and agric technology.
SIMA Africa summit, one of the highlights of the conference, brought together 10 agribusiness experts to speak on increasing agricultural production through technology and mechanisation and promoting a dynamic food industry in Africa.
As a platform for convergence, distributors from all over the world were brought together to consider the subject of training and the development of dealership business at SIMA Dealers’ Day.
The conference offered 190 candidates the opportunity to find out about some 50 positions offered by 16 companies, with many contracts are already in the process of being signed.
Also new at the 2019 SIMA was a Hackathon, organised by La Ferme Digitale with the Atos competition, enabling coders and professionals from the agricultural sector to work for 48 hours on the use agricultural spatial data.
The first prize was awarded to Ohm sweet home for its Mes Parcelles (My Plots) project, which is used to improve the definition of the sun’s potential via Sentinel.
The year 2019 opened a new edition of the SIMA, which saw the international meeting of professionals of the breeding and genetics on the SIMAGENA platform from 24 to 28 February 2019.
A new record was set for SIMAGENA as, Olga, a six-months heifer from the Prim’Holstein breed was sold for €130,000, a European historical record.
Her half-sister was holding the previous record with a German sale reaching 120,000 euros, owing to the exceptional genetic line of the heifers.
The SIMA 2019 conference which was graced by Didier Guillaume, Minister of Agriculture and Food who used his visit to reiterate his support for the sector and highlight the importance of new solutions for the development of agro-ecology.
