This year’s show was held in the Palace Grounds, Bangalore as against in Lalbagh in 2005. Three parallel events marked the show – Trade fair, Organic food festival, and The Congress. Held from 9th to 12th November, 2006, the event was a glittering affair. The venue ensured that most of the visitors were “Serious” visitors as against a significant number of “Casual” visitors who visited India Organic 2005 because of Lalbagh being a tourist attraction by itself. This of course resulted in a much lesser number of total visitors (15,000 against 30,000 of last year).

The India Organic 2006 had two Co-organizers to help ICCOA – The National Centre for Organic Farming and Morarka Organics. Morarka Organics not only were the Co-organizers, but also took care of the Organic Food festival completely.

The trade show and the Organic food festival were inaugurated on the 9th November, 2006 by Hon’ble Shri M V Rajasekharan (Union Minister of State for Planning) and Hon’ble Shri R Ashok (Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka) respectively. Hon’ble Shri Sompal (Former Union Minister) and Dr. (Ms.) Prabha Mahale (Director IFOAM) delivered keynote addresses. Mr. Hans-Peter Egler of SECO, Switzerland released the ICCOA publications The Indian Organic Pathway, Directory of Organic Stakeholders, The Market for Organic Foods in India and India Positioning High in Organic Agribusiness.

More than 15,000 visitors (30,000 last year), more than 60 overseas delegates (40 last year), 172 stalls of the entire spectrum of the Organic business including six from overseas were the statistical highlights of the trade show. The number of “Serious” visitors also was an indication that the event is maturing in to a real trade event rather than a consumer event.

           
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On the 10th November, 2006 evening invited guests had a sumptuous organic dinner hosted by ICCOA and Morarka Organics. The delicacies prepared with care by the specialist chefs were the talk of the evening.

           
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Hon’ble Shri H D Deve Gowda, Former Prime Minister, an ardent fan of Organic farming took a special time off from his busy schedule to visit nearly every stall of the trade show.

Other Celebrity Visitors were Shri Hariprasad, M P, Rajya Sabha, Shri Rajashekhar, MLA, Karnataka, Shri Kamal Morarka, Former Union Minister, Shri Rajkrishna Gaur, Minister of Agriculture, Himachal Pradesh, Shri Pattanayak, Mission Director, NHM, Dr. Santosh Babu, District Collector, Krishnagiri District, a large number of senior officers from the Central and State governments.

           
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Parallel with the trade show, India Organic 2006 had two very important events. The Congress and the Organic Food festival. The Congress with the main theme Indian Organic Business Today Global and Local, was a huge success with nearly six hundred delegates. The Congress was inaugurated on the 10th November, 2006 and the inaugural session had such luminaries as Ms. Vandana Shiva, Mr. Volkert Engelsman from the Netherlands, Mr. Claude Alvares of the OFAI, Dr. Prabha Mahale (Director IFOAM) as main Speakers.

The Congress organized jointly with Organic Services, Germany, had Ms. Mildred Steidle representing them. We had 90 sessions with 9 themes, addressed by Speakers selected from all over the world. A special addition this year was the SOC (State, Organization, and Companies) Presentations where the stake holders could make presentations to select audience.

           
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At the India Organic 2006, the Buyer-Seller meets was a grand success. Large number of participants showed interest to have such meets and ICCOA was able to organize 102 such meets. Of this 39 B2B meets were held with foreign buyers directly and the remaining ones were between Indian buyers and Indian sellers. The meeting of 72 Tibetan farmers with a delegation of 5 European and Indian buyers was also a special feature of the B2B session. This activity alone is also a great pointer towards the success of a trade show as these B2B meets brings the business value of the fair.

           
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To drive home the most important part of organic agriculture, namely, consumption of organic foods, the fair had a sprawling organic food court. This helped ‘Celebrate’ an Organic Food festival by serving cuisines from various parts of the country all prepared with organic food ingredients only. Entirely handled ably by Morarka Organics, the food festival was a great wit.

           
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Unveiling of Organic Business Portal by Shri H D Deve Gowda, former Prime Minister of India. The Portal has been developed by M/s. Morarka Organic and Mr. Mukesh Gupta, Director of the organization explained

           
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Hon’ble Shri Subodh Kant Sahay (Union Minister for Food Processing) was the Chief Guest during the closing ceremony. Mr. Sahay who spent a considerable amount of time going around the stall was pleasantly surprised by the progress of the organic movement in the country.

           
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Some of the highlights of India Organic 2006 are e.g.,

	Distinctly identifying certified organic participants and the non-certified ones.
	Exclusive enclosures for State pavilions and space for sponsors.
	Congress (Seminar series) with about 90 topics addressed by International and National experts.
	An exclusively organic menu served at the Organic food festival with cuisines from different regions of the country.
	Participation by all Certification bodies, Laboratories and Post harvest processors.
	Greater number of foreign buyers B2B meets.
	Buyer-seller meets (B2B) meets crossed the 100 mark (102 B2B meets).
	Parallel events included among others: Organic Food Festival and Cultural Shows

           
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