Agriculture Minister Randhir Kumar Singh urged the agricultural scientists and IT experts to come forward for exploiting the immense potential of information communication technology (ICT) in improving the farm production, productivity, marketing, processing, export and precision farming.
Inaugurating two-day national seminar on ICT application in changing face of agricultural at Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) on Friday, he said IT can also be effectively used in meeting the challenges posed by the climate change to farm sector.
“For accelerating the pace of agricultural development in the state, the government has decided to establish Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in all the subdivisions where KVKs do not exist. Besides, a separate agricultural university with headquarters at Godda is also being set up with the support of Government of India to cater to the area-specific needs of Santhal pargana region,” he added.
BAU Vice Chancellor Dr Parvinder Kaushal said ICT could be of immense help in information exchange, diagnostic and advisory services, surveillance through censors and image processing, planning through remote sensing and GIS application and decision support system.
Home, Jail and Disaster Management Department Special Secretary Dr Jata Shankar Chaudhary said on the occasion that ICT application was needed most in farm sector as target group of this sector was most vast. “Out of the 12 disasters notified by the Government of India, drought is the biggest disaster for Jharkhand which comes slowly but its socio-economic impact has cascading effect in coming years also,” Chaudhary pointed out. Agricultural Research Centre Head of Indian Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad) Dr P Krishna Reddy said agri-scientists and IT experts should come together to design ICT system suiting the Indian farmers. “Earlier farmers used to bring uprooted plants or diseased specimen of leaf, stem, fruit, vegetable etc to scientists for disease diagnosis and remedial recommendations but now they are doing and getting the required action by mail and WhatsApp sitting comfortably at their remote farm,” said Reddy on inaugural day where about 140 agricultural scientists and IT experts from across the country are participating in the deliberations.
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Kalyani (West Bengal) former Vice Chancellor Dr MM Adhikary, BAU Faculty of Agriculture Dean Dr Raghav Thakur and Seminar Organizing Committee President and Secretary Dr Alok Kumar Pandey and Dr BK Jha respectively also expressed their views in the inaugural session.