Consortium of researchers to turn farming into 'assured'

In a major initiative to apply disruptive technology in agriculture, a consortium of researchers has been formed in partnership with 3 leading institutions in the country, with the aim of turning farming from an 'uncertain' to 'assured' activity. The platform, the Consortium of Researchers for Disruptive Technologies in Agriculture (CDTA), is a joint venture of the academic-cum-research scientists of IIITMK, Thiruvananthapuram, GB Pant University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Pant Nagar (Uttarkhand) and Indian Institute Space Technology, a press release here said. The team will advocate and implement application of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics (DA), Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing (CC), Aerospace Observation and Miniaturised Sensors in the agriculture domain. They together present the untapped potential to overcome challenges facing Indian agriculture and to transform it from an Uncertain to Assured one. Assured agriculture represents a scenario where individual farmers are guided at every stage of crop growth and provided with timely advisories and physical or fiscal assistance, to ensure beneficial returns for investment; without compromising on biological diversity in the immediate vicinity. Having seized the need for tapping the tremendous potential of disruptive technology in agriculture, it was considered necessary to create a platform for advocating, creating, applying and sharing the new knowledge for the benefit of the Indian farming sector. Dr R Jaishanker(Associate Professor, Ecological Informatics, C V Raman Laboratory of Ecological Informatics, IIITM-Kerala), Prof Ajeet Singh Nain (Head, Department of Agro-Meteorology, GB Pant University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, (Uttarakhand) and Dr V K Dadhwal (Director, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram (Mentor) are the lead role players of the initiative. They are currently engaged in integrating crop simulation models on Cloud, which will help deliver farmer specific advisories and constitute the first step towards Assured Agriculture. Among its primary objectives, the CDTA envisions to become a platform to share knowledge, good practices and support training in disruptive technologies to interdisciplinary scientists and researchers, focusing on agriculture.

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