Information Technology Minister K. Taraka Rama Rao said the Government will work with International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to extend better services to farmers.
The IT Minister along with Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and IRCISAT Director General David Bergvinson inaugurated the I-Hub at ICRISAT on Monday. “Agriculture is one of the sectors lagging behind in financial aspects. Technology should bring social change and that is what Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao wants. The research that is being carried out at organisations like ICRISAT should not be for only research sake. The research results should reach the farmers and enhance their revenues,” he said adding that I-Hub is an extension to T- Hub working with agriculture technologies.
Contribution of agriculture
Stating that while 1.5% of the American population depending on agriculture contributes between 10% and 15% of GDP, in India the same amount of contribution is being made by about 70% of the population in farming community. “Lot of innovations end up at publishing of research papers in journals. Instead test them at field level and see that the result reaches the end user,” he opined.
Mr. Rama Rao said that Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) for the convergence of innovations and collaborations in the offing and would be established shortly.
Mr. Srinivas Reddy said that efforts should be made to increase the revenues and wondered why the farmers were being forced to come for loan year after year instead of making them economically stand on their feet.
IT expert and Padma Shri awardee B.V. Mohn Reddy suggested that the Telangana Government use the research being done here. He urged V. Praveen Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Acharya Jayashankar Agriculture University, to introduce entrepreneurship as a minor subject in the university curriculum.
Global warming
“We have to use the available technologies to reduce the impact of global warming which poses a challenge. In the I-Hub I stands for innovation, impact, integration and inspiration. Technologies should improve the revenues of farmers,” said Mr. Bergvinson. IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and others were present.
