Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) in collaboration with Association of Indian Organic Industry (AIOI) launched an online organic agriculture course on Tuesday.
The launch was done virtually by Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Santosh Sarangi, AIOI chief executive officer P.V.S.M. Gouri, Secretary (Agriculture) M. Raghunandan Rao and university Vice-Chancellor V. Praveen Rao.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Praveen Rao said controlling weeds was a major challenge in organic farming and suggested the course organisers to include it in the syllabus. Certification of organic produce, quality and pest management issues also ought to be included in the curriculum, he opined.
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Further, he suggested the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, robotics and drone technology on a large scale in organic farming and train the students in those areas.
Complimenting the initiative of the industry and academia, Mr. Sarangi said such a practice was already well established in the Western countries. Stating that there was a shortage of skilled manpower in the organic farming sector, he hoped that introduction of the course jointly by PJTSAU and AIOI would help overcome it.
PJTSAU director (Research) R. Jagadeeshwar and Rajasekhar Reddy of 24 Mantra, an organic produce marketing company, were among those who participated.
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