As part of the Virtual Conclave for Career Guidance 2021, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), in association with The Hindu , hosted a webinar on the Role of Technology in Agriculture Courses moderated by Deepa H. Ramakrishnan, Sr. Asst. Editor-Reporting.
Dr. M. Chinnadurai, Dean, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, SRMIST spoke of the evolution in agriculture with output-increasing technologies leading to improvements in the field.
“The yield of rice in 1960 was less than one tonne per hectare, as opposed to the current three tonnes. This is due to high yielding variety rice and management techniques. Over the years, region-specific varieties have also evolved, as have fast-production technologies,” he explained.
Dr. M. Sanjeevagandhi, Assistant Professor, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, SRMIST, described different technologies used in agriculture like sensors to identify soil moisture, smart water systems, and precision farming using geospatial technology.
“Tech in agriculture is the need of the hour to secure food for a rapidly growing population, balance climate change issues, reduce workers’ workload, boost production quality and efficiency of farming products, optimise level of input application, storage, transport, and maximise profits,” he said.
Dr. Subrat Panda, Chief Technology Officer, AgNext Technologies, explained how AI, Sensors and IoT impact Agtech in a big way.“Today, we need cross-domain technology and research collaboration in agriculture. This can be done by introducing concepts of horizontal technologies such as AI, IoT, Nano-Tech and Material Sciences to Agriculture students. Internship in agritech companies and research collaboration will also help them gain perspective,” he said
The session, along with the Q&A session can be viewed at http://bit.ly/SRMTHYT2
