agricultural technology

Feb
08
2021
2 Comments
By Shreyoshi Ghosh
IIT Kharagpur Develops Solar-powered Pest Control System for Smaller Farm Fields

IIT Kharagpur Develops Solar-powered Pest Control System for Smaller Farm Fields

Spotlight Innovation, , , , , ,
Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed energy-efficient pest controlling device for smaller agricultural tracts owned by marginal farmers. The research team has developed a self-propelled boom-type sprayer that can be operated using solar energy while safely guided through the crops in smaller tracts of land. The device is aimed to increase field capacity and uniformity in liquid spraying and also to reduce drudgery to the operator and dependency on fossil fuel for carrying out spraying in cropped areas.  Prevention of pests and diseases during different growth stages of crops is an important process to increase its yield. For larger tracts…
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Jan
20
2021
3 Comments
By Shreyoshi Ghosh
IIT Kharagpur to Incubate Agri-Food Startups to support Food Security

IIT Kharagpur to Incubate Agri-Food Startups to support Food Security

Spotlight Innovation, , , , , , , ,
Shiksha Mantri to Flag-off Agri-Food Techathon at IIT Kharagpur to promote Agri and Food Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship IIT Kharagpur in association with NABARD is organizing the first of its kind Agri-Food Techathon (AFT 2021), to promote the participation of India’s youth in innovation and entrepreneurship in different domains of the Agri-Food sector. AFT-2021 will be inaugurated by Hon’ble Shiksha Mantri Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on January 25, 2021. The foundation of the Agri-Business Incubation Centre will also be laid at the inaugural event, which will carry out the mandate to incubate innovative ideas in agriculture and food technology domain…
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Jan
06
2021
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By Shreyoshi Ghosh
Automating sugarcane plantation to boost profitability

Automating sugarcane plantation to boost profitability

In-Depth, , , , , , , , , ,
Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed devices for automating a range of functions for planting sugarcane buds, fitted with an autonomous fungicide application with the aim to reduce labour hours and raw material wastage.  Sugarcane is a global industrial crop popular for the production of sugar, bioenergy, paper, ethanol, electricity etc. The economic importance of the crop in India is paramount with the country registering 17% of global sugarcane production, second only to Brazil. But each year the farmers are losing excess cane stalk as seed material due to conventional cultivation practice which is also labour and time-intensive thus increasing…
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Oct
07
2020
1 Comment
By Shreyoshi Ghosh
IIT KGP Develops Agro-Robotic Solution for Plant Disease Management

IIT KGP Develops Agro-Robotic Solution for Plant Disease Management

In-Depth, , ,
IIT Kharagpur Develops Robotic Solution for Plant Disease Identification and Pesticide Use India is moving at an accelerated pace towards digitization automation. The farm sector which employs about 58% of India’s workforce and contributes to about 14% of the current GDP, has adopted technological advancement to warrant uniform progress. However, farm mechanization in India still has less than 50% penetration. The Govt of India has been taking several measures and a significant drive towards this end is the multi-body project “Development of autonomous multipurpose agricultural robotic platform” funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and run by C-DAC…
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Jul
17
2020
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By Shreyoshi Ghosh
IIT KGP Forecasts Facilitating Farming Decisions

IIT KGP Forecasts Facilitating Farming Decisions

In-Depth, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
IIT Kharagpur's Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa is forecasting climatic risks and advising farmers for better agricultural decision-making Hindustan Times       Live Mint        India Blooms        News 18 (Hindi)         Careers360        The Week      Outlook         News Nation      USA Science News             Financial Express        Republic World       Navbharat Times      The Arunachal Times       Deccan Herald Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed an advanced weather prediction system to facilitate better decision making in agricultural production and reduction of…
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Jul
13
2020
22 Comments
By Shreyoshi Ghosh
Towards Farm Digitization

Towards Farm Digitization

In-Depth, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
IIT Kharagpur Training Researchers in Application of Digital Technologies in Agriculture for bringing Digital Revolution in the Farm sector In 2015, the Government of India had launched the Digital India programme to transition India’s public service sector into the digital space. Agriculture is the largest employment vertical with a GDP share of 14% holds a key place in this mission to digitization. Over the years, India has witnessed a substantial increase in yields, crop diversity due to mechanization and knowledge dissemination programmes. However, the steeping consumption due to population explosion and rising income has been a constant challenge despite the…
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Jul
12
2020
0 Comments
By Shreyoshi Ghosh
Transforming Rural Economies

Transforming Rural Economies

Social Impact, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
COVID-19 has given a clarion call for a technology-enabled world, more so in the context of the Indian rural sector which has always stayed several steps behind the urban way of living. The slow progress could be attributed to not just lack of financial resources but also towards weak communication of functional knowledge, for a large population lacking literacy (M: 80.9%, F: 64.6%), and reliance on western technologies failing to cater to the requirements of the rural population of India. Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have come forward to bridge this gap by rolling out farming technologies as well as non-farming…
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