agritech Archives | The KGP Chronicle

Feb

21

2021

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By Shreyoshi Ghosh

IIT Kharagpur Innovates DGPS-Enabled Soil Mapping Tech for Effective Fertilization

In-Depthagri, agritech, fertilizer, gps, mapping, precision farming, soil

Geospatial mapping is a buzzword today with the Govt. of India liberalizing the sector. There is another side of mapping that could transform the food security program of India; soil maps which could be accessed using differential GPS, developed by researchers at IIT Kharagpur for a variable rate of fertilization application in farmlands. The novel technology is aimed towards efficient use of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potash for automated soil nutrition management by bypassing both manual labour based operations or sensor-based fertilization technologies which are still under development. Spatial variations in soil type and mineral content in large agricultural tracts are…

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

Spotlight Innovationagricultural pollution, agricultural sprayer, agricultural technology, Agriculture, agritech, renewable energy, solar energy

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…

Automating sugarcane plantation to boost profitability

In-Depthagri economy, agricultural technology, Agriculture, agritech, farm automation, farm machinery, farm mechanisation, farmer, farming, food technology, precision farming

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…