farm machinery – The KGP Chronicle

Sep

19

2024

0 Comments

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur use Diffused Reflectance Spectroscopy based Rapid Soil Testing method for Agri-small holder farms

Collaborations, Expert Insight, Funded Projects, Institute, Research & Innovation#AgFE, agri, Agricultural, Agricultural Practices, Diffused Reflectance Spectroscopy, DRS, farm machinery, Food engineering, ICRISAT, IIT KGP, IIT Kharagpur, NIRS-based Spectroscopy, Nutrient Management Strategies, Rapid Soil Testing, Sampling, Small-holder Farmers, Soil Health Assessment, soil parameters, Soil Sample, Soil Spectroscopy, Soil Test Crop Response, STCR

In a recent study by IIT Kharagpur in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute of Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, has developed and validated the efficiency of Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) models for high throughput soil analysis for impact at scale in small-holder systems. Years of research at the Agricultural and Food Engineering (AgFE) Department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur shows that Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) may be used safely for rapid soil assessment. Conventional soil testing laboratories use wet chemistry-based soil testing methods that are time consuming and can become expensive when a large number of…

Jan

06

2021

0 Comments

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

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…

Oct

07

2020

1 Comment

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

IIT KGP Develops Agro-Robotic Solution for Plant Disease Management

In-Depthagricultural technology, farm machinery, robotics, rural technologies

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…

Jul

13

2020

22 Comments

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

Towards Farm Digitization

In-Depthagri data, agricultural technology, Agriculture, AIML, digital technology, digitisation, drone, educational outreach, farm automation, farm machinery, farm mechanisation, farming, online education, robot, sensor, Short-term courses, smart education

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…

Jul

12

2020

0 Comments

By Shreyoshi Ghosh

Transforming Rural Economies

Social Impactagri economy, agricultural intensification, agricultural technology, Agriculture, agro, automation, economy, farm machinery, farming, livelihood, mechanisation, precision, Rural, rural development, rural technologies

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…