Srinagar, Feb 29: A three-day symposium on the theme “Translating Technology into Practice: The Smart Know-Hows of Soil and Crop Management” concluded today at CSIR-IIIM, Branch Srinagar. Prof. Mohammad Zahoor Chishti, Professor Emeritus at University of Kashmir was the chief guest at valedictory sessionandProf.Raihana H. Kanth, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, SKUAST-K, Wadura, was the guest of honour.
Addressing the delegates at the valedictory function, Prof. Chishti stressed upon the application of scientific knowledge and advanced technologies to cope up with the growing challenges posed to the mankind as a consequence of global warming, climate change, environmental degradation, desertification, and bio-diversity loss and exhorted that scientists are globally striving to address such challenges.
The themes deliberated upon in the symposium highlight and strive to address one of the pressing challenges to feed the burgeoning global population while maintaining the ecological balance and sustainable utilization of the depleting natural resources, he added.
Prof. Raihana H. Kanth, underscored the importance of innovative approaches to soil and crop management and the need to implement smart soil and crop management for climate smart agriculture. She also complimented the CSIR IIIM for organizing the important event.
Earlier, Dr. Shahid Rasool, in his address highlighted the importance of translating technologies in precision farming, smart sensors and IoT devices, vertical farming, hydroponics, blockchain and supply chain traceability, data analytics and AI, smart irrigation and water management into practice for revolutionizing agriculture.
He informed that the deliberations and the scientific interactions during the course of technical sessions has generated valuable insights and advanced knowledge-set for optimizing resource use and maximizing crop productivity. He congratulated the participants and the organizing team for the successful conduct of the symposium.
Pertinently the three symposium on Translating Technology into Practice: The Smart Know-Hows of Soil and Crop Management which was inaugurated by Dr Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM which was attended by 70 registered participants that included research scholars, agri-entrepreneurs, agricultural/ farm engineers, plant science faculties, agriculture scientists, and agricultural and horticultural technocrats. In a press handout it was mentioned that the symposium aimed to brainstorm ideas and discussions on technology-driven innovative approaches for soil and crop management, emphasizing the transition from traditional methods to advanced agro-technologies for achieving profitable yields and long-term agro-ecosystem sustainability.
Throughout the three-day symposium, prominent subject matter experts from different fields of agricultural engineering, agriculture, and horticulture delved into different aspects of precision agro-technologies during the ten technical sessions.
The sessions covered themes on climate smart agriculture, spatio-temporal variability in soil fertility, sustainable soil health, remote sensing and GIS techniques for soil monitoring and management, smart soilless crop production technology, drone technology, genome editing for crop improvement and sustainable agriculture, on-farm composting, maximizing fruit multiplication rates, organic farming, strategizing water use, combating pathogens, sustainable spice farming, pollinator protection, and assessing crop maturity.
