Guwahati: How smart agriculture farming can contribute to better production in India. The topic was debated at the the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) conducted talk on Smart Agriculture Farming during the Research and Integration Conclave 2023.

The host of the talk Professor (Dr) Rakhi Chaturvedi, Head of the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering enlightened the gathered audience that smartness of agriculture is linked to the infrastructure available, Smartness refers to the sustainability of the agriculture throughout the year as well as tracking and monitoring in all aspects including the environment.

Smart farming also helps and if agriculture is taken as a profession by adding smartness and automation into it that it will be very useful for India. It will not only increase the production the country but will also utilize unused agriculture land for production.

The main speaker were Dr Prakash Kumar, Professor of National University of Singapore, renowned Entrepreneur Dr Dhrubojyoti Sarma, Director of Deroi Tea Surjya Prakash Borthakur and a food technologist from North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) Mariadon Pathaw.

Dr Prakash Kumar from National University of Singapore well known professor of plant biology elaborated on urban farming in the phase of climate change, its concept and what changes and tech solutions that can be utilized into urban farming.

He gave example of country like Singapore calling it as a significant player in food production.

By 2030, Singapore is planning to produce 30 percent of the nutritional needs of the country through smart farming. Some of the leading example in food exporter included USA and Netherlands. It is due to significant innovations linked to agriculture.

He informed that climate change is a major challenge for growth of agriculture. Both Biotic and Abiotic factors contribute to the damage of crops.

He said that through urban farming a lot can be achieved in terms of increasing production.

He even discussed use of tech solutions in urban farming as well as use of Artificial intelligence in the area of farming.
Multiple tier cultivation is also discussed as important for increasing the yield.

Notable entrepreneur Dhrubojyoti Sarma and owner of Daffodil Nursery in Dimoria, who is Head of Department of Zoology in Dimoria College, and recipient of Assam Gaurav in 2023, also spoke in the panel about his entrepreneurial journey and the challenges he had met in establishing his Nursery. 

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