The campus is a host of excellent digital initiatives on the Smart Farming front

A team from the Department of Telecommunications(DoT), Ministry of Communications, visited the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (ICAR)- Pusa Institute, as part of 5G usecase lab exploration with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoAFW), a follow up of DoT’s Inter-ministerial committee deliberations and industry presentations with indigenous 5G solutions to MoAFW.

Dr PK Meherda, JS, Digital Agriculture (DAC & FW); ICAR-IARI team – Dr Ashok K Singh, Director; Dr Anil Rai, ADG (ICT); Dr Rabi N Sahoo, Principle Scientist and expert teams facilitated the visit for the DoT team comprising Kishore Babu YGSC, DDG (S-R-I), Alex Vikas, ADG (S-R-I). The campus is a host of excellent digital initiatives on the Smart Farming front. There is a good scope for “5G technology engagement” and a “Digicom CoE and usecase lab” at ICRA on Smart AG-Tech Farming.

Outcomes envisaged from the aforementioned initiative are

1. Complement digital innovation actions of MoAFW with 5G innovation in Agri sector with DoT partnership
2. Build engagement with Telecom Service Providers and 5G industry on precision agriculture and smart farming enabling trying of pilots and 5G driven solutions
3. Opportunity to create a CoE and usecase lab under MoAFW with Digicom solutions.

A task force with officers from both sides would develop the work program with deliverables in a time-bound manner.