The
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organized a
Workshop on "Cultivating tomorrow: Advancing digital agriculture through IoT and AI " in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), hosted by the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, India and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, India.
The Workshop took place on
18 March 2024 from 09h30 to 16h15 IST in
New Delhi, India. The Workshop was followed by the 9th meeting of
FG-AI4A on 19 March 2024 at the same venue.
As the world population burgeons and climate change challenges traditional farming practices, harnessing technology becomes imperative for sustainable food production. The workshop explored the current conversation surrounding the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and other cutting-edge technologies in aiding tasks like harvesting, weed detection, irrigation, and pest identification. The Workshop further delved into how these emerging technologies can revolutionize agriculture and provide farmers with real-time data, predictive analytics, and actionable insights.
Target Audience
Participation was open to the ITU Member States, Sector Members, Associates, ITU Academia, and to any individual from a country that was a member of the ITU and who wished to contribute to the work. This included individuals who were also members of international, regional and national organizations. Participation to the workshop was free of charge.
09:35 - 10:30
|
Inaugural Session
Release of the Technical Report on "Revolutionizing Agriculture: The digital transformation of farming"
- Keynote Address:
Ajay Kumar Sahu, Additional Secretary (T) & Member (Services), Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
- Keynote Address:
SK Chaudhari, Deputy Director General (NRM), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
- Vote of thanks:
R. S. Singh, Deputy Director General (IoT), TEC
|
10:30 - 11:00
| High tea
|
11:00 - 13:00
|
Session
1:
Cultivating
Success: Navigating
the
Risks
and
Opportunities
in
Digital
Agriculture
This session will explore the transformative landscape of digital agriculture by delving into modern farming practices, addressing both the potential risks and promising opportunities presented by the integration of emerging technologies such as
Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital twin, and Internet of Things
(IoT).
The session will also
explore how
digital
technologies
can
support data-driven
decision- making to enable stakeholders to make strategic decisions to improve crop yield, resource utilization, and overall farming efficiency.
Moderator:
Shyam
Narayan
Jha,
Dy
Director
General
(Ag
Eng.),
ICAR
Speakers:
-
Mihir Dakwala, Business Unit Head, Amnex Technologies [Presentation]
-
Arjun Venkatraman, Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [Presentation]
-
Nachiket
Kotwaliwale,
Director,
ICAR-CIPHET,
Ludhiana: Appropriating
Digital
Technologies
for
Indian
Agriculture [Presentation]
-
Rabi
N.
Sahoo,
Pr.
Scientist
&
Program
Leader,
ICAR-NePPA,
IARI,
Delhi: Embracing
New
Edge
Technologies
for
Precision
Agriculture:
Challenges
and
Opportunities [Presentation]
Anil Rai, ADG (ICT), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Delhi
Krishna Sirohi, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi -
Ashwini Gajarushi, Engineering Manager Technology Innovation Hub for IoT and IoE (TIH-IoT), IIT-Bombay: Decoding the ecosystem of agriculture for the next green revolution: opportunities and challenges [Presentation]
-
Ruby Pathania, Senior Program Officer, Wadhwani AI [Presentation]
|
13:00 - 14:00
|
Lunch Break
|
| 14:00 - 16:00 | Session 2: Seeds of Standardization: Nurturing Digital Inclusion in Agriculture
The session will navigate through the current challenges faced by farmers in adopting digital technologies and how a unified approach through standardization can break these barriers. Through real-world case studies and expert insights, this session will examine the role of ITU standards on agriculture in facilitating inclusivity, efficiency, and innovation in agriculture to ensure food security in line with Sustainable Development Goal 2 [Zero Hunger].
Moderator: Zhongxin Chen, Senior IT Office, FAO
Speakers:
-
Namita Singh, Director, User Experience at Digital Green [Presentation]
-
Debasish Mahalik,
Scientist, Bureau of Indian Standards: Standardization
in
SMART
Agriculture:
The
Way
Ahead
[Presentation]
-
Basant K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI: Smart Technologies for Precision Aquaculture and Livestock farming
Chayna Jana, Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI, Kolkata
T K Mohanty, Pr. Scientist, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal, India -
Sanat Sarangi, Scientist Digital Food Initiatives Group, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS): Digital Agriculture - Some perspectives on standardization [Presentation]
-
Sushil Kumar,
Additional Director General Telecom, NE LSA, DoT: Emerging technologies (IoT and ICT) for sustainable growth in Agriculture: Challenges and the Standards [Presentation]
|
16:00 - 16:05
| Concluding Remarks
-
Sebastian
Bosse,
FG-AI4A Co-Chair
|
Head
of
Interactive
&
Cognitive
Systems
Group, Fraunhofer HHI
|
16:05 - 16:10
| Vote of Thanks
-
Anil Rai, Assistant Director General (ICT), ICAR
|
16:10 - 16:30
| Tea Break
|
