ISARC hosts a tour for the Assam Agricultural University

VARANASI, India (16 May 2023) – A three-day visit for senior scientists and extension personnel from Assam Agricultural University (AAU) was organized at the IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC), Varanasi on May 11-13. The visit aimed to foster learning opportunities and strengthen existing linkages related to ongoing interventions of the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (APART) Project. The delegates from AAU engaged with ISARC scientists and discussed recent trends in precision agriculture, geographic information systems (GIS), mechanization, postharvest management, and seed systems. The delegation team included different Heads of the Department of AAU, scientists, and heads of Krishi Vigyan Kendras of Assam.

Building capacity for geographic information systems in agriculture

The Geospatial Science and Modelling (GSM) cluster of the Sustainable Impact Platform recently conducted a 5-day training on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as applied to agriculture, particularly to rice  research.

GIS techniques and related Earth observing  technologies  - Remote Sensing (RS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs or drones) - are  used for a variety of applications, including crop monitoring, modeling and forecasting, and damage assessment, making them key tools for increasing agricultural productivity and sustainability.