Using ICT: ‘Time to boost use of technology in agriculture’

Participants discuss industry funding of academic research.

FAISALABAD:

The National Information and Communication Technologies Research and Development Fund and the University of Agriculture Faisalabad will collaborate for research on IT use in agriculture.

UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan and Ahmad Afzal, the ICT Research & Development Fund solicitation and evaluation general manager discussed the matter on Monday.

Afzal said the time had come to benefit from technological advancement for economic progress.

By using modern technology, he said, agriculture of a country could be boosted manifold. He said the Fund was focusing on industry-academia partnership through funding of research and development initiatives.

He said emerging information and the knowledge era was opening new way of economic and social development through information and communication technologies.



The vice chancellor said that precision agriculture had gained popularity across the globe, enabling some countries to reduce cost of production through balanced inputs use of information technology, geographical information system and space technology.

He said given the increasing population, higher per acre yields were vital to ensuring food security.

Talking about research, he said external funding for university research in Pakistan had reached Rs2 billion. He said he hoped this would continue to increase.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2013.