CSIR holds national workshop on smart agro-technologies for soil health in Kottayam

Kottayam (Kerala), Mar 8 (PTI) The CSIR has organised a two-day national workshop on agricultural technologies for soil health at Kumarakom here, officials said on Sunday.

The workshop, titled “Farm Data to Decisions: Workshop on Smart Agro-Technologies for Soil and Crop Health,” was held on March 5 and 6 at the Regional Agricultural Research Station of Kerala Agricultural University in Kumarakom.

The officials of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said the workshop was part of its flagship mission on Region Specific Smart Agro-Technologies for Soil and Plant Health (RSSA), which aims to advance a technology-driven transformation of Indian agriculture through the integration of precision agriculture, digital agronomy, sensor networks and artificial intelligence-enabled decision support systems.

The RSSA mission seeks to transition conventional input-intensive farming systems towards data-centric, resource-efficient and climate-resilient agro-ecosystems, officials said.

The workshop brought together leading agricultural scientists, technologists, policy planners, and progressive farmers to discuss next-generation smart farming protocols that can turn high-resolution farm data into actionable agronomic decisions, a statement said.

Dr G K Patra, Director of CSIR Fourth Paradigm Institute and Mission Director of RSSA, presented a comprehensive overview of the mission framework.

Chief guest at the event, Dr N Kalaiselvi, Director General of CSIR and Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, underscored the strategic role of CSIR’s mission-mode programmes in the development and translation of advanced agricultural technologies for small and marginal farmers.

B Ashok, Vice Chancellor of Kerala Agricultural University, who attended as the guest of honour, emphasised the importance of multi-institutional collaboration between national research laboratories, agricultural universities and extension systems in accelerating the field deployment of advanced agro-technologies.

The workshop witnessed participation from experts representing leading national agricultural institutions, the statement said.

A major highlight of the event was the live field demonstration of advanced precision agriculture technologies developed by CSIR laboratories under the RSSA mission, including a variable rate fertiliser applicator, AI-enabled crop diagnostic platform, IoT-driven microclimate observation network and optical soil nutrient sensing posts. PTI TBA TBA ADB