Anisul Islam Noor :
The use of technology in Agricultural Sector has attributed to make the country self-sufficient in food, experts said.
In view of surplus boro production, which reached such a high point that policy makers are thinking to export limited quantity of rice. This leap in production has been possible due to application of Advanced Technologies, said Anower Faruk, Former Agriculture Secretary.
In the 20th century, the mechanization of farming is considered as one of the top 10 engineering accomplishments. In this regard, Bangladesh is no exception. Today’s self-sufficiency in rice production could not be achieved without farm mechanization of some of the important operations, he said.
Irrigation was the first operation that was mechanized. For threshing rice, Japanese type pedal threshers, and for weeding in wet-land, weeders were introduced in a limited scale.
Tillage was the next operation that was mechanized, Anower faruk opined.
The present cropping intensity of 183 per cent could not have been achieved without mechanization of tillage operation. At present about 86 per cent of land preparation is done mainly by Power Tillers and to some extent by Tractors, he said.
Former Director General of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Kshirode C Roy, said, though the percentage of agricultural labourers has come down to 50 per cent from 90 per cent the total number of agricultural labourers now engaged in farming has become more than double in comparison to what it was in 1950s.
Yet labour shortage becames acute during sowing/planting and harvesting time. These two operations need immediate mechanization. Wage of agricultural labourer is so high that use of imported rice transplanter, reaper and combine harvester has become cost effective and farmers are using those in limited areas. It is expected that these two operations would be mechanized shortly throughout the country, he said.
Director General of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Md Hamidur Rahman said, “We started using more digital technology in past decade. We will adopt suitable modern techs for a handful of different operations from cultivating to planting”.
“Our farmers have become aware about different high yielding rice and other crops and achieved adaptation in cultivating due to continuous afford of Agriculture Extension Department,” Hamidur Rahman opined talking with The New Nation on Wednesday.
The first breakthrough in rice production was in early 1960s when High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of rice was introduced during the boro season. Mechanized irrigation in the form of low lift pump, deep tube-well and shallow tube-well along with chemical fertilizers and pesticides that played a key role in increased production, he said.
“By successful use of apps like IDSS, the entire process from leveling the field to planting seed to irrigating crop could be much more efficient than in the past,” he added.
The country’s first satellite-based Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS) for agriculture is going to be introduced aiming to help farmers with advisory services to boost production that is also a progress to utilize benefit of technology, Hamidur Rahman said.
Local agro-based company Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Ltd in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) recently signed an agreement to virtualise the IDSS for agriculture.
IDSS is a decision support system that makes extensive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.Examples of specialised IDSS include intelligent marketing decision support systems, flexible manufacturing systems and medical diagnosis systems.The project is co-financed by the Netherlands Space Office and ACI.
Md Shamim Murad, Team Leader of the project said development and implementation of the IDSS might make farming more accurate. It will combine the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), he said.
The purpose of IDSS is to develop a decision support system to give reliable and timely advice to farmers in Bangladesh.
The IDSS hardware and software will integrate field data, satellite and weather geo-data and market information, and translate into actionable localised crop-specific advice for farmers.
“In this way, the farmer’s decision-making along the entire production cycle and the overall food production will reduce post-harvest loss and thereby, improve profitability of farming operations,” he said.
The use of technology in Agricultural Sector has attributed to make the country self-sufficient in food, experts said.
In view of surplus boro production, which reached such a high point that policy makers are thinking to export limited quantity of rice. This leap in production has been possible due to application of Advanced Technologies, said Anower Faruk, Former Agriculture Secretary.
In the 20th century, the mechanization of farming is considered as one of the top 10 engineering accomplishments. In this regard, Bangladesh is no exception. Today’s self-sufficiency in rice production could not be achieved without farm mechanization of some of the important operations, he said.
Irrigation was the first operation that was mechanized. For threshing rice, Japanese type pedal threshers, and for weeding in wet-land, weeders were introduced in a limited scale.
Tillage was the next operation that was mechanized, Anower faruk opined.
The present cropping intensity of 183 per cent could not have been achieved without mechanization of tillage operation. At present about 86 per cent of land preparation is done mainly by Power Tillers and to some extent by Tractors, he said.
Former Director General of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Kshirode C Roy, said, though the percentage of agricultural labourers has come down to 50 per cent from 90 per cent the total number of agricultural labourers now engaged in farming has become more than double in comparison to what it was in 1950s.
Yet labour shortage becames acute during sowing/planting and harvesting time. These two operations need immediate mechanization. Wage of agricultural labourer is so high that use of imported rice transplanter, reaper and combine harvester has become cost effective and farmers are using those in limited areas. It is expected that these two operations would be mechanized shortly throughout the country, he said.
Director General of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Md Hamidur Rahman said, “We started using more digital technology in past decade. We will adopt suitable modern techs for a handful of different operations from cultivating to planting”.
“Our farmers have become aware about different high yielding rice and other crops and achieved adaptation in cultivating due to continuous afford of Agriculture Extension Department,” Hamidur Rahman opined talking with The New Nation on Wednesday.
The first breakthrough in rice production was in early 1960s when High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of rice was introduced during the boro season. Mechanized irrigation in the form of low lift pump, deep tube-well and shallow tube-well along with chemical fertilizers and pesticides that played a key role in increased production, he said.
“By successful use of apps like IDSS, the entire process from leveling the field to planting seed to irrigating crop could be much more efficient than in the past,” he added.
The country’s first satellite-based Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS) for agriculture is going to be introduced aiming to help farmers with advisory services to boost production that is also a progress to utilize benefit of technology, Hamidur Rahman said.
Local agro-based company Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Ltd in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) recently signed an agreement to virtualise the IDSS for agriculture.
IDSS is a decision support system that makes extensive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.Examples of specialised IDSS include intelligent marketing decision support systems, flexible manufacturing systems and medical diagnosis systems.The project is co-financed by the Netherlands Space Office and ACI.
Md Shamim Murad, Team Leader of the project said development and implementation of the IDSS might make farming more accurate. It will combine the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), he said.
The purpose of IDSS is to develop a decision support system to give reliable and timely advice to farmers in Bangladesh.
The IDSS hardware and software will integrate field data, satellite and weather geo-data and market information, and translate into actionable localised crop-specific advice for farmers.
“In this way, the farmer’s decision-making along the entire production cycle and the overall food production will reduce post-harvest loss and thereby, improve profitability of farming operations,” he said.
