ICT department will teach IoT to 20,000 farmers

The use of modern machinery has already increased production in agriculture and reduced costs. To take this sector one step further, the ICT department has taken initiative to use Internet of Things technology (IoT) in agriculture. Through the implementation of the initiative, in the first phase, a new project has been taken to introduce the potential technology to 20,000 farmers in 10 villages and to show them the way to compensate the losses by using it in agriculture. State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the pilot project was successfully launched in Sreepur near Dhaka with the help of Bangabandhu Agricultural University. The state minister made the remarks while addressing a special guest on the occasion of the 37th SAARC Charter Day at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium at Farmgate in the capital on Wednesday. At the same time, Palak emphasized increasing the use of modern technology in agriculture as well as innovation. The state minister also said that the department would take all possible initiatives to increase the use of ICT tools and media among the farmers. Zunaid Ahmed Palak expressed satisfaction that the initiative taken by the ICT department to forecast floods in advance through the Ministry of Water Resources using GIS and GPS tools with the help of Google would be able to prevent crop damage. Agriculture Minister Dr. Abdur Razzaque was present as the chief guest in the seminar titled 'Strategies to Address Hidden Hunger in the SAARC Countries: Commemorating the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 21'.  The Keynote article was presented by Dr. Ajanta de Silva from Sri Lanka. Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Md. Mesbahul Islam, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension Md. Asadullah and Director General of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Dr. Agricultural scientists including Debashish Sarkar spoke in the event.