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Professor Jyashankar, Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU), opened AgHub (agri innovation facility) to help start-ups, rural innovators and farmer producer organisations (FPOs) develop productions and solutions for the primary sector.
The hub was formally inaugurated by the Telangana Minister for Agriculture, S Niranjan Reddy, and IT and Industries Minister, KT Rama Rao.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) provided a grant of ₹9 crore to support the innovation hub at the university for five years.
NABARD Chairman, Govindarajulu Chintala, said that this was the seventh such centre funded by the bank. Exhorting the AgHub to become a role model in promoting innovation in agriculture, he asked the new hub to work on integrated farming systems that can help farmers make farming profitable.
Drones for afforestation
Meanwhile, the Telangana IT, Electronics and Communication Department and the Forest Department have signed an agreement with Marut Drones to launch a drone-based afforestation project named ‘Hara Bahara’.
Under this agreement, the drone company will plant over 50 lakh trees in over 12,000 hectares of land in forest areas across all the 33 districts of the State.
Also see: Amazon: Regrowing forests have offset less than 10% of carbon emissions from deforestation
“The project will bring community, science and technology together for an inclusive, sustainable and long-lasting solution. Its core objective is to build strong communities for afforestation and bring awareness at a grass-roots level on the effects of deforestation,” an IT Ministry official said.
This project uses drones to disperse seed balls over thin, barren and empty forest lands to turn them into a lush green abode of trees.
“The process begins with a field survey and mapping of the terrain area to understand the ecosystem and demarcate the areas needing urgent attention,” he added.
The mapping will help determine the number and species of trees that can be planted in the barren land based on the soil, climate, and other parameters.
The seed balls will be prepared by local women and welfare communities.
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