On May 24 and 25, 1995, the Vigyan Bhawan at New Delhi was witness to the coming together of two scientific communities dedicated to interests seemingly unrelated: agriculture and informatics.

The conference on Informatics for Sustainable Agricultural Development, 1995 (ISDA-95) in which Agricultural Scientists and Informatics Professionals met to discuss ways and means to promote agriculture through the use of informatics, marked a milestone in the Country's endeavour to break away from traditions and take to modern technology in search of development.

The two-day conference organized by NIC in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment and Department of Fertilizers, paved the way for practical application of informatics services for the cause of sustainable agricultural development.

The 1991 Census records 190 million out of the total population of the Country as farmers and agriculturists. This accounts for 23 per cent of the total population and drives home the importance of agriculture in shaping the economy of the Country. We also have to keep in mind that this 23 per cent of the population has to be able to produce enough not only to feed the entire Country but also to earn revenue through exports. Since independence, there has been considerable growth in the agriculture sector. But the basic question is: has this growth been sustainable? In five decades, we have tripled our grain production but caused waterlogging, soil degradation, nutrient deficiency and over population. These in turn have led to over exploitation of land and water resources, and the environment. Since today's welfare cannot be at the cost of tomorrow's, we are now at a stage where we have to reconsider our entire development strategy. This brings us directly to the issue of sustainability.

Sustainable Development implies a model of development in which both the present and the future are taken into consideration. Sustainability provides development the foresight required to spill over to the future without any additional effort. It is one-time planning without any stop-gap arrangements. Planning for Sustainable Development in Agriculture has to take three basic tenets into consideration:

  • Temporal sustainability demands careful maintenance of the delicate balance between productivity parameters and conservation practices.
  • Environment sustainability implies development strategies which are eco-friendly, energy efficient and waste minimal.
  • Economic models should optimize growth subject to ecological, economic, social and cultural constraints. They cannot assume unconstrained maxima. In the face of economic liberalization, which is essential and inevitable, this brings in the concept of sustainable liberalization.

All these require meticulous planning. Planning in turn requires adequate, accurate and timely information. And the onus of providing adequate, accurate and timely information falls squarely on the shoulders of informatics professionals. Thus the Conference on Informatics for Sustainable Agricultural Development (ISDA-95) where agricultural scientists and informatics professionals came together to carve out a new path of sustainable development.

ISDA-95 aimed at creating awareness and promoting the spread of informatics for agricultural research, production and extension in order to facilitate harmonious development of land, water, vegetation, livestock and other resources of the Country, in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner, at the grass-root level.

The objectives of ISDA-95 included:

  • Creation of awareness about the potential use of informatics in agricultural development.
  • Making the participants understand the informatics needs of Users from the Agriculture Sector.
  • Bringing together various service professionals.

A session of ISDA-95 in progress

viders including networks and value-added information providers, and data vendors.

☐ Promoting greater use of informatics in the Agriculture Sector.

The two-day conference consisting of 16 subject sessions, preceded by a plenary session and followed by a valedictory session, was attended by more than 600 delegates from all over the Country. The 16 subject sessions were on Agricultural Research; Agrometeorology; Crop Production and Protection; Agricultural Engineering and Food Processing; Soil and Water Management; Fertilizers and Manures; Extension and Transfer of Technology; Dairying, Livestock and Animal Husbandry; Fisheries; Environment and Forest; Irrigation and Drainage System; Watershed Development; Wastelands Development; Agricultural Marketing; Credit and Co-operation; and Rural Development and Planning. A national level task force on each of the theme covered in the Conference is being set up by NIC to ensure that all the recommendations are implemented at the earliest possible.

In his valedictory address on May 25, 1995, Dr Bal Ram Jakhar, the Union Agriculture Minister, spoke at length on the impact of economic liberalization on agricultural production and the relevance of informatics in this context. "The new economic reforms and liberalized trade policy will require the farmers to take decisions as to what to produce in the context of global and domestic trade environment. Some of the progressive farmers may like to adjust their production plans on the basis of market conditions. For this purpose, latest and updated information would be of great use to the farmers. Informatics and its application could help in transformation of Indian agriculture and help in its rapid development", he opined.

Conceived by the amalgamation of two fields of science, one as old as civilization itself and the other relatively newborn but deemed as the most viable promise of the future, the recommendations of ISDA-95 come as a breathe of fresh air for stagnating development. The ISDA-95 recommendations have been classified into three broad categories. Gists of the more significant recommendations within these categories are:

IT Infrastructural Requirements

  • The Informatics Infrastructure in the Agriculture Sector needs to be modernized through the introduction of computers and computer-communication networks.
  • Existing computer-communication networks such as NICNET, INET and ERNET should be utilized to the maximum extent possible.
  • Sharing of library resources over networks, and utilization of library resources already available in magnetic form, have to be encouraged.
  • The culture of utilizing CDROM databases should be promoted.
  • An inventory of software developed in various agricultural institutions is to be made, and sharing of software between institutions structured by creating a clearing house on the computer communication network.
  • Agricultural Extension Officers and Field Officers are to be encouraged to use palm-top computers.
  • Networking of various institutes should be carried out through E-Mail and Remote Database Access.

Evaluation, Monitoring and Policy

  • Out of the annual budget of about Rs 2,500 crore for agriculture, at least three per cent is to be spent on informatics and network support during the current year and, within the next two years, this has to be enhanced to six per cent.
  • Integrated Information Systems have to be developed for the 16 sub-areas identified.
  • IT-based modernization targets should be fixed for various organizations and extension centres and the progress of implementation should be strictly monitored by a committee of specialists.
  • Agriculture being a State Subject, the State Machinery has to be geared up for substantive induction of informatics and modernization in the agricultural sector.
  • An integrated database is to be developed in each state for effective interministerial co-ordination and management to synergize various sustainable development efforts.

Manpower and Training

  • IT-based manpower training for all agricultural extension officers should be taken up on a crash-programme basis. All field-level officers should be trained on palm-top computers.
  • NIC will take up the responsibility of training of at least 3,000 personnel on network-based creation of database and retrieval of information from databases, during the period 1995-96.
  • Suitable course on Informatics, with hands-on training, should be made compulsory in the curriculum of all Agriculture University courses leading to diplomas or degrees.

Speaking on the Government's efforts to usher in sustainability and eco-friendliness in agricultural development, he cited examples which made it very clear that there has been a major policy re-orientation to make way for sustainability. The Agriculture Ministry has implemented a number of projects in which environmental aspects are a major consideration, and the Minister was of the view that the success of these programmes would depend to a large extent on their effective monitoring at the field level. "This", Dr Jakhar pointed out, "is an area where the National Informatics Centre could provide major support. In fact, about 1,700 micro watersheds from 21 States have already initiated reporting, through NICNET, progress of the project on a quarterly basis. It would be useful to develop similar monitoring system in respect to other major programmes also."

Specifying NIC's role in sustainable agricultural development, Dr Jakhar said that since agriculture is a very complex and huge sector, and processing of complex inter-sectorial linkages and large masses of data on various aspects is a must in policy formulation, only the best available tools and techniques of informatics could provide possible policy solutions. Computers and computerization has already progressed rapidly in the Agriculture Sector and it is NIC's responsibility to strengthen its efforts to provide its services to professionals working in the field of agriculture, he said.

(For further information, please contact: Agricultural Informatics Division, National Informatics Centre, A-Block, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi : 100003.Ph: +91-11-4362790; Fax: +91-11-4364873; Tlx: 031-61274 NICS IN; E-mail: moni@hub.nic.in)