Food and Environment: Informatics for Walking the Tightrope

Authors

  • M S Swaminathan Swaminathan Foundation

Keywords:

Agricultural Informatics, Precision Farming, Gene Revolution, Ecotechnology Revolution, and Information and Communication Technology, Food Security.

Abstract

In an increasingly rapid loss of genes, species, ecosystems and traditional knowledge and wisdom;  our options for adapting to local and global change including potential climatic changes are limited. But fortunately, the major revolutions occurring in science and technology - Gene Revolution, Ecotechnology Revolution, and ICT Revolution- provides hope.  These  advances, coupled with improvements in management and governance, can foster scientific approach to genetic improvement, management of natural resources and ecosystems, and local development strategies. Emerging farming technologies will be knowledge intensive, using tools of Informatics like Remote Sensing, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and Global Positioning Systems (GPS).  Informatics  will be used for early detection of diseases and pests, and to target the application of pesticides, fertilisers and water to specific parts of the fields that require  them. Informatics will support in solving complex issues in planning, management and priority setting  in agriculture. The presentation by the renowned agricultural scientists a decades back when only a very few envisioned these possibilities, is republished.

Author Biography

  • M S Swaminathan, Swaminathan Foundation
    Swaminathan, M S  was educated in India and at the University of Cambridge from where he took PhD in 1952 on Genetics. During the next two decades he held a number of research and administrative positions mostly in the Indian civil service. He played  leading role in India's 'Green Revolution', a program under which high-yield varieties of wheat and rice seedlings were planted in Indian farms. From 1972 to 1979 he was Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and he was Principal Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (1979-1980). He served as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (1982-88) and as President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1984-90).

References

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Swaminathan M.S. (1990). Changing nature of the food security challenge: implications for agricultural research and policy. Sir John Crawford Memorial Lecture, CGIAR Secretariat, USA, 24pp.

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Published

2021-02-01

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2021): Agricultural Informatics

Section

Articles

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