Kiosk setup at Tirupathi VRC ,Hyderabad

April 2007 : Satellite imageries to help tillers on earth Ryots urged to make use of VRC concept TOUCH OF TECH: ISRO Chairman G.Madhavan Nair checking out the touchscreen information kiosk set up in Tirupati on Saturday. TIRUPATI: Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair has expressed concern over the fall in farm growth rate and problems faced by ryots. Speaking at a meet organised by the Federation of Farmers' Associations (FFA) here on Saturday, Dr. Nair said that doubling the growth rate (currently at 1.8 per cent) was the greatest challenge ahead of the scientific fraternity. Emphasis should be laid food processing, logistics and distribution to minimise farm wastage and at the same time maximise returns. Dr. Nair saw a greater need for a tie-up between space scientists and farmers to usher in an era of rational farming. With remote sensing emerging as a major partner in farming, he said that ryots who had effectively utilised the technology could gain 40-100 per cent increase in income levels in the last three years. Case of `Sujalam' Citing the example of `Sujalaam,' a Rs.600-crore watershed scheme in Karnataka that became a success with the use of remote sensing technology, Dr. Nair said: "This is where technology has a major role to play." On the village resource centre (VRC) concept, a plan to bring all technology-related services like tele-medicine, tele-education and a touchscreen kiosk to provide information to farmers under one roof, the ISRO chief advised farmers to make use of the 200 such centres established all over the country. National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) Director K. Radhakrishnan, SV University incharge Vice-Chancellor K. Sivasankar Reddy and FFA Scientific Adviser O.S. Reddy spoke. Dr. Nair was later felicitated by FFA general secretary P. Chengal Reddy.