The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Ministry of Communications in India will engage telecom operators for developing 5G use-cases in the field of precision agriculture and smart farming in collaboration with the agriculture ministry.
A team from DoT and the Ministry have visited the campus of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (ICAR)- Pusa Institute, as part of 5G use case lab exploration with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoAFW), said a government statement.
The campus is a host of excellent digital initiatives on the Smart Farming front. There is a good scope for “5G technology engagement” and a “Digicom CoE and use case lab” at ICAR on Smart AG-Tech Farming.
Following the visit, it was decided the DoT will complement digital innovation actions of MoAFW with 5G innovation in the agriculture sector with DoT partnership, build engagement with telecom service providers and 5G industry on precision agriculture and smart farming and explore the opportunity to create a centre of excellence and use-case lab under MoAFW with Digicom solutions.
A task force with officers from both sides would develop the work program with deliverables in a time-bound manner, the statement said.
Earlier, the DoT formed an Inter-ministerial committee led by Member (Technology) for engagement with 14 Central Ministries and Departments under the guidance of Secretary (Telecom) giving thrust for 5G applications and solutions. A White paper on 5G use cases has been sent to respective Ministries for wider dissemination containing details of use-cases developed from Indian industry, relevant centres of excellence, and DoT’s partnership in enabling access to 5G testbed.
