The Information Communications Technology (ICT) roadshow, which will be held next week, will see residents in Berbice being educated on the benefits of e-agriculture which includes the use of drones in farming practices.
This was relayed by Advisor to the Public Telecommunications Ministry, Lance Hinds, who reminded media personnel on Wednesday that the world was moving away from manual labour in farming and e-agriculture was gaining more traction.
He explained that participants, particularly in rural Berbice, would be exposed to the functionalities of ‘farm bots’ which plant and monitor crops in addition to other technologies that check for weeds without manual labour.
“The idea is to see how the tools would be able to help you to plant, cultivate or
Public Telecommunications Ministry Advisor Lance Hinds
grow [crops] faster,” Hinds said.
He also stated that since drones were becoming more popular, their use in the emerging sector would be showcased during next week’s ICT roadshow, which runs from July 9-14.
Hinds further disclosed that the roadshow would have presentations, workshops, and discussions on dealing with how communications technology impacted the various sectors.
He reasons that adapting to these latest models of cultivation techniques would make farms operate with more efficiency and would enable farmers to get higher earnings from their produce.
“If you’re looking at your rice fields, you can use drones instead of walking along the dams to see if there are any issues you should be looking at like disease or flooding,” he stressed.
Guyana Times understands that there will be an app available for soil moisture measurement, which is currently done by hand. This too, it was explained, will lead to greater efficiency in farm practices.
The roadshow will first be taken to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Georgetown, with other outreaches in Berbice and Annai, Region Nine.
The six-day event hopes to stimulate discussion and awareness of not only ICT in
A farm bot
general, but also how communities can benefit from new technologies.
The event, formalised out of a collaborative effort between the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and the Public Telecommunications Ministry, seeks to bring more awareness on the benefits of the growing sector.
Principal sponsor of the event and major mobile phone giant, Digicel Guyana says that its support is rooted in ensuring countries in the Caribbean fully capitalise on the ‘knowledge economy’”
While declining to disclose how much funding it allocated, the company’s head of business sales, Nalini Vieira told the media that Digicel would continue to push for innovation.
It is expected that President David Granger will give the feature address at the opening ceremony which will include over 20 delegates from various countries in the Caribbean.
There will be days set aside for youth in ICT and discussions on using technology in daily life. (Shemuel Fanfair)
