Smart Nutrient Management of Soil project bags Gold Icon Award at Digital India Awards 2022

The State government in association with Krishitantra developed a completely automated portable soil testing solution named Krishi RASTAA- Rapid Automated Soil Testing with Agronomy Advisory.

Hyderabad: Telangana Government’s “Smart Nutrient Management of Soil” project bagged Central Government’s Gold Icon Award at the Digital India Awards 2022 in Digital Initiatives in collaboration with Start-ups category.

The State government in association with Krishitantra developed a completely automated portable soil testing solution named Krishi RASTAA- Rapid Automated Soil Testing with Agronomy Advisory.

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Krishi RASTAA provides soil reports to farmers within 30 minutes and issues advisories to farmers on the use of fertilizers and micronutrients. These reports and advisories are made available in three languages, including Telugu, English and Hindi.

This project was executed by Krishitantra under the guidance and mentorship of ICAR IIRR. The soil advisory analysis done under this project facilitates efficient use of farming inputs to increase production and income while lowering soil degradation.

Appreciating the project, the Central Government presented Gold Icon Award in Digital India Awards 2022 in Digital Initiatives in collaboration with Start-ups category.

This category was introduced in the Digital India Awards for the first time. The Digital India Awards are envisioned to encourage innovative digital initiatives by government entities at all levels.

Under the category “Digital Initiatives in collaboration with Start-ups” Digital India Program had identified and conferred the awards to the projects that displayed excellence by government entities in collaboration with Start-ups for enhancement or transformation of digital governance, improving the experience of digital services and digital empowerment of citizens i.e., fulfilling Digital India Vision.

The award was conferred by President Droupadi Murmu at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. L Rama Devi, Director of Emerging Technologies Wing, Information Technology, Electronics & Communications Department along with other officials attended the Digital India Awards Ceremony to receive the Gold Icon.

According to a press release, IT Minister KT Rama Rao said, “Telangana Government has always been in the forefront of enabling and driving the use of frontier technologies in several sectors. Emerging Technologies Wing has been crucial in the acceleration and adoption of technologies, especially AI and Cloud in the state. Together these technologies become a powerful tool to bring transformation while impacting lives at scale.”

Telangana Agriculture & Co-Operation Department Secretary Raghunandan Rao said soil testing labs can help farmers understand these nuances about their farm soil to better plan their agriculture.

But, in India there were very few soil testing labs. However, Telangana government had taken initiatives to tackle these challenges and help farmers with robust soil testing reports and advisories, he added.