Possibilities and Potentialities of Agricultural Informatics and Allied Domains in Engineering Sciences with Reference to India—An Academic Framework & Proposal

World Academics Journal of ______Research Paper . Engineering Sciences Vol.7, Issue.2, pp.131-140, June (2020) E-ISSN: 2348-635X

Possibilities and Potentialities of Agricultural Informatics and Allied domains in Engineering Sciences with reference to India—An Academic Framework & Proposal

P.K. Paul1*, R.R. Sinha2, Anil Bhuimalli3, K.S. Tiwary4, Pappachan Baby5, Ricardo Saavedra6

1Executive Director, MCIS, Department of CIS, Information Scientist (Offg.), Raiganj University, India, Asia 2Pro Vice Chancellor (Asian Region), Commonwealth Vocational University, Kingdom of Tonga, Oceania 3Vice Chancellor, Raiganj University, West Bengal, India 4Dean (Science & Management), Raiganj University, West Bengal, India 5Head (Asian Region), Ballsbridge University, Republic of Dominica, North America 6Director & Chair, International Programs, Azteca University, México, North America

*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Available online at: www.isroset.org

Received: 31/Mar/2020, Accepted: 25/Apr/ 2020, Online: 30/June/2020 Abstract- Agricultural Informatics is an interdisciplinary technological science and is responsible for information and technological solutions in agriculture and allied sectors. Agricultural Informatics is also known with other nomenclatures as well. The field is growing rapidly and thus in many countries it is considered and offered as a field of study. Agricultural Informatics is a great solution in respect of designing and development of the smarter agricultural solution. Education systems is changing worldwide, various new programs, streams, nomenclatures have started to develop in developing and undeveloped nations significantly to reach the goal. Furthermore, it is worthy to note that Agricultural Informatics as a field apart from Science degrees is started with engineering streams with BTech and MTech degrees. However it is important to note that Engineering Degrees are not offered in all countries. In India and inits follower countries this is available significantly. In India Agricultural Informatics is already started with Engineering Degrees whereas internationally most of the universities not yet switched to Agricultural Informatics with BTech and MTech etc. The significance with the Agricultural Informatics in developing agricultural systems has developed effectively. There are great potentialities with Agricultural Informatics in other engineering degrees as well in the context of IT and Computing related subjects. This paper has provided a brief overview on Agricultural Informatics with its evolution and emerging importance. Paper is also focused on the proposed engineering degrees with the specializations of the Agricultural Informatics and allied nomenclature. As Agricultural Informatics is a branch of Information Science and thus here an MTech-Information Science with Agricultural Informatics specialization has been proposed to provide wider benefits to the students and researchers and future of Agricultural Informatics practice.

Keywords- Agricultural Informatics, IT education, Engineering Degrees, ICT4D, Smart Agriculture, MTech, Emerging Degrees

I. INTRODUCTION these, Agricultural Informatics has also emerged. This is responsible in building and developing modern The world is changing rapidly with the introduction of the Agricultural Informatics practices. Further, it is technologies and similar systems. The world has become a responsible in following information activities primarily global village now with the introduction and rapid viz.— applicationsof the information technology and computing.  Collection Similar to Information Technology another subject also  Selection doing perfect in social technological solutions i.e. the  Organization Information Science, this is also closed to IT. Information  Processing Science is also known as Informatics; and this is emerging  Management & worldwide. But Information Scienceis broader than IT and  Dissemination. additionally also responsible in other activities viz. information solutions, society centric services etc [1], [7], However apart from these activities evaluation, [26]. In this regard, Information Science has applied with modification is also considered as important in better other subjects and has created new subjects viz. Geo Informatics practice and Agricultural Informatics is not Informatics/ Geo Information Science, Health Informatics/ exception to this. It is worthy to note that, for doing such Information Science, Bio Informatics etc. And similar to

© 2020, WAJES All Rights Reserved 131 World Academics Journal of Engineering Sciences Vol.7, Issue.2, June 2020 information related works in respect of agriculture and Agricultural Informatics: Birth & Increasing Areas horticulture, Agricultural Informatics basically takes the Informatics has long tradition in information and help of various components of Information Technologies technology centric education and programs. This is the and Computing. Additionally Agricultural Informatics is branch which is dedicated in scientific, proper and also associated with the Management Science and Social technological information solution to different Science due to its nature. Engineering is the solution for stakeholders viz. society, business, commerce, industries, the development of various products, services and thus agriculture, healthcare, transportation, education, various branches are offered in Engineering. Some of the government and so on. And as a result various other other branches viz. Geo Informatics, Bio Informatics nomenclatures have been developed or originated viz. – etchave already been offered with Engineering degrees  Bio Informatics whereas, Agricultural Informatics is not yet started  Health Informatics significantly and particularly is absent as specializations in  Geo Informatics allied programs. However huge potentialities are in  Quantum Informatics Agricultural Informatics as a specialization in various  Chem Informatics information/computing related degrees and even  Social Informatics agricultural sciences and engineering.  Community Informatics

 Urban Informatics II. OBJECTIVE  Irrigation Informatics

The paper entitled ‘Possibilities and Potentialities of  Design Informatics Agricultural Informatics and Allied domains in  Environmental Informatics etc Engineering Sciences with reference to India—An Academic Framework & Proposal’ is prepared with Among these Informatics subjects, some are treated as following aim and objective— practicing field only and some have been developed as an  To learn about the basic of the Agricultural Informatics independent subject and degrees have been offered on including its evolution and origin including its such subjects. As far as Agricultural Informatics is stakeholders. concerned it has been started as educational programs with BSc, MSc, BTech, MTech degrees [3], [4], [12]. Further,  To learn about the basic of the Agricultural Informatics Agricultural Informatics is also offered with allied with special reference to its feature and nature. nomenclatures viz. Agricultural Information Technology,  To learn about the increasing role of Agricultural Agricultural Information Systems, Smart Agriculture, Informatics to become smart and digital Agricultural Digital Agriculture etc. systems.  To learn about the basic degrees and programs available in Agricultural Informatics with its allied/ related nomenclature.  To get a concise preview on educational program in engineering systems in India where Agricultural Informatics can be offered as a specialization.  To find out the possible programs on Agricultural Informatics in respect of engineering and technological degrees with special reference to computing/ information/ agriculture related fields.

III. METHODS

The current work is a policy work as the it is entitled Fig: 1Emerging Technologies related with the Agro Informatics.

‘Possibilities and Potentialities of Agricultural Informatics As the field interdisciplinary thus it has strong connection and Allied domains in Engineering Sciences with with Informatics/ Agriculture but additionally it could be reference to India—An Academic Framework & also related with the other subjects as well viz.— Proposal’.Hence it is interdisciplinary in nature and therefore various secondary works have been consulted for  Management preparing the work including Informatics and IT,  Commerce and Economics Agriculture, Development Studies, and Education etc. As  Social Science & Policy Studies the work policy based and a proposes various kind of  Bio Sciences Engineering degrees thus it has also consulted various  Ecology and Environmental Sciences etc. government report on education, engineering education, Agricultural Informatics etc. Further companies of This trend is growing and its scope as well [5], [11], [31]. Agricultural Informatics practices consulted to get current Due to interdisciplinary nature Agricultural Informatics scenario of the field. Furthermore, various websites have has potentiality in non offered streams and subjects viz. been searched using proper search term to get valid result. Agricultural Informatics, Engineering Sciences as well.

IV. AGRICULTURAL INFORMATICS AND  In supply-chain methods for Agriculture and allied areas IMPORTANCE IN DIGITAL AGRICULTURE [8], [20].

Agricultural Informaticsis an emerging branch growing In enhancing Efficiencyincluding in monitoring of rapidly and therefore it deals with following features and cultivation with agro products management, the natures— Agricultural Informatics is very important and required.  Agricultural Informaticscombines with both Agricultural Expansion of traditional Agricultural Systems will also Sciences and Information Sciences and deals with tools, grow with scientific and solid Agricultural Informatics techniques and technologies additionally management applications. In Cleaning and Purity of Agricultural science components. systems as well Agricultural Informaticsis important  Some of the allied areas viz. horticulture, veterinary viz.managing pesticides and fertilizers etc. The Speedy sciences, ecology, geography, anthropology etc are &Quicker Agricultural Systems with cloud, IoT, Big Data, strongly associated with the Agricultural Informatics. robotics, analytics etc possible with Agricultural  It is responsible in developing advanced agriculture, Informatics practice (Refer Fig: 2). smart agriculture or digital agriculture towards a sustainable agro world effectively.  Various kind of components viz.database technologies, networking technologies, webtechnologies, multimedia technologies areconsidered as important here additionally software engineering/ technologies as well.  The field Agro Informatics is partially Computer Science, Computer Engineering including documentation, information studies, information management as well.  Agricultural Informaticshas also great impact in other areas viz. Environmental Informatics, Geo Informatics and Ecological Informatics as well.

Agriculture is valuable due to its need to survive, thus Fig: 2-Smarter Agricultural Systems most of the countries provide important role into agricultural development; moreover it is required in In addition to these, Agricultural Informatics can help economic development as well.Hence, developed nations, inQuantity of Production of Agricultural Systemsdue to development become possible with ICT enable agriculture various pre production management in the field, soil, in developing and undeveloped countries too. It is a fact weather etc. Livestock Managementsuch as supply chain that though many professionals are associated with the management, better marketing, agro business promotion Agricultural systems but till date millions of farmers are are possible with solid and healthy Agricultural not well skilled in advanced cultivation methods. Hence Informatics practices [17], [18], [34]. In respect of applications of Computing and IT are far away. However enhancing Quality of the foods Agricultural Informatics due to wider benefits of the technology, Agricultural are important is required. Agricultural Informatics this Informatics can be utilized for further development in ultimately helps in— managing its different issues viz. heat, cold, flood,  Sustainable Agriculture drought, insect, pest infestations, disease identification,  Developed and Advanced Agriculture weather etc [15], [16], [21]. Agricultural Informatics can  Smart and Digital Agricultural Systems. also solve the issues like food habits, in nutritional The proper education and training program can lead more requirements, ecological concern etc directly and development of the systems and therefore Agricultural indirectly. Agricultural Informatics is further important in Informatics can be offered with the engineering degree as many other systems and concern. With the proper well [9], [24], [30]. strategies and methods it is applicable in healthy agricultural systems (but not limited to)— V. CURRENT ACADEMIC PROGRAMS  Inputconcern of the Agricultural Systems.  Output systems of the Agriculture and allied fields. At present Agricultural Informaticsis internationally  Integrating and facilitating agro related areas. offered with the Science degrees and mainly BSc degree  Agro Marketing including other post production and MSc degree. Though, similar BS and MS degrees are activities. not so popular yet. Furthermore, in India mainly MSc,  In Managing future problem of food specially food BTech and MTech has been started with full fledged security. degree and in this regard there are potentiality to offer in  In effective in Agricultural Systems development. other streams as a Agricultural Informatics specializations  Value-chainsystems and development. viz.—  In managing healthy Climate systems.  Commerce

 Management  Agricultural Information Technology  Business Administration  Agricultural Information Systems  Humanities as well.  Agricultural Information Management As far as IT Schools are concerned there are potentialities  Agricultural Information and Communication to offer Agricultural Informaticsas a specialization at Technology etc. different level. Moreover, this could be also nomenclature The following table shows some of the current degrees and with following (but not limited to)— programs in Engineering streams offered in India with  Agricultural Information Science exact nomenclature.

Table: 1-Engineering Degrees with Agricultural Informatics and allied subjects Universities/ Institutes Degrees Subjects Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India BTech Agricultural Information Technology Centre for Agricultural Informatics and E Governance Research Studies BTech Agricultural Informatics Shobhit University, Meerut, UP, India Centre for Agricultural Informatics and E Governance Research Studies MTech Agricultural Informatics Shobhit University, Meerut, UP, India Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat, India MTech Agricultural Information Technology

In addition to these Gujarat based DhirubhaiAmbani also important in respect of increasing number of Institute of Information and Communication engineering institutions and intake as well [6], [14], [32]. Technology(A Deemed University) offers MSc in ICT in Today all the engineering colleges and similar institutes Agriculture & Rural Development. In many Agricultural offering various degrees in engineering streams viz. Science programs Agricultural Informatics and allied Diploma (Engineering/ Technology), Bachelors (with BE/ subjects also offered as a course/ paper. BTech), Masters (with ME/MTech), PhD (Engineering/ Technology). The number of engineering institutes also Engineering and Indian Academics increased radically and presently it touched at the India is one of the largest education systems in the world following— with about 1000 universities and degree awarding bodies.  4807 (in Diploma) Table 3 is showing details in this regard.There aredifferent  5272 (in BE/BTech) w kind of universities in India viz.—  4426 (in ME/MTech)  Government Universities It is classified into two viz. state and private and clearly as This trend is increasing with gross enrollment as well. follows— Today (as on 2019), the total number of candidates -State University (i.e. State Funded & Management pursuing Engineering degrees throughout the nation [19], Universities) [22], [24] is 3390485. Further in respect of intake and -Central University (i.e. Central Government Funded engineering institutes are mentioned in Fig: 3 and Table: 2 & Management Universities) respectively.

 Self Financed Universities -Private Universities (Passed by the state legislative assembly& managed by private bodies)

Deemed to be Universities (-These are mainly upgraded from a college of repute and excellence) As far as branches are concerned, apart from the general education Indian educational institutes (i.e. HEI) universities are offering Engineering, Business, Architecture, Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Designing etc. The engineering education mainly controlled by the engineering colleges governed by AICTE [10], [13], [18]. Today a large number of candidates are pursuing Fig: 3 Status of Technical Institutions in India Engineering degrees but initially the number was very low. As far as 1947 statistics there were 44 & 43 institutes India as one of the largest education providers having which were offering Engineering degree leading to 40000+ colleges and Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) Diploma and Bachelors (BE) with the intake of 3200 & and engaged in degrees from Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s 3400 respectively. Degree to Ph.D. and Post Doctoral Programs as well. Apart from the universities in India another kind of HEIs Gradually the engineering institutions and colleges have are considered as degree awarding bodies and these are been increased rapidly due to the changing plan and called Institutes of National Importance (INI) [25], [29], policies of the government. Moreover the fifth year plan [33].

Table: 2Engineering Enrolment in India Region State Institutions Approved Intake Institutions Approved Diploma PG UG Diploma PG UG Intake Central Chhattisgarh 85 44 62 13460 4475 20314 127 38249 Gujarat 147 224 200 68765 25962 67741 418 162468 Madhya 234 363 292 41391 46671 87238 575 175300 Pradesh Central Total 466 631 554 123616 77108 175293 1120 376017 Eastern Andaman and 2 0 1 480 0 90 2 570 Nicobar Islands Arunachal 8 2 1 1040 198 360 10 1598 Pradesh Assam 28 22 24 4395 1812 5505 59 11712 Jharkhand 57 17 20 15177 3083 6681 82 24941 Manipur 3 1 1 370 40 150 4 560 Meghalaya 3 2 2 380 150 660 7 1190 Mizoram 3 3 1 240 122 30 4 392 Nagaland 9 2 2 585 120 540 13 1245 Odisha 158 130 111 46321 15059 41985 300 103365 Sikkim 3 2 4 570 234 800 7 1604 Tripura 7 3 3 1150 180 623 13 1953 West Bengal 165 104 111 40170 10474 38598 286 89242 Eastern Total 446 288 281 110878 31472 96022 787 238372 North- Chandigarh 5 10 7 960 1065 1821 15 3846 West Delhi 20 52 24 5750 13034 9893 78 28677 Haryana 203 185 188 50141 21039 46978 402 118158 Himachal 34 21 33 6870 1481 6333 66 14684 Pradesh Jammu and 30 19 12 5685 1600 3975 54 11260 Kashmir Punjab 221 168 147 56935 16424 39262 393 112621 Rajasthan 205 135 154 41335 13342 48563 371 103240 North-West Total 718 590 565 167676 67985 156825 1379 392486 Northern Bihar 69 38 42 17855 3147 11290 134 32292 Uttar Pradesh 753 539 418 152100 70574 118844 1261 341518 Uttarakhand 136 67 48 20143 6380 11795 194 38318 Northern Total 958 644 508 190098 80101 141929 1589 412128 South- Andhra Pradesh 317 581 418 79676 88499 167171 790 335346 Central Telangana 203 545 363 52429 86801 130548 669 269778 South-Central Total 520 1126 781 132105 175300 297719 1459 605124 South- Karnataka 349 363 277 95808 49206 110318 751 255332 West Kerala 87 218 216 23615 20534 60195 384 104344 South-West Total 436 581 493 119423 69740 170513 1135 359676 Southern Puducherry 9 13 19 2422 1688 8010 29 12120 Tamil Nadu 501 704 593 198784 86212 304138 1334 589134 Southern Total 510 717 612 201206 87900 312148 1363 601254 Western Dadra and 1 2 1 390 90 60 3 540 Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu 2 0 1 540 0 180 3 720 Goa 9 5 8 2935 675 1490 17 5100 Maharashtra 741 688 622 153556 81410 164102 1555 399068 Western Total 753 695 632 157421 82175 165832 1578 405428 Grand Total 4807 5272 4426 1202423 671781 1516281 10410 3390485

These are another milestone in Indian education system details. Among these institutes few popular are include and considered as super-specially systems in professionals IITs, NITs, IITs, IIMs, SPAs, AIIMS etc. fields only viz. Engineering, Management, Basic & Applied Science, Architecture, Pharmaceutical Sciences, These institutes are mainly established by the Central Medical Sciences etc. In this regard Table 4 provides Government with higher priorities and therefore treated as institutes with higher/ nationalimportance tag.However

© 2020, WAJES All Rights Reserved 135 World Academics Journal of Engineering Sciences Vol.7, Issue.2, June 2020 apart from these many institutes are considered as Engineering Colleges/ Institutions. As far as Agricultural autonomous research institutes established by Govt. of Informatics or similar nomenclature is concerned, India such as Bose Institute, Saha Institute of Nuclear Engineering institutes including the Engineering Colleges, Physics etc. The number of institutes in this category is Universities, Institution of National Importance etc may be about 200+. offered such subjects at different levels viz.—  Diploma Engineering Table: 3- Showing Indian Universities at a glance  Bachelors Degree (BE/BTech) Universities In Numbers Location  Masters Degree (ME/MTech) Central Universities 53 Pan India with 28 States and UT  PhD (Engineering) State Universities 412 Pan India with 28  PhD (Technology) States and UT  DSc (Engineering / Technology) etc. State Private 356 Except some states Universities and UT Another Engineering degree of Agricultural Informatics Deemed Universities 124 Except some states may be offered with the MPhil (Engineering/ Technology) and UT nomenclature.

Many of such universities offers Engineering degrees and offers their own degrees in many cases without the concern of AICTE; which are normally dealt with the

Table: 4- Showing Indian Higher Educational Institutes at a glance INI/ Higher Educational In Numbers Location Institutions

Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Indian Institute of 23 Kharagpur, Mandi, Mumbai, Patna, Ropar, Technology [IITs] Roorkee and Varanasi Gwalior, Allahabad, Jabalpur, Kancheepuram, Sri City, Guwahati, Vadodara, Kota, Trichy, Indian Institute of 25 Una, Sonepat, Kalyani, Lucknow, Dharwad, Information Technology Kurnool, Kottayam, Manipur, Nagpur, Pune, [IITs] Ranchi, Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Raichur, Agartala Agartala, Allahabad, Arunachal Pradesh, Bhopal, Calicut, Delhi, Durgapur, Goa, National Institute of 31 Puducherry, Hamirpur, Jaipur, Manipur, Technology [NITs] Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Jalandhar, Jamshedpur, Kurukshetra, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Rourkela, Sikkim, Silchar, Srinagar, Surat, Karnataka, Tiruchirappalli, Uttarakhand, Warangal Indian Institute of Engineering Science and 1 (4 are in process) Shibpur (West Bengal) Technology [IIESTs] Indian Institute of 20 Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Management [IIMs] Kozhikode, Indore, Shillong, Rohtak, Ranchi, Raipur, Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur, Kashipur Indian Institute of Science 07 Kalyani, Mohali, Thiruvanthapuram, Pune, Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal, Tirupati [IISERs] Other Central Funded Approximately 150+ Pan India with 28 States and UT Higher Educational Cum Research Institutes

Engineering Degrees with Agricultural Informatics: A Proposal Agricultural Informatics with Engineering is still offered with very few institutes internationally with the BTech&MTech in Agricultural Information Technology. Though there are potentialities to offer the subjects with other nomenclature in the Computing and Information related nomenclature with as a specialization and also in other nomenclature. As in Engineering degrees Computer Science and Engineering considered as most popular and widely available thus Agricultural Informatics specialization with different level could be start easily with this. Refer table: 5 in this regard.

Table: 5 Agricultural Informatics in Engineering context with CSE Computer Science based Possible Engineering with Agro Informatics BTech/BE-Computer Science & Engineering (Agricultural Informatics) MTech/ME-Computer Science & Engineering (Agricultural Informatics) BTech/BE-Computer Science & Engineering (Agricultural Informatics&IoT) BTech/BE/MTech/ME-Computer Science & Engineering (Agricultural Informatics& Big Data) BTech/BE/MTech/ME-Computer Science & Engineering (Agricultural Informatics& Robotics) BTech/BE/ MTech/ME-Computer Science & Engineering (Agricultural Informatics& Cloud Technologies)

Here apart from the Agricultural Informatics other nomenclaturesare also proposed and listed here. However apart from CSE; the nomenclature could also be in Computer Engineering in certain cases. These programs should be suitable with merged emerging technologies as well. As far as another popular engineering degree is concerned important is Information Technology, which is depicted in Table: 6.

Table: 6 Agricultural Informatics in Engineering context with IT Information Technologybased Possible Engineering with Agro Informatics BTech/BE-Information Technology (Agricultural Informatics) MTech/ME- Information Technology (Agricultural Informatics) BTech/BE- Information Technology (Agricultural Informatics&IoT) BTech/BE/MTech/ME- Information Technology (Agricultural Informatics& Big Data) BTech/BE/MTech/ME- Information Technology (Agricultural Informatics& Robotics) BTech/BE/ MTech/ME- Information Technology (Agricultural Informatics& Cloud Technologies)

The branch Information Technology is popularized since Hence this way, Agricultural Informatics could be offered late 1990s and this is suitable for the application part as Engineering degree with most popular and other whereas the CSE related subjects proposed in Table: 5 is available and possible subjects as a specializations as suitable in designing and development of the Agricultural mentioned above. Additionally, Agricultural Informatics Informatics systems. Whereas, Table 7 is depicted another could be offered with other subjects as full-fledged degree programs with the nomenclature on Informatics. This and with other nomenclature viz. Smart Agriculture or could be more related and allied with the Agricultural Digital Agriculture and so on. More are depicted in Table: Informatics. 8.

Table: 7 Agricultural Informatics in Engineering context with Table: 8 Agricultural Informatics related areas as full-fledged Informatics/IS/IST inEngineering degree Informatics/ IS/ IST based Possible Engineering with Agro Informatics BTech/BE-Smart Agriculture/ Digital Agriculture BTech/BE- Informatics/ IS/ IST (Agricultural Informatics) MTech/ME- Smart Agriculture/ Digital Agriculture MTech/ME- Informatics/ IS/ IST (Agricultural Informatics) BTech/BE- Agricultural ICT BTech/BE- Informatics/ IS/ IST MTech/ME- Agricultural ICT (Agricultural Informatics&IoT) BTech/BE- Agricultural Information Systems BTech/BE/MTech/ME- Informatics/ IS/ IST MTech/ME- Agricultural Information Systems (Agricultural Informatics& Big Data) BTech/BE- Agricultural Information Management BTech/BE/MTech/ME- Informatics/ IS/ IST MTech/ME- Agricultural Information Management (Agricultural Informatics& Robotics) BTech/BE/ MTech/ME- Informatics/ IS/ IST Agricultural Informatics as an interdisciplinary field is (Agricultural Informatics& Cloud Technologies) growing rapidly and thus apart from the BTech/ BE,

MTech/ ME; in Doctoral level as well this branch can be However, it is worthy to note that similar to Informatics offered as depicted in Table: 9. the nomenclature could also offer with the Information

Science (as synonym of Informatics). The emerging and Table: 9 Agricultural Informatics & allied areas CSE-Engineering more technology centric Information Science and degree (Doctoral) Technology (IST) nomenclature could also be offered in this context. PhD (Engg)CSE (Agricultural Informatics) PhD (Engg) IT (Agricultural Informatics)

PhD (Engg) Informatics/ IS/IST (Agricultural Informatics)  BTech/MTech in Computing and Information related subjects with the specialization of the allied and emerging nomenclature of Agricultural Informatics. Agricultural Informaticsis most popular nomenclature;  PhDs with Agricultural Informatics/ allied and however at research level some other nomenclature also emerging domain/ as a specialization with Computing proposed herewith in Table: 10 as far as PhDs are & Information related fields. concerned; which is full-fledged degree on Agricultural Informatics and on another field. In the context of Agricultural Informatics if we analyze clearly it could be noted that Agricultural Informatics is a Table: 10 Agricultural Informatics & allied areas in Engineering branch of Informatics (i.e. Information Science) or degree (Doctoral) emerging nomenclature Information Science and Technology. Hence it would be best to offer the PhD (Engg)-Agricultural Informatics Agricultural Informatics specialization with the MTech in PhD (Engg)-Smart Agriculture/ Digital Agriculture Informatics/ IS/IST degree and in this context. It would be PhD (Engg)-Agricultural Information Systems perfect to offer both the areas in a same degree. The PhD (Engg)-Agricultural Information Systems degrees can be offered in the existing departments and PhD (Engg)-Agricultural Information Management institutes which offer IT and allied nomenclature. Here it PhD (Engg)-Agricultural Information Management is worthy to note that, as Informatics/IS/IST are limitedly available due to broad or interdisciplinary nature. But This way, Agricultural Informatics could be started in MTech in IS/IST can be offered with the proper Engineering degrees with the following features— collaboration with few other departments that deals with  BTech/MTech in Agricultural Informatics the Management, Social Sciences and Information  BTech/MTech in allied areas of Agricultural Studies. Moreoverfor theAgricultural Informatics Informaticsspecialization allied departments viz.  BTech/MTech in Computing and Information related Agricultural Sciences can be tied up for the development. subjects with the specialization of the Agricultural Informatics

Table: 11-The proposed MTech-Informatics/IS/IST (Agricultural Informatics) in Indian context. Name of the proposed Credit of the Lab [Yes/ No] Industrial Training Possible Departments; if not papers Paper [Yes/No] possible In house Semester I/ Year 1 Fundamentals of IST 4 No No In House is possible Agro Information 2 Yes No In House is possible Systems Basics Agricultural Science: 4 No No If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture Basics related department jointly DBMS Technologies 4 Yes Yes Preferably at Industries or Finishing Schools Information Analytics 4 No Yes Preferably at Industries or with Big Data Finishing Schools Semester II/ Year 1 Knowledge Economy and 4 No No In House is possible Sustainability DBMS and IBM DB2 4 Yes Yes, may be in IT In House is possible (Advanced) Company/Offices Agricultural Sciences 4 No No If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture &Agro Technologies: related Basics Computing Networks & 4 Yes Yes, may be institutional of If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture Agriculture external offices related department jointly Cloud Computing 4 Yes Yes, may be in CISCO lab If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture &Agriculture related department jointly Semester III/ Year 2 Agro Web Technologies 4 No No If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture related department jointly Ecology & Sustainability 4 Yes Yes In House is possible

GIS in Agriculture 2 Yes No In House is possible Managing Agro Systems 2 No No If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture related department jointly Advance Technologies in 6 Yes Yes In House is possible

Agro ICT Semester IV/ Year 2 Usability Engineering in 4 Yes Yes If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture Agriculture related department jointly Internet & Agro IoT 4 Yes Yes If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture related department jointly Agro Robotics 2 No No If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture related department jointly Green Information 2 No No In House is possible Management Future Agro 3 No No If Needed/ Possible in Agriculture Information Science related department jointly Dissertation/ Project 6 In House is possible or at Agriculture related department

Here in table: 11 such are proposed, most of the courses developing smart agricultural systems as well. The are proposed with 2 and 4 credit and few are in 3 credit program on these emerging areas could be offered in both manner. As the field Agricultural Informatics is practicing engineering colleges and universities having engineering in nature hence some of the paper could be offer in the departments. Moreover Computing related departments industrial premises and such paper/courses such could also offer the programs with BTech and MTech. collaboration could be best for higher utility of manpower Here in this work proposed PhDs are also proposed but development. there is potentiality in such degrees with professional We propose the following suggestions: doctorates in Engineering as well.

VI. SUGGESTIONS REFERENCES

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