Tag: Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University

Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University (KATRU) has won 4000,000,000 billion tenge (USD 8,695,652) in research funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which is the largest amount of funding a Kazakhstani university has won for research.
The state funding will be provided to KATRU, also known as Seifullin University, to implement a scientific and technical program: “Development of new technologies of organic production and processing of agricultural products”.
Under the plan, within the next three years, new technologies of organic production and processing of agricultural products will be developed that will be based on the principles of “green economy” and regional technological parks and engineering centers of the agro-industrial complex.

The program objectives include:

The development of innovative technologies for feeding, keeping, breeding, and selection of agricultural animals based on the principles of organic production specific to local conditions, creating pilot-module production for widespread distribution in animal husbandry;
– development of innovative technologies in the cultivation, breeding, and selection of plant crops based on the principles of organic farming, creating experimental modular production for widespread distribution in crop production;
– development of innovative technologies for the processing of animal and vegetable raw materials based on the principles of organic agriculture by creating modular production of environmentally friendly products of various assortments;
– development of effective technologies for soil bioremediation and restoration of soil fertility during cleaning of contaminated agricultural areas;
– introducing innovative technologies into the educational and production process in the field of agriculture, creating regional technoparks and high-tech engineering centers in the agro-industrial complex;
– develop an informational and analytical database of innovations in the field of organic agriculture by creating a digital platform for agricultural organizations.

Computers should never be allowed to control the human mind and humans’ decisions, says Professor Dr. Madjid Fathi, a world-known AI expert, and head of the Institute of Knowledge-Based Systems and Knowledge Management at Germany’s University Seigenin.

Professor Fathi was in Kazakhstan on 20-22 September as a guest speaker at the Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University (KATRU) named after Seifullin University in Astana. Professor Fathi gave a talk at the conference session on the use of artificial intelligence in the production of quality food. He said AI can be used for monitoring food crops and the data collected can help understand what affects the quality of food. Whether it is the quality of water, the quality of air, the quality of soil or plasticized, or the overall environment those affect the quality of the food crop.

The focus of Professor Fathi’s research is the constructive and positive use of AI. Professor Fathi’s interest in AI developed 35 years ago when he was at Standford University California. He worked at the University of California, Barkley, He was at the University of New Mexico, too. Later, speaking to the KATRU Press Service, Professor Fathi said that the human mind should always control AI and its development.

“Humans should be decision makers, not computers, computers shouldn’t lead us, we should lead computers. We must focus on controlling the misuse of AI,” said Professor Fathi.

He further elaborated his point by giving an example. “By using Artificial intelligence, we can know about existing illnesses in a person or any illnesses that person may suffer in the near future. That means that AI can tell with accuracy how long the person may live. If this information gets into the hands of insurance companies, there is a possibility of misuse of the medical data.”

Professor Fathi talked about the dangers of AI if it is not regulated. He said big businesses and corporations are using AI to make money and there is a danger that ethics may be compromised.

He stressed the need to develop ethics for the use of AI and its applications. Professor Fathi is part of a group of professors from various countries who are working and pushing for rigorous ethics to regulate AI and its development.
Professor Fathi travels around the world as a guest speaker and he has helped several universities in setting up AI centers and knowledge-based systems.

Muhammad Sheraz is the Advisor to the Rector KATRU on Strategy, Global Engagement, and Communication. His email is: [email protected]

 

India’s top Agriculture Informatics Professor Moni Madaswamy says that the use of digital technologies such as blockchain, IoT, Artificial Intelligence (ML & DL), data analytics, GIS, smartphones, Internet, Cloud Computing, and Language computing in agriculture will help farmers, increase productivity, and strengthen national and global economies.

Professor M. Moni is Professor Emeritus and Chairman of the Centre for Agricultural Informatics and e-Governance Research Studies (CAIRS) & Centre for Agribusiness and Disaster Management Studies (CADMS), Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology Meerut, India.

His thought-provoking talk on the use of informatics and new IT technologies in Agriculture at the International Food Safety and Food Quality Conference at the Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University (KATRU) in Astana provided a new perspective on the relationship between IT and agriculture.

The topic of Professor M. Moni’s talk was: Food Security in a Digital Economy: Need for Strategic Agricultural Informatics Research and Development in Higher Educational Institutions.”

The Indian Professor praised Kazakhstan’s strides in the digitalization of its economy and the wide use of technologies in Kazakh society.

He said Kazakhstan has tremendous potential in agriculture and it should start using new information technologies in the agricultural sector.

Professor M. Moni gave examples of different projects in India where farmers in 100,000 villages were trained to use IT in agriculture. He said India would facilitate the farming community by progressively empowering them through the newly evolving Agricultural Informatics discipline.

Professor M. Moni said that collaborative farming is defined as “two or more farmers working together” in a formal arrangement for their mutual benefit.

He said that the “Future of Farming” will be mostly based on extensive research and development in the areas of Genomics, Robotics, Informatics, and Nanotechnology (GRIN), and such intensification is being witnessed now.

During his talk, Professor M. Moni also explained the term ‘Smart Agribusiness’ saying it meant the applications of digital technologies to improve the efficiency of all the stakeholders in the interrelated and interdependent value chains in agriculture.

The goal of Smart Agribusiness is to leverage the recent surge in technologies (such as blockchain, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, remote sensing technologies, cloud computing, and mobile internet) to reduce information and financial asymmetry across the agricultural value chain. Through the use of these technologies, Smart Agribusiness can increase farmers’ access to inputs, information, finance, and knowledge.

Smart Agribusinesses can have a democratizing effect across the agricultural sector. They have the potential to positively impact the livelihoods of all those involved in the agriculture sector, irrespective of societal divides (e.g. gender, age, and economic status among others).

Professor Moni said that it is professed that an Agricultural System (Research System, Input System, Production System, and Output System) built-in with effective ICT-enabled “Information Systems”, is capable of delivering services in Indian local languages, for enhancing agricultural production, productivity, and income rise.

He recommended the adoption of Industry 4.0 in Agriculture (Agriculture 4.0) and said that it paves the way forward for collaborative farming.