Experiences about the training programs -International open trainings and National trainingsNachiket Kotwaliwale

CIAE, Bhopal

International and National trainings at CIAE

No. of scientists at CIAE trained under component 1 of NAIP – 13

Number of NAIP sponsored trainings conducted – 3

Additionally, CIAE scientists were core faculty in two national trainings conducted at CIPHET and IARI

Training in the context of individual and institutional skill gaps -International Training

For many trainees this was maiden foreign experience

Moral boost

Confidence building

Sense of belonging to sponsoring organization

Widening of perspective

Exposure to the future of technology in one’s field of specialization

Developed skills on use of modern instruments/ advanced software

Organization of national training(s) helped development of facilities and structured course material

Training in the context of individual and institutional skill gaps - National Training

For majority did not have any background in the area/ topics of training – Novel

Majority were young (assistant professor equivalent) – learning curve was sharp – training could be conducted in extended hours

Involvement of international faculty was very much encouraging – lot of personal interaction

Major concern among trainees – availability of facilities at their respective institutes to take any further research in the area

Capacity built, work culture and attitudinal changes

Exposure to the complimentary research methodology

Major areas in which capacity built –

Machine vision

Sensor application

NTNC processing

Fermentation

Nano-technology

Packaging technology

Nutraceuticals

Planning, selection, training duration, resource institution and resource person, training implementation, and reporting

The international training duration must be depending upon the research area

The national training sponsored by NAIP could have been more effective if

Duration of training could be flexible (10-21 days)

ASRB & SAUs give appropriate credit to these training in career advancement schemes

Post-training utilization, linkage and network developed and

future plan

Effective Implementation of On-going/ Completed Research Activities:

X-ray, CT and MRI image analysis of mangoes for non-destructive quality evaluation

National Initiative of Climate Resilient Agriculture

Enzyme assisted aqueous extraction processing (EAAP) of soybean

Image based weed detection and weedicide application

Spectral signature generation for some crops at different stages of plants

A study on activation of crop residue based charcoal is underway to obtain the activated carbon at very low cost by nano cavities augmentation.

On-going Research Activities:

A power tiller mounted laser sensor based single row herbicide application system has been developed and tested successfully.

A tractor operated two row laser sensor based herbicide application system has been developed and tested successfully.

A controller based 5 row tractor operated seed drill has been developed.

A project on machine vision application for plant variety identification has been initiated under ICAR national fund.

Membrane technology for soy-milk-powder production

Future research activities

A major thrust area of research during XII plan is “Conservation agriculture” and its role in mitigating the effect of climate change.

A complete laboratory on machine vision applications in agriculture has been proposed in the XII plan EFC document of the institute

Emphasis has been given to non-thermal non-chemical processing of foods in the research programmes proposed during XII plan.

Precision agriculture with appropriate sensors and instrumentation is now one of the major thrust areas of the institute.

Talks initiated with M/s Marine Marshall products , Erode, Tamilnadu for joint project/ technical guidance for the extraction of chitosan and related products

Contribution to ICAR’s Nano Technology platform

Nano technological interventions for waste management and enhanced energy conversion

Output of International and National training

HRD

Summer School

Sensor based application for precision farming to enhance input use efficiency (Jul. 5- 25, 2011)

Engineering Interventions in Conservation Agriculture for Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Climate Change Mitigation (Jun. 22- Jul. 12, 2012)

NAIP sponsored 10-day training

Non thermal, Non Chemical Processing and membrane technology in food system (Oct. 12-21, 2011)

Sensors and protocols for Machine Vision Applications in Agriculture (Dec. 15-24, 2011)

Sensors and Actuators for Precision Farming (Mar. 3-12, 2014)

Research Management & academics

Linkages were established with following Universities of USA:

University of Nebraska, Lincoln,

North Dakota State University, Fargo

Cornell University, Ithaca

Iowa State University, Ames

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg

Oklahoma State University, Stillwater

University of Manitoba, Manitoba

Washington State University, Pullman

Requirements for collaborative projects with US funding

Before proposal submission, all proposed US or non-US subawardee institutions must be registered with FastLane and Central Contractor Registration (CCR), and have a DUNS number.

Fastlane details at (https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/NSFHelp/Printdocs/FastLane_Help/pd_fastlane_registration/pd_fastlane_registration.pdf)

Central Contractor Registration should be handled through http://www.ccr.gov

Now known as System for Award Management (SAM) https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/##11

Institutions may obtain a DUNS number free of charge through the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) online registration (http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform)

Visits of faculty of international universities to CIAE, Bhopal/ Coimbatore

University of Nebraska, Lincoln,

Iowa State University, Ames

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg

University of California

Some collaborative research activities proposed for funding under different international programmes.

Research paper published – Eight in collaboration with international faculty, 6 in collaboration with local scientist(s)

Five course manuals

Scientists trained at international laboratories delivered more than 20 lectures in different training courses, workshops, symposia etc.

One trainee of national training pursued his doctoral work in the area of machine vision.

One trainee of national training was later selected for international training

Post-training requirement

All trainees should be supported appropriately with the requisite resources in terms of manpower and financial support.

Introduction of special fund to develop the laboratory/ facility.

Comparison of International and National Training

International training National training

• Unique experience & exposure

• Freedom to work• Possibility for international

collaboration

• Less expensive• Comparatively better

planned and structured• Formation of a national

group

• Not structured in most cased

• Training of only one or two scientists per specialized area at one instt. may not be adequate

• Limited resources• Laboratory facilities not

adequate in some cases

Thank You