Panicker and Srivastava attend international conference at New Delhi, India

Panicker and Srivastava attend international conference at New Delhi, India

Alcorn State University employees Dr. Girish Panicker, director of the Center for Conservation Research, and Mr. Ashwani Srivastava, chief extension associate, ASU Extension Program (ASUEP), represented the University and shared its global extension and research vision during the International Conference on ”Innovative Approaches for Agricultural Knowledge Management, Global Extension Experiences” organized by International Society of Extension Education (INSEE) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research held recently in New Delhi, India. ASU along with Iowa State University were among global partners in the conference from United States of America.

This high profile international conference was attended by Smt. Pratibha Patil, president of India, and top notch agriculture extension and research scientists from across the world. The major thrust of the conference was “How to minimize the gap between agriculture knowledge generation and knowledge dissemination using multidimensional approaches” including Information and Communication Tools (ICT). There were over 2,000 participants attending the conference and over 800 papers were presented.

Invited by the International Society of Extension Education (ISEE) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr. Panicker presented a technology transfer paper on “C-factor research for erosion prediction, nutrient management, and conservation planning”.
Dr. Panicker was one of the six panelists of the “Concurrent Agrarian Issues and Agricultural Management” session. His presentation stressed the importance of applying C-factor research technology in conserving soil and avoiding groundwater pollution from nitrogenous fertilizers.

“Alcorn is the only institution which has done C-factor research on more than 30 horticultural crops,” said Dr. Panicker. “It was a great occasion to represent our university, a world leader in C-factor research technology. Several universities and research organizations have approached us to have collaborative research work in future.”

Srivastava conducted a concurrent technical session on “Use of ICT for agricultural knowledge management”. There were over 30 innovative papers presented in the areas of information and communication technology (ICT) application in agriculture by various extension and research scientists. Some of the ICT models presented during the seminar can be adopted successfully to enhance our knowledge management and its dissemination.

Srivastava presented current ICT trends in the US and briefly demonstrated an Interactive web-based accountability system, designed and developed by ASU Extension Program. The interactive features of the application were highly appreciated by the attendees. As co-chairperson of the session, he advised the participants to put a major thrust on online content validity and provide training to the users.

“It was a great opportunity to represent ASU on a global platform as one of the most prominent land-grant universities in the world,” stated Srivastava. “Our presentations generated interest to the University. Many participants approached us enquiring about Alcorn and its location.”

Panicker