Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bengaluru-based Hydenmet Solutions Private Limited for taking up joint programmes to enable farmers to get affordable access to cutting-edge precision farming solutions.

“The major aim of the collaboration is to generate knowledge in effective monitoring of various crops from seeding to harvest, compare real-time condition of crops with documented intelligence to derive the most accurate advisory for managing water-stress, nutrition-stress, pests, diseases, insect and fungus attacks and ensure maximum yield of good quality produce,” a release said.

The MoU was signed by SOA vice-chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda and Bhaskaran Rangarajan, the chief executive officer of Hydenmet Solutions.

Hydenmet Solutions will install one automatic weather station and any other crop or soil Internet of Things (IoT) sensor as required in SOA’s farm and roll out Hydenmet Solution’s Smart Technology-Based Agriculture Enabler (STAGE) platform to monitor the same.
It will also provide necessary technical manpower and facilities at its manufacturing plants for conducting trials relevant to the
identified projects.

Besides, experts from Hydenmet Solutions shall facilitate visits of faculty and students of SOA to its manufacturing plants in connection with the identified projects and participate in training of students.

Both parties will also work for improvement of the farming community of the state in association with Farmer Producers’ Organisation
(FPO).

The signing of the MoU was coordinated by Girija Patel, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Hydenmet Solutions, Jeevan Sangram Dash, chief operating officer of Hydenmet Solutions and Prof Santosh Kumar Rout, dean of Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Prof R.K. Panda, director, SOA’s Centre for Climate Smart Agriculture and Pramod Kumar Panda, SOA’s chief administrative Officer, were present during the signing of
the MoU.