Punjab, Canada to collaborate in remote sensing, agriculture

Monday, 27 October 2003, 20:30 IST
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CHANDIGARH: Punjab Saturday signed two memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Canada on remote sensing and improving agricultural practices. The first one was between the Punjab and Canadian governments and the second one was between a state government undertaking and a Canadian consultancy firm. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Canadian Minister for Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal signed the MoU on cooperation in the field of geospatial information technology. "The MoU will ensure the cooperation and sharing of information in the field of remote sensing as applicable to the field of agriculture between the Earth Sciences Centre in Canada and the Punjab government in a more systematic and sustainable manner," a Punjab government spokesman said. "Under this, existing land use and land use changes would be mapped more periodically using very high-resolution remote sensing data, which presently are not in use. The cooperation will also help the development of crop growth monitoring system (CGMS) through the application of remote sensing, ground surveys and crop growth simulation model," the spokesman added. He said the cooperation would further help in updating and revising cadastral maps using high resolution satellite data besides exchanging of scientific and technical manpower between the two countries. The other MoU was signed between the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Ltd. and Global Connect Inc. of Canada, a project consultant organisation to assist PAIC in facilitating joint venture partnerships, operational management including engineering support, mobilising debt and equity, sourcing technology and supply of critical goods and services from Canada. This understanding would directly benefit several Indian and Canadian companies. Some of the projects to be taken up included grain handling systems, development of hybrid seeds, organic farming, development of grain based distilleries and breweries and a milk processing project.
Source: IANS