The inaugural function of National symposium on “Trends in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (TABE’17”) was held in Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute (AEC&RI), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore on Mar. 27-28, 2017. The programme is sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
Dr. C. Divaker Durairaj, Symposium President and Dean, AEC&RI, TNAU, Coimbatore welcomed the gathering. He emphasized the importance of organizing such scientific symposium in exposing the research communities towards the recent development in science and technology.
Dr. C.R. Anandakumar, Registrar, TNAU, Coimbatore delivered the presidential address and pointed out that the young brains of Agricultural Engineers, Energy and Environmental Engineers and Food and Agricultural processing engineers have higher demand to work towards betterment of our nation in agriculture. The major challenges in agriculture such as labour shortage, ethnic energy crisis, food and fuel shortage, intensive resource inventory towards alleviation of poverty and environmental stress could very well be addressed through technological interventions. Such symposium will pave the way to find out solution to the challenges.
Dr. K. Alagusundaram, DDG (Agrl.Engg), ICAR, Govt. of India, New Delhi in his inaugural address, he appreciated the role played by the importance of agricultural engineering faculty in the fields like farm mechanization, bioenergy, food and agricultural processing, post harvest technology and soil & water conservation in the upliftment of farming community. He insisted the requirement of documentation and also dissemination of the research highlights and stated the role played by such type of events in achieving these tasks. He congratulated the scientist from institutions like ICAR-CIAE-Bhopal, IIT-Madras, UAS, Bangalore, Bharathidasan University, Trichy, CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute-Chennai Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology-Sathi, Jain Irrigation (P) Ltd-Jalgaon, Tamil Nadu Fisheries University-Nagapattinam, ICAR-CIAE-Coimbatore for presenting their research work in this national symposium.
Dr. D. Manohar Jesudas, Symposium Vice-President and Professor and Head, Agricultural Machinery Research Centre (AMRC), TNAU, Coimbatore has proposed a formal vote of thanks.