The 74th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics (ISAS) was organized by the Department of Agricultural Statistics, N.M. College of Agriculture, Navsari during February 02 - 04, 2024, under the distinguished chairmanship of Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor Dr. Z. P. Patel. The inaugural function witnessed the esteemed presence of Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Chairperson, PPV & FRA, Former Secretary, DARE, as the chief guest; Dr. Padam Singh, Executive President, ISAS; Dr. Rajender Parsad Director, ICAR-IASRI & Secretary, ISAS; Dr. T. R. Ahlawat, Director of Research, NAU, Navsari; Dr. R. M. Naik Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, NAU, Navsari and Dr. Alok Shrivastava, Organising secretary. The veteran academician Dr. N. M. Patel, former principal AAU, Anand was the special invitee and was felicitated by Hon’ble Vice-chancellor in this auspicious gathering. Dr. B.V.S. Sisodia, Vice President of the society; Dr. A.R. Rao ADG (PIM), ICAR & Vice President, ISAS, New Delhi; Dr. Seema Jaggi ADG (HRD), ICAR, and other esteemed guests, collectively enriching the conference with their valuable insights and experiences.
In the presidential address, Hon’ble VC emphasized on the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence and its related disciplines in bringing innovation in agriculture which aimed at not only enhancing the income of farmers but also concurrently uplifting the standards of social and economic living.
Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, DARE, GoI and Director General, ICAR, New Delhi delivered Dr. M. S. Swaminathan Memorial Lecture virtually on the topic Transforming Agriculture through Digital Innovation whereas Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, delivered 57th Dr. Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture on the topic “Data-Driven Digital Agriculture for a Sustainable Food System”.
The main theme of this conference was Harnessing Statistics and Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable and Smart Agriculture. In this three-day conference, a total of 7 memorial lectures were delivered by various emeritus Scientists in the remembrance of Veteran Statisticians. Renowned speakers from the Fraternity of Statistical and Allied Sciences delivered 44 invited talks on relevant topics during technical sessions under 9 technical sessions covering various sub-themes and 89 contributed research papers along with poster presentations were displayed and discussed.
The closing ceremony was organized on February 04, 2024. In this ceremony, various speakers presented their views. Participants shared their experiences during the conference.