News

Nestlé and Pakistan Agriculture Research Council Showcase Best Irrigation Practices to Overcome Water Mismanagement in the Agriculture Sector

Published

7 months ago

September 4, 2022

The agriculture sector contributes 19.2% to Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The sector uses as much as 90% of Pakistan’s water supply, making it one of the country’s most wasteful and water-intensive sectors.

It is estimated that 50% of the water used in agriculture is wasted due to mismanagement and outdated and inefficient irrigation techniques.

Flood irrigation is one of the oldest and most common irrigation techniques in Pakistan.

Additionally, it creates stress on crops, resulting in decreased yield and profitability, not to mention straining the country’s current water resources. Utilizing an optimum level of irrigation is a more effective way to conserve water, maximize yield, and maximize profitability.

The Nestlé Pakistan Caring for Water initiative (C4W-Pakistan) recognizes these concerns and is actively working to fix them.

As part of the C4W-Pakistan program, efforts extend beyond factory gates, forming partnerships with relevant stakeholders such as government, academia, nonprofit organizations, and think tanks working on water issues.

The C4W-Pakistan initiative remains focused on agriculture as the most important pillar, so a large percentage of our effort is dedicated to optimizing crop yield and conserving water.

Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) has established a demonstration site with a High-Efficiency Irrigation System (HEIS) to demonstrate various water conservation methods in agriculture. The site spans over six acres and is powered by a High-Efficiency Irrigation System (HEIS).

This modern technology has replaced traditional irrigation methods with efficient alternatives that use less water, either by diverting it to specific areas of crops or by reducing the volume of water used.

Nestlé Pakistan’s Supplier Development and Sustainable Agriculture Manager, Mehboob Elahi, says, “This site demonstrates how to use high-efficiency irrigation systems to increase crop yield as well as conserve water while demonstrating good practices by using innovative methods and environmentally friendly technology.”

“The initiative serves as a knowledge hub for farmers, professionals, the media, and other service providers,” he explained.

In terms of high-efficiency irrigation systems, drip irrigation systems, pivot systems, and sprinkler systems are all available.

Drip irrigation primarily involves dripping water onto the soil at very low rates through small-diameter plastic pipes with outlets called drippers. However, there are many different techniques for drip irrigation.

There are three techniques employed at the site:

Responsive Drip Irrigation System

The Responsive Drip Irrigation System is the world’s first plant-responsive water delivery system, where a system of underground tubes detects root signals to determine when plants need water.

This highly targeted system only releases water for specific plants on a need basis. Owing to its lack of human involvement, this system eliminates the risk of human error, resulting in high efficiency.

Underground Drip Irrigation System

An underground drip irrigation system uses underground water-carrying tubes to irrigate crops. Water is released from these tubes throughout the day as they are placed close to the roots.

The release of water can also be controlled through a central mechanism to reduce wastage and prevent over-irrigation. Due to their underground location, they are capable of retaining moisture that would otherwise evaporate.

Bubbler Irrigation

A bubbler irrigation system is mainly used in tree groves since each tree is placed in a specific basin that is flooded with water rather than flooding an entire field.

A ‘bubbler’ is a threaded joint that directs water from the source to the basins. At set intervals, these emit water at low pressure, ensuring a sufficient supply to the tree.

There is also a modified channel basin surface irrigation system at the demonstration site, which utilizes narrow channels to carry water throughout the fields and to specific plants.

Through these channels, water is directed efficiently to crops, minimizing water loss.

More than 3,300 people have visited the PARC demonstration site and learned about HEIS’ role in reducing water waste in agriculture.

As a result of our collaboration with Nestlé, we have demonstrated how alternative irrigation methods have not only increased yields but also reduced water use,” said Dr. Bashir Ahmad, Director of the National Agricultural Research Center’s Climate, Energy, and Water Resources Institute.

He said, “We are proud to serve as a lighthouse for hundreds of people who come to us seeking solutions to complex problems related to water conservation.”

Nestlé Pakistan cares deeply about the water footprint and believes that sharing its learnings and success stories can help farmers become changemakers and advocates of effective irrigation practices that can help Pakistan conserve water for future generations.

These efforts are in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation, 13 – Climate Action, and 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.

News

Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic will share battery specs

Published

5 days ago

March 18, 2023

Yasmeen Ashraf

The ultimate puzzle piece, pertaining to the batteries powering the soon-to-be-unleashed Galaxy Watch 6 series, has been unearthed. Courtesy of a listing available on an online platform, belonging to a regulatory body located in China, the battery capacities for both the standard Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic, in all of their sizes, have now been revealed.

This recently-acquired information indicates that the two largest models within the Galaxy Watch 6 lineup, namely, the 44mm Galaxy Watch 6 (SM-R940/SM-R945) and the 46mm Galaxy Watch 6 Classic (SM-R960/SM-R965), will be equipped with the same battery configuration. Specifically, the battery has a rated capacity of 417 mAh, alongside a typical capacity of 425 mAh. With the exception of the hypothetical Watch 6 Pro, the entire series has an identical battery configuration.

There is presently no additional data on the rumored Galaxy Watch 6 Pro or its battery capacity – assuming this device is indeed in the works. It’s possible that earlier reports referring to the Watch 6 Pro were in fact describing the Classic variant, meaning that there may not be a Pro version released this year. Of all the rumors surrounding the upcoming Galaxy Watch 6 series, the potential reappearance of the physical rotating bezel is perhaps the most fascinating. Supposedly, the release of the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic will mark the return of this feature that was absent from last year’s lineup after Samsung introduced the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

Although information regarding a release date is currently unavailable, an informed prediction would suggest that Samsung is planning to unveil the Galaxy Watch 6 series in the August-September timeframe at the Unpacked event, alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, as well as the Galaxy Tab S9 tablet lineup. There is no information yet on whether the Korean technology giant plans to announce a new set of wireless earbuds later this year, but we will keep you informed of any developments.

News

OpenAI Releases More Powerful AI Named chat GPT 4

Published

7 days ago

March 16, 2023

Ahmed Khan

chat gpt 4

GPT 4 has finally arrived it leaves chat GPT In the dust it can convert a drawing on a napkin into a functional website it can even explain to you a joke from a series of images. GPT 4 in comparison to its previous model it’s multimodal now this simply means that unlike previous versions of GPT which were only text-based. GPT 4 can accept and process images as well as text I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an audio component to this as well but for the time being open AI simply did a demonstration showcasing an example of their image-to-text processing the first one is on their website where they gave AI difficult task of explaining a joke based on series of images this image is of an iPhone but it’s charging with a VGA cable and GPT 4 accurately was able to identify all the elements in the photo.

OpenAI’s recently launched Chat GPT 4 is a significant improvement over its predecessor, the GPT-3.5, which powered ChatGPT until now. Chat GPT 4 can process a staggering 25,000 words and is capable of understanding and responding to images. This is a major development that has impressed those who were already impressed by ChatGPT.

With Chat GPT-4, users can provide an image of their ingredients and ask the chatbot to create a recipe, which it will do by analyzing the picture and generating a detailed description. This is just one example of the many ways in which AI is slowly but surely taking over jobs that were once the sole domain of humans. However, GPT-4 is not infallible, and there is a risk that it may sometimes provide incorrect information or create completely untrue facts due to what OpenAI calls “hallucinations”.

Chat GPT-4’s capabilities are due in part to the fact that it has been trained on a much larger database than its predecessor. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is among the many people who have been impressed by GPT-4, stating that he is now a fan of ChatGPT. However, OpenAI warns that AI is not perfect and users should exercise caution when relying on its output.

Despite its flaws, Chat GPT-4 is already being used as an integrated feature on the Microsoft Bing browser and is available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers for a subscription fee of $20. It will be interesting to see how this AI technology evolves in the future and how it will continue to impact our lives in ways we never thought possible.

Android

This weird Google Pixel 7 camera glitch can prevent you from saving photos

Published

1 week ago

March 13, 2023

Yasmeen Ashraf

The Google Pixel 7 and its Pro counterpart have undergone substantial advancements since their unveiling in October 2022. These devices had a handful of issues upon their initial release, but Google was able to rectify nearly all of them through software updates. Nevertheless, on occasion, a strange Pixel defect can emerge, leaving you perplexed. Recently, an unusual malfunction was discovered with the Pixel 7 causing it to crash when playing a specific YouTube video clip. Currently, yet another nonsensical complication has surfaced, involving the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro cameras, which are unwilling to preserve close-up zoom captures.

A digital content creator who goes by the handle Reddit/u/MintySkyhawk recently shared a video featuring his Pixel 7 Pro, which seemed to be unable to store photos of his PC’s inner workings when taken using the device’s 5x periscope lens in conjunction with the flash. The camera works flawlessly when capturing images from a zoom lens, but fails to save any photos of the computer’s internals, without any apparent cause. Interestingly, the issue persists regardless of whether the cabinet’s glass side panel is present or not.

Subsequently, another Reddit user attempted to replicate the problem by taking close-up photographs of his denim pants at 5x zoom with flash enabled, yet the smartphone wouldn’t retain the images.

A handful of individuals on Reddit attempted to troubleshoot the predicament by extracting a logcat while utilizing the Google Camera application. From the acquired data, it appears that the complication arises as a result of an issue with HDR. This confirms that the error has more to do with the Google Camera software and its algorithm for processing images than with your Pixel phone. This is to guarantee that you do not capture any unappealing photographs of your intended subject or object.

While waiting for Google to address the issue, one can only marvel at the peculiarities of this bug. In the meantime, the simplest solution is to deactivate the flash and rely on the Pixel 7’s exceptional Night Sight mode instead, ensuring that the issue is avoided.

Source/VIA: androidpolice