Florida varsity to set up agri institute in state

Amaravati:  The state government approved the proposal of University of Florida to establish ‘Institute of Sustainable Agriculture’ in Andhra Pradesh for the transferring technologies to be utilised in agriculture and horticulture. 

Senior Vice-President of University of Florida Jack Payne met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the Secretariat on Wednesday. He informed the Chief Minister about an integrated course offered in University of Florida, which is the largest agriculture programme in the United States, and studies over 300 crops.

He also said that horticulture was a $140 billion business. He also said they were keen to partner with AP to enhance the development of the coastline, aquaculture, post-harvest technologies and gene technologies. 

The Chief Minister said that the agriculture sector in Andhra Pradesh was growing by 25.6 per cent in spite of deficit rainfall. “We now have some of the biggest and best innovators partnering with the state including the University of Iowa and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

We are already integrating various Internet of Things with knowledge. Now, the real focus area should be to take this technology to the grassroot level,” he said.