Agri education needs reorientation: ICAR chief

Hyderabad: The first convocation of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) was conducted on Wednesday at the university auditorium at Rajendranagar on the outskirts of the city. State Governor and Chancellor of the university E S L Narasimhan presided over the convocation and Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, was the chief guest.

Addressing the convocation, the Governor emphasised that education should have societal relevance and should contribute to the overall development of rural areas. Agricultural education with more practical orientation would make students to serve the farming community in a better way, he said.

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra delivered the convocation address. Agricultural education now needed introspection as well as reorientation to make it more relevant and vibrant to meet current challenges successfully, he opined.

The National Higher Agricultural Education (NAHEP) Project to be funded by World Bank and aimed at improving the relevance and quality of higher education in agriculture should be seen as an opportunity to attract more talented students, competent faculty and innovative researchers into the field of agriculture, he said.

ICAR was supporting education, research and extension with different programmes to serve the farming community and improving the income levels of farmers, he said, adding that the ICAR was providing development grants for improving infrastructure facilities, faculty research, student ready programme etc. He urged the students of PJTSAU to utilise the knowledge and facilities available with ICAR institutions in Hyderabad.

To double farmers’ income, there was a need to reduce cost of cultivation, improve water usage, good soil health management and adopt integrated farming system etc, he said.

The Soil Health Card Scheme, the visionary project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is strongly focusing on soil health management, aims at providing farm-wise and crop-wise fertilizer recommendations to enhance fertilizer use efficiency, according to Mohapatra.

Dr V Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor of PJTSAU, welcomed the dignitaries and participants and presented a brief report of university activities for the period from September 3, 2014 to July 31, 2016. The university was striving to achieve its triple mandate of agricultural education, research and extension through its eight constituent colleges and 15 Agricultural Research Stations, he said.

“The university is paving a path for itself, reorienting its priorities to suit the State’s needs with the support of dedicated scientific experts and supporting administrative personnel. Higher education apart, the university has in its fold 13 polytechnics with a focus to train grassroot level workers,” he said.

The university adopted Vth Dean Committee recommendations, developed virtual classrooms, started innovative students’ radio programme Chenu Kaburlu, 56 students got JRF and prepared soil fertility map for Telangana State.

About 319 (MSc /PhD) and 790 (UG) students have been awarded degrees in the convocation. A total of 17 gold medals were presented to students for their outstanding performance in academics. M Shravani received five gold medals. Divya Sree received three gold medals in B Tech (Agricultural Engineering) and K Amar Prasad received three gold medals in Plant Pathology for securing Highest Grade Points.