Odisha to get its second Agriculture University

Bhubaneswar, Aug 18: Odisha will soon get its second Agriculture University in the poverty stricken KBK (Kalahandi- Balangir-Koraput) region of the state.

"The state is planning to establish its second Agriculture University in an area under KBK districts and the government has already made budgetary allocation for the purpose," Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy said.

The existing Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) could accommodate only 1,808 students in an academic year, he said. OUAT, established on August 24, 1962, is the second oldest Agriculture University in the country.

It has been discharging its triple functions of Education, Research and Extension Education Programme in an integrated manner in the field of Agriculture and Allied Sciences.

The minister said OUAT had been largely successful in fulfilling its major thrust of improving quality of academic standards in agricultural education by producing quality professionals in the field of Agriculture and Allied Sciences.

It has been generating and refining agricultural technologies by conducting demand driven as well as basic research in agriculture. While felicitating 37 meritorious students of OUAT who have got Junior Research Fellowship of ICAR, Maharathy also said that a Veterinary University was also on the anvil.

Another College of Agriculture was being established under Xavier University, he said. Amongst 66 universities, OUAT is the first university in the country to achieve the rare record of 37 students getting JR Fellowship in an academic year.

PTI