Technological Progress in Agriculture is Crucial for the Overall Economic Development of the Country- Radha Mohan Singh
Technological Progress in
Agriculture is Crucial for the Overall Economic Development of the Country-
Radha Mohan Singh
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri
Radha Mohan Singh laid the Foundation Stone of Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural
University in Andhra Pradesh today. Shri Singh on the occasion said that “there
are still large productivity gaps in the potential and the realized farm output
and with development and infusion of new technologies our farm production will
go up to meet the rising domestic food demand”.
Full text of Union
Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare speech:
“Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Chandrababu Naidu
garu, my cabinet colleagues, Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and
Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Venkaiah Naidu garu,
Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju garu, Minister of
State for Commerce and Industry, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala
Sitharaman ji, Minister for State for Science & Technology, Earth Science,
Shri Y.S. Chowdary garu, MLA of Tadikonda and President of the function Shri T.
Sravana Kumar garu, Secretary, DARE & Director General, Dr S. Ayyappan,
Vice Chancellor Dr A. Padma Raju, other dignitaries, members of press and
media, farmers, students, ladies and gentlemen.
Agriculture continues to remain a major sector of the
Indian economy. It contributes to 60 per cent of employment and continues to be
the primary source of living for 70 per cent of the population. Technological
progress in agriculture is, therefore, crucial for the overall economic
development of the country.
The agricultural technologies generated by our research
institutions and the Agricultural Universities have enabled us to achieve self
reliant food security at national level and today we are among the leading
producers of several food items. In recent years, our food grain production has
exceeded 260 million tonnes, horticultural production is about 280 million
tonnes, milk is 137 million tonnes, eggs-73 billions and fish over 9.8 million
tonnes.
The growth and development of agriculture in our country
is considerably driven by our institutions of higher agricultural education and
research. India has one of the largest agricultural education and research
systems in the world with the largest number of scientific personnel of any
developing country except China. The research system includes approximately
30,000 scientists and more than one lakh supporting staff actively engaged in teaching
and research related to agriculture. The National Agricultural Research and
Education System (NARES) comprises essentially two main streams, the ICAR at
the national level and the Agricultural Universities at the State level. Today
we have 73 agricultural universities and 101 ICAR research institutions serving
the farming community.
In Andhra Pradesh, ICAR has established two institutions
namely Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Peda Vegi, in West Godavari
District and Central Tobacco Research Institute, Rajahmundry. ICAR has also
established four Regional Centres of Fisheries Institutes: CIFE Centre at
Kakinada, CIFA Centre in Vijayawada, Centres of CIFT and CMFRI in Visakhapatnam
and 12 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs).
· Acharya
N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) has been serving the farming
community of Andhra Pradesh for bringing overall improvement in agriculture and
allied sectors by providing the required services in Education, Research and
Extension.
· As
rice is the major food crop and staple food of the State, Andhra Pradesh
is also known as Rice Bowl of India. The agriculture contributes
about one-fourth of the State’s GDP.
The ANGRAU University has released 394 improved varieties
of field and horticultural crops and the University is known for its notable
research on rice. It is important to mention that today about 1/4th of
the Indian total rice area is occupied by this University’s rice
varieties. BPT 5204, even after 28 years of its release (1986) is still
ruling variety occupying nearly 10% of the Indian total rice area. Rice
varieties like Swarna, MTU-1010, Mtu-1001 and BPT-5204 released by the
university are popular not only in Andhra Pradesh, but also in 14 other states
of India and in 4 other countries.
The University has several firsts in the country to its
credit in the improvement of field crops, commercial crops, pulses and oil
seeds.
· The Godavari and Krishna are
the two important rivers flowing through the state providing irrigation. Andhra
Pradesh was among the very few states in the country which went in for
the Green Revolution in rice cultivation in the 1970s.
· The Agricultural
University of Andhra Pradesh has given birth to six new Universities namely Acharya
N.G.Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Sri Venkateswara Veterinary
University (SVVU) and YSR Horticultural University (YSRHU) in the residuary
Andhra Pradesh State and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural
University (PJTSAU), Sri P.V. Narasihma Rao Telangana State University of
Veterinary, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Sciences (SPVNRTSUVAFS) and Konda
Lakshman Telangana State Horticultural University (KLTSHU) in Telangana State.
ICAR provides regularly financial and professional support (Development
Grants) to Agricultural Universities for modernization and strengthening of
academic facilities, infrastructure and faculty improvement. ICAR offers several fellowships
such as National Talent Scholarship (NTS) for UG students, Junior Research
Fellowship (JRF) for PG students and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) for PhD
students every year to attract talent
into agricultural education and for Human Resource
Development, national integration and reducing inbreeding.
ICAR launched Niche Areas of Excellence scheme to
augment strategic strength of Agricultural Universities in new and emerging
cutting-edge technologies. It also established 434 Experiential Learning
modules in all the universities for providing skill oriented hands-on training
to the students at undergraduate level. For capacity building of teachers and
scientists, ICAR supports to conduct training programmes in advanced and
emerging areas.
· This
Agricultural University has introduced an academic innovation “Rural Work
Experience Programme” for the first time in the country during the year
1979-80. Based on its success, the programme was recommended by ICAR for
adoption by all other Agricultural Universities in the country. This programme provided
opportunities for final year students of B.Sc.(Ag.) to gain insight and
experience in field operations and problems related to farming and rural life,
by staying in villages for one semester.
· Now,
ICAR has launched Students READY programme by integrating this “Rural Work
Experience Programme” as a major component. The Students READY programme
was recently launched by our Hon’ble Prime Minister on 25 July 2015 and it will
be implemented from the next academic year. Under this programme, the Union
Government shall provide fellowship of Rs 3000 per month for a period of six
months to all the under-graduate students of agricultural science.
Need for new
University Headquarters
· In
the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural
University (ANGRAU) with Headquarters at Hyderabad was catering the needs of
the entire State.
· During
bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, a suitable provision was made in Section 93 (13th Schedule)
of the A.P. Re-organization Act, 2014 to establish Agricultural University in
Residuary State of Andhra Pradesh.
· Accordingly,
during the Budget (2014-15) presented in the Lok Sabha on 10th July
2014, Finance Minister proposed to establish Agricultural University in the
State of residuary Andhra Pradesh along with one more Agricultural University
in Rajasthan and Horticultural Universities in Telangana and Haryana.
· In
this regard, when the letters were sent to all the four Chief Ministers, the
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh was the first one to take appropriate action
for establishing State Agricultural University in the Residuary State of Andhra
Pradesh at Lam Village in Guntur district by identifying the required land for
this purpose.
· Immediately
after getting the response, Rs. 10.00 crores has been released to ANGRAU in the
financial year 2014-15. In the current financial year 2015-16, an amount of Rs.
75.00 has already been allocated.
· In
the Andhra Pradesh State, ANGRAU has 5 Agricultural Colleges, 2 Colleges of
Agricultural Engineering, 2 Colleges of Food Science and Technology, one
College of Home Science, 14 Agricultural Polytechnics, one Seed Technology
Polytechnic, 2 Agricultural Engineering Polytechnics, 33 Agricultural Research
Stations including 6 Regional Agricultural Research Stations located in six
agro-climatic zones.
· Further,
there is a need to establish premier agricultural education and research
institutions in Andhra Pradesh as the residuary State is deprived of several
academic and research institutions due to bifurcation. In order to ensure equal
opportunity for quality agricultural education and research to all students and
farmers in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, the new headquarters of agricultural
university at Lam, Guntur need to house advanced post graduate centers, centers
of excellence in research, administrative office, central library, central
computer center and farmers training centers.
We expect that with establishment of this University at Lam, Guntur, the
agricultural growth in the region will receive the much needed impetus and will
usher in a new era of robust agriculture and a knowledge empowered prosperous
farming community”.
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