BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to open another College of Horticulture at Khurda on OUAT’s existing School of Horticulture premises for development of manpower in the sector. Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy announced this while speaking at the 50th foundation day of the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology here on Wednesday. This apart, the Minister said that work would soon begin on the proposed flower market in Bhubaneswar. The flower market will come up at Unit-I opposite the Capital Haat. This is going to be the first flower market of Orissa which would specialise largely in cut flowers of all varieties and even some dry flowers and flower decoration equipment. The Minister also said that 10 more agro poly-techniques will be opened in agro climatic zones of the State. Besides, to tackle the shortage of manpower for agricultural works, 1,130 village agricultural workers were recruited by the Government recently for various districts of the State and the recruitment of junior horticulture officers was on. Steps are also being taken to fill up the vacancies in Agriculture Department at the earliest, said Maharathy. The Minister said after touring 19 districts of the State since he joined the department, he witnessed that farmers in all the districts face acute shortage of farm hands. “We are considering production of low cost farm implements that can be affordable and easy to use by farmers,” Maharathy said, adding that the State Government had come out with a new agricultural policy with a lot of incentives for farmers. Speaking on the occasion, Governor M C Bhandare congratulated the OUAT on producing 128 high-yielding varieties of different crops suitable for various agro-climatic zones. He urged farmers to avail of the benefit of various government schemes like Biju Krushak Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Food Security Mission and National Horticulture Mission. OUAT Vice-Chancellor D P Ray said a series of programmes had been planned to mark the year-long jubilee celebration of the university. As many as 30 farmers of the State were felicitated on the occasion. Ankita Sahoo and Bimalya Rout bagged the best graduate awards.
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