CM seeks Central Farm Varsity for state

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday demanded establishment of a Central agricultural university to serve the needs of Odisha, particularly the KBK (undivided Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput)districts. “The ideal location for such a university will be any of the KBK districts,” the Chief Minister said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “I believe that an important component of extending the green revolution to the eastern region is to establish one or more Central agricultural universities in the region, especially in areas strategic to agriculture and possibly in the vicinity of backward districts,” he said. Stating that Odisha has nearly 64 lakh hectares of cultivable land, Naveen said that the State can certainly play a vital role in enhancing agricultural production in the country which will go a long way in providing food security to the nation. The Union Agriculture Ministry has already declared 2012 as ‘year of horticulture’ and Odisha is intensifying horticultural activities particularly in KBK districts to create more opportunities for tribal people, he said. The Chief Minister said that the workload of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), the only agriculture university in the State, has substantially increased in the recent years after the implementation of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana (RKVY), particularly after the introduction of ‘bringing green revolution to eastern India’, one of its sub-schemes. “We, therefore, need one more agriculture university,” he said.