The year-long golden jubilee celebrations of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) got underway here on Wednesday. A series of events have been lined up for the year.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor M C Bhandareasked farmers to use the novel agriculture technologies invented by OUAT for farming and also motivate other famers to use modern technology based on extensive scientific research. "The second green revolution has already begun and I hope that Orissa would lead the way. More and more educated youths should come forward to work in the agriculture sector," Bhandare said, adding that education is the key to acquire and use new knowledge. As many as 35 farmers from across the state were felicitated on the occasion for their contribution to agriculture.
Agriculture minister and pro-chancellor of the university Pradipta Maharathy said, "In 1961, the annual crop production of the state was 49 lakh tones. Last year, it went up to 86 lakh tonnes and the Centre honoured us for this achievement. The contribution of OUAT cannot be ignored in this success." He said there is a proposal to fill up the 1,130 vacant village-level worker posts soon and also to revive two horticulture colleges in the state. He also said, "A mega farmers meet would be organized at different places and farmers will be honoured."
The university with 10 constituent colleges has produced 15,146 graduates, 5,379 post graduates and 313 PhD holders in the last 50 years. Over the years, the university has developed several technologies and over 128 high-yielding varieties of different crops, informed vice-chancellor D P Ray. "The university has started a separate programme through postal correspondence to educate farmers," the vice-chancellor said, adding that "Courses on rice, vegetables, groundnut, fruit, betel and mushroom cultivation, dairy, poultry, pisciculture and bee-keeping will be offered through it."
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