Govt to establish organic agricultural university soon in State: Sonowal
JORHAT, May 4 - Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today announced establishing of an organic agricultural university in the State soon.
Addressing the 21st convocation of the AAU at its Jorhat campus on the Borbheta outskirts here today as distinguished special guest, Sonowal said that the Government has initiated the process of setting up an exclusive organic agricultural university in the State.
The Chief Minister said that the detailed project report for the proposed university was prepared by the AAU and submitted to the Government. Stating that an organic agricultural university was the need of the hour, he said that there was a huge potential in the organic sector. He added that the land was to be finalised soon for setting up the varsity with the process expeditiously under way.
Sonowal also said that the Government will soon upgrade the existing veterinary college under the AAU into an independent university in view of the increasing requirement in veterinary field due to expansion happening in recent times. He said that AAU had prepared the roadmap for the upgradation and had handed it over to the Government.
Sonowal while praising the students for achieving much in the academic field and bringing laurels to the State by winning awards and fetching global recognition, said that the students should also go to the doorsteps of the farmers and make a difference by guiding them on scientific methods of farming so as to augment their yield and encourage multiple-cropping.
�Assam has successfully intervened in the agriculture sector with regards to implementing the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Nidhi Yojana and other farmers� schemes.... AAU has produced globally competitive human resources who have also contributed to the development of agriculture in the State in general and farmers in particular,� the Chief Minister stated.
The Governor Professor Jagdish Mukhi, who is the Chancellor of the AAU, in his presidential address, said that Assam�s economy was mainly agrarian and to improve the overall agricultural development in the State, the focus should shift from rice-based to rice-based multiple cropping which needs to be practised extensively.
The Governor further said that research activities should be extended to address the emerging issues and skill upgradation of farmers need to be strengthened. He called for scientific soil-based land use planning which would definitely ensure doubling of our marginal farmers.
The Chancellor further said that floods in Assam were a familiar and known phenomenon since the Great Earthquake of 1950. �Mitigation of floods so as to counter environmental degradation and farmers distress caused by it is a great challenge before us. Soil erosion caused by recurrent floods has cascading effects on soil health,� Professor Mukhi observed. He called for preparing appropriate strategies and undertaking the implementation in mission mode by all the departments for tackling the havoc of floods.
State Agriculture minister Atul Bora, in his address as a guest of honour, said that on his visit to Vietnam last year, the Government of that country assured him of working in collaboration with the Assam Agricultural University, which was looked upon as disbursing quality education.
Earlier, delivering the welcome address, the AAU Vice Chancellor Dr KM Bujarbaruah gave a detailed account of the university�s achievements in the past two years.
The AAU on the occasion conferred Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) on Dhruba Jyoti Sharma, an agripreneur and Dr Panjab Singh, president, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Chancellor of RLV Agricultural University, Jhansi.
Altogether 1426 students are eligible to be conferred degrees out of which more than 900 were present in the function.
