Set up multi-disciplinary farm universities, says expert

Assistant Director-General (HRD) of Agriculture Education Division of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Seema Jaggi has emphasised the need for the establishment of multi-disciplinary agricultural universities.

Inaugurating the eighth postgraduate research conference organised at University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Dharwad on Friday, she said that while there are already 77 agricultural universities admitting around 200 to 300 postgraduate students, there is still a need for the establishment of multi-disciplinary agricultural universities.

Ms. Jaggi said that the postgraduate research conference acts as a catalyst to boost the confidence of students in State-run agricultural universities.

She said that as the farm sector is facing several challenges, continuous research is essential in agriculture and research by postgraduate students contributes a great towards the development of technology in agriculture.

She said that such conferences will help students showcase their research findings. It will also boost their confidence as they will get a chance to interact with faculty members and other research students.

Mentioning about the various facilities being extended to students, including international studies, she called upon them to make the use of the opportunities.

Presiding over the inaugural ceremony, Vice-Chancellor of UAS Dharwad P.L. Patil spoke about how the conference will help in building confidence among students as they will get a platform to present their research works through oral or poster presentation.

Deans P.U. Krishnaraj, Vilas Kulkarni and Lata Pujar, Director of Education V.R. Kiresur, members of the Board of Management of UAS Dharwad Srinivas Kotyan, Veeranagouda P. Policegoudar and Ravikumar Maliger were present.