Vijayawada: Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan stresses need for more research

Vijayawada: Participating in the 50th Convocation of the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, at Mahati Auditorium in Tirupati, in a virtual mode from Raj Bhavan on Tuesday, Governor and Chancellor of the university Biswa Bhusan Harichandan said he wished to see the ANGRAU to transform itself into a world class agricultural university. For this to happen, the agricultural university has to play a stellar role in teaching, research and extension activities, he said.

The Governor congratulated winners of the Gold medals, awards and distinctions and appreciated their efforts in achieving the success. He said they are the true ambassadors of the university.

The Governor congratulated Vice-ChVijayawada, Vijayawada News, Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh Newsancellor of the university Dr A Vishnuvardhan Reddy and his team for achieving 13th rank among National Agricultural Universities for the year 2019 assessed by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR).

He said the university may take up projects under public-private-partnership (PPP) mode in association with agro-industries to achieve synergy in solving field problems and benefit the students in terms of employability, fellowships, curriculum revision, collaborative research, entrepreneurial skills and sharing of resources.

He further added that developing sustainable, low cost, easily adaptable, climate smart agricultural technologies is need of the hour for Indian agriculture and going by the demand for food security at national level, there is a need to boost crop productivity by release of crop varieties with high yield potential, resistant to pests and diseases.

Drawing attention to the recent statistics of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), according to which the nation holds largest undernourished population in the world, said the Governor. He said there is every need to overcome malnourishment and agricultural universities have to do good research on bio-fortification of crops, which is a cost-effective and a sustainable way to overcome the problem of malnutrition.

Harichandan said he was happy to learn that ANGRAU through its innovative extension methods has devised novel strategies such as 'Massive Open Online Courses' through 'Open and Distance Learning Centre' (ODLC), offering certificate courses in organic farming, terrace gardening, bee-keeping, mushroom production, millet promotion and agricultural journalism among others.

During the convocation a total 796 degrees, including 18 PhD degrees in Agriculture, 1 PhD in Agricultural Engineering , 104 in MSc Agriculture, 9 in MBA(ABM), 6 M Tech, 479 BSc Agriculture, 74 BTech in Food Technology, 105 B Tech in Agri. Engineering were conferred. Further, 16 gold medals in PG, 6 gold medals in UG, 16 awards and honours were awarded.

University Board of Management and university officers including registrar T Giridhara Krishna, dean of agriculture A Prathap Kumar Reddy, dean of agriculture engineering K Yella Reddy, dean of PG studies D Balaguravaiah, dean of student affairs M Martin Luther, estate officer PV Narasimha Rao, associate dean of SV agricultural college B Ravindranatha Reddy, associate director of research for regional agricultural research station L Prasanthi and others were present.

Secretary to Governor Mukesh Kumar Meena, Dr V Chenga Reddy, Dr Ch Srinivasa Rao and others participated in the convocation through video conference from Raj Bhavan.