CM asks Centre for agriculture university

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday demanded a Central agriculture university to serve the needs of Odisha, particularly the KBK region (undivided Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput districts).It was raised by the Chief Minister during his meeting with Union Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister Sharad Pawar in Delhi.Naveen impressed upon Pawar the need for effective measures to realise the untapped agricultural potential of Odisha and to make the second green revolution a success in eastern region of the country.He told the Union Minister that Odisha had only one agricultural university, the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) which was established in 1962. The university is overburdened at present in performing various tasks including managing 10 colleges, 28 krishi vigyan kendras and eight regional research technology transfer stations.The Chief Minister said while performance of the State in the horticulture sector had been lauded, six districts _ Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Boudh and Jharsuguda _ are yet to be covered under the national horticulture mission programme.He said the six districts have over 4.62 lakh hectares of high and medium land suitable for various horticultural crops. He requested Pawar to approve these six districts for inclusion under the programme.Stating that the State had suffered in recent years on account of inadequate allocation and supply of chemical fertilisers, Naveen said Odisha’s requirement of 10.38 lakh tonnes of fertilisers for kharif 2012 should be met in full to sustain the momentum of agricultural development. He also requested the Centre to allocate indented quantities of breeder seeds of paddy, moong, biri and groundnut for kharif.Pawar promised that the Agriculture Ministry would provide the required additional financial resources to OUAT to enable it to focus on KBK districts and other backward non-KBK districts including Kandhamal and Gajapati. He also agreed to include the remaining six districts under the national horticulture mission programme during the year.As regards to higher allocation and supply of chemical fertilisers and breeder seeds, Pawar said the projected requirement of the State would be met in full during the year and there won’t be any shortage in supply of fertilisers and seeds for Kharif 2012. He also agreed to provide additional funds under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana for enabling the State to develop agricultural centres for farmers.