Three prestigious national-level awards, an ISO award for Bihar Agriculture University and many other achievements are reasons enough for vice-chancellor M.L. Choudhary to look back at 2014 with pride.

Choudhary was recently appointed president of the Indian Agriculture Universities Association (which has 62 universities under it to help the government frame agricultural policy). Earlier, in 2014, he received the Shivashakthi Life Time Achievement award in Tamil Nadu for his exemplary contribution to Indian horticulture, the Dewang Mehta Business School Award in Mumbai for extraordinary contribution to teaching of agriculture and Harit Ratna award from the Union agriculture minister in New Delhi for best performing vice-chancellor among agriculture universities in the country. 'I am thankful to BAU, Sabour, which gave me the opportunity to achieve great success and, subsequently, the awards,' he said.

The university itself received the ISO-9001:2008 award in 2014 for qualitative education, high value research work and exemplary efforts to extend agriculture-related education.

Choudhary credited the hard labour put in by employees for the successes. The varsity is an established centre of excellence for teaching and learning (CETL) and known for its best education and high-tech digital library. It organised its first convocation on January 11 last year when former chief minister Nitish Kumar distributed medals and certificates among successful students.

Among other achievements, he listed the discovery of 10 high-breed varieties of paddy, wheat, maize and vegetable seeds. 'Our new seeds were made keeping in mind the changing atmospheric conditions and would help farmers weather recurring drought and flood situations,' he said.

Besides, the varsity achieved grand success in different programmes like community radios and video conferencing for farmers through Krishi Vighyan Kendras (KVKs), Kisan call centres, launch of KVK's web portal and adoption of backward villages in inaccessible areas among others.

'Today we can proudly claim the varsity has brought about basic changes in the lives of farmers in over 20 districts with these innovative moves,' he said. The Kishanganj agriculture college, started last year, is gradually improving, he further said.