Naveen Patnaik and Sharad Pawar

Bhubaneswar, April 18: The Odisha government today urged the Centre to set up a central agricultural university in the state.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik today made the request during his meet with Union minister for agriculture and food processing industries Sharad Pawar in New Delhi.

Earlier, Naveen had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to this effect last month.

“I believe that an important component of extending the green revolution to the eastern region is to establish one or more central agricultural universities in the region, especially in areas strategic to agriculture and possibly in the vicinity of backward districts,” Naveen had said in his letter to Singh.

At today’s meeting, Naveen informed Pawar that Odisha had one agriculture 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 10 colleges, 28 krishi vigyan kendras and eight regional research technology transfer stations,” said Naveen and urged Pawar to take steps to set up a central agriculture university to serve the needs of Odisha, particularly the unividided Koraput-Balangir-Kalahandi (KBK) districts.

Naveen impressed upon the Union minister on the need for effective measures to realise the unsaturated agricultural potential of Odisha and make the Second Green Revolution a success in the eastern region. “For this, it’s necessary to provide timely and adequate support to agriculture and horticulture and create necessary infrastructure in Odisha,” he said.

Stating that Odisha has been adjudged as one of the best performing states in the National Conference on Horticulture held in New Delhi in February, Naveen urged the Union minister to include six uncovered districts (Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Jajapur, Boudh and Jharsuguda) under the National Horticulrure Mission Programme.

These districts, he said, had over 4.62 lakh hectares of high and medium lands suitable for various horticultural crops.

Appreciating the success of Odisha in achieving higher production of paddy and horticultural produce, Pawar agreed to include the above-mentioned districts under the National Horticulture Mission Programme during the current year. He said a provision of Rs 50 crore had been made for the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology.

Naveen requested Pawar for allocation of more chemical fertilisers and breeder seeds to Odisha. Pawar assured that the projected requirement of the state would be met in full during the current year, said these sources.