Bhubaneswar: Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) with the support of ICAR will establish a regional centre of Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR) in the city.

Rs 6 crore has already been sanctioned for the purpose.

"The centre will develop new varieties of pulses suitable for cultivation in five eastern states including Odisha," said OUAT vice-chancellor S.N. Pasupalak.

The university has developed five new varieties of maize and 15 other types of advanced seed varieties are in the pipeline.

"We have also focused on promotion of agri-entrepreneurs in all the districts through an entrepreneurship meet," said the VC.

The university is going to open new functional units such as directorate of support service & career counselling, educational technology cell, alumni and international networking cell and a digital cell for smoother functioning.

Efforts are on for creation of new departments in emerging sciences such as extension education and communication management in college of community science, renewable energy engineering in college of agricultural engineering and technology and fish processing technology amd fishery resources management in college of fisheries, Rangailunda.

Each krishi vigyan kendra at OUAT will adopt five villages representing major farming situations of the district. The villages will be named as Prime Minister Village, Chancellor Village, Chief Minister Village, Sansad Village and Vice-Chancellor Village. There will be overall development of the villages by integrating various programmes in convergence mode.

Regional Centre for ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, will be opened in Bhubaneswar, and it will develop technologies relevant to Odisha.

Efforts are on to develop new green gram and black gram varieties through purification and characterisation of the local species, resistant to the yellow mosaic virus and cold. Teachers and students of the varsity will get international exposure under the institutional development programme.

"The programme is aimed at achieving global standards in terms of quality education, skill enhancement of students and improving their employability by giving them industry exposure. Besides, the competency of teachers will be enhanced through global exposure," said Pasupalak.

The programme will be implemented at a cost of Rs 30 crore of the ICAR will provide Rs 25 crore and the state government Rs 5 crore.

"After successful completion of the programme at OUAT, it will be replicated in other agriculture universities of the country," the VC said.