Bhubaneswar, Feb. 7: An increasing number of female students from across the country are enrolling themselves in agriculture courses.
“Fifty per cent students in agriculture universities across the country are girls. In fact, their share is around 60 per cent in major agriculture universities,” said secretary of the department of agriculture research and education, S. Ayyappan, who is also director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
Ayyappan was speaking at the inaugural function of the three-day 11th Agricultural Science Congress at Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) here.
Over 655 delegates including 25 from Brazil, China, France, Japan, Netherlands and USA are taking part in the event, being organised by National Academy Of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS) and ICAR.
“Not only has there been a steep increase in the number of girls opting for agriculture studies, most of them have outsmarted their male counterparts. The trend is encouraging,” he said.
Education for agriculture in the 21st century should have the goal that every scholar becomes an entrepreneur and business management should be mainstreamed in all applied courses such as seed technology and business, said NAAS president R.B. Singh.
Governor and OUAT chancellor M.C. Bhandare said the state agricultural universities must enhance their student intake and focus on faculty improvement.
“The scope of agriculture education must be widened to increase enrolment in the sector,” he said.