Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has launched National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country, said Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh.
Singh informed that the ICAR has recently launched Rs 1100 crore ambitious Education Project to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country. This project will be funded by the World Bank and the Indian Government on a 50:50 basis. In addition, a four year degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and Forestry has been declared a professional degree, he stated.
Skilled human resources in agriculture must become the basis of agricultural advancement and in view of this, the Modi government has given special emphasis on the upliftment of agricultural education, said Singh while addressing inaugural function of the fourth Convention of 2-day “Agrivision-2019”.
The Minister said that in order to make agriculture education useful, the recommendations of the 5th Dean Committee have been implemented in all the Agricultural Universities under which amendment of agricultural degree courses has been done to include biotechnology, information technology, bio-informatics, remote sensing, organic farming, agriculture business management etc.
Emphasis has been given on experiential learning, skill and entrepreneurship development. Along with this, four new programs, B.Tech (Biotechnology), B.Sc. Community Science, B.Sc. Food Nutrition and Dietetics and B.Sc. Sericulture have also been included.