Srinagar, Oct 15: Governor, N N Vohra and the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah stressed the need for undertaking academic audit and setting highest standards for teaching and research in the Agricultural Universities in J&K.
 The governor and CM underlined the need for the agri universities to establish themselves as centres of excellence and ensure effective utilization of the available capacities.
 The governor said the agri universities should re-orient traditional approaches to timely and effectively meet the serious problems relating to the fast impacting phenomenon of global warming and climate change.
 The Governor and the Chief Minister were addressing the 19th University Council meeting of the SK University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Kashmir, here last evening.
 The Governor, who is also the Chancellor of the University, while chairing the meeting emphasized that area specific plans should be timely formulated with a view to maximizing the productivity in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, fisheries, animal husbandry and all other allied sectors.
 He said all required structural changes in the varied sectors of agriculture must be timely conceptualized and implemented for ensuring the optimal growth of these sectors.
 The Chief Minister, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the University, called for regular monitoring of the utilization of available resources so that the entire planned infrastructure and allied facilities come up in a time-bound manner. He said that there must be greater synergy between various institutions with a view to maximizing benefits of all the schemes for the growers.
 The Chief Minister also referred to the development of pastures and emphasized that there is need to go in for the quickest and the easiest way to achieve the desired results in view of the rising need of fodder for the livestock.
 Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, emphasized the need for rapid and sustained growth of agriculture and allied sectors in the State and the crucial role both the Agricultural Universities can play in this effort. He said that the university research farms should serve as a model to the farmers showcasing the tremendous opportunities of growth available in the agriculture sector.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST