Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra on Wednesday said there is a need to increase the participation of agriculture students in agricultural enterprises and suggested the universities to create practical courses after holding discussions with farmers.
Mr Mishra said agricultural universities should update their courses according to the intention of the new education policy and include new dimensions of knowledge, science and technology in it.
Mr Kalraj Mishra was addressing the third convocation ceremony of Shri Karna Narendra Agricultural University, Jobner.
Mr Mishra said agricultural universities should specifically encourage the youth to set up networking and agro-based startups through their ''Agri-Business Centres''. He said the university should create such practical courses by communicating with the farmers working in the fields and their traditional knowledge can be applied in teaching.
Mr Kalraj Mishra also called for effective efforts of agricultural universities to make Indian farming more productive, attractive and employment-oriented through teaching, and research.
Describing the farmers who grow crops in the fields as ''agricultural scientists'', he said the students of the agricultural university should take advantage of their knowledge, farming-based practical experiences learnt from their forefathers.
Mr Mishra said the availability of high quality seeds is still a big challenge for the farmers. Accepting this, the university should make institutional efforts, the Governor said.
During the event, agricultural scientist Padma Bhushan Dr R S Paroda was awarded an honorary degree of Doctorate of Science.
