Agri institute in Jharkhand soon

Ranchi — A premier institute for development and research in agricultural sector, the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Jharkhand, will soon have a 1,000-acre campus to give fillip to agriculture in the region. The foundation stone of the campus will be laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 June at the Gauriya Karma village in Barhi, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh will also grace the occasion.

IARI-Jharkhand would achieve inclusive agricultural growth through Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) in the region. It will be achieved through multidisciplinary research centred around 3 major schools namely the School of Natural Resource Management, School of Crop Improvement & Protection and School of Horticulture and Forestry with integrated Animal Sciences, Basic Sciences and Social Sciences components to cater for the local farming system needs of the region. The institute will attract the cream of postgraduate and doctoral students from all over India and abroad to conduct region-specific research.

Major regional challenges will be addressed by the IARI, Jharkhand, through prioritised thrust areas of research integrated with postgraduate education and extension programmes, thereby leading to:

• Improved soil health, water use efficiency (WUE) and management of both surface and ground water resources in the high rainfall (1200-1600 mm) regions through multidisciplinary research;
• Research on crop diversification to double the production in rice-fallow seasons;
• Improvement of nutritional security and profitability of the farm families in the tribal belts thorough appropriate horticultural technologies;
• Development of region-specific integrated farming systems;
• Focus on fast adoption of technologies through location-specific need-based extension strategies and mechanisms;
• Higher agricultural education for human resource development beginning with 10 postgraduate students from 2015-16 in Soil Science, Water Science &Technology, Agronomy, Horticulture and Genetics disciplines;
• Collaboration within NAREES and international organizations for making effective use of cutting edge technologies to boost regional capacities and economy of the farmers;
• Ensuring an overall social impact in terms of employment generation through best skilled scientific, technical, administrative and supporting manpower;
• Fuel and promote technology-driven growth of agro-industries through first generation entrepreneurs of the region to provide a fillip for the Make in India initiative of the Government. This would also develop ancillary industries for rural employment and economic empowerment;
• Usher in Evergreen Revolution for productive, profitable and sustainable agriculture through quality post graduate education and gender-equity ensuring total prosperity in the region.

IARI, the seat of Green Revolution, has played a pivotal leadership role of transforming Indian food production system from “ship to mouth” to “self-reliant sustainable agriculture”. Trained human resource, extension methodologies and initiatives to take the technologies to farmers for improved agricultural productivity and production are the hallmarks of this century old institution.

For enabling evergreen revolution, the Union government has taken up a mission to initiate the process of establishing a state of the art Indian Agricultural Research Institute for higher agricultural education and research in the state of Jharkhand — one of the resource endowed eastern states with typical ecologies and economy, thereby leading to a holistic, inclusive and profit oriented agriculture for the entire nation.