Globalization of Agricultural Education:

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Udaipur. Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar is the 76th Custodian of the House of Mewar.A multifaceted personality, Shriji has been preserving a vibrant cultural heritage enshrined in The City Palace, Udaipur in Rajasthan. As the Chairman and Managing Trustee of the Maharana Mewar Charitable Foundation(MMCF), Udaipur, Shriji is managing a spectrum of philanthropic and charitable activities emanating from the City Palace in Udaipur. Several nonprofit and commercial organizations are seamlessly networked to exemplify ‘Eternal Mewar’ for global and Indian audiences. I extend deep hearty welcome &express gratitude for your kind presence.
•I extend my hearty welcome to Hon'ble Agriculture Minister of our State, Prabhu Lal Ji Saini for kind presence at this occasion. You have been instrumental in setting new innovations in Agricultural Sector of Rajasthan & pushing the agricultural growth rate of State of Rajasthan. We feel highly enlightened with your kind presence today at this occasion.
•We are delighted to have with us Dr. N.S. Rathore, Deputy Director General, ICAR andan Eminent Scientist and Administrator committed to growth and development of Indian Agriculture. My sincere welcome to you sir at this occasion.
•My sincere & hearty welcome to Dr K.M. Bujarbaruah, President, IAUA & Dr. R. P. Singh, Executive Secretary, IAUA who have been instrumental in providing real time strength to national agricultural policies & programmes aimed at achieving higher agricultural growth.
•It gives me immense pleasure to associate myself with the inauguration of 42nd Vice Chancellors’ Convention on “Globalization of Agricultural Education: Role and Responsibilities of Indian Agricultural Universities”.I, on behalf of MPUAT extend hearty and cordial welcome to all distinguished dignitaries, guests, scientists, participants to the City of Lakes, to this University and also to this meeting. For the coming two days we are going to discuss and devise strategies about development of agricultural education in the country in context of globalization.
•Indian agriculture has come a long way from the situation “living from ship to mouth” to “food self sufficiency”. The agricultural sector is getting more complex due to globalization, impact of climate change, entry of corporate sector in agriculture value-chain and expanding demand for processed food.
•India will need rich human capital of highly qualified, motivated, and well trained agricultural scientists to meet these challenges of 21st century. It is the responsibility of the State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) to provide such human resources.
•In the first green revolution, SAUs played a key role in generating technology and taking it to end users through effective integration of education, research, and extension. Now it is felt that SAUs face certain constraints & challenges like: (i) difficulty in attracting bright/talented students, (ii) funding crunch, (iii) large number of vacancies, (iv) inbreeding of faculty, (v) lack of autonomy to the Vice-chancellors, and (iv) poor state–center and state–SAU relationship. This must be thought of in view of effect of globalization on the growth of agriculture sector in the country as well as the role of agricultural universities in fulfilling the need of qualified manpower and skilled human resources.
Therefore, the topic of the National Convention is very pertinent in today's context.
Agriculture holds a prime importance in the socio-economic fabric of India. This sector has remained backbone of the Indian economy and presently accounts for 15% of the country's GDP. Nearly 58% of the rural households rely on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood.Being a source of livelihood and food security of the nation, higher growth in agriculture assumes great importance and is matter of concern. Thus to accelerate high growth and ensure sustainability, combined efforts in terms of technology, policies and institutional support has to be adopted.
All over the world, significant changes have been witnessed in the agriculture sector in terms of food production, mechanisation, précised application & management of natural resources and faster dissemination of agricultural technologies. However, there are certain issues in the agricultural sector which need continuous updation as per the need of increasing population and changing ecosystems. This makes it essential to bring changes in attitude, technology & applications of knowledge in agricultural systems of the country. To debate the above issues and challenges, Indian Agricultural Universities Association (IAUA) is organizing this Convention.It is very important that all stakeholders play an active role. The Agriculture Universities have a very important role to play in this venture for multi-dimensional spread of knowledge. Innovations in agricultural sciences, teaching content and methods, communication technology, gene revolution, extension methodology and concern for environmental protection and approach of food and nutritional security are the issues which need to be looked into the present context of globalization and accordingly the agricultural education, research and extension system of the country should be reoriented.At present the sector is yet to realize its full potential in terms of bringing in efficiencies across all the stages in the value chain which is the need of hour for realizing the benefit of global agriculture market. Our agriculture system of education should give more emphasis on these aspects.The population of marginal farmers is now seen to increase whereas the landholding are decreasing and thus making the agriculture profession unviable for marginal cultivators. Difficulties in adopting modern farming technologies and lack of knowledge about modern farming processes and agri-inputs are creating immense pressure on the agriculture sector to undergo transformation.Thus in the next generation agriculture practices, there is a need to do moreand increase the yield by optimizing the available resources. Therefore it is essential to adopt modern methods to ensure more optimized and make productive usage of the resources to harness the growth potential of this sector.Overall, the global production and processing of food is in the hands of women. Women make up the majority of the world's farmers, up to 80% in some regions and 50% to 90% of the agricultural and agri-food workforce, region dependent. Therefore, the research for mentorship programs for women in agriculture need to be a part of agricultural research & education system in the country. Universities all over the country in collaboration with ICAR are revising &refocusing agricultural research, education and extension system and emphasizing that curriculum preparation should be more practical and business oriented. Due to internet and mobile technology, though agricultural education, research & extension systems have become more vibrant but this has put a challenge in front of scientists and teachers. Scientists & Teachers need to be more technology friendly and keep them updated with recent advances in the concerned field. Agricultural colleges and universities in industrial countries are faced with declining numbers of students and the need to carefully evaluate alternative structures and functions to meet the challenges of a sustainable food supply. Current education and research are compartmentalized into classical departments and disciplines that often ignore the complex realities of natural, agricultural, and other human-designed systems.Although the recently revised curricula and syllabi of UG and PG programmes have to some extent addressed these issues, still there is need for reorienting them to address stakeholders concerns and needs so as to make the agricultural education demand driven and rewarding especially for utilitarian mode.I feel that recommendations given by the Fifth Deans Committee of ICAR are now being implemented throughout the country which will help in reorienting agricultural education and research system in the country. The issues covered by Fifth's Dean Committee will usher a new era of quality education in agriculture sector in the country. I believe the scientists and all Stakeholders participating in the convention also were very appreciative of the interest and enthusiasm shown by all of you in the National Convention and the high level of discussions will be held. I feel all delegates & stakeholders will be benefited equally from this convention. The Organizing Secretary of Convention& his team have been working tirelessly to take care of all your needs and so I hope all of you were happy and satisfied with the arrangements. I am extremely thankful to President & Executive Secretary of IAUA and organizers for providing an opportunity to be part of this convention & sharing my views. I am confident that valuable suggestions emerged during technical sessions will be the part of recommendations of convention which will help in strengthening the agricultural education in the country and helping India to meet challenges of globalization and harness the opportunities of world trade through development of human resources of world class quality.

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