Farmers in Dharmapuri district urged the state government to take steps to set up an Agriculture university in the district.
Dharmapuri district is an agrarian society with over 24.16% of the total land utilised for cultivation of various horticulture and agricultural purposes.
A total of 2.51 lakh acres of land is used for cultivation purposes.
Apart from this the district had increasing animal husbandry with over 3.5 lakh cattles and 5.5 lakh other milch animals sustaining the rural economy, according to the report by The New Indian Express.
To further enhance the agricultural setup of the district farmers in Dharmapuri have urged the administration to take steps to set up an agriculture college in the district.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, M Selvaraj from Nallampalli said, "In 2018-19, there were plans to set up an agricultural university which would have brought educational opportunities to youths seeking higher education," he said and went on to add, "The then ADMK government had also taken steps to set up a college which would offer diploma courses to local youths, offering agriculture and horticulture crop training. But since then there have been no initiatives taken to implement the university. "
J Prathapan, District Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Agriculturist Laborers Association said that the district holds a unique position, we have large agricultural crops like paddy, sugarcane, millet cultivation. Horticulture crops like mangoes, tapioca, coffee, tomato. Sericulture, Animal Husbandry, fisheries, two sugarmills and numerous other cultivation are also here in the district.
With a wide variety of cultivation, setting up an agriculture university or college only seems natural. The district would enable students to learn more practically.
"Right now youths are pursuing diploma courses in private colleges in districts like Salem, Tiruvannamalai or in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore. But in most cases not all who pursue admission are able to get into these courses. Setting up an Agriculture university or college here would be beneficial for the students not only in Dharmapuri. But to students across the state."
Another farmer, R Parthiban said, "Dharmapuri already has Alambadi Cattle research Centre, Veterinary University Training and Research Centre, Krishi Vigyan Kendra which could offer agriculture students unique insights and training to students. So we urge the administration to take steps to set up an Agriculture university of college."
When The New Indian Express spoke to officials in the Dharmapuri administration, "We are aware of the request from the farmers and efforts were taken by the administration. But we cannot comment on the matter. It is a policy decision and we can be assured to look into it and represent the people's demand."
