Guj Agri Minister urges Centre to sanction Rs 100 cr for AAU

Ahmedabad, July 16 (UNI) Gujarat Agricultre Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma today urged the Central Government to sanction Rs 100 crore as a special grant to Anand Agriculture University (AAU), Anand, on the pattern of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana.

The Prime Minister has sanctioned Rs 100 crore to the PAU, Ludhiana for its contribution in green revolution.

Mr Chudasma said, the Central Government should also recognise the role of Gujarat and its farmers in white revolution by sanctioning an equal quantum of grant of Rs 100 crore to AAU, Anand.

The Gujarat Minister raised this demand while speaking at the 77th Annual General Meeting of ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Reasearch) chaired by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi, an official release here said.

Mr Chudasma apprised Mr Pawar that the new approach of the State Government by taking the agriculture technologies at the door steps of farmers through 'Krushi Mahotsav' was a grand success in Gujarat.

The result of 'Krushi Mahotsav-2005' was multifaceted and positive. In groundnut, the cost of cultivation has been reduced by 45 per cent while in cotton it is reduced nearly by 50 per cent.

''We also continued Krushi Mahotsav-2006 wherein 227 Kisan Rath have routed through 18,083 villages. The theme of this year was balanced use of agricltural inputs, promotion of horticulture and value added agriculture,'' he said.

Almost 14.5 lakh farmers were benefited by Kisan Rath. Total 655 agriculture scientists of the state agriculture universities had provided guidance to 6.84 lakh farmers, he added.

Besides, the water conservation activities were also executed in a big way, Mr Chudasma added.

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