PANAJI
Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik on Saturday said the State government would begin a degree course in the agriculture college from this year, but admitted that infrastructure and faculty are yet to be fully in place.On May 15, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said the government agriculture college should be set up in the State.
“The CM has moved the file for the agriculture college and land at the Codar farm has been allotted for the college. All procedures are on fast track and students will get a chance to study from this year,” said Naik, while addressing the media in Ponda after a plant distribution programme.
“The first batch of 40 students will pursue courses,” said the minister.
An agriculture official said the government has recently constructed a new building at the Codar farm.
“The government can temporarily use the building for courses or other ad-hoc arrangements can be made till the new building is in place,” said the official.
“Although there is a political will to set up, the State has to achieve a lot to set up its own college. The State has moved all its machinery to set up the college. It's a herculean task to start the agriculture course which normally starts from August.”
“Getting faculty for the courses in a short span of time will be the biggest challenge that has to be achieved to start the college,” the official added.
The State presently sponsors 17 students every year from Goa to study at the Dr Balasaheb Sawant, Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth at Dapoli-Ratnagiri.
The government gives a stipend of Rs 3,000 per student per month and Rs 40,000 fee per year for the four-year degree or engineering course for these students.
There is one private agriculture college in the State, however it is not recognised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
