President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday stressed the need for agriculture education in India to conform to global standards by creating a large pool of qualified faculty empowered with advanced research infrastructure.Addressing the 54th convocation of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) here, he termed agricultural institutes the foci on which the success of the country's farm sector and welfare of people depends.He said that Indian agriculture system yet supports 18 percent of the world population and the transformation from a state of "ship-to-mouth" to a leading exporter of food grains has been made possible largely due to the scientific developments in premier institutes like IARI. "This institute has made significant contributions in ushering the green revolution and building a vibrant agriculture sector in our country," the president said, lauding its dedicated service to the nation.
Mukherjee also stresses that "agricultural education in our country must conform to global standards for that we need to create a large pool of competent faculty empowered with state-of-the-art research infrastructure". "A strong network of teachers, learners and practitioners will facilitate lab-to-field dissemination of good agricultural practices. It will also provide feedback about farmers' problems to trigger research and technology development in our institutions," he said. He noted that the barometer of performance is the quality of the products. "Able, committed and industrious professionals from these institutions are required to spearhead the next farm revolution," he said, asking students and alumni of IARI to seize the opportunity and contribute to the transformation in agriculture.