The coastal town of Bapatla is leading the race to have the first agricultural university in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh.
Local elected representatives and academicians are now lobbying hard to upgrade the existing Agricultural College, Bapatla, to a full-fledged university.
Interestingly, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University is located in Hyderabad, far away from the hub of farming activity.
Established in the year 1945 by the government of Composite Madras State on the recommendation of the Post-war Reconstruction Committee to meet the requirements of the food security and to impart agricultural education to graduates, the college is the oldest among eight agricultural colleges in Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh.
The college, which was affiliated to Andhra University till 1954, later became a constituent college of Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) (later renamed as ANGRAU) from July 16, 1964.
The college was also accredited by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, during 1999-2000 and so far 7,070 undergraduate students and 1,634 Postgraduate students passed out of the college.
Centrally located“The college is centrally located between Srikakulam and Anantapur districts and it would be ideal place for the proposed new agricultural university,” said G. Subbaiah, Associate Dean, Agricultural College, Bapatla.
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and local MP Panabaka Lakshmi has already promised that the college would be upgraded into a university.
With a farm area extending to 300 acres with varied types of soils ranging from sandy soils of coastal belt to black soils of the Krishna river delta, the college offers practical training to undergraduate students, post-graduate students and staff research.
The farm is also being utilised for the breeder and foundation seeds for the improved varieties of different crops.
