State Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal on Wednesday urged the Centre to open maximum number of food processing units in Chhattisgarh to link its youth with farm related activities.
Agrawal was speaking at the 85th annual meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Minister, on the occasion, also demanded from the Centre to approve a one-time grant of Rs 100 crore towards infrastructure development of Indira Gandhi Agriculture University in Raipur.
Agrawal informed the participants that the Indira Gandhi Agriculture University in Raipur has the world’s second biggest collection of paddy ‘germplasm’ numbering 23,250. He urged the Centre to open a ‘Centre for Excellence’ for research in paddy at the Indira Gandhi Agriculture University. The Minister stated that Chhattisgarh was rich in bio-diversity while demanding from the Centre to open a ‘Biodiversity Park’ in the State besides a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for Research in Horticulture produce. Agrawal demanded from the Centre to open Agriculture Science centers in seven districts of the State mainly — Sukma, Kondagaon, Balod, Raipur, Bemetra, Mungeli and Surajpur.
The Minister said that ICAR’s Sub Centre is located in Patna which is far from Chhattisgarh. He demanded that ICAR’s Regional Centre be opened in Chhattisgarh which can also serve its surrounding states.