No need for new agriculture university; research should be implemented through gov. agencies
There is no need for a separate university for agriculture. What is most needed is better organisation in the academic filed of agriculture, and government agencies need to be more efficient to make this happen, said Prof. Sarath S. Kodithuwakku, Dean of the Agriculture Faculty at the University of Peradeniya.
He also said all facilities for agriculture and high research in the field are already available at the faculty, and the research conducted needed to be implemented through the government agencies.
Prof. Kodithuwakku was speaking at the 34th Annual Congress of the Post Graduate Institute of Agriculture at the University of Peradeniya (PGIA) presided by Prof. C.M.B. Dematawewa, the Director of PGIA.
The Chief Guest for the event was the Netherlands Ambassador Bonnie Horbach. She said the world is facing many challenges today, and one of the most urgent is the pending food crisis.
“How can we feed the growing world population with limited resources? What are the ways to increase food production through minimum resources? How can the agricultural sector be modernised to contribute to climate change mitigation? Is it realistic to make agriculture climate neutral? Sooner rather than later we need to find the answers to these questions. Together we can co-create innovative solutions for global environmental, social and economic challenges,” the Ambassador said.
The keynote address was by Prof. Owen Atkin, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneur Agricultural Technology at the Australian National University. He addressed the participants virtually.
“PGIA commenced in 1975 as the primordial postgraduate human resources institute for the development of agriculture. It evolved to become the post graduate arm of the only Agriculture Faculty at the time. But now the deans of almost all agriculture faculties in Sri Lanka are on the board of management, except the dean of except the dean of the agriculture faculty at the Uva Wellassa University,” Prof. Dematawewa said.
He also said they offer 30 master degree programmes covering almost every aspect of agriculture such as Soil Science, Crop Science Biology and Biotechnology, Plant Protection, Animal Science, Food Science, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Extensions and even Biostatistics and Business
Administration similar to agricultural universities in the Netherlands.
Prof. Dematawewa said for many years the institute dreamed about disseminating the information from advanced research findings from PGIA in a manner that could be understood by the general public.
“The theme of the Congress “Smart Agriculture for Sustainable Faming” is incredibly pertinent as the internet of things would be integrated with agricultural activities,” University of Peradeniya Vice Chancellor Prof. M.D. Lamawansa said, during his speech.