Venkataramannagudem, November 22: The Andhra Pradesh Horticulture University (APHU) is contemplating entering into MOUs with various educational institutions and organisations of repute across the globe in the field of research and related activities.
As part of this, APHU is initiating steps to ink MOUs shortly with the University of Florida in sub-tropical horticulture research. Another initiative is in the pipeline for an agreement with universities in Brazil on tropical horticulture research. At present, APHU has research collaborations with bodies like the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), the State Horticultural Mission (SHM) and the National Horticulture Board (NHB). The university is conducting basic, applied, location/region and anticipatory research for the overall development of horticultural crops through its 28 research centres.
The research programmes would be executed under non-plan projects/ university projects, ICAR plan projects and SHM projects, and the thrust areas are increasing and sustaining productivity under biotic and abiotic stresses, improving nutritive value and food safety, environment protection, increasing profitability for farmers, export promotion, minimisation of post-harvest losses and processing and value addition.
The Agriculture Product Export Development Agency (APEDA) is also extending help to the university with regard to export of agricultural products and also some technology.
APHU runs on the land grant pattern followed in USA with emphasis on “education research and extension of horticulture’’.
The mandate of the institute is “human resource development through education, and need-based research and dissemination of proven technologies developed through research’’.
Speaking to TNIE, APHU Vice-Chancellor Dr SD Sikhamany underlined the need to develop technology to store fruit for 60 days for export to USA and other countries. “Due to lack of technology we are not able to export fruit to far-off countries,’’ he pointed out. Post-harvest technology is available in Venkataramannagudem and on the Rajendra Nagar campus at Hyderabad, he said.
APHU is setting up poly houses and quality control labs to check horticulture products, he said. The university was also focusing on transport and research.
The second of its kind in the country, it has 28 research centres, five polytechnics and five colleges in the State with a student strength of 1,000.
The campus was under construction. In the first phase, Rs 65 crore would be spent, and Rs 305 crore in the remaining phases, the vice-chancellor said.
APHU is offering BSc (Hons) and MSc Horticulture courses with an intake of 370 and 40 students respectively, and six research scholars. The curricula are geared to face future challenges arising in the field of horticulture and to developing need-based manpower and technologies, he said.
—Agencies