Bhubaneswar, Mar 12 (FN Bureau) Quick returns on Agriculture have led to the permanent damage to soil, Vice Chancellor of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) Prof. Pravat Kumar Roul said. The time has come to look back on the dwindling returns of agriculture and strive to resurrect the farm sector in search of a lasting solution to the continuing agrarian problem, Roul said. He was addressing the three-day ‘SOA Agri-Confluence’ at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), faculty of agricultural sciences of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) which began on Tuesday. “The agriculture we have pursued was based on quick returns which had led to permanent damage to the soil while depletion of groundwater and deterioration in the air quality had further aggravated the situation,” Prof. Roul said.
Stating that no industry could ensure employment for all, the OUAT Vice-Chancellor said there was a need for diversification of agriculture as it had the potential to ensure livelihood security. “Agriculture involves both food and livelihood and is dependent on soil, water, air, and environment where we have suffered both quantitative and qualitative losses over past decades,” Roul said. The climate change, he claimed, had led to a reduction in Odisha’s annual rainfall from 1500 mm to around 1300 to 1350 mm now. SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda said all research was intended to benefit society and SOA was committed to this goal. Being a multidisciplinary university, SOA, he said, had the needed infrastructure to conduct research involving different disciplines.