Polytechnic in agro engineering coming up

Anand Agriculture University (AAU) will be setting up the first-ever polytechnic in agriculture engineering in Gujarat. The varsity has received a nod from the state government along with a grant of Rs 17 crore to be disbursed by the Tribal Development Department. The polytechnic institute will come up in the tribal belt of the state.

Likely to begin in this academic year, the institute will offer a three-year diploma course in agriculture engineering for 10th pass students, said PP Patel, director, extension education, AAU. It would have an intake of 30 and is in the process of recruiting at least 5 faculty.

However, while this would be the first polytechnic to offer a course in agriculture engineering in Gujarat, the College of Agriculture Engineering affiliated to Junagadh Agriculture University has been offering degree courses in the subject since 1984.

The state has also announced setting up of a second college of agriculture engineering at Godhra, which would offer a BTech degree in agriculture engineering.

"The growing need for value addition in crops has resulted in manpower shortage in agriculture engineering, which is why more institutes offering such courses are being set up," said DC Joshi, dean, College for Food Process Technology.

The proposed college at Godhra, to be set up at an initial cost of Rs 20 crore, would see around 50 students graduating every year.