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History Ever since the creation of the Institute of Agricultural Research in 1931 this Institute has been rendering unique service to the country particularly in the areas of teaching and research. This has been made possible largely because the Institute has had the privilege of possessing one of the better faculty members in the country. If the contribution of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, B.H.U. is weighed in terms of its contribution to Indian Agriculture in relation to its budget, it is far more impressive than many others. For example the IARI's annual budget of nearly 80 crores is startling in face of the meager budget of nearly seven crores of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, B.H.U.. Despite this, our students imbibed the spirit and commitment of its founder and have made significant contributions, and have achieved positions in the country that any institution may envy of. Quite a number of expert panels and committees from the ICAR, UGC and World Bank have visited the Institute from time to time to assess its achievements and various developmental requirements. Dr. B.P. Pal committee recommended in 1964 that Faculty of Agriculture deserves to be treated at par with other agricultural universities. While no grants were received during the first three Five Years Plans, the development and expansion started during Third and subsequent Five Year Plans after the visits of Pal committee (1964), Naik committee (1968), Gautam Committee (1972) and Pawar Committee (1976). With a humble beginning with only 3 teachers in 1931, the Institute now has strength of 135 teachers and scientists. The Institute offers education at under graduate and postgraduate levels. The credit course system of instruction was introduced in 1974 to bring this institute at par with State Agricultural Universities (SAU's) and to improve the standard of Agricultural Education. Admissions are made through All India Entrance Examination. The present intake of students of B.Sc. (Ag), and M. Sc. (Ag) / Ph.D. per department is 80 and 8 respectively. Besides this 15 and 25 per cent seats are allocated to ICAR sponsored candidates at B.Sc. (Ag) and M. Sc. (Ag) levels respectively. With a view to evolve appropriate technology for crop and animal production, a number of important research projects are running in almost all the departments. The projects are being supported by the ICAR, UGC, CSIR, UPCAR, CST, NABARD, World Bank and other national and international agencies. The institute at present, has 10 All India Coordinated Research Projects involving multi-disciplinary approach on land use management practices, crop improvement, crop-weather interaction, on farm research in participatory mode, integrated pest management, mechanization etc. Besides, Institute has several NATP research Projects in production system & mission mode and competitive Grant (CGP) Project being funded by the World Bank through the ICAR. A number of Adhoc projects are also running with emphasis on bridging the technological gap on location specific problems. The institute with its well established auxiliary units like campus agriculture farm (60 ha), Barkachha farm (1000 ha), Dairy farm & Goshala and Horticulture unit are not only facilitating excellent training to the UG & PG students but are providing quality seeds, saplings, organic manures to the farming community of the region. Dairy unit of the Institute also supplies milk and farm yard manure to the university community. Established as Institute of Agricultural Research in 1931. |