The Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri — one of the three institutions of excellence that Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram mentioned in his budget speech on Friday — is looking to spend most of the promised Rs 100 crore in ramping up its “Farmers-in-Research” project.“Till now, the project was restricted to 10 districts. With the FM’s largesse, we will extend it to many more districts and bring under its net over one lakh farmers. It will enable farmers to have a first hand experience of what happens in the lab and then take it out into the fields. This dissemination of information has been widely talked about and many other states have expressed their interest to follow our model. Our aim is to make leaders out of farmers,” an elated Vice Chancellor of the University, Dr Rajaram Deshmukh told The Indian Express soon after the announcement was made by the Finance Minister.The agriculture university, located in Ahmednagar district, shares the institution of excellence award with the University of Mysore and Delhi University.The 40-year-old university, which was established in 1968 and has its jurisdiction in western Maharashtra, will also look at starting a Krishi infonet, connecting all their institutions.
