Nagpur: The State Government, in the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, allocated Rs 227.46 crore for the establishment of the International Agriculture Facility Centre in Nagpur. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced the project in the State Budget.
The project is going to come up on a 25 acre land of Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapith (PDKV ) at Dabha. The project is said to be a dream of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari who wanted a permanent convention centre with a well-equipped facility to host agricultural exhibitions. In the past, an Agro Vision exhibition was held and Gadkari had envisioned the Centre to be modelled on the lines of a similar centre at Pragati Maidan.
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The convention centre is only one of the elements of the facility centre. The centre would have a hostel with a capacity of 140 rooms and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 2,000 people. But the Agriculture Facility Centre is multi-focused with an aim to boost exports from Vidarbha Region and tap a pool of expertise in the PDKV to the fullest to ensure that farmers can benefit from the project.
A salient feature of the centre is establishment of a Phyto Sanitation certification facility that is key to exports to Europe and USA. Right now the facility is available only in Mumbai and once the Nagpur centre is established it would benefit entire Central India. The certification machine itself costs Rs. 6 crore and more.
Talking more about the centre, Dr Prakash Kadu, Associate Dean, College of Agriculture, Nagpur, said that the centre would also house residual labs that would enable passing on the research to farms. Also on the card is soil testing facility, bio-fertiliser unit, bio-technology lab, tissue testing facility and much more. The entire building of the centre would be fitted with solar panels. As per plan, the centre would be ready in a two-years period and the Deputy CM has assured that funds would not be a problem but all required labs and agriculture related matters should be in place at the facility centre.
For the college also the centre would benefit as students would get exposure and be able to carry out research and handle the latest equipment and enhance their knowledge. The land identified for the project is categorised in Eclass in Revenue records, meaning it is not worth for cultivation. It’s mostly waste land that is being put to some remarkable use with a view to alleviate the farm crisis in the region.
