Salesians open agriculture college near Chennai

Agricultural activities on this sprawling 250-acre campus started over six decades ago when Salesians set up a small agricultural school.

Chennai:  Salesians of Don Bosco have opened an agriculture college near Chennai, billed as India's first Catholic college of agriculture, aiming to train more village youth for framing.

Salesian Provincial Fr. Jayapalan Raphael opened the Don Bosco College of Agriculture Oct. 24, near Sagayathottam, near Chennai in the presence of Bishop P. Soundararaju of Vellore and priests, religious, well wishers and students.

Fr. Jayapalan described the college as a milestone for the Salesian Province of Chennai, which has always stressed on training poor rural youth for employment.

Today, while India ranks second in the world for farm output, and our agriculture and allied fields account for 50 per cent of the total workforce in the country, the sad fact is that a large percentage of our agricultural workers are unskilled in modern techniques resulting in low productivity, he said.

Institutions for training students in agriculture and allied fields are far below the requirement, he said expressing the hope that the new college will make a difference.

Agricultural activities on this sprawling 250-acre campus started over six decades ago when Salesians set up a small agricultural school for training rural youth in the basics of agriculture.

Later it became an institute of agriculture offering two-year diplomas in agriculture. The present College, affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), will offer undergraduate courses (B.Sc.) in Agriculture and related fields.

Source: Don Bosco India