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Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

The history of agricultural education in Kerala can be traced back to the year 1896 when a scheme was evolved in the erstwhile Travancore State to train a few young men in scientific agriculture at the Demonstration Farm, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, presently, the Cropping Systems Research Centre under Kerala Agricultural University. Agriculture was introduced as an optional subject in the middle school classes in the State in 1922 when an Agricultural Middle School was started at Aluva, Ernakulam District. The popularity and usefulness of this school led to the starting of similar institutions at Kottarakkara and Konni in 1928 and 1931 respectively. Agriculture was later introduced as an optional subject for Intermediate Course in 1953. In 1955, the erstwhile Government of Travancore-Cochin started the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Mannuthy, Thrissur for imparting higher education in agricultural and veterinary sciences, respectively. These institutions were brought under the direct administrative control of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Animal Husbandry, respectively. With the formation of Kerala State in 1956, these two colleges were affiliated to the University of Kerala. The post-graduate programmes leading to M.Sc. (Ag), M.V.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees were started in 1961, 1962 and 1965 respectively. On the recommendation of the Second National Education Commission (1964-66) headed by Dr. D.S. Kothari, the then Chairman of the University Grants Commission, one Agricultural University in each State was established. The State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) were established in India as an integral part of the National Agricultural Research System to give the much needed impetus to Agriculture Education and Research in the Country. As a result the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) was established on 24th February 1971 by virtue of the Act 33 of 1971 and started functioning on 1st February 1972. The Kerala Agricultural University is the 15th in the series of the SAUs. In accordance with the provisions of KAU Act of 1971, the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, were brought under the Kerala Agricultural University. In addition, twenty one agricultural and animal husbandry research stations were also transferred to the KAU for taking up research and extension programmes on various crops, animals, birds, etc. During 2011, Kerala Agricultural University was trifurcated into Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU). Now the University has seven colleges (four Agriculture, one Agricultural Engineering, one Forestry, one Co-operation Banking & Management), six RARSs, seven KVKs, 15 Research Stations and 16 Research and Extension Units under the faculties of Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering and Forestry. In addition, one Academy on Climate Change Adaptation and one Institute of Agricultural Technology offering M.Sc. (Integrated) Climate Change Adaptation and Diploma in Agricultural Sciences respectively are also functioning in Kerala Agricultural University.

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  • ThesisItemOpen Access
    Analysis of the training needs of veterinary surgeons of Kerala for continuing veterinary education
    (Department of Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 2001) Sakthivel, K M; KAU; Rajkamal, P J
    The objective of the study was to identify the training needs of veterinary surgeons of Kerala for continuing veterinary education. The data were collected from 130 veterinary surgeons of the Animal Husbandry Department of Kerala. Questionnaires were used for data collection. The training need was not seen dependent on any of the socio-personal characteristics of the respondents, viz., age, sex, marital status, type of family, educational qualification, professional experience, number of children, age of the youngest child, location of residence, distance to work place, number of seminars, symposiums etc., attended, number of professional journals read, number of periodicals read and number of trainings attended. Zoo and wild life was the most preferred general subject matter domain for training among the nine studied. This was followed by information technology, medicine, surgery, extension, livestock products technology, obstetrics and gynaecology, professional management and animal production in the descending order of preference. The most preferred specific subject matter areas were management of domesticated elephants, using computer in office, modern diagnostic procedures, small animal surgery, modern extension teaching methods, quality assurance of meat and meat products, embryo transfer technology, service rules and regulations and breeding and management of pet animals. The training programmes being organised by the various organisations such as KAU, IMG, KLDB, IVRI and CVE programmes proposed by Veterinary Council of India were found to be either highly relevant or relevant and hence these programmes might form part of eVE programme. The findings of task analysis pertaining to veterinary practice indicated the importance of incorporating in the training curriculum both the theoretical and practical aspects of management of mastitis, administration of medicines, clinical examination of animals, udder and teat surgery, post operative care, treatment of fracture, artificial insemination in cattle, handling of frozen semen, pregnancy diagnosis in cattle, maintenance of laboratory equipments, . faecal examination and examination of milk samples. The study further indicated the strategies to be adopted In organising the CVE programmes. An institutional mode of training was preferred to either distance learning or a combination of both in the case of major domains viz., veterinary science, animal production, live stock products technology, zoo and wild life, and information technology whereas distance learning was the preference In the case of extension and professional management. Trainers from outside the parent organisation were preferred while organising training programmes. The venue of training preferred was institutes within the state in the case of short-term training and those outside the state in the case of long-term training. The preferred periodicity of a short-term training was a year or less than a year while that for a long-term training was more than a year. The preferred duration of a short term training leading to a certificate was 15 days and that leading to a diploma was 90 days.