Augmenting Quality and Relevance of Higher Agricultural Education through Enhanced Learning Outcome and Entrepreneurship Development 

  • Inaugural Address by Dr.S.Yathiraj,Chief Executive, Lakeside Veterinary Hospital & Research Centre, Bengaluru.

“Veterinarian skill development courses for field veterinarian and Industry personnel” was organized at College of Agriculture, Vijayapur under the World Bank assisted ICAR-NAHEP-Institutional Development Plan (IDP) project on 28 December 2020. With an aim to impart various skills needed for field veterinarian & industrial personnel, students and faculty and other stakeholders. Dr. S. B. Kalaghatagi, Dean (Agri), AC, Vijayapur & Nodal officer extended a warm welcome to Chief Guest and to all the participants and invitees. Dr. K. V. Ashalatha, Assoc. Coordinator introduced the chief guest. The event was inaugurated by Prof. S. Yathiraj, Chief Executive, Lakeside Veterinary Hospital & Research Centre, Bengaluru. He highlighted the need of the skills in various fields especially for field veterinarians. He opined that, the professional practice and field experience are key features for understanding animal behavior and their illness. He suggested all the participants to make the best use of the skills gained through such programmes and serve to create happy society. He also mentioned that the SKILL is a bridge between education and profession.

Dr. M. B. Chetti, in his introductory gave a brief note on the programmes under NAHEP-IDP and also shared his experience with Veterinary Scientists both in SAU’s and at ICAR, New Delhi. Resource person, Dr. Annarao Patil, Sr Veterinary Officer, Govt of Karnataka, spoke on different veterinarian skills required for commercial goat farming. He opined that goat farming is the low investment venture with assured income especially in dry land areas and hence, goat and sheep rearing are also known as moving ATM. He elaborated on strength and weakness of goat farming, various breeds of goat with their characters, feeding and marketing skill, different diseases and drugs for treatment for successful commercial goat farming.

Dr. M. Sankar, Senior Scientist, Division of Parasitology, IVRI, Bareilly, gave an elaborative talk on management of anthelmintic resistance and its practical approaches at field level, highlighting an economic importance of the issue. Dr Sankar told that helminth infection in ruminants cause great economic loss to the tune of (94.2%) in the country. In order to minimize the infection, there is a need to educate field veterinarians and farmers on anthelmentic resistance for keeping animals healthy and safe. Prudent use of antimicrobials in bovine practice was dealt by Dr. Kesavan Manickam, Scientist, ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar. He focused on maximizing the therapeutic effect of the antimicrobial agents while minimizing the development resistance in his talk. There was an interactive (Q&A) session after the talks wherein participants discussed with resource persons on related issues. The programme was moderated by Dr. M. D. Patil, Nodal officer and Dr. S. Y. Mukartal, Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Animal Sciences, AC, Vijayapur proposed vote of thanks.