in focus
Cultivating talent

Horticulture is fast emerging as a priority area--- both for the scientists as well as the agrarian community. With a number of hydroelectric projects coming up in Himachal Pradesh, the need for scientific management of their catchment treatment plans, necessitating large-scale plantations, has also assumed significance. To help offset the environmental degradation caused by these projects, there is a growing demand for employing professionals with a forestry background.

Floriculture, agro-based industries, including those which use medicinal plants to produce ayurvedic products, consultancy services for the farming community and post-harvest management are some of the areas where horticulturists can find ready employment.

The Dr Y.S.Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, located at Nauni, 13 km from Solan, Himachal Pradesh, is the only university in the country credited exclusively with teaching, research and extension in this field. Set up as Himachal Agriculture College in 1962, when it was affiliated to Panjab University, it later became the campus of Agriculture Pradesh University in 1970. Later, it went on to become the Horticulture Complex of HP Krishi Vishwavidyalaya in 1978 and was finally granted the status of a university in 1985.

Courses offered

The university has two constituent colleges for forestry and horticulture, located on its main campus at Nauni, having six and eight departments, respectively. In addition, there are five Regional Research Stations and 12 research sub-stations situated in different zones of the state and four Krishi Vigyan Kendras at Chamba, Rohro, Sharbo and Kandhaghat.

The university offers 4-year undergraduate courses in horticulture and forestry for students who have completed plus two in English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Agriculture with a minimum of 50 per cent marks. It also offers a 5-year undergraduate programme for the students of HP Board of School Education under the vocational stream. However, foreign students seeking admission require at least 60 per cent marks.

It also offers several postgraduate and Ph.D courses in both forestry and horticulture. The courses for horticulture graduates include Biotechnology, Entomology and Apiculture, Floriculture and Landscaping, Fruit Breeding and Genetic Resources, Mycology and Plant Pathology, Pomology, Post-Harvest Technology and Vegetable Crops. Among the courses available in the field of forestry are Agriculture Economics, Agriculture Statistics, Agroforestry, Forest Products, Microbiology, Silviculture, Soil Sciences and Waste management and Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources. Each requires at least 60 per cent marks at the graduate level.

The university also offers a two-year MBA course for which a graduate in any stream with 55 per cent marks is eligible.

Admission to various graduate and postgraduate courses are made through an entrance test conducted by the university. The entrance for MBA will henceforth be conducted by Himachal Pradesh University for 75 per cent seats while the remaining 25 per cent will be filled by a MAT to be conducted on an all-India basis. As many as 85 per cent seats are reserved for the domiciles of Himachal Pradesh in all courses.

Both colleges of horticulture and forestry have well-equipped and modern laboratories for teaching, research and extension.

An experimental farm of 550 hectares located in the main campus and facilities like arboreta, mist chambers, wood workshops, glass houses, etc are the other features of the university. A Geographical Information System (GIS) has been established in the computer centre and the university is connected to the National Network under the Agriculture Research Information System of the ICAR. A bioinformatics sub-centre also exists on the campus which provides the support base to the students and scientists in the area of temperate horticulture and forestry. An instrumentation cell, patent cell, placement cell are also located on the main campus.

A modern library providing computerised services to the students as well as the scientists is housed on the campus. Named after Satyanand Stokes, the pioneer of scientific horticulture in Himachal Pradesh, it has about 55,000 books on various disciplines, including about 18,000 written by foreign authors. As many as 36 foreign and 54 Indian journals are annually subscribed here.