Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, formerly known as Rajendra Agricultural University, is a public central agriculture university and is recognised as

Institute of National Importance Institute of National Importance (INI) is a status that may be conferred on a premier public higher education institution in India by an act of Parliament of India, an institution which "serves as a pivotal player in developing highly skilled pe ...

by government of India. It is located in Pusa,

Samastipur district Samastipur is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar in India. The district headquarters are located at Samastipur. The district occupies an area of 2904 km² and has a population of 4,261,566. History Samastipur became a district ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Ben ...

History

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University (Earlier, Rajendra Agricultural University) was originally established as India's first-ever Imperial Agriculture Research Institute. The foundation stone of the Agricultural Research Institute and college was laid by

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative Party (UK) ...

on 1 April 1905 with the financial assistance of Henry Phipps, Jr., an American philanthropist. Phipps was a family friend of Lady Curzon, the daughter of an American millionaire, and the wife of Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India. In his speech, the viceroy had expressed his vision that the seed he was planting would soon blossom out, making Pusa the nucleus of agricultural activities, research and education which would not only benefit Bihar and Bengal but the whole of the country and would attract the best of talents from India and abroad. In separate meeting with the Bihar Planters Association, he fervently hoped that the institute would-be of immense service to them in their grave hour of crisis caused by the German Indigo scientist.

left by the end of 1905 and

Lord Minto Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...

was his successor. Till the last minute, he had seen through each and every detail of the Pusa project which virtually was his brainchild. Incidentally, one major issue on which he had not agreed was the architecture of the main building, its wings, vaults, and arches but finally, he gave his consent of course with a stint. Rightfully, Pusa received an imperial status in 1918, being renamed as the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). In 1934, after a major earthquake rocked Bihar and which severely damage the main buildings, the Imperial Institute was shifted to the new Pusa campus in New Delhi and that eventually became

Indian Agricultural Research Institute The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's national institute for agricultural research, education and extension. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was o ...

. What remained was downgraded to an agricultural research station until 3 December 1970, when the government of Bihar established Rajendra Agricultural University. On 11 May 2016 Parliament of India passed the Central University Bill. So RAU, Pusa has been upgraded to Central Agricultural University and named as Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University.

Academics

There are five faculties in the university in the disciplines of

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, Veterinary & Animal Sciences,

Agricultural Engineering Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civi ...

, Basic Sciences, Humanities & Home Science, besides the college of agriculture, fisheries and institute of dairy technology. The university offers six undergraduate degree programmes, 14 postgraduate programmes and 4 PhD programmes. It is also providing 2-year professional degree programs name MBA (Agribusiness Management) and MBA (Rural Management) for agricultural and allied sector graduates.

Departments of University

Agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and s ...

Horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

Entomology Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arac ...

Agricultural Economics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that speci ...

Nematology Nematology is the scientific discipline concerned with the study of nematodes, or roundworms. Although nematological investigation dates back to the days of Aristotle or even earlier, nematology as an independent discipline has its recognizable ...

Soil Science Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to th ...

Extension Education Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

* Plant Breeding and Genetics *

Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

Plant Pathology Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oom ...

* Agril Biotechnology and

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

Microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, p ...

Soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

and Water Engineering *

Farm Machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...

& Power * Processing & Food Engineering *Agribusiness Management *Rural Management

Constituent Colleges of University

*College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology *Trihut College of Agriculture *College of Fisheries *College of Community Science *College of Basic Sciences & Humanities *Post Graduate College of Agriculture
School of Agribusiness & Rural Management
*Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay College of Horticulture Forestry

References

External links

*
School of Agribusiness and Rural Mangement

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{{Authority control Agricultural universities and colleges in Bihar Samastipur district Samastipur Memorials to Rajendra Prasad 1905 establishments in India Educational institutions established in 1905