Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: Young agricultural scientists need to focus on the impact of climate change on agriculture and find new ways to counter it, Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) said on Friday.
Prof. Nanda was addressing students who had completed their education in B.Sc Agriculture (Hons) and M.Sc Agriculture from the Institute of Agricultureal Sciences (IAS), faculty of agricultural sciences of SOA at a graduation ceremony organised for them in the college campus.
Climate change and its impact on food security are critical areas where agricultural scientists have a big role to play, Prof. Nanda said while asking the graduates not to be overly dependent on technologies like ChatGPT. “It is a good ally but you should use it as a supplement,” he said.
Degrees were presented to the students of 2020-24 B.Sc. (Agril) batch and 2023 M.Sc. (Agril) batch on the occasion. Prof. Nanda also administered the oath to the graduating students.
Prof. Nanda said that the students had passed out from the university which had been ranked 14th in the country in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2024 and should always endeavour to keep SOA’s flag flying high.
Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Dean of IAS, presented the report while Prof. B.K. Mishra, Head of the department of Entomology, also spoke. Prof. Manjula Das, Controller of Examination, Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare), members of the Academic Council, departmental heads and faculty members were present.