University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot

Realising the importance and foresightedness of the Karnataka Government, His Excellency, the Governor of Karnataka has approved the establishment of the University of Horticultural Sciences (UHS) at Bagalkot through a special Ordinance No 2 of 2008 dated: 22-11-2008. Thus, the exclusive University of Horticultural Sciences came in to being with effect from 22-11-2008 at Bagalkot. The choice of Bagalkot as the head quarters of the University is rightly justified because of two reasons namely, the rich horticultural production base of grapes, pomegranate, sapota, fig, lime, sweet lime, ber, varieties of vegetables, spices and medicinal plants: Besides, the bordering districts of Belgaum on West, Dharwad and Koppal on South, Bijapur on North and Raichur on East are the hub of horticulture because of the favourable climate for horticulture crops in the area. The Second reason is because of the location of historical places like Badami (cave temple and capital of Chalukya Kingdom) Pattadakallu, Aihole (the places known for temples of stone sculptures) Kudalasangama a centre of religious preaching and teaching, and the mighty Alamatti Dam as a back bone for agriculture / horticulture are situated within the radius of 50km from Bagalkot.

The mission of University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot (UHSB) is to enhance the growth of horticulture sector by providing leadership in teaching, research and extension services in horticulture and allied sciences through continuous innovation and assimilation of emerging paradigms, concepts and technology developments. Our mission is end to end approach, resolving intersectoral issues for addressing problem areas and promoting multi-dimensional reforms in research, teaching, extension for production, processing, marketing and institution of time bound accomplishments with a sense of urgency.

The University has threefold mandate namely

• To impart quality education in all branches of Horticulture and allied sciences.
• To conduct applied, strategic and basic research, in all branches of horticulture and related disciplines.
• To facilitate transfer of technology to the farming community through extension system and outreach.

Development of the Horticultural Expertise is one of the three main mandates of the University. To meet the technical manpower required for the Horticulture Industry of the State, a three-tier system of education is drawn with emphasis on the following:

• To start certificate and diploma courses to impart skill and working knowledge. i.e. Know-How to Do-How aspects for unemployed youths.
• Plan/Start field experiments of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students work in farmer’s fields rather than in the Department plots alone.
• Selecting important, need based, location specific, farmer friendly research programmes for Post-graduate students, resulting into a useful findings/information that would be adopted by farmers at large.
• Technology Validation and Demonstration follow every research finding on E-3 formula basis.
• Establishment of large-scale demonstration plots at the campus with farmer’s participation for creation of awareness.
• To expose students for farm/orchard management and economic use of resources by attaching students for 2-3 months with progressive farmers/entrepreneurs.
• Placement of the students in Horticulture Industries for skill development.