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MANGALORE: The Indian Centre for Agricultural Research (ICAR) may consider upgrading the four-decade-old College of Fisheries, Mangalore, to a national institute.

 ICAR director general S Ayyappan said the demand to convert the College of Fisheries, the first fisheries college in the country, into a national institute will be considered. He was addressing reporters after handing over a patent of ’RapiDot’ - shrimp white spot virus diagnostic kit to M/s Virbac Animal Health Care, a Mumbai-based company on Saturday.

 "The College of Fisheries is the oldest fisheries college in the country. We will look at the centres of excellence and other strengths of the college. We will consider the demand of converting the college into a national institute," he said.

 Ayyappan stressed the need to scale up the number of graduates in agriculture and allied branches to meet future needs of the country. "We have 30,000 agriculture graduates annually, whereas, we may need at least 60,000 graduates by 2020. We have take up measures to scale up college infrastructure, enhance financial support and scholarships to students, and revisit the curricular to encourage skills," he said.

 Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (KVAFSU) registrar HM Jayaprakash said old college buildings need immediate attention. The Rs 2 crore financial support extended by the ICAR may be used for developing infrastructure here, he added.

 College dean KM Shankar said RapiDot Kit, which was developed by the college through a research since 2000, has been handed over to Virbac, a French company involved in animal and fish healthcare, for Rs 12 lakh. "The kit is an early detection tool for the shrimp white spot virus which causes loss to the tune of Rs 500 crore annually to shrimp culture industry in India," he added.

 Ram Prakash, representative of Virbac, said the company will make the kit available for small and marginal farmers in the nation at an affordable price. "We consulted many institutes across the nation, but our efforts to find better technology that enables early detection of shrimp white spot virus went in vain. Finally, we found the best technology from the College of Fisheries here. We will commence the process of registration of technology and later start manufacturing the kits," he added.