GITAM University has always been in the forefront in taking up extension activities in villages for the benefit of rural population.Industrialisation and globalization being welcome phenomena, ignoring the rural side of the country would prove counter productive in the long run. GITAM University has taken a stride in the direction of integrated rural development, by establishing a Centre for Integrated Rural Development, with concern for villages of the country where around seventy per cent of our population live and where the nation has its roots.

The main objective of this Centre is to help the farmers in areas like bio-diesel plantation and production, development of solar and wind energy parks, cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants, production of bio-pesticides, bio-fertilizers, organic farming, etc. The Centre will be establishing several research laboratories and technology parks to make available knowledge, data and knowhow to the farming community through its pilot demonstrations and extension services which will provide human and community development in the villages. The approach is based on the principle of social inclusion in the integrated development of villages.

I hope this Centre will act as a catalyst to improve the economic conditions of the rural poor and thereby contribute towards national development.