Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar has inaugurated the Indian Agricultural Research Institute's (IARI) Assam campus and said the setting up of this institute will boost farm education and research activities in the North East.

The minister dedicated to the nation the campus of the new IARI at Gogamukh in Assam, an official statement said.

The Union Cabinet in May 2017 had approved setting up of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Assam at a cost of over Rs 155 crore to promote agri-education and realise second green revolution in the north eastern region.

"As the pre-fabricated building is ready, the classes of students to be admitted from 2020-21 session will be started at IARI, Assam campus. Initially, three divisions will function namely Division of Crop Improvement, Division of Horticulture and Division of Animal Science & Fisheries," the statement said.

Tomar announced that the IARI, Assam will be named after Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.

He said the setting up of this institute will give an impetus to development of agricultural education and research in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, in addition to Assam.

The government has made efforts to plug the gaps in the development process, and as a result, new agricultural research institutes have been established in Jharkhand and Assam, the statement read.