| College of Agriculture, Vellayani | |
| Native Name: | കാർഷിക കോളേജ്, വെള്ളായണി |
| Postalcode: | 695 522 |
| Free Label2: | Vision |
| Dean: | Dr. Roy Stephen |
| Sports Free1: | College of Agriculture, Vellayani |
| Coordinates: | 8.4292°N 76.9878°W |
| Free Label: | Acronym |
| Free: | CoAV, AGC |
College of Agriculture, Vellayani is the first agriculture college in Kerala under Kerala Agricultural University and situated in Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram.[1] The campus has an area of 250 hectare bordered on three sides by Vellayani Lake.[2]
The "Lalindloch Palace" of the Travancore royal family acts as the administrative block and office of the Dean of Faculty, Agriculture of the College of Agriculture, Vellayani. Senior Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the Regent of Travancore, lived at this palace after her regency with her daughters Lalitha and Indira. The word "Lalindloch" is a combination of the names Lalitha and Indira and loch, a Scottish word for "lake" (Vellayani Lake). In 1955, the palace and estate was handed over to the Government of Travancore–Cochin for creating the College of Agriculture, Vellayani.[3] [4] [5] [1]
The College of Agriculture, Vellayani, was established in 1955 for the course B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture. It is one of India's leading Centers of Undergraduate and Postgraduate education in agriculture.[6] Postgraduate programmes were started in the college in 1962. PhD courses were created in 1965. The Kerala Agricultural University was established in 1972, and the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, became a significant constituent of the University. Currently, the college offers training, workshops, seminars, conferences, certificate courses, diplomas, bachelor's, postgraduate diplomas, master's, and doctoral degrees in agriculture and allied sciences. Prof. M. C. Cherian was the first principal of the college. The instructional farm started functioning in 1955 and Regional Agriculture Research Station, Vellayani was established in 1981.[6] The college ground, popularly known as the Vellyani Agricultural College Ground hosted an international under-19s Test match between India and Australia in March 1994 in which cricketers like VVS Laxman, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Pankaj Dharmani, Sridharan Sriram from India and Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee from Australia played against each other. The ground also hosted P. Ramachandra Rao Trophy in 1989, the Ranji Trophy in 1990, 1995, 1996 and 1998, the Vijay Merchant Trophy in 1988, 1990, and 1991 and the Cooch Behar Trophy in 1990, 1991.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [1] The college hosted Taekwondo, Netball, Triathlon in the 2015 National Games of India[12]
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The palace forms a major plot in Manu S. Pillai's book, The Ivory Throne, which covers the journey of Sethu Lakshmi Bayi.[1]
This college also witnessed Filmmaking of Films such as Ente Sooryaputhrikku, Superman (1997 film), F. I. R. (1999 film), Winner (2003 film) and Celluloid (film).
The history this campus is published in "AHAM"; the college magazine of College of Agriculture, Vellayani 2021-22 (pages 18-24). The article named 'The Queen, The Palace and The College: Sagas Untold - History of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, Lalindloch Palace and College of Agriculture, Vellayani is written by Adarsh S., Arun Chacko, Radhakrishnan A. G. and Noor Fidha P. K. V. (Read the article @ https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8098563)[1]