Bapatla Engineering College, Bapatla

The Agricultural College, Bapatla was established on 11 July 1945 by the Government of Composite Madras State, with Sri C R Srinivasa Iyengar as its first principal. It was affiliated to Andhra University in 1945, and its first graduating class received degrees in 1948. In 1950, the college acquired 328 acres on the Bapatla–Guntur road. It gained recognition to award an M.Sc (Ag) by research in 1951, and in 1964 became part of the newly established Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, with Sri O Pulla Reddy as first Vice-Chancellor. Over subsequent decades, postgraduate programmes were introduced in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Entomology, Soil Science, Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural Economics, Plant Physiology, Agronomy, and Plant Pathology, along with an Extension division in 1984 and Ph.D programmes from 1993. A B.Tech in Agricultural Engineering began in 1983, becoming an independent college in 1989, alongside a College of Home Science. The Agricultural Research Station in Bapatla, associated with the college, developed the widely cultivated BPT 5204 (Samba Mahsuri) rice variety in the 1980s, along with other varieties such as Sona Mahsuri, Bhavapuri Sannalu, Teja, and BPT 2841.