Dr. Saurabh Pandey, Assistant Professor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, discusses the need and scope of agriculture education in India.
When we got independence, the agriculture system was underdeveloped, and we were depending on the other countries meeting our food grain demands in the early 1950s. For nearly two decades, we could not meet the demands of our population due to lack of production of food grains. We had to depend on USA for wheat which was being fed to cattle there. There is lot of scope and requirements of students in the agriculture stream. By 2050, the global population will be around 9 billion, and India alone will have 1.7 billion people. To fulfil their demand, we have to increase our agriculture production. Currently 55% of the people are involved in agriculture, and the sector contributes 13.7% to the GDP of the country. Demand for food commodities is expected to go up by more than 100% due to migration of people to cities, increased wealth, and shift to diets rich in protein.
Currently, India is in the second position in production of agriculture produce and also in supplying the food grain to many other countries. We have improved from importing food grains to exporting them, and India is a front runner in producing many crops among the global countries. We have achieved green, yellow, white, and blue revolution for various crops and commodities. About 14% of GDP is covered by Indian agriculture, providing food for 1.25 billion people, sustaining 65% of the population and alleviating poverty. Indian farmers produce 51 different crops, raw materials for main industries, and continuing to earn 1/6th of exports. India has 46 thousand to 86 thousand animal species, we are the largest producer of rice and guar gum, second largest exporter cotton and beef. We are second largest producer of fruits, vegetables, wheat, groundnut and sugarcane. Such a sustainability prevailing now depends on the agriculture education. So it is time our youth take up agriculture education.
The agriculture education in the country started from the Famine Commission headed by Dr. J.A. Voelkcker, in 1880 which revived the agriculture and improved it in the country. He insisted that agriculture education is important to overcome famine. During Lord Curzon’s period in 1905, following the Famine Commission, we formed Imperial Agriculture Research Institute in New Delhi. 6 other Agri colleges at Lyallpur, Kanpur, Pune, Coimbatore, Nagpur, and Sabour were established for agriculture education. Imperial council for Agriculture Research known as ICAR now was started. The first university education commission under the Chairmanship of DR. S. Radhakrishnan recommended that rural universities should be established to promote agriculture education. Then the first agriculture university was established in 1960 in Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand which was the model for various agriculture universities in India. During the 4th Five Year Plan, nearly Rs. 24 crore was spent for establishing and developing agriculture universities.
Currently we have 75 agriculture universities in the country with 64 of them being state agriculture universities, veterinary, horticulture, fisheries universities, 4 ICAR deemed universities such as IARI, IVRI, NDRI, CIFE, 3 central agriculture universities CAU, DR. RPCAU, and RLB CAU. We have 4 central universities with faculties. Our National Agriculture Research and Education System has nearly 15 thousand graduates, 11 post graduates students, and 2500 Ph. D students annually in various agriculture and allied sciences.
Current agriculture education system is governed by ICAR under which various agriculture universities, Institutes of Agriculture and Research and various KVKs work. ICAR comes under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare which manages the research and education in India. ICAR conducts various examinations like ICAR National Talent Search Fellowship for UG graduates. Students have to appear for All India Entrance Examination for Agriculture, Junior Research Fellowship for PG students, and ICAR Senior Research Fellowship for Ph. D students. The exams are important at the graduation level as the students can support themselves by earning Rs. 2000 at the UG level, Rs. 10 thousand for the ICAR JRF, and ICAR SRF they can get Rs. 41 thousand to sustain their education. After completing the course, they can search for jobs in various sectors like banking, engineering, education, communication, politics, biology, research, and accounting.
The students can specialise in various streams such as Agri Botany, Agri Biotechnology, Agri Chemistry, Extension Education, Forestry, Agri Statistics, and Crop Production. There are about 84 courses which cover all aspects of agriculture and allied activities. The scope of agriculture education is quite vast, and candidates can look for jobs such as agriculture officer, assistant plantation manager, territory manager, technical manager, trial coordinator, Agri research scientists, and Agri development officer. On the academic front, students can opt to become teachers or scientists. The next one is competitive jobs, and students have to take up examination at the central or state level and go for jobs. They can go for private jobs or entrepreneurship to start their own business.
Agriculture Scientist Recruitment Board recruits candidates for agriculture at various levels by conducting exams to be eligible for assistant professor. We also have organisations like DRDO, CEPTAM, or CIGAR at international levels where they can work after completing agriculture education in various institutes. We have institutes for specific crops too. They can also opt for exams at Central Warehousing Corporation or management training. There are 422 central warehouses and many state warehouses too. IBPS conducts exams for agriculture field officer post in banks. Candidates can apply for Seed Certification Officer posts in National Seeds Corporation. They can go as trainees in IFFCO which supply fertiliser for the country. There are other boards like Rubber Board, Coffee Board, Spices Board of India, and Central Silk Board. They can try in Agricultural Insurance Company or NABARD too. Food Corporation of India recruits candidates regularly. SSA recruits officers for various departments like Atomic energy, Forest Range officer and assistant conservator of forests. Upon completing M. Sc one can try as JRF in universities to get project jobs. National Institute of Agri Extension Management in Hyderabad offers PG diploma in Agri business management.
There are companies like Aditya Birla, Britannia, Dabur, HDFC, ICICI, ITC, IOC, Kotak Mahindra, Tata Chemicals, and Thomas Reuters in India and international companies like Monsanto, Sygenta, Du Pont, Nestle, and Pioneer. Also students can plan to start their own business after attending training sessions in Green house technology, Export of Agri produce, Nurseries, Consultancy services, and selling pesticides after getting license. Many companies are in need of trained graduates in agriculture, and for this we should have agriculture as a subject at the school level.
What are the major challenges faced by Indian Agriculture sector, and how agriculture education address these challenges?
There are two or three main challenges. The first one is the size of landholding. Next one is the climatic change because of which we are getting reduced rain in different sectors. It is difficult, and agriculture education has to help in this. If there are more agriculture graduates, there will be more technical professionals who can do research on various aspects of agriculture. We can get solutions to produce more agriculture crops in less land, and we can avoid different types of distresses and maintain the yield.
What role does agriculture education play in promoting sustainable farming practices and addressing environmental concerns?
When we study agriculture education, we have different subjects such as organic agriculture process, sustainable agriculture process, and rainfed agriculture process. We have different agriculture process, and students will get an idea of how we can apply the sustainable form of agriculture in different methods. If we apply the wholesome sustainable agriculture, we need to have knowledge of different aspects of agriculture to apply in different climates and technologies.
How has the scope of agriculture evolved over the years in India, and what are the emerging trends in India?
The scope of agriculture has evolved around ICAR which is the governing body for agriculture research education and extension. There are different state agriculture universities which are spreading agriculture education now in many states. Earlier, it was one agriculture university in one state, and now we are having more. The cutting edge research or scope is there in flower industry such as selling cut flowers, then comes protected agriculture, and then high tech horticulture. There are plant protection measures which are again emerging fields and need focus. Apart from these, biotechnology is always having a huge role, and we can manage different types of tissue culture plants and produce different GM crops for maintaining the agriculture production.
Are there specific regions or states in India where the need for agriculture education is more pronounced, and why?
Many of Indian states have more population in urban than rural. So based on that, we can create more universities so that we can give more prominence to rural areas. There are schemes from Government of India to promote agriculture education which was not happening before. In Northeastern region, we have one central university and more than 5 to6 research institutes of ICAR which are not there in other parts of the country. So government is taking care of these things, but there is no need for giving prominence to agriculture education because there are 75 universities in 29 states. So there are more than 2 universities in each region.
What policies and initiatives have been undertaken by the government to promote agriculture education in India, and what are the impacts? Are there opportunities for international collaboration in agriculture education to enhance the skills and knowledge of Indian farmers and students?
The NEP 2020 has enrolment ratio to promote rural population, and many students are enrolling in agriculture education. RKVY and National Horticulture Mission are different crop specific programs. Our government is promoting agriculture by means of various programs, and ICAR is taking care of the agriculture education. When you are associated with state agriculture universities, there are ample opportunities because they are associated with foreign collaborations, such as TNAU collaborating with Cornel University to transfer technology and other details.
Any success stories or case studies to demonstrate the positive outcome of agriculture education in India?
The fact that we have doubled our agriculture production and are consistent in that is itself a success story. We could implement Green revolution with the help of trained personnel, and many scientists got involved in developing IR 64 and other varieties. We also have Operation Flood implemented by National Dairy Research Institute of Karnal to provide sustained milk production. For all these we should have trained personnel. No other country in the world has achieved programs like Green revolution or Operation Flood. These are the success stories of agriculture education in India.
How can agriculture education be tailored to address the unique needs and challenges of different agriculture practices in India, such as organic farming and aquaculture?
Indian government has initiated National Organic Agriculture Education program and policies based on which we can implement and take the benefits of the practices. But these practices have to be checked at different locations for different crops because they are grown in different sources. The practices should be made based on the research. Only then we can get the desired outcome.
Dr. Saurabh Pandey
Assistant Professor
Department of Agriculture,
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar,
Amritsar-143005, Punjab, India
Email: saurabh.agri@gndu.ac.in
Phone: 9971985583
When we got independence, the agriculture system was underdeveloped, and we were depending on the other countries meeting our food grain demands in the early 1950s. For nearly two decades, we could not meet the demands of our population due to lack of production of food grains. We had to depend on USA for wheat which was being fed to cattle there. There is lot of scope and requirements of students in the agriculture stream. By 2050, the global population will be around 9 billion, and India alone will have 1.7 billion people. To fulfil their demand, we have to increase our agriculture production. Currently 55% of the people are involved in agriculture, and the sector contributes 13.7% to the GDP of the country. Demand for food commodities is expected to go up by more than 100% due to migration of people to cities, increased wealth, and shift to diets rich in protein.
Currently, India is in the second position in production of agriculture produce and also in supplying the food grain to many other countries. We have improved from importing food grains to exporting them, and India is a front runner in producing many crops among the global countries. We have achieved green, yellow, white, and blue revolution for various crops and commodities. About 14% of GDP is covered by Indian agriculture, providing food for 1.25 billion people, sustaining 65% of the population and alleviating poverty. Indian farmers produce 51 different crops, raw materials for main industries, and continuing to earn 1/6th of exports. India has 46 thousand to 86 thousand animal species, we are the largest producer of rice and guar gum, second largest exporter cotton and beef. We are second largest producer of fruits, vegetables, wheat, groundnut and sugarcane. Such a sustainability prevailing now depends on the agriculture education. So it is time our youth take up agriculture education.
The agriculture education in the country started from the Famine Commission headed by Dr. J.A. Voelkcker, in 1880 which revived the agriculture and improved it in the country. He insisted that agriculture education is important to overcome famine. During Lord Curzon’s period in 1905, following the Famine Commission, we formed Imperial Agriculture Research Institute in New Delhi. 6 other Agri colleges at Lyallpur, Kanpur, Pune, Coimbatore, Nagpur, and Sabour were established for agriculture education. Imperial council for Agriculture Research known as ICAR now was started. The first university education commission under the Chairmanship of DR. S. Radhakrishnan recommended that rural universities should be established to promote agriculture education. Then the first agriculture university was established in 1960 in Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand which was the model for various agriculture universities in India. During the 4th Five Year Plan, nearly Rs. 24 crore was spent for establishing and developing agriculture universities.
Currently we have 75 agriculture universities in the country with 64 of them being state agriculture universities, veterinary, horticulture, fisheries universities, 4 ICAR deemed universities such as IARI, IVRI, NDRI, CIFE, 3 central agriculture universities CAU, DR. RPCAU, and RLB CAU. We have 4 central universities with faculties. Our National Agriculture Research and Education System has nearly 15 thousand graduates, 11 post graduates students, and 2500 Ph. D students annually in various agriculture and allied sciences.
Current agriculture education system is governed by ICAR under which various agriculture universities, Institutes of Agriculture and Research and various KVKs work. ICAR comes under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare which manages the research and education in India. ICAR conducts various examinations like ICAR National Talent Search Fellowship for UG graduates. Students have to appear for All India Entrance Examination for Agriculture, Junior Research Fellowship for PG students, and ICAR Senior Research Fellowship for Ph. D students. The exams are important at the graduation level as the students can support themselves by earning Rs. 2000 at the UG level, Rs. 10 thousand for the ICAR JRF, and ICAR SRF they can get Rs. 41 thousand to sustain their education. After completing the course, they can search for jobs in various sectors like banking, engineering, education, communication, politics, biology, research, and accounting.
The students can specialise in various streams such as Agri Botany, Agri Biotechnology, Agri Chemistry, Extension Education, Forestry, Agri Statistics, and Crop Production. There are about 84 courses which cover all aspects of agriculture and allied activities. The scope of agriculture education is quite vast, and candidates can look for jobs such as agriculture officer, assistant plantation manager, territory manager, technical manager, trial coordinator, Agri research scientists, and Agri development officer. On the academic front, students can opt to become teachers or scientists. The next one is competitive jobs, and students have to take up examination at the central or state level and go for jobs. They can go for private jobs or entrepreneurship to start their own business.
Agriculture Scientist Recruitment Board recruits candidates for agriculture at various levels by conducting exams to be eligible for assistant professor. We also have organisations like DRDO, CEPTAM, or CIGAR at international levels where they can work after completing agriculture education in various institutes. We have institutes for specific crops too. They can also opt for exams at Central Warehousing Corporation or management training. There are 422 central warehouses and many state warehouses too. IBPS conducts exams for agriculture field officer post in banks. Candidates can apply for Seed Certification Officer posts in National Seeds Corporation. They can go as trainees in IFFCO which supply fertiliser for the country. There are other boards like Rubber Board, Coffee Board, Spices Board of India, and Central Silk Board. They can try in Agricultural Insurance Company or NABARD too. Food Corporation of India recruits candidates regularly. SSA recruits officers for various departments like Atomic energy, Forest Range officer and assistant conservator of forests. Upon completing M. Sc one can try as JRF in universities to get project jobs. National Institute of Agri Extension Management in Hyderabad offers PG diploma in Agri business management.
There are companies like Aditya Birla, Britannia, Dabur, HDFC, ICICI, ITC, IOC, Kotak Mahindra, Tata Chemicals, and Thomas Reuters in India and international companies like Monsanto, Sygenta, Du Pont, Nestle, and Pioneer. Also students can plan to start their own business after attending training sessions in Green house technology, Export of Agri produce, Nurseries, Consultancy services, and selling pesticides after getting license. Many companies are in need of trained graduates in agriculture, and for this we should have agriculture as a subject at the school level.
What are the major challenges faced by Indian Agriculture sector, and how agriculture education address these challenges?
There are two or three main challenges. The first one is the size of landholding. Next one is the climatic change because of which we are getting reduced rain in different sectors. It is difficult, and agriculture education has to help in this. If there are more agriculture graduates, there will be more technical professionals who can do research on various aspects of agriculture. We can get solutions to produce more agriculture crops in less land, and we can avoid different types of distresses and maintain the yield.
What role does agriculture education play in promoting sustainable farming practices and addressing environmental concerns?
When we study agriculture education, we have different subjects such as organic agriculture process, sustainable agriculture process, and rainfed agriculture process. We have different agriculture process, and students will get an idea of how we can apply the sustainable form of agriculture in different methods. If we apply the wholesome sustainable agriculture, we need to have knowledge of different aspects of agriculture to apply in different climates and technologies.
How has the scope of agriculture evolved over the years in India, and what are the emerging trends in India?
The scope of agriculture has evolved around ICAR which is the governing body for agriculture research education and extension. There are different state agriculture universities which are spreading agriculture education now in many states. Earlier, it was one agriculture university in one state, and now we are having more. The cutting edge research or scope is there in flower industry such as selling cut flowers, then comes protected agriculture, and then high tech horticulture. There are plant protection measures which are again emerging fields and need focus. Apart from these, biotechnology is always having a huge role, and we can manage different types of tissue culture plants and produce different GM crops for maintaining the agriculture production.
Are there specific regions or states in India where the need for agriculture education is more pronounced, and why?
Many of Indian states have more population in urban than rural. So based on that, we can create more universities so that we can give more prominence to rural areas. There are schemes from Government of India to promote agriculture education which was not happening before. In Northeastern region, we have one central university and more than 5 to6 research institutes of ICAR which are not there in other parts of the country. So government is taking care of these things, but there is no need for giving prominence to agriculture education because there are 75 universities in 29 states. So there are more than 2 universities in each region.
What policies and initiatives have been undertaken by the government to promote agriculture education in India, and what are the impacts? Are there opportunities for international collaboration in agriculture education to enhance the skills and knowledge of Indian farmers and students?
The NEP 2020 has enrolment ratio to promote rural population, and many students are enrolling in agriculture education. RKVY and National Horticulture Mission are different crop specific programs. Our government is promoting agriculture by means of various programs, and ICAR is taking care of the agriculture education. When you are associated with state agriculture universities, there are ample opportunities because they are associated with foreign collaborations, such as TNAU collaborating with Cornel University to transfer technology and other details.
Any success stories or case studies to demonstrate the positive outcome of agriculture education in India?
The fact that we have doubled our agriculture production and are consistent in that is itself a success story. We could implement Green revolution with the help of trained personnel, and many scientists got involved in developing IR 64 and other varieties. We also have Operation Flood implemented by National Dairy Research Institute of Karnal to provide sustained milk production. For all these we should have trained personnel. No other country in the world has achieved programs like Green revolution or Operation Flood. These are the success stories of agriculture education in India.
How can agriculture education be tailored to address the unique needs and challenges of different agriculture practices in India, such as organic farming and aquaculture?
Indian government has initiated National Organic Agriculture Education program and policies based on which we can implement and take the benefits of the practices. But these practices have to be checked at different locations for different crops because they are grown in different sources. The practices should be made based on the research. Only then we can get the desired outcome.
Dr. Saurabh Pandey
Assistant Professor
Department of Agriculture,
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar,
Amritsar-143005, Punjab, India
Email: saurabh.agri@gndu.ac.in
Phone: 9971985583