Career Opportunities In Agribusiness Management In India

23-08-2019 15:08:49 10944

Agriculture is considered as the backbone of our economy. Indian agriculture contributes approximately 17.50 per cent of the country's GDP, provides large scale employment and fulfills the food and nutritional requirements of the nation.

It provides important raw materials for several major industries. However, Indian agriculture faces numerous challenges with a rapidly changing business environment, pace of technological change, and global competitive environment. Since couple of decades, agriculture is moving towards commercial orientation and needs to further transition from supply driven to demand driven. New inputs and new technologies are hitting market everyday. In recent pasts, with the proactive initiatives of the Government of India, several new programmes and schemes has been launched to meet the clarian call by the Honorable Prime Minister of 'Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022'. With the rapid urbanisation, demographic changes, and improvement in disposable income, the food basket of the consumers has dramatically changed. Now consumers demand variety of produce round the year and with certain quality.

The demand for processed and packaged food products is increasing rapidly, which requires trained manpower to handle the business. Only 14 per cent of total food products are being processed in India, whereas 35 per cent food is wasted during packaging and transportation. Several agri-start ups and agripreneurs have also emerged in the space of service delivery, product and process innovation. Therefore, agri-business management is becoming a popular career choice for the agrigraduates. There is great need to develop the professional agribusiness managers who can, not only fill the management requirements but also prove to be a great support to the farmers.

What Is Agri- business?
Agri-business includes all business enterprises that transact with the farmers and takes the food products and services to the ultimate consumers. The transaction may involve either a product, a commodity or a service and encompasses items such as (a) productive resources e.g. feed, seed, fertilizers equipment, energy, machinery etc. (b) agricultural commodities e.g. food and fibre etc (c) facilitative services e.g. credit, insurance marketing, storage, processing, transportation, packaging, distribution etc.

In a developing country like India, agri-business system with forward and backward linkages consists of four major sectors such as agricultural input, agricultural production, agroprocessing and agricultural marketing-distribution. Thus, agri-business is all about how to conduct successful business in the food and agriculture related sectors. Therefore, agribusiness management is the application of management principles in agriculture and agribusiness sector.

Need For Agri-Business Education
Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 27th June 2018, asked leaders of corporate India to create more jobs by investing in housing, microirrigation, battery storage, defence and agriculture sectors. Prime Minister met 41 business leaders representing a wide spectrum of the Indian economy, in Raj Bhavan in Mumbai and said that the government and the private sector must come together to become partners in progress as economy picks up pace. This requires skilled man power in the agricultural and agribusiness sector. The investment of government in infrastructure related to agriculture like Artificial Intelligence, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) will create huge employment in agricultural sector.

Commercialization of agriculture calls for specialized production, post-harvest management, expansion of processing, transportation, packaging activities and positioning of products both in the domestic as well as international markets. Every year about 20-30 per cent of crop is wasted at farm level in India due to improper handling, spoilage, floods, droughts, pests and diseases and lack of knowledge of post-harvest technologies. In the case of fruits and vegetables, the wastage is around 30 per cent. Certain sectors in India such as floriculture, aquaculture, poultry, processing of fruits and vegetables are reaping the benefits of advanced technology. The agri- business sector encompasses the many activities of agricultural sector under one umbrella like integration of agricultural inputs, agricultural productions, agroprocessing and agricultural marketing and trade which add value to the agriculture produce. Nowadays, agri-business has become one of the most important fields in the developing country like India to boost up its economy.

The public, private and cooperative organizations are looking for professionally competent and trained agribusiness managers. The managerial skills of meritorious agricultural graduates can be developed by Agricultural Universities (AUs) so that they can prove as effective agribusiness manager. At present, there are more than 6000 Farmers Producer Companies (FPCs) in India, however very few are making good business case, due to lack of management expertise. Though, most of the State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) are offering post-graduate programs in agribusiness management. There is greater need of quality agribusiness education, research and capacity buildings to meet the demand of sunrise sector of agribusiness.

Institutions Offering Agri-business Education
Currently, some of the premier institutes providing post graduate courses in agribusiness management programmes are as follows:

ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (ICARNAARM), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad www.naarm.org.in
National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad www.manage. gov.in
National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), Jaipur www.niam.gov.in
Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Anand (Gujarat) www.irma.ac.in
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) www.iimahd.ernet.in
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIML), www.iiml.ac.in

Other Institutions/ Universities Offering Courses In Agri-business Management

Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, www.pjtsau.ac.in
International Agri-business Management Institute, Anand Agricultural University, Anand (Gujarat) www.aau.in
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) www.bhu.ac.in
C.S. Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) www.csauk.ac.in
CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hissar (Haryana) www.hau.ernet.in
School of Agri-Business Management, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Nagpur (Maharashtra) www.pdkv.ac.in
Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (College of Horticulture), Nauni, Solan (Himachal Pradesh) www.ysuniversity. ac.in
G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (College of Agri-business Management) Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) www.cabm. ac.in
Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi www.cabm.ac.in
Institute of Agri-business Management, Noida www.iabm.in
Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (College of Agriculture) Jabalpur www.jnkvv.nic.in
Junagarh Agricultural University (Post Graduate Institute of Agri-business Management), Junagarh (Gujarat) www.jau.in
Kerala Agricultural University (College of Cooperation, Banking and Management) Thrissur, (Keral) www.kaumba.com, www.kau. edu.
Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (Rajasthan College of Agriculture) Udaipur (Rajasthan) www.mpuat.ac.in
Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri Vidyapeeth, Rahuri (Maharashtra) www.mpkv.mah.nic.in
National Institute of Rural Development, Rajendranagar (Hyderabad) www.nird.org.in
Navsari Agricultural University (Institute of Agri -business Management Navsari (Gujarat) www.nau.in
Punjab Agricultural University (College of Agri-business Management) Ludhiana (Punjab ) www.pau.edu.
Rajasthan Agricultural University (Institute of Agribusiness Management, IABM) Bikaner (Rajashtan) www.iabmbikaner.org
Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa (Bihar) www.pusavarsity.org.in
Udaybhansinhji Regional Institute of Cooperative Management, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, http://www.uriman age.org.in
Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Pune (Maharashtra) www.siib.ac.in
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu)
University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, http://www.uasbangalore.edu. in/
University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwar, http://www.uasd.edu
University of Mumbai (Garware Institute of Career Education and Development) www.dns2.mu.ac.in
Center for Agri-Management, Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar www.camutkal.org
Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, (Maharashtra) www.mah.nic.in
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar www.ximb.ac.in
Doon Business School Dehradun, http://www.doon businessschool.com
Vishwa Vishawani Institute of System Management, www.vishwavishwani.ac.in
Institute of Agribusiness Management, Noida
Mysore University, http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in
Food and Agribusiness Management, Hyderabad, http://www.svvr.org
Indian School of Agribusiness, New Delhi, http://isab.org.in
Amity University, Noida, http://www.amity.edu
Dr. D. Y. Patil College of Agriculture Business Management, Pune, http:// www.dypagribusiness.ac.in/
Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, https://www.angrau.ac.in
Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, http://www. lpu.in

Eligibility
A background in agriculture and allied sectors (dairying, food, agriculture engineering, forestry etc.) is the first step towards entering agri-business management course. Students who have Bachelor's degree in agriculture or allied sectors from any recognized institutes or a university are preferred. Every institution or organization has its own criteria for the admission. Therefore, aspiring students should visit to the website of the organization of their interests for knowing the admission criteria.

Agri-business Curriculum
In the present time, many management institutes and agricultural universities in India are offering the courses in agribusiness management. The curricula are definitely different in different institutions. However, there are some basic courses which are offered in almost all the institutions. Those are: Agribusiness environment & policy, Business laws and ethics, Basic computer skills, Communication for management & business, Human resource management, Financial management, Management information system, Managerial economics, Managerial accounting and control, Marketing management, Operations research, Organizational behaviour, Production and operations management, Project management, Research methodology etc. Some colleges also offer electives subjects in the final semester like Agribusiness financial management, Agricultural marketing management, Agri-supply chain management, Farm business management, Farm power & machinery management, Fertilizer technology & management, Food retail management, Food technology & processing management, Fruit production & post harvest management, International trade & sustainability governance, Management of agri-business co-operatives, Management of agro-chemical industry, Management of floriculture and landscaping, Management of veterinary pharmaceutical industry, Management of dairy industry, Management of fisheries, Poultry and hatchery management, Rural marketing, Seed production technology management etc. are among the many key areas which are focused on in the course. The course also requires 6-8 weeks of Summer Internship, while many of the institutes focus on experiential learnings through short-term live projects, independent projects and other industrial visits.

Job Opportunities
Almost all the institutes offering agribusiness management course are providing placement assistance. Today, agri-business job opportunities are available in sectors like warehousing, retall sector, seed companies, pesticide companies, fertilizer companies, finance services, banks, insurance sector etc. Agri-business management has wide scope in developing the trained manpower in different areas of operation viz., management personnel to cater to cooperatives and agriculture industry, policy makers for financial sector, trained teaching staff to cater the academic field, technically sound team to serve research area etc. Apart from this, agriculture consultancy, journalism, agri-banking,hi-tech farming, agriculture conservation, agriculture engineering are also some potential areas for a Career prospect in agri - business are varied from farming to commodity broker, commodity buyer, food broker, supply planner, supplier manager, purchase executive, procurement officer, loan officer, marketing researcher/specialist, product analyst, purchase agent statistician, and wholesaler. Agribusiness management as a career is promising as well as challenging, but is now becoming a popular profession.

Remuneration
After completing agri-business management education, students can work in public or private or cooperative sector and can earn good salary. The salary in agri-business sector depends on various factors, such as student's qualification, experience, expertise in a particular field etc. Remuneration in these sectors is getting more attractive with the passage of time. Students from some of the leading management institutes are getting average package of Rs. 6-7 lakhs per annum. However, it depends on several factors.

- PC Meena, Ranjit Kumar & Sanjiv Kumar
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