Agriculture as a career and scope thereafter

Students who are in the science stream and have an interest in the agricultural sector, they can surely do specialization in B.Sc Agriculture. Having a degree in B.Sc Agriculture is also considered as the great alternative of the course B.E and B.Tech Agriculture Engineering. Especially in India, B.Sc Agriculture has good popularity among the students as after completion, students will not face any difficulty to find a job.

Dimension of agricultural education in India

India is famous for having world’s biggest agricultural system. There are 42 State Agricultural Universities in India and one Central Agricultural University. Students can also take admission in any of the five deemed universities and four general Central universities.

It has been noticed that every year almost 15000 students take admission at UG level and almost 7000 students take part in PG level. Among them, nearly 1700 students enroll in Ph.D. every year. Besides, Government Universities there are a huge number of private colleges which are also offering courses in Agriculture.

Features of B.Sc Agriculture in India

It takes four years to complete the study of B.Sc Agriculture. Semester system is followed in this course. The course structure is vast in this field and there are lots of subjects that students need to study. Not only in theory but also students need to gather necessary practical experiences too.

Eligibility criteria

To get admission in B.Sc Agriculture, students need to be in science stream in their 12th standard. After completing 12th standard board examination with the subjects Physics, chemistry and Biology, they will be eligible to get admission in this course. 

Course details of BSc Agriculture

Once students opt for joining in the course of B.Sc Agriculture, they must have knowledge about the course in detail. B.Sc Agriculture is a 4 years’ study program. Necessary topics such as agricultural science, use of advanced scientific equipment, etc are part of this course study.

The aim of this course study is to train the students on those above topics so that in future they can apply these effectively in enhancing the productivity in agriculture. Here we can take a look at some significant subjects of B.Sc agriculture.

• Agronomy: Agronomy is based on the study of crop production, Rabi, and Kharif field crops. Here students will also learn about weed management and advanced irrigation technologies. Recently, organic farming is also another significant part of Agronomy. Students also need to join various practical sessions besides studying theoretical papers.
• Plant Genetics: This is known as Botany. This subject will let students learn about the basics of genetics, biotechnology, plant breeding etc. Here also students will need to take part in various practical sessions.
• Agriculture engineering: Here students will get knowledge about various advanced machinery, tools, hi-tech harvest technology, renewable energy, etc.
• Meteorology for agriculture: This study is related to climate patterns and its effect on agriculture. Students will also learn about climate zones for agriculture.
• Plant pathology: while learning agriculture, students also need to know the diseases that plants normally suffer from. This study will include the areas of study regarding crop diseases and Nematology.
• Horticulture: This course will include study relating to fruit crops, various medicinal plants, flower production and proper way of the plantation of crops etc.

Apart from those above, there are other subjects too, which also students need to learn. These are biochemistry, physiology, microbiology, animal products, etc.

Scope and job opportunities

India is an agrarian country and hence there are huge job opportunities for the students doing B.Sc Agriculture. It is fact that if educated workforce is there in this sector, then the per capita productivity will normally get raised. There is an abundance of Government jobs as well as private jobs in the field of agriculture. Different states carry on their recruitment procedure time to time to fill up the vacancies.

Other than Government jobs, private sector jobs are also available in this field. Designations like managers at plantations, an officer at Fertilizer in various manufacturing firms or in agricultural machinery industries are quite in demand in recent days. Again, students after completing their studies will also be able to get jobs in food processing units. A steady growth can be noticed in the field of agriculture in India and hence job opportunities are likely to get increased a lot. The salary package too is quite noticeable in this sector.

Students, after completing their degrees can get their jobs as managers in the field of tea plantation, coffee plantation, cocoa plantation, pepper farm, jute plantation, etc and they can also get a nice package starting from Rs 20k per month to Rs 50K per month.

Other than getting jobs as manager, a professional can also get jobs in various official posts as a loan officer, project officer, crop science manager, farm engineering trainer, farm finance manager, agricultural engineer, etc.

Monad University, Hapur established vide Act No.23 of 2010 of the Government of Uttar Pradesh offers 4 years full-time B. Sc in Agriculture at its state of the art campus in Hapur near Delhi. The campus is equipped with all modern amenities to teach the subject in the most practical manner and has earned the distinction of being the only private university to deliver the course in the most holistic manner.