Jyoti Kachroo, Ashish K. Isher
Agriculture is considered as the backbone of our economy. Indian agriculture contributes approximately 14.2 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 some major industries. Indian agriculture faces numerous challenges with a rapidly changing business environment, pace of technological change, globalisation, competitive environment and changing role of Government.
Today, agriculture has achieved commercial importance and has changed from subsistence farming to commercial farming, import oriented to export oriented, supply driven technology to demand driven technology etc. New inputs and new technologies are hitting market everyday. The market for processed and packaged food products is increasing day by day and therefore there is a vital need of trained manpower in this 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. Many businesses started building up in and around agriculture.
This resulted in growth of Agribusiness. Agribusiness management is becoming a popular career choice for students and there is great need to develop the professional agribusiness managers who cannot only fill the management requirements of the changing agriculture scenario but also prove to be a great support to the farmers. Agribusiness education is a qualification that helps mould the personnel into good managers having managerial expertise.
What is Agribusiness?
Agri-business includes all the business enterprise that buys from or sells to farmers. 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, packing, distribution etc.
In a developing country like India, agri-business system with forward and backward linkages consists of following four major sectors such as agricultural input, agricultural production, agricultural processing – manufacturing or agro processing, and agricultural marketing – distribution sector.
What are the core MBA specializations?
The MBA is widely considered to be a general management qualification, educating MBAs in overall management skills so as to understand the function of a business as a whole,sometimes referred to as a ‘helicopter view.’
But within virtually all MBA programs there are what are called the ‘core specializations’ and most business schools will feature these heavily in their syllabus. Not to be confused with specialist MBAs, which students usually select through electives according to their desired career in management, knowledge of the core specializations is deemed essential.
One of the core specialization in MBA is Agri Business Mangament. Agribusiness management encompasses many aspects of the economy: agricultural producers, businesses that provide supplies and services to the producers (including cooperatives), businesses that add value to agricultural products, and those that facilitate the marketing of agricultural products to an ever-growing marketplace.
Why MBA (Agri-Business
Management)?
A Post Graduation in Agribusiness Management opens the door to many careers in the private and public sectors. Almost all the institutes get good placements. Today agribusiness job opportunities are available in sectors like warehousing, retail sector, seed companies, pesticide companies, fertilizer companies, finance services, banks, insurance sector etc.
The most popular career destination of our Agri-Business Management graduates is farm management. Others use the skills and knowledge they have gained to enter careers in recruitment, trade, marketing and communications.
Agribusiness jobs traditionally focus on the agricultural industry but currently span a variety of career arenas. Most farmers, ranchers, and other such managers learn their trades by growing up on a farm, but larger operations are increasingly in demand for managers with some postsecondary experience.
There are a variety of career options available in agribusiness. Some of the most common career options available include:
*Farm appraiser: assessing the value of a farm, its employees and facilities
*Agricultural policy analyst: develops and analyzes policies that affect agricultural businesses
*Farm manager: manages daily operations of a farm, including crops and livestock
*Grain and livestock buyer: buys supplies of grains, seeds and cattle for a farm’s operations
*Market analyst: analyzes the financial condition of the agribusiness economic market
*Financer: provides financial assistance for agribusiness, such as matching crop suppliers with farms
*Quality controller: focuses on improving the output and quality of a farm’s production
*Marketing head: leads marketing strategy for a farm, builds awareness and buzz.
*And various other jobs in Government and Non-Government sectors.
Industries / Companies / who hire Agri-Business professionals:
* Food Production Companies
* Farming Industries
* Public and Private Sector
* Marketing Industries
* Retail Industries
* Banking Industries
How can you choose this path to success?
There are various reputated institutes like IIM-Ahmadabad, IABM(Bikaner), BHU(U.P) etc which are offering MBA in Agri-Business Management because of the its growing demand. In Jammu & Kashmir State, there is only one Govt. Institute/University that offer MBA in Agri-Business Management and that is, Sher-a-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu (SKUAST-J).
Follow our WhatsApp channel
