Successful career options after B.Sc in Agriculture
BSc Agriculture is an undergraduate program that is highly pursued by Indian students. It is a 4-year professional degree that prepares the student for research and makes them familiar with various practices in agricultural sciences.
A BSc in Agriculture is a highly practical degree that provides hands-on experience to students by training them in laboratories, poly houses and cultivated plots. Students enhance their knowledge through field visits into various settings like urban, rural and industrial. This is why BSc Agriculture scope and salary is very high in India.
Subjects offered in B.Sc Agriculture
Through a BSc degree, students are introduced to the various facets of modern agriculture and agricultural techniques with a very comprehensive curriculum. This curriculum is theoretical and practical in nature.
The theoretical part of the curriculum consists of B.Sc Agriculture Subjects like-
Agronomy, Agricultural Biotechnology, Agricultural Microbiology, Horticulture, Soil Science, Plant Pathology, Entomology, Plant Biochemistry, Principles of Analytical Chemistry, Introduction to Computer Applications, Agricultural Marketing, Trade and Prices, Breeding of Field and Horticulture Crops, Applied Mathematics, Water Management, Agricultural Economics, Production Economics and Farm Management, etc- are offered.
Whereas the practical part of the curriculum consists of-
Laboratory sessions, field trips outside the institute premises, and practical training in the operation of industrial machinery and modern scientific instruments.
BSc Agriculture Scope and Salary
As BSc agriculture students are well-trained individuals, therefore, they are highly sought out in the industry, the government sector and the research institutions.
Talking of India, it has one of the world’s largest education systems running through various Central, State and Deemed Agricultural Universities.
In addition, India is an Agro-based economy where 58% of people are dependent on agriculture as a primary source of income. Hence, we can easily say without any hesitation that a BSc Agriculture scope is wide and evergreen.
After BSc, students can have lucrative internships and job opportunities abroad as well, such as in the USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland etc. Since Agriculture, graduates are high in demand, and less in number, they are usually paid well.
In India, a BSc agriculture graduate’s average salary sums up to around 6.74 Lakh INR per annum. The salary can be higher than the average, depending on one’s skill, knowledge and experience in the field.
A brief overview of BSc agriculture salary (average), according to various posts is given below-
- Agriculture Specialist-₹443k
- Agricultural Inspector- ₹813k
- Regional Sales Manager- ₹773k
- Executive Director- ₹2m
- Senior Product Manager- ₹1m
- Office Manager- ₹786k
- Area Sales Manager- ₹505k
- Project Manager, (Unspecified Type / General)- ₹2m
- Project Manager, Operations- ₹1m
- Research & Development (R&D) Director- ₹3m
- Business Development Executive- ₹360k
- Relationship Manager- ₹560k
- Research Fellow- ₹318k
- Research Scientist- ₹428k
- Agricultural Loan Officer- ₹391k
- Agronomist- ₹563k
One should keep in mind that agriculture is an ever expanding field. Do keep patience, think creatively and make the most out of the resources you have, it will definitely make you climb higher in the career.
BSc Agriculture Jobs
Numerous job opportunities knock on the door of Agriculture graduates. They are welcomed in various sectors like- the Ministries of Central and State Government, Research Institutions, Nationalized & Rural Banks, Agricultural Universities, Agro-Industry sector, etc.
Basically, BSc graduates can get jobs for the role of Scientist, Agricultural Officer, Plant Breeder, Business Development Executive, Seed Technologist, Area Sales Manager, Asst. Scientific Officer, Agricultural Analyst, Business Operations Manager etc.
After taking some competitive exams after BSc, the students can work for premier agriculture organization, such as- NABARD, Syngenta, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), The National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), Rallis India Ltd, HPCL Biofuels Limited, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), Deendayal Research Institute, etc.
Apart from the numerous job options, agriculture graduates have great potential which can help them in setting up their own businesses. They can dive directly into the primary economy sector and make money through farming, cattle rearing, plantation, mining, poultry farming business.
Government Jobs after BSc
According to the World Bank, India’s GDP share of agriculture was 15.96 percent in 2019. It is needless to say that the government put a great emphasis on this sector, as a result, there is a large availability of Government Jobs after BSc every year.
The government sector offers opportunities to the BSc graduates for various posts like-
Forest Officer, Agricultural Field Officer, Agriculture Graduate Trainee, Researcher, Technologist, Agriculture Development Officer, etc.
These posts are filled through various competition exams. Some of the Government agencies and organization which offer job opportunities to students through exams include, UPSC, SSC, FCI, NABARD, NDDB, IBPS, ICAR etc.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is the most reputed commission in the country that has something in store for agriculture students as well. Through UPSC, the students are placed in the IFS (Indian Forest Service), which is a top position any agriculture graduate can get. They can be placed as Deputy Inspectors, Assistant Inspectors in the Forest Department.
After UPSC, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) recruits agriculture candidates for different Government Jobs after BSc. The commission offers job roles such as Agriculture Officer, Laboratory Assistant, Foreman, Scientific Assistant, etc. It conducts exams every year to fill these posts.
In the same way, these organizations recruit candidates for the opening of-
- FCI (Food Corporation of India)- Technical officers, Technical Managers etc. (Entrance Test and Personal Interview)
- National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)- Office Attendant, Agriculture Officers, Assistant Officers/ Managers etc. (Entrance Test and Personal Interview)
- The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS)- Specialist Officer (AO).
Apart from the regular jobs above, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) provides various research positions to BSc agriculture graduates in the role of Junior Research Fellows, Senior Research Fellows (Agriculture), Technologists, Researchers etc.
With the improvement and innovation in agricultural technology, job opportunities are expected to increase with each subsequent year.
What after BSc?
After completing a BSc degree, the students have numerous options through which they can either pursue higher education or get into jobs. For either purpose, they have to take different competitive exams after BSc degree.
For higher education-
· They can pursue MBA/PGDM, Masters in Agriculture Sciences by taking the exams of universities or colleges they are interested in.
· The most important competitive exams are ICAR PG, UPCATET, CMAFFU, and several others.
· BSc graduates can also pursue MSc offered in premier institutes like IITs and JNU. For this, they need to sit in the exams conducted by the institutes concerned.
For getting into a job they have several options like-
· Taking up the Union Public Service Commission Indian Forest Service Exam for the post of IFS Officer (Indian Forest Service).
· Taking up state-level competitive exams which are conducted for the post of Assistant Agricultural Officer, Agricultural Officer, Seed Officer, etc.
· They can join the banking sector by sitting in the SBI, IBPS exams such as Junior Agriculture Associates (JAA) exam and IBPS Agriculture Field Officer (AFO) exam.
Thus we can see that the BSc agriculture scope and salary are wide and plenty enough to give a satisfactory career. There is no shortage of government jobs after BSc as well. All one needs is to gain sufficient knowledge and expertise in the field to excel in one’s career.