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Career in Agricultural Sciences

To delve into the agriculture related professions, I was helped by a friend has done her engineering and MBA in Agriculture. She did her BE in Agriculture from CTAE, Udaipur and MBA in Agriculture from Symbiosis, Pune. She is currently working as Analyst in ICICI Lombard. She quotes that her interest in Agricultural sciences was from one of her aunts, who was a State Government official. Her work involves visiting farms and suggesting activities for better productivity. 


BE, CTAE, Udaipur
  • State examination entrance for engineering – common for all fields
  • Fee - 1 lakh/year
  • 4 year course
  • Practical subjects involving various farm implements. Students were to study and also use in actual fields, one of subjects in every semester
  • Most of the courses consisted of field trip
  • After 2nd year, students undergo training of 1 month, an entirely field trip. It consists of 2 hour theory and rest field session
  • Besides, 30% of marks is for practical sessions in labs
  • Course was not that difficult
  • She had done her internship in Tractor testing in a Pune based company, got it through the institute
  • Most of the students got interns through the college. The quality of internship is based on your merit
  • People take up Electives in 4th year. Few of the subjects are storage, conservation, sustainability
  • Placements are mostly sales oriented


Manufacturing companies do not come to all colleges for placements, you have to approach. Few colleges like PU of Ludhiana, GB Pant university invite them for placements. One has to take ICAR AIEEA examination for admission into GB pant University. PU has its own entrance exam. Since most are sales based roles in placements, students look for MBA, MTech (renewable energy sources) etc.


MBA, SIBM, Pune


  • 2-year course
  • Fee - 880000 for 2 years
  • The curriculum was not too hard
  • Placements were good but biased towards specializations other than agriculture
Few roles that come up are Consultant profiles – Accenture, Bisleri – sales, Few Trading companies, S&M in different fields etc. Sales job in agriculture related companies involves approaching farmers, dealer management who distribute seeds, pesticides etc. The business is season driven, sales will be more before crop seasons. Other roles are commodity trading in NPTA, which helps in hedging your risk if you are a grower. The work of the analyst is forecasting pricing in the market for future date. Some seniors went into Micro financing as well.

IIMA, IIML has similar courses offered. On campus pay grade – 4.5-10 lpa, higher for their senior batch.John Deere is the Dream company for students of agriculture sciences. The roles offered are sales, product design, policy design – for farmers.


Job Experience

The role is Analyst based. People with MBA in Finance also hired. They need more efforts, but not too hard to cope. Growth wise also same par with or without Agriculture orientation. The designation is Product Manager – ICICI Lombard.

Product Manager -> Sr. Product Manager -> AVP -> VP


The work is not completely monotonous, but some repetition is there, Govt of India is the major client and so guidelines are the same. The job involves designing Insurance cover for farmers based on crop & climatic conditions. The work load was heavy in 1st year, once or twice during season – you work late. The job is hectic month before agricultural seasons.



Certifications

You can take up Credit management TRM, FRM – twice in a year. You need to apply online and you will get material. The exam is very tough, quantitative basis and involves many subjects.

 


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