The Indian agriculture education system needs a “Surgical Strike”

GRSV Blog No. 5,
Released on 23/07/2020,

Laxmipathi Gowda, C.L, M.J. Vasudeva Rao, S.V. Raghuram Shetty, V. Ramanatha Rao

Co-Founders, GRSV Consulting Services (www.grsvconsulting.com)

The agriculture education system in India needs a major “surgical strike” if it has to serve its purpose in the current and future decades.In other words, current approaches are inadequate and a new approach is needed.

The need: India is an agriculture-based country. Although more than 50% of its rural population is dependent on agriculture and allied activities for survival, agriculture contributes less than 15% to the GDP. Current projections indicate that India’s farmers (mostly smallholders) need to feed a population of 1.5 billion by 2050. The required increase in food production has to come from less than 93 million ha of cultivable land (about 0.6 ha per capita) at present, which could deplete further in the coming decades.

Agricultural research, education, and extension systems have a major role to play in developing newer breeds/varieties, agricultural technologies, and skilled human resources, and in assisting farmers to adoptsustainable agriculture for increased food production (crops, vegetables, fruits, fibre, feed and fodder, dairy, meat, and fish). This needs capable and motivated graduates in agriculture, with both topical knowledge and the grounding in science to develop and disseminate new technologies.

The present scenario: Curricula for education in agriculture are out of date in most universities. Although the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) recommends periodic reviews, it takes years (or even decades) for the universities to implement the changes the reviews suggest, by which time many recommendations become outdated. The curricula must remain current and dynamic, with in-built mechanisms for frequent updates, using advancing technology, to meet the challenges of emerging social, economic or industrial compulsions.

Many states have created a plethora of agriculture, horticulture, and forestry universities. This has resulted in spreading resources too thinly, and thus created a shortage of trained and experienced personnel in teaching, research, and extension. Advanced laboratories (such as Biotech/Genomics Labs, Pathology/Virology labs) have been established in some colleges, but without the needed equipment, trained staff, and research supplies. To arrive at efficiency and economies of scale in operation, it is essential to establish centralized Research and Service Labs that can cater to the needs of the entire state or region, including neighbouring states.

The recent (June 2020) ICAR Policy Paper on “Re-imagining Higher Agricultural Education (AHE) in India on the Face of Challenges from COVID-19 Pandemic” gives a general overview but lacks specifics. It does not provide adequate insight on how ICAR can up the ante and strengthen AHE, using COVID-19 as an opportunity.

New approach: A new approach to AHE needs to answer many questions. The most critical of them are as follows:

• Are the agricultural universities responding effectively to the current and future developmental needs of agriculture in the country?
• Do the graduates they produce meet employers’ requirements, and are they capable of becoming progressive farmers or agricultural entrepreneurs?
• Are the universities providing graduates with the knowledge and skills they need to respond to the needs of the farmers, rural communities, agricultural industries, and businesses, with a focus on sustainability?
• Are the universities strategic in their endeavours to produce graduates who can effectively promote agricultural education, research, rural development and natural resource management?

Most importantly, appropriate practical training and market orientation of graduates is lacking at present, arising from a lack of opportunities for students to work with farm families, and to better understand the dynamics of rural development. The failure to address the needs of the community, and to provide linkages with private industry, is another major limitation. Public-Private partnerships can synergize the equity principles of public sector institutions and the market-oriented and business approaches of the private sector, and thus develop relevant technologies for resource-poor farmers in the hinterlands of India.

India needs to embark on an “Internship Programme,” with both public and private institutions providing hands-on practical training, as well as hand-holding support for young professionals in their early careers. Many agriculture universities and colleges have not adapted to these new realities, but continue to focus exclusively on the acquisition of technical and scientific knowledge within narrowly defined disciplines. Thus, they continue to produce graduates that very few institutions, especially in the private sector, want to hire.

Faculty needs: All this points to the critical role of committed faculty, who are rewarded for their performance, and an administration with strong leadership (at the level of Vice-Chancellor, Director of Research and Deans), with the autonomy needed to promote and recognize creativity and productivity, and to fine-tune effective agricultural education to local situations. Only such a faculty can deliver a transformed curriculum, which is dynamic and emphasizes experiential learning in a student-centred environment.

The broader picture: The need has never been greater for a renewed focus on holistic natural resource management, including adaptation to climate change, soil and water conservation, and reduction in the use of chemicals, for healthy harvests. The good practices available to us from traditional farming need to be researched further, to arrive at new practices that enhance sustainable production and environmental health. Agriculture in the future should shift its emphasis from total production or income to sustaining the environment for the future.

Looking forward: Policymakers urgently need to ensure that agriculture universities and colleges are upgraded, so that we can have a majority of graduates who aspire to contribute—and are capable of contributing—to the country’s progress in agricultural R4D. We need to actively involve available Indian-origin and expatriate scientists who have excelled in agriculture research, teaching, and extension, and harness their experience and expertise in upgrading and strengthening the teaching curriculum, including research and extension methods. Extension education should shift to the digital mode, effectively exploiting the IT revolution.

While it is welcome news that the private sector is getting involved in agriculture education, there is a need for stricter regulatory mechanisms and accreditation processes.

Overall, India needs both a “surgical strike” for short-term course correction and a long-term vision for creating world-class agriculture universities and colleges, which can respond to the country’s overall needs for economic and social development.

1. Authors have used some information from: Tamboli, PM and Nene, YL. 2011. Revitalizing Higher Agricultural Education in India: Journey towards Excellence. Asian Agri-History Foundation, Secunderabad 500009, India. 316.