Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy that
contributes to food security to 17% of world’s population and 20% of Indian
GDP. This sector also has a tremendous employment opportunities with around 50%
involved in it. Improved agriculture is an
indicator of a developed nation. Very recently hardly three years back during
pandemic Indian power was visible when it supported many countries by providing
food grains when global food availability was under stress. With increasing
population and associated food demands intensification has to be adopted at the
earliest. For intensification of agriculture adoption of modern technology is
need of the hour. The implementation of modern technology could be possible due
to the agricultural education. Looking to the importance of Agricultural
Education, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi observes
03rd December as Agricultural Education Day. The days is observed to
commemorate birth anniversary of our first President and Union Agricultural
Minister, Dr Rajendra Prasad.
Of the various aspects of Agricultural education, Agricultural Engineering is one of the key disciplines which deals with development and implementation of technology in agricultural production system for enhanced production and minimizing losses. When it comes to agricultural production system it starts with conserving two fundamental resources land and water without which productive agriculture is not possible. Apart from the management of natural resources, mechanization of the production system is necessary to overcome the problem of dwindling work force and expedite the entire farming processes. To achieve mechanization, farm energy is a prime input. Extent of energy used in agriculture is also a bench mark of development. The use of energy in agriculture has increased from 0.3 kW in 1970 to 2.54 kW at present time and it is projected to be 4kW in next five years. Once the farm produce is harvested it needs to be processed and properly stored for its use throughout the year and also for value addition. All these aspects are covered in Agricultural Engineering Education.
For meeting the needs of increasing food demands and
to overcome the challenges from competing sectors on the use of resources, able
youth need to join the agricultural engineering education. The agricultural
engineering education provides immense scope in various sectors viz., water
resources development and management; farm machinery and implement industries,
renewable and sustainable energy sources and food processing and value addition
industries. As per one estimate implement market is expected to increase from US$174.12 billion in 2023 to US$184.69 billion
in 2024. More over with the advent of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICE) technologies such as automation, smart farming solutions,
sustainable agricultural initiatives and precision agriculture are attracting
huge investments as visible trends in recent past. The adoption of ICT
technologies have aided in enhancing efficiency of various farm processes that
can offset the concerning trends of labour scarcity and adverse impact of
climate change.
The agricultural engineering graduates have
tremendous employment opportunities in diverse sectors such as R&D
activities, equipment sales, agricultural production, financial management and
consultancy, digital agriculture, space technologies, government services,
consultancy firms, large corporations and small business and very recently in
starts ups in water quality, food processing, environmental systems, erosion
control and many others. Another point is the low cost involved in Agricultural
education vis a vis other disciplines. The agricultural engineering education
is imparted in India through 39 colleges under various central and state
Agricultural universities that includes 3 central and 63 state universities.
Apart from agricultural universities graduation can be pursued from IIT
Kharagpur and other central universities under Ministry o HRD, Government of
India. Now many private colleges are also coming up to offer graduation in
Agricultural engineering in India. The admissions to these institutions can be
realized through Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET) and Joint Entrance
Exams (JEE) and exams conducted by some of the institutions concerned.
Looking to the need of able manpower in the
technological aspects of agricultural sector and also to overcome the
challenges of meeting future food security aspects this article is written to
motivate the young generation to explore their future potential in this
discipline.
Email: bckuse.ide.caepht@gmail.com
