Agri Business Management–Better prospects ahead

Agri Business Management–Better prospects ahead
Dr.T.P.Sethumadhavan

In the era of Globalization major structural reforms are taking place in the Agricultural sector. India is on the threshold of Green revolution. Commerciacialisation of Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries and allied sectors are taking place at a faster pace in the country. National Agriculture Policy, agricultural reforms like public private partnerships, market lead extension programmes and agricultural technology management programmes envisage market centered production programmes in agriculture and allied sectors to attain sustainability. As a seqele to GATT and ASEAN agreement, in order to exploit the potentials of market access like export, cutting edge technologies in the areas of value addition, food safety, packaging, quality control, HACCP, etc are needed. Moreover food security issues are emerging over the globe. For achieving the above envisaged objectives, technocrats endowed with relevant management skills and experience are essential. This paved the way for starting the programmes like Agri Business Management for Agricultural graduates. Critical management and entrepreneurial competencies enable them to own and manage Agri-business enterprises of global standards.


Agribusiness management is one of the courses having more career potential within the country and abroad. Commercialization of agriculture and allied activities pave way for experts in Agri Business Management to acquire better jobs in this sector. Supply chain management and logistics management are some of career oriented courses. National institute of Extension management, Hyderabad is one of premier institutes offering post graduate programme in Agribusiness management and supply chain management.
Recently Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasized the need for greater attention to local needs by citing an important modern management principle of ‘think global and act local’. Logistics could play a key role in integrating rural and urban divide. A logistics model can provide cost effective access for rural produce to urban markets. Moreover public private partnerships will help to address some of the rural development issues. This further emphasizes the importance of Agri business, supply chain and logistics management.

Agri business management professionals will have very good employment potential in Agribusiness industries like food processing, banking and financial institutions, commodities exchange bureaus, dairy and animal husbandry sector, meat and meat products, agrochemical sectors, organic farms, sugar industry, agri informatics, cattle feed industry, export promotion councils, fruits and vegetable industries, poultry industry, sea food industry , biotech firms, plantation sector, forestry, ayurvedic industry, coir industry, horticulture, floriculture, teaching and research.

MBA in Agri Business Management from Kerala Agricultural University

MBA in Agri Business Management offered by College of Co-operation, Banking and Management of Kerala Agricultural University, Velanikkara, Thrissur is unique with respect to specialization, pedagogy, training, placement, etc with an affordable fee structure; Says Dr.A. Sukumaran, Director of the MBA programme, KAU.A full time placement cell has been constituted to ensure the placement of Agri business management professionals. Major employers in the previous years include Royal Bank of Scotland, Harrison’s Malayalam Limited, Dhanalaxmi Bank, HDFC bank, Reliance Retail Ltd, Sutherland, Pantaloon Retail and Aditya Birla group. All professional graduates of state agricultural universities with an OGPA of 7.5/10 can apply for the programme. Any Agriculture and allied science graduates like veterinary science, fisheries science, dairy science, and forestry can join for the post graduate agribusiness management courses. Selection process is through written test and interview. For more details on application forms and prospectus please logon to www. kaumba.com & www.kau.edu. Last date for receipt of application is 23rd June2010.


Other Agri Business Management institutions in the country
1. MANAGE- National institute of Extension Management, Rajendra nagar, Hyderabad
www.manage.gov.in
2. Institute of Agri Business management, Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner, Rajasthan
www.iabmbikaner.org
3. Indian institute of management, Ahmedabad
www.iimahd.ernet.in
4. Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujarat
5. www.xlri.edu
6. www.iimk.ac.in
7. College of Agribusiness management, GB Pant university of Agricultural Technology, Pantnagar
www.cabm.ac.in
8. www.xlri.edu