-J:.." National Agricultural Innovatio Proied NAIP Human Capital Require Agriculture and Allied National Academy of Institute of Applied Manpower Research Agricultural Research Management. (IAMR), New Delhi (NAJU{M),Hyderabad Assessment of Future Human Capital Requirements in Agriculture and Allied Sectors National Academy of Agriculture Research Management (NAARM, Hyderabad) and Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR, New Delhi) Septem her, 2011 Correct Citation: Rama Rao D, Rashmi Agrawal, Nanda SK, Awasthi IC, Joshi GP, Sanchita Bhattacharya, Indra Kumar D. 2011. Assessment of Future Human Capital Requirements in Agriculture and Allied Sectors. NAIP Project Report, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad, India. pp 410 Project Partners: National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad and Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), New Delhi Copy right: NAARM, Hyderabad Cover design and layout: Namdev P. Photography: Ravi M. Editorial Assistance: Aneeja G. Published by: Director National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) Rajendranagar, Hyderabad- 500407, India. Ph: 091-40-24015070 Fax: 091-40- 24015912 Email: [email protected] http://www.naarm.emet.in Sponsored by: National Agriculture Innovation Project, Pusa, New Delhi - 110012 Bangali Baboo, National Director, NAIP Tel No. 091-11-25848772 Fax No. 091-11-2584 3403 R.C. Agrawal, National Coordinator-l TeleFax 091- 11-25842380 http://www.naip.icar.org.inl Printed at: Vamsi Art Printers Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad Ph: 091-40-23311858 Project Core Team IAMR NAARM Dr. Rashmi Agrawal Dr. D. Rama Rao Chief Head and Project Co-Principal Investigator Principal scientist and Project Principal Investigator Dr. I.e. Awasthi Joint Chief Dr. S.K. Nanda Principal scientist and Project Co--Principal Investigator Dr. G.P.Joshi Senior Research Officer Ram Prasad Senior Research Assistant Dr. Sanchita Bhattacharya Research Officer Sreelata Senior Research Assistant D. Indra Kumar Research Officer Consultants B.V.L.N. Rao, ISS (Retd.) (National Technical Consultant) S.K. Saha, Ex- ARS (Administrative Consultant) Biswajit Mahanty- Head, DIEM, lIT, Kharagpur (Model Development) Advice and Guidance Dr. N.H. Rao, Director, NAARM Dr. Santosh Mehrotra, Director General, IAMR Acknowledgements We would like to thank NAIP, ICAR who gave us this important project and helped us from time to time in executing the same. In particular we are thankful to Dr. Bangali Baboo, NationalDirector, NAIP and Dr. R.C. Agrawal, National Coordinator. We are grateful to Dr. Arvind Kumar, DOG (Edn) , ICAR but for whose initiative it would have been extremely difficult to access university information. The project could be completed in time manly due to the contributions made by a number of organizations, individuals, experts, students, farmers and so on. Data has been collected from agricultural universities, colleges, ICAR institutions, industrial establishments, government departments, students, farmers, NGOs, and other experts- we are grateful to all of them. A number of organizations/ institutions helped us in organization of Focus Group Discussions across the country, without whose support it would have not been possible for us to complete the project. We thank all of them. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions made by Dr. S.M. Ilyas and Dr. P.K. Joshi former directors of NAARM and Shri R. Sridharan, lAS, former director IAMR, Dr. Mrutyunjaya former National Director and Dr. N.T. Yaduraju former National Coordinator in different phases of the execution of the project. Besides, a number of officials from both the organizations involved technical financial, and administrative operations have continuously helped in executing the project. Consultants at state-level were engaged for management of data collection and processing. Nodal officers from the universities helped us from time to time in collection of data. We put on record our sincere gratitude to all of them. Project Investigators iv Foreword Indian Council of Agricultural Research (lCAR) is striving for the holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors through planning, promoting, conducting and coordinating research, education, extension and training for ensuring sustainable growth and development. ICAR initiated a number of programmes to shift focus of Indian agriculture from input-based to knowledge-based growth. In this paradigm shift, promotion of innovation in application of science and technology in agriculture and dissemination of knowledge plays a critical role. This is essential step to realize the goals envisaged in National Policy on Agriculture to accelerate growth in agriculture and also to generate income and employment opportunities to rural communities. Over the years Indian agriculture had made tremendous progress, which in a large measure is due to its human resources who could harness the rapid developments in science and technology. Professional education in agriculture is of long gestation, and needs considerable advance planning. Development of technical and vocational skills necessary to support the practical application of knowledge commands equal attention. In the context of national demands and changing global agricultural scenario, identifying and developing quality human resources required at various levels is of strategic importance. The ICAR has set in motion national projects, from time to time, to assess the future human capital requirements in agriculture and allied sciences in advance so as to put development of agricultural human capacity development on a rational footing. The present project is the latest in this direction, and has been executed by the National Academy for Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad and Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), New Delhi. It gives me immense pleasure to present the project report jointly prepared by NAARM and IAMR. The report is timely and useful in preparing the future course of action on human resource development in agriculture and allied sectors. I complement the project team on bringing out such> valuable document, and hope it is useful for policy planners and other professionals associated with agricultural education and development. S. Ayyappan Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR v Preface Human resource planning is an essential element for achieving sustained growth in any sector. The significant role of agriculture sector in the development and growth of Indian economy is well recognized and well documented. The contribution of this sector to national GDP, food, nutritional and livelihood security has been phenomenal owing mainly to policy initiatives, advances in agricultural research and development aided and supported by an efficient human resource pool built and accumulated over the last five decades. In the wake of global competition in commerce and trade, climate change, natural disasters, population pressure, dynamic social changes in rural areas due to increased urbanization and many other challenges, there has been a paradigm shift in the way the issues confronting agriculture sector need to be addressed. One of the important components of the issues is the need for a qualitative and quantitative change in the human resource that is required to address the challenges. There is, thus, an urgent need to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the current stock size and status of the human resource in agriculture sector with special reference to requirement of personnel for various sub-sectors of agriculture and allied activities. Also, it is imperative to assess the future human resource needs in consonance with the targeted growth rates of the various sub-sectors of agriculture. The present study attempts to assess the demand emanating from various sectors of employment and supply from educational institutions and project future demand and supply needs. Based on these, certain policy initiatives, strategies and mechanisms are recommended. The forecasts provide insight into the right quantity and quality of the human resources required to maintain desired sector growth. It is hoped that the results will provoke discussion and further research into the complicated and fascinated area of strategic human resource planning. The study identifies educational strategies to improve employment opportunities in future. The study is useful' in preparing the country's human capacity development plans in agriculture and allied sectors. I compliment the investigating team for bringing such a valuable document. Arvind Kumar Deputy Director General (Education), leAR vi Contents S.No Topic Page no. Executive Summary 1 1. Introduction 3 2. Agriculture Growth and Critical Issues 6 3. Present Study 19 4. Profile of Agrjculture and Allied Sectors 43 Results and Discussion 5. Human Capital Assessment in Agriculture (Croes) Sector 69 6. Human Capital Assessment in Horticulture Sector 86 7. Human Capital Assessment in Forestry Sector 103 8. Human Capital Assessment in Veterinary & Animal 112 Husbandry Sector 9. Human Capital Assessment in Fisheries Sector 127 10. Human Capital Assessment in Dairy Sector 140 11. Human Capital Assessment in Agriculture Engineering 153 Sector 12. Human Capital Assessment in Agri-Biotechnology Sector 163 13. Opinions Reflected by Stakeholders on Agriculture 177 14. Human Capital Requirements at Micro Level 186 15. Supply Projections, Demand-Supply Gap 194 16. System Dynamics Simulation Model 199 17. Conclusions and Recommendations 205 18. Bibliography 215 Annexures for 19. Chapter-2 223 20. Chapter-3 228 21. Chapter-4 261 22. Chapter-5 265 23. Chapter-6 291 24. Chapter-7 307 25. Chapter-8 318 26. Chapter-9 334 27. Chapter-lO 352 28. Ch<!Q1.er-I I 364 29. Chapter-12 375 30. Chapter-13 387 31. Chapter-IS 401 Executive Summary Trained human resources are needed in different sectors of agriculture for targeted growth. The sectors are to be serviced by human resources with higher skills than before to ensure technology generation, its transfer to and more importantly its application at the grass root level. Further, agricultural human resources with diverse skills is today required by a wide ranging and fast expanding food processing industry, corporate and unorganized sector. In this context, forecasting of future agricultural human resources requirements assumes considerable significance in identifying the trends and visualizing the emerging technologies and the corresponding needs for the appropriate human resources mix. The assessment of existing human resources, the sectoral growth, capacity utilisation of qualified graduates is indispensable to envisage the future agricultural education needs. The NAIP supported project entitled "Assessment of Future Human Capital Requirements in Agriculture and Allied Sectors" was visualized in this context. The objectives of the project are: 1. To assess the trend in supply-demand of trained human resources in agriculture 2. To evaluate institutional set up and the impact of diversification of agriculture on skill requirements 3. To develop a system dynamics model for forecasting and evolve prospective human resource development strategies To meet the above objectives, quantitative and qualitative data was collected through nationwide surveys and by organizing Focus Group Discussions. The issues relating to employment, skills needed for employment in public and private sectors, and educational strategies to develop appropriate human resources, etc. were addressed through this approach. The survey responses were received from all agricultural universities, 4880 employees with degree in agricultural sciences, 2100 alumni, 3500 industrial organizations employing agricultural graduates. About fifty Focus Group Discussions were organized with various stakeholders. The survey data in conjunction with secondary data were used to forecast future human capital requirements for 2020 and also drew strategic plan for future educational requirements. A system dynamics model was developed for forecasting supply-demand scenario of agricultural human resources requirement in different sectors viz. government, private, academic, financial institutes, non-governmental organizations, self-employment, and others (non-agriculture) in India. The model results have been compared with the actual values to validate the efficacy and relevance of model simulation to depict the reality. The broad results point to a shift in demand for agricultural human resources from public to private sector. In 2010, the shares of various segments by employment are: 33 per cent in government, 44 per cent in private, 10 per cent in financial, 4 per cent in research and academic and 9 per cent in others. The major shift in the past three decades is decline in the share of public sector in employment, which may be due to freezing employment in government sector as well as expansion of opportunities in the private sector. This is in tune with the emergence of commercialisation as well as diversification. The results show that there are at present substantial gaps between demand and supply of human resources in agricultural and allied sciences even to the tune of 50 per cent or more. 1 This is true across the board, though the shortfaI1 is high in the case of rapidly growing horticulture, dairy and fisheries sectors, and less serious in others. Dairy, fisheries, veterinary and horticulture are the future engines of growth which would have a bearing on trained human resources requirements. At present the existing education system is producing about 24,000 graduates per year with crop sciences contributing 2/3rd of it. The projections indicate that by 2020 the annual outtum required would have to be about 54,000, i.e. the demand supply gap would be 30,000. Discipline-wise, the additional annual requirements of outtums are expected to be: Agriculture 9335; Horticulture 7153; Forestry 1116; Dairy 3005; Veterinary & Animal Husbandry 4989; Fishery 2181; Agriculture Engineering 1749; and Agri-Biotechnology 305. During the last decade, outturn of graduates and above grew at the rate of 5 per cent and in the coming decade it is projected to double the growth rate to meet the demand. To handle a variety of day to day jobs of counselling and rendering routine assistance to the farmer, there should be 'bare foot technicians' who need to be equipped with multiple skills not only with regard to farm practices, simple and routine veterinary services, routine testing services, and various other rural occupations but also on aspects like agro-processing, marketing, escort services, etc. Such skills need to be developed among the rural youth themselves, preferably targeting school drop-outs, as youth from urban areas or with higher education shy away from working in rural areas. Special effort is needed to promote diploma level education on the lines of engineering education. Initiatives for the future demand-driven growth in agricultural education at the diploma and undergraduate levels should be left to the private sector or should be taken in a public-private partnership mode. An important aspect of educational planning is to ensure availability of faculty in adequate numbers and quality with institutional arrangements for systematic up-gradation of their knowledge and skills. About 40 per cent of the faculty positions in the agricultural universities have remained vacant for long periods of time raising questions about the quality of education. Proper data base management IS vital for educational planning. The data bases like NISAGENET should be updated regularly. The data base PERMISNET should be made accessible to outside researchers in a restrictive manner. Results indicate towards the need for skill up-gradation in the light of technological innovations as well as skill development in the emerging areas in the agriculture sector. An indicative list for skills to be developed has been provided in the report. There is a strong demand from all the stakeholders for skill-specific education with clarity of basics as well as hands-on technical expertise. In other words, there is a need to develop functional skills among the students in educational institutions almost in all the sectors of agriculture. Agriculture has to meet the needs of the society at various levels. It has to serve the requirements of the industries as well as of farmers. It also has to keep pace with youth aspirations. It is the sole agent to ensure food security. Appropriate policy interventions for developing skills among youth needed as per labour market indicators should be given a serious thought along with a revamp in educational expansion and its structure. 2