Introduction

With the population boom in the world in general and India in particular, education in the field of agriculture is fast becoming a much sought after branch. To meet the demand of this ever growing population and to increase the yield of the food crops as well as cash crops, a lot of research has to take place and hence there is a lot of demand for agricultural scientists in the future. When we talk of agriculture sciences, it is one of the most varied education stream and has lot of varied sub streams available to follow. Some of them are not even related to the botany science; Fisheries is one of them!

How to navigate this page:

Agriculture Sciences is a very wide and varied stream. This page first describes studies in agriculture related fields and subsequently will describe some important sub-streams of agriculture sciences like Sericulture, Fishery studies etc.

Eligibility:

The agricultural scientists should have a base of science subjects in 10+2. The student should have passed the 12th class with a minimum of 55% marks in Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Maths, so as to take the entrance exam to graduation colleges.

There are a few certificate and diploma courses which can be pursued after 10th standard as well.

Top Agriculture courses in India

1) Agriculture	15) Floriculture
2) Animal husbandry	16) Hydroponics
3) Agriculture Economics and Farm Management	17) Weed Sciences
4) Forestry	18) Agricultural Microbiology
5) Genetic Plant Breeding	19) Soil Science and Agri Chemistry
6) Horticulture	20) Agronomy
7) Agriculture and Food Business	21) Agricultural Engineering
8) Soil and Water Management	22) Agriculture Management
9) Fisheries	23) Remote Sensing and Agriculture
10) Sericulture	24) Agriculture Business
11) Crop Physiology	25) Agribusiness Operations
12) Agricultural Biotechnology	26) Agriculture production
13) Agricultural entomology	27) International Agribusiness
14) Bio Fertilizer Production	28) and many more.

Degrees for studies in Agriculture Science in India:

India has a lot of colleges and universities which provide the following degrees in different fields of agricultural sciences. We have compiled a list of agricultural universities in India offering courses in various courses including Bachelor, Master, Research and others. A few Colleges in India are also offering courses in Agricultural Sciences and allied fields which are listed here.

Agriculture Courses in India:

1) Certificate Courses of 1 year duration that can be taken after 10th or 12th standards.

2) Diploma Courses of 2 year duration that can be taken after 10th or 12th standards.

3) Bachelor of Science (Honours) or BSc (Hons) which is a 3 year course, and is done after 10+2.

4) Bachelor of Science or BSc is a 4 year Graduate course done after 10+2.

5) Bachelor of Business Administration or BBA which is a Graduate degree course of 3 year duration taken up after 10 +2.

6) Bachelor of technology or B.Tech is a 4 year graduation degree which is also available in various fields of agriculture.

7) Master of Science or MSc which is a post graduate degree done after graduation and is a 2 year course.

8) Master of business Administration or MBA in the administration aspect of agriculture can be done after BBA in Agriculture Management and related fields. It is a 2 year program.

9) Master of Technology or MTech in agriculture can be obtained in 2 years from various engineering colleges of the country.

10) Master's of Philosophy or MPhil is an advanced post graduate degree of 2 years and the candidate who has done Masters is eligible to pursue it.

11) PhD or Doctoral Degree to be pursued after Masters in any field of agriculture. It may take up to 3 to 5 years to obtain this degree.

Top Agriculture Colleges and Universities in India:

India being an agricultural country has a lot of Universities and Colleges that have state of art facilities to impart education in this field. There are 34 state agricultural universities, 3 deemed agricultural universities and 3 central universities in India offering courses in various disciplines of agricultural science at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A few of them are listed below. These institutes are very popular as they offer a variety of courses in varied fields like sericulture, fisheries. Horticulture, floriculture and so on.

Top BTech and MTech Agriculture Colleges in India:

1) Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur

2) Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi

3) Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Howrah

4) National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra

5) Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology

6) Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi

7) Osmania University, Hyderabad

8) Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi

9) Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi

10) Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Raipur

Top BSc , MSc, PhD Agriculture Colleges in India:

Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu

Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana

Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareily

National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal

University of Calcutta, Kolkata

Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai

Khalsa College, Amritsar

Punjab University, Chandigarh

Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University(ANGRAU), Hyderabad

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural university (CCSHAU), Hisar

University of Agricultural Sciences(UAS), Bangalore

G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUA&T), Uttarakhand

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore

Top Ranked Government Agriculture Colleges in India:

Agriculture Sciences is mainly taught in government colleges and universities in India. There is a network of such institutions in India teaching varied courses and sub streams in this stream.

Indian Agricultural Statistical Research Institute, New Delhi

Indira Gandhi National Open University, School of Agriculture, New Delhi

Punjab Agricultural University College of Agriculture Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana

Amritsar College of Engineering and Technology, Amritsar

Desh Bhagat University, Punjab

Uttaranchal University, Dehradun

Doon College of Agriculture Science and Technology, Dehradun

Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur

Agriculture University, Kota

Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner

Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur

Bhartiya college of Agricultural Engineering, Durg

Uttar Bang krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Pundibari

CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar

Bidan Chandra krishi Viswa Vidyalaya, Nadia

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore

B.D Government college, Chimanpura

Bisra Agricultural University, Ranchi

Admissions and Entrance Exams for Agriculture Science in India:

1. Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) conducts All India Entrance Examination for Undergraduate Programs (AIEEA UG), which is the main agriculture entrance examination in India. Once the students clear this test, they become eligible to apply for admission to the bachelor degree programs in the agricultural universities in different disciplines in India.

   The exam is conducted at nearly 49 to 50 cities all over the country. ICAR AIEEA UG is usually conducted in the month of May every year. Under this test the following undergraduate programmes are offered across the state agricultural universities and colleges:

   Agriculture	Sericulture
   Agricultural Engineering	Dairy Technology
   Horticulture	Food Science & Technology
   Fishery	Agricultural Marketing
   Forestry	Banking & Co-operation
   Home Science	Others

2. Another important examination in the agriculture field is the All India Entrance Examination for the award of ICAR Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and admission to master's degrees in Agriculture, Veterinary and allied Sciences.

   This examination is for admission to 100% seats of Master's Degree programme at Indian Agriculture Research Institutes, New Delhi (IARI), Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) at all the five campuses, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), National Research Diary Institute (NDRI), Karnal with regional stations at Bengaluru and Kalyani, and 25% seats at all the state and central agriculture universities in the field of Agriculture, Veterinary & Allied Sciences.

3. The Fellowships are available in Agricultural Universities including ICAR institutes, BHU Varanasi, AMU Aligarh, Viswa-Bharati University, Santinikatan, West Bengal , and Allahabad Agricultural Institute Deemed University, AAIDU, Allahabad (AAI DU). There are 475 Fellowships (JRF) in total in 19 major subject areas which are awarded based on merit ranks of the candidate in this examination and subject area. The total duration is two years.

   The Fellowships at present are at the rate of Rs. 5,000/- per month for graduates of Veterinary Science and Rs. 3,600/- per month for graduates in other disciplines for a period of two years with a contingent grant of Rs. 6,000/- per annum for all as per approved norms.

   Candidates having passed their Bachelor's Degree (or appearing in final year examination) , in the field of Agriculture, Veterinary, Agricultural Engineering, Fisheries, Horticulture, Home Science, Sericulture, Dairy Technology, Dairy Engineering, Forestry, Agri. Marketing, Banking and Cooperation, Food Science & Technology, Biotechnology, Computer Science, Basic, and Allied Sciences under 10+2+4 (most seats) or 10+2+3 (only few seats) are eligible to apply for the combined examination for JRF and admission to Master's Degree Programme as per norms of participating Universities.

   Most of the participating Universities/ Institutes for this entrance examination requires four years U.G. degree. However, graduates from non-agricultural stream are also eligible for admission to Master's Degree Programme but for only a few specified subjects and that too in limited Universities.

4. Other entrance exams include Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET), Andhra Pradesh conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

5. Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical Examination (KEAM), conducted on the behalf of the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, Kerala. The students of Kerala take this exam for engineering, agriculture, and architecture take this examination.

6. Note: Apart from the above entrance examinations there are individual entrance examination conducted by the respective university/institute for admission into a particular course. Please refer to the respective university for details. A small reckoner is given below!

Top Agriculture Entrance Exams in India:

1) ICAR AIEEA (All India Entrance Exam for Admission)

2) Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination (BCECE)

3) Kerala Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Exam (KEAM)

4) Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) Entrance Test

5) Madhya Pradesh Pre-Agriculture Test (MP PAT)

6) AP EAMCET (Andhra Pradesh Engineering Agriculture Medical Common Entrance Test)

7) AGRICET

8) Indira Gandhi Agricultural University (IGAU) CET

9) CE Pre Agriculture Test (PAT)

10) MCAER Common Entrance Test (CET)

Placements and scope of jobs for Agriculture Sciences in India:

After clearing the exam and completing the post graduate degrees one can serve on several posts pertaining to agricultural fields, fisheries, veterinary sciences and animal husbandry etc. There are a lot of Government and Private Job opportunities at the state and the central level. These include lectureship in colleges, officer level posts in Banks (esp. those which deal in agricultural loans etc), officers in plantations, food processing firms, products marketing firms, farm managers, horticulturists, floriculturists, agricultural geneticist, food scientist, environmental engineer.

One can go in the research sector and pursue PhD in any specialization field of agriculture. One can also become a free lance consultant, so as to improve the agricultural practices and yield in India. One can also serve in the government departments and ministry of agriculture by clearing the UPSC or State PSC Exams.

Top 8 well paid and in demand Agriculture Careers:

There are lot of positions available in various agro, food and beverage related industries. The jobs are available in the teaching as well as the production sector. Plenty of jobs are available in the industry related to packaging, quality, transportation and other logistics related to this industry.

The below given are a few of them.

Agricultural Operations Manager

Agricultural Engineer

Food Scientist

Animal Geneticist

Agronomy Sales Manager

Bioinformatics Scientist

Environmental Engineer

Biochemist

Few of the companies recruiting the agriculture degree holders are:

1) Godrej Agrovet Limited

2) Rallis India

3) E.I. DuPont India Private Ltd

4) National Agro Industry

5) Monsanto India

6) Poabs Organic Estates

7) Rasi Seeds

8) Big Basket

9) NAFED

10) MARKFED

11) VERKA

12) The Energy and Resources Institute( TERI)

13) National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

14) Pepsico Inc

15) Amul

16) Cadburys

17) Nestle

Synopsis of Agriculture and allied sciences in India:

Course Level	Graduation, Post Graduation, Fellowships, Doctoral and post Doctoral
Duration	Three to Four years for Graduation; Two to Four years for others
Admission Process	All India and State level Entrance Exams; Stream related
Eligibility	10+2 with 50 – 60% marks in the science stream with biology
Course Fees	Rs. 5000.00 to Rs. 95,000 per annum
Starting Salary	Two to Ten lacs per annum
Top Recruiters	Godrej, Rallis, Markfed, Verka, Nestle India, Pepsi India, Amul, Kwality India