|
Bhubaneswar, July 28: Agriculture and allied sciences are likely to generate more manpower requirements, a recent study has found.
“There are substantial gaps between demand and supply of manpower in agriculture and allied sciences even to the tune of 50 per cent or more,” said the agriculture research and education department S. Ayyappan, while addressing the 32nd convocation of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) here today.
The National Academy of Agricultural Research Management has conducted the study.
Dairy, fisheries, veterinary and horticulture were the future engines of growth, which would have a bearing on manpower requirements, said Ayyappan, who is also the director-general of the Indian Council of Agriculture.
“This is true across the board, though the shortfall is high in case of rapidly growing horticulture, dairy and fishery sectors and less serious in others,” he said.
Ayyappan said discipline-wise the additional annual requirements of graduates were expected to be 9,335 in agriculture, 7,153 in horticulture, 1,116 in forestry, 3,005 in dairy, 4,989 in veterinary and animal husbandry, 2,181 in fishery, 1,749 in agriculture engineering and 305 in agriculture biotechnology.
The Odisha agriculture universities needed to enhance their student-intake capacity, he said, adding that in the 12th plan, emphasis would be on improvement of quality of higher agricultural education. This could be achieved by making the accreditation process more objective-based on quantifiable parameters, revision and modification in the curriculum and syllabi.
The scope of agricultural education would be widened to increase the enrolment ratio, he said.
| 
