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Career in Agriculture

Introduction and Career in Plant Pathology

Introduction

Plant Pathology, as name portrays that it deals with the study of plant diseases including crops, vegetable, fruits, ornamental etc. Before going deep to discuss the underpinnings of subject Plant Pathology and what opportunities exist when one thinks about career in plant pathology, let us start by looking at the definition of Plant Pathology.

What is Plant Pathology?

Plant pathology is simply the study of the diseases and problems that cause the plant to suffer in terms of health that not only affect growth and development but also the production losses occur. Diseases or ailment here can be considered as the harmful changes in plant body that impact normal functioning of body functions and cause deviation in physiological processes. These are caused by any pathogenic and infectious agent. The harmful agents may include a virus, fungus, a parasite or a bacterium that occupy plant body and affect it.

Importance of Plant Pathology

Most of the researchers and plant pathologists study the diseases that affect the crop plants. Why? This is because the increase in global population has forced the agriculturists to produce more food specifically on commercial scale to meet the demand of food and keep the world a food secure place for humans. However, with the increase in population and food production, there are several new varieties of harmful agents that have evolved over the time that affect plants and especially the crops. As human security is dependent on crops plants; so most of the focus in plant pathology is given to crops.

The plant diseases that directly affect crops have also shown indirect but deep impact on human civilization. A hundred and 50 years ago (150 years ago), Europe faces the worst disease of potato blight fungus of potato crop that devastated the potato crops especially in Ireland. This resulted in to 1 million deaths and about 1,500,000 emigrations from Ireland alone.

Similarly, hundred years ago, a fungus Hemileia vastatrix also known as coffee rust fungus ruined the fields of coffee in today’s SriLanka. The damage was so swear that coffee plantation was replaced by tea plantation. More recently, fifty years ago, brown spot on rice caused by Cochliobolus miyabeanus, caused death of thousands from starvation in today’s Bangladesh.

The devastation and problems occurred by pathogens has increased of plant pathology. In the modern world of today, the importance of plant pathology has increased many folds. This is because the changing climate of the world has also introduced new varieties of crop and plant pathogens that are unknown few years ago. Sincere efforts and attention is required now address the advancements in plant pathogens if we want to have food secure world and population.

Career in Plant Pathology

A professional degree in Plant Pathology can be obtained after high school. Normally four year degree programs are offered in plant pathology that opens several job opportunities for plant pathologists. To me, career in plant pathology opens challenging as well as learning horizons for the plant pathologist. Here in this section of the article, I am going to discuss few important opportunities when you choose career in plant pathology.

Colleges and Universities

A good scope of job is present in colleges and universities when one chooses career in plant pathology. Research, teaching, and extension are three important domains that can be chosen by a plant pathologist. There is always room for research and based on that research, plant pathology teacher can introduce the students with new advancements in plant pathology. Good salary packages are given to teachers, however, salary may vary for college and university teacher.

Agricultural Consulting Companies

The next best option in career in plant pathology is working as a consultant for agricultural consulting companies. The salaries are good based on skills a plant pathologist has. These companies help firms and farmers in combating against diseases in their field plants or crops.  

Agro-chemical companies

The medicines develop by agro-chemical companies are vital in catering plant diseases. These agro-chemical companies require the services of plant pathologists not only in developing new pesticides and herbicides but also exploring new and innovative ways of controlling plant diseases.

Tissue Culture Laboratories

Next in career in plant pathology is the job opportunities in tissue culture laboratories. Research is required to design disease tolerant crop and plant varieties and for this, these laboratories provide the platform for the plant pathologists to carry out research and innovations in the field of plant pathology.

International Agricultural Research Centers

This is a dream opportunity to work with international research fellows and scientist to learn from global experience in the field of plant pathology. The salaries are surely high, however the demand for work and skills are also high. This platform provides a good path for the scientists to work in collaboration to explore solution of common problems in plant diseases domain.  

Private Practice

Staring a private business is always a good option. Though it requires some investment and marketing campaign, however, once you establish yourself as professional plant pathologists, the rate of return on investment and your skills are huge.  

Other Job Options When You Choose Career in Plant Pathology

There are numerous other job options when you choose career in plant pathology. I am enlisting these other options below;

  • Diagnostic Laboratories
  • Biological Control Companies
  • State Departments of Agriculture
  • EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
  • Environmental and Patent Law Firms
  • Garden and Nurseries Centers
  • Public Policy Organizations
  • Lawn and Landscape Maintenance Firms

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[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2018, March 21). Introduction and Career in Plant Pathology [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2018/03/21/introduction-and-career-in-plant-pathology/[/box]

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Career in Agriculture

Introduction and Career in Agricultural Economics

Introduction

Being an Agricultural Economist, I am in a better position to describe what agricultural economics is and also the scope and career opportunities that are open for the fresh graduates if they opt career in agricultural economics. However, like I always say, graduation degree doesn’t mean that you are going to get the job unless and until you have some set of skills that makes you prominent over the other candidates appearing in the job test and especially interview. These skills may include good communication skills, writing skills, sentence structuring, and practical knowledge about few specific and specialized software of your domain of specialization (in case of agricultural economics, STATA, SPSS and Excel). So don’t waste your time in idle things during a semester break. Equip yourself with some expertise related to your field of agricultural science.

This article provides a brief introduction and career in agricultural economics in an attempt to help the students in agricultural sciences during selection of their major subject.

Introduction to Agricultural Economics

Agricultural economics is the applied side of the subject Economics. So what is Economics? As we have learnt in our high schools text books and in literature that;

it is the allocation of scares resources between competing ends for

the maximization of those ends over time

This definition is best applicable to Agricultural Economics where we can define it as

Agricultural Economics is the economics applied to agriculture and rural areas

Why We Study Agricultural Economics?

The question here is that why we study Agricultural Economics? The reason is simple. Agriculture is a complex system that involves the management of natural resources and distribution of these resources among alternating uses in such a way to maximize the utility for benefit of human beings.

Agriculture is pivotal and fundamentally important to any society, nation etc. if we move to a larger canvass and look in the history of economic development, it is the agriculture that drove the cycle of economic development. In fact, industrial development, that catalysis the economic development in the modern day world, is based on agricultural. All the big economics i.e. the developing countries achieve the goal of economic development by using the shoulder of agriculture. Agriculture provides the food security that helps in focusing on other sectors of economy.

This importance of agriculture paved the path of development of a new subject within the domain of economics that is named now Agricultural Economics. It uses the economic principles in solving the issues in agriculture with the aim to improve the production as well as efficiency of agricultural processes.

Career in Agricultural Economics

This part of article provides the chief positions that an agricultural economist can get with at least bachelor degree in hand and knowledge and skills of basic statistic software like STAT, SPSS and Excel. However, acquiring a higher degree of Master level in agricultural economics (in some countries it is regarded as M.Sc. (HONS) or M. Phil) surely increases the chances of getting good job. 

Agriculture Economic Analysts

The most important function an agricultural economics perform is the forecasts of economic setting, with special interest on agriculture. In this type of job, agricultural economist has a closer look at the ongoing agricultural standing. Moreover he uses the information with respect to the economic situation. Then the data they gather is analyzed which results in offering of a sound advice and strategic options for agricultural businesses and individuals related to agriculture. The scope of this kind of job wide in both public and private sectors and the demand of agricultural economist equipped with sound knowledge of related software increases the chances of getting hired fast.

Food Companies

There is a fair chance of getting job in food companies if you opt for career in agricultural economics. These food companies need services of an agricultural economist as they require an expert for advising and strategizing decisions related to the raw ingredient they use in their product.

Teaching

Teaching as a career in agricultural economics is preferable over many other professions as it is a way of generating technical and skilled human capital in agricultural economics domain that can learn and serve in other parts of an economy effectively and efficiently. After completing the graduation, teaching career in agricultural economics usually starts at undergraduate level and so on. Being an agricultural economics and affiliated with teaching opens new horizon of research opportunities also.

World Bank

Highly skilled and qualified agricultural economists have a fair chance of getting employed by the World Banks as there are specific positions for agricultural economists there. They are involved mainly in the policy formulation portfolio in World Bank. They also analyses the data gathered from all over the world regarding agriculture. The data is used for analysis and forecasting future production and price trends.  

Agricultural Marketing

Agricultural marketing companies provide highly paid employment opportunities to the skilled and hardworking agricultural economist. They strategize the marketing options and opportunities for the marketing companies so to maximize the profit margins. Agriculture commodity marketing is vast. Value addition and value chain management are under the domain of an agricultural economist in agricultural marketing companies.

Other Career Opportunities in Agricultural Economics

In addition to these options, there are several other career opportunities in agricultural economics. These are provided by the;

  • Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
  • World Food Program (WFP)
  • United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
  • NGOs and INGOs
  • Government Ministries like Ministry of Finance, Planning and Development, Food Security, Climate Change, Agriculture etc. (Ministries name may vary in different countries; however the duties and functions needed by an agricultural economist remain the same).

There are several other opportunities when you select career in agricultural economics. However, due to limitations regarding this article, I have tried to encompass chief job opportunities. Hope this article will help the students and job seekers to make rational decision.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2018, March 18). Introduction and Career in Agricultural Economics [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2018/03/18/introduction-and-career-in-agricultural-economics[/box]

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Career in Agriculture

Introduction and Career in Food Technology

Introduction

Food technology, yes the most favorite branch of female under-graduates to join. May be the trend differs in your country, but here in Pakistan, females of my batch and now my agriculture students are crazy to join this branch of agricultural science. In the agriculture degree program, Food Technology is consider as a premium specialization subject. If you are pursuing a career in agriculture, Food Technology is a good option.

There was a time a decade ago when I had to choose a subject to specialize among many others (horticulture, soil science, plant pathology, agriculture extension, agronomy etc.) at the end of 4th semester of B. Sc. (HONS.) Agricultural Program. My first choice was also food technology. However, later due to unavoidable circumstances, I selected Agricultural Economics. But that doesn’t mean food technology is not my favorite anymore. The reason is simple. My love for food is not a hidden truth. 🙂

Coming back to the topic, let me introduce you with food technology. It is a branch of agriculture (and in many cases it is also regarded as branch of food sciences) that deals with the practices of production that makes food. Many food scientists consider Nicolas Appert as a pioneer who laid foundation stone of food technology when he first tried to preserve food by a canning process in 1810. In fact early food tech. procedures were concerned more with food preservation. Then Louis Pasture’s work in 1864 on evading spoilage of wine paved the path to handle food in scientific manner.

Food technology is the application of food science for selection, processing, packaging, preservation and distribution of food in a safe mode. Now at this point, question arises, what is food science then? Well food science deals with physical, chemical and biological makeup of food. It also deals with exploring reasons of food deterioration. Summarizing, food science deals with the concepts that are underlying food processing as a whole.

Career in Food Technology

Food technology is a wide field of science. As far as its career opportunities are concerned, these are vast also. Why? Demand for food is never going to end. In fact, the demand will increase with the population explosion we are witnessing globally. With the inventions of innovative modes of food manufacturing, the taste of people is also changing.

In short, today demand of food from taste perspective is different and complex as compare to 2-3 decades ago. Similarly, features like quality control and quality assurance are also playing significant role in increasing demand of food scientists.

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Career in Agriculture

Introduction and Career in Soil Science

Introduction

Soil is the baseline for any kind of agricultural activities. Without soil, sustainable agriculture that feed billions of people and other organisms on earth is not possible. That is why; soil is studied under its own branch termed as ‘soil science’. This article will guide you through a brief introduction of soil science as subject and career in soil science field.

Before moving ahead, let’s discuss what is soil science? It is the branch of agriculture science that deals with the study of soil as a natural resource. In this, we study the soil from all aspects including soil formation, management, classification and mapping, chemical, physical and biological properties, soil fertility and problems related to soil and exploring solutions to solve the its problems, diseases of soil etc.

Sometimes, few other terms are used in place of soil science like pedology and edaphology where pedology means formation, chemistry, morphology, and classification of soil while edaphology studies influence of soil on organisms, especially the plants.

Career is Soil Science

A person who studies soil and do practicals based on soil theory is known as Soil Scientist. Technically, a soil scientist studies the earth crust from upper surface. His/her concern is with few inches of top soil of earth. The main focus of a soil scientist is with the physical, chemical and biological properties, soil genesis and morphology. If you are planning to become a soil scientist, keep in mind that you should have a strong academic background in biological and physical sciences along with a good grip on mathematics.

Introduction and Career in Soil Science

Should you Choose Soil Science?

It is a million dollar question. Soil science is not just another branch of agriculture. There should be some per-requisites that should be present in a person if he/she wants to become a soil scientist. This includes;

  • Love of nature
  • Love with soil
  • Happy working outdoors for hours in harsh environments
  • Understanding of geographies and maps
  • Want to become an integral part of decision making processes related to soil

How to become a Soil Scientist?

There are graduate programs dealing with soil science that are offered to students who are willing to join soil science field. Agricultural universities are the ones offering these programs. To be consider as a soil scientist, he/she must have earned at least bachelor degree not diploma is soil science. The graduate then can study further and earn masters or even PhD degrees in soil science.  

Globally, two choices are favorite for soil scientists. They may choose to study simple soil science or environmental soil science. The first prepare students to become advisor or consultant mostly with large corporations, companies and government agencies, while the later prepare students to have prosperous career in environmental positions to deal with quality of soil and water, soil relation to water, assessment of soil properties during construction, recreational facilities and waste disposal.

Interested in Other Branches of Agriculture Sciences. Read More Here

Other Career opportunities

Soil scientist works both on desk and in fields.  However, a soil scientist without frequent field visits cannot becomes a perfect scientist. They have to visit recurrently to the farm lands, mountains and uneven terrains with spades and shovels in hands to collect soil sample. Another important thing is that, soil scientists have to work often with non-soil science professionals. So they have to be open minded by attitude to accept ideas.

On global scale, the demand of soil scientists is increasing day by day due to land degradation by erosion, desertification and urbanization. Both public and private options are open for a soil scientist thus opening vide avenues of career in soil science for the scientists. Below is a list showing various career options for a soil scientist.

  • Research jobs in government and private labs
  • Teaching jobs at undergraduate and graduate level in colleges and universities
  • Jobs in pesticide, weedicide and herbicide companies
  • Wetland experts
  • Soil conservationist
  • Marketing manager for an agricultural firm at district level
  • Soil scientist in mapping and interpretation of soil matters
  • Landscaping jobs
  • Agricultural officer
  • Land planning officer
  • Crop production specialists
  • Government and private farm advisor

P.S. This is not a complete list. Comments are welcome below to highlight other job opportunities available for a soil scientist.

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[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2017, September 10). Introduction and Career in Soil Science [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2017/09/10/introduction-and-career-in-soil-science[/box]

 

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Career in Agriculture

Introduction and Career in Agronomy

Introduction

Agriculture science is a vast field that covers broad spectrum of farming activities. Out of these, agronomy can be regarded as the ‘true’ agriculture. This is because of what a layman perceives from the word ‘agronomy’ and its application at the field level. This article will provide a brief introduction of agronomy along with scope of career in agronomy.

To get more deep insight of what is agronomy? Let’s do the word analysis of the term agronomy.

Agronomy is derived from a Greek word “Agro’ meaning field and “Nomo” meaning management. It is quite understandable now basically what agronomy is? For a new entrant in the field of agriculture science, agronomy is that part of science that deals with smart and integrated management of farming activities by following holistic approach to achieve highest production and yield.

In agronomy we deal with the practices & principles of water, soil & crop management and it focuses on the relation of plants with the soil and climate. It covers all aspects of farming like sowing, irrigation, soil, seed, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, weeding, harvesting, post-harvest treatment, packaging and all other crop management practices with the aim to increase productivity and yield of farm crops.

It should now be cleared that agronomy is itself a vast field of knowledge. Sometimes agronomy is confused with horticulture, another branch of agriculture science, due to many similarities. However one should know that if he/she needs literature in cereal crops, then agronomy books should be consulted. However, still there are certain crops that can confuse a layman or freshly enrolled graduate. For example, corn is an agronomic crop, however, sweet or young corn is also considered as horticultural crop. Similarly, if pineapple is grown for fruit purpose, then it is horticulture crop while if it is cultivated for fiber purpose, then it is an agronomic crop.

In this scenario, there should be mark difference between agronomic and horticultural crops. Usual way of classification depends on the area of cultivation. In agronomy, crops are cultivated on vast lands while horticulture is usually concern with the cultivation in gardens and orchards which are smaller is size. However, still there are disagreements over this approach. Few other approaches to classify these two are; in agronomic crops, the consumers are both humans and animals, while in horticulture, the consumers are human. Agronomic crops are harvested usually at maturity and horticulture crops are harvested at various stages. There is high aesthetic sense attached to horticultural crops as compare to agronomic crops. Also management practices are intensive in case of horticulture crops while extensive in agronomic crops.

Major Concern of an Agronomist

The agronomist, one who studies and have expertise in agronomy, has concerned with the restoration and conservation of soil fertility, use of optimal seed rate and preparation of seedbeds to enhance productivity, manage time and dates of sowing and harvesting of crops as per climatic conditions, test new varieties in fields, conservation of soil moisture, management of weeds are and all other agronomic practices that make the finite land and water resources we have in hand, more productive.

Career in Agronomy

Career in Agronomy

The role of an agronomist is increasing; varying and becoming challenging as farming is now facing multidimensional challenges in the 21st century. Agronomy as a field is seeking skilled, passionate and hardworking job seekers to make it an exciting career with huge opportunities nationally and globally.

Like i said earlier, agronomy is a vast field than any other branch of agriculture. Job prospective is also wide. The condition is only one. You should be passionate to learn, use out of the box approach in the field, ready to accept innovation and advancement and incorporate all these factors in you as your skills.

After acquiring a professional degree in agronomy, the graduate has two choices to avail. Either he can start his own business and becomes an entrepreneur or get hired by government institutions or private giants, corporations etc.

Business Career in Agronomy

Like many other business, this business does not require large investment. You can be a consultant to farmer or a farming community. Large farmers always require expertise of a qualified agronomist to look after their business by providing services.

An agronomist can start an import export business of certified seeds, fertilizer, pesticides etc. He can become a wholesale distributor or can be a retailer of specific products. It is better to create a specific niche to deal in. This means, it is good to deal in limited products like seed or fertilizer rather than involving and expanding the business at once.

Another opportunity is to become distributor of an agronomic product. Many multinational companies seek expertise of agronomist to sale their products. An agronomist is in a good position to market the product by convincing the customer logically and scientifically.

Job Career in Agronomy

In the developing countries, where agriculture has central position in the economic structure, agronomists have bright scope in government jobs as well as in private sector. A graduate holding 4 years bachelor degree in agronomy gets fair chance to get hire. The major options are research, teaching and on-farm jobs. In research, they can experiment with new verities in labs to get better yield and improve quality. In teaching, colleges and universities hire agronomists. On-farm duties include experimenting new farming practices for better management. The salaries are competitive especially in private sector.

International Scope for an Agronomist

International scope for an agronomist is bright. In the Middle-Eastern countries, the demand of agronomists is on boom. They offer handsome salaries. Besides earning a good living, a benefit of working in Middle-Eastern countries is the scope of learning, an agronomist gets hand on. They have monetary resources, so these countries are ready to experiment on new ideas to have sustainable food supply. Other international job avenues include Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) etc.

According to US Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS), an agronomist was earning $49,840 annually in 2016. Also according to US BLS, there is a projection of 5% increase jobs for agriculturists in US in the coming decade. For other countries, the projection is somewhat same as expansion and contraction in US economy has global impact. So international scope for an agronomist is not going to face recession in near future.

Last but not the least; being agronomist, you have a safe and sustainable profession waiting for you. The demand of food is constant or increasing with population explosion. In my opinion, agronomists have always a better outlook for jobs than other fields of agriculture.

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[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2017, August 20). Introduction and Career in Agronomy [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2017/08/20/introduction-and-career-in-agronomy/ [/box]

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Career in Agriculture

Introduction and Career in Horticulture

Introduction

Horticulture is a science of cultivating flowers, fruits and vegetable plants and  an important branch of agriculture science. This article will introduce you to the branch of horticulture in brief and also put light on opportunities when you plant to have career in horticulture.

The word ‘Horticulture’ is derived from a Latin word ‘Hortus’ meaning enclosure/garden and ‘culture’ meaning cultivation. So, horticulture means the culture or cultivation of garden crops.It is regarded as a revenue generation profession. This is because, per acre yield from a horticultural crop is way higher than the agronomic or field crops. This means, a horticulturist can earn more from less piece of land. A farmer, cultivating tomatoes in open fields is worse off than a horticulturist cultivating the tomatoes in tunnel farming. The resources are also used optimally and cheaply in horticultural crops and the efficiency rate is high.

Branches of Horticulture

There are four branches of horticulture. These include’

  1. Floriculture

It is a field of science that deals with the study of ornamental plants and landscaping.

  1. Olericulture

It is a branch of horticulture that deals with the study of cultivation of vegetable crops.

  1. Pomology

The study and art of growing fruits is called as Pomology.

  1. Fruit and vegetable preservation

 The principles of fruits and vegetable preservation are studied under this branch.

Scope and Career in Horticulture

Arid environments are most appropriate for cultivating horticultural crops due to less availability of suitable land and water availability. As less land is required to practice horticulture, it is easy to manage the resources more effectively and efficiently.

Introduction and Career in Horticulture

Career in Horticulture

Career opportunities in horticulture are enormous. There is a broad range of challenging as well as rewarding professional professions waiting for horticulturists in production, management, marketing, education and research fields. Graduates often open their own business enterprise dealing with any branch of horticulture.

Business Career

Horticulture is a promising and good family business. It does not need heavy investment. The piece of land required is small. This means labor requirement is also less. However, if you still need a helping hand, horticulture can supply the labor with yearlong employment, whereas this is not possible during slack seasons in field crop cultivation. As mentioned earlier, the rate of return per acre is higher. Another benefit that can be harnessed from horticulture is that you can control the growing environment in some cases like vegetable crops. This way, you can grow off-season vegetables and market them to earn good profit.

As a horticulturist businessman, you can experiment with crossing various varieties of a vegetable or fruit to get a profitable hybrid variety. This is a best way of utilizing what you learnt. Last but not least, opening your own consulting firm is another option for a horticulturist.

Job Career

As an employment, there is great scope for graduates. Landscaping jobs are the most suitable ones for them. There is always room for horticulturist to get hired by a private or public housing society, public park authorities, owner of homes etc. Multinational firms and corporations also seek expertise of horticulturists in return of good salaries. Teaching profession is another avenue to earn from what you learnt. Similarly, horticulturists are also required as quarantine experts on the dry and sea ports to inspect the quality of imported and exported fruits and vegetables.

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[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2017, August 17). Introduction and Career in Horticulture [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2017/08/17/introduction-and-career-in-horticulture/[/box]

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Career in Agriculture

Why Choose Agriculture as Career?

Introduction

What kind of career should I choose? Should I pick it according to the societal customs or traditions? Or go with the one that satisfy by hobbies and interests? Should I choose agriculture as career? It would not be a surprise if you say a straight NO.

Do you want to become a farmer? Is that what you studied for? Do you want to opt an archaic lifestyle? What would your relatives say? You bought up in a city; do you want to work in the fields?

These were the few questions that I faced when I decided to study agriculture as a subject after my college. The most disturbing one was what would be the opinion of my family and relatives? A typical question faced by youth perusing agriculture as his/her career in third world countries like Pakistan. The situation is tougher for females in addition to the queries raised earlier.

However, after more than a decade experience with agriculture and its allied studies, I find agriculture as a profession that provides youth with viable and sustainable options to learn and earn for satisfactory livelihood. For a country like Pakistan, where 70 percent of the population is engaged directly or indirectly with agricultural activities, this sector has a share of 42.3 percent in employment in the country (Economic Survey, 2016), choosing agriculture as career for Pakistani youth is surely a viable option and here I am going to give 5 best reasons why to choose agriculture as a career?

1. Population is Increasing

Population is increasing so as the feeding mouths. We have touched the figure of 7 billion population globally. Feeding such a mammoth population is not an easy task. The green revolution of 60’s in agriculture is an old story. Now we need a new revolution in food nutrition and balanced diet. Agricultural graduates equipped with knowledge of Plant breeding and genetics and food technology and dietetics are needed more than ever now.

2. Agriculture as a Poverty Fighter

Agriculture has proved a great driver to combat poverty. Agriculture as a career is more promising than any other sector in this regard. It requires less investment to start for earning a dignified livelihood both in rural and urban setups. It is also a source of food security. So if you are food secure, then you have additional monetary resources to invest anywhere else in more productive ways.

3. Less Awareness about Agriculture as a Career

Not only in Pakistan, but in many third world countries, there is always room for more agriculturists to come in and fill the job spaces. But that doesn’t mean that you will get a job for sure. Make yourself competitive in the agriculture job market, and you will get success.

4. Agriculture Engineering

Though there is a lot of acceptance for engineers in various fields in the country, less attention has been paid in promoting agricultural engineering. The importance of agri. engineering increases many folds for the countries that are arid in nature. Farmers in arid environments require unique and innovative implements and structures to have sustainable agricultural production. More importantly, an agricultural graduate with specialization in engineering can use ENGINEER as a prefix with his name.

5. Extension Services

Extension department is another negligent sector that requires immediate attention. The climate of globe is changing. Famers require more that “tips” from an extension worker. They need timely update about forecast and new crop varieties. So there is a huge scope of agriculture extension worldwide.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2017, July 23). Why Choose Agriculture as Career? [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2017/07/23/why-choose-agriculture-as-career/[/box]