Rutvik Mehta, who is pursuing a diploma in agribusiness management at IIM Lucknow,
says that opportunities for value addition and streamlining the entire value-chain
in agri and allied products offer never-before opportunities
I completed my B.Tech in food-engineering and technology
from UICT, Mumbai, and am currently in the final year of the two-year postgraduate
programme in agribusiness management (PGD-ABM) at IIM-Lucknow. After
acquiring a reasonably sound technical knowledge of the various aspects of food-processing
and packaging, a course in agribusiness management provides an opportunity to understand
the business side of the industry.
The course is designed to provide a thorough foundation in management tools and
techniques that can be used in agriculture and allied sectors. It is organised in
three mutually supportive segments - classrooms, field-based learning and summer
training. Enrolment to this course is through the CAT and the subsequent rounds
of group discussions and personal interviews.
Agribusiness is all about ways to conduct successful businesses in sectors related
to food and agriculture. However, it should not be confused with agriculture. Agribusiness
has a number of applications, from retail, finance and banks to insurance. Agribusiness
managers will play an important role in ushering the next green revolution by developing
robust models for handling procurement of seeds and crops, making new technology
available to the farmers, developing financial models for effective marketing and
providing micro-credit facilities to eliminate money-lenders.
Indian agriculture has seen a transformation from predominantly small-scale subsistence
farming to a more mechanised large-scale farming. We are experiencing a greater
integration of agriculture with the input-supply industry, food processing, distribution
and marketing, with a focus on fair trade. The growing interest of the private sector
in agribusiness and the low levels of value addition and processing of agri-products
in India offer never before opportunities for agribusiness managers.
Besides having an intellectually strong peer-group, studying ABM from a prestigious
institute like the IIM-Lucknow gives me an opportunity to interact with the leaders
of the industry through seminars and guest lectures. Likewise, field visits help
us to understand better, the psychographic and sociographic profiles of the rural
clientele in the context of rapid urbanisation. Indeed, remunerations are also getting
better by the year. - As told to Neha Arora.
Courtesy: Education Times
