Agriculture is the primary source of income in India and is sadly mistaken as a profession for low qualified. The country has come far from the traditional practices and the skillset, experience, education and business acumen required is not restricted to farm workers. The modern agricultural realities involve extensive use of technology and has more to offer in terms of employment and remuneration.
Government recently announced Rs 1 lakh crore agro infra fund which has boosted the morale of the sector. The agritech industry works on an intersection of technologies and which allows it create a unique segment of job opportunities. An agronomist aka ‘crop doctor’ have a high demand in the industry. They study about crop production, seed and soil management which gives qualifies them to be farm managers, fertiliser store managers, field/lab technicians and crop management consultants.
Agronomists work closely with crop researchers and plant geneticist, other options in the field. A plant geneticist provides a range of solutions to farmers regarding new scientific developments in crop growing operations. Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) are also in demand by companies as they can make farms tech-enabled. This can also be helpful to create employment for rural youth.
To plan, develop and design land in a way that it supports dynamic crop patterns and ensures optimum use of the available land, ‘Land Architects’ can play a crucial role. They can also design infrastructure which can help the farmers during harvest season.
Other job profiles one could explore are precision agriculture specialists, tech seed specialists, pedologists, environmental engineers, climatologists, food microbiologists, soil and water conservationists, supervisors and data scientists. All of them play a crucial role in the pre-harvest management system.
Warehouse management is another interesting option in the field to handle supply chain needs like distribution, logistics, coordination and operations. Sales representatives who are well aware of the use of technology in agriculture can also add value to farmers.
Other than the profiles mentioned above, every industry requires technology experts, web developers, marketing experts, professionals having good understanding of AI, ML, drones, sensors, GPS technology and remote monitoring. Agritech industries have been trying hard to create effective teams and use the best talents. The stigma around agritech industry has to be fixed before anything else which will allow the sector to move forward and bring significant changes.