Bringing young to agriculture

S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @Svs037

Chennai based M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) has been doing a yeoman service to the field of agriculture in India by attracting the youths’ attention to the bright career prospects in agriculture and allied industries.

Increase in demand for food caused by rapid growth in population over the years and other similar factors have tremendously increased employment opportunities in agriculture and allied industries. We want the young to take a look at these bright prospects says Dr N Parasuraman from MSSRF.

It is lack of knowledge that makes one say there is no future in agriculture. Two of our programmes ‘attracting and retaining youth in agriculture’ and ‘motivating youth in agriculture’ are aimed at that, he says.

Agriculture doesn’t mean food production alone, it means many other things. Progress of agriculture and allied industries can give a boost to soil analysis, bio-fertilizer generation and food processing segments and horticulture, aquaculture, cattle rearing where good career prospects are in store.

We have successfully implemented the programme for motivating and training the youth in Tamilnadu, now idea is to take it to other parts of the country. About 1000 people from Theni, Pudukottai, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Thanjavur have been trained so far in the nuances of agriculture.

Idea is to take the scheme to Bihar, a state in India which is said to experience talent drain on a very large scale regularly. Dr Parasuraman informs that they are talks with state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to train people to train people there on taking up agriculture dry areas. Focus is also on attracting women into agriculture and allied industries. They too can contribute considerably towards the progress of agriculture, he says.

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