Emerging Trend: Why Agriculture to Agri-business?

• Increasing demand for organic/quality food both in India as well as Abroad. Market growth of around 15-25 percent per year.
• Competitive advantages for many primary production activities in agriculture. Rain-fed farming, tropical fruits and vegetables, livestock, animal husbandry, aquaculture, wild craft, etc. are produced through real low cost production methods.
• Private sector is willing to enter into agri-businesses at all levels of operations. Changing consumer demand and retail revolution have open the doors for investments by private sector in agri-agribusinesses like Reliance, Bharati, Pantaloon, Carrefour, etc.

Key Issues: Agriculture to Agri-business

• Policy issues: From absolute control and management of agriculture by Government, today it is being opened to public-private partnerships.
• Production technology issues: From input/s oriented technology development for increasing production, today practice based value addition is being promoted.
• Quality and certification issues: Demands from consumer/s for better quality has forced Government/s to establish regulatory mechanisms for quality certification.
• Logistics and supply chain issues: Modern retail formats requires efficient and dedicated supply chain management facilities.
• Human resource issues: Lack of appropriately trained human resource is today considered as the biggest constraint in conversion of agriculture to agri-business.

Key Challenges for HR Skill Development in Transforming Agriculture to Agri-business

• Agriculture to agri-business potential has neither been recognized by the academic/s nor is being promoted as a career making opportunity among practitioners.
• Region-location specific agri-business opportunities needs to be identified and accordingly suitable human resource training programs should be launched.
• Learning processes for human resource to be engaged in agri-business enterprises should be designed to suit the candidates as per the job requirements.
• The focus to upgrade the skills of conventional practitioners of agriculture into agri-business human resource will provide the missing links.

HR Skills - Present Status of Availability:
Agriculture to Agri-business - Case Study

Presently complete agri-business sector is starved of appropriately

S. No	HR Skill Levels	Export House	Processing Unit	Aggregator
1.	Top Management	Mostly managed by the owner/s.
2.	Senoir Management	Mostly senior managers with qualifications and experiences in marketing, finance, logistics and distribution management are engaged in agri-businesses
3.	Middle Management	Mostly managers with hands-on experiences in respective functional areas are engaged by the agri-business enterprises.
4.	Junoir Management	Professionally qualified fresh graduates and post graduates in management are recruited	Graduates and post graduates with science background are recruited	Persons having some relevant experiences are employed
5.	Senior Supervisory Management	Any person seeking a job is generally recruited and trained on the job.
6.	Junior Supervisory Management	Only temporary and stop-gap human resource is engaged on as and when required basis
7.	Entry Level Positions	Candidates with some educational background but mostly without any relevant skills are engaged

trained human resource.

Trained Man Power - Demand Assessment: Agriculture to Agri-business

There is an urgent need for professional training courses to meet

S. No	HR Skill Levels	Small Enterprises	Medium Enterprises	Large Corporation
1.	Top Management	Every year about 100,000 small entrepreneurial units are expected to come into existence. They all need appropriate training and skill Development support through formal and informal courses.	Presently employed Senior Management Staff (about 1000 persons every year) needs executive Development programs.
2.	Senoir Management
3.	Middle Management		Presently employed and to be employed management staff (about 5000 persons every year) would require both structured class room as well as distance learning programs.
4.	Junoir Management
5.	Senior Supervisory Management	3-6 months full time courses for 20,000 higher secondary plus candidates every year	6-12 months full time courses for 50,000 higher secondary plus candidates every year
6.	Junior Supervisory Management	6-12 months full time courses for 100,000 secondary plus candidates every year.
7.	Entry Level Positions	3-6 months full time courses for 100,000 candidates from farming background (irrespective of their education qualifications) every year.

this ever increasing demand for trained man power.

Status of Present Day Education in Agriculture

• Education is based on scientific developments carried out during 1950s to till date. Mostly candidates are trained in input based technologies and extension works.
• Focus on external inputs for increasing productivity. The skills for enabling value addition in agriculture is not imparted.
• Focus on government jobs (extension and research). Managerial skills are not included in the curriculum/s.
• Absence of value addition and supply chain management subjects. Even trained candidates do not learn the skills to manage agri-business enterprises.
• Accessible to careerists. For very long candidates joining these courses have mainly been attracted because of government jobs with total exclusion of practitioners wanting to create their own agri-business enterprises.

Morarka Foundation's Initiatives: Agriculture to Agri-business

• Developed implementable models for conversion of agriculture to agri-businesses covering complete value chain. Over 70 different types of agri-business enterprises has been created.
• Evolved methodologies for entrepreneurial initiatives for agri-business enterprises. Established linkages for resource mobilization with banks and marketing channels.
• Transformed conventionally educated human resource into agri-business managers. Both structured and unstructured learning methods have been developed and implemented.
• Innovated human resource skill development programs for HR needs in agri-businesses. Currently running formal courses for five different needs of trained man power.

Morarka Foundation's Initiatives: Innovations in HR Skill Development

• Initiated entrepreneurship in agriculture: Over 1000 small entrepreneurs have been assisted in 15 States of the country to set up vermiculture units in last eight years.
• Implemented AC&ABC scheme: Trained 265 agri-graduates to set up their own small agri-business enterprises.
• Collaborated with MPUAT for Post Graduate Diploma in Organic Agriculture: Completed three Batches (56 candidates) with 100 percent placements record.
• Launched Certificate Course with Rajasthan Vidyapeeth: Completed three batches (90 candidates) with 100 percent placements record.
• Joined hands with National Productivity Council: Two Batches (53 candidates) are undergoing training.

Offers from Morarka Foundation: Structured and Unstructured Learning

• Morarka Foundation is positioning itself as a capacity building institution to meet the growing demand for trained human resource by the agri-businesses by offering short duration courses (through both structured and unstructured learning) comprising of formal classroom training as well as on the job practical training.
• Morarka Foundation has joined hands with academic/s to provide course material/s, faculty training/s, practical-hands on work experience, for candidates enrolled by them for conversion of young human resource into agri-business professionals.

Components of HR Course/s: Agriculture to Agri-business

1. Basic Courses

• Organic/Quality Agriculture Practices
• Agriculture Product Marketing
• Food Quality Management
• International Marketing
• Technologies for Organic/Quality Production
• Value Addition in Agriculture
• Agripreneurship Development and Management
• Logistics and Supply Chain Management
• Organic/Quality Standards and Certification

2. Business Skill Courses

• Basic Language Skills
• Effective Communication
• Personality Development
• Business Soft Skills
• IT-ICT Applications

In Human Resource and Agripreneurship Development, we have following key areas: