Transforming Agricultural Education in India

Newsletter date: 20/02/2013
National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, XI Agricultural Science Congress, Bhubaneswar, Orissa: 7-9 February 2013
Agricultural Education: Shaping India’s future
 
India’s spectacular achievements in the area of food and agriculture have historically come from major investments in agricultural education (currently at least USD 1.2 billion p.a.) and research and sound government policies. From being a food-deficit country with recurring famines, India has not only become food self-sufficient, but is now a significant grain exporter. Nonetheless, many major challenges remain: Economic and agricultural growth has not yet eliminated hunger and food insecurity, and income inequality has increased. India is home to the largest number of poor and hungry in the world, with the highest incidence of infant and child mortality and a high proportion of children stunted through inadequate nutrition. Population has tripled since the 1960s and pressure on land and water has increased, even before the effects of climate change are realized.
 
The Indian scientific establishment has recognized that India’s agricultural education needs to make rapid progress and take advantage of new ideas to keep pace with the many environmental, social and economic challenges the country faces today and into the future.
 
This important Congress, organised by NAAS with ICAR and OUAT, brought together around 700 participants, examined the reforms required to make Indian agricultural education attuned to today’s realities and attractive to the brightest of young people. A unique contribution was the inclusion of global experience on educational reforms. Papers focused on the current status of Indian institutions and on what had been required to achieve excellence in agricultural education across the world. International presenters came from a wide range of countries and organizations including the Netherlands, France, Japan, China, Brazil, Japan, the CGIAR, FAO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and GFAR. Presenters spoke on the evolution of agricultural research and educational systems in response to changing external circumstances, the evolving concepts of agricultural research and how partnerships with the private sector, think tanks and specific centres of expertise can radically redefine university functions and roles. Mark Holderness and Ajit Maru of GFAR Secretariat were invited to present papers focusing on the implications of the GCARD process and the role of educational institutions in transforming agricultural knowledge systems for greater development impact.
 
Agricultural universities have increased in number and scale in recent years, but presentations by a range of university leaders clearly set out their common challenges, including: Governance and lack of meritocracy; limited National:State coordination; fragmentation and disconnects among  research, extension and education; inadequate investment and imbalances in resource allocation, together with a lack of reforms and slow, or no, implementation of adopted reforms. Curricula and infrastructure were often described by participants as outdated, with quality deteriorating at a time when students urgently need to be taking up agricultural careers to deal with tomorrow’s challenges. 
 
Speaking for the participants of the  path for change, the Conference participants developed a Roadmap for transformative change in Indian agricultural education. This represents a real movement forward and draws extensively on the thinking behind the GCARD Roadmap, in which Congress organizers Drs Uma Lele and R. B. Singh both previously played key parts. The Congress Roadmap sets out to mobilize cutting edge global knowledge and meet local needs through greater effectiveness and impact of educational institutions and associated research and extension organizations:
 
  • This requires a clear agricultural education strategy, tuned to the new realities of agriculture and societal needs, with clear deliverables over the short, medium and long term. Doing so will require clear leaders to work on the design and implementation of reforms and strong inter-Ministerial cooperation
  • Universities must be able to generate new ideas and this requires greater administrative, financial and scientific autonomy and increased investment, beyond that of staff costs.
  • Centres of excellence and more merit-based rewards and quality assurance for research, teaching, extension and entrepreneurship were also proposed on a competitive basis, to increase impacts and active and continuous long –term relationships were recommended to be fostered with external partners, to ensure a flow of new ideas.
  • With increased investment must come effective targeting for greater impact. Increasing investments in some areas will also mean cuts and restructuring in others and some hard choices clearly lie ahead for India.
  • The Brazilian LABEX-like programs of Scientific Exchanges could also usefully be adopted into Indian institutions, as well as greater cooperation with World Bank, US, FAO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CGIAR, GFAR and other International Agencies.
  • There is a strong need for international mentorship programs for education, training and collaborative research and establishing public–private–industry partnerships and internships.
  • It is essential that Universities listen to their customers, the voices of youth, and foster the new skills and opportunities required to make agriculture and rural work exciting and attractive to young people: these include ICTs, molecular biology, entrepreneurship, nutrition and health, social sciences, ecology, food chain value addition and many others.
  • Moreover, gender equity issues have never been more publicly discussed than at present and the Congress flagged the clear need to provide innovative opportunity and mentoring for young women to enter and succeed in agricultural careers.  
The key challenge now is whether this realization can translate into real changes, given the institutional complexities involved. It is crucial that it does. India has tremendous potential and enormous human capability in its youth, but is recognized as being currently held back by its own institutionalized constraints. The Congress provided an invaluable first step along this path to change. Mark Holderness, GFAR Executive Secretary, offered GFAR’s continuing support to the Indian reform process, in fostering further international linkages to experiences and capabilities in other regions.