What is An Agriculture Officer? 

Agriculture is a vast field that offers numerous career options. Agriculture officer is one of the most sought-after and well-paying jobs in the agriculture sector. Agriculturists interested in pursuing a career can choose from a wide range of work opportunities in different fields such as horticulture, fisheries, dairy science, or food science.

If you desire to become an agriculture officer in the government agricultural sector, you need to appear in entrance exams like IBPS and NABARD. It offers you a better salary and additional benefits such as insurance coverage and job stability. Private sector companies also offer higher pay as well as other benefits. 

Before preparing for the exam, go through this article to know every detail about this position. This will allow you to understand the subject better and help you move forward in the right direction. In this article, we have provided all the prerequisites for an agricultural officer career path in India.

What is an Agriculture Officer?

If you have decided to pursue the field of agriculture as an agriculture officer, you will have to assist farmers in cultivating the most productive crops using your agricultural knowledge. You will have to ensure that all farming operations and products are in line with the requirements of local and state regulations. You will need to examine, audit, and analyze agricultural products.

Inspection

An agricultural officer needs to conduct inspections of the crop, livestock, and horticultural items of farmers to help them identify harmful infections, diseases, and growth rates of crops. 

Testing

An agricultural officer needs to take samples of plants, animals as well as other products, including animal feed, and deliver them for testing purposes to labs. Regular studies conducted by them can also contribute to the prevention of common diseases for animals.

Create reports

Report writing is a crucial aspect of the job of an agriculture officer. An agriculture officer must write reports on observations or findings in tests or for advice or suggestions to farmers on the best way to proceed and get better results. These reports often include strategies for cultivating crops or safety guidelines.

Organizing

An agricultural officer plans, organizes and supervises all farmers and agricultural farms. It is their responsibility to manage the farm effectively and ensure that the business isn’t affected so that the farm is financially viable.

Responsibilities of an Agriculture officer

The primary responsibilities of an agricultural officer are to research, examine, and test agricultural products to ensure that they comply with all required local and state regulations. The primary duties of an agriculture officer include:

• Reviewing the farming practices to make sure that they meet regulatory standards requirements.
• Collection of samples from plants, animals, soil and other products of the farm.
• Monitoring the farm’s financial performance.
• Sending the collected samples to concerned laboratories for analysis.
• Keeping farms and farmers updated on new agricultural practices.
• Working with agriculture scientists in the field of agriculture extension.
• Reporting to the concerned authorities based on the observations.
• Assessing the practices of crop cultivation and safety requirements.
• Examining farm animals for their health.

Other Job Details

Workplace of An Agriculture Officer

Agriculture officer spends much of their time on a farm and on field visits. The job demands physical work at times in extreme weather conditions. The officer needs to prepare for the next year, sell the agri-produce, and maintain the equipment necessary to run the farm successfully. It is not a job that requires excessive physical effort. However, the ability to think and be mentally strong is needed.

Travelling Need of An Agriculture Officer

An agricultural officer’s job demands travel to farms depending on the location of the farm property. There are times when they are also working indoors, developing actions plans.

Employment Shifts

An agriculture officer’s job demands work both full-time and part-time. The majority of agriculture officers work in full-time positions, but schedules can vary based on their duties and the duration of their responsibilities. An agriculture officer typically works 40 hours per week, with increasingly tricky assignments requiring additional shifts. 

Agriculture officers are employed for nine hours per day, roughly 40 hours per week. The work of agricultural officers falls under specific shifts, but they could spend more time solving the issues. People who choose careers as agricultural officers have to work on large-scale projects for 9 to 10 hours per day to fix the mistakes.

Also read – Why Agricultural Income is Not Taxable in India?

Employment Nature

The employment of agricultural officers may be permanent or contractual. The officers function as teams within their organizations. They share their work with their supervisors and interact with farmers and farm laborers.

How can I Become An Agriculture Officer?

Let us now discuss becoming an agriculture officer after the 12th standard.

Complete 10+2

Students are required to finish a 10+2 degree in science or agriculture stream, with an aggregate of 50 percent marks or an equivalent from a recognized board. 

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Entrance Examination

Numerous agriculture colleges and universities conduct entrance exams for admissions in the agriculture stream. All interested candidates must appear in the entrance test of their respective colleges and universities. 

Graduation in Agriculture

All the successful entrance exam candidates will be given admissions in agriculture bachelor’s level programs. Here is a list of some popular bachelor’s programs offered by various agriculture universities across India.

Popular Bachelor’s Level Programmes in Agriculture

• B. Sc. Agriculture
• B. Sc. Soil Science
• B. Sc. Plant Science
• B. Sc. Agronomy
• B. Sc. Horticulture
• B. Sc. Fisheries
• B. Sc. Agricultural Engineering and Technology 
• B. Sc. Forestry

Post Graduation

After attaining a bachelor’s degree in agriculture, the students have many career options in front of them. Let’s discuss these options one could consider for the future.

Option 1 

After completing an undergraduate degree, the agriculture student can prepare for various competitive exams like IBPS Agriculture officer, UPSC exams, and many more. For more details, check – Competitive Exams After BSc Agriculture.

Option 2

After successful completion of the graduate-level program, students who are further interested in higher studies may pursue post-graduation in the field of agriculture, with specialization in various streams such as soil science, plant breeding and genetics, horticulture, agriculture extension, fisheries, plant pathology, entomology, plant biotechnology, agronomy, and many more.

What is the Salary of An Agricultural Officer?

Agriculture Officer salary in India ranges between ₹ 3 Lakhs to ₹ 8 Lakhs, depending on the education and previous experience of the candidate. Central government institutions typically pay more than state government agencies.

Frequently Asked Questions – Agriculture Officer