Entrepreneurship Skill Development for Graduate Students of ANGRAU at ICAR-NAARM

Entrepreneurship Skill Development for Graduate Students of ANGRAU at ICAR-NAARM

ICAR-NAARM conducted 21-days training programme for graduating students of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) on Entrepreneurial Skill Development during 14^th February – 06^th March 2019. The programme was conducted under NAHEP- Institutional Development Plan (IDP) scheme. The first batch of 45 students of final year of B.Sc. in Agriculture/Agricultural Engineering from five different campuses under ANGRAU attended the programme.  The programme was specifically designed for agri-graduates to orient them about variety of skills related to entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of agribusiness. The programme had a right blend of pedagogies including classroom lectures, hands-on practices, exposure visits to institutions and industry, experiential sharing by entrepreneurs and group assignments. The trainees also participated in yoga sessions every day in the morning.

The young minds were given opportunities to brainstorm to identify the problems with opportunities for entrepreneurial innovations, working with their team to validate their hypothesis, got feedback from startup experts, refining the business plan and finally making pitch presentation. The students got opportunity to interact with more than 10 founders and CEOs of new and established enterprises. They also visited different agricultural markets and interacted with the market functionaries. The participants visited 4 villages and collected information from about 100 farmers to understand the crop cultivation and marketing patterns. The participants have rated this programme 4.5 out of 5 in the feedback captured immediately after the conclusion of this programme. Dr.Ch. Srinivasa Rao, Director, ICAR-NAARM, in his valedictory address, advised the trainees to aim high in their life and explore the possibilities of becoming entrepreneurs. He also emphasised that interested students can get continuous hand-holding support from a-IDEA of the Academy. Dr. S.K.Soam, Joint Director has stressed the growing importance of Artificial Intelligence and latest ICT tools for its potential applications in agribusiness in the future. Dr.Ranjit Kumar, Dr.K.Srinivas and Dr.N.Sivaramane were the course directors of the programme.

Student-participants of first batch of ANGRAU with NAARM Faculty