How To Become Agriculture Officer

• Agriculture officers are well paid.

• The position of being an agriculture officer attracts honour and good fame.

• H/She boosts agricultural activities indirectly by helping farmers directly with their crops and finances.

• The agriculture industry as a whole is growing and adopting new technologies which in turn has given rise to many prominent employment opportunities solely in this industry. 

Let's dive deeply into other aspects and the role of an agriculture officer to get a better idea about it before you start preparing for its competitive exam.

Who is the Agriculture Officer?

The agriculture officer assists farmers in growing market-friendly crops which in turn helps farmers increase their productivity and earn more profit. 

He/She makes sure that crops are healthy and provides tips on crop patterns and technologies used. He checks, investigates and tests samples to make sure they are in accordance with state and local regulations.

Apart from this, an agriculture officer promotes financial products among farmers and landlords. Overall, the agriculture officer plans and supervises agricultural farms and farmers.

We will discuss more about the responsibilities of an agriculture officer in the next section. 

Work of Agriculture Officer (Roles & Responsibilities)

• He/She, along with his/her subordinate staff, implements schemes of the agriculture department. 

• He/She works with AAO and Supervisor of the department of agriculture in a team. Assist them throughout the implementation process. 

• Train farmers with the latest agricultural technologies.

• Promote the financial products of banks such as credit cards, banks, ATMs, different loans, and fixed deposits to people in rural areas, to farmers and landlords.

• Maintaining cordial relationships with farmers and potential clients to sell products of the bank.

• Work in coordination with NABARD and RRBs to ensure farming funds are employed effectively.

• He/She is responsible for the disbursal and review of agriculture loans given to farmers.

• Investigate the crop samples, health of cattle, pests and other agriculture tools used in farming.

• Report his observations to the senior agriculture authority to make sure that crop-growing activities are promoted and reviewed consistently.

Agriculture Officer Salary

The average agriculture officer salary  varies from Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000 in India. It is proportional to the department in which a person is working. The pay can go up to Rs 1,20,000 depending upon the experience level of the person in the industry. 

Important skills for Agriculture Officer

No matter how prestigious a task of an agriculture officer seems, certain skill sets are always looked upon before considering a person eligible for the job. Some of these skills are:

• Communication skills

  The agriculture officer should have knowledge of the local language of his posting to communicate with farmers effectively.
  
  He/She should be a great listener too in order to listen to farmer grievances and give them solutions to make the best out of the production.

• Computer skills

  He/She has to prepare reports using spreadsheets and word processing to present before senior authority officers, thus the agriculture officer has to be well versed in basic computer software programs. 

• Decision-making skills

  The agriculture officer has to be good in decision-making skills to analyse different situations and give productive solutions for them.
  
  For example, he has to decide whether a loan should be given to a farmer based on his financial situation, needs and history of loan repayments.

• Adaptability

  The agriculture officer has to work in rural areas and usually gets postings in rural areas only. He/She needs to be in line with computer skills and programming skills, and management skills. He/She has to deal with different clients to sell bank products such as credit cards, loans, etc.

• Problem-solving skills

  He/She needs to investigate, check, analyse, and do lots of paperwork as his daily work and has to solve different situations with his clients.

Agriculture Officer Eligibility

Eligibility criteria 

• The Candidate needs to be above 18 years of age to consider for this role. But, a person above 40 is not eligible.

• The candidate should have pursued 10+2 in subjects like physics, biology, and chemistry. 

• The candidate must have done graduation in Agriculture Engineering or any subjects mentioned above.

• The candidate must have cleared entrance exams related to agriculture profiles such as ICAR AIEEA. You can give ICAR AIEEA in three levels - UG, PG, Ph.D.

Agriculture Officer Qualification

Complete your secondary school education 

You can’t apply for this position on the basis of class 10th exam results You have to complete your 10+2 with subjects like biology, chemistry, and physics to qualify for admission to prominent agriculture institutions to gain a bachelor's degree.

Some of the popular entrance exams for the same are ICAAR AIEE, AMU EE, etc.

Earn a bachelor’s degree

The third step is earning a bachelor’s degree in any of these given subjects -  horticulture, agriculture, biology, forestry, soil science, Agronomy, and plant science. Some of the top institutions are Parul University, IIT Kharagpur, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, etc.

Consider a certificate program

After earning a required graduate degree, students can go for additional certifications in subjects like Agricultural Engineering Certification, Agricultural & Food Engineering courses, Agriculture Nutrition And Food Certification Courses, Futurelearn Agriculture, Nutrition And Food Courses & Certifications, etc.

Apply for an entry-level role 

After certifications, you can either gain experience through internships or apply for entry-level roles to gain knowledge of the working environment in the related fields. 

Determine your career role 

After the degree and other certifications, the students should decide upon their career role, which means in which agricultural sector they need to focus upon. There are several job profiles in the agriculture sector such as: 

• Agriculture Inspector - Agriculture Inspector looks after farming activities, tests the safety of crops obtained, checking the transportation quantity of agricultural products.

• Agricultural Manager - They do inspections of all sorts of farm machineries such as tractors, and hay pickers, look for diseased plants, etc.

• Farm Manager - As the name suggests, the farm manager reviews crops, livestock, operations, keeps a record of seeds, pesticides, etc. 

• Agricultural Engineer - The tasks of agricultural engineers include managing environmental and land regeneration programs.

• Agricultural Technician - The agricultural technician works on the analysis part, making reports, testing and interpreting. 

• Agricultural Scientist - The work of agricultural scientists includes horticulture, soil science, irrigation, minimization of insect and animal effects, plant breeding research, etc.

Depending upon your preferred job role, you have to clear the following government exams:

Agriculture Officer Exam

• IBPS SO

  Institute of Banking Personnel Selection conducts examinations for the role of agriculture field officer through IBPS Specialist Officer. Eligibility: bachelor's degree in agriculture/horticulture/animal husbandry.

• ICAR IEAF

  It is an exam for the job roles of senior research fellow, technologist, and junior research fellow. Eligibility: bachelor's degree in agriculture. 

• SSC

  The exam is conducted for job roles under Ministries and the Department of the Government of India for graduates.

• FCI

  The examination that selects candidates for technical and non-technical posts such as technical manager, assistant manager, etc.

• NABARD

  NABARD appoints for the position of agriculture officer, assistant officers, and office attendants.

Apply for positions

You can start applying for different positions after passing required examinations with the desired score, and qualifying eligibility. You will be selected based on your test score and final interview marks.

Conclusion

To conclude, the post of agriculture officer is in demand and promising for students looking forward to pursuing it in near future Every year many students are recruited in agriculture through a number of vacancies in different government sectors. 

Hence a promising future ahead especially if you possess all the required skills. 

Talking of career growth, the postings are mainly done in rural areas only. Hence suitable if you are considering this position in the long run without prominent salary hikes and postings in big cities.

However, one can choose among different job roles in the horticulture, food and analysis departments.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)

Q1. What should I study to become an agriculture officer?

To become an agriculture officer, you have to pursue a bachelor's degree in agriculture, veterinary science or horticulture.

After graduation, you can prepare for the government exam IBPS SO, held annually, which occurs in two phases to get selected for the position. You can also go for internships to upgrade your skills required for the position.

Q2. Who is eligible to be an agriculture field officer?

To apply for the AFO test, you have to be above 18 and have class 10th passing certification done from a certified board. Aspirants above 40 years of age can’t apply for this position. 

Q3. What is the salary of an agriculture field officer?

The average salary of an agriculture field officer in India is usually up to Rs 2.2 lakhs per year. The minimum salary can be up to Rs 0.2 lakh and the maximum salary goes up to Rs 5 lakhs.

The pay level depends upon the experience level, area of posting, and many other things. For all the information related to How To Become Agriculture Officer, read the above article completely.