'Demand growth has been dramatic'

Every year around 40 per cent of the country's crop is wasted due to improper supply chain management. Sensing the need for expertise in this area, the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM-L), has come up with a course in agribusiness management. Sushil Kumar, Chairman, Agribusiness Management, IIM-Lucknow, highlights the relevance of this course. Excerpts from an interview with Rayana Pandey.

What was the need for this course?

Stakeholders in the agribusiness sector are numerous and highly diverse in nature. Inter-sectoral and intra-sectoral linkages in this sector are very tight, and rules and regulations are very stringent, since the sector deals with food, the most basic need of human beings. There is a greater need in agribusiness to adapt to the changing food habits and lifestyle of consumers. Therefore, a need was felt to start a programme which, should not only teach fundamental management principles to the students but also make them understand the complexity and diversity of the sector. Moreover, with the boom in the food sector, there is an increasing demand for Agribusiness Management graduates in the industry.

How has the response been to this course?

The response to the programme has been very enthusiastic right from its first year. There are 30 seats in this programme against which we admitted 30 students in the 2006 batch. In the 2007 batch, too, we expect to admit the same number of students. However, realising the potential and scope of this programme, more and more students are showing interest in enrolling for this course.

What aspects of agribusiness does the syllabus cover?

The syllabus covers all fundamental management principles in the areas of marketing, finance, operations, human resource management, and information technology. In the field of agribusinesses the course includes micro-finance and micro-credit, rural marketing, international trade in agri commodities, agri-entrepreneurship, agri-input marketing, supply chain management, rural research methods, procurement management, agriculture finance, agribusiness risk management, emerging issues in agribusiness and food industry, commodity futures, agriculture project management among others.

Please define the structure of the course?

In the first year, the students take compulsory fundamental management classes along with general management students. The second year focuses on agribusiness sector. At the end of first year, students have to undergo two months of internship in agribusiness or food companies. In addition, the programme has a two-week field training component in which the students have to stay in rural area to get hands-on experience of the sector.

What are the job prospects for graduates in this course?

Agribusiness and food industry is witnessing unprecedented growth. Agribusiness management graduates find excellent placements in companies operating in the field of organized retail, banking and finance, agri-input supply, food processing among others. In the past, major recruiters included Standard Chartered, Reliance Retail, Aditya Birla Retail, ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential, Cognizant, Godrej Agrovet, Nestle, among many others.

How has the placement of such students in IIM-Lucknow been?

There has been 100 per cent placement of agribusiness graduates from IIM-Lucknow. The institute's placement office with active participation of students, makes every effort to match students' career aspirations with human resource requirement of agribusiness organisations. The students are being placed in companies involved in retail, banking and insurance, agri-input marketing and others.

What prospect do you foresee for such courses?

With increased urbanisation and disposable income, and changing lifestyle coupled with globalisation and liberalisation policies of the government, agribusiness and food sector is bound to witness unprecedented growth. Many national and multinational corporate houses have entered or are the process of entering the agribusiness. Such a dramatic growth will certainly need managers who are trained in the field of agribusiness.