"As India's agricultural sector begins to compete with the other constituents of 'global village', its future must be in the hands of suitably trained agri-business management professionals," says John Hamilton, a former chief executive of Cargill Seeds (India). In order to cater to burgeoning demand, the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad, an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Agriculture, took the initiative to start a two-year post-graduate diploma in agri-business management (PGDABM) in 1996.

Established in 1987, MANAGE has already made its mark nationally and internationally in the field of extension management, training and process consultancy. The programme is open only to agricultural graduates. It has already been recognised by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi. According to Dr T K Chakravarty, director (HRD & Agri-business), "The PGDABM programme is not yet another MBA programme and does not intend to produce mere managers but rather, agri-business managers, who are qualified and capable agricultural technologists equipped with managerial skills."

The students are provided inputs by in-house faculty and guest faculty drawn from prestigious institutes and the industry. Senior practising managers from leading agri-business firms provide continual practical exposure to agri-business industry. Stress is on teamwork and interaction between faculty and students. Says S K Arora, a former director general of MANAGE, "The course aims at imparting training in team development through the Coverdale (UK) experiential learning approach. We believe that today's agri-business companies require effective leaders who can elevate the team rather than just being good managers of entrepreneurs." The courses are so designed that the students gradually move from a foundation in general management to understanding the intricacies of agri-business sectors, like agro-chemicals, seeds, food processing and oil-seeds, etc. One trimester is devoted to summer project in which students work with agri-business firms in order to get hands-on work experience in real life situation. Theprogramme is fully residential with an intake of only 24 students, who work with agri-business firms in order to get hands-on work experience in real life situation. The programme is fully residential with an intake of only 24 students per batch.

Job opportunities exist in MNCs, national companies and public sector companies in agri-input sector (pesticides, seeds and fertilisers, etc.), agri-output sector, commodity procurement, food-processing, agri-exports, backward linkage and extension. Says Rrituraj Sharma, a student, "Most of the job openings are field oriented -- at least for a couple of years -- and involve a lot of travelling. Freshers are usually hired in the middle management cadre and the scope to rise up the hierarchy is unlimited. The work is challenging and involves a high degree of creativity at the same time. One has to be comfortable with the farmer as well as corporate bigwigs at the same time." Already, 80 per cent students of the 1998 batch have been placed with companies like Marico Industries, ITC-Zeneca, ICI-Zeneca, Searle and EID Parry as management trainees and many other companies are expected to come for campus recruitment in the next few days.