NEW DELHI: The number of female students enrolling in agriculture-related courses has seen a 175 per cent jump in the past eight years, according to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) data.
Presently, 76 agricultural educational institutions in the country have a total intake capacity of 47,000 students. According to the data, 8,360 (23 per cent) female students were in agricultural institutions. By 2023, the figure stood at 23,030 (49 per cent).
Moreover, female students have fared better than males in terms of winning medals in agriculture. “Our data shows that 90 per cent of academic medals have gone to female students in last eight years,” said Dr RC Agrawal, deputy director general of agricultural education at ICAR.
In 2019, the government, in collaboration with the World Bank, started the National Agricultural High Education Project (ICAR-NAHEP) to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country on a 50:50 ratio. The project promoted foreign university exposure trips to students.
“Out of the 4.6 lakh beneficiaries of ICAR-NAHEP, the share of female students increased to 45 per cent in 2023 from 28 per cent in 2019. Moreover, female students constitute 42 per cent of all 2,100 students who visited foreign universities in 19 countries under this project,” Agrawal said.
Under the NAHEP, 11 female students established their own enterprises. Each of these women entrepreneurs generated an average revenue of `15 lakh per year.
Even the ratio of applications received from girls is also relatively higher than what boys send in. For instance, for every seat in UG programmes, institutions receive 31 applications from girls whereas boys only submit 19 applications.
Similar trend is visible in higher research programmes – For one PhD seat, 13 applications from girls and 11 from boys. This ratio is almost equal in postgraduate
programmes.Experts say the availability of hostels, scholarships and foreign trips, besides other opportunities were behind more female students taking to agri-studies.
Why do more girls get to agricultural studies?
The availability of hostel facilities, scholarships and foreign trips, besides a rise in agri-startups, job opportunities, food processing, agri-business and blockchain were the reasons behind the increase in number of female students studying agriculture, experts opine.