Association of Indian Organic Industry (AIOI) & Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) Curates online digital course to encourage agriculture and allied science students for entrepreneurship and empowerment in organic industry
Hyderabad : In a virtual event held recently, AIOI and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) announced an online certificate course in Skill and Entrepreneurship Development in Organic Products that was launched by Shri. Santosh Sarangi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education, Government of India in the presence of Mr. M. Raghunandan Rao, Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Telangana, Dr. V. Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor, PJTSAU, Mr Raj Seelam, Chairman, AIOI and Dr. P V S M, Gauri, CEO, AIOI.
The aim of this initiative of AIOI is to cater to the needs of the organic Industry with skilled manpower in various area specific to organic operations. This course has been specifically designed for promoting Atmanirbhar (entrepreneurship) and empowerment for employment in the organic Industry.
Mr. Santosh Sarangi, Additional Secretary in his inaugural address said “we applaud a first time alliance of an agriculture university with a private sector organisation to further the organic revolution in India. He congratulated AIOI members for taking this lead and expressed support to the organic industry to enable build capacity for strengthening the organic food sector in India and enhancing employment opportunities and for making an Atmanirbhar Bharat. This initiative will go a long way in research and commercialisation of technologies as well as awareness of the requirements of organic sector. This was a much needed initiative to build and develop capacity for strengthening the organic sector”.
Shri M. Raghunandan Rao, Secretary Agriculture & Cooperation Department, Government of Telangana added, “if such programs could be initiated for the state government agriculture extension workers to work as trainers for training aspirants in this sector, it could lead to large scale adoption of organic agriculture.”
Dr. Praveen Rao, VC, PJTSAU in his keynote address opined that controlling weeds was a major challenge in organic farming and said that use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and drone technology applied on a large scale in organic farming ought to be included in the curriculum.
Raj Seelam, Chairman & Director, AIOI said “the market for organic products worldwide is about 110+ billion dollars and growing at 8% to 10%. India has exported organic products worth USD 1 billion in 2020-21. This can increase to USD 10 billion dollars with the right policy and efforts. The Indian market is also growing at 20% to 25% and presents a huge opportunity. The critical challenges for the industry to make good use of this opportunity and increase the market for organic products is to firstly ensure the supply of raw materials with organic integrity and people with understanding of organic with the right skillsets”.
He further said AIOI has collaborated with PJSTAU to launch an online organic course to encourage more young people to come forward and fuel the organic movement and also gain a better understanding of the sector for those interested in working in the organic sector and those who want to be entrepreneurs. He also added they will be adding more courses In future.
Dr P V S M Gouri, CEO, AIOI in her welcome address said that Government support for the organic industry and consumers’ expenditure on health and wellness products have both increased and there is a great potential for organic products with profitability for business goals. To harness this potential there is need for skilled manpower in the industry for uniform understanding of the operational requirement at each of the process right from farm to fork to retain the organic integrity of the organic product
The launch was attended by participants from organic industry, state Government officials, academia, farmers’ associations, exporters and certification bodies.
Those interested in the course can log onto www.aioi.org.in and register for the course.