New Delhi, April 4 – The National Agriculture Higher Education Project (NAHEP), launched by ICAR and the World Bank, has increased graduate placement rates and expanded practical training and industry links, a new report has said.
The World Bank report stated that graduate placement rates for agricultural degree courses in India rose from 41 per cent to 67 per cent between 2018 and 2023, supported by over 800 formal agreements with companies for internships and placements.
About 27 per cent of agriculture graduates earn at least 20 per cent higher remuneration than their peers outside the sector.
University incubators supported over 120 start-ups, while private-sector placements at Assam Agricultural University rose from 5 per cent to 56 per cent.
NAHEP financed 749 learning and innovation facilities between 2018 and 2024, including simulation labs, smart classrooms, language labs, and e-content studios, the report said.
"Demand for agricultural higher education in India surged between 2017 and 2024, yet many programs lagged behind labour-market needs. Curricula remained theory-heavy, practical training facilities were limited, and ties with agribusiness employers were uneven," the report said.
Applications for undergraduate agricultural admissions through the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) entrance examination more than doubled from 236,931 to 527,114 from 2019 to 2023.
Earlier, women and students from disadvantaged sections faced barriers entering high-demand fields and accessing top institutions, but women achieved a 71 per cent placement rate in the 2024-2025 period.
Targeted scholarships helped students from Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Economically Weaker Sections, and Persons with Disabilities access higher-ranked institutions.
NAHEP reached over 8 lakh students and faculty between 2019 and 2024, nearly half of whom were women.
The report outlined that India's near-term focus would be to consolidate NAHEP-era reforms while closing persisting gaps in digital agriculture, climate-smart technologies, and agribusiness management, and to systematically track labour-market outcomes.
"Building on sustained dialogue with ICAR and state counterparts, the World Bank is actively pursuing a follow-on engagement to deepen outcome-based curricula, strengthen bridges between short courses and degree programs, and expand university–industry partnerships," the report noted.
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