Is agricultural education industry ready? Review of skill set interface and curriculum strategies

Introduction

The world population is expected to grow by two billion people by 2050, bringing the total to 9.7 billion. This implies that the world will require more food [32] . This rapid population explosion drives the creation and adoption of new technology, holds enormous job opportunities, and intensifying demand for skilled agricultural professionals across the various agricultural sectors [9,16,22] . The employers look forward to some set of skills from agricultural graduates in alignment with the various sub-sectors within agriculture. Agricultural graduates require cognitive skills for better decision making, technical skills for handling various implements and interpersonal skills for the exchange of farm related information [6] . In the contemporary job market, there is a need to strengthen the agricultural curriculum to enhance the human resources in agricultural sector through two educational approaches viz., Competency Based Education and Outcome -Based Education. This integration enables students to develop higher-order skills and refine their competencies throughout the academic journey [26] . According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Job Report 2025 [33] , it is predicted that by 2030, 39 percent of today's skills will be outdated, 40 percent of skills will be new or evolving, and 59 per cent of workers will need training to stay relevant to the sector. This underscores the growing needs for technical and human-centric skills in the future workforce. But the common challenge faced by graduates is securing the right job in their domain area. This situation is primarily due to students being forced to learn, and they are not focused on practical oriented skills during their academic period which leads to a mismatch between industry requirements and students acquired skills through agricultural curriculum. In the meantime, skill mapping and matching is the most significant problem for policy makers, academicians and graduates. To align this gap, the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 focused on aligning the skills towards the industrial requirement in the agricultural curriculum. This study aimed to review skillset requirements, curriculum strategies, and policy orientation for reorienting agricultural education towards industry readiness.

Methodology

This paper was based on a review of peer-reviewed research articles, policy documents, institutional reports, and international publications. The studies were published between 2010 and 2025 and addressed skill requirements, and skill improvement strategies in the agricultural education curriculum included in this review. The literature www.extensionjournal.com was sourced from academic databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and ResearchGate. It is based on secondary data from various documentary evidence presented in a structured and thematic manner, supported by tables and comparative frameworks, to highlight the gaps and best practices in curriculum reorientation.

Skillset mapping in agricultural education

Skillset mapping is defined as the systematic identification, categorization, and assessment of competencies required for effective job performance in contemporary agriculture. This comprehensive literature review examines the current state of skills required for agricultural graduates by synthesizing evidence from competency frameworks. Diverse skills have been classified by various researchers.

Personal skillsets:

Personal skills encompass a range of skills that enable individuals to navigate personal and social interactions and to function effectively in the workplace. These skills beyond technical skills, help graduates work well with others, adapt to change, and manage their responsibilities. Agricultural graduates are expected to possess personal skills that enhance their employability. Some research has shown significant emphasis on personal skills when hiring to effectively interact, communicate, and collaborate with others in the workplace. For agricultural graduates to possess the personal skills that increasingly involve collaboration and enhance their technical skills, they should be enabled to be involved in and solve real-world problems, which improves their technical knowledge. Shivamurthy et al. (2023) [28] revealed that 12 broad areas of skills and competencies are essential for agricultural extension professionals, with soft skills ranked first, followed by entrepreneurship development and communication skills. Team building skills, communication skills and interpersonal competencies enable extension workers to facilitate multi-stakeholder processes effectively [8] . The ability to engage diverse stakeholders, build relationships of trust, and influence farmer clients represents essential skills needed for modern extension advisory roles [14] . Entrepreneurial development skills encompass multiple dimensions, including business planning, financial management, market access and innovation implementation [28] . Surono (2025) [30] stated that agricultural extension curricula must integrate entrepreneurial education to prepare graduates for self-employment opportunities and business development in agricultural sector. Financial literacy and resource management capabilities are critical components of business competence. Extension professionals must guide farmers in accessing credits, managing agricultural finances, and being proficient in subject matter concepts related to agricultural economics to strengthen the capacity of extension workers to support farmers livelihoods [28] . Integration of these skills through curriculum will ensure graduates can effectively perform agricultural extension services in the modern extension world.

Technical Skills

Technical skills refer to the specific knowledge and ability required to perform the particular task effectively, especially involving handling tools, techniques, and applying scientific procedures in the field. Technical skills are necessary to meet the demands of modern agricultural systems, including precision agriculture, data analytics, and IOT technologies, to ensure that graduates are well prepared for modern agribusiness challenges [19] . Current curricula fail to integrate advanced technologies and practical skills training needed in modern agricultural contexts [30] . The integration of Industry 4.0 competencies, including artificial intelligence and digital platforms has become essential for agricultural graduates to remain relevant in technology-driven agricultural systems. Climate-smart agricultural skill has emerged a critical requirement for agricultural graduates, and they must develop expertise in climate smart agricultural technologies, conservative agriculture and integrated soil fertility management to meet the demands from farmers. The curriculum must include this skill by incorporating training in weather variability, agronomic decisions, disease and pest management, and adaptation strategies [11] . Researchers have emphasised that agricultural industries are looking for technical skills from entry-level agricultural graduates, such as pest management, understanding plant nutrition, soil conservation, crop production, market forecasting, financial planning, pest and disease identification skill, weed management skill and value addition skill [24,25] . Ramsey and Edwards (2011) [23] identified 60 technical skills needed for agricultural graduates which were believed by agricultural industries to be conducted through a Delphi technique. However, in the agricultural curriculum in India, there are some notable technical skills gaps that affect the preparedness of graduates. These gaps include data management techniques, exposure to modern digital tools relevant to agriculture and the lack of an interdisciplinary approach to combine technical knowledge with personal skills needed by agricultural industries. Based on an extensive review of literature and policy documents, key skills were synthesized and presented in Table 1 through comprehensive competency frameworks across multiple core areas. [4] , Ghimire & Suvedi (2017) [13] , Shivamurthy et al. (2023) [28] ,

Suvedi & Sasidhar (2024) [31] Soft skills

Communication skill, writing skill, participatory approaches in extension, conducting group session and problem solving, adult education skills, apprenticeships skills, diffusion of innovation skill, decision making, time management, and stress management Aregaw et al. (2023) [4] , Easterly III et al.

(2017) [12] , Ghimire & Suvedi (2017) [13] , Lopokoiyit et al. (2013) [20] , Movahedi & Nagel (2012) [21] , www.extensionjournal.com

Suvedi & Sasidhar (2024) [31].

ICT skills Writing media design and production, Audio visual design and use Aregaw et al. (2023) [4] , Movahedi & Nagel (2012) [21] , Suvedi and Sasidhar (2024) [31] .

Research & Analytical skills

Data processing and analyzing, conducting research studies, data collection Movahedi & Nagel (2012) [21] Extension planning skill Conduct monitoring and evaluation skill, prepare workable plan, ability to use need assessment tools, strategic planning, program planning, Aregaw et al. (2023) [4] , Ghimire & Suvedi (2017) [13] ,Lopokoiyit et al. (2013) [20] Extension management skill Team work, conflict management, leadership, motivation, change management, innovation management Lopokoiyit et al. (2013) [20] Communication skill Listening skills, speaking skill, written communication Blom and Saeki (2011) [7] Entrepreneurial skill Decision making skill, risk taking, creativity, networking, time management, leadership, critical thinking, ability to prepare business plan, and negotiation skill Calvin (2024) [10]

Curriculum Strategies for Enhancing Industry Readiness

To enhance the industry readiness of agricultural graduates, curriculum strategies must focus on aligning educational outcomes with industry demands. This involves a comprehensive approach that includes competency-based training, a flexible course structure, and the incorporation of soft skills and technical skills. According to Ajao et al.

(2022) [2] , the curriculum should be reviewed regularly every 2-5 years to reflect current industry needs and technological changes. Implementing practical learning strategies includes hands-on experience through internships, farm practice, and industry attachment [2,15,27] . Enhancing the curriculum with learning activities related to technical skills in agriculture is essential and includes incorporating precision agriculture, sustainability practices, data analytics and IoT technologies into coursework [15,19] . To operationalize these enhancements, educational institutions are increasingly adopting structured interventions such as competencybased education, outcome-oriented education, work integrated learning frameworks, and industrial collaborations. Additionally, to incorporate practical skills through internships, immersion trips, group work, classroom presentations, integrating the research projects, encouraging the organization of young farmer clubs and junior farmer field schools, conducting workshops, encouraging UG and PG graduates to attend conferences and seminars, community-based project learning, and organizing summer training courses for students [18,1,5,29] ensuring that graduates not only acquire the skills but also practice them in consistently in their workplace. Figure 1 illustrate the curriculum strategies to enhance the industry readiness of agricultural graduates. Source: Anuradha,2024 and ICAR, 2017 [3,17]

Conclusion and Recommendations in Future Directions

In this article, we discussed challenges faced by agricultural graduates, mapped the skills needed for agricultural graduates, and outlined strategies to improve the skills through the curriculum. When we look at the future, agricultural industrial evolution needs more preparedness for agricultural graduates. Course curriculum developed based on the analysis of gaps through the stakeholder engagement. Graduate employability is influenced by economic growth. Recent policy also emphasized the integration of employability and innovation among the students through the curriculum. With the recent reforms in agricultural education policy being implemented through the revised agricultural curriculum, the reforms are in the early stage of implementation; therefore the outcome in terms of skills acquired by agricultural graduates can be assessed in the future. This total restructuring of the curriculum output should be matching with the industrial needs. Apart from the mapping, researchers failed to match the skills towards the agri-industrial needs. There are several statistical methodologies that should be a framework for matching the skillsets in terms of vertical and horizontal matching. Providing the continuous capacity development program for faculty members will help to understand the outcome-based curriculum, and industry -oriented teaching at UG and PG level. Similarly, foster the partnership between educational institutes and agricultural industries sectors to facilitate learning modules. Also continuously assessed the industrial needs to produce graduates who are not only technically sound but also responsive to the future challenges and innovation within the agricultural industries. In the future the level of skills needed for agricultural graduates will be studied across all agri-industrial sectors to enter the workforce. It is important to note that to understand the expectation and skills of the agricultural graduates with the agricultural curriculum.

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