The Department of Agricultural Economics UAS, Bengaluru was started in the year 1964 and it has gained recognition at the national and international levels. It is one of the most sought-after departments in India.

The Department of Agricultural Economics specialized in Production Economics, Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, Agricultural Finance, Developmental Economics and Policy-Oriented Research. The Department has the credit of being recognized as the Center of Excellence in Natural Resource Economics under NATP. The Department is actively involved in impact assessment and evaluation studies of agricultural development programmes and technologies. Many accomplishments are the result of faculty who set out to achieve a vision for better education. Faculty gives priority to plan and bring improvement in courses and curricula. Our commitment to critical thinking, integration across disciplines and communication skills involves more student-instructor interaction and instructional time per student.

Faculty have brought laurels to the Department through national (Jawaharlal Nehru award, ICAR Best Teacher Award) and International recognition (DAAD Scholarship, Erasmus Mundus, Visiting Fellows under IMRD, Fulbright Fellowship, Ford Foundation Grants, World Bank-Environmental Economics Overseas Fellowship).

The Department has been awarded several competitive research grants from national and international organizations like IGIDR, ICAR, DES, NATP and DBT (SCB). The Department is coordinating Indo-German collaborative research project on “Influence of Urbanization on Agriculture in the Rural Urban Interface of Bangalore” funded by the DBT, Govt. of India and DFG (German Research Foundation), for Indian and German patterns. The University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (UASB) along with the Indian partners have developed a collaborative research project entitled “The Rural-Urban Interface of Bangalore: A Space of Transitions in Agriculture, Economics, and Society” (Phase-II), which is a continuation of Phase-I started in the year 2016 with Universities of Kassel and Gottingen, Germany. The Indian research component is being funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and the German research component is financed by German Research Foundation (DFG), Government of Germany.

A collaborative international academic programme‘International Virtual Course (IVC) has been in operation since March 2020, and it is first of its kind not only in this University may be even among all the State Agricultural Universities in India. The IVC is a joint collaborative programme of four Universities, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland, Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD), Brazil, University of Nairobi, Kenya and (UASB) which represents four continents (Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). The theme of IVC is “Tackling Climate Change through Global Learning”. The course deals with the impacts and challenges of climate change as well as strategies for adaptation and mitigation in different geographical contexts and on a global level. This interdisciplinary course is aimed at students of agriculture sciences and environmental sciences from the four universities. Ten students from each partner institutions will be selected every year based on the topic of interest and motivation. In addition to their specialist skills, student’s skill will be strengthened through international learning in digitization and intercultural cooperation. Students will be trained to become global change makers and they learn in a hybrid of both online and offline. Dissemination of information/lectures by the international experts and international case study groups will be through online. This programme is expected to open up a new vista in addressing the global climate change related issues. This joint academic programme is funded by Movetia (Swiss agency for exchange and mobility) & Mercator Foundation Switzerland for a period of five years (2020-2024).

The Department has organized a unique ‘International Summer School’ for three years starting from 2017 till 2019 [2017 at Switzerland, 2018 at UAS Bengaluru and 2019 at Slovenia] on “Designing Food Value Chains to Foster the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

The Department has been operating ‘International Student and Faculty Exchange Programmes” for research and higher education in the Department of Agricultural Economics, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru.

 

 

 

 

The Department has been operating the research project on “Comprehensive Scheme for Studying the Cost of Cultivation of Principal Crops in Karnataka” funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of India, New Delhi since 1971-72 which is the key center for collection and supply of data for MSP in the country.

The Department has been operating Prof. M. D. Nanjundaswamy Research Chairfrom 18th July, 2019, for the concern for small farmers and rural communities and the commitment for creating sustainable society in memory of the renowned farmer pro revolutionary leader.

The Department has a well-equipped Computer Laboratory and a Departmental library. The students of the department have won distinctive awards and secured national and international fellowships. The Students of this department are pursuing higher education (Ph.D. and Post-doc) in reputed international institutions. Many are serving in State and Central Government services, banking and developmental organizations, private sector and also successful entrepreneurs.

Dr. Lokesha .H
Professor & Head,
Department of Agricultural Economics,
University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore 560 065.