Job openings rise for horticulture graduates

Farmers, exporters seeking their services for higher yields and returns.

FAISALABAD: As farmers ramp up efforts to increase productivity of their land and exporters strive to fetch more return on their products, the demand for graduates in the field of horticulture grows significantly, leading to better job opportunities for fresh graduates of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF).

Awareness of horticulture business is increasing, with which job openings are also emerging and salaries of graduates in horticulture, entomology, agriculture business, social and environmental sciences are rising rapidly, UAF says.

According to UAF, its graduates in these fields are finding jobs at a faster pace with higher and attractive packages and rapid career progress for many of them.

Talking to The Express Tribune, UAF Director Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Dr Asif Ali said top graduates of the university’s agriculture business and horticulture degree programmes were getting starting salary of over Rs50,000 a month.

He described the pay at the beginning of the career as quite attractive compared with graduates in other disciplines who were finding it harder to find employment.

In an effort to capitalise on this changed behaviour, companies needed access to quality talent, he said, adding UAF had swiftly become the school of choice for the companies looking to recruit qualified graduates.

Ali said pesticide firms, fertiliser producers, landscaping companies, interior designers and nursery producers were looking for and hiring UAF degree-holders in horticulture at handsome remunerations.

Exporters of fruits and vegetables are also approaching the UAF management for hiring such graduates to take benefit of their knowledge in export of fresh fruits and vegetables to the international market.

“It is not just the starting salaries that are high as many graduates report earnings of more than Rs100,000 a month barely five years after graduation, though these were some of the best students during their studies,” said Ali.

Some of the brilliant brains from the university are working with US agriculture biotechnology company Monsanto, United States Agency for International Development, Australian Water Project, Agriculture Support Fund (ASF) and California Department of Food and Agriculture. “They are earning over $2,000 a month as starting pay,” Ali said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2013.

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