Agricultural Internship Opportunity at Organic Farms in Himachal

With its vision to create Sustainable Value for Smallholders in Himalayan Ecosystems, Gram Disha Trust is about to commence a six week internship for B.Sc. Agriculture students at organic / SPNF farms of Himachal Pradesh in the second week of February.

Gram Disha Trust, Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) and the DAV University, Jalandhar are putting out this call for expressions of interest from farmers to place B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (VIII Semester) students for a six week practical training internship at their farms. As per the course curriculum of B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture, the final year students are required to be deputed in an Agro-based Industry/Institute for short practical training under Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE) programme.

Following are some points to note:

1. The University has set aside a modest amount to cover the cost of boarding and lodging of the students at the farm. This may be available by the farmers, if needed, and the students will directly pay this to the farmer.

2. The farmer may choose 1 or 2 students to stay with them.

3. There will be an undertaking from the university that students will be doing the internship on their own risk and will bear food, accommodation and travel themselves.

4. 75% attendance is mandatory for the internship in order to get a certificate in the last. All the students will have to submit a field report at the end based on their daily field notes.

5. Students will be careful about their dressing, language and general behavior. The students will not smoke or drink alcohol when with the farmers.

6. The topics of interest for the students are the following:

7. Seeds Systems

8. Soil Management

9. Horticulture (Apple, pears stone fruit etc.) Management

10. Nursery Management

11. Certification Systems (esp PGS)

12. Agro-Tourism

13. Market Linkage

14. Institutional structure management for Farmers

15. Policy Advocacy

16. Information systems for Managing Farmers data

17. Small Farmer aggregation systems and transparency

18. Traditional Mountain agriculture systems and value chains

19. Small scale processing units for small holders.

Some farmers in the Himachal Pradesh have consented to host the students and they are on the lookout for more. If any farmer undertaking organic or SPNF agriculture is interested in hosting these students, you can send your contact details and a brief profile of your farm at graamdishaa@gmail.com 

APPLICATIONS CLOSED as on Feb 12.