The Union government plans to set up an Agriculture Council to regulate agricultural education and curb the spread of private colleges that award degrees without proper standards, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on 14 October 2026.

Chouhan was speaking at the 10th national convention of Agrivision in New Delhi, according to a PTI report carried by Daily Excelsior and a Bhasha report carried by ThePrint Hindi.

What the minister announced

According to both reports, Chouhan said the unregulated growth of private agricultural colleges and the issue of substandard degrees will be stopped. He said the council would be formed soon but did not give a date or a legal framework.

He also said that anyone running an institution that sells degrees for fees alone will not be allowed to continue. Securing the future of agriculture students is the government's first priority, he said, and B.Sc. (Agriculture) and M.Sc. (Agriculture) degrees must be respected.

Chouhan said he would meet student and farmer representatives within 15 days to a month to prepare short-term and long-term action plans based on the convention's recommendations.

Why it matters

Agriculture graduates are hired by state agriculture departments, banks, input companies and research bodies, and many recruitment rules list an agriculture degree as an essential qualification. Colleges that lack laboratories, farmland or qualified teachers can leave graduates with credentials that employers and regulators may later question.

No list of affected colleges was released, and the reports did not specify how existing students would be protected once a regulator is in place.

How students can check an agriculture college

Before admission, students should confirm that the college is affiliated to a recognised state or central university and check whether the programme holds accreditation from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which publishes lists of accredited institutions. Students should also ask the college for evidence of its farm land, laboratories and faculty, and verify affiliation directly on the parent university's website.

Sources

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Agriculture educationAgriculture CouncilPrivate collegesRegulationDegree standards

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