Who Can Opt for Agriculture Optional?

Several students choose Agriculture Optional as it is a scoring subject essential for understanding the nitty-gritty of our country’s main occupation. If you are a student from agriculture, botany, zoology, or any science domain, you can take up this subject as an optional. Prior knowledge in science is mandatory to choose Agriculture Optional; otherwise, it will be a tough phase for the students to prepare.

Earlier, even agriculture students did not like to take agriculture as an optional. But in recent years, the majority of students choosing Agriculture Optional are non-agriculture students. Mostly, they are engineers from mechanical, civil, chemical, computer, or other fields, as well as botany and B. Pharma students. Most students believe Paper I is easy to handle, but Paper II needs more effort. The reality is quite different; Paper I is easy in terms of questions but not as scoring as Paper II​.

Many students who opt for Agricultural Sciences come from poor economic backgrounds and are hence hardworking and desperate to make the cut. This attitude, coupled with dedicated efforts in the right direction, helps many from this background succeed in getting into the services​.

With repeated droughts, soaring costs of agricultural inputs, and increasing farmer suicides, the need to promote modern farming techniques is important. In an agrarian economy like India, a large number of agriculture graduates opting for Civil Services is a comforting trend, as their skills can be put to effective use to benefit new-age farming communities. However, it remains to be seen how agriculture students contribute to the modernization and improvement of the problematic agricultural scenario in the future.

• Syllabus Size: The syllabus is not vast compared to other optional subjects, allowing for better time management.

• Overlap with Botany: Most questions in Paper II are from botany, making it easier for botany students to answer.

• General Studies Overlap: A few topics and sections of Agriculture Optional overlap with General Studies.

• Strategic Thinking: Unlike other science subjects, agriculture requires some sophisticated thinking as it includes strategic elements.

• Scoring Potential: Aspirants with precise practice can acquire more marks. The basic and fundamental topics of agriculture come under the GS paper, making it easier to prepare. You just have to revise them after studying for the UPSC Prelims. Concepts like agriculture customs, cell structure, and more are covered in General Studies.

Of course, it is.

There is a myth that agriculture is more scoring than botany. Please don’t keep this in mind while preparing. Both are science subjects, so if you know your concepts, you can score equally in both. Both subjects have an equal percentage of topics that aspirants have to memorize. Think of families (cryptogams, phanerogams) in botany, and horticulture and pathology (diseases and measures) in agriculture.

Agriculture gained popularity among botany/life sciences students after CSE 2013, in which the botany paper was a bit difficult, and the agriculture paper was very easy. But in CSE 2015, 2018, 2021, both of these optionals were on equal footing. So, please do not hold opinions of one optional being easier than the other. Any optional demands the right strategy and interest to excel​.

The trend in UPSC Agriculture Optional questions over the last 20 years has shown a consistent pattern where:

• Direct and Predictable Questions: Most of the questions are direct and predictable, covering the core areas of the syllabus like agronomy, plant genetics, agricultural economics, and forestry.

• Interdisciplinary Nature: The interdisciplinary nature of agriculture means that questions often require integrating knowledge from various fields, including crop production, rural development, and animal husbandry​.

• Practical Application: Increasing emphasis on the practical application of agricultural knowledge, such as questions on precision farming, biofertilizers, and the impact of agricultural policies.

It takes about 4-5 months if you study agriculture for 12-15 hours per week. This should be enough. Also, it depends on how much you can recall your graduation concepts. Plant breeding is the most conceptual, time-consuming, and scoring part of the syllabus, while horticulture and pathology require note-making and revising skills to retain the topic.

1. For detailed guidance and previous year question papers, you can refer to resources like Agrimly IAS.