IBPS provides a golden career opportunity to Agriculture graduates to work in PSB Banks on Agriculture Field Officer post.
If you are looking for a job that does not come wrapped with expensive professional degrees, then Agricultural Field Officer is the best vacancy for you. It also helps you to stay grounded by working for Rural Development.
IBPS Agriculture Officer is a Scale 1 Specialist Officer, who lend & disburse the agriculture loan. In this blog, we are going to give you every single detail you need to crack IBPS AFO 2022 Exam.
The benefit of preparing for IBPS AFO is that the competition is narrowed down to thousands. Whereas those who are appearing in IBPS Bank PO Exam have to compete with millions for the Scale 1 Officer post.
Owing to the low competition, the cut off marks for IBPS Agriculture Officers are also low.
These two benefits make IBPS AFO the most sought career choice among Agriculture Graduates. Let’s dive in to understand what is IBPS Agriculture Officer Exam.
Name of Exam: IBPS Specialist Officer Exam
Post Name: Agriculture Field Officer
Post Type: Scale 1 Specialist Officer
Salary: 33000-35000 Rs. Per Month.
Role & Job Profile of IBPS Agriculture Field Officer:
As a Specialist Officer, job responsibilities of Agriculture Field Officer in bank are following:
Expand, distribute & promote loan products in rural area.
Generate leads by networking with farmers & potential customers in related fields.
Pre-loan inspection & follow-up in case of recovery of Loan.
Coordination with Panchayats.
Why Agriculture Field Officers are Appointed in Banks?
As per the RBI’s Guidelines to commercial banks, banks need to open at least 25% of the branches in a year in the unbanked rural area.
Public Sector Banks lend to priority sectors about 40% of their lending, and out of which 18% is reserved for Agriculture. So, services of agriculture officers are necessary for rural and semi-urban outlets of banks for extending agriculture loans.
Major loans are sanctioned for agriculture and allied fields like dairy, horticulture, pisciculture, poultry etc. An Agriculture Field Officer directly works with farmers & companies related to agriculture, rural development & its allied fields.
Who else can tell you about the working culture of Banks than an Agriculture Field Officer himself? Read the Success Story of Bank Of Baroda Agriculture Officer, Mr. Lokesh Kumar Ojha.
Agriculture Field Officer Job Description:
IBPS AFO is responsible to provide consultation regarding agriculture loans, banking products & latest technologies.
He is also responsible for verification of revenue reports, loan sanctions, promotion of various government schemes in rural & agriculture lending.
As agriculture is a priority sector, an Agriculture officer needs to stay in touch with senior authorities like NABARD, RRBs & RBI through regular review meetings to share progress.
IBPS SO Agriculture Field Officer Eligibility
The educational requirements for the Agricultural Field Officer is to have a 4-years bachelor’s degree in agriculture with 50% aggregate marks. Here is a list of 4-years degree courses for IBPS AFO:
Agriculture
Horticulture
Animal Husbandry
Fishery Science
Pisciculture
Veterinary Science
Dairy Science
Agriculture Engineering
Agriculture Marketing and Co-operation
Agro-Forestry
Forestry
Agricultural Biotechnology.
Food Science.
Agriculture Business Management
Co-operation & Banking
Dairy Technology
Food Technology
Earlier, candidates who were interested to apply for Agricultural Field Officer (scale I) post had to possess a 4-year degree in only 10 courses, but later IBPS added four more courses namely Forestry, Agriculture Biotechnology, Food Science & Agriculture Business Management.
Candidates can check the detailed IBPS SO Agriculture Officer Eligibility Criteria here.
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IBPS Agriculture Field Officer Salary and Career Progression:
The salary of IBPS Agriculture Field Officer is equivalent to Scale 1 officer. It can range from INR 33000-35000.
The allowances like DA, CCA, HRA, Medical, Petrol & Telephone bill reimbursement are included in IBPS Agriculture Field Officer Salary.
The posting of IBPS Agriculture Field Officer is generally in Rural & Semi-Urban areas. Sometimes the posting might be at remote villages & therefore promotion opportunities might not be favorable for some candidates.
Career Progression:
Promotions & Career Progression in Government or Central Jobs is dependent on a variety of factors. Unlike the private sector, your work performance does not hold a great stake in your promotion. There are certain time intervals at which an employee can expect promotion.
The Career Progression hierarchy is as follows:
Junior Management Grade Scale 1 – Entry level Management Trainee.
Middle Management Grade Scale 2 - This post is equivalent to Branch Manager.
Middle Management Grade Scale 3 - After getting a promotion, Agriculture Field Officer Scale-II can be promoted to Scale III.
Senior Management Grade Scale 4 – Chief Manager is a Scale 4 Officer.
Senior Management Grade Scale 5 – Assistant General Manager is responsible for Agri- extension, farmer meeting, R&D, training and appointment of employees.
Regional or Zonal Manager - This is one of the farthest job profiles an Agriculture Field Officer Scale I can take. Promotion to this post depends on the merit, Professional qualification & performance of AFO during his/her tenure in Bank.
General Manager – In few cases, an Agriculture Field Officer Scale I can be promoted to the General Manager too.
Every bank follows different promotion policies depending upon the number of vacancies in higher positions and business needs of the bank.
IBPS Agriculture Field Officer Syllabus PDF & Exam Pattern:
IBPS Agriculture Field Officer 2022 is a Specialist Officer post & hence its Syllabus includes professional knowledge test. Click on the following links to know more about the IBPS AFO Exam:
IBPS Agriculture Officer Syllabus PDF
There will be two phases of IBPS SO Exam for IBPS Agriculture Field Officer 2022 - Prelims & Mains. Marks scored in IBPS SO Exam will be considered for the final evaluation.
The three sections namely Reasoning, English, Quantitative Aptitude are qualifying in nature. The marks obtained in these sections will not be added for merit listing for interview.
The Exam Pattern for Agriculture Field Officer Prelims & Mains Exam 2022 are as follows:
Prelims Exam:
| No. | Paper name | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks | Time Duration |
| 1 | Reasoning | 50 | 50 | 40 Minutes |
| 2 | English Language | 50 | 25 | 40 Minutes |
| 3 | Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 | 40 Minutes |
Mains Exam:
| No. | Paper name | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks | Total Time |
| 1 | Professional Knowledge (Agriculture) | 60 | 60 | 45 Minute |
Type of questions: Objective
Time Duration: 2 hours for Prelims & 45 minutes for Mains Exam.
Negative Marking: Penalty of - 0.25 marks for each wrong answer.
Expected Changes in IBPS SO 2022 Exam Pattern: IBPS reserves the right to modify the structure of the examination. Other detailed information regarding the examination will be given in an Information Handout, which will be made available for the candidates on official website.
How to Prepare for IBPS SO Agriculture Officer?
To prepare for IBPS AFO 2022, you need to keep these handy tips in mind:
It doesn’t matter whether this is your first attempt or one of the many attempts for IBPS SO Exam, you need to put in hard work & effort to crack the exam. An overall good approach to crack the examination is as important as your preparation for sections. Do not miss out any of these sections to prepare for another one.
Avoid studying too hard. Don’t dive deep into the conceptual & theoretical knowledge. Know the important aspects of each topic asked from IBPS Specialist Officer Syllabus for Agriculture Field Officer.
Be sure that you’re following right Agriculture Field Officer books for preparation. If you choose misinforming books at first, your foundation will be flawed. So, choose books wisely. Your lecturers & Professors can help you in finding the best books for IBPS AFO Exam. A candidate can consider a book appropriate for many reasons, but a teacher always knows the books that they can read easily & effectively.
Competition in IBPS Agricultural Field Officer Exam is low compared to IBPS PO Exam. But, you must study dedicatedly. This is a golden opportunity not to be missed.
Keep a tab on IBPS SO Notification. The official notification is not released yet. To keep yourself well-informed with the latest news & changes in IBPS SO AFO Exam, you must read a newspaper or visit banking & finance related websites.
Aim for Mains & Interview. Once you start preparing for IBPS Agriculture Field Officer 2022, you must intensify your preparation for the Interview & Mains. Do not limit your preparation to the Prelims Exam only.
To ease your Agriculture Field Officer Interview Preparation, Eduncle has come up with a list of Most Asked Questions in IBPS SO Agriculture Officer Interview. You can go through these tips to create a great impression on the Interviewer’s panel as you enter the interview room.
Get Free Counselling from IBPS SO Experts.
Agriculture Field Officer Vacancy 2022 is a great opportunity for the Agriculture & Allied field graduates to showcase their professional knowledge.
Agriculture has got a prime role in Indian economy. Although Agriculture sector is not among the largest employment sectors in India, a degree in agriculture gives you the knowledge and skills to manage agricultural businesses, which is an undeniably smart career path.
Try to gain hands-on knowledge, understanding & technical skills that underpin the agricultural industry. Apart from Bank AFO, other opportunities exist with NABARD, ICAR, CSIR, Agriculture Universities, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer's Welfare, IARI.
Apart from Government Jobs in Agriculture sector, Private Sector Jobs are also on the rise with few leading names like Advanta Limited, National Agro Industry & DuPont India. Agricultural Officer aspirants can work in these organization as:
Agriculture Extension Officer
Agriculture Development Officer
Agriculture Engineer
What do you think about the future and job prospects for IBPS Agriculture Officer? Share your thoughts in comment section right below.
Thank You!
