Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Gramin Vikas Pratishthan’s has been an outstanding charitable institution & is very popular. The increasing demands of society & self-employment opportunities, besides many other factors are responsible to force the founder of Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Gramin Vikas Pratishthan’s to start a humble beginning in the area of education in Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering & Technology. The efforts were recognized in the year in 2000 by granting permission to Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Gramin Vikas Pratishthan’s to conduct Diploma Courses. It is situated in the heart of Karjat Taluka in Ahmednagar districts (Maharashtra)
By recognizing the need of attention toward agriculture and by focusing on development of rural students, institute has started four year degree course (B.Sc Agriculture) with intake capacity of 120 from year 2009 and B.Tech (Agril. Engg) with intake 40 from this academic year 2014.
About B.Tech (Agril. Engg) Degree Programme:
Agricultural Engineering is basically an area of engineering concerned with the applications of knowledge and principles of all the engineering branches in the field of agriculture for the design, construction and improvement of farming equipment & machinery, structures, processes to mitigate the problems related with agriculture and food processing. Agricultural engineering combines the disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical, electronics, computer science and chemical engineering with a basic understanding of biological sciences and agricultural practices.
Agricultural Engineering has mandate to focus its research on development of technologies/precision equipment in the area of farm machinery and power engineering, precision farming, post-harvest engineering, protected cultivation and renewable energy. These researches include designing improved tools to work the soil and harvest the crops, design & development of water resources for agriculture and systems for irrigating and draining the land wherever necessary. This field has bright prospects of job opportunities across the globe where an agricultural engineer can work in the sectors of farm machinery, soil & water conservation, processing, packaging, transporting, and distributing the food and fiber products.
The department is committed to focus on bringing excellence in teaching-learning and research-development activities through judicious utilization of vast infrastructural facilities in the form of laboratories, class rooms, research centre and computing facilities available.Duration of degree program is 8 Semester (4 years ) with total 183 credit load. The course includes theory & Practical's of various Agricultural Engineering subjects. The important feature of the course contents is that it includes teaching of Basic Science (Math's , Physics, Chemistry etc), Agricultural Sciences (Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture, Extension and Economics) and Engineering courses(Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and Computer). In case of Agricultural Engineering, it includes Farm Power and Machinery, Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Processing and Food Engineering, Farm structures, Electrical and other Energy Sources, Cafeteria Courses and Agricultural Engineering Project work. The work experience/in-plant training is given by deputing students at various training centers/institutes all over India for the entire period of 8th semester. The experiential learning given for one whole semester builds practical skills and enterpreneurship among the graduates and aims to deal with work situations and for better employability and self employment. The student's academic activities involve delivery Seminars, Project Work based on Departmental Research,Presentations of Summer Training Reports etc. The challenges like quality Food Production and Processing, Rural Employment & Hi-tech Agriculture Operations are resolved by acquiring Agricultural Engineering & Technology-skills.
Besides the advanced infrastructure and facilities available with the department to meet out the objectives of these disciplines, department always takes efforts to arrange study tours, field and industrial visits and training programmes for students so that they should become practical ‘Agroneers’ and ‘Agropreneurs’.