In India, among every two Indians, one is considered to be dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Around 52 % of the land area is cultivatable in India compared to11% in the world. There is a need for new approach and technology for the yet another green revolution considering the drastic change in the agricultural landscape. Though the majority of the population is depended on agriculture still the equivalent number of unemployment exists due to minimum productivity.
The base for India’s growth and development depends on the significant contribution for the economy from rural areas through agriculture which in-turn favours the growth and development of other sectors as well forming a chain which is quoted by other existing research in the literature review.
Entrepreneurship helps in developing a nation’s economy, improves production and labour market, builds job opportunities and finally increases employment rate which influenced most of the developing countries including India to encourage and support entrepreneurship for their economic development and reduced unemployment. India focused on entrepreneurial development which is nothing but an organized and regulated growth of an individual towards an entrepreneur employing cultivating entrepreneurial skills in terms of knowledge, financial support, marketing and other approaches.
Agro entrepreneurship solves the following problems:
- Reduced agriculture-related burdens.
- Assures employment opportunities especially to rural people
- Reduced migration of youths from rural to urban
- Increased economy rate
- Reduced industrial development
- Reduced urban pressure
Agri-business ventures include:
- Farm-level producers
This type includes every family who is involved in agricultural activities to increase productivity by making use of advanced technology and market demand.
2. Service Providers:
Service requirements are huge as of agriculture is considered at village levels such as borrowing of raw materials for cultivation, equipment requirements (Threshers, sprayers, seed drills, etc.,) and technical services.
3. Input Producers:
The rural population needs input such as pesticides, vermicompost, saplings, agricultural tools, etc., for the timely processing of farming activities.
4. Processing and Marketing of Farm Produce:
Post-production is the crucial stage which requires both knowledge and investment.
Obstacles in Agri-Entrepreneurship Development
1. Small illiterate owners face difficulties in converting their farm into enterprise due to lack of information, investment, innovation and market exposure.
2. Service awareness needs to be created first among farmers before promoting the same through self-employed groups.
3. Impact of free services extended by government organizations to the farmers is enormous in the promotion of services which makes the farmers neglect the services offered by self-employed teams.
4. Need of back up services by self-employed experts in terms of technical and business-related information, access to marketing agencies, essential input and tools suppliers and monitoring stations to undergo modern technological development.
5. Agri-Entrepreneurs face more legal barriers as created by specific organizations, cooperatives and private traders.
6. Hesitations from people’s organizations in utilizing huge investments and state of the art technologies affect the profitability of their organizations and ultimately results in losing the interest towards their enterprises and leaders they follow.
Scope for Agribusiness in India
1. Agricultural commodities such as temperature, sub-tropical and tropical are the gifted ago-climate of India.
2. Agricultural inputs like inorganic and organic fertilizers, feed and fodder, etc., will be in demand forever.
3. there is an increasing scope for biotechnology application in the field of agriculture to seed, bio-resist agents, microbes harvesting for bakery items etc.
4. The improved export rate for increasing the economic growth of the country. India has vast export market potential according to World Trade Organization for their agricultural commodities such as oil, fruits, vegetables, spices, cereals, etc., both in raw or processed form.
5. There is a scope for secondary and tertiary processing from the primary level for agricultural commodities during the rise in standards of productions.
6. Production of Inland, marine and ornamental fish culture due to the vast coastal line gains interest among the Indians due to their boundless opportunities and increased rates.
7. Livestock also provides tremendous scope for the rural population.
8. Bio-waste from the forest can also be utilized for production.
9. There are massive scale opportunities for beekeeping and apiary.
10. Mushroom cultivation is also taken into hands using the well-established methods.
11. Organic products demands are increasing as people have become equally health-conscious due to the increased use of pesticide in farming which creates an opportunity for farmers to shift towards the traditional way of farming.
12. Need for bio-pesticides and bio-control agents is increasing, on the other hand, for crop protection.
13. There is more potential for seed, and hybrid crops in India as most varieties of crops have attained the stage of the plateau.
14. Shift towards micro-irrigation systems and equipments that reduces the human resources have fairly good opportunities due to reduced groundwater and labour demand in rural areas.
15. Exports of vegetables and flowers cultivated under greenhouse conditions.
16. Consulting services from trained human resources will be taking care of extended agricultural systems due to the reduced resources in terms of funding from the state as well as central government.
17. Agricultural production always provides employment opportunities in terms of marketing, transport, storage etc.
Agri-Entrepreneur should be encouraged by both Government as well as the general public to increase the country’s economy. This field has a large scope of research in the Indian perspective since the agricultural sector in India is still considered as a poor sector, rather than an enterprise perspective.
References:
- Ataei, P., Karimi, H., Ghadermarzi, H., & Norouzi, A. (2020). A conceptual model of entrepreneurial competencies and their impacts on rural youth’s intention to launch SMEs. Journal of Rural Studies, 75(January), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.01.023
- Dias, C., & Franco, M. (2018). Cooperation in tradition or tradition in cooperation? Networks of agricultural entrepreneurs. Land Use Policy, 71(July 2017), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.11.041
- Kakati, S., & Roy, A. (2018). The scope of Entrepreneurship in Farmer Producer Companies : With special reference to the State of Assam . (Tezpur University). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327719821_The_scope_of_Entrepreneurship_in_Farmer_Producer_Companies_With_special_reference_to_the_State_of_Assam
- Seuneke, P., Lans, T., & Wiskerke, J. S. C. (2013). Moving beyond entrepreneurial skills: Key factors driving entrepreneurial learning in multifunctional agriculture. Journal of Rural Studies, 32, 208–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2013.06.001
- Sundar. (2016). Agribusiness scope, opportunities and challenges in india. EPRA International Journal of Economic and Business Review, 509(July), 171–178. Retrieved from https://eprawisdom.com/jpanel/upload/articles/1110pm24.Dr.I.Sundar.pdf#:~:text=Without agricultural services%2C there will,%2C agricultural insurance%2C agriculture jobs%2C
- Uplaonkar, S. S., & Biradar, S. S. (2015). Development of agriculture in India through agripreneurs. International Journal of Applied Research, 1(19), 1063–1066. Retrieved from www.allresearchjournal.com