B.

Com (Computer Application)- Semester VI

Course Name- Entrepreneurship Development
Topic- Agri-preneurship, Need and opportunités for
developing agripreneurship, challenges involved in
agripreneurship

Reference Video Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH9Fa3s_m5Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS6doIKtViA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DPaSp9-k4Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zObxH9qUrk8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6olSVC5Cj70

Study Material
Agripreneurship refers to entrepreneurship in agriculture. Entrepreneurship is a
concept that encompasses transforming an idea or vision into a “new business or new
venture creation, or the expansion of an existing business, by an individual, a team of
individuals, or an established business” (Reynolds et al. 1999, cited by Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor). But entrepreneurship, as opposed to self-employment, is
also defined by the spirit of the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are usually creative, take
opportunities and accept risks, and can quickly change business strategies to adapt to
changing environments. They are often innovators (Kahan, 2012). While usually being
innovative and creative, farmers often lack experiences, access to services, people, or
markets, and skills to have realistic chances to succeed as entrepreneurs
(Wongtschowski et al. 2013). In addition, agripreneurs are influenced by external,
systemic factors, such as economic and social barriers, policies, and regulations (Kahan
2012). While these constraints affect all farmers and especially all smallholders, women
and youth are particularly affected.
Rural advisory services play a crucial role in supporting farmers to become successful
agripreneurs. They provide important information and access to people, markets, and
financial services and train the farmers in the required managerial and other functional
skills. Rural advisory services can also influence policies and regulations to create an
agripreneurship-friendly environment, reduce barriers, or change prevailing values in
societies.
Agripreneurship is required because:

i. Increasing demand for organic/quality food both in India as well as abroad. Market
growth of around 15-25 per cent per year.

ii. Competitive advantages for many primary production activities in agriculture. Rain-
fed farming, tropical fruits and vegetables, livestock, animal husbandry, aquaculture,
wild craft, etc. are produced through real low cost production methods.

iii. Private sector is willing to enter into agri-business at all levels of operations.
Changing consumer demand and retail revolution has opened the doors for investment
by private sector in agri-businesses like Reliance, Bharati, Pantaloons, Carrefour, etc.

iv. To reduce mall nutrition- The women and children of the country are malnourished.
As Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said that “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the
status of its women”.

Opportunités for developing agripreneurship

Agriculture:
Agriculture has always been the backbone of the Indian economy and despite concerted
industrialization, in the last six decades; agriculture still occupies a place of pride. The
significance of agriculture in the national economy arises from the role it plays in India’s
national income, employment and export.
To quote, it contributes 22% to total gross domestic product, 66% to total employment,
and 15% to total exports of the country (Anonymous 2006-07). Agricultural products-
tea, sugar, oilseeds, tobacco, spices, etc. constitute the main export items of India.

Broadly speaking, the proportion of agricultural goods which were exported came to
50% of our exports, and manufactures with agricultural contents (such goods as
manufactured jutes, cloth and sugar) contributed another 20% or so; and total comes to
70% of India’s exports.

Not only has that, with a view to develop agriculture on commercial basis, the New
Agricultural Policy of India accorded agriculture the status of an industry. Added to this
is the WTO’s agreement on agriculture necessitating agricultural development to the
global competitive level. By now, the signs of agricultural development are perceptible
in marked shift from staples to cash crops.

To quote, the area under coarse grains has gone down from 45 million hectares to 29.5
million hectares during 1960-61 to 1998-99. On the other hand, area under cotton and
sugarcane has increased from 7.6 to 9.3 million hectares and from 2.4 to 4.1 million
hectares respectively during the same period.

Horticulture:
Horticulture is yet another agro-based important industry improving the productivity of
the land, generating employment, improving economic conditions of the farmers and
entrepreneurs, enhancing exports and, above all, providing nutritional security to the
people. Horticulture sector includes fruits, vegetables, spices, floriculture, and coconut,
among others. It covers 17.2 million hectares of land in 2003-04 which accounts for
8.5% of the gross cropped area of the country.

It contributes 30% of gross domestic production (GDP) from agriculture. With fruit
production at 47.5 million tones in 2003- 04, India accounted for about 10% of the
global production of fruits from an area of 4.0 million hectares and ranked the second
largest producer of fruits in the world.

With 90 million tones of vegetable production, again in 2003-04, India ranked as the
highest producer of vegetables in the world. Similarly, India occupied first position in
the production of cauliflower, second in onion and third in cabbage (Anonymous 2003-
04).

It is a happy augury to mention that the Government of India has launched a National
Horticulture Mission (NHM) with an objective to increase demand for nutritional
security, improve income of farmers, add value to agriculture products, and increase
availability of vegetables per person per day. As such, the NHM aims at doubling
horticulture production to 300 million tones by 2011-12 and also enlarge the area
under such cultivation to 40 lakh hectares.

Sericulture:
Sericulture, also known as ‘silk farming’ is the rearing of silkworms for the production
of raw silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori
is the most widely used and intensively studied. Confucian text reports the discovery of
silk cultivation around 2700 BC.

Later it was introduced in Europe and other Asiatic countries. By now, sericulture has
become one of the most important cottage industries in a number of countries like
Japan, China, Republic of Korea, India, Brazil, Russia, Italy and France.

Today, China and Japan are the two main producers, together manufacturing more than
50% of the world silk production each year. Sericulture industry is an oriental industry
in India and is famous for its silk products worldwide.

Sericulture is an agro-based industry. It involves rearing of silkworms from the

production of raw silk, which is the yarn obtained out of cocoons spun by certain
species of insects. The major activities of sericulture comprises of food-plant cultivation
to feed the silkworms which spin silk cocoons and reeling the cocoons for unwinding
the silk filament for value benefits such as processing and weaving.

The significance of sericulture agro-industry arises from its benefits such as its high
employment potentiality, women friendliness, value addition, high potential for income
and low gestation period. To quote, sericulture provides employment to as many as 60
lakh persons engaged in various sericulture activities in our country.

It is estimated that sericulture has potential to generate employment @11 man days per
kg of raw silk production (in on-farm activities) throughout the year. The employment
potential is par- excellence and no other industry generates this kind of employment,
especially in rural areas.

Nearly three-fifth (57%) of the gross value of silk fabrics flows back to the cocoon
growers. Thus, the large chunk of income goes back to the villages from the cities. As
regards, gestation period, mulberry takes only six months to grow for commencement
of silkworm rearing.

Not only that, mulberry once planted will go on supporting silkworm rearing year after
year for 15-20 years depending on inputs and management provided. As many as five
crops can be taken in one year under tropical conditions.

If stipulated packages of practices are adopted, a farmer can attain net income levels up
to Rs 30,000.00 per acre per year. Sericulture by employing 60% of women workers is
women friendly. However, only about 0.1% of the arable land in the country is so far
under mulberry cultivation.

Food Processing:
Food processing involves set of methods and techniques used to transform raw
ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans
or animals either in the home or food processing industry.

Broadly, food processing industries include cannery, meat packing plant,

slaughterhouse, sugar industry, vegetable packing plants, industrial rendering, etc. Food
processing provides special benefits to the society.

These include toxin removal, preservation, easing addition, all-season availability of

many foods, easing marketing and distribution tasks, and makes many kinds of foods
safe to eat by de-activating spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms.

Of late, more and more people live in the cities far away from where food is grown and
produced. Increasing number of adults is living away from the families who gets little
time for the preparation of food based on fresh ingredients. Not only that, the demand
for nutritious food considering health conditions has also been increasing day by day.

That there will be more and more demand for readymade or processed food in coming
days is already indicated by the meteoritic growth of Mumbai’s Dabbawala. Thus, food
processing industry offers yet more opportunities for entrepreneurship development to
establish and run food-based industries.

Animal Husbandry:
Animal husbandry, also called ‘animal science’, ‘stockbreeding’ or ‘simple husbandry’, is
the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock. It has been practiced for
thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals.

The popular forms of animal husbandry are swineherd (for hogs and pigs), shepherd
(for sheep), goatherd (for goat), and cowherd (for cattle). The industries that come
under animal husbandry include aquaculture, beekeeping, agriculture, dog breeding,
horse breeding, poultry, breeder, and factory farming.
Needless to mention, increase in demand for animal husbandry products has become
sine quo non with increase in population. This, in turn, underlines the need for increase
in supply of these products which, in turn, necessitates increase in number of animal
husbandry based enterprises.

Biotechnology:
An emerging area in agri-business is bio-technology. Global evidences confirm that
agricultural bio-technology has a major impact on agricultural productivity. That is why
increasing emphasis has been given to research and development in the agro-biotech
sector with an aim to produce crops with high level of tolerance against cold, heat and
salinity.

A number of improved food products have also been developed. It is expected that with
increase in investment in research and development in India, agro-biotechnology will
further develop and, in turn, Indian agriculture will develop.

Challenges involved in developing agripreneurship

Lack of Skilled and Managerial Manpower:
Rural areas also suffer from rural-urban migration mainly male migration. This results
in denudation of educated and skilled manpower in rural areas. Lack of skilled and
managerial manpower in rural areas is mainly due to the absence of suitable
educational institutions in rural areas. Moreover, people even otherwise belonging to
rural areas do not want to go back to rural areas to work due to various problems the
rural areas suffer from.

Lack of Infrastructural Facilities:

Infrastructure facilitates performing any activity. There is a need for the availability of a
minimum level of prior-built up infrastructural facilities to undertake any economic
activity including starting an enterprise. However, especially rural areas suffer from the
lack of or weak infrastructural facilities in terms of road, rail, telecommunication,
electricity, market information network, etc. This, in turn, adversely affects the effective
use of agri-resources available, on the one hand, and efficiency and mobility of labour,
on the other.

Problem of Marketing:
If proof of pudding lies in eating, the proof of production lies in consumption.
Production has no value unless it is sold / consumed. The major marketing problems
faced by agri-entrepreneurship are lack of marketing channels and networks,
promotional facilities, support system, poor quality of products, and competition with
medium and large-scale enterprises.

The enterprises run by agri- preneurs often do not possess any marketing organization.
In consequence, their products compare unfavourably with the quality of the products
manufactured by medium and large-scale organizations.

Lack of Awareness about Career in Agri-preneurship:

Assuming entrepreneurial career has not been considered respectable in the society for
one reason or other. Entrepreneurship as career has been associated with specific
sections of the societies like Gujratis, Marwari’s and Rajasthanis.

Though the impression about entrepreneur / business as inferior has gradually been
declining, yet it is still prevalent in the society. Most of the people are still not aware of
entrepreneurial opportunities, advantages, and its significance for the entrepreneur and
the society as a whole.

Inefficient or Lack of Equipments and Technologies:

Today is the era of information technology and information is considered as power.
Technology gives competitive advantages in various forms to compete with
competitors. For example, exemplifies how technology empowers the rural farmers in
marketing their products. But, either inefficient or lack of required equipments and
technology has been one of the major challenges faced by agri-preneurs especially in
rural areas.

Technology such as satellite based geographic information system (GIS) promises more
efficient use of available resources and more effective management efforts but these
technologies are lacking in most of the agri-business industries especially in rural areas.
While this affects the quality of products, it also makes the products more costly.

High Infrastructural and Distribution Costs:

Transportation facilities are pre-requites to make the inputs available at enterprise
location and outputs at the location of consumers scattered over vast territory. As most
of the agri-enterprises are located far from urban areas, these suffer from transport
problems for both inputs and outputs.

As such, either there is non- availability of required inputs and outputs at the right time
at the right place or whatsoever is available is possible at a higher cost making the
product ultimately costlier as compared to the products offered by enterprises located
at urban areas.

Here is one such example of potato produced in the hill areas of Uttarakhand. Because of
lack of warehousing facilities in the hill areas, some portion of surplus potato is
transported to the warehouses located in the plain areas. When the same potato is re-
transported to hills during the off-season, it becomes more costly, due to double
transportation costs, in the hill areas, i.e. the place of its production than at plains.

Unresponsive Government Policies:

That policy facilitates doing things in a desired and more effective manner is evidenced
by various industrial policies declared in our country over the period. There are
evidences available to believe that the various industrial policies have facilitated to set
the right tone and tempo of industrial development in our country.
Realizing this, industrial policies both at micro and macro levels have been declared
from time to time in the country. Small-scale sector has experienced impressive growth
after the declaration of a separate industrial policy for this sector titled “Promoting and
Strengthening Small, Tiny and Village enterprises, 1991.”

Very recently, the Government of India has again declared a separate industrial policy
titled “Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006.
However, there has so far not been any separate policy for agri-business in the country
and in the absence of specific policy; the desired development of agri-business sector
has been hampered.