Agri-Preneurship : Opportunities and Challenges

                                                                                    Prof. G. R. Waske

                                                                                    Assistant Professor

                                                                                    Lal  Bahadur  Shastri

                                                                                    College,Satara.

Email: 81vganesh@gmail.com

Mob. 9975213524

Abstract

Agri-preneurship means developing entrepreneurship in agricultural sector which is also termed as ‘Agri-business’. Agri business includes activities relating to production, propagation and distribution of products and services relating to agriculture, floriculture, horticulture, sericulture, aquiculture and animal husbandry. There is need of hour to developing agri-entrepreneurship in the country. The need for developing agri-preneurship in the country is justified with justification like it generates employment, promotes regional development and reduces regional imbalances in development, enables the use of local resources, increase income, and boosts foreign exchange earnings. Agri business development benefits an economy in various forms and ways, there is many opportunities available for developing entrepreneurship in agri-business in India, in general, and in rural areas, in particular.

Key words -  Agri-preneurship, Agri-business, Bio-technology, Food processing

Industries, Sericulture, Animal husbandry.

1. Introduction

              India is called agriculture  dominated country. Agriculture plays  a vital role in the Indian economy   is evidenced by the facts that it contributes 22 percent to the gross domestic products, provides employment to around 65 percent of total work force and contributes 14.7 percent of total export of the country. Agriculture forms the backbone of the Indian economy Hence Government of India has been giving increasing importance to the development of agriculture in the country.

            The word Agri-Preneurship consist  two word Agri means Agriculture and Preneurship means Entrepreneurship. In simple word agri-preneurship means developing entrepreneurship in agricultural sector.

            As per National Knowledge commission (2008)  “ Entrepreneurship is the professional application of knowledge, skills, and Competencies and / or of monetizing a new idea, by an individual or a set of people by launching an enterprise de novo or diversifying from on existing one (distinct from seeking self employment as in a profession or trade), thus to pursue qrowth while generating wealth, employment and social good.”

            Agri-preneurship means developing entrepreneurship in agricultural sector which is also termed as ‘ agri-business’. Agri business includes activities relating to production, propagation and distribution of products and services relating to agriculture, floriculture, horticulture, sericulture, aquiculture and animal husbandry.

            There is need of hour to developing agri-entrepreneurship in the country. The need for developing agri-preneurship in the country is justified with justification like it generates employment, promotes regional development and reduces regional imbalances in development, enables the use of local resources, increase income, and boosts foreign exchange earnings. Therefore this paper focuses on the theme Agri-Preneurship Opportunities and Challenges.

2. Objectives

            1)         To study the opportunities for developing Agri-Preneurship.

            2)         To Consider Challenges involved in developing Agri-preneurship

3. Methodology

            This paper is prepared entirely on the basis of secondary sources of data such as books, articles, periodicals and websites.

4. Opportunities for Developing Agri-preneurship

Agri business development benefits an economy in various forms and ways, there

is many opportunities available for developing entrepreneurship in agri-business in India, in general, and in rural areas, in particular. The recent world Trade organization (WTO) agreements have opened new vistas for agricultural development and diversification and, in turn, agri business in the member countries including India. As such, increasing opportunities have emerged for developing entrepreneurship in agri-agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, sericulture, animal husbandry and veterinary, fishery etc.

Sector	Opportunities
Agriculture	• Organic Farming • Agro-based Industry • Farm Mechanization • Pulse and Oilseeds, Post Harvest and Processing • Quality Input Production and Supply Chain
Horticulture Fruits Vegetables Flowers Aromatic and Herbal Plantation	• Organic Farming • Commercial Production • Marketing • Processing • Packaging • Off-Season Vegetables and Quality Flower Production • Commercial Flower Production • Aromatic and Herbal Plantation
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary	• Dairy Processing and Chilling • Meat Processing • Broiler and Egg Production and Marketing • Livestock Feed • Livestock Vaccine/Drug Production
Fishery	• Scientific and Commercial Production • Integrated and Intensive Farming • Carp Hatchery • Ornamental Fish • Fish Feed
Sericulture	• Silkworm Rearing Technology • Silk Yarn Production • Handloom and Textile/ Garment Design • Exports
Others	• Mass Production of Bio-Pesticides • Bio-Fertilizers Production and Marketing • Mushroom Marketing • Vermi Compost • Bee Keeping and Honey Marketing

1. 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.

2. 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 200304, 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.

3. 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 ntori 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 l more than 50% of the world silk production each year. Sericulture industry isi 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 4 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-excelIence and no other industry generates this kind of employment, especially in rural areas.

4. 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.

That India is a major food producer in the world is evident from the following facts:

Food Items	Mangoes	Cauli- flower	Tea	Banan--as	Cashew- nut	Green peas	Milk	Onion
% in the World	41	30	28	23	24	36	14	10

Source: Jha 2008.

Unfortunately, very small portion of our food production is processed for manufacturing purposes as is evident from the following figures:

Food	Production (million Tonnes)	India's rank in the word	India's Share (%)	India's Share in Exports (%)
Wheat	65	2	12	0.02
Paddy	124	2	22	18
Coarse Grains like maize	29	3	4	-
Milk	98	1	16	Negligible
Fruits	41	2	10	Negligible

Source : Jha , Alok 2008.

Likewise, the level of processing in perishable foods like fruits and vegetables (2.2%), milk and milk products (35%), meat (21%), poultry (6%) and marine products (89%) is also at a quite low level of total production. Thus, it is evident from above figures that there remains a lot of scope for agri-business or agri-preneurship development in the country.

5. 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, cuniculture, dog breeding, horse breeding, poultry, breeder, and factory farming. Needless to mention, increase in demand for animal husbandry products has become sine qua 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.

6. Biotechnology

An emerging area in agri-business is bio-technology. Global evidences confir 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 an development in India, agro-biotechnology will further develop and, in turn Indian agriculture will develop.

5. Challenges Involved in Developing Agri-Preneurship 

Developing entrepreneurship in agri-business is as much useful is not so easy and simple. In fact, there are several challenges, but not confined to the following only, involved in developing entrepreneurship in agri-business :

I.       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.

II.      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.

III.    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 agripreneurs often do not possess any marketing organization. In consequence, their p or ducts compare unfavourably with the quality of the products manufactured by medium and large-scale organizations.

IV.    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, Marwaris 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 •till not aware of entrepreneurial opportunities, advantages, and its significance for the entrepreneur and the society as a whole.

V.      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. The case given at the end of this chapter on 'E-Clzoupal', 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 agribusiness industries especially   rural areas. While this affects the quality of products, it also makes the products more costly.

VI.    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.

VII.   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 ha been declared from time to time in the country. Small-scale sector has experience impressive growth after the declaration of a separate industrial policy for this sector titled "Promoting and Strengthening Small, Tiny and Village enterprises, 1991Very recently, the Government of India has again declared a separate industry policy titled "Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) A 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 agri-business sector has been hampered.

6. Suggestions for Developing Agri-Preneurship

The evidences available suggest that there is ample scope for entrepreneurship development in agri-business sector in our country (as shown in Table 6.1) which, however, has so far not been exploited. The following suggestions may help develop entrepreneurship in agri-business in more effective manner:

• Creating Awareness about Agri-preneurship

• Development of required skilled manpower

• Development of infrastructural facilities

• Promotion and protection by the Government

• Announcement of separate industrial policy

• Development of agri-business special export zones

• Preparation of agri-business potential reports for regions across the country.

7. Conclusion

Agri-preneurship is the need of hour. Agri-business development benefits an economy in various forms and ways. The low level of utilization of available resources for agri-business purposes, on the one hand and new set of agreements of the world Trade Organization (WTO), on the other, there are ample opportunities available in horticulture, aromatic & herbal plants, bio-technology, animal husbandry & veterinary, fishery, sericulture, food processing etc for developing agri-preneurship in the country. However developing agri-entrepreneurship is not on unmixed blessing. The major problems faced in developing agri-preneurship in the country are the problems relating to marketing, infrastructural facilities, skilled manpower, information networks, awareness about career in agri-preneurship, unresponsive government policies etc. In order to develop agri-preneurship in the country, there is need to develop required infrastructural facilities, skilled manpower, awareness about the benefits of agri-preneurship, proper information network, favourable government attitude towards agri-preneurship, separate industrial policy for agri business and preparation of techno-economic potential surveys on agri-business in different parts/ regions of the country.

8. References:

1.         Donald F. Kuratko (2011): Entrepreneurship an Introduction, Cengage learing Pvt.Ltd.Delhi.

2.         Dr. S. S. Khanka (2013): Entrepreneurial Development, S. Chand & Company Pvt.Ltd, New Delhi

3.         NKC (2008): Entrepreneurship in India, National Knowledge Commission, New Delhi

4.         Dutt, Ruddar and K. P. M. Sundharam (2010): Indian Economy, S. Chand & company Ltd., New Delhi.

5.         Jha Alok (2008): Role of Dairy and food processing Industries for promoting Agri-Business & Entrepreneurship research paper in National conference at Varanasi, Nov,23

6.         Anonymous (2006-07): Economic Survey 2006-07

7.         Reserve Bank of India, Annual Report 2006-07

8.         Various Websites.