Agriprenuer — The new mantra of entrepreneurship

Agripreneurship is defined as generally, sustainable, community- orientated, directly marketed agriculture. Sustainable agriculture denotes a holistic, systems-oriented approach to farming that focuses on the interrelationships of social, economic, and environmental processes.

1. Entrepreneurship is a process of change comprising the following three behavioral components:

a. The identification, evaluation and exploitation of an opportunity.

b. The management of a new or transformed organization so as to facilitate production and consumption of new goods and service.

c. The creation of value through successful exploitation of new idea (i.e. innovation).

2. Entrepreneurship is the dynamic process of creating incremental wealth. This wealth created by individuals who assume the major risks in terms of equity, time, and/or career commitment of providing value for some product or service. The product or service itself may or may not be new or unique but value must somehow be infused by the entrepreneur by securing and allocating the necessary skills and resources (Robert Ronstand).

2. Agripreneurship Development:

There are so many areas and sub-areas in agriculture. Within each area, enormous number of commodities is available. Based on the needs, agro-climatic conditions and available resources, agripreneurs can adopt some commodities and flourish on it. On other hand, there are uncounted jobless agriculture graduates looking for jobs. 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.

The agriculture production is much less in comparison to many other countries. Therefore, it becomes essential to train these jobless agriculture graduates agri-business management and also provide finance to develop their own business in agriculture.es.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”.

3. Supports and Incentives for Agripreneurship and Agri-Business Development:

There are a number of Government and Non-government agencies supporting agripreneurship development through public-private partnership.

Some of them are listed as follows:

I. The Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has launched a unique programme to tap the expertise available in the large pool of agriculture graduates. Irrespective of them being fresh out of colleges or not, or whether currently employed or not, can setup Agri-clinic or Agri-business Centre to offer paid professional services for enhancement of agricultural production and income of farmers — The Ministry of Agriculture, Government of IndiaII. “Small Farmers Agri-business Consortium (SFAC), New Delhi, the implementing agency is providing free start-up training to graduates in Agriculture, or any subject allied to Agriculture like Horticulture, Sericulture, Veterinary Sciences, Forestry, Dairy, Poultry Farming, Fisheries, etc. Once Agri-entrepreneurs setup their agriclinics and agri­business centres, SFAC will also support in establishing linkages for sustainability” — Small Farmers Agri-business Consortium.

III. “National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (NIAEM), Hyderabad, is coordinating two months training programme for agri-entrepreneurs through selected institutes across the country. The course comprises of entrepreneurship and business management, as well as skill improvement modules in the chosen areas of activity by the agri-entrepreneurs” — MANAGE, Hyderabad.

IV. “National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), vide circular dated 23/07/2001, loans will be provided by banks for setting up agri-business centres. An individual can avail loan for the outer ceiling project cost of Rs. 10.00 lakhs and for joint/group projects, the ceiling is Rs. 50.00 lakhs, pro-rata” — NABARD.

V. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra (PIRENS) Babhaleshwar has been designated as a recognized training center by MANAGE, Hyderabad after taking cognizance of its innovative extension methodology and unique professionalism in providing vocational training for rural youths.

As like this trend mystartupyatra (mystartupyatra.com) is supporting to Agriprenures especially women startups and also eventing new things.