Dr Banarsi Lal
The contribution of women in business has been increasing tremendously at global level since the last ten years. In present era, women entrepreneurs especially women agripreneurs, represent the fastest growing category of entrepreneurship across the globe. It has been observed that women agripreneurs have strong will power, skills, risk-taking attitude and appetite for the hard work, with grit and determination to succeed. Startup India, Standup India campaigns have been enhancing the women morale and enthusiasm to do something productive for their family, local community and to the nation. The number of women participating in the entrepreneurship activities has been relatively less, when compared to the number of their men counterparts, for a number of reasons. It has been observed that women’s participation in economic activities is about 25%, while they constitute over 48% of the Indian population. Forbes India Report 2019 indicated that Indian women leaders occupy about 30% of senior corporate leadership positions in India which is higher than the global average of 24%. There is an urgent need to design the institutional strategies to support the ecosystem for promoting women entrepreneurship in general and women agripreneurship in particular, which is essential for the growth and development of India.
Agripreneurship is the synthesis of agriculture and allied sectors and entrepreneurship to generate commercially-viable products and services and high-value businesses and processes. The agripreneurship comprises of creation, development, nurturing and expansion of the agri-business enterprises in agri-based and allied sectors. It includes entrepreneurial interventions of agri-tech, farming and marketing of agri-products in organised business practices. Women play the pivotal role in the integrated development of agriculture and allied sectors. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam had said that ‘Empowering women is a pre requisite for creating a good nation, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured. Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their value system lead to the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good nation’. A Goldman Sachs Report (2018) observed that “Enabling women, particularly as entrepreneurs, benefits future generations because women tend to spend more on their children’s education and health, which should boost productivity as well”. A Report by the McKinsey Global Institute (2021) observed that the concerted efforts in minimizing the gender gap in workforce participation has the potential to add US$ 12 trillion to global GDP by 2025. Women are the future of India’s growth and development as they possess the multi-tasking skills, are predominantly focused, empathetic and good managers. Presently, the women in India contribute to about 14% of agri-business owners. It has been observed that more than 1/3rd of the total agri/rural start-ups are being managed by women agripreneurs. Increasing number of women agripreneurs are significantly contributing to the socio-economic growth, sustainable and holistic development of rural people. There is an immense scope for promoting women agripreneurship, especially because about 70% of agriculture and allied activities are predominantly managed by women.
In order to promote women agripreneurship, there is need of: (a) An institutional support mechanism (b) Access to the awareness and trainings (c) Funding sources (d) Marketing management (e) e-commerce platforms; (f) Innovative approaches to carry the products to the target customers etc. It is expected that women will dominate the workforce-trends and leadership positions in India in the upcoming years. The trend is almost similar in case of women agripreneurs. According to a recent report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), more than 30 million additional women-owned business enterprises are expected to create about 150 to 170 million jobs by 2030. The economic outlook is projected to grow dramatically as a consequence of this enabling ecosystem of women entrepreneurship. A number of agri-based business opportunities are being exploited in the agro-spheres such as agro-product processing, food packaging, export of fresh vegetables and fruits etc. This has got significant growth potential due to enhanced availability of institutional micro-finance, trainings, workshops on agri-based and allied sectors. These provisions are progressively transforming the outlook of the agripreneurship industry, with special focus on women agripreneurship ventures. This is significantly bringing the ‘inclusive growth of women agripreneurs’. Self-employed women are contributing significantly to the economic growth and development of any nation.
The Indian Government has initiated several programmes and has created various institutions/projects to foster the agripreneurship among the women in India. The ‘Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centers Scheme’ by the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad has given a boost to women agripreneurship. It has provided agri-extension activities and facilitated transfer of technology in agri-based enterprises. A significant number of trained men and women agripreneurs have been able to successfully establish and manage the agri-based technical/ consultancy extension services to farming community. The Indian Govt. has emphasized on innovative practices to nurture the agri-business enterprises among the rural women. This will create employment opportunities in a large scale, ensure social and economic equity, inclusive growth, achieve self-reliance through agri-based start-ups. ‘Organic Sikkim”has been successfully making agri-farmers to earn about 20% higher income by eliminating the middlemen and discovering newer markets for their agri-products through Sikkim’s organic retail stores. The stores are predominantly managed by women agripreneurs. Through the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme, the Government has been promoting agripreneurship by extending technical and financial support. The scheme has enabled the localised incubation ecosystem through State Agricultural Universities(SAUs) and ICAR Research Institutions. Agripreneurs are given structured training under this scheme.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has been managing a variety of agri-businesses and women agripreneurs enterprises, in partnership with many NGOs, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Projects of corporate and large organisations. Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) has promoted and nurtured thousands of micro, small and medium women agripreneurs. MFIs have helped transformation of lakhs of rural women in India. Women Entrepreneurs Access Connect Transform (WeACT) is a national level network of women entrepreneurs, where the interventions undertaken are executed in collaboration with Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDIl), Ahmedabad and Accenture Pvt. Ltd. along with many other partners. The institutionalised capacity building, integrated marketing linkages and digital support systems have enabled the rural women to have profitable and sustainable enterprises.
The efforts made by the Indian Government has significantly boosted the confidence of women agripreneurs and their overall development, self-reliance, socioeconomic empowerment and thereby self-actualisation. This will help in attaining balanced regional development as women agripreneurship are mostly from the rural areas. This is also reducing rural-urban migration. There are several challenges faced by women agripreneurs in starting and managing the agri-enterprises such as dual responsibility of home and enterprises, lack of support from the family, lack of information sources, lack of awareness and training, competition with established corporate players, lack of market awareness and knowledge, lack of knowledge in packaging, branding, accounting, the fear of failure, low risk-taking capacity etc. Women entrepreneurs also face infrastructure challenges such as lack of storage and warehousing, lack of electricity, lack of road connectivity etc. Indian women agripreneurs have been making significant strides in establishing agri-enterprises.Govt. of India has made many policies for their awareness and trainings, improving access to funds/credit facilities. and is supporting them to establish enterprises and start-ups. Women empowerment will be helpful in attaining the gender equality and breaking the gender stereotypes.
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