Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship (JMME) 15

ISSN : 2231–167X, Impact Factor: 6.889, Volume 13, No. 02, April-June 2023, pp. 15-19

A STUDY OF INNOVATIVE FARM BUSINESS IDEAS TO

EMPOWER WOMEN THROUGH AGRIPRENEURSHIP

Dr. N Nagaraja
Dr. Prathima V**

ABSTRACT

A woman's contribution to the growth of agriculture is vital, and women entrepreneurs can
contribute to society's transformation. Women are demonstrating their potential via their ingenuity,
talent, and hard work, yet Agripreneurs are confronted with additional difficulties and difficulties both in
the beginning and in the management of an enterprise. Women's agribusiness serves as a vehicle for
women's emancipation by enhancing their economic security, independence in making decisions,
purchasing power, and sociocultural engagement. To obtain a sound economic advantage, it is
necessary to study and implement a variety of options in agriculture and related areas. In an effort to
strengthen their contribution to the economy of the respective countries and for genuine inclusive
growth, this paper seeks to emphasis the situation of women entrepreneurs, their importance, and th e
possibilities and challenges they confront. This is a conceptual essay that draws heavily from the
findings, opinions, and reports of numerous other people on the subject. The article came to the
conclusion that achieving this goal will raise income and enhance women's living conditions, both of
which are necessary for the growth of human resources and the economy.

KEYWORDS: Women Agripreneurship, Women Empowerment, Agriculture, Income.

_______________

Introduction
In order to start a business, one must have a creative idea for a product, process, or service.
Women entrepreneurs are those who start a business, amass resources, take risks, overcome obstacles,
employ others, and run the company on their own. Relates to women's business ownership (Kaur et al.,
2018). Agripreneurs are characterized as "entrepreneurs whose primary business is agriculture or
agriculture-related" in addition. Agripreneur: Agricultural entrepreneur. Agripreneurship is often described
as "directly marketed, sustainable, and community oriented agriculture. A comprehensive, systems-
oriented approach to farming that emphasises the interactions between social, economic, and
environmental processes is known as sustainable agriculture (Upalonkar and Biradar, 2015). Women not
only play a crucial role in agricultural development and their contributions to horticulture, processing,
nutrition, fisheries, and other related fields, but they also play a crucial role in agricultural production
through their direct or indirect roles in the processing, preservation, and packaging of the agricultural
products, helping to boost the economy and improve their socioeconomic conditions (Priyadarshini and
Basariya, 2018).
Rural entrepreneurship can give rural women new business options, support general growth,
and help people escape poverty. Nearly half of the world's population is made up of women, who have
tremendous potential but are rarely used to advance a country's economy. His objectives include
investigating various businesses for women in the food industry and identifying challenges faced by
Indian women starting their own businesses (Kaur et al., 2018).


Professor, DoS in Commerce, University of Mysore, Mysuru, Karnataka, India.
**
Post Doctoral Fellow – ICSSR, DoS in Commerce, University of Mysore, Mysuru, Karnataka, India.
16 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship (JMME), Volume 13, No. 02, April-June 2023
In a different study, Verma et al. (2018) examined the opportunities for agripreneurship in India
and found that for many years the country has struggled with issues of underemployment and
unemployment, particularly among the rural population. Unfortunately, these issues have not been
adequately addressed.
Fundamental elements that contribute to the emergence of female entrepreneurs
• Issues affecting female entrepreneurs
Women today have established themselves in every field. However, women's journeys have not
always been simple. While running and building an enterprise, which does not appear to be easy for
them, they encountered many difficulties and hurdles in real life. Following are a few of them:
• Agripreneurs that are female perform two jobs
Agripreneurs who are women are overloaded by their simultaneous responsibilities at business
and at home. She struggled with several issues, including a lack of time, difficulty paying attention, and
being swamped with personal tasks. Women should be helped by setting up childcare facilities, spouse
assistance, and other tools to make housework easier because they must manage two tasks at once.
• Inadequate managerial abilities
Agripreneurs are typically female and illiterate. Because of their poor management abilities,
Agripreneurs must rely on middlemen and other employees to advertise and sell agricultural products.
• Inadequate education
Exploring various agricultural chances, having the capacity to assess and comprehend these
probabilities, and building a successful agribusiness around them are some of the fundamental traits of
an Agripreneur. In order to analyze and put this into practice, education is a crucial component. It has
been noted that the majority of women in developing nations have lower levels of education than their
male counterparts.
The situation is still the worse in India, where just 56% of women are literate and the bulk of
them do not even have post-secondary education. This resulted in less technological or market sector
development for women Agripreneurs, which limited their ability to start new businesses. Therefore, it is
believed that education is a key pillar for female entrepreneurs.
• Warehousing and storage facilities
For female entrepreneurs in agriculture, a major source of concern is the spoilage of agricultural
products due to a lack of storage and warehousing facilities. Agriculture items should be stored properly
because they are perishable and could otherwise spoil.
• Inadequate marketing
Large issue for women Agripreneurs promote locally produced goods since there are no
facilities for advertising or marketing locally produced goods, therefore consumers are less likely to
believe that they are of high quality. The majority of the populace is a brand aficionado; they do not
readily trust in locally produced goods and instead favour those that are freely accessible in all market
shops.
• Absence of financial backing
The most frequent challenge that Agripreneurs, particularly women Agripreneurs, encounter is
finding financing. Due to the majority of men receiving property in SAARC nations, it might be challenging
for women to obtain bank financing to start and operate an agricultural enterprise.
• Failure to cooperate with family members
The family may occasionally make the woman feel bad for putting aside chores while she
attended to business commitments. Cultural norms could discourage a woman from starting her own
business.
• Lack of available equipment
Because female entrepreneurs often lack the funds to purchase the expensive equipment
necessary to launch their businesses, necessary equipment is occasionally unavailable.
Dr. N Nagaraja & Dr. Prathima V: A Study of Innovative Farm Business Ideas to Empower Women..... 17
• Opportunities and potential
Rural areas are where the heart of India beats, as a result, more focus must be placed on the
advancement of female Agripreneurs in the fields of food processing, preservation, and packaging of
agricultural products. Food processing and preservation can be improved to enable women
entrepreneurs earn more money and will gradually increase their earning potential. Food processing
benefits female entrepreneurs and has the potential to increase the value of staple agricultural products
and dairy, which also increases earning potential. This is how women entrepreneurs in the food industry
can get started.
• Vegetable and fruit preservation
Producing vegetables and fruit products like potato chips, potato finger chips, potato papad,
etc., as well as other preserved fruit products like jam, jelly, juices, squashes, etc., is a small business
that is extremely simple to establish.
• The care of animals
India is the world's top producer of milk. In rural areas, livestock management is primarily done
by women. Raw milk can be used to produce cheese, butter, lassi, and other products.
• Keep bees
The potential for producing honey is enormous. With no need for a piece of land, this industry is
expanding to the point where even illiterate women can open their own company.
• Mushroom farming
By adding value and processing, such as dried mushrooms, mushroom pickles, etc., women
entrepreneurs might take up the mushroom as a business.
Women-Agripreneurship: A Way Forward
Agriculture has traditionally been viewed as a low-tech industry with limited dynamics, controlled
by small and marginal farmers who primarily focus on providing for their families and selling what is left
over in the local markets at a loss. Future generations found agriculture to be unpleasant as a result. Due
to economic liberalization, this situation has drastically changed during the past ten years. Agriculture is
increasingly viewed as a profitable business that may be achieved by altering the way it has traditionally
been conducted. Crop diversification, integrated farming, farm mechanization, market intelligence, value
addition, post-harvest processing, new requirements for product quality, chain management, food
security, sustainability, and other topics have had a significant impact on farmers, and the majority of
them now view agriculture as a business with solid financial advantages. These changes have paved the
path for new forms of portfolio and participator entrepreneurship. "Entrepreneur whose primary business
is agriculture or agriculture-related" is the definition of the term "agripreneur." Agripreneur: Agricultural
entrepreneur. Generally speaking, sustainable, neighborhood-focused, directly-marketed agriculture is
what is meant by agribusiness. A comprehensive, systems-oriented approach to farming that emphasizes
the interactions between social, economic, and environmental processes is known as sustainable
agriculture (Upalonakar and Biradar, 2015). Agribusiness among women is once again high on the
government's agenda for improving societal balance and empowering women. Multiple steps had to be
completed in order to accomplish this. Here are some examples of those:
Property ownership is the most crucial thing that needs to be done in order for women to
become self-sufficient, independent in making decisions, and most importantly, to have easy access to
benefits from banks and other programmes that require a land ownership.
Agricultural cooperatives: In many developing nations, women work alone, frequently by
themselves, in the informal economy, putting in little effort and earning a meagre wage. They may be
able to gain the necessary economic, social, and political leverage by banding together in small-scale
cooperatives. Promoting women's involvement in cooperative business is crucial for gender
mainstreaming in rural development.
Self-help groups (SHGs) are informal, small associations of people, ideally from a similar
socioeconomic background, who come together to solve problems in their communities. With a focus on
women's entrepreneurship and empowerment, the SHG model can be revitalized.
Micro, small, and medium-sized companies (MSME) in agriculture can play a critical role in
advancing women's economic empowerment and battling poverty and gender inequality. Many
18 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship (JMME), Volume 13, No. 02, April-June 2023
governments have recognized them as growth-enhancing forces, and their encouragement has resulted
in the development of new jobs for emerging nations as well as increased creativity and economic
dynamism.
• ICT tools: These days, ICT tools are widely used for a variety of purposes, including
dissemination of new technologies, evaluation of those technologies, audience polls, forums for
discussions between experts and farmers, information on the market, such as market prices and
demands, weather forecasting, etc. The majority of the rural population uses mobile phones,
which are one of the simple to evaluate ICT tools. Whatsapp serves a superior purpose in this
regard as an electronic media. The government is putting a lot of emphasis on ICT initiatives like
e-NAM, e-Pashuhaat, e-Choupal, etc. to quickly reach every farmer at a low cost with
straightforward accessibility. Therefore, this platform has enormous potential for promoting
agribusiness.
• Policy implications: A variety of policies have focused on entrepreneurship in agriculture over
the last ten years, including DEDS (Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme), Agri Udaan,
and others.
Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Agriculture and Allied Sectors
Numerous employment opportunities are available in the agricultural sector, including those in
organic farming, agro-based industries, farm mechanization, post-harvest processing, quality input
production and supply chain, synthesis of bio fertilizers like vermicomposting, medicinal plant farming,
pickle production, floriculture, mushroom cultivation, and others. In addition, the Veterinary and Animal
Husbandry Sector, a significant subsector of agriculture, offers opportunities for milk processing and
chilling, meat processing, feed preparation, vaccine and drug preparation, along with other related
sectors like honey bee rearing, fish production, oyster farming, etc. These are the creative ways to take
agriculture as a means of commercialization and profitable venture.
Opportunities abound; the issue is how best to take advantage of them. From the ground up,
organisations like Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), NGOs, and agricultural universities need to educate
women farmers about these various agripreneurship opportunities and teach them how to manage them.
This will not only achieve the goal of women's empowerment in terms of economic and socio-cultural
aspects, but will also increase the appeal and profitability of agriculture.
Conclusion
The best strategy to increase the number of work possibilities and living standards for other rural
women is to support women in agribusiness. Women Agripreneurs might be inspired to build an
agribusiness with correct coaching, financial support, skill development, etc. in order to raise their
standard of living. The only thing left to do is to look into other choices for women who are motivated,
skilled, and have the potential to launch, run, and manage a business while taking on the associated risk.
Therefore, there needs to be an ongoing effort to collaborate with women entrepreneurs and inspire,
encourage, and motivate them.
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