Entrepreneurial Characteristics of the Agripreneurs under the Scheme of Agriclinics & Agri-buisness Centres

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1 Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development Vol. 6(2), , July-December, 2011 Entrepreneurial Characteristics of the Agripreneurs under the Scheme of Agriclinics & Agri-buisness Centres Taufiq Ahmed 1, Shamsul Hasan 2 and Rifat Haneef 3 1 School of Agriculture, IGNOU New Delhi, 2&3 Department of Agricultural Communication GBPUA&T Pantnagar ABSTRACT Agripreneurship is an employment strategy that can lead to economic self-sufficiency of rural people. Training is a key elements for the promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for agripreneurship development, particularly for the first generation agripreneurs. These can result in improved performance of an individual which can contribute to employment generation, poverty reduction and Human Resource Development. This study was conducted in two states of India i.e. Uttarakhand and Punjab state to assess the entrepreneurial characterstics of the agripreneurs. One training center from each state was randomly selected for the present study i.e. College of Agribusiness Management (CABM), Pantnagar and Indian Society of Agribusiness Professional (ISAP), Amritsar (Punjab). The data were collected with the help of semi structured interview schedule from 60 respondent each from selected states totalling 120 agripreneurs. The results of the study depicted that majority of the respondents (70.00%) had medium level of achievement motivation; nearly sixty percent had medium level of risk taking and leadership ability and medium level of decision making ability with percentage representation of Key words: Agripreneurship, Training, Entrepreneurial characteristics INTRODUCTION Agriculture all over the world is going through a phase of transition. In this changing scenario, agriculture is taking new shape and expanding its scope beyond the limits of mere crop cultivation and animal husbandry for livelihood of rural population. Activities like diversification, value addition, precision farming, hightech agriculture, agripreneurship, global marketing, organic farming etc. are gradually getting due attention of people involved on redefining agriculture. Agripreneurship is an employment strategy that can lead to economic self-sufficiency of rural people. Agripreneurship development through training is a key elements for the promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), particularly, the first generation agripreneurs. These can result in improved performance of an individual which can contribute to employment generation, poverty reduction and Human Resource Development. To promote economic development in post-liberalization-reform India, central and state governments are pursuing growth and development policies that encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment (Ahluwalia 2002; Ahluwalia 2005). To improve the effectiveness of these policies, it is important to understand how regional factors influence on individual s decision to transition from employment to self-employment. Occupational transition from salaried employment to selfemployment is an important issue in developed economies (Evans and Leighton 1989; Fairlie, 1999; Dunn and Holtz-Eakin, 2000). To make a real economic difference, however, a substantial number of individuals must make the transition from employment to selfemployment. India is ninth in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey of entrepreneurial countries. It is highest among 28 countries in necessity based entrepreneurship, while 5 th from the lowest in opportunity based entrepreneurship. The liberalization, which was started in 1991, and the Information Technology boom of the mid-late 90 s, has been

2 146 Taufiq Ahmed et al., significant factors, leading to a wave of entrepreneurship sweeping through the country ( asia_entrepreneur/india_entrepreneur.asp). Government of India constituted a steering committee on agriculture and allied sectors under the chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. The committee, among others, suggested creation of Agriclinics and Agribusiness Centers managed by Agricultural graduates so as to provide consultancy services to the farming community in rural areas. Subsequently, a scheme for setting up of Agriclinics and Agribusiness centers by agricultural graduates was announced by the then finance minister on February 28, NABARD has formulated a model scheme for financing Agriclinics and Agribusiness Centers. This scheme is being implemented jointly by NABARD, MANAGE and SFAC since from 9th April, The objective of the present investigation was to assess the entrepreneurial characteristics of Agripreneurs who were engaged in agripreneurial activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was carried out in Uttarakhand and Punjab, because both the states have good potential for Agricultural Graduates to establish and run their Agribusiness. Out of 57 training institutes in India, two training centers were randomly selected for the present study. In Uttarakhand, College of Agribusiness Management (CABM), Pantnagar and Indian Society of Agribusiness Professional (ISAP), Amritsar (Punjab) were selected. The data for the investigation were collected from 120 respondents, 60 each from the selected states. The data were collected with the help of semi structured interview schedule. In order to validate the data collected through quantitative technique some qualitative technique like case study, and observation were also used. The data collected were coded, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted with the help of appropriate procedures and statistical techniques. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Entrepreneurial characteristics of the respondents: The entrepreneurial characteristics of the respondents studied in terms of achievement motivation, risk taking ability, leadership ability, decision making ability, innovativeness, management orientation, and self confidence, attitude towards self employment and income generation and information seeking. Achievement motivation: The achievement motivation of the respondents under study as presented in Table 1 revealed that majority of the agripreneurs per cent respondents had medium level of achievement motivation followed by per cent of the respondents who had low level of achievement motivation and per cent had high level of achievement motivation. Table 1. Distribution of Respondents according to Achievement motivation Low (Less than 10 ) Medium ( 11-14) High (15 and above ) Mean 11.8 S.D The findings of the present study supported the findings of Mathew et al. (2001) that established a positive relationship of achievement motivation with entrepreneurship variable. The results are also in conformity with the findings of Murali and Jhamtani (2003), Sah (2005) and Palmurugan (2006), who found that majority of the agripreneurs, had medium level of achievement motivation. Risk taking ability: Data presented in Table 2 indicated that a most of the respondents (59.17%) had medium level of risk taking ability followed by per cent respondents who had high level and per cent had low level of risk taking ability. The reason might be because as the respondents had some positive attributes like innovativeness, change proneness and developmental awareness, so they had a medium level of risk taking ability. Randhawa (1987) and Goleman (1995) reported that agripreneurs were willing to take risk, while facing tough situations. These findings were in accordance with the present finding. The findings are in conformity with the results of Banerjee and Talukdar (1997), Murali and Jhamtani

3 Entrepreneurial Characteristics of the Agripreneurs 147 (2003), Tyagi et al (2003) and Palmurugan (2006), who reported that majority of the entrepreneur, involved in farming and allied activities, had medium level of risk taking ability. Table 2. Distribution of Respondents according to Risk taking ability Low ( less than 6) Medium (7-8) High( 9 and above ) Mean 7.48 S.D Leadership ability: Data pertaining to the leadership ability (Table 3) of the respondents revealed that about 60 per cent respondents had medium level of leadership ability followed by per cent having high level leadership ability. Only per cent respondents had low level of leadership ability. Similar observations were reported by Paul (1998) who reported majority of the vegetable growers had medium level of leadership ability. Agriventures as an enterprise is a group activity which demands team work and leadership abilities but maximum number of respondents showed middle level of leadership categories that s why there is need to emphasize training on the Agriculture Graduates in that particular aspect. Table 3. Distribution of Respondents according to Leadership ability Low (less than 8) Medium(9-12 ) High (13 and above ) Mean S.D Decision making ability: The data in Table 4 portrayed the decision making ability of the respondents with respect to the present study. It was observed that all the respondents were under the purview of medium and high level of decision making ability with percentage representation of per cent and per cent, respectively. A critical analyses suggested that the medium level of decision making ability of the respondents might be because of their education, better communication behaviour, large scale awareness about the developmental practices in that particular enterprise. The findings are in line with the findings of Paul (1998) and Nagabhushnam (2003) who reported that majority of the respondents had medium level of farm decision making ability. Table 4. Distribution of Respondents according to Decision making ability Low (less than 12) Medium (12-18 ) High (more than 18) Mean S.D Innovativeness: The data related to the innovativeness of the respondents in Table 5 which revealed that a majority (69.17%) of respondents had medium level of innovativeness towards the developmental activities and new technologies in the Agri-enterprise while nearly twenty per cent respondents showed high level of innovativeness followed by per cent who showed low level of innovativeness towards new technologies or developmental activities of the Agri-enterprise. As majority of the respondents were found to have medium level of innovativeness it was because of their education, better mass media exposure, responsiveness and development oriented outlook. Bhave and Reddy (1998) and Greger and Peterson (2000) also reported that the same result in accordance Table 5. Distribution of Respondents according to their Innovativeness Low (less than 9 ) Medium(10-15) High (16 and above) Mean S.D. 3.14

4 148 Taufiq Ahmed et al., with the present findings and found that innovativeness significantly affect the leadership qualities of entrepreneurship in the process of development. The findings are in line with the results reported by Murali and Jhamtani (2003), Nagabhushnam(2003), Tyagi et al (2003) and Palmurugan( 2006), who pinpointed that majority of the respondents had medium level of innovativeness. Management orientation: The Table 6 depicted that majority of the respondents (60.83%) had medium level of management orientation, followed by per cent under high level and per cent under low level of management orientation. The reason may be that management orientation included orientation towards planning, production and marketing. Most of the respondents had medium level of understanding about pre planning, production practices, marketing information and awareness about the new technologies and developmental practices to improve the productivity of agri-enterprises. Table 6. Distribution of Respondents according to Management Orientation Low (less than 4 ) Medium (5-6) High (7 and above ) Mean 5.40 S.D Self confidence: It is evident from Table 7 ahead that majority of the respondents (69.17%) had medium level of self confidence, followed by per cent under High level of self confidence. The rest (7.50%) had low level of self confidence. The reason of medium level of self confidence might be literacy level and good exposure. Information seeking: The data in Table 8 refers to the information seeking behaviour of the respondents, reveals that majority of them had medium level of information seeking behaviour per cent, per cent respondents were of low level and were high level of information seeking behaviour. It might be due to the fact that respondents were educated, more innovative, enthusiastic. Table 7. Distribution of Respondents according to Self confidence Low(less than4 ) Medium (5-6) High (7 and above ) Mean 5.42 S.D Table 8. Distribution of Respondents according to Information seeking behaviour Low (up to 11) Medium (12-15) High (16 and above ) Mean S.D CONCLUSION On the basis of the major findings of the study it was concluded that entrepreneurial characteristics like achievement motivation, leadership ability, self confidence, risk taking ability, management orientation, and information seeking behaviour was the important areas of training for the agripreneurs. it was concluded that majority of the respondents (70.00%) had medium level of achievement motivation; nearly sixty percent had medium level of risk taking ability, leadership ability and medium level of decision making ability. Nearly seventy percent respondents had medium level of innovativeness towards the developmental activities and new technologies in the Agri-enterprises. majority of the agricultural graduates were found to have moderate level of entrepreneurial characteristics like achievement motivation, leadership ability, self confidence, decision making ability etc, it is necessary to take the steps to strengthen the entrepreneurial ability. Agri-enterprises sector in India is dominated by small and micro enterprises. It is suggested that for competing in national and international markets, agriculture needs to function with entrepreneurial approach.

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