Prof Poonam Parihar
“Agripreneurship can help women to become more self-sufficient, self-reliant, economically stable & independent decision makers. It can also help to reduce migration to cities & increase income & generate employment”
As Prime Minister Modi says, “We cannot achieve success if 50 per cent women are locked at home” A major thrust of PM Modi Government has been to nurture Women Entrepreneurs through financial support, skilling & training.
Women comprise 33% of the agriculture labour force and 48% of the self-employed farmers in India.With growing urban migration by men, the agriculture sector is being managed by women.Women contribute to agriculture through multiple roles as cultivators, entrepreneurs, and laborers.About 60-80% of the food produced in India can be attributed to the efforts of ruralwomen. Their contributions span various activities, including cultivation, entrepreneurship, and labour-intensive tasks. These remarkable women are responsible for producing 60-80% of the country’s food, and they are also involved in allied sectors like livestock rearing, horticulture, and post-harvest operations.Rural women are torchbearers for social, economic and environment transformation for the ‘New India’. In India, Agriculture employs about 80 percent of rural women. Empowering and mainstreaming rural women workforce in agriculture can bring paradigm shift towards economic growth. It will enhance food and nutrition security and alleviate poverty and hunger. It’s a win-win strategy for achieving Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. India is an agrarian economy with about 54.6 percent of total workforce engaged in agricultural and allied sector activities (Census 2011). Women are extensively engaged in the activities pertaining to agriculture and allied sector. The workforce participation rate for rural females is significantly higher at 41.8 percent against urban women participation rate of 35.31 percent (MoSPI, 2017).India is an agrarian country with a vast availability of land for agricultural activities and huge population is depending on the agriculture and its allied businesses. The Agripreneurship is the concept of the Entrepreneurship in agricultural sector, brought in by the people with innovative ideas to develop the existing practices for a better productivity. Women Agripreneurship has the potential to overcome problems like diversifying income, generating growth, greater employment, new technology and optimum utilization of the resources available. There has been inclusion about various schemes available for their promotion and finally on how Indian agricultural sector can take benefit from these Women Agripreneures.The concept of Agripreneure is having a wide scope in today’s era especially in India. The introduction of this concept into the agricultural sector can have a great impact in various aspects such as better income to farmers, good productivity with new technology and better living of the rural farmers who can no longer depend on lenders and fall into a debt trap. In the realm where innovation meets sustainability, women entrepreneurs are not just cultivating crops; they’re sowing the seeds of a more sustainable and resilient future. Entrepreneurship in sustainable agriculture encompasses regenerative farming, precision agriculture, organic farming, and farm-to-table initiatives.Women primarily empower cultivation of cropswith their physical efforts and put their processingknowledgetoproducesignificantfood,revenuesandemployment. Womenagripreneurs have evolvedassignificantcontributors to theagriculture sectorand take part in training programs and awarenesscampaignsandbenefits from sponsored bygovernment.Women entrepreneurs have also outperformedmalecounterparts invariousfields.Similarly,inagriculturethey are doing exceptionally well.Women agripreneurs can also prove a milestone andshow their worth in the agriculture sector.
Womengroupshavealwaysbeenefficient,hardworkingandintelligent whenever given scope.These”women Agri entrepreneurs” have beenexamples for other local ladies as they adoptnew techniques to improve cultivation. WomenAgri-preneurs have worked hard, accepted allchallengesfromworkinginthekitchentofieldsandleading to market opening doors for vast opportunitiesinemployment, becomingself-sufficient,adoptinginnovation techniques. These steps increase thewomen’s role in the economics of the country andprovide economic strength and higher position insociety. Indian women are conquering everyfieldofincome generation. Theyhave brilliantlymanaged the natural, economic and social resourcesfor family welfare and economic gains. Womenentrepreneur’s in agriculture have adopted newmethods for crop production, poultry, and livestock production with the support of different Governmentschemes.Village womensell the milk, ghee, curd and paneer to market andat home to working people and earn money. Somefarmer/ cooperative societies have taken the stepto collect such milk products directly from villagehouses suitable for housewife groups of variousvillages. With such initiative, women can easilyperform business activities, and time and energyare saved. Women also perform other activitieslike managing animals and shed cleaning, farmyardmanure, cow dung cake preparation, animal foodcollection, etc.Value-added food products are key to gain moreprofitsfromperishablefoodandvegetableproducts.There is scope for individual women farmers andself-help groups to work for value addition of foodand milk products that are easy to market and havemore shelf life than the raw material.Market scenario in today’s world is changingrapidly with discrete demand of consumers. Today’sconsumer is interested in buying the products onlineat home. They prefer quality over quantity. Thus, womenagri- entrepreneurs who are limited to directsale of produced products can enter this market toserve the consumers online with quality. These types of markets are expanding globally and providesagreatscope toexplore,earnagood profit fromventures.
The government has launched many schemesfor supporting and handholding women agri-entrepreneurs enabling them to participate incountries economy at larger scale. Agriculture sector contribute a lot in national income by empowering farmers with integrated farming system, crop management and animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries. This sector provides the opportunity for the young population, especially women, to showcase the skillset with dedicated knowledge and technology interventions to be self-sustaining. Agriculture sector is subjected to increase production and profitability for sustainable growth and should feed the required nutrition to every empty stomach. The Agriculture Sector provides women entrepreneurship opportunities to work ingroups to have a wide range of undiscovered fields or be successful while practicing modern techniques for earnings. Women are playing a variety of roles in agricultural growth and development. They contribute to economic growth while facing numerous problems. Many challenges or issues arise in agri-entrepreneurship, such as market linkages, technology interventions, knowledge, climate, resources and funds management for infrastructure etc. The Ministry of Agriculture implemented various schemes and policies to promote agriculture development so that women groups can become successfulagripreneurs and increase the income resources.Women agripreneursand startupsin agriculture sector with a handful of knowledgeabout agriculture techniques today will make largerpopulation feed like thousands or even larger with agricultural produce and its value till 2030. Women Agripreneurs are making significant contribution to sustainable agriculture development in many ways.
Women are the eyes of the Nation
