Policy and Institutional Support for Agri- Entrepreneurship Development in India: A Review

Abstract

As per NSSO data, 40% of the farmers feel that they would quit agriculture, if given a chance.  The possible reason may be that agriculture per se is not that remunerative as the average  income of Indian farmer has gone up only 20-30 times since 1970’s to 2015 whereas for  other professions like school teachers, government employees and college professors it has  risen 280-320 times, 120-150 times and 150-170 times, respectively. Only few farmers with  appropriate business acumen are able to shift the focus from subsistence based and are  getting profit owing to their entrepreneurial qualities. There is hardly proper appreciation  of farmers as actors in the innovation system, little information provided about different  sources of knowledge involved, or the flow of knowledge and little attention to long-term  impacts on livelihoods. Extending entrepreneurial opportunities was prioritized in the  Twelfth Plan which envisages that identification of rural enterprises and supporting their  enterprises through setting up of common facility centres to ensure all important services  including technology and skill training, entrepreneurship training, market information,  access to institutionalized credit, power and other infrastructure and related facilities are  readily provided. It was also emphasized in the roadmap of the Central Government Agenda  to attain agricultural growth rate of 4%. The paper is an effort to review the institutional  arrangements as well as policy advocacy available for Indian farmers to develop farm level  entrepreneurship.