Asian Agri-History

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Agripreneurship-A Way for Women Empowerment in Assam, India


Affiliations
1 Department of Agricultural Economics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat – 785013, Assam, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


Among various ways of empowering women, agriculture based entrepreneurship viz., agripreneurship is considered to be one of the best options. Assam’s economy is largely rural agrarian, which is characterized by high rate of work participation of women. In this paper, certain potential areas for development of agripreneurship by women in Assam are discussed. The paper describes mushroom production, vermin-compost production and floriculture businesses as some of the agripreneurship ventures through which women can economically empower themselves. Inherent traditional knowledge and self-motivated women must come forward for venturing into the agripreneurship. A SWOC analysis ofwomen agripreneurship in Assam is also given in the paper. A shift from agriculture to agribusiness is an essential pathway to revitalize Indian agriculture and to make it more attractive and profitable venture. Agripreneurship has the potential to contribute to a range of social and economic developments such as employment generation, income generation, poverty reduction and improvements in nutrition, health and overall food security in the national economy. Thus sustainable agripreneurship ventures are seen to have a potential to promote job-led economic growth in rural areas by harnessing technologies for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development which can provide a decent livelihood. Against the existing scenario and considering that two-thirds of the Indian population is employed (directly or indirectly) in agriculture sector, agripreneurship in Indian agribusiness stands out as an imperative for generating employment in the country.
User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • Assam online portalhttp://online.assam.gov.in/ , Government of Assam .

  • Bairwa SI, Kushwaha S, Lakra K, Meena LK. 2014.Women empowerment through agri-clinics and agribusiness centres scheme in India. International Journal of Commerce and Business Management. 2014 Apr; 7(1):181–5.

  • Baruah NA. The queen of spices, Enajori.com: Exploring Assam. Enajori. 2014; IV .

  • Boruah D, Borua S. Engagement of women self help groups in various agro-based enterprises in Assam-a case study. Journal of Academia and Industrial Research.2013 Apr; 1(11):689–96.

  • Das M. Women empowerment through entrepreneurship: a case study of Guwahati municipal corporation.International Journal of Computer Applications in Engineering Sciences. 2012 Mar; 2(1):27–29.

  • Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture.Gender mainstreaming and agricultural sustainability through PPP model. Directorate of research on women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar; 2012.

  • Gopal PVS, Vijayabhinandana B. Agriculture - a tool for women empowerment. Indian Research Journal of Extension Education (Special Issue). 2012 Jan; 1:99– 104.

  • Directorate of Economics and Statistics (Assam).Economic survey of Assam. Planning and Development Department, Government of Assam; 2011–2012. p.232.

  • Directorate of Economics and Statistics. Economic survey of Assam. Planning and Development Department, Government of Assam; 2016–2017. p. 326.

  • Government of Assam. Women: striving in an unequal world in Assam; 2003 .

  • Hazarika M. Special floriculture mission for farmers.Assam Times community news paper; 2013 Jul 2.

  • Mahbub Ul Haq Human Development Centre. Human development in South Asia 2000: the gender question.Oxford University Press; 2000. p. 152.

  • Human development report [Internet]. 2003 [cited 2003 ]. Available from: http://planassam.org/report/hdr2003/ HDR.html .

  • Khanday MI, Shah BA, Mir PA, Parvaiz R. Empowerment of women in India- historical perspective. European Academic Research. 2015 Feb; 2(11):14494–505.

  • Kishor S, Gupta K. Women's empowerment in India and its states: evidence from the NFHS. Economic and Political Weekly. 2004 Feb 14–20; 39(7):694–712.

  • Pandey G. Agripreneurship education and development: need of the day. Asian Resource. 2013; 2:155–7.

  • Phukan R. Handloom weaving in Assam: problems and prospects. Global Journal of Human Social Science.2012 May; 12(8):1–7.

  • Rao. Entrepreneurial development of rural women.Kurukshetra. 1991; 19(5):11–13.

  • Shivakumar AK. UNDP’s Gender Related Development Index: A Computation for Indian States. Economic and Political Weekly. 1996 Apr 6; 31(14 ):

  • Tambunan T. Women entrepreneurship in Asian developing countries: their development and main constraints.Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics.2009 May; 1(2):27–40.

  • United Nations Population Information Network.Guidelines on Women's Empowerment [Internet]. 2007 [cited 2007]. Available from: http://www.un.org/popin/ unfpa/taskforce/guide/iatfwemp.gdl.html.

  • Upadhyay AP, Barman U. Identification of problems and formulation of extension strategies for upliftment of women agripreneurship in sericulture: an exploratory study in Garo hills of Meghalaya. Journal of Academia and Industrial Research. 2013 Nov; 2(6):369–73.

  • Ukpata SI, Onyeukwu PE. Empowering women in agri-business and agri-preneurship: the dialectics of socio-cultural impediments on economic development in Nigeria. European Journal of Business and Management. 2014; 6(6):68–77


Abstract Views: 746

PDF Views: 5




  • Agripreneurship-A Way for Women Empowerment in Assam, India

Abstract Views: 746  |  PDF Views: 5

Authors

Rinumoni Buragohain
Department of Agricultural Economics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat – 785013, Assam, India
Nivedita Deka
Department of Agricultural Economics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat – 785013, Assam, India

Abstract


Among various ways of empowering women, agriculture based entrepreneurship viz., agripreneurship is considered to be one of the best options. Assam’s economy is largely rural agrarian, which is characterized by high rate of work participation of women. In this paper, certain potential areas for development of agripreneurship by women in Assam are discussed. The paper describes mushroom production, vermin-compost production and floriculture businesses as some of the agripreneurship ventures through which women can economically empower themselves. Inherent traditional knowledge and self-motivated women must come forward for venturing into the agripreneurship. A SWOC analysis ofwomen agripreneurship in Assam is also given in the paper. A shift from agriculture to agribusiness is an essential pathway to revitalize Indian agriculture and to make it more attractive and profitable venture. Agripreneurship has the potential to contribute to a range of social and economic developments such as employment generation, income generation, poverty reduction and improvements in nutrition, health and overall food security in the national economy. Thus sustainable agripreneurship ventures are seen to have a potential to promote job-led economic growth in rural areas by harnessing technologies for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development which can provide a decent livelihood. Against the existing scenario and considering that two-thirds of the Indian population is employed (directly or indirectly) in agriculture sector, agripreneurship in Indian agribusiness stands out as an imperative for generating employment in the country.

References