Behavioural pattern of farmer entrepreneurs and success factors for establishment of agribusiness ventures under ACABC scheme

Abstract

The study aimed at specifying the entrepreneurial behaviour and delineating the critical success factors of the farmer entrepreneurs for establishment of agribusiness ventures under ACABC scheme. There is need of a wellstructured training module which would not only inculcate the right entrepreneurial behaviour at training stage but can be used at later stages of enterprise expansion. Training about profitable enterprise selection, cognizance of loan procedure from institutional credit sources can be really helpful factors for successful enterprise creation. The study has been conducted with a sample of 30 trained farmer entrepreneurs, 15 each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra from randomly selected 13 and 15 blocks of respective states, who underwent training under ACABC scheme. The data was collected through semi-structured interview schedule consisting of two parts: Entrepreneurial behaviour of farmers and factors for successful establishment of agribusiness ventures. The entrepreneurial behaviour of farmer-entrepreneurs was measured with the help of a scale developed by Technonet Asia (1981) in terms of four dimensions namely, Risk taking behaviour, Hope of success, Manageability and Persuasive ability. Against each dimension, responses were obtained in terms of Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree and Strongly disagree in frequency and percentage. Three factors namely Motivational factors, Social factors and Economic factors were studied for their contribution in successful establishment of agribusiness ventures. Against each Critical success factor, responses were obtained as frequency and percentage in terms of Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree and Strongly disagree. It was found that the farmer entrepreneurs of Uttar Pradesh had medium risk taking behaviour while Maharashtra farmers had high risk taking behaviour because of the abundance of the resources that the state had which supported them to take risk beyond capacity. Similarly, both the states had medium hope of success, high manageability and high persuasive ability that made these two states entrepreneurial hub for agriculture. Farmer entrepreneurs of Uttar Pradesh considered motivational factors to be moderately affecting while social and economic factors to be highly affecting the success of the agri-enterprise while respondents of Maharashtra perceived all the factors to be equally and highly affecting the success of the agri-enterprises.