Critical Analysis of Entrepreneurial Environment for Value Chain Development
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Date
2018
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DIVISION OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION ICAR-INDIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEW DELHI
Abstract
ndia holds major position in most of agricultural commodities but at the same time
the post-harvest losses for agricultural commodities estimated to be high and only
insignificant proportion of agricultural produce is being processed. Thus need to emphasize
on processing and value addition, developing the skills of farmers in this area and linking
them with market and other supporting institutions. Therefore, development and promotion
of an efficient value chain is critical for the accelerated development of agriculture sector
and for increasing producers’ shares in consumers’ price. Moreover, promoting value chain
development and establishing an enterprise, require degree of some entrepreneurial
behaviour among processors which is the result of continuous interaction of personal factor
and entrepreneurial environment. Considering the above mentioned factors, the present
study was carried out to analyse the entrepreneurial behaviour and entrepreneurial
environment for promoting value chain, developing value chain map in selected agricultural
commodities, identifying training needs of agripreneurs engaged in food processing and to
formulate strategies for inducing entrepreneurial behaviour and environment for promoting
value chain development.
The present study adopted an ex-post facto research design. Based on post-harvest
losses and/or potential for undergoing value chain development, nine agricultural
commodities like food grains (Maize, Wheat and Soybean); vegetables (Potato, Tomato and
Mushroom) and fruits (Mango, Guava and Aonla) were selected purposively. After the
selection of agricultural commodities, the states and further districts were selected
purposively for each identified agricultural commodities based on high production under
crop and/or potential for value addition. Selected districts for the present study were
Samastipur, Bihar (Maize), Meerut (Potato), Lucknow (Mango), Allahabad (Guava),
Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh (Aonla), Sonepat, Haryana (Mushroom), Dhar (Tomato) and
Indore, Madhya Pradesh (Wheat, Soybean). Data was collected from 15 processors, 25 fruit
producers, 20 vegetable producers and 20 food grain producers in each agricultural
commodity. Further, 45 other stakeholders (intermediaries i.e. wholesaler, retailer; five
from each commodity) and 18 experts (for devising strategy) were also interviewed, thus,
total sample size of the present study was 393.
The entrepreneurial behaviour between average processor and average farmer was
compared through semantic differential technique and there was a significant difference
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between them. The existing entrepreneurial environment was most favourable for mushroom
processor (rank I) followed by soybean (rank II) andaonla processor (rank III). The lowest
existing entrepreneurial environment was found for potato processor (rank IX) and tomato
processor (rank VIII).
The profitability between production and processing unit was compared for selected
agricultural commodities and it was found that in processing unit cost incurred and net
return was higher than production unit. It was also noticed the rate of processed products
was more than raw material thus net income of processor was higher. Both the production
and processing units were found to economically feasible as per break-even point at yield
and price except potatoproduction unit for break-even yield.
The marketing channels were identified for selected agricultural commodities for
both processor and producer. It was found that producers’/ processors’ share in consumers’
price and market efficiency increases with decrease in intermediaries. The value chain maps
were developed for selected agricultural commodities indicating major activities, actors of
value chain and entrepreneurial environment through venn diagram.
There was significant agreement among nine types of processors that marketing
(3.78) was the major dimension of training need followed by technical (3.22), information
(2) and social responsibility (1) dimension of training need. The market was most important
dimension of training due to their lack of exposure to online market, promotional strategies,
distant selling of products, determine competition in market, need to diversify their value
added products, identify potential customer as well as point and volume of sale etc.
The force field analysis was used to identify the driving and restraining forces and it
was found that in case of driving forces, average processors (39.10) possessed significantly
higher mean rank than average producers (21.90) and for restraining forces, average
producers (45.33) possessed significantly higher mean rank than average processors (15.67).
For devising strategies the experts were interviewed and Alfares method (2009) was used to
analyse the data.Information dimension (94.62) was found to be the as most important
aspect for strategy devising followed by institutional support (86.86), market facility
(83.28), infrastructure (67.16) and post-harvest management aspect (60.59).
Keywords: Post-harvest losses; Value chain; Entrepreneurial environment; Ex-post facto;
Processors; Producers; Marketing channels; Break-even point; Venn diagram; Force field
analysis; Alfares method.
Description
T-10012
Keywords
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