Analytical study of women entrepreneurial activities involved in dairying enterprise

Introduction

India is the second most populated country in the world, which accounts for around 17.5 percent of the total world population. According to 2011 Census, India has a population of about 1210.19 million, comprising 586.47 million women which constitute about half of the total population. The empowerment of women is fundamental for the progress of the country. Women play an important role in the socio-economic development of the country. The net productivity of the women is definitely much more than the men, as they manage both the home and outside work in a well-balanced way. Women have made their presence felt in all fields be it Business, Education, Fashion, Entertainment, Finance, Information Technology and has flourished throughout the world with flying colours. Social and economic scenario of India has undergone a huge change and Women are seen as the engines of the growing Indian economy. Whether it is urban or rural area they are playing an active part toward contributing to the socio-economic growth in every field of society. The agriculture and livestock also contribute to the national economy.

Methodology

The study was conducted in Mathura district during 2016-2017, to know the personal and socio-economic characteristics and extent of adoption of recommended improved dairy management by the practices by the famers. Six villages were selected viz. from the district randomly. From each village 15 respondents were selected on random sampling techniques, thus the total sample constituted for the study was 120. The information was gathered from the respondents personally using pre tested structured interview schedule. The gathered information was analyzed by using appropriate statistical tools like frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation etc. Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which typically begins as a small business such as Start-up Company offering a product, process or services. Entrepreneurial behaviour is psychological dimension of an entrepreneur due to which he or she undertake enterprise and continuously attempt to perform better and better. Senthil et al., (2008) [9] stated that certain social motives have been found to be significantly related to entrepreneurial behaviour; such as need for achievement, power affiliation, dependency, extension, personal achievement, social achievement, influence etc. Entrepreneurial behavior index is measured by the scale developed by the Senthil et al (2008) [9] .

Where, Tn, Total obtained score of the component "n"; Mn Maximum obtainable score of the component "n".

Result and Discussion

The result in Table 1.1 reveals that highest EBI was found in self confidence 88.88 per cent was ranked first, which is similar to the finding of Lawrence and Ganguli (2012) [10] who found that 57 percent of the respondents had high level of self confidence. 77.33 per cent in achievement motivation ranked second, 69.73 per cent in coordination ability ranked third, 68.66 per cent in planning ability ranked fourth, 66.38 per cent in innovativeness ranked fifth, 61.73 per cent in risk orientation ranked sixth, 56.61 per cent in decision making ranked seventh, 43.05 per cent in information seeking behavior ranked eighth, 42.01 per cent EBI was found in cosmopoliteness ranked ninth. Subrahmanyeswari et al. (2007) [11] and Lawrence and Ganguli (2012) [10] who reported that self confidence was the most important component of entrepreneurial behaviour of dairy farmers.

Distribution of respondents on the basis of components of entrepreneurial behavior index 1. Innovativeness:

The results on this parameter presented in Table 1.2 reveal that majority of the respondents (54.17%) were found in high category of innovativeness. However, about 30.83 per cent of the respondents were found in medium category of innovativeness which is promising indicator that the majority of the respondents are interested in adoption of new technologies and practices of scientific dairy management.

Achievement motivation:

It is evident from the Table 1.2 that majority of the respondents (64.17%) were observed with high category of achievement motivation. Whereas only 6.67 per cent of them were found with low category of achievement motivation.

Decision making:

The results on this parameter presented in Table 1.2 reveal that about 81.67 per cent of the dairy farmers were found to have medium and high level of decision making ability followed by low (18.33%). The active part in decision making could be due to active involvement of women in day-to-day activities of the enterprise.

Risk orientation: It is clear from the table that majority

of trained dairy farmers belonged to higher risk orientation (40.83%), followed by medium (37.50%) and low (21.67%) risk orientation. However, risk orientation in the case of an entrepreneur indicates that they are ready to face challenges whenever they occur aiming at probably for a better chance of success by their own efforts.

Coordination ability:

It was revealed that high level of this attribute was possessed by majority (44.17%) of the women farmers followed by medium level of this attributes. It was observed that higher participation of the respondents in training, group meetings and other extension activities might have build the habit of sharing the experiences among farm women. 6. Information seeking behavior: Moderate information seeking behavior of the respondents was observed as 44.17 per cent of them have high level of this trait. Information seeking behavior was influence by education of respondent and contact with extension organization might have motivated them to contact extension organization and extension personnel for getting desired information.

Cosmopoliteness:

The level of cosmopoliteness was low, medium and high with 41.67, 40.00 and 18.33 percent respectively. The women dairy entrepreneurs are getting the information from the local sources as they were mostly involved in performing the day to day activities of dairy farm. 8. Self confidence: Table 1.2 reveals that majority (50.83%) of the respondents had high level of selfconfidence; followed by 40.84 and 08.33 percent of respondents had medium and low level of trait, respectively. The reason for this trend might be due the reason that the large dairy farmers by virtue of the large size units and sound financial position and venture and act immediately by taking quick decisions. 9. Planning ability: High planning ability was noticed among 51.67 per cent of the women dairy farmers, whereas 31.63 per cent and 16.70 per cent had medium and poor planning ability respectively. Decision making ability and achievement motivation ability of the respondents might have contributed for their planning ability.

Overall entrepreneurial behavior of women dairy farmers

From figure 1.2 it is clear that nearly half of the respondents in dairy enterprise were found high (52 per cent) entrepreneurial behavior followed by medium (27 percent) and low (21 percent). On the basis of results it can be concluded that majority of dairy farmers had high level of entrepreneurial behaviour because of the education of farmers, mass media communication and economic status were the important factors which influence the entrepreneurial behaviour of dairy farmers. Cosmopoliteness, coordinating ability and achievement motivation were most important components of entrepreneurial behavior. Other variables like educational qualification, size of landholding, annual income, caste, dairy farming experience, extension contact, social participation, mass media exposure, economic motivation, and scientific orientation, attitude towards dairy farming and market orientation were also associated with the entrepreneurial behavior. On the other hand a different trend was observed by the Bhagyalaxmi et al. (2003) [12] , Anitha (2004) [13] , Suresh (2004) [14] , Baindha (2011) [2] , Kayensuza (2012) [15] and Patel (2013) [16] .

Pearson's correlation analysis with EBI

The result in table 1.3 revels that correlation between independent variables and EBI of respondents, that variables viz., education, milk production, milk sale and adoption of scientific practices had strong and positive correlation with entrepreneurial behavior. The findings of the study are in the line with that of Lawrence and Ganguli (2011) [17] .

Conclusion

It could be concluded that most of the women dairy farmers had high level of innovativeness, self confidence and good coordinating ability. They had medium level of achievement

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