Profile analysis of students in relation to agripreneurship development in Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar

Introduction

India is primarily an agrarian economy. India's rural population comprising of around 70%, relies heavily on agriculture and allied sectors for their livelihood. Despite significant growth in manufacturing and services, the agriculture sector has seen limited development, directly impacting rural livelihoods. A substantial gap exists between rural and urban living standards, with rural populations struggling to benefit from India's progress. To bridge this divide and revitalize rural India, promoting agripreneurship is now crucial (Rao and Kumar, 2016) [12] . A transition from agriculture to agribusiness is a critical step to revitalize India's agricultural sector, making it more attractive and profitable. Agripreneurship serves as a powerful tool to revitalize the socio-economic status of rural communities, focusing on key areas such as employment generation, income enhancement, poverty alleviation and improved health, nutrition and food security within the Indian economy (Bairwa et al., 2014) [2] . (Kalam, 2007) [5] said that agricultural graduates have vast opportunities for empowerment through ventures like dairy, poultry, fishery, food processing, floriculture and greenhouse enterprises, enabling them to become job creators. However, it's concerning that few students aspire to become entrepreneurs. Therefore, it is essential to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset among students, transforming them from job seekers to employment providers. The economic success of developed countries can be attributed to numerous small-scale entrepreneurs. To replicate this model, India needs to foster a large number of entrepreneurs to develop and transform rural areas into thriving economic hubs.

Methodology

The study was conducted in Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar. The study was confined to "Ex-post-facto" research design and purposive sampling procedure was used to select respondents for the investigation. For the study total 176 agricultural students were taken as respondents. The respondents were selected from different agricultural colleges comes under Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University viz., C. P. College of Agriculture, College of Agriculture, Tharad and College of Agriculture, Bhuj. The respondents were interviewed personally and their responses were recorded in the interview schedule prepared for the purpose. Before conducting an interview, the aim and objectives of the study was explained to them in order to get whole hearted response and correct information from the respondents. The selection of the variables included in the study was done on the basis of an extensive review of literature on the subjects, its discussion with the experts and previous studies taken up on the related subjects. Only those variables which were having relevance with the study were finally selected. The data depicted in the table 1 indicates that 57.39 per cent of the agricultural students were male, whereas 42.61 per cent of the students were female. The data depicted that majority of the students were male. The probable reason might be that traditional societal expectations may encourage men to pursue higher education and careers in certain field compared to girl child. It is observed from table 2 that 65.91 per cent of the agricultural students were from unreserved category, whereas number of agricultural students belonged to other backward caste, schedule caste and schedule tribe were 22.16 per cent, 10.00 per cent and 11.00 per cent, respectively. The findings suggest from the above results that most of the agricultural students came from unreserved category, likely due to their parents' higher literacy rates, socioeconomic status and greater access to educational opportunities, enabling them to pursue higher education. It is evident from the data reported in table 4 that 58.52 per cent of the agricultural students had medium level of innovativeness followed by high and low level of innovativeness with 22.16 per cent and 19.32 per cent, respectively. Most agricultural students exhibited medium level of innovativeness, which may be attributed to the limited availability of alternative income sources in agricultural enterprises, potentially limiting their willingness to experiment with new ideas. It is clear from the data presented in table 5 that the majority of agricultural students (61.93%) exhibit medium level of selfconfidence, while 22.73 per cent have low self-confidence and 15.34 per cent have high self-confidence. This might be due to the factors such as the relatively low educational attainment of their fathers and the moderate occupational status of their families. Above results clearly indicates that majority of the agricultural student's father were educated up to high school level of education. This might be due to the limited access to education and family responsibilities. The data in table 7 reveals that 35.23 per cent of the student's father were engaged in farming followed by, government service, business, private sector, farming and business together and labour which accounted 21.02 per cent, 17.61 per cent, 12.5 per cent, 9.66 per cent and 3.98 per cent, respectively. It can be concluded from the discussion that high percentage of student's father were in the field of farming because farming might be a traditional occupation in the family, passed down through generations. It is evident from the data depicted in table 8 that 46.59 per cent of the agricultural students had medium level of risk-taking ability, whereas 32.96 per cent and 20.45 per cent of the students were having high and low risk-taking ability, respectively. The probable reason might be that agricultural entrepreneurs have limited alternative income sources, leading them to make calculated assumptions about market demand, pricing and other factors to mitigate risks in their business ventures. As it is evident from table 9 that 62.50 per cent of the agricultural students had medium level of decision-making ability, while 25.57 per cent of the agricultural students had high level of decision-making ability and 11.93 per cent had low level of decision-making ability. It could be concluded that majority (62.50%) of the agricultural students had medium level of decision-making ability. The probable reason for the above finding might be that they were analysing the situation carefully before taking the decision. The above findings from the table 10 reveals that 68.75 per cent of the students had medium level of exposure to mass media contact followed by 19.89 per cent of students had high level of exposure to mass media and 11.36 per cent of students had low level of exposure to mass media contact. The possible reason might be that students are aware of the potential impact of mass media on their thoughts and behaviours, leading them to maintain a moderate level of exposure.

Results and Discussion Gender

Caste

Academic achievement

Self-confidence

Father's education

Father's Occupation

Risk taking ability

Decision making ability

Mass media exposure

Conclusion

The majority of respondents were male (57.39%) and belonged to the general category (65.91%). Most students achieved a second-class grade (53.41%) and (58.52%) have medium level of innovativeness (61.93%) displayed a medium level of selfconfidence. (42.61%) of the agricultural student's father had high school level education and (35.23%) of the student's father engaged in farming as a main occupation. (46.59%) of the agricultural students had medium level of risk-taking ability and (62.50%) of the agricultural students had medium level of decision-making ability. (68.75%) of the students showed medium level of exposure to mass media contact. It is true that findings of single study are not adequate to make any generalizations. Even though an attempt has been made to suggest some topics for the future studies, which are considered important by the investigator.

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