Socio-economic profile and constraints faced by rural women in agro-based enterprises

Introduction

Women constitute a major productive workforce in Indian agriculture, with nearly 84 per cent of economically active women engaged in agricultural and allied activities. In India, women comprise 33 per cent of the agricultural labour force and 48 per cent of self-employed farmers, yet only about 13 per cent own land 1 . Despite their substantial contribution, the work of rural women continues to be underestimated and undervalued, largely due to customary male dominance, limited access to technology, and constrained opportunities for training. Empowerment of rural women, both socially and economically, remains central to inclusive agricultural developmenT 2 . Entrepreneurship development offers an important pathway for this empowerment, enabling diversification beyond traditional low-paid, drudgery-prone tasks into value-added activities such as food processing, poultry farming, sericulture, and agro-based cottage industries 3 . Structured entrepreneurship development strategies, combined with access to credit and training support, have been shown to strengthen women's participation in such ventures 4 . Rural extension and training centres have accordingly been active in promoting such enterprises among farm women in their respective regions, particularly around value addition of locally abundant produce. While the potential for agro-based enterprises is considerable, women's participation is shaped both by their socio-economic characteristics and by the constraints they encounter in practice 5 . Understanding these two dimensions together is essential for designing effective interventions. Accordingly, this paper addresses two specific objectives: (i) to ascertain the socio-economic profile of rural women engaged in agro-based enterprises, and (ii) to identify the constraints faced by these women in performing enterpriserelated activities and to document their suggestions for addressing these constraints.

Materials and Methods

A descriptive research design was employed for the study, conducted in a rural district with a high concentration of women engaged in agro-based enterprises. A block/mandal was purposively selected on this basis, and four villages were purposively chosen based on their proximity to a local rural extension and training centre. From each selected village, 30 respondents were chosen using random sampling, yielding a total sample size of 120 rural women. Data were collected through personal interviews using a pretested, structured interview schedule developed specifically for this study. Socio-economic characteristics were measured using standardized scoring and categorization procedures. Constraints were assessed through a checklist of enterpriserelated problems, with respondents permitted multiple responses; frequencies and percentages were computed and problems were ranked accordingly. Data were analysed using arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and percentage analysis. All respondents participated voluntarily and gave informed consent prior to the interview. The purpose of the study was explained to each respondent, and confidentiality of individual responses was assured. The study procedure was www.extensionjournal.com reviewed and approved by the institutional research ethics committee.

Results and Discussion

Socio-Economic Profile of Respondents

The socio-economic characteristics of the 120 respondents are summarised in Table 1. More than half of the respondents (57.50%) belonged to the middle age group (36-55 years), followed by young (21.67%) and old (20.83%) categories, indicating that participation in agro-based enterprises is concentrated among women in their most economically active years. In terms of education, the sample was fairly heterogeneous: while 13.34 per cent were illiterate, the majority had at least primary-level schooling, with 21.66 per cent having completed high school.

Nearly half the respondents (45.00%) reported medium annual income (Rs. 50,001-1,00,000), suggesting that agroenterprise participants are drawn predominantly from moderate-income households rather than the poorest or wealthiest strata, broadly consistent with earlier profiles of farm women's socio-economic status in Indian agriculture 1 .

With respect to land holding, half of the respondents (50.83%) held medium-sized landholdings of 2 to 5 acres, placing most participants in the small farmer category. A similar pattern was observed for farming experience, where half the respondents (50.00%) had medium experience of 6 to 10 years. These findings are consistent with earlier reports that farm women's engagement in agriculture and allied enterprises is closely tied to landholding size, income adequacy, and accumulated farming experience 1 , suggesting that women with moderate resource endowments and established farming backgrounds are more likely to diversify into agro-based enterprise activities without excessive risk.

Constraints Faced by Respondents

Respondents were asked to identify the constraints they encountered in undertaking agro-based enterprise activities.

As multiple responses were permitted, the results are presented as ranked percentages in Table 2. Lack of security emerged as the foremost constraint, reported by 77.50 per cent of respondents, followed closely by difficulty in securing funding (70.00%) and gender discrimination (66.67%). Lack of training (64.17%) and lack of family support (52.50%) were also widely cited. These findings corroborate earlier studies reporting that socioeconomic and institutional constraints, particularly limited access to credit and support systems, substantially hinder women's adoption of income-generating enterprises 6 , pointing to the need for interventions addressing personal safety, access to formal credit, and gender-sensitive institutional support alongside skill development.

Comparatively fewer respondents cited low risk-taking ability (42.50%), health-related problems (35.00%), and low education (31.67%) as limiting factors, while dual duty in managing both home and enterprise ranked lowest (11.67%). Marketing-related difficulties (44.16%) were also notable, consistent with reports that both marketing and nonmarketing bottlenecks constrain the growth of agro-based enterprises 7 . This is further supported by evidence that structural barriers in the rural informal sector 8 and enterprisespecific operational problems 9 tend to outweigh individual capability constraints in shaping women's ability to sustain such enterprises. When asked for suggestions, respondents most frequently recommended better time management (96.67%), strategies for managing home and business responsibilities together (89.17%), and greater use of ICT-enabled devices (78.33%), followed by calls for stronger society support (62.50%) and wider access to micro-credit facilities (59.17%). These priorities align with findings that extension-led capacity building and institutional support are central to empowering rural women in enterprise participation 10 , reinforcing financial access, social/family support, and training and technology as key intervention areas.

Conclusion

The study reveals that women participating in agro-based enterprises promoted through the rural extension centre are predominantly middle-aged, moderately educated, and drawn from households with medium income and landholding, reflecting a profile of relatively resource-secure but not affluent rural women. Despite reasonable resource endowments, their enterprise activities are constrained principally by concerns over personal security, limited access to funding, gender discrimination, and inadequate training. Addressing these barriers through targeted credit schemes, community security measures, gender-sensitive institutional reforms, and structured vocational training, in line with recommended strategies for women's empowerment in agriculture 11 , could substantially enhance the sustainability and scale of women-led agro-enterprises. These findings have direct relevance for extension functionaries, banking institutions, and policymakers seeking to design more effective, locale-specific support mechanisms for women's entrepreneurship in agriculture.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the rural women respondents who participated in this study, and the support extended by the local rural extension and training centre and field staff during data collection.

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