Barriers perceived by students of Junagadh Agricultural University towards entrepreneurship

Introduction

A nation's economic progress is greatly influenced by entrepreneurship. It stimulates innovation, regional growth, employment generation and higher living standards. However, Indian youths still have two major challenges in spite of this supportive atmosphere. The first issue is a deficiency of soft skills, which are essential for employment in the business sector. Second, they lack the entrepreneurial abilities necessary to launch and manage their own businesses. Due to their desire for independence and innovation, young people around the world are becoming increasingly entrepreneurial [1] . Despite the increasing amount of research on entrepreneurial intention, relatively little focus has been placed on methodically ranking the obstacles that agricultural university students perceive using a quantitative method that can record the frequency and relative importance of each obstacle. In light of this, the study was conducted to investigate the perceived obstacles to entrepreneurship among Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU) students in order to produce data that can guide the development of entrepreneurship education, institutional support systems, and policy for agricultural university students.

Materials and Methods

Study area

The study was conducted in Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU), Gujarat, which offers education in agriculture and allied sciences.

Sampling procedure

The stratified random sampling technique was used for the study. The overall sample size for the study consisted of 413 respondents, comprising 233 final-year undergraduate students and 180 postgraduate students, selected in proportion to their respective enrolments within their disciplines. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to JAU students. The study was www.extensionjournal.com conducted following approval of the research protocol by the Advisory Committee of Junagadh Agricultural University, and informed consent was obtained from all respondents prior to data collection; participation was voluntary and respondent identities were kept confidential.

Analytical Technique

Rank-Based Quotient technique was employed to study the barriers perceived by students towards entrepreneurship.

Respondents were asked to rank the perceived barriers under each category in order of severity, and the RBQ for each barrier was computed using the following formula:

Where, F i = Frequency of respondents for the i[th] ranked barrier; N = Number of respondents; n = Number of barriers perceived; i = Rank given to barrier.

Results and Discussion

Barriers perceived by students of Junagadh Agricultural University towards entrepreneurship

A total of twenty-seven barriers, spanning financial, sociocultural, personal and psychological, and technical dimensions, were ranked by the respondents using the RBQ technique. Financial barriers emerged as the most severe category overall, closely followed by socio-cultural barriers, with personal/psychological and technical barriers trailing in that order (Table 1).

Financial barriers

Lack of personal savings or seed capital (FB1, RBQ = 83.54) was the single most severe barrier overall, followed by concerns over regular income during the startup phase (FB3, RBQ = 81.07), high input costs (FB7, RBQ = 80.92), lack of loan collateral (FB2, RBQ = 80.73) and high interest rates (FB5, RBQ = 80.24); the perceived complexity of government schemes (FB4, RBQ = 78.98) was the least severe within the category. The primary obstacle is clearly capital unavailability. Pahurkar et al. [2] and Upadhaya and Chadha [3] reported capital/credit access as the top barrier among management students, while Reddy and Chandawat [4] , working with JAU postgraduates and Jayasudha et al. [5] , across Gujarat's SAUs, both identified laborious loan procedures as the primary financial constraint, supporting the high ranks of FB2, FB4, and FB5 found here.

Socio-cultural barriers

Family expectations favouring stable government or privatesector employment (SCB1, RBQ = 83.53) ranked second overall, closely trailed by family financial responsibilities discouraging risk-taking (SCB4, RBQ = 81.26) and peer pressure toward competitive examinations (SCB2, RBQ = www.extensionjournal.com 80.77); the perception of low socio-economic status attached to agripreneurship (SCB6, RBQ = 77.72) was the least severe barrier across the entire study. The dominance of job-security expectations mirrors Thavaraj and Varghese [6] , who found this to be the single most prominent deterrent among management students, and is reinforced by Sharma and Madan [7] , Sharma [8] and Upadhaya and Chadha [3] on the role of family and social pressure. Notably, SCB6's low rank here contrasts with Jayasudha et al. [5] , who found status perception to be the top socio-personal barrier among Gujarat SAU students, a divergence that may reflect a genuine shift in attitudes toward agripreneurship among more recent cohorts.

Personal and psychological barriers

Insufficient experience to lead a business (PB1, RBQ = 81.84) ranked third overall and highest within this category, followed by difficulty sustaining motivation after setbacks (PB6, RBQ = 80.19) and fear of costly decisions (PB4, RBQ = 80.00); lack of leadership/communication skills (PB5, RBQ = 78.01) ranked lowest. The high rank of PB1 is directly corroborated by Reddy and Chandawat [4] , whose JAU-based study found limited practical entrepreneurship knowledge to be the top constraint (40% of respondents). Risk-aversion and fear-related barriers (PB4, PB6) parallel Thavaraj and Varghese [6] on risk dislike and Singh and Mookerjee [9] , who found perceived financial risk and behavioural control to significantly and negatively predict entrepreneurial aspiration.

Technical barriers

Technical barriers were comparatively less severe (ranks VIII-XXIV) but still meaningful. Lack of skills to prepare a business model or feasibility report (TB1, RBQ = 80.77) ranked highest, followed by gaps in digital marketing (TB4, RBQ = 79.52) and financial/account management (TB5, RBQ = 79.13); proficiency with agricultural software (TB7, RBQ = 78.11) ranked lowest. Jayasudha et al. [5] similarly identified exposure and businessplanning gaps as the leading management/technical barrier and market-intelligence gaps as the leading marketing barrier among Gujarat SAU students, while Parmar and Rathod [10] and Kumar et al. [11] confirmed that knowledge and skill deficits, more than infrastructural constraints, were the more consequential technical barriers to agripreneurship consistent with the narrow, evenly-distributed RBQ spread observed across TB1-TB7 in the present study.

Policy implications

The findings carry several implications for institutions and policymakers seeking to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem for agricultural university students. First, given the primacy of seed-capital constraints, simplifying access to government financial schemes, expanding low-collateral credit instruments and introducing dedicated seed-funding windows for student entrepreneurs would directly address the single most severe barrier identified. Second, because family expectations and socio-cultural norms rank alongside financial constraints in severity, entrepreneurship promotion efforts should extend beyond individual competency development to engage family and community stakeholders, for instance through showcasing successful agripreneurship role models and integrating entrepreneurship awareness into extension outreach directed at rural households. Third, the prominence of experience-and confidence-related personal barriers points to the value of structured internships, incubation cells and mentoring programmes embedded within the university curriculum, enabling students to accumulate practical exposure before graduation. Finally, the relatively uniform severity of technical barriers suggests that a modular skill-development approach, covering businessmodel preparation, digital marketing, financial management and regulatory compliance, would be more effective than isolated, single-skill interventions. Collectively, these measures suggest that improving access to seed funding and government support mechanisms, alongside experiential and technical capacity-building, is likely to enhance students' entrepreneurial intention and its translation into entrepreneurial action.

Conclusion

The study systematically examined the barriers perceived by students of Junagadh Agricultural University towards entrepreneurship using the Rank-Based Quotient technique applied to twenty-seven barriers across four categories. Financial barriers, led by the lack of personal savings or seed capital, and socio-cultural barriers, led by family expectations favouring stable employment, emerged as the most severe constraints, followed closely by insufficient business leadership experience. Technical barriers, though comparatively less severe, remained consistently important across a fairly narrow range of severity. The findings suggest that entrepreneurial intention among agricultural university students is unlikely to translate into entrepreneurial action unless structural financial constraints, prevailing sociocultural norms and gaps in practical experience and technical competence are addressed in an integrated manner. Strengthening seed-funding access, engaging family and community networks and embedding experiential and technical skill-building within university curricula therefore represent priority areas for future entrepreneurship promotion efforts at agricultural universities.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors gratefully acknowledge the students of Junagadh Agricultural University who participated in the survey and the guidance and support extended by the Major Advisor and Advisory Committee members during the course of the study.

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