Shaktiranjan Das
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Agricultural Extension, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Sriniketan, West Bengal, India
Darshan N.P.
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Extension, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Sriniketan, West Bengal, India Email: [email protected]
DOI:
Abstract
Unpredictable weather patterns, uneven agricultural policy, cultural diversity, and socioeconomic inequality continue to impede India’s agrarian economy. However, India’s agricultural sector can develop into a profitable and sustainable agribusiness with innovation, entrepreneurship, and effective policy support. This chapter will examine how an entrepreneurial ecosystem might support the expansion of agricultural farm earnings. Additionally, it will shed light on how domestic policy, globalization, and the evolving agricultural technology landscape affect agripreneurship. The dynamic character of the agricultural and allied industries’ entrepreneurial environment has attracted and continues to attract attention in recent years. Using the Isenberg Model and pertinent policy viewpoints to examine the challenges and prospects faced by rural business owners, this chapter will outline how rural entrepreneurs face both possibilities and challenges due to the intersections of policy, access to finance, access to markets, infrastructure, and human capital. Even though programs like Startup India and RKVY-RAFTAAR have contributed to the development of a more startup-friendly institutional ecosystem in India, rural entrepreneurs still face a number of serious challenges, including a highly fragmented value chain, a lack of infrastructure, a scarcity of knowledge- based resources, and restricted access to funding sources. As business- oriented endeavors become more incorporated into traditional agriculture in collaboration with ecosystem stakeholders (universities, government programs and initiatives, and incubators), agri-startups are becoming more common, according to evidence from case studies. The study’s conclusion provides a comprehensive, ecosystem-integrated approach appropriate for the socioeconomic diversity of India. This would promote sustainable food systems, help local businesses, and sustain rural livelihoods. Consequently, it offers a way to change the entrepreneurial agrarian ecosystem and is consistent with India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 goal.
Keywords: Agri-entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial ecosystem, rural innovation, agribusiness development
KISS International Journal of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability (KIJEIS) 2025 Jul, Vol.1 (2): 101 – 116