Entrepreneurial Behaviour of Vegetable Growers in Odisha

Author: Bijayalaxmi Nayak and Pradip Kumar Banerjee

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Abstract

In terms of the variety of rural vocations, India has enormous potential for the development of entrepreneurship. One of the promising areas for Indian business development is the production of vegetables. In rural India, industries based on vegetables are becoming significant drivers of economic growth. Growing evidence suggests that the enterprise of producing vegetables could contribute more positively to rural welfare and poverty reduction by creating jobs at the farm level. Keeping this in view the present study was carried out in Cuttack and Koraput district of Odisha State. An ex-post facto design of social research was used. A sample of 200 vegetable growers as respondents were drawn and information obtained from them was considered for tabulation and analysis of data. Findings revealed that majority of the vegetable growers had medium level in all entrepreneurial traits/attributes namely innovativeness, risk orientation, economic motivation, decision making ability, leadership ability, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, self confidence, utilization of available assistance, credit orientation and management orientation. The overall entrepreneurial behavior was found to be of medium level. Though the present paper attempts to examine the entrepreneurial behaviour of vegetable growers of Odisha, the study was confined to Cuttack and Koraput districts of Odisha. Hence, generalization on this could be restricted to other areas with similar condition. The findings of the study were based on verbal expression of the respondents, therefore the findings were conditioned by the extent of reliable and valid information provided by those selected for the purpose of investigation.

Keywords

Entrepreneurial behaviour, Entrepreneurial attributes, Vegetable growers, Innovativeness

Conclusion

The study concluded that majority of the respondents possessed medium level of entrepreneurial behaviour with respect to all the components of entrepreneurial behaviour. It is an indication of the progressiveness of the farmers. Thus, it calls for intensification of efforts and policy support to the farmers by field extension workers of the development departments. Due to time & resource constraints the result of the study was having regional implication with respect to area and sample size. Based on this, extensive studies on the similar aspect can be conducted in future for better implication. The study has implication for the planners and policy makers specially related to increase in production and productivity of seasonal vegetables in a better organized manner considering the commercial impact and crop diversification aspect in future. Specific vegetable cultivation zones can be developed in the state based on various resource availability.

References

INTRODUCTION Since vegetables are a staple of the human diet, a meal without one is considered insufficient in every region of the world. After China, India is the second-largest vegetable producer in the world. These make around 3% of the total agricultural area and are grown on about 6 million hectares. Despite the need for vegetables is 300g/day/person as advised by a nutritionist, we can only satisfy roughly 1/9th of that need. Vegetables from other countries are introduced in large quantities in India. In order to face the challenge of providing enough food to India's expanding population, a planned development in the sector of vegetable production would not only increase the nutritional requirements for the general public but also the labor-intensive nature of vegetable growing can also greatly expand employment opportunities (Jena and Parida 2016). In India, agriculture is very significant because it not only helps to feed the rural population but also significantly boosts the country's economy. The fact that agriculture employs and sustains over 65% of India's people makes it important as well. Entrepreneurship and rural development are more closely related than ever. Any country's economic growth is largely dependent on the crucial role that entrepreneurs play in society. In developing nations like India, where there are many chances for applying innovations to harness the resources available, notably in the sector of agriculture, the role performed by such entrepreneurs is crucial. We can find people with the necessary entrepreneurial skill in all facets of the population in our nation, where there are abundant human resources. The Indian government created a distinct ministry for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses to encourage entrepreneurship in rural and semi-urban areas. Changes in an entrepreneur's knowledge, ability, and attitude are referred to as entrepreneurial behaviour. The first step in bringing about change is understanding how an individual will react to it. In order to take action to foster entrepreneurial qualities and promote entrepreneurship, it is important to understand a person's unique characteristics. This is why studying entrepreneurial behaviour is important in order to maintain a healthy society, entrepreneurship serves as a means of enhancing the standard of living for people, families, and communities. To enhance the standard of extension services provided by institutional and noninstitutional bodies, it is crucial to comprehend such entrepreneurial behaviour. Vegetable farming requires a lot of capital and is risky, thus in order to manage the business successfully, a farmer needs the ability to take risks, be original, inventive, and resourceful. These traits provide them the ability to choose and accept the adoption of suitable scientific farming techniques. Individual, situational, psychological, social, and experiential aspects all affect how entrepreneurs behave (Rao, 1985). Odisha is blessed with a wide range of agro-climatic conditions that are ideal for the growth of horticulture crops. Farmers in rain-fed regions and dry tracks have a great potential to increase their income by investing in the horticultural sector. So, compared to cereals and pulses, horticulture generates a larger income per hectare of land. Under horticulture, vegetable crops are important sector. ( https://www.agrifarming.in/agriculture-in-odisha-crops-farming-practices#:~:text=) Additionally, given the abundance of opportunities in the vegetable farming industry, entrepreneurship is essential for both small businesses and self-employment. Therefore, there is a need to integrate different sources of innovation and extension so that they produce an appropriate synergetic impact in boosting their economy by encouraging vegetable growers to adopt entrepreneurial behaviour. The studies conducted in the past were insufficient for development organisations to strengthen their programmes for vegetable growers and establish new methods. With extensive strategic planning for the growth of entrepreneurs, certain research components take on special significance. The study's findings would assist extension specialists in developing relevant programmes and employing acceptable techniques to boost vegetable growers' entrepreneurial behaviour and, as a result, enhance vegetable production. Keeping the above facts in view, the study entitled “Entrepreneurial Behaviour of Vegetable growers in Odisha” was undertaken. METHODOLOGY The state of Odisha consisted of ten agro-climatic zones based on soil, weather and other relevant characteristics. From these 10 agro climatic zones we have selected two diverse zones for our study for better comparability and representation of the vegetable farmers and their characteristics. Based on the data from Odisha Agricultural statistics (2013-14) East and South Eastern coastal plain (Ranked no1 in both GCA and Production) and Eastern Ghat high land (Ranked no7 in both GCA and production) were selected purposively as they both comes under two completely different cultivation conditions. From these two agro-climatic zones, Cuttack (East and South Eastern coastal plain) and Koraput (Eastern Ghat high land) districts were purposively selected based on highest GCA and production under vegetable cultivation in their respective zones. Out of these selected districts, two blocks from each district were randomly selected constituting total four blocks Banki, Damapara, Pottangi and Laxmipur. From each of the 4 blocks, two gram panchayats and from each gram panchayats one village was randomly selected, thus making it total 8 gram panchayats and 8 villages. Thus, finally eight GPs namely Berhampura, Kiapalla (Banki block), Similipur, Bilipada (Damapara block), Nuagaon, Maliput (Pottangi block), Panchda, Champi (Laxmipur block) and eight villages namely Berhampura (Berhampura GP), Kumusar (Kiapalla GP), Makundpur (Similipur GP), Bilipada (Bilipada GP), Galigabdar (Nuagaon GP), Champakendu (Maliput GP), Niraniguda (Panchda GP) and Titijhila (Champi GP) were selected. From each selected village, for our study 25 farmers who were involved in vegetable farming were selected randomly constituting a total 200 respondents in consultation with horticulture assistant and extension personnel of area. Data was collected by personal interview method at the farmers door steps or at their farms with the help of pretested structured interview schedule and focused group discussions. The collected data were analyzed using various statistical tools like Average, Frequency, and Percentage and they have been categorized based on the Mean±S.D. The entrepreneurial behaviour of vegetable growers was measured in terms of eleven dimensions namely, innovativeness, risk orientation, economic motivation, decision making ability, leadership ability, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, self confidence, utilization of available assistance, credit orientation and management orientation. The scores against all these eleven components were added together to arrive at the score for entrepreneurial behaviour. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS The results pertaining to the entrepreneurial behaviour of vegetable growers comprised eleven components viz. innovativeness, risk orientation, economic motivation, decision making ability, leadership ability, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, self confidence, utilization of available assistance, credit orientation and management orientation are depicted in Table 1 and 2. Innovativeness. It could be observed from Table 1 that more than half (56.50%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of innovativeness, followed by high (23.50%) and low (20.00%) levels of innovativeness, respectively. The possible reason for the above trend might be that the members had medium level exposure to mass media. The results were in line with Nomeshkumar and Narayanaswamy (2000), Vijaykumar (2001); Bhagyalaxmi et al. (2003); Suresh (2004); Ram et al. (2010); Naidu (2012). Risk Orientation. It is apparent from Table 1 that majority (64.50%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of risk orientation, followed by 23.00 per cent and 12.50 per cent of them had high and low level of risk orientation, respectively. The vegetable growers with more experience had medium risk orientation, which might be the possible reason for this trend. The results were in line with Chidananda (2008); Madhushekhar (2009); Naidu (2012); Lakshmi Devi et al. (2019); Yewatkar et al. (2019). Economic motivation. It is apparent from Table 1 that more than two-third (68.50%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of economic motivation, followed by 20.50 per cent and 11.00 per cent of them had high and low level of economic motivation, respectively. One of the characteristics of entrepreneur is an economic agent, who is busy in financial transactions in terms of buying and selling activities. They should strive hard to reduce the cost of production and marketing and aims for achieving high returns per unit of good. This trait makes an entrepreneur a brilliant visionary when it comes to predicting economic potential. As a result, the above pattern was noticed. The results were in line with Chaudhari (2006). Decision making ability. It represents from Table 1 that majority of the vegetable growers (60.00%) had medium level of decision making ability, followed by 23.00 per cent of them had low level of decision making ability and only 17.00 per cent of them had high level of decision making ability. Taking right decisions at the appropriate time is crucial to any entrepreneurial endeavor's success. This might be due to the fact that most of the vegetable growers had medium level of mass media exposure along with medium level of annual income and most of them took decisions by having discussion with family members, friends and relatives with regard to various activities. As a result, the above pattern was noticed. The results were in line with Yogesh (2016). Leadership ability. It is evident from Table 1 that that a great majority (88.50%) of the vegetable growers were found to have medium level of leadership ability followed by only 11.50 per cent of them had low level of leadership ability and none of them had high level of leadership ability. As an entrepreneur one should gain leadership skill because enterprise management necessitates coordination among different subsystems which require different skills. Among them leadership skill should be developed as every entrepreneur is expected to interact with various types of people. They also can influence, help, guide and support the fellow farmers in solving their problems. The result is similar to the findings of Mubeena (2017). Scientific orientation. It is quite clear from the Table 1 that a great majority (85.00%) of the respondents had medium level of scientific orientation, followed by only 15.00 per cent of them had low level of scientific orientation and none of them had high level of scientific orientation. The results were in line with Thorat (2005); Nagabhushana (2007); Begum (2008); Gowda et al. (2011); Kalyan (2011). Achievement motivation. It is evident from Table 1 that majority (76.50%) of the vegetable growers were found to have medium level of achievement motivation, followed by 23.50 per cent of the vegetable growers had low level of achievement motivation and none of them had high level of achievement motivation. Individuals who are motivated by achievement are more likely to achieve the goals they set for themselves. The bulk of vegetable growers are in their middle years, which explains the above statistic. These people are in their forties and fifties. Their motivation to reach a higher status is moderate, and their aspirations are also moderate. The results were in line with Kiran et al. (2012); Ram et al. (2013); Mubeena (2017). Self confidence. It is quite clear from the Table 1 that majority (75.50%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of self confidence, followed by low level of self confidence (23.50%) and only 01.00 per cent of them had high level of self confidence. Majority of the respondents had primary and high school level of education along with medium level of farming experience might be the probable reason for this type of findings. The results were in line with Kiran et al. (2012); Wankhade et al. (2013). Utilization of available assistance. It is evident from Table 1 that majority (78.50%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of utilization of available assistance, followed by 17.50 per cent of them had high level of utilization of available assistance and only 4.00 per cent of them had low level of utilization of available assistance. Credit orientation. A glance at the Table 1 shows that, more than half (56.00%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of credit orientation, followed by 40.50 per cent of them had high level of credit orientation and only 3.50 per cent of them had low level of credit orientation. The available own funds of the vegetable growers might not be sufficient and making them think towards source of credit. Nearly half of them had medium level of income, so to establish reasonably high profit business, they were depending on different sources of credit. They were motivated by this mentality to use credit responsibly in order to succeed in their entrepreneurial endeavors. They may believe that accepting credit will help their entrepreneurial operations run smoothly and profitably. Hence, the above trend was noticed. The results were in line with Sofeghar (2017). Management orientation. It is operationally defined as the degree to which a vegetable grower is oriented towards scientific farm management comprising planning, production and marketing function.It is evident from Table 1 that more than half of the vegetable growers (58.50%) medium level of management orientation, followed by 26.00 per cent of them had low level and 15.50 per cent of them had high level of management orientation. The possible reason might be due to their medium experience in vegetable cultivation and medium extension contact. These variables might have helped in a good management. The results were in line with Shreekant and Jahagirdar (2017). (a) Planning orientation. It is quite clear from the Table 1 that nearly three-fourth of the vegetable growers (73.50%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of planning orientation, followed by 15.50 per cent of them had low level and only 11.00 per cent of them had high level of planning orientation. (b) Production orientation. It is quite clear from the Table 1 that a great majority of the vegetable growers (95.00%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of production orientation, followed by 5.00 per cent of them had low level and none of them had high level of production orientation, respectively. (c) Marketing orientation. It is evident from Table 1 that majority (71.50%) of the vegetable growers had medium level of marketing orientation, followed by those with low marketing orientation (17.50%) and with high marketing orientation (11.00%). Overall Entrepreneurial Behaviour of Vegetable growers. The vegetable farming requires much management decisions to be taken up by the farmers during activities of vegetable farming. Entrepreneurial behaviour of vegetable growers is operationally defined as cumulative outcome components namely, innovativeness, risk orientation, economic motivation, decision making ability, leadership ability, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, self confidence, utilization of available assistance, credit orientation and management orientation. From the Table 2 it is evident that majority (70.00%) of the vegetable growers belonged to medium entrepreneurial behaviour, followed by (20.50%) and (9.50%) vegetable growers had low and high level of entrepreneurial behaviour, respectively. The probable reason for this might be better social participation, expose with mass media, contacting different extension officials etc. might have developed a positive entrepreneurial attitude towards vegetable farming. Moreover, majority of the respondents were of medium income group enthusiastic in improving their standard of living might be another reason for this trend. Further their past experiences in farming might have taught them managerial skills which are essential to maintain the profit from their vegetable farming enterprise. It could also be noticed that, only one-fifth of the respondents had low level of entrepreneurial behaviour. This might be due to their lack of education, lack of exposure to trainings given etc. Hence the above trend was noticed. The results were in line with Tamilselvi and Sudhakar (2010); Sabale et al. (2014); Yewatkar et al. (2019).

How to cite this article

Bijayalaxmi Nayak and Pradip Kumar Banerjee (2022). Entrepreneurial Behaviour of Vegetable Growers in Odisha. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(2a): 608-613.