Valuing Farmers as Entrepreneurs is Very Important
Who is an entrepreneur?
Oxford Dictionary defines an ‘entrepreneur’ as a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit. The activity of setting up a business or business is ‘entrepreneurship’.
So, are farmers’ entrepreneurs and farming their business? Going by the definition, Yes, Farmers are entrepreneurs or Farmpreneurs who see their farms as a means of earning profit. They take calculated risks, make decisions and have the passion to make their farms more profitable and thus, grow their business.
What does it take for Farmpreneurs to sustain and grow their business in the ever-changing and more complex global economy, not to forget, the increasing risk for farming as an enterprise with the changing climate? Also, the farmpreneurs operate in an environment which is complex and dynamic comprising of different stakeholders like fellow farmers, agri-input suppliers, traders, transporters, processors and many others who are entrepreneurs in their own way. Moreover, modern farming is information-intensive.
The big question is how do farmpreneurs adapt to these changes to excel in their farming business? What strategies and tools should they use? These are the questions which the farmpreneurs face today.
So, valuing farmers as entrepreneurs rather than just producers is very important and keeping them at the centre of any policy or business design of the Public or Private sector can make the agriculture related projects, programs or missions more impactful and deliver sustainable returns for the whole society.
Mr. Divesh Bhadani