Entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges for women in agriculture: A study in Jorhat district of Assam

If you move a woman forward, her family will go ahead, a village will go ahead, then the nation itself will move forward and when it comes to entrepreneurship, women are one of the most important untapped resources as said by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Women entrepreneurs has been recognized as an important source of economic growth. They shape the economy, create wealth and jobs by inventing new products, processes and services. We all know that the economic development of modern women is important for any country, especially a country like India. About 70% of the population live in rural areas and relies on agriculture for food. With the help of various governmental and non-governmental agencies, growing numbers of women are joining the ranks of entrepreneurs. However, entrepreneurial women are overburdened in the existing familial and societal setup and find it increasingly difficult to balance their work and life roles. Therefore this study was initiated to explore the entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities faced by women involved in the agricultural sector. A structured schedule was prepared to determine the challenges faced by the women entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector with a total of 120 women entrepreneurs of Jorhat district selected as respondents for the study. The challenges were determined with the help of Problem Confrontation Index (PCI). Based on the analysis, it was found that, it has been found that lack of time due to family burden was the first challenge faced by the respondents with PCI score of 299 and rank 1. Lack of mobility was the first important social challenge faced by the respondents with PCI score of 315. High cost of required machineries or equipments was the first important challenge faced by the women respondents with PCI score 288. Among the marketing challenges, lack of demand in the local market is the first important challenge faced by the women respondents with PCI rank I.