Factors influencing attitude and perception of farmers towards entrepreneurship: An artificial neural network analysis

Even though India is an agrarian nation, it still has issues with low profit, low productivity, rising input prices, and crop waste from inadequate supply chain management and storage. Agri-entrepreneurs can benefit by taking these challenges as opportunities. One of the key strategies for revitalizing Indian agriculture and creating more appealing and lucrative ventures is to transition from agriculture to agri-entrepreneurship. The research was carried out in the Cooch Behar II and Matha Banga II blocks of the Cooch Behar district, West Bengal, to investigate the farmer’s entrepreneurial perception and attitude. With 50 respondents in each block, a total of 100 respondents were randomly selected for this study. Data was collected with the structured interview schedule, and artificial neural network analysis was used for the analysis. Results revealed that variable extension contact had the maximum level of influence in the case of explaining the predicted variable perception of farmers towards entrepreneurship, and social participation had the maximum level of influence in the case of explaining the predicted variable attitude of farmers towards entrepreneurship.