AGRIPRENEURSHIP: AN INTEGRAL PART OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural entrepreneurs are vital to India's economic growth. Rural entrepreneurship helps underdeveloped nations develop. Rural entrepreneurship can solve rural poverty in India. Thus, rural development programs must be prioritized. Agriculture is the foundation of the Indian economy, which could support agricultural entrepreneurship, food processing, and other associated businesses. Agriculture contributed more than half of the GDP by 1947, when the nation won independence. The First Five Year Plan prioritized agriculture. In addition, the 1960s Green Revolution methods helped India produce its own food. Since 1991, the New Economic Policy has changed the situation.

Despite accounting for 14% of India's GDP, agriculture employs roughly 2/3 of its workforce. India has 161 million hectares of arable land, but 55 million are inundated. These facts make it clear that agriculture and food security have immense potential. India has had several agricultural and economic successes, including the "green revolution," "white revolution," "blue revolution," and "yellow revolution." As times have changed, we now face new challenges like agriculture's development, "disguised employment" in the sector, rural unemployment, food waste, insecurity, and high food prices, as well as "inclusive growth." India produces as much milk, lentils, and tea as any other nation. It also produces the most rice, wheat, and fruits and vegetables. India has a large agricultural output base, yet much of it is wasted. Traditional supply chains squander 35% of Indian fruits and vegetables. Post-harvest losses in India may exceed Rs. 2.50 lac crore by 2017–2018. The latest incident is West Bengal farmers dumping tomatoes on the roads. Most farmers sell their tomatoes at a loss since they spent eight rupees to produce one kilogram of tomatoes but only received one rupee on the market. Customers pay 12–15 rupees for a kilogram of tomatoes, even if growers lose a lot. Food grains are wasted at 15%, greater than Australia's total production. The entire production of agricultural items and their availability to customers are far apart.