Exploring the Entrepreneurial Skills of Agriculture Students in Odisha, India

Entrepreneurial skills play a crucial role in making this world sustainable and self-sufficient for any country. It supports innovations so that new and innovative ideas can be generated in the minds of the people, mostly young minds. In this present study, the entrepreneurial skills of agriculture students are focussed and studied carefully so that agricultural improvement as well as national development can be achieved through shaping these skills using proper training and education at the institutional level. Planning, Enterprise Management, Credit & Finance, and Marketing skills are undertaken in the study to examine the entrepreneurial skills of the students. The data on entrepreneurial skills was collected from the respondents through the pre-tested questionnaire. Out of the total questionnaire responses received, 569 responses were found suitable for analysis for this study. The results obtained from the study state that the majority (61.16%) of the respondents had a medium level of entrepreneurial skills. Credit and Finance skills ranked highest followed by marketing skills. It was also noted that the respondents needed higher Enterprise management and planning skills. There was no significant influence of caste, locality and family size on entrepreneurial skills. However, attributes such as Economic Aptitude, Social Aptitude, Scientific Aptitude, Decision-Making Ability, Leadership Ability and Source of Information had highly statistically significant effects on entrepreneurial skills. In Odisha particularly, the focus should be given to the agriculture students' credit & finance and marketing skills. This research will be helpful for educational institutions in shaping education patterns and improving the entrepreneurial skills of students.