Student entrepreneurship as a catalyst for gender-inclusive and climate-resilient agricultural innovation

Abstract

The recognition of student entrepreneurship as a significant method for the development of climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural systems is gaining momentum. In this research, the focus is on the gender aspects of the matter and their impact on sustainability of agri-enterprises, and it deals with the examination of the patterns of the undergraduate agriculture students’ entrepreneurial perceptions and aspirations. A survey study was done with a total of 426 students that were first- and final-year B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture from four colleges that are part of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the students’ aspirations in the following four areas—educational, career, entrepreneurial, and self-reliance. Furthermore, the students were divided into two groups according to gender, and the differences were analysed applying Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. The findings indicate that both male and female students have the same moderate level of entrepreneurial and career aspirations, nevertheless, the females are slightly better off in terms of their total and self-reliance aspirations. Even though the main challenges that were identified are financial risk, competition, and market uncertainty, the technical and managerial competencies and the enterprise awareness were acknowledged as quite limited. The implications of the study are that the agricultural universities should use gender-responsive, behaviourally informed entrepreneurship education and policy interventions, in order to capture the youth’s potential for the sustainable agricultural transformation.