Economic Dimensions of Enterprises Established Under Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres

Establishment of Agri-clinic and Agri-business Centres (ACABC) scheme was launched by Government of India in April 2002 with an objective to supplement the efforts of public extension for agricultural development and to create gainful self-employment opportunities to unemployed agricultural youths. Through this intervention, various efforts are being made to impart training to unemployed youths who possess qualification in agriculture and allied subjects to facilitate them to establish their own agri-ventures. Cumulative progress of the scheme indicates that out of 47,884 candidates trained under the scheme, 20,684 of them could establish agri-ventures up to April 2016. The present study was conducted in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, which were purposively selected on the basis of success rate in terms of candidates trained and ventures established under ACABC scheme with a total sample size of 60 respondents to ascertain the status of agri-enterprises established by the agri-preneurs. The study reveals that majority (66.67%) of the agri-preneurs were ‘satisfied’ whereas 23.33% of the agri-preneurs were ‘highly satisfied’ in running their enterprise.