An investigation of entrepreneurial intentions of agricultural students

Abstract

With almost two-thirds of the population (68.4 per cent) below the age of 30, Pakistan is going to experience a youth bulge in coming years, which is likely to change the age structure of labor force over the next couple of decades. The need to provide education, health and livelihood for the growing youth population is now increasingly becoming important. The youth in Pakistan appears to lack entrepreneurial skills. Only 8.3 per cent of the youth is reported as self-employed outside agriculture and only 0.2 percent acting as employers. It has been examined worldwide that entrepreneurship is a fundamental tool for economic growth, expansion and employment generation. The present study has investigated agricultural graduates’ intensions towards entrepreneurship. Purposive sampling technique was used to collect information from 120 agricultural students at University of Agriculture Faisalabad, its sub-campuses and alumni. The result showed that gender (male), entrepreneurial education, attitude, family support, mental acceptance, and perceived behavioral control were significantly (positively) related to entrepreneurial intentions among Agricultural students. Based on findings of the study it is suggested that entrepreneurial activity among agricultural graduates’ can be increased if the students are provided with business wisdom, inspiration and motivation, either through mentorship by entrepreneurs and experts or by emphasizing the importance of business opportunities in the curriculum. Moreover, supplementary short entrepreneurial courses can create miracles.