Civic Agriculture and Agripreneurship: Opportunities for Food Retailing in India

Abstract

The concept of civic agriculture is the antithesis of conventional and corporate agriculture. It emphasizes on local environmentally sustainable food system and a local market which facilitates direct interaction with consumers. This means that 2 major aspects that are part of the existing forms of agriculture that is resource intensiveness and remoteness of the producer from the consumer are addressed through this idea. Agripreneurship is evolving in India as a result of a renewed emphasis on agriculture by central and state governments. Retailing as a form of agripreneurship is gaining ground with the development of the organized retailing sector. Farmer's markets developed by state governments in India represent a good opportunity for Agripreneurship through food retailing in India. These represent one of the dimensions of civic agriculture. Agritourism is another area that embeds the concept of civic agriculture and Agripreneurship. Some of the world wide concerns about food relate to food safety and identity preservation. In the case of Agripreneurship opportunities arising out of these concerns, food retailing within the ambit of civic agriculture provide opportunities to address these concerns. This paper attempts to link Civic Agriculture and Agripreneurship through the food retailing route and puts forth the possibilities in the Indian context.