📄 Abstract
Women entrepreneurship has become a major contributor to the development of the economy, rural development and sustainable agricultural transformation. Women entrepreneurs in the food processing industry contribute significantly to the value addition of agricultural products, minimize post-harvest loss of food products, enhance the food quality, create employment, and boost local and regional food value chains. Although women entrepreneurs are becoming more involved, they are still suffering from many constraints, such as inadequate financial resources, lack of modern technology, information on markets, infrastructure, training in entrepreneurship, lack of institutional support etc which are limiting their progress and sustainability. Along with this, this paper looks into the role of women entrepreneur in enhancing food processing activities for strengthening sustainable agriculture and food supply chain. The study is conceptual in nature, and is based on literature review of the related concepts of women entrepreneurship, food processing, sustainable agriculture, agricultural value chain, food supply chain management, rural entrepreneurship and government support programmes. A conceptual framework is suggested in this paper, where women entrepreneurship is the independent variable, food processing activities are the Mediating variable and food supply chain and sustainable agriculture are the Dependent variable. The paper emphasizes on the role of Women Entrepreneurs in value addition, food preservation, product enhancement, efficient marketing and sustainable value chain development in food processing sector. It also highlights some of the main challenges and recommends strategic and policy measures for improving women's involvement in the food processing industry. The results indicate that enhancing financial inclusion, technology adoption, entrepreneur development and the institutional framework, as well as improving infrastructure, can have a big impact on the resilience and sustainability of agricultural and food value chains. Overall, the study aligns with the current debate on inclusive agricultural development and offers concrete policy recommendations to support women entrepreneurship for sustainable and resilient food systems from a policy, research and practice point of view.
🏷️ Keywords
📚 How to Cite:
Ms. A. Parimala Devi, Dr. S. Sudhamathi , STRENGTHENING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS THROUGH WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN FOOD PROCESSING , Volume 13 , Issue 10, October 2026, EPRA International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Studies (EBMS) , Pages: 44 - 53 ,