Dr. Banarsi Lal
Every year 8th of March is celebrated as the International Women’s Day across the globe to recognize the extraordinary contribution of women in the development of the society.
This day highlights key issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights and the fight against violence and discrimination faced by women. The theme of this year International Women’s Day is “Give To Gain”, underscores the principle that meaningful progress on gender equality requires deliberate contributions from governments, institutions and individuals. When we invest in women’s safety, rights and leadership, we strengthen society as a whole.
The idea of an International observance was proposed by the German activist Clara Zetkin at the International Socialist Women’s Conference, where the concept of a global Working Women’s Day was approved. In 1911, the first International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 19 in countries including Germany, Denmark, Austria etc. By 1914, several countries had begun observing this day on March, 8. In 1922, Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin officially declared March 8th as International Women’s Day .
India is the home of one of the largest agricultural sectors in the world.This sector provides about 58 per cent of livelihoods in India’s and contributes about 18 per cent to the country’s GDP. It has been observed that about 84 per cent of the Indian rural women livelihood depends on agriculture. The contribution of women to the society has been contemplated over the years.The year 2026 has been declared as the “UN Year for Women Farmers”. Gender equality and rural women’s empowerment can drive farm and rural entrepreneurship in green transitions from peasants to more entrepreneurial and resilient farming.
Women-led green entrepreneurship in farming and the rural economy can develop in different economic activities. Gender equality is one of the objectives for sustainable rural development relevant to policy and governance with wider implications for the rural economy, green entrepreneurship and society. Women have an incredible potential for transforming agriculture. Women farmers contribute enormously to the Indian agriculture. This has been proved by various researches. The results of these researches, however, could not get duereconisation in the planning and implementation of agricultural related programmes.
Agricultural extension is one such effort taken by the government and non-government agencies that aims at reaching to farmers. The efforts include bringing about a positive change in knowledge, attitude and skills of the farmers by providing training and technical advice and also assisting them in taking decisions in adoption of new research results. Importantly, the clientele of such programmes and efforts is inclusive of both farmers and farm women. Managers of these programmes often consider men as farmers and women as farmer’s wife thereby systematically marginalising and underestimating women’s productive role in agriculture. The agricultural extension services in India has limited in its operations to a larger extent on male farmers only. Sometimes women farmers are bypassed by male extension workers. It would be correct to state that women farmers in India needs to get their due share in extension services apropos their contribution to the Indian agriculture.
Extension services in India need to be refined, modified and redesigned so as to reach farm women effectively. The purpose of agricultural extension services can be achieved for sustainable rural development only if sincere attempts are made to provide and improve farm women’s access to the available extension services thereby leading to their technological empowerment. The extension machinery in India can be classified in four heads namely(a)Extension services offered by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR),(b)Extension services provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operation,(c)Extension services provided by the Ministry of Rural Development and(d) Extension services offered by Non-Government Organisations(NGOs).Out of four extension systems, training and visit is the major extension system operating in India under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation for more than 30 years. Although this programme is in operation for so long, it still lacks necessary inbuilt structural arrangements for reaching female farmers. Contact farmers involved in this very programme are mostly male farmers and the numbering of female farmers is low. It was reported that the extension needs of women were often perceived by the extension agents to be in the disciplines of home science, nutrition, childcare, tailoring etc.
The information regarding to new farm technologies was seldom passed on to them. Various rural development programmes were launched in India from community approach in 1950s’ to special target group approach in 1970s’.Non of these programmes addressed to the specific needs of women farmers and remain concentrated on male farmers. In 1980s’ integrated approach was started that attempt to integrate women in the mainstream of development by structurally making them beneficiaries up to an extent of 40 per cent. A number of services supportive for women’s socio-economic empowerment viz., Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP), Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Indira Mahila Yojna, Mahila Samridhi Yojna, Self-Help Groups (SHGs) etc. were implemented.
These approaches were not directed towards fulfilment needs for agriculture-related services and concentrated mainly on the issue of employment and social empowerment. In 1993-94, a project aimed at gender-gap reduction among women farmers of the Northern India was launched by the government of India.
The limited coverage of this project shortens its impact. Such programmes need to be appreciated for being the pioneering one in this regard. ICAR is another important system for transfer of farm technologies all over the country. This system has operated through various frontline extension programmes, all of which now have been merged with the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) since April 1996.
In KVKs, provision for special training programmes for women are made. These programmes restricted mainly in the areas like home economics and ignored women’s productive role in agricultural operations. The efforts made so far in this direction appear to be localized and remain largely invisible. Involvement of women in agricultural development process by ICAR has been further strengthened when the concept of Farming Systems approach to research/extension was institutionalized by several ways including assessment and refinement of agricultural technologies through institutionalizing village linkage programme.
Still these efforts are very limited to make a substantial dent on the overall agricultural scenario. From the very beginning Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) have involved women component in their mandate. They too have given more emphasis on issues related to social empowerment of women. They also have given little attention on women’s role in agriculture. Therefore, all the major extension systems in India, the participation and benefits accrued to women farmers are minuscule.
There is a need to delineate and discuss the reasons attributable to poor access of farm women to extension services in India. The causative factors found were-lack of approach of farm women to extension centres, less communication channel of farm women, less income to purchase farm inputs by farm women, lack of land, inconvenient time and location of meetings, gender biasness by extension staff, lack of gender-appropriate technology and lack of authority to them. The other factors were low farm women literacy, lack of tendency to innovate and make decisions in farming, less women workers in extension services and lack of structural arrangements for women farmers in extension programmes.
Indian women despite playing an important role in agricultural production, processing and storage, generally lack the right to property and the control of resources usually pass on from men to men keeping women out of the chain of inheritance. This makes them the largest group of landless labourers.
The efforts for improving the women’s access to extension services need to be directed towards bringing out some institutional changes in the present machinery of extension in India. Farm women should be provided with greater access to credit facilities and other inputs by simplifying the existing procedures suiting to the educational levels of women folk. Flow of credit, inputs and marketing facilities to farm women can be done through women’s cooperatives and mahilla mandals. Different extension agencies are focusing on a limited scale to integrate farm women in mainstream of development efforts. The efforts of these agencies need to be managed more efficiently so as to have a synergistic effect to solve the problem of poor women access to extension services. The planners should give due reconisation to women farmers in designing the development programmes.
There is also the need to recruit more extension functionaries in all levels of agricultural extension system. Certain institutional adaptations in the present extension system should be made for a positive step in this direction.International Women’s Day is a call to action-encouraging individuals, institutions and policymakers to work towards equal rights, justice and opportunities for all women and girls.
(The writer is Chief Scientist & Head, KVK Reasi)
